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 22, 1991

The Hockey News February 22, 1991

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011346/5885700-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="537" height="623"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC DUHATSCHEK</figcaption></div>This happened back in 1976 while coasting through my second-last year of an English degree at Scarborough College. We members of the Neil McNeil high school alumni association liked to idle away the days by commandeering an empty classroom and coming to the aid Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; general manager Jim Gregory.We would list a number of trade possibilities on the chalk board, usually featuring Jimmy Jones, Jerry Butler and Pat Boutette. We&rsquo;d wheel the three of them out of Toronto for two players that weren&rsquo;t helping Atlanta and then turn them plus say Willie Brossart into two more desirable commodities.After 15 or so fairly logical moves, we&rsquo;d parleyed the Leafs&rsquo; checking line into Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt. We could never figure out why Gregory failed to do as well in the trading game.That thinking was probably etched in my subconscious mind when The Hockey News&rsquo; Brian Costello called with a special assignment. Each of THINs 21 correspondents would get to play GM with the teams they covered. So for a fortnight, I became the Calgary Flames&rsquo; Cliff Fletcher.Our trading deadline was set at Feb. 14 to give the real NHL GMs the benefit of our inquiries. Naturally, my first move was to call my old buddy Ron Caron (ably represented by Dave Luecking). I wanted Brett Hull back. Three years ago, I loaned him to the Blues because I didn&rsquo;t really need any more scoring on the right side, not with Hakan Loob and Joey Mullen. Besides, Hull wasn&rsquo;t going to play much here with Terry Crisp as the coach. So why not help out the old Professor? Just so long as I could get him back when I needed him and I had a coaching staff in place that would appreciate him for what he was, a pure goalscorer.Now, I couldn&rsquo;t give him Rob Ramage anymore because I traded him to Toronto last year, so I did the next best thing offered him the second-round draft choice I received from Toronto plus goaltender Rick Wamsley. In other words, the same deal we made in March, 1988. Leucking actually turned the deal down. The nerve. The real Ron Caron never says no to Cliff Fletcher. Somebody better explain the rules to this guy.A couple of days later, Mike Keenan (disguised as Tim Sassone) brought his Blackhawks to Calgary. He wanted Doug Gilmour. Would I take Adam Creighton in return?No, I would not. Creighton&rsquo;s size may appeal to other NHL GMs, but as long as Joel Otto plays for me. I&rsquo;m not trading for a guy that&rsquo;s having an indifferent year even if it costs me my guy, who is having an indifferent year too.The psychology is interesting here. Gilmour scored big goals for me at key times in the 1989 playoffs. He didn&rsquo;t do much in the first half of this year, but recently, I saw signs that the old Gilmour was starting to return. I&rsquo;m happy to get 40 goals and 90 points from Joe Nieuwendyk every season, but I also want a second center who can score the decisive goal in the third period of a 3-3 tie.I toyed with the idea of a Gilmour-for-Dave Manson swap, but rejected that too. With Jim Kyte and Frank Musil to supplement Jamie Macoun, I&rsquo;m tough enough on the blue line. I need that gamebreaker down the middle. Tim needs that loose cannon on his blue line.Next up, I called Lou Lamoriello (Rich Chere) to tell him why Mike Vernon for Sean Burke was a no-go. On paper, the deal presented a certain logic. Burke is unpopular with New Jersey fans. Vernon is unpopular with Calgary fans. A change of scenery could help both. Besides, Lou knows my weakness for tall, rangy goal tenders.Except&hellip;Vernon won me a Stanley Cup only two years ago. That&rsquo;s how members of the NHL goaltenders&rsquo; fraternity keep score&mdash;the ones who win and the ones who don&rsquo;t. I saw Burke play more than 40 games in the 87-88 season and thought he was going to be great. I haven&rsquo;t seen enough this season to know what went wrong. But I&rsquo;m less interested now that I&rsquo;ve got Trevor Kidd coming.With a week to go, I&rsquo;m realizing how hard this is. For one thing, there&rsquo;s a compulsion to propose only major deals. Nobody&rsquo;s made an offer for the 10 to 12 players from my periphery that I would consider moving. Everybody&rsquo;s after my stars and I&rsquo;m not so sure that I want to make a deal. We may be good enough to win just by standing pat.So to use a phrase the real Cliff Fletcher trots out all the time, I&rsquo;m not going to make a deal just for the sake of making a deal.But call me anyway. Maybe I&rsquo;ll make you an offer you can&rsquo;t refuse.Eric Duhatschek covers the Flames for the Calgary Herald. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

THIS JOB IS TOUGHER THAN IT LOOKED

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Cynthia Lambert</div>Steve Yzerman and Pat LaFontaine are card-carrying members of the mutual admiration society. And why not? They have a lot in common.Both have unending work habits, special skills and heart. And they both have yet to experience great team success.&ldquo;Pat has got extraordinary speed on the ice, he just flies,&rdquo; Yzerman said of the New York Islanders&rsquo; star center, who grew up about 40 miles away from Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely their best player and he&rsquo;s still so young. He&rsquo;s also a really nice guy. He&rsquo;s such a down-to-earth person.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s tough to say where the Islanders would be today without LaFontaine, their franchise player. Since he was selected third overall&mdash;one ahead of Yzerman&mdash;in the 1983 NHL entry draft, LaFontaine has had an impact on the Islanders. Last season was his most offensively successful, as he accumulated 54 goals and 105 points.And despite the team&rsquo;s struggles the past years, LaFontaine has given New York fans something to cheer about.&ldquo;Patty is electric on the ice,&rdquo; Islanders&rsquo; coach Al Arbour said. &ldquo;You look to him every game. He&rsquo;s the type of guy who, when he&rsquo;s on, can bring you out of your seat. He&rsquo;s electric in that way. Patty means an awful lot to us.&rdquo;The Islanders are going to have to show LaFontaine financially just how much he means to them, as the star is seeking an upgraded contract that would put him on a level with&mdash;-you guessed it&mdash;Yzerman. Despite the contract dispute, LaFontaine has remained focused on the job at hand.&ldquo;I&rdquo;m never satisfied,&rdquo; said LaFontaine. 25. &lsquo;&lsquo;I feel I can always improve. It has been very frustrating. 1 put a lot of pressure on myself to help the team and to be consistent. My obligation is to the team, the coaching staff and the fans. And when things aren&rsquo;t going well, when we&rsquo;re losing. I&rsquo;ll take the responsibility.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I have a lot of respect for a guy like Steve Yzerman. His anticipation, his quickness, his ability to stickhandle in tight situations. He&rsquo;s a great player. And he leads his team.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02952/5885339-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="664" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine is seeking an upgraded contract from the Islanders.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

LaFONTAINE AIMS FOR CLASS OF YZERMAN

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div>Andre Racicot and Jean-Claude Bergeron share a lot of things.They shared the Harry Hap Holmes Memorial Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the American League last season with the Fredericton Canadiens.They share a hotel room on the road.Their names share a spot above their locker in the Canadiens&rsquo; dressing room. When Patrick Roy is healthy, they split the backup job with the Habs.And both share the realization one day in the not too distant future, the Canadiens will have to choose between them.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;ll be a big fight this year,&rdquo; Racicot, 21, said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a good thing for us to split the job this season. We&rsquo;re going to see next year who&rsquo;s going to be here. &lsquo;&lsquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s certainly some lively competition between us,&rdquo; said Bergeron, the Habs&rsquo; sixth choice, 104th overall, in the 1988 NHL entry draft.&ldquo;Andre and I are convinced we both have what it takes to play in the NHL. It&rsquo;s likely that in a year or two, the Canadiens will have to make a choice. The guy who isn&rsquo;t chosen will probably have a chance to play somewhere else in the NHL.&rdquo;So far, Racicot, once regarded as the darkhorse, is doing his best to make the Canadiens decision a tough one.At the beginning of the season, Racicot looked to be fourth on the Habs&rsquo; goaltending depth chart behind Roy, veteran Brian Hayward and Bergeron.When Hayward walked out over his lack of playing time and was traded, Bergeron was promoted from Fredericton and looked like Roy&rsquo;s heir apparent. Racicot became the No. 1 man on the farm.Racicot, the Habs&rsquo; fifth choice (83rd overall) in the 1989 draft, was called up Dec. 13 to backup Bergeron when Roy went down with a knee injury. He was inconsistent, earning a 1-1 tie against Quebec in his first start, was yanked after giving up four goals on 14 shots against Philadelphia Dec. 23 and then blanked Edmonton 3-0 Jan. 2 for his first big league shutout.&ldquo;I knew it was my big chance when 1 came here,&rdquo; Racicot said. &ldquo;I think I played pretty good.&rdquo;Well enough to make general manager Serge Savard rethink his plans. He came up with the idea to alternate Racicot and Bergeron in three-week stints between Montreal and their Fredericton farm team.Through Feb. 8, Bergeron was 6-5-1 with a 3.76 goals-against average. Racicot was 4-3-1 with a 3.33 GAA.But as the battle continues, says Racicot, the friendship remains.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fighting on the ice,&rdquo; Racicot said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re still good friends off it.&rdquo;<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Luc Gauthier, D, assigned to Fredericton (AHL). Feb. 6: Frederic Chabot, G, Benoit Brunet, LW, assigned to Fredericton; Jean-Claude Bergeron, G, recalled from Fredericton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Guy Carbonneau. Andrew Cassels, Stephan Lebeau.LW&mdash;Shayne Corson. Mike McPhee. Ryan Walter, Mark Pederson.RW&mdash;Mike Keane, Russ Courtnall, Stephane Richer, Todd Ewen, Tom Chorske.LD&mdash;Sylvain Lefebvre, Donald Dufresne. J.J. DaigneauIt.RD&mdash;Patrice Brisebois, Alain Cote, Lyle Odelein.G&mdash;Andre Racicot, J.C. Bergeron.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Eric Desjardins. D, sprained left ankle, indefinite. Brent Gilchrist. LW, separated left shoulder, Feb. 29. Patrick Roy. G, torn left ankle ligaments, indefinite. Mathieu Schneider. D, sprained left ankle, indefinite. Brian Skrudland, C, broken right foot, indefinite. Petr Svoboda. D, broken left foot, indefinite. Sylvain Turgeon, LW, broken right knee cap, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Courtnail, 21. A&mdash;Courtnall, 33. P&mdash; Courtnall. 54. PIM&mdash;Odelein, 163. &#9632;

THE NHL

RACICOT, BERGERON FRIENDLY RIVALS

<h2>Mon., Feb. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02525/5886707-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="590" height="2148"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03424/5886700-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="585" height="1388"></div><h2>Tue., Feb. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04340/5886693-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="577" height="744"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05282/5886686-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="593" height="2159"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01655/5886679-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="581" height="1313"></div><h2>Wed., Feb. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02477/5886672-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="578" height="300"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03384/5886665-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="598" height="1681"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04292/5886658-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="591" height="1679"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05240/5886651-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="586" height="1681"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06208/5886644-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="581" height="513"></div><h2>Thur. Feb. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07190/5886637-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="580" height="1078"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01570/5886630-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="592" height="3144"></div><h2>Fri., Feb. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02413/5886623-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="569" height="369"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03322/5886616-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="617" height="3565"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04267/5886609-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="589" height="1975"></div><h2>Sat., Feb. 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05236/5886602-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="585" height="1540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06206/5886595-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="610" height="3572"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07182/5886588-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="599" height="3031"></div><h2>Sun., Feb. 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08151/5886581-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="571" height="442"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01656/5886574-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="583" height="1128"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02504/5886567-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="587" height="1127"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03408/5886560-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="584" height="1120"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04314/5886553-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="589" height="1127"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05232/5886546-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="577" height="1125"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01871/5887158-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>FIGHTING WORDS FROM FLYERS, CAPITALS - PAGES 11, 12NHL FRANCHISES: GET &rsquo;EM WHILE THEY&rsquo;RE HOT - PAGE 2MIGHTY MIKE McPHEE IS HABS&rsquo; HEART AND SOUL PAGE 8POINTS FROM THE POINT: NHL&rsquo;S NEW WAVE PAGE 5A HOCKEY PRICE GUIDE FOR LAST 40 YEARSNHL&rsquo;S MOST EXCITING PLAYER&ndash;PAGE 7 &#9632;

Cover-01

THE YZE-MAN COMETH

&ldquo;They pushed our faces in the mud and kicked sand in our faces.&rdquo;&mdash;Washington coach Terry Murray, on his team&rsquo;s reaction to Philadelphia&rsquo;s physical play. Page 12.&ldquo;I had been a mess all day. I borrowed money from three people. I didn&rsquo;t bring my bank card. I was running on adrenalin.&rdquo;&mdash;Hartford&rsquo;s Ron Francis, after his wife Mary Lou gave birth to their first child Feb. 6. Page 41.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011310/5884967-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="558" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Burke speaks out about his Devilish role. Page 13.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021064/5884960-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="559" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Francis reaches two milestones the same day. Page 41.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03770/5884953-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="556" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Thomas has regained his scoring touch. Page 17.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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QUOTABLE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04546/5885022-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="518" height="613"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB MCKENZIE</figcaption></div>If you have ever dreamed of owning your own NHL franchise, listen up. There just may be a few properties on the market that may interest you.Exactly how many and which ones will depend on a number of variables, not the least of which is how the current owners think.One school of thought is that the time has never been better to cash in on the value of an NHL franchise.Case in point: In November of 1988, when Quebec Nordique president Marcel Aubut put together an ownership group to buy the club from Carling O&rsquo;Keefe Breweries, the purchase price was reportedly $14- to $18-million. Today, it is worth significantly more.Why? Because Phil Esposito&rsquo;s group in Tampa Bay and Terrace Investments Ltd. in Ottawa just recently made commitments to shell out $50 million for expansion franchises. The NHL&rsquo;s decision to expand didn&rsquo;t just give the existing clubs a cash windfall; it established, in theory, a minimum base price for an existing NHL franchise.If the Ottawa Senators, with no players, are worth $50 million, then what value do we affix to the Nordiques, who have potential NHL superstars in Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and, presumably, Eric Lindros?There are other factors mitigating in favor of selling now. One is that the cost of doing business is escalating rapidly. Salaries have gone up 15 per cent in the last year and are expected to increase that much again in the next year.The future of the game, and commerce in general, are volatile and uncertain, what with negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement this summer and the recession.A bottom-line man could look at his NHL operation, see an enterprise with a paper value of $60- or $70-million generating pre-tax profits of $6- or $7-million and decide that by cashing out now, he could invest the proceeds and make more from interest alone.If that owner truly believes the value of an NHL franchise has peaked and that he owns a depreciating asset, there&rsquo;s only one thing preventing him from moving on to greener economic pastures&mdash;thrills.Owning an NHL franchise is a trip. It&rsquo;s power. You belong to an ultra-exclusive 24-member club. You rub shoulders with elite athletes and assume a prominent position in the community.There is another reason, albeit wildly speculative, for current owners to hang onto their hockey assets&mdash;an NHL club is an excellent long-term investment.Those who subscribe to this theory believe the recession and CB A uncertainty are just temporary blips. And that by the turn of the century, the NHL will be a 28-team league, with clubs strategically located in all four comers of the U.S.Nevertheless, there&rsquo;s evidence to suggest some owners may get out while the going is good.The Winnipeg Jets, with plans for a new arena apparently on the shelf, could be had. Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s denials aside, so could the Edmonton Oilers. If the Nordiques are going to be able to pay Eric Lindros and get a fair return on their investment, they&rsquo;ll need either a new building or a new location.In the U.S., New Jersey owner John McMullen vehemently denies his hockey team is for sale. Others, however, claim a New York City firm is preparing a prospectus for just that purpose. Who do you believe?Hartford, apparently, could be had. St. Louis, too.Fueling the speculation are three interested buyers. Compuware of Detroit., Mich, who flinched at terms of payment for an expansion franchise in St. Petersburg, Fla., confirms it is in preliminary discussions with an existing U.S.-based club, but refuses to divulge which one. Lloyd Pettit of Milwaukee, who didn&rsquo;t like the expansion bang for his buck, is still interested in buying and transferring an existing club to the beautiful Bradley Center. And over in Hamilton, Tim Horton Donut magnate Ron Joyce would love nothing better to buy and move in an NHL tenant for Copps Coliseum.Joyce was prepared to spend a total of $70 million to secure an expansion franchise. What do you figure he would pay for the Nordiques or even the Jets?Bob McKenzie is editor-in-chief of The Hockey News. &#9632;

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TIME RIPE TO SELL AN NHL FRANCHISE

As a veteran Hockey News reader, I am well aware Stan Fischler usually writes his column to appeal to the readers of The National Enquirer more than those of the New York Times. His Jan. 25th column is certainly one of his best.A few comments on his musings:1. The Rangers are the 1991 Cup favorites. Come on Stan, again? (Or is Stan pulling a Dear Abby and just reprinting his column from last year without telling anyone?)2. &ldquo;The scariest thought for any club&hellip;is what Troy Crowder would be like if he owned a mean streak.&rdquo; You&rsquo;re wrong, Stan. The scariest thought is a hockey writer giving even a sideways compliment to an enforcer whose only statistical claim to fame is his fighting record.3. &ldquo;The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defense is dreadful and one-line teams never win the silverware.&rdquo; I guess Stan hasn&rsquo;t received updated statistics yet&mdash;like any from this season.The Kings have been in the top seven in goals-against average virtually all season; their penalty killing has been in the top three (yes, ahead of the Rangers); and the second line of Luc Robitaille, Todd Elik and Dave Taylor have proven to be very capable.In closing, I would like to say, Stan, keep writing your columns because, as you can see, they still keep &lsquo;em coming back for more.William E. Melzer Culver City, Calif.<h2>IT&rsquo;S PROGRESS</h2>After reading a letter calling for the banishment of aluminum sticks (THN, Feb. 1), I feel compelled to refute that stance.To shake your fist at the players who have decided to take advantage of this useful and powerful resource, is like telling tennis players who use graphite rackets to return to the antiquated, inferior wooden ones.While we&rsquo;re at it, let&rsquo;s force skiers to take on the slopes with fiberglass and wooden skis again. Why not make cyclists ride up those steep inclines on steel-framed bikes, in lieu of the unfair aluminum ones?If I&rsquo;m not mistaken, this controversial, space-age stick is readily available to one and all&mdash;not just the 100-point scorers.Sam Minster Los Angeles, Calif.<h2>ALL-STAR IDEA</h2>As a fan of complete hockey&mdash;both offense and defense&mdash;I was once again frustrated watching the recent All-Star Game in Chicago. Having Patrick Roy, Andy Moog, Mike Vernon and Bill Ranford yield a combined 16 goals should be cause for the skaters in front of them to hang their heads in shame.From the players&rsquo; perspective, I can see why they forget to play defense at the game. They have already received the honor of being selected, so why risk injury by playing defense in a game that doesn&rsquo;t count?To have a truer brand of hockey played at its annual showcase, the NHL should make the game mean something. How about awarding home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup finals to the conference that wins the All-Star Game?Tim Thibault Seattle, Wash.<h2>NO DEALS</h2>The Montreal Canadiens should put a no-trade clause in general manager Serge Savard&rsquo;s contract, meaning simply, he can&rsquo;t make any.Savard should try to strengthen his roster through the draft and player development instead of strengthening opposing teams&rsquo; rosters by making ill-advised deals.Paul Deane Mississauga, Ont.<h2>LARMER BOOSTER</h2>Letters that appear in this column often make me laugh, but Jeff Blatz&rsquo; letter (THN, Jan. 25) really made me sit up and take notice.Blatz claims Rob Brown is the second best right winger in the NHL (behind Brett Hull). What a joke! Do the names Tomas Sandstrom, Trevor Linden, John MacLean, Mike Recchi, Theoren Fleury, Cam Neely or Rick Tocchet ring a bell? If not, how about Steve Larmer?If Larmer is not the best right winger in the league, then he is definitely a close second. He is a durable, amazingly consistent and makes a solid contribution with his defensive play in addition to his considerable offensive skills. His quiet leadership on and off the ice is also a valuable commodity. These are qualities Brown will never have.With Brown, I&rsquo;m afraid the Hartford Whalers are destined to wallow in a sea of mediocrity. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, will ride home on Larmer&rsquo;s wave with the Stanley Cup triumphantly in hand.Mike Kedzierski Hazel Crest, III.<h2>CANADIAN JOKE?</h2>When I first read in the Jan. 11 issue of The Hockey News that, beginning in 1992, the Canadian national team would replace professionals at the World Championships, I thought it was a joke.Such a move can only harm international hockey and Canada&rsquo;s image abroad.In retaliation, the European countries should send their junior national teams to compete this summer in this summer&rsquo;s Canada Cup.T. Poulsen Skaerbaek, DenmarkMake 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&nbsp;(416) 445-0753. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

FRUSTRATING FISCHLER STILL A GOOD READ

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011468/5885077-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

