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

February 1, 1991

The Hockey News February 1, 1991

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DEPARTMENTS

ELSTON

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>How does a young man with so little violence in his career pile up 30 fighting majors before his first professional season is barely half-completed?&ldquo;Thirty-two,&rdquo; Marc Potvin said smiling. But who&rsquo;s counting?Potvin&rsquo;s pugilism was the primary reason he was recalled from the club&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Adirondack Jan. 16. He made his NHL debut that night in a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.Why was Potvin counting his penalty minutes?How else does a ninth-round draft pick (169th overall in 1986) without skating grace or overwhelming puckhandling skills get noticed?At least that&rsquo;s what Adirondack coach/general manager Barry Melrose told him when the season began.&ldquo;Barry said the way I play I should just go out there and hammer guys,&rdquo; Potvin said. &ldquo;So I did. And after the first couple of games, there was someone there (to fight) almost every time.&rdquo;Potvin, a second cousin of former New York Islander great Denis Potvin, admitted he was surprised to be called up.&ldquo;I was never much of a fighter,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In college (the Bowling Green Falcons of the CCHA) there was no fighting. I think my last fight was in junior B hockey.&rdquo;Potvin played for the Stratford Cullitons of the Midwestern Junior B League before attending Bowling Green. In 63 games with Stratford in 1985-86, Potvin gave an indication of things to come when he had 117 penalty minutes. In four years with the Falcons, Potvin had 62 goals, 65 assists, 127 points and 289 penalty minutes.Potvin, 23, is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound right winger. He had five goals and 10 assists in 47 games with Adirondack. And he also had 250 penalty minutes. He led the AHL in fighting majors and was second to Binghamton Ranger Peter Fiorentino in penalty minutes.After leaving Bowling Green at the end of last season he joined Adirondack for five games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a reward for the way he has played,&rdquo; Detroit coach/GM Bryan Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a permanent fixture, at least not right now, and he, has been told that. I want to see if he can check at this level, skate well enough at this level. Down there, he hits everything in sight. He gets a hit a shift.&rdquo;Against the Sabres, Murray saw plenty of Potvin. He pinballed his way around the small ice surface at The Auditorium and played a solid game.But when the game ended, Potvin was informed he would be heading back to Adirondack.&ldquo;I thought he played really well,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He had more hits than the rest of the team combined. But he&rsquo;s going back&mdash;with a good pat on the back.&rdquo;Potvin finished with no points, one shot on goal, two penalty minutes and a minus-2.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 15: Bob Wilkie, D, assigned to Adirondack (AHL). Jan. 16: Marc Potvin, RW, recalled from Adirondack Jan. 17: Potvin assigned to Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, John Chabot, Paul Ysebaert.LW&mdash;Shawn Burr, Johan Garpenlov, Randy McKay, Keith Primeau.RW&mdash;Bob Probert, Brent Fedyk, Joe Kocur, Marc Habscheid, Dave Barr.LD&mdash;Bobby Dollas, Per Djoos, Rick Green.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon. Rick Zombo, Yves Racine, Doug Houda.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jimmy Carson, C, sprained knee, Jan 28 Steve Chiasson, D, broken foot, indefinite. Gerard Gallant, LW, sore lower back, indefinite Sheldon Kennedy, RW, shoulder surgery, indefinite. Greg Stefan, G, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 31. A&mdash;Yzerman, 32. P&mdash;Yzerman, 63. PIM&mdash;Kocur. 175. &#9632;

THE NHL

PUGILISTIC POTVIN MAKES AN IMPRESSION

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021075/5874176-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="554" height="1184"></div><h2>MATS SUNDIN</h2>Born: Feb. 13, 1971, Sollentuna, Sweden. Height: 6-foot-3. Weight: 185 pounds. Team: Quebec Nordiques. Position: Right wing. Acquired: Quebec&rsquo;s first choice, first overall in 1989 entry draft.Career highlight: &ldquo;Winning the Swedish championship last season was exciting. And I enjoyed playing in the World Championships.&rdquo;Career disappointment: &ldquo;All the fighting and the problems in my homeland over my contract. I was very disappointed with the whole situation. It turned out to be such a big story and I felt bad about it.&rdquo;Most embarrassing moment: &ldquo;In Sweden, you have to wear skate guards when you go into the arena and one day I forgot them. I had to walk on my blades and it was very embarrassing. And the other night, I missed a penalty shot against the Russians. That was embarrassing too.&rdquo;Boyhood heroes: &ldquo;Kent Nilsson and Mats Naslund. I always liked the way they played. I&rsquo;m not the same size, but I tried to be like them.&rdquo;Best hockey quality: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m good around the other team&rsquo;s net and my passing is fine. But I have to work on my defense. And my shot needs some work, too.&rdquo;Toughest goalie: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a lot of problems with Montreal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy. He&rsquo;s big and he&rsquo;s very fast with his pads.&rdquo;On life in the NHL: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about what I expected, but I&rsquo;m impressed with the intensity level. Most of the games here are like a final game. It&rsquo;s faster then Swedish hockey and things are a lot closer because the rinks are smaller.&rdquo; &#9632;

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PRO FILE

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Sherry Ross</div>In his all-rookie team season with St. Louis last season, left winger Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour scored 26 goals and 61 points.But at the all-star break, Brind&rsquo;Amour had just seven goals and 17 assists. Playing with sharpshooter Brett Hull on his right side for much of the season, Brind&rsquo;Amour would be expected to have low goal totals, but his assists are disproportionately low.He was recently replaced on the line by the more experienced Cliff Ronning.Another all-rookie team member, Winnipeg goaltender Bob Essensa, was hampered in training camp with a groin injury, and has been slow to return to form.Essensa is just 10-13-3 with a 3.19 goals-against average in his first 28 games. Last season he was 18-9-5, 3.15 GAA after 36 games.Several of last season&rsquo;s other top rookies have improved. New York Rangers&rsquo; center Darren Turcotte&mdash;who has been used in a more defensive role this season&mdash;Chicago&rsquo;s Jeremy Roenick and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mark Recchi, were both mid-season all-stars.Recchi (23-49-72 in 49 games) has already surpassed his point total from last season and has helped the Penguins deal with the loss of Mario Lemieux.Defensive performers are more difficult to assess, especially since there were no Brian Leetch&rsquo;s in last year&rsquo;s crop.But two all-rookie team defensemen, Hartford&rsquo;s Brad Shaw and Edmonton&rsquo;s Geoff Smith, have continued to play regularly for their clubs.&ldquo;As far as this stage of the season goes, I think I&rsquo;m on the same level as last year,&rdquo; Shaw said. &ldquo;I would&rsquo;ve liked to have a better year, but there was a numbers game with eight healthy defensemen in training camp and there wasn&rsquo;t much ice time.&ldquo;Your sophomore year, you have to adjust. Your rookie year you can make a lot of mistakes and the coaches seem to accept it as rookie jitters or inexperience. Your second year, they expect you to play a more mistake-free game.&rdquo; &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

BRIND’AMOUR HIT HARDEST BY SOPHOMORE JINX

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01868/5876071-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>GRETZKY HEADS NHL&rsquo;S FORTUNE 100 LIST PAGE 7ISLES SEE FRONT OFFICE FUTURE FOR MALONEY-PAGE 43DAMPHOUSSE, ROENICK SHINE-PAGES 8, 15LOSING SEASON TAKES TOLL ON MODANO PAGE 9TOCCHET AIMS FOR 50 GOALS PAGE 48 &#9632;

Cover-01

SHOOTOUT IN CHICAGO

&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to keep making New Jersey pay. I hate to say it, but I want to keep rubbing it in&rdquo;&mdash;Hartford left winger Pat Verbeek, on being traded by New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello. Page 16.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had time to notice them because I&rsquo;ve been too busy printing them.&rdquo;Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; defenseman Brad Marsh, on banners at Maple Leaf Gardens demanding his return to the ice. Page 10. &#9632;

QUOTABLE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011307/5873876-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="523" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB McKENZIE</figcaption></div>The world appears to be coming apart at the seams and it would be easy to say hockey doesn&rsquo;t matter. That men playing a boy&rsquo;s game during an almost inconceivable international crisis is inappropriate or even insulting.But the fact of the matter is that life goes on. You get up in the morning, you go to work, you do your job, you go home. If you wish to escape the horror of it all, you turn off your television and indulge in the pursuit of your choice.You go to a movie, a play or a sporting event. If you&rsquo;re uncomfortable with that or too distraught, you simply don&rsquo;t go.Of course, the war in the Persian Gulf hits home harder to some than others. Most of us can&rsquo;t imagine the perspective of those who have family in the immediate war zone.But on the home front, we must strive to live our lives as close to normal as is possible. The men, women and children in the Middle East are never far from our thoughts, but don&rsquo;t say nothing else matters anymore.If our leaders request games in the National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and National Football League not be played, then, of course, the leagues should comply. Or if the people, by refusing to attend games, indicate times are too tough to enjoy the distraction of sport, then by all means shut it down.Until then, however, life does go on. And let us pray that is true for those in the Middle East, too.Unless the Edmonton Oilers or Mark Messier compromise their principles, the star player appears destined to finish his career with another NHL club.Messier wants his contract renegotiated. He has this season and two more left on a deal that pays him approximately $1.1 million per year. He wants $2 million a year. Oilers&rsquo; presidentgeneral manager Glen Sather will renegotiate but says $2 million is out of the question. The Oilers have offered more than $1.5 million, but Messier rejected it.Both sides are taking the hard line.Messier becomes a free agent without compensation at the end of this contract. The Oilers know he&rsquo;ll be offered more elsewhere, so the temptation will be to move him while he still has market value. It&rsquo;s the Gretzky scenario all over again.Any move wouldn&rsquo;t happen until after this season. With Messier, the Oilers have a shot at repeating as Stanley Cup champions. Without him, forget it.Time, for now, is on the Oilers&rsquo; side. They&rsquo;re betting that Messier won&rsquo;t walk out on the team in mid-season to underline his contract demands. That would go against his everburgeoning image as the consummate team player and leader.But all bets are off as soon as the 1990-91 season ends.The NHL Central Scouting Bureau is meeting to produce its first composite rankings of the top North American prospects for the 1991 entry draft. The list won&rsquo;t be released to NHL clubs until February, but the top end has apparently been completed. Oshawa center Eric Lindros is, of course, No. 1, reportedly followed by Kamloops defenseman Scott Niedermayer, Boston University defenseman Scott Lachance, Ste-Hyacinthe left winger Patrick Poulin and Seattle defenseman Brent Bilodeau. Notable by his absence in this unofficial top five is Spokane center Pat Falloon&hellip;Some scouts, and an NHL general manager or two, have remarked that Lindros coasts on a few too many shifts per game. They&rsquo;d like to see him turn up the intensity level on a more consistent basis to take full advantage of his awesome blend of size and skill&hellip;Hartford center Ronnie Francis, stripped of the captaincy this season and playing out his option, was being shopped around, but when he clicked with Rob Brown and Pat Verbeek was withdrawn from trade talk. Still, speculation persists he will be dealt before the March 5 deadline. Chicago is reportedly interested&hellip;San Jose general manager Jack Ferreira was not happy when the United States ran up the score in a 19-1 win over Norway at the World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan. U.S. coach Kevin Constantine is under contract to the Sharks and Norway coach George Kingston is expected to join the NHL expansion team next season in some capacity, likely head coach. Bob McKenzie is editor-in-chief of The Hockey News. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

FOR MOST OF US, LIFE DOES GO ON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021062/5873921-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="599" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glen Wesley is back on his game again. Page 18.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03768/5873914-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="589" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Oates starred in the All-Star Game. Page 12.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04544/5873907-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="572" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Maloney has decided to hang up the skates. Page 43.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THIS WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011465/5873990-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021328/5873983-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="498" height="256"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031121/5873976-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="564" height="792"></div>Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; left winger Alexander Mogilny, who led all NHL scorers with seven points (4-3-7) in two games, was named the NHL Pro Set Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 20.Mogilny edged two goaltenders&mdash;Andy Moog of the Boston Bruins and Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens&mdash;to capture the award.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.Mogilny began the week with a five-point performance (2-3-5), setting career highs for assists and points in a game, in a 9-3 win against the Maple Leafs at Toronto (Jan. 14). He also finished the game with a career-high plus-six rating.Two nights later, Mogilny scored two goals, including the first shor-thanded tally of his career, in a 5-3 home win over the Detroit Red Wings (Jan. 16).Mogilny has a point in 12 of his last 14 games, posting totals of 1012-22 in that period. He is fourth in Sabres&rsquo; scoring with 37 points (1720-37) in 39 games this season.The Sabres have an 8-1-3 record in their last 12 games to move into third place in the Adams Division with a 19-17-10 record for 48 points.Moog posted a 3-0-0 record and 2.67 goals-against average, while Roy posted a 2-0-0 record and 1.50 GAA. &#9632;

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NHL PRO SET SPOTLIGHT

Like aluminum bats in baseball, the new aluminum sticks in the NHL, wielded most notably by Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky, are an abomination that dishonors the tradition of fair play.The sheen on the Los Angeles captain&rsquo;s shaft particulary is so bright that it is a violation of good sportsmanship.If No. 99 truly was the &ldquo;Great One&rdquo;, he would not need such a cosmetic trick to attract notice, nor would he need such a distraction to gain a competitive edge. He ought to be able to draw our attention with his skills alone, as well as be capable of producing artistry and accuracy through the coordination of his savvy, strength, reflexes and balance without the material advantage of lightweight metal.Cognizant that Wayne Gretzky has a multi-million-dollar endorsement from Easton, I am compelled to ask the NHL governing powers which is more important: Expensive new toys for high-profile boys or the integrity of the sport?It does not seem unreasonable to uphold some uniform standards for equipment.M.A. Devendittis Hempstead, N. Y.<h2>GOOD WORK, MIKE</h2>Just a word of support for Mike Milbury on his selection of Chris Nilan to the Wales Conference all-star team.If you disagree with Milbury, just remember he earned the right to coach and select the players by taking the Bruins to the Stanley Cup finals last year.Keep up the good work, Mike.Dennis Zander Wauchope, Sask.<h2>CHANGE RULES</h2>Hey sports fans, the NHL referees have it all wrong.They should be penalizing the perpetrators/instigators twice as much as the retaliators. That would stop most of the cheap shots.Start giving penalties for stick grabbing, blatant interference and man in the crease and we&rsquo;d have a much better game.Oh, by the way Bryan Lewis, how about sending Andy Van Hellemond to the minors to study Rule 62D (crease interference) and bring up Derek Martin from the International League.Art Caldwell Aurora, Colo.<h2>GET A PLATFORM</h2>On Jan. 5, in the Kings&rsquo; game at Toronto, Wayne Gretzky was awarded a penalty shot, which made watching the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast worthwhile in itself.The fans were cheering, Gretzky skates in, gets to about the face-off circle and all of a sudden a person stands up in front of the camera, blocking the view of millions of fans.Now, either this person is 14 feet tall, or perhaps the camera is set up too low.I guess camera-raising platforms were included in the CBC&rsquo;s budget cutsRay Dagastin Dawson City, Yukon<h2>THREE Rs&rsquo;</h2>The three &ldquo;Rs&rdquo; for the 1990-91 hockey season? No, not readin&rsquo;, &lsquo;ritin&rsquo; and &lsquo;rithmetic&mdash;but Reekie, Ricci and Recchi.Nina Lock wood Rochester, N. Y.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011371/5874021-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="554" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Nicholls deserves more respect from Bruce McNall.</figcaption></div><h2>BERNIE WHO?</h2>I heard about the remark Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall made to his general manager, Rogie Vachon, one night when Tomas Sandstrom was doing well. McNall reportedly said, &ldquo;Bernie Who?&rdquo;Don&rsquo;t tell me McNall has forgotten the name of one of his closest and dearest friends.Well, let me refresh his memory: Bernie is the blonde guy who came to L.A. with the Rangers recently&mdash;the one who looks like an L.A. native and was on the ice for every one of the six Ranger goals.He&rsquo;s the fellow with the incredible stamina, who can be on the ice in all situations; he&rsquo;s the unspoiled center who doesn&rsquo;t mind giving or receiving a good check; he is the unusual star who takes care of his own battles; he is the guy with the &ldquo;let&rsquo;s do it attitude&rdquo;, the team player who never complains.McNall must surely remember him&mdash;Nicholls was the one chosen the first star in the Ranger-King game. He&rsquo;s the one who&rsquo;s going to be carrying the Stanley Cup around the ice when the Rangers beat the Kings.That&rsquo;s Bernie Nicholls.There, now McNall should remember.Sharon Pressman Pacific Palisades, Calif.Make your feelings known. Send your comments to:&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;or fax us at (416) 445-0753. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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ALUMINUM STICKS SHOULD BE BANNED

Chicago Stadium fans. Politics aside, there are few more exhilirating experiences in sport than witnessing the singing of the national anthems at the Stadium. Anyone&mdash;players and fans alike&mdash;who doesn&rsquo;t get an adrenalin rush from the frenetic ritual is either a liar, dead-beat or just plain dead.John Ziegler. Let&rsquo;s give credit where it&rsquo;s due. We all wanted to see Guy Lafleur honored in this, his final season. When Wales Conference coach Mike Milbury passed up on the Hall of Earner, Ziegler took swift action in creating an extra roster spot for distinguished veterans. The All-Star Game is, after all, supposed to be a showcase for the sport.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03680/5874090-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="378" height="365"></div>Chicago Stadium fans. We understand their disappointment; Ed Belfour is having an outstanding season and deserved an all-star nod. But booing Bill Ranford, the man most responsible for Edmonton&rsquo;s Stanley Cup win last season, was chintzy.NBC. The All-Star Game is the only NHL contest of the season to be televised nationally on one of the major U.S. networks. So what happens? NBC avoids hockey altogether during the intermissions. To add insult to injury, the network&rsquo;s announcers at the football game the following day said the Buffalo-Los Angeles playoff match was the first major sporting event since the war began. Thanks for the exposure.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04434/5874083-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="379" height="365"></div> &#9632;

f0005-03

CHEERS JEERS

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Steve Larmer is incensed over suggestions he and exteammate Denis Savard didn&rsquo;t get along when they played for Chicago. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t play together for eight years and not get along.&rdquo; Larmer says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s totally untrue. We were always good friends and still are. Our relationship had nothing to do with his being traded.&rdquo;&hellip;How does Las Vegas hockey expert Bobby Bryde see the playoffs? Bryde says the Blackhawks are vastly overrated. Some bookies list the Hawks at 7-5 to win the Cup. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t make the Hawks 7-5 to get out of the division, never mind winning the Cup,&rdquo; says Bryde, author of the first book on hockey betting. &ldquo;Mike Keenan will find a way to blow it.&rdquo; Bryde lists the Kings at 2-1, the Bruins and Flames at 3-1 and sees the Rangers coming on strong. &ldquo;Great goaltending and an excellent power play will propel New York into the finals,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I expect them to be 2-1 when the playoffs begin.&rdquo; As for the defending champion Oilers? &ldquo;When was the last time a defending champ was 8-1 to repeat?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;But if Mark Messier comes back healthy, the Oilers will be a steal at 8-1.&rdquo;<h2>LEAGUE SKEPTIC</h2>Despite talk about the prospective Global and North American Leagues, one Madison Avenue marketing expert is skeptical either will get off the ground. &ldquo;The NAHL concept would basically emerge into another WHA, trying to compete with the NHL,&rdquo; says Marty Blackman, an associate at a Manhattan sports promotions outfit. &ldquo;As far as the Global League is concerned, the idea of European teams coming over here doesn&rsquo;t mean what it did before the Iron Curtain came down.&rdquo;&hellip;Pat Burns&rsquo; sergeant-major treatment of Gerald Diduck is hardly surprising. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in this &lsquo;having to adjust&rsquo; stuff,&rdquo; says Burns. &ldquo;Some players get mixed up and feel the coach has to change to make players happy. It&rsquo;s the other way around&mdash;the player should change to make the coach and management happy.&rdquo;<h2>HE&rsquo;S SORRY</h2>In an unusual move, Wisconsin University athletic director Pat Richter apologized to Grand Forks, N.D. sports editor Virg Foss over comments made by Badger assistant coach Mike Kemp. Kemp insinuated the University of North Dakota had poor academic standards. Richter says it was &ldquo;meant to show the influence Canadians have had on our team and some of the concerns we at Wisconsin face when recruiting athletes. We apologize to the University of North Dakota and any other WCHA school that misunderstood coach Kemp&rsquo;s remarks.&rdquo;&hellip;Promising Canucks&rsquo; right winger Garry Valk is living proof there&rsquo;s always hope. &ldquo;When I was a kid, I was a small, fourth-line guy who almost got cut in every camp,&rdquo; says Valk. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t play unless somebody else screwed up. Then I&rsquo;d get into the third period.&rdquo; Valk is still amazed he&rsquo;s in the bigs.<h2>CLIFF&rsquo;S PICKS</h2>Calgary general manager Cliff Fletcher says Buffalo and Toronto are the biggest disappointments of the season. &ldquo;Toronto looked like a team on the rise,&rdquo; says Fletcher. &ldquo;And based on what the Sabres did last year, they were too.&rdquo; Fletcher picks the Blackhawks as the biggest surprise&hellip;Flyers&rsquo; GM Russ Farwell, who was Petr Nedved&rsquo;s boss in Seattle last season, is not surprised the Czechoslovakian expatriate is having NHL adjustment difficulties. &ldquo;Petr had to do so much adjusting in one year last year,&rdquo; says Farwell. &ldquo;A new country, a new league, a new style of play. And now he has to deal with the great expectations in Vancouver. You don&rsquo;t get the one-on-one coaching in the pros. And everybody is much stronger. It&rsquo;s going to take three or four years to evaluate him, but I think he&rsquo;s going to be a star.&rdquo;&hellip;A Flyers&rsquo; executive predicts Mike Ricci&rsquo;s uniform &ldquo;will hang from the rafters of the Spectrum 30 years from now.&rdquo;<h2>OPEN UP, ERIC</h2>Nordiques&rsquo; bilingual defenseman Randy Velischek offers this advice to Eric Lindros should he be drafted by Quebec: &ldquo;He should come with an open mind. Quebec is a great hockey town and if the club wins, the city will go crazy.&rdquo;&hellip;The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; public relations department says Wayne Gretzky doesn&rsquo;t have a policy that nixes public appearances with opposing players. Gretzky refused to appear with Pat LaFontaine during a TV interview to be beamed to troops in the Persian Gulf. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no policy,&rdquo; says Kings&rsquo; PR representative Sue Carpenter. &ldquo;Wayne appeared with Trevor Linden for a greetings message at an earlier game.&rdquo;&hellip;Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s dismay over his Northlands Coliseum lease is related to the deal Hamilton was prepared to offer an NHL club at Copps Coliseum. Hamilton was to charge $750,000 a year while Pocklington spends $2 million annually at Northlands. A Hamilton club would&rsquo;ve enjoyed benefits from rink board advertising, concessions, merchandising and revenue from lounges and restaurants. The proposed franchise would&rsquo;ve obtained every cent in revenue from these concessions.<h2>SUPER MARIO</h2>Reports from Pittsburgh suggest the Penguins are concerned about Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s integration into the lineup. Decreased ice time for John Cullen&mdash;if it happens&mdash;could cause unpleasant vibes. Coach Bob Johnson&rsquo;s dilemma is finding a winger to play with Lemieux. The most likely scenario is Joe Mullen and possibly Phil Bourque. &#9632;

LARMER DOESN’T HATE SAVARD

<div class="byline">BY GARY LOEWEN</div>Phil Esposito doesn&rsquo;t care in the least which division the Tampa Bay Lightning is assigned to for the 1992-93 season.And he may be the only NHL executive without an opinion on the volatile topic.The Lightning and the Ottawa Senators are scheduled to join the league as expansion franchises about 20 months from now. But because of in-fighting among the NHL board of governors, it will be awhile before the realignment puzzle is solved.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the toughest issue they&rsquo;ll have to deal with&mdash;tougher than any expansion issue,&rdquo; said Esposito, the president of the Lightning.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard so many variations but I don&rsquo;t give one damn where we wind up.&rdquo;NHL president John Ziegler will appoint a sub-committee of general managers and governors to thrash out the hundreds of scenarios for realignment. The committee will report to the board later this year with a recommendation.The board had hoped to deal with realignment hand-in-hand with the expansion announcement in December. But discussions almost developed into hand-to-hand combat.&ldquo;If that meeting was any indication, it could be a long battle. Everyone has their views, but one thing is certain. It will be resolved,&rdquo; NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill said.Essentially, the battle lines run north to south and east to west. Some teams prefer to align the divisions more or less by time zones.Others like the idea of an &ldquo;anglophone&rdquo; Canadian division, which would allow Los Angeles and San Jose to join the Norris and increase Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s exposure to the U.S.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011551/5874145-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="561" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Quinn&rsquo;s opposed to an all-Canadian division.</figcaption></div>A few also favor a reconstruction rather than a realignment and there has been some support for scrapping the four divisions in favor of two or three conferences.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a difficult emotional topic. If there are 22 teams, you&rsquo;ve got 22 different solutions,&rdquo; Washington Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile said.For example, Toronto wants to join the Adams while Winnipeg would be happy moving to the Norris. Esposito&rsquo;s Lightning reportedly has been headed for any and all of the four divisions.Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall advocates placing Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa in a new division, leaving Montreal and Quebec in the Adams.The Canucks, though, are adamantly opposed, as are the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;A number of our Canadian brethren were in favor of a Canadian division but I&rsquo;m not sure they looked at all the ramifications,&rdquo; Vancouver general manager Pat Quinn said.Quinn warned that such a division could be the first step toward Canadian franchises becoming farm teams for their U.S. counterparts.The Canucks&rsquo;, he said, already face three times the travel expenses of eastern-based teams while the differences in the tax rate and the dollar make it increasingly difficult for them to compete for talent with teams south of the border.The gruelling travel within a Canadian division would keep costs high and would induce players to play out their options and head south.&ldquo;We have to operate with the benefit of the game in mind. We&rsquo;re not only partners in the big sense but competitors on a day-to-day sense, Quinn said.&ldquo;Some teams are less willing to work for the common good than to-ward their own interests.&rdquo;Quinn wants Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Calgary in the Smythe, with room for a further expansion team later in the decade.The NHL is in a unique situation because it must deal with the Canada/U.S. border. Some U.S. teams would prefer not to cross that border at all, while Canadian clubs wouldn&rsquo;t miss seeing Hartford or Minnesota.There is a growing movement to set up the divisions and conferences to prevent two Canadian teams from meeting in the Stanley Cup finals.Travel costs, long-time rivalries, future expansion and even the Gretzky factor also enter into the equation.&ldquo;Nothing has been closed out,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too early to be speculating on what will happen.&rdquo; Gary Loewen is a hockey writer for the Toronto-based Globe and Mail. &#9632;

