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.

June 1, 1990

The Hockey News June 1, 1990

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01195/5767028-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis Blues&rsquo; stars Ab McDonald, left, Al Arbour, center, and Bill Plager take time off from training camp in 1969 to pursue a day of fishing. The Blues&rsquo; relaxation tactics apparently worked as they advanced to the Stanley Cup finals in 1969-70, but lost in four games to Boston.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

WAY WE WERE

&#9642; Don Koharski. &lsquo;Doughnuts&rsquo; Don has been much maligned, first for the infamous &ldquo;Have-another-doughnut&rdquo; incident in New Jersey two years ago and then for a curfew violation last spring. Now, he has reestablished himself as a preier NHL referee, if not No. I. He was the only one of three referees working the Cup final guaranteed two games (Nos. 1 and 4),<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03756/5764787-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="367" height="366"></div>&#9642; The Edmonton Oilers. What more can you say about the 1990 Cup champs? Glen Sather, John Muckier, Mark Messier, Bill Ranford, Jari Kurri, the Kid Line (Martin Gelinas, Adam Graves and J&oelig; Murphy)&hellip; the list goes on. The Oilers played it fast and smart.&#9642; The &lsquo;Safety-Valve Theory&rsquo;. It&rsquo;s said fighting must be permitted to give players an emotional outlet and without it. extreme violence would-ensue. Nice try. This year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final (one fight in five games) and Memorial Cup tournament (one tight in eight games) tell a different story.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04420/5764780-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="367" height="366"></div>&#9642; Boston Garden. It pains us to admit it, but the Garden ain&rsquo;t what it used to be. That is, a functional arena capable of hosting a Cup final. Too hot (bad ice). Too small (14,448 seats, many of which are obstructed, and cramped dressing rooms). Too old (can&rsquo;t handle media requirements). We&rsquo;re confident Bruin fans will give a new Garden much of the tradition of the old one. &#9632;

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CHEERS JEERS

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>The Washington Capitals&rsquo; best playoff performance ever&mdash;a Patrick Division title&mdash;was quickly forgotten amid an alleged sexual assault involving four players.A 17-year-old woman accused the four players of raping and sodomizing her in the back seat of a limousine in the Georgetown section of Washington, after she was one of many outsiders to join a party for the players at the Champions sports bar the night of May 11.In her statement to police, the woman said that early on the morning of May 12, Washington right winger Dino Ciccarelli took her by the arm and led her outside to the limousine, where she was sexually assaulted by Ciccarelli, Geoff Courtnall, Scott Stevens and Neil Sheehy.Ciccarelli, Stevens and Sheehy have denied the accusations, while Courtnall refused to comment. Because of the serious nature of the charges, team management and other players also declined comment.The woman, the players and others, including the limousine driver, testified before a federal grand jury. However, no indictments were issued in the three weeks that followed the start of the investigation.The limousine driver reportedly said the woman entered the vehicle willingly and he did not observe any later signs of protest. The woman had previously dated former Capital Yvon Corriveau and current Capital Steve Leach, so she was known to most of the players. She said she had been offered a ride by the players and trusted them because she considered them friends.The woman, although underage for such employment, worked at a bar called Rick Walker&rsquo;s Scoreboard in Fairfax, Va. She admitted she had falsified her age in her job application. She was accompanied to the party by a 22-year-old friend. Michael O&rsquo;Harro, owner of Champions, whose liquor license was in jeopardy for serving her, said the woman, who could not be identified because of her age, looked &ldquo;to be in her mid-20s.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02376/5765552-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="559" height="783"><figcaption class="caption-body">GM David Poile refused to comment on the incident.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01683/5765545-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="551" height="771"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dino Ciccarelli is one of four accused of sexual assault.</figcaption></div>If the matter of consent was in dispute, there appeared to be no question the woman entered the limousine and was involved in sexual activity. Even if they should escape indictment, therefore, the widespread publicity surrounding the incident left the players on tenuous ground.Ciccarelli, Courtnall and Stevens are married and all have children less than a year old. Sheehy, a bachelor, is 30 and reportedly issued the woman a verbal invitation to attend the party.Ciccarelli came to Washington from Minnesota, where he had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure. He was ordered to undergo counseling and was placed on probation, which expired in January, 1989.Ciccarelli, Courtnall and Stevens were three of the Capitals&rsquo; leading players this past season and a forced fire sale involving the three no doubt would have derogatory effects on the franchise for years to come.Although the club said there had been minimal reaction from seasonticket holders, Prince George&rsquo;s County (Md.) canceled a &ldquo;Salute to the Capitals&rdquo; ceremony planned a few days after the incident. Newspaper editorial writers and columnists vigorously condemned the players and professional athletes as a whole for their cavalier treatment of women.&ldquo;It would be totally inappropriate for the Washington Capitals to comment on this, especially since we don&rsquo;t know all the facts,&rdquo; said general manager David Poile. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s going to be a time and a place for comments. Now is not the time or the place.&rdquo;However, Poile conceded that the episode had left a sour taste, following the Capitals&rsquo; first Patrick Division playoff title.&ldquo;For this to occur certainly takes away the joy of what had turned into our best season ever,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;We have decisions to make now, but we are not in position to make those decisions.&rdquo;<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 8: Rob Mendel, D, signed contract. &#9632;

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THE NHL

SEX SCANDAL ROCKS CAPS’ POST SEASON

<h2>WHALERS</h2>General manager Ed Johnston has a busy summer negotiating contracts ahead of him. Twenty-two players are entering their option year, including: Mikael Andersson. Dave Babych, Ray Ferraro. Ron Francis, Jody Hull. Grant Jennings, Todd Krygier, Randy Ladouceur, Joel Quenneville, Brad Shaw. Dave Tippett. Mike Tomlak and Scott Young. Six others&mdash;Jim Culhane, Al Tuer, Daryl Reaugh, Dallas Gaume, Sean Evoy and Chris Cichocki&mdash;played out termination contracts and are free to sign with any club. Brian Chapman and Jim Ennis played out their options and are free agents with compensation&hellip;Beyond Andersson&rsquo;s scheduled knee arthroscope in Sweden, Johnston said Adam Burt (bad shoulder) and Chapman (wrist injury) are undergoing off-season rehabilitation and should be fine for next season&hellip;Johnston still had no concrete word on a minor-league affiliate for next season and said he will wait until a franchise is found before hiring a coach to replace the fired Doug McKay.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Guy Lafleur made a surprise announcement May 25 when he said he was close to retiring. A few days later, Lafleur said there was still a chance he would play one more season&hellip;Michel Petit, who was at odds with the Nordiques all season over contract talks, finally accepted a long-term deal May 14. He signed a five-year contract worth between $350,000 and $400,000 (Cdn.) a season. &ldquo;We just couldn&rsquo;t afford to lose Michel,&rdquo; said general manager Pierre Page. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll build our young defensive corps around him.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Nords also confirmed what had been known for a couple of months when they announced they had renogotiated Joe Sakic&rsquo;s contract. The 20-year-old center will make more than $400,000 (Cdn.) a year&hellip;It seems more and more likely Mats Sundin, the No. 1 overall draft pick of last year, will play one more year in Europe.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Managing director Serge Savard said he would make an effort to get center Dale Hawerchuk from the Winnipeg Jets, but was well aware there would be a fierce bidding war. Shayne Corson, considered a Canadiens&rsquo; untouchable, was said to be part of Winnipeg&rsquo;s asking price for Hawerchuk&hellip;Charles Henry, the director of operations for the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior League, met with Savard about relocating the Canadiens&rsquo; American Leage farm team to the Hull-Ottawa area&hellip;Petr Svoboda has denied Petr Klima&rsquo;s statement that Svoboda wants out of Montreal&hellip;Savard said he doubts very much Chicago will unload Denis Savard despite the latter&rsquo;s difficulties with coach Mike Keenan. &ldquo;(Savard) got that team<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03793/5765225-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="545" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Turgeon is entering his-option year with the Sabres.</figcaption></div><h2>SABRES</h2>The Sabres don&rsquo;t have many contracts to work on this summer, but they will have to come to terms with center Pierre Turgeon. The 20-year-old just completed his third season in the NHL and will be negotiating from strength: 40-66-106 totals in 80 games. Turgeon is entering the option year of his contract&hellip;The Sabres also have an offer out for Boston College defenseman Greg Brown, a Hobey Baker Award finalist who has completed his junior year at the Hockey East school&hellip;The Sabres aren&rsquo;t expecting much when they go to the draft table June 16. Their first pick is No. 19 and they don&rsquo;t have a second-round selection. Buffalo got defenseman Kevin Haller from Regina of the Western League at the 14th spot last season and considered itself extremely fortunate. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get a prospect at that point (19th) but it will certainly be someone we can&rsquo;t project for our team for at least a year or two,&rdquo; Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan said&hellip;While the Sabres continue to deal for a new building, work is progressing to bring the current one up to 20th-century standards. Workers are removing pockets of asbestos from, non-arena portions of the building. The roof is being repaired and bids have been let for an air conditioning system. Air conditioning is considered a must item if the club and city are to successfully host the 1991 entry draft.<h2>BRUINS</h2>Rookie John Byce&rsquo;s goal 10 seconds into the Bruins&rsquo; 2-1 Game 3 win May 20 tied Oiler Glenn Anderson&rsquo;s record for the fastest goal at the start of a final series game. Anderson set the record in 1988 against the Bruins&hellip;The Bruins&rsquo; power play was 1-for-19 in the final series for a success rate of 5.26 per cent&hellip;The player most likely not to be back next season is center-right winger Bob Sweeney, who had two assists in 20 playoff games&hellip;The club hopes to see top Western League player Wes Walz of Lethbridge, Kitchener&rsquo;s Shayne Stevenson and Byce crack the lineup next season. &#9632;

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WHALER GM JOHNSTON FACES BUSY SUMMER

<h2>THIS WEEK</h2><h3>THE NHL</h3>Adams Notebook&hellip;&hellip;12Boston&hellip;&hellip;13Montreal&hellip;&hellip;14Hartford&hellip;&hellip;15Buffalo 1&hellip;&hellip;16Quebec&hellip;&hellip;17Patrick Notebook&hellip;&hellip;19Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;20Washington&hellip;&hellip;21New Jersey&hellip;&hellip;22NY Islanders&hellip;&hellip;23NY Rangers&hellip;&hellip;24Philadelphia 25Smythe Notebook 27Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;28Calgary&hellip;&hellip;29Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;30Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;30Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;31Norris Notebook&hellip;&hellip;43Detroit&hellip;&hellip;44Chicago&hellip;&hellip;45St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;45Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;46Toronto&hellip;&hellip;48<h3>COLUMNS</h3>Bob McKenzie&hellip;&hellip;3Stan Fischler 12Barry Meisel&hellip;&hellip;19Steve Dryden&hellip;&hellip;26Dave Molinari&hellip;&hellip;43<h3>DEPARTMENTS</h3>Cheers and Jeers&hellip;&hellip;3Letters&hellip;&hellip;3Bluelines&hellip;&hellip;5Elston&hellip;&hellip;5Pro File&hellip;&hellip;5Digest&hellip;&hellip;6Stanley Cup Report&hellip;&hellip;7THN Awards&hellip;&hellip;10Draft Preview&hellip;&hellip;11Then & Now&hellip;&hellip;19Minor Pro Report&hellip;&hellip;32Major Junior Report&hellip;&hellip;35NHL Statistics&hellip;&hellip;37Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;39Classified&hellip;&hellip;40NHL Summaries&hellip;&hellip;42Did You Know?&hellip;&hellip;43The Numbers Game&hellip;&hellip;47Way We Were&hellip;&hellip;47<h2>QUOTABLE</h2>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re probably the only team in the history of professional sports that won a championship and did not have a parade, did not have a day or may not operate the next year.&rdquo;&mdash;Owner Peter Cooney of the AHL champion Springfield Indians sums up the problems he&rsquo;s had with the city of Springfield. Page 32.PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER: Michael LawtonEDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Boh McKenzieCONTROLLER: Tom MoffatContributing Editor: Steve Dryden. Editorial Staff: Dave Bean, Ken Campbell. Jason Kay. Tim Milne. Rand Simon. Design Director: Bob Torrans. Photographer: Bruce Bennett. Production Co-ordinator: Charlie Halpin Research Manager: Chris Nagel. Promotion Manager: Esther Sumka Circulation Manager: Jurate Kaknevicius. Assistant to the Publisher: Chris Ellis. Merchandising Manager: Ken Whitmell Advertising Representatives: Manager, Generic Advertising: Randy Green. Sales: David Burgess Ontario Rep: Jack Fargey, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills. Ont. M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702. Quebec/Ottawa/Atlantic Canada: Yvon Lacroix, Nik Reitz, McGown & Assoc. Inc., 785 Plymouth Ave., Montreal, Que. H4P 1B3 (514) 735-2924. Western Canada: Eric McWilliam, McGown & Assoc. Inc., 1500 West Georgia St., Suite 1400, Vancouver, B. C. V6G 2Z6 (604) 688-5914. U.S. Rep: Michael Gribbin, Executive Publishing and Advertising Group, Inc., 1703 E. Joppa Rd., Baltimore, Md, 21234 (301) 882-0050. Classified Advertising: David Burgess. Newsstand Distributor: Distributed nationally by Disticor, 155 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 213, North York, Ont. M2H 3N7 (416) 496-8444. Advertising and Editorial Offices: 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702. The Hockey News (ISSN 0018-3016) is published weekly except for the last week in December and published monthly June. July and August by Transcontinental Publications Inc. Single-copy price $2.25. Forty-two issue subscription rates, $39.95 in North America, $120.95 elsewhere, include 38 regular issues, two double issues. The Year in Photos and The Draft Preview. Send all Canadian and non-European orders and address changes to The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd.. Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2. European subscription requestsand address changes should be sent to Barker&rsquo;s Worldwide Publications, 3 Eastbrook Close, Wokking, Surrey. U.K. Phone: 081-844-2000. Fax: 081-844-0852. U.S. subscription requests and address changes should be mailed to Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240. Please allow two to four weeks for processing. Second-class mail registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept, The Hockey News. In the United States: Second-class postage paid at Buffalo, NY 14240-9544. U.S. Postmaster send address change to The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240. The Hockey News was co-founded in 1947 by K. W. McKenzie and W. V. Cote. Cover photos: Edmonton Ollers&rsquo; Jan Kum and Bill Ranford by Bruce Bennett Studios; Niagara Falls Thunders&rsquo; Keith Primeau by Dan Hamilton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03762/5764649-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="666" height="1168"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM LAIDLAW is playing the waiting game with his back injury.Page 28</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04537/5764642-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="646" height="1054"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL BERGERON took the inevitable fall in Quebec.Page 17</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05397/5764635-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="1195" height="1172"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAVEL BURE is eligible for the June entry draft and that has the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; management fuming.Page 30</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

THE HOCKEY News

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011284/5764687-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="547" height="641"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque</figcaption></div>The next issue of The Hockey News, which will be coming your way in about a month, is, in fact, two issues.It&rsquo;s our first-ever double issue, 80 pages of the most noteworthy aspects of all the off-ice action at all levels of the game.The first half is our inaugural Awards Supplement, an in-depth look at individual trophy winners. We&rsquo;ll honor and feature award winners such as Ray Bourque in the National Hockey League and Mike Ricci in the Ontario League and just about everyone else who won something in 198990.The other half will be the traditional post-NHL entry draft issue, complete with analysis of the most interesting draft ever and all the news and views from regular THN contributors and columnists.Don&rsquo;t miss all that and more in our exciting new double issue, available in early July.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021047/5764680-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="544" height="657"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Ricci</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NEXT ISSUE

As a season ticket holder for the International League&rsquo;s Milwaukee Admirals, I have three important questions: 1) Why are George and Gordon Gund, who took a franchise in hockey-rich Minnesota and ran it into the ground, allowed to have another team?; 2) Why are the Gunds getting a franchise in the Bay Area, where the NHL has already failed?; and 3) Why are class acts like Lloyd and Jane Pettit&mdash;who would own a Milwaukee expansion franchise&mdash;being jerked around while the Gunds get preferential treatment?The Petits have given most of their lives to hockey and yet as much as they would dearly love to have an NHL franchise, they seem to be growing weary of the political games that need to be played to get one.Mr. John Ziegler, the Pettits can give you $50 million, they can give you a first-class hockey facility (the Bradley Center) and they can give you 10,000 season ticket holders. It&rsquo;s too bad they can&rsquo;t also give you something you sorely lack&mdash;integrity.Don Ross&nbsp;Wauwatosa, Wise.<h2>GO, PHIL</h2>I would like to commend Phil Esposito on his effort to bring an NHL team to the Tampa Bay area.There are not only millions of Florida residents who are originally from Canada or the northern United States, but every year millions of northern residents either live here in the winter or vacation here.If the NHL wants to make a serious impact in the United States, the Tampa Bay area would be an excellent place to start. I know that my family and I would be the first ones in line to purchase season tickets.Jim Gibson&nbsp;St. Petersburg, Fla.<h2>WHAT GIVES?</h2>How you could have left Stephane Richer&rsquo;s name off your reader&rsquo;s poll ballot in favor of the plodders you listed for the right wing all-star position is beyond me.Aside from Brett Hull, no other right winger meant as much to his team. Think about it, Richer had 51 goals (42 at even strength) in 75 games on a defensive-minded team with no power play to speak of.Many of Richer&rsquo;s goals were the result of exceptional individual effort. Who knows how many he would&rsquo;ve scored if he played with a good playmaking center?I think it&rsquo;s time the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; right winger received some recognition as one of the best and most exciting players in the NHL.Mike Fama&nbsp;Waterloo, Ont.<h2>TOUCH OF CLASS</h2>I would like to comment on something which took place May 7 after Game 3 of the Boston-Washington series in Washington.Boston goaltender Andy Moog showed tremendous class when he gave a puck and the &ldquo;thumbs-up&rdquo; salute to three young kids in Bruin sweaters.Not only will those kids remember and cherish that souvenir for years, it re-affirms to everyone watching that the fans play a big part of the game and that the players appreciate their support.Derek MacLeod&nbsp;London, Ont.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011438/5764718-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="543" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boston goalie Andy Moog is a classy guy, says a reader.</figcaption></div><h2>BAD MOVE</h2>What a coward Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; president Jay Snider is for firing Bob Clarke as general manager. I guess Snider didn&rsquo;t learn anything about Clarke in 21 years.It makes me laugh that Snider thinks he knows more about hockey than Clarke does. If Clarke hadn&rsquo;t joined the Flyers, there wouldn&rsquo;t have been a team left for Snider to inherit.Robert White&nbsp;Fresno, Cal.<h2>GOOD GUYS</h2>The Edmonton Oilers are not only one of the best hockey teams in the world, they are also one of the nicest.I recently called the team and asked them to send my younger brother, who lives in Kansas City, a picture of his favorite goaltender. Grant Fuhr. The public relations secretary for the team immediately sent him a set of Oilers&rsquo; action cards, a photo of Fuhr and a very thoughtful note wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him for being a loyal fan.In contrast, I asked an American team for a similar picture of one of its goaltenders and was told to put my request in writing. A few weeks later I received a small picture with a photocopied sheet of the player&rsquo;s autograph.There&rsquo;s a lot to be said about how Canadians go out of their way to treat people in a more considerate manner. It&rsquo;s too bad the Americans can&rsquo;t do the same.Vineeta Sawkar&nbsp;Boston. Mass.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to:&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News,&rsquo;85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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GUNDS DON’T DESERVE AN NHL FRANCHISE

What are they going to do, not draft him? Highly-touted Cornwall Royal right winger Owen Nolan, a potential No. 1 overall pick in this year&rsquo;s draft, refused to undergo any physical or psychological testing for NHL clubs. It&rsquo;s a highly unusual stance, bordering on revolutionary. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something Owen wanted to do and I feel the same way,&rdquo; says lawyer/agent Gene McBurney of Toronto. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the need, really, for physical testing? He&rsquo;s not fat. You can see he&rsquo;s in shape. He&rsquo;s never had any injuries to speak of. Vancouver wanted to do psychological testing. We wouldn&rsquo;t even countenance that.&rdquo; Instead, Nolan met with the teams picking at or near the top in an interview-type setting only. Nolan is as feisty and unyielding off the ice as he is on it&hellip; If Quebec takes Nolan first overall, McBurney says his client won&rsquo;t come cheap. &ldquo;I saw where Marcel Aubut paid $15 million (Cdn.) for the Nordiques at about the same time the NHL was setting a value of $50 million (U.S.) on a franchise,&rdquo; McBurney says. &ldquo;The way I see it, Marcel just got a $40 million windfall. He&rsquo;s going to have to part with some it.&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021163/5764749-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="521" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB McKENZIE</figcaption></div>Boston coach Mike Milbury was criticized for moving center Craig Janney to left wing, interpreted as a vain attempt to keep the playmaker away from Edmonton pest Esa Tikkanen. Those who know say the move was only because Janney&rsquo;s battered shoulder wasn&rsquo;t strong enough to take faceoffs&hellip;The Bruins went down quietly, but their coach didn&rsquo;t. He was both refreshing and rancorous with his candid comments. On Petr Klima, with the Oiler standing a few feet away: &ldquo;Look at him waiting there to see what I&rsquo;m going to say. John Muckier will tell you that (Klima) is dangerous, both offensively and defensively. That&rsquo;s why he was so fresh (in triple overtime).&rdquo; On hearing that Oiler coach Muckier didn&rsquo;t think Cam Neely was that impressive in Game 1: &ldquo;Yeah&hellip;well, I didn&rsquo;t think Mark Messier was very good either.&rdquo; On how he felt immediately after losing the Cup final: &ldquo;Rotten! I feel really rotten.&rdquo; On the complexities of being a rookie NHL coach and going to the final: &ldquo;Gimme a break, I&rsquo;m going on vacation.&rdquo; On being humiliated in lopsided Game 2: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a stupid f question. You&rsquo;re a stupid reporter.&rdquo;It was probably just coincidence, but when Messier handed off the Cup for the first time, it went to Adam Graves. Don&rsquo;t let the boyish looks or aw-shucks off-ice demeanor fool you, Graves possesses a lot of the same qualities as Messier. Wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if Graves one day becomes the Oilers&rsquo; captain and team leader&hellip;If Graves develops that way, then it&rsquo;s reasonable to think Martin Gelinas is destined to be the next Glenn Anderson&hellip;The final returns aren&rsquo;t in yet, but to this point the Quebec Nordiques have to be wondering about their 1988 decision to draft Daniel Dore, a big, grinding winger, fifth overall, ahead of the speedy Gelinas&hellip;Isn&rsquo;t it a little early to be proclaiming the Oilers as the team of the &rsquo;90s? The Calgary Flames, with fiery Doug Risebrough as coach, may have something to say about that, not to mention any one of Vancouver, Winnipeg or Los Angeles..Did you notice the eerie resemblance between this year&rsquo;s playoffs and last year&rsquo;s Cup run? Calgary barely scrapes by Vancouver in the first round and rolls over everyone else en route to the 1989 Cup. Edmonton rallies for a sevengame series win over Winnipeg and demolishes all comers to take the 1990 Cup&hellip;I hope Peter Pocklington doesn&rsquo;t think this Cup victory vindicates his decision to peddle Wayne Gretzky. Yes, the revamped Oilers won their fifth Cup in seven years, but who&rsquo;s to say it wouldn&rsquo;t have been their sixth in seven years if Gretzky hadn&rsquo;t been traded?. The vindication was of Glen Sather&rsquo;s managerial skills&hellip;Trade Grant Fuhr? In the up-and-down world of NHL goaltenders, I&rsquo;d want more evidence that the Bill Ranford who won the Conn Smythe Trophy is the same Bill Ranford who will show up to work every day in the regular season. Until then, Fuhr is a pretty good insurance policy&hellip;Prediction: Dale Hawerchuk will end up in either Hartford or Buffalo. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

BLUE-CHIP PROSPECT SHUNS NHL TESTING

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021310/5764839-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="348" height="296"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031105/5764832-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="165" height="169"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04934/5764825-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="358" height="295"></div>Pat LaFontaine selected Dodge NHL Performer of the YearNEW YORK&mdash;New York Islanders&rsquo; center Pat LaFontaine was named the 1990 Dodge/NHL Performer of the Year June 4 and was awarded a 1991 Dodge Stealth at the NHL Awards Luncheon presented by Budweiser and Dodge.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011440/5764818-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="571" height="676"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine</figcaption></div>John Damoose, vice president marketing, of Chrysler Motors was on hand at The Water Club in New York to make the presentation to LaFontaine, who registered career-high 54-51-105 totals in 74 games to lead the New York Islanders to the playoffs.Dodge will donate $4,500 to the Lakeland Hockey Association and $1,500 to both the Suffolk County Hockey League and the Nassau County PAL Hockey League on behalf of LaFontaine.LaFontaine was named Dodge/NHL Performer of the Week twice (Jan. 14 and Feb. 11) this season. He was also a runner-up on two occasions for both Dodge Performer-of-the-Week and-Month honors.He led the Islanders in scoring for the third straight season and recorded his first 50-goal and 100-point seasons since joining the Islanders in 1984. He became the second player in Islander history to score 50 goals in a season.&ldquo;I am deeply honored to win this NHL award,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;I want to thank my teammates, the coaches, the Islanders&rsquo; organization and especially Dodge for their generous donations to youth hockey.&rdquo;Dodge, the official car/truck of the NHL, and Chrysler Canada are sponsors of the Dodge/NHL Performer of the Week/Month/Year and the Dodge Ram Tough Ranking Awards and have donated more than $200,000 to youth hockey associations in recognition of the award winners over the past six seasons. Dodge and Chrysler Canada also sponsor NHL All-Star Fan Balloting. &#9632;

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THE DODGE NHL REPORT

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>When talking to the U.S. and Canadian media, Calgary Flames&rsquo; right winger Sergei Makarov remained diplomatically neutral in his comparison of North American and Soviet hockey. But when he discussed the NHL with Russian journalists, he blasted his new colleagues as more selfish than his Moscow comrades. &ldquo;In Soviet hockey it is not important who scores the most goals or who makes the greatest number of assists,&rdquo; said Makarov in the Russian daily newspaper, Novoye Russkoye Slovo. &ldquo;But in the NHL it is listed in the contracts how many goals and assists you are supposed to get and for this there are bonuses. That&rsquo;s why it happens that an NHL teammate won&rsquo;t pass the puck but rather tries to score himself&mdash;even though he&rsquo;s not in the best position to do so. There is no such thing in Soviet hockey.&rdquo; Makarov reveals he never was satisfied with ice time given him by deposed Flames&rsquo; coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;I did not play enough.&rdquo;<h2>GONE HOLLYWOOD</h2>After a year of talking about it, Brian and Joey Mullen will have their Hell&rsquo;s Kitchen-to-the-NHL saga turned into a Disney TV movie. It&rsquo;s rumored actor-hockey nut Richard Dean Anderson of MacGyver will be one of the stars&hellip; The number of major companies planning to produce hockey cards this fall has climbed to five, and two more may follow suit. Upper Deck, Score, and Pro-Set have obtained licenses from the NHL and will join Topps and O-Pee-Chee in the growing market. Fleer and Hi-Pro may soon follow.<h2>LONG-WINDED</h2>Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren or goalie Pete Peeters: &ldquo;A five-minute conversation with Pete takes 25 minutes.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The often reclusive Glenn Anderson of the Edmontor Oilers has begun opening up on the personal setbacks which have affectec his career in the past two years. Ont was the death of a close friend George Varvis, and the other Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s trade. &ldquo;I lost par of my heart,&rdquo; says Anderson, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d always been a positive person but two years ago my thoughts were all negative.&rdquo;<h2>DENTIST&rsquo;S DREAM</h2>Denis Savard claims he knev Jeremy Roenick would be a star the night the Chicago Blackhawks rookie spat out a few teeth after taking a Glen Featherstone crosscheck ii the mouth during a 1989 playoff garni against St. Louis. &ldquo;Sometimes a guy will play timid after something liki that,&rdquo; says Savard. &ldquo;But the kid go back and scored the winning goal.&rsquo; Roenick was. hardly upset about losing his teeth. &ldquo;When I was a kid,&rsquo; says the Hawks&rsquo; ace, &ldquo;I used to tell my mom, &lsquo;Why should I go to th dentist? I&rsquo;m going to lose them any Way,&rdquo; &hellip;Chicago Stadium crowd behavior during the playing of the Star Spangled Bannercaused a rift over the patriotism issue. Veteran columnist Bill Gleason describes the all-anthem yelling as &ldquo;disgraceful&rdquo; and adds that it is unpatriotic for the Hawks to allow such behavior. &ldquo;No other country in the world would allow it,&rdquo; says Gleason. Blackhawks&rsquo; owner Bill Wirtz debunks the critics. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s the greatest thing in the world,&rdquo; says Wirtz. &ldquo;I clap right along with them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011343/5764870-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="545" height="757"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Carpenter was a great acquisition for the Bruins.</figcaption></div><h2>LOCAL HEROES</h2>The Boston Bruins have done extremely well with homegrown New England products such as Bobby Carpenter, Bob Sweeney, Andy Brickley, John Carter and Craig Janney. &ldquo;We like local players,&rdquo; says vice-president Tom Johnson, &ldquo;because it doesn&rsquo;t cost much to bring them to training camp.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Four of the least likely painters recently auctioned their signed artwork for a considerable sum to benefit the National Youth Physical Fitness Program. One of them, New York Rangers&rsquo; tough guy Chris Nilan, painted a still of his fists, first dropping his paws in paint and then pressing the knuckles to canvas. Nilan allows that his painting idol is Vincent Van Gogh. &ldquo;Anyone who cuts his ear has to be the most like a hockey player.&rdquo; Teammate John Vanbies-brouck fetched $500 for his original abstract oil created by using his two-year old son, Ian&rsquo;s mini-hockey stick.<h2>CLOSE CALL</h2>New York Islanders&rsquo; public relations director Greg Bouris barely escaped death during a local radio station&rsquo;s promotional ball hockey game involving David Volek and Mick Vukota. Bouris accidentally collided with an opponent and was knocked unconscious when his chin hit the floor. He swallowed his tongue and only quick work by teammate Mike Boosin, a former life guard, saved his life. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what happened from the minute I got hit,&rdquo; says Bouris. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing they didn&rsquo;t think I was taking a dive.&rdquo; &#9632;

