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.

February 10, 1989

The Hockey News February 10, 1989

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011372/5780575-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy&rsquo;s consistency gives Montreal the edge in goal, but the Canadiens can&rsquo;t match the Calgary firepower represented by forwards like Doug Gilmour, inset.</figcaption></div>Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames have established themselves as the top two teams in the National Hockey League.Once, there were signficant differences between the clubs, but not any more. In this, the year of Calgary&rsquo;s commitment to defensive hockey, they look like mirror images of one another.Starting from the top.Both general managers&mdash;Montreal&rsquo;s Serge Savard and Calgary&rsquo;s Cliff Fletcher&mdash;spent their formative years apprenticing in the Hab organization. It shows.Consider the similarities:They were tied for first overall as of Jan. 30. Montreal had a 34-14-6 record, and Calgary a 33-11-8 mark. The Flames had played two fewer games.They were one-two in goals-against averages. Calgary&rsquo;s team average was 2.80, Montreal&rsquo;s 2.84.They were similar in team size. Heights and weights taken at the beginning of the season measured the average Flame at 72.65 inches (just over six feet) and 193.2 pounds. The average Canadien stood 72.52 inches tall and weighed 191.7 pounds.They were tied in their season series, each with one victory. On Dec. 29, Montreal beat Calgary 4-3 to end the Flames&rsquo; 17-game undefeated streak at home. On Jan. 23, Calgary beat Montreal 3-1 to end the Canadiens&rsquo; 18-game home unbeaten streak. The tiebreaker is set for March 2 in Calgary.Nowadays, the biggest difference between Montreal and Calgary is geography, not styles or systems.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re two four-line hockey teams.&rdquo; said Montreal&rsquo;s Bobby Smith.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re probably the two most balanced teams in the league,&rdquo; said Calgary&rsquo;s Al Maclnnis.So how do you separate them?We couldn&rsquo;t, so we turned the job over to two of the league&rsquo;s most astute analysts&mdash;John Davidson and Roger Neilson&mdash;to compare the teams in six categories: Goaltenders, Defensemen, Forwards, Coaches, Specialty Teams and Intangibles.Davidson is a former New York Ranger goalie who does color commentary for Madison Square Garden Network. Neilson is a former NHL coach who now does analysis for The Sports Network.<h2>GOALTENDERS</h2>Both teams rely on the two-goaltender system&mdash;Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward in Montreal, Mike Vernon and Rick Wamsley in Calgary. But Roy and Vernon are the No. 1 goaltenders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02941/5780568-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="855" height="988"></div>As rookies, Roy and Vernon faced each other in the 1986 Stanley Cup finals. Roy emerged with the Conn Smythe Trophy and a Stanley Cup ring. Vernon, who played brilliantly, was just another in a long line of NHL goalies who haven&rsquo;t won a championship.&ldquo;I think there are two goaltenders capable of being very good&mdash;Roy and Vernon&mdash;and two goaltenders capable of being good&mdash;Hayward and Wamsley,&rdquo; said Davidson. &ldquo;Of the four, Roy has the capability of getting the hottest and making the more spectacular saves.&rdquo;Vernon generally gets overlooked. Unfairly, said Davidson.&ldquo;I think his problem is that he&rsquo;s got the best in the world (Edmonton&rsquo;s Grant Fuhr) 187 miles up the road,&rdquo; said Davidson. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the only problem he&rsquo;s got.&ldquo;Vernon is not a big goaltender, so he&rsquo;s got to spread out and stay on his feet. You don&rsquo;t see him making the fabulous saves. He&rsquo;s not as glamorous or spectacular, but he&rsquo;s steadier than most. He has to be. If he starts sliding and jumping and diving, the top half of the net will be black with rubber.&rdquo;Of Roy, a player who slumped some in the 1987-88 season, Davidson said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s much better than he was. I think he&rsquo;s much more consistent than he used to be. He spends a lot more time working on drills to improve his movement and to stay on his feet more. He cheats, but he doesn&rsquo;t cheat as much as he used to. By cheating, I mean dropping down and spreading out and using his size. I think he&rsquo;s very, very good.&rdquo;Neilson said there is little to separate them, but gives the Habs a minute gdge.&ldquo;Roy&rsquo;s been through it all (and won) and Vernon hasn&rsquo;t done it yet,&rdquo; Said Neilson. &ldquo;Of course, this could be the year he does it. But if I were a betting man. I&rsquo;d put it on Roy.&rdquo;WHO&rsquo;S BETTER: Advantage Montreal.<h2>DEFENSEMEN</h2>Each team usually employs three players who move the puck well and three who move the man well. Calgary has Gary Suter, Al MacInnis and Jamie Macoun in the first category; Brad McCrimmon, Rob Ramage, Dana Murzyn and/or Ric Nattress in the second. In Montreal, it&rsquo;s Chris Chelios, Petr Svoboda and rookie Jyrkki Lumme in the first; Craig Ludwig, Larry Robinson and Rick Green in the second, with Eric Desjardins as the seventh man.The Flames employ six defensemen, although Suter and Maclnnis get more ice time because of their power-play work. The Canadiens played a five-man rotation much of last year, but the emergence of Lumme gives them a sixth man.&ldquo;Petr Svoboda&rsquo;s having one of his best years,&rdquo; said Davidson. &ldquo;Chris Chelios is playing great. Craig Ludwig&rsquo; is maybe the most underrated defenseman in the league because he&rsquo;s so powerful.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s tougher Jo get to the front of Montreal&rsquo;s net for rebounds than it is to get to Calgary&rsquo;s front. Going to the front of Montreal&rsquo;s net is like going through a porcupine. You end up with stick marks and gouges and scratches. You pay.&ldquo;Calgary&rsquo;s defense is better offensively. It&rsquo;s much better on the power play. It&rsquo;s probably much better skating the puck out of the zone.&rdquo;Said Neilson: &ldquo;Montreal&rsquo;s physical guy is Ludwig. Green and Robinson are big guys and they can rub you out, but they don&rsquo;t play any more physically than (Rob) Ramage or (Brad) McCrimmon. Offensively, you have to give Calgary an edge because they&rsquo;ve got more guys who can jump up and get involved in the offense to a greater degree.&rdquo;WHO&rsquo;S BETTER: Even.<h2>FORWARDS</h2>The Flames were the No. 1-scoring team in the league last year. This season, they&rsquo;ve slipped behind Los Angeles and Pittsburgh as a result of their commitment to strong defense.They&rsquo;re well ahead of Montreal, scoring more than half a goal more per game (4.26 to 3.70). Last year, they finished 99 goals ahead of the Canadiens.&ldquo;I give it to Calgary by a landslide,&rdquo; said Davidson. &ldquo;They have four different lines that can get you. If two lines are going, then Guy Carbonneau&rsquo;s line and Brian Skrudland&rsquo;s line are going to have some heat on them. Which two is it going to be on any given night? If three are going, Calgary should win. And the Flames have four.&rdquo;Neilson said he gives Calgary&rsquo;s personnel an edge at center (Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto and Theoren Fleury over Bobby Smith, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Brent Gilchrist and Gilles Thibaudeau) and right wing (Hakan Loob, Joey Mullen, Mark Hunter and Lanny McDonald over Russ Courtnail, Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer and Mike Keane).But on the left side, Neilson said the Canadiens (Mats Naslund, Shayne Corson, Ryan Walter, Mike McPhee, Bob Gainey and Steve Martinson) have the edge over the Flames (Colin Patterson, Jim Peplinski, Tim Hunter, Jiri Hrdina and Perry Berezan).&ldquo;There&rsquo;s more scoring from Calvary&rsquo;s standpoint,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;The Canadiens may be better defensively at center. Overall, put everything together, I&rsquo;d call it even.&rdquo;WHO&rsquo;S BETTER: Advantage Calgary.<h2>COACHES</h2>After a 4-7-1 start and repeated calls for his head, Canadiens&rsquo; rookie coach Pat Bums silenced his critics.Calgary&rsquo;s Terry Crisp won the President&rsquo;s Trophy in his first season and could do it again this season.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve both done a good job,&rdquo; said Neilson. &ldquo;In Montreal&rsquo;s case, it&rsquo;s probably more of a one-man show. I think Pat calls all the shots.&ldquo;Calgary&rsquo;s is more team coaching. You&rsquo;ve got Tom Watt&rsquo;s experience as a coach and Doug Risebrough&rsquo;s as a player. Terry really listens to them a lot.&ldquo;Based on the fact that they&rsquo;ve been through it once&mdash;you can&rsquo;t buy that experience&mdash;plus Calgary does more off-ice preparation, I&rsquo;d give the edge to Calgary&rsquo;s staff.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011459/5780561-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="554" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Crisp takes a team approach to coaching.</figcaption></div>Davidson said, &ldquo;The biggest thing Pat Bums did was instill discipline. And he got respect while doing it. They listen to him now. Jean Perron listened to other people, but after his first year, he forgot to listen. Bums is a very-open minded guy, but a very strict individual, and the players responded to him.&rdquo;Jacques Laperriere is Bums&rsquo; assistant coach.Of Crisp, Davidson said, &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s good, he&rsquo;s certainly got enthusiasm. Terry probably matured as much as the team did in the playoffs. That was his first time. He was up against Glen Sather and John Muckier and those guys are sharp. I think there were some problems there.WHO&rsquo;S BETTER: Even<h2>SPECIALTY TEAMS</h2>The Flames were No. 1 in the league last year on the power play, with a 28.5 per-cent mark. They have slipped almost five percentage points to 23.6, fifth overall.By contrast, the Canadiens&mdash;a dismal 20th last year with a 15.9percent rate&mdash;were up to a more respectable 21.5 per cent, 12th in the NHL.&ldquo;Potentially, Calgary has the better power play,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;Penaltykilling, you&rsquo;d have to give the edge to the Canadiens. Gainey. Carbonneau and McPhee are three very experienced guys.&ldquo;Calgary&rsquo;s got good offensive forwards, plus Al Maclnnis&rsquo; shot. The Flames&rsquo; power play is down this year, mainly because other teams are forcing the points more. That forces Maclnnis to dish off rather than shoot. Calgary&rsquo;s got to work down low. If your point men are shooting, you&rsquo;re going to score. That&rsquo;s the best play on the power play.&rdquo;Davidson said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d take the Flames&rsquo; power play by a landslide over Montreal&rsquo;s. Montreal is lucky to get one unit and Calgary could put out three.&rdquo;As for penalty-killing, Davidson said Green is the key for Montreal. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what he does best. Their penalty-killing is exceptional when Green&rsquo;s in the lineup. When he isn&rsquo;t, it stinks.&rdquo;WHO&rsquo;S BETTER: Advantage Calgary.<h2>INTANGIBLES</h2>There&rsquo;s Montreal&rsquo;s tradition vs. Calgary&rsquo;s nouveau riche status. For whatever reason, when the Stanley Cup was on the line in 1986, Montreal had enough of something to get them over the top.&ldquo;Montreal gets great leadership from Gainey and Robinson,&rdquo; said Neilson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if Calgary has quite that type of leadership. They might&mdash;you don&rsquo;t know what goes on in the dressing room&mdash;but Gainey and Robinson are two guys who&rsquo;ve been on a lot of Stanley Cup winners.&rdquo;Davidson said, &ldquo;That (tradition) helps Montreal, but the deals Calgary made to improve itself were all for playoff guys. There&rsquo;s an ace in the hole in Doug Gilmour. I&rsquo;ve seen him play in the playoffs. He&rsquo;s a pretty good player. That&rsquo;s something Mike Bullard didn&rsquo;t supply them. That will make a big, big difference in every aspect: Faceoffs, power play, penalty-killing.&rdquo;WHO&rsquo;S BETTER: Montreal.The final score? A draw. Two categories (forwards and specialty teams) to Calgary, two (goaltenders and intangibles) to Montreal and two stalemates (defensemen and coaches). Even in categories where a winner was picked, it was too close for comfort.<h2>THE PLAYOFFS</h2>Finally, we asked our two experts who will win if these two teams meet in the Stanley Cup finals.Davidson said, &ldquo;Hike Calgary&hellip;in a long, long series. Montreal is a great team, but Calgary can be even better. They just have all the answers.&ldquo;To me, Calgary&rsquo;s biggest responsibility in the playoffs is to worry about Calgary and not worry about anybody else. Last year, they couldn&rsquo;t even make a line change properly. That&rsquo;s because they were so worried about who was going to be on against who. they forgot that they were a pretty good hockey club.&ldquo;To be as good as they were and to worry so much about the other team is almost too much to imagine. They can&rsquo;t be flying across the country with four anchors or three parachutes behind them. They can&rsquo;t have people not playing well like in the playoffs last year.&rdquo;Neilson said, &ldquo;Assuming both clubs are healthy. I&rsquo;d go with the Canadiens. That&rsquo;s only on the strength of them having more guys who have been through this than the Flames. Honestly, there isn&rsquo;t much to pick between these two teams. It is so close. I give it to the Canadiens solely on the basis of more experience and tradition. If not for that, it&rsquo;s too close to call.&rdquo; &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

DEAD HEAT

The International Hockey Centre of Excellence is in the video business.Using footage from the 1988 Calgary Olympics, the developmental arm of Hockey Canada has oroduced four instructional videos. The videos run 40 minutes.Puck Control and Deking features national team coach Dave King instructing atom level players. King, who runs the players through a series of drills, also offers teaching pointers to minor coaches.&ldquo;Dave King has used some of the drills from the video with the national team,&rdquo; said Centre of Excellence spokesman Dan Moro.Skatir.g&mdash;Balance and Power, features Canadian Spengler Cup team assistant coach Wally Kozak and Calgary power skating coach Bob Tuff.Kozak illustrates a wide variety of off-ice exercises which develop skating balance, power and flexibility. Tuff works peewee players through a series of skating drills.Defensive Concepts, featuring Minnesota North Star assistant coach George Kingston, teaches triangulation, defensive side positioning, support, angling and pinning.In Faceoffs, King&rsquo;s assistant Guy Charron discusses the role of defensemen, wingers and centers for faceoffs in all zones of the rink.Olympic highlights are used in each of the videos to illustrate concepts taught.Response to the videos, released last October, has been encouraging.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03279/5781366-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="543" height="941"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave King is a featured instructor on Hockey Canada videos.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;With the limited advertising we&rsquo;ve had, we&rsquo;ve already sold over 400 videos,&rdquo; Moro said.Plans call for two more videos&mdash;Regrouping, with instruction by University of Manitoba coach Wayne Fleming; and Puck Handling for Goalies, featuring national team goalie coach Dale Henwood.Videos may be purchased by sending check or money order for $25 to The International Centre for Hockey Excellence, Olympic Saddledome, P.O. Box 1060, Calgary, Alta., T2P 2K8. Checks should be made payable to Hockey Canada.Credit card holders may order by calling (403) 261-0460. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

LEARN ON VIDEO FROM HOCKEY CANADA

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02140/5783136-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Two of the greatest squared off when Boston&rsquo;s Bobby Orr broke in on Chicago goalie Tony Esposito during the 1973 All-Star Game in New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden. Orr&rsquo;s East Division team beat Esposito and the West 5-4. This year&rsquo;s classic will be played Feb. 7 in Edmonton.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WAY WE WERE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03107/5783174-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. A three-time Norris Trophy winner, he&rsquo;s pictured.4. He ended Bob Gainey&rsquo;s four-year hold on the Selke Trophy in 1981-82.9. Fred Shero was this defunct league&rsquo;s coach of the year in 197071.10. Where Mario Lemieux played junior hockey.11. Dangers.12. This Cap right winger was a 50-goal scorer in 1984-85.13. A former NHL referee, Art ----15. Animal associated with Hershey&rsquo;s American League entry.18. Now a Los Angeles King, he began his professional career with the Houston Aeros of the WHA.21. He topped the NHL point parade in 1957-58 and 1958-59.23. Dodge.24. This former Leaf is remembered for the beating he took from Dan Maloney, then a Detroit Red Wing.25. Jets&rsquo; right winger,------McBain.26. Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen also has an interest in this major league baseball team.<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. This veteran blueliner was drafted third overall by Washington in 1977.2. Forward units.3. Former Soviet coach coach named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.5. More skilled.6. This Czechoslovakian center axpeared in 71 games with the Capitals last season.7. Governors.8. Punch.14. He was involved in the trade that sent 18 Across to Calgary in 1986, Steve.15. Former Leaf Gerry James also played for this Canadian Football League team.16. This city was briefly home to the WHA&rsquo;s Nationals.17. He succeeded Brad Park as coach of the Red Wings.19. Dasher.20. Former Leaf and Blue Hammarstrom.22. Edward DeBartolo is the ----- of the Penguins.<h2>CROSSWORD SOLUTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02494/5783167-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="572" height="560"></div> &#9632;

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CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01860/5783229-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

Cover-01

The Hockey News

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011286/5780330-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="545" height="651"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur</figcaption></div>Montrealers have been anticipating the events of Feb. 4 for a long time&mdash;at least since Dec. 17, when the New York Rangers arrived in town to play without the injured Guy Lafleur.Lafleur&rsquo;s hurts have healed since then, however, making his return to the Forum the Montreal event of the season. The Hockey News will be there to capture the drama and excitement, when Canadiens&rsquo; boosters cheer the man who thrilled them for so many years as one of their own.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021049/5780323-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="543" height="638"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clint Malarchuk</figcaption></div>We&rsquo;ll also introduce you to the Soviet Union&rsquo;s star forward line of the future. Alexandr Mogilny, Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov are expected to dominate Soviet hockey in the &rsquo;90s the way the KLM line has for the last decade.Look also for the THN interview with Washington goaltender Clint Malarchuk, who recently recorded the 100th win of his steady NHL career. &#9632;

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NEXT ISSUE

I don&rsquo;t understand how someone like Marcel Dionne can be considered finished.The Toronto Maple Leafs could sure use him. He would be among their top four forwards. He has scored .69 points per game while mainly staying on the New York Ranger bench (7-15-22 in 32). Tom Fergus has scored .69 points per game through 48 games (13-20-33) as a regular forward for the Leafs and there are others who have produced even less.The Leafs picked up defenseman Brad Marsh when no other team wanted him and he has been by far their best defenseman. Dionne would give Leaf fans something to cheer about.Dean Frado, St. Catharines, Ont.<h2>RED-FACED FAN</h2>As a long-time Detroit Red Wing fan, it has become extremely frustrating and embarrassing to witness what is happening in the Motor City this season. It is obvious the lack of control over certain players, both on and off the ice, has upset the quality veterans, certainly causing unrest and poor play. The only bright spot is the play of the youngsters&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Doug Houda, Kris King and Adam Graves.Come on, Jimmy Devellano, let&rsquo;s quit hiding behind your mistakes and clean up what has become the joke of the NHL. You brought the Wings out of the cellar. Don&rsquo;t let them slide back.Jason Taylor, Kitchener, Ont.<h2>THE BABE</h2>While watching a recent Vancouver-New York Ranger game, I noticed the word &lsquo;Babe&rsquo; written on the right side of the Canuck jersey. Why is the word there?Mary Beth Collins, Scottsdale. Ariz.Ed. Note: It is in memory of former NHLer Walter (Babe) Pratt, a goodwill ambassador for the Canucks since they entered the league in 1970. He died Dec. 16.<h2>FUHR-GET IT</h2>I feel a grave injustice is being done to the great goalies of the past when I hear Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s name being mentioned as the greatest in history. Without a doubt Fuhr is the most overrated.Sure, the NHL is much more offense-minded than in the past. But shouldn&rsquo;t a goalie have the best stats in the present before he&rsquo;s elevated to the exalted position of best ever?Fuhr&rsquo;s true talents were shown with his jackrabbit 9-8-3 start to the season. It&rsquo;s time to stop maligning such goaltending greats as Jacques Plante, Bernie Parent and Ken Dryden by calling this slightly above average goaltender&mdash;who happened to backstop an offensive machine&mdash;the greatest ever.Fred Freedman, Sacramento. Calif.<h2>LALOR BLUES</h2>Montreal Canadiens managing director Serge Savard may have received a favorable reception from Habs&rsquo; faithful following his John Kordic-for-Russ Courtnail trade, but he will regret the day he traded Mike Lalor to the St. Louis Blues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011442/5780361-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="556" height="848"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Savard, above, will regret trading Mike Lalor.</figcaption></div>Lalor is a strong and consistent defenseman and he may have been on his way to a great second half despite his ankle injury. It is hard to imagine Savard bringing up any combination of two rookie defensemen next year to fill the spots expected to be vacated by Larry Robinson and Rick Green. Jyrki Lumme, Mathieu Schneider and Eric Desjardins, despite somewhat successful auditions, cannot hope to replace them.Lalor played a big role in the Canadiens&rsquo; 1986 Stanley Cup triumph. Savard did not give him much of a chance to prove how well he would play after returning to the lineup this year.Brian Jarvis, Lower Sackville, N.S.<h2>PROF FLUNKS</h2>General manager Ron Caron of the St. Louis Blues, the man they call &lsquo;The Professor&rsquo;, should be called &lsquo;The Pretender&rsquo; because he is in no way a hockey genius. Calgary GM Cliff Fletcher must be blackmailing. Caron. St. Louis is probably the best farm team Calgary has ever had. It seems to me &lsquo;The Professor&rsquo; has his pockets picked and picked often.By the way, Ron, is your phone ringing? Could be Cliff Fletcher, offering Ric Nattress for Brett Hull. Ron, don&rsquo;t pick up the phone.Jerry Haug, St. Louis, Mo.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to:&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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LEAFS SHOULD ACQUIRE DIONNE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021167/5780392-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="520" height="634"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB McKENZIE</figcaption></div>New York Ranger Dean Kennedy got more&mdash;or is it less?&mdash;than he expected when The Hockey News selected him the most average defenseman in the National Hockey League.First of all, it wasn&rsquo;t how he envisioned getting his picture on the cover of THN. In the end, we didn&rsquo;t disappoint him.That wasn&rsquo;t the Ranger defenseman&rsquo;s picture on the front cover of the Feb. 3, 1988 issue.The picture we identified as Kennedy is Ken Hammond, a Ranger farmhand in Denver who has played three games with the big club this season.There&rsquo;s a perfectly good explanation for this: We screwed up.&ldquo;I know I was Mr. Average but this is going a little too far,&rdquo; Kennedy said moments after picking up the offensive issue at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.Actually, it was New York Daily News hockey writer Frank Brown who first spotted the error. He showed it to Kennedy.Thanks, Frank.Brown then phoned us to report the error.&ldquo;Way to go,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Dean is really steaming.&rdquo;Oh, great. Bad enough to make a mistake of this nature at any time. But it&rsquo;s never advisable to rile a 6-foot-l&frac12;, 198-pound defenseman with a rugged reputation. Couldn&rsquo;t we have offended a Lady Byng winner?Kennedy, as it turned out, handled it like a perfect gentleman.&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t be surprised,&rdquo; said the 26-year-old native of Redvers, Sask. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my seventh year in the league and I don&rsquo;teven have a hockey card yet. Other guys have been around a lot less than that. They have hockey cards. I don&rsquo;t. At least if I do, I&rsquo;ve never seen it.&rdquo;Ranger rookie Tony Granato, who is Kennedy&rsquo;s roommate, wasn&rsquo;t helping matters. While Kennedy spoke on the Pearson pay phone, Granato was looking at The Hockey News cover, looking at Kennedy, and shaking his head.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m going to get a hard time about this,&rdquo; Kennedy said.The $64,000 question, of course, is how could any publication which purports to be professional foul up so badly?No excuses, but&hellip;Kennedy was traded from Los Angeles to the Rangers on Dec. 12. We had a wide selection of Kennedy photos in a Kings&rsquo; jersey, but none in a Ranger uniform.Photos taken at Ranger home games weren&rsquo;t a consideration because no photographer uses strobe lights at Madison Square Garden. Therefore, the quality of reproduction isn&rsquo;t satisfactory.So we called around to photographers in cities the Rangers had visited since Dec. 12.The Rangers played the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 27 at Brendan Byrne Arena. We called Devil team photographer Steve Crandall and told him we required a shot of No. 6 on the Rangers, but only from the Dec. 27 game.Crandall said he could oblige.We thought it checked out from our end. No. 6. Check. Cooper model helmet. Check. Dean Kennedy. Wrong.Unfortunately, what we ended up with was No. 6 on the Rangers from what had to be the Nov. 6 game at the Meadowlands. Yup. that was one of Ken Hammond&rsquo;s three games with New York.Only when Brown called on Jan. 27 (four days after publication) did we learn of the error.Of course, we apologized profusely. And then went one better than that.Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s photo on this week&rsquo;s cover was bumped to make way for Kennedy&rsquo;s. The all-time leading NHL scorer replaced by the all-time leading scorer from Redvers.&ldquo;I just might give Wayne a hard time about that.&rdquo; Kennedy said.Nothing average about that. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

OUR EFFORT WAS STRICTLY BELOW AVERAGE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03759/5780423-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0003-03

ELSTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031106/5780454-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="576" height="581"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Vernan</figcaption></div>Official NHL Sponsor Official Cars and Trucks<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011443/5780468-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="238" height="233"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021311/5780461-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="85" height="89"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Calgary Flames&rsquo; goaltender Mike Vernon, who registered three consecutive wins, a 1.73 goal-against-average and a .942 save percentage, was named Chrysler Canada Performer of the Week for the period ending January 29.Vernon, who was undefeated in his last 11 starts, edged Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Dan Quinn and Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; right winger Brian Bellows 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 Chrysler vehicle of his choice. In four years, Chrysler Canada and Dodge have contributed more than $125,000 to youth hockey associations across North America.Vernon, a member of the Campbell Conference team in the All-Star Game in Edmonton Feb. 7, began his week by leading his club to two straight wins over the NHL&rsquo;s first- and third-place teams. On January 23, Vernon was in net for a 3-1 win at Montreal which broke the Canadiens&rsquo; 18-game home unbeaten streak. He then turned away 30 shots in a 5-3 defeat of the New York Rangers (Jan. 26), ending their six-game unbeaten streak. Vernon replaced starter Rick Wamsley 10 minutes into a game Jan. 28 against Chicago Blackhawks and led his club to a 5-4 overtime win.The 25-year-old native of Calgary led the NHL in goals-against average (2.61) and wins (23). The Flames led the competition for the William Jennings Trophy with only 148 goals against.Quinn led all NHL scorers with nine points (3-6-9) in two games. Bellows registered seven points (4-3-7) in three games. &#9632;

f0004-03

NHL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>One of the more peculiar sights during the NHL&rsquo;s Super Series was on opening day (Dec. 26) in Quebec City, when the Central Red Army conducted its game-day skate minus hockey pants. A foul-up between the NHL and equipment supplier CCM left the Soviets without pants. Undaunted, the players took to the ice wearing the rest of their equipment. For the game that night against the Nordiques, arrangements were made to get red pants from a local university team. When those arrived, however, there were only nylon shells&mdash;no protective padding. The Soviets had to settle for blue Nordique pants instead of the traditional red, which they finally received for the next game in Long Island against the New York Islanders&hellip;Upon completion of the Super Series, Red Army players were to have been in the audience for a taping of Late Night with David Letterman, but coach Viktor Tikhonov was said to have vetoed the field trip.<h2>WRONG NUMBER</h2>New York Ranger broadcasts have been promoting a commercial for a video titled Tradition On Ice, which traces the club&rsquo;s history. &lsquo;You&rsquo;ll see the shot that won the Rangers&rsquo; last Stanley Cup,&rsquo; promises the ad. The Rangers&rsquo; 1940 Cup-winner was scored by Bryan Hextall, Ron Hextall&rsquo;s grandfather, off a pass from Phil Watson. Bryan Hextall wore number 12. However the goal shown on the video was a clean breakaway by No. 6, Neil Colville, who didn&rsquo;t even play on Hextall&rsquo;s line&hellip;Kings&rsquo; boss Bruce McNall says he&rsquo;s talking with the Vancouver Canucks about the possibility of joint ownership of a private team jet. Other reports have the Kings sharing a plane with the basketball Lakers, the Forum&rsquo;s other tenant. McNall says he&rsquo;s exploring several possibilities for a new&mdash;or refurbished&mdash;practice rink and might swing a co-use deal with one of the local universities. The Kings&rsquo; current facility in Culver City has come under considerable criticism.<h2>TWO SONS</h2>Terry Crisp&rsquo;s 20-year-old son, Tony, now plays center for the University of Waterloo (Ont.) Warriors after having bounced around with a number of teams in the Ontario League. &ldquo;My goal was to play in the NHL,&rdquo; Tony admits, &ldquo;but I came to realize that my size (5-9, 165-pounds) was against me. Having a name like my father&rsquo;s opens a few doors but once you get in there, you have to do it yourself.&rdquo;&hellip;Michigan freshman Vaclav Nedomansky, Jr. played his first collegiate game in the Great Lakes Invitational tournament against Michigan Tech at Joe Louis Arena. Nedomansky, whose father was one of the first Czechoslovak stars to click in the NHL, is a center for the Wolverines. The 18-year-old had no points in his first two games&hellip;Mike Cvik, the NHL linesman who stands 6-foot-8&frac12; and weighs 250 pounds, has some competition. Paul Reschke, a 31-year-old rookie Central Collegiate Hockey Association linesman, is 6-foot-8, 265.<h2>POWER PLAYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011347/5780499-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="557" height="745"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Taylor has overcome a stuttering problem.</figcaption></div>Most coaches agree players have more power than ever over coaches. Reed Larson says lack of communication is the downfall of most coaches. &ldquo;A lot of coaches think giving the guys two or three days off is a sin,&rdquo; says Larson, &ldquo;but in many ways it&rsquo;s a positive thing. The boys will usually come back roarin&rsquo;.&rdquo;&hellip;The oldest and perhaps oddest NHL hero is 34-year-old Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Harold Snepsts. The Pacific Coliseum gift shop keeps running out of the $19.95 official Harold Snepsts T-shirt. &ldquo;Harold&rsquo;s a hero in this town,&rdquo; says Canucks&rsquo; public relations director Darcy Rota&hellip;North Star attendance may not be the NHL&rsquo;s best but the club has sold out almost all 20 private Met Center suites which go for $45,000 each&hellip;Fred Shero, living just north of New York City, is looking to return to hockey&hellip;Former NHLer Garry Howatt says he&rsquo;ll soon return to the player agent business after a brief respite&hellip;Kings&rsquo; captain Dave Taylor licked his stuttering problem with the help of UCLA speech therapist Vivian Sheehan. Entertainer Larry Mann suggested Taylor see Sheehan&hellip;An NHL GM on the league&rsquo;s practice of making the Central Scouting Bureau draft ratings list confidential: &ldquo;Why bother-?&rdquo;&hellip;Why did the L.A. Kings pick up tough-guy Jay Miller from the Boston Bruins? According to one observer with a sense of humor: &ldquo;The Kings weren&rsquo;t sure how Marty McSorley would feel about beating up his friends on the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs.&rdquo; Miller should have no reservations&hellip;John Kordic&rsquo;s future in Toronto with the Maple Leafs doesn&rsquo;t look bright. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if he finds his way to Edmonton before the trade deadline. &#9632;

f0005-01

CENTRAL RED ARMY PRACTISES ITS PANTS OFF

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011528/5780530-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">There was no fanfare when Wayne Gretzky eclipsed Gordie Howe as the NHL&rsquo;s all-time leader in regular-season and playoff points.</figcaption></div>Los Angeles King center Wayne Gretzky became the NHL&rsquo;s alltime leading scorer Jan. 10, but no one noticed.That&rsquo;s because there&rsquo;s a hitch.With an assist against the Edmonton Oilers early in the new year, Gretzky increased his career point total for regular-season and playoff scoring to 2.011.Howe&rsquo;s career combined total is 2,010.Of course, Gretzky has yet to catch Howe in regular-season scoring. His 1,777 points (2,029 combined), as of Jan. 30, were 73 shy of Howe&rsquo;s 1,850.But The Great One holds the edge in the playoffs. He has scored 252 points (81-171) points in 120 playoff games. Howe added 160 points (6892) in 157 playoff games.Should Gretzky continue his 198889 scoring pace (33-75-108 in 50 games) through the end of the year, he will end up with 173 points.That would give him a total of 1,842 regular-season points, eight short of Howe&rsquo;s record.Gretzky&rsquo;s assist on Bernie Nicholls&rsquo; first-period goal, Jan. 10 against the Oilers, was his 90th point of the season and vaulted him past Howe on the combined list.The eight-time league MVP tied Howe Jan. 8 against Winnipeg with his 30th goal of the season.Gretzky&rsquo;s accomplishment probably would have gone unnoticed if not for ex-NHL statistician Ron Andrews, who uncovered the milestone. Andrews now works for The Sports Network, Canada&rsquo;s pay-TV sports channel.Add in the World Hockey Association statistics for each player, however, and Gretzky is still chasing Howe. Howe&rsquo;s WHA regular-season (174334-508 in 419 games) and playoff totals (28-43-71 in 78 games), combined with his NHL numbers, give him 2,589 points. Gretzky&rsquo;s WHA regular-season (46-64-110 in 60 games) and playoff totals (10-10-20 in 13) combined to give him 2,159 points, 430 short of Howe.On March 1, 1988, Gretzky surpassed Howe&rsquo;s NHL mark of 1,049 assists.<h2>PLAYER DIES</h2>Jeffrey Merrill, a 15-year-old player for Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac, Wise., died Jan. 24 of injuries received in a game against Middleton High School.Merrill was knocked to the ice in the first period along with an opponent when a slap shot struck him in the chest.He went into immediate cardiac arrest and three doctors present at the game couldn&rsquo;t revive him. He was pronounced dead at hospital.About 2,000 people attended his funeral Jan. 27. Fond du Lac cancelled its game that night, but resumed play Feb. 3.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to be easy,&rdquo; said principal Ron McCreedy. &ldquo;The team wants to do that (continue playing) and the parents were supportive of it.&rdquo;<h2>HARD-LUCK BUCK</h2>Ohio State center David Smith couldn&rsquo;t escape his personal rain cloud.The 6-foot-1, 180-pound freshman sat out three games in November because Buckeye coach Jerry Welsh was angry over a spate of stick penalties. His grade-point average dipped close to the 2.0 level players must maintain for eligibility. And he wasn&rsquo;t enjoying a banner season (5-712 in 21 games).But Smith was on the rebound-&hellip;until Jan. 7, when he scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over Ferris State. It was his second goal of the game, and his teammates were so excited they mobbed him. When the team finally ended its celebration, Smith was lying on the ice&mdash;his leg broken by teammates. He&rsquo;s finished for the season.<h2>CANADA TOURS</h2>Canada&rsquo;s national hockey team begins a seven-game tour of Europe and Scandinavia Feb. 3 in Malmo, Sweden. The national team, 14-24-2 in 1988-89, opens against Malmo of Sweden&rsquo;s First Division.The tour will end Feb. 14 and the team will return to Canada to prepare for a six-game series March 8-14 against the Finnish national team in British Columbia.Canada will play a seven-game tour in Northern Ontario, March 18-27, against the team the Soviet Union is preparing for the 1992 Olympics, Canada concludes its 1988-89 season at the Pravda Cup in Leningrad, April 1-6.<h2>BITS AND PIECES</h2>A spectator who jumped onto the ice at Boston Garden during the Bruin-Winnipeg Jets game Jan. 27 appeared in court Jan. 30 on a charge of disorderly conduct. With 1:56 remaining in the 4-3 Winnipeg win, Frank Baro, 22, of Medford, Mass., scaled the glass at the east end of the rink and trotted toward referee Bill McCreary. Linesman Ron (Bear) Asselstine tackled Baro from behind, knocking the fan into the end boards. Baro received an ovation from the crowd of 14,261 when he was escorted off the ice. A minute earlier, Winnipeg&rsquo;s Paul Fenton cut Boston&rsquo;s Glen Wesley for six stitches under the right eye with a high stick but no penalty was called.A team of celebrities, including Adam Baldwin of Full Metal Jacket,&nbsp;Bo Svenson of Falcon Crest and&nbsp;Alan Thicke of Growing Pains, will play Team Canada alumni from 1972 and 1974 in the Superstar Hockey Challenge at Maple Leaf Gardens Feb. 18. Money raised will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. The game will be televised by TSN. &#9632;

f0006-01

GRETZKY BREAKS HOWE’S COMBINED CAREER POINTS MARK

<div class="byline">BY STEVE KEATING</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011408/5780606-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Keating found Cosmos an appropriate name for his hotel in Moscow. It was, he writes, &ldquo;light years removed&rdquo; from the Luzhniki Ice Palace. (Photo by Steve Keating)</figcaption></div>When Toronto journalist Steve Keating told The Hockey News he was going to cover the Izvestia tournament in the Soviet Union, we asked him for his impressions of Moscow. We asked one other thing of him&mdash;to approach the assignment with an open mind. This is what he had to tell us.Covering a hockey tournament in Moscow is no walk in Gorky Park.While first impressions are often misleading, one thought comes to mind as Lufthansa flight 1374 touches down Dec. 14 in the Land of Lenin: Hell really does freeze over.Little happens over the next 10 days to change my opinion.Subtle hints that things are going to be different begin at 31,000 feet. The plane is only half-full. No happy-holiday types, no music, no movie&hellip;no women. Nearby, a stem-looking man is engrossed in medical notes, journals and brain-wave charts. Another plays with a calculator and slide rule.These are two guys I want to party with.The Canadian team that will compete in the Izvestia tournament, Dec. 16-22, is also on the plane&mdash;if in body only. This is the last leg of a torturous 20-hour odyssey that has taken them from St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., to Toronto; Toronto to Frankfurt and finally Frankfurt to Moscow.Team Canada players, many of them minorleaguers, are desperate for sleep. They stretch across three seats or sprawl on the floor. Coach Dave King says there&rsquo;ll be a practice when they land.The first glimpse of Moscow, the fifth-largest city in the world (pop. 8,000,000), is a darkened one made more menacing by blowing snow. The pilot says it&rsquo;s minus-20 degrees Farenheit.If this is Moscow, I&rsquo;m never going to Siberia.The airport is modem, customs predictably slow. Inspectors are methodical, meticulous&hellip;and maddening when one of them decides I&rsquo;m not who I claim to be. I&rsquo;ve grown a mustache but my passport photo hasn&rsquo;t.The gate swings open and the first steps into Moscow end at the end of a line.The queue: It is as much a part of Moscow as Red Square. You line up for food, you line up for the toilet, you line up for for taxis, you line up for newspapers. You line up for lineups. And if you&rsquo;re out of practice, you can join thousands of others each Sunday to cruise past Lenin&rsquo;s tomb.Soviets think nothing of suddenly joining a queue as they walk down the street. To a Muscovite, a lineup means something in short supply is for sale. If he doesn&rsquo;t want it, he&rsquo;ll come back out and sell it to someone who does.The Soviets could get a man from Moscow to the moon. Getting him from A to B (or whatever the Cyrillic equivalent is) closer to home is more challenging.It&rsquo;s been arranged&mdash;at the cost of $70 (U.S.)&mdash;a driver will be at the airport to ensure I&rsquo;m properly escorted to my hotel. This is not an option.The process is slowed by an obsolete IBM computer and a Ural mountain of paperwork. Communication is at a standstill. My first prolonged exposure to the language brings to mind the sound of gravel in a cement mixer and makes about as much sense.Two hours later, a shiny black car pulls up to the curb.The long drive into downtown Moscow is not unlike the drive into any major metropolitan city. Silhouetted against a moonless sky are row upon row of high rises. Closer to the city, another world begins to take shape. It&rsquo;s one of old, low-rise buildings and 12-lane roads. It&rsquo;s dark and dull. The only color arises from the occasional eerie glow emerging from the frost fog.Actually, it&rsquo;s hard to see anything. Windshield wiper fluid remains a decadent Western product. Most drivers use only parking lights, not headlights. Ninety per cent of the cars are Ladas.We arrive at the Cosmos, the Soviet Union&rsquo;s answer to the Flaihingo Hotel. There are slot machines in the lobby but they can only be played with foreign currency. It&rsquo;s 24 floors of $175-a-night mediocrity.<h2>WINDSHIELD WIPER FLUID REMAINS A DECADENT PRODUCT.</h2>&ldquo;How much they charge you?&rdquo; inquires Yuri Markov, press officer for Izvestia. &ldquo;Those bastards, it&rsquo;s one thing to pay and get something but I know you get garbage. I&rsquo;ve travelled to your country many times and I know you get what you pay for there.&ldquo;I know that may sound unpatriotic but it&rsquo;s true.&rdquo;Room 1843 has a television the size of a drive-in movie screen but it gets one station and the Russians always win. The radio in the headboard can be turned down but not turned off. Travellers to the USSR have long suspected the radios are actually two-way transmitters that can be used to monitor a person&rsquo;s conversations. There&rsquo;s toilet paper that approximates parchment paper, but no light in the bathroom. A previous guest&rsquo;s garbage would be a good start for a land-fill site. The telephones work&hellip;on a hit-and-miss basis. There&rsquo;s a room service number on the phone. But there is no room service.Other than that, the room is perfect.The light of day brings only different shades of grey. The sun will not shine for six days. From the 18th floor it looks cold and uninviting outside.The Cosmos is an appropriate name for this hotel. It is light years removed from the Luzhniki Ice Palace where all games are being played.I head for the rink. A taxi is nearby. &ldquo;Luzhniki,&rdquo; I say. &ldquo;Nyet,&rdquo; he says.Nobody will take me there. Time to try the subway. Two hours and 24 stops later it&rsquo;s time to try the cabs again. Fatigue and frayed nerves brings to mind advice offered by Canadian journalists who have been in this spot before.<h2>CIGARETTES SERVE AS CAB-FARE CURRENCY</h2>With new self-assurance I climb a snowbank and thrust a pack of Marlboros into traffic. Within 10 seconds, four taxi drivers narrowly miss crashing into one another in their haste to pick me up.By the time I&rsquo;m finished I&rsquo;ll have gone through two cartons of cigarettes and I don&rsquo;t smoke.Taxi cabs are the market places of Moscow, malls on wheels. The business of a country is conducted in the back seat of Ladas. It&rsquo;s one-stop shopping. But the biggest temptation is an illegal one&hellip;the black-market exchange of currency.Rubles cannot be brought into the Soviet Union, and they cannot be taken out. Money is supposed to be exchanged at goverment institutions where the transactions are registered on an official form which must be produced before you leave the country.One ruble costs roughly $2 (U.S.). For $l my driver will give me five rubles. I resist his tempting offer. He increases it to six rubles. With hard currency at his disposal, he can find someone with access to one of the few hard-currency stores, or beriozkas, and purchase goods otherwise unavailable.The car skids to a halt in front of Luzhniki. The trip has been enlightening and profitable.Luzhniki is stark and austere. It is just one of many buildings and stadiums in a park dedicated to sport. There are 250 journalists here to cover the biggest and most important of Soviet hockey tournaments. Nearly 200 are from the Soviet Union. All but one of the remaining reporters are from Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Finland. I am covering the event for Canadian Press.Most of the media congregate in the press room and do the usual press-room thing&mdash;eat. But here you have to pay for it and &ldquo;it&rdquo; is different from the usual press room fare. Caviar and champagne replace beer and pretzels.Still, food remains the biggest complaint.&ldquo;The most difficult thing about being here is the food,&rdquo; growls Goran Dundberg of the Swedish News Agency as he pokes at a pinkish boiled wiener caught between two pieces of stale bread. &ldquo;This is the worst. I&rsquo;m afraid I will starve.&rdquo;Edible food is at a premium. Good food is all but impossible to find. Five bowls of bortsch and two servings of Chicken Kiev, washed down with barrels of beer and soda pop, represent 10 days of nourishment for me. I lose 18 pounds.Only the ice cream saves me from starvation. It is wonderful and available everywhere, including Luzhniki, where vendors abound. There are no hot dogs, peanuts or popcorn but there is delicious ice cream. Baskins and Robbins, however, it isn&rsquo;t. There is but one flavor. You guessed it&mdash;vanilla.Canada, the defending champion, loses to the Soviet Union 7-1 in the tournament-opener. Organ music fills the rink. One of North America&rsquo;s worst hockey traditions has been exported. After all, why shouldn&rsquo;t they suffer too? Except the Luzhniki organist is good, the best I&rsquo;ve ever heard. His repertoire includes the all-time rink favorite &lsquo;Kiss Him Goodbye&rsquo;&mdash;Na, na, na, na. Na, na, na&hellip;After the game, European journalists quickly fill the telephone booths. At $15 a minute for a call to Canada, Ma Bell is not an option for me. Associated Press represents my story&rsquo;s route to the Western world. But getting to the Western world might be easier than getting to AP.Cabbies are slow to take the bait this time. Nearly an hour passes before a car pulls over. It doesn&rsquo;t look like a taxi, but the driver is willing to take me where I want to go&mdash;the APoffices in the foreigners&rsquo; compound on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.The building is indistinguishable from several other old, low-rise apartments that surround it. At the entrance, almost buried under piles of snow, are two small huts. The entrances are secured by armed guards. Passports must be presented.A ride to the eighth floor in a one-man elevator ends at a dirty hall with non-descript doors.Behind door No. 1 is a world full of bright lights and familiar sounds, the tapping of keyboards mixed with comprehensible conversation.Work goes smoothly and quickly. The stories are dumped into the AP computers. It&rsquo;s 1 a.m. and it feels warm and safe here. I&rsquo;m in no hurry to begin the journey back to the Cosmos.But it is an easy one. A cab delivers me to the hotel. It&rsquo;s a pleasant trip, strangely quiet and peaceful. As the battered cab struggles past Red Square, it provides a new and wondrous sight that brings a satisfying feeling to the end of day. Red Square is bathed in a yellowish light. Snow falls softly on soldiers patrolling the area West German Mathias Rust used as a landing strip. A star&mdash;red, of course&mdash;overlooks the cobblestones from one of the Kremlin&rsquo;s towers.It&rsquo;s late but the party is in full swing at the Cosmos. Leading the way are the Finns.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve taken over from the Australians as the world&rsquo;s biggest drunks,&rdquo; proclaims Hannu Olesauen, a fan. &ldquo;Many come for the cheap drink and to chase the Russian prostitues but some come for the hockey.&rdquo;A nightcap and the day comes to a close.The routine replays itself daily. Things don&rsquo;t change much in the Soviet Union, where the price of bread has been the same since 1924.By Dec. 22, it&rsquo;s not that anyone is anxious to leave but, to be sure we don&rsquo;t miss our flight, we arrive at the airport six hours early.Getting out of the Soviet Union is as difficult as getting in. Three inspections and I&rsquo;m one gate and 20 hours away from a pizza.The final minutes are spent talking to Minnesota North Star scout Chuck Grillo, who has spent three days at the tournament.&ldquo;I love working in Moscow,&rdquo; says Grillo. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me here a bit, I enjoy learning about other countries. I think that&hellip;&rdquo;Grillo&rsquo;s words are drowned out by the sound of a distant skirmish. Screams increase in volume as a pair of Oriental women are dragged past the lounge by KGB officers and a halfdozen soldiers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like that before,&rdquo; says Grillo. We are both shaken.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; I say. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re outta here.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

MISSION TO MOSCOW

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02992/5780637-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Granato credits Ranger management for building a solid blend of veterans and young players.</figcaption></div>Don Granato recalls strolling down Chicago&rsquo;s West Madison Street with son Tony, en route to The Stadium.The home of the Blackhawks was a place the elder Granato hoped his kid would become infected with the same enthusiasm about hockey that had gripped him ever since Chicago&rsquo;s Pony Line of Bill Mosienko and the Bentley Brothers, Max and Doug, skated rings around the opposition.&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; laughs Don Granato, a Chicago area beer distributor, &ldquo;I come to the Stadium to watch Tony play for the Rangers. He&rsquo;s come a long way.&rdquo;The odds were stacked against Tony for reasons other than his problems finding ice in his hometown of Downers Grove, III.Granato had his share of setbacks on the way to the NHL. He was rejected by the 1984 U.S. Olympic team during his freshman year of what became an outstanding four-year career at the University of Wisconsin. He rebounded to make the 1988 Olympic team. He had a goal and seven assists in six games in Calgary after going 40-31-71 in 49 pre-Olympic outings.But while U.S. team captain Brian Leetch was immediately brought to Broadway after the Games, Granato was dispatched to Denver of the International League. He scored 13 goals and 14 assists in 21 games there, but in training camp last fall was not considered a sure thing for the varsity. By late January, this same Granato was a top candidate for the Calder Trophy as rookie-of-the-year. His 31-19-50 totals in 48 games led not only the Rangers but all rookie scorers.Yet he, along with Leetch, was left off the Wales Conference All-Star team by Boston Bruin coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. Left winger Brian Mullen was selected to represent the Rangers.THN: Were you upset about not being picked to the team?TG: I didn&rsquo;t expect to make the team going back to earlier in the season, but based on what has happened to me, it would have been nice. Brian (Mullen) certainly deserves to be in the All-Star Game and I&rsquo;m glad for him that he got picked. It&rsquo;s no big deal for me and to tell you the truth, I wouldn&rsquo;t mind a couple of days off. As for O&rsquo;Reilly, I don&rsquo;t have any resentment toward him for leaving me off the team. You have to remember that he&rsquo;s in a pretty tough position when it comes to picking guys. I accept what he did.THN: Why are so many people surprised at how well you&rsquo;re playing?TG: I don&rsquo;t know. I&rsquo;m surprised in a way. I didn&rsquo;t expect to contribute as much offensively as I have so far. It&rsquo;s difficult to figure how you&rsquo;re going to make out when you move from one level of hockey to the next. You really can&rsquo;t be sure until you actually get there and get the chance to show what you can do. I got my chance and I got with a coach willing to put me in all kinds of situations, from penaltykilling to taking a regular turn.THN: Your teammate Brian Leetch jumped directly from the Olympic team to the NHL. You moved from Calgary to the Rangers&rsquo; farm team in Denver. Did that bother you?TG: I was disappointed a little, but if you saw what the team was doing then, you could tell that they were going with the veterans down the stretch. Although Brian was brought up early, they expected more from him than they did me, so they thought I could wait. I think my time in the minors helped tremendously. I went to Denver and I thought I played my best hockey there. I went with a positive attitude and worked as hard as I could to improve. Things went real well and (Denver coach-general manager) Peter Mahovlich was the main reason. He told people in the Ranger organization about me. He had confidence that I could play at the NHL level.THN: The Rangers have been an enigma. Most experts didn&rsquo;t figure they&rsquo;d even be a playoff contender this year. Who&rsquo;s making them work?TG: Everybody, really. First, you&rsquo;ve got to go look at management. They&rsquo;ve finally got the blend they&rsquo;re looking for&mdash;I think. I certainly hope there aren&rsquo;t many more trades. We&rsquo;ve got experienced veterans who&rsquo;ve been around and younger guys who can add enthusiasm. In the key positions, like in the net and on the blue line, we&rsquo;re really solid&mdash;especially when everyone&rsquo;s healthy. And when (injured) Normand Rochefort is back on defense he&rsquo;ll help us still more. He&rsquo;s solid.THN: Your two bosses, Phil Esposito and Michel Bergeron, are emotional personalities and so are you. Which one are you closer to, emotionally?TG: Both of them are extremely keen competitors. They hate to lose. You can actually get scared being around those guys after a loss. That&rsquo;s the one thing they have in common and that&rsquo;s the way our team is right now.THN: Has your size (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) hurt you?TG: If you&rsquo;re smaller, you&rsquo;re going to be quicker. I use my quickness to my advantage. I&rsquo;ve come to this conclusion; because you&rsquo;re a certain size it doesn&rsquo;t mean you can&rsquo;t play in the NHL. &#9632;

f0011-02

‘I DIDN’T EXPECT TO CONTRIBUTE AS MUCH OFFENSIVELY’

