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.

October 19, 1990

The Hockey News October 19, 1990

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT MORRISON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01204/5857855-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="315" height="480"></div>The policy is simple, so too is its intent.If you play in the NHL, and you are found to have used illegal. drugs, you will be suspended&hellip;So just what is the problem?Five times in the past dozen years, five different players have either been caught in possession of illegal drugs, or have been forced to admit to prior usage. And five times those players have been given suspensions for their indiscretion.So just what is the problem?Apparently, it is a growing insistance that the NHL, if not turning a blind eye to the potential of drug use within its ranks, at least has its collective head utterly submerged in the sand when it discovers its presence.It clearly does not.Now, no one is so foolhardy as to believe that no more than just five players in the past dozen years have experimented with illegal drugs. Undoubtedly many more have, perhaps many more still do. But all are aware of the rules, and all are aware of the penalty.That&rsquo;s what makes the outcry that has followed a league-imposed suspension for drug use so very curious. Nevermind that the existing no-tolerance policy has been perpetually endorsed by both the owners and players. It is hardly born of dinosaur logic.The message given seems painfully clear: Use drugs and you will be suspended. Period. No room for discussion.But this certainly does not mean, either, that rehabilitation is not promoted, for in every instance the league has commuted its sentences when the player has proven he is no longer associated with illegal drugs. The key, though, is that he must still pay a debt for making a colossal mistake.So just what is the problem?Attempting to deter drug use with the threat of suspension&mdash;without pay&mdash;is not ignoring the potential existance of a problem. Is it merely operating with the intention of attempting to stop that problem before it begins.Interestingly, the policy has never been challenged by the players or owners in the past dozen years.Somehow, it seems incongruous to promote rehabilitation without the threat of penalty for first-time offenders. It&rsquo;s as if you are opening the door for players to make that mistake, and eliminating one very real avenue of doubt. Might not the 60-game suspension given Grant Fuhr make a player think twice about saying yes to drugs?So just what is the problem?The existence of a rehab program, too, does not guarantee players will freely step forward for help. Just as the absence of one doesn&rsquo;t mean players can&rsquo;t privately seek out help.What seems, to be the major issue is whether a player who comes forward and admits to a problem should be dealt with as harshly as Fuhr, who was given a one-year suspension that can be commuted to 60 games. Or whether players should be sentenced at all for first-time use. But ask yourself, should a player in rehab be allowed to play, should a player who makes that mistake not be punished?What is clear is that the Players&rsquo; Association and the NHL owners must soon meet to review the current policy, to consider alternatives, and perhaps contemplate perfections to the notolerance plan. The most important issue, after all, is to somehow try and ensure there is not another Grant Fuhr case.What might be a workable solution would be the elimination of the grey area, to impliment a set, stiff penalty (say, 60 games) for being caught using drugs, and another, less severe penalty (say 10) for having the courage and sense to admit to having a problem and seeking help for it.But the bottom line doesn&rsquo;t have to change. If you use drugs, you don&rsquo;t play. Just what is the problem with that?Scott Morrison is a hockey columnist for the Toronto Sun. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

JUST SAY YES TO NHL’S DRUG POLICY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01284/5857642-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01294/5857635-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="1868" height="3579"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

CLASSIFIED

A left winger for three teams between 1962-63 and &rsquo;79-80, Paul Henderson, 47, is the eastern Canada director of Athletes in Action, a Christian ministry for athletes. Henderson is best remembered for his winning goal in the Canada-Soviet series of 1972. &ldquo;I remember it like it was yesterday,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It would be a very odd week for someone not to mention it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021121/5856526-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="599" height="412"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Henderson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THEN & NOW

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01726/5857062-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE SCHEDULE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011303/5855807-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021060/5855800-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="1500" height="932"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03766/5855793-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="1495" height="953"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04542/5855845-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="584" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Stevens</figcaption></div>In next week&rsquo;s issue of The Hockey News, we look at the escalating story on players&rsquo; salaries.The St. Louis Blues&rsquo; signings of Brett Hull and Scott Stevens created a new marketplace and now everyone wants in on the action.Some players, such as Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque, have had their contracts re-negotiated by management while others are taking it into their own hands.Washington&rsquo;s Kevin Hatcher and New York Islander Pat LaFontaine are two players who threatened to hold out but then relented. On the other hand, Edmonton&rsquo;s Glenn Anderson has threatened to retire.We&rsquo;ll come to grips with the holdouts and tell you who&rsquo;s next in line for re-negotiation.As well, the Oct. 26 issue marks the debut of a new feature in The Hockey News. There will be an in-depth preview of the East Coast League&rsquo;s 1990 91 season and then each week we&rsquo;ll follow the events in this rapidly growing minor pro league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05399/5855838-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="580" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NEXT ISSUE

&ldquo;Players are going to find out the hard way that we are sick and tired oftheir attitude. A few ofthem will see their career pass in front oftheir eyes.&rdquo;&mdash;Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; general manager Pierre Page on his team&rsquo;s lackadaisical play. Page 45.&ldquo;I guess you could say we capitalized on all our chances.&rdquo;&mdash;Tri-City Americans&rsquo; coach Rick Kozuback, after his team shelled the Seattle Thunderbirds 19-3 Oct. 3. Page 30. &#9632;

QUOTABLE

It was sometime in the late spring of 1971. I was finishing up junior high in a west-end suburb of Toronto. My hero, then and now, was just completing his first dazzling year with the Buffalo Sabres.One day, during a lull in our road hockey game, I turned to my best friend Hugh and announced matter-of-factly: &ldquo;Gilbert Perreault is the greatest hockey player in the world.&rdquo;But Hugh, who was blind, insane and a Bruins&rsquo; fan (pardon the redundancy), had the temerity to disagree. He dismissed Perreault as a lightweight who wouldn&rsquo;t last long in the NHL and informed me, with adolescent omniscience, that the best player of all was none other than Derek Sanderson.Our friendship ended soon thereafter. Hugh went off to some other high school and, at last report, had gone prematurely bald. Perreault, of course, went on to his well deserved place in the Hall of Fame. And I simply went on with my life, waiting for the day when I could finally say,&rdquo;I told you so.&rdquo;I guess I just did.Robert McConkey Toronto Ont<h2>TOUGH STANCE</h2>Ban Grant Fuhr&mdash;and any other athlete who admits to having done drugs&mdash;for life. Strip him of his pension rights and all benefits afforded a professional athlete.There must not be one child who believes one can do drugs and not suffer, either physically or financially. It is not enough to own up; severe punishment alone will possibly be a deterrent.Emily H. Zelkin Wilton. Conn.<h2>MIXED SIGNALS</h2>I opened my Sept. 21 issue of The Hockey News and read Bob McKenzie&rsquo;s column on Grant Fuhr and his cocaine problem. I thought it was an exceptional editorial&mdash;sensitive, thought-provoking and to the point.I then turned the page to see Elston&rsquo;s cartoon dealing with the same situation. It was insensitive and in poor taste. A cocaine problem is not the topic for a cartoon.What an inconsistent message. On the one hand, you deal with the problem seriously; on the next page it becomes a joke. Which position is The Hockey News taking?If it is McKenzie&rsquo;s, then what was the cartoon doing in the paper? If it is Elston&rsquo;s, you&rsquo;ve lost all credibility.Bill Day&nbsp; London, Ont.<h2>GOOD RULE</h2>After playing college hockey for three years, coaching at that level for a decade and considering all arguments on fighting in the NHL as Jeff Holladay did (THN, Sept. 21, Letters), I believe the rule in collegiate hockey about fighting is the best argument for getting it out of the pro game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011462/5855900-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="560" height="662"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shayne Corson deserves a suspension for brawl, fan says.</figcaption></div>The ejection rule for fighting was not in force when I played. There were more stupid brawls, pugilistic posturing and general delays of the game than there are now. The pushing and shoving Holladay says &ldquo;drags on continuously&rdquo; has always been part of the game, the difference being that when there was no fighting ejection, the preliminaries often developed into full-scale brawls.If the pro game followed the NCAA&rsquo;s example, maybe we wouldn&rsquo;t be treated to news highlights that only show the ugly side of this great sport.George M. Lasher Commack, N. Y.<h2>A DISGRACE</h2>During the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; exhibition game against the Central Red Army Sept. 18, two Habs left their bench to join a fight on the ice.NHL rules state the first player off the bench during a fight automatically receives a 10-game suspension. Why has there been no action taken against either Stephane Richer or Shayne Corson?Hopefully, president John Ziegler reads The Hockey News and a hearing will be held concerning this matter.Norm Devine&nbsp; Osgoode, Ont.<h2>WHALE OMISSION</h2>Yikes! I realize the economy in Hartford has been terribly depressed lately, and that businesses have been disappearing left and right. But I never expected to open the paper and find that my Whalers had been wiped off the face of the NHL standings (THN, Sept. 28, Scoreboard).First, the state budget surplus; now the Whalers. What&rsquo;s next to go, the Gold Building? If only the 1-91/1-84 interchange would be so quick to vanish&hellip;Do you think my tickets will still be valid for tonight&rsquo;s game?Steve Gallichio&nbsp; Newington, Conn.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to:&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2 or fax us at (416) 445-0753.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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PERREAULT INDUCTION VINDICATES FANS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021187/5855931-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="538" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB McKENZIE</figcaption></div>Don&rsquo;t be surprised to see a few National Hockey League players walk out on their clubs in November to underline salary demands.There is no shortage of disgruntled players these days. Some are playing out their option. Others have been promised existing deals will be renegotiated.A few appear ready to accelerate the renegotiating process by heading home, reports one player agent.&ldquo;But they&rsquo;ll wait until after Nov. 1,&rdquo; he says,&rdquo;because by then they will have received a couple of pay checks.&rdquo;Never has so much been read into a number.Quebec Nordique rookie right winger Owen Nolan, the No. 1 pick in the 1990 entry draft, made his NHL debut wearing No. 88.In junior with the Cornwall Royals, Nolan wore No. 11 in honor of his favorite player, Gilbert Perreault. But in Quebec, liro Jarvi owns No. 11, so Nolan wore No. 39 in training camp.No. 88, of course, is also worn by Oshawa General superstar Eric Lindros, the odds-on favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 1991 entry draft. And Quebec is the frontrunner to be picking first.Some figure the abrasive Nolan assumed No. 88 just to irk his old Ontario League rival, who would be forced to wear a different number were he to become a Nordique next summer. Others believe it&rsquo;s a power-of-positive-thinking statement by the Nordiques&rsquo; new management, intent on dispelling the notion they&rsquo;re playing this season for nothing more than the right to draft Lindros.Nolan claims it&rsquo;s neither.&ldquo;It was the only number left,&rdquo; he says.That at first sounds a feeble explanation, but since Joe Sakic used to wear No. 88 and the Nordiques like to run a tight fiscal ship, maybe that&rsquo;s it; maybe it was the only number left.Whatever, should the Nordiques finish last overall and select Lindros, this numbers game could be courting controversy.Lindros is rapidly establishing an identity with No. 88, just as Nos. 99 and 66 are automatically linked to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, respectively.As strange as it may seem, it all could become an issue a year from now.Confirm or deny: That George Kingston will be the new head coach of the San Jose Sharks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to him but then I&rsquo;ve talked to a few people,&rdquo; says Sharks&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira, who will use this season to build the NHL expansion franchise that begins play next fall.Kingston was the veteran head coach at the University of Calgary before joining Ferreira&rsquo;s Minnesota North Star team as an assistant coach for 1988-89. Then, he left the NHL to become head coach of Norway&rsquo;s national team program.Reports were running rampant throughout the NHL that Ferreira had committed to Kingston.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t come to terms or signed a contract,&rdquo; Ferreira says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m interested in him, but I&rsquo;m not making that (coaching) decision until the spring. There are some other people I want to talk to and they&rsquo;re under contract so I&rsquo;ll have to wait until after the season is over.&rdquo;New North Star owner Norm Green, unhappy with the terms of the Minnesota-San Jose player-sharing arrangement at the end of this season, has decreed that no Sharks&rsquo; personnel will be permitted in the Met Center press box. He suggests they purchase a ticket and sit in the stands.Ferreira&rsquo;s response: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny, I used to have a key to that building. The only time I&rsquo;ve ever paid to get into the Met Center was for a National Sports Festival and I&rsquo;m not about to start (paying) now. I told (North Star GM) Bob Clarke, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll see you&mdash;on the road.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

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PLAYER WALKOUTS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY

Kimbi Daniels: The Swift Current Bronco center tied a Western League record when he scored seven goals in a 7-4 win over Medicine Hat Oct. 2. Daniels, a third-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1990 entry draft, is believed to be the first player to score all or ms team is seven goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03778/5855969-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="387" height="380"></div>John Cullen, Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi: The three Pittsburgh Penguin forwards were at the top of the NHL scoring race after the first weekend of play. Is it mere coincidence all three are playing out their options? Hey guys, just don&rsquo;t forget who was in your comer when you do land those big contracts next season. (We sure could use a satellite dish here at the office.)Norman Green: So, the Minnesota owner wants to change the deal which will see several top North Star prospects playing for San Jose next season. He claims the deal is unfair. But wasn&rsquo;t Green on the NHL Board of Governors which approved the sale? It&rsquo;s not a perfect agreement but it&rsquo;s the one the league approved and it&rsquo;s too late to change it now.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04431/5855962-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="385" height="380"></div>Tri-captains: Whatever happened to the good old days when men were men and NHL teams had one captain? Nowadays there&rsquo;s captains for home, captains for the road and captains for 10-game segments. What&rsquo;s next, will a team appoint one captain for Wales teams and another for Campbell clubs? &#9632;

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CHEERS JEERS

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s latest sabbatical has NHL doctors worrying about a potential back injury epidemic and how to deal with the career-killer that already knocked Mike Bossy out of the game and threatens Lemieux and other players. &ldquo;While it&rsquo;s a good question to ask what percentage of hockey players have a back injury,&rdquo; says NHL orthopedist Dr. Barry Fisher, &ldquo;the better question is what percentage don&rsquo;t have one.&rdquo; Confounding the doctors is that back problems never were a problem in the pre-expansion days. In the past decade Pierre Larouche and Paul Reinhart have exited earlier than expected because of back ills and Wayne Gretzky was sidelined in the 1990 stretch run because of a back injury. Fisher, who works with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, adds,&rdquo;I&rsquo;d like to take any 25 guys on a bench and do CAT scans and MRIs, and I think it would be very interesting what would come up. &ldquo;Like Lemieux, Bossy says he played despite back pain. &ldquo;With a back injury everyone&rsquo;s looking at you out of the comer of their eye,&rdquo; Bossy says.<h2>CAPITAL IDEA</h2>Ottawa is winning points in its quest for an NHL expansion team. The city&rsquo;s presentation and backers have impressed NHL governors, many of whom believe it would be politically prudent to include one Canadian city. Tampa-St. Petersburg has taken the lead among the U.S. bidders but, as one NHL owner notes,&rdquo;only if the two competing groups (Compuware in St. Pete and Pritzger-Phil Esposito in Tampa) merge.&rdquo; Strapped for lack of wealthy backers and other inside political reasons, Miami is near the bottom of the list. Ex-Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; boss, Russ Farwell, has doubts about Seattle&rsquo;s NHL chances. &ldquo;The city is ready for the big-leagues,&rdquo; says the new Flyers&rsquo; GM. &ldquo;But no substantial ownership has come forth.&rdquo; Current thinking among NHL owners is that four expansion franchises will be approved: two for 1992-93 and two for a year or two later when substantial ownership is found. Sources say Milwaukee&rsquo;s bid has slipped because board of governors&rsquo; chairman Bill Wirtz apparently does not want a new team in his Chicago backyard.<h2>BEST OF ENEMIES</h2>Several Boston Bruins did a double-take when their arch-foe Claude Lemieux climbed aboard their recent flight to Montreal. Turns out Lemieux had been given time off by Devils&rsquo; brass to settle business at home and accidentally found himself surrounded by Boston players. Lemieux was assigned a seat at the back of the plane but moved up with his buddy Ray Bourque&mdash;the two have the same agent, Steve Freyer. &ldquo;This is strange,&rdquo; said long-time rival Chris Nilan&hellip;Rookie coach Doug Riseb-rough is perplexed about some negative media reports he might be too emotional to handle the Calgary Flames. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong with emotion?&rdquo; asked Risebrough. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the issue is. People liked that quality when I was a player. Now they don&rsquo;t like it because I&rsquo;m a coach? I&rsquo;m going to be myself. Some people seem to think that emotion is a detriment. But I think emotion can be positive.&rdquo;<h2>COACH WATCH</h2>Toronto Maple Leaf-watchers will be closely eyeing the Doug Carpenter-Tom Watt relationship. Watt, who is head-coaching material, was hired during the off-season by GM Floyd Smith, and could pose a threat to Carpenter. Doug&rsquo;s summer assault on the Toronto media does not put him in a good public relations position&hellip;After five years of waiting for Jim Sandlak to play tough hockey, the Vancouver Canucks are hoping the winger makes good on his promise to go the rough route. During the offseason Sandlak enrolled in a Tae Kwon Do course which he says aided his mental approach and on-ice balance.<h2>MR. MANNERS</h2>Hartford Whalers&rsquo; public relations director Phil Langan has produced an NHL first: A 21-page understand-the-press booklet for Hartford players called Your Media And Your Public. Langan opens the brochure with a quote about one of the most disliked-by-the-media sports figures, former baseball pitcher Steve Carlton. &ldquo;He learned how to say hello when it was time to say good-bye.&rdquo; Langan has a 10-point &ldquo;succeeding with the media&rdquo; plan. He opens with,&rdquo;Be available and cooperative,&rdquo; and closes with,&rdquo;If someone writes a good story on you, the team or a teammate, tell him/her.&rdquo;<h2>GET TOUGH, DOUG</h2>Some Vancouver media types believe Doug Lidster&mdash;now earning about $250,000 (U.S.)&mdash;should be playing financial hardball with the Canucks. Lidster told the Vancouver Province&rsquo;s&nbsp;Tony Gallagher: &ldquo;I believe a contract is a contract even in the option year.&rdquo;&hellip;Tireless Bill Hunter insists he&rsquo;s still hoping to head a group that will put a team in the NHL. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m quietly negotiating with one group&mdash;not Saskatoon&mdash;but can&rsquo;t disclose details,&rdquo; says Hunter, who seven years ago nearly moved the St. Louis Blues to Saskatchewan&hellip;Alexander Tyzhnych, the Soviet goalie who spent last season with the Cape Breton Oilers, says his countrymen had a chip on their shoulders a year ago but have since learned their lesson in the NHL. &ldquo;Russian guys in the NHL may be a little less snobby now,&rdquo; says Tyzhnych. &ldquo;They thought Canada would be no problem. Maybe now they know that Canadian hockey is the best in the world.&rdquo; &#9632;

BACK INJURY EPIDEMIC A REAL CONCERN

<div class="byline">BY CYNTHIA LAMBERT</div>I&rsquo;m curious how many hockey fans are wondering why they haven&rsquo;t heard any stories like Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson&rsquo;s regarding their hockey heroes. How many stories are there of hockey players pulling a stunt like the New England Patriot football players did, making lewd and obscene gestures toward Olson?Well, if you were hoping to hear NHL dressing rooms are filled with sexists, forget it. It simply isn&rsquo;t the case.It&rsquo;s been said by male and female hockey writers alike: Hockey players aren&rsquo;t your typical professional athletes. I&rsquo;m not saying they&rsquo;re saints; I&rsquo;m not that naive. Enough hockey players have been involved in scandals over the past few seasons to dispell that notion.But it remains, in terms of maturity, accessibility and general likability, hockey players are in a different league than their counterparts in basketball, football and baseball.I&rsquo;m in my fourth full season as the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; beat writer for the Detroit News. I can count on one hand the number of angry incidents I&rsquo;ve had with players. But the arguments were because of story content, not because of my sex. And never have I heard lewd comments or been subjected to obscene behavior. That goes for the Wings or visiting teams.Of course, there is some joking in the dressing room. How else are you supposed to deal with an unnatural and sometimes awkward situation? Fortunately, the players I deal with on a daily basis&mdash;such as Joe Kocur, Steve Yzerman and Glen Hanlon&mdash;have been able to deal with the situation with a degree of respect, tact and maturity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011460/5856024-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="574" height="1322"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerard Gallant says female reporters aren&rsquo;t an issue.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me too much, you being in the room,&rdquo; Gerard Gallant said. &ldquo;I know you&rsquo;ve got a job to do. If I&rsquo;m going to be interviewed. I&rsquo;ll put a towel on. I think some guys would prefer not having women in the room, but they&rsquo;re not going to make a big deal out of it. I would say 90 per cent are like me, they don&rsquo;t care. The other 10 per cent may not want you in there, but they&rsquo;re not going to say anything. They just make sure they have a towel on.&ldquo;I think what those New England Patriots did was immature and stupid.I don&rsquo;t think they did it to harm her in any way. I think they wanted to humiliate her, try to embarrass her. It was a big, dumb joke to them.&rdquo;Every reporter&mdash;male and female&mdash;has to expect a certain amount of abuse when entering the players&rsquo; domain. A few years ago I entered the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; dressing room and heard,&rdquo;She&rsquo;s looking, she&rsquo;s looking.&rdquo;I just laughed and approached one of the vocal players, asked him if he had gotten it out of his system and proceded to ask him a hockey question. The hooting and hollering ended immediately.It&rsquo;s the way most hockey players seem to be. They seem accepting and able to roll with the punches. They also don&rsquo;t have the supreme egos that would permit them to look down on mere reporters.&ldquo;I could never picture any hockey player doing what they did to Lisa Olson,&rdquo; Wings&rsquo; goalie Tim Cheveldae said. &ldquo;They just wanted to humiliate her. I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s right. No one deserves to be treated that way, no matter what they wrote or said.&rdquo;Is it possible this sort of enlightened behavior and attitude can continue in the NHL? Will the escalating salaries change it?One can only hope not.The early indications are good, considering the game&rsquo;s top players&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Brett Hull, Ray Bourque, etc.&mdash;have shown the ability to work with the smattering of female reporters in the NHL with the same amount of respect they would afford the males.From my point of view, this is a positive issue for players in the NHL. They can be proud of the image they portray. &#9632;

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NHL CAN BE PROUD OF PLAYER-REPORTER RECORD

<h2>ALLEN PEDERSEN</h2>Bom: Jan. 13, 1965, Edmonton. Alta. Height: 6-foot-4. Weight: 205 pounds. Team: Boston Bruins. Position: Defense. Acquired: Drafted fifth round, 105th overall, in 1983.Career highlight: &ldquo;My first NHL game at the Boston Garden. It was opening night (1986) and I started on defense with Ray Bourque.&rdquo;Boyhood heroes: &ldquo;Growing up in Edmonton, it was guys like Glenn Anderson, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Wayne Gretzky. It was a real thrill when I finally got to meet them.&rdquo;Best hockey quality: &ldquo;Goal scoring,&rdquo; jokes Pedersen, who&rsquo;s scored just twice in four full NHL seasons. &ldquo;It was kind of funny when I got my goal last year. It got lodged under the net and the goal judge didn&rsquo;t know it went in&hellip;no one really knew it went in right away. When you heard about it, did you believe I&rsquo;d scored?&rdquo;Favorite movie: &ldquo;Ghost was one of the better ones this past summer.&rdquo;Favorite actors: Mel Gibson and Michael J. Fox.Favorite TV shows:&nbsp;Cheers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been to the bar and it&rsquo;s not really what you&rsquo;d expect. It&rsquo;s just a small little pub.&rdquo;Favorite book:&nbsp;Presumed Innocent. &ldquo;The movie was good, too.&rdquo;Nickname: &ldquo;Beach. I&rsquo;m really fair-skinned, so I can&rsquo;t go out in the sun much. I went to Aruba once, and, without sunscreen, I felt like a cheeseburger on the grill.&rdquo;Hobbies: &ldquo;Golf, but I shoot about as well as I do in hockey.&rdquo;What he&rsquo;d do if he won the lottery: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d take my family on a trin to F.urone&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021324/5856055-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="568" height="1212"></div> &#9632;

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PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>Netminder Brian Hayward walked out Oct. 8 on the Montreal Canadiens in an attempt to force a trade.Hayward, 30, failed to show for the Canadiens&rsquo; game-day skate at the Montreal Forum prior to their match against the Hartford Whalers.&ldquo;Brian is totally frustrated at not being able to play on a regular basis,&rdquo; said Hayward&rsquo;s agent, Don Meehan. &ldquo;He hopes this decision (to leave the Canadiens) may allow for a trade. It&rsquo;s not a contractual problem. Brian&rsquo;s desire is to play more games than he has.&rdquo;Hayward played 29 regular-season games last year and only one in the playoffs, leaving the bulk of the work for two-time Vezina Trophy winner Patrick Roy. Roy, who signed a four-year contract worth more than $1 million per year on Oct. 2, started the Habs&rsquo; first two games of the season&mdash;a tie and victory over the Buffalo Sabres.Roy was scheduled to start against the Whalers with Hayward&rsquo;s debut set for Oct. 12 against the New York Rangers.When coach Pat Bums met with Hayward on Oct. 7 to inform him of that, the netminder reportedly said that wasn&rsquo;t acceptable and left.&ldquo;No one is going to tell me when they will play,&rdquo; Bums said.Hayward had previously asked for a trade or assurances of more action. But the Canadiens held onto him as an insurance policy in the event they encountered contract problems with Roy.Rookie Jean-Claude Bergeron was recalled from Fredericton of the American League to back up Roy.<h2>KEENAN CHARGED</h2>Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; general manager-head coach Mike Keenan faces an Oct. 30 court date after being arrested in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, 111., fordriving under the influence of alcohol.Keenan, a resident of Wilmette, was arrested at approximately 1:30 a.m. Oct. 2 when he was stopped after police spotted his Mercedes-Benz drift over the double yellow line then weave back to the right. Keenan had just returned to his residence after a team function and was driving the family babysitter home when the arrest occured.Keenan refused to take a breath test but was given a field sobriety test, which he failed. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor, plus improper lane usage.&ldquo;I made a mistake and I apologize for embarrassing my family, the players and the entire Chicago Blackhawks organization,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I put myself in a vulnerable position that I&rsquo;m not very proud of. I made an error in judgement and I apologize. It won&rsquo;t happen again. I hope the people of Chicago understand.&rdquo;Keenan was released on a personal recognizance bond. If convicted of driving under the influence, he faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail or a $1,000 fine.<h2>SUSPENSIONS</h2>The New York Islanders lost the services of defenseman Jeff Norton for eight games and the Chicago Blackhawks lost center Adam Creighton for five as a result of separate preseason stick-swinging incidents.Norton, who cut Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; left winger Jeff Daniels on the side of the face in a game Sept. 30,&rdquo;used excessive force in what he considered a defensive action,&rdquo; said NHL vicepresident Brian O&rsquo;Neill.Creighton, meanwhile, was given five games for striking Minnesota&rsquo;s Bobby Smith in a retaliatory gesture.&ldquo;It did not appear Creighton showed any restraint when swinging the stick, and fortunately, no injury resulted,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Neill.Also serving time to start the season were the Islanders&rsquo; Mick Vukota and Minnesota&rsquo;s Mark Tinordi. Vukota had six games left on a 10-game ban for his part in a playoff brawl with the New York Rangers in April, while Tinordi received 10 games for his participation in a preseason fight.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011366/5856086-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="729" height="837"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vladimir Krutov, cut by Vancouver, wants to remain in the NHL.</figcaption></div><h2>SUSPENSIONS</h2>Vladimir Krutov&rsquo;s lawyer. Bill Faminoff, wants a &ldquo;fair resolution&rdquo; to Krutov&rsquo;s contract with the Vancouver Canucks which has two years to run at $375,000 (Cdn.) per season. The 30-year-old former Soviet national team star was dropped from the team&rsquo;s roster Oct. 2.Krutov scored 11 goals in 61 games last year after reporting in poor physical condition. He went immediately to the doghouse upon his return this year when he again reported to training camp out of shape. Krutov played only three pre-season games and didn&rsquo;t record a point.Canuck general manager Pat Quinn said Krutov&rsquo;s buyout is a complicated deal involving the Canucks, the Sovintersport and Krutov&rsquo;s advisors Faminoff said Krutov still wants to play in the NHL and would accept a trade to another team.<h2>SHAKY ON WAIVERS</h2>The validity of the NHL&rsquo;s annual waiver draft has come under question after just eight players were selected in this year&rsquo;s edition Oct. 1.Implemented to help the weaker teams build at the expense of the stronger clubs, many feel the draft has so many restrictions, it&rsquo;s not fulfilling its purpose.As it stands, teams may protect 18 skaters and two goalies. Players with more than two years professional experience and goalies with three don&rsquo;t need to be protected.Outgoing NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Alan Eagleson feels it&rsquo;s time to reconsider the draft&rsquo;s value.&ldquo;It will be a major item for discussion&mdash;we&rsquo;ve already informed the owners&mdash;in the new collective bargaining agreement next summer. We&rsquo;ve told them their attitude is absolutely stupid.&rdquo;Eagleson said the NHLPA will look to have the number of players protected reduced to &ldquo;somewhere between 12 and 18&rdquo; and will lobby to move the draft from October to June, the month in which it was held until 1977.&ldquo;The advantage of June is that the players were picked on the basis of the previous season, not the previous training camp,&rdquo; said Eagleson. &ldquo;But the problem remains: It&rsquo;s not freeing up the young guys who have the ability to play in the NHL.&rdquo;&mdash;with files from Tim Sassone and Mike Beamish<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Oct. 21: Minnesota at Chicago. Providing he doesn&rsquo;t miss any games, North Star center Bobby Smith will appear in his 900th career match.Oct. 28: Montreal at Chicago. Denis Savard returns to the Stadium for the first time since being traded to Montreal for Chris Chelios during the off-seasonNov. 5: General managers&rsquo; meeting in Chicago. &#9632;