ELSTON

&#9632; Dave Taylor. First there was Marcel Dionne. Then came Luc Robitaille and Wayne Gretzky. For his entire 14-year career, Taylor has been overshadowed in Los Angeles. Through it all, however, the club&rsquo;s all-time games-played leader has remained a constant and recently became the 29th player in NHL history to record 1,000 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021193/5885115-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="372" height="360"></div>&#9632; Mark Fitzpatrick. Many believed this would be the year Fitzpatrick would emerge as a star goaltender. But after contracting a rare muscle disease, Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s office future, let alone his career, was in doubt. Now the Islanders&rsquo; young goalie has been given the go-ahead to resume playing. Here&rsquo;s to continued good health.&#9632; Dale Hunter. The Caps&rsquo; center delivered a devastating elbow to the face of Flyer defenseman Gord Murphy. It was a vicious blow, a seemingly blatant attempt to injure. We recognize Hunter&rsquo;s style of play and what he has to do to be effective, but this action went beyond hockey&rsquo;s normal level of violence.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03784/5885108-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="374" height="361"></div>&#9632; Paul Holmgren. The Flyer coach went berserk in the same game, smashing a stick against the glass in the direction of Caps&rsquo; coach Terry Murray. Then he almost became physically involved with Cap tough guy Alan May. There&rsquo;s no excuse&mdash;not even Hunter&rsquo;s actions&mdash;for Holmgren&rsquo;s deplorable behavior. AH in all, a sad day for hockey at the Cap Centre. &#9632;

f0003-02

CHEERS JEERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021330/5885160-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="875" height="591"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031123/5885153-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="480" height="243"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011468/5885146-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="572" height="798"></div>Left winger Mike McPhee of the Montreal Canadiens, who led all NHL scorers with nine points, including seven goals and two assists, was named the NHL Pro Set Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 10.McPhee, fifth in team scoring with 33 points (17-16-33) in 43 games, edged a pair of goaltenders&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz of the Hartford Whalers and Chris Terreri of the New Jersey Devils&mdash;and Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; rookie center Sergei Fedorov 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.McPhee, a seven-year veteran with the Canadiens, began the week by recording the second four-point game of his career (3-1 - 4) in a 5-3 win over the Minnesota North Stars (Feb. 4). McPhee&rsquo;s three goals marked the third hat trick of his career.McPhee tallied a power-play goal in an 8-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks (Feb. 6), before scoring the game-winning goal in a 5-1 win over the Quebec Nordiques (Feb. 7).The 30-year-old native of Sydney, Nova Scotia then registered three points (2-1-3) to lead his club to a 6-4 win over the New York Rangers (Feb. 9).Sidorkiewicz was 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against-average, while Terreri had a 2-1-0 record with a 1.01 GAA. Fedorov had nine points (3-6-9) in three games. &#9632;

f0004-02

NHL PRO SET SPOTLIGHT

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Edmonton captain Mark Messier has indicated this season could be his last as an Oiler.But the ominous talk appears to be a smoke screen for his contract demands and owner Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s attempt for a better deal at Northlands Coliseum. Messier&rsquo;s new contract may not reach Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s level, but indications are an appropriate agreement will be reached. His fierce pride and quiet conviction are as valuable to Edmonton as Gretzky&rsquo;s playmaking skills are to the Kings. Messier has also reminded the Oilers that he, not Gretzky, won the Hart Trophy last season. And since a vicious war of words hasn&rsquo;t erupted between Pocklington and Messier&rsquo;s father-agent Doug, a deal should be hammered out. Messier has said he wants to finish his career in his hometown. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be devastated if I have to leave,&rdquo; he says. Messier is making $962,000 this season.<h2>LUCKY LUC</h2>Luc Robitaille, sixth on the Kings&rsquo; salary list at $320,000, is seeking a pay increase. Robitaille will enter his option year in 1991-92. But owner Bruce McNall may do a double-take over the amount. Robitaille&rsquo;s agent Tom Reich, who also handles Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux, says &ldquo;discussions are in the very preliminary stages. We have no timetable and no deadlines.&rdquo; Reich, who has combined forces with Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s agent Mike Barnett, says the duo now handle L.A.&rsquo;s Steve Duchesne and Marty McSorley, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul Coffey, St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull, Montreal&rsquo;s Petr Svoboda and Edmonton&rsquo;s Glenn Anderson. Hull switched to Reich-Barnett after his agent, Bob Goodenow, became NHLPA executive director&hellip;Reich believes Lemieux&rsquo;s courage over the past season has been underestimated by many. &ldquo;Mario is misunderstood in terms of his fortitude,&rdquo; says Reich.<h2>TOP PROSPECT</h2>Bart Hull, the younger brother of St. Louis sniper Brett and son of former NHLer Bobby, is a top football prospect at Boise State University in Idaho. The 6-foot, 220-pound running back, who gained 265 yards on 65 carries last season, has caught the eye of several Canadian Football League scouts. One team expressing interest is the Toronto Argonauts, about to be sold to L.A. Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall, Kings&rsquo; captain Wayne Gretzky and Canadian actor John Candy.<h2>MURPHY&rsquo;S LAW</h2>Vancouver&rsquo;s firing of Bob McCammon has put McCammon&rsquo;s good friend, Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; coach Mike Murphy, in an awkward position. Murphy is a logical replacement for McCammon, but he insists he has no designs on the job. &ldquo;Coaching was not the problem in Vancouver,&rdquo; says Murphy. &ldquo;Some of those players should take a good look in the mirror and question their dedication&hellip;I learned a lot from Bob and I&rsquo;m still learning.&rdquo;&hellip;New York Ranger Darren Turcotte, one of management&rsquo;s favorites for more than a year, is now being questioned for his attitude. A source suggests Turcotte&rsquo;s acclaim has increased his hat size beyond normal proportions.<h2>LEAGUE GLASNOST</h2>The disagreement between the IHL and AHL, which began when the IHL invaded AHL territory in Albany, N.Y., has abated now that the Choppers appear doomed. Both AHL president Jack Butterfield and his IHL counterpart, Tom Berry, are planning for the future. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re anxious to do things with them,&rdquo; says Berry, &ldquo;because we have a lot of common things to talk about.&rdquo; The possibilty of an AHL-IHL All-Star Game next season, is one such event. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s to be an All-Star Game,&rdquo; says Butterfield, &ldquo;we want a showcase, not a competition to show who&rsquo;s best. We&rsquo;re more interested in the marketing value. But the IHL seems more concerned about it being about the best team on ice. &ldquo;&hellip;Record-breaking referee Andy Van Hellemond&mdash;19 NHL seasons, 1,173-plus games&mdash;wants to referee for at least three more seasons. That would make him 46 when he retires, the same age Bruce Hood (the league record holder for oldest referee) was when he retired. Says Van Hellemond: &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t got it right after 1,100-some games. That&rsquo;s why they keep sending me out there. They want to keep me prac-tising!&rdquo;<h2>WELL TREATED</h2>Although he&rsquo;s no longer Blackhawks&rsquo; GM, Bob Pulford is getting plenty of credit for the club&rsquo;s strong performance this season. Several NHL sources have suggested he take over another NHL team as GM. &ldquo;You never say never,&rdquo; says Pulford. &ldquo;But I couldn&rsquo;t ask to be treated any better than by the Wirtz family and the Blackhawks.&rdquo;&hellip;Blues&rsquo; assistant coach Bob Berry says he&rsquo;ll never forget how Bobby Hull treated him during one game. &ldquo;I was playing against him one night in Chicago and got cut really bad,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was a rookie at the time and almost lost an eye. I was sitting alone with a big patch over my face down in the bottom of the arena. All of a sudden, I felt someone squeezing my wrist. It was Bobby. He said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t worry. They&rsquo;ll fix you up kid.&rsquo;&rdquo;&hellip;One of Brian Sutter&rsquo;s pet projects is keeping the fire going in laconic Sergio Momesso. &ldquo;Sergie has to be strong and mean,&rdquo; says Sutter. &ldquo;He has to focus his energies to being p&mdash;off. He has to go up and down and bang people.&rdquo; If not, he&rsquo;ll be on the trading block. &#9632;

MESSIER’S THREATS A SMOKE SCREEN?

<div class="byline">BY GARY LOEWEN</div>The NHL is suffering through an offensive drought, but it seems the league&rsquo;s defensemen haven&rsquo;t heard the news.Scoring is down by about half a goal a game, from an average of 7.36 last year to 6.79. Yet, a surprisingly large number of defensemen have emerged as prolific producers this season.Three rearguards have been among or near the top 10 in scoring all season while as many as five are in position to lead their respective teams in points.That&rsquo;s a striking development given that only a select few defense-men have ever finished among the league&rsquo;s leading scorers and that only three&mdash;Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque (three times), Washington&rsquo;s Larry Murphy (1986-87) and the New York Rangers&rsquo; Reijo Routsalainen (1984-85)&mdash;have topped their team in points over the past seven seasons.Over the past 20 years, since Bobby Orr startled the NHL by winning the Art Ross Trophy in 1969-70, only five defensemen have finished among the top 10&mdash;Orr (six times), Paul Coffey (five), Denis Potvin (two), Brad Park and Bourque.Calgary Flame Al Maclnnis, New York Ranger Brian Leetch along with the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Coffey, are threatening to crack that elite group this season. In the meantime, Maclnnis, Leetch and Kevin Hatcher have taken clearcut leads in scoring on their respective teams while two others, Winnipeg Jet Phil Housley and the Bruins&rsquo; Bourque had narrow leads in early February.Furthermore, about a dozen defensemen&mdash;twice as many as last year&mdash;have a legitimate shot at reaching the 70-point mark.&ldquo;Seventy points was my goal,&rdquo; Hatcher said.The 24-year-old Detroit native already has already equaled his career high of 54 established last year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just plugging away and I&rsquo;m well on my way. Maybe I should readjust my goal,&rdquo; he said.Hatcher modestly played down his team-leading point total.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011374/5885215-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="554" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Washington&rsquo;s Kevin Hatcher should reach his 70-point goal.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We do have guys who have been hurt, like Dino (Ciccarelli). He provides a lot of offense,&rdquo; he said.But Hatcher, clearly, is getting more involved offensively. Experience has taught him when to jump into the rush as a fourth man.&ldquo;If I can get a step on a forward in our own zone. I&rsquo;ll join the rush. I&rsquo;ll stop at the blue line if I see no openings.&rdquo;The Capitals&rsquo; star, like many of his contemporaries, is a mobile defenseman whose job it is to initiate rapid counterattacks after stopping opposition thrusts. They are expected to be effective at both ends of the rink.&ldquo;The transition game is becoming such a big part of having a successful team,&rdquo; Flame general manager Cliff Fletcher said. &ldquo;You have to have the personnel back there capable of moving the puck. There are a lot of offensive defensemen in the league now.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can have a team full of them, because there is still a physical dimension to playing defense&mdash;you still have to control the front of the net. Teams that have a combination of both types are the most successful.&rdquo;Winnipeg may have swung too far toward offensive-minded rear-guards&mdash;a situation Jet management hopes it corrected with the trade of Dave Ellett to the Toronto Maple Leafs in November.Now, Ellett is watching from afar as Housley attempts to break Dave Babych&rsquo;s Jet record for most points by a defenseman (74) in a season. Housley, who was on pace for a 76-point campaign through Feb. 7, also is threatening to become the first defenseman to lead the Jets in scoring.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t surprise me if (Housley) broke it,&rdquo; Ellett said of the mark established by Babych in 1982-83.&ldquo;The game has changed and defensemen are required to handle the puck more. It used to be that only a couple of teams, Edmonton and Calgary. had that good transition game. Now, every team tries to position one or two defensemen to get involved in creating offense.&rdquo;Defensemen also have capitalized upon their teams&rsquo; growing dependence on power-play proficiency. Maclnnis, for one, earns many of his points during manpower advantages, and not only because of his tremendous slapshot.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the quarterback on the power play, he sees the ice so well,&rdquo; Fletcher said.Gary Loewen is a hockey writer for the Toronto-based Globe and Mail. &#9632;

f0005-01

CASE FOR THE DEFENSE FULL OF GOOD POINTS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02998/5885246-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="547" height="1176"></div><h2>TRENT YAWNEY</h2>Born: Sept. 29, 1965, Hudson Bay, Sask. Height: 6-foot-3. Weight: 185 pounds. Team: Chicago Blackhawks. Position: Defense. Acquired: Chicago&rsquo;s 2nd choice, 45th overall, in 1984 entry draft.Career highlight: &ldquo;The semifinals the last two seasons. It&rsquo;s hard to describe the feeling you get when everything&rsquo;s at stake. Everybody&rsquo;s much more intense, especially the fans. It really gets rockin&rsquo; in the Stadium.&rdquo;Boyhood heroes: Kevin Lowe and Larry Robinson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to play against your heroes at first, but you soon realize there&rsquo;s no reason you shouldn&rsquo;t be in the NHL either.&rdquo;Most respected opponent: Steve Yzerman. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always aware of who&rsquo;s on the ice, where they&rsquo;ve been and where they&rsquo;re going. You have to be a magician to cover him.&rdquo;Most respected team: Edmonton Oilers. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t give them enough respect last season. But when it came down to the crunch, they did the job. We learned a lot.&rdquo;Favorite movie:&nbsp;The Hunt for Red October. &ldquo;It keeps you on the edge of your seat.&rdquo;Favorite book: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t read much, and it&rsquo;s not something 1 like to brag about.&rdquo;Toughest goalie: &ldquo;All of them for me.&rdquo;Biggest influence: &ldquo;My parents. They helped me think things through and spent a lot of money on me when they didn&rsquo;t have a lot.&rdquo;On life in the NHL: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not all red roses. It&rsquo;s tough sometimes, but there&rsquo;s no better way to make a living.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-02

PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>The Minnesota North Stars will be able to protect some of the young players who, until recently, seemed certain to be among those claimed by the San Jose Sharks if a yet-unsigned, still-unfinished compromise becomes final.In exchange for the largesse of Sharks&rsquo; owners George and Gordon Gund. Minnesota will probably give up an extra veteran or two.Details of the agreement likely won&rsquo;t be announced until after the season because NHL rules prohibit player transactions with a franchise that has yet to field a team.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve agreed to agree,&rdquo; North Stars&rsquo; owner Norman Green said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m convinced our dispute with San Jose will not have to be settled by the board of governors or in the courts. That&rsquo;s where it was headed if we hadn&rsquo;t found an arrangement that&rsquo;s fair to each other.&ldquo;What we need is youth and what San Jose needs is some players who can help them to be an instant (on-ice) success.&rdquo;The breakthough in negotiations came when the Sharks and North Stars were joined by the leaders of a mediation committee&mdash;Bill Wirtz of Chicago, Cliff Fletcher of Calgary and Paul Martha of Pittsburgh&mdash;who urged compromise.Representatives of both teams will meet again the week of Feb. 17 to smooth some of the rough edges.The soon-to-be final compromise seems certain to allow the North Stars to keep rookie right winger Mike Craig and defenseman Rob Zettler. A deal had already been made to allow the North Stars to keep defenseman Neil Wilkinson.Under the initial agreement between the Gunds and then-Stars&rsquo; owner Howard Baldwin, all three players would have been available to the Sharks in the cross-pollination draft.<h2>NEW COLORS</h2>The expansion San Jose Sharks called on the man who has pulled on an NHL jersey more times than anyone else to help unveil their team colors and logo.At a news conference Feb. 12, Gordie Howe, along with team owners and personnel, displayed the teal blue, gray black and white jerseys, that feature a triangle-shaped crest from which a Shark emerges biting a hockey stick in half.The Sharks&rsquo; home uniforms will have a white base, while the away base will be teal.&ldquo;Gordie Howe is a great ambassador for hockey,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; business vice-president Matt Levine of the NHL&rsquo;s all-time games played leader (1,767). &ldquo;His continuing involvement with hockey on adult and youth levels is a metaphor for what the Sharks intend to accomplish as the decade unfolds.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011554/5885277-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="565" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">The San Jose Sharks unveiled their new logo Feb. 12.</figcaption></div>The Sharks, who have already made some merchandise available to the public, are scheduled to begin play next season.<h2>DURRELL RESIGNS</h2>Colorful and controversial Jim Durrell had another surprise for the City of Ottawa Jan. 30.In an unexpected announcement, Durrell said he was stepping down as mayor to devote himself full-time to being president of the Ottawa Senators.Saying he was a man blessed with &ldquo;a great amount of energy,&rdquo; Durrell was named to the Senators post Dec. 17 and had held both positions until his resignation.But in a letter to Ottawa city council and city staff, Durrell admitted he just couldn&rsquo;t do both jobs.Durrell said the decision to quit politics came easily. He just looked at his weekly planner&ldquo;One day, 1 just looked up at (his wife) and said: &lsquo;That&rsquo;s it. There&rsquo;s no way I can continue as the mayor of Ottawa.&rsquo;&ldquo;I was looking at the planner and it was shaping up as a 40-50 hour week (on Senators&rsquo; business alone). Had I known it was going to be like this, I would have gotten out long ago.&rdquo;<h2>OBITUARY</h2>Phil Watson, the captain of the last New York Ranger team to win the Stanley Cup, died of a heart attack in his Vancouver home Feb. 1. He was 78.One of the more colorful characters in the game, Watson led the Rangers to their most recent championship in 1940, then went on to coach the Blueshirts from 1955 to 1959.During his coaching tenure in New York, Watson is best remembered for ordering his team back onto the ice for practice immediately following a loss at Madison Square Garden.Watson retired from pro hockey in the mid-&rsquo;70s following a coaching stint with the WHA&rsquo;s Philadelphia/Vancouver Blazers.<h2>HENDERSON FIRED</h2>Veteran coach Archie Henderson was fired in early February as coach of the English league&rsquo;s top team, the Murrayfield Racers.Before going to England, Henderson most recently coached Nashville of the East Coast League.<h2>CORRECTION</h2>In the Feb. 15 issue of The Hockey News, we identified 30 Canadian players who would be extended training camp invitations for this summer&rsquo;s Canada Cup.The list, in fact, included 30 players The Hockey News believed were most likely to receive invites.We apologize for the error.<h2>CANADA CUP</h2>Listed below is the round-robin Canada Cup schedule. The top four teams qualify for the semifinals, with the winners playing a best two-of-three championship series. Sites and starting times have not been finalized:Aug. 31: Sweden vs. USA; Canada vs. Finland; Soviet Union vs. Czechoslovakia.Sept. 2: Canada vs. USA; Sweden vs. Soviet Union; Czechoslovakia vs. Finland.Sept. 5: Canada vs. Sweden; Czechoslovakia vs. USA; Soviet Union vs. Finland.Sept. 7: Canada vs. Czechoslovakia; Soviet Union vs. USA; Sweden vs. Finland.Sept. 9: Canada vs. Soviet Union; Czechoslovakia vs. Sweden; Finland vs. USA.Sept. 11: First semifinal.Sept. 12: Second semifinal.Sept. 14: Final, Game 1.Sept. 16: Final, Game 2.Sept. 18: Final, Game 3 (if necessary).&mdash;with files from Chris Stevenson and Gary Olson<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>Feb. 18: Edmonton at New Jersey. Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr, who had his one-year suspension for substance abuse commuted to 60 games, is eligible to return.Feb. 26: Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs begin. Ten of the league&rsquo;s 12 teams qualify. In this, the preliminary round, teams seven through 10 play a single game at the home of the higher-seeded club.Feb. 27: Hockey East playoffs begin. All eight of the league&rsquo;s teams qualify and start with best two-of-three series at the home of the higher-seeded club.Feb. 28: Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs begin. Eight of the league&rsquo;s nine teams qualify and start with best two-of-three series at the home of the higher-seeded club.March 1: Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs begin. Eight of the league&rsquo;s nine teams qualify and start with best two-of-three series at the home of the higher-seeded club. &#9632;

f0006-01

STARS, SHARKS REACH AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE ON TALENT SHARING DEAL

<div class="byline">BY CYNTHIA LAMBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011400/5885308-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman once tried playing at 160 pounds to be quicker. When that failed, he bulked up to 185 pounds. Now he spends extra time in the weight room.</figcaption></div>Striving for excellence is what makes Steve Yzerman exciting.Sometimes the Detroit Red Wing captain&rsquo;s trial-and-error technique backfires, but one thing he does constantly is keep opponents guessing.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great talent,&rdquo; says Gerard Gallant, who has been Yzerman&rsquo;s left winger for most of the past seven seasons. &ldquo;I think what really makes him great is that he&rsquo;s unpredictable. He&rsquo;s not like a Wayne Gretzky-type. He doesn&rsquo;t skate fast all of the time and you don&rsquo;t know what he&rsquo;s going to do.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say 90 per cent of the time on a 2-on-1, Gretzky would feather a pass. The same 90 per cent of the time, Brett Hull would take the shot. With Steve, it&rsquo;s a 50-50 chance which one he&rsquo;ll do.&rdquo;Yzerman has had to learn how to play that way. He&rsquo;s not always the swift skater with looping motions, picture perfect passes and a decep-tive shot. His forte is coming down the ice at a good speed, putting on the brakes and watching the opposition blow past him. If that doesn&rsquo;t work, he tries to bull his way through. The latter isn&rsquo;t the typical star move, but it&rsquo;s one Yzer-man&rsquo;s willing to make if it reaches the appropriate end. But in order to do that, Yzerman had to change his belief system.&ldquo;After my third year (1985-86) I was pretty light,&rdquo; says the 25-year-old Yzerman. &ldquo;I was at about 160 pounds. I figured that if I was lighter 1 might be quicker. I really had to work at keeping my weight that low.&rdquo;&ldquo;But I wasn&rsquo;t very successful at that weight. I broke my collarbone my third year and I decided I needed to make myself stronger. It was something I had to do. My weakness was my strength. I knew if I wanted to last through every season I would have to build that up.&rdquo;Now the once-scrawny Yzerman has durability with his 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame. He even turned a career-threatening knee injury in March, 1988 into an asset. After colliding with a goal post in a game against Buffalo, Yzerman began a rigorous therapy program to build the muscles around his right knee to compensate for the completely severed posterior cruciate ligament.The prognosis was that Yzerman could be ready for the next training camp. Instead, he returned in time to play in three playoff games against Edmonton that spring.It&rsquo;s that kind of work ethic and unpredictability that has made Yzerman a fan favorite in Detroit for eight seasons.&ldquo;Steve&rsquo;s a real exciting player to watch and coach,&rdquo; says Bryan Murray, who lacked a star offensive player in his nine seasons with Washington. &ldquo;Anyone who can take the puck to the net like him is going to have success. But he also has those stops and starts. He&rsquo;ll beat a guy with a deke, then start up again going for the net or looking for the pass.&ldquo;He has a special talent, but what Steve has done is make himself better by working hard. Players don&rsquo;t always do that.&rdquo;In a recent game against St. Louis, Yzerman scored three goals in a 5-4 overtime loss. The Blues&rsquo; checking line, led by Bob Bassen, did its job. But it could only do it for so long.&ldquo;You know what kind of a player Steve Yzerman is?&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter asks. &ldquo;The Bassen line went out at the start of all of Yzer-man&rsquo;s shifts. But he never scored against them. They play at least a hard one-minute shift. That tells me that Yzerman is just as effective at the end of a long shift as he is when he&rsquo;s fresh. That little bugger has come in this building several times and nearly won the game on his own.&rdquo;And sometimes he saves the day, as he did in a recent game against Los Angeles. The Kings led 4-1 going into the third period. But within seven minutes, Yzerman had helped to tie the game, assisting on one goal and scoring the tying one.&ldquo;I knew they weren&rsquo;t going to die,&rdquo; Kings&rsquo; goalie Daniel Berthiaume says. &ldquo;No team with Steve Yzerman on it dies. I don&rsquo;t care if you&rsquo;re leading by three goals, a team with Steve is a feisty team and you can never count them out. He&rsquo;s just that kind of player.&rdquo;In the second half of this season, Murray has begun to use Yzerman more and more, as did his predecesor Jacques Demers. Though Murray is fond of employing four lines, he has found that Yzerman hits his stride when he plays at least 25 minutes a game. Still, Murray doesn&rsquo;t want to go to the well too often.&ldquo;Any night I&rsquo;ve called on him, he has done something special,&rdquo; Murray says. &ldquo;In his first couple shifts of a game he&rsquo;ll give you signs that he&rsquo;s really on. I believe if you come back with him every game, he&rsquo;s going to do it for you. But I&rsquo;m trying to give a lot of guys a chance. Still, I know Steve can handle the extra ice time. Like I said, he works real hard.&rdquo;If not for that work, some believe Yzerman would never have reached the level he has sustained. For the last three seasons, he has scored at least 50 goals, and has exceeded 60 the last two. And he should be one of only three players (Hull of St. Louis and Cam Neely of Boston being the others) to reach that plateau again.&ldquo;His work ethic is the best I&rsquo;ve seen on and off the ice,&rdquo; Gallant says. &ldquo;I would say he&rsquo;s the strongest guy on the team. I don&rsquo;t think anyone is in the same condition, except maybe Sergei Fedorov. Those two could play 30 minutes in a game with no problem. But the next day, any off day, they would be in the weight room working out.&ldquo;With Steve, I don&rsquo;t think he has enough talent to take him to the level he&rsquo;s at. He&rsquo;s a great player because he has worked so hard.&rdquo;Yzerman is the blue-collar millionare of Detroit. If he&rsquo;s knocked down, he&rsquo;ll get back up. If he&rsquo;s hit, he&rsquo;ll hit back. If he scores once, he wants to score twice. That&rsquo;s what makes him exciting. &#9632;

