The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

May 13, 1988

The Hockey News May 13, 1988

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011425/5620314-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="177" height="136"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Somebody conducted a straw poll in the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; dressing room regarding who should be the team&rsquo;s captain&mdash;Steve Yzerman or Gerard Gallant.Gallant had 24 votes. Yzerman had two. And the question of the hour was where Yzerman picked up the second vote.Everybody laughed. Just like old times in the home dressing room at Joe Louis Arena, before Yzerman went down with a knee injury and Gallant assumed his captaincy.Jim Nill was working on his stick, saying nothing to anyone. Yzerman walked past.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re fined $200,&rdquo; Yzerman told him.&ldquo;What for?&rdquo; Nill asked.&ldquo;No reason,&rdquo; Yzerman said. &ldquo;Just want you to know I&rsquo;m back.&rdquo;Steve Yzerman was indeed back, though officially still listed as &lsquo;day-to-day&rsquo; on the injured list. His return surprised everybody but himself.&ldquo;I thought it would take a miracle for him to come back,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers. &ldquo;But I believe in miracles.&rdquo;Yzerman tore a ligament in his right knee when he crashed into the goal post in a game against Buffalo March 1. The injury occurred about 15 minutes after scoring his 50th goal. Doctors, who said it would take at least eight to 10 weeks for him to rehabilitate the knee, gave Yzerman the okay to practice hard while his teammates were busy ousting the St. Louis Blues in six games.Demers said from the outset the next time Yzerman skated with the Wings would be in training camp in September. He said under no circumstances would he use the young captain in a game during these playoffs.But Oiler co-coach John Muckier had the feeling all along that Yzerman would be back. And after seeing Detroit general manager Jimmy Devellano in a post-game TV interview after the Wings won the Norris Division title over St. Louis, Muckier was convinced. A smiling Devellano denied Yzerman would return against the Oilers.&ldquo;Once I saw that smirk, I didn&rsquo;t believe it one bit that he (Yzerman) wouldn&rsquo;t be back,&rdquo; Muckier said.On the eve of the Stanley Cup semifinal series with Edmonton, Yzerman appeared on the verge of rejoining the lineup. The question became when. not if.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised to see him introduced in the starting lineup for the first game in Detroit (game three, May 7),&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be like Chicago Stadium in that building (Joe Louis Arena). Can you imagine the noise?&rdquo;A vocal home crowd helped the Wings win their season series against Edmonton, two games to one.Demers said he was just happy the doctors gave Yzerman the green light to practice. But he worried his star might put too much pressure on himself to return.&ldquo;I saw pain in his face,&rdquo; Demers said, after watching Yzerman work out. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s still the pain.&rdquo;Demers and Devellano called the center into the coach&rsquo;s office after a recent practice to tell him to let up a little.&ldquo;He wants to play so much,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We told him to just relax and take it easy.&rdquo;The coach reminded listeners Yzerman was still &lsquo;day-to-day.&rsquo;&ldquo;But if the &lsquo;day&rsquo; happens to be next September, it&rsquo;s just great to know he&rsquo;s coming back,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Remember, when he first hurt his knee, a doctor told me his career was in jeopardy. At least we know now he&rsquo;s coming back.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Right winger Tim Higgins said his game-winning goal with 2:25 left in the series-clinching 4-3 victory April 27 over St. Louis was &ldquo;un-deniably the highlight of my career.&rdquo; It was his first point of the playoffs, and a pretty one. He took the puck off the right boards, skated across the crease, faked defenseman Paul Cavallini to the ice and backhanded the puck over goalie Greg Millen, who was sprawled to the ice. &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know what happened.&rdquo; said Higgins. &ldquo;I think my body was possessed by Mike Bossy.&rdquo;&hellip;Doctors said right winger Joe Kocur was expected to miss four to six weeks when he separated his right shoulder in game four against St. Louis. But Kocur&rsquo;s own prognosis after his teammates clinched the St. Louis series was a week to 10 days.<h2>RED WINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 30: Dale Krentz, LW, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, John Chabot, Shawn Burr, Mel Bridgman.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Petr Klima, Brent Ashton, Joe Murphy, Dale Krentz.RW&mdash;Bob Probert, Dave Barr, Tim Higgins, Jim NillLD&mdash;Doug Halward, Lee Norwood, Harold Snepsts, Steve Chiasson, Jeff SharpiesRD&mdash;Rick Zombo, Gilbert Delorme, Jim Pavese, Mike C&rsquo;Connell, Darren Veitch.G&mdash;Greg Stefan, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Burr, C, concussion, day-to-day.Joe Kocur, RW, separated right shoulder, May 10.Steve Yzerman, C, knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

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Star Yzerman Ready Sooner Than Expected

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01580/5621235-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01663/5621228-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3089" height="2285"></div> &#9632;

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Departments

The Hockey News NHL PLAYOFF REPORT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04143/5620783-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="359" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">ADAM GRAVES Windsor</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The 20-year-old center scored three goals and one assist in two games as Windsor completed a sweep of the OHL final series against Peterborough. Graves led OHL playoff scorers with 15 goals and 17 assists in 12 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05120/5620776-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="360" height="470"><figcaption class="caption-body">KELLY NESTER Hull</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>The 18-year-old Hull center had two goals and two assists in three games of the league final series against Drummondville. Nester, a 5-foot-9, 153-pounder, improved his playoff totals to eight goals and 18 assists in 17 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-06102/5620769-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="358" height="468"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROB DIMAIO Medicine Hat</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>The 19-year-old Medicine Hat center scored five goals and six assists in three games as the Tigers took a 3-2 lead in the league final series against Kamloops. Dimaio was a sixthround 1987 pick of the New York Islanders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0786/5620762-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="406" height="422"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

MEGA JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK APRIL 25 TO MAY 1

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03391/5621584-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="179" height="134"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Pierre Creamer entered the second month of the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; off-season clinging to his job as coach.Management has been treating him, however, as a longshot candidate to continue in the position he assumed early last June.Tony Esposito, the Penguins&rsquo; new director of hockey operations, met once with Creamer and was scheduled to meet him at least once more.The meetings supposedly gave Creamer a chance to explain his philosophies and theories of coaching. At the same time, he would acquaint himself with Esposito.Esposito said Creamer&mdash;who has two years remaining on his contract&mdash;might be offered another position in the organization, if replaced as coach.Earlier, Esposito had similar meetings with Rick Ley, coach of the Penguins&rsquo; Muskegon farm team.Ley has been widely acknowledged as a logical choice to coach in the NHL next season, be it in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.Esposito said he has not established a timetable for deciding on Creamer&rsquo;s future, but said he has at least one criterion for his successor, if a change is made.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to get somebody who&rsquo;s been recycled around the league,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to bring in new blood sometimes.&rdquo;Ley would seem to fit that description. He led the Lumberjacks to the best regular-season record in the 43year history of the International League. Muskegon was upset in the first round of the playoffs by Flint.One of Esposito&rsquo;s first acts upon returning from a week-long visit to Muskegon was to have an informal meeting with 11 players still in the city.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I&rsquo;m not going to get somebody (as coach) who&rsquo;s been recycled around the league.&rsquo; &mdash;Esposito</blockquote>They included centers Mario Lemieux and Dan Quinn, the team&rsquo;s top two scorers. Defenseman Paul Coffey was vacationing in Florida when the players and Esposito convened.&ldquo;I wanted to get their views on our situation because the bottom line is, the players have to go onto the ice and perform for you,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;Sol wanted to get an opinion on how they think everything is run.&ldquo;I just want to get all the information we possibly can about everybody, and be as fair and as objective as I can.&rdquo;Creamer received scathing, albeit private, reviews from many of his players during the past season.Five accused him of being unaware the Penguins needed a victory in game 79 of the regular season to avoid elimination from the playoffs.Creamer&rsquo;s future was among the many subjects discussed by Esposito and the players, although the conversation was so wide-ranging that it proved to be more superficial than substantial.&ldquo;Every issue of the hockey team came up,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I will not lie to you about that.&ldquo;They were quite honest. They told me things that were quite helpful, but they were positive things.&rdquo;For their part, the players considered it a good sign that their new boss was interested in hearing their opinions.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice that he&rsquo;s taking an interest in us, letting us know what&rsquo;s expected of us,&rdquo; left winger Troy Loney said.&ldquo;We talked about everything, goalie Gilles Meloche added.&rdquo; What happened, what&rsquo;s going to happen.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Penguins will begin their 1988-89 season Oct. 7 at Washington, then play their home opener four nights later, also against the Capitals&hellip;Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston, who lost much of his authority when Esposito was hired, has been mentioned as a candidate for GM jobs in Minnesota and Quebec, but said he will not pursue a position with another team&hellip;Windsor left winger Darrin Shannon was the first junior prospect scouted by Tony Esposito. The Penguins have the fourth pick in the June 11 entry draft. &#9632;

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Coach’s Future Undecided As GM Esposito Settles In

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01850/5621739-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>Bruins End 45-Year Jinx/13Cam NeelyFree Spirit Petr Klima Does Things His WayINSIDE:Flames BurnedBy Oilers/4Memorial CupPreview/15Stellick GetsGM&rsquo;s Job/21 &#9632;

Cover-01

The Petr Principle

As the Boston Bruins&rsquo; stunning victory over the Montreal Canadiens told hockey fans the world over, nothing is certain in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Still, hockey is a more predictable sport than football, basketball or baseball when it comes to determining its year-by-year champions.THN statistician Murray Townsend looks at the phenomenon of repeating champions, and shows how hockey is prone to dynasties and mini-reigns.As the Stanley Cup playoffs continue, so too do their minor pro equivalents&mdash;the Calder Cup playoffs in the American League and the Turner Cup playoffs in the International League. THN will bring you the latest from all three leagues, as well as an update on early play at the Memorial Cup. You&rsquo;ll get all this plus the insight of columnists Dave Molinari, Randy Smith and Jay Greenberg, in the May 20 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011396/5619828-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Talk in the press room at a recent NHL playoff game centered around the time former Oakland Seal goaltender Gary (Suitcase) Smith donned his swimming trunks during a team flight to a game in St. Louis.</figcaption></div>The playoffs produce fanaticism among fans but there are few more zealous than a pair of intellectual sisters from Basking Ridge, NJ. On the night the New Jersey Devils were facing off against the Washington Capitals, Kisha and Kell Ciabattari were jetting to Edmonton to see their beloved Oilers meet the Flames. &ldquo;It cost us over $1,200,&rdquo; says Kell, 26, a graduate student in Russian studies. &ldquo;But it was worth it to see the two best teams in the league play. We got back in time to catch the end of the Devil-Cap series.&rdquo; The 24-year-old Kisha covers sports for the Morristown (N.J.) Daily Record and between the two of them, the Ciabattaris have one of the most comprehensive collections of contemporary hockey tapes. In addition they head a network of videotape trading partners, and travel up and down the eastern seaboard to see Oiler games. Their passion for Glen Sather&rsquo;s sextet recently earned them a major profile in the Edmonton Journal. Kisha says they feel more at home in Northlands Coliseum than in the neighboring Spectrum. &ldquo;We were in Philly for the finals last year, wearing our Oiler jerseys,&rdquo; Kisha recalls, &ldquo;and actually got assaulted when J. J. Daigneault scored for the Flyers late in the game. Even had our hair pulled.&rdquo; Still, next season they plan to have season tickets to Flyer, Ranger and Devil games. They have an insatiable appetite for hockey. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a certain esthetic (quality) to hockey,&rdquo; concludes Kisha. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like chess in motion. It&rsquo;s a heartbreakingly beautful game.&rdquo; But the obsession is not without its price. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s taken me three extra years to finish my graduate degree because I have to keep taking leaves of absence from school so I can go to the games,&rdquo; Kell tells BLUELINES.<h2>COURT CHALLENGE COMING?</h2>Hockey&rsquo;s unwritten eye-for-an-eye code, which frequently sees teams send out players to &ldquo;get&rdquo; somebody who has wronged one of their own, could one day be challenged in the courts. A U.S.-based sports attorney, who is not an agent, warns the NHL it should beware of lawsuits against any coach who singles out an opponent for retribution. The lawyer, who has requested anonymity, suggests Montreal coach Jean Perron was treading on thin ice by publicly singling out Ray Bourque as a possible target of retribution in &ldquo;I&rsquo;Affaire Stephane Richer.&rdquo; Richer was put out for the year when a Michael Thelven slash broke his thumb&hellip;Ref-yapping by the Bruins&rsquo; high command causes a backlash from officials, insists B&rsquo;s GM Harry Sinden. &ldquo;Officials working Boston games are well aware of our reputation,&rdquo; says Sinden. &ldquo;When you speak out the way we do. I&rsquo;m sure there&rsquo;s a price to be paid.&rdquo;&hellip;A change of coaches may keep Randy Cunneyworth in Pittsburgh. Under Pierre Creamer, the Penguin told friends he&rsquo;d &ldquo;do anything to get out of Pittsburgh.&rdquo;&hellip;The Jets&rsquo; Andrew McBain celebrates his best NHL season with an off-season marriage to Denise Corcoran, whom he&rsquo;s known since high school. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones,&rdquo; says McBain, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;ll make the cover of People magazine eventually.&rdquo; Corcoran and McBain will wed in Toronto July 22.<h2>TONY O SAVES A JOB</h2>Windy City whisper has it Bob Pulford breathed considerably easier after Tony Esposito was named hockey boss in Pittsburgh. Tony O was considered a possible replacement for Pulford as Blackhawk GM if the Wirtz family decided to make a change&hellip;Former U.S. Olympic team coach Lou Vairo tells BLUELINES he plans to return to Italy, where he coached last season. &ldquo;The attitude there is more relaxed,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and you can&rsquo;t beat the food. Our pregame meal takes eight hours! One day the owner came over to me during the meal and said, &lsquo;What do you think of the game tonight?&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Game? What game? I&rsquo;m eating.&rsquo;&rdquo; Lou says he&rsquo;s lost 10 pounds since returning to the States. &ldquo;One of the nicest things that happened to me,&rdquo; says Vairo, &ldquo;was (Devils&rsquo; president-GM) Lou Lamoriello inviting me, all expenses paid, to see the first Devil-Washington playoff game in New Jersey.&rdquo; Vairo, who was assistant coach in Jersey under the Doug Carpenter regime, jetted back to his Colorado home after the game, toasting Lamoriello&rsquo;s graciousness&hellip;Talk about a hockey co-operative&mdash;the Moviola Cafe in Toronto is co-owned by ice rivals Dan Daoust, Rick Tocchet, Ray Neufeld. Greg Millen. Ron Francis and Bill Root.<h2>NEW RACKET FOR HENNING</h2>Former North Star coach Lome Henning is being mentioned as a possible NHL returnee. In the meantime, he is whipping tennis opponents. Henning, who always was good at the baseline, has not only taken lessons from John McEnroe but actually played with the controversial swatter&hellip;Flames&rsquo; Czechoslovak import Jiri Hrdina knows more about North America than his Calgary cohorts first thought. He tells friends that the difference in security at Canadian and American immigration stops is great. &ldquo;The Canadians are easy but the Americans have metal detectors and glass doors all over the place. It&rsquo;s just like Fort Knox.&rdquo;&hellip;Gary Suter credits Brad McCrimmon with turning his game around. &ldquo;He brought me back from the dead,&rdquo; Suter opines. &ldquo;Brad steadied my game.&rdquo;&hellip;A friend asked Penguin farmhand Dwight Mathiasen, signed two years ago as an expensive free agent, how it feels &ldquo;to be a million-dollar mistake.&rdquo; Mathiasen thought for a second, then shot back: &ldquo;Better than being a $30,000 mistake!&rdquo;&hellip;A surgeon, who also happens to be a hockey nut, was about to stitch up a drunk in his hospital emergency room when the drunk got so obnoxious the doctor could not hear the play-by-play on his radio. Exasperated, the medic finally shouted, &ldquo;Shut up&mdash;or I won&rsquo;t give you anaesthetic!&rdquo;<h2>DISCIPLINE A PROBLEM</h2>King insiders are convinced coach Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s major challenges will be developing season-long discipline and team-wide concentration on defense as well as offense. &ldquo;The Pope will be bar-mitzvahed before the Kings pick up all five attackers at the blue line,&rdquo; comments L.A. hockey writer Steve Rosenbloom&hellip;One of the odd couples in sports is the duo of Flyer broadcaster Gene Hart and Herbert Light, violinist in the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. Light not only savors hockey but, this season, even made a road trip with Mike Keenan&rsquo;s club. &ldquo;Hockey&rsquo;s my favorite sport,&rdquo; Light tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been following the Flyers since they were born in 1967. Gene and I are pals because he knows as much about music as he does about hockey&mdash;and that&rsquo;s a lot. One night we were driving to the opera and Gene sang all the music before we ever got there.&rdquo;&hellip;Playoff press rooms buzz with stories about characters from yesteryear. A group of reporters were reminiscing in Washington about eccentric goaltenders when someone mentioned much-traveled Gary (Suitcase) Smith, who played for the old Oakland Seals. One night Smith and his Oakland teammates were flying to a game in St. Louis when Suitcase suddenly emerged in tourist class, wearing only a bathing suit. &ldquo;C&rsquo;mon guys,&rdquo; he shouted, &ldquo;the pool in first class is great!&rdquo; &#9632;

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Long-Distance Oiler Fans

FOR FORTY-FIVE years Bostonians wondered just how many men they would need to put on the ice at one time to beat Montreal in a playoff series.They tried seven once, in 1979. It seemed like a good idea until they got caught. The Bruins were arrested by John D&rsquo;Amico, tried by Guy Lafleur, convicted by Yvon Lambert in overtime and sentenced to nine more years of breaking rocks at the Forum.In 1971 Ken Dryden put them on bread and water. Considering the Bruins were good enough to win Stanley Cups both the year before and after, it seemed cruel and unusual at the time.But at least Dryden turned out to be great. In 1984, there was no explaining Steve Penney except in terms of the occult. That Montreal team was the only Canadien squad to finish under.500 since 1950-51. And the Bruins were 104-point division champions.So 1984 might have been the crudest loss of all. Unless it was Mats Naslund in the final minute of game five in 1985. Or the consecutive sweeps in 1986 and 1987, to make it 18 straight series victories.But as time ran out on Boston&rsquo;s 45-year-old phobia, the Bruins were unaffected by their past. One of their defensemen, Glen Wesley, was born in 1968, 25 years after the Bruins had last beaten Montreal in a playoff series. The fact that Bruins got swept 4-0 by the Canadiens that year too, did not necessarily have to be taken as an omen.&ldquo;You guys (media) are wrong about all this jinx stuff,&rdquo; said Bruin general manager Harry Sinden, who was 11 years old in 1943. &ldquo;What happened in the past had no bearing on how this team feels or how last year&rsquo;s team felt.&rdquo;Sinden could not share his team&rsquo;s healthy ignorance of what they were on their way to doing.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t score goals and I don&rsquo;t stop them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I really felt when we had a three-goal lead (in game five), that this was a setup.&ldquo;They were setting us up to let us go ahead by five and then they would have a six-goal comeback and then they would beat us the last two games. And that would cap off 45 years.&ldquo;When there was a minute left, I started shaking hands. I believed it then.&rdquo;At that point the Bruins&rsquo; catharsis was so complete it was damn near perfect. One Montreal-born kid, Ray Bourque, was the best player on the ice. Another, Steve Kasper, wasn&rsquo;t too far behind. The Bruins defense, led by what might have been the most controlled, dominating, performance of Bourque&rsquo;s career, an impressive Gord Kluzak, and a startlingly poised 19-year-old Wesley, vacuumed out the slot.Reggie Lemelin, the 33-year-old veteran who nine months ago was deemed no longer capable of helping the Calgary Flames, saw every Montreal shot from game three on and played flawlessly.There was no way this one was going to get away, though those who had suffered the most from this curse were slow to realize this. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, who as a Bruin player beat his head against the Montreal wall in those series of the late &rsquo;70s, pondered every possible heartbreaking scenario until the buzzer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011410/5619859-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="341" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>Keith Crowder looked up at the scoreboard ticking off the final seconds, and said he expected to see it fall to the ice just before it reached 0:00.Nothing remotely similar&mdash;not a plague, not a nuclear attack, or worse, an injury to Bourque&mdash;was forthcoming. The Canadiens didn&rsquo;t deserve to be rescued this time. Without Stephane Richer, without Bob Gainey, and with Mats Naslund and Shayne Corson obviously limited by their knee problems, Montreal just didn&rsquo;t match up.Chris Chelios, Bobby Smith, Claude Lemieux and Petr Svoboda had terrible series. Objectively, only in a few of those 18 series could you have argued Boston had the better team. In the 19th, there was no question.Rick Middleton is 34 years old and playing his 14th season. It might be his last. Middleton did not dress for game five because after scoring the winning goal in the Bruins&rsquo; 2-0 win in game four, he woke up with a knee ache that turned out to be slightly tom cartilage.Middleton walked with no pain however, through the handshake line at game&rsquo;s end. He would not deny himself the pleasure of shaking a Montreal hand as a winner.Not even the greatest Bruin of them all, Bobby Orr, had ever known that feeling. No, 45 years worth of Bruins on the ice at one time, lining up for congratulations at the end of this series, could not possibly have been too many.&ldquo;This is so gratifying,&rdquo; Middleton said later. &ldquo;I never thought I would see this in this dressing room. I&rsquo;m the happiest man in the world right now.&rdquo;If this is it for Middleton, his goal had painted a beautiful sunset. It was he who had scored what would have been the winning goal with 3&frac12; minutes left of game seven in 1979.&ldquo;That one hurt the most,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were so close. I remember how drained, how heartbroken we were.&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s sports. You don&rsquo;t get a long-term negative reaction to something like that. The more you lose, the more you want to win.&ldquo;The great thing about it is that you always have next year to go back at it.&ldquo;This one just took 45 of them.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Columnists