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MAKAROV CRITICAL OF NHL’S STYLE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02978/5764901-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<h2>SHAWN BURR</h2>Born: July 1, 1966, Sarnia, Ont. Height: 6-foot-1. Weight: 195 pounds. Team: Detroit Red Wings. Position: Center-left wing. Acquired: Drafted first round, seventh overall, in 1984.Career Highlight: &ldquo;Probably my first game as a pro when 1 was centering a line with Darryl Sittier and Tiger Williams in Montreal. 1 was playing with a bunch of guys 1 watched when I was growing up.&rdquo;Career Disappointment: &ldquo;Not making the playoffs this year was really disappointing after we got things turned around in Detroit.&rdquo;Hobbies: Golfing, boating and waterskiing.Favorite Band: &ldquo;1 hardly listen to any music. I don&rsquo;t even have a record or own a walkman.&rdquo;Favorite Movie: &ldquo;I like the funny ones, probably Caddyshack or stripes.Most Respected Opponent: &ldquo;You respect all the players. You have to figure on every team there&rsquo;s one player you have to stop.&rdquo;If he could change anything about the way he plays: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be a faster skater.&rdquo;Boyhood hero: &ldquo;Wayne Gretzky was the ultimate hero but I was from Sarnia and I always kept my eye on another guy from there, Wayne Merrick. I watched him while I was growing up and 1 cheered for the Isles.&rdquo;If he could meet anyone in history: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always admired someone funny. I&rsquo;d really love to sit down and have dinner with Robin Williams. I&rsquo;d have a really good time.&rdquo;Favorite Joke: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t knock &rsquo;em out with one, I try to get them with quantity. If I try 100 jokes, hopefully one will work.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03675/5764932-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="525" height="1179"></div> &#9632;

f0005-03

PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>Four months before the Global Hockey League is scheduled to begin play, league co-founders Michael Gobuty and Dennis Murphy have been effectively removed from office by club owners.The fledgling league, which aims to operate in North America and Europe, had a stormy set of meetings May 29-31 in Providence, R.I. By the time they were over, Gobuty and Murphy were victims of a palace revolt that catapulted New England Clippers&rsquo; owner Godfrey Wood to the forefront.Wood said another organizational meeting would be held June 7 in Saskatoon. The aim, he said, is still for the GHL to commence play in October, despite the inner turmoil of the Providence meetings. The league&rsquo;s first draft is scheduled for June 24 in Lyon, France.&ldquo;I think we have a league,&rdquo; Wood said. &ldquo;I believe we&rsquo;ll have a minimum of six teams in North America and four in Europe.&rdquo;One of the North America teams may be Albany, the first franchise named and, for three days, the first franchise to be given the boot by Gobuty and Murphy.Albany Admirals&rsquo; co-owners Joe O&rsquo;Hara and Glenn Mazula were notified May 28 their option to purchase a franchise was revoked. Gobuty and Murphy said they took the action because O&rsquo;Hara and Mazula had asked in a letter to leave the league on May 18.The two sides negotiated for six days by phone and O&rsquo;Hara and Mazula, who had made statements critical of Gobuty&rsquo;s proposals, said they agreed to attend the meetings at Providence and not cause any problems. The day before the meetings were to begin, they were tossed out of the league.O&rsquo;Hara and Mazula quickly notified Gobuty and Murphy they would be sued for $150,000 in an attempt to recoup all expenses associated with purchasing the option for a franchise. Murphy countered with the threat of a lawsuit over comments made by O&rsquo;Hara.With the other owners effectively in control of the league, O&rsquo;Hara and Mazula were invited to return.Gobuty tore up his proposal that he be named commissioner for a five-year term at $300,000 per year, with rights to the league&rsquo;s merchandising and a percentage of television and sponsorship revenue. In addition, the amount of money Gobuty and Murphy are to receive for forming the league was renegotiated downward.The teams believed to be ready to join the league for its first season are Saskatoon, Providence, Albany, Birmingham, White Plains, N.Y., Oakland or San Diego and Miami. The European lineup is expected to be Lyon, Prague, Berlin, Rotterdam and Milan.<h2>NCCA UPDATE</h2>Two new Central Collegiate Hockey Association coaches were named May 30 and 31. One appointment was anticipated. The other was a shocker.On May 31, Lake Superior State athletic director Jim Fallis announced coach Frank Anzalone had been relieved of all duties. Jeff Jackson, an assistant at LSSU since 1986, was named immediately to replace Anzalone.Anzalone&rsquo;s departure had nothing to do with his team&rsquo;s record. Since he took over on Feb. 19, 1983, his teams compiled a 191-108-22 overall record. The Lakers won the NCAA title in 1988.But Anzalone, the winningest coach in LSSU history, is a notorious griper. That contributed to his firing.&ldquo;Coach Frank Anzalone has repeatedly expressed his unhappiness with LSSU,&rdquo; said Fallis in a news release. &ldquo;When an employee is so publicly unhappy with his position and employment circumstances, it is time to make a change to improve the morale of all concerned with Laker hockey.&rdquo;Anzalone declined comment but said he would talk at a June 6 news conference in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.Jackson, 34, had accepted an assistant coaching position with Michigan State a few days earlier. However, when offered the LSSU head coaching position, Jackson accepted.Meanwhile, Larry Pedrie was named head coach at Illinois-Chicago May 30. Pedrie, who was an assistant at UIC from 1984 to 1987, now returns to the Flames after three seasons as an assistant at Michigan.Pedrie, 30, replaces Val Belmonte, who resigned in April to become assistant athletic director at UIC.Two other NCAA Division I teams recently hired new coaches:&#9642; The Dartmouth Big Green signed Ben Smith May 18 to replace Jeff Kosak. Kosak was hired at the end of the 1989-90 season to coach the Eastern College Athletic Conference team, but, for personal reasons, decided he didn&rsquo;t want the job after just 11 days.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011525/5764963-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="706" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Lowe of the Edmonton Oilers was named the NHL&rsquo;s Man of the Year.</figcaption></div>&#9642; The Denver Pioneer job went to Frank Serratore May 24. That position was left vacant when nine-year coach Ralph Backstrom announced he would be pursuing an NHL job at the end of the 1989-90 season.This season, Serratore, 32, was coach and general manager of the Omaha Lancers of the United States Junior League.<h2>JAY RESIGNS</h2>The implementation of an NHL ruling has left the Ontario League&rsquo;s Oshawa Generals in search of a new director of operations.Frank Jay, a scout with New Jersey since 1982, was forced to give up his position with the Generals because the NHL forbids its teams&rsquo; employees to hold managerial positions with junior teams. Jay, who&rsquo;d been in the Generals&rsquo; organization for 11 years&mdash;10 of them as a scout&mdash;took over as director of operations at the beginning of the 1989-90 season.In his one year as director of operation, the Generals won the Memorial Cup.<h2>AWARD WINNERS</h2>Boston College coach Len Ceglarski, the winningest coach in U.S. college hockey history, received the 1990 Lester Patrick Trophy June 4 in New York.The Lester Patrick Trophy is presented annually by the NHL and the New York Rangers &ldquo;for outstanding service to hockey in the United States&rdquo; in honor of of the late Patrick, longtime coach and general manager of the Rangers.In his 32 years as a college head coach&mdash;14 years at Clarkson and 18 years at BC&mdash;Ceglarski has compiled a 632-309-35 record. He&rsquo;s the only coach to win more than 250 games at two different institutions (254 at Clarkson, 378 at BC).In other award news, Edmonton defenseman Kevin Lowe was named the 1990 Budweiser/NHL Man of the Year, for his contributions on and off the ice; Oiler center Mark Messier won the Lester B. Pearson Award as the league&rsquo;s outstanding player in a vote of NHL players; and St. Louis right winger Brett Hull was the winner of this year&rsquo;s Dodge Ram Tough Award, whose winner is determined by the combined total of power-play, shorthanded, game-tying and game-winning goals.<h2>BEGIN SENTENCED</h2>Former Drummondville Voltigueurs&rsquo; coach Jean Begin was sentenced May 25 to six months in jail and two years probation after pleading guilty to seven charges of having sexual contact with boys.The charges of sexually assaulting a boy under 14 and inciting sexual contact with a minor involved separate incidents between November, 1988 and January, 1989.During his probation, Begin must undergo psychological therapy in Quebec City and refrain from participating in amateur sport.Begin was arrested Feb. 8, 1989 after a boy&rsquo;s parents filed a complaint. Almost immediately, he was fired by the Voltigeurs. Assistant coach Gervais Rioux assumed his duties.<h2>BORJE GOES HOME</h2>After an illustrious 17-year NHL career, Borje Salming is returning to his native Sweden.The 39-year-old defenseman, who played 16 seasons in Toronto before joining Detroit as a free agent last year, signed a two-year contract with AIK Stockholm of the Swedish Elite League May 28.Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but Salming said if he doesn&rsquo;t play well next season he&rsquo;ll retire.A first-team all-star in 1977 and a second-team selection on five other occasions, Salming finished his NHL career with 150-637-787 regular-season totals in 1,148 games. &#9632;

f0006-01

GLOBAL WARFARE IN GHL

<div class="byline">BY CAM COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011368/5764994-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Kid Line of Joe Murphy, left, Adam Graves, center, and Martin Gelinas emerged during the first round and was a key to the Oilers&rsquo; Stanley Cup success.</figcaption></div>On Aug. 9, 1988, the Edmonton Oilers were never going to win another Stanley Cup. Not ever. Or not in owner Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s lifetime, anyway.They were cursed. Or deserved to be, because Pocklington had betrayed the Alberta city&rsquo;s fans by selling/trading Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings that day. So, if the Oilers never won again, that would be too bad for the players, but as far as the city of Edmonton was concerned, the punishment for Pocklington would just about fit the crime.Well, &ldquo;not ever&rdquo; lasted 21 &frac12; months.It was May 24, 1990, when the Oilers&mdash;reloaded and revamped by general manager Glen Sather&rsquo;s intuition and luck at assembling the components of a championship team&mdash;exorcized the ghost of Gretzky by methodically destroying the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 5 to win their fifth Cup in seven years.Without Gretzky, without goaltender Grant Fuhr, the Oilers took just one more game to eliminate the Bruins than it took in sweeping them two years earlier.And they did it with defense.Criticized for their defensive weaknesses over the years, the Oilers rolled out a new statistic at which to marvel: In 15 of their 20 Stanley Cup final victories since 1984, they have surrendered two or fewer goals. They have never given up more than three.It was with relative ease that Oiler snipers Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson and Craig Simpson scored goals in the final&mdash;at least it looked easy compared to the painfully-difficult time the under-powered Bruins had. But the Oilers won because of goaltender Bill Ranford and near perfect execution of the game plan of head coach John Muckier and co-coach Ted Green.That plan called for pesky Esa Tikkanen to neutralize Boston&rsquo;s catalytic converter Craig Janney. Shut down the playmaker, the reasoning went, and Boston&rsquo;s top goal-scorer, Cam Neely, would wither on the wing.It worked. Janney, a victim of the flu and dehydration in a marathon triple-overtime Game 1 loss, failed to register a point in five outings; Neely had no goals and four assists.The running-and-gunningest team the NHL has ever seen gave up just eight goals in nearly 18 periods against the Bruins, coming within one goal against (Lyndon Byers beat Ranford with 3&frac12; minutes left in Game 5) of posting the best defensive average of any team in the history of Stanley Cup finals.When it was over, captain Mark Messier stood in the center of the Oilers&rsquo; steamy, cramped dressing room in Boston Garden, doing interview after interview. Calm, selfassured, he said, &ldquo;Yes, we knew back in November we had the potential. We really felt after we beat Winnipeg we had as good a chance as anybody.&rdquo; Then, when the camera lights were off, he turned to a friend, his face lit up like a four-alarm blaze and he shrieked: &ldquo;Can you (expletive deleted) believe it?!&rdquo;Well, no. Hardly anyone could.True, in the end the Oilers were superior in speed, offense, defense and goaltending to each of the four teams they played en route to the Stanley Cup&mdash;Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. Looking back, it&rsquo;s hard to believe anyone picked them to lose to any of those teams.Still, the Oilers were within one game of elimination against Winnipeg. They jelled in that series, staging a remarkable comeback. And then chemistry, that inexplicable atmos-pheric condition, took over. Whatever short-comings that existed during the regular season were washed away in an Oiler playoff jugger-naut.Mind you, the Oilers didn&rsquo;t have to face Calgary because the Kings knocked off the Flames in the first round. Since that&rsquo;s not likely to be a regular occurrence, any talk of the Oilers being the NHL team of the &rsquo;90s might be a tad premature.Then again, in the two seasons since Gretzky&rsquo;s trade, Sather has managed to fashion a club that&rsquo;s both younger and faster. With kids such as Martin Gelinas, 20, Joe Murphy, 22, Adam Graves, 22, and defenseman Geoff Smith, 21, seemingly on the edge of blossoming into stars, you wouldn&rsquo;t want to bet against them.&ldquo;When you have a GM like Glen Sather,&rdquo; said Pocklington, &ldquo;all things are possible.&rdquo;It was Sather who turned an $ 18-million cash sale of Gretzky into a trade for three first-round draft picks, Gelinas, and 50-goal scorer Jimmy Carson. And it was Sather who, when Carson walked out on the team in September, engineered a four-for-two trade which brought the Oilers the final pieces of the puzzle: Graves and Murphy, who teamed with Gelinas to form the Kid Line.The line emerged in the Winnipeg series and got better with each outing. In the final, the young threesome was used in critical situations regularly. Graves provided true grit and solid two-way play; Murphy looked nothing like the underachiever he was in Detroit; and, Gelinas gave ample evidence of perhaps developing into an offensive superstar.To a man, the Oiler veterans pointed to the relentless work and enthusiasm of the three kids as the spark that made them believe in themselves again.But the Detroit trade also brought them winger Petr Klima, who scored the backbreaking triple-overtime goal in Game 1 of the final, and defenseman Jeff Sharpies, subsequently traded to New Jersey for defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen, another playoff standout.And if sources close to the team can be believed, it also brought them $2.6 million in cash.Add it all up and the Carson deal, moreso than the Gretzky trade, was a heist which could perpetuate Oiler success into the next century.We wanted it for the young guys, it&rsquo;s so great to see the joy in their faces,&rdquo; said veteran defenseman Kevin Lowe. &ldquo;But Mess and I looked at each other,&rsquo; and said: &lsquo;This one&rsquo;s for the G-man (Gretzky), because he&rsquo;s still such a big part of our team.&rdquo;Gretzky declined an offer from Hockey Night in Canada to appear on camera, not wanting to steal any of the Oilers&rsquo; thunder.&ldquo;Kevin and I talked about the game this afternoon,&rdquo; said Messier, who set up a Steve Smith goal in Game 5 for his 200th career playoff point. &ldquo;And I said, &lsquo;What do you think?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;I think we should go out and win it for Gretz. It&rsquo;s the perfect way to show how big a part of this team he&rsquo;s been, and how he&rsquo;s still with us, really.&rsquo;&rdquo;Not everyone agreed, though.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why we always have to bring up Wayne,&rdquo; said Kurri, who joined Lowe and Messier in accepting the Cup from NHL president John Ziegler. &ldquo;Wayne didn&rsquo;t win this Cup, the guys who are here right now won it. Those are the guys we should be happy for. The young guys, and the veterans.&rdquo;The 30-year-old Finn scored three goals in a brilliant birthday performance in Game 2, upping his career playoff total to a record 92&mdash; three more than Gretzky. Kurri said he had a sobering moment, looking around the ice at the laces of his teammates, thinking that perhaps it would be for the last time.&ldquo;Yeah, it comes to your mind at that time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to think about it now.&rdquo;Kurri&rsquo;s contract with the Oilers is up. He was asking a reported $1 million a year to stay, but the pervading feeling was that money would not be the bottom line for the family-oriented Kurri. Returning home to Finland and playing for his country in the 1991 World Championships in Turku are sentiments he has mentioned.That would let Pocklington off the hook, for he appeared willing to part with the big money to keep the popular Finn aboard.But the owner dismissed the idea that popularity was a factor.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if the people of Edmonton like me,&rdquo; said Pocklington, a large grin on his champagne-soaked face. &ldquo;As long as they like the Edmonton Oilers.&rdquo;They like the Oilers just fine, Peter. &#9632;

f0007-01

ONE FOR THE THUMB

<div class="byline">OILER GOALTENDER ROBS THE BRUINS </div><div class="byline">BY TOM MCMILLAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011455/5765025-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Ranford was almost unbeatable in the Stanley Cup final, allowing eight goals in five games. The former Bruin was an easy choice as Conn Smythe winner.</figcaption></div>The talk all spring was of a goalie&rsquo;s good fortune, of a lucky coin from the Winnipeg series, a charmed horseshoe in Boston.But in the end&mdash;on May 24, when the Edmonton Oiler goaltender snatched the final stray puck out of the air at Boston Garden&mdash;there could be no doubt as to who deserved the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the NHL playoffs. Ranford was anywhere and everywhere through four rounds, scooping up shots in Los Angeles, swatting down pucks in Chicago. His playoff goals-against mark was a wicked 2.53.&ldquo;I think he surprised us with his consistency,&rdquo; said Boston coach Mike Milbury after Ranford and the Oilers clinched the Stanley Cup with a 4-1 flogging of the Bruins in Game 5. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve known Bill from years ago, and he&rsquo;s obviously a much better goaltender and a much more composed goaltender. We weren&rsquo;t able to solve him. No matter what we threw at him.&rdquo;Milbury and the Bruins tried everything. Slap shots. Wrist shots. But Ranford, a former Bruin, wouldn&rsquo;t budge. Playing behind an aggressive, menacing defense, he gave up eight goals in five games; and that amounts to eight goals in six games, given the three overtime periods tacked onto Game 1.After a shaky start in the first game of the first series against Winnipeg in early April, Ranford had an MVP aura the rest of the way.&ldquo;He played this (final) series the way he played all the other series,&rdquo; said Oiler captain Mark Messier. &ldquo;At the start of the first game, he regrouped and got his confidence and just became Billy Ranford.&rdquo;How painful this must have been for the Bruins. Five years ago, they were so enamored of a teen-aged Ranford they drafted him in the third round, 52nd overall, from New Westminster of the Western League. In 1986-87, as a callow 20-year-old, he played 41 games for Boston, posting a 16-20-2 record with a 3.33 GAA.But trade winds blew. In March, 1988, on the eve of the NHL trading deadline, Edmonton sent holdout goalie Andy Moog east for Geoff Courtnall and Ranford.While Courtnall fled Edmonton after two months, signing as a free agent with the Washington Capitals, Ranford stayed and became much more than an expected backup to Grant Fuhr.Fuhr&rsquo;s cranky shoulder kept him on the sidelines for most of the season, and Ranford, who started brilliantly, then slumped, then rebounded, helped the Oilers to fifth in the overall standings. But it was in the crucible of the playoffs that he proved his value.After whiffing on seven goals in the opener against Winnipeg&mdash;and getting scorched by the Edmonton press&mdash;Ranford got a lucky coin from a fan, who told him to keep it at his dressing stall. Maybe that&rsquo;s what turned it around.Or maybe it was talent.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know all year long whether Billy was going to be a good National League hockey player,&rdquo; said Edmonton coach John Muckier. &ldquo;He had to prove it. And he has.&rdquo;If five Cups in seven years is any indication, Oiler general manager Glen Sather doesn&rsquo;t miss the mark often. But he did on a mid-March road trip that took the Oilers to Toronto.Fuhr started in net that night and the Oilers were counting on him to round into form for the playoffs. It was, said Sather, a critical element of the team&rsquo;s playoff hopes.&ldquo;If (Fuhr is healthy), we&rsquo;ve got a real shot at winning everything,&rdquo; Sather told the Toronto Star. &ldquo;If he isn&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;m afraid we&rsquo;re going to have a lot of trouble.&rdquo;It was far from a vote of confidence for Ranford. But after the series-opening loss to the Jets, Sather looked like a prophet. Ranford, though, pulled his game together and by the time he finished his work, the only mention of Fuhr was in stories suggesting the veteran may be traded.They may, of course, be premature&mdash;one Conn Smythe Trophy does not a career make&mdash;but the point is well taken. Ranford played his way out of Fuhr&rsquo;s large shadow.&ldquo;Grant Fuhr was our No. 1 goaltender and considered by many to be the best in the world,&rdquo; said Oiler defenseman Steve Smith. &ldquo;One of the key factors, I think, in Billy emerging was that when we knew Grant was going to be out for the rest of the year, Billy had to be the No. 1 guy. He had to do the job. He knew that. Weknew that.&rdquo;The game that first ushered Ranford into history came May 15 in Game 1 of the final at the Garden. That was the triple-overtime epic that spilled over into May 16, the longest game ever in the Cup finals.It wasn&rsquo;t just that Ranford faced 50 shots. It was the way he stared down the Bruin gunners under the pressure, the way he made them miss so narrowly.Six times, the Bruins rattled shots off the posts behind Ranford. Phenomenally, in the second overtime, with Ranford pinned to the ice, Boston defenseman Glen Wesley had a clear shot at an open net, and somehow lifted the puck too high, so it crashed harmlessly off the glass.For his part, Ranford was happy he had two off-days between Games 1 and 2. It gave him a chance to rest and to explain to the intrigued international media how he&rsquo;d changed since heading from the Bruins to the Oilers two years earlier.&ldquo;When I first came into the league I relied on my reflexes a lot more,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but when you mature as a goalie, you leant different things. When they sent me to the minors (to Maine in the American League, where Milbury was coach, in 1987-88), I got to play a lot, and that helped. Here in Edmonton, when I was given an opportunity, I wanted to make the best of it.&rdquo;He was back again in Game 2, stoning the Bruins, making them bang their sticks in frustration. Boston controlled the play for the first 30 minutes, created the best scoring opportunities. At one point in the second period, the Bruins were outshooting the Oilers 22-8. Edmonton led 4-2.Was there ever a better example of what goaltending means to a team? Ranford was a fortress, turning back Cam Neely&rsquo;s drive from the slot, stuffing Garry Galley when he crept in alone. Meanwhile, Moog allowed three goals on four shots before Milbury replaced him with Reggie Lemelin.&ldquo;It was like a moral victory,&rdquo; Smith said of the Bruins&rsquo; netminding switch. &ldquo;Our guy hung in and we chased their No. 1 guy&hellip;and we&rsquo;ve always had a lot of success against Reggie.&rdquo;The Oilers won 7-2 thanks to three goals and five points from birthday boy Jari Kurri, but amid the post-game celebration of Kurri&rsquo;s special gifts, it was Messier who pointed out: &ldquo;Obviously, it was Billy who held us in there early.&rdquo;It was at this juncture the Oilers&rsquo; defensive dominance was achingly apparent. The Bruins had survived all season on grit, hard work and the goals that its small core of elite, skill players could muster. Defenseman Ray Bourque, the Norris Trophy favorite, scored three times in the first two games of the series, but Neely, the team&rsquo;s best marksman (55 goals) had been silenced. And Craig Janney, the reputed playmaker extraordinaire, was nowhere to be found.The Bruins finally spotted a crack in Game 3, when the series returned to Edmonton. John Byce chipped a shot past Ranford at the 10second mark, and Greg Johnston sailed one over the goalie&rsquo;s shoulder midway through the first period, as the Bruins built a 2-0 lead en route to a 2-1 victory.But Johnston&rsquo;s goal would be their final high-light.Ranford allowed himself to beaten only twice more&mdash;two goals in eight periods&mdash;the rest of the way.&ldquo;This won&rsquo;t sink in for days,&rdquo; Ranford said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so tough to go this far, and (with) the turmoil this team has gone through, and what I had to go through in the first game against Winnipeg&hellip;it&rsquo;s just a thrill to be a part of it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried not to get excited throughout, and I&rsquo;m trying not to get excited now. But it&rsquo;s pretty tough not to.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

