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.

January 18, 1991

The Hockey News January 18, 1991

Quebec&rsquo;s Joe Sakic has supplied a major portion of his team&rsquo;s offense this season. Through Jan. I, he had a point in 46.9 per cent of the team&rsquo;s goals, tops in the NHL. Rounding out the top five: the Kings&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky. 45 percent; the Islanders&rsquo; Pat LaFontaine, 39.8 per cent; Chicago&rsquo;s Steve Larmer, 39.7 per cent; and St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull, 38.4 per cent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02223/5906052-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="711" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NUMBERS

<h2>FLAMES</h2>Sergei Makarov, who came under a lot of heat for his indifferent play in the first half, responded to the attacks by scoring his first NHL hat trick in a 7-0 win over Detroit Jan. 5. Makarov scored four points in a game four different times this year. Discussing his three-goal night, Makarov said: &ldquo;I needed it. Two years here and no hat tricks.&rdquo; Flames&rsquo; coach Doug Risebrough said: &ldquo;Negative media has very little effect on him. He&rsquo;s a proud guy. He wants to show people he can play.&rdquo;&hellip;With an assist in a 3-3 tie with Winnipeg Jan. 2, defenseman Al Maclnnis tied Kent Nilsson atop the Flames&rsquo; all-time scoring list. Both players had 562 points through Jan. 6&hellip;The Flames reached the midpoint of their season with 48 points or four more than a year ago under coach Terry Crisp. Considering they changed two coaches and introduced six new regulars into the lineup, they were satisfied with their progress.<h2>KINGS</h2>Scoring the decisive goal in the Kings&rsquo; 4-2 victory in Toronto Jan. 5 gave John Tonelli more satisfaction than any of his three previous gamewinners. The 33-year-old left winger had promised to score a goal for 7-year-old R.J. Waddle earlier in the day. R.J., a cousin of Tonelli&rsquo;s wife, Karen, was diagnosed as having leukemia within the past year. The wheelchair-bound youngster, who lives in Toronto, visited the dressing room and was given an autographed stick following the morning skate. &ldquo;We were getting ready to leave when (owner) Bruce McNall said, &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t you be like the Babe and pot a goal for him?&rsquo;,&rdquo; Tonelli said. Legend has it that Babe Ruth promised an ailing Chicago child he&rsquo;d hit a home run for him during the 1932 World Series. He supposedly called his shot before homering off Cubs&rsquo; pitcher Charlie Root. &ldquo;I told R.J. I&rsquo;d try to put one in the top right comer,&rdquo; said Tonelli, who drove a slap shot in off goalie Peter Ing&rsquo;s glove at 9:58 of the second period. &ldquo;I just feel lucky I was able to do something like that,&rdquo; Tonelli said.<h2>CANUCKS</h2>Hard-luck Jim Agnew suffered another serious injury to his left knee&mdash;the third time in less than a year the 24-year-old defenseman has suffered ligament damage. Agnew, playing his third game in three nights for the International League&rsquo;s Milwaukee Admirals, was injured Jan. 6 against Muskegon. He had been sent to Milwaukee for conditioning purposes after missing 17 games earlier this season with the Canucks because of his second knee injury. Agnew stepped in to help teammate Dave Mackey in a fight with Muskegon&rsquo;s Paul Laus, shifted his weight, and the knee gave out. &ldquo;It was just stupid of me,&rdquo; said a despondent Agnew, who underwent surgery after he damaged the knee for the first time playing with the Canucks last March&hellip;Right winger Andrew McBain, who was waived through the NHL, scored five goals in his first three games after being sent to Milwaukee Jan. 2. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for me to believe that nobody wants me,&rdquo; McBain said. &ldquo;But maybe some teams can&rsquo;t justify taking a guy with my contract ($250,000 US) because I haven&rsquo;t played much this year, and I realize it&rsquo;s a &lsquo;what have you done for me lately&rsquo; business.&rdquo; McBain, who scored 32 and 37, goals with Winnipeg prior to last season before being moved to Pittsburgh, scored four goals in 26 games with the Canucks last season and had no goals and five assists in 12 games this season.<h2>OILERS</h2>Wearing his new knee brace, Mark Messier flew east with the Oilers Jan. 6 on their six-game road trip and may see duty down the line. &ldquo;If everything goes well, I&rsquo;ll maybe try to zero in on next weekend (either Jan. 12 in New Jersey or the 13th in Philadelphia),&rdquo; said Messier, who initially felt he wouldn&rsquo;t play prior to the All-Star Game Jan. 19 in Chicago&hellip;Defenseman Charlie Huddy, who didn&rsquo;t accompany the Oilers on their recent road trip, still has a way to go. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not really slow, it was just pretty bad to start with&hellip;a lot worse than I figured,&rdquo; explained Huddy of his sprained right ankle suffered Dec. 22 in Calgary. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting better, but for a couple of days there, nothing seemed to be happening. Even when I come back to play, it&rsquo;s probably going to hurt for the rest of the year. I&rsquo;ll probably have to play with it taped-,&hellip;&rdquo;The Oilers recorded their miles-tone 500th franchise victory with a 4-1 win over Calgary Dec. 27.<h2>JETS</h2>Headed for his first game against ex-teammates in Buffalo Jan. 4, defenseman Phil Housley said he was glad it was the Jets&rsquo; 44th and not fourth game of the season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably better this way,&rdquo; Housley said of the game which was a 4-1 Sabres&rsquo; win. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotten a chance to play with Winnipeg and gotten a chance to know the guys a lot more. The guys are great here and now that we&rsquo;re starting to play better, it makes life and the atmosphere a lot better-.&rdquo;&hellip;Coach Bob Murdoch&rsquo;s game practise is to wear a tie with some red in it. He had to answer a few questions about his plaid neckwear after a 2-1 win over Vancouver Dec. 31. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the Murdoch tartan,&rdquo; he chuckled. &ldquo;No jokes. It was a gift. I had to wear it. I can&rsquo;t believe you guys. Even a good Scotsman over there (center Dave McLlwain) is laughing at it.&rdquo;&hellip;The Jets had played a league-high 30 games against clubs with winning records&hellip;Only Detroit (three) had fewer road victories than Winnipeg (4-14-5). &#9632;

THE NHL

MAKAROV NETS THREE TO SILENCE CRITICS

Team Canada. Flat goaltending, too many grinders, a porous defense: According to all the coaches in the media and on the streets, the Canadians had too many shortcomings. That is until Finland salvaged a dramatic tie with the Soviets giving Canada the opportunity to capture gold. Just another pat on the back for the lads for overcoming adversity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021198/5904095-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="376" height="364"></div>Team USA. Last year in Finland, the Americans were a heartbeat away from the &lsquo;B&rsquo; pool. This year, they could very easily have finished in the medals. Led by the tournament&rsquo;s top scorer, Lake Superior center Doug Weight, Team USA likely deserved a better fate than fourth place.Radio station KSD-FM. The St. Louis outlet&rsquo;s stunt to auction off the tip of Paul Cavallini&rsquo;s finger went beyond bad taste&mdash;it was downright disgusting. To make light of a careerthreatening injury illustrated a severe lack of sensitivity. Thankfully, both the radio station and the hospital took action against the individuals behind the incident.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03789/5904088-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="380" height="365"></div>The All-Star Game selection process. It&rsquo;s become a farce. Wales Conference coach Mike Milbury names tough guy Chris Nilan ahead of infinitely superior players. Kevin Hatcher winds up 13th among Wales defensemen in fan balloting. Shouldn&rsquo;t the league&rsquo;s GMs or even the media select the teams? &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

CHEERS JEERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021003/5904233-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="548" height="1203"></div><h2>JOE NIEUWENDYK</h2>Born: Sept. 10, 1966, Oshawa, Ont. Height: 6-foot-1. Weight: 195-pounds. Team: Calgary Flames. Position: Center. Acquired: Calgary&rsquo;s 2nd choice, 27th overall, in 1985 entry draft.Career highlight: &ldquo;Winning the Stanley Cup two years ago. It was a great feeling for all of us, and it was a fitting way for Lanny MacDonald to end his career.&rdquo;Biggest disappointment: &ldquo;Not breaking Mike Bossy&rsquo;s record for rookie goal scorers. I was so close, but I got shut out at the end. I guess I was trying too hard and it hurt my chances.&rdquo;Most respected opponent: &ldquo;The Edmonton Oilers. There&rsquo;s such a strong rivalry in Alberta and you get the feeling they all know how to win. I&rsquo;ve played with some of them at the All-Star Game and they seem to have winning aura about them.Most respected player: &ldquo;Mark Messier. He&rsquo;s the strongest player I&rsquo;ve played against and he does everything well.&rdquo;Toughest goalie to score on: &ldquo;Mike Richter. We spent an entire summer on the ice at Cornel], and he robbed me all the time. He still does now.&rdquo;If he was NHL president for a day: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d shut down the entire league for one week during the season. The all-star break isn&rsquo;t enough. For guys like Gretzky, there aren&rsquo;t any breaks.On life in the NHL: &ldquo;I love it. I really enjoy the travel and it&rsquo;s a fun way of life. I wasn&rsquo;t disappointed with anything.&rdquo;Biggest influence: &ldquo;I guess most people would say their parents, and I can&rsquo;t disagree. They&rsquo;ve always let me make my own decisions and didn&rsquo;t push me to play in the NHL. I still ask for their advice.&rdquo; &#9632;

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PRO FILE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01875/5907067-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVEN RICE CELEBRATES AFTER TEAM CANADA WIN</figcaption></div>COLLECTORS WORLD: RED-HOT RICCI AN ACE FOR FLYERSREMEMBERING WHEN NHL&rsquo;S HEROES WENT TO WAR - PAGE 40NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR ALL-STAR BLACKHAWK PAGES 7, 17SABRES TOUGH IN CRUNCH PAGE 9TEAM CANADA JUNIORS ANSWER CRITICS WITH SECOND STRAIGHT TITLE - PAGE 8 &#9632;

Cover-01

GOOD AS GOLD

<h2>QUOTABLE</h2>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting sick and tired of guys whining about contracts. Every time I turn around, there&rsquo;s somebody crying.&rdquo;&mdash;Edmonton general manager Glen Sather, on how he deals with players&rsquo; contract disputes. Page 21.&ldquo;The way people reacted, it was like I shot the Pope or something.&rdquo;&mdash;Montreal coach Pat Bums, on the media reaction following his benching of Guy Carbon-neau. Page 40. &#9632;

THIS WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011314/5904002-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="518" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB McKENZIE</figcaption></div>There is a theory that has been making the rounds for the past few years and the time has come to put it to rest.It goes something like this: Hockey confrontations between the Soviet Union and Canada are not as desirable as they once were because they fail to spark the same emotional response in Canadian fans.This, we are told, is because there are so many Soviets in the NHL and so many meetings between clubs from the two countries. Familiarity has apparently bred not contempt, but civility.Admittedly, many hockey fans in Canada have grown weary of anything Soviet related. When an NHL team signs a Soviet, it&rsquo;s just another blurb in the notes column of the daily newspaper. And generally, there is nothing more uninteresting than the mis-named Super Series pitting NHL clubs against Soviet club teams.But to make a sweeping generalization that all Soviet-Canadian confrontations aren&rsquo;t what they used to be is an unforgivable error.The 1991 World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan say otherwise. So do last year&rsquo;s in Finland. Ditto for the 1987 Canada Cup.Fact is, when there is something valuable on the line&mdash;namely, a world championship&mdash;there is no finer way to celebrate the game of hockey than with a Soviet-Canadian match.Games between the best from Canada and the best from the Soviet Union inevitably provide superb hockey, better than anything else you will see in the NHL, including the Stanley Cup playoffs.Just ask the more than 11,000 at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon Jan. 4. Even if Canada had lost that game and finished fourth instead of first, fans would still admit it was something special.We don&rsquo;t fear and loathe the Soviets as we once did. So what? Does that make the game on the ice any less entertaining or appreciated?Somewhere along the line we have lost sight of what&rsquo;s important. From 1972 through 1987, we mistakenly believed the attraction was tied to an emotional spark fueled by creating a good vs. evil atmosphere.Forced to abandon that pretense, we discover that the game is the thing. And no one plays it better against each other than the Soviets and Canadians.To know the Soviets is to appreciate them. This year&rsquo;s entry at the WJC was, as always, a talented bunch, a pure joy to watch.Their skills are awesome. Nevertheless, the Soviets gave away the gold medal by falling short against Sweden in 1990 (a 5-5 tie) and Finland in 1991 (another 5-5 tie).While the chasm between the elite (Canada and the Soviet Union) and the rest of the world&rsquo;s hockey-playing nations has closed dramatically in recent years, it is still the Soviets who drive Canadians to be better.Fear and loathing has, thankfully, been replaced by understanding and respect. If not, shame on you.It is, however, a good thing that Canada has won most of the crucial confrontations (1987 Canada Cup, 1988, 1990 and 1991 WJCs) of the past few years. We are, for the most part, horrible losers. Had this year&rsquo;s national junior team not gotten a huge break from the Finns and not played well enough to beat the Soviets, it would have gotten ugly.But miraculously, Canada struck gold and all Canadians understand the ground rules&mdash;you can&rsquo;t do an autopsy on a patient who has come back from the dead. Winners don&rsquo;t have to answer questions.But as the Soviets left SaskPlace that night graciously in defeat, I couldn&rsquo;t help feeling that their outlook on the game is more reasonable than ours.That a defeat is just that, a defeat. Not a national crisis. Not the end of the world as we know it. And not a mortal wound for nationalism.The Soviets will be back, as early as the fall, when the world&rsquo;s premier hockey event, the Canada Cup, is played.And if you happen to fall into that faction who believes the Canadian-Soviet magic has disappeared, do me a favor.Gimmee your tickets.Bob McKenzie is editor-in-chief of The Hockey News. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

NOTHING COMPARES TO CANADA VS. SOVIETS

Congratulations to one of the NHL&rsquo;s new members&mdash;the Ottawa Senators. You definitely earned your place in hockey&rsquo;s best league.As THN said in its Dec. 21 issue, &ldquo;Ottawa&rsquo;s bid for a franchise was first class in every respect.&rdquo;Well, almost every respect.In designing their uniforms, the Senators copied a current NHL squad&rsquo;s jerseys. To add insult to injury, they used the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; eyesore as their example.To put it mildly, the Oilers&rsquo; uniforms are unsightly. They lack flair. Watching a solar eclipse does less damage to the eyes.Ottawa, you should have carried your polish a little further and de-signed your own, distinctive uniforms.Greg Hare &nbsp;St. Paul. Alta.<h2>QUIT WAILING</h2>Jeff Jacobs&rsquo; Hartford-Boston rivalry story (THN, Dec. 7) is a classic case of biased reporting. It is loaded with exaggerated acts of violence by Bruin players inflicted upon the precious &ldquo;Wailers&rdquo;.I find it odd that Hartford general manager Ed Johnston was never too eager to fight anyone when he was a second-rate goaltender, but now that he can hide behind a suit and tie, he wants to punch Bruin coach Mike Milbury in the mouth.And I&rsquo;m really broken-hearted that Kevin Dineen doesn&rsquo;t like the fans in Boston. (Are there any fans in Hartford or are those just paper cut-outs in the seats?)The Hartford Whalers, Ed Johnston and Jeff Jacobs were made for one another; all three are unprofessional at what they do. They could learn a lesson from the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers&mdash;these teams have class and don&rsquo;t throw tantrums when they lose.Brian W. King S. Dartmouth, Mass.<h2>CHEAP SHOT</h2>When it comes to &ldquo;NHL worsts&rdquo;, I didn&rsquo;t think anything would top a Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; fan until I began reading Stan Fischler&rsquo;s columns.Calling Quebec Nordique netmin-der Ron Tugnutt a sieve (THN, Dec. 14), is crude but typical of Fischler who obviously doesn&rsquo;t know hockey exists beyond the Statue of Liberty. As fine as goaltenders John Vanbies-brouck and Mike Richter are, I&rsquo;m sure their results behind the young and mistake-prone Nordiques would prove that Tugnutt deserves praise for his improvement and relative consistency this season.Also, calling Bobby Orr a greedy, point-grubbing defenseman is a comment I&rsquo;ve come to expect from this Ranger fan-writer who will see a Stanley Cup in Manhattan only after Terry or Bryan Murray wins one.Mark McLeod Saint John, N.B.<h2>STAN&rsquo;S RIGHT</h2>I must be going senile. After 60 years of paying my dues to hockey&mdash;physically and mentally&mdash;I am agreeing with Stan Fischler.His column (THN, Dec. 7) about the league&rsquo;s promotion problems hit the nail right on the head.In fact, I will go him one better. I believe the nets should go back to being solidly entrenched in the ice. Then, if the likes of Glenn Anderson and those other goalie goons still want to charge the net, they will wind up with a split lip or two.Like all sports, hockey must have a rhythm or flow. That rhythm is being destroyed by all the holding, tripping and nets being knocked off their magnets, which in turn is destroying the league.Ron Stubbington Windsor. Ont.<h2>NO LOOB?</h2>I was shocked at the absence of Hakan Loob&rsquo;s name in Eric Duhats-chek&rsquo;s story about the lack of character on the Calgary Flames (THN, Dec. 14).Loob had the most heart and determination of any European player I&rsquo;ve seen. He was an excellent two-way player who gave his all, game in and game out.Sergei Makarov, on the other hand, sees no need to backcheck; he&rsquo;ll just go play for the Soviets at the World Championships when Calgary loses in the first round of the playoffs.Marco Pacione Calgary, Alta.<h2>PAT BACKER</h2>I would like to know why in the last three editions of &ldquo;Year in Photos&rdquo;, you have not printed a single picture featuring New York Islander Pat LaFontaine.You have passed over one of the game&rsquo;s young superstars, yet have found room to feature Russians, drug addicts and goons.I guess being an outstanding hockey player who sets a perfect example for our youngsters isn&rsquo;t newsworthy enough to make your yearly high-lights.Thomas Lener Peekskill. N. Y.<h2>AIR WAVES</h2>I live in Atlanta. Tonight I get to watch Western Michigan at Michigan hockey, but no NHL games are available.Get hockey back on ESPN or another national network and I promise to make road trips to Tampa Bay for live action.Jon Bernstein Atlanta, Ga.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to: Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;or fax us at&nbsp;(416) 445-0753. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

SENATOR UNIFORM DESIGN A MISTAKE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011473/5904057-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011473/5904147-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="867" height="588"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021335/5904140-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="488" height="248"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031128/5904133-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="570" height="776"></div>Goalies Bill Ranford of the Edmonton Oilers and Daniel Berthiaume of the Los Angeles Kings were named NHL Pro Set Players of the Week for the periods ending Dec. 30 and Jan. 6 respectively.Berthiaume registered three straight road wins, a 2.00 goals-againsl-average and a .943 save percentage. He faced 106 shots during the week, edging Washington Capitals&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Hatcher and New York Islanders&rsquo; center Pat LaFontaine.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04939/5904126-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="548" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Berthiaume</figcaption></div>Ranford had similar numbers the previous week-three straight wins, a 2.00 GAA and 942 save percentage. He faced 103 shots and edged Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; right winger Paul MacDer-mid and Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; goalie Tom Barrasso.Throughout the 1990-91 NHL season, Pro Set, Inc. will donate $500 to the youth hockey organization designated by the Player of the Week. Pro Set will also contribute $1,000 on behalf of the Player of the Month and $7,500 for the Player of the Year Award. As a first-year sponsor of these NHL awards. Pro Set is contributing over $26,000 to youth hockey organizations across North America.Berthiaume began the week-long road trip in Minnesota where he led his club to a 4-2 win over the North Stars (Dec. 31). &#9632;

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NHL PRO SET SPOTLIGHT

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The Calgary Flames&rsquo; failure to run away with the Smythe Division&mdash;as many critics predicted&mdash;has caused some controversy. A lack of leadership has been cited by the media, particularly by Hockey Night In Canada commentator John Garrett (who was subsequently blasted by coach Doug Risebrough). Penguins&rsquo; coach Bob Johnson has also noticed a problem. &ldquo;The Flames could use (retired) Jim Peplinski,&rdquo; says Johnson, who coached Calgary to the 1986 Stanley Cup finals. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 30, but Pepper could help any team in the league.&rdquo; Johnson says he tried to talk Peplinski out of retirement but he said no. Johnson says the Flames haven&rsquo;t recovered from the loss of Lanny McDonald and Peplinski.<h2>PETIT PROBLEM</h2>Former Nordique Michel Petit has received a bum rap in Quebec after a report quoted him as saying the Nordiques unloaded him in order to finish last and get Eric Lindros. Petit says he was set up. &ldquo;I was upset when I was traded by Quebec,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d be part of their rebuilding program. Instead, they trade me. Then this reporter comes over and says, &lsquo;Do you think you were traded because they want Lindros?&rsquo; So, I said, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I have no idea what they&rsquo;re trying to do, but if that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;re trying to do, it&rsquo;s fine with me.&rsquo; Then, I said, &lsquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s better for me to be with Toronto.&rsquo; That was it. What I learned is, in Quebec, you really have to be careful. When a French guy leaves town, they put a lot of pressure on him.&rdquo;<h2>SHARK HUNT</h2>San Jose GM Jack Ferreira is coach-hunting. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve kind of made up my mind who I want,&rdquo; says Ferreira. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m going to wait until spring before I do anything.&rdquo; His choice is said to be ex-North Stars&rsquo; aide George Kingston, who once coached the University of Calgary. Ferreira is currently searching for a practice facility for the team. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking into something like what the Devils have in West Orange, N.J., and the Rangers in Rye, N.Y. I know three groups that want a rink in the area. But in the meantime, I&rsquo;m looking for one on a temporary basis.&rdquo; With training camp only eight months away, Ferreira is completing his front office staff.<h2>NO RESPECT</h2>Referees continue to bemoan the lack of respect they receive from players. Retired referee Dave Newell says the players&rsquo; indifference explains the increase in injuries. &ldquo;In the past, players would make an effort to get around you,&rdquo; Newell says.&rdquo;There was a certain level of respect. Now the players are much bigger and won&rsquo;t think twice about banging into the nearest person.&rdquo; Linesman Pat Dapuzzo agrees. He was recently clobbered by a roundhouse right tossed by Ken Baumgartner during a fight with Ed Kastelic. When the dust&mdash;and Dapuzzo&rsquo;s head&mdash;cleared, Baumgartner handed the linesman seven cents and two bags of candy which had been tossed on the ice. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s for hitting you,&rdquo; Baumgartner said. But the oneupsmanship didn&rsquo;t end there. Before an ensuing face-off, Dapuzzo skated over to Islanders&rsquo; defenseman Joe Reekie and snapped, &ldquo;My sister hits harder than Baumgartner!&rdquo;<h2>BUTTERFLY GUY</h2>Nordiques&rsquo; goaltending coach Dan Bouchard says one of the most misleading statistics is a goaltenders&rsquo; average. &ldquo;The key is save percentage,&rdquo; he says. Bouchard disagrees with Montreal counterpart Francois Allaire, who suggests in five years the best goalies will be using the &ldquo;butterfly&rdquo; style adopted by Patrick Roy, Daren Puppa and Tom Barrasso. &ldquo;I used to be a butterfly goalie,&rdquo; says Bouchard. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s a time to use that style and a time to stand up and let the puck hit you. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re teaching Stephane Fiset in Halifax. He can&rsquo;t be butterflying before the shot comes in. He has to be patient, watch and react.&rdquo; Bouchard says he realized how close the goaltending fraternity was after having brain surgery last March. &ldquo;You should&rsquo;ve seen how many goalies called me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And they were funny. One said the word is out on goaltenders&mdash;they found brains in one. I passed the test.&rdquo;<h2>SCHOOL&rsquo;S IN</h2>Shortly after his NHL suspension, Bruins&rsquo; coach Mike Milbury addressed 200 Boston children and told them his experience should be a lesson. &ldquo;If you have to stand before a judge someday,&rdquo; says Milbury, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s not going to want to hear excuses. All he&rsquo;ll want to know is what happened. It&rsquo;s something to think about.&rdquo; Milbury says coaching from the press box proved ineffectual because the distance removes the &ldquo;intensity of the moment.&rdquo; He says showing up in the dressing room afterward was &ldquo;like having an owner walk in and pat you on the back. You let him do it because you have to.&rdquo;<h2>GARRY HAPPY</h2>Ottawa&rsquo;s expansion franchise has made Bruins&rsquo; backliner Garry Galley very happy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got three pieces of property about five minutes away from where they&rsquo;re going to put up the new arena,&rdquo; he says. But Galley, who was raised in Ottawa, says he has no intentions of playing for the Senators. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy in Boston. The Bruins gave me a new life. Unlike the others (Capitals and Kings), they didn&rsquo;t look at my past. They judged me on what I could do for them. I always thought the Capitals and Kings were stupid to pass me up.&rdquo; &#9632;

FLAMES’ SUFFER WITHOUT LEADER

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>If there were any questions about Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s resolve during a turbulent and troubling season, the answer is in his limp.For more than a week, he has been walking uneasily, favoring a swollen right foot. He has applied ice packs daily. Yet the New York Islanders&rsquo; superstar hasn&rsquo;t missed a game or a step.For instance, the swelling and soreness did not prevent him from bursting past two Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defensemen for a shorthanded break-away goal Jan. 3. It didn&rsquo;t stop him from stealing the puck off the stick of Philadelphia&rsquo;s Terry Carkner for a tiebreaking breakaway goal two nights later.The injury occurred when he was slashed by a New Jersey player Dec. 27 That LaFontaine has not used it as an excuse to take a break is an even clearer sign that he is conducting business as usual, despite a contract impasse that has clouded the whole season for the center and his team.&ldquo;You have your ups and downs in your career and in a season. You just try to accept the good and the bad, and try to overcome them,&rdquo; the 25-year-old said, adding that his foot proves much less bothersome when he skates than when he walks.This whole season has been somewhat bothersome to him, however, ever since talks between his agent, Don Meehan, and Islanders&rsquo; general manager, Bill Torrey, stalled.The Islanders approached LaFontaine last May about renegotiating a contract that is to earn him $425,000 a season this year and next. LaFontaine is seeking a salary similar to that of Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman, who makes $1.5 million annually.The dispute bothered LaFontaine so much that he left the team for four days at the end of training camp, an action that later drew criticism from the team&rsquo;s Florida-based owner John Pickett.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011379/5904202-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="544" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine refuses to chide team management in public.</figcaption></div>That, in turn, rankled LaFontaine even more. Although the center said he achieved peace of mind when Meehan publicly expressed exasperation with the organization in early December, his play was seemingly affected. And LaFontaine&rsquo;s admitted frustration with the organization naturally raised questions about his level of commitment to it.Among teammates and opponents, however, those qualities never were in doubt. His spurt of four goals in three games recently also stifled un-certainty.Coach Al Arbour, a close ally of Torrey who has nonetheless walked a fine line in the dispute and hasn&rsquo;t alienated either side, has lauded LaFontaine&rsquo;s level of effort despite a recent six-game goal drought.&ldquo;The last couple of games, he&rsquo;s come out of it. That speed of his has paid off,&rdquo; said Arbour, noting that he had used LaFontaine for 11 minutes during the second period of a vital 3-2 win over the Flyers Jan. 5.Philadelphia goalie Ken Wregget, who was deked and beaten by the Islander star midway through the third period of that game, said: &ldquo;You can only stop Pat LaFontaine on a breakaway so many times.&rdquo;In fact, if any off-ice situation has slowed LaFontaine lately, it hasn&rsquo;t been concern over his contract, but the exhaustive excitement of new parenthood. Marybeth LaFontaine gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s first child, daughter Sarah Elizabeth, Nov. 9.&ldquo;He asked me if I felt the same way he&rsquo;s feeling now. Sometimes he doesn&rsquo;t have that extra step he had last year,&rdquo; said David Volek, whose daughter was bom in October, 1989. &ldquo;But the past few games, it looks like the same Patty as last year.&rdquo;A 54-goal scorer last year, LaFontaine had 24 through his first 38 games this season. He has maintained his personally strict code of civility and propriety. Aftergames, hisdiscourses are usually engaging but bland because he is wary about hurting the feelings of a teammate or angering an opponent. He will not say which Devil player slashed his foot, just as he never talked about the Penguin who caused a chip fracture in his hand last year.Yet, ironically, it is the very same code that compels him to honor his contract and play with abandon.&ldquo;There have been a lot of setbacks, some injuries here and there, but you have to accept that as part of the territory. You have to try to prepare yourself, be consistent, go out there and give it your best,&rdquo; said a player who is too polite to chide Torrey for failing to improve a team that is stuck in last place.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still frustrating to lose. That&rsquo;s still my main concern.&rdquo;Mark Herrmann covers the New York Islanders for Newsday. &#9632;