Nearly Half-Century Later, Next Year Came

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021294/5619897-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="590" height="1066"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Mullen was one of several Flame gunners who shot blanks against the Oilers.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031094/5619904-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="179" height="134"></div>CALGARY&mdash;In the end, the 1988 edition of the Battle of Alberta turned out to be not so much a war as a massacre.For the second consecutive year, the Flames treated springtime hockey as if it were spring break.Nobody ever called the Flames shooins in the Smythe Division final, not with the ever-dangerous Edmonton Oilers living in their immediate area.But to lose four straight?Little Big Hom was more competitive than this. Custer lasted longer in the 1876 playoffs against Sitting Bull than the 1988 NHL regular-season champions did against the defending Stanley Cup champions.&ldquo;And Custer didn&rsquo;t have to look at the game films afterward,&rdquo; said Flame coach Terry Crisp.The reasons for the Flames&rsquo; sudden fall were many and varied, but the team&rsquo;s four 40-goal scorers took much of the heat.In a series that Oiler snipers Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier dominated, their counterparts on the Flames&mdash;Hakan Loob, Joe Nieuwendyk, Mike Bullard and Joe Mullen&mdash;combined to score three goals. Nieuwendyk had two and he played only three games. Loob had the other goal.The defeat marked the first time since the 1981-82 division semi-finals that the Flames were swept in a series. That year, they went down in three games to the Vancouver Canucks in a best-of-five series. The last time a Flames&rsquo; team was swept in a best-of-seven was in the 1973-74 playoffs&mdash;ironically, at the hands of a Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; team featuring a center named Terry Crisp.Crisp did not think his team was dramatically outplayed by the Oilers. Instead, he thought three or four breakdowns resulted in three or four bad goals&mdash;and that, ultimately, was the difference. The Flames were close, but not close enough.&ldquo;We have nothing to be ashamed of,&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;It was a four-game sweep but we were in every game. Alli know is we tried to win it and we didn&rsquo;t, but we&rsquo;re certainly not ashamed of what we did and we&rsquo;re certainly not going to hide our heads.&rdquo;The last minute of play in the series summed up the Flames&rsquo; frustration.Down by two goals, they had a three-man advantage for the last 1:01 of regulation. One extra man came as a result of an illegal stick penalty assessed Oilers&rsquo; goalie Grant Fuhr. One came as a result of a Steve Smith slashing penalty. One came with goalie Rick Wamsley on the bench for a sixth skater.This was a real, legitimate opportunity to get not one, but two goals and maybe send the game into overtime. But the Flames didn&rsquo;t even engineer a decent scoring chance. Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Randy Gregg actually came closer to scoring than Calgary did&mdash;his 155-foot shot hit the post of the empty net.The Flames&rsquo; power play betrayed them throughout the series. During the regular season, they clicked on 28.5 per cent of their power-play chances. In four games against Edmonton, Calgary could score just four times in 27 tries (14.8 per cent).But Flame forward Lanny McDonald bristled at the suggestion specialteam play cost the Flames the series.&ldquo;We win as a team and we lose as a team,&rdquo; said McDonald. &ldquo;The power play carried us for 80 games. You don&rsquo;t pin the blame on two or three guys or four or five. As a team, you take the credit when you win and the blame when you lose. That&rsquo;s just the way it is.&rdquo;Defenseman Gary Suter thought the Flames may have learned an important lesson in the defeat.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04929/5619890-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="586" height="1062"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran forward John Tonelli will discuss his future with GM Cliff Fletcher.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not an old team, we&rsquo;re a young team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We can use this as a learning experience.&ldquo;Everybody assumed we were going to win and that&rsquo;s only right. What we failed to do was turn it up a notch. The games were close, but somehow they found a way to win them. You can&rsquo;t knock us for a lack of effort. The work was there. Just, sometimes, the execution wasn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;General manager Cliff Fletcher said he would not overreact to the disappointing loss. He would not let a bad week in April cloud his overall judgement.&ldquo;We all know the significance of the playoffs,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but as general manager, you can&rsquo;t ignore an 80-game schedule played over a six-month period. There are highs and lows and, on balance, we did better than the other 20 teams. So you&rsquo;re not going to sit down and get rid of half the team. You try to use the experience to advantage so that it doesn&rsquo;t happen next time.&ldquo;Unfortunately, you have to wait 12 months for the possibility of getting that chance again.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;In discussing his future plans, Lanny McDonald said: &ldquo;I would like to play, but it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ll have to discuss with Cliff Fletcher. I want to do what&rsquo;s best for the Calgary Flames and what&rsquo;s best for Lanny McDonald.&rdquo;&hellip;Fletcher said he would meet with two other veteran players, defenseman Paul Reinhart and left winger John Tonelli, to clarify their situations as well.<h2>FLAMES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Bullard, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joel Otto, Gary Roberts, Lanny McDonald, Craig Coxe.LW&mdash;Colin Patterson, Jim Peplinski, John Tonelli, Tim Hunter, Paul Ranheim.RW&mdash;Hakan Loob, Joe Mullen, Shane Churla, Jiri Hrdina.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Paul Reinhart, Dana Murzyn, Brian Glynn.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Rob Ramage, Ric Nattress.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley, Doug Dadswell.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Perry Berezan, C, concussion.Al Maclnnis, D, groin.Jamie Macoun, D, nerve damage to arm and shoulder. &#9632;

f0004-02

Battle Of Alberta? Try ‘Custer’s Last Stand’

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011300/5619935-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="178" height="136"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Ron Wilson&rsquo;s flapping tongue has been a familiar sound around the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; locker room for the better part of nine years.But the veteran NHL center may soon be getting paid to do his talking over the airwaves instead. Wilson, who turns 32 in May, has been offered the color commentator&rsquo;s job on broadcasts of Jets&rsquo; games.The possible transition to the press box is just one of a number of options facing Wilson this summer. He has also been rumored headed to Moncton to help Hawks&rsquo; coach and general manager Rick Bowness operate the Jets&rsquo; American Hockey League farm club.&ldquo;It was a surprise, I&rsquo;ll have to think about that one,&rdquo; Wilson said, admitting he&rsquo;d been offered the job on CKY radio in combination with other administrative duties in the Jets&rsquo; organization.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really see myself doing that. I sort of figured I&rsquo;d stay in hockey in some other way.&rdquo;Winnipeg general manager John Ferguson would not confirm Wilson was being enticed to join play-by-play man Curt Keilback in the broadcast booth. But he did say Wilson was facing a decision on his future in the next few weeks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve given him a couple of options and that (a job in Moncton) is one of them,&rdquo; Ferguson said. &ldquo;I mean, he&rsquo;s got three or four options as soon as he and his wife decide on it. I hope he decides sometime soon what he wants to do, and then we can plan and he can plan.&rdquo;Wilson is the last remaining member of the 1979-80 edition of the Jets, Winnipeg&rsquo;s first team in the NHL. At 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds&mdash;some say his heart accounts for at least 170 of those pounds&mdash;Wilson has survived on limited talent longer than most players his size.He is an adept penalty killer and solid role player whose best offensive season in the league was his first, when he scored 21 goals and added 36 assists.Wilson, who was used very little in the latter stages of this season, finished with five goals and eight assists in 69 games. He admitted that may have been his cue to expect Ferguson&rsquo;s input on his future.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some talks and he&rsquo;s given me some things that I could do or should do,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s really up to me.&rdquo;Winnipeg Sun columnist Pat Doyle was Keilback&rsquo;s sidekick on Jets&rsquo; broadcasts this season. Sources said the team was unhappy with Doyle&rsquo;s work and would like to have its own man on the air rather than an independent analyst hired by the station.Wilson said he&rsquo;s unsure he&rsquo;s cut out for the job.&ldquo;I still have a year left on my contract so we&rsquo;ll have to wait and see,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Right now I see myself as a player. It&rsquo;s tough to leave the game.&ldquo;I still haven&rsquo;t decided. I guess I&rsquo;ll just play a little golf and think about it. There are a few things I could do but I still think I can play.&rdquo;If Wilson comes to camp this fall with the intention of playing in Winnipeg again, he&rsquo;ll have a difficult time cracking the lineup&mdash;especially if the NHL reduces rosters from 18 skaters and two goalies to 17 and two for 198889, as anticipated.Ferguson talked about Wilson as if the roster reduction will be passed by the league at the June draft meetings.&ldquo;One thing we are going to do is certainly look after Ron Wilson,&rdquo; Ferguson said. &ldquo;But if he decided that he wants to play and take his chances, there&rsquo;s also the possibility that he may get picked up on waivers.&ldquo;As it stands right now, I&rsquo;ve made it perfectly clear to him that I can&rsquo;t protect him. If he wants to become part of the organization, there is an opportunity to start.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;General manager John Ferguson and coach Dan Maloney were keeping close watch on the NHL playoffs while the rest of the Jets&rsquo; staff scouted American and International league play. Such intensive scouring of players fueled feeling the Jets would undergo a facelift&hellip;Goaltender Dave Quigley, who spent the season with Winnipeg&rsquo;s AHL affiliate in Moncton, has announced his retirement. Quigley was the Canadian university player of the year for 1986-87 as a member of the University of Moncton Blue Eagles&hellip;Steve Penney has requested a trade and Ferguson says he&rsquo;ll try to accommodate the disgruntled goalie.<h2>JETS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 25: Dave Quigley, G, announced his retirement. &#9632;

f0005-01

Veteran Wilson Might Try Radio Color Job

WHEN THE IMMORTAL Eddie Shore&mdash; arguably the NHL&rsquo;s greatest defenseman ever&mdash;was informed one year of another retired blueliner being inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame, he turned to a companion and, in all seriousness, blurted, &ldquo;If that guy is in the Hall, then I want to buy my way out!&rdquo;Shore resides in hockey heaven these days but one can only surmise his reaction to the 1988 Hall of Fame nominees. All of them were good players. But great? Very few of them.The Hockey Hall of Fame&rsquo;s quality is already diluted by the presence of average players like Leo Boivin and Bert Olmstead alongside immortals such as Doug Harvey and Maurice (Rocket) Richard.Is this surprising? Not if you&rsquo;re familiar with the politicking and parochialism that have long infected the Hall.EXAMPLE A: Doug Harvey was indubitably the best NHL defenseman after Shore. On his best day, teammate Tom Johnson couldn&rsquo;t wear Harvey&rsquo;s skates&mdash;but Johnson was the fairhaired boy of Hall-of-Fame powerbroker Frank Selke, Sr., and Harvey was on Selke&rsquo;s blacklist. As a result, Harvey was not inducted to the Hall until 1973&mdash;three years after Johnson.EXAMPLE B: Harvey (Busher) Jackson, left winger on the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; inimitable &ldquo;Kid Line&rdquo; (with Charlie Conacher and Joe Primeau), was boycotted for years by his vindictive boss Conn Smythe, a major influence on Hall nominators. The boycott kept Jackson out of the shrine until 1971, five years after his death. If there had been justice, Jackson would have been inducted with Primeau in 1963.EXHIBIT C: Frederick Joseph (Bun) Cook, originator of the slap shot and left winger on a superb Ranger line with brother Bill and Frank Boucher, isn&rsquo;t in the Hall of Fame, although he was one of the best at his position in the NHL for a decade.As for the 1988 nominees, having seen them all play&mdash;with the exception of Vladislav Tretiak&mdash;from their rookie season until their retirement, I&rsquo;ll rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. (A 10 rating is reserved for supreme players such as Richard, Shore, Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau.)<blockquote class="pullQuote">Bun Cook, originator of the slap shot, isn&rsquo;t even in the Hall of Fame, although he was one of the best at his position in the NHL for a decade.</blockquote>GUY LAFLEUR: The Flower is an automatic entrant. He blended charisma with a scoring flair that saw him top Beliveau as the Canadiens&rsquo; all-time points leader. Lafleur won the Conn Smythe Trophy (1977), Hart Trophy (1977-78) and led the NHL in scoring from 1976 to &lsquo;78. Apart from Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, he was the NHL&rsquo;s most exciting player of the past decade. Rating&mdash;8.BRAD PARK: Unlike Lafleur, Park never played on a Stanley Cup-winner, but he did stand the test of time, excelling from 1968 through &lsquo;85, when he packed up his skates. Park, a five-time first-team all-star, ranks among the best defensemen of the expansion era. Brad belongs. Rating&mdash;6&frac12;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011483/5619966-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="333" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>DICK DUFF: A member of Stanley Cupwinners in Toronto during the Imlach era and Montreal under Toe Blake. Duff was one of the most underrated left wingers in the time immediately preceding expansion. Though on the smallish side, the 15-year-man was a tough opportunist. His finest NHL moment occurred in April, 1962, at Chicago Stadium when he beat Glenn Hall to give the Stanley Cup to Toronto for the first time since 1951. Does he belong in the Hall? Yes. Rating&mdash;6.TONY ESPOSITO: It is worth remembering the Blackhawks, even when they boasted Hall-of-Famers Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, never won a championship with Tony O between the pipes. True, he won the Calder Trophy in 1970 as well as the Vezina in 1970 and 1972 (with Gary Smith) and 1974 (with Bernie Parent). Twice he was named to the all-star team, and his impact on Chicago hockey was significant. But he failed too often in clutch games. Rating&mdash;5.DARRYL SITTLER: While he did set innumerable records as a Maple Leaf, Sittier always struck me as an overrated player in terms of team accomplishments. On the plus side are eight 30-plus goal seasons with the Leafs, a record 10-point game, several team records and a memorable Canada Cup-winning goal against Czechoslovakia in 1976. He belongs in the Maple Leafs&rsquo; Hall of Fame but not the Hockey Hall of Fame. Rating&mdash;5.BILL BARBER: No one can quibble about Barber&rsquo;s work ethic, or the fact he played on both Philadelphia Stanley Cup-winning teams (1974and 1975). In 1975-76 he peaked, with50 goals and 62 assists for 112 points. Yet only once was he rated a first all-star left winger. Barber was not special enough to warrant anything more than traditional admiration; certainly not a Hall-of-Fame nomination. Rating&mdash;5.J.C. TREMBLAY: Maybe J.C. could make it to the WHA Hall of Fame, but NHL? Not quite. He was an above-average defenseman, but not the kind you would place in the Brad Park class&mdash;although he had a commendable skill level. He gained a first all-star berth only once, never won a Norris Trophy and was just plain good, but not great. Rating&mdash;5.JOHN FERGUSON: Fergie was an integral part of Montreal&rsquo;s many Stanley Cup-winners, both immediately before and after expansion. If that qualifies him for Hall-of-Fame entry, then he makes it&mdash;but I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s enough. I like the guy, but I can&rsquo;t see him in the Hall. Rating&mdash;4.ROGATIEN VACHON: C&rsquo;mon, guys. He shared one Vezina Trophy (with Gump Worsley in 1968), played decent goal for the Canadiens and Kings but is no more a Hall-of-Famer than Jimmy Rutherford. Rating&mdash;4.VLADISLAV TRETIAK: His handful of North American games are insufficient as evidence. There&rsquo;s no valid way to interpret his European performance. Disqualified. &#9632;

f0006-01

Lafleur, Park, Duff Best Hall Nominees

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03679/5619997-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="588" height="838"><figcaption class="caption-body">Top junior goalie Mark Fitzpatrick is given a good chance of making the Kings.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021054/5620004-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="183" height="130"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;One of these years the Los Angeles Kings are going to find happiness in the crease.Only twice in the past eight seasons have the Kings been satisfied enough with their goaltenders to use fewer than three.Once during that span, the Kings used two goalies. Three times they used four, and three other times they used five.Rollie Melanson, rookie Glenn Healy and Bob Janecyk were the goalies in 1987-88, running the count to 14 different goalies in eight seasons. This year, the Kings allowed a league-high 359 goals for a 4.44 goals-against average.The Kings have finished no better than 19th overall defensively in six of the past seven seasons, three times setting team records for goals allowed.The number of goals allowed, average and league rank in those seven seasons is as follows:&bull; 1987-88: 359, 4.44, 21st. &lsquo;&bull; 1986-87: 341, 4.21, 20th.&bull; 1985-86: 389, 4.80, 20th.&bull; 1984-85: 326, 4.00, 14th.&bull; 1983-84: 376, 4.56, 19th.&bull; 1982-83: 365, 4.56, 19th.&bull; 1981-82: 369, 4.61, 20th.Averages beginning with the &lsquo;83&lsquo;84 season would be worse except for extra minutes played due to overtime.Not since 1980-81, when Mario Lessard won a team-record 35 games and was a second team all-star, have the Kings allowed fewer than 300 goals and compiled a goals-against average under four.Certainly the masked men are not totally to blame. No King forward has ever threatened to win a Selke Trophy and no King defenseman has ever threatened to win a Norris Trophy.Still, Melanson, Healy and Janecyk, who only played in five games, combined for a save percentage of.860, the league&rsquo;s worst.General manager Rogie Vachon nearly dealt Melanson and defenseman Jay Wells to Edmonton in March for goalie Andy Moog, who wound up going to Boston. Vachon reportedly was interested in obtaining New Jersey goalie Alain Chevrier, a trade he could still make this summer.Melanson&rsquo;s record (35-41-13, 4.03 GAA) over the past two years is respectable when compared to the Kings&rsquo; record (26-42-3, 4.50 GAA) when he hasn&rsquo;t played. But after going the distance in a playoff-opening 9-2 loss to Calgary on April 6&mdash;in which the Kings were outshot 50-17&mdash;Melanson spent the rest of the series on the bench.He didn&rsquo;t even get a call after Healy dislocated the thumb on his stick hand in the first period of game five on April 12, the Kings&rsquo; last game this season.The Kings are also extremely high on two young goalies acquired in the past two drafts, making Melanson expendable.University of Minnesota sophomore Robb Stauber, a sixth-round pick in 1986, won the Hobey Baker Award as the outstanding U.S. college player this year.The Kings expect Stauber to stay in school for at least another year, but they figure to give Mark Fitzpatrick, a second-round pick in 1987, every opportunity to make next year&rsquo;s team.The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Fitzpatrick, who will turn 20 in November, has been a star for three seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western League.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a dominant figure in junior for three years,&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;He might be ready, but he will have to win a job. just like everybody else.&ldquo;(But) we&rsquo;re really excited every time we talk about him. He is certainly a bright spot in our organization for the future. So is Stauber.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The new uniforms the Kings will wear next season were to be unveiled at an April news conference, but they weren&rsquo;t quite ready. The purple and gold colors have been changed to black, silver and white&hellip;New owner Bruce McNall is expected to upgrade the team&rsquo;s Culver City, Calif., practice site, which he purchased along with the Kings and the American League New Haven Nighthawks from Jerry Buss. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking into what the coaches want and what it will cost,&rdquo; new executive vice-president Roy Mlakar said. &#9632;

f0006-03

Top Prospects May End Goaltender Shuffle

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011325/5620035-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Petr Klima dreams of seeing his jersey No. 85, emblematic of the year he defected from his native Czechoslovakia, retired by the Detroit Red Wings.</figcaption></div>Petr Klima flashes that wide, boyish smile at the thought of life after hockey.&ldquo;What do you want to be when you grow up?&rdquo; he is asked.&ldquo;Retired,&rdquo; he says, thinking of the Florida beaches and California sun. As he speaks, Klima raises his eyes to the rafters of Joe Louis Arena. He dreams of taking his No. 85 with him.&ldquo;I play another 10 years maybe, then come back here, see games, look up, see my number there.&rdquo;Next to Gordie Howe&rsquo;s No. 9, the only retired number hanging at Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;Could be,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Me and Stevie (Yzer-man) up there. Then I know it will be there forever.&rdquo;Petr Klima, 23, is off to a good start. He has played three seasons in the NHL since defecting from Czechoslovakia. This has been his best. Klima scored a career-high 37 goals and 25 assists in 78 games. His next regular-season goal will be his 100th, ranking him 25th among goal-scorers in the Red Wings&rsquo; 62-year history.He remains a few goals shy of Howe&rsquo;s alltime club record of 786. But already, Klima has erased one of Howe&rsquo;s marks and was on the verge of eclipsing another. Entering the Stanley Cup semi-finals, Klima had 10 goals, surpassing Howe&rsquo;s record of nine set in 1955 and matched in 1964. Howe had 20 points in 11 post-season games in 1955, one of Detroit&rsquo;s Stanley Cup championship seasons.&ldquo;Sorry, Gordie,&rdquo; Klima says, no disrespect intended.He needed three points to surpass Howe&rsquo;s 1955 total. &ldquo;No problem,&rdquo; he says.Klima&rsquo;s two playoff hat tricks this spring also set a club record. His goal on a penalty shot was the first in Detroit&rsquo;s 40 playoff appearances.All this will make him a strong contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy, as playoff MVP, should Detroit get past the Edmonton Oilers. And it is evidence of a young man growing up&mdash;in spite of himself&mdash;and keeping his word to his coach.&ldquo;Petr Klima promised me before we started that he would have a good playoffs,&rdquo; Jacques Demers recalls. &ldquo;He came to me and said, &lsquo;Trust me.&rdquo;What Klima was asking for was the ice time to prove he could fill the void vacated by Yzer-man&mdash;the player some say Klima has been jealous of since he arrived at the Wings&rsquo; training camp three Septembers ago.But Demers trusted him, and Klima delivered.&ldquo;This is my third year,&rdquo; Klima says. &ldquo;I said before playoffs, this is it. I play good now or I&rsquo;m (screwed)&hellip;! was worried before playoffs. Last year, I was horse&mdash;(1-2-3 in 13 games).&rdquo;Klima doesn&rsquo;t think he knows English well enough, and plans a three-hour-a-day immersion course over the summer. But he knows most of the colorful words&mdash;and all of the off-color ones. He also knows his career has come to a fork in the road, and that he can determine his own path.&ldquo;This year, I think if I don&rsquo;t have a good playoffs, I&rsquo;m gone. They don&rsquo;t need good players just during the season. They need them in the playoffs.&rdquo;This has been a tumultuous season for the Czechoslovak&mdash;both on and off the ice. His personal life made the gossip pages when his planned marriage to Irena Zelenak, his sweetheart who defected to be with him, was abruptly called off because she refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.With that, the Americanization of Petr Klima seemed fairly complete. But the North America-nization of Klima, the hockey player, was far from over. One day in January, after he scored six goals in a six-game stretch, Klima was left home when the Wings went to New York to play the Rangers.Demers was angered by what he described as Klima&rsquo;s &ldquo;selfish play.&rdquo;Klima was humiliated. &ldquo;That hurt,&rdquo; he says.But Jacques Demers&rsquo; discipline doesn&rsquo;t compare with the strict treatment Klima got from one of his first coaches, his father, Josef.&ldquo;I remember, I was 12 and I score nine goals in one game. I was happy. I think I&rsquo;m great. We go home. My dad, he hit me right in the face. &ldquo;Why? &ldquo;Because I chew gum during the game.&rdquo;His boyhood friends and teammates called him Kozel then, a nickname that roughly translates to Skippy in English. Kozel was a remarkable young hockey player.&ldquo;When I 16, I make (Czechoslovak) national team. Play with 25-year-old guys. I think, &lsquo;Hey, I don&rsquo;t have to practice any more. I&rsquo;m good enough.&rsquo;&ldquo;My father, he told me, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re nothing yet.&rsquo; &ldquo;Which is roughly what Demers tells him often. But he&rsquo;s getting close. Even Demers has been saying so lately.&ldquo;Ever since we left him home that time, he hasn&rsquo;t been the same player,&rdquo; Demers says. &ldquo;I think it came from that, and from his teammates looking at him sideways sometimes, and from getting his relationship with his girlfriend together.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been a tremendous change in his attitude. And as long as Petr Klima lives with that commitment he made going into the playoffs, he can be here as long as I&rsquo;m coach. We can live with this kid.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always said he can be a superstar in this league. Now I think Petr Klima could become a very rich man playing for the Detroit Red Wings.&rdquo;Already, Klima is prosperous beyond his wildest boyhood fantasies. Even by American standards, Klima is a rich man. He is in the third year of a five-year contract earning him an estimated $250,000 per year, including various personal and team bonuses.And he spends it as fast as he makes it. Sometimes faster. The Wings had to arrange an advance for him when he ran out of money after his first season.Klima&rsquo;s first big purchase was a Camaro Iroc Z, which he wrecked. Now he has a Pontiac Trans Am, which Irena usually drives. Klima&rsquo;s first love in his new country is cars, so he couldn&rsquo;t have defected to a better city.&ldquo;I just bought a new truck, a 1988 GMC Jimmy, 4x4, 4.3 litre engine. Lots of power. I am flying on highway now.&rdquo;He owns a house in the posh Detroit suburb of Birmingham. Three bedroom ranch. Large pool. Spacious patio and a stone fountain. On an acre right next to the woods. Plenty of room to roam for his two Great Danes, Ondra and Rony (after former Wings teammate Ron Duguay), and the huge German Shepherd, Tesak&mdash;which in Czechoslovak means big teeth, which might explain why he doesn&rsquo;t have a lot of visitors.Then there&rsquo;s the diamond earring he wears in his left ear (not during games), the blond streaks in his long hair (which again seems to be in honor of Duguay). And the tanning bed. None of which made him many points with his coaches or his teammates.Klima shrugs it off. &ldquo;What a country!&rdquo;Around Detroit, he revels in the treatment showered on local sports stars.&ldquo;I went to dinner last night,&rdquo; Klima says. &ldquo;I signed 100 autographs, took (posed for) 100 pictures.&rdquo;Did it bother you. &ldquo;No way,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I loved it.&rdquo;As he speaks, Klima sits in the stands at Joe Louis Arena watching his teammates practice. He&rsquo;s taking the day off to allow an infected ankle to heal. Which is fine with him.&ldquo;I hate practice,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;No crowds. Get 19,000 people here, then I practise.&rdquo;On the ice, Klima treats his audiences to some spectacular moves, but usually only in the direction of the opponents&rsquo; net.&ldquo;I just score goals,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I take puck, put between (opponents&rsquo;) legs, score goals. That&rsquo;s my game.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t play defense. I know I&rsquo;m not good on defense. My linemates, Chabby and Probie (John Chabot and Bob Probert) they cover for me. Even Probie, he&rsquo;s backing up for me. I just go offense. Coming back? No.&rdquo;Opponents say he underestimates that part of his game.&ldquo;For a guy who&rsquo;s not supposed to play good defense, I sure see him out there a lot in the last minute of a game, and killing penalties,&rdquo; says St. Louis scout Bob Plager. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s that bad defensively.&rdquo;Offensively, Plager says, Klima is a challenge for any team. The Blues couldn&rsquo;t stop him. Klima scored four goals, including a hat trick, and three assists in the five-game Norris Division final. And he did it despite a variety of whacks, hacks and slashes from the Blues. Klima was nursing the bad ankle when the series began, and on his first shift against the Blues he was speared in the ribs. He took Novocaine shots there, too, for the remainder of the series. And his hands and arms were full of welts.&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s got this idea, they&rsquo;re going to run at him,&rdquo; Plager says. &ldquo;They figure they&rsquo;ll hit him and he&rsquo;ll disappear. I told our guys, he&rsquo;s having fun out there. You hit him, he just gets up, he smiles, and he scores a goal. He&rsquo;s enjoying the game.&rdquo;And North American life to the fullest. &#9632;

