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.

March 25, 1988

The Hockey News March 25, 1988

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Which WHL team recently opened a new arena?2. Which WCHA team plays its home games at Broadmoor World Arena?3. What AHL team calls Aitken University Centre home?4. What U.S. university team plays its home games at the Wonderland of Ice?5. Which OHL team plays at the Quinte Sports Centre?6. The L.C. Walker Sports Arena is home to which IHL team?7. The NHL's Cleveland Barons played in what arena?8. Which NHL team played in The Olympia?9. What arena do the AHL Maine Mariners call home?10. Which AHL club plays out of the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Saskatoon Blades opened Saskatchewan Place Feb. 9.2. Colorado College.3. Fredericton Express.4. Fairfield University Stags.5. Belleville Bulls.6. Muskegon Lumberjacks.7. Richfield Coliseum.8. Detroit Red Wings.9. Cumberland County Civic Center.10. Binghamton Whalers.BONUS ANSWER: Norm Ferguson.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02114/5453962-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="584" height="924"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: He played home games in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena from 1968 to 1972.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

EVEN BY Montreal Canadien standards, the Habs have exceeded their controversy quota for this season.First, it was veteran defenseman Larry Robinson who went public with a scathing indictment of Jean Perron&rsquo;s coaching abilities.Then, it was veteran forward Chris Nilan who badmouthed his boss, Perron, both before and after being traded to the New York Rangers.Most recently, it was melodramatic Claude Lemieux at odds with the coach. He earned a brief team suspension for his insolence. (See story on Page 23.)All the Canadiens accomplished, in the meantime, was rack up a 40-20-10 record in their first 70 games, tying them with Calgary for tops in the NHL. They also took a 10-game winning streak, two shy of the club record, into a March 14 encounter with the hapless Minnesota North Stars.Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers&mdash;Stanley Cup contenders one and all&mdash;surely must hate to consider where the Habs would be if they discovered true bliss and harmony.&ldquo;In Montreal,&rdquo; says ex-Hab and Hall-of-Fame netminder Ken Dryden, &ldquo;you are always living on the edge. As a player, you expect one big incident a year. You just assume that it&rsquo;s going to happen.&rdquo;It inevitably does.&ldquo;The Canadiens are a team that is very high-strung,&rdquo; adds Dryden, who isn&rsquo;t. &ldquo;They exist in an environment which not only encourages it, but generates it. There is always going to be an outburst.&rdquo;The passion with which the media and fans follow the Habs is both helpful and harmful. The controversies, Dryden says, are an unavoidable by-product of the team&rsquo;s success and its lofty aspirations. But the success factor, he adds, has much to do with the excitement generated by a legion of fanatics.They feed on one another. Which makes it easy to understand why the Canadiens, even in the midst of what seems to be crisis, forge ahead without breaking stride. The management is well equipped to deal with turmoil.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had a lot of practice,&rdquo; says Dryden dryly.Serge Savard played 16 seasons for the Canadiens and became the team&rsquo;s general manager in the spring of 1983. His five-year contract, which was due to expire soon, has been replaced with another five-year pact.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021130/5451965-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="393" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>Savard&rsquo;s approach&mdash;cool but firm&mdash;is nothing if not successful.When a frustrated Robinson spouted off, it would have been easy for Savard to take his side. Perron has been the Habs&rsquo; coach for three seasons; Robinson and Savard go back 15 years.When Nilan&rsquo;s feud with Perron, and some teammates, grew unmanageable, it would have been easy for Savard to acquiesce to a fan favorite who, in a somewhat perverted sense, epitomized the Canadiens&rsquo; joie de vivre.By the time Lemieux lipped off, you had no doubt whatsoever as to how Savard would line up&mdash;firmly behind his coach. The same as he has in every instance before this season, when Stephane Richer and Guy Carbonneau, among others, were malcontents.By now, the message is clear. Perron, despite what would appear widespread dissatisfaction among the players, has Savard&rsquo;s confidence.&ldquo;Serge has been through it for 20 years.&rdquo; Dryden says. &ldquo;At times, I&rsquo;m sure he realizes the problems can be of a serious nature. But other times, most of the time, he knows it&rsquo;s just part of playing in Montreal.&ldquo;In Montreal, the people take you seriously. That is fertile ground for outbursts and scandals. In other cities, the reaction to an unhappy player might be, &lsquo;Who cares?&rsquo;&ldquo;Serge knows better than anyone else that in Montreal the controversies are unavoidable. It&rsquo;s something he has to live with.&rdquo;Made bearable, no doubt, by the Canadiens&rsquo; rich Stanley Cup tradition&mdash;a tradition likely to be enhanced with Savard at the helm for another five years. &#9632;

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Departments

High-Strung Habs Learn To Live With Turmoil

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01828/5454117-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>All-American Father & Son/12INSIDE:Stars&rsquo; Coach ln A Rage/12 A Flare-Up On Habs/23 Deal Vetoed By Owner/46 &#9632;

Cover-01

THE HALL OF FAME A Croweded House

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Jim Cressman and Randy Russon</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02463/5453251-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peterborough&rsquo;s Todd Paterson and goaltender Todd Bojcun shadow Dan Jensen of Oshawa. True to their tradition, the Petes lead the OHL in defense this year.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01587/5453258-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="182" height="135"></div>Perry Mason would have loved to coach the Ontario League&rsquo;s Peterborough Petes because their defense never rests.And it has made the franchise one of the most successful in major junior hockey.&ldquo;The Petes have always had a game plan, and I&rsquo;m not talking about how they approach an individual game,&rdquo; said Gary Green, coach of Petes for two seasons, from 1977 to &lsquo;79. &ldquo;(TV analyst) Howie Meeker put it best one night when he said, &lsquo;If you&rsquo;re going to have any type of system, make sure it&rsquo;s behind your own blue line.&rsquo;&ldquo;Most people grow up knowing what to do from their blue line to the other team&rsquo;s goal line. Because we all have played pond hockey, we know how to score and how to handle the puck. But the one thing Canadian pond hockey doesn&rsquo;t teach is how to play behind your blue line. NHL coaches and general managers are looking for players who know what to do without the puck and when you come out of Peterborough, you&rsquo;ve learned.&rdquo;The Petes&rsquo; defensive heritage began in the 1966-67 season. It was Roger Neilson&rsquo;s first year as Peterborough coach and the Petes finished eighth in the 10-team league.They repeated that finish the next season and Neilson decided the best defense would be a bod defense and the Petes improved 35 points to a third-place finish in 1968-69.Their worst finish in 20 years was a sixth in the Leyden Division in 1975-76, the year the league split into two divisions and Neilson&rsquo;s last with the team before moving to the pro ranks as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.There have been six first-place finishes (including this season), six seconds, five thirds, one fourth, a fifth and the sixth. There have been three consecutive trips to the Memorial Cup (1978-80), with a championship in 1979, Green&rsquo;s last season.Peterborough has become a breeding ground for pro coaches. Mike Keenan, who succeeded Green, is now behind the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; bench. Jacques Martin, who was an assistant coach in Peterborough before moving on to guide the Guelph Platers to the 1986 Memorial Cup, is coaching the St. Louis Blues.The beacon for the Petes&rsquo; system is the Frank J. Seike trophy, which goes annually to the NHL forward who excels in the defensive aspects of the game.The trophy has been awarded for 10 years and ix times it&rsquo;s gone to a former Pete. Bob Gainey won the first four years, Doug Jarvis in 1984 and Craig Ramsay in 1985.This season, under Dick Todd&mdash;currently in his sixth full season as general managercoach&mdash;the Leyden Division leaders had allowed the league&rsquo;s fewest goals against (201 in 62 games for a 3.25 per-game average).<h2>LOSING STREAK SET</h2>The Kingston Canadians&rsquo; 12-5 loss to the Royals on March 10 in Cornwall broke the OHL record for successive losses, set by the 1982-83 Guelph Platers. Then an expansion team, the Platers lost 25 in a row. Kingston&rsquo;s loss lowered the club record to 14-50-0, with just two games remaining. &#9632;

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The Juniors

The Peterborough Principle

Everybody into the pool&mdash;it&rsquo;s that time of year again. With the playoffs fast approaching, figure fanatics are keeping a close eye on individual performances in anticipation of playoff scoring pools being conducted at regular season&rsquo;s close.Well, we don&rsquo;t want you going to your playoff drafts unarmed. So, look for our second listing of 10 tips on how to succeed in playoff pools. It may make the difference between sinking and swimming this year.The team bus&mdash;teams in the American League don&rsquo;t leave home without it. THN correspondent Paul Abramowitz takes a look at life on the bus as experienced by those in the AHL.Plus, look for our regular columnists, features, statistics and beat reports that combine to give you the most complete look at the hockey world. All that and much, much more in the April 1 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Call him an uncompromising purist, but new Whaler coach Larry Pleau rejects the idea of &ldquo;enhancing&rdquo; America&rsquo;s next Olympic hockey team by adding professionals the way the Canadians did at Calgary. &ldquo;They should keep it for the amateurs,&rdquo; says Pleau who was a center for the 1968 U.S. Olympians. &ldquo;When pros are involved it takes something away from what it was meant to be. Mike Eruzione (1980 Olympic hero) is a good example. Imagine if they had put 10 pro hockey players on that team. Do you think Eruzione would have been there as captain? He was one of the least-talented players they had.&rdquo;&hellip;The professional future of Whalers&rsquo; aide Claude Larose is in doubt now that his superior, Jack Evans, has been put to pasture. Pleau plans to wait until the season&rsquo;s end before deciding whether he wants Larose retained&hellip;An unsung ironman is Whaler ace penalty-killer Dave Tippett, who passed the 300-game mark in mid-season and is still going strong.<h2>GERMANS GUN GRETZKY</h2>Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s pals were rather surprised at the hostile tone taken by the popular German publication Der Spiegel, which machine-gunned &lsquo;The Great One&rsquo; with tough questions suggesting that the most important thing in Gretzky&rsquo;s life is money&hellip;Off-ice officials and NHL photographers, impressed with the humor of ref Andy vanHellemond, have begun to collect stories. One making the rounds involves an incident during a Vancouver game, when one of the Canucks dropped a broken stick on the ice. Andy picked up the stick and skated a few laps with it before having an opportunity to drop it off with the penalty timekeeper. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand why they (the Canucks) didn&rsquo;t pass the puck to me,&rdquo; quipped the ref. &ldquo;After all, I had a black helmet on, too.&rdquo;&hellip;An injured superstar was sitting in a press box when a Washington broadcaster noticed him from across the arena. The on-the-air man dispatched a note to the NHL ace, requesting a between-periods interview. A few minutes later, the courier returned with a hand-written reply from the player. It read: &ldquo;What do I get?&rdquo; The broadcaster then scrawled a note and sent it back to the player. It simply stated, &ldquo;Does it matter?&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011355/5451741-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="732" height="1111"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Simpson isn&rsquo;t just the Isles&rsquo; coach. He&rsquo;s also the team handyman.</figcaption></div><h2>COACH HAS ALL THE TOOLS</h2>When Terry Simpson moved from Prince Albert to Uniondale and became Islander coach, nobody paid any mind when the westerner mentioned that he was once an electrical contractor in Saskatchewan. But Nassau Coliseum employees recently became aware of Simpson&rsquo;S technical skills when some vital advance scouting was necessary. The Isles&rsquo; satellite dish recording expert, Darcy Regier, informed Simpson the club couldn&rsquo;t record a Leaf-Sabre game because an electric motor on the dish had failed. Simpson checked out the motor and found the part that needed replacing. Since hardware wasn&rsquo;t immediately available, the resourceful Simpson headed for an auto parts store where he bought a tube of grease, then returned to the Coliseum. The dish became operable after Terry greased down the arm which controls the dish. That night electrician Simpson and Regier watched the game without interruption.<h2>BRITISH HOCKEY NUTS</h2>The four western International League teams&mdash;Colorado and Salt Lake, plus 1988-89 newcomers Phoenix and Sacramento&mdash;plan to pool travel expenses next season. The new clubs in Arizona and California will ante up $150,000 each for visiting teams&rsquo; travel, meals and lodging costs. This year Colorado and Salt Lake coughed up $400,000 apiece for visiting teams&rsquo; travel&hellip;The Canuck bachelor corps will be reduced this summer when Greg Adams. Randy Boyd, Tony Tanti and Jim Sandlak all tie the knot&hellip;Most wide-ranging fan club on the globe is the London (Great Britain) Ice Hockey Nuts unit which annually jets to North America for an NHL tour-de-force, led by chief cashew Norman DiMesquita. &ldquo;This is our 10th year.&rdquo; Norman tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;and in that time no fewer than 83 people have made at least one of the 10 trips.&rdquo; The latest safari began last month and concluded early in March. &ldquo;This time,&rdquo; says DiMesquita, &ldquo;we saw 16 games in 18 nights in nine different arenas. &ldquo;&hellip;Sabre captain Lindy Ruff compares rookie ace Ray Sheppard favorably with teammate Dave Andreychuk as a goal-scorer. &ldquo;Ray is probably more gifted.&rdquo; says Ruff. &ldquo;When he deflects a puck, he has a pretty good idea where it&rsquo;s going.&rdquo;<h2>NANNE HURTING STARS: GM</h2>New North Star president Lou Nanne&rsquo;s decision not to resign immediately as general manager, but to stay on until spring, has inspired off-the-record ridicule from one NHL GM. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to resign,&rdquo; the manager tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;then resign. What Louie has done (hanging around as a lame duck) is a crock and hurts the team. Players look at him and say to themselves, &lsquo;If the general manager is going to quit, we&rsquo;ll quit, too.&rsquo; So, they lose, but there&rsquo;s no more pressure on Nanne.&rdquo;&hellip;The increased use of higher protective glass around NHL rinks has altered defensive puck-clearing strategies, and also has changed the manner in which referees eye the play. Kerry Fraser says when players blast the puck out from behind the net, the officials have to keep their heads up to avoid injury. &ldquo;In the past,&rdquo; says Fraser, &ldquo;I never used to have to look at the puck if there was nobody in the vicinity of the puck-carrier or if there was a defenseman with the puck behind the net. I wouldn&rsquo;t be looking at him; I&rsquo;d be looking in front of the net for interference or for a player giving a cheap shot behind the play. But now, the way they fire that puck out high on the glass, I gotta have one eye on the puck and the other focusing on what&rsquo;s going on around me. Consequently, we tunnel in a lot more on the puck.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021099/5451734-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1503" height="2095"><figcaption class="caption-body">You don&rsquo;t hear much about him, but left winger Dave Tippett, above, is following in the footsteps of Doug Jarvis, another ironman who played for the Whalers.</figcaption></div><h2>LONE-STAR STICKHANDLING</h2>We can expect more Texas-based hockey exhibitions if last September&rsquo;s profits are a barometer. Events Inc., the Dallas outfit which has produced NHL exhibitions for the past two years, pulled in $248,900 for the Dallas match between the Oilers and Flyers as well as $224,703 from the Houston pre-season tilt featuring Detroit and Edmonton&hellip;Glenn Deutsch, writing in Sports Inc. magazine, points out that Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe has done well in his six-year association as Emery Edge ambassador. &ldquo;The Newark, N.J. office (of Emery) reported gaining $5,000 a month in new shipments from one company after a golf outing with Howe,&rdquo; Deutsch reports. The mag says NHL marketing execs warned Emery it would &ldquo;have to get past the most feared person in hockey: Colleen Howe (Gordie&rsquo;s wife).&rdquo; But Deutsch adds: &ldquo;As it turned out, Gordie and his wife saw an opportunity to start a &lsquo;seed relationship,&rsquo; and Howe signed for $50,000 in 1982. Since then, Howe has visited all NHL cities at least twice.&rdquo; Howe&rsquo;s Emery income has been upped to $70,000 annually. Emery spends $958,000 on the entire Emery Edge annual package but estimates that it nets $1,041,500 from the NHL deal, which is why it has continued its relationship and retained Howe.<h2>SYRACUSE TO REJOIN AHL?</h2>Syracuse, N.Y., is being considered as a future American League franchise site. &ldquo;A lot of people forget that Syracuse&rsquo;s hockey heritage goes back a long, long way,&rdquo; says Red Wing GM Jimmy Devellano. &ldquo;Syracuse was a farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs before World War II.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Dump Pro Olympians: Pleau

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031079/5451772-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="560" height="806"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hakan Loob</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011378/5451786-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="220" height="207"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021268/5451779-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="171" height="181"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Calgary Flames&rsquo; right winger Hakan Loob, who led the league in goals (5), assists (8) and points (13) in four games last week, was named Dodge Performer of the Week for the period ending March 13.Loob, who has scored at least two points in each of his last six games, edged Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; rookie forward Rob Brown, Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender Patrick Roy and Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; netminder Glen Hanlon to capture the award.The Dodge and Chrysler Canada divisions of Chrysler Motors will donate $500 to the youth hockey organization of the performer&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.Loob, a 27-year-old native of Karlestad, Sweden, began the week by recording a goal and an assist in games versus Pittsburgh (4-5, Mar. 7) and and Winnipeg (6-6, Mar. 9). The following night he registered three assists in a 5-3 win over the Jets, before exploding for his first career six-point game (3-3-6) in a 10-4 victory over Buffalo (Mar. 12). This represents Loob&rsquo;s first career six-point night, tying him for the Flames&rsquo; record with four other players. Loob remains one of the League&rsquo;s most improved offensive players this season with a 4349-92 mark thus far, as compared to an 18-26-44 overall record in 1986-87. &#9632;

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Hakan Loob selected this week’s Dodge-NHL Performer of the Week

<div class="byline">BY JEFF BLAIR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011260/5451817-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="177" height="138"></div>CALGARY&mdash;Not even the swollen lip, courtesy of a Lindy Ruff cross-check, could put a damper on Joe Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s 50th goal.&ldquo;I could tell when I went out on that power play I was going to get it,&rdquo; the Calgary Flames&rsquo; rookie center said, reflecting on his milestone goal, the eventual game-winner in the Flames&rsquo; 10-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres March 12. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why but I just knew it was coming. I knew I was going to get the puck on that shift and not make a mistake.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s effort was the fitting cap to a week which saw the Flames acquire goaltender Rick Wamsley and defenseman Rob Ramage from St. Louis for right winger Brett Hull and left winger Steve Bozek.Nieuwendyk was closing in on New York Islander right winger Mike Bossy&rsquo;s rookie record of 53 goals, set in 1977-78. His 50th was also his 31st power-play tally, leaving him three behind Tim Kerr&rsquo;s record.No. 50 was vintage Nieuwendyk, as he crashed the net to pick up the rebound of Gary Suter&rsquo;s point shot. The goal tied Guy Chouinard&rsquo;s franchise record for goals by a center, set in 1978-79 when the Flames were in Atlanta. Nieuwendyk also joined Bossy as the only rookies in league history to score 50 goals in a season. Edmonton&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky scored 51 in 1979-80, his first NHL year, but he was ruled not to be a rookie because he had played in another pro league, the WHA.Linemate Hakan Loob scored three goals and added three assists in Calgary&rsquo;s rout of Buffalo to tie the team record (shared by several players) for most points in a game. During his six-game point streak, Loob had nine goals and 10 assists, but he preferred to marvel at Nieuwendyk.&ldquo;Playing with a guy who&rsquo;s tearing up the league helps us just as it has helped me through this streak,&rdquo; said the Swedish right winger, the Flames&rsquo; candidate for the Bill Masterton Trophy. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m going to get my chances but there&rsquo;s something about this year&rsquo;s team. We know we have real balance. No one can say there&rsquo;s pressure on him to score.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk spoke as if there was more pressure hitting 50 goals than in breaking Bossy&rsquo;s record.&ldquo;Now that I have it (50), the pressure is off my back,&rdquo; said the 21-year-old native of Whitby, Ont. &ldquo;I wanted to get 50 at home and go on the (four-game) road trip and have fun.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Ramage had an impact immediately. Not only did he have two assists in his first game&mdash;against Winnipeg&mdash;but he also gave the Flames&rsquo; defense a physical presence it has lacked.He was paired with Al MacInnis, who was switched to the left side, despite being a right-handed shot.&ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s no secret we want Al to play the body more and we hope he is influenced by Ramage,&rdquo; said Calgary coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;Besides, I think the fact he switched sides has made it easier for him to get his stick on his man when they&rsquo;re breaking out. The motion from right to left is more natural.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Goalie Rick Wamsley won his first start, turning aside 27 shots in a 5-3 win over Winnipeg March 10&hellip;Defenseman Paul Reinhart, who hasn&rsquo;t played since the seventh game of the season, has returned. He accompanied the Flames on their four-game road trip, which departed March 14&hellip;A pair of assists against Winnipeg gave Mike Bullard 500 career NHL points&hellip;The victory over Buffalo gave goalie Mike Vernon a team record for wins in a season with 33&hellip;Defenseman Gary Suter reached 76 points in the Buffalo game, tying the team record for points by a defenseman, set by Al MacInnis in 1986-87.<h2>FLAMES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Mike Bullard, Joel Otto, Perry Berezan, Craig Coxe.LW&mdash;Colin Patterson, John Tonelli, Jim Peplinski, Gary Roberts, Tim Hunter.RW&mdash;Hakan Loob, Joey Mullen, Shane Churla, Lanny McDonald, Jiri Hrdina.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Al Maclnnis, Dana Murzyn, Brian Glynn.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Rob Ramage, Paul Reinhart, Ric Nattress.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley, Doug Dadswell.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jamie Macoun, D, nerve damage to arm and shoulder, out for season. &#9632;

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Nieuwendyk Makes 50-Goal Breakthrough

WITH THE POSSIBLE exception of watching Paul Lawless pack a suitcase or reading Perry Berezan&rsquo;six-rays, about the most fun you can have in hockey is being a writer on the day before the trading deadline.It&rsquo;s become a ritual at my place. I get up at the crack of dawn, even before Willie Huber has changed teams three times. Then I start the day off with a Pang, my traditional trading deadline breakfast. It consists of a bowl of Adam Oates, a Korn muffin, fried baloney (Kocur, of course), Brad Berries in Creamer and Coffey.Before 8 a.m. I&rsquo;m already in my office, where I&rsquo;ve lined up six phones along my desk. They include my kids&rsquo; Mickey Mouse model, my Phil Esposito Special Edition Fire-Engine Red Trimline, and one of those antique jobs where you turn the crank and get only Bob Pulford.I only have two lines and wind up talking to myself a great deal, but that&rsquo;s how I get some of my best rumors. Anyway, I used to have three lines but Jacques Demers ran up a big bill on one of them last spring and I had to have it taken out.I sit down, get out my notebook and start dialing.&ldquo;Duhatschek! Greenberg here. Whaddaya hear? Cliff&rsquo;s talking to St. Louis again? What? They arrested him? Keep me posted.&ldquo;Kelley! What are the Sabres up to? You hear Hajdu for Fotiu? Yeah, me too. What about Ruuttu? Creighton to who? I hear that&rsquo;s nothing but a bunch of Krupp.&ldquo;MacPeek! What&rsquo;s Phil trying to do? But he already has a coach&hellip;But he already has eight centers&hellip;But he had that guy once. Hold on a minute. I&rsquo;ve got Molinari on the other line.&ldquo;Dave, the man of steel. My man. What&rsquo;s cookin? You talk to E.J.? What? Quinn wants Quinn? What&rsquo;s he giving up? Skriko? The rights to John Grisdale? Doesn&rsquo;t EJ. need a goalie? But Ed Dyck hasn&rsquo;t played in 10 years. Boy, that&rsquo;s desperate. You&rsquo;re going with it, huh? Then so am 1. I&rsquo;ll let you know if I hear anything.&rdquo;Now, these are preliminary calls, just for background, of course. Next I get into my sources. Usually reliable sources, as I refer to them, although in reality I wouldn&rsquo;t turn my back on a single one of them.To protect myself from bad scoops, I have a rule. I have to hear a rumor from three independent sources before I&rsquo;ll print it. I make no exceptions about this and have even held information out of the paper for an extra day until I have a chance to confirm everything through my mother-in-law and my parking lot attendant.Now it takes years to develop the kind of top-level sources I have and I&rsquo;m not going to blow everything by telling you who they are. But I&rsquo;m going to give you some insight as to exactly how an experienced writer like me gets his stuff.We&rsquo;ll just call my management source by his code name: Cementhead.&ldquo;Yo, Cementhead, this is Greenberg. I hear the Kings might finally part with Bernie Nicholls. What do you hear? Rangers, huh? Yeah, I heard that, too. I heard Ogrodnick and Dahlen, but I really think it&rsquo;s going to be Kisio. That make any sense to you? Yeah? Good. I&rsquo;ll call you later.&rdquo;Then I dial Rogie Vachon.&ldquo;Everybody wants your good players,&rdquo; Rogie says. &ldquo;Phil asked me about a lot of mine. But let me tell you this, I&rsquo;m not making that deal. Not if I live to be 1,000 years old, if they make me walk across hot coals barefoot, not if they threatened my family with physical harm. I would not make that trade. Do you hear me? Never. Ever.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011442/5451848-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="339" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Okay, thanks Rogie.&rdquo;Then I write:Rogie Vachon did not deny that he has discussed Bernie Nicholls with the New York Rangers. Sources close to the Kings insist the Rangers are willing to part with winger John Ogrodnick and center Kelly Kisio.My favorite hockey player is Larry Trader. In baseball it used to be Cot Deal. I can&rsquo;t get enough of this stuff, and Monday. March 7 I settled down to what I thought for sure was going to be one of the all-time great days in the history of rumor-mongering.I had Andy Moog going to 15 cities, I had Keith Brown going for Dave Brown, going for Jeff Brown, going for Rob Brown, going for Doug Brown. I saw St. Louis pouring more good players down a funnel into Calgary and thought for sure the Blues were following up with a blockbuster that would give it all some meaning.The phone rang. It was Slats.&ldquo;Ranford?&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;Buy.&rdquo;The other phone rang. &ldquo;Curran?&rdquo; I said to Bill Torrey, &ldquo;Sell.&rdquo;&ldquo;Roberts?&rdquo; I said back into the first phone, &ldquo;Clarkie, what did you give upto Minnesota for him. A No. 4? Okay, take a No. 5, push for a conditional No. 4, cut your losses and take the tax writeoff.&rdquo;I thought for sure something better would come along. Instead, I waited. And waited. And waited. Jim Pavese&hellip;It was noon now&hellip;Charlie Bourgeois&hellip;1 p.m&hellip;Steve Weeks&hellip;2 p.m. then&hellip;Nothing.Nothing but the minutes counting down to the 3 o&rsquo;clock deadline. Fifteen&hellip;14&hellip;8&hellip;3&hellip;Please just one more deal, please. Now. It was down to seconds, my heart racing as the big hand neared the 12&hellip;I sat up in bed, sweating. It was all a dream.&ldquo;Who is Curt Giles?&rdquo; my wife asked. &ldquo;You were screaming something that sounded like &lsquo;Not Curt Giles again.&rsquo;&rdquo;Moe Mantha once ate some bad Chinese food before bed and, while he slept, got traded from Edmonton to Minnesota. Then he woke up and found out it was no nightmare.Lou Nanne had a dream that he traded Brian Bellows for a player named Cliff Norris&mdash;who didn&rsquo;t exist. He awoke on the edge of madness, and resigned.In my dream, I just wrote everything. Just as I heard it. According to reliable sources, of course. &#9632;