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UNHAPPY HAYWARD WALKS OUT ON CANADIENS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011546/5856117-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">With Mario Lemieux on the shelf for at least half the season, Wayne Gretzky is considered the overwhelming choice to win the Ross Trophy.</figcaption></div>A wise man once said,&rdquo;Unless you&rsquo;re truly gifted, there&rsquo;s not much of a future in predictions.&rdquo;With that in mind, you would have thought we&rsquo;d learned our lesson after telling you prior to the 1989-90 season that:&#9632; The Calgary Flames would roll to a first-place overall finish and repeat as Stanley Cup champions.&#9632; Mario Lemieux would run away with the Hart and Ross trophies&rsquo; balloting.&#9632; Without question Toronto, Winnipeg and the New York Islanders would miss the playoffs.One of our correspondents, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Al Morganti, went as far as forecasting the Quebec Nordiques would finish second in the Adams Division.&ldquo;I looked at all the people Quebec has,&rdquo; said Morganti at the time,&rdquo;and with Michel Bergeron back as coach, if he gets a goalie, they&rsquo;re dangerous.&rdquo;Suffice it to say, Morganti is no longer with us.So, in an attempt to clear our names, we&rsquo;ve asked THN&rsquo;s 21 NHL correspondents and editor-in-chief Bob McKenzie to supply us with their &ldquo;expertise&rdquo; for our annual predictions issue.Like last year, we&rsquo;ll tell you how each team will fare in their division, who will finish first overall, and we&rsquo;ll reveal the Stanley Cup winner.We&rsquo;ll also name the winners in each of the major post-season awards&mdash;Hart (MVP); Art Ross (scoring champ); Vezina (top goalie); Norris (top defenseman); and Calder (top rookie).And trust us. Have we ever steered you wrong before?<h2>REGULAR SEASON</h2>The overwhelming favorites to grab the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy as the No. 1 regular-season team last season, the Calgary Flames are once again considered the cream of the crop. But the pundits figure they&rsquo;ll have more competition this time around.Twelve of our 22 soothsayers see Calgary as the league&rsquo;s dominant team, with six giving the nod to the Buffalo Sabres and four votes going to the defending Cup champions, the Edmonton Oilers.Tim Sassone of the Chicago Daily Herald believes the Flames&rsquo; off-season coaching change&mdash;Doug Risebrough in favor of Terry Crisp&mdash;should make the difference.&ldquo;(Calgary) had 99 points last season and they did that for a coach they didn&rsquo;t like,&rdquo; says Sassone. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll do a lot better for a coach they do like.&rdquo;Sassone and 14 other correspondents also see the Flames repeating as Smythe Division champs, while seven favor the Oilers. The Winnipeg Jets are solidly entrenched in third spot, say 16 of the prognosticators who peg the Los Angeles Kings as a safe fourth-place bet. The Vanouver Canucks, meanwhile, are destined for another fifth-place showing (21 last-place votes).While the Flames garnered the most support as the top overall squad, the Buffalo Sabres are clearly the experts&rsquo; choice as the team most ready to challenge.The Sabres enjoyed the largest margin of victory (18 of 22 first-place votes) among the four teams we predict to win the divisions. The defending Presidents&rsquo; Trophy winners, the Boston Bruins, got the support of four of our writers who see the Montreal Canadiens slipping to third, the Hartford Whalers a strong fourth and the Quebec Nordiques&mdash;the only unanimous pick in our poll&mdash;bringing up the rear.The fight between the Canadiens and Whalers for third in the Adams figures to be one of the closest battles. The Habs mustered 12 third-place votes in the poll, just four more than Hartford&rsquo;s eight.&ldquo;I think Hartford is doing cartwheels now that Chris Chelios and Craig Ludwig are out of the division,&rdquo; says Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of guys in green uniforms not afraid to go in front of the net anymore.&rdquo;The most hotly-contested first-place fight is between Norris rivals Chicago and St. Louis, with a split-decision going to the defending champs. The Blackhawks with 12 votes, edged out the Blues (10 votes), but this one could go either way.Eric Duhatschek of the Calgary Herald feels the deciding factor in the Norris race may be Chicago coach and general manager Mike Keenan.&ldquo;Chicago is a puzzle in that they have a lot of talent, but not a lot of chemistry,&rdquo; says Duhatschek.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about Chris Chelios buying Mike Keenan&rsquo;s message. Keenan can be pretty demanding over 80 games.&rdquo;Improving Detroit is predicted to bounce back after a disappointing showing last year. Fifteen correspondents feel the Red Wings have made sufficient gains to move from fifth to third. The perennially weak Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are expected to at least achieve a playoff berth (14 third-place votes), while the Triplet Cities North Stars (Minneapolis-St. Paul&rsquo;s and San Jose), will have a tough time staying out of the cellar (16 fifth-place votes).The epitome of parity last season, the Patrick Division appears to be pressed for breathing room again. Two teams&mdash;the New York Rangers (13 first-place votes) and the New Jersey Devils (11 second-place votes)&mdash;did, however, levitate to the top of our poll.The Pittsburgh Penguins, without Mario Lemieux (back infection) for at least the first half of the season, are viewed as being strong enough to come third, followed by the Washington Capitals, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Islanders.Rangers&rsquo; correspondent Walt MacPeek, (New York Star-Ledger)&mdash;the best of a bad lot in last year&rsquo;s poll&mdash;had this to say about the Islanders, who he predicts will finish last in the six-team division: &ldquo;Without Pat LaFontaine, I&rsquo;d pick them for seventh.&rdquo;<h2>AWARDS</h2>With Lemieux seemingly out of the picture, the feeling is the Hart Trophy is Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s for the taking. Still, what once was the Great One&rsquo;s domain, is now a much tighter race.Gretzky, also an overwhelming choice tocruise to his ninth Ross award (21 of 22 votes&mdash;Mark Messier earned the other), is the Hart choice of seven of our correspondents, while Messier, Pierre Turgeon and Steve Yzerman each got the support of four voters. Ray Bourque (two votes) and Patrick Roy (one) also rated some consideration.Roy, interestingly, is not the favorite to capture his third straight Vezina Trophy. The Canadiens&rsquo; netminder was edged out in our poll by last year&rsquo;s Vezina runner-up, Buffalo&rsquo;s Daren Puppa (11 votes to eight).A repeat performance is expected in the battle of the blue line, dominated by last year&rsquo;s Norris winner, Bourque. The Bruins&rsquo; rearguard, who&rsquo;s been named the NHL&rsquo;s top defenseman on three occasions, earned the support of 16 predictors, with Chelios (three votes), Al Maclnnis (two) and Scott Stevens (one) rounding out the field.&ldquo;(Bourque&rsquo;s) got a once in a lifetime shot,&rdquo; quips Pittsburgh Press correspondent Dave Molinari. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be what&hellip;only his second Norris of the &rsquo;90s?&rdquo;In what is expected to be the closest awards&rsquo; race, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mike Ricci (five votes) edged out Hartford&rsquo;s Bobby Holik (four) in our pre-season Calder balloting. While the picks were solicited before the Flyers&rsquo; rookie was put out of action with a broken finger opening night, many believe the month or so he misses won&rsquo;t seriously harm his chances.Also receiving votes were: New York Ranger goalie Mike Richter (three); Quebec&rsquo;s Mats Sundin, St. Louis&rsquo; Curtis Joseph and Calgary&rsquo;s Robert Reichel (two each); and Boston&rsquo;s Wes Walz, Quebec&rsquo;s Owen Nolan, Vancouver&rsquo;s Petr Nedved, and New Jersey&rsquo;s Zdeno Ciger (one each).Rich Chere, who covers the Devils for the New York Star-Ledger, sees Ciger as having the inside edge.&ldquo;He has a distinct advantage over the other European rookies in that he&rsquo;s breaking in with Peter Stastny,&rdquo; says Chere of the fellow Slovaks. &ldquo;Ciger follows Stastny around like a puppy, and Stastny&rsquo;s been outstanding with him.&rdquo;<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>Could this finally be the year the Sabres put it all together? No, say our correspondents, but they should be awfully close.The traditionally underachieving Sabres will defy their so-called curse by winning the Wales Conference title and making it through to the Stanley Cup finals, according to 17 voters. But that&rsquo;s where they&rsquo;ll meet their match&mdash;the Flames.Calgary outpolled Edmonton 14-8 as Campbell Conference playoff champs, receiving another 13 votes to win it all. The Oilers didn&rsquo;t quite earn the respect defending champs normally enjoy, getting just six votes, while three correspondents feel it just may be the Sabres&rsquo; year. &#9632;

f0006-01

REALLY, WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011392/5856148-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HERE’S HOW THN CORRESPONDENTS SEE NHL RACES

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011477/5856179-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Left winger Paul Ranheim represents the seemingly endless depth the Flames possess. With little power-play ice time, he had 28 goals and 54 points last season.</figcaption></div>The Calgary Flames may not be as good as they were in 1988-89 or 1989-90, but so what? Chances are, they won&rsquo;t have to be.None of the NHL&rsquo;s biggies did much to help themselves in the off-season. Consider:&#9632; The Edmonton Oilers lost Jari Kurri and Reijo Ruotsalainen. Scratch 50 goals and the power-play quarterback.&#9632; The Boston Bruins lost Brian Propp and Greg Hawgood. Scratch depth from one of the shallowest teams in the NHL.&#9632; The Montreal Canadiens lost Chris Che-lios, Craig Ludwig, Claude Lemieux, Mats Naslund and Bobby Smith. They added Denis Savard, but Sylvain Turgeon? He&rsquo;s injured already and by anybody&rsquo;s standards, he&rsquo;s not durable. And can Gerald Diduck provide Ludwig&rsquo;s stability?.Only the Buffalo Sabres helped themselves by adding Dale Hawerchuk. Combined with Pierre Turgeon, the Sabres have as good a one-two punch down the middle as any team in the NHL.But Hawerchuk cost them Phil Housley, so once you get past Mike Ramsey and Doug Bod-ger, who&rsquo;s left to play defense?Maybe the key to the whole season is which of the NHL&rsquo;s elite teams does the best job of integrating its new people and making the smoothest transition.On paper, that team could well be Calgary. This is a team that over the past six years has never finished lower than sixth overall. General manager Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s philosophy seldom varies: Every year, move a couple of older players out and bring a couple of younger players in. That ensures a good mix of veteran savvy and youthful experience. Provided the young players are character people, it also keeps your chemistry intact.&ldquo;If you look at this organization over the years,&rdquo; says defenseman Al MacInnis,&rdquo;they don&rsquo;t let anybody go unless they think somebody can fill the void. For this year, it may mean Paul Ranheim scoring more goals or Theoren Fleury or Mark Hunter. But they know some where along the line, they&rsquo;re going to make up the 40 goals Joey Mullen would get for us every year.&rdquo;Mullen was one of the players lost from last year&rsquo;s 99-point team. Defenseman Brad McCrimmon was the other. But from back to front, the Flames still pack a lot of punch.Start with the goaltending, which has been left in the capable hands of Mike Vernon. Many people doubt Vernon belongs among the game&rsquo;s netminding elite. The numbers tell a different story.In his first three years, Vernon won 30 games a season. Last year, he failed to reach that mark mainly because he missed almost two months with a back injury. Still, he finished with respectable numbers&mdash;23-14-9 with a 3.13 goals-against average&mdash;playing in the high-powered Smythe Division. Nobody on this side of the NHL plays Roger Neilson-style hockey. The net result: A goaltender&rsquo;s numbers can be wildly inflated. See Kelly Hrudey for details.Besides, there&rsquo;s a wild card here, a kid named Kidd. Trevor Kidd, that is, the team&rsquo;s No. 1 choice in the 1990 entry draft and the single biggest story of Calgary&rsquo;s training camp. The Flames sent him back to Brandon of the Western League because they hate to rush kids, even the real prodigies. And they did so with the conviction that he&rsquo;s good enough to play in the NHL, maybe even right away. Vernon usually plays better with someone pushing him anyway, and Kidd gave him a two-handed shove in camp.Defensively, the Flames have a one-two-three punch as good as any in the league. Maclnnis is unquestionably a strong offensive force, but he&rsquo;s also better than you think defensively. Gary Suter, hampered by a lack of ice time a year ago, looks to be unfettered this season. Jamie Macoun is a cumulative plus-74 since returning from a career-threatening injury two years ago. His name is synonymous with the phrase &ldquo;underrated defenseman.&rdquo; If the league instituted a defensive defenseman award, he would represent a strong candidate.Up front, the difference between the Flames and the rest of the league is the talent from the first to the 11th forwards.The thing that separates Calgary from, say, the Philadelphia Flyers or the Minnesota North Stars is that even the Flames&rsquo; third-and fourthline players can score 15 to 20 goals.Consider last year&rsquo;s third line, Joel Otto between Paul Ranheim and Theoren Fleury. Otto had a sub-par year but chipped in 33 points. Ranheim? Even without power-play time, he scored 28 goals and 54 points. Fleury? Even better with 31 goals and 35 assists.So Calgary can beat you with their No. 1 and 2 units (Joe Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s and Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s) and with their Nos. 3 or 4 units.Over 80 games, talent usually wins out and just about everybody agrees Calgary&rsquo;s got the best talent.Perhaps the most important factor is one that can&rsquo;t be measured in goals and assists: Morale. The mood in camp was significantly higher now that &ldquo;Captain (Terry) Crisp&rdquo; has walked the plank.The distaste for Crisp&rsquo;s methods and the players&rsquo; overall lack of respect for him, has been well-documented.With Crisp gone, so is the team&rsquo;s major crutch. And the players appear to be Strongly motivated to show they were right and he was wrong.Left winger Gary Roberts, asked what he considered to be important about the year ahead, raised the matter of team unity.&ldquo;The guys have to realize we&rsquo;ve got to work for each other all the time,&rdquo; says Roberts. &ldquo;When things go bad, instead of blaming each other, we&rsquo;ve got to pull together.&rdquo;MacInnis echoed Roberts&rsquo; comments.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying we didn&rsquo;t have team unity last year, but we&rsquo;ve got to get back to the way things were the year we won it like sticking together a bit more, really going out and playing together and playing for one another,&rdquo; says MacInnis.MacInnis was at a loss to explain the team&rsquo;s lack of cohesiveness.&ldquo;Maybe when things aren&rsquo;t going good for yourselves, when you&rsquo;re trying to find your way out of a slump, the other guys have got to be supportive and get them through it. I think that has a lot to do with team unity and really picking the guys up when they&rsquo;re down. There&rsquo;s a word I&rsquo;m searching for here&hellip;Morale? Teamwork&hellip;Maybe we just have to get back to enjoying the game a little more.&rdquo;No better way to do that than winning a few more games than a year ago. &#9632;

f0008-01

FLAMES POISED TO REGAIN NO. 1 STATUS

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Eric Duhatschek</div>The things that could go wrong for the Flames start with the mildly bulging disc in Mike Vernon&rsquo;s back, the one that can spasm on him for no apparent reason with no advance warning.Without Vernon in goal, the Flames would be a little vulnerable though Rick Wamsley played pretty well last year and there&rsquo;s a good young player coming in Trevor Kidd.Defensively, there&rsquo;s a wide gap between the Flames&rsquo; first three rearguards and the next three. So much of the Flames&rsquo; success hinges on its power play and so much of the power play depends upon Al MacInnis and Gary Suter. An injury to one or both would seriously hamper the Flames&rsquo; offense. Not only do they pile up the points on special teams, their passing and puck-carrying contribute to Calgary&rsquo;s transition game, enabling the team to get on offence from defense quickly.The Flames could find a couple of bodies to fill in for MacInnis and Suter, but that&rsquo;s all they would be&mdash;bodies. They are about as close to indispensable as it gets in Calgary.Center Joe Nieuwendyk represents another possible concern. He must play the year without an anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Physically, the brace he&rsquo;s wearing gives him adequate protection. Psychologically? That&rsquo;s another matter. It may take some time before he&rsquo;s really truly convinced his knee can stand the night-in and night-out pounding it will get.The week before the season opened, Nieuwendyk reported: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take time. Maybe I want it all now. Now, when I skate, I sometimes stumble for no apparent reason and I think, &lsquo;damn.&rsquo; So I&rsquo;ve got to stay focussed. I know it&rsquo;s all going to come together. It&rsquo;s just every now and then I lose it.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk averaged 49 goals a year for his first three NHL seasons. If for some reason, he couldn&rsquo;t duplicate that, then maybe there won&rsquo;t be enough scoring to go around.Then there&rsquo;s the question of coaching. Everybody thinks Doug Risebrough has the potential to be a great coach, not just a good coach. But this is his first assignment as a head coach. Will he be able to match lines? Or juggle lines? Or react to what another team&rsquo;s doing? It&rsquo;ll be a year of on-the-job training for Risebrough. Some nights, the lessons may come a little painfully. &#9632;

HEALTH OF TOP FLAMES COULD BE A PROBLEM

<h2>CANUCKS</h2>Brian Burke, the team&rsquo;s director of hockey operations, paid a visit to Randy Gregg&rsquo;s Edmonton home Oct. 5 in attempt to persuade the 34-year-old veteran to come to Vancouver. The Canucks drafted Gregg in the Oct. 1 waiver draft, but the Oilers&rsquo; defenseman announced his retirement the following day&hellip;Stan Smyl, the longest-serving captain in the NHL, stepped down Oct. 1 and was replaced by a triumvirate. Joining former assistant captain Doug Lidster in the tricaptaincy arrangement, are center Dan Quinn and right winger Trevor Linden. The captaincy will be rotated on a game-by-game basis. Smyl, who was the captain since 1982, relinquished the &lsquo;C&rsquo; when he was told he likely would be a part-time player this season&hellip;Goalie Kirk McLean is playing out his option after rejecting a one-year, plus option offer with a base salary of $300,000 (US). McLean earned a base salary of $145,000 (Cdn.) last season&hellip;Defenseman Jiri Slegr, the Canucks&rsquo; second-round pick (23rd overall) in June, returned to his native Czechoslovakia after rejecting a two-way contract offer from the club. Slegr, under contract to his Czechoslovakian team (Litvinov) until 1993, wasn&rsquo;t willing to begin the season in Milwaukee of the International League and the Canucks didn&rsquo;t feel he was ready for the NHL.<h2>JETS</h2>Dave Ellett doesn&rsquo;t have an Art Ross Trophy bonus in his contract but after opening night, he&rsquo;s probably wishing he did. The Jets&rsquo; defenseman connected for two goals and two assists in a 7-1 defeat of Toronto Oct. 4 and gained a temporary lead in the league scoring race. &ldquo;I think (Brett) Hull will probably pass me in a couple of days,&rdquo; said the offensive-minded defenseman. &ldquo;But if they put the list in the paper tomorrow I&rsquo;ll have to cut it out.&rdquo;&hellip;Goaltender Bob Essensa&rsquo;s recovery from a pulled groin suffered in training camp has been longer than expected. Essensa, who was 18-9-5 for Winnipeg in his rookie season with a 3.15 goals-against average, has signed a new multi-year contract but isn&rsquo;t expected to play his first game until the middle of October. In the pre-season, he had two 30-minute stints and an unimpressive 7.00 GAA&hellip;Center Thomas Steen and the Jets remain at an impasse as far as a new contract is concerned. Reports in Winnipeg that Steen was about to sign a new four-year deal were described by Steen and his agent as premature. &ldquo;They must know something I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Steen, 30, who has made it clear he has no intentions of going elsewhere.<h2>FLAMES</h2>After a year-and-a-half of bucking the odds, center Theoren Fleury has decided to wear a visor. Fleury had a close call in Calgary&rsquo;s Sept. 25 exhibition game against the Edmonton Oilers (a 4-3 loss), when rookie Collin Bauer clipped him on the bridge of the nose and just under the left eye. Because Fleury is so short at 5-foot-6 and skates with a slightly hunched over stride, the average player carrying his stick waist high comes up to his neck. So after years of getting his face injured, Fleury finally decided he&rsquo;d had too many close calls. &ldquo;The eyes are the most important part of the body,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Jamie Macoun, who also suffered severe facial cuts in a practice session, followed suit. &ldquo;(Former Flame) Jamie Hislop&rsquo;s career ended with an eye injury,&rdquo; said Macoun. &ldquo;The game is faster, quicker and tougher. Besides, they wear hard hats and goggles in other jobs too &ldquo;&hellip;Coach Doug Riseb-rough said he would wait until after the team&rsquo;s first road trip to name a permanent team captain or captains. Center Doug Gilmour wore the &lsquo;C&rsquo; in Calgary&rsquo;s first two games.<h2>KINGS</h2>Defenseman Tom Laidlaw was making such rapid progress from the back problem that plagued him late last season and all of this past summer that he hoped to resume playing by as early as late October. Including playoffs, the 32-year-old defenseman missed the Kings&rsquo; final 18 games last season because of a bulging disc in his back that caused the protective coating around the disc to tear. The pain was so severe Laidlaw did not attend training camp, but he was able to skate the final week in September following a series of cortisone injections. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been kind of amazing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I continue to progress the way I have, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m going to be out for too much longer.&rdquo; Goalie Daniel Berthiaume stopped 22 shots in the Kings&rsquo; pre-season-ending 6-2 win over the New York Islanders on Sept. 29 to clinch the backup job behind Kelly Hrudey. Following the game, Mario Gosselin, who appeared in 26 games for the Kings last year, was assigned to Phoenix of the IHL.<h2>OILERS</h2>Defenseman Jeff Beukeboom was foiled by rookie Winnipeg goalie Richard Tabaracci on a rare penalty shot late during the Oilers&rsquo; season opener Oct. 6, a 3-3 overtime tie. &ldquo;When I noticed it could be me taking the penalty shot, I tried to get off the ice,&rdquo; said Beukeboom, who was awarded the penalty shot at 17:46 of the third after the Jets&rsquo; Paul Fenton threw his stick at the puck. Beukeboom, who said he&rsquo;s never had a breakaway in junior or pro hockey, tried to stuff the puck between Tabaracci&rsquo;s pads, and it did trickle through, but the goalie covered up&hellip;Craig MacTavish has been named by the Oilers&rsquo; coaching staff to replace the departed Jari Kurri as an alternate captain. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a leader on and off the ice, he&rsquo;s earned it,&rdquo; said coach John Muckier. The 32-year-old will join captain Mark Messier and alternate Kevin Lowe. &#9632;

THE NHL

CANUCKS STILL TRYING TO LURE GREGG BACK

Oct. 19, 1957: Montreal&rsquo;s Maurice Richard scored at 15:52 of the first period against Chicago netminder Glenn Hall, becoming the first player in NHL history to record 500 goals. The milestone goal, which came in Richard&rsquo;s 863rd regular-season game, was assisted by Jean Beliveau and Dickie Moore.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021013/5856258-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="645" height="422"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maurice Richard</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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FLASHBACK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011427/5856289-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="499" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>Bob Goodenow scares me.He should frighten you, too.The new boss of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association is the chap who could steer the union to a strike next fall and then the whole lot of us will be up the creek&mdash;without a hockey stick.Goodenow is the Al Eagleson of the &rsquo;90s. He&rsquo;s tough, intimidating, insightful and, all at, once, disarming. At least that&rsquo;s what I was told by those who know him. So, it was time to talk to the man who&mdash;I was told&mdash;could eat NHL governors live.The first thing the 37-year-old lawyer told me was that he had worked his head off for the past eight hours and,&rdquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;ve accomplished today.&rdquo;Already, I liked him; a run-around-in-circles man after my own heart. But enough of the jokes, it was time to probe Goodenow, especially the image of toughness. Instantly, he deflected the question.&ldquo;I always try to be fair,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Success dictates that if one side (in a dispute) does well, but not the other, it (the agreement) doesn&rsquo;t work.&rdquo;Makes sense but he wasn&rsquo;t directly addressing the toughness issue. A super-tough negotiator could call a strike.&ldquo;I work very hard on behalf of my clients,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I zealously pursue their interests with a philosophy of fairness.&rdquo;I made one last push on the toughness issue to see if he&rsquo;d budge.&ldquo;You should ask others,&rdquo; Goodenow insisted. &ldquo;I work hard. If that&rsquo;s equated with tough, so be it. I&rsquo;m not shying away from the term but let other people say it. And, no, I&rsquo;m not a goon lawyer.&rdquo;We switched to the issue of salary disclosure. I suggested&mdash;based on Kevin Hatcher&rsquo;s holdout and the Ray Bourque-Harry Sinden confrontation&mdash;it has bred jealousy and greed among NHLPA members.&ldquo;That is inaccurate and wrong,&rdquo; Goodenow shot back. &ldquo;Salary disclosure is information that is important and was held back. What we&rsquo;re doing is healthy and in the long run even the critics will agree. Sure, there are still wrinkles to be ironed out but over the long haul, you&rsquo;ll see that it will be good.&rdquo;I mentioned since the Grant Fuhr episode, NHL President John Ziegler has absorbed the brunt of criticism for the league&rsquo;s nondescript drug policy whereas the NHLPA has escaped the blasting it deserves for a do-nothing attitude on the issue.&ldquo;I personally commenced a study of drug policy and had it on the agenda (this summer) but hadn&rsquo;t sufficiently completed the study,&rdquo; said Goodenow. &ldquo;One of my priorities is to finish it and have it ready next summer as a discussion point in our collective bargaining agreement.&rdquo;I told Goodenow straight out I fear the escalating salaries are going to put small-market teams such as the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Minnesota North Stars out of business.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not convinced we&rsquo;re close to that situation,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very complicated issue partly because there has been a lot of confusion in the past about the league&rsquo;s economic realities.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m told that in 1986, Winnipeg, Minnesota and St. Louis were suffering financially. I was impressed on the players not to force exct sive demands; in essence to subsidize these teams. We were asked to take less to support the weak. Well, lots of teams are doing well now, so we won&rsquo;t buy that argument. Let it (subsidization) come from the fellow partners, not our 500 (NHLPA) guys.&rdquo;Goodenow argues it&rsquo;s premature to talk specifics about a strike or such prickly subjects as free agency. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even have a list of issues at this time,&rdquo; the new Eagleson insists. And speaking of The Eagle, I asked Goodenow to compare himself to his ebullient, get-things-done predecessor.&ldquo;Personality-wise, we&rsquo;re quite different. Al has many strong characteristics. He was a powerful leader who could develop a consensus and marshal energies with great enthusiasm. And he did it without a staff. My personality will be such that I&rsquo;ll take the Players&rsquo; Association and expand on its base and be a leader in a different way.&rdquo;In closing, I told Goodenow I have a friend in the business whose instincts I trust. The colleague said that the new NHLPA boss is one of the few who could intimidate with his smarts. Bob reacted with shock and disbelief.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t purposely intimidate,&rdquo; he concluded,&rdquo;and I&rsquo;m not that smart and not that complicated. The key to my success is preparation and hard work.&rdquo;In NHL circles, that could be scary. &#9632;