f0007-01

RED WINGS’ SUPERSTAR GOES ABOUT BUSINESS

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011484/5885370-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike McPhee, who had 24 points in a 23-game stretch, has helped the Canadiens to a 15-4-2 record since Dec. 22.</figcaption></div>What&rsquo;s a player like Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; left winger Mike McPhee worth to a team?Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey says players in the McPhee mold are priceless. But a million bucks wouldn&rsquo;t be a bad starting point.&ldquo;McPhee is the kind of player every team is dying to have,&rdquo; said Gainey after McPhee scored three goals and added an assist in the Habs&rsquo; 5-3 win over the Stars Feb. 4.&ldquo;When you really think about it, we give salaries of a million dollars a year to the wrong players. McPhee was far and away the best player on the ice tonight.&rdquo;Now, Gainey might be a little biased in that he&rsquo;s a former teammate of McPhee and no doubt sees a lot of himself in the 30-year-old Hab.But he has got a point.There are other reasons, certainly, but one of the biggest for the Canadiens&rsquo; recent good fortunes (15-4-2 since Dec. 22) has been the play of McPhee.But you can&rsquo;t talk about McPhee without talking about the play of his linemates Russ Courtnall and Guy Carbonneau (the CCM Line).The left winger returned to the lineup Dec. 22 after missing 16 games with a groin injury that has nagged him for the last two seasons.Since being reunited with Carbonneau and Courtnall, McPhee has been spectacular and the line itself has become &ldquo;the backbone&rdquo; of the team according to coach Pat Bums.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying it every day, in every press conference,&rdquo; said Bums. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve turned things around for us&hellip;penalty killing, power play, checking the other team&rsquo;s top line.&ldquo;Maybe one day Spud (McPhee) will put the pads on and go in nets for us.&rdquo;&ldquo;They&rsquo;re the best line we&rsquo;ve faced this season,&rdquo; said Minnesota center Bobby Smith, who marvelled at the unit&rsquo;s two-way efficiency. &ldquo;They should invite the whole line to play as a unit in the next Canada Cup.&rdquo;McPhee&rsquo;s season totals are 17 goals (his career best single season total is 23, in 1987-88 and 1989-90) and 33 points in 43 games.Nothing remarkable there.But since returning to the lineup, McPhee had 24 points in 23 games, including a string in which he scored seven goals in four games through Feb. 10.While those stats are impressive to read, they illustrate just one part of the book on McPhee.There are no stats on the physical presence he gives the Habs or how often his unyielding, unflinching work in the comers creates chances for Carbonneau or Courtnall.&ldquo;Mike is our Moses, Moses McPhee leading us to the promised land,&rdquo; joked Courtnall. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the most underrated players in the league. I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s anybody better offensively and defensively, anybody who can do both as well.&ldquo;He has got a lot of speed, I think people also overlook how fast he is. And he has got a scoring touch around the net.<blockquote class="pullQuote">TALKING IT UP IS NOT REALLY ME.</blockquote>&ldquo;But nobody on this team overlooks his leadership or the quality person that he is. Nobody spends more time working to help sick kids. He and his wife (Jane-Anne) are unbelievable people. They&rsquo;re both quality people, not just examples for a hockey team, but for society.&rdquo;&ldquo;He does bring a lot to this team,&rdquo; said Carbonneau. &ldquo;Muscles, power up front, a scoring touch. He&rsquo;s a great asset for Rusty and me. We&rsquo;re not the biggest guys in the league, but our line is complete because Mike&rsquo;s there.&ldquo;And he&rsquo;s a leader on this team. He reminds me a lot of Bob (Gainey). He&rsquo;s a quiet leader. He doesn&rsquo;t like to talk much, but people must respect the work he does day in and day out.&rdquo;Carbonneau&rsquo;s right, McPhee doesn&rsquo;t like to talk much and he really doesn&rsquo;t like talking about himself.He&rsquo;ll always find a way to steer the talk to how his line or how the team is playing.He&rsquo;s always the first Hab changed, showered and dressed after practice, slipping quietly out the door before the media hits the dressing room for their daily round of interviews.&ldquo;Ah, I&rsquo;m just going through a period when everything&rsquo;s going in,&rdquo; he said of his recent goal-scoring streak.&ldquo;My best part of the season last year was when I played with Rusty and Carbo. We just seem to complement each other. Russ has a lot of speed and he backs the defense up. That creates chances for Carbo and me to score goals.&ldquo;And we&rsquo;re usually playing against the other team&rsquo;s top offensive line so they&rsquo;re not usually the best checking line.&rdquo;He admits he is making an effort to become more of a presence in the Habs&rsquo; dressing room, but is uncomfortable about it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m try ing to do a little more in the room, to try and say a little more than usual,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to be the captain or an assistant to be one of the guys to talk it up. Talking it up is not really me.&rdquo; &#9632;

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QUIET MIKE McPHEE CARRIES A BIG STICK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011435/5885401-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="480" height="613"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s time for more questions. If your thoughts aren&rsquo;t answered, just drop us a line or purchase a new Ouija board.Would Jacques Demers have done as well with the Red Wings as Bryan Murray?Answer: Of course he would. And so would Bob McCammon, Terry Crisp, Herb Brooks and Doug Carpenter. As a matter of fact, Demers would&rsquo;ve done better. Don&rsquo;t forget Jacques-be-nimble didn&rsquo;t have Bob Probert, Sergei Fedorov and Johan Garpenlov last year. With that trio, he might have finished first. Demers&rsquo; loose style would likely have extracted more out of Probert, Joey Kocur & Co. than tight ship Murray.In retrospect, did Mike Milbury deserve the flak he received for picking Chris Nilan to play in the All-Star Game?Answer: No. Mind-boggling Mike is neither a hypocrite nor a fool. He knew that. For one thing, all-star games are traditionally a colossal bore, as the 1991 game proved. Second, every team needs an intimidator. Third, a little sugar-disturbing goes a long way. Milbury concocted some delicious controversy, hurt absolutely no one and underlined the point that plumbers such as Nilan rate recognition.Who is better, Mark Messier or Wayne Gretzky?Answer: We&rsquo;ll find out at crunch time&mdash;in the home stretch and the playoffs. I&rsquo;ll take Messier any night. 1 suspect if you asked 100 NHLers who they&rsquo;d rather have skating on their line in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, 91 would pick Messier over Gretzky. The reason: his physical size, strength, speed and powers of intimidation outweigh The Great One&rsquo;s softer skills. This much I can guarantee. If Edmonton meets L.A. in the playoffs&mdash;and both captains are of equal health&mdash;Messier will come out on top. He&rsquo;ll dominate.What is the biggest stumbling block preventing the Rangers from winning their first Stanley Cup in 51 years?Answer: Their coach, Roger Neilson. Since his NHL coaching debut in the 1970s, Neilson has won absolutely nothing. But he has created some good teams (1978 Leafs) with some tantalizing results. Loaded with talent, the Rangers went out, bang-bang, in the playoffs last spring as rookie Terry Murray outcoached him. General manager Neil Smith has given Neilson another formidable squad, top to bottom. He had better march it to the finals or else.If you were giving out NHL awards tomorrow, who would you give them to?Answer: Hart: Brett Hull; Norris: Steve Smith; Calder: Mike Richter; Selke: Kelly Miller; Lady Byng: Pat LaFontaine; Vezina: Mike Richter; Adams: Paul Holmgren.What kind of player will be most desirable among expansion teams?Answer: Goons, of course. We had a good clue in The Hockey News (Feb. 8) when Bob McKenzie tipped us on Bruce Firestone&rsquo;s desire to ice a team of Attila The Senators in 1992. That should surprise no one, especially agents. Gifted stickhandlers are always at a premium on expansion clubs. Therefore, rosters will be top heavy with fighters. The thinking has always been, if you can&rsquo;t lure fans with quality, win them with fury.Did Pat Quinn actually fire Bob McCammon?Answer: No way. Those disappointing Russians, Vladimir Krutov and Igor Larionov, did it by stinking out the joint, undermining the coach and ruining a good thing. McCammon had a good team in 1989 when they nearly dumped Calgary out of the playoffs. When the Russians came, they turned a health club chemistry into a combination as palatable as oil and oatmeal.What does Bob Johnson really write in those notebooks he has behind Pittsburgh&rsquo;s bench?Answer: During the first period he plays tic-tac-toe. During the second, he draws pictures of a healthy Mario Lemieux. And during the third, he scribbles his order for Chinese takeout to be delivered after the game.Have the NHL&rsquo;s new rules had any effect on play this season?Answer: Goalies are run over like raccoons on a freeway; there&rsquo;s more hooking going on than on opening day of trout season; and the spirit of Dave Schultz is as strong as when he popularized goonism 15 years ago.If you were Pierre Page, would you trade Eric Lindros for Mario Lemieux after the June draft?Answer: If Mario weren&rsquo;t injury prone, yes. Therefore, the answer is no.Stan Fischler is a freelance writer based in New York City. &#9632;

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DEMERS WOULD EXCEL WITH THESE RED WINGS

&hellip;Brad Marsh, acquired by Detroit from Toronto Feb. 6, holds the NHL record for the most games played in one season? Marsh played 83 games in 1981-82, 17 with Calgary and 66 with Philadelphia. Winnipeg&rsquo;s Ed Olczyk, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Larry Murphy and Toronto&rsquo;s Bob Rouse are on pace for 81-game seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021019/5885432-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="940" height="497"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Marsh</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>Goalie Mark Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s career, which was severely threatened when he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease earlier in the season, is set to resume. Having practised with the Islanders for about a month and undergone an office strengthening and conditioning program, the 22-year-old was cleared to play with Capital District of the American League. There is no certainty the illness, eosinophilic myalgia syndrome (EMS), will not flare up, but team doctor Dr. Gerald Cordani considered the goalie fit to make his return Feb. 16 against Adirondack. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to take it a game at a time, and if I&rsquo;m strong enough, maybe I&rsquo;ll play back-to-back games,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said&hellip;Another highly-touted Islander goalie, Jeff Hackett, allowed eight goals on only 16 shots in an 8-4 loss against Detroit Feb. 8. &ldquo;It was embarrassing and I think it was the worst thing that ever happened to me,&rdquo; Hackett said. Despite outshooting the Red Wings 49-16, the Islanders were badly outplayed.<h2>DEVILS</h2>After coming back from a fractured cheekbone and broken jaw, left winger Brendan Shanahan suffered a gash in his chin and the loss of several teeth when Vancouver&rsquo;s Ronnie Stem knocked him into the Meadow-lands Arena boards Feb. 10 during the Devils&rsquo; 2-0 win. The Canucks called the aggressive Shanahan a coward for playing with a shield and face mask. &ldquo;I wonder how many guys really think I&rsquo;m a sissy for playing with a broken jaw,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If that is cowardly in his (Vancouver GM/coach Pat Quinn) eyes, then I could never play for the man.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Alexei Kasatonov&rsquo;s streak of 93 straight games since joining the Devils last season ended Feb. 5 when he was sidelined with a sore back.<h2>RANGERS</h2>Several Rangers ended lengthy goal droughts in recent action. Jan Erixon, who had missed long stretches this season because of injuries, scored his first goal since Nov. 13 when he beat the Islanders&rsquo; Glenn Healy in a 5-2 win Feb. 6. Erixon also scored in the 6-4 loss in Montreal Feb. 9. With six goals, Erixon has pulled to within two of his NHL career high set in 1986-87&hellip;John Vanbiesbrouck took a cheap loss in Montreal. With the Rangers pressing and coach Roger Neilson seeking a legal timeout, Van-biesbrouck replaced Mike Richter with the score tied 4-4. Vanbiesbrouck played 34 seconds, faced one shot, which became the decisive power-play goal by Guy Carbonneau. He was then replaced by Richter&hellip;In his &lsquo;prior start, Richter had defeated the Islanders to add an impressive achievement to a growing list. The triumph gave him a 28-13-8 record and 64 points over his first 50 starts, a .640 winning percentage.<h2>PENGUINS</h2>The Penguins, anxious to add some muscle, signed free agent center Jeff Parker Feb. 4, a few days after he was released by Wiinipeg. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and strong,&rdquo; coach Bob Johnson said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a grinder. When you go into places like Boston and Philadelphia, you need grinders.&rdquo; Parker won&rsquo;t be playing in such places for a while, however. The Penguins sent him to their Muskegon (IHL) farm team two days after signing him&hellip;Left winger Bob Errey was spared an automatic one-game suspension after league officials reviewed videotape of an alleged high-sticking infraction in Boston Feb. 3. That would have been Errey&rsquo;s second stick major of the season, but the league decided the penalty was not warranted. Having Errey didn&rsquo;t help the Penguins much in the game he would have missed, a 6-2 loss in Winnipeg Feb. 8&hellip;Mario Lemieux returned to the Penguins&rsquo; lineup against the Jets after sitting out the game in Boston because of a pulled groin. He set up the Penguins&rsquo; first goal and scored their second.<h2>FLYERS</h2>Tim Kerr suffered a pulled groin muscle when he stepped on a puck during the warmup for the Flyers&rsquo; game against Los Angeles Feb. 5 (3-2 loss). Kerr, who returned to the lineup Jan. 31 after missing 25 days due to a chipped bone in his right kneecap, is expected to be sidelined until early March&hellip;Chris Jensen was recalled from Hershey of the AHL Feb. 7 and saw his first action of the year in a Flyer uniform during a 2-1 loss to Vancouver. The right winger appeared in one game last year.. Derrick Smith&rsquo;s shorthanded goal in the 5-2 loss to Washington Feb. 10, was only the second of the season for the Flyers, who are last in the NHL in that department&hellip;Mark Howe, who underwent back surgery Jan. 18, tried some light, office exercise Feb. 6.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>Goaltender Don Beaupre started eight straight games from Jan. 22 to Feb. 10 to solidify his status as the No. 1 goalie. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re trying to get yourselves back in the race, you want to go with the player, who&hellip;well, he&rsquo;s what I consider my No. 1 goalie,&rdquo; coach Terry Murray said. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t mean Mike Liut is on the back of the shelf. I want him to continue to work hard in situations and we&rsquo;ll see how things go.&rdquo; Beaupre has been consistent all season, with his goals-against average never having gone above 3.00. A 5-2 victory over Philadelphia Feb. 10 brought his record to 13-13-2&hellip;Defenseman Neil Sheehy, who has not played a game this season because of leg and now a back injury, was to see a doctor again. &ldquo;The soreness shows something is irritating it,&rdquo; Sheehy said of the herniated disc in his back. &#9632;

ISLANDER GOALIE READY TO RETURN

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Two things were clear to the Penguins as they entered midFebruary.The Patrick Division-leading New York Rangers were within sight, which meant Pittsburgh&rsquo;s hopes for the franchise&rsquo;s first-ever division title were still alive.But the Penguins realized if they are to make a run at first place, they will have to pick up many of the points they&rsquo;ll need in places other than the Civic Arena. Fourteen of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s final 24 games were on the road.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be seeing a lot of hotels,&rdquo; right winger Tony Tanti said.Away games usually have been synonymous with losing for the Penguins. But they&rsquo;ve been surprisingly competitive on the road this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011509/5885487-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="558" height="574"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Stanton knows the pressure of winning at home.</figcaption></div>Pittsburgh was 11-13-2 in away games heading into Edmonton Feb. 11. The Penguins have a realistic chance to break the modest franchise records for victories (16) and points (36) on the road set two seasons ago.&ldquo;I think we can play .500 or better (on the road),&rdquo; left winger Kevin Stevens said. &ldquo;All the good teams are usually over .500.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got enough talent that we can be at least a .500 team,&rdquo; Tanti said.That talent, however, hasn&rsquo;t translated to much success in away games lately. Pittsburgh had a 2-6-0 streak on the road going into Edmonton.&ldquo;Ice is ice and boards are boards, but obviously the home team doesn&rsquo;t want to disappoint its fans,&rdquo; defenseman Paul Stanton said. &ldquo;No one wants to lose at home.&rdquo;Pittsburgh did put together a couple of strong stretches on the road earlier this season. The Penguins were 3-0-1 from Oct. 30-Nov. 14 and had a4-l-0 run in December.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve proven we can win there,&rdquo; Stanton said.Perhaps, but Pittsburgh hasn&rsquo;t proven it much lately. The Penguins struggled at home early in the season, but had a six-game winning streak at the Arena as mid-February approached.Trouble is, the success they had on the road in the first half of the season has become little more than a memory.&ldquo;For a while, we were winning on the road and couldn&rsquo;t win at home,&rdquo; Stanton said. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re winning at home and haven&rsquo;t been winning all that much on the road.&rdquo;Losing regularly on the road is not a viable option for the Penguins. Not when first place and fifth in the Patrick are separated by little more than a handful of points.Still, the confidence coach Bob Johnson has instilled in his players during the season hasn&rsquo;t been shaken by the Penguins&rsquo; troubles on the road or by the tightness of the Patrick race.&ldquo;When hasn&rsquo;t the Patrick Division been close?&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;If we take care of our wins, we&rsquo;ll be okay.&rdquo;&ldquo;If we keep winning, we don&rsquo;t have to worry about who&rsquo;s going to catch us,&rdquo; right winger Mark Recchi said.But winning anywhere might be tougher now that opponents no longer think of Pittsburgh as a team that has missed the playoffs seven of the past eight seasons. Now they&rsquo;re a force that can&rsquo;t be taken lightly.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to realize we&rsquo;re no longer looked upon by the league as a weak team,&rdquo; center Barry Pederson said. &ldquo;Teams are going to start getting up for us now, because we&rsquo;ve been playing good hockey. We&rsquo;re going to have to answer the bell.&rdquo;Either that, or risk having it toll for them yet again.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Jeff Parker, RW, signed as tree agent. Feb. 6: Parker and Gord Dineen, D, assigned to Muskegon (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, John Cullen, Jiri Hrdina, Randy Gilhen, Barry Pederson.LW&mdash;Phil Bourque, Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Mark Recchi, Jaromir Jagr. Scott Young, Tony Tanti, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Zarley Zalapski, Gordie Roberts.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Peter Taglianetti, Larry Murphy, Paul Stanton.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Delorme. D. leg stress fracture, indefinite. Joe Mullen. RW, neck surgery, out for season. Bryan Trottier, C. pulled groin, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Recchi, 28. A&mdash;Cullen. 59. F&mdash; Cullen. 83. PIM&mdash;Stevens, 100. &#9632;

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IMPROVED ROAD WARRIORS SET FOR DRIVE

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>Paul Holmgren usually wears an expression that belongs on Mt. Rushmore. The Philadelphia Flyers can be winning or losing by five goals and their coach remains stonefaced either way.But that wasn&rsquo;t the case. With 14:50 remaining in a Feb. 10 game against the Washington Capitals, Dale Hunter charged into Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Gord Murphy with an elbow.Murphy crumpled to the ice and Holmgren, the Flyers&rsquo; all-time penalty minutes leader, grabbed a stick and looked like he was ready to bring back the Broad Street Bullies.Holmgren slammed the stick on the glass partition separating the two benches, screamed something at Washington coach Terry Murray, then appeared to challenge the Capitals&rsquo; Alan May to a fight.But that was only an undercard to the main event. Craig Berube retaliated less than seven minutes later by running goaltender Don Beaupre. Several exchanges broke out from that collision and by the time everything had settled, Washington had a5-2 win and the Capital Centre had a new penalty-minute record with 294.Hunter&rsquo;s hit on Murphy added injury to insult, as the Flyers were trailing 5-1 at the time. The resulting loss was the Flyers&rsquo; fourth straight and left them just one game over .500.In those four defeats, the Flyers scored just five goals. It&rsquo;s safe to say the Flyers were not only upset with Hunter&rsquo;s hit but also concerned with the way things had been going.&ldquo;I thought that was a vicious, awful hit on Murph and we responded after that,&rdquo; said Holmgren. &ldquo;To me, that&rsquo;s a 10-minute penalty (Hunter received only five) for intent to injure.&ldquo;I was mad,&rdquo; was the only explanation Holmgren would give for why he grabbed the stick and started swinging. He declined to say what he yelled at Murray.The Flyers played the game without offensive leaders Rick Tocchet, Pelle Eklund and Tim Kerr.A total of nine misconduct penalties were handed out in the Berube-Beaupre incident, which totaled 141 minutes and even saw Pete Peeters, who came in to relieve Ron Hextall in the third period, charge down the ice to pull Beaupre off a pile of players. The day&rsquo;s schedule of confrontations was not just confined to the ice. Things also heated up in the stands.Tocchet, seated in the press box along with Jeff Chychrun (broken wrist), Eklund, Ken Wregget and assistant coach Ken Hitchcock, was the object of some verbal abuse by spectators as referee Don Koharski tried to sort out the penalty minutes from the Berube-Beaupre spat.Security arrived to prevent the two sides from getting at one another, but the Flyer contingent needed an escort to get downstairs after the game ended.Tocchet said the Hunter issue is far from resolved. Philadelphia and the Capitals next meet March 16 at the Capital Centre.&ldquo;Sometimes the anticipation is worse than actually getting the guy back,&rdquo; said Tocchet. &ldquo;Our first objective is to make the playoffs but the Dale Hunter issue isn &lsquo;t dead. Put it that way.&ldquo;Plus, it was no secret they brought in (John) Kordic and (Ken) Sabourin today and they obviously aren&rsquo;t there to dazzle you with their play.&rdquo;Murphy, who was groggy for several minutes after the Hunter hit, felt good enough to finish the game. But there was a scary moment or two.Berube indicated the Flyers still play the way they did 15 years ago.When one of their players is the victim of a nasty hit, they retaliate.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always good for the team. Maybe we&rsquo;ll be a little more together now,&rdquo; said Berube. &ldquo;It (frustration) builds up. I get worked up inside.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen Holmgren get that mad. We know he cares. He doesn&rsquo;t &bull;want stuff like that to happen.&rdquo;<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Pat Murray, LW. recalled from Hershey (AHL). Feb. 7: Chris Jensen, RW, recalled from Hershey.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ricci, Ron Sutter, Keith Acton, Martin Hostak.LW&mdash;Murray Craven, Derrick Smith, Craig Berube, Pat Murray.RW&mdash;Scott Mellanby, Norm Lacombe, Dale Kushner, Chris Jensen.LD&mdash;Terry Carkner, Jiri Latal, Murray Baron.RD&mdash;Gord Murphy, Kjell Samuelsson, Dave Fenyves.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Ken Wregget, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Chychrun, D, broken wrist, indefinite. Pelle Eklund. LW, strained hip flexor, day-to-day. Mark Howe. D, back surgery, indefinite. Tim Kerr, RW, pulled groin muscle, indefinite. Rick Tocchet. RW, pulled groin muscle, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tocchet, 34. A&mdash;Eklund, 40. P&mdash; Tocchet, 58. PIM&mdash;Berube, 182. &#9632;