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Columnists

Counting Down The Frantic Final Hoursl

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021032/5451879-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="180" height="132"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;After much speculation about the departure of goalie Richard Brodeur, it finally happened.But the March 8 trade that sent Brodeur to Hartford and brought goalie Steve Weeks into a three-goaltender situation mystified many, including the 29-year-old Weeks. The Canucks said a month ago they had given up on the three-goalie system.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t understand the deal. It wasn&rsquo;t explained to me,&rdquo; said Weeks. He started three Vancouver games after the trade, allowing 14 goals for a 4.54 goals-against average. Overall, he was 6-9-6 with a 4.02 GAA.The Canucks were in the midst of an 11-game winless streak (0-10-1), allowing an average of five goals per game. The lone point was a 3-3 tie with Edmonton on March 12, leaving them eight points behind Los Angeles for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Smythe Division.The arrival of Weeks meant one of the other two goalies, Frank Caprice, (the third is Kirk McLean) didn&rsquo;t dress for a week. He joined defenseman Dave Richter, suspended 10 games for leaving the penalty box to enter a fight against the New York Islanders on March 8.Vancouver coach Bob McCammon&rsquo;s five-game suspension and $10,000 fine for allowing players to leave his bench during the fight was commuted to one game after general manager Pat Quinn appealed. The NHL fined the Canucks $25,000 rather than suspending McCammon.That turnaround was nothing compared to what went on in Vancouver&rsquo;s 7-5 loss to Buffalo on March 13. Referee Dave Newell left the game after he was struck in the head by Buffalo defenseman Joe Reekie&rsquo;s stick. Linesman Jim Christison replaced him.Six minutes into the third period, Mike Foligno appeared to score and give the Sabres a 5-2 lead. But Christ ison waved the goal off and play continued&mdash;during which time Vancouver right winger Tony Tanti had two excellent scoring chances&mdash;until the next whistle about two minutes later.Christison checked with the goal judge and awarded Foligno what proved to be the winning goal. By the time the whistle blew the Buffalo right winger was on the bench, but was awarded a goal at 8:10 of the period.Tanti was perplexed.&ldquo;I said to Christison, &lsquo;What would have happened if I had scored?&rsquo; He said it wouldn&rsquo;t have counted. I said, &lsquo;If we played two minutes without being able to score, why not put the time back up on the clock?&rsquo; But he said they couldn&rsquo;t do it. Then he threatened to give me a misconduct if I didn&rsquo;t leave.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Tony Tanti scored his ninth career hat trick, March 13 against Buffalo&hellip;Left winger Petri Skriko missed games against Edmonton ar^ Buffalo with the flu.<h2>CANUCKS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Richard Brodeur, G, traded to Hartford for Steve Weeks, G.March 9: John LeBlanc, LW, assigned to Fredericton (AHL); Ian Kidd, D, recalled from Fredericton.March 10: Dave Richter, D, suspended 10 games. Eligible to return for playoffs; Bob McCammon, coach, suspended five games and fined $10,000.March 12: McCammon suspension changed to $25,000 team fine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Barry Pederson, Brian Bradley, Doug Wickenheiser, Greg Adams.LW&mdash;Paul Lawless, Steve Tambellini, Petri Skriko, Ken Berry.RW&mdash;Tony Tanti, Rich Sutter, Peter Bakovic, Claude Vilgrain, Jim Sandlak.LD&mdash;Randy Boyd, Daryl Stanley, Jim Benning, Larry Melnyk.RD&mdash;Ian Kidd, Garth Butcher, Doug Lidster.G&mdash;Steve Weeks, Frank Caprice, Kirk McLean.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Bruce, RW, bruised foot, day-to-day.Dan Hodgson, C, fractured leg, out for season.Stan Smyl, RW, pulled groin, indefinitely. &#9632;

f0006-02

Weeks Confused About Trade To Canucks

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011287/5451910-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="178" height="134"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Talk about your good news-bad news weeks.Take astroll with the Edmonton Oilers and you&rsquo;ll undoubtedly agree the defending Stanley Cup champions could be labelled as authorities on the subject.The week started with the Oilers romping to a 6-0 victory over the Jets in Winnipeg. Early during the second period of the National Hockey League contest, word leaked out that the Oilers had made an important trade&mdash;dealing malcontent goalie Andy Moog to the Boston Bruins for promising young netminder Bill Ranford and 32-goal left winger Geoff Courtnall.Two nights later, Edmonton was playing at home in a match vital to its first-place aspirations. Not only were the Oilers upstaged 4-1 by the Montreal Canadiens, but the following day they discovered all-star defenseman Kevin Lowe had suffered a broken left wrist and could be lost up to two months.First, the trade.When Plan A went astray, Plan B&mdash;for Boston&mdash;immediately went into effect.Sather thought he had struck a deal sending Moog, 28, to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for rookie goalie Steve Guenette, 22, and a first-round draft pick. But, Penguin owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. scuttled the deal.Sather immediately turned to Bruin GM Harry Sinden with whom he discussed a trade last summer while the pair were fishing in the Arctic.&ldquo;We talked about Courtnall at the time, but I really didn&rsquo;t think we had a chance at him,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say Boston was our second choice either, because we&rsquo;ve had an option over the last couple of days.&rdquo;Besides adding another gun to their arsenal in the offensive Courtnall, the Oilers may have also solved their season-lond dilemma of finding a backup goaltender for workhorse and MVP candidate Grant Fuhr.Ranford, 21, was oustanding in his first start, turning aside 41 shots as the Oilers battled the Canucks to a 3-3 tie in Vancouver.Sather reserved judgement. &ldquo;He got stronger as the game wore on, but I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of guys come up and play great for a few games, then go into the tank. It was a good game for him to be in. He had a lot of shots and made a lot of good saves. He&rsquo;ll work in a few games until the end of the year.&rdquo;The way Courtnall, 25, viewed the situation, he was made for the Smythe Division.&ldquo;This division and this rink suit my style a lot more than the Garden did,&rdquo; he said of the smaller ice surface in Boston that virtually negates the neutral zone.Lowe&rsquo;s predicament wasn&rsquo;t treated with nearly the same enthusiasm.The veteran defenseman cracked a schapoid bone near his left wrist on the first shift of the third period. It&rsquo;s the same injury that kept Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Bob Errey out of the lineup for nearly an entire season.The good news for Lowe is that&mdash;unlike Errey&mdash;his thumb bone was not displaced. That has given the Oilers optimism that he could be ready to return to the lineup once the cast is removed and the injury is re-assessed.&ldquo;In my case, I&rsquo;m a quick healer,&rdquo; said Lowe, who was out only six games with a broken finger suffered the first week in March two years ago. &ldquo;I definitely can&rsquo;t play with this cast, but I could be fitted with a smaller one so I&rsquo;ll be able to grip my stick.&ldquo;The normal healing time is four to six (even up to eight weeks). But, if I can stand the pain, I could be back in two weeks.&rdquo; Steve Dykstra, whom the Oilers acquired a month earlier in a trade with Buffalo, assumed Lowe&rsquo;s spot in the lineup.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great, steady hockey player,&rdquo; said Sather of Lowe.NOTES&mdash;With the acquisition of Bill Ranford, goalie Daryl Reaugh was sent to Milwaukee of the International League&hellip;Mike Krushelnyski missed two games with a stiff back, while rugged Marty McSorley and Kevin McClelland served one-game suspensions. Each had accumulated three game misconducts&hellip;The Oilers also dealt minor-league forward Moe Lemay to Boston in exchange for right winger Alan May, a ruffian who had 357 penalty minutes with Maine in the American League, and a lower draft pick. May reported to Nova Scotia.<h2>OILERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Andy Moog, G, traded to Boston for Geoff Courntall, LW, and Bill Ranford, G.March 8: Moe Lemay, LW, traded to Boston for Allan May, RW.March 10: Daryl Reaugh, G, assigned to Milwaukee (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Keith Acton.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Dave Hannan, Esa Tikkanen, Mike Krushelnyski, Kelly Buchberger, Geoff Courtnall.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Marty McSorley, Kevin McClelland, Normand Lacombe.LD&mdash;Steve Smith, Charlie Huddy, Steve Dykstra.RD&mdash;Jeff Beukeboom, Craig Muni, Randy Gregg.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Lowe, D, broken left wrist, indefinite. &#9632;

f0007-01

Edmonton’s Week Has High And Lowe Points

THE NHL AND its owners have overlooked a great man who is retiring this year&mdash;linesman John D&rsquo;Amico.As a kid growing up in the Northeast, my most vivid memories are of Mr. D&rsquo;Amico striking an iron-cross pose, holding a heavyweight at the end of each arm, keeping them from battle.How often have you seen a player question a call by D&rsquo;Amico? You could count the incidents on one hand.Isn&rsquo;t it sad D&rsquo;Amico wasn&rsquo;t included in this year&rsquo;s All-Star Game? Wouldn&rsquo;t it have been great introducing him to fans the same way the players were at the beginning of the game? The only problem would have been announcer Dan Kelly running out of breath telling the fans all the great things this man has accomplished since joining the NHL in 1964.To let John D&rsquo;Amico leave hockey without honoring him would be one of the greatest mistakes of John Ziegler&rsquo;s tenure as NHL president.Michael Graback, Basking Ridge, N.J.(Ed. Note: John D&rsquo;Amico worked his last scheduled NHL game March 5, a contest between the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens. The NHL hasn&rsquo;t ruled out using him again this year should the need arise.)<h2>RATING ZIEGLER</h2>As a faithful THN reader, it has often puzzled me that I don&rsquo;t read more criticism of NHL president John Ziegler.It seems every time a controversial decision needs to be made, Ziegler hands it over to vicepresident Brian O&rsquo;Neill. Ziegler&rsquo;s stand on high-sticking and stick-swinging is inadequate, and how he can allow the NHL to continue with a playoff format which makes a mockery of the regular season, I&rsquo;ll never know.X-rays would show the man has no spine.David Puccini,&nbsp; Richmond Hill, Ont.<h2>WEAK COFFEY</h2>Stan Fischler&rsquo;s column in your Feb. 26 issue discussed Paul Coffey&rsquo;s impact on a team laden with talent. But what has Coffey done for the Penguins lately?Sure, Coffey was great with the high-flying Oilers, but even Ray Charles could score 50 points with Wayne Gretzky around. And while the Oilers have remained one of the premier teams in the NHL, the Penguins have gone into reverse.Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston mortgaged his team&rsquo;s future for a player concerned only with personal gain. Coffey&rsquo;s holdout from the Oilers demonstrated disregard for team spirit. Why anyone would want a player as selfish as Coffey&mdash;no matter what his talent&mdash;is beyond me.Jim Ritch,&nbsp; Gamerville, N. Y.<h2>CHECKING ON DAVE BROWN</h2>So, we take another look.Four months after readers continent-wide condemned Dave Brown for his cross-check of Ranger Tomas Sandstrom, we see Brown not only scoring game-winning goals for the Flyers and scoring seven goals in 10 games as of March 4, we see him with only 94 penalty minutes.Is this the same person fans said Was not a real hockey player? It is.Fans who condemned Brown should realize he is a member of the Flyers to play hockey, not because general manager Bob Clarke or coach Mike Keenan want him to fight. All I hear is a bunch of complainers who have failed to see Brown&rsquo;s true worth to the Flyer organization. The Flyers are winning, and Brown and the rest of the orange and black are scoring more, not fighting, these days.Marc Sheinkin, Cherry Hill, N.J.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Let your voice be heard. Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS. 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions.</blockquote> &#9632;

Don’t Let D’Amico Go Without Honoring Him

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011375/5451996-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Elston

Sixteen days after John Wallin&rsquo;s resignation as coach of the Sudury Wolves, he emerged to publicly answer allegations and questions raised about his past.Armed with a 15-page prepared statement on March 10, the former Ontario League coach offered his side to a bizarre story that climaxed with Wallin resigning amidst much controversy surrounding his war record in Vietnam.Wallin left the Wolves Feb. 23 after THE HOCKEY NEWS researched a March 4 story that contradicted previous articles about the coach&rsquo;s war record in Vietnam.At the press conference, Wallin said that much of what appeared in the London Free Press (Dec. 11, 1987) and THN (Feb. 12) about his days in Vietnam was actually true.He denied their veracity in the March 4 story.&ldquo;Rather than dealing with the specific accuracies of these stories I simply denied them as being true,&rdquo; said Wallin in his statement. &ldquo;In fact, subject to my comments on distortions on the re-telling of the stories, the stories are true.&ldquo;The mistake I made was denying the (war) stories and failing to deal with the accuracy of the specific stories. I should have realized that once these stories became public that I should have dealt with them rather than having denied them.&ldquo;I have done considerable reflection and I regret and apologize for not dealing with these stories in a forthright fashion.&ldquo;I had a strong determination that such matters ought not to be of a public nature that I merely blocked them out of my mind by simply denying them.&rdquo;As for war experiences attributed to him&mdash;including the belief he was a prisoner of war, which he later denied&mdash;Wallin said many of them are true or based in truth.However, he said he could not offer substantive proof.He said that his official U.S. Army records do not contain proof he was a POW because &ldquo;there is much going on in a war that is not officially part of the record.&rdquo;He added highly-classified records substantiate &ldquo;some of my Vietnam exploits.&rdquo; He said he would try to obtain those records.Three exploits detailed in the Feb. 12 issue of THN, and later described by Wallin in the March 4 issue as &ldquo;all in jest,&rdquo; were:&bull; An enemy solider popping up in front of him on his first day in Vietnam and his freezing while another U.S. solider fired and killed the enemy.&bull; A burlap sack, containing a live rat, being placed over his head when he was a POW and having to bite off its head.&bull; Carrying a wounded comrade more than 60 miles on his back.At the press conference, Wallin offered these comments on these specific incidents:&bull; On the enemy solider: &ldquo;That story is, in fact, true. The only correction that has to be made is that it did not take place on the first day. It did take place within the first few days of my tour of duty.&rdquo;&bull; On the rat: &ldquo;That story is, in fact, true, but it did not happen to myself, it happened to another soldier&hellip;it is understandable how some people might misunderstand and attribute something to myself when it should be attributed to somebody else.&rdquo;&bull; On carrying a wounded soldier 60 miles: &ldquo;This story is a perfect example of&hellip;stories becoming distorted and embellished when they are re-told over and over again. The truth is that this wounded soldier was carried for 60 miles but was carried by a number of individuals in a group, of which I was one.&rdquo;In addition to being awarded a Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Vietnam Service Medal, all mentioned in the March 4 THN story, he said that he also received three Army Commendation Medals, a Bronze Star for &ldquo;extraordinary heroism&rdquo; in saving the lives of three soldiers and a Certificate of Appreciation.&ldquo;There is the general impression left that I have either lied or exaggerated my Vietnam exploits,&rdquo; said Wallin. &ldquo;In fact, that is not true.&rdquo;Wallin also clarified his academic and athletic backgrounds, which were incorrectly reported by THN (March 4).Wallin provided documentation to prove he holds a Bachelor of Science, majoring in recreation and high school teaching, and a Masters of Science in physical education, both from Chicago State University. It was there that he was the captain of the varsity hockey team and one of its leading scorers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011333/5452027-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="588" height="1297"><figcaption class="caption-body">Torrie Robertson didn&rsquo;t succeed in derailing the French Connection.</figcaption></div>Wallin said Jim Cressman, who wrote both the Dec. 11 Free Press and Feb. 12 THN stories, never contacted him before writing the original story for the Free Press. Cressman, however, said he was in Wallin&rsquo;s office on Oct. 6, when the London Knights were in Sudbury to play the Wolves.Wallin said he had yet to read the Dec. 11 story in the Free Press, despite the fact that he was in London on the day the story appeared in the newspaper. Cressman said Wallin, agitated over the story&rsquo;s appearance, talked to him just before the game began that night.Wallin said he told Cressman that nothing further should be written concerning his experiences in Vietnam. Cressman said he received a phone call from Wallin in early January after the coach learned a story was scheduled to appear in THN.&ldquo;He (Wallin) called me in a panic,&rdquo; Cressman said. &ldquo;He said he had heard THE HOCKEY NEWS was going to do a story on him. He said, &lsquo;What are you going to write about?&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Basically the same stuff that was in the Free Press. He asked when it would be printed, I told him three or four weeks and he said he would talk to me Jan. 22 when the Wolves were in London again.&rdquo;Cressman said he met Wallin in the press box prior to the game.&ldquo;He (Wallin) told me he wanted two specific references from the Free Press story not included in THE HOCKEY NEWS story. He didn&rsquo;t want the part about his being on the Johnny Carson show or being an advisor on war movies and books included. He said it was because the U.S. Vietnam Veterans&rsquo; Administration had a lawsuit pending against the U.S. government on the use of Agent Orange and that it was sensitive material. At no time did he ever say not to print the other stuff, that it was wrong.&rdquo;When confronted with this information by THN editor-in-chief Bob McKenzie in mid-February, Wallin said it was correct. When asked why he didn&rsquo;t set the record straight after the Dec. 11 Free Press story, which he acknowledged reading, Wallin said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I should have. It&rsquo;s my fault.&rdquo;Wallin said he will remain in Sudbury until the school year is over, when his family (a wife and two children) will return to the Chicago area.<h2>BITS AND PIECES</h2>The Morristown, N.J., post office asked New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defenseman Randy Velischek to speak with its letter carrriers on how to avoid trips and falls on ice. Velischek was asked to speak after a higher-than-normal number of posties slipped and fell on their routes&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s Transamerica Productions has produced a video showing questionable calls involving the Quebec Nordiques since Dec. 1986. A March 4 survey conducted by Le Journal de Montreal showed that 89 per cent of Quebec City and 83 per cent of Montreal respondents felt the Nordiques were discriminated against by NHL on-ice officials. A total of 284 fans took part in the poll&hellip;Over 600 Canadians, a record number, played hockey overseas this season, according to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.<h2>OVERHEARD</h2>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the French Connection weekend and I&rsquo;m Gene Hackman.&rdquo;&mdash;Hartford enforcer Torrie Robertson, before the Whalers lost 5-0 at Montreal, March 12, and 4-1 at Quebec, March 13. &#9632;

f0009-01

Vietnam Stories True, Says Wallin

THERE HAVE BEEN few givens in hockey as sure as Wayne Gretzky winning the Hart Trophy.Just a glance tells us that &lsquo;The G-Man&rsquo; has eight pieces of Hart silver on his mantlepicce and the thinking is that No. 9 will be forthcoming this summer.If so. it will be a major miscarriage of justice.The trouble with trophy-picking is that it is often handled by incompetents who operate not so much by standards of quality as knee-jerk reaction. (The NHL Writers&rsquo; Association votes for all awards but the Adams, which goes to best coach, and Vezina, which goes to best goalie. They&rsquo;re chosen by broadcasters and league general managers, respectively.)It says here that some serious thinking should go into the voting for several awards this semester and that traditional favorites should be intensely scrutinized before they receive top billing.So, let&rsquo;s for a moment examine the odds-on favorites and then consider the darkhorses who really should be in the limelight.Hart Trophy: Favorite, Wayne Gretzky. Picking Gretzky has become institutional&mdash;and wrong. For one thing, he plays with an all-star cast. For another, the departure of Paul Coffey has put enormous pressure on the Oilers&rsquo; defense; which is where Kevin Lowe has produced a career year. Gretzky, at best, is a runner-up.My choice: Denis Savard.The reasons: No team&mdash;not even the Penguins&mdash;would suffer more by the loss of a player than the Blackhawks minus Savard. Consider some of his accomplishments: he reached the 100-point mark in his 57th game, earliest in Chicago history; he set another club mark by passing 100 points for the fifth time; he docs the job defensively; and he established a Blackhawk record with seven shorthanded goals.That he can&rsquo;t match Gretzky&rsquo;s numbers is of no consequence. The man is carrying his club and has pulled off a couple of goals this season that one doubts Gretzky would have the dexterity to duplicate.When it comes to the MVP, the voters should have a heart and give Savard the Hart. He deserves it.Norris Trophy: Favorite, Ray Bourque. There are few more compelling defensemen in the game and, heaven knows. Bourque has been a beauty for the Bruins, leading their scoring and organizing the power play. But there is such a thing as total defense, which includes robust bodychecking, nasty intimidation and cleansweeping of the crease and, sorry Bostonians, there&rsquo;s a chap who does the entire defensiveoffensive job better than Bourque.My choice: Scott Stevens.The reasons: The Norris Trophy is a prize that rewards offensive skills with delicious defense. That being the case, Stevens is better than Bourque, Paul Coffey and just about any blueliner you care to name. He has been one of Washington&rsquo;s leading scorers all year, has been a bulwark on defense, works the power play and does some of his best work when the Caps are two men short.Stevens rates above the traditional favorites because he adds a dimension that few can boast; he&rsquo;s scary tough and has learned how to use that quality to his advantage. The crazy-nut Scott we once knew&mdash;he&rsquo;d yell himself into a misconduct faster than you could say Tiger Williams&mdash;will now turn his cheek on an elbow to the kisser if he thinks it&rsquo;ll help the Caps. And I&rsquo;ve seen him do it more than once.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011414/5452058-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="336" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>If Stevens has a problem, it&rsquo;s that he&rsquo;s a lousy salesman and. no doubt, annoyed Mike Keenan somewhere along the way. Keenan leaving Stevens off Team Canada last summer and the all-star team this winter was absurd but typical of NHL partisan politics.I&rsquo;m not naive enough to believe that Stevens will win the Norris because public relations plays such an important role in the voting and, let&rsquo;s face it, Scott is not&mdash;unless you really get to know him&mdash;Mister Nice Guy. He is, however, the most multi-gifted defenseman in captivity and, for that, he rates the silver.Selke Trophy: Favorite. Guy Carbonneau or Steve Kasper. Here we have two splendid defensive forwards whose records are just about flawless. So, why quibble with either choice? Mostly because they&rsquo;re on powerful clubs which makes life easier for them than for a Seike candidate on a less-gifted team.My choice: Rick Meagher.Don&rsquo;t give me any of that &ldquo;Rick, who?&rdquo; nonsense. Meagher has been around for eight years, tirelessly doing exceptional defensive work up front while also potting the odd goal. Since he plays for the low-scoring Blues it&rsquo;s difficult for Meagher to post the generous numbers of Carbonneau or Kasper but the man is having the best season of his life and rates better attention than he receives.Lady Byng: Favorite, Wayne Gretzky for obvious reasons.My choice: Larry Robinson.The stupid aspect of the Byng is that writers have blinders on when they consider this prize for gentlemanly play. They always pick forwards. (The last defenseman to win it was Red Kelly, the Red Wing, in 1954. When Kelly took the Byng again as a Leaf in 1961, he was a center.) This is an idiotic situation which should be rectified. Robinson epitomizes everything that is virtuous about robust-but-clean hockey. And he&rsquo;s an expert defenseman, no less. It&rsquo;s criminal that he&rsquo;s never won the Byng.Can&rsquo;t Argue Dep&rsquo;t: I figure Grant Fuhr will win the Vezina, Joe Nieuwendyk the Calder and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly the Adams. They certainly deserve them although I have a soft spot for Jacques Demers as coach of the year again. &#9632;

f0010-01

Savard Should Be Winner Of Hart Trophy

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03704/5452089-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="583" height="934"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Bernie Nicholls was suspended five games for a high-sticking incident.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021084/5452096-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="185" height="131"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Bernie Nicholls was sent to the cooler just as he was getting hot.The Los Angeles King center had scored seven of his team&rsquo;s 18 goals during a four-game span when NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill handed him a five-game suspension for a high-sticking match penalty against Hartford defenseman Ulf Samuelsson on March 9.Since the Kings were still trying to fend off the last-place Vancouver Canucks and sew up a Smythe Division playoff spot, they appealed the decision and took advantage of the seven-day appeal period. This allowed Nicholls to play in two more games before beginning the suspension March 18.Nicholls, the Kings&rsquo; third-leading scorer with 32 goals and 42 assists in 62 games, hoped to avoid a suspension altogether but figured the worst he&rsquo;d receive was three games.&ldquo;I got hit in the head twice and I retaliated,&rdquo; said Nicholls, who received his penalty at 11:37 of the first period in a 5-4 Los Angeles loss.Nicholls missed 10 games in October with a broken finger. The Kings went 2-7-1 without him.Despite the time off, he has reached the 30-goal plateau for the fifth consecutive year.Nicholls met with O&rsquo;Neill in Montreal on March 11. Also attending the hearing were coach Robbie Ftorek, referee Terry Gregson and league supervisor Wally Harris, who watched the game from the Hartford Civic Center press box.O&rsquo;Neill said, &ldquo;Nicholls deliberately swung his stick at his opponent and acknowledged that he swung in retaliation for a check previously administered by the Hartford player. While he has not had a previous record of flagrant stick fouls and did not intend to injure Samuelsson, he is accountable for his actions.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was afraid of this,&rdquo; L. A. general manager Rogie Vachon said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed to lose a guy like Bernie Nicholls. He&rsquo;s playing so well at such a crucial time. It&rsquo;s just bad timing.&rdquo;The Kings led the last-place Canucks by eight points March 14 for the final Smythe playoff position. The Kings had eight games left, including a pair with Vancouver.Unless the Kings&rsquo; appeal was successful, Nicholls would miss a road game against Vancouver and home games with Detroit, the New York Islanders. Chicago and Calgary.He would return for the Kings&rsquo; final two games, April 1 in Calgary and April 3 in Edmonton.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see the tape, but Robbie had one and he gave me the play-by-play over the phone,&rdquo; Vachon said before O&rsquo;Neill rendered his decision. &ldquo;There was not much doubt. The stick went up too high near his (Samuelsson&rsquo;s) head.&rdquo;The last King to draw a suspension for stick swinging was goaltender Bob Janecyk, who received five games for slashing Philadelphia center Peter Zezel on Nov. 3, 1985.NOTES&mdash;The Kings scored four consecutive goals in the third period to defeat St. Louis 7-6 on March 13 for their first victory this season when trailing after two periods. They were 0-31-3 previously in that situation&hellip;Against Boston the night before, Bernie Nicholls scored with five seconds left to salvage a 3-3 tie&hellip;Right winger Jim Fox bruised his right knee in warmups before the St. Louis game, while defenseman Ken Hammond sprained his knee 2&frac12; minutes into that game&hellip;The Kings were still awaiting a decision from defenseman Craig Redmond, whom they wanted to report to New Haven of the American League. Redmond indicated he wasn&rsquo;t interested in coming back until next season. L.A. general manager Rogie Vachon hadn&rsquo;t talked with him. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t put a gun to his head and ask him to go,&rdquo; Vachon said.<h2>KINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 11: Bernie Nicholls, C, suspended five games for high-sticking match penalty March 9. Eligible to return April 1.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jimmy Carson, Mike Allison, Bob Bourne.LW&mdash;Lyle Phair, Luc Robitaille, Paul Fenton, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Dave Taylor, Bobby Carpenter, Craig Laughlin, Ron Duguay.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Dean Kennedy.LD&mdash;Tom Laidlaw, Ken Baumgartner, Larry Playfair.G&mdash;Rollie Melanson, Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jim Fox, RW, bruised knee, day-to-day.Ken Hammond, D, sprained knee, indefinite.Jay Wells, D, groin, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0010-03