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DIVISIONAL REALIGNMENT A HOT TOPIC OF DEBATE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>New York Islanders&rsquo; goalie Mark Fitzpatrick has filed a $l80-million lawsuit against a Japanese pharmaceutical firm, charging that he contracted a life-and career-threatening illness by taking a contaminated dietary supplement.Showa Denko K.K. and its subsidiary, Showa Denko of America, as well as a local distributor, Nature&rsquo;s Bounty of Bohemia, N.Y., all were accused of &ldquo;gross misconduct&rdquo; in the suit, which was filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan Jan. 11.The suit claims the 22-year-old Fitzpatrick came down with eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS)&mdash;an illness that killed 27 Americans in 1989&mdash;because he took tainted L-tryptophan, a dietary supplement that has been linked to most of the roughly 1,500 reported cases of EMS.Fitzpatrick sustained severe fatigue as well as swelling in his hands, forearms and feet at the end of training camp. The swelling has subsided and he feels much better now, having been cleared by doctors to practise lightly with the Islanders two weeks ago. But he is not close to a return date.While he said lawyers have told him not to comment on the suit, his Manhattan-based attorney Paul Simonson said: &ldquo;A highly promising career has very likely been cut short because of gross negligence of large companies concerned more with profit than with the safety of their customers. There is simply no excuse for permitting our nation&rsquo;s food and drug supply to be contaminated by poisons. This entire episode has been a consumer nightmare.&rdquo;Simonson also asserted Fitzpatrick began taking L-tryptophan (which was banned in the U.S. and Canada in 1989) in early 1989 as part of the Islanders&rsquo; fitness program. But the Islanders were not named in the legal action, he said because, &ldquo;They certainly were innocent bystanders.&rdquo;The Islanders said none of their players are taking L-tryptophan. Dr. Lee Kaufman, the Long Island specialist treating Fitzpatrick, said if any other player had contracted the illness, his symptoms probably would have manifested themselves by now.<h2>ALL-STAR NEWS</h2>NHL president John Ziegler announced the formation of a new category that allows for the addition of one veteran player per conference to the all-star teams.As a result, Quebec&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur and Minnesota&rsquo;s Bobby Smith&mdash;players who have distinguished themselves by their play and their career longevity&mdash;were late additions to the 42nd All-Star Game in Chicago.In other all-star news, 300 oldtimers, including Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr, said they plan to file a $26-million lawsuit against the NHL for misusing pension money.Orr and Howe boycotted the Heroes of Hockey game played Jan. 18&mdash;the night before the All-Star Game.At issue is a $25 million surplus earned on the investment of pension funds that became available in I986. The oldtimers say they deserved more than the $5 million they received at the time.<h2>SERIES ENDS</h2>With the series already wrapped up, Moscow Dynamo added insult to injury by beating the Quebec Nordiques 4-1 in the final game of Super Series 1990-91.The win boosted the record of the three touring Soviet club teams&mdash;Dynamo, Central Red Army and Khimik&mdash;to 12-6-3 against the 21 NHL teams.<h2>FIRST TEAM</h2>The proposed North American Hockey League, which plans to begin operations with an 80-game schedule in 1991-92, awarded its first franchise to the city of Cleveland Jan. 10.The Cleveland team, which has yet to be given a nickname, will be headed by Paul Lufkin, a sports marketing agency owner in New England and a former Cleveland resident.<h2>KIDD DEALT</h2>Trevor Kidd, the top goaltender taken in the 1990 entry draft, was the centerpiece of a three-team, six-player deal completed in the Western League Jan. 21, just four days before the league&rsquo;s trading deadline.The Spokane Chiefs acquired Kidd&mdash;the Calgary Flame first-round pick who backboned the recent Canadian win at the World Junior Championships&mdash;and defenseman Bart Cote from Brandon in exchange for left winger Bobby House, the rights to 15-year-old Tier II sensation Marty Murray and goaltender Don Blishen. &#9632;

FITZPATRICK SUES DRUG MAKER FOR $180 MILLION

Wayne Gretzky, the NHL&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer, is also its all-time leading money maker.According to figures released by the league&rsquo;s players&rsquo; association, the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center will earn $3,300,000 this season. That&rsquo;s almost a million dollars more than the player who holds down second spot, injured Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Mario Lemieux ($2,330,000).Listed below are the NHL&rsquo;s top 100 money men this season. The numbers, listed in U.S. funds, include 1990-91 salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses.<h2>SALARIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011397/5874245-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="592" height="602"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02949/5874238-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="588" height="1361"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03631/5874231-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="590" height="1365"></div> &#9632;

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GRETZKY HEADS FORTUNE 100

<div class="byline">BY BOB AMESSE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011482/5874276-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Damphousse, of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was the MVP of the All-Star Game for his four-goal performance. The Campbell Conference star tied an all-star record.</figcaption></div>The banner high above in the balcony read &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s show them how it&rsquo;s done in Chicago.&rdquo;And before Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; left winger Vincent Damphousse scored three goals in the final 11 minutes, Blackhawks&rsquo; center Jeremy Roenick did just that&mdash;showing 18,472 noisy fans in Chicago Stadium and hundreds of thousands more watching on network television, why the Blackhawks are the dominant team in the National Hockey League this season.Up until then. Roenick was the front-runner for the most valuable player award in the 42nd NHL All-Star Game Jan. 19&mdash;which the Campbell Conference won 11-5. Roenick&rsquo;s goal and two assists made him the unanimous choice of the media assembled for the mid-season hockey showcase.But Damphousse, an unlikely hero, forced the writers&rsquo; to revise their ballots. The first-time all-star finished with four goals, a dream come true for a player who had scored only 14 goals this season and finished a distant ninth in fan voting for all-star left wingers.His four goals tied Wayne Gretzky (1983) and Mario Lemieux (1990) for most goals in an All-Star Game. It was the first time since the 1986 All-Star Game, when Edmonton&rsquo;s Grant Fuhr was the winner, that Gretzky or Lemieux didn&rsquo;t drive away the car that goes to the AllStar Game MVP.&ldquo;Unbelievable. It&rsquo;s a day I&rsquo;ll remember for the rest of my life,&rdquo; said Damphousse. &ldquo;To be in the record books with Wayne Gretzky, it&rsquo;s more than a dream come true. I feel on top of the world right now.&rdquo;The Maple Leaf said he experienced butterflies while watching his Campbell teammates being greeted with roaring ovations during the players&rsquo; introductions. The jitters didn&rsquo;t disappear until his first goal at 11:36 of the first period, a slapshot from the left circle that gave the Campbell Conference a 2-1 lead.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think he was going to complete his first shift,&rdquo; said Campbell coach John Muckier. &ldquo;He couldn&rsquo;t move his legs he was so nervous.&rdquo;&ldquo;It took me a couple of shifts to get into the game,&rdquo; said Damphousse. He said dressing in the same locker room as Gretzky was beyond his imagination, merely adding to his early game woes.&ldquo;He had a big day,&rdquo; said Gretzky. &ldquo;He played well and he was exciting. To score four goals in an All-Star Game is really something. He&rsquo;ll remember it forever.&rdquo;Damphousse was especially thankful to linemates Adam Oates of St. Louis and Steve Yzerman of Detroit. Oates, a last-minute fill-in for St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull (sprained ankle) finished with a goal and four assists.&ldquo;When you play with guys like Yzerman and Oates it makes it easier,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I mean they just give you the puck right on the tape. All I had to do for a couple of goals was just put it in the net.&rdquo;Not being chosen MVP couldn&rsquo;t spoil the day for Roenick, however. Along with Blackhawk teammates Steve Larmer and Chris Chelios, the threesome combined for seven points, including an all-Hawk goal at 5:23 in the third period.Larmer had two assists and Roenick set up Minnesota&rsquo;s Dave Gagner for the game&rsquo;s first goal. Early in the third period, Chelios, who already had an assist and is normally a righthanded shot, took a left-handed slapshot, then swatted in his own rebound left-handed from the low slot past Boston goalie Andy Moog to make the score 8-4.&ldquo;That was better wood than what I&rsquo;ve been getting on my right-handed shots,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;Too bad it doesn&rsquo;t count,&rdquo; said Chelios, who hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal since Nov. 24.NHL All-Star Games are renowned for high scoring, and the 16 goals in the game was surpassed only by last season&rsquo;s 12-7 Wales&rsquo; victory. The four goaltenders&mdash;Patrick Roy, Moog, Mike Vernon and Bill Ranford&mdash;were abused by 82 unmolested shots. But it was Ranford who was the target of the most abuse.Relentlessly, Blackhawks&rsquo; fans never missed an opportunity to shower him with boos and taunts, with chants of &ldquo;Eddie, Eddie,&rdquo; because they believed Blackhawk Ed Belfour, the league&rsquo;s best goalie this season, deserved the spot on the Campbell squad.Muckier, the Oiler coach, awarded it to his own Ranford.&ldquo;I never expected anything else,&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;I give them a lot of credit for sticking behind Belfour. He deserved to be here today. He&rsquo;s a heck of a goalkeeper and he&rsquo;s got a great future. If you ask Mike Keenan he&rsquo;ll probably say Belfour&rsquo;s the most valuable player on his team, just like Billy Ranford is on ours.&rdquo;The 82 shots on goal, 41 by each team, also were the second highest for an All-Star Game. Moog faced 15 shots while guarding the Wales&rsquo; nets in the last half of the game, surrendering his last goal on a 2-0 break.&ldquo;I feel sorry for the goalkeepers,&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re isolated a lot of the time, left by themselves, but they still come up with fabulous saves.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an offensive game, no question about it. But I enjoyed watching it and I think the fans enjoyed it, too.&ldquo;There were tremendous passing plays, great shots and great goal scoring.&rdquo;Familiarity was a plus for the Campbell team, said Muckier, who kept Roenick and Larmer together. Muckier also dispatched an all-Los Angeles line of Wayne Gretzky, Tomas Sandstrom and Luc Robitaille.&ldquo;Gretzky, Yzerman, Messier, Roenick. Four of the best in the business. I think we had an obvious advantage in that area. We were strong in the right places today,&rdquo; said Muckier.Wales Conference coach Mike Milbury, whose Bruins lost in last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finals to Muckler&rsquo;s Oilers, and who is known to blow up after losses, even joked with reporters.&ldquo;Outcoached by Muckier again,&rdquo; he said, smiling. &ldquo;I guess we wound up with a traditional all-star team. This year their guns were a lot louder than ours. They just had things popping pretty good and took advantage.&rdquo;Gretzky, meanwhile, did score a second period goal, his 11th in all-star play, to pass Gordie Howe as the leader in all-star goals.Gary Suter, Oates and Theoren Fleury added to the Campbell goals while Pat LaFontaine, who scored twice, Rick Tocchet, John MacLean and Kevin Stevens scored for the Wales Conference. &#9632;

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STARS ON THE RISE

National Hockey League oldtimers proved they are still capable of putting on a show.The Heroes of Hockey launched the NHL&rsquo;s all-star weekend Jan. 18 before a crowd of 18,472 at Chicago Stadium with the Blackhawks&rsquo; Alumni defeating the NHL oldtimers 3-1 in a 30-minute game.Cliff Koroll, Peter Marsh and Jim Pappin scored for the Hawks&rsquo; alumni. Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; managing director Serge Savard scored for the former NHL stars with four minutes remaining in the game.&ldquo;The greatest fans in the world are in Chicago,&rdquo; said former Blackhawk Bobby Hull.Skills competition: Here are the results of the skills competition, held the night before the All-Star Game.&#9632; Puck-control relay: The Campbell Conference won both heats. Phil Housley, Vincent Damphousse and Dave Gagner beat Brian Leetch, Pat LaFontaine and Pat Verbeek. In the second heat, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick and Theoren Fleury beat John Cullen, Joe Sakic and Garry Galley.&#9632; Hardest shot: Al Maclnnis of the Campbell&rsquo;s was the winner with a blast of 94 m.p.h.&#9632; Rapid fire: Steve Larmer scored on four of six shots as the Campbells defeated the Wales 5-4.&#9632; Fastest skater: Paul Coffey beat Darren Turcotte, Tomas Sandstrom and Trevor Linden in the final heat.&#9632; Shooting accuracy: Mark Messier struck four targets in six shots and finished in top spot.&#9632; Breakaway relay: Ray Bourque scored in overtime on Bill Ranford to win for the Wales, winners of the skills competition because the breakaway relay was good for 15 points while the other events were worth only five points.Media game: The United States continues to produce outstanding hockey players, but few of them are entering journalism.That much is evident after Team Canada was a decisive winner over Team USA for the second straight year in the annual media all-star game Jan. 19.Team Canada won 8-3 on the strength of superior team play (and players).Alan Adams of Canadian Press scored two goals and one assist for the winners, who received standout goaltending from Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press. Campbell was named the game&rsquo;s MVP. Frank Brown was in goal for Team USA for the game played at the University of Illinois at Chicago.The Canadians were guided by Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association president Scott Morrison. The victory raised Morrison&rsquo;s career coaching record to 2-0-0.Morrison insisted he receive credit for Canada&rsquo;s 6-2 win last year in Pittsburgh, although he never actually appeared at the arena, let alone behind the bench. &#9632;

BLACKHAWK ALUMNI WIN OLDTIMERS’ GAME

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON AND SHERRY ROSS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011432/5874331-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Modano, who was picked first overall by the North Stars in the 1989 draft, has been hampered by on-and off-ice problems this season.</figcaption></div>Hockey has become a job for Mike Modano and probably for the first time in his career, he isn&rsquo;t as good as he thought he would&mdash;or should&mdash;be.It&rsquo;s a job and like most jobs, there&rsquo;s at least as much work as there is fun.Modano, 20, was The Hockey News rookie of the year last season and runner-up to Calgary&rsquo;s Sergei Makarov for the Calder Trophy.He scored 29 goals and 75 points last season, one year after the North Stars made him the first pick of the 1989 draft.Through Minnesota&rsquo;s first 49 games this season, he had 14 goals and 34 points.Modano&rsquo;s play this season has been confusing. Often he will be floating through a game virtually unnoticed, and then suddenly, he&rsquo;ll make a dash or pass that reminds you why he was the prize of the &rsquo;89 amateurs.&ldquo;Mentally, the kind of season we&rsquo;re having is very tiring and I&rsquo;m not handling it as well as I feel I should,&rdquo; Modano said. &ldquo;Last year was my first year in the NHL and we got off to a really good start. The season was fun and I was more relaxed.&ldquo;But we haven&rsquo;t been winning this season and when the puck doesn&rsquo;t go in for you the way you know it should, it becomes frustrating.&rdquo;Modano still likes his job but he&rsquo;s learning at an early age what it means to go to work.&ldquo;It has been kind of frustrating. In my first year, things went well for me quickly and it made the rest of the season relaxing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This year has been totally the opposite. I struggled through the first part. I was expecting to score every night and set up my wingers but it just didn&rsquo;t happen.&rdquo;Part of Modano&rsquo;s problem has been the negative atmosphere that has plagued the North Stars this season.The ongoing confusion concerning which players will be bound for San Jose after this season has affected the players and fan support in Minnesota.Rookie coach Bob Gainey, who has had his hands full with the team, has also had to cope with a family crisis of higher priority.His wife Cathy is suffering from a brain tumor.Through it all, the North Stars were 13-28-8 at the break, six points ahead of last-place Toronto for the final playoff spot in the Norris Division.&ldquo;The way things are going isn&rsquo;t like anything I ever expected,&rdquo; Modano said. &ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d just continue from where I left off last year.&ldquo;Instead, we&rsquo;ve been struggling as a team and a lot of guys have been struggling personally. Gags (center Dave Gagner) is doing well but we need another four or five guys to score more, me included.&rdquo;Gagner agreed the negative situation in Minnesota has contributed to Modano&rsquo;s slump.&ldquo;The team&rsquo;s play is going to mirror his development right now,&rdquo; said Gagner. &ldquo;Last year we got off to a good start. Twenty-five games into the season, we had a good record (16-8-1), tops in the league almost. It was easy for Mike to come into the league in that atmosphere, and he got off to a pretty good start.&ldquo;This year the team has had a lot of problems, with a lot of distractions, and obviously we&rsquo;re not playing good hockey.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult for a young guy like that to excel in a situation like we have in Minnesota right now.&rdquo;Modano is more than a star player. He&rsquo;s one of the North Stars&rsquo; few marketable commodities at a time when the team is a very tough sell.A recent Modano &ldquo;growth poster&rdquo; giveaway proved to be one of the most popular of the season. His No. 9 jerseys are the most prevalent at Met Center.Modano has thrilled fans with his offensive prowess since arriving in Minnesota.A prolific scorer when he played for the Western League&rsquo;s Prince Albert Raiders, Modano scored 118 goals and 294 points in three years of junior.And he showed last season he could put the puck in the net in the NHL. But it&rsquo;s the other aspects of Modano&rsquo;s game that have bothered Gainey.Modano was benched earlier this season against Detroit because Gainey was unhappy with his work ethic. And he has been paired with numerous wingers, and not all have been snipers. Recently, Modano played with the unlikely duo of Basil McRae and Shane Churla.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a change (since early December). He&rsquo;s playing close to what I expected from him. He&rsquo;s working hard and his concentration is good, but I believe it goes hand in hand. When Mike sees production from the hard work he puts in, it makes him want to apply himself.&rdquo;Gainey said he didn&rsquo;t know what to expect from Modano when he first came to Minnesota before the season. But he added he knows how to handle young players.&ldquo;I have a sensitivity for the younger player because I was Montreal&rsquo;s captain for four years starting when I was 33 years old,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of young guys come in, some who made it and some who didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I expect more from Mike than what he&rsquo;s put on the scoreboard, but I do expect more from Mike&mdash;from any player his age and size (6-foot-3, 190-pounds)&mdash;in the way of participation. He&rsquo;s a young man who knows he can do well but probably doesn&rsquo;t know how. It&rsquo;s not an unusual feeling for a 20-year-old trying to live and work in a man&rsquo;s world.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel he has to judge his impact on the team, on the game, in goals and assists. He can do a lot of the other things that will give this team a lift just by getting more involved.&rdquo;Modano has never been openly critical of Gainey and was quick to quash rumors he was going to quit the team. The rumors were prompted by numerous visits from Detroit-based agent, Howard Gourwitz.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not upset with anyone,&rdquo; Modano said.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not mad at anyone but myself.&rdquo;Modano said he has to concentrate more on on-ice instead of worrying about things he can&rsquo;t control.&ldquo;Some of the young guys and some of the older guys are wondering where they&rsquo;ll be next year,&rdquo; Modano said, referring to the agreement with the Sharks. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we can afford to look to next year. We have to do what will make Minnesota a success now. What happens this year is what matters.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not disappointed I&rsquo;m playing in Minnesota instead of some place where they win more. I have the patience to be part of the rebuilding of the North Stars as long as we end up among the top teams in our division. I like the city and love playing here. There&rsquo;s no reason I&rsquo;d want to be anywhere else.&rdquo; &#9632;

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MODANO MIRRORS STRUGGLING STARS’ SEASON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011508/5874386-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="497" height="629"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>Ethnic slurs are as much a part of hockey as spearing and cross-checking from behind.Precisely how much verbal venom is spewed in the interests of game-winning or merely gaining an edge remains debatable, but it&rsquo;s there in black-and-white or French-and-English or &ldquo;chicken Swede.&rdquo;Standing between the Sabres&rsquo; and Devils&rsquo; benches not long ago, I watched Claude Lemieux skate off the ice with a mouth so bloody you couldn&rsquo;t see his lips.&ldquo;You bleepin&rsquo; Frog!&rdquo; was the bark that came from the Buffalo bench.Frog, in case you haven&rsquo;t heard, is the equivalent of calling an Irishman a Mick, a Jew a Kike or a Black a Nigger.Some players are appalled at such discrimination, while others chalk it up to ignorance and laugh it off.Minnesota&rsquo;s Gaetan Duchesne has heard the Frog line around the NHL for a decade.&ldquo;As long as French guys call me Frog, it doesn&rsquo;t bother me at all,&rdquo; says Duchesne. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a Frenchman from Quebec and proud of it. When I hear Frog, I think it&rsquo;s a joke. Maybe some guys get upset, but it doesn&rsquo;t bother me.&rdquo;Like other NHLers, Duchesne sees race-baiting as a function of the game&rsquo;s frustration&mdash;as a soldier might curse on the battlefield.&ldquo;Talking will always be there,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I baited someone once and I regretted it. It was a stupid thing. I was disturbed because a guy hit me. It was a bad hit and I was very, very mad. I said something I should never had said. The referee gave me a warning&mdash;he was right&mdash;and I never did it again.&rdquo;Last year, Boston&rsquo; right winger Graeme Townshend&mdash;who is Black&mdash;was the subject of an alleged racial incident involving Kris King of the Rangers.King denied insulting Townshend and the episode quietly faded away.Montreal&rsquo;s Jewish defenseman Mathieu Schneider assumed a similar situation would occur after an interview with Gazette columnist Michael Farber.The interview took place just before Christmas which coincides with the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah.&ldquo;Farber wanted to do an article on a Jewish player at Hanukkah,&rdquo; Schneider recalls. &ldquo;He happened to ask me if anyone ever uttered racial slurs at me. At first I couldn&rsquo;t really think of any.&rdquo;But eventually, Schneider remembered one encounter where a Buffalo Sabre called him a &ldquo;Jew.&rdquo;The 21-year-old Schneider was surprised and then angry. He took the player&rsquo;s number and later ran him.&ldquo;It was not a big deal,&rdquo; Schneider says. &ldquo;Baiting happens and maybe he was trying to get me off my game. But it only happened once.&rdquo;But the media had a field day with Schneider&rsquo;s comments.Schneider&rsquo;s agent Gus Badali was informed of Schneider&rsquo;s remarks in a Texas newspaper that carried the story.And his dad, Sam Schneider, did a double take when he read a headline in the Providence Journal.After talking with his son, Sam said it was a non-story.&ldquo;Matt told me Farber asked him if anything (anti-semitic) ever happened to him,&rdquo; Schneider&rsquo;s Dad says. &ldquo;He mentioned the one incident. But I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s anything to it.&rdquo;Matt agreed.&ldquo;If I thought there was, believe me, I&rsquo;d take off the gloves,&rdquo; he says.A Jewish defenseman from another era&mdash;Larry (The Rock) Zeidel&mdash;removed his gloves many times.A member of the first Philadelphia Flyers team in 1967-68, Zeidel was involved in a racial episode that culminated in a vicious stick-swinging duel with Boston&rsquo;s Eddie Shack.Shack&mdash;and at least one other Bruin&mdash;allegedly abused Zeidel&rsquo;s ancestry.The episode prompted an investigation by NHL president Clarence Campbell and the publication of a white paper condemning racial incidents.&ldquo;My advice to Matt Schneider is play it cool,&rdquo; Zeidel, now a Philadelphia stock broker, said. &ldquo;Be cool, be educated. You&rsquo;re better off that way.&rdquo;Schneider understands.&ldquo;I never made a big deal about it,&rdquo; says Schneider. &ldquo;But that stuff (baiting) is in poor taste.&rdquo;Stan Fischler is a freelance writer based in New York City. &#9632;

f0010-01

RACIAL COMMENTS PART OF THE GAME

&hellip;Two of last season&rsquo;s 50-goal scorers, Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman, are on pace to duplicate the feat? Last year&rsquo; sktetal and projections: Hull (72, 80); Yzerman (62, 52); Cam Neely (55, 46); Pat LaFontaine (54, 45); Luc Robitaille (52,42); Stephane Richer (51,32); Brian Bellows (55, 24); and Gary Leeman (51, 19).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021139/5874417-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="982" height="524"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>Representatives of the North Stars and San Jose Sharks met in Chicago during the all-star break. It was the first attempts to resolve their differences in the &ldquo;agreement&rdquo; concerning sharing the Minnesota players after this season. The &ldquo;agreement&rdquo; was part of the sale of the North Stars by George and Gordon Gund, owners of the expansion Sharks, to Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg. Baldwin and Belzberg in turn, sold the team to Norman Green. Some progress was reported but not enough for either side to suggest a settlement was imminent&hellip;Veteran center Bobby Smith was added to the Campbell Conference team for the All-Star Game in Chicago by NHL president John Ziegler. Smith and Guy Lafleur of Quebec were the first players added under a new category to recognize current, senior players who have distinguished themselves by their play and the longevity of their careers&hellip;A complaint was filed against Washington Capital (and former North Stars&rsquo;) right winger Dino Ciccarelli stemming from an incident during the Jan. 17 game at Met Center. Ciccarelli reportedly squirted a verbally abusive fan with a water bottle and the fan filed a complaint. The Bloomington City Attorney was deciding if he should file charges against Ciccarelli.<h2>BLUES</h2>Right winger Brett Hull suffered a sprained left ankle Jan. 15 (a 7-3 win), when Washington&rsquo;s Joel Quenneville fell on it late in the second period. Hull played a shift in the third and came back to play the entire game against Montreal two days later (a 4-2 loss), but pulled himself out of the All-Star Game. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very disappointing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The fans bestowed a great honor on me by giving me the most votes, and it would have been fun to have a Hull on the home team again and finally have the fans cheer for me in Chicago Stadium, but you have to look at the whole picture. The season&rsquo;s much more important.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Robert Dirk had the first two-point game of his career, getting a goal and an assist in the victory over Washington. Dirk also missed on several good scoring chances. &ldquo;I could have had three goals, but the true Robert Dirk showed up with rock hands,&rdquo; he said.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>Al Iafrate&rsquo;s ex-teammates wished him well in his new surroundings in Landover, Md., and agreed a move was probably in the gifted but troubled defenseman&rsquo;s best interests. &ldquo;It was obvious he wanted a change,&rdquo; said captain Rob Ramage after the Jan. 16 trade made Iafrate a Washington Capital. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t having as much fun as he was last year, when he would joke about being the Human Highlight Film and stuff like that. It was clear he was unsettled and disturbed about his off-ice problems.&rdquo; Iafrate said despite all the stories that were written and all the rumors whispered about what was bothering him, no one hit the nail on the head. &ldquo;Only I know who I am and only I know what was bothering me,&rdquo; were Iafrate&rsquo;s parting words&hellip;Allan Bester&rsquo;s career as a Maple Leaf may have come to an end with his demotion to Newmarket (AHL) Jan. 14, clearing league waivers for the second time this season. &ldquo;We felt his career might have been sliding backwards rather than moving forward at this time and decided he needed playing time,&rdquo; said GM Floyd Smith&hellip;Defenseman Brad Marsh, who has sat out 25 straight games, was asked if he had noticed fans&rsquo; banners at Maple Leaf Gardens calling for his return to the lineup. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had time to notice them,&rdquo; Marsh said, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;ve been too busy printing them.&rdquo;<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>GM Mike Keenan shot down a trade rumor that had the Blackhawks interested in sending Adam Creighton to Hartford for Ron Francis. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not true at all,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with the setup we have at center. We&rsquo;re probably as strong as anyone in the league. (Creighton) adds a physical presence to the lineup we like, he&rsquo;s contributing offensively and he adds to the power play. He&rsquo;s just starting to play with more confidence.&rdquo;&hellip;Steve Larmer hit the 30-goal mark for the eighth time in his nine-year career Jan. 17 against the Rangers (a 3-2 win). His career high is 46 (1984-85)&hellip;Jeremy Roenick was named the first star for the fourth time in five games Jan. 17 against the Rangers&hellip;Rookie goalie Ed Belfour was 7-1-1 in his last nine starts before the All-Star Game, raising his season record to 29-11-3.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>Though Bryan Murray has been active in trade talks recently, the Red Wings&rsquo; GM said he wasn&rsquo;t thrilled with several unsubstantiated rumors involving his players. First, came a TV report in New York Jan. 12 claiming Steve Yzerman was available. Then, a few days later, it was mentioned in a Pittsburgh newspaper Joe Kocur may be headed to the Penguins for right winger Tony Tanti and a defenseman. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I wish people would call me about those things. But nobody has said anything to me.&rdquo; The report regarding Yzerman baffled Murray, who approached the TV man about it later. Murray was told the reporter heard from a good source&mdash;another GM&mdash;the Wings were shopping Yzerman. &ldquo;Absolutely not true,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;When I was at the GMs&rsquo; meetings (in Phoenix) two guys approached me and jokingly said to me, &lsquo;You wouldn&rsquo;t be interested in trading Steve Yzerman, would you?&rsquo; I just laughed. That&rsquo;s all there was to it. Then I hear I&rsquo;m trying to trade the guy&rdquo; &#9632;

