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

September 29, 1989

The Hockey News September 29, 1989

As with other sports, high-tech materials are eroding the position of wood in hockey sticks.You don&rsquo;t believe it? Just try to find a wood tennis racket these days or ask how many fisherman use a wood pole when they venture out to catch the big ones. Even in baseball and softball, wood appears doomed! In a recent Sports Illustrated feature, the dominance of aluminum baseball and softball bats was highlighted, with most coaches and players commenting that the cost of wood bats was simply too high.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01748/5983022-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="558" height="1376"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Suter, above, and Mike Ridley use Easton aluminum.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02514/5983015-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="568" height="1360"></div>Will hockey find itself without that traditional wood stick in the years to come? Perhaps not, but Easton aluminum shafts have really caught fire. With more than 50 NHL pros using the Easton stick full-time, players at other levels are catching on.This year, Easton features seven models of aluminum sticks and more than 10 different replacement blade patterns to make your choice that much easier. Always known for lightness, consistency and a hard shot, Easton aluminum sticks are becoming popular because they are a good buy.You can find an aluminum stick on the dealer shelves ranging in price from $39.95 to $69.95. Sounds expensive? Perhaps not when you consider that the shaft may last for a year or more and all you have to do is buy replacement blades at, say, $11.95 to $14.95. Figure it out! It won&rsquo;t take long before your aluminum stick buy has cost you less than the purchase of all those wood and fiberglass sticks you go through in a season.Tim Kerr says it best: &ldquo;Lightness, consistency from shaft to shaft and a super hard shot are the things that I&rsquo;ve benefited from with my Easton stick over more than eight years of NHL play.&rdquo;Time marches forward and aluminum sticks continue to grab up a market that was once dominated by wood alone. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

ALUMINUM STICKS…MORE CHOICE THAN EVER

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>Alexandr Mogilny&rsquo;s quest for freedom has taken him across the world. But now that he&rsquo;s free to play in the NHL, he can&rsquo;t even get out of his new country&rsquo;s backyard.Because of his uncertain immigration status (as of Sept. 18), Mogilny hasn&rsquo;t been allowed to travel with his teammates to Canadian cities. The Sabres&rsquo; only exhibition game in Canada is scheduled for Sept. 30 in Toronto. The Sabres&rsquo; first road game of the regular season is set for Oct. 7 in Montreal.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been advised that under the terms of his current status, he cannot cross the border,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan. &ldquo;Under the terms of his immigration status (application for asylum) he is in a parole situation and cannot leave the country until his petition (for permanent status) is finalized.&rdquo;Which means if the regular season were to begin in late September, Mogilny would be able to travel across the country to play the Los Angeles Kings, but he wouldn&rsquo;t be able to take the two-hour drive to Toronto to play the Maple Leafs. Nor would he be able to play against the Montreal Canadiens, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers or Vancouver Canucks on the road.Given that Monteal and Quebec are Adams Division opponents the Sabres play eight times in the province of Quebec alone&mdash;four games in each city&mdash;it is a problem of significant proportions.&ldquo;We have no idea how long the situation will continue,&rdquo; said Meehan. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been expecting a decision for a number of days now. We know his application is in the right place and we fully excpect it to be handled favorably, but as it stands now he can&rsquo;t go.&rdquo;Mogilny&rsquo;s application for permanent residence in the United States was under review by both the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Immigration Department. The Soviet has already been given two temporary visas, the latest said to expire Nov. 9, one month into the season. If U.S. officials were to wait until that date to extend Mogilny permenant resident status, he would miss two games in Montreal and one in Toronto.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our understanding that you can petition for a waiver if there is serious family or serious business considerations,&rdquo; Meehan said &ldquo;At this point (training camp) we don&rsquo;t consider that an option. Almost from the start of training camp we felt his situation (regarding permenant status) was day-to-day. We still think it is very close to that.&rdquo;Meehan stressed he has had nothing put positive indications from government officials regarding Mogilny&rsquo;s application and that he expects the issue to be resolved for the good of the player and the team.Mogilny, meanwhile, had more immediate problems.Injured by a high stick in a Sept. 13 scrimmage, he was held out of one workout for what Meehan said were strictly precautionary reasons. Mogilny was cut around the eye and required stitches, but there was no damage to the retina.He returned to the lineup Sept. 15 and sat out the Sabres&rsquo; first exhibition game, a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils Sept. 16 in Rochester, N.Y. In his debut with the Sabres the next night, he had a goal and an assist in a 7-4 home win over the Hartford Whalers.&ldquo;He had some blurred vision,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;The doctors advised us to hold him back for a day and see how it clears up.&rdquo; &#9632;

THE NHL

CANADA IS OFF LIMITS TO SOVIET DEFECTOR

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>It was a general manager&rsquo;s nightmare&mdash;a call from his star goaltender to report a knee injury suffered during a pickup game.For an instant, Lou Lamoriello saw the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; entire season flash before his eyes. It would be another 36 hours before arthroscopic surgery revealed there was no damage to Sean Burke&rsquo;s right knee.Burke was expected to miss seven to 10 days of training camp, giving the Devils an opportunity to evaluate Rollie Melanson, Chris Terreri and Craig Billington in the battle for backup goalie.&ldquo;The last couple of weeks of summer most guys skate. I was playing with some guys back home in Toronto. I went down to make a save and when I got up I felt a twinge (in his right knee),&rdquo; Burke explained the morning after undergoing exploratory arthroscopic surgery Sept. 6.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t so much that I was worried, it&rsquo;s just something you don&rsquo;t want to mess around with,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;Usually if you do something serious you can feel it. I did the other knee a couple of years back. When this happened, I felt I should call the team right away.&rdquo;&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t panic because of Sean&rsquo;s tone,&rdquo; Lamoriello recalled. &ldquo;He knew it wasn&rsquo;t serious. It wasn&rsquo;t like we rushed him down here on the next flight. He had planned to drive to New Jersey the next morning, but we had him fly down that night for an examination.&rdquo;A magnetic resonance imaging test revealed no damage, but team orthopedist Dr. Barry Fisher decided to scope the knee to make sure. Burke, who was 22-31-9 with a 3.84 goals-against average in his first full NHL season, should be 100 per cent by the middle of training camp.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think this will set me back. I feel I&rsquo;ve gotten myself into real good shape this summer,&rdquo; said the 22-year-old goalie. &ldquo;The only thing I wanted was to get on the ice and get ready as soon as I could.&rdquo;In a roundabout way, the injury could help Burke. It gives the Devils a chance to spend more time finding Burke&rsquo;s backup.&ldquo;Fortunately, Sean&rsquo;s fine and he&rsquo;s going to be fine,&rdquo; said coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;In a way it does afford us the luxury to look at some of our other goalies now. In another way, you&rsquo;d like to see everyone start camp on Day 1. The blessing is, with something like that, it could be serious and it turns out to be nothing.&rdquo;The backup spot opened when Bob Sauve retired July 13. Minor-leaguers Billington and Terreri were set for a head-to-head training camp battle, only to see Melanson enter the picture when he was signed as a free agent Aug. 10.&ldquo;I felt sure throughout the summer that the Devils would do something to acquire another goaltender,&rdquo; said Burke. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t surprised. Rollie has played some good hockey.&rdquo;Melanson, 29, is the odds-on favorite to win the job, although Schoenfeld insisted the decision was far from being made.&ldquo;Last year Billington or Terreri had to beat Bob Sauve out of the job and that was tough. This year there is a job open,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld.There is not, however, a battle for the No. 1 job. Burke was anxious to bounce back from his minor mishap.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just anxious to get out there and play,&rdquo; said Burke. &ldquo;I want to see if this team can jell quickly. I&rsquo;m a little excited to see how the two Soviets (Viacheslav Fetisov and Serge Starikov) are going to do. We&rsquo;ve got a chance, with the trades and acquisitions we made, to have a real strong team.&rdquo;Burke, a former Olympian, will be seeing Fetisov from a different perspective.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen Fetisov play a lot of times,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;You tend to watch a guy like him because of his reputation. The last time I saw him was at the World Championships and he had a solid tournament. He doesn&rsquo;t make mistakes.&ldquo;I watched him a little more closely to see his tendencies. What I saw was a type of guy you give the puck and he takes charge. That&rsquo;s important from a goalie&rsquo;s standpoint. Every team needs a Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Mark Howe type of guy.&rdquo;And. as Lamoriello knows, a healthy No. 1 goaltender. &#9632;

BURKE’S INJURY GIVES GM A SCARE

<h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01287/5983475-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="561" height="89"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02186/5983468-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="561" height="98"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03138/5983461-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="561" height="70"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04113/5983454-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="569" height="68"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05100/5983447-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="570" height="91"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0692/5983440-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="559" height="58"></div><h2>HARTFORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0780/5983433-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="562" height="66"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0864/5983426-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="565" height="53"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0947/5983419-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="568" height="56"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1041/5983412-1-eng-US/f0041-102.jpg" title="f0041-10" width="563" height="96"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1139/5983405-1-eng-US/f0041-112.jpg" title="f0041-11" width="569" height="62"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1231/5983398-1-eng-US/f0041-122.jpg" title="f0041-12" width="564" height="121"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1326/5983391-1-eng-US/f0041-132.jpg" title="f0041-13" width="564" height="93"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1425/5983384-1-eng-US/f0041-142.jpg" title="f0041-14" width="535" height="92"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1524/5983377-1-eng-US/f0041-152.jpg" title="f0041-15" width="558" height="61"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1621/5983370-1-eng-US/f0041-162.jpg" title="f0041-16" width="561" height="59"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1717/5983363-1-eng-US/f0041-172.jpg" title="f0041-17" width="560" height="34"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1816/5983356-1-eng-US/f0041-182.jpg" title="f0041-18" width="563" height="60"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1913/5983349-1-eng-US/f0041-192.jpg" title="f0041-19" width="557" height="113"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-2013/5983342-1-eng-US/f0041-202.jpg" title="f0041-20" width="561" height="167"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-2113/5983335-1-eng-US/f0041-212.jpg" title="f0041-21" width="558" height="92"></div> &#9632;

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STARTING TIMES NHL GAMES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011328/5981686-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="550" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Starikov</figcaption></div>In the Oct. 6 issue of The Hockey News we&rsquo;ll tell you everything you have yet to hear about the Soviets who will be playing in the National Hockey League this season.Can Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov handle the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; exhaustive travel schedule? Will Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov cope with the grind that is the Patrick Division? Will Sergei Makarov be rookie of the year in the NHL? All that and more.We&rsquo;ll also take a look at top candidates, besides Makarov and his countrymen, for the CalderTrophy. Chicago&rsquo;s Jeremy Roenick is one who will most certainly challenge.Plus, we&rsquo;ll have a retrospective on Friendship Tour &rsquo;89, looking at the pros and cons of Calgary&rsquo;s and Washington&rsquo;s European vacation, and our annual preview of the American League season.All in the Oct. 6 issue of THN.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021071/5981679-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="550" height="656"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NEXT ISSUE

For Stan Fischlerto suggest Vladislav Tretiak doesn&rsquo;t belong in the Hall of Fame (THN. Sept. 15), is absolutely ridiculous.Anyone who knows hockey is aware Tretiak was one of the finest goalies ever to play the game. Fischler also claims that Tretiak &ldquo;folded down the stretch during the 1972 Canada-Russia series.&rdquo; C&rsquo;mon Stan, he was facing a team of the NHL&rsquo;s best shooters and everyone expected him to get massacred. Just because he didn&rsquo;t play an 80-game NHL schedule doesn&rsquo;t mean a thing.In the same column, Fischler claimed that &ldquo;the playoffs haven&rsquo;t convinced everyone that Mike Vernon is for real.&rdquo;But in an article for Inside Sports&rsquo; hockey preview, he says: &ldquo;Vernon lifted himself to the Grant Fuhr-Kelly Hrudey-Ron Hextall plateau,&rdquo; and &ldquo;delivered the first Cup to Calgary by out-duelling Patrick Roy in the finals.&rdquo;Make up your mind, Stan.Robert Chevrette&nbsp;Alban. Ont.<h2>GET A GRIP</h2>My message to Perry Harden:Get a grip. To say that Wayne Gretzky is &ldquo;the most overrated athlete in the history of any sport&rdquo; (THN. Sept. 15) is about as ridiculous as saying that you know what you&rsquo;re talking about.Gretzky may have his shortcomings but he&rsquo;s proven time and time again that he&rsquo;s the most valuable player to his team. How many Stanley Cups would Edmonton have won without him? None. Would the Los Angeles Kings have finished second in the Smythe Division without him? No.R. Cuff&nbsp;Toronto, Ont.<h2>GRETZKY GREAT</h2>Perry Harden should consult the record books and re-think his opinions of Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky has proven to be a leader and a winner on any team he&rsquo;s ever played on.Any general manager in the NHL would love to have a player like Gretzky&mdash;shortcomings and all. He has re-written many NHL records and he&rsquo;s not finished yet.Chuck Milkiewicz&nbsp;Woodhaven, Mich.<h2>HE&rsquo;S A STAR</h2>In a recent issue, your Adams Division noteook reported that Boston Bruin defenseman Raymond Bourque failed to earn a berth on a post-season all-star team for the first time in his career (THN, Sept. 15). Yet, several other publications have stated that Bourque was a second-team all-star.Please let the truth be known.Craig M. Taclof&nbsp;Windsor, Vt.(Ed. note: Bourque was named a second-team all-star last season. Our apologies for the error.)<h2>UNHAPPY HAB</h2>I am very disappointed the Montreal Canadiens will have a new Forum by the year 1995, for the sake of 4,000 more seats. There is so much tradition in the Forum, it should be declared a national historic site.The only good out of it would be that possibly, Montreal may get awarded another NHL franchise. With two teams in Montreal&mdash;there also used to be the Maroons&mdash;English-speaking people could have a team in western Montreal and Frenchspeaking people could have a team in eastern Montreal.Derek Rogers&nbsp;Kingston, Ont.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011491/5981741-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="546" height="1167"><figcaption class="caption-body">Reader Michael Martin is no fan of Harold Ballard, above.</figcaption></div><h2>COVER IT UP</h2>There is no excuse for putting Toronto Maple Leaf owner Harold Ballard on your front cover (THN, Sept. 8).I can think of a lot of other people who could have replaced the old curmudgeon in that issue. Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; general manager Pat Quinn or L.A. Kings&rsquo; defenseman Larry Robinson immediately come to mind.But THN continues to believe the universe revolves around the Maple Leafs. Could that be because the most embarrassing, apathetic, abysmal hockey team in the NHL is near your office?Michael Martin&nbsp;Yellowknife. NWT.Make your feelings kno wn. 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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DEPARTMENTS

TRETIAK A WORTHY HALL-OF-FAMER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021214/5981786-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"></div>&#9632; Soviet customs agents give hassle-free service to the Washington Capitals.&nbsp;Glasnost is here, in a big way. Even Czechoslovak Michal Pivonka had no trouble getting past Soviet agents, who took the &lsquo;Friendship Tour&rsquo; to heart. It&rsquo;s encouraging to see the Soviets lying to cut red tape.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03804/5981779-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="374" height="372"></div>&#9632; Serge Savard plays Solomon and names co-captains on the Montreal Canadiens. After Chris Chelios and Guy Carbonneau tied in a three-ballot player vote, Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Savard took the only sensible route and made both finalists winners. Actually, everybody wins here, especially the players. Savard&rsquo;s was just another classy move from a classy organization.&#9632; The Ontario League introduces an automaticejection-for-fighting edict for its pre-season games. Egads, a pre-season game devoid of that macho posturing and incessant rumbling. Will the hockey world ever be the same againt Yes. The next step is to extend the ban to the regular season. But we&rsquo;ll never know unless we give it a try.&#9632; U. S. Immigration officials are still holding up Alexandr Mogilny. Mogilny has been in Buffalo since May 5, but his status is still listed as &ldquo;application for asylum.&rdquo; We keep hearing how his approval is a mere formality, but until it&rsquo;s approved, he can&rsquo;t join his Sabre teammates when they go on road trips to Canada. If it goes on much longer, Mogilny will have had to wait longer to get approval to stay in the United States than it took Viaches lav Fetisov to get out of the Soviet Union.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04447/5981772-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="370" height="370"></div>&#9632; Hartford Whaler prospect Corey Beaulieu arrives at training camp 30 pounds overweight. Hartford GM Eddie Johnston suggested the defenseman would be better suited as a &ldquo;sumo wrestler.&rdquo; Yikes. How could any professional athlete arrive to start the season in such woeful condition?&#9632; Canadien hopefuls Steve Martinson and Serge Roberge engage in five fights in one day. Sure, rookies and minor-leaguers can be expected to battle for jobs, but this is going a bit far. It didn&rsquo;t help Roberge; the Habs cut him. &#9632;

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CHEERS JEERS

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>The Edmonton Oilers may become the first NHL team to employ a Soviet full-time on its coaching staff.Yuri Moiseev, the head coach of Moscow Dynamo for the past five seasons, has joined the Oilers for training camp. A decision on permanent employment will be made after the camp. Moiseev, 49, was not rehired to coach the Dynamo this season.Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather said he spoke about Moiseev with former Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak two years ago, and has been interested in acquiring him ever since.&ldquo;Tretiak told me Yuri was the best technical coach they had,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;At the end of training camp, we&rsquo;ll see how we get along, how the coaching team accepts him and how he accepts the change. Then we&rsquo;ll work it out.&ldquo;The Soviets have different techniques and methods that we can employ to improve our players, and that&rsquo;s why Yuri is here.&rdquo;After playing for the Central Red Army from 1962 to 1972, Moiseev became director of the Red Army team for two years. In 1974, he was named head coach of the Red Army&rsquo;s farm team in Kuybishev and became an assistant to Red Army coach Viktor Tikhonov in 1976. He held the post until 1984. That year, he took the head coaching job with Dynamo.&ldquo;As far as being with the Edmonton Oilers is concerned, it is an honor to be with this great hockey club,&rdquo; said Moiseev. &ldquo;If my presence helps even a little bit, I will be a very happy man.&rdquo;<h2>GUILTY PLEA</h2>One of the two men accused of killing former NHLer Brian Spencer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received 18 years in prison.Leon (Lump) Daniels, 35, of Riviera Beach, Fla., was sentenced by Judge Michael D. Miller in Palm Beach County Circuit Court Sept. 11. Daniels entered the guilty plea as part of a plea bargain in exchange for his testimony in the trial of the other suspect, Larry Willie Johnson Johnson, 31, was also charged with second-degree murder in connection with Spencer&rsquo;s June 3, 1988 shooting death.No trial date for Johnson was set.Spencer played with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins from 1969 to 1979.<h2>NATS START</h2>The Canadian National Team added a new twist to its annual training camp this season when it invited the Japanese National Team to take part.The Canadian camp was held Aug. 29 to Sept. 13 at the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, and 27 hopefuls were invited. The Japanese trained with the Canadians from Aug. 31 to Sept. 10.The Canadians also played the Japanese in three pre-season exhibition games, coming away with two wins and a tie.While the trip was a learning experience for the Japanese, who finished seventh in the &lsquo;B&rsquo; pool at last year&rsquo;s World Championships, Canadian coach Dave King said his players came away impressed with the Japanese team.&ldquo;I think their discipline and dedication had quite an impact on our players,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;You could see in many of the one-on-one drills that the spirit was really there, even if the talent always wasn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;King said the Japanese have no problems with offense but they&rsquo;ll have to tighten up defensively if they hope to rise in the international ranks.&ldquo;Offensively, they create a lot of chances and they move the puck very well,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had Soviet players and coaches over there for some time and it really shows in the way they play. They use the ice very well and they have no problem scoring goals.&ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t know if they have the checking that&rsquo;s required to play at the world level.&rdquo;Since appearing at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in 1980, the Japanese program has fallen upon difficult times. The goal now is to qualify for the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, and the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.The Canadians began their 1989-90 schedule with a 5-5 tie against the International League&rsquo;s Milwaukee Admirals Sept. 16, and a 5-3 win over Salt Lake of the IHL Sept. 17. This year&rsquo;s schedule includes two trips to Japan as well as series against national teams from Czechoslovakia, France, Norway, Austria and the Soviet Union.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011399/5981817-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="558" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave King said the Canadians will have a tough time scoring.</figcaption></div>As always, Team Canada&rsquo;s major area of concern will be scoring goals.&ldquo;With 21 NHL teams as well as the minors, the scoring people are spread pretty thin,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;And this year it doesn&rsquo;t look like we&rsquo;ll get a lot of scoring.&rdquo;<h2>FEST &rsquo;90</h2>It will be a case of same time, same place for Hockey East and the Eastern College Athletic Conference this season.For the first time since seven schools broke away from the EC AC to form Hockey East six years ago, the two conferences will hold their annual championships the same weekend at the same locale.The Boston Garden will be host to Hockeyfest &rsquo;90, March 9 to 11. Four Hockey East finalists will compete for the Lamorieilo cup while ECAC teams will bid for the Whitelaw Cup.&ldquo;For the last five years, we&rsquo;ve basically been competing for the same fans,&rdquo; said Hockey East public relations director Kathy Walsh of the decision to consolidate the venue.Last season the Hockey East tournament was held at the Conte Forum at Boston College and drew more than 14,000 fans. The ECAC tournament was played the same weekend at the Boston Garden and attracted 19,615.<blockquote class="pullQuote">JAPANESE VISITORS AT NATS&rsquo; CAMP</blockquote>This season, Hockey East will play its two semifinals March 9, while the ECAC will play its semifinals the next night. The Hockey East finals will be played at 5 p.m. March 11, with the ECAC final going at 8 p.m. the same night.<h2>STILL MISSING</h2>Almost six weeks after his disappearance in Europe, there was no trace of Duncan MacPherson, a first-round pick of the New York Islanders in 1984. MacPherson, who was supposed to take a player-coach job with the Dundee Tigers in Scotland Aug. 12, has been missing in Europe since Aug. 10. His parents, Robert and Linda, and girlfriend Tara Anderson were still searching in Europe in late September&hellip; Alexandr Mogilny&rsquo;s defection to the Buffalo Sabres hasn&rsquo;t damaged Soviet relations with the NHL, said the vice president of the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation. Boris Mayorov said Sept. 13 that more Soviets will likely play in the NHL and that the Mogilny defection has been treated as an isolated incident&hellip;In an attempt to establish closer ties with its former National and Olympic Team players, USA Hockey has formed an alumni association.<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Sept. 27-28: NHL Board of Governors meetings in Chicago.Sept. 29: NHL protected and nonprotected lists announced. Western League regular season opens.Oct. 2: NHL waiver draft at 3 p.m (EDT) by conference call.Oct. 3: Hall-of-Fame induction ceremonies in Toronto.Oct. 5: NHL regular season begins. &#9632;

f0005-01

SOVIET COACH LENDS EXPERTISE TO OILERS

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Although other coaches might disagree, Canucks&rsquo; coach Bob McCammon figures the success formula for the 1990s will be based on NHL taxi squads. &ldquo;You have to have three or four extra players,&rdquo; says McCammon, &ldquo;and filter them in and out of the lineup. That way you don&rsquo;t have problems of bringing them up. It was that way when we won Stanley Cups in Edmonton. And the year the Oilers lost to Calgary in the second round (1986), the Flames had eight extra players the last two months of the season.&rdquo;&hellip;Some who have worked with new Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Doug Carpenter say he&rsquo;ll have to change his hard-nosed act if he&rsquo;s to succeed. &ldquo;If he doesn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; says one insider,&rdquo; the players will be sick of him by Christmas. But you know what they say, A camel doesn&rsquo;t change his humps.&rsquo; &ldquo;&hellip;Jim Sullivan, one of the off-ice officials who worked the now notorious &lsquo;Yellow Sunday&rsquo; playoff game between New Jersey and Boston in May 1988, says he blew a call. &ldquo;I have to admit.&rdquo; says Sullivan, &ldquo;that I missed an offside. One of the Bruins came over and said, &lsquo;It was offside by 10 feet.&rsquo; I looked him in the eye and said, &lsquo;I know.&rsquo; When he heard that he didn&rsquo;t know what to say.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Don Cherry&rsquo;s restaurant chain&mdash;Don Cherry&rsquo;s Grapevine&mdash;keeps expanding. He expects to have 10 in operation across Canada by next year. Grapes is currently finishing a new video entitled Don Cherry&rsquo;s Rock &lsquo;Em Sock &lsquo;Em Hockey. Cherry, who rarely gets unnerved before the camera, admits he was a bit bewildered when Chris Chelios appeared on camera with him. &ldquo;Chris brought his baby with him,&rdquo; Cherry recalls, &ldquo;and the kid kept hiccuping. That big, tough guy Chelios was like butter with the kid.&rdquo;<h2>TOO PRICY</h2>The reason why former Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Bob Johnson isn&rsquo;t general manager of the New York Rangers is that his asking price was $ I million over five years. Johnson is the executive director of USA Hockey&hellip;Tampa Bay interests still believe they have a shot at an NHL expansion franchise. The fast-growing Florida metropolis has set aside land for an arena as part of its long-range Sports Plex plan. Attorney. Mike Horan, who runs the Florida Hockey League, says Tampa will build the rink if an NHL franchise can be obtained&hellip;Devils&rsquo; assistant coach John Cuniff was reminded he was on the Bruins&rsquo; side of the fence last season when the Devils&rsquo; Jim Korn and Boston coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly nearly came to blows at Byrne Arena. &ldquo;That was a one-shot type of thing,&rdquo; says Cuniff, &ldquo;where Terry was emotional. Usually we go off the ice in the other direction but when we did that in the playoffs we got sprayed with beer. So this time, we went with the Devils. It was just a matter of poor timing, a one-shot emotional thing.&rdquo;&hellip;Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; right winger Mike Gartner on the Capitals&rsquo; annual playoff problems: &ldquo;It was a relief last spring just knowing I wasn&rsquo;t the cause of holding the Capitals back in previous years.&rdquo;<h2>DUMP THE NOSE</h2>Bobby Orr had a laugh after visiting the Gavin School near his Boston home. Students were asked to write to Orr, and seventh-grader Kerrianne Lowe dispatched this note: &ldquo;My mother remembers when you played and says that you were gorgeous, but the nose has to go. I think all Canadians have big noses, so don&rsquo;t feel bad.&rdquo; Sixth-grader Brian Donovan wrote: &ldquo;I appreciate you autographing my plaque because it&rsquo;s probably worth money now.&rdquo;&hellip;Rangers&rsquo; rookie GM Neil Smith is fast developing a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. On the plus side, he has been a pleasant, gracious interview and is well-liked by the media. On the minus side are reports of his not returning phone calls and cold-hearted sackings of New York favorites Ed Giacomin (assistant coach) and scout Al (Smokey) Cerrone. Dumped on the eve of training camp, Cerrone lashed at Smith: &ldquo;If he had sought to keep the best people, he would have checked my scouting reports. Check last year&rsquo;s draft. In almost 90 per cent of the cases, kids went in the exact round I&rsquo;d predicted.&rdquo;<h2>RIPKEN REPORT</h2>Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken, who played hockey in his youth, has a vivid memory of his last visit to Cap Centre as a fan. &ldquo;I was sitting near the glass and Rod Langway checked somebody into the boards,&rdquo; Ripken recalls. &ldquo;His stick went above the glass, and the whole boards looked like they were going to cave right in by me. Ice came from his stick and hit me right in the nose.&rdquo;&hellip;The new best-selling book, The Business of Business, sets aside a special section on the NHL. Author David Horowitz says, &ldquo;What a comeback story. You&rsquo;d have to turn to Rocky III for a comparable blend of violence and heart-tugging struggle to get back to the big time. In 1987 and 1988 the NHL actually managed to turn a profit, an event as rare as hen&rsquo;s teeth or front teeth on a goalie. Between 1975 and 1983, the NHL had gone $75 million into the tank.&ldquo;&hellip;Islanders&rsquo; Czechoslovakian right winger David Volek nevef played baseball until this year. He was highly-rated for his superb hitting, but got failing grades for his work on the basepaths. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d whack the ball,&rdquo; says one observer, &ldquo;but he was never sure where to run. And when he got on base and somebody else got a hit, he&rsquo;d look around waiting for someone to give him a signal.&rdquo; &#9632;