f0007-01

Life In The Fast Lane

HAS ANYBODY EVER heard anything more ridiculous than claiming that Marty McSorley was dazed and didn&rsquo;t know what he was doing when he speared Mike Bullard? McSorley should be in jail. Glen Sather should be in cartoons.Jeff Hlavaty, East Chicago. Ind.<h2>KEEP IT SAFE</h2>I hope that you will be able to assist me in communicating to the administration of the National Hockey League my personal disgust at the spearing incident in the third game of the Calgary-Edmonton playoff series.My husband and I have closely followed the sport since 1970, and we have never seen such a malicious attack as the spearing done by Marty McSorley (on Mike Bullard). He is a player, if you can call him that, who better belongs in jail where most thugs end up. Not in a sports arena.Hockey has always been a rough sport, and while we have seen many players injured or in fights, we have not seen unprovoked attacks with intent to injure. Obviously, Marty McSorley is incapable of maintaining the emotional control required of an athlete playing in a contact sport such as hockey.We suggest that he be permanently removed from the roster so that he&rsquo;s not permitted to injure any other athletes. Hockey has sometimes been said to be a violent sport; our feeling is that with proper control it is a physical but safe and exciting sport. We&rsquo;d like to keep it that way.Carol Vovis, Marlborough, Mass.<h2>SMYTHE IS BEST</h2>I thoroughly enjoyed Jay Greenberg&rsquo;s clever column in the April 22 issue alluding to the alleged superiority of Patrick Division hockey.Considering the Patrick&rsquo;s tough schedule, I&rsquo;m surprised he had time to write anything but a thank you note to THN for allowing him to keep his job for another season. Mr. Greenberg may be interested to learn there is good hockey played outside states named New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania.Over here in the Smythe Division we&rsquo;ve got Wayne Gretzky, the world&rsquo;s greatest player, and Grant Fuhr, the world&rsquo;s greatest goaltender. We&rsquo;ve got Luc Robitaille, last year&rsquo;s rookie of the year and Joe Nieuwendyk, a shoo-in candidate as this year&rsquo;s Calder Kid, unless of course Mr. Greenberg finds (Darren) Pang easier to spell.Sure we&rsquo;ve got a guy (Pat Quinn) who, while coaching one team signed with another, but where do you think we got him from in the first place? The Patrick Division.Here in the Smythe we play a run-and-gun, wham and slam style, in contrast to the &lsquo;Rocky&rsquo; hockey slugfests in the pouting Patrick. Another thing we&rsquo;ve got here in the Smythe is the Stanley Cup. We&rsquo;ve got it and we&rsquo;re going to keep it. So, we&rsquo;ll see you next fall Jay, and in the meantime, give our regards to Mario Whatshisname out on the first tee.Jeffery Scott Prushankin, North Hollywood. Calif.<h2>FISCHLER&rsquo;S CHEAP SHOT</h2>I&rsquo;m writing concerning Stan Fischler&rsquo;s put-down of Indians in THN&rsquo;s April I issue.&ldquo;I still can&rsquo;t figure out why linesmen fail to immediately move in on fighters&hellip;instead of standing around like a pair of bloodthirsty cigarstore indians,&rdquo; Fischler wrote.That&rsquo;s a cheap shot. I am Indian and proud of it. I&rsquo;m an avid THN fan and was extremely upset by that remark.If low blows such as Fischler&rsquo;s continue, I sure won&rsquo;t be buying THE HOCKEY NEWS again.Ed Tom, Burns Lake, B.C. &#9632;

Oiler McSorley’s Excuse Considered Unbelievable

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011413/5620090-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

ELSTON

WHERE TALENT IS concerned and Stanley Cups are at stake, the Edmonton Oilers are an equal-opportunity employer.They rely on a black goaltender and have a pair of Finnish wingers bookending a center who is from some other universe. Over the years, they&rsquo;ve been a virtual melting pot&mdash;Finns, Swedes, Czechoslovaks, Americans, Scots and, of course, Canadians.But now, for the first time since entering the NHL in 1979, the Oilers have a French Canadian in their midst.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know I&rsquo;m the first,&rdquo; says Normand Lacombe, a 23-year-old native of Pierrefonds (near Montreal). &ldquo;I get kidded a lot. You know, because I&rsquo;m the only French guy on the team right now. It&rsquo;s all good natured. But I&rsquo;m surprised I&rsquo;m the first.&rdquo;Technically, he isn&rsquo;t. Not if you count goaltender Marco Baron&rsquo;s one game. Or if you can find a francophone among the faceless Oilers who haven&rsquo;t registered a point in an Edmonton uniform and, therefore, aren&rsquo;t mentioned in the team&rsquo;s &lsquo;87-88 yearbook.Which is not to suggest the Oilers discriminate. Assertions of that sort are better left to University of Ottawa professors.It&rsquo;s not as if the Oilers bypassed opportunities to get Mario Lemieux or Raymond Bourque. But the Oilers have drafted only two francophones (Mario Barbe in &lsquo;85 and Nicolas Beaulieu in &lsquo;86) out of the Quebec League in nine NHL entry drafts.Really, the big surprise is not so much that Lacombe is a French Canadian playing for the Oilers. It&rsquo;s that he&rsquo;s playing at all, having resurrected a career which was assumed to be over before it really began.When the Buffalo Sabres made him the 10th overall pick in the 1983 entry draft, big things were expected from the broad-shouldered Lacombe. As fate, and injuries, would have it, only now in these Stanley Cup playoffs has the 5-foot-11, 205-pound winger begun to realize his potential.After two years at the University of New Hampshire, he opted to turn pro in &lsquo;83. In the next three seasons, he bounced back and forth between the Sabres and Rochester Amerks. Along the way, he blew out his knee, broke his jaw and suffered from what was diagnosed as shin splints.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021147/5620121-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="387" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>In 1986-87, his fourth year in Buffalo, he was again doing the Sabre-Amerk shuffle when, on March 6, he was traded with Wayne Van Dorp to the Oilers for Lee Fogolin and Mark Napier.Though he played in just one game with Edmonton in &lsquo;86-87, the move ultimately saved his career.The shin splint condition had been getting worse. Any physical activity was causing pain and numbness.&ldquo;Dr. (Gordon) Cameron (of the Oilers) knew what was wrong right away,&rdquo; Lacombe says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s called chronic compartment syndrome of the lower leg. The sheath that houses the muscle is too small. When I&rsquo;d exercise, the muscle would expand from the blood flow. It would tighten up and cause severe numbness. As soon as the season ended, I had surgery. They just cut the sheath open. It&rsquo;s no problem now.&rdquo;Restoring his self-worth as a player, a mid first-round selection at that, couldn&rsquo;t be remedied so quickly.&ldquo;My confidence took a beating in Buffalo,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not blaming anyone there. Looking back, I shouldn&rsquo;t have left school so early.&rdquo;Lacombe spent all of the 1987-88 season in Edmonton. He played 53 games, picking up eight goals and 17 points, though he played in only 10 games after Christmas.But he started the playoffs as a key member of the Oilers&rsquo; new-and-improved third line, with center Craig MacTavish and winger Geoff Courtnall. In nine playoff games, he had only two goals, but played well, delivering some punishing hits, especially in the series against Calgary.He&rsquo;s well aware that recent efforts do not a career make, but finally feels like he&rsquo;s on track.&ldquo;At times in the past few years I&rsquo;ve felt like quitting,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Now, it feels so good to be contributing and part of something.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-02

Oilers’ Melting Pot Adds Dash Of French Flavor

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY JEFF HALE Editorial Staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011368/5620152-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Grant Fuhr is one of several Edmonton Oilers who have emerged as candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.</figcaption></div>Grant Fuhr could become the third straight goalie to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; netminder was among the leading candidates for playoff MVP honors as the Campbell and Wales Conference championship began.Through nine games&mdash;eight of them victories&mdash;Fuhr had a 2.96 goals-against average and.895 save percentage.But his contribution goes beyond mere numbers, according to television analyst and ex-goalie John Davidson.&ldquo;You talk about all the big plays the Oilers make and he starts them (with a save),&rdquo; said Davidson. &ldquo;People don&rsquo;t really appreciate how good he is. He&rsquo;s the absolute best.&rdquo;Goaltenders Patrick Roy of Montreal and Ron Hextall of Philadelphia were the Conn Smythe winners in 1986 and 1987, respectively.Davidson&rsquo;s short list of playoff MVP candidates also includes Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky, the 1985 Smythe winner, and Bruin defenseman Raymond Bourque.Hampered early in the playoffs by the flu, Gretzky was &ldquo;fabulous&rdquo; against Calgary in the Smythe Division final, said Davidson. Entering the conference championships, he was tied for third in playoff scoring, with five goals and 12 assists in nine games.Bourque, meanwhile, has rebounded from what Davidson termed a subpar regular season for the Bruin defenseman. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s one who&rsquo;s had another fabulous playoff,&rdquo; said Davidson.Buffalo Sabre general manager Gerry Meehan, whose team lost in six games to the Bruins in the Adams Division semi-finals, agreed with Davidson.&ldquo;In our series, I thought Ray was their anchor,&rdquo; said Meehan. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s excelling in every aspect.&rdquo;Detroit Red Wing general manager Jimmy Devellano said left winger Petr Klima, who had 10 goals in 11 games, &ldquo;has been our offensive gem through the playoffs.&rdquo; (See cover story on page 7.)Davidson said Klima realized &ldquo;if he didn&rsquo;t have a good playoff, he might not be in Detroit next season. That just shows the magic of (Red Wing coach) Jacques Demers. It&rsquo;s taken a long time, but he&rsquo;s finally gotten through (to Klima).&rdquo;Besides Gretzky and Fuhr, Davidson said other Oiler candidates were center Mark Messier, right winger Jari Kurri and defenseman Kevin LoweKurri (8-9-17 in nine games) &ldquo;is probably playing the best hockey of his career,&rdquo; said Davidson. &ldquo;He also realizes he has to go through a few people sometimes.&rdquo;Messier, whom Davidson called a &ldquo;raging bull,&rdquo; led all playoff scorers (7-12-19 in nine) as of May 2. Lowe had played well despite a cast on his wrist.Other playoff standouts, said Davidson, were Detroit center John Chabot (3-13-16 in 11), New Jersey right winger John MacLean (5-9-14 in 14; &ldquo;he&rsquo;s scoring all the big goals&rdquo;), Boston goalie Rejean Lemelin (7-1, 2.35 GAA, .911) and Detroit defenseman Lee Norwood (2-5-7 in 11), whom Davidson said &ldquo;has been their best. I&rsquo;d rank him with Lowe and Bourque and he&rsquo;s not out of place there.&rdquo;<h2>TROUBLED WATTERS</h2>Bill Watters figures his stint as color commentator on Toronto Maple Leaf radio broadcasts is over.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m assuming that I&rsquo;m done,&rdquo; said Watters, a high-profile NHL player agent who has been on the broadcast team for three years. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping there&rsquo;s an outside chance for change.&rdquo;Leaf owner Harold Ballard told Molstar Communications, the firm which has the contract for Leaf radio and TV games, there&rsquo;s a conflict of interest between Watters&rsquo; job as an agent and radio commentator. The contract states Ballard has approval of on-air talent.Telemedia Broadcasting Systems produce the radio telecasts for Molstar and Watters is employed by them.Watters represents about 80 NHL players, including seven on the Leafs.Ballard&rsquo;s request stems from a conflict between Watters and Leaf coach John Brophy, the agent said. Brophy took exception to Walter&rsquo;s analysis of Leaf games this season.&ldquo;I was critical of the coaching,&rdquo; said Watters. &ldquo;What happened was my comments during the year, the end of the season in particular, reflected that the players were taking an unfair share of the blame.&rdquo;<h2>U.S. DREAM TEAM</h2>Three-time Olympian Herb Brooks, who coached the United States to its last hockey gold medal in 1980, heads up the U.S. hockey &ldquo;dream team&rdquo; selected by readers of American Hockey magazine.Brooks was chosen as a forward, the position he played for the 1964 and &lsquo;68 Olympic teams.Two members of the 1960 Olympic team that won the gold medal at Squaw Valley, Calif.&mdash;defenseman John Mayasich and goalie Jack McCartan&mdash;led in balloting at their positions. Center Mark Johnson, now with the New Jersey Devils and a member of the 1980 team at Lake Placid, N.Y., was the top forward.The dream team concept was developed by the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS), which publishes American Hockey, in recognition of its own 50th anniversary.Readers were asked to select players who represented the U.S. in Olympic and world championship play since 1937. The magazine ballot listed 99 players.Others named to the team were: goalies Jim Craig and Mike Curran; defensemen Bill Baker, Dave Christian, Jack Kirrane, Ken Morrow. Don Ross and Allan Van; and for-wards Henry Boucha, Aaron Broten, Bill Christian, Roger Christian, Keith Christiansen, Bill Cleary, Robbie Ftorek, Paul Johnson, Weldon Olson, Mark Pavelich, Buzz Schneider and Tom Williams.<h2>IN THE BLACK</h2>Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior League turned around a three-year-old debt of $120,000 into a $20,000 profit by the end of the 198788 season. The community-owned team points to better promotion&mdash;including a year-end party where players&rsquo; sweaters were raffled off for as much as $375&mdash;as the cause of the reversal.Average regular-season attendance at the 2,000-seat Agriplex went up from 746 to 929 this season and crowds for the SJHL final against Notre Dame Hounds were around 2,700. The Terriers, coached by former NHLer Dennis Polonich, lost to Notre Dame in six games.<h2>TWINS WIN CUP</h2>Thunder Bay Twins have won the Allan Cup for the fourth time in team history.The hometown Twins defeated Charlottetown (P.E.I.) Islanders 7-1 on April 26 before 3,740 spectators at Fort Williams Gardens, to complete a four-game sweep of the Canadian national senior championship series.Ex-NHLer Marc Chorney and Jamie McDonald led the Ontario team with six goals and four assists each in the finals.<h2>BITS AND PIECES</h2>Referees Ron Hoggarth and Terry Gregson were dropped from the playoff rotation after the Stanley Cup division finals. Linesmen Randy Mitton and Ron Asselstine were also dropped. Asselstine was replacing the injured Bob Hodges. Referees Bill McCreary, Andy van Hellemond, Don Koharski, Denis Morel, Kerry Fraser and Dave Newell were slated to officiate the conference finals&hellip;Hockey East executive director Dennis Hanks announced his resignation, effective June 30. Hanks, who joined Hockey East in October, 1984, said he wanted to pursue personal interests&hellip;Brad Buetow was named coach at Colorado College on April 22. Buetow, 37, a former head coach at U.S. International in San Diego and the University of Minnesota, succeeds Mike Bertsch, who resigned March 10 after six seasons at CC.<h2>OVERHEARD</h2>&ldquo;When we start winning in Vancouver it&rsquo;ll be like taking a building off our shoulders.&rdquo;&mdash;Vancouver Canuck coach Bob McCammon. &#9632;

f0009-01

Lineup Forms For Smythe Trophy

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011454/5620183-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="587" height="740"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Sutter was impressed by the Red Wings&rsquo; ability to overcome injuries.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021105/5620190-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="179" height="134"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;After drubbing the Chicago Blackhawks in five games, the Blues went into their best-of-seven Norris Division final riding the high surf, confident they could beat the Detroit Red Wings.But they found playing them was like running into the ocean. The Blues were slowed down, then beaten down by the waves of Red Wing defense. They were washed away in five games, scoring 14 goals and building just three leads in the process.After blasting the Blackhawks with six goals, including three gamewinners, St. Louis right winger Brett Hull was held to one fluke goal by the Red Wings. Right winger Mark Hunter scored twice in game one against Detroit, but was shut out in the last four games of the series.&ldquo;When we needed to get some goals, we just couldn&rsquo;t get them,&rdquo; Hunter said.&ldquo;They followed their game plan to a tee,&rdquo; goaltender Greg Millen said. &ldquo;They executed it well. They forced us to play their way. They proved the season they had was not a fluke. They didn&rsquo;t get their 93 points for no reason.&rdquo;As they did all season, the Red Wings did an excellent job containing the St. Louis puckhandlers and restrainmg their shooters.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t play catch-up with that club,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; center Bernie Federko said. &ldquo;They close down the middle of the ice so well.&rdquo;Their clutching and grabbing also slowed down the Blues&rsquo; forecheckers, who couldn&rsquo;t dump the puck in and pressure the slow Detroit defense.The Red Wings, on the other hand, were able to pressure the St. Louis defensemen into a series of blunders they converted into goals. Appropriately, RedWing grinder Tim Higgins finished off the Blues in game five with a nice bit of forechecking he converted into the winning goal.In 13 games through the playoffs and regular season, the Blues managed to beat the Red Wings just twice. Their spirited rivalry became rather onesided this season.But at least the Blues went down with a fight. Aside from their 6-0 loss in game two, they played the Red Wings evenly. They just couldn&rsquo;t pull free and make the big plays.&ldquo;We worked hard, it just wasn&rsquo;t to be,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin said after the series-ending 4-3 loss on April 27. &ldquo;We gave it a good effort. I&rsquo;m proud of my players.&rdquo;St. Louis captain Brian Sutter said, &ldquo;We had our chances to do it. Nobody quit, everybody played hard. Every guy knew they had to go out with the head up and play. We played three pretty damn good periods this time.&rdquo;Sutter was impressed with the Red Wings&rsquo; perseverance. Detroit center Steve Yzerman was out for the series and center Shawn Burr was sidelined for three games.&ldquo;They showed what kind of people they are, to lose a player like Yzerman and still come out and do the job they did,&rdquo; he said.Red Wing coach Jacques Demers said his playoff victory might cost Blues&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin his job, and he was sorry about that.&ldquo;Jacques Martin is a good coach,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I hope he gets a job, because I didn&rsquo;t outcoach Jacques Martin. He had his team playing at its best. A better team beat that hockey team. Ninety-three points is better than 76 points.&rdquo;Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron likes Martin, but was non-committal on his future. Martin&rsquo;s contract expires in June.&ldquo;Last year, we finished first and came up short in the playoffs,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;This year, we finished second and stayed alive. This year we&rsquo;re in the top eight with a continuous changeov er, roster-wise. I consider this a pretty good accomplishment.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Right winger Greg Paslawski missed the entire Detroit series with a pulled groin muscle&hellip;Defenseman Rob Whistle returned from a broken foot to play in game five of the playoff series&hellip;Of the Blues&rsquo; 98 playoff points, 67 were scored by players 25 or younger. Of their 34 goals, 26 were scored by the 25-and-under set&hellip;The Blues used 39 different players this season, including 14 defensemen.<h2>BLUES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Federko, Doug Gilmour, Tony Hrkac, Steve Bozek, Cliff Ronning.LW&mdash;Brian Sutter, Tony McKegney, Gino Cavallini, Jocelyn Lemieux, Doug Evans, Perry Turnbull.RW&mdash;Mark Hunter, Brett Hull, Herb Raglan, Rick Meagher, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Brian Benning, Paul Cavallini, Robert Dirk, Kent Carlson.RD&mdash;Gaston Gingras, Tim Bothwell, Gordie Roberts, Rob Whistle, Robert Nordmark.G&mdash;Greg Millen, Darrell May.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ron Flockhart, LW, rheumatoid arthritis.Greg Paslawski, RW, groin pull. &#9632;

f0010-01

Blues Washed Away By Red Wing Defense

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03712/5620221-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="178" height="131"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Pat Quinn put the rumors down like he would the butt of a cigar.Emphatically. The Vancouver Canuck president and general manager said coach Bob McCammon is his coach and will remain so.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s important the players be shown there is a coach here and he&rsquo;ll remain the coach,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to back people who you know can do the job. I&rsquo;m sure Bob was probably questioning himself at times. But I think we all do that.&rdquo;The rumors concerning McCammon&rsquo;s future were understandable. He was extremely successful&mdash;a 119-6831 coaching record in four seasons&mdash;with the Philadelphia Flyers, but in his first season with the Canucks, the team was 25-46-9.&ldquo;It bothered me,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody used to winning on a regular basis can accept losing. Talk to any coach who&rsquo;s below.500 and he&rsquo;s frustrated.&rdquo;McCammon, who is reported to have a long-term deal with the team which would keep him in the organization as an assistant general manager should he leave coaching, will be returning next year. Quinn said at no time did he consider making a change and McCammon never expressed willingness to step up.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a media rumor and I don&rsquo;t know where they got it,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;They start half-truths and then you&rsquo;ve got problems.&rdquo;Coaching isn&rsquo;t one of Quinn&rsquo;s complaints.&ldquo;One of the biggest disappointments of the year here was how we responded to not making the playoffs,&rdquo; said Quinn.&ldquo;Afterwards we saw a lot of carping and complaining from the players in the media and a lot of finger-pointing. And I&rsquo;m sure that has been the case here with (former Canuck coach) Tom Watt in the past and with coaches before him. This is the sort of thing we have to get away from here in order to make progress. As long as there are excuses and finger-pointing, there is always an excuse not to win. All of us in the organization have to take some responsibility for how the team does.&rdquo;There were stories of discontent. Defenseman Larry Melnyk allegedly threw a skate at McCammon in the dressing room after the coach questioned his courage. Defenseman Doug Lidster was told early in the season a suggestion he made for the power play was not welcome. Since-traded defenseman Willie Huber apparently threatened McCammon for some reason.&ldquo;I certainly didn&rsquo;t make it pleasant for some, of the players,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;Defensively, we have to cut down. A big part of the reason we had the bad season is we went with the young goalies. We bit the bullet on (Richard) Brodeur and he was gone by the end of the season (traded to Hartford).&ldquo;You can only keep going along so far, doing what I call, &lsquo;putting bandaids on the wound,&rsquo; and I think the thoughts this year were more longterm than short-term. We got a few less points, but I think the team played better on most nights.&rdquo;&ldquo;We discussed this whole issue philosophically in our meetings with the players,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something we have to put behind us.&rdquo;Canuck director of hockey operations Brian Burke didn&rsquo;t care much for the rumors on McCammon&rsquo;s future either, but they spread quickly when former Los Angeles King coach Mike Murphy was added as an assistant to McCammon late in the year.Quinn, Burke and the coaches have fanned out across the continent to do as much scouting as possible before the June 11 draft. McCammon is workinfl out of his Cape Elizabeth, Maine home, watching the American League playoffs as well as NHL games.The Canucks, who hold second overall pick, will complete their draft preparations during the Memorial Cup. May 7 to 14, in Chicoutimi, Que.NOTES&mdash;Center Steve Tambellini is expected to play in Italy next season, though he said he hasn&rsquo;t had talks with the Canucks about his future here yet&hellip;The Canucks will also have to make a decision on another Canadian Olympic team member, left winger Ken Berry. He signed for the final five weeks of the season and scored five points (2-3-5) in 14 games. &#9632;

f0010-03

Quinn Moves To Extinguish Rumors Of McCammon Exit

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011325/5620252-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The New Jersey Devils have had lots to celebrate during the playoffs, upsetting the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals.</figcaption></div>Two senior editors at THE HOCKEY NEWS were given their outright releases and 15 minutes to clean out their desks May 2.The reason? Another playoff embarrassment.&lsquo;Trust Us, Pick The Flames,&rsquo; trumpeted our April 15 front-page headline.Inside, we presented our third annual ranking of playoff contenders&mdash;listing teams in order of Stanley Cup potential, as determined by a crack staff of THN analysts and prognosticators.Calgary earned top billing on the strength of its enormous depth, league-leading 48-23-9 record and knack for knocking off the Edmonton Oilers.The Flames seemed a logical choice. As did all the others. At the time.But with the elimination of Washington Capitals to close out week four of the playoffs, five of THN&rsquo;s six top-ranked teams were on the outside looking in.No. 1-slotted Flames lost to No. 3 Edmonton Oilers in four straight games. The Flames discovered you can&rsquo;t start a fire without a spark.The second-ranked Montreal Canadiens surrendered to eighth-ranked Boston Bruins in five games. Montreal scored five goals in the final four games. John Kordic was in on three of them. &lsquo;Nuff said.New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, Nos. 4 and 5, were knocked out in the first round.The sixth-ranked Capitals fell to the ninth-ranked New Jersey Devils. John MacLean, who propelled New Jersey into the playoffs with an overtime goal on the final night of the regular season, sent the Devils into seventh (-game) heaven with a deflection of Craig Wolanin&rsquo;s weak shot from the point.No. 7 Detroit Red Wings, as expected, rounded out the final four with a five-game victory over St. Louis Blues. Tim (Hands) Higgins, who exploded for 12 goals during the regular season, scored the series-winner on an excellent patience play.That left third-ranked Edmonton against seventh-ranked Detroit in a rematch of last year&rsquo;s Campbell Conference final and eighth-ranked Boston versus ninth-ranked New Jersey in the Wales Conference final.<blockquote class="pullQuote">THN prognosticators have learned humility. Five of our six top-ranked teams were eliminated after two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.</blockquote>What lay ahead for the four teams?You expect us to answer that question? With our track record? Forget it. You can be wrong all by yourself. For now on, we take no chances. History is our new specialty.So, this much we can tell you.The Oilers won the Stanley Cup last year, their third triumph in four years. Detroit last won the Cup in 1955&mdash;more than 30 years ago. The Bruins last won three playoff series in 1972, the last time they won the Cup. And New Jersey last won a playoff series April 14.This is as far out on the limb as we&rsquo;re willing to go.By the way, anybody know of any job opportunities for a pair of glorified copy boys? &#9632;

f0011-01

So Much For The Sacred Bond Off Trust

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02977/5620283-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0011-02

