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.

September 23, 1988

The Hockey News September 23, 1988

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. In what city did Boston's Ted Green and St. Louis' Wayne Maki engage in a stick-swinging duel in 1969-70?2. This former NHL coach's playing career ended when he suffered a skull fracture during a late-1950s Quebec senior league game.3. What is former Toronto Maple Leaf great Ace Bailey's real first name?4. Former Maple Leaf was charged with assault for a 1976 stick-swinging incident with Pittsburgh's Dennis Owchar.5. Who was involved in a vicious stick-swinging incident during a 1968 Boston-Philadelphia game?6. What Chicago player was suspended 20 games during the 1982-83 season for tripping a linesman?7. Who did he trip?8. Who did Maurice (Rocket) Richard attack during a 1954-55 game, resulting in his suspension for the rest of the season.9. For how many games was Ron Hextali suspended for slashing Edmonton's Kent Nilsson during the 1987 Stanley Cup finals?10. What Boston player was expelled from hockey after attacking a referee following the final game of the 1927 Stanley Cup playoffs?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Ottawe. 2. Scotty bowman. 3. irvine. 4. Dave (Tiger) Williams. 5. Philadelphia's Larry Zeidel and Boston's Eddie Shack. 6. Tom Lysiak 7. ron Foyt. 8. Hal Laycoe. 9. Eight. 10. Billy Coutu. BONUS ANSWER: Dave Forbes.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03397/5642318-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="541" height="969"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: He was charged with aggravated assault against Henry Boucha in 1975.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>NEW YORK&mdash;It is ironic that Pierre Larouche, a skillful center whose coaches spent so much time trying to change, will probably be denied the opportunity to skate for a team which would gladly accept him, just the way he is&hellip;or was.A healthy Larouche is just what coach Michel Bergeron and the Rangers need&mdash;a clever, experienced center with a scoring touch. However, a back injury which limited him to 10 games last season will probably force him into retirement at age 32.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to give it one more shot,&rdquo; Larouche said as he reported to the Rangers&rsquo; training camp in Trois-Rivieres, Que., &ldquo;and I feel pretty good. But it hasn&rsquo;t been put to the test.&ldquo;I am optimistic. Well, I&rsquo;m trying to be totally positive,&rdquo; he added with a smile, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t close my eyes to what is there. I realize there are a lot of very dark clouds.&rdquo;Those clouds will probably prevent him from scoring the five goals he needs for a career total of 400, but he did not seem concerned with numbers.&ldquo;I always thought I would make it to 500 goals,&rdquo; Larouche noted with a shrug. &ldquo;If it stops at 395, I can deal with that.&ldquo;It is not my purpose to reach 400 or 450, but I would like to help the Rangers win something. This team needs to taste some success and I would like to be a part of it&hellip;in some way. My best times have been in New York. I have been treated very well by the Rangers.&rdquo;Although the impact of all hockey statistics has been devalued by Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s incredible productivity, Larouche has more points (822) than games played (812), after 14 seasons.Bubbly and fun-loving, Larouche was sometimes criticized for being a one-way player, or for smiling at the wrong times. But one of his old friends, Barry Beck, offered a different view.&ldquo;Pierre just had so much fun playing hockey that it made some people nervous,&rdquo; Beck noted, during one of Larouche&rsquo;s difficult times with ex-Ranger coach Ted Sator.Larouche&rsquo;s &ldquo;comeback&rdquo; performance, from a Sator demotion to the minor leagues during the 1985-86 season, was one of the most compelling hockey stories to unfold in recent years for the Rangers.Lucky Pierre returned with a flourish after Sator was proven wrong, scoring 20 goals in 20 games over the final quarter of the season, then adding eight more in 16 playoff games.Obtained by the Rangers as a free agent in September of 1983, Larouche scored 48 goals during the 1983-84 season under Herb Brooks, one of the few coaches who spent more time talking about the things the 5-foot-11, 180-pound center could do than what he could not do.&ldquo;I had some great times in New York,&rdquo; Larouche said. &ldquo;I was older and so, I suppose, I could appreciate them more. Of course, winning two Stanley Cups in Montreal was a huge highlight.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03702/5641695-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="147" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 147px">NEW YORK RANGERS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I wish I could have understood more, been prepared better for my first few years,'&rsquo; he said of his early days in Pittsburgh. &ldquo;1 was young, I was spunky, I was French-Canadian and I was a lot of things hockey was not made for in 1974.&ldquo;I left the impression I was flamboyant and cocky&hellip;and I suppose I was. I am afraid I also left the impression with some people that I didn&rsquo;t care-&hellip;but I always cared about this game. I always loved this game.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Ranger GM Phil Esposito was pleased with a new agreement between the NHL and the major junior leagues, which will allow players such as Jayson More, who have played four years of junior hockey, to play in the minor leagues even though they have junior eligibility remaining. More will probably play at Colorado (1HL) this season&hellip;Although the Rangers have not announced it, defenseman James Patrick said he has agreed to terms on a multi-year contract instead of playing out his option. &#9632;</div>

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One Last Try For Larouche Before He Calls It A Career

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04184/5642387-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="540" height="753"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrew Cassels added some weight with an eye towards making the Canadiens.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Andrew Cassels is a few pounds heavier and, he hopes, a lot better prepared.&ldquo;This year I have a better idea of what a National Hockey League training camp is about,&rdquo; said Cassels, the Canadiens No. I choice, 17th overall, in the 1987 entry draft.&ldquo;I have a lot more confidence in myself,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old Ottawa 67&rsquo;s center. &ldquo;I have the right attitude and I know what to expect when I am out on the ice and how to react.&rdquo;Cassels, who led the Ontario League in scoring last season with 48-103-151 in 61 games, is given an outside chance of graduating to the NHL this season. He&rsquo;s a nifty playmaker whose skills have been praised by 67&rsquo;s coach Brian Kilrea."This is Montreal and this is the Montreal Canadiens,&rdquo; said the 6-foot Cassels, who is up to 181 pounds, 14 more than his listed weight on the training camp roster. &ldquo;You aren&rsquo;t out there going for a junior team. It&rsquo;s a business now. This is something I have always wanted to do with my life.&ldquo;Teams are going with a lot of grinding players and tougher players. There are not that many finesse players who fit in unless a team likes finesse. I felt I had to get bigger and stronger, but skating is important as well.&rdquo;While Cassels has looked good in rookie camp, the veterans would provide the true test. The Habs opened full camp Sept. 9 in Verdun, Que.&ldquo;I knew last year was going to be a learning experience because of the way the team was set up,&rdquo; said Cassels. &ldquo;Hopefully I won&rsquo;t get sent back this year, but there is always the possibility. I think I can still learn something, especially with coach Kilrea.&ldquo;He knows what it takes to get to the NHL. I&rsquo;m sure if I stay here, though. that I will learn twice as much.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03273/5642394-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="153" height="113"><figcaption class="caption-body">MONTREAL CANADIENS</figcaption></div>If Cassels returns to Ottawa chances are he will play for Canada's national junior team at the World Championships in Anchorage, Alaska Dec. 26-Jan. 4. He spent a week along with 41 other top Canadian junior stars at an August evaluation camp in Kitchener, Ont.Breaking into the Montreal roster will prove difficult for Cassels. Returning centers include Bobby Smith, Guy Carbonneau and Brian Skrudland.Shayne Corson centered Stephane Richer and Mats Naslund for much of last season, but he could be moved to right wing. Corson, unhappy with his playing time, said Sept. 7 he would play out the option on his two-plus-one contract and become a free agent with compensation.Cassels will likely battle Gilles Thibaudeau for the fourth center spot. Thibaudeau was 3-3-6 in eight playoff games last spring after going 5-6-11 in 17 regular-season games. He had 39 goals and 57 assists in 59 games with Sherbrooke, Montreal&rsquo;s American League farm team.NOTES&mdash;Sherbrooke defenseman Scott Sandelin has also decided to play out his option&hellip;The Canadiens bought out the contract of former Ontario League all-star right winger Graeme Bonar. The Toronto native, who played with Sault Ste. Marie and Peterborough in the OHL, was injury-plagued during his two seasons in the Montreal organization and never played a game for the Canadiens. He was Montreal&rsquo;s fifth choice, 54th overall, in 1984 after accumulating 66-71-137 in 66 games during the 1984-85 season. &#9632;

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Cassels Builds Fortifications For Hab Trial

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02470/5642960-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01572/5642953-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3375" height="1950"></div> &#9632;

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WHL SCHEDULE

It has to be one of the craziest professions in all of sport. Who in his right mind would accept a job as a coach in the National Hockey League?In the past year, 10 NHL teams have changed coaches-a phenomenal turnover rate of 47.6 percent. THN examines why coaching is such an insecure profession, from the standpoint of all involved-general managers, players and, of course, the coaches themselves. Someone, somewhere, can shed some light on this madness.This is the first of TH N's three NHL preview editions, complete with training camp reports from around the league. You'll also get the complete 840-game NHL schedule as part of this issue.And, of course, you'll get THN's full minor pro and junior league wrap-ups, our roster of outstanding columnists and much, much more in the Sept. 30 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>On paper, it looked like a steal&hellip; but then that's what they said the last time the two teams did business, too.Only four days before training camps opened, Calgary Flames gave up last season's second-leading Scorer, Mike Bullard, in a controversial seven-player trade that ranked as the second biggest blockbuster of the summerIn the deal, the Flame got center Doug Gilmour, right winger Mark Hunter, left winger Steve Bozek and defenseman Michael Dark from St. Lou1 Blues. In return, the Blues received Bullard, right winger Craig Coxe and the rights to college defenseman Tim Corkery of Ferris State.Bozek was later traded to Vancouver Canucks (see story on page 31)In effect, the deal boiled down to this: Gilmour and Hunter-two front-line players-for Bullard-o ne front-line player."It's a hell of a deal for Calgary," said defenseman Ric Nattress, one of six ex-Blues' players on the Flames' roster.Nattress, who played his junior hockey with Hunter in Brantford, discribed him as "exactly what Mr (Cliff) Fletcher is looking for, an up-and-down winger who's tough. He doesn't take any crap from anybody. He's part of the Hunter clan {Pittsburgh's Dave and Washington's Dale arc the others), so he brings along that desire to compete and do well."Just days before announcing the deal, Flames' GM Cliff Fletcher put "a couple of big, solid wingers who are two-way players" on top of his off-sea on shopping list. In Hunter. he filled one of the holes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011403/5641247-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="712" height="1202"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Bullard is a gifted offensive player who could revitalize the St. Louis attack.</figcaption></div>The only knock against the 26-year-old Hunter is that his rampaging style frequently results in injuries. Hunter played through a serious groin pull all of last season. It limited him to 66 regular-season games and acccounted for the drop 10 his production to 32 goals and 31 a sists."I'm healthy," said Hunter "I hurt my groin last year, but before that, I played 10 74, 78 and 72 game the last three years."Gilmour brings the Flames one player closer to the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division. In two of the past three seasons. Gilmour put up outsanding numbers in post-season play. In 1986, he tied with teammate Bernie Federko as leading playoff corer (each with 21 points) and, in 1988, he finished w11h 17 points in 10 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021130/5641240-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="716" height="1204"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour, target of a sexual abuse lawsuit, gets a new start in Calgary.</figcaption></div>If the Flames learned one thing from last year's playoff loss to the Oilers, it was this: You cannot have enough money players.Fletcher described Gilmour as "one of the real good centermen in the league. He just turned 25, so he's young. We believe he has a good future."Bullard, meanwhile, could revitalize a Blues' offenese that has broken the 300-goal bamer just once (1985-86) in the last six seasons Bullard, acquired by Calgary in November, 1986, put up glittering numbers for the Flames: 76 goals and 71 assist. in only 136 games.Coxe made just nine appearances for Calgary-even regular-season; two playoffs after coming over from Vancouver just before the trading deadline. The most pertinent statistics relating to Coxe are his size-6-foot-4, 200 pound&mdash;and his penalty minute total-218Dark, a defenscman-turned-right-winger, slit last season between St. Louis and Peoria. In 37 ' games in the International League, he totalled 21 goal, 33 points and 97 penalty minutes. In 30 It Looks games with St. Louis, he collected three goal, nine points and 12 minutesCorkery, in 40 games at Ferris State, had no goals and six assists but 108 penalty minutes.The deal is fraught with little ironies. In St. at ay Louis. Bullard will be reunited with Bob Berry, his former coach 10 Pittsburgh, now a Blues' assistant. A confrontation between the two led to the trade that sent Bullard to Calgary. Bullard will also be reunited with Brett Hull, his former linemate The two played together until the trade last March that sent Hull to the Blues for Rob Ramage and Rick Wamsley.The Flames were thought to have robbed the Blues in that transaction, too, though the arrival of Wamsley and Ramage did not result in a Cup victory. Hull, meanwhile. was impressive in St. Loui and the deal may not have been a lopsided as first thought.Hunter, Nattress and Wamsley all share a similar background: Junior hockey in Brantford, drafted by the Montreal Canadiens. played for the Habs, traded to St. Louis in three separate deal. then traded to Calgary in three separate deals.Fletcher wasn't content to stand pat.The next day, Bozek and veteran defenseman Paul Reinhart were hipped off to the Vancouver Canucks In return, the flames will get a third- or fourth-round draft choice from the Canucks, dependent on how many game the oft-injured Reinhart plays. The number of games was not specifiedReinhart missed all but 14 regular-sea on game (no goal four point, penalty minute) with the Flames, due to recurring back spasms. His back improved enough at the end of the year to allow him to play eight playoff game. in which he collected two goals, nine points and ix minutes.When Reinhart was healthy. he was one of the top defensemen in the league. So why did Fletcher trade him for such an apparently low return?"Only because of the uncertainty of his back and uncertainty of how much longer he wanted to pla)' hockey," Fletcher aid. &#9632;

f0003-01

Was This Deal A Steal?

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div>For the third time in his tenure as St. Louis Blues' general manager, Ron Caron parted with a premier player in a fire sale.The first to go was Mike Liut, the NHL's highest paid goaltender. He was sent to the Hartford Whalers during the 1984-85 season largely because former Blues' owner Harry Omest wouldn't fit him in his tight budget.Next to go was right winger Joe Mullen, who became a Calgary Flame midway through the 1985-86 season after going through acrimonious contract negotiations with Omest in the fall.Now the Blue have moved center Doug Gilmour, a 191-point scorer over the past two seaons, to the Flames in a controversial seven-player deal.This time money wasn't an issue. Gilmour had been sued by a St Louis couple, who charged him with sexually abusing their daughter-beginning when she was 13. The girl was apparent a live-in babysitter for the Gilmours.Though guilt or innocence may never be proven in this civil case-no criminal charges had been laid and the lawsuit settled without ever going to trial-Gilmour was finished in St. Louis.Both him and the organization would have suffered under the glare of adverse Gilmour was being hounded crank telephone the Blues' ownership group, of prominent local business people. couldn't have been comfortable with the scandal.&hellip;We feel we have been publicly humiliated and degraded by these accusations brought upon Gilmour said, during a post-trade press conference at home. "We are crushed and devastated by these false accusations agaisnt us.Although I didn't request the trade. I know it was done in my best interest. It was clear to me that it appears this situation will not only affect (my wife and daughter) but also my team and my ability to contribute."My family has always enjoyed going to The Arena to watch me play, but I fear they will no longer be able to do that as a result of these incredible accusations. I'm also concerned that the pressure of this ordeal will affect my performance, and that's not fair to my teammates and to the fans. This has jeopardized my career, my family life."I would love to stay in St. Louis and prove the allegations false, but that would not be fair to my teammates and my family life. I hope you believe me when I say these allegations arc false."Gilmour's market value obviously dropped when the lawsuit was filed Aug. 30. There was still a chance Gilmour could face criminal charges, though St. Louis County prosecutor George Westfall said he hadn't seen any evidence that Gilmour committed statutory rape.Flames&middot; general manager Cliff Fletcher wasn't worried Gilmour would be prosecuted."The Blues were very strong in their feelings that there was no substance to the suit,'' Fletcher said. "and we did some checking on our own. We feel there was no reason not to make the trade.''For the record, Caron aid the lawsuit had nothing to do with the trade. Until the lawsuit was filed, Caron had adamantly denied rumors he tried to trade Gilmour this summer.After the deal. he changed his story."We've been talking trade since the first of August," Caron said. "We talked with a lot of teams. Every time you start a conversation with other teams in order to get players that you need, they ask for your best."New coach Brian Sutter said the timing of the trade was simply coincidental&hellip; It Just so happens the deal wa made," he said "It ha nothing to do with the suit."Under normal circumstances, the deal would be termed lopsided. Gilmour was the Blues' corner tone, an instinctive scorer who could also kill penalties and check top opposing centers. He was selected to play for Canada in the Canada Cup senes-one of the highest honors a player can receive.Though Mark Hunter was limited by knee and a: groin injuries last season, he was still a depend? able scorer who also added Michael It Dark and Steve Bozek were spare parts but combined with Gilmour and Hunter, they formed a package worth more than Mike Bullard, Craig Coxe and Tim Corkery."On paper, you may believe Calgary got two strong, stable players," Caron said. "It don't disagree, but we feel Mike Bullard has been as good or better than Gilmour on a regular basis since his arrival in the National Hockey? League."In order to acquire a role player like Crnig Coxe, you must pay the price We felt we had to? give a lot to get those two players By the token, we feel we have the replacements. That's why we're pretty satisfied with the deal." &#9632;

Blues Bullish On New Acquisition

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011416/5641302-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="154" height="118"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.&mdash;Pat Verbeek had every intention of playing it as tough off the ice as he does on the ice.But the right winger' holdout on the Jersey Deils proved hort-lived. He agreed to a two-year one deal Sept. 9, estimated to be in execs of 200,000 per season general manager Lou Lamoriello settled contract negotiations with center reported two plus an option for Just under 300.000 per season &middot;and Mark Johnso me Car plu an up lion for undisclosed terms"I didn &middot;1 really expect any problems." sold LamoneMoney was the issue for Verbeck. who wanted to be paid commen. urate with other right wingers in the league Had not been for a mid-season which sidelined him for games la I season, Verbeck rrnght have becoml' the Devils' first scorer. finished with 46 in 73 games. breaking the New Jersey sing le-cason goal-scoring record of 35 by Greg Adams in 1985-86 and the framhise mark of 41 set by Will Paicment in 1976-77 when the Devils were the Colorado Rockies.By those standards, Verbeck felt underpaid.&hellip;I just anted to get with, gel signed and play hockey &hellip; said the 24-year-old native of Sarnia, Ont. Verbeck used three different agents to negotiate the contract before Los Angeles-based Ron Salcer-whose other clients include holdouts Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars and Doug Crossman of the Philadelphia Flyers-arranged the new pact.Verbeck was entering the option year of a two-year-plus-option contract and missed the opening of camp Sept. 8 before agreeing to terms. Muller was also the option year of his contract but reported to camp before agreeing to terms.Muller and Verbeck form two-thirds of the Devils' No. I line with left winger Aaron Broten Johnson. who turns 31 on Sept. 22 and was 14-19-33 in 54 games last season. did not have that kind of clout.Also on Lamoriello's mind is Soviet defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov. who awaits clearance from the Red Army before reporting to New Jersey The Devils were still hoping to see the 30-year-old Fetisov before the start of the regular season"We are still waiting for that clearance from the Army said Lamoriello. who added he was unaware Fetisov could be denied entry into the US because he's military personnel. "His involvement with the Army is not like someone in the U.S. He plays for the Red Army (hockey team) and to do so)YOU have to be a member of the Red Army. He is not involved in service."Lamoriello said there 1s no deadline after which the Devils would not be interested in Feti.NOTES---Defenseman Jack O'Callahan, who was not re-signed after last season. was limted to camp .. Rookie defenseman Shane Doyle was sent home after failing to report to camp in proper physical condition.. Rich Costello. a 25-year-old center who played 12 HL game with the Toronto Maple Leafs between 1983 and 1985. was added to the Devils' training camp roster. Costello, who was drafted second by the Fllers in 1981 and went to Toronto in the Darryl Sittler trade. played for Devil GM Lou Lamoriello al Providence College (1981 83). He played in Europe and three games at Utica of the American League last season &hellip; winger George McPhee, who played only five games for the Devils last season because of a severe groin injury, was in camp after signing a contract contingent upon his ability to play.<h2>DEVILS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 9: Pat Verbeek, RW, agreed to terms on two-year contract plus Option; Kirk Muller, C. agreed to terms two-year contract plus option; Mark Jhnson, C, agreed to terms on one year contract plus option. &#9632;

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Verbeek’s Contract Holdout Lasts One Day

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>On the day Ed Snider was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was man mood.Which comes as no surprise. really'.The Philadelphia Flyers&middot; patriarch got into hockey b) virtue of one expansion, then pushed hard for another when the drained its long struggle agaist the World Hockey Association.Both hi Flyers and the 1979 absorption of four WHA refugees have proven to be huge successes. So Snider sees no reason why the NHL shouldn't push onwards and upwards until the tabled 1967 dream of a team in most every major market is realized.If you induct a guy into the Hall of Fame in the 'Builders' category, you'd have to fully expect that he'd want to keep right on building. Snide turned over the day-to-day management of the team to his son, Jay. five years ago and now tends to league nitty-gritty only by continuing to serve on the player-owner councilSnider spends about six months of every year lending to Spectacor's business on the west coast. which involves cable television, arena management and a movie production company But he remains the Flyers' No. I fan and still a voice that deserves, and gets, attention, in league circles.He remains anxious to talk about where he thinks the NHL should be going.&ldquo;I think we could add three teams almost immediately and eventually have a league of 28 teams,&rdquo; says Snider. &ldquo;Have four divisions of seven teams&mdash;with the same amount making the playoffs as do now.&ldquo;If 1 was dictator of the league, I think 1 could accomplish that in five or six years. This isn&rsquo;t the predominating sentiment, of course. But we should push ahead.&ldquo;I think we are turning out more and more players all the time. Michigan, Minnesota, New England and Europe have increased the talent pool. And expansion would eventually mean more players from those areas that we go into. A Mike Richter (New York Ranger goaltending prospect), coming out of Philadelphia, was unheard of 10 years ago. Now things like that are starting to happen.&rdquo;Snider says the fact Hamilton is the only potential expansion site where there is anything resembling a grassroots for a team should not be a deterrent to the league&rsquo;s push forward. Minor-pro hockey in Philadelphia had the worst track record of the six cities that came into the NHL in 1967. And the Flyers have gone on to be the most successful of those franchises.Neither, says Snider, should the sport&rsquo;s failures in Oakland, Kansas City, Atlanta and Cleveland be considered a hard lesson learned from previous overzealous expansion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011307/5641340-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="696" height="1501"></div>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t the sport that failed.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There were individual circumstances in all those places.&ldquo;Atlanta was a good hockey town. We played them in the playoffs (in 1974) and the excitement was genuine. That was a vibrant crowd and I don&rsquo;t think it was an accident."I think the franchise just ran into ownership problems. And I don&rsquo;t fault (owner) Tom Cousins because he eventually had to take over as a civic gesture. Under different circumstances, Atlanta would still be in the league.&ldquo;Colorado went from owner to owner that didn&rsquo;t have either deep enough pockets or desire to stay in it for the long haul. The war with the WHA was still going on. And the weakest teams couldn&rsquo;t survive that war.&ldquo;There were a lot of mistakes made. But I do know that the one home playoff game the (Rockies) ever had, which was against us (in 1978) sold out. With better management and a better team, hockey could have gone there.&ldquo;Every business that expands has a certain casualty rate. The expansions that seem to be the ones people point to as failures (1972 and 1974) brought us the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. How can anyone say those franchises haven&rsquo;t been successes?&rdquo;Snider thinks to not keep looking forward is to be going backward.Despite his moral arguments against doing business with the Soviets, he still believes international hockey is a way to increase the mass appeal of the game.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02955/5641333-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="1457" height="1726"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hall of Fame inductee Ed Snider, owner of the Philadelphia Flyers, would like to see the hall's expansion showcase expanded even more. Snider envisions a 28-team NHL.</figcaption></div>"There are a lot of things 1 might vote against and lose on," he says. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t mean that once the league makes a commitment over my objections, that it shouldn&rsquo;t do it right. The Canada Cup was the best hockey anyone has ever seen.&ldquo;The league has to become more modern in getting across some of the great things we&rsquo;ve been doing. I thought the fact that the Canada Cup couldn&rsquo;t be sold to ESPN is a problem for the league.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see international hockey as just us against the Soviets anyway. Sweden was the defending world champion going into the Canada Cup. A better job should have been done selling them or the Czechoslovaks.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just one specific criticism, though. My general impression is that (NHL marketing committee chairman) Norman Green is doing a great job trying to modernize things. What I can say is the effort being put out today is much greater than it has been in the past.&rdquo;Snider calls John Ziegler a good president, qualifying his praise only in one area. &ldquo;I just wish he was a little more cognizant of the marketing and business aspects," the Flyer owner says. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s been a very good negotiator and handled major problems very well."Ziegler and the NHL, of course, took much heat for the playoff fiasco in the Stanley Cup semi-finals. The New Jersey Devils obtained a court order to overturn an NHL ruling and the on-ice officials subsequently staged a wildcat strike in protest of the Devils&rsquo; action. Ziegler was notable by his absence during the crisis.&ldquo;I blame the referees first (for the New Jersey playoff fiasco),&rdquo; Snider says. &ldquo;Then next, 1 blame the Devils. The referees did not have to walk off, the league had taken action and suspended the coach (Jim Schoenfeld).&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything about the circumstances (of Ziegler&rsquo;s unavailability during the crisis). And enough has been said on the subject already.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an intelligent person. Unless he&rsquo;s lost his marbles. I&rsquo;m sure it will never happen again. I don&rsquo;t think anybody (on the board of governors) had to say anything to him. I think John suffered enough embarrassment that saying anything else would have been kicking somebody when they were down.&ldquo;I personally think he has been vilified, like (Republican vice-presidential candidate) Dan Quayle has been vilified, unfairly. Officials are walking off just before game time. How are you going to be prepared for that?&ldquo;We took such a beating over this. But how can you compare referees having a last-minute wildcat walkout to the National Football League dressing scabs as its regular teams and playing games? It pales so much by comparison. It&rsquo;s laughable. Hey, it shouldn&rsquo;t have happened. But I do think the embarrasment we suffered was exaggerated.&rdquo;Snider had absolutely no qualms about the NHL&rsquo;s decison to grant SportsChannel the national cable television rights in the U.S. for the next three years, even though the number of homes the league can reach will initially drop from 50 million to 10 million.&ldquo;If someone is going to bid that much more ($51 to $32 million by ESPN) for something, then you cannot turn it down,&rdquo; he says. "What you&rsquo;d be doing then is discouraging bidding for next time. And then you aren&rsquo;t going forward."I may have some criticisms, but I'm not unhappy with the NHL as it exists. I think its the greatest sport in the world and I always will and 1 think it can&rsquo;t help but prosper.&rdquo;As long as the builders keep building. &#9632;