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THIS GOODENOW’S A SCARY CHARACTER

Jason Goldhawk has been skating since he was four years old.Jason played for the Sarnia major &ldquo;AA&rdquo; novice travel team last season. He played right wing most of the year, but also played some defense near the end of the year. His coach this year will be Ken Gilbert.Jason, who is 10-years-old, is 4-foot-3 and 62 pounds. He started to skate in a learn to skate program. Since then he spent two years in a Sarnia instructional program, two years in the Sarnia minor novice house league and one year in the Sarnia major house league.Jason, who is a Grade 4 student at Rosedale Elementary School, loves to play ice hockey but also enjoys playing street hockey around home with his friends. His other interests include soccer, baseball and listening to music.His favorite NHL team is the Toronto Maple Leafs and his favorite players are Wendel Clark and Wayne Gretzky.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011505/5856320-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="585" height="1105"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Goldhawk</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of the JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Showcase Just send a photograph (non-returnable), along wrth biographical information (age. height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to JOFA-TITAN SHOWCASE, c/o The Hockey News. 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. All entries submitted wUl be eligible for selection as THN&rsquo;JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Player Of the Year. &#9632;

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PLAYER OF WEEK JOFA TITAN

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>He looks like Joey Mullen, sounds like Joey Mullen, scores like Joey Mullen.How do we really know that Calgary Flames&rsquo; rookie Tim Sweeney isn&rsquo;t Joey Mullen?&ldquo;The only difference,&rdquo; replied center Doug Gilmour,&rdquo;is that Sweeney shoots from the left side.&rdquo;Following the Flames&rsquo; exhibition season, people in Calgary were left to wonder if Mullen ever left.Sweeney, the Flames&rsquo; replacement on left wing for the talented right winger now in Pittsburgh, possesses so many of the same qualities, shares so much of Mullen&rsquo;s background, it&rsquo;s scary.Consider: Like Mullen, Sweeney played his college hockey at Boston College. Like Mullen, he turned pro in Salt Lake City of the International League. Like Mullen, he was a longshot to play professionally because of his small stature&mdash;5-foot-11, 180 pounds. Like Mullen, he is deadly in the two-foot area around the net. And like Mullen, he wears No. 7. For now anyway, Sweeney is playing with Mullen&rsquo;s old center, Doug Gilmour.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s flattering to be compared to Mullen because I&rsquo;ve been watching him all my life,&rdquo; said Sweeney.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the best pure goal scorers I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He gets 40 goals every year.&rdquo;&ldquo;Sweeney shows a lot more poise than you&rsquo;d expect from a rookie player,&rdquo; said Paul Baxter, the Flames&rsquo; assistant coach.Sweeney, one of four rookies (Ken Sabourin, Stephane Matteau and Robert Reichel are the others) to start the season with the Flames, paid immediate dividends. He scored his first NHL goal in overtime of the Flames&rsquo; 3-2 season-opening victory over the Vancouver Canucks Oct. 4.Even if he did lead the Flames&rsquo; minor-league affiliate, Salt Lake City (IHL), in scoring last year with 97 points in 81 games in his first pro season, Sweeney&rsquo;s presence in the opening night lineup was not expected.For one thing, the Flames were pretty deep on the left side. For another, the Flames returned 14 forwards from a 99-point team, even after the trade that sent Mullen to Pittsburgh. Thirdly, Sweeney does not have the thing the Flames were looking for the most on the wing: size.&ldquo;From what I heard, I was supposed to be a long to a medium shot,&rdquo; said Sweeney. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather come in like that than be expected to make the team and not do very well. I play much better when nothing is expected of me.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just hoping to go out, score a few goals, play a well-rounded game, not be a liability out there,&rdquo; said Sweeney.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 2: Brian Glynn, D, Marc Bureau, C, and Steve Guenette, G, assigned to Salt Lake (IHL).Oct. 5: Andrew McKim, C, signed a two-year contract. McKim assigned to Salt Lake.Tim Sweeney scored the winning goal in his first NHL game.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury, Robert Reichel.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Paul Ranheim, Tim Sweeney, Stephane Matteau, Brian MacLellan.RW&mdash;Sergei Makarov, Sergei Priakin, Mark Hunter, Tim Hunter, Jiri Hrdina.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Dana Murzyn.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis. Roger Johansson, Ken Sabourin.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ric Nattress, D, torn knee cartilage, three weeks.Colin Patterson, LW, sprained right knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Makarov, Maclnnis, 2. A&mdash;Suter, 6.P&mdash;Suter, 6. PIM&mdash;Johansson, 15. &#9632;

ROOKIE LEFT WINGER A JOEY MULLEN CLONE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Franchise-type billings are almost always overblown, but Petr Nedved could turn out to be one of those phenoms who holds true on his promise.In what was literally an llth-hour agreement, the Canucks signed their No. 1 draft choice in 1990 on the eve of the start of the regular season, 90 minutes before the midnight deadline Oct. 3. If he had not been signed by the Canucks by Oct. 4, Nedved would have been returned to his junior team in Seattle of the Western League.&ldquo;I hoped to have a contract signed before training camp, but they (Canucks) said they didn&rsquo;t want to do things that way,&rdquo; Nedved said. &ldquo;Then I thought it would be done after a week or two of camp. I&rsquo;m a little disappointed it worked out this way. It was very hard on me. I was beginning to think they didn&rsquo;t want to sign me.&rdquo;Nedved didn&rsquo;t dress for the Canucks&rsquo; season opener Oct. 4 (a 3-2 loss in Calgary) because he &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t ready mentally to play.&rdquo;Indeed, the mental strain of not knowing where he would be playing this season started to wear on Nedved after the first week of training camp and his play seemed to decline as the pre-season wore on.The protracted contract hassle with the Canucks was finally resolved when the Nedved camp made a monetary concession on the signing bonus (accepting $165,000 after initially seeking $200,000). Nedved signed a one-way contract (full NHL salary regardless of where he plays) for three years for roughly $765,000. His first year salary is believed to be $175,000, escalating to $225,000 in his option year.What was unusual about the Canucks&rsquo; negotiating stance was the team appeared to be playing hardball be the franchise&rsquo;s first game-breaking player. General manager Pat Quinn made a gutsy (or daft, take your pick) move at this year&rsquo;s draft in Vancouver when he turned down a deal from Philadelphia for defenseman Terry Carkner, right winger Scott Mellanby and the fourth pick overall for the Canucks&rsquo; second overall choice, which turned out to be Nedved.Flyer GM Ross Farwell, who as Seattle&rsquo;s top man last season watched the rookie Czechoslovakian score 65 goals and 154 points in 71 games, wanted the gangly, 6-foot-3, 178-pound center badly. But so did Vancouver&rsquo;s fans. More than 19,000 of them chanted &ldquo;Petr, Petr, Petr&rdquo; at the draft proceedings in June, and brought the house down when Quinn used Vancouver&rsquo;s pick to do precisely that.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 1: Brian Bradley, C. Dan Quinn, C, and Jim Agnew, D, signed contracts. Randy Gregg, D, claimed in waiver draft from Edmonton.Oct. 2: Jim Benning, D, Steve Weeks, G, Shawn Antoski, LW, Peter Bakovic, RW, Dave Mackey, LW. Curtis Hunt, D, and Steve Veilleux, D, assigned to Milwaukee (IHL).Oct. 3: Petr Nedved, C, signed a three-year contract.Oct. 4: Doug Lidster, D, Dan Quinn, C, and Trevor Linden, RW, named tricaptains to replace Stan Smyl, RW.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dan Quinn, Igor Larionov, Brian Bradlev Roh Mlirnhv Petr NedvedLW&mdash;Jim Sandlak, Greg Adams, Robert Kron, Craig Coxe, Dave Capuano, Steve Bozek.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Petri Skriko, Ron Stern, Jay Mazur. Stan Smyl, Andrew McBain.LD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Adrien Plavsic, Jim Agnew, Bob Dollas.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Jyrki Lumme, Kevan Guy, Robert Nordmark.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Troy Gamble.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Eight players tied with 1. A&mdash;Linden, Quinn, 2. P&mdash;Linden, 3. PIM&mdash;Stern, 9. &#9632;

NEDVED CLOCKS IN AT THE DEADLINE

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>It was no way for the Edmonton Oilers to begin the defense of their fifth Stanley Cup in seven years, but then again you&rsquo;d have to figure they&rsquo;re used to turmoil.Goalie Grant Fuhr, albeit reluctantly, began settling into his 60-game suspension when Randy Gregg retired Oct. 2 after being selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL&rsquo;s annual waiver draft the day before.The next day, Glenn Anderson followed suit, citing a dispute over the re-negotiation of his contract which still has two years on it.But the question remained: Are one or both bogus retirements?The Anderson situation has angered general manager Glen Sather, who has indicated he&rsquo;s prepared to let the 30-year-old rightwinger sit out for the season and the next two years of his contract.&ldquo;If he&rsquo;s waiting for $900,000 a year, he&rsquo;s going to be retired a long time,&rdquo; said Sather, who blames St. Louis Blues&rsquo; counterpart Ron Caron for signing free-agent defenseman Scott Stevens to a $5.1 million pact over four years. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the dumbest thing that&rsquo;s happened in the NHL in 10 years.&rdquo;Actually, Anderson maintained he wasn&rsquo;t seeking $900,000.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not asking for anything out of the ordinary,&rdquo; said Anderson. &ldquo;They said they were going to do something and all I&rsquo;m asking for is what&rsquo;s fair in today&rsquo;s market.&rdquo;Anderson signed an eight-year contract after the 1984 Canada Cup, paying him $330,000. Last season he was given a $50,000 raise and admits Sather has offered to extend his contract to four years at $500,000 annually.Anderson spoke briefly to Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington at the team&rsquo;s alumni golf tournament Oct. 2. After sending his brother, David, to the Coliseum the following day to inform the Oilers he was retiring, Anderson immediately left town and missed Edmonton&rsquo;s first two games.&ldquo;From what I hear from Peter, I may not be back fora while,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anybody to go through this, but it&rsquo;s the only thing I had left to do.&rdquo;Sather spoke to Anderson a couple of days later, saying they had reached an impasse. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to have an agent call me.&rdquo;But Anderson has been given support from linemate Mark Messier, who is also seeking re-negotiation of his $1 million-plus contract.In the case of Gregg, the 34-year-old defenseman implied it was unlike, ly he would report if he was picked up in the waiver draft.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they understand what kind of guy Randy is,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;He wrote a letter that he would retire and I faxed it to everyone in the league. He was disappointed and genuinely concerned.&ldquo;Randy&rsquo;s a very principled person.When he wanted to play for the Olympic team (1987-88), I knew I couldn&rsquo;t stop him.&rdquo;The Canucks have continued talks with Gregg in an effort to lure him to Vancouver, sweetening financial terms on a $300,000 contract he had agreed to with the Oilers.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 1: Randy Gregg, D, claimed by Vancouver in the waiver draft.Oct. 3: Collin Bauer, D, and Mike Greenlay, G, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL).Oct 3: Glenn Anderson, RW, retired.Oct. 5: Craig MacTavish, C, named an alternate captain.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Mark Lamb, Craig MacTavish, Ken Linseman, Vladimir Ruzicka.LW&mdash;Petr Klima, Esa Tikkanen, Martin Gelinas, Kelly Buchberger.RW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Joe Murphy, Anatoli Semenov, Dave Brown.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Geoff Smith.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Charlie Huddy, Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Eldon Reddick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Murphy, 2. A&mdash;Graves, S. Smith, 2. P&mdash;Murphy, S. Smith, 3. PIM&mdash;Graves, 24. &#9632;

TURMOIL OVERSHADOWS START OF SEASON

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>It was a controversial trade, certainly an unpopular one as far as Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; fans were concerned, when Bernie Nicholls was shipped to the New York Rangers Jan. 20.In return, the Kings received a pair of fleet wingers&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato&mdash;who were immediately installed as linemates for center Wayne Gretzky.In a sense, the transaction turned out to be a three-for-one deal because it enabled the Kings to give young center Todd Elik the kind of playing time he deserved.Elik, 24, was leading the New Haven Nighthawks of the American League in scoring with 20 goals and 43 points in 32 games when he was summoned in December. But not until after Nicholls left was Elik given the opportunity to show what he could do with meaningful playing time.Elik&rsquo;s numbers in 48 NHL games were modest: 10 goals, 23 assists. But he averaged a point a game after taking over Nicholls&rsquo; spot between Luc Robitaille and Dave Taylor on the second line. He led the Kings in scoring during the playoffs with three goals and nine assists in 10 games.Much is expected this year of the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Elik. Certainly a 35-goal, 85-point season does not seem unrealistic.&ldquo;Todd has an opportunity to take advantage of a very good situation,&rdquo; coach Tom Webster said. &ldquo;He gives us some speed down the middle and he certainly is capable of scoring some goals.&rdquo;Though hampered somewhat by a sore right hand late in training camp&mdash;he was slashed Sept. 26 in the Kings&rsquo; 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in Seattle and missed the final two exhibition games&mdash;Elik started the season strongly. He had a goal and an assist in the Kings&rsquo; second game of the season&mdash;a 6-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Oct. 6.Elik believes last year&rsquo;s experience has made him a better player.&ldquo;I could have been bad or good (after replacing Nicholls), and things worked out pretty well,&rdquo; Elik said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, Bernie is a fantastic player and it was a little bit of a tough situation for me. But I didn&rsquo;t take the attitude that I was taking over for him. I just looked at it as an opportunity to play in the NHL.&rdquo;&ldquo;There was a lot of pressure on Todd,&rdquo; general manager Rogie Vachon said. &ldquo;And maybe the jury is still out on him. Will he come back and play as well as did in the playoffs? I can tell you that he&rsquo;s looked awfully good.&rdquo;Elik was acquired from the Rangers on Dec. 12, 1988 in a deal that sent defenseman Dean Kennedy to New York. He played two years of junior hockey and one at the University of Regina, but was never drafted. After signing with the Rangers as a free agent in 1988, he had a 44-goal, 100-point season for Colorado in the International League, the next season he was on pace for another 40-goal season&mdash;20 goals in 28 games with Denver (IHL)&mdash;when the Kings came calling.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 1: Rod Buskas, D, acquired from Pittsburgh in the waiver draft; Mike Donnelly, LW. assigned to New Haven (AHL).Oct. 2: Paul Holden, D, assigned to New Haven.Oct. 4: Keith Crowder, RW, had contract bought out.Oct. 5: Mike Allison, LW, had contract bought out.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Todd Elik, Mike Krushelnyski, Steve Kasper.LW&mdash;Tony Granato. Luc Robitaille, Scott Bjugstad, John Tonelli, Jay Miller, Brad Jones.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Bob Kudelski, Francois Breault.LD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Larry Robinson, Brian Benning.RD&mdash;Rod Buskas, Rob Blake, Dennis Smith.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Halkidis, D, shoulder surgery, indefinite.Tom Laidlaw, D, bulging disc in back, indefinite.Marty McSorley, D, twisted knee, day-to&mdash;day.Tim Watters, D, bruised ribs, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gretzky. Robitaille, 2. A&mdash;Blake, 3. P&mdash;Robitaille, 4. PIM&mdash;Granato. 10. &#9632;

ELIK GETTING USED TO SECOND-LINE SPOT

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div>Stu Barnes is in need of major surgery.No, the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; 1989 first-round draft pick hasn&rsquo;t blown a knee or ripped up a shoulder. He requires a total reconstruction of his defensive game.As a result, the Jets have sent him to a specialist&mdash;the doctor of defense, Dave King.The Jets reassigned the rookie center from their American League farm team in Moncton to King&rsquo;s Canadian national team program in Calgary Oct. 3.And if he can&rsquo;t learn to play defense from King, he can&rsquo;t learn from anyone.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a great opportunity for him,&rdquo; said Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch, who is looking forward to having Barnes&mdash;the two-way version&mdash;on his club in 1991. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s absolutely fantastic for him. He&rsquo;s a young player who has great skills. You see what the program did for a fellow like Kris Draper. I think he&rsquo;ll learn a lot about the game.&rdquo;Draper, the Jets&rsquo; third round pick in 1989, should be King&rsquo;s poster child.At the age of 19, with two years of King&rsquo;s teachings in his pocket, he was in the starting lineup when the Jets opened the season with a 7-1 thrashing of the Toronto Maple Leafs Oct. 4. Draper chipped in with a goal in the win.Barnes was born on Christmas Day, 1970. Draper arrived in the world four months less a day later. Barnes was picked fourth overall in &rsquo;89 while Draper went 62nd.Yet in hockey terms, Barnes is a child with plenty of potential while Draper plays like a polished professional.The difference is King.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t think I would be here,&rdquo; Draper said when asked if choosing the national team over junior hockey had helped his development. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t get too many 19-year-olds who know how to play in their own end. That&rsquo;s what Dave King&rsquo;s program did for me.&rdquo;Draper said Barnes will have to sacrifice his stats to be successful.&ldquo;My first month I was just lost,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had no idea what he was trying to teach.&rdquo;King was thrilled with the acquisition of Barnes which materialized only days after Winnipeg sent him toMoncton. The Jets and the national team will share in the cost of his contract.&ldquo;They contacted us to see if we would be interested and of course we are,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;Stu Barnes is a really fine player. We&rsquo;re happy to have him.&rdquo;Barnes is equally pleased with his reassignment.&ldquo;I know what I&rsquo;m here for,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know what I have to work on. I want to learn what I have to learn and I&rsquo;ll be there next year. I just want to prove that I can play that way.&ldquo;They gave me the option so I jumped on it.&rdquo;Draper knows what&rsquo;s in store for Barnes too&mdash;a sacrifice of his offensive game.&ldquo;I came there out of midget hockey. I didn&rsquo;t even go past my own red line,&rdquo; Draper said. &ldquo;Instead of looking at how many goals he&rsquo;s scored, he&rsquo;s going to have to look at how many goals he&rsquo;s on the ice for and against. He&rsquo;s got to cut that down.&rdquo;<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 3: Stu Barnes, C, assigned to Canadian national team. Jeff Parker, C, assigned to Moncton (AHL).Oct. 4: Bob Essensa, G, signed multiyear contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Thomas Steen, Brent Ashton, Dave McLIwain, Kris Draper.LW&mdash;Doug Smail, Paul Fenton, Scott Arniel, Doug Evans, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDermid, Danton Cole, Greg Paslawski. Mark Kumpel.LD&mdash;Phil Housley, Dave Ellett, Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin.RD&mdash;Teppo Numminen, Fredrik Olausson, Moe Mantha, Gord Donnelly.G&mdash;Stephane Beauregard, RickTabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Essensa, G, pulled groin, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Ellett, 2. A&mdash;Elynuik, 3. P&mdash;Ellett, 4. PIM&mdash;Donnelly, 12. &#9632;

ROOKIE BARNES TO LEARN FROM DEFENSIVE KING

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011452/5856471-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="527" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DRYDEN</figcaption></div>Alex Mogilny&rsquo;s first season of freedom ground to a halt when the young man could no longer face airplane travel. Fear of flying promises to be a problem again this season.For those defensemen expected to stop the frighteningly-fast Mogilny.The Soviet defector put on a breathtaking demonstration of his skills on opening night of the new season. The sky seems the limit for someone so gifted. Mogilny scored once and generated several other opportunities as the hometown Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Cana-diens played to a 3-3 tie.Most of those in attendance came to witness NHL history&mdash;the official unveilings of Dale Hawerchuk and Denis Savard in their new togs. Most left wonderstruck by Mogilny.His goal will stand up as one of the finest of the year.Mogilny approached the Montreal zone, swerved past one Canadien and then drove towards another&mdash;defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre. The Hab had perfect position to control Mogilny, but the Sabre rocketed past him in a moment of ignition and backhanded the puck past Patrick Roy.It was an overwhelming display. But not his best of the night. In the first period, Mogilny skated down the right wing, faked outside, went inside and flicked a wrist shot off the stickhandle with dazzling ease.He never set for the shot; Mogilny just rushed and released in a fashion few NHLers can equal.One awe-struck reporter dubbed him Air Mogilny, a combined reference to virtuoso skills similar to those of Michael Jordan and the sophomore&rsquo;s much-publicized flying phobia. The 21-year-old could just as easily be called Heir Mogilny.Ten days after Sabre legend Gilbert Perreault was inducted to the Hall of the Fame, Mogilny looked like the most exciting player in franchise history since Perreault. Pierre Turgeon is the best Sabre, but his genius is bom of cerebral superiority as much as physical. He can outthink as well as outplay the opposition.Turgeon and Mogilny were linemates&mdash;along with left winger Dave Andreychuk&mdash;against Montreal. In time, Turgeon and Mogilny may prove a lethal combination. On this night, they played independently of one another&mdash;particularly Mogilny, who seemed more intent on exploring his individual limits, than the line&rsquo;s collective potential.But if his playmaking was not on par with his puckhandling, it was difficult to take issue. The clear and present danger he represented to the Canadiens every time he accelerated into action was more significant.So, too, were the few words he uttered after the game. Mogilny stopped talking to the Buffalo media last year because of perceived injustices. He broke that silence during training camp. That gesture spoke volumes about the new Mogilny. He is making a strong commitment to fitting in this fall.Mogilny was a tortured soul last season. Defection did not come easily to him. He left behind the Soviet Union and all that he despised about it, but remained a prisoner of his past. There was talk he wanted a trade to the Rangers so he could be close to the large Soviet community in New York. Mogilny resisted assimilation.Insecurities plagued him, none greater than a sudden fear of flying. By season&rsquo;s end, each flight left him shaken and ashen-faced. Finally, he quit flying altogether. Mogilny is no candidate for pilot school now, but he is back flying and calmly occupying window seats. He has achieved a peace of mind.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I start to play better,&rdquo; Mogilny said.He acknowledged feeling more a part of the team this season. His grasp of English has improved tremendously, and while Mogilny is loathe to talk about personal matters, it&rsquo;s believed he has a Buffalo girlfriend.Sabres&rsquo; coach Rick Dudley calls him a &ldquo;whole new human being&rdquo;&mdash;and one of the Sabres&rsquo; two pre-season revelations. (Rookie Greg Brown was the other.) Last year, Dudley was reluctant to trust Mogilny. On opening night, he had Mogilny killing penalties.But Mogilny is not in Buffalo to fill a defensive role.Mogilny said his job is the same as any forward&rsquo;s: To score goals and help the team. If they happen to be highlight-film efforts, so much the better.&ldquo;I always try to make the exciting play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what makes me smile.&rdquo;Mogilny did not offer as much as a grin when he talked about his first goal of the season. He remains reticent to reveal too much of himself. But Dudley offered assurances that Mogilny&rsquo;s face lit up in the moments after he scored.Mogilny will have ample opportunity to work on sharing smiles with others this season. &#9632;

f0014-01

MOGILNY EXECUTES DAZZLING TAKE-OFF

<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Defenseman Al lafrate, who was sorely missed by Toronto in its playoff loss to St. Louis last spring, was still sidelined by his knee injury when the season began Oct. 4 in Winnipeg, lafrate made the first road trip of the season with the Leafs as they opened with games against the Jets, Calgary and Edmonton, but did not see action. He was practising with the team daily and skating with relative ease, but was having occasional cramps in his right knee and appeared tentative in heavy traffic&hellip;Rookie Scott Thornton, who started the season as the No. 4 center, was shifted between snipers Vincent Damphousse and Daniel Marois in the second game of the season. Wendel Clark, who had been on the left wing with Damphousse and Marois, was dropped back to the third line with Dave Hannan and Lou Franceschetti&hellip;Center Tom Fergus, who had success between Damphousse and Marois last season, recently visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to get a third opinion on a mysterious groin ailment that has kept the veteran center off skates since midway through training camp. There is speculation Fergus has a chipped bone in his abdomen, but doctors can&rsquo;t seem to agree whether surgery is required.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>The Red Wings opened their 65th season with a 25-man roster that included 19 Canadians, three Americans (Rick Zombo, Lee Norwood and Jimmy Carson), two Swedes (Johan Garpenlov and Per Djoos) and a Russian (Sergei Fedorov). There were six rookies (Fedorov, Garpenlov, Djoos, Keith Primeau, Mike Sillinger and Bob Wilkie), and three more youngsters with less than a full season in the NHL (Tim Cheveldae, Brent Fedyk and Randy McKay), and another. Bob Probert, who missed all but four games last season. In all, there were nine players on the roster who weren&rsquo;t with the team last season&mdash;the six rookies plus Rick Green, Brad McCrimmon and Alain Chevrier&hellip;Coach Bryan Murray was considering a line, particularly for Norris Division games, of Kevin McClelland flanked by Joe Kocur and Randy McKay&hellip;Unable to make a trade, the Wings assigned veteran center John Chabot to Adirondack (AHL)&hellip;Fedorov is still getting used to reporters in the dressing room, let alone women reporters. The first time he saw a female in the room, he turned red, grabbed a towel and, with a confused look on his face asked teammate Shawn Burr,&rdquo;Ladies here?&rdquo; Burr nodded and said, &ldquo;get used to it.&rdquo; Fedorov said he never saw a reporter in the dressing room in the Soviet Union. &ldquo;They were not interested,&rdquo; he said, adding that on the rare occasion a writer did speak to a player, the interview took place outside the room&hellip;Three days before the season began, Fedorov received his H-1 work visa from U.S. Immigration authorities. It&rsquo;s good for three years.<h2>BLUES</h2>The Blues elected Scott Stevens the new captain, replacing injured center Rick Meagher, who quietly stepped aside. Meagher, 36, is out until Dec.l after undergoing surgery on his right knee during the offseason. &ldquo;We talked, and he agreed that we have to have a captain,&rdquo; said coach Brian Sutter, who was impressed with Stevens&rsquo; popularity. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a hell of a compliment. It shows the guys have a hell of a lot of respect for him. He&rsquo;s only been here for training camp.&rdquo;&hellip;Adam Oates retained an &ldquo;A&rdquo; as an alternate captain, while veterans Paul MacLean and Harold Snepsts will share the other, switching off in 10-game segments&hellip;How far have the Blues come in two years? Consider that defenseman Tom Tilley and right winger Steve Tuttle, standouts two seasons ago as rookies, were sent to Peoria on Oct. 6. &ldquo;Two years ago, we were a big part of the team,&rdquo; Tilley said. &ldquo;This year, we&rsquo;re fringe players, and now we&rsquo;re gone. Obviously, the team is a lot better.&rdquo;<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>Steve Larmer scored his 3OOth career goal Oct. 6 in a 5-2 win at St. Louis. He became only the fourth player in franchise history to reach the 300 plateau, joining Bobby Hull (604), Stan Mikita (541) and Denis Savard (351) in that exclusive club&hellip;Michel Goulet resumed skating after missing nearly all of training camp with an accelerated heartbeat. Goulet underwent a 12-hour procedure Sept. 29 that doctors feel corrected the problem&hellip;Ed Belfour was the sixth different opening night goaltender for the Hawks in the last six years when he faced the Rangers on Oct. 4. Alain Chevrier started the season opener last year, Jimmy Waite in 1988, Bob Mason in 1987, Bob Sauve in 1986 and Murray Bannerman in 1985.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>Only 5,730 fans watched the North Stars&rsquo; home opener against the St. Louis Blues&mdash;a 3-2 loss Oct. 4. It&rsquo;s believed to be the smallest openingnight crowd in the team&rsquo;s 24-year history&hellip;Goalie Kari Takko was assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL) on Oct. 7. In 129 games over four seasons with the North Stars, he had a 33-6514 record and 3.83 goals-against average. Jarmo Myllys, another goalie from Finland, will start the season as Jon Casey&rsquo;s backup&hellip;Defenseman Mark Tinordi will lose nearly $25,000 in salary during his suspension. He&rsquo;s been a pro for four years and still hasn&rsquo;t played in an NHL opener. He was also suspended last year, for crosschecking Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord in the face. In &rsquo;88, he was hurt and in &rsquo;87 he was sent to the minors (by the New York Rangers) the day before the season began. &#9632;

