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.

January 27, 1989

The Hockey News January 27, 1989

Hockey&rsquo;s traditional pregame meal has been the steak dinner.But the game is changing and so are the traditions. World-class athletes, the type who represent Canada in international hockey tournaments, realize that their pregame meal must be high in complex carbohydrates.The pasta meal is now the pregame tradition, the complex carbohydrates in pasta contain glycogen, the fuel that muscles prefer to burn during strenuous physical exercise. If you are a professional athlete and you have the time to eat a pasta dinner before each game and practise, you will have the energy to be a winner.The majority of us get to the rink just in time to get dressed and hit the ice. we do not nave time to eat properly for each game, yet we play as hard as we possibly can. That&rsquo;s where Carbo Power comes in.&ldquo;If you know what Kraft Dinner is and you know what Gatorade is, you cross them and you end up with Carbo Power,&rdquo; says Ed Cameron, president of Northern Lights, the company that manufactures uaroo Hower, me best thing you can eat before going out to play hockey is Kraft Dinner or (other) pasta, but it makes a real mess in your gym bag.&rdquo;Carbo Power puts together complex carbs and convenience to ensure that athletes get the glycogen they need, when they need it.Carbo Power, in fact, could possibly be the new pre-game tradition. For energy and endurance, each bottle contains 85 grams of complex carbs, supplying 340 calories that are readily available for your body to absorb and you to burn.Northern Lights representatives suggest you drink Carbo Power before your game or practise to load your body with the glycogen filled complex carbohydrates you will need to beat the competition. You can continue to drink Carbo Power during the game or practise to sustain your energy level and after to replace spent glycogen.Convenience is the key.That&rsquo;s kind of where the concept came from. You can&rsquo;t beat pasta, whole-wheat bread or baked potato for complex carbohydrates or energy. But who has the time? It makes a real mess and you can&rsquo;t travel with it.&ldquo;Carbo Power is for the guy who works all day, misses lunch and wants to go out to play hockey or soccer or basketball after work and doesn&rsquo;t have time for supper. It&rsquo;s convenience food. Nothing magic about it, it&rsquo;s just convenience.&rdquo;Convenient sports nutrition drinks are heavily promoted as being great sources of energy for athletes on the move. Unfortunately, when athletes read the label of most, they discover simple carbohydrates or simple sugars are supposed to supply them with the energy.Simple sugars just do not do the job It is a fact that complex carbohydrates are what is needed to supply the glycogen that your muscles crave to perform over extended periods.This product has what all hockey players and endurance athletes need. Its ingredients are based upon sound nutritional advice. It is a convenient source of long lasting energy that we can use at the rink, the gym or the field.New York Jets strengtn coordinator Jim Williams first began to use Carbo Power during the 1986 National Football League season. He was impressed.&ldquo;Carbo Power comes premixed, leaving nothing to guesswork,&rdquo; Williams says. &ldquo;This not only made the drink taste the same every time, but it also allowed me to carry it on road trips. I no longer had to worry what I would mix it with or how it would taste. I am sure we all agree, if it does not taste good the players will not drink it.&ldquo;I highly recommend this product to anyone wanting to increase his carbohydrate intake or replace a meal prior to a game or a sporting event. In my opinion, this is the best product of its kind to date.&rdquo;Carbo Power has been on the market just over two years, mostly through gyms and discount pharmacies. Eventually, Cameron predicts, it will be available at grocery stores too, once the product recognition increases. Arena concession stands are also a targeted retailing group. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

CARBO POWER FOR ATHLETES ON THE GO

Sylvan Lake Summer Hockey Camp isn&rsquo;t the only camp operating in a resort area, with lush scenery, wonderful watersports opportunities and of course, excellent hockey facilities.But it is the only camp to feature instruction by all six members of hockey&rsquo;s first family, the Sutter brothers. The Sutters, four of whom still play in the NHL (the other two are coaches), were born in Viking, Alta., about 110 miles as the crow flies from Sylvan Lake.Brian, Darryl, Duane, Brent, Ron and Rich Sutter all take one week of instruction apiece at Sylvan Lake Summer Hockey Camp. New York Ranger captain Kelly Kisio, Quebec Nordique defenseman Randy Moller and Vancouver Canuck assistant coach Jack Mcllhargey all take a week, as well.&ldquo;The Sutters are a draw,&rdquo; says Graham Parsons, director of the camp, now in its 15th year of operation. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re professional instructors and they&rsquo;re hardworking instructors. They enjoy it and they enjoy the kids.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re putting back what they figure the game has given them.&rdquo;And hockey has been good to the Sutters. Between them, Duane (now of Chicago) and Brent helped the New York Islanders win four Stanley Cup championships. Darryl, a former NHLer, is head coach of the International League Saginaw Hawks. Twins Ron and Rich are sparkplugs with Philadelphia and Vancouver, respectively. The eldest, Brian, is coach of the St. Louis Blues.&ldquo;When we were looking for instructors, naturally the Sutters were involved,&rdquo; Parsons says. &ldquo;Brian himself devised the program, and put many, many hours into it.&ldquo;As he went on his career, he developed into a leader and then captain of the St. Louis Blues. Now, he&rsquo;s a coach. Everybody we hire is either a captian or has leadership skills. We look not just for marquee value, but people who work well with kids.&rdquo;The typical stay at Sylvan is a week, though some students stay for two or three. Because of the nearby tourist amenities, Parsons says, families often decide to build a vacation around one child&rsquo;s stay at the camp.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a hockey school and a vacation spot,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;one of Alberta&rsquo;s top vacation spots, centrally located, exactly half-way between Edmonton and Calgary, 11 miles west of Red Deer.&ldquo;A lot of people make a holiday out of it when they come for their sessions. It has all of the amenities of a vacation resort, a town with&mdash;in the summertime&mdash;about 10,000 people. There&rsquo;s a mile-and-a-half long beach at Sylvan Lake Provincial Park, located approximately two blocks from the (Sylvan Lake) arena.For non-hockey-playing youngsters there is the Sylvan Lake Figure Skating School. Goaltenders get special treatment, too, at the Sylvan Lake Goaltender School, taught in three one-week segments by Bill Ranford of the Edmonton Oilers.But the hockey school, which runs from July 3 to Sept. 2, is the main draw.While moms and dads are relaxing on the beach, sailing, windsurfing, golfing, shopping or enjoying the waterslides, future hockey stars are enjoying two 90-minute-long ice sessions and robust physical education sessions. Chalk talks and lectures about nutrition and conditioning go hand-in-hand with the rigorous skill workouts.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a full-day program,&rdquo; Parsons says, &ldquo;with classroom sessions and an on-ice session in the morning. And then, in the afternoon, it&rsquo;s physical training, with an on-ice session. The on-ice sessions follow progressively in a seven-day program, with an orientation the first day.&rdquo;Instructors stress skating skills and puck control in on-ice sessions. Dry-land training tests strengthen hockey fundamentals, using soccer, swimming, football and jogging as the major tools.&ldquo;We have good discipline, but it&rsquo;s not a military camp style,&rdquo; Parsons explains. &ldquo;There are elite schools, but we&rsquo;re in the middle. We don&rsquo;t turn a kid away because he can&rsquo;t skate. But we do put them to their levels and we consider age groups. But we try to keep them so they&rsquo;ll enjoy their stay at hockey camp.&rdquo; &#9632;

SYLVAN LAKE: A HOLIDAY HOCKEY CAMP

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THE NHL

NHL SUMMARIES

&#9632; Number of years since the Vancouver Canucks had their last winning season: 12.&#9632; Number of shutouts averaged by Jacques Plante the three seasons before he started wearing a facemask: Nine.Number averaged by Plante over the next three seasons while wearing a mask: Three.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03345/6321008-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="696" height="418"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vancouver Canucks: Long-time losers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NUMBERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01924/6323429-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

Cover-01

The Hockey News

<h2>THE NHL</h2>Adams Notebook&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Montreal&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;11Boston&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;12Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;13Hartford&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;16Quebec&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;16Patrick Notebook&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;17Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;18NY Rangers&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;19NY Islanders&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;20New Jersey&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;21Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;22Washington&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;22Smythe Notebook&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;23Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;24Calgary&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;26Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;26Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;27Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;27Statistical Report&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;34Summaries&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;39Norris Notebook&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;43Detroit&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;44Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;44St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;44Toronto&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;45Chicago&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;48<h2>COLUMNISTS</h2>Bob McKenzie&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;3Jay Greenberg&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Stan Fischler&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;17Steve Dryden&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;23Dave Molinari&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;43<h2>DEPARTMENTS</h2>Letters&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;3Elston&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;3Bluelines&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;5Cover Story&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;6Digest&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;8Q & A&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;9Minor Pro Report&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;28Major Jr. Report&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;30Players of the Week&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;31Canadian University&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;32U.S. College Report&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;33Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;37NHL All-Star Voting&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;38Classified&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;46Crossword&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;47<h2>NEXT ISSUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011403/6320223-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="536" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mr. Average</figcaption></div>Only one man in the NHL can call himself Mr. Average, and we&rsquo;ll introduce you to him next issue.Using height, weight, scoring statistics, length of pro service and salary figures as guidelines, we at THN will be able to identify the man who best fits the description of the average NHL player. Who is it? As we write this, not even we know. You&rsquo;ll have to wait until the Feb. 3 issue to find out.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021145/6320216-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="552" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Fogarty</figcaption></div>There&rsquo;s nothing average about Bryan Fogarty, however. The Niagara Falls Thunder defenseman is shattering Ontario League scoring records and drawing comparisons to Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey. He has a brilliant NHL career ahead with the Quebec Nordiques&mdash;if he can temper his off-ice activities.Also in the Feb. 3 edition, look for THN&rsquo;s poll of AHL players and coaches, where we ask them to identify the best and worst in everything from skaters to road trips. &#9632;

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It used to be amusing to hear the juvenile red-baiting of Toronto Maple Leaf owner Harold Ballard (THN, Dec. 23). But now that he wants to take the NHL to court over next year&rsquo;s series with the Soviets, I&rsquo;m not laughing any more.One wonders why THN and other publications continue to publish the archaic opinions of the Leaf owner. We&rsquo;re all familiar with Ballard&rsquo;s mentality by now, so why flog a dead horse?I am fed up with the old man&rsquo;s neanderthal ranting about the Soviet Union&mdash;a country whose history, culture and politics have far too much depth for someone of his pettiness to comprehend.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011551/6320254-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="550" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harold Ballard could use his own form of glasnost.</figcaption></div>Unfortunately, the end product of Ballard&rsquo;s ideology speaks for itself. While the crusty miser counts his gate receipts and laughs his way to the bank, the Leafs have suffered through nine consecutive losing seasons (soon to be 10), arevolving door ofcoaches, alienated players and an increasingly cynical legion of media and fans. Ballard could use his own glasnost. Indeed, if these be the fruits of capitalism in hockey, then bring on the Soviet invasion.Dan Gawthrop, Hope, B.C.<h2>LIGHTS! ACTION!</h2>Watching a game in Chicago Stadium this year, with its new lighting system, is reminiscent of the 1950s. Officials might mistake the shadows cast by the lights for too many men on the ice. Take the football stadium lights down and return to the 1980s.Chris Welle,Minneapolis, Minn.(Ed. Note: Prior to this season, the hanging lights in Chicago Stadium were removed for the installation of three rows of new lights in each comer of the building.)<h2>HAIL LAFLEUR</h2>It is really great to see Guy Lafleur back on skates again. One of the best players in the game, Lafleur has come back to prove to himself he can still play the game he loves. What made Lafleur the greatest player in the world at one time was his heart, high skill level and his desire to be the best. Well, his skill level may have dropped and he no longer is the best player in the world, but he still has the heart, desire, pride and enough skill to make a contribution to the Rangers and the entire NHL. At 37, he can still skate better than most players in the league.Jimmy Rogers, Lawn. Nfld.<h2>DIRTY RAT?</h2>Who does Boston Bruin coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly think he is, attacking and criticizing the play of New Jersey&rsquo;s Jim Korn?O&rsquo;Reilly said Korn took cheap shots and picked on smaller players like Ken (The Rat) Linseman. Linseman is one of the dirtiest players in the league. He uses cheap shots and dirty tactics and when it comes time to fight, he hides behind Jay Miller and Lyndon Byers.Jim Korn plays the game the same way O&rsquo;Reilly did, so the Bruin coach shouldn&rsquo;t knock him. Maybe O&rsquo;Reilly ought to clean up Linseman&rsquo;s game.Mike Pettit, Franklin, Mass.<h2>TOO MANY MEN</h2>The most exasperating penalty call, too many men on the ice, always comes at the wrong time. Hockey always has too many men on the ice and they happen to be officials.The game needs only two on-ice officials and they should both be referees. Get the linesmen off the ice and put them behind the glass, one on each blue line, similar to those on the net in tennis. Keep one referee on each side of the ice and let both of them call penalties. One would watch forward movement and one the trailing play. This would also cut down on player and official collisions. In one game recently, I counted eight collisions, six with linesmen.Art Caldwell, Aurora, Colo.<h2>&lsquo;CATS SALUTED</h2>I wrote this letter after reading Stan Fischler&rsquo;s Dec. 9 column about women on the hockey beat. I am a woman and also a part-time sports writer for The Mining Journal in Marquette, Mich. I cover many sports&mdash;football, basketball, softball&mdash;but the one I love most is hockey. I&rsquo;ve covered half of Northern Michigan&rsquo;s WCHA games this season.I&rsquo;ve been lucky in that the NMU Wildcat coaching staff and players have been extremely cooperative, and would like to thank coach Rick Comley and his players.Cheryl Finney, Negaunee, Mich.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to: Letters, 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;

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DEPARTMENTS

STOP PRINTING BALLARD’S ARCHAIC VIEWS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021256/6320285-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="512" height="630"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB MCKENZIE</figcaption></div>So we&rsquo;re not going to get a look at Paulina Gretzky until her mom, Janet Jones, gets back to her playing weight, eh?Two can play that game.You&rsquo;ll be excited to know I have a little one on the way. ETA is July 17. But I&rsquo;ll warn you now there&rsquo;ll be no snapshots for you to view until the new arrival&rsquo;s mother loses&hellip;Well, it was worth a shot. My wife suggests the photos will appear when I get back to my playing weight.You probably didn&rsquo;t want to see the little brat anyway, did you? That&rsquo;s what I thought.So join me for a jelly donut and five midseason thoughts:&#9632; If Viacheslav Fetisov has outlived his usefulness to the Soviets after the 1989 World Championships in Stockholm this April, logic dictates he&rsquo;ll be a New Jersey Devil in September.I&rsquo;ll believe it when I see it.Consider the words of Valentin Kozin, general secretary of the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the Soviet delegation at the World Junior Championships in Anchorage earlier this month.&ldquo;He (Fetisov) is an officer in the Red Army and when you are an officer your life is no longer your own,&rdquo; said Kozin. &ldquo;If he is permitted to resign, what should we say to the commander of a tank unit who says he, too, wants to go to America?&rdquo;The candid comments are merely personal opinions, Kozin said, not policy or the party line.&ldquo;If a Soviet plays in the NHL, I believe there must be two on one team. Problems with one would be great.&rdquo;Culture shock and loneliness would undoubtedly be factors, but Kozin maintained there&rsquo;s a greater evil.&ldquo;If Fetisov is the only Soviet in NHL, he would be hit 30 times a game,&rdquo; Kozin said. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t he get hit in the Soviet Elite League?&rdquo; he was asked. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Kozin said, &ldquo;but he has teammates to assist him.&rdquo;Well,&rdquo; it was pointed out, &ldquo;his teammates in New Jersey will help him.&rdquo; &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; responded Kozin. &ldquo;Because they&rsquo;re on the same team,&rdquo; he was told. &ldquo;But they have nothing in common,&rdquo; Kozin said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe NHL players would come to his aid. He is a Soviet.&rdquo;Better send Alexei Kasatonov to ride shotgun in Jersey.&#9632; When he was a player, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly was one of my all-time favorites. His gung-ho, never-say-die approach was quintessential Bruin hockey.But getting into hallway punch-ups just doesn&rsquo;t cut it as a coach. Here&rsquo;s betting O&rsquo;Reilly will realize by season&rsquo;s end&mdash;if he hasn&rsquo;t already&mdash;he doesn&rsquo;t have the temperament to be an NHL coach.&#9632; I don&rsquo;t see every game Rick Vaive plays. Nonetheless, I&rsquo;ve never quite understood the lack of respect accorded the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; new right winger. He was unappreciated and maligned in Vancouver, Toronto and Chicago.When I do see him, he&rsquo;s tenacious, paying the price in the comers and in front of the net. Scores a few goals, too. Defense? It&rsquo;s suspect, but he&rsquo;s not alone in today&rsquo;s NHL on that count.He could play on my team any day. Am I wrong?&#9632; Pity those New York Islanders. They&rsquo;re destined to finish last overall and get the first draft pick in a year when no franchise player is available. Next year there is&mdash;Peterborough&rsquo;s Mike Ricci. But don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Isles rebound sufficiently to miss out on that top pick.&#9632; NHL management type on the failure of 1986 No. 1 pick Joe Murphy and success of 1986 No. 2 pick Jimmy Carson: &ldquo;I wonder what would have happened if Carson had gone to Detroit and had to play with the discipline demanded by Jacques Demers while Murphy was in L.A. worrying only about offense. Would it have made a difference? I wonder.&rdquo; &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

SEND KASATONOV TO RIDE SHOTGUN

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ELSTON

Official NHL Sponsor Official Cars and Trucks<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011573/6320361-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="241" height="237"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021404/6320354-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="90" height="90"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; netminder Brian Hayward, who registered a 3-0-1 record and a 2.26 goals-against-average, was named Chrysler Canada Performer of the Week for the period ending January 15.Hayward, who had lost only one game in his last 11 starts, edged Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Bernie Nicholls to capture the award.The Chrysler Canada divisions of Chrysler Motors and Dodge will donate $500 to the youth hockey organization of each performer&rsquo;s choice. The Chrysler Canada divisions of Chrysler Motors and Dodge also sponsor the Performer of the Month and Performer of the Year Awards, for which the latter receives the Dodge vehicle of his choice. In four years, Chrysler Canada and Dodge have contributed more than $125,000 to youth hockey associations across North America.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031178/6320347-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="578" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Hayward</figcaption></div>Hayward began his week in Detroit, where he suffered his first loss since November 24 in a 3-2 defeat by the Detroit Red Wings (Jan. 9). Returning to Montreal, Hayward turned away 25 shots in a 1-0 shut out of the New Jersey Devils (Jan. 11), marking his first shutout this season and fourth of his career. The following night, the 28-year-old native of Georgetown, Ont., led his club to a 5-3 road win over the Boston Bruins (Jan. 12), before travelling to Toronto to record his third consecutive victory, a 5-3 decision over the Maple Leafs (Jan. 14).Hayward, the recipient, with teammate Patrick Roy, of the William Jennings Trophy for the past two seasons, had a 3.02 average and .882 save percentage. As a team, he and Roy were tied for the NHL lead in goals-against-average with a 2.82 mark.Nicholls led all league goal scorers with seven (7-2-9) in three games, including one shorthanded and one game-winning goal. &#9632;

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NHL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The latest Hollywood movie star following hockey is Tom Hanks. The Big star traces his passion back to Oakland when the Seals skated in the NHL. Hanks&rsquo; favorite player: &ldquo;Believe it or not, Bobby Sheehan&rdquo;&hellip;NBC-TV&rsquo;s David Letterman is another puck nut. He recently invited the Soviet Central Red Army team to view his Jan. 11 show at Rockefeller Center&hellip;Ex-Penguin goalie Gilles Meloche is working for a Pittsburgh jeweler but said he had expected to become the team&rsquo;s goaltending coach. &ldquo;(Ex-general manager) Eddie Johnston was in charge and told me I was the goalie coach in the organization,&rdquo; said Meloche. &ldquo;Then Tony Esposito came in, and he was another goaltender, and he said he could handle the job himself.&rdquo;&hellip;Minnesota&rsquo;s Dennis Maruk said he&rsquo;s feeling &ldquo;kind of old&rdquo; being the last California Golden Seal and Cleveland Baron still playing in the NHL. Maruk believes pro hockey will return to the Bay Area, where a move is afoot to lure an expansion team to San Jose.<h2>EXPANSION</h2>Washington Capital president Dick Patrick said while expansion talk is well and good, &ldquo;a key consideration must be the drop-off in player availability.&rdquo; Patrick added, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t sense any anti-expansion feeling but on the other hand nobody seems frantic to get on with it.&rdquo;&hellip;Battle Creek, Mich., has one of the most unusual hockey rinks in North America. It&rsquo;s a three-foot-tall, seven-foot-wide, 12-foot long model of the Montreal Forum. Hockey fan Roger Gibson, a salesman, constructed the replica in stages during a 14-year period. The model even includes a Zamboni machine, lights and a scoreboard, as well as doors to the player benches and penalty boxes which open and close. Gibson, who is still working on his project, has been putting fans in the stands for an authentic standingroom only crowd&hellip; Fashionconscious Robbie Ftorek fans will be interested to know the sweaterwearing Kings&rsquo; coach dons sneakers behind the bench, but changes into shoes for his post-game interviews.<h2>PENSION BOOST</h2>The new year is bringing some cheer to oldtime NHLers whose monthly pension checks will be boosted by anywhere from 30 to 50 percent. Ailing Hall of Fame defenseman Doug Harvey will benefit from a hike of about $200 to almost $700. While it may seem small, Harvey said: &ldquo;Better half a loaf than none.&rdquo;&hellip;Ranger GM Phil Esposito said his 1989 resolution is &ldquo;to get back into shape again.&rdquo; He said he only needs to lose three pounds. To that end, he bought a stationary bike. His other resolution: &ldquo;To get along with more people professionally.&rdquo; Espo refused to name the individuals he has in mind&hellip;Montreal coach Pat Burns on his methods of discipline: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid to call a player&rsquo;s house or make a bed check to see what he&rsquo;s doing. It took a while for them to get used to that. And I don&rsquo;t give a damn what the players think-&rdquo;&hellip;When the Kings travelled across the country and instructed ghetto kids in the &lsquo;Hockey In Harlem&rsquo; program, ex-Ranger Dave Maloney criticized his former team for not getting more directly involved in the program, it took more than a month for a response but the Rangers finally dispatched left winger Brian Mullen and goalie John Vanbiesbrouck to a Central Park session with ethnic kids.<h2>LAFLEUR WATCH</h2>The early line on Ranger right winger Guy Lafleur&mdash;that he wouldn&rsquo;t withstand the nightly pummeling&mdash;was proven wrong. Edmonton defenseman Kevin Lowe theorizes no foe would dare cheapshot The Flower. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an unwritten rule that you don&rsquo;t cheapshot a star,&rdquo; said Lowe. &ldquo;And there&rsquo;s the consequence factor. I&rsquo;m sure there are lots of guys who would love to take Lafleur&rsquo;s head off, but if you did you would have the rest of the team breathing down your neck. Lafleur reminds me of (20-year basketball center) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Both of them defy logic. Even at their advanced age, they still put out.&rdquo;&hellip;Chicago coach Mike Keenan has started a weekly television show called Talkin&rsquo; Hockey, on SportsVision. Broadcasters Pat Foley and Dale Tallon work with the coach.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011485/6320392-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="558" height="1247"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s star status has kept him free of cheap shots.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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HANKS IS BIG ON WATCHING HOCKEY

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011661/6320423-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine, a first-round draft pick in 1983, represents Isle GM Bill Torrey&rsquo;s last great deal made with an eye to the future.</figcaption></div>The decline of the New York Islanders is part of professional sports&rsquo; natural order. But their stunning free-fall from 1987-88 Patrick Division champion to current status as NHL patsy is an occurrence unseen in 45 years.Five seasons after their last trip to the Stanley Cup finals, the unsuccessful Drive for Five, an expensive bill has come due for the Cups in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983.It is 1972-73 again for the guys from the suburbs who made the cataclysmic rise from expansion joke to four-time champion.No team wins forever. No general manager, coach or player can continually outsmart time, the odds, his own mistakes or the good work of his competitors.But the Islanders have done more than fade. Not since the 1942-43 New York Rangers fell to the bottom of the six-team NHL, after finishing first in the seven-team league a year earlier, has an NHL team gone from first in its division to last overall.The Islanders are a solid bet to become only the second team ever to do that. Here are five reasons why.1. Last season&rsquo;s first-place finish was a mirage.The Islanders&rsquo; 39-31-10 record would have been good for no better than second place in the Patrick Division&rsquo;s 13 previous seasons. Their 88 points would have placed them second in the Norris Division and third in the Smythe and Adams. The Islanders got off to a 17-7-1 start, went 22-24-9 the final 55 games and got away with it&mdash;until the opening round of the playoffs, when the fourth-place Devils wiped them out in six games.2. The dynasty&rsquo;s foundation eroded rapidly.Denis Potvin sells commerical real estate. Mike Bossy critiques the Quebec Nordiques for a French-language television network. Bryan Trottier is just another intelligent veteran center, not the dominating two-way bull he once was. Billy Smith is, at 38, the NHL&rsquo;s oldest player and Kelly Hrudey&rsquo;s backup in goal.Four future Hall of Famers declined or retired at the same time. And unlike Edmonton, the Isles&rsquo; Stanley Cup successor,&hellip;3. The Islanders have done a poor job of retooling.This is where general manager Bill Torrey is paying the price for showing undying loyalty to his Stanley Cup veterans. It&rsquo;s foolish to think Torrey should have traded Potvin, Bossy, Trottier or Smith while they were still playing well enough to command a bundle in return. But it&rsquo;s reasonable to suggest the GM in the bowtie held too many players too long.Butch Goring was waived in January, 1985. Dave Langevin was lost in the 1985 waiver draft. Bob Nystrom, who would have probably been asked to retire after the season anyway, suffered a career-ending eye injury a year after Goring was waived. Stefan Persson retired when Torrey tried to trade him to Winnipeg in March, 1986 for a seventh-round pick. Clark Gillies and Bob Bourne were lost in the 1986 waiver draft.Torrey&rsquo;s last great later-for-now deal came in October, 1981, when he sent Dave Cameron and Bob Lorimer to Colorado for the 1983 first-round pick that became Pat LaFontaine.He did get a 1988 No. 2 pick from Chicago in September, 1986, for aging right winger Duane Sutter. Time will tell if 18-year-old left winger Wayne Doucet, currently playing for the Ontario League&rsquo;s Kingston Raiders, was worth it.Torrey sent goalie Roland Melanson to Minnesota in November, 1984, for a 1985 first-round pick that became Brad Dalgamo, an undistinguished right winger.In March, 1986, Torrey sent John Tonelli to Calgary for Steve Konroyd and Rich Kromm, a deal aimed at youth. Konroyd, a major disappointment, was dealt to Chicago in November. Kromm has been a major disappointment, too. Tonelli, at the age of 31, has enjoyed a rebirth in Los Angeles.4. The GM is in a slump.The methods that worked wonderfully for Bowtie Bill in the &rsquo;70s and early &rsquo;80s aren&rsquo;t working now. He hasn&rsquo;t stolen anybody in a trade lately. He fired the coach he hired to replace legendary Al Arbour. And the draft hasn&rsquo;t produced a Trottier or Bossy in years.Hiring Terry Simpson wasn&rsquo;t a mistake. Nobody could have predicted that the highly-successful coach of the Western League&rsquo;s Prince Albert Raiders would not communicate well with pampered veterans and would stubbornly refuse to accept the notion that adult professionals act like babies, too.5. Torrey&rsquo;s scouts have displayed a stubborn one-track mind.If the draft is a crapshoot, you&rsquo;ve got to spread your money around the table. The Isles haven&rsquo;t done that. They repeatedly draft the grinder over the speedster, the plumber over the craftsman. That&rsquo;s why, more than two years after Bossy first felt a twinge in his lower back, the Isles still don&rsquo;t have a sniper on either wing or a pure goal-scorer in their system.The Islanders didn&rsquo;t go into this season blindly. They knew last season&rsquo;s title wasn&rsquo;t an accurate measuring stick. They gave regular jobs to rookie defensemen Dean Chynoweth, Jeff Norton, Rich Pilon, and Czechoslovak defector David Volek, a forward, and prepared themselves for growing pains.&ldquo;We said at the beginning of the year that we&rsquo;d be playing a lot of kids and with that comes risks,&rdquo; Torrey says. &ldquo;What we didn&rsquo;t anticipate was that our best four or five players would all have bad years together. And we didn&rsquo;t anticipate the number of games lost to injury.&rdquo;Seven regulars missed at least five of the team&rsquo;s first 40 games. Five&mdash;Chynoweth, Gerald Diduck, Patrick Flatley, Derek King and Brad Lauer&mdash;missed 123 of 200 man-games.LaFontaine, Hrudey, Trottier, Brent Sutter and Mikko Makela are the Islanders&rsquo; five best players. LaFontaine hasn&rsquo;t consistently provided the explosive offense he did a season ago when he had 47 goals and 45 assists in 75 games. He had 20 and 21 in 39 games this season. Hrudey had a terrific first 20 games, but has slipped under the weight of an unsteady defense. Sutter had a terrible start and only 12 goals after 39 games. Makela, who had 36 goals and 40 assists last year, has been invisible at times, aggravatingly counter-productive at others. He had just eight goals and 14 assists after 40 games. Trottier, sadly, is aging.So the team wallows. It shows brief signs of life on some nights, but lives up to its last-place record on many more.The Islanders are back to their expansion past. Torrey has a ton of work to do.And unlike 1973, when the No. 1 pick in the draft was a consolation prize worth building a dynasty around, there won&rsquo;t be a Potvin on the horizon this June.<h2>NEW YORK,</h2><h2>HIGH FIVE</h2>Halfway home and time to reflect on a season that has seen a New Jersey hallway rise up and nail another NHL coach; Miroslav Frycer become Glen Sather&rsquo;s latest reclamation project; and Wayne Gretzky play with seven left wingers and six right wingers.We present The Hockey News High Five&mdash;random observations and opinion after each team had played its 40th game.Five of Gretzky&rsquo;s Left Wingers: Bob Corpenter, Gilles Hamel, Igor Liba, Luc Robitille, John Tonelli.Five of Gretzky&rsquo;s Right Wingers: Ron Duguay, Bob Kudelski, Marty McSorley, Berine Nicholls, Dave Taylor.Five Single-Season Records Within Reach Of Lemieux: Goals, points, shorthanded goals, three-or-more goal games, eight-point games. Lemieux (43-63-106) could challange Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s records in all categories. No.99&rsquo;s marks include 92 goals, 215 points, 12 shorthanded goals, 10 three-or-more goal games, and two eight-points games. Lemieux had seven shorthanded goals at the midway mark, four three-or-more goal games, and had already enjoyed a pair of eight-point games.Five Reasons Sean Burke May Not Win Rookie Of The Year: Brian Leetch, Joe Sakic, Trevor Lindon, Tony Granato, Carig Janney.Five Good Things About Super Series &rsquo;88-89: Good Hockey. It made money for the NHL players&rsquo; Association pension fund. It made money for the Soviets. Viacheslav Fetisov spoke out. Dynamo Riga goalie Artur Irbe.Five Bad Things About Super Series &rsquo;88-89: Overkill. Paul Coffey didn&rsquo;t play. NHL teams, fearing injuries, dressed backup players. It wasn&rsquo;t Canada Cup. The Soviets will use the money to make bombs and nuke us.Five Stories We&rsquo;re Tired Of: Fetisov&rsquo;s bid to join the Dvils. Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s sour ways. Gretzky-Lemieux comparisons. Detriot&rsquo;s bad boys. Wendel Clark&rsquo;s back problems. &#9632;