BILLY THE KID

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011404/5765056-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Moog and the Boston Bruins are in for a long! summer, thanks in large part to this Petr Klima goal in I Game 1. Craig MacTavish of the Oilers escapes the I embrace of Garry Galley to celebrate the goal.</figcaption></div>Gerry Cheevers, who worked miracles in the-Boston net 20 years ago when he wasn&rsquo;t leaning over a racetrack rail, looks at Raymond Bourque and sees a champion thoroughbred.&ldquo;Raymond is like Secretariat,&rdquo; said Cheevers, who later coached the game&rsquo;s premier defenseman. &ldquo;He goes the full mile and a half.&rdquo;As the Edmonton Oilers used remarkable speed to lengthen the gap down the stretch of the, last two Stanley Cup final games, the truth became painfully evident for the Bruins and New England hockey fans. Boston didn&rsquo;t have enough thoroughbreds to go the full mile and a half.Oh, the Bruins deserve sky-high marks for finishing first overall in the NHL regular season with 101 points. Their work ethic? Admirable. Their team play? Superb. They were overachievers in the truest sense.Coach Mike Milbury deserves sky-high marks for teaching rambunctious Cam Neely and the rest of his disciplined team that turning the other cheek can turn into victory. And general manager Harry Sinden, the wily one, made all the right moves over the winter in adding winners like Dave Poulin.And during their spring march over Hartford, Montreal and Washington, the Bruins lit the brightest hockey fire within New England sporting hearts in a long, long time.&ldquo;But if you don&rsquo;t win the last game of the season, there&rsquo;s bound to be disappointment,&rdquo; Milbury said after a 4-1 defeat in Game 5 May 24 put an end to a Stanley Cup dream. &ldquo;However, through the course of the season, I think we provided a great deal of entertainment to a lot of people in New England.&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re able to look back on this, we&rsquo;ll see it was a good year. But, right now it&rsquo;s a little bitter.&rdquo;As the Bruins&rsquo; playoff victory totals piled up through the first three rounds, grand 20th anniversary memories began to pile up, too. Orr, Cheevers, Espo, The Turk&hellip;gave way to Neely, Craig Janney, Bourque, Andy Moog. Beantown was buzzing.But, in the end, there would be a huge difference. The 1990 edition simply wasn&rsquo;t talented enough to stop the franchise from falling in the finals for the fifth successive time dating to 1974.&ldquo;Edmonton is a better overall team than the one we faced in the 1988 finals with Wayne Gretzky,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;They had to be because we&rsquo;re a better team.&ldquo;The Oilers deserved to be champions. We played six-seven periods of great hockey. And after that we played all but one or two periods as if we had no chance of winning. If you put the two teams&rsquo; performance on a graph, Edmonton&rsquo;s line would be rising and ours would be dropping. They went up. We went down. It happened kind of unexpectedly, too. From the Bruins&rsquo; standpoint, it was all gone. From Edmonton&rsquo;s, it was all there for them. The gap kept widening.&rdquo;It sure did. In the end, the Bruins were outscored 20-8. Bill Ranford was the Great Wall of China. The Oilers were moving the puck easily, neatly out of their own end and blitzing in on the Bruins&rsquo; defense at warp-speed. The results from the U.S. Air Force aren&rsquo;t complete, but it is believed Glenn Anderson broke the sound barrier four times in the last two games alone.In the end, a Bruin team that had made all the big plays at all the right moments looked like some patchwork also-rans, especially after Poulin&rsquo;s series-ending knee injury in Game 2. Two years to the day that the lights went out in Boston Garden, the lights went out again on the Bruins. This time they stayed out.&ldquo;We had a great year until the finals,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;Obviously, we&rsquo;re disappointed. We thought it would go better than it did. But back in training camp, we weren&rsquo;t supposed to be contending. We definitely were an overachieving team. Everybody thought we&rsquo;d finish third or fourth in the Adams Division. We finished first overall.&rdquo;The championship series started as anything but a mismatch. Two Bourque goals in the third period set the stage for the longest overtime game in finals history. Bourque played an amazing 58:26 of the 115:23 game before Petr Klima finally ended it late in the third overtime at 1:23 a.m.By that time Janney, shadowed into oblivion by Esa Tikkanen, had been taken to the hospital because of dehydration. The puck-handling magician from Enfield, Conn., pulled the greatest trick of all; he disappeared from the series while his skates and his No. 23 jersey were still moving out there. Milbury moved Janney to left wing midway in a desperate shuffle to generate offense, but Janney is no cornerman.I was horrible,&rdquo; said Janney, shut out in the series after registering 22 points in the previous three. &ldquo;I feel I let the team down.&rdquo;It would be the goaltending, however, that would let the Bruins down in a 7-2 loss in Game 2. Moog, a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy until that point, allowed three goals on four shots. Milbury got panicky and pulled him at 4:21 of the second period with the score 3-2. Reggie Lemelin, ineffective at best against Hartford, made his first appearance in 38 days. Final score: 7-2.Milbury and his Bruins showed up in Edmonton two nights later. And by the end of the evening, Milbury was personally thanking the media for their predictions of &ldquo;Sweep! Sweep!&rdquo; after the opening two losses.Even in victory, however, the Bruins only scored two goals and they came from the unlikely sticks of John Bvce. who iust signed out of NCAA-champion Wisconsin only a month earlier, and Greg Johnston, who had quit hockey for six weeks early in the season. Byce said he dreamed in his pre-game nap about the goal he&rsquo;d score only 10 seconds into the game.Too many of his high-profile teammates did not share that dream. The Bruins went in a defensive shell, got shelled 14-2 in shots in the third period and barely hung on for a 2-1 win.The last four Bruins&rsquo; goals were scored by Byce, Johnston, John Carter and Lyndon Byers. That tells you all you need to know. Where was Janney? Where was Neely? Where were Randy Burridge, Bob Sweeney, Bob Carpenter, Dave Christian, Brian Propp and the rest?With Mark Messier riled for the last two games and his line with Craig Simpson and Anderson making the Stanley Cup its own racetrack, the Bruins could only stand and watch in amazement.&ldquo;With their speed and the way we played in Game 4, there was no way we could have beaten them,&rdquo; Boston defenseman Al Pedersen said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t forecheck very well and we let them out of their own end. They started crossing through the neutral zone and with their speed we had to start backing in. They were all over us.&rdquo;&ldquo;In Game 4, the momentum clearly shifted their way,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;They created it.&rdquo;&ldquo;This year&rsquo;s loss is a lot tougher than the one two years ago,&rdquo; Neely said. &ldquo;It was a great feeling to be in the finals, but no one ever remembers the loser.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

BRIDESMAID REVISITED

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>The people have spoken and Edmonton Oiler Mark Messier is the big winner.The 29-year-old center was named The Hockey News/Black Velvet NHL Player of the Year in fan balloting. More than 16,000 readers voted for NHL candidates in five categories (player, rookie, goalie, coach and executive) plus an NHL all-star team to comprise THN&rsquo;s 1990 People&rsquo;s Choice Awards.The fans were merely echoing NHL players in their selection of Messier. The Edmonton native was chosen best player in Inside HOCKEY magazine&rsquo;s annual survey of NHL players and was the winner of the Lester B. Pearson Award, which is voted on by members of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association. If Messier were to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP (voted upon by members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association), it would be a clean sweep.Messier and other award winners will be honored at the seventh annual THN Awards Luncheon in Toronto on June 7. The event will be taped for an hour-long same-day presentation on The Sports Network, hosted by TSN&rsquo;s Jim Hughson and Gary Green. All winners receive a photo-engraved plaque and THN made a charitable donation of $10,000 to the Dr. Tom Pashby Sports Safety Fund on behalf of all winners. This year marks the 40th anniversary of THN awards.Messier has come a long way in his 12-season professional career. As a rookie Lip in the World Hockey Association, he scored once in 52 games with Indianapolis and Cincinnati. In 1989-90, the Oiler captain scored 45 times and added 84 assists to finish second in the scoring race with 129 points.But Messier&rsquo;s contributions aren&rsquo;t limited to the scoresheet. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Messier is a powerful force at both ends of the rink. No one in the league combines strength and speed like Messier. Few are better on faceoffs or in the corners.Messier was the driving force behind Edmonton&rsquo;s fifth Stanley Cup in seven years. He assumed the role previously held by Wayne Gretzky and lived up to the challenge. When Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles two summers ago, it looked like the Oiler dynasty was over. Instead, largely thanks to Messier, it just took a respite.Messier was the winner as top player. He garnered 32.3 per cent of the vote, compared to 24.5 for St. Louis right winger Brett Hull, the runner-up. With a league-leading 72 goals, the Blues&rsquo; sniper was a nightmare for opposing goalies. He finished fifth in the scoring race with 113 points.Here&rsquo;s a look at other THN award winners:Pepsi NHL Rookie of the Year: The young Americans, 20-year-old centers Mike Modano of Minnesota and Jeremy Roenick of Chicago, made more of an impression on the readers than a Soviet senior citizen, Calgary right winger Sergei Makarov.Modano edged Roenick (27.7 per cent to 22.9).Makarov&rsquo;s 11 seasons with the Central Red Army in the Soviet Union worked against him in the eyes of many fans. The highly-skilled 31-year-old led rookies with 24-62-86 totals in 80 games with the Flames.Modano, who was a holdout last season after being the first player selected in the 1988 entry draft by the North Stars, was 29-46-75 in 80 games to finish second in rookie scoring this season.Roenick, a first-round draft pick in 1988, eighth overall, tied New York Ranger center Darren Turcotte for fourth among rookie scoring with 26-40-66 totals in 78 games.GTC NHL Goalie of the Year: Montreal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy is the inaugural winner of the award, beating out Buffalo&rsquo;s Daren Puppa.Roy, a three-time co-winner of the Jennings Trophy and defending Vezina Trophy winner, tied for the league lead with a 2.53 goals-against average and 31 wins. He was 31-16-5 and led the league with a .912 save percentage.Roy received 41.2 per cent of the vote; Puppa had 24.Puppa also had 31 wins (31-16-6) in his first season as the Sabres&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender. He was tied for fourth with a 2.89 GAA and was tied with teammate Clint Malarchuk for third in save percentage at .903.Molson NHL Coach of the Year: Mike Milbury, who coached the Boston Bruins to the President&rsquo;s Trophy and Stanley Cup final, was named coach of the year.The Bruins finished 46-25-9, first in the Adams Division and league, under Milbury, an NHL rookie coach.Winnipeg&rsquo;s Bob Murdoch, in his first year with the Smythe Division club, was an incredibly close second in the voting. He had 26 per cent of the vote, compared to Milbury&rsquo;s 26.5. The Jets, expected to finish fifth in the Smythe Division, were third with a 37-32-11 record.TSN Executive of the Year: Boston general manager Harry Sinden, who made all the right moves this season to help the Bruins finish first overall, was picked by the fans as executive of the year.Sinden helped build the Wales Conference champs with trades for Cam Neely, Moog and the draft pick used to select Bourque. Key additions this season included Dave Poulin, Dave Christian and Brian Propp.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011487/5765094-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="701" height="1449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Messier was named the NHL&rsquo;s top player by THN readers.</figcaption></div>Finishing second in the voting was New York Ranger rookie general manager Neil Smith. The Rangers won the Patrick Division with a 36-3113 record.Sinden carried 40.3 per cent of the vote; Smith had 26.Jofa-Titan All-Star Team: Award winners Messier and Roy head up the first all-star team.They&rsquo;re joined by Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Coffey (29-74-103 in 80 games), Bourque, Hull and Los Angeles left winger Luc Robitaille (52-49-101 in 80 games).Two members of the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenseman Al Iafrate and left winger Vincent Damphousse, made the second team.Iafrate, who was eighth in defensemen scoring, was 21-42-63 in 75 games. Damphousse was third in scoring among left wingers with 33-61-94 totals in 80 games.Also on the second all-star team: Gretzky, right winger Neely (55-37-92 in 76 games), Calgary defenseman Al Maclnnis (28-62-90 in 79 games) and Puppa.<h2>OTHER WINNERS</h2>Three Canadian major junior players head up the other award winners, including two who tied for Micron Mega Junior Player of the Year.Peterborough center Mike Ricci, who captained Canada to the gold medal at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Finland and Oshawa center Eric Lindros, who helped the Generals win the Memorial Cup, are cowinners.Ricci was 52-64-116 in 60 games for the Petes and is expected to be a top-five pick in the June 16 entry draft.Lindros, whose talent sparked an Ontario League rule change to allow teams to trade their first-round picks, was also a member of the gold-medal team in Finland. He was 17-19-36 in 25 regular-season games after joining Oshawa in January. In 17 playoff games, he was 18-1836, leading the Generals to an OHL championship and, ultimately, the Memorial Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021128/5765087-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="701" height="1449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Modano, above, outdistanced Jeremy Roenick in rookie voting.</figcaption></div>After his acquisition from Sault Ste. Marie, the Generals rarely played in front of anything but sell-out crowds.The third junior player to win an award was Victoriaville goaltender Stephane Fiset, who was named Cooper International Personality of the Year. Fiset was the top goalie at the WJC and a prime reason Canada won gold. He was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the second round of the 1988 entry draft.THN minor pro award winners are Indianapolis goalie Jimmy Waite as Minor Pro Player of the Year and Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Jean Hamel as Minor Pro Coach of the Year. Waite led the Ice to the International League&rsquo;s Turner Cup and was 3114-4 with a 2.47 GAA in the regular season. The Canadiens were the regular season champs of the American League with a 45-23-12 record.Center Kip Miller of Michigan State and goaltender Mike Bishop of University of Waterloo were the Bauer U.S. College Player of the Year and Bauer CIAU Player of the Year, respectively. Miller, winner of the Hobey BakerTrophy as top U.S. college player, helped the Spartans to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season and playoff titles with 48-53-101 totals in 45 games. Bishop was 17-4-1 with a 2.63 GAA as the Warriors came second in the Ontario Universities Athletic Association West Division.Hockey legend Gordie Howe was the winner of the Itech King Clancy Memorial Award, which goes annually to a retired star who continues to give to the game.Dr. Tom Pashby was honored as the Inside HOCKEY Man of the Year, which goes to an individual who contributes to the betterment of hockey.Nicole Kirnan, a 10-year-old minor hockey player in Syracuse, N.Y., was the winner of the Jofa-Titan Minor Hockey Player of the Year. This is a representative award, saluting minor hockey in North America. &#9632;

f0010-01

MESS IS BEST

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div>From the time it became apparent the Quebec Nordiques would have first choice overall in the 1990 National Hockey League entry draft, there has been a steady diet of rumor du jour.If it&rsquo;s Monday, it must be Owen Nolan. Tuesday? Why, Mike Ricci, of course. Wednesday is Keith Primeau; Thursday is Petr Nedved and Friday, well, it has to be Jaromir Jagr.Trouble is the draft, June l6 (IO a.m. PDT, televised live for two hours in Canada on The Sports Network) in Vancouver, is on a Saturday.This year&rsquo;s event possesses qualities like few before it&mdash;a strong sense of uncertainty and drama.Who will be No. I?Nordique director of player personnel Pierre Gauthier is the man most responsible for the final decision. He&rsquo;s digested all the data, heard all the speculation and arrived at only one conclusion&mdash;so far.&ldquo;The first time anyone will know for certain who we&rsquo;re taking will be on June I6,&rdquo; says Gauthier. &ldquo;Everything you hear between now and the draft is purely hearsay and conjecture.&rdquo;The only certainty is that the woeful Nordiques (12-61-7 in 1989-90) will take one of five blue-chip prospects designated as a cut above the rest of the available talent.&ldquo;I can honestly tell you we haven&rsquo;t made a firm decision,&rdquo; Gauthier said in late May. &ldquo;I know who I like, but I can go any number of different ways depending on what it is we&rsquo;re trying to accomplish.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011348/5765132-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="695" height="1261"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ontario League scoring champ Keith Primeau could go second to Vancouver.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Pierre Page (the Nords&rsquo; new general manager) is still evaluating the existing talent in our organization. When that exercise is complete, we&rsquo;ll know where we&rsquo;re going. I don&rsquo;t believe we can lose because they&rsquo;re all so good.&rdquo;Gauthier didn&rsquo;t rule out a trade involving the top pick, but said it was unlikely.In the meantime, he toys with inquiring minds.Gauthier will offer a dissertation on how skill and speed are the most significant commodities of the &rsquo;90s.Just when you seem certain he&rsquo;s tipping his hand toward Nedved, the offensive whiz of the Seattle Thunderbirds, or Jagr, the impressive all-around left winger on the Czechoslovakian national team, Gauthier changes tracks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02989/5765125-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="695" height="1261"><figcaption class="caption-body">Owen Nolan may be the most physical player in this year&rsquo;s draft.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;But intimidation and aggression have always been part of the pro game and that&rsquo;s not ever going to change,&rdquo; he says, seemingly making a case for tough and talented Cornwall Royal right winger Nolan.Gauthier makes equally strong cases for Peterborough Pete center and captain Ricci (unparalleled leadership qualities) and Niagara Falls Thunder center Primeau (unparalleled size and strength, 6-foot-5, 217 pounds), too.Because he readily extols the virtues of all five, it&rsquo;s anybody&rsquo;s guess which way the Nordiques are leaning.The other non-playoff teams picking after Quebec (Vancouver, Detroit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, respectively) are also playing a waiting game. They know they&rsquo;ll get an excellent prospect, but aren&rsquo;t sure which one.The five could go in any order imaginable, although conventional wisdom suggests No. I will be Ricci or Nolan or Nedved. Primeau is highly touted as the potential No. 2 (to Vancouver). The wild card is Jagr. With the easing of restrictions in eastern Europe, it&rsquo;s not so much a question of if he will arrive as when.Still, awaiting Jagr&rsquo;s arrival and then coping with the difficult transition on and off the ice is seen by some clubs as a detriment, especially when the alternatives (Ricci, Nedved, Primeau and Nolan) are so appealing.After the first five picks, the draft may lose some of its lustre, but little of its intrigue.Any number of players fall into the second tier of talent, though there are four who seem almost certain to go in the top IO. They include: North Bay Centennial defenseman Derian Hatcher; Kamloops Blazer defenseman Darryl Sydor; Cornwall Royal defenseman John Slaney; and, Saskatoon Blade center Scott Scissons.Every NHL club, except the St. Louis Blues, owned a 1990 first-round pick, as of June I. The Vancouver Canucks had, in addition to the No. 2 pick, the 12th selection, courtesy of a deal with the Blues. But the Montreal Canadiens, in the No. 18 slot, had the option of flip-flopping with the Blues. Montreal exercised that option, which means the Habs will pick 12th overall. Vancouver will have Nos. 2 and 18.Barring trades in the two weeks before the draft&mdash;a definite possibility with the Dale Hawerchuk Derby in progress&mdash;the first-round order of selection is:1. Quebec;2. Vancouver;3. Detroit;4. Philadelphia;5. Pittsburgh;6. New York Islanders;7. Los Angeles;8. Minnesota;9. Washington;10. Toronto;11. New Jersey;12. Montreal (from St. Louis via Vancouver);13. New York Rangers;14. Winnipeg;15. Hartford;16. Chicago;17. Edmonton;18. Vancouver (from Montreal via St. Louis);19. Buffalo;20. Calgary; and,21. Boston.The supplemental draft for U.S. college players is June 15 at 9 a.m. (PDT) in Vancouver. &#9632;

f0011-01

NORDS MAKE THIS DRAFT A GAME OF GUESSING

Below is the NHL Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s confidential list ranking North American forwards and defensemen eligible for the 1990 entry draft.The CSB ranks 210 skaters and 21 goaltenders on this list. We&rsquo;ve published here the top 63 (first three rounds) player prospects and top 10 netminding prospects.Information for each player includes: rank, name, position, height, weight, birthdate, 1989-90 team, league and regular-season statistics (games played-goals-assists-points-penalty minutes). Information for the goaltenders is the same except for individual statistics, which include: games played, minutes played, goals against, shutouts and goals-against average.The remainder of the CSB list is on page 41. Information for players ranked beyond the third round includes: rank, name, position, 1989-90 team and league.<h2>FIRST ROUND</h2>1. Mike Ricci. C, 6-0,191, Oct. 27/71, Peterborough (OHL), 60-52-64-116-39. 2. Owen Nolan, RW, 6-1, 194, Feb. 12/72, Cornwall (OHL), 58-51-59-110-240. 3. Keith Primeau, C, 6-4, 217, Nov. 24/71, Niagara Falls (OHL). 65-57-70-127-97. 4. Petr Nedved, C, 6-2&frac12;, 178, Dec. 9/71, Seattle (WHL), 71-65-80-145-80. 5. Scott Scissons, C, 6-1, 201, Oct. 29/71, Saskatoon (WHL), 61-40-47-87-81. 6. Darryl Sydor, D, 6-0, 205, May 13/72, Kamloops (WHL), 6729-66-95-129. 7. John Slaney, D, 5-11&frac12;, 186, Feb. 7/72, Cornwall (OHL), 64-36-5997-60. 8. Ryan Hughes, C, 6-1, 180, Jan. 17/72, Cornell (ECAC), 27-7-16-23-35. 9. Karl Dykhuis, D, 6-2&frac12;, 184, July 8/72, Hull (QMJHL), 69-10-45-55-119. 10. Derian Hatcher, D, 6-5, 204, June 4/72, North Bay (OHL), 64-14-38-52-81. 11. Brad May, LW, 6-0, 200, Nov. 29/71, Niagara Falls (OHL), 61-32-58-90-223. 12. Chris Taylor, C, 5-11&frac12;, 186, March 6/72, London (OHL), 6645-60-105-60. 13. Rod Pasma, D, 6-4, 207, Feb. 26/72, Cornwall (OHL), 64-3-16-19142. 14. Turner Stevenson, RW, 6-3, 200, May 18/72, Seattle (WHL), 62-29-32-61276. 15. Grayden Reid, C, 5-11 &frac12;, 176, Jan. 7/72, Owen Sound (OHL), 52-18-36-54-86. 16. Terran Sandwith, D. 6-4. 210, April 17/72, Tri-City (WHL), 70-4-14-18-92. 17. Shawn Antoski, LW, 6-4,234, March 25/70, North Bay (OHL), 59-25-31-56-201. 18. Doug Weight, C, 5-11, 185, Jan. 21/71, Lake Superior (CCHA), 46-21-48-69-44. 19. Michael Stewart, D, 6-2, 197, May 30/72, Michigan State (CCHA), 40-2-6-8-39 20. Bryan Smolinski, C, 6-0, 185, Dec. 27/71, Michigan State (CCHA), 35-10-13-23-34. 21. Ryan Kuwabara, RW, 6-0, 205, March 23/72, Ottawa (OHL), 66-30-38-68-62.<h2>SECOND ROUND</h2>22. Geoff Sanderson, C, 6-0, 185, Feb 1/72, Swift Current (WHL), 70-32-62-94-56. 23. Brandy Semchuk, RW, 6-1 &frac12;, 187, Sept. 22/71, Canadian national team, 55-1015-25-40. 24. Nicolas Perreault, D, 6-3, 200, April 24/72, Hawkesbury (COJHL), 4622-34-56-188. 25. Etienne Belzlle, D, 6-1, 179, May 2772, Cornell (ECAC), 27-1-5-622. 26. David Harlock, D, 6-2, 195, March 16/71, Michigan (CCHA), 42-2-13-15-44. 27. Dave Stewart, D, 5-11&frac12;, 194, Jan. 11/72, Kingston (OHL), 52-5-24-29-94. 28. Scott Allison, C, 6-4, 194, April 22/72, Prince Albert (WHL), 66-22-16-38-73. 29. Dale McTavish, LW, 5-11&frac12;, 180, Feb. 28/72, Peterborough (OHL), 66-26-35-61-34. 30. Bob Berg, LW, 6-1 &frac12;, 190, July 2/70, Belleville (OHL), 66-48-49-97-124. 31. Steve Yule, D, 6-0, 220, May 27/72, Kamloops (WHL), 44-4-11-15-99. 32. Mark Greig, RW, 5-11,188, Jan. 25/70, Lethbridge (WHL), 6555-80-135-149. 33. Keith Tkachuk, LW, 62, 212, March 28/72, Malden Catholic (USHS), 6-10-9-19-N/A. 34. Mike Muller, D, 6-2, 205, Sept. 18/71, Wayzata (USHS), 2311-15-26-51. 35. Chris Longo, RW, 5-1 O&frac12;, 180, May 1/72, Peterborough&rsquo;(OHL), 66-3341-74-48. 36. Todd Gleason, D, 6-0, 185, Feb. 21/72, Hamilton (OHL), 64-5-12-17-79. 37. Charles Poulin, C, 6-0,172, July 27/72, St-Hyacinthe (QMJHL), 60-25-26-51-55. 38. Brad Zavisha, LW, 6-1 &frac12;, 195, Jan. 4/72, Seattle (WHL), 69-22-38-60-124. 39. Gary Miller, D, 6-1, 188, March 19/72, North Bay (OHL), 50-5-25-30-69. 40. Chris Simon, LW. 6-3&frac12;, 220, Jan. 30/72, Ottawa (OHL), 57-36-38-74-146. 41. Kelly Harper, RW, 62, 170, May 9/72, Wexford Jr. B (MTJHL), 37-29-40-69-50. 42. Scott McKay, C, 511 &frac12;, 186, Jan. 26/72, London (OHL), 59-2029-49-37.<h2>THIRD ROUND</h2>43. Barry Young, D, 6-1 &frac12;, 187, Aug. 7/72, Sudbury (OHL), 60-3-11-14-86. 44. Mike Bodnarchuk, RW, 6-0, 176, March 26/70, Kingston (OHL), 66-41-59-100-31. 45. John Porco, C, 5-11, 179, Aug. 25/71, Belleville (OHL), 66-33-61-94-46. 46. Enrico Ciccone, D, 6-4&frac12;, 196, April 10/70, Trois-Rivieres (QMJHL), 40-4-24-28-227. 47. Kimbi Daniels, C, 5-10&frac12;, 175, Jan. 19/72, Swift Current (WHL), 69-43-51-94-84. 48. Zac Boyer, RW, 6-1 &frac12;, 188, Oct. 25/71, Kamloops (WHL), 71-24-47-71-63. 49. Joel Blain, 6-0, 194, Oct. 12/71, Hull (QMJHL), 65-31-47-78-137. 50. Alexandre Legault. RW, 6-1,205, Dec. 27/71, Boston University (HE), 42-9-21-30-54. 51. Yanic Perreault, C, 5-11&frac12;, 175, April 4/71, Trois-Rivieres (QMJHL), 63-51-63-114-75. 52. Brian Sakic, C, 5-10, 179, April 9/71, Tri-City (WHL), 66-53-99-152-12 53. Mark Myles. RW, 6-3&frac12;, 193, Nov. 3/71, Peterborough (OHL), 59-21-27-48-120 54. Cameron Stewart, C, 5-1 O&frac12;, 188, Sept. 18/71, Elmira Jr. B (MOJHL), 46-44-95-139-172. 55. Mark DeSantis, D, 6-0, 207, Jan. 12/72, Cornwall (OHL), 59-3-17-20-79. 56. Leonard MacDonald, D, 6-2&frac12;, 200, July 3/72, Sudbury (OHL), 62-2-9-11-67. 57. Laurie Billeck, D, 6-3, 207, Feb. 2/71, Prince Albert (WHL), 67-7-28-35-135. 58. Michael Burkett, LW, 6-2&frac12;, 170, March 15/72, Wexford Jr. B (MTJHL), 41-14-25-39-75. 59. Patrice Tardif, C, 6-2, 175, Oct. 30/70, Lennoxville (QCHL), 27-58-36-94-36. 60. Chris Gotziaman, RW, 6-2&frac12;, 200, Nov. 29/71, Roseau (USHS), 22-34-31-65-12. 61. Scott Campbell, D, 6-0, 179, Jan. 22/72, Peterborough (OHL), 61-3-24-27-63. 62. Dan Plante, RW, 5-11, 198, Oct. 5/71, Edina (USHS), 24-8-18-26-N/A. 63. Paxton Schulte, C, 6-2,190, July 16/72, Sherwood Park (AJHL), 56-2838-66-151.<h2>TOP 10 GOALIES</h2>1. Trevor Kidd, 6-2, 176, March 29/72, Brandon (WHL), 63-3,674-254-2-4.15. 2. Felix Potvin, 6-1,181, June 23/71, Chicoutimi (QMJHL), 62-3,478-231-2-3.99.3. Martin Brodeur, 6-0, 189, May 6/72, St-Hyacinthe (QMJHL), 42-2,333-156-0-4.01. 4. Mike Dunham, 6-3, 175, June 1/72, Canterbury (USHS), 32-1,558-55-3-2.13. 5. Corey Hirsch, 5-9&frac12;, 152, July 1/72, Kamloops (WHL), 63-3,608-230-3-3.82. 6. David Goverde, 6-0, 205, April 9/70, Sudbury (OHL), 52-2,941-182-0-3.71. 7. Pierre Gagnon, 58, 145, Feb. 21/71, Victoriaville (QMJHL), 47-2,684-135-1-3.02. 8. Mike Torchla, 5-11, 215, Feb. 23/72, Kitchener (OHL), 40-2,280136-1-3.58. 9. Todd Bojcun, 5-8&frac12;, 151, April 13/70, Peterborough (OHL), 41-2,345125-1-3.20. 10. Sean Gauthier, 5-11, 194 March 28/71, Kingston (OHL), 32-1,602101-0-3.78.<h2>LEGEND</h2>League abbreviations: Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL); Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA); Central Ontario Junior Hockey League (COJHL); Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC); Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League (GHJHL); Hockey East (HE); Midwestern Ontario Junior B Hockey League (MOJHL); Metro Toronto Junior Hockey League (MTJHL); New England Junior Hockey League (NEJHL); Ontario Hockey League (OHL); Quebec Collegiate AA&rsquo; Hockey League (QCHL); Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL): Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL); United States Junior Hockey League (USHL); United States High School (USHS); Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA); Western Hockey League (WHL). &#9632;

