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.

November 10, 1989

The Hockey News November 10, 1989

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT MORRISON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011427/5989795-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Koharski is now in his 13th NHL season. But he started it with five games in the minors, his punishment for breaking curfew during the playoffs last season.</figcaption></div>The first thing you should know about Don Koharski is not necessarily the most important. Or the most flattering. It is, however, an inevitability he has come to accept and endure. So, without further delay: No, he does not like donuts. He never has, never will. Yes, he has always had a weight problem, but has also dropped 26 pounds since that fateful night two springs ago.So don&rsquo;t even think about suggesting he have another donut, and that he might be too fat.&ldquo;Unfortunately,&rdquo; says Koharski, &ldquo;what was said that night sticks with you. I still hear the line occasionally, &lsquo;Have another donut&hellip;&rsquo; It&rsquo;s going to stick. I lost 26 pounds the next year, but I still hear it. I guess once you&rsquo;ve been fat, you&rsquo;re always fat. I still hear that when the fans don&rsquo;t like a call I&rsquo;ve made. I still see them sitting there with Dunkin&rsquo; Donuts bags. You know, I hate donuts. I always have. You&rsquo;ll never find them in my house.&rdquo;Another thing you should know about Don Koharski, again not necessarily the most important or the most flattering, but just as a big a part of his life: He made an error in judgment last spring, breaking curfew on May 10, the eve of the sixth game of the Wales Conference final.&ldquo;They sent me to the minors for five games to start this season as punishment,&rdquo; says Koharski. &ldquo;I deserved it. I broke an agreement and I let my fellow officials down. I felt worse for them than I did for myself. But I paid my price and I learned my lesson.&rdquo;Oh, there is one other thing you should know about Don Koharski, the most important and most flattering.&rsquo; Despite all that has happened, he might just be the best referee in the NHL. He&rsquo;s been among the elite for several years and he probably will be for several more.At age 33, into his 13th season as an NHL official, Koharski has alternately lived a dream of being among the very best at his job, and has endured a nightmare of not being fully regarded for his proficiency.&ldquo;Unfortunately,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;it happens sometimes. You don&rsquo;t like it, but that&rsquo;s the way it is.&rdquo;Being an NHL referee is pretty much all Koharski, a native of Dartmouth, N.S., has ever really wanted to do. Growing up on a naval base, he played hockey and worked as a referee to earn his spending change. On a good Saturday, he could pick up $70 or $80. Most Saturdays were good, too. At 18, he was hired as a linesman by the upstart World Hockey Association. A phenom in black and white.&ldquo;There I was,&rdquo; he recalls, &ldquo;this down-home boy living in Toronto thinking, &lsquo;Wow, what am I doing here?&rsquo; When you&rsquo;re a kid growing up, becoming an official isn&rsquo;t in anyone&rsquo;s dreams. But then, we&rsquo;re a different breed of human being.&rdquo;In 1977, he worked his first game with the NHL as a linesman; 163 games later, he became a referee.&ldquo;It beats working for a living,&rdquo; he says with a laugh, &ldquo;but I guess it&rsquo;s the challenge that appeals to you. It&rsquo;s not like any other job. You never know from one night to the next what&rsquo;s going to happen. Every game there&rsquo;s a different challenge. It&rsquo;s also that sense of running things, maybe the security of being in control that attracts you.&rdquo;The allure, obviously, has nothing to do with grand salaries and charming accolades. If the ego is to be satisfied, it&rsquo;s to be self-satisfied.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why you have wives, moms, dads and kids,&rdquo; adds Koharski, who lives in Burlington, Ont., with his wife Susan and sons Jamie, 7, and Kevin, 6. &ldquo;For the most part, though, it&rsquo;s a private thing when you&rsquo;ve had a good game, or do well. Usually no one tells you, you just feel it inside.&ldquo;On those other nights, well, no one has to tell you. You know. And those nights bother you.&rdquo;But from out of those bad nights, Koharski has learned to develop style, presence and thick skin.&ldquo;You have to rule with an iron fist and have the players respect you,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You have to be honest with players and yourself and you have to be sure of yourself on the ice. If you could create the perfect referee, the bottom line would be honesty and self-confidence.&rdquo;A few years ago the league tried to create the perfect referee. Or at least, his psychological profile. And they used Koharski&mdash;whose string of Stanley Cup final appearances was ended at three last spring because of the curfew violation&mdash;as the prototype. Heady praise, indeed. Just after that, however, his abilities (and physique) were severely questioned in New Jersey, after a playoff game between the Devils and Boston Bruins. Devils&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld berated Koharski on the ice. Then, in the hallway leading to the dressing room, the two collided.&ldquo;You fell, you fat pig,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said at the time, unaware of how oft-repeated his words would become. &ldquo;Have another donut.&rdquo;Schoenfeld was suspended, but the Devils gained a temporary court injunction allowing him to continue working. Upset, fearing there was little regard for their welfare, the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association rallied and staged a wildcat strike. That resulted in the now-infamous Yellow Sunday, when three amateur officials were called upon to work a playoff game.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t pleasant for me,&rdquo; says Koharski. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t pretty, but thank God it&rsquo;s over with. I didn&rsquo;t know Jim personally. He was the coach and I was the referee and we have the same association now. But he just did something he thought was right. I don&rsquo;t think it was right, but I don&rsquo;t hold grudges.&rdquo;Schoenfeld now admits emotions got the better of him. He adds politely that Koharski is a good official doing a difficult job. But he refrains from heaping praise or criticism&ldquo;We had a disagreement a long time ago,&rdquo; says Schoenfeld, &ldquo;but it was an isolated incident. It was an emotional moment. But it&rsquo;s ancient history.&rdquo;Despite the emotional strain caused by the incident, Koharski has maintained his excellent work record, according to NHL director of officiating Bryan Lewis.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s still one of the top officials,&rdquo; says Lewis. &ldquo;He has a good attitude, good control on the ice. Things happen that are part of the terms of employment. There&rsquo;ll always be controversy in officiating, but that&rsquo;s a non-issue now.&rdquo;The business last spring, though, was not quite a term of employment. It was Koharski&rsquo;s own fault. He admits it, too. He stayed out past an 11 p.m. curfew the night before the final game between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers and got caught. The squealer called a Philadelphia open-line show. Flyer GM Bob Clarke took it to the league from there.As the story is told and retold, he was either drunk, dancing on a table and/or tippling drinks with Canadiens&rsquo; GM Serge Savard. In truth, he had drinks with linesman Wayne Bonney and simply remained out past 11. He and Bonney each received a five-game stint in the minors and a $1,000 fine.Tom Watt, while coaching Vancouver in 1986, was fined $5,000 for calling Koharski &ldquo;a dirty, no-good, vindictive (expletive deleted) who deliberately cheated us out of two points.&rdquo;Such criticism is part of a referee&rsquo;s life. So is the horrible travel schedule. But Koharski&rsquo;s career has had its proud moments, too.Among the cherished memories are his first Stanley Cup final (1986) and his selection, by Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov, to the final game of the 1987 Canada Cup.When it&rsquo;s over, Koharski says he&rsquo;d like to coach.&ldquo;I might only last a year, but I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed coaching,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had national champion midget and junior lacrosse and hockey teams.&ldquo;But I also had to get out of it. I was just terrible with the officials. I was in more hearings. I had one ref by the scruff of the neck because he wasn&rsquo;t calling the game the way any of us were taught it should be played. So I go to the hearing and who do I see? Walking out after his own hearing is John McCauley (the late NHL director of officiating).&rdquo;In his spare time now, Koharski runs a referee&rsquo;s school in the summer. He is also heavily involved in the Burlington Make-A-Wish charity foundation. And he fights that endless battle of the bulge.Through it all, however, he&rsquo;s never lost his sense of humor.&ldquo;Unfortunately,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;things happen. But that&rsquo;s the job we chose, so we&rsquo;re not looking for any sympathy. I&rsquo;m just striving to be good at my job. And I don&rsquo;t want to break any rules, if you know what I mean. My brother, Terry, he&rsquo;s in the (NHL) trainee program now, refereeing in the AHL and IHL. Guess what his nickname is? Timbit (a mini-donut).&rdquo; &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

‘I HATE DONUTS’

During his 16-year career with the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres, Phil Goyette won four Stanley Cups and was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy in 1969-70. Goyette, 56, is now the director of sales for United Custom Brokers in Montreal. He says NHL expansion in 1967, from six teams to 12, added five years to his career: &ldquo;Teams were looking for older guys to show the younger ones how it&rsquo;s done.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02983/5990125-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="548" height="397"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Goyette</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THEN & NOW

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>Before the start of the NHL season, Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; captain Mike Foligno offered to turn in the &lsquo;C&rsquo; on his jersey.Foligno told Rick Dudley the new coach should be free to choose his own captain. But Dudley refused the resignation.After 12 games, the veteran right winger was making Dudley&rsquo;s decision look good. Foligno had six goals in the first 12 games&mdash;two of them at crucial moments.Down three goals to the Toronto Maple Leafs Oct. 27 in Buffalo, Foligno scored twice in the third period to lead the Sabres&rsquo; comeback. Linemate Pierre Turgeon capped a 6-5 win with a goal halfway through overtime.Two nights later, Foligno&rsquo;s goal against Boston ignited a string of four Buffalo goals in eight minutes. The Sabres went on to win 4-3.Dudley said he was happy with Foligno&rsquo;s leadership.&ldquo;Mike leads by example and he seems to lift all of us,&rdquo; the coach said.Turgeon echoed those sentiments.&ldquo;He kept saying we were going to win that game (against Toronto),&rdquo; said Turgeon. &ldquo;He said it in the room (between the second and third periods) and on the bench and we believed it.&ldquo;We had nothing to lose and nothing to hold back. He told us to just keep giving everything we had and we went out there and did it.&rdquo;Foligno downplayed his role in that win, as he has since the start of the season. He said the team&rsquo;s winning attitude is a product of the coaching staff&rsquo;s hard work.&ldquo;Everybody was so positive,&rdquo; he said after the Toronto win. &ldquo;We were down 5-2 and the coaching staff was positive. Nobody was down or bitter with each other. What we tried to do was motivate ourselves and dedicate ourselves to just one strong period. Anything can happen when you take a shot on net.&rdquo;In the past, the Sabres have had problems with finger-pointing and passing the buck&mdash;coaches and players alike.The mood is different now.&ldquo;When we make mistakes we just work that much harder to correct them,&rdquo; Foligno said. &ldquo;Part of that is because of the coaches. Everything we get from them is positive reinforcement. That makes it easier for us. We know we have their respect so in the end we have to hold ourselves accountable.&ldquo;What happens out there (on the ice) is our responsibility and, I think, with a team as young as ours, it&rsquo;s important for the older guys to show the younger guys the way.&rdquo;<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruuttu, Dave Snuggerud, Jeff Parker, John Tucker.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Alexander Mogilny, Mike Hartman, Robert Ray.RW&mdash;Mike Foligno, Kevin Maguire, Scott Arniel, Rick Vaive, Ray Sheppard.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Larry Playfair, Shawn Anderson.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Dean Kennedy, Uwe Krupp, Grant Ledyard.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Clint Malarchuk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Doug Bodger, D, sprained knee, day-to-day.Benoit Hogue, C, broken cheekbone, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Andreychuk, 9. A&mdash;Turgeon, 12. P&mdash;Turgeon, 17. PIM&mdash;Hartman, 44. &#9632;

THE NHL

CAPTAIN FOLIGNO LEADS THE WAY

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>Since he was acquired by the Calgary Flames in March, 1988, goalie Rick Wamsley has become one of the team&rsquo;s most regular spectators.Mike Vernon has seen to that. But when Vernon went down with back spasms for the second time in two seasons, Wamsley proved just how important he is to the Flames&rsquo; fortunes.After playing only 68 minutes of the Flames&rsquo; first nine games, Wamsley gained a 3-3 tie against the Washington Capitals Oct. 23, stopped 23 shots to shut out the Los Angeles Kings 5-0 Oct. 25, and tied the Vancouver Canucks 5-5 Oct. 27. The win over the Kings was his first completegame victory in 232 days.Throughout his career, Wamsley has been used to a more equitable share of the workload with another goalie&mdash;Denis Herron and others in Montreal, Greg Millen in St. Louis&mdash;so the present situation represented an adjustment for him.&ldquo;One thing you can&rsquo;t do is let it bother you to the point where you start having bad practices, where you really let it get to you, where your game starts to suffer,&rdquo; said Wamsley. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a strain on you mentally to stay with it. It&rsquo;s a tough thing to do, going to the rink every day, not knowing if you&rsquo;re going to play. If you let that affect the way you act in the dressing room, if you start to bring other people down, it gets to be an unhealthy situation.&rdquo;Wamsley was quick to acknowledge that, when healthy, Vernon will play in the majority of games. But despite that, he&rsquo;s never been a fan of the term &lsquo;backup.&rsquo;&ldquo;The thing that gets me about the label &lsquo;the backup&rsquo; is, is there only one guy on the team that&rsquo;s the backup?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Is the guy that&rsquo;s considered the fourth right winger or the seventh defenseman a backup?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an unfair label to put on a guy because goaltending&rsquo;s a position where only one guy can play. My role on the team? I don&rsquo;t really know at this point. There&rsquo;s no doubt Vemie can play&mdash;he proved that all over last year and during the playoffs. It&rsquo;s his job to lose.&rdquo;And since that isn&rsquo;t likely to happen, he&rsquo;ll have to remain content with the No. 2 position on the Flames&rsquo; depth chart. On several other teams, Wamsley would clearly be the No. 1 man.&ldquo;If I only had myself to think about, maybe I wouldn&rsquo;t be extremely happy here,&rdquo; said Wamsley, 30. &ldquo;But I have my kids in school and we like living in Calgary.&rdquo;Professionally, Wamsley would probably be better off in a situation where he did play more. He has accounted for the Flames&rsquo; only three shutouts since last Season and the more he plays, the better he plays. Trying to find his rhythm after a week or more on the bench can sometimes be difficult.Would he consider playing elsewhere?&ldquo;The thing is, these things are out of your control,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My whole career, I&rsquo;ve worried about the things I can control, like being in shape, putting in a good effort in practice, being a good team guy. I can control those things. I can&rsquo;t control how much the coach plays me or doesn&rsquo;t play me. I can&rsquo;t control if the general manager wants to make a trade.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 23: Randy Jaycock, G, signed one-game contract.Oct. 25: Steve Guenette, G, recalled from Salt Lake (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Colin Patterson, Paul Ranheim, Jim Peplinski, Brian MacLellan, Sergei Priakin.RW&mdash;Sergei Makarov, Joe Mullen, Jiri Hrdina, Jonas Bergqvist, Tim Hunter.LD&mdash;Jamie Macoun, Gary Suter, Dana Murzyn, Roger Johansson.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Brad McCrimmon, Ric Nattress.G&mdash;Rick Wamsley, Steve Guenette.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Hunter, RW, strained knee ligaments. indefinite.Mike Vernon, G, back spasms, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nieuwendyk, 11. A&mdash;Makarov, 18. P&mdash;Nieuwendyk, 24. PIM&mdash;Fleury, Murzyn, 31. &#9632;

WAMSLEY MAKES MOST OF RARE STARTS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011330/5989530-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="561" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curtis Joseph</figcaption></div>In the Nov. 17 issue of The Hockey News, we will examine one of the NHL&rsquo;s most volatile subjects&mdash;players&rsquo; salaries.What impact have the multi-million dollar contracts of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman had on the rest of the league? What happens to long-standing salary structures when a maverick owner, such as. L.A.&rsquo;s Bruce McNall, throws big bucks around to get free agents such as Larry Robinson? Or when the St. Louis Blues sign college free agent Curtis Joseph to a lucrative, guaranteed pact?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021072/5989523-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="560" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Vanbiesbrouck</figcaption></div>In addition to that, we&rsquo;ll profile New York Ranger netminder John Vanbiesbrouck. The Blueshirts have started this season as one of the league&rsquo;s hottest teams, thanks in large part to &lsquo;Beezer.&rsquo; Meet an outspoken and colorful character.All that and more in next week&rsquo;s THN. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NEXT ISSUE

Lost in the hoopla about Wayne Gretzky passing Gordie Howe in career points is the fact that Gretzky has become the all-time points leader of a major league, not the major leagues.Including his World Hockey Association statistics, Howe earned 2,358 points. (Ed. Note&mdash;Gretzky, after 12 games this season, had 1,967, including his 110 in the WHA in 1978-79.)Baseball recognizes statistics from defunct rival leagues, such as the Federal League, as part of a player&rsquo;s big-league career numbers. While the quality of such leagues is arguably inferior, there is no argument they compete for the world&rsquo;s best players and are certainly above the calibre of minor leagues.This is not to denigrate Gretzky&rsquo;s achievement in surpassing Howe&rsquo;s NHL record. It&rsquo;s just to remind fans that they have something to look forward to. Now the Great One can aim at an even greater target.Alan Gold Vancouver, B.C.<h2>SHUT OUT</h2>While Wayne Gretzky was making history by breaking Gordie Howe&rsquo;s all-time NHL points record, hockey fans in Canada weren&rsquo;t even able to see it unless they had a satellite dash or lived in Edmonton.I can&rsquo;t believe the CBC or The Sports Network&mdash;or even CTV for that matter&mdash;didn&rsquo;t pick the game up. CBC is normally so good about picking up the important games. I ended up watching the historic moment on the California-based Prime Ticket station at the neighbourhood pub.Dave Bibby Burnaby, B.C.(Ed. Note: CBC didn &lsquo;t want to pre-empt the sequel to Anne of Green Gables, and TSN opted not to step into the void because the telecast would have to have been blacked out in Alberta. CTV has no rights to NHL games.<h2>RIGHT ON</h2>Barry Meisel&rsquo;s column on NHL fans in the southwest United States (THN, Sept. 29) was outstanding.Hockey is a great sport and I&rsquo;m proud to say I&rsquo;ve been a fan all my life. I&rsquo;ve converted dozens of Americans of many nationalities into solid, die-hard NHL fans.But worn-out marketing, a lack of exposure, the ESPN-Sports Channel America disaster, senile leadership and closed-minded owners will continue to leave a great sport wallowing far behind the booming popularity of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and, shamefully, the World Wrestling Federation.Rod McKinney Las Vegas, Nev.<h2>IN THE DARK</h2>The column by Barry Meisel on the NHL making new fans is exactly right.I&rsquo;m celebrating my 10th season as fan of the sport, all with the Los Angeles Kings. Up until Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s arrival, any news on television and radio devoted to the team was putting it down. Now, as you can imagine, people can&rsquo;t get enough of the Kings.The only sad part about it is that about eight out of 10 Kings&rsquo; fans are actually Gretzky fans who don&rsquo;t know why teams are allowed to ice the puck when they&rsquo;re killing a penalty.Kirk Stammherr Hacienda Heights, Calif.<h2>BAD DEALS</h2>I&rsquo;d just like to know why the Los Angeles Kings, who need defense badly, would release Ron Duguay, who was a plus-23 last season. They also signed Keith Crowder, who recorded a plus-6.For all those lousy defensive teams out there&mdash;Toronto, Chicago, Quebec&mdash;one of you should pick up Duguay. He can only help.Dan St. Germain Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.<h2>NO GREENHORNS</h2>When I think of who might win the Calder Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie this season, I can&rsquo;t help but get upset.With the exception of Alexander Mogilny, it&rsquo;s wrong to consider the first-year players from the Soviet Union as rookies. They have won Olympic gold medals, world championships and have participated in the Canada Cup. You can hardly consider these players newcomers to the NHL level of play.The trophy should be awarded to younger players out of junior, high school, college or minor league hockey and Europeans of a certain age. The age limit for the Calder Trophy should be, at the most, 24.Bill Logan Holbrook, Mass.<h2>GIVE CREDIT</h2>In a recent column (THN, Sept. 29), Stan Fischler tells us not to be astonished if, &ldquo;Dave Brown becomes an asset in the Marty McSorley tradition.&rdquo;For years, when people have referred to the Oilers&rsquo; tough guys, it was always Dave Semenko, Marty McSorley, Kelly Buchberger and Dave Brown.But let&rsquo;s not forget one of the toughest players in the game today&mdash;Kevin McClelland. With 1,285 career penalty minutes going into this season, he&rsquo;s the Oilers&rsquo; all-time PIM leader. He was also an integral member of all four Stanley Cup teams.Michael A. McNeil Albuquerque, N.M.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to: Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

GRETZKY IS SECOND IN PRO SCORING RACE

<div class="byline">BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011493/5989609-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="530" height="606"></div>The NHL&rsquo;s volunteer fire department, otherwise known as its team of general managers, is racing to the scene of the blaze. But guess what? The fire is already out of control.Poised with axes and ready to break down the door of a Chicago hotel, the NHL GMs will meet Nov. 13 and, among other things, try to stomp out a Calder Trophy tinderbox.Seems a few GMs are a little hot under the collar because a 31-year-old Soviet who has won seven world championships, two Olympic gold medals, two European player-of-the-year awards and three Soviet player-of-the-year awards (not to mention 11 Soviet League all-star honors and nine Soviet scoring championships) is considered an NHL rookie.And since Calgary Flames&rsquo; right winger Sergei Makarov had three goals and 18 assists in 13 games and was among the league&rsquo;s scoring leaders, he must be considered a leading Calder contender. After all, he hasn&rsquo;t played more than 25 games in a preceding season and he hasn&rsquo;t played in more than five games in each of the two preceding seasons.Holy smokes! He&rsquo;s a rookie.And this passes for news? If so, let me bring you up to date: The Allied invasion was at Normandy and the Beatles broke up.Actually, it&rsquo;s a little unfair to lay all the blame for this on the GMs. They&rsquo;re taking the heat here because they&rsquo;re trying to get things under control.That&rsquo;s what the league&rsquo;s executives get paid to worry about. But they slept through the smoke alarm on this one.Ever since a 24-year-old Peter Stastny won the 1981 Calder after several years as an international star in Czechoslovakia, it has been obvious the NHL&rsquo;s rookie criteria leave a lot to be desired.Of course Makarov should not be a rookie. Nor should an experienced world-class player of any nationality.I don&rsquo;t especially want to say, &lsquo;I told you so,&rsquo; but I did, in the Oct. 7, 1988, issue of The Hockey News.&ldquo;The results don&rsquo;t indicate a change is required,&rdquo; NHL vice president Brian O&rsquo;Neill said more than a year ago. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only when you have a problem do you hear about this, and the problems are so few and far between. We ought not to be looking for trouble where there isn&rsquo;t any.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill also said then he wouldn&rsquo;t have any aversion to awarding the Calder to Fetisov if the big defenseman showed up during the 1988-89 season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d have no basis for doing otherwise,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;The award goes to the best player in his first year of professional hockey. The Soviets may be tantamount to professionals, but they&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;Now, however, the flames are licking at O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s face and he has broken into a sweat at the prospect.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not so sure where I stand now,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said Oct. 30. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new ball game now. It&rsquo;s not really fair that a Mike Modano or a player like that has to compete against a 30-year-old elite player from the Soviet Union.&rdquo;Surely, the governors should have had the foresight to address this last June at their annual congress or in September at their regularly-scheduled fall meeting.And surely, neither the GMs nor the governors would consider changing the Calder eligibility requirements in mid-season, would they?&ldquo;There is a precedent for it,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Neill, &ldquo;although that isn&rsquo;t to say it would be done in this instance.&rdquo;In March of 1945 and March of 1947, rookie requirements were altered and applied retroactively to the 1944-45 and 1946-47 seasons, respectively.Heaven forbid it should happen again.And as for a suggestion that members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association&mdash;who select the Calder winner&mdash;should impose an unofficial sanction against the Soviet rookies, perish the thought.If the NHL gets burned by a Red Flame, it has no one to blame but itself. &#9632;

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COULMNS

NHL GUILTY OF AN ALARMING OVERSIGHT

&#9632; Hartford&rsquo;s Mike Liut. After a 4-1 victory Oct. 11&mdash;his first start since March 18&mdash;the 33-year-old Whaler goalie mused that he didn&rsquo;t have any 40-shot shutouts left in him. Well, he recorded back-to-back shutouts against Quebec (2-0 on Oct. 25) and Boston (1-0 on Oct. 28). He faced a total of 50 shots in the two games. Well done, old fella.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021216/5989647-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="366" height="371"></div>&#9632; Roger Neilson and the New York Rangers. It&rsquo;s too early to predict the Blueshirts will end a Cup drought after 50 years, but it&rsquo;s nice to see them functioning so smoothly and efficiently (8-1-3) under Neilson and rookie GM Neil Smith. It&rsquo;s a stark contrast to the carnival atmosphere that has pervaded in recent years.&#9632; The fighting goaltenders. Toronto&rsquo;s Mark Laforest skated the length of the ice, twice, for two unprovoked bouts with New Jersey&rsquo;s Sean Burke at Maple Leaf Gardens Oct. 23. Funny, but we thought goalies were supposed to stop the puck.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03806/5989640-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="366" height="367"></div>&#9632; Waiting for Ziegler&mdash;again. Our official Waiver Avoidance Deal Investigation Watch is now up to four weeks and counting. A league spokesman suggested it may be another &ldquo;several weeks&rdquo; before NHL president John Ziegler rules on the fishy trade that sent Pete Peeters and Keith Acton to Winnipeg, only to have the two players returned to Philly after the waiver draft (see Guest Shot, page 47). Check back next week. &#9632;