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011453/5780668-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="443" height="635"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAY GREENBERG</figcaption></div>This is not a column ripping the All-Star Game. No sir, no more of those from this scribe.I&rsquo;ve clone one every year for I don&rsquo;t know how long. The first time I was so moved probably came when Tracy Pratt made the all-stars, but like the games themselves, the columns all run together.I promised myself I would find something else to write about this year. See, too many columnists really don&rsquo;t have enough to say, so they just keep flogging the same dead horse. Or the Nordiques, whichever the case may be It gets boring.In this business, you have to keep challenging yourself to come up with something new. All the really critical issues of the hockey day&mdash;stick violence, fighting, alcoholism, the playoff system, new rules and Yolanda&mdash;have been recycled more times than Doug Halward. We need something fresh.Of course, the press has a watchdog function, and when I see something as disturbing as the Bruins&rsquo; inability to harness the goal-scoring talents of Lyndon Byers, I must speak out.But I can&rsquo;t keep doing the same things over and over again and still call myself a columnist. I&rsquo;d look like the Jets trying to move the puck out of their own end. The result would be as tedious as Randy Wood.I&rsquo;m weary, man. Sometimes the burden of filling this space gets as heavy as Grant Fuhr on Sept. 1.You have to challenge yourself. So I swore on the head of Theoren Fleury that this week, the one I usually reserve for doing a number on the All-Star Game, I&rsquo;d find something else to write.I&rsquo;d said all I had to say about how the NHL could really make its All-Star Game glitter if it had someone in its office who was a little more creative than, say, John Kordic with the puck. I had insisted too many times that if the league wanted to work at the All-Star Game a little harder than, say, Michel Goulet does in 5-on-5 situations, how much fun it could be.I&rsquo;d said all I had to say about the fan balloting and how New Jersey shamelessly stuffs not only Steve Rooney into our consciences, but the ballot box too. I&rsquo;d made the point ad nauseam about how you can&rsquo;t really call it an All-Star Game if the rules make it virtually impossible to have all of the most deserving players there.I&rsquo;d raised repeated examples as to how someone who has performed as consistently as Tim Kerr gets left off the fan ballot because he was injured most of last year. I&rsquo;d vented my frustrations over how the regulation that every team must be represented puts the coach who has to select the team into an untenable position.I&rsquo;d railed on about how good players having mediocre years arc almost automatic selections because of their reputations. I&rsquo;d pontificated about how it&rsquo;s a genuinely nice touch when the coach picks a golden oldie like Denis Potvin or Larry Robinson. So why not leave extra places for future Hall-of-Famers so that guys having more productive seasons don&rsquo;t get shut out?I&rsquo;d often puzzled aloud as to why the NHL will not leave an extra day for the all-star break. That way everybody who had Sunday games could travel on Monday, leaving a full day on Tuesday with everybody at the site of the game. That way, the league could get the maximum publicity from the event. The game could then be played on Wednesday.This year there are four games in the eastern time zone on Sunday, two of which are at night. This makes it impossible for the players on those four teams to be in Edmonton on time Monday and with enough sleep to enjoy the entire experience.I&rsquo;d gone on and on and on about how it&rsquo;s the same old, non-contact game every year, much more a car raffle than a competitive sporting event. I&rsquo;d implied strongly the Wales vs. Campbell conference format really makes very little sense when the NHL schedules its regular season and playoffs with divisional identities as its highest priority. Then, once a year the Wales and Campbells are supposed to care who is better?I&rsquo;d ruminated over the fact that, other than trying to attract a big-name entertainer for a dinner the general public doesn&rsquo;t see anyway, nothing innovative is ever done to turn the two days&mdash;make that 36 hours for the people with travel problems&mdash;into an extravaganza. The National Basketball Association has an oldtimers game and a slam-dunk contest. The NHL people always agree that would be a great idea. But nobody ever gets anything done about it.In sum, I had raised what I thought was a good question: If you can&rsquo;t do it right, why do it at all? Through the accident of birth of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, last year&rsquo;s game in St. Louis had a little bit of a tingle to it. For that, I give the NHL no credit.The people in the league and host city who do all the details work very hard. The people who are supposed to have some ideas to make this thing a great attraction have none.But I&rsquo;m not going to write all that this year. For one, I don&rsquo;t want to bore you as badly as the Bruins do trying to score a goal. Two, if the All-Star Game has a lot of things wrong with it, it&rsquo;s not that big a deal this year because almost nobody in the United States will be able to see it on television, anyway. Matter of fact, hiding its All-Star Game is the smartest thing the NHL has done in some time.See, if the league doesn&rsquo;t care any more, neither do I. It doesn&rsquo;t trouble me at all that Terry O&rsquo;Reilly picked his own goalie, who had a 7-13-4 record and 3.25 goals-against average, over Patrick Roy, 19-4-3 with a 2.61 average. No skin off my nose.So this column is really about the red line having outlived its usefulness and one way the NHL could open its game up a little bit would be to allow the two-line pass.The All-Star Game doesn&rsquo;t deserve a column. This year. I&rsquo;m not going to give it one. &#9632;

f0012-01

THIS IS N’T ABOUT THE ALL-STAR GAME

<h2>JETS</h2>Left winger Iain Duncan returned to the lineup Jan. 26 in an 8-6 loss to the New York Islanders, after missing 14 games with a fractured elbow. But Duncan was forced to leave the game after suffering nerve damage in his shoulder in a first-period collision. He was sent home the next day and remained out of the lineup indefinitely&hellip;Center Thomas Steen continued to dazzle, collecting three points at Pittsburgh Jan. 25, two at Uniondale, N.Y., and a goal in Boston Jan. 28 to run his season totals to 17-36-53 in 48 games&mdash;impressive numbers considering his limited power-play appearances. The 28-year-old eight-year veteran was also an impressive plus-21, best on a team full of minuses&hellip;Rookie Pat Elynuik collected his 19th and 20th goals of the season Jan. 28 in a 4-3 win over Boston. Elynuik also had an assist, giving him 42 points in 42 games.<h2>KINGS</h2>Wayne Gretzky would like to put an end to constant reports he is feuding with coach Robbie Ftorek. &ldquo;We have no problems,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so sick. It&rsquo;s getting frustrating for me. The funny thing is, he and I know we have no problems, yet it&rsquo;s on all the front pages.&rdquo;&hellip;Gretzky was wearing the &lsquo;C&rsquo; with captain Dave Taylor out with an inflamed knee&hellip;One day after Bernie Nicholls became the fourth King to make the Campbell Conference all-star team&mdash;joining starters Gretzky, Luc Robitaille and Steve Duchesne&mdash;he collected only one of the three goals he needed to reach the 50-goal plateau in 50 games. Nicholls scored a first-period goal, his 48th, in a 6-2 loss to Vancouver Jan. 26. Nicholls scored two goals in a 7-6 loss to Edmonton Jan. 28, giving him 50 goals in 51 games to tie the club record for fastest 50, set by Charlie Simmer in 1980-81. He also set a club record in that game with 13 shots.<h2>OILERS</h2>Down three injured defensemen. Oilers&rsquo; general manager-coach Glen Sather acquired Doug Halward from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a 12th-round draft choice. Halward had been playing with the Red Wings&rsquo; Adirondack farm team. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s experienced, he&rsquo;s played a lot of hockey (629 NHL games), he can shoot the puck, he&rsquo;s a good competitor&hellip;and he&rsquo;s a live body,&rdquo; Sather said of the 33-year-old, whose tour of NHL duty has included stops in Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Detroit&hellip;In his first game with the Oilers, Halward was slashed by an unknown Chicago assailant and came away with a broken finger. He also suffered a pulled groin in practice and missed a game&hellip;Esa Tikkanen made a surprise return to the Oilers&rsquo; lineup Jan. 23, after fracturing his wrist two weeks previous in Los Angeles. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got no pain in his wrist,&rdquo; explained co-coach John Muckier. It was thought Tikkanen would be out three to six weeks&hellip;Steve Smith underwent successful surgery to repair a recurring partial dislocation of the left shoulder. He was expected to be in hospital two days and may be back for the playoffs&hellip;At plus-37, defenseman Craig Muni was the NHL&rsquo;s plus-minus leader.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021201/5780699-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="548" height="772"><figcaption class="caption-body">Edmonton&rsquo;s Craig Muni led the NHL with a plus-37 rating.</figcaption></div><h2>CANUCKS</h2>Last year the Canucks earned just three of a possible 32 points against Calgary and Edmonton in the Smythe Division. But this year they had a win and two ties in six meetings with the Flames, three wins and one loss against the Oilers. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bit deceiving because we caught Edmonton tired once, and earlier they were adjusting to having Gretzky missing,&rdquo; said coach Bob McCammon. &ldquo;But basically we&rsquo;ve played our division a little stronger than last year. If only we could beat Winnipeg.&rdquo; The Canucks were 1-4-1 against the Jets. The Canucks were 8-10-3 against Smythe opponents after going 7-21-4 last season&hellip;Ex-Montreal Canadien winger Jose Charbonneau made his debut in a Vancouver uniform against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 29. He played only a few shifts, but earned an assist.<h2>FLAMES</h2>Goalie Mike Vernon picked up his league-leading 23rd win, relieving Rick Wamsley in the 11th minute of a Jan. 28 game against Chicago. He allowed only one goal the rest of the way as the Flames rallied for a 5-4 win. Vernon&rsquo;s 2.61 goals-against average was his best-ever mark this late in the season. He was 5-0-1 with a 1.51 GAA in his last six appearances&hellip;Center Perry Berezan, who&rsquo;d been scratched from the Flames&rsquo; lineup for seven consecutive games, was asked what his role would be on an upcoming road trip. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the Accidental Tourist,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Jamie Macoun had his helmet cracked by a Stephane Richer slap shot in the Flames&rsquo; 3-1 win Jan. 23 at Montreal. Macoun suffered a concussion on the play and was expected to miss 10 to 14 days. &#9632;

f0012-02

THE NHL

LUCKLESS DUNCAN INJURED AGAIN

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011366/5780730-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="727" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE MULLEN</figcaption></div>He is thirtysomething on a Calgary Flames&rsquo; team composed mostly of 20ish players.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m a young 32.&rdquo; said right winger Joey Mullen with a smile. &ldquo;Cliff (Fletcher. Calgary general manager) says it&rsquo;s because a lot of people have played 80 games since they were 16 or 17. I wasn&rsquo;t doing that. So the wear and tear on my body isn&rsquo;t the same. That makes sense to me. Until I was 22.1 was only playing 40 games a year.&rdquo;He has scored 40 goals a year for five consecutive years, but with 32 goals in 51 games this year, he was on pace to reach 50 for the first time.Mullen has never made an all-star team, but will make his first appearance at an All-Star Game Feb. 7 in Edmonton.He is having his usual quiet good year, adding 36 assists to his goals. But for maybe the first time ever, people have noticed.&ldquo;Somebody asked me the other day who was the most underrated player in the league.&rsquo; said Cohn Patterson, the left wingcron Mullen&rsquo;s line. &ldquo;I said Joey Mullen. Every year he goes out and scores 40 goals. And he&rsquo;s not a guy who scores 40 easy goals. He doesn&rsquo;t stand in front of the net and whack them all in on the power play. He plays hard 5-on-5 and takes punishment out there. But he gets back up and he goes in the corners and he does it year in and year out.&rdquo;Added Calgary coach Terry Crisp: &ldquo;What sets him apart is that he doesn&rsquo;t just get his goals from a first effort, he gets them from second and third efforts. How many times have you seen Mullen laying on the ice. sweeping the puck with his stick into the net? Or sec him knocked down, get up. knocked down again, get up and score the goal? That&rsquo;s the amazing thing about him. For his size (5-foot-9 and 180 pounds), he&rsquo;s a little terror out there.&rdquo;Considering how much Mullen plays in traffic, it&rsquo;s surprising how durable he&rsquo;s been. Since a knee injury sidelined him for half the 1982-83 season. Mullen&rsquo;s been something of an iron man. Over the last four years, he&rsquo;s only missed five games. This year, he&rsquo;s been out one game.&ldquo;I argue: The guys that are not afraid to take a check, who know they&rsquo;re going to get hit and prepare for contact, they don&rsquo;t get hurt as much.&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the guy who thinks he&rsquo;s going to dekc or tap-dance around a guy. that&rsquo;s when the shoulder or the knee gets popped.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Rick Lessard, D, recalled from Salt Lake IIHL1.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Theoren FleuryLW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Colin Patterson, Jim Peplinski, Jiri Hrdina, Tim Hunter, Perry Berezan.RW&mdash;Hakan Loob, Joey Mullen, Mark Hunter, Lanny McDonald.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Dana Murzyn, Rick Lessard.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Rob Ramage, Al Maclnnis, Ric Nattress.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jamie Macoun, D, concussion, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0013-01

CONSISTENT MULLEN FINALLY GETS HIS DUE

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>Center ice has long been an area of concern for the Vancouver Canucks.Typical of troubles they&rsquo;ve endured in recent years was a trade made in early 1983 when coach Harry Neale decided the team was not big enough for centers Ivan Boldirev and Ivan Hlinka.So, he dealt Boldirev to the Detroit Red Wings for Mark Kirton. Boldirev played two seasons for the Wings, while Kirton played parts of three seasons with Vancouver before landing permanently in the American League.Soon after the trade, Hlinka&rsquo;s back went out and he returned to Czechoslovakia&mdash;his NHL career over.You can imagine, then, why the Canucks were worried when Greg Adams slumped this season.Adams, acquired from New Jersey in the fall of 1987, helped enormously during the 1987-88 season. He scored 36 goals and 40 assists in 80 games.The native of Nelson, B.C., opened the season with six goals and five assists in 12 games. But over the next 34 games, he was 7-5-12 and minus-19.Still, Adams&rsquo; 17 goals, 13 assists and 30 points weren&rsquo;t where McCammon hoped he&rsquo;d be.Recently, he was regaining his form. He had a goal and an assist in a 4-4 tie with Calgary Jan. 29 and had scored four goals in his last five games.&ldquo;The only thing I did during the slump was try to work a little harder.&rdquo; said Adams. &ldquo;I kept thinking something is going to happen eventually. Finally the points are coming a little, which is comforting to me. I don&rsquo;t want to jinx myself by saying that. I want them to keep coming.&rdquo;Adams played left wing early in the season, but given Vancouver&rsquo;s center woes, coach Bob McCammon is happier to have the 25-year-old at his natural position.&ldquo;When your centermen aren&rsquo;t going, it doesn&rsquo;t take a genius to figure out all the forwards are going to have trouble,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;In these last two games (a 6-2 win in L.A. Jan. 26 and the Calgary tie), Adams has been the key.&rdquo;<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan, 24: Dan Woodley, C, traded to Montreal for Jose Charbonneau, RW; Daryl Stanley, LW/D, came out of retirement to join team.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brian Bradley, Barry Pederson, Greg Adams, Dan Hodgson, Steve Bozek.LW&mdash;Petri Skriko, Rich Sutter, Ken Berry, Daryl Stanley, Tony Tanti.RW&mdash;Jim Sandlak, Ron Stern. Stan Smyl, Trevor Linden, David Bruce, Jose Charbonneau.LD&mdash;Larry Melnyk, Paul Reinhart, Harold Snepsts, Jim Benning.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Robert Nordmark, Doug Lidster, Kevan Guy.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

ADAMS EMERGING FROM SLUMP

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>The hot and heavy denials were coming from those involved: Peter Pocklington, Glen Sather, Mark Messier&hellip;Then along came the main person in the latest wild and crazy &ldquo;sell&rdquo; rumor to keep the issue alive.&ldquo;Anything&rsquo;s possible, that&rsquo;s a fact of life. Never say impossible, there&rsquo;s no such thing,&rdquo; said Grant Fuhr, reacting to a Washington Times report Jan. 26 that he was headed to the Los Angeles Kings for $5 million. &ldquo;They said a man could never be a woman and that&rsquo;s been proven wrong, so nothing&rsquo;s impossible.&rdquo;Yup, and if Christine Jorgensen wasn&rsquo;t evidence enough, how about the activities of Aug. 9, 1988? That&rsquo;s when Pocklington sold out his Edmonton Oilers for 18 million pieces of silver.It was ironic that this particular rumor should surface on the occasion of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 28th birthday.With Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings desperate for goaltending help, was Peter Pocklington sending Gretzky a birthday present?&ldquo;Good luck,&rdquo; snorted Pocklington, whose profile in Edmonton has been reduced substantially since he dumped Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski in the Aug. 9 deal. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve faced enough tar and feathers without this matter.&rdquo;Pocklington vehemently denied Fuhr was bound for L.A. &ldquo;No, absolutely not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Grant&rsquo;s in a bit of a slump at home, but he sure does well on the road.&rdquo;Fuhr was simply outstanding in finally recording his elusive 200th career victory Jan. 28 in L.A. The score was 7-6, but he faced 47 shots.&ldquo;It was an interesting way of getting it, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; shrugged Fuhr. &ldquo;It was old-time firewagon hockey. That&rsquo;s the way it was my first year here.&rdquo;And it&rsquo;s the way it has seemed in a lot of Fuhr games this season. Last year&rsquo;s Vezina Trophy winner had a less-than-spectacular 4.03 goals-against average and .865 save percentage in 35 games.But, back to the wild rumor&hellip;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no truth to the rumor,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;If Grant&rsquo;s going to be traded, I&rsquo;m the guy who will make the trade. He won&rsquo;t be sold.&rdquo;How about the sequel: Fuhr and Mark Messier to the Kings for $5 million and young defenseman Wayne McBean?&ldquo;Absolutely never! Never!&rdquo; stressed Pocklington, when asked if Messier would be traded. &ldquo;That could have been started by Los Angeles to bring our team lower. That&rsquo;s just speculation.&rdquo;Messier, like Fuhr, has not enjoyed a banner season. In 46 games, he was 19-38-57. But unlike the goalie, he shrugged off the rumors.&ldquo;I think absolutely nothing of it,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;You always hear these kind of things when a team is struggling. Somebody starts these rumors to try and tear the team further apart.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 23: Doug Halward, D, acquired from Detroit for an 11th- or 12th-round draft choice in 1989, contingent on Edmonton signing Halward.Jan. 25: Mark Lamb, C, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL); Francois Leroux, D, returned to St-Jean (QMJHL).Jan. 27: Mike Ware, LW-D, recalled from Caoe Breton<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jimmy Carson, Craig MacTavish, Keith ActonLW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Esa Tikkanen, Kelly Buchberger, Miroslav Frycer, Greg Adams.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Kevin McClelland, Dave Hunter.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy, Mike Ware.RD&mdash;Craig Redmond.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Beukeboom, D, sprained right knee, day-to-day.Randy Gregg, D, re-aggravated pulled leg muscle, day-to-day.Doug Halward, D, broken finger and pulled groin, day-to-day.Chris Joseph, D, strained knee ligaments, day-to-day.Normand Lacombe, RW, sprained right shoulder, Jan. 30-Feb. 2.Mark Messier, C, twisted left knee, day-to-day.Craig Muni, D, bruised right shoulder, day-to-day.Steve Smith, D, shoulder surgery, Aoril 2. &#9632;

FUHR ‘TRADE’ RIDICULOUS TO EVERYBODY BUT FUHR

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>The first month of 1989 was not kind to the Los Angeles Kings.After cruising to a record of 24-14-1 in the 1988 portion of the season, the Kings were 3-6-3 in the new year. One game, a Jan. 31 meeting with Calgary, remained in January.Not only did a 7-6 loss to the Edmonton Oilers Jan. 28 extend the Kings&rsquo; winless streak to a season-high six games (0-5-1). but it also sliced their lead over third-place Edmonton to two points. The Kings fell behind 5-0 in the second period, tied the game at 6-6 in the third, but lost on Craig Simpson&rsquo;s goal with 8:07 remaining. The loss dropped the Kings to 27-20-4. The Oilers were 24-21-6.&ldquo;This was a big game for us,&rdquo; said Bernie Nicholls. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s got to be an emotional boost for them. Unfortunately for us, we&rsquo;re the ones who are being kicked deeper and deeper down. We&rsquo;ve got to get a win sooner or later. Hopefully, it will be sooner than later.&rdquo;Since a 5-2 win in Vancouver Dec. 23. the Kings were 3-8-3. Coach Robbie Ftorek was at a loss to explain his team&rsquo;s woes.&ldquo;We can play better than we&rsquo;re playing.&rdquo; said Ftorek. &ldquo;We have to concern ourselves with why we&rsquo;re losing. Some of it is specialty teams and some of it is a little bit of everything. We have to analyze where the breakdowns are coming from and correct them.&rdquo;The Kings can start by paying some attention to their own zone. In 13 straight games, they gave up no fewer than four goals.Also, killing penalties&mdash;or the inability to kill them&mdash;had become quite a problem. In five games from Jan. 19 to 28. the Kings faced 26 disadvantages and permitted 13 goals for a penalty-killing efficiency of 50 per cent.&ldquo;Teams are finding holes in it.&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;Maybe we give up a power-play goal and lose a little confidence. Then it snowballs.&rdquo;Nicholls, who skates with Wayne Gretzky on the club&rsquo;s top penalt-ykilling unit, was as puzzled as anyone.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s the matter.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was so good early and the power play was bad. Now the power play is starting to go and the penalty-killing isn&rsquo;t going well. I don&rsquo;t think you can point a finger as to what the problem is. If we could do that, we&rsquo;d fix it. We&rsquo;ve got to find it. that&rsquo;s lor sure.&rdquo;Gretzky was just as perplexed.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to do different things, experiment a little bit.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;With the great scouting that NHL teams have now. with the use of videos and all. obviously they have found something somewhere. We&rsquo;ve got to change. Hopefully, this is just a little phase we&rsquo;re going through now.&rdquo;The Kings are hardly abandoning hope, but a prolonged slump is not the best medicine for morale.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 25: Sylvain Couturier, C, Gord Walker. RW. assigned to New Haven (AHL).Jan. 27: Walker recalled from New Haven.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski, Mike Allison, Steve Kasper.LW&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, John Tonelli, Jay Miller, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Luc Robitaille, Ron Duguay, Gord Walker.LD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Tom Laidlaw, Tim Watters. Ken Baumgartner. Wayne McBean.RD&mdash;Doug Crossman, Dale DeGray. Marty McSorley.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jim Fox, RW, knee surgery, out tor seasonIgor Liba, LW, separated shoulder, indefinite.Dave Taylor, RW, inflamed knee, indefinite. &#9632;

SLUMPING KINGS LOOK FOR ANSWERS

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>Winnipeg Jet coach Dan Maloney is getting tired of playing musical goalies.But the way the starting goaltenders lave performed for the team so far this season, he&rsquo;s had little choice.When Daniel Berthiaume was pulled at 6:48 of the first period of an 8-6 loss to the New York Islanders Jan. 26, it marked the 11 th time this season a Jet goalie had been given the hook. Berthiaume gave up three goals on eight shots.If Maloney gets his way, that will be the last time he replaces his starter in the middle of the game.&ldquo;Pulling goaltenders isn&rsquo;t what you&rsquo;d call breeding confidence among them or your team,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve been in situations where something had to be done at that time and I had to do it.&ldquo;To be quite honest with you, I&rsquo;d like nothing better than to have one of these guys just say &lsquo;This is it. I&rsquo;m going to run with it. I&rsquo;m going to do the job.&rsquo;&rdquo;So far this season, that hasn&rsquo;t happened. Alain Chevrier (8-8-2, 4.29 goals-against average) was inconsistent and dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks for future considerations Jan. 19. Pokey Reddick (10-8-7, 3.96 GA A) got off to a tremendous start but faded fast. And Berthiaume, 0-5-0 with a 6.00 GAA since returning from the minors and three separate suspensions, had yet to post a win in six starts.At the end of January, the Jets were 19th among 21 NHL teams in goals-against average at 4.32. The excellence that made &lsquo;Pokey&rsquo; Reddick and &lsquo;Bandit&rsquo; Berthiaume a hot commodity two years ago&mdash;when the pair, along with Steve Penney, combined for the fourth-best GAA in the league at 3.35&mdash;was nowhere to be found.Neither goalie was making big stops at key times and the Jets were being forced to come from behind nearly every game. Meanwhile, the Jets were in the midst of a 2-7-0 skid and, at 18-21-9, were only a point ahead of the last-place Vancouver Canucks in the Smythe Division.&ldquo;If you played well, they wouldn&rsquo;t be able to take you out,&rdquo; said Reddick. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to deal with. But it&rsquo;s professional hockey and you&rsquo;ve got to learn from your mistakes.&rdquo;Maloney wasn&rsquo;t sure what to do next.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he conceded. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in a quandary myself with the whole situation. Earlier in the year, comments were made that I was leaving them in too long. Now I&rsquo;m pulling them too quick.&rdquo;Two days later. Reddick got the start in Boston and stopped 25 shots in a 4-3 win. Maloney said Reddick would be his goalie of choice until further notice, a decision he claimed was made prior to the solid display against Boston.As for Chevrier&rsquo;s early success in Chicago&mdash;he was 3-2-0&mdash;that&rsquo;s something his former coach preferred not to discuss.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for Chevrier,&rdquo; said Maloney, who refused to talk about the trade after it was made by Jets&rsquo; general manager Mike Smith. &ldquo;I like to see guys do well. I wish to hell he was doing it in our uniform and not theirs but that&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s said and done.&rdquo;<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 29: Brent Hughes, LW, assigned to Moncton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Date Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Laurie Boschman, Randy Gilhen.RW&mdash;Andrew McBain, Pat Elynuik, Gord Donnelly, Stu Kulak.LW&mdash;Brent Ashton, Doug Smail, Paul Fenton, Hannu Jarvenpaa.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Randy Carlyle, Jim Kyte, Brad BerryRD&mdash;Fredrik Olausson, Peter Taglianetti, Teppo Numminen.G&mdash;Pokey Reddick, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Iain Duncan, LW. nerve damage in shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

SEARCH CONTINUES FOR CONSISTENT GOALIE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011221/5780857-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="470" height="639"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>As we speak you are probably making at least two mistakes, if not more, about this NHL season. Permit me to straighten you out. No cost, no obligation.Most errors made at All-Star Game time have to do with the calendar. Fans are consumed with what happened last night and what&rsquo;s going on today. Tomorrow is for witches and ouija boards. That&rsquo;s why today&rsquo;s standings and events tend to be deceptive.For example, not many seasons ago&mdash;three to be exact&mdash;the Calgary Flames lost 10 straight games and were written off. But that same Flame team marched all the way to the Stanley Cup finals a couple of months later. So, let&rsquo;s examine some errors:Mistake 1. Montreal Canadiens will advance from the Adams Division: The Habs have played greyhound to the other four clubs&rsquo; tortoise in the Adams. The obvious conclusion is that Pat Burns&rsquo; sextet will not break stride when the playoffs begin. They have balanced (Patrick Roy-Brian Hayward) goaltending, a solid defense and a Norris Trophy candidate in Chris Chelios. The attackers are formidable, especially when Stephane Richer lowers himself out of the clouds.But this team is primed for a first-round fall. Second round, at worst. Who can do it? Recent history shows the Boston Bruins as the likeliest candidate. Although it hasn&rsquo;t been obvious so far, the B&rsquo;s can match Montreal&rsquo;s goaltending any night of the week. And when Andy Moog is hot, he&rsquo;s the best around since Grant Fuhr was skinny. The Bruins haven&rsquo;t been themselves since Ray Bourque&rsquo;s injury but that could be a blessing in disguise. The rest will only mean a regenerated superstar by April, by which time the young defense should be as tight as it was last spring.The Habs are as vulnerable as they were in 1988 for several reasons:&#9632; Coaching: Burns could make the fresh-face approach work in the regular season, but he is lacking playoff smarts because he&rsquo;s never been in a Stanley Cup round before.&#9632; Aging Defense: Larry Robinson and Rick Green figure to have slowed to a crawl by April.&#9632; Absence of A Big Gun: There&rsquo;s no Denis Savard or Mario Lemieux to be found. And don&rsquo;t tell me about Richer. When he grows up, he may be a factor.Memories of 1988: The Canadiens&rsquo; early playoff exit was no accident. The team is a year older so why should it be different this time?Mistake 2: Calgary Flames will advance from the Smythe Division: Cliff Fletcher has swung enough apparently good deals to comfort Calgarians into believing Edmonton will lose any Flame-Oiler playoff this spring. They should know better. The much-heralded Rob Ramage-Rick Wamsley-for-Brett Hull exchange was more interesting than good for the Flames. In any Grant Fuhr-Wamsley playoff confrontation, Fuhr is the winner. Ramage is an okay defenseman, but the rust is beginning to gather.The Doug Gilmour-Mike Bullard swap favors the Flames only in terms of Bullard&rsquo;s bust with the Blues. Bullard has found himself in Philadelphia and will contribute as much as Gilmour from here to the finish. Calgary&rsquo;s arsenal is impressive on paper but&mdash;with the exception of Joe Nieuwendyk, who must still prove himself in the playoffs&mdash;is short on substance. Gilmour, Joe Mullen and Hakan Loob are pygmies compared with Mark Messier, Esa Tikkanen and Glenn Anderson.The Flames should hope the Oilers meet someone else in the opening round and are wiped out. If Edmonton meets Calgary again, as they did last spring, goaltending will be the decisive factor. And Grant Fuhr will win it for the Oilers.Mistake 3: Edmonton may win the Smythe, but never the Stanley Cup without Wayne Gretzky: The Gretzky Gap can never be filled. But the absence of The Great One does not automatically doom the Oilers. Edmonton fans need only check NHL history for encouragement. A similar situation occurred in 1949 to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Oilers are following the same pattern.The Leafs, who won their second straight Stanley Cup in 1948, were captained by legendary Syl Apps. He was to Toronto what Gretzky was to Edmonton. A magnificent center, Apps retired after the Loafs&rsquo; championship in &rsquo;48 and it was assumed their Cup reign would end.Just like the Oilers of today, the Leafs were not the same without their superstar. Toronto finished fourth, 18 points out of first place. Their 22-25-13 record suggested a quick playoff exit. But what Fuhr means to the Oilers, a goalie named Walter (Turk) Broda meant to the Leafs. He backstopped them to a 4-1 semi-final series win over Boston and allowed just five Detroit goals as Toronto swept the finals. If Fuhr gets hot, the Oilers&mdash;just like those Leafs&mdash;can go all the way.Mistake 4: The Rangers are not serious Stanley Cup contenders: The tendency to dismiss the Broadway Blueshirts is natural since they rarely win the Cup. They&rsquo;ve won just three since joining the NHL in 1926. The last championship came in 1940. But there is such a thing as the law of averages. That, plus a blend of good goaltending, a balanced defense, scoring from innumerable sources and Grade A coaching give New York a winning combo.To reach the finals, the Rangers must clear the Patrick Division. The most important factor will be Tomas Sandstrom. The surreptitious Swede would be decisive against Philadelphia because he has the knack of driving Ron Hextali (among other Flyers) to distraction while his Ranger teammates score. He does the same against coach Bryan Murray and the Capitals. As for handling Pittsburgh, the Rangers simply put Jan Erixon on Mario Lemieux and the Penguins are dead pigeons.Having cleared the Patrick Division, the Blueshirts should conquer anyone or anything&mdash;except, perhaps, the curses which have worked so well for 48 years. &#9632;

