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

May 26, 1989

The Hockey News May 26, 1989

&hellip;of the four Conn Smythe Trophy winners from losing teams, three have been goaltenders? Roger Crozier of Detroit won in 1966, Glenn Hall of St. Louis in 1968 and Ron Hextall of Philadelphia in 1987. Reggie Leach of the Flyers, in 1976, was the lone non-goalie.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03387/5685467-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="970" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hextall accepts Smythe in 1987</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

DID YOU KNOW…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01263/5685646-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Keon enjoyed a well-deserved drink out of the Stanley Cup after his Toronto Maple Leafs won the 1964 final in seven games over the Detroit Red Wings. It was the Leafs&rsquo; third straight Cup and the third of four Keon would win with Toronto. He had four goals and an assist in the series.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

WAY WE WERE

ALL PLAYOFF RESULTSAS OF MON., MAY 15<h2>NHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01608/5685245-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="584" height="2730"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02448/5685238-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="608" height="2886"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03362/5685231-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="592" height="912"></div><h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04272/5685224-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="600" height="1576"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05219/5685217-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="577" height="262"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06188/5685210-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="596" height="1161"></div><h2>MEMORIAL CUP</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07173/5685203-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="592" height="1640"></div><h2>MEMORIAL CUP CHAMPIONS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08164/5685196-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="564" height="2084"></div><h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09156/5685189-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="596" height="686"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<h2>CANADIENS</h2>The Montreal newspaper La Presse carried a report of three Montreal players being involved in a fight in a local night spot, naming Shayne Corson, Chris Chelios and Russ Courtnall as participants in an incident while the Canadiens were enjoying time off between the Adams and Wales finals. &ldquo;If this type of thing keeps up, it is going to reach the stage where no one is going to want to play in Montreal,&rdquo; said coach Pat Bums, who denied that Chelios was present-&hellip;Corson (3-2-5), Chelios (2-3-5) and Mats Naslund (0-5-5) were the Canadiens&rsquo; leading scorers in the Wales Conference final&hellip;Canadiens were 1-2 at home against the Flyers and 3-0 at the Spectrum&hellip;The Canadiens killed off all 22 Philadelphia power-play chances while going seven for 31 with the man advantage.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Nordique management was pleased to see two of its draft choices win awards at the Canadian League awards banquet in Saskatoon May 8. Defenseman Bryan Fogarty, a first-round selection in 1987, was named player of the year and defenseman of the year. Another Nordique hopeful, goalie Stephane Fiset, a second-round pick in the 1988 draft, was selected as the best junior goaltender in Canada. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a sign of better things to come,&rdquo; commented general manager Martin Madden, in Saskatoon during Memorial Cup Week. &ldquo;We now hope that they can be as outstanding when they make it with the Nordiques.&rdquo;&hellip;Rumors have the Nordiques making a deal for one of&rsquo;the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; two first-round picks. But Madden denied having discussed such a move with Glen Sather.<h2>WHALERS</h2>In his first meeting with the media May 11, new general manager Ed Johnston gave some views on the Whalers. On Mike Liut, 33, who suffered through a bad season: &ldquo;I think he has a lot of good years left. With talent like that, you just don&rsquo;t drop off the shelf. But we won&rsquo;t keep three goalies.&rdquo; On Ron Francis, who hinted trading him might be best, before retracting that statement days later: &ldquo;That was said in the heat of a playoff loss. But I will definitely talk to him.&rdquo; On enigmatic Sylvain Turgeon, who becomes a free agent this summer: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a guy with tremendous talent. We&rsquo;ve got to get his noodle on right.&rdquo;&hellip;In the short term, Johnston wants to acquire bigger defensemen, bolster his left wing, bring in a strength and nutrition expert and improve the American League affiliate in Binghamton, where Claude Larose is expected to be dismissed as coach&hellip;Owner Richard Gordon planned to interview Vancouver director of hockey operations Brian Burke for the general manager&rsquo;s job, but backed off when the Canucks mentioned compensation.<h2>BRUINS</h2>In an effort to sign soon-to-be free agent Bobby Carpenter, Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sinden met in early May with Carpenter&rsquo;s agent, Bob Murray, to discuss a one-year contract. Carpenter, acquired from Los Angeles in January, becomes a free agent with compensation June 1. He said Sinden&rsquo;s opening bid was better than he anticipated. &ldquo;It was a good start,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not where we want to be, but it was considerably better than we thought.&rdquo; Carpenter tore ligaments in his right wrist during the Adams Division final against Montreal and didn&rsquo;t return for the rest of the series&hellip;Other Bruins who will become free agents in the off-season include Lyndon Byers, John Carter, Gord Kluzak, Tommy Lehmann, Bob Sweeney, Carl Mokosak and Bruce Shoebottom&hellip; Veteran center Ken Linseman, who suffered a knee strain that kept him out of the Montreal series, managed to avoid surgery and continued to work out to strengthen the knee.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03720/5684019-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="552" height="1021"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Carpenter was pleased with the Bs&rsquo; first contract offer.</figcaption></div><h2>SABRES</h2>Soviet defector Alexandr Mogilny announced May 9 he is seeking political asylum in the United States. A junior lieutenant in the Soviet Army, Mogilny was charged with desertion. That forced him to ask for the status of political refugee, which means he&rsquo;d be barred from ever returning to the Soviet Union. Mogilny was granted a 60-day permit to live in the U.S. while officials decide on his application. He also received authorization to work in the United States pending government action on his petition&hellip;Meanwhile, Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Paul Moskal said May 8 his office is satisfied Mogilny&rsquo;s presence in the United States is no threat, and he&rsquo;s satisfied Mogilny defected solely for the purpose of furthering his hockey career. &#9632;

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THE NHL

PAPER REPORTS HABS IN BAR FIGHT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011267/5683496-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="558" height="630"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Chyzowski</figcaption></div>In the June issue of The Hockey News, which will be coming your way in two weeks, we will provide a comprehensive wrap-up of the 1989 Stanley Cup final between the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames.We will also have complete final scoring statistics for all 16 NHL play-off teams and and their players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021034/5683489-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="592" height="628"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alan Eagleson</figcaption></div>Plus, there will be a final preview of the 1989 NHL entry draft, set for June 17 in Bloomington, Minn. Will the Quebec Nordiques, with the first pick overall, select Sweden&rsquo;s Mats Sundin? Or will they stay closer to home and take Kamloops&rsquo; Dave Chyzowski? Or do they have a surprise in store?We&rsquo;ll look at those and other draft-related questions.And we&rsquo;ll examine Alan Eagle-son&rsquo;s battle to retain his position as executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.Don&rsquo;t miss all that and more in the June issue of THN. &#9632;

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NEXT ISSUE

The Hollywood trendies are it again. The day after the Los Angeles Kings are eliminated from the playoffs, true hockey fans in L.A. are once again hunting through the sports pages for stories on the remaining Stanley Cup playoff games.I, too, laugh at the nouveau hockey fans of Hollywood. But be assured there are a few of us native Californians who have known and loved hockey long before Aug. 9, 1988.But they, it&rsquo;s like so totally rad to like go to a Kings&rsquo; game, okay?Sorry, L.A., you&rsquo;ve still got a long way to go&hellip;Babe.Jacqueline Dispoto Glendale, Calif.<h2>CATCHING UP?</h2>Stan Fischler&rsquo;s list of relatively average hockey players (THN, April 28) hardly proves the point that Americans are catching Canadians &ldquo;faster than you can say Tony Granato.&rdquo;Of all the players mentioned in the article, Chris Chelios and Joe Mullen would be the only ones invited to a Team Canada training camp for the Canada Cup.Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Paul Coffey, Denis Savard, Dale Hawerchuk, Ray Bourque and Grant Fuhr&mdash;how&rsquo;s that for an elite squad? When just one player from the U.S. fits that mold, maybe Mr. Fischler&rsquo;s constant flag waving will become less laughable.Actually, Americans are catching Canadians &ldquo;faster than you can say Rich Costello.&rdquo;Al Banks&nbsp;Toronto, Ont.<h2>ANTI-SOVIET</h2>John Ziegler has repeatedly emphasized that he will act quickly and decisively to protect the NHL&rsquo;s good name by banning players guilty (or in Bob Prober&rsquo;s case, accused) of serious crimes.I trust the NHL president will carry through in a consistent manner by immediately announcing that Soviet defector Alexandr Mogilny is banned from playing in the NHL. After all, Mogilny is an army deserter and in most countries of the world, including Canada and the U.S., desertion from the army is considered a serious crime.Clive B. Lytle&nbsp;Vancouver. B.C.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011415/5683558-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="551" height="722"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandr Mogilny is an army deserter, reader stresses.</figcaption></div><h2>SINGING BLUES</h2>If the St. Louis Blues want to escape the doldrums of being an average &ldquo;blue-collar&rdquo; NHL team, they must start making changes at the front-office level before making any more changes at the player level.Many times I find myself hanging my head into the wall trying to figure out some of the unbelievably lopsided trades general manager Ron Caron has made. The Blues have a great organization. But if chairman Michael Shanahan doesn&rsquo;t do something about Ron Caron&rsquo;s ignorance when it comes to trading hockey players, then the Blues&rsquo; number of victories will continue to dwindle.I think Brian Sutter is a very good coach and does an excellent job with the talent he has. But Ron Caron must go to make room for a general manager who won&rsquo;t give up superior players for lesser ones. Bob Plager should be given strong consideration.Joe Orf&nbsp;O&rsquo;Fallon, Mo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021142/5683551-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="552" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body">One reader thinks Bob Plager should be GM In St. Louis.</figcaption></div><h2>OUT WITH DON</h2>The NHL has a very competent nucleus of officials, yet the league insists on selecting Don Koharski for crucial games. Everytime I see a game Koharski officiates, it turns into The Don Koharski Show.Most knowledgeable hockey fans are aware of the nature of calls in a hockey game, yet Koharski always has a knack for calling the most trivial of infractions and letting the obvious go.I think it&rsquo;s about time the NHL gave the important playoff games to the most competent and respected officials&mdash;namely Andy van Hellemond, Terry Gregson and Bill McCreary.Kriag R. Anderson&nbsp;Port Huron, Mich.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to:&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News,&rsquo;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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KINGS BOW OUT, SO DOES L.A. MEDIA

<div class="byline">BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03736/5683596-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="525" height="611"></div>If nothing else, the 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs give Rose Cherry two reasons to look back on her days as the wife of a minor-league player.One is that husband Don, the ebullient Hockey Night in Canada color commentator, has made himself scarce for weeks at a time. Just like the good old days, during those American League road trips.The other is that Philadelphia Flyer netminder Ron Hextall hasn&rsquo;t changed a bit. He&rsquo;s gotten older, but he hasn&rsquo;t grown up.&ldquo;I remember back in Rochester,&rdquo; says Rose of the 1967-68 season. &ldquo;Don and Bryan Hextall (Ron&rsquo;s father) played together on that team. In those days, the road trips used to last two or three weeks, so you got to be good friends with the other wives. They were your family.&rdquo;Which is why Rose Cherry and Faye Hextall spent so much time togetherthat season. They&rsquo;d share a coffee, conversation and companionship. Their sons, four-year-old Timothy Cherry and three-year-old Ron Hextall, did what little chips off the old blocks were supposed to&mdash;play hockey in the living room.Even back then, Hextall was the goalie. He no more liked being scored on then than he does now, says Rose.&ldquo;If Timothy would get one by him, Ronnie would get very upset,&rdquo; says Rose. &ldquo;Faye and I were always being called in to settle disputes. The kids would be crying over one thing or another. Ronnie was a competitive little sonofa-gun then and you can see that he is now, too.&rdquo;Competitive may be an understatement. In the dying moments of game six May 11 at the Spectrum, crazed might be a more appropriate description. With 1:37 left in the game and the series, the goal-scoring goalie pulled a Charles Bronson on Montreal defenseman Chris Chelios.It was vicious attack, a payback for Chelios&rsquo; illegal hit that knocked Flyer Brian Propp unconscious in game one May 1. Chelios&rsquo; hit on Propp went unpenalized. It would not, Hextall decided, go unpunished.&ldquo;Why? Because he almost took Propp&rsquo;s head off,&rdquo; Hextall said in his own defense. &ldquo;I think we owed it to him. You would have done the same thing.&rdquo;Wrong.Hextall&rsquo;s actions cannot be condoned. It matters not how heinous you consider Chelios&rsquo; original sin. Montreal defenseman Larry Robinson put it best when he said: &ldquo;It was a classless move. Nobody says you have to be a good loser, but something like that just tarnishes what was a good series.&rdquo;The Flyer organization may be forgiven if their criticism of the goaltender is only halfhearted. It&rsquo;s to be expected.He is, after all, their meal ticket. They&rsquo;re willing to accept him at face value.Wanna chase Pittsburgh pest Rob Brown down the ice? Go ahead. Wanna decapitate Chelios or cut Kent Nilsson down to size? Be our guest. Just continue to be the dominant goaltender that you are.Which is not to say the league should be nearly as forgiving.Admittedly, what Hextall did to Chelios isn&rsquo;t the worst thing that has ever happened in the game. So dispense with the shrill outcry that Hextall should be tarred and feathered.But if he got 10 games for whacking Nilsson, then he should get at least 15 or 20 for chasing down Chelios. If he acts up again, the suspensions should continue to escalate.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad, in a way,&rdquo; says Rose Cherry. &ldquo;Ronnie&rsquo;s a good guy from a good family. In a way, I feel sorry for him. I&rsquo;m a Pennsylvania girl myself; I was cheering for the Flyers to win. But after it happened, I thought Don might come on (TV) and try to defend him. I was relieved when Don said there&rsquo;s no place in the game for what Ronnie did.&rdquo;No place at all.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04406/5683589-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="1730" height="898"></div> &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

HEXTALL GETS OLDER, BUT HE ISN’T GROWING UP

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The NHL&rsquo;s top 10 salaries, according to Sport magazine&rsquo;s annual &ldquo;Richest Athletes&rdquo; issue are: Wayne Gretzky ($2,000,000); Mario Lemieux ($1,500,000); Bryan Trottier ($950,000); Dave Taylor ($700,000); Marcel Dionne ($600,000); Mike Liut ($550,000); Michel Goulet ($510,000, U.S.); Mark Messier ($510,000, U.S.); Denis Savard ($500,000); Paul Coffey ($485,000). Bengt Gustafsson, who opted for Swedish hockey next fall, was listed 16th at $410,000, ahead of ex-teammate Scott Stevens at $400,000. The man regarded as the greatest goalie in the world, Grant Fuhr, is tied for 20th with Larry Robinson at $340,000&hellip;There&rsquo;s one catch to the possibility of Gilbert Perreault coaching the Buffalo Sabres next season. Perreault, who coached the Victoriaville Tigres to the Quebec League final, left the Sabres with such bitter feelings about the organization it would take quite a turnabout to lure him back.<h2>PARTY TIME</h2>No NHL team has a stronger alumni association than the Montreal Canadiens. While the Habs challenged for another Stanley Cup, ex-Hab Cup winners Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Ken Mosdell, Dickie Moore, Phil Goyette, Pete Morin and Dollard St. Laurent tossed a surprise birthday party for Doug Harvey at Montreal General Hospital. Former referee Red Storey also attended. One doctor noticed the festivities and quipped, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s more hockey talent in that room than we&rsquo;ve seen since 1960.&rdquo;&hellip;Paul Holmgren has won plaudits both publicly and privately for his continuous class act with the media this spring. Meanwhile, Pat Burns took a beating from the Montreal media for being less than forthcoming during interviews after the team&rsquo;s game one loss to the Flyers in the Wales Conference final&hellip;Nordiques&rsquo; defenseman Jeff Brown reportedly intensified his efforts to get out of Quebec after Michel Bergeron was named coach. Brown is not Bergeron&rsquo;s eat-nails type of defenseman&hellip;A high-profile NHL personality suggests that the Caps should trade Rod Langway now for the highest possible draft choice and give the captaincy to Scott Stevens.<h2>LOOK OUT</h2>One agent close to the Rangers&rsquo; scene confides when Phil Esposito makes his next blockbuster deal&mdash;possibly unloading John Vanbies-brouck&mdash;it will set off a chain reaction of other trades&hellip;The Mario Lemieux contract negotiations should be in high gear as soon as Le Magnifique resumes his bid to reach the Gretzky fiscal plateau. One of Lemieux&rsquo; close friends, Jimmy Manganello, says success has not dulled Mario&rsquo;s manners. &ldquo;He holds doors open for people,&rdquo; says Manganello. &ldquo;You know how superstars can be. They get up to go, maybe they expect somebody to hold the door open for them. We&rsquo;re out to dinner, we&rsquo;re leaving, he&rsquo;s holding doors for people, smiling.&rdquo;&hellip;A Hartford scribe explaining the difference between the Canadiens and Whalers. &ldquo;The Canadiens were formed to win Stanley Cups. The Whalers were formed to make the Hartford downtown area viable.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011422/5683627-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="564" height="681"><figcaption class="caption-body">If John Vanbiesbrouck is traded, it could start a chain of deals.</figcaption></div><h2>ALBANY SNAGS</h2>The attempt to put a pro team in Albany N.Y., has run into some snags. Organizers hoped to use the Field House at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. through part of the 1990-91 season until their own 15,000-seat arena is finished but RP1 looks on the potential pro team as competition and is asking a fat rental fee. A second possibility is the rink at Union College in nearby Schnectady, N.Y. Meanwhile, the Rangers, who would move their International League farm team from Denver to Albany, want to see more interest before any such commitment is made. A &ldquo;Bring The Rangers To Albany&rdquo; committee is in the works&hellip;Terry O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s pals wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if the retired coach resurfaces as a television analyst with the New England Sports Network, for whom he worked before guiding the Bruins. A Boston longshot has Gord Kluzak calling it a career to try coaching the Bruins&rsquo; American League farm team in Maine&hellip;Apart from Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s public relations boners, some say a major cause for his firing was crazy line combinations against the Flames. While Jay Miller is highly-regarded for his teams-manship, the feeling is that Ftorek had no business sacrificing a more productive player like Luc Robitaille, who was in a funk all series. The inside word among the Kings is Robitaille must play on a line with stars or his production will be minimal-&hellip;Brad Park, who inherited the Red Wings in their early &rsquo;80s decline, is looking for a coaching opening. &#9632;

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GRETZKY RICHEST PLAYER, MAGAZINE SAYS

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN</div>The first game of the Stanley Cup finals, between the two biggest teams in the NHL, was decided by the smallest man on the ice.Theoren Fleury, 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds, scored the winning goal in the Calgary Flames&rsquo; 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens May 14.Fleury put the puck between Patrick Roy&rsquo;s legs at 11:45 of the second period, breaking a 2-2 tie. It was the rookie&rsquo;s fifth goal of the playoffs.Calgary goalie Mike Vernon, meanwhile, was spectacular for the Flames after allowing a weak goal to Stephane Richer in the first period.Richer blew by Calgary defenseman Al Maclnnis on the left side before skimming the puck along the ice past Vernon.Maclnnis scored twice within two minutes&mdash;one of them with the most feared slap shot in the game&mdash;to give Calgary a 2-1 lead in the first period. The goals extended Maclnnis&rsquo; playoff scoring streak to 12 games.He is a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.Should Calgary win the Cup, Vernon will also likely be a candidate. He saved the Flames from burnout against Vancouver in the first round, and continued his strong play against the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks.Chicago managed just one victory against the powerful Flames, who recorded a critical 2-1 victory in game four when Maclnnis scored on a power play at 15:05 of overtime.Defenseman Trent Yawney was in the penalty box. He was nailed for delay of game after throwing the puck into the stands.Calgary won game five 3-1 May 10, to earn three days off before the final. The Flames watched game six of the Montreal Canadiens-Philadelphia Flyers series on television one night later.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021302/5683665-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="551" height="920"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theoren Fleury gave Calgary a one-game lead in the finals.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031100/5683658-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="1164" height="1374"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Chelios drew the wrath of the Philadelphia Flyers, who abandoned a comeback attempt in order to exact their revenge.</figcaption></div>What they saw was embarrassing: Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextall snapped yet again.Two years ago, Hextall slashed Edmonton Oiler forward Kent Nilsson in the Stanley Cup finals.Then he broke Hartford Whaler left winger Sylvain Turgeon&rsquo;s arm during Team Canada&rsquo;s training camp before Canada Cup &rsquo;87.In the Patrick Division finals this year, Hextall chased Rob Brown of the Pittsburgh Penguins after the right winger scored a goal.On May 11, the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; netminder tried to exact revenge against Montreal Canadien defenseman Chris Chelios&mdash;running head-high at him in game six of the Wales Conference finals.Hextall earned a match penalty for intent to injure at 18:23 of the third period.Ho hum. Just another day at the office for the most-penalized goalie in hockey history.He broke his own record for most penalty minutes by a goaltender in a season this year when he earned 113&mdash;nine more than he recorded during each of the first two years of his NHL career.Hextall was named the league&rsquo;s top goalie after his rookie season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m striving to be the best goalie ever,&rdquo; he said then.Two years later, he&rsquo;s no closer to that objective. He&rsquo;s just closer to another suspension. He got eight games for whacking Nilsson. He&rsquo;ll likely get more for an act of violence that succeeded in a) overshadowing a very good series and, b) pushing to the background an equally unnecessary attack by teammate Ron Sutter.It was Sutter who ran at Chelios with just 3:42 left in game six. The Flyers were trailing 4-2 when Sutter extinguished all hope for a comeback by charging at Chelios and earning a two-minute penalty.The score remained the same. The Flyers were eliminated and Hextall never said he was sorry.&ldquo;I think we owed it to him (Chelios),&rdquo; said Hextall.Chelios knocked Brian Propp unconscious with a dangerous elbow-first check in game one of the series. The high-scoring Flyer did not return until game three. Chelios was not penalized on the play.He hurt the Flyers more, however, with his scoring punch than his knockout punch. Chelios, a finalist for the Norris Trophy, scored one goal and assisted on another as Montreal wrapped up the conference championship.The Flyers&rsquo; two victories came on Forum ice, where they became the first team this year to defeat Montreal goalie Patrick Roy. Philadelphia did it twice, but lost three times on home ice.The final is a rematch of the 1986 showdown.Three years ago. Montreal and Calgary faced off in the championship series. The Flames also won game one that year, but then lost four straight. &#9632;

