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

February 23, 1990

The Hockey News February 23, 1990

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Glen Sather has no regrets about his &ldquo;semi-retirement.&rdquo;In fact, Sather, who dropped the coaching tag from his president-general manager portfolio with the Edmonton Oilers in June, said he was downright pleased with the progress the team had shown since John Muckier inherited the head coaching job at the start of the season.&ldquo;I have had no second thoughts whatsoever,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;John has done a good job with Teddy (co-coach Green), and Ronnie (assistant coach Low) is also working out well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to stay away. Maybe I&rsquo;ll be around more now, but at the beginning 1 wanted the coaches to have their own identity with the players. The last thing 1 wanted to do was interfere.&rdquo;He admitted it wasn&rsquo;t that difficult.&ldquo;With our situation, we have been together so long,&rdquo; he said of his nine- year working relationship with Muckler and Green. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re coming off a tough road trip (they went 1-3*2 in games between Jan. 30 and Feb. 6), we have a number of injuries, but we&rsquo;re still in first place (tied with the Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division). I couldn&rsquo;t be anything but happy about that.&rdquo;Asked to pinpoint the most pleasing aspect of his team s performance this season, Sather said it was the way some of the new players had come along.&ldquo;Look at (goalie Bill) Ranford&rsquo;s play,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;the way (Petr) Klima has come on and played; how (Adam) Graves and (Joe) Murphy have fit in; Geoff Smith has played well.&rdquo;The veterans, led by captain Mark Messier, weren&rsquo;t doing badly, either.&ldquo;Mess has been extraordinary, there&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind he&rsquo;s the MVP in the league this year.&rdquo;The next item on the agenda for Sather was the March 6 trading deadline. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re always looking to improve and we&rsquo;ll take the best available player at any position,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to deal just to deal. If anything, I&rsquo;d like to see our team when it&rsquo;s healthy.&rdquo;The consensus, however, was the Oilers were in the market for an offensive defenseman&mdash;one to man the point on the power play.&ldquo;The power play has looked good the last while with Mark or Rosy (Vladimir Ruzicka) on the point,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;Steve Smith is also starting to play a little stronger back there. Remember how he played in the 1988 playoffs? That&rsquo;s basically the same defense we have now.&rdquo;After coaching the team for 10 years (1979-80 to &rsquo;88-89) Sather might be expected to miss the action behind the bench. But he said that isn&rsquo;t so.&ldquo;No, 1 haven&rsquo;t found it that difficult.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This has given me a chance to see a lot of different teams. I found it to be helpful to see where other teams are going. You always have to think about the future in this game.&rdquo;In view of the problems teams with Soviet players in their lineups have experienced, would he pursue a Russian if presented with the opportunity?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s worked out all right for Calgary,&rdquo; he said, referring to the play of Sergei Makarov. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure if you went back and asked the teams if they would do it again that they wouldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Eldon Reddick, G. recalled from Phoenix (IHL). Randy Exelby, G, assigned to Phoenix.Feb. 7: Mike Greenlay, G, recalled from Cape Breton (AHL).Feb. 8: Greenlay and Bruce Bell, D. assigned to Cape Breton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Mark Lamb, Vladimir Ruzicka.LW&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Martin Gelinas, Adam Graves, Petr Klima.RW&mdash;Jari Kurd, Glenn Anderson. Joe Murphy, Dave Brown, Kelly Buchberger. Craig Simpson.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Geoff Smith.RD&mdash;Charlie Huddy, Randy Gregg. Jeff Beukeboom.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Eldon Reddick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Grant Fuhr, G, shoulder surgery, indefiniteCraig Muni. D, broken finger, day-to- day<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Messier. 33. A&mdash;Messier, 61. P&mdash; Messier, 94. PIM&mdash;Buchberger, 123. &#9632;

THE NHL

NO SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT CHANGE: SATHER

When the Boston Bruins&rsquo; Allen Pedersen scored against the Detroit Red Wings Feb. 6, he snapped a streak of 238 games without scoring a goal. The new NHL goal-drought leader (among non-goalies) became Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; right winger Dave Brown. Brown last scored April 2, 1988. as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. His goalless streak, as of Feb. 12, was- 112 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02941/6833216-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="970" height="576"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Brown</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>The scenario and the result typified a season of frustration.In search of a modest goal &mdash; second place in the Adams Division&mdash; what appeared to be an oasis for the Montreal Canadiens, turned out to be yet another mirage.Carrying a three-game winning streak into Buffalo Feb. 7, the Habs had a chance to move into a second- place tie with the Sabres in the Adams and gain ground on division-leading Boston.But they came up Bat. losing 3-1. and saw their second-place aspirations slip that much further away.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t happy with the effort of some of my guys,&rdquo; said coach Pat Burns. &ldquo;Some of them looked like they were scared out there. It&rsquo;s not natural that (tough guy) Steve Martinson would have as many chances as some of our guys who are supposed to be our scorers.&rdquo;While he didn&rsquo;t mention any names, it was clear Burns was upset with the effort of players like Stephane Richer, Russ Courtnall and Mats Naslund&mdash;the guys paid to put the puck in the net.At the same time, Brian Skrudland, Mike McPhee and Claude Lemieux, players who are supposed to be at their best in grinding games, were hardly noticeable in the Sabres&rsquo; game.Three nights later, the Canadiens handed the lowly Quebec Nordiques a 7-2 loss. That gave them a record of 30-22-6, four behind the Sabres and seven back of the Bruins.As the season approached the homestretch, it appeared more and more likely the Canadiens would finish third in the division. If that happens. they would be placed in the unenviable position of having to open the best-of-seven division semi-final in Buffalo; unless, of course, the Sabres overtake the Bruins.Why has the team fallen short?At the beginning of the season the rash of injuries made a good crutch. But recently, with most of the team in good health&mdash;save Bobby Smith with a broken jaw and Shayne Corson with a separated shoulder&mdash;most observers felt the Habs simply weren&rsquo;t playing smart hockey.For example, in the first period of the loss to the Sabres, defenseman Craig Ludwig was ejected for taking an ill-advised two-handed slash at Buffalo&rsquo;s Alexander Mogilny right in front of referee Ron Hoggarth.Against Quebec, Richer drew the wrath of Burns by getting involved in a meaningless fight against Quebec&rsquo;s Claude Loiselle. Similarly, on Jan. 29, Richer fought with Bruin Bobby Gould at a critical stage of the third period. The Habs lost that game 2-1.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m fed up having Richer getting involved in fights,&rdquo; said Burns. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not his job. We can&rsquo;t have the guy who is leading our scoring (66 points in 58 games) breaking his hand or a finger in a fight.&rdquo;<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Brent Gilchrist, Stephane Lebeau.RW&mdash;Russ Courtnall, Claude Lemieux, Todd Ewen, Stephane Richer, Mike Keane.LW&mdash;Mats Naslund, Mike McPhee, Ryan Walter, Steve Martinson.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Sylvain Lefebvre, Jyrki Lumme.RD&mdash;Eric Desjardins. Matt Schneider. Petr Svoboda, Chris Chelios.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shayne Corson. LW, separated shoulder, day-to-day.Bobby Smith, C. broken jaw. indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Richer, 35. A&mdash;Richer, 31. P&mdash; Richer, 66. PIM&mdash;Chelios. 134. &#9632;

SECOND PLACE STILL A DREAM IN A SEASON OF MIRAGES

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>The bets were on the table. Friendly handshakes were exchanged.Allen Pedersen vowed he would score a goal this season.Several of the Boston Bruins&rsquo; media contingent, meanwhile, publicly wagered he wouldn&rsquo;t. At stake were a number of prominent mustaches worn by Pedersen&rsquo;s doubters.It seemed like a safe, sure bet for the hockey scribes. After all. the Bruins defenseman was knocking on 200 games without a goal when the season began.After Feb. 6, however, at least one beat writer, Mike Loftus of the Quincy Patriot Ledger, was left to shave off his trademark mustache.Officially, 238 games passed. But on the 239th, Pedersen scored. It came in a 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;This wasn&rsquo;t getting a monkey off his back,&rdquo; joked teammated Garry Galley, &ldquo;this was getting King Kong off his back.&rdquo;The defenseman&rsquo;s previous, and only other NHL goal, came on Nov. 8, 1986, in a game against the Quebec Nordiques.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re thinking of sending the stick to the Hall of Fame,&rdquo; said Pedersen. &ldquo;What was it, 1,000 days between goals?&rdquo;Actually, it was 1,185 days. But who&rsquo;s counting?For the record, Pedersen scored the goal at 2:43 of the second period. It was an important one, too, as it gave the Bruins&rsquo; a two-goal cushion.On the play, he took a drop pass from Bob Carpenter just at the top of the left face-off circle and slid the puck along the ice toward goaltender Glen Hanlon. Hanlon kicked at it with his left pad, missed, and the puck rang in off the far post.Dave Poulin was breaking for the net. &ldquo;1 just shot it at the net hoping for a rebound or a tip.&rdquo; Pedersen said. &ldquo;1 wasn&rsquo;t thinking goal.&rdquo;Ironically, the goal light didn&rsquo;t go on. Pedersen, himself, wasn&rsquo;t sure he had scored until his teammates swarmed him with congratulations.&ldquo;It was sad,&rdquo; said coach Mike Mil- bury. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t know what to do. He didn&rsquo;t know how to celebrate.&rdquo;Pedersen, however, has been celebrating ever since. The sight of a clean-shaven Loftus makes him smile. Another goal, meanwhile, will earn the removal of a finely-waxed handlebar mustache belonging to Boston Herald reporter Jack O&rsquo;Leary.&ldquo;There were times when 1 wondered if I was ever going to score, so it&rsquo;s kind of a relief,&rdquo; Pedersen said, &ldquo;but for the sake of the side bets, it would be nice to get one more this year. &rsquo; &rsquo;The 6-foot-3, 210-pound backliner makes his living by playing a solid, stay-at-home defensive game.Since joining the team at the start of the 1986-87 season, he&rsquo;s developed into the perfect match for many of the Bruins&rsquo; offensive-minded defense corp.Still, it&rsquo;s nice to score every once in a while&mdash;even if it takes 239 games.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 6: Brian Lawton. LW, signed as free agent.Feb. 8: Graeme Townshend, RW. assigned to Maine (AHL).Feb. 9: Jim Wiemer, D, assigned to Maine.Feb. 12: Wiemer recalled from Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Bob Carpenter, Dave Poulin, Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer.LW&mdash;Brian Lawton. Bob Sweeney. Greg Hawgood, John Carter, Robert Cimetta.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Dave Christian. Bob Gould, Peter DourisLD&mdash;Allen Pedersen, Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney, Jim Wiemer.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque. Stephane Quintal. Garry Galley.G&mdash; Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Andy Brickley, LW, groin pull, day-to- day.Randy Burridge, LW, left knee strain, indefinite.Lyndon Byers. RW, bruised left foot day-to-day.Gord Kluzak, D. left knee strain, day- to-day.Nevin Markwart. RW. left shoulder surgery, out for season.Michael Thelven, D. right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely. 41. A&mdash;Bourque, 50. P&mdash; Neely, 71. PIM&mdash;Byers, 102. &#9632;

HE SHOOTS. HE SCORES-THREE YEARS LATER

In the March 2 issue of The Hockey News, we will profile one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most dominant players&mdash;Edmonton Oiler Mark Messier.&lsquo;Moose&rsquo;, as he is known to his Oiler teammates, is a top candidate to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP this season. Perhaps more importantly he is leading the rejuvenated Oilers as they battle for first place in the Smythe Division and set their sights on their fifth Stanley Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011495/6834159-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="760" height="1972"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Messier</figcaption></div>Don&rsquo;t miss an inside look at Messier and his mates.Also, columnist Eric Duhatschek relates what Edmonton has discovered that makes it a legitimate Cup contender this year.In addition to all that, we&rsquo;ll have all the news and views from every level of hockey in the March 2 issue of The Hockey News. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NEXT ISSUE

Has there ever been a more lame excuse for a trade than the one supplied by Los Angeles general manager Rogie Vachon? The Los Angeles Kings needed a &ldquo;shakeup&rdquo; so they get rid of their 70-goal scorer Bernie Nicholls?I can remember only one trade more foolish. When 1 was 10,1 traded a Mickey Mantle baseball card to my brother for a Dick McAuliffe.Erik FlowersLas Vegas, Nev.<h2>ROBBED BLIND</h2>Bruce McNall is a good businessman, but he isn&rsquo;t a hockey man and he should stop pretending to be one.Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith robbed the Kings blind on the Bernie Nicholls trade. Tomas Sandstrom had a career year last season, and even beside Wayne Gretzky for the remainder of the year, he won&rsquo;t match last season&rsquo;s totals. Tony Granato is small and overachieved as a rookie.Nicholls is on pace for more than 120 points and 50 goals. He will show all doubters he can score even without Gretzky.Here is a prediction for Stan Fischler: As long as McNall is calling the hockey shots, Quebec will win the Stanley Cup before the Kings.Jason SmithWhitby, Ont.<h2>NO STARS</h2>In a recent letter by Craig Ojalo (THN, Feb. 2), he says the Bay Area is craving an NHL franchise. Well, if the Minnesota North Stars move to Oakland, they will still be craving for a major-league franchise.The North Stars&rsquo; record, both on and off the ice, speaks for itself. They are not major league.With expansion on the horizon, maybe Minnesota will be in line for an expansion team, one with local ownership. An expansion team will lose most of its games, so North Stars&rsquo; fans should be right at home with that.Dan PetersonMenomonie, Wise.<h2>NO CLASS</h2>I disagree with Susan Deno about her comment on Jimmy Carson (THN, Letters, Jan. 19) calling him a classy guy. I do not see why she thinks that Carson did nothing but complain and cry from the beginning in Edmonton, saying he didn&rsquo;t want to let anyone down, that he was not Wayne Gretzky. Nobody expected that of him, but the fans and the team did expect him to show up and not walk out.All Carson really wanted, in the end, was his own way. Well, he got it, with a last-place team. Which is probably why you have not heard a negative word about the Oilers from Carson since the trade.Besides, the Oilers can say what they want. They are in first place.Jimmy BurkePhiladelphia, Pa.<h2>SOUR ON GRAPES</h2>I think I know what the first step should be in getting rid of violence in hockey&mdash;Hockey Night in Canada getting rid of Don Cherry, a prime instigator of violence.Remember, there are thousands of youngsters who watch the game on television and they should not be influenced by his boisterous style on how the game of hockey should be played.Host Ron MacLean said it best one time when he told Cherry he should stop frothing at the mouth. Maybe Cherry&rsquo;s dog, Blue, should be on the show instead.M.J. BaranowskiNestor Falls, Ont.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011662/6832356-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="774" height="942"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Clarke should be fired as Flyer GM, one reader insists.</figcaption></div><h2>BOB MUST GO</h2>It is time for Bob Clarke to be removed as general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers.Clarke is in over his head. He does not possess the skills needed to manage a professional hockey team. His drafting skills are questionable.Why does he keep a player like Craig Berube on his team? This is the 1990s, not 1974. The Flyers need skaters, not fighters.The Flyers will go nowhere while Clarke is at the helm. This is one Flyers&rsquo; fan (or should I say ex-Flyers&rsquo; fan) who has seen enough.Tom SollyAllentown, Penn.<h2>JUST THREE</h2>I&rsquo;m somewhat puzzled by Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; left winger Gerard Gallant&rsquo;s miniscule three-game suspension for slugging linesman Jerry Pateman on Jan. 13 in a game against Minnesota.What type of punishment would Craig Berube, Ron Hextall or Rick Tocchet receive for a similar infraction?Joel MedvidovichDauphin, Penn.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to: Letters, The Hockey News,&rsquo;85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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VACHON FOOLISH TO DEAL NICHOLLS

<div class="byline">BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021329/6832387-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="723" height="839"></div>It&rsquo;s easy to spend money when it&rsquo;s not your own, but isn&rsquo;t it time the St. Louis Blues give Brett Hull what he&rsquo;s worth?Hull has been golden this season. He was the first player to hit 50 goals. He was on Late Night with David Letterman and NBC&rsquo;s Today Show. He was featured in Sports Illustrated. Those are but a few of his national exposures.In St. Louis, he&rsquo;s a hot property. The 25-year- old kid with the million-dollar smile is showing no signs of chilling out, on or off the ice.The Golden Brett is joining select few hockey players who transcend their sport in the United States. He&rsquo;s putting St. Louis on the map as a hockey city.So what gives with his $125,000 base salary?The Blues, to their credit, recognize he&rsquo;s underpaid, on the option year of his first pro contract. They just haven&rsquo;t done a lot to alter that situation. At least not yet.&ldquo;We believe Brett Hull is an emerging NHL star,&rdquo; says Blues&rsquo; president Jack Quinn, who is handling contract negotiations with Hull&rsquo;s agent Bob Goodenow.&ldquo;We recognize that his next contract should pay him like an emerging NHL star. We&rsquo;re prepared to do that.&rdquo;A matter of opinion, no doubt.The good news is that on the day after Hull scored No. 50, Quinn phoned Goodenow a few minutes before Goodenow was going to call Quinn.Contract talks were back on.Insiders in the NHL&rsquo;s financial community report the Blues&rsquo; offer that stalled talks in January was for between $250,000 and $300,000 per year for four years. That&rsquo;s well below the estimated goal Hull and Goodenow have supposedly set&mdash;something in the $600,000-to-$700,000 a year neighborhood.That&rsquo;s a lot of ground to make up. Especially for an organization with as much fiscal restraint as the Blues.&ldquo;Am 1 surprised (the deal isn&rsquo;t done)?&rdquo; says Goodenow. &ldquo;Yes, but then you look at the St. Louis salaries that were disclosed&hellip;&rdquo;The Blues, according to the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, have the league&rsquo;s lowest payroll.&ldquo;We have an obligation to our fans, ownership and our other players,&rdquo; says Quinn. &ldquo;We will pay Brett Hull but it has to be done responsibly.&rdquo;The Blues, after all, do have an image to live up to. Or is that down to?And maybe that&rsquo;s the whole point here. The Blues, deserving of their reputation as cheap, could change all that in one fell swoop.For starters, on the night Hull scored No. 50, a $50,000 check would have been good public relations and not a bad investment and show of faith in their star.But that&rsquo;s not their style. Neither is holding on to top-end talent making big bucks. From Mike Liut to Joe Mullen to Greg Millen, the precedent is there.Could Hull be next?He doesn&rsquo;t want to leave St. Louis&mdash;he&rsquo;s made that abundantly clear. But, given Hull&rsquo;s meteoric rise, he may be a unique player, good enough to skate by free-agent compensation.If, for example, an NHL team signed Hull to a contract worth in excess of $400,000 a year, the compensation to the Blues would be two first- round picks, one of which is in the top five, and $100,000 cash.A team, say the Detroit Red Wings, could meet those conditions. A first-round pick isn&rsquo;t worth quite what it used to be. Philadelphia saw to that by trading two of them for netminder Ken Wregget a year ago.Maybe St. Louis would be satisfied to lose Hull for two first-rounders and I0OK? They seem to remain competitive no matter who comes or goes.But there&rsquo;s a big difference between being competitive and shooting to be the best. Just as there is a big difference between salaries of stars and foot soldiers.It&rsquo;s not my money, but I&rsquo;d be spending some of it on Brett Hull&mdash;now. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

MEMO TO ST.LOUIS:PAY THE PRICE

&#9642; St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull. The Golden Brett became the first player this season to score 50 goals when he fired one in a 6-4 win over Toronto Feb. 6. The Blues&rsquo; left winger and his father, Bobby, are the first father-and-son team to score 50 regular-season goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03869/6832425-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="519" height="516"></div>&#9642; Boston s Allen Pedersen. It isn&rsquo;t every day the Bruin defenseman scores. In fact, it&rsquo;s not even every year he finds the net. So the goal against Detroit Feb. 6, the first since his first-ever NHL goal Nov. 8, 1986&mdash;a span of 239 games&mdash;was something special. Pedersen now moves past Philadelphia goaltender Ron Hextall on the all-time regular-season goal-scoring list. Hextall still leads in playoff goals, though.&#9642; The Global Hockey League. We are not necessarily anti-new league. It&rsquo;s just that when one decides to announce its existence, it would be nice to know the major details. The GHL&rsquo;s first press conference was rife with &ldquo;no comment&rdquo; and vague generalizations. Not a good start for an organization that aims to start play as early as this fall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04479/6832418-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="518" height="519"></div>&#9642; NHL president John Ziegler. When Ralston Purina threatened to move the Blues to Saskatoon. Ziegler defended St. Louis&rsquo; hockey heritage. But when the North Stars threatened to leave Minnesota, his comments centered on the poor viability of the Met Center as a 1990s facility. Minnesota has a hockey heritage, too. &#9632;

f0003-03

CHEERS JEERS

Official NHL Sponsor Official Cars and TrucksMONTREAL&mdash;Center Pat LaFontaine of the New York Islanders, who registered three goals and eight assists in three overtime road games, was named the Chrysler Canada Performer of the Week for the period ending Feb. 11. LaFontaine, who had recorded a point in 12 straight games, edged Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Mario Lemieux and Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goaltender Darren Puppa.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 Chrysler vehicle of his choice. In five years, Chrysler Canada and Dodge have contributed more than $200,000 to youth hockey associations across North America.LaFontaine began the week with a six-point performance (3-3-6) in an 8-7 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins (Feb. 6). It was his second six-point performance and second hat-trick of the season. In a 5-5 tie with the Philadelphia Flyers (Feb. 8), LaFontaine registered three assists. He then tallied two assists, including one on the game-winning overtime goal, in a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins (Feb. 10).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011676/6832456-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="790" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">2Pat LaFontaine</figcaption></div>LaFontaine, the Islanders&rsquo; leading scorer with 86 points (47-39-86), is the first player to win the Chrysler Canada Performer of the Week award twice in 1989-90. His previous win was for the week of January 8-14. LaFontaine&rsquo;s 47 goals equalled his NHL career high set in 1987-88 and he was six points shy of the 92-point mark he set that same season.Lemieux registered 12 points (48-12) in four games and extended his point-scoring streak to 46 games, while Puppa was 2-0-0 with a 1.50 goals-against-average. &#9632;

f0004-01

NHL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Revelations that the St. Louis Blues have the NHL&rsquo;s lowest salary figure had ex-Blues&rsquo; owner Harry Ornest poking fun at his successor, Mike Shanahan. &ldquo;His (Shanahan&rsquo;s) payroll is lower than mine was four years ago,&rsquo;&rsquo; says Ornest, &ldquo;and I was getting heat from some writers about it. The difference is that Shanahan put up only $200,000 for the team and I put up $9 million. &ldquo;&hellip;According to some Quebec Nordique players, assistant coach Robbie Ftorek arrived on the scene with head-coaching type authority. One report suggests head coach Michel Bergeron will, in fact, be bumped up to the general manager&rsquo;s job and Ftorek will assume the title of head coach to go with his authority and responsibility.<h2>NORDS TO MOVE?</h2>Once the NHL&rsquo;s glamor boy, Marcel Aubut has lost his lustre with the plummeting Nordiques. One report has his partners livid with Aubut&rsquo;s performance, while another has the Nordiques being bought by San Jose interests with the club being moved to California rather than the city being granted an expansion franchise. Little is said about it but the October earthquake in California has not helped preliminary plans to build the San Jose arena&hellip;Milwaukee&rsquo;s potential expansion owner Lloyd Pettit has the $50 million required to purchase a new team, insiders whisper, but considers the fee too high.<h2>WILLING TO DEAL</h2>If New York Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith changes his mind and decides to trade John Vanbiesbrouck, the Minnesota North Stars wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate to deliver Brian Bellows to New York&hellip;Minneapolis sources believe NBA Timberwolves&rsquo; owners Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfson would buy the North Stars and keep them in Minnesota&hellip;The Philadelphia Flyers are reportedly after Fred Shero as a &ldquo;consultant.&rdquo; If plansjell, he&rsquo;ll move from his home in suburban Westchester, N.Y., to the Philly area&hellip; Speculation about Bob Clarke&rsquo;s future as Flyers&rsquo; GM was raised by Philly Daily News writer Bill Fleischman. In the article, Clarke opines, &ldquo;I worry if this job is what 1 want to do the rest of my life. If it isn&rsquo;t, then what&rsquo;s my next step?&rdquo; Club owner Ed Snider adds, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like a lot of coaches who burn themselves out. He eats, sleeps and breathes the job 24 hours a day. Keith Allen used to go home after a loss and forget about it because he knew there was nothing he could do about it. I&rsquo;m hoping Bob will stay on a consistent level of happiness.&rdquo;<h2>STAYING PUT</h2>The Nordiques have assured Halifax that it will keep its American League affiliate at Metro Centre. The official announcement is due in spring. The Citadels have the seventh-best attendance in the 14-team league&hellip;NHL enforcers often are misjudged by the public, particularly Montreal&rsquo;s Todd Ewen. Among Ewen&rsquo;s many projects is a children&rsquo;s book he authored and illustrated, titled A Frog Named Hop. &ldquo;The moral of Hop,&rdquo; Ewen explains, &ldquo;is that being different is not always a bad thing.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; Bob McGill admits he became tired of hearing he was a goon. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard on you,&rdquo; says McGill, &ldquo;especially when in the back of your mind you know you can play. After being traded from Toronto, the people in Chicago told me they thought I could be a player who could contribute in more ways than fighting.&rdquo;<h2>BROTHERLY LOVE</h2>Rich Sutter told Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Sun that a coach once asked him to start a fight with one of his brothers. &ldquo;1 won&rsquo;t tell who it was or what it was,&rdquo; says Rich, &ldquo;but it was inferred to one of us. I don&rsquo;t like it and you can&rsquo;t get your teammates to expect you to do it. If it ever gets down to that, I&rsquo;d just as soon hand my gloves to the coach and get him to do it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011608/6832487-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="768" height="807"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Chelios, above, holds no grudge against Ron Hextall.</figcaption></div><h2>ROENICK BITTER</h2>Making a home stretch bid for the Calder Trophy, the Hawks&rsquo; Jeremy Roenick took a swipe at fellow rookie Sergei Makarov. &ldquo;Maybe Makarov should be competing for the Hart Trophy,&rdquo; says Roenick, &ldquo;but not the Calder Trophy, not when he&rsquo;s had 10 years in world-class competition. The Calder is meant to show which young player, who is just learning, adjusted best to the NHL."&hellip;Despite the fuss made about Ron Hextall&rsquo;s playoff attack on him. Chris Chelios insists that he laughed it off from the very start. &ldquo;I carry grudges,&rdquo; Chelios allows, &ldquo;and there are a lot of guys 1 don&rsquo;t like in the game. But Hextall&rsquo;s not on the list.&rsquo; &hellip;Bob Goodenow. new deputy executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, spent a few days in early February at the Toronto office that he&rsquo;ll move into in the fall. Word is that he was impressed with the all-encompassing knowledge of Alan Eagleson&rsquo;s NHLPA assistant Sam Simpson and that Simpson will be invaluable in easing Goodenow&rsquo;s transition. &#9632;

f0005-01

SHANAHAN’S GETTING HIS MONEY’S WORTH

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021155/6832518-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLOBAL HOCKEY LEAGUE</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-02