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An NHL Builder Aims To Expand Hockey Horizons

<div class="byline">BY KARLO BERKOVICH </div><div class="byline">Assistant Editor</div>Somewhere, George Hayes was probably saying, &ldquo;About time!&rdquo; on Sept. 7, the day he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame.Hayes, a former linesman and one of the most colorful personalities in NHL history, died at the age of 67 on Nov. 19, 1987 at his home in Beachville, Ont. Herbert (Buddy) O&rsquo;Connor, a center with Montreal and the New York Rangers between 1941 and 1951, was also inducted posthumously.Hayes, the 11th on-ice official inducted, died a bitter man due to the circumstances under which he left the league. Hayes worked 1,544 regular-season, 149 playoff and II all-star games between 1946 and 1965. But he was suspended by NHL president Clarence Campbell for refusing to take an eye examination. Hayes said he didn&rsquo;t need one&mdash;he claimed he took one every night reading the labels of whiskey bottles.Hayes never forgave Campbell for suspending him.&ldquo;I might have had to talk to George about avoiding saying anything about Clarence Campbell,&rdquo; said Hayes&rsquo; widow Judy, who accepted on behalf of her late husband. &ldquo;But he probably wouldn&rsquo;t have listened. He would have kept us here for hours telling stories.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021060/5641409-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="335" height="523"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Hayes</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03683/5641402-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="339" height="524"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buddy O'Connor</figcaption></div>She said George had actually mellowed as the years passed, though some anger and bitterness was still evident.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t watch much hockey the last few years, but he followed it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t think there was an NHL once the six-team days ended.&ldquo;It would be so nice if he could be here,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s not diminished because he isn&rsquo;t. We (the Hayes&rsquo; family) always believed he should be in. He belongs here, and now at last he is here.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Connor, who died in 1977 at age 61, is the first player inducted in the veterans&rsquo; category. In order to qualify, a player must have been retired for at least 25 years. O&rsquo;Connor played for Montreal from 1941 to 1947, and the Rangers from 1947 to 1951. He scored 140 goals and 257 assists in 509 regular-season games, and accumulated only 34 penalty minutes.O&rsquo;Connor&rsquo;s best seasons came after his trade to the Rangers. After a 10-goal, 20-assist year with Montreal in 1946-47, O&rsquo;Connor put it all together in his first season with New York. He had 24 goals, 36 assists and just eight penalty minutes in 60 games, winning the Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL player best combining sportsmanship and playing ability.Twice during his career&mdash;1948-49 and 1950-51&mdash;O&rsquo;Connor went through an entire season without a penalty. His gentlemanly approach to the game was reflected off the ice.&ldquo;He was a very shy man,&rdquo; said his widow Jennie. &ldquo;He would have figured he deserved this. He just didn&rsquo;t get enough votes all those years. I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s looking down now and saying &lsquo;I wish I was there&rsquo; (to be inducted).&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-02

Remembering Hayes, O’Connor

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT MORRISON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011490/5641371-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A goalie, a defenseman and a forward, each among the best of the 1970s. From left, Tony Esposito, Brad Park and Guy Lafleur were inducted to the Hall of Fame.</figcaption></div>It is an honor accorded a special few each year, and maybe the best thing about it is that it&rsquo;s not something for which they ever consciously aimed.&ldquo;When you think of the men who are already in there, you realize it&rsquo;s beyond anyone&rsquo;s imagination,&rdquo; said Brad Park. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so special. It&rsquo;s too big for a dream.&rdquo;It is, to be precise, induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame&mdash;an honor bestowed upon former NHL players Park, Guy Lafleur and Tony Esposito on Sept. 7 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the ultimate capper on a career,&rdquo; added Park, who for 17 seasons was among the best defensemen in the NHL. Seven times an all-star, once a winner of the Masterton Trophy, Park played 1,113 regular-season games, scoring 213 goals and 896 points."I never played on a Stanley Cup winner,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I tried like hell. But there are fewer names in the Hall of Fame than there are on the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;It was a night for perspective, but mostly for tribute and fond recollection. In the case of Park, he was among the most talented ever, a man who persisted and excelled despite two wonky knees ravaged by five operations. Park starred with the New York Rangers, later the Boston Bruins, and finally the Detroit Red Wings, a team he would coach for a season after retiring in 1985.He is still collecting money from the Red Wings and is still involved in legal proceedings against them, pending a court date.&ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m bitter towards Detroit, but not hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t treat the whole game that way. I played for a lot of great coaches and general managers and with a lot of great players.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m probably the highest-paid bantam coach in the world now,&rdquo; said Park, who worked as a color commentator on CTV, but now is a wholesale distributor to developers and builders. His ties to hockey are limited to watching and coaching two of his sons.For Lafleur, entry into the Hall of Fame arrived four years after the end of an illustrious 14-year career with the Montreal Canadiens, and three days before he was to arrive at the Rangers' training camp for an attempted comeback.&ldquo;The reason I&rsquo;m coming back?&rdquo; said Lafleur. "I&rsquo;ve got a 3'/2-year-old son at home and I&rsquo;m kind of fed up. He keeps saying to me, &lsquo;Guy who?&rsquo;Guy who? The achievements of Lafleur, among the flashiest right wingers ever, include five Stanley Cup championships with Les Canadiens, five consecutive 50-goal plus seasons, two Hart Trophy awards, and three consecutive scoring titles.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t feel strange at all to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and still be a player,&rdquo; said the 36-year-old Lafleur. &ldquo;I never thought I was finished when I quit. I just had to leave. I lost my love to play in Montreal and I was a victim of the Canadiens&rsquo; system.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to make it back because I still feel I can play. I have to know can. I didn&rsquo;t watch much hockey the past four years, but when I did I said to myself my place I should be on the ice, not the living room."Being inducted is&mdash;how do you say?&mdash;grandiose. It is a heritage to my kids,&rdquo; continued Lafleur, his 51'8 goals 11th-best on the all-time scoring list. &ldquo;When you finish your career it&rsquo;s something very special.&rdquo;Apparently, it is an honor that defies retirement and language barriers, too.Esposito, who earned the title of Tony O while registering 76 career shutouts, including 15 in his first full NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1969-70, is returning to the NHL himself this season. But Esposito will be managing the Pittsburgh Penguins. No comeback is planned, despite the Penguins&rsquo; attendant goaltending troubles.In his 16-year career, Esposito won the Vezina Trophy three times, was an all-star five times, and played fewer minutes (52,585) than only two men, Glenn Hall and Terry Sawchuk. His career highlight, though, was assembling a 2-0-1 record against the Soviet Union in the historic 1972 Summit Series. Not far behind was playing in the 1971 and &rsquo;73 Cup finals, and the remarkable 15-shutout season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proudest of being able to play a long time at a very high level.&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;Being inducted into the Hall? 1 think it means after you quit playing you keep getting better.&ldquo;In my career, I always put hockey ahead of everything. I gave everything 1 had to the game. I made a lot of sacrifices. Being in the Hall of Fame means you&rsquo;re now ranked among the greatest who&rsquo;ve ever played. It&rsquo;s a great honor.&rdquo;Esposito will now try for greatness as a general manager and admits he is enjoying the job. It has something to do with no longer having to face pucks, he said.&ldquo;Maybe I should say that I&rsquo;m having a good time and it has been fun so far,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;1 haven&rsquo;t been through that first losing streak yet.&rdquo;While several general managers have already attempted unsuccessfully to pick his pockets, to prey upon his lack of experience, Esposito considered himself sadly underestimated.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand why they would think I don&rsquo;t know the game or the players,&rdquo; said Esposito, who was introduced at the podium by his brother Phil, also a Hall of Famer, and general manager of the Rangers. But I like it when people underestimate me.&rdquo;Tony replaced Phil as president of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association late in his career and, when he retired in 1984 at age 41, continued working there. He learned the nuances of the game from a different perspective, dealing with the players and owners, and learning from executive director Alan Eagleson.&lsquo;&lsquo;The Eagle took me under his wing and. even though 1 didn&rsquo;t have a formal title, I learned a lot from him&mdash;not only about hockey, but business in general,&rdquo; said Esposito.It was last April, after the Penguins had missed the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season, Esposito was given the general manager&rsquo;s job and another huge challenge, that of turning a persistent loser into a winner.&ldquo;They came and asked me out of the blue,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great situation to run a team with good young talent and a lot of money behind it.&rdquo;Six others were also inducted into the Hall of Fame, including the late George Hayes, a linesman and the first official to work 1,000 games. Hayes, who died last Nov. 19, entered the once officials&rsquo; section.Buddy O&rsquo;Connor, who died 11 years ago, became the first player inducted into the veterans&rsquo; category, created for players retired from active duty for at least 25 years. O&rsquo;Connor, who played 10 seasons, twice won Stanley Cups with the Canadiens, as well as the Hart and Lady Byng trophies in the 1947-48 season with the New York Rangers.The widows, Judy Hayes and Jennie O&rsquo;Connor, accepted the honor for their late husbands.Philadelphia Flyer owner Ed Snider was inducted into the builders&rsquo; section. It was Snider who brought the NHL to Philadelphia in 1967 and helped build a successful franchise, the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup (1975). Its .598 winning percentage is second only to that of the Canadiens the past 21 years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to thank the 211 players who have worn the orange and black,&rdquo; said Snider. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the reason that I&rsquo;m here.&rdquo;Three members of the media were also inducted&mdash;Toronto Star columnist Jim Proudfoot, former Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Scott Young, and broadcaster Dick Irvin, of Hockey Night In Canada and CFCF-TV in Montreal. &#9632;

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A Tribute To The Stars

<div class="byline">BY KARLO BERKOVICH </div><div class="byline">Assistant Editor</div>Scott Young saw the Big Red Machine coming four years before it arrived.&ldquo;I was working on a CBC-TV documentary on Soviet hockey in 1968,&rdquo; recalled Young, 70, one of three media members inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Sept. 7, &ldquo;and Vsevelod Bobrov, the coach of Moscow Spartak, asked me how I thought we&rsquo;d do against the NHL. I told him I thought his team would do quite well.&rdquo;The world found out just how well four years later, when the Soviet national team&mdash;coached by Bobrov&mdash;shocked hockey. The USSR whipped Canada 7-3 in the opening game of an eight-game set, and only Paul Henderson&rsquo;s goal 34 seconds from the buzzer in game eight gave Canada a 4-3-1 series win.Young, a National Newspaper Award winner in Canada for sports-writing, covered hockey as both a beat writer and columnist for the Globe and Mail from 1957 to 1980, when he left the paper to write books full-time.Young has authored 35 books. Sixteen of them are hockey-oriented, including a history of amateur hockey in Ontario he is working on for 1989 release. Many Canadian youngsters grew up reading Young&rsquo;s works, including Scrubs On Skates, A Boy At Leafs &rsquo; Camp and Boy On Defense. Other hockey books include If You Can&rsquo;t Beat&rsquo;Em In The Alley, on legendary Maple Leaf GM Conn Smythe, and Heaven And Hell In The NHL, on former Leaf coach Punch Imlach.&ldquo;This (being inducted) is probably the most pleasant surprise of my life,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never really expected it. I knew that I&rsquo;d rubbed some people in hockey the wrong way. I was a bit of a rebel at times and this really caught me off guard. It&rsquo;s a wonderful surprise.&rdquo;Young was inducted along with long-time Toronto Star columnist Jim Proudfoot and broadcaster Dick Irvin, best known for his color commentary and play-by-play work on Montreal Canadien telecasts for Hockey Night In Canada.Both Proudfoot, 55, and Irvin, 56, remember the Hall&rsquo;s opening at Exhibition Place in Toronto in 1961. Irvin was there for the posthumous induction of his father, legendary coach Dick Irvin (voted to the Hall in 1958), while Proudfoot was covering the event.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011332/5641440-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="516" height="885"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Young</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That was the first thing I thought of (when told of his induction),&rdquo; Irvin said, &ldquo;my dad was a charter member. They presented my mother (with a medallion).&rdquo;Irvin, who has broadcast over 1,500 games since beginning his career in 1961, took his first crack at writing with his soon-to-be released book. Now, Back To You, Dick.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a chapter in there on other sports,&rdquo; says Irvin, sports director at Montreal&rsquo;s CFCF-TV, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s mostly about hockey, and my dad. People were always asking, &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t you do a book on your dad?'Proudfoot joined the Star in 1954. He was sports editor from 1970 to 1977 and began a daily column for the paper in 1971. Proudfoot, who has covered every major hockey event&mdash;both amateur and professional&mdash;during his career, won a National Newspaper Award this year for an investigative series on the death of a jockey. He published an annual hockey yearbook for 16 years.&ldquo;This is just about the best thing that&rsquo;s ever happened to me,&rdquo; Proudfoot said. &ldquo;I was surprised, because I&rsquo;m a long, long way from retirement. In the back of your mind, you think you might get in towards the end of your career.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

Three Selected To Hall’s Media Wing

<div class="byline">FAN FORUM</div>THE LAW HAS no place in professional sports. How is it possible that one isolated incident like the Dino Ciccarelli-Luke Richardson confrontation be brought to court? Did Toronto police have a slow night and have a quota of arrests to fill?I guess from now on a five-minute major will result in a couple of days in jail. This sort of thing should be nipped in the bud now, before it opens a big can of worms.Jay P. Morgan,Wallingford, Conn.(Ed. Note: Toronto police issued a warrant for Ciccarelli's arrest in response to a complaint filed by a fan.)<h2>BACK TO LIZARD RACES</h2>I want to thank the NHL for sparing us here in the southwest from the trials of watching hockey on ESPN. While watching hockey on television last season, I didn&rsquo;t realize the game was intended only for those who live in America&rsquo;s colder climes.Had I known, I would have switched channels to more traditional warm-weather sports as lizard racing and tortilla tossing.What legitimate sports league would willingly limit its base of support as the NHL has done by switching from ESPN to SportsChannel? In the long run, surely, broader fan support would be more important than the additional revenue the SportsChannel contract brings.The NHL has effectively eliminated the opportunity for every hockey fan in New Mexico&mdash;not to mention the southwest&mdash;to watch hockey. Oh well, maybe hockey isn&rsquo;t worth watching anyway.Richard Correa,Silver City, N.M.<h2>OUTSIDE INTEREST</h2>Charleston, West Virginia, is not what you would call a hotbed of hockey. But many in this area were exposed to the game because of ESPN. The only way we can see hockey is through a major network like CBS, ABC, TBS, ESPN, etc.The SportsChannel network and the NHL office keep covering their backsides by saying they expect to be in every U.S. NHL city. Thank you, Mr. John Ziegler, for rewarding NHL fans who don&rsquo;t live in or near a NHL city.The reason the NHL, NBA and major-league baseball became great was not because those leagues decided to broadcast only in those cities that had franchises. That was not going to make money. Why? Because a fan&rsquo;s interest in his or her hometown team is high while the team is winning and low when losing.But the fan like me in West Virginia, or Iowa or Wyoming or the Carolinas who follows the game, keeps the ratings up. the advertising rates up and keeps buying souvenirs which bear their favorite team&rsquo;s logo.If the NHL is supposed to be popular only in cities that have franchises, why do I see people who live in my city wearing Oiler, Flyer or Bruin jackets and sweatshirts? That is what the NHL is going to lose.The contract with SportsChannel will be remembered as the league tragedy of the 1980s.Kevin Totten,Charleston, W. Va.<h2>OILERS WILL SURVIVE</h2>Why did the city of Edmonton make such a fuss over the Wayne Gretzky trade? Gretzky owes Edmonton nothing. He helped bring four Stanley Cups to that city.I am sure Edmonton will always have a special place in Wayne&rsquo;s heart. All he has done is grow up. He wanted a wife and family. It seems the people of Edmonton were spoiled and took the Oilers for granted.The Oilers survived without Paul Coffey. I am sure they will survive without Wayne Gretzky.Ken Mackin,Port Jervis, N. Y.Let your voice be heard. Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Five-Minute Major Penalty Could Lead To Jail Term

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021154/5641495-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="415" height="451"></div>AS PRE-SEASON predictions go, you can&rsquo;t play it any safer than this:No transaction in 1988-89 will be as big as the Wayne Gretzky trade on Aug. 9.So much for living dangerously.Nevertheless, if the greatest player in the game can be traded, then it figures to be open season on everyone else.Herewith, then, is one man&rsquo;s list of the players most likely to be traded this season and why:BERNIE NICHOLLS: One of the most underrated talents in the NHL (averaging 37 goals and 90 points per season for the past five years), the Los Angeles King center will be moved for a number of reasons.One, because the Kings desperately require a proven No. 1 goaltender and/or front-line defenseman. Two, even before Gretzky arrived in L.A., the emergence of Luc Robitaille and Jimmy Carson made Nicholls' offensive skills expendable. Three, because he&rsquo;s been having contract difficulties and seems destined for payday leftovers after Gretzky, Robitaille and Dave Taylor cash their checksDINO CICCARELLI. He could take the day in jail, but another season with the Minnesota North Stars appears to be cruel and unusual punishment.At least at $200,000 per season it is. Ciccarelli&rsquo;s agent, Ron Salcer, has ripped the Stars&rsquo; new management team so hard and is at such odds with them on a new deal for Dino that he&rsquo;s likely to get his wish&mdash;a trade.SYLVAIN TURGEON: Coming off a miserable 23-goal (in 71 games) effort, the Hartford Whaler left winger is ripe for relocation.Ex-Whaler Neil Sheehy, now with Washington, tells of Turgeon&rsquo;s role as a Whaler misfit. Word is Sly&rsquo;s mates think he&rsquo;s goldbricking and he&rsquo;s become an outcast of sorts.Maybe. Maybe not.What&rsquo;s important is that Turgeon the sniper isn&rsquo;t sniping. If he doesn&rsquo;t regain his touch early, a change of scenery is definitely in order.DOUG CROSSMAN: No mystery here. He&rsquo;s had it with the Philadelphia Flyers and the Flyers have had it with the defenseman. Soon, the Flyers will have had it with his agent, the outspoken Salcer, too.BOB PROBERT and/or PETR KLIMA: The Detroit Red Wing party boys have pretty well exhausted their supply of last chances in the Motor City.If either one of them picks up where he left off last season&mdash;in a bar&mdash;then GM Jimmy Devel-lano and coach Jacques Demers will be forced to call off the private investigators, shelve the Antabuse and ship&rsquo;em out in the name of team discipline.There&rsquo;ll be no shortage of takers for the oh-so-talented but oh-so-troubled Wings. Every rival GM likes to think he&rsquo;ll be the one to get the misguided youths back on track.TOMAS SANDSTROM or JAMES PATRICK or BOB FROESE: What list would be complete without a New York Ranger? Or two? Or three?You know Phil Esposito will make a deal&mdash;-it&rsquo;s only a matter of when. Sandstrom, the talented Swede, Patrick, the blue-chip defenseman, and Froese, the No. 2 goalie who appears capable of being a No. 1, are Espo&rsquo;s most marketable commodities.&rsquo;Nuff said.SHAYNE CORSON: The Montreal Canadien combines toughness and talent to such a degree he would ordinarily be an untouchable.But he&rsquo;s playing out his option. He&rsquo;s given the Habs a few off-ice headaches, though on that team he&rsquo;s not alone. His market value is high.The signs point to a trade.BARRY PEDERSON: The Vancouver Canucks, if they haven&rsquo;t done so already, will soon realize that a 27-year-old underachieving center doesn't fit in their rebuilding program.At approximately $400,000 (Cdn.) per year, though, there will be few takers for the ex-Bruin star. But when Vancouver offers to pay a portion of his salary, contending teams will line up for his services. &#9632;

f0008-02

The Players Most Likely To Leave Trademarks

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011420/5641526-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Elston

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY JEFF HALE </div><div class="byline">Editorial Staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011373/5641557-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">New L.A. King Wayne Gretzky caused a stir when he showed up for training camp in Victoria, B.C. (Canapress Photo service)</figcaption></div>The NHL is cracking down on players guilty of flagrant stick fouls.A player receiving a major penalty for injuring an opponent by high-sticking, slashing, butt-ending, crosschecking or spearing will receive an automatic game misconduct this season. A second offense will result in an additional one-game suspension. Suspensions are increased by one game for each successive infraction.The board of governors unanimously approved the new rule at its Sept. 7 meeting in Toronto.NHL president John Ziegler said the action wasn&rsquo;t a reaction to the Aug. 24 jail sentence and conviction of Minnesota North Star right winger Dino Ciccarelli for assault.&ldquo;The process started before (Ciccarelli&rsquo;s conviction),&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;There has been no groundswell within the league, or even in our own analysis, that our discipline is other than the proper approach.&rdquo;In other business, discussion of a proposal that would see Los Angeles Kings of the Smythe Division and Toronto Maple Leafs of the Norris Division trade places was postponed until the board of governors meet Dec. 7-9 in Palm Beach, Ha.Toronto general manager Gord Stellick has said the Maple Leafs oppose a swtich.<h2>NHL, CHL AGREEMENT</h2>The NHL&rsquo;s new four-year, $10-million agreement with the Canadian Hockey League is an indication of ever-strengthening ties, said CHL president Ed Chynoweth.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re closer now with the NHL than we&rsquo;ve been in some time,&rdquo; said Chynoweth. &ldquo;Certainly I think it&rsquo;s even going to go farther. We appreciate the remuneration but we are concerned with the well-being of hockey.&rdquo;The agreement, announced Sept. 7, is an extension of two previous one-year extensions. For each of the first two years, the CHL receives $2 million, up from $1.75 million, and for the last two, $2,115 million. The education fund allotment has been increased to $100,000 a year. Previously, the NHL paid the CHL $1,000 for each player taken in the first five rounds of the entry draft, which amounted to an education fund of about $60,000. The CHL will meet later with its league members to decide how to allocate the $100,000.Among modifications to the deal is a change in call-up regulations. An NHL team can make an emergency recall of a junior defenseman if two of its defensemen are injured. Previously, three players had to be injured before a junior could be recalled.<blockquote class="pullQuote">HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</blockquote>An NHL team can also call up a junior for a five-game trial if his junior team isn&rsquo;t playing and a 19-year-old junior with four years of experience is eligible for minor-pro assignment.<h2>OFFICIAL RATIFICATION</h2>The NHL and NHL Officials&rsquo; Association both ratified a five-year agreement Sept. 8. Three months of negotiation concluded with an agreement Aug. 28.The key issue snarling discussions throughout the summer was the NHL&rsquo;s demand it be permitted to fire officials at will. According to terms of the previous three-year contract, the league could only fire officials rated among the bottom third.That system was retained in the new agreement.For referees, 50 per cent of their rating is determined by league executives&mdash;vice-president of hockey operations Jim Gregory, director of officiating John McCauley and supervisors have input&mdash;25 per cent by NHL team management and 25 per cent by linesmen.For linesmen, it is 75 per cent league executive and 25 per cent referees.<h2>AGOG OVER GRETZKY</h2>Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s first appearance at the Los Angeles King training camp in Victoria, B.C., Sept. 9, was likely a sign of things to come.The ex-Edmonton Oiler was making his first post-trade appearance and created a stir that will likely be repeated each time he arrives in a city for the first time as a King.Victoria was agog over the Great One, from autograph-hungry airport baggage handlers who neglected carousels of luggage to local fans who crowded the hotel lobby where the Kings were staying.The Kings charged $2 for adults and $l for children at the team&rsquo;s first skate and the 1,200-seat Juan de Fuca Arena was nearly full. The money was donated to Victoria minor hockey. The Kings&rsquo; Sept. 17 exhibition game in Victoria against Vancouver was sold out within hours.The crowd at the hotel lobby waited for a glimpse of Gretzky after he concluded his morning medical test.&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t know what all the fuss is,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; administrative assistant John Wolf. &ldquo;All he&rsquo;s done is pee in a bottle.&rdquo;<h2>A BITTER PERRON</h2>Former Montreal Canadien coach Jean Perron, now assistant general manager with the Quebec Nordiques, is bitter about his May 16 departure from the Canadiens. Perron guided the team to a Stanley Cup championship two years ago, his first season as an NHL coach. &ldquo;I wanted to stay in Montreal but it was an ordeal to coach,&rdquo; he told Canadian Press. &ldquo;The pressure there is omnipresent and you can kill yourself with one comment.&rdquo;Perron&rsquo;s resentment stems from the lack of support he received from management, particularly team president Ronald Corey and managing director Serge Savard. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t want anybody to tarnish the image. To Corey, especially, the image is so important.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how many times management bailed out some of the young guys for things they did away from the rink. It happened a lot in Montreal. The front office always seemed to write a check to solve things. Just once I wish someone had stepped into the dressing room and said, &lsquo;The coach is in charge here. &rsquo; But that didn&rsquo;t happen. It went from bad to worse.&rdquo;<h2>BITS AND PIECES</h2>The U.S. national junior team lost three games to their Soviet counterparts at Lake Placid, N.Y. Aug. 23, 25, and 27. The scores were 6-4, 5-4 and 4-3&hellip; The $53-million Bradley Center will officially open Oct. I with an exhibition game between the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks. The building, donated by former Blackhawk broadcaster Lloyd Petit and his wife, Jane, is named for her father, Wisconsin philanthropist Harry Lynde Bradley. It will serve as the home for the International League&rsquo;s Milwaukee Admirals and seats 17,600&hellip;Chris Moore has been named play-by-play announcer for New Jersey Devil broadcasts on WABC radio. Moore replaces Dale Arnold, who left to handle play-byplay for the NFL&rsquo;s New England Patriots. Larry Brooks returns for his third season as color commentator.<h2>OVERHEARD</h2>&ldquo;She was a lot nicer to look at than (Knights&rsquo; coach Wayne) Maxner.&rdquo;&mdash;Windsor Spitfire coach Tom Webster on Sue Taylor, 35, who won a contest and was allowed to coach the Ontario League&rsquo;s London Knights in an exhibition game on Sept. 9. She won her debut, 8-6 over Windsor. &#9632;