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PHYSICAL AND MENTAL BLOWS HAVEN’T SLOWED LaFONTAINE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>When John Slaney&rsquo;s deflected slap shot beat Soviet netminder Sergei Sviagin, it did more than give Canada its first back-to-back world junior titles and first WJC crown as host nation: It prevented the Soviet Union from sweeping all the major international holiday tournaments.The Red Machine continued its hockey-world domination with wins at the Izvestia tournament in Moscow, the Spengler in Davos, Switzerland and the USA Cup in Albany, N.Y.<h2>IZVESTIA TOURNEY</h2>The Soviet&rsquo;s first triumph came at the Izvestia, as they cruised to a 3-0-1 record and clinched the gold Dec. 20.National team member and New York Ranger draftee Sergei Neminchov sparked his side to victory with a two-goal one-assist performance in the deciding win (6-1) over Canada.<h2>USA CUP</h2>In Albany, Dynamo Riga, a member of the Soviet Elite League, defeated the U.S. Selects 5-2 to win the championship of the inaugural USA Cup Dec. 30 at the Knickerbocker Arena.Dynamo Riga won all four of its games in the event, which was the first international tournament hosted by USA Hockey. AIK of Sweden de-feated the Canada Selects 6-5 for third place.The U.S. Selects were 1-2-1, AIK was 1-2-1 and Canada was 1-3-0.Dynamo Riga goaltender Artur Irbe was named the tournament most valuable player with a 3.75 goals-against average. The all-tournament team: Goaltender Scott LaGrand of the U.S.; defensemen Rob Cowie of Canada and Sergei Chudinov of Dynamo Riga; forwards Oleg Znarok of Dynamo Riga, David Emma of the U.S. and Peter Hammarstrom of AIK.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011559/5904271-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="544" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Slaneys goal prevented a Soviet tournament&rsquo;s sweep.</figcaption></div>Znarok was the leading scorer in the tournament with four goals and eight points. Hammarstrom and Dean Williamson of the U.S. had four goals and seven points each. Canada&rsquo;s top scorer was John Ollson who had two goals and five points in three games.As it did in the third-round game against the U.S., Dynamo Rigo rallied in the third period to beat the Americans for the title. Igor Pavlov snapped a 2-2 tie at 5:20 and Znarok gave Dynamo Riga a 4-2 lead at 6:10. Vladimir Tysplakov completed the scoring on a breakaway against LaGrand at 17:41.In the third-round game with the U.S., Dynamo Riga recovered from a 6-3 deficit in the third period to win 8-7.Znarok led the comeback with two goals and defenseman Dmitri Zinovyev had a goal and two assists. Dynamo Riga scored twice, including the controversial tying goal, during a 4-on-3 power play. USA Hockey officials said that international rules did not permit Marty McInnis to leave the box after Znarok scored the fifth Dynamo Riga goal.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021077/5904264-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1155" height="823"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Cavallini was horrified after learning a St, Louis radio station planned to auction off his finger tip for charity.</figcaption></div>Even though McInnis&rsquo; penalty left the Americans shorthanded, the officials said international rules call for the first player in the box to be the first player out. Since David Emma was serving a coincidental double-minor for roughing, neither player was allowed to leave. Zinovyev delivered the second power-play goal 27 seconds after Znarok scored.<h2>SPENGLER CUP</h2>In Davos, Soviet Elite League member Moscow Spartak downed Canada 8-3 in the championship game of the Spengler Cup Dec. 31.Gherman Volgin, who had two goals in the contest, triggered a four-goal, second-period outburst that gave Spartak a 5-0 lead heading into the third.Canadian coach Dave King, whose team had beaten Spartak 3-2 earlier in the tournament, felt had Canada capitalized on many of its first-period opportunities, the outcome may have been different.&ldquo;It was pretty tough on the guys,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t get the reward for their efforts.&rdquo;Scoring for Team Canada were Jose Charbonneau, Randy Smith and Stephane Roy.<h2>SUPER SERIES</h2>The Red Army suffered its first loss in five games against NHL clubs when it dropped a 4-2 decision to Edmonton Jan. 6.That, coupled with Moscow Dynamo&rsquo;s 2-2 tie with New Jersey the same day, left the Soviet squads with a 7-53 record in Super Series &rsquo;90-91 with six matches to play.Netminder Kari Takko was the hero in the Oiler win, stopping all 11 shots he faced in the second period, as his teammates built a 2-0 lead. In New Jersey, left winger Zdeno Ciger scored with 11 seconds remaining to lift the Devils to a draw with Dynamo, who were 0-1-2 in their Super Series games.In other action, the Red Army downed Calgary 6-4 Jan. 4, beat Chicago 4-2 Jan. 1 and trounced the New York Rangers 6-1 on New Year&rsquo;s Eve. In its other two games, Dynamo lost to Toronto 7-4 Jan. 1, and battled Hartford to a 0-0 tie Jan. 3.<h2>SURGERY SUCCESS</h2>Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; and Sports Channel America television play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick underwent surgery for cancer of the prostate Jan. 4 at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore, Md.Surgerons deemed the operation a success and Emrick, 43, is expected to be sidelined about one month.Emrick, who teams with color man Bill Clement on Flyer broadcasts, will be temporarily replaced by Mark Zumoff.<h2>SICK GESTURE</h2>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; defenseman Paul Cavallini, who lost the tip of his left index while trying to block a Doug Wilson slap shot in a recent game, was horrified to learn a local radio station was attempting to auction his finger tip off for charity.&ldquo;It was sick,&rdquo; said Cavallini. &ldquo;I was nearly crying that people would use this as some kind of humor.&rdquo;The hospital clerk who saved the finger tip and gave it to a disc jockey has been fired, while the DJ has publicly apologized.&mdash;with files from Mike Kane and Wayne Fish<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Jan, 19-26: Minor hockey week in Canada. Each of the 12 regional branches will celebrate minor hockey by staging tournaments, clinics and banquets.Jan. 22: New Jersey at Pittsburgh. Penguins&rsquo; center Mario Lemieux, out since the beginning of the season with a back injury, is expected to return to action.Feb. 4 and 11: The Beanpot. Boston-area schools Harvard, Northeastern, Boston University and Boston College meet at the Boston Garden. &#9632;

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SOVIETS STILL DOMINANT ON WORLD SCENE

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011405/5904302-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Los Angeles left winger Luc Robitaille says playing alongside Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri in his first All-Star Game (1988) was the biggest thrill of his life.</figcaption></div>Wayne Gretzky has a secret to share about his favorite all-star memory.&ldquo;Everybody probably thinks it was the night I scored four goals (in the 1983 game at Nassau Coliseum),&rdquo; says the top scorer in hockey history, &ldquo;but my favorite all-star memory is the very first game I played in (1980). I was on the ice when they introduced Gordie Howe at Joe Louis Arena, and the crowd made noise I&rsquo;d never heard before.&ldquo;Gordie got very emotional, and I was on the other side of the ice, watching. I remember thinking, &lsquo;Wow!&rsquo; It was something. Words can&rsquo;t describe what it was like&mdash;partly because he was my idol, partly because I was such a big fan myself.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d just turned 18, and here I am, at center ice, in front of 23,000 people. And even though I was probably the youngest guy on the ice, I think every player there felt the same way. It was something that had everybody saying in their mind, &lsquo;Boy. One day I can tell my kids I was part of this.&rsquo; It was probably the greatest thing I&rsquo;ve ever seen in my career.&rdquo;That covers a tremendous amount of ground, but it is not unique. All-star selection has left many players awestruck.&ldquo;Six years ago, I just wanted to make it to the pros,&rdquo; starting Campbell Conference left winger Luc Robitaille said, &ldquo;and now I&rsquo;m at the All-Star Game again.&rdquo;Robitaille didn&rsquo;t make it to the pros until the Kings made him the 171 st pick of the 1984 draft. But he has repaid them by scoring at least 45 goals in each of his four seasons since joining the club.&ldquo;The thing I remember most about my two trips to the all-star game was my first time, when I jumped on the ice in St. Louis and saw myself playing the first shift with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri,&rdquo; said Robitaille, a starter in that 1988 game. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play with them the rest of the game, but that was the biggest thrill of my life.&rdquo;The rest of the game, Robitaille had to settle, if you will, for playing on a line with Glenn Anderson and Denis Savard. Had to settle for a couple of goals, too.&ldquo;They made it easy,&rdquo; Robitaille said with a broad smile at the mere recollection of that memorable night.Robitaille will start with Gretzky as his center and the Blues&rsquo; Brett Hull on the right when the NHL stars come out at Chicago Stadium Jan. 19.This season&rsquo;s game is a noon (central time) affair in which a hometown hero, defenseman Chris Chelios, will also be in the Campbell Conference starting lineup against a Wales Conference squad that features Montreal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy, Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul Coffey, Boston&rsquo;s Cam Neely, Quebec&rsquo;s Joe Sakic and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Rick Tocchet.In fact, Brett will be the third member of the Hull family to appear at All-Star Weekend. Coca-Cola classic all-star Friday, beginning at 6:30 p.m., features a 30-minute game between the Blackhawks&rsquo; Heroes of Hockey and a squad of such NHL Hall of Famers as Phil Esposito, Bobby Clarke and Jean Beliveau. Brett&rsquo;s father, Bobby, and his uncle. Dennis, will play for the Blackhawks.The heroes game will accent fun for all, but it will include a significant note of nostalgia as well. The Blackhawk team will be coached by Billy Reay, who also guided the West stars to a 6-4 triumph over Scott Bowman&rsquo;s East team in the 1974 game&mdash;the last time the all-stars visited Chicago Stadium.The heroes contest will be followed by the All-Stars Skills Competition, which made a popular debut at Pittsburgh last Jan. 21. By the time the six skills events have been decided, all 40 all-stars will have participated in at least one segment of the battle that boasts $75,000 in prize money.There will be a puck control relay and a breakaway relay. There will be three shooting contests&mdash;one for hardest shot, one for most accurate, one for rapid fire. And the other event will be a 150-foot match race to crown the fastest skater among the stars.Last season, Toronto defenseman Al lafrate won the hardest shot competition with a 96 miles-per-hour blast. Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque hit four targets in seven shots to win the accuracy contest, and Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean was the goaltending standout with 11 saves in 12 breakaway attempts, plus 12 saves in 15 rapid-fire shots.But if the Rangers&rsquo; Mike Gartner defends his title as the fastest skater, he will have to do it under different circumstances. At Pittsburgh last year, Gartner&rsquo;s speed was gauged by a timing device.This time, the format has been changed: The competition will be a sprint from the goal line to the far faceoff dot. Four-man fields will sprint in each of two preliminary races, then the two race winners will go head-to-head in the final.The hardest-shot shot format also has been refined somewhat to a more game-like setup. Rather than shooting from a more-or-less standing start, as was the case last year, a player will collect a puck at the blue line, skate to an area between the hashmarks of the faceoff circles before letting loose.&ldquo;The fans and players I talked to really enjoyed the skills competition,&rdquo; Islanders&rsquo; center Pat LaFontaine said. &ldquo;When you think about it, the breakaway shots and saves are the most exciting parts of a game, anyway. So to have all-star players competing against each other is great competition.&rdquo;It is a weekend that will be made memorable in other ways. As this will be a collector&rsquo;s item of an event, the Upper Deck Trading Card people are producing a limited-edition commemorative card sheet that will feature a half-dozen of the stars&rsquo; cards. There will be one sheet for each ticketholder on all-star Saturday, which&mdash;given the card collecting craze&mdash;means about 18,000 people will receive an extremely valuable keepsake.Of significance, also, is the debut of the MAC Award, which will be awarded by Ronald McDonald Children&rsquo;s Charities to one all-star starter in recognition of his commitment to children and his contributions to children&rsquo;s charities. The MAC (Most Assists with Children) is a $10,000 grant to the children&rsquo;s charity of the star&rsquo;s choice.All-star Friday will be televised by in the U.S. by SportsChannel America, in Canada by The Sports Network (English) and Reseau des Sports (French). The same Canadian networks also will present all-star Saturday, which will be shown nationally in the U.S. on NBC, wrapping up a two-year contract. &#9632;

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STAR GAZING

To the victor goes the spoils&hellip;although in this case some may claim Mike Milbury is spoiling the victory.As coach of the defending Wales Conference champion Boston Bruins, Milbury was given the privilege of selecting the nonstarters for his conference in the annual AllStar Game and coaching the team.Never one to avoid confrontation&mdash;on or off the ice&mdash;Milbury made several contentious choices, not the least of which was picking Bruin tough guy Chris Nilan ahead of players such as Kirk Muller and Guy Lafleur.Listed below are the complete All-Star Game rosters. Players selected in fan balloting have their vote total in parentheses.<h2>CAMPBELL</h2>Center&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles (218,797); Theoren Fleury, Calgary; Dave Gagner, Minnesota; Mark Messier, Edmonton; Jeremy Roenick, Chicago; Steve Yzerman, Detroit.Wingers&mdash;Brett Hull, St. Louis (432,879); Luc Robitaille, Los Angeles (168,963); Vincent Damphousse, Toronto; Steve Larmer, Chicago; Trevor Linden, Vancouver; Tomas Sandstrom, Los Angeles.Defense&mdash;Chris Chelios, Chicago (218,094); Al Maclnnis, Calgary (194,109); Phil Housley, Winnipeg; Steve Smith, Edmonton; Scott Stevens, St. Louis; Gary Suter, Calgary.Goal&mdash;Mike Vernon, Calgary (135,381), Bill Ranford, Edmonton.Coach&mdash;John Muckier, Edmonton.<h2>WALES</h2>Center&mdash;Joe Sakic, Quebec (145,310); John Cullen, Pittsburgh; Pat LaFontaine, New York Islanders; Brian Skrudland, Montreal; Darren Turcotte, New York Rangers.Wingers&mdash;Cam Neely, Boston (224,754); Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia (144,241); John MacLean, New Jersey; Chris Nilan, Boston; Mark Recchi, Pittsburgh; Kevin Stevens, Pittsburgh; Pat Verbeek, Hartford.Defense&mdash;Ray Bourque, Boston (315,362); Paul Coffey, Pittsburgh (216,169); Garry Galley, Boston; Kevin Hatcher, Washington; Uwe Krupp, Buffalo; Brian Leetch, New York Rangers.Goal&mdash;Patrick Roy, Montreal (186,577); Andy Moog, Boston.Coach&mdash;Mike Milbury, Boston. &#9632;

CONTROVERSY FOLLOWS ALL-STAR SELECTIONS

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011489/5904357-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Marshall, left, Pierre Sevigny, center, and Martin Lapointe strike a memorable pose in celebrating Canada&rsquo;s second straight gold medal at the WJC.</figcaption></div>The bulletin board in the dressing room proudly proclaimed &ldquo;God is a Canadian.&rdquo; Moments after Canada won the 1991 World Junior Championships, a footnote was added.It then read: &ldquo;God is a Canadian&hellip;who goes to Finland for the occasional holiday.&rdquo;Truth be told, God likely had better things to worry about Jan. 4 than the gold-medal game between Canada and the Soviet Union at a sold-out (11,612) Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon.But Jan. 2 in Regina at the Agridome, it was tough to convince anyone divine intervention didn&rsquo;t play a hand.A Soviet victory over Finland in that game would have guaranteed the Russians the gold medal. After trailing 4-0 midway through the game, the Soviets rallied to go ahead 5-4.They were in control, looking golden. But with 15 seconds left and the Finnish goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker, Jarkko Varvio fired a bad-angle shot between the legs of Soviet netminder Sergei Zviagin. The Soviets were a man short at the time, killing a penalty for too many men on the ice.It was an almost instant replay of one year ago, when Sweden scored a power play goal with one second left to tie the Soviets and deny them the gold medal.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t give a team like this one a second chance,&rdquo; said Canadian head coach Dick Todd, whose players scored an impressive 3-2 win over the Soviets in the finale.Defenseman John Slaney, a native of St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., scored the winner at 14:47 of the third period when the Soviets misfired on a clearing attempt. Canada hung on for the victory and the gold medal. A year earlier, it was another Newfoundlander, Dwayne Norris, who scored the winning goal.(If God is indeed a Canadian, perhaps he is a Newf.)It is the first time any country has won back-to-back gold medals and the first time since 1983, when the Soviets won in Leningrad, a team has won on home ice.What a difference a goal (by the Finns) made for Canada.Had the Finns not scored the timely marker, this edition of Team Canada would have been criticized for a number of shortcomings, real and imagined, which included:&#9632; Inconsistent netminding from Trevor Kidd, who didn&rsquo;t look sharp in a 4-4 tie with the United States or a 6-5 loss to Czechoslovakia. He was, however, brilliant against the Soviets, Finland (a 5-1 win) and in a relief appearance against Sweden (a 7-4 win).&#9632; Shoddy team defense, specifically from a defensive corps that had difficult handling outside speed and clearing loose pucks from the zone. Against the Soviets, though, the entire team did a masterful job of clogging the middle and blanketing the fleet Soviets.&#9632; Questionable player selection and deployment of players. NHL scouts, among others, criticized Todd&rsquo;s decision to designate potential first-rounder Scott Niedermayer as his extra defenseman. Others took issue with some of the players who were cut in the training camp before Christmas. But in retrospect, it&rsquo;s hard to argue with a gold medal.If the Soviets had beaten the Finns, or Canada. all those points would have become major bones of contention. But the Soviets didn&rsquo;t win when it counted.Few of Canada&rsquo;s critics care, but it was the Soviets who were ultimately betrayed by weak goaltending, defensive lapses and a weak effort from superstar Pavel Bure (the tournament goal leader with 12 in seven games) against Canada.Canada shut down Bure (12-3-15), who scored three goals to key the Soviets&rsquo; ill-fated comeback against the Finns. Canada&rsquo;s Kris Draper, who played on last year&rsquo;s gold-medal team in Finland, was assigned the job of checking the most gifted offensive junior in the world.Canada&rsquo;s big offensive line throughout the tournament was Eric Lindros between Mike Craig and Pierre Sevigny. They accounted for more than 40 per cent of Canada&rsquo;s offensive output.Lindros, the 17-year-old superstar who battled unrealistic expectations, was named the best forward in the tournament. He finished second in tournament scoring (6-11-17), one point behind Doug Weight of the U.S. (5-13-18). The best-forward award was earned, although it just as easily could have gone to linemate Craig, who was on loan from the NHL&rsquo;s Minnesota North Stars and was 6-5-11.&ldquo;At times, I wasn&rsquo;t happy with my play and at times I thought I played well,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;There were times when I think my play suffered a little bit because there was a system we had to play and I was trying to follow that. The important thing is we won the gold medal. You can say this about that, whatever you want, but we won it all and that&rsquo;s what matters.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a vindication for all of us,&rdquo; added Todd, who appeared more relieved than thrilled with the tourney victory.In addition to winning the gold medal, Canada also won the Fair Play Cup, which goes to the team with the fewest penalty minutes.The Soviets (5-1-1), the most penalized team in the tournament, had to settle for the silver even though they had the same record as Canada. Czechoslovakia (5-2-0) captured the bronze, followed by the United States (4-2-1), Finland (3-3-1), Sweden (3-4-0), Switzerland (1-6-0) and Norway (0-7-0).Norway, outscored 70-8 in the seven games, will be relegated to the &lsquo;B&rsquo; Pool next year. The Norwegians lost 2-1 in their crucial contest with the Swiss.Swiss netminder Pauli Jaks was named best goaltender in the tournament and Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s Jiri Slegr was voted best defensemen along with best forward Lindros. Those awards were selected by the eight-person tournament directorate (one rep from each competing country). A media panel chose a tournament all-star team of Jaks in goal, Scott Lachance of the U.S. and Dimitri Yushkevich of the Soviet Union on defense and forwards Lindros, Craig and Martin Rucinsky of Czechoslovakia.Bure, because he was assessed a game misconduct late in a victory over Switzerland, was ineligible for any tournament awards.Next year&rsquo;s tournament is tentatively scheduled for Sweden, though there is some talk of moving it, perhaps to Switzerland. &#9632;

f0008-01

INSTANT REPLAY

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Bob McKenzie</div>Kevin Constantine is big on slogans. The head coach of the United States national junior team has more than a thousand of them in his personal computer. Each day at the World Junior Championships, he shared at least one with his team.&ldquo;Better luck next time&rdquo; was not among them, but perhaps it should have been.The U.S., a pitiful seventh-place finisher a year ago, rallied in Saskatchewan for an impressive fourth-place finish. With a better bounce here or there, the Americans easily could have gone home with a bronze medal.In fact, had the Soviet Union defeated Canada in the last game of the tournament, the U.S. would have finished third, one spot ahead of the Canadians.But Canada prevailed to win the gold, the Soviets the silver and Czechoslovakia the bronze. The U.S. returned home with no tangible reward save self satisfaction.&ldquo;If you do your best, you wait the results in peace,&rdquo; Constantine told his team after they beat Switzerland 8-0 in Regina to finish the tournament with a best-ever 4-2-1 record.On the two-and-a-half hour bus ride to Saskatoon, the Americans listened to the Canada-Soviet game on the radio. Each time the Soviets scored, the young Americans cheered. Each time Canada scored, they booed. When they arrived in the parking lot at Saskatchewan Place, the game was tied 2-2. Just as they entered the building, they heard the pandemonium of the winning Canadian goal. Their fate was sealed.&ldquo;We overcame a lot of adversity,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;We had a lot of injuries, before and during the tournament. We had a difficult schedule. We had some travel problems. When we started out, I just asked the boys not to be negative about anything. That was the deal we cut. No carping or complaining. They obliged and we played a good tournament. It would have been nice to win a medal, but that&rsquo;s the way it goes.&rdquo;Constantine, a 31-year-old assistant coach in Kalamazoo of the International League, earned kudos for his team&rsquo;s disciplined style of play. The Americans were exceptional at times, including a 4-4 tie against Canada.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been impressed with Kevin&rsquo;s ability to get the most out of his players,&rdquo; said San Jose Sharks&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira, who signed Constantine to a three-year contract last summer.&ldquo;His teams are noted for playing a real team concept game. The U.S. team here wasn&rsquo;t the most talented in the tournament but it played hard and well. That&rsquo;s a credit to them and Kevin, too.&rdquo;The Americans received excellent goaltending from Mike Dunham and Mike Heinke, both New Jersey Devil draftees. Boston University defenseman Scott Lachance proved why he is one of the elite prospects for this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft. And Lake Superior State University center Doug Weight, a New York Ranger prospect, won the tournament scoring title with five goals and 13 assists, one point more than Canada&rsquo;s Eric Lindros. &#9632;

U.S. SQUAD PUTS ON IMPRESSIVE SHOW

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011440/5904419-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"></div>Rick Dudley stood behind the Buffalo bench and watched his Sabres suffer through a seven-game winless streak that opened their season.He was coach of a talent-stocked lineup that rode into the campaign on a wave of promise built by the Dale Hawerchuk trade. He was coach of a team that could not buy a victory with all the money in Fort (Seymour) Knox.Night after night, he would watch that team find new ways not to win. In that seven-game stretch, with the first six of those contests against Adams Division rivals, Dudley&rsquo;s Sabres gained three ties&mdash;collecting just three points of a possible 14. The power play was a miserable 6-for-36 (16.7 per cent). The penalty killing was quite good at 29-for-35 (82.9 per cent), but that alone wasn&rsquo;t enough.&ldquo;I felt we didn&rsquo;t have a long way to go to be real good,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s hard to tell people that when you don&rsquo;t win in your first seven. If you&rsquo;re &lsquo;in&rsquo; every game you play, you realize that with a little bit of improvement, you&rsquo;re going to win.&rdquo;The scores suggested how &lsquo;in&rsquo; the games the Sabres were&mdash;three of the four losses were by one goal. Something else would have made the picture even clearer: In five of those seven games, the score was tied, or within a goal either way, for at least 59 minutes, 43 seconds.That&rsquo;s a lot of &ldquo;Crunch Time.&rdquo; When the score is tied, or you&rsquo;re up a goal or down a goal, every play can become a turning point. It is the time when the game is there to be taken, when pressure is greatest, when the demand for character, poise and performance is at its peak, when the margin for error barely exists.And no team spent more of its playing time under those rigors than did the Sabres, according to figures kept exclusively by The Hockey News.The Sabres played 2,447 minutes, 34 seconds in the first half of the season, and the score was within a goal either way for 1,724:50 (or 70.5 per cent of that time) earning them the &ldquo;Kings of Crunch Time&rdquo; crown.&ldquo;It makes a coach weary when you&rsquo;re playing every game with one bounce or one shot deciding things,&rdquo; Dudley said.Dudley did a whole lot of perspiring, then. So did coach Brian Sutter, whose St. Louis Blues spent the second-most time under the crunch in the first half. The Calgary Flames. Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens rounded out the league&rsquo;s top five in the category.Of course, this does not suggest any of the top five teams was better in the first half than the Chicago Blackhawks. A dominant team, as Chicago was in the first half, would have a far lower percentage of crunch time because it likely would be ahead by more than a goal much more of the time.But a team such as Chicago is precisely the reason this statistic is useful.Not that many years ago, when the Edmonton Oilers were scoring 400 goals per season, critics would downplay the contribution of goalie Grant Fuhr. &ldquo;He should win,&rdquo; they would say. &ldquo;His team gets him seven goals a night.&rdquo; When it was 4-3 or 4-4, though. Fuhr would slam the door shut; the Oilers could open up the attack and go after the tying goal or the backbreaker and make it a 7-4 game.The same case can be made this season for rookie goalie Ed Belfour in Chicago. The Blackhawks were 17th of the 21 teams in the first half, with crunch time comprising just 60.4 per cent of their playng time.But when the crunch was on, so were the Blackhawks and so, especially, was Belfour. The Blackhawks went 7-3-2 in games when the crunch time was 50 minutes or more and were a dazzling 4-0-2 when the crunch time was 60 minutes or more. Belfour played all those games except one, a 1-1 tie with Hartford that was backstopped by Dominik Hasek, and 69.5 per cent of Belfour&rsquo;s total playing time in the first half was Crunch Time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021023/5904412-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="720" height="697"></div>Similarly, the Quebec Nordiques were out of so many games so early, it is not surprising that they bring up the rear of the crunch parade. But that does not mean the Quebec cloud is without a silver lining.Goalie Ron Tugnutt, who goes into the net every night figuring to face at least 35 shots, got his team a victory and five ties the six times that Nordique games included 60 or more minutes of crunch time.For years, a team&rsquo;s record in one-goal decisions has been the most often-used determinant of that club&rsquo;s performance in close games. Except such reasoning will only take you so far.Think of how many 2-1 games become 3-1 games because somebody hits the open net from 100 feet away with five seconds left. Conversely, think how many 3-1 games become 3-2 games because the trailing team pulls its goalie and scores a &ldquo;so-what?&rdquo; goal with five seconds left.The Philadelphia Flyers, for example, were 4-3 in one-goal games in the first half. One of those one-goal victories, a 5-4 &ldquo;nail-biter&rdquo; at Chicago Dec. 9, was within a goal for just 17:07. While there were only those seven one-goal decisions in the first half, the Flyers actually had 14 games in which the crunch time was 50 minutes-plus and their record in those games was a more revealing 5-6-3.Similarly, the Hartford Whalers mounted an utterly mediocre 16-20-4 overall record in the first half. Yet when the crunch was on for 50 minutes or more, the Whale did swimmingly at 7-2-4&mdash;which suggests that in the playoffs, when the games are tight and nasty, an upset victory by Hartford in a round or two should not be the biggest surprise of the tournament.Goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz, who had no especially eye-catching stats in the first half, was a brilliant 5-0-4 in games that were close for 50 minutes or more.KEY&mdash;Pct.: Percentage of team&rsquo;s total playing time score was tied, or within a goal either way. 50: Team&rsquo;s record in games when score was tied, or within a goal either way, for 50 minutes or more. 60: Team&rsquo;s record in games when score was tied, or within a goal either way, for 60 minutes or more. One-goal: Team&rsquo;s record in one-goal decisions.Statistics are through first 40 games in all cases except Edmonton, which did not play 40th game until after publication.Peter Sidorkiewicz is at his best in close games&mdash;where the score is within one goal for 50 minutes or more. &#9632;

f0009-01

CLUTCH PERFORMERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011512/5904450-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Aurora Highland Chev Olds tournament champions are, front row (from left): Mark Smith, Jack Doak, Mike Fines, Don Fawcett, John Kellett, Tim Peat (MVP) and Jay Gasko, Back row (from left): Ken Gregorish (GM), Mark Joslin, Brock Tredway, Ralph Tuck, Jeff Joslin, Mike Sedore, Roger Gwilliams, David James, coach Fred Bullen and trainer Don Fawcett Sr.</figcaption></div>Tim Peat and the Aurora Highland Chev Olds are tough to beat.Highland won the fourth of 11 Hockey News Classic Cup tournaments Dec. 28-30 in Newmarket, going undefeated in five games and outscoring the opposition 38-6.Peat was selected the tournament&rsquo;s most valuable player for a five-goal, nine-point performance. He scored once in Aurora&rsquo;s 6-3 championship win over the Oshawa Kings. Highland won $1,000 and Classic Cup hockey equipment bags, and the Kings picked up $700 and Classic Cup golf shirts.Peat and Mike Sedore each had four goals leading Highland to a 15-0 rout of the Colling-wood/Wasaga Beach Georgian Flyers in the tournament opener. Aurora also beat Newmarket Terry&rsquo;s Terrors 6-1 and tied Toronto WaterTech 2-2 in preliminary games.Aurora humbled Mississauga Canada Packers 9-0 and Oshawa blanked Richmond Hill Scotch Settlement 5-0 in semifinal games. Scotch shaded the Packers 5-3 in the consolation final and won $300.Sedore led Highland in tournament scoring with 10 goals and 15 points, followed by Roger Gwilliams with three goals and 12 points and Jack Doak with four goals and 10 points. Goalie Don Fawcett earned two shutouts and allowed six goals in five games.Other teams involved in the three-day, 12-team tournament were: Newmarket Hotham Habs, Newmarket Hotham Hawks, Westhill Dr. John&rsquo;s, Toronto Toros and Angus F and P Manufacturing. The Newmarket Minor Hockey Association and president Ken Smith assisted in the operation of the tournament.The Georgian Flyers, led by Wayne &lsquo;Killer&rsquo; Serivens, have plenty of work to do before the next Classic Cup tournament. They failed to score in three games, while allowing 44 goals. &#9632;

f0010-01

HIGHLANDS HIT PEAK IN HOCKEY NEWS TOURNAMENT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011365/5904481-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="482" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>If nothing else, the past four months have been a humbling experience for Mario Lemieux while a heady one for John Cullen and the Pittsburgh Penguins.Of course it is unthinkable but think for a moment about this possibility; that the Pens are a better team without Lemieux in the lineup.The October-January period has clearly demonstrated that while Lemieux may be untouchable, he is far from indispensible. For proof positive, just recall the pre-season predictions.Prevailing thinking had the Penguins permanently submerged under the Patrick Division iceberg with Lemieux on the shelf. Instead, they are not only surviving but thriving. One good reason is the little man who is always there, Cullen.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised we&rsquo;ve kept our heads above water,&rdquo; says Cullen in a solitary, pregame moment in the bowels of Nassau Coliseum.&ldquo;Take Mario away and we&rsquo;ve still got a lot of talent on this team. Look at our roster; it&rsquo;s pretty scary. Adding Joey Mullen and Bryan Trottier helped us because they know how to win. Obviously, Paul Coffey does, too. And Bob Johnson&rsquo;s leadership has been just great.&rdquo;Johnson is such an optimist he would figure San Jose a Stanley Cup contender for 1990-91 if he were coaching the Sharks next year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you how positive Bob is,&rdquo; Cullen says. &ldquo;We had a 12-game stretch when we were something like 2-9-1 and he never came into the room and yelled once. What he got out of the games were positive things.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d be ready to get reamed by him but he&rsquo;d take us to the blackboard or show us films. But, always, he stuck with us and right after that, we turned things around.&rdquo;The turnabout would have been impossible without Cullen who, somehow, has managed to remain within striking distance of Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been pretty surprised.&rdquo; Cullen allows, &ldquo;but I knew going into this year that I&rsquo;d get a lot of ice time because of Mario being out. I knew I&rsquo;d get my points because I&rsquo;m playing with great wingers in Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi.&rdquo;Johnson figures Cullen has two prime assets.&ldquo;Number one,&rdquo; says Johnson, &ldquo;he has good hockey sense. He sees the ice well and he understands it&rsquo;s a reaction game. Number two, he is an outstanding competitor. He looks small out there but he plays big.&rdquo;Cullen: &ldquo;My competitiveness keeps me up there. I never say die. The best thing I do is pass. Bob Johnson is always on me to shoot more. If I get eight shots a game, he&rsquo;ll tell me I could have had 20 shots in the game. If I get 10 shots, he tells me I could have had 15. My biggest asset is drawing my opponents to me and dealing it off to my teammates.&rdquo;One of them is Recchi who Johnson describes as &ldquo;a real sniper.&rdquo;Mark&rsquo;s secret weapon is a throwback to the 1940s, a wrist shot which he employs more than just about anyone in the league.&ldquo;John is so smart with the puck,&rdquo; Recchi explains, &ldquo;that all I do is go to the holes and create room for him. That way the defenseman has to make a choice whether he&rsquo;s going to take me or John. With his great hands, 90 per cent of the time he&rsquo;s going to get me the puck wherever I am.&rdquo;Cullen&rsquo;s talent is spiced by what goalie Wendel Young unabashedly describes as &ldquo;a mean streak.&rdquo;He bothers people in the manner of a Ken Linseman or Keith Acton, which is both good news and bad news, depending on whether you coach the club or root for them.&ldquo;Cully is an agitator,&rdquo; says Young. &ldquo;If he gets hit or if someone does something to him, he gets mad and is willing to drop his gloves but the coach doesn&rsquo;t want him to do that. We want him on the ice to put goals in the net for us.&rdquo;It hasn&rsquo;t hurt that Cullen is in his option year and knows full well that he&rsquo;s in line for an astronomical raise.&ldquo;I do think about it a lot,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but not during the game. You ask me if I&rsquo;d be doing this good if I wasn&rsquo;t playing out my option and all I can tell you is that I love the game and I&rsquo;m pretty competitive.&ldquo;But if I haven&rsquo;t scored in a few games and I&rsquo;m down, I say to myself that I&rsquo;ve got to do well because I am playing out my option. It is a motivator. If the club does well, makes the playoffs and goes far, the way salaries have gone, Mark, Kevin and myself should look pretty good.&rdquo;Stan Fischler is a freelance writer based in New York City. &#9632;