NHL TAXI SQUADS VITAL: McCAMMON

<div class="byline">BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011578/5981872-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="528" height="613"></div>Why is the Hockey Hall of Fame in such a hurry?Presumably, Alan Eagleson will be just as worthy of induction a few years down the road as he is today.Likewise for John Ziegler. Couldn&rsquo;t the Hall have waited until the NHL president, inducted in 1987, stepped down as the league&rsquo;s chief executive officer before bestowing upon him the highest individual honor one can attain in our game.This is not an attempt to impugn the credentials of either man, or any other builder, except maybe one, who was inducted while still at the zenith of his career.But what&rsquo;s the rush?When inducting players, there is a three-year waiting period. It serves a number of purposes, not the least of which is letting the accomplisments stand the test of time. It also offers perspective and a safeguard in the event a player decides to come back.Gordie Howe and Guy Lafleur illustrate it isn&rsquo;t foolproof, but if rare exceptions stand as tall and straight as a sequoia redwood or offer the beauty and grace of a Flower, so be it. Who&rsquo;s going to quibble?Why not, then, do something similar in the builders&rsquo; category? If not a three-year waiting period, then at least a little distance between the individual and his feats. In the case of Eagleson, executive director of thm NHL Players&rsquo; Association, it would be the day after he leaves that office.&ldquo;There has been discussion on a waiting period of some kind,&rdquo; says Scotty Morrison, the Hall&rsquo;s president and a member of the 11-man board of directors that is responsible for choosing the builders.&ldquo;Every year there are one or two board members who make that point. When Alan Eagleson was nominated this year, they said, &lsquo;Wait a minute, he&rsquo;s still very active, isn&rsquo;t he?&rsquo;. But I&rsquo;m of the opinion, and so is the majority of the board, that it isn&rsquo;t necessary. Otherwise, we wouldn&rsquo;t have been able to honor some very worthy people, such as Emile Francis, Harry Sinden or Bill Wirtz.&ldquo;I mean, it&rsquo;s obvious that Bill Wirtz (Chicago Blackhawk owner and longtime chairman of the NHL board of governors) is a true builder of the game and will continue to be. He may never cease to be involved; when would you honor him?&rdquo;The point is well taken, though it&rsquo;s worth noting that Wirtz was inducted in 1976&mdash;thirteen years ago. A trifle hurried, no?It&rsquo;s not as if there&rsquo;s a shortage of qualified candidates. This year, for example, Scott Bowman, the winningest coach (739 victories) in NHL history and with five Stanley Cups to his credit, was nominated and subsequently passed over in favor of The Eagle.One might argue that Bowman, 56. less than three years removed from a GM&rsquo;s job, may leave his Hockey Night in Canada color commentator&rsquo;s job to return to an NHL front office.Well, I&rsquo;d be willing to take my chances that Bowman is further removed from the day-to-day affairs of the game than Eagleson and, therefore, deserves first and foremost consideration.And would it not have been prudent to wait a few more years before giving Ziegler his due? Then perhaps another worthy candidate&mdash;such as Father David Bauer (a posthumous inductee in 1989)&mdash;would have received greater consideration.There is one other reason for induction during the twilight of a man&rsquo;s career. What if. after he&rsquo;s in, fame evolves to shame?Harold Ballard may have been an honorable inductee in 1977&mdash;let&rsquo;s give him the benefit of the doubt&mdash;but that isn&rsquo;t so today. His legacy to hockey, from a competitive point of view, is the emasculation of a once-proud franchise. If the Hall opens a Wreckers&rsquo; wing, the Toronto owner should be the charter inductee.Yet another reason why the Hall should exercise a little patience with prospective builders. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

WHY THE RUSH TO HOCKEY FAME?

<h2>BOBBY SMITH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021084/5981903-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="543" height="874"></div>Born: Feb. 12. 1958, North Sydney, N.S Height: 6-foot-4. Weight: 210 pounds. Team: Montreal Canadiens. Position: Center. Acquired: Traded to Montreal by Minnesota. Oct. 28, 1983.Automobile: Drives a Jeep Wagoneer and a BMW.Favorite Visiting City: &ldquo;I like playing in Boston because of the rivalry. We always have great games there.&rdquo;Favorite Road Pastime: Reading.Favorite Book:&nbsp;The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, by William Manchester.Favorite Movie:&nbsp;One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.Favorite Album:&nbsp;The River, by Bruce Springsteen.Career Highlight: Winning Stanley Cup, 1985-86.Boyhood Heroes: Jean Beliveau. Frank Mahovolich.How he&rsquo;d like to be remembered: As a good playoff player. &#9632;

f0006-02

PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY SCOTTY MORRISON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011425/5981934-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div>Reflecting on his remarkable career&mdash;a storybook odyssey through 15 winters, played out in three quite separate acts&mdash;the ultimate irony was not lost on Darryl Sittler.Sittler conceded that he is recognized most for his contributions to a team which will no longer acknowledge him, and that his strongest allegiance remains with the same team, despite its indifference toward him.It is an incongruity he can only in part understand, but has accepted. And it also somehow neatly captures the essence of his career, the unholy marriage of talents and tempests.&ldquo;I guess I still feel this way myself,&rdquo; said Sittler, who on Oct. 3 in Toronto will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with fellow players Vladislav Tretiak and Herbie Lewis and builders Alan Eagleson and Father David Bauer.&ldquo;Most fans still recognize me for being a Toronto Maple Leaf. I&rsquo;m the same way. The best things that happened to me in my career happened while in Toronto.&rdquo;They were, to be more precise, the best and worst of times. A civic hero, sometimes adored nationally. Sittler remains the most popular and successful Maple Leaf of the past two decades (and not by default). Yet he is no longer welcome within Maple Leaf Gardens. The megalomaniac owner, Harold Ballard, refuses to allow old wounds to heal, or old players to come back into the fold.Despite his contributions, when Sittler departed the Leafs in 1982, he was termed by Ballard &ldquo;a cancer&rdquo; on the team. Three years later, as he contemplated a retirement that soon became reality, he called the Leafs seeking employment&mdash;but was refused. This past summer, Sittler was close to reaching a deal to serve as a consultant to then-general manager Gord Stellick, but when Ballard miscalculated the arrangement. Sittler was again rebuffed.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t want to dredge up the things that happened to me in Toronto,&rdquo; said Sittler, &ldquo;but things change quickly around there.&rdquo;Still, the situation in Toronto does serve as a microcosm of the almost alter-ego effect that existed in his impressive 15-year career. Talented, gritty, determined on the ice, Sittler was the same sort off the ice, too. Proud and emotional. And it is why his career was often steeped in controversy, with conflicts with management in Toronto, heartache in Philadelphia, and a feud with the coach in Detroit.Sittler was the kind of player who demanded absolute dedication from everyone. More than being disruptive, he was too often brutally honest&mdash;an ombudsman in the dressing room. His career will be remembered for its many aspects, too, the brilliance of a player and the turmoil that seemed to haunt him. His induction into the Hall of Fame, though, suggests he was at least not misunderstood.&ldquo;I always just tried to do my best,&rdquo; said Sittler, now 39. &ldquo;I tried to work hard and muck my way through. When I look back on some of the things that happened, out of principle, I had to speak out, but I guess you could say they were all character-building experiences.&rdquo;Sittler and his family reside in Amherst, N.Y. He works part-time with three companies in public relations roles, but harbors no burning desire to return to the NHL&mdash;even though there are nine general managers and nine coaches Sittler played with or against in his career.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy doing what I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; said the native of St. Jacobs, Ont. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m living a more normal lifestyle now, enjoying weekends off. I speak at a few functions, play some oldtimer&rsquo;s hockey, and see a few NHL games, but other than talking with Gord Stellick I haven&rsquo;t really gone out and looked for any work in hockey. It would have been nice if something had worked out with Toronto, but that&rsquo;s life.&rdquo;Sittler began his career in 1970 as a firstround draft pick, eighth overall, of the Maple Leafs.The proudest moment arrived in 1975 when he was named captain of the Leafs, a position he would tearfully relinquish seven years later. His most memorable year, though, was 1976, special for three truly remarkable feats.&#9632; On Feb. 6, Sittler established league records for points and goals in one game, when he scored six times and added four assists in an 11-4 victory over the Boston Bruins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably the only record Wayne Gretzky hasn&rsquo;t broken yet,&rdquo; said Sittler. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just sit back and wait for him to do it.&rdquo;&#9632; On April 22, Sittler again entered the record book, scoring five times in a playoff game against Flyers&rsquo; goalie Bernie Parent.&#9632; Finally, on Sept. 15, Sittler scored the overtime winning goal for Team Canada against Czechoslovakia in the inaugural Canada Cup.&ldquo;Myself and Lanny (McDonald) were both underdogs to make that team,&rdquo; recalled Sittler, &ldquo;but things worked out pretty well for us. That was a great team, the only championship team I played on.&rdquo;Sittler&rsquo;s best season, statistically, was 1977-78, when he had 45 goals and 72 assists. Five times in his career, he scored more than 40 goals. Ten times he scored 30 or more. But as the decade turned, so too did his fortunes with the Leafs. Punch Imlach was brought back as GM, feuds developed and the unpredictable Ballard turned on his captain.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate what happened,&rdquo; said Sittler. &ldquo;But as captain and as a vice-president of the Players&rsquo; Association I got involved in various matters. I had to stand up and say something. When I gave up my captaincy, that was very emotional. But I felt it was the right thing to do.&rdquo;After waiving a no-trade clause in his contract&mdash;an act borne of the unrest at the Gardens and the uncertain Canadian dollar&mdash;Sittler agreed to a trade to the Flyers on Jan. 20, 1982.While in Philadelphia, Sittler earned the 1,000th point of his career, scoring it against old friend McDonald and the Calgary Flames. Memorable for the huge accomplishment, the night refuses to quit Sittler&rsquo;s memory for another reason.&ldquo;It was a very special night,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was a young girl in a hospital in Philadelphia, and she was in a coma, suffering from a brain aneurysm. She was a big Flyers&rsquo; fan and they had a television in her room, with earphones placed beside her head. At the exact moment I scored that goal, she snapped out of her coma. You don&rsquo;t forget things like that.&rdquo;Perhaps the most disappointing time in his career, beyond the final years in Toronto, arrived in 1984 when he was traded to the Red Wings. There had been talk Sittler would inherit the Flyers&rsquo; captaincy from retired Bobby Clarke, but he was moved to the Wings instead.After a brief holdout he agreed to report, but soon experienced differences with coach Nick Polano, and was bought out at the end of the season. It was the same season in which Sittler broke his cheekbone in a game in Toronto. During that game, his father suffered a heart attack and died a few weeks later. It was that summer, too, that Sittler was rejected by the Leafs, announced his retirement, and ended his career with 484 goals, falling maddeningly shy of his target of 500.While his career was obviously illustrious, Sittler was also dealt perhaps more than his share of crises, including a bout with skin cancer upon retiring. The induction into the Hall of Fame, then, seems a fitting reward for a career that had conflicting emotions.Sittler is joined in the Hall this year with one of the greatEst goaltenders of all time and a player in the veterans&rsquo; category who is being rewarded for his complete approach to the game.Tretiak, the Soviet ace who burst onto the scene in the 1972 Summit Series against Canada, was a charismatic international star until he retired in 1985. The retired Red Army colonel is now a high-ranking Soviet sport official and international hockey ambassador.&ldquo;When I heard about it, I was just falling off my chair and very honored about the selection,&rdquo; the 37-year-old said. &ldquo;Very proud, also, to be part of the Hall of Fame, where so many famous players before.&rdquo;But never a Soviet player. Anatoli Tarasov, the only other Soviet in the Hall, was inducted in 1974 as a builder.Lewis, who had 148 goals in 483 games with the Detroit Cougars, Falcons, and Red Wings from 1928 to 1939. is this year&rsquo;s inductee in the veterans&rsquo; category.The 5-foot-9, 160-pound left winger was regarded as the fastest skater of his day and a solid two-way player. Lewis, 84, now resides in Indianapolis.&ldquo;This is the ultimate for a person who spent 40 years in hockey,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0007-01

A JUST REWARD

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD BEALES AND KEN CAMPBELL</div>Two of the greatest contributors to Canadian international hockey will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as builders.The late Father David Bauer, who initiated the national team concept, and Alan Eagleson, organizer of the history-making 1972 Canada-USSR series, will be inducted Oct. 3 in ceremonies in Toronto.Eagleson, of course, carries a profile beyond international hockey. He&rsquo;s a player agent and founder of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.Eagleson. 56, started as an agent. Then in late 1966, several disgruntled members of the Boston Bruins came to Eagleson and requested he start a players&rsquo; union. The NHLPA was formed soon after and Eagleson remains as executive director. He&rsquo;s also the chief international negotiator for Hockey Canada, and has woven international hockey into the fabric of the players&rsquo; union.Ironically, it is Eagleson&rsquo;s wearing of many hats&mdash;some call it a conflict of interests&mdash;that prompted the most serious challenge to his authority. Eagleson survived a summer of discontent, but only after making concessions. For one, he will surrender his business as a player agent.But Eagleson&rsquo;s greatest lasting achievements, by his own admission, have been in international hockey. He&rsquo;s responsible for development of the Canada Cup tournament, four of which have been played since 1976, and the 1972 Summit Series between Canada&rsquo;s top pros and the Soviet National Team.Team Canada, expected to roll over the Soviets with little trouble in &rsquo;72, needed three consecutive gamewinning goals by Paul Henderson, all on Moscow ice, to edge them four games to three, with one tied.&ldquo;The best thing that has ever happened to me was beating the Russians in &rsquo;72,&rdquo; Eagleson says. &ldquo;Idon&rsquo;tthink anything can compare with that. The series will always be the best moment of my life.&rdquo;Father Bauer, who died of cancer last Nov. 9 at the age of 64, conceived and directed Canada&rsquo;s first National Team, an amateur club, from 1962 to &rsquo;70.A fine hockey player in his youth at St. Michael&rsquo;s College in Toronto (and for the Oshawa Generals), Bauer eventually returned to the school after his ordination and coached the hockey team. In 1961, St. Mike&rsquo;s won the Memorial Cup as junior champions of Canada.A year later, after a transfer to Vancouver, the Basilian father began to assemble Canada&rsquo;s first national team. It was a team with a difference. Bauer couldn&rsquo;t offer his players much more than survival money, so he sold them instead on the character-building side of hockey.His teams represented Canada at international tournaments, including the Olympic Games of &rsquo;64 and &rsquo;68. The program disbanded in 1970.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011508/5981972-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="552" height="712"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alan Eagleson has led the NHLPA for more than 20 years,</figcaption></div>After the 1984 Olympics, it was realized the program was worthwhile and Hockey Canada resurrected it on a full-time basis. Dave King was the coach, a position he still holds today.King says the program owes its existence to Bauer&rsquo;s vision.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question about it,&rdquo; says King.&ldquo;His reputation, his association with the program still goes on. Our players train in the Father David Bauer Arena (in Calgary) and they know who he is.&rdquo;Eagleson has also had an impact on how the National Team conducts business.Through the efforts of Eagleson and Sam Pollock (former Montreal Canadien GM and now a Hockey Canada director), the National Team has been able to develop good working arrangements with NHL teams, and take adavantage of relaxed inter national rules which now allow professionals to play in major tournaments.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021189/5981965-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="566" height="722"><figcaption class="caption-body">Father David Bauer assembled Canada&rsquo;s first national team.</figcaption></div>Meanwhile, in the media wing of the Hall, broadcaster Dan Kelly will posthumously receive the Foster Hewitt Award.Kelly is remembered for his work with the St. Louis Blues. He took over the play-by-play duties with KMOX Radio during the playoffs in 1967-68&mdash;the Blues&rsquo; first year in the league&mdash;and held the post until his death in February. He was 52.Claude Larochelle, sports editor of Le Soliel in Quebec City and Frank Orr, columnist for the Toronto Star, are this year&rsquo;s recipients of the Elmer Ferguson Award for print journalists.Larochelle, 58, has been covering the professional hockey scene in Quebec since I960. Orr, 53, covered the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1975 to 1986, still covers the league on a periodic basis and is the author of 20 books. &#9632;

f0008-01

EAGLESON AND BAUER: INTERNATIONAL LEADERS

<div class="byline">STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011457/5982003-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="486" height="630"></div>Imagine it is exactly one year ago and you are president of the John Tonelli Marching and Chowder Society.Would you, in your most outrageous fantasies, have imagined that your man, Tonelli, would score 31 goals and get 33 assists for 64 points? Of course not.It would have been beyond absurd because Tonelli, as everyone knows, was washed up entering the 1988-89 season. Why, the poor fellow couldn&rsquo;t even make it the year before with the Calgary Eames. A good year for Tonelli last season should have been, maybe, 15 goals and a third-line assignment.So, what we&rsquo;re talking about is not a surprise but a surprise. It&rsquo;s something that happens every year and last semester, Tonelli was the lucky one.Naturally, there&rsquo;ll be a Tonelli in 1989-90. Ah, the questions&mdash;who, and where, will the surprises be?The Champs: Soviet star Sergei Makarov will come short of expectations, and so will the Calgary Flames. Sergei&rsquo;s problem is that he really wants to play in Vancouver with his buddies, Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov. So don&rsquo;t be shocked if the NHL&rsquo;s first intraRussian deal is pulled off between Calgary and Vancouver, with Makarov winding up in B.C.The Chumps: Look for Michel Bergeron, back in Quebec, to change his stripes. Le Petit Tigre will brake his emotions and be surprisingly serene. His Nordiques will climb from the Adams Division cellar&rsquo;on Sergei Mylnikov&rsquo;s goaltending.The Lemieuxs: Mario Lemieux will slip to 70 goals, 150 points. Making the playoffs will be a major struggle for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Watch Kevin Stevens steal a lot of headlines.The Ex-Gretzkys: Glenn Anderson will come back from the near-dead and so will the Edmonton Oilers. Don&rsquo;t be astonished if toughguy Dave Brown becomes an asset in the Marty McSorley tradition.The Finalists: The Montreal Canadiens will finish last in the Adams Division and Patrick Roy will lose more than half a dozen games at home. Coach Pat Bums will have more trouble than he did as a rookie and Mike Keane may be his best forward.The Bullies: The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Gord Murphy and Jeff Chychrun will blossom into two of the Patrick Division&rsquo;s best defensemen, while Ken Wregget enables them to forget Ron Hextall.The Keenanmen: Despite his feud with Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan, Denis Savard will recapture the Houdini touch. But don&rsquo;t be surprised if last year&rsquo;s playoff miracle man Alain Chevrier stumbles in goal.The Blueshirts: The New York Rangers will shape up quickly under the Neil Smith-Roger Neilson regime. Strong defense and John Van-biesbrouck will enable them to be contenders. Tomas Sandstrom will jump from 32 to 50 goals.The Beantowners: At long last, maturity comes to Bobby Carpenter as he leads the Boston Bruins in scoring. Coach Mike Milbury will I have a great rookie season.The Buffalos: Ex-coach Ted Sator wasn&rsquo;t the problem with the Buffalo Sabres&mdash;character is. Mike Hartman will become coach Rick Dudley&rsquo;s answer to John Tonelli.The Troublemakers: Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers will be the Ponce de Leon for Bernie Federko, Tony McKegney and Borje Salming, who will play like 20-year-olds, but Steve Yzerman will slip by 20 scoring points.The Whale: Despite a new owner, new GM, new coach and new vitality on the Hartford Whalers, nothing will change on the ice.The Gretzkys: After Wayne Gretzky, the Kings&rsquo; best player game-in and game-out will not be Bernie Nicholls nor Luc Robitaille, but Steve Kasper, the Tonelli of 1989-90.The No Stars: Mark Tinordi will develop into a premier Norris Division defenseman for the Minnesota North Stars.The Fetisovs: Bruce Driver will have a career year on the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; blue line and Brendan Shanahan will become a star.The Arbourmen: Mikko Makela will double his 17-goal output of last year for the New York Islanders.The Sutterites: Mike Lalor will become the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; best defenseman since Rob Ramage was in his prime.The Ballardmen: Absolute chaos for the Toronto Maple Leafs. There are no surprises.The New Uniforms: Despite the invasion of two Soviets into Vancouver, Petri Skriko will still be the best player on the Canucks.The Hawerchuks: After all the trade rumors over the years, the Winnipeg Jets will finally deal Dale Hawerchuk.The Flubs: Don Beaupre&rsquo;s goaltending will lead the Washington Capitals through the Patrick Division playoffs. &#9632;

f0009-01

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT NHL WAS OUT OF SURPRISES

<h2>CAPITALS</h2>Washington GM David Poile took advantage of an off-day in Moscow during Friendship Tour &rsquo;89 to fly to Kiev and watch center Dmitri Hristich, Washington&rsquo;s sixth-round pick in the 1988 entry draft, play against Calgary. Hristich, 20, expressed interest in coming to Washington, and the Caps could have him in uniform as early as September, 1990&hellip;The Capitals voted unanimously to authorize public disclosure of contract information, according to player representative Kelly Miller. It&rsquo;s an issue that will be decided by the full membership of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association&hellip;Owner Abe Pollin was able to visit his ancestral home, Koros-tychev, Ukraine, for the first time. He found a cousin who believed everyone else in the family had perished during World War IL&hellip;For 24 of the 29 players, it was the first trip to the Soviet Union. For defenseman Chris Felix it was his seventh. Felix received considerable attention because of the ring on his right hand earned as a member of Canada&rsquo;s championship team at the 1987 Izvestia tournament.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Chris Nilan&rsquo;s &lsquo;Knuckleheads&rsquo; captured the Rangers&rsquo; round-robin training camp tournament with a 4-0-1 record. Nilan, who underwent offseason abdominal surgery, said former general manager Phil Esposito told him after the playoffs he would be traded to Boston during the offseason, apparently because of the support he expressed for Michel Bergeron when the coach was fired. Esposito is gone now; so is the urgency to trade Nilan.,.The Rangers acquired left winger Lee Giffin from the Pittsburgh Penguins for future considerations Sept. 14 and assigned him to their International League farm team in Flint the same day&hellip;Former New York Islander defenseman Ken Morrow, who was trying to crack the Rangers&rsquo; lineup, failed his physical and will be unable to perform for the Rangers during the pre-season. It&rsquo;s still possible he&rsquo;ll become a player-assistant in Flint.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Pittsburgh right winger Rob Brown signed a multi-year contract on Sept. 14. A day later, left winger Bob Errey did the same&hellip; Jim Johnson, the Penguins&rsquo; best defensive defenseman, has been unable to reach a deal with Penguin GM Tony Esposito and there was no indication the two sides are close&hellip;Next on the list looking for a new deal is all-star defenseman Paul Coffey. Now that Mario Lemieux has his $2-million-plus a year deal, Coffey is looking for a substantial raise from his $450,000 a year pact&hellip;Lemieux averaged three points per scrimmage to grab the early scoring lead in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s intra-squad tournament&hellip;Center Dave Hannan, who plans to remain in Pittsburgh after he retires, will open a hockey equipment store in suburban Castle Shannon, Penn., this month.<h2>FLYERS</h2>Philadelphia coaches and scouting staff have been impressed with the play of rookie defenseman Murray Baron. Baron played at the University of North Dakota last season, before joining Hershey of the American League. Also, high marks have been awarded to goalie Dominic Roussel, the Flyers&rsquo; third-round selection in the 1988 draft&hellip;Both sides remained stalled in the Ron Hextall situation, with Hextail&rsquo;s agent Rich Winter waiting for a call from the Flyers&mdash;and it might be a long wait. In the meantime, speculation continues to grow the Flyers will try to make some kind of deal with the Winnipeg Jets to swap Hextall for Dale Hawerchuk. In the area of public opinion, Hextall is taking a beating from local columnists, and a pretty good thrashing from callers to local talk shows. There isn&rsquo;t much sympathy in his comer at this stage.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Right winger Alan Kerr agreed to a one-year contract after missing one full day of training camp. Kerr said the final offer was just shy of the $200,000 he had been seeking. &ldquo;It was the principle of the thing,&rdquo; Kerr said. &ldquo;I wanted to be paid what I thought I was worth. I didn&rsquo;t like the process, but now that the contract is signed I feel really good.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Free agent center-left winger Gilles Thibaudeau, 26, who played 32 games with the Canadiens last season, was invited to camp on a tryout&hellip;Also in camp was the older brother of Pat LaFontaine, John. A 25-year-old left winger, the elder LaFontaine wrote a letter to GM Bill Torrey requesting a tryout and received an invitation to try out for Springfield (AHL).<h2>DEVILS</h2>Devils&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld said he plans to try Reijo Ruotsalainen and Viacheslav Fetisov on the points during the power play. Ruotsalainen, who hasn&rsquo;t played in the NHL since helping the Oilers win the 1987 Stanley Cup, downplayed his impact on returning from Finland. &ldquo;To me, everything is still new. I&rsquo;m not looking to be one of the top players. I just want to help the team.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Rookie right winger Troy Crowder, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound enforcer, walked out of camp Sept. 9 with the intention of retiring from hockey. Crowder, who wants to return to school, left GM Lou Lamoriello a letter because he was fearful of being talked into staying&hellip; Schoenfeld said distractions have prevented Fetisov and Sergei Starikov from being in top condition, &ldquo;although their conditioning is very good for what they&rsquo;ve gone through.&rdquo; &#9632;