HUNTER WILL BECOME THE HUNTED, TEAM VOWS

Michael Pepe is a fast learner.The 4-foot-11, 100-pound left winger from Hamden, Conn., has come a long way for a player in only his first season of organized hockey.Michael, 12, plays for the Hamden travel squirt B team in the Hamden Youth League. His coach is Guy Mulvey.In 25 games this season, Michael had 15 goals and 33 points to rank as one of his team&rsquo;s leading scorers.Recognized for his hard work and determination, Michael had skated only a handful of times prior to this season.But he has greatly improved his skating skills by practising on roller blades after each game.Michael is a good student and attends Grade 6 at West Woods Elementary School.His favorite hockey players are Los Angeles King Wayne Gretzky and Hartford&rsquo;s Ron Francis.The Whalers are his favorite team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011463/5885542-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="545" height="1206"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michael Pepe</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, do The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as THN/JOFA-TITAN Minor Hockey Player of the Year. &#9632;

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PLAYER OF WEEK JOFA TITAN

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SELL</div>Mike Liut was sitting on the end of the Washington Capitals&rsquo; bench, separated by about half an inch of plexiglass from the Philadelphia Flyers. It was the only thing between Liut and Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren, who was coming toward Capitals&rsquo; coach Terry Murray with a stick.&ldquo;I was thinking that glass couldn&rsquo;t have been too thick,&rdquo; Liut joked. &ldquo;But I played against Holmgren. 1 knew he wasn&rsquo;t really mad. If he was really mad, that wouldn&rsquo;t have been enough to stop him. He would have chopped his way through.&rdquo;Though many people think hockey can offer better than the brawl-filled, 294-penalty-minute game played between the Flyers and Capitals at Capital Centre Feb. 10, the fact remains the Capitals have tried to become more physical to match teams such as the Flyers.The Capitals certainly matched the Flyers in toughness on that afternoon. That they won the game 5-2 for their third straight victory reinforced the idea a tougher profile is necessary to get them out of fifth place in the Patrick Division and into the playoffs for a ninth straight season.&ldquo;If you get one line doing a lot of hitting, the next one has to do the same thing,&rdquo; said Murray.The 294 penalty minutes assessed by referee Don Koharski was a Capital Centre record. Each team was given 147 minutes, a Capitals&rsquo; record for a home game and the most by an opponent at Capital Centre. An enduring memory will be of Koharski standing on the ice with a note pad in hand, chronicling the chaos before him during the third period.The Flyers complained about Dale Hunter&rsquo;s elbow meeting Gord Murphy&rsquo;s face behind the Flyers&rsquo; net. It was during the moments after the check that Holmgren brandished the stick.The Capitals defended Hunter and suggested the Flyers should be the last ones to point fingers. Even if you discount the days of the Broad Street Bullies, the Capitals remember the Jan. 24 game, in which the Flyers won 6-1 and, after getting comfortably ahead, took a few questionable shots.&ldquo;It might have been back there somewhere,&rdquo; Murray said, touching the back of his head. &ldquo;They pushed our faces in the mud and kicked sand at us.&rdquo;Goalies usually get a little more room than most players, but when Craig Berube drilled Don Beaupre with a shot to the head behind the net in the third period, another nielee ensued. Terry Carkner, after missing Kevin Hatcher with a high stick, then skated up behind Hatcher and crosschecked him right in front of Koharski. Keith Acton, who was taken off the ice to the locker room, came back to try to take on Ken Sabourin, whom he had high-sticked earlier in the period.Sabourin and John Kordic were acquired to provide more toughness.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Bob Joyce, LW, assigned to Baltimore (AHL). Feb. 6: Tim Bergland, C. recalled from Baltimore.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, Michal Pivonka, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Kelly Miller. Dimitri Khrisitich, Dave Tippett, Nick KypreosRW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, John Druce. Alan May, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Calle Johansson, Mike Lalor, Ken Sabourin.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Al lafrate. Mikhail Tatarinov.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Peter Bondra, RW, dislocated shoulder, day-to-day. Chris Felix, D. broken ankle, indefinite. Rod Langway, D, back spasms, day-to-day. Steve Leach, RW. separated shoulder, day-to-day. Neil Sheehy, D, herniated disc, indefinite. Reggie Savage, RW, groin pull, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Druce, Ciccarelli, 18. A&mdash;Hatcher, 40. P&mdash;Hatcher, 57 PIM&mdash;May. 184. &#9632;

HANGIN’ TOUGH IN A BID TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div>It took just 24 hours for Mike Gartner to reaffirm his remarkable consistency&mdash;and for the New York Rangers to show their remarkable lack of it.In an 8-1 blowout of Vancouver Feb. 8, which served as payback for the Canucks&rsquo; 62-shot 3-3 tie Jan. 31 in Vancouver, Gartner scored his 30th goal of the season.The goal gave Gartner his 12th consecutive season of 30 goals or more, one short of the NHL record shared by Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say he has been our most consistent forward offensively,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;Gartner has supplied a perfect example&mdash;an older player, an over-30 player who hustles the way he does, every game. He works and he hits, he goes to the net and you can double-shift him any time. It&rsquo;s valuable to have a veteran like that for all the young players to see.&rdquo;Gartner has been a great example all season. He has given an honest. earnest effort in a much greater percentage of games than most of his mates. The one thing he hasn&rsquo;t done is record many assists. He had just 10 to go along with 31 goals in 57 games.&ldquo;Consistent? That&rsquo;s the word that describes Mike if it describes anyone,&rdquo; defenseman James Patrick said. &ldquo;One thing about Mike: He loves to play. In practice, in scrimmage, any time, he&rsquo;s really competitive.&rdquo;The drive comes from within.&ldquo;One of the things I think of is, you haven&rsquo;t achieved anything yet,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;I feel like I have to prove myself every year. Sure, I&rsquo;ve proved 1 can score goals. Sure, you&rsquo;ve shown what you&rsquo;ve done in the past, but that doesn&rsquo;t help you for the future at all.&rdquo;The rest of the Rangers might want to read, and heed, those words. The team may be in first place, but after 57 games it had the lowest point total of the four first-place clubs.And there was increasing evidence the Rangers remained atop the Patrick Division only because no other team in the division was strong.Those indications were driven home Feb. 9 in Montreal, just hours after the Vancouver slaughter. Gartner scored goal No. 31 against the Canadiens as the Rangers built a 4-0 lead. But they watched helplessly as the 4-0 lead become a 6-4 loss.The turning point was a match penalty by Bernie Nicholls. Nicholls will be summoned to NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s office for a hearing that all but guaranteed a suspension for the veteran center.The sequence started at 13:54 of the second period, when Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman J.J. Daigneault whacked Rangers&rsquo; right winger Brian Mullen on the helmet and left shoulder with his stick.Nicholls replied by jabbing Daigneault high in the chest with his stick. Daigneault, no fighter, dropped his gloves and charged Nicholls, who then shoved the defenseman away with two more stick jabs&mdash;one on the shoulder, one near the left ear.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, Kevin Miller, Kelly Kisio, Darren Turcotte, Mark Janssens.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick, Jan Erixon, Troy Mallette, Kris King. Lindy Ruff.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Ray Sheppard, Jody Hull, Brian Mullen, Tie Domi.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Normand Rochefort, Milo Horava.RD&mdash;James Patrick, Randy Moller, David Shaw. Joe Cirella.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Froese, G. shoulder surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gartner, 31. A&mdash;Leetch, 52. P&mdash; Leetch, 63. PIM&mdash;Mallette. 168. &#9632;

VETERAN GARTNER REAFFIRMS HIS VALUE

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>Winning always takes the edge off a player&rsquo;s bruises and aches. But according to New York Islanders&rsquo; defenseman Gary Nylund, losing is no excuse for nursing them.The 27-year-old veteran, who had worn a cast and heavy bandage on a sprained left wrist since Jan. 27, insists the standings ought to have nothing to do with a player&rsquo;s resolve.And he doesn&rsquo;t like it when players&mdash;including some teammates&mdash;take it easy just because they&rsquo;re injured.&ldquo;A player could say, &lsquo;Oh, we&rsquo;re not going to win anyway. I&rsquo;ll take time off and wait until I&rsquo;m healthy.&rsquo; Well, that just backfires in the end,&rdquo; said Nylund, 27. &ldquo;If you start thinking negative, what goes around, comes around, and pretty soon, you&rsquo;re going to be without a job.&rdquo;Nylund has little to show for all the clutching, grabbing and pounding he distributes and withstands for the Islanders.Since the beginning of the season, the veteran rearguard had played through two groin pulls and the flu before the sprained wrist.And his frequent absence from the lineup hasn&rsquo;t helped the Islanders in their quest to vacate the Patrick Division cellar.When Nylund has played, he has added stability and strength to the Islanders blueline.But, his strong play hasn&rsquo;t prevented him from incurring a minus-11 rating.&ldquo;It bothers me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But if I start concentrating on that, it&rsquo;s just going to snowball. Anyway, if we start to get on a roll, everything will take care of itself.&rdquo;The only place the Islanders have been rolling, however, is downhill. After losing 8-4 to Detroit Feb. 8 and 3-2 to Toronto Feb. 9, New York was 11 points behind fifth place Washington in the Patrick Division.Nylund believes it&rsquo;s much more important for a player to disregard nagging injuries, rather than taking the easy way out of a collective slump.And he believes that&rsquo;s the only way the Islanders will turn things around.&ldquo;When I was in Toronto, we had a lot of guys who were milking their careers out at the end,&rdquo; Nylund said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;d take five or six days more than they had to, to come back from an injury. But since I&rsquo;ve been with Chicago and the Islanders, I haven&rsquo;t seen anybody pull that once.&rdquo;Indeed, if any Islanders have injuries, those players have not been using them to duck out of the lineup.In the past few weeks, the only one listed on the injury reports has been goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, out with a season-long illness. He has been cleared to report to the minors to resume his career.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve got Patrick Flatley, as banged as he&rsquo;s banged up, out there playing and playing well, and you&rsquo;ve got Sutter playing hurt and playing well, that sends a message to the rest of the team,&rdquo; Nylund said.&ldquo;I look at it this way: I think you have to play through as much as you can. If you don&rsquo;t play through some of the hurts, pretty soon just a bruise is too much. Pretty soon, you&rsquo;re sitting out because of a hangnail.&rdquo;<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter. Ray Ferraro, John Tucker.LW&mdash;David Votek, Derek King, Ken Baumgartner, Dave Chyzowski.RW&mdash;Randy Wood, Patrick Flatley, Mick Vukota, Brad Lauer.LD&mdash;Gary Nylund, Rich Pilon, Wayne McBean.RD&mdash;Joe Reekie, Jeff Norton. Craig LudwigG&mdash;Jeff Hackett. Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Fitzpatrick, G, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine, 30. A&mdash;LaFontaine, 34. P&mdash;LaFontaine. 64. PIM&mdash;Baumgartner, 223. &#9632;

TEAM MUST PLAY THROUGH PAIN, NYLUND SAYS

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>John Cunniff was persistent. He wanted to give Sean Burke every chance to reclaim his position as the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender and may have jeopardized his own job security by doing so.A bad back, some bad luck and inconsistency on the ice all played a part in preventing Burke from returning to past form. But in the final analysis it was Chris Terreri who claimed the title of No. 1 by keeping the Devils in the Patrick Division playoff race.Without Terreri, who lowered his goals-against average to 2.67 Feb. 10 by blanking the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 for his first NHL shutout, the Devils might have dropped out of the hunt long ago.&ldquo;He has played unbelievable,&rdquo; Devils&rsquo; captain Kirk Muller said of Terreri. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s in and out (of the lineup), but he keeps playing well.&rdquo;Terreri (17-13-5) was not likely to be out of the lineup much more down the stretch. While surpassing last season&rsquo;s career-high of 15 victories, the 26-year-old Providence, R.I., native allowed nine goals in 398 minutes in seven appearances between Jan. 24 and Feb. 10. During that stretch he was 4-2 with a 1.36 GAA.Burke, meanwhile, was credited with his seventh victory of the season (7-10-5, 3.85 GAA) Jan. 28 in Detroit despite leaving the game after one period because of back spasms. The 20-minute appearance was his only victory covering eight games since Dec. 23.Unhappy with the way he has been used by Cunniff, Burke has avoided controversy which might hurt the team. However, his feelings were clear about wanting to resolve his situation.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a tough question for me to answer without getting myself in trouble,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;ll have to be resolved before the off-season. That&rsquo;s all I can say. Whatever happens with my situation, I&rsquo;m not going to try to take anything away from Chris. He has played well, no doubt about it. The shoe has been on the other foot for me and people have always had respect for me.&rdquo;Burke still feels he is a competent NHL goalie.&ldquo;I want to play and I want to play under the circumstances I&rsquo;ve been used to,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That is you go out and play well and feel they have confidence in you. And if you don&rsquo;t play well one night you know you have a chance to come back the next night. Maybe that won&rsquo;t happen here.&ldquo;The only way I&rsquo;ll get the bulk of the work is if Chris doesn&rsquo;t play well and I&rsquo;m not looking for that. It wouldn&rsquo;t make me happy to see Chris do badly so I can play.&rdquo;Terreri, who is Burke&rsquo;s roommate, has turned aside controversy as easily as a weak wrist shot.&ldquo;I just play when I&rsquo;m told,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m going to play in enough games. Whatever helps the team. That&rsquo;s all you can do.&rdquo;<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 6: Jeff Madill, RW. assigned to Utica (AHL). Feb. 8: Pat Conacher, LW. and Al Stewart, LW, recalled from Utica.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Patrik Sundstrom, Laurie Boschman, Jon Morris.LW&mdash;Kirk Muller, Brendan Shanahan, Dave Maley, Zdeno Olger, Pat Conacher, Al Stewart.RW&mdash;Claude Lemieux, John MacLean, Doug Brown, Troy Crowder.LD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Viacheslav Fetisov, Lee Norwood, Bruce Driver.RD&mdash;Alexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich, Myles O&rsquo;Connor.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Sean Burke.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Walt Poddubny, LW, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;MacLean, 32. A&mdash;Muller, 41. P&mdash; MacLean, 57. PIM&mdash;Daneyko, 170. &#9632;

BURKE BELIEVES HE STILL BELONGS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011459/5885669-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Hockey’s Best Instructional Books and Videos

A defenseman with Minnesota, Chicago, Edmonton and Washington for nine seasons from 1974-75 to 1982-83, Doug Hicks, 40, is now a golf professional in Edmonton. &ldquo;Getting involved in golf was a natural progression for me,&rdquo; said Hicks. &ldquo;It was a seasonal activity, one that I enjoyed as a player and one that I continue to enjoy today. It&rsquo;s a nice way to make a living.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02945/5885731-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="506" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Hicks</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THEN & NOW

<h2>LEAFS</h2>After going minus-9 with two goals and five assists in his previous 12 games, right winger Gary Leeman was benched by coach Tom Watt in Toronto&rsquo;s game Feb. 9 against the Islanders. The Leafs responded with three power-play goals in a 3-2 win. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been trying hard but I haven&rsquo;t been putting the numbers up,&rdquo; said Leeman. &ldquo;Sometimes sitting out helps, we&rsquo;ll have to wait and see.&rdquo; The Leafs were 4-23-4 when Leeman played&hellip;Rookie defenseman Alexander Godynyuk, the first Soviet ever drafted by the Leafs, made his NHL debut against Winnipeg Feb. 6. Godynyuk made several major gaffes and clearly suffered from a case of opening night jitters. He was used sparingly after a giveaway that led to the Jets&rsquo; third goal in a 5-5 tie. Godynyuk&rsquo;s promotion from Newmarket proved timely when veteran Michel Petit sprained a knee against St. Louis Feb. 4, but there were reports the Leafs had brought the youngster up because of an alleged verbal promise made by GM Floyd Smith to Godynyuk&rsquo;s agent, Vitali Shevchenko, that he wouldn&rsquo;t spend a long time in the minors. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s ridiculous,&rdquo; Smith said&hellip;Following a 6-5 overtime win against St. Louis Feb. 4, in which his club twice squandered two-goal leads, coach Tom Watt muttered. &ldquo;No matter how we get the two points, it&rsquo;s nice to get them. The way things have been going for us, if it had been raining soup we would have had a fork.&rdquo;<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>Owner Norman Green was in Montreal Feb. 6, meeting with NHL officials about proposed uniform changes for next season. The team&rsquo;s road uniform, if changes are approved, will include more black than green and the team&rsquo;s insignia will be changed from the &ldquo;N-star&rdquo; to the new &ldquo;Stars&rdquo; logo&hellip;Brian Bellows&rsquo; 23rd goal&mdash;he had 22 through Feb. 11&mdash;will be his 300th&hellip;Goalie Jon Casey had won five games in a row through Feb. 9, following an 0-5-2 stretch.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>The Blackhawks lost Chris Chelios on the first shift of their 5-3 loss Feb. 9 at Boston when he was cut over the left temple by Bob Sweeney&rsquo;s skate during a pileup behind the net. Chelios, who needed 40 stitches to close the deep wound, missed the rest of the game and also sat out the next night at Hartford. The 3-1 loss against the Whalers was the first game Chelios missed this season&hellip;When Wayne Presley scored on a penalty shot Feb. 9 against Boston&rsquo;s Reggie Lemelin, he became the first Hawk to do so since Dec. 30, 1987, when Troy Murray scored against Minnesota&rsquo;s Kari Takko&hellip;With nine points in an 8-3 win at Montreal Feb. 6, the line of Jeremy Roenick, Michel Goulet and Steve Larmer raised their total to 71 points in 15 games&hellip;The Hawks&rsquo;loss to Boston stretched their winless streak against the Bruins to 0-12-1. Their loss the next night in Hartford made them 0-5-1 in their last six at the Civic Center and was their fourth loss in five games&hellip;Larmer&rsquo;s goal Feb. 6 at Montreal was his first ever in the Forum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03690/5885762-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="559" height="519"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Oates is second in the points-per-game department.</figcaption></div><h2>BLUES</h2>Through Feb. 11, center Adam Oates was averaging three points per game in the nine games since the allstar break. He had points on 27 of the Blues&rsquo; 49 goals in that span, with four goals and 23 assists. With 70 points in 36 games, he&rsquo;s averaging 1.94 points per game, just behind Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s league-leading 1.96 average&hellip;Brett Hull extended his goalscoring streak to seven games with a goal in the 5-4 win against Los Angeles Feb. 9. He has 12 goals in that span, with Oates&rsquo; assisting on 11&hellip;Geoff Courtnall scored two goals, including the game-winner in the victory over the Kings. He had seven goals in eight games, after getting just four goals in the previous 31 games&hellip;Goalie Vincent Riendeau won his sixth consecutive start in the victory over the Kings, giving him a career high 21 wins for the season.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>Defenseman Brad Marsh contends the Toronto Maple Leafs blew it by shelving him since mid-November before sending him to the Wings for an eight-round pick Feb. 5. And he got off to a good start in his debut with the Wings, an 8-4 win over the New York Islanders Feb. 8. Marsh drew an assist, led the Wings with a plus-four and earned the second star for his performance. (Sergei Fedorov was the No. 1 star with a five-point performance). &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t figure it out and a lot of other people couldn&rsquo;t either,&rdquo; Marsh said, when asked why the Leafs stopped playing him after Nov. 17. &ldquo;But Toronto had enough problems at the time and I didn&rsquo;t want to add to them by bitching and moaning. I&rsquo;m just out to prove the Toronto Maple Leafs wrong. All you can ask for is a chance, and I have one here. &ldquo;&hellip;The acquisition of Marsh, a 13-year NHL veteran, gives the Wings three defensemen with more than 10 years experience. Rick Green has been in the league since 1976-77 and Brad McCrimmon broke in at the start of the 1979-80 campaign. &#9632;

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LEEMAN BENCHED FOR POOR PLAY