f0009-01

NHL Gets Tough On Stick Incidents

<div class="byline">Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011460/5641588-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="358" height="475"></div>WHEN I FIRST heard the Hockey Hall of Fame was being relocated in a bank building, it seemed like an appropriate choice. Who was the greatest you ever saw? Howe? Hull? Orr? Richard? Gretzky?Naw, Peter Pocklington, of course. Hockey is a business, and he pulled off the greatest deal ever. So it is perfect you should enter the new Hockey Hall of Fame through alarmed doors.Admission to the Hall would not be by the committee&rsquo;s vote, but by deposit slip. Players would no longer have to wait three years from their retirement to be elected, only five days until their check clears. There should be a drive in window and a Christmas club and no plaques for the enshrined. Safety-deposit boxes will do.See, since Gretzky got traded, I haven&rsquo;t been interested in red lines or blue lines. Only the bottom line, bub. That classic photograph of Noel Picard sending Bobby Orr sprawling an instant after he scored the goal to win the 1970 Stanley Cup? Big deal. The only pictures I want to see are those of dead presidents.When told I was going to Toronto to cover this year&rsquo;s Hall of Fame induction, I wanted to know why. &ldquo;Yeah, what's in it for me?&rdquo; I asked. My heart turned colder than that of Judge Harris when he sentenced Dino to a hard day on the rockpile.What kind of man had I become? Why? Maybe it was the fact I&rsquo;d been to the Hockey Hall of Fame a few times without being moved. Literally. It was awfully hard to move in the place, it was so jammed with old sticks held by Busher Jackson and pucks shot by Morris Mott and jerseys and masks worn by Curt Ridley. The place kind of looked like Pee Wee Herman's playhouse. My attic has more organization.Then too, I often had cause to wonder about the qualifications of some of the Hall&rsquo;s members. Of course half the fun of having a Hall of Fame is arguing about who should get in and who shouldn't. But I think a lot of us come up with too many shouldn&rsquo;ts in a place that is supposed to be reserved for the very best.To me, that has cheapened the whole thing. I&rsquo;d mention names of guys I want outta there, but that would be awfully tacky. Plus, on my next visit to the Forum, I don&rsquo;t want any of those eyes in the faces up on the wall of the Canadiens&rsquo; dressing room following me around. I might get hit by lightning or something.So, I was a disllusioned fellow as I humbugged my way to Toronto for this year&rsquo;s dinner ceremonies. I buried my face in the beef Wellington or whatever the hell it was and braced myself for three hours of tedium.Two things turned it around for me. One was the face of Mrs. George Hayes when she accepted her late husband&rsquo;s enshrinement. The other was the face of Mrs. Buddy O&rsquo;Connor when she did the same. The day obviously meant so much to these nice women and their families that I came to a new and wonderful realization: It should mean something. This is the Hockey Hall of Fame, dammit. And I should take my cyncism and stick it where it belongs On the North Stars.Hall president Scotty Morrison got up and gave a progress report on the new Hall, which is about 21/2 years away from opening. It will be in the old Bank of Montreal building as part of the new BCE Place in downtown Toronto. It will have 50,000 square feet to it as compared to the 18,000 at present on the CNE grounds.It will make extensive use of video, combining the best features of the baseball, football and basketball Halls. Morrison has visited them all to see what hockey can do better. When the new building opens, it will be more state-of-the-Art than even Skov.Then John Ziegler took the microphone and described his vision of a pulpit-like setting for the Stanley Cup near the entrance. &ldquo;The resting place for hockey&rsquo;s Holy Grail,&rdquo; he said. And I hit my knees, praised the Lord and Howie Morenz and started rolling up and down the aisles between the tables.Hallelujah, brother. I was born again in hockey&rsquo;s heritage. Yessirree. This new Hall could be absolutely spectacular, so here is my charge to Scotty Morrison: Don&rsquo;t screw it up.Here&rsquo;s what I think the new Hall of Fame should be: I want the recent great moments of the game on video. I want those moments that happened before there was video on audio.I want to hear Foster Hewitt while I walk through the place. I want to hang from the gondola. I want to see not just Glenn Hall&rsquo;s old locker, but him in front of it, throwing up. I want to smell Alexander Maltsev&rsquo;s ratty old Red Army jersey. I want to be able to throw rocks at store windows along Ste. Catherine Street because Clarence Campbell won&rsquo;t let The Rocket play.I want Cliff Fletcher to turn over the pictures he must have of Ron Caron in compromising positions so that we can see them too. I want to walk into a display where you feel like you&rsquo;re in the NHL&rsquo;s great old buildings and have to pay $10 to park, just like at Chicago Stadium.I want to buy a plot of land over in the corner next to Sprague Cleghorn&rsquo;s plaque, where they can bury me a happy man.Alas, not only couldn&rsquo;t I check when I played, but they won&rsquo;t take my check, either. But that&rsquo;s okay, as long as they don&rsquo;t take Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s either. Then the new Hockey Hall of Fame will become a fine place to visit. And a place where the greats and&hellip;all right, all right, even some near greats&hellip;will live forever. &#9632;

f0010-01

Hockey Hall Of Fame’s Checks And Balances

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03715/5641619-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="550" height="1760"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Crossman worked out on his own while his agent and the Flyers locked horns.</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Doug Crossman has worn out his welcome with the Flyers and wants out of Philadelphia, says his agent.And, says Los Angeles-based Ron Salcer, Crossman will not report to training camp until he is dealt.Flyer general manager Bob Clarke said he would not make a trade unless he can get a &ldquo;decent offer&rdquo; for Crossman.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;ll look for a deal,&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been looking for a deal, but I have no good offers. He wants to be traded, find me an offer. A decent offer. I&rsquo;m not going to make a deal just because Doug wants to be traded.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s under contract, he&rsquo;ll be suspended and fined (a maximum of $250 a day), and if I can&rsquo;t get a good deal, he can sit all year for all I care.&rdquo;Crossman, 28, was practising at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont., but could not be reached for comment on the matter. He left a message all statements would be made by Salcer.And Salcer, who has also taken shots at Minnesota North Star management over its handling of Dino Ciccarelli&rsquo;s contract situation, had plenty to say.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021110/5641626-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="155" height="117"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</figcaption></div>The agent said Crossman first asked to be traded last December, well before former Flyer coach Mike Keenan publicly criticized the defenseman.&ldquo;Doug is not going to training camp. He&rsquo;s sure of that,&rdquo; said Salcer.&ldquo;We approached the Flyers in early June and formally requested a trade,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We told Bobby Clarke that Doug did not want to return to the Flyers.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious, he&rsquo;s worn out his welcome there.&rdquo;Crossman, who played for Canada during the 1987 Canada Cup, was the target of harsh public criticism and benching by Keenan late last season. Subsequently, he was the target of persistent booing by fans at the Spectrum as he suffered through a sub-par season (9-29-38 in 76 games).But when the Flyers fired Keenan during the off-season it was expected Crossman would be looking at a new start under Keenan&rsquo;s successor, Paul Holmgren.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t just Keenan,&rdquo; said Salcer. &ldquo;Doug is upset with the whole organization. When Keenan made those statements, nobody really backed up Doug.&ldquo;Bob (Clarke) says he&rsquo;s asked around, but he can&rsquo;t make a trade. He tells me he&rsquo;s looking for top players. Look, if the Oilers can trade Wayne Gretzky, the Flyers should be able to (trade Doug Crossman).&ldquo;Hey, unhappy players are traded all the time. A guy doesn&rsquo;t want to play somewhere, he gets traded. That&rsquo;s the way things happen. Why can&rsquo;t this get done?&ldquo;One thing that we want to stress is that this is not over money. Money is not an issue here. All Doug wants to do is have fun playing hockey again. It was no longer any fun in Philadelphia.&rdquo;Clarke denied all summer Crossman wanted a trade, but as camp approached confirmed the defenseman wants out.&ldquo;I talked to Doug three weeks ago,&rdquo; Clarke said during the first week of September, &ldquo;and he told me he was thinking about not coming to camp. I guess he&rsquo;s made up his mind not to come.&ldquo;Well, a lot of the young players looking for jobs will be happy to hear about that.&ldquo;If he gave me some good reasons (for wanting out), some legitimate reasons, I might be more sympathetic. But what does it mean: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not happy with the organization?&rsquo;&ldquo;Give me something specific. If he had a problem with Keenan, I can&rsquo;t help that. Keenan is gone, I thought that would solve the problem. I guess it hasn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;We know Doug Crossman is a very good hockey player. And we&rsquo;re not going to just trade him for nothing.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Left winger Claude Boivin, the Flyers&rsquo; first pick in this summer&rsquo;s entry draft, will likely be returned to Drummondville of the Quebec League after training camp-&hellip; Former Flyer Dave Schultz recently started a marketing job with the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City, N.J. &#9632;

f0010-03

Crossman Not Keen On Remaining A Flyer

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The Oilers' upheaval after winning their second straight Stanley Cup&mdash;and fourth in five years&mdash;doesn&rsquo;t surprise Harry Neale. The NHL-coach-turned-broadcaster says, &ldquo;1 remember something told to me about Conn Smythe, when he was manager of the Maple Leafs and they won all those Stanley Cups (four in five seasons) in the 1940s,&rdquo; says Neale. &ldquo;The Leafs had just won the final game of one of their many Stanley Cups and the team was going back to Toronto by train. The guys were drinking, celebrating, but when the train stopped for half an hour Smythe took a walk with his coach (Hap Day). It was a warm spring evening. Smythe said, &lsquo;Well, who are the guys we want to get rid of?&rsquo; The coach said, &lsquo;Wait a minute, we've just won the Stanley Cup.' Smythe said, &lsquo;Yes, but that&rsquo;s over now. That's history.&rsquo; And that&rsquo;s always got to be the thinking if you want to stay on top.&rdquo;Whether sophomore coach Terry Crisp can maintain harmony and get the Flames to regroup after their playoff humiliation is the talk of many close to the Calgary scene. Ever since the Oilers whitewashed the Flames in four last spring, there has been considerable analysis by the Calgary media. But perhaps the most incisive was delivered on a local sports panel show, when CFAC commentator Grant Pollock declared, &ldquo;The Flames had dissension in the dressing room. Many people don&rsquo;t realize there were problems in the room. They weren&rsquo;t a team.&rdquo; Crisp&rsquo;s challenge will be getting his Flames together as a team. Pollock suggests that there are &ldquo;too many fragile egos inside the Calgary dressing room.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011330/5641664-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="349" height="573"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Miller</figcaption></div>What happens when an agent, who crusades against hockey violence, is asked to represent a notorious NHL enforcer? Does he take the client? You bet he does. In the case of Boston rep Steve Freyer and Bruins badman Jay Miller, the result is a happy relationship. Freyer, an outspoken critic of hockey bloodshed, tells BLUELINES he had no compunctions about striking a deal with Miller after the badman approached him during a Bruins&rsquo; practice. &ldquo;When I said &lsquo;yes&rsquo; to Jay&rsquo;s request that I handle him,&rdquo; Freyer recalls, &ldquo;he wheeled around and said, &lsquo;Wait a minute, aren&rsquo;t you the guy who hates goons?&rsquo; That&rsquo;s when I had some explaining to do." Freyer, who represents Ray Bourque and Steve Kasper, insists he can live with handling the boisterous Miller despite his goon philosophy. &ldquo;First of all,&rdquo; the agent explains, &ldquo;Jay is a legitimate player. He can play the game. Secondly, I like him. He&rsquo;s a nice guy who grew up in the Boston area and educated himself at the University of New Hampshire. Thirdly, he asked me if I&rsquo;d represent him.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Kings&rsquo; boss Bruce McNall has been estimating what the combined benefits of cable TV revenue, ticket sales, merchandising and other sources of income can do to enable him to break even in the Wayne Gretzky exchange. &ldquo;My &lsquo;best-case&rsquo; projections are that the deal will pay for itself in three years,&rdquo; says McNall. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s based on success in the playoffs, and if attendance rose dramatically. Maybe a more reasonable scenario is five years.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02980/5641657-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="338" height="566"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Burns</figcaption></div>Meanwhile, a cottage industry of sorts has popped up in the marketing of No. 99 Edmonton jerseys. Calgary uniform dealer Keith Burluck predicts the sweaters will move quickly as collector&rsquo;s items. &ldquo;All the old defunct sweaters, like the California Golden Seals, are very popular,&rdquo; says Burluck. The Gretzky Edmonton jerseys are retailing for about $100. According to Burluck, one buyer from Japan purchases Gretzky and Mario Lemieux pre-crested jerseys by the hundreds. &ldquo;Nothing else,&rdquo; Burluck reveals&hellip;There are murmurings that Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s show biz pals, Michael J. Fox. David Foster and Alan Thicke, would like to put an NHL team in San Diego. The trio supposedly is eyeing Seattle as well.Canadien watchers will be keeping a close eye on Jacques Lemaire's behind-the-scenes maneuverings in terms of his influence on GM Serge Savard and rookie coach Pat Bums. Some Habs insiders are convinced that Lemaire played as big a part in Jean Perron&rsquo;s Montreal demise as anyone. As James Baxter of the Montreal Daily News notes, &ldquo;Lemaire has already cost the Canadiens one fine coach. He shouldn&rsquo;t be allowed to toy with another-.&rdquo;&hellip; The Canadiens will be keeping a sharp eye on Andrew Cassels, their first pick (17th overall) from Ottawa 67&rsquo;s in the 1987 entry draft. Brian Kilrea, the Ottawa coach and former Islander assistant, does the unthinkable and compares him to The Great One. &ldquo;In some ways,&rdquo; says Kilrea, &ldquo;Andrew is like Gretzky. They do many things similarly.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-01

Champs Stay On Top By Not Standing Pat

<div class="byline">Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011432/5641726-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="346" height="451"></div>WELCOME TO THE 1988-89 exhibition season where there are, as you would expect, titillating questions and, in this corner at least, 14-karat gold answers.Can Mike Keenan do for the Blackhawks what he did for the Flyers?If it means getting 21 players fighting-mad at him, the answer is an emphatic &lsquo;Yes!&rsquo; If it means getting the club into first place (Norris Division) in his initial season with the team, the answer also is affirmative. If it means getting the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup finals, as Keenan did with Philly in 1985, forget it.Why should anyone believe Pierre Page will do any better in Minnesota than Herb Brooks or Lome Henning did in the two previous seasons?Our ancestors didn&rsquo;t invent the word &lsquo;hope&rsquo; for nothing, did they? Besides, if you believe in the law of averages&mdash;Ranger fans excluded&mdash;anything is possible, especially in the Norris Division.Will Mario Lemieux win a second straight scoring championship?Does the sun rise in the east? Of course he will, because Le Grand Magnifique is better than The Great One as we speak. And with a full season of Paul Coffey around to catapult Mario into scoring position, the Big Guy should be good for 200 points even if he doesn&rsquo;t make the playoffs.How many regular-season games will Grant Fuhr play this season?He&rsquo;ll have to be forcibly restrained from playing all 80 regular-season games, but Grant will unhappily settle for 69&mdash;with the knowledge that his benevolent despot, Glen Sather, will toss in at least 16 playoff contests.Ron Hextail had a superb rookie season but a mediocre sophomore year. Does that mean he&rsquo;ll come back with another sensational campaign?Definitely&mdash;if the Flyers figure out a way of reclaiming Brad McCrimmon. Hexy will be very vexy this year as the Philly backline ages and enemy intelligence penetrates the Hextali code. Ron still has the tools for top-flight goaltending but he has to learn (still) to keep those tools cool. A few more outrageous emotional-physical outburts and the Flyers will be sorry they ever let Bob Froese go.Is Larry Robinson serious about wanting to leave the Canadiens?Robbie&rsquo;s agent. Don Cape, is a no-nonsense, unsentimental chap who will steer his client where the money is, particularly since the Habs won&rsquo;t offer more than a one-year deal.Who really runs the Maple Leafs&mdash;Gord Stellick, John Brophy or Harold Ballard?Borje Salming.Which team made the biggest mistake of the off-season?The Blackhawks, because they gave up Bob Mason just when he is about to blossom as a full-time A-l goaltender. Like most young goalies&mdash;see Tom Barrasso as further evidence&mdash;several years are necessary to mature under NHL fire. The former U.S. Olympian should establish himself this term.Who will be Don Cheery&rsquo;s scapegoats this year?Figure Spuds MacKenzie and Inge Hammar-strom.Can Michel Bergeron survive another season on Broadway if his Rangers miss the playoffs for the second straight year?Absolutely&mdash;but not as coach, as next Ranger GM.How many good things can you think of about the 1988-89 Vancouver Canucks?Three: Pat Quinn, Brian Burke and Bob McCammon.Is history on Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s side in his comeback attempt?Yes and No. Gordie Howe did pretty well as a grandfather when he returned after a hefty layoff. But, then, there&rsquo;s Ted (Teeder) Kennedy, the gallant captain of the Maple Leafs during their 1949-1951 (two) Stanley Cup years. Kennedy, a notoriously labored skater, failed abysmally when he made his return in 1956-57 after a year of retirement. The keys are the wheels. Skating was one of Howe&rsquo;s fortes and he never lost it. Lafleur&rsquo;s wheels should put him in the Howe class.Are Los Angeles fans being typically California ga-ga when they talk about Wayne Gretzky bringing the Stanley Cup to L.A. next spring?Laugh, if you will, but just remember how hard folks were laughing at the Devils one year ago. And look how far they got without Gretzky.Every year there are upsets. What can we expect this year?Well, the Penguins haven&rsquo;t made the playoffs since pre-Lemieux days, so we start off with that one as a decent possibility. Kerry Fraser and Michel Bergeron signing a mutual nonaggression pact would be another. Bob Probert behaving like a high-grade player should would be a third.Will there be another blackout in Boston Garden this year?Only if Ray Bourque gets hurt.What advice would you give Terry Crisp so that his Flames won&rsquo;t be humiliated again by Edmonton in the playoffs?Get Grant Fuhr. &#9632;

f0012-01

Titillating Questions And 14-K Answers

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03790/5641757-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="552" height="1190"><figcaption class="caption-body">Neil Sheehy was disgruntled by the ice time he received as a Hartford Whaler.</figcaption></div>LANDOVER, Md.&mdash;A positive thinker, defenseman Neil Sheehy was pleased with his July 6 trade from Hartford to Washington.He saw little ice time with the Whalers, but now faces the task of carving a place for himself on a defense that boasts a solid quartet of Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Kevin Hatcher and Larry Murphy.Garry Galley played out his option and left for Boston when he was unable to make a dent in that group. But the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Sheehy is not daunted by the task.&ldquo;Washington has a big four, no question,&rdquo; said Sheehy. &ldquo;But that indicates to me that they&rsquo;re a very defensive team and they want a player they feel comfortable with defensively. I hope I fill that bill and can earn their respect and confidence.&rdquo;Sheehy, 28, was signed by the Calgary Flames as a free agent out of Harvard in 1983. After one game with Calgary in the 1983-84 season, he made the team for good the next season. His best season was 1985-86, when he was 2-16-18 with 271 PIM in 65 games.He began the 1987-88 season with Calgary and thought he was performing very well.(In 36 games he was 2-6-8. But his world suddenly turned upside down Jan. 3, when the Flames sent him to Hartford in the Dana Murzyn trade.Sheehy had a groin pull when he reported and never made much of an impression with coach Jack Evans and his successor, Larry Pleau.&ldquo;Last year I was having the best year of my career until January, then it turned out to be the worst year,&rdquo; said Sheehy, 3-10-13 in 62 games overall and 1-4-5 in 26 games with Hartford. &ldquo;Early in the season, I was a young player, then I was an aged player. I felt things couldn&rsquo;t turn that fast, but they did. I have to turn it back.&ldquo;I have high expectations here and I&rsquo;m glad I&rsquo;m out of Hartford. Everybody likes to play and my ice time was cut in half there. That&rsquo;s the coach&rsquo;s decision and I can&rsquo;t fault them for that, but obviously I didn&rsquo;t like it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021191/5641764-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="166" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body">WASHINGTON CAPITALS</figcaption></div>Sheehy did not like some other aspects of the Hartford situation and he was widely quoted as blasting the Whalers&rsquo; &ldquo;lack of leadership.&rdquo; Hartford general manager Emile Francis did not take kindly to Sheehy&rsquo;s comments and hence the trade to Washington.Sheehy insisted he wasn&rsquo;t trying to cut down his Whaler teammates, but defend Hartford left winger Sylvain Turgeon against racial slurs in the dressing room (see page 27.).&ldquo;I thought I left Hartford on a good note,&rdquo; Sheehy said. &ldquo;It was just a situation that didn&rsquo;t work.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure if that (slurs) happened here, they&rsquo;d be shut up in a hurry. You have to win as a team and you can&rsquo;t be cutting down your teammates.&rdquo;Another item Sheehy is occasionally asked to explain is his citizenship. Some record books list his birthplace as Fort Frances, Ont. Others call it International Falls, Minn.&ldquo;The hospital in Ontario was about a mile from our house in Minnesota,&rdquo; Sheehy said. &ldquo;I actually have dual citizenship, but I&rsquo;m an American. When I made the NHL and announcers said I was a native of Ontario, people at home jumped all over me, so I&rsquo;m trying to get my birthplace listed as International Falls, but it isn&rsquo;t easy.&rdquo;International Falls is listed in the NHL&rsquo;s Official Guide and Record Book.Sheehy will wear No. 15 with Washington, after experiencing zero success with 0 on his back in Hartford.&ldquo;I wore No. 15 in minor hockey and at college (Harvard), but it was taken at Hartford and so was No. 5,&rdquo; Sheehy said. &ldquo;I wore 21 a little in the minors, but that was gone, too. Once in the minors (at Moncton) Terry Crisp had me wear zero, so I figured I&rsquo;d try it again. But now I&rsquo;d just as soon forget it.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Capitals listed 60 players on the roster for the opening of training camp in Alexandria, Va., on Sept. 9&hellip;Two young defensemen, Bobby Babcock and Jeff Ballantyne, were recuperating from serious knee surgery and unable to participate in contact drills. Babcock, 20, was the Capitals&rsquo; 11th choice, 208th overall from Cornwall of the Ontario League, at the 1986 entry draft, while Ballantyne, 19, was selected 36th overall from Ottawa of the OHL at the 1987 draft&hellip;Left winger Tracey Katelnikoff, a prospect from Saskatoon of the Western League, left the Caps&rsquo; rookie camp on Sept. 7 to return to his home in Calgary, where his father died of a heart attack. &#9632;

f0012-03

Sheehy Wants To Make Big Four Into Five

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;David Volek is free. Free to take his fiancee Alice Henysova on vacation whenever and wherever he wants. Free to say and think what he feels. Free to spend the next four weeks proving he can play for the New York Islanders.The 22-year-old right winger from Prague, who defected from Czechoslovakia to Edmonton by way of West Germany on July 25, checked into his first pro training camp on Sept. 7 and was formally introduced the next day. At his first New York press conference, Volek wore a sharp dark suit that agent Rich Winter helped him select in Edmonton.Volek didn&rsquo;t understand all the questions, but he couldn't stop smiling at Alice, who sat quietly among reporters as the cameras clicked and rolled.&ldquo;I am happy,&rdquo; Volek said in fractured English.Scared? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said deliberately. &ldquo;My family was three years in Switzerland, so I was alone.&rdquo;It was a happy day. Neither Islander general manager Bill Torrey nor Winter seemed concerned about the NHL&rsquo;s investigation into a six-month suspension assessed by the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Federation for alleged steroid use. Volek tested positive in April, a charge Winter said Volek denied.The International Ice Hockey Federation has asked NHL president John Ziegler to enforce the suspension. The NHL announced it is investigating it.&ldquo;Until there&rsquo;s any evidence,&rdquo; Torrey said, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s nothing to it.&rdquo;Winter, who said Volek was the only player on his team tested, said the suspension was levied to harass Volek for defecting.&ldquo;David didn&rsquo;t use steroids,&rdquo; Winter said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll take another test if he has to.&rdquo;Volek said he thought about defecting since June 1984, when the Islanders drafted him in the 10th round. But he didn't seriously consider it until after the 1987 Canada Cup.&ldquo;I must wait for my chance,&rdquo; he said, meaning he wanted to wait until he was good and mature enough. He said if he remained in Czechoslovakia this year, &ldquo;I must go to army.&rdquo;So this summer he decided to leave. His father (&ldquo;my first coach&rdquo;) received permission to coach hockey in West Germany last season, so he had no problem receiving travel visas for himself and Alice in May. Volek contacted Winter through Miroslav Maly, a Czechoslovak who once played in the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; system and played last season for David&rsquo;s father.Winter flew to West Germany and brought Alice and David back.Winter negotiated a contract believed to run for five years and be worth approximately $700,000. Volek skated informally during August with a group of Edmonton-area players. One of the goalies was the Islanders&rsquo; Kelly Hrudey.&ldquo;He has an unbelievably high skill level,&rdquo; Hrudey said of the 6-foot. 185-pounder. &ldquo;But in the NHL, he&rsquo;ll have to use everybody on the ice. He&rsquo;ll have to learn that, just like all the other Europeans who come over. He&rsquo;s awfully excited. Playing in the NHL, that&rsquo;s all he talked about.&rdquo;Volek also talked about scoring 25 goals, but coach Terry Simpson said it&rsquo;s unreasonable to expect more than 15-20 from a player who will be adapting to a new country, a new way of life, a new language and new teammates. The game is the same, but the NHL&rsquo;s smaller rinks and larger people play it quite differently.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011345/5641795-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="147" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 147px">NEW YORK ISLANDERS</figcaption></div>"1 like smaller rinks,&rdquo; said Volek, who scored 45 goals in 69 Czechoslovakian League games over the last two seasons. &ldquo;Closer to the goal.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Center Tom Fitzgerald, the Islanders&rsquo; 1986 first-round draft pick, 17th overall, decided to forego his final two years at Providence College and sign with the Isles. &ldquo;We were going to have another young team again,&rdquo; he said of the Friars, &ldquo;and I couldn't see myself progressing as a player.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Islanders checked 68 players into camp, the largest of coach Terry Simpson&rsquo;s three NHL camps. Fifty-eight players reported in 1986, 62 last season. GM Bill Torrey bragged the Islanders signed 25 new players since the end of last season (draft picks and free agents), the most ever. &ldquo;We want to create a degree of competition that, perhaps, we haven&rsquo;t had the last couple of years,&rdquo; Torrey said.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 1: Tom Fitzgerald, C, signed to a four-year contract. &#9632;

f0013-01

Volek Happy He’s Free To Prove Himself

<div class="byline">Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011413/5641826-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="354" height="476"></div>DEAR TONY O,You don&rsquo;t know me. We&rsquo;ve only talked once and that was over the phone. But I did get a chance to see you at the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.It was a wonderful night.You looked great. Are you really 45 years old?Must have been a thrill going into the hall with Guy Lafleur, Brad Park, Buddy O&rsquo;Connor, George Hayes, Ed Snider, Dick Irvin, Jim Proudfoot and Scott Young. Pretty good company, eh?Enjoyed listening to the acceptance speeches made by them, or on their behalf. I was just wondering about a couple of things. Who&rsquo;s your speechwriter? And are you going to pay him?I think you should stiff the guy. He gave you a bum steer. What's his name, anyway?You&rsquo;d think he would have known better than to make an NHL general manager come off sounding like a poor man&rsquo;s Don Rickles. His effort was so aimless, it left people shaking their heads self-consciously.Some of what he wrote for you in the rambling address was innocuous. Some remarks were genuinely funny. Others were in bad taste.Why did he recommend labelling John Ziegler a "playboy president?" Maybe he is. And maybe Ziegler treated it as an inside joke but an awful lot of people were on the outside.Irvin, speaking on behalf of the media inductees, mentioned how special it was for him to join his father in the Hall of Fame. The widows of O'Connor and Hayes thanked everybody for making Sept. 7 such a special day. Snider spoke lovingly of the 2II men who have worn the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; colors. Park gave a thoughtful acceptance speech. Lafleur talked about his dreams.And you said that you planned to Bush your head down the toilet, because it will be all downhill after making the Hall of Fame.Your speech writer forgot that you were representing the city of Pittsburgh and the Penguin hockey team. Wonder how the Pittsburghers feel about your guy&rsquo;s humorous knock on their fair city. Reflecting on the letdown you were bound to feel the following morning, you chuckled, "I&rsquo;ll wake up in the morning and say, &lsquo;Jeez, I have to go to Pittsburgh.'That wasn't one of his better ones, was it Tony? Ah, what the hell? You can't be funny all the time. And he did arm you with a couple of zingers.Like the one about your brother trying to talk Johnny Bower out of retirement to join Lafleur. Still, to be honest with you Tony, I don&rsquo;t think I would have followed the speechwriter&rsquo;s advice on glossing over the warm telegram sent to you by former teammates. After all, it was a nice gesture.Maybe you should tell your guy to work on his stuff. Not that being a good after-dinner speaker is a pre-requisite for running an NHL team. But showing good sense is supposed to be. (Okay, so there are some notable exceptions.)I told one of the guys here at the office that you didn&rsquo;t come off sounding like a GM. He said, that&rsquo;s the point&mdash;that you never will, because you&rsquo;re a non-conformist who will always speak what&rsquo;s on your mind.Sometimes, it&rsquo;s best that you don&rsquo;t.The Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are hardly a sacred occasion, but they do deserve a measure of dignity and sincerity. Your speechwriter made you sound sophomoric. Oh well, it's not your fault. It&rsquo;s not as though they were your words.Were they?You didn't go off the cuff, did you big guy? George Bush tried that earlier the same day and missed Pearl Harbor&rsquo;s anniversary by three months.Hey Tony, I suspect a lot of people think otherwise, but I think you missed, too.Your pal, SteveP.S. Nothing personal. &#9632;

f0014-01

Hall-Of-Fame Or Hall-Of-Shame Induction?