f0011-01

CULLEN-LED PENS THRIVE WITHOUT LEMIEUX

&hellip;NHL referee Terry Gregson is the brother-inlaw of Calgary coach Doug Risebrough? Gregson and Doug&rsquo;s sister Laura have been married for seven years. Gregson began his NHL career Nov. 7, 1981 and worked 485 NHL games before the 1990-91 season. Risebrough is in his rookie season as Flames&rsquo; coach.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021000/5904519-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="457" height="524"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Risebrough</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03709/5904512-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="462" height="528"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Gregson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Jeff Norton, the Islanders&rsquo; only proven offensive defenseman, suffered his second right shoulder dislocation of the season against New Jersey Dec. 27. Although they want to postpone it until after the season, he and trainer Ed Tyburski both said surgery is likely. &ldquo;The more and more it pops but, the worse it gets,&rdquo; Norton said, adding that the muscles around the socket become stretched with each dislocation&hellip;Left winger David Volek was recently credited with two goals that were put in by opponents&mdash;one by the Devils&rsquo; Ken Daneyko and the other by the Flyers&rsquo; Kjell Samuelsson. &ldquo;The gods are on my side,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Ken Baumgartner&rsquo;s goal against Los Angeles Jan. 3 (6-3 loss) was his first as an Islander and his first in K)4 games.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>Paul Coffey got his 300th career goal during a 5-2 victory against New Jersey Jan. 5 at the Civic Arena. Denis Potvin, who scored 310 for the New York Islanders, is the only other defenseman to reach that plateau. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely nice, any milestone you reach,&rdquo; said Coffey, who picked up his 1,000th career point last month&hellip;Center Mario Lemieux, who resumed light skating Dec. 30, was scheduled to start participating in team practices during the second week in January. His rehabilitation program has been running ahead of schedule and, barring any setbacks, he should be back in the Pittsburgh lineup around the All-Star break&hellip;The Pens tied a team record for most goals allowed in a home period when the New York Rangers scored six in the second frame of a 7-5 win Jan. 3 at the Civic Arena&hellip;Left winger Bob Errey became the eighth consecutive Penguin to convert a penalty shot when he beat New Jersey&rsquo;s Chris Terreri Jan. 5. Pittsburgh has scored on 12 of 26 penalty shots in franchise history.<h2>FLYERS</h2>Mark Howe, sidelined since Nov. 25 by recurring pain from herniated discs in his lower back, practised with the Flyers Jan. 1 and 2. After the second session, Howe experienced soreness and went back for more examinations and tests. The 35-year-old defenseman was scheduled to meet with team physician Dr. Arthur Bartolozzi to discuss his options. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always played with a certain amount of pain, but it&rsquo;s gotten to the point where I have to do something about it. I&rsquo;m not going to play one game every two or three months.&rdquo; Howe, who has all but ruled out surgery, said he might consider another long rest period before attempting a comeback&hellip;Scott Mellanby separated his left shoulder when he crashed into the boards at Buffalo on New Year&rsquo;s Eve (5-2 loss). He was expected to miss about two weeks&hellip;After scoring just seven goals in his first 39 games, Murray Craven scored six in his next six&hellip;The Flyers were 16-1-3 when leading after two periods going into games against Washington Jan. 4 and the New York Islanders Jan. 5. But they surrendered a 3-2 lead at Washington, eventually getting a 3-3 tie, then fumbled a 1-0 lead and lost 3-2 at the Island.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>Center Peter Zezel continues to have problems with his left ankle. After missing seven weeks with an ankle sprain, Zezel returned to the lineup Dec. 22 against Toronto and scored a goal. He played two more games (another goal and an assist), but then was hit in the ankle by the Rangers&rsquo; Normand Rochefort. Zezel sat out one game, then returned for the next (against New Jersey Jan. 1), but played only two periods before the ankle got sore again&hellip;Defenseman Neil Sheehy, who broke a bone in his ankle and leg in training camp, suffered a herniated disc late in December while practising with the Baltimore Skipjacks (AHL). The plan now is to give the back a couple weeks of rest, but surgery remains a possibility.<h2>DEVILS</h2>After closing 1990 with a franchise record-tying eight-game unbeaten streak (3-0-5), the Devils opened 1991 with three straight losses and a six-game winless slide (0-3-3). Coach John Cunniff overturned a work table following a New Year&rsquo;s Day loss (4-3) at Washington&rsquo;s Capital Centre and criticized his team for &ldquo;hitting rock bottom&rdquo; in Pittsburgh four days later (5-2 loss). &ldquo;So far, 1991 has not been our year,&rdquo; Cunniff said&hellip;John MacLean&rsquo;s worst slump of the season (scoreless in four games Dec. 30-Jan. 5) left him one goal shy of No. 200 for his career&hellip;Troy Crowder missed two games with a bad cut and ligament damage in his right hand suffered in a Dec. 29 fight with Buffalo&rsquo;s Mike Hartman.<h2>RANGERS</h2>The Rangers got a look at two of their Soviet prospects when they faced center Sergei Nemchinov and defenseman Sergei Zubov of Central Red Army in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden Dec. 31. The 26-year-old Nemchinov, picked 244th in 1990 entry draft, collected two assists, did well on faceoffs, and played a solid physical game in a runaway 6-1 Soviet triumph. Zubov, 20, skated well but his overall game showed less polish. Each was stopped by John Vanbiesbrouck in a second-intermission shootout competition&hellip;In Mike Gartner (21 goals), John Ogrodnick (19), Ray Sheppard (18), Bernie Nicholls and Darren Turcotte (17), the Rangers could finish the season with five scorers of 30 or more goals. The team record is four, set in 1981-82, when Ron Duguay had 40, followed by Mike Rogers (38), Mark Pavelich (33) and Ed Johnstone (30). &#9632;

NORTON MAY REQUIRE SHOULDER SURGERY

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>With almost no notice, Derek King has made the transition from prospect to veteran player. That is the greatest frustration for the left winger and the New York Islanders.Although he is only 23, he never has drawn the kind of attention expected of a No. 1 pick (13th overall in the 1985 entry draft).&ldquo;This is my fourth year in this league, and definitely I know I&rsquo;m not a consistent hockey player,&rdquo; King said after a career-high four-goal game against Quebec New Year&rsquo;s Eve.It was just a reminder of the unfulfilled promise of a player who had gone 18 games, and more than two months, before that without a goal. In a way, King&rsquo;s often listless play has symbolized the Islanders&rsquo; two greatest shortcomings: A lack of scoring and a string of fruitless draft picks.Those weaknesses have kept the Islanders in the race to draft Eric Lindros of the Oshawa Generals&mdash;the team for which King collected 53 goals and 53 assists in 57 games four years ago.&ldquo;Kinger used to dominate (in junior) when he wanted to,&rdquo; Islander goalie Jeff Hackett, an Oshawa teammate, said. &ldquo;We could be down 2-0 to another team, but by the end of the third it would be 3-2 for us.&rdquo;King admitted, though, that his Oshawa achievements mean nothing now. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s time I realize that and start taking it game by game,&rdquo; he said.For much of his career. King has played on a line with Pat LaFontaine, which ought to be enough to provide anyone with scoring chances. He did not flourish.Yet, King has improved his work habits since joining a line with Brent Sutter and Patrick Flatley and his four-goal game demonstrates why management or teammates haven&rsquo;t given up on him.Flatley did his part by making a point to tell referee Rich Trottier that one of the goals in that game should be credited to King, even though it appeared to hop in the net off Flatley&rsquo;s stick.&ldquo;He needed a goal like that to open the floodgates,&rdquo; Flatley said. &ldquo;I think he gave me a gift in Minnesota earlier, so it was payback time.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 29: Wayne McBean, D, recalled from Capital District (AHL). Jan. 2: Alan Kerr. RW, assigned to Capital District.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Ray Ferraro, Hubie McDonough, Greg Parks.LW&mdash;David Volek, Derek King, Bill Berg. Dave Chyzowski, Don Maloney.RW&mdash;Randy Wood. Patrick Flatley. Brad Lauer. Mick Vukota. Tom Fitzgerald.LD&mdash;Rich Pilon. Ken Baumgartner, Wayne McBean.RD&mdash;Gary Nylund, Joe Reekie, Craig Ludwig, Dean Chynoweth.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Jeff Hackett<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Fitzpatrick. G, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (swelling of muscles and tissues), indefinite. Jett Norton. D, dislocated right shoulder, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine, 24. A&mdash;LaFontaine, 27. P&mdash; LaFontaine. 51. PIM&mdash;Baumgartner. 142 &#9632;

4-GOAL GAME BROKE KING-SIZED SLUMP

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SELL</div>It may be more coincidence than connection, but the New Jersey Devils have a habit of being there for the Washington Capitals. &ldquo;Things seem to happen for us against them,&rdquo; Capitals&rsquo; goalie Don Beaupre said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to explain.&rdquo;Indeed, but there is historical evidence if not reasons for it.Last January, the Capitals lost eight in a row, which brought about the firing of Bryan Murray. Terry Murray took over and the Capitals beat the Devils 9-6 in Murray&rsquo;s first game. The Devils finished second in the Patrick Division, while the Capitals qualified (in third place) with only two games to spare, but then the Capitals upset the Devils in the first round.More recently, the Capitals snapped an eightgame winless streak by beating the Devils 4-3 on New Year&rsquo;s Day.The Capitals were 0-7-1 in that ignominious run, which was the worst since last January.The Capitals had been within a few points of first-place, but their fall made them neighbors to the last-place Islanders. But the New Jersey victory relieved a ton of tension and started a small resurgence. The Capitals tied Philadelphia, 3-3 Jan. 4, then came back the next night to beat the Bruins 5-3 in Boston.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re on our way up, but I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re out of it yet,&rdquo; Murray said.Not surprisingly, individuals struggled during the winless run. Rookie Peter Bondra&rsquo;s production dropped in December as did that of John Druce. Druce scored into an empty net Dec. 1 against the Islanders for his 15th goal and 30th point. He didn&rsquo;t score another goal until Jan. 1, when he scored two against the Devils.The goaltending provided by Beaupre and Mike Liut was generally solid, but they weren&rsquo;t getting enough help at either end. Beaupre.was among the league leaders in goals-against average but his record kept getting worse.Dino Ciccarelli began scoring at a good clip when he returned after missing 21 games with a broken thumb, and with some improved defensive play, it eventually translated into a couple victories. After getting just one goal in the first nine games of the season before his injury, Cic-carelli had 10 in the first 14 games after coming back.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 3: Rob Murray. C, and Tim Bergland, C RW. assigned to Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ridley, Michal Pivonka, Dale Hunter, Dave Tippett, Peter Bondra.LW&mdash;Kelly Miller, Dimitri Khristich, Bob Joyce, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;John Druce, Dino Ciccarelli. Steve Leach, Alan May.LD&mdash;Rod Langway, Calle Johansson, Mike LalorRD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Bob Rouse. Mikhail TatarinovG&mdash;Don Beaupre, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Chris Felix. D, broken ankle, indefinite Neil Sheehy, D, herniated disc, indefinite. Peter Zezel, C, sprained left ankle, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Druce, 17. A&mdash;Hatcher, 31. P&mdash;Hatcher. 44. PIM&mdash;Hunter, 129. &#9632;

WHY DID THEY WIN? DEVILS MADE THEM DO IT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011465/5904636-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="518" height="361"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021205/5904629-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="298" height="151"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03797/5904622-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="555" height="763"></div>Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Tom Barrasso, who had a 7-0-0 record, a 2.29 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage, was named the Pro Set player of the month for December.Barrasso, who helped the Penguins record an 10-6-1 mark during the month, edged Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; right winger Steve Larmer for the award.Throughout the 1990-91 NHL season, Pro Set, Inc. will donate $1,000 to the youth hockey organization designated by the player of the month. Pro Set will also contribute $500 on behalf of the player of the week and $7,500 for the player of the year award. As a first-year sponsor of these NHL awards, Pro Set is contributing over $26,000 to youth hockey organizations across North America.Barrasso, a 25-year-old Boston native, opened the month with a 9-4 win over the New York Rangers Dec. 3 before turning aside 40 shots in a 4-1 win over Detroit Dec. 16.Barrasso continued his win streak with a 9-2 decision over Winnipeg Dec. 18 and stopped 33 shots in a 4-3 road win over the New York Islanders Dec. 22. He won his third straight road game with a 7-3 win at Washington Dec. 26 before recording his 14th career shutout in a 5-0 victory over Detroit Dec. 28. Barrasso finished the month by stopping 36 shots in a 4-3 win over St. Louis Dec. 31.This is the second time Barrasso has been selected NHL player of the month, having previously won the award in January, 1988. The Penguins were in fourth place in the Patrick Division with a 21-18-3 record and are 9-2-0 in their last 11 games.Larmer led all NHL scorers during December with 24 points (1311-24) in 16 games, including three game-winning goals. The Blackhawks continue to lead the overall standings with 57 points (27-13-3) in 43 games.Just ask the New York Islanders about Larmer. In two wins over the Islanders during December, Larmer was in on all eight goals. He had two goals and three assists in a 5-2 triumph Dec. 6 and two goals and an assist in a 3-1 victory Dec. 29.Larmer had points in 13 of Chicago&rsquo;s 16 games during December. He was held off the scoresheet in 5-0 losses to St. Louis Dec. 22 and Buffalo Dec. 28 and a 5-1 setback to Minnesota Dec. 15.Larmer also extended his consecutive game streak through December. He had played in 683 straight games, the longest current run in the NHL and fourth on the all-time list.Larmer, 29, is a native of Peterborough, Ont. &#9632;

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Tom Barrasso selected this month’s NHL Pro Set Player of the Month

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Nobody is saying Tom Barrasso has won the battle to be the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender. Nobody really has to.Barrasso&rsquo;s numbers since early December make his case more eloquent than words ever could.Barrasso was on an 8-1-0 tear that included a team record-tying seven consecutive victories as the second week of January began. In those nine games, he had a goals-against average of 2.77 and played a vital role in the I0-3-0 surge that lifted Pittsburgh back near the top of the Patrick Division standings.Still, Pittsburgh coach Bob Johnson has never proclaimed Barrasso to be No. I, even when Barrasso got eight starts in 11 games.And Barrasso, who clearly was troubled by his limited playing time earlier in the season, said he was not worried about being formally designated No. I.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really concerned over what is perceived as &lsquo;being No. Ior whatever,&rdquo; Barrasso said. &ldquo;I want to say I&rsquo;m beyond that in my career. I mean, after eight years, I&rsquo;d like to think I know I have the ability to play and play well.&rdquo;He certainly has been playing more often in, recent weeks. Still, Frank Pietrangelo, who seemed to be on the verge of taking over the top spot earlier in the season, seems no more ready to concede the No. I job to Barrasso than Johnson is to award it to him.&ldquo;Bob has always said that whoever plays is his No. I guy for the night,&rdquo; Pietrangelo said.But Barrasso has gotten the call on most game nights in the past few weeks. His game has taken on its old aggressive edge and he is challenging&mdash;and beating&mdash;shooters with regularity.&ldquo;Tommy is on top of his game,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;Tommy&rsquo;s made a marked improvement. He&rsquo;s playing as well as he has played for us this year right now. He&rsquo;s standing up, facing the puck. He looks like he&rsquo;s enjoying playing goal.&rdquo;Barrasso&rsquo;s successful run dates back to a 9-4 victory at Madison Square Garden Dec. 3, even though he then sat for 13 days before returning in a 4-1 victory against Detroit.&ldquo;You stand around and wait and wait and wait and wait and then you finally get another chance to play,&rdquo; Barrasso said. &ldquo;That first Detroit game, I was really concerned about what the outcome was going to be.&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Geez, I won my last game. If I lose this one, I may sit out a month.&rsquo;&rdquo;Well, he didn&rsquo;t, and Barrasso was back in goal for the Penguins&rsquo; next game, a 9-2 victory against Winnipeg two nights later. His stretch of ex-tended layoffs between starts was over, but Johnson said putting Barrasso in the press box and at the far end of the bench so much in early December was a sound move.&ldquo;The period of time he was off really helped,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what he says. To me, it helped. He analyzed his game and he worked.&rdquo;All that work culminated in Barrasso&rsquo;s first shutout since he joined the Penguins, when he stopped 27 Detroit shots in a 5-0 victory Dec. 28. That game probably secured the NHL&rsquo;s player of the month award, which Barrasso received for his performance in December.Barrasso&rsquo;s hot streak paralleled a slump by Pietrangelo. He made three starts between Dec. 23 and Jan. 6&mdash;all Pittsburgh losses&mdash;and had a goals-against average of 6.25 during that span.So while Barrasso was about to lay an indisputable claim to the No. 1 spot, Pietrangelo wasn&rsquo;t doing that much to hold onto a piece of the job.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really worry about what he does,&rdquo; Pietrangelo said. &ldquo;I just have to worry about myself and play well when I play.&rdquo;But it looks like Pietrangelo&rsquo;s chances to do that will be fewer and farther between as the stretch drive approaches.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;John Cullen, Bryan Trottier, Barry Pederson. Randy Gilhen, Jiri Hrdina.LW&mdash;Phil Bourque, Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Mark Recchi, Joe Mullen, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Young, Tony Tanti, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Zarley Zalapski, Gordie Roberts.RD&mdash;Paul Stanton. Larry Murphy, Peter Taglianetti, Gord Dineen.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Delorme, D, left leg stress fracture, indefinite Randy Hillier. D, broken foot, indefinite Mario Lemieux. C, back infection. Jan. 22.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Recchi, Stevens, 23. A&mdash;Cullen. 53. P&mdash; Cullen, 69. PIM&mdash;Coffey. 83. &#9632;

WHO’S THE NO. 1 GOALTENDER? WHO CARES

Ryan Sinks is drowning in accolades.The 4-foot-9, 120-pound center from Livonia, Mich., played for the Little Caesars&rsquo; Plymouth-Canton Flyers squirt A travel team last season, picking up 94 goals and 12 assists. He scored 20 hat tricks.The nine-year-old sharpshooter averaged two goals per game for the squirts, leading them to two championship titles.Ryan was also honored Oct. 6 as the Little Caesars&rsquo; Player of Tomorrow. It was the highlight of Ryan&rsquo;s season.This year, Ryan is playing with the squirt travel team, attempting to duplicate last year&rsquo;s efforts.When he&rsquo;s not playing hockey, Ryan attends Tyler Elementary School in his hometown.An avid hockey fan, Ryan enjoys following his favorite NHL team, the Detroit Red Wings, on TV.Surprisingly, Ryan&rsquo;s favorite player is not sharpshooter Steve Yzerman, but left winger Shawn Burr.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011463/5904691-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="556" height="1201"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ryan Sinks</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of the JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Showcase. Just send a photograph (non-returnable), along with biographical information (age. height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to JOFA-TITAN SHOWCASE, c/o The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as THN/JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Player of the Year. &#9632;

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PLAYER OF WEEK JOFA TITAN

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div>It may have been a lack of ice time. It may have been the adjustment from the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; style to the New York Rangers&rsquo; style. It may have been the sprained hand and broken toe that kept him out of the lineup for long stretches during the first few months of the season.It may have been all those things that delayed until recently the emerg-ence of right winger Jody Hull as a credible contributor to the Rangers&rsquo; cause.Depth certainly is one consideration. Coach Roger Neilson prefers to tailor his lineup to the opponent, and when there is a crowd on right wing&mdash;Mike Gartner, Ray Sheppard, Brian Mullen, Paul Broten, Tie Domi and Hull to name six&mdash;it is easy to get lost.It is easier to get lost when you&rsquo;re on the sidelines with a sprained hand while Sheppard is regaining the scoring touch that Buffalo was convinced had abandoned him.It is easier to get lost when you&rsquo;re not as scrappy as Domi, not as feisty as Broten, not as much a proven scorer as Gartner or Mullen.&ldquo;For me to be effective, I have to get the ice time,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;The first 10 games I played, injuries held me back.&rdquo;Hull didn&rsquo;t play his 10th game until the Rangers&rsquo; 23rd. He sprained the hand Oct. 5 in his return to Hartford, the club which had traded him to New York July 9 for Carey Wilson and future considerations.Hull was ready to play again after five games, but was scratched for the next four as Neilson continued the right wing tryouts that had lasted all of training camp.The 21-year-old returned to action for two games, was scratched for two, played eight of the next nine, then broke a toe blocking a shot against the Minnesota North Stars&mdash;meaning seven more games in the medical room.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just getting more confidence now,&rdquo; Hull said, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;m playing more.&rdquo;He plays a rather quiet game for someone 6-foot-2 and 200-pounds, though Hull&rsquo;s effective defensive work reflects the classic lessons that always get taught to junior players in Peterborough.And of recent game, Hull has shown the offensive skills&mdash;he had 3-4-7 totals in 22 games&mdash;that produced 50 goals his final season with the Petes (1987-88).&ldquo;Jody Hull has been playing very well lately,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;But we were very pleased with his efforts even before the puck started going in for him.&rdquo;Against the Bruins Dec. 23 (5-4 loss), Hull zoomed to the net while Kevin Miller sprinted up the left wing boards against Ray Bourque. Miller stopped short, Bourque didn&rsquo;t, and Hull converted Miller&rsquo;s pass before goalie Andy Moog could react.Against the Devils a week later, Hull fired a 25-foot shot past Chris Terreri&rsquo;s right leg to help cap the Rangers&rsquo; comeback from a 2-0 deficit (2-2 tie).&ldquo;People tend to hold it against him that Jody has good size,&rdquo; general manager Neil Smith said.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, Kelly Kisio, Darren Turcotte, Kevin Miller, Mark Janssens.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick, Troy Mallette. Kris King, Lindy Ruff.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Brian Mullen, Ray Sheppard, Paul Broten, Tie Domi. Jody Hull,LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Normand Rochefort, Miloslav Horava.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Randy Moller.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jan Erixon, LW, sprained right knee, day-to-day. Bob Froese, G, right shoulder surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gartner, 21. A&mdash;Leetch. 42 P&mdash; Leetch, 51. PIM&mdash;Mallette, 118. &#9632;

HULL FINALLY STARTING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE CAUSE

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>Pelle Eklund has made the transition from one-dimensional to three-dimensional hockey player as easy as one, two, three.When Eklund broke in with the Flyers six years ago, the team was stocked with quality centers. With Dave Poulin, Peter Zezel and Ron Sutter at his disposal, then-coach Mike Keenan was content to save most of Eklund&rsquo;s ice time for the power play.That strategy paid off, too, as Eklund played a key role in helping Tim Kerr set an NHL record for power-play goals (34) in 1985-86.At the same time, however, the Swede acquired a tag as being little more than a power-play specialist.During coach Paul Holmgren&rsquo;s three-year tenure, things began to change. Personnel shifted and Eklund gradually made his way up the ladder.Last summer, the Flyers took center Mike Ricci with their first pick in the draft and he has made an immediate impact. Holmgren decided to shift Eklund to left wing on a line with Ricci and all-star right winger Rick Tocchet.Again, the strategy has worked out fine. Now Eklund not only plays on the power play but takes regular shifts in even-strength and penalty-killing situations.Eklund has responded with the finest hockey of his career. With 1030-40 totals after 44 games, he was on pace to set a career-high for assists and points.The question always seemed to be whether Eklund, who, at 5-foot-10, 175-pounds, often darts through traffic, could stand up to the rigors of NHL mayhem.So Holmgren checked his computer.&ldquo;I found that in the games where he played best, he played more,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;He has tremendous stamina. In one of his best games, he played 28 minutes, a lot for a forward.&rdquo;Eklund looks comfortable at left wing, where he continues to serve as playmaker while Ricci and Tocchet drive to the net.Unlike his early years, Eklund is more of a force on a regular basis.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m looking for, consistency,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to do the same thing every game. I don&rsquo;t want to drop too low. If I do, maybe just for one game, not for two or three in a row.&rdquo;Some say the breakthrough season for Eklund came in 1986-87. That year, the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup finals and beat Montreal along the way. Actually, Canadien fans will say that Eklund beat them along the way. During that memorable semifinal series, Eklund scored a hat trick al the Forum.There&rsquo;s no longer any doubl Eklund is one of the leading players on the team. He has been second tc Tocchet in scoring much of the season and Holmgren said if he were asked tc name another player to the All-Star Game, it would have to be Eklund.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 29: Kerry Huffman, D, recalled from Hershey (AHL) Jan. 2: Huffman assigned to Hershey.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ricci, Ron Sutter. Keith Acton, Martin HostakLW&mdash;Pelle Eklund, Murray Craven, Derrick Smith, Tony Horacek, Craig Berube.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Tim Kerr, Norm Lacombe, Dale Kushner.LD&mdash;Jiri Latal, Terry Carkner. Murray Baron.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Gord Murphy, Dave Fenyves.G&mdash;Ron Hextali, Ken Wregget, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Chychrun. D, broken left wrist, indefinite Mark Howe. D, lower back pain, indefinite Scott Mellanby, RW. separated left shoulder, indefinite. Scott Sandelin, D, broken right arm, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tocchet, 26. A&mdash;Eklund, 30. P&mdash; Tocchet. 48. PIM&mdash;Berube, Carkner, 107. &#9632;

EKLUND AT HOME ON LEFT WING

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>Lou Lamoriello can be proud of his scorecard of trades in his four seasons as general manager of the New Jersey Devils.Over the past 16 months he acquired Toronto&rsquo;s coveted No. 1 pick in the 1991 NHL entry draft in exchange for Tom Kurvers; picked up Laurie Boschman from Winnipeg for the now-retired Bob Brooke; and won out over Buffalo in the bid to land Quebec&rsquo;s Peter Stastny last March.Yet, unless the Devils are able to draft Eric Lindros in June with Toronto&rsquo;s top pick, Lamoriello&rsquo;s biggest heist may be the off-season trade he made with the Montreal Canadiens in acquiring Claude Lemieux for Sylvain Turgeon.Turgeon, who did not play for the Canadiens until late December because of abdominal surgery, may yet find his niche in Montreal. Lemieux, on the other hand, was the spark in the Devils&rsquo; lineup throughout the first 44 games this season.Lemieux reached the 20-goal mark Jan. 5 in Pittsburgh. By scoring goals in the Devils&rsquo; first three games of 1991, the 25-year-old right winger had 20-10-30 in an inspiring season during which he had yet to take a night off.&ldquo;I certainly think he&rsquo;s been outstanding,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He has given us everything we expected of him and more. He has given us a dimension we were lacking. He has come to play every night. No question.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011349/5904770-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="566" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Lemieux is just as antagonistic as he was in Montreal.</figcaption></div>This is the same Claude Lemieux who was accused of slacking off in Montreal, where he endured a tom abdominal wall and a personal feud with Canadiens&rsquo; coach Pat Bums?&ldquo;We really felt one of his greatest assets was he played well in big games,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;We hoped it (the trade) would turn out this way, but to look at it as if you know in advance that it will is unfair.&rdquo;Lemieux continued to play well in big games, but he admitted that he underwent an attitude change during the summer.&ldquo;For years I had problems playing against teams that weren&rsquo;t high in the standings,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;Maybe I wasn&rsquo;t getting myself psyched-up as much as I was for the big teams. I thought about that a lot during the off-season. I&rsquo;m getting psyched-up as much against a last-place team as I would if we were playing the New York Rangers.&rdquo;Lemieux could easily have had 25 goals at the mid-season point. Among the league leaders in shots, he was robbed a half-dozen times and spent one stretch ringing shots off the posts and crossbar.There are some who might think he has changed his style, concentrating more on playing the game than yapping and stirring up trouble. Nothing could be farther from the truth.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing as hard and as tough as he has in the past, no question in my mind,&rdquo; Lamoriello added. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t lost his intensity. He has a way of getting self-motivated. I&rsquo;m a believer in competing against yourself and I think Claude does that very well. He&rsquo;s not satisfied.&rdquo;But the Devils certainly are.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom, Peter Stastny, Jon Morris, Laurie Boschman.LW&mdash;Brendan Shanahan, Kirk Muller, Dave Matey, Pat Conacher, Al Stewart.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Claude Lemieux, Doug Brown, Troy Crowder.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Viacheslav Fetisov, Lee Norwood, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Alexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Sean Burke.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Walt Poddubny, LW, right knee surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;MacLean, 27. A&mdash;Muller, 36. P&mdash; MacLean, 49. PIM&mdash;Stewart, 135. &#9632;

f0015-01

LEMIEUX’S NEW PHILOSOPHY TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011239/5904801-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="505" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DRYDEN</figcaption></div>Baby Dick he&rsquo;s not. When Canada won the World Junior Championships it was not the product of a Dick-tatorship. That is not Dick Todd&rsquo;s style.The head coach freely delegated authority and responsibility to assistants Perry Pearn and Alain Vigneault.But make no mistake: That was Todd&rsquo;s behind on the burner and everybody from St. John&rsquo;s, Newfoundland, to Sidney, B.C., were ready to turn on the heat had Canada not won the gold medal to become the first team to win in its home country.Three Canadians had the most to lose and least to gain at the tournament&mdash;Todd, center Eric Lindros and goalie Trevor Kidd.&ldquo;There is probably a lot of truth to (that),&rdquo; Todd said. &ldquo;The only way (as coach) you can vindicate yourself is to win. The only way Eric can vindicate himself is to lead the scoring and be a dominant factor and Trevor Kidd had to match the heroics of Stephane Fiset the previous year.&rdquo;None of them escaped criticism. Todd was second-guessed for not playing Scott Nieder-mayer more and not getting better results against the U.S. (a 4-4 tie); Lindros for everything from not scoring more points to not doing something about the unbearable cold that engulfed Saskatoon; and Kidd for not stopping more shots.Kidd partially vindicated himself with a strong performance against the Soviets, but this was the first Canadian team to win without a dominant goalie. Mike Moffat (1982), Craig Billington (1985), Jimmy Waite (1988) and Fiset (1990) were named the best goalies when Canada won its previous golds.The fact that goaltending greatness eluded Kidd&mdash;and the Canadians still prevailed&mdash;tells you that this team played very good hockey. Todd estimated Canada was the better team in 18 of 21 periods over seven games.Yet, it came down to a second Hail Maritime goal in as many years for Canada to win the gold. Had John Slaney not scored in the final minutes, Canada was headed for bronze at best, fourth at worst. Todd decided before the game he would rather the fourth-place Americans displace them in third than Canada settle for a tie with the Soviets.&ldquo;I was quite prepared to pull the goalie with 40 seconds left and (possibly) lose the opportunity at bronze to try and get the gold,&rdquo; Todd said.He will be preparing a report on his experiences as head coach now that he has returned to the Peterborough Petes. Todd would not disclose any recommendations but hinted some members of the Canadian entourage were premature in abandoning the bandwagon.Seven men have coached Canadian teams since 1982, the first year Canada sent a national (rather than club) team to the world tournament. Five of them&mdash;Brian Kilrea, Terry Simpson, Dave Chambers, Tom Webster and Guy Charron&mdash;went on to the NHL. A sixth&mdash;Dave King&mdash;would be there now were he not committed to the Canadian national team. And the seventh&mdash;Bert Templeton&mdash;was disgraced in 1987 when Canada was disqualified for brawling with the Soviets.Whether Todd is headed for the NHL is unclear. He is best friends with Roger Neilson, but the New York Ranger head coach already has Colin Campbell, Ron Smith and Wayne Cashman as assistants.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not looking down the road to what may or may not happen with an opening or expansion or anything like that,&rdquo; Todd said. &ldquo;If it happens, it happens; if it doesn&rsquo;t, it doesn&rsquo;t and I&rsquo;ll continue on here as long as they&rsquo;re happy to have me here.&rdquo;Todd is in the same circumstances as U.S. college coaches who enjoy such security and stature it would take an exceptional opportunity to pry them away from their schools. Todd is as entrenched in Peterborough as the Trent canal system.Fewer than 24 hours after Canada won the gold medal, Todd was back in Peterborough coaching the Petes to a much-needed win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. One night later, he was in Oshawa and opposing Team Canada members Lindros and Dale Craigwell of the Generals. The old battle lines had quickly re-emerged.Todd has a tremendous record with the Petes but suffers from something of an image problem. Todd started out with the Ontario Hockey League team as a trainer, does not have hair to spare, would be wise to pare off some-pounds, looks most of his 45 years and comes across as bland. All very important factors.Did I mention he has compiled one of the best career winning percentages (plus-.600) in all of major junior hockey during the 10 years he has been in Peterborough?All Dick Todd does is win.Steve Dryden is managing editor of Inside HOCKEY. &#9632;