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CALGARY’S LITTLE BIG MAN IS THE DIFFERENCE IN FINAL SERIES OPENER

<div class="byline">BY BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011320/5683850-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defending two-time Norris Trophy winner Ray Bourque&rsquo;s play has slipped in the eyes of THN readers, who placed the Bruin third in the best defenseman category.</figcaption></div>If you could be any National Hockey League player for a day, who would it be?Wayne Gretzky? Steve Yzerman? Mario Lemieux? Ron Greschner?Ron Greschner?If this were a Grand Prix, the veteran New York Ranger defenseman would be a jalopy chugging alongside the the sleek, racing machines of the NHL&rsquo;s top three players.But there is something to be said for crossing the finish line with one of the world&rsquo;s most beautiful women on your arm. Greschner, of course, is married to fashion model Carol Alt.That undoubtedly explains why the 34-year-old native of Goodsoil, Sask., finished a strong fourth in this Walter Mitty Derby.Gretzky was the overwhelming winner with 22 per cent of the vote. Yzerman was next with nine percent, followed by Lemieux (seven) and Greschner (six). No other player attracted a significant portion of votes.That was but one of the findings of The Hockey News 1989 Reader Opinion Poll.We asked you who&rsquo;s best in a variety of categories and how you felt on key issues in the game today.The response was overwhelming. More than 3.000 ballots were received, split almost evenly between THN readers from Canada and the United States.After tabulating your answers, we can conclude this about the average THN reader:He (sorry, girls) believes Mario Lemieux is the league&rsquo;s best player, but Wayne Gretzky is his favorite. He says Patrick Roy is the best goalie, Paul Coffey the best defenseman, Pat Bums the best coach and Cliff Fletcher the best GM.He&rsquo;s in favor of expansion, by three teams, and would like to see franchises in Hamilton, Ont., Milwaukee, Wise., and the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington state. He says NHL officiating is fair and would be better if referees used instant replays to assist them. He has no strong feelings on fisticuffs, although he would not support automatic ejection for fighting.Below is a detailed look at the survey responses, including a breakdown on Canadian and American voting tendencies.1 Who is the best player in the NHL this season?Pittsburgh Penguin center Mario Lemieux. Big No. 66 captured 43 per cent of the overall vote, 14 more than the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; Steve Yzerman (29) and 17 ahead of the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky (26).Lemieux&rsquo;s support was stronger in Canada (47) than the U.S. (38). Yzerman made a greater impact on the U.S. side (31) than the Canadian (26) and Gretzky was the same in both countries (26).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02958/5683843-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="704" height="170"></div>2 Who is the best goalie in the NHL this season?Patrick Roy in a walk.No individual in the poll received as much support as the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; netminder. He took 61 per cent of the vote, well ahead of the Calgary Flames&rsquo; Mike Vernon (12), Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Grant Fuhr (4), Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; Kirk McLean (4) and Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Ron Hextall (3).The U.S.-Canada split was not a factor at the top end. Roy was the same in both countries; Vernon had 13 in Canada, 11 in the U.S. and Fuhr had four per cent across the board. McLean, however, had eight per cent in Canada, none in the U.S. and Hextall had six per cmnt in the U.S., none in Canada.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03664/5683836-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="707" height="247"></div>3 Who is the best defenseman in the NHL this season?Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul Coffey scored a reasonably close decision over Montreal&rsquo;s Chris Chelios. The two-time Norris Trophy-winner garnered 33 per cent of the overall vote, compared to 28 for Chelios. Boston Bruin Ray Bourque was next (11) and Los Angeles&rsquo; Steve Duchesne (5) rounded out the top four blueliners.Both Coffey (37 to 29) and Chelios (33 to 22) received substantially more support in Canada than the U.S. Bourque (15 to 7) benefited from greater American support.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04433/5683829-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="708" height="209"></div>4 Who is your favorite player?Todd Ewen of the St. Louis Blues? Steve Martinson of the Canadiens?Response to this question ran the gamut&mdash;including Ewen, Martinson and a host of others. When all was said and done, though, Gretzky had 20 per cent of the vote and the top spot, followed by Yzerman (16) and Lemieux (12).Given Lemieux&rsquo;s status as best player, it&rsquo;s obvious he lacks the appeal or qualities which so endear No. 99 to his fans.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05266/5683822-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="708" height="171"></div>5 Who is your least favorite player?It was no contest. Montreal&rsquo;s Claude Lemieux was the runaway winner (loser?) in Canada (19 per cent) and tied for the lead as least-liked in the U.S. (8), giving him I4 per cent of the overall vote.Impressive totals on a question that was not multiple-choice.Lemieux, who reinforced his billing on the cover of Inside HOCKEY as &ldquo;The Most Hated Man In Hockey,&rdquo; keeps good company, however.Gretzky and Lemieux, both with six per cent, were next, followed by Hextall, Edmonton&rsquo;s Esa Tikkanen and the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; John Kordic, all tied with five.Gretzky (8 to 4), Mario Lemieux (8 to 4) and Hextall (7 to 3) were more disliked in the U.S. than Canada. The opposite was true for Claude Lemieux, Tikkanen (8 to 2) and Kordic (8 to 2).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-06148/5683815-1-eng-US/f0005-062.jpg" title="f0005-06" width="699" height="288"></div>6 Which is your favorite NHL team?Les Canadiens. A strong vote in Canada (30 per cent) combined with marginal support in the U. S. (6) gave the Habs a clear win (18) in this category.Boston was next (9), followed by Detroit (8), Pittsburgh, New York Rangers and Philadelphia (all at 7) and Edmonton (6).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-0786/5683808-1-eng-US/f0005-072.jpg" title="f0005-07" width="713" height="335"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-0858/5683801-1-eng-US/f0005-082.jpg" title="f0005-08" width="715" height="916"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Flames&rsquo; Cliff Fletcher is THN readers&rsquo; choice as top GM.</figcaption></div>7 Which is your least-favorite NHL team?The answer provides a classic illustration of human nature&mdash;the love-hate relationship.Montreal is the favorite; Montreal is also the least favorite.The Habs captured 15 per cent of the overall least-favorite vote, followed by Philadelphia (12), Toronto (11), New York Rangers (10) and Edmonton (8).Montreal (20), Toronto (18) and Edmonton (12) were least-liked in Canada; Philadelphia and the Rangers (19 each) in the U.S.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011502/5683794-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="710" height="249"></div>8 If you could be any NHL player for a day, who would it be?Gretzky, apparently, possesses the attributes that are most in demand. Talent. Fame. Fortune. Janet Jones.Given the significant support for the Rangers&rsquo; Ron Greschner&mdash;he Wailed Mario Lemieux by only one percentage point&mdash;one cannot overlook the significance of the players&rsquo; running mates in this category.Worth noting is Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s low response rate (4) in Canada. Greschner (6) topped him, although Lemieux was favored (10 to 6) in the U.S.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021063/5683787-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="713" height="201"></div>9 Who is the best coach in the NHL this season?Pat Bums. The Canadiens&rsquo; coach took 38 per cent of the vote, followed by Vancouver&rsquo;s Bob McCammon (23) and Calgary&rsquo;s Terry Crisp (15).Again, as was the case with players, Canadian support for the top coaches was higher than in the U.S. Bums, for example, had 42 in Canada, 34 in the U.S. McCammon had 30 and 16, respectively.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03685/5683780-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="712" height="253"></div>10 Who is the best general manager in the NHL this season?Calgary&rsquo;s Cliff Fletcher edged Montreal&rsquo;s Serge Savard by a margin of 12 per cent. Fletcher picked up 37 per cent of the vote; Savard 25. Washington&rsquo;s David Poile was third with 13.The bulk of Fletcher&rsquo;s and Savard&rsquo;s support came from Canada (45 and 30, respectively) while Poile&rsquo;s average was bolstered by a 19-per-cent share in the U.S.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04435/5683773-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="716" height="247"></div>11 Should the NHL expand from its current 21-team format?A resounding yes. No question on the survey generated as much support&mdash;73 per cent were in favor of it; 25 against. Canadians were more excited by the prospect than Americans (78 to 68).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05348/5683766-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="712" height="162"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1518/5683759-1-eng-US/f0006-152.jpg" title="f0006-15" width="2248" height="1573"><figcaption class="caption-body">Just as linesman Pat Dapuzzo is lost in this Devil-Penguin melee, NHL officials are lost in the eyes of THN&rsquo;s U.S. readers, only 23 per cent of whom think they do a good job. In Canada, 43 per cent of readers approve of the officials&rsquo; work.</figcaption></div>12 If so, by how many teams?The overwhelming choice wasthree. Of the 73 per cent who voted for expansion, half of them want to see a 24-team league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06251/5683752-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="710" height="201"></div>13 Rank the cities in the order they should be accepted:Overall, Hamilton was the No. 1choice (47 per cent of the popular vote), followed by Milwaukee (41) and Seattle-Tacoma (23).Americans&rsquo; first choice was Milwaukee (56), followed by Seattle-Tacoma (32), Hamilton (28) and the San Francisco-San Jose region (24).Canadians, meanwhile, opted for Hamilton (66), Saskatoon (31) and Milwaukee (26).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07142/5683745-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="715" height="288"></div>14 How would you rate NHL officiating?Fair. Overall, 48 per cent opted for fair, 33 said it&rsquo;s good and 19 said it&rsquo;s poor.It&rsquo;s worth noting, however, that American fans were much more critical of the officials than Canadians. In Canada, only seven per cent of the respondents chose poor, compared to 31 in the U.S. Of those who said officiating is good, 43 per cent are from Canada; 23 from the U.S.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0884/5683738-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="703" height="163"></div>15 Should NHL referees use instant replays to assist them in making decisions?Yes, by a slim margin (54 to 42). Unlike the calibre of officiating, the discrepancy between the two countries was not so great. Americans were more in favor of instant replays (56-52).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0959/5683731-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="714" height="164"></div>16 Should fighting be punished by automatic ejection from the game?Hockey fans, it appears, would rather fight than switch. Sixty-six per cent voted against automatic ejection, while only 31 cast a ballot in favor of it. Three per cent were undecided.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1043/5683724-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg" title="f0006-10" width="713" height="163"></div>17 How do you feel about fighting?The No. 1 answer (44 per cent overall) was &ldquo;no strong feelings,&rdquo; followed by &ldquo;enjoy it&rdquo; (38). Only 18 per cent said they&rsquo;re offended by it.More Americans than Canadians (21 to 15) are offended by it and more Canadians than Americans (40 to 36) enjoy it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1139/5683717-1-eng-US/f0006-112.jpg" title="f0006-11" width="713" height="160"></div>18 Would you be in favor of more, fewer or the same number of games between NHL and Soviet teams?The same number of games, but it&rsquo;s close. Overall, 38 per cent said the same, while 37 per cent said fewer. Only 25 said more.U.S. voters, however, were distinctly more anti-Soviet: 42 per cent compared to Canada&rsquo;s 32 want fewer games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1232/5683710-1-eng-US/f0006-122.jpg" title="f0006-12" width="710" height="163"></div>19 Do you welcome the arrival of Soviet players in the NHL?Yes. So said 58 per cent, compared to 32 for no. Ten per cent were undecided.Again, however, anti-Soviet sentiment was higher in the U.S. (35 per cent voted no compared to 29 in Canada).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1323/5683703-1-eng-US/f0006-132.jpg" title="f0006-13" width="697" height="172"></div>20 Would you be in favor of increasing the standard North American-size ice surface (200 by 85 feet) to international proportions (200 by 100)?It&rsquo;s a dead heat: 45 per cent in favor; 45 against and 10 undecided.The only difference between Canadians and Americans is that the former (6) have fewer undecided votes than the latter (14). Nevertheless, sentiment was split evenly (47-47 in Canada, 43-43 in the U.S.).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1419/5683696-1-eng-US/f0006-142.jpg" title="f0006-14" width="711" height="167"></div> &#9632;

f0005-01

YOU SAID IT

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Life is never easy for hockey officials.When they are good, few notice. When they are bad, everybody does. After 21 years as a referee, Bruce Hood gathered all his memories and wrote a book. Calling the Shots. Hood has blown the whistle on everybody and everything from NHL whiners to the issue of what&rsquo;s wrong with a refereeing system he says hasn&rsquo;t kept pace with the revolutionary changes in the game. The book is a best-seller in Canada and has received wide acclaim in the United States.THN: What was the most difficult aspect of officiating?BH: Determining who was responsible when players got involved in front of the net. The interference that went on, and the determination of it. If you can see it from start to finish, then you&rsquo;re able to make that determination and assess the right penalty.THN: What is wrong with the officiating system today?BH: What is wrong is that hockey has changed considerably. It is much faster now and the players are in much better condition. There are so many different plays out there. The players don&rsquo;t just go up and down the wing like they use to. It&rsquo;s very tough for one (referee) to go from goal line to goal line and miss all the pucks, sticks, bodies and still be able to see everything that goes on out there.THN: Is there any cure for the interference?BH: In my book I talk about the idea of a two referee-one linesman system. I think there would be fewer penalties because the players would be aware there would be another set of eyes out there who can call some of these things. The most exciting part of the game of hockey are the shots on goal, the good scoring opportunities, the passes. When you have players being restrained from doing that, it takes away from the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011345/5683881-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="697" height="1182"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruce Hood is an advocate of the two referee-one linesman system.</figcaption></div>THN: Do you agree officials, in light of the Mother&rsquo;s Day fiasco last year, are biased against the New Jersey Devils?BH: I disagree 100 per cent. A referee cannot get on that ice and make split-second decisions and have it based on his feelings about a particular team. If you do that then you are not going to be around. I would suggest that if (the Devils) have proof of that then they should take it to the league and show it.THN: How do you feel about your book generating angry responses from the people you&rsquo;ve criticized?BH: The book is very honest and forthright. The fact that it&rsquo;s been on the bestseller lists all across Canada and getting a very good reception in the U.S. indicates people really want to know what it is like to be in the skin of a referee. I went through some very tough times in the business, from the original six-team era when Clarence Campbell was the president of the league, through the expansion, the World Hockey Association and the Canada Cups. I told it the way it was and the way it happened. I have nothing to gain or lose by telling the people the way it was.THN: Who would you say are the biggest pains in the neck?BH: What surprises me are the number of players&mdash;I won&rsquo;t name anybody&mdash;that, when a penalty is called, run at the official. I am very surprised at the lack of respect I am seeing. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who the official is, the call is made and right away there is abuse heaped on him. I&rsquo;m very surprised at that.THN: Don&rsquo;t you think that is because youngsters today have a lack of respect?BH: There&rsquo;s no question about it. We went through that in the mid-1970s during the goon era. It&rsquo;s the complete lack of respect for authority, much less a referee. I hear the referees say that these kids don&rsquo;t have any respect and it makes the job very tough.THN: In your book, you call Wayne Gretzky a whiner.BH: When he first came into the league he was quite a whiner. Everything that happened, if it was an offside call or whatever, he was there shaking his head, moaning and groaning. Finally I said, &lsquo;Hey, if you are going to act like a little kid, you&rsquo;re going to get treated like one.&rsquo; He seemed to change, have a little more respect for the officials after that.THN: Who were the best friends of the referees when you were officiating?BH: The good friends were usually the good players. I go back to the guys like Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau, Gordie Howe&mdash;players with respect for the game. Generally, that&rsquo;s the way it was. Outside of a very small percentage, there was a good rapport with the players. You know that on a certain night they are going to be upset, they may use curse words, but generally there was a good respect. There was a percentage of players, coaches and general managers who had a disrespect for the officials. That&rsquo;s just their way and you can&rsquo;t do anything about it. You have to accept it. You certainly don&rsquo;t like it as an official, especially when they use the press or the media to dump on an official. That was the biggest argument I had from day one. It just didn&rsquo;t make any sense. All I say is give me equal time. I couldn&rsquo;t have it when I was officiating so I had it after in my book.THN: If you could do anything differently what would it be?BH: I guess I would try to overlook some of the things that bothered me. Like situations in which I would have a confrontation with a player. I learned in my later years that it was much better to be able to smile, overlook it, rather than throw the player out of the game one night and end up almost like I had a chip on my shoulder with him. I learned that you don&rsquo;t do that because that player wants to respect you. If you don&rsquo;t respect him, how the heck is he going to respect you? I learned that and it made me a better official. &#9632;

f0007-01

BRUCE HOOD

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>A little more than a month after being fired by former Kingston Raiders&rsquo; owner Lou Kazowski, Larry Mavety was rehired as coach and general manager of the Ontario League franchise.Only now, the team will be known as the Kingston Frontenacs. It&rsquo;s the third time in three years the team has changed its nickname. They were known as the Canadians from 1973 until last season.Frontenacs&rsquo; president Bob Attersley announced May 11 the team would pick up the remaining three years of Mavety&rsquo;s four-year, $280,000 contract.Mavety was fired March 30, 10 days after Kazowski moved all the team&rsquo;s equipment out of the Kingston Memorial Centre. Kazowski, who intended to move the franchise to Owen Sound, sold it to Attersley April 26.Attersley announced May 2 that Kingston businessman Don Anderson and former Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; owner Wren Blair have bought into the team, creating an equal partnership. Anderson will serve as vice president. Biair, the first coach of the Minnesota North Stars, will be a managing partner.The team also received approval from the OHL May 11 to change its colors from black, silver and white to black, gold and white. The Kingston Frontenacs, who played in the Eastern Professional League from 1960 to 1963, wore those colors. Attersley was a member of the team from 1960 to 1962.<h2>PRIMEAU DIES</h2>Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; great Joe Primeau died May 15 of natural causes. He was 83.Primeau, the center of the Leafs&rsquo; famed &lsquo;Kid Line,&rsquo; was one of the game&rsquo;s best players during the late 1920s and early 1930s.He was also one of its classiest&mdash;earning the nickname &lsquo;Gentleman Joe.&rsquo;Primeau later became the only man in hockey history to coach winners of the Allan, Memorial and Stanley Cups.The native of Lindsay, Ont., joined Charlie Conacher and Harvey (Busher) Jackson to form the most feared line in the NHL.Primeau, who scored 243 points (66-177) in 310 career games, never won a scoring championship but twice finished second to his linemates.In 1931-32, he trailed only Jackson, and in 1933-34, he was runner-up to Conacher.Primeau was named to the 1933-34 second all-star team and won the 1932 Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most gentlemanly player.Primeau played seven full seasons for the Leafs&mdash;he never played for another team in the NHL&mdash;and was a member of Toronto&rsquo;s 1932 Stanley Cup team.He coached the Leafs to the 1951 Stanley Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011432/5683912-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="551" height="932"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Mullen is right winger on the players&rsquo; all-star team.</figcaption></div><h2>LEMIEUX TOPS</h2>For the second straight season, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux has been named The Sporting News NHL player of the year.Lemieux, who won the scoring championship with 85 goals and 114 assists for 199 points, received 120 votes from the 309 NHL players polled. Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Wayne Gretzky, who won the award seven straight seasons before Lemieux prevailed last year, finished second with 109 votes. Detroit center Steve Yzerman finished third with 73.Results of the voting were released May 10 and appear in the May 15 issue.New York Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Brian Leetch captured rookie-of-the-year honors with 176 votes, beating Vancouver center Trevor Linden (101) by 75 votes. Ranger center-right winger Tony Granato finished a distant third with 21 votes.Leetch, 21, led all rookie scorers with 23 goals and 48 assists for 71 points in 66 games.Lemieux also gained his second straight berth on the first all-star team with 140 votes. Kings&rsquo; left winger Luc Robitaille, with 130 votes, was another second straight first-team selection. Rounding out the first team were: Calgary right winger Joe Mullen (138), Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul Coffey (170) and Montreal&rsquo;s Chris Chelios (128) on defense and Monleal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy (148) in goal.The second team featured Gretzky at center (92), Edmonton right winger Jari Kurri (72), Montreal left winger Mats Naslund (39), Boston defenseman Ray Bourque (118), Calgary defenseman Gary Suter (62) and Calgary goalie Mike Vernon.<h2>TAKE STOCK</h2>When Harold Ballard&rsquo;s health declines, his stock rises.The 85-year-old owner of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., entered a Toronto hospital May 8 for emergency treatment to remove fluid from his lungs.Shares in MLG Ltd., which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, immediately shot up $3.25 (Cdn.) to $43.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. More than 10,000 Gardens shares changed hands in the last hour of trading.All of which meant Ballard&rsquo;s 2.9 million shares in Maple Leaf Gardens jumped $9.6 million to a worth of about $160 million. Ballard owns 80 per cent of MLG Ltd.<h2>PETERSON NAMED</h2>Former U.S. Olympic team coach Dave Peterson has been named director of coaching and player development for USA Hockey.Peterson, who coached Team USA to a seventh-place finish at the 1988 Winter Olympics, replaced Keith Blase. Blase was promoted to the assistant executive director post. Peterson takes over June 1.Peterson also coached the 1985, 1986 and 1987 U.S. national teams and the 1986 and 1987 national junior teams. He was an assistant to coach Lou Vairo with the 1984 Olympic team.<h2>NO &lsquo;DESERTER&rsquo;</h2>A Soviet hockey star has ridiculed charges of desertion leveled against Alexand Mogilny in the wake of his defection to the United States.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t defend him,&rdquo; center Igor Larionov told Novosti Press, &ldquo;but I also don&rsquo;t want to be (critical). One has his own sense of duty and patriotism.&ldquo;I only can&rsquo;t agree with people who say that a Soviet combatant officer has defected to the West. Mogilny is not much of a military man, but a youngster who was forced to join the army.&rdquo;Mogilny, a member of the Central Red Army and national teams, left the Soviet Union to join the Buffalo Sabres. The 20-year-old junior lieutenant was labeled a &ldquo;traitor&rdquo; and charged with desertion by Soviet officials.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for a player of Red Army and the Soviet national team to become an officer,&rdquo; said Larionov. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s quite a problem to be discharged.&rdquo;Larionov, an army captain, has been trying to get his discharge from the military in order to continue his playing career with either the Vancouver Canucks or a European club team.One report said Soviet officials contemplated sending national team captain Viacheslav Fetisov to Buffalo in a bid to convince Mogilny to return home. The plan was abandoned. &#9632;

f0008-01

FIRED COACH MAVETY REHIRED TO LEAD NEWLY-NAMED FRONTENACS

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD BEALES</div>For the first time since he entered the National Hockey League in 1979, Wayne Gretzky is not a finalist for The Hockey News NHL Player of the Year.And that&rsquo;s not because Gretzky had a poor season in his first year as a Los Angeles King. He had 54 goals and 114 assists in leading the Kings&rsquo; to a second-place Smythe Division finish, fourth overall in the NHL.It&rsquo;s because THN readers, who vote for the player of the year, favored the outstanding campaigns enjoyed by Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings.Should Lemieux win the award, it would be his second in a row. Yzerman has never won it. Gretzky won it eight consecutive years before finishing as a runner-up to Lemieux last year.The award is one of many to be presented at The Hockey News annual awards banquet, June 8 in Toronto.<h2>NHL PLAYER</h2>Finalists for THN-Black Velvet NHL Player of the Year are:Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh: The Penguin captain led the NHL in most significant offensive categories, including goals (85), assists (114, tied with Gretzky), points (199), power-play goals (31) and shorthanded goals (13). Lemieux&rsquo;s plus-minus mark of 41 was fifth-best in the league. He was in on 57.4 per cent of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 347 goals, for what is believed to be an NHL record.Steve Yzerman, Detroit: Yzerman showed the Red Wings and their fans what it meant to be a captain, both on and off the ice. He enjoyed his best season ever, collecting 65 goals and 90 assists for 155 points. And he helped keep the team together, guiding it to the Norris Division regular-season title, despite the distracting personal problems of several players.The award is voted on by THN readers.<h2>NHL ROOKIE</h2>Finalists for THN-Pepsi NHL Rookie of the Year are:Brian Leetch, New York Rangers: Leetch, the Rangers&rsquo; first choice (ninth overall) in the 1986 entry draft, broke the record for goals by a rookie defenseman (23) and led all first-year players with 71 points.Trevor Linden, Vancouver: Linden stepped into the NHL straight from junior at age 18, and quickly established himself as a franchise player for the Canucks. In his first pro season, he scored 30 goals and 59 points.The award is voted on by THN readers.<h2>NHL COACH</h2>Finalists for THN NHL Coach of the Year are:Pat Bums, Montreal: Bums, a first-year NHL coach, took a good team and made it better. The Adams Division-champion Canadiens finished with 115 points&mdash;two off the pace for the President&rsquo;s Cup, and 12 more than the year before.Bob McCammon, Vancouver: McCammon celebrated his second year behind the Canucks&rsquo; bench in style. He guided the Canucks to a respectable 74-point finish (a 15-point improvement from the season before) and came within one goal of eliminating Calgary from the playoffs.The award is voted on by THN&rsquo;s NHL correspondents.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011386/5683950-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="714" height="1984"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vancouver&rsquo;s Trevor Linden, left, and the New York Rangers&rsquo; Brian Leetch are finalists for The Hockey News NHL Rookie of the Year award.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02990/5683943-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="697" height="1952"></div><h2>NHL EXECUTIVE</h2>Finalists for THN Executive of the Year are:Bruce McNall, Los Angeles: Kings&rsquo; owner McNall engineered the trade that brought Gretzky to Los Angeles, revitalizing hockey in southern California and the United States. With Gretzky, the Kings&rsquo; fortunes improved both on the ice and at the box office.David Poile, Washington: The Capitals&rsquo; general manager made some daring moves of his own, including the trade of all-time leading Caps&rsquo; scorer Mike Gartner and Larry Murphy to Minnesota for Dino Ciccarelli and Bob Rouse.The award is voted on by THN&rsquo;s NHL correspondents.<h2>MINOR PRO PLAYER</h2>Finalists for THN Minor Pro Player of the Year are:Stephan Lebeau, Sherbrooke: The rookie pro center made short work of the American League record book, setting new marks for goals (80) and points (134).Dave Michayluk, Musekgon: With an International League-leading 122 points (50-72), Michayluk topped 100 points for the fifth consecutive minor-pro season.The award is voted on by THN editorial staff.<h2>MINOR PRO COACH</h2>Finalists for THN Minor Pro Coach of the Year are:Robbie Laird, Fort Wayne: Laird&rsquo;s Komets, one of only three teams in the IHL not affiliated with an NHL parent, finished third in the tough East Division and advanced to the Turner Cup semifinals.Tommy McVie, Utica: Frequent player recalls by the parent New Jersey Devils made McVie&rsquo;s life difficult, but he kept Utica alive and well in the American League South, clinching a playoff berth on the final day of the schedule.The award is voted on by THN editorial staff.<h2>CIAU PLAYER</h2>Finalists for THN-Bauer Canadian University Player of the Year are:Mark Mahon, Concordia: Though the Stingers finished only 14-10-2, Mahon was the Ontario Universities player of the year. He finished second in scoring with 64 points, and his 50 assists topped the league.Stacey Wakabayashi, Alberta: Wakabayashi, winner of the Sullivan Trophy as top collegian in Canada, led Canada West scorers with 79 points on 35 goals and 44 assists.The award is voted on by THN editorial staff.<h2>NCAA PLAYER</h2>Finalists for THN-Bauer U.S. College Player of the Year are:Curtis Joseph, Wisconsin: In his first season with the Badgers, the goalie posted a .919 save percentage and 2.49 goals-against average, and was named Western Collegiate Association player of the year.Lane MacDonald, Harvard: Winner of the Hobey Baker award as top collegian, MacDonald captained the Crimson to its first-ever NCAA title. In 32 games, he had 31 goals and 28 assists.The award is voted on by THN editorial staff.<h2>JUNIOR PLAYER</h2>Finalists for THN-Mega Junior Player of the Year are:Bryan Fogarty, Niagara Falls: In becoming the first defenseman to win the Ontario League scoring title, Fogarty broke major junior defense records for assists (108) and points (155). His 47 goals were also an OHL defense high.Stephane Morin, Chicoutimi: Morin, undrafted by an NHL team, ran away with the Quebec League scoring title, counting 186 points (77-109) to 166 for runner-up Steve Cadieux.The award is voted on by THN editorial staff.<h2>OTHER AWARDS</h2>There are four other award categories.THN/Jofa-Titan NHL All-Star teams, voted on by THN readers, will be honored at the banquet.THN-ITECH King Clancy Memorial Award goes annually to a hockey legend who, long after his playing/coaching days are over, continues to give to the game. The award is voted on by THN editorial staff.THN/Jofa-Titan Minor Hockey Player of the Year is a representative award for a youngster who has demonstrated both passion and dedication to the sport. The winner is selected from entries to the THN/Jofa-Titan Showcase feature which runs weekly in THN during the hockey season.THN-Inside HOCKEY Man of the Year is a new award, to be presented annually to an individual who contributes to the betterment of hockey. The award is chosen by Inside HOCKEY&rsquo;S editorial staff.The Hockey News awards banquet will be televised June 8 at 6 p.m. (EDT) by The Sports Network in Canada. &#9632;

f0009-01

WHAT, NO GRETZKY?

