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.

December 22, 1989

The Hockey News December 22, 1989

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01597/5702872-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Senior right winger C. J. Young, with 15 points in his first eight games, has managed quite nicely this season as the lone survivor of Harvard&rsquo;s famed &lsquo;Firing Line.&rsquo;</figcaption></div>It must be an odd-numbered year, because Harvard senior right winger Carl Joshua Young has again had to adjust to new linemates.Young, known widely as C. J., is the remaining survivor of the famed &lsquo;Firing Line,&rsquo; the three-man sharpshooting unit so instrumental in carrying the Crimson last season to its first NCAA Division I hockey championship. Young, Hobey Baker Award-winning left winger Lane MacDonald and center Allen Bourbeau formed one of the most explosive lines in college hockey.MacDonald and Bourbeau graduated. But Young, long overshadowed by his illustrious ex-linemates, hasn&rsquo;t let their graduation keep him from putting up some Hobey Baker-candidate numbers of his own&mdash;seven goals and eight assists in eight games.&ldquo;Their (MacDonald and Bourbeau&rsquo;s) absence hasn&rsquo;t detracted from his success this year,&rdquo; said David Conte, assistant director of player personnel for the New Jersey Devils, who chose Young in the 1989 supplemental draft. &ldquo;That was a legitimate question at the start of the year, but he appears to have answered it.&rdquo;<h2>ECAC</h2>This season marks the second time in three years Young has had to adjust to playing without MacDonald and Bourbeau. He was teamed with them in his freshman season (1986-87), but the line was split up the following season as MacDonald and Bourbeau played for the U.S. Olympic team.Making the adjustment that much more difficult was the Crimson&rsquo;s status as defending NCAA champs. Coming off the high of a national championship, Harvard struggled in the first semester, compiling a 3-4-1 record.&ldquo;To be honest, there was a certain amount of complacency in the beginning,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder. &ldquo;Not a lot, but I think it was there. Any time a team has a season like we did last year, that will happen.&rdquo;So where does Young go from here?&ldquo;I definitely want to continue to play hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have to weigh my options and see where I best fit in. I&rsquo;d really like to see if I could get a crack in the NHL or with one of the farm clubs.&rdquo;Conte said Young may make it despite being small by NHL standards, but delivered a note of caution:&ldquo;He has proven a lot, but the adage that you&rsquo;re as good as your last game applies here.&rdquo;The RPI Engineers were still awaiting word on the fate of senior left winger Tony Hejna.Hejna underwent back surgery midway through November to correct a disc problem that was getting progressively worse. He was in rehabilitation early in December, but it was not known when he would be able to return to the ice.&ldquo;All I know is that I&rsquo;m walking two miles a day,&rdquo; said Hejna. &ldquo;I just have to wait and see what my doctor says.&rdquo;With Hejna out of the lineup, RPI coach Buddy Powers has struggled to find someone to complement senior center Brian Ferreira and freshman right winger Francois Cadoret.With Hejna in the lineup, Ferreira and Cadoret combined for five goals and five assists in four games. Without Hejna, they had just three goals and six assists in six games.&mdash;Tom Boggie<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>The Boston College Eagles chose the most unlikely of settings to break out of their early-season slump&mdash;Maine&rsquo;s Alfond Arena.BC beat Maine 5-1 and 4-3 Dec. 1 and 2, becoming the first Hockey East team to sweep the Bears in Orono since Feb. 14 and 15, 1986, when Boston University earned 3-2 and 6-3 wins.Going into the series, the defending Hockey East-champion Eagles were 1-4 in league play and 3-5 overall.&ldquo;We played two tremendous games,&rdquo; said Eagles&rsquo; coach Len Ceglarski. &ldquo;It was a great team effort and for a freshman goalie like Scott LaGrand to come up here (and win two games) under these circumstances is pretty special.&rdquo;LaGrand made 20 saves in the 5-1 win and 25 in the 4-3 triumph.BC followed its sweep of Maine with a 9-5 home win over New Hampshire Dec. 6, raising its record to 4-4 in Hockey East, 6-5 overall.The Black Bears lost defensemen Christian Lalonde (fractured left kneecap) and Campbell Blair (separated left shoulder) until January, leaving the Bears with just six defensemen. Lalonde was hurt in the Dec. 1 Boston College game and Blair was injured in practice the previous week.&mdash;Larry Mahoney<h2>WCHA</h2>A search-and-screen committee will be formed in January to find a new athletic director to replace Craig Patrick at Denver University.Patrick left Denver Dec. 5 to become general manager and interim coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.Denver sports information director Bill Scharton said no time frame has been set to find Patrick&rsquo;s replacement.&ldquo;It could very well go into the spring at the end of the school year,&rdquo; said Scharton. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re supposed to leant more about it later this month (December).&rdquo;Diane Wendt, an associate A.D. at Denver since 1981, will serve as interim A.D.Tom Pederson, a sophomore defenseman at Minnesota, told U.S. officials he doesn&rsquo;t want to play for the team being sent to the World Junior Championships (Dec. 26-Jan. 4) in Finland.No reason was given, though fatigue may be a factor. Pederson toured Europe with the Gophers last summer and played in the Olympic Sports Festival in Oklahoma City in July.&mdash;Andy Baggot<h2>CCHA</h2>Lake Superior Lakers&rsquo; left winger Vincent Faucher suffered a lacerated kidney, but still managed to score the winning goal Dec. 2 in a 3-1 Laker victory at Ohio State.Midway through the second period of the contest, Faucher, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound native of Dorion, Que., was hauled down on a breakaway attempt and struck the goalpost.Faucher was able to remain in the game. He scored the Lakers&rsquo; second goal of the evening on a power play at 19:57 of the second period. He did not return for the third, apparently because of internal bleeding.Faucher, a sophomore, was admitted to the intensive care unit at University Hospital in Columbus for tests and observation. The laceration was diagnosed shortly afterward.&ldquo;I took him to the hospital after the game and stayed with him there overnight,&rdquo; said Laker coach Frank Anzalone. &ldquo;There was a moment when (the doctors) thought they would have to go in and surgically repair (the kidney).&rdquo;It turned out an operation wasn&rsquo;t necessary. Faucher was released from intensive care a day later, but was expected to remain hospitalized for a week. No timetable was set for his return.Ohio State will be without freshman defenseman Tim Green until January.Green underwent athroscopic surgery recently to repair a tom ligament in his left knee. He sustained the injury Nov. 11 in a game at Western Michigan.Although Green, a 5-foot-9, 172-pound rearguard from Mossleigh, Alta., had just two assists before the injury, Buckeye coach Jerry Welsh was impressed.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been very steady for a freshman and done a great job for us,&rdquo; Welsh said.&mdash;Matt Carlson &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

YOUNG GUN

<div class="byline">By RICK WAMSLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02961/5701793-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="561" height="1183"></div>Born: May 25. 1959, Simcoe, Ont. Height: 5-foot-11. Weight: 185 pounds. Team: Calgary Flames. Position: Goaltender. Acquired: Traded to Calgary by St. Louis, March 7, 1988.Career highlight: &ldquo;Winning the Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames last season. That was the realization of a dream.&rdquo;Favorite Visiting City: &ldquo;Boston. It&rsquo;s an older city with a lot of history and the Boston Garden is a very unique place to play.&rdquo;Best Hockey Quality: &ldquo;Just that I give a consistent effort every night.&rdquo;Boyhood Heroes: &ldquo;When I was a kid, I always liked Gerry Cheevers, and the Boston Bruins were my favorite team.&rdquo;What he&rsquo;d be doing if he wasn&rsquo;t in hockey: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really know, because hockey occupies you right from midget days. I think it would be business-oriented, something like accounting.&rdquo;Career Disappointment: &ldquo;Getting traded. I don&rsquo;t think there are many players who like getting traded.&rdquo;Favorite Movie:&nbsp;Rain Man.Favorite Book:&nbsp;Corporate Warriors.Hobbies: &ldquo;I like to play a lot of golf and tennis and I&rsquo;m a big sports fan. I like to go to major-league baseball games when I can in the summer, and to basketball games when we&rsquo;re on the road.&rdquo;Ideal Evening: &ldquo;I have two kids and it&rsquo;s nice to spend time with them. A dinner, a show and a bedtime story. Pretty boring, I guess.&rdquo;Most Embarrassing Moment: &ldquo;I was playing for St. Louis and it was in a game against Hartford. I came out to argue a call and I fell down.&rdquo; &#9632;

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PRO FILE

The New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks are the only current NHL teams never to have a player score 50 goals in a season. This season&rsquo;s team leaders are on a pace to come up just short. As of Dec. 5, Canuck left winger Greg Adams was on a pace to score 47 goals, Devil right winger Sylvain Turgeon was on course for 46.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02748/5702436-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="714" height="412"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Adams</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>The Minnesota North Stars reached a crossroads in their season at 31 games, and each way they looked seemed to guarantee a bumpy ride.If the Stars are to get better&mdash;they lost their last six games and fell out of first place in the Norris Division&mdash;they need to get tougher.Getting tougher means getting younger, And if they get younger, veterans will be pushed to the sideline.&ldquo;There are a bunch of forwards who&rsquo;d like to know why our guys get worked over in the other team&rsquo;s zone but their guys never seem to get touched in our end of the ice,&rdquo; one player said, repeating a criticism often heard from Dino Ciccarelli before he was traded to Washington last spring.No one was questioning the toughness of Basil McRae and Shane Churla, the North Stars&rsquo; cops. But unless they&rsquo;ve been on the ice, the Minnesota side of the blue line has been treated like a free-trade zone.&ldquo;Basil and Shane can&rsquo;t get mad for everybody, can&rsquo;t get even for ever-body,&rdquo; North Stars coach Pierre Page said, following a recent loss. &ldquo;We have a lot to leant and we won&rsquo;t get better until we learn to stand up for ourselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it for us.&rdquo;The Stars&rsquo; fifth and sixth straight losses came in a home-and-home series with Detroit (2-1 Dec. 8 and 3-1 Dec. 9), and served as an example of why Minnesota needs to get nastier.McRae, Churla and Mark Tinordi could fight the Red Wings&rsquo; tough guys from now&rsquo; til dawn and hold their own fairly well. But between scuffles, Mike Modano got mugged regularly and the rest of the Minnesota forwards were bounced around as if they were parts of a pinball game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting taken out and I&rsquo;m getting taken out hard,&rdquo; Stars&rsquo; forward Brian Bellows said. &ldquo;Teams aren&rsquo;t playing the run-and-gun style against us much any more. They&rsquo;re going to a more physical game.&ldquo;When we skate into the other end of the ice, it&rsquo;s like going into a war zone.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s an unwritten rule in hockey that says you have to give what you get. &ldquo;If they do it to us,&rdquo; Gaetan Duchesne said, &ldquo;we have to do it to them.&rdquo;But because most of the North Stars either don&rsquo;t like the rule, don&rsquo;t under stand it or don&rsquo;t chose to abide by it, the team was beginning to divide itself.The North Stars who take the hits were wondering who&rsquo;s going to give the hits.But toughness remained only a phone call away. Link Gaetz and Neil Wilkinson play the physical game for the Stars&rsquo; top farm team in Kalamazoo, and enjoy it.Gaetz, 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, was a second-round pick in the 1988 draft. He enhanced his reputation by showing up on draft day with two black eyes. Wilkinson, 6-foot-3 and 180, was the Stars&rsquo; second pick in the &rsquo;86 draft and seems almost anxious to stand up for teammates. Both lack experience.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to be patient, trying not to rush these guys,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;However, we may be getting to the point where it could be easier to deal with their inexperience than some of the other things that have been going on here lately.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 5: Rob Zettler, D, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL). Jayson More. D, recalled from Kalamazoo.Dec. 8: Peter Lappin. RW, recalled from KalamazooDec. 9: Ken Leiter, D, retired.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Mike Modano, Dave Gagner, Perry Berezan.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows. Basil McRae, Gaetan Duchesne, Bob Brooke, Curt Fraser.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Shane Churla, Stewart Gavin, Peter Lappin, Clark Donatelli, Dave Mackey, Helmut Balderis.LD&mdash;Ville Siren, Mark Tinordi, Curt Giles, Frantisek Musil.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Shawn Chambers. Jayson More.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gartner, 21. A&mdash;Broten, Murphy, 24. P&mdash;Gartner, 41 PIM&mdash;Churla, 127. &#9632;

THE NHL

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, NOBODY’S THERE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011272/5701552-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="552" height="703"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kimbi Daniels</figcaption></div>In the Jan. 5 issue of The Hockey News, we will take a look back on the 1980s, identifying the best and worst of a decade that is almost over.We&rsquo;ll also present part two of our World Junior Championship Preview, focusing on the Canadian and American entries that will journey to Finland for the prestigious tournament.Plus, the Minor Pro Report will detail the fortunes and misfortunes of the Ihanacak brothers (Peter and Miro) as they struggle to cope with life in the American League. The Major Junior Report takes a look at colorful Swift Current Bronco star Kimbi Daniels, and the U.S. College Report features one of the premier players in the country, Boston College defenseman Greg Brown.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021038/5701545-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="543" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Ihnacak</figcaption></div>Don&rsquo;t miss all that and more, in the last issue published before Christmas. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NEXT ISSUE

As a hockey fan living in Indianapolis, I&rsquo;ve had the opportunity to see many young hockey stars in the early stages of their careers, including Wayne Gretzky and Kelly Hrudey.So it was with great anticipation that I attended my first Junior Ice game to see Compuware&rsquo;s Eric Lindros.While his skating was unimpressive, his ability to control the puck in a crowd was amazing. But what really distinguished Lindros was his fighting ability. He was quick, brutal and ruthless. In a matter of seconds, he would remove his opponent&rsquo;s helmet and begin pummeling his opponent in the head with a steady barrage of jabs. It was apparent Lindros has been developing this skill for some time.If I cared to see a fighter of Lindros&rsquo; ability I would get tickets for a Golden Gloves boxing match, but I prefer hockey.The blame does not lie with Eric Lindros. It is the fault of a youth hockey system which provides a format for honing the fighting skill to such a high state of the art. We must begin punishing fighting and rewarding hockey skills, not vice versa.Paul Kurek Indianapolis, Ind.<h2>DIVING PENALTY</h2>I&rsquo;m sick and tired of players diving in order to get a power-play chance. The referee doesn&rsquo;t know whether to call a penalty or hand out an Oscar.I say let the ref give out an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Sure the referee still has to make a judgment call, but now players would think twice before diving.I promise you the diving would stop if there was the threat of a penalty. Right now, players have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking the plunge.Kenneth Wertheim Rockaway Beach, N. Y.<h2>USELESS COLUMN</h2>What was the point, value, purpose of Stan Fischler&rsquo;s column on All-Time Great Goalie Fights (THN, Nov. 17)? I would prefer to forget them.On the same page you ran a tiny &ldquo;Flashback&rdquo; item on Glenn Hall&rsquo;s mind-boggling streak of 503 consecutive games. I&rsquo;d rather have had 800 words on that, truly an All-Time Great Goalie Feat.N. Hoskin Troy, N. Y.<h2>DEAL STEAL</h2>Although it has only been a little over a third of the season, it seems the St. Louis Blues wound up pulling off one of the top steals of the decade by getting Adam Oates and Paul MacLean from Detroit for Bernie Federko and Tony McKegney this past summer. Oates and MacLean have been great while Federko has done little and McKegney was dealt to Quebec.The Red Wines seemed to lose interest in the youth movement and suddenly adopted a quick-fix attitude. However, there was never anything wrong with Oates and MacLean.Maybe there were other factors involved, but on the basis of age and performance of the players involved, the Blues definitely put one over on the Red Wings in this deal.Carl Smukall Batavia, N. Y.<h2>HALL NOMINATION</h2>You don&rsquo;t hear too much about all the unsung heroes in hockey because they were never in the limelight.But there is one player who has done what no other player in history has done.He played junior hockey for the Niagara Falls Flyers and won the Memorial Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011420/5701607-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="558" height="772"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Marcotte should be in the Hall of Fame.</figcaption></div>He played for the Oklahoma City Blazers and won the Central Division Cup.He played with the Hershey Bears and won the Calder Cup.He played with the Boston Bruins and won two Stanley Cups.A player like this should be in the Hall of Fame. His name is Don Marcotte.Mike Dudla Niagara Falls, Ont.<h2>DEFENSE RESTS</h2>Steve Dryden says Canada will be hard-pressed to match a U.S. defense corps that could include Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch, Phil Housley, Gary Suter, Craig Ludwig, Kevin Hatcher and Al Iafrate for the 1991 Canada Cup (THN, Nov. 17).I don&rsquo;t think that will be a problem at all for Canada with players such as Raymond Bourque, Al Maclnnis, Paul Coffey, Scott Stevens, Steve Duchesne, Kevin Lowe, Bruce Driver and James Patrick.Mark Cousens Knowlton, QueMake your feelings known. Send your comments to:&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News,&rsquo;85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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IT’S TIME TO STOP REWARDING FIGHTERS

<div class="byline">By BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021146/5701638-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="524" height="598"></div>In a year when the Berlin Wall has come tumbling down and a tattered and tom Iron Curtain pulled aside throughout much of eastern Europe, it would be easy to dismiss a single hockey game as insignificant.It would also be inaccurate.Those who believe sports and politics should not mix should have witnessed the events of Nov. 24 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.Sparta Prague was scheduled to host Skoda Plzen in a nationally-televised game. The teams took to the ice, but lined up, hand-in-hand, across the center red line. Captains Jan Reindl of Sparta and Pavel Setikovsky of Skoda then announced to a nation-wide audience that there were more important matters than hockey to consider on this night. The players would not play the game.The crowd erupted into a standing ovation. The players, all with miniature Czechoslovakian flags sewn on their uniforms, passed their sticks into the crowd and left the ice surface to tumultuous applause.A week earlier, the Czechoslovakian military had used whips and clubs to subdue a peaceful student protest in the streets of Prague. The surge for political reform&mdash;the ongoing quest for democracy&mdash;that had previously swept through East Germany and Poland had arrived in Czechoslovakia. But it was met with resistance.Which is what made the players&rsquo; actions truly remarkable.&ldquo;The situation at the time (of the players&rsquo; walkout) was not so easy as it is now,&rdquo; says Pavel Barta, a hockey writer with Gol magazine, a national soccer and hockey publication based in Prague.&ldquo;The players wanted to do something to make a statement. The two captains said only that actions speak louder than words. It was a very big thing. The whole country saw it. Many believe it was the biggest moment (of the reform movement). To see the players stand hand in hand&hellip;it was quite something.&rdquo;Over the next two days, more than one million Czechoslovaks paraded through the streets of Prague, many of them gathering in Wenceslas Square to denounce 41 years of communist rule.It was a public emotional outpouring not seen since March 29, 1969, when Czechoslovakians took to the streets to celebrate a 4-3 victory over the hated Soviets at the World Championships in Stockholm. The combination celebration-protest was aimed at Soviet troops, which had stormed into Prague seven months earlier to quash anti-communist sentiment.It would be silly to suggest the actions of two hockey teams were at the vanguard of political and social reform in Czechoslovakia in 1989. That would be an insult to the students and dissidents who have fought the good fight in eastern-bloc nations.But neither should one underestimate the power of public figures taking a strong stance.In the days following the emotional Sparta-Skoda walkout, two more games in the Czechoslovak Federal League were not played as part of the protest movement.On Nov. 26, Sparta netminder Petr Briza was among the select few who addressed more than 800,000 people at Wenceslas Square, in a civic rally which was broadcast to the rest of the nation.&ldquo;Briza said the people of Czechoslovakia should know that the sportsmen are in solidarity with them, that they, too, are against bad politics and bad government,&rdquo; Barta reports. &ldquo;There is a perception by many people here that hockey players think only of themselves, of making big money and playing one day in the NHL. Briza said this is not true.&rdquo;Now, reforms are sweeping through Czechoslovakia. Yet another communist government has fallen in what is the most incredible and heart-warming news story of the year.And though it&rsquo;s just one drop in an emotional tidal wave, the record will show that the actions of Briza and his hockey-playing compatriots did speak louder than words.They cried freedom. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

PLAYERS STRIKE BLOW FOR FREEDOM

&#9632; New York Islander goalie Mark Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick, 21, recorded shutouts in three of four games over a 10-day period. In the modem era of goal inflation, it&rsquo;s a pleasure to see someone deliver some Terry Sawchuk-like numbers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03739/5701676-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="365" height="367"></div>&#9632; NHL president John Ziegler and the board of governors. They could have shown up in Palm Beach, Fla., and said what a complex issue expansion is and how no decision should be made now. But they went ahead and did what they&rsquo;ve been talking about for the past year&mdash;confirm expansion. As the details emerge over the next year, though, we&rsquo;ll discover to what extent they should be cheered or jeered. It is, after all, a complex issue.&#9632; Any NHL club which isn&rsquo;t in favor of making Soviet exhibitions count in the standings. Just as 16 teams making the playoffs is an economic reality for the NHL, mid-season exhibitions against the Soviets is an economic reality for the NHL Players&rsquo; Association. Therefore, make the best of a boring situation. Make the games count in the standings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04408/5701669-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="364" height="361"></div>&#9632; Minnesota North Stars and Detroit Red Wings. With the score 3-1 for Detroit and less than a minute remaining in the Dec. 9 game, why were Stars Basil McRae, Mark Tinordi and Shane Churla on the ice against Torrie Robertson and Joey Kocur? You won&rsquo;t believe it, but a brawl broke out. &#9632;

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CHEERS JEERS

Official NHL Sponsor Official Cars and TrucksALL STAR BALLOTING AVAILABLE AT CHRYSLER CANADA DEALERSMONTREAL&mdash;New York Islander netminder Mark Fitzpatrick, who posted a 1-0-1 record consisting of two consecutive shutouts, was named the Chrysler Canada Performer of the Week for the period ending Dec. 10. Fitzpatrick, who turned away a combined total of 65 shots in the games, edged Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger Luc Robitaille and Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; netminder Jacques Cloutier to capture the award.Chrysler Canada and the Dodge division of Chrysler Motors will donate $500 to the youth hockey organization of each performer&rsquo;s choice. Chrysler Canada and the Dodge division of Chrysler Motors also sponsor the Performer of the Month and Performer of the Year Awards, for which the latter receives the Dodge vehicle of his choice. In four years, Chrysler Canada and Dodge have contributed more than $180,000 to youth hockey associations across North America.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011427/5701707-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="567" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Fitzpatrick</figcaption></div>Fitzpatrick, a 21-year-old native of Toronto, began the week by shutting out the league-leading Buffalo Sabres 3-0 (Dec. 5), turning away 32 shots and facing four Buffalo power-play opportunities. On Dec. 9, Fitzpatrick led his club to a scoreless tie with the Patrick Division leading New York Rangers. The league&rsquo;s last scoreless tie occured on Dec. 10,1988 when the Montreal Canadiens hosted the Washington Capitals.Fitzpatrick had a 3.21 average and a .909 save percentage through 16 games in 1989-90. The Islanders were riding a five-game undefeated streak, including three shutouts in five games.Robitaille led all NHL scorers with 10 points (3-7-10) in three games, while Cloutier led his club to a 3-0-0 record with a 2.29 average. &#9632;

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NHL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The most penetrating look at the NHL&rsquo;s financial structure ever conducted is currently in the hands of Vancouver author Allison Griffith. When it&rsquo;s published next fall&mdash;titled The Business of Hockey&mdash;the book could be a guide for the players&rsquo; union in negotiations on the collective bargaining agreement. Griffith will detail, among other touchy subjects, the league&rsquo;s profit structure. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll show that the teams make a lot more money than people think,&rdquo; promises Griffith. With coauthor David Cruise, Griffith plans to dissect the NHL&rsquo;s union-busting methods of the 1950s, when Haul-of-Famers Ted Lindsay, Bill Gadsby, Doug Harvey and others formed the first players&rsquo; association. &ldquo;Ted Lindsay has talked freely about it,&rdquo; Griffith reveals, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ll be talking to others. They blamed (NHL president) Clarence Campbell (for the union-busting) as well as Conn Smythe (Maple Leafs) and Jack Adams (Red Wings).&rdquo; The authors already have interviewed several NHL owners, including Mike Hitch (Detroit) and Arthur Griffiths (Vancouver).<h2>L.A. LARRY</h2>Larry Robinson surprised some when he revealed he&rsquo;s planting permanent roots in California. Robbie not only put his Hudson, Que., farmhouse up for sale, but even more shocking is the revelation he&rsquo;s severing ties to his Montreal business partner, Don Cape. Robinson and Cape shared ownership of Dingy&rsquo;s, a car shop, and were involved in other ventures. Cape infuriated and exasperated GM Serge Savard in negotiations before Robbie went west with the Kings&hellip;While the NHL takes its time with expansion, ex-WHA president Dennis Murphy is said to be meeting with groups about starting another rival league. At least one well-known hockey television producer is said to be involved.<h2>GIVING CREDIT</h2>Minnesota coach Pierre Page, a top candidate for coach-of-the-year, wants some of the credit deflected. &ldquo;Nobody talks about how much (assistant coach) Doug Jarvis does for this team,&rdquo; says Page. &ldquo;If I want to use certain guys, he says &lsquo;No!&rsquo; And I listen.&rdquo;&hellip;Joe Murphy has tried to steer newsmen away from questions about his troubled Detroit past. &ldquo;I just want to talk about my college days,&rdquo; he says. Teammate Petr Klima overheard him and suggested to the media they talk to him about his college days, too. &ldquo;But you didn&rsquo;t go to college,&rdquo; a reporter said. &ldquo;So what?&rdquo; Klima replied. &ldquo;Nobody will know it.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Prague upheaval has had a profound effect on Czechoslovak defector Ladislav Tresl of the Halifax Citadels. He remembers his seventh birthday in Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968, when Soviet tanks invaded his country. &ldquo;I remember tanks all over the place,&rdquo; says Tresl, &ldquo;and Russian soldiers wearing big machine guns checking every car. I didn&rsquo;t have a clue what was going on but it was scary.&rdquo;<h2>BROTHERS INC.</h2>Ex-Blues&rsquo; ace Wayne Babych is president of a Winnipeg-based worldwide investment company in partnership with brother David of the Whalers. A 54-goal scorer in 1980-81, Babych suffered a severe knee injury when clubbed by Ken McRae of the Nordiques in 1986-87. &ldquo;My knee is shot,&rdquo; says Babych, &ldquo;but I can still fly as long as there are no 220-pound guys chasing me.&rdquo; In his spare time, Babych coaches underprivileged Indian youngsters in the Manitoba Junior League&hellip;Now assistant coach of the Flames, Paul Baxter explains his &ldquo;secret&rdquo; at inducing opposition infractions. &ldquo;I got so good at luring people into taking dumb penalties,&rdquo; says Baxter, &ldquo;because over the years I took so many myself. I got to know how to get under people&rsquo;s skin.&rdquo;<h2>VOTE FOR VIDEO</h2>The Isles&rsquo; Pat LaFontaine, the centerpiece in three straight games involving close goal calls around the crease, says the NHL should use the video replay system. &ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be like the NFL,&rdquo; says LaFontaine, &ldquo;where they use replays a lot. The NHL could limit it to questions about goals and it wouldn&rsquo;t waste much time.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Rejuvenated Mike Bullard continues to save the Flyers, and the Philly high command makes no bones about how it laid it on the line with the once-uncontrollable sharpshooter. &ldquo;We told him he had to make a commitment to us or his career might be over,&rdquo; says coach Paul Holmgren, referring to a spring meeting also attended by GM Bob Clarke. Bullard has since committed himself to discipline and, now that he&rsquo;s dropped 26 pounds and his body fat from 20 to 13 per cent, he says, &ldquo;I like me now!&rdquo;<h2>EYEING A CURE</h2>North Stars&rsquo; co-owner Gordon Gund is featured on full-page Town & Country magazine ads across the United States. Blinded in 1970 by the disease retinitis pigmentosa, Gund has devoted his time, energy and business skills developing the organizations necessary to search for a cure&mdash;for others. &ldquo;Long ago,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I gave up any hope of treatment for myself. But my wife and I resolved to find a cure for future generations.&rdquo;&hellip;Several NHL clubs have psychiatrists on the payroll. The Bruins have employed Dr. Fred Neff for years and the Blackhawks have signed Cal Botterill, a psychologist who likes to say he&rsquo;s a &ldquo;stretch,&rdquo; not a shrink. &ldquo;I want to take players further within themselves,&rdquo; says Botterill, &ldquo;and develop their individual attributes that complement their physical talents.&rdquo; &#9632;