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TODD ESCAPES THE FIRE WITH ONLY MINOR BURNS

A center with the New York Rangers and Boston for 21 seasons from 1960-61 to 1980-81, Jean Ratelie is a scout with the Bruins. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in hockey all my life, so it&rsquo;s nice to still be involved in some capacity,&rdquo; Ratelle says. &ldquo;Staying in touch and running into players you played with is great. And the camaraderie that exists between scouts is fun.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02978/5904832-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="594" height="413"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean Ratelle</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

THEN & NOW

<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>GM Mike Keenan said he&rsquo;s reluctant to trade either Jacques Cloutier or Greg Millen because of next summer&rsquo;s expansion draft to stock the San Jose Sharks. &ldquo;We have to have a goaltender available in the expansion draft,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why you&rsquo;re seeing a lot of clubs carrying three goaltenders. Maybe you have to eat a salary, but it would be silly to trade one of our older goaltenders (Cloutier or Millen) and then lose one of the other two (minor leaguers Jimmy Waite or Dominik Hasek). We have to protect ourselves as an organization.&rdquo;&hellip;Millen played well in a Jan. 1 exhibition game against the Soviet Red Army, stopping 17 of 18 shots in 27 minutes of play. It was his first appearance in a game since the pre-season. Afterward, Keenan said Millen&rsquo;s strong showing may have earned him a start in the near future&hellip;Cloutier&rsquo;s start Dec. 28 against Buffalo was his first since Nov. 17. He was a little rusty, allowing four goals on 15 shots before behind pulled midway through the second period. &ldquo;What can you expect, it&rsquo;s not a switch you can turn on and off,&rdquo; Cloutier said.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>Wings&rsquo; scouts returned from the World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan with rave reviews about two of their draftees&mdash;Canada&rsquo;s Mike Sillinger and Soviet Viacheslav Kozlov, both playmaking centers. Sillinger helped Team Canada to the gold medal with his steady all-around play, but assistant GM Nick Polano was particularly pleased with Sillinger&rsquo;s defense. &ldquo;Mike&rsquo;s defense has really improved,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;It looks like he&rsquo;s finally understanding his role at the other end of the ice.&rdquo; Kozlov, a small but feisty player with immense talent, was the Wings&rsquo; third pick in the 1990 draft. Polano and Wings&rsquo; chief scout Ken Holland said Kozlov is a can&rsquo;t-miss star in the NHL, though he probably won&rsquo;t be available to the Wings until after the 1994 Olympics, when he will be 22-years-old&hellip;Rumors abounded&mdash;though they proved unfounded&mdash;that the Wings were orchestrating another defection. The Sports Network predicted Detroit would spirit Kozlov away from his team in the same manner they helped Sergei Fedorov leave his Soviet teammates just before the Goodwill Games in July. TSN described Polano as the &ldquo;James Bond of &lsquo;the NHL&rdquo; for his undercover work that helped bring Fedorov and Czech defector Petr Klima to Detroit.<h2>BLUES</h2>Several of the Blackhawks, including former Blues&rsquo; goalie Greg Millen and Doug Wilson, called Paul Cavallini after the Blues&rsquo; defenseman lost the tip of his finger when he blocked a Wilson slap shot. Cavallini was impressed Wilson called. &ldquo;He said he was really sorry that the incident happened,&rdquo; Cavallini said. &ldquo;I explained it was just a fluke thing and not for him to worry. He wished me a speedy recovery. That was real nice, real touching.&rdquo;&hellip;Veteran center Rick Meagher was given clearance to play. Meagher, 37, has missed the entire season after undergoing recon-structive surgery on his right knee after last season. He said one of his biggest boosters has been 36-year-old Harold Snepsts.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Rookie center Scott Thornton was ecstatic after returning to the Leafs from his gold-medal effort with the Canadian world junior team and is hoping his experience in that tournament will help him find permanent work with in Toronto. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve become a better defensive player,&rdquo; said Thornton, who also needs to improve his offensive skills to crack the Leafs&rsquo; lineup. &ldquo;If I get the opportunity to play with Toronto, I&rsquo;m going to jump all over the chance.&rdquo; Management has told Thornton he won&rsquo;t be returning to his junior team in Belleville (OHL) this year. &ldquo;I think I can learn a lot just be being here and practising with the team,&rdquo; said Thomton-&hellip;Veteran right winger Doug Shedden, despite having scored some very important goals for Toronto this season, figures he&rsquo;ll be the odd-man out once Gary Leetnan and Mike Foligno return from injuries. &ldquo;Nothing is written in stone and they can do what they want with you,&rdquo; said Shedden, who was sent down to Newmarket (AHL) earlier this season but recalled when Foligno was injured Dec. 18&hellip;Leaf GM Floyd Smith said he&rsquo;ll feel no embarrassment whatsoever should the Leafs finish last and lose their chance at drafting Eric Lindros. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t figure on finishing last when I made the deal (with New Jersey for Tom Kurvers) and I don&rsquo;t expect to finish last now,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;We reached a decision when we gave up the draft choice and we&rsquo;re going to stand by it.&rdquo;<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>Brian Bellows moved into second place on the North Stars&rsquo; all-time assist list against Vancouver Jan. 5. His two assists gave him 320, one more than Dino Ciccarelli. but 158 behind teammate Neal Broten&hellip;The recently ended $tar$take$ promotion proved costly to owner Norman Green with minimal results. The cash-giveaway promotion ended New Year&rsquo;s Eve. The Stars gave away $224,300&mdash;$700 carryover was donated to charity&mdash;during 15 games to increase average attendance from 5,601 Nov. 10 to 7,371. The next promotion? The Stars will give away a personal computer at each of the remaining home games&hellip;The North Stars have been in fourth place in the Norris Division since Oct. 8, the fifth day of the season&hellip;Goalie Brian Hayward changed from sweater No. 33 to No. 1. &#9632;

KEENAN SAYS TRADE NOT LIKELY

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>If it wasn&rsquo;t for his trade to the Blackhawks last June, Chris Chelios says he wouldn&rsquo;t be participating in the All-Star Game Jan. 19 in Chicago.Chelios, who was voted to start on the Campbell Conference defense for the first time in his career, says it would&rsquo;ve been tough to beat Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey for a starting spot on the Wales&rsquo; team.&ldquo;And I wouldn&rsquo;t have been chosen either,&rdquo; said Chelios, who was quick to say why. &ldquo;Because Boston (Mike Milbury) is picking. As soon as I see Boston make the finals, I know I can make other plans.&rdquo;Chelios remembers what happened in 1989, when he was snubbed from the Wales&rsquo; squad by then Bruins&rsquo; coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly.The former Montreal defenseman was in the midst of a Norris Trophy-winning season.Chelios may be the leading candidate for his second Norris Trophy considering what he has done for the Hawks this season.Things have gone so well there are times he has to pinch himself to make sure he&rsquo;s not dreaming.Not only is he playing hockey in his hometown, but the Hawks were in first place overall through Jan. 7.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too good to be true,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;Everything is going so smoothly, but I know it can change at any time so I&rsquo;m trying to enjoy it.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly deserving,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan. &ldquo;He has to be a strong candidate for the Norris Trophy.&rdquo;With eight goals and 31 assists in 44 games, Chelios was on pace to break his career high of 73 points in a season set in 1988-89.Chelios admits to falling off a bit offensively lately, but he&rsquo;s not too concerned.&ldquo;I got off to my best start ever and now I&rsquo;ve slowed down a little, but that&rsquo;s going to happen,&rdquo; said Chelios, who went 19 straight games without a goal.In fact, in the Hawks&rsquo; 3-1 loss to Los Angeles Jan. 6, Chelios was benched for 23 of the final 30 minutes after Keenan didn&rsquo;t approve of his performance on the power play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011087/5904887-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="558" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Chelios will play in his third All-Star Game Jan. 19.</figcaption></div>It was the second time this season Chelios was benched.He showed his unhappiness by breaking his stick in the third period while sitting on the bench.&ldquo;It was pretty embarrassing, but there&rsquo;s nothing you can do,&rdquo; said Chelios. &ldquo;(Breaking the stick) was just an act of frustration. It was not directed toward anybody.&rdquo;Keenan refused to elaborate on the reasons for sitting down his all-star defenseman.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s anybody&rsquo;s business but myself and the team&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;Not getting production out of the power play, that&rsquo;s a reason in itself.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 1: Ryan McGill, D, and Sean Williams, C, recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). Jan. 2: Williams assigned to Indianapolis. Jan. 3: Ryan McGill, Frantisek Kucera. D, and Mike McNeill, LW, assigned to Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Troy Murray, Adam Creighton, Mike Hudson.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Greg Gilbert, Steve Thomas, Mike Peluso.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Wayne Presley, Jocelyn Lemieux, Stu Grimson.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson, Trent Yawney, Steve Konroyd.RD&mdash;Bob McGill, Chris Chelios, Dave Manson.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Jacques Cloutier, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, dislocated left shoulder, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Larmer, 28. A&mdash;Larmer, 33. P&mdash; Larmer. 61 PIM&mdash;Peluso, 153. &#9632;

f0017-01

CHELIOS SET FOR ALL-STAR BATTLE

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>Hockey fans in North America have spoken. Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues is the NHL&rsquo;s most popular player.Hull won the fan voting for the starting lineups in the 1991 All-Star Game in a landslide. He got a record 432,879 votes, more than 100,000 more than runner-up Ray Bourque and twice as many as Wayne Gretzky.In typical Hull fashion, he handled the public mandate with a sense of wonderment and a sense of humor.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s amazing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize I had so many relatives.&rdquo;Lest one think he treated the honor frivilously, the self-effacing Hull was genuinely humble.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a surprise to me, with all the great players in the league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To have that popularity among the fans is an honor. That&rsquo;s all I can say. To get so many more votes than Gretzky&hellip;that&rsquo;s a big deal. Incredible. I don&rsquo;t know what else to say.&rdquo;He did repeat what he has said all along about being mentioned in the same breath as Gretzky.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider myself in his class at all,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;He is in a world of his own.&rdquo;No one would argue with him on the latter point, but Hull is moving into Gretzky&rsquo;s class as an ambassador for the game. He wears his star status well. And he has been unchanged by the fame and fortune that came with the $7-million contract he signed before the start of the season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Brett even realizes the impact he has had or how well he would do over the last couple of years,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter said. &ldquo;He has grown in popularity in such an incredibly short period of time.&ldquo;He has had a big impact not only on the Blues, but the hockey world. What he has done is an incredible achievement.&rdquo;Particularly this season. Hull went into the season wondering how well he&rsquo;d do without center Peter Zezel, who played with Hull the last two seasons.The Blues traded Zezel and Mike Lalor to Washington for Geoff Courtnall, but Hull didn&rsquo;t lose his edge.At mid-season, Hull was well on his way to breaking the NHL goal scoring record for right wingers that he set just last season when he had 72. He was scoring goals at a goal-per-game clip and had 41 in 41 games, matching his goal output in his first full season with the Blues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02833/5904918-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="550" height="724"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull is on his way to another goal-scoring record.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I never would have guessed I&rsquo;d have the same success I&rsquo;m having without him,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;Peter was a big part of it, but I think it shows the quality of players we have. I can&rsquo;t take anything away from him, but to be able to do what I&rsquo;ve done is a credit to the rest of the team.&rdquo;Hull has taken regular shifts with seven centers&mdash;Adam Oates, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Ron Wilson, Bob Bassen, Cliff Ronning and Peoria call-ups Michel Mongeau and Nelson Emerson.Still, Hull is amazed by his own accomplishments.&ldquo;You never think things are going to go this well for you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say you surprise yourself&hellip;but I guess I did.&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 2: Dominic Lavoie, D, assigned to Peoria (IHL). Tom Tilley, D, recalled from Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Wilson, Adam Oates. Bob Bassen, Cliff Ronning.LW&mdash;Gino Cavallini, Geoff Courtnall, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Sergio Momesso.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Dave Lowry, Rich Sutter, Paul MacLean.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Harold Snepsts, Glen Featherstone, Robert Dirk.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Tom Tilley, Mario Marois.G&mdash;Vincent Riendeau. Curtis Joseph.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cavallini, D, left index finger surgery, indefinite. Rick Meagher. C. right knee surgery, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Hull, 41. A&mdash;Oates. Brown, 28. P&mdash; Hull. 57. PIM&mdash;Featherstone, 105 &#9632;

f0017-02

MR. POPULARITY SURPRISING HIMSELF WITH SUCCESS

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>After more than a year of abuse, Jimmy Carson finally fired back at the Edmonton news media that took it so personally when Carson decided last season he didn&rsquo;t want to play there anymore.That city&rsquo;s newspapers used Carson&rsquo;s second return in two seasons to lambaste the Red Wings&rsquo; center again&mdash;this time for remarks he made in a Sports Illustrated story that apparently offended some residents&mdash;notably those who write newspaper columns.Carson, who grew up in suburban Detroit, played junior hockey in sub-urban Montreal and began his NHL career in Los Angeles before going to Edmonton in the deal for Wayne Gretzky, was quoted in the Dec. 24 issue of SI as saying his arrival in Edmonton was, &ldquo;reverse culture shock. Most of the Oiler players come from small farming towns. They think Edmonton is Paris.&rdquo;The columnists used it as an opportunity to bash not only Carson, but the city of Detroit, which they have been doing at every opportunity since the Wings showed up in Edmonton for the Stanley Cup semifinals four years ago.&ldquo;Romper Room journalism,&rdquo; is how Carson critiqued the Edmonton papers Jan. 4. &ldquo;What I really think it is is anti-Americanism at its finest.&rdquo;Carson&rsquo;s comments were greeted with a mixture of disdain and ambivalence from his former Oiler teammates.&ldquo;I never gave Jimmy credit for much, but one thing I thought he had was a little intelligence,&rdquo; Craig Mac-Tavish told the Edmonton Journal. &ldquo;Now I can&rsquo;t even give him credit for that.&rdquo;Some Edmonton players invited the controversy as a rallying point for the evening&rsquo;s match between the two teams, but defenseman Jeff Beuke-boom shrugged it off.&ldquo;Words don&rsquo;t win hockey games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You still have to do it on the ice.&rdquo;At the mid-day skate, Carson was deluged by reporters asking him to respond to his treatment in the newspapers.&ldquo;The damage is done, in your eyes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing I can say to change it. So I&rsquo;ll have to live with it.&rdquo;Someone asked him how it would feel to have 18,000 people booing him that night, suggesting it might be a &ldquo;tough situation&rdquo; for him. Carson rolled his eyes.&ldquo;Tough situation?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Those guys over there in the Persian Gulf&mdash;that&rsquo;s a tough situation. That&rsquo;s bravery and courage.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the newspapers encouraged fans to dress up as hayseeds for the game by wearing bib overalls and chewing straw.&ldquo;The thing that really bothers me is I&rsquo;ve tried to handle everything in my career with some class,&rdquo; Carson said, &ldquo;and this is being perceived as just the opposite.&rdquo;In the game that night, fans&mdash;who ignored the paper&rsquo;s suggestion to dress up&mdash;treated Carson with some rudeness for his first few shifts, but seemed to lose interest as the game progressed.The Oilers, however, tried to make him eat his words. All three goals in a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Wings came with Carson&rsquo;s line on the ice, though coach Bryan Murray said Carson couldn&rsquo;t be blamed for any of them.Carson, meanwhile, assisted on one Detroit goal but was held off the goal-scoring column despite four shots on goal.&ldquo;I thought he worked hard. He was certainly nervous,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;There were a lot of things played up that I just don&rsquo;t understand.&ldquo;Jimmy was uptight. He was worried somebody would do something (to him), but I thought the Oilers played him strong but fair.&rdquo;Said Carson: &ldquo;What can you do? You go out and play as hard as you can. Unfortunately, we lost. I was a little nervous, but not overly. You can&rsquo;t worry about the stuff in the papers here. They like to overplay things a little bit.&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 4: Tom Bissett, RW, and Doug Houda, D, recalled from Adirondack (AHL) Jan. 7: Bissett assigned to Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Jimmy Carson, Sergei Fedorov, John Chabot.LW&mdash;Shawn Burr, Johan Garpenlov, Randy McKay, Keith Primeau.RW&mdash;Bob Probert, Paul Ysebaert, Dave BarrLD&mdash;Bobby Delias, Per Djoos, Doug Houda.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Rick Zombo, Yves Racine.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Glen Hanlon<h3>INJURIES</h3>Steve Chiasson. D, broken foot, indefinite. Gerard Gallant, LW. back spasms, indefinite. Marc Habscheid, RW, separated shoulder, day-to-day. Rick Green, D, back spasms, day-to-day. Joe Kocur. RW, back spasms, day-to-day. Greg Stefan. G, right knee surgery, Jan. 31. Sheldon Kennedy. RW, shoulder surgery, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 26. A&mdash;Yzerman, 30. P&mdash;Yzerman, 56. PIM&mdash;Kocur, 152. &#9632;

CARSON-EDMONTON WAR OF THE WORDS ESCALATES

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>Brian Bellows, scorer, had just two goals in a 21-game span ending Jan. 5.Last season, he scored 55 goals. Through the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; first 44 games this season, he had 12. A year ago, he had 27.&ldquo;Brian&rsquo;s big season a year ago had a lot to do with the improvement of the North Stars,&rdquo; rookie coach Bob Gainey said. &ldquo;If Brian had the 25 or 27 goals he had a year ago, there&rsquo;s no hiding the fact that our team would have a better record.&rdquo;The North Stars have nine losses by one goal, another six by two goals and eight games ended in a tie.&ldquo;Our offense has fallen short,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;And when that happens you have to look to your offensive players.&rdquo;Bellows&rsquo; plus-minus rating of minus-11 is the worst among the North Stars. That compounds the problems created by his scoring drought.Bellows has been contributing to the offense lately&mdash;he had one goal and nine assists in a recent sevengame stretch&mdash;but &ldquo;Brian Bellows, playmaker,&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t have the same ring as &ldquo;Brian Bellows, goal scorer.&rdquo;The North Stars didn&rsquo;t give him a three-year, $2.1-million contract to be somebody else&rsquo;s setup guy. He gets paid the big bucks to score goals. There&rsquo;s some speculation the hefty wallet has changed a soon-to-be-star to the comfortable-with-where-I-am kind of guy.&ldquo;The people who say the reason for my off year is my new contract aren&rsquo;t the people who spend much time around the team,&rdquo; Bellows said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had to work harder for my points this year than I did most of last year.&ldquo;There were a lot of adjustments to Bob Gainey&rsquo;s style and I struggled with it. At the start of the season, we couldn&rsquo;t take any chances at the (other team&rsquo;s) blue line. Period. If we couldn&rsquo;t carry the puck in, we had to dump it. Now, as he&rsquo;s gotten to know us, there are some compromises in his system.&rdquo;Gainey has stuck with Bellows from the start. None of the excuses he has used in the past, excuses goal scorers real and imaginary turn to when they aren&rsquo;t scoring goals, are valid.Gainey has played Bellows with quality linemates consistently, given him extraordinary amounts of ice time and sent him out with the first powerplay unit probably more often than any other 12-goal scorer in the NHL.Goal scorers never seem to talk about luck when they&rsquo;re filling the net with pucks. But when they go a few games without turning on the red goal light, luck&mdash;specifically, the lack of it&mdash;becomes their curse instead of their companion.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t remember a season when I&rsquo;ve hit the butt end (of the goalie&rsquo;s stick) or the goal post so often,&rdquo; Bellows said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still getting my shots (he ranks fifth among NHL shooters with 158, nearly 40 more than any teammate), but the quality probably isn&rsquo;t as good as the shots I had a year ago.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still confident I can score.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 2: Mitch Messier, C, and Steve Gotaas, C, recalled from Kalamazoo (IHL). Jan. 4: Messier and Gotaas assigned to Kalamazoo.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Dave Gagner, Mike Modano, Bobby Smith.LW&mdash;Gaetan Duchesne, Doug Smail. Brian Bellows, Brian Propp.RW&mdash;Ulf Dahlen. Ilkka Sinisalo, Perry Berezan, Shane Churla, Stewart Gavin.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, Rob Zettler, Neil Wilkinson, Chris Dahlquist.RD&mdash;Brian Glynn, Curt Giles. Jim Johnson.G&mdash;Jon Casey. Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers. D, left-knee surgery, indefinite Basil McRae, LW, abdominal strain, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gagner, 23. A&mdash;Broten, 34. P&mdash; Broten, 45. PIM&mdash;Churla, 200. &#9632;

‘BAD LUCK BELLOWS’ BATTLING BOUNCES

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>Earlier this season, most of the words used to describe the Toronto Maple Leafs ended in i-n-g.Words such as losing, slumping, sliding, floundering and fading managed to creep into most stories written about the plight of the club as they stumbled to a 2-16-1 start.Even the coach at the time, Doug Carpenter, used words like hoping and coping as he discussed the team&rsquo;s misfortune.Much has happened in recent weeks, however, and the Leafs, after a 7-4-1 month of December, are no longer the also-rans of the NHL. The words to tell Toronto&rsquo;s story no longer dwell on negatives ending in i-n-g, but rather with a goaltender, last name Ing, first name Peter.&ldquo;We were looking for someone who could take the ball and run with it, so to speak, and Peter&rsquo;s been that guy,&rdquo; said Leaf coach Tom Watt.It certainly didn&rsquo;t appear as though Ing would get the nod over veterans Allan Bester and Jeff Reese when the season started. The 21-year-old Toronto native started just once in the Leafs&rsquo; first six games and then posted a 2-12 record through the latter part of October and most of November.It was not an auspicious beginning, even though on most nights he was the outstanding player in a Leaf uniform.&ldquo;That was a tough start for me and for the team, but what&rsquo;s important is that we stuck together and came through it,&rdquo; said Ing, who played in three games with the Leafs last season. &ldquo;I think the early part of this season was a character builder for everybody, especially me.&rdquo;It would have been easy for Ing to doubt his abilities after the start he had. but the former London Knight and Windsor Spitfire (Ontario League) said he never let himself get down.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a fighter,&rdquo; said Ing, who didn&rsquo;t start playing hockey until he was 11 years old and only played in goal because his team&rsquo;s regular goalie moved away. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s important that you remain the same kind of person regardless of what&rsquo;s going on around you and I&rsquo;ve always been a fairly low-key, level-headed kind of guy and down to earth.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to change now just because I&rsquo;m in the NHL. I just want to try to be myself. If you go out there and you&rsquo;re all starry-eyed looking around at the fans and the players on the other team, then you&rsquo;ll get caught up in all that and not play your game.&rdquo;Ing, who has improved his record to 10-16-2 in recent weeks and lo-wered his goals-against average to a respectable 3.65, proved beyond any doubt in a game Jan. 5 at Maple Leaf Gardens that he&rsquo;s not easily intimi-dated.The Leafs&rsquo; third-round selection in the 1988 entry draft tested his skills against none other than Wayne Gretzky in a penalty shot showdown and came up with a splendid pad save that drew a tremendous ovation.&ldquo;It was an indescribable feeling,&rdquo; said Ing. &ldquo;The response from the fans was just great.&rdquo;It used to be said of the Leafs that losing ended in i-n-g. It&rsquo;s now said that winning begins with Ing.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 26: Jeff Reese, G, recalled from Newmarket (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Vincent Damphousse, Mike Krushelnyski, Lucien DeBlois, Dave Hannan, Scott Thornton.LW&mdash;Wendel Clark, Joe Sacco, Aaron Broten, Dave Reid.RW&mdash;Paul Fenton, Doug Shedden, Daniel Marois, Kevin Maguire, Mike Millar.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Luke Richardson, Todd Gill, Brad Marsh.RD&mdash;Rob Ramage, Al lafrate, Michel Petit, Tom Kurvers.G&mdash;Peter Ing, Jeff Reese, Allan Bester.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Fergus. C, groin surgery, indefinite Gary Leeman, RW, separated shoulder, Jan. 8. Mike Foligno, RW, strained left knee ligaments, Jan. 20.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Damphousse, 13. A&mdash; Damphousse, 20. P&mdash;Damphousse, 33. PIM&mdash;Richardson, 113. &#9632;

WINNING IN TORONTO BEGINS WITH ‘I-N-G’

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01931/5905021-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="532" height="617"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC DUHATSCHEK</figcaption></div>On a recent evening in Calgary, Denis Savard showed up in his Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; uniform, took a couple of turns around the ice, checked in for six power-play attempts&hellip;and accomplished nothing.More often than not, that has been the story of Savard&rsquo;s season to date. No spin-o-ramas. No breathtaking rushes up the ice, turning the opposing defence into pretzels. None of the things that set him apart from mere mortals over the first 10 years of his career.This then is not an evaluation of the Savard-Chris Chelios deal, which even John Ziegler could recognize as one of the most lopsided in years, but a look at why it went wrong&mdash;and how Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Serge Savard should have known better.Clearly, when GM Savard made the trade, he checked at the birth certificates of the principals, saw Denis Savard was only 11 months older than Chelios and figured he was acquiring the same calibre of player at roughly the same stage in their respective careers.That turned out to be the wrong conclusion.My theory is this: That any player good enough to play 10 years in the NHL has about 10 good seasons in him.After that, watch out.His skills start to erode. Ever so slightly at first, then a little more and a little more and pretty soon you&rsquo;re looking at a shell of the player that once was.In the end, the travel, the injuries, the practices&mdash;simply the demands of NHL life&mdash;catches up with a player.So look more closely at the Chelios-Savard trade. Chelios played six years before this season began, Savard 10. This year, Chelios looks like a player in his prime&mdash;which is what you expect from a talented, above-average six-year veteran. Savard looks like a player getting close to the end&mdash;something you&rsquo;d expect from a 10year pro who has seen better days.In terms of longevity, then, chronological age becomes a secondary consideration to the wear and tear&mdash;mental, physical and emotional&mdash;ex-acted by the NHL. In the end, if your NHL career begins at 19, you can pretty much figure the slide to start at 29. If you begin at 22, then your 10 good years should carry you all the way to 32.If you look at the older players in the league, many were late starters, players who graduated from less-demanding U.S. college programs before turning pro&mdash;33-year-old Joey Mullen, 35-year-old Dave Taylor, 33-year-old Rod Langway, 32-year-old Brian MacLellan.Then you look at the top players chosen in the 1980 and &rsquo;81 drafts and see a lot of pretty good players now on the downsides of their careers&mdash;David Babych, Larry Murphy, Barry Pederson, Craig Muni, Dale Hawerchuk, Mark Hunter, Tony Tanti.None of the above have even turned 30 yet. They may not be finished, but the dropoff in their play the last two seasons has been pretty dramatic.Now, there are exceptions to any rule of thumb. The theory may not apply to the truly gifted player&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, for example.But what of the next level of star, say the Kevin Lowes, the Glenn Andersons that toiled with Gretzky all those championship years? All that hockey may be catching up to them.Perhaps no one recognizes the trap better than Lowe. He started at 19. Now, he&rsquo;s 31. He has played 11 difficult, extended seasons, resulting from the Oilers&rsquo; seven trips to the Stanley Cup finals.You get to be Lowe&rsquo;s age and you start thinking about the early &rsquo;80s New York Islanders, a team that became old before its time, the result of the two extra months tacked on the back of all their seasons.Complicating things for Lowe is the Oilers&rsquo; Smythe Division travel headaches. The Islanders played in a division that featured 54 games in the metropolitan New York area and a dozen others within commuting distance.&ldquo;Any guy that has been in the playoffs a lot over the years will know that there is a potential for burnout,&rdquo; said Lowe. &ldquo;You play into May every year. Your training camps start earlierand earlier every year. This year, we started Sept. 1. You&rsquo;ve really got to learn to pace yourself over the course of the season.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a lot of time to do anything else in the regular season. Mark (Messier) and I joke about this. We spend all of our off time resting. That&rsquo;s all we do, play hockey and rest.&rdquo;Until Father Time, like a streaking Paul Coffey, inevitably overtakes you.Eric Duhatschek covers hockey for the Calgary Herald. &#9632;

f0020-01

SAVARD VICTIM OF AGE-OLD PROBLEM

Jan. 12, 1986: Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo;center Denis Savard ties an NHL record for the fastest goal from the start of a period. Savard scores four seconds into the third period in a 4-2 win over Hartford. Montreal&rsquo;s Claude Provost set the record in a 4-2 win over Boston Nov. 9, 1957. Provost scored four seconds into the second period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02625/5905052-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="617" height="397"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Provost</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