Kings’ Nicholls Cooled Off By Suspension

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011291/5452127-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="177" height="136"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;It didn&rsquo;t take Brad Jones long to figure out he&rsquo;d walked into the middle of a heated prairie feud.The Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; rookie received his introduction to the Calgary FlamesWinnipeg Jets Smythe Division rivalry March 9-10. The normally-ugly war has become more intense than ever in the past two seasons as Winnipeg has seized the upper hand.The 6-foot, 180-pounder can hardly be called a physical player, but was caught in the middle of things, battling with the likes of Jim Peplinski and Tim Hunter. The teams fought to a 6-6 draw in Winnipeg March 9, before a 5-3 Flames&rsquo; win the next night in Calgary.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something new for me,&rdquo; the 22-year-old University of Michigan graduate admitted, &ldquo;but I catch on real quick. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m anxious to enjoy.&rdquo;Winnipeg won the season series 4-31.Jones, cut by the U.S. Olympic team on the eve of the Calgary Games, was among the best players in both games.&ldquo;I was really chomping at the bit,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;I wanted to get in there. I just want to keep playing and keep doing what coach (Dan) Maloney wants me to do.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;The last time I had my gloves off was my first year of junior. But I&rsquo;m gonna take a few lessons&hellip;&rsquo; &mdash;Jones</blockquote>The speed of Jones, who has played primarily at center for the Jets, should make his adjustment to the pros easier than most. His puck sense and shot are also assets.One thing he&rsquo;ll have to work on, though is physical presence. He dropped his gloves for the first time as a pro against Calgary&rsquo;s Rob Ramage and barely lived to tell about it.&ldquo;The last time I had my gloves off was my first year of junior,&rdquo; he said with a smile. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m gonna take a few lessons from Schoey (Jets&rsquo; tough guy Dwight Schofield).&ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;ll get better.&rdquo;Jones wasn&rsquo;t the only Jet to get his feet wet against the Flames. Defenseman Guy (rhymes with sky) Gosselin, another U.S. Olympian, made his debut last week.After a nervous first period, the University of Minnesota-Duluth product looked right at home behind the Winnipeg blue line in a pairing with veteran Mario Marois. Gosselin isn&rsquo;t large (5-foot-10, 185) but is powerful. He won&rsquo;t score much but he will make a case for himself in front of his own goal.Both rookies will receive plenty of ice time because the Jets are on automatic pilot. Winnipeg can&rsquo;t catch Edmonton or Calgary for second place and won&rsquo;t be caught by Los Angeles or Vancouver for third. As a result, Maloney was in the mood to experiment.Although the moves may pay off in the future, they didn&rsquo;t yeild a single win. Winnipeg lost 6-0 to Edmonton, had the tie and loss with Calgary and dropped a 5-4 decision to Pittsburgh to close the week March 13.NOTES&mdash;Dave Ellett&rsquo;s severely-bruised thigh was slow to heal&hellip;Jim Kyte, out of the lineup for the better part of a month with a sore back, was placed in a body cast. A trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., revealed a slight fracture. The cast was to be removed at the end of March and his situation re-evaluated then&hellip;Hannu Jarvenpaa, routinely left out of uniform in recent weeks, returned March 13 against Pittsburgh&hellip;Steve Penney went the distance in goal against the Penguins, his first start since returning from the minors. That broke a string of 26 straight appearances by Daniel Berthiaume&hellip;Paul MacLean scored four times against Calgary and added another against Pittsburgh, giving him eight in eight days.<h2>JETS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Rights to John Blue, G, of U.S. Olympic team, traded to Minnesota for a seventh-round choice in 1988 entry draft.March 14: Pokey Reddick, G, recalled from Moncton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Laurie Boschman, Brad Jones, Ron Wilson.RW&mdash;Paul MacLean, Andrew McBain, Ray Neufeld, Mark Kumpel, Hannu Jarvenpaa.LW&mdash;Steve Rooney, lain Duncan, Randy Gilhen, Doug Smail, Gilles Hamel, Dwight Schofield.LD&mdash;Randy Carlyle, Guy Gosselin, Brad Berry.RD&mdash;Mario Marois, Fredrik Olaus-son, Peter Taglianetti, Tim Watters.G&mdash;Daniel Berthiaume, Steve Penney, Pokey Reddick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Ellett, D, bruised thigh, March 24.Jim Kyte, D, sore back, April 1. &#9632;

f0011-01

Jones Gets Rough Welcome To Wild West

Jeffrey Farkas, 10, is a center on the Amherst, N.Y., major mite AAA travel team.Jeffrey has been the major mite&rsquo;s team captain the last two seasons, earning the designation through good sportsmanship and hard work.He has played several positions for the major mites, but has proven himself to be an outstanding center. He has led the team in scoring two straight years.His favorite team is the Montreal Canadiens but when it comes to his favorite player he looks to a fellow center, Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux.Jeffrey is in Grade 4 and is an excellent student who is active in school intramural and library programs.In the off-season he enjoys swimming, golfing and summer hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02961/5452158-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="564" height="1137"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEFFREY FARKAS</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

FROM MARCH, 1982, to September, 1985, Mark Johnson was traded for future Hall-of-Famers Tim Hrynewich, Jordy Douglas, Jorgen Pettersson and Shawn Evans.Would you trade Captain America for a slug? The NHL did&mdash;four times.For reasons best left to swap-happy GMs who measure size in terms of inches not seriousness of purpose, the NHL mysteriously has shunned Johnson, the all-American boy.To be perfectly straight with you, I had covered the NHL for almost 10 years and didn&rsquo;t know that players ate cheeseburgers and drank milkshakes after games until I met Johnson.In nine pro seasons, Johnson has been shipped from Pittsburgh to Minnesota to Hartford to St. Louis to New Jersey, his current home. For those who suspect that Johnson will not be one of the Devils&rsquo; better players now that the blue chips have come on the table. I&rsquo;ve got four words:You can bet me.In 1983-84, I saw Johnson get 35 goals and 87 points for a bad Hartford team, and here&rsquo;s the important part. He didn&rsquo;t do anything outstanding. He wasn&rsquo;t spectacular. He had no great 10-game runs. All he did was play.In 201 games with Hartford, Johnson scored 203 points. When he was traded along with Greg Millen for Mike Liut and Pettersson Feb. 21, 1985, he wept.In a game in which it is impossible to care too much, Johnson&rsquo;s greatest sin in Hartford was that he cared too much.He is the son of a coach. Nothing can change that. Knowing how much his father valued preparation, communication and motivation. Johnson was appalled by the shortage of those things in Hartford. Finally, he criticized coach Jack Evans publicly. Then he was traded.&ldquo;I was trying to help, not hurt.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought that was pretty obvious, but it didn&rsquo;t come out that way. The one thing I learned is that the game goes on.&rdquo;At 30. Johnson has reached the other side of midnight. With his playing career winding down, he now can set his sights on becoming what he has always been, at least in his heart&mdash;a coach.And what better team for Johnson and his father, Badger Bob Johnson, to coach than the 1992 U.S. Olympic team?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an outside possibility,&rdquo; Mark says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been around the international game so long I certainly think I could help the players.&rdquo;Bob Johnson liked to describe himself as a &ldquo;career coach.&rdquo; As executive director of AHAUS, he has been entrusted with the development of American hockey. In my mind, he can do more in the trenches than he can in the front office.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011389/5452189-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="418" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">Randy Smith</figcaption></div>So, here&rsquo;s my suggestion: Let&rsquo;s give Badger back his notebook, put him behind the bench where he belongs, bring in Mark to help him and summon John Philip Sousa to strike up a chorus of &ldquo;The Stars and Stripes Forever.&rdquo;Entrusting American hockey to the Wisconsin Johnsons, to me, makes a lot of sense. I mean, does anyboy care more about American hockey than the Wisconsin Johnsons?&ldquo;Everybody thinks they&rsquo;re the Waltons, but they fight and argue like everybody else,&rdquo; says Dave McNab, a Whaler scout who roomed with Mark and played for Badger at Wisconsin in the late &lsquo;70s.For both father and son. those were golden days. They plotted and dreamed of winning an NCAA championship, and then went out and won.&ldquo;In our house with the way my father was, I never thought of being anything but a hockey player,&rdquo; Mark said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got some great memories.&rdquo;Badger Bob waited until hs son graduated before joining the pros as coach of the Calgary Flames. For Mark, there was one more goal before turning pro&mdash;the 1980 Olympics.&ldquo;That was the greatest thrill of my like,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything can top it, not even winning the Stanley Cup. I&rsquo;ve got a gold medal for beating the Russians. No one can ever take that away.&rdquo;The NHL, on the other hand, has tried to take some things away from Johnson, namely, his confidence and self-respect. Fill-in players and fourth-liners have been treated better. But there&rsquo;s one thing that Johnson possesses that nobody, not even the NHL, can touch&mdash;a natural happiness that comes from clean living, nonstop energy and a college sweetheart, Leslie, who grew up to be the mother of his children.Passing that on to American youth is what Mark Johnson was made for. There can be no better selection for coaches on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team than the Badger and his kid.Heck, America would be starting with the best battery there ever was&mdash;father and son. &#9632;

f0012-01

Johnson & Johnson: An Ideal Combo For USA

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021159/5452220-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="177" height="134"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;For 67 games, Herb Brooks watched the mistakes, the lapses, the losses&hellip;and through it all, he may have questioned his players&rsquo; &ldquo;focus&rdquo; and talent, but never their effort or desire.In Game 68, a 6-2 loss to Buffalo that extended the Stars&rsquo; latest losing streak to seven games, he dropped the gloves.He waited for reporters to gather in his office after the March 9 game. With owner Gordon Gund and newly-named team president Lou Nanne in the room, Brooks blasted away.&ldquo;Either we are absolutely brutal or we don&rsquo;t give a damn,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a team with a chance to do something go belly-up like this. Never in 16 years of coaching. Now I know why Lou Nanne has stress attacks. I cannot believe this group of athletes. Down the stretch, I&rsquo;m playing three rookies. We got a bunch of guys who like to practice. I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like this.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got two games in hand, we&rsquo;re fighting for a playoff spot and what do we do? I hope some of these people back up to the paycheck window. If I had anything to do with it, I&rsquo;d stop payment on some of the checks. Our pride is at stake and it&rsquo;s, &lsquo;Adios, pull the golden parachute.&rsquo; I have seen it all. I&rsquo;ve seen 70 games and I have seen it all.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether to call (NHL) Central Scouting or the FBI and file missing persons reports.&rdquo;In the middle of his tirade, Brooks asked Nanne if he had any stress pills left. Nanne said he had none. When he was done, Brooks went into a bathroom adjoining his office and, for final effect, slammed the door, leaving reporters, Gund and Nanne in silence.The Stars read the comments in the newspapers the next day and heard Brooks&rsquo; lectures on personal pride and then went out and snapped the losing streak with a 6-3 victory over Pittsburgh at Met Center. The Stars trailed 3-1 early in the second period, then clicked off five straight goals. Marc Habscheid&mdash;the former Team Canada forward who was signed late last month&mdash;and Dave Gagner scored two goals each. Rookie Dave Archibald broke a 3-3 tie with the winning goal at 11:13 of the third period. The loss ended the Stars&rsquo; losing streak against the Penguins at eight games, dating back to late in the 1984-85 season.Earlier in the week, Nanne, as expected, was promoted to team president. He will handle both president and general manager duties until a new GM is found. Nanne will be in charge of the finance, marketing and sales, broadcast and building operations for both the Stars and Met Center.NOTES&mdash;The Stars sent minorleague defenseman Chris Pryor and future considerations to the New York Islanders for Gord Dineen. The deal could be expanded once the season ends&hellip;One day before the deadline, the Stars acquired the rights to former University of Minnesota and Team USA goalie John Blue from Winnipeg for a 1988 seventh-round draft choice. Blue was signed and sent to the Stars&rsquo; Kalamazoo farm club&hellip;Rookie defenseman Shawn Chambers and Craig Hartsburg underwent shoulder surgery on consecutive days. Both are expected to be ready when training camp opens in September.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Rights to John Blue, D, acquired from Winnipeg for a seventhround draft choice in 1988.March 8: Chris Pryor, D, traded to New York Islanders with future consid-erations for defenseman Gord Dineen; Blue signed and assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL); Mike Berger, D, assigned to Kalamazoo; Mitch Messier, RW, and John Barrett, D, recalled from Kalamazoo.<h2>ROSTER</h2>C&mdash;Marc Habscheid, Dave Archibald, Bob Brooke, Brian Lawton.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Basil McRae, Brian MacLellan, Richard Zemlak.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Pat Micheletti, Dave Gagner, Wally Schreiber, Mitch Messier.LD&mdash;Curt Giles, Frantisek Musil, Gord Dineen.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Moe Mantha, John Barrett.G&mdash;Kari Takko, Don Beaupre, Jon Casey.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Neal Broten, C, reconstructive shoulder surgery Feb. 17, out for season.Scott Bjugstad, LW, knee surgery, indefinite.Shawn Chambers, D, shoulder surgery, out for season.Curt Fraser, LW, viral infection, out for season.Craig Hartsburg, D, shoulder surgery, out for season.Tom Hirsch, D, shoulder, indefinite.Dennis Maruk, C, surgery to repair shattered knee cap Feb. 21, out for the season.Terry Ruskowski, LW, torn knee ligaments, indefinite. &#9632;

f0012-02

Brooks Unleashes Verbal Assault On Stars

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03774/5452251-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="179" height="136"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Have the Chicago Blackhawks learned from history, or are they doomed to repeat it?Historical precedent says the Hawks&rsquo; best days of 1987-88 are behind them, and the stretch drive will be a season-ending slump. Last year&rsquo;s finish was 2-7-2.The Hawks have a history of playing their best between the all-star break and trade deadline (March 8 this year), then collapsing.Over the past five seasons, their record between the break and deadline is 35-23-8 for a. 591 percentage, compared to an overall winning percentage of. 516.But from the trade deadline to end of season, they had slumped to 23-30-6 (.441).This year, the Hawks were 5-4-2 after the All-Star Game. After the deadline, they split a home-and-home series with Toronto and beat Philadelphia at home, before embarking on a three-game road trip. Poor finishes in the last two seasons have led to embarrassments in the first round of the playoffs.Chicago has made no major deals the last five years at the deadline.&ldquo;Maybe there is a sigh of relief,&rdquo; said coach Bob Murdoch. &ldquo;The week before the deadline is disruptive. To me, if a player has been worried about being moved, now there are no more distractions.&rdquo;Murdoch said the return of injured defenseman Keith Brown and right winger Wayne Presley, plus the addition of defenseman Trent Yawney from the Canadian Olympic team, should serve the same purpose as a trade.General manager Bob Pulford said he was close to three deals, and actually expected to make a deal for a much-needed center until the other (unnamed) club ran into injury problems.&ldquo;It would have helped us,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little upset. It was a one-for-one deal. They never said &lsquo;No.&rsquo; They kept saying if their injury situation was okay, they would make the deal.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Left winger Steve Thomas, troubled with injuries all season, remained out with a shoulder separation. He was expected back during the three-game trip to St. Louis, Philadelphia and Montreal&hellip;A 6-4 loss at Toronto March 12 ended goaltender Darren Pang&rsquo;s five-game winning streak against the Leafs. The Hawks finished the season series 5-3-0 against Toronto&hellip;Rick Vaive scored his 40th goal of the season March 12 against his old team, Toronto. It was the fourth time in his career he scored 40 or more-&hellip;Goaltender Bob Mason&rsquo;s overtime victory over Philadelphia March I was his second win in 13 starts (2-6-5).<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Troy Murray, Brian Noonan, Steve Ludzik.LW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dan Vincelette, Everett Sanipass, Glen Cochrane.RW&mdash;Rick Vaive, Dirk Graham, Wayne Presley, Duane Sutter.LD&mdash;Trent Yawney, Marc Bergevin, Dave Manson, Gary Nylund.RD&mdash;Keith Brown, Behn Wilson, Bob Murray, Bob McGill.G&mdash;Darren Pang, Bob Mason.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Steve Thomas, LW, shoulder separation, March 17.Doug Wilson, D, shoulder surgery, out for season. &#9632;

f0012-03

Hawks Hope To Finish Year With Flourish For A Change

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT MORRISON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02951/5452282-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="576" height="1162"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Ihnacak fulfilled a friend&rsquo;s dream by scoring three goals against Chicago.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011310/5452289-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="176" height="144"></div>TORONTO&mdash;The Toronto Maple Leafs may be dull, but they&rsquo;re seldom predictable.The Maple Leafs ended a six-game losing streak, which matched a season high, with a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks March 12 at the Gardens. It was a victory that arrived on the night of full-moon ambience, when both the Leafs and Minnesota North Stars were victorious.&ldquo;It was almost do or die for us,&rdquo; center Peter Ihnacak said. &ldquo;We knew what we had to do.&rdquo;And Ihnacak, who scored three goals that night, knew what he would do. A friend, convalescing in a Toronto hospital after suffering a heart attack, told Ihnacak he had a dream the Leafs&rsquo; center would score three goals against Chicago.&ldquo;Three shifts, maybe,&rdquo; deadpanned Ihnacak. &ldquo;But three goals?&rdquo;Despite being scratched four nights earlier in Chicago, the 30-year-old Czechoslovak expatriate played a prominent role in the victory, adding an assist to his hat trick. Ihnacak worked effectively on a line with sophomore left winger Vincent Damphousse, who collected a career-high five assists, and Gary Leeman, who had a goal and an assist.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;All season I&rsquo;ve been on the fourth line and not getting much playing time. It&rsquo;s hard to accomplish too much.&rsquo; &mdash;Ihnacak</blockquote>Neither Damphousse nor Ihnacak has played especially well, or often, this season. Ihnacak was given the opportunity against the Blackhawks only because centers Tom Fergus and Dan Daoust were injured. Fergus suffered bruised ribs March 9 in Chicago, while Daoust strained ligaments in his right ankle March 8 in St. Louis.&ldquo;I got lots of ice time and my play improved,&rdquo; said Ihnacak, who also scored in a 3-2 loss in St. Louis, giving him four goals in two games. &ldquo;All season I&rsquo;ve been on the fourth line and not getting much playing time. It&rsquo;s hard to accomplish too much.&rdquo;Damphousse was impressive in his rookie season, with 21 goals and 25 assists, but has struggled most of this season. The five assists gave him 10 goals and 31 assists in 66 games.&ldquo;It has been an up-and-down year&mdash;but mostly down,&rdquo; said the 20-year-old. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t scored as much as I would like. Hopefully I can have a good playoff and forget the season, start over.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing with a lot more confidence. Ice time hasn&rsquo;t been a problem, but I just haven&rsquo;t gotten it going.&rdquo;There was speculation the Leafs might acquire a forward or two prior to the trade deadline, but all they did was give up a sixth-round draft pick in 1988 to obtain 24-year-old defenseman Brian Curran from the New York Islanders. Coach John Brophy felt the price was right for the gamble, and hoped Curran would add muscle in front of the goal.Prior to the deadline, the Leafs listened to the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; offer of defenseman Garth Butcher for center Russ Courtnail, while the New York Rangers talked about dealing for Fergus. The Leafs, however, had decided to stand pat until the end of the season, then revamp the lineup.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious something has to be done,&rdquo; said Brophy. &ldquo;But one or two deals aren&rsquo;t going to make a difference. We need an overhaul.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Goalie Allan Bester, who missed 14 games with a strained knee, returned March 12 to serve as backup to Ken Wregget. Wregget had started 18 consecutive games&hellip;Peter Ihnacak&rsquo;s third goal against Chicago was No. 100 of his career&hellip;Leafs raised playoff ticket prices from $3 to $11, with the range from $13 to $38&hellip;CHCH-TV in Hamilton announced it will drop the Leafs&rsquo; midweek games next season because of low ratings and high rights costs.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Mike Blaisdell, RW, and Marty Dallman, RW, recalled from Newmarket (AHL).March 8: Brian Curran, D, acquired from the New York Islanders for a sixth-round pick in the 1988 entry darft.March 10: Blaisdell and Ted Fauss, D, assigned to Newmarket.March 12: Jeff Reese, G, assigned to Newmarket.March 13: Dallman assigned to Newmarket.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Russ Courtnall, Peter Ihnacak, Ken Yaremchuk, Greg Terrion.LW&mdash;Al Secord, Vincent Damphousse, Mark Osborne, Dave Semenko.RW&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Gary Leeman, Sean McKenna, Dale DeGray.LD&mdash;Borje Salming, Todd Gill, Luke Richardson.RD&mdash;Brian Curran, Rick Lanz, Al la-frate.G&mdash;Ken Wregget, Allan Bester.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark, LW, back, out for season.Dan Daoust, C, strained ligamentsin right ankle, indefinite.Tom Fergus, C, bruised ribs, day-to-day.Mirko Frycer, RW, knee, March 19.Chris Kotsopoulos, D, groin muscle, out for season.Brad Smith, RW, back, indefinite. &#9632;