NEW BOOK TO EXPOSE BUSINESS OF HOCKEY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011325/5701762-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DECEMBER 25,1989-DON CHERRY MAKES THE DRESSING FOR THE CHRISTMAS TURKEY</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-01

ELSTON

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div>The race to replace Alan Eagleson as executive director of the National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association will be a 15-man affair.But not for long.The NHLPA&rsquo;s six-player search committee (chairman Kevin Dineen and members Bryan Trottier, Bobby Smith, Gerald Diduck, Dean Kennedy and Randy Moller) are scheduled to meet Dec. 18 in New York City. Their task will be to whittle down the list of candidates to about five.Originally, the schedule called for the committee to interview the five finalists on Dec. 18.Now, the interview step won&rsquo;t happen until the new year.&ldquo;We hope to conduct interviews in January,&rdquo; says Keith McLean of Price Waterhouse&rsquo;s executive search firm. He&rsquo;s coordinating the effort to locate a deputy executive director who will ultimately succeed Eagleson as the head of the union.&ldquo;Certainly, by no later than the conclusion of the All-Star Game (Jan. 2l in Pittsburgh) we&rsquo;ll have finished the interviews and, hopefully, the committee will be able to put forth one or two names to the team reps for a vote.&rdquo;McLean says the number of candidates had been set at 10, but the quantity and quality of people required expanding the field.The 15 candidates, all screened and interviewed by McLean, are split almost evenly between hockey and non-hockey people. They represent a wide variety of professions and backgrounds. Some are lawyers; some aren&rsquo;t. Some have labor backgrounds; others don&rsquo;t.&ldquo;The six players on the committee represent a lot of different constituencies, a lot of different philosophies as to the kind of person who should fill the position,&rdquo; McLean says. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t even tell you what exactly they&rsquo;ll decide on. So I&rsquo;ll give them options and they can pick the five best.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be honest: I don&rsquo;t know what direction they&rsquo;ll go. The decision will be theirs. I can only tell you that any one on the long list (of 15) can do the job and they have varying degrees of interest in it.&rdquo;There has been much speculation on the identity of the candidates. Player agent Bill Watters and ex-player-turned-labor-lawyer Kevin O&rsquo;Shea, both of Toronto, are two names that are repeatedly mentioned. Don Meehan, another Toronto agent and lawyer, had been considered a candidate but withdrew from consideration in late November.Because the list includes 15 names, identifying a favorite is virtually impossible.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve read and heard so many different stories, none of them true or accurate,&rdquo; says McLean. &ldquo;Before that meeting on the 18th, the players on the committee won&rsquo;t even know for sure who&rsquo;s on that list. They might speculate but they won&rsquo;t know for sure because I haven&rsquo;t told them. Confidentiality for many of the candidates is essential. I&rsquo;ve had candidates tell me, &lsquo;The minute I hear my name mentioned publicly is the moment I cease to be a candidate.&rsquo;&rdquo;McLean has, however, been in regular contact with Dineen, using the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; right winger as a sounding board. He says he&rsquo;s been impressed with the player&rsquo;s level of commitment, and the interest from other committee members.One man, however, isn&rsquo;t sold on the system. Ed Garvey, former head of the National Football League Players&rsquo; Association who helped lead a player revolt against Eagleson in the summer, says the &ldquo;process isn&rsquo;t what it should be.&ldquo;There should be a full-scale discussion in the off-season. You can see the dilemma the players will have. Out of what universe should this person come from? What are the conditions? The standards? All this is going to be done with a one-day meeting in New York with six players, many of whom are loyal to Eagleson?&ldquo;This whole thing is moving down the track like a freight train. That&rsquo;s the way Eagleson wants it: Conduct important business when the players are busy playing. That&rsquo;s the problem. This will be an Eagleson selection and the players will end up with an Eagleson Jr. It&rsquo;s ludicrous.&rdquo;McLean disagrees. He says Eagleson has no role in the search, and the six committee members are conscious of their responsibility to the NHLPA membership.&ldquo;Our firm regularly hires chief executive officers for major international corporations,&rdquo; says McLean. &ldquo;If anything, more time and effort and is being spent on this search than many others. The process is sound.&rdquo;Whomever is chosen as deputy executive director is expected to work alongside Eagleson as co-negotiator for the new collective bargaining agreement. The existing one expires in the fall of 1991. Shortly thereafter, Eagleson would step aside to make way for the new man. &#9632;

NHLPA SEARCH THEN THERE WERE 15…

<div class="byline">BY TUN STAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011507/5701848-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Lawless is one of several ex-NHLers who will be suiting up for Davos, Switzerland, in the Spengler Cup.</figcaption></div>The Canadian national team will be a weary bunch after the Spengler Cup tournament Dec. 31.Dave King&rsquo;s team, which played an eight-game series against the Soviet Selects in early December, will be playing in the Izvestia Cup in Moscow Dec. 16 to 23, and the Spengler Cup in Switzerland Dec. 26 to 31.Most years, the national team plays the Izvestia and a team of Canadians playing in Europe makes up the Spengler entry but favorable scheduling will allow the nats to play in both tournaments this year.&ldquo;Usually we can&rsquo;t do this any more than once quadrennially (every four years),&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;And they always request that we send the national team if possible.&rdquo;The Izvestia, in which the Canadians finished fourth last season, is a six-team tournament featuring Canada, the Soviet Union, West Germany, Finland, Sweden and Czechoslovakia. King said it&rsquo;s unrealistic to expct an improvement on last year&rsquo;s performance.&ldquo;If we finish fourth I think we&rsquo;ll be very satisfied,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;The main thing for us is to play well and show signs were getting somewhere. The competition is going to be very tough.&rdquo;In the Spengler, King was hoping for a top-two finish, but said he knows that will also be difficult. The host team from Davos has loaded up on ex-NHLers like Kent Nilsson, Merlin Malinowski, Mike McEwen and Paul Lawless.The defending champions from the United States will feature the 1989 Hobey Baker Trophy winner Lane MacDonald, who is playing for Lugano in Switzerland. The team also hopes to get Tim Sweeney from Salt Lake of the International League, Mike McHugh from Kalamazoo (IHL), Guy Hebert from Peoria (IHL) and Mike Donnelly from Rochester of the American League. The U.S. entry will be coached by Bill Flynn.Some of the best under-17 players in the world will be in the Quebec Esso Cup in Montreal. The tournament being held Dec. 31 to Jan. 7, features six teams from Canada&mdash;two from Quebec and one each from Ontario, West, Atlantic and Pacific&mdash;the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Finland and USA.Sweden won the last tournament two years ago.<h2>NHL CELEBRATES</h2>The NHL has announced plans for a $20 million extravaganza celebrating the 75th anniversary of the league during the 1991-92 season and the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup in 1992-93.Plans include having the original six teams play each other on opening night in 1991, wearing replicas of 75-year-old uniforms.NHL president John Zielger made the announcement at the NHL board of governors meeting Dec. 7 in Palm Beach, Fla. John Kerr, former president of the Minnesota North Stars, was appointed executive director of the NHL Anniversaries.&ldquo;The anniversaries will showcase the NHL&rsquo;s rich tradition and history, distinct personalities and great legends,&rdquo; said Ziegler. &ldquo;The celebration of the NHL&rsquo;s 75th birthday will be festive, fun and exciting. The Stanley Cup centennial will be more dignified and ceremonial.&rdquo;The 1991-92 season will mark the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. It will also be the 20th anniversary of the Calgary (nee Atlanta) Flames and New York Islanders, and the 10th anniversary of the New Jersey Devils.<h2>TOUR UPDATE</h2>Khimik Voskresensk won one of the first three games of its tour of the NHL. The Soviet Elite League leaders defeated Los Angeles 6-3 Dec. 4, then lost 6-2 to Edmonton Dec. 6 and 6-3 to Calgary Dec. 8.Against the Kings, Andrei Kvartalnov and Vladimir Eryomin each scored twice before 13,513. Khimik held Wayne Gretzky scoreless.In Edmonton, as Esa Tikkanen recorded three assists. Only 6,804 were on hand at Northlands Coliseum.In Calgary, before 11,873, Sergei Makarov scored twice for Calgary against his fellow Soviets, and Theoren Fleury had three points. Eryomin scored twice for Khimik.Khimik was to play three more games against NHL teams. Three other Soviet teams&mdash;Soviet Wings, Red Army and Dynamo Moscow&mdash;were also scheduled to tour.<h2>MORE GAMES</h2>Hockey Night in Canada has added four games to its Canadian Broadcasting Corporation network television schedule.The first game, Los Angeles at Quebec on Dec. 10, ended in an 8-4 Kings&rsquo; victory.Two of the other &ldquo;special editions&rdquo; are set for Sunday afternoons&mdash;Edmonton at Winnipeg, Dec. 31,4 p.m. local time, and Calgary at New York Rangers, Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m. local time. The other game, between the Oilers and Montreal at Edmonton, goes Friday, Dec. 29, at 7:30 p.m. local time.<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Dec. 28-29: Riverfront Tournament in Cincinnati. Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown in Milwaukee.Dec. 29-30: RPI Invitational in Troy. N.Y. Syracuse Invitational. Auld Lang Syne Classic in Durham, N.H. Dexter Shoe Classic in Orono, Maine. Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit.Dec. 31-Jan. 7: Quebec Esso Cup in Montreal. &#9632;

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CANADIAN NATIONAL TEAM TO PLAY IN BOTH IZVESTIA AND SPENGLER TOURNAMENTS

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT MORRISON</div>The National Hockey League will expand by at least one team and perhaps as many as seven in the 1990s.The board of governors, after three days of meetings Dec. 7-9 in Palm Beach, Fla., said its goal for the next decade is to take the current 21-team league to a 28-member loop by the turn of the century.NHL president John Ziegler said the board agreed in principle to expand by one or more teams to begin play no sooner than the 1992-93 season. The cost per franchise, he said, will be no less than $50 million (U.S.).The NHL&rsquo;s franchise and market analysis committee, which produced a report on potential growth, will now become essentially an expansion committee. It will prepare the formal application documents, with the terms and conditions of expansion, by late February. Then the board will convene again for a special meeting.The specifics of how many teams the league will first take in will likely be decided in June in Vancouver, while the selection of the franchise sites probably will be made in Florida next December.&ldquo;The board, was unified in its expression of confidence in the vitality and growth potential of the NHL and its decision to move forward on expansion vividly reflects that confidence,&rdquo; said Ziegler.The NHL also reflected an interest in expanding its wealth, and protecting itself from the rumored birth of a new Global League. And with the &ldquo;goal&rdquo; of seven new teams, the league will maintain high-level interest in the eight or nine cities considered on a list of possible sites.A cynic might suggest that seven teams represent an unrealistic expectation and the league, at no risk to itself, talked of a 28-team league primarily to reduce any prospective site&rsquo;s interest in a rival league. But the governors dismissed that notion, adding the subject of a rival league was never broached.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011350/5701886-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="699" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Ziegler says the cost of a franchise would be at least $50 million</figcaption></div>If, in fact, more than three teams were to become a reality, it would be a big boost to the hopes of Hamilton and Ottawa. The two Canadian cities appeared to have little hope of landing a franchise if the league, anxious to improve its exposure in the United States, stopped at three teams.This also could be the move that renews interest in a national television contract in the United States.&ldquo;I never thought we would make a decision on our plan of the &rsquo;90s so quickly,&rdquo; said Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; owner Marcel Aubut. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big day in the history of the league. The big thing is there is hope for many cities now. Even if we choose one, two or three teams to come in (1992-93), there will still be four spots available.&rdquo;While the board didn&rsquo;t specifically discuss possible sites during these meetings, it was apparent the overwhelming sentiment is to add one team, or perhaps two, on the west coast of the U.S. The third will likely be in another American market. A lot of governors don&rsquo;t view Hamilton or Ottawa as major-league municipalities. The possibility of seven teams, though, makes the question more interesting.When the league expands next, it will be the sixth time the it has grown in the modem era. The first expansion, in 1967, doubled the NHL&rsquo;s size to 12 teams. The last, in 1979, saw four World Hockey Association teams brought in at a cost of $6 million apiece.&ldquo;That move in 1979 was forced on us,&rdquo; said Boston Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;It was a solution to a problem, but this will be an addition rather than a solution. It&rsquo;s necessary now, though, because there seems to be a need for it.&rdquo;Expansion will also provide a huge return for the existing teams. If one new team is added, at $50 million, each current NHL team would receive about $2.4 million.&ldquo;If you understand business and what a team can do for a community, that amount of money ($50 million) is inexpensive,&rdquo; said Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington, lukewarm to expansion a year ago, but now sold on its nobler merits.The first wave of expansion will likely be by three teams. In the NHL&rsquo;s ideal future, another two teams would be added four years later, with the other two coming in at the end of the decade.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to take in seven teams, would you do it all at once or make some of them wait?&rdquo; reasoned Sinden. &ldquo;Would there be any more players available in 10 years? The cost (of a franchise) could reach $100 million in five years.&rdquo;Cities interested in franchises&mdash;about 30 have contacted the league&mdash;will be able to make formal applications after the February board meeting. Ziegler advised, though, that owners already aligned with cities and arenas have the best chance.It was expected all along the league would vote in favor of expansion, but some weren&rsquo;t certain it would happen quite so quickly. Several governors admitted they were surprised a consensus was reached at these meetings.While most governors were in favor, there were a handful with concerns about available talent and the fact a couple of teams (Minnesota lost $5 million last year) are struggling at the gate, and still losing money.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02936/5701879-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1464" height="1696"><figcaption class="caption-body">Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; owner Marcel Aubut was surprised the NHL&rsquo;s board of governors was able to come to such a quick decision on the expansion issue.</figcaption></div>Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, said the only concern of the players was that new teams not be left financially strapped by the $50-million entry fee.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to see a team so debt-ridden they have to move,&rdquo; said Eagleson. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want another Oakland/Kansas City/Colorado/Cleveland situation. But we think the money is great. We&rsquo;re going to get our share of it.&rdquo;Leading sites to receive a franchise appear to be San Jose, Seattle and Milwaukee. But with the possibility of seven teams in the next decade, new doors may be opened.&ldquo;There are obviously people out there willing to spend that kind of money,&rdquo; said Eagleson.When the league expanded by six teams in 1967, the franchise fee was set at $2 million. In 1970, 1972, 1974 and 1979, the cost was $6 million per team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s incredible,&rdquo; said Aubut. &ldquo;When we came in (1979) the price was $6 million. We had to pay $2 million cash, with the balance in notes.&ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s $50 million (U.S.) and that&rsquo;s probably not the final price. But that shows how solid and healthy the league is. It&rsquo;s a question of offer and demand.&rdquo;Entering the meetings, Eagleson said nine teams favored expansion, six were undecided, and six more had serious concerns. That turned to a 15-6 split in favor, midway through the meetings. The six were not against; they simply required answers to specific questions. A total of 16 votes was required to pass expansion and, according to one source, in the end there was no opposition. Canadian Press did, however, report that the Toronto Maple Leafs cast the lone dissenting vote.&ldquo;There was some very strong opposition swayed at these meetings,&rdquo; said one governor.In other business, the board approved one significant change for next season. Goal lines will be moved out one more foot, from 10 to 11 feet, from the boards next season. The extra two feet will be taken out of the neutral zone.The governors couldn&rsquo;t reach consensus on alteration of eligibility requirements for the Calder Trophy, given annually to the top rookie. There remained a possibility the rule will be changed in June, however, to make it open only to players 26 years or younger with less than one year of pro experience. Soviets and Czechoslovakians will be considered pros.Despite controversy and waning attendance, the league will have another Soviet tour next season to all 21 cities, though only three Soviet teams will make the visit. Eight NHL teams are interested in having the games count in the standings. A vote is expected in June.Again next year, two teams will have training camp in the Soviet Union. They will likely be the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota North Stars. The Calgary Flames and Washington Capitals went last fall. &#9632;

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NHL TO EXPAND

<div class="byline">BY BOB McKENZIE</div>The World Junior Championships have always been a showcase for the planet&rsquo;s I best young players. It&rsquo;s never been more evident than this year.It&rsquo;s conceivable the No. 1 pick overall in three consecutive NHL entry drafts will be on display, Dec. 26-Jan. 4 in Helsinki, Finland, for the 1990 tournament.Canada is expected to suit up centers Mike Ricci, 18, and Eric Lindros, 16, consensus choices as the top pro prospects for the 1990 and 1991 drafts. Sweden&rsquo;s lineup will feature right winger Mats Sundin, 18, taken first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 entry draft.The Soviet Union boasts the most dynamic 18-year-old hockey player in the world, left winger Pavel Bure. Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s roster is headed by left winger Robert Holik, whom the Hartford Whalers drafted 10th overall last summer. Holik turns 19 on New Year&rsquo;s Day. Bure was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks (113th overall in 1989), but is the subject of an NHL eligibility investigation. His draft status is unclear.For Sundin and Lindros, the tournament will mark their debuts at the elite international level. Ricci, a member of Canada&rsquo;s fourth-place entry a year ago at Alaska, established his credentials in Anchorage. He not only played well (5-2-7 in seven games), he was a team leader at the tender age of 17. Bure and Holik also fit into the category of proven international elite.The pressure, then, will be on the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Swede and 6-foot-4,217-pound phenom from Toronto. And it may be asking too much for them to live up to enormous expectations, although Ricci proved it can be done.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very difficult for any 16-, 17- and even 18-year-old player in that tournament,&rsquo;&rsquo; says Dave King, coach of Canada&rsquo;s national team. King coached the 1982 (gold) and 1983 (bronze) junior teams. A 17-year-old Mario Lemieux was on the latter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011437/5701931-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="705" height="877"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mats Sundin will have a chance to strut his stuff for Sweden.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021159/5701924-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="701" height="1843"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Bure, left, of the Soviet Union, and Canada&rsquo;s Mike Ricci will both be playing in their second World Junior Championships tournament.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03897/5701917-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="708" height="1834"></div>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll find that the most successful teams in the World Junior Championships are the most experienced teams, the ones with the most 19-year-olds on them. For a North American kid, it&rsquo;s a whole new experience over there. You&rsquo;ve got the bigger ice surface. You have a higher-tempo game.&ldquo;The coach is in a difficult position because it&rsquo;s such a short tournament. You can&rsquo;t wait for players to get it together. There&rsquo;s immense pressure and the coach must go with the guys who are performing. So a youngster with little or no experience at that level isn&rsquo;t always afforded the opportunity to adjust. If the media decides to make an issue of it&hellip;&rdquo;That was the scenario King faced with Lemieux. The Laval junior&rsquo;s ice time was limited. So was Pierre Turgeon&rsquo;s in the 1987 tournament, when Bert Templeton was the coach. Like Lemieux, Turgeon was a No. 1 overall pick (in the &rsquo;87 entry draft).Sundin, despite his status as a No. 1 NHL pick, isn&rsquo;t even considered the best junior player in Sweden. That honor goes to Niklas Andersson, 18, a 5-foot-9, 174-pound offensive whiz who was drafted 68th overall by the Nordiques last summer. Size is all that separates him from the ranks of blue-chip pro prospects.Sundin is a Swedish Elite League rookie on the powerful Djurgardens club, playing behind talented veterans.King&rsquo;s national team assistant coach, Guy Charron, is head coach of this year&rsquo;s national junior team. He&rsquo;s well aware of the potential pitfalls awaiting a young star such as Lindros, who won&rsquo;t turn 17 until February.&ldquo;He (Lindros) showed us this summer that he has the ability to make this team,&rdquo; Charron says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very big demand on a young man. It&rsquo;s not an Eric Lindros show. He has the opportunity to play against older and talented players. He has to play the way he&rsquo;ll best contribute to the hockey team and not to showcase Eric Lindros.&rdquo;As for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Peterborough Pete star, Charron says: &ldquo;Ricci proved himself at last year&rsquo;s championships and that will give him an edge this year. He&rsquo;s the kind of player who can have a big impact on our team.&rdquo;Scouting representatives of every NHL club will be in Finland for the eight-team round-robin tournament, which is being played in four sites in and around Helsinki. Canada, United States, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Norway are represented.Like King, the scouts appreciate the difficulties facing inexperienced junior stars. A poor tournament performance doesn&rsquo;t necessarily alter their draft value, but an outstanding effort will certainly increase it.&ldquo;If Lindros (of Detroit Compuware) can go over there, never having played higher than Tier II, and really show something, then you&rsquo;ve got to believe he&rsquo;s capable of matching the hype about him,&rdquo; says an NHL scout. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s saying something because the media hype on this kid is almost out of control. It&rsquo;s getting to the point where expectations are maybe becoming unrealistic.&rdquo;For the scouts, Lindros&rsquo; performance is not as immediate a concern as that of Ricci and a plethora of other top draft-eligible prospects. Undoubtedly, some rising stars will emerge from this tournament, but NHL scouts already have an idea who to watch.Bryan Smolinski, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound freshman center from Michigan State, will be the most scrutinized prospect on the U.S. team. Smolinski, who turns 18 on Dec. 27, is pegged as a potential first-round pick in the 1990 draft. He had 94 points in 48 games with the Stratford (Jr. B) Cullitons last season.Jaromir Jagr, a 17-year-old right winger from Czechoslovakia, is a premier prospect. Were Jagr immediately available to an NHL team, he&rsquo;d be a top-10 choice next summer. In spite of his unavailability, he still may go that high, as Holik did last summer. Political and social reforms in Czechoslovakia won&rsquo;t hurt his cause either.Jagr is an offensive force who played one game with the Czechoslovakian senior national team against the Soviet Union. He played on a line with fellow juniors Holik and the gifted Robert Reichel (drafted 70th overall by Calgary in &rsquo;89). Jagr had seven goals and five assists in five games at the under-18 European championships last April.Another brilliant prospect is 17-year-old Soviet center Viacheslav Kozlov. Kozlov is a pure offensive talent who has drawn favorable comparisons to the late Valery Kharlamov, a dominant winger in the 1970s.Kozlov led the Soviet under-18 team to the European title last April. He had a team-high five goals and seven assists in five games.Were he available, he&rsquo;d be a certain first-rounder. But the Soviet-to-NHL trend doesn&rsquo;t include young stars of his stature.Sweden is without an undrafted blue-chip pro prospect. The Finns, meanwhile, have one undrafted prospect who will be monitored. Left winger Vesa Viitakakoski, 18, who was passed over in last year&rsquo;s draft, will get a long look this year. He is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds.In addition to Ricci and Lindros, the Canadian team could have more NHL first-round material. That depends on the composition of the final 20-man roster.Cornwall right winger Owen Nolan, 17, is a prime prospect. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder combines a scoring knack with a knockout punch and physical style of play.Seventeen-year-old goalies Trevor Kidd of Brandon and Corey Hirsch of Kamloops are two more top prospects. They will be battling with Todd Bojcun of Peterborough, 19, for the backup job to projected No. 1 netminder Stephane Fiset of Victoriaville.Next week: A team-by-team look at the eight WJC entries, with an emphasis on Canada and the United States. &#9632;

f0008-01

STARS COME OUT

<div class="byline">DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011476/5701962-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="460" height="628"></div>If you know the game, you know the name. Patrick. It&rsquo;s been synonymous with the NHL since Lester was leading the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup. Yeah, they&rsquo;ve been around that long.That regal line continued with Lynn and Muzz, and reached its third generation when Craig came along. Molding the Rangers into Stanley Cup contenders became kind of a family hobby.It seems there have always been Patricks in the NHL. More to the point, the NHL has always been in the Patricks.Which is why Craig Patrick walked away from a comfortable job at the University of Denver Dec. 5 and threw himself into the cauldron of turmoil that was the Pittsburgh Penguins.He had been away from the league for more than three years. Just ask him. He probably had his absence clocked down to the minute.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve missed the NHL since July 15, 1986,&rdquo; Patrick said on his first day in Pittsburgh. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve missed it terribly.&rdquo; Patrick replaced Tony Esposito as general manager and will serve as interim coach until he decides on Gene Ubriaco&rsquo;s successor.Okay, so Patrick felt bad about being away from the NHL. To hear those who know him tell it, the only amazing thing is that the game somehow survived without him.Boston Bruins&rsquo; assistant coach Ted Sator: &ldquo;Craig said he missed the NHL, but I think the NHL has missed Craig Patrick, too.&rdquo;Broadcaster and 1980 U.S. Olympic hero Mike Eruzione: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of man who commands the most respect. I don&rsquo;t know anybody who didn&rsquo;t like Craig Patrick.&rdquo;Broadcaster and former NHL goalie John Davidson: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very quiet person, but people see that and underestimate how competitive he can be. His competitiveness is very high. And he missed the NHL. He missed it big-time.&rdquo;And now he is back, in a most improbable setting. Patrick, you see, joined a franchise that has raised mistake-making to an art form.The Penguins had a perfectly capable coach, Bob Berry, less than three years ago. Fired. Gone. Out of here. Seems only fair, since Berry made a major mistake in his last season behind the bench: He allowed Mario Lemieux to miss 17 games because of injuries.Ditto Eddie Johnston who, as general manager, had accomplished nothing more than the resuscitation of a franchise everyone had written off as dead. He was shoved out of the way to make room for Tony Esposito, a Hall-of-Fame goaltender whose previous management experience could be chronicled in the margins of this page.Don&rsquo;t blame Esposito for taking the job. Hey, the guy believed he could do it and was paid a handsome salary to try. No, fault for that one&mdash;like every other blunder in recent years&mdash;can be laid directly at the DeBartolo Corp., offices in Boardman, Ohio.That family also owns the San Francisco 49ers, one of the model franchises in pro sports. The way the Penguins have been run, however, it seemed the DeBartolos weren&rsquo;t interested in having the football team be challenged as their most successful operation.So when the DeBartolos broke with tradition and made a sound managerial decision, it drew a mixed response from players, fans and other interested parties. Some were exuberant, others merely delirious with joy.Patrick arrived in Pittsburgh with some radical notions: That line combinations should be left largely intact; that a workable defensive system should be instituted; that whoever takes over as coach should be able to adapt to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s personnel rather than try to mold the players to suit his style.Crazy stuff like that. The kind of notions you&rsquo;d expect from a guy who was ready for the 1990s before the calendar told him a new decade was upon us.Next thing you know, he&rsquo;ll do something really wacky. Like drop, say, Richard Zemlak from his waiver-draft protected list in favor of a guy like Dave Hannan.Whatever Patrick does, expect it to be unlike anything seen in Pittsburgh since Johnston was so rudely kicked aside. Patrick carved out his niche in the game years ago, but don&rsquo;t be surprised if he expands it a bit.The league might not name a division after him&mdash;that would be a bit redundant, anyway&mdash;but it probably won&rsquo;t have to.&ldquo;Believe me when I tell you Craig Patrick is not just riding on that magical hockey name of his,&rdquo; Sator said. &ldquo;Craig Patrick has added to that name.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