f0016-01

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM

<h2>RED WINGS</h2>The Red Wings&rsquo; eighth annual dinner-auction to raise funds for Easter Seals was a huge success&mdash;except for dessert. The only dessert at the Jan. 23 event was ice cream with a liqueur poured over it, which didn&rsquo;t please several families with children at the event. Some people noted the irony of the dessert. The hockey team has several players whose drinking problems have been well-chronicled. &ldquo;It was duly noted and it won&rsquo;t happen again,&rdquo; said a Wings&rsquo; official, who added that the club received several phone complaints. The event raised $94,000&hellip;Steve Yzerman, in his sixth season, is the first Red Wing player to score 100 points twice. Last season, he was 50-52-102 in 64 games. He was 45-56-101 in 50 games this season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy about it,&rdquo; Yzerman said, &ldquo;but there are a lot of games left and lots of things still to do.&rdquo; Yzerman also became the fourth player this season to score 100 points in 50 or fewer games, the first time in NHL history that has happened. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux, and Wayne Gretzky and Bernie Nicholls of Los Angeles preceded Yzerman.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>North Stars&rsquo; coach Pierre Page was slightly miffed when Edmonton coach Glen Sather left the Stars&rsquo; leading scorer, Dave Gagner, off the Campbell Conference all-star team. Sather selected right winger Dino Ciccarelli (23-17-40) instead of taking another center in Gagner (26-2147). &ldquo;Nothing Sather does surprises me,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;He does a lot of weird, different things&hellip;Dino&rsquo;s played well, too, but Gagner has been our most consistent player. When we played Edmonton, Gagner&rsquo;s line played (Mark) Messier&rsquo;s line.&rsquo; I&rsquo;m sure Sather saw the best of Gagner. But he has won four of the last five Stanley Cups, so I guess he&rsquo;s entitled, to do whatever he wants.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Dusan Pasek suffered a 28-stitch cut in his left wrist when he was sliced by a skate in a 7-2 victory at New Jersey Jan. 23. He missed the next two games and was replaced by right winger Wally Schreiber, recalled from Fort Wayne of the International League.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>The Hawks scored three shorthanded goals in their 6-3 victory at Edmonton on Jan. 25, tying a team record. It gave them 17 for the season, within one of their team record set in 1987-88. Wayne Presley, Dirk Graham and Troy Murray scored in Edmonton&hellip;Right winger Steve Larmer continued his hot scoring, with 10 goals in nine games. He had 29 for the season&hellip;The Hawks recalled left winger Bill Watson from Saginaw of the IHL, hoping he will help pick up the scoring slack with left winger Steve Thomas out for the season. Watson had 20 goals and 39 points in 30 games at Saginaw. &ldquo;He has scoring talent,&rdquo; said Hawk coach Mike Keenan.<h2>BLUES</h2>Through Jan. 29, the Blues had sold out seven of their last eight home games in the 17,188-capacity St. Louis Arena. They were 4-0-3 in the sellouts&hellip;The Blues&rsquo; 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers Jan. 19 was their first at home since losing 5-1 to Montreal Dec 8. Since losing three consecutive home games near the end of November, the Blues were 7-2-4 at home&hellip;The road record is another story. Since a three-game unbeaten streak in the middle of November, the Blues were 2-13-1 on the road&hellip;Center Bernie Federko played in his 900th career game on Jan. 28 against the Washington Capitals. He recorded two assists, Nos. 700 and 701 of his career&hellip;Rookie defenseman Tom Tilley collapsed on the bench during the game with the Capitals. Doctors blamed a flu bug&hellip;The Blues sent Craig Coxe to the Peoria Rivermen on a two-week conditioning program.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02967/5780888-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="549" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Tilley collapsed on the bench against Washington.</figcaption></div><h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Allan Bester returned to the Leaf net Jan. 28 for a 1-1 tie with the New York Rangers, after missing two games with phlebitis in his right leg. The ailment started with a bruised ankle, which developed into a clot and affected the flow of blood in the leg. Bester had started eight of the last 11 games&hellip;Ken Wregget was the victim in the Leafs&rsquo; 8-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Jan. 27, when the Wings outshot Toronto 53-24&hellip;The Leafs were outshot in 18 of their last 19 games&hellip;Todd Gill has enjoyed the transformation from defenseman to left winger. He says he now prefers to play forward&hellip;Defenseman Al Iafrate was expected to return to the team the week of Jan. 30 after spending two weeks at his parents&rsquo; home in Michigan trying to sort out personal problems which include a breakdown of his marriage&hellip;Leafs&rsquo; Gary Leeman was sidelined with a sore back suffered in the Detroit game. The Leafs were also without defenseman Rick Lanz (knee) and right winger Daniel Marois (flu). They were replaced by defenseman Darren Veitch and right winger Derek Laxdal from the Leafs&rsquo; Newmarket farm club. &#9632;

f0016-02

BOOZY DESSERT GETS BAD REVIEWS

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>The St. Louis Blues thought they were in trouble after losing 4-2 in Boston Jan. 26, extending their road winless streak to 0-7-1.The next day, they experienced real trouble.About 20 minutes into a flight from Boston to St. Louis, a warning light in the cockpit of TWA Flight 91 showed an engine might be on fire.The engine was shut down, the plane made a U-tum and the wide-body Lockheed L-1011 returned to Logan Airport without incident, using two of its three engines.Fire trucks lined the runway as the plane landed. The flight attendant announced, &ldquo;Ladies and gentlemen&hellip;welcome back to Boston.&rdquo; The announcement was met by applause.The incident was unsettling for some of Blues&rsquo; fearful flyers.&ldquo;You should have seen the boys in the back,&rdquo; Herb Raglan said. &ldquo;There were some white knuckles.&rdquo;When asked if he had white knuckles, goaltender Vincent Riendeau, a French-Canadian unfamiliar with the expression, asked, &ldquo;What are white knuckles?&rdquo;After receiving an explanation, he replied, &ldquo;I was sleeping. I woke up and here we were back in Boston. I didn&rsquo;t have to take the plane to go(to Boston. I was already here.&rdquo;Riendeau&rsquo;s goaltending partner, Greg Millen, didn&rsquo;t take things so casually, especially after Raglan quipped, &ldquo;I hear L-1011s make great gliders.&rdquo;After the passengers disembarked in Boston, an attendant explained the indicator light may have been faulty. Nevertheless, the plane was grounded and flight cancelled.Assistant coach Joe Micheletti, who&rsquo;s in charge of tickets on the road, succeeded in getting the Blues on TWA&rsquo;s next direct flight to St. Louis. But that left the players with some time to kill.Dave Richter stood behind a ticket counter and punched on a computer keyboard. At least two passengers requested ticket information. Doug Evans paged Raglan to a nearby gate using a microphone by the ticket counter.The Blues finally departed on the next flight, more than three hours after the original flight, this time on a DC-9.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good trick,&rdquo; one said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re packing an L-1011 into a DC-9.&rdquo;Brett Hull, who lists his favorite activity on plane rides as &ldquo;not crashing,&rdquo; boarded the new plane with some trepidation.The second flight went off without a hitch. The Blues arrived in St. Louis at 2:30 p.m., roughly 8&frac12; hours after their morning wake-up call.The only good thing about the delay? Sutter cancelled practice.There has never been an air disaster in the NHL.In the event of one, however, the affected team would be eligible to pick 18 players and two skaters from the league&rsquo;s other teams.Clubs would be permitted to protect 10 skaters and one goalie. First-year professionals and players under the age of 20 would be exempt from the draft. A team could lose only one player.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 24: Craig Coxe, LW, assigned to Peoria (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Rick Meagher, Bernie Federko, Tony Hrkac, Cliff Ronning.LW&mdash;Sergio Momesso, Gino Cavaltini. Tony McKegney, Doug Evans.RW&mdash;Herb Raglan, Steve Tuttle, Brett Hull. Greg Paslawski, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Mike Lalor, Gordie Roberts. Brian Benning. Gaston Gingras.RD&mdash;Paul Cavallini, Tom Tilley, Dave Richter.G&mdash;Grea Millen. Vincent Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tim Bothwell, D, pulled groin, day-to-day.Peter Zezel, C, bruised sternum, day-to-day. &#9632;

BLUES SURVIVE WHITE-KNUCKLE FLIGHT

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>Bob Probert appears to have reached the end of a long and winding road in Detroit.Describing him as &ldquo;a company asset with diminishing value&rdquo; and &ldquo;a liability to the team,&rdquo; Red Wing general manager Jimmy Deveilano said Probert was no longer welcome around the team.Probert, 23, was suspended and sent home when he showed up 25 minutes late for a game with Buffalo Jan. 25. He told the club he was delayed by traffic en route to Joe Louis Arena from his home in Farmington Hills, about 45 minutes away from the rink.They expected him to be at practice the next day, but Probert skipped that session. So the Wings lifted his suspension&mdash;meaning they will continue to pay him his $200,000 annual salary&mdash;and told him to stay home.Team sources said his chances of playing for the Wings again are extremely remote.&ldquo;We have told Bob Probert to stay home until we decide a further course of action,&rdquo; Deveilano told reporters, as the Wings were filing off the ice after practice Jan. 26. &ldquo;We have removed him from the team&hellip;He will be out indefinitely.&ldquo;We just don&rsquo;t want him around the team. Right now, our team is a lot better off without him.&rdquo;Probert isn&rsquo;t talking with most reporters, but his agent, Patrick Ducharme of Windsor, could not disagree with Deveilano.&ldquo;I told him I was understanding of that, as long as Bob will not be suspended and will continue to be paid,&rdquo; Ducharme said. &ldquo;I told him I thought that was fair. And I offered him my full co-operation.&rdquo;Like everyone else, Ducharme laid the blame squarely at Probert&rsquo;s doorstep.&ldquo;The key to it is a personal commitment from him,&rdquo; Ducharme said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a failure that rests with him.&rdquo;Asked if the Wings were suspicious that Probert, an alcoholic, had resumed drinking, Deveilano said, &ldquo;When it comes to Bob Probert, you&rsquo;re suspicious of a lot of things.&rdquo;&ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been in good playing condition since Day 1,&rdquo; Demers said.In 22 games since his Nov. 27 return from a team suspension, Probert had four goals and two assists for six points, and 100 penalty minutes. Last season, he had 29 goals and a leagueleading 398 penalty minutes, and was selected to play in the NHL All-Star Game.Inside the dressing room. Bob Probert&rsquo;s teammates spoke in hushed tones about his latest indiscretions.&ldquo;They told him to stay away from the team?&rdquo; one player asked. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s been doing a good job of that lately on his own.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just this. There&rsquo;s been a lot of little things that added up to this,&rdquo; said captain Steve Yzerman. &ldquo;Little things that individually are no big deal, but then they start adding up, and it becomes an annoyance. This kind of thing happens on a regular basis.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been a lot of talk with him, hundreds of meetings, a lot of conversation heart-to-heart. But talking doesn&rsquo;t really seem to have an impact. Nothing does. There&rsquo;ve been the suspensions, the fines, threats (of trades). Nothing&rsquo;s really worked.&rdquo;In the two games following Probert&rsquo;s dismissal, the Wings experienced both ends of the win-loss spectrum&mdash;an 8-1 triumph over Toronto and a 10-5 loss at Pittsburgh, on consecutive nights.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 23: Doug Halward, D, traded to Edmonton for an 11th- or 12th-round draft choice in 1989, contingent on Edmonton signing Halward.Jan. 25: Bob Probert, RW, suspended by team.Jan. 26: Probert suspension lifted; removed from team roster.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Shawn Burr, John Chabot, Adam Graves, Adam Oates, Steve Yzerman.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Kris King, Petr Klima, Dale Krentz.RW&mdash;Dave Barr, Joe Kocur, Paul MacLean, Jim Nilt.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Lee Nonwood. Jim Pavese, Jeff Sharpies.RD&mdash;John Blum, Gilbert Delorme, Doug Houda, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Rick Zombo.G&mdash;Glen Hanlon. Greg Stefan.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

PROBERT’S WING DAYS APPEAR FINISHED

<div class="byline">BY RICK MATSUMOTO</div>Harold Ballard wants to erase the word &ldquo;interim&rdquo; from the front of coach George Armstrong&rsquo;s title with the Toronto Maple Leafs.The unpredictable Leaf owner offered Armstrong a permanent coaching job Jan. 28, in the form of a two-year contract.However, the 58-year-old Armstrong, assistant general manager before he replaced John Brophy as coach Dec. 19. had not made up his mind to accept the offer.Armstrong verified he has agreed to a two-year extension on his contract, but stopped short of saying he has agreed to stay on as coach.&ldquo;My duties will be discussed in the spring,&rdquo; he said.Asked if he specifically agreed to remain behind the bench, Armstrong replied: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to say, &lsquo;No.&rsquo;&rdquo;When Armstrong, captain of the last four Leaf Stanley Cup-winning teams, was approached to replace Brophy, he felt compelled to say, &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; out of a sense of duty and loyalty to the organization.But whether he will stick with the job next season remained to be seen.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll cross that bridge when it comes,&rdquo; he said.Leaf general manager Gord Stellick, who in most normal organizations would have had the task of hiring the new coach, seemed dismayed by Ballard&rsquo;s latest action.&ldquo;Mr. Ballard spoke with George and told him he wants him to consider coaching the Leafs next year and offered him a two-year extension on his contract,&rdquo; said Stellick.&ldquo;From what I understand, George&rsquo;s position remains the same (no decision has been reached), but he&rsquo;s told Mr. Ballard he&rsquo;ll review the situation in the off-season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s told Mr. Ballard he wants to be part of this organization for a lot of years.&rdquo;From the outset, however, Armstrong indicated he agreed to coach only for the balance of this season.&ldquo;What do I want to be coach for?&rdquo; he insisted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m 58 years old. How many coaches in the league arc as old as I am?&rdquo;None. New York Islander coach Al Arbour, 56, is the closest in age to Armstrong.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m out of touch with these kids,&rdquo; said Armstrong. &ldquo;The game has changed.&rdquo;The kids responded briefly to Armstrong&rsquo;s low-key approach after the fire-and-brimstone techique employed by Brophy.Over the first seven games they performed at a .500 clip (3-3-1), but since then they&rsquo;d fallen into the same malaise they experienced under Brophy.They broke from their free-fall briefly Jan. 28, with a spirited I-I tie at home with the New York Rangers. But they needed to continue that effort over the next three games, all crucial contests&mdash;Jan. 30 at Chicago, Feb. 2 at the New York Islanders and Feb. 4 at home to the Hawks.As of Jan. 30. they were tied for last place in the Norris Division with the Blackhawks (37 points), and in danger of dropping behind the Islanders (35) into 21st place in the overall standings.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 29: Darren Veitcn, D, uerek Laxaai, HW, recalled from Newmarket Saints (AHL).Jan. 30: AI lafrate, D. on leave of absence to deal with personal problems.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Vincent Damphousse, I om l-ergus. Dan Daoust, Tim Armstrong.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne. Al Secord, Dave Reid, Todd Gill.RW&mdash;Craig Laughlin. Mike Blaisdell, Derek Laxdal, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Borje Salming, Luke Richardson, Brad Marsh.RD&mdash;Chris Kotsopoulos, Brian Curran, Darren Veitch.G&mdash;Allan Renter Ken Wreooet<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark, LW, back, indefinite.Rick Lanz, D, knee, day-to-day.Gary Leeman, RW, back, day-to-day. Daniel Marois, RW, flu, day-to-day.Doua Shedden, RW. knee, out for season. &#9632;

ARMSTRONG HESITATES ON STAYING COACH

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div>Mike Keenan doesn&rsquo;t like the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; road performance, but he likes their road schedule even less.&ldquo;As a coach, your best friend is your schedule.&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;But the imbalance we have at the end of this road trip is completely out of whack.&rdquo;After 51 games, the Hawks had played 29 on the road, compiling a 7-21-1 record. But they completed a five-game road trip with some unaccustomed success. They won three of the first four games&mdash;3-2 over Detroit Jan. 20, 4-2 over Vancouver Jan. 24 and 6-3 over Edmonton the next night. They led 4-1 in the finale at Calgary Jan. 28, but lost 5-4 in overtime.&ldquo;If we had a little more depth, we could have put it away,&rdquo; Keenan said.The Hawks were weakened by injuries to Denis Savard and Doug Wilson. Savard&rsquo;s ankle was hit with Dave Manson&rsquo;s slap shot and then the injury was aggravated when he fell to the ice with Peter Zezel in a 4-2 loss at St. Louis Jan. 21. Savard returned to play that game after X-rays were negative, but missed the next three games.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s pain all around it,&rdquo; Savard said. He was listed as day-to-day.Wilson suffered a fractured right hand in a fight with Edmonton&rsquo;s Craig Simpson. He was expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I don&rsquo;t fight much,&rdquo; Wilson said. It was only the second fight of Wilson&rsquo;s 12-year career. His first came in 1977-78, his rookie season, against the New York Rangers&rsquo; Eddie Johnstone.&ldquo;Really, with Steve Thomas (shoulder surgery) out, we&rsquo;re missing three of our top offensive players,&rdquo; said goaltender Alain Chevrier. &ldquo;Everybody realizes we all have to work that much harder to make up for it.&rdquo;The task wasn&rsquo;t made much easier by the road schedule. Chicago had two seven-game trips earlier in the season, with a combined record of 2-12-0.&ldquo;We have 22 games at home and 29 on the road at the end of this trip, and that seven-game imbalance is the biggest in the league, said Keenan, who failed to mention the Patrick Division-leading New York Rangers had also played seven more games on the road than at home. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be talking to the people in Montreal about it.&rdquo;The &ldquo;people in Montreal&rdquo; are the NHLsche-. dule-makers. But they do not control such factors as Hawks&rsquo; president and Chicago Stadium owner William Wirtz bringing in a circus and an ice show, which prompted the two seven-game trips. No events took over the building, however, during the five-game trip.The schedule is not carved in stone by the NHL. The teams have input into the scheduling, with some preferences based on seniority. The Hawks have substantial seniority as one of the original six teams. And the schedule must be approved by general manager Bob Pulford, as all the schedules must be approved by the individual teams.But Keenan wants a voice in the process, with the schedule for 1989-90 already being made up in Montreal.&ldquo;They started working on the schedule a week ago,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;As soon as we get back from this road trip. I&rsquo;ll be in contact with them.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 24: Bill Watson, LW. recalled from Saginaw (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash; I roy Murray, Mike Eagles. Bob Bassen. Adam Creighton.LW&mdash;Dan Vincelette. Everett Sanipass, David Mackey, Dirk Graham, Bill Watson.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Wayne Presley. Duane Sutter, Brian Noonan.LD&mdash;Steve Konroyd, Trent Yawney.RD&mdash;Dave Manson, Keith Brown. Bob McGill, Bob MurrayG&mdash;Alain Chevrier, Ed Belfour.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Darren Pang, G, pulled right hamstring, indefinite. Denis Savard, C, bruised ankle, day-to-day.Steve Thomas, LW, shoulder surgery, out for season.Jimmy Waite, G, broken collarbone, indefinite.Doug Wilson, D, fractured right hand. Feb. 15. &#9632;

KEENAN CURSES HAWKS’ SCHEDULE

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div>The evidence&mdash;a career-high 12 goals and 23 points in 50 games&mdash;might suggest Minnesota North Star left winger Basil McRae is on the second leg of former Star coach Glen Sonmor&rsquo;s CrusherRusher-Usher theory.That is, a hockey tough guy is on a fast track to retirement once-he starts thinking he&rsquo;s a scorer.But rest assured. McRae-does not consider himself such a candidate.&ldquo;I still know what my. job is,&rdquo; McRae said. &ldquo;Playing tough, that&rsquo;s what my job is.&rdquo;His 222 penalty minutes, third in the league behind Chicago&rsquo;s Dave Manson and Calgary&rsquo;s Tim-Hunter, are proof of that. But that still doesn&rsquo;t prevent a big guy from wanting to add a few goals to his resume.&ldquo;The race is between Basil, (Dave) Archibald and (Brian) MacLellan for who is going to get 20 goals first,&rdquo; Stars&rsquo; coach Pierre Page said. &ldquo;The bets are on.&rdquo;Basil McRae, a 20-goal scorer? The idea once may have been scoffed at. but McRae said his recent scoring rush&mdash;four goals in six games&mdash;shouldn&rsquo;t come as a surprise to anyone.&ldquo;Over the summer I said to myself, &lsquo;When I was traded to Quebec (from Detroit) two years ago, I scored 10 goals in 31 games (actually, nine in 33 games),&rsquo;&rdquo; said McRae. &ldquo;I can score.&rdquo;But until this year, not all that often. In 199 career games prior to 1988-89, he had 21 goals.McRae came to Minnesota before last season precisely because he wanted to be more than just a fighter. A free agent without compensation after the 1986-87 season, McRae was courted by Pittsburgh, Detroit, Quebec, the New York Rangers, and the North Stars. With the Penguins, Red Wings and Rangers now all in contention for division titles, McRae must sometimes wonder if he made the proper decision by accepting the Stars&rsquo; reported $200,000-a-year offer.&ldquo;I guess you always wonder, but I took the time before I made the decision and really thought it out,&rdquo; McRae said. &ldquo;As far as living in Minnesota, the family life, I couldn&rsquo;t have made a better decision. And it&rsquo;s gratifying because when I came here, we pretty much had hit rock-bottom and we&rsquo;re only going to get better.&ldquo;I wanted to go somewhere where I&rsquo;d not only play more, but I wanted a place where I could contribute in many ways.&rdquo;McRae and his teammates struggled through a disastrous season a year ago. He opened this season on a line with Dave Gagner and Stewart Gavin. While the Stars started 1-8-1, that line came out of the first 10 games with plus-ratings and supplied consistency night after night.The line has been split up, but McRae is again playing with Gagner. Dino Ciccarelli is on the right side. And something else: McRae is now occasionally on the power play, where he picked up four of his 12 goals.&ldquo;You just feel better about yourself if they think enough of you to put you on the power play,&rdquo; said McRae. 28.Page said he has played McRae more for reasons that extend beyond fighting and scoring a few goals.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great team guy, one of the best I&rsquo;ve seen around.&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;He cares about the team, about his teammates. He practices hard, he works hard. He&rsquo;s emotional. That&rsquo;s what we want, an emotional team.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 26: Wally Schreiber. RW, recalled from Fort Wayne (IHL).Jan. 29: Dennis Maruk. C. recalled from Kalamazoo (IHL) after a two-week conditioning period.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Dave Gagner. Dave Archibald, Bob Brooke. Dennis Maruk.LW&mdash;Basil McRae, Brian Bellows. Brian MacLellan, Terry Ruskowski.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli. Marc Habscheid, Stewart Gavin, Larry DePalma, WallySchreiber.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, Ville Siren. Dean Kolstad.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Curt Giles, Shawn Chambers.G&mdash;Jon Casev. Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Curt Fraser, LW. recurring wrist injury, day-to-day.Frantisek Musil, D. fractured foot, day-to-day.Dusan Pasek, C, wrist laceration, day-to-day. &#9632;

McRAE WANTS TO BE MORE THAN AN ENFORCER

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011037/5781039-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="499" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DRYDEN</figcaption></div>Chris Cheiios has quietly become one of the best defensemen in the league this year.Which rates as a major accomplishment. Not that he has developed into a first-rate rearguard, but that he has done so quietly.Throughout his hockey career, Cheiios has generated much interest from prying journalists for office indulgences. As late as last spring, Cheiios was the subject of public speculation.Shortly after the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Cheiios was called upon to deny his involvement in a late-night car accident on the eve of Montreal&rsquo;s opening series with Hartford.This year, the only talk has been about his talent.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s what makes everything go (on the Canadiens),&rdquo; says Craig Ludwig. &ldquo;I would put him in the same category as Bourque and Coffey. He&rsquo;s the key to our team and the success we&rsquo;ve been having.&rdquo;Ludwig calls Cheiios more than his defensive partner&mdash;he calls him his &ldquo;meal ticket.&rdquo;Montreal has been feasting on a steady diet of superlative offensive and defensive play served by Cheiios. Through 51 games, he had nine goals and 36 assists which put him on pace (14-56-70) to better his career-high 64 points of 1984-85.That was his freshman season, and he was named to the all-rookie team. Great things were expected. Very good, not yet great, things have been delivered.Lack of discipline and patience have been contributing factors.&ldquo;He still has to work on his discipline,&rdquo; says Larry Robinson. &ldquo;Sometimes he gets a little chippy and he doesn&rsquo;t always get caught.&rdquo;Actually, he gets caught a lot. He&rsquo;s already over the 100-minute mark in penalties, the third straight year he&rsquo;s been a three-digit sinner. More than referees have noticed he&rsquo;s a stickler for laying on the stick.Boston and Hartford players have often accused Cheiios of being among the worst scoundrels in the league. The Sabres were furious after Cheiios speared Buffalo&rsquo;s Rick Vaive on Jan. 27.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t listen to what other teams say,&rdquo; counters Cheiios. &ldquo;I play the game. I do what I have to do. I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s dirty. Everybody&rsquo;s dirty. I play physical when I have to. That&rsquo;s just the way the game is.&rdquo;Ludwig acknowledges Cheiios is not opposed to defending himself.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a big defenseman,&rdquo; says Ludwig, &ldquo;and when you get these 6-foot-l and 6-foot-2 forwards, who weigh 225 pounds, you have to get your stick up. It&rsquo;s either them or you.&rdquo;Pat Burns labels Cheiios a leading candidate for the Norris Trophy, as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, who did not add Cheiios to the Wales Conference all-star team, may be one of the few league coaches who disagrees with Burns.Cheiios&rsquo; skating ability gives him a leg up on opponents. So does his skill with the puck.&ldquo;Nothing against our forwards but we&rsquo;re more of a defense-minded team,&rdquo; says Ludwig. &ldquo;If he played with Gretzky or Lemieux, he&rsquo;d get over 100 points and 25 goals.&rdquo;Part of the reason Cheiios doesn&rsquo;t pile up bigger numbers is the Canadiens&rsquo; reliance on six defenseman. The 26-year-old native of Chicago sees extra duty on the power-play and penaltykilling units, but is still part of a strict six-man rotation.There was a time last year when he wasn&rsquo;t happy with being one of a half-dozen defenders. Supposedly at Chelios&rsquo; insistence, the Canadiens used five blueliners for some segments of 1987-88. Injuries forced them to do the same this year and Cheiios acknowledges that circumstance gave him an opportunity to get more involved for a period of 20 to 25 games.But he adheres to the party line, at least for public consumption. &ldquo;Our team spreads it (ice time) around,&rdquo; says Cheiios. &ldquo;If you can be successful, that&rsquo;s the way to go.&rdquo;He ranks the good of the individual secondary to the common good.&ldquo;(Individual honors are) great from an individual standpoint,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but getting the respect of the players and management is more important than that.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-01