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03769/5641857-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="560" height="1170"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Recchi could be just what the doctor ordered&mdash;a high-scoring right winger.</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Three rounds of the 1988 entry draft had expired, and Pittsburgh management turned to its list of players eligible for the remaining rounds.The search for the player they wanted in the fourth round lasted the better part of, oh, one second before they announced the latest link in their Kamloops Blazer Connection, right winger Mark Recchi."We needed help on the right side,&rdquo; Penguin general manager Tony Esposito said. &ldquo;His age (20) was another thing.&ldquo;With his experience and being a good scorer, he might be able to help us right away.&rdquo;Suggesting Recchi might have an immediate impact is not as unreasonable as it might seem, for right wing was easily the Penguins&rsquo; least productive position last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021099/5641864-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="159" height="123"><figcaption class="caption-body">PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</figcaption></div>Rob Brown, a converted center, and Jock Callander, a career minor-leaguer, were the only right wingers to score more than six goals, with 24 and 11 each.Recchi&rsquo;s resume indicates he might be capable of filling the offensive void that exists on that side.He was the No. 3 scorer in the Western League last season, piling up 61 goals anl a league-high 93 assists for 154 points in 62 games.&ldquo;To get a kid like this in the fourth round, especially for a team that&rsquo;s looking for right wingers.. I think Pittsburgh is very happy,&rdquo; said Bob Brown, Rob&rsquo;s father and Kamloops&rsquo; general manager.&ldquo;Mark Recchi might surprise some people. Mark Recchi has got a shot to make that team.&rdquo;The Penguins picked Recchi at the behest of Bruce Haralson, who was promoted to head scout when Paul Goulet was fired shortly after the entry draft.Haralson once scouted for Kamloops and the Penguins have acquired no fewer than five players&mdash;defenseman Doug Bodger, Rob Brown, left winger Mark Kachowski, center Glenn Mulvenna and Recchi&mdash;from there in the past four-plus years.&ldquo;When you get kids from Kamloops, you know you&rsquo;re getting kids from a good, solid system," Haralson said.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been one of the best junior teams in Canada the last five years. They know what it takes to win.&rdquo;Under coach Ken Hitchcock, Kamloops has won four straight regular-season division titles and a league championship.&ldquo;Whatever it is, Pittsburgh seems to like our players,&rdquo; Bob Brown said.The Penguins liked Recchi more than most.&ldquo;I knew they were interested in me, but I wasn&rsquo;t sure what round,&rdquo; Recchi said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve known Bruce for three years, maybe longer, and he&rsquo;s always told me he likes me.&ldquo;Other guys would question my size (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) or something, but Bruce was always very encouraging.&rdquo;From Bob Brown&rsquo;s perspective, prejudices against players who would not be mistaken for offensive tackles best explains why a player of Recchi&rsquo;s pedigree was not taken in the previous two drafts or even rated by Central Scouting this year.&ldquo;It's because he&rsquo;s not six feet tall,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just something else he&rsquo;s had to overcome.&rdquo;Brown&rsquo;s son faced similar hurdles, since neither his stature nor his skating is even remotely imposing.Rob Brown responded with 24 goals and 20 assists despite getting limited ice time and playing an alien position in most of his 51 games last year.It is conceivable he might be reunited with his former linemate, although Brown seems likely to end up back on Mario Lemieux's right side unless the Penguins trade for a goal-scoring right winger.&ldquo;Robbie and I understand each other,&rdquo; Recchi said. "We played on the same line in Kamloops. We played on the same line at the world junior tournament.&ldquo;He's this kind of player: If you break to the holes, you know that somehow, some way. he's going to get you the puck. But he&rsquo;s had to overcome a lot of criticism (from hockey insiders). Maybe I can do the same thing.&rdquo;And maybe, just maybe, he can do it this fall.NOTES&mdash;The Penguins signed first-round draft pick Darrin Shannon, 18. to a multi-year contract. Shannon was 33-41-74 in 43 games for the Ontario League's Windsor Spitfires last season&hellip;Goaltender Wendell Young, acquired from Philadelphia Sept. I, figured to compete with Frank Pietrangelo for the No. 2 job behind Steve Guenette&hellip; Players began informal workouts at the Penguins&rsquo; training center in suburban Mt. Lebanon a week or so before the start of camp&mdash;and paid $5 a head every day for the privilege.<h2>PENGUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 7: Darrin Shannon, LW, signed multi-year contract. &#9632;

f0014-03

Pens Tap Blazer ‘Farm’ For Right-Side Help

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>BUFFALO&mdash; The i&rsquo;s haven&rsquo;t been dotted and the t&rsquo;s haven&rsquo;t been crossed but for all intents and purposes, Clark Gillies has retired.&ldquo;There might be something for me down the road, but as it stands now I won&rsquo;t be coming to camp,&rdquo; said Gillies, the veteran New York Islander left winger who joined the Buffalo Sabres two seasons ago. &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;m retired.&rdquo;If it sounds like Gillies, 34, hasn&rsquo;t completely closed the door on a career that spanned 14 National Hockey League seasons, he hasn&rsquo;t. The decision to retire wasn&rsquo;t entirely his, but he stressed it&rsquo;s probably the right decision.&ldquo;I wrestled with it all summer and when it gets to this time of the year you get frisky, you think you can play one more year, but I had a talk with (Sabre general manager) Gerry Meehan and he told me they were going to go with some of the younger guys. I can understand that, so, realistically, I guess it&rsquo;s time for me to move aside.&rdquo;Gillies did hold out the option of being re-signed by the Sabres at a later date, especially if the left wing situation remains nsettled by the time the season starts. He said that was &ldquo;possible but not probable&rdquo; and for now he is retired.&ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My body is starting to feel it. If I had good legs, it would be no problem. Mentally I feel like playing and my back (often injured) is okay, but it gets tougher and longer every year and to play this game you&rsquo;ve got to feel good every night.&rdquo;Gillies said he has no plans for the immediate future. He said his first choice would be to do something with the Sabres and his second would be to stay close to the game in an off-ice job somewhere. For now he has ruled out signing with another NHL team and plans to remain in the western New York area and raise his family there.In his two seasons in Buffalo, age and injuries cut deeply into Gillies&rsquo; playing time. He was claimed from the Islanders in the waiver draft before the start of the 1986-87 season and responded with 10 goals in 61 games. Last season he was 5-2-7 in 25 games. In each of the two seasons he was bothered by injuries (groin in 1986-87 and knee in 1987-88). Still, he provided a presence the Sabres were sorely in need of&mdash;a big, strong, experienced winger who knew the value of team play. He also brought the experience of four Stanley Cup championships won with the Islanders.&ldquo;It was a funny thing for me,&rdquo; Gillies said of his Buffalo years. &ldquo;This was different than the years with the Islanders. They were rebuilding here, starting a change and that was a different experience for me, but I&rsquo;m glad I was part of it. Going through this was kind of a down thing after being with the Islanders, but I believe you should experience the ups and the downs and I&rsquo;m better for the experience.&ldquo;I enjoyed my time here. I was around a lot of young players and that was a lot different than New York when I left. These guys made me laugh a lot. They&rsquo;re a good group of guys who are starting to become a pretty good hockey team. I&rsquo;m sorry I can&rsquo;t be around to see them get better.&rdquo;Thinking back on his career, Gillies listed the Islanders&rsquo; first Stanley Cup championship in 1980 as his biggest thrill and losing a chance for a fifth, to the Edmonton Oilers in 1984, as his biggest disappointment.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011309/5641895-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="145" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 145px">BUFFALO SABRES</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Nothing can replace that feeling,&rdquo; he said of New York&rsquo;s first championship. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll always remember that, but losing that fifth one was so hard. We were so close and were it not for a few injuries I think we would have done it again.&rdquo;Gillies had his best season in 1978-79 when he scored 35 goals and added 56 assists for 91 points.Despite his reputation as a physical player, the 6-foot-3,215-pound Gillies never topped 100 penalty minutes in any of his NHL seasons. In 958 NHL games he had 319 goals and 378 assists for 697 points. In 164 playoff games, Gillies was 47-47-94. He made the playoffs in 13 of his 14 NHL seasons, missing only the 1986-87 campaign with the Sabres.NOTES&mdash;The Sabres signed defenseman Richie Dunn, goalie Darcy Wakaluk and left winger Jim Jackson Aug. 24. All three are expected to play for Buffalo&rsquo;s American League affiliate at Rochester. Dunn was a second-team AHL all-star last season.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>SABRES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Aug. 24: Richie Dunn, D, Darcy Wakaluk, G, Jim Jackson, LW, signed contracts.Sept. 8: Clark Gillies, LW, retired. &#9632;

f0015-01

‘Frisky’ Gillies Resigned To His Retirement

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Nordiques have great expectations for Joe Sakic.He lived up to them at Quebec&rsquo;s rookie camp in St-Foy, Sept. 2-8.Of the 53 players present, Sakic&mdash;the Canadian Hockey League player of the year and Quebec&rsquo;s second first-round draft choice, 15th overall in 1987&mdash;was in a class by himself in skating drills and intra-squad games.Sakic, who tied for the Western League scoring lead as a Swift Current Bronco last season, was even more impressive than at the same time last year. Nordique management considered keeping him with the big club then. But Sakic, claiming he wasn&rsquo;t ready for the NHL, asked to return to Swift Current.&ldquo;It turned out to be the best decision of my career,&rdquo; said Sakic. &ldquo;1 played somewhere between 35 and 40 minutes a game in Swift Current whereas I probably would have been spot-shifted with the Nordiques.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011199/5641933-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="550" height="993"><figcaption class="caption-body">A banner season with the Swift Current Broncos was the right tonic for Joe Sakic.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02956/5641926-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="161" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body">QUEBEC NORDIQUES</figcaption></div>&ldquo;And the experience I got with Team Canada in Moscow (at the World Junior Championships) last December was invaluable. As was my race for the scoring championship with Theoren Fleury.&rdquo;Sakic and Moose Jaw Warrior Fleury finished tiel with 160 points. Sakic on 78 goals and 82 assists, Fleury on 68 goals and 92 assists.The big season helped boost Sakic&rsquo;s morale heading into this year&rsquo;s camp.&ldquo;Last year, I always seemed to be the odd man out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was lost in Quebec. And lonely. But this time around, it&rsquo;s a whole new ball game. I&rsquo;m part of the gang. I know most of the guys from last year. And I feel more comfortable in Quebec City.&rdquo;Sakic also trained very hard during the summer months, stengthening his upper body and improving his already well-developed skating abilities.&ldquo;I really prepared myself for this year&rsquo;s training camp,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I psyched myself up for the big jump into the National Hockey League. I&rsquo;m in a perfect frame of mind.&rdquo;Defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, taken third overall at this summer&rsquo;s draft from the Saskatoon Blades of the Western League, also was impressive at rookie camp. As was right winger Trevor Stienburg, the Nordiques&rsquo; first pick, 15th overall, in the 1984 draft, from the Ontario League&rsquo;s Guelph Platers.Nordique coach Ron Lapointe was excited by Leschyshyn&rsquo;s performance during intra-squad games.&ldquo;Curtis was exceptional out there,&rdquo; said Lapointe. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing like a pro right now. He&rsquo;s cool under fire, and without being the most spectacular player around, he&rsquo;s very reliable. He passes the puck with lots of accuracy and can read the game with exceptional ease.&rdquo;Stienburg had 12 goals, 24 assists and 279 penalty minutes for Quebec&rsquo;s American League farm team in Fredericton last year. He wasn&rsquo;t known as a physical player in junior, but is now.&ldquo;I love it when the play gets scrappy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I&rsquo;m at my best. But by no means do I want to be seen as a dummy, as a guy who is only good when he drops his gloves.&ldquo;I certainly won&rsquo;t back down from anybody, but I won&rsquo;t be looking for a fight. Discipline is the way to go. I worked hard on that aspect in Fredericton last season and now, I&rsquo;m a lot more careful.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Former Lake Superior State right winger Mark Vermette suffered a gash on his left arm during a skating drill at rookie camp. There was no tendon or nerve damage&hellip;Right winger Daniel Dore, chosen fifth in the 1988 draft from Drummondville of the Quebec League, suffered a chipped bone on the middle finger of his left hand. &#9632;

f0016-01

Sakic A Show-Stopper In Nordique Camp

<div class="byline">Barry Meisel</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03727/5641964-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="383" height="471"></div>ONTARIO PROVINCIAL COURT Judge Sidney Harris sent a message to Dino Ciccarelli and the NHL, all right: Justice can be oh, so arbitrary.I won&rsquo;t for a second condone Ciccarelli&rsquo;s reprehensible Jan. 6 assault on Luke Richardson at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was gutless and cowardly. I don&rsquo;t care how many hard hits and cheap shots Dino thought he took in the game. That was not self-defense I saw in slow-motion videotape.And with a 10-game suspension, the limp-wristed NHL again failed to sufficiently punish an offender. Ciccarelli&rsquo;s attack was every bit as vicious as Dave Brown&rsquo;s after-the-whistle blindside cross-check on Tomas Sandstrom, which earned Brown 15 games off. Both guys should have been suspended at least half the year.But back to Judge Harris. By sentencing Ciccarelli to a day in jail and fining him $10,000, does he actually think he&rsquo;s going to clean up the game? He&rsquo;d better buy himself a satellite dish and be prepared to play telephone with prosecutors across the continent this season because, if Dino Ciccarelli is tried for assault in Ontario, then there should be trials in Nassau County and everywhere else this league schedules games in 1988-89.Judge Harris only has jurisdiction in his province, of course. It&rsquo;s not he who decides who gets arraigned around the league. In sentencing Ciccarelli, he didn&rsquo;t make the point that sports cannot be above the law. He only showed how capricious the system can be.The system most at fault, though, is the NHL&rsquo;s. In order for a sport to prosper outside the law, its judicial and punitive systems must satisfy the government. President John Ziegler apparently has been unable to convince his 21 employers of that.And so the NHL, run by an attorney, couldn&rsquo;t keep its player out of court.A thought on The Great Trade, now that the hysteria has subsided and the deal has been digested.Los Angeles became a better team for 1988-89. Edmonton didn&rsquo;t.This wasn&rsquo;t just a case of a terrific hockey player being traded for a very good player a few draft picks and some cash. This was an owner telling his organization, his personnel and his fans that they have arrived.Wayne Gretzky will be great, that we know. His teammates will be better, more committed to winning now that the Kings are one of the NHL&rsquo;s spotlight teams. If what we&rsquo;ve heard about Bruce McNall is true, he&rsquo;s got a few more $15-million bills in his wallet. Jimmy Carson? The draft picks? That&rsquo;s the price you pay.Edmonton hasn&rsquo;t assured itself of dominance in the 1990s, not yet. Martin Gelinas has to become a player. The No. 1 picks in 1989, 1991 and 1993 have to be used wisely, and then those choices have to become players. And as for this season, the Oilers are a team far less talented than the the 1988 Stanley Cup-winning edition.To simply assume Mark Messier and Jari Kurri will lift their games a notch is presumptuous. If they do, they&rsquo;ll prove they are better players than we thought.But it&rsquo;s far more likely they&rsquo;ll miss the greatest player in the game.A thought on the new rule to assess automatic game misconducts for major stick infractions:Don&rsquo;t cop out, refs.A player will receive an automatic one-game suspension after incurring his second game misconduct under these rules, a two-game sentence after the next game misconduct and so on.That&rsquo;s great in theory. The new legislation leaves no doubt the board of governors is serious about keeping sticks down. But will an official be less likely to call a major stick foul early in the first period on a non-violent player whose action was accidental? For every tough rule in the book there&rsquo;s a loophole for the timid official. In this case it&rsquo;s the double-minor.If players across the board, the goons to the greats, are slapped with game misconducts (and subsequent suspensions for repeat offenders) from Game I to Game 80, then there&rsquo;s a chance we might see the sticks come down in a year or two.But the rule must be enforced strictly. &#9632;

f0016-03

Thoughts On Stick Attacks And The Big Trade Of ’88

Hockey is as popular as ever in Canada, and could experience a major renaissance of participation in the 1990s, if a marketing plan commissioned by the Committee for the Betterment of Hockey has the desired effect.The committee, a 12-man body formed by the hockey equipment industry in the spring of 1987, has decided to promote the &ldquo;positive&rdquo; aspects of the sport, as determined in their Survey of Public Opinion Toward Ice Hockey.The survey was released last fall, after Market Facts of Canada Ltd. collected data from 8,836 households across Canada. Their findings, in a nutshell: Canadians love their hockey and want to see the sport continue to prosper, even though 72 per cent of those who have played the game quit playing it altogether before the age of 35&mdash;the highest rate of attrition among popular team sports.&ldquo;The overall interest in the game, the love for the game and the appreciation of the game far outweighs the things people dislike about it,&rdquo; says committee chairman Tom Nease. &ldquo;The Committee for the Betterment of Hockey is developing a marketing plan whereby the industry, or individual and corporate sponsors can revitalize the game through stressing the many positive aspects.&ldquo;At the same time, we feel the negative aspects of the game can be and should be dealt with by the organizers&mdash;such as the NHL, the CAHA and that wonderful multitude of volunteers who make up the game in this country.&rdquo;To that end, the Toronto advertising firm of Oglivie and Mather has been retained to develop a campaign to keep people&rsquo;s minds on the good side of hockey&mdash;the side they really want to see.For instance, the survey notes in a word-association section that hockey makes more people think of the words &ldquo;fast,&rdquo;&ldquo;exciting,&rdquo; &ldquo;physically demanding&rdquo; and &ldquo;fun&rdquo; than &ldquo;violent,&rdquo; &ldquo;too competitive,&rdquo; or &ldquo;expensive.&rdquo;Two of the committee members compare the marketers&rsquo; task to that faced by the skiing industry a few years back. The average person has negative thoughts about a snowy day&mdash;-shovelling, traffic messes and so on&mdash;but the industry lobbied weathermen across the U.S. to present snowfalls in a positive way&mdash;This is skiing weather!Though the survey shows participation in hockey is increasing, reduction of the dropout rate is one of the aims of the committee.&ldquo;We think efforts directed toward achieving higher initial trial would be far less productive than concentrating on reducing the level of attrition to other activities competing for enjoyment, time and money,&rdquo; the report says.As one committee member, an executive with a major equipment firm, notes, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a Canadian home hockey doesn&rsquo;t affect. And there&rsquo;s not a Canadian home where hockey isn&rsquo;t talked about. Look at the (Wayne) Gretzky trade, and the effect it had.&rdquo;Another target of the committee will be the violence of the sport. Here, the committee suggests, the NHL should take the lead.&ldquo;The elimination of fighting is critical, in the opinion of adults, particularly females,&rdquo; the survey notes. &ldquo;NHL violence is seen to be quite influential on young players in minor hockey.&rdquo;But the high and positive profile the game enjoys remains the committee&rsquo;s rallying point. &#9632;

Hockey To Benefit From Marketing Plan

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011094/5642026-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01889/5642019-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="3026" height="1256"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY PRODUCT ANALYSIS

Cooper, the world&rsquo;s largest manufacturer of hockey equipment, is proud to present to you some selected items from its 1988-89 line of equipment.Innovation is the cornerstone of Cooper success. And the Cooperall system is one of its greatest achievements, the start of a new era of protective technology.Every major junior A player wears the Cooperall Girdle. Cooperall has been the exclusive choice of major junior for the past six seasons and still is.Here&rsquo;s why&mdash;the Cooperall Girdle is lightweight and flexible and, when fitted and worn properly, it provides the best protection available because it never leaves the area of the body it is designed to protect.The Armourfoam Protection System provides the player with up to 25 per cent more impact protection than the first-generation Cooperall Girdles. Dual high-density Trocellan foam padding and soft shock-absorbing cushioned inserts combine for the most protective and comfortable Cooperall ever.The CG Pro is our top-of-the-line model. All CG Pro girdles feature the Armourfoam system, and impact studies show the CG Pro now provides the best protection available on the market today. The Armourfoam system combines with new soft shock-absorbing cushioned liners to provide increased protection with superior comfort.The new open ventilation stretch Lycra shell is lightweight, cooler and fully expandable, to allow a greater range of unrestricted movement while ensuring the girdle&rsquo;s padding stays in place during play.Lightweight, super-high density foam protective caps combined with soft shock-absorbing cushioned liners provide unsurpassed comfort and fit.The Cooperall CG Pro girdle is Sanitized&reg; and does not absorb water, so the garment remains as light in the third period as it was in the first.Complementing the Cooperall system is the Cooperall Upper Body Protection system, in either CSB1000 professional model, CSB2000 senior model, or CSB3000 junior model.The CSB1000 is more than a shoulder pad. It&rsquo;s an upper-body protector. Cooper has added increased protection to the sternum and clavicle, through use of ribbed high-density foam moulded pads. The padded protection extends around the back and over the spine. The vital shoulder tips are protected by polyreinforced multi-density foam pads. High-density moulded bicep pads have an inner layer of soft foam for comfort.For those who choose not to use Cooperall products, Cooper offers the HPCL Cooperlite European-style Pro Pant.Cooperlite pants are up to 25 per cent lighter than other professional model hockey pants.The exclusive Armourfoam protection system is also found in Cooperlite pants, delivering up to 25 per cent more protection in the critical thigh and hip sections.Soft cushion padding in the new, exclusive Cooper foam-padded waistband surround your entire mid-body section to give a snug fit. The Sanitized&reg; two-way stretch Lycra&reg; crotch allows a full range of unrestricted movement.Send $4 to get Cooper&rsquo;s 84-page color catalogue to:Cooper Canada Ltd., 501 Alliance Ave., Toronto, Ont., M6N 2J3.The world plays hockey with Cooper. &#9632;

CG Pro’s Even Better With Armourfoam

Early in 1983, the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company made an important decision. It decided to re-enter the hockey market with a full range of protective equipment. During the &rsquo;70s, the company was at one point the main supplier of equipment and sweaters to the NHL. However, due to a change in corporate strategy, it discontinued this program in 1978.Under the direction of Rawlings&rsquo; Canadian licensee, Irwin Sports, the new hockey program has come a long way in five short years. During the 1987-88 season, more than 100 NHL players wore Rawlings gloves. This coming season, Irwin expects to pass all competitors and become the No. 1 supplier in the league.There have been some important changes in the design of hockey equipment in the past few years. Five years ago, pro hockey players insisted that their gloves be made of leather and come with horsehide palms. Today, virtually all NHLers now insist on strong, lightweight gloves that still offer top protection. Last year, Rawlings introduced a new line of gloves featuring the revolutionary new RKP material. This fabric is very strong yet light and is now the number one glove in the NHL.Irwin distributes a full line of hockey equipment, including the innovative Kavanaugh Shoulder Pad. This shoulder pad was developed by the late &ldquo;Doc&rdquo; Kavanaugh, long-serving trainer with Cornell University. The Kavanaugh Pad combines the ultimate in lightweight materials and upper body protection, designed to prevent shoulder separations. The shoulder arch disperses the impact of a hit down into the stronger chest and back areas. Ribs are also protected with a special lamination of high density foam and a curved poly piece.All in all, the Irwin/Rawlings/Kavanaugh team has made great strides in the past five years. The next five years look to be just as exciting. &#9632;

Irwin, Rawlings, Kavanaugh A Great Team

With the clever corporate slogan &ldquo;Clearly The Best Protection In Sight,&rdquo; ITECH takes a global view of its potential markets. One can find ITECH products in Europe and Japan as readily as in Canada and the U.S. Moreover, wherever they are sold, ITECH products are praised for their outstanding quality, practical design features and reasonable price&mdash;a powerful combination that gives them a considerable edge on the competition.ITECH Sport Products Ltd., a Canadian company, had its beginnings with the realization of founder Robin Burns&rsquo; brainchild, the face-off shield. This former NHL player had a vision and purpose to develop, promote and market a new and innovative hockey face mask. This clear, opticallly-correct face mask, with its unique antifogging interior, has had tremendous impact on the hockey world. Despite early scoffers who felt such a product was unfeasible and impractical, ITECH&rsquo;S Concept II is now sported by an unprecedented number of hockey players, professional and international&mdash;from Ray Bourque, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner and Borje Salming, on down to the peewees in the local arena.Reflecting the success of ITECH&rsquo;S Concept II, not only does it pass and exceed the rigid standards set by KSA and HECC, it has become the accepted and official shield of CAHA, Ringette Canada, and the Canadian Ball Hockey Association. ITECH is also pleased to be the official supplier to both the Canadian and the U.S. Olympic hockey programs.ITECH&rsquo;S original polycarbonate hockey shield is now part of a full line of sport optical equipment. Swimmers of all types can utilize the full range of swim goggles from a youth model to the streamlined racing goggle for the competitive edge. Athletes on the racquetball and squash courts are also glad of the excellent eye protection ITECH provides with its sports goggles. The baseball face guard has been warmly welcomed by parents and players in the amateur and minor leagues for eyes and facial protection.Being innovators in the field of sport opticals, ITECH introduces the first optically-correct shield designed to reduce the risk of eye and upper facial injuries in football. Called the super shield, this revolutionary new product is made of virtually the same high-density, high-impact polycarbonate resin found in the finest helmets. It features an anti-fog interior for clear visibility at all times. A special nylon-tie assembly ensures easy mounting and provides secure attachment to brand name helmets.Being the first name in eye protection, ITECH carries its reputation into other protective equipment. Ringette and hockey players have learned to depend upon the NECTECH neck protectors. Recently welcomed to the NECTECH family, the new goaler throat protector. &ldquo;designed by goalers for goalers,&rdquo; offers maximum protection without sacrificing mobility and vision.With the upsurge of interest and growth of ringette across Canada, Europe and the U.S., ITECH has presented RINGTECH. Already having the official shield and the only approved girdle for Ringette Canada, ITECH continually improves, updates and adds to its line of ringette equipment. &#9632;