IAFRATE STILL OUT WITH INJURY

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>Allan Bester slumped at his locker, barely able to lift his head to view the media swarm that had formed at his feet.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired, dead beat,&rdquo; Bester exhaled as he slumped his diminutive frame against the wall of his stall.The eight-year veteran had every right to complain of fatigue on this night. Only minutes earlier, he had left the Saddledome ice after facing a 45-shot barrage from the powerful Calgary Flames.Unfortunately for the Leafs, not even Bester&rsquo;s acrobatics could prevent them from falling 4-1 to the Flames.&ldquo;It was my first full game of the season and I&rsquo;m obviously not yet in the kind of shape that I have to be in,&rdquo; said Bester, who hadn&rsquo;t played in nine days since facing Buffalo in the preseason.But as tired as Bester complained of being physically, it was obvious he was also mentally tapped. After a season in which he was severely maligned despite winning a career-high 20 games, Bester wanted to prove to a few people, himself included no doubt, he was capable of handling the No. 1 goaltending job with the Leafs.Most observers thought Bester would start the season in the Toronto net when they faced Winnipeg Oct. 4 (a 7-1 loss), but coach Doug Carpenter decided to go with Jeff Reese. Bester, chomping at the bit to play his first game of the regular season, was forced to wait two more nights.&ldquo;I put a lot of pressure on myself in this first game,&rdquo; said Bester. &ldquo;I was like a rookie before the game. I couldn&rsquo;t sleep all night and couldn&rsquo;t nap in the afternoon.&ldquo;All I could think about was this game and playing well.&rdquo;It was important, if not downright crucial, for the 26-year-old netminder to get off to a good start this season. Had he been bombed in his first outing, or allowed one or two soft goals to beat him, there&rsquo;s no telling where his confidence level would have plummetted to.With the Leafs carrying three goalies to start the season&mdash;Bester, Reese and rookie Peter Ing&mdash;every start is a key test for each. Carpenter doesn&rsquo;t like having three stoppers around and it&rsquo;s only a matter of time before someone gets sent to Newmarket (AHL). Bester, who had a two-week stint with the Saints last season, doesn&rsquo;t want a return trip this year.&ldquo;I really wanted to play well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a long season and I have to do it game in and game out.&rdquo;Bester insisted his 1988-89 season (20-16-0,4.49 goals-against average, .873 save percentage) wasn&rsquo;t as terrible as some people made it out to be.&ldquo;I thought I had a pretty good year but I was guilty of letting in a bad goal here and there that always seemed to hurt us,&rdquo; said Bester.He was also guilty of getting too far down after a loss and too up following a victory. The mental roller-coasi was like a ride through a house horrors.After leading the Leafs with a 2.0 GA A in the exhibition season, Best could be excused for feeling some what spumed when he did not start Game 1 of the regular season.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Vincent Damphousse, Dave Hannan, Scott Thornton, John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne, Wendel Clark, Dave Reid, Scott Pearson.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Daniel Marois, Lou Franceschetti, Kevin Maguire, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Luke Richardson, Tom Kurvers, Brad Marsh, Todd Gill.RD&mdash;Drake Berehowsky, Rob Ramage. Brian Curran, Jeff Serowik.G&mdash;Allan Bester. Jeff Reese, Peter Ing<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Fergus, C, groin pull, day-to-day. Al lafrate, D. knee surgery, day-to-day. Rob Pearson, RW, broken collarbone, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Marois, 2. A&mdash;Damphousse, 2. P&mdash;Marois, Damphousse, 2. PIM&mdash;Hannan, 90 &#9632;

NO. 1 GOALTENDING JOB IS BESTER’S GOAL

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>Expectations for the hockey team in baseball-crazy St. Louis have been higher than ever, with talk of the Stanley Cup dominating pre-season conversation not only from fans, but from players and management as well.&ldquo;How many times has that happened in summer?&rdquo; veteran Paul MacLean asked. &ldquo;How many times have 1,500 people come out to watch inter-squad games?&rdquo;Never.&ldquo;The fans are excited,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;The management is excited. The players are excited.&rdquo;The Blues&rsquo; 3-2 victory at Minnesota in the season opener Oct. 4 only whetted the fans appetite for more. Brett Hull scored twice in that game despite playing without his center, Adam Oates, who was out with the flu and sore ribs.The atmosphere was electric at the Blues&rsquo; home opener, with 18,324 fans packed into The Arena Oct. 6, but the Chicago Blackhawks short-circuited the Blues with a 5-2 victory. The loss gave the Blues and their fans a heavy dose of reality.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a nice way to put it,&rdquo; coach Brian Sutter said.But he obviously had a different message for his players.&ldquo;He was just like always&mdash;upset,&rdquo; goalie Vince Riendeau said.&ldquo;He had a right to be,&rdquo; said captain Scott Stevens, who experienced a Sutter loss for the first time. &ldquo;We let them take control of the game.There&rsquo;s no excuse for it. We can&rsquo;t have that, especially in our building.&ldquo;Especially with a sellout crowd, paying an extra $4 per ticket on average that has great expectations that include dreams of a Stanley Cup.The fans gave the Blues a big return on their investment in Hull and Stevens this summer, and now they want results.As the Oct. 6 loss to Chicago indicated, the results may be slow in coming. The Blackhawks are seen as the Blues&rsquo; chief rival for the Norris Division title, and they played without five key players: Steve Thomas, Doug Wilson, Michel Goulet, Greg Gilbert and Bob McGill.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been built up so much, but we can&rsquo;t win every night,&rdquo; defenseman Paul Cavallini said. &ldquo;The people have to understand that. We have a couple of new defensemen, and it&rsquo;s going to take some time.&rdquo;The Blues have added five new players since the end of last season: Stevens and Geoff Courtnall from Washington; Cliff Ronning back from Italy; and waiver draft pickups Bob Bassen from Chicago and Mario Marois from Quebec.Only one defenseman&mdash;Cavallini&mdash;has started the last two seasons with the Blues.The defense was directly responsible for the goals against Chicago&rsquo;s incessant forecheckers, giving up five in a row after the Blues had taken a 2-0 lead in the first period.And the Blues&rsquo; high-tech offense solved Ed Belfour just twice despite 19 shots on goal in the first period.Still, Stevens admitted it&rsquo;s hard for the players to remain oblivious to the Cup talk.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one thing we can&rsquo;t think about&mdash;the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;We have to think of 80 games and take them one at a time, especially in our division.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a division where you can go into a city and know you&rsquo;re going to get two points. No way. Every game is a battle, and you have to start right there. Hopefully, that will lead to a division championship.&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 27: Jason Ruff, LW, and Tony Twist, LD, assigned to Peoria (IHL).Sept. 30: Jeff Lamb, C, retired.Oct 1: Mario Marois, RD. (Quebec) and Bob Bassen, C-LW (Chicago), chosen in waiver draft,Oct 2: Gordie Roberts, D, Kelly Chase, RW, David Bruce, RW, and Michel Mongeau, C, assigned to Peoria.Oct. 6: Steve Tuttle, RW, and Tom Tilley, RD, assigned to Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Ron Wilson, Bob Bassen, Cliff Ronning.LW&mdash;Sergio Momesso, Geoff Courtnall, Dave Lowry, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Paul MacLean, Rich Sutter, Herb Raglan.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Paul Cavallini, Robert Dirk, Harold Snepsts.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Mario Marois, Glen Featherstone.G&mdash;Vincent Riendeau. Curtis Joseph.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rick Meagher. C, major surgery on right knee, Dec. 1.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Hull, 2. A&mdash;Ronning, 2. P&mdash;Hull, Ronning, Courtnall, 2. PIM&mdash;Raglan, Bassen, 15. &#9632;

EXPECTATIONS FOR CUP VICTORY RUNNING HIGH

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>A year ago, Ed Belfour was wondering if he had a future with the Chicago Blackhawks.Now he just might be the Hawks&rsquo; future.&lsquo;It was Belfour who emerged as the Hawks&rsquo; No. 1 goalie after an intense training camp battle with Jimmy Waite, Dominik Hasek, Jacques Cloutier and Greg Millen.When he was with the Canadian national team last season, Belfour admitted there were times when he found himself in places like Moscow, Prague, Stockholm and Oslo that he wondered just where his career was headed.&ldquo;But I always kept in the back of my mind that the Blackhawks had a spot for me in their future, and that made me keep working hard,&rdquo; Belfour said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always felt I could be the No. 1 guy on an NHL team. It was tough playing for the Canadian national team, but it&rsquo;s a great organization and I improved as a player on and off the ice.&rdquo;Belfour had the best camp of the five Hawk goalies, posting a 2.93 goals-against average in six appearances.The Hawks opened the season with three goaltenders on the roster: Belfour, Jacques Cloutier and Greg Millen. Cloutier won the job as Belfour&rsquo;s backup while Millen sat in limbo amid speculation the Hawks were trying to trade him.The Hawks elected to send both Waite and Hasek to their Indianapolis farm team in the International League.&ldquo;My training camp could have been better,&rdquo; Waite said. &ldquo;In my mind, I really don&rsquo;t have the confidence I need. I want to do well, but it seems like I&rsquo;m still impressed a little with playing in the NHL. It doesn&rsquo;t seem like me out there.&rdquo;The decision to send Hasek down wasn&rsquo;t as easy for Keenan.&ldquo;I hope I don&rsquo;t regret the decision to come here,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed because it will look to the people and media (in Czechoslovakia) like I couldn&rsquo;t handle the NHL. I knew I wasn&rsquo;t guaranteed to play here, but I thought I had a chance.&rdquo;Later Rich Winter, Hasek&rsquo;s agent, said there was no chance his client would jump the Hawks and return to Czechoslovakia.&ldquo;Dominik is disappointed and confused,&rdquo; Winter said. &ldquo;He still thinks he&rsquo;s the best goaltender in the world and his confidence is shaken. He told me he&rsquo;s as good as Ron Hextali and Grant Fuhr, but (the Hawks) just don&rsquo;t know it yet.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 30: Rick Lanz. D, and Warren Rychel, LW, assigned to Indianapolis (IHL). Jeff Sirkka, D, recalled from Indianapolis.Oct. 1: Stu Grimson, LW, claimed on conditional waivers from Calgary. Wayne Van Dorp, LW, claimed by Quebec in waiver draft. Bob Bassen, C-LW, claimed by St. Louis in waiver draft. Jimmy Waite, G, and Sirkka assigned to Indianapolis.Oct 3: Karl Dykhuis, D, returned to Hull (QMJHL).Oct. 5: Mike Eagles, LW-C, assigned to Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Adam Creighton, Troy Murray, Mike Stapleton.LW&mdash;Mike Hudson, Stu Grimson, Jocelyn Lemieux, Mike Peluso.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Wayne Presley, Dirk Graham, Brian Noonan.LD&mdash;Dave Manson, Steve Konroyd, Trent Yawney.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Keith Brown, Frantisek Kucera.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Jacques Cloutier, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Greg Gilbert, LW, sore left shoulder, day-to-day.Michel Goulet, LW, accelerated heartbeat, Oct. 22.Bob McGill, D, broken right foot, day-to-day.Steve Thomas, LW, strained right knee, day-to-day.Doug Wilson, D, strained right ankle ligaments, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Larmer, Graham. Creighton, Yawney, 2. A&mdash;Chelios, Noonan, 4. P&mdash;Larmer, Chelios, 5. PIM&mdash;Grimson, 27. &#9632;

BELFOUR WALKS INTO NO. 1 GOALTENDING JOB

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>See Bob Probert, standing at the bar with a drink in his hand. See Bob laughing and having a good time with his friends. See Bob drunk?.Be careful. The drink is probably ice water. Or a Coca-Cola. Or a virgin Singapore Sling&mdash;Probert&rsquo;s drink of choice, which tastes pretty much like fruit punch.Probert sightings at various bars, restaurant lounges and boater hangouts have been frequent since his release from a prison halfway house over the summer. So have unfair and innaccurate rumors about his conduct.Bob Probert is clean and sober. He says it. A line of T-shirts that have become popular overnight among Red Wing fans say it. And the most important people in Probert&rsquo;s life right now&mdash;his employers, probation officers and Immigration and Naturalization Service officials&mdash;believe him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a disservice to him to even mention stuff like that,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; executive vice president Jim Lites,&rdquo;because it&rsquo;s absolutely not true. We know Bob Probert isn&rsquo;t using drugs. We know he isn&rsquo;t drinking. How do we know? Because he&rsquo;s tested for drugs and alcohol every Monday and Thursday.&rdquo;Lites added the Wings are very pleased with Probert&rsquo;s progress since his release from prison last winter, when he served a 90-day sentence for importing cocaine from Canada into the United States. Over the summer, he spoke frequently to youth groups about the perils of drug and alcohol abuse.That the rumors persist, however, doesn&rsquo;t surprise Lites. Probert is partly to blame because he frequents places that serve alcohol&mdash;which in no way violates terms of his probation or recovery program.&ldquo;Unfortunately, Bob hangs out at bars with people who drink,&rdquo; Lites said. &ldquo;We wish he wouldn&rsquo;t, but he does. But what&rsquo;s most important to us is that he&rsquo;s not drinking or doing drugs. And that&rsquo;s really all we can ask of him. He has a life to live away from hockey.&rdquo;As for the rumormongers, Probert has two words, the first of which is unprintable.&ldquo;Those people have nothing better to do than call newspapers and news stations with that stuff,&rdquo; Probert said. &ldquo;Every time I talk to a reporter, they come up to me with another rumor. I&rsquo;ve heard them all. I&rsquo;m sick of it. I&rsquo;ve got nothing to prove to those people.&ldquo;Probert&rsquo;s attorney, Harold Fried, cried foul when the Detroit Free Press reported Probert was the subject of such rumors.&ldquo;People read that and they think, &lsquo;Where there&rsquo;s smoke, there&rsquo;sfire,&rsquo;&rdquo; Fried complained. &ldquo;Leave the guy alone. He&rsquo;s under unbelievable pressure. He&rsquo;s got a life to live. He&rsquo;s not doing anything wrong. He doesn&rsquo;t need that stuff.&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Sept. 30: Dave Gagnon, G. assigned to Adirondack (AHL).Oct. 1: Bengt Gustafsson, C, obtained from Washington in waiver draft. Doug Houda, D. Yves Racine, D, Stu Malgunas, D, Chris McRae, LW, and John Chabot, C, to Adirondack. Robert Picard. D, released.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Jimmy Carson, Marc Habscheid, Sergei Fedorov.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Shawn Burr, Johan Garpenlov, Keith Primeau.RW&mdash;Mike Sillinger. Bob Probert, Kevin McClelland, Dave Barr, Joe Kocur, Brent Fedyk, Randy McKay.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Lee Norwood, Bob Wilkie, Per Djoos.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Rick Zombo, Rick Green.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Glen Hanlon, Alain Chevrier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sheldon Kennedy. RW, left shoulder surgery, day-to-day.Greg Stefan, G, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Carson, Habscheid, 2. A&mdash;Burr, Yzerman, Cheveldae. P&mdash;Yzerman, 3. PIM&mdash;Probert, 22. &#9632;

PROBERT STILL DRINKING-JUST THE SOFT STUFF

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>The North Stars swapped a little piece of their future to get some insurance for the present, acquiring defenseman Peter Taglianetti from the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;We needed another veteran (on defense),&rdquo; general manager Bob Clarke said of the Sept. 30 deal, completed just hours before the roster freeze for the waiver draft. &ldquo;With Shawn Chambers hurt and Mark Tinordi suspended, we were being forced to play three kids on defense right from the start.&rdquo;Tinordi was suspended Sept. 27 for leaving the penalty box during a 5-2 exhibition win the day before against the Chicago Blackhawks.Tinordi got into a fight with defenseman Chris Chelios and was jumped by Dirk Graham who got a game misconduct penalty for being the third man in a fight.Chelios and Tinordi were yelling at each other from the penalty boxes as other fights continued in the North Stars&rsquo; zone. Tinordi stepped back onto the ice and obviously invited Chelios to continue their scrap.Leaving the penalty box carries an automatic 10-game suspension with no room for an appeal.Three days later, the North Stars traded for Taglianetti.&ldquo;This should also send a message to Link Gaetz and Dean Kolstad that if they want toplay (in the NHL), they&rsquo;ll have to play better,&rdquo; Clarke said about the two young defensemen who were trying to land NHL jobs. &ldquo;Both are capable.&rdquo;Gaetz, the North Stars&rsquo; second choice in the 1988 entry draft, and Kolstad, the team&rsquo;s third choice in the 1986 entry draft, were assigned to Kalamazoo of the International League Oct. 3.The &ldquo;future considerations&rdquo; that the North Stars will send to the Jets is believed to be a middle-round draft pick.&ldquo;(The Jets) had 10 NHL defensemen in training camp,&rdquo; Taglianetti said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t hard to figure something had to give. They were either going to trade somebody or they were going to lose someone in the waiver draft.&rdquo;Taglianetti, 27, was the Jets&rsquo; plusminus leader last season at plus-20 and scored three goals and nine points in 49 games in his third full season in the NHL.The Jets&rsquo; idea of defense is to play the game in the other team&rsquo;s end.&ldquo;Winnipeg has the best defensive forwards in the NHL,&rdquo; Taglianetti said. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;re all defensemen. The Winnipeg defense is going for the Selke Award (for the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward) this season.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 2: Link Gaetz, D. and Dean Kolstad, D. assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL); Dan Gratton, C, assigned to Canadian national team.Oct. 5: Clark Donatelli, LW, and Darcy Norton, LW, reassigned from Kalamazoo to San Diego (IHL).Oct. 7: Kari Takko, G, assigned to Kalamazoo.Oct. 8: Mark Tinordi, D, serving 10-game NHL imposed suspension. Eligible to return Oct. 26.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Perry Berezan, Bobby Smith, Mike Modano.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Basil McRae. Ilkka Sinisalo, Brian Propp, Gaetan Duchesne.RW&mdash;Mike Craig. Shane Chuda, Stewart Gavin, Dave Gagner, Ulf Dahlen, Don Barber.LD&mdash;Curt Giles, Neil Wilkinson, Rob Zettler, Mark Tinordi.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Peter Taglianetti, Frantisek Musil.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Jarmo Myllys.<h3>INJURIES</h3>D&mdash;Shawn Chambers, arthroscopic left knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gagner, 2. A&mdash;Broten, 3. P&mdash;Gagner, Broten, 3. PIM&mdash;Wilkinson, 7. &#9632;

TAGLIANETTI STAR-STRUCK OVER NEW DEFENSIVE ROLE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011047/5856677-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="547" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC DUHATSCHEK</figcaption></div>First, a little refresher course, listed in your calendar as &ldquo;recent National Hockey League trends&rdquo; and for which we&mdash;like Norm Green&mdash;give no credit. Only a pass-fail grade.The NHL is the sport of the repeat champion. Only five teams have won the Stanley Cup over the past 18 years. Of that group, three teams have won it 15 times: Montreal Canadiens six times; Edmonton Oilers five times; and New York Islanders four times. If precedent means anything, when you win the Cup once, it&rsquo;s better than 50-50 you&rsquo;ll win it again next year.So why do so few people think the Oilers can actually repeat this year?Probably because they look down the roster, see no Wayne Gretzky, conclude last season was a fluke and drop the Oilers into the &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a chance&rdquo; category.No, the 1990-91 Oilers aren&rsquo;t the same team that used to roll over everybody all the time. Last year&rsquo;s team finished with 90 points, the second-lowest total since 1967 fora Stanley Cup champion.From that team, they need to replace Jari Kurri, who averaged 47 goals a year for the last 10 years and Reijo Ruotsalainen, the man who made the power play go in the playoffs.In the years they were winning Stanley Cups the easy way, the Oilers did it with their one-two punch&mdash;Gretzky and Mark Messier. In last year&rsquo;s playoffs, the one-two punch featured Messier and&hellip;Adam Graves?Much was made of the fact the Oilers turned their season around last year by acquiring four players from the Red Wings for Jimmy Carson. But Jeff Sharpies was traded almost immediately; Petr Klima stewed on the bench in the playoffs; and Joe Murphy&rsquo;s hands make Bill Buckner&rsquo;s look soft.Graves was the kid that made the Kid Line go. Graves, with a body by Charles Atlas, looks disturbingly like a young Messier. He may never match Messier&rsquo;s scoring touch, but he possesses Messier&rsquo;s straight-ahead, run-you-down approach to the game.Hence, the Oilers&rsquo; success or failure during the upcoming season will not depend on Messier or Kevin Lowe. They&rsquo;re more reliable than Michelin. Night in and night out, you know exactly what you&rsquo;re going to get from them. But the Oilers cannot win with only Messier leading the attack; with only Lowe anchoring the defense.If Graves develops, if Craig Simpson can duplicate his playoff stats in the regular season, if Bill Ranford is the same goalie in October that he was in May, the Oilers could be all right. Maybe more than all right.People may also be forgetting this is not the first time the Oilers had to overcome the loss of an all-star. Before Kurri left for Milan, general manager Glen Sather had traded Paul Coffey to Pittsburgh and Gretzky to Los Angeles. If ever there was an organization that demonstrated hockey was not a one-man game, it was the Oilers.As much as Kurri meant to the Oilers&rsquo; playoff drive, don&rsquo;t forget they actually benched him for a game in Toronto last year because of an ongoing slump&mdash;a slump attributed to his ongoing contract dispute with Sather. Kurri slumped to 33 goals last season.Simpson, for one, thinks the Oilers can be even better than a year ago. He points to the experience gained by Graves, Murphy and Martin Gelinas, to the skill of Anatoli Semenov to the savvy of Ken Linseman. More to the point, there&rsquo;s Simpson himself who slumped from 56 to 35 to 29 goals over the last three years. He&rsquo;s looking to get back into the 40s or maybe even the 50s.Simpson played on Messier&rsquo;s line two years ago and again during the playoffs. He lost his spot at mid-year to Klima. The reason: Speed. Klima had it. Simpson didn&rsquo;t. But for all his pretty-boy good looks, Simpson is really tough in front of the net. He&rsquo;s great from that two-foot range.Esa Tikkanen may play center or he may play wing, but the wily Finn will be the centerpiece of a third line. There&rsquo;s Craig MacTavish and two others, who work like heck to form the black-and-blue line. If Dave Brown is in there&mdash;some nights he will be, others he won&rsquo;t&mdash;that will automatically become the toughest trio in the league.Only one thing is really for sure. After an unusually low-key season for the Oilers, everybody&rsquo;s going to be gearing for them again.They are the champions.And that, says Simpson, will help them in the long run.&ldquo;I think you find that whoever is the Stanley Cup champion, the next year, you go into a game and everybody wants to knock you off your pedestal,&rdquo; said Simpson.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just natural. It makes you play a little harder. It makes you be more prepared. You&rsquo;re forced to concentrate night after night.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-01

OILERS CAPABLE OF REPEATING AS CHAMPS

<h2>FLYERS</h2>Mike Ricci, a pre-season Calder Frophy favorite, suffered a fractured right index finger in the Flyers&rsquo; season opener (a 4-1 loss at Boston) Oct. 4. Ricci was diving to block a shot by the Bruins&rsquo; Craig Janney in the first period when the injury occurred. He is expected to be out three to four weeks. Ricci, the No. 4 overall pick in last June&rsquo;s draft, had six points in the preseason&hellip;Ken Wregget made his first start of the season Oct. 7 against Detroit, and after a shaky start, settled down to blank the Red Wings the final 56 minutes in a 7-2 win. Wregget, who has filed for arbitration to have a new contract worked out, said he does not wish to be traded&hellip;The Spectrum&rsquo;s capacity for hockey was reduced by 41 seats (to 17,382) to provide more seating for handicapped people&hellip;Norman Lacombe&rsquo;s goal against Detroit on Oct. 7 was his first in 21 games with the Flyers. Lacombe had off-season surgery to correct a muscle condition in both legs.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Troy Crowder sent shock waves through the NHL when he bloodied Detroit&rsquo;s Bob Probert in a fight at the Meadowlands Arena Oct. 4 in a 3-3 tie. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Crowder&rsquo;s victory was decisive over the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Probert, setting up an interesting rematch Jan. 28 in Detroit&hellip;Jarrod Skalde and Jason Miller made their NHL debuts in the 7-4 loss Oct. 7 in Pittsburgh. Skalde&rsquo;s father, Juris, was there to see his son collect his first NHL assist&hellip;Claude Lemieux immediately became a fan favorite in New Jersey when he scored three goals in his first two games for the Devils&hellip;Ken Daneyko&rsquo;s gamewinning goal against the Flyers Oct. 6 in a 3-1 win was his third career power-play goal in 371 games.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Pittsburgh did not offer a contract to free-agent center Alain Lemieux, but was trying to place him with an independent team in the International League. Lemieux, the older brother of Mario, had four goals and one assist in four pre-season games&hellip;The Penguins agreed to a new seven-year lease on the Civic Arena, but the deal can be renegotiated after five years ii average attendance drops below 12,800 or the building&rsquo;s capacity falls to 17th or lower in the league&hellip;General manager Craig Patrick secured right winger Jaromit Jagr&rsquo;s rights from his Czech team, Kladno, two days before the seasonopener. The price was believed to be about $200,000&hellip;Defenseman Jim Kyte was assigned to Muskegor (IHL) Oct. 2. It was his first trip to the minors since being drafted in the first round by Winnipeg in 1982&hellip;Lef winger Kevin Stevens, who is playing out his option, strengthened hi: negotiating position with a six-point game in the season-opener, a 7-4 victory in Washington Oct. 5.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Goalie Mark Fitzpatrick returned to Long Island for treatment after a week in a Los Angeles-area hospital with eosinophilic fascitis, an infection that caused his hands, feet and forearms to severely swell up. He said he noticed some swelling during training camp, but considered it merely a result of strenuous workouts. The condition flared up at the start of the Islanders&rsquo; trip to the west coast, where they finished the exhibition schedule and began the regular season Oct. 4 in Los Angeles. Fitzpatrick was released from the hospital after responding well to cortisone treatments. But doctors still don&rsquo;t know how he contracted the illness&hellip;Jeff Norton, who began an eight-game suspension Oct. 4, called the incident &ldquo;a total reflex.&rdquo; The defenseman said he expected Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jeff Daniels to raise his stick after the two collided behind the net, before Norton cross-checked him in the face. &ldquo;Look at the record. I don&rsquo;t go around swinging my stick,&rdquo; he said.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Steve Rice, a 19-year-old rookie right winger, was presented with the Lars Erik Sjoberg Award as the New York Rangers&rsquo; top rookie in the preseason. Goalie Mike Richter, who is considered a rookie this season, won the award two seasons ago and Troy Mallette won it last year&hellip;When Rangers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson was asked how he planned to maneuver his lineup to make up for the loss of injured captain Kelly Kisio, he maintained his reputation as a whimsical strategist. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll move Turcotte into Kisio&rsquo;s spot,&rdquo; the coach explained,&rdquo;and Kevin Miller into Turcotte&rsquo;s spot. That way we can mess up two lines instead of one. &ldquo;&hellip;Despite a disappointing 2-6-3 pre-season and an 0-2 start, Neilson retained his sense of humor. Asked about the continuing controversy over women in the locker room, he couldn&rsquo;t resist: &ldquo;Oh, women reporters are no special problem for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All reporters are a pain in the butt.&rdquo;<h2>CAPITALS</h2>The goaltending tandem of Mike Liut and Don Beaupre was effective in the playoffs and was put together again when Beaupre agreed to a deal Oct. 1. The contract is for one year, plus an option. Indications are that he will make a base salary in the neighborhood of $300,000, with incentive clauses that could bring him more than $350,000. Beaupre&rsquo;s first practice was just two days before the opener, but he looked good enough to prompt the Capitals to send Jim Hrivnak back to Baltimore. The plan was that if Liut was hurt before Beaupre was up to speed, then Hrivnak could be recalled&hellip;The Capitals wrapped up a deal with Kosice of the Czechoslovakian Elite League that allowed Peter Bondra to open the season. The price was in the vicinity of $150,000. &#9632;