CHELIOS AN ALL-STAR IN ALL BUT NAME

<h2>RANGERS</h2>Although Ranger goalie John Vanbiesbrouck has earned well over 100 NHL victories, his record against the Flames fell to 0-4-1 when the Rangers dropped a 5-3 decision at Calgary Jan. 26. The Rangers gave him little help on that evening, however, as the Flames strafed 49 shots on goal. Over their first 50 games of the season, the Rangers had not yielded more than 37 shots&hellip;When Brian Mullen of the Rangers and Joey Mullen of the Calgary Flames were added to the Wales and Campbell all-star rosters, it marked the first time that U.S.-born brothers were selected to compete.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Goalie Kelly Hrudey&rsquo;s 5-0-1 unbeaten streak was snapped by a 7-4 loss to the Flyers Jan. 28. That loss was Hrudey&rsquo;s 20th. Prior to this season, he had never suffered more than 17 losses&hellip;Gary Nylund returned to the Isles&rsquo; lineup after missing 10 games following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Jan. 11&hellip;Bryan Trottier scored the 483rd goal of his career in the Isles&rsquo; 8-6 victory over Winnipeg Jan. 26. It left him one goal behind Darryl Sittler, who&rsquo;s 17th on the all-time list.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Jim Schoenfeld reached his one-year anniversary as Devils&rsquo; coach Jan. 26. When he was hired last season, the Devils were 21-24-5 under Doug Carpenter for 47 points. On the same date this season (also at the 50-game mark) the Devils were 18-24-8 under Schoenfeld for 44 points. Since Schoenfeld estimated &ldquo;we need 85 points to make the playoffs,&rdquo; the Devils would have to play better than they did for him last season, when they went 17-12-1 and made the playoffs with 82 points&hellip;Schoenfeld held a 65-minute closed-door team meeting after a 7-2 loss to the North Stars Jan. 23. Breaking the league&rsquo;s 10minute closed-door rule, the coach let his players air their views as they continued on a seven-game winless slide (1-4-2).<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Dan Quinn had six points and probably his best game of the season in a 10-5 win over Detroit Jan. 28. Quinn entered the game with a minus-28, one of the worst in the league, and correspondingly low confidence. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a struggle at times,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;The bottom line is, this team&rsquo;s done well, so you just do what they ask, try to chip in and it&rsquo;s frustrating when you feel you&rsquo;re not playing up to your capabilities.&rdquo;&hellip;The Detroit game marked the first time Pittsburgh has scored 10 goals in a game since a 10-1 win against Chicago Feb. 21, 1976&hellip;Mario Lemieux had a streak during which he scored or set up 14 consecutive goals&hellip;The Penguins had a streak of 13 consecutive sellouts by late January and had a good chance of drawing capacity crowds of 16,025 for all of their remaining home games&hellip;General manager Tony Esposito said he anticipates no problem signing Niagara Falls right winger Jamie Leach. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s No. 3 draft pick in 1987. Leach, who has blossomed into a prolific goal-scorer this season, will be eligible to re-enter the talent pool for the June entry draft if he does not come to an agreement with the Penguins by June 1.<h2>CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02758/5781070-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="553" height="531"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Langway, right, was brilliant against Philadelphia.</figcaption></div>The Capitals, flying from Philadelphia to St. Louis Jan. 27. had to make a second approach to Lambert Field after the pilot found another aircraft on the runway the first time&hellip;Defenseman Rod Langway&rsquo;s 500th game as a Capital (Jan. 26) was a vintage performance. He was brilliant in a 1-0 victory at Philadelphia, prompting coach Bryan Murray to say, &ldquo;That game was like four or five years ago for Rod.&rdquo;&hellip;The Capitals allowed a lead of two or more goals to disappear for the 14th time when the Blues scored twice in the third period to gain a 4-4 tie Jan. 28&hellip;The Capitals&rsquo; average attendance after 27 games was 16.494, highest in club history. Season-ticket sales also reached an all-time high of 8,200.<h2>FLYERS</h2>The Flyers held their 13th annual Flyers&rsquo; Wives Carnival Sunday Jan. 29, and it was expected that the cumulative total of money raised would easily go over $500,000. The money is contributed to the Barry Ashbee Research Laboratories at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia, named after the former Flyer captain, who died of leukemia&hellip;The Flyers were scheduled to hold a press conference at a Philadelphia department store Feb. 3, at which time Rick Tocchet was to formally introduce the newest product from the club&rsquo;s marketing department: Bully cologne&hellip;Flyer right winger Tim Kerr travelled to Boston to seek yet another opinion about his sore left shoulder. This time Boston Red Sox orthepedic surgeon Dr. William Southmayd suggested Kerr rest the shoulder by taking a week off&hellip;However, Ken-decided the Flyers&rsquo; light schedule with the all-star break (four games in 15 days) was enough rest. If the shoulder remained sore after the break, he said, he might consider taking some games off. &#9632;

f0019-02

VANBIESBROUCK NO FLAME-DOUSER

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Is there a company that manufactures medical supplies or rehabilitation equipment searching for a spokesman?If so. Pittsburgh has no shortage of qualified candidates.While most teams were gearing up for a sprint to the end of the regular season, the Penguins were limping along, happy to just keep up in the Patrick Division race.&ldquo;Injuries are the big difference in this division.&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; coach Gene Ubriaco. &ldquo;When you get them, how many you get and who gets them.&rdquo;In late January it seemed almost every body in Pittsburgh had them, but there were three particularly significant injuries.Goalie Tom Barrasso. out since pulling a groin muscle on Long Island Jan. 17, wasn&rsquo;t due back until at least Feb. 5 in Boston, the Penguins&rsquo; final game before the all-star break. Barrasso was 13-6-4 with a 3.67 goals-against average since coming in a trade with Buffalo Nov. 12.Defenseman Zarley Zalapski (818-26 in 36 games), who underwent arthroscopic surgery after tearing cartilage in his right knee Dec. 29. isn&rsquo;t expected to return until late February.Left winger Randy Cunneyworth (22-17-39 in 47 games), who suffered a hairline fracture in his right foot when struck by a Paul Coffey pass in practice Jan. 24. is due back about the same time as Zalapski.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01911/5781101-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="553" height="638"><figcaption class="caption-body">Randy Cunneyworth fractured his foot in practice.</figcaption></div>In a nutshell, that means the Penguins were playing without their No. I goalie, their No. 2 defenseman and their top-scoring left winger.Even with the setbacks, the Penguins managed to stay in the race for first in the Patrick Division with a record of 28-17-4, two points behind the front-running New York Rangers.The injury to Cunneyworth was particularly exasperating, since he was hurt on an innocuous-looking play.Coffey was working on throwing long outlet passes to Mario Lemieux when Cunneyworth strayed in front of the puck.The injury didn&rsquo;t seem serious at first&mdash;X-rays were taken mostly as a precaution&mdash;but a fracture was detected.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s (Cunneyworth) been in a little bit ol a lull, but we were looking for him now to give us a lilt.&rdquo; Ubriaco said.Despite their spate of injuries, the Penguins headed toward the final week before the all-star break with three wins in a row. The Penguins started the string with a 7-4 win over Edmonton Jan 21. then defeated Winnipeg 5-4 Jan. 24 and Detroit 10-5 Jan. 28.&ldquo;(Injuries) arc part of the game,&rdquo; center Dave Hannan said. &ldquo;There arc other guys here, ready and willing to contribute.&rdquo;And until the Penguins get back on their feet, they&rsquo;ll be required to do just that.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 25: Dave McLIwain, RW assigned to Muskegon (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn. John Cullen, Dave Hannan.LW&mdash;Bob Errey, Phil Bourque. Troy Loney, Scott Bjugstad.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Mark Recchi, Jay Caufield, Dan Frawley. Richard Zemlak.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey. Steve Dykstra. Chris Dahlquist.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier. Jim Johnson, Gord Dineen, Rod Buskas.G&mdash;Frank Pietrangelo, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Barrasso, G, pulled groin muscle, Feb. 5.Randy Cunneyworth, LW, broken right foot, indefinite.Zarley Zalapski, D, knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

f0020-01

PENGUINS REMAIN HOT DESPITE KEY INJURIES

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>Philadelphia Flyers were quickly reminded how cruel life is in the Patrick Division.After a three-week hiatus from division play, the Flyers played one of their best games of the season and goalie Ron Hextall played one of the best regular-season games of his career against the Washington Capitals Jan 26. But it wasn&rsquo;t enough as Philadelphia lost 1-0.&ldquo;Right now, there isn&rsquo;t much consolation in having played well.&rdquo; said Hextall after the game. &ldquo;This was a big game for us, and there is no consolation in losing.&ldquo;But maybe we can take some good things out of this into the next game. This is a big stretch for us.&rdquo;In the middle of a four-game stretch against Patrick Division competition&mdash;they defeated the New York Islanders 7-4 Jan. 28&mdash;the 26-23-3 Flyers were four points behind third-place Washington.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not putting as much of a premium on first place as we are on playing consistently well,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren. &ldquo;If we get on a roll, maybe we could get first place. But it would take a pretty good roll.&ldquo;But more importantly, we want to consistently play at a level where we feel confident in ourselves. If we can reach that level, we&rsquo;ll let the chips fall where they may.&rdquo;The chips fell the wrong way against the Caps, who also beat Hextall and the Flyers 1-0 in January of 1988. The only difference was that this time Clint Malarchuk was in goal, not Pete Peeters, and this time the loss was at the Spectrum where Hextall stopped three clean breakaways. Hextall stopped 41 shots overall.It took less than 48 hours to prove his point as the Flyers checked into a Philadelphia hotel on a Friday night in anticipation for a rare Saturday morning game against the New York Islanders. The game started at 11 a.m. to accommodate the annual Flyers&rsquo; Wives Carnival Jan. 29.&ldquo;I wanted the team to be together for breakfast,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;I figured if we checked into the hotel, we&rsquo;d all be together early and focus on the game. I knew with that starting time, it might be a problem.&rdquo;In another effort to focus the team, assistant trainer Kurt Mundt moved all the clocks ahead eight hours. They were taking every precaution to make sure they didn&rsquo;t blow a point to the last-place Islanders, who were riding a five-game unbeaten streak.The Flyers held Pat LaFontaine pointless and scored six goals in the first 22 minutes before cruising to a 7-4 win.The biggest offensive star for the Flyers was left winger Brian Propp, who contributed two goals and two assists. It was only his third multiplegoal game of the season. Against Washington, Propp had seven shots on goal in the first period.&ldquo;Brian has been a very consistent player for us over the years.&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;When Bill Barber retired (1984), Brian sort of took over as the number one left winger in the organization, and he&rsquo;s stayed right there.&rdquo;&ldquo;When he (Propp) is playing well, he&rsquo;s one of the best two-way players in the NHL. He would be a very tough guy to replace. He does so many things so well.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Glen seabrooke, RW, recalled from Hershey (AHL).Jan. 28: Seabrooke, Kerry Huffman. D, assianed to Hershev<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Bullard. Pelle Eklund. Dave Poulin, Ron Sutter.LW&mdash;Brian Propp. Derrick Smith, Craig Berube.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Tim Kerr. Scott Mellanby, Dave Brown.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Jay Weds, Terry Carkner.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Jeff Chychrun, Gord MurphyG&mdash;Ron Hextall. Mark Laforest.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Craven, C&rsquo;LW, bruised right foot, day-to-day.Jeff Harding, RW. lacerated knee cap. indefinite.Moe Mantha, D. pulled groin muscle. Feb. 2Ilkka Sinisalo, RW. fractured left wrist, indefinite. &#9632;

FLYERS JUST WANT TO PLAY WELL

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>For several weeks Bob Sauve shouldered much of the blame for the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; inability to climb out of fifth place in the Patrick Division.As Sean Burke&rsquo;s backup, Sauve was unreliable.The 33-year-old goalie reluctantly admitted Jan. 26 what has led to his decline. He told reporters he has been bothered most of this season by a chronic back problem diagnosed as a herniated disc by Dr. Barry Fisher, the Devils&rsquo; team physician. Sauve said he suffered the injury while playing for Buffalo eight years ago, but had always been told it was a muscle-related problem.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01684/5781156-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="550" height="498"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Sauve has long suffered from back problems.</figcaption></div>Fischer told him differently at training camp last season.While Sauve hopes he can recover in time to help the Devils make a late-season drive to the playoffs, as he did a year ago, the injury is career-threatening.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played for a long time,&rdquo; said Sauve. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to hang around. It&rsquo;s unfair to the team and it&rsquo;s unfair for me, too.&rdquo;Sauve was 3-5-1 with a 4.72 goals-against average in 13 games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see if I can get better, see how I can play if I get better,&rdquo; said Sauve.Chris Terreri, 24, (0-2, 4.20 GAA this season) has spent some time in New Jersey. Craig Billington, 22, (00-0, 9.00 GAA) was Burke&rsquo;s backup on New Jersey&rsquo;s lengthy road trip that carried through the all-star break.Although plans for Sauve&rsquo;s retirement were premature, he was expected to see a back specialist in early February to find out whether the injury will end his career.&ldquo;He has a reputation as a guy you can always rely on in a pinch, but this year there was a time when Sean was hurt (Dec. 27-Jan. 6) and Bobby didn&rsquo;t respond,&rdquo; said coach Jim Schoenfeld.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s had it for a long time, so if he&rsquo;s able to play with it, he&rsquo;s tough enough mentally to play through it. Now, the thing is, can he stay in a crouch without his back stiffening up on him?&rdquo;.Sauve won 10 games for the Devils last season but had produced only three wins this season, in four starts while Burke nursed a groin pull, Sauve was 1-1-0 with two nodecisions in a pair of Terreri losses.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been able to play through the injury and help the team,&rdquo; said Sauve. &ldquo;This year I felt a sharp pain in practice about three months ago. I thought it would go away, but for some reason or another it hasn&rsquo;t. The way I&rsquo;ve played lately. I felt like I was going out there and putting the team in jeopardy. Playoff jeopardy.&rdquo;And that hurt worse than his back.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 22: Eric Weinrich, D, recalled from Utica (AHL).Jan. 26: Weinrich returned to Utica.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Patrik Sundstrom, Claude Loiselle, Anders Carlsson.LW&mdash;Aaron Broten, Jim Korn. Pat Conacher, Steve Rooney. Perry Anderson.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Pat Verbeek, Brendan Shanahan, Doug Brown, David Maley.LD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Randy Velischek, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Joe Cirella, Tom Kurvers, Craig Wolanin, Jack O&rsquo;Callahan.G&mdash;Sean Burke. Craia Billinaton.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bruce Driver, D, broken right leg, indefinite.Mark Johnson, C, pulled hamstring, indefinite.Bob Sauve, G, herniated disc, indefinite &#9632;

f0021-01

BACK INJURY THREATENS SAUVE’S CAREER

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>Appearances can be deceiving.A weary New York Ranger team left Toronto Jan. 28 with a two-game winless streak and its top goal-scorer in hospital with a concussion. But the New Yorkers considered themselves in pretty good shape nonetheless.The Rangers returned home following a six-game. 13-day road trip with a 4-1-1 mark for their last extended journey of the season, a 27-16-8 overall record and first place in the Patrick Division.&ldquo;At this time of year,&rdquo; coach Michel Bergeron said, &ldquo;I would say it was a great road trip. To be 4-1-1 on the road when everybody is fighting for a playoff spot and for places in the standings, we have to feel pretty good.&rdquo;With 18 of their final 29 games at home, the Rangers would appear to be in a strong position down the stretch.&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s fine,&rdquo; Bergeron agreed, &ldquo;but now we&rsquo;ve got to win our games at home.&rdquo;And goaltender Bob Froese, who enjoyed a successful road trip, will finally get a chance to start his second home game of the year. His only Madison Square Garden appearance this season was Oct. 12, a 4-3 loss to the Hartford Whalers.In three starts on the trip, Froese allowed only three goals and posted a 2-0-1 record.Less fortunate was rookie sharpshooter Tony Granato, who sustained a concussion when shaken up by a shoulder check from the Leafs&rsquo; Luke Richardson in a 1-1 tie at Toronto.Granato, the Rangers&rsquo; leading goal-scorer with 31, was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. But his 170-pound frame was bruised and battered even before the game.Granato sat out most of the third period of a 5-3 loss at Calgary Jan. 26 with a bruised left thigh, and he had been skating on a sore knee for two weeks before that.After 51 games, Granato was the only Ranger to have played in every game&mdash;but the streak appeared at an end.&ldquo;The way Tony has been playing for us, it would be tough to lose him. even for a few games.&rdquo; Bergeron said, &ldquo;but maybe it might not be such a bad thing for him.&ldquo;We got Michel Petit back (from injury) on this trip. Normand Rochefort is just about ready to play again, so we&rsquo;re in pretty good position.&rdquo;Another impressive streak came to an end in the Toronto game. Carey Wilson was stopped two games short of the Ranger club record for the longest point-scoring streak (16 games), held by Mike Rogers (Feb. 14 to March. 20. 1982).Wilson&rsquo;s streak began the day he was acquired by the Rangers. Dec. 26. and ended when he was blanked by the Leafs. Over his first 14 games a Ranger. Wilson collected 24 points (7-17), two more than he contributed for Hartford in 34 games. Including his final game as a Whaler before the trade to New York, the 26-year-old center established a 15-game streak.Wilson reacted modestly throughout his run, which was. for about 10 days, the longest active streak in the league.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s possible to really evaluate my performance very accurately because my wingers have been so hot.&rdquo; he suggested. &ldquo;Tony Granato seems to score a goal or two every night and Tomas Sandstrom is leading our team in scoring.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 28: Jason Lafreniere, C, recalled from Denver fIHLL Simon Wheeldon. C. assianed to Denver.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Carey Wilson, Kelly Kisio, Lucien DeBlois. Jason Lafreniere, Marcel Dionne.LW&mdash;Brian Mullen. John Ogrodnick, Kevin Miller, Joe Paterson.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Guy Lafleur, Jan Erixon, Rudy Poeschek.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Ron Greschner.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Michel Petit, Dean KennedyG&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cyr, LW-C, surgery right knee, out for season.Ulf Dahlen, RW, separated left shoulder, Feb. 9.Tony Granato, LW. concussion, Feb 1.Chris Nilan, RW, strained ligament, front pelvic bone, indefinite.Normand Rochefort, D. arthroscopic surgery, rioht knee. Feb. 4. &#9632;

RANGERS BATTERED BUT HAPPY CLUB

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>No longer are goaltenders Kelly Hrudey and Billy Smith abandoned. No longer is the territory behind the New York Islanders&rdquo; blue line a cool hangout lor opposing forwards.The Islanders came home to Nassau Coliseum for six straight games, went 4-I-I. and shone a sliver of light on their dark, dark NHL season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased with the way the team played on the homestand.&rdquo; coach Al Arbour said after the Isles concluded a 4-0-1 run by winning an 8-6 joust with the Winnipeg Jets. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to come.&rdquo;After losing 5-3 to Chicago with Smith in goal. Hrudey took over the rest of the homestand and the Isles beat Pittsburgh 5-2. Los Angeles 4-2 and Minnesota 8-6. They tied the Devils 3-3. before downing the Jets.Pat LaFontaine scored eight goals in the six games and Brent Sutter added four. Rookie right winger Brad Dalgarno continued a spree of physical dominance that began on Dec. 29, when he bounced a few members of the Central Red Army around the Coliseum.Arbour was 9-12-1 since replacing Terry Simpson on Dec. 7. with the Islanders Foundering at the bottom of the Patrick Division with a 7-18-2 record. Although it&rsquo;s unlikely the Isles will escape the cellar this season, they have shown they are better than 11-28-2. their rockbottom point this season.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a better team than our standing indicates,&rdquo; said assistant coach Rick Wilson, who was hired on Simpson&rsquo;s recommendation and has remained an excellent teacher of young defenseman under Arbour&rsquo;s new regime. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating, but that&rsquo;s the way it is. You get points in the first 30 games the same way you do in the last 30. They all count. We put ourselves in this position. But. for us now. this is very much a game-to-game process. We keep buildins aspects of our same everv time out.&rdquo;Mare Bergevin. for example, emerged over the homestand as a reliable defenseman. Mikko Makcla. mired in a season-long lunk. notched his first multi-goal game of the season in the victory over Winnipeg. He scored two goals. A year ago Makela had 10 multi-goal games en route to a 36-goal season. This season he had 12 goals, but responded well after a benching and subsequent meeting with Arbour.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01797/5781211-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="708" height="553"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mikko Makela has emerged from a season-long funk.</figcaption></div>Although the Islanders&rsquo; season-high five-game unbeaten streak was snapped in a 7-4 loss at Philadelphia two days after the homestand ended. Hrudey sensed a very different atmosphere.&ldquo;We still believe in our next game we&rsquo;11 go out and play well.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the past, we thought a loss like this was normal. Now we&rsquo;re mad at ourselves.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 25: Rich Kromm. LW, assigned to Springfield (AHL). Brad Lauer. LW, assigned to Springfield for conditioning purposes.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brent Sutter. Pat LaFontaine, Bryan Trottier, Rob DiMaio. Raimo Helminen.LW&mdash;David Volek. Greg Gilbert. Derek King. Randy Wood.RW&mdash;Patrick Flatley, Brad Dalgarno. Mikko Makela. Alan Kerr. Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Marc Bergevin. Richard Pilon. Gary Nylund, Ken Morrow.RD&mdash;Gerald Diduck, Reed Larson, Tomas Jonsson. Jeff Norton.G&mdash;Kellv Hrudev Rillv Smith<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dean Chynoweth, D, Osgood-Schlatter Disease, indefinite. &#9632;

f0022-01

FINALLY, ISLES HAVE SOME REASON FOR HOPE

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>It was enough to give Clint Malarchuk a complex.As the Washington Capitals battled back from a 4-1 deficit. Malarchuk was on the bench when teammates produced the last three goals to tie the Los Angeles Kings4-4 Jan. 24.Mike Millar closed the gap to 4-2 with 6:38 remaining while the Kings&rsquo; Dale DeGray was in the penalty box. Malarchuk was off because referee Paul Stewart was signalling a delayed penalty against Los Angeles.Scott Stevens &lsquo;connected with 49 seconds left with Phil Sykes in the box and Malarchuk off for an extra skater.When Dave Christian tied it with five seconds on the clock. Malarchuk once again was a cheerleader.&ldquo;The guys really looked good from the bench,&rdquo; said Malarchuk. &ldquo;Maybe that&rsquo;s the next step for this team, playin a without a goaltender.&rdquo;But two days later, Malarchuk proved himself indispensiblc when he earned his 100th NHL victory with a 42-save performance in a 1-0 win over Philadelphia.It was the only game of the week in which Malarchuk wasn&rsquo;t forced to work overtime. Aside from the tie with Los Angeles, he was in the nets for a 4-4 tie with St. Louis Jan. 28. That gave Malarchuk a record of 10 overtime games (1-3-6) this season, more extra-period action than 10 NHL teams.Malarchuk attempted to not get too carried away with the milestone victory.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t let the highs get too high or the lows too low,&rdquo; said Malarchuk, 14-13-6 with a 3.33 goals-against average this year. &ldquo;Still, it is unbelievable to win in Philly and the shutout is even better.&ldquo;The 100th win didn&rsquo;t play a big nart in mv mind I pxnert to net a lot more than I00. But it&rsquo;s kind of neat that we&rsquo;d get a shutout with No. 100. That makes it more special.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02557/5781242-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="543" height="675"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clint Malarchuk picked up his 100th win, in Philadelphia.</figcaption></div>Malarchuk, 27, was in control throughout, not only stopping every shot but also breaking up passes and clearing the puck himself.&ldquo;Some nights you just feel like the puck is going to hit you.&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;You get very confident out there. I had that feeling this time. Anticipation, reading the play. When you&rsquo;re on, you&rsquo;re on.&rdquo;The shutout was the IOth of Malarchuk&rsquo;s NHL career, but the first this season. Three times earlier he was foiled by third-period goals.Last season Malarchuk tied a club record with four shutouts. Three of them came on the road within a nine-day period.&ldquo;You have to have some Iuck to get a shutout,&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;When a team gets 42 shots on you. some are going to hit legs and posts and. in this case. Scott Stevens. He made some incredible blocks, sacrificing his body.&rdquo;Geoff Courtnall scored the game&rsquo;s only goal on Ron Hextail, a carom off the post at 2:01 of the first period. Hextall stopped three clean breakaways in the high-intensity, playoff-type game.&ldquo;Both goaltenders played great,&rdquo; said Philadelphia coach Paul Holmgren. &ldquo;But their goaltender came up a little bigger than ours.&rdquo;<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bengt Gustafsson, Dale Hunter. Mike Ridley. Sob Gould.LW&mdash;Mike Millar. Geoff Courtnall. Yvon Corriveau. Kelly Miller. Lou Franceschetti.RW&mdash;Dave Christian. Steve Leach, Mike Gartner. John Druce.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens. Rod Langway. Grant Ledyard.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy. Kevin Hatcher, Neil Sheehy. Chns FelixG&mdash;Clint Malarchuk. Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Peter Sundstrom, LW. twisted back, day-today. &#9632;