ITECH: Clearly Best Protection In Sight

A bright spot in the 1988 season was the re-emergence of Flak protective equipment by Bauer. Flak by Bauer incorporates the latest in innovation and technology to become a solid addition to the Bauer hockey line-up.Through the efforts of Bauer&rsquo;s vast Research and Development department comes the exclusive Flak Air System, offering the best impact protection available. Based on the principle that impact should be dissipated away from the body rather than absorbed towards it, the Flak Air System effectively reduces the effects of impact.Flak incorporates the use of a series of small electronically-sealed air pouches, which allow for limited air displacement and offers excellent impact protection. Combine all this with lightweight polyethylene plastics, anatomical design and superior fit, and you&rsquo;ve got the best protection available.Using the latest technology available, Flak offers superior protection to traditional foam and plastic construction equipment. Traditionally, foam has been used to absorb impact at the point of contact but, due to limitations in the absorption properties of most foams, much of the impact is transferred to the body, resulting in potential injury. The Flak Air System solved this problem through its use of air displacement protection.For the 1988 season. Flak by Bauer has introduced a neat, concise line of shoulder pads, pants and gloves.Flak&rsquo;s Pro Supreme FSP 300 shoulder pad, offers a complete upper body protection package. The Pro Supreme incorporates the Flak Air System in all of the critical areas, including the clavicle and rib areas. A breathable mesh outershell and comfortable doubleknit lining allows for full freedom of movement and comfort that is unique to Flak protective equipment. A junior version of this model is also available in two sizes.The Pro Supreme FP300 pant exemplifies Flak&rsquo;s commitment, through Bauer, to offer the most technically-innovative hockey pants available today. Featuring the Flak Air System in 11 critical areas and reinforced with polyethylene plastic and laminated foam, the Pro Supreme offers the ultimate in protection. Lightweight and extremely comfortable the Pro Supreme is available in five colours, four adult sizes and two junior sizes.Flak introduces four new and distinctly different hockey gloves for the 1988 season. Featuring both leather and nylon models, the Flak line combines triple density foam, Clarino palms and moulded polyethylene plastic to provide maximum protection and performance. Flak combines this with sharp new graphics, to offer the ultimate hockey glove for players of all ages.All in all, Flak by Bauer represents yet another stage in Bauer&rsquo;s ongoing commitment to provide hockey players with the best quality equipment available. &#9632;

Flak By Bauer: Best Protection Available

The hockey equipment industry will benefit directly from the results of the Survey of Public Opinion Toward Ice Hockey, say members of the committee for whom the report was prepared.The Committee for the Betterment of Hockey numbers six hockey equipment manufacturing executives among its 12 members, not including chairman Tom Nease, who worked in the field before retirement.They are in complete agreement&mdash;the report is a positive endorsement of hockey in Canada and, therefore, a shot in the arm for their industry.&ldquo;I think everybody who&rsquo;s read it feels positive about it,&rdquo; says one. &ldquo;The report was well-done, and it says clearly hockey is Canada&rsquo;s national game. There&rsquo;s plenty of support and enthusiasm for hockey. This translates into positive reaction for the dealers.&rdquo;But continued support for the game and increased participation have caught his company, frankly, off-guard.&ldquo;From a manufacturer&rsquo;s point of view, the demand for equipment today is stronger than we expected. As a matter of fact, we&rsquo;ve been having trouble keeping our dealers in stock and they&rsquo;re getting mad at us.&rdquo;Another committee member echoes the feelings of the first.&ldquo;We were very pleasantly suruprised,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The survey proves hockey is alive and well. Hockey in this country is not, as people predicted, in a gloom-and-doom situation.&rdquo;The popular impression is that hockey participation has been on a steady decline and, until the results of the Market Facts of Canada Ltd. survey came in, hockey equipment makers were beginning to believe the negative reviews.But instead&hellip;&ldquo;The overall impression was optimistic&mdash;more optimistic than we expected,&rdquo; a third committee member says. &ldquo;We had felt that hockey registrations were going down.&rdquo;The survey shows otherwise. While the rate of outright retirement from the game for players under 35 is still very high, so is participation. During the 1986-87 season, an estimated 1.2 million Canadians played hockey, up from 1. 1 million the year before.More may join them this year, the result of an advertising campaign that&rsquo;s on the way. The committee wants industry in general&mdash;not just the hockey in-idustry&mdash;to get involved and help make hockey a better and more attractive game.&ldquo;Our idea,&rdquo; the third member says, &ldquo;is to get Canadian corporate citizens, large corporations that would like to get their name associated with hockey, get involved with it.&ldquo;One&rsquo;s got to promote the sport of hockey. Rather like in the United States, where commissioner Peter Ueberroth is promoting baseball.&rdquo;The hockey equipment industry, while competitive, is also co-operative, he adds.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a very small industry,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;We cannot get our growth from our competition. But if we realize that we must grow together, we can.&rdquo;And the competitors are all starting anew, with the same information.The survey &ldquo;shows us the direction to go in, and what the consumer feels about the sport. It&rsquo;s more or less given us an overall feeling of the hockey market in Canada.&rdquo; &#9632;

Equipment Makers Delighted By Report

About four years ago, skate-sharpening experts and computer technicians began the task of designing a precision machine, with &ldquo;Robotic&rdquo; features, that would be able to consistently produce high-quality sharpenings. The result was the Cag One (Computer Aided Grinding) ice-skate tuner and sharpener.Former Toronto Maple Leaf star Inge Hammarstrom/known for his fluid skating, originally tested and consulted on the project as it was introduced in Sweden.The success of the Cag One, accepted as a major innovation in the skate sharpening field, led to its introduction in the NHL. Mats Naslund, the smooth-skating Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; star, was the first NHL player to try the Cag One in 1986. Since then, Montreal and several other NHL, Canada Cup and Olympic teams have used the Cag One.Sport stores enjoy Cag One&rsquo;s versatility. The sharpener is able to rocker and sharpen at the touch of a button, while the store staff can attend to other customer needs.The new Cag One skate chart helps players select their computer profile easily, according to skate size and ability, and repeat that identical sharpening every time&mdash;goaltenders and figure skaters also.Stores and teams should ask about the Cag One leasing program and free trial offer.In addition, a full satisfaction guarantee is offered to store' owners and skaters. &#9632;

Cag One: Computer Sharpness

Top-quality craftsmanship and innovative designs have earned John Brown Custom Sports a solid reputation in the Hockey industry.Brown is devoted to designing equipment that is lightweight and comfortable, yet offers maximum protection&mdash;a combination more and more goaltenders are demanding.New this season is the Brown JB-25 Pro Catch Glove. This unique innovative design offers the ultimate in protection and flexibility. A one-piece cuff and finger protector offers excellent protection to the back of the wrist and hand area. All foam and plastic protective parts are now internal, making the glove easier to break in. The glove has been designed to close tightly from the top of the trap to the base of the hand. Our velcro fastening system secures the hand in the glove at all times.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Brown Introduces Forwards&rsquo; Pants</blockquote>Our new Brown Pro Blockers have a moulded split finger protector which covers the full length of the fingers. Extra protection has been added on the outside of the index fingers.New to the Pro Goal Pad line is the leg cradle option&mdash;the JB-275. Offering extra leg protection and support, this option has been designed to lock the leg into the pad without giving up any of the pad thickness.We have designed a new Brown Chest and Arm Protector called the JB-550. Larger float-ing shoulder flaps, extra protection along the arms and around the elbow area makes this chest and arm combination the ultimate in upper-body protection.We have also stepped into the forward equipment line, introducing a Pro Forward Players&rsquo; Pant. This lightweight pant offer sexcellent protection to the hip, tailbone and thigh area. while still maintaining maximum flexibility. We have installed a foam padded heavy duty belt that can be easily adjusted.If you decide to invest in our ever-expanding line of hockey equipment, John Brown Sports is convinced that your name will be added to the long list of happy customers. &#9632;

Craftsmanship, Design Brown Specialties

It&rsquo;s not very often a product comes along that changes the existing market it is entering. Bestquipt Sports has done just that with its new Hockey Hanger.Bestquipt Sports is a Canadian-owned and-operated company, with its head office in Mississauga, Ont.The Hockey Hanger is a hockey equipment bag that opens to become flat and, by using mesh pouches and velcro straps, this allows you to dry your equipment right in the bag. Just think&mdash;no more piles of sweaty equipment on the floor. No rushing to pack your bag! It&rsquo;s always packed, just zip it up.The Hockey Hanger is stronger and more durable than other bags on the market and comes with a one-year guarantee.The Hockey Hanger is already being used by some teams and is available in a few specialty stores or through mail order.This truly is one of the best ideas to hit the hockey market in a long time.Way to go, Bestquipt!!! &#9632;

Let Your Equipment Dry In New Hockey Hanger

<div class="byline">Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01703/5642249-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="390" height="460"></div>THE VITAL SIGNS as they relate to Theoren Fleury include:&bull; His goals (68) and assists (92) for Moose Jaw of the Western League last season, numbers impressive enough to make him a candidate for even the highest scoring team in the National Hockey League, the Calgary Flames.&bull; His penalty minutes (235), a sure sign he cannot be intimidated and will not back off.&bull; His height and weight (a scant 5-foot-6, 160 pounds), the only reason there is any doubt the 20-year-old Fleury can play in the NHL.In putting together one of the most impressive junior seasons in history last year, Fleury checked into the Flames training camp determined to prove he can succeed where Dale Derkatch and Cliff Ronning and other pint-sized phenoms failed.Apart from scoring 21/2 points per game for the Warriors, Fleury possesses two attributes the others did not: Speed afoot and a feistiness not normally associated with players of his dimensions.He is short, yes, but so high strung that comparisons to Boston Bruin center Ken Linseman seem inevitable. NHL scouts agree: You&rsquo;ll love him if he&rsquo;s on your side and you&rsquo;ll hate him if he&rsquo;s not.Gerry James, the Moose Jaw Warriors&rsquo; general manager and coach, compared Fleury to a more tranquil player from an earlier generation, New York Ranger star Camille Henry.&ldquo;;I played against Henry in the fifties,&rdquo; said James. &ldquo;He went about 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9, 150 pounds. They said the same things about him, that he was too small. He turned out to be a terrific player for 10 or 12 years.&ldquo;I would put Fleury in that category as far as skills go. He is very rambunctious, he is energetic and he has an aptitude for the game. He does some things I&rsquo;ve never seen anybody do before.&ldquo;I think a lot of NHL players are going to have a hard time getting a grasp on him. He&rsquo;s like a will o&rsquo; the wisp out there. Plus, he put on five, six, seven pounds over the summer and it is quite noticeable.Yes, but also listed on Fleury&rsquo;s resume is his aptitude for taking bad penalties.&ldquo;The problem he had with his temper,&rdquo; said James, &ldquo;other players on our team saw that and they thought: If he could get away with it, then they could too. Unfortunately, they weren&rsquo;t the same high-calibre player that he was. So he could do something stupid and get the goal back in a couple of minutes. Other players didn&rsquo;t have that ability. They&rsquo;d do something stupid and they&rsquo;d be a minus-two or -three the rest of the night.&rdquo;Fleury reflected on his discipline problems last January at the world junior championships in Moscow. As team captain, he thought it necessary to set an example. Overseas, they call the game even tighter than in last year&rsquo;s NHL. Fleury emerged from the competition with a gold medal around his neck and only a handful of minor penalties decorating his scoresheet.&ldquo;When I went to the world junior, I was named captain of the team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That said something about my leadership qualities. I played the role. I don&rsquo;t think I could have been a better example. I think I only had two penalties the whole tournament. That&rsquo;s one of the things the Flames were concerned about in the early parts of the year when I was taking a lot of bad penalties. They didn&rsquo;t think 1 could control my emotions.&ldquo;I know at the start of last year after I came back from the Flames&rsquo; camp, I thought things would be really easy and would fall into place for me. The first three or four games, things went that way. Then after that, I don&rsquo;t know what happened, but I started getting frustrated and taking a lot of bad penalties, spending most of the game in the penalty box and losing games for our team.&rdquo;&ldquo;His temper is his own worst enemy,&rdquo; agreed James. &ldquo;This will be a test for him because other players are aware of this limitation also. If he can learn to ignore it&mdash;and he&rsquo;s been working on it, there&rsquo;s no question he&rsquo;s made some definite improvement from a couple of years ago&mdash;then there should be no problem.&ldquo;However, that remains to be seen.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s room in the game for a small player, if he&rsquo;s used right,&rdquo; argues Fleury. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming in to play to the best of my capabilities and hopefully, they&rsquo;ll give me a shot.&rdquo; &#9632;

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A Fleury Of Activity Could Fire Up The Flames

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04288/5642280-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="558" height="746"><figcaption class="caption-body">Willi Plett is no Sugar Ray Leonard. He retired and says the decision is final.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;A posse looking for Rick Middleton wouldn&rsquo;t be on the chase for long.The 14-year veteran left winger was where he usually is this time of year&mdash;-at the Boston Bruin training camp in Wilmington, Mass.Had the Bruins, who bought out his contract July 1, roped him back into the stable?No. Middleton was invited to skate himself into shape just in case another NHL team calls or a European team needs another import by October.Middleton. 34, who is third on the all-time Bruin scoring list in goals (402) and points (898) in 12 seasons, said he put out feelers to several NHL teams, got a couple of flat rejections and a couple of refusals to call back.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t check around the entire league,&rdquo; he said. &lsquo;&lsquo;To tell you the truth, I&rsquo;m not really interested in playing in the NHL if it&rsquo;s not with the Bruins. My heart wouldn&rsquo;t be in it. That&rsquo;s why Europe excites me.&rdquo;Unfortunately, European hockey training camps started in August and each team is permitted only two imports&mdash;usually Canadians&mdash;who have to move swiftly to sign up.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02489/5642287-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="155" height="122"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOSTON BRUINS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m told jobs usually open up sometime in October, either through injuries or disenchantment,&rdquo; said Middleton. &ldquo;They replace an import with another import and by October new imports are usually hard to find. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;ve got to stay in shape.&rdquo;Middleton said he has no hard feelings toward the Bruins for handing him his release after a dozen highly productive seasons.&ldquo;I know why they did it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got good young players coming along and I didn&rsquo;t exactly have a banner season last year (13-19-32 in 59 games).&ldquo;They were looking at it from a business point of view. I can understand that. I might have made the same decision if I had been on their side of the fence.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a decision that was made by friends of mine so how can I be bitter toward them? That would just eat away at all the great memories.&rdquo;Along with his termination contract, Bruin general manager Harry Sinden sent the departing winger what Middleton called &ldquo;a beautiful note. And now by letting me work out in the camp, he&rsquo;s doing me quite a favor.&rdquo;&ldquo;They call it a &lsquo;termination contract,&rsquo;&rdquo; grumbled Sinden, &ldquo;which is the worst name in the world for something like this. It sounds like something the Mafia would do to you.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a part of the business you hate to face, especially with a guy like Ricky. Yet he never reacted with a word of complaint.&rdquo;Meanwhile, two veteran Bruins retired before training camp started.Defenseman Frank Simonetti, 26, the team&rsquo;s sixth or seventh defenseman for most of the past four seasons, decided to use the engineering degree he earned from Norwich University in Vermont, where he played college hockey.&ldquo;I put everything on a scale and weighed both sides and it came up that I should pursue my engineering career,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;You can stay in hockey and try for a couple of years to make it but it&rsquo;s tough when you&rsquo;re continually being bounced between being sixth and seventh defenseman.&ldquo;You can do that for a number of years but there comes a time when you have to move away from it and think about another career. &rsquo;In 115 NHL games, spread over four seasons with the Bruins, Simonetti had five goals and eight assists.Right winger Willi Plett, the 1977 Calder Trophy winner as rookie of the year, also retired. He spent 13 years in the NHL, the last one with the Bruins. &ldquo;My agent told me not to be surprised if some team called but I told him, &lsquo;I hope not. I hope they don&rsquo;t even tempt me,&rsquo;&rdquo; said the 33-year-old Plett, who had with 222 goals, 215 assists and 437 points in 834 NHL games.NOTES&mdash;The Bruin training camp opened with 33 forwards, 26 defensemen and five goalies on the roster-&hellip;The biggest player on the team is defenseman Gord Kluzak at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds. The smallest is center Steve Tsujiura at 5-foot-5 and 155 pounds. The oldest is goalie Reggie Lemelin. who turns 34 on Nov. 19. The youngest is left winger Rob Cimetta, 18, the team&rsquo;s No. 1 pick in the draft last June. He is expected to spend another year in junior with the Toronto Marlboros.<h2>BRUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 5: Willi Plett, RW, Frank Simonetti, D, retired. Turaeon Reels In Option On Hartford Pact Turaeon Reels In &#9632;

f0026-04

Middleton Skating, Not Playing, With Bruins

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02427/5642349-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="546" height="792"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sylvain Turgeon said any insults sent his way were just "part of the locker room."</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;After what has surely been the summer of his discontent, Hartford Whaler left winger Sylvain Turgeon said Sept. 10 he is playing out his option.Turgeon. Hartford&rsquo;s first choice, second overall, in the 1983 entry draft, becomes a free agent with compensation on July I.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a business decision, that's all,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Turgeon. "After that year that I had last year (23-26-49 in 71 games), there&rsquo;s not much I could say.&rdquo;Hartford general manager Emile Francis agreed Turgeon&rsquo;s subpar season. following an injury-plagued 1986-87, didn't give the left winger much negotiating leverage."He doesn&rsquo;t have much of a bargaining position, does he?&rdquo; asked Francis. &ldquo;I think it was a wise move on his part. It didn&rsquo;t even get down to dollars and cents.&rdquo;Turgeon signed a one-year contract plus an option last year with an eye towards rebounding in 1987-88. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have a good year last year,&rdquo; he said. "A lot of guys didn't. I don&rsquo;t think Emile Francis is offering huge raises."He downplayed summer stories of locker room dissent and said testing free agency has nothing to do with the reported racial slurs in the Whaler dressing room. In fact, Turgeon said he&rsquo;d prefer to remain in Hartford.Turgeon, criticized in the past for going soft on injuries and for a lack of leadership, faced turmoil again after former Whaler defenseman Neil Sheehy said he was called &ldquo;a toad&rdquo; by teammates in the dressing room.Sheehy, who arrived from Calgary in a January trade, was dealt to Washington on July 6."I really didn&rsquo;t want it to be a public issue," Sheehy said. "My whole intent was to stick up for Sly. The guy has taken a lot of heat. But that bleeping toad stuff happens. Okay? It's out.&ldquo;Whether it was in fun or not. it wears on you day after day. It&rsquo;s not just Sly. either. It's Sylvain Cote, too. I asked them. &lsquo;How can you put up with this?&rsquo; They said, &lsquo;Well, you know, that&rsquo;s the way it is.&rsquo; You&rsquo;ve got to encourage guys rather than cut them down.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01652/5642356-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="150" height="113"><figcaption class="caption-body">HARTFORD WHALERS</figcaption></div>Turgeon insisted it didn&rsquo;t bother him."What Neil says is his opinion. I don&rsquo;t feel that way myself,&rdquo; said Turgeon. "They call me Sly most of the time. Every once in a while they will call me the frog, but that&rsquo;s part of the locker room. Part of fooling around. You know how hockey players are."I don&rsquo;t feel I&rsquo;m an outcast because somebody bugs me once in a while. If it came to a point that they did it to me all the time, then it would bother me. If somebody really felt that way about French-Canadians or thought I was faking (an injury), I&rsquo;d want them to tell me to my face and not joke about it.&rdquo;When Turgeon had abdominal problems during the 1986-87 season, there were whispers in the locker room, wondering how badly he was hurt. At one point, a picture of Turgeon on the side of a milk carton&mdash;like a missing person&rsquo;s ad&mdash;was found in his locker. When word came out that a rehabilitating Turgeon was hunting, his locker was filled with leaves and a photo of deer. After coach Larry Pleau was hired in February, he sat Turgeon out of a game over what was later called a miscommunication about the severity of an ankle injury. At that time, Pleau called a team meeting to discuss Turgeon.Whaler captain Ron Francis said Sheehy's comments were incorrect.&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t even justify his remarks with a response,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 feel this group of players gets along better than any group I ever played with. Sly never came in every day and was called &lsquo;toad&rsquo;.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Left winger Stewart Gavin also announced Sept. 10 he would play out his option and become a free agent with compensation &hellip; The sale of the Whalers from a 15-corporation partnership to Richard Gordon and Donald Conrad was approved by the NHL board of governors Sept. 7.<h2>WHALERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 9: Ulf Samuelsson, D, signed three-year plus option contract; Dave Tippett, C, signed three-year plus option contract; Bandy Ladouceur, D, signed two-year plus option contract; Dave Babych, D, signed two-year plus option contract; Sylvain Cote, D, signed two-year plus option contract; Scot Kleinendorst, D, signed one-year plus option contract. &#9632;

f0027-02

Turgeon Reels In Option On Hartford Pact

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Buoyed by the presence of Wayne Gretzky and four other players acquired in off-season deals, the Los Angeles Kings were in good spirits as they prepared to open training camp Sept. 9 in Victoria, B.C.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to make sure we carry this feeling into the season,&rdquo; said coach Robbie Ftorek. &ldquo;Everybody gets itchy and antsy in the beginning. Hopefully, we won&rsquo;t take that enthusiasm out of them in camp.&rdquo;Aside from Gretzky, who expected a media mob the first few days in camp, the other newcomers are center Mike Krushelnyski, winger/defenseman Marty McSorley, both acquired along with Gretzky, left winger John Tonelli and defenseman Tim Watters, both signed as free agents.&ldquo;The first few days I imagine it may be a little hectic,&rdquo; Gretzky said, anticipating plenty of interview requests. &ldquo;But once I get on the ice all I&rsquo;m going to worry about is hockey. That&rsquo;s the most important part.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01677/5642425-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="166" height="113"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOS ANGELES KINGS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;With all the new players, it&rsquo;s going to be a tremendous adjustment for all of us. We&rsquo;ve got to concentrate on getting together as a team. It&rsquo;s going to take(some time and a lot of hard work.&rdquo;A new four-year contract extension that will keep Gretzky in a King uniform through the 1995-96 season should enable the 27-year-old center to concentrate even more.Gretzky had four years remaining on his contract&mdash;worth $1.1 million in base salary&mdash;when he was dealt from Edmonton to the Kings Aug. 9. Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall padded that part of the contract with cost-of-living increases, and he agreed to pay Gretzky in the neighborhood of $2.5 million, including bonuses, for each of the four years which were added.In all, Gretzky could earn between $17 million and $20 million (U.S.) in the next eight seasons.Gretzky said he is &ldquo;pleased and excited&rdquo; about the deal. Who wouldn&rsquo;t be? He also said he&rsquo;ll keep his Edmonton condominium, that he and his wife Janet will rent in L.A. this season and &ldquo;take our time in buying a home.&rdquo;McNall said it was important to him Gretzky be the highest-paid player in the NHL.&ldquo;The whole thing took two minutes. Wayne has made a huge impact to us in terms of income flow and I never tried to hide that,&rdquo; McNall said.&ldquo;I knew from day one he would have to be paid what he is worth to the team on the ice and in getting people into the stands. And I was going to compensate him for that.&rdquo;When asked if eight years is enough time to bring a Stanley Cup to Los Angeles, Gretzky said, &ldquo;It has to be. It better be. I think everybody is real excited about that.&ldquo;A lot of it is attitude and being positive. I think in the past there&rsquo;s been a little bit of a negative attitude. Hopefully, everyone involved can break that and get a positive attitude going.&ldquo;There have been so many good, positive changes&hellip;John Tonelli is going to help. So are Krushelnyski and McSorley. These are guys who have won championships and Stanley Cups. Hopefully, they&rsquo;ll help it rub off on everyone, get that positive attitude in the locker room.&rdquo;The Kings are convinced they will improve on last year&rsquo;s 30-42-8 fourth-place finish in the Smythe Division and first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Wayne is going to make us into the No. I team in hockey,&rdquo; said right winger and captain Dave Taylor, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re certainly going to be better than we were last year. I believe we&rsquo;ll win more games than we lose. That&rsquo;s going to be a major stepping stone for us. I think that&rsquo;s all we&rsquo;re realistically looking at this year.&ldquo;I think the tide will turn. I think we&rsquo;re going in the right direction. It&rsquo;s a whole new start for the organization.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Kings have a different head coach in camp for the third consecutive season. Robbie Ftorek is following Mike Murphy and Pat Quinn&hellip;L.A. owner Bruce McNall said he has reached a verbal agreement with Rogie Vachon, who has been the Kings&rsquo; general manager since January 1984, on a two-year contract extension that will run through the 1990-91 season.<h2>KINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 1: Wayne Gretzky, C, agreed to four-year contract extension through 1995-96 season.Sept. 7: Rogie Vachon, GM, agreed to terms on contract extension through 1990-91 season. &#9632;