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CHEERS JEERS

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The Canucks have been privately furious with defenseman Michel Petit ever since &ldquo;Michael Small,&rdquo; as he is known in Vancouver, moved to the Rangers, then on to Quebec. A member of the Canucks&rsquo; general staff reveals Petit asked for an advance on his salary in Vancouver and the club obliged. The team says he never repaid the advance and, upon his trade to New York in November, 1987, he still didn&rsquo;t come through. &ldquo;We wrote the Rangers several times,&rdquo; says one Canucks&rsquo; official, &ldquo;and the letters got tougher as we didn&rsquo;t get any reply. We&rsquo;re talking about $30,000. Now that he&rsquo;s in Quebec, we&rsquo;re going after him there.&rdquo; Petit&rsquo;s attorney, Larry Rauch of New York, acknowledges the club has &ldquo;a claim against him,&rdquo; but says the amount is in dispute. According to Rauch a settlement should be made in the near future.<h2>WRITE ABOUT ME&rsquo;</h2>Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Larry Melnyk bemoans the fact that nobody ever writes about him. Asked if he had done anything significant this year, Melnyk replies, &ldquo;I built a fence around my house.&rdquo;&hellip;Paul Holmgren reveals that he has a novel way of venting his frustrations. The Flyers&rsquo; coach says when he plays racketball he places the numbers of players who have been bugging him on the balls and then pounds the daylights out of them&hellip;University of Minnesota stick-handlers are bracing themselves for one of the weirdest receptions for a visiting team ever. When the Golden Gophers have skated at the U of North Dakota&rsquo;s rink in the past they have been pelted by dead gophers when the home team scored on them. &ldquo;The (North Dakota) students would trap gophers in the spring,&rdquo; says ex-Minnesota ace Todd Richards, &ldquo;freeze them and then wait for us to visit.&rdquo;<h2>STICK IT TO &rsquo;EM</h2>Although little has been said publicly, NHL refs have been advised to crack down on defensemen who make a habit of holding the foe&rsquo;s stick in front of the net. Until this season, the zebras more or less avoided making such calls. Another infraction refs will address more carefully is &ldquo;setting the pick,&rdquo; whereby a skater interferes with a player without the puck&hellip;Red Wings&rsquo; broadcaster Dave Strader is back behind the mike after heart-valve surgery, which corrected a congenital defect&hellip;The Canadiens have labelled two-way ace Mike McPhee &ldquo;the next Bob Gainey.&rdquo; Maybe that&rsquo;s not a compliment. Montreal coach Pat Burns is making it clear in a quiet way that Gainey hardly was the force on the club last year that some outsiders think he was, and that the former captain&rsquo;s absence will not be sorely felt.<h2>ON EXPANSION</h2>Canucks&rsquo; president Pat Quinn does not buy arguments that NHL expansion should be rejected because of the dearth of good hockey players in the minors and junior ranks. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s plenty of talent available,&rdquo; Quinn argues. &ldquo;Too many NHL players are phased out of the game at age 26 or thereabouts when they have lots of good hockey in them. Plus, there&rsquo;s plenty more talent available in Europe.&rdquo; Islanders&rsquo; GM Bill Torrey, however, warns that before expansion is approved, the league must ensure all its present teams are healthy. &ldquo;Who the prospective (expansion) owners are and their ability to support a team 10 years down the line are questions that have to be considered,&rdquo; says Torrey. &ldquo;When I was in Oakland, I had six owners in two years&mdash;and one of them was Charles Finley.&rdquo;<h2>WING WOES</h2>Jacques Demers is now admitting he and his boss, Jimmy Devellano. had many a spat in their early years together. &ldquo;We had our battles in the first three or four months,&rdquo; says Demers. &ldquo;Remember, Jimmy had just come off the worst season he ever had in hockey (40 points in 1985-86), so he was kind of numb. Then, I came in all gung-ho, facing off with a general manager concerned about a lot of things. A few people have said that I saved his job, which is ridiculous. They forget to mention that he was the one who hired me.&rdquo;&hellip;Another odd couple is North Stars&rsquo; coach Pierre Page and sometimes difficult sharpshooter Brian Bellows. The pair, who feuded last year, seem to have come to an accommodation this time around. Bellows thought his teammates were going a bit too far when, during an eastern swing, it was arranged that he and Page would be roommates. &ldquo;Things were going good between us,&rdquo; chuckles Bellows, &ldquo;but they weren&rsquo;t going that good!&rdquo;<h2>$ 100,000 REFUSED</h2>Hidden amid the fuss and fanfare over Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s breaking of the Gordie Howe point mark was the fact that The Great One declined a $100,000 commercial opportunity during the game. According to the ad plan, the commercial, filmed live, would have opened, &ldquo;Hey, Wayne Gretzky, you&rsquo;ve just broken Gordie Howe&rsquo;s all-time NHL points record; what&rsquo;s next?&rdquo; To which Gretz would have replied, immediately after he had scored the big goal, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to Disneyland!&rdquo; Gretz figured it was inappropriate to do it while the game still was in progress&hellip;The Devils hired sports media consultant Andrea Kirby to teach players how to better deal with TV and print journalists. Kirby had a workshop dealing with the toughest possible questions players will receive. The first to be questioned was Tom Kurvers. Kurvers deflected the question, &ldquo;Do you expect to be traded?&rdquo; but was dealt shortly thereafter to the Leafs. &#9632;

CANUCKS AFTER A SMALL FORTUNE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011401/5989702-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021019/5989733-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="572" height="1199"></div><h2>BRENDAN SHANAHAN</h2>Born: Jan. 23, 1969. Mimico, Ont. Height: 6-foot-3. Weight: 205 pounds. Team: New Jersey Devils. Position: Left Wing. Acquired: First round, second overall. 1987 entry draft.Boyhood Hero: Darryl Sittler. &ldquo;I was a big Leafs&rsquo; fan and a kid in Toronto idolizing the captain of the Leafs was like an American idolizing Babe Ruth.&rdquo;Most Respected Opponent: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to model myself after Cam Neely. In an age with scoring specialists and defensive specialists. Neely knows how to play the entire game.&rdquo;Favorite Visiting City: Toronto. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s something about playing in the place where your heroes played.&rdquo;Favorite Actor: Robert DeNiro.Favorite Movie: &ldquo;Anything with DeNiro, as well as The Wizard of Oz and Field of Dreams.&rdquo;Drives: &ldquo;An &rsquo;88 burgundy Mustang convertible. My favorite car is a&rsquo;67 Mustang. If I could buy Trevor Linden&rsquo;s car (also a vintage Mustang) I would, though Garth Butcher said it was a clunker.&rdquo;Favorite Food: &ldquo;Gnocchi. It&rsquo;s a potato dumpling dish they serve at II Paesano in Toronto.&rdquo;Hobbies: Watching movies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the movie man on the team&mdash;Siskel and Ebert rolled into one. I watch two movies every night on TV.&rdquo;Ideal Evening: &ldquo;Scoring the winner in OT, coming home to some popcorn, cranberry juice, and watching Robert DeNiro on HBO.&rdquo;Most Embarrassing Moment: &ldquo;When I was 15 I stripped at my high school awards banquet. The teachers liked it, but when the priest found out, he kicked me out.&rdquo; &#9632;

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PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>NHL president John Ziegler said there is little chance the criteria for the Calder Trophy will be changed this season to eliminate experienced Soviet players from contention.There is a movement afoot by general managers, who will meet Nov. 13 in Chicago, to suggest changing the rookie-of-the-year criteria so veteran Soviet players cannot win the award. The argument is that players such as Calgary Flames&rsquo; Sergei Makarov, who is 31 and has been named most valuable player of the Soviet Elite League three times, isn&rsquo;t a true rookie.&ldquo;Something like that would take a Board of Governors&rsquo; resolution,&rdquo; said Ziegler. &ldquo;While it is not prohibited during the season, it is discouraged.&rdquo;The next NHL Board of Governors&rsquo; meeting is Dec. 6-8 in Palm Beach, Fla.The NHL has, however, altered rookie eligibility requirements in midseason twice before. In March of 1945, NHL governors increased the number of games a &ldquo;rookie&rdquo; could have played in a preceding season from zero to two, and applied the new&rsquo; conditions for the 1944-45 season. Two years later, they did the same, increasing the number from two to 20 in March, and selecting a winner on that basis in April.Detroit GM Jimmy Devellano said he would support a move to change the criteria and keep it out of the hands of a veteran Soviet player with world-class skills.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got guys coming over here 29, 30 years of age and basically they&rsquo;ve been playing world-class hockey in the elite teams of Russia,&rdquo; Devellano said.If the change isn&rsquo;t made for this season&rsquo;s rookie race, it could be implemented in the off-season to take effect for the 1990-91 season.The winner of the Calder Trophy is chosen in a vote by the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association.<h2>PROBERT WAITS</h2>Bob Probert must wait until late December before he learns whether he will be allowed to leave the United States voluntarily, or be deported from the country as a result of his felony drug conviction.U.S. Immigration Judge Anthony Petrone delayed his decision at an Oct. 26 hearing in Detroit and asked Probert&rsquo;s attorney, Harold Fried, for additional documentation of Probert&rsquo;s character and rehabilitation.Two weeks earlier, a federal judge sentenced Probert to three months in prison, starting Nov. 7, and placed him on three years&rsquo; probation stemming from a March 2 arrest for importing 14.3 grams of cocaine across the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel into the United States. Probert later pleaded guilty to the charge, which carried a maximum 20-year sentence and $1million fine.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011580/5989764-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="559" height="862"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Gallivan made it to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.</figcaption></div>Fried revealed after the immigration hearing Probert will rejoin the team if he overcomes immigration and NHL obstacles. Fried said Wings&rsquo; owner Mike Hitch, in a letter to court officials dated Sept. 6, pledged to take back the former NHL all-star if he is reinstated by the NHL.&ldquo;If the NHL decides to allow Mr. Probert to play, he is under contract to the Wings and, although the Wings are disappointed with things that have happened in the past, this letter is self-explanatory,&rdquo; Fried told Petrone.Since about a week after his arrest, Probert has been living in a treatment center in Holly, about 35 miles north of Detroit.<h2>BACK ON TRACK</h2>Few people were looking forward to this season more than Kent State University coach Bill Switaj.Switaj is very much a rookie coach, even though he took over the Golden Flashes&rsquo; independent Division I program in June of 1988. But just weeks before the season was about to open, university president Dr. Michael Schwartz suspended the program for the season because of a serious hazing incident that almost killed one of its freshmen.One year later, Switaj is trying to get the program back on track and speaks of the future with optimism. The commitments the university made to him when he was hired&mdash;that it would gradually increase the number of scholarships from 8&frac12; to the NCAA limit of 20 and it would support the team&rsquo;s bid to join the Central Collegiate Hockey Association by 1992&mdash;still stand.Switaj said the team practised three times a week, had a year-round conditioning program and was able to hit the recruiting trail with more effort than most other schools.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying everything turned out perfect,&rdquo; said Switaj. &ldquo;We just made the best of our situation.&rdquo;That situation was created Sept. 16, 1988, when the annual initiation ritual at the school resulted in disaster.Freshmen Timothy Evans, Roger Gill Jr., Michael Gregario, John Petropoulos and Ross Antonini were, among other things, made to drink large amounts of alcohol as part of the ritual. Evans had a reaction to the alcohol and had to be hospitalized for three days.<h2>FOUR INDUCTED</h2>The Canadian Sports Hall of Fame welcomed four hockey personalities at its induction ceremonies in Saint John, N.B., Oct. 27.Inducted into the Hall were Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; assistant coach Clare Drake, commentator Danny Gallivan and former NHL stars Gordie Drillon (posthumously) and Phil Esposito.<h2>HAB FINED</h2>Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; right winger Russ Courtnall lost his driver&rsquo;s license for a year and was fined $500 Oct. 27 for impaired driving stemming from a July, 1988, incident.Courtnall was pulled over by police in Brampton, Ont., after they saw his car speeding in and out of traffic. The subsequent breathalyzer recorded his blood-alcohol level at more than twice the legal limit. The legal blood-alcohol limit in Ontario is .08 per cent.Courtnall was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the time.<h2>NO SUSPENSION</h2>Rookie center Troy Mallette of the New York Rangers was fined $500 Oct. 30 as a result of a match penalty incurred in a game against the New York Islanders Oct. 28.Mallette was penalized for deliberately attempting to injure Islander defenseman Dean Chynoweth.&ldquo;In my judgment, it did not appear that there was an overt attempt to injure the Islander player, nor did Mallette use any dangerous tactics during the fisticuffs,&rdquo; said NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill Oct. 30. &ldquo;However, it was clear that from the vantage point of the linesman, Pat Dapuzzo, it appeared that Mallette may have been attempting to inflict injury in the facial area and hence the match penalty was warranted. Therefore, it is my decision that because of the match penalty and because of the scratches caused to the face area of the Islanders&rsquo; player, Mallette shall be fined $500.&rdquo;<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Nov. 15: Ontario League teams must declare their three overage players.Nov. 18: Quebec League Board of Governors&rsquo; meeting in Longueuil, Que.Nov. 24-25: Yale Hockey Classic, featuring Yale, Air Force, Colgate and Northeastern. &#9632;

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ZIEGLER DOUBTS CALDER CRITERIA WILL CHANGE DURING NHL SEASON

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011510/5989826-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Longtime Maple Leaf fans, who haven&rsquo;t had much to cheer about in recent years, can take comfort in the past. Some new books on the market, like Billy Harris&rsquo; The Glory Years, recall the Toronto franchise in its Stanley Cup-winning days.</figcaption></div>The Toronto Maple Leafs may finish higher on the best-seller list than the NHL standings this season.Of the 26 new hockey books that fill the shelves this fall, three of them&mdash;Pal Hal, Maple Leaf Gardens: The Rise and Fall of the Toronto Maple Leafs and The Glory Years: Memories of a Decade, 1955-65, deal directly with the Leafs.And most of the publicity surrounding Looking Out For Number One by Dave Semenko, centered on the brief but tumultuous time the noted tough guy spent in Toronto, under coach John Brophy.&ldquo;Maybe people want to go back in history because the past looks a lot better than the present,&rdquo; says Carmel Schaffer, director of advertising promotions with MacMillan of Canada, which published Pal Hal.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to forget about the Leafs. Harold Ballard doesn&rsquo;t let us forget because he&rsquo;s always in the news.&rdquo;The best-selling book among this fall&rsquo;s crop is likely to be HomeGame by Ken Dryden, which is due in Canadian bookstores Dec. 2. Dryden&rsquo;s first work, The Game, was a No. 1 best-seller in 1983 and the same success is projected for HomeGame.The book, which will be complemented by a six-part television series on CBC, is an analytical look at what hockey means to Canadians.Below is a list of the new releases.<h2>BIOGRAPHIES</h2>Pal Hal. Dick Beddoes, MacMillan of Canada. An authorized biography of the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard.Mario Lemieux: Hockey&rsquo;s Gentle Giant. Jean Sonmor, MacMillan of Canada. An unauthorized biography, by a Toronto Sun feature writer, which looks at the life of Lemieux from his early days as a child phenom in Quebec to present. The book also includes a full Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux statistical comparison.Looking Out For Number One. Dave Semenko with Larry Tucker, Stoddart Publishing. Semenko reflects on his nine-year career with the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers and Toronto Maple Leafs, with emphasis on his days as a linemate and protector of Wayne Gretzky.The Youngest Goalie. Brian McFarlane, Deneau Publishing. A look at the life of the youngest player to compete for the Stanley Cup, geared to a younger readers&rsquo; market. Albert Forrest was only 16 when he and his Dawson City Nugget teammates travelled 4,000 miles to challenge the powerful Ottawa Silver Seven for the Cup in 1904.Thunder and Lightning. John Ferguson with Stan and Shirley Fischler, Prentice-Hall Canada. Ferguson recounts his days as a rugged winger with the Montreal Canadiens and as general manager of the Winnipeg Jets.The Glory Years: Memories of a Decade, 1955-65. Billy Harris, Prentice-Hall Canada. Harris provides a unique perspective, using his personal photo collection and observations, to recount his 10 years with the team when it won three Stanley Cups.<h2>INSTRUCTIONAL</h2>Complete Hockey Instruction: Skills and Strategies for Coaches and Players. Dave Chambers, Key Porter Books. Chambers, an assistant coach with the Minnesota North Stars, focuses on drills to improve skating, passing, puck control and power-play tactics.The Art of Goaltending. Vladislav Tretiak, Plains Publishing. The former Soviet national team goalie tutors aspiring netminders with lessons in psychology, conditioning and technique.Hockey Fitness: Year-Round Conditioning On and Off the Ice. Don MacAdam and Gail Reynolds, McClelland and Stewart. Designed for coaches of all levels, the book aids in developing fitness tests and conditioning programs.Laura Stamm&rsquo;s Power Skating (Second Edition). Laura Stamm, McClelland and Stewart. The well-known power-skating instructor tutors players on all aspects of skating, including balance, force application, starts, stops, turns, agility and conditioning.<h2>MISCELLANEOUS</h2>Riding the Roar of the Crowd. David Gowdey (editor), MacMillan of Canada. A collection of hockey fiction and non-fiction from prominent Canadian writers such as Morley Callaghan and Ken Dryden.Hockey: The Illustrated History. Dan Diamond (editor), Doubleday Canada. A pictorial history of the game from pre-1926 to present.National Hockey League Sourcebook &rsquo;89-90. Doubleday Canada. Published annually by the NHL, a detailed history of the league and profiles on prominent players and award winners.1989-90 Hockey Year Calendar. Mike Leonetti (editor), Summerhill Press. A 16month calender beginning with October, 1989, provides an NHL schedule, Hockey Night in Canada schedule, trivia, information on current and past players and color action photgraphy.100 Years of Hockey. Brian McFarlane, Deneau Publishers. A historical work tracing hockey&rsquo;s origins, rule changes, great games and significant trades since the turn of the century.Countdown to the Stanley Cup: An Illustrated History of the Calgary Flames. Bob Mummery, Polestar Press. The official 10th anniversary book of the Calgary Flames, it is a photographic history of the team from its inception to last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup triumph.Brian McFarlane&rsquo;s All-New Hockey Quiz. Brian McFarlane, Key Porter Books. Hockey trivia questions, word games and photo quizzes.100 Years of Dropping the Puck: A history of the OHA. Scott Young, McClelland and Stewart. Chronicling the history of the Ontario Hockey Association from its origins to present.Inside Maple Leaf Gardens: The Rise and Fall of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bill Houston, McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Houston, a Globe and Mailhockey writer, examines the team&rsquo;s history from the 1930s to &rsquo;80s and critically analyzes the team&rsquo;s downfall during the Harold Ballard era.The Days Canada Stood Still: Canada vs. USSR 1972. Scott Morrison, McGraw-Hill Ryerson. The Toronto Sun hockey writer provides a recap of the most memorable international hockey series ever.Golden Ice: The Greatest Teams in Hockey History. Stan Fischler, McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Fischler provides an overview of his top 20 teams of all time.Hockey Pool Fever. Scott Abbott and John Epstein, McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Designed primarily as a guide for hockey pool participants, the book is also a useful statistical reference for NHL players.Hockey Scouting Report 1989-90. Michael A. Berger and Jiggs McDonald, Summerhill Press. A scouting report on each active NHL player and detailed analysis of his game, including shooting, skating, physical play and defensive play.After the Applause. Gordie and Colleen Howe with Charles Wilkins, McClelland and Stewart. Ten famous players and their families detail how they coped with life after the glory of playing in the NHL.HomeGame. Ken Dryden and Roy MacGregor, McClelland and Stewart. An introspective look at hockey and how it affects the lives of Canadians and shapes their identity. The book is complemented by a six-part series on CBC television.The Eternal Flames. Peter Maher and John laboni, McClelland and Stewart. A photographic recap of the Calgary Flames&rsquo; Stanley Cup-winning season of 1988-89. &#9632;

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LEAFS ON TOP

<div class="byline">STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011458/5989857-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="493" height="635"></div>Questions I wish somebody would ask me about expansion:How do you figure there&rsquo;s such a surge in talk about ballooning the NHL from 21 to 24 teams by 1992-93?Buildings, buildings, buildings. There are big ones in Houston, Dallas, Hamilton, San Diego, Cleveland and Milwaukee, to name a few cities. They need events to make money. NHL hockey is a 40-game-a-season event for them, often as a complement to an NBA team.Are all those cities wanting teams enough reason for the league to approve expansion when the owners meet in December?Not by a long shot, or a slap shot. The growing expansion clamor is creating a &ldquo;climate&rdquo; for change. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean adding teams necessarily is a good thing. After all, the NHL has been burned before.What&rsquo;s the best reason for approving expansion?The spectre of Gary Davidson and Dennis Murphy. If you&rsquo;re very young you won&rsquo;t remember them, but these two chaps realized the NHL wasn&rsquo;t in a whole bunch of big cities back in the early 1970s. They figured hockey could make a buck even if it didn&rsquo;t have an NHL label, so they created the World Hockey Association. If the NHL doesn&rsquo;t expand soon, John Ziegler&rsquo;s league could find itself competing with a WHA II, with teams in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Hamilton, Ottawa, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and Birmingham. Don&rsquo;t laugh! The NHL laughed once in 1972 and wound up getting bled white.If the NHL did expand, where would the talent come from?That scares me as much as anything. For starters, today&rsquo;s teams carry way too many players. A major cut in roster size would be a big help, releasing a bunch of players who, more or less, just hang out. There would be a greater emphasis on recruiting collegians than there is now. Ditto European players. The rest would come from the usual Canadian sources.What kind of product would result?It would depend on how many teams come in at once. When the NHL jumped from six to twelve teams in 1967, the dilution was something awful. Even when two teams were added there was a drop in quality. It&rsquo;s inevitable. If you water down whiskey it never tastes the same.Is there any way around the dilution problem?There is, but it has to do with tough rules enforcement. The NHL would have to make a conscious effort to accent skill over the stupid part of the game&mdash;interference and other restraining fouls&mdash;that elevate the jerks at the expense of the more entertaining, better players.Where would the general managers and other good front-office people come from?No sweat. Scotty Bowman is an obvious choice. Herb Brooks would be the ideal GM-coach. Craig Patrick is ready for another chance as GM. There&rsquo;s no more capable man than Brian Burke, who can get his release from the Canucks when the time comes. Bryan Murray would be a good one, too.Isn&rsquo;t expansion talk foolish when there are teams hurting as we speak?It depends on who you talk to on this subject. Some insiders believe the dollar-loss figures of some of the weak sisters are exaggerated. Others point out that it makes no sense adding clubs when the Jets and Blues, to name two, have trouble making ends meet. On the other hand, NHL attendance and profits have constantly climbed in the past few years and the league set a gate record for the first week of 1989-90. The trend seems to be continuing.If you were charging an admission fee for three new teams, what would it be?A cool $50 million each. If expansion is going to happen, the NHL might as well make the most of it. Anyone who can afford 50 mill has got to have enough behind it to support his team over the long haul. And if nobody wants to fork up that kind of money, then let&rsquo;s forget about expansion and get on with the teams at hand.Assuming you had to pick a good longshot bet for an expansion city, which would it be?Orlando, Fla.And if you had to pick one based on energy expended and high enthusiasm quotient?San Jose in a breeze. Nary a month goes by without some promotional gimmick from the mayor or the head of the San Jose hockey committee telling me why California is the place for the NHL to be&mdash;again.It sure sounds like expansion is in the bag. Is that a fair evaluation?Not really. The owners are concerned about the upcoming collective bargaining agreement and what they perceive as unreasonable player demands. Before any expansion is approved, the governors will want this issue settled&mdash;and that could take a long, long time. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT EXPANSION

Nov. 7,1968: St. Louis Blue center Red Berenson scored six goals in an 8-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The goals, which came against Flyer goalie Doug Favell, is an NHL record for most goals in a road game. Four came in a span of 9:09 in the second period; that tied a record for most goals in a period, shared by seven other players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021036/5989888-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="559" height="399"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Berenson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-02

FLASHBACK

<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Center John Cullen returned to the lineup for a 5-1 loss in Montreal Oct. 28, several weeks earlier than expected. Cullen, diagnosed with hepatitis in mid-October, had two goals and two assists in two games before the illness was detected&hellip;Right winger Andrew McBain got his second goal of the season and his first in three weeks against the Canadiens, but it wasn&rsquo;t very satisfying because of the loss. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t mean anything,&rdquo; McBain said, &ldquo;except that I hadn&rsquo;t scored one in a while.&rdquo;&hellip;Mark Recchi, recalled from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s International League farm team in Muskegon after Cullen fell ill, was one of the Penguins&rsquo; few bright spots in the final weeks of October. He had four points in five games to keep a spot in the lineup even after Cullen was back.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>The Capitals&rsquo; only point on a five-game road trip came in a 3-3 tie at Calgary Oct. 23. Washington was beaten by Toronto (Oct. 21), Winnipeg (Oct. 25), St. Louis (Oct. 28) and Chicago (Oct. 29), all sub-.500 teams last season. Against the Norris Division, the Capitals were 0-4&hellip;The 1-0 defeat at Chicago ended in a brawl in front of the Blackhawks&rsquo; bench. When Scott Stevens was punched by a player reaching out from the bench, Yvon Corriveau started to climb the divider to help him, but was pulled back by coach Bryan Murray&hellip;In successive games at Calgary and Winnipeg, the Capitals yielded the tying and winning goals while two men short. On both occasions the Capitals had men (Dale Hunter and Doug Wickenheiser) in the box for using an illegal stick.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Left winger Brendan Shanahan had four goals and nine assists in the Devils&rsquo; first 10 games of the season. Shanahan had only 10 points (4-6-10) at the 40-game mark last season&hellip;Devils were the last NHL team to remain undefeated on the road (4-0-0), marking the first time in franchise history the team won four straight road games&hellip;Although Soviet defenseman Sergei Starikov is popular with his teammates, some players have said privately that the front office could have spent $250,000 (Starikov&rsquo;s reported one-year salary) more wisely. Unlike Viacheslav Fetisov, Starikov is having trouble keeping up with NHL opponents&hellip;Kirk Muller scored one goal on his first 29 shots of the season.<h2>FLYERS</h2>Right winger Tim Kerr, who underwent five surgical prodecures on his left shoulder in 1988, was complaining about lack of strength in the shoulder. According to Kerr, there was some numbness caused by damaged or pinched nerves. Kerr was playing games but not practising-&hellip;Left winger Brian Propp moved ahead of Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke into second place on the club&rsquo;s all-time goal goal scoring list when he scored his 359th career goal in a 6-5 loss to the Minnesota North Stars Oct. 29. Bill Barber is the top goal-scorer in franchise history with 420&hellip;Friends and teammates acknowledge Flyers&rsquo; goalie Ron Hextall is very worried about what sort of reception he will be accorded by the club&rsquo;s fans upon his return to the Spectrum. Many of the fans backed management in Hextall&rsquo;s contract dispute which led to his 42-day walkout. Hextall, serving a 12-game NHL suspension, is eligible to return to action Nov. 4 when the Flyers visit Toronto. His first possible start in the Spectrum would be the next night against the New York Islanders.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Rookie defenseman Miloslav Horava notices a big difference between Ranger coach Roger Neilson and Michel Bergeron, who coached the Rangers last season. &ldquo;Roger Neilson is quiet and helping me. So are the other coaches,&rdquo; said the 27-year-old Czechoslovakian. &ldquo;Last year, Bergeron was screaming on me all the time and I didn&rsquo;t even understand the words he was saying.&rdquo; Horava, who was acquired from Edmonton last season, scored his first NHL goal on a spectacular end-to-end rush to cap a three-goal comeback for a 5-5 tie with the New York Islanders Oct. 27. &ldquo;It is a big difference this year,&rdquo; Horava said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t speak English, my family didn&rsquo;t come until a month after I did and everything was different in hockey and in life here.&rdquo;<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>A year and a day after Dean Chynoweth was seriously injured when his left eye was gouged in a fight with Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; right winger Rick Tocchet, the Islander defenseman went through a scary reenactment. Chynoweth was scratched under the right eye by New York Rangers&rsquo; rookie Troy Mallette in a fight during a 4-1 loss Oct. 28. Mallette received a 10-minute match penalty. Chynoweth, who suffered permanent eye damage from the Tocchet incident, had only a superficial cut from Mallette. Isles&rsquo; coach Al Arbour berated Ranger coach Roger Neilson over the incident&hellip;Left winger Randy Wood was given a four-game suspension by the NHL Oct. 23, after an unsuccessul appeal to the NHL. Wood was suspended for slashing Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; defenseman Curt Giles during an 8-3 loss to the North Stars Oct. 17. He is eligible to return Nov. 7, when the Islanders take on Washington&hellip;Veteran left winger Don Maloney had two assists in the Islanders&rsquo; 5-5 tie with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Oct. 27. It was Maloney&rsquo;s first game back at MSG after being traded by the Rangers to Hartford last season. The Islanders picked him up in this year&rsquo;s waiver draft. &#9632;