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>Long before the St. Louis Blues signed free-agent defenseman Scott Stevens to a four-year, $5-million contract that upset the NHL&rsquo;s salary structure, they locked in Jeff Brown to a four-year, $1.1-million deal.The Blues&rsquo; defenseman could be making much more than the $290,000 he earns this season, but he has no regrets.&ldquo;You have to go with your instincts and at the time I came over here, 1 was happy to be part of things. I wanted a little security,&rdquo; said Brown, who was acquired from Quebec for Greg Millen and Tony Hrkac Dec. 13, 1989.&ldquo;I wanted to prove over the next few years I&rsquo;m a valuable part of the team&hellip;and if things continue to go well, we&rsquo;ll see what happens the next time around.&rdquo;Things have been going quite well for Brown, and who knows? Maybe the Blues will open up the chequebook at season&rsquo;s end and give him&mdash;and Adam Oates&mdash;deserving raises.Oates has been scoring at a record clip and so has Brown. But few have noticed because of the strong performance by Brett Hull.And it didn&rsquo;t help that Brown got off to a slow start. On Christmas Day, he had just 20 points&mdash;three goals and 17 assists. He was on pace for 46 points, far below his 58-point-per-season average over his last three NHL seasons.But all that changed on Boxing Day. Brown had four points in a 6-6 tie against Chicago and has been on fire since.In 56 games, Brown had 51 points on 10 goals and 41 assists. After getting four assists in a 5-4 victory over Los Angeles Feb. 9, Brown was on a pace for 73 points. That total would shatter Rob Ramage&rsquo;s team record of 66 points for defenseman.In the 21 games after Christmas, Brown had seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s weird,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Atone time, there was no way I was going to get 60 points, but now, things are going well. I don&rsquo;t know what it is. Maybe I&rsquo;ve changed my game a bit&hellip;It&rsquo;s hard to explain.&rdquo;He credited the Blues&rsquo; improved power play with his resurgence. The Blues&rsquo; power play had struggled all season, but in the nine games after the all-star break, it produced 15 goals in 42 situations&mdash;a 35.7 percent success rate.&ldquo;Our power play&rsquo;s starting to click and I&rsquo;m getting a lot of points,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been trying a lot of different things this year and we&rsquo;ve been caught in the middle some times.&rdquo;Sutter has settled on a first unit with Brown and Oates on the points, Brett Hull and Cliff Ronning on the wings and Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour at center.&ldquo;With Brownie, Oatsie and Hullie, (opponents) have to respect so many guys it&rsquo;s hard to cover everyone,&rdquo; captain Scott Stevens said. &ldquo;Especially when we get in the umbrella with Brown in the middle (at the blueline), Oatsie on the right and Hullie on the left.&ldquo;Those are three quality players. Brownie can bang it in, or he can tap it over to Hullie, who can bang it in and Oatsie can throw the puck anywhere on the ice and put it right on someone&rsquo;s stick. It works out real well.&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates. Bob Bassen, Ron Wilson, Cliff Ronning, Rick Meagher.LW&mdash;Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Dave Lowry, Geoff Courtnall, Sergio Momesso, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Rich Sutter, Steve Tuttle, Darin Kimble.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Harold Snepsts, Glen Featherstone, Robert Dirk.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Paul Cavallini, Mario Marois.G&mdash;Vincent Riendeau, Curtis Joseph.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul MacLean. RW, torn rib cartilage, Feb. 20 Rick Meagher. C, bruised ankle, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Hull. 58. A&mdash;Oates, 55. P&mdash;Hull, 83. PIM&mdash;Featherstone, 143. &#9632;

BROWN ADDING COLOR TO POWER-PLAY UNIT

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>Steve Thomas, who led the Chicago Blackhawks with 40 goals last season, had some lofty expectations this season.He wanted to reach the 50-goal mark. But with just 11 goals in 47 games, he may have to settle for half that number.&ldquo;I set some high goals this year and it looks like I won&rsquo;t be able to accomplish them,&rdquo; the 27-year-old left winger said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve made it a goal now to do as much as I can in the last 20-25 games and into the playoffs.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s no secret the Hawks need Thomas to score goals if they&rsquo;re going to do anything in the playoffs.For most of the season, the line of Jeremy Roenick, Steve Larmer and Michel Goulet has carried the Blackhawks&rsquo; offense while Thomas and several others have battled slumps.&ldquo;It has really frustrated me and bothered me to see Roenick, Larmer and Goulet doing so much offensively and I haven&rsquo;t contributed like I can.&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;I hope that&rsquo;s starting to change.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t depend on those three to carry the load all the time. Other guys have got to pick up the slack and I&rsquo;m one of those guys.&rdquo;Thomas got his act together offensively on the Hawks&rsquo; recent six-game road trip. He had two goals and an assist in an 8-3 win at Montreal Feb. 6, which gave him three goals and five points in three games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just feeling good right now,&rdquo; said Thomas, whose lowest point this season came during a 14-game stretch from Dec. 2 to Jan. 10 when he didn&rsquo;t score a goal. &ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;m not getting caught in between anymore. I&rsquo;m accomplishing my objectives instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off.&rdquo;Thomas&rsquo; improvement came after he was taken off left wing on Adam Creighton&rsquo;s line and plugged into the left side with Troy Murray and Dirk Graham.&ldquo;The fact is, it&rsquo;s a long season and they both needed a change,&rdquo; said coach Mike Keenan. &ldquo;It has given us more offense. But, as you know, I like to change lines so they might be back together eventually.&rdquo;Graham said he and Murray haven&rsquo;t made special attempts to get Thomas the puck. But they&rsquo;ve encouraged him to let loose with his big shot when he gets a chance.&ldquo;We tell him just to shoot the puck and not try to make a play,&rdquo; Graham said. &ldquo;Shooting is what comes natural to him. He was working just as hard before, but he wasn&rsquo;t shooting the puck. That&rsquo;s what he&rsquo;s doing now, shooting first and worrying about the other things later.&ldquo;If the opportunities come his way and he&rsquo;s in the right frame of mind, he&rsquo;ll succeed.&rdquo;Thomas&rsquo; first goal against the Canadiens came on a deflection. But his second came on a hard slap shot from the deep slot that overpo-wered goaltender Frederic Chabot.Now that Thomas has apparently snapped out of his offensive slump, Keenan was hoping Creighton would follow suit. Creighton&rsquo;s goal against Montreal Feb. 6 was his fourth in 16 games.&ldquo;Adam has to pick it up,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;We expect it from him.&rdquo;If Creighton can pick it up, it might convince Keenan he doesn&rsquo;t need to trade for another playmaking center.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Frantisek Kucera, D, recalled from Indianapolis (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Troy Murray, Adam Creighton, Mike Hudson.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Steve Thomas, Greg Gilbert, Mike Peluso, Stu Grimson.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Tony McKegney, Jocelyn Lemieux, Wayne Presley.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson, Frantisek Kucera, Steve Kon-royd.RD&mdash;Bob McGill, Trent Yawney, Dave Manson.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, dislocated left shoulder, indefinite.Chris Chelios, D, head laceration, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Larmer, 33. A&mdash;Larmer, 46. P&mdash;Larmer, 79. PIM&mdash;Peluso, 192. &#9632;

NO DOUBTING THOMAS, SCORING TOUCH BACK

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>Two conclusions can be drawn after scanning the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; scoring leaders and seeing Dave Reid&rsquo;s name near Vincent Damphousse&rsquo;s in the goals column.The most obvious deduction would be that Damphousse, who scored 33 goals and 94 points last season, is having the type of season players dread.But the correct conclusion is that Reid, 26, a defensive specialist who has toiled for Boston and Toronto for seven seasons, is enjoying the finest campaign of his career.The two hypotheses go a long way in describing the kind of year it has been for Toronto&mdash;everything is the opposite of what it should be.For example, the defensive left winger&rsquo;s 14 goals after 57 games were only two behind team leader Wendel Clark.Right winger Daniel Marois, who scored 39 goals last season, had just one more than Reid after 57 games.Reid&rsquo;s total is also five more than the nine he scored a year ago (9-19-28) and equals his career-high set in 1984-85 with Boston. In 242 games prior to this season, Reid had 46 goals and 112 points.After 57 games, half of Reid&rsquo;s goals were scored with the Leafs shorthanded. He is on pace to break the Leaf shorthanded goal record (8) held by Dave Keon, who wore Reid&rsquo;s number, No. 14. Keon set the mark during the 197071 season (78 games).It has been a far more successful year than Reid dreamed of, especially considering the rocky start he experienced.When the Leafs embarked on their first exhibition road trip, traditionally a voyage reserved for veterans, Reid was excluded.&ldquo;If you look back to that, this has been a great year for me,&rdquo; said Reid, a Toronto native and former Peterborough (Ontario League) junior.Like most players of Reid&rsquo;s ilk, his indefatigable work ethic and defensive abilities made it impossible for the Leafs&rsquo; hierarchy to exclude him from the opening-night roster.And Reid showed his appreciation by scoring the first goal of the season at 1:48 of the first period against Winnipeg. It was the Leafs&rsquo; only goal in a 7-1 loss.While Reid has had one of his best seasons ever, the Leafs have struggled all season.Reid&rsquo;s best performance came Nov. 8 against Vancouver. He scored two shorthanded goals in a 5-3 loss. He added another shorthanded marker in a 5-1 loss to Chicago Nov. 10 and added another in a 5-2 win over Winnipeg Nov. 12. His streak continued in the next game, a 5-3 win over Washington Nov. 14. Four games, five shorthanded tallies. He scored his sixth shorthanded goal five games later.But Reid&rsquo;s offensive production cooled off after that. And his next shorthanded tally came Feb. 6 in a 5-5 tie with Winnipeg. It was a 28-game drought.During that span, Reid was scratched from the lineup seven times despite the fact he and linemates Dave Hannan and Kevin Maguire were often the best trio on the ice.&ldquo;It bothered me, sure, but role players are usually the guys who get switched around because there&rsquo;s more of us,&rdquo; said Reid.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 3: Alexander Godyhyuk, D, and Allan Bester, G, recalled from Newmarket (AHL). Feb. 5: Brad Marsh, D, traded to Detroit for an eighth-round 1991 draft pick. Darryl Shannon, D, recalled from Newmarket. Feb. 8: Bester assigned to Newmarket.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel, Mike Krushelnyski, Dave Hannan, Brian Bradley, Scott Thornton.LW&mdash;Vincent Damphousse, Rob Cimetta, Dave Reid.RW&mdash;Daniel Marois. Mike Foligno, Kevin Maguire. Gary Leeman.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Todd Gill, Luke Richardson, Darryl Shannon.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Rob Ramage. Alexander Godynyuk.G&mdash;Peter Ing, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Aaron Broten, LW. dislocated shoulder, indefinite. Wendel Clark. LW, pulled rib cage muscle, day-today. Lucien DeBlois. C, strained neck muscles, dayto-day. Tom Fergus. C, groin surgery, indefinite. Michel Petit, D, sprained left knee, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Clark, 16. A&mdash;Damphousse, 31. P&mdash; Damphousse. 46. PIM&mdash;Richardson, 156. &#9632;

REID BRIGHT SPOT IN DISMAL SEASON

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>In the press release announcing general manager Bryan Murray&rsquo;s first trade, the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; introduced newcomer Paul Yse-baert as a left winger.He wasn&rsquo;t. The Wings learned as much after he played several games on Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s left side in place of the injured Gerard Gallant. So they tried him on Yzerman&rsquo;s right side, where nobody has contributed much this season. There again, the American League&rsquo;s top scorer last season (53-52-105 with Utica) had difficulty producing points.So Murray tried him at center and the third time appears to be the charm.Another finesse center wasn&rsquo;t exactly what the Wings needed when they traded defenseman Lee Norwood to the New Jersey Devils. Not with Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Jimmy Carson and John Chabot already occupying the middle. Not with first-round picks Keith Primeau and Mike Sillinger destined to move from center to the wing because of the crowd ahead of them.But Ysebaert has been filling in nicely for Carson, whose injured right knee kept him out of the lineup more than a month. Flanked most recently by what he calls the &ldquo;twin towers&rdquo;&mdash;Primeau on the left and Bob Probert on the right&mdash;Ysebaert has rediscovered the scoring touch that made him a much-sought-after player when the Devils made him available.With two goals and two assists in back-to-back games, (an 8-4 win over the New York Islanders Feb. 8 and a 6-5 loss in Minnesota the following day), Ysebaert had 10 goals and 23 points on the season, and 17 points in 31 games with the Wings.&ldquo;Playing center really gave me a break,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played center all my life, except for 11 games in Jersey and 20-some-odd games here. But also I think you go through a period of adjustment at every level. It happened to me in college (Bowling Green), then in minor pro. You struggle a little bit while you&rsquo;re getting used to it. It has happened to me here.&rdquo;With Carson close to returning, Ysebaert knew his days as a center may be numbered, that he might be called on to play the wing again. Both he and Murray were confident he would play better when it happens. Or he will if he wants to play.&ldquo;I told Paul when we brought him here that we were going to give him a chance to play in the NHL,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I put a little added pressure on him, for a purpose. I said, &lsquo;You complained when New Jersey didn&rsquo;t give you a chance. Well, here it is.&rsquo;&ldquo;Now, if I have to play him at left wing I think he will play better than before because his confidence is higher.&rdquo;Ysebaert concurs, adding it isn&rsquo;t an easy transition.&ldquo;When Jimmy returns, he&rsquo;ll go back to center, and if they want me to play left wing, I&rsquo;ll feel much more comfortable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At least I&rsquo;ll know what to expect.&ldquo;You see things so much differently on the wing, the way the play forms, than at center. But wherever I can fit in to help the team is okay with me.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to end up with a pretty good asset here,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He could be a good six- or seven-year NHL player here. Or, he could help you when you have a chance to do something (in the trade market).&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Brad Marsh, D, acquired from Toronto for an eighth-round draft pick in 1991. Alain Chevrier, G, assigned to San Diego (IHL). Feb. 6: Gord Kruppke, D, assigned to Adirondack (AHL). Feb. 7: Scott King, G, assigned to Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman. Sergei Fedorov, John Chabot, Paul Ysebaert, Marc Habscheid.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Shawn Burr. Keith Primeau, Randy McKay.RW&mdash;Johan Garpenlov, Bob Probert, Joe Kocur, Dave Barr, Brent Fedyk.LD&mdash;Bobby Dollas, Rick Green, Brad Marsh.RD&mdash;Rick Zombo, Yves Racine, Doug Houda.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jimmy Carson, C, strained knee, day-to-day. Steve Chiasson, D, broken foot, indefinite. Brad McCrimmon, D, broken ankle, day-to-day Greg Stefan, G, right knee surgery, Feb 16.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 40. A&mdash;Yzerman, 40. P&mdash;Yzerman, 80. PIM&mdash;Kocur. 229 &#9632;

MURRAY, YSEBAERT MEET IN THE MIDDLE

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>Earlier this season, the Minnesota North Stars were mourning the death of Brian Bellows&rsquo; scoring touch.Last year&rsquo;s 55-goal scorer had just 12 goals through the North Stars&rsquo; first 46 games and the 99 points he scored last season seemed like little more than a contract push, a fleeting memory of what he once was.But the reports of the death of Brian Bellows&rsquo; scoring ability were greatly exaggerated.The 26-year-old right winger scored 10 goals in the Stars&rsquo; 14 games up to Feb. 11, including three two-goal games within an eight-game span.He had 22 goals after 59 games&mdash;meager by comparison to last season&mdash;but had 21 games to reach 35&mdash;the fifth time the nine-year veteran can accomplish the feat.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to see the puck drop on Brian&rsquo;s stick,&rdquo; North Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey said. &ldquo;He has had a few games lately that inspire a guy and make him anxious to come back for the next game.&ldquo;The one thing Brian has had all season is chances. It&rsquo;s good to see some of those chances convert to goals.&rdquo;Bellows has been near the league leaders in shots all season. But until recently, the goal light stayed off.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel hot yet, but I&rsquo;m starting to feel better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m keeping the puck on my stick longer.&ldquo;After a season like the one I had last year, people assume the reason I hadn&rsquo;t been scoring much this year was because I wasn&rsquo;t getting my shot off quick enough. Actually, the opposite is true. When a goal scorer is scoring, he&rsquo;ll hold the puck longer, not get rid of it quicker.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to hang onto the puck, waiting that extra instant to see what the goalie is going to do.&rdquo;The North Stars&rsquo; dismal 3-9-0 record in one-goal games is testimony to the difference a goal here or there can make.Bellows, Mike Modano, Neal Broten and Bobby Smith all are expected to score at a higher pace than they have so far.&ldquo;Obviously, Brian Bellows can make a big difference to our team,&rdquo; general manager Bob Clarke said. &ldquo;We need scorers and he has a proven ability to score.&ldquo;But hockey is still a team game and it&rsquo;s unfair to blame one player for some of our close losses, just like it would be unfair to give one player too much credit when things are going good.&ldquo;We need more than just goals from Brian. He has to crash the net and check guys. Nobody scores goals every night and he has to be able to help the team when he&rsquo;s not scoring. He&rsquo;s one of the top scorers in the league but he still has to do more.&rdquo;The North Stars have rebounded recently and it&rsquo;s difficult to tell if Bellows&rsquo; recovery preceded it or is a result of the improved team play.Minnesota&rsquo;s 7-3-1 stretch through Feb. 11 solidified their hold on fourth place in the Norris Division. And third place wasn&rsquo;t out of the question, especially since the Red Wings were struggling.And if the North Stars are to catch the Wings, Bellows will have to continue to score goals.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Dave Gagner. Bobby Smith, Perry Berezan.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Brian Propp, Gaetan Duchesne, Basil McRae.RW&mdash;Ulf Dahlen, Mike Modano, Doug Smail, Ilkka Sinisalo, Stewart Gavin.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, Neil Wilkinson, Brian Glynn, Dan Keczmer.RD&mdash;Chris Dahlquist, Jim Johnson, Curt Giles.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shane Churla, RW, right shoulder separation, indefinite. Shawn Chambers, D, left-knee surgery Dec. 10, indefinite Mike Craig, RW, broken right hand, indefinite. Rob Zettler, D, hip flexor, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gagner, 32. A&mdash;Broten, 42. P&mdash; Broten, Gagner, 54. PIM&mdash;Churla, 219. &#9632;

BELLOWS SHINES AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01928/5885913-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="469" height="630"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE MOLINARI</figcaption></div>You&rsquo;ve probably realized by now the most fascinating race in the NHL is not for first place in the Norris Division or fourth place in the Smythe.Heck, you can see that stuff every season. The struggle for 21st place is a lot more compelling.But the issue is not whether Quebec or Toronto will finish last overall. It&rsquo;s whether Patrick Division teams, terrified by the prospect of Eric Lindros spending the next decade or so in New Jersey, will start sending care packages to Toronto.The Leafs, as you may have heard, traded their 1991 first-round draft choice to the Devils for defenseman Tom Kurvers, who has been an impact player throughout his career.Of course, most of that impact has been on the real-estate agents who handle the buying and selling of Kurvers&rsquo; houses when he changes teams every six weeks or so.In actuality, the question is not whether Patrick teams will intercede on Toronto&rsquo;s behalf, but when.And which teams will be able to outwait the others, hoping a division rival will weaken itself by propping up the Leafs for the stretch drive?As a public service, the occupant of this rectangle dusted off his crystal ball&mdash;the same one that forecast Buffalo to romp through the Wales Conference and projected Wes Walz as rookie of the year&mdash;and got this glimpse of what will transpire in coming weeks:Feb. 23: The Maple Leafs perform heroically during a visit to the Montreal Forum, holding the Canadiens scoreless for nearly the first 30 seconds of the game. Toronto stages an inspired rally in the third period but falls just short and loses a tough one 14-2.Feb. 24: The New York Rangers send Bernie Nicholls and Brian Leetch to the Leafs for some Tie Domi memorabilia left over from his days in Toronto and a ninth-round draft choice in 2007. New York general manager Neil Smith defends the deal as vital to securing his team&rsquo;s long-term future.Feb. 27: Toronto coach Tom Watt, frustrated by his team&rsquo;s lackadaisical play, benches the entire team except the Dave Hannan line and goalie Peter Ing for a home game against New Jersey.It seems to be a risky strategy until Devils&rsquo; coach John Cunniff decides to dress only goalie Sean Burke. &ldquo;Burke,&rdquo; Cunniff says, &ldquo;needs extra work before the playoffs and we decided this was a good chance for him to play 60 minutes. Alone.&rdquo;But the move backfires when the Leafs pepper Burke with nine shots and win 1-0. Ing gets the game-winner when he beats Burke high on the stick side with a wicked 110-footer.Feb. 28: Pittsburgh GM Craig Patrick, citing concerns about his team&rsquo;s swelling payroll, dispatches Paul Coffey and Mark Recchi to Toronto for Rob Cimetta and a 20 per cent discount at Hannan&rsquo;s hockey-supply store in suburban Castle Shannon.Patrick had been angling for Brad Marsh because the Penguins wouldn&rsquo;t have to buy him a helmet, but Detroit got him first. The money Pittsburgh saves by unloading Coffey and Recchi will be used to pay for John Cullen, Kevin Stevens and the U.S. federal deficit.March 2: Ing stubs his toe while taking a shower after practice and preliminary reports are he won&rsquo;t be able to play hockey again for at least 15 minutes.Philadelphia GM Russ Farwell, who insists he&rsquo;s acting for humanitarian reasons, promptly offers goalie Ron Hextall to the Leafs in exchange for one of the Whipper Watson photos hanging in the hallways of Maple Leaf Gardens.Toronto GM Floyd Smith wavers, saying he&rsquo;s wary of disrupting a team that trails the Nordiques by only one point, but grudgingly agrees to the deal when Farwell adds Rick Tocchet to the package.March 31: The Maple Leafs, despite being idle on the final night of the regular season, slip into fourth place in the Norris Division when Minnesota loses a close 9-0 game to St. Louis. The Leafs and North Stars are tied with 55 points&mdash;a full two points ahead of Quebec&mdash;but Toronto gets into the playoffs by virtue of the little-known home-attendance tiebreaker. The Leafs, it seems, actually had some.May 28: Toronto wins its first Stanley Cup since 1967 by beating New Jersey 1-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final. The Devils effectively shackle Leetch, Coffey, Nicholls and Tocchet, but lose when Burke is overpowered by a shot from outside the red line.It is the first Cup-winning goal of Peter Ing&rsquo;s career.Dave Molinari covers the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Pittsburgh Press. &#9632;

f0020-01

NHL’S ‘RACE’ FOR LAST THE MOST EXCITING

Feb. 25, 1971: The Boston Bruins set an NHL record for the fastest three goals by a team. The Bruins scored three goals in 20 seconds during the third period of an 8-3 win over Vancouver. John Bucyk (4:50), Ed Westfall (5:02) and Ted Green (5:10) score for the Bruins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02622/5885944-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="624" height="416"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Bucyk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