<div class="byline">JAY GREENBERG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011473/5683988-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="460" height="627"></div>Someone else is going to have to supply the outrage this time. Sorry, I have none left.It has been gradually drained out of me over the years from watching too many hockey games. Perhaps it should have occurred to me to find something else to do for a living when I had to suppress a giggle at the sight of Boston Bruin players hitting New York Ranger fans with shoes.My colleagues probably think that 14 years of covering the Philadelphia Flyers has turned my brain into a brass knuckle. Or softened my spine at the thought of having to be critical of the people I have to deal with every day.I don&rsquo;t think this is the case. I thought Craig Berube&rsquo;s cross-check to a frighteningly-vulnerable Rich Sutter in January was as dangerous a thing as I&rsquo;d ever seen one hockey player do to another. That&rsquo;s what I wrote, both in my own paper and here, and I was critical of NHL executive vice president Brian O&rsquo;Neill for letting the incident pass without punishment.I have also taken pains not to jump up and down any time any Flyer was the victim. Or was perceived as a victim by Flyer people. I figure they&rsquo;ve made their own bed over the years and are going to have to sleep in it.Objective, I try to be. But I do confess to being human. And liking Ron Hextall. He answers my questions even after tough losses, never looks to blame anybody but himself, enjoys a sense of humor and off the ice has a deeper sense of morality than many of his accusers. Given the choice of sharing a lifeboat with him or some of the people who are most vehemently condemning him, I would choose Hextall every time.I do, however, hate some of the things Hextall has done. And refuse to excuse them or apologize for them. There are players in the league who want to win as badly as he does. There are others who feel they have just as much reason to even a score with Chris Chelios as Hextall did. But they don&rsquo;t react like he did.Hitting Chelios over the head with a blocker wasn&rsquo;t half as dangerous as what Chelios did to Propp in game one. But it looked twice as bad, so O&rsquo;Neill is going to have to do something about it.The league is required to make the point that it will carry out the punishments, not the players. Then, too, the image of losers beating up on the winners before they leave the ice is not the image that a professional sporting enterprise wants to convey.Since Chelios was not hurt, and was actually more jeapordized by the preceeding run at him (judged to be worth only two minutes) by Ron Sutter, you could make a case that the spectacle Hextall created was far worse than the violent act.But for an enterprise trying to sell itself to the public, if it looks bad, it is bad.Some clubs and players, including those at issue here, are more frequently involved than others. The Flyers should be embarrassed that too often it has been them, but, sorry, I know these people and can&rsquo;t see them as evil or despicable. Just wrapped a little too tight, sometimes.Flyer coach Paul Holmgren quieted what could have been a bad scene in the immediate aftermath of Chelios&rsquo; hit on Propp. Hextall may have told himself that if he ever had a chance to take a shot at Chelios he would. But what he did doesn&rsquo;t qualify as premeditated.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021119/5683981-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="715" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextall&rsquo;s attack on Chris Chelios looked worse than it actually was.</figcaption></div>He was angry at losing, was reminded by Sutter&rsquo;s check that Chelios was still available for retribution. Chelios crossed the blue line and Hextall snapped. That he didn&rsquo;t say he was sorry afterwards, of course, only made it worse.As for the fans, certainly many behaved poorly. But that Spectrum crowd was not, as has been protrayed, a bloodthirsty mob spurned to ugliness by the actions of the orange and black wolfpack on the ice.It&rsquo;s terribly unfair to generalize. When the booing of the Canadian anthem, a retaliation for the booing of the American anthem in Montreal, began before game six. a good number of fans at the Spectrum decided to drown out the booing with applause. A nice gesture. I thought.Fans sometimes care too much, and the prices they are paying for tickets these days raise their demands that much higher. Some figure it entitles them to a victory and rage when they don&rsquo;t get it.It may be fair to say that New York or Philadelphia crowds are more angry than crowds some other places. But I didn&rsquo;t read a word, at least in the English papers in Montreal, about how a good number of the fans at the Forum cheered while Propp was laying on the ice.Nor did I note a single suggestion that Pat Burns, by turning around and spraying the Flyer fan he thought had thrown something at him, may have contributed in some small way to the outburst around the Montreal bench after game four. Burns didn&rsquo;t show complete restraint, either.That&rsquo;s because people do things they shouldn&rsquo;t do. Petty things like Burns spraying a fan. Dangerous things like Chelios coming in harder than he had to with an elbow on Propp. Ugly things that assault our principles of fair play, like Hextall did.These things don&rsquo;t make me angry. They make me sad. But I like this game, so I tend to accept the faults of the people involved with it. &#9632;

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IF YOU LIKE THE GAME, YOU ACCEPT ITS FAULTS

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>Craig Ludwig crossed out the No. 5 on his soaked sweatshirt.After winning the Wales Conference championship in six games over the Philadelphia Flyers, only four victories stood between the Canadiens and their 24th Stanley Cup championship.The Canadiens still needed four wins after losing the first game of the final, 3-2 to the Calgary Flames May 14.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t won anything yet,&rdquo; said Ludwig after the Canadiens clinched the berth in the final with a 4-2 win over the Flyers in game six May 11. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re excited because you have made it, but that&rsquo;s about it. We&rsquo;ve made it to the finals, but we haven&rsquo;t done anything yet.&ldquo;The only team that is going to be remembered is the team that wins the Cup.&rdquo;But the normally good-natured Ludwig was in a sour mood even in victory. Like the rest of his teammates, he was seething over a stick attack by Flyers&rsquo; goalie Ron Hextall on Chris Chelios with 1:37 left in the third period of the final game of the series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011338/5684050-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="555" height="1005"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;This team is used to being on top,&rdquo; said Guy Carbonneau.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got no class,&rdquo; said Ludwig.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t worth it. We are going on to play and they are finished.&rdquo;Chelios, who knocked Philadelphia&rsquo;s Brian Propp out of the second game of the series with a vicious check in game one, was fortunate that he saw Hextall coming. A few minutes earlier, Ron Sutter high-sticked the Montreal defenseman, drawing a penalty and killing off any hopes of the Philadelphia comeback.&ldquo;I was ready,&rdquo; said Chelios, who scored the series-winning goal against Hextall. &ldquo;I came in here expecting to get hit. When Sutter came at me, I was ready. Then with Hextall, I was just worried about being on the bottom of the pile and being stepped on.&rdquo;With the Flyers out of the way, the Canadiens set their sights on Calgary, the team that nosed them out of top spot in the NHL for the second year in a row. The Flames won the President&rsquo;s Cup with 117 points and the Canadiens finished second with 115.&ldquo;Because we changed coaches and had 103 points (last year), there was certainly more pressure on us this year,&rdquo; said center Guy Carbonneau.&ldquo;This team is used to being on top and when you are on top, everybody wants to knock you down.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a good start and everybody was looking at the other guy to find an answer. We found it. When you have 25 guys playing together, your life is a lot easier.&rdquo;Carbonneau said the Canadiens are a lot like the team that defeated the Flames in the 1986 final by playing a tight-checking, disciplined game. Only this time, there is more experience in the lineup.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here for eight years and I haven&rsquo;t seen a team here be that close,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Because we play defensively, a lot of people sacrifice their offense to play defense. The fact that we know we can win that way makes us believe in each other.&rdquo;But at the same time, the Canadiens have added youth with players like Russ Courtnall. Shayne Corson. Brent Gilchrist and Mike Keane. Carbonneau said having players who have yet to win the Stanley Cup keeps the whole team focussed on that goal.&ldquo;There are a few guys here that have never gone to the finals, have never won the Cup,&rdquo; said Carbonneau. &ldquo;Those of us who have been there want to show them what it&rsquo;s like.&ldquo;Now we have a 50-50 chance of winning the Cup.&rdquo;<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Shayne Corson, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Brent Gilchrist, Gilles Thibaudeau. Stephan Lebeau.LW&mdash;Mats Naslund, Bob Gainey. Ryan Walter, Mike McPhee, Steve Martinson, Mark Pederson.RW&mdash;Mike Keane, Stephane Richer, Russ Courtnail, Claude Lemieux, Benoit Brunet.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Larry Robinson, Petr Svoboda, Donald Dufresne. Mathieu Schneider.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Eric Desjardins, Rick Green, Sylvain Lefebvre, Jyrki Lumme.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward. Randy Exelby, Francois Gravel.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0011-01

TWELVE DOWN, FOUR TO GO FOR THE HABS

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Four Quebec Nordiques were named to Team Canada, but only one came home with a silver medal from the World Championships in Stockholm.Still, lone survivor Mario Marois said early-departing teammates Jeff Brown, Curtis Leschyshyn and Joe Sakic should be proud of themselves.&ldquo;Even if Jeff, Joe and Curtis didn&rsquo;t make the team, they nevertheless played very well,&rdquo; said Marois, who returned to Quebec from Europe May 9, after an extended holiday with his wife.Sakic especially impressed Marois.&ldquo;The kid really had them running around after him in the exhibition games he played,&rdquo; said the veteran Nordique defenseman. &ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t seen him play so well in Quebec.&rdquo;Sakic&rsquo;s fast start to 1988-89 regular season had many convinced he would be a premier rookie-of-the-year candidate. But by the time Marois was acquired by the Nords from Winnipeg, just before Christmas, Sakic was nursing a sprained ankle that bothered him for the rest of the season.Sakic finished a disappointing 2339-62 in 70 games, with a hideous minus-36 rating.The Nordiques failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, so Sakic didn&rsquo;t get the opportunity to redeem himself in the second season. Marois did, in Stockholm, and made the most of it.Marois&rsquo; biggest concern overseas was the larger ice surface&mdash;100-by-200 feet compared to the NHL-standard 85-by-200. Would he look older than his 31 years trying to chase youngsters across the larger pond?&ldquo;But as soon as I started playing, I erased all the doubts from my mind,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t look like a little old man on the large rinks.&rdquo;The team&rsquo;s silver-medal performance helped Marois forget the miserable season the Nordiques had just completed.&ldquo;It was really good for the morale,&rdquo; Marois said. &ldquo;The guys who were on the team were all eliminated in the early rounds of the playoffs.&ldquo;And after our third or fourth consecutive win in Stockholm, we started looking at each other in dressing room as if to say that something like this hadn&rsquo;t happened to us all season long. It really felt good.&rdquo;Coach Dave King lived up to his reputation as a tough and demanding taskmaster, Marois said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011440/5684081-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="557" height="693"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Marois, above, called Dave King a demanding coach.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s the way he is and I have to admit that he really knows what he&rsquo;s doing,&rdquo; Marois said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real specialist on European hockey.&rdquo;Marois doesn&rsquo;t plan on being back at the World Championships next year; he&rsquo;s booking himself for playoff hockey with the Nords.But&hellip;&ldquo;If I was given the chance to go at it again tomorrow, I wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate one second.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE RIGHT TONIC FOR MAROIS

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; home rink will get an NHL regulation-size ice surface, a new roof and air conditioning in the seating area, if provisions in the city budget become law June 8.The $4-million outlay&mdash;part of a proposed $38.3-million renovation plan to be instituted over several years&mdash;still must be approved by common council, which has the remainder of May to make suggestions to the budget document before it becomes law.The three improvements to Memorial Auditorium form the first phase of a redevelopment proposal that would likely have a significant impact on lease negotations at the 50-year-old arena.&ldquo;These things (longer ice, air conditioning and a new roof) need to be addressed whether or not the city reaches a long-term lease with the Sabres.&rdquo; said Charles F. Rosenow, head of Development Downtown Inc., the agency charged with pursuing the funding necessary to renovate the Aud.&ldquo;They have to be considered necessary improvments to make the building suitable to attract any longterm tenant.&rdquo;The current lease between the city and the Sabres expires in March, 1990.Should the mayor&rsquo;s proposal be accepted and approved by the common council, the city would provide funds for lengthening the Auditorium&rsquo;s ice surface to meet the National Hockey League standard of 200 by 85 feet.The Auds 194-by-85 ice surface has been considered substandard since the Sabres entered the NHL in 1970-71. According to preliminary design plans, Aud ice would be extended some six feet. The corners would also be reshaped to conform with the league&rsquo;s stated preference of &ldquo;an arc of a circle with a radius of 28 feet.&rdquo; The current configuration is considerably tighter in the comers, and, with the shorter ice surface, affects the way the game is played.Phase One of the master air-conditioning plan calls for supplying just the spectator area of the Auditorium&mdash;the seating bowl&mdash;with improved climate control. The overall plan was drawn up by HOK Associates of Kansas City, as part of a master redesign plan funded by the city and the hockey club.The roof, known to have significant leaks, would be removed and replaced.Speaking prior to the announcement of the budget plan. Sabre senior vice president Robert W. Pickel and vice president George Bergantz both said improvments in those three areas were primary concerns for the hockey team.Pickel said the Sabres were also hopeful that a new ice-making plant would also be included in the redevelopment. The system in use. though functional, is considered outdated and the Sabres have submitted plans for a new glycol system to replace the brine system already in place.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s still to be determined by the consultants,&rdquo; Pickel said. &ldquo;The city has its view on the system based on reports from its own engineers. We have a different view from our consultants. It&rsquo;s just something the engineers will have to work out.&rdquo;In recent months the Sabres have been meeting with a council task force, which has reviewed the design plan and recommended ways to cope with a financial plan that calls for $38.3 million in renovations.Their recommendations are to be reviewed by full council before any of the design or financing plans can move forward.If the budget is not challenged by the council, it will automatically become law. Since there are no tax hikes and no layoffs in the proposal, it&rsquo;s expected the budget has a reasonable chance of passing the council with the Aud funds intact.Rosenow said it would take at least six months to draw up detailed plans for the three proposed improvements and several more months to attract bids.&ldquo;The earliest construction could get underway would likely be late March or early April,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

THE ‘AUD’ MAY GET $4-MILLION OVERHAUL

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Hartford Whalers&rsquo; part-owner Richard H. Gordon said the club was faced with a fascinating choice before it signed Ed Johnston to a three-year contract May 11, as vice president and general manager.&ldquo;The easy choice was Bob Johnson,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;The right choice was Ed Johnston.&ldquo;Bob Johnson has impeccable credentials. If you look at his resume: NCAA championships at Wisconsin, great record at Calgary and an outstanding job building up AHAUS (Amateur Hockey Association of the United States). But he&rsquo;s been out of the NHL for some time and we want to get this thing up to speed right away. Eddie is a builder. We want to continue building.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great when you have two such qualified people. J&J, I&rsquo;d buy that stock.&rdquo;What sounded like a throwaway line actually had meaning.Gordon contacted Johnson&rsquo;s agent, the Athletes & Artists firm of Art Kaminsky, about Badger Bob becoming the team&rsquo;s coach.Larry Pieau was set to meet with Johnston May 15, and sources within the organization indicated the decision to replace him as coach has already been made. Rick Ley, coach of the Milwaukee Admirals and a former Whaler defenseman, is considered the frontrunner if Johnson declines to leave his post as executive director at AHAUS, which is also known as USA Hockey.&ldquo;We want the best possible people,&rdquo; said Gordon. &ldquo;If Bob Johnson wants to coach, I&rsquo;ll call him personally,&rdquo; said Johnston, whose annual salary will be about $175,000. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a heck of a coach.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to have input into personnel to be interested,&rdquo; said Johnson, who may be looking for an assistant general manager-coach title.Johnston was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins for five years before being demoted to assistant general manager when the Pens hired Tony Esposito.&ldquo;I want the players to have pride in the Whalers,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;I want to justify the owners&rsquo; confidence in me. No question, there will be changes. New blood is needed.&rdquo;The selection committee put together by Gordon had only two hockey men actively involved: Bobby Orr and Gerry Cheevers. They are former Boston Bruins&rsquo; teammates and both are buddies of Johnston. They carried clout.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011352/5684136-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="698" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eddie Johnston will make about $175,000 a year with Hartford.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I hope people do say Bobby On had something to do with E.J. getting the job,&rdquo; said Orr, who will work for the Whalers on a part-time advisory and community relations basis.The owners&mdash;Gordon, Ben Sisti and Donald Conrad&mdash;said Johnston was such a clear-cut winner in the first interview May 5 that a second meeting was not needed.After Johnston, Bob Johnson was flown to Hartford for an interview, then the owners sat quietly.Finally, Conrad spoke: &ldquo;I think the choice is obvious&mdash;E.J.&rdquo;&ldquo;Total agreement,&rdquo; Gordon said.&ldquo;No dissension,&rdquo; Sisti said.So, after six years and nine days, former general manager Emile Francis&rsquo; reign as czar of Whaler hockey ended with a 213-225-42 record, one first-place, three fourth-place and two last-place finishes in the Adams Division, and a 1-4 record in playoff series.The Whalers will pay off Francis&rsquo; contract of $1 million over the next four years.The Whalers have won only two of their past 14 playoff games. Francis hasn&rsquo;t been to the playoff semifinals in 15 years and has just three winning seasons in the past 14.Francis has been asked to remain as club president. He has refused public comment, saying only that he will meet with the media at a later date. Gordon said Francis will give him a decision by late May.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 11: Ed Johnston named vice president and general manager, signed three-year contract. &#9632;

f0013-01

JOHNSTON LANDS WHALER GM POST

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>The fact the Boston Bruins were preparing to announce Mike Milbury as their head coach was no surprise.But the team was also expected to make the 36-year-old former Bruin defenseman its next assistant general manager, at a news conference scheduled for May 16. Milbury has been the leading candidate for the head coaching job since Terry O&rsquo;Reilly resigned the post May 1.Neither Sinden nor Milbury would comment on the matter.The deal with Milbury was reportedly locked up May 12, after Sinden and the new coach met for three hours. Milbury, who served as coach-GM of the Bruins&rsquo; American League affiliate in Maine for two years, was seeking some responsibility beyond his on-ice duties. It appeared he will have the control he desired.To make room for Milbury in the front office, Tom Johnson, who holds the title of assistant GM, will be elevated to vice president under Sinden, who also serves as team president.Johnson&rsquo;s new duties will likely include European scouting, as well as continuing to serve as Sinden&rsquo;s righthand man.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no big deal, just a little change in the management,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to see how things fall into place.&rdquo;Milbury, who compiled a 76-69-15 mark with Maine, served as interim co-coach for two weeks after Butch Goring was fired in November, 1986. Prior to that, the native of Brighton, Mass., played 12 seasons for the Bruins, collecting 49 goals, 189 assists and 1,552 penalty minutes in 754 games.Gordie Clark, Milbury&rsquo;s assistant at Maine, is expected to join him as an assistant with the Bruins. But the status of John Cunniff, who was O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s assistant, remained cloudy. Cunniff enjoyed a substantial amount of authority with O&rsquo;Reilly but will likely have his authority diminished in a Milbury-Clark regime.Cunniff was interviewed May 12 for the head coaching post in Winnipeg. He is said to be in competition for the job with ex-Chicago coach Bob Murdoch, ex-Minnesota coach Lome Henning and Edmonton assistant Ted Green.It is believed, however, should Cunniff not get the Jets&rsquo;job, he will either take over as coach in Maine or stay on as a second assistant under Milbury.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02978/5684167-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="688" height="1566"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Milbury was expected to become the fourth ex-Bruin to be named coach.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;My interview (with Jets&rsquo; GM Mike Smith) was very interesting,&rdquo; Cunniff said, &ldquo;but it will take a couple of weeks before I know where I stand.&ldquo;The coaching set-up (in Winnipeg) is ideal,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;They do a lot of different things, it&rsquo;s a progressive organization.&rdquo;Milbury and Cunniff were the only two people interviewed for O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s vacated post. It became clear relatively early Milbury was the favorite to succeed his former Bruins&rsquo; teammate.He will become the team&rsquo;s 18th coach, and fourth consecutive ex-Bruin on the job. He will follow Gerry Cheevers, Goring and O&rsquo;Reilly. &#9632;

f0013-02

EX-BRUIN MILBURY TO GET TWO POSTS

<div class="byline">STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011424/5684198-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="490" height="624"></div>Personal playoff deadlines without headlines&hellip;Gordie Dineen ridicules those who ridicule him: The cheesiest, personal cheap shot of the playoffs had the Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman as the target. Prior to the Ranger-Penguin series, the New York Daily News previewed the playoff. The more Dineen played, the Daily News noted, the happier the Rangers would be.The implication was Dineen was a stiff who could kill his club. The result was something else. Dineen performed like a combination of Ray Bourque and Craig Ludwig. &ldquo;I not only played him,&rdquo; recalled coach Gene Ubriaco, &ldquo;but I played him time-and-a-half in that series.&rdquo;Dineen played the best defense of his life and, after the Penguins swept the Rangers in four games, I cornered him outside the dressing room. I mentioned the gratuitous kick-in-the-pants he received from the Daily News. &ldquo;Never read it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And if I had, it wouldn&rsquo;t have meant a thing.&rdquo;Just then, Ranger goalie John Vanbies-brouck, who played junior with Dineen in Sault Ste. Marie, walked over and pumped his hand for a series well done.Bryan Murray smiles and Paul Holmgren cries as they meet the press at the Spectrum: This was the craziest scene. The winner acted likm the loser, and vice versa. Holmgren looked like he had just suffered an emotional breakdown in front of his troops and hadn&rsquo;t recovered in time to face the media, but he did anyway. His eyes were teary and his voice wavered as he discussed the emotional six-game series his team had taken from the favored Caps.Less than a minute after Holmgren departed, Murray, whose neck was in the noose, strode in with the calm of a beachcomber. He handled the questions with a clear, concise voice and without rancor. Maybe it&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s had so much practice in similar situations, but it sure was an impressive show of class under fire.Mario Lemieux wins and stiffs the media; Phil Esposito loses and is Mr. Congeniality: I&rsquo;ll never forget this interlude. His Rangers were conked, Esposito was embarrassed and the media wolves were circling in for the kill. Still, he showed up in the makeshift auditorium to face the music, danced away from no questions and showed as much sophistication as Murray in Philly.Next we looked for Mario, the winner. He figured to be a bundle of joy after his first playoff series victory. His mates certainly were euphoric. There was Paul Coffey, readily available in the visitors&rsquo; room, and Tom Barrasso, handling questions as easily as he fielded pucks. So, where was Mario? We waited and waited and waited.The public relations folks said soon, soon. Still, no Mario. He was holed up in the off-limits room for an unconscionable amount of time and then, alas, the King of Hockey emerged at the open door. He walked toward the exit as if nobody was around. Finally, a half-dozen reporters surrounded him, and he held court in the tight corridor when he should have been on the podium in front of the mike. Somebody had better clue in Mario that this is not the way Wayne Gretzky does it, and Wayne Gretzky does it right.Phil Bourque gets more attention that Ray Bourque: Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Phil is from Boston, speaks no French and will never win the Norris Trophy because he&rsquo;s not a defenseman. But in two precious games this spring, Phil went from backstage to center stage.He scored two key goals to sink the Rangers in game four of the Patrick Division semifinal and scored in overtime in game three against Philadelphia in the final.No utility player ever enjoyed the endless stream of questioners more, nor smiled more. &ldquo;This is what I dreamed about during all those long bus rides in the minors,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Maybe this will put a stop to all those &lsquo;Are You Ray Bourque&rsquo;s Brother?&rsquo; jokes.&rdquo;Derrick Smith&rsquo;s shot is critically abused after he wins a big game: Philly trailed Pittsburgh 3-2 in the Patrick final and faced elimination at the Spectrum. Smith scored two goals against the Penguins in a Flyers&rsquo; win. Asked about his linemate&rsquo;s performance, captain Dave Poulin snickered: &ldquo;His goals are so weak, the puck never gets to the back of the net.&rdquo;Blushing from ear to ear, Smith agreed.Craig Berube admits nobody&rsquo;s perfect: The press tried to develop a revenge scenario after Chris Chelios gave Brian Propp a concussion with an elbow into the boards from behind. I asked enforcer Berube his thoughts on the matter.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; said Berube with suitable indignation, &ldquo;it was a cheap shot.&rdquo; Then, a pause and reflection. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve delivered a few cheap shots in my day, too.&rdquo;Video replays for referees a must: I still say the Flames&rsquo; series-winning overtime goal over Vancouver was as illegal as if there were seven men on the ice, because there was a man in the crease. Every game, it seemed, there was a controversial play around the goal that could be better judged with 20-20 video hindsight. Example: With the score 1-0 in game two of the Flyers-Canadiens series, Stephane Richer scored a legal goal, yet ref Bill McCreary disallowed it on the grounds that the net had been pushed off its moorings by Mike McPhee.It would have been a good call except for one thing&mdash;the video replay in the press box clearly showed the puck entered the net before McPhee even reached the crossbar. No question, it was a goal. But there was no way for McCreary to check the video and reverse his decision.Why not give each team the option of one video request per game, just as clubs are given a time out each? If there&rsquo;s a controversial call, they have an option to request the referee check it out. It seems a lot more precise than the imprecision we&rsquo;re getting now; especially when a team like the Canucks is cheated out of a potential playoff win by a chintzy call that shouted for a referee checkout before rendering a final decision. &#9632;