CSB RANKINGS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011449/5765194-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="479" height="621"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>Lessons to be learned from the 1990 playoffs:Edmonton: a) Bill Ranford did not deserve The Conn Smythe Trophy; the combined (underrated) Oilers&rsquo; defense did and won it for the goalie, b) John Muckler can coach with anybody, c) Glen Sather should trade Grant Fuhr, d) Mark Messier is the best player in the world.Boston: a) Coach Mike Milbury erred by not playing a fresh Lyndon Byers in the marathon first game of the final, b) Glen Wesley should spend the summer shooting low backhanders in front of empty nets, c) Brian Propp&rsquo;s shot is gone, d) Milbury should have used Byers as a constant &ldquo;pick&rdquo; to erase Esa Tikkanen.Chicago: a) Either Denis Savard or Mike Keenan should be traded, b) Either Greg Millen or Keenan should be traded, c) The Star Spangled Banner should be played throughout the game, d) Duane Sutter should have named the five loafers he indicted after elimination.Washington: a) The Bruins could have been beaten in the Wales Conference final if Terry Murray could have iced a better defense in the third period of Game 1. b) Murray should make up his mind whether he wants Geoff Courtnall to accent offense or defense, c) Don Beaupre is as good as Mike Liut. d) Dale Hunter had better put a rear view mirror on his helmet in 1990-91.Los Angeles: a) Larry Robinson should return some of owner Bruce McNall&rsquo;s money, b) Wayne Gretzky-Tony Granato-Tomas Sand-strom will be the NHL&rsquo;s best line next season, c) McNall should buy a second jet for his team. The original obviously can&rsquo;t get them past the second round, d) L.A. will never beat Edmonton until Marty McSorley wipes out Tikkanen.New York Rangers: a) Al Arbour was right calling Roger Neilson a &ldquo;front-runner.&rdquo; Captain Video was terrific when ahead but once he fell behind the Caps, his Blueshirts were finished, b) Someone forgot wake-up calls for Bernie Nicholls and Mike Gartner after Game 1 of the Caps series, c) It would be stupid to deal goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. d) Order a rear view mirror for Kris King, too.St. Louis: a) A healthy Rick Meagher would have won the Norris Division final for St. Louis.b) GM Ron Caron should try to trade the quitters who didn&rsquo;t show for Game 7 of the Norris final.c) The Vincent Riendeau-Curtis Joseph goalie duo is a winner, d) The defense needs major surgery.Montreal: a) Patrick Roy is not invincible, b) Mathieu Schneider is three years away from the Norris Trophy and four months away from a payback crosscheck from behind, c) Pat Bums is the fifth-best coach in the NHL. d) Stephan Lebeau should be given a regular spot.Minnesota: a) Pierre Page should have been named GM-coach. b) Mike Modano is four years away from the Hart, c) Minus Page, the Stars could be finished by March, d) Curt Giles is the most underrated little warrior in the NHL.Calgary: a) Former coach Terry Crisp wasn&rsquo;t the problem, b) New coach Doug Risebrough ought to get the numbers of the hit-and-run gang that sabotaged Crisp, c) Risebrough should learn Russian so he can clue in Sergei Makarov about the art of backchecking. d) Talk Jim Peplinski out of retirement.Toronto: a) Point out the five-hole to goalie Allan Bester and teach him how to fill it. b) Coach Doug Carpenter should tone down his act a few decibels, c) Do not trade Wendel Clark, d) Pray the NHL doesn&rsquo;t crack down on goon hockey.Winnipeg: a) Bob Murdoch is the third-best coach in the league, b) Winnipeg would be better off without Dale Hawerchuk. c) Paul Fenton is the world&rsquo;s most underrated player, d) When you have a 3-1 lead on the Oilers, don&rsquo;t look ahead to the next round.Hartford: a) Mike Liut was expendable, b) GM Ed Johnston had better find a leader, c) Blowing the three-goal lead to Boston in Game 4 of the playoffs says more about the Whalers than the Bruins, d) Rick Ley is the l0th-best coach in the league.New Jersey:a) Slava Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov&rsquo;s adjustment to the NHL was made tougher because they are defensemen and more vulnerable than forwards like Sergei Makarov.b) Alexei should spend August shooting at open nets from the outside of the left faceoff circle, c) Pat Conacher should make the varsity on character alone, d) With a bit more toughness, Eric Weinrich will be a winner.Buffalo: a) The team goes nowhere until the Alexander Mogilny problem is solved, b) Trade Phil Housley while his value is up. c) Give Clint Malarchuk more goaltending time, d) Mogilny could be another Pierre Turgeon.New York Islanders: a) Pat LaFontaine needs more protection, b) Jeff Norton will be the club&rsquo;s most versatile defenseman in the 1990s.c) David Volek must perform in the regular season the way he did in the playoffs, d) Wayne McBean will make the team next season.<h2>FLASHBACK</h2>June 8, 1988: Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; Jacques Demers became the first back-to-back winner of the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. Demers guided the Wings to first place in the Norris Division with a 41-28-11 record in 1987-88. Two seasons earlier, the Wings were last in the NHL at 17-57-6.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021198/5765187-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="621" height="403"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Demers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

SAVARD OR KEENAN HAS TO GO IN CHICAGO

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>Whenever the Boston Bruins needed a big goal in the regular season, they usually got it from right winger Cam Neely. Often it came with help from play-making center Craig Janney.That pattern continued during the first three rounds of the playoffs, when Neely scored 12 times and Jan-ney dished out 19 assists against Hart-ford, Montreal and Washington.But then came the final and the Edmonton Oilers. With left winger Esa Tikkanen shadowing Janney, the Bruin did not record an assist. Not surprisingly, that meant Neely, a 55 goal-scorer this season, did not record a goal.Neely had four assists against Edmonton but Janney was held point-less. Linemate Brian Propp also came up empty in the series.Janney could not lose Tikkanen long enough to help get the Bruins&rsquo; offense untracked. Even though Tik-kanen didn&rsquo;t heavily shadow Janney in Games 3 and 4 in Edmonton (a 2-1 Boston win May 20 and a 5-1 Edmonton win May 22), his ability to throw Janney off early was a key.The 22-year-old was obviously drawn off his game by the constant hounding and harrassing by Tik-kanen, who is one of the game&rsquo;s finest in that department. Janney would certainly agree with Tikkanen being a repeat finalist for the Selke Trophy as top defensive forward.When the series was over after a 4-1 loss in Boston in Game 5, Janney admitted he did not handle the added attention very well. &ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t play well, I deserve (criticism), I deserve to hear it,&rdquo; said Janney, who had 38 assists in 55 regular-season games.&ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t do the job, like I didn&rsquo;t do it in this series, I deserve it. I feel I let my team down.&rdquo;No doubt, rival teams took note of how Janney was virtually taken out of the series by one player.And with Janney not functioning at his playmaking best, Neely was un-able get as many scoring opportunities.Former Bruin center and ex-New York Rangers&rsquo; general manager Phil Esposito said the effectiveness of the Tikkanen shadow may now serve as a guide to how teams will play against Janney in the future.&ldquo;Every team in the league has a guy like Tikkanen they can put on him,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;It could drive him out of the league in five years.&rdquo;But to only blame Janney for the loss to Edmonton would be unfair and inaccurate. The Bruins managed just eight goals against Conn Smythe Trophy winner Bill Ranford, three of them by Ray Bourque. The rest came from players who aren&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s big goal-scorers: Greg Johnston, John Byce, Greg Hawgood, John Carter and Lyndon Byers. Those five players scored 33 goals this season in a combined 205 games.It&rsquo;s tough when you are only scoring one or two goals a game,&rdquo; Neely said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t get any offense right from the start, starting with myself.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looked upon to score goals to help this club win. I do other things too, but not to score in five games, that&rsquo;s definitely frustrating for me.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Bob Carpenter, Bob Sweeney, John Byce, Bob Gould, Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer.LW &mdash;Brian Propp. Randy Burridge, John Carter, Andy Brickley.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Dave Christian, Greg Johnston, Lyndon Byers, Peter Douris.LD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney, Stephane Quintal.RD&mdash;Garry Galley, Al Pedersen, Greg Hawgood, Jim Wiemer.G&mdash;Andy Moog, Reggie Lemelin, Norm Foster.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Beers, D, broken right leg.Gord Kluzak, D, left knee surgery.Nevin Markwart, LW. left shoulder surgery.Dave Poulin, C, left knee sprain.Michael Thelven, D, right knee surgery.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely, 12. A&mdash;Janney, 19. P&mdash;Neely, 28. PIM&mdash;Neely. 51. &#9632;

TOP GUNS GROUNDED IN STANLEY CUP FINAL

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>Stephane Richer has made it clear&mdash;he wants big bucks.&rsquo; &ldquo;If Brett Hull is worth $1.2 million (Hull has asked for $1 million U.S.), then I think I should be able to get at least a million,&rdquo; said the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; right winger in a radio interview. &ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s a lot of money but a lot of the big players in the league are making that, if not more.&rdquo;Richer, who enjoyed his second 50-goal campaign this season&mdash;he had 51 in 75 games&mdash;is not the only high-profile Habs&rsquo; player that will be looking for a substantial raise this summer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011438/5765280-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="553" height="971"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stephane Richer wants to become a millionaire soon.</figcaption></div>All-star goaltender Patrick Roy will be looking for a substantial raise as will veteran center Guy Carbonneau and defenseman Petr Svoboda. All are entering their option years with the Canadiens.The lucrative four-year contract Canadiens&rsquo; managing director Serge Savard gave defenseman Chris Chelios last season&mdash;$775,000 (U.S.) per season&mdash;is being used as a negotiating lever by the stars who will expect big pay hikes in the coming months.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not our fault that (Savard) gave Chris that contract last summer,&rdquo; said Richer, who is represented by agent Don Meehan. It was Meehan who negotiated the Chelios deal. There has, however, been speculation that Richer might change agents.Meehan said he heard the speculation, too, but met with Richer and was given the go-ahead to begin negotiations with Savard.Roy, who is regarded as the top goaltender in the league, has kept mum on his asking price, as has his agent, Pierre Lacroix of Montreal.Carbonneau is also remaining quiet, although the Canadiens&rsquo; co-captain has let it be known that there are a number of unhappy players on the team and that it was time for a change of scenery for some of them.&ldquo;I think we need some changes,&rdquo; said Carbonneau, who got on Savard&rsquo;s bad side in March when he criticized management for not making a deal to help the Canadiens&rsquo; playoff run. &ldquo;Other teams have made changes and I think they profited from them. Look at Boston and Edmonton. Trades were the difference for those two teams.&ldquo;There are those who don&rsquo;t think we have to make changes, but I think we need some new blood here.&rdquo;Richer agreed with his captain, noting that now is the time to move some of the unhappy players out of Montreal.&ldquo;1 think Guy said what had to be said,&rdquo; said Richer, who made local headlines with his radio appearance.&ldquo;There are some malcontents on the club,&rdquo; Carbonneau said. &ldquo;Brian Hayward wants to be a No. 1 goaltender. He wants to play where he has a chance to be No. 1.&ldquo;Claude Lemieux has been asking for a deal for a year. Rick Green wants to come back and play, but he doesn&rsquo;t want to play in Montreal. He could be included in a trade.&rdquo;Carbonneau also called upon the Canadiens to give young players such as Mark Pederson, Benoit Brunet and Stephan Lebeau a chance to play next season.&ldquo;But they have to play and not be sitting on the bench,&rdquo; Carbonneau said. &#9632;

f0014-01

HIGH-PROFILE PLAYERS LOOKING TO CASH IN

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>In announcing his entrance into the Dale Hawerchuk Derby, Hartford Whalers&rsquo; general manager Ed Johnston was asked a simple question.&ldquo;Is there anyone on your team who you will refuse to trade?&rdquo;Johnston didn&rsquo;t bat an eyelash before giving his direct reply.&ldquo;There are no untouchables on our team,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;There can&rsquo;t be. We haven&rsquo;t won anything.&rdquo;But suddenly, an amendment surfaced. In a system of Czechs and balances, it was bound to occur.What about 19-year-old Czechoslovakian prospect Bobby Holik!Johnston smiled. He knows he isn&rsquo;t trading Holik. He had another quick reply ready.&ldquo;Holik wasn&rsquo;t on the team when the season finished,&rdquo; Johnston said, smiling.Holik will arrive in the United States from Czechoslovakia in July in time tor his sister Andrea&rsquo;s wedding to Minnesota North Star defenseman Frantisek Musil.Holik, who signed a four-year deal with the Whalers while visiting Hartford in March, will be watched closely by owner Richard Gordon and tennis star Ivan Lendl, who is on the Whalers&rsquo; advisory board.Gordon, who recently went to Prague and Budapest on a business trip on behalf of Hartford-based United Technologies, scheduled visits with Holik&rsquo;s and Lendl&rsquo;s families while in Czechoslovakia.The Whalers were also interviewing a Czechoslovakian family living in Connecticut for a possible home for Holik until he gets accustomed to life in North America.Holik&rsquo;s arrival in Connecticut will be the Whalers&rsquo; big story of the late summer.But in early June, the focus was on potential trades and any possibility of moving up in the June 16 entry draft.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very interested in Hawerchuk, definitely,&rdquo; Johnston said, after the Winnipeg Jets announced they&rsquo;d accommodate Hawerchuk&rsquo;s desires to be dealt. Johnston said something could happen with Hawerchuk before the draft.Winnipeg general manager Mike Smith was interested in drafting Holik last season. &ldquo;I think he may well have done it if he thought he could have signed him,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;He may come after Holik.&rdquo;While trying to outbid Toronto, Buffalo, New Jersey, Washington and some others, Johnston will open up his roster and try to direct Smith elsewhere.What about right winger Kevin Dineen? There was plenty of talk among NHL general managers Dineen could be had for the right price. Every other year, Dineen seems to be exceptional. The off years hurt. And entering the second year of a four-year deal worth more than $2 million (U.S.)&mdash;including the deferred payments&mdash;Dineen pulls down a hefty paycheck for such inconsistency.What about captain Ron Francis for Hawerchuk straight up?&ldquo;You&rsquo;d really have to think that over long and hard,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;There are pros and cons to that deal. Ronnie&rsquo;s been a central figure on this team for a long time.&rdquo;Francis, who made $350,000 (U.S.) last season, is entering the option year of his contract and will be negotiating a new one expected to be in the neighborhood of Dineen&rsquo;s.In the meantime, defenseman Dave Babych (who previously played for the Jets) and center Ray Ferraro were definitely on the market as Johnston went about trying to fill his &ldquo;No. 1 priority&rdquo; of a quarterback on the point.Edmonton, meanwhile, had shown interest in Babych at the trade deadline.There has been much speculation in which direction Johnston will look for help.Will he chase his former draft picks like offensive-minded defenseman Zarley Zalapski&mdash;a player the Whalers could use&mdash;and right winger Rob Brown from Pittsburgh?He made a pitch for Edmonton left winger Craig Simpson last season. Simpson turned around from a mediocre season to lead the NHL in playoff goal-scoring with 16. &#9632;

PROSPECT HOUK IS THE ONLY UNTOUCHABLE

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>Several general managers have expressed cautious interest now that Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; center Dale Hawerchuk has become available on the open market.But Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan was anything but cautious.&ldquo;We are very much interested,&rdquo; Meehan said when asked about the six-time 100-point scorer. &ldquo;He has a reputation in this league as a powerful offensive player, the kind of player every team in the league would like to have.&ldquo;We have a top centernan already in Pierre Turgeon, a center who is a potential superstar, and to add a player like this (Hawerchuk) would give us a formidable 1-2 punch.&rdquo;Meehan said he had no indications from Winnipeg what price tag might be attached to Hawerchuk. but he expected Hawerchuk&rsquo;s market value would be determined in the days leading up to the June 16 NHL entry draft in Vancouver. Meehan also said he would &ldquo;pursue discussion&rdquo; with the Jets.It&rsquo;s not uncommon for a general manager to express interest in a high-quality player when he comes on to the market, even if he has no intention of making a bid. However. Meehan&rsquo;s interest appeared both genuine and serious and indicated he was at least exploring opportunities to change the mix on a Sabres&rsquo; team that had a strong regular season but once again disappointed in the playoff&rsquo;s.Naturally, bringing Hawerchuk or a player like him to Buffalo would mean giving up a player or players of similar value, both in terms of talent and expense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011217/5765335-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="548" height="702"><figcaption class="caption-body">Christian Ruuttu has been mentioned in several trade rumors.</figcaption></div>No one in the Sabres&rsquo; organization has publicly singled out players, at least not by name, for Buffalo&rsquo;s failure to get by Montreal in the first round of the playoffs this season. But the players as a group have certainly taken heat from management and some big names have suddenly shown up in trade rumors.Defenseman Phil Housley and right winger Mike Foligno recently were linked to a possible trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Christian Ruuttu&rsquo;s name has also cropped up in some less-known rumors. A solo deal involving Foligno and Toronto was reported.The Sabres, having again hiked ticket prices, would be hard-pressed to return the same lineup to the ice despite a 98-point regular season. Buffalo fans measure a team&rsquo;s worth by how well it performs in the playoffs and this team, like almost all the rest of the last decade, has done nothing.Another reason Meehan might be interested is because Hawerchuk threatens to upset the current balance of power in the Adams Division.At the general manager&rsquo;s luncheon at the Stanley Cup final in Edmonton, both Montreal GM Serge Savard and Hartford GM Ed Johnston also expressed an interest in Hawerchuk. Buffalo, Montreal and Hartford finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in the Adams last season and all three teams were among the top seven in the NHL. Hawerchuk, with any one of the three, could be enough to push one team past another.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve already worked up a few charts with Hawerchuk in our lineup and with players we might have to give up coming out,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that has to be discussed (and evaluated). Everything is determined by the price, but are we interested? Sure we are. Who wouldn&rsquo;t be?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

MEEHAN INTERESTED IN WINNIPEG’S STAR CENTER

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Perhaps Michel Bergeron should have taken heed of that age-old advice: You can never go home again.A little more than a year after his much-heralded return to Quebec, where he had coached from 1980 to 1987, Bergeron was re-assigned May 31 by the Nords&rsquo; new general manager, Pierre Page.Many predicted Bergeron&rsquo;s demise when Page was hired as GM on May 4. Page said from the outset he wanted to work with people he trusted, people he knew could work as a team.That&rsquo;s when the name Dave Chambers, assistant coach to Page in Minnesota this season, first emerged.Jean Perron, the former Montreal Canadien and Nordique coach who is now a Quebec City radio sportscaster, reported May 30 that Page was meeting Chambers in Toronto and would offer him a contract to be head coach. The Nordiques called a media conference for the next day, announcing Bergeron&rsquo;s dismissal as coach but not confirming Chambers&rsquo; appointment.Confirmation was expected no later than June 5.&ldquo;I guess they&rsquo;ve decided,&rdquo; Chambers said when the story first broke. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t supposed to say anything.&rdquo;Page, seeming ill at ease with the Bergeron episode, wanted to look ahead.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not here to judge Michel Bergeron&rsquo;s abilities as a coach,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;If he were in my place, he might have done the same thing. He probably would have.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;d like to talk about the future of this team instead of dwelling on the past. This team has a great future.&ldquo;Michel did an awful lot for this team and we are very grateful. His contract, good for five more seasons, will be respected. He will now work in radio and television.&rdquo;He will if he wants to collect on his Nordique contract. For now, though, Bergeron isn&rsquo;t sure about the broadcast booth&mdash;or anything else for that matter.Shocked by his second firing in 14 months&mdash;the New York Rangers fired him at the end of his second season there&mdash;Bergeron said he&rsquo;s considering all options.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even know myself what I&rsquo;m going to do,&rdquo; said Bergeron at a media conference he called 24 hours after his firing. &ldquo;I have to sit back and really think things out before deciding.&rdquo;Team president Marcel Aubut, a part owner, said he had little input in the coaching decision.&ldquo;Life is life,&rdquo; said Aubut. &ldquo;Pierre Page is now the decision-maker and he finally decided that he wanted a coach that thought the same way he did.&rdquo;The Nordiques have always prided themselves on being a truly French Canadian operation, owned and operated by francophones. It doesn&rsquo;t help that relations between English and French in Canada are at an all-time low.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011070/5765366-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="547" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Bergeron said he may not accept a broadcasting job.</figcaption></div>Chambers, however, didn&rsquo;t seem bothered by the debate.He noted that the working language in the NHL, including Quebec City, is English and he&rsquo;s prepared to take an immersion course in French this summer to help his cause with local media and fans.Perhaps lost in the language debate are his qualifications as a coach.He spent eight years&mdash;in two stints&mdash;as head coach of York University in Toronto. He also coached the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario League and Italy&rsquo;s national team. He was head coach of Canada&rsquo;s national junior team that won a gold medal in Moscow in 1988 and was in his first NHL season with the North Stars.He is strong in the area of working with youngsters and since the Nordiques are commencing with a huge rebuilding job with some outstanding young talent, he fits the need.&ldquo;We need a new philosophy,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;We must look forward to what we can accomplish.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 31: Michel Bergeron, coach, fired. &#9632;

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DISMISSAL OF BERGERON NO BIG SURPRISE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011113/5765397-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div>Only Inside HOCKEY has in-depth features and columns that take you from the dressing room to the boardroom&hellip; from the press box to the penalty box. Action packed four colour photography that puts you where the action is right on the ice. Only $19.95 for 6 big issues plus our special bonus issue Season In Review. Don&rsquo;t delay subscribe today! &#9632;

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THE HEARTBEAT OF HOCKEY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011034/5765428-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="493" height="637"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY MEISEL</figcaption></div>Now they&rsquo;re a dynasty. You go to the finals six times in eight years and win five times in seven years, you&rsquo;re a dynasty.The Edmonton Oilers won Stanley Cups two years apart with two different head coaches. They won when they were supposed to win. They won when they were supposed to lose. They won in 1988, six months after they traded Paul Coffey. They won this year, 21 months after they traded Wayne Gretzky. They won it with their No. 1 goalie, Grant Fuhr, out nearly all season with an injury.Dynasty, It&rsquo;s a terribly overused word in sports, but it understates the organization that Glen Sather has ruled since it hopped out of the World Hockey Association in 1979.The Oilers became great in 1982, greater in 1983. They won their first championship in 1984.The Oilers dominated for five years, retooled, returned to the top without falling anywhere near the bottom. And by doing that they eclipsed the New York Islanders&mdash;the model Randy Gregg said he wanted the Oilers to pattern themselves after&mdash;and indelibly stamped themselves the Team of the &rsquo;80s.The best of the 1980-83 Islanders were definitely as good as the best of the 1984-90 Oilers, even slightly better. The Isles whipped Edmonton four straight in the 1983 finals, before the Oilers were ready. The Oilers trounced the Islanders 4-1 in the 1984 finals, when the Isles&rsquo; time ran out.You don&rsquo;t measure dynasties head-to-head because they rarely peak simultaneously. You measure dynasties by spanning their eras. The Isles became great in 1976, but they didn&rsquo;t win their first Cup until 1980. And once they did, they didn&rsquo;t sustain their dominance as long as Edmonton. Six years after their first Cup, the Islanders were a mediocre team in the middle of the NHL pack.General manager Bill Torrey chose not to turn over his aging key people (Billy Smith, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy) or the supporting cast (Clark Gillies, Bob Nystrom, Bob Bourne and Ken Morrow). That&rsquo;s exactly what Sather (and tight-fisted owner Peter Pocklington) did with holdout Coffey, holdout Andy Moog, and Gretzky.Don&rsquo;t get me wrong. This is not meant to exonerate Pocklington, who by peddling Gretzky spat on tradition and the dying notion that a team belongs to its city.Pocklington doesn&rsquo;t deserve this fifth Cup, not ever. Peter (Not so Deep) Pockets had better thank his stars he pays so shrewd a man as Sather, who turned Coffey into Craig Simpson, Moog into Conn Smythe winner Bill Ranford, and Gretzky into Martin Gelinas, Jimmy Carson (who became Petr Klima, Adam Graves and Joe Murphy) and a few No. 1 draft choices. Then he stepped aside to let John Muckier, who had waited so patiently, take over as head coach.Dynasties have cores. Glenn Anderson, Fuhr, Randy Gregg, Charlie Huddy, Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier are the seven who&rsquo;ve been Oilers for all five Cups.Dynasties under construction have to make draft picks like Steve Smith (fifth round, 111th overall in 1981) and Esa Tikkanen (fourth round, 82nd overall in 1983).Dynasties have to find underrated defensemen like Craig Muni, for whom the Toronto Maple Leafs couldn&rsquo;t find room, but whom Sather signed as a free agent in 1986.They have to find defensive centers such as Craig MacTavish, who paid society for committing vehicular homicide five years ago and was given the opportunity to rebuild his career.They have to play Rent-a-Rexi by signing offensive defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen out of Switzerland to help win a Cup in 1987, letting him go back to Europe, and trading for him again before the playoffs this season.Dynasties build while they win and win while they build.They stay hungry by making changes that make it necessary to win again. The Islanders wanted to win five straight because the Montreal Canadiens that Torrey watched from 1955-60 won five straight. The Oilers wanted to win four straight because the Isles won four straight. And they wanted to keep winning once Gretzky left because so many of us said they wouldn&rsquo;t win again.Now what about the &rsquo;90s? Kurri wants a lot of Pocklington&rsquo;s money to stay out of Europe. Lowe, Gregg and Huddy are in their 30s. Messier&rsquo;s 29-year-old tank can&rsquo;t stay full forever. Fuhr&rsquo;s shoulder is a question mark. Ranford&rsquo;s going to have a tough time duplicating April and May. The Calgary Flames are a deeper team.Seven months ago, I believed the Flames were a better team. Seven months ago, they were the defending Stanley Cup champions. I didn&rsquo;t know then what 1 know now.The dynasty hadn&rsquo;t died. &#9632;

f0019-01

OILER DYNASTY VERY MUCH ALIVE

<h2>RANGERS</h2>Assistant general manager Gord Stellick will not be back with the New York Rangers next season. Stellick and GM Neil Smith had several differences of opinion in their first year working together and the Rangers have given Stellick permission to seek employment elsewhere. &ldquo;I called about 10 teams in all, just to let them know that I was available,&rdquo; said Stellick. The Rangers hope Stellick will find employment so they won&rsquo;t have to get into the sticky issue of severance pay. Stellick has two years left on his contract. First indication was that the Rangers were offering him three months pay, which the former Toronto Maple Leaf GM found totally unacceptable&hellip;Goalie John Van-biesbrouck underwent arthroscopic knee surgery May 11 and was working out the next week. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Vanbiesbrouck will be ready for training camp in September&hellip;The Rangers, at one time the frontrunner to sign Colgate&rsquo;s standout free agent goalie, Dave Gagnon, have all but dropped out of the race. Smith said he was impressed with Gagnon&rsquo;s college credentials, but didn&rsquo;t want to break the bank to sign him. &ldquo;We think our payroll is in a pretty orderly state,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;As much as we might be tempted to, we don&rsquo;t want to throw it all out of balance for a prospect.&rdquo;<h2>CAPITALS</h2>Goaltender Bob Mason and defensemen Brian Tutt and Dennis Smith were offered termination contracts by the Capitals. That gives them the month of June to search for a better deal elsewhere in the NHL. &ldquo;I certainly knew they didn&rsquo;t have plans for me, with the limited ice time and then when they traded for (Mike) Liut,&rdquo; said Mason, who finished the season in Baltimore of the American League. &ldquo;It was a tough situation all the way around.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Liut, entering the option year of his $455,000 (U.S.) annual contract, is seeking an extension, after leading the NHL with a 2.53 goals-against average&hellip;Goaltender Don Beaupre, 28, is a free agent with compensation and said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping to be back, I want to be back.&rdquo;<h2>FLYERS</h2>Former Washington Capitals&rsquo; coach Bryan Murray became a late and perhaps leading entry in the Flyers&rsquo; general manager derby. Murray was interviewed by president Jay Snider May 24 and 25. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly exciting,&rdquo; said Murray, who coached the Caps for parts of nine seasons before he was fired last January. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a broader field and will take a little adjustment.&rdquo; Murray and Russ Farwell of the Western League&rsquo;s Seattle Thunderbirds were reportedly the two finalists for the position left open by the firing of Bob Clarke April 16&hellip;Dr. Arthur Bartolozzi, 34, was named the Flyers&rsquo; new team orthopedic surgeon. He replaces Dr. John Gregg, who served in that capacity for seven years.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Mark Johnson was offered a contract for next season. If he does not sign it within 30 days, he becomes a free agent. Johnson said he hopes to play in Europe next season. &ldquo;My first preference is Switzerland, then Italy,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Goalie Chris Terreri did not require surgery on the thumb on his stick hand. He will undergo therapy instead&hellip;The Devils have five picks in the first three rounds of the entry draft, as well as the first choice in the fourth round. They may opt for a defenseman in the first round. &ldquo;We feel we can get a pretty good player from where we&rsquo;re picking (11th in the first round),&rdquo; said general manager Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question if we could get the right defenseman we would do that. If the right defenseman is not there, we&rsquo;ll take the best player available.&rdquo;<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Goalie Jeff Hackett, MVP of the Calder Cup playoffs, was gratified and encouraged by the Springfield Indians&rsquo; playoff triumph. The Indians are the Islanders&rsquo; American League affiliate. &ldquo;Now you&rsquo;re labeled a winner for the rest of your life,&rdquo; said Hackett. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to meet the next challege and move on to the NHL.&rdquo; General manager Bill Torrey apparently agreed, telling goalies Glenn Healy and Mark Fitzpatrick: &ldquo;Whatever you accomplished this year, you&rsquo;re going to have a tougher battle next year.&rdquo;&hellip;Torrey did not think it coincidental that, in the Calder Cup finale, defenseman Wayne McBean scored the tying goal and fired the shot that Jeff Rohlicek tipped in for the game-winner. McBean had been on two Memorial Cup championship teams with Medicine Hat of the Western League, as had Springfield teammates Rob DiMaio and Dean Chynoweth. &ldquo;I believe that if you&rsquo;re used to that at each level as you go along, it can be very useful,&rdquo; Torrey said.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Bob Johnson, executive director of USA Hockey and former coach of the Calgary Flames, emerged as a candidate to fill the Penguins&rsquo; coaching vacancy. Indianapolis Ice (International League) coach Darryl Sutter, who was believed to be a candidate, appeared to be out of the running for the job&hellip;Patrick said he has not decided whether to offer a contract to goalie Alain Chevrier. If the Penguins keep Chevrier, acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline, they must give the Hawks a fourth-round draft choice&hellip;The Penguins reported Mario Lemieux, who missed the final quarter of the regular season because of a herniated disc in his back, is pain-free for the first time this year. Doctors in Pittsburgh gave Lemiuex the go-ahead to resume golfing, his favorite off-season activity. &#9632;