f0013-02

Ihnacak Plays Dream Game For Maple Leafs

<div class="byline">BY JEFF HALE Editorial Staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011365/5452320-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div>As shrines go, the Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is more a chapel than cathedral.The Toronto hall is located in its original 18,000-square-foot building on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds and has 6,500 square feet of display area.The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., has more space (9,000 square feet) set aside for stairways, halls and elevators.While the halls for basketball, football and baseball have been renovated or expanded several times in their history&mdash;the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, has grown to a four-building complex over the last 17 years&mdash;very little has changed at the National Hockey League&rsquo;s official Hockey Hall of Fame.Oh sure, there are 26 flag poles outside the building, where six stood when it opened in 1961. And the filing cabinets have multiplied from seven to 50.But the display area has never been expanded. In fact, it&rsquo;s been reduced slightly, with the installation of showcases.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s worse now,&rdquo; laments curator Lefty Reid. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s less on the walls and we have a fair bit of stuff in the basement.&rdquo;As you enter the hall&rsquo;s main room the first thing you see isn&rsquo;t a hockey stick but a silver spade, used by Cyclone Taylor at the official sod-turning August 26, 1961. Cyclone should have kept digging. The hall could have used the extra space.There is a claustrophobic feeling about today&rsquo;s hall. The aisles aren&rsquo;t much wider than those in a grocery store, and exhibits seem disjointed. A Wayne Gretzky display, which includes his first pair of skates, is shoe-homed in just steps away from a King Clancy display.The Naismith Hall is 47,000 square feet, of which 27,900 (about 60 per cent) is dedicated to displays. The football hall is 51,000 square feet; 23,000 (43 per cent) for display. The hockey hall uses just 36 percent of its space to showcase the game&rsquo;s greatest treasures.Even the National Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis has more display area&mdash;35,000 square feet, or 70 per cent of its 50,000 square feet.The NHL brass promises to rectify the space problem.Hall president lan (Scotty) Morrison says plans are in the works to relocate &ldquo;in two or three years,&rdquo; to Bell Canada Enterprises Place, a downtown Toronto office complex now under construction. The NHL owns 50,000 square feet at BCE Place.The only building on the site now is the century-old Bank of Montreal, which, Morrison says, the hall plans to restore as part of its new center. The rest of the new space will be on BCE Place&rsquo;s lower concourse level.The old Bank of Montreal will become hockey&rsquo;s memory bank.When Morrison assumed the job of president three years ago, his mandate was to modernize the hall.&ldquo;We had no place to expand to and do what we really wanted to do,&rdquo; he says. But the new building, a &ldquo;cathedral for the icons of hockey,&rdquo; should help.NHL executives, satisfied the hall&rsquo;s problems will soon be behind it, won&rsquo;t be drawn into lengthy discussions about the current site&rsquo;s shortcomings.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t really get in the situation of comparing ourselves with other halls,&rdquo; says executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill, the hall&rsquo;s chairman of the board. &ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t going to generate the type of (visiting) traffic where we are right now. We have our own problems and we know what they are.&rdquo;Such as attendance&mdash;even though admission is only $2 tops for all but the three weeks in August and September when the CNE is on and fans are admitted free.During the Exhibition, about 110,000 people visit the hall. Throughout the remaining 11 months of the year, only 30,000 to 35,000 visit. Reid said a low of 20,000 visited the Hockey Hall in 1984 when the exhibition wasn&rsquo;t on.The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., meanwhile, set an attendance record of 280,000 last year. Admission for adults is $5. Attendance was 150,000 at the Naismith Hall ($5) and 200,000 at the Pro Football Hall ($4). The National Bowling Hall ($3) drew 100,000&mdash;more than triple its average number.The Toronto hall is certainly not over-priced, even amongst hockey halls of fame. The United States Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minn., where about 12,000 visit a year, charges $2.25. And the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ont., charges $2. It attracts up to 9,000 annually.One reason for the troubles is the hall&rsquo;s location. The CNE grounds are note well-traveled. Few visit unless the annual fair is on or the Toronto Blue Jays are playing across the road at Exhibition Stadium.Pedestrian traffic is minimal, a problem that should be solved at BCE Place. It&rsquo;s in a busy part of Toronto, close to the new 60,000-seat SkyDome, scheduled for completion in 1989.Morrison calls the new site &ldquo;absolutely fantastic.&rdquo;It was decided upon after a number cities made inquiries about becoming home to the new Hockey Hall of Fame. Calgary, New York and Buffalo expressed early interest, but only Montreal, Toronto and Peterborough were serious contenders.Peterborough?&ldquo;A lot of people laughed at Peterborough, but they were really determined,&rdquo; says Morrison. &ldquo;They based it on Cooperstown, which is a sleepy little town in New York.&rdquo;When Bill Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to Toronto mayor Art Eggleton, heard the hall might be moving, he recommended BCE Place to Morrison in the summer of 1986.The location settled, Morrison spent his first year looking for ideas at Expo &lsquo;86, Disney World&rsquo;s Epcot Centre and other halls of fame. He concluded the hall&rsquo;s methods have become stagnant. Among the changes being considered for the new hall are:<h2>Updated Displays</h2>Many halls are moving towards participatory exhibits, which make the visitor part of the game. The Naismith Hall has touchscreen video displays and a moving sidewalk from which visitors shoot at baskets of varying heights. The baseball hall is considering using new space for pitching and batting machines, and the football hall has thought about a kicking exhibit.There&rsquo;s nothing like that at the hockey hall&mdash;but if you like sweaters, sticks and pucks, there&rsquo;s enough to start a six-team league and its farm system.The 250 sweaters in the hall include Eddie Shore&rsquo;s 1932 Boston Bruin jersey, a 1934-35 St. Louis Eagle sweater, a moth-eaten 1937 Lionel Conacher sweater from the Howie Morenz benefit game, a collection of 25 WHA sweaters from teams such as the Calgary Cowboys, the Toronto Toros and the Los Angeles Sharks, and international sweaters from past world championships and Canada Cups.The Hall has more than 500 sticks. Among those displayed include the one Gretzky used for his record-setting 92nd goal in 1981-82, and the one Bill Mosienko used to score the fastest three goals (21 seconds) in NHL history March 23, 1952.Reid says there are &ldquo;boxes and boxes&rdquo; of pucks, including one that lasted an entire game in a 6-6 Los Angeles-Minnesota tie in 1979-80.But Morrison wants action.&ldquo;No longer can you have the static display,&rdquo; says Morrison. &ldquo;You want to have people coming back two and three times.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s enthusiastic about a live-action simulation system developed by a company named Enterprise Square USA. Through video and laser technology. Morrison says, a visitor can feel what it&rsquo;s like to referee a game or defend against Wayne Gretzky.<h2>Improved Marketing</h2>Peter Smith, registrar at the baseball hall, attributes its attendance boom to &ldquo;an awful lot of PR (public relations) work for eight or nine years. Before, it was kind of hit-or-miss. Now we get the word out through TV, radio, magazines, newspapers and the various ball clubs. The words, &lsquo;hall of fame,&rsquo; are getting to more people, especially through the official baseball family.&rdquo;The football hall is promoted on televised National Football League games and in team programs, something the NHL does not do. The Naismith Hall has a New York-based company handle its marketing.Though Morrison says the NHL &ldquo;is totally committed to the new hall,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill is vague about marketing strategy.&ldquo;I think this (marketing) is an area we have not exploited aggressively. We certainly plan to become more of a participant. We don&rsquo;t really know to what extent.&ldquo;When we get organized, there will be a whole marketing and advertising program. We&rsquo;ll become far more active. We&rsquo;re just in a holding pattern now.&rdquo;<h2>Special Events</h2>Baseball has had a hall-of-fame game at 10,000-seat Doubleday Field since its first induction ceremonies in 1939, and basketball has separate college and pro hall-of-fame games. Both games are played in the 10,000-seat Springfield Civic Center; last year&rsquo;s college game in late November was sold out the previous July I. &ldquo;We probably could have sold double the tickets,&rdquo; says Naismith Hall curator Mike Brooslin.The football game is the first NFL exhibition of the season, and is played across the street from the hall at a high school field which holds a standing-room-only crowd of 24,000.Morrison would like the annual induction ceremonies held in Toronto each year as part of a weekend of activities, which would include a hall-of-fame game, a sports celebrity golf tournament, a public meet-the-inductees luncheon and a black-tie induction dinner.&ldquo;This should have been done long before this,&rdquo; says Morrison. &ldquo;All of these areas will be attended to.&rdquo;<h2>Sponsorship</h2>The hockey hall&rsquo;s current budget of $300,000 to $350,000 is underwritten by the NHL&mdash;except for about $20,000. which the CNE pays for heat, electricity and water.There has been occasional corporate help, but the hockey hall does not receive any other funding besides admission. And ironically, the hall is prohibited&mdash;as per terms of an agreement with the CNE&mdash;from charging during the Exhibition, its busiest period.&ldquo;This has always been a deficit operation.&rdquo; Reid says. &ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t trying to make money. You take six people&rsquo;s salaries out of that budget and it breaks down pretty small.&rdquo;The Naismith Hall maintains connections with many corporations, such as Spalding, adidas and the Miller Brewing Co. In 1984 it set a fund-raising target of $3.5 million for the move to its new building in June. 1985. It passed that and has kept on going, says Brooslin, who notes corporations contributed &ldquo;very heavily.&rdquo; The Naismith Hall also enlists corporate fundraising help for its $1,5-million annual operating budget.The NHL could also use corporate help. Morrison says, for special projects such as the proposed 100- to 200-seat theatre and travelling hockey hall exhibit.<h2>Mobile Exhibits</h2>The football hall&rsquo;s mobile exhibit has been seen by about 30 million people in its five years on the road, says Don Smith, that hall&rsquo;s vicepresident of public relations.Morrison likes the idea of a travelling hall exhibit. The response to hockey hall exhibits at Quebec City during the Rendez-vous series and Detroit at the NHL entry draft were encouraging.&ldquo;I have a personal goal that I would like to see it travel Canada&mdash;Newfoundland to Victoria (B.C.),&rdquo; he says. Memorial Cup organizers in Chicoutimi. Que., have inquired about moving hockey hall exhibits there for the Memorial Cup. May 7-14.Education and entertainment will be emphasized in the new hall.Morrison plans more displays on international hockey and minor hockey &ldquo;to generate and rekindle interest at the youth level.&rdquo; And he wants to establish a branch of the Calgary-based Centre of Excellence at the Hall, so coaches and players can learn skill and technique as well as the game&rsquo;s history.So will it reach shrine status?&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have to make any apology for it,&rdquo; says Morrison. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a definite asset for the city.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be world-class. We&rsquo;re determined to make it the tops in sports hall of fames. There&rsquo;s no point in committing all that space if it can&rsquo;t be professionally and efficiently operated.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

Hall Overcrowded But Not With Fans

THE HOCKEY HALL of Fame is nothing if not starving for publicity.That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s time the hall went public with its selection process. Of all the major team sports&mdash;hockey, baseball, football and basketball&mdash;hockey generates the least interest with announcement of its Hall-of-Fame entrants.Cooperstown controversy seems unending. Holy Cow! Will Phil Rizzuto ever be named to the Baseball Hall of Fame? What about Roger Maris? Don&rsquo;t he and his asterisk deserve recognition? And will the baseball writers of America ever forgive Joe Jackson?There were football frenzies over the length of time it took quarterbacks Joe Namath and Fran Tarkenton to earn enshrinement. Each of them was rejected twice. Both converted third-and-short situations.And the braying continues over the exclusion of basketball bully Bobby Knight and Earl (The Pearl) Monroe from the 1987 list of cage inductees.Last year, the NHL inducted Eddie Giaco-min, Bobby Clarke and Jacques Laperriere, plus president John Ziegler and linesman Matt Pave-lich.Who didn&rsquo;t get in? Who knows? And because of that, who cares?The selection committee has never made public its list of nominees. Anybody can submit a nominee, but it must be endorsed by at least one member of the 12-person players&rsquo; selection committee.Members are Danny Gallivan, the chairman, former Canadian Amateur Hockey Association official Gordon Juckes, former Chicago coach-GM Tommy Ivan, former Blackhawk Bill Hay, Canadien great Jean Beliveau, former Red Wing Alex Delvecchio, International League president Bud Poile, Toronto Star columnist Milt Dunnell, Boston Globe writer Fran Rosa, Montreal Gazette writer Red Fisher and retired Long Island Newsday writer Tim Moriarity. Minnesota hockey legend John Mariucci was also a member until his death last year.For a player to be honored he must earn 75 per cent of the vote, just as it is in baseball. The quorum is eight.But what the Hockey Hall of Fame needs more than a quorum is more public quarrelling. Each year, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announces a list of 15 finalists. You can bet there&rsquo;s some debate over the relative merits of each nominee.Hockey should do the same&mdash;announce the players who have been submitted for consideration. The slate is determined by early April and the committee&rsquo;s judgment announced in June.There are 60 days between the two occasions. Surely, some interest can be generated in the interim. The best way to do it is make public the names of nominees.Reluctance to do so appears to be on the wane. Gallivan spoke to a number of his colleagues and the consensus was it would be worthwhile to give fans some names to ruminate over.In the past, there&rsquo;s been a concern that nominees not elected would be publicly embarrassed. But that is clearly out of step with football, baseball and basketball. And the National Hockey League awards policy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011276/5452351-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="338" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>Last year, the NHL paraded three finalists for the Hart, Calder, James Norris, Vezina, Lady Byng, Frank Seike and Adams honors before the television lights in Toronto. Of the 21 players only seven could be award-winners.Were the other 14 embarrassed? They shouldn&rsquo;t have been.And so it should go with the Hall of Fame.A short list of candidates this year, for instance, includes Guy Lafleur, Darryl Sittler, Guy Lapointe, Brad Park, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Steve Shutt, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish, Tony Esposito, Roger Crozier and Rogie Vachon.And these men only represent recent retirees. (All players must be out of the game for a minimum of three playing seasons to be eligible.)A maximum of three players are honored each year.That makes it tough for oldtimers who have been passed over in the past and continue to be in the present because they face wider and wider competition for the three berths each year.Gallivan thinks one means of eliminating that predicament is to create a veterans&rsquo; committee. In baseball a player who doesn&rsquo;t make it during his first 20 years of eligibility is put on hold for three years and then made eligible again as a veteran.There is also a category for builders and officials. They are the responsibility of the hall&rsquo;s board of directors.My short list of nominees for them is very short. It&rsquo;s one name long&mdash;George Hayes. The most colorful linesman in NHL history has been denied a place in the hall because of his hard-drinking lifestyle and many brushes with Clarence Campbell.A person&rsquo;s character is supposed to be one of the qualities considered by Hall-of-Fame selectors. Well, the game may never have known more of a character.He went to his grave last year bitter over the NHL&rsquo;s failure to recognize his contributions to the game. Long before his death he said that he&rsquo;d probably be inducted after he was gone and buried.Let&rsquo;s hope the board of directors, which will consider Hayes&rsquo; nomination again at a meeting on March 30, has enough sense to make a clairvoyant of him. &#9632;

f0015-01

Make Nominees Matter Of Public Record

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011157/5452382-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

HOCKEY COLLECTIBLES DIRECTORY

The gathering of lapel pins has surpassed collecting bubble-gum cards as hockey&rsquo;s most popular craze.Andrew Pywowarczuk, the founder and president of Car-tophilium Inc.&mdash;an international sportswear distributor in Sherbrooke, Que.&mdash;says there are many reasons why pins have overtaken cards.&ldquo;The trend slowly started after the 1984 Olympics and it has grown from there,&rdquo; Pywowarczuk explains. &ldquo;Hockey cards have traditionally appealed to younger males and their collection has primarily been a Canadian phenomenon.&ldquo;Collecting lapel pins appeals to a wider cross-section of people&mdash;both genders, young and old. It&rsquo;s also a practice that is carried out on a wider international basis, so it crosses all barriers. Hockey-card collecting is a far more domestic hobby.&rdquo;Pywowarczuk went to Moscow for the 1986 World Championships and discovered pin collecting and trading is a Soviet passion.&ldquo;Over there, they produce pins to commemorate every imaginable event,&rdquo; he says.Social and economic factors play large roles in the pincollecting craze.&ldquo;Anyone who watched the Winter Olympics from Calgary on TV likely saw several features on pin swapping,&rdquo; says Pywowarczuk. &ldquo;People had pins on their jackets, on their caps and they would stop total strangers in the street and talk about trading them. It was quite a social activity during the Games.&ldquo;As opposed to hockey cards, there are fewer constraints involved in pin collecting,&rdquo; Pywowarczuk adds. &ldquo;For instance, hockey cards are valued primarily in terms of a set (like the 264-card O-Pee-Chee set this year). If one or two cards are missing, the value of the product decreases.&ldquo;There are very few sets in pin collecting and as a result, it is more of a flexible hobby.&rdquo;Pywowarczuk sells numerous pin sets, but stresses most of his orders are for individual items.Popular sets include the entire group of NHL team logos, including the NHL logo, for $66 (Cdn.), the nine-pin set of team logos from the first year of the WHA for $30, the NHL set of 14 defunct teams prior to 1942 for $45, and the 1987 Canada Cup set of seven for $25.The most popular individual pins include the 1985-86 Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup edition and 1986-87 Edmonton Oilers Cup pin. Both are $5 each.The most expensive and sought-after hockey pins in North America are those produced for NHL All-Star Games in the 1970s.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re difficult to get because they weren&rsquo;t mass-produced like most pins and their dyes have been broken,&rdquo; Pywowarczuk explains. &ldquo;The commemorative all-star pins are valued on the open market at between $70 and $100. That&rsquo;s about the most you&rsquo;d ever spend on a pin.&rdquo;Almost all pins are manufactured in Taiwan and are formed from a copper base. Each one is individually hand-painted. &#9632;

Pin Collectors Stick It To Hockey Cards

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01736/5452437-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="177" height="134"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Glen Hanlon didn&rsquo;t steal Greg Stefan&rsquo;s job. He assumed it.So when Stefan returned from twomonth injury-enforced absence, coach Jacques Demers was faced with a wonderful dilemma.&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s your No. 1 goalkeeper?&rdquo; he was asked.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good question,&rdquo; Demers responded. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve got two No. Is.&rdquo;Stefan came back March 6 from leg troubles to beat Chicago, Vancouver and the New York Islanders in three starts.In his first start after Stefan&rsquo;s return, Hanlon shut out the Boston Bruins 2-0.&ldquo;Glennie has played very, very well for us,&rdquo; Stefan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be tough to win my job back.&rdquo;He was right.The shutout was Hanlon&rsquo;s second in four starts and fourth of the season, tying him for the league lead.The victories were part of an eightgame unbeaten streak (7-0-1) dating to the game in which captain Steve Yzer-man&rsquo;s season ended with a knee injury. It also put the Wings on the verge of winning their first-ever divisional title and first first-place finish since 1965.They began the week 17 points ahead of second-place St. Louis, tied with Edmonton for third overall in the NHL at 85 points. The Wings were 14 games over. 500 for the first time since the 1972-73 season.Stefan was off to the best start of his career before the injury, going 13-7-3, with one shutout, a 3.12 goals-against average and. 893 save percentage.Hanlon was brilliant during Stefan&rsquo;s absence, compiling a 13-6-3 record.&ldquo;I give up 10 every once in a while, just so you don&rsquo;t expect too much,&rdquo; Hanlon said, in reference to the 10 he allowed in an 11-6 loss to Philadelphia Feb. 23.He diplomatically avoided the issue of which goalie is No. 1, saying it didn&rsquo;t matter.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t prove anything any more,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What you&rsquo;ve seen here for two years is what you get. Really, the two goalies here are very fortunate to have the most physical defense in the league, and I can&rsquo;t tell you how much that means to a goalie.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The win over Boston was Jacques Demers&rsquo; 200th NHL victory-&hellip;Just before the trading deadline, Detroit acquired defenseman Jim Pavese, 25, from the New York Rangers for future considerations. Pavese, a seven-year veteran, joined Lee Norwood, Dave Barr and Gilbert Delorme as players who skated for Demers in St. Louis&hellip;Joe Kocur was slapped with an automatic suspension after a fight with Boston&rsquo;s Jay Miller. Kocur was wearing tape on his hand, which referee Terry Gregson ruled was the cause of a cut Miller sustained. NHL rules describe that as &ldquo;deliberate intent to injure&rdquo; an opponent. But the Wings were able to convince the league damage inflicted on Miller was done by Kocur&rsquo;s left fist, not his battered right hand on which he often wears small com pads to protect open wounds. Kocur was reinstated immediately.<h2>RED WINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Bob Probert, RW, received automatic three-game suspension for picking up fifth game misconduct penalty.March 8: Joe Kocur, RW, suspended by league for intent to injure.March 9: Kocur&rsquo;s suspension rescinded by league.March 13: Probert returned from suspension.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, John Chabot, Shawn Burr, Mel Bridgman.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Petr Klima, Brent Ashton, Jim Nill, Joe Murphy.RW&mdash;Bob Probert, Dave Barr, Tim Higgins.LD&mdash;Doug Halward, Lee Norwood, Harold Snepsts.RD&mdash;Rick Zombo, Jeff Sharples, Steve Chiasson.G&mdash;Greg Stefan, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Delorme, D, ankle, day-to-day.Joe Kocur, RW, back, day-to-day. Mike O&rsquo;Connell, D, hand, indefinite.Jim Pavese, D, stomach muscle, day-to-day.Darren Veitch, D, ankle, day-to-day.Steve Yzerman, C, knee, mid-May. &#9632;

f0022-01

Wings Happy With Two No. 1 Goaltenders

BOB BERRY IS tanned and lean, relaxed and rested.His voice is calm and clear, not the raspy growl produced by too many cigarettes and too much frustration that it usually has become by this time of year.There is only one other thing you should know about Bob Berry: He is miserable.It is a peculiar trait of this game that working in it does not simply occupy a man&rsquo;s time. It captures his soul.Not that Berry doesn&rsquo;t appreciate the virtues of living near Los Angeles.He enjoys the almost-constant sunshine nearly as much as he does having a chance to be around the brightest lights of his life, his two sons.After being little more than a voice on the long-distance telephone line, he is learning the joys of fatherhood. As much as a broken marriage will allow him to, anyway.&ldquo;Originally, I spent a lot of time with my boys and playing golf,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;But the gnawing thing is, this is the first time in probably 25 years I haven&rsquo;t been directly involved with a hockey team.&rdquo;Berry has had at least one job offer since Pittsburgh sacrificed him&mdash;so stupidly, so typically&mdash;after last season.When Quebec named Ron Lapointe to replace Andre Savard as coach of the Nordiques earlier this season, Berry was asked to take over Lapointe&rsquo;s former position with Quebec&rsquo;s Fredericton farm team.&ldquo;For the first time, I think I allowed my family, my two boys, to come first,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel like at the time, right before Christmas, I wanted to go there.&rdquo;Should a similar offer come along today. Berry&rsquo;s only questions would be about connecting flights.He has made three stops on the NHL coaching circuit&mdash;Los Angeles, Montreal and Pittsburgh&mdash;departing the first on his own, being evicted from the other two.The argument could be made he was unfairly ejected in both instances, particularly by the Penguins, but belaboring and rewriting history is a chore best left to presidential candidates.So Berry sits and waits and hopes. He routinely attends games at The Fabulous Forum.He wants to keep in touch with the game, and hopes it won&rsquo;t forget him.That&rsquo;s why he plans to attend the Memorial Cup championships in Chicoutimi, Que., and NHL meetings in Montreal Being remembered as yesterday&rsquo;s news is no way to plan for tomorrow.Although the brunt of his experience is as a head coach in the NHL, Berry is prepared to accept a lesser position. Assistant. Minor league. College.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03392/5452468-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="356" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Molinari</figcaption></div>And should he ever again ascend to a head-coaching job, be assured it will not be over the broken body of his boss.&ldquo;Loyalty in that position is very important,&rdquo; Berry says. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t be interested in taking an assistant&rsquo;s job if the person I was working for was afraid I&rsquo;d undermine him in any way.&rdquo;Such talk often is not worth the breath required to utter it.But a very private incident last spring&mdash;one Berry has never publicly acknowledged&mdash;shows Berry&rsquo;s courage in his convictions.After Pittsburgh missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season and a managerial purge seemed imminent. Berry quietly told GM Eddie Johnston that, if Johnston&rsquo;s position could be preserved by firing his coach, he should have no reservations about doing so.A few days later, Berry was gone&mdash;apparently over the vehement objections of Johnston&mdash;and Johnston was pulled back from the precipice of unemployment for at least one more season.When he was fired, Berry had accomplished almost nothing in Pittsburgh. Except to take a team that had Mario Lemieux&mdash;and precious little else&mdash;from 38 points to seasons of 53, 76 and 72, the latter of which came last year, when Lemieux missed 17 games.&ldquo;When you get a bonus for getting over 70 points and you get fired, there&rsquo;s something wrong,&rdquo; Berry said.To be sure, Berry has his critics, most of whom offer the vague observation that he doesn&rsquo;t &ldquo;communicate&rdquo; well enough.They&rsquo;re right, of course. Berry never was one to socialize with his players, or engage them in lengthy philosophical discussions.Talk, he figures, is cheap unless it is translated into action.&ldquo;I still believe the most important things in hockey are hard work and discipline,&rdquo; Berry said.Old-fashioned ideas. From a man who deserves a future. &#9632;

f0022-03

This Is One Former Coach The NHL Shouldn’t Forget

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02518/5452499-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="176" height="136"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;St. Louis Blues took aim at the Chicago Blackhawks when they sent out five players and welcomed five others in their place.Acquiring right winger Brett Hull and left winger Steve Bozek on March 7 from Calgary for defenseman Rob Ramage and goaltender Rick Wamsley was only a prelude.That same day, left winger Scott Harlow was sent to Peoria Rivermen of the International League. Recalled from the same club were defenseman Rob Whistle and goaltender Darrell May.On March 8, struggling defenseman Charlie Bourgeois was sent to Hartford with a third-round 1989 draft pick for a second-round 1989 pick. Defenseman Gordie Roberts came over from Philadelphia for a fifth-round pick in this summer&rsquo;s draft. If the Blues advance past the first round of the playoffs, it becomes a fourth-round pick.St. Louis also sent right winger Michael Dark to Peoria that day.The new Blues responded by beating Toronto 3-2 on March 8 and Pittsburgh 6-4 on March 10 in their first two games with a revamped lineup.&ldquo;The challenge, I guess, is to get ready for Chicago in the playoffs,&rdquo; St. Louis coach Jacques Martin said. &ldquo;We feel we improved our chances: We felt before making the moves our chances weren&rsquo;t good that we could beat Chicago.&rdquo;St. Louis general manager Ron Caron put himself on the hot seat with the deals. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve accepted more risk to grow more possibilities.&rdquo;Roberts, 2-13-15 in 61 games, is playing for his third team this season, after earlier stints in Minnesota and Philadelphia.&ldquo;As you get older, you don&rsquo;t want to be looked at as just an insurance policy,&rdquo; said Roberts, 30. &ldquo;I still think I can do the job. I know the Norris Division well. I have an opportunity to play. It&rsquo;s up to me to make the most of it.&rdquo;May was 22-20-5 with a 3.54 average in 48 IHL games this season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m confident I can do what&rsquo;s needed up there. If you&rsquo;re patient and you believe in yourself, then you&rsquo;re not going to give up. The confidence they show in me now will help me.&rdquo;Whistle, who came to the Blues from the New York Rangers in a trade last summer, was 3-3-6 in 15 games during two previous recalls this season. After getting sent down a third time, the 26-year-old considered retirement.NOTES&mdash;The Blues&rsquo; 7-6 loss at Los Angeles on March 13 was a nightmare. In goalie Darrell May&rsquo;s season debut, they blew a 6-3 lead in the third period and lost center Doug Gilmour with a shoulder separation&hellip;Right winger Brett Hull, with 28 points and 26 assists for 54 points this season, had two goals and two assists in three games since the trade.<h2>BLUES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Charlie Bourgeois, D, and a third-round pick in the 1989 draft traded to Hartford for a second-round pick in that draft; Gordie Roberts, D, acquired from Philadelphia for a fifthround pick in the 1988 draft (a fourthround pick if Blues advance to second round of the playoffs); Michael Dark, RW, assigned to Peoria (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Federko, Rick Meagher, Tony Hrkac, Cliff Ronning.LW&mdash;Tony McKegney, Gino Cavallini, Brian Sutter, Steve Bozek, Perry Turnbull, Doug Evans.RW&mdash;Mark Hunter, Brett Hull, Herb Raglan, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Brian Benning, Tim Bothwell, Paul Cavallini, Robert Dirk.RD&mdash;Gaston Gingras, Robert Nordmark, Rob Whistle, Gordie Roberts.G&mdash;Greg Millen, Darrell May.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ron Flockhart, LW, rheumatoid arthritis, out for the season.Doug Gilmour, C, shoulder separation, day-to-day.Jocelyn Lemieux, LW, broken leg and torn ligaments, indefinite.Greg Paslawski, RW, disc surgery, March 21. &#9632;

f0022-02

Blues Shift Lineup Into Playoff Shape

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01661/5452530-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="175" height="133"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Claude Lemieux, who makes his living getting under the skin of opponents, got under coach Jean Perron&rsquo;s.After Montreal extended its winning streak to 10 games with a 5-0 victory over the Hartford Whalers, Perron suspended the feisty right winger indefinitely, for &ldquo;indiscipline.&rdquo;The two kissed and made up, however.Lemieux, who stayed home while the Canadiens went on the road to Minnesota and Winnipeg, was reinstated before the Minnesota game March 14. But he wasn&rsquo;t expected to suit up until two nights later against the Jets. Neither side would comment on the truce.But they had plenty to say beforehand.&ldquo;It was something that happened tonight,&rdquo; Perron said calmly, after the Hartford game. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t cope with indiscipline right now. We have to put our feet on the ground if we want to go somewhere this year.&ldquo;Before we benched guys. When things happen again, we have to step down and say, &lsquo;This is not the way to do things.&rsquo; Right now we are trying to keep that team spirit going. Everybody has got to respect everybody else.&rdquo;Lemieux, upset with what he considered a lack of ice time, voiced his displeasure to Perron during the second period of the Whalers-Canadiens game. After the second period, he visited Perron&rsquo;s office.&ldquo;I told him I thought I was playing better than he thought I was,&rdquo; said Lemieux, who denied there was any shouting at the original meeting. On his way out, dissatisfied with the coach&rsquo;s refusal to grant him more playing time, Lemieux kicked over an ashtray in the corridor.That was enough for Perron, who sent the winger packing for the night.&ldquo;If we permit things left and right there is no way we are going to be successful,&rdquo; Perron said.Lemieux refused to apologize and was left at home for the road trip. There was no indication whether an apology led to his eventual reinstatement.&ldquo;Perron humiliated me,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;A lot of my teammates called me at home and told me they supported me.&rdquo;With the arrival of Jose Charbonneau and Gilles Thibaudeau from Sherbrooke and the return of Serge Boisvert from the Canadian Olympic team, the Canadiens have an abundance of forwards.It was not the first time that Lemieux has been piqued by one of Perron&rsquo;s decisions. When the Canadiens decided to send Lemieux to the minors at the start of the 1985-86 season, he broke a mirror on his car.The Lemieux incident came about six weeks after Chris Nilan was traded to the New York Rangers after a run-in with Perron.Savard said the Lemieux supsension should deliver a loud and clear message to any of the other Canadiens who might have mutiny in mind.&ldquo;Sometimes when something like this happens, if you don&rsquo;t punish the guy it could disturb the other ones,&rdquo; Savard said.NOTES&mdash;Chris Chelios recorded his 200th career point with an assist, after his two goals against the Whalers&hellip;John Kordic&rsquo;s five-game suspension ended, but that was no guarantee he is going back to active status. Jean Perron said. &ldquo;We won five games while he was serving his suspension. Don&rsquo;t get the idea John Kordic is going to play every game.&rdquo;&hellip;Shayne Corson was the latest right winger for Brian Skrudland and Mike McPhee. Corson returned from a groin injury and scored his 10th goal of the season in a 4-1 victory at Edmonton March 9, which gave the Canadiens a seasonseries sweep for the first time against Edmonton.<h2>CANADIENS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 12: Claude Lemieux, RW, suspended indefinitely by team.March 14: Lemieux reinstated.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Gilles Thibaudeau.LW&mdash;Ryan Walter, Bob Gainey, Mike McPhee, Mats Naslund, Sergio Momesso.RW&mdash;Serge Boisvert, Jose Charbonneau, Shayne Corson, Stephane Richer, Kjell Dahlin, John Kordic, Claude Lemieux.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Petr Svoboda, Mike Lalor.RD&mdash;Larry Robinson, Chris Chelios.G&mdash;Brian Hayward, Patrick Roy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rick Green, D, back, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0023-01