CAPITAL GM POILE EYES YOUNG SOVIET

Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; left winger Al Hill scored just 95 points in his 221-game NHL career, but five of those came in his first game. The Nanaimo, B,C., native scored twice and added three assists in a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Blues at the Spectrum on Feb. 14, 1977. No other NHLer, before or since, has ever scored five points in his first game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021035/5982058-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="694" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Hill</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-02

NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY SHERRY ROSS</div>Mark Fitzpatrick, Jeff Hackett, and Glenn Healy know three&rsquo;s a crowd when it comes to playing goal for the New York Islanders.The two youngsters, Hackett, 21, and Fitzpatrick, 20, will be fighting with the veteran Healy, 27, for the two Islanders&rsquo; goaltending jobs this season. It figures to be one of the most spirited battles in training camp.&ldquo;I like it. It&rsquo;s wide open,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said. &ldquo;With Glenn being here, it means Hack and I are going to have to work that much harder, but it&rsquo;s not like going against a guy who&rsquo;s been established four or five years. It&rsquo;s going to bring out the best in the goalies. Whoever has the best camp plays the first game of the season.&rdquo;Neither Hackett nor Fitzpatrick&mdash;who have 41 games of NHL experience between them&mdash;was surprised the Isles picked up the free agent, who cost only a fourth-round pick as compensation, in August.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re two inexperienced guys,&rdquo; Hackett said. &ldquo;I thought they would pick somebody up. Now it&rsquo;s basically three guys for two jobs.&rdquo;Healy said four other NHL teams were interested in him, including one he described as being &ldquo;in turmoil&rdquo;&mdash;probably the New York Rangers or Toronto Maple Leafs&mdash;but opted to sign with the Islanders.&ldquo;The Islander organization as a whole has proven that they&rsquo;re winners,&rdquo; Healy said. &ldquo;The leadership comes right from the management down. I think these guys have proven that, and it&rsquo;s going to show.&rdquo;Healy is happy to have the chance to prove he can be a No. 1 goalie again. He was the main man for Los Angeles most of last season, but after Kelly Hrudey was traded to the Kings Feb. 22, Healy&rsquo;s season virtually ended.&ldquo;I played in 46 games to that point and, from game 60 to 80, I played two. At the time of the trade I had 25 wins. It was a real frustrating position to be in, to be in the top few in wins in the NHL, and then not get the opportunity to play. It&rsquo;s not like it was a drop-off in my play. I had won two games in a row at the time of the trade.&rdquo;Healy, who finished with a 4.27 goals-against average, has been impressed by the attitude of an Islander team which finished last in the Patrick Division and 20th overall last season.&ldquo;Confidence can snowball. I saw it happen last season with Los Angeles, when they went from 18th to fourth with pretty much the same group of guys,&rdquo; he said, overlooking, of course, the notable addition of Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing worse than to be in a position like this team was last year,&rdquo; Healy added. &ldquo;After losing 12 games in a row, who wants to play? One win would have maybe turned things around for the team and gotten things back on Back. We can&rsquo;t look back on it. The best thing about hockey is that this is a new season and everybody&rsquo;s in first place right now.&rdquo;The fight for the starting slots will not affect the usually close bond in the goalie fraternity, the three men say.&ldquo;We all get along. We have to. We&rsquo;re teammates,&rdquo; Hackett said. &ldquo;All you have to do is believe in yourself and believe you&rsquo;re the one to do the job. You can&rsquo;t let what the other guy does affect you. You have to put blinders on and worry about yourself.&rdquo; &#9632;

THREE GOALIES FIGHTING FOR TWO JOBS

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>The Washington Capitals often pose for team posters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.They outdid themselves this year, standing in front of St. Basil&rsquo;s Cathedral and the walls of the Kremlin.If the Capitals were smiling on that occasion, they were less pleased with their first two appearances on the ice in the Soviet Union. Their reputation as an outstanding defensive club was tarnished when they allowed a total of 14 goals.The Capitals salvaged half a loaf by posting an 8-7 overtime victory over a weak Spartak team, but never threatened in dropping a 7-2 decision to Moscow Dynamo.The defeat was highlighted by a lengthy fight between Scott Stevens and Oleg Mikulchik. Both players were issued automatic match penalties.The way the crowd of 8,450 responded, perhaps the Soviets ought to allow the occasional scrap to help fill the many vacant seats.Dynamo took advantage of Washington penalties to record three power-play goals and another while the teams were skating three aside. Dino Ciccarelli scored both Washington goals with the extra man.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011379/5982137-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="566" height="710"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Stevens waged a spirited fight with a Dynamo player.</figcaption></div>Defenseman Mikhail Tatarinov, Washington&rsquo;s 11th-round selection in the 1984 entry draft, scored one goal and set up two others for Dynamo. The Capitals will evaluate Tatarinov when Dynamo visits North America in December before deciding whether to make inquiries.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re an excellent, talented team,&rdquo; said Washington captain Rod Langway. &ldquo;They were psyched, and we played tired. I think we were a step behind them a little because of fatigue. When they get rolling and you give them time to shoot, you&rsquo;re in deep trouble.&rdquo;The victory over Spartak was especially gratifying for three veterans&mdash;Langway, Doug Wickenheiser and Mike Ridley.Wickenheiser produced the winner at 3:22 of sudden-death overtime, deflecting Bob Gould&rsquo;s shot from just inside the blueline.Langway, 32, was named the most valuable Capital. He received a beautiful sculpture plus a grab bag of dolls and other items.Also playing well was center Mike Ridley, who scored twice against Spartak after netting a pair in the previous exhibition, a 3-1 triumph over Brynas at Gavle, Sweden.Geoff Courtnall&rsquo;s third period hattrick helped the Caps bounce back from an early 3-0 defecit to defeat Farjestad and old teammate Bengt Gustafsson in the exhibition opener at Kaarlstad, Sweden.For the most part, the team was enjoying the overseas journey, but the tight schedule in the Soviet Union annoyed several players. Coach Bryan Murray used some harsh words to bring them back to reality.The players were, however, amazed with the speed of the processing on arriving in Moscow. Their visas were stamped without the usual questions. They were led through a clear channel in which no baggage was examined and the only mark on customs declarations was a circle around the amount of currency they had.Not even Michal Pivonka, the Czechoslovakian defector, drew an untoward glance from those on duty.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t ask me anything,&rdquo; Pivonka said. &ldquo;It was a lot easier than a lot of trips I&rsquo;ve made to Canada.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-01

POOR DEFENSIVE PLAY BLAMED ON FATIGUE

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>The most watched rookie at the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; training camp has been a 22-year-old defenseman who&rsquo;s in the United States on a &ldquo;holiday.&rdquo;Jiri Latal, a speedy Czechoslovakian defenseman, has been the talk of training camp. However, he hasn&rsquo;t been able to do much talking of his own; he speaks little English.The Flyers acquired the rights for Latal from the Toronto Maple Leafs (who drafted him in the sixth round in 1985), and then made &ldquo;arrangements&rdquo; to get him out of Czechoslovakia via West Germany. The Flyers are keeping those arrangements hushed, but so far nobody on any side of the issue has called Latal a defector&mdash;and he does have a six-month visa.Technically, he&rsquo;s just here on holiday, and he&rsquo;d certainly give the Flyers reason to celebrate if he&rsquo;d develop into an NHL star.&ldquo;He can definitely skate,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren, who watched Latal through his first workouts. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s pretty rangy (6-foot-1, 180 pounds), and he&rsquo;s got some obvious offensive skills. I guess the real test will be just the same as it is for everyone else&mdash;we&rsquo;ll see what-(he can do when the ice surface gets crowded.&rdquo;&ldquo;The Flyers told me, &lsquo;We try you, and maybe you might play here,&rsquo;&rdquo; Latal said, after his first day at rookie camp. &ldquo;And I think it is a good chance for me. So, I say, &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; I think I have a good chance. So, I have to do it.&rdquo;Last season was Latal&rsquo;s fifth in Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s Elite League. He scored six goals and 22 assists for Dukla Trencin. He also had one goal and four assists with the Czechoslovakian National team.&ldquo;We think he&rsquo;s got very good technical skills,&rdquo; said Andy Murray, the Flyers&rsquo; assistant coach who escorted Latal from West Germany, where the rearguard had been playing in exhibition games with his Czechoslovak team. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a player who has very good vision on the ice. We think he has the skills to play in the National Hockey League, but we want to see how he plays on these smaller ice surfaces.&rdquo;It would be difficult to project Latal into the Flyers&rsquo; regular defense rotation. They&rsquo;ve got veterans Mark Howe, Kjell Samuelsson, and Jay Wells, highly-regarded second-year pros Gord Murphy and Jeff Chychrun, along with third-year pro Terry Carkner. Kerry Huffman, Murray Baron, and Shawn Sabol are waiting in the wings at the minor-league level.However, the Flyers&rsquo; philosophy has always been that jobs are won at training camp. Last year, Murphy and Chychrun made big enough impressions to stick and remain an integral part of the club.The Flyers would like Latal to gain about 20 pounds, which would serve to get him through a rigorous North American schedule&mdash;either in Philiy or with their American League farm team at Hershey. He&rsquo;s been placed on a weight training program. And he must also leant how to communicate.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke, &ldquo;there are Canadians who have trouble making adjustments to (pro hockey), and they don&rsquo;t have the difficulty with the language. He&rsquo;s a hockey player, and a hockey environment is the most comfortable for him right now.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>INJURIES</h3>Scott Mellanby, RW, nerve and tendon damage in left arm, indefinite.Glen Seabrooke, LW, shoulder surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

CZECHOSLOVAK DEFENDER A HIT AT HOLIDAY CAMP

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>The New York Rangers are looking to add size and strength, but Corey Millen, a 5-foot-7, 170-poundcenter, stands tall in their 1989-90 plans.&ldquo;It is true we&rsquo;re looking for more size but Millen has a lot of talent and speed,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;We can use those qualities, too.&rdquo;Drafted by then-general manager Craig Patrick and his staff in 1983 (third round, 57th overall), Millen finally became a Ranger Aug. 10, after numerous delays.Millen was a teammate of both Brian Leetch and Tony Granato on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, but signed with Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland instead of the Rangers in March of 1988.At the time, Millen believed the Rangers were skeptical about his ability to excel against players 30 or 40 pounds heavier.&ldquo;I wanted to feel like I was wanted,&rdquo; Millen said, &ldquo;and. until I got that feeling, I wasn&rsquo;t that anxious to sign.&rdquo;Millen collected 32 goals in 36 games for Ambri-Piotta and has been a productive scorer at every level. He led all forwards on the Olympic team with six goals and five assists in six games, and notched 36 goals and 65 points nor the University of Minnesota in 1986-87.&ldquo;After the Olympics, I don&rsquo;t think they (Ranger GM Phil Esposito and head coach Michel Bergeron) were completely familiar with my abilities. I don&rsquo;t think they were really serious about me.&ldquo;I definitely believe that changed when Brian(Leetch) and Tony (Granato) played so well as rookies for the Rangers last season. There&rsquo;s no question that they looked at me differently because of what Brian and Tony accomplished.&rdquo;Now 25 years old, the former college All American said he believes he is ready for the major step up.&ldquo;I am coming into the league a little older than most rookies,&rdquo; Millen said, &ldquo;and I feel I am a little more mature and experienced than most rookies.&rdquo;Millen almost got his first taste of NHL competition last March when Esposito tried to make him a late-season addition, but NHL president John Ziegler declared him ineligible.Esposito and the Rangers argued that the intent of the rule in question was to prevent players with NHL experience from going to Europe and then coming back (without clearing waivers) at the end of the season.Esposito also termed it &ldquo;ridiculous&rdquo; that Millen, an American, was being labeled a &ldquo;professional&rdquo; for playing in Switzerland, while Soviet players were to be permitted to be late-season additions because they were classified as &ldquo;amateurs.&rdquo;After Ziegler ruled against the Rangers, Esposito drew up a contract which was to take effect if and when Millen could obtain a release from the second year of his contract with Ambri-Piotta.Millen obtained his release from Ambri-Piotta Aug. 8, then immediately headed for the Rangers.&ldquo;There were a lot of roadblocks,&rdquo; Millen said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m finally a Ranger and I&rsquo;m very excited to be in the NHL. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve wanted since I was a little kid.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cyr, C, reconstructive surgery on right knee, indefinite.Normand Rochefort, D, reconstructive surgery on right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

LITTLE MAN LOOKS FORWARD TO BIG SEASON

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Andrew McBain&rsquo;s statistics from last season present a confusing portrait of a hockey player.The 40 assists suggest he is a competent playmaker. The 37 goals indicate a lethal scoring touch. And the plus-minus rating of minus-35 hints he&rsquo;d would rather go to prison than into his defensive end.But in McBain&rsquo;s case that would be a misinterpretation. He was one of the key players on a bad team. That meant a lot of ice time and, consequently, more opportunities to be playing when the other team scored.Pittsburgh acquired McBain June 17, from a Winnipeg team that allowed a league-high 355 goals against last season. While McBain didn&rsquo;t deny responsibility for his high plus-minus, he agreed it was a reflection, at least in part, of the Jets&rsquo; defensive failings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011390/5982216-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="568" height="911"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrew McBain, above, may play on Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s line.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to take none of the blame,&rdquo; said McBain, 24. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t want to take all of it. I&rsquo;ve never been a really poor defensive player. Maybe it was a combination of a lot of things.&ldquo;In Winnipeg, we had a really poor defensive record. I&rsquo;m not saying they weren&rsquo;t my fault, I&rsquo;m sure there were quite a few that were. But when you play a lot on a team that struggles defensively like we did, you&rsquo;re bound to get scored on quite often.&rdquo;The Penguins&rsquo; management pronounced the minus-35 to be an aberration when they traded for McBain, who came to Pittsburgh with defenseman Jim Kyte and center Randy Gilhen for left winger Randy Cun-neyworth, center Dave McLlwain and goalie Rick Tabaracci. Nothing that happened in the early days of training camp altered that belief.&ldquo;I see him going with his man,&rdquo; coach Gene Ubriaco said. &ldquo;He knows his assignments. I can see that, and that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s important. Then it&rsquo;s just a matter of execution. Hopefully, he&rsquo;ll be a good two-way player.&rdquo;But what the Penguins hope McBain will do most is add some fire power to their right side, where Rob Brown was the only consistent scorer last season.McBain admittedly was intrigued by the idea of filling Brown&rsquo;s spot on Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s line, but said he did not expect to get, nor plan to lobby for, the job.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going to try to fit in and let things fall where they may. Their whole line played extremely well and one thing you don&rsquo;t want to do is screw around with success.&rdquo;Ubriaco said there was a chance he would experiment with McBain on Lemieux&rsquo;s line during the pre-season.McBain said he figured he would not be playing for the Jets this season, but was surprised he was traded to Pittsburgh because &ldquo;I had heard a whole bunch of other places.&rdquo;Despite all the fringe benefits of the move&mdash;everything from better weather to a stronger dollar&mdash;McBain had some regrets about leaving Manitoba.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always disappointing to leave a club you played on for so long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was my first team and I&rsquo;ll miss the players and the fans there. But if you&rsquo;re going to a club like Pittsburgh, which definitely has a chance to win the Stanley Cup and you have a chance to play with players like (Paul) Coffey, (Dan) Quinn and Lemieux, that&rsquo;s a dream come true for a lot of players.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

McBAIN’S NUMBERS NOT THE WHOLE STORY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021135/5982247-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="555" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Berenson is now coach of the Michigan Wolverines.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011475/5982254-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="143" height="140"></div>It wasn&rsquo;t until a month into the 1968-69 regular season that St. Louis Blues&rsquo; center Red Berenson scored his second goal of the year.&ldquo;It was Nov. 7, 1968, in a game in Philadelphia,&rdquo; recalls Berenson. &ldquo;After the goal I said to myself &lsquo;Thank god I can still score.&rsquo;&rdquo;Little did he know he was on his way to tying the NHL modern-era record of six goals in one game, established in 1944 by Detroit&rsquo;s Syd Howe. Toronto&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler later duplicated the feat in 1976.Berenson scored all six of his goals against the Flyers&rsquo; Doug Favell.&ldquo;And it could easily have been seven or eight,&rdquo; says Berenson. &ldquo;I hit one goal post and had a number of other chances. My teammates were playing very well.&rdquo;His teammates included Hall of Fame inductees Doug Harvey, Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall, as well as Ab McDonald, Al Arbour and Barclay Plager. The 1968-69 Blues won the West Division, but lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals.While Berenson acknowledges the six-goal game as a career highlight, he tends to downplay its significance.&ldquo;I think my teammates were a lot more excited about it than I was,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very surprised Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux hasn&rsquo;t equalled the record, but I won&rsquo;t be surprised when they do.&rdquo; Berenson says his fondest NHL memories include the time he spent in St. Louis (1967-68 to &rsquo;7071, &rsquo;74-75 to &rsquo;77-78) and his partcipation on Montreal&rsquo;s Stanley Cup-winning team of &rsquo;64-65.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;It was also a big thrill my first season in Montreal (&rsquo;61-62),&rsquo;&rsquo; he says. &ldquo;I was playing in the hockey capital of the world. When I first put on a Habs&rsquo; jersey my skates didn&rsquo;t touch the ice.&rdquo;Berenson bounced between the Canadiens and the minors until the summer of &rsquo;66, when he was traded to the New York Rangers for Garry Peters and Ted Taylor. He was a Ranger for little more than one season. Then, on Nov. 29, 1967, the first-year Blues closed the deal that made them the early power among NHL expansion clubs: Ron Stewart and Ron Attwell to the Rangers for Berenson and blue line stalwart Barclay Plager.Just before the &rsquo;70-71 trading deadline, Berenson was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings with Tim Ecclestone for Wayne Connelly and another man who was to become a Blues&rsquo; legend, Garry Unger. The Blues reacquired Berenson midway through the &rsquo;74-75 season, for Phil Roberto and a third-round draft choice. Berenson, now 49, ended his professional hockey career with the Blues after the &rsquo;77-78 season.He stayed with the St. Louis organization as an assistant coach, then as head coach from December, 1979, until March 1982. He won the Jack Adams Trophy as Coach of the Year in 1981.For the last six years, Berenson has been head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.Berenson graduated from Michigan in 1962 with a degree in business, and became the first player to successfully make the jump from college to the NHL when he joined the Canadiens that spring. He takes pride in being considered a ground-breaker for collegiate hockey players.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to think a lot of players followed my example,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to have something to fall back on. I&rsquo;d recommend it (playing college hockey) to any boy serious about getting a college education.&rdquo;His enthusiasm for the increasing popularity of college hockey is evident.&ldquo;College hockey is definitely a viable route. Eric Lindros, the top prospect in Canada, is considering playing college, and if he does it will be for us.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-02

BERENSON’S SIX-GOAL GAME

Eberhard von der Mark is trying to shed some new light on the hockey industry.von der Mark, an employee of a West German securities firm, has invented the Pulsar Puck, a regulation hockey puck that features a flashing light which emanates from all sides.&ldquo;Hockey is one of the fastest sports there is and most of the action surrounds the puck,&rdquo; said Bill Burley, president of Burley&rsquo;s Rink Supply, a Salix, Penn., firm which serves as the North American wholesale distributor of the Pulsar Puck. &ldquo;So anything that makes it more visible has to be given some serious consideration.&rdquo;Like most inventions, the making of the Pulsar Puck was motivated by necessity. After five years of playing hockey with his son, von der Mark wanted to do something about all of the pucks he was losing&mdash;especially around dusk. His first attempts with silver foil and glow-in-the-dark paint met with failure.It was only upon suggestion from his son that von der Mark actually tried to implant a light into the puck. The disk features a pulsating red light emanating from all sides. The top and bottom have small red lights at each side; larger red lights are at both sides of the rubber.The light in the puck is activated by turning a key&mdash;which cin be turned off when the puck is not in use&mdash;and is good for up to 10 hours of play.Because the battery is vulcanized into the puck, the puck can be used after the battery&rsquo;s life.&ldquo;Many times,&rdquo; said Burley, &ldquo;the stickwork and shooting creates a near-impossible visual of the puck location. The flashing lights on the Pulsar Puck solve that problem.&rdquo;Australia was the first country to use the pucks, during its national championships. Samples will be sent to the NHL.Burley describes the Pulsar Puck as the hula-hoop of the hockey industry.<blockquote class="pullQuote">NEW PRODUCT WILL HELP POND SKATERS AT NIGHT.</blockquote>&ldquo;I use that term very candidly, because I think they&rsquo;ll be popular for a year or two,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But for the pond skater they&rsquo;re great because during the winter it gets dark very early and this puck will probably give kids about another hour of play.&rdquo;Because of high manufacturing costs, the puck is expensive. Suggested retail price is $14.95 and the pucks are sold to retailers in cases of 50.For more information on the Pulsar Puck, call 1-800-428-7539 (in the continental U.S.) or 1-814487-7666. &#9632;

PULSAR PUCK COULD BE A BRIGHT NEW LIGHT

<div class="byline">BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011360/5982309-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="498" height="642"></div>If a puck thrown from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon sinks to the bottom of the Colorado River but nobody hears it hit the water, is there such a thing as ice hockey in the southwestern United States?That&rsquo;s what I did on my summer vacation. I learned there are at least two people from Michigan who aren&rsquo;t dying to know who the Red Wings will take in the third round of next month&rsquo;s waiver draft. That there are three people from Texas who&rsquo;ve finished mourning the loss of the Houston Aeros. That to two young ladies from Israel, &ldquo;hockey&rdquo; is a funny word that means you purposely don&rsquo;t go to school.It&rsquo;s one thing to know that more than half my country thinks the four major sports are baseball, football, basketball and inside trading. It&rsquo;s quite another to live with them. Of the 21 campers who spent five days and five nights last month floating five rafts 90 miles down the Colorado at the bottom of one of America&rsquo;s greatest natural wonders, two had a sense of hockey.My wife and I. Well, actually three. A fellow named Lloyd grew up in Atlanta watching the Flames. But when I mentioned Joe Nieuwendyk, he countered with Randy Manery and I knew we&rsquo;d get nowhere.&ldquo;The Hames won the Cup?&rdquo; he asked excitedly at one point.&ldquo;What Cup?&rdquo; somebody else wondered innocently. That&rsquo;s when I decided against talking about Al Maclnnis winning the Smythe.Although these typical Americans learned I followed hockey for a living, nobody asked me, &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s better, Gretzky or Lemieux?&rdquo;They asked me, &ldquo;How much does a puck weigh?&rdquo; &ldquo;Does it hurt when it hits you?&rdquo; (About six ounces, yes).When I asked Adam, the Californian navigating this white-water trek, if his oars were made out of the same wood used to make hockey sticks, he looked at me funny.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, dude,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a hockey stick.&rdquo;Everybody in the U.S. knows baseball. Everybody thinks they know football. Fourteen of 21 NHL teams play here, but it&rsquo;s frightening how many Americans consider hockey a foreign sport. In the Arizona Indian village of Marble Canyon, where my trip began, I had to be awake by 6 a.m. to grab one of the four copies of USA Today. There was no other way to learn that the Canadiens bought out Gilles Thibaudeau, or that Lanny McDonald retired.So what&rsquo;s the point?For hockey to truly succeed in the U.S., the attitude of the game&rsquo;s leaders must change. Stop insulating the sport. Start teaching this country who Steve Yzerman and Pat LaFontaine are. Bob Uecker makes a fortune doing beer commercials, but the U.S. advertising agencies won&rsquo;t touch anybody except Gretzky because hockey doesn&rsquo;t sell.So sell it. Flood the market with &lsquo;Lighter Side&rsquo; videos. Get Grant Fuhr on David Letterman. Make sure NBC&rsquo;s coverage of the 1990 All-Star Game is a solid first step towards a new major network TV contract by using that Super Slo-Mo camera and showing novices that the game&rsquo;s not advanced algebra.Selling hockey doesn&rsquo;t mean asking Everett Sanipass to conduct a clinic on a Navajo reservation or freezing 200 feet of ice on an Iowa cornfield and flying Mario out there for a few hours.Selling hockey means taking realistic steps to introduce the beauty of the game to people who lump it with professional wrestling and roller derby, or with geothermal nuclear physics. We know the game&rsquo;s not that violent and not that confusing. But the vast majority of people in the U.S. don&rsquo;t. Even in cities like, yes, New York and Boston.Target new fans. The old ones aren&rsquo;t going to go away. Hire a marketing expert with novel ideas.Yes&hellip;spend some money.Remember when ESPN was the NHL&rsquo;s U.S. network? Playoff coverage was terrific&hellip;for those of us who knew what was going on. The network cut from game to game and studio host Tom Mees rattled off one big goal after another.Did anyone stop and think about Albuquerque, N.M.? Fans there needed answers to easy questions, not Mike Emrick trying his best to squeeze an explanation of an offside pass into the third period of Islanders-Capitals.But it&rsquo;s 1990 and men love cash. So instead of ESPN primers targeted for the kids in Boise, Idaho, we&rsquo;ve got SportsChannel America scrambling to sell its package in Pittsburgh.The NHL will likely expand to 24 teams in a couple of years. The Board of Govemor$ will gladly dilute the talent pool even further in exchange for many millions of dollars. It will think in terms of today&rsquo;s paycheck instead of tomorrow&rsquo;s growth.It is shortsighted, to say the least, and destructive. &#9632;