RICCI MAY MISS A MONTH

Not including 1989&rsquo;s top choice, Scott Thornton, all of the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; first entry-draft selections in the &rsquo;80s played in the NHL last season. They are: Craig Muni. Jim Benning, Gary Nylund. Russ Courtnail, Al lafrate, Wendel Clark, Vince Damphousse. Luke Richardson and Scott Pearson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02765/5856732-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="713" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luke Richardson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

NUMBERS

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>Before his first visit to New Jersey last June, the closest Zdeno Ciger came to any NHL city was Anchorage, Alaska when he was captain of the Czechos-ovak team in the 1988 World Junior Championships.So it was hardly surprising that after a month of training camp with the Devils the 20-year-old left winger still spoke almost no English, followed fellow Slovak Peter Stastny around like a lost puppy and seemed somewhat in awe of his new surroundings.Yet the baby-faced Ciger, who will celebrate his 21st birthday Oct. 19, clearly belonged. He played with surprising toughness, instincts that cannot be taught and exceptional skating skills in his first two NHL games and was clearly the most impressive player during the Devils&rsquo; successful 5-2-1 pre-season schedule.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a combination of pressure and excitement,&rdquo; Ciger said as Stastny translated. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a different lifestyle here.&ldquo;I thought it would take a lot more time to adapt, but I feel like it&rsquo;s going faster than I thought. I appreciate spending time with somebody like Peter who can speak our language and talk to me about hockey.&rdquo;Stastny, who has done all the translating for Ciger, has been an important influence on the rookie. Instead of being shut off from his teammates, Ciger (pronounced SEE-gar) feels a part of the team.His rising confidence was trans-fered to the ice.&ldquo;He looks good,&rdquo; said veteran John MacLean. &ldquo;He has had a little more competition than a normal rookie. He has played in a couple of world championships. He&rsquo;s experienced, but young enough to pick up this (NHL) game. He doesn&rsquo;t have all the European habits. Slovak players seem to be able to adjust better than some Europeans.&rdquo;Ciger, the Devils&rsquo; third choice in the 1988 NHL entry draft (54th overall) signed his first professional contract on July 9. He is one of several young players from Czechoslovakia playing in their first NHL season since the political barriers in eastern Europe came crashing down.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01921/5856763-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="581" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Stastny has helped rookie Zdeno Ciger adjust to NHL.</figcaption></div>It was all definitely unexpected, Ciger said of the parting of the iron curtain. &ldquo;All of the players are allowed to come out and it actually happened so fast I didn&rsquo;t have time to give it much thought. It was an unexpected but nice surprise.&rdquo;Ciger realized his path to the NHL was much easier than that of Stastny a decade earlier.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot simpler now and a lot better,&rdquo; Ciger said. &ldquo;I understand the sacrifices people like Peter had to make to make it simpler. I appreciate it. Peter was one of the people who helped push the barrier.&rdquo;Bom in Martin, Czechoslovakia, a factory town nestled among the streams and lush green hills of northern Slovakia, Ciger played the 198788 season for Zts Martin before joining Dukla Trencin in the Czech senior league.Ciger scored 17 goals and 41 points in 44 regular-season games last season for third-place Dukla Trencin and led that club to the finals with a goal and four assists in nine playoff games. They lost to Sparta Praha in the finals.It was in world championship play the past two springs that Ciger distinguished himself as a world-class player. He played well for the Czechoslovak national team in 1989 at Stockholm before starring in the 1990 world championships in Bern, Switzerland.The Devils refused to rush Ciger or build him up during his first training camp, but he quickly set his own high standards.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 2: Chris Terreri, G, signed three-year contract.Oct. 4: Bruce Driver, D, signed three-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Jon Morris, Laurie Boschman, Jarrod Skalde.LW&mdash;Kirk Muller, Walt Poddubny, Al Stewart, Jason Miller.RW&mdash;Claude Lemieux, Brendan Shanahan, Doug Brown, Paul Ysebaert.LD&mdash;Viacheslav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, Tommy Albelin, Dave Marciny-shyn.RD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Eric Weinrich, Bruce Driver.G&mdash;Sean Burke, Chris Terreri.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Zdeno Ciger, LW, bruised left shoulder, day-to-day.Pat Conacher, LW, strained left knee, indefinite.Troy Crowder. RW, sprained left elbow, day-to-day.John MacLean, RW, concussion and stomach contusion, day-to-day.Dave Maley, LW, strained ligaments left hand, day-to-day.Patrlk Sundstrom, C. small toe surgery on right foot, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Lemieux, 3. A&mdash;Stastny, Shanahan, Morris, 3. P&mdash;Shanahan, 4. PIM&mdash;Daneyko, 22. &#9632;

f0020-01

SLOVAK CIGER ADAPTS BETTER THAN EXPECTED

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>Kevin Miller would have preferred that opportunity knock gently, rather than bashing him over the head during the New York Rangers&rsquo; first week of the season.&ldquo;This is not the way I had hoped to get in the lineup,&rdquo; Miller said after center Kelly Kisio was sidelined for at least six weeks by an ankle injury.&ldquo;Kelly is one of those good, small players who has proven that guys my size can play in this league,&rdquo; said Miller. &ldquo;I hate to see him out of there because he is so valuable but injuries are part of the game&hellip;a big part of the game for this team, it seems.&rdquo;Miller, 25, appeared to be well on his way to earning a place in the Ranger lineup during the pre-season when he suffered a pulled groin and missed the final three games.As a result, Miller sat out the Rangers&rsquo; first two games, a 4-3 loss at Chicago Oct. 4 and a 5-4 loss at Hartford two nights later when Kisio suffered a tom tibula-fibula ligament, plus a chip fracture of the right ankle.Among those who endorsed coach Roger Neilson&rsquo;s decision to put Miller into the lineup was Kisio himself.&ldquo;Kevin really came to camp prepared and was having a great preseason,&rdquo; Kisio said. &ldquo;He has a lot of talent; he&rsquo;ll do a good job.&rdquo;One of the three or four players the Rangers could least afford to lose, Kisio suffered the injury early in the second period while attempting to avoid a hit from Whaler defenseman Dave Babych.&ldquo;I hit a rut near the boards,&rdquo; Kisio said as he sat in the Ranger locker room after the Hartford game, a crutch in each hand. &ldquo;My ankle turned under me as I tried to push off with that foot. All my weight was on it.&rdquo;And now an enormous weight, along with the enormous opportunity that comes with it, is on Miller. It would appear the Rangers now have almost no choice but to see what he can do, not just as a three or four shifts per game spare but as a regular.Both Kisio and Miller are about 5-foot-9, 180 pounds although the current Ranger lineup sheet lists Miller at 5-foot-10, 191 pounds, which is not as much of an exaggeration as it would have been a year ago.&ldquo;I worked out all summer on the weights,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;My friend Danton Cole (a center with the Winnipeg Jets) and I were pretty serious about it. It helps to have somebody to work with and to push you. We played together at Michigan State and we pretty much grew up together.&rdquo;Kevin, who is the younger brother of Washington right winger Kelly Miller and the older brother of Quebec center Kip Miller, does not play as feisty or as intense a game as Kisio but that could also be said of about 20 of his teammates.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the thing about Kisio,&rdquo; center Bernie Nicholls stressed. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to miss his quiet leadership maybe more than anything else. He goes out every night, busts his tail, runs into guys twice his size, and leads by example. In my opinion, that&rsquo;s the best kind of leader.&rdquo;After Kisio, defenseman Normand Rochefort (acute tendinitis in his left knee) and right winger Jody Hull (strained right hand) were all injured in Hartford, many of the Rangers had that sinking, here-we-go-agai feeling.Miller averaged just under a point game for Flint of the Intemation: League last season (19 goals, 2 assists in 48 games) and also notche five assists in 16 games of part-tirr duty with the Rangers. He had 29-4&rsquo; 76 totals in only 55 games with Denver (IHL) two seasons ago and adde three goals and five assists in 2 games with the Rangers.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, Darren Turcotte, Kevin Miller, Mark Janssens.LW&mdash;Ray Sheppard, John Ogrodnick, Troy Mallette, Kris King, Lindy Ruff.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Brian Mullen, Steve Rice, Jan Erixon, Paul Broten.LD&mdash;Mark Hardy, Brian Leetch, Milos-lav Horava.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Randy Moller.G&mdash;Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck, Bob Froese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jody Hull, RW, strained right hand, day-to-day.Kelly Kisio, C, tom tibula-fibula ligament, chip fracture of right ankle, indefinite.Normand Rochefort. D, acute tendinitis. left knee, Oct. 20.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nicholls, 2. A&mdash;Leetch, 3. P&mdash;Leetch, Nicholls, 4. PIM&mdash;Kisio, 11. &#9632;

KISIO’S ANKLE INJURY MAKES IT MILLER TIME

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>While top draft pick Mike Ricci was grabbing most of the headlines during the hiladelphia Flyers&rsquo; pre-season, fel-how rookie Martin Hostak was not-so-.lietly making a name for himself.Hostak, a Czechoslovakian elected in the third round (62nd over-1) of the 1987 draft, led the team in chibition scoring with nine points bur goals, five assists) in eight games.The 22-year-old center showed tore than just a scoring touch. Coach aul Holmgren used him to kill penales, take face-offs in key situations and check other team&rsquo;s top offensive treats.Hostak&rsquo;s success caught the Flyers bit by surprise.General manager Russ Farwell &lsquo;atched him play for the Czechos-ovakian national team at the Good-&lsquo;ill Games last July and wasn&rsquo;t too npressed.But the scouting report was mis-eading. There were several factors tat affected Hostak&rsquo;s performance.For instance, the hockey touma-tent was played in Kennewick, Wash., where the temperature outinely surpassed the 100-degree hark. Hostak and his mates had just own in from their native country, where the temperature was in the 60s.Also, July is traditionally the one month of the year Czechoslovakians don&rsquo;t take hockey seriously. It&rsquo;s their &ldquo;holiday&rdquo; from the sport. Throw in a nine-hour time difference, a little jetlag plus the first look at American cuisine, and you can see why Hostak had his problems.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01810/5856818-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="569" height="791"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jiri Latal roomed with Martin Hostak during the pre-season.</figcaption></div>But Hostak had no such trouble in the Flyers&rsquo; training camp. He was signed Aug. 28 and looked strong from Day 1. He scored a pair of goals against Boston in the second exhib-tion game and continued from there.By the end of camp, Hostak was standing right alongside Ricci on the team&rsquo;s depth chart.&ldquo;Hostak was the biggest surprise of training camp,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;He gets in there, he&rsquo;s on top of the puck and he&rsquo;s a smart player.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s 22 years old, he&rsquo;s had experience at the international level, so he would have to be a pretty smart player and proven at all levels of the game. He&rsquo;s a pretty complete player.&rdquo;Hostak finished the pre-season with a flourish, registering four points in a 7-2 win over Hartford Sept. 30 at the Spectrum.&ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m surprised,&rdquo; said Hostak when reporters questioned him about his quick adaption to the North American version of hockey. &ldquo;But I think the eight games have helped me adjust. I&rsquo;m learning as I am playing.&rdquo;Hostak&rsquo;s size, 6-foot-3, 198 pounds, also seems to be working in his favor. He doesn&rsquo;t get knocked off the puck too easily.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tall, pretty big,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The smaller rink does not bother me.&rdquo;Hostak spent four seasons playing for Sparta Praha in Czechoslovakia. One of those years (1986-87) he was a teammate of defenseman Jiri Latal, who joined the Flyers last season.The two were roommates during training camp and Latal seemed as surprised as anyone by his friend&rsquo;s quick success, although Hostak was third in Czechoslovakian Elite League scoring last year.Why has he enjoyed so much early success? Hostak believed it&rsquo;s because he has fewer things to worry about than when he was at home.&ldquo;Over there, I have many things to think about&hellip;car, school, place to live,&rdquo; Hostak said. &ldquo;Over here, I have only one thing to think about and that is hockey.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Sutter, Pelle Eklund. Martin Hostak, Murray Craven.LW&mdash;Pat Murray, Derrick Smith, Tony Horacek, Dale Kushner.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet. Tim Kerr, Scott Mellanby, Norman Lacombe.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Terry Carkner, Jiri Latal, Murray Baron.RD&mdash;Gord Murphv. Jeff Chychrun, Kjell Samuelsson. Kerry Huffman.G&mdash;Ron Hextali, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Acton, C, sprained left knee, day-to-day.Pete Peeters, G, right elbow surgery, indefinite.Mike Ricci, C, broken right index finger, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tocchet, Murray, 2. A&mdash;Tocchet, 3. P&mdash;Tocchet, 5, PIM&mdash;Chvchrun. 14. &#9632;

f0022-01

RICCI NOT THE ONLY YOUNG GUN IN TOWN

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>As suddenly and quietly as he had left five days earlier, Pat LaFontaine rejoined the team that sorely needs him.The high-scoring center, who carried the New York Islanders&rsquo; offense last season with 54 goals and 51 assists in 74 games, declined to leave with the team for its pre-seasonending west coast swing because of a contract dispute.But, two days before the start of the regular season, LaFontaine arrived unannounced at the team&rsquo;s Lake Arrowhead, Calif., practice site. He was still unhappy about his contract, but was driven to play.&ldquo;I felt obligated and committed to my coach, Al Arbour, the coaching staff, the players and Islander fans,&rdquo; said LaFontaine.&ldquo;I needed some time to sit back and view the situation. I was a little disillusioned.&rdquo;LaFontaine&rsquo;s contract has one season and an option year remaining, and will reportedly pay him $450,000 this season.His determination to play was reflected in the five minor penalties he collected in the Islanders&rsquo; first three games.More characteristically, he helped snap the Islanders&rsquo; season-opening two-game losing streak by scoring a goal and two assists in a 4-2 win over Chicago Oct. 7.LaFontaine remained upbeat, despite the Islanders&rsquo; earlier lackluster losses, 4-1 to Los Angeles Oct. 4 and 4-2 to Minnesota Oct. 6.While preparing for those games, LaFontaine occasionally ran into general manager Bill Torrey. The two had not spoken during LaFontaine&rsquo;s absence for which he was not fined.&ldquo;I think I can put all this aside and just have fun playing hockey. It&rsquo;s a business, but it&rsquo;s also something I love to do,&rdquo; LaFontaine said.Don Meehan, LaFontaine&rsquo;s agent, and Torrey are scheduled to talk about the superstar center&rsquo;s contract soon. Torrey declined to comment on the situation other than to say there was no change. Meehan insisted that his client was not out to prove a point to the Islanders.&ldquo;A lot of people saw it as an act of defiance, and that was not so,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Otherwise, he wouldn&rsquo;t be out there now. He really needed time to sort things out.&rdquo;Among the issues to be sorted out were LaFontaine&rsquo;s hurt feelings when the Islanders issued a news release indicating that the center wanted time to consider issues with his family.LaFontaine was concerned people would incorrectly assume something was wrong with his wife Marybeth, who is expecting the couple&rsquo;s first child in November.&ldquo;There are no personal or family issues or problems whatsoever,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;Mr. Bill Torrey is well aware of the issues at hand.LaFontaine&rsquo;s absence was the point in an unsettling pre-season also included a suspension to top fenseman Jeff Norton, a rare infect that sidelined goalie Mark Fitzj rick, disappointing showings by ml rookies and only one win in nine hibition games.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 4: Marc Bergevin, D, and Jari Gronstrand, D, assigned to Capital District (AHL). Jeff Norton, D, suspended eight games by NHL for high-sticking Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jeff Daniels. Eligible to return Oct. 24.Oct. 8: Mick Vukota, RW, serving 10-game NHL imposed suspension. Eligible to return Oct. 20.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brent Sutter, Pat LaFontaine, Hubie McDonough, Tom Fitzgerald, Rob DiMaio.LW&mdash;Derek King, Bill Berg, David Volek, Don Maloney, Ken Baumgartner, Dave Chyzowski.RW&mdash;Patrick Flatley, Randy Wood, Brad Dalgarno, Brad Lauer.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Rich Pilon. Gary Nylund, Joe Reekie.RD&mdash;Wayne McBean, Doug Crossman, Jeff Finley.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Fitzpatrick. G, eosinophilic fascitis (swelling of hands, arms and feet), indefinite.Alan Kerr, RW, bruised kidney, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Seven tied with 1. A&mdash;King, LaFontaine, 3. P&mdash;King, LaFontaine, 4. PIM&mdash;Berg, 17. &#9632;

LAFONTAINE RETURNS BUT DISPUTE UNSETTLED

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Paul Coffey&rsquo;s niche in hockey history won&rsquo;t really be clear for years, sometime after he&rsquo;s one from the game.But his place in the record book might be locked up before this season is over.Coffey had two goals and one assist in the Penguins&rsquo; first two regularseason games, moving him closer to first place in three career statistical categories for defensemen.By April, he might be alone at the-top of them all.With 78 games to go, Coffey had 285 career goals, more than any defenseman except Denis Potvin (310). He had 955 points and trailed only Potvin (1,052) on the all-time list.And he was fourth among defensemen in assists with 670, but has a good chance to overtake Potvin (742), Larry Robinson (721) and Brad Park (683).Coffey is history waiting to happen, which doesn&rsquo;t seem to surprise those who have watched him since he entered the NHL with Edmonton in 1980.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s proven himself year in and year out,&rdquo; said center Bryan Trottier. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t not rate Paul with the very best of the best.&rdquo;Coffey, however, doesn&rsquo;t get carried away with his impending achievements. He&rsquo;d leave the lavish praise to others, and focus on the practical implications of his gaudy stats.&ldquo;It means, for one thing, that I&rsquo;ve been lucky enough to be fairly healthy throughout my career,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think it means I&rsquo;ve been fairly consistent as well.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s safe to say, since Coffey has had 100-plus points in five of the past seven seasons. In the other two years, his playing time was limited by injuries and the contract holdout that led to his trade to Pittsburgh on Nov. 24, 1987.Coffey&rsquo;s game is predicated on speed; he is widely regarded as the fastest skater in the NHL.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one faster, &ldquo;right winger Tony Tanti said.&rdquo; Anyone who can skate as fast and shoot as well as Coff can can do just about anything.&rdquo;Coffey&rsquo;s ascent to the top of the scoring charts has been accelerated by the offense-oriented style his teams have played.In Edmonton, that meant sharing a locker room with the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson.Having Mario Lemieux on hand for the past few years hasn&rsquo;t been so bad, either.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a chance to play with some great hockey players, and that always helps,&rdquo; Coffey said.True, but Coffey has enhanced the greatness of some of his teammates, too.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s made Mario and Gretzky better players,&rdquo; Tanti said. &ldquo;He really complements those two.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 2: Jim Kyte, D. assigned to Muskegon (IHL).Oct. 3: Jaromir Jagr, RW, had rights purchased from Kladno (Czechoslovakia).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;John Cullen, Mark Recchi, Barry Pederson, Bryan Trottier.LW&mdash;Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Randy Gilhen, Phil Bourque, Jeff Daniels.RW&mdash;Jaromir Jagr, Rob Brown, Tony Tanti, Joe Mullen, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Chris Dahlquist, Zar-ley Zalapski, Jim Paek.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Jim Johnson, Paul Stanton, Gord D&rsquo;meen.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso. Wendell Young, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Delorme, D. stress fracture in left leg, Oct. 20.Jamie Leach, RW, tom ligaments in left knee, Indefinite.Mario Lemieux, C, back infection, indefinite.Troy Loney, LW, surgery on right knee, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Recchi, 3.A&mdash;Cullen, 8. P&mdash;Cullen, Stevens, 9. PIM&mdash;Stevens, 5. &#9632;

COFFEY CEMENTING HIS PLACE IN RECORD BOOK

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SELL</div>Is Kevin Hatcher playing or not was the question on the minds of Capitals&rsquo; management when they arrived at the Capital Centre for Washington&rsquo;s season opener.But it wasn&rsquo;t until four hours before the opening faceoff for the Oct. 5 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins that they knew for sure.&ldquo;Common sense prevailed,&rdquo; general manager David Poile said.Hatcher had boycotted training camp, while seeking a re-negotiated contract. The Capitals had cut off discussions, save for two short conversations in the second week in September.And from owner Abe Pollin on down, the Caps&rsquo; argued that whatever beefs Hatcher had about his salary, he did have three years left on the contract and should honor them.But with the team&rsquo;s defense in disarray, the Capitals decided to talk.President Dick Patrick called Hatcher&rsquo;s agent, Ron Salcer on Sept. 30 to start the ball rolling.Hatcher, who was staying at his parents&rsquo; home in suburban Detroit, drove to Washington with his wife, Mary-Ann, and showed up for practice on Oct. 2.But there was no guarantee Hatcher would stay.Salcer arrived that evening from Los Angeles and met with Patrick. The next day, he met with Patrick and Pollin for approximately seven hours. Salcer also met briefly with Poile.Most of the time was spent arguing about where Hatcher ranks among the elite of NHL defensemen. The Caps&rsquo; management said Hatcher doesn&rsquo;t rank in the top 10 but in the second group of 10.But Salcer argued that Hatcher was already in that top group and should be paid accordingly.When Salcer met again with Patrick and Poile the morning of the game, Hatcher was on the ice for the pregame skate. At the end of practice, coach Terry Murray spoke to Hatcher.&ldquo;He just wanted to know what the circumstances were and what he should do,&rdquo; Hatchersaid. &ldquo;Itoldhim that we&rsquo;ll have to see what goes on upstairs.By 4 p.m., Hatcher decided to stay and play. Salcer returned to Los Angeles. There was no new deal, or at least nothing firm, but negotiations are continuing.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see what happens over the next month, but for this year, I&rsquo;m happy,&rdquo; Hatchersaid. &ldquo;They made a good, honest effort.&rdquo;<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct 1: Steve Maltais, LW, and Kent Paynter, D, assigned to Baltimore (AHL). Shawn Anderson, D, selected by Quebec and the rights to Bengt Gustafsson, C, selected by Detroit in waiver draft.Oct 2: Don Beaupre, G, signed two-year contract.Oct 3: Joel Quenneville, D, acquired from Hartford for future considerationsOct. 5: Chris Felix, D, Bob Babcock, D. and Jim Hrivnak, G, assigned to Baltimore. Mike Ridley, C, Michal Pivonka, LW, and Steve Leach, RW, signed contracts.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel, Dale Hunter, Mike Ridley, Rob Murray, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Kelly Miller, Michal Pivonka, Alan May, Dave Tippett, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, John Druce, Steve Leach, Peter Bondra.LD&mdash;Rod Langway, Mike Lalor, Calle Johansson, Joel Quenneville.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Bob Rouse, Mark Ferner.G&mdash;Mike Liut, Don Beaupre.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Joyce. LW, sprained left ankle, day-to-day.Neil Sheehy, D, broken left ankle, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Miller, Ridley, Zezel, 2. A&mdash;Rouse, 4. P&mdash;Ciccarelli, Rouse, Zezel, 4. PIM&mdash;Druce, May, 6. &#9632;