FINALLY, DeBARTOLOS MAKE A GOOD DECISION

&hellip;St. Louis Blues&rsquo; center Peter Zezel once played professional soccer? Zezel, a native of the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, played three games as a striker with the Toronto Blizzard of the North American Soccer League in 1982. Zezel also played with the Canadian national youth team, but quit playing the sport competitively seven years ago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021121/5701993-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="966" height="517"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Zezel</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Defenseman Joe Reekie scored his first game-winning goal in the NHL, beating Mike Liut in the third period in Hartford Dec. 6, then drew praise from coach Al Arbour for having been the most consistent defenseman on the team. A night later, Reekie was injured in a car accident following a team charity fund-raiser. He sustained two broken bones in his left hand and will require surgery. He was expected to be out for eight to nine weeks, team internist Dr. George Gilbert said&hellip;Center Pat LaFontaine extended his point-scoring streak to nine games Dec. 5 against Buffalo, after right winger Randy Wood told the official scorer the puck had deflected off LaFontaine&rsquo;s stick, before Wood got control and scored. LaFontaine&rsquo;s streak ended at 10 in the Dec. 9 scoreless tie with the Rangers&mdash;the first double-shutout the two New York teams ever have played.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Tony Esposito was stunned to be replaced as general manager by Craig Patrick&mdash;Esposito reported to work like always the morning he was fired&mdash;but insisted he didn&rsquo;t carry grudges. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s their (the DeBartolo family&rsquo;s) business,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They own the team, they can do what they like. Eddie (DeBartolo Jr.) told me at 9:15 a.m. in my office that I was being fired. He was very nice about it.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Former coach Gene Ubriaco, whom Patrick will replace on an interim basis, suggested the media were at least partly responsible for his departure. &ldquo;We were not welcomed with open arms,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were always under a microscope. We didn&rsquo;t get any positive (publicity).&rdquo;&hellip;Mario Lemieux broke Jean Pronovost&rsquo;s franchise record for career goals when he scored his 317th in a 5-3 victory against Washington Dec. 6.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Viacheslav Fetisov struggled while playing with a brace on his injured left knee. Fetisov suffered tom cartilage Nov. 22 when he was checked by John Cullen in Pittsburgh. It was a new injury over an old one incurred during the two-game 1987 Rendezvous series at Quebec. &ldquo;First game I was injured; Second game, Dr. (Victor) Tikhonov said to me, &lsquo;Go play.&rsquo; Tikhonov&mdash;coach, doctor, trainer,&rdquo; Fetisov said sarcastically&hellip; Fellow Soviet Sergei Starikov battled to keep his weight down to stay in the lineup. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to make a big deal out of it,&rdquo; said John Cunniff, &ldquo;but I wanted Serge in better shape. I told him when he was down to 225 he would play.&rdquo; Starikov, improving rapidly as an NHL defenseman, dropped to 223.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>For the first time in his 10-year NHL career, right winger Dave Christian found himself scratched, ending a consecutive-games streak of 243. Coach Bryan Murray benched Christian for games Dec. 5-6 against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh because of poor performance this season. At the time, Christian was 3-8-11 in 26 games and minus-13. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a chance for him to step back and take a look at it,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;You need an awfully long stick to score from the press box,&rdquo; Christian replied. Christian was reinserted Dec. 9 against the Bruins in Boston&hellip; Rookie goalie Jim Hrivnak made his NHL debut Dec. 6 against Pittsburgh, replacing starter Bob Mason. The Caps lost 5-3. Hrivnak faced only one shot, a hard drive by Paul Coffey which he caught and tossed away.<h2>FLYERS</h2>Goalie Ron Hextall returned to the roster Dec. 10 and he served as a back-up to Ken Wregget during a 4-2 win at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. It was likely that Hextall, who had played only two games this season, and none since suffering a hamstring injury Nov. 14, would get a start soon, possibly with Hershey&hellip;When Ron Sutter scored the winner (4-3) against Buffalo at the Spectrum Dec. 7, it marked the Flyers&rsquo; first overtime win in the regular season since October, 1988, when Sutter also scored to defeat the Sabres 4-3&hellip;The play of Czechoslovak rookie defenseman Jiri Latal might keep young defenseman Kerry Huffman, 21, out of the lineup. And Huffman, who has been very effective running the Flyers&rsquo; power play, will be a coveted commodity in the trade market.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Ranger coach Roger Neilson continued to be frustrated by the abuse his best forward, Tomas Sandstrom, has absorbed without penalty. &ldquo;I saw a similar situation in Toronto when I had Borje Salming there,&rdquo; Neilson said Dec. 10, when Sandstrom received 17 minutes in penalties, including a game misconduct, after being totally frustrated by uncalled Flyer stick fouls. &ldquo;Salming was such a great skater that he would shrug off a lot of hooks and slashes and, when he did go down, the referees would say, &lsquo;Oh he&rsquo;s diving; he&rsquo;s a Swede.&rsquo; And then, naturally, Borje would get mad and retaliate when he&rsquo;d get sticked. What&rsquo;s happening to Tomas is nothing new but it&rsquo;s disturbing to watch it happen, over and over.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Neilson was also upset over a stick to the face of Kris King delivered by Flyer winger Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;I think some referees are misinterpreting this blood business (a player gets an automatic five-minute penalty and game misconduct for drawing blood). Tocchet hits King in the face with his stick and the area around King&rsquo;s eye is all blue and swollen but he (referee Ron Hoggarth) says there&rsquo;s no blood so it&rsquo;s only two minutes instead of five. That&rsquo;s not what the rule says.&rdquo; &#9632;

REEKIE INJURED IN CAR ACCIDENT

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Craig Patrick hadn&rsquo;t made his first line change before Pittsburgh Penguin fans realized he was something different.Forget what Patrick did behind the bench; how he got there was enough to get the attention&mdash;and raucous applause&mdash;of the Civic Arena crowd Dec. 6.Patrick, in his first game as the Penguins&rsquo; general manager and interim coach since being hired the day before, walked along the boards to the bench. There&rsquo;s nothing unusual about that&mdash;except in Pittsburgh, where Patrick&rsquo;s predecessor, Gene Ubriaco, commuted from his office to the bench via a tunnel that ran under the seats.So the cheers began when Patrick took his first step on to the ice, then swelled by the time he was behind the net. Seconds later, it was a full-blown standing ovation. For a guy who had done nothing more than accept a job offer.Patrick appreciated the warm welcome. He said he never had received such an ovation in his 43 years, but what he liked even better was that the fans still were cheering when the game was over.The Penguins won Patrick&rsquo;s debut 5-3 against the Washington Capitals, then won 3-2 in New Jersey two nights later. Patrick lost for the first time when Chicago beat the Penguins 6-4 at Civic Arena Dec. 9, but even that game was a moral victory of sorts.The Penguins, whose usual response to adversity this season was instant capitulation, rebounded from an early 3-0 deficit and tied the game 3-3 and 4-4 before the Blackhawks put them away.&ldquo;We came back, showed a little bit more character than we might have shown earlier in the year,&rdquo; defenseman Jim Kyte said, &ldquo;I think it was a good, positive sign.&rdquo;Patrick inherited a team that was 10-14-2 and mired in fifth place in the Patrick Division. The day he got the job, he pronounced the Penguins to be a team &ldquo;that can finish on top of this (Patrick) division and be very successful in the playoffs.&rdquo;If so, the Penguins will need strong coaching, and Patrick will be responsible for providing that in the short term. He said he will assess the Penguins&rsquo; talent before he chooses Ubriaco&rsquo;s permanent successor, and suggested he will be willing to coach the rest of this season if necessary.Speculation about Ubriaco&rsquo;s permanent replacement began almost immediately after Patrick was appointed. University of Denver coach Ralph Backstrom and Boston Bruins&rsquo; assistant Ted Sator were particularly popular im most rumors, but there was little reason to believe Patrick will be naming a coach any time soon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011341/5702048-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="556" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gene Ubriaco was unpopular with the Penguins&rsquo; players.</figcaption></div>Patrick said the top priority will to be implement an effective defensive system. &ldquo;From what I&rsquo;ve heard and what I&rsquo;ve observed from afar&mdash;which isn&rsquo;t really a good way to evaluate&mdash;there hasn&rsquo;t been a strict adherence to any type of defensive system,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get that instituted as fast as we can, but it isn&rsquo;t going to happen overnight.&rdquo;That much was clear after Patrick&rsquo;s first three games as coach. The Penguins&rsquo; play in their own end progressed, but was far from perfect during that stretch.Not that the Penguins ever will challenge for the Jennings Trophy. Patrick plans to have them play a free-flowing style like the one he employed during his two stints (1980-81, 1984-85) as interim coach of the New York Rangers.&ldquo;The Rangers always had good, flowing, exciting hockey teams that had a good defensive system,&rdquo; defenseman Paul Coffey said. &ldquo;We know it&rsquo;s going to happen here and I think a lot of us are looking forward to it.&rdquo;The long-term prognosis for improvement was promising, if only because Patrick&rsquo;s hiring was so warmly received by his players. The only player obviously upset by Ubriaco&rsquo;s firing was left winger Phil Bourque, whose NHL potential had been recognized by Ubriaco. But Bourque put whatever personal unhappiness he felt aside and scored two goals in each of Patrick&rsquo;s first two games as coach.Bourque&rsquo;s teammates were split on their reaction to Patrick&rsquo;s arrival. Some were ecstatic, others merely delirious with joy.&ldquo;He (Patrick) has got a lot of respect around the league,&rdquo; center Mario Lemieux said. &ldquo;He knows hockey very well and communicated very well with the players. I think that&rsquo;s something we missed.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take time to get Craig&rsquo;s system put into our team,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;But I think you&rsquo;ve got 20 hockey players here who are really willing to learn.&rdquo;Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., son of the team&rsquo;s owner, announced the hiring of Patrick at a hastily-called news conference at Civic Arena. It lasted only a few minutes, but DeBartolo said the idea of firing Ubriaco and general manager Tony Esposito had &ldquo;been contemplated for some time.&rdquo;DeBartolo said the change was made because his family was concerned about the &ldquo;leadership and direction&rdquo; of the franchise and stressed they were &ldquo;not making a change just to make a change.&rdquo;Paul Martha, president of the Civic Arena Corp., acknowledged the team contacted several candidates before hiring Patrick, but declined to name them and refused to comment on reports that John Ferguson rejected an offer to take over as coach and general manager.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather not get involved in who we talked to, because it could be embarrassing for some people,&rdquo; Martha said.The Penguins obviously were pleased by Partick&rsquo;s hiring, but recognized that Ubriaco&rsquo;s departure placed considerable pressure on them. They complained passionately, albeit privately, about Ubriaco&rsquo;s coaching and insisted he was the only major hurdle between them and a highly successful season. When he left, so did their biggest excuse for underachieving.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s important for us now to go out there and do our jobs,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;For sure, there&rsquo;s going to be a lot of pressure. If we don&rsquo;t win, it&rsquo;s going to get back on us.&rdquo;True enough, but a lot of people will be shocked if the Penguins don&rsquo;t win regularly the rest of this season. Prominent among them is Patrick, who said the team&rsquo;s potential is one of the reasons he left a comfortable job as athletic director at University of Denver to return to the NHL.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 5: Tony Esposito, general manager, and Gene Ubriaco, coach, fired. Craig Patrick named GM and interim coach<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn, John Cullen, Randy Gilhen, Mark Recchi.LW&mdash;Bob Errey, Kevin Stevens. Phil Bourque, Mark Kachowski.AW&mdash;Rob Brown, Andrew McBain, Jock Callander, Jamie Leach, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Zarley Zalapski, Chris Dahlquist, Jim Kyte.RD&mdash;Jim Johnson, Randy Hillier, Gord Dineen, Gilbert Delorme.G&mdash;Wendell Young, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Barrasso, G. wrist surgery, day-to-day.Troy Loney. LW. broken right hand, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Lemieux, 19. A&mdash;Lemieux, 36. P&mdash; Lemieux, 55. PIM&mdash;Stevens, 83. &#9632;

f0011-01

PATRICK IN CHARGE AS PURGE IN PITTSBURGH OUSTS ESPOSITO, UBRIACO

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>Not many people took notice this past summer when the Philadelphia Flyers obtained the rights to Czechoslovakian defenseman Jiri Latal from the Toronto Maple Leafs.Most felt it was just a minor deal. All the Leafs wanted in return was the middle-round draft pick they had given the Flyers for goalie Mark Laforest.Thus, it was recorded in the small type of the newspapers that Latal, 20, was coming to Philadelphia.Nearly everybody assumed he would spend at least one season with the Hershey of the American League while he grew accustomed to the North American game.But that hasn&rsquo;t been the case. On Dec. 7 the Flyers recalled Latal for the second time this season, and this time it could be for good.&ldquo;He was just playing so well, that we had to bring him up,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to reward a guy for his efforts.&rdquo;As it turned out, it was the Flyers who got the reward when Latal showed up in Philadelphia for the game against the Buffalo Sabres Dec. 7.Not only did Latal score his first NHL goal in the 4-3 victory over the Sabres, but he assisted on Ron Sutter&rsquo;s overtime winner. Two days later, Latal scored again in the 6-6 tie in Quebec.Even with this great speed and skills, many were surprised to see Latal on the ice during the overtime period against the Sabres.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to do it sometime,&rdquo; said veteran defenseman Mark Howe, who was teamed with Latal. &ldquo;I mean, all of us have faced crucial situations for the first time.&ldquo;Maybe you&rsquo;re shaking in your boots, but you get over it. And you can just tell that Jiri has loads and loads of talent. And wheels? He can really move.&rdquo;Latal is not officially a defector and, as such, has not applied for refugee status. He is currently living in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter. The Flyers have been dealing with the Czechoslakian authorities to keep Latal and his family in North America.For his part, Latal was handling the excitement of his second promotion of the season like a professional.&ldquo;It was all of a sudden again,&rdquo; he said with a smile. &ldquo;I get up in the morning and, all of a sudden, I come here again. It&rsquo;s fine with me.&rdquo;It was also fine with the Flyers, who now boast one of the best stables of young defensemen in the NHL. Latal joined a group which includes second-year players Gord Murphy and Jeff Chychrun, along with third-year starter Terry Carkner and 21-year-old Kerry Huffman.The blend with veterans such as Howe, Jay Wells and Kjell Samuelsson has provided the Flyers with stability at the blue line.Latal and the rest of the crew got a test of their composure Dec. 10 at Madison Square Garden, when they held the New York Rangers scoreless on eight power-play chances. The Flyers&rsquo; prevailed 4-2.The victory brought the Flyers to within one point of the first-place Rangers, a club they trailed by 14 points on Oct. 30, the last time the two clubs met.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: Jiri Latal, D, recalled from Hershey (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Sutter, Dave Poulin, Tony Horacek, Keith Acton.LW&mdash;Murray Craven, Mike Bullard, Derrick Smith, Craig Berube, Jeff Harding.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Mike Bullard, Scott Mellanby, llkka Sinisalo, Doug Sulliman.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Jay Wells, Terry Carkner.RD&mdash;Gord Murphy, Jeff Chychrun, Jiri Latal, Kerry Huffman.G&mdash;Ken Wregget, Ron Hextall, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tim Kerr, RW, left shoulder surgery, Jan. 10.Brian Propp, LW, surgery to remove blood clot in left hand, indefinite.Kjell Samuelsson, D, bruised right shoulder, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Bullard, Tocchet, 15. A&mdash;Craven, 24. P&mdash;Craven, 38. PIM&mdash;Berube, 132. &#9632;

HERSHEY DAYS COULD BE OVER FOR LATAL

<div class="byline">BY DAVE FAY</div>With no adequate No. 2 goaltender, the Washington Capitals were courting disaster.Starter Don Beaupre played well, probably even better than Caps&rsquo; brass had hoped. But Beaupre was all the Caps had, with no relief is in sight.The Capitals&rsquo; glaring weakness was exposed Nov. 25 in Pittsburgh, when Beaupre snapped out his left leg in a vain attempt to stop a Mario Lemieux shorthanded breakaway. &ldquo;I felt it pop, there was a burning sensation immediately,&rdquo; the goalie said, describing the pulled groin muscle he suffered on the play. He was done, out for the remainder of that game and the next five to follow.That left the goaltending in the hands of veteran Bob Mason, who inherited the backup job by default. He was simply the best of a bad lot.The Caps, at least most of them, rose to the occasion, winning three of the five Beaupre was forced to miss. It was the two they lost which clearly illustrated the depth of the problem the club has at the most important position.In a 3-2 setback to Philadelphia Dec. 1, Mason allowed an easily-stoppable game-winning score in the last 33 seconds. He had help on the misplay&mdash;Scott Stevens and Steve Leach both chose to take out Craig Berube, hardly a scoring threat, while leaving Mike Bullard free to wheel.Then, the roof fell in Dec. 6 in Pittsburgh. It was Craig Patrick&rsquo;s first game behind the bench for the Pens and Mason&rsquo;s worst in goal for the Caps. On just 21 shots, he allowed five goals. Four of them were of the soft variety.Beaupre was rushed back into action for a 7-3 win in Boston Dec. 9. He appeared at times to struggle physically, unable to regain his feet with the quickness that has been his trademark. He was sore after the game but played the following night in Buffalo. He tried to do too much and lost 4-3.Beaupre more than played well enough to carry the club for long periods&mdash;his goals-against average was 3.11, far below his career mark of 3.71. But in a division where every other team has a very solid No. 1 goaltender and reliable backups, the Caps had nothing behind Beaupre.General manager David Poile has maintained from the start of the season he is not actively shopping for another, experienced netminder. He will go with Beaupre and Mason, he said, or dip into the minors.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not actively looking but I&rsquo;m always willing to listen,&rdquo; said Poile. &ldquo;The game plan has always been to rely on Beaupre and then Mason, then fall back to (Jim) Hrivnak or whomever else we need. I am sticking with that game plan right now.&rdquo;But Hrivnak, who has less than 30 games of pro experience with Baltimore of the American League, is still unproven. Shawn Simpson was ineffective for the Skipjacks. Alain Raymond is a hero for Norfolk in the Atlantic Coast League, but easily beatable at the AHL level.There may be help in junior but it is way down the road. Olaf Kolzig and Byron Dafoe were taken in the June draft but were sent back to the Western League and must stay in junior for the season.That left Beaupre to play for another 50 games and the playoffs, if he can carry the club that far.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 8: Jim Hrivnak, G, assigned to Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, Dave Christian, Doug Wickenheiser, Rob Murray.LW&mdash;Kelly Miller, Yvon Corriveau, Geoff Courtnall, Nick Kypreos, Michal Pivonka.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, John Druce, Steve Leach, Alan May.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Calle Johansson.RD&mdash;Neil Sheehy, Kevin Hatcher, Bob Rouse, Bill Houlder.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Bob Mason.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Scot Klelnendorst, D, tom left knee ligament, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Ciccarelli, 14. A&mdash;Ridley, Stevens, 17. P&mdash;Ciccarelli, Ridley, 29. PIM&mdash;May. 146 &#9632;

NO ADEQUATE RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR BEAUPRE

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>After each of his first three career shutouts, which came in a nine-day span amid the New York Islanders&rsquo; first five-game unbeaten streak of the season. Mark Fitzpatrick reacted with all the exuberance of someone who had just been summoned for jury duty.In fact, it was similar to the way he accepted eight defeats in his first 10 decisions this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really a big outgoing person,&rdquo; said Fitzpatrick. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a reserved-type individual who keeps things in perspective and goes about things the same way every day&hellip;Inside, I was happy. But things are just starting to level off right now, compared to all the losing.&rdquo;Fitzpatrick showed poise, if not emotion, in making 31 saves in Chicago Nov. 30 (2-0 victory), 32 at home against Buffalo Dec. 5 (3-0 win) and 33 in a goalless tie against the New York Rangers at Nassau Coliseum Dec. 9. But he allowed himself to get a little excited over the last performance.&ldquo;Nothing-nothing games don&rsquo;t happen all the time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was great just to play in one. That was probably the best hockey game I&rsquo;ve seen this year.&rdquo;John Vanbiesbrouck, the game&rsquo;s other shutout goalie, was also impressed&hellip;with Fitzpatrick.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably the best young goalie I&rsquo;ve seen in a while,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said.Fitzpatrick, 4-8-2, was obtained from Los Angeles last spring with defenseman Wayne McBean and future considerations that became defenseman Doug Crossman. In 16 games this season, he had a 3.21 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.Though he has figuratively kept his profile low, he has literally kept it high. Goalie coach Bill Smith, who made a road trip with the team, advised Fitzpatrick to stand up more. That helped, and so did a more efficient, confident defensive effort by his teammates.Teammates said Fitzpatrick, soft-spoken off the ice, has grown outspoken in his crease.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really taking charge.&rdquo; defenseman Ken Baumgartner said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s shouting out there to the defenseman. If he wants a whistle, he&rsquo;ll tell us.&rdquo;Defenseman Gary Nylund added: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s as if he&rsquo;s saying, &lsquo;Here I am, I&rsquo;m ready. It&rsquo;s my time to take over.&rsquo;&rdquo;The 6-foot-1, 190-pound goalie was born in Toronto, but grew up in Kitimat, B.C. Before he helped the Western League&rsquo;s Medicine Hat Tigers to two Memorial Cup titles and was drafted second by the Kings in 1987, he found inspiration in the play of ex-Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; great Ken Dryden.&ldquo;He was such a big guy out there. It always seemed like he could keep calm, even under pressure. He always seemed to be able to play the same, whether he was getting a lot of shots or getting none at all,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said. &ldquo;Ihaven&rsquo;t met him, but I read his book, The Game. I have all the respect in the world for him.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick was fashioning a high profile of his own.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 8: Marc Bergevin. D, and Jari Gronstrand, 0, assigned to Springfield (AHL) for conditioning purposes.Dec. 9: Gronstrand recalled from Springfield<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Hubie McDonough, Bryan Trottier, Gilles Thibaudeau.LW&mdash;Brad Lauer, David Volek, Don Maloney, Derek King, Dave Chyzowski.RW&mdash;Randy Wood, Patrick Flatley, Mick Vukota, Alan Kerr.LD&mdash;Gary Nylund, Jeff Norton, Ken Baumgartner.RD&mdash;Gerald Diduck, Doug Crossman, Jari Gronstrand.G&mdash;Mark Fitzpatrick, Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dean Chynoweth, D, strained right thumb ligament, day-to-day.Rob DIMaio, C, sprained clavicle, Dec. 16Rich Pilon, D. contused and lacerated right eye, indefinite.Joe Reekie, D, broken hand, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine. 21. A&mdash;Flatley, Norton, 20. P&mdash;LaFontaine, 34. PIM&mdash;Vukota. 119. &#9632;