CULLEN MAKES A SPEEDY RECOVERY

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren watched with patience as his team got off to a 2-6-1 start, its worst in franchise history.But after the Minnesota North Stars directed 51 shots at goalie Ken Wreget in a 6-5 Flyer loss Oct. 28, the second-year coach lashed out as his team for not working hard enough. Throughout its early-season problems, Holmgren had always maintained that the team was putting out a consistent effort.The loss to Minnesota gave the Flyers a record of 2-7-1, worst in the NHL.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t come with a determined effort from the start,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the disappointing part. We didn&rsquo;t look determined over the first 40 minutes.&rdquo;What frustrated Holmgren even more was that just four days before the loss to Minnesota, the Flyers appeared to be on the road to recovery. They ended a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) with a convincing 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.The game plan was to carry over that momentum against the North Stars, and begin their four-game road trip in the proper frame of mind.Although the Flyers came back to tie the game on four occasions, the bottom line was that they totally surrendered their defensive zone. Brian Bellows of the North Stars scored the winning goal at 19:19 of the third period with Mike Bullard in the penalty box for slashing.Late in the game, captain Dave Poulin suffered what was thought to be a broken thumb. It was only bruised, however.Holmgren did give some praise to Wregget, who actually played well through the bad start, but there were no words of confidence for anybody else.&ldquo;Except for our goaltending, I&rsquo;m not happy with anybody right now,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got to understand that a lot of teams in this league are a lot better. You can&rsquo;t just show up any more, fall behind, and expect to win.&ldquo;The league is just too balanced. Except for maybe Calgary and Montreal, when they&rsquo;re healthy, there aren&rsquo;t any teams that can just turn it on when they need it.&rdquo;The loss to Minnesota provided an example of the malaise that has affected the Flyers throughout the early part of the season. Through the streak, they were playing poorly for two periods before surging in the third. Against Minnesota, they fell behind 4-2 and were outshot 19-12 in the second period. In the first, they were outshot 19-9.Overall, in their seven losses and one tie, the Flyers were outscored in the first period by a combined total of 15-4. But in their two victories&mdash;4-2 over Quebec Oct. 12 and 6-1 over St. Louis Oct. 24&mdash;they had first-period leads of 3-0 and 2-0, respectively.Flyer fans, not accustomed to life at the bottom of the barrel, were clamoring for general manager Bob Clarke to make some kind of trade. When his club hit the bottom of the standings late last November, Clarke sent Peter Zezel to St. Louis for Mike Bullard in a deal that appeared to wake up the club.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Sutter, Mike Bullard, Pelle Eklund, Keith Acton.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Murray Craven. Craig Berube, Doug Sulliman, Jeff Harding.RW&mdash;Tim Kerr, Rick Tocchet, llkka Sinisalo, Tony Horacek.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Gord Murphy, Kerry Huffman.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Jay Wells, Jeff Chychrun.G&mdash;Ken Wregget, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Terry Carkner, D, surgery on left knee, indefinite.Scott Mellanby, surgery on left arm, indefinite.Dave Poulin, C. bruised left thumb, indefinite.Derrick Smith, LW, infected toe, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Bullard, 6. A&mdash;Sinisalo, Craven. 7. P&mdash;Sinisalo, Bullard, 11. PIM&mdash;Chychrun, 27. &#9632;

COACH BLASTS FLYERS FOR LACK OF EFFORT

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>When the 1989-90 season began, many observers felt the Washington Capitals were vulnerable in two areas&mdash;they lacked a standout goaltender and they were unable to find a replacement for Bengt Gustafsson, one of the best two-way forwards in hockey.After 12 games, Don Beaupre emerged as a solid goaltender, with 3.14 goals-against mark. But his job wasn&rsquo;t the relatively easy one Washington netminders enjoyed in the past.On average, Beaupre was facing 32 shots a game. Last season&rsquo;s Capitals yielded an average of only 27.5 shots. One of the primary reasons for the increase was the inability of the forwards to pass the puck crisply in any of the three zones.The Capitals&rsquo; defensemen were doing an adequate job of clearing their end, but the puck often ended up back at Beaupre&rsquo;s doorstep because of a mishap among the forwards. Frequently, it came in the form of a 2-on-1 or 3-on-2, the kind of play Gustafsson was quick and clever enough to even up.Forechecking, a big part of Washington&rsquo;s game plan during its successful years, was lacking through the first 12 games. That helped explain why the team was stumbling along with a 3-7-2 record.The Capitals were 0-4-1 on a five-game road trip that concluded with a pair of 1-0 defeats in St. Louis (Oct. 28) and Chicago (Oct. 29), the first time since 1975 Washington had been blanked in successive games.With one match left in October, the Capitals were assured a non-winning opening month for the 14th time in their 16 seasons. Only in 1984 (4-3-2) and 1987 (6-4-1) were the Capitals above the break-even point in October.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to move the puck better in our end and we&rsquo;ve got to get some forechecking,&rdquo; said defenseman Scott Stevens. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had a lot of forechecking the last few games. If it&rsquo;s not in their end, it&rsquo;s in your end.&rdquo;&ldquo;The forwards aren&rsquo;t eliminating shots on their way back,&rdquo; captain Rod Langway said. &ldquo;We are responsible for the first two or three players in. As a defensive group, we can&rsquo;t do much against the fourth and fifth man in.&rdquo;If overall team defense was a principal concern, there was reason to worry about the offensive production of some forwards, too. Dino Ciccarelli, a 44-goal man last season, had just two. Dave Christian, who netted 34 last year, managed only one.Christian was also missing Gustafsson. His previous worst season in six as a Capital was 1986-87, the first year Gustafsson stayed in Sweden. Christian was limited to 23 goals that year.&ldquo;We just kind of meshed and hit together,&rdquo; Christian said. &ldquo;After the success we had and the way we played together, you can&rsquo;t expect somebody else to step right in and do the same.Maybe somebody else will eventually fill the hole, or maybe it will be me.&rdquo;&ldquo;It will come,&rdquo; said Langway, who has been through stumbling starts many times. &ldquo;If we take care of the defensive part of the game, our offense will come around. But we can&rsquo;t win many games giving up40 or 42 shots.&rdquo;<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 24: Bob Mason, G, recalled from Baltimore (AHL). Olaf Kolzig, G, returned to Tri-City (WHL).Oct. 25: Brian Tutt, D, Chris Felix, D, and Robin Bawa, LW, assigned to Baltimore.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, Michal Pivonka, Rob Murray.LW&mdash;Kelly Miller, Geoff Courtnall, Yvon Corriveau, Doug Wickenheiser, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Steve Leach, Dave Christian, Dino Ciccarelli, Alan May.LD&mdash;Rod Langway, Scott Stevens, Bill Houlder.RD&mdash;Neil Sheehy, Bob Rouse. Kevin Hatcher.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Bob Mason.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Calle Johansson, D, strained lower back, day-to-day.Scot Kleinendorst, D, torn ligament in left knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Pivonka, 7. A&mdash;Stevens, 9. P&mdash;Hunter, 11. PIM&mdash;May, 55. &#9632;

STRUGGLING CAPS BENGT OUT OF SHAPE

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>Before the season began, Darren Turcotte&rsquo;s name was not prominently mentioned as a leading candidate for the Calder Trophy.But after scoring nine goals in his first 11 games for the red-hot New York Rangers, all that changed. And after scoring at least one goal in seven straight games to break the Rangers&rsquo; rookie record Tony Granato set last season, Turcotte wasn&rsquo;t sure he could believe it himself.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying not to think about records or statistics,&rdquo; said Turcotte, after scoring two goals in a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders Oct. 28 at the Nassau Coliseum. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t remember scoring goals in seven straight games, even in junior hockey (with the North Bay Centennials of the Ontario League) when I was scoring 40 (his highest total was 35 in 1985-86) goals a season.&ldquo;The thing is, before this season, I was always a streaky player. I might score in four straight and then go four straight without accomplishing much.&ldquo;That has been my downfall in the past; people have criticized me for inconsistency, so my goal coming to camp this year was to be more prepared and more ready every night.&rdquo;Turcotte&rsquo;s outburst was an important component of the Rangers&rsquo; 8-1-3 start, especially because veteran center Kelly Kisio was slowed by a back injury and veteran Carey Wilson scored only two goals before being sidelined with a knee injury Oct. 28.Turcotte, who was bom in Boston and grew up in North Bay, scored seven goals and three assists in 20 games with the Rangers last season. Because he didn&rsquo;t play 25 regular-season games, he retained his rookie status this season.A sixth-round draft choice by the Rangers in 1986, the 6-foot, 185-pound Turcotte impressed the coaching staff in training camp in 1987, but suffered a serious shoulder injury at the end of the camp.In the fall of 1988, Turcotte collected four goals in six pre-season games to earn a place in the opening-night lineup as Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s center. After going without a point in five games, he was assigned to the Rangers&rsquo; International League affiliate in Denver and wasn&rsquo;t recalled permanently until Feb. 20, when he scored his first NHL goal against New Jersey.Turcotte went home following the playoffs with the intention of adding some weight over the summer but, instead, he came down with mononucleosis and had to build himself back up from 161 pounds.When he reported to camp in early September, he still felt a little weak and at one point was shifted to left wing. But a knee injury to Corey Millen put him back at center with fellow rookies Mark Janssens and Troy Mallette. Turcotte took full advantage.&ldquo;Right from the start of the season, Roger (coach Neilson) has showed a lot of confidence in all three of us,&rdquo; Turcotte said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t kill a penalty all last season but Roger has used me, at times, as a checker and as a penalty killer. Roger even sent me out to kill a 5-on-3. Things like that can&rsquo;t help but build up your confidence.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.ROSTERC&mdash;Darren Turcotte, Mark Janssens, Ulf Dahlen, Troy Mallette.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick, Jan Erixon, Kris King, Lindy Ruff.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Brian Mullen, Tony Granato, Rudy Poeschek.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Ron Greschner, Miloslav Horava.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Randy Moller.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cyr, C, knee surgery, Dec. 1.Mark Hardy, D, bruised right foot, indefinite.Kelly Kisio, C, lower back strain, indefinite.Corey Millen, C, sprained left knee, Dec. 1.Normand Rochefort, D, knee surgery, Dec. 1.Carey Wilson, C, sprained left knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Turcotte, Ogrodnick, 9. A&mdash;Patrick, 10. P&mdash;Sandstrom, 16. PIM&mdash;Nilan, 46. &#9632;

CONFIDENT TURCOTTE HITS HIS STRIDE

<div class="byline">BY SHERRY ROSS</div>Clark Gillies wasn&rsquo;t about to give his old number to just anyone.The former New York islander hero, who formed part of the Trio Grande with Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy during the Islanders&rsquo; days as an NHL dynasty, wanted to know just what kind of a kid this Dave Chyzowski was.After meeting with the Islanders&rsquo; first-round choice in 1989, Gillies told veteran equipment manager Jim Pickard that it was time to bring old No. 9 out of the mothballs. With Gillies&rsquo; approval, Chyzowski, who suffered a shoulder injury in the Isles&rsquo; second game of the season, wore the number when he suited up for his first game back against the Edmonton Oilers Oct. 24.And he wore it well. At 19:07 of the first period with the Islanders&rsquo; on a 5-on-3 advantage, Chyzowski blasted a 40-foot slap shot past Oilers&rsquo; goalie Bill Ranford for his first career NHL goal. The game ended in a 3-3 tie.&ldquo;I thought it was kind of cool,&rdquo; said Chyzowski of the gesture by Gillies. During the pre-season and the first two games he wore No. 89. &ldquo;I thought it was an honor for somebody like Gillies to do that. No. 89 is kind of a cocky jersey. I&rsquo;ll let (Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; rookie) Alexandr Mogilny have it.&rdquo;Chyzowski also became the only first-round choice from the 1989 entry draft to remain in the NHL Oct. 24, when the Washington Capitals returned goalie Olaf Kolzig to the Western League&rsquo;s Tri-City Americans. At 18 years and three months, he became the youngest Islander to appear in a regular-season game, eclipsing Brent Sutter, who played his first game at 18 years, six months.It wasn&rsquo;t surprising his first goal came on the slap shot that has been the hallmark of his success and notoriety.&ldquo;It was a (Mike) Bossy goal,&rdquo; said Patrick Flatley, who assisted on the Chyzowski goal. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the shot everybody&rsquo;s been talking about.&rdquo;&ldquo;A howitzer,&rdquo; said goalie Glenn Healy, who has to face Chyzowski&rsquo;s shot every day in practice.&ldquo;It was the first of many for him,&rdquo; said Pat LaFontaine, who is Chyzowski&rsquo;s roommate on the road. &ldquo;The first one always sticks in your mind. My first goal was the first of a hat trick, and I remember that Denis Potvin and Bob Bourne assisted on it.&rdquo;LaFontaine and Chyzowski have grown to be close friends, and the rookie credits LaFontaine for helping him make the transition for junior hockey much easier.Chyzowski grew up in Edmonton and was an Oilers&rsquo; fan until June 17, when he was drafted second overall by the Islanders. Chyzowski scored 56 goals and 48 assists playing for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western League last season, and said that his shot was once clocked by a radar gun at about 90 mlies an hour.&ldquo;Scoring against Edmonton and in my first game back&hellip;it was too good to be true,&rdquo; Chyzowski said. &ldquo;It was a great feeling.&rdquo;Chyzowski continued to impress, with a goal in his second game. The second of his career came on a wrist shot against John Vanbiesbrouck in a 5-5 tie with the New York Rangers Oct. 27.On the opening day of the season, Chyzowski signed a four-year contract estimated at $800,000.&ldquo;We can take our time with him,&rdquo; said Islanders&rsquo; coach Al Arbour. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not going to be the saviour. He&rsquo;s a good prospect and we&rsquo;re looking to make him better.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Tom Fitzgerald, Gilles Thibaudeau.LW&mdash;Bryan Trottier, Dave Chyzowski. Brad Lauer, Don Maloney.RW&mdash;Mikko Makela, David Volek, Alan Kerr, Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Jeff Norton, Rich Pilon, Gary Nylund, Marc Bergevin.RD&mdash;Dean Chynoweth, Doug Crossman, Gerald Diduck.G&mdash;Mark Fitzpatrick, Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrick Flatley, RW, bruised right ankle, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine, 6. A&mdash;Norton, 11. P&mdash;Norton, 12. PIM&mdash;Vukota, 44. &#9632;

ROOKIE CHYZOWSKI DRESSED TO THE NINES

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>When the time came for some lessons on the art of self-defense, Viacheslav Fetisov knew exactly where to turn.Two days after being hammered by Toronto left winger Wendel Clark at Maple Leaf Gardens, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defenseman called upon veteran pugilist Jim Korn for some personal pointers on fighting.&ldquo;I asked Jim to help,&rdquo; explained Fetisov, who took a bashing from Clark Oct. 23 and then received even worse treatment from the Toronto and New Jersey media. &ldquo;These were things I didn&rsquo;t remember. I haven&rsquo;t had a fight in 10 years, since the World Junior Championship (1978) and my first two or three years in the Soviet National League.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m guilty of what happened because I wasn&rsquo;t ready for him. I&rsquo;ll be ready next time. It won&rsquo;t happen again. The fun stuff is over.&rdquo;Fetisov vowed that the next time someone tries to mug him, there will be a price to pay. Fetisov will have to wait until Jan. 26&mdash;the next time the Devils meet the Maple Leafs&mdash;if he wants to exact revenge on Clark.The incident came early in the third period of a fight-filled 5-4 Devil victory. The game featured a second-period brawl resulting in 116 minutes in penalties. During that battle, starting goalies Sean Burke and Mark Laforest each received game misconduct penalties for conducting their own fights.Burke, 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, easily won his bouts with the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Laforest.Devils&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld did not reach his full fighting form until several days later&mdash;after reading that Fetisov failed to stand up to Clark and that Schoenfeld benched the 31-year-old Soviet for the final 10 minutes of the game to protect him from the Maple Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011477/5990039-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="559" height="1056"><figcaption class="caption-body">Viacheslav Fetisov, above, says he didn&rsquo;t spear Wendel Clark.</figcaption></div>Schoenfeld, who met privately with Fetisov after the game to explain why he did not play late in the game, said the Soviet looked tired in his fourth game in six nights and that Randy Velischek and Ken Daneyko were more rested after spending 10 minutes in the penalty box.&ldquo;The guy (Fetisov) knows how to fight,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld. &ldquo;Because he&rsquo;s a Soviet and he didn&rsquo;t fight the other night, everyone is making a big deal out of it. He was caught off-guard in that fight.&ldquo;The prejudice is really starting to annoy me. It really is. He&rsquo;s a hockey player. If another player who wasn&rsquo;t Russian had been caught off-guard like that, we wouldn&rsquo;t hear about how he isn&rsquo;t willing to fight. Fighting is overrated. The only time you lose is if it changes your game. It won&rsquo;t happen with this guy. He&rsquo;s had better players than Wendel Clark take a run at him.&rdquo;Clark said Fetisov speared him, but Schoenfeld questioned the Leaf player&rsquo;s motive.&ldquo;Wendel Clark is a pretty courageous kid,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s gone with some pretty good heavyweights. That wasn&rsquo;t a courageous act, going with a guy who doesn&rsquo;t fight. I&rsquo;ve heard he said Slava sticked him and I&rsquo;ve also heard that their coach (ex-Devil coach Doug Carpenter) sent him after Slava. If there was no provocation by Fetisov, that&rsquo;s what surprises me. If there was provocation, you have to be ready for what comes.&rdquo;Fetisov, who said he has the Page 1 Toronto Sun photo of the non-fight &ldquo;hanging over my bed,&rdquo; denied he used his stick, but vowed to be ready next time.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have to show him anything,&rdquo; said Korn, who showed Fetisov techniques in throwing punches, blocking punches and tying up an opponent. &ldquo;He can handle himself. Believe me.&rdquo;<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom, Kirk Muller, Mark Johnson, Janne Ojanen.LW&mdash;Brendan Shanahan, Sylvain Turgeon, Walt Poddubny, Dave Maley, Jim Korn.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Aaron Broten, Doug Brown, Neil Brady, Peter Sundstrom.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Tommy Albelin, Randy Velischek, Sergei Starikov.RD&mdash;Viacheslav Fetisov, Craig Wolanin, Reijo Ruotsalainen.G&mdash;Sean Burke, Chris Terreri.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ken Daneyko, D, sprained left thumb and wrist placed in cast, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;MacLean, 7. A&mdash;Shanahan, 9. P&mdash;Shanahan, MacLean 14. PIM&mdash;Maley, 51. &#9632;

f0014-01

‘FUN STUFF IS OVER’ FOR FIGHTING FETISOV

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>The Pittsburgh Penguins began October as heavy favorites to win the Patrick Division. They ended it with an extended winless streak, a spate of serious injuries and rampant speculation about a coaching change or major trade.They also ended it in a fourth-place tie with Washington.The Penguins literally came within a split-second of having a five-game losing streak, salvaging their only point during an 0-4-1 stretch with a 3-3 tie Oct. 26 in Detroit. Left winger Phil Bourque made that point possible with a controversial goal as time expired in the third period.It was the kind of comeback that often inspires a listless team, but the Penguins sagged again two nights later in a 5-1 loss in Montreal.During the first intermission of that game, Hockey Night in Canada personality Don Cherry told viewers that Pittsburgh looked like a team trying to get its coach fired. It&rsquo;s easy to see how Cherry got that impression&mdash;he is not the only one who feels that way&mdash;but coach Gene Ubriaco did not believe his players were out to cost him his job.&ldquo;1 really don&rsquo;t think I have that kind of a team,&rdquo; Ubriaco said.Still, there were complaints by some Pittsburgh players about Ubriaco&rsquo;s coaching methods.Publicly, however, the Penguins were not blaming Ubriaco for the problems apparent in their 3-6-2 start.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just playing like a team that&rsquo;s got no emotion,&rdquo; defenseman Paul Coffey said. &ldquo;I know for sure it doesn&rsquo;t have anything to do with Gene. He can do so much, but he doesn&rsquo;t have the skates on his feet or the stick in his hand.&rdquo;Regardless, it became obvious general manager Tony Esposito would consider some drastic measure to revive his team if its slump went on much longer.&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t win, I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen,&rdquo; said Esposito, who didn&rsquo;t win any popularity contests with his players on Oct. 24, when he traded well-liked defenseman Rod Buskas to Vancouver for a sixth-round pick in 1990. &ldquo;But I know I&rsquo;ll have to make changes.&rdquo;The Penguins&rsquo; problems were compounded by two major injuries. Defenseman Zarley Zalapski was lost for four to six weeks Oct. 26, when his right collarbone was broken by a hit from Toronto&rsquo;s Lou Franceschetti during an 8-6 loss to the Leafs. Two days later, X-rays of goalie Tom Barrasso&rsquo;s injured right wrist detected a break that required surgery and would sideline him for about six weeks. He was injured in the same game.The Penguins&rsquo; greatest worry, however, was their emotionless play.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had a jump in a long time,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;Anytime you get into a so-called slump&mdash;whether it&rsquo;s in sports or anything&mdash;you&rsquo;ve got to hit bottom before you can come back up.&rdquo;Indeed, the Penguins were settling near the bottom of the Patrick as October entered its final days. Losing was about to become a way of life, just like it was for most of the franchise&rsquo;s first two decades.&ldquo;Losing is contagious,&rdquo; right winger Rob Brown said. &ldquo;Once it starts, it just keeps going.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 24: Rod Buskas, D, traded to Vancouver for sixth-round draft choice in 1990.Oct. 26: Frank Pietrangelo, G, recalled from Muskegon (IHL).Oct. 29: Chris Dahlquist, D, recalled from Muskegon.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn, John Cullen, Randy Gilhen, Mark Recchi.LW&mdash;Bob Errey, Phil Bourque, Kevin Stevens, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Andrew McBain, Jock Callander, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Jim Johnson, Jim KyteRD&mdash;Gilbert Delorme, Gord Dineen, Chris Dahlquist.G&mdash;Wendell Young, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Barrasso, G, surgery on right wrist, indefinite.Randy Hillier, D, bruised buttock, day-to-day.Zarley Zalapski, D, broken right collarbone, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Lemieux, 5. A&mdash;Lemieux, 13. P&mdash;Lemieux, 18. PIM&mdash;Caufield, 32. &#9632;

FAVORITES TO FOURTH IN ONE SHORT MONTH

<div class="byline">BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011250/5990094-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="507" height="644"></div>Over the summer, everybody wanted to know what was going on with the New York Rangers. The star-crossed Rangers, who decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary season of their last Stanley Cup by doing everything except erecting a tent over their circus of an employment search.Although their 1988-89 season ended in disarray, the Rangers didn&rsquo;t sign any significant free agents because, until July 17, they had no GM.They didn&rsquo;t make any major personnel moves because, until August 15, they had no coach and no front-office staff.They changed the home of their top farm club July 20. They changed the site of their training camp July 27.Three months later, they were leading the league. Not just the Patrick Division, the entire National Hockey League. They were off to the second-best start (8-1-3) in their 64-year history and now everybody really wants to know what&rsquo;s going on.You&rsquo;ve got to start with the coach. GM Neil Smith got lucky on this one. His leading list of candidates back in late July was: Terry Simpson, John Paddock, Colin Campbell, Roger Neilson, Dan Maloney. In that order.Simpson&rsquo;s wife didn&rsquo;t want to live in New York. The Flyers wouldn&rsquo;t let Paddock, their assistant GM, out of his new three-year contract. Red Wings&rsquo; GM Jimmy Devellano grew furious at Smith for leaving to take the Ranger job, so Smith didn&rsquo;t dare try to take Campbell&mdash;Detroit&rsquo;s assistant coach.And that left Neilson, Captain Video, the mellow 55-year-old workaholic who, in two months, healed the frazzled psyches of the many players poisioned by Michel Bergeron&rsquo;s madness.How? By coaching calmly. By replacing chaos with communication. By relying on a sound defensive system. By gently telling his players what to expect from an opponent, and what to do when it happens.It&rsquo;s the classic example of the right coach for the right team at the right time. The Rangers were a team crying out for discipline and direction.This team had a tanning machine in its medical room last season, for heaven&rsquo;s sake. This year they&rsquo;ve got an upgraded weight-training program.Neilson arrives each day prepared (Bergeron didn&rsquo;t). He teaches whatever fundamentals are necessary for the coming game (Bergeron couldn&rsquo;t). And he treats all players&mdash;vets and rookies&mdash;with respect (Bergeron rarely did).Listen to Darren Turcotte, a 21-year-old rookie center from Boston who struggled in 20 games last season, but has looked terrific so far this season: &ldquo;(Bergeron) thought game after game, if you made a major mistake during the game or a couple of minor ones, there was no way you&rsquo;d be in the lineup the next day.&ldquo;With Roger, if you make a mistake he&rsquo;ll come up to you the next day, explain what you did wrong. Bergeron would come right up to you, after your shift, and either be yelling full force or screaming at you.&rdquo;The other thing Neilson did was give the No. 1 goalie job to John Vanbiesbrouck. The 26-year-old came into the season with something to prove. By his admission, he was badly hurt by the final game of 1988-89. Not just because the Rangers were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins, but because GM-coach Phil Esposito benched him. Scratched him completely from the lineup and asked him to watch from the seats as rookie Mike Richter tried to prevent the walls from completely caving in.&ldquo;It hurt me to no end,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said in training camp. &ldquo;All I&rsquo;ve heard since I came into the NHL was that in the playoffs you go with what got you there.&rdquo;Neilson played Vanbiesbrouck in seven of the team&rsquo;s first 10 games. That didn&rsquo;t help the rookie Richter, No. 3 behind Bob Froese, who played one of the 10. But Neilson wanted the team off to a fast start and he&rsquo;s done that.The Rangers have produced the winning mix of excellent special teams, tight checking and timely goals. They&rsquo;ve been very lucky, too:&#9632; In their opener at Winnipeg, referee Mark Faucette disallowed three apparent Jets&rsquo; goals. Rangers won 4-1. &#9632; In their second game at Chicago, Al Secord head-butted Chris Nilan and the Rangers, down 3-1, scored three times on the power play. The Rangers won 5-3.The mayor&rsquo;s office isn&rsquo;t planning the parade just yet. Neither have the Garden blue-seaters, who&rsquo;ve been teased too many times know better than to be seduced by an overachieving October. And the players themselves know it&rsquo;s too early to be thinking anything special.But make no mistake about this. The circus has left town. &#9632;