f0014-01

MURRAY WAS WAS ALL SMILESIN DEFEAT

<h2>FLYERS</h2>The Flyers&rsquo; record against Montreal in playoff competition at the Spectrum is now 1-9. Their only victory was in 1987&hellip;The club passed out 8,000 cigars to fans as they were leaving the Spectrum when Terry Snider, the wife of Flyer president Jay Snider, gave birth to a baby boy on the day of the final game, May 11. The youngest member of the Snider family was named S. Cody Snider&hellip;Flyer management was upset at a decision by SportsChanne? America to use the Flyers&rsquo; telecast team of Bill Clement and Mike Emrick as the feed for their national telecast of the Montreal series. It was the club&rsquo;s contention that by making the pair do a national show, it would hamper their ability to appeal to the local audience&hellip;Flyers&rsquo; right winger Rick Tocchet missed the sixth game of the series with a hyperextended right knee, but he wore a brace to play the final game&hellip;For the only time this season, the Flyers used a videotape of Kate Smith singing God Bless America before the final game&hellip;Flyer center Keith Acton played the entire series with badly bruised ribs; Jay Wells with a broken toe; Tim Kerr with a broken thumb; and Dave Poulin with two broken toes&hellip;The Flyers&rsquo; victory at the Forum in the fifth game May 9 gave them five victories in the past six playoff games in Montreal.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>General manager Tony Esposito said he would be &ldquo;very willing&rdquo; to trade the Penguins&rsquo; first-round choice in the entry draft June 17 &ldquo;if somebody came to me and said they needed another first-rounder.&rdquo; Pittsburgh has the 16th pick in the first round&hellip;Esposito started what will be a busy offseason by signing University of Wisconsin defenseman Paul Stanton to a multi-year contract less than a week after Pittsburgh was eliminated from the playoffs. Stanton, a two-time first-team all-star in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, was the Penguins&rsquo; eighth-round draft choice in 1985&hellip;The Penguins&rsquo; scouting staff was to convene in Pittsburgh in mid-May to formalize plans for the entry draft.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Ranger general manager Phil Esposito said his team will conduct its first segment of training camp at Albuquerque, N.M., from Sept. 915. &ldquo;The proposal and the facilities offered to us by the people in Albuquerque are very attractive to us,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always believed in getting away at the start of a new season. &ldquo;Esposito didn&rsquo;t reveal further details but said he already arranged for a number of pre-season games in the west. In response to various rumors concerning possible co-coaching candidates, Esposito said it was too early to engage in speculation. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t even start guessing until mid-July,&rdquo; the Ranger general manager suggested. &ldquo;I probably won&rsquo;t name anybody as a co-coach or an assistant coach or a head coach or whatever until August.&rdquo;<h2>CAPITALS</h2>The Capitals still aren&rsquo;t certain what effect, if any, the defection of Alexandr Mogilny will have on their plans to hold their 1989 training camp in the Soviet Union. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s out of our hands; we&rsquo;ll have to wait and see,&rdquo; said team president Dick Patrick. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s clear it was his own action, not the result of a conspiracy by Buffalo or the league. But I read the reports about charging Mogilny with treason and my concern is if it gets bigger and is taken out of the hands of their hockey people, then it could have an impact.&rdquo;&hellip;The Capitals announced their 1989-90 schedule, which includes a record 10 afternoon games. Seven of the afternoon games are at home. Six will be played on Sunday afternoons and the other will be played New Year&rsquo;s Day, 1990, which is a Monday.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke on the Devils&rsquo; signing of Reijo Ruotsalainen: &ldquo;Will he have an impact? He did when he was in the league before, so I guess he will again. He&rsquo;s a very good little player and he drove us crazy. He always seemed to have his best games against us.&rdquo;&hellip;The Devils are looking at Harvard goalie Chuck Hughes, their 11th-round draft choice from 1988, to perhaps share future goaltending duties with Sean Burke. Hughes made 33 saves in the championship game as Harvard defeated Minnesota for the NCAA hockey title. He was 15-1-0 with a 2.79 GAA during the regular season&hellip;Team physician Dr. Barry Fisher reported that Pat Conacher (left shoulder), Jim Kom (right knee) and Steve Rooney (right shoulder) are all progressing well following April 7 surgery and should be ready for the opening of training camp Sept. 8.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Assistant coach Rick Wilson and director of hockey administration Darcy Regier are both at the end of their contracts. Their status will be reviewed after a coach is picked&hellip;General manager Bill Torrey expected to re-sign Marc Bergevin, who chose to play out his option before he was traded from Chicago to the Islanders early last season. Torrey will have a tougher time, though, with Alan Kerr. &ldquo;The last thing I read, the average salary is $190,000. I think I&rsquo;m an average-plus player,&rdquo; said Kerr, who is getting married July 29&hellip;Finnish center Raimo Helminen&rsquo;s contract has been terminated. &#9632;

HAVE A CIGAR, FLYER FANS

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>It is not often you see a crowd in Philadelphia celebrate a losing team, but then again it would be absurd to try and tag the 1988-89 Flyers as losers.Thus, it wasn&rsquo;t surprising the Spectrum crowd roared to a standing ovation&mdash;even after the Flyers were forced out of the playoffs by the Monteal Canadiens in six games of the best-of-seven Wales Conference final.The 4-2 Montreal victory in game six was marred by goalie Ron Hextall&rsquo;s mugging of Chris Chelios with less than two minutes to play. But even that unfortunate display, spiced by the crowd&rsquo;s rain of debris on the Spectrum ice, couldn&rsquo;t take away from the Flyers&rsquo; noble effort. At least in the eyes of the Flyers and their fans.The Flyers lost partly because they were battered with injuries, and partly because their power play&mdash;which had been tops in the NHL over the regular season&mdash;was 0-for-24.However, the major reason for the loss was simple&mdash;Montreal played a magnificent series.&ldquo;I think we got everything out of our club that we possibly could,&rdquo; said Flyer general manager Bob Clarke. &ldquo;The team played its heart out for its coach (Paul Holmgren), and you can&rsquo;t ask for more than that.&ldquo;Montreal was better than us. Defensively, they were a lot better. And I think taking the Montreal Canadiens to six games in the semifinals is a pretty darned good accomplishment.&rdquo;There was 1:37 left to play in the series, when Hextall decided to mete out his own justice on Chelios. The Montreal defenseman had checked Flyer forward Brian Propp in the first game, causing a concussion which forced him to miss a garhe.After the whistle had blown, Hextall left his crease, charged at Chelios, smashing his stick and blocker pad across the Montreal defenseman&rsquo;s head. Hextall received a five-minute match penalty, and will likely be given a suspension to be served next season. He was finally pulled off Chelios, but even after that, he threw his blocker at Chelios and had to be restrained by linesman Gerard Gauthier.&ldquo;You hate to see a game end like that,&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;But Ron Hextall is a team guy, and he was sticking up for a teammate (Propp).&rdquo;&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t premeditated,&rdquo; said Hextall. &ldquo;But he (Chelios) tried to take Brian Propp&rsquo;s head off.&rdquo;The Flyers generally agreed the incident tainted the game, but were still seething that Chelios had not been suspended for checking Propp.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure that Hexy will be getting a call from (NHL executive vice president) Brian O&rsquo;Neill,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Mark Howe. &ldquo;When he gets called in, I hope they remember to look at the incident with Chelios.&ldquo;But Ron Hextall is a Flyer, so I&rsquo;m sure there will be a suspension.&rdquo;Chelios left the ice covering his head, as the crowd hurled beer and soda at him. Montreal center Bobby Smith also left with a misconduct, all the while raising one finger in the air, signalling &ldquo;No. 1.&rdquo;The Canadiens managed to win this series by sweeping the three games at the Spectrum. They also won the final game by doing something neither team had been able to do in the series&mdash;come from behind, taking a 2-1 lead on two power-play goals.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to lose, you want to lose to a team that&rsquo;s playing well,&rdquo; said Flyer defenseman Jeff Chychrun.&ldquo;And Montreal really played well.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dave Poulin, Ron Sutter, Mike Bullard, Mark Freer.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Pelle Eklund, Craig Berube, Doug Sulliman, Al Secord, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Tim Kerr, Rick Tocchet, Scott Mellanby, llkkaSinisalo, Brian Dobbin, Jeff Harding, Claude Boivin.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Qord Murphy, Terry Carkner, Shawn Sabol.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Jay Wells, Jeff Chychrun, Moe Mantha, Kerry Huffman.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Ken Wregget, Mark Laforest, Dominic Roussel.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Craven, C/LW, broken right wrist. &#9632;

ENCOURAGING PLAYOFF ENDS ON UGLY NOTE

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>The prevailing wisdom around the Civic Arena for months had been that there was a major shakeup coming during the offseason.Most believed the question was not whether there would be front-office changes, but how many. The consensus was the body count would be close to staggering.The consensus was wrong.Scouting director Ken Schinkel, the man whose position was believed to be in the most peril, is safe. So is everybody else, general manager Tony Esposito said.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all staying,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with the job they&rsquo;ve done.&rdquo;The only member of the front office to leave the Penguins was the man most responsible for their evolution into a competitive team during the past few years.Eddie Johnston, GM for five years before being demoted to assistant GM when Esposito was brought in last April, left the Penguins May 8 by what the team called &ldquo;mutual consent.&rdquo;Johnston left the Penguins several days after being interviewed for the GM job in Hartford, a position he landed a few days later.Johnston, who coached Esposito when both were in Chicago, operated on the outside of the Penguins last year, uncomfortable with the role given him.&ldquo;I told him, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve seen you in the last couple of months and I knew you weren&rsquo;t happy,&rsquo; &ldquo;Esposito said.That led to a snippet of conversation Esposito said the two had during a 90-minute meeting, when it was decided Johnston would leave the Penguins.&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;How do you feel, Eddie?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Awkward.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s exactly how I feel.&rsquo;&rdquo;Johnston often spoke privately of his unhappiness with the situation during the past year. His work in rejuvenating what had been the league&rsquo;s most stagnant franchise was widely hailed by the press and public in Pittsburgh, and Johnston clearly preferred to be in a position of authority.That he was qualified to call the shots was best demonstrated in 1984, when the Penguins were coming off a 38-point season, the worst in their history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011207/5684277-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="554" height="642"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Esposito said he&rsquo;s happy with the work of his staff.</figcaption></div>The Penguins had the first pick in the June entry draft, and Johnston received lucrative offers from at least a half-dozen teams for that choice. Quebec offered the Stastny brothers. Montreal reportedly offered everything but the Forum Zamboni.Advisers from inside and outside the orangization urged Johnston to trade the pick, to settle for immediate help rather than gamble on a possible big payoff.Johnston listened to them, considered everything they told him. Then he turned his back on the trade proposals and drafted Mario Lemieux.It was a decision that solidified the future of the franchise.Still, there was almost no chance Johnston would ever return to a position of real power in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;It would have just been a situation where he wasn&rsquo;t going to move up anywhere,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;Something had to be done, and it was done.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 4: Paul Stanton, D, signed to multiyear contract.May 8: Eddie Johnston, assistant general manager resigned. &#9632;

f0016-01

NO MAJOR SHAKEUP FOR PENS’ FRONT OFFICE

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>When Rick Tocchet&rsquo;s centering pass struck Pete Peeters and caromed into the net to knock the Washington Capitals out of the playoffs, Warren Strelow&rsquo;s fate was sealed.At least that&rsquo;s how many interpreted it after the Capitals&rsquo; goaltending coach for the last six seasons was fired May 2. General manager David Poile, who retained head coach Bryan Murray and assistant Doug MacLean, insisted the move was made as part of a restructuring of assignments. But he was having difficulty getting anyone to believe it.&ldquo;I know it comes across as condemning Warren in view of when it&rsquo;s announced,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;ButI don&rsquo;t feel that way. It became a fulltime position and I don&rsquo;t think it should have been a fulltime position.&ldquo;We have not decided on another goaltending coach, but if we do, it will be a parttime scouting, parttime coaching position, not just working with the goaltenders.&rdquo;Asked about the scapegoat perception, Poile said, &ldquo;I certainly thought about that. I had a hard time saying anything to him about it. I know it&rsquo;s coming across to him that he&rsquo;s a scapegoat, accentuated by the fact that we&rsquo;ve rehired Bryan and Doug.But that was not the intention.&rdquo;During the regular season, Peeters, Don Beaupre and Clint Malarchuk (who was later traded to Buffalo) combined for the fifth-best goals-against average in the league at 3.19. But as the Capitals know all too well, success between October and April doesn&rsquo;t guarantee a team will play into May. In the Patrick Division semifinals, the favored Capitals were ousted in six games by the Flyers and outscored 25-19. Peeters was in goal for all six games.Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextall, who scored an empty-net goal in the series, was brilliant. Others such as Billy Smith and Kelly Hrudey of the Islanders, and John Vanbiesbrouck of the Rangers, have beaten Washington while the Capitals have never had the kind of goaltending that would make a difference in a series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011102/5684308-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="541" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pete Peeters allowed 25 goals in six playoff games.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;My job was to make the guys play to their potential and I think I did that, &ldquo;Strelowsaid. &ldquo;I just look at the bright spots. There were a lot of nice things. I really enjoyed the Washington Caps and I have pride in the organization and pride in the job I did.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not bitter, but I am shocked and I guess I&rsquo;m hurt. I never thought for one minute he (Poile) would really change coaches. If you don&rsquo;t win, something has to be done. They made a decision and I have to abide by it. I don&rsquo;t have to agree with it.&rdquo;Strelow felt Peeters was being made a scapegoat when other players performed well below their abilities during the series against Philadelphia.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t blame one person for wins or losses, although goaltending is certainly an important part,&rdquo; Strelow said. &ldquo;I watched every playoff game that was on TV and you see some kind of goals go in. Some nights it&rsquo;s 3-2 or 4-3 and the next night it&rsquo;s 10-7.&rdquo;Murray agreed the Capitals are in need of a dominant goalie, hinting the team may trade for one in the offseason.&ldquo;Without being critical of what we have, we have to get the best possible individual, because it&rsquo;s a critical spot in this division,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have to get the big stop with the game on the line. But I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s not very easy to make a change in that area.&rdquo;<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 2: Warren Strelow, goaltender coach, fired. &#9632;

f0018-01

CAPITALS’ GOALIE COACH SHUT OUT OF JOB

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>Bill Torrey said he hasn&rsquo;t interviewed any other candidates. Lorne Henning said he&rsquo;s looked elsewhere. And Al (Radar) Arbour has said very little.All signs are pointing to Arbour, who turns 57 on Nov. 1, signing a two- or three-year contract in May to continue coaching the New York Islanders.An announcement is imminent.&ldquo;I will say that I haven&rsquo;t been interviewing any candidates for the job,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;So what does that tell you?&rdquo;It tells us the reign of Radar II, which began when Arbour agreed to give up his comfortable job as vice president of player development to replace Terry Simpson on Dec. 7, will enter a third decade. Arbour coached 13 seasons from 1973-74 to 1985-86, retired, then returned. Before that. Arbour coached the St. Louis Blues from the 1970-71 season until 1972-73.He&rsquo;s the third-winningest coach in NHL history with a record of 615386-197, and is the second-winningest coach in Stanley Cup history. He has 113 wins, one fewer than Scotty Bowman.It&rsquo;s a record he&rsquo;d like to break next season, but one he is realistic about. The Islanders finished 27-48-5, last in the Patrick Division and tied for last overall in the NHL (since the Islanders had one more win than the Quebec Nordiques, the Islanders officially finished in 20th place). They missed the playoffs for the first time since 1974.Torrey&rsquo;s 1988-89 overhaul sent Kelly Hrudey, Steve Konroyd, Tomas Jonsson. Reed Larson, Greg Gilbert, Richard Kromm and Bob Bassen elsewhere, and left Arbour a bench full of rookies and young prospects.During the season, the Islanders acquired such young players as goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick, 20, and defensemen Wayne McBean, 20, Marc Bergevin, 23, and Gary Nylund, 25, in trades.The future is the team&rsquo;s strength and that&rsquo;s one of the reasons Arbour started liking the job again last season. Behind winning, it&rsquo;s the part of the job he loves most.&ldquo;Nothing&rsquo;s settled,&rdquo; Arbour insisted. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still talking. We&rsquo;re in the decision-making process. We&rsquo;re talking about everything.&rdquo;Arbour said he&rsquo;d decide definitely before he leaves for a Florida vacation May 20. Henning, who was believed to be the favorite to replace Arbour if the latter says, &lsquo;No,&rsquo; said from his Minnesota home he&rsquo;s been interviewed for another NHL head-coach opening. He wouldn&rsquo;t say which one, but it&rsquo;s believed to be Winnipeg&rsquo;s.&ldquo;I was just going to give (the Isles) a call,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure, but I think Al&rsquo;s closer to coming back than he was before.&rdquo;The players would like to see him back. They thoroughly enjoyed his positive approach, his fatherly advice, his experience behind the bench.Arbour and assistant Rick Wilson worked closely with Bergevin, who had no confidence when he arrived from Chicago in late November. Byseason&rsquo;s end he was the Islanders&rsquo; best defenseman. They worked closely with rookie Jeff Norton, who arrived from the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team with a world of potential, but struggled through a poor season.Arbour gave life to right winger Alan Keo, who was constantly at odds with Simpson, but prospered under Arbour.&ldquo;I showed them I can play a little more than the role they had me in before,&rdquo; Kerr said. &ldquo;Terry didn&rsquo;t believe I could play on the power play. He didn&rsquo;t believe I had much offensive skills. Terry just wanted me tocheck and play tough.&rdquo;Arbour wanted Kerr to do that, too. But he put Kerr on a line with Pat LaFontaine. gave him a chance on the power play, and watched the feisty forward score 15 goals in his last 28 games to finish with 20 for the season in 71 games. He also added 18 assists. &#9632;

‘RADAR’ EXPECTED TO RETURN AS COACH

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>Randy Velischek watched on television as time finally ran out for Alain Chevrier and the Chicago Blackhawks.Even though the Hawks were about to be eliminated from the playoffs in game five of the Campbell Conference final, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defenseman felt a surge of satisfaction for his former teammate.Like Chevrier, Velischek knows what it feels like to be unwanted by an NHL organization.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to see a guy do as well as Chevy did,&rdquo; said Velischek. &ldquo;The town of Chicago, is just wild about him. He deserves it. He was a great goaltender here and he didn&rsquo;t get the recognition for carrying this team for two years.&rdquo;Chevrier has won more games (53) than any goalie in Devils&rsquo; history. However, he lost his No. 1 position to Bob Sauve when Jim Schoenfeld was hired as coach Jan. 26, 1988, and then lost No. 2 job when Sean Burke arrived March 1 that year.The Devils went to the 1988 Wales Conference championship, but Chevrier didn&rsquo;t play a single minute in the playoffs.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Chevy ever questioned himself,&rdquo; said Velischek. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to see him finally vindicated. It&rsquo;s unfortunate the way things were here. I think if I could have anybody&rsquo;s attitude toward the game and about myself it would be Chevy&rsquo;s.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a cocky kid. He just knows he can play. You know what he went through. He never griped or belly-ached. Ninety-nine per cent of the players in this league would&rsquo;ve gone off the deep end.&rdquo;Velischek knows. During a successful 1988-89 season, he was one of three Devils&rsquo; defensemen to play in all 80 games. He scored four goals with 14 assists while finishing a minus-2 for the season, third best among the team&rsquo;s regular defensemen.But it was a long struggle to establish himself as one of New Jersey&rsquo;s workhorses.After a successful 1985 playoff schedule for the Minnesota North Stars, the promising young defenseman was literally given away in the October, 1985, waiver draft. The Devils claimed him, played him in just two of the team&rsquo;s first 12 games of the 1985-86 season, and sent him to Maine of the American League.&ldquo;My first couple of years in Minnesota it never bothered me that I was in the minors,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;I had a lot of learning to do. I played in the &rsquo;85 playoffs and thought I&rsquo;d finally crossed the hump, but they let me go for nothing.&ldquo;I was sent down by the Devils after a couple of weeks and I was disillusioned. At Christmastime I packed it in to re-evaluate. It was the best thing I ever did.&rdquo;Velischek returned Jan. 2, 1986, but he was still a parttime player under coach Doug Carpenter. It wasn&rsquo;t until Schoenfeld replaced Carpenter that his career took a dramatic turn.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look at myself as being a different player than I was under Carpenter, or Bill Mahoney in Minnesota,&rdquo; said Velischek. &ldquo;The last two years I was relied on more and given more confidence. It was a matter of having someone else believe in you.&rdquo;That is why the former Providence College star, who graduated magna cum laude with a 4.0 grade average, could relate so closely with Chevrier and others as he watched the playoffs.&ldquo;I think of other guys that have struggled for years and years,&rdquo; he reflected. &ldquo;Like Chris Kontos, who&rsquo;s been down in the minors and Europe and then came back and had the year he had. Or Dirk Graham, who is captain of Chicago now. In the Minnesota organization they buried him so deep, you figured it was all over. Those are the guys I really admire.&rdquo; &#9632;