STELLICK’S RANGER DAYS ARE OVER

A defenseman for five teams between 1972-73 and &rsquo;80-81, Tom Bladon, 37, is the director of corporate sales for a moving company in Edmonton. Bladon says he hasn&rsquo;t been involved in hockey since he retired, but does spend about 15 hours a week in arenas. &ldquo;I coach three ringette teams,&rdquo; says the father of four girls. &ldquo;It gives me the opportunity to be with the kids.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02756/5765483-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="573" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Bladon</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

THEN & NOW

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>For most teams, draft day is an investment in the future. For the Pittsburgh Penguins, the future is now.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get a player who will be in a Penguin uniform sometime in the near future,&rdquo; general manager Craig Patrick said. It not next year.&rdquo;Pittsburgh has the fifth choice in the first round of the June 16 proceedings in Vancouver, with Quebec, Vancouver, Detroit and Philadelphia selecting ahead of the Penguins in that order. The prevailing school of thought was the Penguins would take whomever was left from the pack of blue-chip prospects which includes Owen Nolan, Petr Nedved, Mike Ricci, Keith Primeau and Jaromir Jagr.Picking so high, Pittsburgh almost certainly will choose the top prospect still on the board in the first round, the popular best-player-available theory. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean Patrick will adhere to a similar philosophy in subsequent rounds.Patrick has assessed the Penguins and their long-range needs and will not hesitate to select a lower-ranked prospect if he fills a specific hole in the depth chart.&ldquo;Generally, I like to pick the best player available,&rdquo; Patrick said, &ldquo;but there may be circumstances that dictate otherwise. Circumstances can change that general philosophy.&rdquo;This will be Patrick&rsquo;s first draft as GM of the Penguins, but his track record for choosing players to fill a precise need was established while he was with the New York Rangers.He took goalie Mike Richter in the second round (28th overall) of the 1985 draft, for example, because he felt that would shore up a potential weakness looming a few years later.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01908/5765514-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="562" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Richter, above, was a Craig Patrick draftee in 1985.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Maybe Richter, when we picked wasn&rsquo;t the best player available,&rsquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;But we happened to want a goaltender at that particular time and he was the one I wanted.&rsquo;Patrick didn&rsquo;t remain with the Rangers long enough to enjoy that selection, but Richter had a superb rookie year with New York this season and i: regarded by many as that team&rsquo;s goal tender of the future.Pittsburgh&rsquo;s picks also will be influenced, at least in part, by the level of interest Patrick thinks other team: have in a given player. The Penguin: might wait to choose a prospect the; like if they feel he has been largely overlooked by the rest of the league or they might draft a guy because the; figure he wouldn&rsquo;t last until the next round.&ldquo;You have to have a sense of when people are going to go in the draft,&rsquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;You kind of get a real by who&rsquo;s been looking at a player over the year. You can tell by which game: they (scouts) show up at who they&rsquo;re interested in.&ldquo;When we picked Richter, we knew we had to take him in the second round or somebody else was going to get him,&rdquo; Patrick said.Similarly, the Rangers selected Ulf Dahlen in the first round in l98l (seventh overall) because Patrick did not believe there was any chance hi would slip through to the second.&ldquo;We knew that the very next pick he was going,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Detroit was going to pick him. He was a player we wanted, and we knew we couldn&rsquo;t wait.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 28: Daniel Gauthier, LW, and Mark Major, LW, signed multi-year contracts. &#9632;

f0020-01

PATRICK CONFIDENT ABOUT THE 1990 DRAFT

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>He has been a steady, hard-hitting defenseman in his five seasons with the New Jersey Devils, although it seems few people have noticed what he does on the ice. Randy Velischek is known primarily tor the controversial comments he made last summer about Soviet players taking North American jobs. And when that controversy died down, Velischek was back in the news last March when he asked the Devils for a trade by stating: &ldquo;I pray that I get out of here. I&rsquo;ve had enough.&rdquo;Outspoken, yes. Out of the Devils&rsquo; plans? Well, maybe not.It was assumed Velischek would be the &ldquo;future considerations&rdquo; sent tc Quebec to complete the March 6 Petei Stastny-for-Craig Wolanin trade, but there have been two changes sines that time. First, Pierre Page is now the general manager of the Nordiques and may have other ideas. Second, Velischek was among the few Devil defensemen to play well in the playoffs.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what is going to happen,&rdquo; Velischek said. &ldquo;1 kept hearing that I&rsquo;m going to be out of here, but I really don&rsquo;t know. I think my position improved at the end of the season. I&rsquo;d like to stay here with these guys, I know that.&rdquo;Devils&rsquo; general manager Lou Lamoriello, who claimed it would be a player and not a draft pick that completes the Stastny deal, may not want to give up Velischek.&ldquo;I spoke with Pie&sigma;e at the GMs&rsquo; meeting in Edmonton, but at no great length. We&rsquo;ll complete the trade before the draft,&rdquo; said Lamoriello.Velischek played the best hockey of his career under former Devils&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld. Before that, he had languished on the bench during Doug Carpenter&rsquo;s term and history seemed to be repeating itself when he fell out of John Cunniff&rsquo;s favor.&ldquo;I never felt it was a lack of talent. For me it was the wrong place at the: wrong time. It happened with Doug and it happened, unfortunately, with John as well, no matter how I played,&rdquo; said Velischek, who was 0-6-6 in 62 games this season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve shown I can play year after year. Unfortunately, I have that label after getting picked up on waivers so early in my career (1985 from Minnesota). Journeyman is a little too harsh, but it&rsquo;s hard to shake that label of being a good spare parts type of player.&rdquo;Despite Velischek&rsquo;s plea for a trade, it was Wolanin who was finally dealt. After talking over his situation with Lamoriello and Cunniff, Velischek eventually returned to the lineup.He played well enough during the Devils&rsquo; opening-round playoff loss to the Washington Capitals to change Cunniff&rsquo;s opinion.&ldquo;He grew on me at the end with his determination,&rdquo; said Cunniff. &ldquo;He struggled at times but at one point in the playoff he and Kenny (Daneyko) were good together. They were very steady for us. He&rsquo;s a good hitter, but he has to learn when not to hit.&rdquo;Cunniff may have changed his opinion of Velischek, but many peopie have not. His comments regarding Soviet players&mdash;he once said, &ldquo;I believe their place is to play in Russia. They are taking jobs, taking money, out of our pockets&mdash;and they&rsquo;re not going to stay,&rdquo;&mdash;have haunted Velischek.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing how this Russian thing has kept coming back to haunt me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to say it&rsquo;s been overblown. It was never personal. It was just the situation at that time and the way 1 felt had nothing to do with these guys&rsquo; personalities.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m basically a no-name in this league and guys like Kirk (Muller) and Craig (Wolanin) were relatively outspoken, but it has come back to haunt me. The worst part was when Sergei Starikov was here and his wife had a party. I went over to his house and they had an article from some Soviet paper and it had my picture in there. She was crying and she said: &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t you like us?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s awfully hard to explain when you&rsquo;re quoted verbatim. That was an awfully tough scene. I never felt it with Slava (Viacheslav Fetisov) as much as I did with Sergei.&rdquo; &#9632;

VELISCHEK GETS NEW LIFE IN NEW JERSEY

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>Brad Dalgarno realizes nothing has changed in the punishing, violent side of hockey that contributed to his decision last October to retire at age 22.It is Dalgarno who has changed. Most notably, he has changed his mind about quitting.Having broadened his perspective after a season in business and having become more secure about his post-hockey future, the New York Islanders&rsquo; No. 1 draft pick in 1985 has decided to return to the team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve established myself in something else. I&rsquo;m three times as confident going back into hockey,&rdquo; said the right winger.Delgamo spent the 1989-90 season in Hamilton, Ont., developing a business that builds exercise facilities for hotels and resorts. He believes he has established a foundation for his future.&ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;ll be a better player for it and a better person for it,&rdquo; he said.The Vancouver native surprised his teammates and the organization last October, when he decided to retire rather than accept a demotion to Springfield of the American League at the end of training camp. Then he surprised himself by missing the game so much.Dalgamo&rsquo;s enthusiasm for hockey had been severely damaged when he sustained a broken left orbital bone in his face in a fight with Detroit tough guy Joey Kocur Feb. 21, 1989. Dalgamo, who had appeared in 95 Islanders&rsquo; games in parts of three campaigns, has not played in a regular-season game since the Kocur fight. He has l4goals, 18 assists and 144 penalty minutes in his NHL career.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01715/5765607-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="543" height="691"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Dalgarno started his own business this past season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There were a lot of rumors going around about me,&rdquo; said Dalgarno. &ldquo;One said I was just chicken, one said the injury did it, and one said my wife made me quit.&ldquo;None of them were true. It was just a culmination of my feelings toward the game, although the injury had a big part to do with it; quite a big part.&rdquo;His feelings toward the game warmed considerably after he visited the Islanders in Toronto during the last week of the season. His competitive appetite grew after he watched his former team mount a third-period comeback tor a win mat sustained their playoff hopes. He did not get a sour taste even after visiting Nassau Coliseum for a playoff game in which Jeff Norton was knocked unconscious by an illegal check from the New York Rangers&rsquo; Troy Mallette.Dalgarno had breakfast with general manager Bill Torrey the morning after that game and pretty much decided he wanted to rejoin Torrey&rsquo;s team.&ldquo;Brad is a straight, honest young man. He made a decision and, frankly, it&rsquo;s not unusual for someone to have a change of heart at 22,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;One thing that he has going for him is that there aren&rsquo;t a lot of 6-4, 215-pound right wings hanging around.&rdquo;Certainly, there aren&rsquo;t many players that big in the Islanders&rsquo; dressing room. It remains to be seen, however, if Dalgarno is able to use his size and develop the potential that made him the sixth pick overall in 1985.&ldquo;I have come to terms with things that I know are going to be there. I&rsquo;m not hiding from that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t kid myself into thinking I&rsquo;m not going to have to fight. I know fighting is going to be there, even though I don&rsquo;t like it.&rdquo;He knows it will not be easy to gain acceptance from some teammates who felt Dalgarno took the easy out last year.&ldquo;Physically, I&rsquo;ll be ready,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Mentally, it might take a while to get back into the pace of the game.&rdquo; &#9632;

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DALGARNO COMES TO GRIPS WITH HIS HOCKEY CAREER

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>Although Darren Turcotte, Mike Richter, Troy Mallette Land Mark Janssens were the rookies who made the biggest impac for the New York Rangers during the 1989-90 season, another first-yea: player emerged in mid-season to be come an impressive addition to coach Roger Neilson&rsquo;s youth movement.Overlooked in training camp, right winger Paul Broten proved to be a valuable two-way player, surprising many by creating offensive opportunities while fulfilling his defensive assignments.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what we were looking at in training camp when we missed this guy,&rdquo; said Neilson. &ldquo;When he finally got his chance, Paul showed that he can do a lot of things well. He definitely opened our eyes.&ldquo;He can play anywhere up front and you can trust him with any kind of defensive responsibility&mdash;we used him in Jan Erixon&rsquo;s spot when Jan&rsquo;s back acted up&mdash;and he also seems to come up with a few good scoring chances every game.&rdquo;Receiving part-time and fourth-line playing time, Broten, 24, collected five goals and three assists in 32 games as a rookie last season. Filling in for Chris Nilan, who suffered a fractured arm in Game 4 of the first-round playott series against the New York Islanders, Broten had one goal in six post-season games.In what proved to be the Rangers&rsquo; last game of the season, the youngest of the NHL&rsquo;s three Broten brothers&mdash;Neal and Aaron play for the Minnesota North Stars&mdash;was thwarted by Washington goalie Mike Liut on a pair of shorthanded breakaway opportunities.Broten said he will not dwell so much on the fact he didn&rsquo;t score in that 2-1 overtime loss to Washington in Game 5 of the Patrick Division final April 27, but rather think about the fact he earned the right to be included in those kinds of important situations.&ldquo;It bothers me a lot,&rdquo; Broten conceded, &ldquo;because I wish I could have scored on at least one of them for the team, but that&rsquo;s the way this game goes sometimes. You do the best you can and you have to accept the outcome.&rdquo;Broten, who did score on a shorthanded breakaway in Game 3 of the division final&mdash;his goal was the Rangers&rsquo; last gasp, cutting Washington&rsquo;s lead to 2-1 on the way to an 7-1 rout April 23&mdash;will come to camp in September as a much more prominent member of the team than he was a year ago.&ldquo;I felt I was part of the team in the playoffs and, hopefully, that will mean a little bit when we start up again,&rdquo; said the native of Roseau, Minn.&ldquo;Last September, with everybody (Neilson and general manager Neil Smith) starting out new, I was pretty sure I&rsquo;d be starting out in Flint (the Rangers&rsquo; former affiliate in the International League). This year, hopefully, I&rsquo;ll be able to pick up where I left off and go on from there.&rdquo;At 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, Broten relies on guile, skating ability and a very competitive nature to make up for the fact he is usually matched against bigger opponents.&ldquo;I think it is safe to say that Paul is the feistiest of the Brotens,&rdquo; Ranger assistant coach Ron Smith said. &ldquo;He plays bigger than 175 pounds; I&rsquo;d say his stick plays at about 20 pounds.&rdquo;Broten was 17-9-26 in 28 games with Flint last season before being called up on Dec. 17, 1989.A fourth-round draft choice by the Rangers in 1984 (77th overall), Broten played four years at the University of Minnesota and was a cocaptain in his senior season on a team which went 34-10-0 and advanced to the semi-final round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.Broten said his brothers, both of whom broke into the league at the end of the 1980-81 season, helped prepare him for the NHL.&ldquo;I think hearing all the things they said to me over the years made me approach the minor leagues a little more seriously than some of the other guys,&rdquo; Broten said. &ldquo;Every game, every shift of every minor-league game, I was working toward earning a job in the NHL.&rdquo; &#9632;

MENTAL APPROACH BROTEN’S BIGGEST ASSET

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>Ron Hextall has faced some tough shots during his four-Year NHL careerThe hardest of all may have been fired this season. And they didn&rsquo;t come off the sticks of Mark Messier or Ray Bourque.They emanated from the critics, who looked at the Philadelphia Flyer goaltender&rsquo;s training camp holdout and subsequent injury problems, which cost him 51 games, and wondered if he might be headed for another team.Hextall questioned his future toward the end of the forgettable campaign. With Ken Wregget playing well and rookie prospect Bruce Hoffort showing promise with the Flyers&rsquo; American League affiliate in Hershey, Hextall didn&rsquo;t rule out a change of scenery.Since then, however, the 26-year-old netminder has had time to reflect. A change of heart might be the best way to describe it. Now Hextall says he wants to stay in Philadelphia and help bring the Flyers, who missed the playoffs for the first time in 18 years, back to contending status.&ldquo;I certainly want to be here,&rdquo; said Hextall, 4-2-1 in eight games with a 4.15 goals-against average. &ldquo;Whether our team&rsquo;s rebuilding, whether they trade the guys who are a bit older, I still want to play here. I love the people and 1 have a lot of friends here.&ldquo;I want to stay here but you only have so much control over that. All I can do is get in the net and play the way I can.&rdquo;For that to happen, there is still some unfinished business to complete.Hextall and his agent, Rich Winter, never did come to an agreement on a new salary. Those negotiations are on hold until president Jay Snider appoints a new general manager to replace Bob Clarke.The new GM will have his hands full. A source in the Flyer organization said Winter will be asking for a contract in the $900,000 (U.S.) per-year range.Hextall is in the middle of an eightyear deal which reportedly pays him $500,000 per year.&ldquo;As far as the contract goes, there&rsquo;s nothing really to talk about,&rdquo; said Hextall. &ldquo;As far as whether my position has changed with Clarke gone, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;Hextall said he doesn&rsquo;t feel like he has to prove anything personally. But it will be a challenge for Hextall to recapture the form which allowed him to start in more than 60 games in each of his first three seasons.&ldquo;No doubt about it,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;It is a challenge because basically I haven&rsquo;t played in a year and a half. I&rsquo;ve proved I can be an effective player but I want to continue to be an effective player. I love to play hockey. When you do something, you want to do it well.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01687/5765662-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="547" height="745"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextall played in just eight games this season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m only 26 years old. I&rsquo;m probably within two or three years of being at the peak of my career. I feel like I&rsquo;m still on the way up.&ldquo;I think over the years you learn a lot and you get a little smarter. Physically, certainly I haven&rsquo;t lost anything. If I happened to be 35, it might be different. But I m only 26.1 know 1 can do the job that I&rsquo;ve done over the years and I can do it well. I&rsquo;m looking forward to next season.&rdquo;Hextall said the first task the Flyers face is getting back some of the respect they&rsquo;ve lost the past few years.&ldquo;I think the one thing we lost was respect in our own building,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;We can earn it back but we&rsquo;ve got some work to do. You can talk tough&hellip;we&rsquo;re not talking about beating teams up, but rather that great forechecking we used to have.&rdquo;On a personal level, Hextall wants to do more than just weather the storm next season. After a series of frustrating groin and hamstring muscle pulls, he is taking a different approach to off-season conditioning.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to (physical conditioning coach) Pat Croce about some different things,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;We want to strengthen the muscles but not to the point where they&rsquo;re inflexible.&ldquo;Other than that, I think last year was a bit of bad luck and a little bit of circumstance. I really believe there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with my legs and I will be healthy in the future.&rdquo; &#9632;

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HEXTALL EAGER FOR CHANCE TO PROVE CRITICS WRONG

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01731/5765700-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="505" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DRYDEN</figcaption></div>You can have Nos. 99, 66, 19 and 11. I&rsquo;ll take No. 9.This is one guy I&rsquo;d go to war with. If the occasion arises, and Taiwan threatens to do to Canada&rsquo;s national passion what it has done to America&rsquo;s favorite pastime, I&rsquo;d like to have Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzer-man and Mark Messier on my side. I&rsquo;d love to have Glenn Anderson.He is hockey&rsquo;s ultimate warrior.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m determined to win and I want to win at all costs,&rdquo; he said after the Edmonton Oilers won their fifth Stanley Cup in seven years. &ldquo;And I do whatever it takes to win.&rdquo;There are more prolific scorers. Better defensive players. Even some faster skaters. But there are precious few more committed to winning or capable of delivering crucial goals.In 1988, when the Edmonton Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup in five years, Gretzky praised Anderson for consistently supplying big goals.In the year 2 AG (After Gretzky), the mercurial Anderson provided the Oilers with the kind of explosive firepower that has long been their trademark.And his.With just 50 goals total over the past two regular seasons&mdash;he scored 54 in 1983-84 alone&mdash;Anderson is no longer an overwhelming threat from the right side. But he rebounded from a dismal 1989 playoff (one goal in seven games) to re-establish himself as one of the premier post-season scorers in the game&rsquo;s history.Ten goals gave him a career playoff total of 75, sixth-most in NHL history. Only Jari Kurri, Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Maurice (Rocket) Richard and Messier stand ahead of him. Richard is in the Hall of Fame. The others will be inducted in their first years of eligibility. So, too, should Anderson.On a team that has featured some of the best players ever in the NHL, it&rsquo;s easy to overlook a top scorer who has never been named to an all-star team. It is not so easy to overlook somebody who has done what few others have: Match regular-season excellence with at least comparable play during the post-season.With few exceptions, personal scoring production falls off during the playoffs when defensive play tightens. Gretzky, as an example, has averaged 2.34 regular-season points per game and 2.06 post-season points during his career.There has been virtually no fall-off in Anderson&rsquo;s production. He has scored 389 goals in 754 regular-season games for an average of .52 per game, and 75 goals in 146 post-season games for an average of .51 per game.If motivation is sometimes a problem for the enigmatic Anderson during the lengthy regular season, it is not during the playoffs.&ldquo;Andy&rsquo;s the guy who&rsquo;s going to score the big goal for you,&rdquo; Edmonton coach John Muckier said. &ldquo;You can always count on him.&rdquo;Anderson thrives on playoff pressure. Seven of his 10 goals were scored in the Oilers&rsquo; final two series&mdash;11 games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins. That&rsquo;s three more goals than Messier, the playoff co-scoring leader, contributed. And just one fewer than Craig Simpson, the co-scoring leader who led the playoffs with 16 goals.It was a vintage Anderson performance. Throughout his career, he has typically raised the level of his game to equal the significance of the game.&ldquo;I consider myself a clutch player,&rdquo; Anderson said.In the fourth game of the finals, Anderson accounted for two goals and two assists as the Oilers took a 3-1 lead. In the Oilers&rsquo; first 11 playoff games, Anderson had just three goals.One of those kick-started the Oilers to a 4-1 victory in game seven of the Smythe Division semifinals. He also assisted on the second goal. Ironically, he scored the first goal and assisted on the second in Edmonton&rsquo;s Cup-clinching 4-1 victory over Boston.With the score 0-0 early in the second period, Anderson approached Boston defensemen Don Sweeney and Raymond Bourque. Lesser men would have merely shot the puck towards goalie Andy Moog. Or maybe spun around and awaited reinforcements. But Anderson veered towards Sweeney, turned him outside in and then slipped between the sophomore and his partner, the best defenseman in the NHL. The puck was on the heel of his stick, but the off-balance Anderson directed it between Moog&rsquo;s legs.The Oilers were on their way.Eight minutes later, he gave Edmonton another surge of confidence, this time freeing Simpson with a remarkable behind-the-back pass. Simpson converted the Gretzky-like pass for a 2-0 Oiler lead.Glenn Anderson and the Oilers had done it again.<h2>NUMBERS</h2>When the Calgary Flames retired Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s jersey March 17, it marked the seventh time a current NHL team has put the No. 9 out of commission. The others who have had their No. 9 retired are Gordie Howe (Detroit and Hartford), Bobby Hull (Chicago and Winnipeg), John Bucyk (Boston) and Maurice Richard (Montreal).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02500/5765693-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="693" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Bucyk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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MEET THE PLAYOFFS’ ULTIMATE WARRIOR

<h2>FLAMES</h2>Canadian national team assistant coach Guy Charron was named an assistant coach with the Flames June 4. Charron, 41, replaces Tom Watt, who was relieved of his duties but was offered an unspecified position in the organization. Charron, who was also director of scouting for Hockey Canada. coached the Canadian junior national team to the gold medal at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Finland and was recently named head coach of this year&rsquo;s team. The appointment to the Flames means he will have to resign the position&hellip;It is beginning to look more and more as if center Joe Nieuwendyk will have to undergo major reconstructive surgery on his left knee, injured in April at the World Championships. Nieuwendyk said he would wait until mid-June to give the knee a chance to stabilize. Then he will undergo a second, exploratory arthroscopic procedure to see if there&rsquo;s any improvement. &ldquo;The thing I&rsquo;m try to do is avoid surgery, that&rsquo;s the bottom line,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Nieuwendyk. &ldquo;Although my chances aren&rsquo;t that good, I&rsquo;m willing to take that chance.&rdquo; Major surgery would sideline Nieuwendyk until midMarch, 1991.<h2>CANUCKS</h2>The Canucks signed center Robert Kron, a 23-year-old Czechoslovakian drafted in 1985, to a two-year contract May 28 leading to speculation the Canucks might take left winger Jaromir Jagr with the No. 2 pick in the draft June 16 in Vancouver. However, the Canucks contended the Kron signing is unrelated to their interest in Jagr&hellip;GM Pat Quinn said the Canucks are willing to trade down in the June draft, believing there are outstanding prospects among any of the first seven picks&hellip;Brian Burke, the Canucks&rsquo; director of hockey operations, was told May 28 he was no longer being considered as Bob Clarke&rsquo;s replacement for the GM job in Philadelphia. Burke&rsquo;s candor and his friendship with Clarke probably didn&rsquo;t help his cause. On the eve of his interview with Flyer president Jay Snider, Burke told Philadelphia reporters he didn&rsquo;t think Clarke should have been fired.<h2>KINGS</h2>Rogie Vachon said reports of his imminent demise as general manager were news to him. &ldquo;I met with (owner) Bruce (McNall) right after our season ended and he never indicated anything like that to me,&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where these things get started.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Kings will conduct training camp at Hull, Que., for the second year in a row and take off on another pre-season barnstorming tour. Vachon said a Kings-Pittsburgh game at the Miami Arena &ldquo;sold out in seven hours.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Bob Halkidis underwent surgery to repair a separated shoulder, an injury that plagued him during the playoffs. Brian Benning&rsquo;s NHL hearing for high-sticking Edmonton&rsquo;s Jari Kurri in a Feb. 28 game was held May 21. The Kings expect he will receive a suspension.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01680/5765731-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="553" height="673"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jari Kurri holds the record for career playoff goals&mdash;92.</figcaption></div><h2>JETS</h2>Dale Hawerchuk may not be the only Jets&rsquo; veteran who&rsquo;s ready for a change of scenery. Doug Smail, a 10-year Jet, is struggling with his contract for the third straight summer and may also be ready to move. &ldquo;Any desire to leave on my part would be purely economic,&rdquo; the 32-year-old said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve now expressed that interest to two management regimes. Three years ago I told (former general manager) John Ferguson and last year I made it quite clear to (current GM) Mike Smith that if he wanted to trade me, I&rsquo;d be happy to make a move. I&rsquo;ve never expressed my dissatisfaction with the direction the team is going. I&rsquo;m as excited as any-one about this team&rsquo;s chances to win a Stanley Cup next year but I have some financial goals in mind, too. I&rsquo;m a guy who looks at the bottom line. I&rsquo;m an employee who gets paid for what he does, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo; Smail had not, however, echoed Hawerchuk&rsquo;s request for a trade. Instead, the University of North Dakota product, who was 25-24-49 in 79 games this season, had only attempted to talk contract with the team. &ldquo;Doug has never asked me to trade him,&rdquo; Smith said.<h2>OILERS</h2>Jari Kurri celebrated his 30th birthday May 18 in Game 2 of the final with three goals and two assists. The first goal was his 90th in Stanley Cup play and broke the record of 89 (in 131 games), held by Wayne Gretzky. Kurri now has 92 goals in 146 playoff games. &ldquo;What can you say? It was one of those nights when everything was going your way,&rdquo; said Kurri. &ldquo;Turning 30, getting three goals, breaking Gretzky&rsquo;s record. That is a pretty good day.&rsquo;&rsquo; &hellip;Mark Messier, an odds-on favorite to win the Hart Trophy as the &#323;HL&rsquo;s MVP, was named winner of the Lester B. Pearson Trophy&mdash;the MVP award as voted upon by members of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association. The Hart is voted upon by the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association. &ldquo;No way? Are you kidding me?&rdquo; asked Messier when informed of the Pearson award. &#9632;

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FLAMES NAME CHARRON ASSISTANT COACH

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>There was a time when Tom Laidlaw couldn&rsquo;t sit down and turn his head without wincing in pain.&ldquo;The slightest movement would trigger it,&rdquo; said the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defenseman.The pain in his back and lower legs stemmed from a disc injury in Laidlaw&rsquo;s back, one that prevented him from playing in the Kings&rsquo; final eight regular-season games and all 10 of their playoff matches.Laidlaw has had back problems before. He missed 12 games in 1985-86 with a bulging disc while he was a member of the New York Rangers. Now, the coating which protects one of the discs is damaged.Therapy and rest have eased a good deal of Laidlaw&rsquo;s pain, but he is not completely healthy and really won&rsquo;t know until next season&rsquo;s training camp what effect&mdash;if any&mdash;the ailment may have on his career.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always a real guessing game with a back,&rdquo; said Laidlaw, 32. He has two years plus an option year remaining on his contract.&ldquo;I still get occasional pain in my legs, but I have to do a lot (physically) to get it. The pain goes away eventually, but it isn&rsquo;t nearly as bad as it was before.&ldquo;There was a while where it never seemed like it was going to get better and I was really concerned. The only question I have is if it&rsquo;s going to go back to the way it was March 17.&rdquo;That was the date of Laidlaw&rsquo;s final game, a matinee in Boston. The pain prevented Laidlaw from taking more than a few first-period shifts.&ldquo;It feels a lot better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had over two months&rsquo; worth of rest. The doctors tell me there isn&rsquo;t much more that can be done other than rest and therapy. I don&rsquo;t play golf, which is good because twisting my legs like that would be the worst thing I could do. I have done a little swimming.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01709/5765762-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="555" height="1321"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Laidlaw saw action in only 57 games this season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s as much a mental thing now as physical. In a sense, I would have been better off breaking a leg or something. At least then you have a much better idea of when you&rsquo;ll be healthy. Once the cast is off, you know that in a couple of weeks you&rsquo;ll be able to get going.&ldquo;I really won&rsquo;t know much until I&rsquo;m back on the ice, and I&rsquo;m definitely not going to attempt that for a long while.&rdquo;It was a lost season for Laidlaw, who missed four other games with an eye injury, five with a sprained knee and six with a twisted knee. It was the second time in three years he managed to play in just 57 games, a career low. His nine points (one goal, eight assists) was also a career low.The Kings&rsquo; fourth-place finish and second-round exit in the playoffs made things worse.&ldquo;Looking back to September, we really figured we&rsquo;d be a Stanley Cup contender. We thought we&rsquo;d be fighting for first place overall,&rdquo; Laidlaw said. &ldquo;To be struggling the&rsquo; way we did was just plain frustrating.&rdquo; &#9632;