f0006-01

ISLES HAVE FALLEN FROM PENTHOUSE TO OUTHOUSE

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011509/6320454-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito&rsquo;s trading makes people forget the good job former GM Craig Patrick did through the draft. Rookie Tony Granato is one of Patrick&rsquo;s picks.</figcaption></div><h2>NEW YORK</h2>Countless other teams have been sent to their fates at the Montreal Forum. So it was not stunning news the night of May 9, 1986, when the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the upstart New York Rangers with a 3-1 victory in the fifth game of the Wales Conference final.What followed, however, was a dramatic overhaul of a hockey team.Sixteen players who were Rangers that night are ex-Rangers today. So is the coach, Ted Sator. So is the general manager, Craig Patrick.In their places are the people who form a radically different team that has emerged as one of the best in the NHL. Here are five reasons why the Rangers have the makings of a team that could end five decades of frustration.The Broadway Blueshirts last won the Stanley Cup in 1940.1. Trader Phil Esposito went to work.Goalie Glen Hanlon, who backed up John Vanbiesbrouck the night New York lost to Montreal, was sent to Detroit by new GM Esposito for Kelly Kisio. It was the first of his 40 trades. The entire defense, except for James Patrick, was overhauled as Larry Melnyk and Willie Huber went to Vancouver for Michel Petit, Tom Laidlaw ended up in Los Angeles as part of the Marcel Dionne deal, and Kjell Samuelsson went to Philadelphia in the Bob Froese deal.Of the forwards from that Montreal game, Kelly Miller and Mike Ridley were traded to Washington for Bob Carpenter, who eventually accompanied Laidlaw on the trip west. Mike Allison was Toronto-bound, for Walt Poddubny, who turned into Normand Rochefort. Don Maloney ended up in Hartford for Carey Wilson as the Rangers obtained the center who could replace Poddubny&rsquo;s size and productivity. Bob Brooke went to Minnesota for Tony McKegney and Curt Giles, both since traded. Mark Osborne went to Toronto for Jeff Jackson, who eventually went to Quebec in the David Shaw trade. Brian MacLellan went to Minnesota for a third-round pick.That is your basic housecleaning. The only Rangers left from the last game of that Wales final are Vanbiesbrouck, Patrick, Jan Erixon and Tomas Sandstrom.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my theory that you can make a team from trading,&rdquo; said Esposito, who also stole left winger Brian Mullen (the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 18 goals and 19 assists at the midway mark) from Winnipeg for one fifth-round and one third-round pick. &ldquo;I want to do what I think is right. If it&rsquo;s unorthodox, too damn bad.&rdquo;And do things he did. But it&rsquo;s evident now that there has been method to his apparent madness.&ldquo;I think Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s influence in the dressing room and Chris Nilan&rsquo;s influence in the dressing room has been significant as well,&rdquo; Esposito adds.Esposito can take full credit for that. He gave lafleur a chance when nobody else would, and acquired the feisty Nilan from the Canadiens last season for an exchange of first-round choices in the 1989 draft.2. Craig Patrick&rsquo;s patience and productivity at the draft table.Vanbiesbrouck, Patrick, Erixon and Sandstrom were Patrick drafts, part of the nucleus ol solid picks that includes this year&rsquo;s rookie stars. Tony Granato and Brian Leetch&mdash;plus Ulf Dahlen, Kevin Miller and Rudy Poeschek. Patrick made only 19 trades in his six-season tenure; his plan was to build slowly.&ldquo;We took a little heat at the time we drafted those people, and I understand why,&rdquo; says Patrick, now athletic director at the University of Denver. &ldquo;We needed immediate help. But we decided to take what we felt were the best people available in the draft and balance what we felt would be best for the Rangers long-term.&ldquo;I guess, looking back on it, we were right, but that doesn&rsquo;t help us now.&rdquo;Patrick&rsquo;s players are helping the Rangers, though. The two philosophies&mdash;trade-happy Esposito vs. patient Patrick&mdash;may clash, but the contributions of each have harmonized nicely in the building of a substantial team.&ldquo;We knew Brian Leetch was going to be good,&rdquo; Esposito says of the prize defenseman.Granato was fourth on the Rangers in scoring with 20 goals and 12 assists after 40 games. Leetch was third, with eight goals and 26 assists.3. Getting Michel Bergeron as coach.Trading a No. 1 pick to Quebec for coach Michel Bergeron was a gamble. It was especially difficult to accept when the Rangers missed the playoffs last season and watched enviously as the Nordiques made the third and fifth (the Rangers&rsquo; selection) overall claims at last June&rsquo;s draft.But the agonies of missing the playoffs last spring have propelled the team this season to new levels of focus, concentration and intensity. Those are trademarks of the fiery little coach, who is much more comfortable in his second season with the Blueshirts.In the first half this season, the Rangers rallied for four victories and three ties in games they trailed after two periods; that was 11 first-half points snatched from the jaws of defeat, compared to just five over the entire 1987-88 season.In the first half of this season, the Rangers were 7-4 in one-goal decisions, compared to a miserable 3-12 during the first half last season.In the first half last year, the Rangers endured an 0-8-1 drought. During the first half this season, the worst they did was one three-game losing streak and a pair of three-game winless streaks (0-1-2 and 0-2-1).4. The Rangers were not as bad as their non-playoff season indicated.The team&rsquo;s first-half turnaround and ascension into the elite was really a continuation of last season&rsquo;s strong finish. The team went 19-94 the closing 32 games. Add a 21-14-5 mark in the first half this season for a combined 40-23-9 and .618 winning percentage.5. The ability to overcome adversity.The first-half achievements burn all the more brightly because of the difficulties endured by the Rangers.They lost a top defenseman, Shaw, to a 12-game suspension resulting from his slash of Mario Lemieux. They lost Rochefort in October to a knee injury from which he has not yet recovered. They lost Erixon, their top defensive forward, for 17 games, Lafleur for 11, Kisio for 10, Leetch for seven. The power play opened the season O-for-25 and endured a 1-for-42 drought later on.In seven consecutive games, from Dec. 10 to 23, New York scored three goals or fewer. Despite that poor offensive performance, they lost only three (2-3-2) and remained in contention for top spot in the Patrick Division.The resilient Rangers have persevered and prospered in the Patrick Division. After each team had played 40 games, only the Pittsburgh Penguins (with 49 points to the Rangers&rsquo; 47) were ahead of them.<h2>HIGH FIVE</h2>Five Backup Goalies Who become No. 1: Glenn Healy, Steve Weeks, Jon Casey, Andy Moog.Five Impact Goalies Who Haven&rsquo;t Made An Impact: Reggie Lemelin, Daniel Berthiaume, Mike Liut, Grant Fuhr, Jimmy Waite.Five Reasons Why New Jersey Is Bedevilled: GM Lou Lamiorello stood pat. Pat Verbeek isn&rsquo;t scoring. Captain Kirk Muller is off course. Burke, Patrik Sundstrom and John MacLean can&rsquo;t do it themselves. The Devils rode a playoff wave last year; they weren&rsquo;t all that good in the first place.Five Goal-Scorers Not Scoring Goals: Stephane Richer, Hakan Loob, Cam Neely, Glenn Anderson, Mikko Makela.Five Players On Pace For First 50-Goal Seasons: Bernie Nicholls, Mike Ridley, Walt Poddubny, Rob Brown, Joey Mullen.Five Dates To Mark On Your Calendar: Feb. 6-7&mdash;Board of governors&rsquo; meeting, Edmonton. Feb. 7&mdash;All-Star Game, Edmonton. March 7&mdash;trading deadline, 3 p.m. EST. April 2&mdash;regular season ends. April 5&mdash;Daren Puppa. Stanley Cup playoffs begin.Five Rangers Phil Esposito Will Not Trade: Brian Leetch, Guy Lafleur. Tony Granato, Ulf Dahlen, John Vanbiesbrouck.Five He May: Tomas Sandstrom, Kelly Kisio, James Patrick, Lucien Deblois, John Ogrodnick.Five Teams That Like To Shoot: Calgary: (34.5 shots per game), Rangers (33.9), Los Angeles (33.2), Washington (32.3), Minnesota (32.1).Five Teams That Make Good Targets: Pittsburgh (35.3 shots allowed per game), Minnesota (33.5), Toronto (32.8), Buffalo (31.6), Quebec (31.4).Five Most Suffocating Defenses: Calgary (24.2 shots allowed per game), Montreal (26.2), Boston (26.7), Washington (26.8), Edmonton (29.0).Divisions Of Power: Smythe, 102-73-25, .572; Patrick, 109-107-24, .504; Adams, 85-89-26, .490; Norris, 70-102-28, .420.&mdash;Karlo Berkovich &#9632;

f0007-01

ESPOSITO TRADES, PATRICK DRAFTS BUILT RANGERS

Perennial Soviet champion Central Red Army could be on the verge of losing two of its best players.All-world defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov and star center Igor Larionov have indicated they no longer want to play for coach Viktor Tikhonov.Fetisov warned he could leave Red Army at any time.&ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;ll wake up tomorrow and say, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s it,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said Jan. 9 after Red Army lost 6-5 to the Buffalo Sabres in the final game of the Soviet-NHL Super Series. &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know, but I&rsquo;ve had enough.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator reported Larionov planned to submit a letter of resignation to the Soviet club team.Fetisov is considered as good a defenseman as the Soviet Union has ever produced and Larionov centers the No. 1 line on both Red Army and the national team.At the root of both players&rsquo; unhappiness is Tikhonov.The 30-year-old Fetisov is anxious to play for the New Jersey Devils, the team that holds his NHL rights.&ldquo;Playing in the NHL will be more interesting for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a challenge. Since I&rsquo;ve been with Tikhonov for 12 years I don&rsquo;t feel I can learn much more from the man.&ldquo;For a long time I really had faith in Tikhonov and our relationship was good, but the past year it collapsed. I saw another side of Tikhonov, an ugly side, and I don&rsquo;t want to talk about it.&rdquo;Larionov&rsquo;s bad relationship with his coach stems from criticism the center has directed at Tikhonov over restrictive training methods.Soviet players routinely spend long periods of time away from their families.Larionov, who is married and has a 21-month-old daughter, has been the most outspoken critic of this policy. It is believed Tikhonov tried to have him dropped from the Red Army team, but linemates Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov, plus Fetisov, intervened on his behalf.The Spectator said Tikhonov and Larionov did not talk at all during Red Army&rsquo;s seven-game tour of NHL cities. Its record was 4-2-1.A captain in the Soviet military, Larionov would have to resign his commission to leave the team voluntarily. One possibility, said the Spectator, is for him to leave Red Army and join Khimik-Voskresensk, the Soviet Elite team with which he began his career in 1977-78.If matters were expedited, the 28-year-old Voskresensk native could be free of Red Army in April or May, when he could resume his campaign to wind up his career in an NHL uniform.His rights are owned by the Vancouver Canucks, as are Krutov&rsquo;s. Krutov is also 28. Fetisov, Larionov, Markarov, Krutov and defenseman Alexei Kasatonov comprise the Soviet Union&rsquo;s top unit&mdash;although Kasatonov did not play with Fetisov during the Super Series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011573/6320485-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="550" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Viacheslav Fetisov said the NHL represents a challenge.</figcaption></div>All five are coveted by the NHL. but Tikhonov is reluctant to permit their departure until he has adequate replacements.&ldquo;We could be on pension before he (Tikhonov) thinks he has them,&rdquo; said Kasatonov, 29, who is also New Jersey property.The Calgary Flames own the rights to the 30-year-old Makarov.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no point in discussing whether I would like to play in the NHL or not,&rdquo; Makarov told the Spectator. &ldquo;Fetisov was supposed to be playing in New Jersey this year. Is he?&rdquo;<h2>ARMY BUFFALOED</h2>Ken Priestlay, a call-up from the American League, salvaged NHL pride Jan. 9.Summoned earlier in the day from the Rochester Americans, Priestlay scored at 2:20 of overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 6-5 victory over Central Red Army.The win secured a 6-6-2 tie for the NHL in its 14-game Super Series with the Soviet Union.Red Army finished with a 4-2-1 record and Dynamo Riga, the other touring team, with a 2-4-1 mark.Alexei Kasatonov scored twice for the Soviets in the final game. (See page 41 for summary of game.)<h2>LEMIEUX TOPS</h2>Pittsburgh Penguin center Mario Lemieux, the most valuable player in last year&rsquo;s All-Star Game, racked up the most votes in fan balloting for this year&rsquo;s event Feb. 7 in Edmonton.He polled 352,984 votes, finishing ahead of Penguin defenseman Paul Coffey, who attracted 306,837 votes in Wales Conference balloting. (For full voting results, see page 38.)Both Penguins earned berths in the starting lineup.The top Campbell Conference vote-getter was Los Angeles left winger Luc Robitaille, with 277,124 votes.For the fourth year in a row, fans in the 21 NHL cities voted for the starting players on the Wales and Campbell teams. Fan balloting concluded Jan. 1.In last year&rsquo;s game at St. Louis, Lemieux had three goals&mdash;including the winner in overtime&mdash;and three assists as the Wales won 6-5, for its fourth straight victory.Five members of last year&rsquo;s starting teams were not re-elected. In the Wales Conference, Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextall was supplanted by New Jersey&rsquo;s Sean Burke, while left winger Michel Goulet of Quebec and right winger Kevin Dineen of Hartford were surpassed by Montreal&rsquo;s Mats Naslund and Boston&rsquo;s Cam Neely, respectively.In the Campbell Conference, Calgary defenseman Al Maclnnis was outpolled by Los Angeles&rsquo; Steve Duchesne. Duchesne has never appeared in an all-star game. Voting for the second spot on the Campbell defense was close, with Duchesne (138,267) edging out Calgary&rsquo;s Gary Suter (136,710) and Brad McCrimmon (134,119).Repeat starters are Lemieux, Coffey and Boston defenseman Ray Bourque on the Wales team and Robitaille, Los Angeles center Wayne Gretzky and Edmonton right winger Jari Kurri, defenseman Kevin Lowe and goalie Grant Fuhr on the Campbell.<h2>PROPOSITION 111</h2>Major junior players can just about forget about U.S. college hockey careers.That&rsquo;s the result of proposition 111, passed Jan. 11 at the National Collegiate Athletic Association convention in San Francisco.The proposition is an amendment to case No. 37 of the NCAA constitution and casebook, which states any player who plays major junior A hockey in Canada is a professional and ineligible to play in the NCAA.In the past, players who have played major junior hockey and subsequently pursued NCAA careers have had sentences reduced from ineligiblity to matching games. For instance, if a player was in two Ontario League games bgfore joining an NCAA school, an appeal from the school would usually net him a two-game NCAA suspension.But proposition 111 states, &ldquo;An individual who has been involved in such participation (major junior A) shall be denied at least the first year of intercollegiate competition in the sport of ice hockey at the certified institution and shall be charged after with the loss of at least one season of eligibility in the sport of ice hockey.&rdquo; A player on the ice for so much as one major junior shift would be in danger. &#9632;

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RED ARMY STARS MAY DESERT OVER CONFLICTS WITH COACH TIKHONOV

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011501/6320516-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo&rsquo;s Doug Bodger became a defenseman in minor hockey when he demonstrated the ability to skate backward.</figcaption></div>There was a time when Doug Bodger was the top banana among Pittsburgh defensemen, but that was before Paul Coffey began headlining the Penguin blue line. The arrival of Coffey Nov. 24, 1987, followed closely by heralded Zarley Zalapski from the Canadian Olympic team, pushed Bodger down the Penguin totem pole far enough for him to become trade bait.When Pittsburgh general manager Tony Esposito dealt the Chemainus. B.C., native to. Buffalo Nov. 12 it didn&rsquo;t exactly surprise the hockey world, but it did depress Pittsburghers who&rsquo;d come to favor the 6-foot-2, 28-pound Bodger.The move to Buffalo has suddenly catapulted Bodger into a position of greater prominence. In the eyes of Sabre coach Ted Sator and GM Gerry Meehan, Bodger could be part of the foundation for the team&rsquo;s future.THN: How has it been different for you in Buffalo?DB: My style shows up more than it did with the Penguins because of guys like Coffey and Zalapski. I&rsquo;m not a different hockey player but the Aud is not the same as the Igloo. It&rsquo;s easier for me to get involved offensively.THN: You&rsquo;ve gone from one offensive defenseman, Coffey, to another in Phil Housley.DB: Hously is the great player who wants the puck a lot. My job is to give it to him so he can make the rush and, hopefully, make a good play on goal. Watch Phil and you&rsquo;ll see how quick he is on his feet and he&rsquo;s got an outstanding shot. Hopefully, the two of us will be able to work together and be a powerful force on the Buffalo defense.THN: Ted Sator remains a fascinating personality because of the reputation he earned in New York and what he has done with the Sabres since he began coaching in Buffalo.DB: When Ted coached the Rangers I had heard that he was a real workhorse, that he liked a lot of conditioning. What I&rsquo;ve found is that he&rsquo;s a good coach who knows the system well and he&rsquo;s easy to get along with. He&rsquo;s given me a lot of confidence.THN: How do you feel about the Adams Division and the Patrick?DB: They are the two toughest in the league. They&rsquo;re similar in the sense that there&rsquo;s a lot of rough, tough, bump-and-grind play. The only difference I see is that in the Adams only one club misses the playoff and in the Patrick there are two that are left out.THN: How have your new teammates accepted you?DB: That&rsquo;s a tough question. Hopefully, they have, but it takes a while with any new team&mdash;that is, for me to get to know them and them to get to know me. I don&rsquo;t want to do the wrong thing in the dressing room. So far, they&rsquo;ve accepted me pretty well.THN: If you were making out a Doug Bodger resume how would you write your own description?DB: I&rsquo;m a passer-shooter type player, not a real fancy, dipsy-doodle type who will beat the guy one-on-one or anything like that. I move the puck up to the forwards and when I get the shot I take the shot. I think offensively and like to come late with the play. I&rsquo;ll never be a Bobby Orr.THN: Speaking of Orr, was he your favorite player when you were growing up?DB: I always liked Bobby Hull. He had a big slapshot and after watching him I&rsquo;d work on my shot. I&rsquo;d set up a little sawhorse with a board on it in my backyard and practise my shot all day so that I could shoot the puck like Bobby Hull. It paid off when I was younger. Goalies feared the shot somuch they used to move out of the way. It was easy for me to score.THN: Since you liked to shoot so much, how come you became a defenseman and not a forward?DB: When I was a kid our coach told everyone on our team to turn around and skate backwards. The guys who could skate backwards became defensemen and those who couldn&rsquo;t didn&rsquo;t. I&rsquo;ve been there ever since.THN: What do you miss most about Pittsburgh?DB: Friends. I made a lot of friends there and I was treated really well in the four years I played in Pittsburgh. I had a lot of good teammates and met a lot of nice people off the ice. You pack up, leave town and don&rsquo;t see them again. That&rsquo;s the tough part. Kind of a shock, actually.THN: What do you like best about Buffalo?DB: The small rink. It makes it easy to move up on the play and, to me, it&rsquo;s good for defensemen. &#9632;

f0009-01

‘I’M NOT A REAL FANCY, DIPSY-DOODLE TYPE’

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011564/6320547-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="456" height="634"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAY GREENBERG</figcaption></div>At least half of this job involves figuring out what&rsquo;s important. Getting the facts straight is the easy part. Presenting them comes with practice. It&rsquo;s trying to understand whether they mean anything that is always toughest.Dan Kelly has conducted enough interviews to know what to ask. It comes to him as naturally as his God-given voice, which is only the most perfect one that has ever broadcast a hockey game. So even after Kelly had to put down his microphone on Nov. 19, he still had at least one more good question.Lying in hospital bed, his body ridden with cancer, he asked the people who wanted to honor him with the Lester Patrick Trophy: Why now?Was it pity? Guilt? He didn&rsquo;t want that. All he really wanted was his health back. And since they couldn&rsquo;t give him that, he wondered: What was the point of it all?To gratify his ego? Nah. He knew, and they knew, that he already had a pretty good opinion of himself. &ldquo;Nobody has to give me any awards,&rdquo; Kelly had said when John Ziegler slipped him a surprise milestone plaque at the All-Star dinner last February. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m well paid for what I do. This is the greatest game in the world and I love every minute of it.&rdquo;So now that he couldn&rsquo;t enjoy it much anymore, Kelly didn&rsquo;t need any handout&mdash;engraved, polished, or otherwise&mdash;to remind him that a hockey game sang when it rumbled out his throat. Or that it was kissed as it passed through his lips. Or had acquired a certain stature if for no other reason than Dan Kelly was broadcasting it.Truth is, part of the reason why Kelly is so good is that he knows it. He has proven his respect for his talent with preparation, the commitment necessary to be absolutely the best that he could be. With any such gift comes the obligation to use it well. That&rsquo;s what keeps a giant&mdash;a Wayne Gretzky, a Mario Lemieux, a Dan Kelly&mdash;one foot taller than most everybody else in whatever it is they do. We already knew that, though. So what was important about having this dinner? Why was it necessary to move up this year&rsquo;s Lester Patrick Award presentation, to collect money for a scholarship at St. Louis University in Dan&rsquo;s name, to name a Clydesdale after him? Why call attention to his bad luck?Kelly wanted no visitors, no phone calls, no sympathy. He had watched Barclay Plager fight the courageous fight, but ultimately for what?Of course Kelly&rsquo;s very best friends, of which he has many, ignored him. Tickets for the dinner went faster than any steak ever disappeared from Dan&rsquo;s plate. And the organizers who had to say &ldquo;no&rdquo; to so many because there just wasn&rsquo;t enough table space in that ballroom, reluctantly had to admit that Bill Bidwill was right all along. St. Louis needs a stadium much bigger than Busch to hold all the people who like and admire Dan Kelly.So, the hell with him. If he wanted to be crotchety and stubborn about the whole thing, he was getting exactly what he deserved. Their respect. And the answer to his question: Why?Because they wanted to, that&rsquo;s why. Because so many lives were touched after touching the button that called up 1120 on their radios. Because too many people have always best loved Dan Kelly&rsquo;s game by celebrating it through his voice. That voice is special. It has an Irish lilt to it, and it comes in octaves that interchange according to the period, score, and location of the puck. It rises for a Blues&rsquo; goal, but does not scream. It flattens just slightly for an opposition goal, but never moans.In music, the ability to identify a note by name, then sing it, is the gift of perfect pitch. Only the most blessed have it. Dan Kelly&rsquo;s pitch for any minute of any hockey game he does is perfect, too.&ldquo;There has been no greater preacher of the NHL&rsquo;s gospel for the last 21 years,&rdquo; said Ziegler. At the dinner, Bob Costas told of a conversation he had with Peter Jennings, the ABC anchorman who is a Canadian and a fan. Jennings had told Costas of what a thrill it was to hear Kelly, &ldquo;when the hair stands upon the back of your neck with the thrill of something being done the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be done.&rdquo;We do not have any answers to the other &ldquo;why&rdquo; Dan must be asking. Why him? We do not know why the doctors can&rsquo;t promise us another 10-15 years of listening to Kelly or him a happy retirement. You do read about miracles all the time, so maybe there&rsquo;s one left for Dan. Hey, you can&rsquo;t quit. It&rsquo;s a league rule.Most of us dressed for that dinner thinking that this was something we should do for Dan. Under the circumstances, how could it possibly be fun? We surprised ourselves. Master of ceremonies Jack Buck was excellent, the speakers were funny, the mood upbeat. Dan&rsquo;s brother Hal, who watched the toast-roast on closed-circuit television from the hospital room, said Dan had a good time, too.Gene Hart, who does the same thing for a living as Kelly, has been through an open heart operation and a dangerous infection in his foot within the last four years. Gene&rsquo;s fine now and doing the Flyers&rsquo; full schedule, but with a greater understanding of his mortality.&ldquo;You get to this stage and wonder what you&rsquo;ve done with your life,&rdquo; Gene said. &ldquo;And then you see all these people who have been touched by Dan and you know it&rsquo;s been worthwhile.&rdquo;The Blues were back chasing the puck the next night. I was back chasing my next story, feeling freed from the burden of designating what was important about it. Thanks to the friends of Dan Kelly, I knew.Each of us only get so much time on this planet. Of course, we want more, but whether you live 21 or 51 or 101 years, the only thing we can carry with us to wherever we go at the end is the knowledge that somebody cares about us.In other words, you take out what you&rsquo;ve put in. Dan Kelly has reached millions. It was important to his friends that they reach back. &#9632;

f0010-01

WHY THE HONOR? BECAUSE DAN KELLY IS A GIANT

<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>The Nords have become the laughing-stock of Quebec City. Local radio station FM-93 began playing a song which labelled the club a bunch of &ldquo;turkeys.&rdquo; The station, which carries a satirical show, The Zoo, ran a full-page ad promoting the song in Le Soleil, the city&rsquo;s largest newspaper. As a result of the ad, Nordique players refused to speak to the media. The boycott took effect after Quebec&rsquo;s 1-1 tie with Buffalo at Le Colisee Jan. 14&hellip;Defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn suffered a slightly separated shoulder Jan. 10. Leschyshyn (2-5-7) was playing his best hockey of the season when he was bodychecked into the boards by Dale Hunter of the Capitals. He was expected back Feb. 15&hellip;Ron Tugnutt (2.87, .892, 0-12) was playing well in goal, despite the fact the team was not winning.<h2>WHALERS</h2>With rookie Peter Sidorkiewicz soundly outplaying Mike Liut through 42 games, coach Larry Pleau had some difficult goaltending decisions in the second half. Liut was 714-1 with a 4.87 goals-against average after a 9-6 pounding in Los Angeles Jan. 14. Sidorkiewicz was 10-8-2 with a 2.94 average. &ldquo;Peter has played well for us,&rdquo; said Pleau. &ldquo;I think Lootie would be the first one to tell you that he hasn&rsquo;t played as well as he can play. I would look in the second half for Lootie to come up with a heck of an effort.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Kevin Dineen, on a line with center Ron Francis and left winger Brian Lawton, extended his scoring streak to seven games (six goals, 15 points) in Los Angeles. &ldquo;Dineen has been tremendous all year,&rdquo; Pleau said. Lawton was moved to left wing from center after left winger Don Maloney suffered a broken collarbone Dec. 31 in a 3-2 win over Detroit.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021169/6320578-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="562" height="570"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Sidorkiewicz has emerged as Hartford&rsquo;s top goalie.</figcaption></div><h2>CANADIENS</h2>Right winger Russ Courtnall scored two goals in his return to Maple Leaf Gardens Jan. 14, leading Montreal to a 5-3 victory. Courtnall, who also scored in a 5-3 victory at Boston two nights earlier, had 99 career goals&hellip;Goaltender Brian Hayward blocked 25 shots for his fifth career shutout in a 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils Jan. 11 at the Forum. It was the first 1-0 triumph for the Canadiens since March 25, 1979, when Michel Larocque shut out the New York Rangers&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s winning streak was snapped at nine in a 3-2 loss at Detroit Jan. 9. Center Shayne Corson scored two goals in the loss. Corson, who also scored in Toronto, had 10 of his 14 goals on the road&hellip; A broken foot suffered by team captain Bob Gainey resulted in a change to the Canadiens&rsquo; No. 1 checking line. Mike Keane was moved onto the right side with center Guy Carbonneau Ryan Walter moved to left wing.<h2>BRUINS</h2>Enforcer Jay Miller narrowly missed a 10-game suspension under new rule 66, for coming off the bench to get at Detroit&rsquo;s Bob Probert, during a game at Boston Garden Jan. 14. Miller got both skates on the ice but was pulled back by acting coach John Cunniff and some teammates. Referee Rob Shick gave Miller a game misconduct under rule 42G for &ldquo;persisting in any course of conduct designed to incite an opponent into incurring a penalty.&rdquo;&hellip;A bright spot for the struggling Bruins was right winger Cam Neely, who had regained his scoring touch with 10 goals in nine games since Dec. 29. Neely, who had 42 goals last year, had 18 for the season&hellip;Defenseman Raymond Bourque, still out with a knee strain, worked with Cunniff behind the bench while head coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly served his four-game suspension for an altercation Dec. 29 with New Jersey&rsquo;s Jim Korn. 15.<h2>SABRES</h2>Injuries continued to plague the Sabres. As many as 10 regulars have been out of the lineup at the same time in recent weeks. Buffalo lost defensemen Phil Housley and Mike Ramsey during a 6-5 overtime win against Chicago Jan. 12, then Mike Foligno went down during a 1-1 tie at Quebec Jan. 14. Goaltender Daren Puppa was superb against Quebec (he made 40 saves), but missed the next game, a 3-2 win Jan. 15 against Calgary, with a wrist injury suffered in the Quebec game&hellip;It was left to the Sabres to keep the Soviets from taking the Super Series, and they responded with an overtime win. Ken Priestlay scored the game-winning goal with 2:40 left in overtime. Ray Sheppard stole the puck and scored off a breakaway to send the game into overtime&hellip;Prior to Buffalo&rsquo;s win over Chicago, Blackhawk coach Mike Keenan said the Adam Creighton-Rick Vaive trade was good for both teams. After the game, Keenan said he was not happy with the way Creighton played. Vaive had a goal and an assist, and was instrumental in both keying a comeback and preserving the win. He blocked a shot in the closing seconds of play. Creighton had one assist and saw limited ice time as the game progressed. &#9632;

f0010-02

QUEBEC ‘TURKEYS’ BOYCOTT MEDIA

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>Two weeks after saying he wouldn&rsquo;t be trading a defenseman, Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; managing director Serge Savard dealt Mike Lalor.Lalor was sent to the St. Louis Blues in a complicated deal which reduces Montreal&rsquo;s defense corps to seven and all but guarantees Finnish rookie Jyrki Lumme a job as a regular.In return for Lalor, the Canadiens get the right to switch first-round draft picks with the Blues in the 1990 NHL entry draft.Montreal could also get a second-round draft pick in the 1991 draft provided the Blues win at least a total of three playoff series by then&mdash;a time span which covers three playoff years. Otherwise, the Canadiens will get a third-round pick in 1991.&ldquo;It was the consensus of our hockey people that we wanted to go with Lumme,&rdquo; said Savard. &ldquo;He (Lalor) is one guy I didn&rsquo;t want to trade, but it didn&rsquo;t seem that we were going to use him on a regular basis. I liked Mike. He played regular for us in the Stanley Cup (in 1986).&rdquo;It is not the first time Savard has had to make a business decision in dealing a player he liked.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to trade Keith Acton to Minnesota (in October, 1983),&rdquo; said Savard. &ldquo;I traded Tom Kurvers to Buffalo (in November, 1987) because there wasn&rsquo;t a place for him with us any more and you know about the Chris Nilan deal.&rdquo;Savard was forced into dealing Nilan to the New York Rangers last Jan. 27 when it was apparent Nilan could not get along with then-coach Jean Perron.Lalor was told by coach Pat Bums after practice Jan. 16 that he was part of the 12th deal between Savard and St. Louis general manager Ron Caron. The 25-year-old defenseman left later that afternoon to join the Blues for a Jan. 17 date with Los Angeles.&ldquo;I am a little surprised,&rdquo; said Lalor, who had one goal and four assists in 12 games this season.&ldquo;I certainly didn&rsquo;t ask to be traded. I was concentrating on playing the games in Boston and Toronto last week.&rdquo;It was Lalor&rsquo;s performance in Boston on Jan. 12 that likely sealed his fate.&ldquo;I watched him on a delayed broadcast that night in St. Louis and he looked pretty good for a guy that had been out,&rdquo; said Caron, who admitted he had been trying to snare Lalor from the Canadiens since training camp.When Lalor suffered a stress fracture of the left leg Nov. 1 in Hartford, Caron&rsquo;s pursuit cooled off until Lalor returned to duty.The veteran Canadien defenseman, fully recovered from a cracked bone in his left leg, played his first game since Nov. 1, in Boston. He helped Montreal to a 5-3 victory.His return came during a week that saw the Canadiens lose captain Bob Gainey for six-to-eight weeks with a broken bone in his right foot. Gainey was hurt when he stopped a shot by Lee Norwood Jan. 8 in Detroit. Montreal lost that game 3-2, and a nine-game winning streak in the process.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 12: Randy Exelby, G, recalled from Sherbrooke (AHL).Jan. 13: Exelby assigned to Sherbrooke.Jan. 16: Mike Lalor, D, traded to St. Louis for option to exchange first-round picks in 1990 entry draft and second- or third-round pick in 1991. The pick will be upgraded to a econd-round pick if St. Louis wins a minimum of three playoff rounds before the 1991 entry draft.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Shayne Corson, Guy Carbonneau, Brent Gilchrist, Gilles Thibaudeau.LW&mdash;Mats Naslund, Steve Martinson, Ryan Walter, Mike McPhee.RW&mdash;Russ Courtnall, Stephane Richer, Mike Keane, Claude Lemieux.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Larry Robinson.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Jyrki Lumme, Pet Svoboda, Rick Green.G&mdash;Brian Hayward, Patrick Roy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Eric Desjardins, D. flu, day-to-day.Bob Gainey, LW. broken right foot, March 6.Brian Skrudland, C, bruised right foot, day-to-day. &#9632;