HATCHER LOOKING TO MAKE CAPITAL GAINS

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01750/5856921-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Bureau combines skill and toughness for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. If he spends the year in the IHL he&rsquo;s a favorite for MVP honors.</figcaption></div>When the Salt Lake Golden Eagles were struggling to reach.500 last Christmas coach Bobby Francis promised,&rdquo;we&rsquo;re going to get better.&rdquo;He was right although the 37-36-9 record was probably not exactly what Francis was expecting. He should finally see some real improvement this season.While the team lost defenseman Ken Sabourin and left wingers Tim Sweeney and Stephane Matteau to the parent Calgary Flames, the Golden Eagles have enough talent to overcome those losses. A high-powered offense, the best defense in the league and solid goaltending should add up to a Turner Cup in Salt Lake.Another key factor for Salt Lake is they play in the much weaker West Division. Granted, division rivals Peoria, Milwaukee and Phoenix are improved from last season. But the threebest teams from 1989-90&mdash;Indianapolis, Kalamazoo and Muskegon&mdash;are in the East Division.Whoever emerges from the West should be more rested to take on the East champ for the IHL title. Te betting here is that team will be Salt Lake.Winds of change: As usual, it was a hectic off-season in the IHL. The addition of the Kansas City Blades and San Diego Gulls brought the number of teams to 11. Also, the Flint franchise moved to Fort Wayne after the Fort Wayne franchise moved to Albany. However, the Fort Wayne team will still be called the Komets. Albany is known as the Choppers. Phoenix, independent a year ago, gained an affiliation with Los Angeles while the old Flint franchise lost its affiliation with the New York Rangers. All other affiliations remained the same with the Blades and Gulls operating as independents.There are seven new coaches on hand to open the season. San Diego&rsquo;s first coach is former NHL defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell while former NHL goalie Doug Soetaert is the coach in Kansas City. The Albany franchise will be guided by Dave Allison, who coached in the East Coast League last season. Phoenix will be led by Ralph Backstrom who takes over from Garry Unger. Unger stays on as an assistant. Bob Plager replaced Wayne Thomas in Peoria with Thomas going to St. Louis as an assistant. Mike Murphy is the new coach in Milwaukee, replacing Ron Lapointe, who retired for health reasons. With Duane Sutter promoted to Chicago as co-coach, Dave McDowall takes over in Indianapolis.From top to bottom: Here&rsquo;s the predicted order of finish with last season&rsquo;s record in parentheses. East Division: 1. Indianapolis (5321-8). 2. Kalamazoo (53-23-6). 3. Muskegon (55-21-6). 4. Fort Wayne (37-34-11). 5. Albany (expansion team).West Division: 1. Salt Lake (37-36-9). 2. Peoria (31-38-13). 3. Milwaukee (36-39-7). 4. Phoenix (27-44-11 as an independent) 5. Kansas City (expansion team). 6. San Diego (expansion team).Why Salt Lake is the team to beat:1. The key factor in Salt Lake&rsquo;s disappointing season a year ago was injuries. They shouldn&rsquo;t be so unlucky again. And, if they are, they have more depth to withstand a series of injuries. Rookies Andrew McKim, Corey Lyons, Todd Harkins and Kevan Melrose make this a younger&mdash;and hopefully healthier&mdash;team.2. An outstanding group of defensemen led by all-star Bryan Glynn and the most improved Golden Eagle, Kevin Grant. Darryl Olsen, Rick Lessard, Scott McCrady and Melrose round out the league&rsquo;s best defense.3. Goaltender Steve Guenette is back. The Golden Eagles were planning on opening the season with youngsters Warren Sharpies and Wayne Cowley in goal but got a pleasant surprise when Guenette wasn&rsquo;t selected in the waiver draft.Best of the &lsquo;I&rsquo;: The favorites to win the James Gatschene Trophy as most valuable player.1. Michel Mongeau, C, Peoria. Last season&rsquo;s MVP is back in Peoria after failing to make St. Louis. He&rsquo;s the IHL&rsquo;s best passer and one of the best skaters. He centers the league&rsquo;s top line with Dave Thomlinson and Jim Vesey.2. Marc Bureau, C, Salt Lake. Bureau is one of the most complete players in the league&mdash;he had 43 goals and 173 penalty minutes last season. However, after once again failing to make the Flames, Bureau may be less than happy in Salt Lake.3. Dave Michayluk, LW, Muskegon. Barring injury, Michayluk will record his sixth straight 100-point season for the Lumberjacks. He has been on the first all-star team each of the last four years and won the MVP award in 1989.4. Jimmy Waite, G, Indianapolis. The Ice goaltender is the best in the league at his position and should have another dominating season for Indy. But with Dominik Hasek around, Waite won&rsquo;t get to play in 54 games again.5. Bob Lakso, RW, Fort Wayne. One of the hardest workers in the league, Lakso won the Iron Man Award last season. He finished tied for fourth in scoring with 100 points.Best on the blueline: These players will be in the running for honors as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman.1. Brian Glynn, Salt Lake. Along with Darryl Olsen, Glynn runs the potent Golden Eagle power play. Glynn&rsquo;s total of nine power-play and shorthanded goals led IHL defensemen last season.2. Petr Prajsler, Phoenix. Prajsler has failed to live up to his potential with Los Angeles so he&rsquo;s back in the minors for the fourth time. He had eight points in six games with New Haven last season.3. Dean Kolstad, Kalamazoo. The largest player in the IHL (6-foot-6, 210 pounds), Kolstad was a second-team all-star a year ago. He&rsquo;s a good offensive defenseman who is solid in front of his own net.The puck stops here: In a league known for its offense, these are the three best at preventing goals.1. Jimmy Waite, Indianapolis. The top goaltender in the league a year ago is back for more seasoning in the minors. Few doubt Waite&rsquo;s ability to play in the NHL but his inconsistent pre-season cost him a job in Chicago.2. Dominik Hasek, Indianapolis. Hasek was named the top goaltender in Czechoslovakia the past five seasons. His demotion to Indy was surprising considering his international success.3. Steve Guenette, Salt Lake. When the Calgary Flames left him unprotected in the waiver draft, Guenette appeared destined to be out of the organization. But he went unclaimed so he returns for his third season in Salt Lake.Rookie watch: These players hope to follow in the footsteps of John Cullen and Paul Ranheim among others as IHL rookie of the year.1. Dominik Hasek, G, Indianapolis. At 25 years old and with more than 300 games in the Czechoslovakian league, Hasek is hardly a typical rookie. He was player of the year in Czechoslovakia each of the last two seasons.2. Nelson Emerson, C, Peoria. An excellent skater with an explosive scoring touch, Emerson is the only three-time finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as top U.S. college player. He scored 294 points in 178 games at Bowling Green.3. Mike Needham, RW, Muskegon. Needham led the Lumberjacks in pre-season scoring with nine points. He had 125 points for the Western League champion Kamloops Blazers of the Western League last season. &#9632;

f0026-01

FLYING HIGH

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Rand Simon</div>Here are four long-time NHLers you probably never thought you&rsquo;d see in the IHL.1. Charlie Simmer, LW, San Diego. Simmer, whose most recent hockey experience was playing and coaching in Europe, will be a player/assistant coach for the Gulls. He scored 56 goals in 1979-80 for Los Angeles to lead the NHL.2. John Anderson, LW, Fort Wayne. Anderson, a five-time 30-goal scorer in the NHL, signed with the Komets where he&rsquo;ll play on a line with former Toronto teammate Bruce Boudreau.3. Rick Lanz, D, Indianapolis. He played 568 NHL games from 1980 to 1989 with Vancouver and Toronto but never played a game in the minors. He played last season for Ambri in Switzerland and was signed by Chicago as a free agent in August.4. Gordie Roberts, D, Peoria. After 836 NHL games, Roberts will make his minor pro debut this season with the Rivermen. &#9632;

HERE ARE THEY NOW

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT AND DAVE BEAN</div>The logjam of NHL-calibre netminders with the Chicago Blackhawks was a blessing for its farm team in Indianapolis. The Ice now have two top-notch goalies.They have probably the best goaltending tandem in the league and maybe even a better duo than some NHL teams. Jimmy Waite, who played 54 games with the Ice last season, was assigned by Chicago Oct. 1 after Dominik Hasek had been assigned Sept. 28.Waite, 21, won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the IHL&rsquo;s best goalie last season as well as making the All-Star team. Hasek, 25, also has impressive credentials. He won the goaltender of the year award for the last five seasons in the Czechoslovakian league and three times was the player of the year.&ldquo;It is the best goaltending in the league,&rdquo; Ice coach Dave McDowall said. &ldquo;At least that&rsquo;s what everyone is telling me. I think I&rsquo;m very fortunate. A guy dreams about having one good goalie and now I have two.&rdquo;Hasek, though, was not overly enthusiastic about the demotion and said: &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m not back in Chicago pretty soon I might justpack it in.&rdquo;Later, a disappointed Hasek softened his stance and noted: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do the best I can here.&rdquo;The Ice also acquired three defensemen and some toughness as the Blackhawks made the final cuts before the season.Veteran Rick Lanz and two members of last year&rsquo;s championship team&mdash;defensemen Cam Russell and Ryan McGill&mdash;were sent to the Ice and Warren Rychel, second in the league in penalty minutes last season with 374, is back at right wing.<h2>ICE SHIFTS</h2>Several general managers in the league heaved a collective sigh of relief when Indianapolis was shifted to the East Division for this season&mdash;not the least of whom was Milwaukee GM Phil Wittliff.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01695/5856976-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="715" height="698"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Jimmy Waite was sent to Indianapolis Oct. 1.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to see Indianapolis, as good as they are, out of the West Division,&rdquo; Wittliff.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s way too early now to tell what&rsquo;s going to happen this season,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;but we should have a good chance in the West. The defending champions (Ice) are gone and that opens it up for us and Salt Lake City and everybody else.&rdquo;Everybody else seems to be predicting a down-to-the-wire fight between the Admirals and the Salt Lake Golden Eagles.<h2>ON THE MOVE</h2>. Much-travelled left winger Brian Lawton was sent to Phoenix by the Los Angeles Kings Sept. 30. Lawton, Minnesota&rsquo;s first overall pick in 1983, played for four teams last season&mdash;the Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Boston Bruins and the Maine Mariners of the American League. Also sent to Phoenix were left winger Kyosti Karjalainen, right winger Mikael Lindholm and goalie Mario Gosselin. &#9632;

f0027-01

ICE WON’T HAVE TO WAITE FOR GOALIES

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div>July 20 was supposed to be a joyous day for Darryl Shannon and friends as they planned to get together in Oshawa, Ont., for teammate Brian Blad&rsquo;s wedding.But Shannon, a Newmarket Saints&rsquo; defenseman along with Blad, never made it to the ceremony.While Blad was walking up the aisle, Shannon was heading to a Toronto hospital where doctors would repair broken bones in his leg and thumb following an car accident on a slick highway.&ldquo;It was raining out and a lady went to brake, lost control and came right into us (Shannon and his date were in the car, and she suffered a broken ankle),&rdquo; said Shannon, 22. &ldquo;My original thoughts were hockey and what might happen, but the first thing my parents said that I was just lucky to be alive.&rdquo;To the surprise of nearly everyone, Shannon was on the ice through all of training camp, though he was held out of the Saints&rsquo; Oct. 5 AHL season opener on the road against the Rochester Americans.&ldquo;I think he was about a month behind everyone in camp and he&rsquo;s closed the gap, but, whether Darryl wants to believe this, he&rsquo;s still about two weeks behind,&rdquo; Saints&rsquo; coach Frank Anzalone said. &ldquo;He has to get his timing down, his feet down; it seems like his feet are stuck in mud.&ldquo;But, hey, he&rsquo;s made a remarkable recovery.&rdquo;Shannon, Toronto&rsquo;s second-round draft choice (36th overall) in 1986, is beginning his third professional season. He split time between Toronto and Newmarket last season, collecting four goals, 15 assists and 58 penalty minutes in 47 AHL games while getting an assist and 12 penalty minutes in 10 NHL games.&ldquo;Last year didn&rsquo;t go as well as I would have liked but I had a good summer and I thought I&rsquo;d be in Toronto when the season started,&rdquo; he said.But along came the accident, after which he was just lucky to be in training camp.&ldquo;They took the cast off my leg after maybe three or four weeks and put a brace on it and I got the cast off my thumb about a week before camp,&rdquo; he said.He was able to skate on the first day of camp and played in two AHL exhibition games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not 100 per cent yet.&rdquo; said Shannon, whose younger brother Darrin, 20, plays left wing for the Buffalo Sabres.<h2>KIDS&rsquo; NIGHT</h2>Any kids&rsquo; night the Baltimore Skipjacks have planned may not be for the fans but rather the players. The Skipjacks had 11 rookies on their opening day roster, with seven or eight expected to play regularly.Among the kids are Washington&rsquo;s first-round picks from the last two years, goalie Olaf Kolzig (1989) and right winger Reggie Savage (&rsquo;88).Three other rookies also came out of the &rsquo;89 draft: third-round defenseman Jim Mathieson, who was impressive for the Skipjacks during last year&rsquo;s Calder Cup semifinals after playing with the Regina Pats of the Western League; ninth-round center Victor Gervais from the WHL&rsquo;s Seattle Thunderbirds; and 10th-round defenseman Jiri Vykoukal, from Czechoslovakia.<h2>BARRIE A BEAR</h2>Len Barrie, the WHL&rsquo;s leading scorer last season, was assigned to the Hershey Bears Sept. 30 by Philadelphia. Barrie scored 85 goals, 100 assists and 185 points for the Kamloops Blazers&hellip;The Rochester Americans suffered a huge loss when left winger Mike Donnelly, their leading scorer last season with 43-55-98 totals in 68 games, was traded Oct. 1 by parent Buffalo to the Los Angeles Kings for right winger Mikko Makela. &#9632;

SAINTS SMILE ON RECOVERING SHANNON

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>Ken Hodge Jr. has felt the pressure of living up to the family name all his life. Now, it&rsquo;s intensified.Hodge joined the organization that made his dad famous when the Boston Bruins acquired him this summer from the Minnesota North Stars for future considerations.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s carried (the name) all his life,&rdquo; said Ken Hodge Sr., a Bruin for nine seasons before being traded to the New York Rangers during) the 1975-76 season. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s always felt the pressure, but maybe it was a little more magnified coming to Boston.&ldquo;People think that every time he steps on the ice he has to prove himself because of his name and I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s fair.&rdquo;Hodge Jr., a 6-foot-1, 200-pound center, felt a little anxious the first day of camp and got off to a slow start.&ldquo;I wanted to try and live up to the billing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And it didn&rsquo;t work out.&rdquo;Hodge Jr., 24, improved as camp went along and made it past the first round of cuts. When he was eventually sent to the Maine Mariners, though, he went feeling he had made a good impression.&ldquo;I think he showed a lot in camp,&rdquo; said Hodge Sr., a print salesmen for a company in. Chelmsford, Mass. &ldquo;They knew very little ab-| out his game except for his college days (at Boston College). I think he made their decision closer than they thought.&ldquo;He came to a championship-round team and there are not a lot of openings. But I think he&rsquo;ll be up there before the season is over.&rdquo;Other than the name, there&rsquo;s little comparison between the two Hodges. Ken Sr. was a big grinder, who made his living digging the puck out of the comers for Phil Esposito. Ken Jr. is a play-making center who doesn&rsquo;t get very involved in physical play. He had 33-53-86 totals in 68 games with Kalamazoo of the IHL last season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a classier player than his old man,&rdquo; said Hodge Sr., who collected 779 penalty minutes in 881 NHL games. &ldquo;His tools are a lot more refined. The only negative thing, if you want to call it that, is that I made it and he hasn&rsquo;t yet.&rdquo;In three pro seasons, Hodge Jr. has played in just five NHL games-&mdash;all with Minnesota two seasons ago. But he wants to change that this season.&ldquo;I always wanted to play in the NHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I always thought it would be nice to play in the gold and black like my dad.&rdquo;<h2>ALL IN THE FAMILY</h2>Hodge isn&rsquo;t the only family act in the division this season. Future NHL Hail of Famer Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s younger brother, Gilbert, is a 6-0, 194-pound left winger for the Fredericton Canadiens.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02442/5857031-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="714" height="982"><figcaption class="caption-body">Halifax Citadel Serge Roberge no longer teams with brother Mario.</figcaption></div>Dionne, 20, was a fourth-round pick last June by Montreal, 81st overall. He played for Kitchener of the Ontario League last season where he led the team in scoring and was tied for seventh in the league with 105 points (48 goals, 57 assists).<h2>SIBLING RIVALRY</h2>On the subject of brothers, the rugged Roberge brothers will be on different teams in the division for the first time since they entered the league.Mario remained with Montreal, which moved its farm team from Sherbrooke to Fredericton. Serge signed with the Halifax Citadels.Mario and Serge played with Sherbrooke the last two seasons. In 131 games, Mario had 496 penalty minutes. Serge has been with Sherbrooke for three seasons and had 825 minutes in 161 games.<h2>CLEON BACK</h2>Former Bruin goalie Cleon Daskalakis is on a tryout with the Cape Breton Oilers. Daskalakis was coaching a Junior A team in San Diego, Calif., last season after being in the Bruins&rsquo; system from 1984-85 to &rsquo;86-87&hellip;The Moncton Hawks gained two players from Winnipeg Oct. 3&mdash;Simon Wheeldon and Jeff Parker&mdash;and reassigned Stu Barnes, their No. 1 pick (4th overall) in the 1989 entry draft, to the Canadian national team&hellip;The Springfield Indians lost a player/assistant coach when Hartford veteran defensemen Joel Quenneville was traded to the Washington Capitals for future considerations. &#9632;

f0027-02

KEN HODGE MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF

Although he won&rsquo;t admit to it&mdash;Falloon is almost modest to a fault&mdash;he returned to the WHL this season in part to undergo the Lindros Litmus Test.Falloon will light up the red light as often, if not more often, than Lindros in the Ontario League, but will he turn blue trying to challenge the popularity of Lindrosmania?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I can compare myself to Eric,&rdquo; Falloon says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard a lot of great stuff about him, but I&rsquo;ve never seen him play.&rdquo;Saskatoon Blade defenseman Mark Wotton, also raised in Foxwarren, (population: 175), speculates his boyhood friend will generate enough excitement on the ice to threaten Lindros in the final poll.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played with him (Falloon) and against him,&rdquo; Wotton says. &ldquo;He knows where every player is on the ice and has the great shot. He should go one or two.&rdquo;Perhaps surprisingly, Falloon is not too concerned about the draft. He&rsquo;s more determined to help the Chiefs continue their improvement of a year ago when they jumped 13 points in the standings.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ve thought about the draft too much,&rdquo; Falloon says. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ll just be as happy to get drafted, whether it&rsquo;s first overall, in the first round, or even at all.&rdquo;If his franchise player prefers to remain aloof about the Lindros-Falloon debate, Maxwell jumps into the fray like the third man in a fight.Maxwell points out that last year&rsquo;s can&rsquo;t-miss No. 1 prospect Mike Ricci was claimed fourth in the 1990 draft.Many hockey experts said that had Ricci been available for the 1989 auction, he would have been selected first overall. But last June, Ricci watched Owen Nolan, Petr Nedved and Keith Primeau get picked before him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long year ahead for everybody who feels Lindros is going to be first,&rdquo; Maxwell says. &ldquo;Everybody predicted different people last year and that may change again this year. Who knows who is going to be No. 1?&rdquo;And who knows who is going to be No. 1-A. &#9632;

FALLOON DOESN’T COMPARE HIMSELF TO LINDROS.

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Vance Oliver</div>Take away Pat Falloon and it&rsquo;s a 3-D season in the WHL.Defensemen Scott Niedermayer of the Kamloops Blazers, Brent Bilodeau of the Seattle Thunderbirds and Richard Matvichuk of the Saskatoon Blades bring a whole new dimension to the league.All three are touted as first-round material for the 1991 NHL entry draft.Niedermayer, who collected 14 goals and 69 points in his rookie season, may be the most talented of the three, but he still needs to hone his defensive skills.&ldquo;Major junior hockey can be fairly freewheeling at times and because of that it certainly opens it up for a guy like Scott,&rdquo; says Kamloops&rsquo; coach Tom Renney. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really creative with the puck&hellip;which puts the onus on the defense to do something extraordinary to stop him.&ldquo;(But) Scott knows it&rsquo;s not a trade secret that he needs to become a better defensive nlaver&rdquo;Bilodeau, a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder is best known for his sound defensive play, but he still picked up 43 points last season.&ldquo;I know everyone is talking about Lindros and I&rsquo;m sure with good reason,&rdquo; says Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; general manager Russ Farwell. the GM in Seattle last season. &ldquo;But I have to believe there&rsquo;s going to be a lot of talk about Brent too.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best defenseman I&rsquo;ve ever had.&rdquo;The 6-foot-2, 184-pound Matvichuk had eight goals and 32 points in 1989-90, despite missing 16 games due to a knee injury and attending an under-17 tournament with Team Pacific at the Quebec Cup last Christmas.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been playing against these guys all my life&hellip;bantam, peewee, mites,&rdquo; Matvichuk says. &ldquo;Bilodeau is more a big, stay-at-home defenseman, while Niedermayer is smaller with the good offensive skills.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m somewhere between those two. If I get the puck and have a chance to go. I&rsquo;ll go.&rdquo; &#9632;

BONANZA ON THE BLUELINE

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01630/5857141-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Spokane Chief center Pat Falloon draws comparisons to Quebec Nordique star Joe Sakic. But one scout says Falloon reminds him more of Marcel Dionne.</figcaption></div>The NHL is so certain Eric Lindros will be the No. 1 pick in the 1991 entry draft, they instituted a rule to prevent the expansion San Jose Sharks from selecting the most talked-about junior player since Mario Lemieux.Traditionally NHL expansion teams have been given the first pick in each round of the draft. But this time the league decided San Jose would pick first in each round but the first, where it will pick second. The NHL wanted to make sure an established team got first crack at Lindros.But Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; center Pat Falloon may foil those plans.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody is capable of moving ahead of Lindros,&rdquo; an NHL scout says,&rdquo;but wouldn&rsquo;t it be something if Falloon did it and Lindros wound up in San Jose despite what the league did.&rdquo;If anybody is capable of upstaging Lindros at next June&rsquo;s draft table, the early consensus is it will be the high-flying Falloon. If Lindros is the No. 1 draft prospect, then Falloon must be considered the 1-A entry.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so exciting and dominating, it&rsquo;s almost comical,&rdquo; the scout says. &ldquo;He gets on the ice and takes control. A lot of people compare him to Joe Sakic (a former Swift Current Bronco, now with Quebec) at that age, but I think he&rsquo;s even more sensational.&ldquo;I hate to say it, but he reminds me of Marcel Dionne. He&rsquo;s so damn explosive.&rdquo;Falloon is perceived as the best thing in junior hockey since the instant skate sharpener and rumblings of some kid named Lindros. Falloon collected 60 goals and 124 points last season with the Chiefs.His two-season total in the Western League reads something like a line from Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s entry in the NHL Guide and Record Book: 82 goals, 120 assists for 202 points.&ldquo;He has the capabilities of scoring a scary amount this year,&rdquo; Chiefs&rsquo; coach Bryan Maxwell says. &ldquo;He maybe can score 80, 90, or even 100 goals.&rdquo;There is a catch.In July, Falloon, 18, ripped cartilage in his right knee while playing baseball near his home in Foxwarren, Man.&ldquo;I doubled and was going to third base on a ground ball, (but) caught my spikes sliding into third,&rdquo; says Falloon.&ldquo;I heard a noise in my knee when I slid and when I tried to walk on it, it was a no go.&rdquo;Doctors removed a piece of cartilage during a one-hour arthroscopic operation Aug. 3.Falloon&rsquo;s baseball mishap didn&rsquo;t force him to forego the opening of the 1990-91 WHL season. He did, however, miss the opportunity to show his skills at the Canadian junior national team evaluation camp.The top 44 junior-age players in the country were invited to the camp held Aug. 18-25 in Saskatoon.&ldquo;Given the fact that he was a viable candidate to be here,&rdquo; national junior team coach Dick Todd says,&rdquo;we&rsquo;ll have to watch closely how he rehabilitates himself from surgery. And whether he can regain the top of his form that would enable him to feel comfortable at Christmas.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be keeping a close eye on him.&rdquo;Another hockey man who has been watching every step Falloon takes is national team coach Dave King.King dialed Falloon&rsquo;s number during the junior evaluation camp to sell him on the benefits of the Olympic program.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you could say he was courting me,&rdquo; Falloon says. &ldquo;He called me once all summer. He talked to me about the Olympic program, but I had already made up my mind I was coming back here (Spokane) this year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0029-01

CHIEF CHALLENGER

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>Brian Kilrea knew Kris Draper was a good player. He just didn&rsquo;t think the former Canadian national team member would be so good so soon.When the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s general manager and coach made a trade for Draper July 30, it looked like an acquisition that would make the 67&rsquo;s prime Memorial Cup candidates.Draper was good all right. Good enough to make the NHL&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;That throws a big wrench into our plans,&rdquo; Kilrea said. &ldquo;But after the training camp he had here (Ottawa), I fully expected the possibility that he might not be coming back. He was a dominant force.&rdquo;Ottawa traded goalie George Dourian. 19, left winger Gairin Smith, 18, and a sixth-round 1991 draft pick to the Dukes of Hamilton in return for the rights to Draper, 19.The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Toronto-born center, was said to be looking to expand his offensive horizons. He scored 23 goals and 60 points in two seasons with the defense-oriented national team. Draper scored a goal in his first game with Winnipeg Oct. 4, a 7-1 victory over Toronto.While Kilrea doesn&rsquo;t wish Draper any bad luck, he does anticipate a possible return to junior. That, no doubt, would help balance out the trade.The 67&rsquo;s are already hurting up front. Left winger Chris Simon, who scored 36 goals and 74 points last season, is out for three months with a shoulder injury.A second-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in June, Simon suffered a muscle tear in a pre-season game fight.<h2>SLANEY IN FLIGHT</h2>Cornwall&rsquo;s John Slaney made an impressive return scoring two goals and adding an assist in the Royals&rsquo; 7-5 win over Sudbury Sept. 30. What&rsquo;s most interesting is that Slaney wasn&rsquo;t even in the starting lineup.Slaney, selected ninth overall by Washington in June, played for Baltimore (the Capitals&rsquo; farm team) the night before and had two assists in a 7-2 loss. After the game, the Caps returned him to junior.The high-scoring defenseman missed his wake-up call the next morning in Syracuse, caught a late flight to Montreal, where he then drove to Cornwall.He missed the first 11 minutes of the Royals&rsquo; game, but left his mark scoring the winning goal in the third period.<h2>RULE CHANGES</h2>Rule changes implemented this season were designed to speed up the game and crack down on checking-from-behind incidents.Minor penalties are now being assessed for &lsquo;holding the stick&rsquo; and &lsquo;butt-end hooking&rsquo;, while a double minor for spearing becomes an alternative to the match penalty for deliberate spearing.Players now receive an automatic game misconduct when assessed a five-minute major for checking-from-behind. Referees have the option of calling a two-minute minor, a five-minute major or a match penalty depending on severity or injury.<h2>TRADE WINDS</h2>Kingston Frontenacs traded overage defenseman Mike Cavanagh to Cornwall for left winger Stephen Young, a sixth-round 1990 pick out of Elliot Lake. Cavanagh had 11 goals and 49 points last season&hellip;Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; center Gib Tucker spent a night in a Kingston hospital Sept. 30 after taking a slash across the back. The initial diagnosis was a collapsed lung, but it turned out to be a deep bruise. &#9632;

DRAPER TOO GOOD FOR OTTAWA 67’S LIKING

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO AND VANCE OLIVER</div>The Tri-City Americans scored five touchdowns in a pair of Western League wins&mdash;16-3 over the Victoria Cougars Sept. 30 and 19-3 over the Seattle Thunderbirds Oct. 3.The 35 goals in two games shocked even Americans&rsquo; coach and general manager Rick Kozuback.&ldquo;Really, I can&rsquo;t explain it. After a while I found myself sitting back watching everything progress,&rdquo; Kozuback said. &ldquo;I guess you could say we capitalized on all our chances.&rdquo;Tri-City scored 10 power-play goals in each game. Center Brian Sakic led the way with four goals and 12 assists. His eight assists against Seattle set a league record, while his 10 points tied another.The Americans&rsquo; 19 goals in one game tied a league record.Kyle Reeves had five goals in each game, Steve McNutt had five goals against Seattle and Devin Derksen had a goal and six assists against Victoria.In four games this season, Tri-City has scored 44 goals&mdash;an average of 11 per game. Thing is, they&rsquo;re just 2-2, having lost 7-5 and 7-4 to the Spokane Chiefs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01717/5857196-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="580" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kimbi Daniels scored all seven Bronco goals in one game.</figcaption></div><h2>LUCKY SEVEN</h2>Center Kimbi Daniels notched all seven of his team&rsquo;s goals to lift the Swift Current Broncos to a 7-4 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers Oct. 2.Daniels, a third-round draft choice of the Philadelphia Flyers last June, tied the WHL mark for most goals in one game held by Dennis Holland, Mark Mackay, Ray Ferraro and Brian Propp.The Swift Current sniper has nine goals in the opening three games of the season.&ldquo;He had a bad back and didn&rsquo;t play all that well in his first two games,&rdquo; said Broncos&rsquo; coach Graham James. &ldquo;(But) with seven goals, he was incredible.&rdquo;The tempermental Daniels collected 43 goals and 94 points in what was deemed a disappointing campaign last season.<h2>BARNES ON LEAVE</h2>Tri-City center Stu Barnes, the fourth player taken in the 1989 NHL draft by the Winnipeg Jets, was reassigned to the Canadian national team Oct. 3.Former national team member Kris Draper ousted Barnes for the fourth center spot with the Jets. And Winnipeg&rsquo;s farm club in Moncton has an abundance of centers.&ldquo;I felt based on the improvement we&rsquo;ve witnessed in Kris Draper&rsquo;s maturation as a player that Stu Barnes could benefit in a similar case,&rdquo; said Winnipeg general manager Mike Smith.National team coach Dave King said the move was &ldquo;a very good investment&rdquo; for Barnes, who collected 52 goals and 144 points last season.<h2>NEW &lsquo;LOOPS HOME</h2>The Kamloops Blazers received good news Sept. 19 when city council approved by a vote of 6-3 to provide extra funds needed for the construction of an $18.6-million arena to be erected by April &rsquo;92.The new arena, to be called the Multiplex, will seat 5,000 fans compared to only 2,500 at the present Memorial Arena.&ldquo;We had a great season attendance-wise last season,&rdquo; said Kamloops&rsquo; GM Bob Brown. &ldquo;(But) there were games that we could have sold an extra 500 to 800 tickets which would have helped us build our kitty.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