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INJURED LAIDLAW PLAYING THE WAITING GAME

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>Eleven days after the dismissal of Terry Crisp as head coach, the Calgary Flames finally confirmed the worst-kept secret in hockey: That Crisp&rsquo;s replacement would be Doug Risebrough.Risebrough, 36, signed a three-year contract May 18. He retained the title of assistant general manager, but will devote himself to coaching full-time.Why did the decision take so long? Risebrough&rsquo;s name first came up in mid-April dispatches from the World Championships in Switzerland.&ldquo;When the decision was made to search for the new head coach, I was excited that it may be me,&rdquo; said Risebrough, &ldquo;but I had to wait for the invitation.&ldquo;In my position as assistant general manager, I could have prejudiced people&rsquo;s opinions about what to do. Once the invitation was presented, I felt an obligation to weigh all the options and make sure it was the soundest decision for the organization.&rdquo;The organization clearly thought so.Everybody, from general manager Cliff Fletcher to the players who precipitated the revolt that eventually cost Crisp his job, agreed Risebrough would be perfect for the job.In Fletcher&rsquo;s mind, there were no other serious candidates.&ldquo;The only question I had of Doug was, &lsquo;Do you really want to coach?&rsquo; When he said yes, there was no consideration given to anybody else. He was the person I felt would do the best job for our hockey club.&rdquo;With Crisp out and Risebrough in, the Flames&rsquo; crutch that they couldn&rsquo;t get along with the coach has been removed for next season.Accordingly, there&rsquo;s been a subtle shift in the pressure for next season, from the coaching staff to the players. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how it may appear,&rdquo; said center Joe Nieuwendyk, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not so sure I would agree. I mean, it looks like the players whined and got rid of the coach and now the onus is on them. &ldquo;But I think the organization made the decision, so the pressure is on everybody in the organization&rdquo;. Team captain Brad McCrimmon echoed Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s comments.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s pressure on you to do your job every day, no matter who&rsquo;s behind the bench,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a professional, you do your best every night.&rdquo;Risebrough inherited a talent-laden team that finished first overall twice and second overall once in. the past three seasons.Perhaps the real measure of his success will come-next April when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. The Flames were bumped from postseason play in the early rounds twice a in Crisp&rsquo;s three-year tenure.By Risebrough&rsquo;s definition, a coach must provide his team with leadership and direction, two qualities missing from the 1989-90 Flames.&ldquo;In the past, people said anybody could coach in Montreal and that was not always the case,&rdquo; said Risebrough, who was a Canadien from 1974-75 to &rsquo;81-82. &ldquo;When Scotty Bowman left (in 1979), that team ended up in 17th place the first 20 games. That is the challenging part of coaching&mdash;providing direction. Players need that and they need options and you have to present that to them.&rdquo;But why move from a relatively protected front office position into the pressure cooker of NHL coaching?&ldquo;Impact,&rdquo; replied Risebrough. &ldquo;I want to make an impact. This is a chance for Doug Risebrough to make a strong impact in the Flames&rsquo; organization.&rdquo;As a player, Risebrough played with fierce emotion. He was not always under control either. Even as an assistant coach with the Flames in 1987-88 and &rsquo;88-89, he used to get on referees on a fairly regular basis. Traditionally, the Flames have been one of the most penalized teams in the league, annually receiving more minor penalties than they draw, in part because of the collection of referee baiters behind their bench.Risebrough said he&rsquo;s grown more tolerant over time.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve acquired that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but a coach has to be himself, and he can&rsquo;t be anything but that. There has to be an evolution. You&rsquo;re not the same person from Day 1 to Year 10. There&rsquo;s growth there and I&rsquo;m willing to grow. But I don&rsquo;t see that as a negative.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 18: Doug Risebrough, assistant general manager, signed three-year contract as head coach. &#9632;

ORGANIZATION GETS NEW START WITH RISEBROUGH

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Pavel Bure, a talented Soviet of German descent, had the potential to be one of the best draft picks the Vancouver Canucks ever made.Explosive speed. Great instincts. A body built for durability, even though he is only 5-foot-9, 165 pounds.Last year&rsquo;s Draft Preview by The Hockey News stated: &ldquo;Bure is, with-out question, the best player eligible in this draft. He is not, however, the best available player.&rdquo;Ken Holland, director of scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, said Bure would be among the top four or five players in this year&rsquo;s draft if he were a North American.But Bure is a longshot to ever play for the Canucks. The NHL made sure of that May 21. In a terse, three-paragraph news release, NHL president John Ziegler voided the Canucks&rsquo; pick and declared Bure ineligible for selection after the third round of last year&rsquo;s draft.Ziegler&rsquo;s statement said information obtained by the league showed Bure didn&rsquo;t play a significant number of games in an elite or first league in Europe during the 1987-88 season that would allow him to be picked beyond the third round. Bure was Vancouver&rsquo;s sixth-round choice, 113 overall, in the 1989 draft.Ziegler&rsquo;s ruling meant the 19-year-old left winger will be thrown back into the 1990 draft, to be held June 16 in Vancouver, and any team can take a crack at him, in any round.Canuck general manager Pat Quinn said: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t agree with the result, obviously. But 1 want to meet with Ziegler and find out what (appeal) procedures, if any, are now open to us.&rdquo;While Quinn was cautious in commenting on Ziegler&rsquo;s ruling, his assistant, Brian Burke, was furious.&ldquo;Bure has the ability to be a great player in the NHL,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just astounded by the decision. I&rsquo;m outraged. There are some hard questions to be asked about the people we pay to tell us whether a player is eligible or not.&rdquo;Burke was referring to the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau which, he said, misled the Canucks into thinking Bure was eligible to be picked in the sixth round last year. Burke said separate NHL officials assured him three times on draft day&mdash;once at the start of the sixth round, again during the sixth round and a third time just before the Canucks picked&mdash;that Bure was fair game.&ldquo;The NHL&rsquo;s own statistics indicated he was eligible,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;Never again are we going to rely on accuracy from Central Scouting as it relates to drafting a European player.&rdquo;Barry Fraser, director of scouting for the Edmonton Oilers, said the Oilers were also prepared to select Bure using the same information obtained by Vancouver.Though Bure might not be available to play pro until after the 1994 Winter Olympics, it&rsquo;s possible his release could be negotiated sooner, given the Soviets need for hard currency.Now that it has been shown the Soviets can send players to the NHL and still win gold medals, there are signs they may be willing to release younger players, not just over-the-hill stars.The Canucks have three picks (Nos. 2, 18 and 23) among the first 23 in the June draft, but Burke said it&rsquo;s unlikely the team, in desperate need of more immediate help, would use an early pick on Bure. Vancouver doesn&rsquo;t have a pick in the third round this year and Bure should be gone by then.&ldquo;Bure could go late in the first round to a team that can afford to wait on him,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t afford to do that.&rdquo; &#9632;

MANAGEMENT ANGRY ABOUT THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

<div class="byline">by GRANT MCGINNIS</div>The honeymoon ended years ago and now the romance is officially over, too.Dale Hawerchuk and the Winnipeg Jets finally agreed it&rsquo;s time to part company. The intent to go in different directions became official May 16 when Jets&rsquo; general manager Mike Smith revealed Hawerchuk had requested a trade and said the Jets were willing to make a deal.That marked a sharp about-face for the franchise.&ldquo;I agree that it certainly is a shift,&rdquo; said Smith, who announced he would try to deal Hawerchuk before the entry draft June 16 in Vancouver. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s more a reflection of the overall team success this year. I think if I had traded Dale Hawerchuk last year, I&rsquo;d have had 500 people looking to string me up. I don&rsquo;t get that feeling this year.&rdquo;Hawerchuk, 27, carefully avoided any hints that his request was a demand or a threat.He expected to be dealt soon and said returning to the Jets for a 10th season would be extremely difficult now that his desires to leave Winnipeg are known.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01699/5765841-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="558" height="775"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hawerchuck played 713 games with Winnipeg.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it would be good. I think people would question what&rsquo;s going on here,&rdquo; Hawerchuk said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m confident a deal will be made. I hope it&rsquo;s a good deal for myself and a good deal for the Jets.&rdquo;Hawerchuk and Smith met during the season, Smith revealed, at which time Hawerchuk made it clear that he wouldn&rsquo;t mind being moved to another team. He was asked to put off such thoughts until year&rsquo;s end.But when Smith and Hawerchuk met again May 15, a month after the Jets&rsquo; opening-round elimination by the Edmonton Oilers, the request became official.Hawerchuk, who had 26 goals and 81 points in 79 games in his worst season in the league, will leave the team as its all-time leading scorer with 929 points in 713 games. He was the first choice overall in the 1981 entry draft and has led the team in scoring in all nine seasons.Smith began fielding calls during the Stanley Cup final but refused to speculate on any possible deals. New Jersey, Washington, Toronto and Buffalo were thought to be the leading contenders.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to think that players of Dale&rsquo;s stature, their marketability is very consistent,&rdquo; said Smith, shrugging off two straight sub-par seasons by Hawerchuk. &ldquo;He had a good playoff (a team-leading eight points in seven games) for us. I guess we&rsquo;ll find out how much he&rsquo;s worth.&ldquo;I would expect fair value and I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll get that in one player. I think we&rsquo;re looking at a multiple-player deal. I guess that will depend on the other teams.&rdquo;Hawerchuk insisted his request was not related to reduced ice time under coach Bob Murdoch&rsquo;s four-line system this season nor did it have to do strictly with dollars and cents.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not really one thing,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been happy for the most part of my career here. I think the reason I want to make the move is for the betterment of my career. I think it&rsquo;s time. I need a change of scenery just to get my career going again.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

SMITH HOPES TO DEAL BY DRAFT DAY

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>It was two full hours after the Edmonton Oilers clinched their fifth Stanley in seven years when three wily veterans were still savoring the moment in a dressing room littered with empty beer and champagne bottles.Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe and Charlie Huddy were belting out a rousing rendition of Tina Turner&rsquo;s Simply The Best and having their pictures taken with the Stanley Cup.It&rsquo;s a tune the Oilers hope to be singing long into the 1990s.Certainly, there is reason for optimism. Adam Graves, 22, Joe Murphy, 22, and Martin Gelinas, who turned 20 on June 5, combined to form the Kid Line that played a prominent role in the five-game triumph over the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final.&ldquo;To have those young kids on our team and to win at the same time is too good to be true,&rdquo; said captain Messier. &ldquo;The only way to gain experience is to win. In our first year (197980) we made the playoffs and that gave us something to shoot for in future years. These kids came in, played and won.&rdquo;With no more strategy to plot, coach John Muckler was at Northlands Coliseum two days after the victory, doing video-taping for his personal library. He just couldn&rsquo;t stay away and didn&rsquo;t want to stop talking of the triumph.&ldquo;There were two major ones,&rdquo; said Muckler, asked for turning points during the playoffs. &ldquo;Jari (Kurri) scored a goal no goalie could stop in Game 6 in Winnipeg (a 4-3 win) and |there was the performance (Mark Messier) put on in Game 4 in Chicago (a 4-2 win).&rdquo;The Oilers pulled into a 2-2 tie with the Blackhawks in the Campbell Conference final with Messier supplying two goals, two assists and some mean, inspired play.&ldquo;There was also the consistent play of Bill Ranford all through the playoffs.&rdquo; added Muckler.With Ranford emerging and Grant Fuhr coming back next fall from an injury-filled season, the Oilers&rsquo; goal tending situation has never been stronger.&ldquo;We all know Grant&rsquo;s the best in the business,&rdquo; said Muckler, &ldquo;and the way Billy came on as MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs, he&rsquo;s arrived, too.&rdquo;With Randy Gregg, 34, Lowe, 31, and Huddy, 31, on the blue line, the Oilers&rsquo; defense is getting older. Not to worry, said Muckler, listing Geoff Smith, 21, Francois Leroux, 20, Corey Foster, 20, Jason Soules, 19, and Chris Joseph, 20, as candidates for the future.Up front. Muckler figures Czechoslovakian Vladimir Ruzicka and Soviet Anatoli Semenov could make next year&rsquo;s team.Also to be taken care of the are contract situations of free-agents Kurri and Reijo Ruotsalainen.Although he said nothing publicly, Ruotsalainen is likely headed back to Europe. Kurri and his agent, Don Baizley of Winnipeg, will meet with GM Glen Sather and owner Peter Pocklington to discuss a new contract. Kurri has played out his option.&ldquo;Jari is a major situation,&rdquo; said Muckler. &ldquo;Slats (Sather) has to have that cleared up one way or another.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 17: Craig Muni, D, signed two-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier. Mark Lamb, Craig MacTavish, Adam Graves. Vladimir Ruzicka.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Esa Tikkanen, Petr Klima, Martin Gelinas, Anatoli Semenov.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Kelly Buchberger, Joe Murphy, Dave Brown.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Geoff Smith.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Charlie Huddy, Randy Gregg, Jeff Beuke-boom.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Eldon Reddick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Grant Fuhr, G, shoulder surgery.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Simpson, 16. A&mdash;Messier, 22. P&mdash; Messier, Simpson, 31. PIM&mdash;S. Smith, 37. &#9632;

SIMPLY THE BEST MAY GET EVEN BETTER

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON AND MIKE KANE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01686/5765896-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Finley and Dale Kushner of the Springfield Indians had an exuberant toast to their Calder Cup championship but it may have also been a farewell toast.</figcaption></div>Statistics are often used the way a drunk uses a lampost&mdash;for support, not illumination. But there&rsquo;s no better way to bring to light the type of team the Indianapolis Ice is than by one very telling statistic.The Ice became the first team in the 45-year history of the International League to win the Turner Cup without having a player finish among the top 15 scorers. In the nine-team IHL, Brian Noonan led the Ice in scoring with 76 points, 23rd in the league.The Ice were the fastest team in the league and had the best goaltending. It was a deadly combination against the Muskegon Lumberjacks, who were swept in the final.<h2>TURNER CUP</h2>The team&rsquo;s singular nickname wasn&rsquo;t the only thing that made it, in many ways, more suited for the National Basketball Association. When forechecking, the Ice used the closest thing to a basketball full-court press. All three forwards would go. deep in the offensive zone to create turnovers. When successful, it resulted in a scoring chance. Other times it meant an odd-man break for the opposition.But with Jimmy Waite and Darren Pang in goal, it was a risk worth taking. Even when the Ice got burned by a fast break, the goaltending was solid and the defense would get back to clear any rebounds.&ldquo;It was a real pleasure playing goal for that team,&rdquo; said Pang. &ldquo;They had such great respect for defense. When we won games 6-5, we were not happy.&rdquo;In the playoffs, Waite and Pang faced an average of 19.8 shots per game. The Ice allowed 31 goals in 14 games for a 2.18 goals-against average. The 2-1 Turner Cup clincher was typical&mdash;the Ice grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second period and held on for the win.The Ice had good offensive players; they just weren&rsquo;t asked to score a lot of goals. Four players had at least 30 goals in the IHL in &rsquo;88-89, but Noonan was the only one to reach that mark this season. The Lumberjacks had six players who had more points than Noonan.&ldquo;The players had to sacrifice their own totals because the team expected everyone to do it,&rdquo; said Pang, who joined the team in March after missing the whole year with a knee injury. &ldquo;Anytime you get a team that can be a champion, you have to believe in a system. We had a great deal of respect with coach Darryl Sutter, with his system and with his work ethic. The day I got there I sensed something special, just like my team (Ottawa 67&rsquo;s) in &rsquo;84 that won the Memorial Cup.&rdquo;Left winger Mike McNeill was named playoff MVP after posting 6-4-10 totals in 14 games. He was eighth on the team in playoff scoring but he exemplified everything that made the Ice champions. He was the fastest skater on the team, the best forechecker and more concerned about team goals than his own.The team&rsquo;s regular-season MVP was right winger Bob Bassen. The heart-and-soul of the Ice, Bassen left Medicine Hat (Western League) two years before they won back-to-back Memorial Cups and then arrived in New York three years after the Islanders won their fourth straight Stanley Cup.&ldquo;It was my first year in the minors for a while, but it was exciting,&rdquo; said Bassen, who was traded to the Chicago organization in 1988. &ldquo;We thought it was the Stanley Cup. When you&rsquo;ve been with a team all year, it&rsquo;s exciting.&ldquo;I keep wanting to say this team was almost like a junior team because we were so young and so close. We always did so many things together away from the rink, it was like you were brothers out there on the ice. It&rsquo;s the closest I&rsquo;ve ever got to a team.&rdquo;<h2>CALDER CUP</h2>After the celebration ended, one cold fact remained: the Calder Cup-winning Springfield Indians are a team without a home in which to hang their banner.The Indians clinched their sixth playoff title May 18 with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 of their series with the Rochester Americans.But Indians&rsquo; owner Peter Cooney had not resolved his problem of securing a new lease to play at the Springfield Civic Center. Cooney engaged in lengthy and sometimes bitter lease negotiations with the city before the management contract for the building was awarded to Centre Management, a company owned by Washington Capitals&rsquo; owner Abe Pollin.Centre Management turned down at least one lease proposal offered by Cooney. If he cannot secure a lease, Cooney will have to maintain the Indians as an inactive franchise in 1990-91, move the team within 50 miles of Springfield or sell the franchise.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re probably the only team in the history of professional sports that won a championship and did not have a parade, did not have a day or may not operate the next year,&rdquo; Cooney said.&ldquo;The biggest thing I&rsquo;ve had to deal with is that maybe I&rsquo;ll be the guy who has to freeze this franchise. It took me two months to get over that, but I can&rsquo;t find a deal that will give me an opportunity to make a profit. Every businessman should at least have a chance to make a profit.&rdquo;On the ice, the unlikely hero was center Jeff Rohlicek, who was only in the lineup because of injuries to forwards Bill Berg and Paul Gagne. Rochlicek scored the winning goal 23 seconds I into overtime by deflecting a point shot by Wayne McBean past goaltender Darcy Wakaluk.Rohlicek&rsquo;s goal completed a comeback from a 3-1 deficit and gave Springfield the first win by a home team in the series.&ldquo;It felt so good, I think I could have dunked a basketball,&rdquo; said the 6-foot Rohlicek. &ldquo;From not even playing to going on to win the Calder Cup was quite a shock.&rdquo;Earlier this season, Rohlicek was riding the bench in Milwaukee. With the Canucks&rsquo; IHL farm team, Rohlicek had 110 points last season, but he fell out of favor with the organization and quit the team in February. Rohlicek was acquired by the Indians March 6 for defenseman Jack Capuano.&ldquo;They never gave me a decent shot at all in Vancouver,&rdquo; said Rohlicek. &ldquo;When I came to Milwaukee, I found (coach) Ron Lapointe hard to get along with. He wanted to trade guys, but you can&rsquo;t do that in the minors. I could name you 10 guys on that team who didn&rsquo;t play up to their potential because he was yelling at guys all the time. He would hold nothing back.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t getting any ice time and I got frustrated. After one game I just said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve had enough.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s all I said. 1 wanted a chance to be with a new organization.&ldquo;We had an excellent team, we had such high hopes, I was really disappointed. But I got the last laugh.&rdquo;After joining Springfield, Rohlicek played in 11 of 14 regular-season games and seven of 18 playoff games. He was 1-2-3 in the regular season; 3-2-5 in the playoffs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d really like to stay with the Islanders, they have an excellent organization,&rdquo; said Rohlicek, who will be a free agent without compensation July 1. &ldquo;The team in Springfield was great, they were the best bunch of guys I ever played with for having heart and desire. I couldn&rsquo;t have been traded to a better team.&rdquo;Springfield goalie Jeff Hackett (10-5 with a 3.85 GAA) won the Jack Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. But Hackett wasn&rsquo;t in goal when the Indians clinched the title. He pulled a groin muscle in Game. 5 of the final and was replaced by George Maneluk. Maneluk won the last two games, making 69 saves.&ldquo;(It&rsquo;s) the best feeling I&rsquo;ve ever had in my life,&rdquo; said Maneluk. &ldquo;You only get it once in a lifetime. I have fulfilled my goal, of playing on a championship team in the pros, and I&rsquo;m happy I at least got to contribute.&rdquo;The Indians were in last place in the Northern Division on Jan. 23, 16 points out of first place. Springfield finished third by going on a 23-12-1 run to go 38-38-4. The Indians knocked out second-place Cape Breton and first-place Sherbrooke&mdash;both in six games&mdash;to reach the finals.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter what you win,&rdquo; Springfield coach Jim Roberts said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the effort that you put in to it. And this team put the full effort into it. They came up with the big games.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-01

CUPS RUNNETH OVER

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>New York Ranger general manager Neil Smith has gone I home. Sort of.Smith is back in the American League, but this time Binghamton, not Adirondack, will be his AHL home.On May 24, the New York Rangers b did the expected and announced they were moving their minor-pro team to Binghamton. The team will be known as the Binghamton Rangers.&ldquo;They (Binghamton co-owners Tom Mitchell, Bob Carr and Jim McCoy) know I hate to lose,&rdquo; said Smith, who was GM of the Adirondack Red Wings when they won the Calder Cup in 1986 and &rsquo;89 and became Ranger GM last summer. Smith will also be the GM of the Binghamton team. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had a losing team before and I&rsquo;ve always stocked the teams with veterans so I don&rsquo;t know why I wouldn&rsquo;t do it here. I&rsquo;ve told them I plan to do it here.&rdquo;The length of the agreement was not made public, but it was believed to be for two years. &ldquo;I have rings for two fingers,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;And I hope to get the third right here in Binghamton.&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; return to the AHL was welcome news to Binghamton fans, who watched two seasons of last-place hockey. This season, its last under a 10-year affiliation with Hartford, Binghamton set league records with 60 losses and 11 wins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01609/5765927-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="559" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Richard left the Baltimore Skipjacks to play in Zurich.</figcaption></div>The Rangers are back in the AHL after three years in the International League, the first two in Denver. This season in Flint, the club went 40-36-6 and was swept in the first round of the playoffs.<h2>SOUP&rsquo;S ON?</h2>One of Smith&rsquo;s first tasks as Binghamton GM is to find a coach. Smith said Paul Theriault, who coached Flint last season, quit after the season to stay with his family in Michigan and pursue other opportunities.&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t think it will drag on all summer long.&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;The search will intensify after the draft.&rdquo;One name to surface was Detroit assistant coach Colin Campbell, whose contract is up this summer. He was given permission to talk to other teams. Smith and Campbell are friends from their days in the Detroit organization.<h2>GOODBYE</h2>Five AHL veterans bolted the league at the end of the season to continue their careers in Europe.The Hershey Bears were hit the hardest, losing right winger Ray Allison, 31, and center Don Biggs, 25. Allison, 25-30-55 in 70 games, will play for Bulach in Switzerland. Biggs, 3953-92 in 66 games, signed with Olten in Switzerland.Olten will also be the new home of Springfield Indians&rsquo; defenseman Shawn Evans, 24. He was 6-35-41 in 63 games for the Calder Cup champions.Baltimore center Mike Richard, 23, who was leading the AHL in scoring for much of the season, will play next season in Zurich. He was 41-4283 in 53 games for the Skipjacks.Murray Eaves, 30, a center with Adirondack will be the only player of the five not going to Switzerland. Eaves, 40-49-89 in 78 games, signed with Varese in Italy. &#9632;

f0033-01

SMITH RETURNS TO AHL; RANGERS GO TO BINGHAMTON

<div class="byline">BY RANO SIMON AND Rill PICKFTT</div>After hearing about the NHL&rsquo;s California expansion plans, the International League may follow suit.The IHL board of governors will meet June 14 to discuss an application for a franchise from the San Diego Professional Hockey Corporation.The IHL expansion committee will go to San Diego before the June meetings to take a look at the San Diego Sports Arena and meet with the ownership group. The Arena holds 13,753 and was home to the San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association.&ldquo;It would be premature to say we consummated anything at this point, but we expect something soon,&rdquo; said Larry Kallett, the vice-president of development for the Arena. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re talking but nothing was consummated.&rdquo;There had been speculation the corporation was pursuing a team for the proposed Global League, but Kallett said that was no longer the case.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want to do anything to alienate the NHL,&rdquo; said Kallett, who emphasized the corporation is still hoping for an NHL expansion team.<h2>IHL</h2>The addition of San Diego and the earlier admittance of Kansas City brings to 11 the number of teams in the IHL. Both San Diego and Kansas City would have to pay travel costs for the seven eastern teams as Phoenix and Salt Lake do.While all that appeared to be standing in the way of the franchise was league approval, the IHL was not commenting on the matter.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t confirm or deny anything at this time,&rdquo; said Mike Meyers, the IHL&rsquo;s director of information.<h2>MOVING ON</h2>The worst-kept secret in minor pro hockey was made public May 24 when the New York Rangers moved their affiliate from Flint, Mich., to Binghamton, N.Y., of the American League.The Rangers, who were in Flint one season, were reported to be going to the AHL virtually from the start of the season. The Rangers left coach Paul Theriault behind in a mutually agreed upon decision.&ldquo;It was just in the best interests of my family,&rdquo; said Theriault. &ldquo;This gives me the opportunity to pursue some other interests.&rdquo;Spirits&rsquo; general manager Don Waddell now turns his efforts into getting another affiliate for the team. Waddell said he would not return to Flint if the team wasn&rsquo;t affiliated.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s any big secret that we&rsquo;ve been talking with Hartford, among other teams,&rdquo; said WaddellHartford, which left Binghamton after 10 years, was expected to choose between Flint and Kansas City for its affiliate.&ldquo;Everyone here got used to having an affiliation,&rdquo; said Waddell. &ldquo;We got kind of spoiled. We realize it would be tough going back.&rdquo;<h2>WINNERS LOSE IT</h2>The IHL&rsquo;s Turner Cup, turned over to Indianapolis by Muskegon May 14 after the Ice swept the Lumberjacks in the final, was missing for a week before it was recovered.&ldquo;It took Indianapolis 30 years to win it and just three days to lose it,&rdquo; said Ice president Ray Compton. The four-foot, 40-pound base of the trophy was missing after some team members who had been showing it around town &ldquo;misplaced it.&rdquo;The cup had been knocked loose from the base and that was never out of possession of the Ice.The base was returned after the Marion County Sheriff&rsquo;s Department became involved in a search and local media publicized the incident. A detective from the Sheriff&rsquo;s Department said he got a call from a man who said he had the trophy and its return was arranged.&ldquo;He said he didn&rsquo;t know what to do with it when he found it beside his car in a parking lot outside an Indianapolis nightclub,&rdquo; the official said. &ldquo;So he picked it up and took it home.&rdquo;No charges were laid as a result of the incident. &#9632;