KID ZERO KEEPS IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>Sean Burke was visibly shaken.A year ago, NHL fans were stuffing the ballot boxes with votes for Burke as the Wales Conference All-Star goaltender. Now, the only vote he needed was a vote of confidence, as he battled the worst slump of his career.Burke was the victim of his own shaky goaltending, along with a defensive breakdown by his teammates, as he lost five straight games while the New Jersey Devils dropped from third to fifth place in the Patrick Division.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a period right now that is hard to explain,&rdquo; said Burke, who was pulled in the first period of a 7-3 loss in Hartford Dec. 9 after allowing five goals on 10 shots. &ldquo;I remember a stretch last year where the same things happened. The only way to pull yourself out of it is to work harder. By no means do I think I&rsquo;ve lost it.&rdquo;&ldquo;He feels a little bit deserted, probably,&rdquo; said close friend and teammate Brendan Shanahan, &ldquo;but Sean will take all of it on his own shoulders. He&rsquo;s not the kind of guy to point a finger. I just hope the players, the coaching staff and the fans can help the poor guy out.&rdquo;Since March 1, 1988, the day he left the Canadian Olympic team and joined the Devils, Burke has strived only for consistency. In a season when the Devils need everything the 22-year-old Burke can offer, he had yet to give them that consistency.&ldquo;I think there are nights when I&rsquo;ve played the hockey I&rsquo;ve been capable of playing, but it doesn&rsquo;t do any good to say that. You want to be consistent. I want that to be my trademark,&rdquo; said Burke.A cynic might point out that Burke was very consistent from Dec. 1 to 9. His record fell to 8-11-3, his goals-against average rose from 3.82 to 4.12 and his save percentage dropped from .881 to .868.It was not the first time Burke lost five straight in his NHL career. He dropped five in a row between Feb. 15 and March 1 last season, although a lack of support was more to blame during that drought.This season&rsquo;s slump began Dec. I in Buffalo, when he replaced Chris Terreri at 13:36 of the second period. After the substitution, the Devils scored twice to tie the game, but Burke allowed two third-period goals to lose the contest 6-4.Burke suffered back-to-back 5-3 losses to Washington (Dec. 2) and the New York Rangers (Dec. 6) before playing poorly in a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh (Dec. 8) while enduring jeers from the Meadowlands Arena crowd.Head coach John Cunniff decided to stick with Burke, who claimed he has no ill effects from arthroscopic knee surgery performed during training camp. But when the goalie lost a 2-0 lead in Hartford by allowing five goals in a span of 9:40, Cunniff pulled him.&ldquo;I was going to pull him after the third goal, but we made eye contact. There was no way I was going to pull him then,&rdquo; said Cunniff. &ldquo;After the fifth goal I figured, &lsquo;why give him any more?&rsquo; The last two goals he had nothing to do with.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty concerned. I know he&rsquo;ll bounce out of this, but you try to tell him not to put the burden on his shoulders. It&rsquo;ll turn around.&rdquo;<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 11: Jamie Huscroft, D, recalled from Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom, Mark Johnson, Aaron Broten, Neil Brady.LW&mdash;Brendan Shanahan, Kirk Muller, Walt Poddubny. Dave Maley, Peter Sundstrom.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Sylvain Turgeon, Janne Ojanen, Doug Brown, Jim Korn.LD&mdash;Tommy Albelin, Viacheslav Fetisov, Craig Wolanin, Randy Velischek.RD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Bruce Driver, Sergei Starikov, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Jamie Huscroft.G&mdash;Sean Burke, Chris Terreri.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Turgeon, 16. A&mdash;Driver, 23. P&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom, Muller, 29. PIM&mdash;Maley, 85. &#9632;

BURKE STRUGGLES TO REGAIN CONFIDENCE

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>In a classic case of history repeating itself, the injury-plagued New York Rangers found themselves in trouble again.When the Rangers collapsed down the stretch last season, injuries to wingers Chris Nilan and Jan Erixon were cited as key factors in the demise.The back problems which sidelined Erixon for 17 games from Feb. 18 to March 25 last season, and caused him to be only a shadow of his former shadowing self in the playoffs, returned in late November.By the second week of December, Erixon was resting, visiting new back specialists and trying out an assortment of back braces in the hope of minimizing the pain and stiffness.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s probably no player more important to the team than Jan Erixon,&rdquo; Ranger coach Roger Neilson observed after Erixon sat out his first game of the season Dec. 6.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not only that he consistently plays a strong, smart game and is an excellent defensive forward, but it seems that, no matter who you put on a line with Jan, his linemates have a good game.&rdquo;Erixon&rsquo;s problem has been diagnosed differently at various times over the last three years, but it was generally believed he was suffering from a damaged disc.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as bad as it was last year,&rdquo; Erixon said, after watching his teammates drop a 4-2 decision to Philadelphia Dec. 10. &ldquo;But it was getting worse and worse, so we decided that the best thing to do was to try to rest it for a while.&ldquo;After the back-to-back games (at Vancouver on Dec. 1 and at Los Angeles on Dec. 2), it tightened up, a lot, and we didn&rsquo;t want to wait until it was too late. I think I&rsquo;ll be able to come back soon and try it again but, maybe, I&rsquo;ll have to miss a game now and then.&rdquo;Erixon, Nilan, Carey Wilson, Corey Millen, Ron Greschner, Normand Rochefort and Mark Hardy were all on the injured list as the Flyers moved to within a point of the first-place Rangers.As they watched the Flyers successfully overcome a substantial injury list of their own, it became apparent the Rangers&rsquo; biggest problem was a lack of depth.The team&rsquo;s power play, which went 0-for-3 in a goalless tie with the Islanders Dec. 9 and 0-for-8 against the Flyers the next night, was another area of concern.The Rangers outshot the Flyers 38-19, indicating shots-on-goal statistics can sometimes be meaningless, but Neilson clung to those numbers as a sign of hope.That the bigger, stronger Flyers had so little difficulty in keeping the Rangers out of the prime scoring zones did worry Neilson, however.&ldquo;The rebounds seemed to be there,&rdquo; said Neilson, &ldquo;but we were always a step away.&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; frustration mounted after referee Ron Hoggarth assessed 17 minutes in penalties to their best forward, Tomas Sandstrom, early in the third period.Hooked and tripped by Jay Wells after an offside whistle, Sandstrom retaliated by slashing Wells. Wells then fell to the ice, prompting the penalty call.&ldquo;You have to wonder about the way Sandstrom is hacked and fouled,&rdquo; Ranger assistant coach Ron Smith said, &ldquo;and still keeps going through it all. He doesn&rsquo;t take dives and so he gets no calls.&ldquo;Then you see something like that (Hoggarth&rsquo;s call) and how do you explain it to Tomas?&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kelly Kisio, Darren Turcotte, Dave Archibald, Mark Janssens.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick, Troy Mallette, Ulf Dahlen, Kris King.RW&mdash;Brian Mullen, Tony Granato, Tomas Sandstrom.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Miloslav Horava, Lindy Ruff.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Randy Moller, Rudy Poeschek.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cyr, C, surgery on right knee, out for season. Jan Erixon, LW, strained back, indefinite.Ron Greschner, bruised shoulder. Dec. 13.Mark Hardy, D, bruised left knee, Dec. 16. Corey Millen, C, left knee surgery, indefinite.Chris Nilan, RW, fractured right forearm, indefinite. Normand Rochefort. D. knee surgery, Dec. 13. Carey Wilson, C, sprained left knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Ogrodnick, 19. A&mdash;Leetch, 20. P&mdash;Sandstrom. 29. PIM&mdash;Moller, 84. &#9632;

INJURIES REVEAL SERIOUS LACK OF DEPTH

<div class="byline">BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011322/5702199-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="498" height="632"></div>I&rsquo;ve got to hand it to the NHL&rsquo;s Board of Governors. Their expansion plan&mdash;pompous as it sounded Dec. 8 from Palm Beach, Fla.&mdash;is pretty shrewd.Look what the governors did. They bought themselves time, raised the value of each one of their 21 franchises, threw a bargaining chip into the next collective bargaining battle with the Players&rsquo; Association, made a U.S. television network contract a distinct possibility, and whetted the appetite of every North American city with a puck and a rink.And they did all that simply by answering the expansion question with a five-paragraph announcement that introduced their &ldquo;strategic business plan, &lsquo;A Vision of the Nineties.&rsquo; &ldquo;That sounds so Ziegler, doesn&rsquo;t it?Okay, okay, I&rsquo;ll keep Lawyer John&rsquo;s personality out of this because I really like the plan. Anybody who believes in NHL hockey should.By seeking to add one or more teams no earlier than 1992-93, the board has given itself at least another 12 months to research the market or markets best suited to support the NHL.That&rsquo;s a very important call because the league&rsquo;s image took enough punches to the gut in the &rsquo;80s. It can&rsquo;t afford to have a new city flunk in five years. You can&rsquo;t get to 28 teams if 22 or 23 don&rsquo;t make it. The gravestones marked Cleveland, Atlanta, Kansas City, Colorado and Oakland remain monuments to how difficult it is to sell the NHL below the Canadian border.It&rsquo;s not automatic. Especially at $50 million a pop.But that&rsquo;s the next part of the plan I like. Why not price a new club astronomically high? There are plenty of multi-maniacal-millionaires who have nothing better to do than invest their money in sports. Pork bellies can&rsquo;t skate and make lousy interviews (Come to think of it, so do most athletes).Anyway, a price tag of at least $50 million (U.S., of course) not only gets people talking, it makes the Winnipeg Jets worth at least $51 million. And if the Keith Acton-led Dallas Iceboys are worth $50 million, what are the Montreal Canadiens worth? Or the New York Rangers?(Note to editor: Replace Acton with another aging veteran. For $10,000 I&rsquo;m sure Bobby Clarke and Mike Smith will find another loophole to slip a few players through).The current collective bargain agreement expires on Sept. 15, 1991. What&rsquo;ll it be worth to the NHLPA to get three expansion teams instead of one?Four seven-team divisions in 10 years will mean 150 new players, but don&rsquo;t worry about 28 teams drying up the existing talent pool. Seven teams times $50 million equals $350 million. Divided into 21 or 24 or 27 pieces gives every franchise at least a $13-million slice of the pie.That means huge profits for a few already-rich governors, for sure. But it will also trickle down to generate larger salaries, bigger budgets, more money for developmental programs. And there will be more young people playing hockey in 10 years, a larger pool of talent from which to pick. I don&rsquo;t think the hockey will get worse.In fact, adding only one team to each division in a few years without changing the playoff format would add a dose of crediblity to a postseason tournament that for much of the &rsquo;80s has been the butt of jokes.Adding four more in 1999-2000&mdash;that looks weird, doesn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;will make it possible to enact wild cards and all those neat options that make playoff races fun.NBC will televise the 1990 All-Star Game from Pittsburgh next month. That&rsquo;ll be the first skate in a network door since the last game of the 1980 Stanley Cup finals was shown on CBS.If Atlanta and Orlando, Fla., in the Deep South, Dallas in the Southwest, Milwaukee in the Midwest, Seattle in the Northwest and San Jose, Seattle and San Diego on the West Coast are still courting franchises in a few years, a U.S. network might have to take the NHL seriously again.With ABC, NBC and CBS competing heavily for major sports entertainment and spitting zeroes all over the place, the 1999 NHL Game of the Week isn&rsquo;t out of the question.The greatest stroke of genius, however, was the odyssey into the year 2000. With a dozen or so groups lining up to pitch their self-serving market studies and display some artist&rsquo;s version of a 22,000-seat arena with 500 luxury boxes, somebody&rsquo;s bound to go home empty.I can hear Ziegler now. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t get in for 1992-93, but we&rsquo;re not saying no. We just need more time to focus Our vision of the Nineties. Sell those season tickets. Build that coliseum. See us in a few years.&rdquo;Ziegler and Co. didn&rsquo;t paint themselves into a comer. They kept their options and arms open. To anyone with $50 million. U.S., of course. &#9632;

f0015-01

EXPANSION PLAN SHOULD BE APPLAUDED

A defenseman for Toronto, the New York Rangers, Washington, St. Louis and Atlanta from 1962 through 1979, Rod Seiling is now executive vice-president for Race Tracks of Canada, based in Mississauga, Ont. Seiling, 45, says the game and its players have evolved for the better. &ldquo;A lot of people like to remember the &lsquo;good old days&rsquo; as being better, but I&rsquo;m not one of those.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02933/5702230-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="562" height="390"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Seiling</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

THEN & NOW

<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Canadiens&rsquo; players were less than enthusiastic with the announcement they (along with the Minnesota North Stars) had been chosen to go to the Soviet Union next fall. &ldquo;If I had my way, I wouldn&rsquo;t go,&rdquo; said Stephane Richer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not happy about it at all, but there is nothing we can do about it. I don&rsquo;t think it is the right time to go.&rdquo; Canadiens&rsquo; president Ronald Corey was philsophical about the decision to send the Canadiens overseas. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a five-year deal and we are one of the teams they most want to see. It was bound to happen.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Coach Pat Burns tried Guy Carbonneau at center between right winger Stephane Richer and left winger Shayne Corson, shifting Stephan Lebeau on to a line with Russ Courtnall and Mike McPhee. The shuffle also meant splitting McPhee from his long-time linemate, Brian Skrudland. After four periods, Lebeau was back with Corson and Richer and Carbonneau, who has been struggling of late, was moved alongside McPhee and Courtnall&hellip;Courtnail was one of the better Montreal players on the Dec. 6-9 road swing to Minnesota, Winnipeg and Toronto, recording two goals and two assists. He also got involved in a rare fight in Toronto with former Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Tom Kurvers, also not a noted pugilist&hellip;Ryan Walter suffered a concussion and Donald Dufresne injured his shoulder in the 7-4 loss at Toronto Dec. 9.<h2>BRUINS</h2>Lyndon Byers tore a tendon in his left thumb in a third-period fight with Washington&rsquo;s Alan May Dec. 9. &ldquo;It happened on the first punch I threw,&rdquo; Byers said. The forward was playing arguably the best hockey of his career. He had two goals in the two games prior to injuring his thumb&hellip;The same night, goalie Andy Moog&rsquo;s 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2) came to an end with a 7-3 loss to the Capitals. During the streak, Moog compiled a 1.73 goals-against average&hellip;In attempt to bolster the team&rsquo;s sagging power play, coach Mike Milbury moved defenseman Ray Bourque to right wing on several Bruin man-advantage opportunities during their 4-3 loss to Hartford Dec. 7. The move did not produce any goals&hellip;Craig Janney, sidelined since Oct. 26 with a groin injury, was expected to return sometime before Christmas.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Although goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz&rsquo; name has popped up in trade rumors, particularly in Toronto, Whalers&rsquo; GM Ed Johnston said nobody has been knocking down his door. &ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s called about our goalies in a long time. I swear. It&rsquo;s true,&rdquo; said Johnston, who was interested in acquiring Ed Olczyk- &hellip;Left winger Chris Govedaris accepted an offer to play for Canada at the World Junior Championships in Finland&hellip;The Whalers were 7-1-1 with brawler Marc Laforge in the lineup&hellip;Defenseman Joel Quenneville filled in for Gerry Cheevers as the Whalers&rsquo; TV analyst during the 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders Dec. 6. Cheevers returned the following night in Boston, as Quenneville played. &ldquo;The Wally Pipp story is over,&rdquo; said play-by-play man Rick Peckham. Cheevers became sick again Dec. 9, but Quenneville couldn&rsquo;t announce because he played in the 7-3 rout of the Devils. Former Whaler Garry Swain replaced Cheevers.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Sergei Mylnikov&rsquo;s cry for recognition got him some playing time. The day after he said he felt humiliated for being used only twice this season, it was announced he would play the next game. Mylnikov played as the Nordiques tied the Bruins 3-3 Dec. 5. He also played the next game, a 6-6 tie with the Flyers Dec. 9&hellip;Jeff Brown, who was playing out his option, was expected to sign a new confract with the Nords before Christmas. Brown wants a two-year contract, while the Nordiques want him signed for three years&hellip;Daniel Dore left the Nords to join the Canadian national junior team&rsquo;s selection camp in Ottawa&hellip; As of Dec. 10, Joe Cirella had played in 222 consecutive games&hellip;Vladislav Tretiak said Soviet forwards Viacheslav Bykov and Andrei Khomutoy will play for the Nordiques next season. Both will be 28 and will be released by the Soviet Hockey Federation&hellip;Bryan Fogarty has only played in 16 NHL games, but already opposing teams have geared their strategy to slowing the young defenseman.<h2>SABRES</h2>Scott Arniel skipped the Sabres&rsquo; Dec. 5-7 road trip to Long Island and Philadelphia, to be with his wife Lea, as she gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s first child, son Brendan Scott Dec. 6. That interrupted Arniel&rsquo;s consecutive-games streak at 117, a team high among active players. Once named &ldquo;Mr. Average&rdquo; among NHL forwards by The Hockey News, Arniel&rsquo;s return to the lineup Dec. 10 was anything but average. He scored a goal as the Sabres edged the Washington Capitals 4-3 in Memorial Auditorium. That win enabled the Sabres to tie a team record for consecutive wins on home ice (12). The win also extended the Sabres&rsquo; home-ice unbeaten streak from the start of the season to 13-0-1&hellip;Dave Andreychuk scored his 500th NHL point on a goal in that game&hellip;Alexander Mogilny, injured in the pre-game warmup at Long Island Dec. 5, missed the Philadelphia game Dec. 7, but returned to score a goal against Washington. Mogilny suffered a bruised ankle. &#9632;

HABS NOT HAPPY ABOUT TRIP TO USSR

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>It was a happy homecoming for Tony McKegney and the Quebec Nordiques. Which was unusual, since neither had seen much happiness this season.After a five-year absence that included stints in Minnesota, New York, St. Louis and Detroit, McKegney returned to the Quebec Nordiques Dec. 3. The Nords sent defenseman Robert Picard and left winger Greg C. Adams to the Red Wings for the left winger, who played 105 games with Quebec in the 1983-84 and &rsquo;84-85 seasons.McKegney began paying dividends immediately with two points&mdash;a goal and an assist&mdash;in his first game, in a 6-6 tie with the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 9.&ldquo;Tony McKegney was exactly the kind of player we were looking for to give us a little more stability,&rdquo; said Nords&rsquo; coach Michel Bergeron.&ldquo;I know people in this business talk a lot about taxes and the weather here,&rdquo; said McKegney, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not one of them. I have no control on those matters so I won&rsquo;t waste any time crying over them.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a hockey player and I have to accept trades. I go wherever I&rsquo;m told to go.&rdquo;Still, McKegney said he was surprised by the trade&mdash;&rdquo;mainly because I was on the injured list (groin injury) and had been out of action.&rdquo;But the Red Wings, struggling this season in the Norris Division, had taken a lot of heat for the trade that sent McKegney and Bernie Fedeko to Detroit from St. Louis for center Adam Oates and right winger Paul MacLean. Changes in Motown were imminent and McKegney, with just two goals and an assist in 14 games at the time of the trade, was a prime candidate.McKegney&rsquo;s complaint during his time in Detroit was his lack of ice time. He had played regularly with the Blues.&ldquo;But now I&rsquo;m here in Quebec,&rdquo; said McKegney, &ldquo;and if I get the chance to play, I&rsquo;m going to score goals and help the team as best as I can.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 4: Darin Kimble, RW, recalled from Halifax (AHL).Dec. 11: Daniel Dore, RW, joined Canada&rsquo;s national junior team at its selection camp in Ottawa.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Joe Sakic, Claude Loiselle, Paul Gillis.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Brian Lawton, Tony McKegney, Jeff Jackson, Mike Hough, liro Jarvi.RW&mdash;Lucien DeBlois, Ken McRae, Darin Kimble, Marc Fortier, Max Middendorf.LD&mdash;Bryan Fogarty, Steven Finn, Curtis Leschyshyn.RD&mdash;Mario Marois, Jeff Brown, Joe Cirella.G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Sergei Mylnikov, Mario Brunetta.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Guerard, D, sprained right knee, indefinite.Guy Lafleur, RW. bruised left ankle, indefinite.Michel Petit, D, sprained back, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Sakic, 16. A&mdash;Stastny, 20. P&mdash;Sakic, 35. PIM&mdash;McRae. 89. &#9632;

McKEGNEY GETS A CHANCE TO PLAY

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>He was good. Everyone said that. He would get better in time. They all said that, too. They are all still waiting.The Buffalo Sabres sent Shawn Anderson, 21, to the American League Dec. 9. It was the fourth time in as many pro seasons the Sabres have demoted him.&ldquo;This has been the toughest year so far,&rdquo; said the defenseman, just prior to being sent to the Rochester Americans. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m supposed to be in the lineup by now. This is supposed to be my time and it isn&rsquo;t happening.&rdquo;Anderson, with his size (6-foot-1, 200 pounds), speed, ability and experience, is supposed to be in the lineup right now.Through games of Dec. 10 the Sabres were 6-3 in their last nine games. Those were nine straight games in which Anderson did not dress.There are good players ahead of him. Phil Housley, Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger and Uwe Krupp are playing as well as any top-four unit in the Adams Division this season, perhaps as well as any top four in the Wales Conference. Grant Ledyard and Dean Kennedy have also teamed up to be an effective pair.The Sabres haven&rsquo;t suffered a serious injury to a member of their defensive corps all season, making playing time for non-regulars, exceptionally hard to come by.Anderson&rsquo;s critics say he lacks intensity. Others claim he&rsquo;s not physical enough. Still others say he makes mistakes, bad mistakes.When Anderson was sent down, coach Rick Dudley said he was still young and needed to play.&ldquo;There are a couple of people who have put in performances worthy of them playing,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;Shawn&rsquo;s still young and he has to play or we&rsquo;ll ruin him.&rdquo;Anderson, a first-round draft pick in 1986 (fifth overall) has been given his chances. He started the season as one of the top five defenseman. He has played 15 of the Sabres&rsquo; 31 games this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pride thing,&rdquo; said Anderson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want people to start saying I&rsquo;m another one of those first-round failures.&rdquo;<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: Mike Donnelly, LW, recalled from Rochester (AHL).Dec. 9: Shawn Anderson, D, and Donnelly assigned to Rochester<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruuttu, Jeff Parker, Benoit Hogue.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Scott Amiel, Rob Ray. Dave Snuggerud.RW&mdash;Mike Foligno, Kevin Maguire, Alexander Mogilny, Rick Vaive, John Tucker, Ray Sheppard.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger, Grant Ledyard. RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Dean Kennedy. Uwe Krupp. G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Clint Malarchuk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mike Hartman, RW, sprained ankle, indefinite. Larry Playfair, D, pulled hamstring, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Andreychuk, Turgeon, 16. A&mdash;Turgeon, 30. P&mdash;Turgeon, 46. PIM&mdash;Hartman, 105. &#9632;

ANDERSON DEMOTED YET AGAIN

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>It was not the way Andre Racicot thought it would be.The 19-year-old rookie goaltender got a last-minute call from Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach Pat Bums at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto Dec. 9, at the end of a three-game road trip.To Racicot&rsquo;s surprise, Bums gave him the starting assignment. But that&rsquo;s where the fairy tale ended.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to come into a game when you don&rsquo;t know you&rsquo;re playing,&rdquo; said Racicot, who allowed three goals on eight shots in just under 13 minutes before being replaced by Patrick Roy. &ldquo;I would have liked to have known I was going to play.&ldquo;Pat Bums asked me after the pregame warm-up if I was ready to play. I told him that I was. I had been waiting for the chance since the road trip started.&rdquo;In fairness to Racicot, the Canadiens&rsquo; third choice in the 1989 NHL entry draft, he got little support from what is supposed to be one of the best defense corps in the league. But he didn&rsquo;t help himself, either, by being beaten on two goals on two shots before the game was three minutes old. The Leafs continued the barrage after Roy came in and built up a 5-0 lead in the first period en route to a 7-4 win.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have time be nervous,&rdquo; Racicot said. &ldquo;I did feel uncomfortable out there. Maybe if I had stopped one of those shots things would have gone better.&ldquo;They gave me a chance and I didn&rsquo;t take it. I hope I am going to have another chance to play.&rdquo;But Racicot, who emerged from the game with a 13.84 goals-against average, was not charged with the loss. Roy was beaten four times by the Leafs.&ldquo;The kid was shaking in there,&rdquo; said Bums. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t going to leave him in there like a piece of meat in a shark tank.&rdquo;Racicot, who shares the goaltending duties with Francois Gravel and Jean Bergeron on the Canadiens&rsquo; American League farm team in Sherbrooke, was not expected to play at all for the Canadiens while replacing Brian Hayward, who was recovering from a lacerated kneecap.But after a shaky performance by the Canadiens and Roy in a 6-6 tie at Winnipeg a night earlier, Bums made the decision to go with Racicot.&ldquo;We have a heavy week ahead and Patrick had a lot of shots (44) against him in Winnipeg,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;Patrick didn&rsquo;t have a great night in Winnipeg either.&rdquo;Bums went with his gut feeling in starting Racicot, perhaps hopeful a better team effort would result.&ldquo;Instead they left the kid on his own,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to tell him until the warm-up was over because I didn&rsquo;t want him to be nervous.&rdquo;The loss in Toronto ended a three-game, four-night road trip which had started with a solid 4-1 victory in Minnesota Dec. 6. It was one of the Canadiens&rsquo; finest defensive efforts this season.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 4: Andre Racicot, G, recalled from Sherbrooke (AHL).Dec. 11: Benoit Brunet, LW, recalled from Sherbrooke<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Stephane Lebeau, Bobby Smith, Brian Skrudland, Brent Gilchrist.LW&mdash;Mike McPhee, Benoit Brunet, Mats Naslund.RW&mdash;Russ Courtnail, Stephane Richer, Mike Keane Jocelyn Lemieux.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Sylvain Lefebvre, Jyrki Lumme.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Eric Desjardins, Jean-Jacques Daigneault.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Andrew Cassels, C, separated shoulder. Dec. 16.Shayne Corson, LW, broken little toe on right foot, Dec. 18.Donald Dufresne, D, shoulder, indefinite.Brian Hayward, G, lacerated kneecap, day-to-day.Claude Lemieux, RW, abdominal surgery, indefinite.Petr Svoboda, D, groin pull, day-to-day.Ryan Walter, LW, concussion, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Richer, 16. A&mdash;Richer, 21. P&mdash;Richer, 37. PIM&mdash;Chelios, 89. &#9632;