STARS AND SHARKS DISCUSS DEAL

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>Bob Gainey played 16 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens and redefined the role of the defensive forward. He won the Selke Trophy the first four years it was offered from 1978 to 1981.Doug Jarvis played 962 consecutive games with Montreal, Washington and Hartford and you can bet the mortgage his 139 goals didn&rsquo;t keep him in the league for 13 seasons.Gainey is the coach of the Minnesota North Stars. Jarvis is his assistant. The penalty killing should be extraordinary, right?Wrong. Not even mediocre. Try lousy. At the all-star break, it was the worst in the NHL.&ldquo;Doug and I should be able to give the guys the instruction they need to accomplish what they have to accomplish,&rdquo; Gainey said, trying to shake the memories of his team&rsquo;s 24.7 per cent failure rate.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure how important confidence (among the penalty killers) is but I know the lack of confidence was hurting us. It got to the point where our guys didn&rsquo;t do the things they could do because they were afraid to make a mistake that would let down their teammates.&ldquo;Killing penalties is almost a game within a game. It seems if you can shut down the other team&rsquo;s power play two or three times in a row, they start to press, to do things they wouldn&rsquo;t normally do, take shots they normally wouldn&rsquo;t take.&rdquo;After giving up seven power-play goals in three games, the North Stars stopped eight power plays by Washington in the 5-2 win over the Capitals Nov. 17. At the time, the Caps&rsquo; power play was rated second best in the NHL.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t change our penalty killing for that game,&rdquo; Jarvis said. &ldquo;Our players just did the job.&ldquo;Killing penalties depends so much on doing the little things, like winning the faceoffs in your zone and making sure you get the puck out of your zone when you get a chance. When you kill a penalty, a turnover always seems to come back as a pretty good scoring chance.&rdquo;The North Stars started the season with a number of new people killing penalties, a necessary result of another new coach and another new system.For a while, the Stars would pressure the defense bringing the puck up the ice. The next time, they&rsquo;d switch to a fallback position, stacking the blue line with defenders. Too many dumb penalties added to their burden.&ldquo;Are we taking more penalties?&rdquo; center Neal Broten, a staple of Minnesota&rsquo;s penalty killing for years, asked. &ldquo;Are we using different guys? I really don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s different this year.&ldquo;What seems to work best is an aggressive style. The first guy has to force the guy bringing the puck out of his zone to make his pass to one side or the other. You do that by the angle of your forechecking. That&rsquo;s the easy part. The second guy hangs back and reacts to that pass and tries to force the next player to either chip the puck ahead or make a tough cross-ice pass. The defense has to get involved at that point.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve always used our speed and pressure to our advantage.&rdquo;Gainey and Jarvis are reluctant to give up the reins and turn their penalty killers loose. They&rsquo;re after controlled aggression.&ldquo;It seems like every time we let &rsquo;em go, there are a lot of 3-on-2s coming back at us,&rdquo; Jarvis said. &ldquo;We want to be as aggressive as we can be without giving up the easy plays.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 15: Dan Keczmer, D. recalled from Kalamazoo (IHL). Jan. 16: Keczmer assigned to Kalamazoo.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten. Dave Gagner. Mike Modano, Bobby Smith, Perry Berezan.LW&mdash;Doug Smail, Brian Propp, Brian Bellows, Gaetan Duchesne.RW&mdash;Ilkka Sinisalo, Mike Craig, Ulf Dahlen.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, Rob Zettler. Chris Dahlquist.RD&mdash;Jim Johnson, Curt Giles, Neil Wilkinson, Brian Glynn.G&mdash;Jon Casey. Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers. D. left knee surgery, indefinite. Shane Churla, RW. right shoulder separation, indefinite. Stewart Gavin, RW, strained ligament in left knee, indefinite Basil McRae, LW, abdominal surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gagner, 27. A&mdash;Broten, 37. P&mdash;Broten, 48. PIM&mdash;Churla, 219. &#9632;

PENALTY-KILLING WOES CONTINUE

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>Only hours after the United States went to war with Iraq Jan. 16, the Chicago Blackhawks had to play the New Jersey Devils at the Meadowlands Arena.It wasn&rsquo;t easy for either team to concentrate on hockey, and it showed as the Hawks and Devils skated to a 2-2 tie.&ldquo;It certainly makes the significance of what we&rsquo;re doing insignificant,&rdquo; Hawks&rsquo; head coach Mike Keenan said afterward. &ldquo;War is a terrible thing, and to know there are men and women over there fighting for our freedom can make the game seem like it means very little. It brings it into reality that it is only a game.&rdquo;The Hawks found out about the U.S. air attack on Iraq from a stickboy in the dressing room about an hour before they were to meet the Devils.&ldquo;Everybody was pretty concerned,&rdquo; said rookie goaltender Ed Belfour. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a scary feeling. We probably had it in the back of our minds during the game.&rdquo;Some of the Hawks spoke of an eerie feeling in the dressing room after they heard the war news.&ldquo;It was real quiet in here before the game,&rdquo; said Michel Goulet. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing you don&rsquo;t ever want to hear about. We looked like we had no emotion or life (during the game). Maybe that was because the start of the war.&rdquo;The Hawks have four U.S.-born players on the roster in Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Wayne Presley and Mike Peluso.&ldquo;Yeah, it was real tough to play,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;A lot of guys were watching what was happening on TV. You don&rsquo;t ever want to see your country in jeopardy, or yourself in jeopardy.&rdquo;Things were somewhat back to normal the next night when the Hawks and Rangers squared off at Madison Square Garden in a meeting between the two teams with the league&rsquo;s best records.The Hawks prevailed 3-2 to head into the all-star break with a 32-14-4 record and 68 points, eight more than the Rangers and Bruins in the overall standings.Not only were their 68 points good enough to lead the league, it equalled the total number of points the Hawks earned in all of 1988-89, which was Keenan&rsquo;s first season in Chicago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011361/5874496-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="562" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick says the Hawks are the best team in the NHL.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We really have come a long way,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;The players have put in a hell of a lot of effort into making the progress they&rsquo;ve made to date. This team is not the product of one season. It&rsquo;s a product of the work put in for two and a half seasons.&rdquo;Much of the Hawks&rsquo; success prior to the all-star break (7-1-1) was related to the offensive production of the Roenick, Goulet and Steve Larmer line. The trio combined for 42 points in eight games led by Roenick&rsquo;s six goals and 10 assists.&ldquo;This is the best groove I&rsquo;ve been in since I got here,&rdquo; Roenick said.Goulet had eight goals in that stretch as the 30-year-old veteran left winger continued to show he wasn&rsquo;t anywhere near being washed up.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not here to prove anything to anybody,&rdquo; Goulet said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here to win and do the best I can.&rdquo;The win over the Rangers left the Hawks to answer the obvious question: Are they the best team in the NHL?&ldquo;Right now we are, based on our record and points,&rdquo; Keenan said.&ldquo;Yes, without a doubt we are,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve shown it time in and time out. As long as we play our game we are.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<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, 30. A&mdash;Larmer. 38. P&mdash;Larmer, 68. PIM&mdash;Peluso, 165. &#9632;

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WAR TAKES LUSTER OFF FIRST-PLACE STANDING

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>Adam Oates wasn&rsquo;t even supposed to be at the NHL All-Star Game, but he flew to Chicago as a last-minute replacement for injured teammate Brett Hull and almost ended up driving home in a car.Oates had a goal and four assists for five points in the Campbell Conference&rsquo;s 11-5 victory over the Wales, falling one assist and one point short of All-Star Game records.He may have won the car that goes to the MVP, but he used three of his assists to set up Toronto&rsquo;s Vincent Damphousse, who tied a record with four goals.&ldquo;I never expected anything like this,&rdquo; Oates said. &ldquo;It was a lot of fun, no question. Just to be in the game with Wayne Gretzky and sitting a couple down from him was pretty exciting. I was nervous, but we got off the board quick and got a goal.&rdquo;Oates set up the goal, first fanning on a shot at the side of the net, but circling behind the net to set up Damphousse for his first goal at 11:36 of the first period, giving the Campbell Conference a 2-1 lead.Oates said that would have been enough.&ldquo;I got a point, and I was happy with that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As an offensive player. once you get a point, you feel good. Then, I got a goal and bingo.&rdquo;There was no stopping Oates&rsquo; line, which featured Oates at right wing, Damphousse at left wing and Oates&rsquo; former Detroit teammate Steve Yzerman at center. The line was plus-7.The performance by Oates was an eye-opener. Edmonton coach John Muckier didn&rsquo;t even consider him for the team. Oates missed 19 games earlier this season&mdash;18 with a tom abdominal muscle&mdash;but he had a remarkable 43 points, on 11 goals and 32 assists, in 28 games entering the all-star break.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have taken Adam Oates,&rdquo; Muckier said. &ldquo;Of course, Brett Hull should have been here, but Adam played tremendous. He blended right in.&rdquo;Hull, who suffered a minor ankle injury in the week before the All-Star Game, said Oates&rsquo; deserved the recognition.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question that he deserved to go (to the All-Star Game) to begin with,&rdquo; Hull said.&ldquo;He should have gone last year, too,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter said. &ldquo;But I told him there are years that you deserve to go, but don&rsquo;t, and there are years that you go when maybe your numbers aren&rsquo;t as good. It&rsquo;s still an honor for him.&rdquo;Oates&rsquo;s first inclination was to turn down the honor. When Sutter told him two nights before the game that he was replacing Hull, Oates suggested sending veteran center Rick Meagher instead.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re honoring Bobby Smith and Guy Lafleur at the All-Star Game, why not a guy like Mick?&rdquo; Oates said. &ldquo;He was the defensive player of the year last year, and it would have been nice to give a chance to a guy like that. I said, &lsquo;Maybe I&rsquo;ll get it next year.&rsquo;&ldquo;I asked Brian if I had a choice. He said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;d like you to go.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Okay, I&rsquo;m honored.&rsquo; I&rsquo;m sorry for Brett. He had so many people voting for him. It&rsquo;s bad for him, but great for me.&ldquo;It was fun. I enjoyed it.&rdquo;Even if he didn&rsquo;t get to drive home.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Wilson. Adam Oates, Bob Bassen, Cliff Ronning. Rick Meagher.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, Glen Featherstone, Harold Snepsts, Robert DirkRD&mdash;Jeff Brown. Mario Marois. Tom Tilley.G&mdash;Vincent Riendeau, Curtis Joseph.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cavallini. D, left index finger surgery, day-to-day Herb Raglan., RW, left knee sprain, day-to-day<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Hull. 46. A&mdash;Oates, 32. P&mdash;Hull. 66. PIM&mdash;Featherstone. 109. &#9632;

FILL-IN OATES ALMOST DRIVES AWAY A WINNER

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>Peter Zezel learned quickly about the trials and tribulations that come with the territory of being a Toronto Maple Leaf.Having grown up in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough during the &rsquo;70s and &rsquo;80s, Zezel was aware of the franchise&rsquo;s forlorn state under the late Harold Ballard&rsquo;s reign, but wearing the jersey of the now defunct Ontario League Toronto Marlboros was as close as he ever got to becoming a Leaf.Until Jan. 16 of this year.In a move that sent shockwaves through Toronto&rsquo;s hockey community, the Leafs acquired Zezel and veteran defenseman Bob Rouse from Washington in exchange for troubled rearguard Al Iafrate.&ldquo;This really is a dream come true,&rdquo; Zezel said after arriving in Toronto, proving Thomas Wolfe wrong once again, that sometimes you really can come home. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d heard my name speculated in trade rumors and read in the papers that something might happen, but I was trying not to get my hopes up.&ldquo;Now that it&rsquo;s happened, I&rsquo;m really glad to be playing in my hometown.&rdquo;The acquisition of Zezel, who had a 72-point season with St. Louis last season when he served as Brett Hull&rsquo;s center, coupled with Brian Bradley&rsquo;s arrival from Vancouver in the Jan. 12 deal that sent Tom Kurvers to Vancouver, gives the Leafs some much-needed depth at the pivot position.It also enabled coach Tom Watt to put some people who had been playing center&mdash;such as Vincent Damphousse and Lucien DeBlois&mdash;back at their normal positions of left and right wing, respectively.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011456/5874575-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="562" height="718"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Zezel missed 23 games with a severely sprained ankle.</figcaption></div>In his first game as a Leaf, Zezel and new linemates Damphousse and Daniel Marois combined for seven points in a 6-5 overtime loss against Pittsburgh. Zezel had capped Toronto&rsquo;s comeback from a 5-1 deficit with the tying goal at 18:02 of the third period.Making matters worse was the fact the Zezel line was on the ice when the Penguins scored the winner 1:29 from the final horn.&ldquo;I was so nervous before the game. I wanted to make a good impression with it being my first game back home,&rdquo; said Zezel, who is still trying to round his game into form after missing 23 games with a severely sprained ankle earlier this year.&ldquo;I know I gave up a potential superstar in Al (Iafrate) but 1&rsquo;11 take my chances with the two kids we picked up,&rdquo; assessed Leaf general manager Floyd Smith after consummating his seventh trade in 67 days. &ldquo;We think Peter&rsquo;s a very capable center with excellent hands and a terrific passer.&rdquo;Not to be overlooked in this deal is Rouse, the 26-year-old veteran of six full NHL seasons who was captain of the Minnesota North Stars before his trade to the Caps in the Dino Ciccarelli-Mike Gartner-Larry Murphy deal of last March.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a real plus for us back there,&rdquo; said Leaf assistant Mike Kitchen. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and physical and loves to clear the crease.&rdquo;Rouse said he hoped Toronto fans would not expect him to come in and fill Iafrate&rsquo;s shoes.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way I can skate with the puck like Al can, but I think I can bring my defensive game here and help the Leafs,&rdquo; said Rouse.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 14: Allan Bester, G, assigned to Newmarket (AHL). Jan. 15: Joe Sacco. LW, assigned to Newmarket. Scott Thornton, C, assigned to Newmarket for 14-day conditioning stint. Jan. 16: Al Iafrate, D, traded to Washington for Peter Zezel, C. and Bob Rouse, D. Jan. 17: Doug Shedden, RW, assigned to Newmarket.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brian Bradley, Peter Zezel, Mike Krushelnyski, Dave Hannan.LW&mdash;Wendel Clark, Vincent Damphousse, Aaron Broten. Paul Fenton, Dave Reid.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Daniel Marois, Mike Foligno, Lucien DeBlois, Kevin MaguireLW&mdash;Dave Ellett, Luke Richardson, Todd Gill, Brad Marsh.RW&mdash;Rob Ramage, Bob Rouse, Michel Petit.G&mdash;Peter Ing, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Fergus, C. groin surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Damphousse, 14. A&mdash;Damphousse, 25. P&mdash;Damphousse, 39. PIM&mdash;Richardson, 128. &#9632;

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COMING HOME A DREAM COME TRUE FOR ZEZEL

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011345/5874606-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="519" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DRYDEN</figcaption></div>For now they are merely $130,000 legs. So priced because Jeremy Roenick signed his only professional contract three years ago. Before the current inflationary spiral. Soon, they will be $1,000,000 legs.The Chicago Blackhawks have approached Roenick, who is in the third year of a three-plus-one deal, about negotiating a new contract. It&rsquo;s best they expedite proceedings. His bargaining strength increases with each passing day.Roenick is on a roll. He had 16 points in eight games leading up to the All-Star Game, and then dominated the annual event with a three-point performance.Vincent Damphousse, the MVP, was the game&rsquo;s best goal-scorer. Roenick was its best player.The 21-year-old owned the ice surface each time he took a shift with regular linemate Steve Larmer and Minnesota North Star addition Dave Gagner. Adam Oates (five) and Damphousse (four) may have had more technical points, but neither could match Roenick in artistic merit.Nobody captured the spirit of the game better than Roenick.Mike Milbury&rsquo;s sentiments aside, the annual no-hitting affair is intended to be a showcase for the highest-skilled players in the league. The absence of bodychecking and high-pressure stakes gives players the opportunity to dangle without having to tangle.Ordinarily, it doesn&rsquo;t matter to Roenick. What surprised people most last year was not Roenick&rsquo;s talent level but his tenaciousness. Few players with his skill play with such abandon. He broke his nose twice during a two-week period last season and missed a total of three shifts.With that in mind, it was suggested the hardnosed Roenick (his proboscis had yet another fresh battle scar) isn&rsquo;t one to worry about hitting anyway.&ldquo;Oh yes I am,&rdquo; Roenick laughed. &ldquo;The guys are coming after me pretty good now. That&rsquo;s all right. But it&rsquo;s good to get away from it for a little bit and leave a game with no bumps or bruises or sores or pains.&rdquo;For Roenick, one of the most fluid skaters in the game, the freewheeling meant the opportunity to execute a pair of spin-a-ramas that left the crowd breathless.They were more than puck pirouettes, they represented a bridge to the past and link to the future.For 10 years, Chicago fans watched Denis Savard execute that manoeuver and they loved him for it. But Savard was deemed expendable during the off-season, principally because of Roenick&rsquo;s development.It seemed an unthinkable circumstance: Chicago without Savard. The longtime star has gone on to a disappointing season with Montreal and Chris Chelios, the man for whom he was traded, has excelled in Chicago.Roenick, meanwhile, has justified coach-GM Mike Keenan&rsquo;s faith in him.Savard was at the All-Star Game, too, but he could not play in the third period because of the flu. By then, Roenick had established himself as the most exciting player on the ice. Denis was back, but Jeremy was better.Even with three goals, Damphousse was not the choice of all voters for MVP. It wasn&rsquo;t until his record-tying fourth goal that he clearly surpassed Roenick and earned the keys to the car.Gagner didn&rsquo;t have a ballot, but he figured that he played a crucial role in the outcome. &ldquo;1 think I could have cost Jeremy the car,&rdquo; Gagner said. &ldquo;I missed too many chances.&rdquo; As it was he scored once on a perfect pass from Roenick, who scored himself in the second period and assisted on Chelios&rsquo; third-period goal.Roenick was beseiged by the media and hangers-on after the game. Among assorted wellwishers was Saturday Night Live alumni Jim Belushi, Chicago&rsquo;s official celebrity fan. He was barely recognizable in a pony tail and baseball cap.Belushi is working on a new movie and invited Roenick to the set. The actor&rsquo;s latest movie, Mr. Destiny, has been a big hit.Roenick&rsquo;s destiny is far from settled but the young star is ambitious and candid about his career objectives. He has said he will not be satisfied being a star. Roenick wants to be a superstar. His play of late suggests he has reached a new level in that ascendancy.&ldquo;If I can keep it going, then I have,&rdquo; Roenick acknowledged. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s only been going for a few weeks. It&rsquo;s too early to tell.&rdquo;He is still light years from the outer limits of his potential, but Roenick is clearly on a path reserved for special players.Dare we say J.R. Superstar?Steve Dryden is managing editor of Inside HOCKEY. &#9632;

f0015-01

J.R. BEST PLAYER. BUT NOT BEST GOAL-SCORER

<h2>BRUINS</h2>A new candidate for the left-wing slot on Boston&rsquo;s top line with Craig Janney and all-star right winger Cam Neely was obtained Jan. 16. Petri Skriko, a former teammate of Neely&rsquo;s in Vancouver, was picked up for a second-round draft choice this year or next. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to detract from anyone we&rsquo;ve been playing at left wing,&rdquo; GM Harry Sinden said, &ldquo;but we have been looking for a left wing for that line.&rdquo; Those who have failed to hold the spot in the last two seasons include Bob Joyce (traded to Washington), Robert Cimetta (traded to Toronto), John Carter (assigned to Maine of the AHL), Brian Propp (signed by Minnesota as a free agent), Randy Burridge and Andy Brickley&hellip;It was a fluke, but Jarmo Kekalainen happily took it. The 90-foot, one-hop knuckler he put between Glenn Healy&rsquo;s pads Jan. 15 on Long Island (5-4 win) was his first NHL goal since Oct. 20, 1989. In between, the free-agent signee from Clarkson University via Finland had been in Maine and had two surgeries to repair a torn abdominal muscle before returning to the lineup Jan. 7&hellip;Asked why he recalled right winger Graeme Townshend from Maine Jan. 14, coach Mike Milbury answered simply: &ldquo;225 pounds.&rdquo; Townshend, a rugged right winger born in Jamaica, fought with Detroit&rsquo;s Randy McKay that night.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>For Stephan Lebeau, the 1990-91 season is turning out to be a cruel repeat of last year. Only Denis Savard&rsquo;s cold prevented the sophomore center from being scratched for the fourth game in a row when the Habs faced St. Louis Jan. 17. &ldquo;I was hoping I wouldn&rsquo;t have to go through this again this year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had a good start to the season (22 points in 25 games). It&rsquo;s a fact I haven&rsquo;t produced as much for the last month, but I haven&rsquo;t been used as much, either. I&rsquo;m not going to push the panic button right away, but I don&rsquo;t want to start playing musical chairs.&rdquo;&hellip;Rookie goaltender J.C. Bergeron was sent to the Habs&rsquo; Frederiction (AHL) farm team Jan. 15 for what&rsquo;s expected to be a three-week stint. Three weeks later, it&rsquo;s expected he&rsquo;ll be called up and Andre Racicot, also a rookie, will be sent down. With Patrick Roy playing most of the games, this is a way of keeping both Bergeron and Racicot sharp&hellip;Contract talks between GM Serge Savard and captain Guy Carbonneau, who&rsquo;s playing out his option, seem to be going nowhere. Savard told a Montreal radio station he offered Carbonneau a four-year deal starting at $625,000 and escalating by $25,000 a year back in November when salaries were going through the roof. Now Savard says there&rsquo;s no guarantee the club&rsquo;s next offer will be as good.<h2>WHALERS</h2>Ron Francis said the Whalers were preparing to go onto the ice Jan. 16 when they heard war had broken out in the Persian Gulf. &ldquo;The players jammed the training room to watch. While I was on the bench and in between periods, that&rsquo;s where my thoughts were,&rdquo; said Francis, who had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over Los Angeles. &ldquo;We can only pray it will be over as soon as possible with as few lives lost as possible.&rdquo;&hellip;Kevin Dineen, who is back on medication for Crohn&rsquo;s Disease (an intestinal disorder), expected to return immediately after the all-star break. Dineen was not allowed to eat solid food for eight days and lost 13 pounds. &ldquo;It was all I.V.&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;My first meal was hospital food, chicken and mashed potatoes. It might have been terrible, but I wanted to eat it so fast.&rdquo;<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Rumors persisted that right winger Mark Vermette will be traded to Detroit for right winger Daniel Shank&hellip;With Joe Cirella gone to the Rangers in a Jan. 17 deal for defenseman Aaron Miller and a fifth-round draft pick in 1991, Bryan Fogarty and Alexei Gusarov will finally get more ice time&hellip;Ron Tugnutt played his 25th consecutive game Jan. 17, a club record. The Nords lost the game 5-1 to Philadelphia. Daniel Bouchard set the record in 1980-81, playing in 24 consecutive games&hellip;Nords&rsquo; president Marcel Aubut met with Soviet star Valeri Kamensky in New York Jan. 14. Aubut had a long chat with Kamensky&mdash;the Nords&rsquo; 8th choice, 129th overall in the 1988 draft&mdash;trying to convince him to come to Quebec as soon as possible&hellip;Alexandr Karpovtsev a rugged 20-year-old defenseman for Moscow Dynamo, could be in Quebec as early as the 1991-92 season.<h2>SABRES</h2>Alexander Mogilny had a strong performance Jan. 14 against Toronto after hearing news his parents would be joining him in Buffalo for several months. Mogilny got the word from agent Don Meehan just before the game. He finished with a five-point night (two goals, three assists) in the 9-3 win. Two nights later in Buffalo (with family in tow), he had two goals in a 5-3 win over Detroit. His goals in Toronto were his 14th and 15th of the season. He had 15 goals in 65 games last season&hellip;Buffalo&rsquo;s nine goals against the Leafs were the most they&rsquo;ve scored in a game this season&hellip;The Sabres&rsquo; only loss in the last 12 games prior to the all-star break was 5-2 at Los Angeles&hellip;The victory over Toronto put the Sabres one game over .500 for the first time since Nov. 10. The 5-3 win over Detroit put Buffalo two games above .500 for the first time this season&hellip;Pierre Turgeon&rsquo;s two goals at Toronto were his 20th and 21st of the season. He had gone 7-5-12 in his last eight games. &#9632;

SKRIKO MAY FILL VOID ON BIG LINE

Feb. 2, 1977: Toronto defenseman Ian Turnbull sets an NHL record for the most goals in a game by a defenseman. Turnbull scored five times in a 9-1 win over Detroit. Four players held the record (four) before Turnbull: Montreal&rsquo;s Harry Cameron and Sprague Cleghorn, Toronto&rsquo;s Hap Day and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Johnny MacKinnon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02944/5874661-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="618" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ian Turnbull</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