SAN DIEGO LIKELY TO JOIN IHL

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div>Plat Peake knew for two months the expansion Detroit Ambassadors would make him the first pick overall in the Ontario League midget draft, but was still virtually speechless when it happened on May 26.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great thrill,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-11, 165-pound center, a native of Detroit. &ldquo;Words just can&rsquo;t express how I feel right now. Being drafted by Detroit means I can stay at home and keep attending school. I wanted to stay in the Compuware organization and I&rsquo;ve worked with (coach) Andy Weidenbach and (director of hockey operations) Jimmy Rutherford so it won&rsquo;t be as big an adjustment.&rdquo;Peake, 17, made history by becoming the first draft pick by the expansion organization and being the first American player to be chosen first overall since the league established its midget draft in 1980.Pat LaFontaine, taken second overall by the Belleville Bulls in 1982, had been the American taken highest in the draft. Ironically, LaFontaine taught Peake how to skate.&ldquo;I went to one of his hockey schools when I was seven,&rdquo; said Peake. &ldquo;Ever since then I&rsquo;ve idolized him.&rdquo;Like LaFontaine, Peake is a graduate of the Compuware youth hockey program. Peake, with 33 goals and 44 assists in 34 games, played this season for the Detroit Compuware entry in the North American Junior League. Compuware also owns the Ambassadors.The Ambassadors, who drafted a total of 17 players, were also active in the trade market. In two separate deals, they acquired David Myles, Trent Gleason, Kevin McDougall and Jon Stos from the Windsor Spitfires. They also acquired Paul Mitton and Dan Brown from the Peterborough Petes and Mark Lawrence and David Benn from the Niagara Falls Thunder.In the expansion draft on May 25, the Ambassadors claimed 12 players. Trevor Mclvor of the Oshawa Generals and Jeff Gardiner of the North Bay Centennials were the only players with OHL experience.<h2>MAXNER GONE</h2>Gold may not be that solid after all.London Knights&rsquo; owners Bob Willson and Al Martin, who at season&rsquo;s end said general manager-coach Wayne Maxner&rsquo;s future with the club was &ldquo;as solid as gold,&rdquo; fired their coach May 16.Maxner was replaced by his assistant, Gary Agnew.Maxner coached the Knights the last three seasons, leading the team to first place in the Emms Division with a record of 41-18-6. But the Knights were upset in the first round of the playoffs by the sixth-place Niagara Falls Thunder.&ldquo;we asked what happened&rdquo;, said wllison. &ldquo;He (Maxner) gave us his view, we had our view.&rdquo;Maxner, who attended the news conference at which his firing was announced, said he was shocked. There were reports he was in line for the general manager&rsquo;s job with the Windsor Spitfires (even though Terry McDonnell holds down that post), but Maxner said he plans to stay out of hockey in the short term.&ldquo;This is probably the best job I&rsquo;ve had,&rdquo; said Maxner, who coached previously with Sudbury and Windsor in the OHL and Detroit in the NHL. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what hurts so much.&rdquo;Agnew, 29, an assistant with the Knights for three years, initially didn&rsquo;t want to accept the job out of loyalty to Maxner, but was convinced by Maxner to accept.&ldquo;Our biggest difference is in discipline. Max has a lot more patience than I do,&rdquo; said Agnew. &ldquo;I expect respect and if I don&rsquo;t get it, something happens.&rdquo;<h2>GOOD DEAL</h2>Larry Mavety is going home to stay and his automobile thanks him.Mavety, who has coached the Kingston entry in the OHL for the past two seasons, resigned to become general manager-coach and minority owner of the Belleville Bulls on May 18.Mavety coached the Bulls from their OHL inception in 1981-82 to 1987-88, when he left for a job in Kingston. But while his new job was 60 miles down Highway 401, he still lived at his home in Belleville.&ldquo;I drove (from Belleville to Kingston and back to Belleville) at least 100 times,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s about 120,000 miles I put on my car. I could have driven around the world.&rdquo;Mavety refused to sell his home because of job uncertainty, an occupational hazard. In fact, he was fired at the end of his first season in Kingston, but was rehired by new owners.Security is a big reason he returned to the Bulls, filling the vacancy created by the firing of Danny Flynn in March.&ldquo;When I got fired last year it was the first time that had ever happened to me and that got me thinking,&rdquo; said Mavety, who won OHL coach-of-the-year honors after guiding the Frontenacs to a 42-21-3 record.It is believed Mavety received 30 per cent of the Bulls as part of the deal.Just two weeks after Mavety&rsquo;s announcement, the Frontenacs named Randy Hall as his replacement. The announcement was made June 1. Hall was an assistant coach with the Niagara Falls Thunder for part of last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely excited, and a little surprised,&rdquo; said Hall. &ldquo;I was talking to (Frontenacs&rsquo; managing partner) Wren Blair prior to the draft and knew I was in the running, but it still came as a bit of a surprise.&rdquo; &#9632;

FIRST DRAFT A BUSY ONE FOR AMBASSADORS

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>In this instance, the opening act was better than the headliner.Prior to the Quebec League&rsquo;s annual midget draft, held May 26 at Montreal&rsquo;s Maurice Richard Arena, several blockbuster trades were made.The QMJHL champion Laval Titan sent high-scoring defenseman Patrice Brisebois (18-7088 in 56 games) and left winger Allen Kerr (0-3-3 in 49 games) to Drummondville. In return, the Titan were given back their second-and third-round draft picks that were relinquished last February when the team acquired Claude Boivin and Serge Anglehart from Drummondville.Meanwhile, the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs sent centers Steve Larouche (55-90-145 in 60 games) and Sebastien Parent (28-36-64 in 68 games) and their sixth-round choice to Chicoutimi for right wingers Paul Brousseau (17-24-41 in 57 games) and Jasmin Ouellet (2-1-3 in 29 games).The Titan were involved in two other trades, sending left winger Patrick Caron (20-28-48 in 46 games) to Chicoutimi for a sixth-round choice in 1991. If an exchange of defensemen, Laval sent Eric Bissonnette (2-13-15 in 55 games) to Shawinigan for Pierre Cote (1-18-19 in 70 games).In other deals, Chicoutimi sent right winger Denis Chasse (33-56-89 in 67 games) and defenseman Eric Dandenault (14-38-52 in 67 games) to Drummondville for the Voltigeurs&rsquo; fifth-round choice next year; St-Jean sent defenseman Sylvain Bourgeois (0-11-11 in 17 games) to Victoriaville for defenseman Jason Downey (0-9-9 in 44 games) and left winger Yves Sarault (12-28-40 in 70games); and, Victoriaville traded defenseman Martin Charrois (7-30-37 in 63 games) to Drummondville for defenseman Alain Cote (4-15-19 in 67 games) and the Voltigeurs&rsquo; sixth-round choices this year and next year.As expected, Richelieu left winger Rene Corbet, the Quebec Midget AAA League&rsquo;s leading scorer with 53 goals and 63 assists in 42 games, was selected first overall by Drummondville, while Ste-Foy defenseman Philippe Boucher (26-60-86 in 42 games) went second to Granby and Laval right winger Stephane St-Amour (26-61-87 in 42 games) went third to St-Jean.<h2>CASE CLOSED</h2>Phillipe Boucher became eligible for the draft after he was ruled to be a free agent by Quebec City Superior Court judge Yvan Gagnon May 17.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01693/5766006-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="701" height="1285"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrice Brisebois was traded to Drummondville by the Laval Titan.</figcaption></div>The Hull Olympiques had hoped to have the 6-foot-3, 180-pounder on their roster after drafting him in the fourth round of last year&rsquo;s draft. The Olympiques deliberately contravened the league&rsquo;s rules, but the judge upheld them.At that time, 15-year-olds who played bantam hockey in the province of Quebec, as Boucher had, could not be drafted until they had played one midget season. However, bantam-aged players from the United States, Atlantic Canada and Newfoundland were eligible for the QMJHL draft.The QMJHL amended the rule this season and now allows bantam players to be selected, but only in the first five rounds.<h2>IT&rsquo;S A START</h2>The expansion Beauport Harfangs began constructing their team May 19 when they selected 22 players in a waiver draft.Among Beauport&rsquo;s acquisitions were Victoriaville center Steven Paiement, Hull right winger Trevor Boland, Laval center Jim Bermingham, defensemen Denis Cloutier from College Francais and Guy Lefebvre from Chicoutimi, and St-Hyacinthe goalie Yanick Degrace.The Harfangs selected two players from each I QMJHL team&mdash;one from its major junior roster and one from its affiliate. Each team protected 12 players (16-year-olds were exempt) and upon losing one, was permitted to protect another. &#9632;

f0034-01

BIG TRADES UPSTAGE LEAGUE’S DRAFT DAY

FIRST-ROUND PICKS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02522/5766100-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="713" height="443"></div>(DET-Detroit, HAM-Hamllton, WSR-Windsor, SSM-Saull Ste. Marie. NFS-Niagara Falls, CNWL-Comwall. NB-North Bay, OS-Owen Sound, BELV-Belleville, OTT-Ottawa, SBY-Sudbury, PBO-Peterborough, KIT-Kitchener, KGN-Kingston. LON-London, OSH-Oshawa)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03406/5766093-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="691" height="467"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04303/5766086-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="489" height="389"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05238/5766079-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="459" height="389"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01659/5766072-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="467" height="2280"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02509/5766065-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="490" height="1547"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03410/5766058-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="476" height="474"></div><h2>QMJHL DRAFT</h2><h3>FIRST-ROUND PICKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04328/5766051-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="486" height="1728"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05270/5766044-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="473" height="2277"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06243/5766037-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="711" height="1027"><figcaption class="caption-body">As expected, Pat Peake was drafted first by the Detroit Ambassadors.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

OHL DRAFT

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Doug Sauter will not return to coach the Brandon Wheat Kings for the 1990-91 season. Sauter, who was stricken with Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a virus affecting the nervous system, had not coached the team since Dec. 18. In his third year with the Wheat Kings, Sauter came to an agreement with general manager Kelly McCrimmon to end his association with the team. Sauter has also coached the Medicine Hat Tigers, Regina Pats and defunct Calgary Wranglers. The Wheat Kings had a record of 13-21-3 at the time of Sauter&rsquo;s illness and finished the season at 28-38-6.&ldquo;I just think the physical and mental demands of coaching right now aren&rsquo;t what I need,&rdquo; said Sauter, 36. &ldquo;I just made a decision at this time with everything up in the air, and so many questions not being answered about my health, that it&rsquo;s best 1 not go back to coaching.&rdquo;McCrimmon, who assumed both GM and coaching duties during Sauter&rsquo;s illness, said a decision about the coaching position would be reached sometime in June. He hasn&rsquo;t ruled out the possibility of taking over the coaching duties permanently.&ldquo;There are a lot of different ways a guy can go,&rdquo; said McCrimmon. &ldquo;In the coming weeks, we&rsquo;ll look at all the options and choose the one that we want.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01627/5766138-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="553" height="1197"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Sauter&rsquo;s health problems kept him out since December.</figcaption></div><h2>ONE MORE</h2>Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; head coach Ken Hitchcock has agreed to a one-year contract extension with the team, but he has yet to sign on the dotted line.Then again, he has never signed a contract since he joined the Blazers six seasons ago.&ldquo;The first contract I got from them, I still haven&rsquo;t signed,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just one of those working relationships where you don&rsquo;t have to sign a bunch of documents.&rdquo;But Hitchcock, who has guided the Blazers to two WHL titles, said he will be free to leave if an NHL offer comes his way.&ldquo;Obviously, if I get a pro offer&rsquo; that&rsquo;s good for me, then they will support me 100 per cent,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;But 1 haven&rsquo;t had one offer yet.&rdquo;<h2>COURT NEWS</h2>Former Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; coach Ernie Gare was awarded $18,477 (U.S.) in Spokane County Superior Court May 24 in his breach-of-contract suit against former Chiefs&rsquo; owner Vic Fitzgerald.Gare, who began the 1985-86 season as the head coach and director of player personnel with the Chiefs, was replaced by Marc Pezzin after going 1-5-0 in his first six games. Gare served as the team&rsquo;s assistant coach until being fired March 3, 1986.The settlement covers compensation for lost wages and scouting expenses.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long struggle,&rdquo; said Gare, now a teacher in Vernon, B.C. &ldquo;I feel a bit vindicated because I did have a valid contract.&rdquo;Former Chiefs&rsquo; coach Butch Goring, who coached the team in 1987-88 and &rsquo;88-89, reached an out-of-court settlement in April following a breach-of-contract suit against Fitzgerald. Financial terms were not dis-closed.Fitzgerald sold the team to the Brett brothers&mdash;Bob, George, Ken and John&mdash;in May and the money will be paid from an account set up during the sale.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02459/5766131-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="553" height="1101"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Hitchcock has never signed a contract with Kamloops.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

SAUTER WON’T BE BACK TO COACH WHEAT KINGS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-20" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2045/5766407-1-eng-US/f0037-202.jpg"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01542/5766400-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="995" height="581"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02398/5766393-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="998" height="265"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03308/5766386-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="993" height="184"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04253/5766379-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="997" height="237"></div><h2>LEADING DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05222/5766372-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="990" height="365"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06193/5766365-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="988" height="187"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL ROOKIE LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07170/5766358-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="990" height="208"></div><h2>TEAM POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV) TOTAL ADVANTAGES (PPGF) POWER-PLAY GOALS FOR(PCTG) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING NUMBER OF POWER-PLAY GOALSBY TOTAL ADVANTAGES<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08141/5766351-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="1003" height="495"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTY KILLING</h2>(TSH) TOTAL TIMES SHORT-HANDED (PPGA| POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST(PCTG) ARRIVED BY DIVIDING-TIMES SHORT MINUS POWER-PLAY GOALS AGAINST-BY TIMES SHORT<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09122/5766344-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="1005" height="501"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(GP) GAMES PLAYED (PEN) TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING BENCH MINUTES(BMI) TOTAL BENCH MINOR MINUTES (AVG) AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES/GAMEARRIVED BY DIVIDING TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES BY GAMES PLAYED<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10112/5766337-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="658" height="198"></div><h2>TEAM&mdash;BY&mdash;TEAM SCORING</h2><h3>BOSTON BRUINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1283/5766330-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="991" height="739"></div><h3>BUFFALO SABRES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1376/5766323-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="995" height="583"></div><h3>CALGARY FLAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1469/5766316-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="988" height="268"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1562/5766309-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="989" height="325"></div><h3>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1655/5766302-1-eng-US/f0037-162.jpg" title="f0037-16" width="991" height="740"></div><h3>EDMONTON OILERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1751/5766295-1-eng-US/f0037-172.jpg" title="f0037-17" width="988" height="659"></div><h3>HARTFORD WHALERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1850/5766288-1-eng-US/f0037-182.jpg" title="f0037-18" width="989" height="633"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1946/5766281-1-eng-US/f0037-192.jpg" title="f0037-19" width="982" height="345"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01630/5766274-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="990" height="400"></div><h3>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02488/5766267-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="992" height="609"></div><h3>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03395/5766260-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="994" height="684"></div><h3>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04305/5766253-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="994" height="633"></div><h3>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05223/5766246-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="986" height="504"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06184/5766239-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="990" height="241"></div><h3>NEW YORK RANGERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07170/5766232-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="992" height="657"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08147/5766225-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="992" height="628"></div><h3>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-09134/5766218-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="992" height="609"></div><h3>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-10120/5766211-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="987" height="682"></div><h3>WINNIPEG JETS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-11113/5766204-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="988" height="639"></div><h3>GOALTENDING</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-12104/5766197-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="987" height="1673"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1394/5766190-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="983" height="210"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1487/5766183-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="983" height="182"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1582/5766176-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="987" height="188"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1676/5766169-1-eng-US/f0038-162.jpg" title="f0038-16" width="1979" height="259"></div> &#9632;

f0037-20

NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS

FINAL PLAYOFF RESULTS AS OF MON., JUNE 4<h2>NHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01594/5766501-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="404" height="2143"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02417/5766494-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="401" height="925"></div><h2>NHL</h2>STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03315/5766487-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="301" height="1237"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04255/5766480-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="361" height="1175"></div><h2>AHL PLAYOFFS</h2>CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05209/5766473-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="411" height="1002"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06176/5766466-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="396" height="870"></div><h2>AHL</h2>CALDER CUP CHAMPIONS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07159/5766459-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="328" height="1014"></div><h2>IHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08142/5766452-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="395" height="195"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09126/5766445-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="398" height="1316"></div><h2>IHL</h2>TURNER CUP CHAMPIONS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-10110/5766438-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="314" height="838"></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

SCOREBOARD

64. Brett Seguin, C, 5-9, 191, Ottawa (OHL). 65. Jeff Sebastian, D, 6-2&frac12;, 192 Portland, (WHL). 66. Mark Lawrence. RW 6-3, 217, Niagara FaHs, (OHL). 67. Sear O&rsquo;Donnell, D, 6 feet, 206, Sudbury, (OHL) 68. Chris Belanger, D, 6-1, 180, Welland (GHJHL). 69. Brian Farrell, C, 5-11&frac12;, 182 Avon Old Farms, (USHS). 70. Jason Firth C, 5-11, 172, Kitchener, (OHL). 71. Lee J Leslie, LW, 6-3, 183, Prince Albert, (WHL) 72. Terry Hollinger, D, 6-1 &frac12;, 194, Regina (WHL) 73. John Vary, D, 6-1 &frac12;, 207, Nortt Bay (OHL). 74. Jason Ruff, LW, 6-2&frac12;, 192 Lethbridge, (WHL). 75. Jean-Paul Davis, D 5-11,183, Oshawa, (OHL). 76. Robert Guil let, RW, 5-11, 189, College Francais (QMJHL). 77. Clayton Norris, RW, 6-1,200 Medicine Hat, (WHL). 78. Joey St. Aubin, C 5-9&frac12;, 183, Kitchener, (OHL). 79. Craig Bonner, D, 6-4, 191, Kamloops, (WHL). 80 Bryan Lonsinger, D, 6-3, 193, Choate (USHS). 81. Mark Woolf, RW, 5-11, 200 Spokane. (WHL). 82. Bryan Drury, D. 6 feet 188, Owen Sound, (OHL). 83. Donevar Hextall, LW, 6-2,185, Weyburn, (SJHL). 84 Chris Llpuma, D, 6 feet, 175, Kitchener (OHL).<h2>FIFTH ROUND</h2>85. Brian McCarthy, C, 6-2, 190, Pingree (USHS). 86. Chris Tucker, C, 5-11, 183 Jefferson, (USHS). 87. Andrew Silverman. D, 6-3&frac12;, 210, Beverly, (USHS) 88. Jason York, D, 6-1, 192, Kitchener, (OHL). 89, Claude Barthe, D, 6-2, 197, Victoriaville (QMJHL). 90. Brett Stickney, C, 6-5, 205 St. Paul&rsquo;s, (USHS). 91. Cory Keenan, D, 6-1 &frac12;, 182, Kitchener, (OHL). 92. Jeff Nielsen, RW, 6 feet, 170, Grand Rapids, (USHS). 93. Dean Malkoc, D, 6-2&frac12;, 202, Kamloops, (WHL). 94. Randy Pearce, LW, 5-11, 203, Kitchener, (OHL). 95. Gilbert Dionne, LW, 6 feet, 194, Kitchener, (OHL). 96. Martin D&rsquo;Orsonnens, D, 5-11, 185, Clarkson, (ECAC). 97. Joe Crowley, LW, 6-2, 195, Lawrence Academy, (USHS). 98. Petterl Koskimaki, C, 6-1,180, Boston University, (HE). 99. Darin Bader, LW, 6 feet, 202, Saskatoon, (WHL). 100. Chris Tamer, D, 6-2, 185, Michigan, (CCHA). 101. Frank Kovacs, LW, 6-2, 205, Regina, (WHL). 102. Ken Plaquin, D, 6-2, 190, Michigan Tech, (WCHA). 103. Craig Johnson, LW, 6-2, 185, Hill-Murray, (USHS). 104. Greg Walters, C, 6-1, 195, Ottawa,(OHL). 105. Timothy Fingerhut, LW, 6 feet, 175, Canterbury, (USHS).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01258/5766539-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="547" height="994"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul DiPietro of Sudbury is rated as a seventh-round pick.</figcaption></div><h2>SIXTH ROUND</h2>106. Hugo Belanger, LW, 6-1, 190, Clarkson, (ECAC). 107. Tony Burns, D, 6-1,195, Duluth-Denfeld, (USHS). 108. Joe Dzledzic, LW, 6-3, 200, Edison, (USHS). 109. Chris Tschupp, C, 6-2, 180, Trinity-Pawling, (USHS). 110. Geoff Schneider, D, 6-1&frac12;, 205, Kingston, (OHL). 111. Ted Miskolczi, RW, 6-3, 182, Belleville, (OHL). 112. Owen Lessard, LW, 6-1 &frac12;, 196, Owen Sound, (OHL). 113. Cal McGowan, C, 6-1&frac12;, 182, Kamloops, (WHL). 114. Todd Hlushko, LW,CSB RANKINGS5-11, 180, London, (OHL). 115. Patrick Hebert, D, 6-2&frac12;, 202, Shawinigan, (QMJHL). 116. Darby Hendrickson, C, 6 feet, 174, Richfield, (USHS). 117. Tommie Eriksen, D, 6-5, 211, Prince Albert, (WHL). 118. Kurils Miller, LW, 5-11, 180, Rochester, (USHL). 119. Wes McCauley, D, 6 feet, 175, Michigan State, (CCHA). 120. John Joyce, C, 6-3, 185, Avon Old Farms, (USHS). 121. Stewart Malgunas, D, 5-11&frac12;, 190, Seattle, (WHL). 122. Jason Welnrich, D, 6-2&frac12;, 189, Springfield (NEJHL). 123. Craig Martin, RW, 6-2&frac12;, 219, Hull, (QMJHL). 124. Ken Klee, D, 6-1,200, Bowling Green, (CCHA). 125. Rich Fatrola, LW, 5-11&frac12;, 201, Belleville, (OHL). 126. Darcy Simon, D, 6-1,200, Seattle, (WHL).<h2>SEVENTH ROUND</h2>127. Jeff Parrott, D, 6-1, 195, Minnesota-Duluth, (WCHA). 128. Michael May, C, 5-11, 182, Michigan-Dearborn, (Div. III). 129. Chris Bergeron, RW, 5-1 O&frac12;, 182, Miami-Ohio, (CCHA). 130. Dwayne Norris, RW, 5-10, 175, Michigan State, (CCHA). 131. Wayne Conlan, C, 5-1 O&frac12;, 170, Trinity-Pawling, (USHS). 132. Todd Hedlund, RW, 6-1&frac12;, 177, Roseau, (USHS). 133. Jason Winch, LW, 6-1 &frac12;, 203, Niagara Falls, (OHL). 134. Scott Malone, D, 6 feet, 180, Northfield-Mt.Hermon, (USHS). 135. Joni Lehto, D, 6 feet, 190, Ottawa, (OHL). 136. Paul DiPietro, C, 5-9,181, Sudbury, (OHL). 137. Tyler Ertel, C, 5-11, 182, North Bay, (OHL). 138. Chris Marinucci, C, 6 feet, 175, Grand Rapids, (USHS). 139. Steve Dubinsky, C, 6 feet, 180, Clarkson, (ECAC). 140. Jason Corrigan, C, 6 feet, 185, North Bay, (OHL). 141. Scott Levins, RW, 6-3, 200, Tri-City, (WHL). 142. Paul Kruse, LW, 6 feet, 202, Kamloops, (WHL). 143. Glen Mears, D, 6-3,215, Rochester, (USHL). 144. Normand Demers, C, 6 feet, 198, Laval, (QMJHL). 145. Mark Ouimet, C, 5-10, 165, Michigan, (CCHA). 146. Bill Armstrong, D, 6-4, 216, Oshawa, (OHL). 147. Pat Neaton, D, 6 feet, 180, Michigan, (CCHA).<h2>EIGHTH ROUND</h2>148. Chris Bright C, 6 Foot, 187, Moose Jaw, (WHL). 149. Travis Tucker, D, 6-4, 205, Avon Old Farms, (USHS). 150. Jacques Joubert, LW, 6-2, 188, Canterbury, (USHS). 151. Scott Feasby, D, 6-1 &frac12;, 195, Belleville, (OHL). 152. Andrew McKim, C, 5-8, 161, Hull, (QMJHL). 153. Dan Stiver, RW, 6 feet, 185, Michigan, (CCHA). 154. Anthony Gruba, RW, 6 feet, 205, Hill-Murray, (USHS). 155. Troy Mohns, D, 6 feet, 185, Colgate, (ECAC). 156. Eric Lacroix, LW, 6-1, 200, Governor Dummer, (USHS). 157. Paul O&rsquo;Hagan, D, 6-2, 204, Oshawa, (OHL). 158. Brad Pascal, D, 6-2, 192, North Dakota, (WCHA). 159. Alan Brown, D, 6 feet, 180, Colgate (ECAC), 160. Dean Hulett, RW, 6-6, 205, Lake Superior, (CCHA). 161. Dan Kordic, D, 6-5, 220, Medicine Hat, (WHL). 162. Brett Lievers, C, 6 feet, 170, Wayzata, (USHS). 163. Todd Westlund, RW, 6-1, 185, Burnsville (USHS). 164. Gino Odjick, LW, 6-2&frac12;, 220, Laval, (QMJHL). 165. Brett Larson, D, 6 feet, 175, Duluth-Denfeld, (USHS). 166. Chris Bartolone, D, 5-11, 183, Trois-Rivieres, (QMJHL). 167. Andy Mills, RW, 6-1, 180, Southwest, (USHS). 168. Erik Peterson, C, 6 feet, 185, Brockton, (USHS).<h2>NINTH ROUND</h2>169. Denis Chalifoux, C, 5-8, 165 (QMJHL). 170. Craig Conroy, C, 6-1, 181, Northwood Prep, (USHS). 171. Joey Simon, C, 6-1, 190, Hamilton, (OHL). 172. Michael Cavanagh, D. 6 feet, 189, Kingston, (OHL). 173. Troy Binnie, RW, 6-1,200, Ottawa, (OHL). 174. Daniel Hodge, D, 6-3, 215, Buckingham Browne, (USHS). 175. Ryan Harrison, C, 5-1 O&frac12;, 175, Victoria, (WHL). 176. Patrick Caron, LW, 5-11, 185, Laval, (QMJHL). 177. David Cochran, D, 6-1, 190, New Canaan, (USHS). 178. Jeff Jestadt, LW, 6-1,200, Ferris State, (CCHA). 179. Ian Moran, D, 5-11, 170, Belmont Hill, (USHS). 180. Derek Edgerly, C, 6-1, 190, Stoneham. (USHS). 181. David Maclsaac, D, 6-2, 185, Arlington, (USHS). 182. Attila Kosa, D, 6-1, 195, Westminster, (USHS). 183. Thomas Parlon, RW, 6 feet, 185, St. Sebastian s, (USHS). 184. Jeff Torrey, RW. 6 feet, 185, Clarkson, (ECAC). 185. Martin Harrison, D, 6 feet, 190, St. Sebastian&rsquo;s, (USHS). 186. Alex MacLellan, D, 6-1, 170, St. John&rsquo;s, (USHS). 187. Ian Finn, RW, 6-2, 190, St. John&rsquo;s, (USHS). 188. Tom Holdeman, RW, 6-1 &frac12;, 205, Miami-Ohio, (CCHA). 189. Tim Smallwood, D, 6-1, 182, Lowell, (HE)<h2>TENTH ROUND</h2>190. Martin Leroux, RW, 6 feet, 180, John Abbott, (QCHL). 191. James Gibson, LW, 6-1,180, Trinity-Pawling, (USHS). 192. Nick Vachon, C, 5-10, 190, Governor Dummer, (USHS). 193. Denis Leblanc, C, 6 feet, 207, St. Hyacinthe, (QMJHL). 194. Rob Harris, LW, 6-1, 185, Lynn English, (USHS). 195. James Bonner, D, 6 feet, 195, Michigan Tech, (WCHA). 196. Stephen Rohr, RW, 6-2, 180, Culver Military Adademy, (USHS). 197. Jason Vogel, LW, 6-1, 193, Cornell University, (ECAC). 198. Daryl Flllpek, D, 6-1&frac12;, 185, Ferris State, (CCHA). 199. Jerome Buckley, RW, 6-2, 200, Northwood Prep, (USHS). 200. Doug Friedman, LW, 6-1, 185, Lawrence Academy, (USHS). 201. Joe Busi&#322;lo, LW, 6-1,204, Oshawa, (OHL). 202. Rival Fullum, LW, 5-9,195, Kitchener (OHL). 203. William Lund, C. 5-9, 165, Roseau, (USHS). 204. Rick Willis, LW, 6 feet, 185, Pingree (USHS). 205. John Uniac, D, 5-11,210, Kitchener, (OHL). 206. Pat Pylypulk, D, 6 feet, 190, Lethbridge, (WHL). 207. Rob Fischer, D, 6-1 &frac34; 194, Miami-Ohio, (CCHA). 208. Sylvain Fleury, LW, 5-11&frac12;, 189, College Francais, (QMJHL). 209. Wade Klippenstein, LW, 6-3, 219, Alaska-Fairbanks, (Ind.) 210. Jody Jarazcewski, C, 5-10, 170, Madison Jr. A. (USHL).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02167/5766532-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="547" height="999"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter McGlynn of Ottawa is ranked 14th among goalies.</figcaption></div><h2>GOALIES</h2>11. Jean-Francois Gagnon, 5-9, 164, College Francais, (QMJHL). 12. Eric Raymond, 5-9&frac12;, 161, Laval, (QMJHL). 13. Mike Bales, 6-1, 180, Ohio State, (CCHA). 14. Peter McGlynn, 5-10, 158, Ottawa, (OHL). 15. Mike Risdale, 5-9, 157, Regina, (WHL). 16. Steve Udvarl, 5-1 O&frac12;, 176, Niagara Falls, (OHL). 17. George Dourian, 5-10&frac12;, 179, Ottawa, (OHL). 18. Dennis Sproxton, 6 feet, 171, Prince Albert, (WHL). 19. Dusty Imoo, 5-8, 153, Lethbridge, (WHL). 20. Pat Mazzoli, 5-10, 170 Humboldt, (SJHL). 21. Parris Duffus, 6-2, 192, Melfort, (SJHL).<h2>LEGEND</h2>League abbreviations: Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL); Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA); Central Ontario Junior Hockey League (COJHL); Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC); Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League (GHJHL); Hockey East (HE); Midwestern Ontario Junior B Hockey League (MOJHL); Metro Toronto Junior Hockey League (MTJHL); New England Junior Hockey League (NEJHL); Ontario Hockey League (OHL); Quebec Collegiate AA &lsquo;Hockey League (QCHL); Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL); Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL); United States Junior Hockey League (USHL); United States High School (USHS); Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA); Western Hockey League (WHL). &#9632;