TRI-CITY AMERICANS ON SCORING RAMPAGE

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>As expected, the 1991 Memorial Cup tournament was awarded to Quebec City, the Canadian League announced Oct. 2.The four-team tournament runs May Il-l9, with all games to be played at the 15,475-seat Colisee, home of the NHL&rsquo;s Quebec Nordiques. In the unlikely event the Nords are in the play offs at that time, several Memorial Cup games will be rescheduled.The tournament will cost the host Quebec League $500,000. The league keeps any profits and is liable for any losses. QMJHL president Gilles Courteau said he doesn&rsquo;t expect a deficit.John Horman, the QMJHL&rsquo;s director of finances, said an average attendance of 6,000 is needed to break even. He expects a minimum 10,000 spectators at each of eight games.The QMJHL will be represented by two teams&mdash;the President Cup champions and the playoff finalist. The champs from the Ontario and Western Leagues will also compete.<h2>DUFAULT MOVES ON</h2>The QMJHL&rsquo;s first trading period for players attending school ran from Oct. 5-8.Trois-Rivieres started the trading by sending 20-year-old defenseman Pascal Dufault to Granby for a pair of 18-year-olds&mdash;left winger Steve Searles and defenseman Eric Prillo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01662/5857227-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="724" height="812"><figcaption class="caption-body">Drummondville coach Jean Hamel is without two of his regular defenseman.</figcaption></div>Dufault had six goals and 23 assists in 46 games last season. Searles was 10-12-22 in 58 games while Prillo was 1-5-6 in 51 games.&ldquo;Dufault brings us experience and stability,&rdquo; Granby coach and general manager John Paris said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re respectable this year (after placing 10th last year). I want to make us more respectable.&rdquo;The other deal saw a pair of 18-year-old left wingers change teams. Chicoutimi sent Jean Imbeau (3-4-7 in 50 games) to Shawinigan for Eric Duchesne (0-4-4, 148 PIM in 67 games).<h2>VOLTS SHORT OUT</h2>New Voltigeurs&rsquo; coach-GM Jean Hamel has a pile of problems in Drummondville.Twenty-year-old defenseman Eric Dande-nault (14-38-52 in 67 games last season) isgone for at least one month with mononucleosis, while fellow rearguard Stephane Desjardins (0-8-8 in 62 games) will miss two weeks with a bruised shoulder.Moreover, right winger Eric Meloche (2134-55 in 62 games) has yet to play after fracturing a bone in his right foot during the preseason. He was expected back by mid-October. Left winger Daniel Landry (16-12-28 in 62 games) quit the team and demanded a trade.<h2>VETERAN RELEASED</h2>Defenseman Brad MacIsaac, 19, appears to have reached the end of the line in the QMJHL after being released by the expansion Beauport Harfangs.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t playing well,&rdquo; coach Alain Chainey said. &ldquo;You have to be proud to play for the Harfangs. I don&rsquo;t think he had a good attitude.&rdquo;MacIsaac had his career resurrected by the Harfangs. A former member of the Laval Titans, MacIsaac quit last February upon being traded to Drummondville. He had six assists in 52 games for Laval. The Voltigeurs left him unprotected and he was claimed by Beauport in the waiver draft.Despite MacIsaac&rsquo;s loss, the Harfangs became the first team this season to defeat College Francais, registering a 4-2 home-ice win Oct. 1. The Longueuil-based team had won its first seven games.<h2>SUSPENSION TIME</h2>Pete LePage, the new president of the league&rsquo;s disciplinary committee, handed out the first two suspensions of the season Oct. 4. St-Hyacinthe right winger Serge Renaud was suspended two games for shoving an official, while St-Jean goaltender Patrick Labrecque received one game for leaving his crease to engage in a fight. The incidents took place Sept. 30&hellip;Patrick Chouinard, dislodged by 17-year-old rookie Sylvain Rodrigue as Chicoutimi&rsquo;s backup goaltender, quit the Sagueneens and is on the trade market. Chouinard had a 4.70 average in 22 games last season. &#9632;

f0031-01

QUEBEC’S COLISEE HOST OF 1991 MEMORIAL CUP

<div class="byline">BY MATT CARLSON</div>Jeff Jackson realizes he&rsquo;s in a no-win situation&hellip;but it doesn&rsquo;t bother him.The new head coach of the Lake Superior State Lakers assumed control of one of the strongest programs in the country this summer, so if the team does well this season, it won&rsquo;t be a surprise. Should the Lakers flounder, however, Jackson is sure to be the scapegoat.&ldquo;Of all the new coaches,&rdquo; says Jackson,&rdquo;I&rsquo;m probably the one guy who&rsquo;s going to be under the microscope more than anybody else. And I&rsquo;m looking forward to that challenge.&rdquo;One of three new Central Collegiate Hockey Association coaches for the 1990-91 season, Jackson succeeds Frank Anzalone, under whom the Lakers rose from obscurity to become a Division I power. Anzalone&rsquo;s contract wasn&rsquo;t renewed last spring despite his team&rsquo;s 33-10-3 overall record. The problem: His emotional, candid and sometimes abrasive style alienated university officials.Jackson, one of Anzalone&rsquo;s assistants over the past four years, was primed and packed to take a job as an assistant at Michigan State when he was offered the Lakers&rsquo; head coaching job. The Roseville, Mich., native has promised his approach will be different than Anzalone&rsquo;s.&ldquo;Frank would react to a situation when it happened,&rdquo; Jackson explained. &ldquo;He was always honest, but sometimes being spontaneous isn&rsquo;t the best thing.&ldquo;Sometimes it&rsquo;s more important to have all the facts, have tact and deal with problems.&rdquo;<h2>HELLO LARRY</h2>Last season, the Illinois-Chicago Flames selfdestructed due to negative attitudes and vaporized player confidence. UIC dove from a 23-145 record in 1988-89 to 10-27-1 overall and last place in the CCHA.Larry Pedrie, 31, will attempt to put some spark back in the Flames. An assistant to Val Belmonte at UIC from 1984-87, Pedrie was an assistant at Michigan for the past three seasons.&ldquo;The first thing I had to do was go in and change the attitude,&rdquo; said the Detroit native. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it was very positive. I think there were a lot of problems and hopefully we&rsquo;ve taken care of them before our first game.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01707/5857258-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="735" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">John de Pourcq will be counted on to provide some offense at FSU.</figcaption></div>Although the Flames were picked to finish last again in the CCHA&rsquo;s pre-season media and coaches polls, they may have more talent than a couple of league opponents.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to pick a certain spot in the standings where we&rsquo;re going to finish,&rdquo; said Pedrie. &ldquo;I just want to have a chance to win every game we&rsquo;re in, compete hard every night and know that my team gave its best effort.&rdquo;<h2>GOING FOR 11</h2>New chief Bulldog Bob Mancini faces a monumental challenge at Ferris State, having inherited a program that went 6-20-6 in the CCHA last season and hasn&rsquo;t had a winning season in league play for 10 years.While optimistic the team will improve under his guidance, Mancini feels this year could well be No. 11.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can expect anything really different from the Bulldogs this year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get leadership out of our senior class&mdash;(forwards) John de Pourcq and Rod Taylor. If they continue to score some goals and get some points, I think we&rsquo;ll be a competitive team.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-01

THREE NEW COACHES FACE DIFFICULT CHALLENGES

<div class="byline">BY ANDY BAGGOT</div>Notre Dame, a member of the WCHA from 1971-81 and currently an NCAA Division I independent, is looking to regain its league affiliation, but coach Ric Schafer and his staff face an uphill battle.For two years after leaving the WCHA, the Irish fielded a Division I program in the CCHA. But in the face of a budget crisis, the school elected to de-emphasize hockey in 1983, reducing it to club-sport status for a season before making it a varsity sport without scholarship aid.As it stands now, Schafer divides eight scholarships among 17 student-athletes. Trouble is, high-profile teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, Maine and Boston College all have 20 athletic scholarships to work with. In order to get that kind of aid&mdash;Schafer says one athletic scholarship at Notre Dame is worth $16,000 per academic year&mdash;the program must show athletic director Richard Rosenthal, a former banking executive, that the investment is a sound one.&ldquo;We need to have people come and support our hockey team,&rdquo; said Schafer, whose team plays in the 4,000-seat Joyce Center Field House. &ldquo;We have to show support to justify the increased scholarships.&rdquo;To that end, a fundraiser featuring former Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill and popular football coach Lou Holtz was scheduled for Oct. 8.<h2>PAYING A PRICE</h2>In the aftermath of winning a national title, Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer is discovering there are two sides to fame and success.On the up side, Sauer received a salary increase that should enable him to maintain his status as the highest-paid coach in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.According to figures supplied by Al Fish, UW athletic department business manager, Sauer will be paid a base salary of $64,755 for a nine-month contract in 1990-91. Sauer, whose 20-year tenure in the WCHA is longer than any other coach, was paid $62,038 a year ago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02505/5857289-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="742" height="852"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gophers&rsquo; coach Doug Woog foresees a spirited series with St. Cloud.</figcaption></div>On the flip side, Sauer was acknowledged to be a frontrunner for the job of coaching the United States Olympic team in 1992. His stock soared higher after coaching the U.S. team to a surprising silver-medal finish at the Goodwill Games.But the selection committee bypassed Sauer in favor of Dave Peterson, the 1988 Olympic coach. Sauer said he was upset not to get the nod.<h2>GRUDGE MATCHES</h2>St. Cloud State, a new WCHA member this season, will be out for revenge of sorts in its first regular-season series.For the last three years, while the Huskies were trying to build up their program and their schedule in preparation for this year&rsquo;s debut, the only WCHA team that failed to schedule SCS was Minnesota. Some have interpreted that as a snub between neighbors (60 miles separates St. Cloud and Minneapolis).In any event, Gophers&rsquo; coach Doug Woog believes the home-and-home series will be spirited.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had &lsquo;Kill Minnesota&rsquo; on their blackboard ever since the league agreed to accept St. Cloud three years ago,&rdquo; Woog said. &#9632;

f0032-02

IRISH FIGHTING FOR BERTH

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01630/5857334-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01715/5857327-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3155" height="3617"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01680/5857320-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3135" height="1884"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

SCOREBOARD

<h2>Thur., Oct. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02522/5857470-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="599" height="1488"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03421/5857463-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="601" height="1529"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04337/5857456-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="602" height="1527"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05279/5857449-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="587" height="1532"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06252/5857442-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="594" height="1511"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01647/5857435-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="615" height="2509"></div><h2>Fri., Oct. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02471/5857428-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="600" height="1014"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03380/5857421-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="596" height="228"></div><h2>Sat. Oct 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04288/5857414-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="608" height="3298"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05236/5857407-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="608" height="3575"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01562/5857400-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="604" height="2048"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02408/5857393-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="593" height="2043"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03318/5857386-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="588" height="396"></div><h2>Sun. Oct. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04263/5857379-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="594" height="1602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05232/5857372-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="596" height="2043"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06202/5857365-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="592" height="2037"></div> &#9632;

f0035-02

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-07" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07179/5857501-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-07

<div class="byline">BY DAVID JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01648/5857532-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sylvie Lalande, vice-president of research and development of Videotron Ltee., demonstrates the capabilities of Videoway interactive system.</figcaption></div>If you think the Montreal Canadiens&mdash;without Mats Naslund, Claude Lemieux, Craig Ludwig and Chris Chelios&mdash;look different this year, you should see the Canadiens&rsquo; hockey fan.He&rsquo;s wired.No, not on Molson.He&rsquo;s wired to Videoway, the world&rsquo;s first&mdash;and only&mdash;interactive-television service.When the Canadiens played the Hartford Whalers Oct. 8 at the Forum, some 40,000 Videoway subscribers in the greater Montreal-area played television director from the comfort of their own living rooms.By pushing five buttons on a special handheld remote-control unit, they were able to switch away from the regular broadcast feed and tune in to special cameras isolated on key players. They were also able to call up their own replays, even if the play in question was not replayed on the regular broadcast feed.They were able to do this because they subscribe to Videoway, a service offered by Groupe Videotron Ltee. of Montreal, Quebec&rsquo;s largest cable company, which serves 960,000 subscribers in Quebec and 140,000 in Alberta.So far, the 10-month-old special service is only available to the company&rsquo;s Montreal subscriber base of 660,000. Videoway&rsquo;s 40,000 subscribers&mdash;growing by 6,000 a month&mdash;pay $19 (Cdn.) a month on top of their basic $23 monthly cable fee. In return, they get 20 hours a week of &ldquo;interactive&rdquo; programming, including 24 Canadiens&rsquo; home and away games to be broadcast this season by Quebec&rsquo;s TVA television network.TVA is to Quebec what CTV is to English Canada. It is the largest private television network in the province. The reason why Quebec has interactive TV and nobody else in North America does is that Videotron owns 99 per cent of the voting shares of TVA. It can, and does, tell the network to do anything it wants it to do. Hence TVA is the only mainstream network in the world which broadcasts interactive programming like quiz shows.Videoway, which cost Videotron $50 million to develop, consists of two pieces of hardware. One is a black box the size of a VCR. The box is wired into the TV set, and sits either on top of the TV or beside it. The other piece of hardware is a wireless remote-control unit. The unit does everything a standard TV remote-control unit does, but it also has five special buttons.The buttons are TVI, F1, F2, F3 and F4.TVI stands for &ldquo;interactive TV&rdquo;. Push the TVI button and you&rsquo;re in Videoway.What you will see, before the puck is dropped, is the regular broadcast feed. You will also see, superimposed on the television picture, a text message, telling you that you are watching an interactive broadcast. Then you will see another message, identifying two players in the starting lineup whose every move will be followed by separate cameras until further notice. To watch them you press F2 or F3.Say the Canadiens are playing Los Angeles. And say Wayne Gretzky and Stephane Richer are in the starting lineup. One camera might follow Gretzky, and another Richer, through their first shift, with Gretzky on F2 and Richer on F3. What&rsquo;s nice about being in F2 and F3 is that you never lose sight of the regular broadcast feed on F1. The F1 feed is always displayed in insert fashion in the upper left-hand comer of the F2 and F3 screens.F4 is for replays. F4 is exactly the same as F1 except it is on delayed by seven seconds. So all you have to do to see a replay is push F4; you go back seven seconds in time.The players featured on F2 and F3 change throughout the game. After almost every stoppage in play, you receive a text message on your TV screen telling you which players F2 and F3 cameras will be keying on until further notice.Videoway isn&rsquo;t entirely new; subscribers watched 10 Canadiens&rsquo; games in interactive fashion last season, as well as Expos&rsquo; games broadcast this past baseball season on the French-language RDS sports network (the French version of TSN). So far, consumer reaction is generally favorable.&ldquo;Interactive TV is the way of the future,&rsquo; said Sylvie Lalande, vice-president of research and development of Le Videotron Ltee. &#9632;

f0038-01

YOU BE THE DIRECTOR

<h2>HNIC</h2>Play-by-PIay: Bob Cole, Chris Cuthbert, Dick Irvin, Don Whitman. Color: Harry Neale, John Garrett, Jim Peplinski, Steve Shutt. Host: Ron Maclean. Studio Analyst: Don Cherry.Games: Oct. 6 Buffalo at Montreal, Toronto at Calgary, Winnipeg at Edmonton; Oct. 13 Detroit at Toronto, Montreal at Hartford; Oct. 20 Philadelphia at Montreal, Chicago at Toronto, Boston at Calgary; Oct. 27 Buffalo at Toronto, Montreal at St. Louis; Nov. 3 Calgary at Toronto, Detroit at Montreal, Winnipeg at Vancouver; Nov. 10 Chicago at Toronto, New Jersey at Montreal, Edmonton at Los Angeles; Nov. 17 Montreal at Boston; Detroit at Toronto; Buffalo at Calgary; Nov. 24 Los Angeles at Montreal, Edmonton at Toronto; Dec. 1 Calgary at Montreal, Toronto at Los Angeles; Dec. 8 Boston at Montreal, Chicago at Toronto; Dec. 15 St. Louis at Toronto, Montreal at Winnipeg; Dec. 22 N.Y. Rangers at Montreal, Detroit at Winnipeg, Edmonton at Calgary, Los Angeles at Vancouver; Dec. 29 Pittsburgh at Toronto, Montreal at Los Angeles; Dec. 31 Vancouver at Winnipeg, Montreal at Calgary; Jan. 5 Los Angeles at Toronto, Quebec at Mgntreal; Jan. 12 Washingon at Montreal, Hartford at Toronto; Jan. 26 Toronto at Chicago; Feb. 2 Detroit at Toronto, Chicago at Calgary; Feb. 9 N.Y. Rangers at Montreal, N.Y. Islanders at Toronto; Feb. 16 Edmonton at Toronto, Hartford at Montreal; Feb. 23 Toronto at Montreal, Quebec at Calgary, Detroit at Vancouver; March 2 Montreal at Edmonton, N.Y. Rangers at Toronto; March 9 Vancouver at Montreal; March 16 Buffalo at Montreal, Minnesota at Toronto, Los Angeles at Calgary; March 16 Buffalo at Montreal, Minnesota at Toronto, Los Angeles at Calgary; March 23 Calgary at Los Angeles, Detroit at Toronto, New Jersey at Montreal, Winnipeg at Edmonton.<h2>TSN</h2>Play-by-Play: Jim Hughson. Color: Gary Green. Hosts:Jim Van Home, John Wells.Games: Oct. 8 Calgary at Winnipeg; Oct. 15 Washington at Montreal; Oct. 25 Toronto at St. Louis; Oct. 29 Quebec at N.Y. Rangers; Nov. 1 Toronto at Detroit; Nov. 5 Boston at N.Y. Rangers; Nov. 7 Boston at Montreal; Nov. 13 Montreal at New Jersey; Nov. 19 Boston at Toronto; Nov. 26 Buffalo at N.Y. Rangers; Dec. 3 New Jersey at Winnipeg; Dec. 6 Toronto at Minnesota; Dec. 7 Vancouver at Pittsburgh; Dec. 10 Quebec at Vancouver; Dec. 13 Calgary at Los Angeles; Dec. 17 Washington at N.Y. Rangers; Dec. 28 Boston at Winnipeg; Jan. 3 Toronto at Minnesota; Jan. 6 Pittsburgh at Montreal; Jan. 7 Winnipeg at Boston; Jan. 10 Toronto at Chicago; Jan. 15 Montreal at Minnesota; Jan. 17 Pittsburgh at Toronto; All-Star game TBA; Jan. 21 Minnesota at Winnipeg; Jan. 31 Montreal at Boston; Feb. 5 Edmonton at Boston; Feb. 11 Pittsburgh at Edmontqn; Feb. 15 Montreal at Buffalo; Feb. 18 Edmonton at New Jersey; Feb. 21 Toronto at Pittsburgh; Feb. 22 Los Angeles at Winnipeg; Feb. 25 Calgary at Vancouver; March 4 Montreal at Calgary; March 12 Montreal at Pittsburgh; March 14 Montreal at Boston; March 18 Winnipeg at Calgary; March 21 N.Y. Rangers at Pittsburgh; March 22 Toronto at Detroit; March 25 Hartford at Montreal; March 28 Toronto at Chicago.<h2>SPORTSCHANNEL</h2>Play-by-Play: Gary Thome. Color: Peter McNab, Stan Fischler.Games: Oct. 4 Detroit at New Jersey; Oct. 6 Philadelphia at New Jersey; Oct. 7 New Jersey at Pittsburgh; Oct. 9 Minnesota at New Jersey; Oct. 11 New Jersey at Philadelphia; Oct. 13 Calgary at New Jersey; Oct. 17 Washington at New Jersey; Oct. 19 N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey; Oct. 20 New Jersey at Washington; Oct. 25 Buffalo at New Jersey; Oct. 27 Pittsburgh at New Jersey; Oct. 30 New Jersey at Calgary; Nov. 1 New Jersey at Vancouver; Nov. 3 New Jersey at Edmonton; Nov. 7 N.Y. Islanders at New Jersey; Nov. 9 N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey; Nov. 13 Montreal at New Jersey; Nov. 15 Hartford at New Jersey; Nov. 17 Philadelphia at New Jersey; Nov. 18 New Jersey at Philadelphia; Nov. 20 New Jersey at Los Angeles; Nov. 28 Philadelphia at New Jersey; Nov. 30 N.Y. Islanders at New Jersey; Dec. 3 New Jersey at Winnipeg; Dec. 5 Vancouver at New Jersey; Dec. 7 New Jersey at Washington; Dec. 8 Washington at New Jersey; Dec. 13 New Jersey at Pittsburgh; Dec. 18 Boston at New Jersey; Dec. 20 New Jersey at Philadelphia; Dec. 23 Toronto at New Jersey; Dec. 27 N.Y. Islanders at New Jersey; Dec. 29 Buffalo at New Jersey; Jan. 1 New Jersey at Washington; Jan. 5 New Jersey at Pittsburgh; Jan. 12 Edmonton at New Jersey; Jan. 14 Los Angeles at New Jersey; Jan. 16 Chicago at New Jersey; Jan. 22 New Jersey at Pittsburgh; Jan. 24 Quebec at New Jersey; Jan. 26 Minnesota at New Jersey; Jan. 30 New Jersey at Los Angeles; Feb. 5 Calgary at New Jersey; Feb. 10 Vancouver at New Jersey; Feb. 14 Winnipeg at New Jersey; Feb. 16 Philadelphia at New Jersey; Feb. 18 Edmonton at New Jersey; Feb. 22 Pittsburgh at New Jersey; Feb. 25 Washington at New Jersey; Feb. 27 New Jersey at Toronto; March 1 New Jersey at Detroit; March 3 Boston at New Jersey; March 6 New Jersey at Buffalo; March 13 Toronto at New Jersey; March 15 N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey; March 19 Pittsburgh at New Jersey; March 21 New Jersey at Chicago; March 23 New Jersey at Montreal; March 27 Hartford at New Jersey; March 31 N.Y. Islanders at New Jersey. &#9632;

NETWORK TELEVISION SCHEDULES

LOCAL TV, RADIO AND VIDEO INFO FOR ALL 21 NHL TEAMS

Hockey fans who can&rsquo;t afford a satellite dish can still catch radio broadcasts of all NHL games this season thanks to a new service offered by an Ohio-based sports company.TRZ Sports Services Inc. has introduced a telephone service that gives hockey fans the chance to hear live radio broadcasts of their favorite NHL team this season&mdash;something that was introduced in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season.And to catch all the action, all fans need is a credit card and a touch-tone telephone.To use the new service, fans simply dial the AT&T 800 phone number of the team they wish to follow. An operator answers the phone, and asks for a credit card number and expiry date. After giving the information, the caller is connected with the radio broadcast of the team he wants to follow.To obtain the correct team phone number for the TRZ service, fans can look for the TRZ ads in the sports section of USA Today and in The National. TRZ phone numbers are also listed in The Hockey News. The TRZ service is open to all callers in Canada and the U.S. and numbers for all 21 teams are available.&ldquo;The whole process takes about three seconds,&rdquo; says TRZ spokesman John Lindesmith. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s perfect for the fan who travels a lot and wants to keep in touch with their favorite team. It makes them feel at home because they get to hear the play-by-play from familiar broad-i casters.&rdquo;The TRZ service costs approximately $36 (US) for a three-hour game, but costs vary depending on the length of time a caller stays on the phone, Lindesmith says.&ldquo;The system is set up so that the cost per minute decreases the longer the caller listens,&rdquo; Lindesmith says.Current costs for the service range from 50 cents per minute for the first few minutes, to approximately 20 cents per minute after the first two hours.Canadian callers can expect to pay slightly more for the service because of higher long-distance costs, Lindesmith says.&ldquo;The TRZ service uses 800 numbers because it&rsquo;s more convenient, and Canadian callers can&rsquo;t use the 900 service available in the states,&rdquo; says Lindesmith. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s also cheaper because the cost of the call is transfered directly onto your credit card so there&rsquo;re no extra costs from the phone company.&rdquo;To date, Lindesmith says most NFL and college football callers stay on the phone for the full game, including the pre-game shows. The average call is in the three to four hour range, he says.The introduction of the service in last spring&rsquo;s playoffs was an immediate success, Lindesmith I says.Callers from every part of North America&mdash;from remote regions of Canada, to the southern U.S&mdash;tuned in to catch the action, he says.&ldquo;We received over 4,300 calls during the playoffs last year,&rdquo; Lindesmith says,&rdquo;and everything went pretty well.&ldquo;At one point the SportsChannel coverage (cable television) of one of the playoff games was cut and our switchboard just lit up like crazy.&rdquo;Already comfortably established in the NFL and American college football markets, Lindesmith says he sees a lot of potential in the hockey field.And he&rsquo;s not too concerned that some listeners might not support the service over an 80-game NHL schedule as opposed to a 16-game NFL slate.&ldquo;Hockey fans are unique,&rdquo; Lindesmith says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the most dedicated fans in all of sport. We feel that the die hard hockey fan just loves his game and wants to keep in touch.&ldquo;And we think that the hockey service will be better than the football in the future. We&rsquo;re very excited about it.&rdquo;TRZ Sports Services is the largest distributor of live telephone sports broadcasts in North America. For more information about the TRZ NHL, NFL or college football services call (216) 678-8386. &#9632;