ROOKIE GOALIE MAKES DEBUT TO FORGET

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>Rumors of Ted Sator&rsquo;s imminent departure from the Boston Bruins&rsquo; coaching staff began shortly after Craig Patrick took over as Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; general manager and interim coach Dec. 5.Sator, who came to Boston in the off-season after his dismissal from the top post in Buffalo, is a close friend of Patrick&rsquo;s.While the Penguins had yet to ask permission to speak with Sator, it was expected the Bruins&rsquo; assistant coach would be one of the top candidates for the job.Patrick had hired &ldquo;Sator once before, as the New York Rangers&rsquo; head coach before the 1985-86 season. Patrick&rsquo;s successor, Phil Esposito, fired Sator in 1986-87.Although he won&rsquo;t say so directly, the thought of coaching Mario Lemieux probably appeals to Sator.&ldquo;If I was to make a move, I would want to go to a club with a reasonable chance to win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m so enamored with my situation here in Boston.&rdquo;When asked if he would leave the Bruins, Sator dodged the question.&ldquo;I am flattered that the rumors are around,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but my allegiance and my heart are in Boston.&rdquo;Loyalty is high on Sator&rsquo;s value list. He probably wouldn&rsquo;t take another job unless the situation was ideal.&ldquo;The way Harry (Sinden) and Mike (Milbury) blended me in, and the reception I&rsquo;ve gotten from the players means a lot to me,&rdquo; Sator said. &ldquo;I know in this day and age, contracts override ethics, but&hellip;there would have to be a lot more overriding factors because the specialness they&rsquo;ve extended to me is something I don&rsquo;t forget.&rdquo;While Sator has only been in the organization a short time, he&rsquo;s made an impact. The coaching team of Mike Milbury, Gordie Clark and Sator has been successful in its brief run.While head coach Milbury has the final word, both Sator and Clark provide substantial input.&ldquo;Ted&rsquo;s the veteran of the group,&rdquo; Ken Linseman said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great sounding board for the other two guys. I don&rsquo;t know what he was like as a head coach; but he coaches us from a positive aspect. I really think that&rsquo;s a good way to be.&rdquo;Sator, who has a 137-137-32 head-coaching record, ran into trouble last season when several Sabres&rsquo; players spoke out against him. He was subsequently fired, then landed in Boston.&ldquo;In New York and Buffalo, I had situations I had no control over,&rdquo; Sator said. &ldquo;That won&rsquo;t happen a third time.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: John Blum, D, recalled from Maine (AHL).Dec. 11: Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer, C. Ron Hoover LW, Greg Johnston, RW, and Stephane Quintal. D, recalled from Maine. Blum, D, and Mike Millar, RW, assigned to Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Andy Brickley, Ken Linseman, Greg Hawgood, Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer.LW&mdash;Randy Burridge, Bobby Carpenter, Bob Joyce, Ron Hoover, John Carter.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Robert Cimetta, Greg Johnston, Bob Gould.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Jim Wlemer, Don Sweeney.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Garry Galley, Stephane Quintal.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers, RW, torn tendon in left thumb, indefinite.Craig Janney, C, right groin pull, Dec. 16.Gord Kluzak, D. left knee surgery, indefinite.Nevin Markwart, RW, left shoulder surgery, out for season.Allen Pedersen, D, sore back, day-to-day.Bob Sweeney, RW, pulled muscle in rib cage, day-to-day.Michael Thelven, D, recurring right knee tendinitis, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely, 20. A&mdash;Bourque, 33. P&mdash;Bourque, 37. PIM&mdash;Byers, 54. &#9632;

SATOR RUMORED SET TO JOIN PATRICK IN PITTSBURGH

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>A passing FAD?Or had the Hartford Whalers finally found a second offensive line that can consistently do some damage?Ron Francis, Pat Verbeek and Kevin Dineen formed the Whalers&rsquo; No. 1 line and most potent unit through most of the season to date.On Dec. 7, however, coach Rick Ley moved Scott Young to the Francis line, pulling Dineen away to put him with center Ray Ferraro and left winger Mikael Andersson.The FAD Line scored the first two goals in a 4-3 victory in Boston Dec. 7. And then it went wild, scoring six goals in the first period of a 7-3 rout over the New Jersey Devils two nights later at the Civic Center.More than anything, this line showed speed and a willingness to head to the net.&ldquo;I guess at times our line may look a little helter-skelter,&rdquo; Ferraro said. &ldquo;It probably looks that way to us, too. But the basic thing is if guys are going to change lanes that when we&rsquo;re finished changing there&rsquo;s one guy in each lane and not two guys holding hands.&rdquo;&ldquo;Besides their speed, they&rsquo;re driving to the net,&rdquo; Ley said. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re going to the goal, you&rsquo;re going to have nights when you&rsquo;re successful. The defense has to back up and make decisions and, any time you make us defensemen make decisions, chances are we&rsquo;ll screw up.&ldquo;If we can get Ronnie Francis&rsquo; line back on track offensively&hellip;they always do a good job defensively, but they&rsquo;re not playing as strong as they were. Right now, a lot of their problem is fatigue. There has been too much pressure on them to score.&rdquo;Dineen, who had 45 goals last season, had only seven goals at the 30-game mark. He scored two against New Jersey as the Whalers finally did something about their 5-10-1 home record. On the road, they were a league best 9-5-0.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re Sybil,&rdquo; Dineen said, referring to a popular movie of a few years back. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a split personality.&rdquo;More than just getting Dineen in gear, however, Ferraro scored three goals against New Jersey to tie a career high of five points in a game. And Andersson, who had four goals and 37 points in 99 career games in Buffalo, had four goals and 11 points in a five-game stretch.&ldquo;They said he has hands of stone, but he has hands of gold,&rdquo; teammate Dean Evason said.In Ley&rsquo;s doghouse at times during the first few months of the season, Ferraro had eight goals in eight games. Matters have gotten a little tense at times between Ferraro and Ley, but his 14 goals in 30 games (he was benched once) suddenly didn&rsquo;t look so shabby in comparison to last season&rsquo;s 41-goal beauty.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no secret Ray and I have had some discussions about Ray&rsquo;s defensive play and he&rsquo;s worked hard on it,&rdquo; said Ley.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis. Ray Ferraro, Dean Evason, Mike Tomlak,LW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Mikael Andersson, Dave Tippett, Pat Verbeek, Marc Laforge, Todd Krygier.RW&mdash;Scott Young, Kevin Dineen, Paul MacDermid, Ed Kastelic.LD&mdash;Adam Burt, Grant Jennings, Joel Quenneville.RD&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Dave Babych, Ulf Samuelsson.G&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sylvain Cote, D, sprained left knee, day-to-day.Brad Shaw, D, sore back, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, 18. A&mdash;Francis, 24. P&mdash;Francis, 37. PIM&mdash;Verbeek, 83. &#9632;

SCORING NO FAD FOR LINE NO. 2

<div class="byline">STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011020/5702405-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="496" height="611"></div>Stem-looking teen idol Russ Courtnall worked the mousse into his hair, put on a pair of trousers&mdash;more pantaloons than pants&mdash;and prepared to meet his public.A playful John Kordic sauntered out, teased reporters with some tasty quotes, and walked out in a full-length leather coat.Courtnall and Kordic do not talk to one another. And there can be no more dissimilar players in the NHL. About the only things they share in common are professions and positions. Yet, the two right wingers are inexorably linked&mdash;joined at the hips by a trade last November that remains one of the most unpopular in Toronto Maple Leaf history.In a straight exchange of fists for finesse, Montreal dispatched Kordic to Toronto for Courtnall. It was a bad deal made worse when Courtnall scored twice in his first trip to the Gardens as a Canadien.Nobody wanted a repeat performance when the Canadiens visited Dec. 9.On a board outside the Maple Leafs&rsquo; dressing room read simple instructions beside Courtnail&rsquo;s circled number (6): &ldquo;Hit. No pity.&rdquo; Toronto coach Doug Carpenter thought it necessary to remind his players Courtnall was not to be handled with kid gloves. The Maple Leafs needed no such reminder.&ldquo;On the ice, it doesn&rsquo;t matter (about friendships),&rdquo; said Toronto left winger Mark Osborne. &ldquo;You play the uniform.&rdquo;Courtnall certainly did that when he decked Osborne from behind in the third period. Osborne was entangled with Guy Carbonneau, and getting the better of the Canadiens&rsquo; co-captain, when Courtnall ambushed his former teammate. Courtnall apologized to Osborne in the penalty box. Osborne accepted.Apparently more angry than Osborne was Kordic, who issued instructions from the bench while players milled around following the incident. &ldquo;I just told one of the guys on our team to grab (Courtnall) and slap him around,&rdquo; said Kordic, a gentle man of pacifist tendencies.Kordic doesn&rsquo;t know Courtnall, but hasn&rsquo;t let that circumstance stop him from disliking Courtnall. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of tough to like a guy like that,&rdquo; Kordic said.He partially blames the frighteningly fast forward for the unhappiness he has endured in Toronto. Kordic, whose play has been uneven and behaviour erratic, has not been welcomed with open arms by Maple Leaf fans.Of course, it&rsquo;s illogical for Kordic to hold Courtnall responsible for the trade. Just as it is for Leaf fans to hold Kordic responsible. It was ex-Leaf general manager Gord Steilick who made the trade. Steilick felt he was supporting then-coach John Brophy by bringing in a tough guy. What he didn&rsquo;t foresee was public reaction to the trade.Although Courtnall could not fit in under Brophy, and Kordic has added a much-needed element of toughness, few people deemed the deal a good one for the Maple Leafs. Even if Courtnall&mdash;the Leafs&rsquo; leading scorer in 1986-87&mdash;wasn&rsquo;t playing, at least he looked good in the press box.Courtnall looks more like Tom Cruise than Tom Fergus, and the Leafs&rsquo; former top gun was playing about as often as the movie star when the trade was made. Still, hearts were broken when news reached female students at Toronto high schools. The Maple Leafs were inundated by phone calls from angry teenage girls.Other fans took their frustration out on Kordic. The media ridiculed the trade. &ldquo;I took a lot of grief,&rdquo; said Kordic, who promised to exact revenge upon former Montreal teammates. He never did last year.But on this night, he overwhelmed rookie defenseman Donald Dufresne&mdash;pummelling him into submission while his teammates did the same to Montreal; Toronto won 7-4. Midway through the third period, Courtnall got into a battle with Tom Kurvers. Both of them seldom fight, and it showed.&ldquo;Maybe because I got into a fight, he wanted to prove he could fight, too,&rdquo; cracked Kordic, who, with minor and major penalties, raised his season total to 109 minutes in 24 games. Courtnall logged seven penalty minutes, giving him exactly 109 in his last 171 games.Kordic, a career 12-goal scorer, could not respond in kind when Courtnall scored his 11th of the season.Courtnall was the Canadiens&rsquo; best player, scoring once and skating in high gear all night. He proved an elusive target, for the hit-happy Leafs. Later, Courtnall had no complaints.&ldquo;A couple of shifts I got hit,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it wasn&rsquo;t dirty at all.&rdquo;Co-captain Chris Chelios disagreed. After Courtnall came to Carbonneau&rsquo;s aid, Chelios did the same for Courtnall. He instigated a fight with John McIntyre after the Leaf took liberties with Courtnall&rsquo;s head.McIntyre could not have endeared himself with Toronto teens. &#9632;

f0019-01

IT’S THE BALLAD OF COURTNALL AND KORDIC

<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>The bus carrying the North Stars to the Detroit airport for a charter flight home after the Dec. 8 game had trouble crossing four lanes of traffic, until coach Pierre Page got off and stopped the cars. He was upset with his team&rsquo;s effort and didn&rsquo;t smile during the entire process&hellip;Defenseman Ken Leiter, assigned to the North Stars&rsquo; farm team in Kalamazoo Nov. 24, cleared waivers Dec. 4 and agreed to report by Dec. 6. But on Dec. 9, he had a change of heart and retired for the second time in 16 months. Leiter, 28, played parts of four seasons with the New York Islanders before the North Stars claimed him in the 1988 waiver draft. He sat out all of last season remodeling kitchens and bathrooms. His return suffered a setback when a groin muscle injury caused him to miss much of training camp and he only played four games with the North Stars.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>A routine 30-hour drive turned into a four-day adventure for Greg C. Adams, who finally joined his Red Wings&rsquo; teammates four days after he learned he was traded. Adams was playing for Halifax of the American League when the Quebec Nordiques traded him and defenseman Robert Picard to Detroit for left winger Tony McKegney. But after he gathered his belongings, he set out into the teeth of a winter storm. &ldquo;I only made a couple of hours the first day,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;I ran into poor weather conditions and pulled off. And then (the next day) I started out and, within 15 minutes, I was in a ditch&hellip;I had to wait for the tow truck, and that process took about three more hours.&rdquo; More snow, and car problems that needed repair in Montreal the third day, hindered his progress. &ldquo;Thursday (Dec. 7) was the day I did most of my driving, about 10 hours,&rdquo; Adams said. He finally arrived at about 7 p.m. Dec. 7, nearly four days to the minute after learning he was traded to the Wings.<h2>BLUES</h2>The Blues&rsquo; 6-4 victory over Vancouver broke a four-game winless streak at home and improved their record at the Arena to 6-6-2, but that was not good enough for general manager Ron Caron. The Blues had one of the best home records in the NHL last season, 22-11-7. &ldquo;We have to deliver here at home,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our record on the road doesn&rsquo;t mean a lot if we don&rsquo;t put out here. It&rsquo;s a bonus if you perform on the road.&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t rule out the possibility of a trade if the situation doesn&rsquo;t improve. &ldquo;We need a better contribution by our people, or some of them will change uniforms,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Five or six players can&rsquo;t carry the team through the year&hellip;I want to identify the missing link. If some of our struggling players don&rsquo;t improve, we will find other people.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter has been pleased with rookie left winger Dave Thomlinson, who came up from Peoria of the International League when Peter Zezel was injured and remained after Zezel returned. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been one of our best wingers since he&rsquo;s been here,&rdquo; Sutter said-&hellip;Gino Cavallini scored his third goal of the season in the Blues&rsquo; win 6-4 over Vancouver Dec. 9. He scored the goal in typical Giant Gino fashion, claiming a sheet of ice in front of the net and holding off defenders before slipping Steve Tuttle&rsquo;s rebound under Kirk McLean. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve gotten too many goals in six years from the blue line,&rdquo; Cavallini said.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Right winger Daniel Marois, who had led the Leafs with 12 goals and 25 points before injuring his shoulder in a game against Minnesota Nov. 12, drew an assist on Toronto&rsquo;s first goal in a 7-4 win over Montreal Dec. 9. The Leafs were 4-7 without Marois in the lineup&hellip;Defenseman Darryl Shannon, the Leafs&rsquo; second-round pick (36th overall) in the 1986 entry draft, was sent to Newmarket of the AHL Dec. 8 after seeing action in nine games. &ldquo;I could argue, but what good would it do? I know they&rsquo;re doing what they think is best for me,&rdquo; said Shannon, who had played well after sitting out 12 straight games&hellip;Former No. 1 netminder Allan Bester gave up 10 goals in his first two stints with Newmarket after being demoted by the Leafs Dec. 4&hellip;After playing nine of their last 10 games (Nov. 16-Dec. 7) on the road, the Leafs were looking forward to playing six of their next 10 (Dec. 9-27) on Gardens&rsquo; ice. Eight of those contests were against Norris rivals.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>Rookie center Jeremy Roenick played his best game of the season Dec. 6, getting two goals and an assist in a 6-4 win over Toronto. The two goals, including the game-winner with 1:04 to play, doubled his output for the previous 28 games. It also started Roenick on a three-game point scoring streak (two goals, four assists)&hellip;The Hawks ended their seven-game winless streak by winning three in a row. &ldquo;With our team, I guess, we have to hit rock bottom before it bounces back,&rdquo; Steve Thomas said&hellip;GM Bob Pulford continued his quest to make a deal but didn&rsquo;t expect it to be a big one. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think right now we&rsquo;re looking at a major deal,&rdquo; said Pulford, who admitted making a pitch for Quebec defenseman Jeff Brown before the Nordiques took him off the market&hellip;Dave Manson missed two games with a charley horse in his right leg. He suffered the injury Dec. 6 when he collided with Toronto&rsquo;s John McIntyre&hellip;The Hawks&rsquo; 71 win over the Canucks Dec. 10 raised Jacques Cloutier&rsquo;s record at Chicago Stadium to 9-0-0. &#9632;

ANGRY COACH STOPS TRAFFIC

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; right winger Brett Hull couldn&rsquo;t resist a good-natured jibe at teammate Peter Zezel, who returned to the lineup with three assists and a No. 1 star in the Blues&rsquo; 6-4 victory over Vancouver Dec. 9.&ldquo;He looked a little rusty at times,&rdquo; Hull deadpanned. &ldquo;I was open at times, and he missed me.&rdquo;Hull laughed heartily after his zinger but, truth be told, Zezel was the inspirational force behind a victory the Blues sorely needed.They had not won at home in four games, losing three and tying one. They had not won in three games overall, losing two and tying one. And they had not beaten the Canucks since the 1987-88 season.Zezel missed four games after suffering a badly bruised left shoulder on a hard hit by Hartford&rsquo;s Pat Verbeek on Nov. 3. And his return provided the needed spark.With the three assists, he improved his numbers to 10 goals and 21 points in 25 games.&ldquo;When he plays well, everyone else on the line plays well,&rdquo; said Hull. &ldquo;Sergio (left winger Momesso) plays well, I play well. Everyone&rsquo;s intertwined on that line. When one guy goes on that line, it rubs off.&rdquo;Zezel&rsquo;s inspired performance rubbed off.&ldquo;We needed any kind of lift,&rdquo; said Momesso, who had two goals. &ldquo;Peter&rsquo;s a good player. It&rsquo;s good to have him back. He had a good game. He made some good plays.&rdquo;Before Zezel&rsquo;s injury, coach Brian Sutter used checker Dave Lowry on Zezel&rsquo;s left wing with Hull, and moved Momesso to Lowry&rsquo;s spot on the checking line with Rick Meagher and Steve Tuttle.&ldquo;I feel when I&rsquo;m in there with Hullie and Sergie, we&rsquo;re playing good hockey,&rdquo; Zezel said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great playing with Hullie and Sergie. I&rsquo;ve played with them for almost two years. I know where they&rsquo;re going to be. I was excited to get back in there.&rdquo;Perhaps a little too excited.He took a tripping penalty on his first shift, 86 seconds into the game, and Vancouver&rsquo;s Igor Larionov scored on the subsequent power play.&ldquo;You kind of want to do a little more than normal, especially when you&rsquo;ve been out,&rdquo; Zezel said.&ldquo;I kind of blew it.&rdquo;But he recovered and ended up being a major force in the Blues&rsquo; victory.Any time you miss a key centerman, it&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; said right winger Paul MacLean, who scored on a Zezel assist. &ldquo;He came back, stepped in and did the job. He won some key faceoffs, too. He made a difference in the game.&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: Todd Ewen, RW, assigned to Peoria (IHL) for conditioning.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, Peter Zezel, Rick Meagher, Tony Hrkac.LW&mdash;Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Sergio Momesso, Dave Thomlinson, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Paul MacLean, Brett Hull, Dave Lowry, Steve Tuttle, Kelly ChaseLD&mdash;Mike Lalor, Gordie Roberts, Glen Featherstone, Tony Twist.RD&mdash;Paul Cavallini, Tom Tilley. Dominic Lavoie.G&mdash;Greg Millen, Vincent Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Herb Raglan, RW, broken right wrist, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Hull, 23. A&mdash;Oates, 32 P&mdash;Oates, 42 PIM&mdash;Twist 70 &#9632;

ZEZEL’S RETURN WAS JUST THE RIGHT TONIC

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>A dynamic duo they weren&rsquo;t, but Ken Wregget and Allan Bester at least provided the Toronto Maple Leafs with steady goaltending through most of the 1980s.Each even had an occasional moment or two of greatness when they toiled in the once-proud blue and white, but now, the Wregget-Besterera is gone.Half of it ended last March, when Wregget was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers after five seasons in Toronto. Then, on Dec. 4, Bester was demoted to the club&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Newmarket.&ldquo;Good goaltending is so vital,&rdquo; said Leaf coach Doug Carpenter, who now has a sometimes porous, sometimes tremendous Mark Laforest as his No. 1 netminder and raw rookie Peter Ing as his backup.After a disastrous professional debut in a 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders Nov. 16, Ing recently returned to the Leafs after a two-week stint in the minors. His encore was sensational.Ing stopped 42 of 47 Chicago shots Dec. 6, but was abandoned by his teammates in a 6-4 loss. The contest wasn&rsquo;t decided until the final three minutes, but would have been over after the first period had it not been for Ing.The following night in St. Louis, as the Leafs tried to end a five-game road trip on the same winning note as they&rsquo;d started it, Laforest turned in one of his finer efforts of the season by stopping 36 shots to beat the Blues 5-2. It was, as Carpenter noted afterwards, a &ldquo;goaltender&rsquo;s win.&rdquo;The Leafs got a lift of a different kind Dec. 9, when Daniel Marois returned from injury. With Marois back in the lineup, the offense got into high gear, building a 5-0 first-period lead on the Montreal Canadiens at Maple Leaf Gardens, on the way to a 7-4 victory. Ed Olczyk led the way with three goals.In that game, it was the Leafs who benefited from soft goals. They scored on three of eight shots against shaky Canadiens&rsquo; rookie Andre Racicot, who was making his NHL debut.&ldquo;You watch the bench after a goalie makes a great save and it&rsquo;s incredible, it lifts the whole bench up,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;But watch what happens when the soft goals go in. The heads go down. The body language is really something to see behind the bench.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve sure seen it a lot along our bench in the last little while. St. Louis was up and down us like an elevator (Dec. 7), I mean they were all over us, but Laforest held us in the game and, boom, we went on to win it. That shows you what great goaltending can do for a team.&rdquo;<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 8: Darryl Shannon, D. assigned to Newmarket (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Tom Fergus, John McIntyre, Dan Daoust.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne, Vincent Damphousse, Dave Reid, Wendel Clark, Scott Pearson.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Daniel Marois, Lou Franceschetti, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Brad Marsh, Brian Curran, Luke Richardson, Todd Gill.RD&mdash;Al lafrate, Tom Kurvers, Rob Ramage.G&mdash;Mark Laforest, Peter Ing.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Hannan, C, strained left knee ligaments, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Leeman, 15. A&mdash;Damphousse, Ofczyk, 20. P&mdash;Leeman. Olczyk, 32. PIM&mdash;Kordic, 109. &#9632;

LAFOREST, ING LATEST HOPES FOR NET STABILITY

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>There isn&rsquo;t a more popular player among Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; fans than left winger Al Secord.That was evident Dec. 10, when the 31-year-old Secord stole the show in a 7-1 rout of Vancouver and sent a sellout crowd into a frenzy by scoring his first two goals of the season.The chant of &ldquo;We want Al&rdquo; reverberated through Chicago Stadium in the third period as Secord tried unsuccessfully for the hat trick.&ldquo;There are certain things in a career a guy never forgets, and this was one of those times,&rdquo; Secord said. &ldquo;If that doesn&rsquo;t give you incentive to do well, nothing will. Even when I wasn&rsquo;t playing, fans on the street and in restaurants would tell me to stick with it. They&rsquo;ve been great to me for seven years.&rdquo;Secord sat out 18 straight games earlier this season but, to his credit, he didn&rsquo;t sulk. He kept himself in shape by working hard after practice and in the gym, and that extra effort seemed to be paying off. Beginning Nov. 19, Secord dressed for six of eight games.Secord said that not once while he was sitting out night after night did he ever think he was washed up.&ldquo;Otherwise I would have packed my bags a long time ago,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Our assistant coaches, Jacques Martin and E.J. McGuire, spent a lot of time together with Al working him, promoting him and helping him through a tough beginning,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan. &ldquo;They helped him and he helped himself by keeping in top shape.&rdquo;It got to the point in the third period against the Canucks where Secord&rsquo;s linemates, Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer, were going out of their way to get him the puck in hopes of setting up a third goal and satisfying the crowd.The only time the Secord chants subsided was when he left the ice. That&rsquo;s when the boos would start.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the first time I&rsquo;ve ever been booed for going off the ice,&rdquo; Secord joked.All of Secord&rsquo;s teammates were happy to finally see him rewarded for his hard work.&ldquo;Al has had some big years, so he knows what it takes to get to the top,&rdquo; said Adam Creighton. &ldquo;He shows by example with a lot of hard work. He&rsquo;s always intense when he plays and that brings everybody else up.&rdquo;The last two seasons have been tough on Secord since he was traded by the Hawks to Toronto in September of 1987 along with Ed Olczyk for Steve Thomas, Rick Vaive and Bob McGill.In a year and a half in Toronto and a half a season with Philadelphia, Secord scored just 21 goals. That&rsquo;s a far cry from his years with the Hawks in the early and mid-1980s, when he was always around the 40-goal mark. He bagged 54 in 1982-83, to join Bobby Hull as the only Hawk to get 50 or more in a season.The Hawks signed Secord as a free agent last August in hopes that he could recapture some of his magic in Chicago, in front of the fans who cheer his every move.&ldquo;I just want to do whatever I can to help this hockey team,&rdquo; Secord said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m confident I can still be a contributor in this league.&rdquo;Has Secord played himself back into a regular role with the Hawks?&ldquo;Who knows? But it looks that way,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s played well whenever I&rsquo;ve used him.&rdquo;The fans in Chicago Stadium will be happy to hear that.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: Cam Russell. D, recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). Everett Sanipass, LW, assigned to Indianapolis.Dec. 10: Jimmy Waite, G. recalled from Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Troy Murray, Adam Creighton, Jeremy Roenick, Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Greg Gilbert, Steve Thomas, Mike Hudson, Al Secord, Wayne Van Dorp.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Wayne Presley, Duane Sutter.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson, Steve Konroyd, Trent Yawney, Cam Russell.RD&mdash;Keith Brown, Bob McGill, Bob Murray.G&mdash;Jacques Cloutier, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Alain Chevrier, G, bruised left knee, day-to-day.Dave Manson, D, Charley horse in right leg, day-to-day.Darren Pang, G, left knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;T. Murray, Thomas, Wilson, 12. A&mdash;Savard, 27. P&mdash;Savard, 37. PIM&mdash;Manson. 102. &#9632;