f0015-01

TIME FOR NHL TO MAKE A FEW NEW FANS

<h2>SABRES</h2>Center Pierre Turgeon reported to camp Sept. 15 after missing six days with chicken pox. Turgeon said he contracted the disease after spending an evening with teammate Jacques Cloutier&rsquo;s children. &ldquo;I thought I had had them (chicken pox) before,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously, I was wrong.&rdquo;&hellip; Center Benoit Hogue was on the verge of signing a multi-year contract. Hogue claimed a starting postion with the team last season but was in a battle with several players for a spot on this year&rsquo;s roster&hellip;U.S. Olympic team member Dave Snuggerud reported to camp with the veterans Sept. 8. Snuggerud and Phil Housley were with the U. S. national developmental team until just before camp opened.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Tough guy Jacques Mailhot was told to stay home the day before training camp started Sept. 8. It seems coach Michel Bergeron and his staff decided they didn&rsquo;t need another enforcer&hellip; Defenseman Joe Cirella, who was reportedly set to play out his opton, was on the verge of signing a multi-year contract with the Nords. He came to Quebec with Claude Loiselle in an off-season trade for Walt Poddubny&hellip;Defenseman Jari Gronstrand suffered a fractured cheek bone Sept. 13 and will be out until mid-November. Gronstrand missed much of last season with the same injury. In 25 games for the Nor-diques last season, Gronstrand had one goal and three assists&hellip;Defenseman Dan Lambert, the diminutive captain of the Swift Current Broncos, impressed the Nords&rsquo; management at framing camp. Lambert will go back to his junior team, but Bergeron was pleased with his solid performance.&hellip;Goalie Sergei Mylnikov came down with the flu and missed three days of training camp.<h2>BRUINS</h2>Center Gord Cruickshank was the top goal-scorer after the Bruins&rsquo; first three scrimmages, netting five goals and one assist &ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly one of the major surprises of camp,&rdquo; said coach Mike Milbury. &ldquo;The knock on him had been his skating, but he appears to have gotten himself in very good condition.&rdquo; Cruickshank, the Bruins&rsquo; eighth-round pick in 1985, missed all of last season after undergoing ankle surgery&hellip;Defenseman Michael Thelven, recovering from right knee surgery, began skating Sept. 13. Thelven should be back in the Bruins&rsquo; lineup by Nov. 1, one month sooner than originally expected. Nevin Markwart, who missed all of last season with an abdominal injury, is also hoping for a Nov. 1 return. He had surgery in July&hellip; Right winger Ray Neufeld, in the option year of his contract, filed for salary arbitration&hellip;Reggie Lemelin (right hip bruise) and left winger John Carter (leg bruise) missed a day of camp with injuries. Neither was serious.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Defenseman Chris Chelios showed up at training camp Sept. 8, dispelling fears he might hold out until his contract is renegotiated. Talks were continuing between managing director Serge Savard and agent Don Meehan, who represents the Norris Trophy winner&hellip;Tough guys Steve Martinson and Serge Roberge engaged in five fights on the opening day of scrimmaging. Martinson had the last laugh, though, as Roberge was one of 19 cuts made by the Canadiens prior to a Sept. 13 rookie game against the Hartford Whalers&hellip;Andrew Cassels, the Canadiens&rsquo; top pick in the 1987 entry draft, showed up at camp a touch overweight at 192 pounds but still showed enough to be kept after the second cuts. Cassels played on a line with Mats Naslund and Russ Courtnall during training camp, a trio that was going to be tested in pre-season as well.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Defenseman Adam Burt, 19. and Todd Krygier, a 23-year-old forward out of the University of Connecticut, are two excellent bets to make the club. Mike Tomlak, a 6-foot-4 center-left winger out of the University of Western Ontario, is also going to get a long look. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be tough to keep Krygier off the team,&rdquo; said Whalers&rsquo; general manager Eddie Johnston. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got unbelievable wheels.&rdquo;&hellip;John Anderson, whose career seemed to be in jeopardy last season, showed up at a trim 189 pounds and enjoyed an excellent camp&hellip;Pat Verbeek was tried out at center the first four days of camp, but was returned to his natural spot at right wing. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a terrible center,&rdquo; Verbeek said&hellip;Defenseman Corey Beaulieu, a sixth-round choice in 1988, was sent home after showing up a camp 30 pounds over his playing weight of 208. &ldquo;He must want to be a sumo wrestler,&rdquo; said Johnston&hellip;Former Edmonton goalie Darryl Reaugh and utility forward Gilles Hamel, formerly of Quebec and Winnipeg, were in training camp as free agents.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03692/5982340-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="565" height="795"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Anderson showed up in Whalers&rsquo; camp in top shape.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-03

CHICKEN POX PUT TURGEON ON SHELF

Bill Quackenbush played for the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins from 1942 to 1956. He retired as Princeton University&rsquo;s hockey coach in 1985, and now makes his home in Orlando, Fla. The 67-year-old defenseman won the Lady Byng Trophy (1948-49) and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very proud of being chosen to the All-Star team four times, and going 137 consecutive games without a penalty,&rdquo; says Quackenbush.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02954/5982371-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="543" height="390"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Quackenbush</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

THEN & NOW

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>The 8,000 fans who witnessed the first four Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; intra-squad games must be asking themselves the same question&mdash;what&rsquo;s wrong with the Nords? Over the years Nordiques&rsquo; fans have come to expect to see the World Wrestling Federation on ice. But this year, training camp has been much quieter.In the past, rookie camps have always been good for a few scraps. This season, however, Nordiques&rsquo; coach Michel Bergeron decided against holding rookie camp, saying there weren&rsquo;t enough rookies to warrant one.&ldquo;Most of the 65 players invited (to camp) have pro experience,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;It would have been a waste of time to have them go through a week of rookie camp and then start over again with the big team.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to see a fight-filled training camp like in years past. Sure, I&rsquo;d even organized camps specifically to see fighting. But not this time around.&rdquo;The hardest workers, surprisingly, were the veterans. Lucien Deblois, Claude Loiselle, Joe Cirella, Jari Gronstrand and Guy Lafleur all looked like rookies fighting for jobs.Of the young talent, only defenseman Stephane Guerard, center Kevin Kaminski, and wingers Jean-Marc Routhier and Trevor Stienburg impressed Bergeron and his staff.Stienburg showed the skills the Nordiques expected to see when they made him their first pick in the 1984 Entry Draft. Rough, fast, shifty, and possessed of a good shot, the 23-year-old right winger finally seemed to have put it all together.Last season Stienburg spent the entire year in Quebec, but tailed off badly toward the end of the season. He finished with six goals and three assists in 55 games. Many wrote him off as a failed prospect.Knowing it might be his last shot, Stienburg trained hard over the summer. His regimen included weight training and boxing lessons.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t remember Trevor that much because he was pretty young when I left Quebec,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;But I do recall he was slow and was very nervous when he had the puck.&ldquo;This time around, he seems a lot faster and carries the puck with lots of confidence. I like what I see.&rdquo;Bergeron also liked what he saw in Guerard.&ldquo;Stephane Guerard is doing all the right things he has to do to make it in the NHL,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the flashy type of defenseman, but he really uses the body and knows what to do with the puck.&rdquo;Bergeron compared Kaminski, who was acquired in a trade with the North Stars June 18 for Gaetan Duchesne, to Dale Hunter and Paul Gillis.&ldquo;I like his style,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t back away from anyone.&rdquo;His style cost him a bloody nose when he challenged Jim Sprott, one of the Ontario League&rsquo;s best fighters last season as a member of the London Knights. Sprott has since been sent to the Nords&rsquo; American League affiliate in Halifax.&ldquo;Kevin will have to learn not to do things like that,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s too small. Dale Hunter was like him when he first came up but he too found out the hard way that he had to clutch and grab instead of taking up boxing stances.&rdquo;Right winger Jean-Marc Routhier has been another surprise. Routhier, Quebec&rsquo;s second-round pick in the 1986 entry draft, scored twice and added an assist in an intra-squad game.&ldquo;At that point, Jean-Marc wasn&rsquo;t on my roster for our first exhibition game,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;But his performance won him at least one start.&rdquo;The 21-year-old Routhier was thrilled.&ldquo;This is my fourth training camp in Quebec and I really wanted to make the most out of it,&rdquo; said Routhier.&ldquo;The experience I acquired in Halifax last season really helps.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>INJURIES</h3>Jari Gronstrand, D, fractured right cheek bone, Nov. 1-15. &#9632;

PUNCHLESS CAMP NEW CONCEPT FOR THE NORDS

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>For the first time in 80 years, the Montreal Canadiens will have co-captains.When three ballots failed to break the deadlock between Chris Chelios and Guy Carbonneau, managing director Serge Savard stepped in&mdash;with the full support of the players&mdash;and declared the two co-captains. In 1909-10, Louis Berlinquette and Jack Laviolette shared the captaincy.&ldquo;My main leadership quality is on the ice,&rdquo; said Chelios, the 1989 Norris Trophy winner as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman. &ldquo;As for dealing more with the press and stuff, I think that is something I am going to have to do.&ldquo;Thank God Carbo is the other captain. He is going to take a lot of pressure off.&rdquo;Four other players received votes on the first ballot before the Chelios-Carbonneau deadlock was created.&ldquo;I was surprised and I think the media, the players, Pat (Bums) and Serge were suprised,&rdquo; said Carbonneau, whose expression of surprise did not mask his disappointment. &ldquo;I think when you have an election like that, you think you are going to elect one guy. At the end, I think Serge made the right decision. We could have gone on all day.&rdquo;The election of Chelios may come as a surprise to outsiders. Former coach Jean Perron portrayed Chelios as somewhat of a miscreant. But there is little doubt Chelios is one of the fiercest competitors on the team and it is that devotion to the game which likely impressed many of his teammates to vote for him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very exciting,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;I will probably realize what it means more in the next couple of days and once the season gets under way. I will probably understand more what they expect out of me.&ldquo;It has been a big year, winning the Norris and then the baby (Dean) coming. Every month there has been a change. Hopefully this will work out well like the rest of the things.&rdquo;Chelios, who joined the Canadiens in March, 1984, from the U.S. Olympic team, has shown some signs of leadership off the ice, too. When Russ Courtnall needed a place to stay during the playoffs, he moved in with Chelios.The mechanics of the dual captaincy will be worked out at a later date. Chelios said the leadership on the team will not be limited to only Carbonneau and himself.&ldquo;I think there are other guys, Bobby Smith and Ryan Walter. We have got a bunch of leaders on the team. Carbo and I have only been in the league five or six years, whereas Bob Gainey was in the league for a lot of years (16). I think that is a big difference. We are going to need just as much help from the other players.&rdquo;Carbonneau, one of the most intelligent players on the team, has the qualifications to be captain. He has been with Montreal since the 1982-83 season, which ranks him No. 1 in team senority along with Craig Ludwig, Mats Naslund and Ryan Walter.While Chelios was winning the Norris last year, Carbonneau took the Frank Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward for the second consecutive season. That&rsquo;s the same trophy Gainey won four times.Carbonneau agreed there are other players in the dressing room who will provide leadership.&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a matter of two leaders,&rdquo; Carbonneau said. &#9632;

PLAYERS ELECT PAIR OF CAPTAINS

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Hartford Whalers&rsquo; general manager Eddie Johnston didn&rsquo;t land the big one, but he did manage to haul in Ray Ferraro.Ferraro and the Whalers came to terms on a one-year plus-option contract that will pay the center a base salary of $200,000 this season. If Ferraro produces the same kind of numbers as last season (41-35-76), individual and team bonuses will bring him up to $250,000.Negotiations with Ferraro&rsquo;s linemate Kevin Dineen continued without an agreement. Dineen, who led the Whalers with 45 goals and 44 assists last season, wants to become the team&rsquo;s highest-paid player and, if the Whalers agree, he will sign the biggest four-year deal in club history. Goalie Mike Liut, at $450,000, is currently the highest-paid player on the team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011098/5982450-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="551" height="1244"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Ferraro decided against arbitration with the Whalers.</figcaption></div>Ferraro could make up to $240,000 in base salary next season and, since he&rsquo;ll be entering his option next summer, he can use that revised base salary as a starting point for negotiations on a new deal. Last season, Ferraro made a base salary of $145,000 and another $35,000 in team and individual bonuses.&ldquo;The onus is back on me to go out and have a good year,&rdquo; said Ferraro. &ldquo;If I do, next summer we&rsquo;ll be talking in a different price range. But now it&rsquo;s time to play hockey and forget about all this garbage.&ldquo;I feel a great sense of relief that it&rsquo;s done. It&rsquo;s been a rough couple of weeks.&rdquo;In late August, a friend of Ferraro&rsquo;s in British Columbia accidentally killed his own baby while backing up a truck. And Ferraro found out in mid-September another friend of the family died of cancer at 52.&ldquo;I was thinking about going home,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spent a lot of time alone thinking this camp.&rdquo;Ferraro, who originally wanted a base salary of $250,000, intended to go to arbitration but decided the Whalers&rsquo; offer was a fair one.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I would have received as good a bonus structure from an arbitrator,&rdquo; Ferraro said. &ldquo;I think E.J. was pretty fair with the bonus to make it worth my while to sign the contract rather than take it to arbitration, tick everybody off and have no guarantees you&rsquo;re going to get what you have now.&rdquo;Dineen, whose 89 points were also tops in the Adams Division, gave some thought to walking out of camp to back his contract demands. But when the Whalers finally issued a favorable counter-proposal Sept. 11, his optimism returned.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no longer at the point where we&rsquo;re still asking for $500,000 and they&rsquo;re coming back at $430,00 and we&rsquo;re going to settle for $470,000,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of working with deferred payments.&rdquo;If Dineen plays out his option this year, he&rsquo;ll make $310,000. The Whalers&rsquo; counter-proposal offered Dineen a salary of about $300,000 with decade-long payments starting at age 40. &#9632;

f0017-01

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO FOR JOHNSTON

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>Put out or get out: That was the message first-year coach Mike Milbury sent out a week into training camp by shifting Ken Linseman to the B-team roster.After three days of round-robin scrimmages, Milbury divided his 66-man training camp squad into A and B teams.He made it clear that members of the A team had a leg up on making the opening day roster, while B-teamers had a jump on going to the minors.&ldquo;We want to see how people react to the B group,&rdquo; Milbury said of his two-squad arrangement. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a guy who&rsquo;s hungry in the B group, he&rsquo;ll move up. If someone&rsquo;s complacent in the A group, he&rsquo;ll move down.&rdquo;The 31-year-old Linseman, second in team scoring last season with 27 goals and 45 assists&rsquo;, was reassigned because of sluggish play.Linseman did not register any points during the three scrimmage games. His usual annoying presence was never felt on the ice. Milbury took note, and promptly issued Linseman a B team slip.The veteran center, who has played for Philadelphia, Edmonton and the Bruins during his 12 years in the NHL, did not find it amusing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing to be happy about,&rdquo; Linseman said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s embarrassing.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011145/5982481-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="565" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Linseman is coming off a torn ligament in his left knee.</figcaption></div>He responded by turning up his play a notch in the next few practices.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been a little more spring in his legs (since the demotion to the B team),&rdquo; said Rick Bowness, head coach of the Bruins&rsquo; Maine farm team in the American League.Linseman admitted he wasn&rsquo;t in playing shape, but said he wasn&rsquo;t worried.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ready now, but I will be. It just takes a while for me to get going,&rdquo; Linseman said.In his defense, Linseman entered camp coming off a tom ligament in his left knee. He suffered the injury during the Montreal playoff series in April, but it wasn&rsquo;t serious enough to require surgery.He&rsquo;s spent the past five months getting the knee into condition and said it was actually 15-to-20-per-cent stronger than his other knee.But he was still unsure about the toughness and resiliency of his knee.&ldquo;I really won&rsquo;t know how the knee is until I get hit in a situation where I can&rsquo;t protect it,&rdquo; Linseman said.And while his left knee may be strong, the bulky knee brace he&rsquo;s been wearing is hindering his mobility.Linseman, won&rsquo;t use that for an excuse, however, and neither will Milbury.While Linseman&rsquo;s job isn&rsquo;t really in jeopardy, it&rsquo;s clear Milbury used him to get his message across&mdash;and the ploy seems to be working.For example, left winger Scott Harlow was also assigned to the B team. The 23-year-old, who played with Peoria of the International League and Maine of the American League last season, worked hard enough to earn himself a promotion back to the A squad.&ldquo;Every day out there is a tryout,&rdquo; said Harlow.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>INJURIES</h3>Gord Kluzak, D, knee, indefiniteNevin Markwart, LW, abdominal injury, Nov. 1.Bob Sweeney RW, fractured bone in left foot, indefinite.Michael Thelven, D, knee, Nov. 1. &#9632;

f0018-01

LINSEMAN’S ‘DEMOTION’ MESSAGE TO VETERANS

<div class="byline">STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011069/5982536-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="513" height="622"></div>A lot of players, says Pat Bums, have scored 50 goals once during their careers. He guesses a thousand have done so. A more conservative estimate places the figure at 31.Among them is the most gifted (and enigmatic) goal-scorer currently in the employ of the Montreal Canadiens.Two seasons ago, Stephane Richer scored five goals in the final two games of the regular season to reach 50 goals. Last season, he scored five goals in his final 18 games to reach 25.Richer was half as good last year as the year before.&ldquo;Everybody knows I had a bad season last year,&rdquo; says the 23-year-old right winger, &ldquo;and this year I don&rsquo;t want to do the same thing.&rdquo;This is a crucial year for Richer, a circumstance he recognizes. Towards that end, he has fortified himself mentally for a long and productive season. Richer is no ordinary player. Twenty-five goals from his hands of gold are not nearly enough. He is a wonderful skater, deft puckhandler, and possessor of a powerful shot.Yet, he was tripped up on the way to stardom last season.A 10-game suspension for spearing New York Islander defenseman Jeff Norton didn&rsquo;t help. Neither did a diminished role on the power play. Richer contributed to his own woes. Always has. I good share of his roadblocks are self-imposed.He has, say the people who know him best, a fragile personality. Until now, he has shown no evidence of being hardened to the realities of professional sport, of performing in front of the most obsessive hockey fans in the world.&ldquo;I know I talked too much before,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say something wrong and I paid the price.&rdquo;Three years ago, he was sentenced to the minors by coach Jean Perron. First, he refused to report&mdash;returning home to Ripon, Que. Then, he relented and scored 10 goals in 12 American League games. The following season, he fulfilled every Montreal fan&rsquo;s fondest hope&mdash;a 50-goal season. He became the first (and last) Canadien since Guy Lafleur and Pierre Larouche to hit the magic mark.Finally, there was another Flying Frenchman. Last season, he crash-landed and his relationship with coach Bums was the subject of endless media speculation. There were suggestions he wanted a trade, but Richer denies he ever requested a change of address. Richer does not deny poor play.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t produce like I was supposed to,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We saw that in the final against Calgary. The difference between the Flames and us&mdash;we don&rsquo;t have the same power as them&mdash;and I think last year in the playoffs, I was one of the guys who could make a difference in the finals, but I did not.&rdquo;Richer played a pivotal role on the winning goal in Montreal&rsquo;s second-game overtime victory, but had minimal impact overall. One reason was limited ice time. For a player of his potential, he was used judiciously. Burns does not have confidence in Richer&rsquo;s defensive talents.&ldquo;There are times you want him out there,&rdquo; says Bums, &ldquo;and there are times you don&rsquo;t want him out there. Every team has those guys.&rdquo;That is debatable. Only four teams had 50-goal scorers last year. Montreal could have used one in the finals. Instead, the Canadiens lost to the Flames who have Little Joe Mullen and Big Joe Nieuwendyk in their lineup. Both scored 51 times last year.But Bums&rsquo; first concern is not that Richer score; it is that Montreal finish first.&ldquo;I have to think of the team,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I have to think of if Stephane scores 50 goals and the Montreal Canadiens don&rsquo;t make the Stanley Cup finals, who&rsquo;s in s--- then?&rdquo;Two years ago, with Richer on the point most of the time, Montreal&rsquo;s power play was 20th during the regular season. The Canadiens lost in the second round of the playoffs after Richer was sidelined with a broken thumb. To that point, he had been Montreal&rsquo;s best playoff performer. Last year, with Richer&rsquo;s role reduced, the Canadiens tied for eighth on the power play. Richer scored an overtime goal against Hartford, but was not a dominant player. Still, Montreal advanced to the finals.What can he do to make himself a player with whom Bums is more comfortable?&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Last year I asked myself so many times, too many times, why I&rsquo;m not playing, why I&rsquo;m not on the power play, why I&rsquo;m not getting more ice time. But like I said, my head is now straight. I don&rsquo;t want to ask any more questions.&rdquo;The biggest question remains: How good a player will Stephane Richer become? &#9632;

f0019-01

RICHER TIRED OF TALKING: HE WANTS TO PRODUCE ON THE ICE

<h2>RED WINGS</h2>John Brophy, the former Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach, is working with the Detroit Red Wings. Brophy, a longtime adversary of Detroit coach Jacques Demers, is coaching the Hampton Roads Admirals of the East Coast League. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to kind of act as a farm club for our Adirondack-(AHL) team,&rdquo; Wings&rsquo; GM Jimmy Develiano explained. &ldquo;Hey, he&rsquo;s a coach with major-league experience and I can&rsquo;t think of a better guy to have working and developing our young players.&rdquo;&hellip;Joe Murphy&rsquo;s six goals helped lead the powerful offense-minded white team to the training camp championship. Murphy, some veterans acknowledged, has been the best player in camp. But coach Jacques Demers was guarded in his comments about Murphy, who hasn&rsquo;t lived up to his expectations since the Wings made him the first player selected in the 1986 draft. &ldquo;Murph has played well. He&rsquo;s done what we asked him to do, and he deserves a chance,&rdquo; Demers said&hellip;Bob Probert left his rehabilitation center to dine with Demers and Devellano during the Wings&rsquo; training camp, and impressed them with his newfound commitment to a better life. &ldquo;It was a very nice visit,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;It was the best I&rsquo;ve seen him in the four years that I&rsquo;ve been here. His mind seemed clear. Never once did he try to find any excuses.&rdquo;<h2>BLUES</h2>In addition to Brett Hull, the Blues have seven other key players entering their option years: Gino Cavallini, Sergio Momesso. Gordie Roberts, Rick Meagher, Dave Richter. Doug Evans and Pat Jablonski. Jablonski has indicated he&rsquo;ll play out his option. Other than Momesso and Cavallini, who may seek longer term contracts, the others wjll likely get one-year plus an option&hellip;Veteran Paul MacLean came to terms with the Blues before training camp. &ldquo;When you get to be 31 like me, it doesn&rsquo;t take very long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It all went well. I&rsquo;m happy. No complaints.&rdquo; MacLean signed a contract for one-year plus an option&hellip;Training camps are usually intense, but things got a little out of hand on Sept. 9 when incumbent tough guy Todd Ewen and rookie tough guy Tony Twist got into a stick-swinging contest. Neither connected before calmer heads prevailed. &ldquo;I absolutely refuse to condone stick swinging; it&rsquo;s not part of the game and never will be,&rdquo; coach Brian Sutter said.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>Rookie center Jeremy Roenick reported to camp with 15 pounds of added muscle. The Hawks think Roenick, now 183 pounds, can be contender for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. &ldquo;He can be on the Denis Savard level,&rdquo; said Doug Wilson. &ldquo;I hate to put that kind ol pressure on him, but he&rsquo;s got as mud potential as anyone I&rsquo;ve seen come into the league.&rdquo;&hellip;Injured right winger Wayne Presley and left winger Everett Sanipass resumed skating Sept. 12 and were on schedule to be playing by the final week of the exhibition season. Presley had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder Sept. 5, the same day Sanipass fractured his jaw during a power-skating drill. Sanipass has his jaw wired shut, forcing him to have all his meals through a straw. &ldquo;When I&rsquo;m driving down the street, the pizza signs all look bigger to me.&rdquo;&hellip;Despite the season-ending knee injury to Darren Pang, 20-year-old Jimmy Waite knows it&rsquo;s unlikely he&rsquo;ll start the year as Alain Chevrier&rsquo;s backup. Waite agrees with management that he needs to play himself back into game condition after missing most of last season with a broken collarbone. &ldquo;I know I need some action, and I&rsquo;d like to see it here (in Chicago), but if they say go to the minors I&rsquo;ll do it,&rdquo; Waite said.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>It was believed the word &ldquo;acting&rdquo; has been officially removed from GM Floyd Smith&rsquo;s title by owner Harold Ballard. However, two days after saying, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m well pleased with who I have (as GM),&rdquo; Ballard said, &ldquo;If someone comes along who I think is better than Floyd then naturally I&rsquo;ll fire him.&rdquo;&hellip;Ballard, a devout antiCommunist, said he wished there was some way he could prevent the NHL&rsquo;s Soviet players from playing in Maple Leaf Gardens this year, but knows he would face several lawsuits&hellip;Among the early eye-catchers at camp were the club&rsquo;s three first rounders last June&mdash;Scott Thornton. Rob Pearson and Steve Bancroft&mdash;as well as tough guy Tie Domi, a right winger who&rsquo;s giving John Kordic a run for his money on the fourth line. All four youngsters survived the first round of cuts from the Leafs, while such veterans as Tim Bernhardt, Bill Root and Sean McKenna weren&rsquo;t so fortunate. They were assigned to Newmarket of the American League. Top-rated rookies Bobby Reynolds and John McIntyre also made the first cut.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>Goaltender Kari Takko, who broke his ankle in a pre-season practice, had the cast removed Sept. 13 and was expected to rejoin the North Stars when they move training camp back to Minnesota from Kalamazoo, Mich. Sept. 18&hellip;Right winger Mike Gartner, defenseman Ville Siren and goalie Jarmo Myllys agreed to play option years of their contracts and will become free agents with compensation after the season&hellip;Dusan Pasek of Czechoslovakia was the runaway winner in the Stars&rsquo; conditioning tests. His scores in tests that measure endurance and power were among the very best, and his 5.5-per-cent body fat count was the lowest of the 67 players tested. He also went beyond the maximum 200 pounds in the grip test with each hand. &#9632;