ELSTON

<div class="byline">TROY LONEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03751/6832549-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="726" height="1617"></div>Born: Sept. 21. 1963. Bow Island, Alta. Height: 6-foot-3. Weight: 210 pounds. Team: Pittsburgh Penguins. Position: Left wing. Acquired: Drafted by Pittsburgh in third round. 52nd overall, of 1983 entry draft.Career highlights: &ldquo;Playing in the Memorial Cup with Lethbridge (1983), playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time last season, and reporting on the first U.S.- Canada hockey writers&rsquo; all-star game for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.&rdquo;Boyhood heroes: Yvan Cournoyer, Dave Keon.Most respected opponent. &ldquo;Mark Messier, because he can do everything well. He doesn&rsquo;t have a weakness.&rdquo;If he were NHL president for a day: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d give myself my money back from the 10-game suspension last year.&rdquo;Favorite food: Linguini with clam sauce.Favorite actor: John Wayne.Favorite movie: The Cowboys, starring John Wayne.Ideal evening: &ldquo;Going over to Three Rivers Stadium and watching a Pirates&rsquo; game.&rdquo;What he does when he&rsquo;s not playing hockey: &ldquo;I go to school in the summertime, working toward a degree in nothing. Just educating my mind.&rdquo;Favorite Road Arena: Boston Garden.Hobbies: Biking, remodeling and fishing.How he&rsquo;d like to be remembered: &ldquo;As the first player to cover the writers&rsquo; game. Seriously, just as a guy who always came to play. That&rsquo;s the biggest compliment you can ever be paid as a player.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-03

PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>Testimony given by a witness at the assault trial for Calgary Flames&rsquo; defenseman Al MacInnis and his brother, Robert, said the defendants kicked her boyfriend as he lay on the ground during an altercation last summer.Ann Henderson said the MacInnis brothers kicked Jamie Dutton while she screamed, &ldquo;Leave him alone, his leg is busted.&rdquo;Al, 26. and Robert, 23, each face three charges of assault and two of assault causing bodily harm stemming from an early-morning brawl July 3 outside a downtown Calgary restaurant and bar.&ldquo;I had a good look at the guys that were doing the kicking,&rdquo; Henderson told Justice Allan Wachowich of the Court of Queen&rsquo;s Bench. &ldquo;Now I realize it was Al and Robert MacInnis. I had a good look at them. Robert MacInnis was at his feet. Al MacInnis was at his head.&rdquo;Henderson also said she was kicked and nearly punched during the altercation.Henderson testified she and Dutton were leaving the restaurant when they saw one of their friends lying on the ground &ldquo;with men around him, kicking him.&rdquo;Another witness, Joyce Keizer said Al yelled &ldquo;get that bitch&rdquo; moments before she was kicked in the chest and booted while lying on the ground. Keizer&rsquo;s boyfriend. Herman Schwarz said the MacInnis&rsquo; were upset over a remark made by Keizer&rsquo;s sister about Nova Scotia drunks.The MacInnis brothers were born in Nova Scotia.Keizer also said Al&rsquo;s fiancee, Jackie Bergel, was screaming at the brothers to stop fighting. MacInnis and Bergel were married two days after the incident.&ldquo;She said, &rsquo;Please stop, Al. He always does this when he&rsquo;s drunk. It&rsquo;s his brother&rsquo;s fault.&rsquo; She was screaming, &rsquo;I&rsquo;m not going to marry you.&rsquo; She was pretty upset,&rdquo; Keizer said.Al was scheduled to testify Feb. 13.<h2>BAD BET</h2>People in British Columbia are betting on hockey games through a lottery and the NHL is not happy about the situation.Gil Stein, the NHL&rsquo;s legal counsel and vice president, said the league will look into the B.C. lottery, Punto Select. The lottery player predicts the outcome of six NHL games a weekend by picking either the home or road team by one, two, three or four goals.&ldquo;Having had it called to my attention, we&rsquo;re looking into it to see if what they (the B.C. Lottery Corporation) are doing conflicts with our policies,&rdquo; Stein said. &ldquo;Our policies are quite simply that we are opposed to anything, any scheme anywhere where people are betting on the outcome of NHL games.&rsquo;&rsquo;&rsquo;With the $2 ticket, lottery players can win as much as $5,000 for getting all six games right. The smallest prize is $5&mdash;for getting three right.<h2>BALLARD UPDATE</h2>Toronto Maple Leaf owner Harold Ballard asked his lawyer to have longtime companion Yolanda Ballard either &ldquo;arrested or committed&rdquo; because he thought she &ldquo;had gone crazy.&rdquo;In a controversial memo written about a meeting between Yolanda, Harold and his lawyer, Roseanne Rocchi, Rocchi wrote that her client wanted Yolanda &ldquo;out of his life.&rdquo; Ballard reportedly made the request before he and Yolanda left for a Cayman Islands vacation before Christmas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011785/6832580-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="757" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harold Ballard, above, wanted companion Yolanda arrested.</figcaption></div>Harold, meanwhile, remained in satisfactory condition in Miami&rsquo;s Baptist Hospital. Ballard first entered hospital Jan. 4 after suffering kidney problems.The memo, leaked to the Toronto Star and published on Feb. 11, also said Ballard offered to give Yolanda his $1 million Toronto condominium if she agreed to move out of his Maple Leaf Gardens&rsquo; apartment.The Star story claimed the memo was among documents Yolanda&rsquo;s lawyers filed with the Florida district court of appeal to have her replace Paul Cowan as Ballard&rsquo;s interim legal guardian.Yolanda&rsquo;s lawyer, Steve Weissman, said that wasn&rsquo;t true.&ldquo;They (the Star) couldn&rsquo;t have gotten it from the appeal court files because it was never filed with the appeal court,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It (the memo) was released out of maliciousness and we are contemplating action.&rdquo;Rocchi said she had no knowledge of the memo being leaked.&ldquo;I certainly didn&rsquo;t leak it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How it got out I have no idea.&rdquo;Earlier in the week, Yolanda was detained at Pearson International Airport in Toronto after allegedly trying to smuggle $3,000 worth of jewelry into Canada from Florida.<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Feb. 20: OUAA playoffs begin.Feb. 21: AUAA playoffs begin.Feb. 23: CWUAA playoffs begin.Feb. 24: ECAC. WCHA and CCHA regular seasons end.Feb. 27: Hockey East regular season ends. &#9632;

f0006-01

WOMAN TESTIFIES AGAINST MacINNIS

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE AND MIKE KANE</div>A league to rival a rival league? Believe it.No sooner had the Global Hockey League announced its intentions to begin play in November than tentative plans for a second rival professional league were made public.Gordon Stenback, a 56-year-old Thunder Bay, Ont., native who lives in Cleveland and owns a radio station in Akron, Ohio, said Feb. 12 he is heading a group intent on establishing a six-team league in North America.&ldquo;We will have a prospective owners&rsquo; meeting in late March,&rdquo; Stenback said. &ldquo;We will decide then when we will begin operation, either in the fall of 1990 or, if there&rsquo;s not enough time to get ready, then the fall of 1991.&ldquo;There is a void of pro hockey in a number of major markets in North America.&rdquo;You would never have known it in a wild-and-woolly stretch, which started when former Winnipeg Jet owner Michael Gobuty ushered the GHL into existence Feb. 10 in Los Angeles. Three days later, Stenback revealed his plans to The Hockey News. Suddenly, a city such as Hamilton, Ont., which had no pro team, was the supposed home of two new franchises. To say nothing of the city&rsquo;s bid for an NHL expansion franchise.Stenback&rsquo;s proposed league, which has no name yet, would incorporate the following features:&#9724; A minimum of six teams and a maximum of eight to begin play in either the fall of 1990 or 1991, with tentative sites including Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Hamilton.&ldquo;We want to keep it small at first and guarantee the competitiveness of every club,&rdquo; Stenback said.He said he wasn&rsquo;t concerned that the GHL had already awarded a Hamilton franchise and was targeting Atlanta. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to see what exactly that means, in terms of having secured ice and a facility.&rdquo;&#9724; A more wide-open, offensive style of play than the NHL. This, too, is a major selling point of the GHL, though Stenback doesn&rsquo;t foresee international-size ice surfaces, like the GHL.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take out the red line,&rdquo; he said. Move the nets up. Open up the game.&rdquo;&#9724; A salary cap of $3.5 million per club, $1 million more than the reported figure for the GHL.&ldquo;The Global Hockey League, with a lower salary cap, will be nothing more than a minor league,&rdquo; Stenback said.&#9724; A talent pool that would include NHL free agents, U.S. collegians, major junior players and Europeans.Gobuty said the GHL won&rsquo;t raid NHL rosters or try to compete with the NHL. He was non-committal on going after junior stars such as Peterborough Pete Mike Ricci. Stenback said his league will explore all avenues. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll go out and try to get the best players available,&rdquo; he said.Stenback said he will be meeting with the Detroit Compuware group, which is headed by chief executive officer Peter Karmanos and director of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, the ex-NHL goaltender.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021221/6832611-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="765" height="927"><figcaption class="caption-body">The GHL was non-committal about players like Mike Ricci.</figcaption></div>Rutherford attended the GHL confab in Los Angeles, but left before the formation announcement was made. He indicated that Compuware had no interest in the GHL and didn&rsquo;t consider it a viable operation.Compuware, a well-financed owner and operator of junior and youth hockey programs, was exploring Stenback&rsquo;s proposal, but remained non-committal.Were it to support and become involved in Stenback&rsquo;s league, Compuware would lend some credibility to the venture, given its solid business and hockey history.Compuware&rsquo;s reluctance to become involved with the GHL didn&rsquo;t stop others from jumping in.Gobuty, the GHL chairman, announced six charter members&mdash; New England (Providence, R.I.), Albany, N.Y., Hamilton, Saskatoon, Sask., Los Angeles/Orange County, Calif., and Sacramento, Calif.The objective, Gobuty said, is 10 teams in Europe and 10 in North America.The next two cities most likely to be admitted are Atlanta and Denver. Other possibilities include: Laval, Que., Dallas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston and New York.The first members of the GHL&rsquo;s European conference are expected to be named following a meeting in London on March 16-17. Gobuty said the cities being considered are: Vienna, Bern, Lisbon, Milan, Stockholm, Rome, Paris, Helsinki, Geneva and Dusseldorf.Gobuty conceived the idea of an international pro league using international rules and playing on the larger 200-by-100 foot rinks, the standard in Europe.&ldquo;We have six people committed to playing international hockey, putting entertainment back into the game and making some rule changes that will make it quicker, less violent and more entertaining for the public,&rdquo; Gobuty said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to be cool, but I&rsquo;ve never been as excited in many, many, many moons. It&rsquo;s like having your first child.&rdquo;As has been his policy throughout the early stages of the formation of the league, Gobuty provided precious little information. He refused to disclose the names of the owners of the New England, Hamilton, Los Angeles or Sacramento franchises, the cost of a franchise or the proposed salary cap limit. However, some of that information was available from sources familiar with the negotiations.The principal in the New England franchise is W. Godfrey Wood of Boston, an investor in the New England Whalers&rsquo; franchise of the World Hockey Association.Barry Alter, a young businessman, heads the Hamilton group. It is believed that Gobuty is the majority owner of the franchise.Film producer Michael Shapiro is the point man for the L.A./Orange County franchise. Shapiro&rsquo;s group includes former Massachusetts governor Ed King, who is reportedly interested in building a new major league arena in the Orange County city of Santa Anna.The Sacramento franchise is owned by Ray McIntyre, a native of the Canadian Maritimes who is in the entertainment industry in L.A.The sources said the franchise fee is $400,000 with an annual per-team salary cap of $2.5 million.The Saskatoon franchise is owned by Charlie Hodgins, a league vice president and the Chairman of the Board of First Merchant Equities Management Corporation in Saskatoon.The Albany franchise is owned by business partners Glenn Mazula and Joe O&rsquo;Hara of Saratoga Springs. &#9632;

f0006-02

LEAGUES OF NATIONS

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>Some National Hockey League teams are more than the sum of their parts. The 1989-90 Los Angeles Kings have been less.Kelly Hrudey&rsquo;s response?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to come out and be critical of the way we&rsquo;ve played,&rdquo; said Hrudey; the Kings&rsquo; brash, confident and outspoken goal-tender.&ldquo;From my standpoint, other than one or two teams in the league, everybody should be critical of themselves. It&rsquo;s a crazy year. Nobody&rsquo;s really putting together a great season.&rdquo;No argument there.Hrudey was speaking the morning of a game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames. In the next 72 hours, the Kings swept a home-and-home series from the Flames&mdash;who were themselves on an eight-game undefeated streak&mdash;and temporarily calmed the controversies swirling around them.But not for long. Two days later at home, the Kings fell 5-1 to divisional rival Winnipeg.And two-thirds of the way through the season, the Kings were fourth of five teams in the Smythe Division. They were struggling to stay at the .500 level. Apart from a few moments of excellence, the best thing that has happened to them all year was the collapse of the Vancouver Canucks.Traditionally, when a team moves from 18th to fourth place in one season&mdash;as the Kings did a year ago&mdash;there is a natural tendency to backslide a little the next season.But to .500? With Wayne Gretzky in the lineup?What&rsquo;s going on here anyway?Factors to consider include:&#9724; Wayne Gretzky is tired.Or in a funk. Whatever. Something isn&rsquo;t right with the Great One.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011622/6832649-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="960" height="1113"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Robinson was more effective in the Adams Division&rsquo;s smaller rinks.</figcaption></div>Gretzky began the season by breaking Gordie Howe&rsquo;s all-time scoring record. With Mario Lemieux slumping in the early going, Gretzky looked to be re-establishing himself as the game&rsquo;s pre-eminent player. But then Lemieux took off at about Game 20 and Gretzky&rsquo;s play tailed off.Recently, the Kings switched to four lines in an effort to rest No. 99. Gretzky still got extra time on special teams, but he appeared to be playing less&mdash;and less effectively when he was playing.Is he tired?&ldquo;I talked to him the other day and simply asked that question,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; coach Tom Webster. &ldquo;I asked Wayne: &lsquo;Are you tired?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;No.&rsquo; &rdquo;Gretzky said he was tiring in January, but he caught his second wind.In the stretch run to the playoffs, though, Gretzky must contend with something else: The effect of Bernie Nicholls&rsquo; departure. Throughout his career, Gretzky shared the burden of scoring with a talented lieutenant playing behind him on the second line. In Edmonton, there was Mark Messier. In L.A., until the all-star weekend, there was Nicholls.Now there&rsquo;s Todd Elik.The upside of the Nicholls trade may be Tomas Sandstrom. In Sandstrom, the Kings believe they&rsquo;ve found the new Jari Kurri. Probably a dozen players have auditioned for that role and all were found wanting.Hockey Night in Canada commentator Harry Neale said it and he may be right: Gretzky misses Jari Kurri more than Kurri misses Gretzky.&#9724; Hrudey is experiencing a difficult adjustment to the Smythe Division.Some NHL goalies like to face 35-plus shots a night because it gets them in the game. Hrudey, however, is not one of them.Even when the New York Islanders were struggling last season, Hrudey never faced the barrage he does playing behind the Kings&rsquo; defense.Until Webster decided to rest Hrudey the first week of February, he&rsquo;d played more minutes (2,412) than any goalie in the league except Kirk McLean.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just shots, too,&rdquo; said Hrudey, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s quality shots. We&rsquo;ve given up a few this year.&rdquo;In the wide-open play that characterizes the Smythe Division, Hrudey says you can forget about your goals-against average. His was 4.05 in 43 games played.&ldquo;Your job as a goalie, on some teams anyway, is just to keep your team close and they&rsquo;ll do the rest. In the Patrick Division, you had to keep your team in the games because the games were lower scoring. The only things I look for now are wins and big saves when the team needs them.&rdquo;&#9724; Team defense is inadequate.Larry Robinson, the Kings&rsquo; key off-season acquisition, is more suited to play for his old team, Montreal, than Los Angeles. The smaller buildings in Buffalo and Boston enhanced Robinson&rsquo;s effectiveness, as did the team in front of him. They checked. The Kings rarely do.Watching the Kings play, there&rsquo;s little sense that they think much of team defense. There&rsquo;s always a certain amount of improvisation in the game, but with the Kings, whatever happens, happens. Or so it seems.&ldquo;As a team, we realize we&rsquo;re not going to have a great goals-against average,&rdquo; acknowledged Tom Laidlaw, one of the few defensive defenseman on the roster.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021093/6832642-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1994" height="2173"><figcaption class="caption-body">With players like Luc Robitaille, above, and Wayne Gretzky, the Kings are set offensively. Team defense, on the other hand, has been a sore spot all season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The difference from last year&rsquo;s team to this year&rsquo;s team is that last year, we realized not everybody was going to be Wayne Gretzky. We would have guys do the dirty little jobs&mdash;blocking shots, hitting guys&mdash;and Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille would get the headlines and that was just a fact of life. Fine. If we won, we&rsquo;d all get credit.&ldquo;Not that we don&rsquo;t have the people to do it this year, but if there&rsquo;s one thing we&rsquo;ve gotten away from, it&rsquo;s that. People aren&rsquo;t doing their jobs. They&rsquo;re trying to do someone else&rsquo;s job.&rdquo;&#9724; Tom Webster&rsquo;s coaching style isn&rsquo;t conducive to the Kings.Webster, who was sidelined in early February with a recurring inner-ear problem, is the antithesis of his predecessor, Robbie Ftorek. Despite his highly-publicized problems dealing with the Kings&rsquo; stars, Ftorek demanded a work ethic. Is Webster too easy on a veteran club that&rsquo;s too comfortable in southern California?&ldquo;1 think the work ethic&rsquo;s there,&rdquo; said Webster. &ldquo;I think everybody&rsquo;s trying to give it their best.&rdquo;Said Laidlaw: &ldquo;Personally, I had no problem with Robbie. He did a lot of good things and one of them was his discipline. But the new coaching staff is no different. They&rsquo;ve made it clear to us what is keeping the team from winning.&ldquo;I think the coaching staff gets too much blame when things go wrong and too much credit when things go right. They&rsquo;re a percentage of the team the same way the players are and they&rsquo;ve got to do their jobs, but there&rsquo;s only so much they can do.&rdquo;&#9724; The Kings are too old.They possess a truckload of talent, but much of it belongs to a previous era. If they had the Robinson of &rsquo;77, the Barry Beck of&rsquo;79, the John Tonelli of &rsquo;84 and the Keith Crowder of &rsquo;85, they could be running away with the division. But this is 1990. People sometimes forget that. There are as many as seven potential Hall of Famers on the Kings&rsquo; roster, but there just isn&rsquo;t a lot of mileage left on their chassis.An optimist would suggest the Kings, despite their shortcomings, are perfectly placed for a playoff run.First or second place may be out of reach, so the Kings can use the final third of the season to ensure that their veterans are fresh. If the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers expend too much energy to finish first, the Kings could be sitting there, waiting to catch someone napping.The theory of laying in wait for a battered opposition looks good on paper, much like the Kings&rsquo; lineup. But defenseman Tim Watters doesn&rsquo;t believe any team, even one with Gretzky on it, can turn it on at will.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not comfortable at all,&rdquo; Watters said. &ldquo;This hockey club, we have to get our game on track. Just because we win a couple of games in a row doesn&rsquo;t mean anything. We went through a real rough period there. I don&rsquo;t think we can take anything for granted. We have to get our game back to where it should be.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

DISCOMFORT ZONE

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011678/6832680-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Back row, left to right: Kelly Harper, Chris Deineka, Michael Burkett, Steve Norton. Middle row: Travis Seale, Stan Butler, Rico Blasi. Front: Craig Brown.</figcaption></div>Rico Blasi, the emotional one. Kelly Harper, the concerned one. Steve Norton, the pretty boy. Chris Deineka, the free spirit. Michael Burkett, the intense one. Travis Seale, the quiet one. Craig Brown, the intensely quiet one.They are Stan Butler&rsquo;s boys, an extraordinary group of seven teenage players who join their coach in a cast of characters that, has achieved unparalleled minor hockey success.They first came together as a group in 1985 on the Wexford &rsquo;AAA&rsquo; peewees of the Metropolitan Toronto Hockey League. Five seasons later, they&rsquo;re still together, the nucleus of the first- place Wexford Jr. B Raiders in the Metro (Toronto) Junior Hockey League.And all they have ever done is win: The all-Ontario peewee, bantam and midget championships; the Quebec Peewee Tourney title; four consecutive MTHL championships; the bronze medal at the World Bantam Youth Championships in Switzerland and a runaway lead this season with the youngest team in the MJHL. &ldquo;Oh, there are a few blemishes, notably a semi-final defeat to the Calgary Buffaloes in the 1989 Air Canada Cup national midget championships. But the good times have far exceeded the bad.And now, after growing up together on and off the ice, the group of seven and its coach realize the end is near. The old gang will break up this spring.&ldquo;I try not to think about it,&rdquo; says Butler, a 33-year-old Scarborough, Ont., elementary school phys-ed teacher. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sad. 1 can&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s coming to an end.&rdquo;Though the group of 17-year-olds are breaking up, they&rsquo;re not all going their separate ways.Seale, a 5-foot-10, 150-pound center, will return to the Raiders. So will Butler.Burkett, a center, Harper, a center-right winger, and Norton, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound defenseman, will attend Michigan State in the fall.Deineka, a 6-foot, 195-pound defenseman, will attend Western Michigan and Brown, a netminder, may be joining him. Blasi, a center, is off to Miami of Ohio.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had Kelly (Harper) on my line for five years,&rdquo; says Blasi, a diminutive (5-foot-6, 150- pound) team leader. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really weird to think I&rsquo;ll be going to training camp in the fall and he won&rsquo;t be there. But there comes a time when you have to move on, do your own thing.&rdquo;They&rsquo;ll carry with them memories, not just of wins and losses, but of deep-rooted friendships.None of them will forget Brown, the quiet goalie who is so competitive he &ldquo;freaks out&rdquo; when scored on in practice. Or &rsquo;Booger&rsquo; Deineka&mdash;it doesn&rsquo;t take much imagination to figure how he got that nickname&mdash;and his devil-may- care attitude.They&rsquo;ll remember the orderly but intensely competitive and temperamental world of Burkett, the Upper Canada College student who won&rsquo;t turn on the televised Toronto Maple Leaf game until his homework is done. And Norton, the handsome charmer who goes by the moniker &rsquo;Pretty Boy,&rsquo; in recognition of his reputation as a ladies&rsquo; man.Harper s dry wit won&rsquo;t soon be forgotten, nor will his genuine concern to see all his teammates do as well he does. Blasi, well, he&rsquo;s just Rico, slightly more polished than the kid who joined the team five years ago, recalled by his friend Harper as &ldquo;a really mouthy Italian kid.&rdquo; Seale is the antithesis of the voluble Blasi, but no less a member of the group.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re best friends,&rdquo; says Burkett. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been through a lot together. 1 can&rsquo;t think of it having been any better.&rdquo;Neither can Butler. Named coach of the year by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association last season, he has been a dominant influence during the most formative years of his players&rsquo; young lives.He&rsquo;s developed them as hockey players. His hope is that he&rsquo;s had a greater influence than that.Butler is a strict disciplinarian who promotes a philosophy of one for all and all for one. He has been called &rsquo;The Russian.&rsquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of Mike Keenan running through Stan Butler,&rdquo; says Tom Harper, Kelly s father. But he s done well by my boy. We lived in Peterborough before moving to Toronto and my kid was the star up there, doing pretty much whatever he wanted. Stan showed him discipline and responsibility.&rdquo;Butler&rsquo;s players are schooled to put the team first. No individual statistics, except plus-minus, are kept. It&rsquo;s defense first. An unsportsmanlike penalty means the player heads right for the showers. Four lines and six defensemen are used. The more talented a player is, the greater the demands placed on him.The result hasn&rsquo;t gone unnoticed.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever seen a junior (B or Tier Two) team more disciplined than Wexford,&rdquo; says an NHL scout. &ldquo;They get ahead 2-1 and shut you down. If you run them, they don&rsquo;t take stupid retaliatory penalties. 1 don&rsquo;t know the coach at all, but he&rsquo;s obviously done a job with that team.&rdquo;Butler is more than a coach to his players. He turned the garage of his Scarborough home into a gym. Harper spends more time there than at home. Neighborhood kids, such as Kris Draper of the Canadian national team, use his home as a summer drop-in center. &ldquo;I have a swimming pool and a very understanding wife,&rdquo; Butler explains.As proud as he is of his team&rsquo;s accomplishments, Butler is as thrilled with his players&rsquo; development as young men.&ldquo;They really care for each other,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re like brothers. When Rico got his scholarship at Miami, he blurted out to (Miami coach) George Gwozdecky, &rsquo;What can you do for Chris Deineka?&rsquo; George called me and said, &rsquo;What is this kid, a player agent?&rsquo; They&rsquo;re all like that. They look out for each other.&rdquo;When NHL scouts show up at cold and dingy Scarboro Arena, the Raiders&rsquo; horrible home, it&rsquo;s not to see a 5-foot- 6 center. But Blasi is undaunted.&ldquo;That just gives me more motivation,&rdquo; he says, vowing to be the next Theoren Fleury. &ldquo;1 know what I&rsquo;m capable of. I just have to do things 10 times better than Kelly or Michael just to be even. With a little luck, 1&rsquo;11 do it.&rdquo;It is Burkett and Harper who are most heavily scrutinized. Both are 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds.Burkett, a Bob Gainey-type, was ranked 29th overall by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau at mid-season. He&rsquo;s a winner. Wexford&rsquo;s string of city championships pales beside Burkett&rsquo;s&mdash; he&rsquo;s won eight MTHL titles, one for every year he played in the league.Harper, a rangy and versatile forward who is creative with the puck and has a nice scoring touch was 43rd. That he and Burkett are going to Michigan State, more hockey college than college hockey, doesn&rsquo;t hurt their chances.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important for me to see Kelly and Michael get drafted,&rdquo; says Butler. &ldquo;1 believe there&rsquo;s a good chance a few of the seven will end up in the NHL. And I don&rsquo;t count Rico out either.&rdquo;&ldquo;First and foremost, though, we all want to make sure we leave as winners. We&rsquo;ve already got nine guys and counting off this team on scholarships; I&rsquo;d like to make sure all seven of the original guys get them.&rdquo;Butler will return to Wexford for at least a year, but hopes to make a move of his own in the near future.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy in my job as a teacher,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I hope someone out there will say, &rsquo;He&rsquo;s doing a good-job.&rdquo; I&rsquo;d like to move to the next level&hellip;major junior, Canadian university or U.S. college.&rdquo;But the future must wait. So, too, reflections on the past. The present&mdash;going out as winners&mdash;is the focus.But when they do get around to reflecting on an incredible five years, they&rsquo;ll realize how extraordinary a run it&rsquo;s been.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve travelled together all over Canada and different places in the world because of our success in hockey,&rdquo; says Harper. &ldquo;When we were in Newfoundland for the Air Canada Cup, we all went together to see the Atlantic Ocean. It may not seem like a big deal, but that was a first for a lot of us.&ldquo;We travelled through Switzerland; all sorts of places and we learned a lot more than just hockey. We&rsquo;ve been lucky, really lucky. It&rsquo;s been such a positive experience for every one of us. We&rsquo;ll never forget it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