GM SAVARD DOES ABOUT-FACE: TRADES LALOR

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>It doesn&rsquo;t seem to matter who is behind the bench for the Boston Bruins. The results are the same.So are the post-game quotes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to say we&rsquo;re coming when you look at the score, but I know we&rsquo;re coming,&rdquo; John Cunniff said after a 5-3 loss at home to Montreal Jan. 12.Cunniff, the Bruin assistant coach, directed the team while coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly served his four-game suspension for an altercation at Byrne Arena with New Jersey&rsquo;s Jim Korn Dec. 29.O&rsquo;Reilly was also fined $1,000. Korn was suspended for three games and fined $500.After the Montreal loss, Boston was below the .500 mark with a 1718-9 record.Two days later, Cunniff was making the best of a 5-5 home-ice tie with the Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like ties,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re happy with this one.&rdquo;It was Boston&rsquo;s 10th tie of the season, a category in which the Bruins led the league.Cunniff and the rest of the Bruins were much happier Jan. 14 after a 4-3 matinee victory over the hot Washington Capitals at Capital Centre.The win left Boston 1-1-1 with Cunniff calling the shots. They were 17-17-9 under O&rsquo;Reilly, who was eligible to return Jan. 21 against Buffalo. Boston trailed Montreal by 24 points in the Adams Division and was only three points ahead of third-place Buffalo.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been struggling,&rdquo; said defenseman Glen Wesley, whose second goal of the game, with 55 seconds left, was the winner against Washington. &ldquo;This win definitely will give us a big mental lift. This was a solid effort and we have to keep playing like that.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Reilly watched the first two games of his suspension from an auxiliary press box in Boston Garden. Nobody was reading any significance into the fact his companion for both games was Dr. Fred Neff, the team psychologist.O&rsquo;Reilly, who punched Korn in the face, said he deserved the suspension.&ldquo;Any time you get a suspension you think it&rsquo;s severe,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But you have to just sort of accept it. I was pushed by Korn in the hallway. He made contact with me and pushed me up against the wall. A court of law would put an awful lot of emphasis on that.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Reilly took the blame for precipitating the incident.&ldquo;I did start it by calling him a few things,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;But verbal abuse is common in sports. There&rsquo;s a lot of that. But I think the person that crosses the physical line should receive the lion&rsquo;s share of the penalty. But that&rsquo;s in a court of law. We&rsquo;re not dealing with that.&rdquo;The suspension was O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s first as a coach. He was fined $500 for throwing a water bottle at referee Denis Morel Dec. 12, 1987. He received three suspensions as a player&mdash;three games for bumping Morel on Oct. 26, 1977; eight for joining teammates in fighting New York Ranger fans in the stands Dec. 23, 1979; and 10 for punching referee Andy van Hellemond April 25, 1982.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 13: Dale Dunbar, D. recalled from Maine (AHL).Jan. 16: Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, coach, serving four-game NHL suspension. Eligible to return Jan. 21.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ken Linseman, Steve Kasper. Andy Brickley, Bob Sweeney.LW&mdash;Bob Joyce. Randy Burridge. John Carter. Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, Ray Neufeld, Lyndon Byers.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Alain Cote, Don Sweeney, Dale Dunbar.RD&mdash;Garry Galley, Greg Hawgood, Stephane Quintal.G&mdash;Andy Moog, Reggie Lemelin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Raymond Bourque, D, left knee strain, Jan. 19.Craig Janney, C, right groin strain, Jan. 28.Gord Kluzak, D, left knee arthroscopy, indefinte.Billy O&rsquo;Dwyer, C, left knee inflammation, indefinite.Allen Pedersen, D, abdominal muscle pull, indefinite.Michael Thelven, D, right knee inflammation, indefinite. &#9632;

BRUINS STRUGGLE WITH AND WITHOUT O’REILLY

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>Christian Ruuttu won&rsquo;t be getting a second kick at the AllStar Game.Not this season.The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; third-year center does, however, have a chance to salvage a season and has started to make the most of that.Ruuttu, the Sabres&rsquo; lone representative in the All-Star Game at St. Louis last season, recently picked up Rick Vaive as a right winger on a line with Scott Amiel&mdash;a formation that has paid dividends for everyone.In his last 13 games, the 24-year-old Finn picked up 15 points (3-12). For the season, Ruuttu was 8-25-33 in 37 games.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been easy,&rdquo; said Ruuttu, reflecting on a first half dominated by a pre-season knee injury and tom pectoral muscle that caused him to miss eight regular-season contests.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m probably in the best shape I&rsquo;ve been in all season and I think it&rsquo;s starting to show in my game,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to use my speed more and I have more confidence. I used to question myself after the injuries. &lsquo;What did I do out there? Why did I do that?&rsquo; I spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about my game.&rdquo;Arniel, Ruuttu&rsquo;s left winger most of the season, said Ruuttu faced two problems, one physical, the other mental.&ldquo;For a while, because he had problems with that knee, it affected his speed. He was kind of hanging back and when he did that, the defense was able to adjust and react to the play. Once he got his speed back, though, he started going after the defense and that causes the defender to back up. When he does that they have to react to him and that&rsquo;s a big difference. When he uses the speed it makes room on the ice for everyone else.&ldquo;I also think he lost his confidence there for a while. We all went through some tough times, and when that happens you usually try too hard. When you press you always end up trying to do too much.&rdquo;Ruuttu agreed.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re playing with confidence, you&rsquo;re not so frustrated when you go out on the ice. When you&rsquo;re not playing well, you think about what you have to do to not hurt the team. When you&rsquo;re playing well, you don&rsquo;t think about that. You only think about what you can do to help. It&rsquo;s a big difference.&rdquo;Ruuttu&rsquo;s play improved as the line of himself, Amiel and right winger Mike Foligno came together and had some success in a checking role.Foligno recently moved on to a line with John Tucker before injuring his ribs, but Vaive, acquired in the Dec. 26 deal that sent Adam Creighton to Chicago, complements Ruuttu well.&ldquo;Maybe other teams were starting to figure us (Ruuttu-Foligno) out and we weren&rsquo;t having the success we had together in the past,&rdquo; Ruuttu said.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 9: Ken Phestlay, C, recalled from Rochester (AHL).Jan. 10: Priestlay, C, Mike Donnelly, LW, Scott Metcalfe, LW, assigned to Rochester.Jan. 11: Priestlay recalled from Rochester.Jan. 14: Joe Reekie, D, recalled from Rochester.Jan. 15: Metcalfe, Donnelly and Darcy Wakaluk, G, recalled from Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruuttu, Jeff Parker, Benoit Hogue, Ken Priestlay.LW&mdash;Mike Donnelly, Scott Amiel, Scott Metcalfe, Mike Hartman.RW&mdash;Rick Vaive, Mark Napier, Ray Sheppard.LD&mdash;Doug Bodger, Joe Reekie, Lindy Ruff.RD&mdash;Larry Playfair, Shawn Anderson, Calle Johansson.G&mdash;Jacques Cloutier, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mikael Andersson, LW, sprained neck and shoulder, day-to-day.Dave Andreychuk, LW, sprained knee, day-to-day.Mike Follgno, RW, rib cartilage pull, day-to-day.Bob Halkidls, D, shoulder, indefinite.Phil Housley, D, bruised back, day-today.Uwe Krupp, D, broken rib, indefinite.Jan Ludvig, RW, knee, day-to-day.Kevin Maguire, RW, sprained ankle, day-to-day.Daren Puppa, G. sprained wrist, dayto-day.Mike Ramsey, D, pulled groin, indefinite. &#9632;

RUUTTU ON SECOND-HALF SALVAGE TRIP

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Considering his name, quick wit and much-discussed weight, John Anderson has been tagged by his teammates with a clever, substitute nickname.They have twisted Andy to John Candy in honor of the plump, Canadian comedian.Anderson can now laugh about a ticklish weight situation that in November saw Whalers&rsquo; coach Larry Pleau pull him from the lineup for seven games. But Anderson is dead serious in his drive to save his 12-year NHL career.Although nine points (4-5) in 24 games indicate these have been most trying times for a guy once accustomed to 30-goal seasons, Anderson believes he can still make a difference.&ldquo;Yes, sure, I think I can still help this team,&rdquo; said Anderson after scoring his 600th NHL point, an assist, in a 9-6 loss at Los Angeles Jan. 14. &ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;d quit.&rdquo;&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been an easy year for John,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;He has to keep himself from getting frustrated and overhandling the puck. He&rsquo;s a smart player and I&rsquo;d like to see him not depend on hanging onto the puck trying to beat a guy.&ldquo;He is skating and playing better (five points in seven games since returning from a groin injury). I&rsquo;m not going to con you. i&rsquo;mnot saying what we did is the reason. He&rsquo;s a good person. He&rsquo;s a hard worker. That&rsquo;s the reason we didn&rsquo;t say, &lsquo;Forget him, gas him, trade him or send him to Binghamton.&rdquo;Anderson, 31, was sidelined last March 1 with a severe rotator cuff injury in his left shoulder and didn&rsquo;t return until training camp. After a lethargic opening 11 games, he had only two goals and four points. Anderson is not a physical player and is prone to turnovers. So he must produce offensively to help a team.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t look like he&rsquo;d be able to help us the way it was going the first 11 games,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;At his age, Jay (assistant coach Leach) and I just felt he could play better if he was at 192 pounds instead of 200.&rdquo;The Whalers were in Vancouver when Pleau announced Nov. 8 Anderson would be held out two weeks. Word spread quickly. John Candy was on the fat farm. A few mornings on the road, circumstances dictated Anderson get up early for dryland training. It was like boot camp. Some of the players thought Anderson, a popular guy in the locker room, was embarrassed by Pleau.&ldquo;I never said Andy was fat,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;Maybe it was the way I explained it at the time, but everybody assumed we thought he was fat. That really bothers me. Coaches sometimes embarrass players for a reason. But our intentions were the exact opposite.&ldquo;We wanted to help him. If I knew the situation would be remembered as an embarrassment to John, I might not have done it.&rdquo;&ldquo;I believe what Larry says,&rdquo; said Anderson, who was still at 192 pounds. &ldquo;I told him I wasn&rsquo;t happy about it, but he&rsquo;s the boss. I&rsquo;ve had worse things happen to me. I played for Joe Crozier (in Toronto). I almost had a nervous breakdown with that man.&ldquo;It only was embarrassing to the point where people were coming up to me, &lsquo;Have you lost weight?&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t have a vindictive personality where I would be mad. People are curious. But it was hard around my neighbors and family. I think they felt bad for me. They&rsquo;d invite me over for dinner and serve cottage cheese.&rdquo;Anderson was itching to prove himself, but was back for only six games when he pulled a groin muscle against Minnesota Dec. 3 and missed 10 more games.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ray Ferraro, Dean Evason, Ron Francis. Brent Peterson.LW&mdash;Dave Tippett, Brian Lawton, Torrie Robertson, John Anderson, Tom Martin.RW&mdash;Paul MacDermid, Scott Young. Kevin Dineen, Jody Hull.LO&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Scot Kleinendorst, Joel Quenneville, Adam Burt.RD&mdash;Utt Samuelsson, Sylvain Cote, Dave Babych, Norm Maciver.G&mdash;Mike Liut, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Grant Jennings, D, shoulder injury, Jan. 23.Don Maloney, LW. broken collarbone, indefinite.Sylvain Turgeon, LW, shoulder separation, indefinite. &#9632;

ANDERSON BELIEVES HE CAN STILL HELP

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Jean Perron succinctly summed up Anton Stastny&rsquo;s situation with the Nordiques after practice Jan. 15.&ldquo;Anton is at the crossroads,&rdquo; Perron said of the right winger, who had just five goals and 18 assists in 41 games.Stastny&rsquo;s career in Quebec may have reached a dead end, actually. He did not accompany the team to Philadelphia Jan. 12, a 7-2 loss, and was placed on waivers without right of recall the next day. Should Stastny and his $300,000 per-year contract not be claimed by any NHL team, the Nordiques were expected to assign him to the Halifax Citadels, their American League affiliate.Stastny&rsquo;s problems in Quebec stem from his poor defensive play. Previous Nordique coaches Michel Bergeron, Andre Savard and Ron Lapointe all benched him for that reason.Perron was, at first, inclined to give Stastny, 29, a chance to prove himself. When he was named Lapointe&rsquo;s replacement Dec. 16, Perron stated he would give his veterans, Stastny among them, the most work.But Perron seems to have come to the same conclusion as his predecessors. The coach could tolerate Stastny as a defensive liability when he was scoring. But Stastny, who has averaged 30 goals a year in eight NHL seasons, wasn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all very nice to be patient,&rdquo; said Perron, &ldquo;but the time has come to make decisions. And mine is made. Anton is staying home.&ldquo;Enough is enough. I gave him his chance and he simply didn&rsquo;t take it. I waited as long as I could. But now, I have to go with what&rsquo;s best for the team.&rdquo;Stastny refused comment on the situation.&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t very complicated,&rdquo; continued Perron. &ldquo;We can compare Anton&rsquo;s case with (goalie) Bob Mason&rsquo;s. His confidence is shot. And not playing makes it worse.&ldquo;So the best thing that can happen to him is to go and fill the net in Halifax. If he could score a dozen goals over there, he might get his touch back.Stastny typifies the Nordiques&rsquo; problems.&ldquo;Of my nine top forwards, those who play on my top three lines, there are seven who are of the same dimension,&rdquo; said Perron. &ldquo;Seven guys who love to carry the puck around. Seven offensive specialists.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011301/6320705-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="700" height="941"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean Perron has lost his patience with Anton Stastny.</figcaption></div>Perron does hold out some hope for Anton Stastny&rsquo;s return to active duty with the Nordiques.&ldquo;If someone like Peter (Stastny), (Joe) Sakic, (Walt) Poddubny or (Michel) Goulet gets injured, that&rsquo;s where Anton could step in,&rdquo; the coach said.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan, 13: Anton Stastny, RW, placed on waivers without right of recall.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Joe Sakic, Paul Gillis, Walt Poddubny.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Jeff Jackson, Mike Hough, Jacques Mailhot, Gaetan Duchesne.RW&mdash;lira Jarvi, Marc Fortier, Trevor Stienburg.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Jari Gronstrand, Jeff Brown.RD&mdash;Mario Marois, Randy Moller, Robert Picard.G&mdash;Mario Gosselin, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Curtis Leschyshyn, D, slightly separated shoulder, Feb. 1 &#9632;

f0016-01

ANTON STASTNY PUT ON WAIVERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011152/6320736-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="478" height="634"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>Some mid-winter thoughts as all-star time approaches:&#9632; It is no longer irrational to rate the New York Rangers a top Stanley Cup contender. They implicitly believe they can knock off the Caps, Flyers or Penguins and there&rsquo;s absolutely no evidence to indicate otherwise.&#9632; Among many reasons why Dan Kelly&rsquo;s absence is painful to hockey-listeners is the voice of the St. Louis Blues came as close to anyone to duplicating the original play-by-play master, Foster Hewitt.&#9632; The big NHL question with Minnesota pick Mike Modano has nothing to do with ability and everything to do with attitude.&#9632; I get nervous when referees and linesmen smile a lot during games.&#9632; Something tells me Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly does not want to coach beyond May, 1989.&#9632; Emile Francis- and Bryan Murray-knockers overlook two key factors. They&rsquo;ve mastered the art of NHL survival and they don&rsquo;t do that badly in the regular-season win department.&#9632; It&rsquo;s amazing how teams play into Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextalls hands, by stupidly dumping the puck into the Flyer end&mdash;particularly on power plays&mdash;so Hextall can promptly fire it out. The way to beat him is to stickhandle over the blue line, control the puck and set up a play. (For more advice, consult Tomas Sandstrom.)&#9632; Class acts with whom it is a joy to deal with: Doug Bodger, Mark Howe, David Shaw, Jimmy Johnson, Joey Mullen, Paul Stewart, Steve Yzerman, Kelly Miller, Garry Galley, Rick Meagher, Luc Robitaille, John MacLean, Paul MacLean, Marc Bergevin and Bobby Smith.&#9632; I sure hope Tommy Webster gets another NHL coaching job.&#9632; Ditto Herb Brooks, if he wants one.&#9632; Enough players have told me Mario Lemieux no longer takes nights off for me to consider it established fact.&#9632; The Oilers can look like minced meat through the end of March, but beginning April 2&mdash;the end of the regular season&mdash;you can start worrying about them.&#9632; One of the most interesting NHL stories of the winter is the tug-of-war between Don Conrad and Rick Gordon over the Hartford Whaier ownership.&#9632; My radar tells me Hamilton will never have an NHL team.&#9632; The real tests for Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso begin now and end in the playoffs.&#9632; Of all the NHLers I&rsquo;m rooting for, injured Boston defenseman Gordie Kluzak is right up there at the top.&#9632; I kid you not. There&rsquo;s a place for Don (Grapes) Cherry behind some NHL bench next season. But try telling that to general managers.&#9632; If Vancouver rookie Trevor Linden wasn&rsquo;t based on the far side of the Rockies, he&rsquo;d have a shot at the Calder Trophy.&#9632; Philadelphia defenseman Mark Howe is my sentimental favorite for the Norris Trophy.&#9632; We&rsquo;ll know whether Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr earned his raise sometime between April and May.&#9632; One look at John Tonelli&rsquo;s stats is enough to tell you what Wayne Gretzky has meant to the rank-and-file Kings.&#9632; Minnesota coach Pierre Page hasn&rsquo;t received enough credit for making some sense out of the Minnesota madhouse.&#9632; The sleeper in the Carey Wilson trade to New York is defenseman Norm Maciver.&#9632; I could do without canned music and signs telling fans when to cheer at all NHL rinks.&#9632; The bromide &lsquo;We must make way for progress&rsquo; should not apply to Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium or St. Louis Arena.&#9632; Every time I look at a Buffalo Sabre uniform I think of Punch Imlach.&#9632; Hall of Famers Syl Apps, Ted (Teeder) Kennedy and some of the other Maple Leaf alumni must shudder at what goes on in Maple Leaf Gardens.&#9632; Montreal coach Pat Burns deserves all the good fortune he has obtained.&#9632; The referees&rsquo; union has never been tighter.&#9632; If I was an NHL owner on the lookout for a general manager, my first choice would be Craig Patrick. Then, I&rsquo;d send him to Phil Esposito for a quick course in media relations.&#9632; There are far too many injuries in the NHL, which should tell you: (a) The high-tech equipment is overrated; (b) The game is too fast, and; (c) Filthy-dirty checking from behind should result in severe suspensions.&#9632; Unless Calgary GM Cliff Fletcher deals for Ranger goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, his Flames will enter the playoffs with a mile-long cloud over their goaltending. Every Calgarian knows what happened last year.&#9632; God save the ice if Uwe Krupp and Kjell Sameuelsson ever get into a fight.&#9632; Lou Franceschetti, Lyndon Byers, Dave Brown and Marty McSorley are living proof that some of the most ornery critters on the ice are teddy bears off it.&#9632; For unadulterated loyalty throughout the whole ugly mess, Blackhawk fans rate an A-plus.&#9632; I can&rsquo;t wait for the Canucks&rsquo; new uniforms.&#9632; Come out, come out, wherever you are, Willie Huber.&#9632; An NHL season without any slapshots, helmets and dumping the puck in from centerice would suit me just fine.&#9632; Don&rsquo;t kid yourself, league bosses. You&rsquo;ve got a big problem on your hands with the terrible drop-off in hockey-playing interest among Canadian kids. &#9632;

f0017-01

TAKING TIME TO MUSE IN MID-WINTER

<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Dean Chynoweth, the New York Islanders&rsquo; 20-year-old rookie defenseman who hasn&rsquo;t played since apparently being gouged in the eye by the Flyers&rsquo; Rick Tocchet Oct. 27, is suffering from an uncommon condition called Osgood-Schlatter Disease. It could keep him sidelined the rest of the season. Osgood-Schlatter, an abnormal relationship between the muscles and growing bones in the legs, was named after two 19th century physicians who first identified the injury. It&rsquo;s common in adolescent boys, but not 20-year-old men. But because Chynoweth has grown at least one inch this year, he developed the condition. &ldquo;It could be a week, it could be a month, it could be six months, it could be a year,&rdquo; said Chynoweth, who has researched the disease in medical textbooks. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t know&rdquo;&hellip;Center Rob DiMaio scored his first NHL goal in his third NHL game. It broke a 3-3 tie and helped the Isles beat the Devils 5-3.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02874/6320767-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="548" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dean Chynoweth discovered he has Osqood-Schlatter Disease.</figcaption></div><h2>PENGUINS</h2>I he Penguins tied a franchise record for goals in a road game by winning in Minnesota, 9-2, on Jan. 12. Left winger Scott Bjugstad, acquired from the North Stars in December, got his first two goals for Pittsburgh in that game, but the offensive spotlight fell primarily on right winger Rob Brown, who had a goal and five assists for a career-high six points.&hellip;With Zarley Zalapski sidelined indefinitely after knee surgery, Phil Bourque has been shifted from left wing to defense to bolster the Penguins&rsquo;puckhandling ability behind the blue line&hellip;The Penguins switched to new sweaters featuring larger, bolder numbers Jan. 10, and center Dave Hannan took advantage of the change to swap his No. 20 for No. 32, which he wore earlier in his career.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>Right winger John Druce, a Peterborough, Ont., native who had one previous NHL goal, scored twice in his first NHL game at Maple Leaf Gardens. He led the Capitals to a 3-2 victory Jan. 11. Druce was not around for the finish, however. Teammate Lou Franceschetti took a run at Toronto&rsquo;s Tom Fergus and missed, flattening Druce instead. &ldquo;I got really dizzy and I couldn&rsquo;t focus, Druce said. &ldquo;The play was going and I couldn&rsquo;t go with it. It was quite an experience. I&rsquo;m not sure whether the Gardens was for me or against me.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Mike Gartner&rsquo;s 10-game point streak ended in the first period at Toronto when he was ejected for slashing Leaf defenseman Luke Richardson on the arm. It was an unusual call by referee Rob Shick, because at the time Gartner was falling on his back, the victim of a punch by Richardson, who received roughing and slashing minors as a result of the incident&hellip;A 4-3 loss to Boston Jan. 15 ended several Washington streaks: seven games without a loss, 11 without a defeat at home and 18 without a loss outside the Patrick Division.<h2>FLYERS</h2>Defenseman Mark Howe ended a drought of 20 games without a goal when he scored the final tally in an 8-4 loss to Detroit Jan. 15. The 20-game streak was the longest in Howe&rsquo;s 16year pro career&hellip;Flyer owner Ed Snider, Bill Barber and vice president Keith Allen will be inducted into the Flyers&rsquo; Hall of Fame. They will join Bob Clarke and Bernie Parent, who were inducted as inaugural members last year.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Although the Rangers listed a pair of injured players, defenseman Normand Rochefort and right winger Chris Nilan, as &ldquo;day-to-day&rdquo; early in January, both probably should be listed as &ldquo;month-to-month.&rdquo; Rochefort, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Dec. 1, skated in only 10 of the Rangers&rsquo; first 45 games and said he wasn&rsquo;t sure when he&rsquo;d be able to return. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t rush it. I have to be patient,&rdquo; Rochefort told reporters in mid-January. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t strength or much range of motion yet. It is frustrating but I want to make sure when I come back it will be right.&rdquo;&hellip;Nilan missed eight in a row and 12 of 15 games before he revealed the seriousness of his abdominal ligament injury. &ldquo;They want me to be pain free before I do anything,&rdquo; Nilan told the New York Daily News, &ldquo;and that is going to take a while because, if I&rsquo;m not pain-free, it&rsquo;s just going to put me right back.&rdquo;<h2>DEVILS</h2>Jim Korn served the three-game suspension he was issued for his part in the Dec. 29 post-game brawl with Boston coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. &ldquo;Tobe honest, I was hoping for less than three games,&rdquo; said Korn. &ldquo;I got the impression from Brian O&rsquo;Neill when I met with him that I was going to get something, but I was hoping for a game or two. I just want to put the incident behind me. It&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;m proud of and it&rsquo;ll never happen again with me.&rdquo;&hellip;By blanking the Oilers 1-0 on Jan. 15, Sean Burke became the first Devil goalie to record two shutouts in a season. &#9632;

f0017-02

HARD-LUCK ROOKIE DEVELOPS LEG DISEASE

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>Everything appeared to be going so well, and then Steve Yzerman showed up at the Spectrum Jan. 15 to ruin the Flyer homestand and wreck the return of goalie Mark Laforest.Laforest, who had not played in 15 games dating to Dec. 6, started the final game of the three-game homestand but lost 8-4 to Yzerman&rsquo;s Detroit Red Wings. The Flyers had already slipped past the Minnesota North Stars 3-2 Jan. 5 and Quebec Nordiques 7-2 Jan. 12.Awaiting Laforest, a former Red Wing, was Yzerman. In two previous games against Philadelphia, Yzerman had a hat trick in each.This time he scored once, a shorthanded goal, and added three assists.The lopsided affair ended a 10-game unbeaten streak by the Flyers at the Spectrum (9-0-1), and also gave Yzerman a season total of seven goals and three assists against the Flyers. Philadelphia was 1-2-0, both losses coming at the Spectrum.Holmgren agreed with Red Wing coach Jacques Demers&rsquo; assessment Yzerman is the best player in hockey. &ldquo;After watching what he did in three games against us, I might have to agree with Jacques,&rdquo; said Holmgren.Remembering what division the Flyers are in, though, Holmgren quickly turned diplomat and included Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get Mario mad,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve still got to play him a couple of times.&rdquo;But the Flyer defense broke down several times in the game and it wouldn&rsquo;t have mattered who had the puck. Philadelphia was outshot 45-33 and Red Wing forwards were sent in on breakaway runs at Laforest all night.&ldquo;We really didn&rsquo;t give him much help at all,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;I guess this is just a game that we weren&rsquo;t mentally there.&rdquo;Even the usually steady Mark Howe suffered through a bad night.&ldquo;It just wasn&rsquo;t a real pretty game,&rdquo; said Howe. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve just got to get it back together on the road.&rdquo;The win against Minnesota was encouraging because the Flyers trailed 2-0, and it marked the first time they won a game which they trailed going into the third period (improving their record in that regard to 1-9-0).No Flyer had a bigger game than center Murray Craven, who had a personal-high point total, with five on one goal and four assists. &ldquo;I could have used a night like this a couple of&rsquo; months ago,&rdquo; said Craven, who has been bothered by a sprained knee through much of the season.Craven, who had seven goals and 18 assists in 34 games, had been used as a left winger or center on a fourth line while he tried to get himself through the injury problem. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in and out of the lineup so much, it&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;And lately I haven&rsquo;t been getting a lot of ice time, which I need to get back into condition. I don&rsquo;t think I have to prove over again what I can do. I&rsquo;ve expressed that to (coach) Paul (Holmgren) and he understands. So, we&rsquo;ll have to just wait and see what happens.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 10: Kerry Huffman, D, recalled from Hershey (AHL).Jan. 14: Huffman assigned to Hershey.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Bullard, Pelle Eklund, Dave Poulin, Ron Sutter.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Derrick Smith, Murray Craven, Craig Berube, Doug Sulliman.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Tim Kerr, Scott Mellanby, Dave Brown, Ilkka Sinisalo.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Terry Carkner, Moe Mantha.RD&mdash; Kjell Samuelsson, Jeff Chychrun, Gord Murphy.G&mdash;Ron Hextail. Mark Laforest.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Harding, RW. severely lacerated kneecap, indefinite.Jay Wells, D, fracturedknuckle on right hand. Jan. 26. &#9632;

YZERMAN RUINS FLYER HOME STAND

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>The way New York Ranger coach Michel Bergeron figures it, right winger Jan Erixon is a sure bet this year for the Selke Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward.As for rookie of the year, he&rsquo;s not so sure. It should be a Ranger, but will it be defenseman Brian Leetch or left winger Tony Granato? The two rookies shone against the Pittsburgh Penguins in exciting, back-to-back confrontations Jan. 14 and 15.The Rangers earned three of four possible points from the two games. They battled back for a 4-4 tie on Granato&rsquo;s third goal of the game late in the third period at Pittsburgh Jan. 14 and overcame a 4-1 deficit to top the Penguins 6-4 the next day. Four rookies&mdash;Granato, Leetch, with two, and right winger Kevin Miller&mdash;scored in the game.Granato, a 24-year-old from Illinois, and Leetch, a 20-year-old who grew up in Connecticut, continued to make the big plays for New York. In 45 games, Granato was 26-16-42, while Leetch was 12-31-43 in 38 games.After the Pittsburgh weekend, New York improved its Patrick Division record to 14-5-4 and its overall record to 23-15-7, heading into a Jan. 18 game in Chicago, the start of a six-game road trip. New York had 53 points, one behind the second-place Penguins and two behind the first-place Washington Capitals.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got two rookies of the year,&rdquo; Bergeron insisted, as he has done often this season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;m going to coach too long but I&rsquo;m telling you, I&rsquo;m going to buy tickets in the future to see Brian Leetch and Tony Granato.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to buy,&rdquo; emphasized the coach, known for his extreme frugality. Granato, who had eight goals in four games against Pittsburgh, was clearly the first-game hero, with his hat trick. But he yielded to Leetch the next day.&ldquo;Brian made the big play,&rdquo; Granato said. &ldquo;One of the best teams in the league was up on us 3-0, and had a seven-minute power play and Leetchie steals a pass and goes in and scores shorthanded.&ldquo;On the next shift, Mario Lemieux comes down on a two-on-one and Brian steals the puck and goes thelength of the ice, again, and his shot goes off the knob of the goalie&rsquo;s stick. He was outrageous.&rdquo;But let&rsquo;s not forget Erixon, who shifted to center for most of the weekend because of injuries and, of course, to be closer to Lemieux.&ldquo;I love Jan Erixon,&rdquo; Bergeron declared. &ldquo;If he is not the best defensive player in the league, then who is? He changes positions, he stays, like glue, with Lemieux two games in a row and then he assists on the winning goal (by rookie Kevin Miller).&rdquo;Erixon was double- and triple-shifted, at times, in order to shadow Lemieux, who collected two power-play goals in the first period of the second game but then was held without a shot on goal during the final 40 minutes.&ldquo;I asked Jan, after Lemieux scored the second power-play goal, I don&rsquo;t want you to change,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;If Lemieux stays on five minutes, you stay on five minutes. And that&rsquo;s what he did and we won.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 11: Simon Wheeldon, C, recalled from Denver (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Carey Wilson. Kelly Kisio, Lucien DeBlois, Marcel Dionne.LW&mdash;Tony Granato, Brian Mullen, John Ogrodnick, Joe Paterson.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Guy Lafleur, Jan Erixon, Kevin Miller.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Ron Greschner.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Dean Kennedy, Rudy Poeschek.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cyr, LW, surgery right knee, out for season.UK Dahlen, RW, separated left shoulder, Jan. 30.Chris Nilan, RW, strained ligament, front pelvic bone, indefinite.Michel Petit, D. fractured collarbone, Feb. 14.Normand Rochefort, D, arthroscopic surgery on right knee, Feb. 1.Simon Wheeldon, C, back spasms, indefinite. &#9632;

‘AWARD-WINNING’ TRIO SPURS RANGERS

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01989/6320846-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="742" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN TROTTIER</figcaption></div>It was closer to &ldquo;Play-Me-or-Trade-Me&rdquo; than anyone ever imagined Bryan Trottier and the New York Islanders could get.On Jan. 12, coach Al Arbour announced he was putting the onus on the team&rsquo;s young players because &ldquo;they&rsquo;re our future.&rdquo; After admitting it would cost Trottier ice time, Arbour met privately with Trottier and told him what he had told the press.Fewer than six hours later. Trottier&rsquo;s agent responded by saying if the cut in ice time was significant, the 32-year-old future Hall-of-Famer would want to be traded.And Jan. 15, after withholding comment for three days. Trottier said he asked to meet with general manager Bill Torrey after the general managers&rsquo; meetings in Florida.&ldquo;Bryan doesn&rsquo;t want to be around to be a part-time player,&rdquo; said Bob Thornton, Trottier&rsquo;s Long Island based representative. &ldquo;If his ice time is cut considerably, I think he&rsquo;d want to move.&rdquo;Torrey refused comment when asked about Trottier&rsquo;s trade value, and claimed he wasn&rsquo;t privy to Arbour&rsquo;s chat with Trottier or the media.Trottier, 12-17-29 in 43 games this year, has three additional years remaining on his contract. His salary (estimated to be $700,000 this seasor and $1 million in 1991-92) won&rsquo; make him the easiest player to move But he&rsquo;s tradeable.Will Torrey, who has habitually held onto his best players long past their prime, trade him?&ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t discussed that at all,&rdquo; Trottier said Arbour told him. &ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t help but think that. I&rsquo;m human. I can&rsquo;t rule anything out. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve always lived with. I&rsquo;ve accepted all along the possibility.&ldquo;When I signed the (10-year, estimated $8-million) contract I told Bill, &lsquo;When the time comes that I don&rsquo;t fit into your plans or you don&rsquo;t think I can cut the mustard, come and tell me. There&rsquo;ll be no hard feelings. I&rsquo;ll just go on.&rsquo;&rdquo;According to Trottier, Arbour told him, &ldquo;&lsquo;You&rsquo;ve got a lot of hockey left in you.&rsquo; And I take his word at face value.&rdquo;Only Trottier&rsquo;s power-play ice time was significantly trimmed in the first two games after Arbour&rsquo;s pronouncement, a 5-3 win at New Jersey and 5-3 loss at home to Chicago.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not talking about riding the pine,&rdquo; Trottier said. &ldquo;The impression the world is getting is not the impression I got when I spoke to Al. I respect the man. I&rsquo;m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.&rdquo;Nevertheless, Trottier understood that, at the age of 32, he&rsquo;s not going to be the cornerstone of a 21st-place franchise. And since he still yearns to play, yearns to be an important member of his team, he&rsquo;s thinking about other avenues.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the type of guy who wants to sit,&rdquo; Thornton said. &ldquo;He made that clear to me.&rdquo;Trottier had been thinking about being traded even before Arbour&rsquo;s announcement. When Arbour called Trottier into his office. Trottier opened the door and asked, &ldquo;Where am I going?" before Arbour could utter a word.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Rob DiMaio, C, Tom Fitzgerald. C, Mick Vukota, RW, recalled from Springfield (AHL).Jan. 10: Fitzgerald assigned to Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brent Sutter, Pat LaFontaine, Bryan Trottier, Rob DiMaio.LW&mdash;David Votek, Greg Gilbert, Derek King, Rich Kromm, Randy Wood.RW&mdash;Brad Dalgamo, Alan Kerr, Mikko Makela, Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Rich Pilon, Marc Bergevin, Ken Morrow.RD&mdash;Reed Larson, Jeff Norton, Tomas Jonsson.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Billy Smith.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dean Chynoweth, D, Osgood-Schlatter Disease, indefinite.Gerald Dlduck, D, knee, day-to-day.Raimo Helminen, C, hip and buttocks, day-to-day.Brad Lauer, LW. kneecap, Jan. 21.Gary Nylund, D, knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0020-01