f0022-02

SHUTOUT WIN A MALARCHUK MILESTONE

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01718/5781273-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rejean Lemelin thought he was passed over for the All-Star Game earlier in his career and makes no apologies for his selection for the 1989 classic.</figcaption></div>Terry O&rsquo;Reilly has never been the kind of guy to back down.So when it was pointed out to him people in Montreal were unhappy over his decision not to add goalie Patrick Roy and defenseman Chris Chelios to the Wales Conference all-star team, he didn&rsquo;t bat an eyelid.Thankfully, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; coach didn&rsquo;t bat the questioner either.&ldquo;Tough beans,&rdquo; grinned the tough guy.Nobody had the courage to ask him if he meant Boston beans. But the urge must have been irresistable considering his recipe for the All-Star Game on Feb. 7 in Edmonton.Some people rated O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s selection of goalie Rejean Lemelin as a Wales Conference addition by subtraction.Both Lemelin and O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s other Bruin addition, defenseman Glen Wesley, haven&rsquo;t had all-star seasons.Roy and Chelios, on the other hand, will be top candidates in end-of-the-year voting for the Vezina and Norris Trophies, respectively.Yet, O&rsquo;Reilly used his prerogative as coach of the 1988 Stanley Cup finalists to reward a pair of his players who excelled more last season than this season.&ldquo;Reggie Lemelin took us to the Stanley Cup finals last year and he beat Montreal,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly. &ldquo;Glen Wesley was one of our best defensemen. They deserve to be there.&ldquo;You can look at what a guy does in the first half of this season, or you can take the last half of last season and the first half of this season and look at it like a package.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why Grant Fuhr is on the team. That&rsquo;s why Sean Burke is on the team. (Both were picked in fan balloting.) That&rsquo;s why Reggie Lemelin and Glen Wesley are on the team.&rdquo;Not that either has had a dreadful season.It&rsquo;s just that Lemelin was 7-13-4 at the time of his selection. Mitigating circumstances include an enormous number of injuries on the Bruin defense and a lack of offensive support.But O&rsquo;Reilly did designate Lemelin as his No. 2 goalie around Christmas. Andy Moog was No. 1 then.Wesley, with 15 goals in 46 games, has played well this year, but his performance has generally been rated a notch below last year.Lemelin, 34, was realistic about the reasons behind his inclusion on the Wales team.&ldquo;My only chance, probably, was that Terry was the coach,&rdquo; said Lemelin. &ldquo;The way I look at it, in a career like mine, everything evens out. I felt I should have been picked a couple of times, back in &rsquo;84 and &rsquo;85 (when he was with the Calgary Flames). I haven&rsquo;t been there, and I&rsquo;m surely going to enjoy it.&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s based on the second half of last year, I certainly do (deserve to be on the all-star team). This year, my win-loss record is not the greatest but considering our (injury) troubles overall, we were (still) second in goals-against up to two weeks ago.&rdquo;Did he sympathize with overlooked goalies who have better records?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my turn now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to worry about them. I&rsquo;m sure they didn&rsquo;t worry about me when they got picked.&rdquo;Defenseman Ray Bourque of the Bruins was voted to the Wales team by fans. Boston will have three representatives.Probably the best way O&rsquo;Reilly could have accommodated Chelios would also have been the simplest&mdash;choose him over teammate Larry Robinson, who has been replaced by Chelios as the Canadiens&rsquo; top defenseman.Controversy over all-star selections is something with which Campbell Conference coach Glen Sather is familiar.This is his fifth assignment, but he has yet to come up with a formula guaranteed to please everyone. He gets recommendations from league general managers, but he must also please himself.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re the coach of this team because you won the conference finals,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t get there by yourself. You need to honor some of the guys who got you there. And that sometimes leads to a real moral problem. Do you take the best player, or do you consider someone from vour own team and reward them? I remember picking some guys who were important to our team.&rdquo;Like O&rsquo;Reilly, Sather added two players this year&mdash;bringing to five the number of Oilers on the squad. The Oilers&rsquo; coach chose Edmonton centers Mark Messier and Jimmy Carson as fill-ins. Goalie Fuhr, defenseman Kevin Lowe and right winger Jari Kurri were voted to the team.The All-Star Game will not feature top candidates for major awards, besides Roy and Chelios.None of the leading Calder candidates were named. Rookie sensations Brian Leetch and Tony Granato of the New York Rangers were overlooked. So were Quebec&rsquo;s Joe Sakic and Winnipeg&rsquo;s Pat Elynuik, two other rookie hopefuls.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not good,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a problem there.&rdquo;In 12 of the last 18 All-Star Games, the top rookie has appeared. Unless New Jersey goalie Sean Burke has an outstanding second half, that number won&rsquo;t rise to 13 of 19. Burke is the only first-year player in either lineup.More disturbing is the exclusion of the league&rsquo;s premier defensive players. Apart from Lowe, who was selected in fan balloting, not a single player whose reputation is founded on defensive excellence was named to the two teams.None of the leading Selke Trophy candidates&mdash;Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Carbonneau, Jan Erixon of the Rangers and Calgary&rsquo;s Joel Otto&mdash;were added.Sather passed up Otto.&ldquo;I like him as a player a lot,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;And if I was going to pick him, it would probably be at the expense of somebody like Denis Savard. But how do you leave Denis Savard out? He&rsquo;s a superstar.&rdquo;A former superstar missing from the Wales all-star lineup is Guy Lafleur. He would be a popular choice in Edmonton, but at whose expense? New York Ranger teammate Brian Mullen&rsquo;s?Would it be fair to deny Mullen what could be his only all-star opportunity? Fair to deny Mullen the chance to play against his older brother, Joey, who was added to the Campbell lineup?Calgary Flame left winger Joey Mullen is this year&rsquo;s overdue selection. He is on pace to record his sixth straight 40-goal season, but is appearing in his first All-Star Game.Other first-time Campbell all-stars are defensemen Dave Manson of Chicago, Dave Ellett of Winnipeg and Steve Duchesne of Los Angeles. Duchesne was chosen by fans. Other newcomers are Carson and right wingers Gary Leeman of Toronto and Brett Hull of St. Louis.Wales first-timers include Burke and Lemelin. Wesley is appearing in his first All-Star Game, as are left winger Brian Mullen, center Mike Ridley of Washington, center Walt Poddubny of Quebec and right wingers Rob Brown of Pittsburgh. Rick Tocchet of Philadelphia and John MacLean of New Jersey.<h2>ALL-STAR LINEUPS</h2>Lineups tor tne waies ana campoen conference teams are listed below. Players selected in fan balloting are bolded. Beside each player is what All-Star Rams this represents for him<h3>WALES</h3>Goalies&mdash;Sean Burke (1st) New Jersey, Reggie Lemelin (1st) Boston.Defensemen&mdash;Paul Coffey (7th) Pittsburgh, Raymond Bourque (8th) Boston, Scott Stevens (2nd) Washington, Phil Housley (2nd) Buffalo, Glen Wesley (1st) Boston, Larry Robinson (9th) Montreal.Left Wingers&mdash;Mats Naslund (4th) Montreal, Brian Mullen (1st) Rangers.Centers&mdash;Mario Lemieux (4th) Pittsburgh, Mike Ridley (1st) Washington, Bobby Smith (3rd) Montreal, Walt Poddubny (1st) Quebec, Pat LaFontaine (2nd) Islanders.Right Wingers&mdash;Cam Neely (2nd) Boston, Rob Brown (1st) Pittsburgh, Kevin Dineen (2nd) Hartford, Rick Tocchet (1st) Philadelphia, John MacLean (1st) New Jersey.<h3>CAMPBELL</h3>Goalies&mdash;Grant Fuhr (6th) Edmonton, Mike Vernon (2nd) Calgary.Defensemen&mdash;Kevin Lowe (5th) Edmonton, Steve Duchesne (1st) Los Angeles, Gary Suter (3rd) Calgary, Dave Manson (1st) Chicago. Paul Reinhart (2nd) Vancouver, Dave Ellett (1st) Winnipeg.Left Wingers&mdash;Joe Mullen (1st) Calgary, Luc Robitaille (2nd) Los Angeles.Centers&mdash;Wayne Gretzky (Sth) Los Angeles, Denis Savard (6th) Chicago, Steve Yzerman (3rd) Detroit, Mark Messier (7th) Edmonton, Jimmy Carson (1st) Edmonton, Bernie Nicholls (2nd) Los Angeles.Right Wingers&mdash;Jari Kurri (5th) Edmonton, Dino Ciccarelli (3rd) Minnesota. Brett Hull (1st) St. Louis. Garv Leeman (1sfi Toronto &#9632;

f0023-01

TOUGH BEANS!

So you&rsquo;ve got an idea for a product, and think it will sell well with an NHL team crest on it.Before you can put your idea to test in the marketplace, you&rsquo;ll have to talk to both the NHL and the Licensing Corporation of America, Canadian Division.&ldquo;When we look for licensees,&rdquo; explains Doug Kelcher, vice president of LCA Canada, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re selected not only for the quality of the product, but for their ability to provide timely sales and service to the retail community.&rdquo;But the rewards are great&mdash;if your item is accepted, you&rsquo;ll get to market an official NHL product.&ldquo;We are trying to eliminate the pirates in the licensing business,&rsquo; Kelcher says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying tc make the licensing business a very professional part of the sports retail market.&rdquo;To this end, LCA Canada is introducing its &ldquo;Center Ice Collection,&rdquo; a line of items, mostly hockey-related apparel, based on the real thing.&ldquo;And it will involve only things that are worn on the ice, in 01 around the bench, and so on,&rsquo; says Kelcher. &ldquo;That would be the jerseys, the jackets the trainers wear, the hats that are worn on the bench, jacquard-knit sweaters&hellip;a number of things like that.&rdquo;Authenticity, above all else, is the watchword.&ldquo;If you see &lsquo;CCM&rsquo; on the back of a jersey a person has bought, if indicates that&rsquo;s an authentic game jersey,&rdquo; Kelcher says.&ldquo;The big news in licensing with the game jersey this year was the introduction of the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; new colors and uniform,&rsquo; Kelcher says, &ldquo;and, of course, the trade of Wayne Gretzky to L.A. enabled our licensee, CCM, to sell many, many more.&rdquo;But jerseys are, by no means, the only hot items.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re talking about licensing apparel, hats are always big,&rdquo; Kelcher says. &ldquo;There are collectors of hats throughout the world. And the NHL teams, with their different graphics, have become among the ones people want to get.&rdquo;Edmonton Oiler players wore crested hats immediately after they won the Stanley Cup Iasi year&mdash;a big plus, Kelcher says, because of the television exposure.&ldquo;The minute the Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup, there were licensed products in the dressing room for them to wear, and those were on sale on the street the next day.&rdquo;All part of the marketing move forward.&ldquo;We have taken the apparel part of licensing,&rdquo; Kelcher says, &ldquo;and moved it from a T-shirt with a simple logo on it, to the style that is suited to the &rsquo;90s, and accurately portrays the way the clubs want to depict their marks.&rdquo;Non-apparel items, too, have been traditionally strong.&ldquo;The backbone of a lot of licensing is the gifts-and-novelties part of it. The National Hockey League now has everything from a little &ldquo;Sports Brat&rdquo; key-fob put out by JF Sports, to Chicagoland Processing&rsquo;s precious metal, limited-edition coin.&rdquo;Games of all kinds are also on the market.All of which is good for the NHL&rsquo;s 21 member clubs, each of which gets an annual six-figures share of the pie, on sales revenues.&ldquo;The financial health of the league is reflected in the amount of licensed products being sold,&rdquo; Kelcher says. And it&rsquo;s looking better than ever. &#9632;

NHL LICENSES EVERYTHING FROM KEY FOBS TO JERSEYS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02438/5781328-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="543" height="1153"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy Dea</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01684/5781335-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="138" height="143"></div>Billy Dea straddled two eras during his seven-year NHL career.Dea first played in the &ldquo;original six&rdquo; era&mdash;14 games with the New York Rangers in 1953-54, and 132 more with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks in 1956-57 and &rsquo;57-58. He was then sent to the American League, seemingly for the balance of his career. While with the AHL Buffalo Bisons, the left winger set the league record for consecutive games played at 548.But 10 years later, he was back in the NHL as an expansion draft pick of the 1967-68 Pittsburgh penguins.Dea retains fond memories of both NHL stints, but his days with Detroit bring back the sweetest recollections.&ldquo;I was blessed to play in Detroit,&rdquo; said Dea, now a 55-year-old Red Wing scout.&ldquo;The one experience that I&rsquo;ll never, never, ever forget&mdash;and I&rsquo;ve told it to a few people&mdash;was going into the last game (of the 1956-57 season) against Toronto. We had first place locked up, and Gordie (Howe) had locked the scoring up. (Coach) Jim Skinner says to me, &lsquo;I want you to play with Howe and Normie Ullman.&rsquo;&ldquo;I had 14 goals, and I had a bonus for 15&mdash;and Gordie knew it. And he told me, &lsquo;You just stand in front of the net.&rsquo; For two periods I stood in front of the net. I must have had 15 shots that night. Finally, in the third period I got my 15th goal, and got my bonus.&ldquo;But it was quite an experience. My arms were tired from Gordie doing all the work for me. It&rsquo;s little things like that I&rsquo;ll never forget. That&rsquo;s the kind of a guy he was.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Dea described the six-team NHL as &ldquo;a closed family,&rdquo; and welcomed expansion to 12 clubs.&ldquo;When expansion came, naturally it weakened the league a little bit. But it gave a lot of guys the opportunity to play. A lot of people didn&rsquo;t really think the NHL should have done that, that the six new teams were fine against themselves, but weren&rsquo;t really ready to play the established teams.&rdquo;He enjoyed the opportunity Pittsburgh presented him.&ldquo;I was almost at the end of my career,&rdquo; he recalls, &ldquo;and I got four more years in the National League. At 34, it was great for me. I think it was great for the game, but it was kind of tough for the first couple of years. When we went into New York City or into Montreal, we really had to play our hearts out just to get a tie.&rdquo;The original Penguins were a veteran crew, unlike some of the other new teams, which determined they would suffer as their youngsters grew.&ldquo;Pittsburgh in the American League the year before (1966-67 as the Hornets) had won the Calder Cup,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So they (Penguin brass) kind of thought, &lsquo;If we&rsquo;re going to go into Pittsburgh, we can&rsquo;t go with a bunch of kids and lose two or three years.&rsquo; They thought they&rsquo;d have to draft a little bit of an older team and try to establish the same winning atmosphere the American League (team) had the year before.&ldquo;I knew a lot of the guys, pi course. I&rsquo;d played a lot against them. But it was strange walking into training camp&mdash;you got a guy from this team, a guy from that team, two guys from this team, and everybody had never played together.&rdquo;In seven NHL seasons, Dea played 399 games, scored 67 goals and added 54 assists for 121 points. &#9632;

f0027-02

DEA BRIDGED NHL ERAS OF ORIGINAL SIX, EXPANSION

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER AND JEFF HALE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01712/5781397-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Robbie Laird, above, tied with Milwaukee&rsquo;s Rick Ley as top IHL coach. Laird has built a strong team without benefit of NHL affiliation. (Photo by Mark wick)</figcaption></div>A random sampling of International League players and management reveals more discriminating tastes than those in the American League, featured in the Feb. 3 issue of The Hockey News.IHLers like to cook their own steaks and prefer the uh, bare necessities in entertainment. So, without further ado, the best and worst of IHL cities and teams:<h2>BEST ARENA</h2>The Bradley Center in Milwaukee.The 17,915-seat facility was financed by Lloyd and Jane Pettit, a wealthy Milwaukee couple with designs on an NHL franchise. Pettit was the play-by-play man of the Chicago Blackhawks. It&rsquo;s easily the class of the circuit. Worth noting though, are the high showerheads, built for members of the National Basketball Association Bucks. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re so high the water will evaporate before it hits my head,&rdquo; said 5-foot-6 Kalamazoo trainer Terry Roof.<h2>WORST ARENA</h2>Muskegon&rsquo;s L.C. Walker Arena.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s dingy and dirty,&rdquo; says one player. That opinion is held by many. One IHL coach said the dressing rooms are too small. Team meetings often spill out into the hallway.<h2>BEST NIGHT CLUB</h2>Shotgun Willie&rsquo;s.The attraction?&ldquo;We have girls who take all their clothes off,&rdquo; says an employee of the Denver nightclub.A close runner-up was The Dead Goat, across the street from the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. The original owner named it after his World War II fighter squadron. Teams can reserve tables.<h2>BEST RESTAURANT</h2>The Alexander Street Steakhouse.The Peoria establishment is a favorite not only among IHLers, but the Bradley University basketball team and its opponents. Part of the attraction is that you choose and then cook your own steak.<h2>BEST CITY</h2>Salt Lake City, Utah.&ldquo;Every team looks forward to that trip,&rdquo; says one coach. There&rsquo;s a bustling downtown that the players frequent, but the weather&mdash;average temperature between December and February is 39 degrees Fahrenheit&mdash;is the real plus. To save on travel costs, teams play two games in three nights. The off day can be spent at one of the 15 golf courses within a 25-mile radius of the city. Fishing is available in the lakes near the Wasatch Mountains on the city&rsquo;s east side. Gamblers can drive 115 miles west on Interstate-80 to Wendover, Nev.<h2>WORST CITY</h2>Flint, Mich.A blah place. &ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t too many highlights there,&rdquo; says one coach. Auto layoffs at the General Motors plant depressed the economy, and the city is only now starting to rebound.<h2>BEST COACH</h2>Rick Ley-Robbie Laird. Another tie.Milwaukee&rsquo;s Ley earns accolades for turning a bad franchise into a league force. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a better coach than I thought he was,&rdquo; says one team executive. &ldquo;He always has that team prepared.&rdquo;Ley benefits from an affiliation with Vancouver of the NHL. Laird, on the other hand, has an independent in Fort Wayne. But he has built a strong team through defense and a cast of tight checkers. &ldquo;He has done a remarkable job without a top affiliation,&rdquo; says a team executive. &ldquo;Always has them in contention.&rdquo;<h2>BEST REFEREE</h2>Derek Martin, 25, of Chicago is tops. Martin has been an official in the league for five years. &ldquo;He has a good grasp of how the game should be played,&rdquo; says one executive.<h2>BEST SHOT</h2>Paul Lawless, Milwaukee Admirals.&ldquo;Lawless has a hard, accurate shot and has the skating skills to get himself free,&rdquo; says one player. It doesn&rsquo;t seem to matter what shot he uses. &ldquo;He has such a quick release, whether it be backhand or forehand,&rdquo; adds one team executive.<h2>BEST FACE-OFF MAN</h2>Mark Janssens, Denver Rangers.Though he&rsquo;s out for the rest of the season with a head injury suffered in a fight with Salt Lake left winger Stu Grimson, Janssens earns high praise.Randy Bucyk of Salt Lake is best on the draw among active players.<h2>BIGGEST WHINER</h2>The winners here didn&rsquo;t stay around long enough to accept the honor.Salt Lake center Theoren Fleury received top marks for his complaints and his dives. &ldquo;He moans about everything,&rdquo; says one coach. Fleury was recalled Jan. 1 by the Calgary Flames.Defenseman Tom Karalis of Flint was loaned to New Haven of the American League Jan. 9. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always yapping about something,&rdquo; adds another coach.With those two gone, for the time being, Milwaukee&rsquo;s Paul Lawless takes the vacant title<h2>BEST PLAYER</h2>Fleury, who still led the league in scoring by six points 10 games after being recalled by Calgary, earns top honors in this category. In Fleury&rsquo;s absence, no clear-cut winner emerged. Salt Lake&rsquo;s Peter Lappin, Muskegon&rsquo;s Dave Michayluk and Lawless are contenders for top spot. Denver&rsquo;s Simon Wheeldon also received support, though he was recalled by the New York Rangers. &#9632;

f0028-01

PICKS, PANS

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER AND JEFF HALE</div>The list is down to seven in the search for Bud Poile&rsquo;s replacement as International League commissioner.Among the candidates are league supervisor of officials Tom Berry, former Fort Wayne coach and general manager Ken Ullyot and IHL information director Mike Meyers.&ldquo;My understanding is Tom Berry is the frontrunner,&rdquo; said Milwaukee GM Phil Wittliff.A three-man committee reviewed applications at the IHL meetings in Phoenix Jan. 30 and was expected to make a decision within a week. The choice must be ratified by the league&rsquo;s board of governors.Poile will work with the new commissioner the remainder of the season to ease the transition. Poile, who turns 65 Feb. 24, has been commissioner since 1983.The search committee was comprised of John Snider, Harold Hansen and Joe Tierney&mdash;governors of Muskegon, Peoria and Milwaukee, respectively.<h2>HAWKS ALOFT</h2>Saginaw Hawks won six straight and 12 of 14 to move within fi vm points of first-place Muskegon in the East Division. The Hawks were 2615-5, the Lumberjacks 29-10-4. Saginaw beat Muskegon 4-3 in overtime Jan. 22.Saginaw surged despite callups to the parent Chicago Blackhawks. Fifteen players have been recalled to the NHL this season. Five were still in Chicago, including goalie Ed Belfour.<h2>MARUK DEBUTS</h2>Veteran NHLer Dennis Maruk played his first minor-league game Jan. 20. He had a goal and two assists in Kalamazoo&rsquo;s 7-4 home win over Fort Wayne.The Minnesota North Star center ended a five-game conditioning stint with Kalamazoo Jan. 29.The 14-year veteran was testing the kneecap he shattered Feb. 20, 1988. Maruk was hurt trying to block a slapshot from Washington&rsquo;s Grant Ledyard.<h2>MICHAYLUK HALTED</h2>Muskegon left winger Dave Michayluk had a nine-game point streak (7-9-16) stopped in the Lumberjacks&rsquo; 4-3 overtime loss in Saginaw Jan. 22.With 30 goals and 38 assists in 43 games, he was second in scoring behind Salt Lake&rsquo;s Theoren Fleury (37-37-74). Fleury was recalled by the Calgary Flames Jan. 1.Saginaw had its first sellout of the season at 5,369-seat Wendler Arena Jan. 21 when Detroit Tiger baseball pitchers Mike Henneman and Jeff Robinson appeared as part of a promotion&hellip;Indianapolis Ice was 3-7-0 in its last 10 games, prompting this comment from coach Archie Henderson: &ldquo;Sometimes it feels like I&rsquo;m out in the middle of the ocean in a dingy full of holes.&rdquo; &#9632;

POILE’S SUCCESSOR WILL COME FROM GROUP OF SEVEN

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>Tom Draper did all he could to keep the Moncton Hawks&rsquo; 14-game unbeaten streak alive.But the rookie goalie&rsquo;s 52 saves weren&rsquo;t enough to prevent a 3-2 loss at Halifax Jan. 19. Moncton had just 17 shots on goal.Citadel defenseman Bobby Dollas scored the winning goal with 1:51 left in the third period. Draper was named the game&rsquo;s first star.Moncton got back on track two nights later, beating the travel-weary Cape Breton Oilers 11-7. The Oilers flew into Halifax at 9 a.m. on game day en route to Moncton. But a blizzard grounded all flights and forced the Oilers to wait nine hours for the next plane to Moncton. They finally arrived at the Moncton Coliseum at 7 p.m. The opening faceoff, which was scheduled for 7:30, was delayed 20 minutes.Moncton left winger Moe Lemay had four goals and three assists to lead the Hawks. Craig Endean, a left winger loaned to the Hawks by Fort Wayne of the International League, arrived in the second period but still earned two assists.Referee Paul Devorski was stranded in Charlottetown, P.E.I., by the same storm and didn&rsquo;t make the game. It was refereed by former NHL linesman Charlie Banfield, who was in Moncton to work a Canadian university game. After a telephone conversation with NHL officiating supervisor Bryan Lewis, Banfield got out of the university commitment and worked the AHL game with assigned linesmen Romeo LeBlanc and Bobby Jones.A crowd of 2,952 attended the game in the 6.802-seat Coliseum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01616/5781452-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="553" height="779"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Endean braved a snowstorm to earn two points.</figcaption></div><h2>FACE FIRST</h2>Halifax coach Doug Carpenter put a good face on things Jan. 20 during a 2-1 loss at Sherbrooke.Carpenter was hit in the side of the face by the puck at the 18-minute mark of the second period. He put a towel to his face for the remainder of the period, received about a dozen stitches to close the gash, and was behind the bench for the third period.<h2>ABLE BODIES</h2>The only people missing were the butcher, baker and candlestick maker when the Maine Mariners searched for replacements to fill a roster depleted by injuries and recalls by the Boston Bruins.Coach Mike Milbury added four players for a Jan. 15 game at Springfield. The only one with previous pro experience was defenseman Jay Rose, who played two games with Adirondack last season. At the time he was contacted, he was teaching a tae-kwon-do class. Right winger Dan Macrones was skiing in New Hampshire. Right winger Larry Rusconi was a cement finisher in Boston. Defenseman Tad Merritt, a garbage collector in Millis, Mass., was added to the Mariner roster but didn&rsquo;t play in the game. Springfield broke a 1-1 tie after two periods and won 5-2&hellip;Nine-year NHL veteran left winger Anton Stastny registered his first AHL point when he scored for Halifax in the Citadels&rsquo; 4-1 win over Moncton Jan. 24. Stastny, who was sent down by the Quebec Nordiques Jan. 19, went pointless in his first two AHL games-&hellip;Goalie Warren Skorodenski, who was playing for the Canadian national team, signed with the Edmonton Oilers Jan. 20. He was assigned to Cape Breton two days later. Skorodenski was 8-9-1 with a 4.24 goals-against average for Team Canada. He was MVP of the Nova Scotia Oilers last season when he went 25-15-5 with a 3.74 GAA. &#9632;

f0029-01

52 SAVES NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP STREAK GOING

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE AND RICHARD BEALES</div>Here&rsquo;s a prediction you can take to the bank. Three records will be broken when Newmarket meets Adirondack Feb. 6.And that&rsquo;s before the first puck is dropped.Adirondack is the &lsquo;home&rsquo; team for the game at Joe Louis Arena, home of the parent Detroit Red Wings. The game was included in the Red Wing season-ticket package, which ensures sales of at least 16,000. Detroit general manager Jimmy Devellano says the teams could pack the 19,275-seat arena.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking for a sellout,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll set a minor league record.&rdquo;The announced attendance of at least 16,000 will smash AHL and International League records&mdash;even if the arena is empty. The AHL regular season single game record of 13,909 was reached several times during the 1971-72 season when the Boston Braves played to then-capacity crowds in Boston Garden.Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo housed the largest crowd&mdash;15,019&mdash;in AHL history May 15, 1973 when the Cincinnati Mohawks beat the Nova Scotia Voyageurs to win the Calder Cup. The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; affiliate played its Cup series home games in Buffalo due to a scheduling conflict in Cincinnati.The IHL record is 15,331, set last Oct. 8 at Milwaukee&rsquo;s Bradley Center.Detroit is the second NHL team to play host to its minor-league affiliate. On Jan. 30,1987, the Baltimore Skipjacks, then the Penguins&rsquo; farm team, beat the Sherbrooke Canadiens at Civic Arena before 5,383. The Penguins&rsquo; new affiliate, the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the IHL, blanked Fort Wayne Komets 7-0 before 2,658 on Feb. 12, 1988.<h2>BITING ISSUE</h2>The Binghamton Whalers have proposed harsh measures against players caught biting opponents or officials during games.Whaler general manager Tom Mitchell suggested a suspension of &ldquo;not less than 10 games&rdquo; and fine of $1,000 for a first offense, and double both penalties for a subsequent offense.Whaler right winger Ed Kastelic was suspended 20 games for biting linesman Frank Quigley during an 11-5 loss at Springfield Dec. 30. Mitchell said the Kastelic incident was not isolated. Binghamton defenseman Charlie Bourgeois has been bitten twice during the season, the GM said, and &ldquo;I&rsquo;m aware of a couple of others.&rdquo;To Mitchell, the issue is one of image.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to see some penalties or forma] indication by the league that that baloney is not going to be tolerated,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The league is making an effort to promote the AHL and this type of behavior undermines it.&rdquo;AHL vice-president Gord Anziano would not comment on Mitchell&rsquo;s proposal.<h2>HRIVNAK SIGNED</h2>Two-time All-America goalie Jim Hrivnak signed a contract with the Baltimore Skipjacks Jan. 23. Hrivnak, 20, was academically ineligible for the final semester of his senior year at Merrimack College. He was selected in the third round, 61st overall, by Washington Capitals in 1986. In three and a half seasons at Merrimack, Hrivnak was 88-23-2 with 11 shutouts and a 2.65 goals-against &#9632;