SEVENTH HEAVEN

<div class="byline">STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011592/6832711-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="667" height="852"></div>Random thoughts on the NHL as the home stretch begins.&#9724; Phoniest propaganda of the season was brewed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, over Viacheslav Fetisov&rsquo;s alleged sticking and submarining of Wendel Clark. The fact is Clark delivered an unprovoked sucker punch the first time they clashed in Toronto.As for the second episode in Jersey, there was nothing illegal about Fetisov&rsquo;s check. I was standing five feet from the pair. Trust me. Fetisov crossed the ice to toss a legal bodycheck. And no penalty was called on the play.Clark is genuinely tough, no doubt about it. But it takes no courage for a 23-year-old to punch out an older European player unaccustomed to punching for the sake of punching.Wendel winds up the jerk in this episode, but he must share his shame with the Toronto Sun, which irrationally ran a &ldquo;WANTED&rdquo; sign with Fetisov&rsquo;s photo.&#9724; If the NHL permits the Minnesota North Stars to leave for Oakland, the league&rsquo;s middle name will have to be changed from &ldquo;stability&rdquo; to &ldquo;chaos.&rdquo;&#9724; The Kings have proven Robbie Ftorek rates the retroactive 1989 coach-of-the-year award. Ftorek&rsquo;s one mistake was his mishandling of Doug Crossman.&#9724; Restraining fouls, which referees ignore&mdash; especially interference with players without the puck&mdash;do more to kill the game&rsquo;s artistry than anything else. So, what does the NHL do about it? A little talk, no significant action.&#9724; Now that the Kings are reduced to one superior center, what do they do when the enemy blankets Wayne Gretzky? I&rsquo;ll tell you what they do&mdash;they say their prayers for being in the same division as Vancouver.&#9724; Even if Pat LaFontaine collects 70 penalty minutes, he deserves the Lady Byng Trophy. (That&rsquo;s if the voters read the fine print.)&#9724; Who&rsquo;s kidding who? Hockey is a special sport and should not be compared with baseball, football or basketball when it comes to network television or salary revelations. Even players will eventually learn the push to make wages public in the end will do the game more harm than good.&#9724; I&rsquo;m baffled over coaches who constantly employ the dump-and-chase strategy. A good 90 per cent of the time they are just handing the puck to the enemy with the implicit message: &ldquo;Here, you take control of the puck and see if you can score&mdash;because I can&rsquo;t.&rdquo;&#9724; In the short term, the Bernie Nicholls deal is good for the Rangers, same as the Phil Esposito trade was in the late 1970s.&#9724; If you want to know why it&rsquo;s imperative the Red Wings rehabilitate Bob Probert, just check the standings now and when he was in the lineup. We&rsquo;re talking about the difference between a last-place team and a playoff team.&#9724; Maybe I shouldn&rsquo;t be minding Mario Lemieux&rsquo; business, but he would be doing himself a world of good if he took public relations lessons from Brett Hull and Pat LaFontaine.&#9724; I worry about Bruce McNall and his Kings, when he starts likening himself&mdash;facetiously or otherwise&mdash;to New York Yankees&rsquo; owner George Steinbrenner.&#9724; If Calgary wins the Stanley Cup, I&rsquo;ll eat this column with Chinese mustard.&#9724; Refs will never attain the respect they think they deserve until they master the art of consistency.&#9724; I bet you never thought you&rsquo;d live to see the day when the number of luxury boxes is more vital to getting an expansion franchise than a team&rsquo;s geographic location.&#9724; Gerry Meehan would have been a super successor to Al Eagleson. Too bad somebody didn&rsquo;t push him harder to accept.&#9724; Players who are hard to dislike even though they&rsquo;re not on your team: Greg Gilbert, Tom Kurvers, Kelly Miller, Randy Carlyle, Mark Johnson, Craig Ludwig, Kevin Lowe, Hubie McDonough, Guy Lafleur, Ron Francis and Brian Mullen.&#9724; There&rsquo;s no longer any doubt in my mind; the three expansion cities have to be Milwaukee, Seattle and San Jose. Only one will be a tough sell&mdash;the California site.&#9724; The way forwards charge the net these days, the NHL might as well erase the crease. Goalies get about as much respect these days as the referees who fail to whistle down the net intruders.&#9724; If I had one official to call the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals, my choice would be Terry Gregson.&#9724; This 50th anniversary of New York Ranger futility certainly will be a test of all the curses placed on the Blueshirts in their quest for the elusive Cup. If you believe in magic and the mystical, there&rsquo;s no way the Rangers cannot win it.&#9724; I&rsquo;d like to be the fly on the wall, with Gretzky and Lemieux alone in the same room for an hour. &#9632;

f0009-01

FETISOV’S CHECK ON CLARK WAS LEGAL

Feb. 21,1970: Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; left winger Bobby Hull became the third player in NHL history to score 500 goals in his career. His goal, against Eddie Giacomin, helped the Blackhawks to a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers in Chicago. Hull finished his NHL career after the 1979-80 season, with 610 goals. He also scored 303 during his seven WHA seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021119/6832742-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="847" height="539"><figcaption class="caption-body">BODDY HULL</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-02

FLASHBACK

<h2>KINGS</h2>Assistants Cap Raeder and Rick Wilson were named interim co-coaches Feb. 5 after head coach Tom Webster was diagnosed as having an inner-ear problem. Webster was advised to rest until Feb. 20, when the problem in his left ear would be reevaluated. Webster was experiencing headaches, dizziness and a loss of balance and suffered a concussion after falling in the shower Jan. 26. The illness was in the same ear that forced Webster to quit as coach of the New York Rangers in 1986. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very frustrating, especially when I can&rsquo;t do my job,&rdquo; said Webster. &ldquo;Of course, I&rsquo;m concerned. That&rsquo;s why 1 really want to take things easy.&rdquo; Webster was not supposed to have any contact with hockey while he was resting, but he showed up at a pre-game skate at the Forum Feb. 8, before the Kings lost to Winnipeg 5-1. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for me to stay away,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Tomas Sandstrom scored on a penalty shot Feb. 10 in Pittsburgh (a 7-6 loss) after he was pulled down by Jim Kyte on a breakaway. He drilled the puck between Wendell Young&rsquo;s pads for the Kings&rsquo; first successful penalty shot since Luc Robitaille scored one in Winnipeg Oct. 25, 1987.<h2>FLAMES</h2>While the Flames&rsquo; overall play continued to be inconsistent, their league-leading power play continued to produce. In a 5-2 win over the Rangers Feb. 11, the Flames went 3-for-5 with the man advantage as Al MacInnis, Joe Nieuwendyk and Joe Mullen scored on the power play. The day before, in a 7-5 loss to Detroit. Doug Gilmour scored on the power play as the Flames went l-for-3. Overall, the Flames power play was 68-for-242, a success rate of 28.1 per cent&hellip; Mullen was on a tear with four goals and two assists in three road games Feb. 6-11. In the first half of the season. Mullen struggled to 13-11-24 totals. He nearly matched that in the first 18 games of the second half with a slate of 9-1423&hellip; In an effort to get Joel Otto more playing time, coach Terry Crisp moved him from the fourth to the third line with Paul Ranheim and Jiri Hrdina. Theoren Fleury was dropped to the fourth line but continued to play on the first power play unit and kill penalties.<h2>OILERS</h2>The Oilers&rsquo; goaltending shuffle continued. Randy Exelby was shipped back to Phoenix with Pokey Reddick promoted from the Roadrunners Feb. 5. &ldquo;(Reddick) needed to play,&rdquo; said coach John Muckler. &ldquo;He sat for a month and a half with us. You&rsquo;re not going to put a guy in (an NHL game) who hasn&rsquo;t played that long. He loses all his game edge."&hellip;No. I goalie Bill Ranford was knocked out in a 2-2 tie with the New Jersey Devils Feb. 6 and was replaced by Reddick, who allowed one goal. &ldquo;Yeah, a freight train,&rdquo; quipped Ranford when asked if he knew what hit him. Devils&rsquo; captain Kirk Muller fell on Ranford after a collision with defenseman Charlie Huddy. &ldquo;1 knew they fell on me,&rdquo; said Ranford, who was out cold by the time Muller swept the puck into the net while laying on his stomach. &ldquo;No, I didn&rsquo;t know he scored.&rdquo;<h2>JETS</h2>Laurie Boschman was playing with his right hand in a cast thanks to a broken index finger suffered Jan. 27 in St. Louis. But the 29-year-old center may get a chance to rest it thanks to an overzealous shift in Los Angeles Feb. 8. Boschman reacted to a Tomas Sandstrom elbow by high-sticking him in the face with a vicious blow from behind in the late stages of a 5-1 Winnipeg victory. Sandstrom, wearing a face shield, was not hurt in the incident but the Kings sent tapes of the game to the NHL and a suspension was expected&hellip;Second-year defenseman Teppo Numminen overcame a slow start and was the Jets&rsquo; steadiest blueliner for a month. The 21-year- old Finn collected three assists against the Kings to run his season totals to seven goals and 29 points, six goals and 14 points better than his output of a year ago. &ldquo;Teppo&rsquo;s played very well,&rdquo; said coach Bob Murdoch. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been our most improved defenseman and he&rsquo;s been our most consistent defenseman over this past month without question.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Thomas Steen missed his 13th consecutive game with a sore back Feb. 11 in Edmonton and the Jets weren&rsquo;t saying when the veteran center would return. He was skating but the team was determined not to rush him back into the lineup too quickly even though he was the Jets&rsquo; leading scorer and best player through the first half of the season. &ldquo;As long as he&rsquo;s ready for the playoffs,&rdquo; Murdoch said.<h2>CANUCKS</h2>Right winger Rich Sutter was suspended five games as a result of slashing penalty and game misconduct Sutter received for injuring Edmonton&rsquo;s Glenn Anderson in a Jan. 27 game. Sutter&rsquo;s suspension will take effect Feb. 19. meaning he would be eligible to return March 4 against the Oilers&hellip;Jim Sandlak&rsquo;s winning goal which helped beat the Bruins 4-2 in Boston Feb. 11 was his first goal since Dec. 20, a personal stretch of 17 games. It was the Canucks&rsquo; first win in Boston Garden since Dec. 13, 1980&hellip;Stan Smyl. the Canucks&rsquo; all time leading scorer, was still in search of his first goal this season. Smyl has 259 career goals but had only one in his previous 70 games, including playoffs&hellip; Rookie Rob Murphy scored the game-winner&mdash;his first goal in 17 career games in the NHL&mdash; in a 4-1 win over Hartford Jan. 9. Steve Weeks, who played goal in the Hartford game, picked up his 101st career win&hellip;Soviet center Igor Larionov said he&rsquo;s been bothered by a . sore wrist since late December. &#9632;

WEBSTER FORCED TO THE SIDELINES

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>He probably will never score 70 goals in a season or approach 100 points. The odds of Forum fans latching onto him the way they did to Bernie Nicholls for nine seasons are just as slim.But that&rsquo;s fine with Todd Elik. The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; rookie center is a good player in his own right and would like to be treated as such.When Nicholls was traded to the New York Rangers Jan. 20, Elik. 23, assumed Nicholls&rsquo; spot between left winger Luc Robitaille and right winger Dave Taylor. In nine games since the deal was made, Elik produced a goal and nine assists, and he was in the midst of a six- game point-scoring streak (1-6-7).&ldquo;They gave me the opportunity to play there and I&rsquo;m trying to make the best of it,&rdquo; said Elik. &ldquo;I know I don&rsquo;t compare to Bernie stats-wise, but I&rsquo;m just trying to do my best for the team. I think they&rsquo;re happy with my play.&rdquo;A 6-foot-2, 195-pound native of Brampton, Ont., Elik has had a number of obstacles to overcome.He was nearly killed in a car accident when he was two years old. Sitting in the front seat of a truck that was rear-ended, Elik smashed through the windshield and suffered a gash that required 160 stitches to close.He has a long and nasty scar on the right side of his face as a reminder.&ldquo;It was about six months before I was up and around again,&rdquo; he said.Ignored in every NHL draft in which he was eligible, Elik left the North Bay Centennials of the Ontario League at the end of the 1985-86 season to attend the University of Regina. He played one season in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association before signing as a free agent with the New York Rangers in February, 1988. Ten months later he was dealt to the Kings with Igor Liba, Michael Boyce and future considerations for Dean Kennedy and Denis Larocque.His first real break came New Year&rsquo;s Day in Washington, when he replaced the flu-ridden Steve Kasper and responded with his first two NHL goals. The Kings won that game 7-4.Coach Tom Webster must have seen something he liked considering Elik&rsquo;s elevation to the second line.Elik refuses to let the compliments go to his head. He has maintained a modest attitude from the start.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite an honor to step into this line,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still can&rsquo;t believe I&rsquo;m playing here in L.A. with Wayne Gretzky and Larry Robinson and all our other great players. But if I stop and smell the roses, I won&rsquo;t be able to do my job. I just thank God every day for the opportunity &ldquo;<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 6: Ron Scott, G, recalled from New Haven (AHL).Feb. 10: Mikael Lindholm, RW, assigned to New Haven.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky. Todd Elik, Steve Kasper. Mike Krushelnyski.LW&mdash;Bob Kudelski, Luc Robitaille, Mikko Makela, John Tonelli, Mike Allison, Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Keith Crowder. Marty McSorleyLD&mdash;Barry Beck, Tim Watters, Brian Benning, Petr Prajsler.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Tom Laidlaw, Larry Robinson.G&mdash;Mario Gosselin. Ron Scott.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tony Granato. RW, groin pull, day-to-day.Kelly Hrudey G, viral infection, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Robitaille, 39. A&mdash;Gretzky, 78. P&mdash;Gretzky, 108. PIM&mdash;McSorley, 222. &#9632;

ELIK NOT TRYING TO FILL NICHOLLS’ SHOES

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Going into their game Feb. Il, the last time the Vancouver Canucks won a game in Boston Garden, Harold Snepsts had more hair on his head than on his upper lip.But when Trevor Linden scored into an empty net with two seconds on the clock to cement a 4-2 win over the Bruins at the Boston Garden, it marked the first Canuck win there in more than nine years.Of the 27 players on the current Canuck roster, Snepsts and captain Stan Smyl are the only players who had experienced winning in Boston while wearing a Vancouver jersey. The Canucks had gone 0-12-1 in their previous 13 visits to the Garden since they last won on Dec. 13. 1980.Overall, the Bruins were a commanding 32-33 against Vancouver lifetime in Boston.&ldquo;1 think the law of averages finally caught up with Boston,&rdquo; said Canuck coach Bob McCammon. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d only won twice in 20 years, so it was time we had another turn.&rdquo;The victory was made sweeter by extending the Canucks&rsquo; winning streak to four games, the longest of the season. Vancouver came from behind to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 Feb. 6 for its second win in a row, the first time Vancouver had won back-to-back games since October.Then, on Feb. 9. the Canucks made it three in a row, opening a four-game Adams Division road trip with a 4-1 win over the Whalers in Hartford.The Canucks&rsquo; sudden and unexpected upswing paralleled the injection of younger players such as Rob Murphy. Ronnie Stern and Dave Capuano into the lineup and the renaissance of center Dan Quinn.But just as important to the team&rsquo;s resurgence was the return to the lineup of Snepsts.Vancouver was 4-0-0 after McCammon put Snepsts back in uniform after an 8-1 hammering by the Jets Feb. 2 in Winnipeg, the season&rsquo;s low point.Snepsts made a stirring rush to set up Capuano with the winning goal in a 4-2 victory over New Jersey that started the winning streak on Feb. 4. Then Snepsts&rsquo; point shot set up Linden&rsquo;s tying goal as the Canucks came from behind to beat the Jets for their second straight win.Despite the spurt, the Canucks&rsquo; playoff situation was still desperate. They trailed the Los Angeles Kings by nine points with only 21 games left to the Kings&rsquo; 24.Snepsts said the Canucks were trying to disregard their situation and salvage some respect and pride over the remaining games.&ldquo;The wins are nice, but they won&rsquo;t do anything to ease the pain of the season,&rdquo; Snepsts said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to enjoy the last 20 games or so, because it&rsquo;s the end of my career. It&rsquo;s over for me.&rdquo;<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dan Quinn, Igor Larionov, Rob Murphy, Dave Capuano. Craig CoxeLW&mdash;Petri Skriko, Jim Sandlak, Rich Sutter, Steve Bozek. Greg Adams, Vladimir Krutov.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Ron Stern, Stan Smyl, Doug Smith.LD&mdash;Paul Reinhart, Larry Melnyk, Harold Snepsts.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Robert Nordmark, Doug Lidster, Jim Benning. Kevan Guy.G&mdash;Kirk McLean. Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brian Bradley, C. cracked knuckle, indefiniteAndrew McBain, RW. sore ribs, day-to-dayDaryl Stanley. LW, tendon damage in finger, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Adams, 21. A&mdash;Reinhart, 30. P&mdash;Quinn, 42. PIM&mdash;Butcher, 144. &#9632;

GARDEN PARTY HIGHLIGHTS STREAK

<div class="byline">BY GYLE KONOTOPETZ</div>Where did Lord Stanley&rsquo;s favorite defense go?When the Flames left Calgary for a 10-day tour of the east, three regular defensemen were missing, including Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Al MacInnis. The others were captain Brad McCrimmon and Ric Nattress.While the Flames flew east for games with Detroit, the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders and Chicago, MacInnis was stuck in a Calgary courtroom where he and brother, Robert, each faced three charges of assault and two more of assault causing bodily harm as a result of an off-season brawl outside a Calgary bar (see page 6).When the Flames arrived at the Toronto International Airport Feb.9, McCrimmon was already there, sporting a big grin.The day before, McCrimmon was summoned to meet NHL disciplinarian Brian O&rsquo;Neill to explain a match penalty for kicking Los Angeles defenseman Tim Watters earlier in the week. Because there was no clear-cut evidence on the videotape to show McCrimmon actually kicked Watters, he was not suspended but only fined $300.As far as Nattress was concerned, while the Flames were airborn, he was having his right ankle propped up on a hospital X-ray machine. The X-rays showed a broken bone which may keep Nattress out of the lineup for the rest of the regular season.The injury occured when Nattress slipped on a patch of ice on his way home after attending a team banquet Feb. 7.Still, a Feb. 10 date with the Red Wings wasn&rsquo;t cancelled due to a lack of defensemen, Though in retrospect the Flames probably wished it had.) In fact, the Flames somehow managed to dress six rearguards and arrange a seat in the press box for a seventh.MacInnis, ragged from four days in a courtroom, caught a late flight to Toronto Feb. where he stayed overnight and then caught ai early flight that landed him in Detroit 3&rsquo;A hour before the afternoon game.The perfect script would have had MacInnis scoring the game-winning goal. No such luck The Flames lost 7-5 and were in the game until MacInnis put the puck on the stick of Steve Yzerman, who put the puck into an empty net to ensure the Red Wing victory.MacInnis was on the ice for six of the sever goals&mdash;he was in the penalty box for the seventh.The next afternoon at Madison Square Gar den, Maclnnis made amends by scoring a pow er-play goal that put Calgary ahead to stay Then, in the final minute with Calgary ahead ol the Rangers 5-2, Maclnnis took a hooking penalty.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 8: Brian Glynn, D, recalled from Salt Lake (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Brian MacLellan, Paul Ranheim, Colin Patterson, Sergei Priakin.RW&mdash;Sergei Makarov, Joe Mullen, Jiri Hrdina, Tim Hunter, Jonas Bergqvist.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun. Dana Murzyn, Roger Johansson.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Brad McCrimmon, Brian Glynn.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stu Grimson, LW, broken cheekbone, indefinite.Mark Hunter. RW, reconstructive knee surgery, out for season.Ric Nattress, D, broken right ankle, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nieuwendyk, 31. A&mdash;Makarov, 44. P&mdash; Nieuwendyk, 68 PIM&mdash;T. Hunter, 221. &#9632;

NO DEFENSE FOR LONG ROAD TRIP

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>As Mark Kumpel goes, so go the Winnipeg Jets.There&rsquo;s something not quite right about that phrase. Insert whatever role player&rsquo;s name you wish&mdash;Paul Fenton, Dave McLlwain,&rsquo; Teppo Numminen&mdash;and it still doesn&rsquo;t have the right ring to it.Yet nothing could more appropriately describe Bob Murdoch&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets of the 1990s.In the past, it was Dale Hawerchuk&rsquo;s name that got stuck in that phrase. Everyone knew that as Hawerchuk went, so went the Jets. Shadow him and you had two points.In the two most recent seasons, that didn&rsquo;t yield a whole lot of success for Winnipeg. This season, under the guidance of Murdoch and general manager Mike Smith, no single player&rsquo;s name fits that mold.The Jets have stayed over .500 since Dec. 21 and were within shouting distance of Edmonton and Calgary in the Smythe Division because they were playing like a team.&ldquo;I guess the biggest thing is that people live up to your expectations. If your expectations are that they come through and they make the big play, they usually do,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;If your expectations are that they&rsquo;ll never do it, they won&rsquo;t disappoint you. They won&rsquo;t do it.&rdquo;Murdoch&rsquo;s muckers have done it.Check the numbers. As of the 57-game mark, Fenton had 21 goals, Doug Smail had 22 goals, McLlwain had 17 goals, Numminen had 29 points. Even Kumpel. the 21 st man on a 22-man roster, had contributed five goals in 39 games, three of them crucial.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve asked our players to do, all of them, is to take responsibility for the outcome of the game, not wait for the Hawerchuks or Steens to win it for them or lose it for them and just be there for the ride,&rdquo; Murdoch said.Murdoch&rsquo;s philosophy has made all the difference in the world to guys at the bottom end of the roster.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been with this organization for two years and when I first got here. I think we put a lot of emphasis on Paul MacLean (now with St. Louis) and Dale Hawerchuk to get the big goal and win the game for us,&rdquo; Kumpel said.Under Murdoch, all that has changed.&ldquo;At first I thought, &rsquo;Oh my God, this isn&rsquo;t going to last,&rsquo; &ldquo; Kumpel said. &ldquo;Bob told me we were going with four lines this year. I said. &rsquo;Oh yeah. I&rsquo;ve heard this one before.&rsquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s stuck to his word.&rdquo;Slowly, those players whose ice time has been cut have accepted the changes. There were some complaints, but there was no one who could argue with the Jets&rsquo; surprising success.&ldquo;I think they feel good about themselves,&rdquo; Murdoch said of his third and fourth-liners. &ldquo;They feel as though they are part of a team and that they&rsquo;re playing for something bigger than just their own individual selves.&rdquo;<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk. Dave McLlwain, Laurie Boschman. Doug Evans.LW&mdash;Brent Ashton, Doug Smail, Paul Fenton, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik. Greg Paslawski. Paul MacDer- mid. Mark Kumpel. Gord Donnelly.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Randy Carlyle, Peter Taglianetti.RD&mdash;Fredrik Olausson, Teppo Numminen. Moe Mantha, Shawn Cronin.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Stephane Beauregard.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Thomas Steen. C. back strain, indefinite<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Elynuik, 24. A&mdash;Steen, 39. P&mdash;Hawerchuk, 60. PIM&mdash;Donnelly. 169 &#9632;