FLASHBACK

<h2>KINGS</h2>Dave Taylor became the 29th player in NHL history to register 1,000 career points Feb. 5 when he set up Steve Duchesne for a second-period goal in the Kings&rsquo; 3-2 win over Philadelphia at the Spectrum. Taylor, 35, is in his 14th season with the Kings. He was a 15th-round draft pick (21 Oth overall) out of Clarkson University in upstate New York in 1975&hellip;Luc Robitaille scored his 30th goal in that game, the fifth consecutive season he has reached that mark&hellip;Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall said he reached an agreement in principle with Harry Ornest to purchase the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League for about $5 million. McNall said &ldquo;it&rsquo;s likely&rdquo; Wayne Gretzky and actor John Candy will be minority owners. Gretzky is expected to buy between five and 20 per cent.<h2>CANUCKS</h2>One of the Canucks&rsquo; many problems has been a penchant for getting behind early. The Rangers blitzed the Canucks for five goals in the first 11 minutes in an 8-1 thrashing Feb. 8 at Madison Square Garden. One game later, Jon Morris scored on New Jersey&rsquo;s first shot on goal at 1:19 of the first period in a 2-0 Devils&rsquo; win Feb. 9. Kirk McLean was the losing goalie against New Jersey. He hadn&rsquo;t won a game since Dec. 22&hellip;Vancouver&rsquo;s 62-shot game against the Rangers in the 3-3 tie Jan. 31, Bob McCammon&rsquo;s last as Canuck coach, was the most by an NHL team this season and the most since Chicago had 62 against Pittsburgh on March 21, 1989. When the Canucks and Rangers met eight days later in New York, the Rangers levelled 51 shots at McLean and Troy Gamble&hellip;GM Pat Quinn was a winner for the first time as Canuck head coach Feb. 7, when the Canucks beat the Flyers 2-1 in Philadelphia, the city of his glory days. Quinn led the Flyers to a 48-12-20 record, including an NHL record 35-game unbeaten streak, in the 1979-80 season. He was named coach of the year.<h2>OILERS</h2>The Oilers were relieved to learn X-rays on Craig Muni&rsquo;s thumb and Jeff Beukeboom&rsquo;s ankle proved negative upon returning from a recent 1-3-0 road trip. With goalie Bill Ranford also having recovered from back spasms after missing two games, only sophomore defenseman Geoff Smith (back spasms) was doubtful when the Oilers began a three-game homestand Feb. 11 versus the Pittsburgh Penguins&hellip;After missing three games with a cracked bone in his foot, defenseman Steve Smith returned to the lineup Feb. 6. Two days later, during a 6-3 loss in Washington, he sustained another injury. Smith was in the Caps&rsquo; end when Glenn Anderson&rsquo;s pass from behind the net deflected off a defender&rsquo;s stick and struck him on the left eyebrow&hellip;Oilers&rsquo; draft pick Brad Werenka, a second-round choice in 1987, is a candidate for the Hobey Baker Award as the top college player in the U.S. The northern Michigan (via Two Hills, Alta.) defenseman had six goals and eight assists over an eight-game span and topped college rearguards with 47 points (16-31).<h2>FLAMES</h2>After spending much of the season starring in trade rumors, Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s future with the Flames appears more secure than ever after coach Doug Risebrough hinted he would name the 27-year-old center his captain. On the team&rsquo;s last extended road trip of the season, Gilmour wore the &ldquo;C&rdquo; for games against New Jersey Feb. 5 and Boston Feb. 7. It marked the first time this season someone other than Jamie Macoun wore the &ldquo;C&rdquo; on the road. &ldquo;Doug&rsquo;s shown me he can compete regularly, he has measured up under adversity and he has contributed to team stability,&rdquo; said Risebrough. Added Gilmour: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure exactly what&rsquo;s going on with it (the captaincy), but I&rsquo;m proud to wear the &ldquo;C&rdquo;&hellip;Rookie center Robert Reichel, who scored 13 goals in the first half, has not scored a goal in 1991. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy when you play only a little,&rdquo; said Reichel&hellip;Gary Suter flew to Madison, Wise., following a 5-2 win over Hartford Feb. 9 to begin preparations for his trial on charges of battery to a police officer. Jury selection was set for Feb. 11-12, with three days set aside for the trial. Suter was charged June 28, 1990 following an incident outside a Madison tavern.<h2>JETS</h2>Prior to Daren Puppa&rsquo;s Feb. 10 2-0 shutout at the Arena, the last visiting goalie to blank the Jets was Billy Smith for the Islanders, March 20, 1988&hellip;Through games of Feb. 10, the Jets were 8-4-1 since Thomas Steen returned Jan. 13 from a broken ankle&hellip;With 24 healthy players on the roster, GM Mike Smith reduced the number by one by dealing right winger Greg Paslawski to Buffalo for future considerations, likely a middleround draft pick.. Paslawski and Dale Hawerchuk faced their old mates just six days after the latest deal. Hawerchuk went looking for his 400th career goal at the Arena and on his best chance of the day, a partial breakaway, passed off to Lou Franceschetti, who failed to connect&hellip;The Jets waived disgruntled winger Jeff Parker then terminated his contract for failure to provide services. Parker had gone home when assigned to Moncton (AHL) in October, and has signed a try-out contract with Pittsburgh&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Marchment recorded his first NHL goal Feb. 8 against Pittsburgh (5-2 win), his 24th NHL game&hellip;Defenseman/winger Gord Donnelly went public with his request for a trade. Donnelly had played only 41 of the Jets&rsquo; first 60 games and sat out 10 of the last 19. &#9632;

TAYLOR JOINS NHL CENTURY CLUB

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>Bob McCammon leaped excitedly on the bench, waved his arms furiously, slapped his players on the back and whined at referees in his high-pitched voice.Pat Quinn? He just stands there staring, glowering, arms folded and feet planted, his suit as wrinkle-free as a top-notch executive.Quinn is not a waver or a screamer. But underneath his glacial exterior, he&rsquo;s not just a calm, impassionate businessman in a three-piece suit.In fact, Quinn is a seething volcano. When he&rsquo;s mad, the anger builds inside him as if steam will come out of his ears.The Vancouver president, general manager and now coach, has spent the last four seasons building the team. But now he must deal with their on-ice embarrassments directly from his perch behind the bench.The Canucks were shut out for the fourth time this season, 2-0 by the New Jersey Devils Feb. 10 at the Byrne Meadowlands Arena.Physically and emotionally drained after a five-game, 11-day road trip, the team returned home to Vancouver to find that Quinn is introducing more practice time.Since taking over from Bob McCammon Jan. 31, Quinn had a 1-4-0 record in his first five games. And the Canucks weren&rsquo;t only losing, they were being hammered.The road trip started with a 9-1 pounding by the Los Angeles Kings in L.A. Feb 2. The Canucks lost the next game 5-3 to Washington Feb. 5, before beating Philadelphia 2-1 Feb. 7. The trip ended with an 8-1 loss to the New York Rangers Feb. 8 at Madison Square Garden. In their first five games under Quinn, the Canucks were outscored 25-7.To turn things around, Quinn said the Canucks had to work more on the ice&mdash;even after they&rsquo;ve returned from gruelling, eastern road trips.&ldquo;Days when we travel, which might ordinarily have been an off day, are going to be a practice day,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s got to be a practice day. We can&rsquo;t afford to miss any more.&rdquo;Quinn&rsquo;s statement can be perceived as a subtle slap at McCammon, who was never obsessed with charts, schemes or practice time.&ldquo;I think the guys are physically tired, but I think more of it&rsquo;s mental right now,&rdquo; said Steve Bozek. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been drained. We just need a couple of days to clear the air and get the guys to relax. What has happened has happened.&rdquo;Quinn must turn things around quickly if the Canucks hope to make the playoffs. After 59 games, Vancouver was six points behind Winnipeg for the final playoff spot in the Smythe Division.Quinn said the Canucks have some bad habits to undo if they hope to make a playoff run.&ldquo;Our team has been out of focus for quite a while,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;We have to get back on the track of thinking about today and this game and this period and this shift.&rdquo;<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 6: Shawn Antoski, LW, recalled from Milwaukee (IHL). Feb. 11: Antoski assigned to Milwaukee.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dan Quinn, Petr Nedved, Igor Larionov, Rob Murphy.LW&mdash;Garry Valk, Robert Kron, Greg Adams, Gino Odjick.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden Ron Stern, Jay Mazur. Stan Smyl. Jim Sandlak.LD&mdash;Tom Kurvers, Adrien Plavsic. Jyrki Lumme, Kevan Guy.RD&mdash;Gerald Diduck, Garth Butcher, Robert Nordmark.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Troy Gamble.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jim Agnew. D, sprained knee, indefinite Steve Bozek. LW, sore shoulder, day-to-day. Dave Capuano, RW. knee surgery, indefinite. Doug Lidster, D, sore back, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Linden, 24. A&mdash;Quinn, 28. P&mdash; Linden, 45. PIM&mdash;Odiick, 254. &#9632;

STAND PAT QUINN HOPES TO REVERSE WOES

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div>Pat Elynuik wishes to dispute allegations he has spent much of the season slumping.But instead of a verbal debate, the 23-year-old right winger put his side of the story down on a scoresheet.With a longer stick and a healthy center, Elynuik rattled off an eightgame, point-scoring streak (six goals, nine assists) which helped the Jets get to safer ground in the Smythe Division playoff race.Each game of the streak saw Elynuik record at least one assist, tying a Jets&rsquo; franchise record shared by his center Thomas Steen, and ex-Jets Dave Christian and Dave Babych.There was some critical scrutiny of his play in early January after he had scored only four times in 12 games.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think I was in a slump,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt good about my game, the way 1 was playing. I was creating chances, getting chances but they weren&rsquo;t going in.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it has been a little more bearing down or that every game has become an important game to us. But things have been clicking.&rdquo;Elynuik led the Jets with 24 goals in 60 games and was on pace to equal the 32 he fired last season while playing out his option.&ldquo;As far as the season goes, I&rsquo;m happy I&rsquo;m getting stronger and stronger. I&rsquo;d rather have it this way than have a quick start and a poor ending.&rdquo;&ldquo;At the beginning of the season, I didn&rsquo;t play as well as I should have played,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I could have been a lot better. I think I&rsquo;ve gradually become stronger as the season has gone on. You can say that about a lot of guys on our team&mdash;we&rsquo;re playing a lot better.Elynuik&rsquo;s streak came to an end at home Feb. 10, when the Jets were shut out for the first time in 153 games, 2-0 by the Buffalo Sabres.And he wasn&rsquo;t without his chances. With 1:40 left in regulation in a 1-0 game, he was eye-to-eye with Sabre goalie Daren Puppa, who stopped his forehand deke.&ldquo;The puck was there but it was rolling,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just took a whack at it and didn&rsquo;t get a lot of wood on it.&rdquo;But Elynuik said more wood has been a key for him recently.&ldquo;I was going to a shorter stick and bending over a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t get a lot of loose pucks and I didn&rsquo;t have the reach.&ldquo;So I put about three inches on my sticks. It didn&rsquo;t take long at all to get used to. Things worked out right away. I was getting more loose pucks, able to hang on to the puck longer. I&rsquo;m more upright and I can see the puck better.&ldquo;It sounds funny but a little thing like that sure helped me out a lot.&rdquo;That, and the great chemistry Elynuik has always enjoyed with Steen, who had his 10-game point streak end the same day.&ldquo;When Thomas was back there for a couple of games, we had a lot of chances but they never went in for two or three games,&rdquo; Elynuik said. &ldquo;All of a sudden, they started going in the net. It seems every game, I&rsquo;m just shooting the puck and it&rsquo;s finding its way to the mesh. It&rsquo;s good to see this time of year. It&rsquo;s when the goalscorers have to score.&rdquo;<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Greg Paslawski, RW, tradec to Buffalo for future considerations.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Thomas Steen, Ed Olczyk, Dave McLIwain, Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Brent Ashton, Mark Osborne, Phil Sykes. Doug Evans, Scott AmielRW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDermid, Danton Cole, 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>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Elynuik, 24. A&mdash;Housley, 39. P&mdash; Housley. 56. PIM&mdash;Donnelly, 170. &#9632;

ELYNUIK GETTING LONG END OF STICK

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Three ladies will be in Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s comer as he attempts to make his NHL comeback&mdash;his new wife Jill, his physical fitness trainer and Betty Ford.Even though the suspended Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; goaltender was reinstated by NHL president John Ziegler Feb. 4, his recovery isn&rsquo;t complete. There&rsquo;s still the matter of starting over.Fuhr went through a strenuous physical and mental rehabilitation process that general manager Glen Sather says was vital to having the suspension commuted.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s extensive and it&rsquo;s ongoing,&rdquo; Sather said of Fuhr&rsquo;s program, which includes visits to the Betty Ford Clinic, counselling in Edmonton and workouts with a personal physical fitness trainer. &ldquo;We had to put a prog-ram together that has him on the so-called straight and narrow. It took a helluva lot of mental and physical determination, but he did it.&rdquo;Following a 15-minute meeting with Ziegler in New York, Fuhr was declared eligible to play Feb. 18 in New Jersey.But he&rsquo;s not scot free.&ldquo;I firmly believe,&rdquo; Sathersaid, &ldquo;if a guy was caught a second time, he&rsquo;d be banished for life.&ldquo;It is certainly not a soft policy like other sports. It&rsquo;s, a policy to discourage drug use and even with the criticism of the policy, in retrospect, I think it&rsquo;s a good policy. You know going in, if people offer you drugs, you can&rsquo;t use them. If the league finds out, you&rsquo;re going to be punished severely.&ldquo;Grant admitted he made a mistake, but now he has a clean slate. He can get on with his new life with his new wife.&rdquo;Fuhr started with a rigorous stint in the American League Feb. 12. Cape Breton played five games in six nights.&ldquo;That should get my feet wet,&rdquo; Fuhr said. &ldquo;The first couple of games I&rsquo;ll probably flounder around like 1 was lost at sea, but it&rsquo;ll be OK. It&rsquo;s nice to get back to reality again.&rdquo;Fuhr&rsquo;s last NHL activity was March 30 in Calgary, when he played one period before re-injuring a shoulder he dislocated Dec. 16, 1989.&ldquo;It feels like it has been forever,&rdquo; Fuhr said. &ldquo;The last time I felt good playing was before Christmas (1989). It&rsquo;s a start and I&rsquo;m not sure what to expect. But, there has been a whole lot of waiting&mdash;10-15 months.&rdquo;Is there an element of doubt in Fuhr&rsquo;s mind?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too early for that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s like starting all over again.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s a strong possibility Fuhr may be traded.&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t say I won&rsquo;t trade anyone,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;The policy from Day 1 is anyone can be traded. But. as for now, he has just had a million pounds lifted off his shoulder.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 6: Eldon Reddick, G, recalled from Cape Breton (AHL). Feb. 8: Craig Simpson, LW, began three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver&rsquo;s Steve Bozek Jan. 23.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier. Craig MacTavish, Ken Linseman, Adam Graves, Mark Lamb.LW&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Martin Gelinas, Kelly Buchberger, Anatoli Semenov.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Joe Murphy, Dave Brown, Petr Klima.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy, Steve Smith.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Kari Takko, Eldon Reddick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bill Ranford. G. back spasms, day-today. Geoff Smith. D, back spasms, dayto-day<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Simpson, Klima, 25 A&mdash;Messier, 39. P&mdash;Tikkanen, 51. PIM&mdash;Smith, 157. &#9632;

FUHR’S TOUGHEST BATTLE IS NEARLY OVER

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>They don&rsquo;t rely on Tim Hunter for scoring&mdash;not goals anyway&mdash;so everything he adds in that department, the Calgary Flames consider a bonus.Since returning from a tom tricep muscle, Hunter played with all his usual feistiness&hellip;and showed a touch around the net.Hunter has been a fixture on the Flames for years. Barring injury, he will become only the sixth player to play 500 games for the Flames by the end of February. Only two others did it in Calgary&mdash;Jim Peplinski and Al Maclnnis.In his time, the Flames have auditioned a lot of possible successors&mdash;Shane Churla, Craig Coxe, Stu Crimson, most recently Martin Simard&mdash;all of whom were shuffled off to other teams. Hunter remained.How does he explain his longevity?&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve given the Flames a commodity they can put in the bank,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t created any problems for them.&ldquo;The big thing is to play my game&hellip;and I think I&rsquo;ve been pretty consistent. If they brought somebody in, they&rsquo;d have to do all those things and maybe more. So far, nobody has.&rdquo;Hunter returned to the lineup Jan. 26 against Boston after missing 42 of the Flames&rsquo; first 50 games. The next day, he scored the first goal in a 5-4 win over Buffalo. Then he added goals against the New York Rangers and Boston. In a span of 11 days, he surpassed his scoring total&mdash;two&mdash;from last season.Until the last two seasons, the Flames could always count on Hunter for a little offence. He chipped in 33 goals in a four-year span, but scored only five times in the last two seasons. One drought lasted over 100 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a funny thing. The year I scored 11 goals (1984-85), I was on a line with Gino Cavallini and Carey Wilson fora long time. We were basically the third line down the stretch&mdash;when we won something like 19 of our last 22 games. We had quite a bit of success. The Tank Line.&ldquo;Now, I&rsquo;m playing with Robert Reichel and either Paul Fenton or Brian MacLellan. You know you&rsquo;re going to play because we&rsquo;ve been playing four lines quite a bit. The success comes from that. I&rsquo;ve always known my role as being one of the fourth line players and having to be ready when called upon.&rdquo;Overall, it has been a frustrating season for Hunter, the first time in his eight-year career he suffered a major injury. It happened in the second game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I was reaching for the puck along the right wing,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;Todd Gill caught me and more or less pin-ched my arm between him and the boards and that&rsquo;s where it tore.&ldquo;The doctors didn&rsquo;t diagnose it for four or five weeks after it happened. They didn&rsquo;t realize it was a torn tricep. They thought it was a rotator cuff. No one had really seen a tom tricep before.&ldquo;It was frustrating there for the longest time because I was supposed to be day-to-day. I kept thinking: &lsquo;Maybe it&rsquo;ll feel better tomorrow and I&rsquo;ll play.&rsquo; When they did find out it was tom, well, it takes six to eight weeks for a soft tissue tear to heal, so I knew that&rsquo;s what I had to look forward to.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto. Robert Reichel.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Stephane Matteau, Paul Fenton, Brian MacLellan.RW&mdash;Theoren Fleury, Sergei Makarov. Mark Hunter, Tim Hunter, Sergei Priakin.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Frank Musil.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Jim Kyte. Ric Nattress, Roger Johansson.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dana Murzyn. D. shoulder separation, Feb. 17. Colin Patterson. LW, reconstructive knee surgery, indefinite. Paul Ranheim, LW, broken ankle, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Nieuwendyk, 29. A&mdash;Maclnnis, 47. P&mdash;Maclnnis. 67 PIM&mdash;Roberts, 179. &#9632;

ENFORCER HUNTING DOWN GOALIES

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>For the first time in a decade, the Los Angeles Kings are enjoying themselves on the road.And the major factor?&ldquo;The plane, the plane,&rdquo; Luc Robitaille said, imitating the diminutive Tattoo on the TV series Fantasy Island.Robitaille was referring to the $5-million 727 jet owner Bruce McNall bought in the off-season for his travel-weary team.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have to wait around airports anymore,&rdquo; Steve Duchesne said. &lsquo;&lsquo;We get to where we have to go real fast. There&rsquo;s no way we could do that when we flew commercial.&rdquo;Indeed, the plane&mdash;it has been dubbed &ldquo;Air McNall&rdquo;&mdash;permits the Kings to fly directly to every NHL city and avoid time-consuming layovers and/or delayed flights that can bring on physical and mental fatigue.The Kings are usually airborne within 90 minutes after a game, enabling them to arrive at their next destination in plenty of time to get a decent night&rsquo;s sleep.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve noticed we&rsquo;ve got a lot more energy,&rdquo; Duchesne said.It&rsquo;s a luxury that leaves the Kings relatively well-rested for practices and games.The best evidence is their 14-12-3 road record after 56 games. Last season, without the plane, the Kings were 13-23-4 on the road.The team&rsquo;s plane is based at the Van Nuys, Calif., airport in the San Fernando Valley. It has 70 first-class seats, TV monitors with individual head sets, training tables and massage tables.The Kings hired their own crew, complete with flight attendants who serve gourmet meals.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s another example of Mr. McNall doing everything he can to help us perform,&rdquo; Tony Granato said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the best accommodations possible. Even if we have to sit on the runway for an hour, we&rsquo;re comfortable. From a morale standpoint, it&rsquo;s a big, big thing for our club.&rdquo;And because the plane&rsquo;s TV monitors come complete with VCR&rsquo;s, the players can watch game tapes&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting maximum usage out of down time,&rdquo; assistant coach Rick Wilson said. &ldquo;Normally, the guys can&rsquo;t sleep immediately after a game, so we can use the time for preparation.&rdquo;And how does coach Tom Webster feel about the team&rsquo;s purchase?&ldquo;We&rsquo;re equipped to take care of injuries right on the plane,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a great advantage.&rdquo;Wayne Gretzky, whose fear of flying is a thing of the past, also has no complaints.&ldquo;There are so many good things about the plane,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;First, there&rsquo;s the convenience. We can come and go as we please. And we don&rsquo;t have to wait around airports for flights or for bags. We just hop on the bus and it takes us right to the plane.&rdquo;In a sense, the jet is an extension of the Kings&rsquo; dressing room. Only people associated with the team are allowed to come aboard.&ldquo;You can sit and relax, get a good bite to eat and watch a movie,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;Maybe you just had a bad game and you don&rsquo;t want to talk about it. There&rsquo;s less pressure, less tension.&rdquo;And more space than commercial flights.&ldquo;You get so spoiled it&rsquo;s hard for guys to adjust to the old ways when they get traded,&rdquo; Gretzky said.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Todd Elik, Steve Kasper. John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Tony Granato, Luc Robitaille, John Tonelli, Jay Miller, Mike Donnelly.RW&mdash;Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Bob Kudelski, Brad Jones, Scott Bjug-stad.LD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Brian Benning, Bob Halkidis, Tim Watters.RD&mdash;Rod Buskas, Rob Blake, Marty McSorley.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey. Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Frank Breault. RW. right knee surgery, out for season. Tom Laidlaw. D, three bulging discs in back, indefinite. Larry Robinson, D, lower back strain, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gretzky, 33. A&mdash;Gretzky. 75. P&mdash; Gretzky, 108. PIM&mdash;McSorley, 163. &#9632;