Road To The Stanley Cup

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021188/5620345-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="182" height="136"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Sweeping the Calgary Flames seemed to bring out the best in the Edmonton Oilers.Wayne Gretzky, in particular.But it remained to be seen whether the Oilers could continue that against the Detroit Red Wings in the best-of-seven Campbell Conference final, which started May 3.Few saw No. 99 display so much excitement and emotion as he did each time the Oilers scored a key goal or capped a conquest in the Smythe Division final.Gretzky wasn&rsquo;t one bit shy in placing his sentiments on display&mdash;especially in view of Calgary&rsquo;s Red Sea of blushing partisans at the Saddledome. Outside of winning the Stanley Cup, veteran observers couldn&rsquo;t recall seeing Gretzky so completely satisfied with victory.With this in mind, how would Gretzky and the Oilers get as worked up about facing Detroit?&ldquo;Quite simple,&rdquo; said Gretzky. &ldquo;Any time you approach the Stanley Cup, you get excited.&rdquo;Grant Fuhr seconded the motion.&ldquo;We want the Cup and beating Calgary didn&rsquo;t get us the Cup,&rdquo; said the Oiler goaltender. &ldquo;We still have a ways to go.&rdquo;No question, the Red Wings will want to amend last year&rsquo;s results against the Oilers in the conference final. Edmonton defeated Detroit 4-1 in the Campbell Conference final, en route to their third Stanley Cup in four years.&ldquo;People are going to have to give them a lot more credit than last year,&rdquo; said Oiler defenseman Kevin Lowe. &ldquo;Last year, they were just sort of there. This year, they&rsquo;re legitimate. They played well last year, but they were just playing not to get blown out of most games, it appeared.&ldquo;They played that tight-checking style. Now they play the same system, but they also have goal-scorers.&rdquo;The Red Wings had the sixth-best goals-against average in the NHL this season, underscoring their tight-checking style. But, they were also third in team offense with 322 goals, behind only Calgary (397) and Edmonton (363).Red Wing 50-goal scorer Steve Yzerman was sidelined with a knee injury but had been skating and was expected to make an appearance towards the end of the conference final. Detroit also has four other players who scored more than 25 goals in the regular season&mdash;Petr Klima (37), Gerard Gallant (34), Bob Probert (29) and Brent Ashton (26). Klima had 10 goals in 11 playoff games heading into the conference final.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;We want the Cup and beating Calgary didn&rsquo;t get us the Cup. We still have a ways to go.&rsquo; &mdash;Fuhr</blockquote>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t replace guys like Yzerman&hellip;but you don&rsquo;t replace experience either,&rdquo; said Gretzky. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tougher and tougher in the semi-finals and finals than in the first two rounds. It&rsquo;s a whole different atmosphere. There&rsquo;s more pressure, more media around. Its takes one or two times through it to build the experience required.&rdquo;Oiler co-coach John Muckier said he expects Yzerman to return sometime during the series.&ldquo;Mark my words, Yzerman will be back against us,&rdquo; said Muckier.The Oilers stunned the Flames with some nip-and-tuck checking to sweep Calgary for the first time in three playoff triumphs over their provincial archrivals.&ldquo;I was very happy for our fans,&rdquo; grinned Gretzky as the Oilers avenged their 1986 playoff setback to the Flames while Northlands Coliseum fans intermittently chanted &lsquo;Sweep, sweep&rsquo;.Now, the Red Wings&hellip;could they upset the Oilers?&ldquo;Sure, they could beat us,&rdquo; replied Gretzky. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not ready and we&rsquo;re not prepared 100 per cent, anybody can be beaten. We&rsquo;ve got to be prepared for these guys more than in the first two rounds. We beat a great hockey club in Calgary. Now, we&rsquo;ve got to be ready for Detroit, because they&rsquo;ll be ready for us.&ldquo;This time their attitude is that they&rsquo;re not going to just be happy to get to the semi-finals. This time they&rsquo;re not going to be happy unless they beat us.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Oiler defenseman Marty McSorley drew a three-game suspension from NHL executive vicepresident Brian O&rsquo;Neill on April 29 for spearing Calgary center Mike Bullard during game three of the Smythe Division final April 23. McSorley was to miss the first three games of the Camp-bell Conference final&hellip;Defenseman Kevin Lowe, who suffered a fractured wrist on March 9 against Montreal, found out he&rsquo;ll be wearing a cast throughout the playoffs. Before the conference final began, Lowe was scheduled to have his seventh cast put on. The 29-year-old hadn&rsquo;t missed a playoff game.<h2>OILERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 29: Marty McSorley, D, suspended three games for spearing Calgary&rsquo;s Mike Bullard on April 23. Eligible to return May 9.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Mike Krushelnyski, Keith Acton.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Dave Hannan, Esa Tikkanen, Geoff Courtnail.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Kevin McClelland, Normand Lacombe.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Randy Gregg, Steve Dykstra.RD&mdash;Charlie Huddy, Marty McSorley, Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, John Miner.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford, Daryl Reaugh.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0012-02

Oilers Not About To Underestimate Wings

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011338/5620376-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="178" height="139"></div>BOSTON&mdash;How do you move from the euphoria of beating the Montreal Canadiens in a playoff series for the first time in 45 years, to take on a six-year-old upstart from New Jersey?That was the chief problem confronting coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and the Boston Bruins as they prepared for the semi-final series with the New Jersey Devils, who had never been in the playoffs before this season.The Bruins were doing their best to cope.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be surprised if anyone in our locker room takes them lightly,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Reilly said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m certainly not taking them lightly.&ldquo;By making the playoffs, by winning the last 10 of 13 on the road, by eliminating the Islanders and Washington, they&rsquo;ve shown they&rsquo;re a very serious hockey club.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased with the frame of mind we&rsquo;re in and how everyone&rsquo;s working hard and working together. But we&rsquo;re playing a team that&rsquo;s got the exact same ingredients going for them, so we&rsquo;ll see what happens.&rdquo;The Bruins won the season series over New Jersey, two games to one.After soundly trouncing the Canadiens in five games, the Bruins had five days off to curl up in front of their television sets and watch the Devils eliminate the Caps in seven.They watched rookie goalie Sean Burke, who was doing for the Devils what Reggie Lemelin had been doing for the Bruins.&ldquo;He looked spectacular in the seventh game against the Caps,&rdquo; said Ken Linseman. &ldquo;He looked just like Reggie. When Reggie&rsquo;s on, the puck looks like a beachball to him. That&rsquo;s the way Burke looked.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was really impressed with Burke,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly, &ldquo;and I was impressed with the intensity the whole team showed. They&rsquo;re playing with a lot of emotion. They&rsquo;re doing the little things that require emotion and intensity. To throw yourself in front of a slap shot, to go in the comer and take that hit, it shows they&rsquo;re playing committed.&rdquo;Four days after the 4-1 victory (in the Montreal Forum, no less) that ended the Bruins&rsquo; playoff drought after 18 series losses since 1945, the players were still coming down from their high.The victory was especially sweet for two Montreal natives&mdash;defenseman Ray Bourque and center Steve Kasper&mdash;and Lemelin of Sherbrooke, Que. Those three, with right winger Cam Neely, were the stars of the final game. Kasper and Neely had two goals each and Bourque turned in his usual performance.&ldquo;This guy (Bourque) is a superstar hockey player,&rdquo; said Stephane Richer, the injured Hab who watched from the stands. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a lot of respect for Raymond Bourque for a long time but, in this series, he was incredible.&rdquo;Lemelin allowed the Canadiens only two goals in the last three games of the series, giving him a goals-against average of 0.67 for the three games and 1.50 average for the series.&ldquo;For me, for Stevie, for Reggie, in the next few months, Montreal is going to be a very enjoyable place,&rdquo; said Bourque, whose last four summers have been spoiled by Hab victories in the first round of the playoffs.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; enthused Keith Crowder, another Bruin who has suffered through the last four playoff humiliations. &ldquo;The jinx is dead. What jinx? What hex? What Forum? All kaput.&rdquo;&ldquo;The way we played this series, nobody could have beaten us,&rdquo; said Lemelin.NOTES&mdash;Rick Middleton, the 34-year-old who has endured seven playoff losses to Montreal, sat out the fifth game with a sore left knee&hellip;The final game drew a 22.9 Nielsen rating for the Bruins&rsquo; TV station, Channel 38, which represented 473,000 sets tuned in or 35 per cent of the Boston-area market&hellip;Former Bruin goalie Jim Craig, hero of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team&rsquo;s gold medal win, lost his political debut. He finished second by 608 votes in his bid for a seat on the board of health in his home town of Easton, Mass.<h2>BRUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 25: Wade Campbell, D, John Blum, D, and Greg Johnston, RW, re-called from Maine (AHL).April 26: Campbell assigned to Maine.April 28: Blum and Johnston assigned to Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ken Linseman, Steve Kasper, Craig Janney, Bob Sweeney, Tom McCarthy, Billy O&rsquo;Dwyer.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, Lyndon Byers, Willi Plett.LW&mdash;Bob Joyce, Rick Middleton, Randy Burridge, Moe Lemay.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Reed Larson, Michael Thelven.LD&mdash;Gord Kluzak, Glen Wesley, Allan Pedersen.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tommy Lehmann, C, inflammation under right kneecap, indefinite.Nevin Markwart, RW, groin strain, indefinite.Bruce Shoebottom, D, broken collarbone, out for season. &#9632;

f0013-01

Descent From Cloud 9 Bruins’ Sole Concern

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021093/5620407-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="582" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">John MacLean was again the hero for New Jersey, scoring the winner in Washington.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011406/5620414-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="177" height="135"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J&mdash; Without John MacLean&rsquo;s overtime goal on the final night of the regular season, the New Jersey Devils never would have been in the Stanley Cup playoffs.It seemed appropriate, therefore, that MacLean should score the goal which lifted the astonishing New Jersey Devils into the Stanley Cup semi-finals against the Boston Bruins.The Bruins may have problems getting the puck past goalie Sean Burke or stopping New Jersey&rsquo;s No. 1 line of Kirk Muller, Aaron Broten and Pat Verbeek. But when the situation becomes critical, they had better keep a close watch on MacLean.&ldquo;The adrenalin gets going in these close games,&rdquo; said MacLean, after his first goal of the series and fifth of the playoffs eliminated the Washington Capitals 3-2, in the seventh game of the Patrick Division finals, April 30 at the Capital Centre.&ldquo;I just seem to keep popping up in the right place at the right time.&rdquo;&ldquo;He just waits for his moments,&rdquo; added Devils&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;He says, &lsquo;You guys play your 58 or 59 minutes and when you need something, I&rsquo;ll be there.&rsquo; He&rsquo;s just amazing.&rdquo;The goal set up what should be a Devil of a series&mdash;the New Jersey variety, versus the Bruins of coach Terry (Tasmanian Devil) O&rsquo;Reilly. For Schoenfeld, a close friend of O&rsquo;Reilly since they were two junior stars fighting each other to exhaustion during a bench-clearing brawl 15 years ago in Niagara Falls, Ont., it is a dream matchup.&ldquo;When I talked to Taz(O&rsquo;Reilly) on the phone (to congratulate O&rsquo;Reilly on the Bruins&rsquo; victory over Montreal) he said to me, &lsquo;Who&rsquo;d have thought this? You and I coaching against each other in the conference final and Peter McNab doing the color (on New Jersey TV).&rsquo; The three of us, along with Mike Milbury (coach of the Bruins&rsquo; American League affiliate in Maine), have been good friends. Peter will be the genius and we two will be making the mistakes.&rdquo;So far, Schoenfeld hasn&rsquo;t made many, thanks to his opportunistic right winger.It was MacLean&rsquo;s goal April 3, at 2:21 of OT, which defeated Chicago and pushed the Devils into the playoffs for the first time. The 23-year-old also scored the tying goal in that game to send that contest into the extra frame.&ldquo;Johnny had a tough season (23 goals, a drop of eight from the previous year), but the guy never stopped working,&rdquo; said Verbeek.The Devils had taken a 3-2 lead in the series aftergame five, when Muller responded to a meeting with Schoenfeld by scoring his first two playoff goals. Schoenfeld also started Bob Sauve in goal for the first time since game two of the Islander series and the veteran was magnificent.But the Capitals evened the series with a 7-2 win two nights later to force a seventh game.Washington had played the dramatic four-overtime seventh game against the Islanders last year, and survived a seventh game with the Flyers this season. The Devils had never been in a seventh game. Nor had Schoenfeld, who appeared in the playoffs nine times during his 13-season NHL career.Other keys were Burke&rsquo;s 30-save goaltending and Claude Loiselle&rsquo;s unmatched dominance on faceoffs. Burke, who was pulled from game six after giving up five goals in two periods, didn&rsquo;t even know he would be the goalie until the day of the game.&ldquo;He (Schoenfeld) told me in the shower,&rdquo; said Burke. &ldquo;He threw a bar of soap at me. I dropped it. He threw it again and I caught it. He said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re starting tomorrow.&rsquo; I guess he threw Bobby the same bar of soap, but he couldn&rsquo;t hold on.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Jim Korn was suspended for game seven, after receiving his second game-misconduct penalty of the playoffs in game six. Korn mugged Dale Hunter, drawing a total of 27 minutes on one play&hellip;The Devils won three times in Washington&hellip;The Devils and Caps set a Stanley Cup record for penalty minutes in one series with 664, breaking the old mark of 611 established by Hartford and Quebec in 1987. The Devils also broke the PIM mark for one team in a series with 349, topping Hartford&rsquo;s 317&hellip;Scotty Bow-man, the man who fired Jim Schoenfeld as coach in Buffalo, offered his congratulations after game seven. Bowman is a Hockey Night in Canada analyst&hellip;The Devils had six straight home playoff sellouts&hellip;Sean Burke had started 22 of 25 games since March 5.<h2>DEVILS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Mark Johnson, Claude Loiselle, David Maley.LW&mdash;Aaron Broten, Patrik Sund-strom, Doug Sulliman, Pat Conacher, Jim Korn, Anders Carlsson.RW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, John MacLean, Doug Brown, Perry Anderson, Brendan Shanahan.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, 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>Andy Brickley, LW, groin pull, indefinite.George McPhee, LW, groin pull, out for remainder of season. &#9632;

f0014-02

MacLean’s Goal Sets Up Devil Of A Series

SCOTT STEVENS WANDERED aimlessly through the bowels of the now-quiet building with a mournful, almost helpless, look in his eyes.It was April 30 at Capital Centre. Game seven, Patrick Division final. New Jersey Devils 3, Washington Capitals 2.Slightly more than one year after a terrific Stanley Cup seventh game ended with the home team losing in the fourth overtime (by the same 3-2 score), a terrific Stanley Cup seventh game ended with the home team losing on a third-period goal that might have been offside.Hockey&rsquo;s tragic figures had lost again.Bob Gould, who has emptied his heart on the Cap Centre ice for six straight seasons only to see the Islanders or Rangers or Devils shuttle down the East Coast to steal his prize, had hoped he wouldn&rsquo;t have to answer the same stinging questions again.But for 45 minutes he stood in front of his locker, masochistically. It was as if he hoped interview after interview would help purge his soul of the frustration, the confusion, the inexplicably predictable results.&ldquo;It gets harder every year,&rdquo; Gould said softly. &ldquo;Sometimes I ask myself, &lsquo;How come we can&rsquo;t win? How come we can&rsquo;t win?&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t know the answer. But I know qne thing: It&rsquo;s not for a lack of trying.&rdquo;David Poile walked by. Poile is general manager of this well-built club. The Capitals lack a clutch goal-scorer and depth up front, but other teams have survived with much less. When he took over in 1982 the team needed defense: He traded for Rod Langway. The team needed a goalscorer: He traded for Dave Christian. The team needed heart: He traded for Dale Hunter.Now he needs a Mr. Clutch. The Capitals lost this season because they couldn&rsquo;t put a puck past Sean Burke for 20 minutes. They lost last season because they couldn&rsquo;t put a puck past Kelly Hrudey for 90 minutes.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m kind of numb right now,&rdquo; Poile said in the morgue that passed for the Capitals&rsquo; dressing room. Poile is only 39, but his silver hair had seemed to tum a sadder shade of gray. &ldquo;I thought we were going to win after taking that sixth game in New Jersey, and after tying it up in the second period. I&rsquo;m not too in tune to the fact that we lost.&rdquo;Neither was Stevens, who looked dazed and disoriented, who looked as if he wanted to fall back asleep and wake up again after the nightmare had faded to black.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what to say right now,&rdquo; the Patrick Division&rsquo;s best defenseman mumbled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to accept&hellip;may be in a few days&hellip;I have too many things on my mind.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03765/5620445-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="389" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>Mike Gartner, the team&rsquo;s offensive meal ticket, was starved by the Devils. He scored only two goals in seven games, neither of which were particularly significant.If you had to point a finger this year, he was the culprit.&ldquo;The guys worked hard,&rdquo; said coach Bryan Murray, who has one year left on his contract. &ldquo;We had lots of determination, lots of desire, lots of character. But we didn&rsquo;t score. That&rsquo;s the bottom line.&rdquo;No. Bryan, the bottom line is much lower than that. It is six playoff seasons, six Patrick exits. It is losing when you deserve to lose and losing when you deserve to win. It is playing worse and losing and playing better and losing.The Caps play the Islanders and lose. They play the Rangers and lose. Now they play the Devils and lose.Why do they keep losing?&ldquo;If I had the answer,&rdquo; Greg Adams said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have a desk upstairs, make a lot more money and have gray hair.&rdquo;Don&rsquo;t you dare say they choked, because if you believe that then you had better explain games five, six and seven vs. the Flyers, or game six at Meadowlands Arena.It&rsquo;s just that when somebody wins in the Patrick Division, the Caps lose. Baseball has its Boston Red Sox. Is this franchise jinxed?&ldquo;I personally don&rsquo;t believe in that and I&rsquo;d bet a lot of guys on this team don&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;It depends on an individual&rsquo;s outlook on life. If you&rsquo;re the type of guy who gets a flat tire and says, &lsquo;Why me?&rsquo; then you think we&rsquo;re jinxed. But if you&rsquo;re the type of guy who says, &lsquo;OK, I&rsquo;ve got to change the tire,&rsquo; then you just keep going. Stuff happens. That&rsquo;s all. Stuff happens and you just keep going.&rdquo;&ldquo;Unless you just believe in pure luck, or in our case bad luck,&rdquo; Poile said, &ldquo;you have to stick with it, with the people that you have. We&rsquo;re so close every year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-03

Another Numbing Setback For Hard-Luck Washington

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011304/5620476-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Longueuil Chevaliers&rsquo; Steven Paiement, left, and his teammates played patsy to Jeff Wenaas and the Medicine Hat Tigers in last year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup. (Photo by Mario Bartel)</figcaption></div>If the Memorial Cup were a horse race, the Hull Olympiques and Drumondville Voltigeurs would be handicapped as a longshot joint entry: 3 and 3A.The morning line would have them as also-rans in a race between the Ontario League&rsquo;s frontrunning Windsor Spitfires and Western League entry of Medicine Hat Tigers or Kamloops Blazers.Only five times in 68 years has a Quebecbased team won the national championship Memorial Cup. Even with two entries this year&mdash;the Quebec League&rsquo;s right, as host&mdash;few will take the league seriously at the tournament, held in Chicoutimi, May 7-14.But Drummondville coach Jean Begin figures this is the year the trend can change. Ironically, he finds hope in the failure of a Quebec team&mdash;the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal lost a playoff series to the Boston Bruins for the first time in 45 years this year.He hopes his club, like Boston, will beat the odds. So does league president Gilles Courteau.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t won the Memorial Cup with a Quebec team since 1971,&rdquo; said Courteau. &ldquo;In August, we decided we need our two best teams in the tournament&mdash;the winner of the regular season and the winner of the playoffs.&rdquo;The Hull Olympiques qualified for the tournament by winning the QMJHL pennant. And the Voltigeurs, who led the Olympiques 3-2 in the league&rsquo;s best-of-seven championship, did so by reaching the league final.&ldquo;I think we will be motivated this year,&rdquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important for us to win it. Jean Begin has been there before with Laval (1984) and Verdun (1985) and his experience as assistant coach of Canada&rsquo;s world champion junior national team this year will serve him well.&rdquo;Since 1919, a Quebec-based or-affiliated teams has won the Memorial Cup nine times. Four of those teams&mdash;the Ottawa-Hull Canadiens in 1958 and Cornwall Royals in 1972, &lsquo;80 and &lsquo;81&mdash;had Ontario bases.Hall-of-Famer Dickie Moore led both the Montreal Royals (1949) and Montreal Canadiens (1950) to the Memorial Cup. The Montreal Jr. Canadiens won in 1969 and &lsquo;70 as Ontario representative, while stocked with players such as Gilbert Perreault, Marc Tardif, Rejean Houle and Rick Martin.In 1971, the Guy Lafleur-led Quebec Rem-parts became the last Quebec-based team to win a Memorial Cup. But one season later, coach Orval Tessier helped complete a four-year run of Quebec championships, winning for the QMJHL with Richard Brodeur in Cornwall&rsquo;s goal.Since the Rempart victory, Quebec-based teams have won a combined 16 games and lost 38 in Memorial Cup play.Marc Lachapelle of Le Journal de Montreal has covered the QMJHL for 17 of its 19 seasons and has attended every Memorial Cup since the three-league format began in 1972.Lachapelle said last year&rsquo;s QMJHL representative, the Longueuil Chevaliers, came up with the poorest performance he&rsquo;d ever seen. The Chevs lost 3-2 and 6-3 to the host Oshawa Generals, and 4-2, 6-0 and 3-1 to the champion Medicine Hat Tigers.Guy Chouinard, coach of the &lsquo;87 Chevs, acknowledged the team played dreadfully.&ldquo;I said it then and I&rsquo;ll say it again: &lsquo;We were brutal,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Chouinard, QMJHLcoach of the year last year. He moved with the franchise to Victoriaville this season, where he was runner-up to Hull&rsquo;s Alain Vigneault for the coach award. Chouinard has since moved on to coach the Verdun Jr. Canadiens.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the players went to win anything,&rdquo; Chouinard said. &ldquo;It was sort of a vacation. The mentality is different (elsewhere)-.&ldquo;It seems out west and in the OHL, the big thing is to win the Memorial Cup. The Memorial Cup doesn&rsquo;t get as much attention as the President&rsquo;s Cup (QMJHL championship) in Quebec. For 15, 16,maybe 18 guys on our team, winning the President&rsquo;s Cup was it.&rdquo;Chouinard wants to see the attitude changed.&ldquo;We have to look ahead to the Memorial Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There might be an inferiority complex in the league. We always seem to start in third place.&ldquo;Our players will see all of the guys drafted (by the NHL) on the Western and Ontario teams, when we had one or two, and say, &lsquo;We can&rsquo;t beat them.&rsquo; &ldquo;Chouinard skated with Real Cloutier for the 1974 Memorial Cup-finalist Quebec Remparts. Quebec, coached by Tessier, lost a 9-1 final to the Toronto Marlboros in 1973 in Montreal, and a 7-4 championship decision to the Regina Pats one year later in Calgary.Lachapelle agreed with Chouinard.&ldquo;Too many players or teams are satisfied with winning their own league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not as well prepared as the other teams. The Memorial Cup is a bonus. Information gathered by the west and Ontario is better than Quebec&rsquo;s information on them.&rdquo;Lachapelle said the QMJHL all-stars have shown they are competitive, winning four of five all-star games against the OHL. But team against team, it&rsquo;s a different story.&ldquo;Some years,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;teams won the Quebec championship by intimidation, then folded in the Memorial Cup.&rdquo;In 1986, Hull, with Luc Robitaille and Sylvain Cote, lost to Jacques Martin&rsquo;s Guelph Platers 6-2 in the Cup final at Portland, Ore. The previous year in Drummondville, the Shawinigan Cataractes fell 6-1 to the Prince Albert Raiders in the Cup final.In 1984, Mario Lemieux and the Laval Voisins lost all three games in Kitchener. In 1983, Pat LaFontaine and the Verdun Jr. Canadiens lost the semi-final to Oshawa in Portland.In 1982, the Sherbrooke Castors had a powerful team, featuring John Chabot, Gerard Gallant, Sean McKenna, Michel Petit, Gord Donnelly and Paul Boutilier. But they lost the final 7-4 to the Kitchener Rangers in Hull. Cornwall, with Dale Hawerchuk, beat Tessier&rsquo;s Kitchener Rangers 5-2 in 1981 in Windsor, and the Peterborough Petes 3-2 in overtime in 1980 in Regina. Both Royal rosters were stocked by Ontario players.&ldquo;We never seem to win the big game,&rdquo; said Begin, 0-6 in Memorial Cup play, and attempting to become the first QMJHL coach to win three President&rsquo;s Cups and the first to qualify for three Memorial Cups.&ldquo;Mario (Lemieux) was very nervous in 1984,&rdquo; said Begin, whose Laval club also included Vincent Damphousse and Steven Finn. &ldquo;The pressure was on him. Everybody was going to see him. Some of the veterans were not really mentally prepared.&rdquo;Begin was back in 1985 with Claude Lemieux, Jimmy Carson, Everett Sanipass and the rest of the Verdun Jr. Canadiens, but&hellip;&ldquo;our goalie, Yves Lavoie, was injured in the first game and we lost our confidence.&ldquo;In this type of series, we have to control our emotions more,&rdquo; Begin said. &ldquo;I have to control my emotions more, too. I think we have a good chance.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know much about the other teams, but we have good teams to go to the Memorial Cup&mdash;tough, with big players and good goaltending.&rdquo;Hull and Drummondville are the two biggest teams in the QMJHL, averaging about 6 feet and 190 pounds a player. The Olympiques are the youngest team in the league for the second consecutive year, with nine rookies and an average age of 17.7 years.Olympiques&rsquo; center Marc Saumier, 21, of Hull, and the QMJHL&rsquo;s player of the year, skated for Longueuil in last year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup and won the league&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP.&ldquo;Granby (with Pierre Turgeon, Alain Cote and Sanipass) was supposed to go last year,&rdquo; said Saumier. But the regular-season champion Bisons were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, a round-robin affair against Chicoutimi and Shawinigan.&ldquo;We had a strong team,&rdquo; Saumier recalled, &ldquo;but when we went there (Memorial Cup), we weren&rsquo;t prepared. There were two brawls in the first game against Oshawa. (Longueuil&rsquo;s) Ron Stem was suspended and Eric Couvrette was injured.&rdquo;Saumier said Oshawa and Medicine Hat came out hitting and the Chevaliers were intimidated. &ldquo;This year, we just have to go there and not say the other teams are better. We just have to play our game.&rdquo;And hope that game is good enough. &#9632;