Lemieux Irritated Wrong Fellow This Time

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01716/5452561-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="177" height="137"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Even though it threatened to upset the delicate balance on the Boston Bruins&rsquo; most promising team in five years, general manager Harry Sinden said it was a deal that just had to be made.&ldquo;I think it will be positive for our team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If it turns out to be negative, then you have the right to say, &lsquo;Ah hah! I told you so.&rsquo;&rdquo;A lot of people were ready to say just that about the deal that brought disgruntled Edmonton Oiler goalie Andy Moog to Boston on March 7 in exchange for left winger Geoff Courtnall and goalie Bill Ranford.The Bruins had the third-lowest goals-against record in the league at 3.15 with Reggie Lemelin and Doug Keans in their nets and goaltending didn&rsquo;t look like a problem.A lack of goal-scoring forwards was what ailed Boston and Courtnall, enjoying his best season ever with 32 goals and 26 assists in 62 games, was one of the few who was scoring in large numbers. His previous high was 2116-37 in 64 games during the 1985-86 season.Sinden had also said the 21-year-old Ranford was the team&rsquo;s goalie of the future, even though he played the whole year with the Maine Mariners of the American League. In 45 NHL games from 1985 to &lsquo;87, Ranford was 19-21-2 with a 3.25 GAA.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we really changed on that,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;Had we not been able to acquire a player like Moog, Bill probably would have been (the goalie of the future). Moog just turned 28. That&rsquo;s not old by a goaltender&rsquo;s standards. Our future now lies with him.&rdquo;Moog hadn&rsquo;t played an NHL game since the previous spring when he appeared in two playoff games for the Oilers. An unhappy free agent, he played for the Canadian Olympic team before being traded. Last season he was 28-11-3 with a 3.51 GAA in 46 games and in seven NHL seasons was 118-52-15 with a 3.61 average.&ldquo;I just felt it was (a) time in my career where I was becoming stale in the Oilers&rsquo; situation,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Regardless of how I played, (Oiler goalie) Grant Fuhr was going to get the opportunity to play all the important games. He deserved to. It was important that I move on and find new challenges.&rdquo;Moog, who signed a five-year contract with the Bruins, called his Olympic experience a positive one.&ldquo;I think it put years on my career,&rdquo; said Moog. &ldquo;It gave me a youthful and enthusiastic look at hockey. It took me back to my roots and cleared up a few things I had gotten in my head over the years that I had some questions about.&ldquo;I think it helped me as a player and a person to get back and just play basic hockey.&rdquo;Moog&rsquo;s debut with the Bruins was successful as he turned back 34 shots by the Quebec Nordiques in a 4-3 win on March 12.NOTES&mdash;Against the Nordiques, rookie center Craig Janney had his first NHL hat trick, in his fifth game. Janney got the winner&hellip;Left winger Rick Middleton played his 1,000th NHL game March 13 in a 3-0 loss to Washington&hellip;The shutout by former Bruin Pete Peeters in the Washington game was the first by a visiting goalie in Boston Garden since Nov. 28, 1985, when Clint Malarchuk of Quebec turned the trick&hellip;One day after being assigned to Maine, goalie Doug Keans defeated Newmarket 7-1 on March 8 in his first American League game in five years.<h2>BRUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Andy Moog, G, obtained from Edmonton for Geoff Courtnall, LW, Bill Ranford, G, and future considerations; Doug Keans, G, assigned to Maine (AHL).March 8: Moe Lemay, LW, obtained from Edmonton for Alan May, LW; Steve Tsujiura, C, obtained from New Jersey for future considerations; Lemay and Tsujiura assigned to Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ken Linseman, Steve Kasper, Bob Sweeney, Craig Janney.LW&mdash;Rick Middleton, Randy Burridge, Bob Joyce, Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, Nevin Markwart, Willi Flett.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Allen Pedersen, Wade Campbell.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Reed Larson, John Blum.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers, RW, bruised right hand, day-to-day.Gord Kluzak, D, right knee sprain, March 17.Tommy Lehmann, C, inflamed left kneecap, indefinite.Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer, C, right hip strain, dayto-day.Michael Thelven, D, groin strain, Match 19. &#9632;

f0024-01

Bruins Couldn’t Resist Trading For Moog

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01629/5452592-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="177" height="130"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Hartford Whaler general manager-president Emile Francis was fond of saying the Hartford Whalers owned the best one-two goaltending tandem in the NHL.The point was open to debate.After swapping Steve Weeks, 29, to Vancouver for Richard Brodeur, 35, at the trade deadline, there can be no arguing the Whalers own the highest-paid goaltending tandem in Mike Liut and Brodeur.Liut earns in the $450,000 per-year range, while Brodeur arrived with I roughly a $275,000 tag. For almost three-quarters of a million dollars per year, somebody in the Hartford net had better stop the puck.For those who think money isn&rsquo;t everything, consider that Brodeur, who had been in Fredericton of the American League since Feb. 22, cleared waivers only days before.That means the Whalers could have claimed him without losing Weeks.&ldquo;We wanted to dump a contract, that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; Francis said.In another 11 th-hour deal, the Whalers acquired veteran defenseman Charlie Bourgeois, 28, from St. Louis. What would a Whaler season be without a trade with St. Louis? The Whalers also reacquired a 1989 third-round pick they had earlier sent to St. Louis for Mark Reeds. In return, the Whalers gave up a 1989 second-rounder.Weeks, who arrived from the Rangers in 1984 for a third-rounder, finished 42-42-6 with a 3.68 goals-against average as a Whaler. He was 6-7-2 this season, with a 3.59 average.&ldquo;You think about it (a trade) around (the) deadline every year, but you never think it&rsquo;s going to be you,&rdquo; Weeks said. &ldquo;Really, I enjoyed my time in Hartford. I&rsquo;ll get more of an opportunity to play in Vancouver.&rdquo;Francis said there was no deal to split Brodeur&rsquo;s contract in any form, nor was Brodeur necessarily going to leave at the end of this season.Kay Whitmore and Peter Sidor-kiewicz, meanwhile, continued to toil in Binghamton.&ldquo;I wanted to make a trade,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;If I got Brodeur on waivers, I&rsquo;d have two contracts. Weeks was here for almost four years and never became a No. I goalie. He&rsquo;s getting a chance to be one in Vancouver.&ldquo;I got Broduer because I think he can do the job that we need from him. How long he stays depends on how well he plays.&rdquo;Brodeur carried the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals in 1981-82 and is the only active player from the original 1972-73 World Hockey Association season.After a contract dispute in which Brodeur begrudgingly accepted a 10-percent decrease, things turned sour in Vancouver.Last season, Brodeur was 20-25-5 with a 3.59 average, but appeared in only 11 games this season with a 3-6-2 record and 4.39 average.In his first start with the Whalers, Brodeur posted a 5-4 victory over the L.A. Kings.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted to be here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whatever role they have for me, I&rsquo;ll play my heart out.&rdquo;The Canucks decided to go with Kirk McLean, thereby making Brodeur and his huge ticket expendable.&ldquo;For four months, I stayed quiet but nothing happened,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;So I went public in a newspaper and they told me to stay away. All I heard then were rumors. You can go out of your mind with rumors.&rdquo;Bourgeois, 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, has had a troubled season, too. He had a broken jaw and shoulder injury before spraining his ankle Feb. 21. He was back skating, but had just one assist in 30 games.NOTES&mdash;The Whalers tried to send Olympian Gord Sherven to Binghamton, but discovered that they would have to risk losing him on waivers. So, for the time being, Sherven remained in Hartford.<h2>WHALERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Steve Weeks, G, traded to Vancouver for Richard Brodeur, G; Charlie Bourgeois, D, and a third-round pick in the 1989 entry draft acquired from St. Louis for a second-round pick in 1989.March 9: Mike Millar, LW, recalled from Binghamton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ronnie Francis, Carey Wilson, Dean Evason, Brent Peterson, Ray Ferraro.LW&mdash;Dave Tippett, Torrie Robertson, Lindsay Carson.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Paul MacDermid, Stewart Gavin, Mark Reeds, Scott Young, Mike Millar, Gord Sherven.LD&mdash;Joel Quenneville, Randy Ladouceur, Mike McEwen.RD&mdash;Dave Babych, Ulf Samuelsson, Sylvain Cote, Neil Sheehy, Charlie Bourgeois.G&mdash;Mike Liut, Richard Brodeur.<h3>INJURIES</h3>John Anderson, LW, rotator cuff, April 1.Scot Kleinendorst, D, separated shoulder, day-to-day.Neil Sheehy, D, hip-pointer, day-to-day.Sylvain Turgeon, LW, bruised ankle, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0025-01

The Pucks, Not Bucks, Stop At Whaler Goal

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02466/5452623-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="580" height="943"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Barrasso was thriving on a heavy workload. He played in 35 of 37 games.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01667/5452630-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="177" height="131"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Since just before Christmas. Buffalo Sabre goaltender Tom Barrasso began showing fans he deserves again to be regarded as one of the NHL&rsquo;s top goaltenders.It took a while, but the Memorial Auditorium crowd has finally got on the bandwagon.Home ice has not been one of Barrasso&rsquo;s favorite settings the past two seasons, but after the fifth-year pro blanked Boston Bruins here March 6, there was evidence of a mutual admiration society forming.Cries of &ldquo;Tommy, Tommy, Tommy&rdquo; rang down from the rafters in the closing minutes of a 3-0 victory. During the game Barrasso made several saves that brought roars of approval from the crowd. Later, when they saluted him with a standing ovation as the game&rsquo;s first star, he burst gleefully onto the ice, waving wildly.It was a rare show of emotion from the 22-year-old Boston-area native.&lsquo;&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t ever remember that happening in my career,&rdquo; he said of the ovation afterward, &ldquo;and I have to say it meant a lot to me. I hope the people here understand that. I really want to play here. It&rsquo;s important to me to play here. It&rsquo;s important for me and to my family for me to be a part of this team and this community and I hope the way I play will prove that.&rdquo;Barrasso has had his problems with the Aud crowds in recent seasons and they with him. For various slights, real and imagined, they were quick to get on him. He sometimes responded in a less-than-professional manner. After overcoming a slow start this season, however, Barrasso has won the crowd over with consistently great performances.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really great to see him get that kind of support,&rdquo; said teammate Phil Housley. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s long overdue. For a couple of seasons and maybe early this year, he struggled a little bit, but this year has been one of his best.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen him play better. He&rsquo;s been criticized in the past for maybe not playing well in the big games, but he&rsquo;s playing in big games now and he&rsquo;s coming up big.&rdquo;The shutout was his second in three weeks (the 13th of his career) and he had played in 35 of the Sabres&rsquo; last 37 games. Since the start of 1988, Barrasso had put together a 20-8-1 record (23-17-6 on the year) and was the NHL&rsquo;s player of the month for January. His goals-against average of 3.29 and save percentage of. 896 were both among the league&rsquo;s best.NOTES&mdash;The Sabres followed up the win over Boston with a 6-2 triumph at Minnesota, a 10-4 loss at Calgary and 7-5 win at Vancouver through three games of a five-game road trip. Though the win over the Canucks was sloppy, the two points virtually assured the Sabres a playoff berth for the first time in three seasons. With 10 games left for each of Buffalo, Hartford and Quebec, the third-place Sabres had 75 points&mdash;10 better than the Whalers and 11 better than the Nordiques. Four Adams Division clubs make the playoffs&hellip;Rookie Ray Sheppard scored three goals in Vancouver, his 30th, 31st and 32nd of the season. Sheppard moved into third spot on the team&rsquo;s list of career rookie goal-scorers, one ahead of Danny Gare (1974-75) and six behind Gilbert Perreault (1970-71) Rick Martin (1971-72) holds the club record with 44.<h2>SABRES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Christian Ruuttu, Pierre Turgeon, Doug Smith, Ken Priestlay, John Tucker.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Mikael Andersson, Mike Donnelly, Clark Gillies.RW&mdash;Ray Sheppard, Mark Napier, Mike Hartman, Jim Jackson.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Joe Reekie, Bob Halkidis, Lindy Ruff.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Uwe Krupp, Calle Johansson, Ed Hospodar.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Jacques Cloutier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Scott Arniel, RW, cracked rib, indefinite.Adam Creighton, C, recovering from knee surgery, indefinite.Jan Ludvig, RW, knee, indefinite.Kevin Maguire, RW, ankle, indefinite. &#9632;

f0026-02

Sabre Fans Have Learned To Love Barrasso

FIVE YEARS, THREE months and several days ago Cliff Fletcher sent word he didn&rsquo;t want to talk with me anymore.He used an intermediary to relay the message. The public relations man knocked on my hotel room at the Los Angeles Marriott and informed me 1 no longer existed.That was the Flames&rsquo; opinion, and Fletcher, then as he is now, was the man making the Flames&rsquo; decisions.Fletcher didn&rsquo;t like the way I was doing my job. And I didn&rsquo;t like the way he was doing his. There was a mutual disrespect between us, one that was settled in silence.The Flames were not a Stanley Cup contender in 1982, and Fletcher was not considered the hockey genius he is now thought to be. And in fairness, my scribblings at the time&mdash;after three years on the hockey beat&mdash;hardly qualified for a prize from Pulitzer.There have been prouder times since, for him, for me, for everyone who looks back at a situation and wonders why.I got to thinking about Cliff Fletcher one day before the trade deadline, after he had pulled off another in a series of remarkable heists. I wondered if&mdash;through all these years without communication&mdash;his opinion of me had changed as much as mine of him.I wanted to pick up the phone and call him, say hello to his secretary June, chat about the Montreal Expos, one of his favorite subjects, and talk about how his acquisition of Rob Ramage and Rick Wamsley.I even dialed once. But I hung up.I didn&rsquo;t know what to say, or how to say it, and how to apologize without sounding apologetic. No one teaches this course at journalism school. No one tells you how to repair a damaged relationship.In 1982, Fletcher had just begun putting the pieces together for what now is the best team in hockey. He hired Bob Johnson, a coach so inspired by the success of Edmonton Oilers that he made the Flames improve.He had already traded for Lanny McDonald and Doug Risebrough. McDonald gave the Flames what they needed most&mdash;an identity. Risebrough gave them something different&mdash;an understanding of winning. Risebrough arrived in Calgary with four Stanley Cup rings.Well, Johnson has since moved on, Risebrough has retired to take his place behind the bench and McDonald&rsquo;s career is creeping to an end, but their presence remains.They gave the Flames something that Fletcher, himself, could not. Then, he was more figurehead than leader. In Atlanta, he had managed from game to game, from week to week, wondering where the next dollar was coming from.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04281/5452661-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="413" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Simmons</figcaption></div>In Calgary, he arrived with money, and an odd collection of those who were too old, too slow, and some who were too much fun. The first year was a fairy tale, the second a nightmare. By the third season, there was still no plan. It took time. More time than others may have been afforded. Enough time to do it right. To build an organization.They couldn&rsquo;t do it through the draft. Their choices just weren&rsquo;t good enough. They couldn&rsquo;t do it through trading. McDonald and Risebrough were fine, but Don Edwards and Steve Tambellini were not.He had to find a way&mdash;and the college free-agency method turned out to be his way. Fletcher signed everyone and anyone, banking on a theory that if one in three turned out, it would all work out in the end.From the colleges he signed Jamie Macoun and Colin Patterson and Gino Cavallini and Eddy Beers and Neil Sheehy and Joel Otto and a lot of guys named Don Mercier.Those who turned out made up for the draft picks who didn&rsquo;t. And when some of the draft picks began to make it, the Flames had instant organizational depth, and a built-in ability to make one-sided deals.Three college free agents were sent to St. Louis for Joey Mullen. Another wound up in Hartford as part of the Dana Murzyn trade.Cliff Fletcher has made it to the top. Right now, he may be the sharpest GM in the business.A man who needed to understand what it took to lose, before he could understand how to win. &#9632;

f0026-04

Mending Of Relationship Is Still A Phone Call Away

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03378/5452692-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="176" height="137"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nordiques have been fighting for their playoff lives, but the off-ice activity of center Alan Haworth has been of more interest to local media.Haworth, one of the most consistent Nordiques this season with 22 goals and 31 assists in 67 games, was rumored to be moving on to the Swiss National League next season. Some sources indicate he&rsquo;s already signed an agreement with a Swiss team&mdash;but Haworth, while admitting that he has talked to representatives from Berne, said nothing had been signed.Rumors about Haworth&rsquo;s interest in Switzerland have been making the rounds since his days as a Washington Capita].And they surfaced once more in mid-February. At that time, Haworth denied everything.&ldquo;I love it here in Quebec,&rdquo; said Haworth, 27. &ldquo;My wife and I are very happy here and I have full confidence in Maurice Filion and the Nordiques&rsquo; organization. They are fair people and when we sit down to negotiate a new contract, I know we&rsquo;ll be able to see things in the same manner.&rdquo;But Haworth has since decided to continue playing out his option.&ldquo;I said it once and I&rsquo;m saying it again,&rdquo; he said of the renewed speculation. &ldquo;The Nordiques are my first choice. But if negotiations with (general manager) Maurice Filion go sour, I won&rsquo;t be left out in the cold.&rdquo;Filion didn&rsquo;t deny Haworth was looking overseas.&ldquo;The possibility of Alan having already signed with a Swiss (team) exists,&rdquo; said Filion. &ldquo;He could have decided to experience hockey in Europe. But I&rsquo;d be very surprised.&ldquo;But there is one thing I want understood. Even if Alan had signed with a Swiss team and even if he does play in Europe next season, he still belongs (for NHL purposes) to the Quebec Nordiques.&rdquo;Nordique coach Ron Lapointe said Haworth is worth fighting to keep.&ldquo;There will always be room for a guy like Alan in my lineup,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an honest player who comes to play every night.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Gaetan Duchesne, the Nordiques&rsquo; representative in the Bill Masterton Trophy balloting, scored his 20th goal of the season March 12, against the Boston Bruins&hellip;David Latta played well in the couple of games he played with the Nords before being sent back to Fredericton.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 9: David Latta, LW, assigned to Fredericton (AHL).March 11: Max Middendorf, RW, recalled from Fredericton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Alan Haworth, Paul Gillis, Marc Fortier.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Gaetan Duchesne, Jeff Jackson, Mike Eagles.RW&mdash;Anton Stastny, Lane Lambert, Alain Cote, Gord Donnelly, Max Middendorf.LD&mdash;Terry Carkner, Stephane Guerard, Steven Finn.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Randy Moller, Robert Picard, Tommy Albelin.G&mdash;Mario Gosselin, Mario Brunetta.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Normand Rochefort, D, sprained knee, indefinite. &#9632;

f0026-03

Haworth Rumored Switzerland-Bound

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01618/5452723-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="614" height="1204"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Scott Stevens is having his finest offensive season in the NHL.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02407/5452730-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="190" height="139"></div>LANDOVER, Md.&mdash;A goaltender&rsquo;s best friend may be a post or crossbar, but he can&rsquo;t go wrong having a solid defenseman as a pal either.Such is the case with Washington Capital goalies Pete Peeters and Clint Malarchuk and defenseman Scott Stevens.Peeters and Malarchuk appear destined to collect the Jennings Trophy at season&rsquo;s end, having yielded 205 goals over 70 games for a league-leading goals-against average of 2.90.Both goalies are quick to point out the Jennings&mdash;awarded to the goalkeeper(s) of the team with the fewest goals scored against it&mdash;is a team award and they are very happy with the way the defense has cleared pucks and players from the slot.Most adept at this is Stevens, chosen by his peers two years ago as the hardest hitter in the NHL.This season a maturing Stevens has emerged as one of the top defensemen in the league and a choice for postseason all-star selection.Not only has Stevens been a tower of strength defensively, but he matched his career-high offensive output of 65 points (nine goals and 56 assists) with 10 games left.&ldquo;Scotty has been playing so well for I don&rsquo;t know how long,&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;He seems to get stronger every game. I don&rsquo;t know how much more he can do, but he does more every game.&rdquo;Stevens was the first star three times in a five-game stretch Feb. 11-19, including road wins against the New York Rangers (5-3) and Winnipeg Jets (6-0). He was third star in Washington&rsquo;s 3-0 win over Boston on March 13.After he was selected the second star in a 6-1 victory at New Jersey on March 2, the Devils&rsquo; coach, former defenseman Jim Schoenfeld, was asked about Stevens&rsquo; play.&ldquo;I appreciate his performance every night,&rdquo; Schoenfeld replied. &ldquo;I find it hard to believe that he wasn&rsquo;t on the all-star team.&rdquo;Stevens has been shunned twice in the past year, both times by Philadelphia Flyer coach Mike Keenan. Keenan trimmed Stevens from Team Canada a few days before the Canada Cup, then bypassed him again in choosing the Prince of Wales Conference team for the NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 9.The Capitals have won three of five this season from the Flyers and Stevens said, &ldquo;It (Keenan&rsquo;s rejections) spurred me on, but it&rsquo;s not too serious, not the biggest thing to prove to these guys. If you take it too hard and try too hard, it can ruin your game. The main thing I want to do is play good hockey for the Washington Capitals.&ldquo;I do think it&rsquo;s unfair for coaches to use the All-Star Game to benefit themselves. They ought to be picking the guys who deserve it instead of trying to build up their own guys&rsquo; confidence, but I guess the answer is to beat them (Flyers) out and let (Washington coach) Bryan Murray do the picking.&rdquo;Given the opportunity, there is little doubt Stevens would be Murray&rsquo;s first selection.&ldquo;Scott is so strong, it&rsquo;s hard to believe,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll get pushed and knocked down, then have a wrestling match at the end of a shift. Thirty seconds later, he&rsquo;s ready to go right back out there.&ldquo;He has more composure than in past years and when he&rsquo;s high-sticked and slashed, he doesn&rsquo;t get carried away. He&rsquo;s grabbed hold of the whole situation. He&rsquo;s using people on the ice better and he moves the puck earlier and better. And he can play all night.&rdquo;There is a memory of Stevens, in the four-overtime playoff marathon with the New York Islanders last year, continuing to throw checks when most of the other players were merely trying to survive.&ldquo;I was tired too, but I figured if I could keep hitting them, it would be a psychological weapon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They had to be wondering how I could keep doing it. I know I was.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Goalie Pete Peeters stopped 42 shots to give Washington a 3-0 victory over Boston and his second shutout of the season. Peeters&rsquo; earlier shutout this season was against his other former team, Philadelphia&hellip;Right winger Steve Leach scored the game-winner against the Bruins in his first NHL game of the season. He saw limited action, because he was ejected at 8:12 of the first period for a fight with Boston&rsquo;s Wade Campbell.<h2>CAPITALS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bengt Gustafsson, Mike Ridley, Peter Sundstrom, Dale Hunter.LW&mdash;Michal Pivonka, Kelly Miller, Greg Adams, Yvon Corriveau.RW&mdash;Dave Christian, Mike Gartner, Lou Franceschetti, Bob Gould, Ed Kastelic, Steve Leach.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Greg Smith, Grant Ledyard.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Kevin Hatcher, Garry Galley.G&mdash;Pete Peeters, Clint Malarchuk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0027-01