MURDOCH’S MUCKERS LEADING THE WAY

<div class="byline">BARRY MEISE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011510/6832917-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="655" height="882"></div>Once again, in this maddening world of ours, we are forced to admit how badly words hurt and how hateful we can be.It no longer matters what was said on Feb. 3 in the second period at Boston Garden by Kris King, a New York Ranger who is white, to Graeme Townshend, a Boston Bruin who is black. That is one man&rsquo;s word against another&rsquo;s. If you want to play referee, go ahead.I&rsquo;ll let their consciences judge. The issue is not about Townshend and King anymore. It is about the danger of accusations. Because one man is right and one man is wrong. And because we probably will never know who is who, both men will have lost.And that is terribly unfair.This ugliness began when Townshend, 24, a rookie born in Kingston, Jamaica, wrestled King, 23, a second-year NHLer born in Peterborough, Ont., to the ice near the Bruins&rsquo; bench for no apparent reason. A few seconds earlier, the players had come together in one corner. They had skated up ice, Townshend a stride ahead of King, when suddenly the Bruin turned and threw a headlock around the Ranger.No fight ensued, so referee Bill McCreary assessed Townshend a two-minute roughing penalty. King was not penalized.After a request from Bruins&rsquo; captain Ray Bourque, McCreary asked King what he had said. And King recited to McCreary the same phrase he has repeated since this controversy blossomed: &ldquo;I said, &rsquo;Nice hit, ass&mdash;.&rsquo; &ldquo;Townshend unequivocally disputes this. He has not once been quoted as saying what he heard King say, but he immediately acknowledged to coach Mike Milbury the comment was racial. It was a slur. And Milbury made that known to the media immediately after the game.Last season, RPI coach Mike Addesa was forced to resign after it was discovered he made racial slurs to Townshend and teammate Bruce Coles, who is also black, after a game.&ldquo;Graeme got a little excited about something that was said,&rdquo; Milbury explained. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he regrets it. We will report it to the league. Unfortunately for Graeme, he just lost his cool a little. It happens in every sport and it&rsquo;s not racially motivated. It&rsquo;s the other team trying to get someone off his game. If you&rsquo;re going to make a big deal of it, you&rsquo;re barking up the wrong tree.&rdquo;Milbury erred here. One, he made it a legitimate and important story by saying he was notifying the league. Two, he suggested King&rsquo;s motive.King responded by issuing Townshend&rsquo;s possible motive for making his claim. He wondered aloud if Townshend had realized he had made a bad play and needed to find an excuse. After all. King said, this was a player just called up from the minors who wanted to keep a job. He was subsequently assigned to the Bruins&rsquo; American League farm team in Maine Feb. 8.Townshend instantly rejected that theory. He knew what he had heard.King issued his impassioned defense the following day.&ldquo;I have tried to be a character player here,&rdquo; King said the day after the incident. &ldquo;I had full intentions of playing here for a long time. What I&rsquo;ve tried to do is get a good relationship with the fans. Now, 1 think there will always be doubts in the minds of many of those fans. Now, all of a sudden. I&rsquo;m maybe exactly the kind of guy they don&rsquo;t want their kids to grow up to be.&rdquo;Townshend was far less talkative. It is important to remember he did not make the accusation public, Milbury did.&ldquo;I wish this would stop right now,&rdquo; Townshend said the day after the incident. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m upset it even got out. That&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;d like to say, okay?&rdquo;The media in Boston and New York erred, too. In our haste to file a good story in our thick Sunday editions, we overplayed the emotional claims of two young men who acted irrationally in the fire of their sport.Let&rsquo;s for a moment say King said it: Is he a racist? Can any person deny ever issuing a slur? Does that make us all racists? I say not.Let&rsquo;s for a moment say King didn&rsquo;t say it: Is Townshend a liar? Is it not possible that in the heat of an emotional game he thought he heard something he did not?Race relations is one of America&rsquo;s most sensitive issues. It is one of the world&rsquo;s most sensitive issues. But if this happened, is a white player slurring a black player any different from an English-Canadian slurring a French-Canadian?And if this did not happen, is one player unfairly accusing another of making a bigoted remark any different from a coach unfairly accusing an official of incompetence?Brian O&rsquo;Neill is investigating. He will report to John Ziegler. Unless O&rsquo;Neill is a seer, he will not find out what happened.But let&rsquo;s not miss the point. We have all been stained. &#9632;

f0013-01

HATEFUL WORDS STAIN ALL OF US

In a career that spanned 15 years in the NHL and WHA, Pat Stapleton distinguished himself as one of the premier defensemen in the game. At the age of 49, Stapleton now runs Fundamentals in Action, a training program for hockey coaches. &ldquo;I think there are three things to being a complete player: strategy, conditioning and skill development,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And you have to have all three of them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021064/6832948-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="782" height="550"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Stapleton</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-02

THEN & NOW

<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Dr. Charles Burke, an orthopedic surgeon and one of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s team physicians, said Mario Lemieux will likely undergo off-season back surgery because of a herniated disk. Burke said the operation has a 95-per- cent success rate and is &ldquo;absolutely not career-threatening.&rdquo; The disk wasn&rsquo;t Lemieux&rsquo; only back problem, however: Burke said there was also evidence of some arthritis, which he described as a common condition among hockey players&hellip;Despite his back problems, Lemieux extended his scoring streak to 46 games, second- longest in NHL history. If the streak continued, Lemieux would have a chance to break Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s record of51 games Feb. 24 in Montreal. Ironically, the Canadiens held him without a point at the Forum Oct. 28&mdash;the last game before Lemieux began his streak&hellip;Defenseman Paul Coffey had two streaks end in a 4-1 victory in Philadelphia Feb. 11. He was held without a point for the first time in 14 games and without an assist for the first time in 10.<h2>DEVILS</h2>On the 10th anniversary of the Miracle On Ice, former U.S. Olympic star Mark Johnson found it ironic he is now teammates with 1980 Soviet Olympians Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov. The two Russians would sooner forget Lake Placid. &ldquo;For us, the Olympic games are the ultimate for an athlete and we lost to a team of students&mdash;youngsters,&rdquo; recalled Fetisov. &ldquo;It was a shock.&rdquo; Said Kasatonov: &ldquo;We thought our closest competition would be Czechoslovakia and they didn&rsquo;t even make it to the final. That weakened our team psychologically. We thought we already had the gold medal won &ldquo; .. .The Devils&rsquo; 7-0 loss in St. Louis Feb. 10 was their worst in more than two years. The last time they lost by as many as seven goals was a 9-2 thumping by Calgary on Nov. 23, 1987&hellip;Coach John Cunniff has paired Fetisov and Kasatonov together on a regular basis.<h2>FLYERS</h2>The Flyers signed Glenn (Chico) Resch as their new goaltending instructor. Resch, 41, replaced Bernie Parent, who will pursue business interests but remain with the team as a special consultant. Resch played with the Flyers late in the 1985-86 season plus 1986-87. He retired after that season. Resch is a close friend of Ron Hextall, the Flyers&rsquo; goaltender who has been out with a tom groin muscle. Hextall went through a full workout on Feb. 9 but his return date is indefinite&hellip;The Flyers also signed free agent center Len Barrie. The 20-year- old Barrie, a sixth-round draft pick of Edmonton in 1988, led the Western League in scoring (70-80-150 for Kamloops). GM Bob Clarke said Barrie would probably report to Hershey of the American League, depending on when his junior season ends&hellip; Philadelphia hadn&rsquo;t won a game as of Feb. 12 when trailing after two periods (0-17-1).<h2>CAPITALS</h2>The Caps&rsquo; 5-3 loss to New Jersey Feb. 9 was their 30th of the season. Last season Washington lost only 29 times&hellip;Rookie coach Terry Murray was 7-6-0 in his first 13 games. But considering the nature of some of the defeats, the record was a little deceiving. On two occasions the opposition scored the winner with three seconds left in regulation. A third loss came in overtime. The other three setbacks were by two goals, but two of them included empty-net goals&hellip; Left winger Bob Joyce returned to action Feb. 11. He missed 18 games after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery- &hellip; The Caps established a franchise record for goals scored in one game in their 12-2 rout of Quebec Feb. 6. Dino Ciccarelli, who had one goal in his previous 12 games, notched his third career four-goal game&hellip;Minnesota native Tim Bergland got his first NHL goal in the 5-3 win over the North Stars Feb. 11.<h2>RANGERS</h2>As coach Roger Neilson talked about the strong performance of rookie Paul Broten following a 5-2 victory over Edmonton Feb. 7, he frowned for a moment and confessed, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why we didn&rsquo;t notice him in training camp. He has been a very valuable addition.&rdquo; Called up from the Rangers&rsquo; International League affiliate in Flint Dec. 17. the 24-year- old Broten has made a contribution as a utility player, especially as a replacement for checking specialist Jan Erixon. who was advised to avoid back-to-back games because of a recurring back injury. &ldquo;Paul has been good everywhere we&rsquo;ve put him,&rdquo; Neilson noted. &ldquo;He kills penalties and he can play center or either wing and he is a reliable defensive player. &ldquo;<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Left winger Derek King, who began the season with Springfield of the American League, followed his game-winning goal against Buffalo Feb. 4 (1-0) with his first career hat trick in the 8-7 win over Pittsburgh Feb. 6. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get to where I&rsquo;m relaxed, where 1 say &rsquo;Okay, I&rsquo;ve got a job here,&rsquo; &ldquo; he said&hellip;Pat LaFontaine, who had his sixth career hat trick and added three assists against the Penguins Feb. 6, extended his point-scoring streak to 12 games with a total of five assists in games against the Flyers (5-5 tie Feb. 8) and Bruins (4-3 win Feb. 10)&hellip;Bryan Trottier scored his 499th career goal, albeit disputed, in the Flyers&rsquo; game Feb. 8. The puck went inside the right post and bounced out of the net so fast that goal judge Bud Prowell did not see it, and didn&rsquo;t turn on the red light. But referee Denis Morel immediately acknowledged the goal that brought Trottier one step closer to history. &#9632;

LEMIEUX WILL NEED OFF-SEASON SURGERY

Edan Welch is not only a 50-goal scorer, he is a great all-around athlete.Edan, an 11-year-old center from Oromocto, N.B., was the pitcher for the runners-up in the New Brunswick provincial softball tournament last year. He also won the provincial foul shooting competition last year.On the ice, Edan is the captain for the Atom A&rsquo; Eagles, coached by Henri Vachon. At the midway point of this season, Edan had 51 goals and 33 assists for a team with an overall record of 23-2-6. The Eagles were undefeated in league play and won two of the three tournaments they entered.A Grade 6 student at Summerhill elementary, Edan stands 4-foot-11 and weighs 95 pounds.Edan&rsquo;s favorite team is the New York Islanders. His favorite player is the Islanders&rsquo; star center, Pat LaFontaine. But Edan still wears No. 22, the number of his former favorite player, ex-lslander star Mike Bossy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011600/6833003-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="942" height="1977"><figcaption class="caption-body">Edan Welch</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of the JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Showcase. Just send a photograph (non-returnable), along with biographical information (age, height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to JOFA-TITAN SHOWCASE, c/o The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills. Ont. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as THN/JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Player of the Year &#9632;

f0014-01

JOFA TITAN

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>Did New York Rangers&rsquo; general manager Neil Smith actually strengthen some of his team&rsquo;s weak spots with his Jan. 20 trade for Bernie Nicholls, or, did he just redistribute them?That question was being debated more and more as the Rangers&rsquo; inability to score goals continued, despite a strong performance by Nicholls.Meanwhile, coach Roger Neilson found himself being second-guessed in his choice of linemates for Nicholls, his decision to use Nicholls as a power-play point man and for his home-game line matchups.Neilson especially came under fire for some of his decisions in a 5-2 loss to Calgary at Madison Square Garden Feb. 12.Neilson matched Nicholls&rsquo; line against Joe Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s line, putting defensive ace Jan Erixon on Nicholls&rsquo; left side as the Rangers absorbed their second straight defeat and fell back under .500.While putting Erixon (four goals) on a line with his top scorer might be questioned in some circles, it should be pointed out Nicholls&rsquo; most frequent left winger in his first nine games as a Ranger was Troy Mallette, a 19-year-old rookie with three goals in his first 56 NHL games.John Ogrodnick had also been tried as left winger on Nicholls&rsquo; line but the 31 -goal scorer expressed a preference for staying with his pre-trade linemates, Kelly Kisio and Brian Mullen.That left Kris King (four goals), Lindy Ruff (two goals) and rookie Paul Broten (three goals in 14 games) as three of the other possibilities on the left side as the Rangers searched for a winger to maximize Nicholls&rsquo; abilities.As of Feb. 12, only Vancouver (175 in 59 games) and Quebec (172 in 56 games) had scored fewer goals than the Rangers (181 in 57 games) and Neilson&rsquo;s cautious, conservative defensive approach was also being panned by some of the Big Apple critics.Defenseman Brian Leetch, whose considerable offensive abilities aren&rsquo;t highlighted in Neilson&rsquo;s system, said his team might be counting too heavily on its ability to succeed by playing low-scoring, wait-for-a-break hockey.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t go out there, game in and game out, expecting to win 2-1 games,&rdquo; Leetch said. &ldquo;We have to score more goals. We can&rsquo;t expect our goalies to stop everything but one (shot).&rdquo;Inevitably, the Rangers&rsquo; lack of scoring led to speculation about further deals, especially ones that involve one of the team&rsquo;s three goalies&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Mike Richter or Bob Froese.&ldquo;Players are a commodity in professional sports and, obviously, 1 have something to offer,&rdquo; Vanbies- brock said. &ldquo;It (a trade) is a possiblity at any time, maybe more so right now, the way things are. Some kind of a deal seems logical, it&rsquo;s probably just a matter of time and opportunity.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, Carey Wilson, Kelly Kisio. Mark JanssensLW&mdash;Jan Erixon, Paul Broten, John Ogrodnick, Troy Mallette, Kris King.RW&mdash;Darren Turcotte, Ulf Dahlen, Brian Mullen, Chris Nilan.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Normand Rochefort, Mark Hardy.RD&mdash;Randy Moller. Ron Greschner, Miloslav Horava.G&mdash;Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cyr, C, right knee surgery, out for season.James Patrick, D, fractured finger, day-to-day.Lindy Ruff, LW, fractured rib, day-to- day.David Shaw. D, right shoulder surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nicholls, 33. A&mdash;Nicholls, 53. P&mdash; Nicholls, 86. PIM&mdash;King, 217. &#9632;

NEILSON CRITICIZED AS OFFENSIVE WOES CONTINUE

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>It wasn&rsquo;t an enviable task. Four games in nine days in four of the toughest buildings in the league.But when it was all said and done, the New York Islanders emerged from their most challenging trip of the season looking more and more like the NHL&rsquo;s version of &ldquo;The Road Warriors.&rdquo;The Islanders went 3-0-1 in recent games in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston. In each contest, their poise helped them to a dramatic finish. In three of the games, they had to overcome two-goal deficits to reach overtime.Such a string would have been difficult, even in friendly surroundings. The Islanders regarded it as that much more of an accomplishment when they considered the sites and opponents.&ldquo;It shows we can play with the best of them anywhere,&rdquo; said Randy Wood, one of the stars of the trip. Wood set up Doug Crossman&rsquo;s tying goal against the Flyers Feb. 8 (a 5-5 tie) with 1:17 left in regulation. Two days later he scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over the Bruins.Despite becoming a formidable team at the Nassau Coliseum&mdash;when they left for the trip they were 10-1-1 in their previous 12 home games&mdash;the road has developed a special appeal for the Islanders. Their turnaround began during a road trip in late November. And, following the four-game swing, their road record (15-12-2) was better than their home record (1312-4). In fact, their 32 points on the road were the most in the league and their road winning percentage of .533 was third behind Boston and Hartford. .Defenseman Jeff Norton, who raised his team-leading assist total to 43 during the trip, including one on Derek King&rsquo;s goal in a 1-0 win over the Sabres Feb. 4, said the team&rsquo;s disciplined, close-checking style travels particularly well. He also said coach Al Arbour had a lot to do with the team&rsquo;s poise.&ldquo;He never lets us get too high,&rdquo; said Norton. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t let our feet get off the ground.&ldquo;The better teams win on the road. 1 think there&rsquo;s just an extra bit of good feeling when you can do it.&rdquo;The Islanders left the Penguins and their crowd stunned by squandering a one-goal lead, recovering from a two- goal deficit and losing another one- goal advantage all in the third period. Don Maloney ultimately ended the penalty-filled game by scoring with 32 seconds remaining in overtime.In Philadelphia, the Islanders vigorously argued about three disputed Flyer goals, yet the visitors managed to draw even after Hubie McDonough intercepted and converted a clearing pass by Flyer goalie Ken Wregget with 4:28 left. Then former Flyer Crossman scored with 1:17 remaining in regulation.Wood, a Massachusetts resident playing before his parents and a lot of friends in Boston Garden on Feb. 10, scored a goal in the first period, then won the game off a feed from Pat LaFontaine 2:13 into overtime.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Hubie McDonough, Bryan Trottier.LW&mdash;Derek King, David Volek, Don Maloney. Dave Chyzowski, Dale Henry.RW&mdash;Randy Wood, Patrick Flatley, Alan Kerr, Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Ken Baumgartner, Gary Nylund, Jeff Norton.RD&mdash;Doug Crossman, Gerald Diduck. Jari Gronstrand.G&mdash;Mark Fitzpatrick, Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brad Lauer. RW, abdominal strain, day-to-day.Rich Pilon, D, contused and lacerated right eye. indefinite.Joe Reekie, D. broken left hand, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine, 47 A&mdash;Norton, 43.p&mdash;LaFontaine. 86. PIM&mdash;Vukota, 234. &#9632;

‘ROAD WARRIORS’ GET THE JOB DONE

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>Trade rumors are an inherent part of hockey. They come with the territory.So it was no surprise that speculation about a blockbuster trade between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Calgary Flames reached epic proportions in early February.Calgary was said to be willing to send Gary Suter and Joel Otto to Philadelphia in exchange for Ron Sutter and Jeff Chychrun.Flyer general manager Bob Clarke, however, said he did not want to talk about the trade rumors because he believed that would only lend credence to them.&ldquo;You can write any trade you want but 1 think it&rsquo;s pretty disruptive to the individuals involved and pretty disruptive to the team,&rdquo; he said.The Flyers were also said to be talking with several other teams in the Smythe Division&mdash;a report fueled by Clarke&rsquo;s recent visit to the West Coast&mdash;but he would not confirm that.By Feb. 8, after nearly a week of media speculation, it appeared the talks between the Flyers and Flames had broken off.A night later, the Flyers played host to the division-leading New York Islanders.The Flyers seemed to have the game in control when goals from Rick Tocchet and Keith Acton with just more than six minutes to play gave the Flyers a 5-3 lead.But the Islanders showed why they have gone from worst to first in three months by getting goals from Hubie McDonough and ex-Flyer Doug Crossman (with 1:17 to play), to gain a 5-5 tie.That performance apparently led to lineup changes for a home game against Pittsburgh three nights later.Not in uniform for the game were veterans Brian Propp and Ken Linse- man, although both were healthy.If the change was supposed to shake things up, it did not have the desired effect. The Flyers promptly lost 4-1, leaving them alone in the Patrick Division cellar. They were 16-1 in their previous eight division games.&ldquo;If Brian Propp and Ken Linseman aren&rsquo;t playing, then there&rsquo;s a reason why they&rsquo;re not playing,&rdquo; said captain Ron Sutter. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a coaching decision. It&rsquo;s probably the first time Kenny Linseman has ever been scratched and the same for Brian Propp.&rdquo;The Flyers did manage 38 shots on Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Frank Pietrangelo but most of them were long-range attempts with little rebound pressure in front of the net.Tim Kerr said his team was sailing through uncharted water, bringing up the end of the division in early February.&ldquo;I know in the last 10 years I&rsquo;ve never been in this position. It&rsquo;s tough. You try to do your best and try to turn it around right now.&ldquo;We have to settle down, get our priorities right and just do our jobs.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 7: Glenn Resch named goaltending instructor.Feb. 8: Len Barrie, RW with Kamloops (WHL), signed contract. Will remain in Kamloops for remainder of the season.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Sutter, Ken Linseman, Keith Acton, Pelle Eklund, Murray Craven.LW&mdash;Craig Berube, Brian Propp, Derrick Smith, llkka Sinisalo, Mike Bullard.RW&mdash;Tim Kerr, Rick Tocchet, Scott Mellanby, Normand Lacombe.LD&mdash;Terry Carkner, Jay Wells. Jiri Latal.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Gord Murphy, Jeff Chychrun.G&mdash;Ken Wregget, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ron Hextali, G. torn groin muscle, indefinite.Mark Howe. D, partially herniated discs in back, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tocchet, 29. A&mdash;Tocchet, 40. P&mdash; Tocchet, 69. PIM&mdash;Berube. 251. &#9632;

POOR PLAY PROMPTS RUMORS OF SHAKEUF

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>Ten years ago, Mark Johnson was on the ice in Lake Placid, N.Y., celebrating what would undoubtedly stand as the most exhilarating moment of his hockey career.With the world watching on that bitterly cold Friday night of Feb. 22, 1980, Johnson helped the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeat the Soviet Union on its way to a gold medal.&rdquo; A lot has happened over my hockey career,&rdquo; said Johnson, &ldquo;but when I look back over it, whether I had retired three or four years ago or if I retire next year or the year after, that Olympic game will be the fondest memory I&rsquo;ll take away from this game. Only 20 players were actually experiencing that moment and I happened to be one of them.Unlike several of his Olympic teammates, Johnson chose not to live off the fame the gold medal brought. An underrated playmaker and smooth skater, he has enjoyed a successful NHL career in which he has scored more than 200 goals and 500 points.However, 10 years after enjoying his brightest moment on the ice, the 32-year-old New Jersey Devil center was struggling through perhaps the worst slump of his pro career. He failed to score a goal in 15 straight games between Jan. 4 and Feb. 10. He also went pointless in eight of 10 games between Jan. 16 and Feb. 10.&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t kid anybody,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned with the way things are going. I&rsquo;m looking for any type of direction as to how 1 can change things. I&rsquo;ve never really had a slump of this length. I&rsquo;m mystified.&rdquo;So was Devils&rsquo; coach John Cunniff, who decided to break up the previously-successful line of Johnson, Sylvain Turgeon and Kirk Muller. Turgeon was also slumping offensively with two points in his previous 15 games.In many instances players use injuries as an excuse for their poor play. But, with the exception of a broken finger on his left hand that he was able to play with, Johnson had been injury- free through the Devils&rsquo; first 56 games. &rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011386/6833106-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="737" height="882"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Johnson went 15 straight games without a goal.</figcaption></div>The Devils&rsquo; staff was concerned with two possibilities: That the 5-foot- 9, 160-pounder might have been tiring from the nightly pounding in the NHL and that Johnson might be reacting poorly following the trade of his close friend and roommate, Aaron Broten.&lsquo; &rsquo;That just tells me people are looking into things and reading things that aren&rsquo;t there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously there was a friendship and I hated to see him go, but if there is someone on this team that can handle it, it&rsquo;s me. I&rsquo;ve been on five teams. I was traded as a captain and a popular player in Hartford (to St. Louis in 1985).&rdquo;With Dave Maley (recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery), and Brendan Shanahan (serving a five-game suspension for high-sticking Quebec&rsquo;s Michel Petit) about to return to the lineup, the Devils were looking at the possibility of having to sit Johnson out. In the meantime, he searched for an answer.&ldquo;At this point you can&rsquo;t be concerned with individual statistics as long as the team keeps winning. You have a role and mine is changing daily. I&rsquo;m sort of lost to explain what it is right now.&rdquo;<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 7: Troy Crowder. RW. loaned to Nashville (ECHL).Feb. 8: Jim Thomson, RW, recalled from Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom, Mark Johnson, Bob Brooke. Jon Morris, Janne Ojanen.LW&mdash;Kirk Muller, Sylvain Turgeon. Walt Poddubny, Jim Korn, Peter Sundstrom.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Doug Brown. Jamie Huscroft, Jim Thomson.LD&mdash;Tommy Albelin. Alexei Kasatonov, Craig Wolanin. Randy Velischek.RD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Viacheslav Fetisov, Bruce Driver. Reijo Ruotsalainen.G&mdash;Sean Burke. Chris Terreri.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Maley. LW, arthroscopic surgery on right knee, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;MacLean, 30. A&mdash;Muller, 40. P&mdash;Muller, 63. PIM&mdash;Daneyko. 152. &#9632;

f0016-01

LENGTHY SCORING SLUMP PUZZLES JOHNSON

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>One situation was a personal tragedy, a life-threatening crisis. The other was merely a professional problem, which seemed terribly insignificant by comparison.The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without their No. 1 goalie, Tom Bar- rasso, for an indefinite period, possibly the rest of the season. He was given a leave of absence Feb. 9 to join his family in Los Angeles, where his 2&rsquo;/2-year-old daughter, Ashley, was being treated for cancer.The girl&rsquo;s condition was diagnosed last summer, but was not made public until Barrasso was given his leave of absence. She was in a program for &ldquo;poor prognosis&rdquo; patients and was scheduled to receive advanced chemotherapy and radiation treatments, then a bone-marrow transplant.Barrasso, an intensely private man, seldom spoke to his teammates about his daughter&rsquo;s disease, but they all have been aware of&mdash;and moved by&mdash; her fight for life. And they agreed Barrasso should be with his family, not his team, at such a critical time.&ldquo;Your family is No. 1, regardless of what the situation is with the team,&rdquo; left winger Troy Loney said. &ldquo;We will have to make adjustments, but compared to (Barrasso&rsquo;s situation), this is nothing.&rdquo;The first adjustment the Penguins made was to recall goalie Frank Pietrangelo from their Muskegon farm team. He and Wendell Young will comprise the Penguins&rsquo; goaltending tandem.Speculation abounded the Penguins would try to make a trade for either Greg Millen of Quebec or Hartford&rsquo;s Mike Liut, but general manager Craig Patrick said he did not feel compelled to make a move just because Barrasso no longer was available, and might not be again before next season.&ldquo;When I got here (Dec. 5), we were going with Frank and Wendell and we had success,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;I said at the time that we&rsquo;re very fortunate we have three National Hockey League-calibre goaltenders.&rdquo;Young was in goal for the Penguins&rsquo; first game without Barrasso, a 7-6 victory against Los Angeles at the Civic Arena Feb. 10. Pietrangelo played the next night and made 37 saves in a 4-1 win in Philadelphia.The Penguins actually have had to get by without Barrasso for much of the season. He missed 27 games because of injuries and compiled a 7-103 and 4.75 goals-against average in 22 appearances.Because Barrasso was out of the lineup so often, Young made a career- high 33 appearances in the first 56 games of the season. He was 14-14-1 with a 4.20 GAA.Young has been a backup throughout his NHL career, but was the No. 1 goalie in Hershey of the American League two years ago. He was 12-0 in the playoffs and led the Bears to the AHL title.The Penguins won&rsquo;t be playing any championship hockey for at least a few months. Whether they get a chance to do it at all will be determined in large part by the play of their goalies.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 6: Frank Pietrangelo, G, assigned to Muskegon (IHL).Feb. 9: Tom Barrasso, G, granted leave of absence. Pietrangelo recalled from Muskegon.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux. Barry Pederson, John Cullen, Randy Gilhen.LW&mdash;Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Phil Bourque. Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Tony Tanti. Rob Brown, Mark Recchi, Richard Zemlak.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Jim Johnson, Chris Dahlquist.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Zarley Zalapski, Gord Dineen, Jim Kyte.G&mdash;Frank Pietrangelo, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rod Buskas, D, ankle surgery, day-to- day.Jay Caufield. RW, finger surgery, indefinite.Gilbert Delorme, separated shoulder, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Lemieux, 44. A&mdash;Lemieux, 77. P&mdash; Lemieux. 121 PIM&mdash;Stevens, 132. &#9632;