FLASHBACK

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div>When you see Phil Sykes&rsquo; name in a game summary, you&rsquo;re often inclined to think of him as a guy who has overstayed his welcome in professional hockey.He&rsquo;s 32, never been an offensive player of note and at 175-pounds is hardly the kind of left winger you&rsquo;d order for banging and crashing.Sykes, however, continues to override all those things because he plays intelligently.Since Paul Fenton was traded to Toronto in November, Sykes has been the left match for physical right winger Paul MacDermid. Mac-Dermid&rsquo;s presence tends to be very important to the Jets because of his size and aggressiveness.&ldquo;Paul&rsquo;s a big, physical player who&rsquo;s stronger in the other team&rsquo;s end,&rdquo; Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch said. &ldquo;We count on him to be bumping into people.&ldquo;Phil is a very smart player. He reads things well and is able to adapt to every situation. His forte is defensive play, where he&rsquo;s very smart. Anywhere on the ice, he&rsquo;s a good match for a mucker and bumper.&rdquo;And most of the time, it&rsquo;s Sykes and MacDermid who draw the key assignment with center Eddie. Olczyk.Murdoch called it a natural combination and pointed to the statistical chart, where MacDermid and Sykes are one-two in team plus-minus. Both are on the plus side playing on a team that has slipped 11 games below .500.&ldquo;When you play with Dermy, he creates so much shivering out there by the other team&rsquo;s defensemen,&rdquo; Sykes said. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re with Eddie Olczyk and all of a sudden there&rsquo;s lot of room for opportunites. I think if you take advantage of your spots, you can play offensively and really not hurt your defensive game.&rdquo;Sykes, obtained last season from the Los Angeles Kings for Brad Jones, knows his defensive and penalty-killing roles well but wishes people wouldn&rsquo;t be so surprised when he scores.&ldquo;If you look at my numbers, for the amount of games I play, I almost always score 20 goals,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the pace I&rsquo;m always on in this league. I don&rsquo;t think anything has changed.&rdquo;He did once score 20 in L.A., in 1985-86. Two seasons later, he scored nine in 40 games and last season when he came to Winnipeg, nine in 48 games.&ldquo;If you pencilled Phil Sykes in for 15 goals, you&rsquo;d say he was doing a pretty good job,&rdquo; Murdoch added. &ldquo;Well, he&rsquo;s ahead of that target right now.&rdquo;The Jets have a more immediate target, though. It&rsquo;s to try to stay within striking distance of the fourth-place Vancouver Canucks until some key injured players, captain Thomas Steen and Dave McLlwain, are ready to play in a couple of weeks.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 1: Rick Tabaracci, G, assigned to Moncton (AHL) for conditioning stint. Jan. 6: Tabaracci recalled from Moncton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Brent Ashton, Danton Cole, Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Doug Evans, Phil Sykes, Scott Arniel, Craig Duncanson.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDermid, Greg Pasklawski. Mark Kumpel, Gord Donnelly.LD&mdash;Phil Housley. Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin, Bryan Marchment.RD&mdash;Teppo Numminen, Fredrik Olausson, Moe Mantha.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Stephane Beauregard, Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave McLlwain, C, torn right knee ligaments, day-to-day. Mark Osborne, LW, broken left thumb, indefinite Thomas Steen, C, fractured ankle, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Elynuik, 17. A&mdash;Housley, 27. P&mdash;Olczyk, Housley, 39. PIM&mdash;Donnelly. 128. &#9632;

PROTOTYPE GRINDER GAINING SOME NOTICE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>When Trevor Linden scores it&rsquo;s no coincidence the Vancouver Canucks usually win.After going seven games without a goal since his third career hat trick Dec. 20 against Edmonton, Linden found the range Jan. 5 in Minnesota.Predictably, the Canucks won 6-5, ending their longest losing streak of the season&mdash;six games.Vancouver scored three power-play goals with Linden getting two of the three. He had 20 goals in 44 games.Last season it took Linden 73 games to reach 21.Linden&rsquo;s outburst also helped his center, Dan Quinn. Quinn scored four times on the trip (0-31), officially ending his goal-scoring skid.Quinn&rsquo;s goals were his first on the road this season. He scored two against the North Stars.If there&rsquo;s such a thing as a marked man in Vancouver this season, Linden&rsquo;s it.The message is clear: Stop him, and more often than not, you&rsquo;ll stop the Canucks.Linden&rsquo;s favorite movie is Ruthless People, but you&rsquo;ve got to wonder how he feels about the ruthless grinders and goons being sent after him.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt they&rsquo;re running me a lot more this season,&rdquo; said Linden. &ldquo;It happens all the time. But it&rsquo;s not something I can&rsquo;t deal with. I think when teams are paying special attention, it brings out the best in me.&rdquo;Linden, at 6-foot-4, 205-pounds, is better equipped than most Canucks to handle the opposition&rsquo;s treachery.But while he plays hard, Linden is a mediocre fighter at best. He rarely gets into scraps, but when does, he&rsquo;s usually overmatched.When Linden had a career-high, six-point evening Dec. 20 against Edmonton, he drove the Oilers batty by refusing to submit to intimidation tactics.First Dave Brown drove Linden&rsquo;s head into the plexiglass with a gloved fist. Then Jeff Beukeboom tried to clobber him with his stick.On Jan. 3 in Boston, Bruin mugger Chris Nilan tried to administer the same treatment. Linden resisted the urge to retaliate on two counts: Nilan&rsquo;s punching ability and his value to the Canucks.&ldquo;I think I can handle myself in a fight, and I don&rsquo;t see any need to improve myself in that area,&rdquo; said Linden. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;d rather be on the ice trying to help our team win, than sitting for five minutes in the penalty box with Chris Nilan.&rdquo;Bad guys have had a field day beating up the Canucks, but rookie heavyweight Gino Odjick has helped squelch the crime wave.With hard-rock right winger Ronnie Stem scheduled to return to the lineup following a conditioning stint in Milwaukee (IHL), Odjick will have a blood brother with which to work.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 2: Andrew McBain, RW, assigned to Mil-waukee (IHL). Jan. 6: Don Gibson, D. assigned to Milwaukee. Jan. 7: Ron Stern, RW, assigned to Milwaukee.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dan Quinn, Igor Larionov, Brian Bradley, Steve Bozek, Petr Nedved.LW&mdash;Greg Adams. Robert Kron, Garry Valk, Gino Odjick, Petri Skriko, Craig Coxe.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Dave Capuano, Jim Sandlak, Jay Mazur, Stan Smyl.LD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Kevan Guy, Adrien Plavsic.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Jyrki Lumme, Robert Nord-mark.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Troy Gamble.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Linden, 20. A&mdash;Quinn, 23. P&mdash;Linden, 33. PIM&mdash;Butcher. Odiick. 152. &#9632;

RUTHLESS LINDEN MARKED MAN

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; off-ice woes seem never to cease.The latest malcontent member of the Stanley Cup champions with a contract complaint is popular tough guy Dave Brown, who has been quietly seeking a trade since August, according to his agent John Langel.But with Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson involved in contract renegotiations and seven other Oilers also playing out their options, Brown figured his status is low on general manager Glen Sather&rsquo;s priority list, so he decided to go public.&ldquo;We sent him a fax on (Dec.) 26th and he hasn&rsquo;t gotten back to us,&rdquo; said Brown, &ldquo;so I don&rsquo;t know how concerned he is and I asked my attorney to put a request in the paper.&rdquo;&ldquo;Dave had hoped it would not reach an escalation where it was uncomfortable for both sides,&rdquo; said Langel, &ldquo;but evidently it has reached that stage.&rdquo;Brown&rsquo;s secondary beef has been his playing time&mdash;or lack thereof.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned with what&rsquo;s going to happen later, I don&rsquo;t want a repeat of last season,&rdquo; said Brown who played in 60 of the Oilers&rsquo; 1989-90 regular-season games, but only three of their 22 playoff outings. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not making any threats, I&rsquo;m just stating the position I&rsquo;m in. Things seem to have stalled on contract talks and I appear to be low on the priority list.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s come to a point where I want Io be taken seriously and I don&rsquo;t think the Oilers are taking me seriously.&rdquo;Not so, retorts Sather.&ldquo;Hell, I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s down on the list,&rdquo; said the Oilers&rsquo; GM. &ldquo;I offered him a good raise. He&rsquo;s making $170,000 (U.S.) and I offered him a three-year deal at $210,000, $220,000 and $230,000 (U.S.), that&rsquo;s a pretty good raise.&rdquo;Brown is seeking $250,000 (U.S.).&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a contract for next season and that concerns me a lot,&rdquo; said Brown.As far as playing time is concerned, Sather said: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to satisfy the coach (John Muckier) for that.&rdquo;Sather admits he&rsquo;s becoming fed up with players going public over contract disputes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting ridiculous and I&rsquo;m getting sick and tired of guys whining about contracts,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Every time I turn around, there&rsquo;s somebody crying, but the world&rsquo;s not kicking down the doors for these guys.&rdquo;The New York Rangers and Brown&rsquo;s former employers, the Philadelphia Flyers, have expressed interest, but the right deal hasn&rsquo;t been worked out.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01700/5905155-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="704" height="910"><figcaption class="caption-body">Right winger Dave Brown wants more money and more playing time.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Brownie&rsquo;s a valuable guy to our hockey team, but these guys all think they&rsquo;re superstars. Why doesn&rsquo;t he get 10 goals and then come to me?&rdquo; said Sather.Brown has but one goal and his value to the Oilers stems more from his fistic prowess. Arguably, he&rsquo;s the heavyweight champion of the NHL.Some good news for the Oilers on Brown&rsquo;s front is that he wasn&rsquo;t suspended for picking up two match penalties Dec. 27 against Calgary. Brown was accused by referee Dan Marouelli of head-butting and kneeing Flames&rsquo; defenseman Ric Nattress during a scuffle. Instead Brown was fined $900 for the infractions.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 28: Mario Barbe. D. recalled from Cape Breton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig MacTavish, Adam Graves. Esa Tik-kanen. Ken Linseman. Mark Lamb.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson. Petr Klima. Martin Gelinas, Kelly Buchberger.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Joe Murphy. Dave Brown, Anatoli Semenov, Igor Viazmikin,LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Geoff Smith, Mario Barbe,RD&mdash;Craig Muni. Jeff Beukeboom, Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Charlie Huddy. D, sprained right ankle, indefinite. Mark Messier, C, sore left knee, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Simpson, Tikkanen, 16. A&mdash;Messier, Smith, 22. P&mdash;Tikkanen. 32. PIM&mdash;Smith, 115. &#9632;

f0021-01

BROWN GOES PUBLIC WITH CONTRACT BEEFS

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>It&rsquo;s easy for Wayne Gretzky to motivate himself for work. Slipping into a uniform usually suffices.But Gretzky&rsquo;s blood was boiling as he walked into the Nassau Coliseum before the Kings defeated the New York Islanders 6-3 Jan. 3.Angry at himself for failing to collect a point the previous evening when the Kings lost 4-1 to the New York Rangers, Gretzky was primed to make someone pay.That someone turned out to be Islander goaltender Glenn Healy, whom he victimized three times on his way to career goals 700, 701 and 702.&ldquo;I was ticked off because I had played so rotten. I was awful,&rdquo; said Gretzky, who joined the NHL&rsquo;s exclusive 700 Club with Gordie Howe (801), Marcel Dionne (731) and Phil Esposito (717).Gretzky was sensational against the Islanders, scoring on three of his first four shots to complete his first hat trick of the season. It was his fourth as a King and the 47th of his career.Gretzky&rsquo;s 700th goal came at 11:48 of the first period. He was standing just outside the crease, on the left side, when he backhanded a pass from Brian Benning high into the near corner.Tomas Sandstrom started the play by feeding Benning in the slot after he faked a slap shot in the right faceoff circle. Benning took a shot that was blocked by defenseman Craig Ludwig, but he regained possession of the puck and slipped it past Patrick Flatley to Gretzky, who had inside position on center Brent Sutter.&ldquo;I knew Gretz was at the side of the net and I just backhanded it over to him,&rdquo; Benning said. &ldquo;He really had the killer instinct. I know I&rsquo;ll remember this for a long time.&rdquo;So will Sandstrom, who scored the goal that produced Gretzky&rsquo;s 2,000th point Oct. 26 in Winnipeg.&ldquo;You knew he was going to get it,&rdquo; Sandstrom said, &ldquo;but 700 is still a big thing. He&rsquo;s probably going to get 800 or more. It was fun to see it, to be a part of it.&rdquo;Gretzky, who turns 30 Jan. 26, was leading the league in scoring with 25 goals and 76 points through 41 games despite injuries that sidelined his regular linemates (Sandstrom and Tony Granato) for extended stretches.Sandstrom missed 10 games with a fractured vertebra in his lower back before returning Dec. 29 while Granato remained out with strained rib cartilage that already had cost him nine games.Gretzky figures to break Howe&rsquo;s all-time goal-scoring record during the 1992-93 season. He already owns the records for assists (1,353) and points (2,054).&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve got 100 (goals left in me),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But as you get older, the things you&rsquo;ve got to worry about are nagging injuries. It&rsquo;s going to be harder to break than Gordie&rsquo;s points record. I know this sounds crazy, but someday someone may come along and break all my records.&rdquo;Gretzky needed 886 games to reach the 700-goal plateau, 781 fewer than Howe played in his career.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 4: Sylvain Couturier, C. recalled from Phoenix (IHL). Jim Thomson, RW, recalled from New Haven (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Scott Bjugstad, John McIntyre, Sylvain Couturier.LW&mdash;Bob Kudelski, Luc Robitaille, John Tonelli, Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Mike Donnelly. Brad Jones, Jim Thomson.LD&mdash;Tim Watters, Larry Robinson, Bob Halkidis, Brian Benning, Rod Buskas.RD&mdash;Rob Blake, Steve Duchesne, Marty McSorley.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Frank Breault. RW, right knee surgery, out for season Todd Elik, C. lacerations near right eye, day-to-day. Tony Granato, LW. strained rib cartilage, day-to-day. Steve Kasper, C, ruptured sinus cavity, day-to-day. Tom Laidlaw, D, bulging disc in back, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gretzky, 25. A&mdash;Gretzky, 51. P&mdash; Gretzky, 76 PIM&mdash;Miller. 113. &#9632;

THE GREAT ONE GAINS MEMBERSHIP IN 700 CLUB

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>Mike Vernon would like to thank all the fans who voted him to his fourth consecutive All-Star Game. but&hellip;He doesn&rsquo;t necessarily agree with their conclusions.&ldquo;Am I having an all-star season? No. I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; said Vernon. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s tough. The public votes. I think they should change that rule and get it to the writers who are around the teams all the time, the people know who&rsquo;s going well and who&rsquo;s slumping and who&rsquo;s playing up to their potential.&ldquo;I think players look at the all-star team at the end of year that&rsquo;s picked by the sportswriters as the all-star team. This is for the fans and to promote the game of hockey. The All-Star Game is one of our best shows. It shows a lot of the talent in the National Hockey League.&rdquo;The subject of how Vernon has played this season came up after a 7-0 shutout of the Detroit Red Wings Jan. 5, in which Vernon turned back 32 shots and was named first star.Vernon&rsquo;s last shutout came in the 1989 playoffs, the year the Flames won it all. For a regular-season shutout, go back to Nov. 30, 1987, a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.Vernon does not shut out many teams. Somewhere along the way, somebody usually manages to sneak one past him.The more pertinent statistic with Vernon is wins. The Detroit one was his 16th of the season. Over the past five years, he has more wins than any other goalie in the league (138), even though he hasn&rsquo;t played five full years.On balance, Vemon&rsquo;s season could be characterized as up-and-down. He&rsquo;s been good, not great, and unfortunately for him, good isn&rsquo;t good enough to appease the usually soldout Olympic Saddledome.Vernon is the home-town-boy-made-good and yet he, more than any other player on the Flames&rsquo; roster, feels the wrath of the fans if he happens to let in a bad goal.So who actually voted for him?&ldquo;Maybe the people on the road,&rdquo; said Vernon. &ldquo;There was a cartoon in the paper by Dave Elston where I&rsquo;m burying the ballot boxes from Calgary in a field. I kinda liked that one.&ldquo;Maybe the fans are a little fickle here, but at least they keep me honest. I try to keep working hard and hopefully things will go my way.&rdquo;Last year&rsquo;s All-Star Game was a personal nightmare for Vernon. Mario Lemieux singlehandedly destroyed him in the first period of what turned out to be a 12-7 loss. All-Star games may be fun for scorers, but they can give goaltenders grey hairs. Nobody plays defense.Vernon handled that result with good humor. He jokes now that Lemieux decided to get a vanity license plate on the truck he won for being All-Star MVP&mdash;spelling out V-E-R-N-O-N.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01733/5905210-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="546" height="670"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Vernon won&rsquo;t face Mario Lemieux in the All-Star Game.</figcaption></div>So is he looking forward to this year&rsquo;s edition?&ldquo;Mario&rsquo;s not there so I hope I can redeem myself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frus-trating to go out there and not have a good showing. It&rsquo;s on national television. It hits too close to home. It&rsquo;s a case where I&rsquo;m going to try and do the best I can.&rdquo;Flames&rsquo; coach Doug Risebrough gave Vernon nine days off after a Dec. 27 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Rick Wamsley started three league games in a row (2-0-1) plus an exhibition game against Central Red Army Jan. 4 (a 6-4 loss).Asked to rate Vemon&rsquo;s play this season, Risebrough said: &ldquo;I look at him as a big-game goalie. Does that equate to all-star performance? I don&rsquo;t know. In my mind, I&rsquo;m comfortable that he will come up with an all-star performance in a big game.&rdquo;The nine days off represented Vernon&rsquo;s longest break of the season. The time off, he said, made him work harder on his game.&ldquo;I practised a little longer and practised a little harder,&rdquo; Vernon said. &ldquo;You try to correct a few things. It&rsquo;s tough when you&rsquo;re in a situation of playing all the time and not winning games. It was a nice break for me. I gathered my thoughts. I relaxed a little more.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Robert Reichel.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Brian MacLellan, Stephane Matteau, Tim Sweeney. Sergei Priakin.RW&mdash;Theo Fleury. Sergei Makarov, Mark Hunter, Martin Simard.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Frank Musil.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Ric Nattress, Jim Kyte, Roger Johansson.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tim Hunter, RW, torn shoulder muscle, indefinite. Dana Murzyn, D, shoulder separation, indefinite. Colin Patterson. LW, knee surgery, indefinite. Paul Ranheim, RW, broken right ankle, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nieuwendyk, Fleury, 21. A&mdash; Maclnnis, 38. P&mdash;Maclnnis, 56. PIM&mdash; Roberts. 115. &#9632;

f0023-01

VERNON REALIZES HE’S NOT AN ALL-STAR

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01797/5905241-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adirondack&rsquo;s Kevin McClelland tied a team record with five assists in a 6-4 win over Cape Breton. The Red Wings were the only Capital District winners that night.</figcaption></div>My wife thought I was nuts.&ldquo;What did you say you want to do?&rdquo; she said.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go to three hockey games in three cities in the same night,&rdquo; I said, smiling.Her response was simple enough: &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; &ldquo;Because all three teams, the Adirondack Red Wings, the Capital District Islanders and the Albany Choppers, are playing home games tonight,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the only time this season that it happens, and, considering how poorly the Choppers are drawing, it may be the only time it ever happens.&rdquo;Dec. 21 was going to be a special night&mdash;all three teams in New York&rsquo;s Capital District were at home. This is the only place in the world to see three minor pro games&mdash;in two leagues&mdash;in the same night. But it could be hectic.Adirondack of the American League was hosting the Cape Breton Oilers while Capital District was playing the Newmarket Saints. Albany was playing the International League&rsquo;s East Division-leading Kalamazoo Wings. Unfortunately, all started at the same time.First period: Glens Falls Civic Center.There was nothing unusual to be found here. In their 11-plus seasons in Glens Falls, the Red Wings have developed a devoted&mdash;and dependable&mdash;fan base. The crowd of 3,478 filed in wearing their colors ready to watch their first-place team. Average attendance is off about 500 from last season, a dip attributed to the arrival of the Choppers and the Islanders last summer and the weak economy.The Wings were a little slow getting started due to a short ceremony and two national anthems. The opening faceoff was at 7:37. At the same time the Choppers&rsquo; game was being delayed 10 minutes because a goal light wouldn&rsquo;t work. The problem was solved when the goal judge was given a towel to signal goals.Adirondack jumps out to a quick 1-0 lead on a goal by Al Conroy at 2:16. Four minutes later, Kevin McClelland picks up his second assist when he finds Bill McDougall in the slot. Two goals on three shots against Pokey Reddick.The pace was fast with a lot of hitting. The crowd was noisy. It had the makings of a great game.At 8:05, I headed for my car. There was 5:49 left in the period.The ride south from Glens Falls to Troy takes about one hour. The traffic light next to the Civic Center was green. I figured it was an omen.The car radio kept track of the games.The Choppers were trailing 2-0. The Red Wings had scored another goal and led 3-0. A few minutes later, Shaun Van Allen knocked in Cape Breton&rsquo;s first goal. The Islanders&rsquo; station has a weak signal&mdash;so the game couldn&rsquo;t be picked up.By the time I got to Saratoga Springs, the Wings and Choppers were midway through the first intermission.About 10 miles from Troy I pulled in the Islanders&rsquo; game on the radio. They were trailing 2-1. Cape Breton had scored&mdash;Van Allen again&mdash;to close to 3-2.The Adirondack game was delayed early in the second period when referee Luc Miville suffered a leg injury in a collision with Cape Breton forward Dan Currie.Back and forth on the dial. Newmarket opened a two-goal lead on Darryl Shannon&rsquo;s power play goal at 5:18 of the second period.Second period: Houston Field House.The drive was up the hill and into the parking lot next to the arena that once was an airplane hangar. It was 8:55.There was 8:20 left in the second period of the Islanders&rsquo; game. Newmarket led 3-1. Kent Hulst scored for Newmarket. It was Rob Cimetta&rsquo;s third assist and fourth point of the game. There wasn&rsquo;t much hitting in this game, nor much emotion. The Saints had the game in hand and the Islanders knew it.Aside from some crazies at one end of the rink who call themselves The Zoo Crew, the crowd of 2,077 was quiet. The Zoo Crew, wearing their goaltenders&rsquo; masks, kept making noise. By then, they were the show.The Zoo lost its audience during the intermission when fans lined up to take part in a promotion to give away a new car. It was more exciting than the game.On the other side of the ice I noticed Lance and Donna Grannell of the Albany suburb of Latham. They may be the only people in the Capital District with season tickets for the Red Wings and the Islanders. They said they will attend at least 73 games this season&mdash;but only one this night.As usual, Donna had the referee doll that she hangs in effigy when she doesn&rsquo;t like a call. She had her headphones on and was listening to the Adirondack game.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want to see Cape Breton three nights in a row,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;That could be boring. That&rsquo;s why we came here.&rdquo;Cape Breton played the Islanders the next two nights.At 9:18, it was time to head to Albany.The ride to the Knickerbocker Arena took 15 minutes. It was exactly 10 miles. The radio helped update the out-of-town game. The Oilers had completed their comeback and had tied the score at 3-3 through two periods in Glens Falls. Van Allen had a hat trick.Third period: Knickerbocker Arena.The period was just starting. Kalamazoo still had a 2-0 lead. There was still hope for a shootout.Mitch Messier and Gary Emmons quickly ended that notion with goals in the first 1:11 of the period. Kalamazoo controlled play and scored three more times to chase the announced crowd of 3,439&mdash;which looked considerably smaller&mdash;home early. The Wings won 7-1.Meanwhile, the Red Wings had righted themselves in the third period and won 6-4 on goals by Tom Bissett and McDougall. McClelland had tied a team record with five assists. Capital District had skated through a penalty-free third period in a 5-2 loss.I checked my watch: 10:12. I had completed my hat trick. Three games and 58.4 miles in two hours and 35 minutes. I saw a total of 42 minutes and 31 seconds of minor pro hockey with nine goals.The special night really wasn&rsquo;t that much different than the first 30-odd games of the season: the Red Wings (with a 16-11-6 record) won and had the largest crowd, while the Islanders (11-16-4) and Choppers (10-19-3), both lastplace clubs hoping to establish a fan base, continued to struggle at home. &#9632;

f0024-01

HOCKEY NIGHT IN NEW YORK

<div class="byline">BY NICK GATES</div>Roanoke Valley finished 1990 by playing a league record four consecutive overtime games.The Rebels lost a 4-3 shootout to Richmond Dec. 22 at home and defeated visiting Hampton Roads 5-4 in a memorable Dec. 26 shootout. Roanoke Valley won Dec. 28 at Cincinnati 5-4 on Peter Kasowski&rsquo;s goal before dropping a 2-1 decision to visiting Winston-Salem the next night.&ldquo;I like playing &lsquo;em close, but not that close,&rdquo; Rebels&rsquo; coach Claude Noel said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m developing ulcers.&rdquo;Against Hampton Roads, the Rebels gave Noel a game he&rsquo;d like to forget. They wiped out a 4-2 deficit in the final one minute, 17 seconds thanks to the Admirals&rsquo; Kent Hawley.Hawley deliberatley displaced his goal while the Rebels were on a power play. Paul Willett was awarded a penalty shot by referee Pete Messana and scored.Noel pulled goalie Bill Horn in favor of a sixth attacker and the move paid off. Kasowski flipped the puck behind Admirals&rsquo; goalie Mark Bernard with five seconds to go to forge a 4-4 tie. Horn shut out the Admirals in the extra period and the shootout to gain the victory.&ldquo;We got two points but for 58 minutes it was our worst game of the season,&rdquo; Noel said.<h2>MONARCH DETHRONED</h2>Greensboro defenseman John Blessman, who was suspended three weeks by the Monarchs in December for violating team rules, is now in hot water with the league. Blessman was suspended indefinitely by ECHL commissioner Pat Kelly for an altercation in the stands with spectators during a Dec. 21 game at Winston-Salem. &ldquo;The league will not tolerate this kind of behavior,&rdquo; Kelly said. Kelly viewed a videotape of the incident, but is waiting for written reports before reaching a final verdict. Kelly did not rule out the possibility of a stiff fine and a rest-of-the-season suspension for Blessman&hellip;Kelly will preside over a semiannual meeting Feb. 10-11 in Roanoke to finalize the playoff format&hellip;Knoxville&rsquo;s Troy Mick, the ECHL&rsquo;s third-leading scorer (29 goals, 35 assists) underwent arthroscopic surgery Dec. 29 to remove bone chips from his right knee and will be sidelined for about three weeks&hellip;Cincinnati shattered the ECHL singlegame attendance mark on consecutive nights. A crowd of 9,712 watched Roanoke Valley win 5-4 in overtime Dec. 28. The next night, 9,757 saw Greensboro hold on for a 4-3 win&hellip;Craig Barnett received a rude welcoming Dec. 23 upon his return from Binghamton (AHL). The Erie goalie was bombarded with 69 shots in a 15-2 loss at Richmond. The Renegades snapped the Panthers&rsquo; five-game win streak in what Erie officials believe to be a team record for most goals allowed in a game&hellip;Greg Pogue, editor of The Sports Page, a Nashville-based publication, was escorted from his front-row seat during a game against Roanoke Valley in Nashville Dec. 21. Referee Pete Messana ejected Pogue for berating his work. Nashville&rsquo;s Glen Engevik and John Reid had described Messana as &ldquo;the league&rsquo;s worst referee&rdquo; in a previous column in The Sports Page written by Craig Jenkins, announcer and director of marketing for the Knights. Pogue sought an apology from the league, which reprimanded Jenkins. &#9632;

ROANOKE VALLEY WORKS OVERTIME FOR WINS

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ AND KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div>Jesse Belanger is used to people telling him he&rsquo;s not good enough to play. He has also made a habit of proving them wrong.Belanger, a rookie right winger for the Fredericton Canadiens, played the last three seasons for Granby in the Quebec League&mdash;joining the team as a walk-on.And, that&rsquo;s how he arrived in Fredericton.&ldquo;I wanted to know the feeling of being drafted,&rdquo; said Belanger, who was never drafted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what that feeling is like.&rdquo;Belanger was invited to Sherbrooke&rsquo;s training camp last year, but was sent back to Granby as an overage junior and told to work on his skills. He led the Bisons in scoring with 53 goals and 54 assists for 107 points&mdash;modest numbers in the offensively-wild QMJHL.When he showed up at training camp this season, he was ready.&ldquo;I had to pass over the guys who were drafted,&rdquo; Belanger said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the first thing I had to do. All they told me was to work.&rdquo;Belanger played in two exhibition games for Fredericton and was presented with a contract before the opener.&ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to get one,&rdquo; Belanger said. &ldquo;So that helped me play better.&ldquo;When they gave me one, I was really happy. I was flying. That made up for not being drafted.&rdquo;Belanger has continued to play well in the first half of the season. He has been one of the league&rsquo;s pleasant surprises with 20 goals, 22 assists for 42 points in 36 games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always liked him,&rdquo; said Fredericton coach Paulin Bordeleau, who coached against Belanger in junior hockey. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know how he would play when the going got tough, but he can play that game.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know much about his character, but he&rsquo;s proven to us he has a lot of determination.&rdquo;Which makes some people wonder how Belanger was overlooked by scouts from 21 NHL teams?Belanger thinks it&rsquo;s because he was 18 when he played his first year of junior hockey and as a 19-year-old, he separated his shoulder during the season.&ldquo;People must be surprised at what I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; Belanger said. &ldquo;How can a guy do what I&rsquo;m doing and not be drafted? Maybe a lot of teams are thinking about why they didn&rsquo;t draft me.&rdquo;<h2>CHANGING TIMES</h2>Neil Brady has rediscovered something very important about the game of hockey: There are nets at both ends of the ice, and it&rsquo;s all right to shoot at one of them.Brady made a commitment to offense this season and he&rsquo;s showing he can be more than just a defensive shadow.The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Utica Devils&rsquo; center was tied for the American League scoring lead through Jan. 3 with 16 goals, 33 assists and 49 points in 38 games. He rocketed to the top with a club-record 21-game point streak (6-26-32).That&rsquo;s a dramatic turnaround for the third-year pro, considering he scored only 16 goals and 21 assists as an AHL rookie in 1988-89. He had only 23 points in 38 games last season, and 1-4-5 in 19 NHL games.But in those two seasons, the only points that mattered to Brady were those scored by the opposing team&rsquo;s top line. As a checker, he was happy if the team&rsquo;s big guns were stopped.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01703/5905296-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="702" height="856"><figcaption class="caption-body">Utica&rsquo;s Neil Brady has developed into more of an offensive threat.</figcaption></div>When the New Jersey Devils drafted him with the third overall pick in 1986, they envisioned the perfect defensive center.After all, that&rsquo;s the role he played for three seasons with Medicine Hat, when he was the Western League rookie of the year in 1985-86 and helped the Tigers win back-to-back Memorial Cup championships the next two seasons.&ldquo;I sort of forgot about the offensive end and worried only about defense,&rdquo; Brady said. &ldquo;I was satisfied with how many points I had and I thought I was doing what I was told to do. If I said it long enough, I believed it.&ldquo;Looking back, I can&rsquo;t believe I could be so stupid and play that way.&rdquo;Devils&rsquo; coach Tom McVie drove the point home.&ldquo;He said you never want to be known as a defensive centerman, that there was no way I&rsquo;d get to the NHL playing only that way,&rdquo; Brady said. &ldquo;The last couple of years I never saw the back of the other team&rsquo;s net. Now I&rsquo;m taking a few more chances.&rdquo;<h2>SHOOTING BLANKS</h2>The Rochester Americans used a 21-game run of 15-2-4 to go from last place to first place in the Southern Division, and they did it with defense.Between Dec. 22 and Jan. 2, the Amerks posted four shutouts in seven games, with fifth-year pro Darcy Wakaluk recording three in 12 days.Wakaluk had only four shutouts in his first four seasons. He became the first Rochester goalie to post three shutouts in one season since Phil Myre did it in 1983-84.<h2>MAINE EVENT</h2>Andy Brickley didn&rsquo;t take long to get started once he was sent to Maine by Boston after clearing NHL waivers. In his fourth game with the Mariners, Brickley had a goal and four assists in a 7-7 tie at Newmarket Jan. 1. In his first four games, Brickley had two goals and seven assists for nine points. He moved into 11th place on the all-time Mariner scoring list with 152 career points. Brickley previously played with the Mariners in 1982-83 (when they were affiliated with the Philadelphia Flyers) and 1985-86 (the New Jersey Devils)&hellip;With his team trailing Capital District 5-1 Dec. 28, Newmarket rookie coach Frank Anzalone pulled goalie Damian Rhodes with 13 minutes remaining. The Saints outscored the Islanders 3-1 with the extra attacker but lost 6-4. &#9632;