f0041-01

FOURTH ROUND

f0042-01

STANLEY CUP

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01277/5766811-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="467" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE MOLINARI</figcaption></div>Jim Roberts earned five Stanley Cup rings when he played in Montreal, so he knows a little bit about winning. In fact, if his name turned up on the Cup a few more times, he might be mistaken for its sponsor.But this championship, well, it was different. Special Watching a group of young men manufacture a memory is the kind of thing that makes a warm, lasting impression.Roberts is a coach now, not a player. And nobody is ever going to confuse the rink in Springfield, Mass., with the Forum in Montreal. The crowds are smaller, if not less passionate.But the nectar of victory that came with the Springfield Indians&rsquo; American League championship this spring is no less heady than what Roberts remembers from his days with the Canadiens.&ldquo;I think this was just as big a thrill,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The latest thrill is hopefully the biggest one in your life.&rdquo;There is plenty of excitement to be found in the minors, not all of it pleasant. Roberts guided a group of overachievers to a Calder Cup and watched his team ignite the hockey interest that had smoldered in Springfield for years, but still doesn&rsquo;t know if the city will have a team&mdash;or if he will have a job&mdash;next season.Imagine Edmonton wondering if the Oilers will still be around in September.&ldquo;The city is so turned on by what happened that I think we&rsquo;ll have record crowds next season,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;If we survive the summer.&rdquo;The Indians&rsquo; future hinges on business deals and lease agreements and the like. The issues go far beyond good special teams and solid goaltending.&ldquo;Everything is up in the air,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of strange.&rdquo;So was the Indians&rsquo; magical, marvelous season. Roberts didn&rsquo;t expect much going into it and for a lot of the year, it seemed like the Indians would live down to his expectations.Roberts remembers being 16 points out of a playoff berth on Jan. 22, but it wasn&rsquo;t long after that Springfield was engulfed by a firestorm of success. The Indians had been placed in the crucible of adversity and came through it as champions.&ldquo;This team just never quit,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;They had the idea they were going to win it after we got it turned around in February.&ldquo;To face the teams we did in the playoffs and do as well as we did, it was so, so rewarding. The players gave so much of themselves, which is kind of hard to expect in this day and age.&rdquo;Indeed, the game has changed since Roberts played it, back when self-sacrifice and total commitment were virtual prerequisites to employment. It was evolving during Roberts&rsquo; days as an assistant coach in Buffalo and Pittsburgh and, in many ways, the changes have not been for the better.&ldquo;I guess the thing I don&rsquo;t like about the National Hockey League is that the coach seems to be the scapegoat for all the problems that arise with a team,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;There can&rsquo;t be that many bad coaches in the last 10 years who have coached National League teams (to justify) so many firings.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s gotten to the point where it&rsquo;s hard to believe people I worked with and people I coached against who were doing so well with what they had to work with&hellip;and they were (used as) the excuse for the team not doing as well as maybe somebody thought they should.&ldquo;After a few years of that, I said, &lsquo;Maybe in the minors, you can go down and do a job and people will realize you&rsquo;ve only got that much talent and you did a pretty good job.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s probably the reason I&rsquo;ve liked it in the minors. You&rsquo;re given an honest assessment at the end of the year on what you did with the team you have to work with.&rdquo;Minor-league coaches pay for that no-nonsense approach to hockey. They spend endless hours on buses. Hold team meals in fast-food restaurants. Work in rinks that are a million dreams away from the NHL.But after that night in late May when the Indians claimed the Calder Cup, Roberts wasn&rsquo;t about to dwell on the downside of his job. Not when he had seen so much good in the young men who won that most improbable championship.&ldquo;The biggest reward is to see a group of players who are trying to go on with their careers do the job they had to do and do it so well under a lot of adverse conditions,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;It was just a real rewarding feeling to see this group of players have so much success after what they put into it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0043-01

ROBERTS CONTINUES HIS WINNING TRADITION

<h2>BLUES</h2>Contract negotiations between the St. Louis Blues and right winger Brett Hull should result in the announcement of a new deal soon. Hull, who becomes a free agent with compensation on July 1, said the two sides are close&mdash;&ldquo;a few dollars here and there.&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; president Jack Quinn termed the Blues&rsquo; latest offer &ldquo;sensational.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s reported to be at least $1 million (U.S.) per year&hellip;Veterans Gordie Roberts and captain Rick Meagher received termination contracts before the June 1 deadline. The termination contract tendered to Roberts probably is a precursor to his contract being bought out if he doesn&rsquo;t sign with another team before July 1. Roberts, 32, said he isn&rsquo;t ready to retire. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve paid my dues in the league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I do have one year left, so we&rsquo;ll see where I end up July 1,&rdquo; &hellip;In Meagher&rsquo;s case, the termination contract is considered a formality. Meagher, 36, said when he signed his contract last fall it would be his last contract. Meagher also is recuperating from knee surgery that will keep him out until at least November. &ldquo;Meagher is a full member of the Blues, and he will remain a full member until he dies,&rdquo; GM Ron Caron said.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>Negotiations between owner Howard Baldwin and owners of the National Basketball Association Timberwolves that would have brought the North Stars to downtown Minneapolis to play in the new $94 million arena broke off May 19. Each group has exclusive contracts with advertisers&mdash;the North Stars with Anheuser Busch and Pepsi, the Timberwolves with Miller beer and Coca-Cola, for example&mdash;and saw little or no chance to resolve the issue&hellip;NBA commissioner David Stern, announcing the Timberwolves&rsquo; No. 6 position in the NBA lottery May 20, said, &ldquo;The Minnesota North Stars will select sixth.&rdquo; After a pause, an embarrassed Stern apologized to the Timberwolves&hellip;The scouting offices at Met Center have been cleaned out and much of the hockey department offices look as though there&rsquo;s been a&rdquo; bomb scare. The scouts will join general manager Jack Ferreira and the George and Gordon Gund in northern California&hellip;The North Stars still don&rsquo;t have a radio contract for next season.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>If assistant coach Colin Campbell leaves, as expected, the Wings are not likely to replace him immediately. It appears they&rsquo;re leaving a spot available for Bernie Federko. should his playing career end soon. A year ago, after Don MacAdam left the Wings, coach Jacques Demers said Federko was one of the first names he thought of as a potential assistant&hellip;Another Wings&rsquo; employee looking for a new job is assistant general manager Nick Polano. He sought permission&mdash;it was granted&mdash;to pursue the GM&rsquo;s job in Minnesota. Polano apparently became antsy when he saw signs of GM Jimmy Devellano possibly being replaced. Polano&rsquo;s job security is dependent on Devellano&rsquo;s, which is why Devellano advised Polano to fend for himself&hellip;Assistants Campbell and Dave Lewis met with Michigan State coach Ron Mason and Michigan coach Red Berenson in an effort to find ways to upgrade the Wings&rsquo; practices. &ldquo;College coaches seem to run good practices,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We want to show our players that we want to do everything we can.&rdquo;<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>General manager Floyd Smith said he&rsquo;s extremely pleased with the progress of injured defenseman Al Iafrate. &ldquo;Alfie looks great and is working out real hard,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s down to a lean, mean 207 pounds and we&rsquo;re very happy with the way his knee is responding.&rdquo; Smith said he&rsquo;s 99.9 per cent certain Iafrate, who ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee toward the end of the season, will be ready for the start of training camp in September&hellip;The board of directors of Maple Leaf Gardens is considering selling former owner Harold Ballard&rsquo;s private bunker for $40,000 per season. The bunker is expected to be renovated to seat six people and will likely be enclosed with glass. Ballard, who died April 11, watched most games from The Bunker&hellip;The Leafs signed U.S. college prospects left winger Joe Sacco (Boston University) and Jeff Serowik (Providence) May 24 and goaltender Damian Rhodes (Michigan Tech) and defenseman Leonard Esau (St. Cloud State) May 31. Sacco and Rhodes were drafted in 1987, Esau in 1988 and Serowik in 1985.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>Duane Sutter had some harsh words for his teammates after Chicago was eliminated from the playoffs in six games by Edmonton in the Campbell final. &ldquo;What it boils down to is Edmonton had more pride and outworked us,&rdquo; said Sutter, who estimated, without naming names, that perhaps five or six players need to be removed from the dressing room if the Hawks are to be successful next year. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to change players, change personnel. It&rsquo;s totally up to management. Maybe they don&rsquo;t feel the same way I do.&rdquo; Sutter, 30, was uncertain whether he&rsquo;d retire&hellip;There is speculation that when Mike Keenan is named general manager (sometime before the draft). Darryl Sutter will become co-coach of the Hawks with Keenan. Sutter led the Hawks&rsquo; Indianapolis minor-league club to the International League championship&hellip;Czechoslovakian goaltender Dominik Hasek will likely be in training camp with the Hawks. &ldquo;I would say we&rsquo;re relatively close,&rdquo; GM Bob Pulford said of negotiations with Hasek. &#9632;

HULL CLOSE TO NEW

&hellip;former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; great Maurice Richard was the first head coach of the Quebec Nordiques? He was hired July 20, 1972 to coach the team in the World Hockey Association. After just two games and a record of 1-1-0, Richard k resigned Oct. 14. He was replaced by Maurice Filion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02207/5766866-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="974" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maurice Richard</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>Apparently tired of the pressure that comes with the job, Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano began the search for his own successor with a telephone call to fired Philadelphia GM Bob Clarke.In two telephone conversations in early May, Devellano told Clarke he was ready to step aside and asked Clarke if he would be interested in taking over in Detroit, an NHL source said. Later, Clarke received a similar inquiry from owner Mike Hitch, who confirmed for Clarke he was looking for a GM and asked Clarke if he would be interested.Clarke said he was, and was expecting to hear back from Hitch, which wasn&rsquo;t likely to occur.After a thorough analysis of Clarke&rsquo;s performance as GM in Philadelphia, the Wings decided he wasn&rsquo;t their man.&ldquo;Looking at his record, he would have a hard time making a case for himself,&rdquo; a Wings&rsquo; source said.Other names that surfaced as possible successors to Devellano are John Ferguson and Scotty Bowman. Both are close friends with Devellano. Ferguson, the former Winnipeg GM, is employed as president, CEO and part owner of the Windsor Raceway and said he would invite opportunities to get back into hockey. Bowman, a television analyst since he was fired as Buffalo GM, would consider a return to hockey under the right circumstances.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01202/5766897-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="561" height="635"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jimmy Devellano has been Detroit&rsquo;s GM since 1982.</figcaption></div>Devellano spawned the search for his own replacement when he told Hitch he was physically and emotionally tired of the job and would be willing to turn the day-to-day operation of the club over to a full-time GM. He would continue to serve in another capacity, probably director of scouting and player development.Devellano, the Detroit GM since 1982, refers to himself as the team&rsquo;s &ldquo;acting general manager.&rdquo;&ldquo;People can suffer burnout in any job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;(The job) is enjoyable, but there&rsquo;s a lot of stress, a lot of strain. And it&rsquo;s getting tougher as the years go on.&rdquo;One thing about which he is not bothered is the public speculation about his future, including reports he is being squeezed out of his job with a year left on his contract.&rdquo;&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me at all,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;m in complete control of my life and 1 know what&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;Hitch was on vacation and unavailable for comment. But he rarely says much about the team. Wings&rsquo; executive vice president Jim Lites was guarded in his comments, though he was outspoken about reports suggesting Devellano was going to be fired.&ldquo;We like the job Jimmy is doing for us,&rdquo; Lites said, &ldquo;and he&rsquo;s not going anywhere.&rdquo;Asked if he initiated the search for his own successor with a call to prospective replacements, Devellano said: &ldquo;I really can&rsquo;t comment on that What we&rsquo;re doing&hellip;is that I&rsquo;m continuing as GM. I&rsquo;m remaining on with the Detroit Red Wings.&rdquo;Devellano said he was able to trace rumors of his imminent demise to a former colleague.&ldquo;I heard Lou Nanne was going around telling everybody I was fired,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t he an&mdash;hole? Just because he screwed up a franchise, why does he think he can go after me. He&rsquo;s done this before, and I can&rsquo;t understand it.&rdquo;Devellano referred to Nanne&rsquo;s days as the North Stars&rsquo; GM. when the club regressed until he was replaced as general manager and moved to president.&ldquo;Why doesn&rsquo;t he go to work trying to sell season tickets in Minnesota,&rdquo; Devellano asked, &ldquo;instead of worrying about Jimmy D?&rdquo;Nanne was unavailable for comment.All the gossip and rumors took their toll on coach Jacques Demers, who was enduring a restless summer after missing the playoffs for the first time in his four years as coach. Demers insisted he had no idea Hitch was planning to restructure the front office.&ldquo;If something&rsquo;s going on, nobody&rsquo; has told me about it,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I trust that nothing is going to happen, but my gut feeling is that something is going on or there wouldn&rsquo;t be all these rumors.&rdquo;Demers said if the Wings are looking for a general manager, he would be interested, but not at Devellano&rsquo;s expense.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no secret. I&rsquo;ve always expressed that when my coaching career is over, I want to be a GM.&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked hard to prepare myself. I think I could do the job. But I would never want it at Jimmy&rsquo;s expense. I owe him some loyalty. He brought me to Detroit. He extended&rdquo; my contract.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0044-01

DEVELLANO LOOKING FOR OWN REPLACEMENT

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>Center Cliff Ronning, who bolted the St. Louis Blues last summer to play in Italy, resigned with the Blues May 10. But he returns to a situation more muddled than the one he left.Last summer, Ronning appeared to be the sixth of six centers, behind Adam Oates, Peter Zezel, Rick Meagher, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Tony Hrkac.His decision to leave proved a bit hasty. The Blues moved Brind&rsquo;Amour to left wing, then traded the enigmatic Hrkac to Quebec.Now, Ronning, who signed May 10, is one of seven centers. Veteran Ron Wilson, Ronning-clone Michel Mongeau and rookie Nelson Emerson having joined Oates, Zezel and Meagher. The Blues also are considering moving Brind&rsquo;Amour back to center.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t take a genius to know we have strong people down the middle,&rdquo; said coach Brian Sutter. &ldquo;Emerson and Mongeau weren&rsquo;t here when (Ronning) left. We have seven or eight quality centermen, and you can&rsquo;t play everybody.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll compete for a job. There are going to be people pressed for jobs next fall.&rdquo;How much competition remains to be seen. Meagher. 36, is out of the picture anti I at least November after undergoing knee surgery May 1. Emerson, a 1985 draft choice from Bowliig Green, is expected to start the season with Peoria, the Blues&rsquo; International League farm team. And Brind Amour could still end up at let) wing.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01171/5766928-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="545" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Oates is one of the seven centers with the Blues.</figcaption></div>That leaves Mongeau&mdash;the IHL&rsquo;s most valuable player for his 117-point season&mdash;and Ronning battling for the job as fourth-line center/power-play specialist. Ronning would appear to have an edge, however, because he signed a one-way contract, meaning le would be paid the same salary regardless of whether he went to Peoria.&ldquo;Cliffie&rsquo;s a guy that&rsquo;s good on the power play,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where he has been a big asset before. We know what he&rsquo;s capable of doing.&rdquo;Ronning, 25, was fourth on the Blues in scoring two seasons ago with 24 goals and 31 assists for 55 points in 64 games. He tied Brett Hull for the team lead with 16 power-play goals.When he left last season, he wanted more playing time. Now, he just wants to play in the NHL. The old job description is fine.&ldquo;From what I understood, they wish to have me back playing like the year before&mdash;on the power play, all-around being ready,&rdquo; Ronning said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not fooling anybody: that&rsquo;s most likely. But if I can play well, I can earn the ice time&rdquo;Ronning, the Blues&rsquo; ninth pick in the 1984 entry draft, signed a three-year contract with the team. It is estimated to be worth $150,000 a year.Ronning had at least five offers to return to Italy, where he scored 74 goals and 60 assists for 134 points in 42 games.&ldquo;Money was not the big issue,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is a situation my family and I felt comfortable with. It&rsquo;s an all-around good situation.&ldquo;My hope was to come back to the NHL and do the best 1 can for the St. Louis Blues. We&rsquo;re very excited to go back to St. Louis.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0045-01

RONNING RETURNS IN SEARCH OF A JOB

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>Denis Savard would be the first person to admit it&rsquo;s not easy playing for coach Mike Keenan.But that doesn&rsquo;t mean the Blackhawks&rsquo; star center is ready to demand a trade out of Chicago because of his sometimes stormy relationship with Keenan. Savard said he&rsquo;s never considered the notion.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a Blackhawk,&rdquo; said Savard, who just completed his 10th season in Chicago. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been one all my life and that&rsquo;s what I want to be. There are no better people to work for than Mr. (owner Bill) Wirtz and (general manager) Bob Pulford. I&rsquo;ve been here 10 years and I hope to be here 10 more years. I think I still have a few good ones left in me.&rdquo;Whether it&rsquo;s to be believed or not, Savard. Keenan and Pulford all insisted after the Hawks were eliminated from the playoffs by Edmonton in the Campbell final that the &ldquo;feud&rdquo; between Savard and Keenan was blown considerably out of proportion this season by the media.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02112/5766959-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="559" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Keenan, above, says he has no problem with Denis Savard.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Denis Savard and I do not have a problem,&rdquo; Keenan said at his postseason news conference. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on the same wavelength. It&rsquo;s been a growing experience for all of us.&rdquo;&ldquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s the earthquake between them that you guys think there is,&rdquo; added Pulford. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have anywhere near the squabbles this year as the year before. This year was heaven. I think Denis respects Mike.&rdquo;While admitting he and Keenan don&rsquo;t always see eye-to-eye, Savard said he&rsquo;s ready and willing to do it all again next season.&ldquo;I will go through whatever I have to again next year because I love this team and this organization,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;What Mike puts you through during the season is one thing, but when it&rsquo;s over, it&rsquo;s over. Obviously, it&rsquo;s not enjoyable at the time. Mike&rsquo;s a tough man to work for and he demands a lot. But to be a champion, maybe that&rsquo;s what you need. Maybe there are other ways to do it, but that&rsquo;s Mike&rsquo;s way and he&rsquo;s the chief. I&rsquo;m just one of the Indians.&rdquo;The love-hate relationship between Keenan and Savard and between Keenan and several other Hawks reminded Pulford of his playing days with Toronto, when many of the Maple Leafs didn&rsquo;t care for coach Punch Imlach.&ldquo;But we played for him and won four Stanley Cups,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;Punch was an old, tough son of a gun and we bitched about him all the time, but we played for him. If you have good character people, you&rsquo;ll Play.&rdquo;While Savard isn&rsquo;t planning on asking for a trade, that doesn&rsquo;t rule out a potential deal. However, it&rsquo;s extremely doubtful the Hawks would consider trading the franchise&rsquo;s third all-time leading scorer (1,013 points). In 60 games this season, Savard had 27 goals and 53 assists.&ldquo;It would have to be something where there was no doubt it would help, Pulford said. &ldquo;But the owner has made it pretty clear Denis is going to be here and nothing has changed on that.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0045-02

SAVARD A HAPPY CAMPER IN CHICAGO

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>Bob Clarke seems almost certain to be the Minnesota North&rdquo; Stars&rsquo; next general manager. New owner Howard Baldwin hasn&rsquo;t talked to anyone else.The two met in the Twin Cities for the first time in mid-May and the Clarkes&mdash;Bob and wife Sandy&mdash;visited the area again two weeks later, reportedly looking into the housing market. In between, Clarke and Baldwin talked numerous times on the telephone and Clarke met with Baldwin&rsquo;s top financial advisor in New York.Other teams with job openings have made the Stars&rsquo; search for a new GM complicated. Baldwin insisted he&rsquo;s trying to keep it simple. But long.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not trying to re-invent the wheel here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very interested in Bob Clarke; he would be one of the people who would do a good job. I wouldn&rsquo;t say that I&rsquo;ve offered him the job, yet, however.&rdquo;Clarke was fired April 16 as GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. It ended a 21-year relationship&mdash;15 as a player, six as the GM&mdash;between the Flyers and Clarke.Clarke, whose rookie season was Baldwin&rsquo;s last as the Flyers&rsquo; ticket manager, must have made a favorable impression. Baldwin followed Clarke&rsquo;s career to the Hall of Fame and the two worked together as hockey executives while Baldwin was the managing general partner of the Hartford Whalers.All signs seemed to say the GM&rsquo;s job was Clarke&rsquo;s if he wanted it.First, Clarke has to clear up some contractual hangups with the Flyers. In addition to sorting through the real value of a &ldquo;lifetime&rdquo; contract with the Flyers, he&rsquo;s still getting some money deferred from earlier contracts. NHL rules stipulate an executive cannot receive money from one team while working for another.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01172/5766997-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="549" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Clarke is the leading candidate for the Minnesota GM job.</figcaption></div>Until the closing of the sale between Baldwin and partner Morris Belzberg and the Gund brothers, George and Gordon, the North Stars technically don&rsquo;t belong to the new owners. Does Clarke want to sign on with Baldwin before he&rsquo;s officially the owner? The closing, originally set for June 30, was re-scheduled for June 12, four days before the entry draft in Vancouver.Despite rumors to the contrary, Baldwin insisted there would be no hangups. The financing is available, he said.Should the deal with Clarke somehow fall apart, which seemed ualikely, the North Stars would probably choose from this season&rsquo;s GM list which includes Brian Burke of the Vancouver Canucks and Russ Farvell of the Western League&rsquo;s Seattle Thunderbirds.Clarke said his meetings with Baldwin were &ldquo;terrific&rdquo; and that the two would continue to talk.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about the possibilities (in Minnesota) and I&rsquo;m flattered that Howard Baldwin wants to talk with me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what else to say; I&rsquo;ve never been out of work before and this is really the first time I&rsquo;ve ever had a job interview.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02123/5766990-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="555" height="634"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Ferriera may have to conduct the draft for the Stars.</figcaption></div>Before Clarke could fly back home after his first visit, however, stories began to circulate that he was about to land a GM-level job with the Detroit Red Wings. That no longer seems logical.First, Jim Lites, a Red Wings&rsquo; vice-president and owner Mike lllitch&rsquo;s son-in-law, gave a rousing endorsement for current general manager Jim Devellano. Later, an unidentified Red Wings&rsquo; executive bad-mouthed Clarke&rsquo;s record as GM of the Flyers.If Baldwin hires a GM before the June 16-draft&mdash;it would have to be Clarke for it to happen soon enough&mdash;it&rsquo;s unlikely lame-duck GM Jack Ferreira would conduct the draft as initially planned. Ferreira, who will accompany the Gunds to California, would prefer not to be involved. &#9632;

f0046-01

BALDWIN TAKING HIS TIME WITH CLARKE

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div>Stanley Cup final losers often issue the refrain &ldquo;wait until next year.&rdquo;But if history is a guide, it&rsquo;s going to take more than a healthy dose of optimism tor the Boston Bruins to become NHL champions next season.Since expansion in 1967, only one team that has lost in the final has gone on to win the Stanley Cup the following season. That was the Edmonton Oilers, who lost in four games to the New York Islanders in 1983, then beat the Islanders in five games in 1984.Listed below is how Stanley Cup final losers have fared the following season, since &rsquo;67:<h2>STANLEY CUP LOSERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02138/5767080-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="873" height="261"></div><h2>PEDERSEN PRINCIPLE</h2>Boston&rsquo;s Allen Pedersen has drawn much attention for his scoring prowess&mdash;and it&rsquo;s all deserved.The Bruins&rsquo; blueliner, who broke a 238-game goalless streak earlier this season, went 21 playoff games this year without getting a point. That tied the standard he set during the 1988 playoffs, when the Bruins also lost in the final to Edmonton.Listed below are the active leaders in games played in one playoff year without earning a point:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03105/5767073-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="873" height="172"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0474/5767066-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="877" height="553"></div><h2>POWER OUTAGE</h2>While the temporary power failure at the Boston Garden in Game 1 of the finals was of note, the most significant post-season power outages took place early in the playoffs.The Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames and Hartford Whalers posted three of the four worst playoff power-play percentages in the past seven years.The Habs topped&mdash;or bottomed&mdash;the list, getting just two goals in 51 man-advantage opportunities, for a 3.9 per-cent efficiency rating.Below are the lowest post-season power-play percentages, based on at least 30chances, for the last seven years:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0554/5767059-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="875" height="461"></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

LAST STEP THE TOUGHEST

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>By uttering a few simple words, I general manager Floyd Smith suddenly had Toronto Maple Leaf fans eagerly anticipating the days leading up to the entry draft.All he was waiting for was the other teams to co-operate.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll definitely do something,&rdquo; Smith said, referring to a major deal he planned to pull off either in the days just before the draft or once he and his counterparts gather in Vancouver for the June 14-18 meetings.What can Leaf fans expect Smith to do? Winnipeg center Dale Hawerchuk is a possibility, but a rather remote one despite the fact he-played on a Memorial Cup-winning team in Cornwall nine years ago for current Leaf coach Doug Carpenter.&ldquo;Hawerchuk interests us, but it depends what the asking price is,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely my type of player, but if the asking price is too high, count us out.&rdquo;Smith said he sees little logic in surrendering two or three of his players who are in their early 20s for Hawerchuk, who turned 27 in April. Then again, he saw definite advantages in bringing someone to the fold with whom the coach was already familiar.&ldquo;I certainly wouldn&rsquo;t have to sell Doug on Dale, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;But I honestly don&rsquo;t know what (Winnipeg general manager) Mike Smith&rsquo;s asking price is going to be. I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s in no hurry to make a deal.&rdquo;Hawerchuk has gone on record in the past as having said he liked playing for Carpenter and is comfortable with his coaching style.But with an abundance of centers already in Ed Olczyk, Tom Fergus, John McIntyre, Dave Hannan and Gilles Thibaudeau and highly regarded junior Scott Thornton waiting in the wings, it was unlikely the Leafs would seriously bid for Hawerchuk.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01137/5767111-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="547" height="653"><figcaption class="caption-body">Allan Bester will have to battle for the starting job.</figcaption></div>Smith also said he wasn&rsquo;t particularly interested in disrupting the core of the Leafs in order to either land Hawerchuk or a higher pick in the well-stocked entry draft.&ldquo;As it is right now we&rsquo;ve got seven or eight kids on the way up. What&rsquo;s another draft pick?&rdquo; Smith asked.Smith also noted, while on the subject of trades, that the swap he planned to make would not necessarily involve a front-line goaltender.Much of the speculation after the season surrounded the Leafs&rsquo; need for a bona fide stopper, but again Smith wasn&rsquo;t ready or willing to shred the nucleus of the team.&ldquo;Do you have any idea what the asking price is for a top-notch goalie these days?&rdquo; asked Smith. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really looking for someone solid up front.&ldquo;I think if we can improve the people playing around the goalies we have that we should be all right.&ldquo;I look at some of our young defensemen, guys like Luke Richardson and Al Iafrate, and I have to believe that with another year under their belts that they&rsquo;ll be that much better next year.&rdquo;Netminders Allan Bester, Jeff Reese and Peter Ing will definitely be back this fall to compete for the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, but the future of veteran Mark Laforest is uncertain. He is due to become a free agent July 1.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 24: Joe Sacco, L&rsquo;W, and Jeff Serowik, D, signed contracts.May 30: Peter Ihnacak, RW, informed his contract would not be renewedJune 1: Leonard Esau, D, and Damian. Rhodes. G, signed contracts. &#9632;

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June 1, 1990

WAY WE WERE

CHEERS JEERS

SEX SCANDAL ROCKS CAPS’ POST SEASON

WHALER GM JOHNSTON FACES BUSY SUMMER