FLASHBACK

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>Joe Cirella&rsquo;s loss is the youth movement&rsquo;s gain.The 27-year-old Cirella, who had been requesting a trade since the start of the season, was sent to the New York Rangers Jan. 17 for defenseman Aaron Miller and a fifth-round draft choice in the June entry draft.Miller, 19, recently played for the American junior team at the World Junior Championships in Saskatoon. The rugged 6-foot-3, 197-pound rearguard is in his sophomore season at the University of Vermont.The Buffalo, N.Y., native was the New York Rangers&rsquo; sixth choice, 88th overall in the 1989 entry draft.Nordiques&rsquo; general manager Pierre Page said he made the trade to give Quebec a much-needed boost.&ldquo;This trade will create hope and enthusiasm within our organization,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;We needed players of the future to play on the blue line. And we feel Aaron will be an important part of our future. Our scouting staff looked long and hard at him and came back very impressed. He was an integral part of the U.S. success in Saskatoon.&rdquo;Page said Cirella&rsquo;s departure will not weaken the team.&ldquo;Let me just say we traded Joe because we got what we were looking for,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had other offers, but the Rangers had the most to give. So we jumped at the occasion to better ourselves and gear up for the future.&rdquo;Evidently, such a trade could fuel gossip concerning Eric Lindros and last place overall. Giving up established players for kids always raises eyebrows.But Page dismisses those claims.&ldquo;If you look at the standings, it&rsquo;s easy to see we really can&rsquo;t go any further down than we are right now,&rdquo; Page said, &ldquo;lt&rsquo;s not easy to trade for guys who can help you now. We aren&rsquo;t in a position for that kind of trade.&rdquo;Page had talked to Toronto about acquiring disgruntled Leaf defenseman Al Iafrate before Toronto dispatched him to Washington Jan. 15 for center Peter Zezel and defenseman Robert Rouse.&ldquo;But we simply didn&rsquo;t have what the Leafs wanted,&rdquo; said Page.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 17: Joe Cirella, D. traded to the New York Rangers for Aaron Miller, D, and a fifth-round pick in 1991.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic. Tony Hrkac, Stephane Morin, Claude Loiselle, Claude Lapointe.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Paul Gillis, Jeff Jackson, Scott Pearson. Everett SanipassRW&mdash;Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Guy Lafleur, Darin Kimble, Tony McKegney, Ken Quinney.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Bryan Fogarty. Shawn Anderson, Curtis LeschyshynRD&mdash;Craig Wolanin, Randy Velischek, Alexei Gusarov,G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Scott Gordon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wayne Van Dorp, LW, torn shoulder muscle, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Sakic. 26. A&mdash;Sakic, 36. P&mdash;Sakic. 62. PIM&mdash;Finn, 128. &#9632;

MILLER LATEST PIECE IN YOUTHFUL PUZZLE

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Prior to leaving for the All-Star Game in Chicago Jan. 19, Pat Verbeek said if a brawl broke out on the Wales Conference bench, officials needn&rsquo;t blindly guess the identity of the instigators.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be Mike Milbury and me,&rdquo; said the left winger.Verbeek, the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; lone All-Star representative, was kidding of course. He knew he&rsquo;d been badly outnumbered by the handful of Bruin all-stars playing for their coach at the Stadium.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in similar predicaments before and you just make little jokes about it,&rdquo; Verbeek said.But despite a couple of bench brawls between the Whalers and Bruins this season, it isn&rsquo;t the New England rival that evokes the most passion from Verbeek.It&rsquo;s the Devils.When New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello committed the tactical mistake of trading Verbeek to the Whalers for Sylvain Turgeon June 17, 1989, Verbeek was the Devils&rsquo; all-time leading goal scorer with 170 goals in 463 games. However, he was coming off a season in which he dropped from 46 to 26 goals.That Verbeek, 26, has amassed 68 goals in 127 games since his arrival in Hartford&mdash;including 24 in 47 games this year&mdash;gives evidence that the 1988-89 season was the exception to the rule.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to keep making New Jersey pay,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;1 hate to say it, but I want to keep rubbing it in his (Lamoriello&rsquo;s) face. My thing with Schoeny (former Devils&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld) is gone now. Eventually, this thing with Lou and me will fade away. But those sorts of things, I hold a grudge.&rdquo;Although Whalers&rsquo; coach Rick Ley has been tough on many of the club&rsquo;s bigger name players&mdash;from Kevin Dineen to Ron Francis&mdash;since his arrival, Ley has a soft spot for Verbeek. Squat in stature and big in heart, they are kindred spirits. It is rather difficult to think of Verbeek running afoul of any coach. But he did after Schoenfeld replaced Doug Carpenter.&ldquo;We got off to a bad start one year and I think it was due to not playing together in training camp,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;Everything fell apart.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 16: Terry Yake, C, and John Stevens, D, recalled from Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Dean Evason, Mike Tomlak, Terry Yake.LW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Todd Krygier, Jim McKenzie, Chris Govedaris, Paul Cyr.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Ed Kastelic, Bobby Holik.LD&mdash;Adam Burt, Ulf Samuelsson, John Stevens.RD&mdash;Sylvain Cote, Brad Shaw. Doug Crossman.G&mdash;Daryl Reaugh, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mikael Andersson, LW, groin pull, day-to-day. Dave Babych, D, wrist surgery, day-to-day. Randy Cunneyworth. LW, broken left leg, indefinite. Kevin Dineen, RW, Crohn&rsquo;s Disease, day-to-day. Randy Ladouceur, D, twisted left knee, day-to-day. Carey Wilson, C, back spasms, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, 24. A&mdash;Francis, 30. P&mdash;Francis. 46. PIM&mdash;Kastelic, 137. &#9632;

THIS GRUDGE IS FOR LOU

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>The Buffalo Sabres have been anything but a model of consistency this season.They compiled 2-5-3 and 3-5-2 records during the first and third 10-game segments of the season, but bounced back for 5-3-2 marks in the second and fourth portions.And after posting a 15-16-9 mark through 40 games, Buffalo surged into the All-Star break riding an 8-1-3 winning streak.The team&rsquo;s lack of consistency has surprised many who felt the addition of Dale Hawerchuk would make the Sabres contenders for the Stanley Cup.President Seymour H. Knox III, general manager Gerry Meehan, and coach Rick Dudley, meanwhile, were all confident the Sabres would contend for the Adams Division crown.But many questions remained.Would the goaltending continue at top form? Would the defense be fast enough? Could Phil Housley be replaced on the power play? Would the new faces be consistent enough?Perhaps the biggest question was how the Sabres would respond to the challenge.A 98-point, third-place finish overall last season had put them in a position of constant challenge from opposing teams.And through the first 40 games, they showed weren&rsquo;t up to that challenge.Lately, however, things have turned around.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting big contributions from our big (name) players,&rdquo; said Dudley.One of the key performers has been Soviet right winger Alexander Mogilny. He had five points (two goals, three assists) in a 9-3 win over Toronto Jan. 14 and scored two goals in a 5-3 win over Detroit Jan. 16.&ldquo;Alex (Mogilny) has been a big part of our resurgence,&rdquo; said Meehan. &ldquo;That and the return to form of Daren Puppa.&rdquo;Buffalo had 10 ties before the break, the most in the NHL. They also had a high number of one-goal losses.But the improved play of the big name Sabres had begun turning those ties and losses into wins.Meehan and Dudley attribute the team&rsquo;s slow start to questionable personnel moves and untimely injuries.Key performers Pierre Turgeon, Dave Andreychuk, Hawerchuk, Mogilny and Puppa started slowly.And there were numerous problems created by bad line pairings and captain Mike Foligno&rsquo;s status.&ldquo;We have a ways to go,&rdquo; Dudley said.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Christian Ruuttu, Pierre Turgeon, Benoit Hogue, John Tucker.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Lou Franceschetti, Dave Snuggerud, Mike Hartman.RW&mdash;Rick Vaive, Alexander Mogilny, Mikko Makela, Rob Ray. Jiri Sejba.LD&mdash;Doug Bodger, Mike Ramsey, Brian Curran, Dale DeGray.RD&mdash;Uwe Krupp, Grant Ledyard, Jay Wells, Dean Kennedy.G&mdash;Clint Malarchuk, Daren Puppa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette, RW, torn knee ligaments, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Turgeon, 21. A&mdash;Hawerchuk, 28. P&mdash;Hawerchuk, 43. PIM&mdash;Ray, 151. &#9632;

MARQUEE PLAYERS HELP TURN THINGS AROUND

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div>The Montreal Canadiens haven&rsquo;t put a revolving door on the trainer&rsquo;s room at the Montreal Forum&mdash;yet.But they&rsquo;ve had to splash a little extra oil on the exisiting door&rsquo;s hinges.With wingers Ryan Walter and Todd Ewen returning to the lineup after lengthy absences, it looked like the team finally had a healthy roster.But that thought faded after coach Pat Bums looked at center Brent Gilchrist&rsquo;s eye.Gilchrist, who missed 19 games earlier this season with a broken finger, was injured Jan. 13 after he was hit near his left eye by a deflected puck.The wound took 15 stitches and a few hours to fix.The next day, Gilchrist showed up for the team&rsquo;s flight to Minnesota for a Jan. 15 game against the North Stars. The eye, an angry purple color, was swollen shut.&ldquo;It feels like there&rsquo;s a golf ball under there,&rdquo; Gilchrist said.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a major league shiner,&rdquo; said Bums. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t play with that. You might as well go home.&rdquo;Things didn&rsquo;t get much better in Minnesota.Petr Svoboda, the Habs&rsquo; senior defenseman who had been playing better lately, was injured by a shot from the stick of North Star Mike Modano.The shot broke a bone in Svoboda&rsquo;s left foot.&ldquo;I knew it was broken as soon as it happened,&rdquo; Svoboda said. &ldquo;It caught me flush on the foot.&ldquo;It has been a lousy season for me so far. I&rsquo;ve been coming back lately and I was playing pretty well. The team was also doing well. And now this.&rdquo;Svoboda, who had one goal and 15 assists in 42 games, was expected to be out of the lineup for at least a month.That left Matt Schneider, Eric Desjardins, J.J. Daigneault, Donald Dufresne and Sylvain Lefebvre to carry the team.And heading into the all-star break, they were doing a commendable job.Apart from steady goaltender Patrick Roy, the only superstar on the club is center Denis Savard.But the no-names responded with Russ Courtnall and Mike McPhee chipping in two goals apiece.&ldquo;One guy doesn&rsquo;t make that much of a difference (on this team),&rdquo; said Courtnall, who had seven goals and 11 assists in the Canadiens last 14 games through Jan. 17.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANS&Auml;CTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Stephan LebeauLW&mdash;Sylvain Turgeon, Mark Pederson, Andrew Cassels, Shayne Corson. Benoit Brunet, Mike McPhee, Ryan Walter.RW&mdash;Stephane Richer, Russ Courtnall, Tom, Chorske, Mike Keane, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Sylvain Lefebvre, Donald Dufresne, J.J. Daigneault.RD&mdash;Matt Schneider, Lyle Odelein, Eric Desjardins.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brent Gilchrist, C, facial laceration, day-to-day. Petr Svoboda, D, broken left foot, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Richer, 18. A&mdash;Savard, 25. P&mdash;Savard, 38. PIM&mdash;Odelein, 142. &#9632;

NO-NAMES SOLVING INJURY WOES

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LOFTUS</div>Two questions had followed Glen Wesley for months: Whatever happened to Glen Wesley?What&rsquo;s going to happen to Glen Wesley?The Boston Bruins&rsquo; 22-year-old defenseman, the third pick in the 1987 entry draft, would like everyone to know he&rsquo;s still very much alive and well. He proved it just prior to the all-star break, sparking three Boston victories by getting re-acquainted with the Bruins&rsquo; offense.&ldquo;I think that earlier in the year, I was maybe thinking more of just being steady,&rdquo; Wesley said. &ldquo;1 wasn&rsquo;t taking any chances. I realize I have to take more gambles. If I get caught, I think I can get back into plays as long as I have my skating game going.&rdquo;That had been absent for much of the first half, which was hurting both parts of his game. Wesley, a 19-goal scorer two seasons ago, had only three on Jan. 13 and hadn&rsquo;t scored since Nov. 24&mdash;a 23-game stretch.That streak ended Jan. 14 against Detroit, when he pumped in two goals and added two assists in a 6-1 victory. A night later, he played well in a 5-4 win on Long Island. Wesley capped the week with another goal and two more assists as Boston stopped Los Angeles 5-3.His performance against the Kings had an irony to it: Two weeks earlier, Wesley was rumored to be headed to L.A. (with center Craig Janney) for left winger Luc Robitaille.Wesley is used to that after hearing trade rumors last season. Since he&rsquo;s in the option year of his contract, he&rsquo;s not surprised to see his name surface.His only concern, though, is how he plays for Boston.&ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t been contributing that much offensively,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I thought my game was coming along real well. I&rsquo;ve been consistent, and that&rsquo;s one of the things I really wanted to do this year. I think I&rsquo;m playing the best hockey of my career right now.&rdquo;Coach Mike Milbury won&rsquo;t argue.&ldquo;He has put together a good stretch where his skating game has picked up several notches,&rdquo; Milbury said.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the key to Glen&rsquo;s game. We try to stay on top of him to skate with the puck. He can beat people with his speed, and that gives him more room to operate. When he&rsquo;s skating, he&rsquo;s able to get to certain areas and make plays more easily than others&rdquo;Wesley&rsquo;s goal after the all-star break is to keep playing the same way. His uncharacteristic minus-1 rating concerned some, but was due in part to the fact that he wasn&rsquo;t looking for offense earlier in the season. Another factor: More than half his 25 points (13) came on the power play.Meanwhile, another Bruin coming around of late, center Craig Janney, made a difficult situation easier for Mike Milbury, and made teammate Dave Christian a Wales Conference all-star.Milbury, the Bruins/Wales coach, was agonizing over whether to pick Janney or Christian to replace Bruin Chris Nilan, who couldn&rsquo;t play because of an injured ankle.Janney, hearing Milbury&rsquo;s dilemma, told his coach to let Christian go.&ldquo;I was kind of sick trying to make a decision,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;I was actually at the point of even flipping a coin. Craig took me off the hook.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad Dave&rsquo;s going,&rdquo; Janney said. &ldquo;He deserves it. The thing I&rsquo;m saddened about is that Chris was really looking forward to it. To have it taken away with a freak thing is tough.&rdquo;Nilan hurt his ankle in a pickup basketball game Dec. 7 at Boston Garden, shortly after Milbury told him he&rsquo;d been put on the team.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 14: Graeme Townshend. RW, recalled from Maine (AHL). Jan. 16: Petri Skriko. LW. obtained from Vancouver for a second-round draft choice in 1991 or 1992.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Wes Walz, Ken Hodge, Jarmo Kekalainen.LW&mdash;Petri Skriko, Randy Burridge. Andy Brickley, Jeff Lazaro.RW&mdash;Cam Neely. Dave Christian, Bob Sweeney. Peter Douris, John Byce, Graeme Townshend.LD&mdash;Allen Pedersen. Don Sweeney, Glen Wesley.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Garry Galley, Stephane Quintal, Jim Wiemer.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers, RW. hairline fracture, left foot, indefinite. Bob Carpenter. LW, fractured left kneecap, out for season. Chris Nilan, RW. sprained left ankle, day-to-day. Dave Poulin. C, broken jaw, indefinite. Vladimir Ruzicka. C/RW, bruised left ankle, day-to-day. Michael Thelven. D, right knee pain, indefinite<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely, 28. A&mdash;Bourque, 37. P&mdash;Janney. 5T. PIM&mdash;Nilan, 190. &#9632;

DEFENSEMAN WESLEY IS ALIVE AND WELL

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011050/5874819-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="538" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC DUHATSCHEK</figcaption></div>It took the Calgary Flames 48 games to accomplish something they needed 80 to do two seasons ago.They lost for the 17th time.The Flames&rsquo; 4-3 loss Jan. 13 against Winnipeg was their third consecutive defeat.Before the loss, Calgary was undefeated in five games. They won three of the games by impressive scores of 7-2, 8-2 and 7-0.But before that, they&rsquo;d lost four in a row and produced only eight goals.The term rollercoaster ride is the best Way to decribe Calgary&rsquo;s first 50 games.Defenseman Gary Suter took the metaphor to its logical extension: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like we&rsquo;re at Disneyland riding Space Mountain. One time we look like world beaters. The next day, we look like the Okotok juniors.&rdquo;Perception is a funny thing in the NHL. The Toronto Maple Leafs play .500 hockey for two months and all is great. The Flames play tolerably well&mdash;-five points in four games at the all-star break&mdash;and there is, as coach Doug Risebrough puts it, panic in the streets.A cold, objective look at the Flames&rsquo; diluted roster suggests expectations are too high.There&rsquo;s a sense fans&mdash;media included&mdash;expect the Flames to win every game. And that isn&rsquo;t going to happen.Simply put, the Flames don&rsquo;t have the talent they had two years ago.In consecutive years, they lost first-team all-star right wingers Hakan Loob and Joey Mullen, and their replacements, Sergei Makarov and Mark Hunter, haven&rsquo;t matched their production.And none of their better holdovers&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour and Gary Roberts&mdash;are playing with the same vigor or impact they did last season.Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s point totals are actually comparable to a year ago. He scored 95 points last season and is on an 84-point pace this year.It&rsquo;s hard to argue with a (op-20 scorer who sports one of the highest plus-minus totals in the league.But you can dispute Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s development&mdash;or lack thereof.He averaged 49 goals in his first three NHL seasons, many of them on the power play. The Flames figured he&rsquo;d become the club&rsquo;s first franchise player.But Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s franchise status hasn&rsquo;t materialized. He&rsquo;s pretty much the same player today as he was when he came up&mdash;and there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that&mdash;but he hasn&rsquo;t hit the next level.Gilmour&rsquo;s difficulties may stem from a simple misunderstanding.Earlier this season, Risebrough told Gilmour to play better defensively. Risebrough said on nights he couldn&rsquo;t get Joel Otto against the opposition&rsquo;s top center, Gilmour would draw the assignment.But Gilmour took the instructions too literally and stopped playing offensively. His numbers were way down (9-32-41 in 46 games) and he was expected to score more goals this season because of Joe Mullen&rsquo;s departure to Pittsburgh.Roberts has become a victim of increased special teams play.Before Christmas, he didn&rsquo;t kill penalties. And despite scoring 39 goals last season&mdash;34 at even strength&mdash;he hasn&rsquo;t played on the power play.Instead, he has spent large portions of the season languishing on the bench as the Flames engaged in special teams duels.A player of Roberts&rsquo; stature&mdash;who&rsquo;s most effective going to the net and creating mayhem&mdash;loses his edge when he fidgets on the bench.So if you consider the drop in production from the elite players and the growing pains the team&rsquo;s four rookies were having, you emerge with a wildly inconsistent squad.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02766/5874812-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="712" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s offensive numbers are way down this season.</figcaption></div>Do the players know from night to night if they&rsquo;ll play well?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to understand this game some days,&rdquo; says Gilmour. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know. We don&rsquo;t go into games to intentionally not score goals or not play well.&ldquo;You can have the top skaters in the league, but if they don&rsquo;t do anything with the puck or react to the plays, then you&rsquo;re not going to win.&rdquo;The fact is, maybe the Flames are a .575 team. They&rsquo;re one of the league&rsquo;s top three, but they&rsquo;re barely hanging on to their elite status.The trick is to bottom out and build up again. If they don&rsquo;t, the descent will be rapid and unpleasant.Just ask the New York Islanders or Minnesota North Stars.Eric Duhatschek is a hockey writer for the Calgary Herald. &#9632;

f0019-01

GREAT EXPECTATIONS TOO MUCH FOR FLAMES

Aaron Bruce and Peoria Riverman David Bruce have a lot in common&mdash;both are striving to make it to the NHL.Like the flashy International League sniper, eight-year-old Aaron is a right winger.And like David, the 4-foot, 50-pound playmaker from St. Thomas, Ont. is a strong team player who plays hard every night.Aaron plays for the St. Thomas travellers&rsquo; minor novice AA team and is in his second year of competitive hockey.Last season, he played in the tyke house league and scored 17 goals and 29 points.Aaron was presented the Esso Award for most sportsmanlike player for his team last season.Aaron&rsquo;s an avid hockey fan and he enjoys watching the Montreal Canadiens and the floundering Toronto Maple Leafs.His favorite player is Newmarket goalie Allan Bester.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01925/5874850-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="559" height="1057"><figcaption class="caption-body">Aaron Bruce</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;

f0020-01

PLAYER OF WEEK JOFA TITAN

<h2>OILERS</h2>Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s application for formal re-instatement was hand delivered to NHL president John Ziegler. GM Glen Sather gave Ziegler the information during the 42nd NHL All-Star Game festivities in Chicago. The application includes supportive evidence (medical reports, drug testing, character references) that the veteran goaltender has been off drugs. Fuhr was suspended for a year in September for alleged substance abuse, but was eligible for appeal Jan. 15 and could be back playing by Feb. 18&hellip;The trade right winger Dave Brown has requested doesn&rsquo;t appear on the horizon. But, that&rsquo;s not to mean the enforcer would abandon his team-mates. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I could do that, I&rsquo;m making good money ($170,000 U.S.) and doing something I love,&rdquo; said Brown.<h2>KINGS</h2>Rob Blake ended a 38-game goalless slump with a power-play marker Jan. 14 in a 6-1 win over New Jersey. The goal, which came with one second left in the opening period, was the rookie defenseman&rsquo;s first since he got one Oct. 11 against Edmonton. &ldquo;Way too long, the equivalent of a whole college season,&rdquo; said Blake&hellip;Wayne Gretzky placed the initials &ldquo;KH&rdquo; on his helmet after war broke out in the Persian Gulf. The letters stand for Ken Hopper, a cousin of Gretzky&rsquo;s from North Carolina who is a U.S. Marine pilot on duty in the region. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re very concerned with what&rsquo;s going on over there,&rdquo; Gretzky said.<h2>JETS</h2>In their eight back-to-back games this season, the Jets are 1-6-1. Their first win occurred Jan. 16 in Vancouver, a 2-1 decision the night after a 7-5 loss in Calgary. Winnipeg has four more series of back-to-back games on its schedule and seven of the eight games are on the road&hellip;Center Thomas Steen made an early return to the lineup from a broken ankle in time for a Jan. 13 win over Calgary. He sat out for the return match (the 7-5 loss) but reappeared for the victory in Vancouver, the team&rsquo;s fifth road win of the season.<h2>FLAMES</h2>Center Doug Gilmour scored his 10th goal of the season in the Flames&rsquo; 47th game, putting him on pace for the lowest goal-scoring total of his eight-year career. Gilmour, who has never had fewer than 21 goals in a season and has averaged 92 points a year over the past four seasons, has had a tough time of it offensively for the Flames. His 42 points left him sixth in team scoring, not the numbers he wanted in the final year of his contract. Frustrated by his lack of scoring production, Gilmour planned to come back from the all-star break with a renewed sense of purpose. &ldquo;I want to get back to my game&mdash;control the play,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;The best way for me to play is to go back and get the puck from the defense and carry it up and make plays. And I&rsquo;ve just got to get back to doing that. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. I&rsquo;ve got to play my game as much as I can.&rdquo;<h2>CANUCKS</h2>According to figures obtained from the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, center Dan Quinn, who went 25 games without a goal earlier this season, is the highest-paid Canuck at $390,000 (U.S.) a year. The lowest paid player currently on the roster is rookie Gino Odjick, a fifth-round pick in last June&rsquo;s entry draft, at $100,000 (Cdn). Trevor Linden, the consensus team MVP for the first half, is one of the lowest-paid players on the team at $ 130,000 (Cdn). This is the third year of Linden&rsquo;s initial four-year contract&hellip;Captain Stan Smyl&rsquo;s wife Jennifer gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s third child (a boy) Jan. 15. That was four days before center Igor Larionov and his wife Lena welcomed their second daughter, Diana. &#9632;

FUHR AWAITS ZIEGLER’S DECISION

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>It has become apparent the Los Angeles Kings will go as far as their big line can take them.When the Tony Granato-Wayne Gretzky-Tomas Sandstrom unit has been intact this season, the Kings have gone 19-8-3; when one or more members were missing because of injury, the club&rsquo;s record plunges to 7-82.In the 30 games all three members were healthy before the all-star break, the line combined for 54 goals and 127 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01695/5874905-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="558" height="704"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Granato missed 10 games with strained rib cartilage.</figcaption></div>Gretzky, the only member who hasn&rsquo;t missed any time, led the NHL in scoring with 28 goals and 91 points.Sandstrom, who missed IO games with a fractured vertebra in his lower back before returning Dec. 29, had 26 goals and 48 points. Granato, who missed 10 games with strained rib cartilage before returning Jan. l0, had 15 goals and 36 points.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re comfortable together,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;But I think unselfishness is the biggest reason for our success. We don&rsquo;t care who gets the goals.&rdquo;Gretzky said during training camp he might be able to collect 200 points for the first time in five years if the line remained healthy; the line didn&rsquo;t, and it&rsquo;s highly unlikely he can approach that plateau.But regaining sole possession of the Smythe Division lead and hanging onto it the rest of the way would more than make up for that. A seven-game winning streak which ended with a 4-3 loss to Hartford Jan. 16&mdash;one short of the team record&mdash;that followed an abysmal 3-9-4 stretch, moved the Kings two points up on Calgary at the break.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; Gretzky said, &ldquo;during our skid, it looked like we were going to skid right off the map. It seemed like we were getting farther and farther behind, but we never did lose sight of first place.&rdquo;Remarkably, the Kings never fell more than six points off the pace; when the big line became whole again, they surged.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to play with these guys,&rdquo; Granato said. &ldquo;Gretz, obviously, is the premier playmaker in the league. He&rsquo;s always looking to pass. It&rsquo;s up to Tomas and I to find the open spaces.&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re back to where we want to be, in first place. The guys stuck together when things didn&rsquo;t look so good. It&rsquo;s going to be a long second half, but hopefully we can make some more good things happen.&rdquo;Granato was wearing a flak jacket to protect his still-tender ribs, but it didn&rsquo;t seem to hinder him very much.&ldquo;If I can&rsquo;t be in the middle of things, then I&rsquo;m not going to be of much help to the team,&rdquo; said Granato. &ldquo;Any time you&rsquo;re afraid or timid, you&rsquo;re going to get hurt. I have to play the same way I&rsquo;ve always played.&rdquo;The same can be said of the often abrasive Sandstrom, who also was fitted with a flak jacket.&ldquo;I guess I just have to try and stay out of trouble,&rdquo; Sandstrom said, smiling.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 15: Dennis Smith. D, recalled from New Haven (AHL). Jan. 17: Jim Thomson, RW, assigned to New Haven.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Todd Elik, Scott Bjugstad, John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Tony Granato, Luc Robitaille, John Tonelli, Mike Donnelly.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Bob Kudelski, Jay Miller, Brad Jones.LD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Tim Watters, Brian Benning, Marty McSorley, Dennis Smith.RD&mdash;Rod Buskas, Larry Robinson, Rob Blake, Bob Halkidis.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Frank Breault, RW, right knee surgery, out for season. Steve Kasper, C, ruptured sinus cavity and fractured orbital bone, indefinite. Tom Laidlaw, D, bulging disc in back, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gretzky, 28. A&mdash;Gretzky, 63. P&mdash;Gretzky, 91 PIM&mdash;Miller, 136. &#9632;