NHL RADIO BROADCASTS READY WHEN YOU ARE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01211/5857673-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="570" height="624"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DUPONT</figcaption></div>Ron Caron has a favorite saying, one he claims to have stolen from the playwright Moliere:&ldquo;A vaincre sans peril on triomphe sans gloire.&rdquo;Loosely translated, says the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager, it means that winning without peril is an empty victory. Strife is a part of life. A good part, according to the 60-year-old former school teacher known as The Professor.&ldquo;He who risks nothing,&rdquo; Caron said one recent bright afternoon in St. Louis,&rdquo;goes nowhere.&rdquo;Caron took risky business to new heights this summer when he committed some $12 million to right winger Brett Hull and free-agent defenseman Scott Stevens. One-liners from Moliere and blueliners from the Washington Caps. The deals work out to about a $3-million-a-year drain on the Blues&rsquo; bottom line, one they should just about plug with their recent increase of an average $5 per seat across the board. The Blues have already seen season tickets balloon by 3,000.But the Blues did more than play soft prorn-issary notes in the ears of Messrs. Hull and Stevens. They turned some of the other 20 NHL franchises into automatic teller machines. In Boston, top stars Ray Bourque and Cam Neely were the recipients of renegotiated multi-million-dollar deals, after Bruins&rsquo; president/GM Harry Sinden labeled them &ldquo;victims&rdquo; of a restructured salary market. Denis Savard went in a trade from Chicago to Montreal and signed up for $1.2 million per season. Al Maclnnis was entering his option year and is now counting his cash in Calgary, with thanks due Caron and Co.Where other teams feared to tread&mdash;unwilling to risk yielding five first-round draft picks to the Caps as compensation for Stevens&mdash;the Blues walked in boldly. They got their man, paid for him dearly on both sides of the deal, and changed forever the NHL fiscal terrain. Hull established that hockey millionaires now will be commonplace. Pirating away Stevens could lead other clubs to pursue top-shelf free agents, especially if the Blues reach the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 20 years.What will history say? In the &rsquo;70s, other baseball owners and GMs slapped Yankee Boss George Steinbrenner with claims of lunacy when he gave millions to free agents Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, et al. They said he would break baseball&rsquo;s bank, push poor clubs to the brink and fester jealousy&mdash;and perhaps apathy&mdash;from the fans. Today, we have Jose Canseco making $5 million a year&mdash;not counting calls to his 900 hotline&mdash;and the fans lining up four million deep to see the Blue Jays in their Skydome playground.Caron takes delight that his birthday is Dec. 19, a day he shares with Doug Harvey and Al Kaline. Bom in Hull, Que., he has long been a lover of baseball, but he claims not to wear&ldquo;the Yankee tattoo&rdquo; anymore. Steinbrenner turned him off. Ironic, because Caron may forever be remembered as hockey&rsquo;s Steinbrenner, a man who dished out millions, jumped feet-first into the free-agent pool and turned a deaf ear to the carping of other owners and GMs.&ldquo;I think we will be judged in history as being positive,&rdquo; said Caron, who owns seven Stanley Cup rings from his days in the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; system. &ldquo;Free agency was a door that was not locked&mdash;and we opened it.&rdquo;Until the summer of 1990, free agency was essentially a closed shop, guarded by what many agents and players perceived as the owners&rsquo; covert agreement to leave well enough alone.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Caron, asked if such an agreement existed. &ldquo;Was it that&hellip;or fear of suffering consequences of an act?&rdquo;&ldquo;Make no mistake,&rdquo; says Bob Goodenow, the man who will take the NHL Players&rsquo; Association through the &rsquo;90s and perhaps into the next century, it was free agency that brought Hull and Stevens their money. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s reasonable to think that more clubs will now consider a Stevens-like acquisition.&rdquo; All the more probable if the Blues reach even the Cup semis for only the second time since 1970.&ldquo;I think teams will realize,&rdquo; said player agent Rick Curran, ready to bring junior sensation Eric Lindros to market,&rdquo;that they can&rsquo;t afford not to pay their franchise players.&rdquo;For now, the Blues have paid, and the paying is sure to continue. Many players would like Goodenow to negotiate a more liberal free-agency system when he sits down soon to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement with NHL owners. With more teams about to enter the league, and existing clubs rich with expansion cash, as well as proven equity, the money is sure to cometh for the ice men. &#9632;

f0044-01

PROFESSOR BALKS AT CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

<h2>CANADIENS</h2>The start of the season was one Montreal left winger Shayne Corson would just as soon forget. First, there was a published report a frustrated Corson was considering a walkout on the Habs because managing director Serge Savard was reluctant to renegotiate his contract. Corson signed a two-year deal last March, a few months before NHL salaries started going the way of gas prices. Then, in the second game of the season, Corson was hit by the skate of Buffalo Sabre right winger Mike Foligno and cut for 40 stitches under his chin. &ldquo;It cut right through the muscle, it was just hanging there like a piece of meat,&rdquo; said a shaken Corson after the game. A couple of inches lower and Corson might have been faced with the same kind of injury that befell Buffalo goaltender Clint Malarchuk, who had his jugular vein slashed open a couple of years ago. Ironically, Malarchuk was sitting at the end of the Buffalo bench a few feet away from where Corson collided with Foligno-&hellip;Savard said he thinks his signing of goaltender Patrick Roy to a three-year contract&mdash;worth better than a million per season&mdash;gives his club the highest payroll in the league. That won&rsquo;t be known for sure until the NHL Players&rsquo; Association releases this season&rsquo;s salary figures&hellip;Montreal coach Pat Bums used the same lineup for the first two games of the season, opting not to dress veteran left winger Ryan Walter and rookies right winger Tom Chorske and center Andrew Cassels and defensemen Eric Desjardins and Lyle Odelein-&hellip;Veterans Brian Skrudland and Mike McPhee were named assistant captains for this season.<h2>BRUINS</h2>Defenseman Garry Galley suffered a 40-stitch facial cut in an accident during the first period of Boston&rsquo;s 7-1 win over Quebec Oct. 6. Gailey was cutting through the slot, helping provide a screen in front of Nordiques&rsquo; goalie John Tanner, when he was gashed across the face by one of teammate Randy Burridge&rsquo;s skates. Burridge&rsquo;s skate came up as he was knocked off balance in a collision with Tanner&hellip;Greg Hawgood left Italy Oct. 3 and signed a one-year-plus-an-option deal with the Bruins. Hawgood, a free agent, had been playing with the Asiago club of the Italian League. The club allowed Hawgood to get out of the contracl and return to the Bruins. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to say why I left,&rdquo; Hawgood said. &ldquo;Il was a good experience. It just didn&rsquo;l work out the way I had hoped. They treated me well. I just thought in the long run, it would be better to be back home.&rdquo;&hellip;Craig Janney signed a contract extension Oct. 3. Janney had a year and an option remaining on his former pact, which paid him about $150,000 a year. The new deal tacks on a year, and hikes his salary to the $350,000 range.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>As part of a new concept this season, the Nords will have a different captain on the road, (Steven Finn), than at home, (Joe Sakic). Finn, Sakic, Mike Hough, Guy Lafleur, Michel Petit, Paul Gillis and a few others will all get the chance to wear (the assistant&rsquo;s &ldquo;A&rdquo; now and then-&hellip;Bryan Fogarty disappeared for a few hours the night before the Nords&rsquo; first game of the season&mdash;a 3-3 tie in Hartford Oct. 4. The team wouldn&rsquo;t comment on the situation other than saying the young defenseman had &ldquo;business problems&rdquo; to straighten out. He rejoined the team in time for the Hartford game, but didn&rsquo;t dress-&hellip;Sakic picked up three points in the Nords&rsquo; tie with the Whalers, (a goal and two assists). Mats Sundin scored his first NHL goal in that game, while Lafleur scored once and added an assist against the Whalers.<h2>SABRES</h2>Greg Brown&rsquo;s NHL debut was a successful one. The rookie defenseman from Boston College was on the ice for two Sabre goals and one Canadiens&rsquo; goal during the season-opening 3-3 tie with Montreal Oct. 4. He may have inadvertently contributed to the one against, however, when he tripped up the Canadiens&rsquo; Mike McPhee on a rush. McPhee went flying into the Sabres&rsquo; crease, wiping out goaltender Daren Puppa. The play allowed for Brian Skrudland to score on the rebound off a shot Puppa would have gloved had McPhee not hit him. It was McPhee, tripped up by Sabre Benoit Hogue, who crashed into Puppa two seasons ago and broke the goalie&rsquo;s arm. Brown got an assist on Dave Andreychuk&rsquo;s goal in the Montreal game, his first NHL point&hellip;Renovations in The Aud have resulted in a new and slightly smaller capacity. The new capacity is 16,325, down from 16,433. The actual number of seats in the new configuration is 16,048. The reduction of seats is due in part to adjustments made for handicapped patrons&hellip;Rick Vaive, who missed most of training camp with a knee injury, played opening night and had a goal in the Oct. 6 game in Montreal.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Defenseman Adam Burt was pegged as the outstanding player through training camp by the Whalers&rsquo; coaching staff. And through a 1-0-1 start, Burt had a goal, three points, was plus-2 and led the team in minutes played&hellip;Right winger Pat Verbeek has filed suit in New Jersey against his former agent Harvey LaKind. LaKind, former soccer player Shep Messing and investor Bruce Black have been arrested on a variety of fraud charges in the New York metropolitan area. Verbeek is seeking about $50,000 in damages&hellip;Center Ron Francis, at $370,000, is one of eight Whalers playing out his option. &#9632;

DUBIOUS OPENING FOR CORSON

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02137/5857728-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ilkka Sinisalo</figcaption></div>&hellip;Ilkka Sinisalo was only the second NHL player to score his first career goal on a penalty shot. Sinisalo beat Paul Harrison of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 11,1981. Ralph Bowman of the St. Louis Eagles was the first player to do it in 1934-35. &#9632;

f0044-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<div class="byline">BY KAREN GUREGIAN</div>Chris Nilan wasn&rsquo;t sure how the Garden fans were going to react to his presence in a Boston Bruins&rsquo; uniform on opening night.For years, he had been the enemy, the player Bruin fans hated the most. He was despised, even though he had grown up in West Roxbury, Mass., a community not far from Boston.As a Montreal Canadien, and later a New York Ranger, the fiesty Nilan had stirred up all kinds of trouble for the Bruins&mdash;mostly with his fists.Fans booed, jeered, and often chanted his last name with a profanity attached at the end whenever he was in town.So it was no wonder that Nilan, who came to the Bruins from New York in an off-season three-team trade that sent Greg Johnston to Toronto, was a little apprehensive about the kind of reception he&rsquo;d get.What did the fans do when he was introduced?They cheered loudly. In fact, the only Bruins&rsquo; player to receive a louder ovation was Ray Bourque.&ldquo;I just filled up inside. It was a great feeling,&rdquo; Nilan said. &ldquo;This is something I&rsquo;ve wanted since I was a little boy. After all the crap that&rsquo;s gone on through the years&hellip;I could have scored four goals, that ovation would have still made my night.&rdquo;Nilan said he would have understood if the fans had reacted differently.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the best feeling in the world, being hated in your hometown,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I never really blamed them. I gave them reason to hate me.&rdquo;He almost gave them more reason to hate him kin the pre-game warm-up. He took a slap shot that struck goalie Andy Moog in the mask, knocking him to the ice for about 15 seconds.&ldquo;If I had knocked him out, everyone would have gone loony,&rdquo; Nilan said. &ldquo;The puck went right up on edge and it couldn&rsquo;t have happened at a worse time. But Andy settled me down and told me not to worry about it.&rdquo;As it turned out, Nilan gave the crowd reason to cheer. He earned an assist on the Bruins&rsquo; first goal in a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Oct. 4.He also was involved in a fracas with two Flyers, which somehow translated into a Bruins&rsquo; power play when all of the bodies were pulled apart.Nilan, however, suffered a badly bruised left knee during the game when he collided with teammate Dave Poulin.The injury was expected to keep him out of the line-up for at least four games.During his two seasons with the Rangers, Nilan had a hard time staying out of the medical room.Two years ago, he missed 42 games with an abdominal tear. Last year, a broken arm and then a knee injury limited him to 25 games.&ldquo;Sometimes I do wonder if someone up there is trying to tell me something,&rdquo; Nilan said. &ldquo;If so, whoever it is, I&rsquo;m not going to listen.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 3: Craig Janney, C, and Greg Hawgood. LW/D, signed contract.Oct. 5: Hawgood and Bruce Shoebottom, D, assigned to Maine (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Wes Walz, Dave Poulin, Andy Brickley.LW&mdash;Dave Christian, Bobby Carpenter, Randy Burridge, John Carter.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Bob Sweeney, Nevin Markwart, Peter Douris, Lyndon Byers.LD&mdash;Allen Pedersen, Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Stephane Quintal, Garry Galley, Jim Wiemer.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Beers, D, right knee surgery, indefinite.John Byce, C. left shoulder sprain, day-to-day.Gord Kluzak, D, recurring soreness in left knee, day-to-day.Chris Nilan, RW, bruised left knee, day-to-day.Michael Thelven, D, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely, Poulin, 3. A&mdash;Bourque, Wesley, 4. P&mdash;Bourque, Wesley, 5. PIM&mdash;Pedersen. 10. &#9632;

NILAN’S ‘HOMECOMING’ A MEMORABLE OCCASION

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Suddenly, a large portion of the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; locker room leadership during the 1980s is wearing the stars and stripes of the Washington Capitals.Goalie Mike Liut, a powerful, outspoken voice in the dressing room, was traded to the Caps at last March&rsquo;s trading deadline.And in the days leading to the opening of the 1990-91 regular season, Dave Tippett and Joel Quenneville were sent to Landover, too.This leaves Ron Francis, who arrived in 1981, as the only player on the Whalers&rsquo; roster from before the 1984-85 season.&ldquo;There always were changes, but you look around now and you really see a different Whaler locker room,&rdquo; said Quenneville. &ldquo;Holy moley, all us old guys are with the Caps.&rdquo;The deal for Tippett, 29, was consumated at 4:55 p.m. on Sept. 31, five minutes before the roster deadline was set for the waiver draft. The price was a sixth-round draft pick in 1992.The Whalers did nothing on the annual waiver day, but late in the night on Oct. 2 Johnston sent Quenneville to the Caps for future considerations. Quenneville had been tendered a termination contract in June, left unprotected and unselected in the waiver draft and was prepared to be sent to the Springfield Indians of the American League. He basically had no shot at making the Whalers&rsquo; defense. Quenneville, 32, however, wasn&rsquo;t ready to retire.With Randy Cunneyworth, Mikael Andersson, Todd Krygier, Yvon Corriveau and Paul Cyr on the left side and rookie center Bobby Holik potentially slipping over there, Tippett became, in the Whalers&rsquo; minds, marketable.&ldquo;We needed more production from our left wing,&rdquo; said Whalers&rsquo; general manager Ed Johnston. &ldquo;We have a lot of players at that position, but we needed more scoring. It came down to Tippett and Cyr. We went for Cyr.&rdquo;Cyr, who missed 159 successive games the last two seasons with the New York Rangers because of two knee operations, arrived in Hartford as a tryout without a contract. Before being traded to the Rangers, Cyr played six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres&mdash;where he had 20-goal seasons in 1984-85 and &rsquo;85-86. Cyr, 26, impressed the Whalers&rsquo; brass enough to merit a one-year deal on Sept. 31.&ldquo;All the good things Tippy brings to a team cannot be found when you look at the team on a piece of paper,&rdquo; said Quenneville, who joined the Whalers in 1983 with Richie Dunn in a trade that sent Mickey Volcan to Calgary.&ldquo;Tippy is a such a quality guy and has had been such a credit to the franchise and city that I thought there&rsquo;d be a lot more interest,&rdquo; Johnston said.&ldquo;I had heard some things about a trade in recent days, but it wasn&rsquo;t Washington,&rdquo; said Tippett, who signed with the Whalers from the Canadian Olympic team in 1984. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very disappointed to be leaving, but I&rsquo;m also glad to be going somewhere where I can get a chance and they want me.&ldquo;I scored a goal on my last shift against the Rangers (a 6-3 exhibition win Sept. 29) and, in the locker room after, I thought, this might be it.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 2: Daryl Reaugh, G, assigned to Springfield (AHL).Oct 3:Joel Quenneville, D, traded to Washington for future considerations.Oct. 7: Jim McKenzie, LW, assigned to Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Dean Evason, Ray Ferraro, Carey Wilson.LW&mdash;Todd Krygier, Paul Cyr, Randy Cunneyworth, Yvon Corriveau.RW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Scott Young, Kevin Dineen, Bobby Holik.LD&mdash;Adam Burt, Randy Ladouceur, Grant Jennings.RD&mdash;Dave Babych, Sylvain Cote, Ulf Samuelsson, Brad Shaw.G&mdash;Kay Whitmore. Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mikael Andersson, LW, flu, day-to-day.Ed Kastellc, RW, cracked rib, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, Dineen, 2. A&mdash;Francis, 3. P&mdash;Francis, 4. PIM&mdash;Cunneyworth, 15. &#9632;

VETERAN LEADERS HEADING SOUTH

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>The Quebec Nordiques are learning firsthand evolution is a slow and sometimes painful process.Under the new regime of general manager a Pierre Page, coach Dave Chambers, and assistants Jacques Martin and Robbie Ftorek, the rewards are plentiful if you give it your best shot. Lackadaisical play, on the other hand, is met with controlled fury.During training camp, Page and company, unfamiliar with the talent at their disposal, doled out relatively little criticism.But, after the last pre-season game, Page had seen enough. Provincial rival Montreal Canadiens&rsquo;&rdquo;B&rdquo; team, playing without Denis Savard, Stephane Richer, Shayne Corson and Guy Carbonneau, annihilated the Nords 7-3.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t accept so poor an effort from players who finished dead last a year ago,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s as if they didn&rsquo;t understand their situation. Or as if they didn&rsquo;t want to understand.&ldquo;Players are going to find out the hard way k that we are sick and tired of their attitude. A few of them will see their career pass in front of their eyes. I hope, for them, that they wake up fast.&rdquo;The first casualty of Page&rsquo;s wrath was defenseman Mario Marois. Left unprotected by the Nords, he was picked up by the St. Louis Blues in the Oct. 1 waiver draft.Page, meanwhile, seemed to be the league&rsquo;s only GM hard at work on waiver draft day, as he claimed three players&mdash;Chicago&rsquo;s Wayne Van Dorp, Minnesota&rsquo;s Aaron Broten and Washington&rsquo;s Shawn Anderson.Van Dorp, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound bruiser, was the first player claimed, but didn&rsquo;t see action right away because of a torn muscle in his right shoulder.Anderson, 22, who ended up in Quebec after a four-year stay in the Buffalo organization and a few hours with the Capitals, is a young player who never really developed into the top prospect he was touted as being. The fifth pick overall in the 1986 entry draft, Anderson could earn a regular spot on the Nords&rsquo; power play.Broten, the last of the three claims, is a veteran center Page grew fond of when the two were in Minnesota last season.The day after the draft. Jeff Jackson and liro Jarvi were sent down to Halifax of the American League and the following day it was goaltender Ron Tugnutt&rsquo;s turn to leave for the Maritimes.&ldquo;We simply couldn&rsquo;t keep three goalies with us,&rdquo; said Chambers, who will go with rookie John Tanner and Scott Gordon for now.Also not working to his expected level was center Claude Loiselle. After the Nords&rsquo; first game of the regular season&mdash;a 3-3 tie in Hartford that Loiselle watched from the press box&mdash;the veteran had it out with Page. The result was a return trip to Quebec for Loiselle while his teammates headed for Boston.And just what did Page want Loiselle to do in Quebec?&ldquo;Frankly, I don&rsquo;t give a damn,&rdquo; said Page.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 1: Mario Marois, D, claimed by St. Louis in waiver draft. Wayne Van Dorp, LW, claimed from Chicago in waiver draft. Shawn Anderson, D, claimed from Washington in waiver draft. Aaron Broten, C, claimed from Minnesota in waiver draft.Oct. 2: Jeff Jackson, LW, liro Jarvi, RW, and Jamie Baker, C, assigned to Halifax (AHL).Oct. 3: Ron Tugnutt, G, assigned to Halifax.Oct. 4: Brent Severyn, D, recalled from Halifax.Oct. 7: Severyn assigned to Halifax.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic, Marc Fortier, Ken McRae, Aaron Broten, Tony Hrkac, Claude Loiselle. Lucien Deblois.LW&mdash;Tony McKegney, Mike Hough, Dan Vin-celette.RW&mdash;Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Guy Lafleur. Darin Kimble.LD&mdash;Joe Cirella, Craig Wolanin, Curtis Les-chyshyn, Shawn Anderson.RD&mdash;Michel Petit, Randy Velischek, Steven Finn, Bryan Fogarty.G&mdash;John Tanner. Scott Gordon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Daniel Dore. RW, back spasms, day-to-day.Paul Gillis, C, right shoulder separation, indefinite.Stephane Guerard. D. strained right shoulder, indefinite.Everett Sanlpass, LW, fractured left foot, indefinite.Wayne Van Dorp. LW, tom muscle in right shoulder, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Six players tied with one. A&mdash;Hrkac. 4 P&mdash;Hrkac, 4. PIM&mdash;Finn, 23. &#9632;

ANGRY PAGE BEGINS HIS PROMISED PURGE

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>The captain of the Buffalo Sabres is in limbo.For Mike Foligno, it was a difficult place to be.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to go that&rsquo;s all I can say,&rdquo; Foligno said before the season opening 3&mdash;3 tie with the Montreal Canadiens in Memorial Auditorium Oct. 4. &ldquo;I feel good and I&rsquo;m ready. I&rsquo;ll just wait for my chance I guess. We have a good team and I have to have patience. You have to have patience if you&rsquo;re going to take on this type of a role.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough position for me to be in. I&rsquo;m not used to it. It&rsquo;s my first time.&rdquo;Foligno was healthy and ready to play the opener. He did play the second game of the season, a 6-5 loss at Montreal Oct. 6, but missing the home opener, or any opener, was a first for the 31-year-old veteran.Buffalo iced a right side that was made up of Rick Vaive, Alexander Mogilny, Dave Snuggerud and Rob Ray. The day after the opener, Ray was assigned to Rochester of the American League and Foligno dressed in his place.The situation was reminiscent of a scene two seasons ago when then captain Lindy Ruff was scratched from a lineup by then coach Ted Sator. Several days after that incident Ruff resigned as captain. Shortly thereafter he was traded to the New York Rangers. VFrom that moment on the question of who&rsquo;s captain of the Buffalo Sabres has always been a touchy one. The move also rekindled memories of a strange incident in Montreal last spring when Sabres&rsquo; coach Rick Dudley publicly chastised himself for not making a player move he said he wanted to make before a series-ending loss to the Canadiens.Dudley never revealed the name of the player he wanted to take out of the lineup, but acknowledged it was a &ldquo;popular veteran&rdquo;. The cryptic remark caused a stir at season&rsquo;s end as it was widely viewed as Dudley being overruled by general manager Gerry-Meehan. Both men have denied that&rdquo; was the case.Dudley said he spoke briefly with Foligno about the decision not to dress him but then turned the matter over to associate coach John VanBoxmeer.&ldquo;We spoke briefly but then I had to leave,&rdquo; Dudley said.&ldquo;We had different looks on the rest of the lines. That&rsquo;s subject to change of course, but we wanted a line that could change the tempo and that was the Loewen line (Darcy Loewen centering for right winger Ray and left winger Mike Hartman) and weg wanted a line that could play outstanding defense and that was the Ruuttu. line (Christian Ruuttu centering for right winger Dave Snuggerud and left winger Darrin Shannon).&rdquo;&ldquo;I talked to Mike the other day and he seemed to accept it. I don&rsquo;t know what he said (to the media), but he seemed to take it. Mike&rsquo;s a pro.&rdquo;<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 1: Shawn Anderson, D, traded to Washington for Bill Houlder, D. Mike Donnelly, LW, traded to Los Angeles for Mikko Makela. LW.Oct. 3: Kevin Haller, D. Bob Corkum, RW, Dale DeGray, D, assigned to Rochester (AHL).Oct. 4: Jiri Sejba, LW, Bill Houlder, D, assigned to Rochester.Oct. 5: Rob Ray, RW, assigned to Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Dale Hawerchuk, Christian Ruuttu, Benoit Hogue, Darcy Loewen, John Tucker.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Darrin Shannon, Mike Hartman. Mikko Makela.RW&mdash;Alexander Mogilny, Mike Foligno, Rick Vaive. Dave Snuggerud, Robert Ray.LD&mdash;Doug Bodger. Mike Ramsey, Jay Wells, Doug Ledyard.RD&mdash;Greg Brown, Uwe Krupp, Dean Kennedy.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Clint Malarchuk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brad May LW, ligament damage left knee, nine weeks.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Vaive, 2. A&mdash;Ruuttu, 3. P&mdash;Ruuttu, 3. PIM&mdash;Hogue, 6. &#9632;

FALIGNO UNCERTAIN ABOUT ROLE WITH TEAM

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02146/5857886-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Long before Ted Hampson, left, and Bob Plager became St. Louis Blues&rsquo; front-office teammates, they battled in this early 1970s game. Hampson, then captain of the California Seals, now is director of scouting for the Blues, while Plager is coach of the Blues&rsquo; farm team in Peoria.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div>It took 11 years for the NHL to gain five members to the exclusive 1,000 point club after Gordie Howe was the inaugural member.Now there might be that many new members this season alone.Howe started the club in 1960 with Bobby Hull joining the fraternity in 1971. Last season, Peter Stastny, Jari Kurd and Denis Savard brought the club membership up to 26.There are five players who are within range of the 1,000 point milestone this season. Mario Lemieux, sidelined with back woes, had a shot but with missing up to three months of the season and facing a 162-point hurdle it&rsquo;s not likely.The following chart lists the players who are within range of significant milestones, their current team and how many goals or points they need for the milestone.<h2>MILESTONE MEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03113/5857931-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="859" height="654"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0479/5857924-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="853" height="666"></div><h2>MOVING ON UP</h2>Some players have other relative milestones in their sights this season.Paul Coffey is within range of all-time marks in goals, assists and points for defensemen. Bryan Trotti could move into sixth spot on the all-time points list. Guy Lafleur could move into eighth spot on the points list and seventh on the all-time goals list.The following chart lists the players who could move up in the rankings, their teams, current goals, assists or points and how many they need to move up.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0559/5857917-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="878" height="314"></div> &#9632;

f0047-03

PLAYERS HAVE MILES TO GO

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div>Patrick Roy, the highest-paid Montreal Canadien ever, found out fast he&rsquo;s going to earn every penny this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here for six years and I&rsquo;ve never seen it that open for one period. I&rsquo;m not used to that type of came.&rdquo; said the Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender after Montreal&rsquo;s 6-5 run-and-gun win over the Buffalo Sabres at the Forum opener Oct. 6.&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the way we&rsquo;re going to play,&rdquo; Roy said,&rdquo;I&rsquo;ll have to adjust.I told the guys to give me a call before they decide to have another period like that.&rdquo;Roy, who signed a four-year contract Oct. 2 that will pay him more than $l-million a season, knew there&rsquo;d be nights like these.The Canadiens are a team in transition, breaking in a young defensive corps (average age 22 years, nine months) while putting more emphasis on offence.The middle 20 minutes of the win over the Sabres was a perfect example as Montreal star right winger Stephane Richer and center Denis Savard were running wild and the Montreal defense was just running around.The Habs and Sabres combined for seven goals in that period, about a months worth last year when the two clubs were on their way to finishing second and third in the league in team defense.And the fans loved it.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen them that excited since we won the Stanley Cup in 1986,&rdquo; said Richer. &ldquo;We looked up in the stands and they were going crazy.&rdquo;&ldquo;You wanted a show, you got z show,&rdquo; said Montreal captain Guy Carbonneau.And the highlight of the show for most of the fans, judging by their reaction, was seeing Savard score his first goal in a Canadiens&rsquo; jersey, a short-handed effort that tied the game 4-4 at 13:07 of the second.&ldquo;Nothing was working for me be fore that goal,&rdquo; said Savard who wat given a standing ovation by the Forun faithful during the pre-game introduc tions.&ldquo;I was as nervous as I am in the playoffs. My legs felt like lead.&rdquo;His teammates helped deliver the win, but there were few point, awarded by coach Pat Bums for the game&rsquo;s artistic merit.&ldquo;It was exciting for the spectators but let&rsquo;s not get carried away,&rdquo; hi said. &ldquo;I saw some serious errors oi the part of our defensemen. The; were visibly nervous.&rdquo;<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 2: Patrick Roy, G, signed four-year contract. Martin Desjardins, C, assigned to Fredericton (AHL).Oct. 3: Jesse Belanger, C, signed two-year contract. Brent Gilchrist, C, signed two-year contract.Oct. 5: Jean-Claude Bergeron, G, assigned to Fredericton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Stephan Lebeau, Andrew Cassels.LW&mdash;Mark Pederson. Mike McPhee, Brent Gilchrist, Ryan Walter.RW&mdash;Stephane Richer, Russ Courtnall, Todd Ewen. Mike Keane. Tom Chorske.LD&mdash;Sylvain Lefebvre, Petr Svoboda, Donald Dufresne, Lyle Odelein.RD&mdash;Gerald Diduck. Matt Schneider, Eric Desjardins, J.J. DaigneaultG&mdash;Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Benoit Brunet, LW. strained knee ligaments, indefinite.Shayne Corson, LW, cut chin, day-to-daySylvain Turgeon, LW, hernia surgery indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Richer, 3. A&mdash;Lebeau. Svoboda, 3 P&mdash;Richer, 4. PIM&mdash;Ewen, 7. &#9632;

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October 19, 1990

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