f0028-01

Enthusiastic Kings Looking To Turn Corner

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Could Tonto have made it without the Lone Ranger?Would Robin have a prayer battling crime without Batman?Jari Kurri&rsquo;s about to find out.For almost eight years the Finnish right winger and Wayne Gretzky terrorized National Hockey League goaltenders as a deadly combination. It was a profitable partnership for Kurri&mdash;307 of his 397 career goals came while playing on a line with Gretzky. But, with No. 99 off to the Los Angeles Kings in an Aug. 9 trade, this dynamic duo is no longer.&ldquo;It took a long time to realize he&rsquo;s gone,&rdquo; said Kurri, 43-53-96 in 80 games last season.&ldquo;I was hoping to finish my career here with him,&rdquo; added the 28-year-old Kurri. &ldquo;But, that&rsquo;s the way it is. You have to go ahead from here.&rdquo;Kurri was working at a hockey school north of Helsinki when he heard rumors of the trade from his Winnipeg-based agent, Don Baizley. It wasn&rsquo;t a complete surprise.&ldquo;Wayne told me after the playoffs that he might be traded,&rdquo; said Kurri. &ldquo;I laughed at him. I guess I shouldn&rsquo;t have.&ldquo;It all happened so quickly. I was just surprised it even happened. It was definitely a big surprise&mdash;for me and the whole team.&ldquo;I was the most famous guy in my country after the trade,&rdquo; he grinned. &ldquo;I was interviewed by newspapers, radio, TV&mdash;all about Wayne.&rdquo;The age-old questions are now underlined: Can Kurri cope without Gretzky? Are his days as one of the NHL&rsquo;s most prolific goal-scorers numbered?&lsquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;ve heard that. It&rsquo;s always bothered me a little bit that they said I could only play with Wayne,&rdquo; said Kurri.Then, with a touch of sarcasm: &ldquo;I think I can still get 400 goals.&rdquo;He said Gretzky&rsquo;s departure shouldn&rsquo;t have a serious effect on his play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be a bad hockey player if I could only play with one guy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If that happens, I had better head home&mdash;quit hockey.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s little doubt adjustments must be made, though Kurri did manage five goals and 12 assists in the 16 games Gretzky missed with eye and knee injuries last season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be different playing with somebody else,&rdquo; said Kurri, who began his NHL career alongside former countryman Matti Hagman. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have to change my game. You get stuck in a certain system. Learning how to play with a new guy will take some time.&rdquo;The &lsquo;new guy&rsquo; figures to be center Jimmy Carson, the main acquisition in the Gretzky deal.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have a chance to look closely at guys on other teams,&rdquo; said Kurri about Carson.Nevertheless, he better get used to the idea of reporting to work without Gretzky. Even with No. 99 feeding him for most of the year, Kurri&rsquo;s goal output continued its decline. Over the last four years, Kurri&rsquo;s production has dipped from 71 to 68 to 54 to 43.&ldquo;1 didn&rsquo;t have a good year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I thought I made up for it in the playoffs (14-17-31 in 19 games). Still, I only scored 43 goals during the season. That&rsquo;s not bad, but when you've scored 71 and 68 (in 1984-85 and 1985-86 respectively), people think 43 isn&rsquo;t enough.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01585/5642456-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="152" height="120"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDMONTON OILERS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think I should score 50 every year.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Center Mark Messier quashed rumors of discontent with the Oilers when he reported to training camp Sept. 8. &ldquo;I never considered not coming back,&rdquo; said Messier, who hopes to sign the six-year contract he agreed to last autumn after a two-week holdout. &ldquo;It was agreed to, but some things were changed and we couldn&rsquo;t come to terms,&rdquo; he explained&hellip;The normally talkative Kevin Lowe still wasn&rsquo;t commenting on the Gretzky trade: &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have anything to say about it when it happened and I don&rsquo;t now. There&rsquo;s a time and place for emotions to surface. It wasn&rsquo;t at that time&mdash;neither is it now.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Normand Lacombe agreed to a new two-year contract, but hasn&rsquo;t officially signed it yet&hellip; Left winger Nick Fotiu, who was cut during camp last season only to show up in Philadelphia and play 23 regular-season games (0-0-0), is back for another crack at the Oilers&hellip;Former Oiler farmhand Steve Graves will play in Finland this season. &#9632;

f0029-01

Kurri Sure He’ll Adjust To New Sidekick

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;In his first year behind the Calgary Flames&rsquo; bench, coach Terry Crisp learned two things:&bull; He could exorcise the ghost of his predecessor, Bob Johnson, by winning the National Hockey League&rsquo;s regular-season title.&bull; He could set himself up for a giant fall by winning the NHL&rsquo;s regular-season title.Heading into the 1988-89 season, the only way Crisp can improve on last year&rsquo;s 105-point record of 48-23-9 is by winning a couple of extra playoff rounds. The Flames were swept by the Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division final.The playoffs begin in April. Until then, the best he can be is just as good as his first year.&ldquo;The nicest thing about your second year is that you&rsquo;re comfortable with your personnel,&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to wonder what the scrimmages will hold for you because you know. You know what Jim Peplinski can do. You know what Hakan Loob can do. You can concentrate on looking at the kids. So it makes it easier for me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01668/5642501-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="558" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Crisp wants the high-octane Flames to remember hockey is a two-way game.</figcaption></div>By succeeding last year&mdash;from October to April&mdash;Crisp said he knows he was on the right track at least.&ldquo;If you had a terrible year and a terrible playoff, you&rsquo;d really come back wondering and guessing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously, we did something right somewhere. Then the playoffs rolled around and we got swept. So we better learn from that. I&rsquo;m sure we did. I know I did.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02482/5642494-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="157" height="123"><figcaption class="caption-body">CALGARY FLAMES</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Now, coming in, I know some of the things I did last year were right. So I don&rsquo;t have to second-guess myself in that area. Now I have to get stronger in the areas I thought I was the weakest.&rdquo;Which were?&ldquo;Defense. The biggest thing I want to do with our club is to stress the goals-against. All the players I talked to at the end of the season, they all reiterated&mdash;the goaltenders, the defensemen and the forwards&mdash;that we can be a better defensive team. That&rsquo;s one area I want our players to bear down on this year.&rdquo;Since moving to Calgary from Atlanta, the highest the Flames ever finished defensively was ninth, in 1980-81, the first season in Calgary. Over the past six years, the Flames were 13th, 13th, 14th, 10th, 10th and 13th defensively, something that may explain their so-so record in postseason play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03332/5642487-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="550" height="763"><figcaption class="caption-body">Traded defenseman Paul Reinhart was the last Flame player link to Atlanta.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That means our guys have to pay a price now,&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to take a 40-goal scorer or a 50-goal scorer and turn him into a checker. You want that scorer to learn that there is another end of the rink&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no sense two lines going out and working on the defensive end of things and the other two lines playing strictly offense. Then you still have your 7-6 shootouts. It takes everybody and everybody&rsquo;s reached the same consensus&mdash;that we can do better.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The trade that sent defenseman Paul Reinhart to the Vancouver Canucks Sept. 6 represented the end of an era for the Flames. Reinhart was the last player on the team that played in Atlanta, where the franchise was based until 1980&hellip;In all, 63 players reported for training camp, including Czechoslovakian center Jiri Hrdina, who joined the team for the final two months of last season (2-5-7 in nine games).<h2>FLAMES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 5: Mike Bullard, C, Craig Coxe, LW, and the rights to Tim Corkery, D, traded to St. Louis for Doug Gilmour, C, Mark Hunter, RW, Steve Bozek, LW, and Mike Dark, D.Sept. 6: Paul Reinhart, D, and Steve Bozek, LW, traded to Vancouver for a third- or fourth-round draft pick in 1989. &#9632;

f0030-01

Crisp Defense Key For Flames, Says Coach

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05158/5642532-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="558" height="920"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former Red Wing Brent Ashton, in his second stint as a Jet, will finally play for Winnipeg.</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;It took nearly three months, but Brent Ashton has gotten over the shock of being traded.He&rsquo;s used to being dealt. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound left winger has been moved six times, the most among active players. But Ashton had expected to stay in Detroit a while.Ashton, acquired by the Winnipeg Jets from the Red Wings just before the June 11 NHL entry draft in exchange for Paul MacLean, arrived in Winnipeg on Labor Day to begin his 10th NHL season and play for his seventh different team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always a shock,&rdquo; said the 28-year-old Ashton. &ldquo;Detroit was the first time I really put some roots down. I&rsquo;d built a home.&ldquo;It gets to the point where you wonder, &lsquo;Why me?&rsquo; I thought last year I had a good playoff (7-5-12 in 16 games). I played 30 games at right wing and then 20 games at center. I played left wing and then defense on the power play. I thought I was doing everything I could.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04229/5642539-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="153" height="121"><figcaption class="caption-body">WINNIPEG JETS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It gets to the point sometimes where you&rsquo;re scared to make friends.&rdquo;Ashton should know.Drafted by Vancouver in 1979, he was dealt to Winnipeg in 1981. Before he ever played a game for the Jets, he was sent to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Lucien DeBlois. Ashton moved with the Rockies to New Jersey in 1982, was sent to Minnesota in 1983 and then Quebec in 1984, before ending up in Detroit in 1987.Ashton said that&rsquo;s all behind him now.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Any time you get traded in your career, it&rsquo;s a challenge&mdash;and from what I&rsquo;ve heard from Mr. Ferguson (Jets&rsquo; general manager John) and Mr. Maloney (Winnipeg coach Dan), I&rsquo;m going to get some ice time.&rdquo;Probably more than he bargained for.Ashton qualifies as the most versatile player on the Jets&rsquo; payroll. He can also score.In the 1986-87 season, split between Quebec and Detroit, Ashton scored 40 goals, the same number the departed MacLean had last season. Though his totals dipped to 26-27-53 in 73 games last year, Ashton was a plus-10, while MacLean a minus-16.&ldquo;They said I might play with Dale (Winnipeg captain Hawerchuk) but I also know that Laurie (Boschman) is a great centerman,&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it really matters where I play.&rdquo;The Jets aren&rsquo;t sold on where to use Ashton, either. Although MacLean was Hawerchuk&rsquo;s sidekick for seven seasons, he relinquished that role to the blossoming Andrew McBain for a good part of last winter. Now Ashton might be used to complete the club&rsquo;s top unit.&ldquo;Not neccesarily,&rdquo; Maloney replied when asked if Ashton would be Hawerchuk&rsquo;s left winger. &ldquo;You know, there&rsquo;s a lot of chemistry involved in lines. If he warrants the postion , he gets it.&rdquo;The Jets have bent over backwards to make Ashton happy&mdash;something they never succeeded in doing with MacLean. Ashton signed a three-year contract Sept. 6. Terms weren&rsquo;t revealed.NOTES&mdash;Winnipeg general manager John Ferguson declared Sept. I he had given up trying to trade disgruntled winger Doug Smail. Ferguson claimed there were no takers, but Smail&rsquo;s camp said Ferguson&rsquo;s price was too steep&hellip;Teemu Selanne, Winnipeg&rsquo;s first choice in the 1988 draft, arrived in Winnipeg Sept. 5. He'll spend 10 days at the Jets&rsquo; Moncton, N.B., training camp, on leave from military duty in Finland.<h2>JETS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 6: Brent Ashton, LW, signed three-year contract. &#9632;

f0030-05

‘Suitcase’ Ashton Sets Up Shop In Winnipeg

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;It took the Vancouver Canucks two days to remodel their defense.In separate deals, Vancouver acquired defensemen Paul Reinhart and Robert Nordmark from Calgary and St. Louis, respectively. They also signed free-agent blueliner Harold Snepsts, who had been released by the Detroit Red Wings.Included in the package from the Flames was left winger Steve Bozek. In return, the Canucks will send Calgary either a third- or fourth-round pick in 1989, dependent on how many games Reinhart, plagued by chronic back problems, plays. The number of games wasn&rsquo;t disclosed.Vancouver traded defenseman Dave Richter to St. Louis in exchange for Nordmark and a second-round draft choice in 1990.Snepsts, 34, signed a one-year contract at undisclosed terms. He played his first 10 NHL seasons with the Canucks beginning in 1974-75 and was a free agent without compensation after being let go by the Red Wings after three seasons in Detroit.The Canucks are counting on the moves to help reduce their 1987-88 goals-against total of 320, 17th in the league. Reinhart&rsquo;s zehabilitation from chronic back trouble is crucial to the plan.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d love to have him play 80 games,&rdquo; said Vancouver general manager Pat Quinn. &ldquo;But realistically, we hope Paul can play in excess of 50 for us.&rdquo;Trade rumors surrounded Reinhart most of last season and rather than lose him in the Oct. 3 waiver draft, the Flames decided to get something useful in return.&ldquo;I was not really surprised,&rdquo; said Reinhart. &ldquo;They told me they didn&rsquo;t have any plans for me in Calgary and that I was going to be moved. My first preference was to stay, but after that it didn't matter to me where I went.&ldquo;I think people realize the Canucks are pretty much starting from scratch and that they need older players like myself (28) to come in and work with their younger guys. I think I can bring some value to the team both on and off the ice.&rdquo;The Canucks claim to have researched Reinhart&rsquo;s back problems, making their risk a little more palatable.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a liberty to divulge the nature of our medical reports,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;But I can say we&rsquo;ve had in-depth discussions on his condition and we&rsquo;re quite satisfied Paul will be able to come in and help us.&rdquo;Reinhart, 0-4-4 in 14 games with the Flames, said his mistake last year was trying to play hurt.&ldquo;Over the years I&rsquo;ve learned how to handle it and the big mistake I made was playing through the pain,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fine right now and I know that if it starts to bother me I just need to give it a rest. Sometimes 24 hours is all it needs.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01617/5642577-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="558" height="771"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Canucks are counting on ex-Blue Robert Nordmark to improve upon his rookie season.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02428/5642570-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="148" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 148px">VANCOUVER CANUCKS</figcaption></div>The Canucks were talking with St. Louis general manager Ron Caron about Richter (two goals, four assists and 224 penalty minutes in 49 playoff games last season) for a week, insisting on the second-rounder. Caron wanted to part with a third-round pick.The Canucks said Nordmark, 3-18-21 in 67 games, should improve in his second year in the league. His ability to move the puck will be a big plus, particularly if Canuck defenseman Doug Lidster can bounce back to his form of two years ago.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve improved our skill level with the moves,&rdquo; said coach Bob McCammon. &ldquo;Reinhart will really help our power play (14th overall last year) and in getting the puck out of our zone. We&rsquo;ve all got our fingers crossed about his health.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Canucks expected a team-record 70 players at training camp, scheduled to start Sept. 9 in Parksville, a Vancouver Island community.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CANUCKS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 6: Paul Reinhart, D, and Steve Bozek, LW, acquired from Calgary for a third- or fourth-round draft pick in 1989.Sept. 7: Robert Nordmark, D, and second-round draft choice in 1990 acquired from St. Louis for Dave Richter, D; Harold Snepsts, D, signed contract. &#9632;

f0031-01

Canucks Move To Improve Behind Blueline

<div class="byline">BY RICK MATSUMOTO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02476/5642608-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="562" height="1078"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark signed a contract but his return to active duty remained uncertain.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01653/5642615-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="148" height="134"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 148px">TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</figcaption></div>TORONTO-The Maple Leafs banked a large part of their future on a rugged farm boy from Saskatchewan when they made left winger Wendel Clark the No. I pick of the 1985 entry draft.They re-invested in him on Sept. 10 when they signed Clark to a two-year-plus-option contract just as the team opened training camp in Newmarket, Ont., the home of its American League farm team, the Saints.Clark will get an estimated $275,000 in the first year, with bonus clauses giving him the potential to earn more than $300.000.He's now the third-highest paid Leaf behind defenseman Borje Salming, who also signed a new one-year pact on Sept. 9, and left winger Al Secord.The agreement with Clark and his agent, Don Meehan, came two weeks after negotiations reached an apparent impasse and Meehan declared his client-who'll turn 22 next month-would play out his option. Had he gone that route Clark would have been a free agent with compensation next July 1.Clark may be signed but there is uncertainty when he will be able to return to the lineup.His ailmentbegan with a shoulder injury suffered in training camp last year. When he persisted in playing with the injury it led to a displacement of his back muscles and a twisting of his spine.Eventually, it reached a point where it pained him to even shoot the puck, something he does with devastating force when healthy.After visiting numerous clinics and hospitals, doctors and therapists, Clark finally began to recuperate after a visit to a British doctor this summer.Clark has been taking part in the shooting and skating drills during the early days of camp, but has refrained from scrimmaging. It was deemed un-likely he would play in any of the pre-season games"I'm in no hurry to start scrimmaging," he said "I'm taking no chances with the back No chances."He also refused to say when he might get back into the lineup."I'm not going to set a timetable," he said. If I set a timetable I could be wrong."Leaf general manager Gord Stellick concurred fully with Clark's cautious insistence about his return."Wendel doesn't have to prove himself to the Maple Leafs." said Stellick. "He proved himself as a 19-year-old when he came in here and took on the league."Whatever it takes for him to get back to the Wendel Clark of the first two years. we're behind him all the way. Even if he missed 80 games it would still be a great investment for the Toronto Maple Leafs."Meanwhile, another Leaf left winger received a clean bill of health Sept. 9 and could be ready for the season opener Oct. 6 in Boston.It was thought Mark Osborne, felled by mononucleosis early in July, might not be well enough to play until November or even December.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>But tests showed Osborne's blood level is returning to normal. He restricted himself to exercising on the stationary bike during the first few days of camp.NOTES-Center Kent Hulst was training camps first casualty. He suffered a separated shoulder when he collided with defenseman Luke Richardson. No. I draft pick Scott Pearson signed a contract Sept. 8&hellip;. Popular right winger Brad (Motor City) Smith, who missed all of last year with a back in Jury, has been an observer at camp. He's contemplating surgery in November and his career could be over&hellip; Miroslav Ihnacak, whose contract was bought out by the Leafs, surfaced in the Detroit Red Wing camp. If he doesn't make the Red Wings or their Adirondack farm team, he's expected to play in Italy.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 8: Wendel Clark, LW, signed two-year contract, plus option, Scott Pearson, LW, signed multi-year contract. &#9632;

f0032-02

Leafs Bank On Clark Returning Investment

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03325/5642646-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="156" height="118"><figcaption class="caption-body">MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;The Minnesota North Stars began the &ldquo;Ferreira Era,&rdquo; as owner Gordon Gund once called it, with the expected truckload of problems, plus two.They opened training camp with not one. but two holdouts, the first ones in franchise history.All-time leading scorer Dino Ciccarelli refused to report and threatened &ldquo;to never wear a North Star uniform again&rdquo; if the Stars didn&rsquo;t meet his asking price of a $400,000-per-season salary. Mike Modano, the first player taken in the 1988 entry draft, appeared for his physical testing on the first full day of camp but left before the first practice because of a contract dispute.In the days before camp opened, Ciccarelli said he wouldn&rsquo;t play for the Stars again if they &ldquo;forced&rdquo; him into sitting out. Later, he said he still held his position and again voiced hope for a trade to one of three teams: Pittsburgh, Los Angeles or Detroit.&ldquo;The North Stars say they can&rsquo;t pay me any more than they have offered because it will damage their pay scale,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s fine; I understand that. Then trade me to someone who will pay me what I&rsquo;m worth. In the past three seasons, 1 have been in the top two per cent in the league in scoring and I should be paid like it.&rdquo;Ciccarelli wants his $400,000 and five years. New GM Jack Ferreira has offered four years at an estimated $300,000-plus a season, and said only 20 NHL players earn equal or more to what he has offered Ciccarelli.&ldquo;And only two right wingers&mdash;Jari Kurri and Dave Taylor&mdash;make more,&rdquo; Ferreira said. &ldquo;We feel we&rsquo;ve been very fair.&rdquo;Ciccarelli, who has averaged more than 45 goals and 92 points for each of the past three seasons, said he will not &bull; play out his option year for the $205,000 (his figure) he played for last season.&ldquo;How long do I have to keep proving myself?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They keep saying, &lsquo;We&rsquo;ll take care of you,&rsquo; but they never do. About 150 guys made more than 1 did last year&hellip;Pick any 100 guys, whoever played here, and ask them if management ever fook care of them. Ask Fred Barrett or Steve Payne or Brad Maxwell. Ask 100 and I&rsquo;ll bet only one or two would say they were happy with the way they were treated. You have to take care of yourself.&rdquo;But because NHL rules tilt in favor of management, Ciccarelli&rsquo;s options are limited. He must play an option year before he can become a free agent, so he could sit forever if the Stars don&rsquo;t meet his demands or trade him. He would lose $1,600 and pay $500 in fines if he misses training camp, and a little more than $1,000 a day during the regular season.A week before camp began, Ciccarelli said he couldn&rsquo;t afford to sit out the season. A few days later, the story changed. &ldquo;He can&rsquo;t afford it,&rdquo; said his agent, Los Angeles lawyer Ron Salcer. &ldquo;But he will. Even his father said, &lsquo;Dino, you sit out if you have to. I&rsquo;ll send you money if you need it.&rsquo;&rdquo;Ferreira has talked with a handful of teams, including the three on Ciccarelli&rsquo;s list. &ldquo;But nobody&rsquo;s beating the doors down,&rdquo; he said.Detroit apparently is out of the picture. Ferreira asked for at least left winger Gerard Gallant, and Red Wing coach Jacques Demers told a Detroit reporter he&rsquo;d never trade Gallant straight-up for Ciccarelli.Modano, meanwhile, reported to camp on Sept. 9 and said &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m here to stay.&rdquo; But he was gone, less than 20 hours later. His agent, Detroit lawyer Howard Gourwitz, pulled him out of camp after negotiations broke down with Ferreira. According to sources, Gourwitz initially asked fora four-year, $l million contract. Ferreira refused to discuss the numbers, but called Gourwitz&rsquo;s demands &ldquo;unprecedented&rdquo; for a first overall pick.Modano and Gourwitz returned home to Detroit because Gourwitz said he couldn&rsquo;t allow his client to go on the ice without a contract. And Ferreira said he wouldn&rsquo;t continue negotiations unless Modano stayed in camp and worked out with the team.Said Ferreira: &ldquo;His agent is playing games again. Their dollars are way out of line. Missing training camp hurts the boy more than it hurts us. We don&rsquo;t expect Mike to come in and take a job. It&rsquo;s a bonus for us if he plays this year. For someone to start his career as a holdout isn&rsquo;t the most advantageous thing.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Stars avoided a possible third holdout just before camp, when they signed second-round draft pick Link Gaetz to a three-year, $315,000 contract. Gaetz, who has been working out in the Twin Cities for much of the past two months, finished third among all players in physical testing. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s passed the first test,&rdquo; Jack Ferreira said. &ldquo;He did everything we asked of him over the season and came to camp in great shape. Now we&rsquo;ll have to see how he adjusts to this level of play.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Left winger Curt Fraser, who missed most of last season because of chronic mononucleosis, finished first in the physical testing. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 207 pounds, five percent body fat, strong,&rdquo; coach Pierre Page said. &ldquo;He looks great.&rdquo;<h2>NORTH STARS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>sept. 1: Link Gaetz, D, signed three-year, $315,000 contract. &#9632;

f0032-03

‘Ferreira's Era’ Plagued By Contract Hassles

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04207/5642677-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="156" height="122"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Winning, Mike Keenan says, is a state of mind.&ldquo;I think the team has to make a commitment to winning,&rdquo; the Chicago coach said on the eve of training camp opening Sept. 9 at Chicago Stadium.Based on the last two seasons, critics would contend the Hawks should have been committed. Chicago was 30-41-9 last year after a 29-37-14 mark the year before. The Hawks&rsquo; record in playoff games over the last three seasons is 1-11. Three years ago, Toronto eliminated them in three straight games. Detroit did a 4-0 number on them two years ago and St. Louis whipped them 4-1 last year.But Keenan senses this season could be different, based on meetings with individual players during the summer.&ldquo;I think the players are extremely proud,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re anxious to be successful. I think they&rsquo;re going to be committed. That&rsquo;s been my impression, from the ones I&rsquo;ve talked to.&rdquo;Keenan said the players&rsquo; attitude toward off-season conditioning programs led him to this conclusion. He said players told him they were more diligent about working out in preparation for the season than they were in previous years. Former Hawk coach Bob Murdoch cited poor conditioning as one reason Chicago finished last season 0-7-1.&ldquo;The feedback I&rsquo;ve been given is that this is the first time they&rsquo;ve ever made the conscious effort of preparing themselves, to an extent they&rsquo;ve never done before,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a very positive bit of reinforcement and feedback for me as their coach. They&rsquo;re communicating to me that they&rsquo;re committed, and committed to a degree they never have been in the past.&rdquo;Keenan&rsquo;s presence and his track record with the Philadelphia Flyers (220-102-28 in four seasons, plus two Stanley Cup final appearances) have made the Hawks sit up and take notice. For perhaps the first time in years, they expect themselves to be a well-coached team, so they expect to have a good season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really looking forward to this season,&rdquo; said veteran right winger Rick Vaive, who scored 43 goals in his first season with Chicago after being traded from Toronto last off-season.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to win, and when you&rsquo;re winning you have fun.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Center Jeremy Roenick a the Hawks&rsquo; No. 1 draft pick last June, was named to the U.S. national junior team following trials in Lake Placid, N.Y. Roenick has been accepted at Boston College, and had not signed a contract with the Hawks in the final week before training camp opened Sept. 9 at Chicago Stadium. The Hawks expected 60 players to report&hellip; Chicago suspended veteran defenseman Behn Wilson indefinitely for not reporting to camp. Wilson is seeking salary abitration. But, said GM Bob Pulford, under NHL rules he is still Hawk property and obligated to report. Mike Keenan had the Hawk dressing room redone. Gone are individual player cubicles. Keenan felt a more open concept would improve communication. &#9632;

f0032-04

Hawks Are In Condition To Succeed

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01581/5642708-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="150" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body">ST. LOUIS BLUES</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;After firing coach Jacques Martin, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron complained his team was too wimpy last season.So Caron hired fiery team captain Brian Sutter to replace Martin, and promised changes. Before training camp opened, Caron spent heavily to give Sutter some new hit men to deploy.First came Craig Coxe, a 24-year-old scrapper acquired in the Doug Gilmour-Mike Bullard deal. The left winger hasn&rsquo;t established himself as a top enforcer yet, but he is a willing fighter and a true heavyweight at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds.Just two days later, Caron sent defenseman Robert Nordmark and a second-round pick in 1990 to Vancouver for veteran policeman Dave Richter. Though touted as the league&rsquo;s top fighter in a Blues&rsquo; press release, Richter, 28, hasn&rsquo;t ranked with reigning heavyweight Bob Probert of the Detroit Red Wings in recent seasons.In Coxe and Richter, Caron acquired players with 1,405 career penalty minutes and 19 career goals.Combined with holdover enforcer Todd Ewen, a 225-pound weightlifter who once dropped Probert to his knees, and rugged right winger Herb Raglan, Coxe and Richter will give the Blues a notable security force.They are expected to fight&mdash;an element that big fellows like Robert Dirk, Michael Dark, Kent Carlson and Jocelyn Lemieux didn&rsquo;t provide last season. Dark and Lemieux have since been traded.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not goons. I don&rsquo;t like that term,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter said of Coxe and Richter. &ldquo;Guys used to call me a goon because I fought all the time. These guys can play. These guys are big and strong and it&rsquo;s a bonus that they can play.&rdquo;Richter, at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, was touted as the righthanded crease-clearing defensemen the Blues have been looking for since they traded Rob Ramage and Charlie Bourgeois to Calgary and Hartford, respectively, late last season.&ldquo;I want the Blues to be the team pushing, not pushing back,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Richter gives us that ability. Richter is somebody I wanted all summer, somebody I&rsquo;ve always liked as a player and an individual.&rdquo;The Blues will certainly impress people as they walk through airports. But will their hit men really help them on the ice?&ldquo;Even though we defeated Chicago in the playoffs last year, a lot of our smaller players had to take a lot of bumps and bruises,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;I think we're in pretty good shape as far as the muscles go.&rdquo;&ldquo;We will not be intimidated like we were last year,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;As a player, I was not very impressed with what went on.&rdquo;Before last year&rsquo;s draft, Nordmark, a Swedish import, figured the Canucks were going to select him. The Blues beat them to it, taking him in the third round. After a strong first half, Nordmark lost his confidence and his spot in the lineup.In the playoffs, he watched all the games from the press box. Rumors had him returning to Sweden this season, but he had an option year left on his contract. He finished his season with three goals and 18 assists in 67 games.Richter, a lOth-round draft choice in 1980, spent one season with the Canucks after arriving with Rich Sutter in a trade with the Flyers. He had 224 penalty minutes in 49 games last season and served an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the penalty box during a fight.NOTES&mdash;Dave Richter was expected to team with lefty Brian Benning on the Blues&rsquo; top defensive pairing&hellip; With Ron Caron leaning toward an all-beef lineup, veteran left wingers Perry Turnbull and Ron Flockhart faced uncertain futures. Tony McKegney, Gino Cavallini. Sergio Momesso and Craig Coxe appear certain to man left wing spots and Brett Hull, Greg Paslawski, Herb Raglan and Todd Ewen starboard positions. Flockhart hoped to resume his career after missing most of last season with rheumatoid arthritis.<h2>BLUES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 5: Doug Gilmour, C, Mark Hunter, RW, Michael Dark, RW, and Steve Bozek, LW, traded to Calgary for Mike Bullard, C, Craig Coxe, LW, and the rights to Tim Corkery, D.Sept. 7: Robert Nordmark, D, and a second-round pick in the 1990 entry draft traded to Vancouver for Dave Richter, D. &#9632;