f0015-01

The Juniors

Is It OMJHL’s Year, Finally?

Last year&rsquo;s Canadian Hockey League player of the year was Kamloops Blazer Rob Brown.Trivia time. Name the other awardwinners.Don&rsquo;t waste too much time thinking. There weren&rsquo;t any.Time for a change.&ldquo;This year we thought, &lsquo;Why not recognize the various other areas&rdquo; said CHL and Western League president Ed Chynoweth.Enter the CHL National Awards, to be presented at the Memorial Cup Awards luncheon May 9 in Chicoutimi, Que.The awards luncheon will honor the top rookie, goaltender, defenseman, scholastic player and player with the best plus-minus rating from each of the three Canadian major junior leagues&mdash;Western, Ontario and Quebec&mdash;and coach of the year. And, of course, the CHL player of the year.Plans are in the works next year for an award honoring the best professional prospect.Hull Olympique left winger Martin Gelinas is one of three candidates for the Toshiba Facsimile-CHL rookie of the year award.The 5-foot-10, 183-pounder has the statistics to back up his candidacy. Gelinas, 17, scored 63 goals and 68 assists in 65 games, finishing 10th in Quebec League scoring.His competition comes from two other 17-year-olds&mdash;center Stu Barnes (37-64-101) of the Western League&rsquo;s New Westminster Bruins and defenseman Rick Corriveau (19-47-66) of the Ontario League&rsquo;s London Knights.The race for Cooper Canada-CHL top goaltender should be tight. Spokane Chief Troy Gamble (36-26-1, 3.69 goals-against average in 67 games) was the WHL&rsquo;s top goalie, a first-team all-star and West Division player of the year. Gamble, 20, posted 36 of his team&rsquo;s 37 regular-season wins.The other contenders were also in-dispensible to their teams. St-Jear Castors&rsquo; Stephane Beauregard, 20, lec the QMJHL in wins (38), games (66 and GAA (3.65) while posting two shutouts.Cornwall&rsquo;s Rick Tabaracci, 19, lec the OHL with 33 wins and tied for the league lead with three shutouts. The performance earned him a spot on the OHL&rsquo;s first all-star team.Nominees for Chrysler Canada top defenseman are Greg Hawgood, 19, of the Kamloops Blazers, who finished with 48 goals and 85 assists for 133 points in 63 games, Eric Desjardins, 19, of the Granby Bisons (18-49-67 in 62 games), and Windsor Spitfire Darryl Shannon, 19, an OHL first-team all-star who finished 16-67-83 in 60 games.Combining junior hockey with education can be a difficult task, but this year&rsquo;s three candidates for Canadian Airlines-CHL Scholastic player of the year have been successful mixing academics with athletics.Brandon Wheat King defenseman Kevin Cheveldayoff, 18, represents the WHL with an 89.7 per-cent average in high school. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder scored three goals and 29 assists in 71 games.Beauregard carried an 83 per-cent average in the second year of a junior college science program. The OHL representative, is Darrin Shannon, 18, of Windsor Spitfires. Shannon scored 33 goals and 74 points in 43 games, while maintaining an 82 per-cent average in high school.There&rsquo;s not much suspense surrounding the winner of the Transamerica Life plus-minus award. It&rsquo;s all there in black and white. Hull center Marc Saumier, who is also up for the Molson-Cooper player of the year award, finished with a rating of plus-99, best in the two-year history of the award.Darryl Shannon finished the OHL regular season at plus-94. Eighteen-year-old Kamloops Blazer forward Mark Recchi (61-93-154-in 62 games) led the WHL at plus-77.Saumier (52-114-166) is the leading scorer among three candidates for Molson-Cooper player of the year. Ironically, the 21-year-old is the only nominee who didn&rsquo;t win his league&rsquo;s scoring title. He finished third. Swift Current Bronco center Joe Sakic (7882-160), the WHL co-scoring champion, and Ottawa 67&rsquo;s center Andrew Cassels (48-103-151) are the other nominees. Both players are 18.The Molson-CHL coach-of-the-year nominees are Saskatoon&rsquo;s Marcel Comeau, 36, Peterborough&rsquo;s Dick Todd, 42, and Hull&rsquo;s Alain Vigneault, 27. Comeau and Vigneault guided their teams to first-place overall finishes. Todd took the Petes to first in the OHL&rsquo;s Leyden Division, second overall behind Emms Divisionchampion Windsor Spitfires. &#9632;

A Variety Of Awards Are Up For Grabs

<div class="byline">BY KARLO BERKOVICH Editorial Staff</div>The Windsor Spitfire brooms were poised to try for a sweep of the Memorial Cup.Just like they&rsquo;d swept everything else in their path.The Spits completed a remarkable 12-0 Ontario League playoff streak with a 5-2 triumph over Peterborough Petes on April 28.The victory was Windsor&rsquo;s fourth straight against the Petes and gave the OHL playoff champion a berth in the Memorial Cup, May 7-14 at Chicoutimi, Que.The Spitfire streak&mdash;including earlier strafings of the Kitchener Rangers and Hamilton Steelhawks&mdash;represents the first playoff sweep in OHL history.Windsor and the 1986 Hull Olympi-ques (15-0) are the only Canadian major junior teams ever to earn perfect records en route to playoff championships.But two years ago, Hull lost the Memorial Cup final 6-2 to Guelph Platers. So, Windsor coach Tom Webster knows a winning streak is meaningless at the national championship.&ldquo;The only streak I&rsquo;m concerned about is winning each game,&rdquo; said Webster, whose club was 34-1 since early January. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re into another new season. It&rsquo;s like the season is divided in three&mdash;our regular season, playoffs and the Memorial Cup.&rdquo;The Spitfires dominated their first season&mdash;going an OHL-best 50-14-2 during the regular season. Then came the 12-0 second season.The Spits are led by center and captain Adam Graves, a second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 1986. He scored five goals and four assists in the sweep of Peterborough and had the winning goal in the final game. He finished as the OHL&rsquo;s leading playoff scorer, with 15 goals and 17 assists in 12 games.Windsor won the first three games, 7-4, 5-3 and 5-3.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>The Medicine Hat Tigers were gunning to become the first Western League team since the Portland Winter Hawks to represent the league in the Memorial Cup two consecutive years.The Hawks did it in 1982 and 1983, though they were granted entry into the 1983 event as host team. No WHL team has won consecutive league playoff titles since the New Westminster Bruins capped a four-year run of championships in 1978.Thanks to an 8-2 rout of the Kamloops Blazers on May I in Kamloops, the defending Memorial Cupchampion Tigers led the WHL final 3-2 and were within one win of repeating. Game six was scheduled for May 3 and game seven, if necessary, May 4. Both would be played in Medicine Hat.They opened the series with easy 4-1 and 5-1 wins at home before the Blazers rebounded with 6-4 and 4-3 wins in games three and four at Kamloops.Goaltending and Rob Dimaio were the difference in game five. While Mark Fitzpatrick was stopping 35 of 37 shots in the Medicine Hat net, Blazer goalie Dean Cook surrendered five goals in the first 25 minutes before being relieved by Alec Sheflo.Dimaio, meanwhile, scored twice and earned four assists to improve his totals to seven goals and nine assists in the first five games.<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>The Hull Olympiques were trying to come back from a 3-1 deficit for the second time in as many series as the Quebec League final went to game six May 3.Hull forced another meeting with the Drumondville Voltigeurs when defenseman Herbert Hohenberger scored at 7:16 of overtime to win game five 4-3.But the real hero was Hull goalie Jason Glickman.&ldquo;They had lots of chances but he came up big,&rdquo; said Drummondville coach Jean Begin.Drummondville outshot Hull 8-4 in overtime, 35-32 overall in the game.Both Glickman and Voltigeur goalie Frederic Chabot shone through the first five games, especially in Drum-mondville&rsquo;s 2-1 win at Hull in game three. After losing the opener 7-5, the Volts put the Olympiques on the ropes with 4-3, 2-1 and 6-3 wins.The Olympiques also trailed Laval Titan 3-1 in the LeBel Division final before rallying to win.Both teams&mdash;Hull as regular-season champion and Drummondville as at least playoff runner-up&mdash;were assured of berths in the Memorial Cup. &#9632;

Spitfires Sweep To OHL Championship

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011087/5620555-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="585" height="1129"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stephane Beauregard was named the Quebec League&rsquo;s best goalie and top scholar.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02825/5620562-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="179" height="132"></div>Regular-season champion Hull Olympiques won most of the Quebec League Awards announced April 27, but the league&rsquo;s top two prospects for the June 11 NHL draft captured most of the attention.The league final between Hull and the Drummondville Voltigeurs matched the two prospects&mdash;Hull left winger Martin Gelinas and Drummondville right winger Daniel Dore.Gelinas, 17, of Shawinigan, Que., was named QMJHL rookie of the year April 27. He joined other Olympique award winners Alain Vigneault. 27, coach of the year, and center Marc Saumier, 20, player of the year. The 5-foot-7, 181-pound Saumier finished third in league scoring with 52 goals and 114 assists in 59 games.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Even though we play a different game, it&rsquo;s always a challenge to play against Gelinas because he&rsquo;s a super player.&rsquo; &mdash;Dore</blockquote>Dore, 18, of Mont-Laurier, Que., was selected the league&rsquo;s best pro prospect.The Quebec Nordiques have the third and fifth picks in the draft this year and have expressed strong interest in both Dore and Gelinas. Nordique coach Ron Lapointe said the ideal professional star would have Gelinas&rsquo; hands and hockey sense and Dore&rsquo;s physique.Gelinas is 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, Dore 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds.&ldquo;Even though we play a different game, it&rsquo;s always a challenge to play against Gelinas because he&rsquo;s a super player,&rdquo; said Dore, who scored two power-play goals and assisted on another goal in the Volts&rsquo; 4-3 victory in game two of the best-of-seven final April 24.It was the Voltigeurs&rsquo; first win in eight games against the Olympiques this season. Gelinas had a goal and three assists in Hull&rsquo;s 7-5 seriesopening win on April 21.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t tell if one will go ahead of the other (at the draft) because it depends on the needs of the teams that pick them,&rdquo; said Drummondville coach Jean Begin. &ldquo;(But) they should. go in the first six or seven picks.&ldquo;Gelinas looks good in heavy traffic, controls the puck and scores a lot of goals. Dore is good in front of the net and finishes his checks.&rdquo;Dore had 218 regular-season penalty minutes.Gelinas had 63 goals and 68 assists. in 65 games to finish 10th in league scoring. He had 14 goals and 15 assists &bull; after 14 playoff games.Dore (24-39-63 in 64 games) finished 62nd in league scoring. He had five goals and 10 assists after 12 playoff games.Gelinas and Dore usually went head-to-head only on power plays as the final series progressed, since Drummondville&rsquo;s line of 20-year-olds Martin Fecteau, Alain Charland and Simon Gagner, 19, was assigned to cover Saumier&rsquo;s line.&ldquo;I compare Dore to a (Montreal Canadien right winger) Claude Lemieux or a (Calgary Flame left winger John) Tonelli, who charges the net and makes things happen,&rdquo; Begin said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not our most talented player, but he&rsquo;s the toughest and the strongest and his skills have really improved in the past two months.&rdquo;Other award winners were Granby Bison Eric Desjardins, best defenseman, and St-Jean Castor goalie Stephane Beauregard, best&rsquo;goaltender and scholastic player of the year.Desjardins, 18, was a second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1987. He had 18 goals, 49 assists and 138 penalty minutes in 62 games.Beauregard played 66 of 70 games and led the league in wins (38) and goals-against average (3.65). He had an 83-per cent average in the second year of a junior college science program.League all-star teams will be announced after the Memorial Cup.<h2>WAR OF WORDS</h2>Drummondville coach Jean Begin and Hull counterpart Alain Vigneault engaged in some verbal sparring early in the final, even though both teams are already in the Memorial Cup in Chicoutimi May 7 to 14.After Hull won the opener, Begin said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry to see Vigneault picked coach of the year. They put the heat all the way up in the dressing rooms. What a mean mentality.&rdquo;Vigneault had his own complaint. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re supposed to go on the ice for the warm-up 20 minutes before the game. They went on seven minutes before and stayed on our side. When they started go to their own side, he (Begin) told them to go back to ours.&rdquo;The two teams exchanged words in the warmup before game two, but no fisticuffs broke out.<h2>BEGIN CLIPPED</h2>The playoffs have been a hair-losing experience for Begin.After his team won playoff series against Chicoutimi and Shawinigan, he sat in a chair at center ice and had the hair around his ears cut off. He said he&rsquo;ll do it again if his team beats Hull. &#9632;

f0018-01

Nordiques Interested In Dore And Gelinas

<div class="byline">BY ED WILLES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011006/5620593-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="179" height="132"></div>Western Hockey League president Ed Chynoweth is angry over incidents involving the Saskatoon Blades during the Eastern Division final with Medicine Hat Tigers.Chynoweth attended game four of the Tigers&rsquo; sweep on April 16 and at the end of the first period Blade center Kevin Kaminski directed two obscene gestures towards him.Chynoweth also said WHL vice-president and referee-in-chief Richard oerksen was subjected to verbal abuse from Saskatoon players during the first three games of the series.&ldquo;I have not been very pleased with some of the actions that were directed towards Rick and I from the Saskatoon Blades,&rdquo; said Chynoweth. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s the type of thing that the Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; management has to answer to. They seem to be feeling that they get the short end of the stick. They don&rsquo;t like this and they don&rsquo;t like that. Well, that&rsquo;s all well and good except when you get players showing total disrespect towards the league office&hellip;it&rsquo;s pretty discouraging to see those kinds of actions.&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, come annual meeting time (June 26-30), this problem is going to be addressed very openly by me,&rdquo; said Chynoweth. &ldquo;And if the (board of) governors aren&rsquo;t prepared to stand behind me where I see a problem, then that&rsquo;s fine.&ldquo;If they want to get rid of me, get rid me. I don&rsquo;t have a problem with that.&rdquo;Tensions between the Blades and the WHL office started during last year&rsquo;s Eastern Division final between the same two teams when the league reversed a match penalty against Tiger goalie Mark Fitzpatrick. As a result, Fitzpatrick was not suspended during the series, which the Tigers won in seven games. Chynoweth&rsquo;s son Dean plays for the Tigers.<blockquote class="pullQuote">WHL officials were the target of obscene gestures and verbal abuse from Saskatoon players.</blockquote>Rick Brodsky, the Blades&rsquo; owner and chairman of the board of governors, said steps have been taken to clear up the problem.&ldquo;The Blades understand their responsibility and will act accordingly,&rdquo; said Brodsky. &ldquo;Things were going along relatively well and then they mushroomed and got totally out of hand. I feel responsible for not responding earlier. I didn&rsquo;t really understand the severity of what we were going through, but I certainly do now.&ldquo;We respect the league office and we will show that in our actions from here on in.&rdquo;<h2>CANUCKS LIKE BLADE</h2>Vancouver Canuck president and general manager Pat Quinn was in Saskatoon on April 13 to watch game two of the Eastern Division final.He said the Canucks are interested in top-rated prospects center Mike Modano (47-80-127) of Prince Albert and right winger Trevor Linden (46-64110) of Medicine Hat. But they&rsquo;re also looking at Saskatoon defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn with great interest.Asked if it was safe to say the Canucks would draft whomever was available between Modano and Linden, Quinn said, &ldquo;No, we&rsquo;re interested in the defenseman.&rdquo;Leschyshyn&rsquo;s stock rose dramatically during the last two months of the season. NHL Central Scouting rated him ninth in its January rundown of draft-eligible prospects.A 6-foot, 185-pound native of Saskatoon, Leschyshyn, 18, had 14 goals and 41 assists in 56 games with the Blades. He had 86 penalty minutes and missed 16 games with a shoulder injury.Quinn also quelled rumors the Canucks were going to trade their pick (second overall) to Quebec Nordiques for Swift Current center Joe Sakic. Sakic, a native of Burnaby, B.C., was a first-round Nordique pick last year and the WHL&rsquo;s most valuable player the past two seasons.&ldquo;I guess people who don&rsquo;t know the hockey business figured here&rsquo;s a kid from Vancouver, why don&rsquo;t the Canucks deal for him?&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;There was a lot of dust kicked up in Vancouver about that.&rdquo;&ldquo;Of course we&rsquo;re interested in a player like that. But there hasn&rsquo;t been anything specific about him.&rdquo;<h2>WARRIORS FIGHT DEFICIT</h2>A booster club appreciation night raised $13,522 for the financially-troubled Moose Jaw Warriors on April 22. The team will also conduct a home-to-home blitz in hopes of wiping out their $234,000 before the 1988-89 season. If the campaign does not succeed, operators of the community-owned team say they will sell it. &#9632;

f0019-01

Blades’ Attitude Discouraging—Chynoweth

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02739/5620624-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="179" height="134"></div>Larry Mavety is leaving home.But he&rsquo;s only going 35 miles down the road.The 46-year-old Belleville native has left the Ontario League&rsquo;s Belleville Bulls for the coach and general manager&rsquo;s position with the newly-named Kingston Raiders.Mavety, who signed a four-year contract with new Kingston owner Lou Kazowski for a reported $250,000, had been with Belleville since its arrival in the OHL in 1981. Mavety begins his new job immediately and will be with Kingston for the OHL draft May 28 in North York, Ont.Mavety also spent two seasons with the Tier II Bulls of the now-defunct Ontario Junior League, leading them to the Centennial Cup final in 1981.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a good nine years,&rdquo; said Mavety. &ldquo;I think for my best interests it was time for a change. I wanted the challenge.&rdquo;He&rsquo;ll get one in Kingston. Last season, the Kingston Canadians set a Canadian Hockey League record by their final 28 games of the season. Kingston&rsquo;s 14-52-0 record was the worst in the OHL and CHL.Kingston had been without a coach since Jacques Tremblay resigned in early March. Former NHL defenseman Jim Dorey served as interim coach. Last year&rsquo;s general manager Gord Wood will retire after assisting in preparation for the draft.Mavety&rsquo;s high point with the Bulls came in 1985-86, when he led them to the Leyden Division championship. They lost the league championship series in six games to the eventual Memorial Cup-champion Guelph Platers.The Bulls finished 37-27-2 that season, second in the Leyden with 76 points, but their best season was 198485 when they were 42-24-0, second again with 84 points. Both times the Bulls finished behind the Peterborough Petes.<h2>CASSELS WINS TILSON</h2>Ottawa 67&rsquo;s center Andrew Cassels has been named winner of the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL&rsquo;s outstanding player for 1987-88.Cassels, 18, and a first-round draft choice of the Montreal Canadiens last year, was the OHL&rsquo;s leading scorer with 48 goals and 103 assists for 151 points in 61 games. He was earlier named to the league&rsquo;s first all-star team.He is also the OHL&rsquo;s nominee for CHL player of the year. The winner will be announced during the Memorial Cup, May 7-14, at Chicoutimi, Que.<h2>RE-PLATING IN GUELPH</h2>Guelph Plater general manager Rob Holody, 27, plans to leave his post and help his father Joe with the family&rsquo;s Guelph electroplating business.Joe Holody owns the Plater hockey team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s true, the plan is for me to spend more time with the business and less with the hockey club,&rdquo; said the younger Holody, who would not speculate on possible replacements.The Platers missed the playoffs this season, finishing seventh in the Emms Division with a 21-40-5 record. &#9632;