TROTTIER TAKES BACK SEAT IN REBUILDING PROCESS

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01757/6320877-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="615" height="1076"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT VERBEEK</figcaption></div>For the first time since he pulled on a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; sweater in 1984, Kirk Muller is not having an all-star season.Unless Wales Conference coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly has a soft spot for the Devils&rsquo; captain, Muller&rsquo;s streak of four straight appearances in the All-Star Game will be snapped this season.Sean Burke will represent the team as the conference&rsquo;s starting goalie and if another New Jersey player is added, 27-goal scorer John MacLean would figure to be the logical choice.&ldquo;Obviously, I&rsquo;d like to continue my streak, but personally, the fact that it&rsquo;s ending doesn&rsquo;t bother me,&rdquo; said Muller, who had 15 goals and 20 assists in 45 games. &ldquo;It would be great for those two guys to make it with the season they&rsquo;re having. Honestly, I haven&rsquo;t played up to my potential.&rdquo;Actually, Muller had come on strongly in recent games. As the Devils went 4-2-0, it was Muller&rsquo;s inspired play and the return of a healthy Burke that led the way.Pat Verbeek, however, had not enjoyed a revival. Verbeek&rsquo;s disastrous season reached rock bottom Jan. 11, when coach Jim Schoenfeld told him not to accompany the team on its trip to Montreal.Coming off a 1987-88 season in which he rewrote the franchise record book by scoring 46 goals, Verbeek had scored just 11 goals and 11 assists in 42 games. He went 12 straight games without a goal and had just two in his last 22.&ldquo;We waited for Patty in the first half but we can&rsquo;t wait any more,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s show-me time. We have to win hockey games. I talked to Patty two weeks ago and said it may come to this. We had another talk the other day. I&rsquo;m hoping this will help get him back to his level of play. He&rsquo;s obviously not playing like we expect Pat Verbeek to play. We&rsquo;ve tried other things and it hasn&rsquo;t worked, so maybe he needs a break. Maybe he&rsquo;s pressing. Who knows? You try everything before you get to this point.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think Schoeny wanted me to bottom out,&rdquo; said Verbeek. &ldquo;He wanted me to get ticked off, get really mad and think, &lsquo;What more can happen? Everything is up from here.&rsquo;&ldquo;It was extremely tough. It was something I didn&rsquo;t expect would ever happen. I was upset and mad at everything in the world. I&rsquo;m still upset and I think I&rsquo;ll play that way the rest of the year&hellip;with a little intelligence.&rdquo;Even more than Muller, Verbeek has shouldered the blame for the Devils&rsquo; problems this season. While some critics have pointed to a new contract (worth well over $200,000 a season), a new house and the birth of his first child in September as distractions, there are other logical reasons for his troubles.Early-season injuries may have hurt Verbeek&rsquo;s conditioning. And the line of Verbeek, Muller and Aaron Broten never had a chance to play together during the pre-season schedule and regain the timing which made it the team&rsquo;s No. 1 unit for so long.&ldquo;I look at the figures and it eats away at the back of my mind,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;I try to block it out, but subconsciously, it&rsquo;s there. I don&rsquo;t think about it at the rink, but I think about it when I go to sleep at night, when I&rsquo;m in the car and at home when I&rsquo;m watching another game.&rdquo;<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Chris Terreri, G, assigned to Utica. (AHL).Jan. 15: Jim Korn, LW, finished serving three-game suspension. Eligible to return Jan 17.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Claude Loiselle, Aaron Broten, Anders Carlsson.LW&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom, Jim Korn, Pat Conacher, Perry Anderson, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Rooney.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Pat Verbeek, Doug Brown, David Maley.LD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Randy Velischek, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Joe Cirella, Craig Wolanin, Jack O&rsquo;Callahan.G&mdash;Sean Burke, Bob Sauve.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bruce Driver, D, broken right leg, indefinite.Mark Johnson, C, groin pull, indefinite.Tom Kurvers, D, right hip pointer, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0021-01

VERBEEK’S ROCKY SEASON HITS ROCK BOTTOM

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>The Pittsburgh Penguins punctuated a highly successful streak in a most peculiar manner&mdash;by suffering their most agonizing loss of the season.But squandering two three-goal leads en route to a 6-4 loss to the New York Rangers in Madison Square garden Jan. 15 did not detract from the significance of their accomplishment.The Penguins led the Rangers 3-0 in the first period and 4-1 early in the second.Pittsburgh compiled a 15-7-4 record between Nov. 15 and Jan. 15, a period in which they had not been able to survive, let alone thrive, in recent seasons.&ldquo;If you can take a few months at a time like that and come up eight games over .500, you&rsquo;ve got to be somewhat satisfied,&rdquo; said defenseman Jim Johnson.&ldquo;If you look at the past records from these months, we&rsquo;ve got to be happy with that&mdash;and continue to strive for those kind of numbers.&rdquo;Over the past five years, it was exactly that portion of the season that spelled the demise of the Penguins&rsquo; playoff hopes. It started in 1983-84 when the Penguins compiled a record of 4-19-3. Since then the Penguins have marked the two months with records of 11-12-3 in 1984-85, 14-12-2 in 1985-86, 7-13-6 in 1986-87 and 9-12-6 in 1987-88.Their record during that stretch last season included an 0-6-4 stumble between Dec. 27 and Jan. 15.Given that the Penguins would have made the playoffs had they picked up just two more points in that period&mdash;or at any other point in the season&mdash;the ramifications of their mid-season struggles are obvious.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01882/6320908-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="558" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gene Ubriaco credited Tom Barrasso with sparking the Pens.</figcaption></div>First-year coach Gene Ubriaco first noticed the Penguins&rsquo; distressing tendency to stagger through a midseason slump while coaching their Baltimore farm team in the American League.&ldquo;I just made a mental note of it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even look at the stats or anything.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it was, but it was that time (of the season). It seemed like there would be a collapse and then they&rsquo;d gather things again, maybe in February, and come on.&rdquo;Ubriaco decided the situation had to be addressed if he ever got the Pittsburgh job, and stressed to his players the importance of avoiding their traditional early-winter slump.More important than any lecture, however, was the acquisition of goaltender Tom Barrasso Nov. 12. Barrasso was 13-6-4 in his first two months in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;He was like adrenalin,&rdquo; Ubriaco said. &ldquo;He was a spark, I think, who pushed us over the hump.&rdquo;But there are other hurdles, such as the Penguins&rsquo; proclivity for sluggish starts, to clear before they can hope to contend for anything more than a playoff berth.Ubraico&rsquo;s objectives for the final two-plus months of the season: &ldquo;Starting fast and playing three solid periods.&rdquo;But progress rarely comes without pain, as evidenced by the Penguins&rsquo; disturbing loss to the Rangers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to experience things as we mature as a team,&rdquo; said Ubriaco. &ldquo;And some of the things, unfortunately, we have to live through together and see how we can weather it.&ldquo;The nice part about the team is that it&rsquo;s hit high-water marks. At certain times, we&rsquo;ve looked for real. (But) this team hasn&rsquo;t stayed for real. Over the years, it never has. We have to work on that.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 9: Steve Guenette, G, traded to Calgary for a sixth-round draft choice in 1989. Dave McLIwain, C. Kevin Stevens, LW, Mark Recchi, RW, recalled from Muskegon (IHL). Wendell Young, G. assigned to Muskegon.Jan. 14: Stevens assigned to Muskegon.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn, John Cullen, Dave Hannan, Dave McLIwain.LW&mdash;Bob Errey, Randy Cunneyworth, Troy Loney, Scott Bjugstad.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Jay Caufield, Mark Recchi, Dave McLIwain, Dan Frawley. Richard Zemlak.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Phil Bourque, Jim Johnson, Steve Dykstra.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Gord Dineen, Rod Buskas, Chris Dahlquist.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Zarley Zalapski, D. knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

f0022-01

PENGUINS MANAGE TO AVOID ANNUAL SLIDE

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>A positive view of Washington defenseman Scott Stevens would be his record of two goals, seven assists and plus-10 in his last 10 games.A negative look would focus on the two goals, 24 assists and minus-22 rating Stevens accumulated in the previous 37 matches.Stevens, naturally, prefers the positive approach as he aims for a big second half to offset his autumn fall.So does coach Bryan Murray, who said, &ldquo;Scott is really playing well now. He&rsquo;s come a long way since the start of the season. He&rsquo;s playing strong, he&rsquo;s making a lot of quality plays and a lot of things are happening when he&rsquo;s on the ice.&rdquo;One would expect that description to fit a first-team all-star, a status Stevens achieved at the end of last season, when he assumed Rod Langway&rsquo;s mantle as No. 1. man on defense. Stevens, snubbed for Canada Cup play by Team Canada, showed up the selectors with a sparkling campaign that saw him score 12 goals, a club-record 60 assists for a defenseman and a plus-14 rating.Stevens never had experienced a minus season during six previous years in the NHL, but he put himself squarely on course for one by starting his unlucky seventh with minus-18 in the first 18 games.&ldquo;We started pretty slow and there were a lot of bad bounces.&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny how fast the minuses add up. It always seemed to be a goal against, never a goal tor. And no matter how much you try not to let it get to you, it does have an effect.&ldquo;Last year everything would go in the net for us when I was on the ice and our goaltenders were stopping breakaways at the other end. Luck obviously has a lot to do with it.&ldquo;I thought I had the game figured out, but you&rsquo;re always learning and I have to accept that teams are better now, we don&rsquo;t often get big leads, every goal is a huge goal and it all gets magnified.&rdquo;As the pluses have gradually begun to cancel some of that long line of minuses, Stevens has regained his confidence and begun to make the offensive moves that made him fourth in scoring among NHL defensemen last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02606/6320939-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="559" height="751"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Stevens aims to even up his plus-minus rating.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;When things are going good, you don&rsquo;t mind taking a chance now and then,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve helped bring up our goals for. I&rsquo;m still trying to play well defensively, which is the big part of our game, but it&rsquo;s not like earlier, when I thought defense all the time to try to turn things around. When you&rsquo;re minus-22, you tend to be pretty careful.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t hide something like that. It&rsquo;s always there next to your name and after a while, it starts to screw your head a bit.&rdquo;Stevens&rsquo; personal goal over the remainder of the season is to get his plus-minus to zero. He knows it will not be easy.&ldquo;Plus-minus is a tough stat and sometimes there&rsquo;s nothing you can do when somebody else makes a mistake,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a good challenge and if I could get it back to zero, I&rsquo;d be proud of it.&rdquo;<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bengt Gustafsson, Dale Hunter, Mike Ridley, Bob Gould.LW&mdash;Dave Christian, Geoff Courtnalt, Kelly Miller, Lou Franceschetti, Yvon Corriveau.RW&mdash;Mike Millar, Steve Leach, Mike Gartner, John Druce, Peter Sundstrom.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Grant Ledyard.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Kevin Hatcher, Neil Sheehy.G&mdash;Clint Malarchuk, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0022-02

NEGATIVES TURNING POSITIVE FOR STEVENS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01783/6320977-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="495" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DRYDEN</figcaption></div>John Kordic represents hockey&rsquo;s heart of darkness&mdash;and our obsession with it.When the big palooka returned to the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; lineup on Jan. 14, after a 10-game suspension for assaulting Keith Acton, there was enormous fanfare.Rarely has the return of such a marginal player commanded so much attention.It was not deserved. Kordic and his kind drag the game down. They have no place in the NHL. That he is in the league is a shameful indictment of the game.Fighting is an outrageously out-of-date tribal custom in the NHL. That it is permitted to continue remains the league&rsquo;s No. 1 public image problem.How can you take seriously a league that apparently doesn&rsquo;t take itself seriously?Kordic came back, meeting his ex-teammates on the Montreal Canadiens for the first time, with a career total of seven goals and 408 penalty minutes in 128 games. He finished the game with seven goals and 410 penalty minutes in 129 games.When he left the Canadiens he made veiled threats about getting those people he didn&rsquo;t like. Depending upon whom you believe, that meant Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer, Mats Naslund or Bobby Smith. Or all four.Naslund, the closest in size to Acton, was the only player to experience Kordic&rsquo;s wrath. Kordic slashed him in the second period and earned a minor penalty.Shockingly, Kordic was placed on the Leafs&rsquo; first line with Gary Leeman and Ed Olczyk, two of the very few skilled players Toronto has. Coach George Armstrong&rsquo;s lame reasoning was that Kordic&rsquo;s presence would give Leeman and Olczyk more room.Against the Montreal Canadiens? Get serious.It was a delicious irony that Russ Courtnall should lead the Canadiens with two goals, including the eventual winner. It was Courtnall who was traded by Toronto general manager Gord Stellick for Kordic.The trade&mdash;fists for finesse&mdash;has proven embarrassingly lopsided. And on this night, Courtnall scored a decisive victory over Kordic.Although Kordic didn&rsquo;t quite see it that way.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a goal-scorer and I&rsquo;m not,&rdquo; he told reporters after the game. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll get more goals than me, but I&rsquo;ll beat up on more people.&rdquo;Not since earlier this season when Steve Dykstra threatened to track down and kill Dave Shaw&mdash;even if he had to go into the stands to perform the execution&mdash;has a player produced such words of wisdom.The NHL has yet to grasp the most important reasons for eliminating fighting and fighters from the game. First, hockey has outgrown fighting. And second, it keeps the sport from growing.At a time when the two best offensive players of all time are playing in the NHL, fighting and thuggery is a convenient lightning rod for those critical of the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02497/6320970-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="668" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Kordic, above, says he&rsquo;ll beat up more people than Russ Courtnall.</figcaption></div>It doesn&rsquo;t matter that the game is cleaner now than it ever has been. Suspensions this year might suggest otherwise, but I suspect stick fouls are not so much up as our tolerance of them down.I am fed up with writing about fighting in hockey. I am fed up with reading about it. Did The Hockey News really have to run Stan Fischler&rsquo;s list of top 10 fighters in a recent issue?Does the New York Times run its list of the top 10 muggers in Manhattan&mdash;including thumbnail sketches on what makes them the best of the worst?Okay, so The Hockey News isn&rsquo;t the New York Times. But it does have a responsibility not to glorify the NHL&rsquo;s goons and goofs.After Viacheslav Fetisov&rsquo;s final game in the Super Series tour, he was asked what he doesn&rsquo;t like about the NHL&mdash;a league he is desperate to join.&ldquo;I think it is not very pleasant to see grown men fighting on a rink,&rdquo; he said.It is very unpleasant. &#9632;

f0023-01

FIGHTING IN THE NHL IS A DISGRACE

<h2>KINGS</h2>When Steve Ducnesne suits up in Northlands Coliseum for the Feb. 7 All-Star Game, he will become only the fifth defenseman in Kings&rsquo; history to make it at that position. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a dream come true,&rdquo; Duchesne said after learning he finished second to Edmonton&rsquo;s Kevin Lowe in Campbell Conference fan balloting and would start the game. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really pretty unbelievable, don&rsquo;t you think? It&rsquo;s really exciting.&rdquo; No Kings&rsquo; defenseman has made the team since 1975, when Terry Harper, and Bob Murdoch represented Los Angeles. Gilles Marotte played in the 1973 game and Bill White was named in both 1969 and 1970. Duchesne, signed as an undrafted free agent in 1984, is the first home-grown Kings defenseman to make it.<h2>JETS</h2>After 34 games, veteran left winger Dave Hunter was placed on waivers Jan. 12 and reclaimed Jan. 14 by the Edmonton Oilers, the team with which he started his NHL career. &ldquo;I think I contributed in the dressing room and in practice,&rdquo; said Hunter. &ldquo;I think I could have contributed more in goals or on the ice but I just don&rsquo;t think, a lot of times, I got the ice time.&rdquo; Hunter left Edmonton in the Nov. 24, 1987 Paul Coffey trade and was claimed by the Jets in the Oct. 3 waiver draft&hellip;Winnipeg suddenly discovered a mean streak Jan. 11 in Calgary and Jan. 13 in Vancouver. Against the Flames, Winnipeg earned 119 penalty minutes in an 8-3 loss and followed that with 54 minutes in a fight-filled game with the Canucks, a 3-1 victory. On Jan. 15, Winnipeg returned home to face Minnesota, took just five minors and lost 4-1 in a game devoid of intensity and emotion.<h2>OILERS</h2>The Oilers quote of the week was delivered by center Keith Acton to Los Angeles tough guy Marty McSorley, a former teammate, prior to their Jan. 10 meeting: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t confuse bravery with stupidity.&rdquo; As it turned out, Acton clipped L. A. rookie Sylvain Couturier with his stick 3&frac12; minutes into the game and was ejected&hellip;Right winger Jari Kurri&rsquo;s two goals in Los Angeles during the Oilers&rsquo; 5-4 overime loss to the Kings upped the Finnish right winger&rsquo;s career output to 424, pulling him into a 23rd-place tie on the NHL career list with former Montreal Canadien and King Steve Shutt. Kurri was stuck at that point temporarily, however. He didn&rsquo;t score Jan. 13 in a 5-3 loss to Washington. And, of course, no Oiler scored in the 1-0 loss to New Jersey Jan. 15.<h2>FLAMES</h2>Right winger Mark Hunter, the other principal player in the Sept. 6 Doug Gilmour trade, has had a tough time adapting to a more limited role in Calgary. Hunter played some power-play shifts early in the season when center Joel Otto was struggling offensively, but Otto was red-hot of late. Since Hunter doesn&rsquo;t kill penalties and coach Terry Crisp runs four lines on a consistent basis, the former St. Louis Blues&rsquo; stalwart has seen his ice time reduced significantly. &ldquo;Obviously, I&rsquo;d like to have more goals but you have to keep it in perspective,&rdquo; said Hunter 7-5-12 after 35 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to score as many goals as I did in St. Louis (44, 36 and 32 in the last three years), but I&rsquo;d like to get 25. Left winger Colin Patterson bruised his foot stopping a shot in a Jan. 11 game against Winnipeg Jets, and was forced to miss the Hames&rsquo; 1-1 tie with Minnesota North Stars three nights later.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04247/6321039-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="552" height="612"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Hunters Calgary adjustment was proving a difficult one.</figcaption></div><h2>CANUCKS</h2>Canuck fans were in an uproar after referee Bob Myers waved off center Dan Hodgson&rsquo;s tying goal near the end of a 3-1 loss to Winnipeg Jan. 13. Myers ruled the net came off its magnetic moorings. The players didn&rsquo;t protest, but since the net was off slightly, it wasn&rsquo;t readily apparent to the crowd of 13,969, which voiced its protest. &ldquo;Announcing why a goal has been called off is not part of our procedure, but maybe it should be,&rdquo; said supervisor of officials Jim Christison. &ldquo;The fans have a right to know the ruling.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0023-04

DUCHESNE ENDS DEFENSIVE NO-SHOWS

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>Paul Reinhart best sums up Garth Butcher&rsquo;s contribution to the Vancouver Canucks.&ldquo;In all the years I&rsquo;ve played in this league,&rdquo; said Reinhart, &ldquo;I can honestly say there has never been a guy complement my way of playing better than Garth Butcher.&rdquo;Butcher does all the things Reinhart doesn&rsquo;t&mdash;including stay at home and play a tough, physical game.Coach Bob McCammon said Butcher is playing his best hockey with Vancouver.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s much improved on 1-on-l situations,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been very consistent all season. And defense has been the strength of our team. I can&rsquo;t think of one instance all year in which the defense has cost us the game.&rdquo;For all the talk of improvement in Vancouver&mdash;the Canucks were three points better this season than they were at the 46-game mark last season&mdash;the team had only improved significantly in one area.Vancouver&rsquo;s goals-against total at that point last season was 172, while this season it was 143, a difference of 29 goals. That is where Butcher believes his greatest contribution has come.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to win more, that&rsquo;s about the only thing that would make me happier about the way I&rsquo;m playing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But given the situation here, I think we&rsquo;ve made a start in the right direction. We have got an identity back. We are now a team that plays well defensively, which is where you have to start with our team.&rdquo;The problem lies in goals for. Last season Vancouver had scored 160 goals. This season the Canucks&rsquo; total was 148, a drop of 12 goals.The Canucks scored 12 goals in their last four games. Not a bad per-game average, but seven of those goals came in a 7-5 win over Pittsburgh Jan. 7.&ldquo;We react funnily to not scoring,&rdquo; said Butcher, nicknamed &lsquo;Butch&rsquo; by his teammates. &ldquo;It happened in November in a stretch when we decided we had to get out and score more and the results were we gave up a ton of goals. We can&rsquo;t desert our style. We have to perfect it and go from there. Then we can say, &lsquo;We need a big scorer, a big center or a rushing defenseman.&rsquo;&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01857/6321070-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="553" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garth Butcher has improved in 1-on-1 situations.</figcaption></div>A slow starter&mdash;he had two assists after 11 games this season&mdash;Butcher was asked by McCammon to pick up the tempo and he&rsquo;s responded with some outstanding hockey.&ldquo;He told me for the team to play better, I had to start playing better,&rdquo; said Butcher, 0-11-11 after 45 games. &ldquo;I feel personally it&rsquo;s been a good year for me.&rdquo;The 25-year-old Butcher&mdash;a first-round draft pick, 10th overall in 1981&mdash;has progressed steadily since he played in the Western League with Regina and Kamloops. He doesn&rsquo;t have 86- and 92-point seasons like he did his last two years with Regina, but Butcher&rsquo;s contribution has been immense.<h2>VANCQUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan 10: Jay Mazur, C. assigned to Milwaukee (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Barry Pederson, Greg Adams, Dan Hodgson.LW&mdash;Rich Sutter, Petri Skriko, Ken Berry, Tony Tanti.RW&mdash;Jim Sandlak, Ron Stern, Stan Smyl, Trevor Linden, David Bruce.LD&mdash;Larry Melnyk, Harold Snepsts, Paul Reinhart, Jim Benning.RD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Garth Butcher, Kevan Guy, Robert Nordmark.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Steve Bozek, C, strained knee, day-today.Brian Bradley, C, bruised knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0024-01

BUTCHER HELPS CUT GOALS AGAINST

If you can&rsquo;t play a sport, be one, the old saying goes.But whoever coined that aphorism had never heard of Wayne Gretzky Hockey, a computer hockey simulation game that involves almost as much skill and strategy as the game itself.Each of the 12 players on the game screen has his unique blend of skill and intelligence programmed right in. The game operator can assume any of the positions&mdash;center, wing, defense, goal&mdash;at any given time. All he has to do is point and click. And then&hellip;&ldquo;You will take over that player&rsquo;s intelligence,&rdquo; says Chris Weaver, president of Bethesda Softworks, the Maryland-based company which created the game. &ldquo;And the computer will play the intelligence of your other teammates&hellip;The unique intelligence of the players makes them do things you never thought you&rsquo;d programmed.&ldquo;So it&rsquo;s fascinating to be controlling, let&rsquo;s say, the center&mdash;and if you&rsquo;re not going up and down the slot area like a good center, you&rsquo;re going to find that your team&rsquo;s just not playing as well.&rdquo;The idea for the game came out of a past Bethesda success, the football simulation game Gridiron!&ldquo;Rather than limit computer games to statistics alone&mdash;where everything was going to be predetermined, where any particular movement would yield the same effect&mdash;we created the concept of a physical model,&rdquo; Weaver says. &ldquo;The idea was, if we did our job correctly, the statistics would look correct because we had modelled the environment correctly.&ldquo;But no two games were ever going to be alike, any more than no two games would ever be alike in the real world.&rdquo;The task of creating Wayne Gretzky Hockey was painstaking.&ldquo;There is no more difficult game to model than hockey because it is, without a doubt, the fastest game,&rdquo; Weaver says. &ldquo;At any given time, you have 12 people, 10 of whom are constantly in motion, with an item, the puck, which is constantly in motion. And you get very few respites to allow the computer the opportunity of taking the time to sit back and do a whole bunch of calculations.&ldquo;The most difficult thing to do when you&rsquo;re modelling hockey is to figure out all of these little tricks, to get the computer to be dynamically recalculating everything. It makes it a very arduous task.&rdquo;A task which included a lot of field&hellip;er, arena&hellip;work.&ldquo;We spent a lot of time with professional coaches and players,&rdquo; Weaver says, &ldquo;trying to figure out from their perspectives what makes a given position unique. We talked to defnsemen about their positions, forwards about their positions, coaches about the entirety of the game&hellip;and then what we did after all of these discussions is try to crystallize in mathematic terms what this really means. So what we ended up deriving was an approximation of the unique personality, the unique signature that each player brings to his position.&ldquo;And we went to, my God, countless hockey games. And unlike the average fan, who would be watching the game and yelling and screaming for his team, we found that, while we enjoyed the games, we didn&rsquo;t enjoy it the same way&mdash;because each of us would be watching individual players.&rdquo;Operators can also use Wayne Gretzky Hockey as a coaching tool. They can create and &ldquo;save&rdquo; teams, and rate players in 11 different categories&mdash;ranging from stamina to passing performance to skating ability.The comprehensive rating system, combined with the players&rsquo; artificial intelligence, allows the user to pit different types of players together. How do you check a Mario Lemieux? Well, build one and then try to create the ideal checker.There are four levels of play&mdash;high-school, college, junior level and professional. The game is currently compatible only to the Commodore Amiga system, Weaver says, but it soon will be adapted for use on IBM, Macintosh, Atari ST and possibly Commodore 64 systems. A Nintendo version is also in the works. &#9632;

COMPUTER GAME SIMULATES EXPERIENCE OF HOCKEY

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01834/6321125-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="668" height="1162"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE NIEUWENDYK</figcaption></div>A year ago, Calgary Flame center Joe Nieuwendyk was on pace to break New York Islander right winger Mike Bossy&rsquo;s rookie goal-scoring record of 53 in a single season.Then the combination of pressure, fatigue and extra attention from the opposition held Nieuwendyk to a single goal in his last 10 games and two considerable consolation prizes: The Calder Trophy and the knowledge he&rsquo;d become only the second rookie in NHL history to score more than 50 goals.So when October, 1988, rolled around and Nieuwendyk kept doing what he does best&mdash;score goals&mdash;no one could quite figure it out. Where was that sophomore slump?Gone already.Nieuwendyk is on pace for another 50-goal season&mdash;he had 31 goals in 45 games, tops on the team.Nieuwendyk established a Flames&rsquo; team record by scoring five goals&mdash;two even-strength, two power-play and one shorthanded&mdash;in an 8-3 win over Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 11. Joe Who became Joe How Many?Four of his goals came in the second period, making Nieuwendyk the ninth player in league hisory to score tour times in one period. Toronto Maple Leaf Harvey (Busher) Jackson was the first to do it, in 1934, and Chicago Blackhawk Al Secord the most recent, in 1987.The rampage against the Jets also left Nieuwendyk within one goal of tying the modern-day record for goals in a single game (six), shared by Toronto&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler (1976) and St. Louis Blues&rsquo; Red Berenson (1968).Flame right winger Lanny McDonald, Sittler&rsquo;s former linemate, sat out the Jets&rsquo; game but sent a message to Nieuwendyk between the second and third periods. It said Nieuwendyk needed only one more goal to enter the history books.&ldquo;I had a chance my very first shift,&rdquo; said Nieuwendyk, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll take five and run with it.&rdquo;The Flames-Jets game was marred by 252 penalty minutes and a dozen misconduct penalties, allowing Nieuwendyk plenty of ice time in the first two periods. In the third, as the penalty boxes emptied, Nieuwendyk didn&rsquo;t play as much.However, he said he was not disappointed to be on the bench for the last two minutes of play.&ldquo;No, not really. I was more than happy with five (goals). We had a lot of penalties and a lot of us were playing most of the night.&ldquo;I was going for it as much as I could but we wanted to concentrate on keeping our goals-against down in the third as well.&rdquo;Assistant coach Doug Risebrough described him as a player who wants to make an impact.&ldquo;He wants to be a complete hockey player,&rdquo; said Risebrough. &ldquo;His biggest weakness last year was defense. Now, he&rsquo;s a solid defensive player. It&rsquo;s becoming instinctive. If anyone really watched him this year, they&rsquo;d know he&rsquo;s getting better in other areas at a rapid rate.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 10: Paul Ranheim, LW. assigned to Salt Lake City (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Jiri Hrdina, Theoren Fleury.LW&mdash;Colin Patterson, Perry Berezan, Jim Peplinski, Jiri Hrdina.RW&mdash;Hakan Loob, Joey Mullen, Mark Hunter, Tim Hunter, Lanny McDonald.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Dana Murzyn.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Al Madnnis, Rob Ramage.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Joel Otto, C, sprained wrist, day-today.Gary Roberts, LW, bad back, indefinite. &#9632;

f0026-01

JINX THEORY QUASHED BY NIEUWENDYK

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>The Edmonton Oilers are discovering how the other half lives and it isn&rsquo;t pretty.Relegated to the unfamiliar turf of third place (23-18-4) in the Smythe Division, the defending Stanley Cup champions were seven points behind the Los Angeles Kings and losers of three straight heading into a Jan. 16 game at Chicago. They were 4-6-0 in their last 10 games before playing the Blackhawks.The Oilers did not ice a full complement of players throughout most of their first 45 games.The latest casualty was left winger Esa Tikkanen, by far the Oilers&rsquo; most improved player this season. He will be out at least six weeks with a fractured left wrist.Tikkanen flew back to Edmonton Jan. 14 midway through a five-game road trip. He joined defenseman Steve Smith, who was at home hoping surgery won&rsquo;t be required to repair a damaged left shoulder.Also missing games due to injuries were left wingers Miroslav Frycer and Craig Simpson. Frycer bruised his tailbone in Los Angeles Jan. 10, while the ankle Simpson fractured Dec. 4 was still bothering the 21-year-old.The rash of injuries prompted Oiler coach-general manager Glen Sather to summon left wingers Martin Gelinas from Hull of the Quebec League and Kim Issel from Cape Breton of the American League. When the Winnipeg Jets placed Dave Hunter on waivers Jan. 12, Sather scooped him up also. The veteran left winger played 9&frac12;; seasons with the Oilers.The pesky Tikkanen will be sorely missed. The 23-year-old was outfitted with a cast after secondary x-rays revealed he had broken the scaphoid bone&mdash;considered one of the slowest-healing bones in the human body&mdash;in his wrist. The scaphoid is the same bone defenseman Kevin Lowe broke March 9 last year. Lowe hurried back for the playoffs, but his position doesn&rsquo;t require him to shoot the puck in the manner of a winger.&ldquo;The problem with mine was a slow rate of healing.&rdquo; said Lowe. &ldquo;I had my cast on until August.&rdquo; Lowe added the wrist has even bothered him this season.Tikkanen&rsquo;s absence from the Oiler lineup removes a significant dimension. He&rsquo;s a pest who creeps under the skin of opponents and simply won&rsquo;t go away.Tikkanen isn&rsquo;t certain if the wrist fractured when he was slashed by the Kings&rsquo; Bernie Nicholls or when he tumbled to the ice, falling on it.Tikkanen had scored eight shorthanded goals and posed a threat to former Oiler Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s single-season record (12) for shorthanded goals. On the season, he was 24-3054 in 43 games.Hunter&rsquo;s days with the Oilers date to their final season in the World Hockey Association (1978-79). He was traded to Pittsburgh by Edmonton in the Paul Coffey trade Nov. 24, 1987, and claimed by Winnipeg from Pittsburgh in the waiver draft this season. He was 3-1-4 in 34 games with the Jets this season.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 14: Dave Hunter, LW, claimed on waivers from Winnipeg; Martin Gelinas, LW, recalled from Hull (QMJHL); Kim Issei, LW, recalled from Cape Breton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Jimmy Carson. Keith Acton, Craig MacTavish.LW&mdash;Kelly Buchberger, Miroslav Frycer, Greg Adams, Martin Gelinas, Dave Hunter. Kim Issei.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Normand Lacombe. Kevin McClelland.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Chris Joseph, Craig Redmond. Charlie Huddy.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Randy Gregg.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Craig Simpson, LW, aggravated hairline fracture of right ankle, day-to-day.Steve Smith, D. bruised shoulder, day-to-day.Esa Tikkanen, LW, fractured left wrist, indefinite. &#9632;