f0021-01

BIG LINE SHOWS THE WAY TO FIRST PLACE

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>Theo Fleury had an All-Star Game dilemma. How could he play his unique, ultra-aggressive style and still stick to the game&rsquo;s protocol&mdash;which says nobody, but nobody, throws a bodycheck.&ldquo;I know me,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-6, 160-pound mighty mite. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be so pumped, I&rsquo;ll run around and do all the things you&rsquo;re not supposed to in an All-Star Game.&rdquo;For Fleury, being selected to play at the All-Star Game Jan. 19 for the Campbell Conference team was a significant rite of passage. Once upon a time, he was considered too small to play in the NHL.But gradually he became a competent professional and then an above average NHLer. Now he&rsquo;s one of the league&rsquo;s elite players.&ldquo;Every year you play, you hope to get a little better,&rdquo; said Fleury. &ldquo;It seems this year, I&rsquo;ve gotten a lot better. Things have fallen into place.&rdquo;And how have things improved for the 22-year-old Oxbow, Sask., native?&ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s the guys I&rsquo;m playing with,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My role on the team has changed. I get a chance to play on the power play all the time and that&rsquo;s definitely going to help your point totals.&rdquo;Fleury&rsquo;s point totals have been impressive this season. At the all-star break, he had 21 goals and 51 points in 47 games. In 80 games last season, he had 31 goals and 66 points.Defenseman Al Maclnnis, who joined Fleury on the Campbell Conference all-star team, said confidence has a lot to do with it.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably doing things now he did in junior and maybe didn&rsquo;t have the confidence to do right away,&rdquo; Maclnnis said.Fleury hasn&rsquo;t improved quietly. He is a dependable spark plug and an important catalyst on a Flames&rsquo; team that needs a kick start from time to time.A good example: The home-and-home series Jan. 13 and Jan. 15 against the Winnipeg Jets.The Jets&rsquo; 4-3 win Jan. 13 marked Fleury&rsquo;s return to Winnipeg after he bloodied Randy Carlyle&rsquo;s nose with a but-end in a 3-3 tie Jan. 2.Carlyle received a cross-checking penalty in retaliation and told reporters after the game he was incensed.His remarks prompted Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch to issue a cryptic warning. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a threat,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but sometimes, he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t take long for a confrontation to take place Jan. 13. But surprisingly, Jets&rsquo; goalie Rick Tabaracci took up the challenge.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01815/5874936-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="570" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theoren Fleury is never one to shy away from controversy.</figcaption></div>Tabaracci thumped Fleury across the face with his stick and glove high behind the Jets&rsquo; goal. He didn&rsquo;t receive a penalty.And after the game, Tabaracci was talking proud.&ldquo;Fleury is the kind of guy you like to give a little shot to,&rdquo; Tabaracci said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not often in my position you get to do it cleanly.&rdquo;Fleury, never one to shy away from a controversy, sought out reporters the next day.Feigning a limp, he hobbled through the airport saying: &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll definitely make Don Cherry&rsquo;s next video. Rock &rsquo;em, Sock &rsquo;em III. He hit me really hard. I was really sore today.&rdquo;But Fleury didn&rsquo;t stop there.&ldquo;That Tabaracci,&rdquo; he said in mock admiration. &ldquo;Toughest guy on their team. Played a pretty good game. Made a couple of pretty good guesses. Personally though, I think talk is cheap. You gotta do it on the ice.&rdquo;The Flames proved their point two nights later, shelling Tabaracci for seven goals on 50 shots. Calgary won 7-5.&ldquo;Theo is not the type of guy that you look at the scoresheet at the end of the night and see he has got a goal and an assist,&rdquo; said Maclnnis. &ldquo;When you play the Calgary Flames, the only guy you always notice is Theoren Fleury.&ldquo;He certainly hasn&rsquo;t made a lot of friends around the league. But the main thing is, he&rsquo;s a quality player, an impact player. He means a lot of us.&rdquo;For his part, Fleury says his unpopularity with the opposition doesn&rsquo;t bother him.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d be as effective if I wasn&rsquo;t in the corner battling for pucks,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Why should I not play the body or play like a big guy? That&rsquo;s everybody&rsquo;s responsibility, everybody&rsquo;s job. You don&rsquo;t have to run the guy over.&rdquo;But Fleury does anyway.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a time and a place for that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you get the chance, you do it. A big part of my game is intensity. If I don&rsquo;t play intensely, I don&rsquo;t feel I&rsquo;m doing my job.&rdquo;And then there was the All-Star Game selection.&ldquo;As a kid, I used to watch the All-Star Game,&rdquo; Fleury said. &ldquo;Guy Lafleur was playing. Steve Shutt. Mike Bossy. Bryan Trottier. Those guys were my heroes. Now I&rsquo;m going to be wearing the jersey. It&rsquo;s going to be interesting and a lot of fun.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 16: Martin Simard, RW, assigned to Salt Lake (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Robert Reichel.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Tim Sweeney, Brian MacLellan, Stephane Matteau.RW&mdash;Theo Fleury, Sergei Makarov, Mark Hunter, Tim Hunter, Sergei Priakin.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>Dana Murzyn, D. shoulder separation, indefinite. Colin Patterson, LW, reconstructive knee surgery, indefinite. Paul Ranheim, RW, broken ankle, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nieuwendyk, 24. A&mdash;Maclnnis, 42. P&mdash;Maclnnis, 60 PIM&mdash;Roberts, 175. &#9632;

f0022-01

DIMINUTIVE FLEURY REACHES ALL-STAR STATUS

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Jabbing, jabbering, annoying, asinine&mdash;in general, a colossal pain in the backside.Those are terms frequently employed to describe Esa Tikkanen&rsquo;s pest-like performance in the NHL over the last five seasons.Well, now they can add one more&mdash;versatile.With 11 goals in 12 games prior to the all-star break, Tikkanen had been the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; top forward of late. During the last five games before the break, he also performed at every forward position:&#9632; In Detroit Jan. 9, Tikkanen was inserted at center between Craig Simpson and Glenn Anderson. He made a brilliant drop pass to set up Petr Klima for an easy goal and tipped a Steve Smith shot off the post that Anderson was able to knock into the cage for another rather simplified score in a 5-3 win.&#9632; Three days later in New Jersey, Tikkanen moved to right wing with Klima and Ken Linseman. After the Oilers had fallen behind 3-1, he launched the comeback for an eventual overtime triumph (5-4) with a 35-foot power-play blast.&#9632; A day later in Philadelphia, Simpson came down with back spasms during the pre-game warmup, so Tikkanen was shifted to left wing with milestone-bound Mark Messier and Anderson. He initiated another Oiler comeback by passing to Soviet Anatoli Semenov for the 1-1 goal&mdash;Tikkanen&rsquo;s 200th NHL assist&mdash;and later scored the winning and insurance goals in a 5-3 triumph.&#9632; Despite Simpson&rsquo;s return Jan. 7 on Long Island, Tikkanen remained with Messier and Anderson, scoring his 20th goal of the season and drawing an assist in a 6-1 romp.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter where you play,&rdquo; said Tikkanen. &ldquo;Simmer got hurt, so I played left wing. That&rsquo;s mostly where I&rsquo;ve played.He&rsquo;s also played a lot at center with John Muckier running the show. Tikkanen would probably try his hand at goal or Zamboni-driving if they&rsquo;d allow him, but the one spot he isn&rsquo;t too fussy at is right wing.No matter where he&rsquo;s stationed, one of Tikkanen&rsquo;s general assignments is to harass the opposition&rsquo;s top forward.The Who&rsquo;s Who in the NHL scoring race have been on his list&mdash;Los Angeles&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux, St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull, Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman, Montreal&rsquo;s Denis Savard, Calgary&rsquo;s Joe Nieuwendyk and Vancouver&rsquo;s Trevor Linden have been recent additions, but they all share a common trait: Tikkanen seeps under their talented skin.The Helsinki native doesn&rsquo;t necessarily molest, but he does irritate&hellip;and quite often pays the price. As evidenced by a shiner on his right eye that is decorated by a couple of stitches and a twinge in his back. Big Detroit rookie Keith Primeau took exception to Tikkanen&rsquo;s bothersome play against Yzerman and struck him in the eye. In Philadelphia, he took a cross-check across the back from the Flyers&rsquo; Scott Mellanby.While he leads the Oilers in goals (20) and points (40), Tikkanen didn&rsquo;t get off to a blazing start. After 15 games, he had three goals (all in one game against Vancouver) and six assists. What prompted the turnaround?&ldquo;Nov. 22,&rdquo; chipped in roommate Kari Takko of the date the Finnish goaltender was acquired in a trade.Takko was only joking, but is sheer coincidence that Tikkanen he16 goals and 13 assists since his coutryman&rsquo;s arrival?&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m getting more ice tin and having another Finn here, to does make me more comfortable said Tikkanen.<h2>EDMOTION</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Ken Linseman, Adam Graves, Mark Lamb.LW&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Craig Simpson, Petr Klima, Martin Gelinas, Kelly Buchberger.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Joe Murphy. Dave Brown, Anatoli Semenov.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Geoff Smith.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Charlie Huddy, D. sprained right ankle, indefinite<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tikkanen, 20. A&mdash;Messier, 29. P&mdash;Tikkanen, 40. PIM&mdash;S. Smith, 143. &#9632;

TIKKANEN ADDS VERSATILITY TO HIS RESUME

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div>When the 1990-91 season began, Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch tried to cut the umbilical cord to his team&rsquo;s moderate success last season.He showed great discomfort discussing the team&rsquo;s 37-32-11 record, their stirring Smythe Division playoff series with Edmonton, and his winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL&rsquo;s coach of the year.He said many times&mdash;with humorous-but-realistic undertones&mdash;that he wanted &ldquo;to be coach for a year, not coach of the year.&rdquo;And like a prophet, he seemed to predict the impending danger that lurked ahead.And so far this season, Murdoch&rsquo;s premonitions have come true. There has been trouble everywhere.Murdoch&rsquo;s road has been so rocky&mdash;his job has allegedly been on the line more than once&mdash;he has started opening up about last season&rsquo;s success.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01792/5874991-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="566" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Essensa is gratified to finally win on the road.</figcaption></div>He has, in a round-about-way, criticized his performance, trying to put the tough times in perspective.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure, but I think people think of the Winnipeg Jets a year ago and that seven-game series against Edmonton, which was a particularly good series,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;But if you could take any part of our season and really break it down, we were a .500 team that only once lost three games in a row.&ldquo;Last year, because of expectations, people kept thinking of good things and forgetting the bad. And this year, because we&rsquo;re going through some bad times, all they do is focus on the bad things.&rdquo;The mood in Winnipeg this winter has been, at times, grim. But that&rsquo;s normal for Jets&rsquo; fans. Usually, Winnipeg fans can&rsquo;t figure out what&rsquo;s happening with their hockey team. The Jets have been highly inconsistent since they joined the league in 1979.And that seems to be the case this season.With limited expectations, the Jets went from 64 to 85 points last season&mdash;the biggest single factor in Murdoch&rsquo;s coaching award.But at 15-27-8 after 50 games this season, the Jets have fallen back on hard times.&ldquo;I can name you games last year&mdash;three Calgary games&mdash;and one where we were outshot 51-17, that we won and got outshot badly,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;This year I can name two Calgary games that we outplayed them and lost. Last year we had the best record by far (17-6) in one-goal games. This year we haven&rsquo;t won many.&rdquo;But Winnipeg won a pair of one-goal victories recently, 4-3 over Calgary Jan. 13 and 2-1 Jan. 16 at Vancouver.The victories moved the fifth-place Jets to within two points of the Canucks (18-26-4) at the all-star break.The Jets had trailed Vancouver by as many as six points 10 days earlier.&ldquo;Our road wins have been few and far between,&rdquo; said Winnipeg goalie Bob Essensa, who stopped 33 of 34 Vancouver shots in the win. &ldquo;It was just tremendous to come in and win this one after a hard, tough series against Calgary.&rdquo;Murdoch liked the upbeat mood the wins created going into the break. But he added the team needs to play better after the intermission if they hope to make the playoffs.&ldquo;The one thing you don&rsquo;t want to do is start making it a mathematical game, where you have to start looking at the out-of-town scoreboard and hope some one else can do it,&rdquo; he said.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Thomas Steen, Ed Olczyk, Dave McLIwain, Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Doug Evans, Brent Ashton, Phil Sykes, Scott Amiel.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDermid, Danton Cole, Greg Paslawski, Mark Kumpel. Gord Donnelly.LD&mdash;Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin, Bryan Marchment.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Teppo Numminen, Fredrik Olausson, Moe Mantha.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Osborne, LW. broken thumb, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Elynuik, 18. A&mdash;Housley, 29. P&mdash;Housley, Olczyk, 43. PIM&mdash;Donnelly, 162. &#9632;

f0024-01

INCONSISTENT PLAY PLAGUES MURDOCH’S GANG

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Stand Pat West has shed his complacent image.After going 10 months without making a deal, Vancouver Canuck general manager Pat Quinn completed his third trade in five days when he sent disgruntled left winger Petri Skriko to Boston Jan. 15 for a second-round draft pick in 1991 or 1992.Quinn, who was given the &ldquo;Stand Pat&rdquo; nickname similar to counterpart Pat Gillick of baseball&rsquo;s Toronto Blue Jays, set to wheeling and dealing in an attempt to salvage the season for the Canucks.Five days prior to the Skriko deal, Quinn sent Brian Bradley to Toronto for defenseman Tom Kurvers, and picked up defenseman Gerald Diduck from Montreal for a fourth-round draft pick in 1991.Skriko was ecstatic. After two months of sitting and waiting for the club to make a move, the Finnish native could barely contain his excitement.&ldquo;This is great news,&rdquo; said Skriko, who hadn&rsquo;t played since Nov. 19. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to a team that&rsquo;s definitely going to be in the playoffs and made it to the Stanley Cup last year. Boston has a great tradition.&rdquo;Skriko can&rsquo;t say the same about the team he is leaving. He spent seven seasons with the Canucks during which the team never attained a winning record.And the Canucks look as if they&rsquo;re on track to finish below .500 for the 15th straight season, the longest such streak in North American professional sports.The Canucks were at the .500 mark as late as Dec. 22 this season, but their 1991 tailspin continued Jan. 16 when they lost a 2-1 home decision to the Winnipeg Jets.The loss put the Canucks&rsquo; record in their last 11 games at 1-9-1 entering the all-star break.One of the Canucks&rsquo; major problems has been the power play. Against the Jets they failed to score on eight chances and were on a l-for-29 streak.To try and resuscitate the power play, the Canucks traded Bradley, their third-leading scorer, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Kurvers, a power-play specialist.Kurvers hadn&rsquo;t dressed for 13 of the Leafs&rsquo; previous 16 games, but he had four shots on goal against the Jets in his first appearance as a Canuck.Diduck, meanwhile, was made available because of a conflict with Canadiens&rsquo; coach Pat Bums.After Diduck complained about his lack of ice time, Bums blew up and said the defenseman would never play for him again. Like Skriko, who also admitted to a personality conflict with coach Bob McCammon, coming to Vancouver represents a fresh start for Diduck.Kurvers also seemed to have changed his tune after originally balking at the trade. Brian Burke, the Canucks&rsquo; director of hockey operations, was forced to arrange a clandestine meeting with Kurvers in Toronto the day after the trade, to convince him to come to Vancouver. Burke is a former player agent who used to manage Kurvers.Vancouver is Kurvers&rsquo; fifth team, and as was the case last year when he was traded to Toronto from New Jersey, he had been hoping to be moved to an American-based team. Kurvers is a native of Bloomington, Minn., and has complained about high Canadian taxes.Burke didn&rsquo;t offer to adjust Kurvers&rsquo; $275,000 (U.S.) salary, nor did he threaten to suspend the player. Rather, he enticed Kurvers with flattery.&ldquo;Burkie said the usual things a player likes to hear, &lsquo;We need you, we know you can help us,&rsquo; that sort of thing,&rdquo; said Kurvers. &ldquo;I was upset because (Leaf GM) Floyd Smith had promised me that he would advise me when they were going to move me. He didn&rsquo;t keep his promise.&rdquo;Kurvers is currently without an agent.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 14: Ian Kidd, D, assigned to Milwaukee (IHL). Tom Kurvers reports to team. Jan. 16: Petri Skriko, LW, traded to Boston for a second-round pick in 1991 or &rsquo;92.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dan Quinn, Dave Capuano, Igor Larionov, Petr Nedved, Steve Bozek.LW&mdash;Greg Adams, Garry Valk, Gino Odjick, Craig CoxeRW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Robert Kron, Jay Mazur, Stan Smyl.LD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Gerald Diduck, Adrien Plavsic, Kevan Guy.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Jyrki Lumme, Robert Nordmark, Tom Kurvers.G&mdash;Troy Gamble. Kirk McLean.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jim Agnew, D, sprained knee, indefinite. Jim Sandlak, RW. sprained thumb, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Linden, 21. A&mdash;Quinn, 25. P&mdash;Linden, 36. PIM&mdash;Odjick, 165. &#9632;

QUINN SHEDS IMAGE WITH FLURRY OF TRADES

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01754/5875046-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peoria center Nelson Emerson played four games in St. Louis this season&mdash;getting three assists&mdash;and had been the leading rookie scorer in the IHL.</figcaption></div>In the tiny Ontario town of Waterford, the people still talk about the time when a peewee hockey player named Nelson Emerson singlehandedly won a game.&ldquo;I remember a year-end tournament when Nelson was a peewee and we played a Six Nations team,&rdquo; says Waterford&rsquo;s Peter Harvey, the man who helped raise Emerson after his father died when he was young. &ldquo;This team outshot Waterford 32-8 and Waterford won the game 6-5. All six goals were breakaways from Emerson. The people around here, once or twice a year, somebody will bring up that game as the best game there ever was.&rdquo;Emerson is no longer winning games by himself, but he is a big reason why the Peoria Rivermen are the best team in the International League. Despite missing nine games, he was still tied for seventh in the league&rsquo;s scoring race with 15 goals and 36 assists in 30 games.Not bad for a minor pro rookie who was once too small to play major junior hockey. He has heard the critics at other levels of hockey and silenced them. They said he was too small, that his play away from the puck wasn&rsquo;t acceptable. But in 1984-85, he was the Midwestern Jr. B rookie of the year with the Stratford Cullitons. Two years later, he was the top rookie in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with Bowling Green. Now he&rsquo;s the leading candidate for similar honors in the IHL.Perhaps next year it will be the NHL. There&rsquo;s no doubt Emerson has the offensive ability to make the next step. Whether he has all the tools to stay remains to be seen.Emerson&mdash;St. Louis&rsquo; third-round pick (44th overall) in the 1985 entry draft&mdash;played four games with the Blues this season, replacing injured center Adam Oates. He had three assists, including two in his first game, a 5-3 loss in Detroit Nov. 23.&ldquo;I was nervous the whole day when I was called up and I finally realized my dream was coming true,&rdquo; says Emerson. &ldquo;All my life all I ever wanted to do was play in the NHL. It was so exciting because not many people make it that far. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ll never forget.&rdquo;Playing in the NHL also fulfilled a prophecy made several years ago by an impressed midget opponent.&ldquo;One night in midget it was a rough and tumble game against Cayuga,&rdquo; recalls Harvey, 45. &ldquo;After the game I was standing in the lobby talking to Nelson and out of the blue comes the great, big burly lineman type with red hair. This guy looked like he could have taken both of us and thrown us out of the place.&ldquo;He says to Nelson, &lsquo;Were you No. 9 out there?&rsquo; And I thought &lsquo;Oh, oh, this guy&rsquo;s gonna start something.&rsquo; Nelson&rsquo;s face just tightened up and all of a sudden out comes this guy&rsquo;s hand, he shakes it and he says, &lsquo;You know, you&rsquo;re the best hockey player I&rsquo;ve ever watched. I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;re going to make the NHL.&rsquo;&rdquo;Because he spent four years at Bowling Green (he&rsquo;s three credits away from a Communications degree, which he plans on completing this summer) Emerson is older than most rookies. He&rsquo;ll be 24 in August, and if he doesn&rsquo;t stick with the Blues next season, time may be running out on him.His coach. Bob Plager, who is also the Blues&rsquo; director of player development, agrees with that assessment. Plager likes the way Emerson has worked on becoming a more complete player.&ldquo;When we don&rsquo;t have the puck Nelson is looking to pick up a winger or come back into his own end,&rdquo; says Plager. &ldquo;I think he knows that he can put on a show in this game with his offensive skills, but you have to have the puck before you can do it.&ldquo;Nelson can play in the NHL. You can be the best down here but if you&rsquo;re satisfied with yourself you&rsquo;re not going to improve.&ldquo;This year he was very close to making the team in St. Louis,&rdquo; says Plager. &ldquo;But right now Nelson is a better hockey player and he&rsquo;s going to get better. He knows what he has to work on and this is the place to learn.&rdquo;Emerson was one of the best players available in the 1984 Ontario League draft when the Guelph Platers selected him in the seventh round. But at 138 pounds, Harvey and Emerson decided he just wasn&rsquo;t ready for that level.&ldquo;When he was drafted I sat in on the talks and showed him all the avenues,&rdquo; says Harvey. &ldquo;We spent four hours in his basement with the chief scout from Guelph and a scout from the Buffalo Sabres. We decided that night Stratford would be the place to go.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a decision Emerson regretted for about 24 hours&mdash;the day after Guelph won the Memorial Cup in 1986. But by going to Stratford he was setting up his career at Bowling Green where he became the only player in NCAA history to be a three-time finalist for the Hobey Baker award as the top player in U.S. college hockey.Now he&rsquo;s improving his game on the best team in minor pro hockey, a team which won a record 18 straight earlier this season. He&rsquo;s enjoying his first pro season even though it&rsquo;s not in the league he hoped to be playing in.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of disappointing and frustrating, since all my life I&rsquo;ve thought about the NHL,&rdquo; says Emerson, whose best friend is Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defenseman Rob Blake. &ldquo;When I was sent down it was hard at first. But if I show them I&rsquo;m not willing to work hard and pay my dues they&rsquo;re not going to like that.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-01

LORD NELSON

<div class="byline">BY NICK GATES</div>Every player on the Cincinnati Cyclones must have been serious about their New Year&rsquo;s resolutions. Coach Dennis Derosiers&rsquo; team is undefeated (8-0-0) since Jan. I.The expansion Cyclones (20-17-2) had forged a franchise-record nine-game winning streak to catapult from the West Division basement to a point behind the second-place Greensboro Monarchs (21-16-1).The meteoric rise isn&rsquo;t a fluke. Five of the nine wins came on the road.&ldquo;If it were just a streak at home, that would be one thing,&rdquo; Derosiers said. &ldquo;But winning more on the road than at home is a sound indication we&rsquo;ve matured as a team. We lost our first seven or eight games (this season) on the road.&rdquo;Along the way, the Cyclones shrewdly strengthened their roster.Center Steve Cadieux, who is property of Montreal, was obtained Nov. 20 in a trade and left winger Chris Marshall was obtained on waivers from Knoxville in November.Cadieux had 28 goals&mdash;averaging one per game&mdash;since arriving from Winston-Salem. A 30-goal scorer, he led the Cyclones in scoring with 52 points. Cadieux had picked up points in his last 12 games and led the league with seven game-winning goals. Marshall had a 15-game point streak, raising his totals to 16-31-47.Wayne Cowley, an assigned pro from Calgary, was obtained Dec. 18 to fill a void in net, Cincinnati&rsquo;s weakness. Cowley had won six consecutive starts.<h2>SHOOTOUT DEBUT</h2>Marcel Comeau had an interesting debut in the ECHL. Winston-Salem named Comeau the coach Jan. 12 and the next night the Thunderbirds edged visiting Knoxville 3-2 in an overtime shootout with a pair of goals by Troy Vollhoffer. The Thunderbirds&rsquo; leading scorer twice beat goalie Dean Anderson in the marathon tie-breaker which involved 27 players&mdash;13 T-Birds and 14 Cherokees. Winston-Salem snapped a six-game skid and halted Knoxville&rsquo;s five-game winning streak. Comeau, who was fired in November by New Haven (American League), was hired to replace Jay Fraser. Fraser will remain as Thunderbirds&rsquo; general manager. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to get off to a good start.&rdquo; Comeau said. &ldquo;This was my first experience with a shootout. It&rsquo;s quite an event. We went all the way through the lineup.&rdquo;&hellip;Increasing the $250-per-week salary cap was one of 12 proposals players made in a Jan. 7 meeting with a five-member owners&rsquo; committee at the league offices in Vinton, Va. Three-year veteran Greg Batters of Knoxville represented the players, who also want their $ 12-per-day meal allowance raised and a 17th player added to the roster. Commissioner Pat Kelly has asked owners Bill Coffey of Greensboro, Jim Clark of Erie, Blake Cullen of Hampton Roads, Nashville&rsquo;s Bob Polk and Henry Brabham of Roanoke Valley to answer the players&rsquo; recommendations by Jan. 19. &ldquo;No doubt the owners need to do something about the salary cap,&rdquo; Kelly said, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re only a 2&frac12; year-old league and still growing.&rdquo; &#9632;