BARRASSO MAY MISS SEASON TO BE WITH SICK DAUGHTER

<div class="byline">BY DAVE FAY</div>If turnabout is fair play, then Don Beaupre must be in line for another twist of fate.Entering 1990, the Washington Capitals&rsquo; goalie was having a career season. Back in the NHL on a fulltime basis, he was among the league leaders in minutes played and wins, and his goals-against average hovered around a very respectable 3.00.All this came a little more than a year after the Minnesota North Stars had deemed him over-the-hill at age 27 and had given him a one-way ticket to their International League affiliate in Kalamazoo.Soon after, on Nov. I, 1988, the Caps obtained Beaupre in exchange for the rights to Claudio Scremin, a defenseman at the University of Maine.Beaupre spent the bulk of the 198889 season playing for Baltimore of the American League, before being recalled for the last month of the schedule. In 11 games for the Caps last season he had a 5-4-0 record and a 2.91 GAAThis season, with last year&rsquo;s starter Pete Peeters gone to Philadelphia, the No. I job was Beaupre&rsquo;s for the taking. He was first on the depth charts and intent on staying there.He succeeded in doing that for most of the first half. But the roof fell in around Jan. I. The reliable defense suddenly became terribly suspect when riddled with injuries; the offense with so much potential shot mostly blanks; and the defensive- oriented Caps were surrendering upwards of eight goals a game.Beaupre&rsquo;s GAA soon ballooned to roughly 3.50 and he was often yanked from games before they became embarrassments.To add injury to insult, he only played in one game between Jan. 24 and Feb. ILA combination of illness and injuries kept him out of the lineup, the latter being a jammed right thumb he suffered in a 5-3 win in Minnesota Feb. ILAfter the thumb failed to respond, ligament damage was diagnosed and he could, in a worst-case scenario, be out until the middle of March.&ldquo;Things were going well, better than 1 had planned,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had expectations on what I thought I could accomplish, on what I thought the team could accomplish. We were up and down but except for that two week stretch (an eight-game losing streak), my numbers have been pretty good. Those two weeks destroyed that, but overall I&rsquo;m still pretty happy.&rdquo;Through games of Feb. 11, he was 17-17-3 with a 3.45 GAA. That was lower than his eight-year average of 3.74 with the North Stars. And the club still considered him the No. 1 man, and was counting on him to help get the team into the playoffs.&ldquo;The toughest thing about it is you got to get there first and right now we&rsquo;re not in the playoffs, we&rsquo;re out of them,&rdquo; said Beaupre.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Nick Kypreos, LW. recalled from Baltimore (AHL).Feb. 6: Bill Houlder, D, and Kent Paynter, D, assigned to Baltimore.Feb. 7: Chris Felix, D, recalled from Baltimore.Feb. 11: Felix assigned to Baltimore.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hunter, Mike Ridley, Michal Pivonka, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Geoff Courtnail. Bob Joyce, John Druce. Alan May, Yvon Corriveau.RW&mdash;John Tucker, Kelly Miller, Dino Ciccarelli, Steve Leach.LD&mdash;Rod Langway, Scott Stevens, Calle Johansson, Scot Kleinendorst.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Bob Rouse, Neil Sheehy.G&mdash;Jim Hrivnak, Bob Mason.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Nick Kypreos, LW, right knee surgery, indefinite.Don Beaupre, G, ligament damage right thumb, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Ciccarelli. 28. A&mdash;rRidley, 36. P&mdash;Courtnall, 59 PIM&mdash;May, 262. &#9632;

SEASON GONE SOUR FOR BEAUPRE

<div class="byline">STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011275/6833185-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="698" height="847"></div>Mike Ricci&rsquo;s status as the No. I draft-eligible player this year is no longer undisputed.For the first time since the Peterborough Petes&rsquo; center entered the Ontario League in 1987, he is not considered the only choice to be first pick, it is evident NHL scouts consider at least two other players to be his equal&mdash;or better.Center Petr Nedved of the Seattle Thunderbirds and right winger Owen Nolan of the Cornwall Royals are the challengers in a three-man race that will not be decided until June 16. the date of the entry draft in Vancouver.A fourth player&mdash;Jaromir Jagr of Czechoslovakia&mdash;belongs in this group and might be the best of the bunch, but uncertainty surrounding his availability makes it unlikely the Quebec Nordiques will take him first. Quebec, well on the way to establishing itself as one of the worst NHL teams ever, is going to finish last overall. That will give them the No. 1 pick for the second straight year.Ricci&rsquo;s graduation has been eagerly awaited. But now, within months of D-Day, Ricci is no longer in a class by himself. Nedved and Nolan have joined the Peterborough captain to comprise an exclusive trio of top-rated prospects.They represent three distinct alternatives: Ricci, the gifted goal-scorer and consummate team leader (47 games. 40 goals, 51 assists, 91 points); Nedved, perhaps the most highly- skilled player in North American junior hockey (55-52-66-118); and Nolan, the hard-driving winger who demonstrates that rare blend of toughness and talent (50-42-56-98).Quebec chief scout Pierre Gauthier will make the call on who is considered the best prospect. Last year, the Nordiques chose a finesse winger&mdash;-Mats Sundin&mdash;first overall. This year? The polished Gauthier never tips his hand. Not even a little. But one thing Gauthier will acknowledge is that he wants to be certain his choice is only a year away. So, rule out Jagr, and narrow it down to Ricci, Nedved and Nolan.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all tied until June 16,&rdquo; Gauthier says.Nedved and Nolan have had excellent seasons. Ricci, too, has performed well, but experienced hard times. Since suffering a partial separation of his right shoulder in late December, the super prospect&rsquo;s productivity has diminished. He didn&rsquo;t score a single goal at the World Junior Championships (but captained the gold medal-winning Canadian team), returned to the OHL where he counted nine goals in four games and then settled into a slumber that stretched into an eight-game scoring drought.Ironically, a goal against the Windsor Spitfires brought to an end his personal ennui. Last year, it was a goal against the Spitfires that stretched his goal-scoring streak to an OHL- record 19 games.Ricci is loathe to make excuses for his troubles, but admits the shoulder problem has kept him from lifting weights to maintain upper body strength. Although not a big man by today&rsquo;s standards, the 6-foot, 180-pound center plays a power game. He must be able to grind to be effective.More than an injury, however, has slowed Ricci. Fatigue is as much a factor. Burnout has played a part in taking the fire out of Ricci&rsquo;s game.It&rsquo;s unlikely any player in Canadian major junior hockey has played more than Ricci the past two years. In addition to regular-season games with the Petes, he has attended two Canadian national junior team training camps, played in two World Junior Championships (he scored all three of Canada&rsquo;s winning goals in 1989), two all-star games, a full slate of playoff games in the OHL and four Memorial Cup games.His audition for the starring role in this year&rsquo;s entry draft will be more complete than any other player available. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to be No. I,&rdquo; Ricci says, &ldquo;but if they feel I&rsquo;m not good enough then I guess 1 can&rsquo;t be.&rdquo; Ricci knows that all he can do is perform on various stages. After that, it&rsquo;s not up to him. He doesn&rsquo;t make the decisions.Gauthier will and is more comfortable picking first this year than last, although he is delighted with Sundin&rsquo;s progress.&ldquo;Last year there was a lot of pressure to make sure you got a good player picking No. 1,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This year the pressure is on making a decision between many good players. And it&rsquo;s a much easier draft in those terms.&ldquo;Some people in the organization have asked me, &rsquo;Which way are we going?&rsquo; I say, &rsquo;Look, one thing I can guarantee you is that we&rsquo;re going to get a good player.&rsquo; &ldquo;So, who will be No. 1? Nobody knows. Not even Gauthier. Or so he claims. Gauthier says his mission is to know the players and then decide what the Nordiques most need, not to limit himself by first deciding the organization&rsquo;s needs and then looking to fill them.A cynic might say the Nordiques don&rsquo;t need a new player, they need a new team to achieve that goal. &#9632;

f0018-01

NOLAN, NEDVED CHALLENGE RICCI

<h2>BRUINS</h2>The Boston Bruins signed free agent left winger Brian Lawton Feb. 6. Lawton was placed on waivers by the Quebec Nordiques in late January, but went unclaimed. The Nordiques then gave him his unconditional release Feb. 6. Terms of the deal were not announced. The Bruins are Lawton&rsquo;s fifth team since the Minnesota North Stars made him the first pick overall in the 1983 entry draft. &ldquo;Playing for the Bruins is something I always wondered about,&rdquo; said the Cumberland, R.I. native. &ldquo;1 always wondered about it and it felt a little strange the first night. But the guys, have been great to me.&rdquo; Said coach Mike Milbury: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s seen a lot of cities, and the simple truth of the matter is the rap on him is, &rsquo;How hard does he want to play, how dedicated is he, how intense is he?&rsquo; We&rsquo;ll find out.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Left winger Randy Burridge was expected to be out of action six weeks after injuring his left knee in a 2-0 win over Detroit Feb. 6. He suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament&hellip;The Bruins officially clinched a playoff spot when Quebec lost 7-2 to Montreal Feb. 10. That extends their NHL record to 23 consecutive seasons with a playoff berth.<h2>SABRES</h2>The loss of Alexander Mogilny coupled with the absence of Davt Andreychuk (knee injury) serious!} weakened the Sabres scoring potentia on the left side. Mike Donnelly, t standout collegian on the 1986 Michigan State NCAA Championship: team, was the leading goalscorer wit) Rochester (35-42-77 in 53 games) in the American League when he was recalled Feb. 7&hellip;Pierre Turgeon&rsquo;s goal with six seconds left in regulation time against the New York Rangers Feb. 9 was his 10th game-winning goal this season.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Although he officially returned Feb. 1 from arthroscopic knee surgery, goalie Mike Liut played only two of six games and said his knee was still hurting. &ldquo;If I had several weeks to rest it. I&rsquo;m told it would be fine,&rdquo; Liut said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s three days and play. It&rsquo;s like walking across a rocky driveway barefoot at the summer cottage. One wrong step and it hurts.&rdquo; GM Ed Johnston said he was getting some real interest in his three goalies from other GMs. which makes Liut&rsquo;s injury doubly-complicating heading toward the trade deadline.. .There were rumors the Whalers were making pitches to acquire Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Brian Leetch. who is from Cheshire, Conn. Johnston said he made only one inquiry early in the season and was quickly rebuffed&hellip; Defenseman Emanual Viveiros, who was playing with Kaufbeuren of the West German League, was signed by the Whalers Feb. 9 and was assigned to Binghamton. He was recovering from a separated right shoulder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03651/6833247-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="757" height="1309"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shayne Corson was out with a separated shoulder.</figcaption></div><h2>CANADIENS</h2>Mats Naslund picked up his 600th NHL point with an assist in the 7-2 win over the Quebec Nordiques Feb. 10.. .Claude Lemieux scored only his second goal of the season in the Quebec game&hellip;Left winger Mark Pederson scored three goals in Sherbrooke&rsquo;s 8-2 American League victory over Halifax Feb. 8 at the Forum. His performance prompted questions from media and fans as to why the offense-starved Habs had not recalled him&hellip;Left winger Shayne Corson missed both the Buffalo (3-1 loss Feb. 7) and Quebec games with a shoulder separation. He suffered the injury during the 2-0 win over Hartford Feb. 4, but was not diagnosed until two days later&hellip; As of Feb. 11, Chris Chelios had gone seven straight games without a point. His previous point came on a shorthanded goal in the 6-3 loss to Washington Jan. 26&hellip;Russ Courtnall had recorded just three of his 37 points on the power play.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>After days of avoiding the local media, former GM Martin Madden finally met a select group Feb. 9. He said his main regret was not having &ldquo;cleaned house&rdquo; when he first became GM in June, 1988. &ldquo;The day after I got the job, I was going to get rid of the dead wood,&rdquo; said Madden. &ldquo;But then 1 started dreaming and 1 didn&rsquo;t move. I regret it today.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Paulin Bordeleau. who played for the Nords in the World Hockey Association, was named the Halifax Citadels&rsquo; new GM and head coach. His contract runs until the end of this season.. .Soviet players Viacheslav Bykov and Andrei Kho- mutov will be in Quebec next season. But apparently two isn&rsquo;t enough for team president Marcel Aubut. Aubut reportedly is interested in signing younger players Valeri Kamenski and Alexei Gusarov. &#9632;

f0018-03

LAWTON GETS ANOTHER CHANCE

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>Alexander Mogilny&rsquo;s seemingly high-flying NHL career has been temporarily grounded by a fear of flying.Having missed several games this season for mysterious reasons, his problem became public knowledge when he failed to show up at the Buffalo airport Feb. 10 for a two-game road trip to St. Louis (Feb. 11) and Chicago (Feb. 13). .Mogilny was expected to travel to Chicago by train, though it was uncertain if he would be back in the lineup.&ldquo;Alex has a legitimate terror of flying,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a situation that has caused him to miss some games and it&rsquo;s something we have to deal with. We&rsquo;re going to help him in every way we can.&rdquo;&ldquo;Obviously Alex is going to need someone in the field of psychology or something along those lines,&rdquo; said coach Rick Dudley. &ldquo;The problem is compounded by the fact that it would have to be someone who can handle the Soviet language.&rdquo;The Sabres&rsquo; front office said it was committed to helping Mogilny. His agent, Don Meehan, said he had enough faith in the medical profession to predict the situation was &ldquo;not career threatening.&rdquo;Mogilny had shown some signs of an acute dislike for flying in the weeks leading up to the official announcement of his problem. He had missed some team flights because of what the club first said was the flu, then later said was a stomach virus that was aggravated by the flying problem.Just prior to the trip to St. Louis and Chicago, Mogilny allegedly told several teammates that he wasn&rsquo;t going and that he had decided to quit hockey.One teammate, requesting anonymity, said the young Soviet defector claimed he would leave the game and find an off-ice job.Mogilny&rsquo;s no-show triggered a wild 24-hour period in which the team traveled west while Mogilny went north to Toronto to talk with his agent, Meehan.The local media began to speculate that Mogilny had indeed quit the team, but Don Meehan said Mogilny&rsquo;s action needed to be viewed in the proper context.&ldquo;Alex was in a panic, but 1 don&rsquo;t think you could take seriously any thought of quitting,&rdquo; said Meehan. &ldquo;Obviously that was just a reaction to the situation he was in. He wants to play hockey in the National Hockey League, but he came to me absolutely terrified because of the flying thing.&rdquo;Mogilny then met with Gerry Meehan, who said Mogilny would not be suspended.&ldquo;If Alex made a mistake it was in not coming to us or any of our training staff and telling us he just couldn&rsquo;t get on that plane,&rdquo; said Meehan after the meeting. &ldquo;I think he was in such a state he just tried to take too much upon himself.&rdquo;Through it all, Mogilny remained unavailable to the media. Calls to his Amherst, N.Y., home were answered by a friend, Sergei Fomitjov.Gerry Meehan said it was Mogilny&rsquo;s decision to rejoin the team in Chicago.&ldquo;He wants to play hockey,&rdquo; said Meehan, &ldquo;and he wants to play hockey for the Buffalo Sabres.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to attempt to resolve this in a way that will enable Alex to get on with his career.&rdquo;But one fact remained clear: If Mogilny wanted to continue his NHL career he would have to overcome his flying phobia.Dudley said he was comfortable with the way the team was handling Mogilny&rsquo;s problem, but also said there were things that would have to be dealt with.&ldquo;I have to put someone in to take his place and 1 don&rsquo;t like the fact that player will have the perception that he is there in the lineup because someone else couldn&rsquo;t come to the game,&rdquo; said Dudley.&ldquo;It certainly isn&rsquo;t going to make that player feel very good about himself, but we have to accept the fact that what&rsquo;s happening to Alex is an illness and it has to be treated like anything else along those lines.&rdquo;<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 3: Mike Donnelly, LW. recalled from Rochester (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruuttu, Ken Priestlay, Jeff Parker.LW&mdash;Mike Hartman, Mike Donnelly Benoit Hogue, Scott Arniel.RW&mdash;Mike Foligno, Kevin Maguire, Larry Playfair, Ray Sheppard, Rick Vaive, Dave Snug- gerud.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger, Grant Ledyard.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Dean Kennedy, Uwe KruPPG&mdash;Daren Puppa, Clint Malarchuk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Andreychuk. LW, sore kneecap, Feb. 19:Alexander Mogilny, LW, fear of flying, indefinite.Larry Playfair, D. strained back, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Turgeon, 26. A&mdash;Turgeon. 48. P&mdash; Turgeon, 74. PIM&mdash;Hartman, 155. &#9632;

MOGILNY TO SEEK HELP FOR FLYING PHOBIA

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>If a vote by the Hartford media was taken after 57 games of the regular season, Mikael Andersson likely would win the Frank Keyes Memorial Award as the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; unsung hero.Andersson. Unsung?Andersson. Underrated?Don&rsquo;t try telling that to Buffalo Sabres season ticket holders nor to the members of the Sabres&rsquo; front office.But it&rsquo;s true. Andersson, (not to be confused with longtime Whaler John Anderson, who was bought out by the club early this season), has had a consistently productive campaign, with 12-22-33 totals in 46 games as a left winger.The Sabres&rsquo; No. I pick (18th overall) in the &rsquo;84 entry draft, Andersson was plucked from the Sabres in last October&rsquo;s waiver draft.The ss in his name has come to represent speed and surprise.With Pat Verbeek moved back to the right side in February, Andersson emerged as the team&rsquo;s best left winger.&ldquo;Mikael is getting involved,&rdquo; assistant coach Brent Peterson said.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing really well. He skates great,&rdquo; concurred coach Rick Ley.In recent games Andersson played on the left side with either Ray Ferraro or Ron Francis. About the only thing that has held him back this season has been injuries.At a high point where he had four goals and 11 points in a five-game stretch, Andersson hurt his knee against the Kings Dec. 13. He returned after missing five games, but left the lineup on a day-to-day basis Feb. 10 when the knee started bothering him again.He also missed a two games after being struck Jan. 19 by a shot by Calgary&rsquo;s Al MacInnis.Despite the injuries, Andersson, 23, was getting more ice time in Hartford than he ever got in Buffalo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01830/6833326-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="743" height="911"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mikael Andersson had 33 points in 46 games for the Whalers.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Am 1 surprised about this season? Yes and no,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 thought 1 could play better than I had in the past. I&rsquo;m older now, though, and I&rsquo;m getting more experience.&rdquo;In addition to his regular shift, Andersson was killing penalties and seeing occasional power-play duty.Having already progressed from third to second line ahead of the likes of Dave Tippett and Randy Cunneyworth, Andersson earned his chance to play with the big boys&mdash; Francis and Kevin Dineen.&ldquo;Either way, if I play with Ronnie&rsquo;s or Ray&rsquo;s line. I&rsquo;ll get lots of chances,&rdquo; Andersson said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re both skill players.&rdquo;Andersson had shown plenty of speed in his four seasons with the Sabres&rsquo; organization.Stuck on the New York State Thruway somewhere between Rochester of the American League and Buffalo, Andersson had 46 goals in 153 games with the Amerks and only four goals and 37 points in 99 NHL games with the Sabres.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 8: James Black, C, assigned to Binghamton (AHL).Feb. 9: Emanuel Viveiros, D, signed as free agent and assigned to Binghamton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Ray Ferraro, Dean Evason, Jody Hull.LW&mdash;Dave Tippett, Tom Martin. Randy Cunneyworth, Todd Krygier.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Scott Young, Ed Kastelic, Pat Verbeek.LD&mdash;Joel Quenneville, Randy Ladouceur, Adam Burt.RD&mdash;Dave Babych, Ulf Samuelsson, Brad ShawG&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mikael Andersson, LW. sore knee, day-to-day.Sylvain Cote, D, broken bone in right foot, March 5.Grant Jennings, D, sprained left knee, Feb. 26-March 5.Mike Tomlak, C. bruised wrist, day-to- day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, 29. A&mdash;Francis, 51. P&mdash; Francis, 73. PIM&mdash;Verbeek, 158. &#9632;

f0021-01

UNDERRATED ANDERSSON HAVING CAREER YEAR

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>In this season turned nightmare for the Quebec Nordiques, it would be difficult to fault a veteran player for simply &ldquo;playing out the string.&rdquo; While the younger, less established players may still have something to prove, there&rsquo;s next to nothing in it for the seasoned pros, except for pride.Enter Claude Loiselle.The 29-year-old center gives a complete effort each and every game no matter how futile it may be.&ldquo;It really shows when Claude is out of the lineup,&rdquo; said coach Michel Bergeron when Loiselle was sidelined with a hand injury earlier this season. &ldquo;He gives us so much more speed.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01852/6833381-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="756" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Loiselle was plus-4 during a 10-qame losing streak.</figcaption></div>And leadership. The typical unsung hero, Loiselle hasn&rsquo;t complained despite never really knowing his role with the team. At different points of the season he&rsquo;s been used on the left and right wing, as well as at center.But one thing he does know is how to play defense. Through a recent 10- game segment, all part of the team-record 11-game losing streak, Loiselle emerged with a remarkable plus-4 rating.&ldquo;I guess you can call that luck,&rdquo; said Loiselle, who was minus-13 in 51 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not one who goes for individual honors. But in a way, to be selected &rsquo;defensive player&rsquo; kind of gets the mind off the tough realities of losing.&rdquo;Loiselle was referring to a local competition that divides the Nordiques&rsquo; season into four segments. The top offensive and defensive player are chosen at the end of each segment. As of Feb. 11, Loiselle, who had 10-8-18 totals in 51 games, had won defensive honors in two of the three segments.Still, the personal accolades barely mitigate the strain caused by the continual losses.&ldquo;It really gets you down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Especially when you lose to the Canadiens (a 7-2 loss Feb. 10).&rdquo;For inspiration in a depressing season, Loiselle points to what the New York Islanders have accomplished. In 1988-89 the Isles and Nords tied for fewest points (61) in the NHL.&ldquo;And they had a tough time at the beginning of the season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But they got things together and made a few moves to get key players, players with character. Now, they are on top in the Patrick Division.&rdquo;Early in February Bergeron claimed the Nords were just &ldquo;three or four&rdquo; players away from turning things around. Loiselle agreed.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s true. Because there is talent on this team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We just need a little something more. Then we&rsquo;ll be on the move.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 9: liro Jarvi, LW, assigned to Halifax (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Joe Sakic, Claude Loiselle. Ken McRae, Tony Hrkac. Paul Gillis.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Jeff Jackson, Tony McKegney.RW&mdash;Darin Kimble, Marc Fortier, Lucien Deblois.LD&mdash;Curtis Leschyshyn, Bryan Fogarty, Brent Severyn.RD&mdash;Mario Marois, Michel Petit, Greg Smyth.G&mdash;Scott Gordon, Greg Millen, Sergei Mylnikov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Joe Cirella. D, fractured foot, indefinite.Mike Hough. LW. sprained left thumb, day-to-day.Stephane Guerard. D, sprained knee, indefinite.Guy Lafleur. RW, fractured left cheek, indefinite.Ron Tugnutt, G, sprained knee, day- to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Sakic, 27. A&mdash;Sakic. 39. P&mdash;Sakic.66. PIM&mdash;Kimble, 170. &#9632;