f0019-02

Raiders Rope Bulls’ Mavety With Rich, Multi-Year Pact

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01883/5620655-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trent Yawney&rsquo;s strong play in the playoffs should stand him in good stead for next year&rsquo;s Calder Trophy as top rookie.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02596/5620662-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="178" height="135"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Chicago Blackhawk coach Bob Murdoch has told his players to shape up, or face the risk of being shipped out.Murdoch has put together a rigorous off-season conditioning program and said he wants strict adherence by the players&mdash;or else.&ldquo;If a guy shows up in camp without having improved by doing the things we&rsquo;re going to ask of him, he&rsquo;s basically telling me I&rsquo;m full of it,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to win with him. If guys show up like that, they&rsquo;re telling me they don&rsquo;t care. And so you have to move them.&rdquo;Murdoch blamed the Hawks&rsquo; finish on lack of conditioning. They were 0-7-1 at the end of the season, and lost the opening round of the playoffs to St. Louis in five games. It was their third straight first-round elimination.&ldquo;Last year we weren&rsquo;t in good shape at the beginning of training camp,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;Not in comparison with other teams. Players lose strength and aerobic conditioning during the course of the season. So they have to build up a strong base in the summertime.&rdquo;The program is expected to be a combination of aerobic exercises and weight-training. Each program will differ, according to areas each player must improve in. The Hawks may also bring in a nutritionist and put each player on planned diets.Tests will be conducted on the players before they start the program and evaluations will be made at the start of training camp to check on progress.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Last year we weren&rsquo;t in good shape at the beginning of training camp. Not in comparison to other teams.&rsquo; &mdash;Murdoch</blockquote>Whether conditioning is the answer to what ails the Hawks is debatable. Their defensive problems affected them all season long. And as much as they tout their toughness, center Denis Savard had to retaliate for himself when slashed by the Blues&rsquo; Herb Raglan in the final playoff game.Why?&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t answer that,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to answer that.&rdquo;Conditioning could help the Hawks end their traditional late-season slumps, though it must be combined with improvement in several other areas. Murdoch said his disappointing first season as coach has made him well aware of what must be done.&ldquo;We wanted to improve our special teams, and with the exception of the playoffs we did that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We wanted to improve the enthusiasm and establish an energetic style of play, and we did that. We certainly didn&rsquo;t improve our defensive play. To win, you have to play defense.&rdquo;The Hawks have resisted that lesson for years.NOTES&mdash;Defenseman Trent Yawney set himself up for Calder Trophy consideration next year with a strong playoff, despite the poor showing by the Hawks. Yawney had four assists in five games and finished plus-one. Since he played only 15 games in the regular season, Yawney will qualify as a rookie again next season&hellip;Right winger Rick Vaive had six goals and eight points in five playoff games, matching his career high. Vaive also had six goals and eight points in nine playoff games with Toronto in 1985-86&hellip;Center Denis Savard&rsquo;s seven points were more than he had in the previous two playoffs combined. Savard had just one point, a goal, in the 1987 playoffs against Detroit. He had four goals and five points in 1986 against Toronto. &#9632;

f0020-01

Murdoch Tells Blackhawks Get Fit Or Get Out Of Town

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01658/5620693-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="588" height="979"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gord Stellick has been put in charge of the Toronto Maple Leafs.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02364/5620700-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="177" height="146"></div>TORONTO&mdash;The job of shaping the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; destiny has been handed to Gord Stellick.On April 28. he was appointed general manager at a gathering of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; top hockey men. Not acting GM. as most had expected. But GM. Plain and simple.&ldquo;Gord has top authority,&rdquo; owner Harold Ballard told a scrum of reporters at Maple Leaf Gardens. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s his team to run, and he reports only toBallard first indicated to reporters that Stellick would be hired as acting GM, but changed his mind after further thought and entreaties from Stellick.&ldquo;I talked to him before we had the meeting,&rdquo; explained Stellick, &ldquo;and said, &lsquo;Either name me the general manager or not. If you name me general manager you can still fire me in two weeks or 20 years. But you&rsquo;ve got to have teeth to it (the position).&rsquo;&rdquo;At age 30, Stellick is the youngest GM in NHL history.But youth may be the least of his worries. Re-establishing a winning tradition in Toronto is the greatest.The Maple Leafs have endured nine straight losing seasons&mdash;including this past year&rsquo;s awful 20th-place overall finish of 21-49-10.Before the former assistant GM can turn around Toronto on the ice, he must first turn around the team off the ice.After GM Gerry McNamara&rsquo;s firing Feb. 7, the Maple Leafs were managed by a triumvirate of Stellick, head coach John Brophy and scout Dick Duff.Ballard handed Brophy the trump card. Now, Stellick holds the ace up his sleeve.&ldquo;Like any coach, he&rsquo;s in charge behind the bench,&rdquo; said Stellick, &ldquo;but he answers to me.&rdquo;Ballard, nearing his 85th birthday, remains an active owner. Nobody expects Ballard to be involved in the running of the team. But he retains final say on important matters&mdash;a right he exercised in 1986-87 when the owner derailed McNamara&rsquo;s bid to fire Brophy.Any dispute between the GM and Brophy would likely represent the first test of Stellick&rsquo;s stewardship.Brophy said he is supportive of Stellick, who is optimistic the coach can adjust to a subordinate role after being undisputed kingpin following McNamara&rsquo;s firing.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll find out how it works,&rdquo; said Stellick. &ldquo;I hope it works well.&rdquo;Beyond the organization, Stellick will have to earn the respect of his peers. His playing background is restricted to recreational hockey as a youngster and he has only one year GM experience at the American League level.His Newmarket Saints placed sixth in the AHL&rsquo;s Southern Division.But Stellick has been intimately involved with the Maple Leaf administration since 1980 when Ballard hired him as an executive assistant, to work with the late Punch Imlach. His responsibilities grew steadily. He was named assistant GM last year during the playoffs.Stellick will have the final say on trades and player moves. But don&rsquo;t expect a flurry of trades, despite an unhappy relationship between Brophy and many of his players.&ldquo;The trades are not going to turn around the club&mdash;they will embellish the club,&rdquo; said Stellick, who first joined the Maple Leaf organization as a press box runner at age 17.He said that three-quarters of the players underachieved last year.At least three players are unlikely to return.Center Tom Fergus has told Brophy he doesn&rsquo;t want to play for him. Right winger Mirko Frycer blasted Brophy at season&rsquo;s end. And defenseman Borje Salming, one of the greatest Maple Leafs ever, has also heavily criticized Brophy.Ballard, long Salming&rsquo;s most influential fan, said Salming won&rsquo;t be back because he threatened not to play during the playoffs in support of benched teammate Greg Terrion.Salming, 37, is a free agent without compensation after playing out his option.Stellick said his priorities for 198889 include the team challenging for second place in the Norris Division and getting through an entire year without incident.The latter may be more difficult to achieve than the first.Among last year&rsquo;s troubles were four players being thrown out of a Bloomington, Minn., hotel; a clubrecord 15-game winless streak; McNamara&rsquo;s firing; and the season-ending attack on Brophy.NOTES&mdash;As part of the reshuffling process, Dick Duff has moved from junior to pro scouting&hellip;Gord Stellick plans to hire another full-time scout after the draft. That would, said one wag, double the Maple Leafs&rsquo; full-time staff. Head scout Floyd Smith is the only other full-timer&hellip;Bob Stellick, Gord&rsquo;s brother, remains as director of public relations. &#9632;

f0021-01

GM Stellick Has Burdensome Task Ahead

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03199/5620731-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="179" height="137"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;The promotion was questioned by observers around the league, but Lou Nanne says the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; presidency really is something for which he is suited.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always considered myself a good salesman,&rdquo; said Nanne, who is retiring as the team&rsquo;s general manager because of health reasons. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I do best.&rdquo;Nanne will remain the North Stars&rsquo; GM until the club appoints a new one.His sales skills certainly will be tested, at least until the on-ice product recovers from the troubles created in Nanne&rsquo;s final years as general manager. He is leaving the hockey department as he found it in 1978, with the league&rsquo;s worst record. It was 18-53-9 then and this season it was 19-48-13.Forgotten by Twin Cities&rsquo; sports fans is the Stars&rsquo; sudden rise from a merger with the Cleveland Barons to a Stanley Cup final appearance in 1981. Also forgotten is the Stars&rsquo; last great playoff success, a 1984 trip to the Campbell Conference final.Minnesota averaged 11,440 fans this season, next-to-last in the league. Nanne&rsquo;s job, as president, is to find ways&mdash;outside of the foolproof method of producing winning hockey&mdash;to lure fans back into the 15,499-seat Met Center. He will have to do it in an area soon to be the smallest U.S. market to field teams in all four major sports leagues (NHL, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball).&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of competition in this market and there&rsquo;s lots of work to be done,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to seeing people be excited to be affiliated with the North Stars, whether they are a season-ticket holder, singlegame ticket buyer, advertiser or patron of one of the other events in our building.&rdquo;Nanne, 46, will be in charge of business and marketing for the team and Met Center. The sales and marketing, finance, broadcast and building operations departments report to him. When the promotion was announced in March, team owner Gordon Gund said Nanne was selected for the job because he is energetic and &ldquo;a man of character, creativity and talent.&rdquo; Nanne said he did not have a clause in his general manager&rsquo;s contract that gave him first shot at the presidency, as sources close to the team have claimed.Nanne said he has been involved in sales all his life&mdash;he has sold envelopes, Met Center advertising, radio advertising, sporting goods, players and draft picks&mdash;and the new job is a continuation of that. One of Nanne&rsquo;s first tasks was a major reorganization of the departments under his control.Nanne resigned as general manager because he couldn&rsquo;t handle the stress of the job, but said he expects no such problems as president. Although he knows some fans don&rsquo;t believe him now and perhaps never will, he said except for being responsible for the budget, he will have nothing what-soever to do with the new general manager&rsquo;s hockey decisions.&ldquo;I anxiously look forward to being Joe Fan,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be responsible for the GM or the coach. I&rsquo;ll be involved in the budget end of the hockey operation and that&rsquo;s all. I&rsquo;ll still get excited, like I do when I go to (University of Minnesota) games, but that&rsquo;s a fan reaction. I go, I get involved and when the Gophers lose, I don&rsquo;t like it, but at least I can go home and sleep at night. Hopefully, I won&rsquo;t agonize over it like I do now.&rdquo;Nanne, whom Gund said won&rsquo;t be involved in the selection of a new general manager, also said he won&rsquo;t become involved in second-guessing the new general manager or the coach.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure people are going to try, but they won&rsquo;t get me into it,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to say, &lsquo;What you see is what I see.&rsquo; &ldquo;NOTES&mdash;North Star general manager Lou Nanne said he agreed to a three-year contract with the agent for Czech national team captain Dusan Pasek, a fourth-round draft pick in 1982. The only trick now is to come to financial compensation terms with Czech Ice Hockey Federation officials. Nanne is planning to go to Prague the third week of May&hellip;Add the name of former Boston defenseman Mike Milbury, now coach and general manager at Maine of the AHL, to the list of candidates for the North Star general manager&rsquo;s job. Other names which have been mentioned are Calgary assistant general manager Al MacNeil, former Calgary coach and current AHAUS executive director Bob Johnson, Pittsburgh general manager Ed Johnston, Medicine Hat general manager Russ Farwell, Edmonton assistant general manager Bruce MacGregor, former Vancouver general manager Harry Neale and Montreal Canadiens captain Bob Gainey. &#9632;

f0021-03

‘Joe Fan’ Looking Forward To North Stars’ Presidency

HE DIDN&rsquo;T WIN the scoring title and the Hart Trophy will go to Mario Lemieux as well.Maybe, just maybe, the 16 games Wayne Gretzky missed this season&mdash;the result of knee and eye injuries&mdash;will be the reason Edmonton Oilers win a fourth Stanley Cup in five years. For Gretzky, the consummate team player, that&rsquo;s worth more than the baubles and bangles he wins every year anyway.The 1988 Gretzky&mdash;new, fresh, improved, healthy and on display in the Smythe Division final&mdash;led one to a single inescapable conclusion:.Forget the semis. Cancel the finals. Get Mr. Emery to carry the Stanley Cup to Edmonton now.Gretzky is playing some of the finest hockey of his life&mdash;and that tells me it&rsquo;s over. Everybody else is playing for second place.Gretzky was so good in the second round that it was almost eerie. It was as if the man with nothing left to prove had convinced himself that, yes there were doubters out there who needed to be convinced that nobody does it better.That&rsquo;s not just my view either. Flames&rsquo; defenseman Paul Reinhart saw it that way too.&ldquo;Say what you want, but I don&rsquo;t think we were beaten by the Edmonton Oilers,&rdquo; said Reinhart. &ldquo;We were beaten by Wayne Gretzky. When you&rsquo;re dealing with such a fine line between winning and losing, one guy like him can make all the difference. I don&rsquo;t think anybody can dispute it, if we&rsquo;d put Gretzky on our team, we&rsquo;d have won it in four straight.&rdquo;This was Reinhart the day after the Flames, the regular-season champions, were skunked by the Oilers in the Smythe Division final. Many possible scenarios were forecast for the Battle of Alberta, but no one predicted the eventual outcome&mdash;four consecutive Calgary losses. No one figured on Gretzky being so motivated, either.Following the Oilers&rsquo; opening night win, Gretzky made an unusually strong statement, one that contained a clue to his state of mind.He called it &ldquo;the biggest win&rdquo; in team history. The first game of the second round? This was an Oiler team that had won three Stanley Cups.He explained: &ldquo;The times we played in the past, we were expected to win. When we didn&rsquo;t, people said: &lsquo;That team has so much talent, how can they lose?&rsquo; Even though the Islanders won four Stanley Cups, we were expected to win when we played them.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01768/5620814-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="393" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Duhatschek</figcaption></div>&ldquo;This year, we didn&rsquo;t finish first overall. The team down the hall did. They&rsquo;re a good club and they deserve to be favorites. I don&rsquo;t think we ever had a bigger win.&rdquo;The commitment to winning&mdash;implicit in his little speech&mdash;stood out in the games that followed. Essentially, the Oilers won the series by sweeping the first two games on Saddledome ice. In game one, Gretzky set up the winner and scored the insurance goal. In game two, he scored the winner in overtime.&ldquo;I think he personally won the first two games for them,&rdquo; said Reinhart. &ldquo;He wanted to prove he was the best player in the world. Anybody who&rsquo;d say that wasn&rsquo;t some of the best hockey he&rsquo;d ever played is downright crazy. I&rsquo;ve never seen him so excited, so thrilled to score goals as he was here.&ldquo;If it sounds like I&rsquo;m building the guy up, it&rsquo;s because it&rsquo;s frustrating to know we&rsquo;ve got probably as good a club as was ever put together and one damned guy is capable of beating us. That&rsquo;s how good he is&hellip;and that&rsquo;s how well he played.&rdquo;There were many theories as to why the Oilers played so disciplined a style, but perhaps it can be as simple as Gretzky&rsquo;s leadership. If he were willing to play it closer to the vest, then everybody else could too.Reinhart theorized that Gretzky&rsquo;s injuries helped him get his second wind. Counting exhibitions, Canada Cup appearances and the allstar game, Gretzky would be approaching 100 games played by now had he not had most of January off to convalesce.&ldquo;In other years, he&rsquo;s been tired going into the third periods,&rdquo; said Reinhart. &ldquo;His heart was there, but he didn&rsquo;t have the physical ability to keep it going. This year, the rest obviously helped him and he picked up the pace in the third period unbelievably.&ldquo;He was unstoppable and he&rsquo;s going to be unstoppable for the rest of this year. Simple as that.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-01

Gretzky Separated Oilers From The Flames

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02541/5620845-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="177" height="133"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;John Tucker may have been the playoff hero for the Buffalo Sabres, but Pierre Turgeon was a revelation.A revelation the Sabres and their fans waited for all season.Tucker led the Sabres in playoff scoring with seven goals&mdash;including four in one game&mdash;and three assists in six games, but Turgeon, the No. 1 pick in last June&rsquo;s entry draft, surprised everyone with four goals and three assists as Buffalo lost to Boston in a six-game Adams Division semi-final. Not only were the point totals more than respectable for a rookie&rsquo;s first playoff series, but Turgeon played with a dash and verve not seen during the regular season.&ldquo;I think he rose to the occasion,&rdquo; said Sabre general manager Gerry Meehan. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a dominant player at every level and he&rsquo;s been known to assert himself in big games. I think he saw the playoffs as an opportunity to show what he&rsquo;s learned in the regular season. He had an opportunity and he used it.&rdquo;&ldquo;We all knew he was good, we could see it every day in practice,&rdquo; said Turgeon&rsquo;s rookie linemate, right winger Ray Sheppard. &ldquo;The playoffs came around though, and he just came to the forefront. He really did a job for us.&rdquo;Turgeon, who turns 19 on Aug. 29, finished the regular season with 14 goals and 28 assists in 76 games. But most hockey fans, especially those at Memorial Auditorium, expected more from a player who scored 69 goals and 85 assists in 58 games in his final junior season with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Granby Bisons.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think ahead about what I could do, but I told myself I would be ready when the playoffs came,&rdquo; said Turgeon. &ldquo;I wanted to be there for my teammates. I&rsquo;m happy with the way I played, but I would have been more happy had we won.&rdquo;That isn&rsquo;t idle chatter. Turgeon&rsquo;s sincerity is one of his most appealing traits, and it had been obvious for weeks that he was depressed at not having made more of an impact during the regular season. He was also aware he was sometimes considered suspect by his teammates, many of whom were not impressed by the rookie&rsquo;s work habits during long stretches of the regular season.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;&hellip;I told myself I would be ready when the playoffs came.&rsquo; &mdash;Turgeon</blockquote>Part of the problem was the language barrier which separated Turgeon from some of his teammates. But his English picked up through the course of the season. The pickup in performance just took a little bit longer.&ldquo;I feel more comfortable now in every sense,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I came here and I had early trouble, but now I can talk with every player and the coach (Ted Sator) and I feel good about that.And about how he was able to communicate on the ice during the playoffs against the Bruins.&ldquo;When I first came here, I tried, but I was not good and I knew I had to try harder. I have more experience now. I played more (in the playoffs) and I feel much more confident. That experienced was more important to me than any-&rdquo; thing.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The 1988-89 Sabre schedule features three afternoon games, including a repeat of the highly successful Super Bowl Sunday afternoon game. This year&rsquo;s Super Sunday affair will be played Jan. 22 against Boston. Adams Division opponents make up eight of the team&rsquo;s first 13 games-&hellip;Goalie Tom Barrasso, who once had problems playing in the Aud, produced a 2.95 goals against average at home as opposed to a 3.68 average on the road. Barrasso played 27 games at home and 27 away. He finished with a 3.31 goals-against average for the regular season. &#9632;

f0022-02

Top Pick Turgeon Blossomed In Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01690/5620876-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="588" height="950"><figcaption class="caption-body">A shoulder injury sidelined Mike Liut for three of six playoff games against Montreal.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02453/5620883-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="180" height="132"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Since the day Mike Liut arrived from St. Louis in February, 1985, the Hartford Whalers have been his team.That may be changing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said all along that we wouldn&rsquo;t know how good this team really is until the Kevin Dineens and Dave Tippetts hit their primes,&rdquo; Liut said. &ldquo;That day is here.&rdquo;Liut is a major-league presence, in the locker room and outside, ere simply are not many hockey players like him.The 32-year-old goaltender is intense, opinionated, intelligent and vocal. General manager Emile Francis calls him &ldquo;the best in the business&rdquo; and treats Liut royally. And pays him like a king&mdash;roughly $450,000 per year. Two years remain on the goalie&rsquo;s contract.&ldquo;When you sit down and try to analyze the good things this team has accomplished in the last two years, you should start with the goaltender,&rdquo; said defenseman Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;It all began with him.&rdquo;From Quenneville to Tippett to Ronnie Francis, Liut has earned the respect of his peers. When he talks in the locker room, people listen.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just me,&rdquo; Liut said. &ldquo;If I have something on my mind, I&rsquo;ll say it. I listened to older players when I broke on and I expect our younger players to listen to me. Many of them have a lot to learn.&rdquo;Francis may be the captain, but the keynote speaker before big games, and sometimes after bad practices, is Liut.&ldquo;You have to look up to him,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;He understands the game and takes pride in what he does. Every player should be as professional as Lootie.&rdquo;Liut was billed as the Whalers&rsquo; savior and came close to delivering. In the team&rsquo;s 1986 playoff run against Quebec and Montreal, as well as in its Adams Division championship season of 1986-1987, there were two shining beacons&mdash;right winger Dineen and Liut.The supporting cast played well, but Dineen and Liut won games.&ldquo;Going into any game, but especially big games, in the back of our minds, we think we&rsquo;ve got an edge in net,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;When Lootie&rsquo;s on his game, he&rsquo;s the best. He&rsquo;s our ace in the hole.&rdquo;Liut has played often and well in his career. He has logged 57, 59 and 60 games, respectively, in three full seasons in Hartford. In eight NHL seasons, he has appeared in 535 games, and in 10 pro seasons, he has appeared in 716.This year, Liut was 25-28-5 with a 3.18 goals-against average.But a not-so-funny-thing happened on the way to the Promised Land. Liut got hurt.He injured his right shoulder in game one of this year&rsquo;s Adams Division semi-final April 6 against Montreal and was lifted in favor of backup Richard Brodeur. Liut returned for games three and four, April 9 and 10, but then reinjured his shoulder and had to sit out games five and six April 12 and 14.&ldquo;Look, I can&rsquo;t say anything, but it&rsquo;s pretty obvious that we have a better chance against Montreal with Lootie than without him,&rdquo; one player said.The feeling pervaded the locker room.Asked about the ugly, yet inevitable whispers that might creep up, Liut stood tall.&ldquo;No one can think that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just not fair. I don&rsquo;t deserve that.&rdquo;Earlier in the season, Liut went down with back spasms. Later, it was spasms in his shoulder. Could the two be connected? Is it possible Liut&rsquo;s shoulder injury is worse than originally feared?No one is saying in Hartford, but it has become increasingly obvious Liut is starting to break down.&ldquo;Ah, don&rsquo;t say that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t think I could play, I wouldn&rsquo;t. I know I can still play.&rdquo;The Whalers&rsquo; rise and fall geniunely perturbs Liut, who left St. Louis thinking he was joining a team with a better chance to win the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;This was not an easy year for us,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a delicate balance in professional sports, a very thin line between winning and losing.&ldquo;We played one way for a year, maybe a year-and-a-half, and had some success. But we haven&rsquo;t played that way in quite a while.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll find out a lot more about this team next year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re at a crossroads.&rdquo;So is Liut.NOTES&mdash;The hot topic in Hartford is trades, with left winger Sylvain Turgeon the blockbuster name being tossed around&hellip;Three players&mdash;Ron Francis. Dave Tippett and Paul Mac-Dermid&mdash;all centers&mdash;appeared in all 80 games this year. &#9632;

f0023-01

Liut Denies He’s Beginning To Slow Down

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02525/5620914-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nordique president Marcel Aubut was surprised at the interest in the vacant Quebec general manager&rsquo;s post.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01747/5620921-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="175" height="135"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nordiques aren&rsquo;t expected to sign a new general manager before the June 11 entry draft.But the leading candidate to succeed Maurice Filion, who was appointed vice-president of hockey operations April 19, is already well-entrenched in the Nords&rsquo; organization.Gilles Leger, assistant GM and president of the Fredericton Express, the Nords&rsquo; American League farm team, had a couple of long meetings with team president Marcel Aubut the week before Filion&rsquo;s move.Leger, 46, is bilingual and has been with the team since it was admitted to the NHL in 1979. He served as director of personnel before being named assistant GM in 1984-85. He was named president of the Express in 1981.He gained his early experience in the World Hockey Association. He was an assistant coach with the Ottawa Nationals in 1972 before moving with the franchise to Toronto where he was Toros&rsquo; director of personnel in 1973. In 1975 he was named Toro general manager and continued in that role when the team moved to Birmingham and became the Birmingham Bulls. With Birmingham, he brought together the &lsquo;Baby Bulls&rsquo;&mdash;Ken Linseman, Rick Vaive, Michel Goulet, Rob Ramage and Craig Hartsburg&mdash;from junior hockey when they were all 18.Leger, along with team president Aubut, helped organize the Stastny brothers&rsquo; escape from their native Czechoslovakia in 1980.It&rsquo;s also worth noting Leger and Aubut get along very well.Leger wouldn&rsquo;t comment when asked about the general manager&rsquo;s vacancy.Many other candidates have been mentioned for the Nordique job, including Detroit Red Wing coach Jacques Demers, New York Ranger coach Michel Bergeron, Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; director of personnel Jacques Lemaire, Canadien captain Bob Gainey, Canadien director of scouting Andre Boudrias, Pittsburgh general manager Ed Johnston and Scotty Bowman, former coach and general manager with St. Louis, Montreal and Buffalo.Aubut wouldn&rsquo;t confirm any applications for the job, other than those of Leger and Quebec director of scouting Martin Madden.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it (number of people interested),&rdquo; said Aubut. &ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t know there were as many hockey people interested in working in Quebec City.&rdquo;He said at least 25 people with some experience have contacted the Nordique offices. &ldquo;And out of those 25, at least 10 will be monitored closely,&rdquo; said Aubut.Aubut isn&rsquo;t in a hurry. The quick decision to hire Andre Savard as coach&mdash;who was fired early in the season&mdash;after Bergeron left for the Rangers is all too fresh in his mind.&ldquo;The decision is too important to rush,&rdquo; said Aubut. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take our time. And anyway, we won&rsquo;t be able to talk to some of our main candidates before June 11.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;With center Alan Haworth gone to Berne in Switzerland, center Jason Lafreniere probably won&rsquo;t be granted his trade wish. Lafreniere left the Fredericton Express because he wasn&rsquo;t playing regularly and asked to be traded. But with Haworth gone, the Nords will need more insurance at center, so Lafreniere will probably stay put. &#9632;