f0025-01

CANADIENS’ WINGER PROVES SCOUTS WRONG

<div class="byline">BY ADAM TEICHER AND BILL PICKETT</div>Some funny things have happened to that skinny little high-scoring center the Calgary Flames signed out of the QuebecMajor Junior League almost four years ago.Marc Bureau has grown up, filling out to 190-pounds. He&rsquo;s also filling up IHL nets at a rapid rate.With 23 goals and 20 assists in 22 games for Salt Lake City, Bureau was among the league leaders in scoring. Coming on the heels of last season&rsquo;s 43-goal, 91-point season, it&rsquo;s making the Flames take notice.&ldquo;When they signed me from juniors, they probably didn&rsquo;t expect I&rsquo;d become a very good player,&rdquo; Bureau said.Though he was a big scorer in juniors getting 54 goals for Longueuil in 1986-87 in his final season, Bureau&rsquo;s defensive ability prompted the Flames to sign him as a free agent that summer.&ldquo;He played a very physical game,&rdquo; said Golden Eagles&rsquo; coach Bobby Francis. &ldquo;As the years have gone on, his offensive abilities improved immensely each year and he&rsquo;s made himself into an excellent two-way player capable of playing any brand of hockey. He&rsquo;s done everything we&rsquo;ve asked of him for four years.&rdquo;The problem is the Flames, who are loaded at center, have had no room for Bureau other than for brief emergency replacement stints the past couple of seasons. But with expansion coming to the NHL, it&rsquo;s a good time to be a high-scoring minor pro.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I have anything left to prove here (in Salt Lake City),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to go, move up with my career. If I have to go someplace else, I&rsquo;ll go.&rdquo;<h2>ICE SLIDE</h2>The Indianapolis Ice &ldquo;snuck into third place&rdquo; over the holidays, according to coach Dave McDowall.That wasn&rsquo;t on the way up, however. It was a nosedive from second place in the East Division after a losing streak of four straight at home, tying a three-year-old franchise record.The Ice picked themselves up, however, on New Year&rsquo;s Eve with a 4-2 victory over leagueleading Peoria, their only win in five home games in December.The losses came against teams with poorer records than the Ice (Kansas City, Albany, Phoenix and Salt Lake City) and that didn&rsquo;t please McDowall.&ldquo;It was disappointing in our own rink to lose games we felt we should have won,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;But it was good to beat the first-place team overall and get our 20th win before the new year started.&rdquo;His aim is to get back to more consistency. &ldquo;We want to play with the enthusiasm and technical execution we had in late November,&rdquo; McDowall said. &ldquo;We want to reclaim our work ethic.&rdquo;He pointed out that Although Peoria had just 12 skaters, the Rivermen were within a goal until Sean Williams&rsquo; empty-net marker in the final minute. Playing without the league&rsquo;s top two scorers&mdash;Nelson Emerson and David Bruce were out with injuries&mdash;Peoria kept the game close.The Ice got away from the team concept, he explained. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t win in this league with one or two players, you have to have a strong team effort.&rdquo;<h2>ADMIRALS AT SEA</h2>Milwaukee takes its home show on the road a couple of times each season. The Admirals played the first of two games in Green Bay, Wis., Dec. 28 against Kansas City.The Blades beat Milwaukee 5-3 before 3,569 fans at the 4,300-seat Brown County Arena. The Admirals will also play Albany in Green Bay Feb. 15.The Admirals can lose a couple of midweek dates at the Bradley Center by playing on Friday nights in Green Bay. But general manager Phil Wittliff explained there&rsquo;s more to the switches than that.&ldquo;We hope someday to have a National Hockey League club in Milwaukee,&rdquo; Wittliff said. &ldquo;We thought it would be good business to play a couple of games to generate some hockey interest. Then, if we do get an NHL team, we&rsquo;d like to keep our minor league club in Wisconsin and Green Bay would be an ideal place.&ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s not a money-making thing, but in the long run, it may make good sense.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02452/5905327-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="696" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peoria&rsquo;s Kevin Miehm had five goals in two games&mdash;a Rivermen win and a loss.</figcaption></div><h2>EAGLES SOAR</h2>How&rsquo;s this for a couple of quick turnarounds? Salt Lake City, after a slow start, climbed into second place in the Western Division. The Golden Eagles then lost four straight, including two to the league&rsquo;s worst team, Kansas City. At that point, with their next three games against a couple of the best clubs in the league, the Golden Eagles were facing what would probably be a long slide. But they swept a pair of home games against Eastern Division-leading Kalamazoo&mdash;9-5 Dec. 26 and 5-4 Dec. 28&mdash;and then won 6-4 at Indianapolis Dec. 29. The Golden Eagles held on to second place&hellip;Peoria.center Kevin Miehm took up some of the scoring slack for the Rivermen during the week. He had a hat trick Jan. 29 in a 9-2 Peoria victory over Kansas City, and ended the year with two goals Dec. 31 at Indy&hellip;Phoenix center Sylvain Couturier was named player of the week (for the period ending Dec. 31). He had a four-goal game and six goals in three games&hellip;Ice defenseman Cam Russell may start 1991 on crutches. He was being checked at Chicago for a bone chip in his knee which apparently broke loose and may require surgery&hellip;Milwaukee must be frustrated at the sight of the green uniforms of the Kalamazoo Wings. The Admirals have lost all four meetings this season against the Wings&mdash;each time by a single goal&mdash;the latest coming Dec. 29 at Wings Stadium by a 3-2 score&hellip;Muskegon (16-16-2) put some distance between themselves and fifthplace Albany (11-21-3) in the East by winning four in a row. The Lumberjacks picked up four points on third-place Indianapolis (19-13-2). &#9632;

f0025-02

GOLDEN EAGLE MAKING HIS MARK

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01759/5905358-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Marshall, a St. Louis draft pick, joined Tri-City of the Western League to improve his offense. He&rsquo;s getting plenty of points in his rookie season.</figcaption></div>The Canadian Hockey League doesn&rsquo;t have a Sergei Makarov Rule, but it probably should.When considering the top freshmen in the Ontario, Western and Quebec Leagues, Jason Marshall of the Tri-City Americans and Kris Draper of the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s have to rate one-two.But should they?Marshall was a first-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in 1989 and spent last season with the Canadian national squad playing against the best international teams. Draper was a two-year member of Dave King&rsquo;s national team and this season played in the NHL and American League before ever thinking about junior hockey.Both 19-year-olds played on Canada&rsquo;s national junior team at the World Championships in Saskatchewan.The NHL instituted the so-called Makarov Rule after the Calgary Flames&rsquo; &lsquo;rookie&rsquo; won the Calder Trophy as a 31-year-old last season. Now, no player 26 or older as of Sept. 15 of that season is eligible to win the award.The OHL doesn&rsquo;t consider Draper a rookie and in the past the CHL has considered establishing guidelines that would prevent an experienced player like Marshall or Draper to be eligible, but there&rsquo;s nothing in writing.They could call it the Draper Rule, or perhaps Marshall Law. For now, though, Marshall and Draper are first-year players and not surprisingly, top the chart of rookies.Listed below are The Hockey News&rsquo; picks as the top 10 rookies in major junior, based on scouting reports and their play this season.1 Jason Marshall, 19, D, Tri-City (WHL), 6-foot-2, 190-pounds, 5-23-28 in 31 games. Drafted by St. Louis (ninth overall) in 1989.Marshall spent last year with the national team and improved his defensive game. He is now freewheeling in the WHL, where he is known for his character as much as his talent.&ldquo;He plays every shift like it&rsquo;s his last,&rdquo; TriCity assistant coach Ron Coleman says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing how well he sees the ice and understands the game. Not only has he stepped up the attack, like St. Louis wanted, he likes to tough it up.&rdquo;2 Kris Draper, 19, C, Ottawa (OHL), 5-foot-10, 185-pounds, 7-10-17 in 13 games. Drafted by Winnipeg (62nd overall) in 1989.Draper came to the OHL to work on his scoring touch after two seasons with, the defense-minded Canadian national team. He has quickly developed into a team leader with the 67&rsquo;s.&ldquo;When he started playing with us regularly, he became one of the best players in the league,&rdquo; 67&rsquo;s coach-GM Brian Kilrea says. &ldquo;He has great hands, speed, works both ends of the ice and is totally dedicated. He&rsquo;s anything but a rookie.&rdquo;3 Philippe Boucher, 17, D, Granby (QMJHL), 6-foot-3, 187-pounds, 10-2737 in 33 games. Eligible for 1991 draft. Rated third in QMJHL on Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s preliminary rankings.Granby coach-GM John Paris says Boucher is as complete a rearguard as Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque. The lanky defenseman plays 35 minutes a game and is second on the team in scoring.&ldquo;What you notice most about him is his vision,&rdquo; Paris says. &ldquo;He knows everything that is going on on the ice. He often controls a game and is very coachable. I sometimes have to control the mean streak in him, too.&rdquo;4 Pat Peake, 17, C, Detroit (OHL), 6-feet, 195-pounds, 20-26-46 in 34 games. Eligible for 1991 draft. Rated second in OHL on CSB ranking.The first overall pick in 1990 OHL midget draft has been a standout for the expansion Ambassadors. He&rsquo;s a natural goal scorer.&ldquo;Considering the circumstances, he has been great,&rdquo; Detroit coach Andy Weidenbach says. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t sure how he was going to handle the pressure of being the No. 1 pick, playing for an expansion team in his own hometown. He has done well.&rdquo;5 Darren Van Impe, 17, D, Prince Albert (WHL), 6-feet, 202-pounds, 10-22-32 in 37 games. Eligible for 1991 draft. Rated 13th in WHL on CSB ranking.Van Impe is offense-minded, nothing like stay-at-home cousin Ed, who played in the NHL with Philadelphia. Darren is a playmaker who loves to join the rush.&ldquo;No disrespect to Ed, but Darren is a totally different player,&rdquo; Prince Albert coach-GM Rob Daum says. &ldquo;He sees the ice so well and finds people out of nowhere with his passes. His size and poise has been an asset.&rdquo;6 Rob Niedermayer, 16, C, Medicine Hat (WHL), 6 feet, 180-pounds, 12-15-27 in 38 games. Eligible for 1993 draft.An explosive skater like older brother Scott of the Kamloops Blazers. He had an oustanding first half as a 15-year-old, but started to tire in December.&ldquo;We really didn&rsquo;t expect much from him in his first season,&rdquo; Medicine Hat GM Jack Shupe says. &ldquo;But he has shown he can play in this league. He leaves guys behind with his speed and quickness. He has got quite a future.&rdquo;Niedermayer is already projected as one of the top prospects for the 1993 entry draft.7 Steve Staois, 17, D, Niagara Falls (OHL), 6-feet, 183-pounds, 8-12-20 in 35 games. Eligible for 1991 draft. Rated third in OHL on CSB ranking.Staios moves the puck and plays a physical game equally well. He doesn&rsquo;t dominate in one particular area, but plays a complete game.&ldquo;We were concerned about the physical side of his game,&rdquo; Niagara Falls&rsquo; coach-GM George Burnett says. &ldquo;But he has made his presence felt. He has shown an eagerness to play and learn. We&rsquo;ve even used him on the wing four or five times.&rdquo;8 Rene Corbet, 17, LW, Drummondville (QMJHL), 6 feet, 176-pounds, 20-38-58 in 37 games. Eligible for 1991 draft. Rated fourth in QMJHL on CSB ranking.After a slow start, Corbet has become an offensive force in the low-scoring Quebec League, consistently sitting among the top five leaders. He isn&rsquo;t big, but likes to play tough.&ldquo;His best quality is his anticipation of the play,&rdquo; Drummondville coach-GM Jean Hamel says. &ldquo;He has good hands and good playmaking ability. And I don&rsquo;t think people realize he is every bit a two-way player.&rdquo;9 Donevon Hextali, 18, LW, Prince Albert (WHL), 6-foot-2, 175-pounds, 17-30-47 in 37 games. Eligible for 1991 draft. Rated 11th in WHL on CSB ranking.Hextall had 23 goals and 68 points with Tier 2 Weybum last season and should better those numbers as a WHL rookie. He&rsquo;s an effortless skater with good vision on the ice.&ldquo;You can tell by the way he plays that he&rsquo;s very intelligent and understands the game well,&rdquo; Daum says. &ldquo;He complements the style of his center, Jeff Nelson. I would like to see him play a more consistent game, though.&rdquo;10 Todd Simon, 18, C, Niagara Falls (OHL), 5-foot-10, 185-pounds, 27-37-64 in 35 games. Eligible for the 1991 draft. Not rated.Simon shone for Niagara Falls in the playoffs last season and continued to play well through the first half of his rookie term. His 64 points were fourth in the OHL and tops among rookies.&ldquo;He came to camp 15-pounds lighter and has shown deceptive speed,&rdquo; Burnett says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why he didn&rsquo;t make the team (at the start of) last year. He has outstanding puck skills and is always making things happen with his digging&rdquo;Some rookies deserving honorable mention include:Mike Fountain, 18, G, Oshawa (OHL), 6 feet, 168-pounds, 11-4-0, 2.99 goals-against average, eligible for 1991 draft. Todd Warriner, 17, C, Windsor (OHL), 6 feet, 172-pounds, 19-15-34 in 33 games, eligible for 1992 draft; Marcel Cousineau, 17, G, Beauport (QMJHL), 5-foot-10, 177-pounds, 7-14-1 and 4.80 GAA, eligible for 1991 draft; Radek Sip, 19, RW, Lethbridge (WHL), 6 feet, 200-pounds, 14-1731 in 18 games, eligible for 1991 draft; Martin Gendron, 16, RW, St-Hyacinthe (QMJHL) 5-foot-8, 170-pounds, 18-7-25 in 32 games, eligible for 1992 draft.Travis Laycock, 19, G, Prince Albert (WHL), 6 feet, 175-pounds, 13-7 and 3.63 GAA, eligible for 1991 draft; Manny Legace, 17, G, Niagara Falls (OHL), 5-foot-9, 162-pounds, 9-6-1 and 3.54 GAA, eligible for 1991 draft; Mark Franks, 18, RW, Saskatoon (WHL), 6-foot-2, 194-pounds, 26-10-36 in 36 games, eligible for 1991 draft; Chris Schmidt, 18, RW, Moose Jaw (WHL), 6-foot-1, 185-pounds, 23-18-41 in 35 games, eligible for 1991 draft; Martin Lepage, 16, D, Hull (QMJHL), 6 feet, 157-pounds, 0-5-5 in 32 games, eligible for 1992 draft.Marc Tardif, 18, RW, Shawinigan (QMJHL), 6-foot-1, 190-pounds, 7-14-21 in 30 games, eligible for 1991 draft; Jeff Bes, 17, C, Hamilton (OHL), 5-foot-11, 181-pounds, 1419-33 in 34 games, eligible for 1991 draft; Cory Stillman, 17, C, Windsor (OHL), 5-foot-10, 172-pounds, 11-39-50 in 33 games, eligible for 1992 draft; Stephane Julien, 16, D, Trois-Rivieres (QMJHL), 5-foot-10, 165-pounds, 410-14 in 31 games, eligible in 1992 draft; Craig Lyons, 18, RW, Kamloops (WHL), 6-foot-1, 180-pounds, 17-12-29 in 33 games, eligible for 1991 draft. &#9632;

f0026-01

BABY BOOMERS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON AND BRIAN COSTELLO</div>North Bay Centennials&rsquo; coachgeneral manager Bert Templeton served notice his team is taking a run at the Ontario League championship.The Centennials acquired defenseman Drake Berehowsky from the Kingston Frontenacs in exchange for defensemen John Vary and Jason Beaton and a fourth-round draft choice in 1991.Berehowsky, picked 10th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1990 NHLdraft, is the key to the deal. Templeton says Berehowsky can help the 25-12-3 Centennials in their battle with the 24-8-4 Oshawa Generals in the Leyden Division.&ldquo;With the (knee) injury he had last season, I don&rsquo;t think he has reached his potential yet,&rdquo; Templeton said. &ldquo;He has the skill, size and potential to help us in a lot of ways. He even has experience at the NHL level.&rdquo;Berehowsky, 19, started the season with Toronto and played eight games before being returned to junior. He had five goals and 18 points in 13 games with Kingston.Vary, 18, was a third round pick of the New York Rangers in 1990. He had five goals and 26 points in 39 games with North Bay. Beaton, 18, had one assist in 28 games.&ldquo;Beaton wasn&rsquo;t playing much, so I look at it as a swap of Berehowsky for Vary,&rdquo; Templeton said.<h2>ACTIVE MARKET</h2>OHL teams may have had five days off at Christmas, but general managers were keeping busy-The Niagara Falls Thunder traded its fourth-round draft pick in 1991 and sixth-round pick in 1992 to the Dukes of Hamilton for right winger Dale Chokan, 18. The Dukes then dealt the fourth-round pick to the Peterborough Petes for right winger Brent Pope, 17.Niagara Falls also picked up overage left winger Bob Berg from the Belleville Bulls for future considerations.Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; GM Sam McMaster dealt rookie centre J.D. Eaton, 17, to the Detroit Ambassadors for right winger Jon Stos, 19, and a ninth-round draft choice.Sudbury also announced right winger Dean Cull, 19, was joining the team from Northeasten University.<h2>HOLODY TIME</h2>The Owen Sound Platers, looking to catch Hamilton for the last playoff spot in the Emms Division, shook up their coaching staff.Platers&rsquo; GM Rob Holody added the title of associate coach Dec. 30 and will spend the rest of the season behind the bench with Len McNamara.McNamara, in his second season with the Platers, has been demoted from head coach to associate coach.The Platers had a 7-25-3 record at the time of the change. They trailed Hamilton by three points.<h2>BACK IN TOWN</h2>Two players have left the East Coast League and are back in the OHL as overage players&mdash;albeit with different teams than when they left. Right winger Cory Banika, back from the Hampton Roads Admirals, was traded by Oshawa to the Cornwall Royals for future considerations. Defenseman Scott Feasby, returned from the Roanoke Valley Rebels, was traded from Belleville to the Ottawa 67s for future considerations&hellip;After losing his first 11 decisions of the season (10 while at Owen Sound), Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; goalie Todd Hunter was perfect in a 6-0 win over Hamilton Dec. 30, stopping all 20 Duke shots&hellip;Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&rsquo; overage left winger Joe Busillo scored his 20th goal of the season in a 4-4 tie with Sudbury Jan. 2. A four-year veteran, Busillo had a career high 19 goals in 1989-90&hellip;Niagara Falls rookie center Todd Simon was named OHL player of the week for the period ending Dec. 30. He had three goals and five points in two games. &#9632;

BEREHOWSKY HEADS NORTH FOR CENTENNIALS’ DRIVE

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; center Scott Scissons was stripped of his captaincy after failing to show up for a game against the Swift Current Broncos.Scissons, 19, was cut from the Canadian junior team Dec. 18 and failed to report to the Blades for a Western League game the same night. He rejoined the Blades the following day, but did not dress against the Prince Albert Raiders.Saskatoon coach Terry Ruskowski subsequently removed Scissons as captain of the team in favor of 19-year-old left winger Darin Bader.&ldquo;A captain should put the team in front of the individual,&rdquo; Ruskowski said. &ldquo;Obviously, Scott wasn&rsquo;t doing that. Maybe the pressure of being a captain was too much for him.&ldquo;Maybe he thought he had to do things he doesn&rsquo;t normally do and it was taking away from his game.&rdquo;Scissons was selected sixth overall by the New York Islanders at the 1990 NHL entry draft. He had 10 goals and 33 points during an injury-marred first half of the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01705/5905413-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="553" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Whitney erupted for four goals in a nine-minute span.</figcaption></div><h2>LANNY HONORED</h2>The Medicine Hat Tigers will officially retire Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s No. 8 jersey during a pre-game ceremony against the Portland Winter Hawks Jan. 12.McDonald, who led the Tigers to a WHL championship in 1973, completed his two-year career with the Tigers with 112 goals and 253 points.He later went on to a successful 16-year career in the NHL which cul-minated with a Stanley Cup victory in 1988-89 with the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor to have the Tigers retire my jersey,&rdquo; McDonald said. &ldquo;Those were two of the greatest years of my hockey career.&rdquo;McDonald is the first player to have his jersey retired in the 21-year history of the club.<h2>FOUR SCORES</h2>Center Ray Whitney of the Spokane Chiefs and left winger Jason Ruff of the Lethbridge Hurricanes are the Greyhound players of the month for December.Whitney, 18, scored four goals in a nine-minute span during the second period Jan. 2 as Spokane blanked the Kamloops Blazers 9-0. Kamloops was last shut out Jan. 26, 1983, losing 9-0 to the Regina Pats.Whitney had 39 goals and 93 points in 39 games and was second in WHL scoring. He had 10 goals and 33 points in 12 games during December.Ruff, 20, had eight goals and 18 points in 10 games during December and was fifth in league scoring with 35 goals and 73 points in 37 games.<h2>TOP RAIDER</h2>Prince Albert Raiders goalie Travis Laycock is the Koho goalie of the month for December. Laycock was 5-2 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage during the month&hellip;Tri-City Americans&rsquo; center Brian Sakic is the WHL player of the week for the period ending Dec. 30. He had four goals and seven points in two games and became the first player to reach the 100-point plateau&hellip;Portland set a franchise record Dec. 19 when they held Kamloops to one shot on goal during the third period. That defensive effort wasn&rsquo;t enough to prevent a 5-4 loss to the Blazers. &#9632;

f0027-01

SCISSONS SUFFERS ANOTHER SETBACK

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>Most of the Quebec League&rsquo;s first all-star team for the first-half of the season spent Christmas in Saskatchewan.Four members of Canada&rsquo;s national junior team were voted to the QMJHL&rsquo;s all-star squad. To celebrate, they went to Saskatoon for the World Junior Championships.Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; goaltender Felix Potvin, St-Hyacinthe Laser left winger Pierre Sevigny, Laval Titan right winger Martin Lapointe and Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; defenseman Patrice Brisebois were allstars and national team members.Trois Rivieres Draveurs&rsquo; center Yanic Perreault, the top scorer in the Canadian Hockey League with 50 goals and 110 points in 35 games, and Chicoutimi defenseman Eric Brule also made the all-star squad.Alain Chainey of the Beauport Harfangs was chosen the all-star coach. He led the expansion club to a 15-21-2 record in the first half.Members of the second all-star team are: Granby Bisons&rsquo; goalie Boris Rousson, Laval&rsquo;s Eric Dubois and Drummondville&rsquo;s Guy Lehoux on defense, Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; left winger Todd Gillingham, Laval center Denis Chalifoux and College Francais right winger Robert Guillet. The second-team coach is Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Joe Canale.Members of the mid-season allrookie team are: Beauport goalie Marcel Cousineau, Granby&rsquo;s Phillipe Boucher, Hull Olympiques&rsquo; Martin Lepage and St-Hyacinthe&rsquo;s Dean Melanson tied on defense, Drummondville left winger Rene Corbet, Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; center Patrick Nadeau and St-Hyacinthe right winger Martin Gendron. The top rookie coach is John Paris of Granby.Voting for the all-star and allrookie teams was done by QMJHL coaches.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01737/5905444-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="556" height="935"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scoring machine Yanic Perreault is an all-star center.</figcaption></div><h2>BISON POWER</h2>It wasn&rsquo;t too long ago that going to Granby was like going to a shooting gallery. Today, the Bisons boast the best defensive record in the Canadian Hockey League.The Bisons allowed 123 goals in 38 games for a goals-against average of 3.23. That rates ahead of Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario League (3.26), College Francais (3.33), Kamloops of the Western League (3.41) and Chi-coutimi (3.48).&ldquo;We&rsquo;re well aware of that,&rdquo; Granby coach John Paris said. &ldquo;We have worked hard on our defense. It means a lot to be No. 1 in Canada.&rdquo;Goalie Boris Rousson has been battling Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Felix Potvin all season for the league&rsquo;s best average and save percentage. The highly-publicized Potvin had a 3.00 GAA and .907 save percentage, while Rousson was 2.97 and .902.&ldquo;Boris has been at his best all season,&rdquo; Paris said. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t forget Martin Brochu. He&rsquo;s as quick as a cat and has done well in a backup role.&rdquo;The Bisons had a GAA of 4.78, 4.52 and 5.20 the past three seasons.<h2>ATTENDANCE HIKE</h2>Attendance is up in the QMJHL this season.According to league figures, attendance was 273,875 as of Nov. 30. At the same time last season, attendance was 232,983. That represents an increase of 17.5 per cent.The league has an extra team this season, but even without the expansion Beauport Harfangs&rsquo; attendance of 23,256, the increase is still 17,636.Moreover, eight of 11 teams have increased attendance. The most significant is a 9,575 jump in Drummondville. St-Hyacinthe is up 5,640 and Laval 2,622. &#9632;

f0028-01

NATIONAL TEAM PLAYERS DOMINATE ALL-STAR TEAM

<div class="byline">BY MARK SPECTOR</div>It was only a matter of time.When face shields became mandatory across the Canadian Interuniversities Athletic Union&mdash;including full length shields in some conferences&mdash;it began a natural progression that plagues the game.On go the shields, up go the sticks.And with beefed up rules that basically ban fighting, players in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association have taken stick work to a new and ugly dimension.Many coaches in the CWUAA predict old time hockey&mdash;with numerous, violent fights&mdash;could be coming back.<h2>CWUAA</h2>&ldquo;Hockey is a game of skill, but it&rsquo;s also a game of body contact,&rdquo; says Mark Arnett, coach and athletic director of Brandon University.&ldquo;When there&rsquo;s body contact, there&rsquo;s an intimidation factor. You deal with it two ways; with the stick and with fighting. When you can&rsquo;t fight, a lot of guys get pretty brave with their sticks.&rdquo;Alberta Golden Bears&rsquo; left winger Brett Cox agrees.&ldquo;There are a lot of pretenders in this league. They know there are no fights,&rdquo; Cox said. &ldquo;It seems we put on more and more equipment, and the sticks get higher and higher.&rdquo;Several CWUAA coaches who spoke to The Hockey News about the problem said they don&rsquo;t condone fighting.And Canada West statistics this season show fighting&mdash;and penal-ties&mdash;are down.At the Christmas break, CWUAA teams averaged 35 stick penalties and 119 infractions.But while penalties and fighting decrease, stick work increases. And the quality of play has suffered.&ldquo;Stick fouls are called around the puck, but it&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s happening away from the puck that&rsquo;s bad,&rdquo; said University of Alberta coach Bill Moores. &ldquo;Maybe the number of penalties is not the barometer. I&rsquo;m not condoning fighting, but it&rsquo;s the lesser of two evils.&rdquo;At pre-season meetings in Calgary, Moores&mdash;the former coach and general manager of the Western League&rsquo;s Regina Pats&mdash;informally suggested the conference should loosen fighting rules.Currently, a player who fights receives a game misconduct and a one-game suspension. If he&rsquo;s the instigator, he receives an additional game suspension. But the instigator penalty is rarely called.Several coaches support Moores&rsquo; suggestion.&ldquo;I think fighting is an outlet. I&rsquo;m not saying it&rsquo;s something to promote, but there&rsquo;s no fear (of reprisal for stick work) anymore,&rdquo; said Arnett.&ldquo;Maybe we have to eliminate (the strict rules against fighting), let some of the guys sound off a little bit,&rdquo; said Regina Cougars&rsquo; coach Bill Liskowich.It&rsquo;s a dilemma that may never be solved. Both Moores and Liskowich agree the onus is on coaches to deter stick work.But it&rsquo;s doubtful fighting rules will change.&ldquo;I think a lot of coaches agree,&rdquo; said Arnett. &ldquo;But speaking as an athletic director, it&rsquo;s a motion that will never pass. Most athletic directors have never played hockey. I think you have to be involved to get a feeling for it.&rdquo; &#9632;

STICKY PROBLEM PLAGUES CWUAA

<div class="byline">BY JASON KAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01639/5905499-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Providence&rsquo;s Mike Heinke won three straight Hockey East rookie-of-the-week awards in the first half. He&rsquo;s one of three goalies in the nation&rsquo;s top 10 freshmen.</figcaption></div>There was a time, not too long ago, when the one-handed counting method was sufficient in helping to determine the number of quality goaltenders the U.S. college system had produced.Suffice it to say, the times have changed.No fewer than 12 of the NHL&rsquo;s current net-minders are former collegians, while more than a dozen more are waiting in the wings in the minor-pro level.The college system&rsquo;s increasing ability to develop top-notch goaltenders shows no signs of weakening, as this year&rsquo;s freshman class is peppered with impact netminders such as Maine&rsquo;s Mike Dunham, Ferris State&rsquo;s Pat Mazzoli and Providence&rsquo;s Mike Heinke.The three are included among the top 10 U.S. college first-year players (listed below), as judged by their performance this season. Information includes player, position, team, scoring totals (for players) and goaltenders&rsquo; record, goals-against average and save percentage.1 Craig Johnson, C, Minnesota, (8-12-20, 18 games).&ldquo;Scary&rdquo; is how one NHL scout describes Johnson&rsquo;s emergence this season.The 6-foot-1, 180-pound St. Paul, Minn., native has been so impressive Gopher coach Doug Woog has moved him from line to line to help get slumping teammates going.&ldquo;He just fits into their flow game so well,&rdquo; Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley said. &ldquo;When you can pick somebody out of that team&mdash;they have so many playing at the same level&mdash;that&rsquo;s saying something. Especially when he&rsquo;s a freshman.&rdquo;Draft status: Second round, 33rd overall, in 1990 by St. Louis.2 Scott Lachance, D, Boston University (29-11, 14 games).How impressive has the 17-year-old Lachance been this season?&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely a top five pick (in this year&rsquo;s draft), and there&rsquo;s talk of him going second,&rdquo; says a scout.A smooth skater noted for his ability to read the ice, Lachance, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound native of Bristol, Conn., has made the difficult transition from high school to college hockey look easy.&ldquo;He does everything like a senior,&rdquo; said BU coach Jack Parker. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s terrific defensively and he&rsquo;s terrific offensively. He makes every play correctly and he&rsquo;s as thorough as hell. He&rsquo;s great at getting the puck out of the zone. I&rsquo;ve never had a freshman this thorough or well-schooled.&rdquo;Draft status: Eligible for the 1991 entry draft.3 Mike Dunham, G, Maine, (5-2-1, 2.92, .894).The top American goalie selected in last year&rsquo;s draft, Dunham has been steady for the Bears this season allowing two or fewer goals in five of his nine starts. Dunham was on the U.S. national junior team.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy you could build a team around,&rdquo; said Parker. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not flashy, he&rsquo;s just in the right place at the right time. He does everything well.&rdquo;Draft status: Third round, 53rd overall, in 1990 by New Jersey.4 Jason Zent, LW, Wisconsin, (6-11-17, 18 games).Best known for his intensity, speed and NHL-calibre shot, Zent was among the nation&rsquo;s leading freshman scorers until going down with an undiagnosed injury that caused one of his hands to swell late in the first half.&ldquo;He plays so hard,&rdquo; Comley said. &ldquo;He sticks his nose into everything.&rdquo;Draft status: Third round, 44th overall, in 1989 by the New York Islanders.5 Keith Tkachuk, LW, Boston University, (9-4-13, 13 games).A solid 6-foot-1, 220-pound winger, Tkachuk has prospered since being placed on a line with Hobey Baker candidates Shawn McEachern and Tony Amonte.&ldquo;He complements Shawn and Tony perfectly,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. &ldquo;He has soft hands, he&rsquo;s strong in the comers and he plays with good intensity.&rdquo;Draft status: First round, 19th overall, in 1990 by Winnipeg.6 Patrick Mazzoli, G, Ferris State, (7-0-1, 2.85, .923).Mazzoli, a 5-foot-10, 178-pounder from Markham, Ont., has been a key in Ferris State&rsquo;s surprising first-half performance, going unbeaten and leading the league in save percentage.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very talented and very confident young man,&rdquo; said Bulldogs&rsquo; coach Bob Mancini. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s as unpredictable as he is confident, but he&rsquo;s very quick, stands up and likes to come out and challenge.&rdquo;Mazzoli, 20, is a product of the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior League. Draft status: Ninth round, 169th overall, in 1990 by Quebec.7 Brian Wiseman, C, Michigan, (6-18-24, 22 games).The Central Collegiate&rsquo;s leading rookie scorer at the break, the diminutive 19-year-old Wiseman (5-foot-6, 175-pounds) has shown steady improvement from the start of the season.&ldquo;He has been kind of a quiet scorer, but he had 16 points in the second 10-game segment of the season,&rdquo; said Wolverine coach Red Berenson. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s just starting to reach the level he can play at. I think he&rsquo;ll hit his stride in the second half.&ldquo;He moves the puck well. He&rsquo;s small, but he&rsquo;s so quick, smart and clever. He can really make things happen.&rdquo;Draft status: Eligible for the 1991 entry draft.8 Bruce Gardiner, C, Colgate, (2-8-10, 13 games).Gardiner, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound native ofBarrie, Ont., has developed into the type of playmaker the young Red Raiders required. A steady&mdash;if not flashy&mdash;forward, Gardiner, 19, has helped fill the void left by the graduation of nine regulars from last season&rsquo;s NCAA finalist team.Draft status: Eligible for the 1991 entry draft.9 Tony Szabo, RW, Northern Michigan (1313-26, 23 games).The WCHA&rsquo;s equivalent to Sergei Makarov, Szabo, 22, is playing in his freshman season after sitting out last year because he was academically ineligible.Nontheless, he&rsquo;s had a huge impact for the Wildcats averaging more than a point a game.&ldquo;He does a lot of things well for them,&rdquo; Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer said.Draft status: A free agent.10 Mike Heinke, G, Providence, (5-3-1, 3.81, .861).The &ldquo;other&rdquo; half of the U.S. junior national team goaltending tandem, Heinke has been a standout, copping three consecutive Hockey East rookie-of-the-week awards in the first half.&ldquo;He has played very well for us,&rdquo; said Providence coach Mike McShane. &ldquo;He got off to a good start in our 4-2 win over St. Lawrence, he made some key saves, and he&rsquo;s been consistent ever since. He&rsquo;s quick, he stands up, he&rsquo;s pretty good positionally and he&rsquo;s a heck of a competitor.Draft status: Fifth round, 89th overall, in 1990 by New Jersey.&mdash;with files from Larry Mahoney, Andy Baggot, Matt Carlson and Tom Boggie &#9632;

f0029-01

SHARP IN-CREASE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02426/5905530-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg"></div>Listed below are the 12 NHL goaltenders who came up through the U.S. college system.Ed Belfour of the Chicago Blackhawks is the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy. The North Dakota University graduate is an important part of Chicago&rsquo;s rise to first place overall. &#9632;

f0029-02

THE GOALIE GRADUATES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01730/5905582-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01674/5905575-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3039" height="3583"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01720/5905568-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3051" height="3583"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01641/5905561-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="3025" height="1212"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