CYCLONES PLAYING UP A STORM IN 1991

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA AND PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div>The Binghamton Rangers remind some people of the old Broad Street Bullies. In fact, Capital District Islanders&rsquo; coach&rsquo;. Butch Goring wouldn&rsquo;t argue if the Rangers were dubbed the Broome County Bullies.Goring accused the Rangers of resorting to intimidation tactics, the kind the Philadelphia Flyers used in the 1970s.The Rangers led the American League in penalty minutes (1,428), major penalties (84), 10-minute misconducts (22), game misconducts (19) and match penalties (three).In three games against the Islanders, all played at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, there have been 427 penalty minutes. The Rangers have won all three by a combined score of 22-2.&ldquo;What do I have to do, get three goons every time we come in here?&rdquo; an irate Goring said after an 8-0 loss Jan. 13, when there were six fights and 144 penalty minutes assessed. Included in the total were 10-minute match penal ties to Binghamton&rsquo;s Peter Fiorentino and the Islanders&rsquo; Dean Chynoweth for gouging each other&rsquo;s eyes during a fight. Each received a three-game suspension.&ldquo;It has been the same crap three games in a row&mdash;it&rsquo;s a joke,&rdquo; Goring said. &ldquo;That tactic went out with the Flyers in 1974.&rdquo;Goring isn&rsquo;t the only one to complain about the Rangers. The Rochester Americans sent a letter to the AHL office claiming the Rangers used intimidation tactics in two exhibition games. The situtation reached the boiling point Nov. 24, when the Rangers and Amerks brawled in the pre-game warmup.Rangers&rsquo; coach John Paddock is tired of people whining.&ldquo;Hockey&rsquo;s a physical game&mdash;Butch should know that from playing in the &rsquo;70s and &rsquo;80s,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;The game wasn&rsquo;t meant to be played with skirts on. It wasn&rsquo;t mean to be played by those faint at heart.&ldquo;If teams are intimidated to play in our rink, how come we aren&rsquo;t very successful (9-10-2 at home)?&rdquo;The league has taken no action. &ldquo;The rules are pretty clear and the officials (referees) have them at their disposal to call,&rdquo; said AHL vice president Gordie Anziano. &ldquo;The mere fact that Binghamton has more penalty minutes shows the officials are doing that. From my point of view, that&rsquo;s really all the league can do.&rdquo;<h2>VIDEO REPLAY</h2>The AHL took a page from the NFL and used videotape replay to reverse a decision.The AHL&rsquo;s actions, however, did not take place during a game and it did not involve a goal. It was used to clear up blame for a brawl that took place between the Springfield Indians and Capital District Islanders Jan. 12.The problem began when Springfield&rsquo;s Scott Daniels and the Islanders&rsquo; Dean Chynoweth fought. Daniels was put in the penalty box and Chynoweth was escorted off the ice. During this time, Springfield&rsquo;s Brian Chapman began a verbal joust with a few Islander players and received a misconduct penalty. Linesman Brian Lemon was leading him off the ice when the trouble began.Visiting players at RPI&rsquo;s Houston Fieldhouse exit through the Islanders&rsquo; bench to get to the dressing room.&ldquo;At the beginning of the season,&rdquo; said Gordie Anziano, &ldquo;we told them to place a partition there. They complied with a portable one.&rdquo;But as Lemon was escorting Chapman off the ice, things happened too fast for a security guard to put the partition in place. The brawl soon erupted with Daniels leaving the penalty box to get involved.Initially, referee Dennis LaRue ruled Daniels was the first to leave the penalty box to engage in a fight and therefore received an automatic six-game suspension by the league. That also meant that Indians&rsquo; coach Jim Roberts would miss five. The Islanders&rsquo; Alan Kerr was ruled to be the second player off the bench and therefore suspended for three games.But, as they say in the NFL, after further review, the calls were reversed.&ldquo;When Chapman went off, there were three CDI players in that neutral area,&rdquo; Anziano said. &ldquo;Two of them moved away and one went toward Chapman.&rdquo;That one was Chris Pryor, whom the league ruled to be the first player off the bench and therefore he was the one to get the six-game suspension. Daniels, then, was the second off the bench and got three. There was no suspension for Roberts or to Islanders&rsquo; coach Butch Goring, who was given a break by the league. Pryor&rsquo;s suspension was reduced a game because Kerr sat out one game under the original ruling.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01700/5875101-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="712" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">J.C Bergeron returned to Fredericton Jan. 15 after a stint in Montreal.</figcaption></div><h2>MARKED MAN</h2>Cape Breton defenseman Marc Laforge received his second 10-game suspension of the season for cross-checking Rochester&rsquo;s Don Biggs across the side of the head in a game Jan. 13. Laforge was assessed a 10-minute match penalty. Biggs was not injured, other than a sore neck and headache. Laforge&rsquo;s first suspension this season came after he broke the jaw of Moncton&rsquo;s Brent Hughes with a cross-check in a Dec. I game. In his 2&frac12; AHL seasons, Laforge has been suspended eight times for a total of 43 games. He had played only 96 AHL games-&hellip;The Fredericton Canadiens received a huge boost when goaltender J.C. Bergeron&mdash;a firstteam all-star last season&mdash;was returned Jan. 15. Bergeron played just one game for Fredericton this season before being recalled by Montreal. Fredericton&rsquo;s goaltending has struggled since Andre Racicot was recalled Dec. 13. At the time, Fredericton was 16-13-3 and had allowed 3.34 goals-against in 32 games. In the 14 games since Racicot left, the Canadiens were 3-7-4 and allowed 3.79 per game&hellip;Second-year left winger Darrin Shannon tied a Rochester franchise record when he had seven points (three goals, four assists) in a 9-2 victory over Cape Breton Jan. 13. &#9632;

f0027-01

RANGERS BRINGING BACK THE MEMORIES

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT AND ADAM TEICHER</div>The Komets are streaking again. Fort Wayne was making a move in the standings and several players were making their mark among the scoring leaders.The skater who seems to be having the most fun is Bruce Boudreau, who was perched atop the International League scoring list for the second straight week (as of Jan. 14). He followed a 12-point week with six more as the Komets (25-15-3) rocketed past Indianapolis and pulled to within five points of East Divisionleading Kalamazoo (29-14-0).&ldquo;There are peaks and valleys over the course of a season,&rdquo; Boudreau said, &ldquo;and lately it&rsquo;s been a peak. I&rsquo;m having fun. if I wasn&rsquo;t I wouldn&rsquo;t be playing for the 16th year.&rdquo; The Komets veteran has played in nearly every pro league&mdash;including the North American League and WHA.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played in everything but the (now defunct) Atlantic Coast league,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I don&rsquo;t plan to do that.&rdquo;So he&rsquo;s having fun playing in his sixth professional league&mdash;last season in Phoenix was his first in the IHL&mdash;and with his 11th professional team.&ldquo;At 20, I was having so much fun I didn&rsquo;t know where to stop,&rdquo; Boudreau said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve obviously matured. But the winning, the competition and the atmosphere here makes it fun.&rdquo;Boudreau, 36, was among the first players in the dressing room before the Komets waxed the Ice 10-7 Jan. 13.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always arrived early,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still take the game seriously. If you don&rsquo;t, you won&rsquo;t be around long. I&rsquo;ve always been mentally prepared to play. I&rsquo;ve had some bad games over the years, naturally, but I&rsquo;ve always been ready to play.&rdquo;Boudreau anchors a line with another veteran from Toronto&mdash;John Anderson&mdash;and second-year pro Lonnie Loach, also from Ontario.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s only 22,&rdquo; Boudreau said of Loach, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re working great together, he has got a future. He doesn&rsquo;t have many weaknesses, he&rsquo;s a good skater and has a good mind. He sees plays well and he&rsquo;ll go into the corners.&ldquo;Lonnie recently found his scoring touch. He had chances before, but now they&rsquo;re starting to go in.&rdquo;Komets&rsquo; coach Al Sims agreed with Boudreau&rsquo;s assessment of Loach. &ldquo;His speed really helps him and helps that line,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just hope those old guys keep holding up.&rdquo;<h2>EAGLE FLIGHT</h2>It has been an up and down season for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles&mdash;something that makes a coach like Bob Francis grow old fast.It&rsquo;s a source of frustration for Francis, who watches the Eagles soar with the best in the league one night and scrape the bottom with the worst another.&ldquo;We started to improve and the continuity of our lineup was as good as it has been all year,&rdquo; Francis said, recalling a spurt in November and early December when the Golden Eagles went from 3-7-1 to 14-10-2. &ldquo;Then we just sort of lost our focus some toward the holiday season. We just got off track and we haven&rsquo;t been able to get it back.&rdquo;After a sweep of a two-game homestand against Fort Wayne in early January, Salt Lake reached a high-water mark at five games over .500. Then the Eagles dropped consecutive games against Phoenix and San Diego.&ldquo;If we can keep our lineup intact, I think we can play with anybody,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re on our game, we can play with anybody, we can challenge anybody.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02444/5875132-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="714" height="836"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve McKichan returned to action Jan. 6 after missing seven games.</figcaption></div><h2>FULL HOUSE</h2>The night of Jan. 12 was a good one at the gate around the IHL. Milwaukee drew 11,488 fans for a game against Kansas City, Phoenix had 9,511 when the Roadrunners played San Diego, Fort Wayne was close to capacity at 7,871 against Albany and Muskegon, in a snowstorm, drew 3,354 against Kalamazoo.The other game scheduled for that night, Peoria against Indianapolis at Chicago Stadium, was rescheduled for Jan. 28 in Indianapolis because the building was unavailable.Through the end of December, average attendance of 4,958 was up 29 per cent over last year and 68 per cent over two years ago. Milwaukee (8,051), Peoria (5,604), Kansas City (5,497), Fort Wayne (5,274), San Diego (5,133) and Indianapolis (5,120) were above 5,000. Albany (2,403) was last.Fort Wayne, with the resurgent Komets and restructured ticket prices, was up 80 per cent over last year&rsquo;s average.<h2>REAR ADMIRAL</h2>Milwaukee goalie Steve McKichan got mixed reviews when he made his return to action after suffering a nasty injury in a game against Peoria Dec. 15&mdash;McKichan slid into the boards head-first after being hit by defenseman Tony Twist after the whistle. McKichan, who missed seven games, got the start Jan. 6 against Muskegon at the Bradley Center and won 3-2. His next time out, he was yanked after allowing two goals on three shots in four minutes at Kansas City. Steve Weeks replaced McKichan and got the victory as the Admirals rallied for a 7-6 win in a shootout&hellip;During Indianapolis&rsquo; loss to Fort Wayne, in which it surrendered 10 goals&mdash;coach Dave McDowall had forwards playing defense in the third period. Asked if he had run out of defensemen, the Ice coach responded: &ldquo;I ran out of defensemen who wanted to play&rdquo;&hellip;Schedule oddity: Salt Lake had finished its four-game season series with Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, but does not play its first game against Albany until Feb. 8 at the Salt Palace. The Golden Eagles play four games at the Knickerbocker Arena in March. The Komets&rsquo; Bob Lakso, with six goals and seven assists, was the IHL player of the week for the period ending Jan. 14&mdash;the second week in a row the selection was from Fort Wayne. A week earlier the entire line of Boudreau, Anderson and Loach shared the honor. &#9632;

f0027-02

BOUDREAU COMFORTABLE WITH ELEVENTH TEAM

<div class="byline">BY MATT CARLSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01730/5875163-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Senior center John dePourcq is one of the few &ldquo;star&rdquo; players for the Ferris State Bulldogs&mdash;who acquired head coach Bob Mancini (inset) in the off-season.</figcaption></div>Ferris State University&rsquo;s 2,573-seat hockey arena is named for a former school president, Robert Ewigleben. In German, his name means &ldquo;eternal life.&rdquo;But soon after Ewigleben helped elevate the Big Rapids, Mich., program to Division I status in 1979-80, it seems more like the Bulldogs have faced eternal doom.Just twice&mdash;in &rsquo;79-80 and &rsquo;80-81&mdash;since joining the Central Collegiate Hockey Association have the Bulldogs finished .500 or better, every year sinking to greater depths. They remained submerged for nine years, finally bottoming out at 11-23-6 last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never known of a team that didn&rsquo;t want to win,&rdquo; says FSU senior left winger and alternate captain Justin LaFayette. &ldquo;But it was like a fluke if we did. We didn&rsquo;t realize until this year what it took.&rdquo;What it really took was one more coaching change&hellip;and a little &ldquo;Mancini Magic.&rdquo;Under Bob Mancini, 32, who was hired Aug. 20, the Bulldogs have been the biggest 1990-91 surprise in U.S. college hockey. Through games of Jan. 15, they were 16-5-5 overall, 12-5-5 (third place) in the CCHA, and, from Nov 3. until Jan. 4, had reeled off a school-record 15 game (13-0-2) unbeaten streak.This, according to pre-season polls that tabbed FSU for eighth place, just wasn&rsquo;t supposed to happen.But Mancini, a talkative native of Seaford (Long Island), N.Y., wouldn&rsquo;t buy into that school of thought.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think we were an eighth-place team,&rdquo; says the FSU pilot who assisted Frank Anzalone at Lake Superior State from 1983 to 1986. &ldquo;I thought we were a fifth-place team. My advantage was I knew these players and they couldn&rsquo;t snow me. I knew what they could and couldn&rsquo;t do.&ldquo;But for us to be better than fifth place, a lot of things would have to go right for us.&rdquo;They have.For starters, Mancini clearly was in the right place at the right time.Before joining the Quebec Nordiques as a scout for 1989-90, Mancini was an assistant to former coach John Perpich during the three previous seasons and had helped recruit most of the Bulldogs&rsquo; skaters. When Perpich resigned to join the Washington Capitals as an assistant coach last summer, Mancini jumped. For most coaches, the Ferris State job would have been akin to a self-imposed exile in Siberia. Mancini thought otherwise.&ldquo;This is the job I really wanted,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The Quebec Nordiques treated me well and I enjoyed scouting for them. But I wanted to coach and I wanted to come back to Ferris&mdash;not just to start my career but to stay here. My No. 1 priority was to teach these players how to win and show them they could be better than an also-ran in this league.&rdquo;The Bulldogs have added some talented freshmen this season&mdash;most notably goaltender Patrick Mazzoli and defensemen Dave Karpa and John Gruden&mdash;but didn&rsquo;t undergo substantial player turnover. Rather than infuse new talent, Mancini has infused new spark and higher standards into a moribund program. His players have been challenged, but not punished. He is pleased with his team&rsquo;s progress, but not satisfied. Mancini will push or pull for result but his charges say he does it constructively.&ldquo;There has been a very significant change in attitude,&rdquo; says LaFayette. &ldquo;We have some good freshmen, but I don&rsquo;t think there has been that much of an increase in our talent. The atmosphere Bob has created has enabled it to flourish.&rdquo;&ldquo;Perp (Perpich) was a good guy, but it was definitely ctime for a (coaching) change,&rdquo; says senior center and team captain John dePoureq. &ldquo;Bob has brought in a new attitude. We&rsquo;re like one big family now.&rdquo;Mancini&rsquo;s biggest impact has been on his players&rsquo; psyches, rather than with X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s. The Bulldogs dig and persist, but there is no revolutionary strategy.&ldquo;When we do have the puck I want them to be exciting and creative,&rdquo; says Mancini. &ldquo;When we don&rsquo;t have the puck, everyone has an assign ment and they&rsquo;d better damn well follow it. It&rsquo;s that simple.&rdquo;Finding a franchise player at Ferris is difficult. Sure they have dePourcq (eight goals and 33 assists for 41 points), senior left winger Rod Taylor (28-11-39) and solid netminding in Mazzoli (8-1-1, 3.18 goals-against average, .911 save percentage) and Mark Felicio (8-3-4, 3.07, .900). But there is no superstar on this team, just a group of guys working towards a common goal.&ldquo;They play well defensively and they&rsquo;re getting great goaltending,&rdquo; says Illinois-Chicago coach Larry Pedrie. &ldquo;But besides dePoureq and Taylor, there&rsquo;s no one they put out there who makes you hold your breath.&rdquo;Lack of success pulled players apart at Ferris State over the years, according to Taylor.&ldquo;There were a lot of little cliques on this team,&rdquo; says the Lake Orion, Mich., native. &ldquo;People weren&rsquo;t playing for the team. They we&rsquo;re playing for themselves.&rdquo;&ldquo;When we weren&rsquo;t winning, it was hard,&rdquo; says dePourcq, who hails from Penticton, B.C. &ldquo;Some guys were getting fed up and were just going out to have some fun and started to party.&rdquo;Mancini isn&rsquo;t the type who would tolerate subordination. Then again, at least for the time being, he has his players intoxicated on winning.&ldquo;But&rsquo;s it&rsquo;s not like he&rsquo;s riding people all the time,&rdquo; says LaFayette. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll come down hard on you in practice, but as soon as it&rsquo;s all over, it&rsquo;s like it didn&rsquo;t happen.&rdquo;Added Taylor: &ldquo;Bob is very positive. He lets you know when you do a good job. &lsquo;Perp&rsquo; didn&rsquo;t do that as much.&rdquo;And Mancini, along with assistants Bob Daniels and Tom Rudrud, have had plenty to smile about.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very happy with our season so far,&rdquo; Mancini says. &ldquo;Our players are learning to win and what it takes to do that. Players always think they are working hard, but they didn&rsquo;t understand how hard you have to work to do well.&ldquo;All my staff and I did was bring that to their attention and that&rsquo;s all the credit we deserve. The players have done the rest.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

MANCINI MAGIC

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Matt Carlson</div>Entering the current campaign, the Ferris State Bulldogs had compiled a cumulative 131-193-30 (.370) record over the previous nine (all sub-.500) seasons and had never finished higher than sixth in the CCHA.But the Bulldogs aren&rsquo;t the only CCHA team that has suffered long-term misery.The Miami Redskins, currently last in the CCHA, have been below .500 for seven consecutive seasons and have a 78-181-11 record and .309 winning percentage during that span. Miami&rsquo;s last winning mark was 18-17I, posted in 1982-83. Since hockey was elevated to varsity status at the Oxford. Ohio school in 1978-79, the Redskins have been above .500 only three times.Among all active CCHA members, Miami has the worst winning percentage in league play&mdash;.296. Through the past nine seasons, the Redskins were 78-193-11.Also owning a worse CCHA record than Ferris State is Illinois-Chicago, which joined the circuit in 1982-83. Entering this season. the Flames were 95-147-10 (.397) in league matches. Since becoming a Division I program in 1981-82, UIC&rsquo;s overall record was 121-207-12 (.373).Although the Flames have struggled the past two seasons, they did enjoy success as recently as two seasons ago. Under coach ValBelmonte, UIC peaked at 23-14-5 in 1988-89 and ventured to the Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA tournament. The &rsquo;86-87 season was the Flames only other winning year in Division I at 21-17-1.Interestingly, the team just above Ferris State in the CCHA all-time standings is Michigan, which defected from the WCHA in 1981-82. Entering this season, the Wolverines were 118-150-16 (.444) in CCHA action.Ohio State, meanwhile, is currently en route to its fifth straight losing year. The Buckeyes last were above .500 in 1985-86, when they were 23-19-1. Over the following four seasons, OSU went 49-97-17 (.353). &#9632;

FERRIS STATE NOT LEAGUE’S ONLY DOGS

<div class="byline">BY MATT CARLSON</div>The Bowling Green Falcons, flying unexpectedly high in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings earlier this season, have come back to earth.After dropping 6-2 and 6-3 home decisions to Lake Superior State Jan. 11-12, the Falcons had lost eight straight games, eclipsing the school record of seven which was accomplished on four occasions (the last being in 1979-80).&ldquo;I still feel that we&rsquo;re a good club that&rsquo;s just going through a down period,&rdquo; said coach Jerry York, whose team&rsquo;s record slipped to 11-132 overall and 9-11-2 in CCHA action.&ldquo;One night it&rsquo;s defensive coverage, the next the power play doesn&rsquo;t connect. I&rsquo;ve seen it come from all different areas.&rdquo;The Falcons also have been hampered by injuries&mdash;most notably to defensemen Otis Plageman and Ken Klee&mdash;and have stumbled through a tough portion of the schedule.Besides the losses to the Lakers, BG also was beaten by Michigan State (twice), North Dakota, St. Lawrence and Western Michigan (twice) during the slump.<h2>COP TALK</h2>There may be no real goons in college hockey, but there are enforcers. Make that enforcers-to-be.A number of CCHA players are majoring in law enforcement and, at least one of them, has clear designs of serving and protecting after graduation.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to start out as a police officer,&rdquo; said Lake Superior State senior defenseman Karl Johnston. &ldquo;I might also like to work as a detective or investigator.&rdquo;Johnston, who leads the CCHA with a plus-27 after 22 games, isn&rsquo;t the only Laker with an academic interest in criminal justice. Junior right winger Sandy Moger is following a similar curriculum at Lake State, where courses in correctional justice (a.k.a. Prison 101) also are offered.By the way, five correctional institutions are located near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., home of the Lakers.Several Ferris State players&mdash;including Rod Taylor, Norm Krumpschmid, Jeff Jestadt and Bob Nardella also are majoring in law enforcement.<h2>EIGHT IS ENOUGH</h2>Illinois-Chicago&rsquo;s up-and-down season has been a game of &ldquo;crazy eights.&rdquo;UIC started at 0-8-0. The Flames then won six of their next eight matches to climb to 6-10-0. Now, coach Larry Pedrie&rsquo;s team is in the throes of another eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) after dropping 2-1 and 4-3 decisions at Ferris State Jan. 11-12.&ldquo;We have a lack of experience and confidence in playing in tight games,&rdquo; said Pedrie, whose team slipped to 0-7-0 in contests decided by one goal and 0-4-1 in overtime tilts. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easierto make some plays in the first period than when the game is close in the third.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been able to play with a lead. We can&rsquo;t deliver a knockout punch. We don&rsquo;t keep doing the things that gave us the lead. We back off and don&rsquo;t play aggressively and with confidence.&rdquo;<h2>LAKE STREAK</h2>With its wins over Bowling Green, league and nation-leading Lake Superior extended its unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1)&hellip;Jerry York on the Lakers: &ldquo;Their team is better than the one that won the national title in 1988. They have much more balance and depth. That (championship) team also relied sometimes on the heroics of (goaltender) Bruce Hoffort&hellip;With five goals and three assists in Michigan&rsquo;s 6-3 and 8-2 wins over Miami, Wolverine junior right winger Denny Felsner took over the CCHA scoring lead with 30-20-50 totals. Felsner&rsquo;s eight-point performance earned him CCHA player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Jan. 13. &#9632;

SCHOOL RECORD LOSING SKEIN GROUNDS FALCONS

<div class="byline">BY ANDY BAGGOT</div>The Western Collegiate Hockey Association&rsquo;s computer schedule for the 1991-92 season has been compiled, but it may need some revisions thanks to new legislation passed at the National Collegiate Athletic Association convention Jan. 7-11.And before it&rsquo;s all over, an important interpretation will be needed from the NCAA.The proposal to reduce the number of regular-season games from 38 to 34 is scheduled to go into effect next year, but the item offers a provision that would allow schools to play 38 if they had signed contracts for those games in place by Nov. 15.The trouble is, WCHA schools do not have written contracts for league games. As for non-league contests, most schools operate on a verbal agreement only.&ldquo;Some sort of ruling is needed,&rdquo; said commissioner Otto Breitenbach, who has asked the NCAA Interpretations Committee for a ruling.In any event, Breitenbach does not think changing the league schedule will be difficult.<h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01633/5875242-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="557" height="598"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kelly Hurd missed a weekend series following his wedding.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We can still fit everything into the 22-week allowance (established for pre-season practice and the regular season by the NCAA at the convention), but it will take some adjustments,&rdquo; he said.<h2>JUST MARRIED</h2>Would you believe a player missing two games because he was on his honeymoon?Michigan Tech coach Newell Brown called it, &ldquo;one of the craziest stories I&rsquo;ve ever heard.&rdquo;Nevertheless, that&rsquo;s what happened to Tech&rsquo;s Kelly Hurd.The senior right winger made arrangements to return to his Castlegar, B.C., home and get married following a road trip to Grand Forks, N.D. That part of the scenario went off without a hitch.But the newlyweds&rsquo; 1982 Toyota Corolla broke down three times and Hurd, the Huskies&rsquo; leading scorer, missed games against Wisconsin Jan. 11-12.&ldquo;We could have used him,&rdquo; Brown said after MTU dropped 3-1 and 3-2 decisions in Houghton, Mich. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a point-a-game guy.&rdquo;<h2>ROAD WARRIORS</h2>Northern Michigan did two significant things when it got three out of four points in a series against Minnesota-Duluth Jan. 11-12.The Wildcats hadn&rsquo;t won a game there (0-10-1) dating back to the 1984-85 season. But after a 3-3 tie in the opener, they rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win 5-4, and remain within two points of first-place Minnesota.&ldquo;Finally,&rdquo; coach Rick Comley sighed.But the results meant more than ending a losing streak.&ldquo;If we lose up there, we&rsquo;re out of (the title race),&rdquo; Comley said prior to the Bulldog games.<h2>GOLDEN WEEKEND</h2>Minnesota&rsquo;s Ken Gernander, who totalled seven points (1-6-7) in a weekend sweep of St. Cloud State (7-1, 7-3 Jan. 11-12), was named WCHA player of the week for the period ending Jan. 13&hellip;Three WCHA squads ranked among the nation&rsquo;s top seven in the first NCAA Division I poll of the season. Minnesota (20-3-3) placed second behind CCHA entry Lake Superior State. Northern Michigan (19-5-3) was fourth, while Wisconsin (18-5-2) was touted seventh. &#9632;

f0029-01

LEAGUE AWAITS SCHEDULE RULING

<div class="byline">BY LARRY MAHONEY</div>Jean-Yves Roy, like an expert in any profession, could identify the problem and prescribe a cure. It was just a matter of execution.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to become hungrier for goals,&rdquo; said the Maine sophomore right winger who went through a recent four-game goalless streak. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to start getting my nose dirty again. I&rsquo;ve got to start doing stops and starts. When I do, I&rsquo;m in the right place at the right time.&rdquo;Roy&rsquo;s assessment was apparently dead on as the nation&rsquo;s leading rookie goal-scorer last season&mdash;with 39&mdash;employed his new strategy to break out of his drought and build a five-game goal-scoring streak. During that span, which was capped with a three-point effort in a 6-5 win over Boston College Jan. 15, Roy had 8-6-14 totals.&ldquo;Things are right again,&rdquo; said Roy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in the right place at the right time.&rdquo;On the strength of his recent surge, Roy moved into a tie with teammate Jim Montgomery as the country&rsquo;s top point getter (each had 51).<h2>ON THE WARPATH</h2>Merrimack College sophomore goalie Yannick Gosselin, sidelined since Nov. 17 with a knee injury, returned to action and posted wins in his first two starts over Alabama-Huntsville (6-4 Jan. 11) and Northeastern (5-4 Jan. 16).The wins left Gosselin with a 6-1-0 record, a 3.98 goals-against average and a .867 save percentage.Warrior senior left winger Howie Rosenblatt had his first career hat trick in a 6-3 win over Alabama-Huntsville Jan. 12 and two goals and an assist in the win over Northeastern.Rosenblatt, who had the tying and winning goals against NU, has 16 goals, 11 assists and 27 points&mdash;all career highs.<h2>HARD TIMES</h2>The week of Jan. 11-17 capsulized how frustrating the season has been for the Northeastern Huskies.NU saw third-period leads of 5-2 and 6-5 evaporate in a 6-6 tie at Maine Jan. 11; led 1-0 at Maine until the 19:56 mark of the second period and wound up losing 3-1 Jan. 12; and squandered a 4-1 lead at Merrimack in the 5-4 loss Jan. 16.The games left the Huskies with a 4-16-2 mark overall and 1-9-2 in Hockey East.<h2>GAUDY STATS</h2>Providence College junior right winger Rob Gaudreau, who had 38 points in 32 games a year ago, had 21 goals and 19 assists in just 20 games this season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a lot stronger physically than he was last year,&rdquo; said Friar coach Mike McShane. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 200 pounds now and he can go into the comer and take the puck out. Last year, he got bounced around in there.&rdquo;Gaudreau took a seven-game scoring streak (7-6-13) into a Jan. 18 game at Northeastern. He had scored at least a point in 17 of Providence&rsquo;s 20 games.<h2>TWO HONORED</h2>The league announced Jan. 17 it was naming two of its post-season awards for William J. Flynn and the late Bob Kullen. The Flynn Trophy, named in recognition of the recently retired Boston College athletic director, will be given to the Hockey East regular-season champion. The Kullen Award, which will honor the New Hampshire coach who died Nov. 2 of heart failure, will be given to the circuit&rsquo;s coach of the year&hellip;Boston University&rsquo;s 8-4 home win over New Hampshire Jan. 15 was significant for two reasons: It moved the Terriers into first place in Hockey East and it was the club&rsquo;s 200th win at the Walter Brown Arena. BU, which began play at Walter Brown in 1971-72, has a 200-84-18 mark in the building&hellip;BC center David Emma eclipsed the 200-point mark for his career with two goals in an 8-5 win over Clarkson Jan. 12. &#9632;