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NEILSON RIDS RANGERS OF CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE

<h2>BRUINS</h2>Defenseman Gord Kluzak&rsquo;s comeback bid from a 10th knee operation hit a snag. Traces of fluid appeared in his left knee, just two days after he began full workouts with the team Oct. 25. &ldquo;This is no fun,&rdquo; Kluzak said. &ldquo;I was feeling so good. I hadn&rsquo;t felt this way in a year and a half. But, what can you do? I probably just bit off too much to soon.&rdquo; Kluzak&rsquo;s last surgery was in August&hellip;Bob Joyce, who recently missed several games because of a mild concussion, was pointless after his first nine games&hellip;Andy Brickley and Garry Galley played their first games of the season, against Quebec Oct. 26. Brickley missed the first nine games with a right ankle injury, while Galley had a separated left shoulder&hellip;Ken Linseman has dropped 10 pounds since undergoing surgery in September to correct a circulatory problem in his left arm.<h2>SABRES</h2>Goaltender Daren Puppa pulled himself from the Toronto game (Oct. 27) after giving up four goals on seven shots in the first eight minutes. Puppa was hit on the ankle in the pre-game warmup and seemed to have trouble concentrating after that. Clint Malarchuk replaced him. For Malarchuk it was his first sustained appearance at the Memorial Auditorium since his near fatal neck injury last season. Malarchuk, who was struggling early this season, allowed just one goal the rest of the way as the Sabres came back for a 6-5 win. He followed that performance with a win against Boston two nights later. &ldquo;Those were good outings for me,&rdquo; said Malarchuk. &ldquo;I really needed a win at this point.&rdquo;&hellip;Dave Andreychuk, was off to a fast start with nine goals in 12 games and had a point in five straight games as of Oct. 29&hellip;Defenseman Mike Ramsey was also off to one of his better starts. Ramsey was a plus-11 after 12 games and was voted the first star in the 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins Oct. 29&hellip;Rookie Dave Snuggerud scored his first NHL goal Oct. 27 against Toronto.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Brent Gilchrist, was cast in a defensive role with because of an injury to Guy Carbonneau, was the No. 1 star in Montreal&rsquo;s 5-4 victory over Edmonton Oct. 29. &ldquo;I think that I can contribute offensively,&rdquo; said Gilchrist, who had a goal and an assist in the game. &ldquo;My stats in the first 10 games didn&rsquo;t really show that-.&rdquo;&hellip;Carbonneau, who missed nine games with a knee injury, scored two goals his first game back, a 5-3 loss to Chicago Oct. 26, and another in a 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh two nights later. Against the Oilers, Carbonneau had his nose broken by Edmonton defenseman Kevin Lowe&hellip;The dumb rumor of the month had the Canadiens sending Shayne Corson and Stephan Lebeau to Edmonton for Jimmy Carson. While managing director Serge Savard admitted he had some interest in Carson, he said &ldquo;the price is too high.&rdquo;&hellip;Veteran left winger Steven Martinson, who played just once in the first 12 games, was sent to Sherbrooke Oct. 27 to get some playing time.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Sylvain Cote, who had a game winning goal and a game-tying goal in the first month of the season, was playing possibly the best defense of his life before he went down to block a John Carter shot in a 1-0 win over Boston Oct. 28. He dove and the puck clipped the end of his toe and broke it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03733/5990156-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="558" height="1179"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ulf Samuelsson is expected back in action by December.</figcaption></div>The fracture was expected to put Cote out for a month. &ldquo;It hurt bad at first, but then it went away,&rdquo; said Cote. &ldquo;But once I took my skate off it felt like somebody put a knife between my toes.&rdquo;&hellip;Ulf Samuelsson has resumed skating on his own after August surgery. The Whalers are hoping he&rsquo;ll be back by December.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Left wingers Iiro Jarvi and Greg Adams were assigned to Halifax of the American League Oct. 30. Jarvi was disappointed, saying a lack of ice time kept him from showing his stuff-&hellip;Paul Gillis showed no ill effects from his bout of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, when he returned to action Oct. 25. His first shift on the ice resulted in a skirmish with Grant Jennings of Hartford&hellip;Michel Bergeron told Ken McRae to &ldquo;start looking for an apartment in Quebec. He&rsquo;ll be here for the season.&rdquo;&hellip;Guy Lafleur and Mike Hough were the team&rsquo;s best forwards in games against Hartford, Boston and Edmonton. &#9632;

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MORE KNEE WOES FOR KLUZAK

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>Harry Sinden was getting desperate.While the Boston Bruins&rsquo; general manager has yet to take out an ad: &ldquo;Wanted: Center for hire. Dial 1-800-Bruins,&rdquo; it may be the only thing Sinden hadn&rsquo;t done in pursuit of a pivot.Sinden has spent most of his time calling around the league, in hopes of finding someone to help fill his team&rsquo;s gigantic void up the middle.Sinden began his phone assault Oct. 26, immediately after learning his team had lost center Craig Janney for six weeks with a groin injury.Janney&rsquo;s injury, and the current absence of Ken Linseman&mdash;still two weeks away from returning after surgery to correct a circulatory problem in his left arm&mdash;left the Bruins without their top two centers.Janney, who suffered the injury in a game against Quebec, was the team&rsquo;s top playmaker and quarterbacked the power play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big blow to us, especially if you look at our center situation,&rdquo; Andy Brickley said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s our only true center, and he had gotten off to such a great start.&rdquo;Janney had indeed jumped out to a terrific start. Centering the Bruins&rsquo; top line with Bob Carpenter and Cam Neely, Janney had notched five goals and six assists in 10 games.He had been one of the legitimate bright spots for the Bruins thus far in the season. And now, he won&rsquo;t be able to play until mid-December.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look good for a while, he&rsquo;s had the injury before,&rdquo; Bruins&rsquo; coach Mike Milbury said.On the play, Janney wasn&rsquo;t hit. He was just rushing up ice when he felt a familiar pop in the area of his right groin. He had re-tom the same muscle he had injured last September.When Janney suffered the injury last season, he hurried his return and wound up re-injuring himself. In all, he missed 18 games last season.He was intent on not making the same mistake twice.&ldquo;Last year, I learned not to rush it,&rdquo; Janney said. &ldquo;I was a young player last year and I wanted to get back into the lineup fast. I took a stupid chance. I tried to come back when it was still tight. I came back too soon.&rdquo;With the team struggling for offense, Janney&rsquo;s loss was especially devastating. The Bruins had been in the Jimmy Carson sweepstakes. The loss of Janney may have magnified their pursuit, but the Bruins simply weren&rsquo;t offering enough to land him.Currently, Sinden had scouts out looking at teams with a surplus of centers.Until he can make some kind of deal, or on the chance he is unable to land a center, Sinden is hopeful his team will cope with the situation.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got people here who can do the job,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got Bob Sweeney, Bob Carpenter, Andy Brickley and Bob Gould. Randy Burridge can do the job and we also have Jarmo Kekalainen. The problem is, we like all of these people on a wing, as opposed to center.&rdquo;&ldquo;We just have to keep playing the games,&rdquo; Milbury said, &ldquo;and find a way to win.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 24: Lou Crawford, LW, assigned to Maine (AHL).Oct. 27: Don Sweeney, D, assigned to Maine.ROSTERC&mdash;Bob Sweeney, Bob Carpenter, Bob Gould, Jarmo Kekalainen.LW&mdash;Robert Cimetta, Randy Burridge, Bob Joyce, John Carter.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Andy Brickley, Peter Douris, Lyndon Byers.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Garry Galley, Greg Hawgood.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Jim Wiemer, Allen Pedersen.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Craig Janney, C, right groin pull, indefinite.Gord Kluzak, D, left knee surgery, indefinite.Ken Linseman, C, surgery to correct circulatory problem in left arm, indefinite.Nevin Markwart, RW, left shoulder, indefinite.Stephane Quintal, D, strained right knee ligaments, indefinite.Michael Thelven, D, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely, 7. A&mdash;Bourque, 15. P&mdash;Bourque, 16. PIM&mdash;Carpenter, 19. &#9632;

GROIN INJURY SIDELINES JANNEY SIX WEEKS

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011146/5990211-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy, left, and Brian Hayward shared the Jennings Trophy the last two seasons as NHL goals-against leaders, but could have trouble repeating.</figcaption></div>There were nights early in the 1989-90 season when goalies Brian Hayward and Patrick Roy could have rightly wondered if they were still with the Montreal Canadiens.After 14 games this season, the Habs had given up a total of 418 shots for an average of 29.85 per game. In winning the Jennings Trophy as the team with the best goals-against average last season, they gave up 2,127 for a pergame average of 26.58.Hayward was hit particularily hard, making 179 saves in his first six starts.&ldquo;He wants to sign a new contract and we&rsquo;re trying to make him look tough,&rdquo; joked defenseman Craig Ludwig after Hayward stopped 32 shots in a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at the Forum Oct. 29. &ldquo;We have to come in more mentally prepared. There is no doubt that our goaltenders have been sharp early on this year. They have saved us a lot of times.&rdquo;After the win over the Oilers, the Canadiens were in first place in team defense with a 2.76 goals-against average, but they were seldom able to develop the air-tight defense of former years.&ldquo;I think a lot of times we feel that a team comes in with a big line and we concentrate on that line so much we forget about other lines,&rdquo; Ludwig said. &ldquo;I think if you look at other teams that are more balanced, where they don&rsquo;t have all their big guns on one line, we play a more consistent game against them. If you worry about one line, it seems there is a tendency to let up when someone else gets on the ice.&rdquo;The Canadiens were beset by Injuries for the early part of the season but the defensive corps remained intact. Despite the departure of veterans Rick Green and Larry Robinson, Ludwig said the Habs couldn&rsquo;t blame their defensive woes on youth. No doubt, part of the reason was the fact that some of the Canadiens&rsquo; best defensive forwards&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Mike McPhee, Claude Lemieux and Bobby Smith&mdash;spent time on the injury list.&ldquo;Because of the INJURIES we have had to some of our bigger forwards, I think the word on the Canadiens is throw the puck in and crash the front of the net,&rdquo; said Hayward. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have the big wingers to come back and keep the players away from the slot.&ldquo;I think teams want to get the puck in front of the net and go and crash for rebounds.&rdquo;Hayward, who faced 39 shots in a 5-3 loss at Chicago Oct. 26 and 40 shots in a 2-0 loss at Boston Oct. 9, was getting quite a workout almost any time he drew the starting goaltending assignment.&ldquo;Maybe they are concerned about my weight and they want to get me down a couple of pounds,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-10, 175-pound netminder. &ldquo;The games I&rsquo;m involved in, I just seem to be getting a lot more work. It&rsquo;s a long year but it&rsquo;s going to balance out.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I would have had this many shots against me after 10 games last season as I have after six this year.&rdquo;The Canadiens did manage to persevere with an 8-6-0 record for first place in the Adams Division. But they played two more games than the Buffalo Sabres, who were a point behind.&ldquo;There have been different line combinations because of the new players and the INJURIES,&rdquo; said Hayward. &ldquo;There are certainly a lot of things I don&rsquo;t know about the guys. I know the players who are playing with the new guys don&rsquo;t know their tendencies as well as they would like to and it&rsquo;s just natural that there would be a break-in period.&rdquo;<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 27: Steve Martinson, LW, assigned to Sherbrooke (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Brent Gilchrist, Guy Carbonneau, Stephan Lebeau.LW&mdash;-Mats Naslund, Mark Pederson, Ryan Walter.RW&mdash;Mike Keane, Jocelyn Lemieux, Russ Courtnall, Stephane Richer.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Petr Svoboda, Jyrki Lumme.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Sylvain Lefebvre, Eric Desjardins, Jean-Jacques Daigneault.G&mdash;Brian Hayward, Patrick Roy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shayne Corson, LW, bruised left shoulder, day-to-day.Donald Dufresne, D, separated shoulder, indefinite.Claude Lemieux, RW, groin pull, indefinite.Mike McPhee, LW, strained abdominal muscles, indefiniteBrian Skrudland, C, sprained ankle, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Corson, 7. A&mdash;Richer, 11. P&mdash;Richer, 16. PIM&mdash;Chelios, 42. &#9632;

f0018-01

HAYWARD AND ROY COME TO THE RESCUE

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Peace and quiet couldn&rsquo;t last forever on the Quebec Nordiques.Since the beginning of training camp, many in the organization had been talking about the great team spirit and relaxed atmosphere in the dressing room.But the walls came crashing down after a 6-3 loss to Edmonton in Quebec Oct. 28. Coach Michel Bergeron lashed out at a player he refused to name, believed to be defenseman Jeff Brown.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a guy on this team that is really getting on my nerves,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick and tired of his attitude. This is a guy who has a certain amount of leadership on this team. But a very bad leadership.&rdquo;Bergeron said the Nordiques have had problems with younger players who became stars too quickly. Brown is 23.&ldquo;A kid in Quebec can get way over his head if his head isn&rsquo;t screwed on tightly enough,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;They are symbols to the people here, even if they really haven&rsquo;t proven themselves in the NHL yet. They are stars in Quebec, but anywhere else in the league, they would be nobodies.&rdquo;On Oct. 30, Nordiques&rsquo; general manager Martin Madden announced Brown would stay home for two or three days. His situation would then be re-evaluated.&ldquo;Jeff is not suspended,&rdquo; said Madden. &ldquo;He will practice by himself and he will not play against the (Chicago) Blackhawks (Oct. 31).&rdquo;No reason was given to explain the Nordiques&rsquo; decision, but it appeared Brown&rsquo;s attitude and influence in the dressing room may have been the reason.There were no immediate plans to trade Brown.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t started talking to anyone about Jeff,&rdquo; said Madden. &ldquo;It would be very premature to say that he has played his last game in a Nordiques&rsquo; uniform.&rdquo;Bergeron said the situation should not be exaggerated.&ldquo;This is a decision that does not concern Jeff Brown the hockey player,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;And I can tell you that he is still a member of our hockey team.&ldquo;Nobody is saying that Jeff Brown is a bad hockey player. On the contrary, he&rsquo;s more than talented. Even if he played at only one half of his full potential, he&rsquo;d still be better than some of the players we have here now.&ldquo;But his work ethic is to be questioned. Last season, I coached two guys who were of the same mold as Brown&mdash;James Patrick and Brian Leetch. But they came to work every night.&rdquo;Brown said he&rsquo;s confused about the situation.&ldquo;I have trouble believing what is happening here,&rdquo; said Brown, 3-4-7 in 10 games. &ldquo;This is tough to understand. Here I am, suspended with pay, when all I want to do is play hockey.&ldquo;I really think that I&rsquo;ve played my last game in a Nordiques&rsquo; uniform. During my conversations with Martin Madden and Michel Bergeron, they told me that I just didn&rsquo;t fit in the team&rsquo;s future plans. I think they were clear enough.&rdquo;He went on to say he&rsquo;s not a bad influence. &ldquo;All that is b&hellip;,&rdquo; said Brown.&ldquo;There are a lot of players on this team other than me that have a bad attitude in the dressing room, that have bad leadership.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 30: tiro Jarvi, LW, and Greg Adams, LW, assigned to Halifax (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Joe Sakic, Claude Loiselle, Lucien Deblois, Ken McRae.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Mike Hough, Jeff Jackson, Marc Fortier.RW&mdash;Daniel Dore, Guy Lafleur, Darin Kimble.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Jari Gronstrand, Curtis Leschyshyn, Robert Picard.RD&mdash;Michel Petit, Jeff Brown, Joe Cirella, Mario Marois.G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Stephane Fiset, Sergei Mylnikov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Guerard, D, right knee sprain, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Stastny, 6. A&mdash;Statsny, 12. P&mdash;Stastny, 18. PIM&mdash;Kimble, 39. &#9632;

BROWN NEW TARGET OF BERGERON’S ANGER

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>A list of the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; four best players through a 6-6-1 start under coach Rick Ley would look like this:Mike Liut, Sylvain Cote, Pat Verbeek, Ron Francis.Liut. with a 4-2-1 record and an NHL-best 1.57 goals-against average after back-to-back shutouts over Quebec (2-0 Oct. 25) and Boston (1-0 Oct. 28), was staging one of the best comebacks since Lazarus.Until he was struck down with a broken toe on his left foot Oct. 28 in Boston, Cote was playing the best defense of his NHL career.Verbeek, acquired June 17 from New Jersey for Sylvain Turgeon, led the Whalers with eight goals, 15 points and 35 penalty minutes.And captain Francis just kept sailing along with seven goals and 14 points, which left him one goal shy of Blaine Stoughton&rsquo;s career record of 219 for the NHL franchise.As the Whalers followed a demoralizing 3-2 loss in Montreal Oct. 23 with commendable victories over the Nordiques, in New Jersey (7-3 Oct. 26) and in steamy Boston Garden, players were taking The lead provided by Liut, Francis, Verbeek and Cote.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had three great efforts since losing in the last minute in Montreal (on a goal by Ryan Walter),&rdquo; said Ley. &ldquo;You know what I saw in Boston? I saw grit in our team. We need it every night.&rdquo;In New Jersey, defenseman Brad Shaw, who rode more than his share of buses in the minors, nearly doubled his career NHL production with four assists against the Devils. Going into the game, Shaw had five points (1-4-5) in 25 NHL games.Left winger Jody Hull, who missed five games with a groin pull and a charley horse, scored a pair of goals against the Devils. Much is expected from this 1987 first-round pick, who finished his rookie season strongly.The coaches said Hull and Scott Young need to be more outgoing and emotional. If the Whalers are going to be taken as a serious threat in the Adams Division, young first-round picks such as Hull and Young must be important factors.Young responded in the 1-0 game in Boston. On a night of summer-like temperatures outside and hellish temperatures inside the Garden. Young scored what he termed one the sweetest goals of his life midway through the third period.&ldquo;It&rsquo;a 0-0 game,&rdquo; said Young, a native of nearby Clinton, Mass. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in the Garden (or Gahden, as the former Boston University star pronounces it). I&rsquo;ve never scored here. It&rsquo;s against the team I&rsquo;ve grown up watching, been a fan of all my life.&ldquo;My parents, my fiancee and about 20 other people were in the stands. I had 10 friends hanging on the glass when I scored.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.ROSTERC&mdash;Ray Ferraro, Ron Francis, Mike Tomlak, Dean Evason.LW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Mikael Andersson, Jody Hull. Marc Laforge, Chris Govedaris, Brian Lawton, Todd Krygier.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Ed Kastelic, Paul MacDermid, Scott Young.LD&mdash;Adam Burt, Joel Quenneville, Randy Ladouceur, Grant Jennings.RD&mdash;David Babych, Brad Shaw.G&mdash;Mike Liut, Peter Sidorkiewicz, Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sylvain Cote, D, broken toe on left foot, indefiniteUlf Samuelsson, D, knee surgery, indefinite.Dave Tippett, LW, thumb surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, 8. A&mdash;Francis, Verbeek, 7. P&mdash;Verbeek, 15. PIM&mdash;Verbeek, 35. &#9632;

LEY SEES TRUE GRIT… AND LOVES IT

<div class="byline">STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01711/5990314-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="507" height="627"></div>Video replays could be used as early as this spring to make judgments on disputed goals.But whether the NHL can make it happen that quickly has yet to be determined. League general managers are meeting Nov. 13 in Chicago. One of the matters that will be discussed is the use of replays to settle goal controversies.Should the GMs recommend implementation of a goal review system&mdash;a very real possibility&mdash;the proposal would then go before the governors at their Dec. 6-8 board meeting in Palm Beach. Acceptance at that level could lead to video replays being used as early as the 1990 playoffs.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not impossible,&rdquo; acknowledges NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill.Regardless of what season they come to pass, the first experiments with video replay are slated for the playoffs, and not the regular season. You&rsquo;d think it would be better to work the bugs out during the regular season, but there&rsquo;s a problem. Not all 840 regular-season games are televised. Every playoff game is televised.And since the NHL appears destined to use existing TV equipment, rather than install new cameras strictly for replay purposes, it can&rsquo;t implement a review system across the league during the regular season. Some teams just can&rsquo;t provide replays.The use of video replays has been a long time coming. It is certainly due. Past due.&ldquo;We are working on it,&rdquo; says David Poile. &ldquo;Maybe not as fast as you would like, or maybe a lot of individual managers or governors would like. It&rsquo;s an ongoing situation. Hopefully, we&rsquo;ll have something to report in November.&rdquo;Poile, the Washington GM who doubles as chairman of the GMs committee, was charged with investigating the use of video replays in June, 1985. But he will not speculate on the possibility of things getting under way this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just as simple as saying, &lsquo;We should have it,&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The majority of people realize that if we can set up the mechanism and the proper way to do it, there would be a lot of interest in it.&rdquo;It has been all but decided that special equipment, used exclusively for official replays, will not be installed. Poile says it&rsquo;s not possible to achieve technical uniformity in all 21 buildings. High cost is also a significant factor, although Poile minimizes it. The alternative to new video equipment existing equipment&mdash;television cameras. Of course,-there are inconsistencies from arena to arena, but the NHL appears willing to live with them. The GMs will have to be, if they want to take the next logical step in this project.They must, however, first resolve several issues. Most prominent among them is: What will be reviewed? The obvious answer is disputed goals. But what constitutes a disputed goal? The most common arguments are over whether: a) the puck is knocked in by a high stick; b) the puck crosses the goal line; c) the puck is directed in by a skate or part of the body; d) a member of the scoring team is in the crease; or e) time has expired.Dave Newell, who has officiated more NHL games than any referee in league history, says he would welcome video replays&mdash;but would prefer they are first used only for the purpose of determining whether the puck crosses the line. Watch for the GMs to agree, at least during early implementation of video review. They will want to make the system as simple as possible.Incorporating the game clock in video replays, then, may take some time. One of the toughest calls for a referee is determining whether a puck crosses the goal line before expiration of time. At present, goal lights can&rsquo;t be turned on if the light signifying the end of a period is on. That is supposed to head off potential problems.But the goal lights are turned on by human beings, while the period lights illuminate automatically through a link-up with game clocks. In the Oct. 25 game between Detroit and Pittsburgh, the Penguins scored late in the third period. The goal judge attempted to turn on his light, but couldn&rsquo;t react quickly enough before the blue light (signalling the end of the game) came on.On linesman Ron Asselstine&rsquo;s advice, Newell decided the goal was scored before time expired. Everybody agreed it was the right decision. One means of relieving a referee of that decision is to have a digital timer added to at least one camera in every building.Finally, the most likely candidates for ruling on the replays are league supervisors of officials. There is one present at every playoff game. In April, 1990, they may have added responsibilities. &#9632;

f0021-01

NEW VIDEO AGE COULD BE UPON US THIS SPRING

Division winners are not supposed to be in a rebuilding mode, but both the Patrick Division-champion Washington Capitals and Adams Division-titlist Montreal Canadiens have used seven rookies this season&mdash;including the Habs&rsquo; Finnish defenseman Jyrki Lumme. Only the Hartford Whalers have used as many rookies this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02382/5990345-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="716" height="409"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jyrki Lumme</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0021-02

NUMBERS

<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Left winger Paul Lawless, upset by the Leafs&rsquo; decision to send him to Newmarket of the American League, cleared waivers Oct. 28 and left immediately for Switzerland, where he joined Davos of the First Division&hellip;A late-October visit by Leafs&rsquo; GM Floyd Smith to New York fueled speculation the team might be looking to acquire another goaltender. Smith saw Rangers&rsquo; Bob Froese post a 3-3 tie against Edmonton Oct. 25. The next night, Peter Sidorkiewicz sparked the Hartford Whalers to a 7-3 victory over New Jersey. Smith was reportedly willing to deal defensemen Luke Richardson, Todd Gill or Darryl Shannon to acquire goaltending help&hellip;Goalie Jeff Reese, who was assigned to the Leafs&rsquo; American League affiliate in Newmarket Oct. 19, suffered a broken kneecap during practice with the Saints just two days later and was expected to be out for at least two months&hellip;Right winger Sean McKenna, called up Oct. 24 from Newmarket with center John McIntyre, had every reason for getting off to a slow start at training camp. While at home in Sherbrooke, Que., last April, the 27-year-old former Buffalo Sabre and Los Angeles King suffered a perforated ulcer and spent eight days in intensive care.<h2>BLUES</h2>The Brett Hull contract negotiations have reached a standstill. Hull, 25, is playing out his option and his agent Bob Goodenow said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve agreed to disagree.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Todd Ewen suffered a broken right hand and was expected to miss three to four weeks. Ewen missed the first three weeks of the season while serving the seven games remaining from a 10-game suspension imposed during the playoffs last season. Ewen suffered the injury in his third game back, against Washington Oct. 28, in a collision with the Caps&rsquo; Dino Ciccareili during a line change. Adding insult to injury, referee Rob Shick also gave Ewen a high-sticking penalty. &ldquo;What do you say?,&rdquo; Ewen asked. &ldquo;I want to get back in there. I&rsquo;m tired of sitting around. I just start to get rolling and feeling comfortable, and now this.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Tom Tilley received clearance to play for the first time since suffering a lower back strain against Chicago Oct. 14. After a strenuous workout with assistant coach Bob Berry Oct. 28, Tilley said: &ldquo;In three days, I&rsquo;ll be ready to play or I&rsquo;ll be dead.&rdquo;<h2>RED WINGS</h2>Red Wings&rsquo; GM Jimmy Devellano was bursting with pride in a recent game against Pittsburgh. For the first time ever, all of his first four No. 1 draft choices&mdash;Steve Yzerman (1983), Shawn Burr (1984), Brent Fedyk (1985) and Joe Murphy (1986)&mdash;were in the lineup together. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a pretty good percentage,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said. &ldquo;Not all No. 1 picks make it.&rdquo;&hellip;During Gerard Gallant&rsquo;s five-game suspension, Yzerman played with four different left wingers&mdash;Adam Graves, Bernie Federko, Shawn Burr and Petr Klima. Klima, perhaps the team&rsquo;s most explosive scoring threat, was the most effective, but Yzerman seemed to miss Gallant&rsquo;s mucking in the comers. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to get into a groove,&rdquo; Yzerman said. &ldquo;Gerard and I play basically a simple game&hellip;You get into a habit with a guy, and it&rsquo;s been an adjustment without him.&rdquo;<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>Disgruntled left winger Mike Eagles finally reported to the Hawks&rsquo; minor-league club at Indianapolis. GM Bob Pulford confirmed he&rsquo;s trying to accommodate Eagles&rsquo; request for a trade. A possible deal with Toronto was nixed when Paul Lawless left for Switzerland. Eagles had been at home in Sussex, N.B., since being demoted Oct. 6. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t doing him any good where he was,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;What he wants is to play in the NHL, which is understandable. If something can be worked out, we&rsquo;ll do it.&rdquo;&ldquo;&hellip;Jacques Cloutier boosted his record at Chicago Stadium to 5-0-0 Oct. 29 when he shut out Washington 1-0. Cloutier became the first Hawks&rsquo; goalie to post two shutouts in one season since Warren Skorodenski did it in 1984-85&hellip;The 1-0 shutout by the Hawks Oct. 29 was the club&rsquo;s first 1-0 win since Oct. 13, 1971, when Tony Esposito blanked the Blues&hellip;The Hawks&rsquo; four-game winning streak was their longest since October 1987, when they won five in a row.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>The North Stars&rsquo; 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Oct. 28 gave them a perfect 5-0-0 record at the Met Center. They were also the only team in the league to be undefeated at home&hellip;Defenseman Larry Murphy was on the ice for 10 of the North Stars&rsquo; first 12 power-play goals. He had five assists to show for his power-play efforts&hellip;Defenseman Ken Leiter played his first game in the NHL in more than a year, when he suited up Oct. 28 against the Flyers. He was claimed by Minnesota in the 1988 waiver draft even though he had retired from the New York Islanders. He didn&rsquo;t play hockey at all last season, remodeling kitchens and bathrooms instead&hellip;Defenseman Curt Giles played his 700th career game-all but 74 with Minnesota&mdash;and right winger Stewart Gavin scored his 100th career goal, in the game against Philadelphia&hellip;In an effort to improve attendance, the North Stars have offered a &ldquo;Family Night&rdquo; package where fans can buy four $16 tickets, four hot dogs, four soft drinks and a tub of popcorn for $42.50&mdash;more than $36 off the retail price. The Stars were averaging 10,399 fans for their first five home dates, an increase of more than 2,000 per game from last season. &#9632;