PEPSI ON ICE

Frank Pietrangelo has spent so much time on the Hot Seat, he should think about investing in cushioned underwear.The Pittsburgh goalie maintained his lead in the Hot Seat statistic after a poor week. He ranks No. 1 in the amount of power-play time it takes before surrendering a goal. His 16:12 average dropped from 19:09.Ed Belfour of Chicago still leads with a 1.75 average (up from 1.86) in the Earned Goal Average category. This statistic is calculated by dividing even-strength time by even-strength goals.The Calgary Flames remained in top spot in power-play percentage improving from 6:50 to 6:46. This average is calculated according to how many minutes of power-play time a team requires to score a goal.TEAMS POWER PLAY/PENALTY KILLING TIME FRAME GAMES PLAYED THROUGH 1/06/91<h2>POWER PLAY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06181/5905959-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="533" height="668"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07164/5905952-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="536" height="120"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08136/5905945-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="541" height="733"></div>GP: GAMES PLAYEDAVERAGE TIME FOR/AGAINST: AVERAGE TIME TO SCORE/ALLOW A POWER PLAY GOAL.<h2>HOT SEAT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09119/5905938-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="534" height="494"></div><h2>EGA LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10108/5905931-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="542" height="472"></div>All statistics above are copyright Anthony Puma, Long Island, N.Y., 1991. Patent pending. &#9632;

f0033-06

PIETRANGELO STILL TOASTY AT THE TOP

<h2>Fri., Dec. 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02445/5905900-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="576" height="2118"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03325/5905893-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="590" height="2176"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04260/5905886-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="578" height="1272"></div><h2>Sat., Dec. 29</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05213/5905879-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="578" height="810"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01728/5905872-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="574" height="1594"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02535/5905865-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="574" height="1592"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03421/5905858-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="580" height="1590"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04316/5905851-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="576" height="2596"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05250/5905844-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="584" height="883"></div><h2>Sun., Dec. 30</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06217/5905837-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="583" height="1658"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01692/5905830-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="575" height="582"></div><h2>Mon., Dec. 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02527/5905823-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="572" height="2921"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03426/5905816-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="580" height="3559"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04342/5905809-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="573" height="1147"></div><h2>Tues., Jan. 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05284/5905802-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="567" height="1085"></div><h2>Wed., Jan. 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06257/5905795-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="565" height="1208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07238/5905788-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="565" height="3557"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08214/5905781-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="572" height="1988"></div><h2>Thur., Jan. 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09198/5905774-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="569" height="1462"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01660/5905767-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="588" height="3569"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02480/5905760-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="582" height="1844"></div><h2>Fri., Jan. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03387/5905753-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="588" height="1662"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04294/5905746-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="572" height="1394"></div><h2>Sat., Jan. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05242/5905739-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="574" height="2121"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06210/5905732-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="577" height="3559"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07192/5905725-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="575" height="3559"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01575/5905718-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="577" height="649"></div><h2>Sun., Jan. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02416/5905711-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="574" height="2223"></div><h2>SUPER SERIES</h2><h3>Mon., Dec. 31</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03325/5905704-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="573" height="461"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04270/5905697-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="572" height="448"></div><h3>Tues., Jan. 1</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05239/5905690-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="574" height="2092"></div><h3>Thur., Jan. 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06208/5905683-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="574" height="865"></div><h3>Fri., Jan. 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08152/5905676-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="569" height="1016"></div><h3>Sun., Jan. 6</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09130/5905669-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="577" height="1597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10119/5905662-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="572" height="233"></div><h2>WORLD JUNIOR</h2><h3>Sat., Dec. 29</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-11100/5905655-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="570" height="1208"></div><h3>Sun., Dec. 30</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1289/5905648-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="571" height="1108"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1382/5905641-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="559" height="130"></div><h3>Tues., Jan. 1</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1475/5905634-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="580" height="1542"></div><h3>Wed., Jan. 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1566/5905627-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="580" height="1234"></div><h3>Fri., Jan. 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1659/5905620-1-eng-US/f0037-162.jpg" title="f0037-16" width="578" height="494"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07183/5905613-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="1150" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Craig, left, and Kris Draper whoop it up after Canada&rsquo;s gold medal victory at the World Junior Championships Jan. 4.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-02

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01660/5905990-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01338/5906021-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="551" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DUPONT</figcaption></div>The days go by, and more and more of our sons and daughters&mdash;some of them fathers and mothers&mdash;are shipped off to the Persian Gulf, to stand guard over a war that might happen.We forget how different it used to be, when the call to arms in the United States and Canada was by conscription, and our professional athletes skated from our rinks or bolted from our ballfields to save the world from Hitler, the Japanese and the North Koreans.What would we think today if Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux was called back to Canada and told to go fight for oil rather than fight the Oilers? Or if Pat LaFontaine and Brian Leetch, Americans both, were in the Army now?It hardly seems possible, does it? We lavish our heroes now with millions of dollars to carry our favorite team colors, never thinking that at any moment they could be privates in some distant desert, lugging the Canadian Maple Leaf or the red-white-and-blue of America.&ldquo;But you never know,&rdquo; said Milt Schmidt, the Hall-of-Famer with the Bruins who was 24 when he and fellow members of the &ldquo;Kraut Line&rdquo;, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart, were whisked away to the Second World War for three years. &ldquo;You never know how this is all going to turn out.&rdquo;Schmidt, Bauer and Dumart played what they thought could be their last NHL game Feb. 10, 1942 and the Bruins gave the Canadiens a rare pasting, 8-1 at the Garden. Everyone in the Garden that night knew they would be headed back to Canada in the morning, eventually to make their way over to join the Allies.&ldquo;It was quite a thing,&rdquo; recalled Schmidt, now 72 years old and assistant manager of The Garden Club at Boston Garden. &ldquo;We had something like nine or 10 points that night (actually, 3-7-10), and we were carried around the ice by our teammates when it was all over&hellip;we were going off to the war. Everyone knew it. I remember even some of the Canadiens shook our hands, because everyone knew it was our last game.&ldquo;Heck, for all knew, it was going to be the last game we ever played.&rdquo;Back home in Kitchener, Ortt., a German settlement originally called Berlin, Schmidt asked his mother if he might be better to change his name to Smith before he departed for England. For obvious reasons, it was not a good time to be a German in Europe, no matter that being the member of the Kraut Line was a mark of prestige in North America.&ldquo;But I stayed with Schmidt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What the heck, I&rsquo;d had it all my life.&rdquo;Stationed with a Royal Canadian Air Force bombing unit in northern England, Schmidt was in charge of teaching pilots and crew how to survive if the need came to ditch their bomber in the English Channel. The trick was to light down safely in the water and inflate a life-saving dinghy.&ldquo;You had to be careful, or the dinghy would inflate upside down,&rdquo; said Schmidt. &ldquo;Funny, though, what the war did to you&hellip;to everybody. You&rsquo;d see guys come back&mdash;guys you&rsquo;d trained&mdash;and you wouldn&rsquo;t see one of their partners. So you&rsquo;d say, &lsquo;Hey, where&rsquo;s Joe so-and-so?&rsquo; They&rsquo;d tell you that the guy went for a Burton. Well, Burton was a beer sold in England, and what they meant was that he hadn&rsquo;t made the dinghy, he&rsquo;d drowned in the Channel.&ldquo;When you think of it, it&rsquo;s cold &lsquo;Went for a Burton&rsquo;&mdash;but that&rsquo;s the way it was.&rdquo;Military life wasn&rsquo;t without hockey, though. Schmidt can remember listening to rebroadcasts of selected Saturday night games, hunkering around a radio at the air base to hear Foster Hewitt give the play-by-play of the Maple Leafs versus the Canadiens or Leafs versus the Bruins. He would also make the occasional 45-minute drive to a rink in Durham, England, for a pickup game at the only nearby arena. The roof was canvas, propped By a series of wooden poles anchored on the ice, and equipment had to be traded from player to player as one game ended and another began.Schmidt left for home in October 1945, just in time to join the Bruins for training camp. He played 10 more seasons before retiring in 1955, at a top salary of $15,000. Bauer played two more seasons and Dumart lasted through &rsquo;54.Here, with the new year underway, we wonder where the world will go with Saddam Hussein, much like we wondered about Hitler. But for now, the games go on. The thought of Mark Messier in boot camp seems bizarre, and what of Gretzky as another type of Top Gun? Could you picture Mario Magnifique, bad back and all, leaping to the cover of a foxhole?&ldquo;You never think it could happen, but&hellip;&rdquo; said Schmidt, who had it happen to him, &ldquo;&hellip;who&rsquo;s to say it can&rsquo;t? I know if I was playing today, I&rsquo;d have to give it a lot of thought.&rdquo;Kevin Dupont is a hockey writer for the Boston Globe. &#9632;

f0040-01

ATHLETES NOT IMMUNE FROM CALL TO ARMS

<h2>WHALERS</h2>Kevin Dineen was admitted into St. Francis Hospital in Hartford on Jan. 2 with lower intestinal complications stemming from his Crohn&rsquo;s Disease. Dineen was expected to remain in hospital for about a week and rest a few more. He&rsquo;s expected back after the All-Star break. Crohn&rsquo;s Disease is a digestive disorder and is a life-long afflication. Dineen, however, has not had a severe attack in a few years. &ldquo;I just got run down on the last road trip. I lost about 10-pounds,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;We felt I had done everything I could as an outpatient.&rdquo;&hellip;With Dineen out, the Whalers recalled Chris Govedaris, a first-round pick in 1988 from Springfield of the AHL. Govedaris had a fast start, bumping Todd Krygier off a line with Bobby Holik and Carey Wilson.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Goaltender Patrick Roy is far and away the most popular member of the Habs among the club&rsquo;s supporters. That was the conclusion of a poll by the Groupe Leger & Leger for a French-language newspaper and television station. Roy topped the poll with the support of 21.8 per cent of the respondents followed by Stephane Richer (17.6), Guy Carbonneau (9.5), Stephan Lebeau (7.8). Denis Savard (6.1). Petr Svoboda (4.1), Shayne Corson (3.0) and Russ Courtnall (2.1)&hellip;Montreal coach Pat Burns gave Carbonneau a rest when the Canadiens beat Edmonton 3-0 Jan. 2. That sparked some unfounded claims in the media that the move was caused by Carbonneau&rsquo;s contract hassles with the club. &ldquo;The way people reacted, it was like I shot the Pope or something,&rdquo; said Bums. Carbonneau said he gave Bums permission to sit him down. Carbonneau came back to score his seventh and eighth goals of the season two games later in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh Jan. 6. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m showing my coach was right,&rdquo; joked Carbonneau. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t tired for the last couple of games&rdquo;&hellip;The line of Brian Skrudland. Shayne Corson and Mike Keane has been dubbed The Marble Club line, a reference to the Winnipeg nightspot where the trio was arrested for causing a disturbance last month.<h2>SABRES</h2>The first head-to-head meeting between Dale Hawerchuk and Phil Housley since the trade, was all Hawerchuk. He scored the game&rsquo;s first goal in a 4-1 victory at Memorial Auditorium Jan. 4 and later added an assist. Housley did not have a point and finished minus-1 on the night&hellip;Defenseman Greg Brown, a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team and a former Hobey Baker finalist, was assigned to Rochester of the AHL Jan. 2. Asked if it was just one thing that caused him problems at the NHL level, he said, &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s just that the players are bigger, faster, smarter and stronger on the whole than any level I played at. The whole season was like a roller coaster. It seemed like I&rsquo;d be having good luck or a good game and then a couple of shifts they (the competition) would score one or I would have a pass intercepted-.&rdquo;&hellip;Depending upon who you talked to, what you saw and when you saw it, the Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Islanders 5-4 or 6-4 Jan. 2. Officially, it&rsquo;s 5-4, but not before it was 5-4, 6-4 and then 5-4 again. When the horn sounded to end the game in Memorial Auditorium, the scoreboard read 5-4 and the Sabres were in the midst of a victory celebration. But Dave Snuggerud had fired the puck from his own blue line into an empty Islanders&rsquo; net. After a lengthy discussion at the scorers table it was determined the puck had crossed the goal line before time expired and that Snuggerud had in-deed scored. The scoreboard was changed to 6-4 and news conferences began on that note. Some 20 minutes later, however, that decision was reversed.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Bryan Fogarty is in the doghouse again. Through Jan. 8, he&rsquo;d been benched for three of the team&rsquo;s previous four games. In his only appearance during that stretch, he was a plus-1 in the 8-7 shootout in St. Louis Jan. 3&hellip;. Soviet all-star Valeri Kamensky told LeSolei I that given the choice, he would prefer to play in a warmer climate than Quebec. His two-year-old son is ill, forcing the family to move south from Moscow to near the Black Sea. A team in Italy has expressed interest in Kamensky, but Nords&rsquo; president Marcel Aubut said the Soviet star will be with the Nordiques sometime next season&hellip;Darin Kimble, on the verge of leaving the organization because he felt he wasn&rsquo;t getting treated fairly, was recalled from Halifax (AHL) Jan. 4.<h2>BRUINS</h2>It has been a tough season for Bruins&rsquo; center Dave Poulin, who suffered a broken jaw when struck by a puck in Winnipeg Dec. 28. He&rsquo;s ex-pected back at the end of January. He already missed 16 games with a badly pulled groin muscle&hellip;Hard-luck winger Lyndon Byers finished his 10-game suspension Jan. 5, but two days earlier doctors realized he had broken his left foot Dec. 18 against Khimik. He will spend a month in a cast&hellip;Pouring in 13 goals in 12 games through Jan. 3 put Cam Neely back on a 50-goal pace&hellip;Steady blueliner Al Pedersen scored his career-high second goal of the season against Vancouver Jan. 3, winning a bet that cost Boston Herald sportswriter Jack O&rsquo;Leary his age-old handlebar moustache&hellip;The Bruins have lost only eight road games this season&mdash;but six have been by a combined 44-7 score&hellip;On Jan. 3, the Bruins opened a five-week stretch in which 14-of-19 games are at Boston Garden. &#9632;

DIGESTIVE DISORDER SIDELINES DINEEN

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>No one actually said the pressure was on Rick Dudley and the Buffalo Sabres through what proved to be a grueling holiday season.But one only had to be around the team to realize that whatever pressure was there, real or imagined, has been eased.A season-high seven-game unbeaten streak and a move past Hartford and into third place in the Adams Division lifted the coach and the team. Visions of catching second-place Montreal and perhaps even Adams Division leader Boston don&rsquo;t seem impossible.The Sabres can afford to look ahead. They went through a stretch where they did a lot of things right and won and they did some things wrong and they tied.The streak was not always pretty&mdash;there was an horrendous effort in New Jersey that goalie Clint Malarchuk saved (a 4-4 tie Dec. 29) all on his own. There was also a tie against Boston (3-3 Dec. 26) when the Sabres really wanted (and needed) a win.But there were positive victories&mdash;all at home&mdash;against Quebec (10-3 Dec. 23), Chicago(5-0 Dec. 28), Philadelphia (5-2 Dec. 31), the New York Islanders (5-4 Jan. 2) and Winnipeg (4-1 Jan.4) and positive signs as well.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done some things and they&rsquo;ve responded,&rdquo; Dudley said.Most of the things are technical. Buffalo has suddenly improved its coverage on the rush. 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 breaks against the Buffalo defense aren&rsquo;t as numerous largely because the Sabres have varied their forechecking pattern and the defensemen have become more judicious in choosing when to pinch in.The New Jersey game aside, the Sabres have also done a better job of keeping shots downThe defense, with the addition of Brian Curran and the tough play of &ldquo;attitude&rdquo; players such as Jay Wells and Dean Kennedy are playing a lot meaner and doing a better job of keeping the slot clear.The forwards, due in part to the leadership of players such as Mike Hartman, Rob Ray and Lou Frances-chetti are also developing an &ldquo;attitude&rdquo; and are becoming effective in the comers and in forcing turnovers in the offensive zone.But there are other reasons.The Daren Puppa of old appears to be back (wins in four straight starts); Benoit Hogue and Alexander Mogilny, ineffective earlier this season, are contributing; Grant Ledyard is providing offensive rush from the defense; most of the goal scorers and pointgetters&mdash;especially, Dale Hawer-chuk, Rick Vaive, Dave Andreychuk and Mogilny&mdash;are scoring.In a Jan. 4 game that matched Hawerchuk and Phil Housley for the first time since the two were traded for each other last summer, Hawerchuk came away with a goal and an assist to power the Sabres to a 4-1 win.Even before that game, Hawerchuk was hot, earning team player-of-the-month honors in December with seven goals and 17 assists. Rick Vaive was also been on a spree (8-7-15) in 15 games. After a slow start, Andreychuk is getting back to averaging nearly a point a game. Mogilny has goals in three straight starts and had a two-goal, two assist night against the Flyers.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 2: Greg Brown, D, assigned to Rochester (AHL). Bill Houlder, D, recalled from Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Christian Ruuttu, Pierre Turgeon, Benoit Hogue, John Tucker.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk. Lou Frances-chetti, Dave Snuggerud, Mike Hartman.RW&mdash;Rick Vaive, Alexander Mogilny, Mikko Makela, Rob Ray, Jiri Sejba.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Brian Curran, Dean Kennedy, Bill Houlder.RD&mdash;Uwe Krupp, Grant Ledyard, Jay Wells.G&mdash;Clint Malarchuk. Daren Puppa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette, RW, torn knee ligaments, out for season Doug Bodger. D, bruised shoulder, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Andreychuk, Turgeon. 17. A&mdash; Hawerchuk 26. P&mdash;Hawerchuk, 39. PIM&mdash;Ray, 134. &#9632;

COACH DUDLEY’S BOYS FINALLY DO RIGHT

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Marc Fortier is confused. And for good reason.The 24-year-old right winger, who has failed to live up to expectations and has toiled with Quebec&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Halifax for most of the 1990-91 season, is wondering about his future in Quebec.The former junior star with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Chicoutimi Sagueneens&mdash;who signed as a free agent Feb. 3, 1987&mdash;had played just 14 games this season when he was demoted for the most recent time Jan. 6. He had no goals and four assists.&ldquo;I have so many questions,&rdquo; said Fortier. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not the one with the solution. I know it&rsquo;s tough for the hockey people, tough for the coaches. And I don&rsquo;t want to pester them. We&rsquo;re going through trying times, the coaches, the players, the fans, everyone.&rdquo;Fortier, not the smoothest skater in the world, has been a useful performer for Quebec in his three seasons with the team. In 143 games, Fortier had 37 goals and 46 assists for 83 points.Having difficulty scoring goals is nothing Fortier had to deal with in the QMJHL where he had 66 goals and 135 points in 1986-87, his last year in junior hockey. He finished his junior career with 478 points in four seasons.The Nordiques had high hopes for Fortier the following season, and he had a strong training camp. But he failed to stick, and was sent down to Fredericton of the AHL.In 50 games, he scored 26 goals and 62 points. He added 14 points in 27 NHL games with Quebec.This season, Fortier had a strong training camp and led the team in scoring. But his touch eluded him as the season began.Fortier admitted he has lost confidence and is convinced the Nordiques&rsquo; have lost confidence in him.Fortier&rsquo;s agent Pierre Lacroix has talked to general manager Pierre Page about his client&rsquo;s future, but Page has taken a wait-and-see attitude.Fortier said the team&rsquo;s new management might be part of the problem.&ldquo;When Jean Perron was in charge and he gave me a tap on the shoulder, I jumped on the ice and could do anything out there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt wanted back then.&ldquo;Why am I the one that seems to have to pay for everything? It hurts to know you&rsquo;re not wanted, even though you&rsquo;re trying your best. But even if I have to prove it 10 times, I still won&rsquo;t give up.&rdquo;Fortier said he knows he isn&rsquo;t a natural goal scorer, but he believes he can perform well if placed in a positive atmosphere.And after four years of getting nowhere with the Nordiques, Fortier is wondering about his future.&ldquo;I would be lying if I said I wasn&rsquo;t thinking about my future in pro hockey,&rdquo; said Fortier. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a privilege to play in the NHL. And I&rsquo;m not giving up. I&rsquo;ve beaten the odds before.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 2: Jamie Baker, LW, assigned to Halifax (AHL). Jan. 4: Darin Kimble, RW, recalled from Halifax. Jan. 6: Marc Fortier. C, assigned to Halifax.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic, Tony Hrkac, Claude Loiselle, Stephane Morin.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Tony McKegney, Paul Gillis, Jeff Jackson.RW&mdash;Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Darin Kimble. Guy Lafleur, Ken Quinney, Serge Roberge.LD&mdash;Bryan Fogarty, Steven Finn, Curtis Les-chyshyn, Shawn Anderson.RD&mdash;Joe Cirella, Craig Wolanin. Randy Velischek.G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Scott Gordon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wayne Van Dorp. LW, torn muscle in left shoulder, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Sakic, 23. A&mdash;Sakic, 33. P&mdash;Sakic, 56. PIM&mdash; Finn 116 &#9632;

CONFUSED FACES CLO FORTIER UDY FUTURE

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>His favorite topic had been lack of leadership.But when the Hartford Whalers hit the midway point of the 1990-91 season, coach Rick Ley pulled another subject out of his hat. The contract situation.&ldquo;Quite obviously after 40 games with our inconsistency, there&rsquo;s something bothering this team,&rdquo; Ley said.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s (contracts) the whole reason, but I certainly think it has a lot to do with it. I&rsquo;ve tried to stay out of it until now. But it&rsquo;s the halfway point of the year and&hellip;I just want the air clear on how I stand. They have to sit back and realize that if you don&rsquo;t perform and - the team doesn&rsquo;t do well, then you&rsquo;re proving management right.&rdquo;The Whalers&rsquo; league-high number of players hitting free-agency July I reached 10 before Scott Young was traded to Pittsburgh for Rob Brown Dec. 21 and a number of minor-league demotions were made.But at the midway point, eight still remained, led by Ron Francis.&ldquo;They (the contracts) are an excuse,&rdquo; owner Richard Gordon said. &ldquo;In actuality, the only contract that has been a problem is Ron Francis&rsquo;. The other ones aren&rsquo;t major problems. I don&rsquo;t mean to differentiate between them. But I think from what Ed Johnston told me, most of them are solvable.&rdquo;The two sides are believed to be $300,000 apart per season on a four-year offer to Francis.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve got a lot better personnel than our record indicates,&rdquo; said Gordon. &ldquo;I think the players we counted on, the nucleus of the team, aren&rsquo;t playing up to what they or we feel is their potential.&rdquo;Dave Babych, Sylvain Cote, Doug Cross-man, Todd Krygier, Brad Shaw, Mike Tomlak and Carey Wilson are all playing out their options. Young and Ray Ferraro have been traded since the start of the season.Although Johnston said Ley was answering the question about the contract situation honestly, the club&rsquo;s general manager doesn&rsquo;t think contract problems were the reason behind the team&rsquo;s inconsistent play.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;If you look at the NHL, 12 of the top 26 or 27 players had been playing out their options (at the start of the season). Ninety per cent of the time, they play better.&ldquo;We certainly aren&rsquo;t against paying our players a fair amount. Look what we did in the Pittsburgh trade. We doubled the (Rob Brown&rsquo;s) salary.&rdquo;Young is making $150,000, while Brown&rsquo;s salary is estimated to be $325,000.Krygier admitted the contract situation has bothered him.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it ever leaves my mind,&rdquo; Krygier said. &ldquo;When I play a bad game, I feel like, &lsquo;Oh no, my value has definitely gone down.&rsquo; And then I play a good game and I think, &lsquo;Maybe my value&rsquo;s going up.&rsquo;&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 2: Chris Govedaris, LW, recalled from Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Dean Evason, Mike Tomlak, Carey Wilson.LW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Paul Cyr, Jim McKenzie, Mike Tomlak, Chris Govedaris.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Ed Kastelic, Bobby Holik, Mikael Andersson.LD&mdash;Adam Burt, Grant Jennings. Randy Ladouceur, Ulf Samuelsson.RD&mdash;Brad Shaw. Doug Crossman, Sylvain Cote.G&mdash;Daryl Reaugh, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Babych. D, right wrist surgery, indefinite. Randy Cunneyworth. LW, broken left fibula, indefinite Kevin Dineen. RW, Crohn&rsquo;s Disease, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, 22. A&mdash;Francis, 25. P&mdash;Verbeek, 39. PIM&mdash;Kastelic. 130. &#9632;

INCONSISTENT PLAY LEAVES LEY WITH NO OPTIONS

<div class="byline">BY STEPHEN HARRIS</div>The 1989-90 season was a dream come true for Andy Brickley, a lifelong Bruins&rsquo; fan growing up in the suburbs of Boston, who was a versatile and valuable contributor to the team&rsquo;s highly-successful campaign.The day after Christmas, though, this season turned very bleak for Brickley, when he was demoted to the Bruins&rsquo; Maine Mariners affiliate in the American League.The 29-year-old forward underwent surgery in July to remove a calcified mass inside his right thigh. He was unable to do full workouts during the off-season or training camp, and the Bruins felt he had not regained the speed he had last season.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s my estimation,&rdquo; coach Mike Milbury said. &ldquo;I never saw him get into the flow. I don&rsquo;t think he had the opportunity to get back into game shape. Maybe that&rsquo;s all he needs.&ldquo;It was not an easy thing to do. He had a heck of a year last year for us (12 goals and 40 points in 43 games). He didn&rsquo;t get a lot of opportunities this year. It&rsquo;s a dual-edged sword: The players want the opportunity; the coach wants to see something. I just hadn&rsquo;t seen Brick get back to the level he was at last year.&rdquo;Good soldier that he is, Brickley headed to Maine with a positive attitude&mdash;and used his savvy and poise to dominate, collecting two goals and seven assists in five games.He was enjoying the playing time, but hardly happy the Bruins gave up on him.&ldquo;What it boils down to,&rdquo; Brickley said, &ldquo;is that I wasn&rsquo;t given the opportunity to play.&rdquo;Early this season, the nine-year veteran of four NHL teams thought he understood how he fit into the Bruins 1990-91 master plan.&ldquo;The message I was getting was that it was going to take time,&rdquo; said Brickley. &ldquo;I hardly played at all early, but I was thinking, &lsquo;Great, he (Milbury) is going to work me back into the lineup slowly.&rsquo;&ldquo;I thought the first 20 games, plus the practices, would be my training camp, and then I&rsquo;d be playing as much as last year. But just when I thought I&rsquo;d eventually be playing more, I was playing less.&rdquo;He got into 26 games (one goal and seven points), but often played only a shift or two per period. Several games, he didn&rsquo;t dress. Finally, he was told to pack his bags and go.He is convinced he can be a useful NHL player for several years to come: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind I can play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t think there are doubts in the minds of many people around the league I can.&rsquo;And he has a very tough time believing he has played his last game for the Bruins.&ldquo;I hope Mike and everyone in the organization are fully aware of how I feel about playing for the Boston Bruins,&rdquo; Brickley said. &ldquo;For a kid from Boston, it&rsquo;s a dream come true. It sounds corny. But it&rsquo;s at times like this you realize just how true that is.&ldquo;I hope they understand how I feel. I hope (Milbury) knows where I want to play, and how I feel about the Boston Bruins. If anyone should understand, it&rsquo;s him.&rdquo;Brickley disagreed with Milbury&rsquo;s assessment he&rsquo;d lost a step.&ldquo;Mike felt my skating wasn&rsquo;t where it was last year, that I wasn&rsquo;t getting there,&rdquo; said Brickley. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t agree with that. I haven&rsquo;t been able to show it. I feel I just haven&rsquo;t been used in the same situations as last year.&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m right in the prime of my professional career. Physically, this is my peak. I don&rsquo;t think I was given the opportunity I felt I deserved after last year.&rdquo;Despite this&mdash;and despite being wrenched away from his new Boston-area home scant weeks before his wife, Diane, is due to deliver the couple&rsquo;s first baby&mdash;Brickley has an admirable attitude.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty upbeat about this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable what experience does for you. I&rsquo;ve been through a lot in my nine years in pro hockey. I&rsquo;ve become kind of weather-hardened.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 23: Stephane Quintal, D. recalled from Maine (AHL). Dec. 29: Peter Douris, RW. and Shayne Stevenson, C, recalled from Maine Dec. 30: Douris and Stevenson assigned to Maine. Jan. 3: Douris and Ron Hoover, C, recalled from Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Wes Walz, Ken Hodge. Ron HooverLW&mdash;Chns Nilan. Randy Burridge, Jeff Lazaro, John Carter.RW&mdash;Cam Neely. Dave Christian, Bob Sweeney, Peter Douris.LD&mdash;Al Pedersen, Don Sweeney, Glen Wesley.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Gary Galley, Stephane Quintal.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers, RW, broken left foot, indefinite. Bobby Carpenter. LW, fractured left kneecap, out for season Dave Poulin, C. broken jaw. indefinite. Vladimir Ruzicka, C. bruised left ankle, day-to-day. Michael Thelven. D, chronic right knee pain, indefinite. Jim Wiemer, D. sprained right knee, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely. 24. A&mdash;Bourque, 30. P&mdash;Janney, 40. PIM&mdash;Nilan, 190. &#9632;