DEFENSEMAN VELISCHEK COMES OF AGE

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>Sometimes the handwriting on the wall is merely graffiti.Defenseman Michel Petit, one of former New York Ranger coach Michel Bergeron&rsquo;s favorite players, became the subject of intense scrutiny when general manager Phil Esposito took over as coach with two games left in the regular season.Would Petit&rsquo;s future with the club be tied to the ex-coach?Not a chance, said Esposito.The 25-year-old defenseman from St. Malo, Que., was understandably disappointed to see the coaching change, because his career soared under Bergeron after four disappointing seasons in Vancouver.&ldquo;Michel gave me a chance to show I could do more,&rdquo; an appreciative Petit said as Bergeron exited. &ldquo;He showed confidence in me. I will always be grateful to Bergy for that.&rdquo;At the same time, Petit declined to take sides.&ldquo;I am just a player here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know the GM&rsquo;s business; he does what he has to do and I have faith that Phil Esposito is trying to do what is best for the Rangers.&rdquo;When Petit struggled over the last two games (minus three and four giveaways) and continued to have problems in the playoffs (minus four and six giveaways), he became the focal point of questions related to Bergeron&rsquo;s departure.Not surprisingly, those questions did not please Esposito.&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think Michel Petit&rsquo;s performance was affected by the change,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;And no, he is not in any kind of trouble because he was one of Bergeron&rsquo;s favorite players.&ldquo;Contrary to what anybody else might have told you, I liked Petit and I made the trade (sending Willie Huber and Larry Melnyk to the Canucks on Nov. 4, 1987). The fact that Michel Petit is a good defensemen is one of the things (Bergeron) and I agree on.&ldquo;I have thought about a lot of possible changes for this hockey team, but none of them have included trading Michel Petit. He had a tough time after he came back from his injury in February but, by then, the whole team was in trouble.&ldquo;I really think it is unfair for people to suggest that because Petit is French (-Canadian) or because Michel Bergeron liked him that I would evaluate him any other way than I would evaluate anybody else. I brought him here because I thought he was a player with a lot of potential to improve and I consider it one of my best deals.&rdquo;In 38 games before suffering a fractured right collarbone on an unpenalized charge by New Jersey&rsquo;s John MacLean Dec. 31, Petit fashioned a plus-minus rating of minus-1. He also had collected six goals and 13 assists and seemed to be headed for his best season ever.When he returned Jan. 26 after missing 11 games, three other members of the defense corps were also trying to overcome injuries, and Petit struggled.The 6-foot-1, 205-pound former first-round draft choice (11th overall in 1982 by Vancouver) was minus-15 over his final 31 regular-season games, scoring two goals and 12 assists.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we had one defenseman who played 30 games in a row at any point in the season without some kind of an injury,&rdquo; Petit said. &ldquo;It caught up with us all at once&hellip;at just the wrong time.&ldquo;Everybody said our strong point was our defense but we lost (Normand) Rochefort the first month of the season and it just kept going like that all season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing, but I think you have to say we just had an unlucky year with injuries. If it averages out, we shouldn&rsquo;t even have a bruise next season.&rdquo; &#9632;

FORGET RUMORS: PETIT IS STAYING

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01671/5684411-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Swift Current defenseman Dan Lambert hoists the Memorial Cup in jubilation, after the Broncos&rsquo; 4-3 overtime win over the Saskatoon Blades. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick)</figcaption></div>In the space of about an hour, Tim Tisdale went from Memorial Cup goat to hero.Tisdale, a 20-year-old center with the Swift Current Broncos, capped a sensational season for his team when he scored at 3:25 of overtime to give the Broncos a 4-3 overtime win in the Memorial Cup final over the hometown Saskatoon Blades May 13.But in the second period, it was a blunder by Tisdale that almost led to the Broncos&rsquo; demise. With the Broncos leading 2-1 and on a power play, Tisdale gave the puck away to Blades&rsquo; captain Tracey Katelnikoff, who scored to tie the game.The Blades took a 3-2 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the period on a goal by Kory Kocur.&ldquo;Sitting in the dressing room between periods, the guys tried cheering me up but there was nothing they could say,&rdquo; said Tisdale, who led the Broncos in scoring with 57 goals and 139 points. &ldquo;I knew I had let them down. But I told a couple of the guys I would score the winner.&rdquo;Swift Current&rsquo;s Kimbi Daniels&rsquo; third-period goal sent the title game into overtime for the third time in Memorial Cup history.Sheldon Kennedy and Blake Knox also scored for the Broncos. Scott Scissons scored the other goal for the Blades, who played before a partisan sellout crowd of 9,078 at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon. It marked the third straight year a Western League representative won the national championship. The Medicine Hat Tigers won in both 1987 and 1988.As recently as last season, it appeared as though the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Tisdale might never score again. Bothered by extreme pain in his lower back, Tisdale played only 32 games in 1987-88. He eventually visited a back specialist, who told Tisdale that he had several vertebrae out of line and ordered a spinal fusion.Although the surgery was deemed successful, Tisdale spent almost two months in bed and wasn&rsquo;t back on skates until August. The Edmonton Oilers used their 12th pick (250th overall) to take Tisdale in the 1988 NHL entry draft. He was the third-last player chosen.Tisdale made a miraculous recovery. Blades&rsquo; goalie Mike Greenlay probably wishes he hadn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;There was a big scramble in front and I lost my stick,&rdquo; said Greenlay, replaying the goal. &ldquo;I went down on my knees, but couldn&rsquo;t see. The shot came through, hit a stick&mdash;I guess it was Tisdale&rsquo;s&mdash;hit the inside of my leg and deflected in.&rdquo;Although Greenlay was also named the tournament&rsquo;s outstanding goalie and picked for the all-star team, he found little happiness in the individual accolades.&ldquo;I got a few awards but right now it doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Right now I couldn&rsquo;t care less. It&rsquo;s an honor to have received the awards, but there was only one award I wanted and it&rsquo;s sitting in their room.&rdquo;The 20-year-old, who joined the Blades in mid-season, was a backup on the NCAA-champion Lake Superior State Lakers last season.Less than three years after four of their players were killed in a bus accident. Swift Current rebuilt its team into a powerhouse. The team bus crashed on the way to a game in Regina Dec. 30, 1986, killing four Broncos&mdash;Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka, Brent Ruff and Trent Kresse. Kruger was the brother of Bronco twins Darren and Trevor Kruger.&ldquo;As far as a storybook, human-interest story goes, it&rsquo;s all over now,&rdquo; said Broncos&rsquo; coach Graham James, who emerged uninjured from the crash. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a great tribute to the four guys, and now they can rest in peace.&rdquo;The Broncos piled up a 55-16-1 record this season, best in Canadian major junior hockey. In the WHL playoffs, the team went 12-0. Swift Current suffered its only loss of the post-season when it was defeated by the Blades 5-4 during the Memorial Cup round-robin. The loss turned out to be a costly one as the Broncos lost the bye into the final and needed a 6-2 win over the Peterborough Petes in the semifinal May 12.They came to Saskatoon as prohibitive favorites in the four-team tournament, although the Petes were expected to give them a challenge in the final.The Blades, idle for three weeks after being swept by the Broncos in the semifinals, were a question mark despite an impressive 42-28-2 record. As usual, the Quebec League representative&mdash;Laval Titan&mdash;wasn&rsquo;t expected to win a game. Although Laval placed second in the QMJHL with a 43-26-1 mark, the Titan was considered too small and the least talented of the four teams.To everyone&rsquo;s surprise, the Titan did win a game, defeating the Petes 3-1 in the teams&rsquo; final round-robin game May 9. It was the QMJHL&rsquo;s first victory in 14 Memorial Cup games against OHL and WHL opponents dating back to May 16, 1986.The Petes, meanwhile, were not able to get untracked in the tournament due to illness.Leading scorer Mike Ricci (54-52-106 in 60 games) came down with a case of chicken pox soon after arriving in Saskatoon. He was held to one assist through the Petes&rsquo; first three games.Defenseman Corey Foster and right winger Tie Domi both developed influenza, but continued playing. Domi scored twice in Peterborough&rsquo;s opening round-robin game, a 6-4 loss to Swift Current May 6, but was held without a point the rest of the tournament.The Blades finished first with a 2-1 record during the round-robin. Swift Current was also 2-1, but Saskatoon earned the bye into the final because it beat the Broncos during the round robin. Peterborough and Laval were both 1-2. The Petes beat Laval 5-4 May 11 to move on to the semifinal, where they lost 6-2 to the Broncos one day later.The Petes&rsquo; Geoff Ingram scored a controversial goal in the tiebreaking game to put the Petes up 2-1. Titan goalie Ghislain Lefebvre was upended in the comer by Dave Lorentz as the two raced for a loose puck. The puck was picked up by Ingram, who scored into the empty net.Referee-in-chief Richard Doerksen admitted that referee Derek Bloski should have called a penalty on the play.&ldquo;He (Bloski) said he was caught behind the play,&rdquo; Doerksen explained. &ldquo;He said he didn&rsquo;t have a good angle, but knew that something had happened, but he couldn&rsquo;t see it exactly.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate that the way it developed, that turned out to be a key call in the game.&rdquo;Ironically, Petes&rsquo; coach Dick Todd was upset with the refereeing in the semifinal. Referee Dave Forbes handed out 12 of 16 first-period penalty minutes to the Petes, including a double minor to Lorentz for interfering with Broncos&rsquo; goalie Trevor Kruger. The Broncos had two power-play goals on seven attempts in the game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not accustomed to the type of officiating we were presented with here,&rdquo; said Todd. &ldquo;Nonetheless, I have no doubts that if we were healthy, we would have made it to the final.&rdquo;Broncos&rsquo; defenseman Dan Lambert, with two goals and six assists in five games, was named the tournament&rsquo;s most valuable player. Peterborough center Jamey Hicks (3-3-6 with two penalty minutes in five games) was selected the most gentlemanly player.Joining Greenlay and Lambert on the all-star team were Saskatoon defenseman Ken Sutton, Laval left winger Neil Carnes, Tisdale at center and Kennedy at right wing.The tournament established an attendance record of 77,256 over nine games, eclipsing the previous mark of 57,256 set in 1986 in Portland. &#9632;

f0021-01

SWIFT AND DEADLY

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01781/5684442-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Fogarty of the Niagara Falls Thunder shattered several records, along with a reputation as a problem off the ice.</figcaption></div>Being named Canadian Hockey League Player of the Year is not necessarily a ringing endorsement for future success. Just ask Dave Simpson. Or Pierre Lacroix, Doug Wickenheiser and Dan Hodgson. All four were junior phenoms, can&rsquo;t-miss prospects who missed. All four were winners of the Molson-Cooper CHL player-of-the-year award.This year&rsquo;s winner, Bryan Fogarty of the Niagara Falls Thunder, will join the Quebec Nordiques next season with the burden of proving his junior exploits were an indication of things to come. He probably won&rsquo;t have the same immediate impact as other winners, such as Dale Hawerchuk and Mario Lemieux. But, given time, he feels he&rsquo;ll take his rightful place as a top-line NHL player.Fogarty was also named the CHL&rsquo;s top defenseman and top plus-minus player (see page 27 and 28) at the league&rsquo;s annual awards&rsquo; banquet, May 8 in Saskatoon during Memorial Cup week.&ldquo;You sure don&rsquo;t want to be remembered as a guy who was great in junior and then flubbed as a pro,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old. &ldquo;But I wouldn&rsquo;t expect anything too quick. It took me four years to do it in junior and it may take me that long in the NHL.&rdquo;But if Fogarty shows the Nordiques&mdash;who chose him in the first round, ninth overall, in 1987&mdash;the same offensive prowess he had with the Thunder, he&rsquo;ll be well worth the wait. Fogarty finished the season with 47 goals and 108 assists for 155 points in 60 games, becoming the first defenseman in Ontario League history to win the scoring championship.Along the way, he set a plethora of records:&#9632; His 48 goals shattered the mark for goals in one season by a defenseman (38), set by Bobby Orr of the Oshawa Generals in 1965-66 and equalled by Al MacInnis of the Kitchener Rangers in 1982-83.&#9632; His 108 assists broke the record for assists in a season by a defenseman (96), set by Doug Crossman of the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s in 1979-80.&#9632; The standard for points in a season by a defenseman (123), set by Denis Potvin of the 67&rsquo;s in 1972-73, also fell.&#9632; Fogarty also broke the Canadian League record for points in a season by a defenseman (140), set by Cam Plante of the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1983-84.Had Fogarty not been battling sinusitis&mdash;he missed six games and saw limited ice time in several others&mdash;his totals may have even been more impressive.But for the first three seasons of his junior career, Fogarty was involved with a different battle. Languishing in mediocrity with the Kingston Canadians, Fogarty showed signs of brilliance but was as known more for off-ice problems than on-ice excellence.In his first season, he was suspended several times for curfew violations and alcohol abuse. In his second season, his mother moved from Brantford to Kingston to provide support. Two years ago, he and several other players were sent home from a Team Canada evaluation camp for drinking.But that all changed this season when Fogarty was traded to Niagara Falls (formerly the Hamilton Steelhawks). The Thunder were eager to attract fans by providing an explosive offensive team. Rejuvenated by the trade and his relationship with Thunder coach Bill LaForge, Fogarty played the game with renewed vigor.For three years, Fogarty was a follower. This season he was a leader.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you ever go in expecting a year like this year. I was just hoping to get maybe 20 goals and 70 assists and keep out of trouble,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The trade to Niagara Falls was the big factor. Bill LaForge instilled a lot of confidence in me and was concerned about me as a person, not only as a player.&ldquo;I also figured it was about time I got serious and tried to see what I could do. For the first three years of my career, I didn&rsquo;t do much and I knew I had to show people why I was a first-round choice.&rdquo;Nordique general manager Martin Madden took a calculated risk when he signed Fogarty to a two-year contract with a one-year option early this season.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a credit to him,&rdquo; said Madden. &ldquo;You can talk to people as much as you want, but he had to be the one to turn things around himself.&rdquo;LaForge is another Fogarty booster. Known as a master motivator, LaForge unlocked the vast potential.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done everything for us,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s provided an example to the guys. He has an ability to work hard in practice that a lot of guys don&rsquo;t have and it&rsquo;s rubbed off. Some guys in practice won&rsquo;t try to score but he buries every puck.&rdquo;Fogarty knows that when he reports to the struggling Nordiques next season, the reputation he gained as a franchise player this season will precede him. Starved for a winner, Nordique fans will no doubt be looking for a new Paul Coffey to bloom in La Belle Province. The pressure will likely be immense, but Fogarty doesn&rsquo;t think it will get the better of him.&ldquo;Sure, there&rsquo;ll be pressure, but I don&rsquo;t think there will be as much as there was this year when I was chasing all those records. Those last few games were tough,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going to put that in the back of my mind and go out and play the game the same way I did this year.&rdquo;Also nominated as the CHL&rsquo;s outstanding player were Dennis Holland of the Portland Winter Hawks and Stephane Morin of the Chicoutimi Saugeneens. Like Fogarty, both were scoring champions in their respective leagues.Holland, a 20-year-old center, led the Western League with 82 goals and 167 points in 69 games. A fourth-round choice of the Detroit Red Wings in 1987, Holland led the Winter Hawks to first place in the West Division. In a 10-5 win over Kamloops Nov. 23, he tied the record for most goals in a game with seven.Morin, a 20-year-old center who has passed through two NHL drafts, topped all Quebec League scorers with 77 goals and 186 points in 70 games. &#9632;

f0022-01

FOGARTY THUNDERS TO TOP

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div>The Kitchener Rangers of 198889 looked like a classic rebuilding team.Center, Jeff Noble, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer from 1987-88, and Darren Beals, the No. 1 goalie, both had used up their junior eligibility.In the wings was a group of rookies, ready to put out a big effort in their second year of Ontario League play. Nobody expected much, but the Rangers improved by 35 points and won the Emms Division title with a 41-19-6 record.Ranger coach Joe McDonnell was named Canadian Hockey League Molson Coach of the Year, May 8 in Saskatoon.The improvement, said McDonnell, was largely a result of the experience his young players gained during their dismal 1987-88 season.&ldquo;We had a lot of rookies that year who we stuck with through the bad times because we knew we weren&rsquo;t going to catch (first-place) Windsor,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;With that playing time they became much better players and they really came around this year.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01705/5684473-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="554" height="874"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Rangers thrived despite the loss of Jeff Noble.</figcaption></div>In just his second full season behind the bench, the 28-year-old led the club to an 88-point finish&mdash;its best since the 1983-84 team recorded 106 points in winning the Emms.But the turnaround didn&rsquo;t carry over to the playoffs. The Rangers were upset by the sixth-place North Bay Centennials, in five games, in the first round.&ldquo;We really could&rsquo;ve used a goal-scorer like Noble in the playoffs,&rdquo; said McDonnell. &ldquo;I think the main reason we lost to North Bay was that we didn&rsquo;t have any natural goal-scorers to give us the extra goal or two we needed to turn the series around.&ldquo;The Centennials were much better than a sixth-place team, and they had the pure goal-scorers which we didn&rsquo;t have,&rdquo; he said.Still, McDonnell considered the season a success. After the season, he signed a two-year contract to continue coaching the Rangers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a good nucleus of about 15 guys coming back next year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As long as we get a couple of our overage players back like Gus Morschauser (CHL goalie-of-the-year finalist) or (center) Mark Montanari, we should be all right.&rdquo;McDonnell joined the Rangers three seasons ago, after a chance meeting with Bob Stacey, then the team&rsquo;s president. McDonnell and Stacey met at a local car dealership only a week after McDonnell&rsquo;s NHL career (he played 50 games with Vancouver and Pittsburgh) had been ended by a ruptured disc.McDonnell, who had spent five years playing for the Rangers, was offered an assistant-coaching position for the 1985-86 season. Late that season, coach Tom Barrett resigned and McDonnell took over.The other two nominees for the award were first-year coaches&mdash;Ron Kennedy, 36, of the Medicine Hat Tigers and Dany Dube, 28, of the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs.Kennedy led the defending Memorial Cup-champion Tigers to a 41-274 record, third in the Eastern Division of the Western League. The Tigers were without their three leading scorers from the 1988 Memorial Cup-team, including NHL rookie sensation Trevor Linden. The Tigers lost to Moose Jaw in the first round of the playoffs.Dube&rsquo;s Draveurs&mdash;a young team led by CHL rookie of the year Yanic Perreault&mdash;finished first in the Quebec League with a record of 4325-2. They were swept in the first round by Shawinigan. &#9632;

f0023-01

RANGER RISE WINS COACHING HONORS FOR McDONNELL

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>The Quebec Nordiques may not like the Montreal Canadiens, but they respect them&mdash;enough to compare one of their brightest young prospects to Canadiens&rsquo; all-star goaltender Patrick Roy.In Stephane Fiset, the Nordiques have the next Roy&mdash;at least, according to general manager Martin Madden.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like Roy,&rdquo; said Madden. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so big and strong and he made such giant strides this season.&rdquo;Fiset, a second-round pick (24th overall) by the Nordiques in the 1987 NHL entry draft, solidified his reputation as the top goalie in junior hockey with another fine Quebec League season for the Victoriaville Tigres.And on May 8 in Saskatoon, Fiset was named Canadian Hockey League Cooper Canada outstanding goaltender, over Kitchener&rsquo;s Gus Morschauser and Seattle&rsquo;s Danny Lorenz.Fiset, who had a 25-14-0 record, led all QMJHL goalies this season with a 3.45 average, 880 save percentage and one shutout in 43 games. In 12 playoff games, he had a 2.78 average and helped the Tigres to within one victory of the league championship.He also took advantage of an injury to ex-Chicoutimi Sagueneen Jimmy aite to earn the starting goaltender&rsquo;s berth for Canada&rsquo;s national team, at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Alaska. He was outstanding there.If any team needs a Patrick Roy it is the Nordiques, who ranked 19th among 21 teams this season with a 4.24 goals-against average.Although Fiset is only 18, Madden doesn&rsquo;t discount the possibility of him dislodging one of Quebec&rsquo;s four incumbent goalies: Mario Gosselin, Bob Mason, Ron Tugnutt and Mario Brunette.Fiset will be 19 by the start of training camp, &ldquo;and others have done it (made it to the National Hockey League) at that age, although probably with better teams,&rdquo; said Madden. &ldquo;He wanted to prove he was the best this year. And he proved he could play hurt, from training camp on.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01762/5684504-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="542" height="1000"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;Stephane Fiset, above, has been compared to Patrick Roy.</figcaption></div>Fiset was bothered all season by a shoulder injury, which he aggravated with a bruise in the QMJHL finals against Laval. He missed three games and was scheduled for surgery May 10 in Quebec City.Fiset, who has quick legs and good mobility, used an effective butterfly style to record a 3.94 average in 40 games in 1987-88 with the Tigres.This year, Fiset has worked on remaining on his feet more and improved his glove hand.&ldquo;And in my head now I am hard (mentally tough),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My character. Under pressure, I&rsquo;m at my best.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m convinced I can be successful in the pros. By winning this award it&rsquo;s a bonus for me. It&rsquo;s a definite plus for me when I go to the Nordiques. But if I come back to junior next year I&rsquo;ll work hard. It would be hard coming back to junior after two (pro) camps, but I&rsquo;ll try and play the best I can because I want to take the award as the best goalie another year.&rdquo;Morchauser posted an Ontario League-high 27 wins (10 losses, two ties), an .899 save percentage (tied with Peterborough&rsquo;s John Tanner) and a 3.43 goals-against average.Lorenz, a workhorse who played a Western League-high 68 games and 4,003 minutes, finished with a 31-334 mark, .899 save percentage and 3.60 GAA &#9632;

f0024-01

FISET A TIGRE IN VICTORIAVILLE NETS

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LEADERHOUSE</div>Jeff Nelson is a walking public relations campaign for major junior hockey.The Prince Albert Raider center is a player who can combine the daily rigors of the sport with academic excellence. Already being touted as a possible first-round choice in the 1991 entry draft, Nelson has made the grade both on and off the ice.For his efforts, the 16-year-old Western League player was named the Canadian Hockey League Canadian Airlines International scholastic player of the year.Nelson finished second on the Raiders in scoring behind Mike Modano, with 30 goals and 87 points in 71 games. In his Grade 11 studies at Carlton Comprehensive High School, the Prince Albert native compiled a 91-per-cent average in chemistry, english, modern algebra and psychology.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01672/5684535-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="558" height="1072"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Collinson was OHL rep for top scholastic player.</figcaption></div>But Nelson&rsquo;s smarts aren&rsquo;t restricted to the classroom.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably one of the smartest players I&rsquo;ve ever dealt with,&rdquo; said Raiders&rsquo; coach Peter Anholt. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s way ahead of his time. He&rsquo;s only 16 years old but he&rsquo;s very mature and intelligent.&rdquo;Nelson, whose older brother Todd was the captain of the 1988-89 Raiders, is 6-foot-1, 175 pounds and still growing. And with two more years of junior hockey before the NHL can even consider him, his future is in his own hands.He wants a pro hockey career, but if it doesn&rsquo;t work out, he has other options.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor to win an award like this for the work you put in on and off the ice,&rdquo; said Nelson. &ldquo;I&rdquo;m going to see where hockey takes me right now and I&rsquo;m going after it. But it is good to know I can rely on school once I am done (playing hockey).&rdquo;With at least two more years of junior, Anholt sees no reason why Nelson won&rsquo;t achieve his academic and professional goals. What impressed Anholt most about Nelson is his determination.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt that Todd is a natural athlete and a natural student,&rdquo; said Anholt. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not something he takes for granted. He works very hard at both and that&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s successful.&rdquo;Nelson faced some formidable competition for the national award. Representing the Ontario League was Brian Collinson of the Toronto Marlboros and Daniel Lacroix of the Quebec League&rsquo;s Granby Bisons.Collinson, a 19-year-old defenseman in his third year in the OHL, has overcome dyslexia&mdash;a learning disorder&mdash;to post an 80-per-cent average at Applewood Heights Secondary School in Mississauga. An aspiring artist, his works were on display at Maple Leaf Gardens several times this season. Collinson eventually hopes to attend the Ontario College of Art.One of the last cuts of the Canadian national junior team, Collinson scored 19 goals and 55 points in 61 games with the Marlies. He is eligible for this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft.Lacroix finished his second year in an arts and communications course at Granby junior college, where he compiled a 77-per-cent average. The 20-year-old left winger had 45 goals and 94 points, with 320 penalty minutes in 70 games this year. The New York Rangers drafted Lacroix in the second round, 31st overall, in the 1987 entry draft. &#9632;