Maturing Stevens A Force To Reckon With

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01640/5452761-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="178" height="136"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;Find the New York Islanders a psychologist&mdash;their post-game closed-door meetings have become more interesting than their games.After a terrible 1-3-0 week that ended with a 5-1 flogging in Detroit on March 13, the Isles spent 38 minutes in their dressing room at Joe Louis Arena, trying to figure out why a team so near the top of the Patrick Division has played like it&rsquo;s December with nothing at stake.The Isles&rsquo; third straight loss ended at approximately 9:30 p.m. The dressing room was opened to the media at 9:35 and closed at 9:55.The first grim face&mdash;Rich Kromm&rsquo;s&mdash;emerged at 10:33.The Islanders probably accomplished more in those 38 minutes than they did in their last 180&mdash;4-3 losses at home to Quebec and Detroit and the 5-1 fiasco in Detroit. In both one-goal losses, the Isles allowed late third-period goals and squandered opportunities to hop into a share of the Patrick Division lead.Haven&rsquo;t they realized what&rsquo;s at stake?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they think much about it, unfortunately,&rdquo; general manager Bill Torrey said outside the dressing room. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never showed an ability to take something and run with it, which all championship teams have the ability to do. We had no life out there at all. We didn&rsquo;t go after them at all. If you want something, go after it. If you want first place, go after it.&rdquo;On Feb. 12 at Washington, this soul-searching clan spent 25 minutes behind closed doors after a 6-2 loss to the Capitals. That dose of therapy sparked a 4-0-3 stretch that lifted them back into a fight for first.The week began with two trades. The Isles swapped Gord Dineen and Brian Curran for two draft picks and a minor-league defenseman, Chris Pryor, hours before the trade deadline.Dineen, 25, went to Minnesota for Pryor, 27, and future considerations. According to Torrey and North Star GM Lou Nanne, the future considerations depend on another deal to be completed after the season.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;We had no life out there at all. We didn&rsquo;t go after them at all&hellip;If you want first place, go after it.&rsquo; &mdash;Torrey</blockquote>&ldquo;Other players and other draft picks are involved,&rdquo; said Torrey, who denied Nanne&rsquo;s claim the Isles were due a late-round draft pick in 1989. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;m going to say.&rdquo;Curran, 24, was dealt to Toronto for a 1988 sixth-round draft pick.NOTES&mdash;Coach Terry Simpson said he and Bill Torrey decided to postpone negotiations on a new contract until after the season. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no time now,&rdquo; said Simpson, whose two-year pact expires this summer&hellip;The Isles had yielded seven tying or losing goals in the final five minutes of third periods since Jan. 21&hellip;Denis Potvin will be honored March 31 at Nassau Coliseum. The home game against Washington is the Islanders&rsquo; last of the regular season. The 15-year veteran superstar defenseman has announced his retirement, effective after this season.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Brian Curran, D, traded to Toronto for a sixth-round pick in the 1988 entry draft; Gord Dineen, D, traded to Minnesota for Chris Pryor, D, and future considerations; Pryor assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL).March 10: Pryor recalled from Kalamazoo.March 11: Pryor assigned to Kalamazoo.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bryan Trottier, Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Bob Bassen.LW&mdash;Derek King, Dale Henry, Greg Gilbert, Rich Kromm.RW&mdash;Mikko Makela, Alan Kerr, Randy Wood, Mick Vukota, Brad Lauer.LD&mdash;Denis Potvin, Jeff Norton, Steve Konroyd.RD&mdash;Gerald Diduck, Tomas Jonsson, Ken Leiter.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Billy Smith.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Neal Coulter, RW, fractured left thumb, day-to-day.Patrick Flatley, RW, reconstuctive knee surgery, out until 1988-89.Ken Morrow, D, separated right shoulder, March 24. &#9632;

f0028-01

Isles Regroup, Hope To Find Killer Instinct

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01551/5452792-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="176" height="135"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Tim Kerr is back, finally.He was out of the lineup for 315 days, but looked like the Tim Kerr of old upon returning to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 10. He promptly parked himself in front of the Washington Capitals&rsquo; net.As usual, Kerr took root there. He was pushed, shoved and generally assaulted by both Rod Langway and Scott Stevens, a pair of pretty large and talented defenders. And if there were any doubt about the condition of Kerr&rsquo;s ravaged left shoulder, they were put to rest.&ldquo;It was kind of fun, actually,&rdquo; said Kerr of his reacquaintance with Langway and Stevens. &ldquo;Having those guys hanging on me, and trying to move me out, you know&hellip;saying to yourself, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s see &lsquo;em try and move me out. &lsquo;&rdquo;Although Kerr didn&rsquo;t score a goal, or even pick up an assist, he was on the ice for three goals and instrumental in two power-play scores as the Flyers beat the Caps 5-2 to reclaim first place in the Patrick Division.The first came in the first period when he served as a screen for a shot by Kerry Huffman, which sailed past goalie Clint Malarchuk.The second was in the third period when both Stevens and Langway were trying to clear Kerr from the slot, and a shot by Brian Propp found its way past Malarchuk. As the red light shone, Langway looked toward the rafters, perhaps asking why this had to be Kerr&rsquo;s first game back.Kerr has always been a Cap-killer. Of his 278 career goals, 26, including three hat tricks, had come against the Caps. That&rsquo;s more than against any other team.Failing to get a point in his first game back didn&rsquo;t take any lustre off the performance. It was a remarkable effort for someone who had only two full practices. Kerr played a regular shift on the wing, took faceoffs and even took a turn playing center for the injury-riddled Flyers.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;We were yanking on that shoulder, and believe me, it&rsquo;s strong.&rsquo; &mdash;Croce</blockquote>Although the Flyers are missing a number of key players because of injury, Kerr&rsquo;s presence gives the team a big boost heading into the playoffs.Kerr was awarded a standing ovation when his name was included in the starting lineup. It was the first time he played since April 30, when chronic shoulder problems forced him out of the playoff series against the New York Islanders.From there, it&rsquo;s all been well-chronicled. Problem after problem&mdash;five operations and a long road to recovery.To say Kerr was relieved after his first game back would be an understatement.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t worried about hurting the shoulder,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I wanted some game experience. You can do a lot of talking (about coming back), but until you get out there and play, you never really know.&rdquo;Of course, the Flyers don&rsquo;t expect the four-time 50-goal scorer to star every game. They know that when the adrenalin of returning to action subsides, some rustiness is bound to show.More important, though, is keeping him healthy. The prognosis looks good as Kerr didn&rsquo;t experience much discomfort at all.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to ice it down,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s not really bothering me.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the best sign,&rdquo; said Flyer conditioning coach Pat Croce, who has supervised Kerr&rsquo;s rehabilitation. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d give him an A-plus.&ldquo;Look, the shoulder is only about 85 per cent. That&rsquo;s to say, it&rsquo;s only 85 per cent of his other shoulder&mdash;but his shoulders are massive. Even at only 85 per cent, that shoulder is bigger than most people&rsquo;s legs. So, I wasn&rsquo;t worried about opposing players hanging on it.&ldquo;Let &lsquo;em hang. We were yanking on that shoulder, and believe me, it&rsquo;s strong.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;After defeating the Caps, the Flyers lost to the New Jersey Devils at the Spectrum 6-5, on March 12. The loss gave the Flyers a record of 0-5-2 against the Devils this season, marking the first time the Flyers have failed to defeat a Patrick Division team at least once during the regular season&hellip;The Flyers also blew a 4-1 lead at Chicago the next night, eventually losing in overtime 5-4. It was the sixth time this season the Flyers lost a game which they led after two periods&hellip;Defenseman Willie Huber had three goals and four assists in his first six games with the Flyers&hellip;Defenseman Kerry Huffman returned March 10 from a 22-game absence due to a hip injury. He scored three goals in his first two games back&hellip;Defenseman Brad Marsh removed his helmet for one game, but club doctors demanded that he continue to wear the helmet. Marsh was forced to use it after a severe concussion earlier in the season.<h2>FLYERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Mark Freer, C, assigned to Hershey (AHL); Al Hill, C, Magnus Roupe, RW, and Mitch Lamoureux, C, recalled from Hershey.March 8: Gordie Roberts, D, traded to St. Louis for fifth-round pick in 1988 entry draft (fourth-round if Blues advance to second round of playoffs).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel, Murray Craven, Al Hill, Mitch Lamoureux.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Derrick Smith, Magnus Roupe, Glen Seabrooke, Nick Fotiu.RW&mdash;Tim Kerr, Scott Mellanby, Ilkka Sinisalo.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Brad Marsh, Kerry Huffman.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Doug Crossman, Willie Huber, Greg Smyth, J.J. Daigneault.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Mark Laforest.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Craig Berube, LW, sprained left knee, day-to-day.Dave Brown, LW, badly bruised and sprained left hand, March 21.Pelle Eklund, C, bruised hip, day-to-day.Don Nachbaur, C, sprained back, day-to-day.Dave Poulin, C, pulled groin muscle, March 20.Bill Root, D, pulled groin, day-to-day.Ron Sutter, C, torn rib cartilage, March 19.Rick Tocchet, RW, bruised shoulder, March 17. &#9632;

f0029-01

Flyer Completes A Kerr-ageous Comeback

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02459/5452823-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fredericton Express coach Blair MacDonald has survived the disagreements of his parent clubs to steer his team on the road to AHL success. (photo by steven somerville)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01630/5452830-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="177" height="136"></div>Take a well-publicized front-office squabble, toss in a coaching change, add frequent player moves, and you generally have a can&rsquo;t-miss recipe for failure in the American League.But the Fredericton Express, a last-place team in the Northern Division last year, has taken those unlikely ingredients and whipped up a souffle of success. The club has consistently managed to thrive in the midst of chaos.With 13 games remaining, Fredericton had a 35-24-8 record and was two points behind the Maine Mariners in the race for first place in the Northern Division. Nine of the final 13 games were to be played at home, where the Express had gone 26-4-1.The battle of Freddy Beach began last October. when Brian Burke, the new vice president and director of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks, paid his first visit.Burke damned the Express partnership between the Canucks and Quebec Nordiques. He said the Canucks had no input in the choice of coach Ron Lapointe, and blasted Quebec for not providing enough quality players in the past.He said Vancouver management planned to end the arrarangement as soon as possible.His remarks stunned the Express, but didn&rsquo;t derail it. Under first-year coach Lapointe, the club was 7-2-1 in its first 10 games.&ldquo;We just can&rsquo;t let that kind of stuff affect us,&rdquo; said forward Mike Hough, a Quebec property. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just players. It did cause a little controversy with the team. But that&rsquo;s uppermanagement stuff. The bottom line is, you&rsquo;ve got to play.&rdquo;Veteran Jean-Marc Lanthicr, the team captain, said he made it clear to the players they should try to ignore the comments.&ldquo;For us, we want to play hockey, wherever it is,&rdquo; said Lanthier, who is in the Canucks&rsquo; system. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter for the Vancouver guys or the Quebec guys. For the players, I don&rsquo;t think it was a big thing.&rdquo;Burke has made a point of avoiding the subject since. Vancouver&rsquo;s contract with the Quebec-owned franchise runs through the 198889 season, and the Canucks cannot break the contract without permission of the Nordiques. Burke said both parties are intent on making the best of what is periodically an uncomfortable situation.&ldquo;The comments that were made early on were just honest answers, that it&rsquo;s not a good situation for us there,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;The feeling between Vancouver and Quebec is, &lsquo;That may be, but let&rsquo;s not disturb the team. We&rsquo;ve got a shot at something here and let&rsquo;s take it.&rsquo; Yes, we&rsquo;ve agreed to not discuss these issues publicly and distract the team.&rdquo;Burke said the mix of Quebec and Vancouver players at Fredericton is more equitable this season.&ldquo;I think Quebec has shown more interest in being competitive at the minor-league level this year and I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s because of my remarks,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;I think they made that decision internally.&rdquo;At the conclusion of last season, Nordique officials said they would sign some players to help Fredericton. They added five&mdash;veteran defenseman Claude Julien, Quebec junior stars, Marc Fortier and Jean-Marc Richard, and a pair of Czechoslovaks. Ladislav Tresl and Jaroslav I Sevcik.&ldquo;Vancouver was active as far as concern for the franchise this year,&rdquo; said Gilles Leger, director of personnel development for the Nordiques and the president of the Fredericton franchise.By early December, the Express was locked in a battle with New Haven and Sherbrooke for first place in the division. On Dec. 4, Quebec fired Nordique coach Andre Savard, who had served two undistinguished seasons in Fredericton, and replaced him with Lapointe. Former WHA and NHL player Blair (B.J.) MacDonald was named Express coach.Despite the coincidental call-ups to Vancouver of high-scoring forwards John Leblanc and Dan Hodgson, the Express continued its strong play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tribute to the players we have,&rdquo; said MacDonald. &ldquo;When you have two clubs in one franchise it gives you a little more depth.&rdquo;The Quebec rookie chattels&mdash;goaltender Ron Tugnutt, center Fortier and defenseman Richard&mdash;have been outstanding. Vancouver forwards Lanthier and Jeff Rohlicek. and defenseman Jim Agnew, have also made significant contributions.Despite a recent 0-6-3 road slump and the call-up of high scorers Ken Quinney, Fortier and David Bruce, MacDonald said there could be a long-term benefit to the continuing roster movement.&ldquo;We knew it was going to be difficult when we left (on the road trip), especially after we lost our (second-, third- and fourth) top scorers, but I think it&rsquo;s something in a player&rsquo;s career that he has to go through. Rookies have to go through this. They have to play against adversity. It&rsquo;s a learning process and unfortunately we have to do it now.&rdquo;Although Fortier (Quebec) and Bruce (Vancouver) were expected to remain in the NHL, the Canucks and Nordiques reassigned useful players Dave Saunders, Dave Lowry, Leblanc, Quinney, Dave Latta and Bobby Dollas before the roster-freezing deadline on March 8. MacDonald was also free to recall any of the seven players Quebec had on loan to Baltimore.&ldquo;I think they (the NHL parents) have agreed on things now and they&rsquo;re living with it.&rdquo; MacDonald said. &ldquo;Obviously, there are going to be some minor disagreements, but I think they&rsquo;ve finally smoothed things over. They&rsquo;re both dedicated to having a winning season because I think they both realize now it&rsquo;s important to have that winning attitude.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-02

The Minors

Express Route To The Top

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03314/5452861-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="178" height="135"></div>Steve Tsujiura has found you can go home again.Tsujiura became a Maine Mariner for the third time in his career, just minutes before&rsquo; the NHL trade deadline, when the parent Boston Bruins acquired him from New Jersey Devils for a l0th-round draft pick. Tsujiura, who had 15 goals and 32 assists in 54 games with Utica, was a l0th-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1981.The acquisition pleased Mariner fans, who lost two favorites, goalie Bill Ranford and penalty leader Alan May, in the Bruins&rsquo; swap-and-shop show. Ranford went to Edmonton with Bruin winger Geoff Courtnall for Andy Moog, and a few hours later May was sent to Edmonton for Moe Lemay. Lemay went to the Mariners and May to Nova Scotia.Tsujiura, 26, started his pro career with the Mariners in 1982-83 in the Flyers&rsquo; organization. The Flyers left for Springfield the following year, but Tsujiura was back in 1984-85 after being signed as a free agent by the New Jersey Devils.<h2>CANADIENS LOSE TWO</h2>Two players noticeably missing from Sherbrooke&rsquo;s clear-day list were center Gilles Thi-baudeau and right winger Jose Charbonneau, the team&rsquo;s top two scorers.Both were recalled by Montreal in February, and the NHL club decided to keep them on its roster on the March 8 decision day. Thibaudeau (39-57 for 96 points in 59 games) was the league&rsquo;s top scorer for much of the season before being passed by Springfield&rsquo;s Bruce Boudreau. Charbonneau had 65 points (30-35) in 55 games.With Thibaudeau gone from the league for this season, Boudreau appeared headed to his first scoring title as a pro. The last time he led a league in scoring was in 1974-75 for Toronto of the Ontario Hockey Association.<h2>TRIPLE FOR BOUDREAU</h2>Boudreau became only the second player in league history to reach the 100-point mark in three seasons. His 100th point was a second-period goal in a 9-4 home loss to Rochester on March 4. Another Springfield player. Bill Sweeney, was the other player to notch the 100-point hat trick, accomplishing the feat in three straight years (108 in 1960-61, 101 in &lsquo;61-62 and 103 in &lsquo;62-63). Boudreau&rsquo;s other two 100-points seasons were with St. Catharines (122 in &lsquo;82-83 and 109 in &lsquo;83-84).Moncton goalie Pokey Reddick has been wearing No. 13 for the Hawks. In three games with his new number, Reddick lost 4-3 in Nova Scotia, tied Sherbrooke 2-2, and beat Sher-brooke 4-1&hellip;The New Haven Nighthawks got rugged defenseman Ken Baumgartner from Los Angeles. &#9632;

f0030-03

Tsujiura, Mariners Together Again

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01577/5452892-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="180" height="134"></div>Life on the road can be a blur to hockey officials, but referee Lance Roberts will long remember the first weekend in March.&ldquo;It was interesting, no doubt,&rdquo; said the 30-year-old Edmonton native. Roberts is in his first year under contract to the NHL.The referee was involved in controversial situations in two games, both 5-4 victories for the Adirondack Red Wings.On March 5 at Portland, Roberts incorrectly took a go-ahead goal away from the Red Wings during a game with the Maine Mariners.With 7:20 to play in the third period, Adirondack rookie forward Randy McKay scored on a rebound against Maine goaltender Bill Ranford. The Mariners had McKay&rsquo;s stick examined and it was found to have more than the allowed half-inch curve in the blade. Instead of counting the goal and giving McKay a minor penalty, Roberts ruled the goal would not count. No penalty was assessed.The only circumstance in which a goal can be taken away is when a penalty shot is scored using an illegal stick.Neither of the linesmen, veterans Brian Collins and Dave Butova, was aware Roberts had erred.&ldquo;I think the blame has to be shared by all three officials,&rdquo; said American League vice-president Gord Anziano. the league&rsquo;s supervisor of officials. &ldquo;There are three guys working. Granted, one has sole responsibility, but he has two helpers.&rdquo;Five minutes later, Roberts awarded Maine a penalty shot, ruling an Adirondack player had intentionally dislodged his own net. Dave Reid scored against Darren Eliot to give the Mariners a4-3 lead. But the Wings tied the game on a two-man power-play advantage with 20 seconds remaining and Geordie Robertson won it for Adirondack in overtime.The next afternoon at Glens Falls, Roberts waved off an apparent tying goal by Utica&rsquo;s Steve Richmond with 29 seconds left in a game Adirondack led 5-4. Roberts said Richmond was in Eliot&rsquo;s-crease when he deflected a shot by Chris Cichocki.Roberts&rsquo; work earned Eliot&rsquo;s praise.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not afraid to make the call,&rdquo; Eliot said. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it, right or wrong, he made it. I always admire officials like that. It&rsquo;s better than having a guy wishy-washy out there.&rdquo;<h2>AMERKS OPEN GATES</h2>Center Gates Orlando rejoined the Rochester Americans March 9 for their game against Maine. Orlando had 43 goals and 49 assists in 38 games with Merano of the Italian League this season&hellip;Toronto Maple Leafs recalled forward Marty Dallman from Newmarket on March 8. At the time of his promotion, Dallman was on a nine-game goal-scoring streak and had 44 goals. Dallman earned an assist in his first NHL game, a 4-3 loss in Chicago March 9.Newmarket signed free-agent center Darren Treloar, a Toronto native who played most of his junior career at Peterborough. Treloar spent this season playing in Sweden with Olofstromik&hellip;U.S. Olympic team goaltender Chris Terreri made his debut with Utica on March 9. He stopped 31 shots in a 5-3 victory over Nova Scotia&hellip;Adirondack signed Canadian Olympic team defenseman Serge Roy and former Medicine Hat center Al Conroy, who played this season in Italy. &#9632;

f0031-01

Referee Roberts Has Memorable Weekend

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02404/5452923-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="157" height="135"></div>Getting to Kalamazoo for his first International League game posed a bigger problem for Mike Richter than the game itself.Richter, the U.S. Olympic team goaltender, spent most of March I trying to hook up with his new team, the Colorado Rangers. Problem was, he looked in the wrong place after taking a few days off following the Calgary Games to rest at home in Madison, Wis.&ldquo;I left Calgary Friday (Feb. 26) for Madison, dropped my stuff off at the school (University of Wisconsin) and visited some friends,&rdquo; Richter said.&rdquo;On Tuesday, March I, he left for Denver to join his new team. Or so he bought.&ldquo;I was in the air from 7 a.m. to6:30 p.m.,&rdquo; Richter related. &ldquo;I flew from Madison to Minneapolis and changed planes for Denver. When I got there I phoned my agent (Don Meehan) and he said the club wasn&rsquo;t in Denver and that I&rsquo;d better get to Kalamazoo. So I bought a ticket and got right back on the same plane. I lost my sticks coming out of Calgary and my luggage coming to Kalamazoo. I still don&rsquo;t have my sticks but I finally got my luggage.&rdquo;And he nearly got a shutout. Ranger coach Pete Mahovlich put the goalie to work the next day, and Richter responded with a 3-1 win over the Wings.The 5-foot-11, 170-pounder emerged from his first week as a professional with a 2-1 record in three road games. The Rangers also beat Fort Wayne 5-3 and lost 5-2 to Muskegon.Joining Richter in Colorado were U.S. Olympians Tony Granato, at center, and Peter Laviolette, on defense.<h2>JOINING THE &lsquo;JACKS</h2>The Milwaukee Admirals tied a pro hockey record with their 18th straight defeat, a 5-4 shootout loss to Salt Lake City on March 9. The American League&rsquo;s Baltimore Skipjacks lost 18 in a row earlier this season. Three of the losses during the Admirals&rsquo; IHL-record streak had come in shootouts. Milwaukee was outscored by 48 goals during its 18-game plunge but received a point for each of the shootout defeats, which followed five-minute suddendeath overtimes.The old IHL record for consecutive losses was 15, set by the Windsor Ryancretes in 1948-49. The Ryan-cretes still cling to one IHL record&mdash;31 straight games without a win, including six ties.<h2>A ROSY VICTORY</h2>Saginaw&rsquo;s Dennis Desrosiers recorded his 200th regular-season victory as a head coach Feb. 26. The Hawks beat Milwaukee 6-5 in a shootout&hellip;Peoria left winger Scott Harlow was IHL player of the month for February. He was recalled by the St. Louis Blues on March 4. Harlow had 26 points (14-12) when Peoria went 11-3-0 and moved into second place in the West Division&hellip;The Flint Spirits had 91 power-play goals through March 6, 11 short of the record set by the Port Huron Flags in an 80-game schedule in 1978-79. The IHL now plays an 82-game schedule. &#9632;

f0031-02

Richter Touches Down With Rangers

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01609/5452954-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dartmouth&rsquo;s Brian Fusonie, right, lines up to await a faceoff with Providence&rsquo;s Todd Whittemore. Fusonie knows all about waiting&mdash;he went three years between games for the Big Green. (Photos by Kathy Slattery)</figcaption></div>Most people would be happy just to walk again after surgery for a serious back injury.Not Brian Fusonie.In the fall of 1984, Fusonie came to Dartmouth as a promising prep-school hockey player from Greenfield, Mass. Six weeks later, his career was on hold.During dry-land training, he began to experience back pain.&ldquo;I played in two games as a freshman and kept having weird sensations going through my legs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then it got so bad, I could hardly bend over or skate.&rdquo;Doctors discovered one of his vertebrae was pushing against his spine, pinching off the nerves to his leg.&ldquo;I had to have a spinal fusion,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;They took a piece out of my hip and used it to lift up the vertebrae and make room for the nerve.&ldquo;It was not fun. I was in the hospital for two weeks and after the surgery, I needed help just to get out of bed and stand up. It felt like I was in the military. I had to be rigid at all times, either lying flat or standing straight up. I could sit down for only 15 minutes at a time, three times a day, for the first couple of weeks.&rdquo;The injury kept him out of hockey for three years. But his love for the game never faltered and he returned to the Big Green program as a seniorFusonie made up his mind to return during his junior year. Still frustrated by an aborted comeback attempt the year before, he took off to study in France for a semester.&ldquo;When I came back, I would go to games and think that I should be out there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew I could contribute. I set my goal at the beginning of this year to not only make the team, but to go as far as I thought I could. I knew I could play the game well.&rdquo;Fusonie remembered his four years at Deerfield Academy in Vermont. Deerfield won the New England Prep School championship with a 20-2 record during his final season, and Fuso-nie&rsquo;s line (with Doug Weiss, who also went to Dartmouth, and Ted Hanley, who opted for New Hampshire) tormented rival goalies. The threesome received one of the highest honors when it was allowed to play intact in an East-West senior all-star game at Harvard.Fusonie&rsquo;s first comeback, attempted during his sophomore year, ended when pain made it unbearable for him to play.&ldquo;I just wasn&rsquo;t ready physically.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought that maybe nature was doing me in.&rdquo;This time, the 22-year-old economics major prepared himself. He went full tilt on the exercise bike all summer, and was ready to skate himself back into the lineup come fall.But it wasn&rsquo;t easy. Even though Fusonie was a senior, Dartmouth coach Brian Mason made it clear he had to earn a spot on the team. And after the first Green-and-White scrimmage, the 5-foot-11, 175-pounder found himself playing with the junior varsity.&ldquo;I probably made it a little tougher on him,&rdquo; Mason admitted. &ldquo;He came back in great shape because he made a commitment over the summer to play, but when we started to scrimmage, he wasn&rsquo;t making things happen. After the first Green-and-White scrimmage, I put him on the jayvees and he was shocked. I was justified in doing it but I wanted to see what kind of commitment he had made mentally. He played great in the next Green-and-White game and played ever since.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think Coach had a lot of confidence in me,&rdquo; said Fusonie. &ldquo;He played me in some crucial situations. I would have liked to play on a higher line on right wing (his natural position) but he had no one to play center, so he moved me there. When Tom Finks got hurt, I was on the first power-play unit and killed some penalties.&rdquo;Yet, it wasn&rsquo;t really the kind of season that Fusonie had dreamed about. Spending much of the year on Dartmouth&rsquo;s checking line, he scored just two goals and no assists in 25 games.But that was two more goals than he scored in his first three years at Dartmouth. And he also had the satisfaction of playing an important role in Dartmouth&rsquo;s battle for a playoff spot, a battle that ended one win shy of success in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.RPI finished in the eighth and final playoff spot with a 9-13-0 record, one point better than Dartmouth&rsquo;s 8-13-1 mark.&ldquo;We were pluggers,&rdquo; Fusonie said of his line, which included freshman Bill Fitzpatrick and junior Mike Freedman on the wings. &ldquo;We were supposed to get things stirred up.&rdquo;&ldquo;But I was never really satisfied,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I wanted to contribute more.&rdquo;&ldquo;Brian was very instrumental in the success we had,&rdquo; said Mason. &ldquo;His role, when he was in the lineup, was to make things happen and not to give up a lot of goals. Give him all the credit. He&rsquo;s a great testimony to people who work hard and believe they can be successful.&rdquo;Fusonie won&rsquo;t play pro&mdash;there isn&rsquo;t much call for a two-goal senior&mdash;but if hard work and dedication count for anything, he should realize his goal of admission to law school.&ldquo;I went through a very frustrating experience,&rdquo; said Fusonie, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll walk out with a sweet taste in my mouth. Going into this year, I was very frustrated. If I didn&rsquo;t do it (come back successfully), I would have had a lot of bad memories.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-01