BATTLING BROPHY NOW IN THE WINGS

Sept. 28, 1972: Perhaps the most famous goal in hockey history was scored on this date, when Paul Henderson beat Vladislav Tretiak with 34 seconds left in Game 8 of the much-heralded Summit Series. The goal, Henderson&rsquo;s third straight game-winner, gave Team Canada a 6-5 win over the Soviet National team in Moscow. Canada won the series&mdash;the first between top Canadian pros and the Soviets&mdash;four games to three, with one tied..<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02775/5982591-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="620" height="387"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Henderson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

FLASHBACK

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>Occasionally, Joe Kocur thinks back to the time he begged his father to buy him a snowmobile, and Joe Sr. relented.&ldquo;My Dad said, Okay, I&rsquo;ll go get you one right now. But then I&rsquo;m not paying for any more hockey equipment or ice time. I can&rsquo;t afford both.&rsquo;&rdquo;In the small farming community of Kelvington, Sask., folks occupy themselves with either of two winter pastimes&mdash;hockey or snowmobiling. Never both. To the good fortune of the Detroit Red Wings, the younger Joe stuck with hockey.&ldquo;I think, deep down, my dad knew I&rsquo;d want to keep playing hockey,&rdquo; said Kocur, now a 24-year-old right winger with Detroit. &ldquo;And I did. I guess I made the right choice.&rdquo;Kory Kocur, Joe&rsquo;s 20-year-old cousin and a first-round draft of the Wings in 1988, doesn&rsquo;t have any regrets either. Nor do the Wings, who could employ both in Detroit this season.Joe, one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier enforcers, will patrol the police beat again, though Demers promised he will have more opportunities to contribute to the offense.Kory, who said he&rsquo;s not a fighter despite 111 penalty minutes with Saskatoon of the Western League last year, would be expected to put the puck in the net. He had 45-57-102 totals for the Blades in 66 games in &rsquo;88-89.&ldquo;Every day, he seems to play with the poise of a veteran out there,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said of Kory. &ldquo;He has great hockey sense. He goes to the net. He&rsquo;s got really good speed and size (5-foot-11, 188 pounds). He looks like a nice right winger.&rdquo;In his second training camp with the Wings, Kory is more at ease with himself. He was flattered by Demers&rsquo; remarks, but said he still has far to go before he feels comfortable.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s good to hear, I guess, but I still think I have a few steps to gain to keep up with the big boys here. It&rsquo;ll take some time to get settled like I want to be.&rdquo;Kory is also very aware of the competition at his position.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a good young crop there, I think,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I think that&rsquo;s good. It means you have to do a good job every day, because there are guys there ready to take your job if you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Some in the organization feel that as good as Kory looks in camp, he should still spend some time in Adirondack of the American League. He is one of four young right wingers on the verge of earning a job in Detroit. The others are Brent Fedyk, who is almost a lock to start the season in Detroit, probably on Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s wing; Sheldon Kennedy, a favorite with the veterans because of his kamikaze style of play; and Randy McKay, who showed in a brief stint with the Wings last season he&rsquo;s ready.Veterans at the position are Joe Kocur, Dave Barr and Jim Nill. Newcomer Marc Habscheid is expected to see action both at center and right wing.Buoyed by the progress of the four young right wingers in camp, Demers suggested a trade may be necessary to make room on the roster for more than one of them.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not a threat when I say we may have to make a trade,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just the facts. At first, I was a little worried about our right side. Now, maybe, we have to make room for these young kids.&rdquo;Until camp began, Joe had never even seen his cousin play hockey. Early in training camp, they were opponents in a scrimmage.&ldquo;I think he looked pretty good,&rdquo; Joe said.&ldquo;It was weird, playing against a relative like that,&rdquo; Kory said. &ldquo;I was a little nervous. I was afraid he might run me.&rdquo;Since he was drafted by the Wings, Kory has been asked constantly about his fighting ability. But he has kept insisiting he and Joe are not cousins in arms.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an invalid comparison. Not even close,&rdquo; Kory said.If anything this season, Joe will be trying to emulate his younger cousin&rsquo;s goal-scoring ability.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m figuring you&rsquo;ll get some of those goals on the power play this year,&rdquo; Demers said to him.Joe turned to a reporter and said, &ldquo;Put that in the paper. I want to hold him to it.&rdquo; &#9632;

KOCURS COUSINS ON ICE BUT NOT IN ARMS

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>Just when it looked like the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; goaltending situation had taken a turn for the worse, it took a turn for the better.First, the bad news. Darren Pang suffered a career-threatening knee injury and underwent surgery Sept. 11 in Birmingham, Ala., to repair a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He will likely be out six to nine months.The good news is No. 1 goalie Alain Chevrier signed a multi-year contact that same day, ending his three-day holdout from training camp.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy we came to an agreement, got him signed and can get him back on the ice,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; general manager Bob Pulford. &ldquo;Hopefully he&rsquo;ll pick up where he left off last year.&rdquo;Last season, Chevrier posted a 13-11-2 record with a 3.51 goals-against average after he was acquired from Winnipeg Jan. 19. He was largely responsible for getting the Hawks to the Campbell Conference final against Calgary.For the 25-year-old Pang, he just hopes he&rsquo;ll be able to pick up his hockey career next season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s career-threatening, but I would hope his chances are good,&rdquo; Hawks&rsquo; team physician Dr. Louis Kolb said of Pang&rsquo;s recovery. &ldquo;He should be able to challenge for a position again next year.&rdquo;Pang is optimistic about his chances to play again.&ldquo;I have no doubts whatsoever,&rdquo; Pang said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m only 25 years old and feel I have a lot left. Plenty of guys have come back from this surgery. I&rsquo;ll play again.&rdquo;He first hurt his knee in 1983 while with Ottawa of the Ontario League. He aggravated the same knee last May when 6-foot-4, 225-pound Wayne Van Dorp fell on his leg during practice.Kolb said Pang suffered tears in both his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in 1983 but only the medial collateral was repaired. Kolb said Pang was able to play for six years without problems because secondary ligaments in the knee gradually took over for the anterior cruciate. The secondary ligaments have now become loose.&ldquo;The incident with Van Dorp was the crowning blow,&rdquo; Kolb said.&ldquo;It was orginally thought to be just a bad sprain,&rdquo; Pang said. &ldquo;All summer I worked on the leg, getting it in shape. I ran, played racquetball and golf, and felt fine. But the first time I went on the ice a couple weeks ago, I felt pain as soon as I tried a pivot shift. I wasn&rsquo;t able to move laterally without it hurting, without feeling everything in the knee turn and twist when I moved sideways.&rdquo;The surgery was performed by Dr. William Clancy, a specialist in the anterior cruciate ligament who has worked on the knees of Calgary defenseman Gary Suter and Red Wings&rsquo; center Steve Yzerman.With Pang lost for the year that would leave either untested Jimmy Waite or Ed Belfour to fill Pang&rsquo;s backup role. However, the Hawks would still like to place both rookies in the minors to start the season to gain some much-needed experience.&ldquo;We felt our goaltending situation was one place where we made definite plans,&rdquo; said Pulford. &ldquo;This drastically changes what we&rsquo;re going to do.&ldquo;I feel we are now in a vulnerable position. I don&rsquo;t want Jimmy to sit here, and I don&rsquo;t necessarily want Belfour to sit here either.&rdquo;Pulford plans to speak with Philadelphia since the Flyers have three quality goaltenders in Ron Hextall (a training camp holdout), Pete Peeters and Ken Wregget.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll talk to them, but I&rsquo;m sure there are 19 other teams who are doing the same thing,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if we&rsquo;ll be the team. Are we going to trade Dave Manson for Peeters? No.&rdquo;Wregget is one player who interests the Hawks, but he is not considered a No. 2 goalie. The Hawks want to acquire someone to play 20 or so games as Chevrier&rsquo;s backup.&ldquo;We might just have to wait and see who&rsquo;s available in the (Oct. 1) waiver draft,&rdquo; said coach Mike Keenan.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>INJURIES</h3>Darren Pang, G, surgery on left knee, out for season. &#9632;

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS FOR HAWK GOALIES

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>A decade ago Helmut Balderis was one of the best hockey players in the world. Today, he hopes he is just good enough to play for the Minnesota North Stars.Balderis, at 37, is the oldest of the Soviets to come to the NHL this year. Even though he&rsquo;s been more coach than player the last four years, he still has some of the skills that made him one of the the world&rsquo;s greatest players in the late 1970s.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just what I expected when we drafted him,&rdquo; general manager Jack Feleirasaid. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m certainly not disappointed.&ldquo;He keeps up with the pace and has shown an ability to make plays and play off the skills of some of our better players.&rdquo;At the time Balderis was drafted 238th overall, Ferreira admitted choosing an ancient forward was a gamble&mdash;but not much of one, since it was only a 12th-round pick.Still, it caught Balderis, who has coached in Japan the last four seasons, by surprise. It is a very big honor for a player of my age to be drafted, &ldquo;he said.&ldquo;Am I sorry I didn&rsquo;t get this chance 10 years ago? Absolutely. Even four or five years ago and I would have been much better.&ldquo;The NHL has always been a dream, but this is the first time there was a chance for me to get out. The NHL has the best hockey. It&rsquo;s the place for only the better players because not everyone gets an offer to play.&rdquo;For years, Balderis, who is from the Soviet state of Latvia, was the best player in the Soviet Union. He was the Soviet National League player of the year in 1976-77 and won the Izvestia (scoring) Trophy that season and again in 198283, scoring 63 points each time. He ranks 11th among all-time Soviet scorers with 407 goals in World and European championships, international tournaments, European and Soviet Cup games and Soviet National League games.Two years after Balderis led all Soviet scorers for the last time and four years before he was dratted by the North Stars, his playing career in the Soviet Union ended.&ldquo;It was politics, discrimination,&rdquo; Balderis said in English, interrupting a lengthy translation to ensure that his feelings about the Russians came through.&ldquo;The Russian coaches wouldn&rsquo;t let him play,&rdquo; said Dr. George Nagobads, who left Latvia in 1944 and has been a North Stars&rsquo; team physician for years. &ldquo;The Russians don&rsquo;t want a Latvian player to do well.&rdquo;Concerned about protocol, Balderis made a point of asking coach Pierre Page what he likes to be called by his players. &ldquo;Helmut, we&rsquo;re the same age,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;Call me anything you want.&rdquo;And Page calls Balderis a positive influence.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t help but be totally excited about him,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;I saw him pat (Dusan) Pasek on the back after a nice pass and I thought, &lsquo;When was the last time you saw a Soviet pat a Czech on the back? It had to be before 1968 when Russia invaded Czechoslovakia.&rsquo;&ldquo;He does things differently from anyone else we have in camp. He plays with the experience of a 37-year-old.&ldquo;I really enjoy watching him but when it comes time to select a team. I&rsquo;m not sure the criteria will be the same. We&rsquo;re anxious to see him play against some other teams, when the intensity picks up and the traffic gets heavier.&rdquo;Off the ice, Balderis looks his age, with a receding hairline and glasses. When he stands, however, the source of his speed is obvious from the bulging muscles in his legs.Even so, he&rsquo;s had to pick himself up off the ice several times during early scrimmages and his arms have been nicked by teammates&rsquo; slashing sticks.&ldquo;The physical play is something I expected,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Getting knocked down is part of my job. Each time it happens, you must get up, you have to take it. I have played against NHL players before so I was not surprised.&ldquo;I knew it would be different from European hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

AGING SOVIET FINALLY GETS HIS NHL SHOT

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>The St. Louis Blues have placed a news blackout on the contract talks with right winger Brett Hull and his agent Bob Goodenow.Hull, 25, who led the Blues last season with 41 goals and 84 points, is entering the option year of his contract.&ldquo;We had a (staff) meeting, and the Blues&rsquo; position is we&rsquo;ve stopped talking about Brett Hull&rsquo;s contract discussions with Mr. Goodenow,&rdquo; general manager Ron Caron said. &ldquo;We say to everyone that asks that we have no comment to make.&rdquo;Caron called the silence &ldquo;club policy,&rdquo; and said it had nothing to do with the fact talks have heated up or remained the same.Goodenow said he&rsquo;s still talking. He sent a proposal to the Blues Sept. 12. He wouldn&rsquo;t discuss specifics of the contract but said he was seeking a short-term deal and the main stumbling block concerned a blend of guaranteed money and bonuses.&ldquo;We want something that will adequately reflect the possible contributions he will make to the team,&rdquo; said Goodenow. &ldquo;The ball is in their court.&rdquo;The Blues imposed their news blackout the following day. It&rsquo;s been a long time since they&rsquo;ve been involved in a major contract squabble.Goaltender Greg Millen started to play out his option last season, but signed a new contract in December. Those negotiations were so low-key that Caron talked about the progress and details.The Hull negotiations are different, however. Since the Millen signing, the Blues signed Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Curtis Joseph&mdash;neither of whom had any professional experience&mdash;to contracts worth a reported $1 million apiece over four years.Goodenow took notice.&ldquo;And it remains to be seen how much of a factor they are,&rdquo; he said.Hull, son of Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull, became a factor last season.&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t too many guys who can score 40 or 50 goals a year,&rdquo; Goodenow said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question he can score.&rdquo;Goodenow also noticed how the top-of-the-line pay scale has increased, with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux each making more than $2 million per year, and Detroit renegotiating with Steve Yzerman to put him in the same category.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01710/5982694-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="704" height="759"><figcaption class="caption-body">GM Ron Caron, above, won&rsquo;t talk about Brett Hull&rsquo;s contract negotiations.</figcaption></div>Hartford Whalers&rsquo; right winger Kevin Dineen, 25, is reportedly seeking $500,000 a year. He had 45 goals last season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a changing market,&rdquo; Goodenow said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been an interesting summer, with what the Blues have done with the kids and what&rsquo;s been happening around the league. The whole level of the top players has gone up.&rdquo;Goodenow came to St. Louis to meet with Caron Sept. 11. Before the meeting, he said he expected the Blues to make an issue of Hull&rsquo;s limited NHL experience&mdash;148 games in two seasons.&ldquo;You should get paid for what you produce,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The seniority system in the NHL is an old thing. Guys should be paid for what they do. They shouldn&rsquo;t have to wait. Hockey careers are too short.&rdquo;Before the news embargo, Caron said progress had been made.&ldquo;We established parameters that both parties care for,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was done in good spirit and both sides are working to come to an agreement.&ldquo;We do not have a timetable, but if we had to do something in a hurry, it could be done.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Hull is going about his work in training camp. He came to camp in good shape, 10 pounds below his 205-pound playing weight last season. He participated in two extra scrimmages last week to get extra work. &#9632;

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CARON STAYS MUM ON HULL CONTRACT TALKS

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>The positive, upbeat mood which permeated the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; first week of basic training was almost enough to obscure the team&rsquo;s most important issue. Almost.Many questions remained unanswered, but none bigger than the health of left winger Wendel Clark.Clark, the No. 1 overall choice in the 1985 entry draft, is as close to a franchise player as the Leafs have.But his chronic lower back problems have forced him to miss 117 games over the last two seasons.After being dumped in the comer by defenseman Al Iafrate early in his first scrimmage, Clark left the ice about 20 minutes later&mdash;roughly Half way through the 2&frac12;-hour scrimmage. Clark insisted he was fine.Two days later, he appeared to be skating with much more ease, but it was obvious he was not the Clark of old. Some observers feel he&rsquo;ll be lucky to play 50 games this season.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;ve been out for a long time you have to expect to hear that kind of negativism,&rdquo; said Clark, who scored 71 goals in his first two NHL seasons. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s taken a long process, a lot longer than I ever thought it would take, but all I can do is work hard when I&rsquo;m off the ice as well as on and try to get healthier.&rdquo;After missing most of last season, Clark returned for 15 games, showing flashes of his old hard-hitting self while scoring seven goals and four assists. The club still fell short in its bid for the final Norris Division playoff spot.Some argued Clark&rsquo;s comeback was ill-timed, that a playoff spot wasn&rsquo;t worth risking his career. But although he required the presence of his personal athletic therapist on road trips to keep his aching back loose and flexible, Clark was often the best Leaf player on the ice.Clark insisted he has no regrets over his decision to play down the stretch.&ldquo;It helped because it gave us an idea of where we were at and what had to be done (during the off-season),&rdquo; said the native of Kelvington, Sask., who turns 23 on Oct. 25. &ldquo;It was a confidence-booster for this year, knowing that I had played and could play rather than not knowing what was going to happen when I stepped on the ice.&rdquo;Clark is most effective when he plays flat out. But he&rsquo;s trying to pace himself in camp, building what he calls an &ldquo;immunity&rdquo; to rough hits and the constant clutching and grabbing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take a while, but how long? If I had an answer I&rsquo;d tell you, but I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Clark. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve set no goals as to how many games I&rsquo;d like to play this year. It all depends.&ldquo;Some nights you have a rough game, others might be a little easier. It&rsquo;ll be the same wait-and-see attitude as last year, but at least I&rsquo;m fairly certain this year of starting the year.&rdquo;Head coach Doug Carpenter had experimented with Clark at center early in camp, in an attempt to keep him away from the boards and the heavy traffic in the comers. Clark centered a line with Gary Leeman on right wing and converted center Ed Olczyk on the left.The experiment lasted about two days before Clark was shifted back to left wing. But Carpenter kept the line together, with Olczyk at center.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll continue to monitor Wendel on a daily basis and do whatever we think is best for him,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;We want to make sure he&rsquo;s comfortable and physically fit.&ldquo;I guess some people might think we&rsquo;re being a little bit overprotective, but there&rsquo;s only one way to do this and that&rsquo;s the right way.&rdquo;If Clark was expecting any special treatment from his teammates, he certainly wasn&rsquo;t accorded any.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s taken some hits and also given some,&rdquo; praised Carpenter. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an impact player and every team needs their big guy in the lineup.&rdquo; &#9632;

CLARK STILL ON ROAD TO RECOVERY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01745/5982749-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit captain Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s shifty style of play makes it necessary for him to play with a flexible stick.</figcaption></div>Today&rsquo;s hockey sticks are as different as the players who use them.Consider the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Tim Kerr, whose game is sheer strength&mdash;both in his body and his shot. Kerr uses an aluminum stick shaft with a snap-on wooden blade. The stick&rsquo;s durability reflects the man.The Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; Steve Yzerman, on the other hand, plays a game of finesse and improvisation. He likes his sticks, wood/fiberglass laminates, as flexible as possible. Again, the player&rsquo;s style is reflected in his choice of stick.As hockey developed into a big business over the course of the 20th century, the need for customized sticks&mdash;lighter, more flexible (or stiffer, depending on the player) and easier to handle&mdash;developed with it.In the early days of hockey, players used sticks borrowed from other sports. Today&rsquo;s game evolved from hurley and ricket, a couple of sports brought to Canada&rsquo;s maritimes by Irish settlers. Both sports, like hockey, involved the use of sticks to fire a projectile (in these cases, a ball) into a net.&ldquo;And in the United States,&rdquo; adds hockey historian Ed Grenda, director of the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ont., &ldquo;there was a game called Ice Polo. The sticks used in these games were similar to the field hockey sticks used in England at the time.&rdquo;Early sticks were hand-carved, usually of solid ash. Blades curved upwards, and puck control was difficult. Action was far more scrambly than it is today.The sticks were also heavy and hard to manage. One advantage they had, however, was long life. There are reports of 19th-Century players going through an entire season or longer with one stick. An NHL player today will use about 200 sticks a year.By 1875, with hockey just about established as a game in its own right, the stick began to change in shape. The blade became flatter (though the heel was still rounded), but players had not yet discovered the value of a longer shaft.They played the game crouched over, unable to get up much speed either in their skating or their shots. But, in time, that began to change. By 1917, the National Hockey League had formed and the game began to take on a more serious edge. Men were playing hockey for money now.The Shearer mill in Montreal began manufacturing sticks, and other companies followed suit. Greater demands for innovation came forward. Among the most unique was a bent wood shaft, which came out and around like a golf putter. Blades, too, became wider.The first two-piece sticks began to appear in the late 1920s and early &rsquo;30s. By the &rsquo;40s, they had pretty well consigned one-piece models to the historical showcase.In the 1970s, a shortage of highgrade ash led to the introduction of sticks with laminated shafts. Some of the experimentations in lamination were disastrous, as author Charles Wilkins writes in his comprehensive history of the hockey stick, Sapling to Slapshot.Georges Guilbeault, president of Sher-Wood stick manufacturer, tells of an embarrassing early attempt at lamination:&ldquo;The first handles were 52-ply, and we really didn&rsquo;t know how the glue would perform,&rdquo; says Guilbeault. &ldquo;At one point I sold sticks to the entire Western Canada Junior League. We sent them out there in a boxcar and they froze on the way. The glue went brittle and, when the players started using them, they broke like candles. The whole shipment was useless.&rdquo;Further refinements led to the sticks used today&mdash;19-ply shafts attached to blades which are usually of one piece, but on occasion laminated as well.It is easier to control requests for customization with the laminated shaft. The laminates and glass fiber remain constant in their weight and resiliency; only the performance of the wood is unpredictable. With aluminum-shaft sticks, the thickness of the metal varies according to the player&rsquo;s specifications.And with the specialization comes a better, faster game. &#9632;

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HOCKEY STICKS HAVE COME A LONG WAY

In the small northern Minnesota town of Warroad, the sound of machines working overtime is a familiar one these days as business continues to grow significantly.Entering its silver 25th anniversary, Christian continues to become a larger player in the hockey stick industry. This holds particularly true in the very competitive Canadian marketplace, where Chrisitian is distributed exclusively by Jelinek Sports.&ldquo;Christian has increased its market share in Canada especially over the last two years,&rdquo; says Tim McClure, product/sales manager of Jelenik Sports. &ldquo;As players try the sticks, they find they like them enough that they don&rsquo;t want to use anything else. Word of mouth spreads very quickly and things snowball from there.&ldquo;Right now, we are having trouble keeping the store shelves stocked. The retailers can&rsquo;t get stock of them fast enough.&rdquo;Aside from the NHL players who are currently using its products,Christian is also associated with other levels of the sport.&ldquo;We have established ourselves very well so far in Canada,&rdquo; says Bill Christian, vice president ol Christian Bros. USA. &ldquo;We are currently working at the pro, junioi and college levels, including major junior. The entire Peterborough Petes hockey club uses Christian and it is a pleasure to be working with such a class organization again this year.&rdquo;Christian is also involved much more with oldtimer hockey, as well as with the Ontario Ball Hockey Association. Ball hockey is a spoil that is growing tremendously year by year.Christian Bros, is getting some excellent feedback from its involvement in the anti-drug campaigns in the U.S. and Canada The company endorses and supports the efforts of those attempting to fight the war on drugs by adding brief messages on the shafts of each stick that leaves the factory: &ldquo;Just Say NO To Drugs&rdquo; or &ldquo;The Choice For Me&mdash;Drug Free&rsquo; have been accepted by coaches, parents, players, fans and the NHL professionals who are using Christian products.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02474/5982780-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="555" height="1206"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Christian is proud to have his family name on his sticks.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We really weren&rsquo;t sure how well this would go over, particularly with the peer pressure kids face in their teen years,&rdquo; McClure says. &ldquo;But it has gone the opposite&mdash;it has been players in this age bracket who have fully endorsed the program which is a very positive thing to see.&ldquo;We have a stick that is ideally suited for virtually every type of player&mdash;from the new Power Tech Aircraft Aluminum shaft, to the original Black Magic and traditional ash handled Pro 1000.&ldquo;There is no substitute for craftsmanship and feel in a stick. A stick is really an extension of the player himself. I know that Christian can provide these tools.&rdquo;As Dave Christian of the Washington Capitals says, &ldquo;The Chrisitians are still playing the game and still making hockey sticks so the motto continues to live on&mdash;&rsquo;Hockey Sticks Made by Hockey Players.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

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CHRISTIAN STICKS MADE BY AND FOR PLAYERS

You&rsquo;d be hard pressed to find a hockey player these days who doesn&rsquo;t enjoy spending a large part of his offseason on the golf course.Some even shift their hockey abilities to the golf course with them. Take Doug Wilson of the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the most accurate and powerful shooters in the NHL.&#9632; &ldquo;I think there are lots of similarities between hitting a golf ball and a puck,&rdquo; said Wilson, the Norris Trophy winner in 1982. &ldquo;In golf, the key is to have good club head speed and to make contact with the ball. In hockey, the main thing for me is good stick speed and I want to hit the puck pure.&rdquo;A stalwart on the Blackhawks&rsquo; power play unit, Wilson is one of the most feared shooters in the NHL. And while he carries a powerful punch in his 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame, meticulous selection of his hockey sticks has also been a prominent factor in his NHL success. To that end, he&rsquo;s used Canadien sticks throughout his 12-year career.&ldquo;I like a stiff stick that doesn&rsquo;t have a lot of bend in it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Because I find that even with a stiff stick, you&rsquo;re going to get a lot of bend and, if I get too much bend in the stick, I&rsquo;m always pulling it off to the left. I find that with too much whip I tend to lose control.&ldquo;I also like a light stick. It&rsquo;s not easy to get a light stick that&rsquo;s also stiff, but Canadien has been good to me over the years.&rdquo;Like most NHLers, Wilson finds himself manipulating his sticks before games to get the right curve. The blow torch is usually the best method. But it was in that tinkering where Wilson discovered he could improve his shot.&ldquo;I like to give the stick a heel curve by starting the curve right at the heel,&rdquo; said Wilson. &ldquo;That way you can have a bigger curve without the stick being illegal. I also find that with a normal curve, the blade straightens out and some of them even bend backwards.&rdquo;Backhand shot purists would probably cringe at the sight of Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues. No matter what stick he has, he has to manipulate it somehow before going on the ice.&ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s a psychological thing with me, but there&rsquo;s no way I can just use a stick off the rack,&rdquo; said Hull, who led the Blues in scoring with 41 goals last season. &ldquo;I always have to change the curve somehow even, if it&rsquo;s already perfect. Sometimes I use the blowtorch, but I&rsquo;ve found the good old foot to be the best method.&rdquo;Hull, who possesses an excellent slap shot and an almost lethal snap shot, uses the aluminum shaft sticks made by Easton. Unlike Wilson, Hull likes a stick with a lot of give in the shaft.&ldquo;I like to have that whippiness in my stick so I get that nice snap in it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I find that really helps me with my snap shot and that&rsquo;s important in this league. Here you have to get the puck away a lot quicker in the slot. And because of the tight checking you don&rsquo;t often have a lot of room when you&rsquo;re playing the point on the power play.&rdquo;Hull, one of a growing number of NHL players to use the aluminum shafts, says he likes a bulkv shaft that he can easily Ini. He also likes the blade to start out wide and then gradually taper to the end.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01810/5982811-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="715" height="1168"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull is one of a growing number to use aluminum shafts.</figcaption></div>But make no mistake, the curve is the most important thing for Hull.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what anyone says, the curve is the most important thing. It puts the power behind the shot.&rdquo;Just as Hull&rsquo;s father, Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull, found.The younger Hull admitted he&rsquo;s hard on his sticks. He went through two shafts and five blades the first five days of training camp, but says the aluminum shafts are no less dangerous when they break than their wooden cousins.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been using these six years and I&rsquo;ve only seen one weird break,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Usually they break just like a wooden shaft would.&rdquo;Many NHL fans aren&rsquo;t too familiar with Dave Chyzowski right now, but he&rsquo;s being touted as one of the league&rsquo;s future shooting stars.The right winger with the Kamloops Blazers of the Western League claims he tries to scare goalies with his powerful slap shot. And he often succeeds. Last year he scored 56 goals with the Blazers, but has found the going a little tougher during his first NHL training camp with the New York Islanders.&ldquo;In junior I could just step over the red line and blast it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Here you don&rsquo;t have time for that. In the NHL you have to shoot a lot quicker because as soon as you get the puck, guys are all over you like flies. The defensemen are bigger and they play the puck a lot better.&rdquo;Chyzowski has used Sher-Wood sticks most of his career and claims he goes through between nine and 10 dozen sticks per season.&ldquo;It used to be even more than that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But then I started to get a little more conscious of not taking slap shots during practice.&rdquo; &#9632;