TIKKANEN INJURY LATEST SETBACK

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>Brent Hughes is a lot like a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear on a hot summer&rsquo;s night at the lake.You&rsquo;re well aware he&rsquo;s around, you&rsquo;re never sure exactly what he&rsquo;ll do next to bother you and for the life of you, he won&rsquo;t go away. And for the Winnipeg Jets, the Christmastime addition of such a bother to the roster has been a most welcome one.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying he&rsquo;s here to stay but what he does I like,&rdquo; said Jets&rsquo; coach Dan Maloney.And what he does is agitate.Hughes played his 10th game in the NHL Jan. 15, all after his recall Dec. 24 from Moncton of the American League. In that time, he&rsquo;d accumulated 35 penalty minutes and been in three major slugfests, with Jim Sandlak and Ronnie Stem of Vancouver and Gary Roberts of Calgary.His physical presence and ability to inspire his team should keep the 22-year-old former free agent around for a little longer than anyone could have anticipated.&ldquo;Things have gone really well for my physical play and my hard-nosed style,&rdquo; said the 6-foot, 190-pound left winger. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my style of play and I have to do that to stay up here. I&rsquo;m happy with doing that.&ldquo;The players up here are a little bigger, a little stronger&mdash;but it&rsquo;s the same thing as the American Hockey League for physical toughness.&rdquo;Hughes is a fearless player who survives on guts and determination. Last year, after going 13-19-32 in 73 games as an AHL rookie, he was a longshot to make an NHL roster. As a junior in New Westminster and Victoria, he drew little interest from pro scouts although, in 1986-87, he did collect 108 points in 69 games as an overager.But today, thanks largely to skating skills which have improved dramatically, he is a different player.While Hughes&rsquo; physical tools quickly became apparent in Winnipeg, he was still looking for his first goal and his first point.&ldquo;Down in Moncton, it seemed like everything that hit my stick was going in,&rdquo; said Hughes, 25-24-49 with 197 penalty minutes in 35 AHL games this season. &ldquo;I was playing with Alfie Turcotte and Stu Kulak. We were the top line down there, getting lots of ice time, power play and everything.&ldquo;But up here I&rsquo;m not getting as much ice time, the players are a lot smarter up here, the defensemen are a lot stronger and it shows. I&rsquo;m having trouble getting the puck in the net.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01786/6321180-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="707" height="659"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brent Hughes had yet to score a point, but made an impact in 10 NHL games.</figcaption></div>Maloney has instructed Hughes to shoot more, pass less.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s looking to make plays where I&rsquo;m sure down in Moncton he was hammering the puck. He&rsquo;s getting his chances around the net where he scored down there. They just don&rsquo;t seem to be going in for him,&rdquo; Maloney said.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 12: Dave Hunter, LW, placed on waivers.Jan. 14: Hunter claimed by Edmonton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Laurie Boschman, Randy Gilhen.LW&mdash;Brent Ashton, Doug Smail, Brent Hughes, Paul Fenton.RW&mdash;Andrew McBain, Pat Elynuik, Gord Donnelly, Stu Kulak, Hannu Jarvenpaa.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Randy Carlyle, Jim Kyte.RD&mdash;Fredrik Olausson, Peter Taglianetti, Teppo Numminen.G&mdash;Alain Chevrier, Pokey Reddick, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>lain Duncan, LW, fractured elbow, Feb. 7. &#9632;

f0027-01

PESKY HUGHES SCRAPS TO HOLD JOB

<div class="byline">RICK SADOWSKI</div>The next several weeks will be a true test for the Los Angeles Kings, who have entered the most difficult portion of their schedule.Call it the dog days of January and February.Catching first-place Calgary and holding off third-place Edmonton to assure home-ice advantage in the Smythe Division playoffs are top priorities.&ldquo;These can be pretty tough times, but you have to battle through it,&rdquo; Bernie Nicholls said. &ldquo;Sometimes you feel like you need a break. You get a bit sore and tired, and you might just want to get away from it. So you&rsquo;ve just got to find ways to pull yourself through it.&rdquo;As the Kings did in a 7-4 win over St. Louis Jan. 12 following a listless first period in which they were outshot 14-6, and outscored 1-0. That came 48 hours after an emotional 5-4 overtime win over Edmonton.As they did again in a 9-6 win over Hartford Jan. 14. The Kings took a 3-0 lead in the opening 6&frac12; minutes, got more than a little sloppy in falling behind 6-4, after two periods, then turned on the offense with five consecutive goals in the third.Even on an off-night, when their intensity level is down a notch and they seem a bit disinterested, the Kings have found a knack this season for shifting into overdrive without a moment&rsquo;;s notice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been on the other end of it. I know what it&rsquo;s like to play against a team like us,&rdquo; Ron Duguay said. &ldquo;You work so damn hard to shut a team down and you know you don&rsquo;t have the goal-scorers to keep pace. It&rsquo;s so frustrating.&rdquo;&ldquo;With all our goal-scorers,&rdquo; Luc Robitaille said, &ldquo;we can change a game pretty quick.&rdquo;Experiencing the agony of defeat, with a couple of ties tossed in for good measure, apparently was necessary to shake the Kings out of their post-holiday blahs.At the very least, it forced them to be more attentive to eliminating bad habits that had crept into their game, sloppy practices that hadn&rsquo;t seemed so serious because the club was winning with such regularity.&ldquo;Sometimes,&rdquo; captain Dave Taylor said, &ldquo;you have to lose a few in a row to realize that things are starting to get away from you.&rdquo;Failing to initiate matters with some early hits, refusing to finish checks and a resistance to picking up people in the neutral zone were just a few of the charges the Kings could have pleaded guilty to in the days leading up to their 0-3-2 slide. Included was an 8-6 loss to Calgary Jan. 5 and consecutive 4-4 ties with Winnipeg Jan. 6 and 8.A rejuvenated power play and the return of solid penalty-killing were factors in the Kings&rsquo; 3-0-2 streak, but Nicholls said it would be foolish to suggest the team &ldquo;is all the way back to where it was before.&rdquo;Some examples: The Kings only threw one Czech, pass-fancy winger Igor Liba, at the Blues, and after fashioning a 7-3 lead early in the final period, &ldquo;We opened up some and gave them more chances than they should have gotten,&rdquo; Taylor said.Still, the Kings had won three in a row and padded their lead over the third-place Oilers to seven points. They were eight points behind the first-place Flames.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been working on our deficiencies all year long, but when you&rsquo;re winning it&rsquo;s hard to change. The listening isn&rsquo;t quite as sharp,&rdquo; assistant coach Bryan Maxwell said. &ldquo;That changed after we hit our little skid. Everyone has really been clued in lately.&rdquo;<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Steve Richmond, D, recalled from New Haven (AHL); Dave Pasin, RW, assigned to New Haven.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls, Mike Krushelnyski.LW&mdash;Luc Robitaille, John Tonelli, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Dave Taylor, Igor Liba, Ron Duguay, Sylvain Couturier.LD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Doug Crossman, Tim Watters, Wayne McBean.RD&mdash;Tom Laidlaw, Dale DeGray, Marty McSorley, Steve Richmond.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mike Allison, RW, bruised knee, day-to-day.Ken Baumgartner, D, pneumonia, indefinite.Bob Carpenter, LW, cracked wrist, indefinite.Jim Fox, RW. knee surgery, out for season. &#9632;

KINGS BATTLE THE DOG DAYS

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01820/6321235-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Halifax Citadel Darin Kimble is one rookie who has already made his presence felt. He&rsquo;s rated the toughest player in the American League. (Photo by Terry watemeid)</figcaption></div>Tough guys, like it or not, are always in demand. It&rsquo;s a fact of hockey life and a role many players are willing to fill to keep a job, especially in the minors.Do the job well, with tact and discipline, and generally there&rsquo;ll be a spot for you on a National Hockey League team.Do the job recklessly, with complete disregard for the rules and authority, and you could wind up like Binghamton Whaler defenseman Marc Laforge, who refused to report to Indianapolis of the International League Dec. 28 and was suspended by Hartford. Laforge, banned from the Ontario League last season after starting a post-game brawl, received two AHL suspensions totalling nine games this season.But Laforge is an exception to the tough-guy rule. Actually, it has been a banner season for rugged American Leaguers. Halifax right winger Jacques Mailhot, Sherbrooke left winger Steve Martinson&mdash;who set a single-season league record with 432 penalty minutes while playing for Hershey in 1985-86&mdash;Maine left winger Carl Mokosak, Cape Breton right winger Alan May, Binghamton defenseman Al Tuer and New Haven defenseman Ken Baumgartner have all played in the NHL this season.None of the AHL&rsquo;s top five scorers have played in the NHL this season. Being a tough guy obviously does pay.The Hockey News presents this year&rsquo;s top 10 AHL tough guys.1. Darin Kimble, RW, Halifax, 181 penalty minutes in 36 games.A rookie, No. 1? Yes. Kimble has quickly joined the heavyweight circle. At the midway point of the season, he led the league with 19 major penalties and was a major reason why the Citadels led the league in penalty minutes (1,456).&ldquo;I think Darin is a tough individual, but a pretty smart individual,&rdquo; says Halifax coach Doug Carpenter of the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder, who had 307 penalty minutes with Prince Albert last season in the Western League. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a player who plays that role, but approaches it from an intelligent point of view.&rdquo;2. Shawn Cronin, D, Baltimore, 163 minutes in 39 games.Cronin caught everyone&rsquo;s attention in his 1986-87 rookie season with Binghamton when he decked Rochester tough guy Andy Ristau. That&rsquo;s why the Skipjacks signed him as a free agent this summer.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very strong guy,&rdquo; says Skipjack coach Terry Murray. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly one of the stronger guys in our (Washington) organization. He has that presence.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s hard to miss the 6-foot-2,210-pound Cronin, who has tremendous upper-body strength.3. Mike Ware, RW, Cape Breton, 201 minutes in 38 games.At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Ware is an intimidating figure on the ice though he is somewhat light for his height. A defenseman, he was drafted by Edmonton in the third round, 62nd overall, in 1985. This season, Cape Breton coach Ron Low moved him to right wing, where he scored his first pro goal.&ldquo;He has a burning desire not to get beat (in a fight),&rdquo; Low says. &ldquo;If he does get beat, he&rsquo;ll want another shot before the night is over.&rdquo;In Ware&rsquo;s 1&frac12; seasons, his only loss came this year, to Kimble.4. Neal Meadmore, RW, Moncton, 174 minutes in 35 games.During the summer, the Hawks tried to overcome the two major shortcomings&mdash;experience and toughness&mdash;that led them to a next-to-last finish in the North Division in 1987-88. They signed the 6-foot-4, 180-pound Meadmore, a 10-year veteran who had 380 penalty minutes last season with Milwaukee of the IHL.&ldquo;He was highly recommended by a few of our scouts,&rdquo; says Hawk coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a better player than I thought he was. He&rsquo;s scored some really big goals for us.&rdquo;Meadmore, whose only other appearance in the AHL was with Adirondack in 1981-82, had seven goals and 12 assists.5. Serge Roberge, RW, Sherbrooke, 144 minutes in 29 games.&ldquo;There are all kinds of toughness,&rdquo; says Sherbrooke coach Jean Hamel. &ldquo;You can come out to play every game and hit every chance you can. There is another toughness where you just go to fight, and the third is to protect your teammates. He does pretty much all three.&rdquo;Last season, when then-Sherbrooke coach Pat Bums needed to beef up his lineup, he looked to a senior league in Newfoundland and found the Roberge brothers, Serge and Mario. Both earned a tough-guy reputation the previous season while playing in the Atlantic Coast League.Serge gets more ice time than his brother and makes more of an offensive contribution. Two of his five goals this season are game winners.6. Troy Crowder, RW, Utica, 52 minutes in 21 games.Crowder, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound rookie who played junior with Hamilton and North Bay of the Ontario League, missed 11 games in December with a groin pull. He doesn&rsquo;t go looking for trouble and takes the body well.New Jersey, which drafted him in the sixth round, 108th overall, in 1986, thought enough of Crowder&rsquo;s muscle to use him in game three of the Wales Conference final last spring against Boston. He received 12 penalty minutes, getting in separate fights with Bruin pugilists Jay Miller and Lyndon Byers.7. Wayne Van Dorp, LW, Rochester, 187 minutes in 26 games.The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Van Dorp&rsquo;s best pro season was 1986-87 when he collected 15 points playing with Rochester and Nova Scotia. He had seven points (3-4) midway through this season, making physical play his major contribution.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a scrapper and a fighter,&rdquo; Rochester coach John Van Boxmeer says. * &lsquo;Aside from the toughness, he gives all the other guys confidence.&rdquo;Van Dorp&rsquo;s reputation suffered earlier this season when he failed to answer the bell in Pittsburgh to defend Penguin defenseman Paul Coffey. The trade soon followed.8. Rod Dallman, LW, Springfield, 197 minutes in 36 games.This second-year pro, drafted by the Islanders in the sixth round, 118th overall, in 1985, is no heavyweight. He&rsquo;s 5-foot-11, 185 pounds.&ldquo;But I think he&rsquo;s game,&rdquo; says Indian coach Jim Roberts. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a player who stands up for his teammates and he doesn&rsquo;t back down from any of the tough guys in the league.&rdquo;Roberts compared Dallman to former St. Louis Blue Brian Sutter, now that team&rsquo;s coach.9. Lou Crawford, LW, Adirondack, 95 minutes in 41 games.Crawford, signed by the Wings during the summer as a free agent, falls in the lightheavyweight group. But his desire and dedication compensate for being 6-foot, 185 pounds.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s plenty tough,&rdquo; says Red Wing coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t pick his spots. He&rsquo;s the kind of guy you really don&rsquo;t want to play against because he&rsquo;s going to make for an uncomfortable night. He&rsquo;ll be banging on you and not with his stick. It will be all legal.&rdquo;Crawford has been used in many situations by Dineen this season, including killing penalties. He responded with 10 goals by mid-season, five shy of his career high set last season with Nova Scotia.10. Don Nachbaur, C, Hershey, 86 minutes in 20 games.This veteran has curtailed his fighting over the years&mdash;he had 301 penalty minutes in 74 games with Hershey in 1985-86&mdash;but it is still a part of his game.&ldquo;He fights when he has to,&rdquo; Hershey coach John Paddock says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll fight to give us a spark now. But he agitates and hits to get a spark, too.&ldquo;If somebody is taking advantage of somebody on your team, he&rsquo;s going to do something about it or else he&rsquo;s going to take advantage of somebody on their team.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a sign of real toughness. That&rsquo;s fighting for your team. That&rsquo;s not just fighting for Don Nachbaur.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

TOUGH GUYS

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>Moncton Hawks were starting to live up to pre-season expectations.Picked by many&mdash;including The Hockey News&mdash;to capture the North Division title, the Hawks were 13-15-3 on Dec. 14, clinging to fourth place.But since then the Hawks were unbeaten in 11 games (10-0-1) for a 23-15-4 record. A 6-2 victory over South Division-leading Adirondack Jan. 11 meant the Hawks completed a five-game road trip with four wins and a tie. The result was a move to within six points of first-place Sherbrooke, with two games in hand. The Canadiens still had to play four games at the Moncton Coliseum this season, where the Hawks had won eight straight.The key to the turnaround? Stability.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a consistent lineup since the first of December,&rdquo; said Hawk coach Rick Bowness.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been through a phase in November where we were shorthanded and had to play with 13 players on some nights,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;That typifies a minor-league team.&rdquo;The Hawks&rsquo; surge was remarkable considering two of their top scorers, left winger Brent Hughes (25-24-49) and right winger Stu Kulak (20-13-33), were up with Winnipeg, and promising rookie defenseman Guy Gosselin was sidelined since Nov. 25 with a broken ankle.&ldquo;Some of the other kids have picked up a bit of the slack,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;(Guy) Larose (17-11-28) and (Brad) Jones (14-11-25) are scoring and we&rsquo;re still getting tremendous games from the veterans up front, Ron Wilson (16-38-54), Mark Kumpel (12-15-27) and right winger Neal Meadmore (8-12-20).&rdquo;The Hawks&rsquo; streak began with a 7-4 home victory over Halifax Dec. 17. They also beat Cape Breton twice and Rochester once before beginning the five-game trip to Cape Breton, Halifax, Maine. New Haven and Adirondack.In the game against Maine, on Jan. 7, rookie goalie Tom Draper recorded his first pro shutout. He stopped 36 shots in a4-0 victory. Draper made 20 saves in a goalless first period as the Hawks were outshot 20-6.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had good goaltending during the streak,&rdquo; said Draper, who was 15-5-2 with a 3.51 goals-against average. &ldquo;The guys up front give (up) a lot of shots, but they are a lot of long shots. As long as we make one or two important saves, we have the talent up front to score on the chances we get.&rdquo;<h2>LOW BLOW</h2>Cape Breton Oiler coach Ron Low. who coached in Halifax last season when Edmonton had its farm team there, didn&rsquo;t receive a very nice welcome when the Oilers visited the Citadels Jan. 7.As Low was leaving for the dressing room after the Oilers&rsquo; 7-4 victory, a fan spit in his face. Enraged, Low climbed into the stands and chased the fan. When he caught him a few sections away. Low hit him a couple of times.No criminal charges were filed by either Low or the unidentified fan.<h2>CARDIAC KIDS</h2>Springfield Indians had two memorable comeback victories at home Jan. 6 and 7.In the first game, the Indians trailed the Hershey Bears 5-3 with less than a minute remaining. With the goalie pulled, Indians&rsquo; defenseman Bill Berg and center Rob DiMaio scored in the final 44 seconds to force overtime. Springfield left winger Glenn Johannesen scored the winner 22 seconds into overtime.The following night against Sherbrooke, the Indians trailed 3-2 when left winger Mike Walsh tied the game with 4:14 left. Center Tom Fitzgerald scored the winner a minute later. &#9632;

NEW-FOUND STABILITY PROPELLING HAWKS

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER</div>Grant Robert Laird is a little young for hockey yet, but he&rsquo;s been good luck for the Fort Wayne Komets already.Heading into a Jan. 13 game against Muskegon, the Komets hadn&rsquo;t lost in seven games since Grant&rsquo;s birth Dec. 29. He is the first son of Komet coach Robbie Laird and arrived on his dad&rsquo;s 34th birthday.At the end of November. Fort Wayne, one of three independent franchises in the 10-team International League, had an 8-12-1 record. Since then, the Komets were 13-1-3 and had vaulted past the Kalamazoo Wings into third place behind Muskegon and Saginaw in the East Division.&ldquo;A lot of people were questioning our team at the beginning of the year as to whether it could compete against the elite teams in the league.&rdquo; said Laird. &ldquo;People were asking what&rsquo;s wrong with our team. I think at that time (of the slow start) we saw a lot of strengths, especially on defense.&rdquo;Fort Wayne&rsquo;s trademark is discipline and defense. The Komets, through their first 37 games, gave up fewer goals (120) than any other club in the league. Goalie Rick Knickle led the(IHL in goals-against average at 2.78. He had a 10-7-3 record. Backup Bob Essensa was the IHL&rsquo;s player of the month for December, during which he was 7-1-0 with a 3.03 GA A. Overall, Essensa was 10-4-1 with a 3.34 GAA.<h2>GREEN BAY PUCKERS</h2>Milwaukee Admirals are trying to kindle hockey interest throughout the state of Wisconsin. Scheduling games in Green Bay is part of the strategy which is hoped will help Milwaukee&rsquo;s drive for an NHL franchise.Milwaukee mayor John Norquist said the city is after an NHL team.The Admirals lost their first game at Green Bay&rsquo;s Brown County Arena 6-5 to Kalamazoo Dec. 30. A crowd of 3,737 attended in the 4,328-seat rink. The next game in Green Bay is scheduled for Feb. 18 against Flint.Milwaukee has already been impressive at the gate in its own 17,915-seat Bradley Center this season, setting IHL crowd records in its first two home games&mdash;13.933 for the opener Oct. 7 and 15.331 the next night. The team is averaging 6.601. best in the league.<h2>BIKINIS BACK</h2>Bikini Night will return to the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City Jan. 29.The Golden Eagles attracted a then-league record 10,055 people to last year&rsquo;s promotion. And the idea has caught on. Flint held its first Bikini Night contest Jan. 6. and attracted a standing-room-only crowd of 4.062 to the 4,021-seat IMA Sports Arena.Of the 31 contestants in Flint. 22 were girls. Separate prizes&mdash;an ocean cruise out of Miami and round-trip airfare from Detroit to Miami&mdash;were given the male and female winners, respectively.Flint, in last place in the IHL East with a 13-25-1 record, was averaging 2,450 fans per game, up 180 over the same period a year ago.<h2>GUNNER GANCHAR</h2>Muskegon right winger Perry Ganchar scored the fastest three goals in IHL history Jan. 4 in a 10-3 rout of Denver. Ganchar beat Denver goalie Mike Richter three times in in 33 seconds. He eclipsed the IHL record of three goals in 52 seconds set by Roly McLenahan of Cincinnati Feb. 23, 1956. against Toledo&hellip;Flint Spirits successfully killed off 51 of 54 penalties in 12 games through Jan. 10. &#9632;

INFANT LAIRD ALREADY A BLESSING

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>Some numbers say goaltender Kay Whitmore is having an average year with the Binghamton Whalers. Those numbers are very misleading.Whitmore, 21, is one of the bright spots on a Binghamton team that was last in the South Division with a 1523-2 record. Although he had a 12-131 record and 4.73 goals-against average, consider these other numbers, which indicate where the Whalers might be without Whitmore:&#9632; He had won 80 per cent of the team&rsquo;s games.&#9632; He had faced an average of 30.8 shots a game.&#9632; The Whalers had the highest GAA at mid-season, 5.07.&#9632; While he was on recall to Hartford in December, Binghamton lost five in a row at home.Whitmore acknowledged he is making progress, even though the statistics might not reflect it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not totally unhappy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sure. I&rsquo;d like to have 25 wins right now and be in first place, but I think I&rsquo;ve worked pretty hard to have a four-and-a-half average. You&rsquo;d like to have three and a half, but there is still half a season to go.&rdquo;In the season and a half since he turned pro after being Hartford&rsquo;s second pick, 26th overall, in 1985, Whitmore has watched the goaltending situation in the Hartford organization change. Veteran Mike Liut remains the No. 1 man, but four-year backup Steve Weeks was traded to Vancouver at the March 8 trade deadline last season for Richard Brodeur. After four seasons in Binghamton, Peter Sidorkiewicz won the training camp battle with Brodeur and started the season in Hartford, playing almost as many games as Liut (19 to 21) by Jan. 9. Brodeur left Binghamton Nov. 23 after a contract buyout, leaving Whitmore as the top man in the system.He relishes the position and the inherent workload.&ldquo;It makes it a lot easier to play the game. You know you&rsquo;re going to play. When you come to the rink you&rsquo;re ready to play every night. The other point is you&rsquo;re the third guy in the organization. You know that if something happens you&rsquo;re probably going to get the call.&rdquo;In the second half of the season he hopes to regain the consistency he had last year when he compiled a 17-15-4 record and a3.40GAAin38 appearances.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01715/6321314-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="556" height="1140"><figcaption class="caption-body">Janne Ojanen helped Utica extend an unbeaten streak.</figcaption></div><h2>BY A NOSE</h2>Baltimore drew a crowd of 8,192 people, the largest in the American League this season, for a 7-3 win over Rochester Jan. 7. The Baltimore Arena seats 11,025.Between periods, disc jockey Bob Rivers of station WIYY pushed a puck the length of the ice with his nose. Rivers promised to put his nose to the ice last season if the Skipjacks won three games in a row. They failed to do so. but when they strung together three straight this season he delivered. Rivers gained notoriety last spring when he promised to stay on the air until baseball&rsquo;s Baltimore Orioles won a game. The Orioles opened the season with 21 straight losses.<h2>DEVILS DRIVING</h2>Utica Devils extended their unbeaten streak to 14 games (10-0-4) with a 1-0 victory over Sherbrooke Jan. 6 and a 3-2 come-from-behind win over New Haven Jan. 7. Center Janne Ojanen scored the gamewinner against Sherbrooke as Craig Billington earned the shutout with 23 saves. Against New Haven, the Devils outshot the Nighthawks 18-3 and scored two goals in the third period&hellip; Newmarket ended a 0-6-1 skid with a 7-3 victory over Adirondack Jan. 7. Center Ken Yaremchuk scored two-short-handed goals to lead the Saints. Strange but true: In the Jan. 7 game, with 55 seconds to play, Newmarket left winger Tim Bean skated toward an empty Adirondack goal. As Bean passed the Wing bench, defenseman Dennis Smith reached over the boards and poked the puck off his stick. A goal was awarded because of Smith&rsquo;s interference&hellip;Adirondack sold out 11 of its first 19 home games and was playing to 98 per-cent capacity with crowds averaging 4,755 in the 4,770-seat Glens Falls Civic Center. &#9632;

f0029-01

WHITMORE’S STORY, BY THE NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY ROB VANSTONE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01813/6321352-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Troy Mick celebrates a goal for Portland during a recent WHL game. He and teammate Dennis Holland, inset, spark the Winter Hawk offense. (photo by Steve Nehi)</figcaption></div>Dennis Holland and Troy Mick teamed up 10 years ago to throw a scare into their parents.These days, the two Portland Winter Hawk snipers represent a horror show for opposing goalies.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll always remember when we were eight or nine years old,&rdquo; says Mick. &ldquo;We went to a Saturday matinee and we got out early. We went to the arcade for six hours and our parents looked all over for us. They even called the cops.&rdquo;Now, it&rsquo;s their performances that are arresting.Holland led the Western League in goals with 51 and was first in league scoring with 93 points after 37 games. Mick, eighth in league scoring, was 26-51-77 in 35 games. Last year, both were named first-team West Division all-stars and are on course to receive the same honors this season.&ldquo;Troy&rsquo;s my best friend,&rdquo; says Holland, a shifty center who turns 20 Jan. 30. &ldquo;Wegrewup only three blocks from each other (in Vernon, B.C.). After school, I&rsquo;d go to his house or he&rsquo;d come to mine. During the summer we played softball together.&rdquo;They were inseparable, almost from birth.&ldquo;We started out together when we were 1&frac12; years old,&rdquo; says Mick, a 19-year old left winger. &ldquo;Our parents were involved in hockey and they knew each other. We started on outdoor ponds and a friendship developed which will last a lifetime.&rdquo;It was during those hours on the ponds they developed the chemistry on ice that would serve so well later on.From the ponds, the two went to organized hockey, where they played on the same line on Vernon teams throughout their career. With the exception of 1985-86&mdash;when Holland played for Vernon and Mick for Merritt of the British Columbia Junior League&mdash;the two have been teammates and linemates for the past 15 years.&ldquo;We thought it was over when Troy went to Merritt,&rdquo; says Holland. &ldquo;We never thought it would be like this. It was really tough that year but it helped me. I learned to play without Troy.&rdquo;Holland&rsquo;s Western League rights, which originally belonged to Brandon, were acquired by Portland general manager Brian Shaw during the 1984-85 season.&ldquo;He was a throw-in,&rdquo; says Shaw, who obtained Holland and defenseman Jim Agnew for rugged defenseman John Kordic, now a right winger for the Toronto Maple Leafs. &ldquo;We knew what kind of player he was but we weren&rsquo;t sure we would get him because he appeared destined for an American college. Fortunately, we were able to recruit him.&rdquo;While Mick was playing for Merritt in 198586, Shaw visited a game and immediately traded with Kelowna (now Spokane) for his rights. But he knew nothing about the longstanding friendship between the two players.&ldquo;We always knew he was a pretty good goal scorer,&rdquo; says Shaw of Mick. &ldquo;Just before we traded for him I went to Merritt and watched him, liked what I saw, and we made the deal the next day.&ldquo;We traded for them individually with no knowledge of their background.&rdquo;With six games remaining in the 1985-86 season, Mick was promoted. Holland was brought up for the regular-season closer against the New Westminster Bruins (now Tri-City Americans).It didn&rsquo;t take them long to find the old chemistry.&ldquo;During our first game back together, he got three goals and two assists and I got two goals and three assists,&rdquo; says M ick, a 5-foot-11,180-pounder. &ldquo;That started it and it&rsquo;s continued on. Not too many childhood friends end up being adults on the same hockey team.&rdquo;Mick scored two goals and added five assists in six regular-season games and was 4-3-7 in 15 playoff games for Portland that season. That, combined with Holland&rsquo;s 3-8-11 in 11 games, made their playing together the next season a certainty.The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Holland scored 36 goals and 77 assists in his first full year with the Winter Hawks and earned WHL rookie-of-the-year honors. Mick had 30 goals and 33 assists in 57 games.Last season, Mick had 63 goals and 84 assists for 147 points; Holland 58 goals and 86 assists for 144 points. Their continued production this season alongside right winger Terry Black (2234-56 in 38 games) keyed the Winter Hawks&rsquo; first-place standing in the West Division with a record of 26-10-2.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played them periodically on different lines,&rdquo; says Shaw. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s almost like mental telepathy with them. They automatically know where one another&rsquo;s going to be.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll seldom see them throw the puck away. They&rsquo;ll throw the puck to a zone because they know the other guy&rsquo;s going to be there.&rdquo;Mick can attest to that.&ldquo;I can have my head down in the comer and I don&rsquo;t even have to look up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know where he is.&rdquo;That telepathy was never so evident as Nov. 23 when Holland tied a Western League record by scoring seven goals in a 10-5 win over the Kamloops Blazers. Mick, naturally, assisted on all seven.&ldquo;We had been in a slump.&rdquo; says Holland, who went on to score 35 goals and add 20 assists in his next 19 games. &ldquo;Troy and I knew we always played well against Kamloops and we thought we could break out of it then. Everything I touched that Troy had given me went in.&rdquo;The two have become immensely popular in a city which has developed a fanatical taste for junior hockey. Crowds of 10.000 are common at Portland&rsquo;s Memorial Coliseum, where the exploits of Holland and Mick are legend.&ldquo;A very important thing about the two of them is that despite the fact they are both stars, they never demand or even suggest star status,&rdquo; says Shaw. &ldquo;They both go along with everything because they&rsquo;re good kids both on and off the ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02546/6321345-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="828" height="846"></div>&ldquo;They both do several off-ice appearances for us. They do a lot of work with kids with cystic fibrosis and are very involved with the success of our hockey club.&rdquo;The NHL has taken notice. Holland was chosen by the Detroit Red Wings in the third round (52nd overall) in 1988 and four rounds later, the Pittsburgh Penguins made Mick the 130th overall selection.Though both players are somewhat small by NHL standards, Shaw thinks they&rsquo;ll make it.Both, however, still need to improve their games.&ldquo;They both have to work a little bit on their skating,&rdquo; says Shaw. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a drawback, but they&rsquo;re very intense competitors and play hard whether it&rsquo;s home or away. They&rsquo;re also probably our best penalty killers.&rdquo;Next season, both appear destined for separate professional organizations-&mdash;and some heavy long-distance bills.&ldquo;If we play against each other, we&rsquo;ll give 100 percent,&rdquo; says Holland. &ldquo;Afterthat, we&rsquo;ll have a good talk and some good laughs about it.&rdquo;&ldquo;One day we could be traded and be on the same team,&rdquo; added Mick. &ldquo;Now wouldn&rsquo;t that be a story?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

BEST FRIENDS

<div class="byline">BY ED WILLES</div>Swift Current Broncos, the most successful team in major junior hockey with a record of 35-7-0, dominate the East Division all-stars who meet the West Division in the all-star game Jan. 24 at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Man.Head coach Graham James, right winger Sheldon Kennedy, center Tim Tisdale, and defensemen Darren Kruger and Dan Lambert from the Broncos were named to the team. Also named were: defensemen Kevin Cheveldayoff and Bob Woods from Brandon, defenseman Todd Nelson and center Mike Modano from Prince Albert, centers Wes Walz and Bryan Bosch from Lethbridge, defenseman Collin Bauer and left winger Tracey Katelnikoff from Saskatoon, centers Mike Sillinger and Gary Dickie from Regina, centers Wayne Hynes and Jason Miller and right winger Kirby Lindal from Medicine Hat and right winger Blair Atcheynum from Moose Jaw.Cheveldayoff injured his knee in early January and is out for the season.Goaltenders for the East will be Brandon&rsquo;s Trevor Kidd and Trevor Kruger of Swift Current.Leading the West Division is Portland head coach Ken Hodge, whose team&rsquo;s record stood at 22-10-2 after 34 games. Also on the all-star team from Portland are defensemen Roy Mitchell and Chad Biafore, centers James Black and Dennis Holland and left winger Troy Mick. Others named to the team were: defenseman Pat Macleod, left winger Phil Huber and center Dave Chyzowski of Kamloops, defenseman Stewart Malgunas, center Victor Gervais and left winger Dean Ewen of Seattle, defenseman Steve Jaques and center Stu Barnes of Tri-City, defenseman Rob Sumner, left winger Clayton Young and center Jackson Penney of Victoria and centers Darcy Loewen and Travis Green of Spokane.Playing goal for the West Division will be Danny Lorenz of Seattle and Frank Furlan of Tri-City.<h2>NOTHING YET</h2>The detection ot Czechoslovakian midget star Petr Nedved sparked a flurry of interest in the Western League.Nedved, 17, bolted after leading his Litvinov team to the championship of the Mac&rsquo;s Major Midget Tournament in Calgary, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Nedved scored 16 goals in seven tournament games.Nedved, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound center, stayed behind and remained in hiding with a family in Calgary&rsquo;s Czechoslovak community.Several teams tried to put Nedved on their protected list, including the Moose Jaw Warriors, who were last overall with a 12-28-0 record. In the past, when more than one team has filed for the same player, the team with the poorest record has been awarded the player&rsquo;s rights.But league president Ed Chynoweth said it would take some time to sort out the Nedved affair.&ldquo;To automatically say it&rsquo;s cut and dried, that the player is going to the lowest-place team, I wouldn&rsquo;t want to say that at this point,&rdquo; said Chynoweth.Working against Nedved, and any WHL team&rsquo;s attempt to sign him, is Canadian immigration policy. Canadian Immigration Minister Barbara McDougall has stated Nedved must apply for refugee status under new legislation implemented by the government to better screen the flow of refugees into the country.&ldquo;She&rsquo;s taken a real tough stance,&rdquo; said Morley Stall, a Canadian immigration consultant based in Calgary. &ldquo;No special consideration for hockey players.&rdquo; &#9632;