LAWLESS LEAVES LEAFS FOR EUROPE

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>The Chicago Blackhawks were hot, thanks in large part to the sizzle provided by the Troy Murray-Steve Thomas-Dirk Graham line.Even coach Mike Keenan, notorious for his tinkering with line combinations, has had a difficult time keeping the three Hawks apart.In a stretch between Oct. 20 and 29, when the Hawks won four straight and five of six, the Murray line combined for 14 goals and 29 points.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been playing exceptional right now,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got three strong players who are all capable of scoring.&rdquo;Murray&rsquo;s play at both ends of the ice has rekindled memories of his 1985-86 season, when he scored 45 goals and 99 points, and won the Selke Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top defensive forward.&ldquo;That was a long time ago,&rdquo; Murray said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to compare this to that.&rdquo;Murray&rsquo;s strong two-way play coincided with the Hawks&rsquo; winning streak. In three of the four games the Hawks won in a row, Murray scored the game-winning goal. Included in that stretch was his fourth career hat trick in a 5-3 win at Detroit Oct. 24. Thomas had the game-winner in the other contest.&ldquo;I feel pretty good about what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; said Murray, who had four game vinning goals in 13 games (he had just two all of last season). &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not thinking about some of the things I worried about in the past. With the coaching situation here, he (Keenan) does a lot of off-the-wall things at certain times and if you let it bother you you&rsquo;re in trouble. I tried to analyze everything too much last year.&rdquo;Murray now just plays and lets Keenan do the thinking, even if it means watching the coach switch line combinations from shift to shift and use certain players in unfamiliar situations.&ldquo;Mike says it&rsquo;s not up to us to analyze things, and he&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; Murray said.Thomas broke out of an early-season slump with goals in five straight games, after going his first seven games without one. The feisty left winger was even benched for one game during his dry spell.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any confidence and I was making some bad plays,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;Now all those thoughts are gone and all I&rsquo;m thinking about is how to keep this going. I&rsquo;ve always been pegged as a guy who gets goals in bunches. I hope it continues.&rdquo;Graham&rsquo;s play went almost unnoticed with Murray and Thomas scoring goals at such a rapid clip, but the Hawk captain had two goals and nine assists in a five-game stretch and was one of the club&rsquo;s best penalty killers.Graham was enjoying the moment.With Keenan as coach, he was aware his next shift with Murray and Thomas could be his last.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01833/5990400-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="568" height="1293"><figcaption class="caption-body">After 13 games, Troy Murray had four game-winning goals.</figcaption></div>But Graham said he understood Keenan&rsquo;s system.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Mike&rsquo;s philosophy that when you&rsquo;re used to playing with everyone it&rsquo;s a way of having a team-type attitude,&rdquo; Graham said. &ldquo;If Mike is juggling lines it&rsquo;s our job to play just as hard with whoever you&rsquo;re with.&rdquo;All of the Hawks&rsquo; lines were clicking during their run to the top of the Norris Division. The confidence level in Chicago hadn&rsquo;t been as high in years.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to believe we can win every game,&rdquo; said Denis Savard. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had that feeling in 10 years.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 27: Bob Bassen. LW. assigned to Indianapolis (IHL).Oct. 29: Brian Noonan, RW, and Cam Russell, D, recalled from Indianapolis. Everett Sanipass, LW, and Russell assigned to Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Troy Murray, Adam Creighton, Jeremy Roenick.LW&mdash;Mike Hudson. Steve Thomas, Greg Gilbert, Wayne Van Dorp, Al Secord.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Wayne Presley, Duane Sutter, Brian Noonan.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson, Trent Yawney, Steve Konroyd.RD&mdash;Dave Manson, Keith Brown, Bob McGill. Bob Murray.G&mdash;Jacques Cloutier, Alain Chevrier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Darren Pang, G, left knee surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;T. Murray, 9. A&mdash;Savard, 11. P&mdash;T. Murray, 17. PIM&mdash;Manson. 39. &#9632;

f0022-01

NOT EVEN KEENAN WILL JUGGLE THIS LINE

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>Reports of Jimmy Carson returning home to Detroit in a blockbuster deal just wouldn&rsquo;t go away.Two weeks after he walked away from the Edmonton Oilers demanding to be traded, Carson was visiting with his family in suburban Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. He heard the reports, too.It was believed the Detroit Red Wings were on the verge of a deal that would send Petr Klima, Adam Graves, Joe Murphy and an undisclosed sum of money to Edmonton for Carson and another player, probably rugged right winger Kevin McClelland.Two sources, one with the Wings and another close to Carson, said it wasn&rsquo;t just a rumor or idle speculation.Carson, who has long dreamed of playing for the Wings, said he was keeping his fingers crossed, but wasn&rsquo;t overly optimistic.Klima, however, said he wanted no part of such a trade, and didn&rsquo;t expect it to happen.&ldquo;Nobody wants me. I&rsquo;m a drunk,&rdquo; he said with a laugh. &ldquo;Maybe I should start drinking again.&rdquo;Klima is a recovering alcoholic who still must stand trial on a third drunk-driving arrest. But his laughter subsided quickly when he learned the report may have some substance.&ldquo;If I get traded to Edmonton, I&rsquo;ll quit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whoever trades for me is going to have trouble, big-time, because I won&rsquo;t go. I&rsquo;ll wait a year and go to Europe, play in Germany. Things are changing back home. I could play in Germany and be less than an hour from home.&rdquo;Klima, a Czechoslovak national hoping to become a U.S. citizen, defected four years ago to play for the Red Wings. He has never given up hope of returning to his native country.Wings&rsquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano, however, continued to deny he has had trade discussions with Sather. Sather, meanwhile, said he&rsquo;d talked with most teams in the NHL about Carson.Devellano called Sather&rsquo;s appearance at Joe Louis Arena Oct. 26 for a game against Pittsburgh a &ldquo;grandstand move&rdquo; designed to spur other NHL teams to better their offers.Carson&rsquo;s agent, Bill Watters, said he had heard the same Klima-Graves-Murphy-cash deal. &ldquo;When the rumors won&rsquo;t go away, you might assume from that there&rsquo;s something going on,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard the names. That&rsquo;s all I can. say.&rdquo;Watters said he believed Sather had narrowed his list of serious bids and that a deal&mdash;possibly with Detroit&mdash;was imminent.That Devellano insisted he hadn&rsquo;t even talked with Sather may have been a smokescreen, Watters agreed. He suggested Sather may have been negotiating with someone other than Devellano in the organization&mdash;perhaps coach Jacques Demers or owner Mike Hitch.Demers had no comment and Hitch could not be reached for comment. Jim Lites, the Wings&rsquo; executive vice president, said he was not involved in any such negotiations, but acknowledged conversations had been going on for a while.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked to them at length about (goalie Grant) Fuhr and Carson.&rdquo;The Oilers since have taken Fuhr off the Wading block, however.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Bernie Federko, John Chabot, Shawn Burr.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Petr Klima, Adam Graves, Joe Murphy.RW&mdash;Joe Kocur, Dave Barr, Brent Fedyk, Marc Habscheid, Jim Nill, Torrie Robertson.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, John Mokosak, Lee Norwood, Borje Salming.RD&mdash;Doug Houda, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Rick Zombo.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tony McKegney, LW, pulled groin, day-to-day.Greg Stefan, G, back spasms, day-to-day,<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 8. A&mdash;Yzerman, 14. P&mdash;zerman, 22 PIM&mdash;Gallant, 46. &#9632;

COULD CARSON BE GOING HOME TO PLAY?

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>The rumors were just that, but there was some evidence to suggest the St. Louis Blues may yet trade veteran netminder Greg Millen.The ttade talk, hot and heavy in the summer months, revived itself in late October as the Blues&rsquo; netminding picture began to get fuzzy.Vincent Riendeau had just returned from a broken finger, suffered the day before the first regular-season game. Million-dollar rookie Curtis Joseph had been playing well with the Blues&rsquo; farm team in Peoria of the International League. And amateur Guy Hebert, also outstanding at Peoria, had just signed a contract, giving the Blues five professional goalies. Pat Jablonski, sent down to make room for Riendeau, and Millen are the other two.The Blues played the Washington Capitals in St. Louis Oct. 28 and again in Washington Oct. 31. The Capitals need a goaltender; the Blues need help at defense, the Capitals&rsquo; strongest position.Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron had offered Millen and others to the Capitals in a package deal for either Scott Stevens or Kevin Hatcher this past summer, but Washington GM David Poile wasn&rsquo;t interested in parting with either player.But maybe this was the time, with the Capitals struggling to an 0-3-1 record in four games before the St. Louis visit. Poile and the Caps&rsquo; coaching staff came to St. Louis two days early to watch the Blues play the Minnesota North Stars Oct. 26. Then, Caron and Poile had a lengthy meeting.Millen, 32, helped the Blues to a 4-1 victory over Minnesota, flustering the North Stars in the second period with four 1-on-l saves. Then, two nights later, he stopped 33 shots en route to a 1-0 victory over the Capitals, his first shutout of the season and the 17th of his career. Millen led the league last season with six shutouts.Millen said he ignored the trade talk. He also ignored the suggestion he was the difference in the two games.&ldquo;I can only do what the team does,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can help, but I need the guys working in front of me every night&hellip;I hate to sound like a tape recorder, but any time you get (a shutout), it&rsquo;s a team thing.&rdquo;Whatever, he either increased his trade value or proved himself invaluable to the Blues, a young team prone to grievous mistakes. A couple of his teammates preferred the latter interpretation.&ldquo;A young team with a veteran goaltender, that&rsquo;s the difference between winning and losing those one-goal games,&rdquo; veteran defenseman Gordie Roberts said. &ldquo;The league&rsquo;s so even, so many of the games are within a goal or two. The goaltender makes a difference.&rdquo;Defenseman Mike Lalor agreed.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s proven it year in and year out,&rdquo; said Lalor. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always come up big. How many games did he keep us in last year? And against Minny, he saved four goals that would have made a heck of a difference.&rdquo;Millen has made it clear he wants to stay in St. Louis. After the trades of Bernie Federko and Greg Paslawski this summer, Millen has worn the Bluenote longer than any active Blues&rsquo; player&mdash;since Feb. 21, 1985.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct 23: Keith Osborne, RW, assigned to Peoria (IHL). Guy Hebert, G, signed multi-year contract.Oct. 25: Glen Featherstone, D. recalled from Peoria.Oct. 27: Tony Twist, D, assigned to Peoria. Robert Dirk, D, recalled from Peoria.Oct 29: Pat Jablonski, G, assigned to Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel, Adam Oates, Rick Meagher, Tony Hrkac.LW&mdash;Dave Lowry, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Sergio Momesso, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Paul MacLean, Steve Tuttle, Herb Raglan.LD&mdash;Mike Lalor, Gordie Roberts, Robert Dirk. Brian Benning.RD&mdash;Paul Cavallini, Randy Skarda, Glen Featherstone, Tom Tilley.G&mdash;Greg Millen, Vincent Rlendeau.INJURIESTodd Ewen, RW, broken bone in right hand, Nov. 20-27.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Hull, 11. A&mdash;Oates, 11. P&mdash;Hull, 15. PIM&mdash;Tony Twist, 29. &#9632;

MILLEN TRADE RUMORS CIRCULATING AGAIN

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>Mark Tinordi represents the next generation of the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; defense, but he&rsquo;s already making a big impression.Tinordi, 23, limped to the North Stars last October in a trade that that sent Brian Lawton to the New York Rangers. Six other players were involved, but none have had an impact in the NHL.Tinordi came off knee surgery during 1988 training camp and needed more rehabilitation time before he could even play for the North Stars&rsquo; International League farm team in Kalamazoo, Mich.&ldquo;(General manager) Jack Ferreira told me that we were getting a kid who some people thought would make it and other people weren&rsquo;t sure,&rdquo; coach Pierre Page said. &ldquo;Jack said the guy was intense and worked harder than anyone in practice. A guy who works hard always has a chance to get better. Some players play their entire careers with potential.&rdquo;Tinordi played 10 games in Kalamazoo before he was recalled to Minnesota. He arrived intense&mdash;and stuck around, in large part, because of his intensity. He had two goals, three assists and 107 penalty minutes in 47 games with the North Stars last season.&ldquo;After a couple of days, some of our players tried to tell him to cool it a little in practice,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;We told him to keep doing what he was doing. He got where he is because of his intensity.&rdquo;For Tinordi to play well, he has to play tough. He hits more in games now than in practice, which his teammates&mdash;and some coaches&mdash;appreciate.While sitting out a four-game suspension for cross-checking Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord across the bridge of his nose during a pre-season game, Tinordi&rsquo;s only release came in practice. During one drill the coaches provided token forechecking. Assistant Doug Jarvis, barely removed from a 964-game NHL career, made a deke, then tried to slip between Tinordi and the boards.&ldquo;He tried to put me through the glass,&rdquo; Jarvis said, a smile giving way to appreciation for a player doing his job. &ldquo;The message was obvious: Don&rsquo;t try to deke Tinner.&rdquo;Tinordi is 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds and plays to his size, something he didn&rsquo;t do right away when he was called up by the Rangers. Defense partner Curt Giles, who was first paired with Tinordi when both were playing for the Rangers, said he was much less forceful as a rookie.&ldquo;The first time I played with Tinner,&rdquo; said Giles, who stands at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, &ldquo;he stayed back like most young players will do.&ldquo;The feeling I get from playing with him now is that he&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes to win. He comes with the attitude that he&rsquo;s ready to help. He&rsquo;s a good partner.&rdquo;Tinordi is in Minnesota ahead of Neil Wilkinson, Link Gaetz and Rob Zettler&mdash;all good, young defensemen&mdash;because he plays like he belongs and because he makes a difference. After seven games this season he had a goal and an assist and 21 penalty minutes.&ldquo;For me, confidence is everything,&rdquo; Tinordi said. &ldquo;Whenever I feel like I belong, I play better.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 23: Ken Leiter, D, recalled from Kalamazoo (IHL).Oct. 24: Wade Flaherty, G, assigned to Greensboro (ECHL) from Kalamazoo.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Mike Modano, Dave Gagner, Bob Brooke.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Dave Archibald, Gaetan Duchesne, Clark Donatelli, Dave Mackey, Basil McRae.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Shane Churla, Stewart Gavin, Curt Fraser, Perry Berezan, Helmut Balderis.LD&mdash;Ken Leiter, Frantisek Musil, Mark Tinordi, Ville Siren.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Shawn Chambers, Curt Giles.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Perry Berezan. RW, slight concussion, day-to-day.Basil McRae, LW, strained ligaments in right knee, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Bellows, 9. A&mdash;Murphy, 11. P&mdash;Gartner, 15. PIM&mdash;McRae, Tinordi, 21. &#9632;

TINORDI ALWAYS HAPPY TO PICK UP CHECK

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>It&rsquo;s difficult to imagine that Mark Laforest and Tony Mandarich would have anything in common, aside from the fact they&rsquo;re both Canadians.Laforest is a 5-foot-11, 190-pound goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mandarich is a 6-foot-6, 305-pound offensive lineman with the Green Bay Packers.During his stalled contract negotiations with the Packers, Mandarich threatened to fight heavyweight champion Mike Tyson for $10 million. Laforest has issued the same challenge&mdash;albeit for a lower price&mdash;even though he&rsquo;s shown no dissatisfaction with his contract with the Leafs.&ldquo;Gimme five million bucks and I&rsquo;ll fight him,&rdquo; said Laforest, &ldquo;but on the condition that he doesn&rsquo;t throw more than one punch.&rdquo;Laforest got a little early sparring practice Oct. 23 when he went two rounds with New Jersey goalie Sean Burke in a 5-4 loss to the Devils. The two fights with the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Burke removed Laforest from a game in which he was not playing particularily well. They also added life to his Toronto teammates. Down 5-2 at the time of the second-period melee, the Leafs started to play with uncharacteristic intensity and almost tied the game.Laforest was whipped rather handily in both scraps. Both he and Burke were ejected.The following morning, Laforest was late arriving for practice and explained afterwards that he&rsquo;d been delayed at the optometrist&rsquo;s office, where he&rsquo;d been fitted for a new contact lens. Burke, it seemed, had dislodged the original with a right uppercut.Laforest had been with the Leafs for only two games since his recall from the American League&rsquo;s Newmarket Saints on Oct. 20, but his set-to with Burke quickly established him as a fan favorite.Which was all well and good, but Laforest&rsquo;s objective was to impress coach Doug Carpenter. Again.The former goalie with Detroit and Philadelphia was, in most observer&rsquo;s estimations, Toronto&rsquo;s best goaltender during training camp. But when it came time for Carpenter to make cuts, Laforest was the odd man out behind Allan Bester and Jeff Reese.Trying to prove he has what it takes to be a top-flight goalie is nothing new for the 27-year-old native of Welland, Ont.He remembers begging his father to let him be a goaltender.&ldquo;No way,&rdquo; would be the reply. &ldquo;Every day you play you&rsquo;ll either be a hero or a bum.&ldquo;Are you ready to live with that?&rdquo;The youngster believed he could, of course, but no one would give him the chance.&ldquo;Then one year me and my younger brother were both trying out for a squirt team in Port Colborne and one day the coach announced the cuts. Sure enough, mine was one of the names he called,&rdquo; said Laforest. &ldquo;A few days after the cuts, the team was still looking for a goalie and they were asking if anyone knew somebody who&rsquo;d like to play in net.&rdquo;Laforest became the team&rsquo;s goalie and has been trying to prove himself ever since. After signing with Detroit as a free agent in 1983, he spent two seasons in the minors with Kalamazoo (IHL) and Adirondack (AHL) before finally getting a shot.In 28 games, he had a 4-21-0 record and a 4.95 goals-against average. Not surprisingly, he saw duty in only five games with the Red Wings the following season but, with Adirondack, went on to win the Baz Bastien Trophy as the AHL&rsquo;s outstanding netminder.&ldquo;The next year, 1987-88. I thought I should have been in the NHL, but the Red Wings got rid of (coach) Brad Park, whom I think liked me as a goaltender, and hired Jacques Demers, who knew nothing about me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Detroit already had Glen Hanlon and Sam St. Laurent, so I became the odd man out.&rdquo;Dealt to Philadelphia, where he had to compete against Bob Froese. Ron Hextail and the late Pelle Lindbergh, Laforest ended up splitting the last two seasons between the Flyers and their AHL affiliate in Hershey, appearing in only 46 games.When the Flyers acquired Ken Wregget from the Leafs late last season and then picked up Pete Peelers from the Capitals this year, Laforest found himself mired in the minors again.Leafs&rsquo; general manager Floyd Smith rescued Laforest by acquiring him from the Flyers for two 1991 draft picks. Now that he&rsquo;s back in the NHL, Laforest plans to make the most of his opportunity.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve sure had my ups and downs over the last few seasons and it&rsquo;d be nice to stay up for a while,&rdquo; he said.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 24: John McIntyre. C, and Sean McKenna, RW, recalled from Newmarket (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Tom Fergus, Dave Hannan, Dan Daoust.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne, Vincent Damphousse, Dave Reid, Wendel Clark.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Daniel Marois. Lou Frances-chetti, Sean McKenna, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Luke Richardson, Brad Marsh, Darryl Shannon, Brian Curran.RD&mdash;Rob Ramage, Al lafrate, Tom Kurvers, Todd Gill.G&mdash;Allan Bester, Mark Laforest.<h3>INJURIES</h3>John McIntyre, C, bruised hand, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Marois, 9. A&mdash;Damphousse. 10. P&mdash;Marois, 16. PIM&mdash;lafrate, 28. &#9632;

BATTLING LAFOREST FIGHTS FOR AN NHL JOB

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02454/5990527-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="560" height="605"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian McFarlane, circa 1970, at Hockey Night in Canada.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01725/5990534-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="143" height="140"></div>Few people in the world know hockey better than Brian McFarlane.The 58-year-old native of New Liskeard, Ont., is best known for his 25 years as a broadcaster on Hockey Night in Canada, but he&rsquo;s also written 30 books on the game.And he still plays hockey. Not as well as he did from 1951 to &rsquo;55 at St. Lawrence University (he was an all-American center), but he still has fun.Even as a top collegiate player, McFarlane&rsquo;s dream was to work on the Hockey Night in Canada crew. And through a series of coincidences, the dream came true.After his St. Lawrence days, McFarlane became a cameraman at television station WRGB in Schenectady, N.Y. It was there he began his broadcasting career.I told them if they ever needed a sportscaster,&rdquo; he recalls, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d to apply for the job. I started for $100 a week, with no experience, and I ended up doing a nightly 10-minute sportscast for two years.&rdquo;The sportcasting was fine. The added chores were a little nerve-wracking, however.&ldquo;I had to do my own commercials,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;Id get up from the desk and sell washing machines one night, men&rsquo;s shirts the next. It was for a major department store, Montgomery-Ward, Those two commercials (persportscast) were the hardest part of the whole show.&rdquo;After two years at WRGB, McFarlane quit his job and moved to Toronto. Opportunities did not abound.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;It sounds like a soap opera here,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but I was down to my last 90 bucks in the bank, and I think I had five bucks in my pocket when who moved into the apartment building we lived in but George Retzlaff, the CBC sports director.&ldquo;Our wives did our laundry together in the basement. So my wife (Joan) said to Nina (Retzlaff), My husband&rsquo;s looking for work.&rsquo; She talked to George and he gave me a chance to do one sportscast one night.&rdquo;That audition led to regular work at Toronto radio station CFRB&mdash;which, in 1960, led to part-time work as color man on the CBS hockey game of the week. After CFRB came jobs at CFCF-TV in Montreal and CFTO-TV in Toronto. Imperial Oil, the Hockey Night in Canada sponsor, was beginning to take notice.&ldquo;A guy at McLaren Advertising (which handled the Imperial account) asked me if I had any hockey ideas. I said, &lsquo;Yeah, I always thought a hockey college for kids would be great.&ldquo;So they hired me away, paid me a nice salary, gave me an office and a desk&hellip;but they never introduced the hockey college through Imperial Oil because the Tiger in the Tank campaign kept on being so successful.&rdquo;Good thing for McFarlane it did.&ldquo;They said, &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t know what to do with McFarlane, so we&rsquo;ll stick him up in the gondola with Bill Hewitt. They were using a different guy each week, but I stayed up there for 17 years. That was my dream come true, to work up there with Foster and Bill and do Leaf games.&rdquo;A falling-out with Leaf management led to his ban from Maple Leaf Gardens in 1981. But by then he was entrenched as one of TV hockey&rsquo;s leading color men and hosts. He moved to HNIC in Winnipeg for four years, and followed with four more in Montreal.McFarlane the author came by his writing talents naturally. His father, Leslie McFarlane, created the Hardy Boys series under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon, and wrote the first 23 volumes of that series.The younger McFarlane started writing hockey books in 1967, with the idea of doing just one book. That one&mdash;Fifty Years of Hockey&mdash; was just the beginning. This year, three new McFarlane books are on the market (see page 8). &#9632;

f0027-02

MCFARLANE KNOWS HOCKEY, AS PLAYER, BROADCASTER, AUTHOR

Brian Hawyard has become board with the game.No, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender isn&rsquo;t bored with hockey. He and his brother, Bruce, have invented an action adventure board game called Treasure Quest.&ldquo;We invented it a few years ago at our cottage (in Woodland Beach, Ont.),&rdquo; says Bruce, 32, a sales representative for a spice company in Toronto.&ldquo;We were always playing games at our cottage, and we&rsquo;re both really competitive. When we&rsquo;d play a game we&rsquo;d always change the rules. So we figured why not invent our own?&rdquo; says the NHL goaltender&rsquo;s older brother.Initially, the Hayward brothers had no intention of marketing the game.&ldquo;We played it with a lot of friends and family,&rdquo; says Bruce, &ldquo;and we got a really good response. Everyone who played it said we should try to sell it.&rdquo;In the summer of 1986 they decided to do just that. In their spare time the Haywards designed the game, had the parts manufactured, then packaged the individual games and parts themselves.But Hayward says it wasn&rsquo;t all fun and games.&ldquo;A lot of work went into it. We packed all 3,000 ourselves. It took over three months to put the games together working three hours a day in our spare time.&rdquo;Those first 3,000 sets, which were distributed in Toronto, Calgary and in parts of the U.S., sold out quickly. Hayward says he and his brother were pleased with the success, but didn&rsquo;t have the time to put it into wider distribution.At that point they turned to Yvan David, owner of Family Games Inc., to market the game.David says he was excited about adopting the project and claims the game has some unique features.&ldquo;They (the Haywards) got interested in making the game around the same time Raiders of the Lost Ark came out,&rdquo; says David, &ldquo;so they modeled it after that.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03286/5990565-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="541" height="630"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Hayward has a new board game on the market.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The exciting part is that the players&rsquo; lives are at stake throughout the game. It&rsquo;s very intense.&rdquo;While the Haywards aren&rsquo;t counting on the game to become an institution, they are optimistic about its chances on the market.&ldquo;It probably won&rsquo;t be another Monopoly,&rdquo; says Hayward. &ldquo;But it has the potential to be around for a long time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0027-03