f0033-01

St. Louis Stocking Up On Blue-Brand Beef

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02506/5642739-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Riendeau is no longer an American Leaguer, thanks to an NHL trade between Montreal and St. Louis.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01663/5642746-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="152" height="121"><figcaption class="caption-body">AHL NOTEBOOK</figcaption></div>Hockey purists have another reason to celebrate in the American League this season&mdash;losers of overtime games will no longer be awarded a point in the standings.AHL governors decided on the change at a meeting in Boston on Sept. 7.Before last season, the AHL voted to abolish one-on-one shootouts which decided games tied after the five-minute overtime period. That was another move applauded by traditionalists.As in the NHL, AHL overtime winners will receive two points, while a tie is worth a point to each team.The AHL decided to award a point to overtime losers last season to improve the quality of overtime games. The league felt that too often, teams tried not to lose rather than win in overtime&mdash;not an entertaining spectacle.Overtime periods generally became more entertaining. But guaranteeing each team a point proved inequitable at times, according to AHL vice-president Gord Anziano.Coaches&mdash;knowing they were assured at least a point&mdash;occasionally pulled their goalies in overtime to try for the winner with the man advantage. This practice sometimes affected teams not involved in the game in question.One such situation occurred in late March when Binghamton Whalers, struggling to keep its playoff spot, pulled its goalie at Adirondack to try for an extra point. The Red Wings, however, won the game on an empty-net goal to earn the extra point and tie Rochester for second place in the South Division.Though Rochester eventually edged Adirondack by one point in the race for second, the implication was clear.&ldquo;Pulling the goaltender in OT directly affected a team not involved in a game,&rdquo; said Anziano.<h2>MUSICAL GOALIES</h2>As the Sherbrooke Canadiens and defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears prepared for the 1988-89 season, their first task was trying to recover from off-season trades that stripped them of all-star goaltenders.The Philadelphia Flyers sent Wendell Young, a first-team all-star for the Bears last season, to Pittsburgh for a third-round draft pick Sept. 1. Montreal shipped Vincent Riendeau. a second-team all-star, to St. Louis in a multi-player deal Aug. 9.Since Pittsburgh and St. Louis use International League farm teams, (Muskegon and Peoria, respectively), it&rsquo;s likely the rest of the AHL has seen the last of the two goalies. Unfortunately, so have their coaches.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big loss for us,&rdquo; said first-year Sherbrooke coach Jean Hamel. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be. We&rsquo;re supposed to develop players for the NHL.Riendeau, 27-13-3 with a league-low 2.67 goals-against average last season, played two seasons with Sherbrooke and each year helped the Canadiens capture the Harry (Hap) Holmes Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the league. Last season he shared the award with Jocelyn Perrault, signed by Hershey as a free agent this summer.In his two years in the Montreal organization, Riendeau played a total of 36 minutes in the NHL.In the trade with the Blues, Montreal received goalie Darrell May(22-l9-5, 3.53 GAA with Peoria), who will likely be one of Hamel&rsquo;s goalies this season. The other will probably be Randy Exelby, who played in 19 games for Sherbrooke last season (7-10-0, 2.80 GAA).The Flyers traded Young for a different reason. They were sure they&rsquo;d lose him in the NHL waiver draft Oct. 3 and wanted something in return.Young&rsquo;s stock rose dramatically after he was credited with 12 straight wins and the AHL playoff most valuable player award as the Bears swept to the Calder Cup. During the regular season, he won a league-high 33 games and posted a 2.77 GAA.&ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;ll miss him,&rdquo; said Hershey coach John Paddock. &ldquo;I can count on both hands the number of bad goals he gave up last season. That's incredible.&ldquo;Last year he and (defenseman Dave) Fenyves were our MVPs. The year before it was (center) Tim Tookey (whom the Flyers lost to the Los Angeles Kings in last year&rsquo;s waiver draft). We&rsquo;ll go on no matter what, but I don&rsquo;t know how our goaltending will be.&rdquo;Aside from Perrault, who was 8-11-1 with a 3.77 GAA at Sherbrooke. Paddock will have second-year pro Darryl Gilmour (14-7, 3.68 with Hershey last season) and veteran Marc D&rsquo;Amour, who signed as a free agent after helping Salt Lake win the IHL Turner Cup championship (26-19-5, 3.27).&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t expect anyone to play as well as Wendell did last year,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;But 1 think we&rsquo;ll have better than average goaltending.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0034-02

The Minors

AHL’s Overtime Losers Won’t Get Point

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04293/5642777-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="135" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 135px">IHL NOTEBOOK</figcaption></div>Mayhem on the ice and the threat of lawsuits off it.The International League still carries that reputation, something that makes it bristle enough to hire a marketing firm for the first time.The chances of the IHL reverting to the raucous behavior of the 1960s and mid-1970s is slim since its teams are now more closely aligned with the NHL. Seven of the 10 IHL franchises are solely sponsored by NHL teams.The IHL hopes to capitalize on the turnaround by retaining the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based MCR Consulting Group, a three-year old concern which counts Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens. Buffalo Sabre defenseman Phil Housley and Indianapolis Colt running back Eric Dickerson among its clients. The contract between MCR (the initials denote the surnames of the firm&rsquo;s three partners, Greg McAleenan of Grand Rapids and Greg Collins and Mike Robertson, both of Houston) and the league is open-ended and can be terminated at the IHL&rsquo;s discretion.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to put together a marketing package for the IHL to bring in dollars, a six-figure deal for the league itself, not especially for the individual teams,&rdquo; explained Brad Per-rigo, in charge of MCR&rsquo;s hockey division.As one example, Perrigo is looking at a deal that would have one bus firm carry league teams and bear the slogan, &lsquo;Busing Tomorrow's Stars Today.&rsquo;Perrigo is also working on the proposed IHL-American Hockey League all-star game. He&rsquo;s hoping ESPN, which lost rights to NHL games this year, will televise it along with an IHL Game of the Week."We are also trying to come up with a (IHL) logo so that people can recognize it right away and say, &lsquo;Oh, yeah, that&rsquo;s the IHL.&rsquo;&ldquo;Players of the week, players of the month, player of the year. We&rsquo;d like to have sponsors for that and for player of the year, where there would be so many (sponsorship) dollars to the league and so many to the player. It&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s never been done before.&rdquo;Perrigo cautioned that MCR's work with the league is only &ldquo;in it&rsquo;s infancy.&rdquo;Former defenseman Phil Russell, a 15-year NHL veteran, was hired Sept. 7 as an assistant coach with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, primary affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Russell was a teammate of Pittsburgh vice-president and general manager Tony Esposito when the two were Chicago Blackhawks. Russell volunteered to help Kalamazoo Wing coach John Marks, another former Chicago teammate, last season and actually played 27 games with the K-Wings the latter half of the schedule when the club was riddled by injuries and callups to parent Minnesota is also involved in a talent brokerage, Sports Marketing Services Ltd., that places athletes in business opportunities.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>IHL VS. CANADA?</h2>The IHL board of governors was expected to consider a proposal at its Sept. 14 meeting in Kalamazoo for a game matching a league all-star team against the Canadian national team. Jan. 18 has been discussed as a date and Kalamazoo has applied to hold the game&hellip; The IHL&rsquo;s annual training camp for officials was scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Wings Stadium&hellip;Four of this season&rsquo;s Indianapolis Ice games will be telecast locally by WTTV-TV. &#9632;

f0034-04

The IHL’s Going To Market In Effort To Improve Image

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02490/5642808-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Right winger Jody Hull will be powerful Peterborough's top gun, unless he sticks with the Hartford Whalers.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01630/5642815-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="150" height="105"><figcaption class="caption-body">ONTARIO LEAGUE</figcaption></div>Danny Flynn chooses a well-known phrase to describe the continued success of the Peterborough Petes.&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t rebuild,&rdquo; said the first-year coach of Leyden Division-rival Belleville Bulls. &ldquo;They reload.&rdquo;The Petes, with three first-place Leyden Division finishes and one second in the past four seasons, are again primed for a run at the division title.The Petes have 20 returnees from the team that won the Leyden by 15 points and finished second overall in the Ontario League last season. Which goes a long way towards suggesting the Petes are in for another first-place finish in 1988-89.In the Emms Division, the defending division and league champion Windsor Spitfires don't figure to be as successful as Peterborough in staying on top.The Spitfires went 12-0 en route to the OHL title last year, the first OHL team to sweep the league playoffs. They beat the Petes in last year&rsquo;s final, but lost the Memorial Cup title game to the Western League&rsquo;s Medicine Hat Tigers. The Cup final was also the last junior game for 15 Spitfires&mdash;which doesn&rsquo;t leave much for a title defense.Following is a team-by-team look at the OHL&rsquo;s two divisions. Teams are listed in predicted order of finish. Last season&rsquo;s records are in parentheses.<h2>LEYDEN DIVISION PETERBOROUGH PETES (44-17-5)</h2>Coach-GM: Dick Todd.Key Players: If he doesn&rsquo;t stick with the Hartford Whalers, right winger Jody Hull (50-44-94) should lead the Petes&rsquo; offense. Other notables include left winger Andrew MacVicar (30-51-81), center Mike Ricci (24-37-61), defenseman Corey Foster (13-31-44) and goalies Todd Bojcun and John Tanner, who combined for the league&rsquo;s best goals-against average last season (3.15).Newcomers: Scott Campbell, a 16-year-old defenseman taken in the first-round of this year&rsquo;s draft from the Don Mills bantams and second-rounder Mike Tomlinson, a homegrown left winger. A player to watch&mdash;you can hardly miss him&mdash;is 6-foot-4, 205-pound defenseman Jason Kellemore, 15. He&rsquo;ll be eligible for the NHL draft in 1992.Outlook: Even if Hull makes Hartford, the Petes have the scoring punch, defense and depth to finish first.<h2>CORNWALL ROYALS (35-24-7)</h2>Coach-GM: Orval Tessier.Key Players: Right wingers Steve Maltais (39-46-85) and Jason Hannigan (40-26-66), center Derek Middleton (20-19-39), goalie Rick Tabaracci (33-18-6, 3.48 GAA) and defenseman Mathieu Schneider (21-40-61), I Oth in points among defenseman last season.Newcomers: John Glaney, 16, the team&rsquo;s first-round pick from St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., Owen Nolan, a second-round right winger, and third-rounder Darryl Paquette, a goalie from Sudbury.Outlook: Cornwall has stocked up on 19-year-olds in an effort to win it all. The key is in goal where Tabaracci has accounted for an amazing 56 of the Royals&rsquo; 58 wins his two seasons in the league.<h2>OSHAWA GENERALS (32-31-3)</h2>Coach: Paul Theriault.GM: Sherry Bassin.Key Players: Center Brian Hunt (39-56-95), two-way left winger Brent Grieve (19-20-39), who&rsquo;ll be looking to get drafted by the NHL as a 19-year-old, center Jarrod Skalde (12-16-28), rugged defenseman Mike Short (4-11-15, 204 PIM) and offensive-type defenseman Craig Donaldson (9-33-42).Newcomers: First pick Jean-Paul Davis, a center from the Oshawa midgets, and second-round defenseman Todd Blackman.Outlook: The key is replacing graduated goalie Jeff Hackett (30-21-2, 3.89 GAA). Generals are solid up front and on defense and above-average goaltending could have them pressing the Petes and Royals.<h2>OTTAWA 67's (38-26-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Brian Kilrea.Key Players: OHL scoring champ Andrew Cassels (48-103-151), unless he sticks with Montreal as a center, right winger Mike Griffith (46-37-83), center Joe St. Aubin (13-24-37), defenseman John East (3-13-16) and goalie George Dourian (13-6-1, 4.86 GAA).Newcomers: Left winger Jerrett DeFazio, a local first-rounder, and center Brett Seguin.Outlook: If Cassels makes it back, the 67&rsquo;s should finish in the top four without much difficulty. But if he doesn&rsquo;t, Ottawa could be looking over its shoulder at Belleville, Toronto and Kingston.<h2>BELLEVILLE BULLS (32-30-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Danny Flynn.Key Players: Center Jim Dean (21-51-72), overage right winger Jamie Henckel (36-37-63), defenseman Greg Bignell (5-10-15, 172 PIM) and goalie Troy Nelson (13-12-1,4.08 GAA).Newcomers: First-rounder Bob Pearson, a right winger from Oshawa midgets, second-round defenseman Derek Morin and coach-GM Flynn, an assistant to coach Wayne Maxner in London last season.Outlook: Defenseman Bryan Marchment (7-51-58, 200 PIM) could stick as an underage with Winnipeg Jets. Should he return, though, the Bulls could finish a notch higher.<h2>TORONTO MARLBOROS (26-39-1)</h2>Coach-GM: Terry Martin.Key Players: Left wingers Chris Govedaris (42-38-80), Rob Cimetta (34-42-76) and Jeff Turcotte (27-56-83) plus goalie Pat Tenpenny (5-6-1, 5.60 GAA).Newcomers: Left winger Bill Kovacs, a first-rounder, and defenseman Rob Leask, a second-rounder.Outlook: The Marlies have the scoring power but have lost five defensemen from last season. A lot depends on highly-touted goalie Tenpenny, who backed up veterans Piero Greco and Mark Gowans last season.<h2>KINGSTON RAIDERS (14-52-0)</h2>Coach-GM: Larry Mavety.Key Players: Center Darcy Cahill (27-41-68) and two-way left winger Scott Pearson (26-32-58), unless he sticks with the Toronto Maple Leafs.Newcomers: Sixteen-year-old defenseman Drake Berehowsky, the first player taken at this year&rsquo;s draft, overage defenseman Garth Joy (10-36-46), acquired in a trade with Niagara Falls for defenseman Bryan Fogarty, and coach Mavety, who takes over after seven seasons at Belleville.Outlook: No returning goaltender and overall lack of depth could mean big trouble for the Raiders. Only salvation could be Mavety&rsquo;s penchant for trades and his ability to get the most out of his players.<h2>EMMS DIVISION NORTH BAY CENTENNIALS (31-30-5)</h2>Coach-GM: Bert Templeton.Key Players: Defenseman Adam Burt (17-54-71) and goalie Robert Fournier (30-23-5, 3.50 GAA) head a list of 20 returning players. Returning forwards of note include center Shawn Roy (20-26-46), right winger Keith Osborne (14-22-36 in 30 games) and tough guy winger John Van Kessel (13-16-29, 214 PIM).Newcomers: First-rounder John Vary and Tyler Ertel (4-8-12), acquired during the offseason from the Kitchener Rangers, and overage defenseman Jeff Birkka (1-16-17, 114 PIM), acquired from Windsor by way of Kingston.Outlook: The Centennials have the defense and goaltending to finish high in the standings. Quality seasons from forwards Osborne, Roy and Van Kessel should be enough to put them on top.<h2>KITCHENER RANGERS (26-39-1)</h2>Coach-GM: Joe McDonnell.Key Players: Defensemen Darren Rumble and Kevin Grant (3-20-23, 138 PIM), centers Shayne Stevenson (24-50-74) and Mark Montanari (25-31-56).Newcomers: First-rounder Brad Barton, a defenseman, and second-rounder Mike Torchia, the first goalie taken at this year&rsquo;s OHL draft.Outlook: Five returning defensemen and nine returning forwards, plus 19-year-old goalie Gus Morschauser (12-20-0, 4.60 GAA) should make for the Rangers best season since they finished first in 1983-84.<h2>LONDON KNIGHTS (40-22-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Wayne Maxner.Key Players: Center Tim Taylor (46-50-96), overage right winger Dennis McEwen (27-30-57), rugged left winger Jeff Christian (15-29-44, 154 PIM), defenseman Rick Corriveau (19-47-66) and goalie David Schill (20-13-3, 3.94 GAA).Newcomers: First-round left winger Louie DeBrusk and second-rounder Jon Stos, a center.Outlook: Balance up front, four solid returning defensemen and goalie Schill should spell another good season for Maxner and his new full-time assistant Gary Agnew, who&rsquo;ll replace the departed Danny Flynn.<h2>NIAGARA FALLS THUNDER (35-28-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Bill LaForgeKey Players: Center Shawn McCosh (17-36-53), right winger Jamie Leach (24-19-43), defenseman Bryan Fogarty (11-36-47) and defenseman Paul Laus (1-9-10, 171 PIM).Newcomers: The location, after a move from Hamilton, and the nickname. Also, the talented Fogarty (via a trade with Kingston), first-rounder Mark Lawrence, a right winger, and second-rounder Paul Wolanski, a defenseman.Outlook: LaForge is known for his motivational skills and has good players to work with, even better if goalie Mike Rosati returns as an overager.<h2>SUDBURY WOLVES (17-48-1)</h2>Coach: Ken MacKenzie.GM: Sam McMaster.Key Players: Centers Paul DiPietro (25-42-67) and Fred Pennell (11-12-23, I47 PIM), overage defenseman Jordan Fois (6-24-30) and goalie Ted Mielczarek (8-24-0, 4.63 GAA).Newcomers: McMaster is probably the most important new face. He turned the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds around in the early 1980s and lends credibility to the Wolves. Defenseman Adam Bennett, the team&rsquo;s first-rounder, and second-rounder Terry Chitaroni, a center.Outlook: A fresh start and some decent talent up front, on defense and in goal should give Sudbury its first playoff spot since 1985-86.<h2>SOO GREYHOUNDS (32-33-1)</h2>Coach-GM: Don Boyd.Key Players: Centers Troy Mallette (18-30-48, 184 PIM) and Wayne Muir (8-3-11, 139 PIM), overage defenseman Peter Fiorentino (5-27-32, 252 PIM) and goalie Steve Udvari (6-4-0, 4.38 GAA).Newcomers: Defenseman Len Devuono, a fourth-round pick in 1987, first-rounder Bob Boughner and second-rounder Adam Foote, both defensemen.Outlook: If Mallette plays to his capability and the team&rsquo;s seven sophomore forwards achieve their potential, the Soo should slip into the last playoff spot.<h2>GUELPH PLATERS (21-40-5)</h2>Coach: Ron Smith.GM: Rob Holody.Key Players: Center Rob Zamuner (20-41-61), right winger Kelly Bradley (16-28-44), defenseman David Noseworthy (0-19-19) and goalie Mike Parson (9-17-2, 4.76 GAA).Newcomers: Center Grayden Reid, a first-rounder, second pick Mark Strohack, a defenseman, and coach Smith, fired as an assistant with the NHL New Jersey Devils last season.Outlook: The Platers have 17 returnees but quality is questionable. So is stability of organization since Smith is the Platers&rsquo; sixth coach in the past five seasons. Could sneak into the playoffs but don&rsquo;t seem to have the overall potential of Sudbury or the Soo.<h2>WINDSOR SPITFIRES (50-14-2)</h2>Coach: Tom Webster.GM: Terry McDonnell.Key Players: Left winger Darrin Shannon (33-41-74) unless he sticks with the Pittsburgh Penguins, right winger Ron Jones (22-33-55) and goalie Peter Ing (30-7-1, 3.10 GAA).Newcomers: Defenseman Jason York (4-9-13), acquired in a trade with Niagara Falls, and first-rounder Karl Taylor, a left winger.Outlook: Gone are the team&rsquo;s top six scorers from last season&rsquo;s championship team, plus five regular defensemen. So, too, is last year&rsquo;s GM, Jim Rutherford, who remains the club&rsquo;s governor while working on other business projects for team owner Compuware. New GM McDonnell inherits a pretty bare cupboard. &#9632;

f0035-02

Petes Are Loaded For Bear

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02441/5642846-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="688" height="1382"><figcaption class="caption-body">First-round draft pick Martin Gelinas scored 63 goals for Hull last season.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01600/5642853-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="142" height="97"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 142px">QUEBEC LEAGUE</figcaption></div>As the Quebec League enters its 20th anniversary season, it&rsquo;s faced with the same old problem&mdash;no recent credibility at the Memorial Cup tournament.Quebec League representatives have failed to win the Cup since 1981, when the Cornwall Royals did it. And no Quebec-based team has won the Cup since the Quebec Remparts in 1971. Last May, at the Memorial Cup in Chicoutimi, Hull broke a 10-game QMJHL losing streak in Cup play, winning once, while Drum-mondville was 0-3.This year, three old pros will try their hand at helping to snap the jinx. Jacques Lemaire, Gilbert Perreault and Paulin Bordeleau bring their years of NHL and WHA experience to management and coaching positions in Verdun, Victoriaville and Laval, respectively.A Longueuil-based team will also join the hunt, after that city suffered through a year without a franchise. College Francais replaces the Longueuil Chevaliers, who moved to Victoriaville last season and became the Tigres. The private school has 5.000 students, ranging in age from elementary to junior college levels.Also new arc full facemasks. The QMJHL is the only one of Canada&rsquo;s three major junior leagues to wear them, the result of provincial legislation making them mandatory.This year the QMJHL teams are in one 11-team division, with the top eight teams qualifying for the playoffs.Here&rsquo;s a look at the league teams, in predicted order of finish.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>HULL OLYMPIQUES (43-23-4)</h2>Coach: Alain Vigneault.GM: Charlie Henry.Key players: Canadian League rookie-of-the-year Martin Gelinas (63-68-131), the L.A. Kings&rsquo; first-round draft choice who went to Edmonton as part of the Wayne Gretzky deal, defensemen Cam Russell (9-18-27, 141 PIM)) and Guy Dupuis (14-34-48) and goalie Jason Glickman (30-14-4, 3.84 GAA).Newcomers: First-round pick left winger Todd Sparks, second-round defenseman Karl Dukhuis.Outlook: The defending league champions should only get better. They lose league MVP Marc Saumier and will need all five of their players attending pro camps to return if they are to repeat.<h2>LAVAL TITAN (43-25-2)</h2>Coach: Paulin Bordeleau.GM: Richard Lafreniere.Key players: Center Denis Chalifoux (34-59-93). defensemen Patrice Brisebois (10-34-44) and Eric Dubois (8-32-40, 132 PIM), goalie Alain Dubeau (27-15-1, 5.03).Newcomers: Top pick left winger Patrice Martineau, second-rounder Jason Brousseau, also a left winger.Outlook: The Titan will once again be a swift, good puck-handling team, but lacking in size.<h2>VICTORIAVILLE TIGRES (33-31-6)</h2>Coach: Gilbert Perreault.GM: Michel (Bunny) Larocque.Key players: Washington Capital first-rounder Reggie Savage, who led the team in scoring (68-54-122) as a rookie. Goalie Stephane Fiset (15-17-4, 3.94 GAA) and defenseman Yves Racine (10-84-94).Newcomers: First-round defenseman Jacques Auger and second-round center Martin Tanguay.Outlook: Perreault has plenty to work with here. Savage should dominate. The Tigres likely will become more offense-minded, reflecting Perreault&rsquo;s style, but will still be solid defensively.<h2>ST-JEAN CASTORS (41-26-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Mario Bazinet.Key players: Goalie Patrick Daigneault (1-2-0, 7.34 GAA) and third-round pick Patrick Labrecque will have to come up big in goal to replace Stephane Beauregard, named the league&rsquo;s best goalie and drafted by Winnipeg. Also, left winger Steve Cadieux (43-50-93) and 6-foot-5, 211-pound defenseman Francois Leroux (3-8-11, 143 PIM).Newcomers: Labrecque and top pick Jean Blouin, a left winger.Outlook: The Castors will continue to be a big team with a tough defense and will battle Victoriaville for third place. Daigneault&rsquo;s success will be critical.<h2>TROIS-RIVIERES DRAVEURS (27-37-6)</h2>Coach: Danny Dube.GM: Michel Boucher.Key players: Montreal Canadien first-round pick defenseman Eric Charron (3-13-16, 135 PIM), goalie Dominic Roussel (18-25-4, 5.18) and defenseman Steve Veilleux (7-25-32, 150 PIM).Newcomers: Local product, second pick overall, center Yanic Perreault, and second-round defenseman Yannik Lemay.Outlook: The Draveurs, under first-year coach Dube, will be strong on defense and in goal, but are weak on the left side.<h2>DRUMMOND VILLE VOLTIGEURS (35-31-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Jean Begin.Key players: Top scorer Steve Chartrand (50-62-112), a center, Quebec Nordique first-rounder Daniel Dore (24-39-63, 218 PIM), a right winger, and Philadelphia&rsquo;s first-round choice, left winger Claude Boivin (23-26-49, 233 PIM).Newcomers: Top draft pick Daniel Montmar-quette, a left winger. Defenseman Pierre-Paul Landry (2-19-21, 133 PIM) was acquired in a trade with Granby.Outlook: The Volts went to the league final and the Memorial Cup, but have eight players at pro camps and will need them back to achieve a high finish. They will be a big, hard-hitting, grinding team again, but lacking speed.<h2>CHICOUTIMI SAGUENEENS (38-31-1)</h2>Coach-GM: Gaston Drapeau.Key players: Top scorer, right winger Patrice Tremblay (72-75-147), left winger Yves Gaucher (37-60-97, 388 PIM) and goalie Jimmy Waite (17-16-1, 4.50 GAA).Newcomer: First-rounder Eric Meloche, a right winger.Outlook: The Sags play a conservative, close-checking style based on hard work. They&rsquo;ll need an improved Waite back from the Chicago Blackhawk camp to avoid a disappointing playoff like last season, when they finished first in the Dilio but were ousted by Shawining-an in six games.<h2>SHAWINIGAN CATARACTES (30-37-3)</h2>Coach: Joe Hardy.GM: Real Marineau.Key players: Left winger Patrick Lebeau (43-56-99), defenseman Daniel Bock (23-61-84, 135 PIM) and goalie Francois Gravel (19-20-2, 4.80 GAA).Newcomer: First-round left winger Dave Morissette.Outlook: A question mark exists in goal. Eric Metivier (11-17-1, 6.00) didn&rsquo;t report to training camp but Gravel and a big defense might bail the Cats out.<h2>VERDUN JR. CANADIENS (19-47-4)</h2>Coach: Guy Chouinard.GM: Jacques Lemaire.Key players: Centers Neil Carnes (31-57-88) and Andrew McKim (27-32-59), left winger Martin St-Amour (20-50-70) and defenseman Guy Darveau (19-16-35, 274 PIM), who came over in a trade from Victoriaville.Newcomers: First-pick overall, left winger Pierre Sevigny, 17, second-round center Trevor Boland, 17, and Darveau.Outlook: A good skating team up front but weak defensively. The Jr. Habs will need 20-year-old goalie Jean-Claude Bergeron (13-31-3, 5.86) back from Montreal&rsquo;s training camp.<h2>GRANBY BISONS (23-44-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Real Paiement.Key players: Defenseman Eric Desjardins (18-49-67, 138 PIM), goalie Andre Racicot (15-11-1, 4.07) and center Benoit Groulx (26-62-88).Newcomers: First-round defenseman Carl Leblanc and third-round center Mark Rodgers.Outlook: The Bisons will have to work hard and play well defensively, because they lack firepower.<h2>COLLEGE FRANCAIS (First year)</h2>Coach: Gerard Gagnon.GM: Yvon Pedneault.Key players: Center Paul Willett (28-38-66), taken from Trois-Rivieres in the dispersal draft, and right winger Norm Desjardins (31-44-75) from Verdun.Newcomers: First-round defenseman Yan Arsenault and left winger Martin Caron.Outlook: A skating team that will work hard, College Francais will endure normal growing pains but shouldn&rsquo;t be left too far behind. &#9632;