BRONCOS, HAWKS DOMINATE WESTERN ALL-STAR SQUADS

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>Former Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; star Gilbert Perreault will lead the Quebec League into the Jan. 24 all-star game against the Ontario League.Perreault, rookie coach of the Victoriaville Tigres, earned the honor because his team was atop the league standings with a record of 23-10-2 after 35 games.Elected all-stars by league coaches were: Stephane Fiset (Victoriaville) and Felix Potvin (Chicoutimi) in goal; Yves Racine (Victoriaville), Cam Russell (Hull), Patrice Brisbois (Laval) and Steve Veilleux (Trois-Riviers) on defense; Martin Gelinas (Hull) and Daniel Lacroix (Granby) at left wing; Stephane Morin (Chicoutimi) and Reginald Savage (Victoriaville) at center and Donald Audet (Laval) and Jeremy Roenick (Hull) at right wing.Others named to the team by Perreault on Jan. 16 were: center Denis Chalifoux and defenseman Eric Dubois from Laval, left winger Steve Chartrand, right winger Daniel Dore and defenseman Christian Ratthe from Drummondville, left winger Alain Tardif and right winger Daniel Gauthier and right winger Stephane Matteau from Hull.The game will be played at the Montreal Forum. Quebec leads the all-star series 4-1.<h2>LOTS OF DEALS</h2>After a slow start, the Quebec League&rsquo;s longest trading period of the season&mdash;Dec. 23 to Jan. 9&mdash;finished with a flourish. Seven deals were made over the final six days.On Jan. 6, the Verdun dispatched right winger Denis Chasse, 18, and goaltender Alain Harvey, 19, to the Drummondville Voltigeurs for left winger Denis Leblanc, 18, right winger Francois Dery, 17, and an eighthround midget draft pick in 1989.Two days later, Verdun and Trois-Rivieres swung perhaps the biggest impact trade this season. In an exchange of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; 1988 draft picks, the Junior Canadiens sent left winger Martin St-Amour (second round, 34th overall in 1988) to the Draveurs for defenseman Eric Charron (first round, 20th overall in 1988) and a sixth-round choice in 1989.Shawinigan Cataractes made two trades, both with the Draveurs.On Jan. 4, the Cats sent right winger Eric St-Amant, 18, and a seventh-round choice in 1989 to Trois-Rivieres for goalie Bruno Gagne, 18, and right winger Stephane Groleau 18.Four days later, Shawinigan sent defenseman Enrico Ciccone, 18, goalie Marc Delorme, 18, and right winger Gilles Bouchard, 17, to Trois-Rivieres for goalie Dominic Roussel, 18, right winger Patrice Gagnon, 17, and a seventh-round pick in 1989.Granby Bisons and Laval Titan each made two trades.The Bisons sent goalie Patrick Jeanson, 18, to College Francais de Longueuil for Dave Leriche, 18, on Jan. 4. Leriche was playing for St. Lawrence of the Quebec AA collegiate league.The next day, Granby took troubled right winger Stephane Plante, 19, and defenseman Benoit Therrien, 17, for right winger Patrick Lemay, 19, and defenseman Sylvain Beland, 18. Plante had 19 goals, 22 assists and 246 penalty minutes in 30 games, but had been suspended twice this season for a total of eight games after attacking officials.The second of three trading periods concluded on Jan. 9 with the Titan acquiring 18-year-old center Normand Demers from Trois-Rivieres for a sixth-round draft choice in 1989.A total of 10 trades, involving 28 players and six draft choices, were made over the 17 days.The final trading period is Feb. 1013. &#9632;

ROOKIE SKIPPER HEADS ALL-STAR SQUAD

For the period Jan. 9-15<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01754/6321431-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="316" height="378"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Murphy</figcaption></div>AHL: Joe Murphy, Adirondack. Six goals, one assist in four games.IHL: Ken Hodge, Kalamazoo. Five goals, two assists in three games.QMJHL: Martin Bergeron, Drummondville. Three games, seven goals, six assists.OHL: Bryan Fogarty, Niagara Falls. Two goals, eight assists in three games.WHL: Mike Hawes, Spokane. Four goals, four assists in three games.HOCKEY EAST: Tim Shields, New Hampshire. Three qoals, five assists in two games.ECAC: Mike Morrison, Clarkson. One goal, three assists in two games.CCHA: Bill Horn, Western Michigan. Two games, seven goals against.WCHA: Steve Strunk, Colorado; Lance Pittick, Minnesota; Curtis Joseph, Wisconsin (tie).AUAA: Dave Shellington, PEI. Five goals, four assists in two games.OUAA: Todd Richardson, Guelph. Five goals, one assist in two games.CWUAA: Rob Glasgow, Alberta. Four goals, three assists in two games.Major junior players are eligible for the THN-Micron-Mega Junior Player of the Year award. U.S. college players are eligible for the THN-Bauer U.S. College Player of the Year award. Canadian university players are eligible for the THN-Bauer Canadian University Player of the Year award. &#9632;

f0031-01

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div>Bryan Fogarty and Rick Tabaracci have more in common than being the best at their positions in the Ontario League.Both refused invitations to play for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Dec. 26 to Jan. 4.Both are outstanding NHL prospects&mdash;Fogarty with the Quebec Nordiques and Tabaracci with the Pittsburgh Penguins.And both were the only unanimous choices as the Ontario League announced its Emms and Leyden Divisions all-star teams Jan. 10.The OHL all-stars will meet the best of the Quebec League Jan. 24 at The Forum in Montreal. The QMJHL, which defeated the OHL 4-2 last season, leads the series (which began in 1986) four games to one. In 1986 and 1987, the leagues played a two-game series.Fogarty, a defenseman with the Niagara Falls Thunder, and Tabaracci, a goalie with the Cornwall Royals, earned the maximum 35 points in balloting by OHL coaches. Fogarty, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer, had 31 goals and 69 assists for 100 points in 39 games. He&rsquo;s on pace to break three OHL scoring records&mdash;goals in one eason by a defenseman (38), which is shared by Bobby Orr of Oshawa in 1965-66 (48 games) and Al Maclnnis of Kitchener in 1982-83 (70 games); points in a season by a defenseman (123), which is held by Denis Potvin of Ottawa in 1972-73 (63 games) and assists in a season by a defenseman (96), set by Doug Crossman of Ottawa in 1979-80 (68 games). Tabaracci was 14-8-3 with a 3.79 goals-against average and one shutout.Coaches were polled on players in their own division and were were not permitted to vote for their own players. A first-place vote was worth five points, second-place three and third-place one.Joining Fogarty on the Emms allstars are goalie Gus Morschauser and defenseman Darren Rumble of the Kitchener Rangers, center Tim Taylor of the London Knights, right winger Jamie Leach of Niagara Fails and left winger Darrin Shannon of the Windsor Spitfires.Along with Tabaracci, Cornwall defenseman Mathieu Schneider, Peterborough Petes&rsquo; defenseman Corey Foster, Ottawa 67s&rsquo; center Andrew Cassels, Ottawa right winger Mike Griffith and Toronto Marlies&rsquo; left winger Rob Cimetta were selected to the Leyden squad.Kitchener Ranger coach Joe McDonnell will guide the OHL stars. McDonnell earned the honor because the Rangers, 24-7-2 after 33 games, had the league&rsquo;s best record at the halfway point of the season.Others named to the team by McDonnell Jan. 16 were defenseman Cory Keenan, left winger Kirk Tom linson and center Mark Montinari from Kitchener, right winger Trevor Dam and defenseman Jim Sprott from London, left winger Steve Maltais from Cornwall, defenseman Bryan Marchment from Belleville, right winger Stan Drulia from Niagara Falls and center Mike Ricci from Peterborough.Sprott will replace Rumble, who is hurt and will miss the game.<h2>DEADLINE</h2>Two trades were completed just before the OHL trade deadline of midnight on Jan. 10.London sent goalie David Schill, 18, (15-9-2, 4.19 goals-against average) to the Toronto for goalie Pat Tenpenny, 18, (6-8-1, 5.60 GAA.) and a fifth-round draft choice in 1989. The other deal saw Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds send center Shane Sargant, 17, their first-round pick (eighth overall) in 1987, right winger Trevor Smith, 18, and a sixth-round draft choice in 1989 to the Sudbury Wolves for a fourth-round draft choice in 1989&hellip;Only three days after announcing he was stepping down as Cornwall Royals&rsquo; head coach for health reasons, Orval Tessier was back behind the bench for the third period of the Royals&rsquo; 7-6 win over Peterborough. Tessier, who stayed on as Royals&rsquo; GM, was pressed into action after Brent Loney was ejected from the game. The Royals were losing 5-2 after the second period. &#9632;

TABARACCI, FOGARTY HEAD ONTARIO LEAGUE ALL-STAR TEAM

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Calgary Dinosaurs were in first place in the Canada West conference with a record of 11-30, but rookie head coach Willie Desjardins still wasn&rsquo;t satisfied with his roster.Desjardins added five new players to strengthen his team: first-year right wingers Mike van Slooten and Bob Foglietta. first-year center Todd Sceviour, and fourth-year defensemen Scott Hillier and first-year defenseman Skot Jorgenson.Last year, van Slooten went 31-5990 in 72 games with the Western League&rsquo;s Regina Pats while Foglietta led the Victoria Cougars with 64-38102 in 70 games. Sceviour was cut by the Canadian national team Jan. 3 after scoring two goals and five assists in .28 games.Hillier played with the Dinos two years ago, while Jorgenson was playing with Calgary&rsquo;s Mount Royal College until Christmas.&ldquo;There are no surprises here,&rdquo; Desjardins said. &ldquo;Everybody we picked up, we recruited last summer.&ldquo;It was just a matter of them getting their schooling straightened out before playing with us this semester.&rdquo;Desjardins said he would cut some players since he had almost 30 players listed on his roster.&ldquo;In the past years, we always had a difficult time in the playoffs because we had lots of injuries,&rdquo; Desjardins added. &ldquo;This year we have the strength and depth to handle any injury.&rdquo;<h2>MORE PLAYERS</h2>Desjardins wasn&rsquo;t the only coach who added to his arsenal over the holidays.Manitoba Bison head coach Wayne Fleming picked up fourth-year center Mark Edwards, first-year left-winger Doug Steeves, and first-year defenseman Kevin Sopp.Edwards, who played with the Bisons three years ago, returned to Manitoba after playing pro hockey in Europe. Steeves was plucked from the Bisons&rsquo; football team, where he played defensive end. Sopp played with Thunder Bay of the United States Junior League last season.<h2>DINOS WIN</h2>Calgary won its own Dinosaur Invitional tournament by defeating Waterloo 6-5 in overtime Dec. 30.First-year left-winger Rod Taylor&rsquo;s second goal of the championship game at 2:27 of overtime gave the Dinos the gold medal.The same day, the host Manitoba Bisons beat Regina 2-0 to win the Silverwood-Bison Hockey Classic.The only other active Canada West team during the holidays was British Columbia, which played host to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in a two-game exhibition series.The Thunderbirds lost 3-1 to the Nanooks Dec. 29 and tied 3-3 Dec. 30. Alaska-Fairbanks is a Division I NCAA independent school. &#9632;

TEAMS LOAD UP FOR SECOND HALF

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Larry Mahoney </div><div class="byline">&#x2014;</div><div class="byline">Tom Boggie</div><div class="byline">&#x2014;</div><div class="byline">Kevin Gordon</div><div class="byline">&#x2014;</div><div class="byline">Vire Foss</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01722/6321510-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harvard&rsquo;s potent Firing Line&mdash;made up of Lane MacDonald, above, Allen Bourbeau and C.J. Young&mdash;was held without a goal for the first time all season.</figcaption></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>If the first two weeks of 1989 were any indication, it could be a long year for Boston University.Not only had Jack Parker&rsquo;s Terriers failed to win their first three games of the new year, but they were having a tough time getting off the ground away from the rink.The Terriers lost 7-2 to Wisconsin Jan. 6 and flew to Minneapolis the next morning. From there, they were supposed to fly to Grand Forks, N.D., for a game against the Fighting Sioux.But a snowstorm cancelled their flight and their luggage and hockey equipment were impounded at the airport in Minneapolis.The Terriers, who hadn&rsquo;t been on the ice since the Wisconsin game with the exception of a quick skate at North Dakota, were then beaten by the Sioux 7-3.Maine&rsquo;s 3-2 win over Denver Jan. 12 was the 100th career victory for Black Bear coach Shawn Walsh. Walsh was 100-85-6.Maine junior right winger Dave Capuano moved into second place on the Black Bear&rsquo;s all-time scoring list when he scored the winning goal in that game.The second-round choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins (25th overall) in 1986 had 74 goals and 105 assists for 178 points in 98 games, tying Rob Zamejc, who was 69-110-179 between 1978-79 and 1981-82. The all-time scoring leader at Maine is Gary Conn, 107-114-221, who played from 1977-78 to 1980-81.<h2>ECAC</h2>Colgate has turned shorthanded play into an affensive weapon.The Red Raiders led the Eastern College 4thletic Conference with 13 shorthanded goals in 14 games. Colgate scored 10 shorthanded goals all last season.Neither the ECAC nor NCAA keep team shorthanded goal records.The biggest thorn in the side of opposing power-play units was freshman left winger Jason Greyerbiehl, who had four shorthanded goals. He had six goals and four assists in 10 games.Greyerbiehl became the second Red Raider and only the fourth player in NCAA history to record a shorthanded hat trick Jan. 6 in Colgate&rsquo;s 7-2 win over Yale. Former Red Raider Greg Dreschel had three shorthanded goals against RP1 during the 1987 ECAC quarterfinals.On Dec. 12 this season, junior right winger C.J. Young of Harvard scored a shorthanded hat trick in 49 seconds as the Crimson defeated Dartmouth 10-0.It wasn&rsquo;t difficult to figure out why Dartmouth coach Brian Mason was getting so frus trated.On consecutive nights, the Big Green dropped one-goal decisions to Vermont and RP1 to fall to 2-9-1.Dartmouth had a 3-2 lead against Vermont with 2:52 left in their game Jan. 6, but the Catamounts scored two goals in a span of 21 seconds to win 4-3.The next night, the Big Green rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit against RP1 to force overtime. But Engineers&rsquo; sophomore center Tim Roberts scored the game-winner at 7:24 to hand Dartmouth its fourth one-goal loss of the season. *RPI held Harvard&rsquo;s Firing Line of senior left winger Lane MacDonald, senior center Allen Bourbeau and junior right winger C.J. Young without a goal for the first time this year on Jan. 6. But sophomore left winger Ted Donato and sophomore center Peter Ciavaglia each had a goal and an assist to carry the Crimson to a 4-1Bourbeau, Young and MacDonald were first, second and fourth in ECAC scoring. Bourbeau had six goals and 18 assists, Young 12 goals and 11 assists, and MacDonald nine and 11 assists.<h2>CCHA</h2>After a 22-17-3 record and an appearance in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association finals last year, big things were expected from Western Michigan.With 17 returning players, the Broncos were expected to challenge for the league title.But those high hopes have faded to disappointment.After losing a weekend series at home to Bowling Green&mdash;4-3 Jan. 6 and 6-5 Jan. 7&mdash;the Broncos found themselves in eighth place in the CCHA at 5-10-3. Overall, the Broncos were 8-14-3.Bowling Green, in seventh place in late November with a 4-6-0 record, has rebounded.The Falcons, winners of five straight and eight of their last nine, improved their record to 10-10-0 and moved to fourth place in the CCHA. Their overall record was 16-10-0.Before Christmas, the Falcons lost five one-goal games, including four in overtime. But they had turned the tables since. Bowling Green beat Cornell 3-2 Dec. 28 and Colgate 4-3 Dec. 29 to capture the Syracuse Invitational. The Falcons then defeated Western Michigan 4-3 Jan. 6 and 6-5 Jan. 7.For the second time this season, Ferris State lost its leading scorer to injury.This time it was sophomore center John dePourcq (9-19-28 in 23 games), who suffered a broken collarbone in a 5-3 loss to Ohio State Jan. 6. dePoureq, the CCHA&rsquo;s rookie of the year last season, was expected to miss the rest of the season.In a 10-1 loss to Lake Superior Nov. 25, then-leading scorer Andy Black (9-7-16 in 14 games) suffered a knee injury. Black is also out for the season.<h2>WCHA</h2>North Dakota may have been playing its best hockey of the season, but off the ice the Fighting Sioux suffered one of their biggest losses.Sophomore defenseman Geoff Smith announced he wouldn&rsquo;t be returning to school for the season&rsquo;s second half. He joined the Kamloops Blazers of the Western League.Smith, a 19-year-old native of St. Albert, Alta., was a third-round draft pick (63rd overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in 1986. He represented Canada at the World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska, Dec. 26 to Jan. 4, getting one assist in seven games. He made his decision during the tournament to play with Kamloops rather than return to North Dakota.Smith missed the Fighting Sioux&rsquo;s first 10 games with an ankle injury and had one assist in nine games this season. Last year he was 4-1216 in 42 games as a freshman.This is the last year of the five-year interlocking agreement that sees WCHA and Hockey East teams play against each other with results counting in the standings of both leagues.Nobody will be more unhappy to see the arrangement end than Minnesota-Duluth, which has benefitted most.The Bulldogs had a 32-10-4 record against Hockey East teams since the interlocking schedule began in 1984-85. It was the best record of any WCHA school against Hockey East.Duluth was 18-3-2 at home against Hockey East teams. Only Maine and Boston College were able to break the spell in Duluth.Northern Michigan won the inaugural Ramada Cup.The trophy goes to the winner of the four games played between Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech. The teams split the series two each, but the Wildcats won 19-16 on goal differentia]. The most recent two games were played Jan. 6 and 7. Michigan Tech won 6-5 in overtime the first night and the Wildcats won 4-2 the next night. &#9632;

f0033-01

NO TEA PARTY

<h2>STANDINGS</h2>NHL STANDINGS AS OR MON. JAN. 16/89(PCT) PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL POINTSVERSUS POSSIBLE POINTSCLARENCE CAMPBELL CONFERENCE<h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01811/6321807-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="977" height="158"></div><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02574/6321800-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="974" height="159"></div><h2>PRINCE OF WALES CONFERENCE</h2><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03447/6321793-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="975" height="153"></div><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04342/6321786-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="975" height="180"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2>RESULTS ENDING JAN. 15.1989<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05272/6321779-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="483" height="933"></div><h2>POINTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06239/6321772-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="485" height="572"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07220/6321765-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="204" height="218"></div><h2>FUTURE GAMES</h2>WED., JAN. 18HARTFORD AT MONTREALMINNESOTA AT BUFFALONY RANGERS AT CHICAGOEDMONTON AT WINNIPEGTHUR., JAN. 19CALGARY AT BOSTONMONTREAL AT HARTFORDQUEBEC AT NEW JERSEYLOS ANGELES AT NY ISLANDERSNY RANGERS AT ST. LOUISMINNESOTA AT TORONTOFRI., JAN. 20NEW JERSEY AT WASHINGTONPHILADELPHIA AT EDMONTONPITTSBURGH AT WINNIPEGCHICAGO AT DETROITSAT., JAN. 21BUFFALO AT BOSTONLOS ANGELES AT HARTFORDTORONTO AT MONTREALCALGARY AT QUEBECMINNESOTA AT NY ISLANDERSNY RANGERS AT VANCOUVERPHILADELPHIA AT WINNIPEGPITTSBURGH AT EDMONTONCHICAGO AT ST LOUISSUN., JAN. 22BOSTON AT BUFFALODETROIT AT WASHINGTONMON., JAN. 23HARTFORD AT QUEBECCALGARY AT MONTREALNY RANGERS AT EDMONTONMINNESOTA AT NEW JERSEYTUES., JAN. 24NEW JERSEY AT NY ISLANDERSLOS ANGELES AT WASHINGTONCHICAGO AT VANCOUVERWED., JAN. 25BOSTON AT TORONTOST. LOUIS AT HARTFORDBUFFALO AT DETROITWINNIPEG AT PITTSBURGHCHICAGO AT EDMONTON<h2>HOME-ROAD RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08205/6321758-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="974" height="859"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09185/6321751-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="981" height="801"></div><h2>TEAM POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV) TOTAL ADVANTAGES (PPGF) POWER-PLAY GOALS FOR (PCT) ARRIVED SY DIVIDING NUMBER OF POWER-PLAY GOALS BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10180/6321744-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="984" height="621"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTY KILLING</h2>(TSH) TOTAL TIMES SHORT-HANDED (PPGA) POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST(PCT) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING-TIMES SHORT MINUS POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST-BY TIMES SHORT<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11169/6321737-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="981" height="617"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(GP) GAMES PLAYED (PEN) TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING BENCH MINUTES (BMI) TOTAL BENCH MINOR MINUTES (AVG) AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTESGAME ARRIVED BY DIVIDING TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES BY GAMES PLAYED<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12164/6321730-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="968" height="354"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13147/6321723-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="991" height="624"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14140/6321716-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="995" height="984"></div><h2>LEADING DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15131/6321709-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="988" height="288"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-16129/6321702-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="986" height="314"></div><h2>ROOKIE LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01772/6321695-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="1008" height="465"></div><h2>TEAM-BY-TEAM SCORING</h2><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02569/6321688-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="987" height="867"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03462/6321681-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="978" height="839"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04370/6321674-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="982" height="688"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05310/6321667-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="991" height="890"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06282/6321660-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="992" height="817"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07260/6321653-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="985" height="665"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08234/6321646-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="982" height="791"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09215/6321639-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="982" height="757"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10188/6321632-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="983" height="755"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01728/6321625-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="979" height="691"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02513/6321618-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="978" height="845"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03415/6321611-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="984" height="843"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04318/6321604-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="968" height="922"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05263/6321597-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="978" height="813"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06230/6321590-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="982" height="729"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07211/6321583-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="972" height="763"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08195/6321576-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="979" height="717"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09183/6321569-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="967" height="811"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10175/6321562-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="971" height="711"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11169/6321555-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="968" height="637"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12160/6321548-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="976" height="693"></div><h2>GOAL TENDING</h2>WON-LOST-TIED RECORD IS BASED UPON WHICH GOALTENDER WAS PLAYING WHEN THE WINNING OR TYING GOAL WAS SCOREDEMPTY-NET GOALS ARE NOT COUNTED IN PERSONAL AVERAGES BUT ARE INCLUDED IN THE TEAM TOTAL AND THE SHOT(S) IS INCLUDED IN THE GOALTENDER&rsquo;s SHOTS AGAINST (SA) TOTAL (GP) GAMES PLAYED IN (MIN) MINUTES PLAYED (AVG) 60 MINUTE AVERAGE (GA) GOALS AGAINST (SA) SHOTS AGAINST (PCT) SAVE PERCENTAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01651/6321541-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="986" height="2729"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

f0037-02

SCOREBOARD

FINAL FAN BALLOTING FOR THE ALL-STAR GAME IN EDMONTON ON FEB. 7 IS AS FOLLOWS. THE NAMES OF THE PLAYERS IN THE WALES AND CAMPBELL CONFERENCE STARTING LINEUPS ARE BOLDED:<h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2>CENTER&mdash;MARIO LEMIEUX, PITTSBURGH, 352,984; PAT LAFONTAINE, ISLANDERS, 90,632; KIRK MULLER, NEW JERSEY, 74,047; MIKE BULLARD, PHILADELPHIA, 68,439; KEN LINSEMAN, BOSTON, 55,577; PETER STASTNY, QUEBEC, 52,488; RON FRANCIS, HARTFORD, 50,357; DAVE POULIN, PHILADELPHIA, 37,530; BOBBY SMITH, MONTREAL, 26,215.LEFT WING&mdash;MATS NASLUND, MONTREAL, 132,731; MICHEL GOULET, QUEBEC, 113,502; RANDY CUNNEYWORTH, PITTSBURGH, 110,711; DAVE ANDREYCHUK, BUFFALO, 105,886; AARON BROTEN, NEW JERSEY, 85,019; BRIAN PROPP, PHILADELPHIA, 65,556; MURRAY CRAVEN, PHILADELPHIA, 50,977; ULF DAHLEN, RANGERS, 23,658.RIGHT WING&mdash;CAM NEELY, BOSTON, 175,604; KEVIN DINEEN, HARTFORD, 116,566; RICK TOCCHET, PHILADELPHIA, 86,429; STEPHANE RICHER, MONTREAL, 81,925; MIKE GARTNER, WASHINGTON, 68,614; RAY SHEPPARD, BUFFALO, 56,561; PAT VERBEEK, NEW JERSEY, 49,374; TOMAS SANDSTROM, RANGERS, 47,224.DEFENSE&mdash;PAUL COFFEY, PITTSBURGH, 306,837; RAY BOURQUE, BOSTON, 279,884; MARK HOWE, PHILADELPHIA, 130,176; CHRIS CHELIOS, MONTREAL, 79,544; DOUG BODGER, BUFFALO, 69,607; PHIL HOUSLEY, BUFFALO, 67,868; JEFF BROWN, QUEBEC, 66,258, MIKE RAMSEY, BUFFALO, 62,347; ULF SAMUELSSON, HARTFORD. 57,219; ROD LANGWAY, WASHINGTON, 57,201; MOE MANTHA, PHILADELPHIA. 52,810; SCOTT STEVENS, WASHINGTON, 50,947; JAMES PATRICK, RANGERS, 42,135; PETR SVOBODA, MONTREAL, 42,053; TOMAS JONSSON, ISLANDERS, 30,592; GORD KLUZAK, BOSTON, 29,021; GLEN WESLEY, BOSTON, 27,573.GOALIE&mdash;SEAN BURKE, NEW JERSEY, 169,335; RON HEXTALL, PHILADELPHIA, 118,065; TOM BARRASSO, PITTSBURGH, 99,054; KELLY HRUDEY, ISLANDERS, 86,058; JOHN VANBIESBROUCK, RANGERS, 78,535; PATRICK ROY, MONTREAL, 72,934; MIKE LIUT, HARTFORD, 48,532; PETE PEETERS, WASHINGTON, 18,183<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2>CENTER&mdash;WAYNE GRETZKY, LOS ANGELES, 269,730; STEVE YZERMAN, DETROIT, 156,660; JOE NIEUWENDYK, CALGARY, 106,877; DENIS SAVARD, CHICAGO, 79,687; MARK MESSIER, EDMONTON, 59,739; JIMMY CARSON, EDMONTON, 36,542; DALE HAWERCHUK, WINNIPEG, 28,178; BERNIE NICHOLLS, LOS ANGELES, 23,405.LEFT WING&mdash;LUC ROBITAILLE, LOS ANGELES, 277,124; TONY MCKEGNEY, ST. LOUIS, 141,429; CRAIG SIMPSON, EDMONTON, 102,369; ESA TIKKANEN, EDMONTON, 74,603; GERARD GALLANT, DETROIT. 70,911; PETR KLIMA. DETROIT, 53,580; PETRI SKRIKO, VANCOUVER, 39,876; BRENT ASHTON, WINNIPEG, 25,917.RIGHT WING&mdash;JARI KURRI, EDMONTON, 196,410; BRETT HULL, ST. LOUIS, 140,825; DINO CICCARELLI, MINNESOTA, 93,410; HAKAN LOOB, CALGARY, 79,881; JOE MULLEN, CALGARY, 73,135; STEVE LARMER, CHICAGO, 72,621; GLENN ANDERSON, EDMONTON, 46,295; TONY TANTI, VANCOUVER, 44,271.DEFENSE&mdash;KEVIN LOWE, EDMONTON, 191,459; STEVE DUCHESNE, LOS ANGELES, 138,267; GARY SUTER, CALGARY, 136,710; BRAD MCCRIMMON, CALGARY, 134,119; AL MACINNIS, CALGARY, 120,635; DOUG WILSON, CHICAGO. 110,073; BRIAN BENNING, ST. LOUIS, 104,922; RANDY CARLYLE, WINNIPEG, 88,284; CHARLIE HUDDY, EDMONTON, 78,523; STEVE SMITH, EDMONTON, 58,143; CRAIG HARTSBURG. MINNESOTA, 56.481; AL IAFRATE, TORONTO, 55,299; DOUG LIDSTER, VANCOUVER, 51,000; DAVE ELLETT, WINNIPEG, 27,847; DARREN VEITCH, TORONTO, 20,601GOALIE&mdash;GRANT FUHR, EDMONTON, 271,175; MIKE VERNON, CALGARY, 109,436; GLEN HANLON, DETROIT, 97,288; GREG MILLEN, ST. LOUIS, 85,647; DARREN PANG. CHICAGO, 70,077; DANIEL BERTHIAUME, WINNIPEG. 46,085; KIRK MCLEAN, VANCOUVER, 45,620; KEN WREGGET, TORONTO, 36,241. &#9632;

NHL ALL STAR VOTING

Whether we like it or not, first impressions are critical. No one knows that more than Jeff Thompson, president of Woody Sports Apparel of Winnipeg. Woody Sports has become one of Canada&rsquo;s hottest licensed activewear manufacturers. Jeff Thompson attributes his success to doing things correctly the first time. &ldquo;You have to come out the door professionally or those doors won&rsquo;t be open a second time,&rdquo; says Thompson. Creative graphics, colorful designs, quality screening and durable construction have assured Woody Sports Apparel a secure foot in the door.Woody Sports has penetrated the growing licensed activewear market with a quality NHL licensed line of T-shirts and sweats. Not satisfied with just team logos, Woody Sports created a successful line of colorful individual and group caricatures with uncanny likenesses. Combine this with affordability and Woody Sports products simply &lsquo;check out,&rsquo; which has put a smile on the faces of retailers across Canada. By offering good quality, and a reasonable price, Woody Sports&rsquo; customer base is growing dramatically.With the huge success of their first season under their belt, Woody Sports is hard at work securing more licenses as well as developing new lines for other sports.Jeff Thompson feels that by spending extra time and money on the designs and screening, his customers will come to enjoy a comfort level that will result in a greater brand loyalty. &ldquo;When you buy a Woody Sports garment, you know you&rsquo;re getting quality,&rdquo; says Thompson.The licensed sports apparel business is growing steadily with the inclusion of many new team shops devoted only to licensed sports products. This phenomena is an extension of the emphasis being placed on the marketing of star players. Woody Sports, which has the exclusive license for Wayne Gretzky caricatures on T-shirts and sweats counts on the media machine to keep the star&rsquo;s profile alive.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01346/6322799-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="550" height="666"></div>The future looks very bright for Woody Sports Apparel. By seeking out new and innovative garment designs, incorporating more and more licenses and adding more of a fashion element to the activewear, Woody Sports will capture a substantial share of this burgeoning market in Canada, a market which has just started to establish itself.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02240/6322792-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="553" height="1384"><figcaption class="caption-body">Woody Sports Apparel features Wayne Gretzky.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