f0023-01

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE LOISELLE’S FORTE

<div class="byline">BY BOB DITTMEIER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01937/6833412-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie defenseman Gord Kruppke has been one of the most reliable rearguards and one of the biggest surprises for the Red Wings so far this season.</figcaption></div>When Adirondack Red Wing coach Barry Melrose played pro hockey, he was the classic defensive defenseman. He used his size and strength to clear the front of the net. He rarely joined in rushes up the ice. The most points he ever had in any of his 11 pro seasons was 18.So it&rsquo;s surprising to hear the Melrose philosophy concerning his Red Wing defense corps, which includes five rookies. He wants his rearguards to rush the puck first, ask questions later; to take advantage of their speed and take chances in the offensive zone. He wants them to play the way he didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;Our game is attacking,&rdquo; Melrose says. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;ve got a young team you can&rsquo;t sit back. Our strength is our skating and we have to attack, send two men all the time. That&rsquo;s the way we play all the time, overtime and everything.&ldquo;When I played, I was intimidated by speed more than anything else. The physical game never bothered me, but speed is the way the game is going. All of our drills in practice are geared toward that.&rdquo;Nowhere is Melrose&rsquo;s team younger than on the blueline. Before seven-year pro John Moko-sak, 26, was assigned by Detroit Feb. 7, the veteran on the defense corps was second-year pro Dean Morton, 21. The other five defensemen&mdash;Rob Schena, 23, Derek Mayer, 22, GordKruppke, 20, Bob Wilkie, 21, and Chris Luon- go, 22,&mdash;are rookies.&ldquo;When you have a young team, you&rsquo;re going to make mistakes because every situation is new to them,&rdquo; Melrose says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like when you go fora job and they say you can&rsquo;t get the job until you&rsquo;ve had experience but you can&rsquo;t get experience until you get the job. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re going through.&rdquo; .When Melrose became coach of the Red Wings before the start of the season, he thought he would have a veteran defense. With Mokosak, Peter Dineen, Jeff Sharpies and Chris Kot- sopoulos, he had four defensemen with a combined 28 seasons of pro experience. But trades and injuries have left the Red Wings with the most inexperienced defense in the league.Still, things haven&rsquo;t worked out badly for Melrose. The Red Wings have been at or near the top of the Southern Division all season and the team has a respectable goals- against average of 3.82, third-best in their division.There have been some nightmarish nights for the young group of six, such as the 9-8 loss to Utica Jan. 31. But for every one of those games there&rsquo;s been two like the 7-1 victory over Newmarket Jan. 27 when they all played well. It&rsquo;s all part of growing up for the Baby Wings.Things would be a bit more stable if the Wings&rsquo; regular goaltender, Sam St. Laurent, an 11-year veteran were around. But an injury to Greg Stefan has kept St. Laurent in Detroit. Second-year netminder Tim Cheveldae sees most of the action.&ldquo;When you can win with as many young defensemen as we have, well, that&rsquo;s almost unheard of in the American League,&rdquo; says veteran center Glenn Merkosky. &ldquo;You look at the experience on the teams in the race with us&mdash; Newmarket, Utica, Rochester&mdash;it&rsquo;s not even close.&ldquo;The thing to remember, though, is they&rsquo;re pretty talented. And Barry&rsquo;s worked with them real hard, which helps funnel that talent in the right direction. They&rsquo;re just a talented group.&rdquo;Yves Racine, a sixth rookie defenseman who was recalled by Detroit Feb. 1, was Detroit&rsquo;s first-round pick in the 1987 entry draft. Kruppke and Wilkie were both picked in the second round the same year. Mayer was a third-round pick in 1986.For Luongo and Schena, the injuries and recalls gave them a place on the team. Both were cut during training camp and began the season with independent Phoenix of the International League. Luongo was selected in the fifth round of the 1985 draft, while Schena was a ninthround pick the same year.The Red Wings&rsquo; talent on the blueline is mostly offensive. Racine, Wilkie, Mayer and Luongo all arrived with impressive statistics. That has fit in with Melrose&rsquo;s love of the transitional game, which he developed in two seasons as coach of Medicine Hat and Seattle of the Western League.The Red Wing defensemen spend as much time, if not more, working on their passing game as they do on clearing the slot.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re always moving in practice.&rdquo; says Schena, who had two goals and five assists in 20 games. &ldquo;We do a lot of shooting drills. It&rsquo;s not just shooting, though, it&rsquo;s getting the puck off the boards and walking to the middle and shoot. Or walk to the middle and make a pass for a one-timer.&rdquo;The result is three defensemen among the club&rsquo;s top 10 scorers. Racine led the way with 35 points before his promotion. Wilkie had 26 points in 34 games and was quarterbacking the power play before suffering a fractured kneecap Dec. 29 that will keep him out of the lineup at least until late February.Mayer was next with 19 points in 36 games, Luongo had 15 in 25 (plus 14 points in 23 games with Phoenix) while Kruppke, the best defensive player among the rookies, had 12 points in 48 games.&ldquo;The more ice time you get, the more chances you get to play in the specialty situations,&rdquo; Mayer says. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t even playing on the power play in the beginning of the year, and now I&rsquo;m on the first one.&rdquo;Melrose has paired the offensive threats&mdash; Luongo. Wilkie and Mayer&mdash;with the defensive players&mdash;Kruppke, Morton and Schena&mdash;and told them to go for it. He has no intention of altering the plan&mdash;every defenseman is on the positive side of the plus-minus ratings.The biggest surprises have been Kruppke and Wilkie. Kruppke, 6-foot-l and 200 pounds, was considered a raw talent when he arrived from Prince Albert of the WHL. He has developed into the club&rsquo;s most reliable defenseman.Wilkie, who angered Detroit management by arriving at training camp overweight after scoring 80-plus points in each of his last two seasons for Swift Current (WHL), was shedding a reputation for laziness when he got injured.&ldquo;Wilkie&rsquo;s just completely changed from what Detroit envisioned him as,&rdquo; Melrose says. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t gotten to where he wants to be yet, but he&rsquo;s starting to make believers of the guys. And once you get people on your side, it&rsquo;s a lot easier.&rdquo;Still, Melrose has had his share of difficult moments. There are times when he wishes he had a veteran defenseman on the ice late in the game to help protect a lead.&ldquo;Some nights you do get frustrated because they make mistakes,&rdquo; Melrose says. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d like to have them on a chess board where you could put them where you want them, but they won&rsquo;t learn that way. That&rsquo;s the whole part of coaching kids.&ldquo;When you lose Pete (Dineen) and Kotsy (Kotsopoulos) and Moke (Mokosak), you lose stability. When you&rsquo;re running around and it&rsquo;s a 3-3 game or you&rsquo;re up by a goal, it&rsquo;d be nice to put Peter Dineen on the ice, because you know he&rsquo;s not going to make a mental error or a nervous error.&rdquo;Keeping the errors down will become more important during the stretch drive to the playoffs. If the Red Wings are to repeat as Calder Cup champions, the rookie defensemen will have to mature in a hurry. &#9632;

f0024-01

BABES ON THE BLUELINE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>Jeff Madill is still a grinder, but he&rsquo;s a touch different. A scoring touch different, that is.The 24-year-old Utica Devils&rsquo; right winger hasn&rsquo;t forsaken his duties along the boards and in the comers. He still approaches each shift with a Devil-may-care attitude. But between the bumping and grinding, he scored 27 goals in 47 games&mdash;four more than he scored all last season.Madill, the son of former NHL referee Greg Madill, said his production is not that unusual. Before he emerged as a scorer at Ohio State, he endured a season of transition from Tier II to college.&ldquo;My first year of college I only played 12 games and had five goals. My next two years I had 32 and 38. Maybe it&rsquo;s just an adjustment period that takes longer than usual,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had 18 and 23 my first two years here. 1 didn&rsquo;t play in all the games either. It was like 50 (actually 58) my first year and 60-some (69) last year. 1 feel more comfortable with myself and it seems like everything I shoot is going in.&rdquo;And Madill was in the lineup every night. That wasn&rsquo;t the case in October when he was scratched from five games by Utica coach Tommy McVie.&ldquo;At the start of the year I wasn&rsquo;t in the lineup. Tommy said, &rsquo;1 can&rsquo;t get you in. We&rsquo;ve got a whole bunch of players,&rsquo; &ldquo; Madill said. &ldquo;He got me in, 1 guess a guy got hurt, and 1 scored in my first game and second game and kept going from there.&rdquo;Madill had his biggest night as a pro in a wild 9-8 overtime win over Adirondack Jan. 31. He scored on a rebound in the first period, picked up his second goal from the left circle midway through the third and completed his hat trick on a pass from Pat Conacher with 21 seconds remaining.Three goals from three different spots on the ice. None particularly fancy. All the result of hard work.<h2>BAD BOYS</h2>Brian Hoard of the Newmarket Saints and Marc Laforge of the Binghamton Whalers were handed suspensions by AHL president Jack Butterfield for receiving match penalties.Hoard received eight games for a crosschecking incident with Rob Ray of the Rochester Americans in a 3-3 tie Feb. 1. Laforge was suspended for five games for head-butting Sherbrooke Canadiens&rsquo; right winger Serge Roberge in a 7-2 Sherbrooke win Feb. 2.Hoard and Ray collided in the comer and Ray fell to the ice after taking an elbow to the face. Then the Saints&rsquo; defenseman turned on the Americans&rsquo; left winger and struck him three times in the back of the head with the shaft of his stick.Hoard was given the stiff suspension because he was a second-time offender. In an exhibition game against Rochester, Hoard was fined $500 for banging rookie defenseman Dave Bassegio&rsquo;s head on the ice during a fight.Laforge was a repeat offender as well. During a game against Adirondack last season, the left winger received a match penalty for headbutting Wings&rsquo; left winger Lou Crawford and was suspended for three games.<h2>RALPH RETURNS</h2>Goaltender Jim Ralph, who played seven seasons of pro hockey, made a brief return Feb. 2 when he dressed as the backup to Halifax Citadels&rsquo; Mario Brunetta for a 4-3 loss at Rochester. Ralph was an emergency replacement when the Quebec Nordiques recalled Scott Gordon, leaving the Citadels with no back up. Ralph retired at the end of last season. He happened to be in Rochester doing the On the Road segment on the syndicated AHL television program Rinkside. A comedian of some note, Ralph skated by the Rochester bench and yelled to Americans&rsquo; coach John Van Boxmeer: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll never get me out of this league.&rdquo; Ralph did not play in the game&hellip;Detroit named right winger Jim Nill as a player-assistant coach for Adirondack Feb. 7. &#9632;

MADILL GRINDS HIS WAY TO MORE GOALS

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>Dave Pichette, who has been half player, half coach for the Halifax Citadels since Robbie Ftorek left for Quebec, wants to be a head coach.And he wasn&rsquo;t sure when&mdash;or even if&mdash;he would get that opportunity.&ldquo;The Nordiques are looking for someone with experience to finish the year here,&rdquo; said Pichette, who signed with the Citadels this summer as a player-assistant coach. He played in 45 games, but has also served as head coach.Before leaving to become an assistant coach in Quebec, Ftorek was suspended five games because Dean Hopkins left the bench to join a brawl in a Jan. 26 game at Moncton. Since then, Pichette has done double duty.During the first game of Ftorek&rsquo;s suspension, Halifax governor Gilles Leger coached in a 5-2 loss at Cape Breton Jan. 27. From then until Feb. 8, Pichette played and coached in every game but one. Injured players Gerald Bzdel and Mark Vermette have helped Pichette behind the bench.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly a lot more work because there are a lot more things to do,&rdquo; Pichette said. &ldquo;You think about coaching during the day and then when it comes time to play, you just go out and play.&rdquo;But if he had his preference, Pichette would just coach.&ldquo;Definitely, I&rsquo;m hoping to have a career as a head coach,&rdquo; said the 30-year-old. &ldquo;If the occasion arises now or in the future, I&rsquo;m really interested in it. If they decide I&rsquo;m the right man for the situation, then I&rsquo;d like that. I told them I&rsquo;m interested in the job.&ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s better for someone with experience to come in so we can have a strong finish. But if that happens, I hope they won&rsquo;t forget about me down the road.&rdquo;<h2>ORNERY OILER</h2>The Cape Breton Ollers, the league s least penalized team with 1,026 minutes in 51 games, added some muscle for the stretch run by signing left winger Jacques Mailhot to a pro tryout contract Feb. 6.Mailhot, 28, was playing for the Hampton Roads Admirals of the East Coast League. In five games, he had two assists and 62 penalty minutes. Earlier this season, in 15 games with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International League, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Mailhot had no points and 70 PIM.&ldquo;We thought we needed a little more toughness,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; GM Dave Andrews. &ldquo;This time of year, and in the playoffs, games get a little more physical.&rdquo;<h2>BACK-TO-BACK?</h2>Bidding to become the first back-to-back champions of the Northern Division since Fredericton did it in 1982-83 and &rsquo;83-84, Sherbrooke took control of the top spot by going 10-3-2 in the first 15 games of 1990.In those games, left winger Mark Pederson had 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists), right winger Benoit Brunet 19 (12-7), left winger Tom Chorske 16 (8-8) and center Dan Woodley 16 (5-11).Nine of the 15 games were played on the road. At 12-11-4, the Canadiens were the only team in the league with a winning record away from home.<h2>FLYING &rsquo;HAWKS</h2>The surging New Haven Nighthawks, who were 16-5-2 since Dec. 16, moved back into the playoff picture thanks to centers Scott Bjugstad and Len Hachbom.Bjugstad had a league-high 21-game point streak and had scored 42 goals in 43 games. He was attempting to become the first Nighthawk to score 50 goals in a season since Daryl Evans had 51 in 1983-84. Hachborn, claimed off AHL waivers when Maine tried to sign him when he returned from Switzerland, had a 14-game point streak.Both, however, had their streaks snapped in a 4-2 home loss to the Mariners Feb. 7. &#9632;

PICHETTE PATIENTLY WAITS FOR DECISION

<div class="byline">&nbsp;BY BILL PICKETT AND RAND SIMON</div>The International League will likely expand to 10 teams next season with the addition of a franchise in Kansas City.Calgary businessman Russell Parker has applied to the league to buy the suspended Toledo Goaldiggers&rsquo; franchise and move it to Kansas City. The Goaldiggers have been in suspension since the end of the 1985-86 season&mdash;although league dues have been paid in order to keep the team in good standing in the IHL.The league&rsquo;s Board of Governors is expected to vote on the sale and transfer before the end of February. However, at the league&rsquo;s meetings in Phoenix Feb. 5 and 6, IHL officials said approval will be little more than a formality.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s pretty certain, about 95 per cent,&rdquo; said IHL director of information Mike Meyers.&ldquo;There are some small technical things to clear up and a committee will go to Kansas City to look at the building and the set-up and to finalize the legal documents. We don&rsquo;t see any problems there.&rdquo;Parker, who owns Calgary&rsquo;s AAA baseball franchise, the Calgary Cannons of the Pacific Coast League, said Kansas City deserves professional hockey.&ldquo;Kansas City has been without hockey for a number of years and they have lots of enthusiastic fans there,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind it will be a successful franchise in the IHL.&rdquo;Kansas City last had an NHL team in 1976 and twice had teams in the Central League, from 1967 to 1972 and 1976 to 1979.Parker said he hoped there would be time to gain an affiliation with an NHL club for the Kansas City franchise. He has spoken with NHL teams who have agreements with American League clubs, but did not identify them.Meanwhile, IHL commissioner Tom Berry announced the league rejected a new application for league membership from interests in Albany, N.Y.The denial of the Albany request&mdash;the second in six months&mdash;and the virtual approval of Kansas City is in line with the IHL&rsquo;s desire to stay out of the east&mdash;which is AHL territory. Albany was recently awarded a franchise in the proposed Global Hockey League.<h2>WINLESS WILSON</h2>Ron Wilson, who replaced Ron Lapointe a coach of the Milwaukee Admirals when Lapointe was hospitalized Feb. 6, was having : tough time getting his first win.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01833/6833491-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="960" height="1068"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jimmy Waite shut out Milwaukee for the second time this season.</figcaption></div>A 5-2 loss at home to Kalamazoo Feb. 7&mdash;the Admirals&rsquo; seventh loss in nine games&mdash;dropped Wilson&rsquo;s record to 0-2-0.Wilson&rsquo;s first game behind the bench was Jan. 29 when he filled in for Lapointe, who was undergoing a medical examination. The Admirals lost at home to Flint 3-1.Wilson, 34, coached in Davos, Switzerland, last season. He was signed by the Vancouver Canucks to be an assistant in Milwaukee this season. Wilson played 164 NHL games from 1977-78 to &rsquo;87-88 with Toronto and Minnesota.Lapointe, who had a cancerous left kidney removed in December, 1988, has a thumbnail- sizetf malignancy on his right lung.Lapointe, 40, was expected to be hospitalized one month. He will continue to break down game films from his bed at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.<h2>POKEY PERFORMS</h2>Eldon (Pokey) Reddick stopped by the IHL just long enough to earn player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Feb. 4. Reddick was assigned by Edmonton to Phoenix Jan. 28, where he was 2-1-0 in three games with a 2.27 goals-against average and a save percentage of .926. He was recalled by the Oilers Feb.5.1ndianapolis center Brian Noonan had his second straight hat trick against Milwaukee&mdash; and his third of the season&mdash;in a 7-0 Ice win Feb.2.1n that game. Ice goaltender Jimmy Waite blanked the Admirals for the second time this season. He had three shutouts for the season and led goalies with a 2.54 goals-against average. &#9632;

f0025-01

KANSAS CITY NEXT IN LINE FOR IHL FRANCHISE

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01914/6833522-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">After a rough start with the NHL Nordiques, Stephane Fiset returned to the Quebec League. Since then, he&rsquo;s established himself as the top goalie in junior hockey.</figcaption></div>When a Victoriaville Tigre player finds his helmet coated with vaseline or tape on the bottom of his skate blade, he doesn&rsquo;t have to look hard for the culprit.It&rsquo;s usually Tigres&rsquo; goalie Stephane Fiset.&ldquo;Hey, there&rsquo;s a lot of pressure playing hockey,&rdquo; says Fiset. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going for first place and when I do things like that, it helps the guys not think of the pressure.&rdquo;Fiset calls himself the &ldquo;comique de I&rsquo;equipe.&rdquo; Translation: Team funny man. Most everyone else calls him the best junior-age goalie in the world.Fiset, 19, not only helps alleviate pressure, he thrives on it. His ability to excel in the most crucial moments has established his credentials at home and abroad.&ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m the best, in junior, maybe,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I proved myself in the World Junior Championships. That was against the best in the world&hellip;&rdquo;Fiset, who started the season on a miserable note with the Quebec Nordiques, left little doubt of his stature after the 1990 WJC in Finland. Canada&rsquo;s first-string goalie for the second consecutive year, he was the key factor in a gold- medal performance. He played in all seven games (5-1 -1), posted a 2.58 goals-against average, recorded one shutout and compiled a .921 save percentage. He was selected the toumey&rsquo;s outstanding goaltender, and twice was selected as Canada&rsquo;s player of the game.It proved, once again, that he&rsquo;s at his best when the stakes are highest. The 6-foot-l, 175- pounder utilized his size, a butterfly style and quickness to confound opponents.&ldquo;Stephane was unbelievable,&rdquo; said Canadian head coach Guy Charron. &ldquo;We had a great team effort, but he was the key to our success. I would hate to see the Soviets or Czechs if they got the kind of goaltending Stephane gave us. 1 don&rsquo;t know if you&rsquo;d ever beat them.&rdquo;The Nordiques are obviously not the Soviets or the Czechoslovakians, although they have representation from both countries on their team. What they don&rsquo;t have is an experienced, capable defense corps. Fiset learned that all too well when he was up for a six-game stint early in the season. .Chosen by the Nordiques in the third round of the 1988 draft, Fiset never earned an NHL win. He had an 0-5-1 record and 5.96 GAA. In one game against the Calgary Flames, he surrendered five third-period goals in the last six minutes, including two shorthanded goals four seconds apart in an 8-8 tie. His save percentage was a lowly .828.He was rescued by the Nordiques&mdash;or was it from them?&mdash;when they sent him back to the Tigres. The day of his demotion, he packed his car, drove the 75 miles southwest from Quebec City to Victoriaville and practised with his team.In his first game back with the Tigres on Nov. 24, he allowed six goals in a 7-4 loss to Chicoutimi. The winner of the Canadian League&rsquo;s top netminder award last season was having a crisis of confidence.&ldquo;1 was discouraged when 1 came back from Quebec,&rdquo; says Fiset. &ldquo;When 1 lost that first game, I said, &rsquo;What&rsquo;s happened? I can&rsquo;t stop the puck.&rsquo; &ldquo;It passed quickly. In his next game, he picked up a 4-1 win against the Laval Titan. By early February he had a 7-3-1 record with a 2.89 GAA. In the Challenge Cup game between the Ontario and Quebec Leagues in Cornwall, Ont., on Jan. 30, Fiset stopped 38 shots in a 3-0 loss.&ldquo;Stephane has done everything a junior goalie can do,&rdquo; says Tigres&rsquo; coach Guy Chouinard. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a winner, the type of goalie who can win a game by himself.&ldquo;I think he is the best. He proved it in the world junior tournament last year. This year he proved it was no fluke. He showed he&rsquo;s the best. His biggest point is that he&rsquo;s confident in himself, not that he&rsquo;s cocky.&rdquo;Fiset can&rsquo;t pinpoint why he&rsquo;s at his best when the most is on the line.&ldquo;The more pressure there is,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I prepare better mentally. I don&rsquo;t want to play bad. It&rsquo;s important not to play a bad game.&rdquo;There were not many bad games last season either. Despite dislocating his right shoulder five times, he finished with a 25-14-0 record and a league-best 3.45 GAA. In the playoffs, with a league-best 2.78 GAA, Fiset was a key factor in the Tigres&rsquo; march to the final against Laval.After injuring his shoulder in the first game, Fiset sat out the next three games. With the Tigres down 3-1 in the series, Fiset walked into the lobby with his arm in a sling 30 minutes before Game 5. He had a cup of coffee and made it clear he wasn&rsquo;t playing that night. But he returned to the dressing room, quickly suited up and stopped 35 shots in a 6-3 Victoriaville win. He won the next game 5-1, but the Tigres lost Game 7.&ldquo;I had everyone saying, &rsquo;Fiset won&rsquo;t play tonight,&rsquo; &ldquo; he says. &ldquo;I did it for a little show. Just to affect the other team&rsquo;s concentration.&rdquo;In the off-season, he underwent successful shoulder surgery.His flair for the dramatic, though, remained intact. In this year&rsquo;s WJC, before the final game against Czechoslovakia, it was suggested he not play because of right knee ligament damage sustained in a previous game.&ldquo;I went to Guy and told him I played all last year with a dislocated shoulder,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And Guy said he would try me and see what happened. I think I played well.&rdquo;Fiset has been as convincing with QMJHL shooters this season. He will often, in the middle of a game, verbally challenge the league&rsquo;s best shooters, daring them to score on him. It was a psyche job he started last season.&ldquo;I tell them, &rsquo;You can&rsquo;t score,&rsquo; but I say it just to my friends,&rdquo; Fiset says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that I&rsquo;m cocky, because after the game I see the guys, talk with them and have fun. But the player wants to score. He has some pressure. If I tell him he can&rsquo;t score, maybe he gets nervous and doesn&rsquo;t shoot on the net.&rdquo;Despite his less-than-auspicious pro debut, he is the Nordiques&rsquo; goalie of the future.&ldquo;Fiset is going to be a great goalie,&rdquo; says Nordiques&rsquo; coach Michel Bergeron. &ldquo;Look at what he did in the world championships.&ldquo;But our team (the Nordiques) was struggling and he was losing confidence (at the start of this season). The best thing to do was to send him back to junior.&rdquo;Fiset accepted the demotion philosophically. His goal, though, is clear.&ldquo;I want to play in Quebec next year,&rdquo; says Fiset. &ldquo;If I go there with my confidence high and I play good, maybe I can make a little difference.&rdquo;Or perhaps even a big one. &#9632;

f0026-01

THE MONEY MAN

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Herb Zurkowsky</div>Unlike his highly-publicized teammate, Victoriaville Tigres&rsquo; goalie Pierre Gagnon is the best-kept secret in the Quebec League.Gagnon, who shares the Tigres&rsquo; goaltending duties with Stephane Fiset, led the QMJHL with a 2.96 goals-against average and played three times as many games as Fiset. With a record of 21-17-1, he had 14 more wins than his teammate.&ldquo;He (Gagnon) has coped with that well.&rdquo; says Tigres&rsquo; coach Guy Chouinard. &ldquo;He knows Stephane has done everything a goalie can achieve. He works hard, often staying on the ice after practice, and works well with Stephane. He realizes we have the best duo in nets.&rdquo;Gagnon, who speaks no English, first came to the forefront during the 1988-89 season. Fiset was at the 1989 WJC in Alaska and Gagnon won eight of 11 games.This season, between Fiset&rsquo;s stint with the national junior team, a tour of duty with the Quebec Nordiques and a knee injury, Gagnon has shown his 5-foot-7, 145-pound frame is no hindrance. He was ranked the fifth-best draft-eligible goalie by NHL Central Scouting Bureau.&ldquo;Because of his size. Pierre has to play the angles more,&rdquo; Chouinard says. &ldquo;He has to rely on his speed more.&ldquo;Never mind the fact that he&rsquo;s short. The bottom line is that he stops the puck.&rdquo; &#9632;