FLYING PALACE TAKES STING OUT OF TRAVEL

<div class="byline">BY ADAM TEICHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01794/5886119-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Anderson was holding the fort on the Komets&rsquo; top line. Anderson, who led Fort Wayne with 32 goals, was fourth in the IHL scoring race.</figcaption></div>For Fort Wayne&rsquo;s John Anderson, some nights must seem like it&rsquo;s 1973 again. Anderson&rsquo;s first goal with the Toronto Marlboros was set up by center Bruce Boudreau and now Boudreau is Anderson&rsquo;s linemate with the International League&rsquo;s Komets.Anderson and Boudreau, linemates in junior hockey and occasional teammates with the Toronto Maple Leafs, are two-thirds of the IHL&rsquo;s highest scoring line. Lonnie Loach, their 22-year-old left winger, was leading the league with 30 goals and 80 points in 55 games while Anderson (32-41-73 in 51 games) was fourth and Boudreau (26-51-77 in 53 games) second.But for the veterans, it has been a combined 28 seasons of professional hockey since that 1973-74 year with the Marlies.&ldquo;Sometimes when John and I get together and reminisce, it&rsquo;s like we&rsquo;re that age again,&rdquo; says Boudreau, 36. &ldquo;Hockey is enjoyable for both of us and when it&rsquo;s enjoyable, you feel younger than you really are.&rdquo;Anderson, 33, is more realistic about the aches and pains.&ldquo;Playing like I&rsquo;m 20 and feeling like I&rsquo;m 20 are two different things,&rdquo; he says.Somehow, their paths always managed to cross.Anderson played eight seasons for the Leafs, scoring a high of 37 goals in 1983-84 before moving on to Quebec and Hartford. Anderson had 282 goals and 631 points in 814 NHL games.Boudreau took a crazier path to Fort Wayne, spending parts of seven seasons with the Leafs and one with Chicago. Before, in between and after, he played in five other professional leagues, always as a prolific scorer and, in the process, becoming a minor-pro legend.The Boudreau line is a big part of Fort Wayne&rsquo;s run for first place in the IHL&rsquo;s East Division. The Komets (30-21-4) were six points behind the leaders, the Kalamazoo Wings (3517-0). The surpising part for the independent Komets is two of their best players are two of the oldest players in the league.&ldquo;I think (John) wanted to have one more kick atthecan,&rdquo; says Boudreau. &ldquo;By having as good a year as he&rsquo;s having, there is a chance that San Jose or maybe Tampa or whoever would pick him up for a year or two.&rdquo;But Anderson&rsquo;s isn&rsquo;t the only recognizable name playing in the minors this season. Others who played a significant number of games in the NHL and are now in the IHL include: Rick Lanz (Indianapolis); Bob Mason (Milwaukee); Brian Lawton (Phoenix); and Charlie Simmer and Ron Duguay (San Diego). In the American League, the veterans include Utica&rsquo;s Rollie Melanson, Maine&rsquo;s Bob Gould, Baltimore&rsquo;s Joe) Quenneville and Newmarket&rsquo;s Darren Veitch and Bill Root.But none had more success this season than Anderson, who has steadily moved up in the IHL scoring ranks.&ldquo;I probably worked harder in the off-season last summer than ever before,&rdquo; &lsquo;Anderson says.&rsquo; &ldquo;I ran and lifted weights every day, except weekends. In August, I skated every day, except weekends.&rdquo;Told two years ago in Hartford he was too old to be productive, Anderson set out for Europe.He played briefly for a team in Italy last season.That didn&rsquo;t work out to his satisfaction&mdash;the team&rsquo;s owner wanted him to score five or six goals a game and Anderson, who had seven goals in nine games, thought that was unrealistic. So he returned to North America last summer, hoping to attract an invitation to an NHL training camp. He even called his old friend Floyd Smith in Toronto.&ldquo;He told me what everybody else did: &lsquo;that I&rsquo;m too old,&rsquo;&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;Then, the next day, he invites Ron Duguay to camp and Duguay is my age.&rdquo;&ldquo;The last couple of years, everybody has been telling me I&rsquo;m too old to play and I can&rsquo;t play anymore. It&rsquo;s fun to prove them wrong.&rdquo;With coach Al Sims&rsquo; blessing, Boudreau, who hooked up with the Komets after playing in Phoenix last season, called Anderson to invite him to Fort Wayne&rsquo;s training camp. Anderson accepted and the Komets are glad he did.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d still recognize John out there,&rdquo; Sims says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the same guy he was with Toronto. Because he got to camp so late, it took him about 15 games to get into shape, but he has regained his speed and his quick release. He looks like he could score 50 or more goals this year.&rdquo;And if Anderson, who needed 18 goals in 27 games, does get to 50 goals maybe he will get noticed and get that second chance.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s going to be an expansion team next season and two the year after that,&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;I think I can help someone. But I&rsquo;m a realist. I&rsquo;ve got that thing hanging over me&mdash;my age.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

GLORY DAYS

<div class="byline">BY NICK GATES</div>A team can expect to struggle through a few injuries during the season, but the Erie Panthers should think about renting a hospital ward.Four more players&mdash;defenseman Rich Schilling, left winger Grant Ottenbreit, center Real Godin and left winger Scott Johnston&mdash;joined sick bay at the beginning of February. Yet coach Ron Hansis&rsquo; patchwork team won three consecutive games before losing 7-2 at Johnstown Feb. 3.Erie (22-21-2) edged visiting Roanoke Valley 3-2 in an overtime shootout Jan. 29, then posted road wins against Richmond (5-2 Feb. 1) and Johnstown (5-3 Feb. 2).&ldquo;This has been an extraordinarily strange season,&rdquo; Hansis said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had to pass out the big Band-Aids. It&rsquo;s not pretty. We&rsquo;re learning to win ugly.&rdquo;One wonders how Erie wins at all. Since Jan. 17. centers Doug Stromback and Mike deCarle were placed on injured reserve because of knee injuries and were joined by defenseman Mario Mercier (leg injury Jan. 21) and right winger Peter Buckeridge (broken ankle Jan. 24). Buckeridge was the only one expected to be out an extended period&mdash;he should be back at the end of February.To compound matters, leading scorer Barry Chyzowski left to play in Europe Jan. 8 and Dwaine Hutton, who scored six goals in six games, retired Jan. 28.The four latest injuries were minor setbacks: Schilling blocked a shot with his leg Jan. 29 and missed three games with a massive bruise; Ottenbreit, the Panthers&rsquo; captain, injured his knee in the loss to the Chiefs and was expected to miss a week; and Godin missed two games because of bruised ribs, the result of a crosscheck Feb. 1. Johnston was clipped by a high stick in the eye and ended up missing the rest of the Feb. 3 game.&ldquo;We keep knocking on wood,&rdquo; Hansis said, &ldquo;but it doesn&rsquo;t stop. This is ridiculous.&rdquo;Right winger Chris Consorte, center E.J. Sauer and defenseman Rob White were signed and have come to the Panthers&rsquo; rescue.Consorte scored three goals in six games, while Sauer chipped in a goal and four assists in three.Only once since Jan. 6 has Hansis had the luxury of playing with a full bench. Nonetheless, he remains upbeat and focused on climbing from worst to first in the East Division&mdash;the Panthers were only 10 points behind the division-leading Hampton Roads Admirals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re shooting.for the top,&rdquo; Hansis said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where my sights are set. We&rsquo;ve got a good nucleus, the players are working their rear ends off and I intend on being in the playoffs.&rdquo;<h2>UPSTART UPSET</h2>Only Knoxville (14-6-3) and Hampton Roads (9-8-3) had winning records on the road, but the visiting teams won 13 of 22 contests during the week ending Feb. 4. The eye-opener was lastplace Winston-Salem&rsquo;s 4-2 win at Knoxville Feb. 1. The first-place Cherokees had a 10-game winning streak on home ice&hellip;Cincinnati and Knoxville play an exhibition game in Dayton&rsquo;s Hara Arena Feb. 20, a test for a possible expansion franchise in 1991-92&hellip;Louisville&rsquo;s 8-7 overtime-shootout win at Nashville Jan. 31 featured a record 30 shooters&hellip;A record Louisville crowd (5,825) saw the IceHawks lose 5-3 to Knoxville Feb. 2 and that helped push the league attendance mark to over one million-&hellip;Cincinnati broke its league record for the seventh time this season when 10,070 watched the Cyclones edge Greensboro 4-3 Feb. 1. &#9632;

WOUNDED PANTHERS STILL HAVE SOME BITE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE AND KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div>There are a lot of ups and downs to being a professional goalie. But not usually so many at the same time.Grant Fuhr, who was given permission to begin playing again Feb. 4, was the most prominent goalie assigned to the American League but, there was also an unusually high number of callups.Fuhr, 28, received permission from NHL President John Ziegler to begin his comeback from a league suspension for drug use. He was given permission to play in the AHL with the Cape Breton Oilers beginning Feb. 12 and is eligible to return to the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; roster Feb. 18.Fuhr, who hadn&rsquo;t played a game in almost a year, could play five games in six nights with Cape Breton.Oilers&rsquo; coach Don MacAdam was prepared to give Fuhr all the work he could handle during his one-week conditioning stint in the AHL.The goalie was scheduled to report to Cape Breton Feb. 10 and will be given the start against Rochester at home Feb. 12. Cape Breton has four road games scheduled in the next five days, and Fuhr isn&rsquo;t likely to spend much time as a spectator.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll play him as much as possible,&rdquo; MacAdam said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll be able to play in at least three. They tell me he&rsquo;s in the best shape of his life, that he&rsquo;s lean and mean and ready to go. I&rsquo;d say he&rsquo;ll probably start Tuesday, Friday (at Springfield) and Sunday (at New Haven), but he could easily play in all five.&rdquo;A heavy workload is nothing new to Fuhr. He played in a NHL-record 75 regular season games in 1987-88.Injuries to NHL regulars and the prospect of having to expose one goaltender in the expansion draft combined to produce the high number of recalls between Jan. 28 and Feb. 6. The goalies made available for the expansion draft must have played at least 60 minutes in the NHL this season.Eight goaltenders were promoted and seven made their first appearances during the period. Of the group, six are rookies. The only one who didn&rsquo;t start was New Jersey Devil veteran Rollie Melanson.Boston left the short list when Norm Foster played against Pittsburgh Feb. 2. Edmonton followed by playing Pokey Reddick at Hartford Feb. 6.Also recalled were Dave Gagnon and Scott King by Detroit, Frederic Chabot by Montreal, Matt DelGuidice by Boston and David Littman by Buffalo. Chabot was the only one to reach the minimum.<h2>GONE FISHIN&rsquo;</h2>Craig Fisher has always been able to score goals. He had 37 in 39 games last season as a sophomore at the University of Miami-Ohio.But when Fisher had trouble scoring in the first three months of the season with the Hershey Bears, he didn&rsquo;t panic. He knew the touch would return.It did, and after scoring 17 goals in 13 games, the center was on the verge of setting a Hershey record for goals by a rookie. Through Feb. 7, he had 31 goals, 23 assists and 54 points in 52 games. The record of 32 goals was set by Glen Seabrooke in 1986-87.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been more of a goal-scorer and I was having trouble early in the year; I was getting chances but I just wasn&rsquo;t burying them,&rdquo; said Fisher, Philadelphia&rsquo;s third-round pick in 1988.Coming out of college two years early, the 20-year-old knew there would be an adjustment period to pro hockey.&ldquo;The biggest thing is the pace, playing 80 games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One night you might have a game in New York State, then we&rsquo;re home Saturday and in Massachusetts the next night, and you have to be on top of your game every night.&rdquo;<h2>LEBEAU KNOWS&hellip;</h2>Fredericton rookie left winger Patrick Lebeau tied an AHL record with six goals in an 8-7 win at Cape Breton Feb. 1. The other AHL players to score six goals in a game: Providence&rsquo;s Camille Henry, 1955-56; Syracuse&rsquo;s Harry Pidhimy, 1953-54; and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Bob Heron, 1941-42&hellip;Radio broadcasters for Maine and Capital District, as well as their listeners, had a confusing night Feb. 2 when both goalies were named Harvey, Chris for the Mariners and Alain for the Islanders. Maine won the game 4-3&hellip;Rochester center Don Biggs served a three-game suspension Feb. 2-6 for physically abusing linesman Frank Vicaretti during a Feb. 1 game&mdash;a 5-3 loss to New Haven. &#9632;

GOALIES’ MOTTO: HAVE GLOVE WILL TRAVEL

<div class="byline">BY ADAM TEICHER AND BILL PICKETT</div>All season long, as Peoria piled up victories and pulled away from the rest of the International League&rsquo;s West Division, coach Bob Plager warned the Rivermen had better strike while the team was hot.&ldquo;Sooner or later, we&rsquo;re going to lose some guys to callups or trades or injuries,&rdquo; Plager said. &ldquo;We might as well have fun while we can.&rdquo;Plager&rsquo;s words came back to haunt the Rivermen Feb. 4, when the parent St. Louis Blues traded Peoria defensemen Tony Twist and Andy Rymsha to the Quebec Nordiques.The Rivermen showed up in Kansas City the next night with three crucial players&mdash;defenseman Dominic Lavoie, right winger Jim Vesey and center Michel Mongeau&mdash;out of the lineup because of injuries. Lavoie had missed nine games with a dislocated shoulder and Vesey had missed five games with a bruised shoulder. Mongeau missed the Kansas City game with a bruised back. All three players were expected back in the lineup within a week.So the Rivermen dressed only 12 skaters&mdash;four defensemen and eight forwards&mdash;and still beat the Blades 6-1 by scoring three times in the first five minutes.Peoria will feel the loss of Twist, one of the IHL&rsquo;s toughest players. He had 244 penalty minutes in 38 games.&lsquo;&lsquo;There was nobody in the league who was as tough as Tony Twist,&rdquo; Plagersaid. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve still got some tough hockey players. But there&rsquo;s no question, we&rsquo;ll miss him and Andy. They were a big part of the Rivermen.&rdquo;<h2>CHOPPY WATERS</h2>St. Valentine&rsquo;s Day could be a massacre for the financially-strapped Albany Choppers. The Choppers were expected to be sold or folded by Feb. 14.John Lupo, the Choppers&rsquo; business manager who helped organize a group of local investors, said Feb. 11 the group was attempting to meet the requirements for a sale negotiated during weekend meetings with owner David Welker.Welker said he needed about $50,000 by Feb. 14 to meet the players&rsquo; payroll, pay for a four-game road trip to Milwaukee, Fort Wayne and Phoenix beginning that day, and pay league fees due Feb. 15.The league had organized contingency plans in case the Choppers could not make the trip. IHL commissioner Tom Berry said Salt Lake would play the games in Milwaukee and Fort Wayne.Larry Landon, executive assistant of the Professional Hockey Players&rsquo; Association, said the Choppers&rsquo; nine contracted players would not make the trip if they weren&rsquo;t paid.The Choppers, meanwhile, have played courageously while the turmoil has been going on in the front office. They won five of six games coming into February, including four in a row to close out January. The Choppers then won 8-2 in Kansas City Feb. 6 before losing two games in Salt Lake to the Golden Eagles&mdash;5-1, Feb. 8 and 6-3, the next night.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a good core of people, character people,&rdquo; said coach Dave Allison. &ldquo;Their stock has really gone up. They&rsquo;ve persevered and played well despite the problems.&ldquo;The guys have been great about it. They understood there were adverse conditions in the office. They were patient. But if we don&rsquo;t keep getting paid, there&rsquo;s no way we finish the season.&rdquo;<h2>MISSING LINK</h2>The Link Gaetz saga in Kansas City took another couple of weird twists, with the Blades finally suspending the defenseman for the rest of the season Feb. 5. Coach Doug Soetaert only said that Gaetz again violated terms of the loan agreement with the Minnesota North Stars, who own Gaetz&rsquo;s contract. But Gaetz was to see a counselor for an alcohol problem as part of that loan agreement. Gaetz was suspended by Soetaert after his arrest in Peoria, 111., Jan. 20 for criminal property damage at the hotel where the Blades were staying. After missing two games, Gaetz was reinstated and played Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 against Phoenix, with the charges in Peoria still pending. He had two assists Feb. 1 to help the Blades break a six-game losing streak with a 6-5 overtime victory. Then, Soetaert announced the second suspension, for a violation unrelated to the first. Gaetz had reportedly thrown a pool cue through the glass of a pinball machine. Gaetz was expected to enter the Hazelden Foundation, a rehab center in Center City, Minn., Feb. 11. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s really not much to talk about,&rdquo; Gaetz said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I really need to do to get my life straightened out.&rdquo;&mdash;with a file from Bob Dittmeier &#9632;

RIVERMEN SLOWED BY ST. LOUIS’ TRADE

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>The NHL instituted a conditional three-round entry draft in 1987 in an attempt to help the 19-year-old Canadian Hockey League player get recognized.What is recognized four years later is that a mistake was made. Major-junior veterans aren&rsquo;t getting drafted the way they once were.In the four NHL drafts prior to the three-round rule, more CHL players (41 per cent) were selected in rounds four through 12 than American college, high school and European players combined.In the four drafts after the three-round restriction, American high schoolers have dominated selections in the last nine rounds. The CHL accounted for just 25 per cent of the picks.Now the major junior umbrella group, which represents the Ontario, Western and Quebec Leagues, wants the old system (used from 1980 to 1986) re-instituted. During those years, a major-junior player only had to be 18 by Sept. 15 in order to be eligible. Undercurrent regulations, 18-year-old major-junior players can only be drafted in the first three rounds.The rules were changed in the mistaken belief that if 18-year-old CHL players weren&rsquo;t eligible in rounds four through 12, the spotlight would shift to the 19-year-olds. That&rsquo;s not how it has worked out. NHL teams are opting, in large part, for 18-year-old American high school and college players who are eligible in all rounds.CHL and WHL president Ed Chynoweth was typically charming when asked why he thinks the three-round conditional draft has backfired from the major-junior perspective.&ldquo;If I were a Houdini, I wouldn&rsquo;t be sitting here,&rdquo; he said abruptly.The CHL has always been the No. 1 producer of NHL players, although its superiority over other sources has diminished during the past decade. Two-thirds of the players picked in the 1980 draft were from the CHL. From 1980 to 1986, more than half the selections were from major junior. But in the last four drafts, just a little more than one-third of the choices have been from CHL teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01756/5886229-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="708" height="1101"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Branch says it&rsquo;s imperative the NHL bring back the open-round draft.</figcaption></div>Increasing availability of international players has accounted for part of the change, but the most significant cause is the increase in selection of high school players.&ldquo;The three-round regulation is one more reason why NHL teams are going more towards the college and high-school ranks,&rdquo; QMJHL president Gilles Courteau said. &ldquo;Why would an NHL team pick a 19-year-old junior player over a high school kid who will be in college four years? We have to get back to the open draft. We must make it equal for everybody.&rdquo;Under the CHL&rsquo;s agreement with the NHL, major-junior players must be offered a contract within one year and signed to a contract within two years from the day they&rsquo;re drafted. Otherwise, they&rsquo;re eligible to re-enter the draft. That agreement is being reviewed this year.High school and college players don&rsquo;t have to be offered a contract until they complete their education or decide to turn professional. In some cases, that can be five years after they&rsquo;re drafted.&ldquo;The regulations work against the majorjunior player,&rdquo; OHL commissioner Dave Branch said. &ldquo;They make it easier for teams to select high schoolers. There has to be some adjustments.&rdquo;The CHL and NHL have taken steps to see adjustments are made. Last October, the CHL and the NHL&rsquo;s pre-professional development committee approved a move to go back to the open draft. Before any changes are made, whether for this year or any time in the future, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association must give its approval.Teams naturally want to know as soon as possible what the draft regulations will be this season. The 1991 entry draft is scheduled for June 22 in Buffalo.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s to the point where discussion with the Players&rsquo; Association is the last step,&rdquo; league executive vice president Brian O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not at the point where a decision will soon be made. I&rsquo;m not sure how long it will be.&rdquo;The NHLPA is equally vague.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard talk of all this, but no proposal from the league has crossed my desk,&rdquo; NHLPA&rsquo;s deputy executive director Bob Goodenow said. &ldquo;Until such time it does, it&rsquo;s best for me not to comment.&rdquo;In order to protect the league from anti-trust legislation, the NHL needs to have the NHLPA endorse the change to the draft. With talks on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement slated for the off-season, the NHLPA is not anxious to make any concessions to the NHL without getting something in return. In short, the open draft is a bargaining chip.In the meantime, most NHL teams are preparing for both a three-round restricted draft and an open draft in June.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not worth the risk getting a list ready for one draft when they could turn everything around on you,&rdquo; one NHL scout said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any team is going to restrict itself by preparing for one draft and not the other.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02510/5886222-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="698" height="1110"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Chynoweth can&rsquo;t explain the failure of the three-round conditional draft.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re preparing for the draft the way it is now,&rdquo; New York Rangers&rsquo; general manager Neil Smith said. &ldquo;But if it goes back (to the open draft) we&rsquo;ll be prepared. Most teams are going that way. It&rsquo;s easier to subtract a player from a draft list than it is to add one on.&rdquo;Other teams don&rsquo;t anticipate a change in the draft this year.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just preparing for the three-round draft,&rdquo; Washington Capitals&rsquo; GM David Poile said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve heard some discussion that it might change, but there&rsquo;s no point in preparing differently until it does change.&rdquo;The CHL can only wait, wonder and wish.&ldquo;The NHL is in the business of getting hockey players and we&rsquo;re in the business of supplying them,&rdquo; Branchsaid. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a case of arriving at what&rsquo;s in the best interest of the hockey industry as a whole.&ldquo;The current arrangement is not suitable and there has to be adjustments. I feel comfortable there will be some alterations.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-01