COMFORT LEVEL RESULTS IN QUALITY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02255/6322830-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="459" height="643"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE MOLINARI</figcaption></div>When you think about it, there probably is no spectacle in sport like the NHL All-Star Game.That extravaganza, which goes Feb. 7 in Edmonton, is almost upon us again. Which, when you think about it, is kind of unfortunate.As usual, this season&rsquo;s All-Star Game will again come hard in the wake of Groundhog Day, one of the most meaningful occasions of any year.It truly is a shame when two events of similar magnitude all but overshadow one another.Really, though, this is a game like no other. How often do fans get to pay inflated prices to watch a game devoid of contact or consequence? (Sorry, no cheap shots about paying to watch Winnipeg and Chicago trying to commit hockey.)And what other sport rewards its top players by shipping many of them thousands of miles to a place like Edmonton, where the temperature could rise as high as absolute zero on game day?All, of course, while those players not fortunate enough to be chosen to represent their conference are being made to suffer through two days off?The very nature of the All-Star Game&mdash;hockey without hitting&mdash;is so inherently flawed nothing can be done to salvage it.Which might save the proceedings is some sort of skills competition that would prove which players are best at some of the often-overlooked facets of their jobs.I don&rsquo;t mean the kind of event that had the NHL Players&rsquo; Association yelping in protest when the game was in Hartford a few years ago. Besides, who really cares whether Luc Robitaille or Cam Neely is better at backhanding passes through a tire?Ideally, I would like to see kind of a pro-am competition, with celebrities taking on the stars. Face it, wouldn&rsquo;t you been thrilled to see Moe Mantha challenged by, say, Moe Howard in a test of puckhandling skills?Admittedly, in that particular instance, Mr. Howard would be at something of a disadvantage, since most people have always thought of him as a stooge and he has the added handicap of being dead, but I still find the concept rather intriguing.Don&rsquo;t expect to see it soon, however. Imagine the NHLPA&rsquo;s embarrassment if the celebrities, especially the dead ones, won a majority of the events.Consequently, I propose the All-Stars face one another in the following competitions, which are rooted in their daily routine:&#9632; Misleading the media, with the winner to receive The Really-guys-we&rsquo;re-not-trading-Gretzky-to-Los-Angeles-or-anywhere-else Trophy.Contestants will have up to 30 seconds to convince a herd of nitwits armed with notebooks and minicams that their linemate or defense partner, who is incapable of dressing himself without assistance, is an asset of immeasurable value.Points will be detracted for any trace of a smirk or hint of truth that turns up in the answer. Early favorite: Mario Lemieux, who can speak eloquently of the glories of having Kevin McCarthy and Gary Rissling as his linemates a few years back.&#9632; Empty Endorsements. Players will be given two days to line up as many sales pitches as possible for products they never would actually consider using themselves.The winning entry can be expected to include something along the lines of: &ldquo;Hi, my name is Mark Messier, and I&rsquo;m one of the finest examples of speed and strength the game of hockey has ever seen. And you know, I couldn&rsquo;t have gotten this way without having High-Fat Choco Bars as part of my training routine. They taste great, and the best part is, they&rsquo;re converted to muscle mass the instant you digest them. I eat &rsquo;em. And you&rsquo;d better, too.&rdquo;&#9632; Pleasing the Populace. Players are locked into a room with booster-club members from every franchise, and forced to sign autographs, pose for pictures and answer inane personal questions until they drop from exhaustion and exasperation.The winner, who must remain standing with a half-smile intact and a pen in hand, will receive a prize that includes six sessions of electroshock therapy.Now, don&rsquo;t look for any of this innovative stuff to come about soon. Maybe not until Harold Ballard invites Central Red Army to hold training camp at Maple Leaf Gardens.But hey, enjoy the game and don&rsquo;t be too concerned if you see your shadow on Feb. 2. We&rsquo;re going to get six more weeks of regularseason hockev whether vou do or not. &#9632;

f0043-02

SOME IDEAS FOR ADDING ZEST TO THE ALL-STAR GAME

&#9632; If Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque wins the Norris Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman this year, he will be the first blueliner to win it three consecutive times since former Bruin Bobby Orr won it eight years in a row (1968-75).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03214/6322861-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="961" height="512"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-03

DID YOU KNOW…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01359/6322899-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE YZERMAN</figcaption></div><h2>RED WINGS</h2>With a nine-point weekend Jan. 14 and 15, center Steve Yzerman became the sixth Red Wing player to record 500 career points. Yzerman scored two goals and three assists in a 5-5 tie with Boston Jan. 14 and added a goal and three assists in an 8-4 win over Philadelphia to give him 206 goals and 297 assists for 503 points in 400 games. Yzerman needed only 31 points to pass John Ogrodnick (259275-534 in 539 games) for sixth place on the Red Wings&rsquo; all-time scoring list.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04143/6322892-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="544" height="634"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kan Takko returned to the stars after a facial virus.</figcaption></div>After showing up nearly an hour late to Joe Louis Arena, Bob Probert was scratched from the Red Wings&rsquo; lineup for a 3-2 Detroit win over Montreal Jan. 9. General manager Jimmy Devellano said Probert had the flu. Probert, an all-star last season, was on a nine-game scoreless streak. All his points (3-2-5) came in three games. Probert practised the next day with his Wings teammates and showed no ill-effects from the flu.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>The Toronto Sun reported Jan. 15 that plans were in the works for a 20,000-seat arena in North York, north of Toronto. The report said the arena, to be completed by 1994, was part of a redevelopment project by food service magnate Galen Weston and could become the new home of the Maple Leafs, Canada Cup games, a hoped-for National Basketball Association franchise and the Olympic basketball tournament if Toronto played host to the 1996 Games. The report also suggested Weston would make a joint offer along with Molson Breweries to purchase Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. from Harold Ballard as the basis of another development project. The possibility of the Maple Leafs playing in a new arena arose Jan. 5 when the Toronto Historical Board proposed that Maple Leaf Gardens be designated a historic site. Such a designation would prevent the Gardens from being tom down and significantly reduce the value of the property. The value of the Maple Leaf Gardens dropped $11 million the day after the Historical Board announced its plans&hellip;Left winger Mark Osborne returned to the lineup Jan. 16 at home against Hartford after missing five games with the flu.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>The Hawks set a club record no team would want. When Chris Clifford suited up as back-up to starter Ed Belfour Jan. 11 against Detroit, he became the fifth goaltender used by Chicago this season, breaking the previous record of four. Clifford was called up from Saginaw of the International League when John Reid injured his hand in practice. Clifford played four minutes Jan. 12 at Buffalo, facing no shots in a 6-5 loss to the Sabres&hellip;Right winger Steve Larmer had four goals in two games on the road, the loss to Buffalo and a 5-3 win over the Islanders.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>North Star coach Pierre Page confessed he has underestimated his team once again&mdash;not exactly a capital offense, especially considering a 9-2 loss to Pittsburgh at home Jan. 12. But the Stars rebounded two nights later by outshooting Calgary 42-24 in a 1-1 tie. A day later they started a five-game, 10-day road trip, their longest of the season, by beating Winnipeg 4-1. That was their first road victory in more than six weeks, since a 4-2 win in Hartford Dec. 3&hellip;Goalie Jon Casey started his 11th straight game, against Winnipeg&hellip;Goalie Kari Takko was in uniform against Calgary for the first since Dec. 19 in Vancouver. He missed more than three weeks because of Bell&rsquo;s palsy, a virus that affects facial nerves.<h2>BLUES</h2>Center Cliff Ronning&rsquo;s 10-game point-scoring streak ended Jan. 15 against Vancouver. In the 10 games, Ronning was 4-11-15. After being recalled from Peoria Nov. 5, Ronning was 11-18-29 in 29 games, moving him to third on the Blues&rsquo; scoring list&hellip;Center Peter Zezel had a five-game point-scoring streak stopped Jan. 12 against Los Angeles. In the five games, he was 5-4-9. &#9632;

f0043-01

BIG WEEKEND GIVES YZERMAN 500 POINTS

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>Detroit Red Wing right winger Joe Kocur, one of the toughest customers in the NHL, is used to counterpunching when he squares off with an opponent. On Jan. 13, he did the same in court.Kocur filed a court suit saying he was abused by a Boston woman.Boston Municipal Judge J. Peter Donovan ruled in favor of Kocur&rsquo;s lawyers, saying a warrant charging the 24-year-old right winger with assault and battery against 23-year-old Kim Cavanagh should never have been issued in the first place. Kocur then countersued, saying the woman assaulted him. Kocur was not present at the proceedings.Donovan said Kocur was denied due process of law and remanded the case for a clerk&rsquo;s hearing, a form of mediation to determine whether a warrant should be re-issued, lawyers said.It is scheduled for April 29, when the Wings likely will be involved in the playoffs, and it will probably involve testimony from Kocur, Cavanagh, and witnesses, including Detroit defenseman Jim Pavese, who witnessed the Nov. 21 incident, and police officers.&ldquo;Frankly, I&rsquo;m offended the case got this far,&rdquo; said David Eisenstadt, the Boston attorney who filed Kocur&rsquo;s cross-complaint. Kocur, the Red Wing leader in penalty minutes with 142 in 35 games, did not complain of injuries after the incident.Also on Jan. 13, Cavanagh filed a civil suit against Kocur, seeking unspecified monetary damages.&ldquo;Now we know what she&rsquo;s really after,&rdquo; said Al Addis, Kocur&rsquo;s Detroit-based attorney who attended the Boston hearing.Cavanagh could not be reached for comment.The case is one of two assault charges brought by women against Kocur. A suburban Detroit woman, 21-year-old Janet Maschke, alleges he hit her during an argument outside a sports bar in August. He faces a Jan. 24 pre-trial hearing in that case.In the Boston case, Cavanagh, a former Detroiter whom Kocur met that night, alleges he hit her repeatedly during an argument in her car as she and a friend drove Kocur and Pavese back to the team&rsquo;s hotel. Kocur was in the front seat with both women. Pavese was in the back, alone, according to the police report.If the case goes to trial, Pavese will testify he and Kocur became frightened when the woman, who had been drinking, began driving erratically&mdash;including on the wrong side of the road in the path of oncoming traffic, Addis said.&ldquo;Joe reached over and turned off the ignition,&rdquo; Addis said. &ldquo;He feared for his life. He verbalized that he wanted to get out and walk to the hotel.&rdquo;A scuffle caused the car to come to a grinding halt in the median said Addis. &ldquo;Any injuries she received probably were incurred when she ran the vehicle up the embankment.&rdquo;Kocur had just three goals and two assists this season, but recently earned praise from both coach Jacques Demers and general manager Jimmy Devellano for his improved play. Away from hockey, he is working to straighten out his private life. He said he has stopped drinking, and is seeing a counselor regularly.But attorney Addis wonders if Kocur can restore his reputation.&ldquo;What if he wins both cases?&rdquo; Addis asked. &ldquo;Is he twice as innocent then?&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 12: Tim Higgins, RW, assigned to Adirondack (AHL); Higgins refused to reportand was suspended indefinitely by the team.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Shawn Burr, John Chabot, Adam Graves, Adam Oates.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Kris King, Petr Klima, Dale Krentz.RW&mdash;Dave Barr, Joe Kocur, Paul MacLean, Jim Nill, Bob Probert.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Lee Norwood, Jim Pavese, Jeff Sharpies.RD&mdash;John Blum, Gilbert Delorme, Doug Houda, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Rick Zombo.G&mdash;Glen Hanlon, Grea Stefan.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

KOCUR CHARGES ASSAULT IN COUNTERSUIT

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div>The trail that began in 1983 with reconstructive knee surgery and continued a year later with a damaging hip injury concluded on a bright winter&rsquo;s day inside Met Center, where Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; defenseman Craig Hartsburg announced his retirement after 10 NHL seasons.&ldquo;My body is telling me I just can&rsquo;t play any more,&rdquo; said Hartsburg on Jan. 13.So ends, at age 29, a career that began when Bill Hartsburg strapped a pair of skates on his 18-month-old son&rsquo;s feet in Stratford, Ont. The first two decades of that career went like a dream. The last five years haven&rsquo;t. Since he suffered a hip stress fracture in a 1984 exhibition game against Edmonton, Hartsburg has weathered a series of injuries, including groin and stomach injuries, a concussion, hernia and shoulder operations and, most recently, staph infections in his right ankle.&ldquo;When you start coming to games and practices trying to figure out ways to hide your injuries or ways to keep from hurting yourself more, then it&rsquo;s time to move on,&rdquo; Hartsburg said.The Stars lost their all-time leading scorer among defensemen and team captain for the past six seasons. Hartsburg was chosen sixth overall in the 1979 entry draft from the WHA&rsquo;s Birmingham Bulls, where he began his pro career at age 18. He helped the North Stars from last place to the 1981 Stanley Cup finals. He appeared in three NHL All-Star Games (1980, &rsquo;82, &rsquo;83), twb Canada Cups (1981, &rsquo;87), three World Championships (1981, &rsquo;83, &rsquo;87) and three times was named the Stars&rsquo; best defenseman (1981, &rsquo;82, &rsquo;87).Hartsburg said he made his decision a week before the announcement, while recovering from a staph infection that first sidelined him after the season&rsquo;s third game. He was hit twice by shots in the ankle&mdash;Oct. 11 in Quebec and before a Jan. 2 game against Edmonton. Both times, his ankle became infected and Hartsburg required hospital treatments of intravenous antibiotics.&ldquo;I spent three days getting needles shoved in me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My hip hurts. My stomach hurts. It&rsquo;s not worth it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard quitting something you&rsquo;ve been doing since you could barely walk. The thing I&rsquo;ll miss the most is the people I played with for 10 years, my teammates. The enjoyment I&rsquo;ve had every day for 10 years, well, that&rsquo;s something you just can&rsquo;t explain.But Hartsburg said he decided to retire for the sake of his family&mdash;wife, Peggy, six-year-old Katie and eight-year-oid Christopher&mdash;as well as himself. &ldquo;I want to live as normal a life as possible when I&rsquo;m 45,&rdquo; he said.Hartsburg is undecided about his future, but said he would like to stay in hockey, either as a coach or scout.At least one NHL team has contacted him about an unspecified position. Stars&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira said he wants to keep Hartsburg in the organization in some capacity.Ferreira also said he considered the possibility of retiring Hartsburg&rsquo;s No. 4 jersey. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s my decision,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the owners&rsquo; decision.&rdquo;While future issues remain undetermined, Hartsburg&rsquo;s 10 seasons left him third on the Stars&rsquo; all-time list for assists (315, one short of Tim Young), and eighth in games played (570) and points (413). He scored 98 goals. This season he had four goals and 14 assists in 30 games.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 13: Craig Hartsburg, D. announced retirement.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Dave Gagner, Dave Archibald, Bob Brooke, Dusan Pasek, Dennis Maruk.LW&mdash;Basil McRae, Brian MacLellan, Curt Fraser, Brian Bellows, Terry Ruskowski;.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Marc Habscheid, Stewart Gavin, Larry DePalma.LD&mdash;Dean Kolstad, Ville Siren, Mark Tinordi. RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Curt Giles. Shawn Chambers. G&mdash;Jon Casev. Kari Takko. Jarmn Mvllvs<h3>INJURIES</h3>Frantisek Musil, D, fractured foot, indefinite. &#9632;

INJURIES SPELL END TO HARTSBURG’S CAREER

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>The Blues hit their low point of the 1988-89 season Jan. 15, dropping six games below .500 with a 2-1 loss at Vancouver.The loss was the Blues&rsquo; sixth in a row on the road and extended their winless streak against teams from the Smythe Division to eight games (0-7-1).Their overall record dropped to 1521-7 for 37 points, just one point ahead of the surging third-place Minnesota North Stars in the Norris Division.Worse, the defeat came after coach Brian Sutter juggled his lineup in an effort to inspire the troops. He benched defenseman Brian Benning, right winger Greg Paslawski and left winger Doug Evans in favor of defensemen Gaston Gingras and Dave Richter and right winger Todd Ewen.It didn&rsquo;t work.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01266/6322978-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="551" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Riendeau earned a rare victory for St. Louis.</figcaption></div>Since a 4-3 loss to Toronto Dec. 19 put the Blues a game below .500, St. Louis had gone 2-8-2.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to sleep at night,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;I want guys that come to work 60 minutes. It&rsquo;s different when you don&rsquo;t get that for one game every now and then, but when it&rsquo;s every five of six or seven of 10, it makes you wonder.&ldquo;If I could sit out seven or eight more guys, I would. Maybe not seven or eight, but four or more. You can protect people and protect people, but that&rsquo;s not right. Changes have to be made. If you&rsquo;re not winning, changes have to be made.&rdquo;The Blues responded to the changes by being outshot 38-14 against the Canucks. Only a strong night by rookie goalie Vincent Riendeau kept the Blues in the game. Riendeau had recorded the Blues&rsquo; only victory in their last eight games (1-6-1), a 7-4 win over Philadelphia Jan. 7.The most troubling thing for Sutter is the Blues often play their game to perfection, only to be beaten by lapses in concentration.They surprised the Los Angeles Kings with a strong first period Jan. 12 and trailed 4-3 after two periods, before falling apart&mdash;giving up three three goals in 1:29 in the third to lose 7-4.&ldquo;The most frustrating thing is that at times, we do everything right,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;The wingers come back. The defensemen stand up. It&rsquo;s there. Against Los Angeles, we did everything exactly like we wanted to do. We got away from it in the second period, but then in the third, they scored a goal and we got rattled.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s where we have to show composure. Bear down. We talk about it every day. Go to the net and stop, rather than go by. Defensemen, make the simple play.&ldquo;Our system isn&rsquo;t difficult, but it&rsquo;s hard work. Checking is hard work, but to win you&rsquo;ve got to check. Every game we&rsquo;ve won this year, we&rsquo;ve checked. The positive thing is we&rsquo;ve done it, and we know we can do it. But one or two guys stray, and it messes up the whole thing.&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 16: Mike Lalor, D, acquired from Montreal for the option to switch first-round draft choices in 1990, plus St. Louis&rsquo; third-round pick In 1991, which could become a second-round pick if St. Louis wins three playoff rounds, total, before then.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Federko, Peter Zezel, Cliff Ronning. Tony Hrkac.LW&mdash;Gino Cavallini, Sergio Momesso, Tony McKegney, Rick Meagher, Doug Evans, Craig Coxe.RW&mdash;Steve Tuttle, Brett Hull, Todd Ewen, Herb Raglan, Greg Paslawski.LD&mdash;Gordie Roberts, Glen Featherstone, Gaston Gingras, Brian Benning, Mike Lalor.RD&mdash;Tom Tilley, Paul Cavallini, Dave Richter, Tim Bothwell.G&mdash;Greg Millen, Vincent Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0044-01

BLUES HIT SEASON’S FIRST SOUR NOTE

<div class="byline">BY RICK MATSUMOTO</div>These days, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are at opposite poles of the National Hockey League world.Yet, when the teams get together for their thrice-yearly meetings you wouldn&rsquo;t know it. There&rsquo;s definitely an added electrical charge in the air.It was no different Jan. 14 at Maple Leaf Gardens.Increasing the voltage was the fact the long-time rivals were meeting for the first time since the Nov. 7 trade which saw popular Russ Courtnall dealt to the Canadiens for tough guy John Kordic.For those who saw the situation as a Courtnall-Kordic confrontation, the result was a clear victory for the slickskating Courtnall.The one-time first-round Leaf draft pick (seventh overall in 1983) netted a pair of goals, including the game winner, as the Canadiens won an exciting contest 5-3.Kordic, on the other hand, was a non-factor in the game even though Toronto coach George Armstrong elected to start him on the No. 1 line with Ed Olczyk and Gary Leeman.In 10 minutes and 30 seconds of ice time his only contributions were two shots on goal and a two-minute slashing penalty on the Habs&rsquo; Mats Naslund. After being traded, Kordic said he would beat up those Canadiens he didn&rsquo;t like, but nothing came of the threats. (See Steve Dryden page 23.)Kordic and Courtnall each said that comparing them on the basis of one night&rsquo;s work, especially when Kordic was coming off 12 games worth of suspensions, was unfair. Kordic received two games from the NHL for incurring his third stick major of the season, then got 10 more for attacking Edmonton&rsquo;s Keith Acton in a game in Toronto Dec. 14.Kordic is the first to admit that, measured on pure hockey skills, he can&rsquo;t carry Courtnalls skates.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a lot better hockey player than I am,&rdquo; Kordic said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll admit that.&rdquo;So, Kordic thought it preposterous for the media and fans to see the game as a showdown.&ldquo;People who do that aren&rsquo;t very good hockey fans,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a goal-scorer and I&rsquo;m not. He&rsquo;ll get more goals than me, but I&rsquo;ll beat up on more people. How many years was Courtnall here? Four? Five? In that time the Leafs never won anything. They had to change something. People have to understand that.&rdquo;Courtnall, who got a rousing send-off when he left the ice after taking his bows as the game&rsquo;s first star, offered similar sentiments.He added that he wasn&rsquo;t out to gain revenge on the Leafs for shipping him off to Montreal after 4&frac12; seasons in Toronto.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t trying to prove anything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I have to. I just wanted to work hard and have a good game. I didn&rsquo;t circle the calendar or anything because I wasn&rsquo;t out for vengeance or anything like that. I had more important things to worry about. It wasn&rsquo;t like I was waiting for Jan. 14 to come along.&rdquo;While Kordic&rsquo;s contributions were minimal against the Habs, Armstrong said he would continue to play him with Olczyk and Leeman &ldquo;for the time being.&rdquo;<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 13: Paul Gagne, LW, Derek Laxdal, RW, Darren Veitch, D, assigned to Newmarket (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Vince Damphousse, Tom Fergus, Dan Daoust, Tim Armstrong.LW&mdash;John Kordic, Al Secord, Dave Reid, Todd Gill.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Daniel Marois, Craig Laughlin, Mark Osborne, Mike Blaisdell.LD&mdash;Al lafrate, Brad Marsh, Luke Richardson.RD&mdash;Chris Kotsopoulos, Rick Lanz, Borje Salming.G&mdash;Allan Bester, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark, LW, back, indefinite.Brian Curran, D, neck, day-to-day.Doug Shedden, RW, tom knee ligaments, out for season. &#9632;

KORDIC DEFENDS TRADE AFTER DEFEAT BY HABS

<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2>&lsquo;OLE TIME SPECIAL &mdash; Home Jersey Sale. Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, California Golden Seals, Minnesota Fighting Saints, Phoenix Roadrunners and all WHA defunct teams jerseys. Each at $145.95. NHL hockey jerseys &mdash; finest quality and authentic style. Crested in Pro-style tackle twill. $69.95 + $12.00 postage per item. Your choice of home or away. Colors: 1 or 2-color numbers, and numbers on jersey. Sizes: Mens & Boys, S-XXL. Extras: Shoulder patches, $8.00; personalized name, $1.50/letter (1-color), and $2.50/letter (2-color). For all orders send cheque, money order, or VISA + expiry date. For further information, write or call, Silvestri Sports. 289 Lincoln SI., Welland, ON., L3B4N5. (416) 788-3722.*Not responsible for duty fees on U.S. orders.<h3>LAPEL PINS, CRESTS, MEDALS</h3>Custom-made for your team or organization. Proven fund-raiser at tournaments, great traders. High quality at amazing low prices. Hockey fun pins. ONLY $1.50 ea. Write for brochure & price lists to: Carlo Dalgas Ltd., 1885 Briarcrook Cres., Mississauga, Ont., L4X 1X3. (416) 6258061.WILL BUY OR TRADE for WHA sweaters, WHA programs, and other WHA memorabilia. Call Don Lindberg, (312) 232-6543.<h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2>CANADIAN HOCKEY ENTERPRISES is looking for sales reps across Canada & U.S. to recruit adult and oldtimer recreational hockey teams, for its holiday hockey tournaments. Send letter and resume to:Paul Crowley, c/o Canadian Hockey Enterprises Ltd., P.O. Box 1000, Ennismore, ON., K0L 1T0. (705) 292-9555.<h3>Sales Trainee</h3>The Futures program in Peterborough is looking for a Sales Trainee for a sports related position. The salary is minimum wage. If you are between 1625, call us to find out if you are eligible. Contact: Sir Sandford Fleming College, Futures, (705) 743-5620.<h2>PUBLICATIONS</h2><h3>WHAT&rsquo;S GOING ON IN THE NHL?</h3>The HOCKEY STATZ Newsletter is designed to keep you aware of league trends by presenting innovative statistical info, not available from any other publication. Subscribe today for $6.95 per year or write for FREE samole issue:HOCKEY STATZ Box 6493 Albany, NY. 12206<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2><h3>PIN COLLECTORS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01217/6323047-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="451" height="318"></div>QUALITY PIN BAGSFULL 9&rdquo; x 12&rdquo;, 8 QUILTED PAGES, HOLDS DOZENS OF PINS, ZIPPER AND HANDLE, CHOICE OF BLACK, BLUE OR RED. GREAT FUNDRAISER, QUANTITY DISCOUNTS. TO ORDER, SEND $40.00 U.S. TOL. GREENBERG, P.O. BOX 34 CROWNSVILLE, MD 21032 (3011 841-6280 *Enamel Pins Also AvailableWANTED: Copies, Metro Jr. B., OHA Jr. A, & Sr. A. Player stats 1950 to 1964. Write: Al Mason, 130 Gradwell Dr., Scarboro, ON., M1M2N2.<h3>YEAR END CLEAROUT SALE</h3>NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA, WHA, IHL, AHL, OHL programs, media guides, yearbooks, photos, postcards, and much much more. For a catalogue send $4.00 cheque or money order to: LES COLLECTIBLES POUR HIER ET AUJOURD&rsquo;HUI, 2515 Lakeshore Blvd. W., Suite 5, Toronto, ON., M8V 1E2.&rsquo;88-89 SETS OPC H $12; Topps H $16; Minis $4; Jogos Reg&rsquo;l (106) $22; regular (110) $19; &rsquo;88 OPC or D/L BB $12. LNW Sports, P.O. Box 6387, Station C, Victoria, BC., V8P 5M3.OVER 2500 HOCKEY PINS to buy, sell, and trade. Lots of NEW pins available. Contact: Gary Wintraub, 83 Aberfeldy Cres., Thornhill, ON., L3T 4C3. (H) (416) 731-2977, (B) (416) 736-4405.<h3>HOCKEY CARDS</h3>BUY - SELL - TRADE Attention Collectors!We stock thousands of OPC, Topps, and Parkhurst cards from the 50&rsquo;s, 60&rsquo;s, 70&rsquo;s and 80&rsquo;s&hellip;Star Cards, Complete Sets and Wax Packs&hellip;For a free extensive price list, write to: RYCARD, 2911 W. 35th Ave., Vancouver, BC., V6N 2M5. Or call, (604) 261-9738 (Mon.-Sat., 9-5 pst). Inquiries welcome! We also have Baseball cards.<h2>PUBLICATIONS</h2>5th ANNUAL NHL DRAFT GUIDE covering Major, Junior, U.S. Colleges, and Highschools with final stats and tidbits on top 300 prospects. Ship after Memorial Cup in May. Send SASE for price info, now to: Rich Kronish, Draft &rsquo;89, P.O. Box 2183, New York, NY., 10009.<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2>HOCKEY PINS, over 5000 for SALE or TRADE. Contact: G.B.S., Box 12, Wasaga Beach, ON., LOL 2P0.<h3>NEW LOOK HERSHEY BEARS 1988-89</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02146/6323040-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="267" height="220"></div>CCM AIR-KNIT (Home & Away) PRO JERSEYS EXCLUSIVE HERSHEY BEARS 50th ANNIVERSERY JERSEYS WHILE THEY LAST(Personalized Also &mdash; Jackets &#9632; Scarves &#9632; Warm-ups &#9632; T-Shirts &#9632; Sweats &#9632; Novelties &#9632; NHL Pro Replica PRICE LISTS &mdash; Hockey Equipment. Roller Blades. Figure Skates. Call &mdash; (717) 653-5051 - UPS Service THE SHARP EDGE, 20 E. Main St., Mount Joy, PA. 17552.<h2>SHOWS</h2><h3>CCS PROMOTIONS</h3>Is Proud to Present Its Superstar Line Up Of SPORT COLLECTIBLE & COMIC BOOK SHOWS 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Jan. 22/89 C.A.W. Hall OshawaFeb. 5/89 Radisson Hotel OttawaFeb. 11/89 Sheraton Hotel HamiltonFeb. 12/89 Triumph Hotel TorontoMar. 18/89 Howard Johnsons KingstonMar. 19/89 Holiday Inn BarrieFeaturing - Special Guests, Gum Cards, Jerseys, Autographs, etc.Tel. (416) 243-5739<h3>Guelph Collectibles FAIR</h3>(Sports, Comics, Records)Sun. Feb. 1911 am - 5 pm Peter Clark Hall University CentreUniversity of Guelph Guelph, Ontariofeaturing sports cards, coins, Bee Hives etc.Dealer Info - (519) 824-4120 Ext. 2894SPORTS & COMICS COLLECTIBLES SHOW. Sunday, Mar. 12.11-5 p.m. Lakeshore Inn, 2000 Lakeshore Blvd. W., Toronto, ON. 100 + dealers. Cards, jerseys, photos, & more. Contact: Annette Lawrence, (416) 694-7005. Next show: Apr. 30th. Special Guest: To be announced.<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2><h3>MONCTON HAWKS SOUVENIRS</h3><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0482/6323033-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="134" height="143"></div>New Logos & Novelties This Season. For Souvenir Price List, write or call:Moncton Hawks P.O. Box 2940, Stn. &ldquo;A&rdquo; Moncton, NB. E1C 8T8 (506) 857-4000FANS, COLLECTORS: Authentic game-worn jerseys from NHL, AHL, NFL, MLBB, and NBA, and other game-used equipment available. Also have game-used sticks. Call or write to: Milton Byron, 705 David Lane, Scullville, N.J., (609) 653-6172.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>TOURNAMENTS</h2><h3>SPRING HOCKEY TOURNAMENT</h3>Knights of Columbus CANAM Edmonton, Alberta April 28 - 30th, 1989 Novice/Mites. Atom/Sauirts<h3>MENS HOCKEY TOURNAMENT</h3>Buffalo, NY.March 11, 12, 13, 1988A Senior Non-check over 21B Senior Non-check over 21C Senior Non-check over 21D Senior Non-check over 30E Senior Non-check over 40HOCKEY &#9679; PARTIES &#9679; FUNDetails: Pete Preteroti (716) 885-0115CLOVERDALE MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION will be hosting a PeeWee AAA International Tournament, March 31-April 8th, 1989. Contact: (604) 574-0988, or P.O. Box 1065, Postal Station A, Surrey, BC., V3S 4P5.ADULT & OLDTIMER HOLIDAY TOURNAMENTS. Tournaments are in Niagara Falls, Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton, Peterborough, California, Lulu&rsquo;s, Toronto, Quebec City, Florida, Kelowna and Montreal. First class hotel and meal packages are included.Contact. Paul Crowley, c/o Canadian Hockey Enterprises Ltd., P.O. Box 1000, Ennismore, ON., KOL1T0. (705) 292-9555.<h2>VIDEO</h2>IT&rsquo;S HERE! Fights, fights, & more fights. Part 2. Excellent quality on VHS. Write: M. Partridge, P.O. Box 431, Richmond Hill, ON., L4C 4Y8.COMPLETE GAMES: 79 Challenge Cup, &rsquo;80 Olympics, Canada Cups, Playoffs! Act Now! Send .50&cent; in stamps for a new 19-page list to: PRO TAPES, 5 Berkshire Court, Westampton, NJ., 08060. Or call, (609) 267-5001.165 HOURS OF GOOD QUALITY hockey fights which includes 12 hrs. from &rsquo;87/&rsquo;88. VHS or BETA. Write: Phil Davis, P.O. Box 640, Bellmore, N.Y. 11710. (516) 221-5779.BRAND NEW PART 4 Hockey&rsquo;s Bloodiest Fights & Knockouts. VHS or Beta. Write: M. Brudy, 413 Hawkins Ave., Pittsburgh, PA., 15214.PITTSBURGH PENGUIN HOCKEY G.V.P. Proudly Presents The Pittsburgh Penguins on weekly home videos. Now you can watch the excitement of Penguin hockey in the privacy of your home all season long! We are the &ldquo;licensed&rdquo; home video company of the Penguins and can supply you with a season full of excitement. On VHS or Super Beta tapes. Superior quality from our satellite receiving station allows you to have the tapes delivered within days to your home. All games commercial free, in the entirety. Call or write us now.Genesis Video Productions Rd. #2, Box 203A New Brighton, PA., 15066 (412) 847-3091 (or) (412) 847-2122EXCELLENT HOCKEY FIGHTS. P.O. Box 4264, Newport Beach, CA., 92660.GREATEST HOCKEY FIGHTS I,II,III Every fight is toe-to-toe. Good quality. Fights range from 1977-1988. Trades welcome. Info, write: Andy Boemer, P.O. Box 40069, St. Paul, MN, 55104. Tel. # (612) 699-1907.HOCKEY POOLS$19.95 HOCKEY POOL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE for IBM PC. FREE NHL scores On-Line update service. ComPlus Professional Services, Box 173, Stn. &lsquo;G&rsquo;, Calgary, AB., T3A 2G2. (403) 239-5226. Visa&rsquo; MC accepted. Add $2 shipping & handling. &#9632;

f0046-01

CLASSIFIED

JOFA TITENLori Kurtz is an eight-year-old who plays in the Mites Division of the Nassau County (Long Island, N.Y.) House Recreational League.A Grade 3 student at Chatterton Elementary School in Merrick, Long Island, Lori is 4-foot-5 and 62 pounds and has been skating for five years.Coached by Mites director Doug Abrams, Lori doesn&rsquo;t mind being the only girl in the division. In fact, her long-term goal is to one day play on the same team as her 10-year-old brother, Jared, who has already graduated from the Mites program.Her favorite teams are the Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and New York Islanders.When she&rsquo;s not busy with hockey, Lori plays on an all-star soccer team in the summer and is an intermediate skier. She is also a member of her school chorus and plays the recorder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01247/6323078-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="558" height="1108"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lori Kurtz</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of the JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Showcase. Just send a photograph, along with biographical information (age, height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to JOFA-TITAN SHOWCASE, c/o The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as THN/JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Player of the Year. &#9632;

f0047-01

PLAYER OF WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02172/6323109-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">It may look like New York Islander right winger Ed Westfall just sneezed, but he&rsquo;s actually trying to escape from Minnesota North Star right winger Bill Fairbairn during a 1976-77 game. Minnesota center Tim Young ignores Fairbairn and Westfall and pursues the play.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