SECORD HEARS BOOS—FOR LEAVING THE ICE

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>The Civic Center Drive Bullies?It doesn&rsquo;t quite have a ring to it, but Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers couldn&rsquo;t care less. The Wings&mdash;the new, big, bad Wings&mdash;were winning again.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re on track,&rdquo; Demers said, after the Wings swept the Minnesota North Stars 2-1 and 3-1 in a Dec. 8-9 home-and-home series. &ldquo;We have an identity now.&rdquo;Less than a minute remained in the Wings&rsquo; sweep when Stars&rsquo; coach Pierre Page, apparently intent on salvaging some pride, sent out a forward line of tough guys Basil McRae, Mark Tinordi and Shane Churla.The series ended in bloodshed, with the Stars on the receiving end of the punishment. Tinordi, who was to take the draw after John Chabot&rsquo;s empty-net goal with 53 seconds left, wound up on the receiving end of three thunderous blows from Joe Kocur. The result was a gash around his eye that required more than a dozen stitches, not to mention a few second thoughts as the Stars skated off toward their dressing room.Churla came out on the wrong end of a fight with Torrie Robertson. Earlier in the game, McRae wound up on his knees after a series of punches from Kevin McClelland.And Demers was smiling.The &ldquo;identity&rdquo; of which he spoke began to take shape less than a week earlier, when the Wings administered similar punishment to the Blackhawks in a 4-3 win at Chicago Stadium. That game ended Detroit&rsquo;s nine-game winless streak there. All three wins were part of a 3-0-2 streak that brought the Wings within 11 points of Norris Division-leading Chicago.&ldquo;We still have a lot of work to do,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still in last place. But it&rsquo;s looking better now.&rdquo;Why? Simply put, the Red Wings were tired of getting pushed around. And with a series of recent moves, they added the personnel to ensure they would be dishing out the abuse instead of taking it.The Wings are a bigger and more ornery team now than when they began the season. Demers attributed that to the acquisition of Kevin McClelland from Edmonton, and the promotion of Daniel Shank from Adirondack. That made the enforcement process all that much more effective for Kocur and Robertson. Add the size and toughness of newcomers Robert Picard and Greg C. Adams from Quebec (both played a hard-hitting game against Minnesota) and Demers loved what he was seeing.&ldquo;Everybody on the team is really close-knit together now,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;And the ones who really created that are guys like Torrie Robertson and McClelland. The team is really working together for a purpose, close like we used to be.&rdquo;Demers didn&rsquo;t appreciate the Stars&rsquo; tactics in the closing minutes of their series. Minnesota had the Neal Broten line on the ice after Chabot&rsquo;s goal, but Page explained later that he called them off and replaced them with the team&rsquo;s toughest players to counter the line of Robertson, Chabot and Kocur.What Demers especially liked about his tough guys is that they serve other useful purposes.&ldquo;Our tough guys can play, too,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have guys sitting on the bench not doing anything.&rdquo;But as happy as he was about the team&rsquo;s new mean streak, Demers was ecstatic about its improved defensive play in front of solid goaltending by Glen Hanlon and Sam St. Laurent.In the five-game unbeaten streak, Detroit allowed a total of 10 goals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still not scoring many goals,&rdquo; Demers said, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re not giving up many either.&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 6: Sheldon Kennedy, RW, and Peter Dineen, D, assigned to Adirondack (AHL) for conditioning.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Bernie Federko, John Chabot, Dave Barr.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Shawn Burr, Torrie Robertson, Greg Adams, Marc Habscheid.RW&mdash;Brent Fedyk, Kevin McClelland, Joe Kocur, Daniel Shank.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, John Mokosak, Borje Salming, Robert Picard.RD&mdash;Lee Norwood, Rick Zombo.G&mdash;Glen Hanlon, Sam St. Laurent.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jimmy Carson, C, ligament tear in right knee, day-to-day.Mike O&rsquo;Connell, D, back spasms, day-to-day.Greg Stefan, G, ligament damage in right knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 18. A&mdash;Yzerman, 21. P&mdash;Yzerman, 39 PIM&mdash;Kocur, 109. &#9632;

ADDED MUSCLE PAYS OFF IN WIN COLUMN

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01764/5702611-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Donald Audette of the Rochester Americans led all rookies in scoring with 28 points, but his size (5-foot-8, 175 pounds) could stand in the way of an NHL career.</figcaption></div>An outstanding crop of rookies has kept last season&rsquo;s division champions as the teams to beat in the American League.The Adirondack Red Wings and Sherbrooke Canadiens had vastly different rosters this season, but continued to lead the Northern and Southern Divisions, respectively.The Calder Cup-champion Red Wings, a veteran team in &rsquo;88-89, are significantly younger this season with rookies Kory Kocur and Dennis Holland up front and Bob Wilkie, Yves Racine and Gordon Kruppke on defense. And that list doesn&rsquo;t include their best rookie, Sheldon Kennedy, who was recently called up by Detroit.Sherbrooke had a young team last season, but the Canadiens are just as young this time. Rookie forwards Andrew Cassels, Tom Chorske and Ed Cristofoli have all spent time with injury-riddled Montreal this season. Mathieu Schneider and Todd Richards have been solid first-year players on defense.But the first-year phenoms are not restricted to these two teams. There are seven rookies in the league this season who were first-round picks in the NHL entry draft&mdash;Darrin Shannon and Joel Savage (Rochester), Scott Pearson (Newmarket), Peter Soberlak (Cape Breton), Kocur, Racine and Cassels&mdash;and five second-rounders&mdash;Tie Domi (Newmarket), Tim Taylor (Baltimore), Sean LeBrun (Springfield), Kruppke and Wilkie.Here are the leading candidates for the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Trophy as top AHL rookie:1. Jiri Latal, 22, D, Hershey; drafted by Toronto, 106th overall in 1985. Traded to Philadelphia last summer for future considerations.Latal, a Czechoslovakian, may not get a chance at the Garrett Trophy after all. The Flyers called him up in early December, and he had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, Dec. 7 against Buffalo.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to put any added pressure on him,&rdquo; says Bears&rsquo; coach Kevin McCarthy, &ldquo;but in the five years I&rsquo;ve been involved with the AHL, I haven&rsquo;t seen another defenseman with his offensive skills.&rdquo;In 21 AHL games, Latal had nine goals and 17 assists. His 26 points were second among defensemen (Rochester&rsquo;s Don McSween had 34 in six more games).&ldquo;He&rsquo;s different for this league,&rdquo; says Hershey GM Frank Mathers. &ldquo;Most defensemen who rush the puck slow down when they cross the blue line. They look to pass or they dump the puck in. Latal speeds up when he gets there.&rdquo;2. Andrew Cassels, 20, C, Sherbrooke; drafted by Montreal, 17th overall, 1987.Sherbrooke has come up with another gem at center, one season after Stephan Lebeau broke AHL records for goals (70) and points (134). Cassels is more of a playmaker than a goalscorer.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got good hockey sense, good hands and good anticipation,&rdquo; says Sherbrooke coach Jean Hamel. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a different type of player than Lebeau. You don&rsquo;t see him that much in a game, but when it&rsquo;s over he has made a good amount of passes or goals.&rdquo;Before going to Montreal in November and separating his shoulder, Cassels was Sherbrooke&rsquo;s top scorer with 25 points (7-18) in 18 games.&ldquo;I think he has to improve his skating speed a little,&rdquo; Hamel says of the former Ottawa 67&rsquo;s star. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to tell how good he can be. He&rsquo;s going to have a chance to adjust.&rdquo;3. Kory Kocur, 20, RW, Adirondack; drafted by Detroit, 17th overall, 1988.Kory&rsquo;s offensive skills are better than those of cousin Joe, who is little more than a tough guy in Detroit.&ldquo;He has been great for us,&rdquo; says Adirondack coach Barry Melrose. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing 30 to 35 minutes a game.&rdquo;The Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; grad has been playing with two veterans who have abundant offensive potential&mdash;Murray Eaves and Dale Krentz. And he&rsquo;s made the most of the opportunity. In 27 games, he had 10 goals and 11 assists.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got talent and he&rsquo;s got everything. He&rsquo;s a natural prospect. He&rsquo;ll play in the NHL and he&rsquo;ll be a good pro. All he needs is time to develop,&rdquo; says Melrose.4. Mathieu Schneider, 20, D, Sherbrooke; drafted by Montreal, 44th overall, 1987.Being a first-year pro has not intimidated Schneider, who is confident to the point of cockiness on the ice.Schneider, who played junior with the Cornwall Royals, loves to carry the puck and has become a quarterback at the point during the power play. He has a good low shot and, in 24 games, had six goals and 12 assists. Four of his goals have been on the power play.The one area Schneider has to work on is defense.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s natural for anyone coming out of junior,&rdquo; Hamel says. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s learning quickly and has made good improvements since the beginning of the year.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">WHALERS&rsquo; BLACK HAS PICKED UP HIS PACE.</blockquote>5. James Black, 20, C, Binghamton; drafted by Hartford, 94th overall, 1989.In Black&rsquo;s first 10 games, he had just two goals and an assist. In his next 17, he had nine goals and nine assists, including a 10-game point streak.The difference was speed.&ldquo;I was told to use my speed out there,&rdquo; Black says. &ldquo;I was like a turtle out there.&rdquo;Coach Doug McKay stuck with the former Portland Winter Hawk during the early part of the season and was being rewarded.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s jumping into the openings and he&rsquo;s using his speed to create the offensive chances,&rdquo; McKay says. &ldquo;His game has just gotten better and better.&rdquo;6. Ron Hoover, 23, LW-C, Maine; drafted by Hartford, 158th overall, 1986. Signed by Boston as a free agent, September, 1989.Hoover has been a pleasant surprise for the Mariners, with a team-leading 15 goals in 26 games. He&rsquo;s been effective on the power play and as a penalty killer after finishing his career at Western Michigan University.&ldquo;The first thing you notice is his desire,&rdquo; says Mariners&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;Some guys will work hard for a few shifts and then take a couple off. But he keeps coming.&ldquo;He shoots the puck well and he has a quick release. He&rsquo;ll continue to improve; he just needs time in the minors.&rdquo;7. Jim Hrivnak, 21, G, Baltimore; drafted by Washington, 61st overall, 1986.Hrivnak played 10 games last season with Baltimore after leaving Merrimack College as an undergraduate, but is still considered a rookie and is regarded as a top prospect.&ldquo;I think that was a big help for him,&rdquo; says Skipjacks&rsquo; coach Terry Murray. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very poised guy who is under control in the net. He&rsquo;s not a wanderer.&rdquo;Hrivnak has been a big reason for the Skipjacks&rsquo; early success. In 15 games, he was 8-5-1 with a 3.24 goals-against average.8. Stephane Morin, 20, C, Halifax; drafted by Quebec, 43rd overall, 1989.Morin was the Quebec League&rsquo;s scoring leader last season, when he had 186 points (77-109) in 70 games for Chicoutimi.He started his pro career with 24 points (1311) in 23 games.Size or skating won&rsquo;t be a problem. But his play in the defensive zone will determine his chances at the NHL.&ldquo;I think he has to develop all the way around,&rdquo; says Halifax coach Robbie Ftorek, &ldquo;and get adjusted to the pace from junior.&rdquo;9. Donald Audette, 20, RW, Rochester; drafted by Buffalo, I83rd overall, 1989.Audette went nine games without a goal, then scored five in a game against Binghamton Oct. 29. He hasn&rsquo;t stopped scoring since, leading all AHL rookies in scoring with 28 points (13-15) in 24 games.Size is Audette&rsquo;s biggest obstacle. The Laval Titan grad is only 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds. Skating is an asset.&ldquo;If guys like Stephan Lebeau and Theoren Fleury can play in the NHL, so can he,&rdquo; says Rochester coach John Van Boxmeer.10. Jon Morris, 23, C, Utica; drafted by New Jersey, 86th overall, 1984.Morris returned to the Devils&rsquo; organization after quitting last October when New Jersey assigned him to the AHL.This season, the 6-foot, 175-pound Lowell, Mass., native had eight goals and 13 assists in 20 games. Morris recorded 231 points in 153 games during his four seasons at the University of Lowell. Utica GM-coach Tom McVie says Morris is a complete player with no weaknesses.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just been doing outstanding things this season,&rdquo; says McVie. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great, Godgiven hockey instincts. It&rsquo;s amazing the way he draws a crowd. Everyone seems to chase him and that usually leaves two or three guys wide open.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

NEW & IMPROVED

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>Sherbrooke Canadiens&rsquo; left winger Mario Roberge wants two things&mdash;a little respect and no more comparisons to his younger brother, Serge.Mario, 25, came to the Sherbrooke camp on a tryout last season after playing the previous year in a senior league in Newfoundland. He earned a contract, then played in 58 games and had 240 penalty minutes.But Serge, 24, had 352. This season, Mario has toned down his act, registering only 52 minutes in 25 games. Serge had 113 in 26.&ldquo;We have a bad reputation,&rdquo; Mario said. &ldquo;Serge is different than me. He has less talent and he&rsquo;s a real fighter. But I want to prove to everybody in the league that I can play hockey. I&rsquo;m not a goon.&rdquo;But the last name influences people.&ldquo;I think the problem is that we have the same name and we play for the same team,&rdquo; Mario said. &ldquo;The other team that plays us says, &lsquo;Roberge, they&rsquo;re the same.&rsquo;&ldquo;When they talk about the Roberge brothers everybody thinks fighters, goon and crazy guys, but I want to change that.&ldquo;Last year I was a rookie, that&rsquo;s why I had to fight. I had to prove myself. Now I want to prove I can play hockey, too.&rdquo;Roberge has done a good job at that task. On a line with Jim Nesich and Dan Woodley, he has averaged a point a game, with seven goals and 18 assists.&ldquo;Everybody is surprised about that,&rdquo; said Roberge. &ldquo;Everybody is talking about that in Sherbrooke. I&rsquo;m not very surprised by it, though. I know what I can do on the ice.&rdquo;Sherbrooke coach Jean Hamel helped convey that Mario is more than a fighter in an early-season game at Hershey. With Nesich not playing, he made Mario captain. That made for an interesting pre-game conversation with referee Mick McGeough.A week earlier, McGeough had whistled Roberge for several penalties in a game.&ldquo;He was all over me.&rdquo; Robergesaid. &ldquo;Every time I touched somebody, he called me for no reason.&ldquo;So when I went to talk to McGeough before the game as the captain, he almost fell down. He said, &lsquo;What are you doing here?&rsquo; and I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m the captain.&rsquo;&ldquo;I think Jean wanted to prove to the referee that Mario Roberge is not a fighter. He&rsquo;s a good player.&rdquo;<h2>RELUCTANT COACH</h2>Springfield GM Bruce Landon coached for the first time in two seasons, after the Board of Governors rejected the Indians&rsquo; appeal to waive a five-game suspension against coach Jim Roberts.Roberts was suspended when Dale Kushner left the penalty box in the third period of a 13-3 loss Nov. 24 at New Haven.Under the terms of rule 62u, a coach is suspended for five games if a player leaves the bench or penalty box to join in a fight.Landon&rsquo;s first game as coach was a 3-2 loss Dec. 1 at home to Moncton, but the next night the Indians beat the Hawks 3-1.Landon, who coached the Indians for eight games in 1987-88 when then-coach Gordie Lane was suspended, upped his lifetime record to 4-6.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made it very clear that I have no desire tocoach,&rdquo; Landon said. &ldquo;What bothers me is to be put in this situation by a stupid, idiotic rule.&rdquo;<h2>SAVING FACE</h2>Less than a week after needing 60 stitches to close a cut on the right side of his face, Maine defenseman Bruce Shoebottom was back in action. During a goalmouth scramble Nov. 29, Shoebottom was cut by Binghamton&rsquo;s Tom Martin. The&rsquo; blade of Martin&rsquo;s stick caught Shoebottom on the side of his face. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of funny to say you were lucky, but in that case I was,&rdquo; said Shoebottom. &ldquo;We had three or four doctors here and as soon as I got into the training room I had some really good people working on me.&rdquo;&hellip;A crowd of 12,322 saw Sherbrooke improve its record to 2-0 at the Forum this season when the Canadiens defeated Moncton 5-1 Dec. 3. In the first of five games at the Forum this season, the Canadiens beat the Mariners 5-4 Nov. 24 in front of 13,235. &#9632;

ROBERGE OUT TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>Paul Ysebaert has taken his future into his own hands.Ysebaert believes he&rsquo;s been buried in the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; organization too long. But instead of demanding a trade or staging a walkout, the 23-year-old center has been ripping up the American League.In 27 games, Ysebaert had a league-leading 24 goals and 36 points. He tied a league record with back-to-back hat tricks against Binghamton and Adirondack Nov. 23-24 and picked up his third hat trick of the season Dec. 6 in a 6-2 victory over Moncton. Against the Hawks, Ysebaert scored at even strength, on the power play and while the Devils were shorthanded.When he was assigned to Utica in September, Ysebaert decided it was time to give prospective employers an opportunity to see what kind of merchandise will be available next summer.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m in my option year. It&rsquo;s my third year in the pros,&rdquo; Ysebaert said. &ldquo;My first two years I really thought about being called up all the time. This year I went in with the attitude that whatever happens at camp happens. When I was sent down, I said, Okay, I&rsquo;m going to play for the Utica Devils, (Utica GM-coach) Tom McVie and Paul Ysebaert&mdash;because I&rsquo;m going into my option year.&rsquo;&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really worried about being called up an awful lot. What can you do when we&rsquo;re the only team that hasn&rsquo;t brought players up this year?&rdquo;McVie has coached Ysebaert at Utica since he turned pro in 1987, following an outstanding career at Bowling Green University. As a rookie, Ysebaert scored 30 goals and 79 points in 78 games. Last season, after returning from an injury, he had 36 goals and 80 points in 56 games. In a five-game trial with New Jersey, he had four assists.&ldquo;This is a blessing in disguise. He may not think so at the time,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s sore, but here he&rsquo;s playing on both sides of the puck. He&rsquo;s killing all the penalties with Pat Conacher. He probably wouldn&rsquo;t get to do that up there. And he takes all the important faceoffs.&ldquo;The way I&rsquo;m looking at it, sure, it may be costing him a little bit, but it&rsquo;s a pretty valuable apprenticeship. I&rsquo;ve had a lot of guys go back and forth, but when I take him to the airport, I just want him to go and never come back.&ldquo;Paul Ysebaert is a super young man&hellip;he&rsquo;s going to get his chance. He&rsquo;s closer than he thinks.&rdquo;<h2>END-ING STREAK</h2>Newmarket&rsquo;s rookie goaltender Peter Ing stopped the Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; home unbeaten streak at 10-0-3 with a 6-1 victory Dec. 2.Ing made 37 saves to hand the Wings their first home loss of the season. He was subsequently recalled to Toronto when Alan Bester was demoted Dec. 6.Last season, the Red Wings opened with a 13-0-2 run at the Glens Falls Civic Center.The AHL record of 22 games without a loss at home was set by the 1971-72 Boston Braves, whose streak went 18-0-4.<h2>TWO IN A ROW</h2>Last-place Binghamton showed signs it was becoming competitive with home victories over Halifax (3-2) and Maine (4-1) Dec. 2-3. Goaltender Daryl Reaugh stopped 58 of 61 shots to help the Whalers to their first back-to-back victories of the season&hellip;Utica ended Rochester center Ken Priestlay&rsquo;s 15-game scoring streak in a 4-3 Devils&rsquo; win Dec. 2. During the streak, Priestlay scored seven goals and 18 points. Priestlay was second in AHL scoring with 11 goals and 28 assists in 25 games&hellip;Adirondack&rsquo;s manpower problems continued to mount. Defenseman Peter Dineen and right winger Sheldon Kennedy were lost from four to six weeks when they each suffered separated shoulders while playing for Detroit against St. Louis Dec. 5. In addition, forwards Murray Eaves, Al Conroy, Tom Bissett and Mike Gober missed a Dec. 6 exhibition against the touring Soviet club Sokol-Kiev with injuries. With a roster of two goalies and 12 skaters, the Wings were pounded, 10-1 &hellip;McVie on junior and college hockey players and their agents: &ldquo;The agents are always telling their players not to worry about checking and just getting more points, so they&rsquo;ll get more money. Some stiff like Tom McVie can always teach them how to play defense.&rdquo; &#9632;

YSEBAERT MAKING A CASE FOR PROMOTION

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT AND RAND SIMON</div>Mark Vichorek&rsquo;s first goal of the season prevented Indianapolis&rsquo; Jimmy Waite from becoming the first International League goaltender in 18 seasons to record three consecutive shutouts.Vichorek, a Phoenix Roadrunner defenseman who has scored 12 goals in a 245-game minor-pro career with seven teams, scored at the 12minute mark of the second period in the Ice&rsquo;s 2-1 overtime win Dec. 5.Waite&rsquo;s shutout string had reached 162 minutes and 35 seconds by the time Vichorek scored.Waite&rsquo;s two consecutive shutouts fell short of the feat of Dave Hainsworth, who twice recorded shutout triples for the Muskegon Mohawks in 1972-73. Hainsworth&rsquo;s longest streak was 264 minutes and two seconds, over a five-game span.In the win over the Roadrunners, Waite stopped 24 of 25 shots. Earlier. Waite recorded back-to-back shutouts over the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. He stopped 14 shots in a 1-0 win Dec. 1 and then made 19 saves the next night in a 2-0 victory.Before Vichorek&rsquo;s goal, Waite was last scored on by Gary Emmons of the Kalamazoo Wings, at 9:25 of the third period in the Wings&rsquo; 3-1 win Nov. 29.,Waite, IHL player of the week for the period ending Dec. 3, benifited from a strong team effort.The 14-5-2 Ice have allowed the fewest shots on goal in the league, 488 in 21 games, for an average of 23.2 per game. The next-lowest total belonged to Muskegon. The Lumberjacks allowed 653 shots in 23 games, an average of 28.4.Coach Darryl Sutter has insisted his forwards backcheck and take their men out of the playThe Ice lost two forwards to the parent Chicago Blackhawks, however. Center Mike Eagles and left winger Everett Sanipass were recalled by the Blackhawks Dec. 3.<h2>PARTY MONEY</h2>Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Byron Lomow and Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Kevin Evans were suspended one game each and fined $300 for their third-period fight during a stoppage in play at Fort Wayne Nov. 25.Under the terms of Rule 66 (b), the players were to receive one-game suspensions and $100 fines for fighting before the dropping of the puck. However, IHL commissioner Tom Berry added $200 to the mandatory $ 100 fine Nov. 28 after viewing videotape of the incident.&ldquo;We have to send a message to all players that this type of activity will not be tolerated,&rdquo; Berry said.The players had coincidental roughing minors earlier in the period and were jostling with each other all game. When Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Colin Chin received a penalty, Lomow came out on the penalty-killing unit while Evans was out for the Wings&rsquo; power play. The two dropped the gloves and fought before the play started.Komets&rsquo; owner David Welker said he would appeal the additional fine. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll pay the $100. but I don&rsquo;t intend to pay for Tom Berry&rsquo;s cocktail parties,&rdquo; he said.<h2>SPIRITED TURNOUT</h2>The Flint Spirits, who had just two sellouts in their previous 173 games, had two in their next three. An overflow crowd of 4,311 saw the Spirits defeat the Komets 7-4 Nov. 17, and 4,077 were on hand for Flint&rsquo;s 3-1 win over Muskegon Nov. 24. IMA Sports Arena seats 4,021&hellip;Paul Kelly, assigned from the Los Angeles Kings to Phoenix, scored his first two goals as a Roadrunner in Phoenix&rsquo; 11-8 win over Milwaukee Nov. 25&hellip;The Salt Lake Golden Eagles lost five games in a row before a 7-3 win over Peoria Dec. 5, partly due to the loss of some of their top forwards to injury. Before the 5-2 loss to Fort Wayne Nov. 29, Martin Simard needed an emergency appendectomy. And neither Rich Chernomaz nor Randy Bucyk (knee injuries) was able to make the team&rsquo;s three-game road trip to Fort Wayne and Indianapolis Nov. 29-Dec. 2. &#9632;