f0024-02

No Nordique GM Yet. But Leger Out Front

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01661/5620959-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="591" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Robinson may wait until the end of summer before deciding his future.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02437/5620966-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="177" height="134"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;After so long, the end came so quickly.After 45 years of dominating the Boston Bruins in post-season play, the Montreal Canadiens dropped a playoff series to their long-time rivals, losing the best-of-seven Adams Division final 4-1.Without injured right winger Stephane Richer around to score goals, the Canadiens&rsquo; offense was smothered solid Bruins&rsquo; defense.Richer, whose thumb was broken in game two against Boston on April 20, still finished as the leading Montreal scorer in the playoffs, with seven goals and five assists in eight games.&ldquo;It was a series where the puck didn&rsquo;t go in for us,&rdquo; said veteran defenseman Larry Robinson.The Canadien offense was disappointing. It never seemed to get untracked in the division final. Astonishingly, neither team scored a power-play goal. Montreal went 0-for-26 with the man advantage, Boston 0-for-23.Their combined mark of 0-for49 is believed to be a playoff futility record.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s extremely disappointing when you lose,&rdquo; said center Bobby Smith, who had a weak series against the Bruins, earning just two assists. &ldquo;It was very tough last year against Philadelphia (in the Wales Conference final) because we were a step away the Stanley Cup finals. It&rsquo;s a disappointing end.&ldquo;This is the best they (Bruins) have played against us defensively all year long. They didn&rsquo;t confront us with that type of defense during the regular season.&rdquo;The Canadiens didn&rsquo;t display the same type of disciplined play they showed during the regular season either, part of the reason they are on vacation while the Bruins played the New Jersey Devils in the Wales Conference final.Silly penalties killed momentum as much as the goaltending of Boston&rsquo;s Rejean Lemelin or the play of Bruin defenseman Raymond Bourque.&ldquo;We had a tremendous season,&rdquo; said goalie Brian Hayward, who played goal for the only Canadien victory in the series. &ldquo;For it to end this way, it&rsquo;s a very unsatisfying feeling.&ldquo;We feel frustrated. We feel we could have played better, all of us. It&rsquo;s a tough thing to live with. You are going to be questioning why and what you could have done.&rdquo;There will be speculation in the coming weeks about possible changes managing director Serge Savard will make. Savard has made it clear Jean Perron will return as head coach next season despite the last two playoff exits and regular-season rumors he had problems keeping the team under control.Savard has some heavy-duty contract talks coming up with defenseman Petr Svoboda, center Shayne Corson, defenseman Rick Green, defenseman Larry Robinson and left winger Bob Gainey. There has already been speculation any of the last three might have played his last game in a Montreal uniform.Gainey has been mentioned as a possible successor to Lou Nanne as general manager of the Minnesota North Stars, although he has downplayed the possibility.Robinson said late in the season he might not make any decision on returning until late in the summer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03283/5620952-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="592" height="877"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Chris Chelios led the Habs in shots on goal in the playoffs.</figcaption></div>NOTES&mdash;Defenseman Chris Chelios led the Canadiens with 39 shots and 29 penalty minutes in 11 playoff games&hellip;Coach Jean Perron was stung by post-game criticism April 26 from Boston general manager Harry Sinden. The Bruin GM said Perron &ldquo;had too much to say and that&rsquo;s not in the Canadiens&rsquo; mold. He called us head-hunters and butchers and hackers all in one breath. That&rsquo;s not the Canadiens&rsquo; way. It was an insult to all the great Canadiens over the years. The Canadiens are not reflected in their coach.&rdquo; Perron said, &ldquo;We have never won with arrogance. He can say what he wants, but we have always won with dignity.&rdquo;&hellip;Left winger Serge Boisvert will likely pursue his career in Switzerland next season.<h2>CANADIENS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Shayne Corson, Gilles Thibaudeau.LW&mdash;Ryan Walter, Mike McPhee, Mats Naslund, Sergio Momesso, Steven Fletcher.RW&mdash;Claude Lemieux, Jose Charbonneau, Kjell Dahlin, Serge Boisvert, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Petr Svoboda, Mike Lalor, Larry Trader.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Larry Robinson, Rick Green, Donald Dufresne.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Gainey, LW, bruised foot.Stephane Richer, RW, fractured thumb. &#9632;

f0025-01

Lacklustre Offense Halts Habs’ Domination

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01699/5620997-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="178" height="136"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Rangers may be out of the playoffs but they keep popping up on the sports pages, nonetheless.News from Quebec that the Nordiques &ldquo;promoted&rdquo; Maurice Filion out of the general manager&rsquo;s position brought a wave of speculation that Ranger coach Michel Bergeron, who spent seven years in Quebec, would be going back.Even though the Nordiques seemed to make it clear only candidates with previous NHL front office experience would be considered. Bergeron&rsquo;s name surfaced often enough for Ranger GM Phil Esposito to talk about the possibility.&ldquo;If,&rdquo; Esposito said, stressing the speculative nature of the subject, &ldquo;If they asked&hellip;if he wanted to go&hellip;then it would be silly to hold him back. But they haven&rsquo;t asked and I really don&rsquo;t think they will. I hope they don&rsquo;t ask. I think Michel did a good job here and I&rsquo;m counting on him to stay.&rdquo;Should he be wrong, however, Esposito said he would have no choice but to insist on compensation, especially since he gave Quebec a first-round draft choice last June for the right to hire Bergeron.Bergeron also minimized the possibility of a return to Quebec, after assuring both Esposito and Jack Diller, ex-ecutive vice president of the Rangers, that he was not job-hunting.&ldquo;They told me I was still their guy,&rdquo; Bergeron told the New York Post. &ldquo;They understood that my name coming up is part of the game. But I am under contract to the New York Rangers and they have been good to both me and my family. I feel like a Ranger now. I am a Ranger.&rdquo;Both Bergeron and Esposito visited the Rangers&rsquo; Colorado (International League) farm club during its first-round playoff series and went over the organization&rsquo;s roster. One result of that conversation was his decision to offer veteran Lucien DeBlois, who had played out his option, another contract.The likely return of DeBlois, who was shifted from right wing to center in November and did an outstanding job on the team&rsquo;s top checking line, did not lessen the team&rsquo;s search for more depth in the middle.Bergeron said he sees both Walt Poddubny and Ulf Dahlen as wingers, not centers, but he may do some ex-perimenting, especially because of the success of DeBlois and center Paul Cyr.There is a limit, however, to the flexibility of the Rangers&rsquo; roster. When reminded Tomas Sandstrom had once been shifted to the middle by former GM Craig Patrick, Bergeron groaned painfully.&ldquo;What makes a center,&rdquo; the coach stressed, &ldquo;is not only the way a player skates, it is the way he thinks. Like DeBlois; he knows the game. He has got talent, defensively. Like (Quebec&rsquo;s) Paul Gillis. I&rsquo;m telling you he&rsquo;s a good player. He is going to score maybe only 10 goals a season but he knows the game.&rdquo;So, go ahead. Add Gillis to the list of centers who have already been fed through the Ranger rumor mill&mdash;Tom Fergus of Toronto, Jason Lafreniere of Quebec, Adam Creighton of Buffalo&hellip;and the prospects in minor pro.&ldquo;There are some young centers (with the Colorado Rangers) who will be beginning their first full years as pros in the fall&mdash;Mark Janssens and Mike Golden&mdash;and we&rsquo;ll be looking at them closely,&rdquo; Esposito noted. &ldquo;Janssens has already made a strong impression (one goal, one assist and 11 penalty minutes in six games) playing for Colorado in the playoffs. He is big (6-foot-4), wins faceoffs and is a good team man. I like his chances to play with the Rangers next season.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Phil Esposito said he &ldquo;feels very strongly&rdquo; Marcel Dionne will return next season&hellip;The GM said he has been busy negotiating with agents for Chris Nilan, Kelly Kisio and Walt Poddubny&hellip;Esposito said rookie defenseman Norm Maciver, who missed the end of the season cause of a shoulder separation. will require surgery and has been put on a special program to strengthen his upper body. Maciver had nine goals and 15 assists in 37 games. &#9632;

f0026-01

Bergeron Rumors Keeping Rangers In News

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02485/5621028-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="176" height="134"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;After the Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated by the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, most people in the Flyer organization steeled themselves for changes.Sure, general manager Bob Clarke denied much tinkering would be required on the club which advanced to the Stanley Cup finals in 1987. But nobody really believed the speech.&ldquo;Whenever a team loses before it&rsquo;s expected in the playoffs, there are generally some shake-ups,&rdquo; said veteran defenseman Mark Howe.And if you managed to get a Philadelphia bookie to take such a bet, you probably would get long odds on defenseman Doug Crossman returning to the club next season. Crossman was publicly chastised by coach Mike Keenan at the end of the regular season, and Flyer fans were all over his case during the playoffs.Every time Crossman touched the puck at The Spectrum, a crescendo of boos was heard from all levels of the building. Even Keenan, who had prompted the booing by criticizing Crossman, pleaded with the fans to cease.Fat chance.Keenan likes to control every aspect of the club. But not even he can dictate to a Philadelphia sports crowd. Remember, this is the city where fans booed Santa at an Eagles&rsquo; football game.Crossman, who scored nine goals and 29 assists in 76 games this year, was upset by the abuse&mdash;the fans&rsquo; and Keenan&rsquo;s.&ldquo;At first I was pretty surprised by (the booing),&rdquo; said Crossman. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in the league eight years and it&rsquo;s never happened to me. But then, I should have expected it because of some of the things that have been in the press. Sure, it hurts.&rdquo;The 27-year-old defenseman said Keenan&rsquo;s comments &ldquo;were uncalled for,&rdquo; and suggested he was asked to shoulder too much of the blame.&ldquo;This is a team sport,&rdquo; said Crossman. &ldquo;The team finished with 85 points. And I don&rsquo;t think that (drop of 15 points from last season) was all my fault, or the fault of any individual player.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll accept one-twentieth of the blame when things go wrong, and one-twenthieth of the credit when thing go right. And I won&rsquo;t back down from my responsibility.&rdquo;Crossman would not comment his chances of returning to the club next season, nor would he suggest he wanted a change of scenery.On the other hand, Keenan agreed it might a situation where a move could help the player. Though the coach said Crossman could help the club next season, he wouldn&rsquo;t confirm he&rsquo;d be back.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a tough question,&rdquo; said Keenan. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d have to work very hard at training camp&hellip;but he&rsquo;s a quality player, and you don&rsquo;t trade quality players too quickly.&rdquo;If Crossman does return, he will surely have a tough road. The fans are angry, and so are more than a few teammates who thought he did not put out enough effort.Keenan also remained firm that his public criticism of Crossman was the right move.&ldquo;I talked to him several times over the months before that,&rdquo; said Keenan, &ldquo;and he did not respond&hellip;and I told him what I was going to do. shouldn&rsquo;t have come as a surprise.NOTES&mdash;The Flyers will be holding a &ldquo;fantasy week&rdquo; Aug. 21 to 28 in Montreal. Fans aged 30 and over will be able to participate in workouts with former players such as Bob Clarke, Bill Barber and Bernie Parent. The venture is being promoted by a company which does a similar spring training week with the baseball Phillies&hellip;Flyer right winger Rick Tocchet became good friends with Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Coffey during last fall&rsquo;s Canada Cup, and the two spent a spring week golfing in Florida. Less than a year earlier, the two were playing hockey against each other in the 1987 Stanley Cup finals. &bull; &#9632;

f0026-02

Crossman Refuses To Be A Scapegoat

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01648/5621059-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="179" height="132"></div>Call them the Hershey Brooms&mdash;and why not? The American League Bears were sweeping everything in sight.After dispatching the Binghamton Whalers in four games, Hershey handled the Adirondack Red Wings in similar fashion in the semi-finals&mdash;advancing to the Calder Cup finals in the Piinimum eight games.It represents the Bears&rsquo; 17th trip to the finals in their 50 AHL seasons. They have won six championships.Likely opponents for the Bears were the Fredericton Express, which opened a 3-0 lead in its semi-final series with Maine Mariners.&ldquo;They beat us four straight and there&rsquo;s not a whole lot you can say about it,&rdquo; said Adirondack coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;They pretty well outplayed us in every area&mdash;their power play, their penalty-killing and just about everything else.&rdquo;The Bears led the Southern Division and league with 105 points during the regular season&mdash;six more than third-place Adirondack.Hershey coach John Paddock predicted the Red Wings would be tired from their seven-game series against Rochester and would have trouble in the tightly-scheduled series. He was right&mdash;the Bears outscored the Wings 9-4 in third periods&mdash;but he did not foresee a sweep.&ldquo;You never expect to be 8-0,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s surprising. This team has been such a great team all year. I still don&rsquo;t know if we&rsquo;re quite as pure talented hockey players as we were two years ago (when Hershey lost to Adirondack in the finals), but they&rsquo;ve been such a good team since the 11 th game of the season when (goaltender) Wendell Young came that nothing really surprises me any-more.&rdquo;Young began the season with the parent Philadelphia Flyers but came down when Ron Hextall finished serving his eight-game suspension.Hershey wrapped up its series with Adirondack in thrilling fashion&mdash;prevailing 6-5 in double overtime April 28 at Glens Falls. Don Biggs scored the game-winner on a pass from Ray Alli son just 52 seconds into the second overtime. Biggs&rsquo; second goal of the game and fourth of the playoffs came on an open shot from 10 feet out in the slot.It was the 51 st shot on Adirondack goaltender Darren Eliot, who starred for the Wings in the playoffs. Eliot faced 37 shots in the final 41 minutes&mdash;20 in third period and 16 in the first 20-minute overtime.The Bears eased to 5-1 and 6-2 victories in the games played at Hershey, April 23 and 25. They recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the second period of the third game, April 27 on the road, to post a 6-4 victory. Ross Fitzpatrick was Hershey&rsquo;s outstanding player with three goals.In the fourth game, the Red Wings appeared ready to avoid the first sweep in their history and send the series back to Pennsylvania. They moved to a 3-0 lead in the first period on a pair of goals by Dale Krentz and one by Kris King, while limiting the Bears to six shots on Eliot.Hershey rallied in the second period to tie the game with goals by Don Nachbaur, Brian Dobbin and Biggs. Goals from Ric Seiling and Krentz&mdash;who had 11 in eight playoff games&mdash;early in the third period gave the Wings a seemingly-comfortable lead. That disappeared, however, when Kevin McCarthy and Fitzpatrick scored in the final eight minutes of the third.Fredericton stunned the Mariners in Maine with two overtime victories, 6-5 April 24 and 3-2 April 27, and moved into a position to clinch its first trip to the finals with a 5-3 win at home April 30.Ken Quinney scored the OT marker in game one. John Leblanc&rsquo;s sharply-angled overtime shot in game two eluded Maine goaltender Doug Keans and gave the Express a sweep of the games played at Portland.In the third game, the Express led 3-1 after one period and 4-2 after two. Leblanc and Dave Latta each scored two goals for Fredericton, which finished second to Maine in the Northern Division during the regular season. &#9632;

f0027-01

The Minors

Bears Sweep Wings To Go 8-0 In Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02424/5621090-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="178" height="133"></div>The Baltimore Skipjacks can rest easily this summer.They no longer have the longest pro sports losing streak in the city, thanks to baseball&rsquo;s Baltimore Orioles.&ldquo;It was funny,&rdquo; said Skipjack coach Gene Ubriaco. &ldquo;I was playing golf the other day and the TV station looked all over for me because they wanted to know my thoughts on the Orioles&rsquo; streak.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot less difficult for them than it was for us. They don&rsquo;t have players coming and going. They are in control of their own destiny. We weren&rsquo;t. We had to rely on what other people gave us.&rdquo;The Skipjacks, operating as an independent American League team, set a league record by losing their first 18 games of the 1987-88 season. A tie with Springfield ended the skid, but the winless streak reached 21 before a 4-2 victory over Newmarket on Nov. 25. The Skipjacks ended the season in last place in the Southern Division with a 13-58-9 record.The Orioles opened their 1988 major-league baseball season with 21 straight losses, ending the string with a 9-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on April 29.&ldquo;Someone gave the city a hex,&rdquo; Ubriaco said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nice city. I guess you can&rsquo;t have everything.&rdquo;The Skipjacks haven&rsquo;t done too well on the baseball field either. Ubriaco said the team lost its softball season opener 10-3. The team is comprised of people from the office, as well as Ubriaco, assistant coach Steve Carlson, forward Doug Shedden and trainer Dave Sherrid.Ubriaco is optimistic about the hockey team&rsquo;s future. He said proposals have been sent to four or five NHL teams in hopes the Skipjacks could hook on with them next season.&ldquo;We think we&rsquo;re worth a lot,&rdquo; Ubriaco said. &ldquo;People are more interested than last year. We&rsquo;re selling season tickets for next season.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to do that independent thing again. We got through the year and paid all our bills. Sometimes we wonder how we did it.&rdquo;<h2>LIKE BIG BROTHER</h2>The NHL&rsquo;s recent penalty crackdown&mdash;including overtime manadvantage penalties&mdash;has trickled down to the AHL.In nine Calder Cup overtime games as of April 27, two power plays were awarded. Both were by referee Mark Faucette and both resulted in winning goals.Adirondack&rsquo;s Glenn Merkosky scored an overtime power-play goal to beat Rochester 5-4 in game four of their quarter-final series on April 15. Ken Quinney&rsquo;s power-play goal gave Fredericton a 6-5 overtime win over Maine in game one of their semi-final April 24.&ldquo;I had a discussion with (officials supervisor) John D&rsquo;Amico before the first game,&rdquo; said Maine Mariner coach Mike Milbury. &ldquo;It was a big concern of mine that if the game went into OT they (the referees) would see what happened in the NHL and that we&rsquo;d get in the same predicament as I think they are in.&ldquo;I really think they&rsquo;ve (the NHL) blown it and I don&rsquo;t like that. OT is a great thing.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think what you want to look for is somebody who really denies a good goal-scoring opportunity.&rdquo;<h2>ON THE FAST TRACK</h2>The Fredericton Express won just one overtime game during the regular season but were 3-1 in overtime games in the playoffs as of April 27&hellip;Adirondack&rsquo;s Steve Martinson, involved in a stick-swinging fight with Rochester&rsquo;s Kevin Kerr at the end of game two of a quarter-final series, was not suspended for the rest of the playoffs as reported April 29. He missed the Rochester series and was eligible to return for the semi-finals against Hershey. &#9632;

f0027-02

Orioles Take Heat Off The Skipjacks

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01673/5621128-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="587" height="834"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former U.S. Olympian Peter Laviolette scored the winner in game two for Colorado.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02479/5621135-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="155" height="134"></div>If the Colorado Rangers win their best-of-seven Turner Cup semifinal series with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, they owe a debt of gratitude to Salt Lake&rsquo;s parent club, the Calgary Flames.At the Flames&rsquo; request, the International League Eagles sat out the club&rsquo;s leading playoff scorer, center Theoren Fleury, for game two of the series, April 30.Colorado won 3-2, on a drive by former U.S. Olympic team defenseman Peter Laviolette, evening the series at 1-1.Fleury, a 19-year-old who joined Salt Lake after concluding his junior season with Moose Jaw, scored two goals in the Eagles&rsquo; 6-4 win in game one the night before. The Flames&rsquo; draft pick (166th overall in 1987) had played in nine games for the Eagles. If he were to play in more than 10, he would lose his amateur status&mdash;something the Flames are anxious for him to keep. If Fleury remains an amateur this season, he will be exempt from the NHL waiver draft for three years instead of two.Fleury, who is only 5-foot-5 and 155 pounds, had nine goals and four assists in seven playoff games. In two regularseason games he contributed three goals and four assists for a grand total of 20 points in nine games.&ldquo;We were very upfront with the people in this situation about Fleury,&rdquo; said Al Coates, assitant to Flame president and general manager Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;We said the coaching staff could have him for 10 games. They got by the first round and he was certainly a factor. He&rsquo;ll play one more game and then return to Moose Jaw.&ldquo;Hockey players are the assets of our business and we can&rsquo;t afford to lose an asset.&rdquo;Fleury shared in the Western League scoring championship this year and was captain of Canada&rsquo;s world championship junior team.Colorado coach-GM Peter Mahovlich, of course, didn&rsquo;t mind Fleury&rsquo;s absence.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s their problem,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But if he plays, he becomes my problem.&rdquo;Mahovlich was more concerned about another problem&mdash;lack of home ice, which his team was supposed to have for the first two games.The West Division-champion Rangers were chased out of Denver Coliseum by a horse show and a Sesame Street extravaganza, and had to take their own production 60 miles away to the Cadet Fieldhouse Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.Only 997 fans watched Colorado lose game one. The Rangers squared the series the next night at &ldquo;home&rdquo; before 1,298 spectators. Games three and four were set for the Salt Palace May 3 and May 5.Mahovlich was frustrated by the changes in venue and small crowds.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always nice to play in front of your own fans and that&rsquo;s where I think it&rsquo;s a big disadvantage. You like to play in your own building where you know the ice and the boards, but what really bothered me was that we weren&rsquo;t able to play in front of the fans who had supported us all season long.&rdquo;In the East, the Saginaw Hawks were having their own troubles on legitimate home ice.The pesky Flint Spirits&mdash;who ousted the regular-season-champion Muskegon Lumberjacks from the playoffs&mdash;continued their winning ways in the semi-finals. They seized a 1-0 series lead over the Hawks in Saginaw, with a 3-2 overtime win April 29.The Spirits then returned home to win the second game in the best-of-seven series, this time by a 5-2 count May 1. The Hawks were third overall in the IHL this season, the Spirits fourth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03345/5621121-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="604" height="835"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Coates, above, says Calgary is well aware of Theoren Fleury&rsquo;s potential value.</figcaption></div>The East semi-finals were scheduled to resume May 4 in Saginaw and May 6 in Flint.Spirit right winger Darren Lowe scored 5:24 into overtime to give Flint its victory at the Saginaw Civic Center.&ldquo;We got that overtime goal on a great play by (center) Keith Gretzky,&rdquo; said coach Rick Dudley. &ldquo;He took the puck wide, the defenseman went down, and Lowe was going right for the net. He never stopped and Gretzky hit him right with the puck.&rdquo;Goalie Ed Belfour of Saginaw, who shared the league&rsquo;s outstanding rookie award with Flint center John Cullen, had no time to react.Two nights later in Flint, Lowe scored two goals for the Spirits, who never trailed after taking a 3-0 lead the first period. They were ahead 5T after 40 minutes. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a tough team to play from behind,&rdquo; said Dudley.Ray LeBlanc, in goal for both Flint wins, refused to take Saginaw lightly.&ldquo;They (the Hawks) are one of the best teams in our league,&rdquo; LeBlanc said. &ldquo;Defensively they&rsquo;re really strong, and offensively they wait to steal the puck. During the season we were 7-7 with them and it&rsquo;s been tough every game we&rsquo;ve played.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