WAY WE WERE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03138/6323147-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Pat Quinn is this club&rsquo;s president and general manager.4. Hockey&rsquo;s &lsquo;Entertainer&rsquo;, Eddie ---7. This former Canuck is now the team's director of public and media relations.8. This former Leaf and Whaler was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986 (4,4).10. Fortify.12. The Blues&rsquo; vice president/director of public relations and marketing, ---- Mathieu.13. The older of the Howe brothers who joined their father in pro hockey.14. Number of goals scored by Wayne Gretzky in his fourth NHL season.18. He preceded Gretzky as the Hart Trophy winner in 1979.19. Diminutive Blackhawk goalie.20. Finished.21. Nickname given the line of Ken Wharram, Stan Mikita and Ab McDonald.<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. Veteran Leafs&rsquo; defenseman, --- Kotsopoulos.2. This Flame defenseman was oreviously with the Blues and Canadiens, Ric ----3. Begin.4. Most penalized Oiler in 1987-88 (5,5).5. This one-time Quebec City club was a Flyer affiliate.6. The NHL&rsquo;s penalty-minute leader in 1968-69.9. What the Flyers were between Oct. 14, 1979 and Jan. 6, 1980.11. Cocky.12. Home of the Western League&rsquo;s Thunderbirds.15. Levels.16. Calder Trophy winner in 1946, ---- Laprade.17. Islander player who was schooled at Yale, Randy ----<h2>CROSSWORD SOLUTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03101/6323140-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="573" height="573"></div> &#9632;

f0047-03

CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div>Dave Manson said he was lucky to score the goal, but maybe that meant the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; luck had changed.Manson&rsquo;s shot from his own zone slid into an empty New York Islanders&rsquo; net to clinch a 5-3 victory Jan. 14 at Nassau Coliseum, and the Hawks&rsquo; 12-game road losing streak was history.The streak was not a club record, but it came close. Chicago lost 17 straight road games during the 195354 season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a big thing,&rdquo; said Manson. &ldquo;Now that the guys know we can win on the road, it&rsquo;ll be a big confidence-booster for us.&rdquo;The Hawks had not won a road game since Nov. 11, when they came back to beat Winnipeg 6-5 on Wayne Presley&rsquo;s overtime goal. Their road losing streak took them through Montreal. Toronto. Buffalo, Boston, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh. Philadelphia, St. Louis, New York (the Rangers), Washington and Buffalo again.Even with the victory, the Hawks were 4-19-1 away from home. That record, and their losing streak, filled Hawk players&rsquo; minds with doubts.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be lying if I said there weren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Manson said. &ldquo;But if you&rsquo;re going to win on the road, you&rsquo;ve got to overcome things like that. This will be a big shot in the arm for us.&rdquo;Manson himself had been a big shot in the arm for the Hawks. The goal against the Islanders was his 14th, and his second big goal in three games. The defenseman scored the tying goal in the Hawks&rsquo; 2-2 tie with Detroit at Chicago Stadium On Jan. 11, a blast from a faceoff that beat Detroit&rsquo;s Greg Stefan on the short side.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if he knew he was that far from the post,&rdquo; Manson said.It&rsquo;s okay to be a little modest when you&rsquo;re 21. you&rsquo;re in your third season and you&rsquo;re busting out in the NHL.&ldquo;Scoring 20 goals is just the beginning for him,&rdquo; said&rsquo; Doug Wilson, often Manson&rsquo;s defense partner. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no limit to what he can do.&rdquo;Manson opened the eyes of Detroit coach Jacques Demers.&ldquo;That shot Manson scored on was a Doug Wilson shot,&rdquo; said Demers.&ldquo;That kid is an unbelievable hockey player. He&rsquo;s on the power play, he kills penalties, he plays tough defense. I didn&rsquo;t know he was that good. He should be an all-star.&rdquo;Manson did a toe-in-the-rug routine.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s really nice for Mr. Demers to say,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I appreciate it. But we&rsquo;ve got guys like Doug Wilson who deserve to be all-stars because of their reputations. My main objective is to play hard, play good defense. Anything else is a bonus. Our objective on the team is to make the playoffs.&rdquo;The Hawks moved closer to thatgoal by beating the Islanders. Toronto&rsquo;s 5-3 loss to Montreal the same night left Chicago just three points behind the Maple Leafs in the race for the Norris Division&rsquo;s fourth and final playoff spot. And the Hawks were only six points from third place, held by the Minnesota North Stars. &#9632;

ROAD LOSING STREAK FINALLY ENDS

Would you send your boy to a live-in hockey camp without a professional hockey player on the staff?Well, hundreds do each year, and the reports are nothing short of glowing. The camp in question is Cooper Sports Camp in Oakville, Ont. And, as one of its adminstrators says, parents love it as much as their kids.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the finest location for a sports camp in all of North America,&rdquo; says Jim Geary. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a private boys&rsquo; school (Appleby College), quite old, quite quaint, located right on Lake Ontario. It&rsquo;s the kind of a school you&rsquo;d find over in England, a very nice setting. The campus controls the arena there; the kids don&rsquo;t have to go off-campus at all.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s got a lot of green fields, a lot of flowers, old mature trees and old kind of rustic-looking buildings. The comment from a lot of the parents is that the facilities are over whelming.&rdquo;The lack of NHLers on staff is coincidental, Geary says. The camp doesn&rsquo;t go out of its way to discourage professionals; rather, the pros must prove to Cooper that they have what it takes to be on staff.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t say we don&rsquo;t want pros,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not our reasoning. With our instructors, we want to make sure, first off, they understand the game of hockey. And that they have the skills to play the game but, more important, that they have the ability to teach it.&ldquo;You can have a pro hockey player in camp and he can be the biggest superstar in the National Hockey League, but if he hasn&rsquo;t got the ability to convey his knowledge and pass it along to the kids, really, what does he do?&rdquo;The instructors are mostly university students, guys who have played minor hockey and at a few levels above that. But, as Geary says, they must be able to teach. And they must be committed. For one thing, they stay with the kids all day long, from morning until night.&ldquo;They (the campers) learn all their skills during the day, and at night they always play a game,&rdquo; Geary says. &ldquo;We make sure the staff is there that was teaching them during the day, to make sure the skills they learned during the day are used in the games. If they&rsquo;re not, they correct them right there on the spot.&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s the big difference when you get the camps with the pros. They&rsquo;re there for their two-hour stint, then they&rsquo;re long gone. Generally, when the kids play their games at night, there&rsquo;s nobody around but the counsellors and that sort of thing.&rdquo;Cooper Sports Camp differs from other camps in another major way&mdash;it emphasizes fun and recreation before hockey skills. Not that the players come away with only memories, however.&ldquo;The comments you get from a lot of parents indicate they notice the development in their skating and their shooting and their general skills,&rdquo; Geary says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re getting the same thing as in any other camp as regards knowledge of hockey, but we just do it in a little more relaxed atmosphere.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going into our 18th year. We have a basic philosophy of our camp&mdash;we want it to be an experience in a boy&rsquo;s life; we don&rsquo;t believe in winning at all costs. We want the boys to come and have a good time, we want them to learn about hockey, we want them to develop their skills, we want them to have some fun off the ice.&rdquo;&ldquo;The kids are aged 8 to 16. A lot of these kids, 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds, this is their first time away from home, so we don&rsquo;t want to hammer them and have everything based on winning and learning and everything. We want it to be a good time for them to mingle in, socialize with other kids. There&rsquo;s American and Canadian kids, kids from the Orient, from Europe&hellip;Basically we want them to have fun, learn their skills and go home happy.&rdquo;A typical day starts with a little bit of dryland training, followed by breakfast and power-skating drills. The campers then break up Into groups&mdash;on-ice skills, swimming, playing fields. There are four groups of 34 each week.The camp runs from July 9 to Aug. 19. Rates are $360 a week Canadian, or $290 U.S. &#9632;

ROUNDED EXPERIENCE AT COOPER SPORTS CAMP

The Mega hockey skate is the end result of an unprecedented four-year research study that was conducted in collaboration with Montreal&rsquo;s McGill University.Using modern computer technology and the science of biomechanics, researchers were able to pin-point the problem areas in natural skating motion. With this information, the challenge to create the ultimate hockey skate was set in motion.Today, when a player laces up a pair of Mega 10-90&rsquo;s, he&rsquo;s wearing hockey&rsquo;s most technologically-advanced skate. The Mega is the first skate designed to complement and maximize natural skating motion. And there are six important features that make the Mega Hockey&rsquo;s ultimate high-performance skate.Mega&rsquo;s unique Medial Power Clip improves forefoot control and support during your skating stride, providing a complete energy transfer from boot to blade.A Microtnodic rootbed properly aligns your foot, thereby enhancing your performance. Its unique three-dimensional contour cradles your heel and supports the midfoot, allowing for greater control.An anatomicallly contoured tongue fits both your feet individually; improving fit and protection, and eliminating lace bit because of a unique foam insert and thick felt backing.Mega&rsquo;s Asymmetrical Lace Opening has been designed to fit the natural shape of your foot, distributing lace pressure evenly across the high point of your foot for superior control.A Microflex Ankle Support System gives you superb rear foot control, lateral support and forward/backward flex. It is constructed from the toughest, lightweight polyurethane available.To allow you full freedom of movement, a Facing Flex Notch provides less restriction and improved performance which further improves your forward/backward flexibility.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00s3-01/6323226-1-eng-US/f00s3-012.jpg" title="f00S3-01" width="550" height="1036"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque, above, and Wendel Clark use the Mega 10-90.</figcaption></div>Mega has gained praise and recognition by one of hockey&rsquo;s premier goal-scorers, Mario Lemieux. Some of the other notables that wear Mega are Wendel Clark and Raymond Bourque. Players choose Mega because it&rsquo;s made to complement and maximize natural skating motion in a way no other skate has ever before. Because of this, the Mega has quickly become the envy of the skating business. It was the first sewn skate to introduce long-wearing Clarino lining and the only one that has the revolutionary Medial Power Clip.The Mega 10-90 has garnered its reputation as hockey&rsquo;s high-tech skate because of the stringent quality standards in materials and workmanship. And Mega offers a full range of styles and prices to suit the needs of the pro, intermediate and beginner. &#9632;

f00S3-01

MEGA IS ON THE OUTER LIMITS OF SKATE-OLOGY

Hockey school or camp is an expensive proposition. Let&rsquo;s make that clear right away.It costs in the hundreds of dollars to send your kid away for a week just to polish his skills, so you had better make sure of just what it is you&rsquo;re getting him into.Some parents might answer, &ldquo;It had better have a lot of on-ice activity and a lot of top-notch instructors.&rdquo; Fine. If that&rsquo;s what you want&mdash;and, more importantly, what your youngster wants&mdash;it&rsquo;s a valid choice.Other parents might instead say, &ldquo;Hockey training is great, but it&rsquo;s not the only thing. I&rsquo;d like my kid to have a good, all-round experience with plenty of other activities.&rdquo; That, too, is valid.The point is, it&rsquo;s your money&mdash;so make sure it buys what you want it to. One of the best ways of finding out is to get on the phone or sit down at the writing desk, and start asking questions. But what questions?We asked a few school and camp directors what should go into the decision-making process.One of the first things to clear up, of course, is the level of involvement desired. There are several good day hockey schools within driving distance of major metropolises. If the commuter way suits you best&mdash;Johnny finishes breakfast, leaves for school and is home for dinner&mdash;that&rsquo;s one route.On the other end of the scale is the live-in hockey camp. The child packs up his gear for a week or two and lives the experience. And, of course, there are many options in between.Once you&rsquo;ve determined the camp-vs.-school question, you should consider the type of hockey instruction offered.&ldquo;Some specialize in certain things,&rdquo; notes one director. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re an all-around school. We go to all the fundamentals and spend a lot of time with them. But we don&rsquo;t aim specifically at, say, shooting, or checking.&rdquo;Another director suggests you should check out the staff&rsquo;s credentials.&ldquo;Ask about their teaching philosophy, their instructors,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Try to pinpoint who exactly will be there, as opposed to who&rsquo;s advertised&mdash;how much on-ice is offered. As for off-ice instruction, what kind is offered&mdash;is it instruction or just games to fill time?&ldquo;And a very important one is the supervision&mdash;what kind of supervision is offered during off-ice time, when they&rsquo;re not occupied by some kind of hockey instructional program?You&rsquo;ve got a camp concept where you can swim and boat and waterski and take your mind off all of the other things. That&rsquo;s more of an all-rounded camp. Then there&rsquo;s programs like ours, where you&rsquo;re basically into hockey instruction from morning until night.&rdquo;Supervision is key, another camp executive says.&ldquo;One thing that is becoming bigger is the whole thing of supervision, in terms of what is the on-ice instructor ratio; and who are the on-ice instructors? Are they chosen because of their star quality or are they chosen because they are good teachers? Is it 24-hour supervision, if it&rsquo;s a camp?&rdquo;How the ice time is structured is equally important.I think the program features are something to look at,&rdquo; the camp spokesman says. &ldquo;Compare ice time&mdash;not necessarily ice time as in hours, but what are they learning on the ice? Are all the skills covered? Is there an adequate power-skating program? I think that almost every kid should be in power skating.&rdquo;Not all agree that power-skating should be part of the program, neccesarily, but you get the idea. If your kid wants an intensive program of stickhandling and passing, for instance, then request it.And if hockey is only part of the desired experience, look closely at the off-ice programs, too.&ldquo;What am I looking for?,&rdquo; the spokesman adds. &ldquo;Do I want a summer camp atmosphere with campfires, camp activities like sailing and swimming, or do I want to go to a place that&rsquo;s more hockeyschool oriented?&rdquo;It&rsquo;s your choice. &#9632;

WHAT DO YOU WANT IN A SCHOOL OR CAMP?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f00S5-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00s5-01/6323288-1-eng-US/f00s5-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0s10-01/6323281-1-eng-US/f0s10-012.jpg" title="f0S10-01" width="3057" height="3517"></div> &#9632;

f00S5-01

HOCKEY SCHOOLS… IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f00S6-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00s6-01/6323319-1-eng-US/f00s6-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Huron graduate Craig Simpson developed into a good all-round player with the strength and stamina to play in the NHL.</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s hardly surprising to find Craig Simpson of the Edmonton Oilers at the top of the class in the NHL when you consider he was the youngest &ldquo;graduate&rdquo; ever at Huron Hockey School&rsquo;s Pro Camp.That was back in the summer of 1983 when Craig was a fuzzy-cheeked 15-year-old who&rsquo;d just completed Grades 11 and 12 in one year in order to accept an American college scholarship. He lined up for a regular shift of high intensity shinny against the likes of Al Secord, Peter Zezel, Scott Stevens, Tony Tanti, Dave Ellett, John Tucker and Al Maclnnis who&rsquo;d all converged for the best pre-training camp preparation Possible.Craig attended Pro Camp on the recommendation of Huron Hockey School director and co-founder Ron Mason, who would soon welcome him to East Lansing, Mich., and the Michigan State Spartans program as the youngest freshman hockey player in the history of the NCAA.&ldquo;Craig was able to handle it all from a mental standpoint,&rdquo; recalls Mason, whose Spartans have appeared in the NCAA championship tournament a record seven consecutive times and captured the title in 1986. &ldquo;Physically we knew we had all the tools to get the job done and about the only thing he lacked was leg strength. His body had grown tall, (Craig now boasts a chiselled 195 pounds on a 6-feet-2-inch frame), and he really didn&rsquo;t have the strength to make things happen. At Huron we were able to concentrate on drills and exercises that develop strength in the legs and technique that would help a person like him become stronger. Consequently he was able to improve his acceleration, agility and so on.&rdquo;Craig&rsquo;s most vivid recollections of the four straight years he enrolled at Huron&rsquo;s Pro Camp near his hometown of London, Ont., are those of the skating instruction. &ldquo;They videotaped you everyday,&rdquo; remembers the Edmonton sniper whose 56 goals last season in the NHL were second only to Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s 70. &ldquo;Then later in the day there&rsquo;s a session in the video room where they analyze your stride and break it down into the angle you&rsquo;re skating at and whether you&rsquo;re striding out fully or not. There&rsquo;s nowhere to hide in that video room. Sometimes you can&rsquo;t believe how poorly you&rsquo;re doing but it&rsquo;s better to see it physically, right in front of you, what your stride is all about and how you can improve it.&rdquo;Craig now earns his living the hard way, in the NHL slots inhabited by gargantuan defenseman and ill-tempered goalies who&rsquo;d prefer he wasn&rsquo;t there. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a unique ability to get his stick on the puck,&rdquo; marvels Mason, who watched Simpson notch 31 goals in 42 games for the Spartans the season before he was the NHL&rsquo;s second overall draft choice by Pittsburgh in 1985. &ldquo;Even though he gets knocked down a lot of times he&rsquo;s still under control and if the puck is around him he can get to it. A lot of that is innate, but then again the ability to maintain balance and transfer weight from skate to skate, stuff like that, can be taught.&rdquo; Mason adds that the fact Craig was at Michigan State put him a step ahead of a lot of the others because many of the drills done there are also part of the Huron curriculum.Hockey school is just one variable in the development of a great player. Natural ability, desire and professional educators also play prominent roles and it&rsquo;s obvious Craig has been abundantly blessed on all counts. &ldquo;The staff at Huron Hockey School is a very knowledgeable group and they take the game very seriously,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;They care about the kids and they take good care of their kids. To fundamentally work at your skills at a young age and have a chance to develop and nurture them is certainly an advantage.&rdquo;During his playing days, Doug Risebrough, a former NHLer and current Calgary Flames&rsquo; assistant coach, returned to Huron Hockey School for an off-season refresher course after a five-year hiatus. Craig can foresee similar circumstances for himself. &ldquo;Last summer was pretty hectic after winning the Stanley Cup and all. But if I felt, in the future, that I needed to get a little more skating in and work on a few things I&rsquo;d definitely go back. Certainly going to Michigan State and having Ron Mason as the coach and the Huron Hockey School connection bettered my career and is one of the reasons I&rsquo;m in the NHL.&rdquo; &#9632;

f00S6-01

SIMPSON BENEFITTED FROM HURON

Selecting a summer camp is a difficult decision.When you select a hockey camp, you want to make certain you are getting a program that you are going to benefit from. You want to have fun while learning and improving your hockey skills.At Sports Ridley, we understand this fact so we&rsquo;ve made a list of the most important questions you should be asking about the camps you are looking at. This should make your job easier!Take your time in selecting a camp or school but don&rsquo;t take too long. The good ones fill up quickly. Look over what each has to offer and make sure you know what you are looking for. Feel free to call or write the schools for more information or brochures.We hope the following questions and answers will help provide you with the essentials you&rsquo;ll need to know when it comes time to make your important decision.1. How much ice time do I aet?When it comes right down to the nitty-gritty, the reason you&rsquo;re at hockey camp or school is to gain excellent instruction and as much ice time as possible. Sports Ridley gives you an average of four hours of ice time a day (atoms receive three hours daily while elite shooters and scorers receive four hours).2. Who are the instrctors?At Sports Ridley, you will be instructed by professional players who can teach and are committed to junior development. Sports Ridley only hires instructors who have proven excellence as players, teachers and coaches.3. Where is the camp? Is it easy to get to?Sports Ridley is located in the heart of the scenic Niagara Peninsula on the Ridley College campus. The lovely 84-acre campus is 10 minutes from Niagara Falls, 4C minutes from Buffalo and one hour from Toronto. Pickup service can be arranged for campers flying into Toronto or Buffalo airports.4. How many people are on the ice?For a program to run effectively, the on-ice groups must be a manageable size. Both the Elite and Regular programs are designed for 30 skaters and four goalies.5. Is the camp accredited and can you have references?The best way to ensure the quality of the camp you are going to is to go to an accredited camp. Accredited camps have been inspected and approved for membership by the Canadian or American Camping Association. Sports Ridley meets the high standards of the Ontario Camping Association and is an accredited member.6. What happens when you are off the ice?We want you to have fun while learning and we want your Summer Session programs to be memorable. Off-ice time is filled with a variety of activities including sports, ropes course, free swim sessions, competitive and recreational games.7. Will you be well looked after, and what will your food and accommodation be like?Ridley College is the site of Sports Ridley. Ridley is Canada&rsquo;s largest and most prestigious coeducational boarding school. As such, all the dormitories are comfortable and modern. Most are two-man rooms. You will feel at home immediately on our lovely and compact 84-acre campus.Many camps limit the amount of food that you can eat. At Sports Ridley, we know that you work hard and that you are going to be hungry. We offer a choice of food at each meal and it&rsquo;s &ldquo;all you can eat&rdquo;.8. What kind of value do I get for my money?Some camps are motivated by profit, Ridley College is a &ldquo;nonprofit institution&rdquo; committed to teaching excellence. We don&rsquo;t have to rent expensive facilities which you then pay for. &#9632;

RIDLEY ANSWERS ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0S37-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0s37-01/6323374-1-eng-US/f0s37-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">For the fifth year in a row veteran New York Islanmer Ice Hockey School. The school is offered in ders&rsquo; star Brvan Trottier will be hostinq his Sum-eight one-week sessions.</figcaption></div>Ask any skate manufacturer and he&rsquo;ll tell you a proper fit, without a doubt, is the most important element to get in a new skateIt&rsquo;s no wonder, then, that more research and development money is going into approximating a &ldquo;custom fit&rdquo; than any other area of the skate.&ldquo;Most of the NHL players have either basically either a stock skate or what we call a special make-up, or a special sizing&mdash;which would be either a split size or a split width, quarter size, special reinforcement to an area or something like this,&rdquo; explains Dan Riegelman, vice president of Riedell.&ldquo;But when we discuss custom fit, we really actually take five different measurements off the foot and a full tracing of the foot and make the adjustments or the allowances from that information, along with the type of hockey player they are, what they prefer wearing, the problems that they have.&ldquo;We use closed-cell foam in our 511 Comp, 91 Pro XL or 93 Pro XL,&rdquo; he continues, &ldquo;which, in its flat state will take on a set, so to speak, as far a new impression or indention from the ankle bone or heel bone. It takes about about a 60-per-cent set to an ankle bone which means it will have about 40-per-cent rebound to it for reforming in other places.&ldquo;The innersole, sock-liner we use is closed-cell polyurethane foam that fills up any of the cavities between the foot and the boot that are in contact.&rdquo;Guy Beaudoin, production manager at Daoust, notes that his company has also devised special technology to help shape the boot to the customer&rsquo;s foot.&ldquo;Of top of the line is the 501 and that skate has, for custom-fit purposes, laminations of inner foam,&rdquo; he says.<h2>MOST NHL PLAYERS SIZED SPECIALLY</h2>Some of those rebound and some of them don&rsquo;t, according to the demands of the individual foot. This approximates custom fit.Daoust believes the skate should take its more-or-less permanent shape after it&rsquo;s worn a while.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll rebound right away,&rdquo; Beaudoin says. &ldquo;The only shape or form it will take is after a continuous workout. It would only be after a break-in time&hellip;Naturally, a foot will expand depending on the time of day or the number of hours you&rsquo;ve been practising.&ldquo;There are other kinds of skates on the market which will react very rapidly, but might cause roughness in some places, causing irritation.&rdquo;The 501 comes in five widths, extra small to extra large, in quarter-sizes.One of the most innovative companies in the search for the perfect fit is Canstar, whose brands include Bauer and Micron. It was about five years ago, with the introduction of the Bauer 100, that the whole concept of custom fit was established with the introduction of Flolite.&ldquo;That was a putty-like material which allowed the consumer to achieve a custom fit with very minimal instruction or dealer staff around at the time,&rdquo; recalls Kirk Szabo, Canstar marketing manager. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t like fitting a ski boot, where you injected foam and took not only technology but time and money.&ldquo;This allowed a consumer to try on a pair of skates and the putty would basically warm up to the body temperature of the individual and would form or mold itself around the ankle, for what was considered a custom fit.&rdquo;But times have changed, and the technology has improved.&ldquo;Now that&rsquo;s only part of a custom fit,&rdquo; Szabo says. &ldquo;The other aspect was offering five widths. That really enabled the customer with an extra-wide foot, a narrow ankle, a narrow heel or both kinds of idiosyncracies to get a reasonably good cutom fit.&ldquo;But you&rsquo;ve got to bear in mind, if you want the ultimate custom fit, you&rsquo;re talking about making a skate from scratch. And that service also is offered by us. It&rsquo;s used primarily by the professional athlete, U.S. colleges, junior kids and the American League and so on.&rdquo;<h2>EACH FOOT HAS A &lsquo;NEUTRAL&rsquo; POSITION</h2>Thats very time consuming-only a couple of pairs a day can be made that way&mdash;and very expensive.Bauer continued along in its custom-fit path with the introduction of the Skate-thotic footbed, in conjunction with Superfeet of Canada. This allowed the dealer to customize an orthodic to the consumer&rsquo;s foot.The Skate-thotic, Szabo explains, &ldquo;is not a standard footbed you&rsquo;d find in a skate. It was an accessory item that was designed to fit the Bauer skate&hellip;&ldquo;Each foot has a neutral position it should be in, an ideal position. In order to get your foot into a neutral position, you basically have to mount yourself on to a chair. A vacuum bag is put around the foot, and a footbed with a plastic base to it is heated up and formed around your foot while it is in this ideal or neutral position, and then basically inserted into the skate.&ldquo;What it provides you with is really a customized footbed that gives you not only the kind of support required, but also a better balance, a better stride and so on, because your foot is in its ideal or neutral position.&rdquo;CCM uses a similar concept over the entire skate, for a different approach to custom-fitting.&ldquo;We have a new skate coming out this year called the 651 Tack,&rdquo; says Mike Jaques, marketing manager of CCM-Maska. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a skate that uses a vacuum-pump system.&ldquo;You heat a material inside between the leather lining and the nylon outer. The plastic-like material, when heated gets very soft. So you heat it with the gun, put it on your foot, then put a vacuum-pack bag over the skate and hook it up to a vacuum pump.&ldquo;You turn off the pressure and the pump takes all of the air out of the bag, sucks right around your foot and molds that material right around your foot. It&rsquo;s a perfect fit.&rdquo;<h2>PERFECT FIT THE ULTIMATE GOAL</h2>It might sound complicated, but Jaques insists it isn&rsquo;t, really.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very simple process,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The material is heated, you place a bag over it, the vacuum pressure takes all the air out of the bag&hellip;Then you let it cool and you have the perfect fit&mdash;molded completely around your foot. But it&rsquo;s still a traditional-looking skate, nylon and leather.&rdquo;Another advanced approach was taken by Canstar&rsquo;s Mega division, in the creation of its Micron, which Szabo calls &ldquo;the state-of-the-art skate.&ldquo;It was the first skate designed around a concept called biomechanics. It&rsquo;s really the bringing together of computer technology to design the skate.&ldquo;The skate was designed by a group of people with a tremendous amount of experience in the footwear business. Instead of looking at skate as a skate, they looked at it as a running shoe. When you look at the Nikes and the Reeboks, you realize how much further ahead they are in overall technology than the skate business, which tends to be a more traditional type of market.&ldquo;The boot was really designed around the shape of the foot,&rdquo; he continues. &ldquo;Instead of making it identical left and right around the skate, the boot was developed on an asymmetrical principle. So you&rsquo;re getting a unique right half and left half of the skate.&rdquo;After all of this technological insider talk, we&rsquo;ll leave you with just one tip: If the skate fits, wear it. &#9632;

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CUSTOM FITTING IMPORTANT TO SKATE MAKERS

It&rsquo;s a moment of mixed feelings for a parent.On the one hand, he or she is proud of the youngster&rsquo;s initiative. On the other hand, nervous fingers check out the pocketbook for extra finances.The question: &ldquo;Mom, Dad&hellip;Can I play hockey? On a real team, with real equipment?&rdquo;Who knows? Maybe the kid&rsquo;s the next Steve Yzerman. You&rsquo;ve got to let him go for it. So, down to the sporting goods store you head, blithely unaware that your firsttime equipment-buying decisions could play a major role in his development. Before you go, you should know what you&rsquo;re looking for and why. To help, we&rsquo;ve asked several experts in the field for advice. Here&rsquo;s what they said.Chris Clark, vice president of marketing, Cooper:The approach one takes, I think, depends on one&rsquo;s own knowledge of equipment and of hockey. If I were a novice hockey parent, I might go to a different outlet than someone who is very involved and active in hockey.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a five-year-old kid starting out playing tyke hockey, you don&rsquo;t need the absolute topend equipment. If you&rsquo;re playing select hockey or rep hockey, you probably need a little bit better equipment. That&rsquo;s the difference between junior pro and junior in our levels of play and what goes into the equipment.&rdquo;Dan Riegelman, vice president, Riedell:&ldquo;The first-time skater, little Johnny who comes into the sporting goods store with his dad, (should look for) a good quality skate that gives proper support in the foot itself, and that will currently fit the foot. Never buy skates too big because they&rsquo;ll cause abrasion to the foot&mdash;bruises, irritations, what have you.&ldquo;And look for good, proper ankle support and a good, firm, strong counter.&rdquo;Kirk Szabo, marketing manager, Canstar (Bauer-Micron):&ldquo;Probably the most important thing is fit. It could be a $300 skate but, if it doesn&rsquo;t fit, the child would be better off in a $25 skate that fits him. Compromising fit is going to compromise the child&rsquo;s performance, as well as the life expectancy of the skate. If it doesn&rsquo;t fit right there&rsquo;s a lot of excess room in the skate, there&rsquo;s friction on the inside of the boot, the skate&rsquo;s breaking down, so it&rsquo;s really the worst thing you can do.&ldquo;But the one thing you have to bear in mind with children is that you have to be practical about it. With children growing quickly, you&rsquo;re typically not going to be able to afford to buy a pair of skates every six months. So you do allow some room for growth, but I wouldn&rsquo;t recommend any more than half a size. And half a size is about a sixth of an inch. Wearing socks to make up the difference isn&rsquo;t a good idea because you get away from that whole fit principle.&rdquo;Mike Jaques, marketing manager, CCM-Maska:&ldquo;Look for a guy at the sporting goods store who will take you through the whole thing. You&rsquo;re obviously going to have an idea, roughly, of how much money you want to spend. Make sure the product fits well, that&rsquo;s the key. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be expensive. Your equipment should give you room to move around.&ldquo;For the first-time buyer, make sure everything&rsquo;s comfortable&mdash;and make sure there&rsquo;s no more than a half of size of room to grow into your skates.&rdquo; &#9632;

A FIRST-TIME GUIDE TO SKATES. EQUIPMENT

Eastern Ontario Jr. Camp celebrates its 11th anniversary in 1989.The program is designed for elite players who intend to play at competitive levels.The objective of the camp is to teach the various systems of hockey used today in North America and Europe (not covered at conventional hockey schools). We also offer goalkeeping and power skating instruction.Head director, Mac MacLean:The originator of the camp in 1979 is coach and G.M. of the Brokeville Jr. A Hockey Club and scouts for the New York Rangers (NHL) and the Kitchener Rangers (OHL).Chief instructor, Jeff Brown:Jeff has been associated with the camp since the age of 13 when he participated at the bantam level. He then attended for the next three years as a student and later he became assistant instructor and progressed to the Head Instructor position. Jeff is currently the anchor man on the power play for the Quebec Nordiques of the NHL. Jeff will be teaching two to three days a week this year because of the demands on his career from the Nordiques.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0s11-01/6323467-1-eng-US/f0s11-012.jpg" title="f0S11-01" width="558" height="1190"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Brown instructs at Eastern Ontario Jr. A Camp.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0s11-02/6323460-1-eng-US/f0s11-022.jpg" title="f0S11-02" width="558" height="1191"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo&rsquo;s Ray Sheppard learned skills at Eastern Ontario.</figcaption></div>Power skating, Lisa Sloan:Lisa will be starting her fifth season with the camp. Her teaching has helped many players improve their skating skills. This past season she had weekly power skating sessions with the Brockville Braves Jr. &lsquo;A&rsquo; hockey team as well as the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s of the O.H.L. Both organizations were more than pleased with the results attained due to the power skating.Goalkeeping instructor, Steve Hogg: In his third season as goalie instructor, Steve now plays for the University of Toronto. To assist him, we also have the Boni Goalie Machine.Meals and accommodations:All players stay in a dormitory in Anrprior and all meals are served by our staff as an all-you-can-eat buffet.This no-nonsense program is a week of gruelling activities with a minimum of six hours of ice time per day. Each candidate must also follow an off-ice training program during the summer which is supplied by the camp.Eastern Ontario Jr. &lsquo;A&rsquo; Camp is proud of its graduates who have gone on to be drafted by the OHL such as Jason Firth (Kitchener Rangers), Todd Backman (Oshawa Generals), Scott Feasby (Belleville Bulls) and others and by the N.H.L. Trevor Stienburg (Quebec), Jim Kyte (Winnipeg), Terry Carkner (Philadelphia), Claude Loiselle (New Jersey), Ray Sheppard (Buffalo) Bruce Cassidy (Chicago), just to name a few. All agree that this camp was instrumental in their development and preparation for hockey at its highest levels. &#9632;

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CAMP CELEBRATES 11 YEARS OF SUCCESS

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January 27, 1989

CARBO POWER FOR ATHLETES ON THE GO

SYLVAN LAKE: A HOLIDAY HOCKEY CAMP

NHL SUMMARIES

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