UNLIKELY SCORER ENDS SHUTOUT STREAK

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01717/5702714-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Longo, above, has benefited by playing on a line with Mike Ricci, but scouts have noticed the Peterborough rookie is also one of the quickest skaters in the OHL.</figcaption></div>The player expected to be the best rookie in major junior hockey this season isn&rsquo;t even in the Canadian Hockey League yet.But that will change between Jan. 1 and 10, when the fate of 16-year-old Eric Lindros is decided. The highly-publicized Lindros turned down the Ontario League&rsquo;s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&mdash;othe team that drafted him first overall in 1989. But because of a new rule allowing teams to trade their first-round choices during their draft years, Lindros will suit up for one of seven teams during the second half.Despite the absence of Lindros, there is a strong rookie contingent in the CHL this season. In fact, one NHL scout says it&rsquo;s premature to assume Lindros will be the dominant freshman.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s something that I think has been blown out of proportion a little by the media,&rdquo; says the scout. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a difference between a prospect and a player. A prospect is someone who hasn&rsquo;t done anything yet. I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s going to do great things but let&rsquo;s let him do something first.&rdquo;Listed below are The Hockey News&rsquo; picks as the top 10 rookies in major junior, based on their play this season:1. Petr Nedved, 18, C, Seattle (WHL), 6-foot-3, 174 pounds, 19-29-48 in 27 games. Eligible for 1990 draft.The Czechoslovakian defector had a penchant for one-way play when he started in the Western League, but Seattle coach-general manager Russ Farwell says Nedved has become a complete player and is improving with every game. &ldquo;Not only is he the top rookie in our league, but I think think he&rsquo;ll challenge for the top three in the draft.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pure talent. He does things at his age that some players can never do.&rdquo;2. Derian Hatcher, 17, D, North Bay (OHL), 6-foot-5, 213 pounds, 8-14-22 in 27 games. Eligible for 1990 draft.The brother of Washington Capitals&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Hatcher, Derian is one of the league&rsquo;s largest players and growing. &ldquo;He has the potential to put on more weight,&rdquo; says Centennials&rsquo; coach Bert Templeton, &ldquo;and he thinks the game so well.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He could be the top defense prospect in the draft. He&rsquo;s got great size and hockey sense.&rdquo;3. Brent Bilodeau, 16, D, Seattle (WHL), 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, 1-7-8 and 63 PIM in 24 games. Eligible for 1991 draft.Bilodeau has already been touted as the top defense prospect in 1991. The prototypical defensive rearguard, Bilodeau has shown a liking for physical play. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a star in five years,&rdquo; says Thunderbirds&rsquo; coach Russ Farwell.The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He could be the best of the bunch. He&rsquo;ll be right there in 1991, bet on it.&rdquo;4. Scott Niedermayer, 16, D, Kamloops (WHL), 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, 6-24-30 in 28 games. Eligible for 1991 draft.Blazers&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock calls Niedermayer a cross between Greg Hawgood and Paul Coffey. Despite his offensive prowess, he can also play defense. &ldquo;We play him against all the lines in the league,&rdquo; says Hitchcock. &ldquo;He almost never gets beat 1-on-1.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great hockey sense and poise for a 16-year-old. He&rsquo;s got all the skills and attributes to be a pro.&rdquo;5. Chris Longo, 17, RW, Peterborough (OHL), 5-foot-11, 177 pounds, 15-18-33 in 29 games. Eligible for 1990 draft.<blockquote class="pullQuote">LONGO AND McTAVISH &lsquo;DESERVE&rsquo; TO LINE UP WITH RICCI.</blockquote>No matter what Longo and fellow rookie Dale McTavish do this season, their accomplishments will be diminished by the fact that they play on a line with Petes&rsquo; superstar Mike Ricci. &ldquo;They play with Ricci because they deserve to be there,&rdquo; says Petes&rsquo; coach Dick Todd. Longo led all OHL rookies in scoring.The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a decent player and a good goal-scorer but to say he&rsquo;ll be a pro is premature.&rdquo;6. Martin Lapointe, 16, RW, Laval (QMJHL), 5-feet-11, 194 pounds, 17-22-39 in 29 games. Eligible for 1991 draft.Lapointe, who led all Quebec League rookies in scoring, has been a pleasant surprise for the Titan. He was chosen 10th overall in the midget draft.&ldquo;He has so much talent and desire. I think he&rsquo;s the best 16-year-old in the league,&rdquo; says Titan coach Paulin Bordeleau. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been one of our steadiest players all year. For a 16-year-old he&rsquo;s quite mature.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He skates well up and down the wing but he&rsquo;s got pretty good hands as well,&rdquo; says one scout. &ldquo;I like the way he plays along the boards.&rdquo;7. Ryan Kuwabara, 17, RW, Ottawa (OHL), 6-foot-1, 193 pounds, 11-15-26 in 25 games. Eligible for 1990 draft.Kuwabara is one of those unique players who combines toughness with a decent scoring touch. A training camp holdout with the 67&rsquo;s, Kuwabara has provided the team with a physical presence and isn&rsquo;t afraid to take punishment in front of the opposition&rsquo;s net. &ldquo;He had some trouble adjusting to the pace at first,&rdquo; says Brian Kilrea, coach of the 67&rsquo;s. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s a big, strong kid and he&rsquo;s getting better.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got good skills all around and doesn&rsquo;t get intimidated. He&rsquo;s a good, honest player.&rdquo;8. Rich Matvichuk, 16, D, Saskatoon (WHL), 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, 4-7-11 and 56 PIM in 25 games. Eligible for 1991 draft.Matvichuk&rsquo;s play has picked up considerably since the beginning of the season. &ldquo;When the season started it was an adjustment because he wasn&rsquo;t very co-ordinated,&rdquo; says Blades&rsquo; coach Terry Ruskowski. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s matured quicker than we expected. He handles the puck well and he hits very well.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big, strong kid who does everything pretty well. He has &lsquo;pro&rsquo; written all over him.&rdquo;9. Dale McTavish, 17, LW, Peterborough (OHL), 6-foot, 170 pounds, 15-16-31 in 29 games. Eligible for 1990 draft.Petes&rsquo; coach Dick Todd says both McTavish and Longo are among the league&rsquo;s quickest skaters. He also says McTavish can be very creative with the puck. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an excellent stickhandler and he&rsquo;s got great agility,&rdquo; says Todd. &ldquo;He can stop on a dime and he gets a great jump.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a skilled player and he&rsquo;s putting up points but to say he&rsquo;d be among the top players if he weren&rsquo;t playing with Ricci, I can&rsquo;t say.&rdquo;10. Charles Poulin, 17, C, St-Hyacinthe (QMJHL), 6-feet, 167 pounds, 16-22-38 in 30 games. Eligible for 1990 draft.Poulin, the first overall choice in last year&rsquo;s QMJHL draft, has put up decent numbers but is also developing into a more complete player. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always on the puck,&rdquo; says Laser coach Normand Flynn. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a fast skater, but he has quick hands and is aggressive. He gives everything and is improving every game. He has the talent to play pro.&rdquo;The scouts say&hellip; &ldquo;He plays a lot like (Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; center) Brian Skrudland the way he checks both ends of the ice. He&rsquo;s not particularily gifted but he&rsquo;s generally effective.&rdquo;Some rookies deserving honorable mentions include:Greg Dreveny, 17, G, Belleville (OHL), 5-foot-10, 152 pounds, 4-2-1 and 3.32 GAA, eligible for 1990 draft; Francois Groleau, 16, D, Shawinigan (QMJHL), 7-25-32 in 31 games, eligible for 1991 draft; Robert Guillet, 17, RW, College Francais (QMJHL), 15-12-27 in 30 games, eligible for 1990 draft; Bill Lindsay, 18, LW, Tri-City (WHL), 6-foot, 185 pounds, 1817-35 in 29 games, eligible for 1990 draft; Chris Osgood, 17, G, Medicine Hat (WHL), 5-foot-10, 153 pounds, 11-5-1 and 3.97 goals-against average, eligible for 1991 draft; Dave Stewart, 17, D, Kingston (OHL), 5-16-21 in 31 games, eligible for 1990 draft.&mdash;With a file from Herb Zurkowsky &#9632;

f0026-01

FIRST AND FOREMOST

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Chevel-dayoff received permission to resume practising with full contact for the first time since his knee injury last January.Cheveldayoff, a first-round draft choice of the New York Islanders in 1988, flew to Uniondale, N.Y., Dec. 5 to have his reconstructed left knee examined by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Minkoff.Cheveldayoff then stayed to practise with the Islanders for a week and was pleased with the results.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I can say I&rsquo;ll go out and hit everything right from the first shift but I feel really confident,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Cheveldayoff, 19. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get my hopes too high but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.&rdquo;Cheveldayoff suffered the injury Jan. 1 when he became tangled with Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; right winger Marco Fuster and hit the boards during a 3-2 Wheat Kings&rsquo; win. Five days later he underwent reconstructive surgery to repair torn medial collateral ligaments, anterior cruciate, lateral collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments.Cheveldayoff had four goals, 12 assists and 133 penalty minutes in 40 games.He said he was aiming to return by the new year, but Wheat Kings&rsquo; general manager Kelly McCrimmon preferred to take a wait-and-see approach.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re purposely not putting dates on the calendar,&rdquo; said McCrimmon. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve waited this long for him, we can wait as long as it takes.&rdquo;<h2>TRADING PLACES</h2>The Lethbridge Hurricanes reacquired the services of 19-year-old right winger Colin Gregor from the Spokane Chiefs Dec. 2, for 19-year-old defenseman Scott Farrell.Both players, who were exchanged for each other Oct. 30, forced the trade reversal after leaving their new clubs in mid-November.&ldquo;It stinks, but what can you do?&rdquo; said Hurricanes&rsquo; general manager Wayne Simpson. &ldquo;Gregor was sitting here (Lethbridge) on their suspended list and Farrell was sitting there (Spokane) on our suspended list.&rdquo;<h2>RECORD BREAKER</h2>Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; center Glen Goodall set a WHL record that will likely never be broken, when he played in the T-Birds&rsquo; 6-3 win over Spokane Dec. 2.The game was Goodall&rsquo;s 354th, eclipsing the mark for career games played set by Dwight Mullins from 1982 to &rsquo;88. Goodall, 19, is in his sixth season with Seattle and has been in the league since age 14. Players must now be at least 16 years old.Goodall, who would be eligible to play in the league next season, was within reach of two other league records.With 34-16-50 totals in 23 games, Goodall needed 42 more goals to break the career record of 261, set by Ron Chipperfield of Brandon between 1970 and 1974. He also needed 70 more points to break the career points record of 529, set by Craig Endean of the Regina Pats from 1983-88.Goodall was on pace to post 99-47-136 totals this season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably playing the best hockey of his career right now,&rdquo; said T-Birds&rsquo; general manager Russ Farwell. &ldquo;The way he&rsquo;s going now, they (the records) are definitely attainable.&rdquo;<h2>YOUNG A BLAZER</h2>From the rich-get-richer and the poor-get-poorer department: The league-leading Kamloops Blazers acquired overage center Clayton Young from the Victoria Cougars Dec. 5 for 18-year-old center Ryan Harrison and overage left winger Trevor Buchannan.Young led the hapless Cougars in scoring with 23 goals and 14 assists in 25 games this season. Harrison had 4-4-8 totals in 24 games and Buchannan had six goals, 11 assists and 143 penalty minutes in 29 games. &#9632;

CHEVELDAYOFF COULD BE BACK BY NEW YEAR

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div>The Cornwall Royals reinstated centers Darcy Cahill and Paul Cain and right winger Mike Jackson after recording two straight losses with the suspended players out of the lineup.The Royals suspended the three after they were involved in a car accident in Cornwall Nov. 22. Cain, who was driving the car, was charged with care and control of a vehicle while impaired, having a blood-alcohol level exceeding .08 per cent and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.Cain will appear in Cornwall provincial court Dec. 16.&ldquo;We wanted to do what was best for the Cornwall Royals,&rdquo; said Royals&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford. &ldquo;I had a talk with them and they satisfied me enough to believe they were sorry for what they did.&rdquo;Jackson was reinstated in time for the Royals&rsquo; 7-4 loss to the North Bay Centennials Nov. 24. Both Cain and Cahill were back in the Royals&rsquo; lineup Dec. 3, for a 6-6 tie against the Peter-borough Petes.Cahill was leading the OHL in scoring with 16-36-52 totals at the time of the incident.But upon their return, the Royals continued to flounder. They posted an 0-2-1 record after the players returned.<h2>24 IN A ROW</h2>Twenty-four times since Dec. 5, 1985, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds have made the 340-mile trip to the Windsor Arena to play the Spitfires.And 24 times they&rsquo;ve left without a win.The latest loss&mdash;including regular-season and playoff play&mdash;came Nov. 30 when the Greyhounds were edged 3-2 by the Spitfires.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it is, why we can&rsquo;t win there,&rdquo; said Greyhound coach Ted Nolan. &ldquo;It was the same last season. We always seemed to come up just short.&rdquo;The last time the Soo won at Windsor was Dec. 5, 1985. None of the players on the 1989-90 teams were playing when the Greyhounds triumphed 7-0.<h2>ON A TEAR</h2>After a slow start, Brent Gretzky was starting to hit his stride.The No. 1 draft choice of the Belleville Bulls last May, Gretzky put together a seven-game scoring streakas the Bulls charged into second place in the Leyden Division with a record of 19-7-1.The 17-year-old center had three goals and five assists during the streak as the Bulls posted a 6-1-0 mark to pull to within four points of the first-place Kingston Frontenacs. Belleville had four games in hand.The scoring surge lifted Gretzky&rsquo;s totals to 9-10-19 in 27 games.Gretzky, brother of Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; superstar Wayne Gretzky, was playing behind veteran centers John Porco and Scott Thornton.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s come along faster than I expected,&rdquo; said Bulls&rsquo; coach Danny Flynn. &ldquo;His defensive game is solid, very solid, and he&rsquo;s picking up on offense.&rdquo;The Bulls also posted the league&rsquo;s best goals-against average with a 2.99 mark. Overage goalie Jeff Fife had the league&rsquo;s best individual mark at 2.89.<h2>DEAN GONE</h2>The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s released overage center Jim Dean Dec. 1. Dean was acquired from Sault Ste. Marie in a cash deal in November. He played three seasons at Belleville before being traded to the Soo in early October&hellip; Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; center Shayne Stevenson scored his first career hat trick and upped his scoring streak to 11 games (7-20-27) in a 6-5 win over the Greyhounds Dec. 3. &#9632;

ROYALS REINSTATE SUSPENDED TRIO

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01666/5702793-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="492" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob McKechneyUniv, of Sask., Huskies</figcaption></div>The Western Hockey League and the Canada West University Athletic Association are pleased to announce the winner of the WHL Graduate of the Month Award forNovember.WHL teams stress the importance of education to all players, and provide finanl cial subsidies for players who do not graduate to professional ranks.Rob McKechney, a former Calgary Wrangler in the WHL, has been awarded an additional $500.00 to further offset the cost of education. &#9632;

f0027-01

WHL/CWUAA GRADUATE OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>The irony wasn&rsquo;t lost on Guy Chouinard.Fired last April as the coach of the Verdun Junior Canadiens (now St-Hyacinthe Laser) following a disastrous 12-56-2 season, Chouinard was selected to coach the Quebec League against the Ontario League in the All-Star Challenge, Jan. 30 at the Cornwall Civic Complex.Chouinard, who joined the Victoriaville Tigres this season, had the Tigres in second place with a 17-8-2 record.Chouinard was selected in a vote by his QMJHL coaching peers. Each coach was asked to select three coaches, other than himself. Voting was scored on a 5-3-1 points basis.Chouinard received 43 points, including eight first-place votes among the league&rsquo;s other 10 coaches. A distant second, with 18 points, was Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Gaston Drapeau. Hull&rsquo;s Alain Vigneault was third.&ldquo;This year, being voted like this, is very good for my ego,&rdquo; said Chouinard. &ldquo;Inside, it feels very good, especially since the tendency usually is to select the coach whose team is in first place (Dany Dube of the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs).&rdquo;Chouinard, who was an assistant coach in 1986, realizes the importance Quebec places on the game. The QMJHL has won five of six games, in triumphing three of four years.&ldquo;We take it seriously. The coaches, the league, the president (Gilles Courteau) and the players, it&rsquo;s more than just an all-star game to us,&rdquo; said Chouinard. &ldquo;We want to show that we&rsquo;re not so bad and that we deserve a look (from the NHL). We&rsquo;re proud of our league.&rdquo;The coaches will vote to select a group of 11 players (six forwards, four defensemen and one goalie). Chouinard, his Victoriaville assistant, Yves Lambert, and Drapeau, whom Chouinard hopes to add as an assistant for the game, will then select nine additional players.<h2>NYET, SAVAGE</h2>Victoriaville&rsquo;s Reginald Savage just wasn&rsquo;t meant to face the Soviet Union this year.First, the Washington Capitals&rsquo; prospect wasn&rsquo;t invited to attend the team&rsquo;s training camp in the Soviet Union. Then he was cut from the Canadian national junior team for the World Junior Championships.Savage was then supposed to be loaned to the Canadian national team for a game against the Soviet Selects Dec. 5 in Sorel. But in a 3-3 tie with the Hull Olympiques Dec. 3. a check by Hull defenseman Karl Dykhuis dislocated Savage&rsquo;s left shoulder. Savage was expected to miss a week to 10 days.&ldquo;It definitely would have been a great learning experience,&rdquo; said Savage, a first-round choice of the Washington Capitals in 1988. &ldquo;I would have enjoyed playing because it was a free-wheeling game with lots of open ice. That&rsquo;s my style.&rdquo;<h2>LOOSEN UP</h2>The Shawinigan Cataractes, forced to face the Chicoutimi Sagueneens Nov. 28 without their customary pregame warm-up, lost 5-3.Shawinigan&rsquo;s team bus didn&rsquo;t arrive in Chicoutimi until 6:50 p.m.&mdash; 40 minutes prior to game time&mdash;because of a storm in the Quebec City area.Fearful that his team wouldn&rsquo;t be allowed to warm up, Shawinigan coach Joe Hardy ordered the players out of the bus and forced them to walk five minutes to the arena to loosen up.Chicoutimi coach and general manager Gaston Drapeau refused Hardy&rsquo;s request that the start of the game be delayed 30 minutes.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll mark that one down and see what happens later on,&rdquo; Hardy warned. &ldquo;It could happen to them, too.&rdquo;The Cats gained a measure of revenge Dec. I by defeating the Sagueneens 4-2 on home ice. &#9632;

CHOUINARD SELECTED TO GUIDE ALL-STARS

Fourth-year St. Thomas Tommies&rsquo; coach Al MacAdam was inducted into the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame Dec. 3.MacAdam, a native of Charlottetown, played 12 years in the NHL with Philadelphia, California, Cleveland, Minnesota and Vancouver. He scored 240 goals and 351 assists in 864 NHL games. He enjoyed his best season in 1979-80, scoring 42 goals and 93 points for Minnesota, and winning the Bill Masterton Trophy for sportsmanship, perseverance and dedication to hockey.MacAdam was on the island for a pair of Atlantic Universities Athletic Association games against the PEI Panthers. The Panthers lost both, 4-1 Dec. 2 and 9-5 Dec. 3.<h2>AUAA</h2>Health reasons led to the Dec. 2 resignation of John Hanna as coach of the Cape Breton Capers. He said the physical demands of the job&mdash;running practices and sitting on buses for long periods of time&mdash;aggravated his fused hip too severely. The hip was fused as a result of a 1976 accident, in which he was run over by a truck. Hanna took over the Capers&rsquo; job after last season, on the retirement of longtime Caper coach Carl (Bucky) Buchanan. The Capers were expected to announce a replacement for Hanna by Christmas.&mdash;Bill Hunt<h2>OUAA</h2>Strong defensive play kept the Waterloo Warriors ranked eighth in the country as of Nov. 28.&ldquo;If we can keep the opposition to under two goals we can win,&rdquo; said Warriors&rsquo; coach Don McKee. &ldquo;There hasn&rsquo;t been a game that we couldn&rsquo;t have won, where we didn&rsquo;t score three goals.&rdquo;McKee said goaltender Mike Bishop is the cornerstone of Waterloo&rsquo;s success. Waterloo allowed just 20 goals in its first 11 games, and Bishop had two shutouts.The Royal Military College Red-men were officially given two points from their first Ontario Universities Athletic Association game of the season, with Laurentian. The Voyageurs won the Oct. 14 game 7-3, but used three suspended players in doing so. The players in question&mdash;Sean Roy, John Keller and Justin Corbeil&mdash;figured in five Laurentian goals, so the game officially stands as a 3-2 RMC win&hellip;Queen&rsquo;s center Dave Campbell emerged from a seven-game goal-scoring drought with a seven-point performance (2-5) in a 7-6 win over Ottawa Dec. 3.&mdash;Claude Scilley<h2>CWUAA</h2>The standings were tight as the first half of the Canada West hockey schedule drew to a close.In past years, the Calgary Dinosaurs and Alberta Golden Bears had run away with things by now. Although the Dinos were on top of the circuit at 10-3-1, Alberta (8-4-2) was tied for second with the Manitoba Bisons (9-5). The Regina Cougars, at 7-5-2, were just five points back of first place. The Cougars have never challenged for a playoff spot since coming over from the Great Plains Athletic Conference four years ago, but were three points clear of fifthplace Saskatchewan at the break.The Brandon Bobcats traded 5-4 wins with North Dakota State at Fargo Dec. 1-2. In the first game, won by Brandon, Myles Hubbard scored the final three goals, including the winner in the third period. Hubbard had just a goal and four points in 11 conference games. Richard Oswald scored a goal in each game for Brandon&hellip;The Bobcats depart on a six-game tour of Division I and II teams in Switzerland Dec. 14-29&hellip;Manitoba lost 5-0 and 3-2 in Anchorage to the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves Dec. 1-2.&mdash;Mark Spector &#9632;

MacADAM INDUCTED TO HALL IN P.E.I.

<h2>STANDINGS</h2>NHL STANDINGS AS OF MON., DEC. 11/89 (PCT) PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL POINTS VERSUS POSSIBLE POINTS CLARENCE CAMPBELL CONFERENCE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01683/5703211-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="983" height="785"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2>RESULTS ENDING DEC. 10,1989<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02491/5703204-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="483" height="742"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03336/5703197-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="352" height="102"></div><h2>POINTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04231/5703190-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="464" height="572"></div><h2>FUTURE GAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05160/5703183-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="348" height="828"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06124/5703176-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="342" height="838"></div><h2>HOME-ROAD RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-07100/5703169-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="977" height="234"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0890/5703162-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="990" height="638"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0981/5703155-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="990" height="808"></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/f0030-1072/5703148-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="996" height="629"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTY KILLING</h2>(TSH) TOTAL TIMES SHORT-HANDED (PPGA) POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST (PCT) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING - TIMES SHORT MINUS POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST - BY TIMES SHORT<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1166/5703141-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="994" height="629"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(GP) GAMES PLAYED (PEN) TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING BENCH MINUTES (BMI) TOTAL BENCH MINOR MINUTES (AVG) AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES/GAME ARRIVED BY DIVIDING TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES BY GAMES PLAYED<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1262/5703134-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="466" height="336"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1359/5703127-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="460" height="348"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1454/5703120-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="984" height="526"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1554/5703113-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="986" height="675"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1646/5703106-1-eng-US/f0030-162.jpg" title="f0030-16" width="986" height="340"></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/f0030-1745/5703099-1-eng-US/f0030-172.jpg" title="f0030-17" width="982" height="572"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01632/5703092-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="982" height="134"></div><h3>BUFFALO SABRES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02437/5703085-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="980" height="710"></div><h3>CALGARY FLAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03314/5703078-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="980" height="652"></div><h3>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04235/5703071-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="982" height="702"></div><h3>DETROIT RED WINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05186/5703064-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="976" height="620"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06151/5703057-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="978" height="340"></div><h3>EDMONTON OILERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07129/5703050-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="978" height="810"></div><h3>HARTFORD WHALERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08113/5703043-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="974" height="656"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0998/5703036-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="978" height="680"></div><h3>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1084/5703029-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="972" height="320"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1171/5703022-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="972" height="388"></div><h3>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1247/5703015-1-eng-US/f0031-122.jpg" title="f0031-12" width="970" height="706"></div><h3>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1337/5703008-1-eng-US/f0031-132.jpg" title="f0031-13" width="972" height="650"></div><h3>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1434/5703001-1-eng-US/f0031-142.jpg" title="f0031-14" width="972" height="988"></div><h3>NEW YORK RANGERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1531/5702994-1-eng-US/f0031-152.jpg" title="f0031-15" width="976" height="84"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01669/5702987-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="980" height="664"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02484/5702980-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="978" height="896"></div><h3>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03331/5702973-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="976" height="714"></div><h3>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04213/5702966-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="978" height="859"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05146/5702959-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="974" height="88"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06114/5702952-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="980" height="580"></div><h3>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0794/5702945-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="976" height="738"></div><h3>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0881/5702938-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="982" height="707"></div><h3>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0969/5702931-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="978" height="686"></div><h3>WINNIPEG JETS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1064/5702924-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="976" height="530"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1157/5702917-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="980" height="131"></div><h3>GOALTENDING</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1256/5702910-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="978" height="2636"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3>(MIN. 9 GAMES PLAYED)- GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1352/5702903-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="976" height="600"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Craig Law got a taste of the big city last season. And he liked it.Craig, a nine-year-old left winger, started last season with the Novice C team in the Cole Harbour-Bel Ayre Minor Hockey System in Dartmouth, N.S. In one season he made the jump to the Novice A rep team. Last season was his first playing organized hockey after his family moved to Dartmouth from the small community of Port-Aux-Basques, Nfld. Last season he led his team in points and was off to a good start this season.Coached by Wayne Scotland and Phil Herritt, Craig is in his last season of novice hockey.Craig, who stands at 4-foot-7, attends Grade 4 at the Colby Village Elementary School in Dartmouth, where he enjoys science and mathematics.Craig&rsquo;s favorite player is Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; superstar Wayne Gretzky and his favorite team is the Kings.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.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2131/5703798-1-eng-US/f0033-212.jpg" title="f0033-21" width="550" height="1147"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Law</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-21

PLAYER OF WEEK

f0033-01

NHL SUMMARIES

ALL LEAGUE STANDINGSAS OF MON., DEC. 11<h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01612/5703948-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="597" height="1471"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02452/5703941-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="584" height="1186"></div><h2>ECHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03365/5703934-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="582" height="480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04275/5703927-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="568" height="498"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05222/5703920-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="572" height="1538"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06191/5703913-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="578" height="1268"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07176/5703906-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="580" height="288"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08167/5703899-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="604" height="1228"></div><h2>WORLD JUNIOR</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09159/5703892-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="580" height="836"></div><h2>CCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10155/5703885-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="624" height="895"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11150/5703878-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="576" height="139"></div><h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12142/5703871-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="585" height="1022"></div><h2>ECAC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-13138/5703864-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="600" height="1225"></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-14131/5703857-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="585" height="822"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-15130/5703850-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="565" height="221"></div><h2>OUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-16127/5703843-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="578" height="974"></div><h2>TOURNAMENTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-17120/5703836-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="529" height="375"></div><h2>SOVIETS-NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-18113/5703829-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="571" height="423"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01531/5703979-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="479" height="619"></div>Now it can be told. Raymond Bourque is better than Bobby Orr on the best night Orr ever had.That&rsquo;s right&mdash;Bourque over Orr, and the facts back me to the hilt. So let&rsquo;s get right down to them.First, we start with the vast array of myths about Orr.Myth I: The Superman Theory: There&rsquo;s a wonderful bromide that applies to Orr&mdash;&rsquo;&rsquo;The older a man gets, the faster he ran as a boy.&rdquo; If you listen to some revisionist historians, they&rsquo;ll have you believe Orr actually flew over the ice. Not true. Orr arrived in the NHL for the 1966-67 season. He meant so much to the Bruins they finished last (17-43-10). According to the On Fairy Tales, Bobby turned the team around the next season when they did make the playoffs.Nonsense. The Bruins were rejuvenated because GM Milt Schmidt made one of the greatest trades in history. He acquired gems Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield for NHL sludge like Gilles Marotte, Jack Norris and Pit Martin. Also, other significant Bruins were on the rise, namely Ted Green, Derek Sanderson, John McKenzie and Ed Westfall.Myth II: Orr revolutionized defense playing: If you listen to some improper Bostonians, you&rsquo;d get the impression Orr was the first defenseman to carry the puck end-to-end. Applesauce. Eddie Shore did it better than Orr 40 years earlier. Red Kelly did it expertly for the Red Wings in the late 1940s and 1950s and, unlike Orr, Kelly could play defense. What Orr conveyed to a legion of kids, subconsciously pr otherwise, was that defensive work in your own end should be sacrificed for offense and let the goalie be damned.Myth III: Orr&rsquo;s point totals reveal his greatness: What a laugh. Bobby&rsquo;s sophomore season&mdash;his first as Norris Trophy-winner&mdash;coincided with the NHL&rsquo;s expansion from six to 12 teams. From that point and for a decade thereafter, the quality of hockey was at an all-time low. When Orr&rsquo;s Bruins met the Blues in the 1970 finals, St. Louis iced so weak a hockey team its best scorer was castoff Red Berenson and its goaltenders were the ancient Glenn Hall, and Jacques Plante.Myth IV: Orr was unstoppable: In 1971, an inferior Montreal team muzzled Orr and went on to win the Stanley Cup. In 1973, Phil Esposito was injured in the opening round against a weaker Ranger team. New York wiped out Boston four games to one.Ray Bourque can do everything Bobby Orr ever did and then some. And let us not forget Bourque has been playing against much better competition in a much more even league than Orr did in his injury-shortened career. Why is Bourque better?&#9632; He can rush in the same manner that Orr carried the puck.&#9632; He can play better in his defensive zone than Orr.&#9632; He is tougher than Orr at all points on the rink.&#9632; His total leadership qualities surpass Orr&rsquo;s.&#9632; He is withstanding the test of time. Orr lasted only 12 seasons. Bourque is in his 11 th season and is still getting better.&#9632; He has maintained his level of excellence despite an inferior supporting cast, compared with Orr&rsquo;s Hall-of-Famers.One individual who has seen Bourque firsthand and had the pleasure of coaching Orr is Bruins&rsquo; GM Harry Sinden.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s put this way,&rdquo; says Sinden, &ldquo;if the score is 2-1 for us and there&rsquo;s a minute left in the game. I&rsquo;d want Raymond on the ice. If the score was 2-1 for them with a minute to go. I&rsquo;d want Bobby. But Ray has become the ultimate leader.&rdquo;Sinden makes no bones about the fact he leans toward Orr. Why not? He doesn&rsquo;t have to negotiate with Bobby any more but he does have to hammer out a new million-dollar deal for Bourque the way Raymond is playing.&ldquo;You get a lot of heat in Boston when you dare compare Raymond with Bobby,&rdquo; Sinden explains. &ldquo;Once, after Raymond had played particularly well, I told reporters that Bourque had played at Orr&rsquo;s level and they jumped all over me.&rdquo;Orr is still the God of Hockey in Boston. Sinden wisely recognizes that, in a spirit of diplomacy and sentimentality. I can understand that. So can Bourque.&ldquo;Ray is in a no-win situation as far as that (Orr-Bourque) argument goes,&rdquo; says his attorney, Steve Freyer. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s smart enough to know that he lives in Bobby Orr country. Comparing Ray to Bobby is like a Yankee fan comparing Roger Maris to Babe Ruth.&ldquo;Ray will always rather talk about the team before himself. With him it&rsquo;s not a matter of false modesty. He&rsquo;s the ultimate humble kid.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s also today&rsquo;s ultimate total hockey player; one who has surpassed the inimitable Orr in every department but number of Stanley Cups. &#9632;