f0036-02

It Should Be Hull Of A Year

<div class="byline">BY ED WILLES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02380/5642884-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="684" height="1071"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Hynes, a 25-goal scorer last year, is back with the Medicine Hat Tigers.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01519/5642891-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="132" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 132px">WESTERN LEAGUE</figcaption></div>Unlike past seasons, when divisional races were decided by Groundhog Day, there promises to be drama and suspense to the 1988-89 Western League season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s &lsquo;Flip a coin,&rsquo;&rdquo; says Spokane Chief general manager Bob Strumm.&ldquo;I wouldn't write anybody off,&rdquo; adds Kamloops Blazer coach Ken Hitchcock.The breathless cliches have some bearing in fact. The WHL&rsquo;s traditional balance of power has shifted from a few teams to a number of young, aggressive organizations.In the West Division, Kamloops, winner of five straight titles, has been crippled by graduation. The Victoria Cougars, a team loaded with veteran talent, is the consensus choice as favorite. The Spokane Chiefs and Seattle Thunderbirds aren&rsquo;t far behind. The Thunderbirds became an instant factor when they whisked general manager Russ Farwell and coach Barry Melrose away from the two-time defending Memorial Cup champion Medicine Hat Tigers.The situation is similar in the East Division. The Tigers and Prince Albert have been hurt by graduation. If right winger Trevor Linden&mdash;the second overall pick in the NHL draft&mdash;sticks with the Vancouver Canucks, the Tigers could well finish out of the playoffs. Prince Albert is on slightly more solid ground. But if top NHL pick Mike Modano stays with the Minnesota North Stars, the Raiders will be weak at center and won&rsquo;t scare anyone. The Saskatoon Blades, a team similar in character to the Cougars, should win the division. But the Blades aren&rsquo;t exactly a lock. Goaltender Tim Cheveldae may stay in the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; organization and defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, the third player chosen in the NHL draft, may stick with the Quebec Nordiques. If the Blades lose Cheveldae or both him and Leschyshyn, the division becomes a mad scramble.The following are in predicted order of finish.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WEST DIVISION VICTORIA COUGARS (37-34-1)</h2>Coach: Wayne Naka.GM: Al Patterson.Key players: Goalie Wade Flaherty (20-15-0, 3.95 goals-against average), defensemen Andrew Wolf (11-29-40) and Rob Sumner (0-6-6), right winger Joel Savage (37-32-69), assuming he returns from the Buffalo Sabre training camp, center Len Barrie (37-49-86) and center Micah Aivazoff (26-57-83).Newcomers: Defenseman-left winger Jim McKenzie and left winger Darin Feasey, acquired in a trade with Moose Jaw.Outlook: A team built around 19-year-old veterans with no apparent weaknesses.<h2>SPOKANE CHIEFS (37-32-3)</h2>Coach: Butch Goring.GM: Bob Strumm.Key players: Centers Travis Green (33-53-86) and Rob Friesen (39-42-81), left winger Murray Duval (26-37-63), defenseman Scott Farrell (1-16-17, 198 PIM).Newcomers: Centers Pat Falloon and Ray Whitney, goalie Jamie McLennan, defensemen Frank Evans and Craig Kalawsky.Outlook: This team may be scary in another season. For the present, they&rsquo;ll be a factor if McLennan can replace the departed Troy Gamble in goal and Falloon and Whitney contribute.<h2>SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS (25-45-2)</h2>Coach: Barry Melrose.GM: Russ Farwell.Key players: Centers Glen Goodall (53-64-117), Victor Gervais (30-46-76) and Trevor Sim (17-18-35), right winger Lindsay Vallis (31-45-76), defenseman Chris Joseph (5-14-19 in 23 games), if he returns from the Edmonton Oilers, goalie Danny Lorenz (20-37-2, 5.71).Newcomers: Center Andy Schneider, defenseman Stewart Malgunas.Outlook: Farwell and Melrose are worth 10 wins this season. There is a weakness on the wings but if Joseph comes back, the Thunderbirds will challenge.<h2>KAMLOOPS BLAZERS (45-26-1)</h2>Coach: Ken Hitchcock.GM: Bob Brown.Key players: Center Dave Chyzowski (16-17-33), left winger Phil Huber (19-30-49), right winger Mike Needham (31-33-64), defenseman Pat MacLeod (13-33-46) and Kim Deck (1-11-12), goalie Dean Cook (31-17-1, 4.36)Newcomers: Goalie Corey Hirsch, defenseman Brian Dicken, left winger Kevin Hoffman.Outlook: Hit hard by graduation, the Blazers are rebuilding with a superior group of 17- and 18-year-olds.<h2>PORTLAND WINTER HAWKS (24-45-3)</h2>Coach: Ken Hodge.GM: Brian Shaw.Key players: Centers Dennis Holland (58-86-144) and James Black (30-50-80), left winger Troy Mick (63-84-147), defenseman Roy Mitchell (5-42-47) and Desi Sandboe (3-4-7).Newcomers: Goalie Byron Dafoe, center Greg Leahy, acquired in a trade with Lethbridge, left winger Mark Grayeyes.Outlook: Little separates Portland from Spokane or Seattle. As usual, they&rsquo;ll be tough at home. Holland and Mick should provide ample scoring and Dafoe is a top-drawer goaltending prospect.<h2>TRI-CITIES AMERICANS (33-34-5)</h2>Coach: John Olver.GM: Mike McCall.Key players: Center Stu Barnes (37-64-101), left winger Sean Lebrun (36-53-89), right winger Mike Hawes (38-36-74), defensemen Steve Jacques (15-31-46) and Milan Dragicevic (10-25-35).Newcomers: The western Washington location of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland (the team moved there from New Westminster in the off-season), goalie Frank Fulan, defenseman Devin Derksen.Outlook: The Americans open with 17 straight road games while awaiting completion of their home rink. An unsure situation in the front office also hampered recruiting over the summer. The frontline talent, led by Barnes, is fine. There are just too many questions surrounding this team.<h2>EAST DIVISION SASKATOON BLADES (47-22-3)</h2>Coach: Marcel Comeau.GM: Daryl Lubiniecki.Key players: Goalie Tim Cheveldae (44-19-3, 3.71), if he returns from the Detroit training camp, defensemen Collin Bauer (9-53-62), Kelly Chotowetz (4-10-14) and Curtis Leschyshyn (14-41-55), if he returns from the Quebec Nordiques, centers Kevin Kaminski (38-61-99), Kory Kocur (34-37-71) and Darin Bader (5-9-14).Newcomers: Finnish defenseman Harri Les-kinen, center Scott Scissons, defenseman Rob LeLacheur and Geoff McMasters.Outlook: This team is stacked from top to bottom with talent, character and toughness. They also have a new 8,000-seat arena which will play host to the 1989 Memorial Cup. If Cheveldae returns, the Blades are a lock for first place. Without a proven goaltender, however, things might get interesting.<h2>SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOS (44-26-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Graham James.Key players: Right winger Sheldon Kennedy (53-64-117), left winger Peter Soberlak (43-56-99), center Peter Kasowski (33-31-64), defensemen Dan Lambert (20-63-83) and Rob Wilkie (12-68-80), goalie Trevor Kruger (27-10-1, 3.82).Newcomers: Goalie Ted Oloricz, defensemen Jeff Knight and Kevin Barrett.Outlook: It should be a two-team race in the East. The Broncos possess the most dangerous set of forwards in the league and a mobile, creative defense. The question is: Can they win the street fights against Saskatoon?<h2>PRINCE ALBERT RAIDERS (43-24-5)</h2>Coach: Peter Anholt.GM: Brad Tippett.Key players: Center Mike Modano (47-80-127), if he returns from the Minnesota North Stars, left wingers Shawn Byram (23-28-51) and Wayde Bucsis (37-54-91), defensemen Gord Kruppke (8-8-16) and Todd Nelson (3-21-24), goalie Stan Reddick (4-4-2, 3.95).Newcomers: Defenseman Sandy Thaler, center Jeff Nelson, left winger David Neilson.Outlook: The adjustment period for the new braintrust of Anholt and Tippett should be relatively painless. Both were raised in the Raider organization. The key for Prince Albert is Modano. If he comes back, the Raiders are elevated from contenders into the division&rsquo;s upper echelon.<h2>BRANDON WHEAT KINGS (26-43-3)</h2>Coach: Doug Sauter.GM: Bill Shinske.Key players: Goalie Kelly Hitchins (17-16-1, 4.67), defensemen Kevin Cheveldayoff (3-29-32, 265 PIM) and Bob Woods (21-56-77), right winger Troy Kennedy (55-72-127), left winger Troy Frederick (15-13-28).Newcomers: Centers Gary Audette and Chris Robertson, right winger Curtis Folkett, left winger Sheldon Kowalchuk.Outlook: New coach Sauter can wring every ounce out of a team with his tight-checking style, which this team is perfectly suited to. Hitchins should be solid in goal. The defense is the team&rsquo;s strength.<h2>REGINA PATS (39-29-4)</h2>Coach: Dennis Sobchuk.GMs: Bill Hicke, Ted Knight, Morley Gus-way, Jack Nicolle.Key players: Goalie Rod Houk (29-20-3, 3.91), defensemen Brad Miller (9-34-43, 148 PIM) and Jim Mathieson (3-12-15), leftwingers Gary Dickie (33-34-67) and Frank Kovacs (10-8-18), center Mike Sillinger (18-25-43), right winger Jamie Heward (10-17-27).Newcomers: Defensemen Kevin Haller, Cam Brauer and Terry Hollinger, right winger Mark Cipriano, centers Cory Paterson and Kelly Mark wart.Outlook: The Pats may have the best young talent in the division but the team is likely a year away. A four-man group handling GM duties&mdash;Hicke and Knight the hockey end of operations, Gusway and Nicolle the business end&mdash;is sure to raise eyebrows. Still, if the young forwards develop, the Pats will be a factor.<h2>MEDICINE HAT TIGERS (44-22-6)</h2>Coach: Ron Kennedy.GM: Wes Phillips.Key players: Defensemen Vince Boe (5-36-41) and Ryan McGill (5-30-35, 224 PIM), centers Wayne Hynes (25-33-58) and Jason Miller (11-18-29), right winger Trevor Linden (46-64-110), if he returns from the Vancouver Canucks, left winger Kirby Lindal (18-15-33), right winger Cal Zankowski (40-24-64), if he returns as an overager.Newcomers: Center Murray Garbutt, defenseman Brent Thompson, goalie Rick Geisei.Outlook: Farwell left the Tigers loaded with exceptional 17-year-old talent before he left for Seattle. There is, however, a dearth of leadership. The Tigers may have as many as 10 players drafted this season. Unfortunately, that doesn&rsquo;t translate into wins.<h2>LETHBRIDGE HURRICANES (20-48-4)</h2>Coach: Blaine Galbraith.GM: Wayne Simpson.Key players: Goalie Jeff Ferguson (19-34-4, 4.57), defensemen Rob Krauss (6-21-27, 245 PIM) and Darren Stolk (3-10-13), centers Bryan Bosch (16-39-55) and Kelly Ems (27-27-54), left winger Kevin Heise (26-20-46, 223 PIM).Newcomers: Center Zack Boyer, defenseman Clark Polglase.Outlook: Depth is fine, but the Hurricanes lack any semblance of a 100-point player. This team is pointed in the right direction and Ferguson will provide outstanding goaltending.<h2>MOOSE JAW WARRIORS (18-52-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Gerry James.Key players: Goalie Scott Ironside (5-23-1, 5.93), defenseman Bryan Ilkuf (11-43-54), right winger Blair Atcheynum (32-16-48).Newcomers: Goalie Tyler Wall, defenseman Devon Oleniuk, left winger Curt Lehner, right winger Steve Young.Outlook: Eight players acquired in off-season trades will help fill some holes, but there is still a huge talent deficit. James has the ability to inspire teams with his singular motivational skills. Those skills will be tested to the limit this season. &#9632;

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It’s A Horse Race Out West

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OHL SCHEDULE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02399/5642991-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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QMJHL SCHEDULE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01292/5643029-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="870" height="710"></div>Last season we surveyed Inside HOCKEY subscribers to ensure that Inside HOCKEY was bringing them what they wanted. Readers told us that they WANT MORE Inside HOCKEY each season. So&hellip; we've expanded our roster this year and will publish 6 action-packed issues of Inside HOCKEY PLUS A BONUS ISSUE: SEASON-IN-REVIEW.You&rsquo;ll get all the great features and action photographs that Inside HOCKEY is famous for, as well as a new feature; Inside HOCKEY&rsquo;S Personality of the Year. The person contributing the most to the game of hockey during the season will be awarded the title. AND NOW YOU&rsquo;LL ALSO RECEIVE SEASON-IN-REVIEW AS A BONUS ISSUE.Season-In-Review will be published in mid-June and is sure to be a collector&rsquo;s piece. This special magazine will recap the past NHL season with action-packed stories and colourful photographs. Relive the start of the 1988-89 season with the high hopes and dreams of all the NHL teams right through to the ultimate victory of the season &hellip; the Stanley Cup.You get 6 issues of Inside HOCKEY PLUS the bonus issue of SEASON-IN-REVIEW for only $19.95 and save! Save over 18% off the regular newsstand price.Save time with the convenience of hockey delivery.Save money by subscribing today and beat our the price increases.Don't delay order your subscription and bonus issue today!<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02194/5643022-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="1944" height="862"></div> &#9632;

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SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE NOW!

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01252/5643060-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="159" height="119"><figcaption class="caption-body">DETROIT RED WINGS</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash; It is the seventh year of the Mike Hitch-Jimmy Devellano partnership in Detroit.When he accepted his job. Red Wing general manager Devellano promised owner Hitch their names would be engraved on the Stanley Cup within eight years.As 61 players reported Sept. 9 for training camp in Flint. Mich., Devellano insisted his club is right on schedule. Which can only mean Red Wing fans who have waited 33 years for their team to win another NHL championship should take heart. The pace is quickening.For the past two seasons, the Wings advanced to the Stanley Cup semi-finals. Before their home opener on Oct. 14 against St. Louis, two more banners will be raised to the newly-painted rafters at Joe Louis Arena, saluting their Norris Division regular-season and playoff titles.Coach Jacques Demers wants more, but a number of questions loomed as the Wings began camp. Has Steve Yzerman fully recovered from his knee injury? Will Petr Klima and Bob Prob crt be able to put aside their off-ice problems and perform effectively? And will the young defense be able to handle full-time jobs, with the team's release of several veterans?But the biggest concern could be overconfidence. Before Detroit is to seriously challenge for the Stanley Cup, Demers said, the players must realize they&rsquo;re no longer considered overachieving underdogs. And they must continue to work hard for their success.&ldquo;I think we're capable of getting I00 points and finishing in the top five again," he said.For the first time in Devellano&rsquo;s tenure in Detroit, the Wings began camp with depth at every position, so there will be few jobs up for grabs.The toughest competition will be at right wing, where, because of offseason trades that brought Paul Mac-Lean from Winnipeg and Miroslav Frycer from Toronto, the Wings have seven veterans and rookie Brent Fedyk. the team's No. I pick in 1984, who faces a make-or-break season as a professional.Veteran right wingers on the edge are Jim Nill, Tim Higgins and Joe Kocur. Detroit could lose either Nill or Higgins in the waiver draft. Kocur appeared safe to keep a job at least as an extra, because of his value as an enforcer and the uncertainty of Probe rt.Center/left winger Joe Murphy is another player who must prove he belongs. He will start out on left wing on the No. I line with center Steve Yzerman and Probert.If his summer fitness program was any indication, Murphy was serious about the task ahead. He quit smoking in the off-season and added weight to his upper body.On defense, Detroit also has a surplus, with 10 players who have NHL experience. Demers said the team will likely carry eight into the regular season with an expanded roster that could go as high as 27.Jeff Sharples, 10-25-35 in 56 games as a rookie last season, should be ready to quarterback the power play in the absence of Darren Veitch, who went to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Frycer.Demers is most at ease with his corps of Centers&mdash;Yzerman, Adam Oates, John Chabot and Shawn Burr&mdash;' which he called the best four-man group in the league. Adam Graves, a center for Memorial Cup runner-up Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario League, nearly earned an NHL job last season with the Wings and could make it this fall.NOTES&mdash;Training camp was short this season because of an ambitious, 10-game, seven-city exhibition schedule that included games against St. Louis in both Indianapolis (Sept. 22) and Houston (Sept. 25), and against Winnipeg and Los Angeles at the Oakland Coliseum (Oct. 1 and 2)&hellip; Left winger Miroslav Ihnacak, whose con4 tract was bought out by Toronto, was granted a tryout by the Red Wings &hellip;Steve Yzerman. who missed the final 16 regular-season games and all but the final three playoff games, underwent an off-season rehabilitation campaign that included a lot of weight training and squash. Yzerman was confident of returning to full strength immediately.<h2>RED WINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Aug. 25: Shawn Burr, C, signed two-year contract.Aug. 26: Jeff Brubaker, LW, signed one-year contract.Aug. 29: Adam Oates, C, signed four-year contract. &#9632;

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Wings Out To Prove They Belong On Top

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01254/5643098-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. This NHL team's arena is known as a 'stadium'.4. Former U.S. Olympian play ed briefly for the Canadiens in 1980-81.7. This Flame's last amateur team was the Bemidji State Beavers.8. The New York Americans belonged to this NHL division for more than a decade.10. Nickname of New Haven's American League entry.12. Noted power-skating instructor best known for her work with Bob Nystrom.13. Trophy awarded the NHL's coach of the year.14. This former glassblower seawas named NHL coach of the year in 1978.18. Jet defenseman named to Sweden's 1987 Canada Cup squad.19. Quebec City team once coached by Punch lmlach.20. He topped the Canucks in scoring last season.21. The Philadelphia Falcons once belonged to this minor pro league.<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. The Kings' emblem.2. Essential.3. Where Gordie Howe spent his first season as a pro.4. Nickname of the team that occupies the building referred to in No. 1 across.5. Not divided, but close ---6. Lester Patrick was this team's first coach.9. His 15 NHL seasons were spent with the Maple Leafs, Red Wings, Rangers and Kings.91. As a Pittsburgh Penguin, he had his first of two 50-goal seawas sons in 1975-76.12. Flyer netminders earned just one last season.15. Snapped.16. Former U.S. Olympian, now with Quebec.17. An original Seal, he was a Maple Leaf the season before expansion.<h2>CROSSWORD SOLUTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05127/5643091-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="582" height="577"></div> &#9632;

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CROSSWORD

<h2>20 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Toronto lawyer Joe Kane was named president of the Central Professional Hockey League, succeeding league founder Jack Adams, who died the previous May. Kane, who coached championship teams at the University of Toronto from 1962 to 1965, was elected head of the nine-team league at the annual meeting of league directors.&bull; Members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association selected Chicago Blackhawk Bobby Hull the most exciting player in the game. Boston's Bobby Orr and Detroit's Gordie Howe were second and third, respectively, in the voting. New York Ranger Reg Fleming got the nod as the league's meanest player, while the Blackhawks were deemed to have the most attractive uniform.<h2>35 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Boston Bruin great Milt Schmidt, 35, got his first taste of coaching after signing a player/assistant coach contract with the Bruins. Schmidt played for another season and a half before retiring, then assumed the Boston head-coaching job from Lynn Patrick.&bull; Toronto Maple Leaf captain Ted (Teeder) Kennedy was the first winner of the J.P. Bickell Memorial Trophy, named for a late Maple Leaf governor and warded to the Toronto player judged most valuable to the club. Kennedy scored 14 goals and 23 assists in 43 games for Toronto during the 1952-53 season. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02189/5643153-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">No wonder NHL linesman Ron Asselstine started wearing a helmet. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got nailed by Toronto forward Bill Derlago (left) as the Maple Leaf collided with Philadelphia's Ken Linseman during an early 1980s game at The Spectrum.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THE WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY HOWARD BERGER</div>To suggest Val Fontey was a gentlemanly hockey player is akin to suggesting Wayne Gretzky can set up plays or Phil Esposito enjoys making the odd deal.In other words, quite the understatement.Fonteyne played 820 regular-season NHL games over 13 seasons with Detroit, the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins. He totalled 28 penalty minutes, and did not spend one second in the box between 1965 and 1968.Fonteyne skated through five seasons without taking a single penalty and in four others, he checked in with only two minutes. A veritable goon show in 1964-65 resulted in a career high eight minutes.What makes his penalty totals even more improbable is that Fonteyne was used as a penalty killer throughout his career. The nature of the job requires a good deal of stick work and other forms of pestering.You'd think just by accident, hooking or tripping penalties would occasionally result. But in Fonteyne 's case, they didn't."I think the fact I could skate pretty well helped me a lot," he says. "When killing penalties, I didn't have to rely on using my stick on someone from behind; I could usually keep pace with him and ride him out of the play."I also used some common sense and awareness in those situations &hellip; we were already short one man so it was extra-important not to take another penalty. But generally, I found it easy to play within the rules."<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03162/5643184-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="542" height="1274"><figcaption class="caption-body">Val Fonteyne</figcaption></div>At 5-foot-8, 155 pounds, Fonteyne was among the game's smallest players. So he did his best to avoid physical situations.''I'd have been crazy to go around slamming people," he says. "There were other players like me back then Davey Keon and Camille Henry to name two. They both had more talent than I did but they also made up for a lack of size with their great skating ability."For me, it was the only way."Fonteyne, a native of Weaskiwin, Alta&hellip; played junior hockey in nearby Medicine Hat and spent four seasons in the Western League with Seattle.He began his NHL career with Detroit in 1959-60; went to New York in 1964-65, then was sold back to the Red Wings the following season. He has some vivid memories of the 1966 Stanley Cup final, which pitted fourth place Detroit against first-place Montreal."We went into Montreal and won the first two games of the series, which really was unbelievable,&middot;&middot; remembers Fonteyne, 54. "I don't know if we became overconfident afterwards, but we sure felt we had them heading back into Detroit."Montreal roared back to win the next? four games and Fonteyne will always? live with the misery of being on the ice when Henri Richard scored a strange&mdash;and controversial&mdash;overtime Cup-winner at the Olympia."I was well behind the play but It remember seeing Henri slide into our t: net on his belly," Fonteyne says. "I didn't realize the puck was underneath I him till I saw all the Montreal players going nuts. That wasn't a very pleasant 3: moment."Fonteyne played five years for Pitt-sburgh after the 1967 expansion and two more with the Alberta and Edmonton Oilers in the WHA. He had 75 i goals and 155 a sists in his NHL 111 career, 16 goals and 45 assists in 149 i: WHA games. He retired in 1974 and now works for Canada Post in Wetas-kiwin. &#9632;

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Sin Bin Was Foreign Territory

<h2>SHOOTS SCORES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01219/5643229-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="993" height="579"></div>Relive the heart-stopping 1987 Canada Cup winning goal with these two beautiful limited edition prints. Glen Green, the prominent Canadian artist has signed and numbered each one individually. The excitement, the tension, the hysteria are all captured on canvas for a lifetimeThese high quality prints are reproductions taken from the original watercolors painted by this prestigious artist. The &ldquo;1987 Labatt's Canada Cup. The Winning Goal&rdquo; prints depict the triumphant final score of the tournament. The first print "SHOOTS." stops the action as Gretzkyhas made the famous pass to Lemieux. Murphy acts as the decoy as Kamensky tries in vain to catch up. Stelnov. the Soviet defenseman has taken himself hopelessly out of the play. Mylnikov, the Soviet goalie is tensed for the shot.The second print, "SCORES'' portrays the puck speeding by Mylnikov&rsquo;s catching hand and into the net. Gretzky, Lemieux and Murphy raise their sticks in celebration as the Soviets look on with<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02133/5643222-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="997" height="586"></div>THE HOCKEY NEWS and LABATT&rsquo;S BREWERIES OF CANADA presented both Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux with similar limited edition prints, as awards for being named ''International Personalities of the Year&rdquo; at the 1988 HOCKEY NEWS AWARDS BANQUET. There will only be 500 copies of each of these limited editions available to the public! Orders will be processed on a first come first served basis These important pieces of hockey history are unframed, enabling you to match their vibrant tones to your own personal taste.Diehard hockey fans can order individual prints or sets but quantities are limited so order today. Your livingroom, den, or office will come alive with these historic limited edition prints.Actual image size is 15&rdquo; x 28&rdquo;Your purchase of these one of a kind hockey prints will not only enable you to enjoy collector art but also help charities like the Canadian Olympic Association.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0373/5643215-1-eng-US/c0004-032.jpg" title="C0004-03" width="1577" height="688"></div> &#9632;

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September 23, 1988

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

One Last Try For Larouche Before He Calls It A Career

Cassels Builds Fortifications For Hab Trial

WHL SCHEDULE