ROY ENDS GOAL-SCORING SLUMP IN FINE FASHION

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div>Two years ago, Yale coach Tim Taylor made a promise to goalie Ray Letourneau. If Letourneau was patient, he would get all the playing time he wanted as a junior and a senior.Taylor has certainly lived up to his part of the bargain.After playing in a school record 28 games as a junior last year, Letourneau has again been cast into the role of an ironman goalie this season, and is the main reason for Yale&rsquo;s unexpected appearance at the top end of the Eastern College Athletic Conference standings.With Letourneau anchoring the defense, the Bulldogs (8-3-1) swept Dartmouth and Harvard by identical scores of 5-2 Jan. 11-12 to climb into a tie for second place in the ECAC with St. Lawrence (8-2-1).Letourneau, a native of Penacook, N.H., had played in all 12 league games for Yale and led the ECAC in minutes played (724) and saves (330).Letourneau spent his first two years at Yale backing up Mike O&rsquo;Neill, but once he was given the No. 1 position as a junior, he&rsquo;s refused to give it up.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01722/5875297-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="552" height="596"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Ray Letourneau led the ECAC with 330 saves.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Ray was the only goaltender I recruited in his class, and I didn&rsquo;t recruit any the next year, either,&rdquo; said Taylor. &ldquo;I told him that when Mike was gone, he was going to be the No. 1 goalie and it was going to be his job to lose.&rdquo;Letourneau, who has lowered his goals-against average from 4.59 at the end of last season to 3.36 this year, has been red-hot since suffering a 4-2 loss to Cornell Dec. 7. In the following five games (all wins), he compiled a 2.00 GAA and a .929 save percentage.&ldquo;The inconsistencies aren&rsquo;t there this year,&rdquo; said Taylor. &ldquo;The team, as a whole, is playing with a lot of confidence this year, and I think that goes hand-in-hand with Ray&rsquo;s confidence and poise in goal.&rdquo;The other secret to Yale&rsquo;s climb in the ECAC, after being picked to finish 10th in the pre-season coaches&rsquo; poll, is balance. Junior left winger Jeff Blaeser (9-9-18), sophomore center Mark Kaufmann (6-12-18) and senior center John Sather (6-11-17) are still the primary weapons, but Yale is deep. Against Harvard, freshman right winger Martin Leroux, playing on the third line, had the game-winner and also added an insurance goal.&ldquo;We have no star list at Yale,&rdquo; said Taylor. &ldquo;We have good balance. I don&rsquo;t have any combination of five guys who I put on the ice, and then have to hold my breath.&rdquo;<h2>TOUGH MONTH</h2>Harvard, which played just four times this month, went 0-for-January after losing to both Brown (5-3 Jan. 11) and Yale (5-2 Jan. 12). Since an 8-7 overtime loss to RPI Dec. 8, the Crimson has lost five of six to fall to 8-6-0 in the league and 8-8-0 overall.The decline actually began last February, at just about the same time former coach Bill Cleary announced his retirement. Since Feb. 10, 1990, Harvard is 9-15-0 overall.<h2>HEY 19</h2>RPI senior Joe Juneau saw his 19-game scoring streak come to an end Jan. 12, when he was shutout in a 4-3 overtime victory against nonconference foe Lowell&hellip;Sophomore left winger Mike Ross scored a pair of goals to lift Brown past Harvard 5-3 Jan. 11, giving the Bears their first. victory against the Crimson in 10 years. &#9632;

f0030-01

BULLDOGS BANK ON THEIR RAY OF HOPE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01667/5875328-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Denomme was one of five players acquired by Sault Ste. Marie in the Eric Lindros trade a year ago. The Greyhounds have moved from worst to first.</figcaption></div>One year after trading away the rights to hockey&rsquo;s newest superstar, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds have achieved a new identity.Where once they were floundering, the Greyhounds are now flowering. Thanks in large part goes to the huge return gained from dealing their No. 1 pick in the 1989 Ontario League midget draft&mdash;Eric Lindros.While Lindros has been a complete bonanza to the Memorial Cup-champion Oshawa Generals, the Greyhounds can also say they&rsquo;ve benefited from the monster transaction.When Lindros refused to report to the Greyhounds last season and played Tier II hockey in Detroit, the OHL instituted a rule allowing first-round draft choices to be traded during their rookie seasons after Jan. 1. A bidding war ensued, with Oshawa winning the sweepstakes, giving up three players, two overage selections, two second-round draft picks, $80,000 and future draft money.In addition to helping the Generals to last year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup title, Lindros has had a phenominal effect on attendance figures not only in Oshawa, but around the league. In the final half of last season alone, Lindros generated $70,000 in extra ticket sales in Oshawa. And season-ticket sales jumped from 425 in 1989-90 to 1,500 this season.Add to that an equally impressive rise in souvenir and concession sales and it&rsquo;s clear Lindros is every bit a marketing giant as he is a hockey player.The Greyhounds have undergone a metamorphosis themselves.Sault Ste. Marie finished second last (25-369) in 1989-90. This year, the Greyhounds occupied first place in the Emms Division for the entire first half of the season.The reasons behind the renaissance are many, but among the most significant are the five players who have joined Sault Ste. Marie as a result of the Lindros trade.Goalie Mike Lenarduzzi led the OHL with a 3.32 goals-against average through midJanuary, right winger Mike DeCoff had 23 goals in 37 games and right winger Jason Denornine averaged a point per game through 37 matches. They were the three principles in the swap.Overage left winger Joe Busillo arrived in October and had 23 goals and 45 points in 35 games. And defenseman Drew Bannister is the first of two second-round draft picks the Greyhounds obtained. He&rsquo;s one of the best 16-year-olds in the league.Lindros may be third in the OHL in scoring with 39 goals and 75 points in 33 games, but the fab five from Sault Ste. Marie had contributed 61 goals and 126 points through 45 games.And then there&rsquo;s the money, including $80,000 up front. The Greyhounds also get third-round pick Lenarduzzi&rsquo;s draft money from the Hartford Whalers (about $12,000) and will receive Lindros&rsquo; draft money next year (between $20,000 and $25,000). There is also a formula that will earn the Greyhounds another $20,000 if Lindros makes the NHL as an underage player.In addition, the five players have helped boost team fortune and attendance is up an average of 700 fans per game at Sault Memorial Gardens. At $7.50 a ticket over 33 home games this season, that&rsquo;s another $ 150,000 in gate revenue, not including playoffs or concessions.By next year, the return on Lindros will add up to seven players and potentially $275,000.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if we won the trade, but we certainly didn&rsquo;t lose it,&rdquo; Greyhounds&rsquo; general manager Sherry Bassin said. &ldquo;It turned our franchise around. We were subject to criticism from other teams when we made the deal, but I don&rsquo;t hear about that any more.&rdquo;<h2>OHL</h2>Dukes of Hamilton owner Mario Cupido has lost $500,000 in less than two seasons of operation and he&rsquo;s not prepared to lose any more. The Ontario League club is for sale.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed,&rdquo; Cupido said. &ldquo;I felt this city would support a junior team. But I was wrong. What can I say?&rdquo;Cupido said poor attendance over the past year and a half is the only reason why the team is for sale. The Dukes are averaging just 1,200 fans in the 17,383-seat Copps Coliseum. An average of 2,200 fans per game is the breakeven point.Cupido is asking $1.2-million for the club.The Dukes have lost $200,000 so far this season and about $300,000 in its first year after moving over from Toronto, where they were known for 63 years as the Marlboros. Hamilton has been just as weak on the ice, compiling a 11-49-6 record last season and 10-28-5 after 43 games this season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the problem is,&rdquo; Cupido said. &ldquo;I still think junior hockey is a viable sport here. Dollar-wise, it makes sense, but we can&rsquo;t seem to make it work.&rdquo;In December, Cupido said he would move the team to the smaller 4,000-seat Mountain Arena in Hamilton next season. If the club doesn&rsquo;t sell, he said he has no plans to disband or move it out of Hamilton.&ldquo;Our roots are here,&rdquo; Cupido said. &ldquo;And this is where they&rsquo;re going to stay. The people involved are business people and they wouldn&rsquo;t want to operate anywhere else.&rdquo;<h2>QMJHL</h2>A good way to see the world these days would be to grab onto Karl Dykhuis&rsquo; coattails.Dykhuis joined his fifth team this season when the Hull Olympiques traded his Quebec League rights to College Fran&ccedil;ais Jan. 10 for first and sixth-round draft picks.Dykhuis won&rsquo;t be freed from his commitment to the Canadian national team until March 23. However, he was expected to play a three-game stint in the QMJHL Jan. 18-22.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to help me on the ice and in the room,&rdquo; College Fran&ccedil;ais coach Gerard Gagnon said. &ldquo;He has had the experience with the Olympic team and the national junior team. We need the kind of players with that experience.&rdquo;When Dykhuis does join College Francais for the playoffs, it will mark a full-circle season for the 18-year-old defenseman. The first-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1990 started with the Olympiques, then surprised most by sticking with the Blackhawks through the preseason.Rather than return to the Olympiques, Dykhuis opted to play for Dave King and the national team program. Dykhuis toured with the national team before winning a gold medal with the national junior team at the World Championships in Saskatchewan Jan. 4.The slumping Victoriaville Tigres were the most active team on the trade front acquiring five players.After the Tigres set a QMJHL record with their 22nd straight loss, they dealt right winger Christian Campeau to the Granby Bisons for left winger Sebastien Tremblay and a third-round pick.In another deal, the Tigres sent leading scorer Carl Boudreau, a center, and right winger Alain Cote to the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs for right winger Martin Caron, left winger Nicholas Lefebvre and rearguards Martin Lacombe and Marc Thibeault.<h2>WHL</h2>Pat Falloon is holding his gold medal close to his heart for more reasons than one.The Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; center was a member of Canada&rsquo;s national junior team that won the gold medal in dramatic fashion at the World Championships in Saskatoon Jan. 4.Before Falloon returned to the Western League Chiefs, he made a stop in Calgary and almost lost what he worked so hard to earn. He left his gold medal behind in a Calgary hotel.&ldquo;My cousin came over and wanted to look at the gold medal,&rdquo; Falloon said. &ldquo;I had it all packed away, so I brought it out and left it on the desk overnight. It&rsquo;s only when I got on the plane that I realized what happened.&rdquo;During the early-morning rush to catch his plane, Falloon mistakenly confused the jumbosized medal for a tin ashtray. But, alas, the Falloon Fiasco has a golden ending.When he arrived in Spokane, Falloon contacted hotel officials to retrieve the lost trinket. &ldquo;They got everything straightened out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Thank God for that.&rdquo;Upon his return, Falloon notched seven goals and 12 points in three games&mdash;including five goals and eight points in a 12-4 win over the Tri-City Americans Jan. 12.A recent spate of injuries has been a knee-jerker for the Kamloops Blazers.The Blazers were relatively injury-free for most of the season before the injury bug struck. Five regular players were on the sidelines at the same time with knee ailments.All-star goaltender Corey Hirsch, who led the WHL with a 3.25 goals-against average, went down Jan. 5 against Tri-City. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to his left knee Jan. 10 and was expected to miss two weeks.Other players shelved with knee injuries include: 17-year-old centers Jeff Watchorn and Lance Johnson and 18-year-old right wingers Eddie Patterson and Craig Lyons. Center Ryan Harrison, 19, is also out of commission for six weeks with a wrist injury.&mdash;With files from Vance Oliver, Randy Russon, Ken Warren and Brian Costello &#9632;

f0031-01

TRICK OF THE TRADE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01712/5875380-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01633/5875373-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="3095" height="3614"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01720/5875366-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3086" height="3620"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01685/5875359-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3083" height="1239"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Ed Belfour may not be an all star, but he&rsquo;s doing a pretty good impression of one.The Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; goaltender continues to lead all NHL stoppers with a 1.67 Earned Goal Average, well ahead of runner-up, Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Patrick Roy (2.20). The EGA is even-strength time divided by even-strength goals.Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Frank Pietrangelo maintained his comfortable lead in the Hot Seat category. His 16:12 average is a couple minutes better than runner-up, Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; Daren Puppa (14:05). The Hot Seat average is the amount of power-play time it takes before giving up a goal.The Calgary Flames lead the power-play rating taking an average of 6:47 to score.TEAMS POWER PLAY / PENALTY KILLING TIME FRAMEGAMES PLAYED THROUGH 1/20/91<h2>POWER PLAY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06253/5875439-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="554" height="706"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07234/5875432-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="548" height="94"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08210/5875425-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="550" height="762"></div><h2>HOT SEAT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09194/5875418-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="550" height="506"></div><h2>EGA LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10171/5875411-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="558" height="448"></div> &#9632;

f0035-06

EDDIE THE EAGLE STILL SOARING HIGH

<h2>Mon.. Jan. 14</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02523/5875624-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="596" height="2143"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03422/5875617-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="586" height="1609"></div><h2>Tues., Jan. 15</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04338/5875610-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="582" height="522"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05280/5875603-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="602" height="2167"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01652/5875596-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="592" height="1599"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02475/5875589-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="602" height="1597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03382/5875582-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="588" height="1405"></div><h2>Wed.. Jan. 16</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04290/5875575-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="588" height="122"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05238/5875568-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="586" height="1601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06206/5875561-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="594" height="1589"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01567/5875554-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="604" height="1094"></div><h2>Thur.. Jan. 17</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02410/5875547-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="594" height="674"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03319/5875540-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="590" height="1811"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04264/5875533-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="584" height="1809"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05233/5875526-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="590" height="600"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06203/5875519-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="584" height="556"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01653/5875512-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="592" height="1625"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03405/5875505-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="583" height="136"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04311/5875498-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="579" height="139"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05229/5875491-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="584" height="537"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02501/5875484-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1177" height="1388"><figcaption class="caption-body">New York Islander center Pat Lafontaine scored two goals for the Wales Conference at the NHL All-Star Game Jan. 19 in Chicago.</figcaption></div>SUPER SERIES<h2>Tues., Jan. 15</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06190/5875477-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="589" height="919"></div>ALL-STAR GAME<h2>Sat.. Jan. 19</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07176/5875470-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="592" height="1500"></div> &#9632;

f0035-02

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08152/5875662-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01617/5875655-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3095" height="3629"></div> &#9632;

f0038-08

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01331/5875693-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0040-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01274/5875724-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="557" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DUPONT</figcaption></div>The years went by&mdash;six seasons to be exact&mdash;and Garry Galley usually found a way around the awkward moment. Maybe he&rsquo;d be in Toronto with the Los Angeles Kings, or in St. Louis during his days with the Washington Caps. But inevitably, someone would always ask.&ldquo;Hey, Garry,&rdquo; an autograph seeker would say amid a horde of fans. &ldquo;Do you have a card?&rdquo;With his perpetual smile slightly dented, Galley would say, &ldquo;Ah, well&hellip;you&rsquo;ll just have to keep looking I guess.&rdquo; And with that, he&rsquo;d sign the first available piece of paper thrust his way, the sporting world&rsquo;s ritualistic proof of an acquaintance made.Truth was, Galley never had a hockey card, not until this season. Finally, after six NHL seasons and a trip to the Stanley Cup finals last May with the Bruins, the Boston defenseman has finally seen his picture and name immortalized on cardboard.&ldquo;You know, I was getting bummed out, really,&rdquo; said Galley, who made his first trip to the All-Star Game Jan. 19 in Chicago as one of Boston coach Mike Milbury&rsquo;s hometown selections.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;ve made changes and moved around a lot from Los Angeles to Washington&hellip;but it took seven years. I remember Jay Wells going through that too. He never got on a card and was a first-round pick (LA., 1979). But I was one of those guys. You move around&mdash;L. A., Washington and Boston&mdash;and after a while, they kind of overlook you.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you, it&rsquo;s nice to see your first card. When I finally saw it, I took it home and showed my wife. Maybe it sounds corny, or something, but it makes me feel like I&rsquo;ve made it.&rdquo;When he was a kid growing up in Montreal in the late &rsquo;60s and early &rsquo;70s, Galley collected hockey cards with the zeal of the average Canadian hockey-crazed kid.He bought his cards in packs. Jacques Laperriere. Guy Lafleur. Pat Quinn with a Maple Leaf on his chest. Mike Murphy with the Blues&rsquo; notes playing across the front of his sweater. Terry Murray, a proud member of the California Golden Seals.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why, but Ken Dryden was the hardest to get,&rdquo; recalled Galley. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I ever got his. But I got some good ones&hellip;a Gil Perreault rookie card&hellip;an old Derek Sanderson off the back of a Lipton&rsquo;s chicken soup box&hellip;a Gordie Howe &lsquo;Mr. Hockey&rsquo; card from 1969.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun flipping through them now. But I have to be careful. I&rsquo;ve got a nine-month-old daughter (Shaylynn) at home. I&rsquo;ll turn around fora second, and the next thingyou know, she&rsquo;ll be chewing on one.&rdquo;Like most kids, Galley&rsquo;s collecting days virtually came to a halt when he grew into his mid-teens. He was soon off to college (Bowling Green), into the pros and on to adult life with a wife and child.But his card collection went with him most everywhere. Sealed years earlier in a box by his mother, he&rsquo;d all but forgotten about them until recently.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d moved so much,&rdquo; said Galley, who came to Boston as a free agent in the summer of &rsquo;88. &ldquo;We had a lot of boxes, not just cards, that we&rsquo;d marked, &lsquo;Not important.&rsquo; It was only a few months ago that I finally got around to opening up the cards. It was kinda neat after all that time, seeing them again.&rdquo;These days. Galley is playing the part of the fan, looking for autographs of his own. He had a. dozen Bobby Orr cards stored away in his collection and has since asked the Hall-of-Fame defenseman to sign them.&ldquo;He said they&rsquo;re probably worth something, and asked if I was I sure I wanted them signed,&rdquo; said Galley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s right, because I know the value of a card drops once it has been signed. But I don&rsquo;t care. They&rsquo;re for me. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d ever sell them.&rdquo;Galley hopes the day will come when he&rsquo;ll turn his basement into a collector&rsquo;s paradise. He envisions a bar with his favorite cards splashed across the countertop, protected by clear glass or plastic. He&rsquo;ll have his Orr card, his Howe card, and even his own card mounted for display.&ldquo;When someone asks me to sign, I always try to sign. I hate to turn anyone down,&rdquo; said Galley. &ldquo;Sure, sometimes there&rsquo;ll be a guy there with 10 cards and you think, &lsquo;Geez, what&rsquo;s this?&rsquo; But I really believe there are people out there&mdash;fans&mdash;with a passion for collecting. I know what that&rsquo;s like. I was that way as a kid.&ldquo;And someday, I&rsquo;ll have my room down in the basement, with, oh, maybe 200 cards&mdash;all signed&mdash;to fill out the counter. And I&rsquo;ll have mine, right there next to Bobby Orr. I&rsquo;ll bring my kids down, and maybe their kids and say, &lsquo;Yeah, I knew those guys.&rsquo; &ldquo;And the proof will be right there in cardboard. Kevin Dupont is a hockey writer for the Boston Globe. &#9632;

f0041-01

COLLECTING CARDS A PASSION FOR GALLEY

St. Louis right winger Brett Hull was on pace to become the fifth NHL player to score 50 goals in 50 games. Hull had 46 goals in 47 games. The others: Wayne Gretzky, 61 (1981-82, 1983-84) and 53, (1984-85); Mario Lemieux, 54 (1988-89); Maurice Richard, 50 (1944-45); and Mike Bossy, 50 (1980-81)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02177/5875755-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="721" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0041-02

NUMBERS

<h2>FLYERS</h2>Mark Howe underwent back surgery Jan. 18 to have a disc fragment removed. The operation was performed by Dr. Richard Balderston with Flyers&rsquo; team physician Dr. Arthur Bartolozzi assisting. If the surgical procedure alleviates the sciatic nerve pain Howe has experienced in his right leg, the defenseman might be able to return in late March&hellip;Team president Jay Snider announced the Flyers were donating a number of tickets to dependents of military personnel stationed in the Persian Gulf. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to try and get as many husbands, wives and children of our troops as possible to a hockey game in the coming weeks,&rdquo; he said. The number of dependents attending each game will vary according to ticket availability&hellip;The Flyers&rsquo; 5-4 win over Pittsburgh Jan. 15 ended a seven-game home winless streak (0-4-3) dating back to Nov. 30&hellip;Kerry Huffman made his first appearance since leaving the team Nov. 16 in the 5-1 win over Quebec. Huffman, who returned to the Flyers Dec. 10 after a trade failed to materialize, played well and was plus-4 for the game. But the Flyers returned him to Hershey after the game.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>Kevin Hatcher and Al lafrate were reunited when Iafrate was traded to the Capitals Jan. 16. The two defensemen were teammates as 16-year-olds in their last year of midget hockey. Both are from Detroit suburbs and were members of the Compuware squad. &ldquo;We were going to tournaments all over Canada and the U.S.,&rdquo; Hatcher said. &ldquo;Those are things you remember the rest of your life.&rdquo; Hatcher said the trade of Bob Rouse makes the Capitals&rsquo; blueline corps more offensive. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to agree,&rdquo; Hatcher said. &ldquo;Mikhail Tatarinov is very capable, myself, Calle Johansson and Al. If you take any of the four, he can play the offensive part of the game. But it&rsquo;s important all four concentrate on the defensive part of the game.&rdquo;&hellip;The Capitals lost three in a row, all on the road, before the all-star break. &ldquo;We were all Edward Scissorhands,&rdquo;&nbsp;Alan May said of the 4-1 loss in Montreal&hellip;Rookie Peter Bondra injured his shoulder Jan. 17 in a 5-2 loss to Minnesota, but it was unclear how long he would be sidelined.<h2>RANGERS</h2>A 3-2 loss to Chicago Jan. 17 left the Rangers with 60 points in 50 games, their second-highest total in the past six seasons. They had 61 points through 50 games of the 198889 season and had 63 after the same period in 1983-84&hellip;The loss left Roger Neilson still one short of 250 NHL career coaching victories (249213-95) as the Rangers entered the all-star break&hellip;The game was the 500th in the NHL career of defenseman James Patrick&hellip;Opponents scored more than one power-play goal in just five of the Rangers&rsquo; first 50 games&hellip;When center Kelly Kisio was sidelined for the Chicago game by a groin pull suffered in practice, Patrick wore the captain&rsquo;s &ldquo;C&rdquo; while Bernie Nicholls took over Patrick&rsquo;s &ldquo;A.&rdquo;<h2>PENGUINS</h2>The Penguins seemed increasingly pessimistic that center Mario Lemieux would be ready to rejoin the lineup Jan. 22, as had been projected. That date had been targeted even before Lemieux resumed skating Dec. 30. &ldquo;The 22nd was a paper date,&rdquo; coach Bob Johnson said. &ldquo;He may not be ready until Feb. 1. He&rsquo;s not going to play until he&rsquo;s in hockey shape.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Barry Pederson was elected to a position few guys campaign for&mdash;player representative. He succeeds Jim Johnson, who was traded to Minnesota in December. Left winger Kevin Stevens was voted the alternate rep&hellip;The Penguins&rsquo; 6-5 overtime victory in Toronto Jan. 17 preserved an impressive, albeit unofficial, streak. It meant the Penguins reached the all-star break without losing consecutive games since Dec. 811. They were 13-5 during that time.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Tensions were so high during the Devils&rsquo; six-game losing streak that Claude Lemieux and Troy Crowder traded cross-checks and shoves during one practice. Lemieux, who challenged Crowder, was stunned when his teammate cross-checked him in the face&hellip;Kirk Muller scored his 500th NHL point with a goal on Jan. 16 and broke Aaron Broten&rsquo;s Devil record the same night by playing in his 289th consecutive game&hellip;A Soviet camera crew followed Viacheslav Fetisov for more than a week to film a 90-minute TV documentary on the Russian star&hellip;Eric Weinrich went from a league-leading plus-26 to plus-20 in four games after defense partner Bruce Driver suffered a broken rib Jan. 8.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Goalie Glenn Healy, who started 16 of the Islanders&rsquo; 19 games before-the all-star break and kept his team, competitive in most of them, believes he was responsible for a 5-4 defeat against Boston Jan. 15. But teammate Ray Ferraro said: &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t expect Heals to make 40 saves every night. On a night he&rsquo;s not as sharp, the rest of us have to pick him up for a change, instead of him picking us up 10 nights in a row.&rdquo; Healy was replaced by Jeff Hackett after the first period of a 6-1 loss to Edmonton two nights later. It was Hackett&rsquo;s first appearance in a game at Nassau Coliseum since Dec. 1&hellip;The all-star break was a welcome respite for defenseman Joe Reekie, who was recovering from an eye injury. He was clipped by a stick in a game against Detroit Jan. 12, while he was leading the team with a plus-12 rating. &#9632;

BACK SURGERY SIDELINES HOWE

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div>Other players have played for the New York Rangers, then for the New Jersey Devils&mdash;Bob Brooke, most recently, along with George McPhee, Steve Richmond, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Doug Sulliman and Carol Vadnais.Joe Cirella merely reversed the route, playing six full seasons with the Devils first, then migrating to the Rangers by way of the Quebec Nordiques.The 6-foot-3, 210-pound defenseman was obtained from the Nordiques just before the all-star break Jan. 17.Seeking depth against the annual February/late-season injury onslaught, the Rangers acquired the 27-year-old for University of Vermont defenseman Aaron Miller, 19, (no relation to the Rangers&rsquo; Kevin, Washington&rsquo;s Kelly or Quebec&rsquo;s Kip) plus a fifth-round pick in next June&rsquo;s draft.&ldquo;We just wanted to make sure what happened last year didn&rsquo;t happen this year,&rdquo; general manager Neil Smith explained. &ldquo;We went into the playoffs last year with all our defensemen banged up except for James Patrick. Mark Hardy hurt his ankle, Randy Moller had a bad shoulder, Normand Rochefort had a bad knee and David Shaw had shoulder surgery.&rdquo;And, of course, there was the broken ankle suffered late in the season by Brian Leetch. That left the Rangers using Jeff Bloemberg, Lindy Ruff and Miloslav Horava.Bloemberg has been with the Rangers&rsquo;-American League affiliate in Binghamton all season, Horava appeared in only 22 of the Rangers&rsquo; first 50 games and Ruff has spent most of his time at the end of the depth chart on left wing.Cirella had earned his way out of playing time in Quebec. The Nordiques had scratched him from the games prior to the transaction, leading the defenseman to believe something was up&mdash;but nothing as pleasant as a return to familiar turf.&ldquo;Going from a last-place team to a first-place team is every player&rsquo;s dream,&rdquo; Cirella said. &ldquo;Plus, I know the area, I know what to expect and I know the Patrick Division.&rdquo;What was not known immmediately was where Cirella would play. The first-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in the 1981 draft generally plays the right side, but the Rangers&rsquo; right side is already patrolled by two former Nordiques, Moller and Shaw, plus Patrick. Another former Quebec defenseman, Rochefort, also is in the left-side crowd with option playout Mark Hardy, Horava, and Norris-Trophy candidate Leetch.&ldquo;Milo isn&rsquo;t the type of defenseman who can replace a (physical player such as) a Rochefort or a Shaw. He can replace a Leetch or a Patrick as a puck-carrying defenseman for a short period,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;But Joe can replace either.&rdquo;And, though a right-hand shot, Cirella says he can play either side.&ldquo;I was playing the left side on the power play in Quebec,&rdquo; said Cirella, who in 39 games this season had two goals, 10 assists and a mind-boggling, league-worst minus-28 defensive rating that was the worst among all Nordiques.But Hardy and Patrick kill penalties, as do Rochefort and Moller. Leetch and Patrick run the power play, though Cirella could complement Moller on the second unit. From the look of it, though, another trade should not be shocking.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 17: Aaron Miller, D, and a fifth-round pick in 1991 traded to Quebec for Joe Cirella, D. Tie Domi, RW, recalled from Binghamton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kevin Miller, Darren Turcotte, Bernie Nicholls, Mark Janssens.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick, Troy Mallette, Rick Bennett, Lindy Ruff.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Jody Hull, Brian Mullen, Ray Sheppard, Tie DomiLD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Normand Rochefort, Miloslav Horava.RD&mdash;James Patrick, Randy Moller, David Shaw, Joe Cirella.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jan Erixon, LW, sprained knee, day-to-day Bob Froese, G, shoulder surgery, out for season Kris King, LW, sprained knee, day-to-day. Kelly Kisio, C, pulled groin, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gartner, 25. A&mdash;Leetch, 45. P&mdash;Leetch, 56. PIM&mdash;Mallette, 126. &#9632;