The Colleges

Coming All The Way Back

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02447/5453006-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="410" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL CONNELL Bowling Green</figcaption></div><h2>CCHA</h2>The sophomore goaltender made 57 saves in two games and was named MVP of the CCHA tournament. He led BG to a 5-2 title-game win over Lake Superior State.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03297/5452999-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="411" height="526"><figcaption class="caption-body">DEAN ANDERSON Wisconsin</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>The senior goaltender was named MVP of the WCHA tournament. He made 40 saves in Wisconsin&rsquo;s 3-2 title-game win over the University of Minnesota.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04183/5452992-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="409" height="523"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIO THYER Maine</figcaption></div><h2>Hockey East</h2>The freshman center set a Maine record by scoring 13 seconds into his team&rsquo;s 11-2 win over Providence in the second of a two-game total goal series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05123/5452985-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="409" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE LAPPIN St. Lawrence</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2>Lappin had three goals and four assists in four games and was named MVP of the ECAC tournament. He scored once as St. Lawrence beat Clarkson 3-0 in the final.Performers of the week for the period March 7-13.Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE &#9632;

f0032-02

BaUer'S COLLeGe PerFOrMerS OF THe WeeK

<div class="byline">BY LARRY MAHONEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01545/5453037-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="180" height="134"></div>The strongest have survived.Maine Black Bears and Northeastern Huskies, Hockey East&rsquo;s top two finishers during the regular season, advanced to the league final March 14 with wins in the semifinals March 8-10.Maine, 31-6-2 overall, outscored Providence 17-7&mdash;including an 11-2 win in the second game of their two-game, total-goals series.Northeastern, 18-12-4, edged Lowell 4-3, winning the first game 3-1 fore losing the second 2-1.<h2>DETERMINED COMEBACK</h2>In Orono, Maine rebounded from a poor first-game performance&mdash;they allowed four unanswered third-period goals before hanging on for a 6-5 win&mdash;with a resounding victory in game two.Maine, playing without leading scorer and Hobey Baker Award finalist Dave Capuano (flu), erupted for five first-period goals and never looked back.Providence, playing its fourth playoff game in six days, wound up 13-185.<blockquote class="pullQuote">College All-Star Teams, Award-Winners, p. 42</blockquote>Freshman center Mario Thyer got things rolling with the first of his three goals just 13 seconds into the second game. That tied the Hockey East record for earliest game-opening goal and set the Maine record.It was a fluke goal. Thyer&rsquo;s centering pass glanced off the skate of Friar center Gord Cruickshank and slipped behind Providence goalie Matt Merten.&ldquo;It was moving so fast, I never saw it,&rdquo; said Merten.&ldquo;We had the momentum for 13 seconds,&rdquo; said disappointed PC coach Mike McShane.Mike Golden, Thyer and Dave Wensley scored in a span of 4:52 to break the game open. Chris Cambio added another goal with 59 seconds left in the first period to make it 5-0.Cruickshank&rsquo;s 19th career goal against Maine pulled the Friars to within 5-1 midway through the second period, but that was as close as Providence was to get.Thyer set up a Guy Perron powerplay goal, and Thyer completed his hat trick with another extra-man goal just 1:12 later at the 19:31 mark of the period.Eric Weinrich, Jack Capuano, Mike McHugh and Golden added third-period goals before Providence&rsquo;s Mario Aube concluded the scoring.Maine set school and Hockey East records with six power play goals on the night.<h2>SPECIAL DELIVERY</h2>At Northeastern, it was the play of the specialty teams that decided the penalty-filled series.Northeastern scored three powerplay goals in 14 chances and blanked the Chiefs&rsquo; power play (0-12) to advance to the final.Junior right winger Dave Buda scored three of Northeastern&rsquo;s four goals in the series, including two on power plays. His linemate, sophomore center Harry Mews, scored the other goal.Buda scored a pair of first-period goals in the opener, then scored Northeastern&rsquo;s only goal of game two. Steve Ablitt scored for Lowell in the opener, Gary Murphy and Mike Erickson in game two. &#9632;

f0033-01

It’s Survival Of The Fittest In Hockey East

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02388/5453068-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="179" height="128"></div>The Clarkson Golden Knights were aiming to give coach Cap Raeder the best goingaway present possible&mdash;the Eastern College Athletic Conference championship.Raeder announced earlier this month his plans to leave Clarkson next year and become an assistant to old nigh school teammate Robbie Ftorek. coach of the NHL&rsquo;s Los Angeles Kings.Nothing has come easily for Clarkson this season, and the ECAC quarterfinals were no different. The sixth-seeded Knights had to play Cornell on the road, but came away with a pair of one-goal decisions to reach the ECAC Final Four at Boston Garden, March 11-12.Clarkson won the opener 4-3 on March 4, but Cornell freshman Trent Andison scored two goals in a 4-2 Cornell win the next night. Because neither team won both games, the ECAC playoff format called for a 10-minute mini-game.Clarkson sophomore Mark Tretowicz scored the only goal in the minigame, with his younger brother Dave assisting, at 6:02 of the extra period.<h2>MASON&rsquo;S JOB ON LINE</h2>Dartmouth coach Brian Mason continued to await word on his future with the Big Green. After guiding Dartmouth to a ninth-place 10-15-1 record, his contract had yet to be renewed.&ldquo;I talked to (Dartmouth athletic director) Ted Leland over the weekend (March 4-5), and he told me it would be 10 days to two weeks before they made a decision.&rdquo; said Mason, whose record is 27-96-3 in four years at Dartmouth.Mason has been rumored as a successor to Raeder at Clarkson, should his contract not be renewed. He graduated from Clarkson in 1973 and was the Knights&rsquo; leading scorer as both a junior and senior.<h2>HARVARD NIPS RPI</h2>In other quarter-final playoffs March 4 and 5, top-seeded Harvard eliminated RPI 5-4 and 6-4, St. Lawrence crushed Princeton 5-1 and 10-1, and Vermont defeated Colgate 8-0 and 3-3&hellip;St. Lawrence got all the right bounces from the start. On the Saints&rsquo; first goal, senior Mike Pelletier&rsquo;s wide shot bounced off the boards, hit Princeton goalie Mark Salisbury in the skate and went in the net.Harvard&rsquo;s line of sophomore C.J. Young and freshmen Ted Donato and Peter Ciavaglia accounted for seven goals and nine assists in the two-game series with RPI. &ldquo;That line has just started playing well,&rdquo; said Harvard coach Bill Cleary. &ldquo;They really hadn&rsquo;t jelled like we had hoped they would early in the season.&rdquo;&hellip;RPI&rsquo;s 5-4 loss to Harvard in the first game of the series was the Engineers&rsquo; 10th one-goal loss of the season.Colgate and RPI suffered through the worst second-half slumps. The Red Raiders started out the season 10-1 but went 8-11-2 the rest of the way. After winning nine of their first 11 games, the Engineers lost 16 of the next 21 to finish at 15-17, their second straight losing season. &#9632;

f0033-02

Knights In Shining Armor Eliminate Favored Cornell

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03281/5453113-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="361" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">PARIE PROFT Alberta</figcaption></div><h2>CANADA WEST</h2>The Golden Bear defenseman&rsquo;s total of three goals and eight assists in five playoff games earned him the weekly award. Proft was named a firstteam all-star.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04221/5453106-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="362" height="477"><figcaption class="caption-body">JERRY FLEMING UPEI</figcaption></div><h2>ATLANTIC</h2>The Panther left winger scored five goals&mdash;including four in one game&mdash;to lead UPEI to a 5-2, 5-0 sweep of Moncton in Atlantic playoff action.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05181/5453099-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="362" height="482"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK APPLEWHAITE York</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO</h2>The York goaltender led his teammates to their fourth consecutive Ontario title. Ap-plewhaite was MVP of York&rsquo;s 5-1 win over Western in the league final.Performers of the week for the period March 7-13.Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE &#9632;

f0033-03

Bauer’s university perFormers OF THE ween

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01622/5453144-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="179" height="134"></div>For the first time in memory, the top four regular-season teams survived preliminary action and made it to the Central Collegiate Association Final Four at Joe Louis Arena, Mar. 11-12.Lake Superior knocked out Ohio State 6-2 and 4-1 in their best-of-three series. Bowling Green topped Ferris State 5-4 and 6-3, Michigan State eliminated UIC 9-4 and 6-3, and Western Michigan went three games with Michigan, losing 5-4 before winning 4-3 and 10-0 to advance.<h2>FOUR EXTRA FRAMES</h2>The most exciting of all the games was the first Bowling Green-Ferris State tilt, which went into a fourth overtime period before freshman Matt Ruchty slipped the winning goal past Ferris freshman goalie Marc Felicio.The game ended at 32:10 of overtime.Felicio, who wasn&rsquo;t even the consistent starter on his high school team last year, was spectacular for Ferris.Felicio stopped 61 shots, to 30 for BG&rsquo;s Paul Connell.&ldquo;He was just unbelievable,&rdquo; said BG coach Jerry York. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a kid who didn&rsquo;t even play that much all season (with a 5.50 GAA and. 865 save percentage) and he just stands us on our ears.&rdquo;Bowling Green and Minnesota-Duluth set the record for longest extraperiod game March 24, 1984. when BGSU finally subdued UMD 37:11 into overtime during a national Final Four game in Lake Placid, N.Y.That game also ended up 5-4.<h2>CHIPPY ENCOUNTERS</h2>The Laker-Buckeye series was typical of the two teams in the playoffs: There was lots of post-whistle hitting, yapping, intimidation tactics and animosity between the coaches.Jerry Welsh, a 13-year veteran at OSU, refused to shake hands with Lake State counterpart Frank Anzalone after the series ended March 5.There were more than 90 minutes in penalties in game two, with referee Matt Shegos calling 22 of 36 on OSU. including a game misconduct to big Buckeye defenseman Al Novakowski.<h2>UNEXPECTED ROUT</h2>The Western Michigan-Michigan series was great entertainment for two games, but went sour in game three when the Wolverines allowed a soft goal early and got whipped 10-0, despite being outshot only 23-22.Michigan goalie Warren Sharples let in nine goals on 21 shots. The 10th went into an empty net at 6:33 of the third period when the Wolverines, desperate to get something going, pulled Sharples during a power-play opportunity. The move backfired, and WMU defenseman Dave Lobdel scored a shorthanded goal.&ldquo;We got every break, absolutely every one,&rdquo; said WMU coach Bill Wilkinson. &ldquo;There is no way any team in this league is 10 goals better than any other.&rdquo;<h2>MILLER CONTRIBUTES</h2>Michigan State welcomed back former U.S. Olympian forward Kevin Miller, who contributed three goals and a whole lot of maturity and leadership in the sweep of Chicago.Miller opted to finish his final season of eligibility with MSU and turn pro next fall, rather than sit out and return for a final full season of eligibility with the Spartans.<h2>ALL-ACADEMIC SQUAD</h2>The CCHA&rsquo;s all-academic team was led by defenseman Alan Leggett of Bowling Green, who carried a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in microbiology&hellip;MSU forward Danton Cole, forward Dan Wilhelm of Ohio State, goalie Kevin McCaffrey of WMU and Ferris State defenseman Gregory Cyr were also named to the team. Forward Ron Hoover and defenseman Dave Lobdel, both of WMU, tied in balloting for the sixth spot.Honorable mention went to Lake Superior&rsquo;s Anthony Palumbo and Peter Stauber, Ron Robinson of Miami, Dean Davies and Mike Williams of Ferris State, and Chicago&rsquo;s Dan Perry and Todd Beyer. &#9632;

f0034-01

After Four Overtimes, Falcons Subdue Ferris

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03368/5453189-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="366" height="458"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN CURRIE S.S. Marie</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The 20-year-old left winger had five goals and seven assists for 12 points in three games. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder increased his season totals to 50 goals and 59 assists for 109 points in 56 games with the Greyhounds.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04268/5453182-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="373" height="468"><figcaption class="caption-body">SYLVAIN COUTURIER Laval</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Center Sylvain Couturier, 19, scored eight goals and seven assists in three games. He had four goals and five assists in an 11-5 win over Verdun to improve his totals to 68 goals and 66 assists in 65 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05208/5453175-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="377" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">CRAIG ENDEAN Regina</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>The Regina right winger had six goals and four assists in four games to become the all-time WHL scoring leader with 524 points. Endean improved his season totals to 49 goals and 82 assists for 131 points in 66 games.At the end of the current season. THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year.MEGABio-engineered for skating performance &#9632;

f0034-03

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK FOR MARCH 7-13

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02475/5453220-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="179" height="131"></div>Even Robb Stauber can&rsquo;t stop every shot.Minnesota&rsquo;s outstanding sophomore goaltender showed his human side March 7, when his streak of shutout hockey finally came to an end at 207 minutes and 27 seconds.And when it did, it cost Minnesota the Western Collegiate Association playoff title. Wisconsin beat Stauber for three goals in the second period to topple the Gophers 3-2 in St. Paul, Minn., and win the WCHA postseason championship over regularseason titlist Minnesota.Stauber was outplayed in the title game by Wisconsin senior Dean Anderson, statistically the No. 2 goalie in the league. Anderson finished with 39 stops, 17 of them in the scoreless first period. Stauber, the WCHA&rsquo;s goaltending champion with a 2.91 goals-against average, ended up with 21 saves.Stauber&rsquo;s scoreless streak included three straight shutouts, two of them over Colorado College in the first round of the league playoffs, and one over Minnesota-Duluth in the league playoff semi-finals.Stauber&rsquo;s scoreless string was snapped when Dennis Snedden of Wisconsin beat him. Paul Ranheim and Tony Scheid also beat Stauber to stake Wisconsin to a 3-0 lead after two periods, enough to hold off the Gophers. Minnesota did make it close when Peter Hankinson and Lance Werness scored in the third period for Minnesota.Anderson, who made 40 saves in a 2-1 win over North Dakota in the other semi-final game, was named tourney MVP.By winning, Wisconsin earned the automatic seed from the WCHA into the 12-team NCAA tourney. Minnesota was a lock to advance as well, while third-place finisher North Dakota could be afforded the chance to defend its NCAA title.<h2>BULLDOG BROWER</h2>North Dakota senior goalie Scott Brower posted his fourth career shutout and his first in two years as the Sioux beat Minnesota-Duluth 6-0 to take third place.Brower made 37 saves in his best outing of the year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the most gratifying win I&rsquo;ve ever had,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Being a senior and not knowing if we&rsquo;ll play another game, this shutout is something I&rsquo;ll remember the rest of my life.&rdquo;Fast-charging North Dakota, which won eight of its last 11 games, gave up just two goals in the two tournament games.&ldquo;The way North Dakota is playing now, I&rsquo;ll match them against anyone in the country,&rdquo; Duluth coach Mike Ser-tich said.<h2>FOUR HOBEY NOMINEES</h2>Stauber, Ranheim, UND&rsquo;s Steve Johnson and Western Michigan&rsquo;s Phil Berger are among the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes annually to the nation&rsquo;s top college hockey player. The announcement of the 10 finalists was made at the banquet which preceeded the WCHA Final Four&hellip;No other league had more than two players among the finalists. Other finalists were junior right winger Mike Vermette of Lake Superior and sophomore center Nelson Emerson of Bowling Green in the Central Collegiate Association, senior center Mike Golden and sophomore center-wing David Capuano, both of Maine in Hockey East, and Colgate senior right winger Rejean Boivin and St. Lawrence senior center Pete Lappin of the Eastern College Association.The WCHA&rsquo;s first-ever Final Four was a resounding success, drawing nearly 50,000 fans for the four games over two days&hellip;The league lucked into a popular field. In Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota and Wiconsin, the Final Four consisted of| the schools geographically closest to St. Paul. The league plans to keep the Final Four format, with St. Paul as the permanent site. &#9632;

f0034-02

Anderson Outplays Stauber In WCHA Title Showdown

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Rick Mayoh</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03368/5453289-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="181" height="133"></div>Goalie Andre Racicot remained in limbo after Quebec Superior Court judge Ross Goodwin&rsquo;s March 9 ruling on a February trade between Granby and the Hull Olympiques.The second-place St-Jean Castors (39-25-3) sought a court injuction on the trade, which saw league-leading Hull (41-21-4) obtain defenseman Stephane Quintal, a first-round pick by Boston Bruins at the 1987 draft, and goaltender Alan Mladenovic from Granby for goalie Andre Racicot and a second-round pick in the 1988 Quebec League draft.St-Jean said the trade broke league bylaw 2.19.2, which states a player&mdash;in this case Racicot&mdash;attending school cannot be traded twice in one season. The rule is intended to protect players from missing school because of trades.The judge granted the injunction, but in such a manner that only Racicot and the Bisons are affected. Goodwin allowed Hull to keep Quintal and Mladenovic and ruled Racicot ineligible to play for Granby if St-Jean pursued the matter, which it will.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re satisfied,&rdquo; said Castor coach Mario Bazinet. &ldquo;We proved our point&hellip;&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s very nice of them,&rdquo; said disgruntled Bison coach and general manager Real Paiement. &ldquo;They just don&rsquo;t want to see Quintal in Hull for the playoffs. I think the judge should have gone one way or another.&rdquo;The league board of governors were expected to meet in mid-March&mdash;an exact date had not been determined&mdash;to resolve the messy situation. There didn&rsquo;t appear to be many options. If the judge&rsquo;s order and St-Jean&rsquo;s resolve stand, one would assume that either Racicot will be declared ineligible for the rest of the season or the entire trade will be declared null and void.<h2>CUP BERTH ON HOLD</h2>Mario Barbe&rsquo;s goal with 17 seconds left in a 10-minute sudden-death overtime gave Granby a 6-5 win over Hull on March 8 and kept the Olympiques from clinching their second Quebec League regular-season championship in three years and an automatic berth in this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup at Chicoutimi oh May 7-14&hellip;Trois-Rivieres Draveur general manager Michel Boucher won two of his first three games behind the bench after firing first-year coach John Paris on March 4. &#9632;

f0035-03

Goalie In Limbo

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Ed Willes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04300/5453320-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="181" height="132"></div>The Saskatoon Blades repulsed two straight assaults on first place by the Medicine Hat Tigers to just about clinch top spot in the Western League&rsquo;s East Division.The initial attack came on March 3, when the Blades snapped the Tigers&rsquo; 18-game unbeaten streak with a 5-4 victory at Medicine Hat.Then on March 8, Kory Kocur&rsquo;s third goal of the game, at 5:29 of overtime, gave the Blades a 6-5 win at Saskatoon. It was the Blades&rsquo; 10th straight win and gave them a seven-point lead on the second-place Tigers. Saskatoon had five games left on its schedule. Medicine Hat six.Saskatoon is getting consistent performances from all players. Thirteen Blades were in double figures in goals and six of those players had at least 25 goals. Goaltender Tim Cheveldae played in 63 of Saskatoon&rsquo;s first 67 games, recording a 3.68 goals-against average with one shutout. His 41 wins&mdash;against 19 losses and three ties&mdash;were the most in the league.Despite the losses, the Tigers were finally living up to pre-season notices.With a lineup featuring first-round NHL draft picks Neil Brady (New Jersey), Mark Pederson (Montreal) and Dean Chynoweth (Islanders), plus highly-rated draft-prospect Trevor Linden, the Tigers were expected to mount a strong defense of their Memorial Cup title.Yet they started slowly and were in fifth place in the East Division with a 22-16-4 record Jan. 18. The next day, the Los Angeles Kings returned defenseman Wayne McBean, their first-round 1987 draft pick, to the Tigers. Medicine Hat has gone 17-5-2 since. McBean had 12 goals and 28 assists in those 24 games, while Pederson had 22 goals and 30 assists.<h2>HITCH EYES 200</h2>After the Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; 7-4 win over Victoria on Feb. 28, head coach Ken Hitchcock needed three wins to become the 11 th coach in WHL history to reach 200 career victories. Hitchcock, who is in his fourth year with the Blazers, signed a one-year contract extension&hellip;Prince Albert Raider left winger Trevor Jobe has a chance to score 30 goals for two different teams this season. He scored 36 for the Moose Jaw Warriors before being traded to Prince Albert in January. He had 28 goals for the Raiders&hellip;As of March 8, Moose Jaw center Theoren Fleury had opened up a six-point lead on Swift Current&rsquo;s Joe Sakic in the WHL scoring race. Fleury, who exploded for three goals and four assists in an 8-5 Warriors&rsquo; win over Prince Albert on March 5, had 64 goals and 86 assists for 150 points in 60 games. Sakic had 70 goals and 74 assists in 58 games. &#9632;

f0035-04

Blades Sharp

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01562/5453365-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01490/5453358-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="3119" height="3663"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01568/5453351-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="3119" height="3245"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<h2>Mon., Mar. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01537/5453515-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="620" height="1644"></div><h2>Tue., Mar. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02371/5453508-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="620" height="1844"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03277/5453501-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="622" height="2677"></div><h2>Wed., Mar. 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04227/5453494-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="626" height="852"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05185/5453487-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="618" height="3537"></div><h2>Thur., Mar. 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06156/5453480-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="614" height="1902"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07139/5453473-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="636" height="1904"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01264/5453466-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="608" height="1360"></div><h2>Sat., Mar. 12</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02172/5453459-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="608" height="1360"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03121/5453452-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="620" height="3538"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0494/5453445-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="611" height="2833"></div><h2>Sun., Mar. 13</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0576/5453438-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="610" height="668"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0664/5453431-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="597" height="3475"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01181/5453424-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="608" height="332"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02123/5453417-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="598" height="388"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0385/5453410-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="608" height="386"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0465/5453403-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="602" height="382"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0554/5453396-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="614" height="386"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>NHL PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>PRELIMINARY ROUND</h3>Division semi-finals (All series best-of-seven)Game One&mdash;April 6; Game Two&mdash;April 7;Game Three&mdash;April 9; Game Four&mdash;April 10;Game Five&mdash;April 12; Game Six&mdash;April 14;Game Seven&mdash;April 16;<h3>QUARTER-FINALS</h3>Division finals, Adams & PatrickGame One&mdash;April 18; Game Two&mdash;April 20;Game Three&mdash;April 22; Game Four&mdash;April 24;Game Five&mdash;April 26; Game Six&mdash;April 28;Game Seven&mdash;April 30;Division finals, Norris, SmytheGame One&mdash;April 19; Game Two&mdash;April 21;Game Three&mdash;April 23; Game Four&mdash;April 25;Game Five&mdash;April 27; Game Six&mdash;April 29;Game Seven&mdash;May 1;<h3>SEMI-FINALS</h3>Wales Conference finals, Adams & PatrickGame One&mdash;May 2; Game Two&mdash;May 4Game Three&mdash;May 6; Game Four&mdash;May 8;Game Five&mdash;May 10; Game Six&mdash;May 12;Game Seven&mdash;May 14;Campbell Conference finals, Norris & SmytheGame One&mdash;May 3; Game Two&mdash;May 5;Game Three&mdash;May 7; Game Four&mdash;May 9;Gane Five&mdash;May 11; Game Six&mdash;May 13;Game Seven&mdash;May 15;Stanley Cup final dates will be determined upon conclusion of conference finals.ALL LEAGUE STANDINGS AS OF MON., MAR. 14<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01219/5453714-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="596" height="211"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02141/5453707-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="596" height="240"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>TUE, MAR. 8MAINE 7 AT NEWMARKET 1NEW HAVEN 7 AT SHERBROOKE 9WED MAR 9SPRINGFIELD 8 AT BALTIMORE 5ADIRONDACK 3 AT HERSHEY 1FREDERICTON 3 AT MONCTON 4MAINE 3 AT ROCHESTER 5NOVA SCOTIA 3 AT UTICA 5THUR., MAR 10MONCTON 3 AT FREDERICTON 6FRI., MAR. 11ROCHESTER 2 AT BALTIMORE 0NOVA SCOTIA 2 AT BINGHAMTON 2 (OT)NEW HAVEN 4 AT MAINE 5FREDERICTON 3 AT SHERBROOKE 6NEWMARKET 2 AT SPRINGFIELD 1SAT., MAR. 12ROCHESTER 1 AT ADIRONDACK 4NEWMARKET 0 AT BINGHAMTON 9NOVA SCOTIA 1 AT HERSHEY 3MAINE 5 AT SPRINGFIELD 4BALTIMORE 2 AT UTICA 8SUN MAR 13SPRINGFIELD 4 AT ADIRONDACK 2NOVA SCOTIA 10 AT BALTIMORE 4FREDERICTON 3 AT MAINE 4UTICA 3 AT NEWMARKET 5HERSHEY 1 AT ROCHESTER 3NEW HAVEN 1 AT SHERBROOKE 4<h3>SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03100/5453700-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="600" height="628"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0482/5453693-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="590" height="160"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0570/5453686-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="597" height="163"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0663/5453679-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="584" height="162"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>WED., MAR. 9FLINT 6 AT FORT WAYNE 8KALAMAZOO 4 AT SAGINAW 3SALT LAKE 5 AT MILWAUKEE 4 (OT)MUSKEGON 5 AT PEORIA 3FRI., MAR. 11COLORADO 5 AT SAGINAW 4FORT WAYNE 5 AT KALAMAZOO 4 (OT)SALT LAKE 8 AT PEORIA 3SAT, MAR. 12SALT LAKE 1 AT MUSKEGON 4FORT WAYNE 2 AT SAGINAW 8FLINT 4 AT KALAMAZOO 2PEORIA 5 AT MILWAUKEE 4SUN., MAR. 13KALAMAZOO 2 AT FORT WAYNE 3SALT LAKE 5 AT MILWAUKEE 6COLORADO 5 AT PEORIA 2MUSKEGON 4 AT FONT 5 (OT)<h3>SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0755/5453672-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="591" height="292"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0846/5453665-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="598" height="161"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2><h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0933/5453658-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="596" height="213"></div><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1029/5453651-1-eng-US/f0041-102.jpg" title="f0041-10" width="593" height="239"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>TUE., MAR. 8TORONTO 8 AT KINGSTON 3SUDBURY 4 AT S.S. MARIE 5HAMILTON 4 AT LONDON 5WED., MAR. 9TORONTO 5 AT BELLEVILLE 3WINDSOR 1 AT GUELPH 8THUR., MAR. 10KINGSTON 5 AT CORNWALL 12S.S. MARIE 7 AT NORTH BAY 4OSHAWA 4 AT PETERBOROUGH 3OTTAWA 2 AT WINDSOR 3FRI., MAR 11NORTH BAY 7 AT HAMILTON 4WINDSOR 3 AT KITCHENER 2OTTAWA 7 AT LONDON 10S.S. MARIE 8 AT SUDBURY 6SAT., MAR. 12OSHAWA 4 AT BELLEVILLE 2OTTAWA 3 AT GUELPH 10KITCHENER 3 AT HAMILTON 5PETERBOROUGH 4 AT TORONTO 2SUN., MAR 13PETERBOROUGH 3 AT CORNWALL 3 (OT)GUELPH 3 AT HAMILTON 3 (OT)KITCHENER 1 AT NORTH BAY 7BELLEVILLE 5 AT OSHAWA 4 (OT)SUDBURY 3 AT S.S. MARIE 6TORONTO 2 AT WINDSOR 9<h3>SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1129/5453644-1-eng-US/f0041-112.jpg" title="f0041-11" width="595" height="343"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1222/5453637-1-eng-US/f0041-122.jpg" title="f0041-12" width="590" height="160"></div><h2>CHL RANKINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1317/5453630-1-eng-US/f0041-132.jpg" title="f0041-13" width="582" height="325"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1416/5453623-1-eng-US/f0041-142.jpg" title="f0041-14" width="587" height="238"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1515/5453616-1-eng-US/f0041-152.jpg" title="f0041-15" width="586" height="186"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>TUE., MAR. 8MED. HAT 5 AT SASKATOON 6 (OT)MOOSE JAW 4 AT SWIFT CURRENT 5WED., MAR. 9BRANDON 7 AT REGINA 2MED. HAT 3 AT PRINCE ALBERT 1SEATTLE 9 AT SPOKANE 5PORTLAND 4 AT VICTORIA 7FRI., MAR. 11MOOSE JAW 5 AT REGINA 9LETHBRIDGE 3 AT BRANDON 4SWIFT CURRENT 3 AT SASKATOON 10SPOKANE 5 AT NEW WESTMINSTER 3PORTLAND 4 AT KAMLOOPS 5SAT., MAR 12REGINA 2 AT MOOSE JAW 1LETHBRIDGE 2 AT MEO. HAT 5BRANDON 3 AT PRINCE ALBERT 8SPOKANE 2 AT VICTORIA 4NEW WESTMINSTER 1 AT KAMLOOPS 9SUN MAR 11SWIFT CURRENT 7 AT REGINA 4MED. HAT 8 AT LETHBRIDGE 2BRANDON 6 AT SASKATOON 7 (OT)SPOKANE 4 AT SEATTLE 5PORTLAND 5 AT NEW WESTMINSTER 6<h3>SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1612/5453609-1-eng-US/f0041-162.jpg" title="f0041-16" width="586" height="417"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-179/5453602-1-eng-US/f0041-172.jpg" title="f0041-17" width="584" height="161"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-188/5453595-1-eng-US/f0041-182.jpg" title="f0041-18" width="585" height="158"></div><h3>LeBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-195/5453588-1-eng-US/f0041-192.jpg" title="f0041-19" width="583" height="157"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>MON., MAR 7VERDUN 5 AT LAVAL 11TUE., MAR 8VICTORIAVILLE 3 AT TROIS-RIVIERES 4HULL 5 AT GRANBY 6WED MAR 9SHAWINIGAN 3 AT CHICOUTIMI 7DRUMMONDVILLE 3 AT ST-JEAN 4FRI., MAR. 11HULL 4 AT CHICOUTIMI 6VICTORIAVILLE 4 AT DRUMMONDVILLE 10SHAWINIGAN 8 AT GRANBY 4LAVAL 7 AT ST-JEAN 4TROIS-RIVIERES 7 AT VERDUN 3SUN., MAR. 13LAVAL 5 AT GRANBY 3DRUMMONDVILLE 4 AT HULL 8TROIS-RIVIERES3 AT SHAWINIGAN 6ST-JEAN 7 AT VERDUN 2CHICOUTIMI 2 AT VICTORIAVILLE 3<h3>SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-205/5453581-1-eng-US/f0041-202.jpg" title="f0041-20" width="588" height="393"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-215/5453574-1-eng-US/f0041-212.jpg" title="f0041-21" width="584" height="163"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2><h3>FINAL STANDINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-224/5453567-1-eng-US/f0041-222.jpg" title="f0041-22" width="590" height="320"></div><h3>PLAYOFF RESULTS</h3>QUARTER-FINALSTUE., MAR 8WATERLOO 3 AT THUNDER BAY 10NORTH IOWA 7 AT ST. PAUL 6 (OT)WED MAR 9WATERLOO 1 AT THUNDER BAY 3NORTH IOWA 0 AT ST. PAUL 5ROCHESTER 6 AT SIOUX CITY 5DES MOINES 3 AT MADISON 6FRI MAR 11WATERLOO 3 AT THUNDER BAY 15(THUNDER BAY WINS BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES 3-0)ST. PAUL 8 AT NORTH IOWA 4SIOUX CITY 4 AT ROCHESTER 5 (OT)MADISON 7 AT DES MOINES 4SAT., MAR 12ST. PAUL 8 AT NORTH IOWA 1(ST. PAUL WINS BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES 3-1)SIOUX CITY 1 AT ROCHESTER 4(ROCHESTER WINS BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES 3-0)MADISON 6 AT DES MOINES 3(MADISON WINS BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES 3-0)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-234/5453560-1-eng-US/f0041-232.jpg" title="f0041-23" width="590" height="109"></div><h2>ALL-AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>FINAL STANDINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-244/5453553-1-eng-US/f0041-242.jpg" title="f0041-24" width="590" height="243"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>THUR., MAR 10JOHNSTOWN 3 AT CAROLINA 7(END OF SCHEDULE)PLAYOFF RESULTSROUND-ROBIN SEMI-FINALSFRI., MAR. 11VIRGINIA 2 AT CAROLINA 8SAT., MAR. 12JOHNSTOWN 5 AT VIRGINIA 6 (OT)SUN, MAR. 13CAROLINA 4 AT JOHNSTOWN 2FUTURE GAMESTUE., MAR. 15VIRGINIA AT JOHNSTOWNFRI., MAR. 18JOHNSTOWN AT CAROLINASAT MAR 19CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-254/5453546-1-eng-US/f0041-252.jpg" title="f0041-25" width="586" height="294"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01227/5453745-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