HOCKEY NOT ONLY GAME FOR HAYWARD

<div class="byline">BY BOB DITTMEIER</div>When Barry Melrose retired from the Adirondack Red Wings in 1987 and moved to Medicine Hat, Alta., he and wife Cindy kept their home in Glens Falls, N.Y.&mdash;just in case they ever decided to return.Then, one summer day in 1989, they gave up on the idea.&ldquo;We were renting the house and we had trouble with the boiler and it was a big problem,&rdquo; Melrose recalls. &ldquo;Finally, I saidtoCindy, &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t we get rid of it? We&rsquo;re never going back there.&rsquo;&rdquo;The next day, Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano called to offer Melrose the job as coach of the American League Wings&mdash;in Glens Falls.Kevin McCarthy, having retired after an 11-season playing career a year ago, was preparing to enter the business world. His plans changed when Hershey Bears&rsquo; coach John Paddock asked him to be his assistant.Unlike Melrose, who fancied the idea of coaching during the late stages of his playing career, McCarthy harbored no ideas of coaching when he retired following the Bears&rsquo; Calder Cup playoff sweep in 1988. He was prepared to turn a summertime business venture into a full-time job.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01755/5990610-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="715" height="946"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Dineen moved up to the Adirondack GM job to make room for Melrose.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Looking back, I don&rsquo;t think I would have been that happy in the business world,&rdquo; McCarthy says. &ldquo;This is a great situation to be in.&rdquo;This season, Melrose and McCarthy are rookie coaches in the AHL, replacing popular and successful predecessors on rival Southern Division clubs.Melrose replaces Bill Dineen, who became the Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; general manager after six seasons and two Calder Cup titles as a coach. McCarthy takes command from Paddock, also a winner of two Calder Cups, the last with Hershey in 1988. Paddock became assistant general manager at Philadelphia.Melrose played for Adirondack the last three seasons of an II-year professional career that included 300 NHL games for Winnipeg, Toronto and Detroit.Melrose developed a reputation as an ace communicator during two successful coaching seasons in the Western League. In 1987-88 he led the Medicine Hat Tigers to a Memorial Cup title. Last season, he nearly coaxed a less-talented Seattle club into the WHL playoffs.Melrose&rsquo;s availability this summer led to his hiring, despite Dineen&rsquo;s success in coaching the Red Wings to a Calder Cup title after a stunning four-game comeback against Hershey in the semifinals. Dineen, a former coach and a fan of Melrose, says his respect for the ex-defenseman made it easy for him to move upstairs.&ldquo;We followed Barry&rsquo;s progress very closely, and he&rsquo;s someone we certainly wanted in our organization for our younger players, and we think he&rsquo;s a positive addition,&rdquo; Devellano says. &ldquo;I think somebody else probably would have snapped Barry up, and I felt we should get him.&rdquo;There are similarities between the two. Melrose is 33, McCarthy, 32. McCarthy was also a defenseman, playing 10 seasons, 537 games for Philadelphia, Vancouver and Pittsburgh. Both stress high-energy conditioning drills in practice and both consider player-coach relationships a top priority.As players, both paid attention to lockerroom atmosphere, Melrose as an unofficial assistant coach under Dineen, McCarthy as captain of the Vancouver Canucks from 1981-84.&ldquo;Chemistry is just as important as talent,&rdquo; McCarthy says. &ldquo;The year we won the Calder Cup, that wasn&rsquo;t the most talented team we had in Hershey, but it just happened to have the right chemistry.&ldquo;As a coach, I&rsquo;ve got to be able to find out about players, what makes them tick. Sometimes you have to be a part-time psychologist.&rdquo;Melrose takes that idea a step further. He reads psychology books and watches videos about subliminal and positive thinking, and has used some of it to improve his work habits and scope of life.&ldquo;When I left playing, I was just a player,&rdquo;Melrose says. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve changed quite a bit. I&rsquo;m much more open-minded, more progressive. When I went to Medicine Hat, the man I worked for, (general manager) Russ Farwell, was a big believer in these things and he got me into them. Last year he even sent a couple of kids to a hypnotist. It&rsquo;s an edge you could use and you&rsquo;d be crazy not to.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02511/5990603-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="704" height="1426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin McCarthy, and Barry Melrose share a lot in common.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03359/5990596-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="711" height="1415"><figcaption class="caption-body">The two are ex-prodefensemen now learning the intricacies of coaching, American League style.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think a coach has to use everything he can possibly use. The old coaches, they just yelled at you and intimidated you. I&rsquo;m not saying it (the new approach) helps me, but it might.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">ELEVEN WING PLAYERS ARE AS GREEN AS THEIR COACH.</blockquote>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real up guy, a real thinker,&rdquo; Dineen says.&rdquo; He attends seminars and things like that, looking for new ideas. He&rsquo;s right on top of things. He doesn&rsquo;t totally believe everything he&rsquo;s told, but takes the best of what&rsquo;s available.&rdquo;Melrose&rsquo;s ability to communicate is believed to fit well with Adirondack&rsquo;s transformation this season from a veteran club to a team of young prospects. Eleven rookies opened the season with the Red Wings. They won their first five games before losing to Utica Oct. 15. Their record was 7-4-0, good for first place in the Southern Division.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always prepared,&rdquo; veteran center Glenn Merkosky says. &ldquo;When he comes in to talk to the team, you can tell he&rsquo;s given everything a lot of thought. He&rsquo;s rarely said the wrong thing, in my opinion.&rdquo;&ldquo;I like Barry,&rdquo; rookie defenseman Bob Wilkie says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s easy to talk to and you know his door is always open.&rdquo;Paddock says communication is McCarthy&rsquo;s greatest challenge.&ldquo;I think Kevin knows the game as well or better than half the coaches in the NHL,&rdquo; Paddock says. &ldquo;So the key now is to how the players respond to his way of doing things.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the part that&rsquo;s unknown. Some guys can&rsquo;t deal with the players. I know he knows the game, I think he can communicate and they&rsquo;ll understand what he means and go out and execute on the ice. But that&rsquo;s what remains to be seen.&rdquo;Hershey doesn&rsquo;t have as much youth as Adirondack, but the Bears have had to rely on several unfamiliar faces because of Injuries to several veterans. Nonetheless, they won four of their first six games and stood fourth in the Southern Division with a record of 5-4-0.&ldquo;I try to stress that individual goals are fine, but they can&rsquo;t take precedent over team goals,&rdquo; McCarthy says. &ldquo;(Former Flyers&rsquo; coach Fred Shero) always put it that way. (Bob) Clarke and (Reggie) Leach and those guys were never above the team. It seemed that even the guys on the third and fourth lines, we were all treated the same.&rdquo;Neither rookie coach (Doug McKay of the Binghamton Whalers and Don MacAdam of the Cape Breton Oilers are the others in the AHL) says he feels pressure from the task of following the success of his predecessor.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good situation for me because the players here know me from when I played and know what to expect,&rdquo; McCarthy says. &ldquo;Winning is a tradition at Hershey and it&rsquo;s expected of you. I don&rsquo;t really feel any pressure from that. I put enough pressure on myself anyway.&rdquo;&ldquo;It might be a different story if we were coming off a Calder Cup season with another team of veterans,&rdquo; Melrose says. &ldquo;Then there would be that pressure to win it all again, because anything less would be considered a failure. But this year&rsquo;s team has so many new players, it&rsquo;s not expected.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

TWO OF A KIND

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>The New Haven Nighthawks, in desperate need for defensive help after a 1-7-0 start, signed veteran defenseman Murray Brumwell to an American League contract Oct. 20.Brumwell, a second-team all-star with Utica two seasons ago when he scored a career-high 13 goals and 66 points, retired last July with a year remaining on his contract with New Jersey. &ldquo;I retired for personal reasons,&rdquo; said Brumwell, 29. &ldquo;After being gone for 11 years and moving over 30 times, we were tired of moving and renting other people&rsquo;s messes.&rdquo;Brumwell moved back to Billings, Mont., where he had played junior hockey with the Western League Bighorns from 1978 to &rsquo;80. He bought a house and got a part-time job working at the airport as a lineman&mdash;setting up and repairing electric wire communication lines. Brumwell said if he stayed he would have become full-time.But when September came around, Brumwell, who played his first pro game nine years ago, got the desire to play again.&ldquo;A couple of months after we moved I figured I&rsquo;d like to go back and have some more fun,&rdquo; Brumwell said. &ldquo;You never miss the water until the well runs dry.&rdquo;Brumwell, who started his pro career in the Minnesota organization before being claimed by New Jersey in the waiver draft in 1982, called his former coach at Utica, Tom McVie, for help.Nick Beverly, a Los Angeles scout, finally got in touch with Brumwell and, within 72 hours, Brumwell was packed and ready to leave Billings for New Haven.Brumwell was a welcome addition to the Nighthawks, who had allowed a league-high 40 goals. New Haven&rsquo;s only other two defensemen with experience are Dale DeGray and playing/assistant coach Tim Bothwell.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re pretty young and inexperienced on defense and it&rsquo;s a problem area,&rdquo; said Nighthawks&rsquo; coach Marcel Comeau. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll provide leadership for some of the younger guys.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll help us on the power play and penalty killing, and he&rsquo;ll help us where we&rsquo;re weak in the transition game. Hopefully he&rsquo;ll help get us turned around in the right direction.&rdquo;Brumwell was scheduled to make his debut with the Nighthawks Oct. 27 when New Haven traveled to Adirondack.<h2>BACK IN SHAPE</h2>Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; two-time all-star goalie Grant Fuhr went to Cape Breton for two games for conditioning, after missing the first month of the NHL season recovering from an emergency appendectomy.Fuhr beat Halifax 5-2 Oct. 24 in his first game, making 29 saves before a sellout crowd of 4,734 at the Centre 200.Cape Breton GM Dave Andrews said Fuhr, who had to give permission before being sent down, played well.&ldquo;He was tested,&rdquo; said Andrews, who was an assistant coach at Victoria of the Western League when Fuhr played there. &ldquo;Our guys wanted to watch him play for a while.&rdquo;This was not Fuhr&rsquo;s first trip to the minors. In 1982-83, he played 10 games for the Moncton Alpines and was 4-5-1 with a 3.98 goals-against average.<h2>CZECH IT OUT</h2>The Halifax Citadels received strong contributions from their three Czechoslovak players in a recent three-game winning streak. In beating the defending Calder Cup champion Adirondack Red Wings 9-5 Oct. 19, Ladislav Tresl had two goals and four assists. Two nights later, the Citadels beat Cape Breton 3-1, with Jaroslav Sevcik scoring two goals. Adirondack visited again Oct. 22 and Halifax won 5-2, as former Wing Miroslav Ihnacak had two goals and two assists&hellip;The Springfield Indians ended an eight-game losing streak at the Hersheypark Arena when they beat the Bears 4-3 Oct. 18. Springfield broke a 2-2 tie on goals by Dale Henry and Derek King, and hung on for the victory. &#9632;

DESPERATE NIGHTHAWKS SIGN VETERAN BRUMWELL

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>A little less of Corey Beaulieu is much more satisfying for Binghamton Whalers&rsquo; coach Doug McKay.Five weeks after he had been sent home from the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; training camp at Lake Placid, N.Y., for being overweight, Beaulieu reported to Binghamton Oct. 17 and began workouts with McKay&rsquo;s club. Although he had not reached his proper playing weight, the rookie defenseman had made considerable progress.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s down from 236 to 221. He&rsquo;s still got a way to go,&rdquo; McKay said. &ldquo;He checked in at 219 and he&rsquo;s at 221. I&rsquo;d like him down around 211 or 212.&rdquo;Hartford GM Eddie Johnston said Beaulieu, 20, was more suited for sumo wrestling than hockey when he arrived at training camp. Following his dismissal, Beaulieu put himself on a severe diet and ran 2&frac12;-to-3 miles three times a day. The regimen worked.Beaulieu, the Whalers&rsquo; fifth pick, 116th overall in the 1988 entry draft, acknowledged he made a mistake.&ldquo;I kind of took it too easy in the summer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is a 12-month job and you can&rsquo;t afford to slack off for one day or one week. There are too many other guys who can take your job.&rdquo;McKay said, &ldquo;Eddie Johnston handled it very well. He said, &lsquo;Corey, if you want to play and you want to be with this organization, you&rsquo;ve got to come in shape and you have to make a serious commitment.&rsquo; Based on his weight, he sure hadn&rsquo;t done that. But he deserves another opportunity.&rdquo;October was not a kind month for McKay and the Whalers. Following a season-opening loss to Adirondack, Binghamton played seven straight road games, winning just once. A lack of offense&mdash;the Whalers managed just 13 goals&mdash;was a prime reason for the bad start.Several ROSTER changes should have an impact. Left winger Tom Martin, an AHL all-star in 1987-88, was reassigned from Hartford Oct. 17, and NHL veteran John Anderson, 32, joined the club Oct. 19 after refusing to accept a buyout by Hartford.<h2>FAST START</h2>Dale Krentz has always been a slow starter. This season, the Adirondack left winger got off to a red-hot start and was tied for the league&rsquo;s scoring lead.A fifth-year pro, Krentz managed just six points in his first 10 games last season before finishing with 41 points in 36 games. This season, he had 19 points (6-13) in 10 games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a man with a mission,&rdquo; said Adirondack coach Barry Melrose.Krentz was tied for the scoring lead with center Don Biggs of Hershey, who had seven goals and 12 assists in eight games.<h2>SHATTERED</h2>Goaltender Jeff Reese&rsquo;s return trip to the AHL lasted all of one game. Reese shattered his a kneecap during practice with the Newmarket Saints Oct. 24 and was expected to miss two months. Reese, 23, made the Toronto Maple Leafs in training camp but changed places with Mark Laforest Oct. 19. Laforest started the season with a 3-1-0 record and a 2.97 goals-against average. In his only start with the Saints, Reese lost a 9-4 decision at Rochester Oct. 23. Dean Anderson, who played two games for Newmarket last season, will back up Tim Bernhardt in goal&hellip;Baltimore&rsquo;s ROSTER took on a different look Oct. 26, when defensemen Chris Felix and Brian Tutt, and right winger Robin Bawa were sent down by the Caps. The day before, goaltender Bob Mason was recalled tby-Washington. Mason&rsquo;s promotion left the Skipjacks with rookie goaltenders Jim Hrivnak and Shawn Simpson&hellip;Utica right winger Jean-Marc Lanthier was hospitalized Oct. 25 with a case of pneumonia&hellip;Defensemen Dave Fenyves and Murray Baron and right winger Brian Dobbin were assigned to Hershey by the Flyers Oct. 20. The timing was excellent: The Bears left on an eight-game road trip, their longest of the season, four days later. &#9632;

WEIGHTY ISSUE FOR BINGHAMTON ROOKIE

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>After consecutive road losses in Milwaukee (6-3 Oct. 20 and 8-5 Oct. 21), the Muskegon Lumberjacks couldn&rsquo;t wait to get out of town.But just as the Lumberjacks were leaving for an Oct. 22 game in Peoria against the Rivermen, their bus broke down on 1-94.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t get 20 minutes out of Milwaukee Sunday before the bus broke down on a freeway,&rdquo; said the team&rsquo;s public relations director and play-by-play man, Bob Heethius.More than six hours later, a bored and tired crew of Lumberjacks headed back home to regroup.&ldquo;We left at noon, plenty of time to get to Peoria for a 6 o&rsquo;clock game,&rdquo; said Heethuis, who got stranded for the first time in several years of bus travel. &ldquo;Something was wrong with the gas line.&rdquo;After 2&frac12; hours on the shoulder of the road, the Lumberjacks were rescued by another bus. Or so they thought. The driver of the second bus tried to back up his vehicle on the inside of the disabled bus. In doing so, he got the second bus got stuck up to its axle in soft turf. Now there were two buses down.&ldquo;The driver radioed for help,&rdquo; Heethuis said, &ldquo;and we got a wrecker to pull the second bus out of the muck. Our players boarded that bus and went to a truck stop a couple of miles up the road. The wrecker came back and towed our bus to the truck stop.&rdquo;Muskegon coach Blair McDonald called Peoria GM Denis Cyr from the truck stop. IHL commissioner Tom Berry was in Peoria and decided to postpone the game. &ldquo;Our bus was ready to go about 6:30,&rdquo; Heethuis said, &ldquo;so we headed back to Muskegon.&rdquo;A makeup date for the game had yet to be announced, though the league was expected to set a new date by the end of October.<h2>ROLLING ALONG</h2>That the Rivermen were the hottest team in the IHL-was a surprise. That they were doing it on the road was an even bigger shock.Last season, the Rivermen were a dismal 11-25-5 away from the Peoria Civic Center. This season, they were undefeated on the road (4-0) after a 5-4 win over Salt Lake Oct. 20.It was their second consecutive win over the Golden Eagles, who had been leading the West Division.The four consecutive road wins combined with two home victories gave the Rivermen a six-game winning streak and a record of 6-1-1, best in the league.&ldquo;You can credit our coach, Wayne Thomas, and credit (NHL parent team) St. Louis, as well,&rdquo; Cyr said. &ldquo;Wayne is in his second year here and he&rsquo;s one of the best in the league. And St. Louis really is supporting us this year.&rdquo;Cyr predicts this may be the best Peoria team ever. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s early, of course, but we have experience and we have some good rookies and so far things are going great.&rdquo;Cyr singled out his goaltenders, Guy Hebert and Curtis Joseph, for special attention. &ldquo;If I had to name anyone in the first seven games (their eighth was a 4-3 win over Phoenix Oct. 25), it would have to be them,&rdquo; Cyr said.Hebert was 4-1-I with a 2.96 goals-against average (third-best in the league); Joseph was 2-0 and 3.35. Hebert signed a multi-year contract with the Blues Oct. 24.&ldquo;We started the season with some great shooters,&rdquo; Cyr said. &ldquo;We have Jim Vesey, Michel Mongeau and Doug Evans. Until recently, they were pretty quiet. Then the other night (Oct. 21)we started to regain our touch around the net and we led Kalamazoo 7-2 after two periods. We sat on it a bit in the third period and won 8-5.&rdquo;Cyr is looking forward to a successful season. &ldquo;We have new ownership (Bruce Saurs), good crowds and a new agreement with St. Louis,&rdquo; he said.<h2>ICE COLD</h2>The Indianapolis Ice finally hit the win column with a 6-2 victory Oct. 21 over Phoenix. Right wingers Warren Rychel and Sean Williams had two goals each. For the Roadrunners, it was their sixth of nine consecutive road games to open the season&hellip;Rookie center Rob Zamuner of Flint was player of the week for the week ending Oct. 22. He scored four goals and had three assists&mdash;two on game-winning goals&mdash;to raise his season total to 10 points in seven games&hellip;Salt Lake City goaltender Steve Guenette, a second-team all-star last season, was recalled by Calgary Oct. 24 to replace Mike Vernon, who has a sore back. Guenette, in his second season at Salt Lake, had a 3.14 goals-against average in five games&hellip;Center-left winger Mike Eagles, assigned earlier this season to Indianapolis by Chicago, ended his holdout and finally joined the Ice Oct. 23. &#9632;

LUMBERJACKS: A ROAD TRIP TO FORGET

<div class="byline">BY ANDY BAGGOT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01750/5990720-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jerry Chumola, in a coma for three days after a car accident March 25, is back practising with the UMD Bulldogs&mdash;despite the loss of his left eye.</figcaption></div>Jerry Chumola couldn&rsquo;t sleep. A late July evening had turned into early morning and there he was, wide awake, staring into the shadows as another midsummer day drew closer.It seemed a thousand different thoughts were running through his mind, but it really was just one. One he couldn&rsquo;t let go. One so persistent, so exciting, that he had to share it with someone.When daylight came, he picked up the telephone in his parents&rsquo; Starbuck, Man., home and began to dial. After a short pause, Mike Sertich, hockey coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, answered.&ldquo;Coach,&rdquo; Chumola blurted, &ldquo;can I come back and play hockey?&rdquo;Sertich could not say no. With that, a truly remarkable comeback story began to unfold.On March 25, 1989, Chumola, a standout center for the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, was on his way home from a junior hockey game in Winnipeg. He and his older brother Brian were passengers in a late-model Ford Mustang driven by a friend, Philip Mollot. The car hit a patch of ice, skidded off the road and slammed head-on into a tree before bouncing back onto the road.Brian Chumola and Mollott received cuts and bruises. Jerry Chumola wasn&rsquo;t so lucky.Sitting in the front passenger seat, he was thrown into the dashboard on impact. He sustained severe facial Injuries, including fractures to his jaw, cheekbones, collarbone and skull. He suffered extensive damage to his left eye as well. At one point physicians gave Chumola, who was in a coma for three days, only a 30-per-cent chance of living.During his two-week stay at Winnipeg Health Science Centre, Chumola underwent a nine-hour operation. Five plates and 22 screws were used to rebuild and reshape his face, and his jaw was wired shut.Almost all of Chumola&rsquo;s Injuries have healed, but doctors were unable to do anything to save his damaged eye. They waited nearly two months, hoping sight would return, but when it became apparent that wouldn&rsquo;t happen, Chumola underwent surgery July 25 at Toronto&rsquo;s Sunnybrook Hospital to have the eye removed. A prosthesis was inserted Oct. 20.Because of that, Chumola&rsquo;s chances of playing pro hockey are slim to none. National Hockey League by-law 12.6 prohibits &ldquo;a player with one eye&hellip;to play for a member team.&rdquo; The American League has a similar rule. However, the International League has no such stipulation. In fact, Larry Dyck, a goaltender for the Kalamazoo Wings, is partially blind in both eyes.Instead of being discouraged, Chumola remains undaunted. He&rsquo;s back skating with the Bulldogs and he says he has every intention of playing in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game before the end of the season.&ldquo;I wish to play this year,&rdquo; says Chumola, the Bulldogs&rsquo; leading goal-scorer (18) last season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a goal I&rsquo;ve set and what I&rsquo;ve pushed myself to. I love the game and I want to be a part of it.I was thinking a lot (the night before he called Sertich) about what hockey meant to me. So I called Coach and threw out the question: &ldquo;Can I come back? Will I get a chance?&rsquo; He said sure, and that&rsquo;s when I started thinking about how I was going to do it.&rdquo;Chumola, 22, says he remembers little of the accident, or his hospital stay, during which he dropped 25 pounds (165 to 140).His first clear recollections of the experience came on his last day at the hospital when teammate and roommate Darren Nauss and former teammate Chris Lindberg came to take him home.&ldquo;I remember getting dressed to leave and how good it felt to know I was going home,&rdquo; he says.&ldquo;When I first got out of the hospital, I was bitter a little bit, but not for long because who knows, it might have been meant to happen. If I question why, I might go looney tunes. You can&rsquo;t question why. You have to do something about it.&rdquo;Chumola was most concerned about his damaged left eye during the early stages of his recovery. Although doctors were holding out hope at least partial vision would return, it was not getting better.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02515/5990713-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="404" height="637"></div>&ldquo;There were times when I laid in bed, I thought I&rsquo;d wake up and I&rsquo;d be able to see again,&rdquo; Chumola says. &ldquo;But that never happened.&rdquo;Chumola also required surgery on his right eye. An optic muscle weakened in the accident was repaired in early October. Another operation may be required to completely remedy the situation.A psychology major at UMD, Chumola says he combined what he&rsquo;d learned at school with his own instincts to produce a realistic, perhaps life-saving, view of his situation.&ldquo;They (attending physicians and nurses) told me I recovered so well because I was so up-front with myself,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There were many days this summer where I didn&rsquo;t feel bad for myself. I always felt like I kept moving forward.&rdquo;Still, he had moments of doubt.&ldquo;Some days I&rsquo;d wake up and feel (terrible) and I didn&rsquo;t really know if I could do it.&ldquo;There have been frustrations, a lot of frustrating days. I&rsquo;ve just tried to channel it and build up my anger and go out there and do it. My love for the game is what keeps me going.&rdquo;When he first got out of the hospital, Chumola understandably had a hard time walking. But before the summer was over, he was playing softball (he pitched his team to the league championship) and golf.&ldquo;That showed me his intentions,&rdquo; says Sertich. &ldquo;A lot of kids would have said, &lsquo;My career is done.&rsquo; &lsquo;I&rsquo;m optimistic (about Chumola&rsquo;s comeback) because of his attitude.&ldquo;He is a real quiet individual, very unassuming. But he is a competitor. To me, just him being a part of us is incredible.&rdquo;Chumola says his return to the ice has been met with encouragement from family, friends and teammates, but it hasn&rsquo;t been easy.&ldquo;It feels really weird because it seems people are moving so fast,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It makes me mad because I think of last year and how (well) I played. When you have two eyes it&rsquo;s so much easier.&rdquo;But Sertich&mdash;whose first wife was killed in a car accident and had a player, Matt Christiansen, suffer a stroke in 1986&mdash;refuses to let Chumola give up.Chumola appreciates the support.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll tell me, &lsquo;When you got out of the hospital, you had a hard time walking, right? But you got used to it again. And you had a hard time driving, but you got used to it, right? The same thing goes for playing hockey again.&rsquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting better, so who knows?&rdquo;<h2>THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR BAD-NEWS BULLDOGS</h2>Consider the recent history of the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs:&#9632; October, 1986&mdash;UMD opens the 1986-87 Western Collegiate Hockey Association season with four consecutive losses, on its way to an 11-27-1 record. &#9632; October, 1987&mdash;UMD opens the 1987-88 season with four consecutive losses, on its way to an 18-21-2 record. &#9632; June, 1988&mdash;Leading scorer Barry Chyzowski decides to bypass his junior and senior seasons to sign a professional contract with the NHL&rsquo;s New York Rangers. &#9632; October, 1988&mdash;UMD opens the 1988-89 season with five consecutive losses, on its way to a 15-23-2 record. &#9632; March, 1989&mdash;Leading goal-scorer Jerry Chumola is severely injured in a car accident near Winnipeg. After three days in a coma and after 22 screws and five plates have been attached to his skull, he is released. His injured left eye is later removed. &#9632; April, 1989&mdash;Second-leading goalscorer Chris Lindberg decides to bypass his junior and senior seasons to sign a professional contract with the NHL&rsquo;s Hartford Whalers.But things are looking up. The Bulldogs beat Denver 4-3 and 5-2 Oct. 13-14 to begin the season, then swept Minnesota in Minneapolis (9-6 and 4-2 Oct. 20 and 21). Their 4-0 rekord gave them the early lead in WCHA play.&ldquo;It was a good start for us,&rdquo; says Bulldogs&rsquo; coach Mike Sertich. &ldquo;We needed some things to go our way early.&rdquo;&mdash;Andy Baggot &#9632;