RECORD MINOR-PRO CROWD EXPECTED

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01702/5781507-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Verdun Junior Canadien Jasmin Berube comes up short in this confrontation with Shawinigan&rsquo;s Stephane Carrier. The Baby Habs have been coming up short all season&mdash;they had the worst record in major junior hockey.</figcaption></div>Verdun Junior Canadiens are the black sheep of the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; family.In an organization steeped in tradition, where winning is expected, the Baby Habs are an eyesore.As managing director of the NHL Canadiens&mdash;owners of the Junior Habs&mdash;Serge Savard sees all of his team&rsquo;s games. He undoubtedly likes what he sees&mdash;the Habs were in first place. Montreal&rsquo;s American League farm team is the first place Sherbrooke Canadiens.The less said about Verdun to Savard, the better. The Verdun Auditorium is only 10 minutes away from Montreal, but Savard has seen only two Junior Canadiens&rsquo; games this season.&ldquo;I saw a couple of games early but I&rsquo;ve been travelling a lot and I haven&rsquo;t been able to make it back,&rdquo; says Savard.Last overall in the QMJHL in 1986-87 with a record of 14-55-1 and last again in 1987-88 with a 19-47-4 record, Verdun is virtually guaranteed of last place again.After 46 games, the Junior Canadiens had the worst record, 9-36-1, in major junior hockey. They also had the QMJHL&rsquo;s worst offense (158 goals), its second-worst defense (241 goals against) and were 23 points out of a playoff spot.Not long ago, Verdun was one of the QMJHL&rsquo;s premier franchises. Cornwall Royals (now in the Ontario League), Hull Olympiques and Verdun are the only franchises to win two league championships in the &rsquo;80s (Verdun won in 1982-83 and 1984-85). The Junior Canadiens last won the Memorial Cup in 1970 when they were based in Montreal. The team moved to Verdun in 1982.This season, Savard installed his assistant, Jacques Lemaire, as general manager. Lemaire hired successful Guy Chouinard away from Victoriaville to coach the team.&ldquo;What I have to do is evaluate the players who can play next year and get rid of the rest,&rdquo; says Lemaire.Lemaire and Chouinard inherited a team wracked by injuries, divided by cliques and rife with dissension.Overage defenseman Guy Darveau, a Calgary Flames&rsquo; draft choice (10th round, 210th overall in 1988) acquired in a trade from Victoriaville in the summer, was expected to bring leadership and stability. He hasn&rsquo;t played a game this season following shoulder surgery. Verdun has had as many as seven regulars missing from the lineup at the same time this season.According to more than one player, there is poor chemistry and lack of camaraderie among the 11 Anglophone and 10 Francophone players.&ldquo;Nobody cares about his neighbour,&rdquo; says a player who requests anonimity. &ldquo;The last three years we&rsquo;ve had too many English guys. The English guys stay together and the French guys stay together.&rdquo;Four players&mdash;center Neil Carnes, right winger Martin Saurette and defensemen Eric Lussier and Marc Picard&mdash;have quit the team. Carnes and Picard both returned, although Carnes&rsquo; hiatus lasted six weeks and he&rsquo;s never regained the form which saw him score 31 goals and 57 assists in 61 games last year. This year, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; draft pick (46th overall in 1988) had three goals and 10 assists in 14 games.Verdun&rsquo;s problems began when former NHL defenseman Carol Vadnais was hired as coach and general manager for 1985-86 season, replacing Jean Begin. Begin followed Yvon Lambert in &rsquo;84-85 and took Verdun to the QMJHL title.&ldquo;We felt we needed a change for reasons I can&rsquo;t tell you,&rdquo; says Savard, who denies the move had anything to do with his friendship with Vadnais.Although Vadnais had been an assistant coach with the New York Rangers, he had no junior hockey experience. It showed, especially in his dealings with teenage players.&ldquo;It was hard going into his office,&rdquo; says Picard, now in his third season with Verdun. &ldquo;He looked at you as if you were two feet high.&rdquo;Vadnais, unavailable for comment, resigned as coach midway through the 1986-87 season. But he remained as GM, a move which began a revolving-door coaching policy that has plagued Verdun ever since.Vadnais&rsquo; replacement, Richard Liboiron, lasted only 24 games last season, despite a respectable 9-13-2 record. His successor, Jean-Maurice Cool, completed the season with a 1034-2 record and was bounced by Lemaire.Vadnais wasn&rsquo;t around by then; he had resigned to go into real estate.&ldquo;Obviously, I thought Carol would do a good job, not that I&rsquo;m saying he did a bad job,&rdquo; says Savard. &ldquo;But the problem is we missed some drafts.&rdquo;Which isn&rsquo;t to say Verdun wasn&rsquo;t at the table on draft day&mdash;it only looked that way. From 1985 to 1987, the Baby Habs drafted abysmally.Of 21 players drafted in 1985, only Daniel Marois (now with the Toronto Maple Leafs) and Mario Milani (a Montreal draft pick now playing in Europe) played three full seasons with Verdun.The Baby Habs had slightly more success in the 1986 draft. Three of their 20 choices, including first-rounder Picard and leading scorer Andrew McKim, are still with the team. Four more are playing for other QMJHL teams.But 1987 was a disaster. Verdun selected left winger Martin St-Amour first overall ahead of Hull&rsquo;s Martin Gelinas. Gelinas scored 63 goals and 68 assists last year and was named the outstanding major junior rookie in Canada. St-Amour, selected in the second round by Montreal, scored only 20 goals and 50 assists. He was traded to Trois-Rivieres this year for defenseman Eric Charron.Of Verdun&rsquo;s 17 other midget picks in 1987, only Todd Gillingham remains.Jean Gosselin, fired from his post as Junior Canadiens&rsquo; chief scout after last season, admits he made some errors. But he says there were extenuating circumstances.In order to cut costs, the Canadiens cut their scouting staff from six to three last season. Because of the cuts, Gosselin says, scouting was restricted almost exclusively to the province of Quebec.With the first overall pick again last year, the Baby Habs took left winger Pierre Sevigny, a playmaker who had 121 points in 40 games with the midget Cantonniers de l&rsquo;Est. They chose Sevigny ahead of linemate Yanic Perreault, a 70-goal scorer who went second overall to Trois-Rivieres.Sevigny has been ordinary this season, scoring 21 goals and 26 assists in 42 games. Perreault, playing for a stronger team, had 34 goals and 39 assists in 46 games.But Lemaire says better days are ahead, with the possibility of seven 17-year-olds and 10, 18-year-olds returning next season. &#9632;

f0030-01

HAB-NOTS

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>The Quebec League has little success against the Ontario League in the Memorial Cup, but all-star games are a different story.A QMJHL team hasn&rsquo;t beaten an OHL team in the Memorial Cup since 1982, when Sherbrooke ripped Kitchener 10-4. Since then, the OHL has won 15 straight games.But the QMJHL has been dominant in the annual Challenge Cup All-Star Games between the two leagues.The QMJHL&rsquo;s 5-2 win Jan. 24 was its fifth victory in six All-Star Games since 1986. The leagues met in a two-game series in 1986 and 1987.&ldquo;We have spectacular offensive players in our league who can skate,&rdquo; said Quebec League president Gilles Courteau. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;snotonly that. We move the puck well and play well with it, and I think we have more ability because that was one of the best Ontario teams they&rsquo;ve showed us.&rdquo;Despite missing five players to injury, the QMJHL rallied from a 2-1 first-period deficit. Out of the lineup were right winger Alain Tardif and centers Reginald Savage and Daniel Gauthier of Victoriaville, Hull right winger Jeremy Roenick and Laval defenseman Patrice Brisebois.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01645/5781538-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="556" height="794"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stephane Morin scored twice as the QMJHL beat the OHL.</figcaption></div>Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Stephane Morin scored twice while Laval&rsquo;s Eric Dubois and Denis Chalifoux, and Hull&rsquo;s Martin Gelinas had singles.Niagara Falls&rsquo; Jamie Leach and Ottawa&rsquo;s Mike Griffith replied for Ontario.<h2>ROUGH NIGHT</h2>Laval coach Paulin Bordeleau&rsquo;s might as well have stayed home. His return from an eight-game suspension wasn&rsquo;t what he hoped for.Because of a snowstorm, Laval didn&rsquo;t arrive in Granby until an hour before game time Jan. 20. The game was delayed 90 minutes anyway since referee Luc Miville was late arriving from Montreal.Making matters worse was the fact former Titan right winger Stephane Plante scored a goal and two assists to spark Granby&rsquo;s 6-3 win. Plante also drew a spear from Patrick Lemay. Granby scored three goals on the subsequent five-minute power play.Plante, who served two suspensions for attacking officials while with Laval, was traded to Granby Jan. 5 along with defenseman Benoit Therrien for right winger Lemay and defenseman Sylvain Beland.<h2>NO SALE</h2>Hull governor Charlie Henry denied a published report the Olympiques are for sale. He claimed his remarks were taken out of context in a Jan. 24 story in Le Journal de Montreal.But Henry said that if someone offered team owner Wayne Gretzky between $500,000 and $600,000, he&rsquo;d be foolish not to sell.Gretzky purchased the team four years ago for $100,000. The Olympiques made $75,000 in their league championship season of 1985-86, but have lost about $55,000 annually since then&hellip;Verdun defenseman Marc Picard, who quit the Junior Canadiens Jan. 14, saying he could no longer play for coach Guy Chouinard, returned to the team six days later. Such mid-season vacations are nothing new for Picard, a three-year veteran who has quit the team each year only to return. &#9632;

f0031-01

QUEBEC CLAIMS ANOTHER ALL-STAR VICTORY

<div class="byline">BY STEVE KEATING AND RANDY RUSSON</div>The Ontario League all-stars took a 5-2 beating from the Quebec League at the Challenge Cup Jan. 24 in the Montreal Forum, but it&rsquo;s the OHL&rsquo;s reputation that&rsquo;s taking a real pounding.Long considered the inferior league, the QMJHL silenced its detractors once again, winning its fifth of six all-star games between the two leagues.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting embarrassing,&rdquo; said OHL coach Joe McDonnell. &ldquo;We have to start winning a few of these games. Being close just isn&rsquo;t good enough anymore.&ldquo;As for our reputation, look at the record. It&rsquo;s 1-5 and that definitely isn&rsquo;t good. We&rsquo;re hurting in that part but the real test is the Memorial Cup.&rdquo;No QMJHL team has defeated an OHL team at the junior championship tournament since 1982.Some theorize that because Quebec hasn&rsquo;t won a Memorial Cup since 1981, the league places more importance on the All-Star Game.&ldquo;Everyone&rsquo;s always talking about the OHL and how it&rsquo;s the best league,&rdquo; said McDonnell. &ldquo;Maybe these guys (Quebec) feel they have something to prove.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a valid point,&rdquo; said OHL commissioner Dave Branch. &ldquo;I think the first couple of games we took them too lightly and they approach this game like it&rsquo;s the seventh and deciding game of the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not concerned. After all, it is an exhibition game,&rdquo; said Branch. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think this hurts our reputation at all but it is embarrassing. No one likes to lose.&rdquo;<h2>THAT&rsquo;S ICKEY</h2>Like Cincinnati Bengals running back Ickey Woods, London right winger Ron Jones had to bring his shuffle to the sidelines.In Jones&rsquo; case, to the penalty box.After scoring to give the Knights a 4-0 lead over Kitchener Jan. 22 (Super Bowl Sunday), Jones came up with his own version of the &ldquo;Ickey Shuffle,&rdquo; a touchdown celebration dance perfected by Woods.The 3,200 fans at London Gardens enjoyed the antics but referee Dave Lynch wasn&rsquo;t impressed and slapped Jones with a 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct. Jones spent much of his 10-minute sentence signing autographs for fans.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he deserved the penalty but what happened went a long way towards establishing a relationship between player and fans,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; marketing director Laurie Ham. &ldquo;It was a hell of an autograph session.&rdquo;The Knights went on to beat the Rangers 6-1 for their sixth straight win.<h2>BURT BACK</h2>North Bay Centennials, seventh in the Emms Division, received good news Jan. 23, when 19-year-old defenseman Adam Burt was returned from the Hartford Whalers. Burt was 17-54-71 with 176 penalty minutes in 66 games with the Centennials last season. He had no points in six games with the Whalers this season&hellip;Oshawa Generals&rsquo; overage defenseman Scott Taylor suffered a broken jaw after blocking a shot in a 5-4 overtime win over Ottawa Jan. 15. He will be out the rest of the season&hellip;Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea on his team&rsquo;s star center, Andrew Cassels: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a team in the league that relies on one player like we do on Andrew.&rdquo; &#9632;

COACH ‘EMBARRASSED’ BY LATEST CHALLENGE CUP SETBACK

For the period Jan. 23-29<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02444/5781593-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="334" height="526"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Fife</figcaption></div>AHL: Brian Dobbin, Hershey. Four goals, four assists in three games.IHL: Dave McLIwain, Muskegon. Three goals, Five assists in three games.QMJHL: Stephane Morin, Chicoutimi. Four goals, seven assists in three games.OHL: Jeff Fife, Belleville. Two games, four goals against.WHL: Mike Sillinger, Regina. Two goals, six assists in two games.Hockey East: David Emma, Boston College. Three goals, two assists in two games.ECAC: Scott Young, Colgate. Four goals, five assists in two games.CCHA: Denny Felsner, Michigan. Four goals, two assists in two games.WCHA: Dean Antos, Northern Michigan. Four goals, three assists in two games.AUAA: Dan Leblond, St. Thomas. Six goals, five assists in two games.OUAA: Scott Tottle, Western. Five goals, two assists in two games.CWUAA: Ken Morrison, Saskatchewan. Five 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;

f0031-02

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY ED WILLES</div>The Western League lost its brightest star the same night it showcased him.Prince Albert Raider center Mike Modano suffered a broken bone in his left wrist during the All-Star Game Jan. 24 in Brandon. The West Division beat Modano&rsquo;s East squad 5-1.Modano, taken first overall in the 1988 entry draft by the Minnesota North Stars, was injured late in the first period in a collision with Tri-City defenseman Steve Jaques. The collision broke the scaphoid bone, which runs along the top of the wrist. Modano will miss two to three months.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very serious injury,&rdquo; said Raider coach Peter Anholt, who watched the game. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those things that never seems to heal properly.&rdquo;&ldquo;It cast a pall over the entire game,&rdquo; said Swift Current coach Graham James, who guided the East Division.Brandon defenseman Bob Woods bruised a shoulder when he was hit by Spokane&rsquo;s Darcy Loewen in the first period. Woods was expected back by early February.&ldquo;Every team feels the same way about all-star games,&rdquo; said Anholt. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re a necessary evil. You want to showcase the talent in the league but you also run the risk of losing your star player. Tonight, we got it.&rdquo;<h2>WEST IS BEST</h2>The All-Star Game wasn&rsquo;t treated as an exhibition by West Division players. This was a contest they wanted to win badly.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01689/5781624-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="546" height="1138"><figcaption class="caption-body">A broken bone in his wrist sidelined Mike Modano.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We went out there and finished our checks and played a basic system,&rdquo; said Portland&rsquo;s Dennis Holland, named the West Division&rsquo;s outstanding player. &ldquo;We knew we hadn&rsquo;t won in two years so it was pretty easy to get pumped up.&rdquo;Tri-City&rsquo;s Jaques thought the West showed more desire.&ldquo;I think we outworked them by a long shot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some of them looked like they were out there for a Sunday skate.&rdquo;Scoring for the West were Holland, James Black and Troy Mick of Portland, Tri-City&rsquo;s Stu Barnes and Spokane&rsquo;s Loewen. Swift Current&rsquo;s Dan Lambert scored the lone East goal.&ldquo;They were clearly the better team,&rdquo; said losing coach James. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not going to get too uptight about it. We play 72 games a season when I get uptight. You&rsquo;ve got to relax for one of them.&rdquo;<h2>GO WEST</h2>League president Ed Chynoweth says the WHL may expand as early as next season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about this thing long enough,&rdquo; said Chynoweth after the league&rsquo;s board of governors meeting in Brandon during the All-Star break. &ldquo;We have to give some answers. Quite frankly, I&rsquo;d be surprised if something didn&rsquo;t happen next season.&rdquo;Chynoweth would like to add one team to the six-team West Division. Cities under consideration are Takima and Tacoma, both in Washington, and Eugene, Ore. Groups from Vancouver and Edmonton are also interested in franchises.Chynoweth set April 1 as a deadline for a decision on expansion. &#9632;

f0032-01

MODANO INJURED IN ALL-STAR GAME

<div class="byline">BY CLAUDE SCILLEY</div>Royal Military College athletic director Bill Oliver issued an ultimatum to his troops.Start winning games or run the risk of withdrawing from the Ontario Universities Athletic Association.Oliver made the announcement after firing coach Tom MacKay Jan. 12. MacKay&rsquo;s ouster followed back-to-back losses of 14-1 to Concordia Jan. 6 and 17-1 to McGill Jan. 7. Assistant Bob Moses takes over for the rest of the season.&ldquo;We made the change for two reasons,&rdquo; said Oliver. &ldquo;One was our performance this season (1-15-1 at the time of MacKay&rsquo;s dismissal). The other was that we have to seriously think about whether to remain in the OUAA. If the team doesn&rsquo;t respond to a coaching change we&rsquo;d have to think about getting out of the league.&ldquo;Losing games 20-1 (to Western in November), 17-1 and 14-1 is just not acceptable to us and the people we&rsquo;re playing. Out of respect to the OUAA, someone has to make a hard decision.&rdquo;The school dropped its varsity football program in 1982 and stopped competing in basketball after the 1986-87 season.RMC won its first game under Moses&mdash;8-6 over Wilfrid Laurier Jan. 14&mdash;but was thumped 10-0 by Waterloo the next day.The losing continued when the Redmen faced the U.S. Military Academy at West Point Jan. 21. Goalie Greg Leblanc made 59 saves but RMC lost a heartbreaker 3-2 in overtime. Army junior center Rich Sheridan scored the winner with 32 seconds left in OT. The Redmen had just 11 shots on goal.West Point&rsquo;s win evened the lifetime series between the two academies at 27-27-4.<h2>UP AND DOWN</h2>McGill Redmen beat a heavyweight but could only tie a lightweight.One night after upsetting No. 3-ranked Western 6-2 Jan. 20, No. 8 McGill was hard pressed to tie Guelph 7-7. The Gryphons were 4-10-3, last in the Central Division.&ldquo;We have a team that&rsquo;s not used to being up there,&rdquo; said Redmen coach Al Grazys.&ldquo;After the big win (against Western) we were on too much of a high instead of saying we&rsquo;re every bit as good as these guys, so why shouldn&rsquo;t we beat them?&rdquo;Still, Grazys doesn&rsquo;t have too much to complain about. McGill, which enjoyed its best season in 40 years when it went 13-8-4 in 1987-88, was 14-32. The Redmen were two points behind first-place Trois-Rivieres in the East Division.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been scoring our share of goals but mostly we&rsquo;re going to win with defense,&rdquo; said Grazys.With 49 goals against, the Redmen had the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union&rsquo;s best defensive record. &#9632;

RMC PONDERS DROPPING HOCKEY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01613/5781679-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CCHA commissioner Bill Beagan says he wants more play between teams in his league and those in the WCHA.</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>Goalies are supposed to prevent goals. Scoring isn&rsquo;t part of the job description.But Michigan Tech sophomore Damien Rhodes added a goal to his resume against Colorado College Jan. 21. It came at 19:51 of the third period of Michigan Tech&rsquo;s 5-2 win over the Tigers. The loss snapped Colorado&rsquo;s four-game winning and five-game unbeaten streaks.Rhodes is believed to be the first goalie in NCAA history to score. The four major Division I leagues and USA Hockey had no records to suggest otherwise.With Michigan Tech leading 4-2 late in the game and working on a 4-on-3 power play, Colorado coach Brad Buetow pulled his goalie, sophomore Jon Gustafson, for an extra attacker.After Rhodes stopped a Cal Brown shot from the right point, Tiger senior left winger Tim Budy slid the rebound back toward his defensemen at the blueline.But the puck skidded down the ice into the open net. Rhodes, the last Michigan Tech player to touch the puck, was credited with the goal. Zhodes also assisted on a goal by sophomore right winger Kelly Hurd.Minnesota junior goalie Robb Stauber returned to action Jan. 21, but lost 1-0 to Boston University.He made 18 saves. Last year&rsquo;s Hobey Baker Award winner had been sidelined since Dec. 3 with an ankle injury. Without him, Minnesota posted an 8-3-3 record in games through Jan. 20, maintaining a comfortable hold on its WCHA lead.Freshman Jeff Stolp was 6-1-2 with a 3.09 goals-against average and .885 save percentage in the 10 league games he started in Stauber&rsquo;s absence.&mdash;Virg Foss<h2>ECAC</h2>Vermont Catamounts haven&rsquo;t lived up to pre-season expectations.The Cats were the only team besides Harvard to receive a first-place vote in the pre-season coaches&rsquo; poll. But they were fifth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference with 10 games left on their league schedule. Vermont was 7-5-0, 12-8-0 overall.Harvard, which received 11 of 12 first-place votes, was first at 13-0-0.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried,&rdquo; said Vermont coach Mike Gilligan before his team broke a four-game losing streak with a 6-0 rout of RPI Jan. 21.Not that he should be&mdash;eight teams qualify for the playoff tournament and Vermont was seven points ahead of ninth-place Dartmouth (3-8-1).Dartmouth&rsquo;s first weekend sweep of the season put the Big Green in playoff contention.Dartmouth improved its league record to 3-8-1 (4-11-1 overall) by beating Cornell 4-3 Jan. 20 and Colgate 5-1 the next night.With 10 games left, the Big Green trailed Yale (4-7-0) by one point for the last playoff spot. Dartmouth has not qualified for post-season play since 1979-80.Senior left winger Derek Tweddell and sophomore right winger Sean Tomalty led the sweep. Tomalty scored twice to erase a 2-0 Cornell lead while Tweddell scored the game winner five minutes into the third period. Both players scored a goal against Colgate.&mdash;Tom Boggie<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Jack Parker went fishing to solve his team&rsquo;s goaltending problems.The Boston University coach&rsquo;s decision to start rarely-used senior goalie Peter Fish resulted in three straight wins for the Terriers. They improved to 7-9-1, good for fourth in the seven-team league. BU was 1013-1 overall.The Terriers had lost four straight with sophomore John Bradley and freshman Bryan LaFort between the pipes.Fish, a native of East Greenwich, R.I., stopped 24 Minnesota-Duluth shots in a 9-3 win Jan. 20. He made 17 saves to shut out Minnesota 1-0 Jan. 21 and stopped 31 shots in a 6-2 win over Lowell Jan. 24. He is now BU&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie.Fish didn&rsquo;t dress for the team&rsquo;s first 12 games and was even relegated to the Terriers&rsquo; junior varsity at one point in the season.Lowell coach Bill Riley Jr. claimed career win No. 350 when his team upset seventh-rated St. Lawrence 6-2 Jan. 20.The win snapped Lowell&rsquo;s seven game losing streak. The next night, the Chiefs beat Clarkson 4-3 to bring Riley&rsquo;s career record to 351-225-19.&mdash;Larry Mahoney<h2>CCHA</h2>The Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Collegiate Hockey Association may play each other more often next season.CCHA commissioner Bill Beagan sees potential for a closer relationship with the WCHA, since that league ends its interlocking schedule with Hockey East after this season. CCHA and WCHA teams currently play a handful of times in non-league games and meet in holiday tournaments.&ldquo;We live in a society of acquisitions and mergers and any business worth its salt is looking to the future,&rdquo; said Beagan. &ldquo;You need to have flexibility to grow&mdash;if not, you&rsquo;ll be stampeded by the competition.&rdquo;Meanwhile, speculation has arisen about plans for a so-called super conference. The 24-team league would be comprised of the CCHA and WCHA plus independents St. Cloud, Michigan-Dearborn, Kent State, Alaska-Fairbanks, Alaska-Anchorage, Notre Dame and Wisconsin-Green Bay, once its program is established.St. Cloud hopes to join the WCHA in 1990-91 and will play a WCHA schedule next season.WCHA commissioner Otto Breitenbach said he knew nothing about the super conference concept but would be open to discussion.&ldquo;I would be in favor of anything that would help college hockey grow and prosper,&rdquo; said Breitenbach. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had any formal discussions but we are growing and there will be changes down the line. The WCHA is open to experiment and talk and we&rsquo;re not going to sit with our door closed.&rdquo;&mdash;Kevin Gordon &#9632;

f0033-01

GOALIE RHODES SCORES TO HELP MICHIGAN TECH BEAT COLORADO

<h2>STANDING RECORDS</h2>(PCT) PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL POINTS VERSUS POSSIBLE POINTS<h3>CLARENCE CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h3><h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01697/5781976-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="972" height="159"></div><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02525/5781969-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="970" height="156"></div><h3>PRINCE OF WALES CONFERENCE</h3><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03409/5781962-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="965" height="159"></div><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04306/5781955-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="972" height="182"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2>RESULTS ENDING JAN. 29, 1989<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05241/5781948-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="476" height="889"></div><h2>POINTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06208/5781941-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="479" height="580"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07192/5781934-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="202" height="217"></div><h2>FUTURE GAMES</h2>WED., FEB. 1BOSTON AT MINNESOTAWASHINGTON AT NY RANGERSWINNIPEG AT CHICAGOVANCOUVER AT EDMONTONTHUR., FEB. 2BUFFALO AT ST. LOUISMONTREAL AT QUEBECTORONTO AT NY ISLANDERSNEW JERSEY AT LOS ANGELESPITTSBURGH AT PHILADELPHIADETROIT AT CALGARYFRI., FEB. 3BOSTON AT WINNIPEGHARTFORD AT WASHINGTONST. LOUIS AT PITTSBURGHDETROIT AT EDMONTONSAT., FEB. 4HARTFORD AT NY ISLANDERSBUFFALO AT LOS ANGELESNY RANGERS AT MONTREALMINNESOTA AT QUEBECCHICAGO AT TORONTOVANCOUVER AT CALGARYSUN., FEB. 5PITTSBURGH AT BOSTONNY ISLANDERS AT QUEBECMINNESOTA AT NY RANGERSNEW JERSEY AT EDMONTONPHILADELPHIA AT WASHINGTONDETROIT AT WINNIPEGST. LOUIS AT CHICAGOVANCOUVER AT CALGARYTUES., FEB. 7NHL ALL-STAR GAME AT EDMONTCTHUR., FEB. 9LOS ANGELES AT BOSTONBUFFALO AT HARTFORDQUEBEC AT PITTSBURGHWINNIPEG AT NY RANGERSNEW JERSEY AT DETROITEDMONTON AT PHILADELPHIACALGARY AT ST. LOUISVANCOUVER AT MINNESOTA<h2>HOME-ROAD RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08181/5781927-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="964" height="867"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09167/5781920-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="973" height="809"></div><h2>TEAM POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV) TOTAL ADVANTAGES (PPGF) POWER-PLAY GOALS FOR (PCT) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING NUMBER OF POWFR-PLAY GOALS BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10162/5781913-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="976" height="624"></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/f0034-11152/5781906-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="975" height="624"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(GP) GAMES PLAYED (PEN) TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING BENCH MINUTES (BMI) TOTAL BENCH MINOR MINUTES (AVG) AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES/GAME ARRIVED BY DIVIDING TOTAL PFNAI TV MINI ITFS RY GAMFS PI AVFO<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12148/5781899-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="968" height="341"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13135/5781892-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="988" height="571"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14129/5781885-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="989" height="1013"></div><h2>LEADING DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15123/5781878-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="987" height="313"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-16121/5781871-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="989" height="314"></div><h2>ROOKIE LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01663/5781864-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="992" height="453"></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/f0035-02512/5781857-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="981" height="865"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03413/5781850-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="981" height="811"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04329/5781843-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="973" height="679"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05271/5781836-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="979" height="937"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06244/5781829-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="974" height="734"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07226/5781822-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="976" height="759"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08203/5781815-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="985" height="732"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09189/5781808-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="978" height="838"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10167/5781801-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="977" height="703"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01630/5781794-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="984" height="683"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02461/5781787-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="975" height="866"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03371/5781780-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="975" height="810"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04280/5781773-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="968" height="740"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05227/5781766-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="977" height="810"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06196/5781759-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="970" height="732"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07181/5781752-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="976" height="814"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08172/5781745-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="969" height="735"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09164/5781738-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="972" height="841"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10159/5781731-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="975" height="690"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11154/5781724-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="972" height="631"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12146/5781717-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="962" height="707"></div><h2>GOALTENDING</h2>ALL GOALS AGAINST A TEAM IN ANY GAME ARE CHARGED TO THE GOALTENDER OF THAT GAME FOR PURPOSES OF AWARDING THE BILL JENNINGS TROPHYWON-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 (SAI SHOTS AGAINST (PCT1 SAVE PERCENTAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01634/5781710-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="979" height="2759"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