f0025-01

NELSON MAKES THE GRADE ON AND OFF ICE

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>Yanic Perreault is a hockey nut. Eight months of competitive hockey aren&rsquo;t enough for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs&rsquo; center. So, when he returns home to Sherbrooke for the summer, he continues playing shinny daily against anyone he can find.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s crazy about the game,&rdquo; said Draveurs&rsquo; general manager Michel Boucher.Perhaps that&rsquo;s why the 18-year-old is so precocious.Perreault capped a brilliant season by being selected the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s Toshiba Facsimile Rookie of the Year, May 8 in Saskatoon.Perreault, 53-55-108 in 70 games, led all Quebec League rookie scorers. For the CHL award, he was up against centers Owen Nolan of the Cornwall Royals and Wes Walz of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.Off the ice, Perreault is a bluechipper as well. A science major at the Trois-Rivieres CEGEP junior college, he averages 92 per cent. That was enough to make him the Draveurs&rsquo; nominee for QMJHL scholastic player of the year.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good team player who wants to win at all costs and provides leadership,&rdquo; said Pierre Dorion of the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau. CSB rates Perreault is a potential second-round pick for this year&rsquo;s entry draft. His size&mdash;5-foot-11 and 174 pounds, not big by NHL standards&mdash;will likely keep him from being a first-round pick.&ldquo;The way he does it is by setting an example,&rdquo; Dorion said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those good characteristics. Not everybody has it. He does and it plays in his favor.&rdquo;Perreault and Cantonniers de I&rsquo;Est linemate Pierre Sevigny were the two most touted players coming out of the Quebec midget AAA league last year.Sevigny was 43-78-121 in 40 games, while Perreault was 70-57127 in 42 games.There was much debate over which player would be selected first overall in the QMJHL draft. The Verdun Junior Canadiens made it Sevigny, who in 67 games this season was 2743-70.The Draveurs, picking second, took Perreault. But even if the Draveurs were picking first, they would have taken Perreault.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01713/5684566-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="560" height="1078"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yanic Perreault was the leading rookie scorer in the QMJHL.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He (Perreault) is such a great shooter,&rdquo; said Boucher. &ldquo;He proved Sevigny needed him more than he needed Sevigny. Sevigny hits people, but lots of people can do that and go into the comers.&ldquo;A guy who scores like Perreault is God-gifted. He just can&rsquo;t miss the pros because he&rsquo;s so devoted.&rdquo;Dorion concurred.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great hands and is aware of the overall play, using his wingers well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some people say his skating has to improve. He&rsquo;s not flashy, but he gets from point A to B with no problem.&rdquo;Nolan jumped directly from the Thorold (Ont.) bantams to Cornwall. In 62 games, he was 34-25-69, good for fifth among Ontario League rookies. His 213 penalty minutes hint at the physical game he loves to play. He is considered a blue-chip prospect for the 1990 NHL entry draft.Walz was second in Western League rookie scoring to Hurricane teammate Cory Lyons, with 104 points on 29 goals and 75 assists in 63 games. &#9632;

f0026-01

PERREAULT PICKED TOP JUNIOR ROOKIE

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div>Bryan Fogarty is proof that the best defense is indeed a good offense.The Niagara Falls Thunder defenseman, who became the first defenseman to win the Ontario League scoring title, rewrote the league record book. He was rewarded for his efforts when he won the Chrysler Canada Trophy as the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s best defenseman for 1988-89.He also won the CHL prayer-of-the-year award and had the best plus-minus rating (see pages 22 and 28).In 60 games this season, Fogarty scored 47 goals and 155 points. And while the freewheeling Thunder allowed 319 goals in 66 games&mdash;fifth worst in the league&mdash;coach Bill LaForge insists Fogarty&rsquo;s defensive skills went unnoticed. He points to Fogarty&rsquo;s plus-91 rating as evidence of his ability to play both ends of the rink.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01662/5684597-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="576" height="1002"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Lambert of the Broncos led all WHL defensemen in scoring.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not one player in the OHL who could say he beat Bryan Fogarty 1-on-1 this season,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;And there&rsquo;s not one guy on our team who can say he did it in practice either.&rdquo;No small feat, considering the team boasted four other 100-point scorers this season.LaForge said Fogarty&rsquo;s best defensive quality is his speed, which prevents him from getting caught up ice. Fogarty&rsquo;s blueline partner, the defensive-minded Paul Laus, helps out as well.&ldquo;I decided early in the year to let Bryan decide the way he wanted to play,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;Often a play would start out as a two-on-one but Bryan was so quick getting back it would be a two-on-two in no time.&rdquo;While his offense improved by leaps and bounds, Fogarty also noticed an increased effectiveness in his own defensive play.&ldquo;I knew that I had to work hard on my defense this season,&rdquo; said Fogarty, a first-round choice of the Quebec Nordiques, ninth overall, in 1987. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why Quebec sent me back to junior this season. I think I also improved a great deal on taking the body in my own end.&rdquo;Playing defensively for the Thunder this season was like dryland training in the streets of Venice. While some teams take pride in their ability to prevent goals, the Thunder scored 410 this season, 60 more than thesecond-place Cornwall Royals.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think people want to pay $7 to come out and watch a 1-1 hockey game,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why this year we would try to go out and score 10 goals a game and then hope the other team would score only eight.&rdquo;Following the trend of honoring high-scoring defensemen, the other two nominees for the award could also have been mistaken as fourth forwards.Dan Lambert, a 19-year-old with the league-champion Swift Current Broncos, led all Western League defensemen with 25 goals and 102 points in 77 games. Lambert, a 5-foot-7,175-pounder, also represented Canada at the World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. Lambert is eligible for this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft.Yves Racine of the Victoriaville Tigres finished third in team scoring and topped all Quebec League defensemen with 23 goals and 108 points in 63 games. Racine, 20, was Detroit&rsquo;s first-round choice, 11th overall, in 1987. &#9632;

f0027-01

HIGH-SCORING FOGARTY GOT DEFENSIVE

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div>Bryan Fogarty had to wait to find out he was the Canadian Hockey League player of the year and top defenseman, but there was no suspense when it came to the 1988-89 Transamerica Life Plus-Minus award.With a rating of plus-91, the Niagara Falls Thunder defenseman knew he had won the award once the regular season finished. He beat Quebec League representative Steve Larouche of the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs (plus-64) and Western League rep Darren Stolk of the Medicine Hat Tigers (plus-40) for the honors.Fogarty, a first-round choice of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1987 National Hockey League entry draft (ninth overall), was in his first year with the Thunder after three seasons with the Kingston Canadians of the Ontario League. He established OHL records for most goals, most assists and most points in a season by a defenseman (See pages 22 and 27). Other regular-season highlights included two eight-point games and being named OHL player of the week four times.Larouche, who topped the QMJHL plus-minus rankings, will be eligible for the 1989 NHL entry draft. Scouts say he could go as high the first round or as low as the third.Larouche, a center, led the Draveurs in scoring with 153 points (51 goals, 102 assists) in 70 games, good for fifth in the QMJHL scoring race. He had a 22-game point-scoring streak in leading the Draveurs to the best regular-season record in the league.Stolk, a massive 6-foot-4, 204-pound stay-at-home defenseman, played for the Lethbridge Hurricanes in 1987-88, then joined the Tigers this season. He was selected in the 12th round of the 1988 NHL entry draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01689/5684635-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="546" height="784"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Larouche was the Quebec League plus-minus champ.</figcaption></div>Stolk played 65 games for the Tigers, scoring eight goals and 39 points. He was third among Tigers&rsquo; defensemen in scoring behind Ryan McGill and Vince Boe. Stolk was Medicine Hat&rsquo;s nominee for the Bill Hunter Trophy, awarded annually to the best defenseman in the WHL.Fogarty, Larouche and Stolk each received an engraved Transamerica Life award plaque and $500 May 8 in Saskatoon. The money was donated on behalf of Fogarty, Larouche and Stolk to the last minor hockey associations for which they played.Fogarty&rsquo;s went to the Brantford Minor Hockey Association, Larouche&rsquo;s to the Quebec Midget AAA League in Richelieu and Stolk&rsquo;s to the Lethbridge Minor Hockey Association.The winner in 1987-88 was Hull Olympiques&rsquo; center Marc Saumier, who finished with a rating of plus-99, the highest ranking in the three-year history of the award.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02487/5684628-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="544" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Saumier of Hull recorded a plus-99 in 1987-88.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

FOGARTY, LAROUCHE, STOLK TAKE PLUS-MINUS PLAQUES

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01594/5684673-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="480" height="648"></div>&ldquo;We had a meeting before the playoffs. He called it. He basically told half the guys on the team how they have to play.&rdquo;&mdash;Ron Hextall, on teammate Dave Poulin.How many captains in the NHL could have gotten away with an ego-deflating players-only pow-wow like that a few days before the playoffs?I&rsquo;m not here to say that Dave Poulin, the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; overachieving 30-year-old leader, was the reason why Philly got out of the Patrick Division and took Montreal to six games before falling.I&rsquo;m here to tell you that Poulin, the delightfully intelligent and personable white knight among an intimidating black-and-orange gang, reinforced his role as the Flyers&rsquo; glue. This six-year, NHL walk-on added another chapter to an incredible story of hope for underdogs across the land.He never played major junior hockey back in Ontario because when he was 15 years old, he was 5-foot-3 and 110 pounds. He enrolled at Notre Dame University in 1978, using a friend&rsquo;s invitation to apply. He made the team, played four seasons, earned his degree in business and finance.He got married, prepared to accept a job in the real world, then agreed to play a season for Ted Sator in Sweden. &ldquo;It was a lark,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a chance to delay starting out in the business world for six months, let (wife) Kim and I see Europe.&rdquo;Europe saw Poulin score 35 goals in 32 games for Rogle of the First Division. Sator, who became a Flyer assistant, recommended they sign him. He had, after all, grown to 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds.The rest, as they say, is history, Captain in 1984-85, succeeding Bobby Clarke. A three-time Wales Conference all-star. A member of the NHL all-stars in Rendezvous &rsquo;87. The 1987 Selke winner as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward. The author of that three-part series, Stanley Cup Profiles in Courage.Wavy flashback effect, please&hellip;&#9632; The year is 1985. In game two of the Wales Conference finals between the Flyers and Quebec, Poulin breaks two ribs. He misses two games, returns for game five wrapped in a flak jacket. He helps the Flyers reach the finals for the first time since 1980.&#9632; The year is 1987. In game six of a nasty first-round series against the Rangers, Poulin cracks a few more ribs. He misses the first six games of the Patrick finals against the Islanders. He flies to California, where he is fitted for a special protective corset that could pass for armor. He helps the Flyers win game seven and advance to the finals.&#9632; The year is 1989. A shot by Scott Stevens in game three of the first round chips a piece of bone off the ring finger of Poulin&rsquo;s left hand. He misses no games.&ldquo;Hey,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s easier to play with this than the ribs.&rdquo;In game one of the Wales final against Montreal, he blocks a Chris Chelios shot with his left foot. The puck plays Rice Krispies with the bones in Poulin&rsquo;s two littiest toes Snap, crackle. pop.They rest, as they say, is Novocaine.Poulin did not miss a game against the Canadiens. He did not miss a shift. He spent the mornings of each game getting injected with pain-killer, spent the hours after each game with his foot in a pail of ice, spent the days between games with his foot in a pressurized contraption to help minimize the swelling.When Poulin missed the pre-game warmup before game five at the Forum May 9, heads nodded sympathetically. With his team down three games to one, the captain had succumbed to the pain. He wasn&rsquo;t going to be able to make the Flyers&rsquo; desperate attempt at avoiding elimination.Wrong. He played. He scored the overtime goal that sent the series back to the Spectrum.Why no warmup? Dr. John Gregg, the Flyers&rsquo; orthopedic surgeon, was delayed at customs and couldn&rsquo;t give Poulin his shot until less than an hour before the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02409/5684666-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="712" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Poulin was in on the Flyers&rsquo; two most important goals against Montreal.</figcaption></div>Courage is an overused word in sports. It&rsquo;s not courageous to play your hardest when you&rsquo;re down three games to one, with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. It&rsquo;s not courageous to fulfill the Fules of your contract by playing 80 games a season at full tilt.It&rsquo;s your job.It is courageous, though, to stand up in a roomful of peers, demand of them what you demand of yourself, and then deliver. It is courageous to play well enough in pain that you&rsquo;re not acting like some foolish hero.Dave Poulin&rsquo;s no fool. He played because he felt well enough to deliver. Then he delivered. The Flyers scored only eight goals in six games against Montreal. Poulin scored the biggest one to win game five and assisted on the second-biggest one, Ilkka Sinisalo&rsquo;s shorthander that won game one.He played well in a tight-checking game six, too. His numb toes didn&rsquo;t hurt, but his line didn&rsquo;t score. And with a couple of minutes to go, he broke his left thumb.After the game, the thumb hurt. But not nearly as badly as the end of his season. &#9632;

f0029-01

DAVE POULIN:A STORY OF REAL COURAGE

<h2>FLAMES</h2>Coach Terry Crisp received plenty of notoriety for kissing Norma MacNeil, the wife of assistant general manager Al MacNeil, following Calgary&rsquo;s 2-1 overtime win in game four of the Campbell Conference final against Chicago May 8. Why Norma MacNeil and not his own wife, Sheila? &ldquo;She (Sheila) was sitting four rows away,&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;My lips didn&rsquo;t reach that far.&rdquo; Following the series-clinching win in game five two nights later, Crisp said his days as the kissing bandit were over&hellip;at least until the next game. &ldquo;Tell the girl in the front row to keep loose,&rdquo; said Crisp&hellip;Right winger Mark Hunter, out since game six of the Smythe Division semifinal against Vancouver with a broken hand, was fitted with a playing cast May 10 and received clearance to play in the finals. The Flames were faced with making a difficult roster choice: Play Hunter or 36-year-old Lanny McDonald, who did a good job filling in. Since McDonald returned to the lineup, the Flames were 9-1 in their last 10 playoff games. Moreover, McDonald is a sentimental choice. In his 16-year career, McDonald has never played for a Stanley Cup champion.<h2>CANUCKS</h2>The Canucks, buoyed by the success of this season, announced a rise in ticket prices for next season. Tickets went up $3 across the board, meaning the most expensive tickets will cost $27 and the cheapest will be $11. It was the first time the club raised ticket prices in three years&hellip;Right winger David Bruce had the pin removed from his broken hand May 10. He is expected to fully recover from tom ligaments in the thumb area which kept him out of the Smythe Division semifinal against the Calgary Flames.<h2>OILERS</h2>Kevin Lowe said he&rsquo;s honored he&rsquo;s been named as one of the finalists for the King Clancy Award, which goes to the NHL player who best exemplifies strong community involvement and leadership on and off the ice. The other finalists are veteran New York Islander center Bryan Trottier and Montreal center Ryan Walter. &ldquo;I feel real good about it,&rdquo; said Lowe. &ldquo;I know people appreciate the community work we do from the positive feedback we receive. That&rsquo;s one of the reasons guys want to do it.&rdquo;&hellip;The Oilers released their 1989-90 NHL schedule. They&rsquo;ll open with two games on the road&mdash;Oct. 5 1989 at Vancouver and two nights later in Los Angeles&mdash;before returning to Edmonton for their Oct. 11 home opener against the Canucks&hellip;As expected, Edmonton coach-general manager Glen Sather gave Winnipeg general manager Mike Smith his blessing to interview Oilers&rsquo; assistant coach Ted Green for the Jets&rsquo; head coaching position. However, Sather has apparently asked for a draft pick and a player off the Jets&rsquo; roster as compensation should the Jets sign Green, who has a year to run on his contract.<h2>JETS</h2>General manager Mike Smith began interviewing prospects to take over the coaching reigns in Winnipeg. Aside from Oilers&rsquo; assistant Ted Green, other candidates for the job include former NHL head coaches Bob Murdoch and Lorne Henning, Boston assistant John Cunniff and interim Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness&hellip;Smith held contract discussions with center Thomas Steen at the World Championships in Sweden but the negotiations were moving very slowly. Steen, coming off his best season in the NHL (27-61-88 in 80 games) but entering the option year of his contract, is reported to be asking for $400,000 per season. &ldquo;Yeah, I talked to Thomas quite a few times but nothing has changed,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;I think everybody understands the situation. We&rsquo;ve made him an attractive offer and we&rsquo;re talking.&rdquo; Smith denied reports that Steen would retire rather than return to Winnipeg. &ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m very confident we&rsquo;ll have Thomas under a new contract soon,&rdquo; Smith said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03266/5684704-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="547" height="651"><figcaption class="caption-body">Thomas Steen still hasn&rsquo;t resigned with the Jets.</figcaption></div><h2>KINGS</h2>Kings&rsquo; owner Brace McNall said he&rsquo;s been approached by a group of Phoenix businessmen who would like their new International League franchise to be affiliated with the Kings. McNall also owns the New Haven Nighthawks of the American League, who advanced to the AHL championship series against the Adirondack Red Wings. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been trying to entice us, but we&rsquo;re committed to New Haven right now,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gotten a lot of support in New Haven and we don&rsquo;t want to just pick up and leave. It&rsquo;s been a very profitable venture for me this year. Phoenix is a lot closer, but&hellip; There are a lot of plusses and minuses.&rdquo;&hellip;Tammy Kennedy, wife of defenseman Dean Kennedy, gave birth to eight-pound, eight-ounce Matthew Dean May 7. It is the couple&rsquo;s first child&hellip;Director of media relations David Courtney resigned May 5 to pursue other interests. &#9632;

f0029-03

POST-GAME PUCKER DRAWS ATTENTION

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; assistant coach Colin Campbell has emerged as the leading candidate for the head-coaching job with the Los Angeles Kings.Kings&rsquo; general manager Rogie Vachon said he&rsquo;s received permission from his Red Wing counterpart, Jimmy Devellano, to discuss the vacancy with Campbell. But Campbell has a year remaining on his contract and Devellano is seeking a late-round pick as compensation should Campbell get the job.Calgary Flames&rsquo; assistant Doug Risebrough, USA Hockey executive director Bob Johnson and former Windsor Spitfire coach Tom Webster are also reportedly high on the list to replace Robbie Ftorek, whose contract wasn&rsquo;t renewed when it expired after the season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been contacting some teams to get permission to talk to coaches,&rdquo; said Vachon.Campbell, 35, has been a Red Wings&rsquo; assistant for four years. He has expressed a great deal of interest in the position and is quite friendly with Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;But who knows if I have the right qualities for the type of person they are looking for?&rdquo; said Campbell, from his home in Windsor, Ont.He said he feels he is capable of handling the Kings&rsquo; stable of high-profile stars, and relishes the fact the team is under pressure to win a Stanley Cup soon.&ldquo;A coach&rsquo;s responsibility is to win every game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess they&rsquo;re expected to win right away in L. A., and they certainly are a contender. But it&rsquo;s up to Rogie to decide who is best for that job.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll talk about philosophy, how they would handle our team,&rdquo; said Vachon. &ldquo;You can easily spend an hour with a coach doing that. Then, later, we&rsquo;ll go to dinner and talk some more in a more relaxed atmosphere.&rdquo;Owner Bruce McNall said he would not get involved in the process until after Vachon has trimmed his list to &ldquo;two or three&rdquo; men.And while McNall has said he is interested in &ldquo;fresh blood,&rdquo; Vachon wouldn&rsquo;t rule out the possibility of looking at a former NHL coach.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t necessarily eliminate a guy who has been around the league,&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;If he would fit our team perfectly, we would go that way.&ldquo;But right now, I&rsquo;m still in the preliminary stage. I&rsquo;m trying to put a schedule together so that I can start talking to these people.&rdquo;Johnson, the former Calgary Flames&rsquo; head coach who&rsquo;s been with USA Hockey the last two years, is a longshot possibility.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01679/5684735-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="562" height="703"><figcaption class="caption-body">L.A. has Detroit&rsquo;s approval to talk with Colin Campbell</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d listen to anybody,&rdquo; Johnson said from his Colorado Springs office. &ldquo;Maybe (McNall) will roll a few of those precious coins my way, huh? Will he throw in some coins?&rdquo;McNall built his business empire dealing in ancient coins.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been away from coaching for two years and I miss it to a certain extent,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;After watching 40 games in Europe (at the World Championships), you get the itch again. But I haven&rsquo;t really thought about it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

CAMPBELL COULD BE CROWNED KINGS’ COACH

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Randy Gregg, as you might expect, can be found on Northern Alberta golf courses for much of this summer.After all, he is a hockey player whose team has been eliminated from the playoffs. And he is a medical doctor.Gregg is setting up a golf tour for the benefit of one of his pet projects. Northern Alberta&rsquo;s Ronald McDonald House. The 10-stop tour of Northern Alberta rural communities will be run in an open tournament format, with profits going to a proposed house for the use of parents and family of out-of-town cancer patients.&ldquo;From the interest shown from the corporate sector, it should be beneficial for the House,&rdquo; said Gregg, whose whirlwind tour will run July 21-30.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to get celebrities and media people involved, drawing high-profile attention for the House and these communities.&rdquo;By the time the tournament is underway, however, Gregg could be an ex-Oiler. At age 33, he&rsquo;s headed into the option year of his contract with the Oilers. It has been speculated that he&rsquo;ll retire and pick up on a medical career that&rsquo;s been on the back burner since he joined thm Oilers late in the 1981-82 season.Gregg said he&rsquo;s already made up his mind concerning next season, but isn&rsquo;t about to divulge his intentions publicly until he discusses them with manager-coach Glen Sather.&ldquo;The Oilers don&rsquo;t make a habit of talking to players in the off-season, so I can&rsquo;t make a decision on behalf of two parties,&rdquo; reasoned the Edmonton native. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say anything until after the two parties talk.&rdquo;The original plan was to play two years and then channel his efforts toward orthopedic surgery. But the Oilers went to the final in 1983 and won the Stanley Cup in 1984, and Gregg was hopelessly hooked.Despite Sather&rsquo;s announced intentions of a movement towards youth in 1989-90, the smart money is riding on Gregg again lining up on the Oilers&rsquo; blueline.A month after Edmonton&rsquo;s season came to an abrupt conclusion, Gregg admitted he hasn&rsquo;t been actively involved in the everyday activity of medicine.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m able to do rounds, but until I&rsquo;m able to do a structural educational medicial program, it&rsquo;s difficult to go into a hospital unless I&rsquo;ve made a commitment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t do that until hockey&rsquo;s finished.&ldquo;Long-term goals for my family and myself are set. But right now I can&rsquo;t do it (practice medicine) on a regular basis.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t ask that of a medical person. When you get involved, you want it to be 100 percent&hellip;and that&rsquo;s the way it should be. It can&rsquo;t be any other way.&rdquo;If he does return for another season, Gregg said it will not just be to meet his contractual obligation.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s never been a concern,&rdquo; said the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re only good to the team if you&rsquo;re able to help it. If I couldn&rsquo;t help the team, I&rsquo;d step back.&rdquo;The 1988-89 season won&rsquo;t be included as a highlight of Gregg&rsquo;s career. And not solely due the Oilers&rsquo; first-round dismissal at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings. He was hampered all season by a pulled leg muscle that forced him to the sidelines six times. He missed 23 games in all.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t fun, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; said Gregg. But he added the last few weeks off skates have worked miracles in a recuperative manner.Which is just as well. There&rsquo;s that hectic 10-day golf tour in July&hellip;followed, presumably, by another long hockey season. &#9632;

GREGG WEIGHS OPTIONS: QUIT OR RETURN?