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SECRETS FROM HOCKEY’S BIG SHOOTERS

Consistency is the feature NHL players want most in a hockey stick.It doesn&rsquo;t matter if the player demands a flexible stick like Steve Yzerman uses, or one with very little give, like hardshooting Al Maclnnis prefers. When NHLers receive a batch of sticks from their suppliers, they want every stick to be the same.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question consistency is the most important feature,&rdquo; said Michel Drolet of Sher-Wood, the company which supplies such players as Maclnnis, Paul Coffey and Bernie Nicholls. &ldquo;If you differ the stick in pattern, you&rsquo;ll lose the player.&ldquo;We had to go through several dozen sticks to get the right pattern for Al Maclnnis. We have to go to those lengths for someone like him.&rdquo;Maclnnis, generally acknowledged to have the league&rsquo;s hardest shot, prefers a stick with an extremely stiff handle. He prefers a lighter stick with very little flexibility.&ldquo;Most of the features of his&rsquo;stick are tailored to his hard shot,&rdquo; said Drolet.Yzerman uses a totally different type of stick, but he too, demands consistency above all.The flashy Red Wing center chooses a very light stick with great flexibility. He uses a very rounded-off handle and one with the lowest lie&mdash;four, whereas Maclnnis&rsquo; lie is six. (The lie of the stick is the angle of the blade&rsquo;s attachment to the shaft).&ldquo;The consistency of the flex is the most important feature for him,&rdquo; said Graham Watson, Louisville&rsquo;s vice-president of sales for hockey. Louisville supplies sticks to NHL stars Yzerman, Dale Hawerchuk and Pat LaFontaine.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01717/5982842-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="722" height="1231"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Savard never changes the pattern of his Canadien stick.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Yzerman&rsquo;s stick needs to perform to the ultimate for him to really get the snap in his wrist shot, which is his trademark,&rdquo; said Watson.Watson said Yzerman is very easy to deal with now that the company knows what he requires in a stick. But there are times when Yzerman can be quite demanding about the sticks he receives from Louisville.&ldquo;Like all players,&rdquo; said Watson, &ldquo;once the playoffs come around he&rsquo;s much more particular about his sticks.&rdquo;New York Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch, last year&rsquo;s Calder Trophy winner as rookie of the year, prefers the aluminum stick of Easton. He, too, stresses consistency.&ldquo;He likes the aluminum sticks because of their consistency in the shaft,&rdquo; said John Pagotto, vice-president for Easton Sports in Canada. &ldquo;He has been using them ever since he played on the U.S: Olympic team. Unlike with wooden sticks, he never has the need to return any sticks.&rdquo;The shaft is aluminum, but the blade is still wood. Leetch, Tim Kerr, Mike Ridley and others who use the Easton aluminum stick, heat up the shaft and insert the blades themselves. Leetch will use 18 to 24 blades a month.While that may sound like a lot, it really isn&rsquo;t. Watson estimates Yzerman uses up to 50 dozen sticks a year during the preseason, 80-game regular season and playoffs. Not all of the sticks get broken. Yzerman, like most stars, gives some to fans at NHL arenas.No one gives away more sticks than Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; superstar Wayne Gretzky. The Great One&rsquo;s Titan is light and stiff, with a moderate curve.&ldquo;Wayne basically is a very easy customer to please,&rdquo; said Jacques Chaisson, team service manager for Karhu, the company which also supplies Koho sticks for Mario Lemieux and Canadien sticks for Denis Savard. &ldquo;He basically never changes his pattern. The lie is the most important thing for him&mdash;that and the stiffness.&ldquo;Lemieux is more concerned with the length of his stick&mdash;a 60-inch shaft. It&rsquo;s also really easy to take care of him, although he uses one stick each period.&rdquo;Goaltenders can also be very particular in the sticks they choose. Ron Hextall, Kelly Hrudel and Bob Froese all get their sticks from Victoriaville. Hextall is considered the NHL&rsquo;s best puckhandling goalie, and is the only netminder in NHL history to shoot a puck into the other team&rsquo;s net&mdash;a feat he has managed twice.&ldquo;Hextall is very selective,&rdquo; said Gary Jackson, president of Victoriaville. &ldquo;He has a very unique heel curve. It&rsquo;s not in the middle of the blade like all other goalies. It&rsquo;s his own style&mdash;he came up with it himself and now it is one of our best sellers.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been using Victoriaville since he was 15 years old and sees no reason to change.&rdquo;Future NHL stars are also very concerned about finding the right hockey stick. Dave Chyzowski, the first-round pick of the New York Islanders in last June&rsquo;s entry draft, is still searching for that elusive perfect stick.&ldquo;I can never find the right one,&rdquo; said the left winger, who is generally regarded as having the hardest shot in Canadian junior hockey. &ldquo;I use a really stiff stick that&rsquo;s rather long, but I still haven&rsquo;t found the perfect one.&rdquo; &#9632;

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STARS DEMAND THE BEST FROM THEIR STICKS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01774/5982908-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02517/5982901-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1495" height="1694"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01656/5982894-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="1492" height="1911"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02437/5982887-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="1500" height="1885"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01655/5982880-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="1487" height="1449"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02455/5982873-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="1507" height="1457"></div> &#9632;

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STICK PRODUCT ANALYSIS

Last year&rsquo;s introduction of Louisville TPS models by NHL endorsees Steve Yzerman, Dale Hawerchuk, Ron Francis, Shayne Corson and Pat Verbeek has been expanded to include the like of Pat LaFontaine, Kirk Muller, Petri Skriko and others.The success of TPS in the pro ranks has been apparent with the tremendous acceptance of the product by semi-pro and amateur players throughout hockey. TPS offers distinct variations in models curve, blade shape, handle length&mdash;special sanding features just like the pros&rsquo;. The quality of every TPS is strictly controlled by expert craftsmen at H & B.In &rsquo;89 Louisville will introduce two new lines of professional goal sticks&mdash;a &ldquo;Pro&mdash;Gio Series&rdquo; with three markings in sharp fluorescent colors of red, orange, yellow, blue and green; curved and straight models; lies 12 and 14.H & B is also pleased to announce its entry into premium protective equipment line of products under the &ldquo;Louisville&rdquo; trademark.Louisville&rsquo;s initial offering will include pro model shoulder pads and elbow pads along with hockey bags and professional styled allleather hockey gloves.The pro-style gloves are styled after those worn currently by Louisville endorsees Yzerman, Hawerchuk and Francis.&#9632; Louisville &ldquo;Defender&rdquo; shoulder pad&mdash; The pads have the exclusive Douglas Air Cushion (a solid foam core as used in NFL and U.S. college football pads) which releases air through velcro appendages. The foam has a recovery time of approximately 10 seconds. The shoulder pad will be offered in a Defender (five sizes: junior, small, medium, large, XL) as well as a shorter Wingman version, also in five sizes. The equipment staff of both Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings have taken an active hands-on role in the future design of all Louisville&rsquo;s protective equipment.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01723/5982946-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="571" height="1325"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shayne Corson, left, and Ron Francis prefer Louisville.</figcaption></div>&#9632; Louisville &ldquo;Pro&rdquo; glove&mdash; Louisville Hockey will be introducing a domestic-made all-leather pro-style glove. The glove is currently being worn by many Louisville stick users such as Yzerman and Hawerchuk. This &ldquo;TPS&rdquo; glove offers lightness and flexibility with the needed protection of a premium glove. Colors available will be red, blue, black, green and a new rich-looking black/silver.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02453/5982939-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="1176" height="463"></div> &#9632;

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SHOULDER PADS, GLOVES NEW FROM LOUISVILLE

Victoriaville is one of the best-known manufacturers of high-performance hockey sticks in Canada. After a major fire two years ago, Victoriaville has built a new manufacturing facility, replacing older machinery with new and more highly advanced equipment. The result of this new equipment will be shown through even higher-quality products.Victoriaville has continued to emphasize research and development in order to produce a high-quality stick. This has resulted in the optimum combination of stiffness, weight, balance and feel, with balance being the key to the ultimate stick.ULTRA VIC 4050&mdash;For 198990, Ultra Vic 4050 is the flagship of the Vic line. The 4050 shaft provides an excellent lightweight feel and yet the necessary stiffness and strength from the fiberglass/wood core construction that promotes higher puck velocity. The blade on the 4050 is laminated ash with a fiberglass-and-graphite wrap. Several blade shapes and curves are available including various pro patterns. The excellent performance of this stick is proven by the fact that many NHL and AHL pros are switching to Ultra Vic 4050.QUADRA GLASS 5000&mdash;New for 1989-90, the Quad features a stiff fiberglass shaft running further into the heel section, reducing torsion on impact. The Quad 5000 is noted for its beveled lightweight shaft, feel and balance.PRO VIC 3050&mdash;For the 1989-90 season, this stick features a well balanced 13-ply vertical laminated shaft with medium flex factor.PRO VIC GOAL&mdash;The outstanding design of this goal stick has proven to be one of the finest and most popular in the game today. This professional quality stick features a multi-laminated shaft, a glass reinforced fin that is tapered to exacting standards for a performance flex, and a thin graphite-and-glass-wrapped ash blade, providing strength and durability. This stick is noted for its lightweight feel and is available in straight or curved models.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01753/5982984-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="562" height="1310"><figcaption class="caption-body">James Patrick, above, and Kelly Hrudev are Vic users.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02510/5982977-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="552" height="1298"></div> &#9632;

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VICTORIAVILLE’S BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER

There&rsquo;s a new attitude oul there among the hockey stick buying public: Price be damned. I want the best.It wasn&rsquo;t always that way. There used to be a time when the hockey stick market was price-sensitive. If a manufacturer put out a stick foi $12.99, he could be sure half his business would be scooped by the guy who was selling for $12.49.Not any more.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re dealing mostly with adult hockey people, and they&rsquo;re demanding the best hockey stick they can get for their money,&rdquo; says an excecutive of a stick manufacturing company.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re giving a better value product than we were, say, 15 years ago,&rdquo; adds the spokesman of another company. &ldquo;And the consumer is aware of it. They&rsquo;re buying our better, most expensive sticks.&rdquo;Top sticks are selling now for $20 or more&mdash;with no guarantee they won&rsquo;t break on the first shift as sticks occasionally do. Specialty sticks, like those with aluminum shafts, can run almost to $50.So what&rsquo;s the big deal? What makes today&rsquo;s top-line sticks so superior&mdash;and so in demand?For one thing, they weigh less. Today&rsquo;s recreational players feel they&rsquo;ve got an edge with a lighter stick&mdash;say 20 ounces for top-of-the-line, as opposed to 24 with a medium-grade product.Flexibility in the shaft is also in demand. But manufacturers walk a fine line when they try to add flexibility without losing strength.&ldquo;Everyone is constantly looking for ways to strengthen the sticks with new flexibility in the shaft,&rdquo; another company&rsquo;s spokesman says. &ldquo;And that takes time and research.&rdquo;.All sorts of materials are used in today&rsquo;s multi-layered laminated sticks&mdash;graphite, fiberglass, plastics&mdash;and finding that right combination costs money.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the consumer realizes how high-tech his hockey stick is, the number of man-hours that go into it,&rdquo; the executive says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an engineer&rsquo;s product, with all sorts of materials in it, that&rsquo;s trying to imitate the feel of wood.&rdquo;The old formula&mdash;go to the pros for advice on what makes a really good stick&mdash;is no longer a sure&mdash;fire approach, one spokesman says.&ldquo;The consumer today is much more knowledgeable about blade designs, for instance. He has decided on which blade he wants and the company is finding out from him what he wants.&rdquo; Already, aluminum shafts have had a major impact in the market. And given the move to the high-end market, one major aluminum stick manufacturer likes his chances.&ldquo;People are upgrading as usual,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve seen the surge of the aluminum stick.&rdquo;But not to the exclusivity of wood, wood blends, or what could be the newest wave in sticks&mdash;synthetics.Says one manufacturer: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to see, though there are still hits and misses in this area, manufacturers continuing to strive toward the goal of having a totally synthetic stick.&rdquo;But the bottom line for now is: The quality is there. You can have it it you&rsquo;re willing to pay the price.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01690/5983053-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="566" height="1281"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch discovered Easton in U.S. Olympic play.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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STICK BUYERS NOW WANT BEST AVAILABLE

Cooper Hespeler Stick Plant has been producing hockey sticks since 1908 and claims the distinction of being the world&rsquo;s oldest hockey stick manufacturer. The same knowledge and quality that goes into Cooper hockey equipment goes into its hockey sticks. Light weight and strength are Cooper standards.The TNT PRO is fast becoming the choice of the pros. Seasoned NHLers Bobby Smith of the Montreal Canadiens and Joe Nieuwen-dyk of the Stanley Cup-champion Calgary Flames discovered the high performance of the TNT PRO last season. Watch for up-and-comers such as The Hockey News&rsquo; Rookie of the Year, Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks, and Eric Desjardins of the Montreal Canadiens, among others, to be using the TNT PRO this coming season.Further in the TNT series, Cooper offers the TNT 435. The 435 is an excellent recreational hockey stick. It has great flex in the shaft and in the blade and is ideal for those who prefer an ash handle.Cooper also offers a full line of junior sticks. The TNT Jr. PRO with a flared blade is a scaled down replica of the TNT PRO as used in the NHL. The JP100 is Cooper&rsquo;s most popular junior stick. Built of lightweight poplar, the JP100 offers a scaled-down handle and blade, to meet the playing requirements of children aged eight to 11.Cooper is a leading supplier of goal sticks to the NHL and major junior with the Super Pro Light model. Rick Wamsley, Mario Gosselin and Ken Wregget are just a few of the pros that choose Cooper. The Super Pro Light features an exclusive multi-laminated shaft with epoxy-treated, air-foil styled, glass-reinforced fins. This results in an extremely lightweight stick that does not lack durability. NHL goalies have come to trust Cooper as their game stick. Cooper also offers a wide range of goal sticks for the recreational player right down to the atom player. Check into your local sports store and see the 1989 line of Cooper shooter and Cooper goalie sticks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01737/5983091-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="570" height="1001"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Wamsley, above, and Ken Wregget are Cooper goalies.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02518/5983084-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="570" height="1623"></div> &#9632;

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STICK WITH COOPER FOR LIGHT WEIGHT, STRENGTH

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>AHLTim Bothwell wanted this season to mark the end of his playing career and the beginning of his coaching career. He got one, but not the other.Bothwell reached a compromise with the New Haven Nighthawks Sept. 12 to beeome a player/assistant coach. Bothwell played parts of three seasons with the Nighthawks in the late &rsquo;70s and early &rsquo;80s. He&rsquo;ll be assisting new coach Marcel Comeau.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been interested in pursuing a career in coaching the last three or four years,&rdquo; said Bothwell, 34, entering his 12th pro season. &ldquo;This is a pretty good opportunity.&rdquo;Bothwell had contacted the Los Angeles Kings, the Nighthawks&rsquo; parent team, regarding a possible job as an assistant coach in Los Angeles. Those positions were filled (by Rick Wilson and Cap Raed er), but the Kings then offered Bothwell the vacancy in New Haven. John Tortorella, the assistant coach in New Haven last season, joined the Buffalo Sabres when Rick Dudley became their coach.Bothwell said he had offers to play in Sweden and Switzerland, and another to be the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; scout in New England. But he wanted a coaching job, even if it meant he&rsquo;d have to play another year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not in as good condition as I should be because I didn&rsquo;t expect to be playing,&rdquo; Bothwell said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve been skating the last couple of weeks and I should be ready by the start of the season.&rdquo;Bothwell was limited to just 22 games with the Blues last season because of groin and back problems. He isn&rsquo;t sure how much he&rsquo;ll have to play this season for the Nighthawks.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t talked at length about it,&rdquo; Bothwell said. &ldquo;But they made it clear to me and I made it clear to them that I wanted a lot of assistant coaching responsibilities. I didn&rsquo;t do it to play another year.&rdquo;Bothwell&rsquo;s experience will be helpful for the Nighthawks, who figure to have a young defense this season.<h2>GREAT SCOTT</h2>The Kings also acquired experience in goal for the Nighthawks by getting Ron Scott from the New York Rangers Sept. 11, for future considerations.Scott played parts of four seasons in New Haven and returns after serving as a player/assistant coach in Denver of the International League last season. Scott was 7-11 with a 4.79 goals-against average in Denver. He has played in 16 regular-season NHL games in four years with the Rangers.&ldquo;Ron is a proven goaltender who can help the Nighthawks both on and off the ice,&rdquo; Comeau said.One of Scott&rsquo;s tasks will be to guide highly-touted rookie Robb Stauber. the Hobey Baker award winner as the top collegiate player in the United States in 1988. This will be the University of Minnesota grad&rsquo;s first pro season and Comeau said Scott will be the perfect teacher/partner for Stauber. &#9632;

BOTHWELL TAKES DUAL ROLE WITH NIGHTHAWKS

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>The Saginaw Hawks, left without an NHL affiliate after last season when Chicago Blackhawks hooked up with Indianapolis, was left without a league Sept. 12 when the franchise was placed in suspension.The International League board of governors, meeting at Fort Wayne, voted down a bid front an Albany, N.Y.. group to purchase the Hawks franchise and operate it this season in Saginaw. Next season the new owners would have moved the team to Albany where, it had been rumored, the New York Rangers would sign on and support the franchise.The IHL board voted 6-4 against the sale, however. Hawks&rsquo; owner Eugene Chardoul had hoped to sell to Ben Fernandez of Albany because he had been losing money in recent seasons. In four years while he was owner, the Hawks never averaged more than 2,500 fans a game.With the 1989-90 season about to begin, IHL president Tom Berry said the suspension of the franchise &ldquo;gives the club a chance to regroup, take a look at things and see what they want to do.&rdquo;The suspension, similar to that of the Toledo Goaldiggers for the last several seasons, keeps Saginaw&rsquo;s longevity alive. That franchise is the third-oldest in the IHL, after Fort Wayne and Muskegon.Berry said Saginaw&rsquo;s chances of participating in the league this season &ldquo;are about as good as driving from here (Fort Wayne) to New York City on a flat tire.&rdquo;Chardoul had hopes, however, that rapid action by a Chicago group might enable the team to operate. Before the Blackhawks pulled out, interests in Chicago had been in touch with Chardoul.The 41 road dates scheduled for the Hawks will have to be redone, according to Berry. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try to fill those dates as they appear on the schedule,&rdquo; the commissioner said. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be possible in all cases so this year&rsquo;s schedule is subject to some changes.&rdquo;Berry also noted the rejection of the bid from Albany reinforces the IHL&rsquo;s decision made in January that the league does not favor expansion to the east.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing, but the league may consider a new franchise (at Saginaw) next year,&rdquo; Berry said.<h2>ICE CHIPS</h2>The suspension of the Saginaw franchise means the Indianapolis Ice are still trying to place several players who were with the team last season.&ldquo;We had reached an agreement (concerning compensation) for about five players Saginaw was interested in,&rdquo; said Ray Compton. Ice president. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re back to zero. We&rsquo;ll probably be talking with Fort Wayne and Phoenix (the two remaining unaffiliated teams) about our free agents.&rdquo; &#9632;

SAGINAW FRANCHISE SUSPENDS OPERATIONS

<div class="byline">BY BOB FINNIGAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01585/5983170-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Czechoslovakian defector Petr Nedved has impressed scouts to the point where he&rsquo;s considered a possible first-round pick in next year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft.</figcaption></div>Petr Nedved may not have much muscle packed onto his 6-foot-3, 175-pound frame, but no one can doubt his determination or courage.Not since the day last December when he walked into a police station in Calgary and asked for political asylum. The lanky 18-year-old is a gambling man who defied his native Czechoslovakia for a chance to play professional hockey.After leading his Litvinov midget team to the championship of the Mac&rsquo;s Tournament in Calgary&mdash;where he was named most valuable player&mdash;Nedved planned his daring escape.Nine months lafer, the first-stage of his dream realized, Nedved played his first exhibition game for the Western League&rsquo;s Seattle Thunderbirds.&ldquo;I had been thinking of doing it for a month or two,&rdquo; he said of the defection, slowly searching for the right English words. &ldquo;The tournament was over. We had played and were going home.&ldquo;That last night I thought carefully what to do. At 2 a.m. I reached my decision. I would let the team leave the next morning without me.&rdquo;So began his quest for the Canadian dream. He is single-mindedly focused on playing in the NHL, and has received landed immigrant status in Canada and a U.S. working visa to play for the Thunderbirds.The Czechoslovakians protested, refusing to grant Nedved his release from their national federation. But they weren&rsquo;t nearly as upset as Nedved&rsquo;s parents, who made an impassioned plea for him to change his mind. His father, Jaroslav, is a coach in Liberec and a former player for the Czechoslovak National Team. His mother, Sona, is a nurse.&ldquo;He wanted to know how I could do this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He told me to come home where they expected me to play for the National Team like he did. And I think of my mother. Sometimes I have felt like going home, but then I think of why I did this and how much I have gone through already.&rdquo;&ldquo;When we finally worked through the last of the legal entanglements,&rdquo; said Carlos Sosa, Thunderbirds&rsquo; attorney and color commentator, &ldquo;you could see from Petr&rsquo;s reaction that a weight had been lifted from him. Freedom means more than most of us even think about.&rdquo;Because Nedved didn&rsquo;t play on a North American team last season, he comes into his rookie season as an unknown quantity. Some have quietly suggested he could win rookie of the year and be a first-round choice in the NHL draft next year.Certainly, after only two weeks of training camp, he had earned rave reviews for his finesse and puck-handling abilities. In his first exhibition game, a 6-5 loss to the Spokane Chiefs Sept. 13, he scored a goal and hit the post twice.&ldquo;We expected a lot of that and he is every bit what we expected,&rdquo; said Seattle coach Peter Anholt. &ldquo;But what you have to see to appreciate is his ability to see plays developing. He is as good a player without the puck as he is with it.&rdquo;Comparisons have already been made, whispered so as to avoid even more pressure, that Nedved resembles Wayne Gretzky&mdash;his hero&mdash;at the same stage and age. But as promising as the future looks, Nedved took the gamble of his life last Dec. 29.&ldquo;He left behind everything he held near and dear, he came with nothing,&rdquo; said Seattle general manager Russ Farwell.&rdquo; He is risking it all on a chance to make a good living playing pro. Even as promising as he looks, it is nothing but a chance at this point. There are no guarantees.&rdquo;Farwell was impressed with Nedved at the Mac&rsquo;s tournament after watching him dominate the proceedings with 16 goals and 10 assists in seven games. Upon finding out about the defection, Farwell traded established defenseman Corey Beaulieu to the Moose Jaw Warriors for Nedved&rsquo;s rights. The Warriors, who were fighting for a playoff spot, mortgaged the future for the present. The Thunderbirds, meanwhile, ended up missing the playoffs by one point.&rdquo;&ldquo;We knew at the time that we could have been trading a solid defenseman for a phantom,&rdquo; said Farwell. &ldquo;It was a gamble and we&rsquo;re hoping it will pay off.&rdquo;Farwell said Nedved&rsquo;s gamble far exceeds that of any of hockey&rsquo;s other defectors, such as the Stastnys or Alexandr Mogilny.&ldquo;Those guys were either drafted or stepped right into high-paying jobs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not so for Petr. He&rsquo;s risking injury and a lot of other possible problems to reach his goal.&rdquo;Stewart Malgunis, a defenseman who lives with Nedved in nearby Woodinville, said the rookie has made significant adjustments on and off the ice. In fact, last season while living in Calgary, he attended and passed Grade 11.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not shy,&rdquo; Malgunis said. &ldquo;He likes to laugh a lot. We go almost everywhere together but not because Petr needs to. He reads labels and does all his own shopping. About all I help him with is his bank account.&rdquo;Malgunis is as impressed with Nedved the player. Like almost every other hitter in the Seattle camp, he has banged into the newcomer.&ldquo;We already found out it&rsquo;s tough to stop him,&rdquo; Malgunis said. &ldquo;And we found out he can take a hit, too. No one is treating him any different in our camp. And if anyone from any other teams take a run at him, if they can get him, they better be prepared to pay for it the rest of the year.&rdquo;His first exhibition game left a lasting impression. Given the choice, he&rsquo;d rather not have to put up with the physical style that is a hallmark of the WHL, but he&rsquo;ll live with it.&ldquo;It (hitting) is the biggest difference between this hockey and Europe,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I am ready for it. I may be skinny, but Gretzky was skinny, too.&rdquo;He writes home often and calls his parents once a month.&ldquo;I miss my parents very much. My father is not so angry now. He said if I make the NHL he will not be angry at all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it is 80 per cent they can come over to see me next summer and that will be very, very good.&rdquo;He hears from friends and teammates from home, too. &ldquo;They tell me the papers ran stories about the Litvinov team but they kept it quiet about me. Next to my name it just said: &lsquo;Stayed in Canada.&rsquo;&ldquo;My friends wish me good luck and say maybe it is not such a bad thing that I do. Sometimes I worry. Sometimes I get scared about it all. But, no, I do not think it was such a bad thing that I do.&rdquo; &#9632;

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GAMBLING MAN

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Ken Campbell</div>Petr Nedved is ineligible to play sanctioned amateur hockey in North America, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation.But that didn&rsquo;t stop the 18-year-old Czechoslovak from playing his first exhibition game with the Seattle Thunderbirds on Sept. 13. Nor is it likely to prevent him from playing this season in the Western League.IIHF rules stipulate a player must secure a release from his country&rsquo;s federation before playing in another. Failing that, the player must live in his new federation&rsquo;s country for 18 months.Nedved was never granted his release from the Czechoslovakian Ice Hockey Federation. He defected in late December of 1988, so he should not be eligible until May, 1990.&ldquo;As far as we&rsquo;re concened, he&rsquo;s ineligible to play,&rdquo; said Canadian Amateur Hockey Association executive director Hal Lewis.But to this point, the CAHA hasn&rsquo;t taken any steps to prevent the young Czechoslovak from playing. And the WHL has shown no inclination to abide by the IIHF ruling, which is supposed to be upheld by the CAHA in Canada.Nedved is a Canadian landed immigrant with a working visa which allows him to work and reside in the United States.&ldquo;We asked the (WHL) about it early in the summer,&rdquo; said Seattle GM Russ Farwell.&ldquo;And we were told to go ahead and treat him like any other player.&rdquo;WHL president Ed Chynoweth was unavailable for comment.The CAHA said it likely won&rsquo;t take any action on the matter unless another member team lodges a complaint. Or if the IIHF pursues the matter with more diligence than it has so far.In that event, the situation could be remedied by Nedved seeking a temporary restraining order from a court of law.A judicial ruling would override any IIHF rules and would get the CAHA off the hook of enforcing a regulation it doesn&rsquo;t want to. &#9632;

IS HE OR ISN’T HE?