TRADE FOR CIRELLA ADDS DEPTH TO DEFENSE

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>Having spent 13 years going into the corners, playing strong defense, scoring key goals and generally lifting the mood of his team, Don Maloney retired to help a franchise he used to hate.The 32-year-old left winger formally ended his playing career with the New York Islanders to take an interestingly diverse position in an organization he had viewed as a bitter rival during his 11 years as a New York Ranger.&ldquo;Even though they were the hated enemy for all those years, you had to admire how they came together as a team,&rdquo; said Maloney, whose sharp mind and genial nature convinced Islanders&rsquo; general manager Bill Torrey to keep him on board.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re scouting talent, whether it&rsquo;s for on the ice or off the ice, it&rsquo;s amazing how so many of the same ingredients you look for,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;All the things Al (Arbour, the coach) and I liked in him as a player will carry over into his new career. I think he has a very bright future.&rdquo;That future will take shape gradually. For the rest of this season, Maloney will spend half his time on the ice as a member of Arbour&rsquo;s coaching staff. The remainder of his workday will be spent on administrative functions in Torrey&rsquo;s office. Maloney also will evaluate minor-league talent, both inside and out of the Islander system.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t given him a title specifically because he&rsquo;s going to spend time in all phases of the business,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;We want to give him a chance to see what it&rsquo;s like on the other side of the fence. And we&rsquo;re going to assess him.&rdquo;His career as a player would be judged successful and admirable by most. In 765 NHL games, he collected 214 goals and 350 assists.Asked to identify his most cherished moments, he mentioned having been named most valuable player in the 1984 All-Star Game and having played in the Rangers&rsquo; emotional playoff triumph over the top-ranked Islanders in the 1979 playoffs.Fans of both New York teams vividly recall the controversial goal he scored &iexcl;ate in Game 5 of a 1984 playoff series, which forced overtime. It still is not clear whether Maloney&rsquo;s stick had been illegally high as he knocked the puck past Bill Smith&mdash;now a colleague on Arbour&rsquo;s staff.&ldquo;It was so high, you couldn&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; Maloney says now. &ldquo;It definitely should have been disallowed.&rdquo;He pointed out one glaring void in his career.&ldquo;As a player, everybody has a goal of winning the Stanley Cup. Obviously, that has never been realized for me. So the idea of joining the Islanders, a proven winner, and the chance to bring the Stanley Cup back is real exciting for me,&rdquo; he said.It will take a lot of work just to help make the offense-poor, last-place Islanders competitive again. But work was the foundation of Maloney&rsquo;s career, even though, when asked how he&rsquo;d like to be remembered, he joked: &ldquo;As a 50-goal scorer.&rdquo;Torrey, leaning over to Maloney&rsquo;s side of the podium, said: &ldquo;Hey, if you were a 50-goal scorer, you wouldn&rsquo;t be standing here.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 17: Don Maloney, LW, retired to take a position in management. Greg Parks, C, assigned to Capital District (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine. Brent Sutter, Ray Ferraro. Hubie McDonough.LW&mdash;David Volek, Derek King, Bill Berg, Dave Chyzowski.RW&mdash;Randy Wood, Patrick Flatley, Brad Lauer, Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Rich Pilon, Jeff Norton, Wayne McBean, Ken Baumgartner.RO&mdash;Gary Nylund, Craig Ludwig. Jari Gronstrand.G&mdash;Glenn Healy. Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brad Dalgarno, RW, lacerated jaw, day-to-day. Mark Fitzpatrick, G, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, indefinite. Joe Reekie, D, hyphema (internal bleeding) in the right eye, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine, 25. A&mdash;LaFontaine. 27. P&mdash;LaFontaine, 52. PIM&mdash;Baumgartner. 161. &#9632;

MALONEY RETIRES TO HELP LONGTIME RIVAL

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01215/5875858-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="363" height="606"></div>For those not familiar with the hinterlands of hockey, it might be noted the Vancouver Canucks haven&rsquo;t finished at or above .500 in 14 years.While it&rsquo;s easy to blame management, poor drafting and every other reason there is for defeat, clearly the evidence is mounting that geography also plays a part.This fact is not lost on Canucks&rsquo; vicechairman and governor Arthur Griffiths when the NHL governors discuss realignment.The push by Los Angeles and Chicago towards creating one Canadian division with the remainder of Canadian teams in another divison but the same conference, is totally repugnant to Griffiths. And geography has a lot to do with it.&ldquo;The Canadian division is a garbage idea,&rdquo; says Griffiths, who has been getting overtures from Peter Pocklington in Edmonton and Cliff Fletcher in Calgary to go along with the idea.&ldquo;If we have to play divisional games in three time zones, it will cripple our chances to be competitive. I have to fight this with logic, and logic is very definitely on our side in this discussion.&ldquo;My view is that the rivalries and divisions are essentially fine the way they are. If it isn&rsquo;t broken, why fix it?&rdquo;The Kings claim cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary are not easily identified in the minds of the people of L.A. But Griffiths insists they can&rsquo;t prove it.&ldquo;There is absolutely no negative impact on their gate with teams like Edmonton and Calgary coming in,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;A sellout is a sellout.&ldquo;As far as the post-Gretzky era, let us address that when we get there. It&rsquo;s absolutely ridiculous for us to consider playing across Canada. Two time zones is the absolute limit. Three is ridiculous. No league in North America considers playing on an East-West basis.&rdquo;The argument Griffiths hears from the idea&rsquo;s supporters is that it will lower the team&rsquo;s expenses. But he has had preliminary reports done and insists there are no such savings.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot more expensive to fly in Canada than it is in the U.S. and our travel costs are already the highest in the league,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It would be a tradeoff. The money we&rsquo;d save on hotel and team costs would balance the increase in air fares.&rdquo;The Griffiths&rsquo; family is sometimes accused of being bottom-line oriented, but in this case, the real concern is the effect of divisional travel of three time zones on the players.The Canucks have been closely studying the effects of flying with researchers at the University of B.C. and all their data points to increased difficulty.No detailed data is yet available from the jet lag study which has been underway over a year. But at the very least it has been determined that it takes at least a day to recover from every time zone crossed to achieve absolute peak performance.&ldquo;As it is, we spend 87 days on the road,&rdquo; says Griffiths. &ldquo;Our preliminary investigations on a schedule with the Canadian division show that would go up 10 days. Montreal is something like 42 days on the road.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to Paul Martha in Pittsburgh who is not affected by this issue and he sees our point. When the eastern teams try to put the shoe on the other foot, it gives them a better look at what we&rsquo;re facing.Griffiths is also worried about the ability of a Canadian division team being able to trade effectively.Clearly, if a player wanted to go to the States, he just asks to be traded and the team, not wanting to move a player within its division, virtually has to move him south. Any player could simply order up a move south.&ldquo;Pat (Canucks&rsquo; president and general manager Quinn) feels it would go a long way to making Canadian teams a farm team for U.S. teams,&rdquo; says Griffiths.The Vancouver governor also feels there is potential for the festering of a Canadian-U.S. alignment within the teams, particularly in the area of broadcasting where disagreements over revenue sharing could become far more pronounced.&ldquo;This has always been an international league and if we all start looking after our own national interests, it could become destructive,&rdquo; says Griffiths. &ldquo;I mean these things should have been settled in 1812.&rdquo;Griffiths did not say so in so many words, but indications are he feels potential is still great for disagreement along divisional, and hence national lines. Future television revenue from a possible U.S. network contract could be argued over and the formula for revenue sharing would be voted out in favor of sharing on a national basis.Tony Gallagher is a columnist with the Vancouver Province and hosts a sports talk show on the Satellite Radio Network in western Canada. &#9632;

f0044-01

VANCOUVER OPPOSED TO ALL-CANUCK DIVISION

Chicago coach-general manager Mike Keenan has little patience with his goaltenders. Last season, he used two goalies in one game 16 times. And despite leading the league in goals-against average at the all-star break, the Chicago coach had lifted his goalies six times this season, fifth most in the league. Only Quebec (10), Vancouver (nine), Winnipeg (seven) and Philadelphia (seven) did it more.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02139/5875889-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="564" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Keenan</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0044-02

ODDITIES

The war in the Persian Gulf cast its shadow on all festivities at the all-star weekend in Chicago Jan. 18-19, and the national anthems were particularly affected. Both the Canadian and American anthems had an added edge as flags and banners were unfurled and waved from the two balconies. &ldquo;We support the all-stars in the gulf,&rdquo; read one banner. &ldquo;GI&rsquo;s are the real all-stars,&rdquo; proclaimed another. Former North Star Bill Goldsworthy was impressed by the patriotic showing. &ldquo;What little hair I have left was standing up,&rdquo; he said before the Hero&rsquo;s Game Jan. 18. &ldquo;This was more dramatic than crowd reaction during the 1972 Canada Cup.&rdquo;<h2>CLOUDY FUTURE</h2>Bill Goldsworthy, who is a scout for the San Jose Sharks, said he is concerned about the future of pro hockey in Minnesota. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s sad what&rsquo;s going on there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It would be a travesty to have hockey leave the Twin Cities.&rdquo; Goldsworthy added that fans should ignore reports the Sharks are in trouble. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re selling tickets and we haven&rsquo;t even begun our advertising program yet.&rdquo;<h2>SURE, MIKE</h2>Boston coach Mike Milbury, who coached the Prince of Wales team in the All-Star Game, said questionable selections Brian Skrudland and Chris Nilan were made to help ensure a defensive, tight-checking game. And he tried to slam home that point to his players just before the game. He was particularly concerned about Pittsburgh&rsquo;s offensive defenseman Paul Coffey. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to play a defensive game, right Paul?&rdquo; Milbury said, to which Coffey replied: &ldquo;Defenseman don&rsquo;t make any money, you ought to know that Mike.&rdquo;<h2>HOCKEY&rsquo;S JUST A GAME</h2>Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; right winger Scott Young, who scored the winning goal in a 6-5 overtime win over Toronto Jan. 17, put the accomplishment into proper perspective after the game. &ldquo;A hockey game doesn&rsquo;t mean a whole lot when you consider there is a war going on,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Bombs are falling all over there and a lot of people are going to be killed. That&rsquo;s life and death. We&rsquo;re only talking about two points here.&rdquo;<h2>MURDOCH&rsquo;S BACK</h2>Former New York; Edmonton and Detroit right winger Don Murdoch, who recently worked as a scout for the Red Wings, has jumped to the fledgling Tampa Bay Lightning. Murdoch&rsquo;s first task for the Lightning was to scout the Japanese national team in Western Canada. It seems four Japanese businesses own the Lightning and Phil Esposito would like to sign a Japanese player.<h2>PUCK HOG</h2>Injured Los Angeles King Tom Laidlaw recently guested on Gabe Kaplan&rsquo;s California sports call-in show and was asked to recall the worst thing a coach ever told him. Laidlaw replied: &ldquo;The coach said, &lsquo;If a guy gives you the puck, Tommy, you give it back to him because that guy obviously made a mistake.&rsquo;&rdquo; Laidlaw says the coach in question was Rangers&rsquo; coach Herb Brooks.<h2>QUESTION OF THE WEEK:</h2>Should the NHL consider altering the schedule because of the Gulf War? &ldquo;This is a big business and we&rsquo;re only there to entertain people,&rdquo; said St. Louis general manager Ron Caron. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think changing the schedule would be a positive solution. It&rsquo;s (the war) awful but you can&rsquo;t get to a point where you stop living.&rdquo; &#9632;

GULF WAR DIMS GALA FESTIVITIES

&#9632; Last season, the Victoria Cougars of the Western League set a league record for the most consecutive losses. This season, the Victoria curse continues as the Victoriaville Tigres of the Quebec League are closing in on the Cougars&rsquo; futility record.&#9632; We&rsquo;ll look at the inexperienced and unheralded Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defense corps led by Mathieu Schneider, J.J. Daigneault and other young rearguards.&#9632; We&rsquo;ll also look at the abundance of college-trained goaltenders in the American League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0396/5875944-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="565" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mathieu Schneider</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0044-03

NEXT ISSUE

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SELL</div>A Iafrate brought his old equipment from Toronto when he arrived to play his first game as a Washington Capital against Minnesota Jan. 17.And strangely, his old, well-worn equipment felt Christmas Day new.&ldquo;This is the best,&rdquo; Iafrate said. &ldquo;All my equipment feels lighter, my skates feel lighter, everything feels lighter and I&rsquo;ve only been here a day.&rdquo;Capitals&rsquo; management was glad to acquire Iafrate, who came over in a Jan. 16 trade for center Peter Zezel and defenseman Bob Rouse.Iafrate was Toronto&rsquo;s first pick (fourth overall) in the 1984 entry draft. The 6-foot-3,215-pound offensive defenseman scored 78 goals and 232 points in six seasons with Toronto prior to this season. In 41 games this year, Iafrate had three goals and 18 points.&ldquo;He gives us a defenseman who can play in a lot of situations and log a lot of ice time,&rdquo; general manager David Poile said.Iafrate was thrilled to get out of Toronto. Two months shy of his 25th birthday, Iafrate joined the Maple Leafs when he was 18.Iafrate&rsquo;s seasons received mixed reviews in Toronto. Some were great, some were adequate and the last few were filled with anguish over personal problems that Iafrate felt were amplified by the pressure of playing in the city.&ldquo;The attention is good when you&rsquo;re young, but after seven years, I was getting sick of being in a fish bowl,&rdquo; Iafrate said.Last season was Iafrate&rsquo;s best. He mad 21 goals and 42 assists for a career-high 63 points.He also attended the NHL All-Star Game in Pittsburgh and impressed everyone by registering the hardest shot&mdash;96 m.p.h&mdash;in the skills&rsquo; competition.The Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs by St. Louis in the first round, but Iafrate didn&rsquo;t play. Just before the end of the regular season, Iafrate tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.Despite the injury, the Leafs signed him to a three-year contract that reportedly will pay him $388,000 (U.S.) per season.But while Iafrate&rsquo;s knee may be fine physically, the lengthy healing process may have taken a mental toll.Initially, Iafrate had major surgery, two arthroscopic examinations and a third after the surgery to clear up an infection.He returned to practice when training camp opened&mdash;faster than anyone else who has had a similar injury&mdash;but he felt his knee was not completely back to normal.Iafrate&rsquo;s personal life was also subjected to public ridicule.He was divorced a couple of years ago, but Toronto teammate Gary Leeman began a relationship with his ex-wife.And this fall, during a practice in St. Louis, Iafrate was served with a paternity suit by a St. Louis woman who said Iafrate fathered her child. That situation has not been resolved.Iafrate made an auspicious debut in the Capitals&rsquo; 5-2 loss to Minnesota. Paired with former midget teammate (with Detroit Compuware) Kevin Hatcher, Iafrate assisted on the Capitals&rsquo; first goal. But late in the game, he drew penalties for roughing, spearing and fighting.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 16: Bob Rouse, D, and Peter Zezel, C, traded to Toronto for Al lafrate, D.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Michal Pivonka, Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, Dave Tippett.LW&mdash;Dimitri Khristich, Kelly Miller, John Druce, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Steve Leach, Alan May.LD&mdash;Al lafrate, Calle Johansson, Joel Quenneville.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Mike Lalor, Mikhail Tatarinov.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Peter Bondra. RW. sore shoulder, day-to-day. Chris Felix, D, broken ankle, indefinite. Rod Langway, D, back spasms, day-to-day Neil Sheehy, D, herniated disc, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Druce, 18. A&mdash;Hatcher, 33. P&mdash;Hatcher, 48. PIM&mdash;Hunter, 139. &#9632;

MISUNDERSTOOD IAFRATE HOPES FOR FRESH START

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>Doug Carpenter didn&rsquo;t survive in Toronto but Rick Dudley weathered the storm in Buffalo.And as the New Jersey Devils stumbled towards the all-star break, coach John Cunniff&rsquo;s future could&rsquo;ve gone either way.But the heat disapated after a come-from-behind 2-2 tie with Chicago Jan. 16. a rare dressing room tongue-lashing from general manager Lou Lamoriello and the public backing of captain Kirk Muller.&ldquo;A lot was said, but it hurt us when we read in the papers about Cunny,&rdquo; Muller said after the Devils snapped their six-game losing streak against Chicago. &ldquo;If anything bothered me, it was reading his job was on the line. He shouldn&rsquo;t have taken all the heat. We&rsquo;re all guilty. I hope it shows how much we want to play for him.&rdquo;Cunniff said he wasn&rsquo;t walking the gang plank after the Devils fell to fourth place in the Patrick Division with a 10-game winless streak (0-6-4) prior to the tie.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not under the gun from the organization,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had an indication from Lou or (chairman) John McMullen. Maybe McMullen will want a change, but I don&rsquo;t sense it. The pressure is my own pressure. I feel pressure when we lose one game.&rdquo;The Devils&rsquo; losing streak reached six after a 6-1 loss to Los Angeles Jan. 14. It marked New Jersey&rsquo;s longest losing streak since March 9-19, 1986.After the loss, Lamoriello read the team the riot act in a dressing room meeting prior to practice.Lamoriello, who would not discuss the outburst, told his players they didn&rsquo;t seem upset enough about losing.&ldquo;The biggest thing I see is mental. We&rsquo;re feeling sorry for ourselves and there&rsquo;s not enough intensity and fear of losing,&rdquo; Cunniff said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not to the point where they&rsquo;d kill to win.&ldquo;We knew this was the next step for this organization. The beauty is, we&rsquo;re still in the playoff picture. I still feel good about this team and I feel good about the individuals we have. It&rsquo;s a mental thing. This organization has had this happen to it before and been destroyed by it.&rdquo;So how close did New Jersey management come to dismissing Cunniff?&ldquo;I guess that&rsquo;s for me to know and for me to make the decision,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take the responsibility. I&rsquo;m satisfied this team can come out of it. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a crisis point, but for me to say I&rsquo;m not unhappy or concerned, I&rsquo;d be kidding you.&ldquo;My relationship with John has not changed. I feel John&rsquo;s personality and composure could turn out to be a very positive thing during this.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re fortunate to have a coach like Cunny in this situation,&rdquo; said Muller, who scored the tying goal against Chicago. &ldquo;The way he&rsquo;s handling it, nobody should feel tight. He&rsquo;s certainly doing his part. He could&rsquo;ve blown his top, but he hasn&rsquo;t. Everyone feels he&rsquo;s the type of guy you want to play for.&rdquo;The tie against the league&rsquo;s top team and a few days off buoyed Cunniff&rsquo;s spirits.&ldquo;It was a big comeback. I expect us to build from this,&rdquo; Cunniff said.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 17: Jon Monis, C, and Jeff Madill, RW, assigned to Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Dave Maley, Patrik Sundstrom, Laurie Boschman.LW&mdash;Kirk Muller, Zdeno Ciger, Pat Conacher, Al Stewart.RW&mdash;John MacLean, Claude Lemieux, Doug Brown. Troy Crowder.LD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Viacheslav Fetisov, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Alexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich, Myles O&rsquo;Connor.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Sean Burke.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bruce Driver, D. broken rib, indefinite. Lee Norwood. D. separated left shoulder, day-to-day Brendan Shanahan, LW. fractured right cheekbone, indefinite. Walt Poddubny, LW, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;MacLean, 28. A&mdash;Muller, 36. P&mdash;Muller, 50. PIM&mdash;Stewart, 159. &#9632;

HEAT’S OFF BUT CUNNIFF STILL FEELS PRESSURE

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Scott Young knew he would be changing sweaters when Pittsburgh acquired him from Hartford for Rob Brown Dec. 21. Realized he&rsquo;d be switching divisions, too.But he probably had no idea just how great the change in playing styles would be. After working within the Whalers&rsquo; defense-oriented system for so long, he had to adjust to the freewheeling play that predominates in Pittsburgh.He went from a team that regards a 4-3 game as a shootout to one that considers a 6-5 final to be just a normal night at the office.&ldquo;We played at Washington the day after Christmas and it was 5-0 (in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s favor) after the first period,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;I was shocked. I was very unaccustomed to something like that in Hartford.&ldquo;The big difference between here and the Whalers is there&rsquo;s a more creative style here. The ice is opened up more, you get a lot more opportunities to score.&ldquo;In Hartford, we played a grinding style, a dump-it-in style. A lot of teams in the Adams Division play that way because of the small rinks. We had to play that way to win.&rdquo;Young seems to be adapting quite nicely, however. He reached the all-star break with six goals and 10 points in 13 games with the Penguins.He had five goals in the seven games that preceded the break, including the overtime game-winner in a 6-5 victory in Toronto Jan. 17.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s scoring a lot of goals,&rdquo; center John Cullen said. &ldquo;And he gets big goals.&rdquo;Young has one of the hardest shots in. the NHL, but the Penguins didn&rsquo;t acquire him because they needed a goal-scorer. Indeed, they gave up an accomplished one to get Young because they felt his versatility and defensive work would fill some voids in their lineup.&ldquo;I like Scott Young because he&rsquo;s a hard worker,&rdquo; coach Bob Johnson said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t need to score 50 goals to help us. He has got good speed and he can play defense for us.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a complete hockey player. He&rsquo;s a skilled player and he gives us (versatility) by being able to play left wing, right wing and defense.&rdquo;Young, a Clinton, Mass., native, is the latest player with ties to that state to join the Penguins. Tom Barrasso, Kevin Stevens, Phil Bourque and Paul Stanton were born there. Cullen attended Boston University, Joe Mullen went to Boston College and Barry Pederson and Randy Hillier are former Bruins.&ldquo;It has definitely made thing easier,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d never been traded before, but I felt comfortable right away.&rdquo;Young certainly looks as if he is settling in. He has been labeled an underachiever&mdash;a player whose size and skills should have made him a greater force than he has been&mdash;throughout his career, but the Penguins regard anything that happened in Hartford as a mere footnote to the story of Young&rsquo;s career.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what he has done or not done in the past and I couldn&rsquo;t care less,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s here now and we want to get the most out of him.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;John Cullen, Randy Gilhen, Jiri Hrdina, Barry Pederson.LW&mdash;Phil Bourque, Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Mark Recchi, Joe Mullen, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Young, Tony Tanti, Jay Caufield.LO&mdash;Paul Coffey, Zarley Zalapski, Gordie Roberts.RD&mdash;Peter Taglianetti, Paul Stanton, Larry Murphy, Gord Dineen.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso. Frank Pietrangelo. Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Delorme, D, leg stress fracture, indefinite Randy Hillier, D, broken foot, day-to-day Mario Lemieux, C, back infection, day-to-day. Bryan Trottier, C, pulled groin, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Stevens, 24. A&mdash;Cullen, 56. P&mdash;Cullen, 77. PIM&mdash;Coffey, 91. &#9632;

VERSATILE WINGER PLAYING WITH YOUNG HEART

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>After a pressure-filled first half of the season, Rick Tocchet headed to the NHL All-Star Game just looking to &ldquo;have some fun.&rdquo;The right winger arrived in Chicago as the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; lone representative to the mid-season classic. His appearance culminated a week that saw him reach the 30-goal mark for the fourth straight year and tie Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman for second in league goal scoring (31) behind St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull.Tocchet, who signed a multimillion-dollar contract before the season started, felt driven to live up to his salary right away.He hasn&rsquo;t disappointed, leading the Flyers to a surprise second-place standing in the Patrick Division. But it hasn&rsquo;t been as easy as people might think.&ldquo;I think Rick put a lot of pressure on himself, more than anyone else,&rdquo; said coach Paul Holmgren. &ldquo;He wanted to justify the contract.&rdquo;&ldquo;I do put a lot of pressure on myself,&rdquo; Tocchet admitted. &ldquo;There were games I remember where I didn&rsquo;t score and couldn&rsquo;t sleep at night.&ldquo;Paul just told me to relax. The good thing about Paul is he has never put any pressure on me to score. He has told me, &lsquo;Hey, if you don&rsquo;t score, don&rsquo;t worry about it.&rsquo; &ldquo;It took a while but Tocchet gradually got back into a groove. Now he&rsquo;s almost on pace for his first 50-goal season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been able to relax,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was a little apprehensive at first but once the contract was settled, it felt like the world was off my back.&rdquo;Since 1988, Tocchet has been steadily moving up into the league&rsquo;s scoring elite. He&rsquo;s a far cry from the 20-year-old rookie who took on every I tough guy who was willing to drop his gloves.As his penalty minutes have dropped, his points have gone up. Last year he finished with 96 points, just missing a chance to become the Flyers&rsquo; first 100-point scorer since 1975-76.Tocchet, who made his third straight appearance in the All-Star Game, has been drawing double coverage in a lot of games this season because he is one of the Flyers&rsquo; few legitimate scoring threats. But he&rsquo;s managed to keep putting the puck in the net anyway.And Tocchet still plays a physical game when he has too. He will pass Holmgren as the team&rsquo;s all-time penalty minute leader before the season ends. It&rsquo;s just a matter of being more reserved and picking the right time.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 16: Tony Horacek, LW, assigned to Hershey (AHL). Jan. 17: Kerry Huffman, D, and Chris Jensen. RW. recalled from Hershey. Jan. 18: Huffman and Jensen assigned to Hershey.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ricci, Ron Sutter, Keith Acton. Martin HostakLW&mdash;Pelle Eklund. Murray Craven, Derrick Smith, Craig Berube.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Scott Mellanby, Dale Kushner, Norm Lacombe.LD&mdash;Terry Carkner, Jin Latal, Murray BaronRD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson. Gord Murphy. Dave Fenyves.G&mdash;Ron Hextall. Ken Wregget. Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Chychrun, D, broken left wrist, indefinite Mark Howe, D, back surgery, indefinite. Tim Kerr. RW, sore right knee, indefinite. Scott Sandelin. D. broken right arm, indefinite<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tocchet, 31. A&mdash;Eklund. 35. P&mdash;Tocchet, 55. PIM&mdash;Berube, 116. &#9632;

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February 1, 1991

ELSTON

PUGILISTIC POTVIN MAKES AN IMPRESSION

PRO FILE

BRIND’AMOUR HIT HARDEST BY SOPHOMORE JINX