f0030-01

THE COMEBACK KID

<div class="byline">BY ANDY BAGGOT</div>Having long felt it was the most underpublicized league in college hockey, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association took steps last March toward what officials hoped would be national television exposure.The WCHA signed a one-year Agreement with Skywave Sports Syndication of Madison, Wis., to televise at least one league game a week during the 1989-90 season.But three weeks into the regular season, the Game-of-the-Week package was still on hold.Commissioner Otto Breitenbach said the league had yet to compile a workable schedule of games to televise.&ldquo;We are working with local packages currently under contract and, until those contracts run out, certain games aren&rsquo;t available to us,&rdquo; Breitenbach said.He added a tentative network had been organized and a group of potential sponsors put together.&ldquo;We just have to put the finishing touches on it,&rdquo; Breitenbach said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a possibility that we could have something set during the course of the season, but certainly next season at the latest.&rdquo;Sky wave is responsible for producing and distributing the games.For years, the WCHA has lagged far behind the other major college hockey leagues in terms of TV exposure. Central Collegiate Hockey Association games have been televised on PASS, a regional cable network based in Detroit, while Hockey East Association and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference games are carried on the cable New England Sports Network.Most observers say the recruiting advantage enjoyed by those conferences because of live television is tremendous.&ldquo;We intend to surpass all of these conferences in terms of total audience reach across the U.S.,&rdquo; Sky wave president Dan Dobrowlski said when the original plan was announced. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re also looking into distribution into Canada.&rdquo;&ldquo;The WCHA looked at a lot of TV packages,&rdquo; Breitenbach said, &ldquo;and this is the one we found to be the most workable. We&rsquo;ll be selling our league on a national basis and will have a consistent presence on TV. Certainly, the exposure for our sport and the potential for income for our league are two of the biggest positives.&rdquo;<h2>CANADIAN, EH?</h2>Michigan Tech, North Dakota and Northern Michigan lead the way in the number of Canadians on their rosters.Tech had 19 Canadian players to open the season, while North Dakota and NMU had 15 each.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01692/5990751-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="552" height="697"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott White is one of 19 Canadians on the MTU roster.</figcaption></div>Minnesota, which recruits only state-bred players, had none.Denver and Colorado College each had 11 Canadians, Minnesota-Duluth 10 and Wisconsin three.<h2>WHISTLE-HAPPY</h2>Referee Jim Beurlew called eight penalties in the Minnesota-UMD game Oct. 20. The following night, with WCHA supervisor of officials Ron Foyt in attendance, Beurlew called nine penalties in the first period and 20 overall&hellip;After being swept by Wisconsin Oct. 20-21, Michigan Tech had its winless streak extended to 13 games (0-12-1). The last time the Huskies won a game was Jan. 27, 1989. &#9632;

f0031-01

TV GAME-OF-WEEK PACKAGE ON HOLD

<div class="byline">BY MATT CARLSON</div>A 3-0-1 record in four road games&mdash;Michigan&rsquo;s best start since 1981-82 (4-0-0), its first season in the league&mdash;made the Wolverines early leaders in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.&ldquo;They played with a lot of spark and jump,&rdquo; said UIC coach Vai Belimonte, after Michigan posted 9-4 and 1-0 wins over the Flames in Chicago October 20-21. &ldquo;They had fire in their eyes. They were more emotional than I&rsquo;ve ever seen a Michigan team.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if this is our year, but this is the best team I&rsquo;ve ever had,&rdquo; said Red Berenson, now in his sixth year as coach of the Wolverines.&rsquo; &ldquo;This is the big class I&rsquo;ve recruited and we&rsquo;ve had a chance to groom them.&rdquo;Michigan has nine seniors and four juniors on its Roster. UM has posted winning records each of the past two i years after five consecutive sub-.500 seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02461/5990782-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="566" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Blake missed two games for the Falcons with a bad back.</figcaption></div><h2>NO DEFENSE</h2>More than one CCHA coach is pleading &ldquo;no defense&rdquo; so far this season.&ldquo;For us, it&rsquo;s not just a matter of our players learning to play with each another,&rdquo; said Miami coach George Gwozdecky, whose team started 0-31. &ldquo;They have to learn a complete new philosophy of how to play.&rdquo;That philsophy is discipline and defense. But as the Redskins adjust, Gwozdecky said his team is &ldquo;caught thinking and then reacting, rather than just reacting. That half second or so can make a difference.&rdquo;A bright spot for Miami has been the play of sophomore goaltender Mark Michaud and freshman netminder Vito Mazzoli.&ldquo;They (goalies) have been a real pleasant surprise,&rdquo; said Gwozdecky. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think our defensemen&rsquo;s and forwards&rsquo; performance levels have caught up to them.&rdquo;The Redskins had allowed 20 goals in their first four games, scoring 11.Meanwhile, Ferris State coach John Perpich echoed a tale of defensive woe.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not playing well without the puck,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not conscious of picking up the open man.&rdquo;<h2>BLAKE OUT</h2>Bowling Green junior defenseman. Rob Blake had to sit out a home-and-home series with Ohio State Oct. 2021 with a bad back. Blake, one of the CCHA&rsquo;s better rearguards, wasn&rsquo;t expected to miss any more games, according to Falcon coach Jerry York&hellip;In its 9-3 home win over FSU Oct. 20, Michigan State drew its 69th consecutive sell-out crowd (6,444) to the Munn Ice Arena&hellip;Ohio State (3-1-0) remained an early-season surprise by splitting the series (9-6 loss, 5-3 win) against the Falcons. OSU junior left winger Don Oliver and freshman center Eddie Choi were tied for the CCHA scoring lead with three goals and six assists each through four league contests. &#9632;

f0031-02

MICHIGAN EARLY LEADER OF PACK

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div>Despite heavy losses to graduation and the decision of left winger Jartno Kekalainen to turn pro with the Boston Bruins, the Clarkson Golden Knights were picked to finish fourth in the coaches&rsquo; preseason poll.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to know the other coaches have that much respect for our program and our players,&rdquo; said coach Mark Morris, who led the Knights to a 13-7-2 record and a fourth-place finish last season in his first year as head coach. &ldquo;But really&hellip; I think someone is trying to put some pressure on us.&rdquo;Clarkson lost nine lettermen over the summer, including Kekalainen, their leading scorer last season with 44 points (19-25-44). Kekalainen had another year of eligibility remaining at Clarkson, but wanted to take a shot at pro hockey before returning to his native Finland to fulfill his military commitment.Clarkson&rsquo;s biggest losses were on defense, and that&rsquo;s where Morris faces his biggest challenge.The Knights graduated three starting defensemen&mdash;Pierre Morin, Mike Ashe and Dave Mellen. Morris was still trying to fill the gaps.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had to move a couple of forwards back to defense,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Jeff Torrey (a sophomore) is a fine right wing, but he had some defensive experience in the past, so we moved him back. Ed Sabo (a junior) didn&rsquo;t play for us last year, but he&rsquo;ll see some action early on. Until (Guy) Sanderson becomes eligible at Christmas, they&rsquo;ll have to hold the fort.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01739/5990813-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="430" height="796"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clarkson moved right winger Jeff Torrey to defense.</figcaption></div>Sanderson, a 6-foot-1 freshman defenseman, transferred to Clarkson from the University of Alberta in January. Under the transfer rule he is ineligible to play until Christmas.Junior Dave Tretowicz and senior John Bolton are the Knights&rsquo; only experienced defensemen. Sophomore Kent Anderson played in just 17 games last year because of an ankle injury.If the Knights have to rely on the offense to carry the load early in the season, Morris won&rsquo;t be too worried.I&rsquo;m really excited about our offensive potential,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some real good combinations, with the kids we&rsquo;ve already got here and some exciting freshmen.&rdquo;<h2>POISSANT OUT</h2>RPI senior co-captain Denis Poissant will miss at least the first three weeks of the regular-season after dislocating his kneecap in practice Oct. 17.Poissant underwent an arthroscopic examination Oct. 20, but doctors found no major damage. Because the leg wasn&rsquo;t put in a cast, Poissant began rehabilitation. But he isn&rsquo;t expected to get back into action until at least the middle of November.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned about starting the season without a Denis Poissant,&rdquo; said first-year coach Buddy Powers.Poissant, a left winger, was the team&rsquo;s third-leading scorer last year with 22 points in 29 games. In his first three years at RPI, he had missed a total of three games.<h2>FIELD OF DREAMS</h2>Visiting teams to Vermont&rsquo;s Gutterson Field House will soon be able to see Phase I of a $4.6-million renovation project&mdash;new lockerrooms. Phase 2 of the renovation, to begin at the end of this season, will include the lengthening and widening of the playing surface, renovation of the lobby, and the addition of seats. &#9632;

f0032-01

KNIGHTS’ COACH SURPRISED BY POLL

<div class="byline">BY LARRY MAHONEY</div>Boston College defenseman Greg Brown was honored as Hockey East Player of the Year, named an all-American and finished third in the nation in the Hobey Baker Award balloting last season.Don&rsquo;t be surprised if he tops those accomplishments this season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s much more mature this year,&rdquo; said BC coach Len Ceglarski. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been making good plays.&ldquo;Greg has great fundamentals. Greg skates backwards beautifully. He gets the maximum thrust out of every stride. He seems to pull away from people. He&rsquo;s so strong and he has great stamina.&ldquo;Last year we played him to death and this year it will be the same thing.&rdquo;Brown, who had nine goals and 34 assists in 40 games last season, said he would like to be more productive offensively&mdash;but only if the team needs it.<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>&ldquo;If they don&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;ll be a defensive defenseman,&rdquo; he said.<h2>BC TOPS POLL</h2>The Eagles were picked to win the Hockey East title by the league&rsquo;s coaches.Boston College, regular-season champs four of the last five years, earned all seven first-place votes, good for 49 points. Coaches could not vote for their own club.The Eagles were followed in order by Providence (40 points), Maine (39), Boston University (32), Northeastern (24), New Hampshire (19), Lowell (13) and first-year member Merrimack (8).Teams received seven points for a first place vote, six for second, five for third and so on.<h2>NET RESULT</h2>Goaltending has been a perennial weak spot for the Boston University Terriers.But so far this season coach Jack Parker has liked what he&rsquo;s seen from junior John Bradley and freshman Scott Cashman.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to be solid in goal,&rdquo; said Parker. &ldquo;We anticipated Cashman being very, very good, but Bradley has come back in good shape, he has worked hard and he&rsquo;s done a good job. I&rsquo;m happy all the burden won&rsquo;t be on Cashman. This gives us a lot more confidence in our goaltending than we had at this time last year.&rdquo;<h2>SNIVELY UNVEILED</h2>Boston College beat Maine 3-2 and Boston University upended the University of New Hampshire 5-2 in a pair of exhibition games played at UNH&rsquo;s refurbished Snively Arena Oct. 20.The Wildcats unveiled their new boards and reception room, which cost the school an estimated $50,000, according to UNH coach Bob Kullen.The money was raised by the Friends of UNH Hockey boosters group.<h2>WALSH SELECTED</h2>Maine coach Shawn Walsh was named to coach a team of U.S. selects that will play exhibition games against Soviet Elite Division team Sokol Kiev in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 19 and in Dallas Dec. 20.Walsh&rsquo;s team will be comprised of the best available U.S. collegians.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor to be chosen,&rdquo; said Walsh. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to work in that situation. Any time you can gain international experience, it can&rsquo;t help but make you a better coach.&ldquo;The nice thing is that this will help spread hockey in areas that have shown an interest in hockey. I&rsquo;m happy to be part of a concept that promotes hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

CAN BROWN HAVE A BETTER SEASON?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01657/5990868-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stu Barnes of the Tri-City Americans has won rookie-of-the-year and most valuable player awards. Now he&rsquo;s going for the scoring championship.</figcaption></div>Stu Barnes has the gifts of soft hands and a sure-fire release, but he certainly didn&rsquo;t inherit them from his father.Doug Barnes said he must have taken at least 20 photographs last June when his son was selected fourth overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL entry draft. When Stu was rushed to the podium at the Met Center in Bloomington for the traditional jersey-fitting session, Doug was furiously clicking his trusty 35-millimeter camera.Not one single picture, however, saw the light of day.&ldquo;I was shaking so bad that the telephoto lens kept moving,&rdquo; recalled the elder Barnes, a construction electrician in Spruce Grove, Alta.&ldquo;But I couldn&rsquo;t see anyways, since I had tears in my eyes.&rdquo;<h2>WHL</h2>Ever since breaking into the Western League with the New Westminster Bruins in 1987-88, the younger Barnes has been picture-perfect. In his rookie season with the Bruins, he had 34 goals and 64 assists and was named WHL rookie of the year. After the Bruins moved to Kennewick, Wash., and became the Tri-City Americans last season, he posted 59-82-117 totals and was named the league&rsquo;s most valuable player.And he&rsquo;s done it all inside a rather unimposing 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame. This season, he was looking to become only the third player in league history to win rookie-of-the year, MVP and scoring champion honors during his career.&ldquo;Every year I have improved on my points and on my play,&rdquo; said Barnes, who turns 19 on Christmas Day. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t mind a scoring championship this year, since last year I finished second to Dennis Holland (then of Portland, now with Adirondack of the American League) and I had a slow start.&rdquo;Barnes was tied for fifth place in league scoring with six goals and 16 assists in nine games. Many scouts rated him as the most talented prospect in the draft, but Barnes wasn&rsquo;t given much of a chance to crack the Jets this season. He did stick around a lot longer than expected, however, and wasn&rsquo;t returned to the Americans until late September, after the Jets finished their pre-season schedule.The return to junior hockey could easily have been a bitter experience for Barnes but, instead of sulking, he went out and picked up a goal and 10 assists in his first two games.&ldquo;The Winnipeg Jets must have handled it very well in communicating with him because when he did come back his heart was at the right place,&rdquo; Americans&rsquo; coach Rick Kozuback said. &ldquo;He was playing for the Tri-City Americans. He wasn&rsquo;t playing for Stu Barnes.&rdquo;Overage center Len Barrie was off to an impressive start with the Kamloops Blazers.Barrie, acquired from Victoria in an offseason trade for 18-year-old Mark Cipriano, led WHL scorers with 17 goals and 15 assists in 10 games. Barrie&rsquo;s play was a big reason for the Blazers&rsquo; 10-1-0 start.&ldquo;We knew that he had good offensive skills and good leadership qualities,&rdquo; said Blazers&rsquo; general manager Bob Brown. &ldquo;But to say that we thought he&rsquo;d be where he is today, definitely not.&rdquo;Barrie recorded 39-48-87 totals with 157 penalty minutes for the Cougars last season.&mdash;Vance Oliver<h2>OHL</h2>All is definitely not well with the Dukes of Hamilton.The Dukes, who gain an automatic berth in this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup tournament as the host team, were in sixth place in the Leyden Division with a record of 2-7-3 Oct. 24, when they traded 19-year-old goalie David Schill to the Kitchener Rangers for overage netminder Gus Morschauser.Schill and teammates Mike Jackson, Shawn Costello and Steve Woods sat out the Dukes&rsquo; 5-5 tie with the Soo Greyhounds Oct. 23, for breaking the team&rsquo;s 10 p.m. curfew the night before.Dukes&rsquo; general manager Dave Draper said the curfew violation was not the reason he traded Schill.&ldquo;Basically, we&rsquo;re looking for a more consistent goalie and I think we&rsquo;ve found one in Morschauser,&rdquo; said Draper. &ldquo;Schill played some very good games for us but I question his ability to play back-to-back games.&rdquo;Schill, who had a 2-5-2 record with a 4.62 goals-against average, was upset with the suspension.&ldquo;I thought curfew was at 11 and so did the guys I was with,&rdquo; said Schill. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never missed curfew in three years. I&rsquo;m not stupid enough to purposely break curfew knowing the coach and the GM are staying in the same hotel.&ldquo;As far as Mr. Draper saying I&rsquo;m inconsistent, I&rsquo;ve won 48 games in two seasons in this league. I wouldn&rsquo;t call that inconsistent. But Mr. Draper is entitled to his opinion.&rdquo;Nine games after taking over the Windsor Spitfires, ex-NHLer Brad Smith finally recorded his first Ontario League coaching victory.The Spitfires defeated the Soo Greyhounds 5-3 Oct. 15 after posting an 0-6-2 record in their first eight games. Two of the losses were in overtime, three were by a goal and three were by two goals.&ldquo;It was a relief,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;We were winless but in every game. Sooner or later the puck had to bounce for us. It wasn&rsquo;t a case of us not working hard. We were.&rdquo;&mdash;Randy Russon<h2>QMJHL</h2>Although it will be playing in the Quebec League&rsquo;s smallest arena, a team from Beauport has officially been accepted into the league for the 1990-91 season.The Quebec City suburb was awarded an expansion franchise last May, but appeared in danger of losing it because the Marcel Bedard Arena has only 1,200 seats, and the QMJHL wanted a minimum of 2,000.QMJHL president Gilles Courteau announced in September he would give team officials until the end of November to prove they could add more seats. But after learning that walls would have to be knocked down to do it, he said Oct. 19 that the league would accept the franchise.&ldquo;We want a team in the Quebec area, so we have agreed to let them play in a small rink,&rdquo; said Courteau. &ldquo;If they want to play there for 10 years, as long as they pay their bills, they can pick whatever rink they want.&ldquo;I told them it will be tough to break even playing in a rink like that. But that&rsquo;s their problem.&rdquo;With 2,625 seats, the L.P. Gaucher Arena in St-Hyacinthe is currently the league&rsquo;s smallest facility.College Francais defenseman Etienne Lavoie was suspended for five games and St-Hyacinthe left winger Todd Gillingham sentenced to three for a fight in the Laser&rsquo;s 6-5 win over College Francais Oct. 19.Lavoie was named as the instigator in a battle against Patrick Lemay and then he fought Gillingham. Before the fight with Lavoie, Gillingham skated in front of the College Francais bench and challenged its players to fight.Lavoie was eligible to return Nov. 3 against St-Jean, and Gillingham was scheduled to return Oct. 27, also against St-Jean.&mdash;Herb Zurkowsky &#9632;

f0033-01

PICTURE-PERFECT

<h2>STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01744/5991193-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="980" height="895"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02543/5991186-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="465" height="1013"></div><h2>POINTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03425/5991179-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="469" height="583"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04320/5991172-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="207" height="218"></div><h2>FUTURE GAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05254/5991165-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="377" height="540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06221/5991158-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="349" height="561"></div><h2>HOME-ROAD RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07204/5991151-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="977" height="250"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08191/5991144-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="983" height="640"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09175/5991137-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="989" height="816"></div><h2>TEAM POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV) TOTAL ADVANTAGES (PPGF) POWER-PLAY GOALS FOR (PCT) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING NUMBER OF POWER-PLAY GOALS BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10171/5991130-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="991" height="620"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES KILLING</h2>(TSH) TOTAL TIMES SHORT-HANDED (PPGA) POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST (PCT) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING - TIMES SHORT MINUS POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST - BY TIMES SHORT<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11160/5991123-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="993" height="624"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(GP) GAMES PLAYED (PEN) TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING BENCH MINUTES (BMI) TOTAL BENCH MINOR MINUTES (AVG) AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES/GAME ARRIVED BY DIVIDING TOTAL ENALTY MINUTES BY GAMES PLAYED<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12155/5991116-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="459" height="332"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13140/5991109-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="456" height="345"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14134/5991102-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="984" height="657"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15127/5991095-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="974" height="944"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-16125/5991088-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="975" height="293"></div><h2>LEADING DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-17113/5991081-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="981" height="341"></div><h2>TEAM-BY-TEAM SCORING</h2><h3>BOSTON BRUINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01706/5991074-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="976" height="706"></div><h3>BUFFALO SABRES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02533/5991067-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="981" height="687"></div><h3>CALGARY FLAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03430/5991060-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="979" height="710"></div><h3>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04344/5991053-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="982" height="606"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05286/5991046-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="985" height="81"></div><h3>DETROIT REDWINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06259/5991039-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="983" height="656"></div><h3>EDMONTON OILERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07240/5991032-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="984" height="711"></div><h3>HARTFORD WHALERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08215/5991025-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="984" height="707"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09199/5991018-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="981" height="603"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10173/5991011-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="982" height="79"></div><h3>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11155/5991004-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="980" height="657"></div><h3>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12139/5990997-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="979" height="752"></div><h3>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-13125/5990990-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="974" height="657"></div><h3>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-14105/5990983-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="980" height="627"></div><h3>NEW YORK RANGERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01672/5990976-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="981" height="687"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02487/5990969-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="977" height="686"></div><h3>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03393/5990962-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="985" height="630"></div><h3>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04299/5990955-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="981" height="727"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05246/5990948-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="978" height="291"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06214/5990941-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="983" height="369"></div><h3>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07196/5990934-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="984" height="760"></div><h3>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08181/5990927-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="980" height="682"></div><h3>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09172/5990920-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="977" height="636"></div><h3>WINNIPEG JETS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10167/5990913-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="981" height="625"></div><h2>GOALTENDING</h2>ALL GOALS AGAINST A TEAM IN ANY GAME ARE CHARGED TO THE GOALTENDER OF THAT GAME FOR PURPOSES OF AWARDING THE BILL JENNINGS TROPHYWON-LOST-TIED RECORD IS BASED UPON WHICH GOALTENDER WAS PLAYING WHEN THE WINNING OR TYING GOAL WAS SCOREDEMPTY-NET GOALS ARE NOT COUNTED IN PERSONAL AVERAGES BUT ARE INCLUDED IN THE TEAM TOTAL AND THE SHOT(S) IS INCLUDED IN THE GOALTENDERS SHOTS AGAINST (SA) TOTAL (GP) GAMES PLAYED IN (MIN) MINUTES PLAYED (AVG) 60 MINUTE AVERAGE (GA) GOALS AGAINST (SA) SHOTS AGAINST (PCT) SAVE PERCENTAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11162/5990906-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="972" height="2313"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12153/5990899-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="974" height="879"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

f0037-01

NHL SUMMARIES

ALL LEAGUE STANDINGSAS OF MON., OCT. 30<h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01289/5991892-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="590" height="1822"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02188/5991885-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="591" height="1399"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03140/5991878-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="586" height="1787"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04115/5991871-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="593" height="1504"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05102/5991864-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="568" height="182"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0694/5991857-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="579" height="1533"></div><h2>CCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0782/5991850-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="581" height="1578"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0866/5991843-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="573" height="366"></div><h2>ECAC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0949/5991836-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="408" height="859"></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1043/5991829-1-eng-US/f0041-102.jpg" title="f0041-10" width="450" height="1006"></div><h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1141/5991822-1-eng-US/f0041-112.jpg" title="f0041-11" width="590" height="986"></div>OUAA<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1233/5991815-1-eng-US/f0041-122.jpg" title="f0041-12" width="571" height="1121"></div>CWUAA<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1328/5991808-1-eng-US/f0041-132.jpg" title="f0041-13" width="590" height="1381"></div>AUAA<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1427/5991801-1-eng-US/f0041-142.jpg" title="f0041-14" width="566" height="684"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01302/5991923-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="466" height="631"></div>The injury was painful, the prognosis painfully simple.The best way for Brian Sutter to get over the hairline fracture in his hip was to spend several days in bed, then maybe&mdash;his threshold of agony permittinG&mdash;try to take a few halting steps.Sound medical advice. Trouble is. the doctor forgot to issue an important prescription&mdash;for the chains needed to keep Sutter on his mattress.So there he was at the next game, dragging his leg along as he climbed to the press box at the Arena in St. Louis. If you wanted to keep Brian Sutter away from a Blues&rsquo; game, you&rsquo;d better put him under something stronger than a doctor&rsquo;s care. Like a tombstone.As the story is told, Sutter wasn&rsquo;t satisfied with merely doing the impossible by attending the game. Hey, giving everything isn&rsquo;t nearly enough when you&rsquo;re the captain. So Sutter studied the game unfolding below him, saw a few things in Philadelphia&rsquo;s strategy the Blues could exploit and passed the information along to then-coach Jacques Demers.Victory, St. Louis. Assist, Brian Sutter. But hey, don&rsquo;t get the wrong idea. Sutter wasn&rsquo;t just doing it for the sake of his team. He had a very selfish motive.The guy couldn&rsquo;t stand to even watch his team lose. Losing a hockey game, he figured, was just about the worst thing in the world.Well, all that has changed now that Sutter is coaching the Blues. He realizes that defeats are infinitely more disgusting than he ever believed as a player.&ldquo;The toughest part is losing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never dreamed&hellip;I hate the word &lsquo;lose.&rsquo; I never took it well (as a player), so you can imagine how much it hurts and how difficult it is to comprehend why we lose.&rdquo;Actually, it&rsquo;s not all that hard for an outsider to understand why the Blues won&rsquo;t go 80-0 this season. They have some promising young players like Rod Brind Amour, but nobody is going to mistake the Blues&rsquo; lineup for, say, Calgary&rsquo;s (although you could confuse the Flames&rsquo; Roster with St. Louis&rsquo; from a few years ago).If you hear talk of a Stanley Cup parade in St. Louis next spring, assume the speaker has been hanging around the brewery a bit too much. But look hard enough, and you can see the nucleus of a contender in its embryonic stages.&ldquo;We had a tremendous amount of changes in the last year, went to a much younger, less experienced club,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;From two years ago, it&rsquo;s an incredible change to youngsters that we&rsquo;ve made.&rdquo;Sutter&rsquo;s transition from player to coach is equally astonishing. He always knew coaches were part of the game. He just never figured he&rsquo;d be one.&ldquo;I honestly never thought about coaching until the time came, until I was asked,&rdquo; Sutter said.When Sutter was named to replace Jacques Martin on June 20, 1988, there was a widely-held suspicion Blues&rsquo; management was interested mostly in using Sutter&rsquo;s name to sell tickets. It wouldn&rsquo;t have been the first time money was the primary motive there.Maybe that really was the idea, and maybe it worked. But you can expect Sutter&rsquo;s style to sell a lot more tickets than his surname ever did.The Blues are playing with the sweat-for-success work ethic Sutter embodied for so many years. Perspiration, he has taught them, is not a toxin.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told the players, &lsquo;Come prepared to play hard every night. You&rsquo;re not always going to win, because it&rsquo;s a game of mistakes and there are a lot of teams that are very skilled. But never deprive yourself of giving yourself an opportunity to win.&rdquo;Sutter doesn&rsquo;t pamper his players. He likes to keep a &ldquo;certain uncomfortable feeling&rdquo; in the locker room, and says, &ldquo;God didn&rsquo;t make everybody as an equal, so you sure as hell can&rsquo;t treat everybody as an equal.&rdquo;It is a radical approach in these days of indulgence, but nobody seems to be complaining. Good idea, lest Sutter drag them off into a comer and show them how he worked for 12 winters.The Blues probably will be called a lot of things as they struggle to evolve into a topcaliberteam, but &ldquo;complacent&rdquo; won&rsquo;tbeoneof them.&ldquo;When people think it&rsquo;s going to be easy, everything&rsquo;s going to fall right down in front of your face,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Everything in life is going to be difficult before it is easy.&rdquo;With Sutter behind the bench, the Blues seem a reasonable bet to eventually make that grueling climb to the NHL&rsquo;s upper echelon. It won&rsquo;t be the first time he&rsquo;s made that kind of trip. &#9632;