f0038-02

SCOREBOARD

f0040-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01281/5782895-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="455" height="637"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE MOLINARI</figcaption></div>It was only minutes after the balance of the Wales Conference All-Star team was announced that the running-dog, pinko muckrakers began to bray about the unfairness of it all.But hey, don&rsquo;t misunderstand. It wasn&rsquo;t only my in-laws who were upset.Seems that some of those howling jackals in the media, as usual, were trying to cause trouble by suggesting Boston coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly had an ulterior motive when he selected his backup goalie, Reggie Lemelin, to the team.This sort of stuff is to be expected from the scandal-mongers. Why, just last season some media members had the audacity to suggest Philadelphia coach Mike Keenan might have made a less-than-objective decision when he chose to add his own defenseman, Kjell Samuelsson, to the Wales team over the likes of the Rangers&rsquo; James Patrick.They didn&rsquo;t seem to recognize the value of having a guy who&rsquo;s really tall on your roster. Just ask anybody associated with the National Basketball Association.I&rsquo;m convinced it is purely a coincidence that O&rsquo;Reilly and Lemelin happen to have a common employer.In fact, I&rsquo;m willing to bet it never occurred to O&rsquo;Reilly that Lemelin is also from the Bruins until somebody brought it up a few days later.But that didn&rsquo;t mater. Right away, those damned writers started belittling the choice, twisting a few statistics to try to make their case.A bunch of them jumped on Lemelin&rsquo;s record&mdash;7-13-4&mdash;on the day he was added to the Wales Conference team. They suggested there might be a goalie out there who hadn&rsquo;t lost nearly twice as many games as he had won.A decent argument, but only on the surface. What nobody bothered to mention is in every game Lemelin has lost this season, the Bruins have been outscored.Quite a fluke, I know, but that&rsquo;s the kind of insightful nugget of knowledge exhaustive research can produce.Does anyone believe a goalie should be held accountable for his team&rsquo;s lack of offense? Hell, Sean Burke of New Jersey was voted onto the team, and he only had two assists (which, incidentally, tied him for third in scoring on the Devils) in 37 games.There was a lot of yapping about how other goalies had more gaudy numbers than Lemelin, but you can bet that none of those scurrilous critics went out of their way to point out that Lemelin was among the statistical leaders in at least one key category:Losses. Only three Wales Conference goalies had more.So there.Besides, he had more victories than all but 15 other goaltenders from the Wales.He also had a better goals-against average than all but six of them. By now, I hope you&rsquo;re starting to see how the weight of evidence is clearly tilting toward Lemelin.And come on, is there any way we&rsquo;re supposed to believe, say, Patrick Roy of Montreal or Ron Hextall of Philadelphia belongs in an All-Star Game?Outside of winning trophies and championships, what have they ever accomplished in this league?Just when it was that O&rsquo;Reilly realized Lemelin was worthy of playing in the All-Star Game is uncertain, but a good guess is it happened during an extraordinary stretch that began with a victory Nov. 2.Lemelin lost five in a row after that, won again on Nov. 26, then put together a torrid stretch of 0-6-1.If that isn&rsquo;t the kind of record that would make an impression on you, what would?When&rsquo;s the last time John Vanbiesbrouck put together a run like that? Or Brian Hayward? Or Tom Barrasso? Or Daren Puppa? Or Kelly Hrudey? Or Pete Peeters?Another factor that cannot be summarily dismissed is experience. Not just the nine seasons Lemelin has spent in the NHL, but his time as a backup goalie.Why, it was little more than a month ago that O&rsquo;Reilly decided Lemelin would become the Bruins&rsquo; No. 2 goalie.At the time, most folks figured Andy Moog was taking over the No. 1 job because he was playing better.That just goes to show what can happen when you make a snap judgment based on trivial things like facts.Only those blessed with a particularly keen insight into the machinations of the NHL realized Lemelin was being groomed to take his proper place alongside hockey&rsquo;s brightest luminaries. &#9632;

f0043-01

HOW CAN ANYONE QUESTION LEMELIN’S SELECTION?

&#9632; When balloting for the Campbell Conference All-Star team closed Jan. 1, Winnipeg&rsquo;s Daniel Berthiaume had yet to play an NHL game this season. But &lsquo;The Bandit&rsquo; still received 46,085 fan votes. Meanwhile, L.A. center Bernie Nicholls, who had 37 goals and 48 assists in 39 games, received only 23,405.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02210/5782926-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="953" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Berthiaume</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>SABRES</h2>Right winger Rick Vaive was injured in a 4-2 win over Montreal at Buffalo Jan. 27 and missed the rematch the following night. After that game, Vaive, who had had been speared by both Chris Chelios and Steve Martinson in Buffalo, confronted Chelios in the hallway outside the Sabre locker room at the Forum. The two had words and, according to some witnesses, threatened each other before security intervened. Vaive later said he expects to get hit in the front of the net but what Chelios did was &ldquo;not right.&rdquo;&hellip;After Daren Puppa broke his right arm Jan. 27. backup goalie Jacques Cloutier became the No. 1 netminder Jan. 28 in Montreal, losing 2-1. Cloutier was in 14 games (4-5-0) with a 3.15 goals against average and a stunning .906 save percentage&hellip;The nine-game unbeaten streak, which ended with the loss in Montreal, was the Sabres&rsquo; longest of the season. It came after a four-game losing streak&hellip;Center John Tucker remained out of the line up with an undisclosed back problem. There is speculation Tucker is facing serious problmms regarding his back. He has already undergone one surgical procedure, at which time one disc was removed and a second one shaved down.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>The Canadiens traded Jose Charbonneau to the Vancouver Canucks for center Dan Woodley Jan. 24. Woodley (seventh overall, 1986) and Charbonneau (12th overall, 1985) were both first-round draft picks. Woodley was sent to Sherbrooke of the AHL&hellip;Right winger Stephane Richer appeared on a sports talk show on French-language station CKAC and was told by a caller he had mil-lion-dollar talent and a 10-cent brain&hellip;Goaltender Randy Exelby made his NHL debut in a 4-2 loss at Buffalo Jan. 27, playing three minutes in place of Patrick Roy. Roy had to leave the game because nature called. Exelby, recalled five times on an emergency basis this season, faced one shot in his brief stint. He backed up Brian Hayward since Jan. 21 because Roy was out with tonsillitis, caused by an infected wisdom tooth. He backed up Roy in Buffalo because Hayward had the flu&hellip;Right winger Gilles Thibaudeau refused to report to Sherbrooke for a two-week conditioning program but was assured by the team he would not be waived. Thibaudeau has played in two games since Jan. 1&hellip;Defenseman Craig Ludwig played his 500th career NHL game, against Buffalo Jan. 28&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s 18-game home-ice unbeaten streak ended Jan. 23, with a 3-1 loss to Calgary.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Besides center Ron Francis (broken left index finger) and center-left winger Brian Lawton (fractured left wrist), defenseman Scot Kleinendorst was injured in a 3-2 loss to Quebec Jan. 28. Kleinendorst bruised his hand in a fight with Nordique center Paul Gillis&hellip;General manager Emile Francis, who admitted making a serious pitch for Detroit&rsquo;s Bob Probert in December, said he no longer is trying to deal for the troubled Red Wing winger&hellip;Rookie goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz posted his second shutout of the season in a 5-0 victory at Quebec Jan. 23.<h2>BRUINS</h2>Things are looking better, but only slightly, for defenseman Gord Kluzak. who was faced with a ninth surgical procedure on his left knee, the loss of a season and perhaps a career. The knee has improved enough he might be back in the lineup in March&hellip; Right winger Ray Neufeld played in a dozen games for the Bruins before he tore ligaments in his right knee, after a check by Paul Cavallini of St. Louis Jan. 26&hellip;Defenseman Glen Wesley on the trade that saw Jay Miller go to Los Angeles: &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a lot of fighters left on this team. We&rsquo;re trying to play a more disciplined game. Three enforcers (Miller, John Kordic and Gord Donnelly) have left the Adams Division (in trades). It looks like things are starting to change around the league.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03178/5782957-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="552" height="864"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gord Kluzak might return to action in March.</figcaption></div><h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Goalie Mario Gosselin was openly criticized by coach Jean Perron after a 5-3 loss to Minnesota Jan. 26. Gosselin faced 32 shots. &ldquo;The difference tonight was in the nets,&rdquo; said Perron. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t give away easy goals like that and expect to win.&rdquo; Perron came back with Ron Tugnutt Jan. 28 in Hartford and was named first star, stopping 32 shots in a 3-2 win&hellip;Left winger Jeff Jackson injured his right knee against Minnesota and was sent home the next day&hellip;Defenseman Mario Marois hurt his shoulder in the Hartford game, but it coincided with the return of rookie defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, out since Jan. 10 with a slightly sprained shoulder. &#9632;

f0043-03

VAIVE CONFRONTS CHELIOS OVER SPEAR

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>Bob Sweeney suggested it.Glen Wesley thought it was a great idea, so he stuck two strips of tape side by side on his practice sweater. Ray Bourque encouraged other members of the Boston Bruins to follow suit.Soon, everyone on the ice was wearing a makeshift No. 11, some in black, some in gold and some in white&mdash;the Bruins&rsquo; colors. They did it as a tribute to the departed Steve Kasper.It was also widely interpreted as a team slap at management, specifically general manager Harry Sinden, who traded the popular and hardworking Kasper to the Los Angeles Kings Jan. 23 for Bob Carpenter.&ldquo;Maybe in our own little way we did it to let people know we&rsquo;re not happy that it happened,&rdquo; said Garry Galley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not easily forgotten. Any time you lose someone of that nature, it&rsquo;s hard to let go.&rdquo;Coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly permitted the players to vent their unhappiness. If anything, he was pleased.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s understandable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I was a player, I would have done the same thing. It&rsquo;s nice to see them pull together on something. It shows how much Stevie meant to them.&rdquo;Sinden was non-committal.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to read anything into it,&rdquo; he said, a trifle testy. * &lsquo;Why should I? I don&rsquo;t really care.&rdquo;Potentially more serious than the tape incident were remarks made by Bourque on a radio talk show in Montreal which were later picked up by a French-language newspaper. Both Kasper and Bourque are natives of Montreal Bourque made it clear he wasn&rsquo;t pleased with the trade and wondered aloud why the team would part with a player so dedicated to the Bruins&rsquo; cause.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t make any harsh statements,&rdquo; said Bourque. &ldquo;I admitted I wasn&rsquo;t happy about the trade. I wasn&rsquo;t happy to see Stevie go because we&rsquo;re good friends. I think it was normal for me to react that way.&rdquo;Bourque and Kasper have been teammates ever since the 1978-79 season, when they were teenagers with the Verdun Black Hawks. Kasper&rsquo;s last night in Boston was spent at dinner with Bourque, their agent Steve Freyer and their wives.Bourque had a few other things on his mind as he prepared to rejoin the Bruins against Winnipeg Jan. 28, after sitting out 20 games with a sprained left knee.Bourque had a goal and an assist, took a regular shift, killed penalties and played the power play in a 4-3 loss to the Jets.Meanwhile, Carpenter, the newest Bruin, took Bourque&rsquo;s place on the injury list with a badly bruised right thumb.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to be home,&rdquo; said Carpenter, a native of nearby Beverly, Mass. &ldquo;This is a good time to be here, too. 1 don&rsquo;t think I would have been ready to handle playing in my hometown as an 18-year-old.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 25: Paul Beraldo, RW, recalled from Maine (AHL).Jan. 27: Alain Cote, D, and Don Sweeney, D, assigned to Maine.Jan. 28: Greg Johnston, RW, recalled from Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Ken Linseman, Andy Brickley, Bob Sweeney.LW&mdash;Bob Joyce, John Carter, Randy Burridge, Rob Cimetta.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, Paul Beraldo, Greg Johnston.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Allen Pedersen, Bruce Shoebottom.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Garry Galley, Greg Hawgood.G&mdash;Andy Mooq, Reggie Lemelin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers, RW, bruised lower back, day-to-day.Bob Carpenter, C, bruised thumb, Feb. 5.Gord Kluzak, D, left knee athroscopy, indefinite.Ray Neufeld, RW, torn right knee ligaments, indefinite.Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer, C, inflammation of left knee, indefinite.Stephane Quintal, D, charleyhorse, indefinite.Michael Thelven, D, inflammation of right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

KASPER GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN BY BRUINS

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>The one thing that could really hurt the Buffalo Sabres, after the trade of Tom Barrasso to Pittsburgh, was an injury to Daren Puppa.Given the Sabres&rsquo; problems with injuries this season, that &ldquo;one thing&rdquo; may well have been inevitable.Puppa, the team&rsquo;s No. 1 netminder since the trade, broke his right arm during a 4-2 win Jan. 27 over the Montreal Canadiens. He underwent surgery the following day and was expected to be lost to the team for at least six weeks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a serious situation,&rdquo; said Sabre general manager Gerry Meehan just prior to Puppa&rsquo;s surgery. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to wait and see what the outcome is before we make any other plans.&rdquo;Puppa was down and writhing in pain when team doctor John Butsch rushed on to the Auditorium ice. After Butsch stabilized the injury in the goal crease, Puppa was lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled off.Puppa was injured with 2:42 left in the second period. Sabre center Benoit Hogue had just surrendered the puck to Montreal&rsquo;s Mike McPhee, and McPhee began a drive to the Buffalo net. He was met there by Sabre defenseman Shawn Anderson and Hogue.Hogue and McPhee both collided with Puppa, and McPhee ended up forcing the netminder back hard against the goalpost. Both men were down low and the post did not give way.McPhee said he did not intend to hit Puppa and replays showed he was pushed into the goaltender.Hogue, closest to Puppa at the time of the incident, said the goaltender was in a great deal of pain.&ldquo;He was screaming.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We knew it was bad.&rdquo;The Sabres have been plagued by injuries all season, but the loss of Puppa makes for a difficult situation in goal. Since Barrasso was traded. Puppa had played in 27 of 33 games. Including the win over Montreal, he had a 12-94 record, and was in the midst of a six-game unbeaten streak (4-0-2).The team was on a nine-game unbeaten streak, its longest of the season. That stretch came to an end Jan. 28 in Montreal, where the Sabres lost 2-1.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01203/5783012-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="693" height="658"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daren Puppa broke his arm in a goalmouth collision.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not at all concerned about this team.&rdquo; said Sabre coach Ted Sator. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been through so much already and we&rsquo;ve persevered. There&rsquo;s a lot of character in that room and I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll just carry on. You won&rsquo;t have to count the Buffalo Sabres out.&rdquo;<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 28: Darcy Wakaluk, G, recalled from Rochester (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruuttu, Jeff Parker, Benoit Hogue.LW&mdash;Scott Arniel, Mike Hartman, Dave Andreychuk.RW&mdash;Mark Napier, Ray Sheppard, Kevin Maguire. Mike Foligno.LD&mdash;Doug Bodger, Joe Reekie, Lindy Ruff, Larry Playfair.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Shawn Anderson, Calle Johansson, Uwe Krupp.G&mdash;Jacoues Cloutier, Darcv Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jan Ludvig, RW, knee, indefinite.Daren Puppa, G, broken arm, March 10.Mike Ramsey, D, pulled groin, day-to-day.John Tucker, C, back, indefinite.Rick Vaive, RW, stomach muscles, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0044-01

SABRES FACE BIG TEST WITHOUT PUPPA

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>Chris Chelios wasn&rsquo;t about to let an all-star snub get him down.The Montreal Canadien defenseman was left off the Wales Conference all-star team by coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, who elected to choose veteran Larry Robinson. Veteran center Bobby Smith was also chosen.&ldquo;I think there are a lot of guys on this team that could be on the team,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;We are having a great season so far and I think everybody is happy with that.&ldquo;The two choices they picked were great also. We are in first place overall right now (tied with Calgary for first overall with 74 points) and that&rsquo;s a good indication that we have a group of guys who work well together.&rdquo;The absence of Chelios (10-37-47 in 54 games this year) from the Wales team was not totally unexpected. O&rsquo;Reilly, who coaches the Boston Bruins&mdash;the Habs&rsquo; fiercest rival in the Adams Division&mdash;has exchanged unpleasantries with Chelios several times since he started coaching midway through the 1986-87 season. When the Canadiens played the Bruins Jan. 12, Chelios was involved in fights with Randy Burridge and recently-traded Steve Kasper.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02135/5783043-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="557" height="689"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Robinson will play in his ninth All-Star Game.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure that deep down inside, Terry loves me,&rdquo; said Chelios. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;&ldquo;In my eyes, Chelly is up there with (Boston&rsquo;s Raymond) Bourque and (Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul) Coffey,&rdquo; said Canadien coach Pat Bums. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad for Larry. He deserves to be there because he is playing well for us. But Chelly is not there. There&rsquo;s something wrong.&rdquo;Bums suggested O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s snub of Chelios can be turned into a motivational tool by the defenseman, although Chelios shrugged that off.&ldquo;I get a lot of recognition,&rdquo; said Chelios, who scored the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Buffalo Jan. 28. &ldquo;I think everybody has been fair to me.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have too many guys who stick out because we play a strong team game. Everybody sacrifices a little bit to play in the team system. That&rsquo;s why we don&rsquo;t have guys leading the league.&rdquo;Chelios expects there will be other opportunities for him to participate in all-star games. His most recent allstar appearance was in Rendez-vous &rsquo;87, the two-game series against the Soviet Union in Quebec City.&ldquo;I was on the Rendez-vous team and I didn&rsquo;t think I was having a great season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You never know what is going to happen. All you can hope to do is stay healthy and hope that things continue to go well.&rdquo;Robinson will be appearing in his ninth all-star game while Smith is making his third appearance, his first since coming to the Canadiens from Minnesota in 1983.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 24: Jose Charbonneau, RW, traded to Vancouver for Dan Woodley. C. Woodley assigned to Sherbrooke (AHL).Jan. 29: Randy Exelby, G, assigned to Sherbrooke<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Guy Carbonneau, Brent Gilchrist, Brian Skrudland, Gilles Thibaudeau.LW&mdash;Mats Naslund, Ryan Walter, Shayne Corson, Mike McPhee, Steven Martinson.RW&mdash;Mike Keane, Russ Courtnall, Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Larry Robinson, Petr Svoboda.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Rick Green, Jyrki Lumme, Eric Desjardins.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Gainey, LW, broken foot, indefinite. &#9632;

f0044-02

CHELIOS TAKES ALL-STAR SNUB IN STRIDE

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Let the bad times roll.Fans of the Quebec Nordiques emptied their hearts and Le Colisee bathrooms Jan. 23 when the ice surface was filled with rolls of toilet paper in the midst of a 5-0 pasting by the Hartford Whalers.Call it the Toilet Bowl.In a season filled with unhappiness, fans would probably like to flush more than the memories of one night down the drain.English-speaking investors almost bought the Nordiques early in the season, amidst rumors they would relocate the team. Prized rookie Joe Sakic was injured for a month. Coach Ron Lapointe was forced to quit because of a cancerous tumor. Players refused to speak with the media after they were labelled turkeys.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01173/5783074-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="552" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">Referee Kerry Fraser was hit by a roll of toilet paper.</figcaption></div>And finally, the fans&mdash;14,227 strong&mdash;got in on it.With the Nordiques trailing 5-0, referee Kerry Fraser stopped the game for about 30 minutes at the 10:30 mark of the third period when fans fired rolls of toilet paper on the ice.The deluge began after Hartford right winger Kevin Dineen scored what would be the final goal of the game. Fraser was hit by one roll.Whether the rolls were directed at Fraser&mdash;who called 22 minutes in penalties against the Nordiques, compared to 18 against Hartford&mdash;or the 17-29-6 Nordiques, was unclear.There were batteries, coins, cigarette lighters and rubbers hurled onto the ice. One fan heaved his Walkman onto the ice.Fraser sent the teams off the ice.&ldquo;I was thinking about the security of the players, the referees, and of the fans as well,&rdquo; said Fraser.After the game, a fan lunged at linesman Wayne Bonney as he left the ice. Bonney, with the help of fellow official Ron Asselstine, pushed the man away. Bonney was heard to say, &ldquo;They&rsquo;re crazy.&rdquo;Fraser submitted a written report to NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill, who was in touch with Quebec management.&ldquo;The local team is always held responsible for such happenings,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Neill.O&rsquo;Neill said Fraser reacted properly when he stopped the game.&ldquo;In a situation like that, you have to try and soothe the crowd, get things under control and help the security forces in place do their job.&rdquo;About a dozen fans were ejected from the arena. They were not arrested but issued warrants, which generally result in court appearances and $100 fines.In response to the outburst, the Nordiques removed all toilet paper rolls from Le Colisee washrooms and replaced them with single-ply sheets.Now, that&rsquo;s hitting the fans where it hurts most.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Joe Sakic, Paul Gillis, Walt Poddubny.LW&mdash; Michel Goulet, Gaetan Duchesne, Mike Hough.RW&mdash;lira Jarvi, T revor Stienburg, Darin Kimble, Marc Fortier.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Jari Gronstrand, Curtis Leschyshyn.RD&mdash;Robert Picard, Randy Moller, Jeff Brown.G&mdash;Mario Gosselin, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Jackson, LW, strained knee ligaments, indefinite.Mario Marois, D, sprained shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

f0045-01

FANS ON A ROLL AT THE TOILET BOWL

JOFA TITENDavid Parker is a nine-year-old who plays for the Canton Garden Restaurant team in the novice division of the Chilliwack (B.C.) Minor Hockey Association.David&rsquo;s best Christmas present came Dec. 23 when he and his teammates played a five-minute mini-game at Vancouver&rsquo;s Pacific Coliseum between periods of a game between the Canucks and Los Angeles Kings. David scored a goal.The Grade 4 student at Little Mountain Elementary School in Chilliwack is no stranger to scoring. He had 34 goals and 18 assists after 13 games for Canton Garden, which was 11-1-1.The 4-foot-5, 72-pounder learned to skate at age four and began playing hockey a year later. He prefers center but has been used at all positions by his father Dennis, who coaches the team along with Dave Parker (no relation).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01197/5783105-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="556" height="1104"><figcaption class="caption-body">David Parker</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="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Ron Francis&rsquo; scoring streak didn&rsquo;t end until he scored into his own net. And the news got worse from there.In an unfortunate overtime bounce for the Hartford Whalers Jan. 28, Quebec Nordique forward Marc Fortier&rsquo;s backhand stuffer rebounded off goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz and ricocheted back into the net off Francis&rsquo; leg.The 3-2 loss to Quebec ended the Whalers&rsquo; five-game unbeaten streak and Francis&rsquo; 12-game point string, but not until hours later did Francis find out how costly the defeat was.Francis was slashed by Steve Finn in the second period, but only missed a few shifts to have his left index finger taped. After the game. X-rays determined Francis&rsquo; finger was broken and he would be lost three to five weeks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m bitter, but what can I do?&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;I have extra padding in my glove so it had to be a pretty bad slash to break my finger. My father saw the videotape and said it was pretty blatant. Two brutal chops like that and no penalties called (by referee Denis Morel).&rdquo;The other chop came when Robert Picard slashed Francis&rsquo; linemate, Brian Lawton. in the third period. Lawton continued to play and made the turnover on the overtime goal. It turned out he suffered a fractured left wrist and will be out a minimum of three weeks.Francis&rsquo; injury couldn&rsquo;t have come at a worse time for the Whalers&rsquo; red-hot No. 1 line. After going all 13 games in November without a goal, Francis slowly built momentum and hit full throttle when reunited with Kevin Dineen Dec. 21.Francis rattled off eight goals and 22 points as he matched his career best 12-game streak. Mike Rogers, who holds the Whalers&rsquo; (18) and New York Rangers&rsquo; (16) scoring streaks, saw both records remain intact Jan. 28. That night, former Whaler Carey Wilson had his 15-game streak end.After eight goals in 21 games, Dineen reeled off 24 in his next 28. Overall, he was 32-26-58 in 49 games. Dineen&rsquo;s wrist shot, particularly on the power play where he had 17 goals, has become a devastating weapon that Gordie Howe has encouraged him to use more.Francis, who moved into the league&rsquo;s top 15 scorers with the duo&rsquo;s scoring binge, was 21-38-59 in 59 games.On Jan. 25, Francis called goalie Greg Millen of the St. Louis Blues, his buddy and business partner in the Moviola Cafe restaurant chain. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got 199 goals and tonight I&rsquo;m going to get No. 200 into your net,&rdquo; Francis told his former teammate. Millen kidded that if Francis did score, he&rsquo;d shoot the souvenir puck into the stands. Francis got No. 200 and the puck.&ldquo;Ronnie&rsquo;s a quality guy and a quality player,&rdquo; Millen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real star in this league.&rdquo;In the next game, Jan. 27 at New Jersey, Francis surpassed Blaine Stoughton with a team-record seventh hat trick. He earned five points in a wacky 8-6 win.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 29: Terry Yake, C, Grant Jennings, D, recalled from Binghamton/AHL I<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dean Evason, Terry Yake, Ray Ferraro, Brent Peterson.LW&mdash;Dave Tippett, Tom Martin, John Anderson, Torrie Robertson.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Scott Young, Paul MacDermid. Jody Hull.LD&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Grant Jennings, Norm Maciver.RD&mdash;Sylvain Cote, Dave Babych, Ulf Samuelsson.G&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ron Francis, C, broken left index finger, indefinite.Scot Kleinendorst, D, bruised hand, day-to-day.Brian Lawton, LW, broken left wrist, indefinite.Don Maloney, LW, broken left collarbone, indefinite.Joel Quennevllle, D, separated left shoulder, indefinite.Sylvain Turgeon, LW, separated left shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

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February 10, 1989

DEAD HEAT

LEARN ON VIDEO FROM HOCKEY CANADA

WAY WE WERE

CROSSWORD