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HERE’S WHY BOURQUE IS BETTER THAN ORR

Dec. 19, 1987: Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Ken Linseman and St. Louis Blues&rsquo; center Doug Gilmour scored goals just two seconds apart, breaking the NHL record for the fastest two goals by two teams. Linseman scored at 19:50 of the third period and Gilmour responded with an empty-net goal two seconds later. St. Louis won the game 7-5 at the Boston Garden.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02390/5704010-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="590" height="376"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Linseman</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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FLASHBACK

<h2>OILERS</h2>Defenseman Jeff Sharples, one of four players acquired in the Jimmy Carson trade Nov. 2, made his Oilers&rsquo; debut against Khimik Voskresensk of the Soviet Elite League Dec. 6, in a 6-2 Edmonton victory. The following day he was sent to Cape Breton of the American League. &ldquo;He has to get into some games to get his sharpness back,&rdquo; said co-coach Ted Green. The young rearguard has been on the mend since suffering a separated shoulder Oct. 20. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a kid who likes to handle the puck a lot and he hasn&rsquo;t done much of that for a month and a half,&rdquo; Green added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s also not used to our system and the place to learn those things is in Cape Breton.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Mark Lamb&rsquo;s goal 2:03 into overtime against Los Angeles Dec. 8, which gave the Oilers a 5-4 victory, was the 25-year-old&rsquo;s first sudden-death goal as a pro. &ldquo;I felt relief. I said, &lsquo;Thank God it went in,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Lamb&hellip;With nine goals in 13 games (five in the last five), work was again becoming fun for Craig Simpson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re coming here and there, but they&rsquo;re still not coming in bunches,&rdquo; said the Oilers&rsquo; left winger, now concerned he hasn&rsquo;t had an assist since Nov. 8. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting the odd goal, but the points aren&rsquo;t coming. I&rsquo;ve only got three multiplepoint games.&rdquo;<h2>FLAMES</h2>Left winger Gary Roberts disagreed with a highsticking major and game misconduct called on him by referee Kerry Fraser in the second period of a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Dec. 10. On the play, defenseman Moe Mantha crossed the Jets&rsquo; blue line and ran into an errant high stick, sustaining both a scratched cornea and a three-stitch cut. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see the videotape to see if it was my stick or Paul Fenton&rsquo;s,&rdquo; said Roberts. &ldquo;Fenton hit me. My stick swung around but I didn&rsquo;t feel it hit anything. So what can I do? He (Fraser) sees blood, he calls me. He had my number all night.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;There were several theories for the Flames&rsquo; poor play (2-7-4), but no one could pinpoint a single factor. Said Joe Nieuwendyk: &ldquo;To be effective, we have to be physical. If we let teams take it to us, we&rsquo;re already a step behind.&rdquo; But whenever they play that way, they start taking penalties, which they haven&rsquo;t killed too efficiently. Their 38 power-play goals against put them 20th in the league&hellip;Mark Hunter, recovering from a strained anterior cruciate ligament, had a setback the first week of December, aggravating the injury during practice. He is not expected back until Christmas.<h2>JETS</h2>Dave McLlwain, continued to impress after coming over from Pittsburgh as an afterthought in the big six-player deal in the off-season. Traded to the Jets with Randy Cunneyworth and Rick Tabaracci for Andrew McBain, Jim Kyte and Randy Gilhen, McLlwain scored the clinching goal in Winnipeg&rsquo;s 4-1 win over Calgary Dec. 10. That gave him nine for the season and 15 points. In 90 games with the Penguins over two seasons he had just 12 goals. The 22-year-old center was being double-shifted in recent games, and was the key to the Jets&rsquo; No. 1-rated pentaly-killing unit. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know how to spell his name when he came in,&rdquo; said Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch. &ldquo;And the best thing is he&rsquo;s only 22 years old.&rdquo;&hellip; The Jets 6-6 tie with Montreal Dec. 8 saw the end of a number of long scoring slumps. Cunneyworth broke a 10-game drought, Dale Hawerchuk scored for the first time in 12 games, Greg Paslawski broke a five-game skid and Mark Kumpel scored his first NHL goal in more than a year and a half.<h2>KINGS</h2>After an 8-4 win over Quebec Dec. 10, Wayne Gretzky was on a 15-game point-scoring streak, in which he collected four goals and 33 assists. He had at least one assist in 15 consecutive games, two shy of the NHL record he shares with Paul Coffey&hellip;Bernie Nicholls was also on a roll, with a nine-game streak that included eight goals and 14 assists&hellip;Coach Tom Webster was fuming following the Kings&rsquo; 5-4 overtime loss in Edmonton Dec. 8, which dropped them five points off the Smythe Division lead. The Kings had rallied from a 4-1 deficit to send the game into overtime, but Webster was upset over their poor start. &ldquo;It was our biggest game of the year and we weren&rsquo;t prepared for it,&rdquo; he said.<h2>CANUCKS</h2>Captain Stan Smyl, out of the lineup with a knee injury, has resigned his duties as the Canucks&rsquo; NHL Players&rsquo; Association representative. The Canucks elected defenseman Garth Butcher in his place&hellip;With his team in the tank, coach Bob McCammon hoped to find better luck at the harness track. He recently claimed Bingos Gypsy for $7,000 at Cloverdale Raceway. The standard-bred was third in its first start under McCammon&hellip;Trevor Linden had a seven-game point-scoring streak, the longest of his pro career, stopped in a 7-1 loss to Chicago Dec. 10. Linden had six goals and four assists during the streak&hellip;Nina Krutov, wife of Soviet left winger Vladimir Krutov, said the Vancouver media has been too hard on her underperforming husband. &ldquo;I know there has been a lot of criticism that Vladimir has not been playing as well as he does in the Soviet Union,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Personally, I know Vladimir tries. He plays as best as he can. He is feeling his game isn&rsquo;t going as well as he&rsquo;d like but he&rsquo;s tried everything in his power.&rdquo; &#9632;

SHARPLES MAKES HIS OILER DEBUT

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>Everyone has been so patient. So understanding. So sure that Joe Mullen, the NHL&rsquo;s first team all-star right winger, the Lady Byng Trophy winner and a 51-goal scorer last season, will find a way to work things out.Mullen, the Calgary Flames&rsquo; 32-year-old sniper, was off to a slow scoring start this season&mdash;something that, in itself, was not big news. He gets off to a slow start pretty much every year.But after 31 games, more than a third of the way through the season, he was still struggling around the net.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been very frustrating so far,&rdquo; said Mullen. &ldquo;We had such a great year last year and you expect to come back and just have it continue. That&rsquo;s not the way it&rsquo;s gone. I&rsquo;ve struggled early and I&rsquo;ve been struggling all the way through. I&rsquo;m just trying to get my legs going and hopefully get some opportunities out there and hopefully, some of those opportunities will start to go in.&rdquo;Mullen showed signs of coming out of it recently. A two-goal game against Toronto Dec. 2 marked his first multiple-goal game of the season. Last season, he had 10.Mullen has scored at least 40 goals in each of the past six seasons.&ldquo;I think in the last 10 games, I started getting some opportunities, but not too many of them went in,&rdquo; Mullen said.Part of the problem stemmed from the fact Mullen missed almost all of training camp. He accompanied the team to Czechoslovakia for the start of the Flames&rsquo; 19-day European tour, but returned home after only three days because his father, Thomas, was ill. The elder Mullen later died.Once the team returned, Mullen stayed out. A nagging groin injury limited him to only the final exhibition game before the start of the regular season.After 31 games, he was ninth on the team&rsquo;s scoring list, with only 10 goals and seven assists.&ldquo;Usually, you can pick up a point here or there even if you&rsquo;re struggling,&rdquo; Mullen said. &ldquo;This year, I&rsquo;m not picking anything up. I&rsquo;m just going out there and things aren&rsquo;t happening.&rdquo;One theory put forward to explain Mullen&rsquo;s ineffectiveness was that Sergei Makarov&rsquo;s long shifts have cut into his ice time. If Makarov spends an extra 40 seconds on the ice, Mullen hardly gets out there before the next line change occurs.&ldquo;Every time anybody stays out longer than their regular shift, it hurts,&rdquo; Mullen said. &ldquo;Not just the guy that&rsquo;s behind him, but the whole rotation of the lines. Sergei does stay out there a lot, but Sergei makes the plays too.&rdquo;Mullen has been reluctant to discuss how his father&rsquo;s death affected him.&ldquo;It was on my mind early, but life goes on too,&rdquo; Mullen said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t use anything like that as an excuse. Who&rsquo;s to really say? I don&rsquo;t think it really has. Anytime you lose anybody, it&rsquo;s tough, but I don&rsquo;t think it really affected my hockey. It&rsquo;s just a matter of getting myself into condition and skating like I did last year.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Brian MacLellan, Colin Patterson, Paul Ranheim, Sergei Priakin.RW&mdash;Sergei Makarov, Joe Mullen, Tim Hunter, Jiri Hrdina, Jonas Bergqvist.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Dana Murzyn, Roger Johansson.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Brad McCrimmon, Ric Nattress.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Hunter, RW, strained knee ligaments, Dec. 30.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nieuwendyk, 19. A&mdash;Makarov, 30. P&mdash;Nieuwendyk, Makarov, 37. PIM&mdash;T. Hunter, 72. &#9632;

MULLEN FRUSTRATED BY LENGTHY SLUMP

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Two aspects of his world, as it sat in early December, particularly appealed to John Muckler.Both stretched beyond the limits of The City of Dethroned Champions.&ldquo;As big a win it was for us,&rdquo; said Muckier, &ldquo;it was a bigger loss for LA.&rdquo;The Oilers had beaten the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 Dec. 8, on center Mark Lamb&rsquo;s goal 2:03 into suddendeath overtime. The win not only helped the Kings get off to a downer on a testy six-games-in-nine-nights road trip, but also boosted the Oilers three points ahead of the Calgary Flames for top spot in the Smythe Division. Two days later, L.A. won in Quebec to also move within three points of the Oilers.&ldquo;The nice part is we have a chance to play Calgary (Dec. 11) when we&rsquo;re still in first place,&rdquo; Muckier said.The last time the Oilers were atop the Smythe Division was Feb. 26,. 1988. A 6-4 triumph in St. Louis Feb. 23, running the Oilers&rsquo; unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1), lifted them a point up on the Flames. But the Oilers were beaten in Chicago the following night. Two nights later Calgary won in Vancouver, setting the stage for a Feb. 28 summit collision at the Northlands Coliseum.Wayne Gretzky, of all people, took a stupid retaliatory slashing penalty on Calgary defenseman Dana Murzyn with the Oilers ahead 2-1 five minutes into the third period, opening the door for a 3-2 Calgary triumph. First place lasted all of three days.It wasn&rsquo;t supposed to be much longer this time around, either, after the Oilers sidestepped the Flames with a 5-3 win over Toronto Dec. 3.&ldquo;So what?&rdquo; Calgary defenseman Ric Nattress said at the time. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be back in first by Wednesday (Dec. 6).&rdquo;But the Flames went on to lose 4-3 (Dec. 6) and 4-1 (Dec. 10) to the surging Winnipeg Jets. Calgary had two wins in 13 games (2-7-4).But the Oilers, with six straight wins (9-1-1 in their last 11 games) were the NHL&rsquo;s hottest outfit. They were also the sole reason Gretzky and the Kings weren&rsquo;t in first place in the Smythe Division.&ldquo;Both teams had been playing so well, and we beat a team that had been playing well&mdash;in their building and ours,&rdquo; Muckler said. The Kings entered the game in Edmonton with only one loss (7-6 to the Oilers Nov. 30) in 10 previous games.&ldquo;We had to show who the best team is between the two clubs&hellip;and we came out on top. That&rsquo;s why it was such a big loss for them.&ldquo;It makes you feel like you&rsquo;re capable of doing a good job against them every time you play them. At the start of the year, there was some question in that area.&rdquo;The Kings won the final three seasonal games with the Oilers last March, squaring the series at 4-4 with 36 goals apiece, and rallied from a 3-1 deficit to escape with the preliminary playoff round. Although the Oilers hold a 3-1-1 edge in 1989-90, they&rsquo;ve scored only two more goals (24-22).<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: Jeff Sharples, D, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Adam Graves, Mark Lamb.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Esa Tikkanen, Petr Klima, Peter Eriksson, Kelly Buch-berger, Martin Gelinas.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri. Glenn Anderson, Joe Murphy, Dave Brown, Normand Lacombe.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Geoff Smith.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Charlie Huddy, Randy Gregg, Jeff Beukeboom.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Messier, 19. A&mdash; Messier, 29. P&mdash; Messier, 48. PIM&mdash; Tikkanen, 63. &#9632;

MUCKLER ENJOYS BRAGGING RIGHTS

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>The alarm sounded again. Only this time, Dale Hawerchuk was able to fight fire with fire.The ringing? Trade rumors of the same variety that have been buzzing around the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; all-time leading scorer for more than a year.The answer? Hawerchuk&rsquo;s best performance of the season, in a 6-6 tie with the Montreal Canadiens Dec. 8.&ldquo;I just said, &lsquo;to hell with everything,&rsquo;&rdquo; Hawerchuk said after scoring one of three consecutive Winnipeg goals that brought the Jets back to tie Montreal. He also added two assists.&ldquo;Just go out and play the way I can play and work my butt off and hopefully good things will happen. Tonight, they started happening.&rdquo;Against the Habs, the skip was back in Hawerchuk&rsquo;s step. He was working exceptionally hard at both ends of the ice and paid a heavy price in punishment to score his fifth goal of the season.Up until then, however, very little had gone right for Hawerchuk. Buried in a 12-game scoring slump and on pace for 54 points&mdash;the worst season of his career by a whopping 37 points&mdash;the 26-year-old, ninth-year pro was again the subject of trade rumors.Recent rumblings had him going to Chicago for Denis Savard, or to Toronto for Ed Olczyk, Gary Leeman and Darryl Shannon.The Jets denied everything.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard the rumors, too,&rdquo; said Winnipeg general manager Mike Smith, &ldquo;but those are just rumors. I haven&rsquo;t had any offers for Dale.&rdquo;The flurry of innuendo was a result of three factors.First, Chicago coach Mike Keenan apparently called Winnipeg coach Bob Murdoch and offered a Savard-for-Hawerchuk swap. Murdoch told Keenan to call Smith.Second, Toronto general manager Floyd Smith and scout Dick Duff were seen at a number of recent Jets&rsquo; games. The Jets&rsquo; Smith said he hadn&rsquo;t talked to the Leafs&rsquo; Smith in weeks.And third, Hawerchuk&rsquo;s point totals had many convinced he&rsquo;s had enough of Winnipeg.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a coach. I don&rsquo;t make trades,&rdquo; Murdoch said, discounting the Keenan overtures. &ldquo;All I do is talk with Mike Smith and we discuss trades and work with each other. I am not where trades come from.&rdquo;&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking to the wrong guy about trades,&rdquo; Hawerchuk said.&ldquo;The only thing that&rsquo;s obvious is that things aren&rsquo;t going that well for Dale Hawerchuk right now. It brings across a lot of speculation.&rdquo;But with his three-point night against- the Canadiens and another goal Dec. 10 in a 4-1 win over Calgary, Hawerchuk seemed to be coming around. That raised his totals to six goals and 23 points in 30 games, third best on the team.He refuses to complain about anything this season and insists he&rsquo;s happy with Murdoch and the direction the Jets are heading.Murdoch said he was happy with Hawerchuk, too.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a lot of speculation,&rdquo; Murdoch said.. &ldquo;If a team isn&rsquo;t going well there&rsquo;s always speculation about the coach, and if a player isn&rsquo;t going well there is always speculation and I think it&rsquo;s speculation on people&rsquo;s parts other than the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;Right now I know of absolutely no talks going on about Dale Hawerchuk moving to another team.&rdquo;<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 8: Brent Hughes. LW, assigned to Moncton (AHL).Dec. 9: Phil Sykes, LW, recalled from Moncton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Thomas Steen, Dale Hawerchuk, Dave McLIwain, Laurie Boschman.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Greg Paslawski, Mark Kumpel, Gord Donnelly.LW&mdash;Doug Smail, Brent Ashton, Paul Fenton, Randy Cunneyworth, Phil Sykes.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin.RD&mdash;Fredrik Olausson, Teppo Numminen, Moe Mantha, Peter TaglianettiG&mdash;Daniel Berthiaume. Bob Essensa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Elynuik, 15. A&mdash; Steen, 24. P&mdash; Steen, 30. PIM&mdash; Donnelly, 110. &#9632;

HAWERCHUK SILENCES THE TRADE RUMORS

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>His head was down and his legs were moving. As always, they were churning. His arms were working fast and furiously. Sometimes, he became a bit too aggressive and his elbow smashed into an opponent&rsquo;s jaw.It was an accidental jolt, of course. But he has accepted no less punishment than he has administered in his relentless pursuit of the puck.Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger John Tonelli, as has been his custom&mdash;no, make that his trademark&mdash;was working diligently along the boards, pushing and shoving, bumping and bruising.His game is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. He has been likened to a rampaging bull in a China shop, but the description doesn&rsquo;t do him justice. Tonelli was banging away at 6-foot-2, 205-pound defensemen, not fragile bric-a-brac.And while Tonelli has won more of these personal battles than he has lost, he&rsquo;s paid a heavy price for his ferocity and passion, in the form of ugly welts and deep bruises.Despite the painful souvenirs, Tonelli has slept well at night because he never, ever, takes a shift off.&ldquo;He gives you an honest day&rsquo;s work, in games or in practices,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; coach Tom Webster, after Tonelli provided a goal and loads of inspired play in an 8-4 win over the Quebec Nordiques Dec. 10. &ldquo;You come and watch him as a fan and you know you&rsquo;re going to get your money&rsquo;s worth. He plays tough and he plays hard. He expends a lot of energy out there.&ldquo;I played against him in the WHA, and I hated it. He hasn&rsquo;t changed a bit. He always has a glove in your face, an elbow or something. He just lowers his head and goes.&rdquo;Tonelli has been playing professional hockey since 1975-76. He played alongside Gordie Howe for three seasons with the Houston Aeros in the WHA, won four Stanley Cups over parts of eight seasons with the New York Islanders, and spent a little more than two seasons with the Calgary Flames.Last season, after signing with the Kings as a free agent, Tonelli contributed 31 goals, the third-highest total of his NHL career. He has already scored 15 goals in 29 games this season, a pace that would net him 41.Tonelli was not playing like a man who will celebrate his 33rd birthday March 23.So what drives those pile-driving legs, aside from keeping his 6-foot-1, 198-pound body rock hard by working with free weights?Tonelli&rsquo;s blue-collar work ethic, that&rsquo;s what.&ldquo;It definitely comes from my dad, Alex,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;While I was growing up (in Milton, Ont.), I learned the meaning of an honest day&rsquo;s work. I mean, my dad worked in a steel factory making car springs. Now, that&rsquo;s a tough job. And he had to get up very early in the morning to do it.&ldquo;He&rsquo;d come home after working all day, change his clothes, then go out and help a friend work his farm until night-time. He&rsquo;d plow fields, clean up the barns, do whatever he could. By the time he got home, he was exhausted.&ldquo;I learned a lot from that. And I guess I was about eight or nine when my dad started bringing me out to the farm. He&rsquo;d bring me and my older brother, Ray. We always thought riding in the tractors was kind of neat. But we also saw first-hand how hard our dad had to work to keep us comfortable.&rdquo;Tonelli lives the good life now, but has never forgotten his roots.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 7: Craig Duncanson, LW, and Petr Prajsler, D. assigned to New Haven (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls, Steve Kasper.LW&mdash;Mike Krushelnyski, Luc Robitaille. John Tonelli. Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Mikko Makela, Dave Taylor, Keith Crowder, Mike Allison, Mikael Lindholm.LD&mdash;Barry Beck, Brian Benning, Tim Watters.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Larry Robinson, Marty McSorley.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Mario Gosselin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Kudelski, RW. broken knuckle on left hand, Dec. 20.Tom Laidlaw, D, lacerated right eyelid, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Robitaille, 23. A&mdash; Gretzky, 50. P&mdash; Gretzky, 63. PIM&mdash; Miller, 101. &#9632;

HARD WORK PAYS OFF FOR TENACIOUS TONELLI

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Bob McCammon&rsquo;s nickname, &ldquo;Cagey,&rdquo; took on an ironic connotation after the Vancouver Canucks lost their eighth straight road game to fall to 18th place overall in the standings.After his team was hammered 7-1 by the Chicago Blackhawks Dec. 10, McCammon felt more like a man trapped behind bars than the shrewd, calculating coach who was runner-up to Pat Bums as the NHL&rsquo;s coach of the year last season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious we don&rsquo;t have the right pieces,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take the heat and try to get the puzzle to work.&rdquo;For the past month, McCammon had suggested his team&rsquo;s mix wasn&rsquo;t right. His eagerness for a trade has been apparent.But general manager Pat Quinn did not share the feeling.&ldquo;I am not against making a trade,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;But this is a time for caution, not bravado, where you say to the public and the media, &lsquo;Hey, I&rsquo;ve made a deal so I&rsquo;m doing my job.&rsquo;&ldquo;As deals go, it&rsquo;s anchor time. When our players were doing good a month ago there weren&rsquo;t many deals being offered which excited me, frankly. So you can imagine the anchor-type of deals we hear now.&rdquo;&ldquo;Never mind the front burner, we don&rsquo;t have anything on the back burner,&rdquo; added Quinn&rsquo;s assistant, Brian Burke. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to be put in the position of making a classic weak-team trade.&rdquo;But the Canucks were developing the aura of a classically weak team. Since Nov. 1, they had tumbled into the Smythe Division basement by going 3-11-3. Following the debacle in Chicago, the Canucks were 1-7-2 in their past 10 games and 0-9-1 in their past 10 road games. Vancouver&rsquo;s last win away from Pacific Coliseum came Oct. 21.Priority No. 1 on the Canucks&rsquo; shopping list was a robust defenseman who can move opposition forwards and clear the crease area. The second greatest need was for big, mucking forwards who can move opposition defensemen off the puck.Every other team in the Smythe Division made substantial changes to improve their rosters over the summer, except the Canucks.McCammon seemed willing to accept the entire blame for the Canucks&rsquo; woes, even though he has been dealt a weak hand.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried different guys with the Soviets. I&rsquo;ve tried different guys with Brian Bradley,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just not working. It&rsquo;s up to me to find the right combinations. The only pressure I feel is with not winning.&rdquo;But what more can McCammon do? Against Chicago, he tried every conceivable line combination. He benched Rich Sutter, who had gone 18 games without a goal, used left winger Daryl Stanley on defense and put Craig Coxe in uniform, even so far as employing Coxe&rsquo;s crude skills on the power play.While the players were trying to put up a brave front, morale was at a seasonal low. For veterans such as Tony Tanti, the Canucks&rsquo; slump was too reminiscent of years past.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re struggling defensively but it&rsquo;s not just the fault of our defensemen and the goaltenders,&rdquo; said Tanti. &ldquo;Our forwards aren&rsquo;t holding up their men like we did last year.&ldquo;I thought these days were over.&rdquo; He was wrong.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 5: Kevan Guy, D, assigned to Milwaukee (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brian Bradley, Igor Larionov, Barry Pederson, Steve Bozek, Craig Coxe.LW&mdash;Greg Adams, Tony Tanti, Petri Skriko, Vladimir Krutov, Tim Lenardon, Daryl Stanley.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Jim Sandlak, Rich Sutter, Doug Smith.LD&mdash;Paul Reinhart, Larry Melnyk, Jim Benning, Harold Snepsts.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Doug Lidster, Rod Buskas.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Robert Nordmark, D, back spasms, indefinite.Stan Smyl, RW, strained knee ligaments, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Adams, 17. A&mdash;Reinhart, 21. P&mdash;Adams, Skriko, 27. PIM&mdash;Butcher, 68. &#9632;

QUINN STANDS PAT DESPITE DISMAL SEASON

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01267/5704185-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Performance bonuses sure aren&rsquo;t what they used to be and today&rsquo;s NHL players can be thankful. Pittsburgh Penguin goalie Les Binkley, right, receives a check for $100 from Keith Manning of Esquire Press-Reliable Printing after recording his third shutout of the 1969-70 season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-01

WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02198/5704216-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"></div>If the first two months of the season were any indication, there could be a significant turnover in scoring leaders this season.Through games of Dec .11, only nine of the 21 teams had the same leading point-scorer as at the end of last season. That includes Vancouver&rsquo;s Petri Skriko and Toronto&rsquo;s Ed Olczyk, both of whom were tied with others.Listed below are last season&rsquo;s scoring leader, this season&rsquo;s leader(s) so far, the number of times he&rsquo;s led any team in scoring, the number of times he&rsquo;s led his current team in scoring, the player who won the team scoring derby the most times and the number of times he won it:<h2>TEAM TOPPERS</h2>*Calgary includes Atlanta; **New Jersey includes Colorado and Kansas City &#9632;

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December 22, 1989

YOUNG GUN

PRO FILE

NUMBERS

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, NOBODY’S THERE