Bauer COLLEGE scoreBoarD

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01224/5453776-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="594" height="1112"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tomas Sandstrom remained in New York despite rumors he would be traded to Quebec.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02165/5453783-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="178" height="138"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;As the New York Rangers headed into the stretch run for the fourth playoff spot in the Patrick Division, the one constant in a season of upheaval was missing.Defenseman James Patrick, the only Ranger to play in every one of his team&rsquo;s first 69 games, suffered an injury to his right knee on March 12 and was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.Patrick, who averaged 76 games in each of his three previous full seasons with the Rangers, limped off with ligament damage after being kick-tripped by Washington winger Lou Frances-chetti in the second period of a 4-2 New York victory.&ldquo;It was a big win&hellip;and a big loss,&rdquo; coach Michel Bergeron observed, following his team&rsquo;s fifth straight Patrick Division success. &ldquo;The doctor said James could be out for the year.&ldquo;That is very bad. James is our best defenseman, one of the best in the whole league. We&rsquo;re going to miss him in every aspect, but we&rsquo;re still not in the trouble we were in maybe a month ago when we had only three healthy defensemen. We&rsquo;re still pretty strong on defense. We&rsquo;ve got young players but we&rsquo;ve got quality.&rdquo;The loss of Patrick, who had established career highs in goals (17) and points (62), put added pressure on New York&rsquo;s two young offensive defenseman. Norm Maciver and Brian Leetch.A swift, agile skater with poise and good jugement, Patrick&rsquo;s ability to make quick, accurate outlet passes was among his most important assets.&ldquo;People might look as his statistics and think we&rsquo;re going to miss James most offensively,&rdquo; said Maciver, &ldquo;but we are really going to miss him in our zone. He gets the puck out of our end so easily. At least that&rsquo;s the way he makes it look.&rdquo;The Rangers considered themselves fortunate Jari Gronstrand, who served as Patrick&rsquo;s defense partner for much of the season, was ready to return after missing 10 games with a similar injury to his right knee.The Feb. 22 acquisition of veteran Mark Hardy and the Feb. 29 arrival of Leetch from the U.S. Olympic team also put the Rangers in a better position to absorb the impact of Patrick&rsquo;s departure.&ldquo;Everybody was guessing that I would trade one of the defensemen here at the deadline,&rdquo; general manager Phil Esposito said, &ldquo;but I never considered it seriously. I figured that we&rsquo;d need all of them before it was over. That&rsquo;s the way hockey is these days.&rdquo;Despite rumors all season that Patrick would be included in a deal for the elusive superstar forward he has been seeking, the GM said the speculation far surpassed the reality.&ldquo;After the Coffey deal was made, there was nothing where James was mentioned&hellip;from our end. Other teams ask about him a lot but we can&rsquo;t control that.&ldquo;It really bothered me the way it (the speculation) continued, but he handled it all well. We are really pleased with James. He is a professional and one of our leaders both on and off the ice.&rdquo;Just a few days before Patrick&rsquo;s injury, in fact, Esposito suggested Patrick had, in fact, reached his prime.&ldquo;James is our guy,&rdquo; Esposito said.&ldquo;He has emerged.&rdquo;But now, the Rangers must find a way to emerge without him.NOTES&mdash;Another key injury occurred at center. Left winger Paul Cyr was pressed into service in the middle when Lucien DeBlois, a stalwart as the team&rsquo;s checking-line center, experienced knee problems&hellip;Phil Esposito offered &ldquo;no comment&rdquo; on persistent reports he turned down a bid from Quebec, at the trade deadline, which would have sent Tomas Sand-strom and Mark Hardy to the Nordiques for Michel Goulet and the first-round draft pick he surrended for coach Michel Bergeron.<h2>RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Jim Pavese, D, traded to Detroit for future considerations.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kelly Kisio, Walt Poddubny, Marcel Dionne, Paul Cyr.LW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Don Maloney, Joe Paterson, John Ogrod-nick.RW&mdash;Chris Nilan, Ulf Dahlen, Jan Erixon, Brian Mullen.LD&mdash;Mark Hardy, Norm Maciver, Jari Gronstrand, Ron Greschner.RD&mdash;Michel Petit, David Shaw, Brian Leetch.G&mdash;lohn Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lucien DeBlois, C, bursitis of right knee, indefinite.Pierre Larouche, C, pinched nerve in lower back, out for season.James Patrick, D, strained ligaments, left knee, indefinite. &#9632;

f0043-01

Key Ranger Blueliner Out With Knee Injury

This intriguing hockey school opportunity is designed for hockey players from all over North America, between the ages of 13 and 17. On and off ice instruction is from Soviet and Canadian coaches and our athletes play and practice with comparable Soviet players. The camp is centered in Minsk but training also takes place in Moscow, Leningrad, Tallinn, Helsinki, Finland and Vierumaki.August 3rd to August 24th, 1988Contact:Blyth and Company, 68 Scollard St., Toronto, Ont. M5R 1G2 800-387-1387 (Canada) 212-265-9600 (New York) 800-228-7712 (USA) 416-964-2569orBrian Proctor Trinity College School Port Hope, Ont. L1A 3W2 416-885-4565/416-885-9816 &#9632;

HOCKEY TRAINING IN RUSSIA August 1988

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0646/5453838-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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The Hockey News Classified (416) 44S-S702

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01154/5453869-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="179" height="135"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J.&mdash;Randy Velischek had written off the entire 1987-88 season. Under former New Jersey Devil coach Doug Carpenter was the forgotten man.Andy Brickley simply felt like a scapegoat. When the Devils went sour in Carpenter&rsquo;s final weeks as coach, Brickley wound up back in the American League playing at Utica.But the two 26-year-olds have been workhorses for new coach Jim Schoenfeld in the battle for fourth place in the Patrick Division. Both players, given fresh starts under a new coach, have responded with important contributions.&ldquo;Randy has been one of our top four or five defensemen&mdash;sometimes one or two&mdash;in every game we&rsquo;ve played,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld. &ldquo;When I came here he was out of the lineup. I put him in there and he caught my eye. He sat out again and he&rsquo;s played great ever since. &lsquo;&ldquo;One of the benefits of me coming in is I didn&rsquo;t know some of these players. Sometimes it&rsquo;s an advantage not to know them, because you tend to get a book, on a player.&rdquo;Velischek, scratched for 30 of the Devils&rsquo; first 53 games, was convinced his career in New Jersey had reached a dead end.&ldquo;I went into this season with high expectations,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought I had a good season last year and the fact that Lou (Lamoriello) was coming here made me hopeful.&rdquo; Velischek played for the Devils&rsquo; GM at Providence College from 1979 to &lsquo;83.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think just because Lou was here I&rsquo;d be playing over someone else who deserved it,&rdquo; Velischek said, &ldquo;but I thought I&rsquo;d get a chance. That never happened with Doug.&ldquo;With Doug I had numerous conversations. He talks a lot and doesn&rsquo;t say anything. He&rsquo;d tell me it was a numbers game, that I was a classy guy but his hands were tied and to wait for my chance. Things like that. You begin to wonder if you have the talent to play.&rdquo;Asked how well he communicated with Carpenter, Brickley grinned.&ldquo;He would have to initiate a conversation with me,&rdquo; said the left winger. &ldquo;That about says it in a nutshell.&rdquo;Brickley had scored all eight of his goals since Schoenfeld was hired. His overtime goal, his second score of the game, defeated the Boston Bruins March 5. Always a fringe player on Carpenter&rsquo;s teams, Brickley was in Utica when he heard the Devils had fired Carpenter Jan. 26.&ldquo;When we got the news in Utica that the coach had been fired there was a mixture of quiet thought from the kids and a lot of jokes from the veterans,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Guys actually felt they might have a chance to play here.&ldquo;I remember coming to camp two years ago, my first New Jersey camp, and I was amazed at the realistic attitude some of those guys took. They were just going through the motions until camp was over and then they had their own training camp. I always thought you worked hard and if you deserved to be here you made the team. That wasn&rsquo;t so.&rdquo;Between Nov. 29 and Jan. 13, Brickley sat out 14 of the Devils&rsquo; 21 games. He was finally sent to the minors.&ldquo;It seemed like I was in a no-win situation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t a draft pick or an original piece of property for this organization. I played on an amateur tryout in Maine two years ago, so it was a lot easier to make a change with a guy like that than anyone else.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;&hellip;who am I to stand up and say I should be playing more?&rsquo; &mdash;Brickley</blockquote>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a major impact player in the NHL, so who am I to stand up and say I should be playing more? I guess that&rsquo;s not my personality. I remember the day I got sent down I really wanted to do it, but you have to look before you leap. The first thing you have to think of is the team. How would they react? Despite my relationship with Doug Carpenter, I had a great relationship with Lou Lamoriello.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Devils&rsquo; new forgotten men have been Doug Sulliman and Jack O&rsquo;Callahan, although the latter&rsquo;s superb play when given a chance has made it tough for Jim Schoenfeld to keep him out of the lineup. Sulliman thought he might be traded, but the Devils&rsquo; only move saw center Steve Tsujiura dealt from Utica to Maine (Boston). &ldquo;Sure I was concerned,&rdquo; said Sulliman, 28. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been dressing and I wondered if I fit into their plans. If you can get a younger guy to do the same job with a smaller salary, who knows what might happen? I don&rsquo;t want to be traded. I love it here.&rdquo;&hellip;The Devils went unbeaten against the Philadelphia Flyers (5-0-2) this season.<h2>DEVILS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 9: Anders Carlsson, LW, assigned to Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Mark Johnson, Claude Loiselle, Pat Conacher.LW&mdash;Aaron Broten, Perry Anderson, Andy Brickley, Doug Sulliman, David Maley.RW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, John MacLean, Brendan Shanahan, Doug Brown.LD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Randy Velischek, Tom Kurvers.RD&mdash;Craig Wolanin, Joe Cirella, Jack O&rsquo;Callahan.G&mdash;Sean Burke, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrik Sundstrom, C, abdominal strain, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0045-01

New Coach Means Second Chance For Pair

<div class="byline">By Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02101/5453900-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="456" height="460"></div>Q: Could you please tell me who the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings selected with their first-round draft picks in 1981?John Franklin, Dearborn Heights, Mich.A: The Bruins selected Chicoutimi Sagueneen left winger Normand Leveille with their first-round pick in 1981, the 14th overall selection in the draft.Leveille&rsquo;s career was cut short when he suffered a brain hemhorrage between periods of a game at Vancouver early in the 1982-83 season. Leveille&rsquo;s totals for his brief NHL carrer were 17 goals, 25 assists and 49 penalty minutes in 75 games.Detroit did not have a first-round pick that year, having dealt the second overall pick in the draft to the Los Angeles Kings, who used it to select Ottawa 67 center Doug Smith. The pick was dealt by Detroit to Los Angeles as part of the Wings&rsquo; complicated free-agent signing of Kings&rsquo; goalie Rogie Vachon. An arbitrator awarded Detroit center Dale McCourt to L.A., but the Wings then dealt their first-round picks in 1980 and &lsquo;81, plus center Andre St. Laurent to the Kings for McCourt.As it turned out, center Claude Loiselle was Detroit&rsquo;s top pick in 1981. They selected him in the second round, 23rd overall, from the Windsor Spitfires. Loiselle played parts of five seasons with Detroit until the end of the 1985-86 season, when he was dealt to New Jersey.Q: Could you please print an address where I can write to the St. Louis Blues? Also, I would like to know how many times the Blues have beaten Montreal and Calgary over the years.Larry Connors, Cuslett Bay, Nfld.A: You can reach the Blues at the following address: St. Louis Arena, 500 Oakland Ave., St. Louis, Mo., U.S.A. 63110.St. Louis had a lifetime record of 17-57-16 against Montreal heading into their March 3 meeting at St. Louis. Montreal has won all 12 playoff games between the teams. Calgary leads the Blues 29-28-7 in regular-season play and 4-3 in playoff action. The totals include games when the Flames were situated in Atlanta. The next match between the teams is scheduled for Calgary on March 28.If you want your question answered by the Duffer, send the query to:ASK THE DUFFER,347 Whitewood Rd.,Saskatoon, SKS7J 4K8 &#9632;

f0045-02

ASK THE DUFFER

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01154/5453931-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="179" height="134"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;February had just melted into March when Edward De-Bartolo Jr. proclaimed it time he became a &ldquo;hands-on&rdquo; owner.A day before the NHL trading deadline, he did just that, choking off a deal that was intended to secure the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; first playoff berth since 1982 and stabilize a critical position.Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston had worked out a deal that would have sent a No. 1 draft pick in 1988 and rookie goalie Steve Guenette to Edmonton for free-agent goalie Andy Moog.The deal was all but finalized&mdash;Oiler GM Glen Sather had ordered Guenette&rsquo;s name stitched on an Edmonton sweater&mdash;when DeBartolo Jr. intervened and called off the trade.&ldquo;I had a gut feeling,&rdquo; DeBartolo Jr. said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t like the trade.&rdquo;DeBartolo&rsquo;s action was a direct assault on the authority of Johnston, who almost certainly will lose his position after this season.Even if he is not fired, Johnston would have a difficult time functioning effectively with the spectre of ownership intervention hanging over him.Still, Johnston publicly defended the decision to kill the deal.&ldquo;After we re-evaluated the situation, we thought it was too much to give up,&rdquo; Johnston said.DeBartolo demanded the trade be killed&mdash;thus allowing Boston to acquire Moog for goalie Bill Ranford, forward Geoff Courtnall and future considertions&mdash;because he perceived it a short-term effort to make the 198788 playoffs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking to the future of this team,&rdquo; DeBartolo Jr. said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we should do anything stopgap, just to make the playoffs.&rdquo;Johnston talked openly of trying to acquire Moog during the entry draft last June.DeBartolo, who devotes the bulk of his time to the San Francisco 49ers, said he is not inflexible about trading No. 1 draft choices.Just in doing it to acquire Moog.&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s going to be a weak draft, then deal the pick and some expendable players and get some players for next year,&rdquo; DeBartolo Jr. said.He vetoed the deal for a goalie many consider among the top half-dozen in the NHL five days after his father, Edward DeBartolo Sr., was quoted as saying the Penguins&rsquo; goaltending &ldquo;stinks.&rdquo;So the Penguins stumbled into the final three weeks of the regular season in last place in the Patrick Division, hoping Guenette and fellow rookie Frank Pietrangelo could save a season that had almost passed the point of being salvaged.&ldquo;I told you (in early March) I was happy with the way our young goalkeepers were playing,&rdquo; Johnston said.&ldquo;And look at what Winnipeg did last year. They went with two kids (Pokey Reddick and Daniel Berth-iaume).&rdquo;Indeed, the Penguins&rsquo; long-term goaltending prospects appear bright. Pietrangelo and Guenette seem capable of playing in the NHL, and Richard Tabaracci of Cornwall is one of the most highly-regarded goalies in junior hockey.Having Moog around would ha enabled the Penguins to give their young goalies as much time as they needed to develop.NOTES&mdash;The Penguins still have refrained from public criticism of coach Pierre Creamer, but their disenchantment is easy enough to detect. Consider this observation from center Mario Lemieux on the team&rsquo;s undisci-plined play in its own end: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think our structure, defensively, is very good. That&rsquo;s why we have to compensate for each other once in a while.&rdquo;&hellip;The Penguins will have to refund about $200,000 to season-ticket buyers as part of a &ldquo;playoff-o payoff&rdquo; rebate if they fail to make playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.<h2>PENGUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 12: Recalled Dave McLIwain, C, from Muskegon (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn, Steve Gotaas, Perry Ganchar, Dave McLIwain.LW&mdash;Bob Errey, Randy Cunneyworth, Dave Hunter, Troy Loney, Charlie Simmer.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Kevin Stevens, Dan Frawley, Jimmy Mann.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Doug Bodger, Zarley Zalapski, Jim Johnson, Chris Dahlquist.RD&mdash;Ville Siren, Randy Hillier, Rod Buskas.G&mdash;Steve Guenette, Frank Pietrangelo, Gilles Meloche.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bryan Erickson, RW, shoulder, indefinite.Norm Schmidt, D, back, indefinite.Wayne Van Dorp, LW, knee, indefinite. &#9632;

f0046-01

Owner Vetoes Trade For Goaltender Moog

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01174/5454000-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0743/5453993-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="594" height="584"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Home of the International League&rsquo;s Rivermen (6).4. Nickname of the Saskatchewan club for which Wendel Clark played junior hockey (6).9. Slight, slim (7).10. The Caps&rsquo; third captain, his number was retired (5).11. Added (5).12. This Oakland-born Red Wing spent the entire 1984-85 season with the team referred to in No. 1 Across (7).13. Nickname of the Quebec City team that was once a Flyer affiliate (4).15. Where the Bruins finished in Bobby Orr&rsquo;s rookie season (4).18. He scored 50 goals for the Caps in 1984-85 (7).21. Olympic Games&rsquo; prize (5).23. This Nordique scout was once captain of the Kansas City Scouts (5).24. John Tonelli is one (7).25. Hockey boots (6).26. Idolize (6).<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. Relays the puck to a teammate (6).2. Former Flyer Kindrachuk (5).3. Nickname of the Springfield club that captured the Calder Cup in 1975 (7).5. Defenseman acquired by the Canadiens as a free agent in 1983 (5).6. He was involved in the multiplayer swap that made a Ranger of Berry Beck (7).7. Regular (6).8. First name of the North Stars&rsquo; first coach (4).14. A veteran Devil defenseman (7).15. The fourth of four Canadiens to score more than one Stanley Cup-winning goal (7).16. Bill Watters, Don Meehan, etc., (6).17. One of three Flyers to have his number retired (6).19. Dave Poulin&rsquo;s school, Dame (5).20. Maintains possession of the puck by clever stickhandling (4).22. Sponsor of the NHL&rsquo;s performer-of-the-year award (5).Crossword solution in Classified Section on page 48. &#9632;

f0047-01

CROSSWORD

<h2>20 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Detroit left winger Frank Mahovlich became the 11 th man in NHL history to score 300 regular-season goals when he scored twice in a 5-3 Red Wing victory over the Boston Bruins. Mahovlich ended his 18-year NHL career with 533 goals.&bull; NHL president Clarence Campbell said the league would continue to expand, but cautioned that new teams would be added slowly due to the shortage of top-calibre players. Campbell mentioned Vancouver as a possible expansion franchise. Less than two years later, Vancouver and Buffalo became the two newest members of the NHL, bringing the league&rsquo;s complement to 14 teams.<h2>10 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Toronto Maple Leaf center Darryl Sittler scored the 250th goal of his NHL career, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough to prevent a 3-2 Toronto loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sittler played 15 years in the NHL, finishing with 484 regular-season goals.&bull; Phil Esposito was the highest-paid player in the NHL. Or Gilbert Perreault was. It all depended on which newspaper you read. The Toronto Globe and Mail said Esposito&rsquo;s $325,000 annual salary was tops, while the Montreal Gazette claimed Perreault&rsquo;s $325,000 annual stipend was the highest. The Gazette had Esposito listed at $215,000 annually, while the Globe said Perreault made $200,000. NHL vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill said most of the figures were inaccurate. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02120/5454055-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto Maple Leaf left winger Frank Mahovlich tries to break free of Detroit defenseman Bryan Watson (18) for a scoring chance against Red Wing goaltender Hank Bassen during a 1960s game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Looking on from behind Bassen is Watson&rsquo;s partner Gary Bergman.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

THE WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY HOWARD BERGER</div>Brit Selby readily agrees that the criteria for winning the Calder Trophy has changed in 22 years. Statistics bear him out.In 1965-66, Selby&mdash;a 20-year-old Toronto Maple Leaf left winger&mdash;won the NHL&rsquo;s rookie-of-the-year award on the strength of 14 goals and 27 points in 61 games.This year&rsquo;s prohibitive Calder Trophy favorite, Calgary Flame Joe Nieuwendyk, scored his 14th goal in the Flames&rsquo; 25th game of the season and is threatening Mike Bossy&rsquo;s rookie record of 53 goals.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s sure come a long way,&rdquo; says Selby. &ldquo;Back in the six-team era, it was pretty rare for a first-year NHL player to take a regular shift. I was lucky enough to play regularly in 1965-66 and that&rsquo;s why I won the award.&rdquo;Selby&rsquo;s chief rivals for the Calder that year were Boston&rsquo;s Bernie Parent. Detroit&rsquo;s Bert Marshall, Toronto&rsquo;s Wally Boyer and Chicago&rsquo;s Ken Hodge&mdash;none of whom saw full-time duty.A prolific shooter with the Toronto Marlboros, Selby scored 45 goals in 1964-65 and had a short but memorable stint with the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;Ron Ellis had to miss a few games with a concussion after the New Year and I was called up to replace him,&rdquo; Selby remembers.&ldquo;We played Detroit at home on a Saturday night and my very first NHL assignment was to chase Gordie Howe around the ice. By some miracle, he didn&rsquo;t score a goal and we wound up winning the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0388/5454086-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="594" height="1216"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brit Selby</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The next night, we played in New York and I scored my first NHL goal on Jacques Plante. It wasn&rsquo;t anything sensational; I deflected Carl Brewer&rsquo;s shot from the point, but it sure felt great.&ldquo;The following Wednesday&mdash;in Chicago&mdash;I scored the winning goal in a 3-1 victory over the Blackhawks, but Ellis got better and I was sent back to junior the next day.&rdquo;After his Calder Trophy season, injuries reduced Selby&rsquo;s effectiveness. In December. 1966, he suffered a broken leg while playing for Vancouver of the Western League.&ldquo;I got off to a slow start and the Leafs sent me down in November,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;On Dec. 7. we were playing in San Diego and Jim Watson, a defenseman who later played with Buffalo Sabres, spun around and tripped me. I broke my leg and was out for the year.&rdquo;Selby, who was selected by Philadelphia in the 1967 expansion draft, suffered a separated shoulder early in the 1967-68 season and missed six weeks of action.The Toronto native returned to the Leafs in a March, 1969 deal that sent Mike Byers, Gerry Meehan and Bill Sutherland to the Flyers.Leafs traded him to St. Louis for Bob Baun in November, 1970 and he later played with Quebec. New England and the Toronto Toros of the WHA before retiring in 1975.He scored only 55 goals in 347 NHL regular-season games, and added 23 more in 153 WHA games. He attributed his lack of production to &ldquo;small hands and wrists, and a weak shot.&rdquo;Selby, who will be 43 on Mar. 27, teaches history at North Toronto Secondary School. &#9632;

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March 25, 1988

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

High-Strung Habs Learn To Live With Turmoil

THE HALL OF FAME A Croweded House

The Peterborough Principle