<div class="byline">BY ED WILLES</div>If the first weekend of pre-season play was any indication, the Western League office will be a busy place this season.The league suspended eight players on four teams Sept. 11, and levied fines totaling $3,000.Moose Jaw Warriors&rsquo; left winger Jeff Rosner was suspended five games for gouging the eye of Regina Pats&rsquo; Cory Dosdall in a 10-1 Regina victory at the Agridome Sept. 8. Rosner, who was assessed a 10-minute match penalty, is eligible to return to the lineup for the Warriors&rsquo; last exhibition game Sept. 23 against Swift Current.Dosdall was not injured on the play.The league also handed down a three-game sentence to Prince Albert Raiders&rsquo; right winger Brad Harrison for a high-sticking match penalty in a 4-1 win over Medicine Hat Sept. 8. Harrison is due back for a Sept. 20 exhibition game against Saskatoon in Tisdale, Sask.Six more suspensions resulted from a pregame brawl involving the Kamloops Blazers and Lethbridge Hurricanes Sept. 9 in Femie, B.C. The Hurricanes won the game 7-4.Dean Malkoc, Cal McGowin and David Linford of the Blazers and Shane Mazutinec, Pat Pylypuik and Chad Seibel of the Hurricanes were each suspended three games. Each team was also fined $3,000.<h2>SCISSONS OK</h2>The Saskatoon Blades received a scare in their first pre-season game Sept. 8.Center Scott Scissons, considered to be one of the top prospects in the 1990 draft, suffered a knee injury in the Blades&rsquo; 5-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings in Brandon. It was originally feared Scissons had tom ligaments and would miss 10 to 12 weeks. But the ligaments were only strained and Scissons is expected to be back in action by the end of September. Scissons had 30 goals and 56 assists last season.The news wasn&rsquo;t as good elsewhere for the Blades, as they lost veteran defenseman Collin Bauer for three months, with surgery to correct a recurring shoulder problem.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01673/5983225-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="719" height="775"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saskatoon defenseman Collin Bauer will be out of the lineup three months.</figcaption></div>Bauer, who was at the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; training camp, was scheduled for surgery Sept. 20. Bauer had 17 goals and 62 assists for the Blades last season.<h2>TWO FOR ONE</h2>The Portland Winter Hawks and Kamloops Blazers completed a two-for-one trade Sept. 6. In exchange for 19-year-old defenseman Joey Mittlesteadt. the Blazers sent 18-year-old defenseman Kim Deck and 19-year-old right winger Corey Anderson to the Winter Hawks. Mittlesteadt had 2-14-16 totals with 182 penalty minutes last year. Anderson had 10 goals and 21 assists while Deck had 0-11-11 totals.<h2>NO POLICY</h2>WHL president Ed Chynoweth said the league will not hit its Oct. 15 target date for implementing a drug policy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to make excuses,&rdquo; said Chynoweth &ldquo;But the deeper you get into this, the more complex it gets.&rdquo; In addition to a testing procedure and an educational program, the league would like to address the question of steroid abuse. One WHL insider said alcohol abuse is the major concern, followed by steroid and other drug abuse. &#9632;

f0038-01

EIGHT MEN OUT FOR PRE-SEASON MISDEEDS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div>Ahead injury may keep one of the Ontario League&rsquo;s most colorful coaches out of action for part of this season.Niagara Falls Thunder coach-general manager Bill LaForge suffered the injury Aug. 5 in British Columbia while coaching an under-15 team from Niagara Falls. LaForge was on the ice in street shoes during a practice when one of the team&rsquo;s players collided with him. The accident left him unconscious and in intensive care for three weeks. He also suffered blindness and a mild case of amnesia his first two days in hospital.&ldquo;It was the scariest situation I&rsquo;ve ever been in,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;I had no idea who I was, what I was.&rdquo;LaForge, who suffered a head injury in 1974 that has left him asthmatic, underwent a CAT scan Sept. 11 in Niagara Falls that showed the blood build-up near his brain was virtually gone.&ldquo;The doctors have told me there&rsquo;s no permanent damage,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;At the same time though, they want me to rest and take it easy. They say it could be a year before I&rsquo;m 100 per cent.&ldquo;Basically I need a bit more rest than before. I guess I&rsquo;ll have to start sleeping four hours a night instead of two.&rdquo;LaForge said he&rsquo;ll turn over the coaching duties to assistants Benny Rogano and Heavy Evason while he regains his health. He hopes to be back soon but doesn&rsquo;t expect to be behind the bench when the Thunder opens its season Sept. 21 against the London Knights.Meanwhile, LaForge was considering taking the Canadian League to court if it doesn&rsquo;t recognize him as the legal guardian of Trevor Renkers, 17, and allow Renkers to play for the Thunder. Renkers, protected by the Tri-City Americans of the Western League, is a 6-foot-4, 210-pound left winger. He had 15 goals and 20 assists with 350 penalty minutes for New Westminster of the British Columbia Junior League last year.Renkers&rsquo; parents are divorced and he&rsquo;s living with LaForge, but the CHL doesn&rsquo;t permit players to switch leagues without a release. The Americans want $10,000 for Renkers&rsquo; release. Meanwhile, Renkers is playing for the Niagara Falls Canucks of the Golden Horseshoe Junior B League.<h2>ON STRIKE</h2>A strike by city employees in Belleville forced the Bulls out of their home at the Quinte Sports Centre.Ninety members of Local 907 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees walked off the job Sept. 4. Included in the dispute are 10 arena maintenance employees. The strike has already cost the Bulls three exhibition dates and they were forced to move two pre-season games&mdash;Sept. 15 against Ottawa and Sept. 16 against Cornwall&mdash;to the Sterling Arena, 18 miles north of Belleville. The Bulls, meantime were practising at the Trenton Community Gardens, 10 miles west of the city.Bulls&rsquo; coach-general manager Danny Flynn said he&rsquo;s unsure what will happen if the strike doesn&rsquo;t end by the time the Bulls&rsquo; home season begins Sept. 23 against Ottawa.Compounding the problem is the fact that because employees turned off the ice plant before walking out, they will need five days after any settlement date to install the rink.<h2>NEW TEAM</h2>The OHL has developed a new format for picking a management team to guide its entry at the annual OHL-Quebec League All-Star Game. The coach of the previous year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup representative will coach the all-star team, and a representative from each division will be charged with scouting talent for the team.Peterborough Petes&rsquo; coach Dick Todd will coach this year&rsquo;s team. Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; general manager Sam McMaster will be the Emms Division representative while Dukes of Hamilton general manager Dave Draper will represent the Leyden. &#9632;

LaFORGE RECOVERING FROM SERIOUS INJURY

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>The Quebec City suburb of Beauport, which was accepted into the league for the 1990-91 season, is in danger of losing its expansion franchise because of an arena deemed unsuitable by the Quebec League.The largest arena in Beauport can accommodate 1,500 people, including standees. But the QMJHL requires an arena with a minimum of 1,800 seats.Francois Simard, the lawyer for team owner Jurg Staubli, was told by league president Gilles Courteau at a Sept. 8 meeting he has until the end of November to prove that the existing arena will be expanded. Failure to do so will result in the loss of the franchise.<h2>ONE OUT OF TWO</h2>It took almost a year, but the Laval Titan finally got its man&mdash;though it lost out on another.The Titan signed Sandy McCarthy, a 6-foot-4, 228-pound right winger, Sept. 6. McCarthy caught the eye of Titan owner and governor Jean-Claude Morissette while he was playing for the Hawkesbury Hawks of the Central (Ont.) Junior League, where he totaled 139 penalty minutms in 42 games. He also scored four goals and 11 assists.But when McCarthy was drafted in the eighth round by the Ontario League&rsquo;s Niagara Falls Thunder last May, the Titan had to secure his release from the OHL team.They must pay the Thunder $500 for each season McCarthy plays for Laval, plus half of any money received from the NHL should McCarthy ever be drafted.The news wasn&rsquo;t as good regarding Jason Zent, whom the Titan chose in the 12th round of last May&rsquo;s draft.Zent, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound left winger, scored 49 goals and 31 assists in 28 games at Buffalo&rsquo;s Nichols School, prompting the New York Islanders to select him in the third round (44th overall).But the 18-year-old decided to complete his senior year of high school and then hopes to land a scholarship at a U.S. college next season.Zent&rsquo;s father, Donald, admitted a fear of the French language was partly behind the decision.&ldquo;Language did enter into the decision,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were told there are only five Englishspeaking members on the team. We&rsquo;ve been to Montreal before. Montreal is bilingual, but out of the city to a point it&rsquo;s predominantly French. I didn&rsquo;t know if that would hinder Jason or not.&rdquo;<h2>BLACK AND WHITE</h2>The Quebec Ice Hockey Federation and the QMJHL reached an agreement regarding the handling of referees Sept. 1.Until recently, the federation, which governs all hockey in Quebec, was exclusively responsible for all of the league&rsquo;s referees, but QMJHL president Gilles Courteau demanded more input.The assignment of officials to games will continue to be handled on a monthly basis by the QIHF referee-in-chief Paul Cazeau. A list will then be given to Claude Bechard, a former NHL linesman hired by the QMJHL to work with the officials. Bechard has the right to veto any assignments at the time he gets the list.If the QMJHL decides additional changes become necessary later in the month, however, Bechard must first consult Doug Hayward, the QIHF&rsquo;s supervisor of officials.If the two cannot agree, a four-man committee comprised of Hayward, QIHF secretary Pierre Lepage, Bechard and Courteau will meet and attempt to reach a compromise.<h2>FIGHT NIGHT</h2>A brawl between Drummondville and Granby Sept. 8 resulted in the first fines and suspensions of the season.The host Bisons were fined $1,000 while the Voltigeurs were fined $500. Granby coach Real Paiement was given a two-game suspension, and one of his players, Mario Therrien, was assessed a five-game suspension for being the first off the bench. Therrien missed the Bisons&rsquo; last three exhibition games and first two regularseason games before returning for a Sept. 26 game against Trois-Rivieres. Paiement was eligible to return for a Sept. 15 exhibition game against St-Jean.Drummondville left winger Michel Bergeron was given a two-game suspension for attempt to injure, after he kicked the skates out from under Granby right winger Stephane Ricard. Ricard will be out for three months with a broken ankle. Bergeron was due back in the lineup for a Sept. 15 exhibition game against Victoriaville.Granby won the game 8-6. &#9632;

EXPANSION TEAM MAY NEVER START UP

f0040-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCHEDULE

<h2>NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01300/5983534-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="579" height="2732"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02216/5983527-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="585" height="484"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03164/5983520-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="359" height="635"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04127/5983513-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="426" height="642"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05110/5983506-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="432" height="750"></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0698/5983565-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto Maple Leaf goalie Allan Bester signed a three-year contract with the team Sept. 7.</figcaption></div><h2>NHL TRANSACTIONS!</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Sept. 12: Troy Volhoffer, RW, Steve Moore, D, Al Tigert, D, Mike Mullowney, D, Brad Stepan, RW, Marc Vachon, LW, released. Sept. 15: Geoff Benic, LW, Paul Cohen G, Pete Richards G, Scott Drevitch, D, Mike Neill, D, released.BUFFALO&mdash;Sept. 15: Keith Gretzky, C, assigned to Phoenix (IHL).CALGARY&mdash;NoneCHICAGO&mdash;Sept. 16: Adam Bennett, D, assigned to Sudbury (OHL). Mike Speer, D, assigned to Owen Siound (OHL). Tracy Egeland, LW, assigned to Prince Albert (WHL). Brad Gratton, C, assigned to Kingston (OHL). Brian Collinson, D, Brian Hayton, D, Ben Sheppard, D, Dan Williams, D, Andy Black, RW, Robbie Hrytsak, C, Mike Griffith, C, released.DETROIT&mdash;Sept. 10: Gerard Gallant, LW, signed four-year contract. Sept. 11: Shawn Burr, C, signed three-year contract. Sept. 12: Lee Norwood, D, signed three-year contract. Tim Bissett, C, Alan Conroy, C, Murray Eaves, C, Glen Goodall, C, Glenn Merkosky, C, Shawn McCosh, RW, Daniel Shank, RW, Doug Stromback, RW, Mike Gober, LW, Chris McRae, LW, Greg Bignell, D, Peter Dineen, D, Steve Handy, D, Gord Kruppke, D, Chris Luongo, D, Derek Mayer, D, John Mokosak, D, Jody Praznik, D, Rob Schena, D, Bob Wilkie, D, Jason Glickman, G, Mark Reimer, G, Sam St. Laurent, G, assigned to Adirondack training camp (AHL). Sept. 15: Bob Boughner, D, Bob Jones, D, assigned to Sault St. Marie (OHL). Serge Anglehart, D, assigned to Drummondville (QMJHL). Guy Dupuis, D, assigned to Hull (QMJHL) Sept. 18: Dale Krentz, LW, assigned to Adirondack (AHL).EDMONTON&mdash;Sept. 10: Kevin McClelland, RW, Craig MacTavish, C, Mark Lamb, C, Kim Issel, RW, Shaun Van Allen, C, Brian Wilks, C, signed contracts. Sept. 14: Alexandr Tyzhnych, G, signed provisional agreement. Sept. 16: John Haley, G, Bob Bilton, C, Charlie Perperidis, C, Fred Ledlin, C, Richard Novak, C, released. Cam Brauer, D, assigned to Regina (WHL). Richard Borgo, RW, assigned to Kitchener (OHL). Scott Humeniuk, LW, assigned to Moose Jaw (WHL). Sept. 17: Darren Beals, G, Nicolas Beaulieu, LW, Don Martin, LW, Mike Glover, RW, assigned to Phoenix (IHL).HARTFORD&mdash;Sept. 17: Jerome Bechard, LW, assigned to Moose Jaw (WHL). Trevor Buchanen, LW, assigned to Kamloops (WHL). KentBochuk, C, assigned to Seattle (WHL). Doug Quinn, D, left camp.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Sept. 10: John Tonelli, LW, signed two-year contract.MINNESOTA&mdash;Sept. 14: Ari Matilainen, LW, assigned to Tampere (Finland). Sept. 16: Mitch Messier, RW, Ed Courtenay, RW, Paul Jerrard, RW, Jeff Odgers, RW. Darcy Norton, RW, Gary Emmons. C, JeanFrancois Quintin, C, Randy Smith, C, Mario Thyer, C, Brett Barnett, LW, Kevin Evans, LW, Kirk Tomlinson, LW, Mike Berger, D, Jordan Fois, D, Duane Joyce, D, David Schofield, D, Kevin Schamehorn, RW, Wade Flaherty, G, John Blue, G, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL). Andy Akervik, C, Chris Robertson, C, Mike Bertamini, LW, Mike Hall, D, Andre Lapensee, G, Ric Poirier, G, released. Mike Craig, RW, assigned to Oshawa (OHL). Murray Garbutt, C, assigned to Medicine Hat (WHL).MONTREAL&mdash;Sept. 8: Ryan Walter, LW. signed two-year, plus option contract. Sept. 9: Mike McPhee, LW, Patrice Brisebois, D, Steve Larouche, C, signed four-year contracts. Brent Gilchirst, C, Mark Pederson, LW, signed two-year contracts. Sept. 10: Dan Woodley, C, signed two-year contract. Sept. 11: Jim Nesich, C, signed two-year Contract. Sept. 12: Ed Cristofoli, LW, John Ferguson, RW, Steve Larouche, C, Patrick Lebeau, LW, Jim Nesich, C, Mario Roberge, LW, Serge Roberge, RW, Stephane Roy, C, Pierre Sevigny, LW, Martin St. Amour, LW, Lindsay Vallis, LW, Patrice Brisebois, D, Eric Charron, D, Luc Gauthier, D, Lyle Odelein, D, Stephane J.G. Richer, D, Jean-Claude Bergeron, G, Francois Gravel, G, Andre Racicot, G, assigned to Sherbrooke training camp (AHL). Chad Arthur, LW, left camp-NEW JERSEY&mdash;Sept. 9: Troy Crowder, RW, left training camp. September 14: John McLean, RW, signed multi-year contract. Sept. 17: Glen Engevik, RW, Clayton Young, LW, Greg Simeone, C, released.N.Y. ISLANDERS&mdash;Sept. 10: Alan Kerr, RW, signed one-year contract. Sept. 11: Gary Nylund, D, signed multi-year contract. Jim Sprenger, D, had contract bought out.N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;Sept. 12: Doug Soetaert named scout. Sept. 13: Announced working agreement with the Erie Panthers of the East Coast League. Sept. 14: Lee Giffin, LW, acquired from Pittsburgh for future considerations and assigned to Flint (IHL).PHILADELPHIA&mdash;None.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Sept. 12: Dave Hannan, C, Jim Paek, D, signed multi-year contracts. Sept 14: Rob Brown, RW, signed multi-year contract. Daniel Gauthier, LW, assigned to Victoriaville (QMJHL). Jason Smart, C, assigned to Saskatoon (WHL). Mike Needham. RW, assigned to Kamloops (WHL) Paul Laus, D, assigned to Niagara Falls (OHL). Scott Farrell, D, assigned to Spokane (WHL). Sept. 15: Bob Errey, LW, signed multi-year contract. Lee Giffin, RW, traded to New York Rangers for future considerations.QUEBEC&mdash;Sept. 14: Tony Martino, G, Scott Gordon, G, Mario Bumetta, G, Gary Murphy, D, Eric Dubois, D, Gerald Bzdel, D, Jean-Marc Richard, D, Scott Shaunessy, D, Jim Spratt, D, Claude Julien, D, Mike Hough, LW, Keith Miller, LW, Yves Gaucher, LW, Joel Baillargeon, LW, Jaroslav Sevcik, LW, Phil Berger, LW, Marc Dumont, LW, Marc Labelle, LW, Brent Severyn, LW, Dan Wiebe, RW, Dean Hopkins, RW, Ken Quinney, RW, Rob Harvey, C, Claude Lapointe, C, David Espe, C, Tom Sasso, C, Jamie Baker, C, assigned to Halifax (AHL). John Tanner, G, Dan Lambert, D, Adam Foote, D, assigned to Halifax camp (AHL).ST.LOUIS&mdash;Sept. 11: Paul MacLean, RW, signed two-year contract. Sept. 13: Ron Saatzer, LW, left camp.TORONTO&mdash;Sept. 7: Al lafrate, D, signed one-year contract. Rob Ramage, D, Todd Gill, D, Brian Curran, D, Alan Hepple, D, Vincent Damphousse, C, Gary Leeman, RW, Dave Reid, LW, Allan Bester, G, Jeff Reese, G, signed three-year contracts. Sept. 17: Tim Bernhardt, G, Dean Anderson, G, Alan Perry, G, Bill Root, D. Brian Blad, D, Greg Hotham, D, Alan Hepple, D, Scott Taylor, D, Ken Spangler. D, Derek Langille, D, Tim Armstrong, C, Rocky Dundas, C, Kent Hulst, C, Wes Jarvis, C, Steve Chartrand, C, Sean McKenna, RW, Doug Shedden. RW, Mike Blaisdell. RW, Brian Hoard, RW, Trevor Jobe, LW, Tim Bean, LW, Stephane Giguere, LW, assigned to Newmarket (AHL). David Buckley, D, Mike Jackson, RW, Mike Murray, C. Rod Lavesseur, LW, released.VANCOUVER&mdash;Sept. 9:Brian Bradley, C, Tim Lenardon, C, Steve Bozek, LW, Ernie Vargas, LW, Larry Melnyk, D, Kevan Guy, D, Jim Agnew, D, Steve Herniman, D, Steve Weeks, G, Steve McKichan, G, signed multiyear contracts. Sept. 12: Garth Butcher, D, Jim Benning, D, Doug Lidster, D, signed multi-year contracts.WASHINGTON&mdash;Sept. 8: Thomas Sjogren, RW, signed one-year contract for 199091 season.WINNIPEG&mdash;Sept. 13: Ian Herbers, D, John Borrell, RW, Kyle Galloway, D, Pat Janostin, D, Barry Dreger, D, Todd Gordon, LW, Paul DiPietro, C, released. Jason Cirone, C, assigned to Cornwall (OHL). &#9632;

f0042-06

TRAINING CAMP TRANSACTIONS

<h2>SEPTEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0789/5983617-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="706" height="456"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0880/5983610-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="689" height="490"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0973/5983603-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="692" height="501"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1065/5983596-1-eng-US/f0042-102.jpg" title="f0042-10" width="689" height="495"></div> &#9632;

f0042-07

NHL PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE

<div class="byline">DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01314/5983648-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="474" height="640"></div>How time flies when you&rsquo;re watching wind sprints. Here we are, already several weeks into the pre-season, and it seems like training camp opened only six or seven months ago.Even so, we&rsquo;re still waiting for this autumn to produce The Big Story. Don&rsquo;t tell me about a handful of moderately interesting personnel moves. Nothing shy of Gretzky going back to Edmonton for a grain elevator full of money and a statue-to-be-named-later would qualify.What I have in mind is something bold and breathtaking. Something that merits blood-red, six-inch-high letters. Something like:<blockquote class="pullQuote">ZIEGLER REBORN AS ELVIS, FATHERS ALIEN BABY WHILE ON MIRACLE ASPARAGUS DIET</blockquote>So far, though, all I&rsquo;ve seen in my supermarket is a tabloid that had a picture of Harold Ballard on the cover and broke the shocking story of turmoil in Toronto. Oooooh, imagine that. Do these guys know how to dig for a story or what?That means we&rsquo;ll have to settle for something a bit more tame, like reviewing the films of that Winnipeg-Buffalo pre-season game played in New Zealand (now rated by many above Hamilton as an expansion site). Nonetheless, there are a few points to consider before the regular season arrives.As soon as all of you have pondered all of them to his satisfaction, Bob McKenzie will give his permission for the games to begin.Which brings us to this festering collection of Small Thoughts At Large:&#9632; Don&rsquo;t you think Bruce McNall secretly wishes he had been able to assemble the team he has in Los Angeles now at some other time? He has gone to such trouble and expense to put together an excellent group of players&mdash;but with no guarantee of ever getting past Calgary in the playoffs. At least not in the few years before the Kings begin, en masse, to price condos in retirement villages.At least it has to be of some comfort knowing he can sell the Kings for $50 million or so more than he paid for them. Try to look shocked if that happens in the next two years.&#9632; Perhaps there is a scientist out there who can explain why Toronto is the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where the Leafs never change in the fall. &#9632; It&rsquo;s hard to believe there is a hockey agent less popular with management than Rich Winter. And it&rsquo;s difficult to imagine any player could seek a better recommendation when he is searching for a representative. &#9632; Sounds absurd to hear someone say that if Mario Lemieux avoids injury this year, he will pile up at least 225 points, doesn&rsquo;t it? That&rsquo;s why I wrote it, instead. &#9632; Given the financial climate in the NHL these days, you can understand why Ron Hextali believes he is underpaid. What&rsquo;s harder to grasp is why he chose to press his demand for more money at the start of a pre-season that will be followed by a 12-game suspension. By the time Hextall&rsquo;s eligible to play again, the salary structure of the league might have changed two or three more times. &#9632; Viacheslav Fetisov and Selgei Starikov traveled all around the world while playing for Red Army, but it&rsquo;s unlikely they&rsquo;ve ever seen anything like the highway system in North Jersey. Make one wrong turn&mdash;and that only happens a few million times a day&mdash;and you can end up closer to Moscow than Moonachie. &#9632; Bet on Eddie Johnston to build a solid organization in Hartford over the next few years. But unless Ulf Samuelsson makes a miraculous recovery from his knee injury, don&rsquo;t wager too much of the mortgage on the Whalers making the playoffs next spring. &#9632; If you have a backlog of Norris Division jokes, spreading them quickly isn&rsquo;t a bad idea. Although nobody will confuse the Norris with the Smythe anytime soon, it has improved to the point where it won&rsquo;t be mistaken for the AHL South, either. &#9632; Even if another Drive for Five is a few winters away, you can&rsquo;t shake the feeling the Islanders have bounced off the bottom and are rebounding.Gee, it&rsquo;s stunning guys like Bill Torrey and Al Arbour&mdash;can you think of anything those two ever accomplished?&mdash;could orchestrate a turnaround. Next thing you know, we&rsquo;ll find out the sun rises in the east.And when we do, you&rsquo;ll read it here first. &#9632;