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>After the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; first non-playoff season since 1980-81, it was inevitable Mike Smith&rsquo;s axe would eventually fall. And on May 8, the general manager decided it was pointless to wait any longer.Four staffers were fired&mdash;assistant to the general manager Barry Long, and scouts Peter Sullivan, Les Binkley and Charlie Hodge. Two days later, Smith struck again, firing equipment manager Jack (Smokey) Stouffer and dressing room assistant Dave Mann.None of the sackings came as a real surprise, but that didn&rsquo;t make it any easier for the six&mdash;all hired by former general manager John Ferguson&mdash;who are now unemployed.&ldquo;It was a foregone conclusion for all four of us as soon as Fergie was let go,&rdquo; Long told the Winnipeg Free Press on the day of the first batch of firings. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bitter, but I&rsquo;m certainly not surprised. Besides, I guess it&rsquo;s only fair. If they&rsquo;d made me general manager, the first person I would have got rid of was Mike Smith.&ldquo;We just don&rsquo;t see eye-to-eye, so he was right to get rid of me. I wouldn&rsquo;t have been back anyway. My contract expires in June and I couldn&rsquo;t have worked for this general manager or some of these owners.&rdquo;Long didn&rsquo;t specify which owners, but his relationship with Barry Shenkarow is said to be strained.Long joined the Jets in 1976, their World Hockey Association days, as a player. He left for a brief stint in Detroit at the end of his career but rejoined Ferguson in 1982&mdash;first as a scout and later as an assistant coach, head coach and most recently as Ferguson&rsquo;s assistant.Sullivan also played for Winnipeg in the WHA. He skated with the Jets until 1981, then spent six winters in Switzerland before Ferguson hired him. Hodge, the Jets&rsquo; West Coast scout, and Binkley, head scout until Smith took over, each had 10 years with the team.&ldquo;There are a lot of things I could say but I won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Long. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like people to say Barry Long left with a little class. Still, I think I probably have more empathy for this team than anyone who&rsquo;s left, apart from maybe Sudsy (assistant coach Bill Sutherland).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not an easy thing to have to leave but, on the other hand, we all knew that when new management came in here that it was going to happen.&rdquo;Smith made the announcements early, to allow the men involved more time to find other jobs. Sullivan, Hodge and Binkley were all invited to be at Winnipeg&rsquo;s table during the NHL Entry Draft, June 17 in Minneapolis.&ldquo;At least Mike let us know early and I appreciate that,&rdquo; Hodge said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry he didn&rsquo;t feel comfortable with keeping me around but I understand where he&rsquo;s coming from.&rdquo;Sullivan said he would have stayed if given the chance.&ldquo;Even when I was in Europe I still felt I was part of the Jets&rsquo; organization,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Fergie always gave me the names of three or four players he wanted me to check out over there and told me when I was finished playing, there would be a job for me in the Winnipeg organization. And he kept his word.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m close to Fergie. Fergie is my friend but my first loyalty was always to the Jets&rsquo; organization. I hate to leave.&rdquo;The firings make it clear that Smith intends to take his chances with his own people. When training camp opens in Saskatoon next September, the club will have a new head coach, likely new assistant coaches, new equipment men and a new trainer.Assistant equipment manager Craig Heisinger, who joined the club this year, will take over from Stouffer. Trainer Chuck Badcock will be kept on, but won&rsquo;t travel with the team.&ldquo;We are now headed in a new direction,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;New faces and attitudes have to be installed in different areas of the organization.&rdquo; &#9632;

SMITH’S AXE CUTS SIX FROM JETS’ PAYROLL

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>Last year, the first round of the NHL entry draft was easy for the Vancouver Canucks.They simply waited for the Minnesota North Stars to take the consensus No. 1 choice in Mike Modano, then took Trevor Linden with the No. 2 pick. Nothing to it.But this year&rsquo;s selection, June 17 at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn., is going to take a little more work on the part of the scouting staff and the ultimate decision-maker in that first round, president and general manager Pat Quinn.The Canucks, who pick eighth overall, have a policy of taking the best athlete available. Again, like every other team, the Canucks are not looking to put pressure on anybody they might choose. They know it&rsquo;s supposed to be an average or sub-par draft year so they don&rsquo;t expect anyone to step into the league like Linden. But at the same time, they are hopeful of landing an NHL-ready player.&ldquo;I guess with the talent so closely bunched up at this stage in the draft, we proably will end up drafting by position,&rdquo; said Brian Burke, director of hockey, operations. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just about where we would like to be in terms of age on our defense overall, but with Harold Snepsts (34 years old) and Larry Melnyk (29) getting up there, we&rsquo;ll almost certainly be looking in that direction.&rdquo;Which means the Canucks may choose one of three defensemen likely to be available when they pick: Jason Marshall of the British Columbia Junior League&rsquo;s Vernon Lakers; Adam Bennett of the Sudbury Wolves; and, Steve Bancroft of the Belleville Bulls.The Canucks normally prefer Western Canada products, so Marshall, an aggressive 6-foot-2, 185-pounder, could figure. He was ranked ninth in the recent Central Scouting Bureau rankings. CSB does not rank European prospects.Bennett would be another viable choice, if the Canucks decide it&rsquo;s too risky to take a tier two player so high. But Bennett is rated sixth and may not be available.Bancroft is a medical worry. He separated his left shoulder and had a pin inserted to keep it in place. But the shoulder still popped out from time to time. Bancroft underwent surgery in April to try to correct the problem.Marshall, who is committed to the Canadian national team next season, had 10 goals and 30 assists for 40 points to go with 197 penalty minutes this season. He&rsquo;s a strong-skating, aggressive defenseman with excellent mobility, say some scouts. Others are concerned about his defensive capabilities and his smarts on the ice.Bennett, a 6-foot-4, 204 pounder, is a powerhouse with seemingly unlimited potential. While some scouts are concerned about a lack of aggressiveness, most think he&rsquo;ll continue to improve. This season, Bennett had seven goals, 29 points and 133 penalty minutes in 66 games.Bancroft, who is expected to be healthy for the 1989-90 season, is said to have all the skills necessary to play pro. The 6-foot-1&frac12;, 214-pounder had seven goals, 37 points and 99 penalty minutes with the Bulls this season.Quinn was travelling constantly toward the end of the junior season, trying to get a firsthand look at every one of the first-round prospects in the Vancouver range.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not looking to make any decisions based on seeing a kid a couple of times,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more just to make yourself comfortable in your own mind about the guy you&rsquo;re taking.&rdquo; &#9632;

CANUCKS MAY GET DEFENSIVE AT DRAFT TABLE

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>There was something singularly appropriate in the way it ended:With a Norris Division refugee putting the boots to the Chicago Blackhawks, the lowest-seeded team in the Stanley Cup tournament, but a pesky opponent nonetheless.Brian MacLellan, acquired by the Calgary Flames from Minnesota three days before the trading deadline, scored the winning goal in a 3-1 victory over Chicago Blackhawks May 10, putting them in the finals for only the second time in the franchise&rsquo;s 17-year history.MacLellan, the team&rsquo;s fourth-line left winger, got a chance to play reguarly because of an injury to Jim Peplinski in the seventh minute of the deciding game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been tough for me,&rdquo; MacLellan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been trying to fit in. I&rsquo;m used to more ice time and to ice time on the power play. I don&rsquo;t want to complain because I know we have a chance to go along way and we have a lot of good players.&ldquo;This was an opportunity for me to play well.&rdquo;Arguably, MacLellan arrived as a Flame that night. Apart from the winning goal, he gave them the things they were looking for when they picked him up: Size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds), a physical presence in front of the goal, and some experience.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01628/5684838-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="705" height="697"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian MacLellan arrived as a Flame with his series-winning goal.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s made a good contribution,&rdquo; said coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;In all fairness to Brian, with all the depth we have on this hockey club, he doesn&rsquo;t get the ice time he might on another team. He&rsquo;s got good hands for a big man. From the blue line in, he&rsquo;s dangerous. He&rsquo;s a big man in front of the net.&rdquo;And he used his size effectively against the Blackhawks. MacLellan saw a lot of Chicago in the early going this year and thought the team made a quantum leap in the second half under coach Mike Keenan.They were, however, no match for the Flames, a team that finished 51 points ahead of them in the regular-season standings. Except for a six-minute lapse in the second game, in which the Blackhawks scored three times in a 4-2 win, they were never in it.So, for the eighth consecutive year since the last NHL realignment, the Smythe semifinalist advanced to the Stanley Cup.In the last seven years, one or the other of the league&rsquo;s Alberta-based teams reached the finals. Edmonton did it five times, Calgary twice.Crisp acknowledged that the Flames&rsquo; season officially began with the finals. Following last year&rsquo;s summary dismissal in the playoffs, nothing less would do.The Flames won the President&rsquo;s Cup (first overall during the regular season) the last two years.&ldquo;Now that we&rsquo;re here, you can say that&mdash;that anything less is not good enough,&rdquo; said Crisp.MacLellan was one of 11 players on the Flames&rsquo; 24-man roster to get to the finals for the first time.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a great thrill for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to keep building from here, I hope.&rdquo;For the most part, the Flames kept their celebrations low-key. Apart from a collection of T-shirts and baseball caps lettered&rsquo; 1989 Campbell Conference champions&rsquo; that were distributed immediately following the fifth game, they were remarkably composed.&ldquo;We have high expectations,&rdquo; said MacLellan, &ldquo;and so do the fans, the city and the press. We want to fulfill them. This was just a stepping stone to the finals.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury, Jiri Hrdina.LW&mdash;Colin Patterson, Gary Roberts, Jim Peplinski, Brian MacLellan, Sergei Priakin.RW&mdash;Joey Mullen, HakanLoob, Mark Hunter, Tim Hunter, Lanny McDonald.LD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Jamie Macoun, Dana Murzyn.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Rob Ramage, Ric Nattress.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gary Suter, D, broken jaw, indefinite. &#9632;

f0031-01

NORRIS REFUGEE PUTS THE BOOT TO HAWKS

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER AND MIKE KANE</div>If the Salt Lake Golden Eagles win the Turner Cup for the third straight year, they&rsquo;ll have to do it on the road.Of course, that&rsquo;s nothing new to them. Fans of the International League team have yet to see it win the league championship at the Salt Palace. The Golden Eagles have won two Cups on the road.But winning the Cup at home was the least of the Eagles&rsquo; worries. After dropping the first two games of the best-of-seven final at the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, the Eagles bounced back with a 5-2 home-ice win May 13. The next two games were set for Salt Lake May 17 and 19. If necessary, the sixth and seventh games of the series would shift back to Muskegon May 20 and 22.The Eagles lost 4-3 in the opener May 9 and were shelled 8-1 May 12.<h2>IHL</h2>&ldquo;We&rsquo;d sure like to hope we have the opportunity to win our third straight Cup on the road,&rdquo; said Salt Lake coach Paul Baxter. &ldquo;So far in the series we haven&rsquo;t been as proficient as we&rsquo;d like to be. I thought game three was one of our better performances but I still think we can play better.&rdquo;Goals by right winger Rich Chernomaz and defenseman Jim Leavins gave the Eagles the lead during the first period of game three.But only 30 seconds into the second period, center Dave McLlwain put the Lumberjacks on the board. Defenseman Todd Charlesworth scored Muskegon&rsquo;s final goal at the 11-minute mark of the period, after defenseman Rick Hayward had given the Eagles a 3-1 lead at 7:04.Right winger Peter Lappin gave the Golden Eagles a 4-2 lead in the second period and Chernomaz got his second goal of the game at 13:05 of the third to wrap it up.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01664/5684876-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="702" height="1148"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sam St. Laurent shut out the Nighthawks in game four of the final.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think Rick Hayward probably was the difference in the game, from a tempo standpoint,&rdquo; said Baxter. &ldquo;We were only one goal up and he scored, and he made a beautiful pass to set up Lappin&rsquo;s goal that gave us a two-goal lead again.&rdquo;For the Lumberjacks, the 8-1 win was costly. Center Dave Michayluk&mdash;who led the IHL in scoring with 122 points this season&mdash;right winger Mitch Wilson and center Brad Aitken missed game three with injuries.Wilson, injured in game two, will miss the rest of the playoffs with a separated right shoulder. Aitken had strep throat, but was expected back in the lineup for game four.Michayluk was also hurt in game two. He was accidentally cut on his right arm by an Eagles&rsquo; skate behind the Salt Lake net. He was questionable for game four.Muskegon right winger Perry Ganchar led the way in game two with two goals. Referee Richard Trottier handed out 190 penalty minutes during the game and gave game misconducts to Chernomaz and Brian Deasley of Salt Lake and Wilson and Mike Mersch of Muskegon. The four players got involved in altercations after Richard Zemlak of Muskegon and Stu Grimson of Salt Lake got into a fight at 3:29 of the third period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02480/5684869-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="694" height="1134"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rich Chernomaz scored a pair for Salt Lake in a 5-2 win in game three.</figcaption></div>Left winger Scott Gruhl had two goals in Muskegon&rsquo;s 4-3 win that snapped Salt Lake&rsquo;s five-game road winning streak in the playoffs.<h2>AHL</h2>Before the lions and tigers interrupted the Calder Cup playoffs, Sam St. Laurent tamed the New Haven Nighthawks.The Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; goaltender shut out the Nighthawks 6-0 at New Haven May 8 to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead in the Calder Cup championship round.St. Laurent recorded his second shutout of the playoffs&mdash;he blanked Newmarket 3-0 in the first round&mdash;and the third of his career with 32 saves.It was the Nighthawks&rsquo; first loss at home in eight playoff games.The series then went into a holding pattern while the circus played the arenas in New Haven and Glens Falls, N.Y. The fifth game was scheduled for Glens Falls on May 16.Yves Racine, Glenn Merkosky, J.F. Sauve, Randy McKay, Joe Murphy and Brent Fedyk scored the Adirondack goals. The Red Wings quieted a rowdy crowd of 7,182 with three goals in the first period.Racine, playing in his first game with Adondack after Victoriaville was knocked out of the Quebec League playoffs by Laval, scored the Wings&rsquo; first goal on a power play at 5:11. Merkosky followed with his sixth goal of the playoffs 32 seconds later, moments after Adam Graves knocked New Haven defenseman Jim Wiemer off the puck with a hard check behind the goal line. Sauve made it 3-0 at 16:53 when he skated around Craig Duncanson to move in alone on New Haven goaltender Rollie Melanson.&ldquo;It was one of those nights where it didn&rsquo;t matter what Sammy did,&rdquo; New Haven coach Rick Dudley said. &ldquo;If he got behind the net we were going to shoot wide. We shot 21 times in the second period and only hit the net 10 times. They shot 10 times and hit eight and scored two goals&mdash;and we got none. We outshot them 2110, which means that we had somewhat of a territorial advantage, but our shots didn&rsquo;t hit the net.&rdquo;Adirondack coach Bill Dineen could find little fault with his team&rsquo;s performance.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a guy on the team who didn&rsquo;t contribute tonight,&rdquo; he said.Merkosky provided the play that put the Nighthawks out of the game. A minute and a half after the Wings failed to do anything with a 5-on-3 power play of 53 seconds, Merkosky set up McKay&rsquo;s goal at 12:41 of the second period. He went behind the New Haven net and fore-checked the puck away from defensemen Mark Vichorek and Eric Germain. He sent the puck to McKay in the slot for a 10-foot shot on Melanson.&ldquo;The momentum was starting to shift a little bit,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;Nothing that he (Merkosky) does surprises me a whole lot. Game after game, year after year, he seems to always come up with the big play when we need him most.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-01

DEPARTMENT

LUMBERJACKS A LEG UP

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>Daniel Shank has saved his best for last Shank, a rookie right winger signed by the Adirondack Red Wings as a free agent this season, has been a major surprise in the playoffs. After scoring just five goals and 20 assists in 44 games during the regular season, Shank had 10 goals and seven assists in 16 playoff games.&ldquo;The way he&rsquo;s come along from the middle of January, he&rsquo;s just gotten progressively better,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not only his goal-scoring. It&rsquo;s what he does in the hitting department. He keeps them pretty honest out there. He&rsquo;s a pretty valuable guy.&rdquo;Shank is in the Ken Linseman mold, with a feisty spirit and a good touch around the net. In addition to his 17 points, he was also the team playoff leader with 100 penalty minutes. He had 113 minutes during the regular season.He played as an overager with the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec League last season and had 23 goals, 34 assists and 343 penalty minutes in 42 games.The first few months of Shank&rsquo;s pro career were not memorable. He was scratched for the first 15 games. He got his first point on Nov. 19 against Baltimore and had to wait until Feb. 17 to score his first pro goal, against New Haven. Shank never played in four consecutive games until February, but then came the playoffs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been holding him back,&rdquo; joked Dineen. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been bringing him along slowly.&rdquo;Playing on a line with veteran center Glenn Merkosky and rookie left winger Adam Graves, Shank had two goals and two assists in the first-round, five-game series against New-market. In the seven-game semifinal series against Hershey, he had three goals and three assists.In the first four games of the finals against New Haven, Shank had five goals and two assists. Three goals and two assists came in an 8-2 victory in game two May 5. It was Shank&rsquo;s first pro hat trick.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m young and that I have to wait for my chance (to go to the NHL),&rdquo; said Shank. &ldquo;But as soon as I get my chance, I don&rsquo;t want to miss it.&rdquo;<h2>MAINE THING</h2>Two years after the formation of the Maine Hockey Partners Group&mdash;owners of the Maine Mariners&mdash;the partnership has been completed. The group&rsquo;s managing general partner, Ed Anderson, sold 18 of the 34 shares in the team to local businessmen for $40,000 each.&ldquo;It is owned by a group of local people,&rdquo; said Anderson, who formed the group after the New Jersey Devils left for Utica two years ago. &ldquo;Our hope is to get them involved in promoting the team and marketing the team and using their influences on friends and business associates in the community and try to get them involved in the hockey club.&rdquo;<h2>FILLING UP</h2>In the first 37 playoff games, the American League attracted 174,577 fans for an average of 4,718, up considerably from last year&rsquo;s average of 4,091 per game. Last year, 143,202 came out to 35 playoff games&hellip;If the Adirondack Red Wings capture the Calder Cup, they&rsquo;ll be the seventh team to win the trophy three times in the same decade. The Red Wings, who won the league championship in 1980-81 and 1985-86, would join Nova Scotia (1971-72, 1975-76 and 1976-77), Rochester (1964-65, 1965-66 and 1967-68), Springfield (1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62), Buffalo (1942-43, 1943-44 and 194647), Cleveland (1940-41, 1944-45and 1947-48; and, 1950-51, 1952-53, 1953-54 and 1956-57). &#9632;

RED WINGS’ SHANK A LATE BLOOMER

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER</div>With apologies to Charles Dickens, it has been the best of times and the worst of times for Rick Ley.For the second year in a row, Ley has been relegated to the role of spectator for the Turner Cup finals.In his first three seasons as head coach of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, Ley reached the final round each year and won the title in 1985-86. Last season, his final one in Muskegon, Ley&rsquo;s team was upset by Flint in the first round.Ley made his debut in Milwaukee this season, taking over the reins of a team that set a pro hockey record for futility with 19 consecutive losses last season. The Admirals finished dead last in the International League and won just 21 games.This year, affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks, the Admirals posted a 54-33-5 for second place in the West Division behind the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. But in the post-season, the Admirals struggled to eliminate the stubborn Kalamazoo Wings in the first round in six games, and then lost to Salt Lake in five games in the semifinals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01589/5684931-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="567" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Ley guided the Milwaukee Admirals to second in the West.</figcaption></div>Ley, who has a 259-123-28 record in five IHL seasons, isn&rsquo;t discouraged by the recent lack of success in the playoffs.&ldquo;It was a great year, really,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had great fan support. The Admirals are first-class. We just didn&rsquo;t have enough firepower to finish the season off and win the Turner Cup.&rdquo;The Admirals lost their five last playoff games at the 17,845-seat Bradley Center. The arena is one of the best in North America but Ley said the building does have its negatives.&ldquo;It holds nearly 18,000, and when there are only 5,000 people in there it&rsquo;s (seemingly) pretty empty. If something doesn&rsquo;t happen early, from a motivational standpoint it can be kind of tough,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our only excuse, though, is we didn&rsquo;t play up to our potential.&rdquo;<h2>RANGER RUMORS</h2>IHL commissioner Bud Poile is growing weary of the increasing rumors surrounding the fate of the Denver Rangers&rsquo; franchise.The latest has the New York Rangers moving their affiliation from Denver to the American League&rsquo;s New Haven Nighthawks. The Los Angeles Kings, who use the Nighthawks as their affiliate, are reportedly moving their farm team to Phoenix, the IHL&rsquo;s newest franchise.&ldquo;The matter is in the hands of the lawyers and the court, and that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; said Poile.The Rangers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization, and have disconnected their office telephone.<h2>MORE SURGERY</h2>Indianapolis Ice coach Archie Henderson underwent his second major bout of surgery May 1 at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, to repair damage caused by a ruptured colon. He became ill in February while the team was in Salt Lake, and was operated on during the visit. He hasn&rsquo;t been behind the bench since. &ldquo;He&rsquo;llbe okay after about a two-month recuperation period,&rdquo; said Ice general manager Ray Compton. &ldquo;Archie&rsquo;s still running our hockey operation-.&rdquo;&hellip;Sixty-eight players suited up for the Flint Spirits this season. According to league records, it was the most of any team in the IHL this year. &#9632;

f0033-01

UP-AND-DOWN YEAR FOR ADMIRALS’ LEY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01673/5685158-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><h2>INDIVIDUAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02512/5685151-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="1002" height="874"></div><h2>LEADING DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03398/5685144-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="1014" height="285"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04296/5685137-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="999" height="244"></div><h2>ROOKIE LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05231/5685130-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="1006" height="633"></div><h2>TEAM POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV) TOTAL ADVANTAGES (PPGF) POWER-PLAY GOALS FOR (PCT) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING NUMBER OF POWER-PLAY GOALS BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06199/5685123-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="989" height="498"></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/f0034-07183/5685116-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="992" height="506"></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 PENALTY MINUTES BY GAMES PLAYED<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08172/5685109-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="463" height="263"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09158/5685102-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="459" height="297"></div><h2>TEAM-BY-TEAM SCORING</h2><h3>BOSTON BRUINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10153/5685095-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="985" height="630"></div><h3>BUFFALO SABRES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11143/5685088-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="978" height="425"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12139/5685081-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="964" height="235"></div><h3>CALGARY FLAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13128/5685074-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="980" height="684"></div><h3>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14123/5685067-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="972" height="704"></div><h3>DETROIT RED WINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15117/5685060-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="973" height="654"></div><h3>EDMONTON OILERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-16115/5685053-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="964" height="422"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01640/5685046-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="971" height="198"></div><h3>HARTFORD WHALERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02497/5685039-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="973" height="680"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03399/5685032-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="976" height="680"></div><h3>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04319/5685025-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="970" height="657"></div><h3>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05261/5685018-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="974" height="541"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06234/5685011-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="1009" height="92"></div><h3>NEW YORK RANGERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07219/5685004-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="980" height="636"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08196/5684997-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="989" height="679"></div><h3>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09182/5684990-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="979" height="654"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10160/5684983-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="982" height="654"></div><h3>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11145/5684976-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="979" height="631"></div><h3>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12129/5684969-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="973" height="603"></div><h2>GOALTENDING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-13115/5684962-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="978" height="1650"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS

<h2>Mon., May 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01527/5685374-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="571" height="869"></div>(Calgary leads best-of-seven series 3-1).<h2>Tues., May 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02386/5685367-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="579" height="688"></div>(Montreal leads best-of-seven series 3-2).<h2>Wed., May 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03300/5685360-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="582" height="138"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04247/5685353-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="587" height="669"></div>(Calgary wins best-of-seven series 4-1).<h2>Thur., May 11</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05216/5685346-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="583" height="749"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4-2).<h2>Sun., May 14</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06187/5685339-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="615" height="288"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07164/5685332-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="567" height="418"></div>(Calgary leads best-of-seven series 1-0).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08135/5685325-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="566" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Tisdale&rsquo;s overtime goal was the Memorial Cup-winner.</figcaption></div><h2>MEMORIAL CUP</h2>Round-Robin TournamentAt Saskatoon, Sask.<h3>Tues., May 9</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09116/5685318-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="571" height="316"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10107/5685311-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="572" height="290"></div><h3>Wed., May 10</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1189/5685304-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="576" height="925"></div><h3>Thur., May 11</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1278/5685297-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="578" height="543"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1372/5685290-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="580" height="264"></div><h3>Fri., May 12</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1466/5685283-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="574" height="777"></div><h3>Sat., May 13</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1559/5685276-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="574" height="687"></div>(Swift Current wins Memorial Cup). &#9632;

f0037-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01616/5685405-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="531" height="619"></div>Joe Nieuwendyk, his lip swollen, his voice marred by an unnatural lisp, looked as if he&rsquo;d just gone 15 rounds with the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; fans in Section H of the Stadium.It was moments after the Calgary Flames had scored a narrow 2-1 victory over Chicago in the fourth game of the Campbell Conference finals May 8&hellip;and Nieuwendyk was hurting. Hurting bad.In the eighth minute of the second period, he took a stick in the mouth from defenseman Steve Konroyd that almost severed his tongue.Until the Flames&rsquo; team doctors&mdash;working in a dimly-lit excuse for a medical room in Chicago Stadium&mdash;sewed it back on, less than half his tongue was properly attached.Nieuwendyk was leaning forward to take a pass from his right winger Hakan Loob on the play in question. In full stride, the 22-year-old has a habit of sticking his tongue out of his mouth, as if he&rsquo;s gasping for air. On this night, the puck was a little too far in front of him.So as he leaned forward to reach it, Konroyd&rsquo;s stick almost snipped his tongue in two.&ldquo;I guess I leaned pretty far forward to take that puck,&rdquo; said Nieuwendyk, &ldquo;but his stick came right up. It felt like his whole stick went in my mouth.&ldquo;Sitting there on the ice, I thought, &lsquo;Oh God, I&rsquo;ve got a couple of teeth hanging there.&rsquo;&rdquo;No, not teeth.&ldquo;It was the end of my tongue that was hanging there.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk knelt in a pool of his own blood as trainer Jim (Bearcat) Murray tried to stanch the flow.It looked messy. It looked serious. It looked as if he would be out indefinitely.Within minutes of his injury, however, the Flames lost a second center, Joel Otto, to his own stupidity&mdash;a spearing penalty. That necessitated Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s return for the final minutes of the second, for the third period, for the overtime.Under different circumstances, he would not have played. But these are the playoffs, where men have been known to compete with broken bones in their legs and ripped ligaments in their knees.So every time coach Terry Crisp called his number, Nieuwendyk would mumble a response and jump over the boards. It was a re-markable, courageous performance. He was playing every other or every third shift, spitting out blood every time he came to the bench for a breather.Then, as if he really needed to prove something else, Nieuwendyk topped it two nights later in Calgary. With a protective mouthpiece attached to his helmet, Nieuwendyk scored two goals in a 3-1 win that vaulted the Flames past the Blackhawks into the Stanley Cup finals.Nieuwendyk, the man who burned out in the spring of 1988, has turned out to be a decisive factor in the playoffs of 1989. He scored nine goals in the first three series.Mumbling his way through a post-game press conference, Nieuwendyk acknowledged he did not want to play without the faceguard &ldquo;because of the elbows or whatever you can run into out there.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk spent the morning in X-ray. By evening, he&rsquo;d put the Blackhawks out of the picture.&ldquo;My bottom teeth and gums were really swollen and my tongue was pretty tender,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but they say the tongue heals pretty quickly. It&rsquo;s getting better and better as time goes on.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk also wore a plastic mouthpiece on the bottom of his teeth for the game.&ldquo;That was a bit of an adjustment in the warmup and early in the game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can still eat everything. I just keep everything on the right side of my mouth. If my top teeth touch the bottom teeth, it&rsquo;s pretty sore.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re anchored pretty good. One is cracked and a couple are pretty loose. The doc says the one that&rsquo;s cracked has a 70-per-cent chance of getting solid again.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I didn&rsquo;t want to take any chances. I&rsquo;d rather wear that thing and keep my own teeth than have them knocked out.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk expressed a desire to face Montreal in the finals but wanted to see the Wales Conference final stretched to seven games. One out of two wasn&rsquo;t bad&mdash;the Habs eliminated Philadelphia but it went only six games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;d be nice if the two best teams in the NHL were to meet,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think we all need a rest right now. We need a day to get over this emotional high and a day to rest.&rdquo;And to savor one of the grittiest playoff efforts in recent memory. &#9632;

f0038-01

MORE THAN THE CAT GOT NIEUWENDYK’S TONGUE

<h2>BLUES</h2>Blues&rsquo; assistant coach Bob Berry said he is not interested in any of the head coaching jobs open in the NHL. Berry was a head coach for nine years, three each with Los Angeles. Montreal and Pittsburgh. He was out of hockey for one year before joining the Blues&rsquo; staff. &ldquo;I believe my interest and future is here with Brian (head coach Sutter) and the Blues,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;It was a bit of an adjustment for me, but I enjoyed every minute of every game, of every practice and every road trip. I think the Blues are on the right track.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Gaston Gingras cleared waivers May 9 and left his home in Montreal May 11 to sign a contract with Biel of the Swiss Elite League. Gingras. 30, played 10 years with Montreal, Toronto and the Blues. He played 52 games with the Blues this season, but he had only three goals and 10 assists. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m anxious. It&rsquo;ll be fun,&rdquo; said Gingras. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll play 36 games. I didn&rsquo;t play much more than that this season.&rdquo;&hellip;The Blues have started negotiations with Bob Goodenow. the agent for leading scorer Brett Hull, who is entering his option year. Hull led the Blues with 41 goals and and 84 points in 78 games.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>Rookie center-left winger Mike Hudson was the Hawks&rsquo; leading scorer against Calgary, with a goal and two assists for three points in five games. Hudson scored the Hawks&rsquo; last goal of the playoffs, on a power play in game five at Calgary&hellip;Alain Chevrier finished the playoffs with a 9-7 record. 2.61 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Going into the final round, the Hawks finished as the third-best defensive team in the playoffs with a team goals-against average of 2.64. They allowed just 28.6 shots per 60 minutes&hellip;Defenseman Trent Yawney had a plus-nine defensive rating to lead all rookies in the playoffs. He also had nine points (3-6)&hellip;After going 10-for-37 against Detroit, the Hawks&rsquo; power play was 6-for-53 (11.3 percent) the rest of the playoffs.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano had hoped to bring one of the Calder Cup final games to the Joe Louis Arena. The Adirondack Red Wings, Detroit&rsquo;s farm team, were playing against the New Haven Nighthawks and led 3-1. But the teams were forced into a break between May 9 and 16 because the arenas in both cities had circuses booked. &ldquo;It sounds good, but logistically it&rsquo;s very expensive,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; executive vice president Jim Lites of the opportunity to bring the final to Detroit. &ldquo;And it would have been very hard on the season-ticket holders in Adirondack. There&rsquo;s a chance we could clinch it in game five. To miss that&mdash;it&rsquo;s the biggest thing in Glens Falls&mdash;would have been really terrible for them.&rdquo; Game five was scheduled for Adirondack May 16&hellip;Jim Pengelly, the Red Wings&rsquo; physical therapist for the last seven years, left the team May 3 to pursue other interests.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>General manager Gord Stellick, who attended the Memorial Cup finals in Saskatoon, was impressed with the play of Laval Titan defenseman Patrice Brisebois. ranked No. 15 by Central Scouting&hellip;Leafs&rsquo; No. 2 pick in last year&rsquo;s draft, Peterborough Petes&rsquo; Tie Domi, also played well, said Stellick&hellip; Wendel Clark was a visitor at the Memorial Cup. He&rsquo;ll return to Toronto, after seeing his family in Kelvington, Sask., to continue therapy on his ailing back.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02477/5685436-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="540" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark took in the Memorial Cup during a visit home.</figcaption></div><h2>NORTH STARS</h2>North Stars&rsquo; defenseman Frantisek Musil will have a keen interest in the NHL entry draft, and not just because it&rsquo;s at the Met Center. He will be waiting to see where Czechoslovak forward Robert Holik is selected. Holik is not only one of the top prospects available, but he&rsquo;s also the brother of Musils companion and roommate, tennis star Andrea Holikova. Musil knows that if Holik is to play in the NHL in the next several years, Holik must make the same decision that Musil did: To defect. &ldquo;It would be his decision,&rdquo; Musil said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell him how to run his life. I can tell him what I went through, about the ups and downs and the advantages and disadvantages. He&rsquo;s a big kid, as big as (Vancouver center) Trevor Linden, and he might have as many skills as Linden&mdash;or more. But nobody can tell you what&rsquo;s the best decision. You must decide that for yourself. &ldquo;Holik has been to the Twin Cities twice to visit his sister and Musil. According to Musil, Holik will start a two-year military obligation next month, which would keep him out of the NHL until at least the 1991-92 season. &#9632;

f0038-02

BERRY IS HAPPY AS AN ASSISTANT

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div>Denis Savard has known better moments.The Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; premier center was held to two goals and no assists in the Campbell Conference final against Calgary. He played game four&mdash;a 2-1 Flames&rsquo; victory in overtime&mdash;after suffering from the flu all day, and continued to feel sick when he was on the ice. In fact, he vomited several times before the game.But even when he was feeling well, the Flames boxed him in along the boards each time he crossed the blue line. The Flames, in fact, took out all of the Hawks effectively, in winning the best-of-seven series 4-1.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;But I gave it everything I had. I did the best I could.&rdquo;Savard played just 58 games in the regular season, the fewest in his nine-year career with the Hawks, primarily because of stretched ankle ligaments. His 23 goals and 82 points were his lowest totals since his rookie year in 1980-81, but he maintained his career average of 1.4 points per game.There were rumors of Savard being traded during the season, and the rumors might emerge again with the Hawks out of the playoffs.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s beyond my control,&rdquo; he said. &lsquo;I want to stay. I&rsquo;ve never gone in and asked to be traded, and I won&rsquo;t. But I can&rsquo;t control that. It&rsquo;s out of my hands.&rdquo;Savard had 19 points in the playoffs&mdash;13 points in six games in the opening round against Detroit, four in five games in the second round against St. Louis, and two in five games against Calgary.The Flames shut down the Hawks&rsquo; offense even more effectively on the smaller ice surface at Chicago Stadium than on the big ice sheet in Calgary&rsquo;s Saddledome. In losing two home games, the Hawks managed a total of six shots on goal in the first periods of games three and four.The Hawks didn&rsquo;t score a goal in the third period during the series. Their power play, without the injured Doug Wilson at left point, was 3-for-31 against Calgary.&ldquo;I guess the power play was one of the reasons (for the loss),&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;We struggled all series scoring goals, although (game five, a 3-1 Calgary win) was probably the best game they (the Flames) played the whole series. We&rsquo;ve still got a little bit to learn. Hopefully we can finish it next year.&rdquo;One of the things the Hawks learned is that having a game plan emphasizing forechecking doesn&rsquo;t work if a team doesn&rsquo;t, or can&rsquo;t, forecheck. The Flames plugged the holes, cut off the lanes and held up the Hawks&rsquo; wingers. They took the ice away with their size, checking and defense.The Flames went on to the Stanley Cup final for the second time in four years, but as Hawk coach Mike Keenan admitted, the Hawks are &ldquo;not there yet.&rdquo; They need to get bigger, deeper and better. They were hurt by injuries to Wilson and right winger Wayne Presley. And the Flames were deep enough to shrug off their own injuries.&ldquo;I look at this series and I say we got beat by a great hockey club,&rdquo; said Savard, &ldquo;and there&rsquo;s nothing we can do about it now.&rdquo;Next year could be different.&ldquo;The way we played in the playoffs, that&rsquo;s the way we should have played all year,&rdquo; said left winger Steve Thomas. &ldquo;We have to pick it up right from there next year.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Troy Murray, Adam Creighton, Denis Savard, Jeremy Roenick, Bob Bassen.LW&mdash;Greg Gilbert, Dan Vincelette, Mike Hudson, Everett Sanipass, Wayne Van Dorp, Steve Thomas, Jim Playfair.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Duane Sutter, Brian Noonan.LD&mdash;Steve Konroyd, Trent Yawney, Bruce Cassidy.RD&mdash;Dave Manson, Keith Brown, Bob McGill, Bob Murray, Mario Doyon.G&mdash;Alain Chevrier, Darren Pang, Ed Belfour.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wayne Presley, RW, dislocated right shoulder.Jimmy Waite, G, broken collarbone.Doug Wilson, D, groin pull. &#9632;

NO ROOM FOR THE BLACKHAWKS

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>Tim Bothwell could have taken the money and run.Instead, he stuck around and earned it.After it became apparent the veteran defenseman could not play again with the St. Louis Blues late in the season because of a groin injury, he volunteered for off-ice duty.In the last month of the season, Bothwell served as a freelance trouble-shooter. helping out as an advance scout, breaking down videos and supervising skates for those players not on road trips.&ldquo;I enjoyed doing all that,&rdquo; said Bothwell, 34. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s as close as I could get to helping the guys. I didn&rsquo;t have to do it. I was injured and under contract.&ldquo;They had to pay me anyway, and it was frustrating for me to sit and watch. I felt if they wanted me to do something to help the team and be a little useful, I&rsquo;d be glad to help out.&rdquo;The Blues appreciated his good attitude. General manager Ron Caron would like to offer him a job in the organization, but said he has nothing to offer. Bothwell announced his retirement after the season.Bob Berry and Joe Micheletti are firmly entrenched as assistants to head coach Brian Sutter, and Wayne Thomas is set as the coach at Peoria, the Blues&rsquo; farm team in the International League.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to stay here, sure, but that&rsquo;s their decision and they&rsquo;re happy with what they have,&rdquo; said Bothwell. &ldquo;They did discuss a job scouting. That&rsquo;s a possibility, but I want to look around and see what I can see.&rdquo;Bothwell sees several jobs open for assistant coaches in the NHL, but said it&rsquo;s difficult for a player to break in as an assistant for another team. He&rsquo;s made some informal inquiries around the league, and he&rsquo;s exploring the possibility of coaching a junior team in Canada. If he can&rsquo;t find a coaching job, he said he&rsquo;ll return to his native Vancouver and volunteer to help a junior team in the area while returning to college.&ldquo;Coaching is not an easy job; there&rsquo;s more to it than meets the eye,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of different coaches between my NHL and college careers, and I feel I&rsquo;m qualified.&rdquo;Bothwell spent parts of 11 seasons in the NHL after his graduation from Brown University in 1978 with a degree in political science and economics.He spent four years in the New York Rangers&rsquo; organization, but played only 52 games. The Blues picked him up in the 1982 waiver draft. Bothwell played almost six of the next seven seasons with the Blues. He spent one season and four games with Hartford.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01299/5685522-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="538" height="648"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Bothwell helped out the Blues&rsquo; coaches after his injury</figcaption></div>He played in 502 career games, with 28 goals and 93 assists for 121 points. On the current Blues&rsquo; roster, only Bernie Federko has spent more time with the Blues.Bothwell played only 22 games and scored no points in his final season. He began it in Peoria and came up to the Blues after a month, playing in 18 of the Blues&rsquo; next 23 games. He hurt his groin in late December and played only five of the Blues&rsquo; final 43 games. He did not play after Feb. 27. &#9632;

f0040-01

BOTHWELL SEARCHES FOR COACHING JOB

<div class="byline">BY RICK MATSUMOTO</div>Chris Kotsopoulos maintains he can still play in the NHL, but whether it&rsquo;s with the Toronto Maple Leafs remains to be seen.The veteran defenseman will soon get his answer, when a contract offer arrives in the mail.The 30-year-old Kotsopoulos is one of 20 players under contract to the Leafs who are entering the option year of their contracts.By June 1, the Leafs must offer each a new pact&mdash;which can come in the form of a multi-year package, a one-year deal with an option, a one-year termination contract, or an offer to buy out the option year at two-thirds of its value.Kotsopoulos, BorjeSalming and Dan Daoust are the only players from the Leaf roster who are likely to be offered termination contracts. The others are with the Newmarket Saints.That&rsquo;s what the Leafs offered Salming last year, and the aging Swede accepted the deal. In fact, it&rsquo;s likely they&rsquo;ll make Salming the same offer again.Kotsopoulos said he hasn&rsquo;t formulated his plans.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02199/5685553-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="536" height="598"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Lanz&rsquo;s future with the Leafs remains uncertain.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to wait and see,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to say anything until I&rsquo;ve seen their offer. I know, however, that I can still play. Naturally, I hope it&rsquo;s here.&rdquo;Leafs&rsquo; general manager Gord Stellick, who was attending the Memorial Cup in Saskatoon, said he had not yet sent out contract offers.&ldquo;The contracts don&rsquo;t have to go out until June 1,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and the majority of them are minor-league players anyway.&rdquo;Any player offered a termination deal has 30 days in which to scout about for a better deal with another team.That&rsquo;s how the Leafs signed Craig Laughlin, Dave Reid, Paul Gagne, Doug Shedden and Allan Hepple last summer.If the player doesn&rsquo;t sign with another team, he must finish out his option with the Leafs. Stellick said he doesn&rsquo;t expect to lose any of the players to whom he offers termination contracts.While aging and fringe players entering their option year will be offered termination pacts, others such as center Ed Olczyk will be presented with new. long-term pacts.If Olczyk, the Leafs&rsquo; leading scorer the past two seasons, can&rsquo;t come to terms on a new contract, he can play next season on his option clause and still negotiate during the year.Goalie Allan Bester is in the same situation as Olczyk.Three other Leafs&mdash;defensemen Rick Lanz and Brian Curran, and center Ken Yaremchuk&mdash;have played out their options and will become free agents after June 1.The Leafs are anxious to re-sign the truculent Curran, while Yaremchuk, who got into hot water for a drinking episode during a road trip to Los Angeles this past season, is expected to play in Europe next season.Lanz&rsquo;s future is uncertain. Hampered by injuries, he appeared in only 32 games, scoring one goal and nine assists, while recording a dismal minus-17.Under NHL rules Lanz, Yaremchuk or Curran can sign with another NHL team, but the Leafs have the right to match the offer and force the player to remain in Toronto. &#9632;

f0040-02

CONTRACT DECISION TIME COMING

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div>Marc Habscheid has been around enough to know there&rsquo;s no such thing as the perfect bargaining position for an NHL player. The North Stars&rsquo; center has also been around enough to know there&rsquo;s a really good position&mdash;and that&rsquo;s exactly where he is.Habscheid is at the end of a termination contract with a 23-goal season behind him, and the opportunity to sign with any team&mdash;without compensation.&ldquo;This puts me in a better position than I&rsquo;ve ever been in during my pro career,&rdquo; said Habscheid, 26. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned from being moved around and bounced around that you&rsquo;ve never got the cat by the tail. There are no guarantees in this game.&rdquo;It doesn&rsquo;t take much to put Habscheid in a better position than before. Consider this: Last season was the first in eight he spent with just one team.&ldquo;The last time I was with one team from start to finish was when I was 18 years old with the Saskatoon Blades,&rdquo; he said.Since then he has bounced between the NHL and the minors. When he decided he didn&rsquo;t want to return to the minors, he bounced between the NHL and the Canadian Olympic program.When asked if he really didn&rsquo;t get bored staying in the same city all season, Habscheid said, &ldquo;I kind of liked it. It kind of grows on you.&rdquo;But it is because of his former nomadic lifestyle that he will find himself available to negotiate with all 21 NHL teams this summer. After being acquired from Edmonton in a 1985 trade, Habscheid played six games for the North Stars in 1985-86 and 15 games at the start of the following season. When the Stars asked him to report to the minors a month into the 1986-87 season, Habscheid balked and obtained his release so he could join the Canadian Olympic program. After the Calgary Games a year later, Habscheid signed with the Stars again, but with a catch.&ldquo;Because I had been bounced around so much, I wanted a little security,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wanted a one way contract. They (the Stars under former general manager Lou Nanne) didn&rsquo;t give one-way contracts then, but they agreed to a one-way contract if it was for less money and a shorter period. So I got a termination contract, which was a gamble on my part and I guess a gamble on theirs, too.&rdquo;The gamble paid off for Habscheid and now perhaps the Stars will have to pay substantially if they want to keep one of their precious few goal scorers. Habscheid finished tied for third in goals (23) with Brian Bellows, behind Dave Gagner (35) and Mike Gartner (33).Habscheid scored five more goals in 1988-89 than he did in six previous abbreviated NHL seasons. And he did it despite playing sparingly in the first six weeks and slumping in the final weeks. Habscheid scored just one goal in his first 20 games. He suffered a stress fracture in his hand with three weeks left in the season and scored only two goals in his last 14 games. In between, he scored 20, mostly while playing on a line with Neal Broten and Brian MacLellan.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01247/5685584-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="561" height="822"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Habscheid, coming off his best season, is a free agent.</figcaption></div>Habscheid&rsquo;s one-season spurt puts him in a stronger, yet uncertain negotiating situation. He wants a one-way, multi-year contract for substantial money. But his inability to stick with one team in the past could limit his request.&ldquo;The way I look at it now, I don&rsquo;t feel it&rsquo;d be a gamble for a team, not after playing for the Olympic team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Before the Olympic team, it would have been. But I&rsquo;ve rounded out my game because of that. I can play point on the power play. I can kill penalties. I can play left side, right side, center. Even if the goals aren&rsquo;t coming, I can do a lot of other things.&rdquo;Stars&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira said he wants to sign Habscheid, but admitted the process could be troublesome. Habscheid said he would like to stay in Minnesota.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 26 and you want to be happy where you play,&rdquo; said Habscheid, from his cottage in southern Saskatchewan. &ldquo;I really like the city, the players. It&rsquo;s more important for me to be happy than to have a lot of money. But you also have to think about what&rsquo;s going to be best for you 20 years down the line.&rdquo;If Habscheid doesn&rsquo;t sign with the Stars, one logical destination might be Los Angeles. The Kings are desperate to improve themselves and they have plenty of money. And Habscheid is a pal of Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know as of now,&rdquo; Habscheid said. &ldquo;Everyone would like to play in Los Angeles. But I&rsquo;m not really a Hollywood type of guy. I like to putter around the lake and feed some cattle. But it would be a really good team. I&rsquo;m not in any real hurry. I want to look at the all the possibilities and then make the best decision for me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0041-01

HABSCHEID WEIGHS HIS CONTRACT OPTIONS

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>The Detroit Red Wings don&rsquo;t want to stand in Colin Campbell&rsquo;s way.But they don&rsquo;t want to let their assistant coach go without a price either. Campbell, who is a frontrunner for the head-coaching job with the Los Angeles Kings, has been with the Red Wings four years and has one year remaining on his contract.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very valuable member of our coaching team,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano. &ldquo;Jacques (head coach Demers) and I really like Colin, and he&rsquo;s very well-respected by the players.&ldquo;He is a definite company asset, and we&rsquo;d like to get something in return. We developed him. In return for our inconvenience and for our loss, we&rsquo;re going to ask for a little bit of compensation. It won&rsquo;t be restrictive. It will be a late-round pick. If the (New York) Rangers give up a first-round pick for Michel Bergeron (two years ago), we can get a late-round pick for Soupy.&rdquo;Kings&rsquo; general manager Rogie Vachon asked Devellano May 4 for permission to talk with Campbell about the job. Vachon met with Devellano May 8 in New Haven, Conn., to continue negotiations, Devellano said. The Kings&rsquo; minor-league club in New Haven and Detroit&rsquo;s affiliate, Adirondack, were engaged in the finalsof the Calder Cup playoff to determine the American League champion. Adirondack led the best-of-seven series 3-1 after four games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01260/5685615-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="688" height="751"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Red Wings signed defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell to a one-year contract.</figcaption></div>Devellano also claimed a sentimental attachment to Campbell, the first player Detroit signed in 1982 after Devellano became general manager. Campbell played three seasons on defense for the Wings before becoming an assistant to then-coach Harry Neale in 1985-86.If Campbell does get the opportunity in Los Angeles, he won&rsquo;t be able to share it with his father, Jack, who died in Tillsonburg, Ont., May 6, at the age of 59.Within a few days after their season ended, the Wings&rsquo; coaching staff met to discuss players the club would be interested in acquiring this summer. Two high on their list are New York Ranger goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, a Detroit native, and Calgary defenseman Rob Ramage, who played for Demers in St. Louis.A Wings&rsquo; source confirmed they would like to put those two in the lineup for next season. Devellano, however, noted he had not talked to any NHL general manager regarding trades.A year ago, the Wings cut loose a pair of veterans, Harold Snepsts and Mel Bridgman, inmoves they admit now might have been a bit hasty. Which is why they&rsquo;re being extra cautious now regarding veterans who may still be able to contribute another season.The Wings announced May 3 the signing of 31-year-old right winger Jim Nill to a one-year contract and Devellano confirmed they offered 33-year-old defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell a one-year termination contract May 8.&ldquo;We need a certain amount of experience and veteran leadership,&rdquo; said Devellano.The Wings have said they would like to add three defensemen, three forwards&mdash;one at each position&mdash;and a goalie before heading into next season.Ex Wings coach now a hockey Night in Canada analyst, got a chuckle out of that.&ldquo;Hell, that&rsquo;s what we needed when I was there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;d got that, I&rsquo;d still be coaching there.&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 3: Jim Nill, RW, signed to a one-year contract. &#9632;

f0042-01

WINGS WILL RELEASE CAMPBELL FOR A PRICE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02194/5685684-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Pictured Jet was drafted first overall in 1981.8. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Civic Arena is also known by this nickname.9. Barclay, Bill and Bob.10. Locker.11 First name of the WHA&rsquo;s third rookie of the year, later named Masterton Trophy winner.12. Use up.14. Uses one&rsquo;s hands or arms to impede an opponent.17. Goalie&rsquo;s area.19. This former Leaf led the NHL in penalty minutes in 1959-60 and again in 1964-65.20. Shot the puck hard.21. Relax (3,2).22. He was with the Leafs when they won the Stanley Cup in 1942, 1945,1947 and 1948, Wally.<h2>DOWN:</h2>2. The cup won by the Brantford Motts in 1987.3. Nickname of the Salt Lake team that won the 1988 Turner Cup, &ldquo;Golden.&rdquo;4. First name of the NHL&rsquo;s last back-to-back penalty minutes leader.5. Used up the playing time of a penalty.6. Edmonton was the site of the1989 NHL game.7. The most goals scored by Frank Mahovlich in an NHL or WHA season (5,4).11. North Star center drafted sixth overall in 1987.13. Clare Drake has long coached this Canadian university.15. Takes a series in consecutive games.16. Color worn by the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA.17. The Blues&rsquo; general manager.18. Traditional pre-game mealCrossword solution in Classified Section on page 42.<h2>CROSSWORD SOLUTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02187/5685677-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="562" height="559"></div> &#9632;

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May 26, 1989

DID YOU KNOW…

WAY WE WERE

SCOREBOARD

PAPER REPORTS HABS IN BAR FIGHT