GAGNON QUIETLY EMERGES

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Seattle Thunderbird Glen Goodall is the WHL&rsquo;s new career scoring leader.Goodall, who is in his sixth season with the Thunderbirds, picked up an assist in a 5-3 win over the Tri-City Americans Feb. 7. That gave him 530 points in 370 career games, breaking the record of 529, set by Craig En- dean of the Regina Pats from 1983-88.The record-breaking point came when Goodall found Al Kinisky behind the Tri-City defense, sending him on a breakaway. Kinisky beat Americans&rsquo; goalie Olaf Kolzig at 15:30 of the first period to bring Seattle to within a goal at 2-1.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want the record to come off of someone&rsquo;s skate. I wanted it to be good,&rdquo; said Goodall. &ldquo;I knew if the team won, I&rsquo;d get the record.&rdquo;With 64-56-120 totals in 48 games, Goodall was 11 goals shy of the career-goals record of 261, set by Ron Chipperfield of the Brandon Wheat Kings from 1970-74. The Thunderbirds had 19 regular-season games remaining.<h2>ANOTHER CHANGE</h2>One day after setting the new Canadian League record for most consecutive losses, the Victoria Cougars made their third coaching change of the season.The Cougars, who were pounded 16-2 by the Seattle Thunderbirds Feb. 4 to set the new CHL record of 29 straight losses, fired head coach Garry Cunningham and replaced him Feb. 6 with marketing director Lyle Moffat.Moffatt, who compiled a 1-11-1 record as an interim coach after replacing Wayne Naka earlier in the season, will act as head coach-marketing director for the remainder of the season.Lyle replaced Cunningham behind the bench for the record-breaking loss. Team officials said Cunningham was ill.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t involved in the dressing room or on the road during the losing streak,&rdquo; said Moffatt. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if that was always on their minds or if it was always brought up by different people, but I&rsquo;m trying to tell them to put the last five months behind and let&rsquo;s just look down the road for the last 20 games.&ldquo;Then we can start from scratch again next year.&rdquo;In Moffatt&rsquo;s first game of his second stint, the Cougars lost 7-4 to the Tri-City Americans for a record of 3-47-2 this season. Naka compiled a 1-5-1 mark before he resigned and Cunningham had a 1-28-0 record. General manager Ron Byrne was fired Jan. 20 and was replaced by owner Bob Vranckaert<h2>BARRIE SIGNS</h2>Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; center Len Barrie, the leading scorer in the Western League with 70 goals and 80 assists in 52 games, signed with the Philadelphia Flyers Feb. 7. Details of the contract were not disclosed.Barrie, an overage player, will remain with the Blazers the rest of this season and will report to the Flyers&rsquo; training camp in September.&ldquo;Anytime a 20-year-old obtains a contract it&rsquo;s a big plus for himself and the league,&rdquo; said Blazers&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock . &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m especially happy for Len since he has the responsibility of raising a family. It&rsquo;s a big burden off his shoulders and he can fully concentrate on hockey now.&rdquo;Barrie, who is married and has a daughter, was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the sixth round of the 1988 NHL entry draft. But the Oilers decided not to sign him and this year he became a free agent.<h2>SAUTER FINISHED</h2>Brandon Wheat Kings head coach Doug Sauter, who was diagnosed with Guillian-Barre Syndrome in December, confirmed Feb. 1 he will not return behind the bench this season. General manager Kelly McCrimmon, who was coaching on an interim basis, assumed head-coaching duties for the remainder of the season. Sauter was resting at home. &#9632;

GOODALL SETS CAREER WHL SCORING MARK

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div>Ontario League commissioner David Branch levied his stiffest player suspension of the season when he banished North Bay Centennials&rsquo; left winger Shayne Antoski for at least the balance of the regular season.Antoski, who slashed Oshawa Generals&rsquo; right winger Mike Craig during a 4-2 Generals&rsquo; win Jan. 28, will have his suspension reviewed the day after the first game Craig returns to the lineup. Craig, who suffered a broken fibula in his left leg, is expected to miss the rest of the season. If Craig can&rsquo;t return during the playoffs, Antoski&rsquo;s suspension will not be reviewed until the start of next season.So as long as Craig is out of action, so is Antoski. He will miss a minimum of 17 games.Branch said that Antoski never intended to injure Craig but was trying to impede him from scoring.&ldquo;The illegal use of the stick is one of the most concerning acts in the I game of hockey,&rdquo; said Branch on Feb. 6, &ldquo;and every step must be taken to eliminate this element from our game.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01873/6833601-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="747" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian (Killer) Kilrea felt homicidal after a recent game.</figcaption></div>The day after suspending AntosKi, Branch suspended Cornwall Royals&rsquo; right winger Mike Jackson 15 games for the elbow he applied to Ottawa 67&rsquo;s defenseman Andrew Brodie during a 4-3 Royals&rsquo; win Jan. 18.Jackson was eligible to return to action March 1 against the Dukes of Hamilton. Brodie suffered a broken jaw in the incident.<h2>KILLER RILED</h2>Despite salvaging a Northern Ontario split with a 4-3 win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Feb. 4, Ottawa 67&rsquo;s coach Brian Kilrea would have killed to see his team play some good hockey.&lsquo; &rsquo;I feel like killing a few of my guys right now and the only reason I won&rsquo;t is because you go to prison for murder,&rdquo; said Kilrea, whose nickname is &rsquo;Killer.&rsquo; &ldquo;We had some guys looking to hide up north for a few days and that&rsquo;s exactly what they did. We deserved to get beat by Sudbury (3-1 Feb. 2) and should have lost to the Greyhounds.&rdquo;Kilrea&rsquo;s team was third in the Leyden Division with a 30-18-2 record.<h2>TOUGH GAME</h2>Belleville Bulls&rsquo; coach Danny Flynn may be looking at a lengthy suspension after receiving a gross misconduct penalty during the Bulls&rsquo; 8-3 loss to Oshawa Feb. 7.Flynn ran afoul of referee Blaine Angus for &ldquo;making a travesty of the game.&rdquo; Flynn also received an automatic three-game suspension for failure to control his bench.Also receiving two-game suspensions for subsequent fights during the same stoppage were left winger Gord Pell and defenseman Scott Boston of the Bulls as well as left winger Joe Busillo and centers Dale Craigwell and Eric Lindros of the Generals. Bulls&rsquo; center Scott Thornton received two games for leaving the players&rsquo; bench to join an altercation and Bulls&rsquo; defenseman Greg Bignell received two games for leaving the penalty box to join an altercation. &#9632;

f0027-01

CENTS’ ANTOSKI GETS STIFF PENALTY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02546/6833632-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="614" height="743"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark FiorettiUniv, of Calgary Dinosaurs</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 for January.Mark Fioretti, who played with the Calgary Wranglers and Kelowna Wings of the WHL, has been awarded an additional $500.00 to further offset the cost of education.WHL teams stress the importance of education to all players, and provide financial subsidies for players who do not graduate to professional ranks. &#9632;

f0027-02

WHL/CWUAA GRADUATE OF THE MONTH FOR JANUARY

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>The future of the Granby Bisons will be decided by the end of February when the teams&rsquo; board of directors votes on whether to sell the Quebec League team.Bisons&rsquo; president Yves Proulx said there&rsquo;s a good chance the team will be sold&mdash;possibly to outside interests&mdash; after discovering the city of Granby wouldn&rsquo;t grant concessions to the struggling franchise. Proulx said the team lost $96,000 last year and he expects it will lose at least that much this season.Proulx had a meeting with city general manager Robert Duval Jan. 18 and was confident the city and the team would be able to strike a deal. The Bisons were hoping to be granted the restaurant concession rights at the Palais des Sports (the Bisons&rsquo; home rink) as well as the use of the ice rent-free. The hockey team already operates the arena&rsquo;s bar.However, the Bisons were denied both requests. The annual revenue from the restaurant alone is about $70,000 while the city generates another $15,000 on rent.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to make money, just not to lose it,&rdquo; said Proulx. &ldquo;Any surplus, from the restaurant would have been given back to the city. I&rsquo;m surprised by the city. I hope the team stays in Granby.&rdquo;The city of Vai d&rsquo;Or has been mentioned as a possible location for the franchise. A group from that city has been trying to secure an existing or expansion franchise for 10 years and had purchased the St-Jean Castors (now Lynx) last year but the sale was blocked by the league&rsquo;s board of governors.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01914/6833663-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="766" height="1233"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Chartrand joined the AHL&rsquo;s Newmarket Saints.</figcaption></div>Vai d&rsquo;Or businessman Jean- Claude Babin said his group no longer will contact any existing franchises that are struggling.&ldquo;People now will have to call us,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and if we are contacted, we&rsquo;ll call the league to see if we should proceed. If Proulx needs our help we&rsquo;re ready, but we&rsquo;re tired of being used.&rdquo;<h2>HE&rsquo;S BACK</h2>The Laval Titan managed to have a league decision reversed when QMJHL president Gilles Courteau rescinded a five-game suspension to defenseman Eric Bissonnette.Bissonnette left the penalty box during a a 4-2 loss to the St-Hyacinthe Laser Feb. 2, thinking a goal had been scored while he was serving a penalty. But the goal was disallowed.Any player who leaves the penalty bench before the completion of his penalty is given a game misconduct and must serve an automatic five- game suspension.Titan coach Pierre Creamer met with Courteau Feb. 5 and convinced him that Bissonnette did not intend to leave the penalty box early.<h2>FIGHT NIGHTS</h2>League referees were busy during two recent fight-filled games.In the third period of a game between the Laval Titan and the Hull Olympiques Feb. 5, referee Luc Miville called 251 penalty minutes and ejected nine players. The next night, referee Mario Gagnon called 315 penalty minutes in a game between Trois Rivieres and Chicoutimi and ejected 12 players. The Draveurs won the game 6-1. No suspensions were handed out in either game.. .The Drummondville Voltigeurs, all but eliminated from playoff contention, lost 20-year-old center Steve Chartrand on Feb. 1. Chartrand, property of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was assigned to their American League affiliate in Newmarket. Chartrand was the Volts&rsquo; leading scorer with 50 goals and 41 assists in 44 games. &#9632;

f0028-01

FINANCIAL ROW THREATENS FUTURE OF BISONS

There are times when coach Mike Pelino couldn&rsquo;t be happier. Then there are days when the Brock Badgers frustrate him to no end.Case in point: The Badgers beat traditionally powerful Western 3-0 in London on Jan. 31. Four days later, they dropped a 10-7 decision to Windsor. The loss left the team with a 7-9-2 record.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating, because I do know that we&rsquo;re good enough,&rdquo; said Pelino. &ldquo;But sometimes we don&rsquo;t play as well against all the teams as we do against the top teams.&rdquo;<h2>OUAA</h2>While some were expecting the worst, the Ryerson-Trois-Rivieres rematch was played without incident Feb. 4 in Toronto.The most contentious call in the game, which the Pats won 5-3, was an apparent Rams&rsquo; goal that was disallowed by referee Ralph Sparks.The rematch came just five days after the two teams had engaged in a bench-clearing brawl, ignited when Ram Mike Schatz flattened Pats&rsquo; goalie Michel Babineau. A total of 149 penalty minutes were assessed in that game, which was cancelled in the second period. Eight players were subsequently suspended by league convenor Bill Oliver&mdash;Claude Scilley<h2>CWUAA</h2>Regina coach Bill Liskowich was faced with a pleasant dilemma this season: He had to choose between four goalies who had CIAU experience.Liskowich opted for Trevor Lloyd and Rod Houk and, with two weeks left in the regular season, it appeared he made the right choice.The Cougars led Canada West with a 2.96 goals-against average and ranked third in league standings. Houk, who stopped 69 of 70 shots in the Cougars&rsquo; sweep (3-1 and 2-1) of Manitoba Feb. 2 and 3, was named CWUAA player of the week for the period ending Feb. 3.Nothing was decided in the battle of the top-ranked teams Feb. 2-3. In the first game, No. 2 Calgary managed a 5-4 overtime win over No. 1 Alberta in Calgary. The next night in Edmonton, the Golden Bears returned the favor, beating the Dinos 5-3. With four games to play in the regular season, Alberta was one point ahead of Calgary in the race for first place.&mdash;Mark Spector<h2>AUAA</h2>Parity reared its head in the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association as the race for the playoffs intensified.The Moncton Blue Eagles appeared headed for the MacAdam Division pennant when they hammered the Prince Edward Island Panthers 13-3 on Feb. 2.But two nights later in Halifax, the Eagles fell 3-2 to lowly St. Mary&rsquo;s. It was just the fifth win in 18 tries for the Huskies (5-11-2).The Acadia Axemen clinched the Kelly Division title with a 3-2 overtime win over second place Dalhousie Feb. 2. Fourth-year right winger Kelly Kolke scored the game-winner at 3:37 of the extra period.&mdash;Bill Hunt &#9632;

BADGERS’ PLAY BAFFLES COACH

When last-place Chicago Cubs&rsquo; slugger Andre Dawson was named National League MVP in 1987, it represented a breakthrough: A good player on a bad team was finally being honored for his achievements.The Hockey News has decided to recognize the best U.S. college players skating for some of the worst teams.Players are listed by name, position, individual statistics (G-A-P for skaters; W-L-T, GA A, Save Percentage for goalies), team and overall record (W-L-T).<h2>WCHA</h2>Dave Shields, C, (29-32-61 in 34 games), Denver (13-21-0).A 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior center from Calgary, Alta., Shields has led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring almost from the start of this season. Through 22 league games he had 19-19-38 totals.But Shields&rsquo; personal success hasn&rsquo;t translated into wins for the struggling Pioneers. With only six games left in the regular season, DU (8-14-0) was seventh in the eight-team WCHA.The Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; 12th-round pick in the 1987 entry draft, he is regarded as a candidate for the Hobey Baker Award, but he doesn&rsquo;t dwell on it.&ldquo;When you ask, I think about it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But right now I&rsquo;m just concentrating on what I have to do.&rdquo;Kip Noble, D, (13-26-39 in 32 games), Michigan Tech (9-23-0).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01806/6833725-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="963" height="1189"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Noren has stood above the rest with the Flames this season.</figcaption></div>In a 5-4 loss to Wisconsin Feb. 2, Noble accounted for a goal and two assists to become the highest-scoring defensemen in Michigan Tech history with 112 points (32 goals, 80 assists) in 147 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor to have that, but to tell you the truth, I really wasn&rsquo;t looking for it,&rdquo; says the 5-foot-9, 170-pound senior. &ldquo;The thing I want to do is go to the (WCHA) Final Four and that&rsquo;s been my first and foremost goal with this team. &rsquo; &rsquo;It is a lofty one. Over Noble&rsquo;s career, the Huskies had a cumulative record of 55-91-4 (.380) and have not had a winning season. Tech was in last place in the WCHA at 5-17-0.<h2>CCHA</h2>Darryl Noren, C, (28-30-58 in 32 games), Illinois-Chicago (9-23-0).While the Flames have struggled all season&mdash; they started the season with a nine-game losing streak and have been last in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association ever since&mdash;Noren was consistently ranked among the league&rsquo;s scoring leaders.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a natural goal scorer,&rdquo; says UIC coach Vai Belmonte of his junior center. &ldquo;The thing about his shot is that it&rsquo;s so unpredictable because he releases it so quickly.&rdquo;Noren says his improved play this season has been part of a natural progression.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t do anything different over the summer,&rdquo; says Noren. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of experience in the league. This season, things are just falling into place. I always thought I had the offensive ability, I just need to work on the defensive side.&rdquo;Craig Fisher, C, (35-21-56 in 32 games), Miami-Ohio (10-18-4).Fisher, a6-foot-3, 175-pound native of Whitby, Ont., may have the best scoring touch in the league. His 35 goals in 32 games, tied him for the national goal-scoring lead with Michigan State&rsquo;s Kip Miller.&ldquo;Give that kid the puck and he&rsquo;ll put in in the net,&rdquo; says Miami coach George Gwozdecky. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got such great hands and he finishes real well.&rdquo;Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1988 in the third round, the sophomore center says he may sign a pro contract at the end of the season.And despite the plight of the lowly Redskins, Fisher says he doesn&rsquo;t regret choosing Miami.&ldquo;I remember when it was my draft year, I was in Junior B and deciding where to go,&rdquo; Fisher recalls. &ldquo;I talked to all the name schools, but I&rsquo;m glad 1 came here. I might not have got as much ice time somewhere else.<h2>ECAC</h2>Dave Williams, D, (2-7-9 in 20 games), Dartmouth, (2-14-4).Last season Williams earned All-Eastern College Athletic Conference status as the Big Green battled right down to the wire for the final playoff spot, only to fall short by three points.This season, Dartmouth has struggled to just be competitive.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02520/6833718-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="1991" height="2558"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Richards has had his share of outstanding performances for the Lowell Chiefs, including back-to-back 40-save names against New Hampshire and Maine.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It gets frustrating,&rdquo; admits the senior defenseman. &ldquo;This is my fourth year here and we haven&rsquo;t had a winning season yet. We all came in expecting a lot this year. We started out well, but then lost a couple of tough ones and it&rsquo;s snowballed.&rdquo;After a 2-0-2 start, Dartmouth went 0-14-2 in its next 16 games to fall into the ECAC cellar.Williams also struggled, earning just nine points in 20 games. &ldquo;Basically, that&rsquo;s been our biggest problem,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;No one is scoring. Now, we&rsquo;re playing game by game to salvage the season.&rdquo;Jeff Blaeser, LW, (11-10-21 in 17 games), Yale, (6-13-1).Now in his sophomore year, Blaeser still has all the tools that earned him ECAC all-rookie honors last season. His size (6-foot-2, 200 pounds), speed and hard shot have made him one of the most dangerous wingers in the league.But Blaeser says it&rsquo;s tough to find personal satisfaction when your team is struggling.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve all got to work harder,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;When the team is struggling, there&rsquo;s no sense sitting around and moping. Obviously what you&rsquo;re doing isn&rsquo;t enough.&rdquo;<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Mark Richards. G, (11-9-2, 4.34, .873) Lowell, (12-11-2).As their overall record would indicate Lowell has had success outside of Hockey East but in league play they&rsquo;ve struggled. Through 13 games they were 4-7-2 against Hockey East foes and have spent most of the season near the bottom of the standings.But that&rsquo;s no reflection on the play of Richards, a sophomore goalie from Jamison, Penn.Some of his most outstanding efforts this season include a 40-save performance in a 3-3 tie with New Hampshire Jan. 10; another 40-save outing in a 3-2 win over Maine two days later; and he turned away 33 shots in a 3-2 win over Boston College Dec. 9.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been our most valuable player,&rdquo; says Chiefs&rsquo; coach Bill Riley. &ldquo;For us to be successful we rely on our strength, and that&rsquo;s been goaltending. His greatest asset is he&rsquo;s a terrific skater. In practice he almost skates as well as some of our forwards.&rdquo;Andy Heinze, C, (14-15-29 in 24 games), Merrimack, (7-16-1).Heinze, the older brother of Boston College standout Steve Heinze, led the last-place Warriors in goals (14), points (29), power-play goals (seven) and shorthanded goals (two).&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the heart and soul of our offense,&rdquo; says Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real gutsy player; the kind of player you know you&rsquo;re going to get every ounce of heart of him without having to work to get it.&ldquo;This is a transition year for us (their first in Hockey East), and the team&rsquo;s not having the best of years. I wouldn&rsquo;t say he&rsquo;s not having fun, but it&rsquo;s tough on him with his size (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) in this league. We need him to produce to win, but I think he&rsquo;s a little run down right now.&rdquo;&mdash;With files from Andy Baggot, Matt Carlson, Tom Boggie and Larry Mahoney. &#9632;

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BEST OF THE WORST

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01907/6833763-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><h2>NHL STATISTICAL REPORT</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01903/6833756-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="8915" height="5364"></div> &#9632;

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PEPSI ON ICE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01815/6833801-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01910/6833794-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="8910" height="5366"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01820/6833832-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01734/6833863-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="640" height="854"></div>Some people associated with hockey toss the term &ldquo;chemistry&rdquo; around so much that you could get the impresson the NHL is some sort of fraternal group for scientists.In most cases, &ldquo;good chemistry&rdquo; means the team members rarely exchange gunfire in the dressing room. It&rsquo;s a lot like being a &ldquo;character player,&rdquo; the rough translation of which is &ldquo;has never been convicted of a felony.&rdquo;But then you look at what&rsquo;s happening on Long Island, where Al (apparently short for Alchemist) Arbour was presiding over an unqualified disaster for nearly the first two months of this season. The way the Islanders started this season had even the folks in Quebec feeling pretty good about themselves.Sure, the team&rsquo;s long-term prognosis wasn&rsquo;t all that bad. Any franchise with Arbour and Bill Torrey in control has plenty of reason for hope.But the Islanders were supposed to be in the painful early stages of a rebuilding program. Most people expected them to be one of the worst teams in the league, and nothing that happened the first six weeks of the season refuted that feeling.New York seemed to have a promising future with Pat LaFontaine, Mark Fitzpatrick, Dave Chyzowski and the like, but a full return to glory seemed at least a few years away.That was before Nov. 29, when Torrey shipped Mikko Makela, the wonderfully skilled underachiever, to the Kings for Hubie McDonough and Ken Baumgartner.It would be great to look back and say the hockey world was jolted by that deal, but the move didn&rsquo;t set off even a tiny tremor. L.A. seemed to be hoping Makela would produce at a level suggested by his potential, and the Islanders got a couple of capable bodies to implant into their terribly unimposing lineup.It looked to be the kind of transaction you read about in the small type, then forget about. Forever.At least Makela has done what most observers expected, which is to say, a lot less than the Kings were hoping for. Baumgartner and McDonough, meanwhile, have done nothing more than inspire one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in recent memory.Think about it, folks. Ken Baumgartner, whose main attribute is muscle, .and Hubie McDonough, a competent two-way player, transformed one of the NHL&rsquo;s worst teams into one of its best. Immediately.&ldquo;We started believing in ourselves,&rdquo; Islanders&rsquo; left winger Don Maloney said. &ldquo;We headed in the right direction and we got a terrific run we&rsquo;ve been on since the first of December.&rdquo;New York was lucky to win a couple of faceoffs during the first part of the season. Now, the Islanders are winning nearly every game they play, and doing it every way possible.Consider the start of a recent four-game road trip. New York opened in Buffalo and beat the Sabres 1-0, on a late power-play goal by Derek King. A classic defensive struggle decided by an unlikely hero.Two nights later, they were in Pittsburgh and beat the Penguins 8-7, when Maloney scored with 32 seconds left in overtime. Two games that couldn&rsquo;t have been more different, that had nothing in common except that they ended in Islander victories.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re winning games all different ways,&rdquo; Arbour said.But never mind the ways the Islanders were winning; the truly amazing part is that they were doing it more than once every few weeks. There&rsquo;s no way the Islanders have the most talented lineup in the Patrick Division, or even the New York metropolitan area. Their roster is an eclectic collection of older players whose best days appeared to be gone, and young ones whose promise has not been fulfilled.It doesn&rsquo;t hurt that LaFontaine is having an MVP-caliber season, or that goalie Mark Fitzpatrick is developing into one of the game&rsquo;s best, or that Arbour is one of his profession&rsquo;s resident geniuses, but that&rsquo;s not enough to explain what the Islanders have accomplished.Other teams have good coaches and better players&mdash;and are looking up at the Islanders in the standings.Everybody except the Islanders seems to realize that team has no business winning as often as it has, but overachievement has become the norm on the Island this season.And unless they take a free-fall back to reality sometime soon, the Islanders just might further clutter the ceiling at Nassau Coliseum with another championship banner.&ldquo;We feel good about ourselves,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like night and day. I hope we can keep it up.&rdquo; &ndash; &#9632;

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SURGING ISLANDERS BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02511/6833894-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Thibaudeau</figcaption></div>&hellip;Gilles Thibaudeau, now a Toronto Maple Leaf center, was working as a forklift driver in September, 1984, when he quit his job to try out for the Montreal Canadiens? Thibaudeau went on to play 58 games with the Habs, before signing as a free agent with the Islanders in 1989 and then he was dealt to Toronto. &#9632;