Regulations Deprive Eagles Of Star Center

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Bob Wagner</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04247/5621166-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="156" height="135"></div>John Cullen proved the skeptics wrong.The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Flint Spirit center was voted International League most valuable player for 1987-88 by IHL coaches. He became the first rookie so recognized since Fort Wayne Komet goaltender Darren Jensen in 1983-84.He was also the first player to win the award in the 19-year history of IHL hockey in Flint.Cullen, 24, became a free agent after being cut by the Buffalo Sabres during training camp last fall. The rap on him? Too small, can&rsquo;t skate.Minor details. The man can score.Cullen (48-109-157) became the first rookie to lead the IHL in scoring. His assist and points totals were league records.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice,&rdquo; said Cullen. &ldquo;I was MVP my last three years at BU (Boston University), but it&rsquo;s different when you get it from the league than when you get it from the team. I&rsquo;m pretty excited.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice, too, that the other coaches voted for you, that other people noticed you.&rdquo;League coaches were not permitted to name their own players on MVP ballots.Awards are nothing new to Cullen. He was Eastern College Athletic Conference rookie-of-the-year in 1984, a Hockey East first team all-star in 1985 and 1986, and a second team AllAmerican in 1986.The MVP honor was Cullen&rsquo;s second IHL award this season. Earlier, he and Saginaw goalie Ed Belfour were named co-winners of the outstanding rookie award.Cullen, who missed only one of Flint&rsquo;s 82 games, said his numbers this season answer complaints about his size.As for his skating, he said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m that slow, although a lot of players are faster. I&rsquo;m more of an in-and-out skater, a weaver, than I am an up-and-down skater.&ldquo;When I first got to BU, I didn&rsquo;t think I could skate in that league,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s a problem any more.&rdquo;Cullen&rsquo;s father Barry, 52, played four seasons in the NHL with Toronto and Detroit from 1959-1964. His brother Terry. 28, played four games for the University of Michigan as a freshman in 1978 before a back injure ended his career.&rdquo;&ldquo;The people who helped me most were my dad and my brother, Terry,&rdquo; said Cullen. &ldquo;Terry hit the boards and wound up with a spinal fusion (operation) and it ended his career.&rdquo;Cullen also credited Flint coach Rick Dudley for this year&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing for a coach who lets me play my game.&rdquo; said Cullen. &ldquo;He never says anything negative to you.&rdquo;<h2>HOME ON THE RANGE</h2>Colorado Rangers adopted several homes away from home when their usual rink, the 8,100-seat Denver Coliseum, was booked for other events during their best-of-seven semi&mdash;final playoff with Salt Lake City, which began April 29.The Colorado Classic horse show and an ice production of Sesame Street meant the Rangers wouldn&rsquo;t be able to play in the Coliseum unless the Salt Lake series went to a seventh game on May 10.Games one and two April 29 and were played at the Air Force Academy&rsquo;s 2,635-seat Cadet Field-house. Game five on May 6 was scheduled for 4,752-seat Denver Arena, home of the University of Denver. McNichols Arena, former home of the Colorado Rockies, was booked for Denver Nuggets National Basketball Association playoff games and was unavailable to the Rangers.<h2>SKIING MAYBE?</h2>Fort Wayne owner David Welker, after his Komets had been eliminated by Saginaw: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too cold to play golf.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-04

Record-Setting Spirit Center Is First Rookie Named MVP

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. What two teams combined to score the most goals in a sevengame NHL playoff series?2. Which WHA club played its home games at the International Amphitheatre?3. Who is the only Winnipeg Jet to score five goals in one game?4. By what three names has the AHL scoring championship trophy been known?5. Pat Verbeek established a New Jersey single-season goalscoring record this season with 46. What player held the previous franchise record of 41?6. What season did Bobby Carpenter score 53 goals?7. Who scored the game-winning goal in the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; first NHL victory?8. Which current OHL coach was the league&rsquo;s scoring leader and most gentlemanly player in 1967-68?9. Name the two men who have coached both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres.10. What was the first year Phil and Tony Esposito were named to a first all-star team together?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Frimnnton and Calgary. 60 2. Chicago Cougars 3. Willy Lindstrom. 4. Wally Kilrea Trophy, Carl Liscombe Trophy, John B. Sollenberger Trophy. 5. Wilf Paiement. 6. 1984-85. 7. Mark Howe. 8. Tom Webster. 9. George (Punch) Imlach, Floyd Smith. 10. 1969-70. BONUS ANSWER: Al Rollins.BONUS QUESTION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05194/5621197-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="560" height="959"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: This goalie won the 1954 Hart Trophy while with Chicago.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-05

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02479/5621266-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0030-02

STANLEY CUP SCOREBOARD

<h2>Mon., Apr. 25</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01612/5621360-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="627" height="1804"></div><h2>Tue., Apr. 26</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02424/5621353-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="624" height="268"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04232/5621346-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="616" height="575"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05183/5621339-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="616" height="584"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06148/5621332-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="609" height="140"></div><h2>Wed., Apr. 27</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07126/5621325-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="611" height="410"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08110/5621318-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="601" height="384"></div><h2>Thur., Apr. 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0995/5621311-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="605" height="959"></div><h2>Sat., Apr. 30</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1081/5621304-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="595" height="728"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03309/5621297-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="1839" height="1482"><figcaption class="caption-body">New Jersey&rsquo;s Sean Burke allowed the Washington Patrick Division final. He rebounded to stop 30 Capitals five goals in two periods in game six of the shots in a 3-2 game-seven win.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-11" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1168/5621391-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg"></div>Playoff Draft Current first place team: Oli Piaumier, Edmonton, Alta. & Ralf Lai, Vancouver, B.C.SASKATCHEWANCai-Mike Bullard, Cal-Joe Nieuwendyk, Cal-Hakan Loob, Cal-Gary Suter, Cal-Joe Mullen, Cal-AI Maclnnis, Mon-Bobby Smith, Mon-Mats Naslund, Mon-Stephane Richer, Mon-Claude Lemieux, Edm-Wayne Gretzky, Edm-Mark Messier, Edm-Jari Kurri, Edm-Glen Anderson, Edm-Craig Simpson, Edm-Esa Tikkanen, Det-Bob Probert, Det-Petr Klima, Det-John Chabot, Det-Adam Oates, StL-Bernie Federko, StL-Doug Gilmour, NJ-Kirk Muller.Additional players tor Oli Piaumier are: STL-Brett Hull. Bos-Ray Bourque, Bos-Ken Linseman, Phi-Mark Howe, NYI-Pat Lafontaine, Hart-Kevin Dineen, Tor-Ed Olczyk, Cal-Paul Reinhart, But-John Tucker.Additional players for Ralf Lai are: Mon-Ryan Walter, Edm-Charlie Huddy, Det-Gerrard Gallant, NJ-Aaron Broten, NJ-Pat Verbeek, NJ-Bruce Driver, NJ-Patrick Sandstrom, NJ-John MacLean, Mon-Larry Robinson.For your personal point total and ranking phone: (306) 682-5002. SK. Lottery License N. L87-156. &#9632;

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HOCKEY DRAFT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01647/5621422-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01575/5621453-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="181" height="136"></div>LANDOVER, Md.&mdash;Never before had the Washington Capitals been one of the final five teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But that achievement meant little to the frustrated Caps, who watched the playoff neophyte New Jersey Devils climb 6ver them into the final four.New Jersey became the 13th NHL team in the last six seasons to achieve semi-final status. The Capitals, although their 259-165-56 regular-season record ranks third overall dur-that stretch, never have emerged from the Patrick Division at playoff time.The Devils bridged the gap by defeating Washington 3-2, on John MacLean&rsquo;s third-period deflection in the seventh game of the divisional final.&ldquo;I feel kind of empty,&rdquo; said coach Bryan Murray. &ldquo;It takes away everything we tried to do all year. To lose like that, it&rsquo;s kind of hard to feel anything but empty.&rdquo;Murray was upset at the linesman&rsquo;s failure to call an offside on a play preceding MacLean&rsquo;s goal. Patrik Sund-strom was offside in the Capitals&rsquo; zone when the puck was knocked back over the blue line. Washington&rsquo;s Mike Ridley controlled the puck with his right skate and kicked it back into his own end before Sundstrom could clear the zone.The Capitals believed Sundstrom should have been ruled offside. But linesman Kevin Collins viewed it differently.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I feel kind of empty. It takes away everything we tried to do all year. To lose like that&hellip;&rsquo; &mdash;Murray</blockquote>&ldquo;Usually an offside is called on that play when it bounces back into the zone off a player&rsquo;s shinpad,&rdquo; said Collins. &ldquo;In this case he (Ridley) controlled the puck and therefore it&rsquo;s a judgment call. And no offside was called.&rdquo;Referee Don Koharski supported Collins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a split-second decision, a judgment call and he made the right decision,&rdquo; said Koharski.Murray agonized over the loss.&ldquo;I can feel for myself, but so many times these guys have busted their behinds, creating situations and giving everything they had,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To come up empty, it&rsquo;s awful.&ldquo;All I&rsquo;ve thought about is how frus trating it is, how close we came. I think an injury at a key time cost us the little bit we needed to get over the top, this year to Rod (Langway) and two years ago to Gus (Bengt Gustafsson).&rdquo;Langway was tripped and kicked by New Jersey&rsquo;s Pat Verbeek in the opening game of the final, suffering a severe cut in the left calf. He was still wearing a protective cast, unable to skate, when the series ended.Though the fourth-place Devils produced an upset, it was not as traumatic as the one inflicted by the fourth-place Rangers two years ago. That New York team finished 29 points behind Washington, and three times in the playoffs the Capitals lost after building two-goal leads.Still, that same year, the Devils missed the playoffs and finished 48 points behind Washington. And until March, the New Jersey franchise had gone 24 games without a victory at Capital Centre&mdash;yet it won three of four there during the series.Asked about the Capitals&rsquo; inability to come through at home, after breezing to a 7-2 victory in game six at New Jersey, center Bob Gould said, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t give you an answer. We all played our hearts out and I can&rsquo;t question anybody&rsquo;s effort. Why we can&rsquo;t win at home, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;Murray said, &ldquo;In the playoffs, they (the Devils) seemed much more inspired and looser in our building. Their defense stood up against our wingers and their forecheckers swarmed over us. In the Meadowlands, we had a number of 2-on-1s, but here it never happened.&rdquo;The Capitals&rsquo; season was inconsistent throughout. One week they looked like Stanley Cup champions, the next they struggled like raw rookies. They seemed headed for their first regular-season banner in the Patrick Division, but won only one of their last nine games.Falling behind Philadelphia 3-1 in the divisional semi-finals, they reeled off three straight victories. Then they won the opener against New Jersey and could not prevail again on home ice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve thought about it often, the inconsistent way we played, and I&rsquo;ve talked about it with the team,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We never could solve it, never could find an answer. Some individuals we counted on were up and down, our goal production was weak at times and we were giving up chances because of our backchecking. But it&rsquo;s not an easy problem to solve.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Capitals most likely will operate their own farm club next season, either in Baltimore or Fort Wayne, rather than continue the split arrangement with Hartford in Binghamton&hellip;After the first two rounds of the playoffs, Kevin Hatcher and Scott Stevens shared the scoring lead among NHL defensemen with 12 points each&hellip;Bengt Gustafsson and Michal Pivonka had 13 points apiece to tie for the team lead&hellip;Dale Hunter had seven goals and 96 penalty minutes, both club playoff records&hellip;Mike Gartner, who led the team with 48 regular-season goals, managed only three in 14 playoff games.<h2>CAPITALS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bengt Gustafsson, Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, Bob Gould, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Michal Pivonka, Kelly Miller, Yvon Corriveau, Greg Adams, Jeff Greenlaw.RW&mdash;Dave Christian, Mike Gartner, Peter Sundstrom, Lou Franceschetti, Steve Leach, Ed Kastelic, John Druce.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Greg Smith, Gary Galley, Grant Jennings.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Larry Murphy, Grant Ledyard, Chris Felix.G&mdash;Pete Peeters, Clint Malarchuk, Alain Raymond, Shawn Simpson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rod Langway, D, severe cut in left leg. &#9632;

f0033-01

Success In Playoffs Still Eludes The Caps

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02412/5621484-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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The Hockey News Classified

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02501/5621515-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="582" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Tomas Jonsson decided against turning his back on the Islanders.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01659/5621522-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="177" height="135"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;Tomas Jonsson will be an Islander for at least two more seasons.The 28-year-old Swedish defenseman, who played out his option while seriously considering a return to his homeland, agreed to a two-year contract with general manager Bill Torrey the week of April 25.Terms of the contract, which Jonsson expects to sign sometime in May, were not disclosed. But the seven-year veteran definitely received a raise.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy. Really happy,&rdquo; said Jonsson. &ldquo;You go in dreaming of a figure if you can get it. And I got it.&rdquo;Which made deciding to stay in North America a lot easier. So did a little prompting from Jonsson&rsquo;s wife, Christina.&ldquo;We decided to stay,&rdquo; Jonsson said happily from his Huntington, Long Island home. &ldquo;My wife had the last word.&rdquo;Jonsson&rsquo;s was a life decision, not a hockey decision. He and Christina have two daughters, Cammilla, 6, and Sara, 1. Although Cammilla attended kindergarten on Long Island, the Jonssons thought it might be best for their eldest daughter to start her formal education in Sweden.There was another factor. Sweden is scheduled to play host to the 1989 World Championships in Stockholm. Jonsson, who won a bronze medai playing for Sweden in the 1980 Olympics and was a member of Sweden&rsquo;s 1987 Canada Cup team, wanted to represent his country in April, 1989.He decided against uprooting his children and changed his mind.Cammilla will make a fine first grade student in the United States. And papa, who loves Long Island and truly enjoys the NHL, will play for his country some other year.Subtract Denis Potvin, who retired, and Mike Bossy, whose bad back may force him to, and Jonsson is fifth in seniority among the Islanders. Only Billy Smith, Bryan Trottier, Ken Morrow and Brent Sutter have been around longer than Jonsson, who joined the team in 1981 and owns Stanley Cup rings from the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting because with Denis gone, it&rsquo;s going to be more of a challenge for me now,&rdquo; Jonsson said.For a player with his speed and puckhandling talent, Jonsson had a very erratic year. He had a personal-high 41 assists but tied a personal low with six goals. He had 115 penalty minutes&mdash;his most ever&mdash;and finished plus-six. But the latter figure was lowest of the Islanders&rsquo; six regular defensemen.&ldquo;Bill (Torrey) told me to go out and play my game, but try to be more consistent,&rdquo; Jonsson said. &ldquo;I agree. I&rsquo;ve had too many ups and downs.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Right winger Alan Kerr underwent successful surgery on Apirl 22 to repair nerve damage around right eye. Kerr suffered a 60-stitch cut in the sixth and final game of the Isles&rsquo; Patrick Division semi-final loss to New Jersey. He was accidentally cut by Devil defenseman Ken Daneyko&rsquo;s skate&hellip;Right winger Patrick Flatley&rsquo;s surgically repaired right knee was progressing well and the Islanders expect Flatley back sometime next season. Physical therapist Steve Wirth said it&rsquo;s too early to set a target date for Flatley&rsquo;s return&hellip;For the eighth straight year, the Isles will open a season on the road when they begin the 1988-89 season. New York will be in Calgary Oct. 6, Edmonton Oct. 7, Los Angeles Oct. 9 and Vancouver Oct. 10. Their Nassau Coliseum opener is Oct. 15 against Montreal. &#9632;

f0034-02

The Last Word Came From Jonsson’s Wife

<div class="byline">By Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04289/5621553-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="452" height="451"></div>Q: How many times have the New York Rangers been swept in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Also, what is the longest winning streak ever posted by the New York Islanders?John Brooks, Woodhaven. N. Y.A: The Rangers have been sidelined in the minimum number of playoff games three times. Philadelphia bounced them in three straight games in a Patrick Division semi-final series in 1984-85. Twice, in 1966-67 and 196869, the Broadway Blueshirts were knocked out of the quarter-finals by Montreal in four games.The Islanders set the standard for winning streaks in 1981-82, earning an NHL-record 15 consecutive wins. The streak started with a 6-1 win over Pittsburgh at Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 20, 1982 and ended Feb. 21 when the Pens edged the Isles 4-3 at the Civic Arena.Q: If a team scores two goals during a five-minute major, is that team considered to be two-for-one on the power play?Michael J. Masse, London, Ont.A: It depends on what league you&rsquo;re talking about. In the NHL, every time a team scores during a five-minute power-play situation, it is considered that a new advantage situation has begun. Therefore, if a team scored twice during a five-minute advantage, it would be 2-for-3 on the power play.The Western League, however, deems the five minutes to represent one power-play opportunity. So, if a team scored twice during a five-minute penalty, they would be 2-for-1 on the power play.Q: I am an avid hockey fan with a keen interest in statistics. I have experience in compiling statistics for amateur leagues. How would I go about finding employment as an NHL statistician?Harvey Goossen, Winnipeg, Man.A: Your best bet would be to contact local teams and express your interest in obtaining a position in this field. For instance, contact the Jets, and forward the club a resume listing experience and references. But don&rsquo;t limit yourself to hockey. Try various pro sports and junior and college leagues. From personal experience, I know it&rsquo;s a tough area to crack, but nothing looks better on a resume than a wealth of experience.Q: What percentage of the gate receipts does a visiting NHL team receive when it plays on the road?Charlie Sands, Moncton. N.B.A: It doesn&rsquo;t receive anything. The NHL doesn&rsquo;t use a gate-sharing program. The home team keeps all the dough.Q: I watched the March 5 game between Calgary and Edmonton. The game was at the Saddledome, but the Flames wore their road red jerseys. Why was this done?Mary Tetreault, Sarnia, Ont.A: The NHL allows teams to wear their road uniforms on home ice periodically, providing the home team informs the visitors and league of their intentions. Usually, such &ldquo;reverse-jersey nights&rdquo; are held between teams located in close geographical proximity. The Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques have started something of a tradition in which the Habs wear their red jerseys at home and whites on the road while the Nords do the opposite with their blue (road) and white (home) jerseys. The practice has not been used in playoff games. From 1951-52 through 1969-70, NHL rules called for home teams to wear their true colors and visiting teams their whites.If you want your question answered by the Duffer, send the query to:ASK THE DUFFER, 347 Whitewood Rd., Saskatoon, SK S7J 4K8 &#9632;

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ASK THE DUFFER

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01624/5621622-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Nickname of the Quebec City team that first captured the Stanley Cup in 1912.5. Lesser-known Red Wing, he was previously with the Bruins, Rangers, Blues and Whalers.9. He was a member of the expansion Kings, Dale.10. The first Red Wing to score 50 goals in a season.11. The Flyers&rsquo; founder and principal owner.12. First name of the WHA&rsquo;s first scoring champion.14. Number worn by the Oilers&rsquo; first Conn Smythe winner.16. This Conacher was a member of two Stanley Cup winners.19. Former Leaf, Red Wing and Penguin Thompson.21. Rugged Flame forward, a Calgary native.24. Year Bobby Orr was named Smythe Trophy winner for the first time.25. Give up or yield.26. Former Flyer, Whaler Barnes.27. He was behind the bench when the Blues won a teamrecord 45 games in 1980-81.<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. He was taken seventh overall by Detroit in the 1984 entry draft.2. Hockey great nicknamed &lsquo;Newsy&rsquo; because of his work in a newsprint plant.3. Fear.4. Red Wing forward Gallant.6. To dodge.7. This Hall-of-Famer captained the Red Wings from 1956 to 1958 (3,5).8. One of just 10 former officials in the Hall of Fame.13. He was acquired by the Canucks in the deal that sent Cam Neely to Boston.15. One of several Swedish-born Flyers.17. Heckles.18. The Canadiens&rsquo; Corson.20. An early hockey position.22. A former Canuck coach.23. A lesser-known Blue, Todd<h2>CROSSWORD SOLUTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03301/5621615-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="565" height="558"></div> &#9632;

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CROSSWORD

<h2>20 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Jack Adams, coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings from 1927-28 to 1946-47 and general manager through the 1962-63 season, died of a heart attack at 72. The Red Wings made the playoffs 28 times during Adams&rsquo; 35-year association with the club, winning seven Stanley Cups.&bull; The hockey season was over but Philadelphia Flyer goaltender Doug Favell was still playing games&mdash;for Detroit. Favell joined Detroit Olympics of the newly-formed National Lacrosse Association. Favell, playing forward, scored twice to lead the Olympics to a 10-8 win over Toronto on opening night at the Olympia in Detroit.<h2>10 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; New York Ranger right winger Don Murdoch pleaded guilty in Toronto court to possession of 4.8 grams of cocaine. Murdoch was fined $400. The case stemmed from Murdoch&rsquo;s Aug. 12, 1977 arrest at Toronto International Airport for possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. Murdoch was suspended for the entire 1977-78 season by NHL president John Ziegler, but the sentence was commuted to 40 games.&bull; Birmingham Bull left winger Frank Beaton was sentenced to five days in jail and fined $250 by a Cincinnati judge as the result of a 1976 incident in which Beaton punched a service station attendant who spilled gasoline on his new car.&bull; Toledo Goaldigger left winger Mike Eruzione was named the International League&rsquo;s American-born rookie of the year for 1977-78. The 23-year-old graduate of Boston University scored 30 goals and 56 assists in 76 games for Toledo. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02484/5621677-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto Maple Leaf forward Eddie (The Entertainer) Shack goes for a spill courtesy a check delivered by Boston Bruin Pit Martin during a 1960s game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Looking on in the background are Boston forward Ron Stewart (left) and defenseman Ted Green (right corner).</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0035-02

THE WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY HOWARD BERGER</div>With one mighty slapshot in 1969, Oakland Seals&rsquo; defenseman Wayne Muloin knocked out more teeth than he scored goals in a brief NHL career.The 28-year-old rookie had six years of pro experience when he cracked the 1969-70 Oakland roster on the basis of his hard-nosed style of play. His offensive skills were negligible.&ldquo;We were in Philadelphia one night early in the season and for some reason, I was on the power play,&rdquo; Muloin recalls.&ldquo;I wound up to take a shot from the left point and (Flyers&rsquo; defenseman) Ed Van Impe slid in front of me at the last second. I don&rsquo;t know what Ed was thinking, but my weak shot hit him right in the mouth and messed him up pretty badly.&ldquo;It was an awful sight&mdash;blood was everywhere&mdash;but Ed got patched up and came back out for the third period. He was a tough old bird.&rdquo;The shot by Muloin knocked out six of Van Impe&rsquo;s teeth&mdash;exactly double the number of goals Muloin managed to score in 148 NHL games.&ldquo;I had one of the worst shots ever,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I was surprised it knocked out that many of Ed&rsquo;s teeth.&rdquo;Muloin appeared in three games with Detroit Red Wings in 1963-64 but was a career minor-leaguer until finally landing a full-time spot with the Seals. The Dryden, Ont. native played four years with Oakland&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Providence and appeared destined to finish his career there. Then came training camp, 1969.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03388/5621708-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="590" height="870"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Muloin</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Oakland invited me to camp and I decided to play it really aggressive,&rdquo; Muloin recalls. &ldquo;I racked up guys like Carol Vadnais and Mike Laughton with some good hits and they had to keep me around.&rdquo;Muloin played 71 games with the Seals in 1969-70 but he vividly recalls the start of the following season, when Charles O. Finley purchased the hockey club and re-named it the California Golden Seals.&ldquo;Boy, was he a character!&rdquo; Muloin says. &ldquo;He made us wear those stupid white skates and everywhere we played, the fans would blow kisses at us. It was kind of humiliating.&ldquo;I also remember the time he brought a bunch of chimpanzees out on the ice in Oakland for a penalty shot contest early in the season,&rdquo; Muloin says. &ldquo;I knew we were in for a rough year when one of the chimps scored on Gary Smith.&rdquo;Muloin was right. The Golden Seals were the worst team in the NHL, finishing with a 20-53-5 record.Muloin and Seals&rsquo; captain Ted Hampson were traded to Minnesota for Tom Williams and Dick Redmond in March 1971. Muloin played only seven games with the North Stars and then spent the 1971-72 season as captain of the AHL Cleveland Barons.He signed with Cleveland of the newly formed World Hockey Association in 1972-73 and spent four years on the Crusaders&rsquo; blueline. He&rsquo;ll always remember scoring the final goal in Cleveland Arena&mdash;the 9,500-seat rink at Euclid and 33rd St.&ldquo;It was an overtime goal in the (1974) playoffs against Toronto Toros,&rdquo; Muloinrecalls. &ldquo;Ileanedinto a shot from outside the blueline and it went past Gilles Gratton.&ldquo;We went back to Toronto two nights later and lost the series. The next year, we moved into the brand new Richfield Coliseum.&rdquo;Muloin finished his career with Edmonton of the WHA in 1976. He had three goals and 21 assists in 148 NHL games; 10 goals and 43 assists in 261 WHA games.Muloin, 46, is a construction foreman in the Cleveland suburb of Avon, Ohio. &#9632;

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May 13, 1988

Star Yzerman Ready Sooner Than Expected

The Hockey News NHL PLAYOFF REPORT

MEGA JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK APRIL 25 TO MAY 1

Coach’s Future Undecided As GM Esposito Settles In