f0042-01

BLUES’ COACH LEADS BY EXAMPLE

<h2>FLAMES</h2>By the time Mike Vernon decided he couldn&rsquo;t even dress as the backup for Calgary&rsquo;s 3-3 tie against Washington Oct. 23, it was too late to get Steve Guenette in from Salt Lake of the International League. So the Flames signed Randy Jaycock of the Drumheller Miners of the Alberta Senior League to a one-game NHL contract, to sit on the bench&hellip;Rookie defenseman Roger Johansson, described as the Flames&rsquo; best defenseman in training camp, appeared in only one of the Flames&rsquo; first 13 games, despite the fact the team gave up 42 goals. Johansson&rsquo;s one and only game was a 4-4 tie Oct. 14 with Washington. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting boring. It&rsquo;s the same thing every day&mdash;practise, work out, sleep, eat. I have always played from the beginning, so this is unusual for me.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Gary Suter received some criticism for his play early, in part because he was minus-1 after 13 games. &ldquo;If you look back, I haven&rsquo;t had the fastest starts in history,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I seem to be minus all the time at the start of the year. I don&rsquo;t know what it is. Hopefully, it&rsquo;s just bad luck and I can turn that around.&rdquo;<h2>JETS</h2>Brent Ashton may have finally turned the comer. The Winnipeg left winger, a 31-goal scorer a year ago, scored for the first time this season in a 6-1 win over Los Angeles Oct. 29. He collected two in the victory after hitting a half-dozen posts and squandering a dozen great chances in the first 10 games of the season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just nice to contribute,&rdquo; said Ashton, who was minus-13 and had only one point in the first 10 games. &ldquo;Bad luck? It was worse than that. I wish it was only bad.&rdquo;&hellip;Daniel Berthiaume&rsquo;s NHL comeback hasn&rsquo;t gone exactly as the 23-year-old netminder envisioned. But after being read the riot act by GM Mike Smith following a 2-3 start and a series of weak performances, Berthiaume responded. He was excellent in the game against L.A. &ldquo;I have something to prove to somebody in the box up there,&rdquo; he said, gesturing to Smith&rsquo;s perch in the Winnipeg Arena. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna prove him a lot of things for the rest of the year.&rdquo;&hellip;Dave Ellett launched a couple of low rockets Oct. 29 for his fourth and fifth goals of the season, giving him 11 points in 11 games. The defenseman wasn&rsquo;t predicting any season totals just yet. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy,&rdquo; said Ellett, who had 22 goals and 56 points in &rsquo;88-89. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take &lsquo;em as they come and keep going.&rdquo;<h2>KINGS</h2>Following a physically-punishing game in Winnipeg in which he was hit several times inside his crease, Kelly Hrudey warned things could get rough the next time the teams meet (Dec. 19). He used his blocker to jolt Paul Fenton with 1:30 left in a 6-1 loss Oct. 29, drawing a roughing penalty. &ldquo;I wanted to let Winnipeg know that my crease is mine and that&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s going to be,&rdquo; Hrudey said. &ldquo;If they don&rsquo;t know that now, the next game they will. I&rsquo;ve Paul Fenton done it in the past. I don&rsquo;t mind making somebody pay. The next time, if that stuff starts, it&rsquo;s not going to be in the 58th or the 56th minute that I&rsquo;ll show them. It&rsquo;ll be in the fourth or the fifth minute.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Jim Fox, who will be a free agent without compensation when the season ends, said he is seriously considering playing in Europe next season if he is unable to come to terms with the Kings or another NHL team. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely an option,&rdquo; said Fox, who has a European contact in Sean Simpson, his center 10 seasons ago with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s of the Ontario League. Simpson has spent seven years in Europe, and has helped-several NHL players hook up with teams abroad.<h2>OILERS</h2>Defenseman Kevin Lowe missed two games with a strained neck after the New York Islanders&rsquo; Patrick Flatley hit him in the Oilers&rsquo; 3-3 tie on Long Island Oct. 24. And left winger Esa Tikkanen suffered an injured right knee Oct. 28 during a 6-3 win in Quebec City. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s screwed up again,&rdquo; scowled Tikkanen, who also hurt the same knee during a training camp practice. &ldquo;I got hit, knee against knee. I don&rsquo;t know who it was, but it&rsquo;s sore.&rdquo;&hellip;The Oilers recalled newly-acquired defenseman Norm Maciver from their American League farm team in Cape Breton Oct. 26, the same day they assigned Chris Joseph to the AHL team. &ldquo;Chris has good skills, but has a problem making plays in traffic,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; coach John Muckier. &ldquo;To learn that, he has to play a lot in the American League. He&rsquo;s only 20 years old and that&rsquo;s what we have farm clubs for.&rdquo;<h2>CANUCKS</h2>Defenseman Rod Buskas, obtained from Pittsburgh Oct. 24 for a sixth-round pick in 1991, drew an assist on his first shot on goal in a 5-5 tie with Calgary Oct. 27. Buskas, who played in only one pre-season game and requested a trade, was barred from practising with the Penguins on the weekend before the deal with Vancouver. The sixth-round choice becomes a fifth-rounder if the Canucks finish third or higher in the Smythe Division this season&hellip;Soviet left winger Vladimir Krutov returned to the Canucks Oct. 27 from a six-day trip to Moscow. He was expediting his family&rsquo;s move to Vancouver&hellip;Center Barry Pederson suffered a dislocated thumb as he scored his first goal of the season in the Canucks&rsquo; 4-3 win over Calgary Oct. 28. Pederson&rsquo;s second-period assist in a 5-5 overtime tie with the Flames Oct. 27 was the 600th point of his career&hellip;That same game was the 500th in the career of right winger Doug Smith. &#9632;

MINER MAKES IT TO THE MAJORS

&hellip;three New Jersey Devils played for Providence College undercurrent GM Lou Lamoriello? The ex-Friars (college years in parentheses) are Jim Korn (1976-79), Randy Velischek (1979-82) and Chris Terreri (1982-86). Two others&mdash;Paul Guay (1981-83) and Steve Rooney (1981-85)&mdash;play for the Devils&rsquo; AHL affiliate in Utica.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02218/5991978-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="975" height="518"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Korn</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0042-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>The Edmonton Oilers have encountered problems this season, but goaltending hasn&rsquo;t been one of them.Coach John Muckier gets downright nasty when anyone dares to suggest otherwise.Case in point&mdash;the Oilers&rsquo; 3-3 tie against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Oct. 25. Bill Ranford stopped 32 shots, but that didn&rsquo;t stop a reporter from asking Muckier how anxious he was to get Grant Fuhr back from the Oilers&rsquo; American League farm team in Cape Breton.&ldquo;How could you ask that question after watching Ranford?&rdquo; scowled Muckier.Ranford, who had a 4-4-3 record and a 3.27 goals-against average after 11 games, filled in for Fuhr with outstanding play. And with 678 minutes played&mdash;including 18 minutes of overtime play&mdash;he was also the most overworked of the NHL&rsquo;s masked men.&ldquo;Yeah, the leader of the pack, with Rhree overtime games to boot,&rdquo; the 22-year-old Ranford said.Four, really, But who&rsquo;s counting?&ldquo;Oh yeah, we lost one,&rdquo; he said, recalling Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s overtime goal to beat the Oilers 4-3 Oct. 15. The same night, Gretzky passed Gordie Howe on the all-time career scoring list with point No. 1,851. &ldquo;I keep trying to block that one out of my mind.&rdquo;He blocked plenty of shots, and the last night prior to Fuhr&rsquo;s return after a two-game conditioning stint in the Minors was no exception. Ranford &ldquo;was a standout, stopping 29 shots in a 6-3 win Oct. 28 in Quebec City.Included was a penalty-shot save on the Nordiques&rsquo; Claude Loiselle 2:12 into the game.&ldquo;I just stood up, but I kind of thought he was going to deke,&rdquo; said Ranford. &ldquo;When he didn&rsquo;t, I had to put the blinders on and he shot it hard. Penalty shots are weird. The guy coming in has no pressure on him.&rdquo;Not that he would know.&ldquo;Yeah, this was my first one (in pro),&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I was nervous.&rdquo;In making the save, however, Ranford upheld team tradition.It was the first penalty shot called against the Oilers since Rocky Trottier beat Andy Moog in New Jersey Dec. 17, 1984. Prior to that Ron Low, now an assistant coach, and Fuhr (twice) were unbeatable. Fuhr also stopped two more during the 1985 Stanley Cup final against the Philadelphia Flyers.Ranford started nine of 11 exhibition games and played each minute of league play until Fuhr returned for the Oilers&rsquo; 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens Oct. 29.The way Muckler saw it, Fuhr&rsquo;s emergency appendectomy Sept. 14&mdash;which forced Ranford into the workhorse role&mdash;turned out to be a blessing in disguise.&ldquo;Out of everything negative, something positive usually emerges,&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;Cocoa (Fuhr) got hurt and Billy had to play a number of games in succession. Now we&rsquo;ve got two goaltenders we&rsquo;re not afraid to play any night. That&rsquo;s the positive that emerged from Cocoa&rsquo;s misfortune.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 23: Grant Fuhr, G, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL) for conditioning purposes.Oct. 26: Chris Joseph, D, assigned to Cape Breton. Norm Maciver, D, recalled from Cape Breton.Oct. 28: Fuhr recalled from Cape Breton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Kevin McClelland, Mark Lamb.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Martin Gelinas, Kelly Buchberger, Peter Eriksson.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Normand Lacombe, Dave Brown, Trevor Sim, Mike Ware.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Geoff Smith, Steve Smith, Norm Maciver.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Charlie Huddy.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Grant Fuhr, Pokey Reddick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Randy Gregg, D, chronic pulled leg muscle, indefinite.Esa Tikkanen, LW, bruised right knee, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Messier, 9. A&mdash;Messier. 11. P&mdash;Messier, 20. PIM&mdash;Tikkanen, 39 &#9632;

WORKHORSE RANFORD FINALLY GETS A BREAK

Derek Schmidt is a six-year-old right winger for the North Olmsted Hockey Club Mites of the Strongsville (Ohio) Minor Hockey Association.Named after former Boston Bruins&rsquo; star Derek Sanderson, Derek has been playing hockey since he&rsquo;s been 4&frac12; years old. Last season in spring hockey, Derek scored 33 goals and added 22 assists for North Olmsted.Coached by his father Karl, the 3-foot-8, 40-pounder has been skating for the last four years and attends power-skating schools during the summer months to help advance his game. When he&rsquo;s not playing hockey, he also likes to ride his bicycle and is an avid soccer player in the off-season.Derek is a Grade 1 student at Chapman Elementary School in Strongsville.He hopes one day to meet his favorite player, Mario Lemieux. He also enjoys following the exploits of Lemieux&rsquo; team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01224/5992033-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="569" height="1236"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek Schmidt</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of the JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Showcase Just send a photograph (non-returnable), along with biographical information (age, height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to JOFA-TITAN SHOWCASE, c/o The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as THN, JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Player of the Year &#9632;

f0044-01

PLAYER OF WEEK

<div class="byline">BY GRANT MCGINNIS</div>Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch calls it a system. The players call it fun.In reality, it&rsquo;s a combination of determination and defense-first hockey.And just 11 games into the NHL season, the Jets were using it to a great degree of success. Although they were still holding down last place in the Smythe Division with a 5-6-0 record at the end of October, there were definite signs of improvement.In the last three games of the month, the Jets put on the finest displays of hockey at the Winnipeg Arena in years, splitting a weekend series with the Los Angeles Kings and knocking off the Washington Capitals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been doing a lot of talking and it seems like they&rsquo;re buying it,&rdquo; Murdoch said, following his club&rsquo;s fifth win of the season and its third in four games. &ldquo;If they keep buying it, I think we&rsquo;re going to have good success this year.&rdquo;The players couldn&rsquo;t be happier with their purchase.&ldquo;I know everyone I&rsquo;ve talked to over the past week around Winnipeg, they say how much more exciting it is to watch us play,&rdquo; said defenseman Dave Ellett, who scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in a 6-1 hammering of the Kings Oct. 29. &ldquo;I just say, &lsquo;Hey, it&rsquo;s a lot more exciting to play.&rsquo;&rdquo;In all three games, that enthusiasm showed.The Jets dominated from the first faceoff to the last whistle in their win over the Kings. They controlled the play and managed 42 shots on goal. And they prevented the high-octane Kings from getting the lead, holding L.A. to a mere 20 shots on goal.It was a terrific show of offense as Winnipeg recorded an average of 39 shots on goal in the three games, only to be stymied by a red-hot Kelly Hrudey in the first meeting with L.A., losing 3-1 Oct. 27. The Jets combined to outshoot their opponents 47-14 in first periods alone.Meanwhile, the Jets averaged just 22 shots against during the week and, with an average of 24.9 against per game this season, were giving up fewer than any NHL team. Only once had the Jets allowed more than 30 in a game.And they finally got some goaltending.As Tom Draper did in the 3-1 loss to Los Angeles two nights earlier, Daniel Berthiaume revealed the brilliance that was absent in the early going. They were the two finest goaltending performances&mdash;in fact, just the second and third decent games by a Jets&rsquo; goalie&mdash;of the season.Winnipeg stuck to its game plan from beginning to end in all three&mdash;the win over the Capitals was a 6-4 decision Oct. 25. They avoided the senseless lapses which have cost the team six defeats.&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;ve seen in the 11 games we&rsquo;ve played that we&rsquo;re a hardworking team, we&rsquo;re consistent and we get our opportunities,&rdquo; said winger Paul Fenton, an unheralded workhorse.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 26: Brian McReynolds, C, assigned to Moncton (AHL).Oct. 30: Peter Taglianetti, D, assigned to Moncton for conditioning.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Laurie Boschman, Dave McLIwain.LW&mdash;Randy Cunneyworth, Doug Smail, Brent Ashton. Paul Fenton.RW&mdash;Greg Paslawski, Pat Elynuik, Gord Donnelly, Mark Kumpel.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin, Brad Berry.RD&mdash;Fredrik Otausson, Teppo Numminen, Moe Mantha.G&mdash;Daniel Berthiaume, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>lain Duncan, LW, arthroscopic surgery on right knee, Nov. 10.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Elynuik, 8. A&mdash;Steen. 10. P&mdash;Steen, Elynuik, 14. PIM&mdash;Cronin, 40. &#9632;

MURDOCH’S SYSTEM PRODUCES RESULTS

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>For the first 3&frac12; weeks of the season, Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Tom Webster showed great restraint as his team stumbled along its mediocre way.Then came a dreadful 6-1 loss Oct. 29 to the Winnipeg Jets. Outshot 4220, the Kings lost their third game in four starts, and dropped to 6-6-0. That left them in third place in the Smythe Division, just two points ahead of the last-place Jets.Webster could not prevent the dark side of his personality from surfacing. Nor did he try.&ldquo;This is probably the hardest it&rsquo;s hit me all year,&rdquo; said Webster. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to sit back and give them the benefit of the doubt. I&rsquo;ve tried to be patient with them. But right now, it&rsquo;s hit the boiling point.&ldquo;Tonight it wasn&rsquo;t one particular thing. It was just an awful effort. We did not come determined to play. Winnipeg wanted it and played like it. We became frustrated when we couldn&rsquo;t score, and as a result we quit working.&ldquo;We were flat and there&rsquo;s no excuse for it. One guy&mdash;(goalie) Kelly Hrudey&mdash;played well for us. He showed up to play. Some guys are trying, but we&rsquo;re finding out we can&rsquo;t turn it on and off. We&rsquo;ve got to work. We&rsquo;re standing around, waiting for things to happen.&rdquo;Webster made a point to reveal he would force the Kings to practice at 8 a.m. the next day, three hours before they were to depart for Pittsburgh, the next destination on a six-game road trip.A team spokesman later insisted the early workout already had been scheduled, but it wasn&rsquo;t listed on the club&rsquo;s itinerary.As angry as he was over his team&rsquo;s uninspired play, Webster said he did not intend to make any rash changes.&ldquo;Emotions, a lot of times, can take over,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to sit down, discuss certain points and take a look at the tapes to see what we have to do.&rdquo;Two nights earlier, the Kings snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Jets, in large part because Hrudey came through with 35 saves.Included in the losing streak was a 5-0 loss to the Calgary Flames Oct. 25, which snapped a non-shutout streak that had reached 261 regular season games dating to March 12, 1986.To give you an idea how things were going, Hrudey purposely broke his stick in half while the Kings were shorthanded, midway through the second period of the loss to the Jets. He was forced to play with the broken stick for 4&frac12; minutes and even made two saves.&ldquo;Ice it, I don&rsquo;t have a stick,&rdquo; Hrudey was heard to scream to his teammates, a request that fell on deaf ears. Finally, Ken Baumgartner skated to the bench for a replacement as play continued.&ldquo;We have to regroup, play with some pride and intensity,&rdquo; Hrudey said. &ldquo;We have to have the proper amount of desire. Certainly the talent is here. I know we all have enough faith in ourselves that we can do it.&rdquo;<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 30: Mike Allison, RW, recalled from New Haven (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls, Steve Kasper.LW&mdash;Luc Robitaille, John Tonelli, Mikael Lindholm, Jay Miller, Craig Duncanson.RW&mdash;Bob Kudelski, Dave Taylor, Jim Fox, Hubie McDonough. Mike Allison.LD&mdash;Larry Robinson, Tim Watters, Barry Beck, Ken Baumgartner.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Tom Laidlaw, Marty McSorley, Petr Prajsler.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Mario Gosselin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Crowder. LW. cervical strain, indefinite.Mike Krushelnyski, LW, hairline wrist fracture, Nov. 11<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Kudelski, Nicholls 8. A&mdash;Gretzky 14. P&mdash;Gretzky 20. PIM&mdash;Miller, 28. &#9632;

WEBSTER BERATES LISTLESS KINGS

<div class="byline">TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01213/5992136-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="279" height="473"></div>Back in the first year of the reign of the only 52-year-old man who calls himself Junior, NHL president John Ziegler stated some personal objectives.He told selected members of the Vancouver media, on a car ride out to the airport, he would like to see the intra-league waiver draft get to where teams protected 14 players and two goalies. Ideally, he went on, it would go to 12 and two, if he had his way.This was evidently before he found out who pulled the strings in the league he is supposed to lead. It was before he discovered those strings were attached to his arms and legs.Ziggy may indeed have been telling the poverty-stricken what they wanted to hear in Vancouver those many years ago. Or perhaps before his recent personality makeover and his legendary financial wizardry saved the league, nobody knew he really hadn&rsquo;t meant what he said.What happened, of course, was the rich teams didn&rsquo;t want the poor ones making up any ground through the draft, so they kept the protections and exemptions the same. This generally makes Abbott and Costello available on draft day, unless of course there is a loophole found by one of the teams whose former vice-president happens to be the league&rsquo;s legal counsel.You can&rsquo;t blame the Philadelphia Flyers for pushing Gil Stein on whether they could move Keith Acton and Pete Peeters to Winnipeg, only to get them back after the draft. It reeks of flying in the face of the spirit of the draft, and raises serious questions about just how smart Mike Smith really is.But given the inside information which had lesser NHL minions predicting the deal was a fix the day it was made, the Flyers should probably be applauded. After all, they function in a league where putting one over on another team and interfering with the players&rsquo; rights are goals to which every organization aspires.But what of Ziggy in these matters? Did he not have a golden opportunity to finally assert himself in a hockey matter, and bring about some semblance of justice quickly and with vigor?There were enough complaints. The New York Rangers wanted a shot at Acton, and the Vancouver Canucks had their eye on Craig Berube, whom they felt would have been available.&ldquo;We felt pretty sure Berube would be left unprotected and if he was there when we picked we&rsquo;d have taken him,&rdquo; said Vancouver coach Bob McCammon.&ldquo;I think the whole thing stinks,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t like it. But obviously it is a loophole in the rules and there isn&rsquo;t much anybody is going to be able to do about it except insist the rules be changed. I guess this means everyone can protect six or seven goaltenders. It&rsquo;s just not right.&rdquo;And there were others.Perhaps disallowing the deal and re-holding the draft immediately might have been too strong a move. But there were options, as Neil Smith outlined. Ziegler could immediately announce the Flyers&rsquo; move was defeating the purpose of the whole affair, and that while he could do nothing this time, the rules would be certainly be altered in the future.But, no. He sat on his hands and let an obvious scandal fester week after week with no action, leaving the public wondering for the 89,000th time whether there will ever be leadership in the league.Perhaps it can be argued the draft has outlived its usefulness anyway. When it started, parity seemed out of the question under any circumstances whereas now it&rsquo;s not so unthinkable.So why not do away with it altogether? It would save the league some phone charges and further dampen some deserving player&rsquo;s chances of playing in the league with a needy team&mdash;two noble pursuits for the owners.It would surely be preferable to the stench from this latest boondoggle. And no longer would it stand as a monument to the ineffective tenure of John Ziegler Jr. when it comes to hockey matters.Rather than hope for firm leadership, it would be better to drop the draft entirely and forget it ever existed.For in reality, it never did.Tony Gallagher is a columnist for the Vancouver Province and appears in this space monthly. &#9632;

f0047-01

WILL NHL EVER GET A FIRM LEADER?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02155/5992167-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Gadsby was playing only his 15th game as a Detroit Red Wing on Nov. 15,1961, but it was the 1,000th of his NHL career. The defenseman retired after the 1965-66 season. He played 1,248 games, scoring 130 goals and 567 points for the Wings, Chicago and New York Rangers.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03122/5992198-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg"></div>You&rsquo;re not likely to see many tag days for NHL general managers these days.Unlike their colleagues in the coaching business, general managers in the NHL are not only more secure in their jobs, they&rsquo;re also more upwardly mobile.The Calgary Flames&rsquo; Cliff Fletcher, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; Harry Sinden and the New York Islanders&rsquo; Bill Torrey have become fixtures in their cities.Fletcher has been with the Flames since the franchise began in Atlanta, back in 1972-73. Likewise, Torrey has been the only GM the Islanders have ever known. And the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Glen Sather was that team&rsquo;s GM when it joined the NHL from the World Hockey Association, back in 1979-80.Many other GMs&mdash;some of whom who weren&rsquo;t in their positions as long, were promoted within the organization. Often, that promotion was the equivalent of being &ldquo;kicked upstairs.&rdquo; Teams no longer wanted the individuals as general managers, but gave them other duties to fulfill their contracts.Some of those who quit or were fired were re-hired by other organizations.Below is the tenure of each NHL general manager, and the fate of his immediate predecessor:<h2>STEADY WORK &#9632;</h2>

f0047-03

ONWARD AND UPWARD

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Anyone who doubts whether this year&rsquo;s version of the Vancouver Canucks is for real should confer with the Stanley Cup champions.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re getting the feeling they can beat us,&rdquo; said Calgary Flames&rsquo; left winger Gary Roberts. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to change that. We&rsquo;ve got to let them know it isn&rsquo;t going to be this easy.&ldquo;When a team has success against someone like they&rsquo;ve had against us, it&rsquo;s got to pump up their confidence.&rsquo; &lsquo;The Canucks were brimming with confidence after taking three of four points against the powerful Flames in back-to-back games. Playing without injured Trevor Linden, Stan Smyl and Robert Nordmark, the Canucks defeated the Flames 4-3 at Pacific Coliseum on Oct. 28. The night before in Calgary, only a desperation goal by Theoren Fleury kept the Canucks from a sweep. Fleury&rsquo;s goal allowed the Flames to escape with a 5-5 tie.after the Canucks scored three times in less than five minutes in the third period to take a 5-3 lead.The results lifted the-Canucks into second place (6-25-1) in the Smythe Division, one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings and three behind the Flames.The two games were the first meaningful meetings between the Canucks and Flames since the night of April 15, when the Flames won the seventh and deciding game of a gripping Smythe Division semifinal, on Joel Otto&rsquo;s overtime goal.In their last nine meetings, the Canucks have played the Flames evenly, recording a mark of 4-4-1. More importantly, they had started to get under the skin of the Stanley Cup champs.&ldquo;We know they&rsquo;re ripe for the picking and we can do it,&rdquo; said goalie Kirk McLean.Not only were the Canucks looking on the Flames as being mortal, but the fact that they could compete with a broken-down lineup against Calgary was further encouragement.Smyl, Linden and Nordmark&mdash;the last two the only Canucks to play in all 80 games last season&mdash;were ailing in the Calgary series. Vladimir Krutov was out of the lineup on personal business. Linden suffered a hyperextended elbow in the first Calgary game and Nordmark missed both games with back spasms. The run of INJURIES continued when Barry Pederson suffered a dislocated thumb just as he was scoring his first goal of the season in the 4-3 win Oct. 28.&ldquo;This is what makes you a better hockey team, playing with a broken lineup,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;The other players know they have to play better when they come back.&rdquo;Doug Smith was a good example. Used infrequently during the early part of the month, Smith was put into the starting lineup at right wing as a replacement for Jim Sandlak. There was nothing wrong with Sandlak, except McCammon didn&rsquo;t find him as motivated as he should have been.While Sandlak seethed in the press I box for three games, Smith played like a buzzsaw, agitating and drawing penalties. That gave McCammon pause to consider why he should ever be taken out of the lineup again.Sandlak re-emerged on the ice Oct. 27 against Calgary, but McCammon stressed it was only because of an elbow injury to Smyl.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 24: Rod Buskas, D. acquired from Pittsburgh for a sixth-round draft choice in 1990 entry draft.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Igor Larionov, Brian Bradley, Steve Bozek. Craig Coxe.LW&mdash;Rich Sutter, Greg Adams, Petri Skriko. Vladimir Krutov, Daryl Stanley.RW&mdash;Tony Tanti, Doug Smith. Jim Sandlak.LD&mdash;Paul Reinhart, Larry Melnyk, Harold Snepsts, Jim Benning.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Doug Lidster, Rod Buskas.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Trevor Linden, RW, hyperextended elbow, day-to-day.Robert Nordmark, D, back spasms, day-to-day.Barry Pederson, C. dislocated thumb, indefinite.Stan Smyl, RW. hyperextended elbow, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Larionov, Adams. 7. A&mdash;Reinhart. 13. P&mdash;Reinhart. 18. PIM&mdash;Butcher. 25. &#9632;

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November 10, 1989

‘I HATE DONUTS’

THEN & NOW

CAPTAIN FOLIGNO LEADS THE WAY

WAMSLEY MAKES MOST OF RARE STARTS