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DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>BLACKHAWK</h2>GM Bob Pulford said he didn&rsquo;t have any doubt Czechoslovakian goaltender Dominec Hasek would be in training camp with the Blackhawks in September. Pulford said he would travel to Czechoslovakia in late February to begin negotiations with Hasek, the Hawks&rsquo;s l0th-round pick in the 1983 entry draft. The Czechoslovakian Hockey Federation told Pulford Hasek is free to play in North America after the World Championships in April&hellip;Al Secord was expected to be out until early March after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Feb. 5. The injury wasn&rsquo;t as bad as first feared, however, as the surgery revealed he had stretched, not torn, ligaments.<h2>BLUES</h2>After a 4-2 victory over Buffalo Feb. 11, rookie goalie Curtis Joseph was unbeaten in four decisions&mdash;3-0- 1 with a 1.82 goals-against average. His performance quashed the theory the Blues couldn&rsquo;t win without veteran Greg Millen, who was traded to Quebec with Tony Hrkac for Jeff Brown on Dec. 13. &ldquo;Yeah, that theory went right out the window, didn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; captain Rick Meagher said. &ldquo;Maybe Curtis has made us look like prophets, but that wasn&rsquo;t the whole idea when the trade was made. You have people you feel can do the job. You have confidence in your people, and you let them go.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Vincent Riendeau recorded the first shutout of his career, stopping 25 shots in the Blues&rsquo; 7-0 victory over New Jersey Feb. 10. He set the tone early, making a glove save on Kirk Muller&rsquo;s breakaway six seconds into the game&hellip;Gino Cavallini scored his first career hat trick in the victorv over New Jersev<h2>RED WINGS</h2>No one was commenting on the rumor which had Brett Hull going to the Red Wings. The NHL&rsquo;s leading goal-scorer has reached an impasse in contract negotiations with the Blues. He&rsquo;s making $125,000. He wants between $500,000 and $600,000, comparable to what Jimmy Carson is being paid by the Wings. The Blues have offered Hull about $300,000. If he doesn&rsquo;t sign, he would be free to sign with any other club, with compensation&hellip; Carson sustained water buildup on his right knee when he was unable to keep up therapy sessions during the Wings&rsquo; lengthy road trip in mid-January, doctors say. &ldquo;He needs to work out every day, and when we were on the road, we didn&rsquo;t have the facilities for him to do that,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said. &ldquo; He kept playing, and it just got worse and worse. &ldquo;&hellip; Jim Nill said so long to his teammates, but not good-bye. &ldquo;Good luck guys&hellip;No. 8 on your program. No. I in your hearts,&rdquo; was how he signed off on the dressing room blackboard. Nill skated off the Joe Louis Arena ice midway through practice Feb. 7 feeling a myriad of emotions&mdash;a little sad, somewhat relieved and very much excited. His career as an NHL player was over after 8&rsquo;/z seasons and 524 games. But his career as a coach was just beginning&mdash;Nill was recently named player-assistant coach for the Wings&rsquo; AHL affiliate Adirondack. &ldquo;It was a strange feeling, kind of sad,&rdquo; Nill said. &ldquo;I was thinking, &rsquo;Gees, Pm not coming back.&rsquo; But it&rsquo;s also kind of nice to be able to put something back into the game as a coach. A lot of players never have the opportunity.&rdquo; But it&rsquo;s just a matter of time before Nill is back in Detroit in some kind of role with the Wings, probably as an assistant coach. Demers said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03396/6833925-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="763" height="789"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Osborne was named the Leafs&rsquo; top player for January.</figcaption></div><h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Right winger John Kordic fell into disfavor, again, with coach Doug Carpenter. During a Feb. 9 practice at the Gardens, Carpenter became so fed up with Kordic&rsquo;s lackadaisical attitude he told Kordic to leave the ice if he didn&rsquo;t want to concentrate and work hard. Kordic, who began serving a two-game suspension the following day (Feb. 10) for his attack or Minnesota&rsquo;s Mike Modano on Jan 24, finished the practice but was among the first to leave the ice&hellip;Lef winger Mark Osborne, having what many observers feel is his best season as a Leaf, was named the club&rsquo;s Mol- son Cup player of the month for January . He had five goals and 12 assists ir the month&hellip;Rookie center John McIntyre had three assists in a 7-1 win over St. Louis Feb. 7 for his first multiple-point game in the NHL.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>The North Stars outshot 10 opponents 370-252 from Jan. 18 to Feb. 10 and each of the opposing teams got fewer than 30 shots. The Stars&rsquo; record during the period was only 4-60.. .Larry Murphy was on the ice for 51 of the Stars&rsquo; first 61 power-play goals this season.. .Neal Broten played in his 616th game as g North Star on Feb. 7 against Hartford, moving him past team broadcaster Tom Reid into fifth place among all the players who have played in Minnesota.. Warren Babe, who had to take this entire season off because of a series of concussions, returned to the Twin Cities Feb. 9 to see team doctors. He said he hopes to play again next season. &#9632;

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HAWKS HOPE TO HAVE HASEK IN SEPTEMBER

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>The false alarm only added to the excitement, and suspense, of the evening.Seven minutes and 29 seconds into the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; 6-4 win over Toronto Feb. 6, Brett Hull shot from the side of the net, the puck went in and the crowd of 13,253 went wild, giving Hull a tremendous ovation.The only problem was the puck went off Paul MacLean&rsquo;s leg. Referee Dan Marouelli called it quickly, only the crowd drowned him out. It was MacLean&rsquo;s 20th goal, not Hull&rsquo;s 50th goal. Just his 32nd assist.&ldquo;Longest standing ovation for an assist in the history of the Blues,&rdquo; quipped resident Blues&rsquo; comic Bob Plager, the team&rsquo;s head of player development.Not to worry. The fans got it right, and Hull did, too, 5:55 into the third period, with Hull beating Jeff Reese low to the stick side on a breakaway for No. 50.It was a goalscorer&rsquo;s dream, even though breakaways are Hull&rsquo;s worst nightmare. Admittedly, he is indecisive on breakaways. Even though he appeared to skate in with a purpose after taking Sergio Momesso&rsquo;s lead pass, Hull was his uncertain self.&ldquo;1 was doing it again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 was going top. 1 was going five hole&hellip;He doesn&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m doing, and I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m doing. I just saw a little spot and 1 just shot.&ldquo;I saw a little comer, and I just shot it. I didn&rsquo;t know if it was going in.&rdquo;Teammates Momesso, Mike Lalor and Glen Featherstone mobbed him along the boards, while Peter Zezel retrieved the puck from the net. The fans littered the ice with promotional travel bags, and Hull acknowledged the crowd with a wave of the hand. He skated a quick semi-circle from the Blues&rsquo; bench, and the ovation continued.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01801/6833956-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="760" height="893"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull&rsquo;s 50th goal was the game-winner Feb. 6.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Paul MacLean was laughing, Hull said. &ldquo;He said, &rsquo;Your ovation was just a little longer than for my 20th.&rsquo; &ldquo;Father Bobby, the noted Hall-of- Famer, witnessed the magic moment in which he and Brett became the only father-son combination to score 50 in the NHL. Bobby did it five times.&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t any guys my age, from my era, who scored 50 and have kids playing today,&rdquo; Bobby said. &ldquo;When I saw what Brett was doing, 1 realized we were the only possibility of it happening in my lifetime &ldquo;He was also in the midst of a team record 20-game point-scoring streak, with 21 goals, 15 assists and 36 points, during the string. Those totals alone would place him sixth on the team for the entire season.Can Mario Lemieux&rsquo; streak&mdash;his was 46 straight and counting&mdash;be far behind?&ldquo;Yeah, right,&rdquo; Hull said.Hull remained largely unaffected by his magnificent season, which has featured an All-Star Game appearance, several national television appearances, countless press interviews and a contract squabble to boot.He&rsquo;s playing out his option on a contract paying him $125,000 per season, but he&rsquo;s constantly talking team first.After scoring No. 50, the first words out of his mouth were team- oriented. The win over Toronto was the Blues&rsquo; first victory over the Maple Leafs in seven tries this season. Hull&rsquo;s goal was the game-winner. The next night, the Blues lost 7-1 to the Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the biggest thing, beating Toronto,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Even if I hadn&rsquo;t scored, all I wanted to de was win.&rdquo;And several days later, he seemed genuinely flattered when a reporter from the New York Daily News asked him about being a possible Hart Trophy candidate.&ldquo;Are you kidding me? 1 wouldn&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;Wayne (Gretzky) and Mario (Lemieux) are perennial. Then, you&rsquo;ve got Mark Messier. I don&rsquo;t consider myself valuable.&rdquo;But why not? Through Feb. 12, Hull had a hand in 41.7 percent of the Blues&rsquo; goals&mdash;86 points on 206 goals. Where would the Blues be without Hull?&ldquo;It would be nice to be considered (for the Hart),&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;If someone came up and said &rsquo;you had some votes,&rsquo; 1 wouldn&rsquo;t be embarrassed.&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 9: Tom Tilley, D. recalled from Peoria (IHL). Tony Twist, D, assigned to Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel. Adam Oates. Rick Meagher, Ron Wilson.LW&mdash;Sergio Momesso, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Gino Cavallini, Steve Tuttle.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Paul MacLean. Dave Lowry, Kelly Chase.LD&mdash;Robert Dirk. Glen Featherstone. Mike Lalor, Gordie Roberts.RD&mdash;Paul Cavallini. Jeff Brown, Tom Tilley.G&mdash;Vincent Riendeau, Curtis Joseph.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Herb Raglan. RW, broken right wrist, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Hull. 52. A&mdash;Oates, 57. P&mdash;Hull, 86. PIM&mdash;Chase, 187. &#9632;

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HULL OF A NIGHT AS BRETT REACHES 50-G0AL MARK

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>Jeremy Roenick would be grateful if you didn&rsquo;t mention the words &ldquo;Calder Trophy&rdquo; in his presence. The Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; center said worrying about the rookie award is what got him in trouble earlier this season.&ldquo;1 hurt myself early by letting all that rookie of the year stuff bother me. thinking I had to go out and get so many points each night,&rdquo; said Roenick. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where I lost it.&ldquo;That was too much pressure on a kid, but 1 put it all on myself. If I have a shot, 1 have a shot. I don&rsquo;t even want to think about it now.&rdquo;Under pressure and without much confidence. Roenick went through the Hawks&rsquo; first 28 games with just two goals and eight assists.But his season turned around on Dec. 6. That night he had two goals and an assist in a 6-4 win in Toronto and he hadn&rsquo;t slowed down since.In the 27 games since Dec. 6, Roenick had 17 goals and 21 assists, getting points in 20 of those contests. Overall he was 19-29-48 in 55 games. As a result, whether he wanted to admit it or not, Roenick had vaulted back into the race for the Calder.&ldquo;The Toronto game is when I saw that I could do it, that it was there for me,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;When I see something now, I go do it instead of second guessing myself like I was before. 1 can trust myself now. Before I wasn&rsquo;t trusting myself.&ldquo;Confidence has helped me do things I wasn&rsquo;t doing before. It just all came together.&rdquo;Roenick&rsquo;s emergence as a star couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time for the Hawks, who needed the rookie to pick up some of the scoring slack after Denis Savard was lost for six weeks with a broken finger on Jan. 24. In the first five games following Savard&rsquo;s injury. Roenick had six goals and four assists.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard with Denis Savard out, but all the guys have to help fill the void, not just me,&rdquo; said Roenick. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just one of four (centers) to fill the void. It&rsquo;s a big gap, so it&rsquo;s going to take all of us.&rdquo;Ever since he joined the Hawks from the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec League at the tail end of last season. Roenick has made it a point to watch and learn from Savard. Considering his turnaround, it appeared he&rsquo;s done his homework well. Some of the things he was doing on the ice were, well.. .downright Savard-like.Savard said that all comes with experience.&ldquo;I try to help J.R. whenever I can,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;I remember when 1 first came into the league, I used to play a lot of 1-on-l hockey, too. 1 used to think you had to deke everybody, but the key is to just move the puck and get open. J.R.&rsquo;s doing that now. He&rsquo;s going to be a sensational player.&rdquo;Earlier this season Roenick spoke out about how his parents, agent (Neil Abbott) and some of the other people back home in Boston were putting pressure on him to do better.Roenick said all that has been worked out, further clearing his head and taking away some of the pressure that had been placed on his 20-year- old shoulders.&ldquo;We talked it all out and they&rsquo;re laying low now, giving me credit when credit is due,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;My parents have been great about it and I&rsquo;ve been so relaxed.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 7: Dan Vincelette, LW. recalled from Indianapolis (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash; Adam Creighton, Jeremy Roenick, Troy Murray, Mike Hudson.LW&mdash;Steve Thomas. Greg Gilbert, Jocelyn Lemieux, Mike Eagles, Dan Vincelette.RW&mdash;Wayne Presley. Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Duane Sutter.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson. Steve Konroyd, Trent Yawney.RD&mdash;Dave Manson. Keith Brown, Bob Savard, McGill, Bob Murray.G&mdash;Jacques Cloutier, Alain Chevrier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Darren Pang, G. left knee surgery, in definite.Denis Savard. C, broken left index finger- indefiniteAl- Secord, LW. strained right knee, in- definite.Wayne Van Dorp. LW, pulled rib cage. muscle, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Creighton, 29. A&mdash;Savard. 42. P&mdash; Savard, 63. PIM&mdash;Manson, 176. &#9632;

RELUCTANT ROENICK BACK IN CALDER RACE

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>The Detroit Red Wings have gone back to the future.Getting nowhere fast with their thirtysomething lineup, they were pinning their playoff hopes on youthful enthusiasm.Young forwards Sheldon Kennedy, 20, and Randy McKay, 23, defenseman Yves Racine, 21, and goalie Tim Cheveldae, 21, all were brought up over a two-week period.Cheveldae&rsquo;s promotion was planned for some time, but was hastened when Sam St. Laurent left with a mild concussion after one period of an 8-6 loss to Chicago Feb. 8. St. Laurent was expected to be assigned to Adirondack after recovering.To make room for the other youngsters, veteran left wingers Jim Nill, 31, and Torrie Robertson, 28, and defenseman John Mokosak, 26, were assigned Feb. 7 to Adirondack, and coach Jacques Demers threatened additional demotions.&ldquo;The people we sent down today are not entirely to blame,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;This is a youth movement. And there are about three other guys in there (the dressing room) who better watch their asses. &ldquo;Demers would not mention any names, but a team source said the coaching staff and the front office were very unhappy with Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Dave Barr and Marc Habscheid.O Connell was the only one of the three who took issue with the remark after he was named by the Detroit Free Press.&ldquo;I might be too old. I might be too short. 1 might have too much gray hair,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But complacent? That&rsquo;s not me. Tell your source to (expletive deleted) off.&rdquo;While the youngsters&mdash;especially Racine&mdash;played well in their first few games with the Wings, the vultures were circling, ready to swoop down and pick the bones of the ravaged Wings.Rival general managers were all too willing to take advantage of Detroit&rsquo;s desperation for a goaltender, Wings&rsquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano complained when he announced Cheveldae&rsquo;s recall Feb. 9.The Wings must rely on Cheveldae, Devellano explained, because it is improbable the Wings can make a deal to acquire a goalie from outside the organization.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone from team to team to team with no luck,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As recently as yesterday (Feb. 8) somebody asked me for my first-round draft choice and my second pick next year. Now I&rsquo;m not crazy. If the draft were held today, we would have the third pick overall.&rdquo;Devellano would not confirm it, but a source said Philadelphia wanted the two draft picks (No. 1 in June and No. 2 next year) and the ninth or 10th player on the Wings&rsquo; roster for goalie Ken Wregget. Devellano declined.&ldquo;I know we&rsquo;re hurting,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s killing Jacques. It&rsquo;s killing me. It&rsquo;s killing the guys (players). But we can&rsquo;t do something stupid.&rdquo;Nor could the Wings confine to fool their fans, Demers said. Hence, the changes.&ldquo;I could not any longer sell to our fans that we are moving ahead,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Today, I can say we are moving ahead. The youth movement is here.&rdquo;That was the conclusion reached in a midnight meeting involving owner Mike Hitch, Devellano and Demers after a 2-0 loss Feb. 6 to Boston, in which the Wings played emotionless, no-hit hockey.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve really observed the scene around here the last few games,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not breaking the chemistry of this team because we don&rsquo;t have any chemistry.&rdquo;<h2>Detroit</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Sheldon Kennedy, RW, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).Feb. 7: Jim Nill, RW, Torrie Robertson, LW, John Mokosak, D, assigned to Adirondack. Nill named player-assistant coach.Feb. 9: Tim Cheveldae, G, recalled from Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Bernie Federko, John Chabot. Dave BarrLW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Shawn Burr, Greg C. Adams, Randy McKay.RW&mdash;Joe Kocur, Sheldon Kennedy, Daniel Shank, Marc Habscheid, Kevin McClelland,LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Lee Norwood, Yves Racine.RD&mdash;Rick Zombo, Doug Houda. Mike O&rsquo;Connell.G&mdash;Glen Hanlon, Tim Cheveldae.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jimmy Carson. C, fluid buildup on right knee, indefinite.Robert Picard. D, sprained right ankle, day-to-day.Sam St. Laurent, G, concussion, day- to-day.Borje Salming. D. fractured bone in left hand, day-to-day.Greg Stefan, G, ligament damage in right knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 42. A&mdash;Yzerman, 45. P&mdash;Yzerman, 87. PIM&mdash;Kocur, 192. &#9632;

PLAYOFF HOPES REST ON YOUTHFUL SHOULDERS

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>When Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux step onto the ice, hockey fans anticipate something special.There aren&rsquo;t many players who can generate that sense of anticipation, usually followed by appreciation, with raw talent.Others, like Dave Brown in Edmonton, John Kordic in Toronto, Joey Kocur in Detroit and Basil McRae of the Minnesota North Stars, bring a sense of anticipation to the arena because of their toughness.McRae may not be scary tough like Brown and Kocur or as goofy as Kordic, but he&rsquo;s the North Stars&rsquo; courage.&ldquo;If I was picking a team, Basil is a guy I&rsquo;d want.&rdquo; Mike Gartner said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great team player. I&rsquo;m glad he&rsquo;s on my side.&rdquo;During the time McRae and Shane Churla were suspended for their parts in the Dec. 28 pre-game brawl in Chicago, the North Stars played like a combined entry for the Lady Byng Trophy. When McRae returned, the Stars quit looking over their shoulders.McRae, like so many other on-ice tough guys, is soft spoken off it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to go around bragging aboout what I do or how well 1 do it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But if I see something that needs doing, I&rsquo;ll do it.&rdquo;McRae wins fights more often than he loses but he doesn&rsquo;t win them all.&ldquo;I never said that I was the heavyweight champion,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are some players who 1 know that I need to be lucky, or get in the first punch, to beat. That doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean that they&rsquo;re going to kvin, either. Sometimes taking a punch is part of the job.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never met a player who I&rsquo;m afraid of or one so tough that he can make me back down, no matter what. When you know it&rsquo;s going to be a tough night you might as well get at it.&ldquo;Sometimes I feel if I take a step back, the team takes a couple steps back.&rdquo;Some of McRae&rsquo;s most effective work is done without his fists. Any time there&rsquo;s a scuffle and he&rsquo;s on the ice, he&rsquo;ll go from player to player to remind them he&rsquo;s available. Even the league&rsquo;s toughest players know he can be a long, hard night&rsquo;s work.He rarely misses an opportunity to whisper something to the other team&rsquo;s better players.&ldquo;Maybe it gives them something to think about other than scoring a goal,&rdquo; he said.McRae&rsquo;s role as backup for his teammates costs him points&mdash;he had three goals and 239 penalty minutes in 45 games&mdash;but not ice time.&ldquo;The nice thing about playing for the North Stars is that I have a chance to do other things,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a four-shift, two-fight player.&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t have any trouble accepting my role. Being aggressive is something that&rsquo;s built into my makeup.&rdquo;McRae has earned coach Pierre Page&rsquo;s appreciation.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great team player, one his teammates respect enough to vote one of their captains,&rdquo; said Page of McRae, who shares the captaincy on a rotating basis with Curt Giles and Stewart Gavin. &ldquo;With Basil, what you see is what you get and there&rsquo;s never any doubt that you&rsquo;re getting everything he has to give. He really cares about this team.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Scott Robinson, RW. assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL).Feb. 8: John Blue, G. assigned from Kalamazoo to Phoenix (IHL).Feb. 9: Rob Zettler, D, assigned to Kalamazoo.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Modano, Dave Gagner, Neal Broten, Perry Berezan.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Aaron Broten, Basil McRae, Gaetan Duchesne.RW&mdash;Don Barber, Stewart Gavin, Mike Gartner, Shane Churla, Helmut Balderis.LD&mdash;Curt Giles, Mark Tinordi, Ville Siren, Frantisek Musil.RD&mdash;Neil Wilkinson, Shawn Chambers, Larry Murphy.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Daniel Berthiaume, Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Curt Fraser. LW, back spasms and left shoulder reconstruction, indefinite.Dave Mackey, RW, sprained knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Bellows, 37. A&mdash;N. Broten, 44. P&mdash; Bellows, 69 PIM&mdash;McRae, 239. &#9632;

McRAE ADDS EXCITEMENT WITH TOUGHNESS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01412/6834059-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trainer Lefty Wilson doubles as a waiter, passing Johnny Wilson&rsquo;s 11 NHL seasons, he played for out refreshments to Detroit forwards Cummy Bur- four of the original six teams, including Stanley ton, middle, and Johnny Wilson (no relation). In Cup winners in Detroit in 1950, &rsquo;52, &rsquo;54 and &rsquo;55.</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/f0043-02285/6834104-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"></div>While the so-called purists would have you believe defense is the key to winning, it&rsquo;s been the NHL&rsquo;s highest-scoring teams which have had the most success in recent years.The numbers show the team with the highest goal totals over the last 10 seasons has finished first overall five times, and has won the Stanley Cup on four occasions.Listed below are the teams that finished with the most goals for and the fewest goals against since 1973-74. Also listed is their overall standing that season. Asterisks indicate the team won the Stanley Cup that year.<h2>OFFENSIVE RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03235/6834097-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="1146" height="1017"></div><h2>SHUTOUT-LESS</h2>In a little less than 48 hours, Montreal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy was credited with back-to-back shutouts in the Canadiens&rsquo; wins over Buffalo (1-0 Feb. 3) and Hartford (2-0 Feb. 4).The Quebec Nordiques, on the other hand, would be happy with just one. Through games played Feb. 5, the Nordiques had gone 187 games without a shutout.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04158/6834090-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="1192" height="697"></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

THE NUMBERS GAME ‘SCORE AND WIN’ THE NEW CREDO

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>Left winger Dave Reid squeezed into his late-model subcompact car parked in a lot adjacent to Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;Ever noticed,&rdquo; said Reid, &ldquo;how the guys on the power play drive Jaguars and the guys who kill penalties drive tin cans.&rsquo;Such is the lot in life of those foot soldiers assigned the thankless and often unappreciated task of keeping opponents off the scoreboard while a guilty teammate serves his time in the penalty box.While their efforts may go largely unnoticed in some cities, Toronto&rsquo;s penalty killers are becoming as popular and as well-known at the Gardens as their counterparts on the power play.It makes sense. On a team that led the league by incurring an average of 30.1 penalty minutes a match through games of Feb. 11, penalty killers such as Reid, Dan Daoust, Mark Osborne and John McIntyre were seeing a great deal of ice time.&ldquo;It certainly is a thankless job, one that doesn&rsquo;t get players many accolades,&rdquo; said coach Doug Carpenter. &ldquo;But maybe, just maybe, these guys deserve more credit than the offensive guys.&rdquo;The club&rsquo;s penalty killers have played a key role in Toronto s success this season. Recently, as a unit, it climbed to a respectable 78.6 per cent efficiency&mdash;13th best in the league.Considering the Leafs finished last in the NHL in penalty killing last season, 13th out of 21 wasn&rsquo;t bad.&ldquo;For someone like me, who doesn&rsquo;t see a regular shift all the time, 1 take a great deal of pride in the penalty killing,&rdquo; said veteran center Dan Daoust.Daoust was tied with Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman for third place in the league with four short-handed goals this season. Edmonton&rsquo;s Craig Mac- Tavish and Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dave McLlwain were tied for first with five.&ldquo;We were ranked 18th earlier this year but we&rsquo;ve gradually got it up to almost 80 percent, where is where we would like it to be,&rdquo; said Daoust. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all aware that penalty killing will win us and lose us some games over the course of a season.&rdquo;A perfect example of that unfolded in a game against New Jersey Jan. 26. The Leaf penalty killers shut out the Devils&rsquo; power play nine times in a 5-1 road win.&ldquo;If they put two or three of those chances in the net, who knows, it could have been a different game,&rdquo; said Daoust.A fair scorer during his days in Cornwall of the Quebec League&mdash;he scored 82 goals in 142 games&mdash;- Daoust struggled offensively when he reached the NHL and had to concentrate on his defensive talents. Eight seasons later, he is regarded as one of the league&rsquo;s top defensive players and penalty killers.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it, the kids we draft these days aren&rsquo;t being drafted because they&rsquo;re great penalty killers,&rdquo; said Carpenter.Reid, who also killed penalties during his junior career in Peterborough (Ontario League) and in the American League with Hershey, said he relishes the role.&ldquo;I enjoy it because it&rsquo;s a real challenge to stop other teams&rsquo; top players,&rdquo; said Reid. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a role that you have to accept and work hard at.&rdquo;<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Gilles Thibaudeau John McIntyre, Dan Daoust.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne, Vincent Dam- phousse. Scott Pearson. Dave ReidRW&mdash;Gary Leeman. Daniel Marois Lou Franceschetti, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Brad Marsh, Luke Richardson Brian Curran. Todd Gill.RD&mdash;Al lafrate, Rob Ramage. Tom Kurvers.G&mdash;Jeff Reese, Allan Bester.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark. LW, torn ligament right knee, indefinite.Tom Fergus, C, groin pull, day-to-dayDave Hannan, C, stretched ligaments left knee, day-to-dayMark Laforest, G, sprained left ankle, Feb, 19-22.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Leeman, 36. A&mdash;Damphousse, 43.P&mdash;Leeman. Olczyk, 67 PIM&mdash;Curran. 202. &#9632;

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February 23, 1990

NO SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT CHANGE: SATHER

NUMBERS

SECOND PLACE STILL A DREAM IN A SEASON OF MIRAGES

HE SHOOTS. HE SCORES-THREE YEARS LATER