f0043-01

REMEMBER, YOU READ IT HERE FIRST

&hellip;the Zamboni, developed by Frank J. Zamboni, was not invented in Canada, but rather in sunny Paramount, Calif. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first working Zamboni. The model A made its debut in the summer of 1949 and is standard equipment in rinks around the world.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02234/5983679-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="985" height="516"><figcaption class="caption-body">Zamboni machines</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>CANUCKS</h2>The Canucks will reveal plans for a new 20,000-seat arena in October, said Arthur Griffiths, assistant to the chairman. Griffiths said three sites&mdash;two in downtown Vancouver and one in Burnaby&mdash;are being considered and a site could be named as early as November. Construction is scheduled to begin before the end of 1991 and the facility should be ready for the 1994-95 season. The Canucks have played in the Pacific Coliseum since joining the league in 1970&hellip;The Canucks are expanding their switchboard because of a flood of season-ticket requests. Glen Ringdal, the team&rsquo;s marketing director, said season-ticket applications have passed the 10,000 mark and should reach 11,000 before the start of the regular season. Last year, the Canucks had 6,800 season-ticket holders.<h2>FLAMES</h2>Flames&rsquo; center Joel Otto was named player of the game for his performance in a 4-2 win over Khimik Sept. 14. &ldquo;No goals, no assists, no points and I win player of the game,&rdquo; said Otto. &ldquo;I could learn to like it over here.&rdquo; Otto did have a hand in killing the first nine penalties assessed against the Flames in the game. When Khimik scored on its 10th power play, it ended a perfect 0-for-23 penaltykilling success streak dating back to the team&rsquo;s two exhibtiion games in Prague&hellip;Just about every member of the Flames&rsquo; entourage, including all three team doctors, caught colds on the Soviet tour. Jamie Macoun and Jonas Bergqvist missed the first three games on the Soviet tour because of illness&hellip;The Hunter family of Oil Springs, Ont., had a reunion of sorts in Moscow when Calgary&rsquo;s Mark, along with father Dick, watched Washington&rsquo;s Dale play in the Capitals&rsquo; 7-2 loss to Moscow Dynamo Sept. 17. Dick Hunter was Mark&rsquo;s guest on the tour. Calgary&rsquo;s Tim Hunter is no relation.<h2>OILERS</h2>Tough guy Kevin McClelland signed a two-year contract Sept. 10. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the same money as Tik (teammate Esa Tikkanen) is getting, but it&rsquo;s more than I&rsquo;d be making at General Motors,&rdquo; said the right winger. McClelland, who hails from Oshawa, Ont., often jokes of taking a job on the automobile assembly line once his hockey career is over&hellip; Veteran center Craig MacTavish signed a three-year contract the same day. &ldquo;As you get older, it&rsquo;s important that you get off to a good start,&rdquo; said the 31-year-old. &ldquo;Ifyou don&rsquo;t, they&rsquo;ll start saying it&rsquo;s because you&rsquo;re too old. You&rsquo;re not going to get those two or three chances you do as a 25-year-old.&rdquo; &hellip;Rookie defenseman Collin Bauer, who was scheduled to re-join the Western League&rsquo;s Saskatoon Blades, will require surgery for a chronic shoulder problem and he&rsquo;s expected to be out at least three months.<h2>JETS</h2>The silliness that marred last year&rsquo;s training camp in Moncton&mdash;Neil Meadmore and Stephen Fletcher traded blows almost every time they were on the ice&mdash;is not evident this year. In fact, the Jets have been downright docile. &ldquo;I was waiting formore fights,&rdquo; said Jets&rsquo; new assistant coach Alpo Suhonen.&rdquo; Maybe it&rsquo;s because all the teams reflect the people who are running them. I know that the hockey here is very physical so I hope that these guys don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s only skills.&rdquo;&hellip;Rick Tabaracci, who came over in a summer trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins, has been the best of the seven goaltenders attempting to land employment in Winnipeg this season&hellip;Daniel Berthiaume, attempting to rebound from a disastrous season (0-8 in Winnipeg, 6-9-2 in the minors), has been a solid second.<h2>KINGS</h2>Left winger John Tonelli, a free agent with compensation going into training camp, agreed to a two-year deal Sept. 10 and reported to training camp in Hull, Que., Sept. 11. The deal is guaranteed and reportedly carries an unspecified salary increase in the second year, which was a hang-up in the negotiations. &ldquo;There was give and take on both sides,&rdquo; Tonelli said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to let things fall apart. My heart was always here.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Defenseman Barry Beck signed a one-year deal Sept. 10 conditional upon his making the team. It includes several bonuses. Beck, whose rights were acquired from the New York Rangers Sept. 1 in exchange for future considerations, passed his physical and pronounced his oft-injured left shoulder fit. &ldquo;I wanted to give it one more shot,&rdquo; said Beck, who hasn&rsquo;t played in a regular-season game since March 1986. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m taking it day to day and I have a lot of hurdles to cross, but my shoulder feels absolutely fine. I&rsquo;m really excited about the whole thing.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;After surgery on each of his knees left him out of action all last season, right winger Jim Fox is attempting a comeback. &ldquo;The knees feel fine,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;actually better than I thought they would.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03198/5983710-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="563" height="666"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Tonelli signed a two-year deal with the Kings Sept. 10.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-03

CANUCKS TO MOVE TO NEW ARENA

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>Mike Smith didn&rsquo;t fool anyone with his offhand assessment of the talents of Stu Barnes.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re putting him on the next bus back to Tri-Cities,&rdquo; the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets said, trying valiantly to keep a straight face.Then Smith confessed what the rest of the club&rsquo;s training camp has come to realize: Barnes is a terrific prospect.&ldquo;We are pleased with what we&rsquo;ve seen of him so far,&rdquo; said Smith, who made Barnes his first selection, fourth overall, at the NHL entry draft in Minneapolis June 17.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get too excited because it&rsquo;s early in camp,&rdquo; Winnipeg coach Bob Murdoch said, taking the same approach with Barnes as he has with every other player in camp. &ldquo;But he obviously has talent and he&rsquo;s starting to show that.&rdquo;Barnes demonstrated excellent speed, great passing skills, a decent shot and tremendous hockey sense since joining the Jets. The longer training camp goes on, the more dazzling he becomes.Still, he admitted to a case of rookie jitters in his first scrimmage as a pro.&ldquo;I had them pretty bad,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;I was just a little nervous out there. As the game went on I started to get a little more relaxed and now I feel a lot better.&ldquo;I still think I can play better than what I am and finish things off. I&rsquo;m still shaky with the puck.&rdquo;Barnes will play in the NHL, perhaps even this year. He arrived at camp in peak condition, testing as one of the fittest members of the organization. And his attitude seemed just right&mdash;he knows he&rsquo;ll have to make some adjustments.&ldquo;A couple of times I&rsquo;ve tried a few things that you do in junior and it&rsquo;s not going to work up here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m learning.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s also concern about his size, 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds.&ldquo;In that scrimmage, there were a few times he got bumped around in tight comers,&rdquo; Smith said, after watching one of Barnes&rsquo; first performances. &ldquo;He looks bigger on the ice than he is, but that&rsquo;s still a big concern in the tight comers, places where there&rsquo;s a lot of combat and activity.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01222/5983741-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="719" height="972"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stu Barnes scored 59 goals with the TriCity Americans last year.</figcaption></div>With 59 goals and 141 points in 70 WHL games last year, it&rsquo;s obvious Barnes can score. That&rsquo;s something the Jets sorely need out of a thirdor fourth-line center.If he continues to progress and impress, Barnes may force Smith and Murdoch to keep him in their plans.&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s got to make the team. That&rsquo;s just the way it is,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;Once the puck is dropped, it doesn&rsquo;t matter where you got picked or where you came from. It&rsquo;s just what you do on the ice.&rdquo;The Jets insist they&rsquo;ll keep him if he deserves it. If not, Kennewick, Wash., will be more than happy to have him back with the Americans.&ldquo;There are no definites on anybody here,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;If he earns a spot on the team, then he&rsquo;ll be here. But he has to earn a spot.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0044-01

FIRST-ROUND PICK BARNES IMPRESSES AT CAMP

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>The Los Angeles Kings will begin their 23rd NHL season with a new head coach and a new captain.The former is Tom Webster, who replaced Robbie Ftorek in June. The latter is Wayne Gretzky, who was named by Webster to replace Dave Taylor one day before the Kings opened training camp in Hull, Que., Sept. 9.&ldquo;Any time you become captain, it&rsquo;s something you should be proud of,&rdquo; said Gretzky, who set a team record with 168 points en route to his ninth Hart Trophy last year. &ldquo;I wanted to be captain, but you need a lot of help. I&rsquo;m fortunate that we have a lot of good people like Davey, Larry (Robinson) and Bernie (Nicholls). I&rsquo;ll just try to do a good job.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s had a lot of practice. He captained the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cup victories from 1983-84 until his trade to the Kings.Webster discussed the situation with Taylor well before the opening of camp, and he emphasized the change was not a reflection on the I3-year veteran&rsquo;s work. Taylor, who held the position for four years, was named an alternate captain.Last season the alternate role was shared by Gretzky, Tim Watters, Bernie Nicholls, Tom Laidlaw and Dean Kennedy. This year, the second alternate will be determined in a player vote.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s kind of obvious Wayne is one of the best players in the NHL,&rdquo; said Webster. &ldquo;He has carried that role wherever he has gone. After winning the MVP last year, I felt he should be given the added responsibility.&ldquo;I met with Dave Taylor and he graciously agreed. He&rsquo;s a classy man.&rdquo;Taylor, 33, is the second-leading scorer in club history. He has collected 373 goals and 924 points in 822 career games, all with the Kings. He was named captain in 1984 by then-coach Pat Quinn.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not disappointing,&rdquo; said Taylor of hisrole change. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not going to change how I approach or play the game. I was fortunate to be captain for four years and I&rsquo;m sure Wayne will do a good job.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always been the coach&rsquo;s decision. It&rsquo;s obvious that Wayne means a lot to the team.&rdquo;Gretzky will lead a team that finished fourth overall a year ago with 91 points, but one that has a much loftier goal for this season.&ldquo;Simple, the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Webster said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s there, we just have to come together as a team. I feel we made the proper acquisitions this summer. Together, with the guys we already had, there&rsquo;s no reason why we can&rsquo;t win it.&rdquo;The Kings have added seven new players i since last spring&rsquo;s Smythe Division final loss to the Calgary Flames&mdash;defensemen Larry Robinson and Barry Beck, goaltenders Mario Gosselin and Robb Stauber, and wingers Scott Bjugstad, Keith Crowder and Mikael Lindholm.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02144/5983772-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="717" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Taylor, above, gave up his captaincy to Wayne Gretzky.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;This is a better team than the one we ended the season with,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question we have a lot more depth. I know everyone&rsquo;s excited about the year. Sure we&rsquo;re chasing Calgary, but so are 19 other teams.&rdquo;Gretzky, who spent all of last year denying he had problems with Ftorek, had a favorable first impression of his new coach.&ldquo;First-class,&rdquo; he said of Webster. &ldquo;I think he has a tremendous amount of respect from the players. He&rsquo;s very loose, very fair and very honest. He&rsquo;s easy to talk to, easy to deal with.&ldquo;I think he has the right attitude this early in the year. He wants us to work hard, but he also wants us to have some fun.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0044-02

TAYLOR TO GRETZKY: PASSING THE ‘C’

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Edmonton Oiler coach John Muckier has described goalie Bill Ranford as the best-conditioned athlete at the Oilers&rsquo; training camp.He&rsquo;s also the busiest.The Oilers&rsquo; goaltending duties fell squarely on the 22-year-old&rsquo;s shoulders Sept. 14, after Grant Fuhr had an emergency appendectomy.The surgery was performed by Dr. Joseph Mossey at Edmonton&rsquo;s Royal Alexandra Hospital after Fuhr reported to practice complaining from stomach pains. Fuhr was expected to be out of the lineup for six to eight weeks.&ldquo;Nice, eh?&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;I guess if something like this was going to happen, better that it happened now than during the middle of the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad, Grant had been working hard and was on the right Back. He appeared tp be looking forward to the season. It&rsquo;s a terrible thing to happen to him. He&rsquo;s been through a lot this summer.&rdquo;Fuhr and the Oilers patched up their differences in late August when Fuhr announced the end of his three-month retirement. The crux of the problem, said Fuhr, was his intention to endorse Pepsi-Cola on his goal pads. Fuhr and his agent, Rich Winter, are now pursuing their avenues under the collective bargaining agreement.Fuhr, who had no previous symptoms, was examined by therapist Ken Lowe and teammate Randy Gregg, a medical doctor, when he showed up for work not feeling up to par. They dispatched him to Dr. Boris Boyko, who quickly referred him to Mossey. Fearing a rupture, Mossey operated on Fuhr immediately.Fuhr was supposed to be released from hospital two or three days later, but a fever set in and he was expected to stay in hospital until Sept. 18.&ldquo;I know how he feels, I had mine out when I was about 14,&rdquo; said Ranford. &ldquo;It was the same thing as Grant. I woke up in the morning and before I knew it, the appendix was out.&rdquo;Ranford played 90 minutes of the Oilers&rsquo; first two pre-season games and will certainly be the team&rsquo;s starting goalie for the beginning of the regular season. Muckier expressed confidence in Ranford but was concerned about filling the backup role. Ranford had a 15-8-2 record with one shutout in 29 appearances.&ldquo;Billy&rsquo;s capable of playing and playing very well,&rdquo; said Muckier.&ldquo;But we have to get some experience somewhere. Where that comes from, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;The only other goaltender in camp with NHL experience is Darrell May, who played three games with the St. Louis Blues two seasons ago and three in 1985-86. But as of late September, the Edmonton native was not under contract.Darryl Gilmour played with Hershey of the American League last season, Darren Beals toiled for the Oilers&rsquo; AHL farm team in Cape Breton and Mike Greenlay played as an overage with the Western League&rsquo;s Saskatoon Blades.The most experienced goalie in camp is Soviet Alexandr Tyzhnych, who showed up Sept. 14. But the 31-year-old who backed up Vladislav Tretiak on the Red Army and Soviet National teams, hasn&rsquo;t been drafted and can only play in the minors. Tyzhnych has signed a provisional agreement with the Oilers.The Oilers received more bad news Sept. 15 when Swedish right winger Peter Eriksson went down with a knee injury after being checked by defenseman Craig Muni. Eriksson, the best newcomer in camp, had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee the next day and is expected to be out of the lineup for six to eight weeks.&ldquo;Peter tore the medial collateral ligament,&rdquo; said Lowe of Eriksson, the 6-foot-4, 224-pounder who hurt the same knee three years ago.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>INJURIES</h3>Collin Bauer. D, shoulder surgery, indefinite.Peter Eriksson. RW, tom ligaments in right knee, indefinite.Grant Fuhr, G, emergency appendectomy, indefinite. &#9632;

FUHR’S APPENDECTOMY MAKES RANFORD NO. 1

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Igor Larionov knows he and his compatriots may be in for a rough ride during their first season in the NHL. Bernie Nicholls of the Los Angeles Kings told them as much.&ldquo;Who is Nicholls?&rdquo; was Larionov&rsquo;s humorous response, when asked about Nicholls&rsquo; comments that the Soviets had better keep their heads up. &ldquo;1 am ready to play. I will play in Canada the same style that I played with the Soviet National Team.&rdquo;Larionov&rsquo;s feigned ignorance of Nicholls revealed his sharp wit. But as a flu bug kept him off skates for much of the first week of training camp, various aspects of Larionov&rsquo;s unique personality started to emerge.&ldquo;In Russia, we have small apartment, small car, no food. Healthy all the time. In Canada, we have big house, big car, lots of food. Sick all the time,&rdquo; Larionov quipped.Larionov also has an ability to recall the smallest details of past scores and games. Having played against teammate Paul Reinhart at the 1982 World Championships in Finland.Larionov reminded the Canucks&rsquo; defenseman, &ldquo;I remember that game. You scored one goal against me.&rdquo;Once Reinhart recalled the situation himself, Larionov added the zinger: &ldquo;I remember. That was the game I scored four goals.&rdquo;It was learned early in training camp that Larionov has sight problems and will probably will require contact lenses.&ldquo;He&rsquo;d never had his eyes tested before,&rdquo; said Dr. Ross Davidson, the club physician. &ldquo;Do you know what his medical was at the Red Army training camp? The doctor asked him, &lsquo;Igor, how are you this year?&rsquo; &lsquo;Good,&rsquo; he says. That was his medical.&rdquo;Larionov&rsquo;s experiences have had a dramatic and profound effect on his new teammates, especially Stan Smyl, who shared a room with Larionov at training camp. Smyl and his wife Jennifer have been instrumental in helping Larionov and wife Lena adjust from the culture shock of moving to Canada.Smyl told a story about their first shopping experience. A trip to the store to pick up milk turned into a shopping spree.&ldquo;Igor marveled at the varieties of toothpaste and mustard,&rdquo; said Smyl.&rdquo; &lsquo;So many kinds,&rsquo; he said in awe. Lena saw the meat department, and started to get out the shovel.&ldquo;It was all Jennifer could do to convince her it would all be there again tomorrow. He&rsquo;s made me realize how much we have and how lucky we are.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01188/5983827-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="553" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Reinhart, above, was the butt of Igor Larionov&rsquo;s jokes.</figcaption></div>Smyl, who has become Larionov&rsquo;s spokesman, said Nicholls&rsquo; call for a Red Alert is nothing new. Only the names and the nationality have been changed.&ldquo;I told Igor we had five Swedish players when I broke in and we were hearing the same comments then,&rdquo; Smyl said. &ldquo;I played with Thomas Gradin when he first came over and he got a lot of cheap shots. But I also saw Thomas give out a lot of shots, too.&rdquo;Canuck players appear to be developing a great admiration for Larionov, not only as hockey player but as a person. They are aware of the courage it took to speak out against Red Army and National Team coach Victor Tikhonov and the Soviet hockey system before it was fashionable to do so. Five years ago, after stating publicy that Soviets should be allowed to play in the NHL, he was temporarily dropped from the National Team.&ldquo;Playing in the NHL is something Igor has dreamed about for many years,&rdquo; Smyl said, &ldquo;but he never thought it would happen. Now that it has I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s going to let something like that (Nicholls&rsquo; threat)&rsquo; bother him,&rdquo; &#9632;

f0046-01

LARIONOV’S WIT A HIT WITH TEAMMATES

<div class="byline">STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01212/5983858-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="323" height="495"></div>With all the coin Bruce McNall seems to be throwing around in his quest to purchase a pennant, he has missed out on one significant acquisition.He hasn&rsquo;t bought himself a general manager.He hasn&rsquo;t bought himself a reasonable hockey man who can direct his dollars accordingly, allowing himself to buy the Stanley Cup he so covets.Instead, the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner is riding Rogie Vachon&rsquo;s road to ruin, a misguided attempt to turn the franchise into something other than an attraction.Buying Wayne Gretzky was the easy part. It wasn&rsquo;t difficult to determine what his value was. But buying Gretzky bought fans, not the Cup McNall so badly wants. And what he and general manager Vachon and anyone else associated with the Kings of Los Angeles have failed to do is buy a plan. A man. The one who will bring them foresight first, the Stanley Cup later.After the Gretzky episode of a year ago, this has been mostly a summer of humor for the Kings. At least from those of us who view this myopic hockey world from thousands of miles away.The Kings went out and signed Larry Robinson, who was a fine defenseman back when Jerry Buss owned the Kings. When last seen in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Robinson not only looked every one of his years, but also looked more than a step slower than he once was.The Adams Division plays slow hockey. The Smythe doesn&rsquo;t. The Mark Messiers, Vladimir Krutovs, Dale Hawerchuks and Doug Gilmours of the Smythe Division will gladly welcome Larry Robinson to the Kings&rsquo; lineup.Then, there was the acquisition of 32-year-old defenseman Barry Beck. Now this makes the Robinson signing look like pure genius. Even when Beck was playing hockey&mdash;which hasn&rsquo;t been for three years&mdash;he wasn&rsquo;t really playing hockey.He was mostly costing New York Rangers insurance money for injury pay. For those who count such matters of importance, Beck missed an average of 24 games a season back in the days when he was healthy and in his prime. We&rsquo;ll assume he&rsquo;s healthy again, and at 32 he should be. But he is long past his prime and if the Kings are looking for toughness, all they&rsquo;ll get is a good nickname: Bubba.In last spring&rsquo;s playoff series against the Calgary Flames, the Kings looked vulnerable in so many areas. It seemed, outside of Gretzky, Bemie Nicholls and Steve Duchesne, they had few players who generated any offense at all. Luc Robitaille is probably their only other consistent point producer. That situation has not been addressed.When compared with the Flames, the Kings were horribly overmatched on the wings. Expecting John Tonelli and Keith Crowder and men of better days to do that job again is ludicrous. Except in the minds of the Kings.They really believe this is their season.They think they can win the Cup.I&rsquo;ve even heard this silliness from Gretzky, a reasonable man who has probably spent too much time in Southern California to know better.Even the hiring of a coach to replace the fired Robbie Ftorek wasn&rsquo;t handled the way it should have been. Here, the Kings had a chance to make some inroads, to hire someone who could make the team more competitive in a very competitive division.Instead, McNall and Vachon relied on the old-boys&rsquo; network. The story went like this: Rangers&rsquo; GM Phil Esposito was about to hire Tom Webster as coach of his team. But instead, Esposito found himself fired.Esposito called his buddy McNall, all but talked him into hiring Webster, and so it went. The Kings&rsquo; short list went out the window. A fired friend had hired their coach for them.Does that make sense? Does Barry Beck? Does Larry Robinson? Does more John Tonelli?Bruce McNall thinks it does.And who are we to argue?Steve Simmons is a feature writer/columnist for the Toronto Sun and will appear in the space monthly. &#9632;

f0047-01

L.A. KINGS ARE ONLY FOOLING SELVES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02154/5983889-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gordie Howe signs autographs for young fans, before one of the record 23 NHL All-Star Games in which he played in his 26-year NHL career. Howe, selected a first-team all-star 12 times, played in 15 consecutive All-Star Games, from 1955-56 through 1969-70.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div>The Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders finished well down in the NHL standings in 1988-89, but strong second-half showings have both teams optimistic for this season. By contrast, the Norris Division champion Detroit Red Wings are looking to prove their second-half tailspin isn&rsquo;t the sign of a team on the decline.Here&rsquo;s a complete breakdown of how all 21 NHL teams fared in the first and second halves of the 1988-89 season, with the point differential in the last column.<h2>HALF AND HALF</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03121/5983934-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="888" height="944"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0484/5983927-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="876" height="312"></div><h2>COACHING LEADERS</h2>Pat Bums and Terry Crisp, last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalist coaches, are coincidentally the league&rsquo;s tops in terms of winning percentage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0562/5983920-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="866" height="1008"></div> &#9632;

f0047-03

STARS OF THE SECOND HALF

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>There was Red Square and the Kremlin. The Hermitage and Peter&rsquo;s Palace. St. Andrew&rsquo;s Cathedral in Kiev, the Diplomatic Club in Prague.Oh&hellip;and then there was the hockey, too.Friendship Tour &rsquo;89. Sometimes it was difficult to remember this was training camp and not just 27 accidental tourists stumbling across eastern Europe.The Flames were paying particular attention to their first-year players during the tour. In some ways, it&rsquo;s hard to label 30-year-old Sergei Makarov a rookie. Or 23-year-old Steve Guenette or 22-year-old Roger Johansson.Neither of the Flames&rsquo; two Soviet players, Makarov and Sergei Priakin, were overnight sensations before their countrymen. Even the Soviet coaches of Khimik and Sokol Kiev acknowledged that following their losses to play much better.&rdquo;Sokol Kiev coach Anatoli Bogdonov added: &ldquo;This Calgary Flames&rsquo; team is very strong and Sergei Makarov was not an extraordinary player on the team.&ldquo;He was just on level with everybody else.&rdquo;Johansson, a Swede, is not exactly a new face in the Flames&rsquo; camp. He was with them in 1986 and again last year. On each occasion he returned to Sweden to play with Farjestads.Johansson again joined the team last March and spent two weeks traveling with them before NHL president John Ziegler ruled he was ineligible to play in the playoffs.He and Dana Murzyn were the most consistent of the Flames&rsquo; defense pairs on the European tour.&ldquo;The first year I played one game,&rdquo; Johansson said. &ldquo;Last year I played four. This year I hope it will be more. I feel very comfortable here.&rdquo;Guenette made the most of one of his rare opportunities in the game against Sokol Kiev on Sept. 16. Live on national television in Canada, the former Pittsburgh Penguin netminder played shutout hockey for 30 minutes to preserve Calgary&rsquo;s 5-2 win.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01232/5983965-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="566" height="738"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Priakin played well, but didn&rsquo;t star, on tour.</figcaption></div>He was, however, realistic enough to know that unless the Flames make a move in goal, he will be back in Salt Lake City of the International League this year no matter how well he played. The Flames do not have to protect Guenette in the NHL waiver draft until next year.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a Stanley Cup team here with Mike Vernon and Rick Wamsley and they&rsquo;re pretty happy playing together,&rdquo; said Guenette.Against Khimik on Sept. 14, the Flames jumped into a 3-0 lead and just held on for the final 40 minutes. The Soviet team, second in the league a year ago, began the game tentatively and could never recover against Vernon and Wamsley.Organizers of the game in Leningrad were especially generous in handing out awards to the MVPs, best goalies, best defensemen and one award&mdash;to center Theoren Fleury&mdash;for being the game&rsquo;s youngest player.&ldquo;Makarov told me it was the award for shortest player,&rdquo; joked Vernon. Vernon, no Gulliver himself, is listed at 5-foot-9, Fleury at 5-foot-6. &#9632;

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September 29, 1989

ALUMINUM STICKS…MORE CHOICE THAN EVER

CANADA IS OFF LIMITS TO SOVIET DEFECTOR

BURKE’S INJURY GIVES GM A SCARE

STARTING TIMES NHL GAMES