HOMEBREW BRICKLEY ACCEPTS DEMOTION

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01303/5906203-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="493" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">SCOTT MORRISON</figcaption></div>The milestones fell one by one with little notice or fanfare. In a strange way, though, it was somehow fitting because that&rsquo;s precisely how Paul Coffey&rsquo;s career has evolved recently.With little notice or fanfare.But consider the astounding accomplishments the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman has made in recent weeks, each representative of a brilliant career:It all began when he picked up his 700th career assist in a 9-2 win over Winnipeg Dec. 18. Just two other defensemen&mdash;Denis Potvin, with 742, and Larry Robinson, with 732&mdash;have more.The assault on the record book continued with Coffey earning his 1,000th career point in a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders Dec. 22. Only Potvin, at 1,052, has more.It concluded with Coffey scoring his 300th career goal Jan. 5 in a 5-2 win over New Jersey. Potvin, at 310, represents the only set of taillights ahead of him.But Potvin took 15 seasons to do what Coffey is accomplishing in 11.By the end of this season, it&rsquo;s conceivable Coffey could own at least two of those all-time scoring records, perhaps even the third.By early next season, he&rsquo;ll own them all and statistically, he&rsquo;ll be the most productive defenseman ever.Yet, as the milestones fell, there was surprisingly little fanfare.It has somehow been forgotten Coffey twice won the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL.And it has somehow been forgotten he owns three Stanley Cup rings, and was among the best four or five players on the planet for several seasons.Coffey has become the best player people no longer notice or give proper regard.He still makes all-star teams and gets Norris votes. But it seems Coffey has faded into the pack, a place where he doesn&rsquo;t belong. Mention the games&rsquo; best players and too often his name doesn&rsquo;t appear.&ldquo;Well, I guess there&rsquo;s not much I can do about that,&rdquo; Coffey says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure why it has been that way, it just is. When I was youn-ger, it bothered me. It bothered me a lot. But not anymore.&rdquo;Perhaps it&rsquo;s the price of playing with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux throughout his career.Whatever, it&rsquo;s a happier, more content, more mature Coffey, who goes about his business now.He&rsquo;s having fun playing and the milestones are neatly filed away inside.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice stuff,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of the milestones. They&rsquo;re one of the individual achievements you can be proud of. When it&rsquo;s all over, when you&rsquo;ve retired, they&rsquo;re something that can&rsquo;t be taken away.Despite moving from the champion Oilers to the Penguins a few seasons ago, Coffey has remained a prominent NHL star.But his offensive skills have been down-played at times, often disregarded for what is perceived as being a lack of interest in good defense.Too often experts have measured his performance by his plus-minus figures and not his points. It hardly seems fair.The numbers, after all, don&rsquo;t lie. And neither do the championships. The plus-minus figures may be more reflective of the Penguins of past years, than Coffey.It&rsquo;s interesting that the 29-year-old Coffey actually feels he&rsquo;s playing better now than ever before.&ldquo;I really feel like I&rsquo;m quicker this season,&rdquo; says Coffey. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s because I&rsquo;m actually skating faster, or if it&rsquo;s because I&rsquo;m able to get to the puck quicker, to read the play quicker.&ldquo;But I remember what Larry Robinson told me during the 1981 Canada Cup. He took me under his wing and told me, &lsquo;If you take care of your body, it will take care of you&rsquo;. I was 19 at the time. I never thought about having to worry about my body. But he was right. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate. I was gifted with skating and puckhandling ability.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s also interesting that Coffey hasn&rsquo;t suffered offensively this season, despite the absence of Lemieux. He&rsquo;s on pace for his sixth 100-point season, which would represent another milestone.But perhaps Coffey must bring the Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh to garner the proper respect.&ldquo;Maybe.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll tell you, winning the Cup here would be the ultimate. You can never top the first one, but they all have a special place. It would be fantastic.&rdquo;Much like the player.Scott Morrison is a hockey writer for the Toronto Sun. &#9632;

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MILESTONES BRING LITTLE FANFARE FOR COFFEY

The difference between goals and assists in the NHL is called the Cy Young race. But it may soon be called the Brett Hull race. The all-time single season leader is Lanny McDonald who had 66 goals and 32 assists for Calgary in 1982-83, a difference of 34. Last season, Hull had a difference of 31 (72-41-113). Through Jan. 2, he was on pace for 78 goals and 31 assists, a difference of 47.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02225/5906234-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="559" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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ODDITIES

Racism rears its ugly head in all facets of life and the NHL is no exception. Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who is Jewish, told the Montreal Gazette recently the problem is more serious than people think. &ldquo;At first I was surprised,&rdquo; Schneider said of an incident last season when a Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; player called him a f------Jew. &ldquo;Then I got mad. I never say anything on the ice. But I made a mental note that the next time I had the chance, I&rsquo;d run the guy. And I did. What he said you wouldn&rsquo;t say to anyone. Not a black. Not a Jew. It was in really poor taste.&rdquo; Schneider is one of three Jewish players in the NHL. The Sabres&rsquo; Mike Hartman and Vancouver&rsquo;s Ronnie Stem are the others. And Schneider says Jewish players aren&rsquo;t the only ones who must deal with racist slurs. &ldquo;I guess the name-calling is part of being a minority,&rdquo; Schneider says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s nice to feel you&rsquo;re a representative of something.&rdquo;<h2>UNCERTAIN FUHRTURE</h2>Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; suspended goaltender Grant Fuhr faces a cloudy future. The 29-year-old backstop can have his one-year suspension commuted Feb. 28 if the Oilers appeal next month. But with Bill Ranford playing well in the Oiler net, Fuhr&rsquo;s future in Edmonton is unknown. &ldquo;I wish I had all the frequent flyer miles for the teams I&rsquo;m supposed to be traded to,&rdquo; Fuhr said.<h2>SOVIET SURPRISE</h2>Some things never change. When Victor Tikhonov&rsquo;s Red Army club arrived in Detroit Dec. 26 to begin their Super Series tour, they claimed they had no equipment and couldn&rsquo;t play. Luckily, several equipment manufacturers donated almost $25,000 worth of new equipment to the squad. The next day, the old equipment surfaced. The Soviets have a history of misplacing their equipment just before arriving in North America.<h2>UGLY DUDS</h2>When Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Bryan Trottier left the New York Islanders last season, the farewells were far from cordial. But Trottier says he survived. &ldquo;When you wear the Islanders&rsquo; sweater, you think, &lsquo;Oh, this is the greatest sweater in the world,&rsquo;&rdquo; Trottier said. &ldquo;Then when I saw it (this season), I said &lsquo;Gee, it&rsquo;s not so pretty. It&rsquo;s kind of ugly. And boy, that Penguins&rsquo; jersey looks attractive.&rsquo;&rdquo;<h2>CRYING WOLF</h2>After an interview with self-promoting Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; (Ontario League) goalie John Tanner between periods of a Jan. 2 game, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&rsquo; play-by-play man Gino Cavallo cracked, &ldquo;the proceeding interview was brought to you by the letter I.&rdquo; Tanner started the season with the Quebec Nordiques but was returned to the junior London Knights. After complaining of a long road trip to Sault Ste. Marie, he was traded to Sudbury.<h2>QUESTION OF THE WEEK:</h2>Do you take exhibition games with touring Soviet teams seriously?&ldquo;As long as they&rsquo;re wearing their jerseys and we&rsquo;re wearing ours and there are people in the stands and a score on the board, the game definitely means something,&rdquo; says Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Tom Watt. Toronto beat Moscow Dynamo 7-4 Jan. 1.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to get up for it mentally after you play an NHL team one night and them the next,&rdquo; says Calgary Flames&rsquo; center Joe Nieuwendyk &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re playing Red Army and (Sergei) Makarov used to play for them, so we&rsquo;ll get fired up.&rdquo; Calgary lost to Red Army 6-4 Jan. 4. &#9632;

SCHNEIDER SHUNS RACIAL SLURS

&#9632; Life goes on for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, who are putting together a successful season in the wake of the tragic death of their coach Bob Kullen.&#9632; The Hartford Whalers&rsquo; farm team in Binghamton (AHL) set futility records last season. This season, veterans and impressive rookies such as Mark Greig have helped the farm team battle for first in Springfield&mdash;a city which almost lost it&rsquo;s team.&#9632; We&rsquo;ll present our annual supplement listing hockey schools and camps, as well as our mid-season equipment guide.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03191/5906289-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="493" height="641"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Kullen</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NEXT ISSUE

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div>All the excuses were ready and waiting for the Montreal Canadiens:&#9632; Their goaltender, the best in the league, was hurt.&#9632; They were away from home for a four-game western road trip.&#9632; The club was carrying 28 players, meaning a long list of designated sitters and a lot of long faces. There was the distraction of one of those players quitting the team over his lack of playing time.So, the Canadiens went out and went 6-1-2 in the nine-game period which ended Jan. 6.Included in that string was a five-game unbeaten string (3-0-2), their longest of the season and a couple of come-from-behind performances, something the Habs haven&rsquo;t been doing this season.After the ninth game of the string, the Habs&rsquo; record read 32 goals for, 23 against, two shutouts and one defenseman gone AWOL.Gerald Diduck, who was obtained from the New York Islanders in exchange for Craig Ludwig Sept. 4, packed his bags and went home Jan. 6.&ldquo;As long as I&rsquo;m coach, he&rsquo;ll never play for the Canadiens,&rdquo; said Habs&rsquo; coach Pat Bums.Though Diduck couldn&rsquo;t be reached for comment, the story goes that he was upset about being left out of the lineup against the Quebec Nordiques Jan. 5, the third time in four games he&rsquo;d been scratched by Bums.After words were exchanged, Diduck was told to take his leave by Bums.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not me who has to make the players happy,&rdquo; said Bums. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the players who have to make me happy. To do that, they have to prove to me that they deserve to play.&rdquo;Clearly Diduck had not done that. His play was inconsistent and the steady improvement of Eric Desjardins and J.J. Daigneault made it more and more difficult for Bums to put him in the lineup.The play of the latter duo was a big reason for the Habs&rsquo; improved play. Desjardins is fulfilling the potential he showed two years ago when he played 36 games as a 19-year-old.He had a dreadful sophomore season last year, but has rebounded. He had five points during that nine-game string and his defensive play has been NHL-calibre.&ldquo;He has been our best defenseman lately,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;By far.&rdquo;&ldquo;I believe I&rsquo;m playing my best hockey since I joined the Canadiens,&rdquo; said Daigneault, who was obtained from the Philadelphia organization for Scott Sandelin Nov. 7, 1988.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy I stayed patient and persevered. I think things really started coming together for the team when we had that big comeback against Philadelphia Dec. 23.&rdquo;The Habs bounced back from a 4-0 deficit in that game to escape with a 4-4 tie. They also came from behind to beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 Dec. 29.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 6: Gerald Diduck, D, left team.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Guy Carbonneau. Brian Skrudland, Stephan Lebeau, Brent Gilchrist.LW&mdash;Sylvain Turgeon. Mark Pederson. Andrew Cassels, Shayne Corson, Benoit Brunet, Mike McPhee.RW&mdash;Stephane Richer, Russ Courtnail. Tom Chorske, Mike Keane.RD&mdash;Matt Schneider, Lyle Odelein, Eric Desjardins.LD&mdash;Petr Svoboda, Sylvain Lefebvre. Donald Dufresne, J.J. Daigneault.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Jean-Claude Bergeron, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Todd Ewen, RW, arthroscopic knee surgery, day-to-day Ryan Walter. LW. broken wrist, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Richer, 17. A&mdash;Savard, 22. P&mdash; Savard. 34. PIM&mdash;Odelein, 126. &#9632;

HABS OVERCOME EXCUSES WITH VICTORIES

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="CW0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0010-01/5906358-1-eng-US/cw0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Score made a big impact on the hockey card hobby in its first year by signing Oshawa Generals&rsquo; superstar Eric Lindros to an exclusive deal to appear in its set.</figcaption></div>Unless Clint Malarchuk or Aaron Broten is your favorite player, there&rsquo;s not much to dislike about Score&rsquo;s premier edition of hockey cards.Putting a photo of Tom Barrasso on Malarchuk&rsquo;s card and a picture of Dave Archibald on Broten&rsquo;s are just about the only faults in an otherwise excellent 445-card set. One other fault was flopping (reversing) Dean Evason&rsquo;s photo.Oh sure, the full-image photos tend to look the same after a while and do we really need eight Wayne Gretzky cards? But those are minor concerns compared to the good points of the Score hockey set.The main reason why Score has created such a stir in the hobby is because it&rsquo;s the only NHL set to include Oshawa Generals&rsquo; superstar Eric Lindros. He&rsquo;s featured on six cards, five of which are only available in the just-released factory sets. His card that has been available for two months, No. 440, is already worth about $10. But what collectors are quickly finding out is there&rsquo;s a lot more than Lindros to make this such a fine set.The photography is excellent, the player selection is unsurpassed and the design is clean and attractive.But what really makes the Score set special are the innovative subsets and lack of mistakes.Score did things no other card company did, including making Canadian and American variations. There are 12 cards which appear only in one version and not the other. The key cards in the Canadian version are of Edmonton&rsquo;s Martin Gelinas and the Oshawa Generals&rsquo; Memorial Cup championship. Score&rsquo;s U.S. version includes a card of Hobey Baker winner Kip Miller.But in order for the variations idea to work better, Score should try next time to include more players and more rookie cards.Score deserves credit for making the common all-star card subsets a little different by creating a shadow effect on the cards. It&rsquo;s not quite three-dimensional but it&rsquo;s unique. An all-rookie team series is also well done.Another strong subset is the 43-card top prospect series. Several of those players, including Montreal&rsquo;s Mark Pederson, Quebec&rsquo;s Mats Sundin and Los Angeles&rsquo; Rob Blake are enjoying strong rookie seasons. The only problem was Score was unable to get releases from some junior and minor pro teams to use their logos so some players have their sweater logos painted over.Other subsets include the three players&mdash;Bill Barber, Gilbert Perreault and Fem Flaman&mdash;who were inducted into the Hall of Fame in September, the 1990 trophy winners and the 1990 season leaders.About the only subset which doesn&rsquo;t get rave reviews from collectors is the one featuring the &ldquo;snipers, magicians, blasters, stoppers, shadows, speedsters and bangers&rdquo; of hockey. The strange 14-card subset comes across as just an excuse to add a couple more Gretzky cards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0010-02/5906351-1-eng-US/cw0010-022.jpg" title="CW0010-02" width="704" height="977"></div>But the most bizarre part of the Score set is the &ldquo;airbrushed fans.&rdquo;At first some people thought the fans in the crowd on some of the Score cards were part of the FBI witness relocation program. Then the possibility was raised the fans were really NHL president John Ziegler in disguise and he didn&rsquo;t want anyone to know he was at a hockey game.But the real reason why Score airbrushed out some of the fans&rsquo; faces in its first hockey card series is not nearly as interesting as either of those scenarios. No, it was simply a matter of Score playing it safe.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0010-03/5906344-1-eng-US/cw0010-032.jpg" title="CW0010-03" width="700" height="973"></div>Score&rsquo;s hockey photo editor Marty Levick was told since the cards constituted a business venture, it was possible a fan could claim he or she is owed compensation for having his or her photo appear on a card. The thought of a fan actually suing a card company is unlikely but Score decided to be cautious.The airbrushed fan is unique to Score (see Brett Hull&rsquo;s goal leader card, No. 351, for the best example of this), but it doesn&rsquo;t detract from the outstanding set.The most noticeable aspect of the cards is the use of full-body images on all the cards. The good action photography sacrifices an opportunity to see the players&rsquo; faces up close, but that&rsquo;s why there&rsquo;s head shots on the back. In most cases, especially Hull&rsquo;s regular card (No. 300), which is a horizontal photo, the full-body images work very well. But sometimes (see card No. 69, Tom Laidlaw) the effort to get the full stick in the photo leads to a card with a lot of wasted space.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s more interesting to see the full player and the stick and the puck than to have him cropped,&rdquo; says Levick. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen many of our competitors&rsquo; cards but the ones that I have, I don&rsquo;t particularly like the look where they&rsquo;re cut off half-body. I think it looks awkward.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">SCORE USES THE FULL IMAGE IN ALL ITS PHOTOS.</blockquote>The card backs won&rsquo;t please statistical buffs who like to see statistics for every year, as only the &rsquo;89-90 season and career stats are included.But the card backs do include the most informative information about the players and often feature quotes from coaches or other players.As previously mentioned, Score&rsquo;s player selection was excellent. Failing to have a rookie card of New York Ranger Mark Janssens is probably the biggest oversight but not one to overly concern collectors.Those players who were missed will appear in the 110-card update and traded set, due out by the end of February. All of the top rookies and players who were traded in the off-season and during this season are included. And card No. 33T is Janssens.The best part of the update and traded set is the decision to include action photos of Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mike Ricci, Quebec&rsquo;s Owen Nolan, and Detroit&rsquo;s Keith Primeau, all of whom appear in the regular set with photos taken just after they were selected in the 1990 entry draft. The set also includes a card commemorating Gretzky&rsquo;s 2,000th point.Another Score set is the 40-card young superstars series featuring players with three years or less NHL experience. It&rsquo;s only available directly from the company through an offer on the card wrappers.The young superstars series gives collectors another opportunity to add to their Score Lindros collection. In addition to card No. 440, which is only available in wax packs, five Lindros cards are included as part of the factory set.The five cards are numbered 441-445. Three of them show Lindros in candid poses while one has him in the uniform of the Ontrario League all-stars, the other from his playing days at St. Michael&rsquo;s school in Toronto.The Lindros cards will ultimately make this set a great investment. But for many reasons it&rsquo;s a series of cards to enjoy today. &#9632;

CW0010-01

SCORE

<div class="byline">BY TOM McMILLAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="CW0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0011-012/5906396-1-eng-US/cw0011-012.jpg"></div>The elbow from Jim Johnson of the Minnesota North Stars crashed violently into his head, toppling Jeremy Roenick, splattering him on the ice.The rest of the Chicago Blackhawks helped their 20-year-old teammate to the dressing room, where he sat, motionless, wearing a blank stare..&ldquo;They asked me where I was and I said, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know?&rsquo;&rdquo; Roenick recalls, laughing a bit. &ldquo;They talked about a game and I said, &lsquo;What game?&rsquo; It was like I just woke up. I had no idea a hockey game was going on.&rdquo;Of course, being Jeremy Roenick, he cleared his head, badgered the doctors and returned for the third period.But that&rsquo;s just Roenick. Gritty. Persevering. A little nuts. Two years ago, in a Norris Division playoff game against the rival St. Louis Blues, Roenick had some teeth whacked out by a cross check from Glen Featherstone. So he spit the teeth onto his hand, showed them to referee Kerry Fraser, drew a five-minute power play and stayed on the ice to score a goal; one of three the Hawks scored on the power play.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s tough, plenty tough, like the time he went to Kerry Fraser with his teeth on his tongue,&rdquo; says Chicago coach Mike Keenan, admiringly.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got innate superstar stuff,&rdquo; says Hawks&rsquo; assistant E. J. McGuire.The toughness was something scouts couldn&rsquo;t calculate when Roenick was a tantalizing prospect with Thayer Academy in Massachusetts in 1987-88. The skills were blatant&mdash;he scored 84 points in 24 games&mdash;but he was a wisp of a kid at 6-feet, 170 pounds. Could he withstand NHL banging?The Hawks, at Roenick&rsquo;s reported urging, snatched him up on the eighth pick of the first round of the 1988 draft. Before Roenick was drafted Quebec had taken Curtis Leschyshyn, Pittsburgh had grabbed Darrin Shannon, Quebec had gambled on Daniel Dore, Toronto had gone for Scott Pearson. The Hawks never regretted their choice.Last year, in his first full NHL season, Roenick rambled for 24 goals and 66 points in 78 games. He stuck his nose in front of the net. And he took no grief.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t used to play that way, and I don&rsquo;t know why I changed,&rdquo; Roenick says. &ldquo;But for some reason when I got to the NHL, I began to play a little more physical&hellip;to gain respect. You&rsquo;ve got to give a lick when you take one.&rdquo;The skills also translated to the game at its highest level. Roenick made slick plays, showed a sniper&rsquo;s touch around the net. He dangled the puck. And people noticed.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like a young Bryan Trottier,&rdquo; says Bob Johnson, coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and former executive director of USA Hockey. &ldquo;We knew all about him coming up through the ranks. He&rsquo;s a kid who loves to play. Just loves it.&rdquo;Such talk dazes Roenick. Only two years ago he was feeling his way with Hull of the Quebec League, devastating the young defensemen at Laval and Verdun and Chicoutimi. Now they&rsquo;re calling him a young Trottier. He&rsquo;s been among the league&rsquo;s top 25 scorers all season and has never gone more than three games without at least one point.The Hawks placed so much faith in his ability to patrol the middle they traded center Denis Savard to Montreal over the summer for defenseman Chris Chelios. Don&rsquo;t worry, they seemed to be saying. Roenick will shoulder the load.&ldquo;I knew there was going to be some extra pressure, but I looked at it as a team thing,&rdquo; Roenick says. &ldquo;I mean, we&rsquo;ve got Steve Larmer, Adam Creighton, a lot of guys. I&rsquo;m just another center.&rdquo;Savard has looked after him, too. A few games into the season, with Savard and Roenick both struggling in their new roles, Savard telephone from Montreal. He knew Roenick had not yet scored a goal.&ldquo;He said some really nice things to me, gave me great advice,&rdquo; Roenick told the Chicago Tribune.&ldquo;It settled me down and the next night, against Pittsburgh, I got a hat trick. Savvy&rsquo;s a class act, and no matter where he is, I&rsquo;m happy to knowSavard was Chicago&rsquo;s reigning hockey superstar&mdash;the Michael Jordan of the Blackhawks&mdash;when Roenick was summoned from the Olympiques for a brief trial in 1988-89. He rang up nine goals and 18 points in 20 games as a 19-year-old. Some trial.Enormous things were expected the next year, and when Roenick got off to a slow start, he made perhaps the most important decision of his young career.Tired of what he viewed as interference from back home in Massachusetts, he declared that he would no longer talk to his agent, Neil Abbott, nor his parents, Wally and Jo Roenick, about hockey matters. He was independent. He would go it alone.&ldquo;It was a really big thing in my development; I separated myself in a way,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It got to the point where I had to have complete control over my destiny. I just had to express that.&ldquo;And everything&rsquo;s great now.&rdquo;No one in Chicago would disagree with that.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0011-022/5906389-1-eng-US/cw0011-022.jpg" title="CW0011-02" width="534" height="743"></div>Using Jeremy Roenick as an example shows just how far the hockey card hobby has advanced in one year.In 1988-89, Roenick split his season between Hull of the Quebec League and Chicago. With the Blackhawks, he played 20 games, scoring nine goals and nine assists. If he didn&rsquo;t miss most of January with sprained knee ligaments he may have seen more NHL action. Then he added a goal and three assists in 10 playoff games.But neither O-Pee-Chee nor Topps made a card of Roenick for their &rsquo;8990 sets even though he had played those games in Chicago and was a pre-season Calder Trophy candidate.This year with the increased competition in the hobby, almost all the top prospects have a card even before they play an NHL game.The big winner is the collector, who has six Roenick rookie cards to choose from in this season&rsquo;s sets. His cards are among the most valuable, with his Upper Deck card selling in some places for as much as $5.But despite Roenick&rsquo;s popularity with collectors, he&rsquo;s dropped out of the THN Collectors World power play (see page 6). Five other players with rookie cards&mdash;Eric Lindrps, Sergei Fedorov, Mark Recchi. Ed Belfour and Darren Turcotte&mdash;have outperformed Roenick recently to knock him off the list. But with Roenick poised to lead the Hawks to a run at the Stanley Cup, his cards will remain hot commodities.The Roenick Checklist: Bowman; No. 1; O-Pee-Chee: No. 7; Pro Set: No. 58; Score: No. 179; Topps: No. 7; Upper Deck: No. 63. &#9632;

CW0011-01

ROENICK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="CW0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0012-012/5906427-1-eng-US/cw0012-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

CW0012-01

POSTER

<div class="byline">BY JASON KAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="CW0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0014-012/5906465-1-eng-US/cw0014-012.jpg"></div>Troy Gamble&rsquo;s off-ice personality may best be reflected in his approach to card collecting.Like any shrewd hobbyist, the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; rookie goaltender is putting aside packs of unopened cards, a practice generally viewed as wise by investors.But, while he&rsquo;s aware of the probable financial gain, Gamble says his card-storing motives are anything but money related.&ldquo;Me and my wife have made a point of buying cards for our 16-month-old son, Garrett,&rdquo; says Gamble, perhaps the top player in the league this season not to have a card issued by any company in their first sets. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s gonna be a collector, but he doesn&rsquo;t know it yet.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big hockey fan already&mdash;he sits in front of the TV and says &lsquo;hockey, hockey, hockey&rsquo;&mdash;and if he ever does want to start collecting, we just want those cards to be there for him; we want him to open them.&rdquo;Gamble&rsquo;s selflessness and refreshing candor permeates his attitude towards what is developing into a dream season. The New Glasgow, N.S., native is in contention not only for the Calder Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top freshman, but also for the Vezina as the loop&rsquo;s No. 1 netminder. In 22 appearances, Gamble is third in the league in goals-against average (2.56); fifth in save percentage (.906); and has a 9-6-2 record.But Gamble, given just an outside chance of cracking the Canucks&rsquo; lineup in training camp, isn&rsquo;t letting those heady stats go to his head.&ldquo;I honestly believe I&rsquo;ve only contributed to one or two of our wins,&rdquo; says Gamble, who strung together a 95-minute shutout streak early in the season. &ldquo;In my shutout (4-0 against St. Louis Oct. 14), I only had something like 13 shots and none of them were dangerous.&rdquo;That Gamble is challenging for anything other than a spot on the International League all-star team has to be considered one of the biggest surprises of the season.After being drafted 25th overall in 1985&mdash;one spot after New Jersey&rsquo;s Sean Burke and one before Hartford&rsquo;s Kay Whitmore&mdash;Gamble made slow, but steady progress. Then came the 1989-90 season in Milwaukee.Where he had been outstanding in his first minor-pro campaign the year before, Gamble took a step backwards in &rsquo;89-90 (4.21 GAA in 56 games), which led to questions about his dedication and desire.Gamble admits his head wasn&rsquo;t always in the game.&ldquo;Even in junior, I knew I was going to play 50 games a season,&rdquo;says Gamble, who starred for both Medicine Hat and Spokane of the Western League. &ldquo;So, mentally, I would take nights off. I&rsquo;ve tried to change that approach this season. Now, I take every game like it&rsquo;s my last one.&rdquo;Getting his mind in shape wasn&rsquo;t Gamble&rsquo;s only battle. He also had some excess physical baggage holding him back, and he worked hard over the summer to sharpen his physique.But he still has at least one dietary weaknesses.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been collecting the cards with the gum (O-Pee-Chee),&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;because, for 15 minutes, it&rsquo;s the best-tasting gum in the world. After that, it has no flavor.&rdquo;While Gamble&rsquo;s play has left a good taste in mouths of Canuck fans, it&rsquo;s safe to say his sudden emergence has taken many by surprise&mdash;including the card manufacturers. None of the five companies thought highly enough of Gamble to include him in their initial sets, something which didn&rsquo;t go unnoticed.&ldquo;The way I knew I didn&rsquo;t have a card was that after every game&mdash;at home or on the road&mdash;I&rsquo;m the guy that gets to walk by all the kids looking for players to sign their cards,&rdquo; jokes Gamble, whose card will be among the most sought after in the update and traded sets due to start appearing late this month. &ldquo;They ask me who I am, and when I tell them, they&rsquo;re not interested because I don&rsquo;t have a card.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cw0014-022/5906458-1-eng-US/cw0014-022.jpg" title="CW0014-02" width="1742" height="1268"></div>But Gamble isn&rsquo;t the only rookie overlooked entirely by the card companies. These are the players that time forgot&hellip;as did Bowman, O-Pee-Chee, Pro Set, Score, Topps and Upper Deck.Beginning this month, the card manufacturers will release update sets to include players, who&mdash;for whatever reason&mdash;were overlooked by all the companies at the start of the season.Peter Bondra. RW, Washington Capitals. The card companies can be forgiven for overlooking Bondra, a player about whom relatively little was known entering this season.Drafted 156th by the Capitals in 1990, the 22-year-old, (who played for Kosice of the Czechoslovakian Elite League last season), had seen little international competition and even fewer NHL scouts.It&rsquo;s not that he didn&rsquo;t have the talent; rather he didn&rsquo;t have the nationality&mdash;at least not the proper one. Born in the Soviet Union, Bondra moved to Czechoslovakia with his family when he was three. But because he was still a Soviet citizen, he was ineligible to represent Czechoslovakia.Johan Garpenlov, LW. Detroit Red Wings. The Stockholm native, known more for his defensive play than his goal-scoring ability, has been a pleasant surprise for the Red Wings this season playing mainly on a line with fellow rookie Sergei Fedorov.Included among his-point total, is a memorable four-goal night against St. Louis. Garpenlov, 22, knew a good thing when he saw it and didn&rsquo;t use his four-goal stick in practice the next day, instead saving it for the next game. Since then, he&rsquo;s scored just three times.&ldquo;The stick had four goals in it,&rdquo; jokes Garpenlov, picked 85th overall by Detroit in 1986. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it had any more.&rdquo;Kevin Miller, C, New York Rangers. After bouncing between New York and the minors for most of the past two seasons, Miller, 25, got his chance to shine when veteran center Kelly Kisio went down with an injury early in the season.Coach Roger Neilson decided to insert Miller in Kisio&rsquo;s spot between wingers John Ogrodnick and Brian Mullen and Miller didn&rsquo;t disappoint. Earlier this season Miller recorded two points in five straight games.Robert Reichel, C, Calgary Flames. Based solely on potential, Reichel and fellow Czehoslovakian, Whaler Bobby Holik, would top the list of update rookies.But the Flames are purposefully trying to bring the 19-year-old freshman along slowly, thus he&rsquo;s seen relatively little ice time.But he has showed flashes of brilliance, especially of late. During a recent 15-game stretch, Reichel, drafted 70th overall by Calgary in 1989, recorded nine goals. All this playing on the fourth line and getting little power-play time. &#9632;

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January 18, 1991

NUMBERS

MAKAROV NETS THREE TO SILENCE CRITICS

CHEERS JEERS

PRO FILE