THREE ROUND CIRCUS

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Brian Costello</div>Tim Cheveldae probably doesn&rsquo;t think about it when he stops pucks for the Detroit Red Wings, but had the NHL instituted the three-round conditional draft one year earlier, he would be in a different crease.Ten current NHL players were drafted as 18-year-olds from Canadian Hockey League teams after the third round of the 1986 entry draft. The next season, an agreement between the NHL and the CHL eliminated the chance of that happening again.Now, if an 18-year-old (by Sept. 15) hasn&rsquo;t played three seasons in the CHL, he&rsquo;s only eligible to be selected in the first three rounds or wait until next year&rsquo;s draft.In 1986, Cheveldae, Rob Brown, Mark Janssens, Glen Featherstone, Ron Tugnutt, Troy Crowder, Darren Turcotte, Lyle Odelein, Richard Pilon and Frederic Chabot were chosen as 18-year-olds in the fourth round or later.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03409/5886267-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="668" height="818"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Cheveldae was one of the last 18-year-olds picked after the third round.</figcaption></div>The CHL believed the new regulation would put the emphasis on major-junior 19-year-olds in rounds fourth through 12. In 1987, only 31 CHL players were drafted in the final nine rounds and only Theoren Fleury had played in the NHL.In the next three drafts, 51, 58 and 58 CHL 19-year-old players were taken in rounds four through 12. far below what the league was used to. Meanwhile, more and more American high school players were selected.In the four drafts prior to the three-round regulation, 311 (41.1 per cent) players drafted in rounds four through 12 were from the CHL, compared to 61 (8.07 per cent) from colleges, 135 (17.9 per cent) from high schools, and 111 (14.7 per cent) from international leagues.In the four drafts after the three-round regulation, 190 (25.1 per cent) players drafted in rounds four through 12 were from the CHL, compared to 156 (20.6 per cent) from colleges, 223 (29.5 per cent) from high schools, and 148 (19.6 per cent) from international leagues.The following chart shows the number of players drafted from the CHL, American colleges, American high schools and international leagues in rounds four through 12 of the NHL entry draft four years before the new regulation in 1987 and four years after.<h2>ON DRAFT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04295/5886260-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="683" height="384"></div> &#9632;

f0026-03

THIS BATCH OF LATE-ROUND 18-YEAR-OLDS AGED WELL

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>Battling Eric Lindros for the Ontario League scoring title doesn&rsquo;t shake Niagara Falls Thunder&rsquo;s Todd Simon. He has tradition on his side.The rookie center, who had 37 goals and 89 points in 49 games, is attempting to continue a streak of consecutive Thunder scoring champions. Defenseman Bryan Fogarty won with 155 points in 1988-89 and Keith Primeau won with 127 points last season.Simon has been among the top-10 points leaders all season and took over the No. 1 spot for 10 days in January. Oshawa General Lindros led the OHL through the first half of the season, but fell off the pace while at the World Junior Championships for four weeks. Lindros regained first place in early February scoring 30 points in an eight-game period.&ldquo;I never dreamed I&rsquo;d be up against Lindros for the scoring race,&rdquo; Simon said. &ldquo;And I know two Thunder players have won it the last two years. I&rsquo;m striving to get there, too, but I won&rsquo;t be disappointed if it doesn&rsquo;t happen. &lsquo;&lsquo;That Simon is even leading Niagara Falls in scoring is surprising. The Thunder were hoping a return of the Primeau-Brad May-Jason Winch line would rule the offense. But Primeau remained in Detroit, May injured a knee and Winch had a slow start.&ldquo;Coming up in the playoffs last season was a big advantage,&rdquo; Simon said. &ldquo;I had to smarten up. I&rsquo;m glad coach George (Burnett) gave me the chance.&rdquo;Simon was a fifth-round OHL draft pick in 1989, but played junior-B hockey in Port Colbome last seaso&rsquo;n when he couldn&rsquo;t conform to then-coach Bill LaForge&rsquo;s roughhouse style.Simon, 18, is eligible for the 1991 NHL draft in June, but was not rated by Central Scouting Bureau.<h2>GUELPH IS BACK</h2>After a two-year absence, Guelph will be back in the OHL next season as soon as Dukes of Hamilton owner Mario Cupido finalizes a deal to sell the club to the Guelph Community Hockey Club Ltd.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a little apart in money, but all we have to do now is cross the t&rsquo;s and dot the i&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Cupido said.Cupido was asking $ 1.2-million for. the Dukes, but it was speculated he would settle for less than $900,000.Cupido said he expects the deal to be completed by mid-February. Majority approval from the OHL board of governors is required. The Guelph group also has to get the Kitchener Rangers to waive territorial rights.Guelph had the Platers from 1982 to 1989 before the team was moved to Owen Sound.<h2>CATCH 22</h2>Oshawa&rsquo;s Eric Lindros became the OHL&rsquo;s first 50-goal, 100-point man this season when he scored three goals in 7-2 a victory over Niagara Falls Feb. 4.Lindros, in fact, had a hat trick of hat tricks in one stretch, scoring three goals in three straight games from Feb. 2-5.The 17-year-old scoring star hadn&rsquo;t been held without a point since a 3-2 loss to the Peterborough Petes Nov. 10. During his 22-game scoring streak, Lindros had 39 goals and 66 points. He led the league with 55 goals and 109 points in 43 games.<h2>GOOD KNIGHT</h2>London Knights&rsquo; defenseman Rick Corriveau was named player of the week for the period ending Feb. 3. A second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in 1989, Corriveau had six goals and seven points in three games. His four goals in one game (Feb. 1 against the Detroit Ambassadors) was one short of the Al Macln-nis&rsquo; OHL record for defensemen set in 1983 when the Calgary Flame was with the Kitchener Rangers. &#9632;

THUNDER SCORING STREAK LEFT IN SIMON’S HANDS

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Somebody had to take the blame for the Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; woes this season and coach Terry Ruskowski became the fall guy.Ruskowski was fired Feb. 4, after the Blades lost nine of 10 games, including four straight. He was in his second season as coach of the Western League club.&ldquo;We did it to turn the team around,&rdquo; Blades&rsquo; general manager Daryl Lubiniecki said. &ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t playing like a team fighting for their playoff lives. I felt there was something lacking.&rdquo;Former Blade defenseman Bob Hoffmeyer was named new coach Feb. 7. Hoffmeyer played 198 games in the NHL from 1977 to 1985 with Chicago, Philadelphia and New Jersey. He has four years coaching experience in New Jersey&rsquo;s system.Saskatoon was one of the preseason favorites to win the East Division, but instead have a losing record. The Blades were 22-30-2 and in seventh place, six points behind the Moose Jaw Warriors and the last playoff spot when Ruskowski was canned.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01701/5886322-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="551" height="626"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Ruskowski was upset his players didn&rsquo;t respond.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There were a lot of fat cats who knew they were going to be here, no matter what,&rdquo; Ruskowski said. &ldquo;They knew they weren&rsquo;t going to be traded. How can you threaten kids to play in a situation like that.&rdquo;<h2>HIGH HOPES</h2>The new Tacoma entry in the WHL doesn&rsquo;t yet have a nickname, but it has a head scout and a lot of hope.&ldquo;I hope we&rsquo;re competitive right off the bat,&rdquo; team president Bruce Hamilton said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re going to challenge for the top, but I sure hope we&rsquo;re not going to be at the bottom of the pile.&rdquo;The WHL&rsquo;s board of governors rubber-stamped Hamilton&rsquo;s expansion-bid at the league&rsquo;s All-Star Game Feb. 4-5 in Calgary. Tacoma will compete in the seven-team West Division and play out of the 19,000-seat Tacoma Dome.Lorne Frey, formerly with the Swift Current Broncos, is head scout.<h2>EAST IS BEST</h2>Centers Mike Sillinger of the Regina Pats and Jeff Nelson of the Prince Albert Raiders each scored two goals lifting the East Division to an 8-2 win over the West Division at the annual All-Star Game Feb. 5 in Calgary.Kevin Riehl and Jason Miller of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Paul Dyck of the Moose Jaw Warriors and Frank Kovacs of Regina also scored for the East. Zac Boyer of the Kamloops Blazers and Brad Zavisha of the Portland Winter Hawks replied for the West.<h2>WHITNEY HOT</h2>Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; center Ray Whitney was named West Division player of the month for the second consecutive term.Whitney, 18, had 16 goals and 48 points in 17 games in January to take over the WHL scoring race. He had 53 goals and 141 points in 56 games this season.Mike Sillinger, a member of Canada&rsquo;s gold-medal winning junior team, received similar honors in the East Division. He had 15 goals and 26 points in 11 games to help Regina post a 9-1-1 mark in January.Lethbridge Hurricanes&rsquo; Jamie McLennan was named WHL goalie of the month. He had an 8-2-0 record and 3.34 goals-against average during the month. &#9632;

f0027-01

RUSKOWSKI AXED BY BLUNTED BLADES

<div class="byline">BY KEN WARREN</div>Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; coach Joe Canale isn&rsquo;t about to let his players push him around. If anyone is going to do the pushing, it&rsquo;s him.Canale pushed high-scoring center Steve Larouche all the way home because of indifferent play on the part of the four-year veteran.&ldquo;There were a number of things that happened,&rdquo; Canale said. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t playing up to his potential-&hellip;not even close to his potential.&rdquo;Canale wanted to trade Larouche, but wasn&rsquo;t about to give him away in a fire sale. Larouche, 19, is closing in on the 400-point mark in the Quebec League and was a second-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1989.&ldquo;Five or six teams are interested,&rdquo; Canale said. &ldquo;But if we do deal Larouche, we want a big talent in re-turn.&rdquo;Larouche was traded to Chicoutimi from the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs in the off-season, but suffered a knee injury Oct. 5 and missed two months.&ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;m traded to a top team,&rdquo; Larouche said.Larouche complained he was only being used on third and fourth lines when he returned from his injury and said he had played his last game with Chicoutimi. The Granby Bisons and Laval Titan were considered most likely to acquire Larouche for the stretch run before the trading deadline Feb. 15.In 30 games, Larouche had 23 goals and 54 points, only four behind team leader Patrice Martineau. The Sagueneens posted a 14-7-1 record with Larouche out of the lineup.<h2>YANIC AWARD</h2>Yanic Perreault is drawn to awards like a magnet.The Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; center was named the QMJHL&rsquo;s player of the month in January&mdash;the third time he has captured the award.Perreault became the all-time leading scorer in Draveurs&rsquo; history, passing Claude Verret. In 11 games in January, Perreault scored 11 goals and 32 points.The defensive player of the month was Hull Olympiques&rsquo; goaltender Francis Ouellette. He posted a 6-3-1 record and a 2.90 goals-against average.<h2>HOT AS HULL</h2>Hull was the hottest team in the league, running their win streak to eight games with a 5-2 victory over Granby Feb. 5.The Olympiques were 11-1-1 in a 13-game stretch and moved eight points ahead of Laval for the final playoff spot in the LeBel Division.Olympiques&rsquo; captain Joel Blain sprained his left foot in the QMJHL/Ontario League All-Star Game and was expected to be out of the lineup until late February.The Titan were 1-5 under new coach Claude Therrien.<h2>VICTORY</h2>The name Richard Aimonetto will long be remembered in Victoriaville.Aimonetto scored in overtime Feb. 2, giving the Victoriaville Tigres a 5-4 win over the Beauport Harfangs. The triumph ended the Tigres 28-game winless streak, which included 24 consecutive losses.<h2>RACE HEATS UP</h2>For the longest time, the race for the final playoff spot in the Dilio Division was boring. But both Beauport and the Shawinigan Cataractes have been playing well of late.Beauport, 21-30-2, remained two points ahead of the Cataractes despite a rash of injuries. Overage defense-man Denis Cloutier was expected to be out until late-February with a sprained left knee.The Cataractes appeared to be coming together under coach Alain Sanscartier, who took over from Joe Hardy ih early January. Shawinigan, 2030-2, won five times in nine games to close on Beauport. &#9632;

DISGRUNTLED LAROUCHE LOOKING FOR TRADE

The Atlantic Universities Athletic Association&rsquo;s Mac Adam Division lost 5-3 Feb. 3 in their annual All-Star Game with the best players from the New Brunswick Senior AAA League.The 27th annual New Brunswick classic&mdash;the second featuring collegians against seniors&mdash;was played in Saint John.Last season, the seniors scored six goals in the second period en route to a 7-3 win.The collegians held a 3-1 lead at the 14:50 mark of the second period, but the seniors scored four straight goals to pull out the win.<h2>AUAA</h2>UPEI Panther Brent Thompson scored twice for the all-stars, while Ron Vaive of the St. Thomas Tommies added a single.Thompson, who was playing his third road game in three days, was named the AUAA&rsquo;s most valuable player. The Panthers beat St. Mary&rsquo;s 5-2 in Halifax Feb. 1 and tied Moncton 4-4 in overtime Feb. 2.&ldquo;It was hard to get some sleep,&rdquo; Thompson said of his hectic week. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard on the old ticker. But we wouldn&rsquo;t have done it if wasn&rsquo;t so much fun.&rdquo;The Dalhousie Tigers (13-4-4) strengthened their lead in the Kelly Division with a 12-4 pasting of St. Francis Xavier Jan. 31 and a 5-4 win over Cape Breton Feb. 2.<h2>OUAA</h2>The York Yeomen weren&rsquo;t pleased with their performance before the Christmas break, but back-to-back victories over Trois-Rivieres and McGill Feb. 1-2 gave coach Graham Wise something to smile about.The Yeomen (10-6-0) beat UQTR (13-4-0) 6-5 in overtime Feb. 1 to move one point ahead of the University of Toronto Blues (9-7-1) into fourth spot in the Ontario Universities Athletic Association&rsquo;s East Division.The Patriotes, who lost 5-4 to the Blues Feb. 2, remained first in the East, four points ahead of second place Concordia (11-5-0).&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think we had a great first half,&rdquo; Wise said of his team&rsquo;s 4-5-0 mark at the break. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not ready in this league, anybody can beat you.&rdquo;The weekend wins gave York victories wins in their last seven games. The Yeomen also cracked the CIAU national rankings (10th) for the first time this season.<h2>CWUAA</h2>The Lethbridge Pronghorns are no longer pushovers in the Canadian West Universities Athletic Association.After six poor seasons, the Pronghorns (6-16-0) have equalled their team record for wins in a season.And for the first time since joining the CWUAA in 1984-85, the Pronghorns completed a weekend sweep, beating UBC 5-4 Feb. 2 and 8-4 Feb. 3.The two losses ran UBC&rsquo;s losing streak to nine games. The Thunderbirds (8-12-2) were seventh in the CWUAA, four points ahead of Lethbridge.For the Pronghorns, who finished last in each of their six CWUAA seasons, the sweep was cause for celebration.And although they can&rsquo;t make the playoffs this season, the Pronghorns could vacate the basement.Freshman center Dana McKechnie had five goals and an assist against UBC, earning player of the week honors. He had four goals in the second game, his second hat trick of the year.The Calgary Dinosaurs led the CWUAA standings with a 16-5-1 record after 22 games. The CIAU&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked team led second place Alberta (14-6-2) by three points after splitting two games with the Golden Bears. Alberta won 2-1 Feb. 1 while Calgary took the rematch 4-2 the next day.&mdash;with files from Bruce Hallihan, Claude Scilley and Mark Spector &#9632;

AUAA ALL-STARS FOILED AGAIN

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01634/5886401-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Lachance, a freshman at Boston University, saw his draft stock soar after being named to the all-tournament at the 1991 World Junior Championships.</figcaption></div>No, the NHL&rsquo;s 1991 amateur entry draft will not end with the first pick. Someone, perhaps Quebec or maybe New Jersey (via Toronto), will make Eric Lindros the No. 1 selection, and the next five-to-six hours of &ldquo;The Lindros Draft&rdquo; will sort out the hopes and dreams of all those other mere mortals bom of other surnames, astrological signs and hockey talents.We are now living in the time of four months B.L. (Before Lindros). And if there is life After Lindros, it will be up to San Jose, picking second, to take the first tentative step into the unknown.All Scott Lachance knows is he wouldn&rsquo;t mind being No. 2.&ldquo;First of all, it&rsquo;s an honor to be considered up around the second pick,&rdquo; said Lachance, a freshman defenseman at Boston University who may well be this year&rsquo;s second choice. &ldquo;Really, it&rsquo;s not often people are even projected to be in the first round. And in some ways, I think it&rsquo;s easier to go second, because you don&rsquo;t have to live up to all the expectations.&rdquo;With this season&rsquo;s high school, college and junior hockey programs drawing to an end, many scouting lists since mid-season have had Lachance pegged for the Kirk Muller spot. Muller was No. 2 in the 1984 &ldquo;Mario Lemieux draft&rdquo;, a lottery that also included Ed Olczyk, Al Iafrate and Petr Svoboda in the following three spots.<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Highly-touted during his high school days, when he played Tier II hockey for the Springfield Olympics in Enfield, Conn., Lachance&rsquo;s stock took a quantum leap just after the new year when he was named to the all-tournament team at the World Junior Championships in Saskatoon. His U.S. squad finished fourth and the 18-year-old Lachance picked up two goals, one assist and a ton of prestige in being named the only American on the all-tournament team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve taken a lot of kidding since I got back-Guys on the team calling me, &lsquo;All World,&rsquo; and stuff like that,&rdquo; said Lachance, who had five goals and 19 points in 25 games for the Terriers. &ldquo;But it was a great experience. It was probably the finest time I&rsquo;ve had in a long time and I learned, no matter where you are, you have to make the game fun.&rdquo;Lachance&rsquo;s biggest booster is likely his coach at Boston University, Jack Parker. Parker feels Lachance&rsquo;s game at age 18, especially his defensive game, could be better than that of Brian Leetch when Leetch was a freshman at BC.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t force anything on the ice,&rdquo; said Parker who, along with most others who&rsquo;ve seen Lachance play, feels he&rsquo;s a must for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team. &ldquo;He has that great decision making that so few players get. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever had an 18-year-old freshman who is so technically sound.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you could go wrong with Scott Lachance. Whoever takes him in the draft, I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ll ever look back and say, &lsquo;Gee, that guy never made it.&rsquo;&rdquo;For now, Lachance is taking things as they come, but he does have a plan. He&rsquo;s hoping for high a pick in June&mdash;maybe No. 2&mdash;and then six-to-eight months with the U.S. squad. After that, he&rsquo;d like to be turning pro about this time next year.&ldquo;Sometimes it feels like this is all going too fast,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People always say your college years are the best years of your life. In some ways, I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ll miss it. If I made the Olympic team, most likely I&rsquo;d leave after that to turn pro. It wouldn&rsquo;t really matter who drafted me. And, if I go second, San Jose sounds like a nice place to be.&rdquo;David Emma reached the first of what he hopes will be many milestones when he broke the Boston College career scoring mark with two points in a Beanpot semifinal win over Northeastern.Emma, who had a goal and assist in the 5-3 win Feb. 4, finished the contest with 105-119224 totals for his four-year career, surpassing the mark of 223 set by Scott Harlow. He now has his sights set on breaking Joe Mullen&rsquo;s BC goal-scoring record (110), Dan Shea&rsquo;s assist record (124) and possibly picking up the Hobey Baker Award.Of course, the prize the 5-foot-9, 175-pound native of Cranston, R.I. covets most is the national title.<h2>ECAC</h2>Although no concrete proposals have been put on the table, Colgate coach Terry Slater has become a wanted man by two of the NHL&rsquo;s newest franchises.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like this every few years,&rdquo; said Slater of the job offers which have come his way in the past. &ldquo;I like it here and the people have been very good to me. But I&rsquo;ve been here 14 years and I think I have to listen to what these people have to say.&rdquo;&ldquo;These people&rdquo; are Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Phil Esposito and Randy Sexton, chief executive officer of the Ottawa Senators. Slater said he has been in contact with both men.Exactly what capacity Slater would fill with either team is a mystery, although Slater feels he could do a number of jobs.&ldquo;I think I could be a GM, and I also feel I can coach at that level,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I also think 1 could be a director of player personnel and help put a team together, make sure they get the right draft choices.&rdquo;Slater, who has a 243-172-21 record at Colgate, is no stranger to pro hockey. Prior to coming to Colgate, he spent four years coaching in the IHL, first with Toledo (1967-69) and then with Des Moines (1970-72) and also coached both the Los Angeles Sharks and the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association.St. Lawrence senior left winger Andy Pritchard tied an ECAC record when he scored five goals to carry the Saints to a 7-4 victory over Colgate Feb. 1. Pritchard, who went into the game with 11 goals in 22 games, equaled the standard set by Harvard&rsquo;s C.J. Young in 1988-89&hellip;Just one week after assessing a leaguerecord 196 penalty minutes against RPI and St. Lawrence, referee John Malinowski called a total of 204 minutes against RPI and Brown to help rewrite the record books once again. The old record of 130 (set by Maine and Providence) had stood for 10 years.<h2>WCHA</h2>Colorado College center John Mooney, who received his fourth game disqualification of the season following a Feb. 2 match with St. Cloud State, was subsequently given a four-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association suspension by commissioner Otto Breitenbach.Coupled with an additional two games levied by his school, Mooney, who speared the Huskies&rsquo; Brett Stewart during the post-series handshake, will miss the rest of the regular season. He will, however, be eligible for post-season play should the Tigers qualify for the playoffs.Denver&rsquo;s Mike Aikens, whose career was threatened as the result of a neck injury sustained Jan. 18 in a collision with Wisconsin&rsquo;s Sean Hill, is looking to make a comeback.Bert Aikens, father of the freshman defenseman from Rochester, Minn., said surgery performed on his son Jan. 22 was deemed a success. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll be out there again,&rdquo; Bert said.Mike underwent five hours of surgery at the Mayo Clinic to have the first and second vertebrae fused together. A congenital weakness coupled with an elbow to the head from Hill caused the condition that left Aikens experiencing numbness in his arms and legs in the early moments following the hit.Aikens is scheduled to spend eight weeks in a metal halo attached to his skull and another six with a neck brace.<h2>CCHA</h2>The Ferris State Bulldogs may be the biggest surprise in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association this season, but the Western Michigan Broncos aren&rsquo;t far behind&mdash;literally.WMU, which was 14-24-2 overall last season and 12-18-2 in league play, moved to within one point of third-place Ferris State on the strength of an 8-3, 7-2 sweep of Miami Feb. 1-2. The wins, which left the team 9-2-0 in its previous 11 games, raised the Broncos&rsquo; record to 14-10-2 (17-12-3 overall).All this from a team that was expected to struggle after losing its top three scorers&mdash;Shane Redshaw. Jeff Green and Paul Pollilo&mdash;to graduation.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing better defensively as a group,&rdquo; said WMU coach Bill Wilkinson. &ldquo;A lot of people are contributing. It&rsquo;s been a combination of a lot of teamwork.&rdquo;Referee Roger Graff got a head start on spring cleaning during Michigan&rsquo;s 4-2 win at Ohio State Feb. 2.After a shoving match and scrum erupted in front of the Michigan net at 14:45 of the second period, Graff sent all 10 skaters to the penalty box with roughing minors. One player, Michigan&rsquo;s Mark Sorenson, received a doubleminor. Only goaltenders Steve Shields and Mike Bales were spared from the purge.&mdash;with files from Kevin Dupont, Larry Mahoney, Tom Boggie, Andy Baggot and Matt Carlson &#9632;

f0029-01

LOOKING OUT FOR NO. 2

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01725/5886432-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Tillsonburg Maroons tournament champions are, front row (from left): Daryl Malcolm, Larry Smith, Barry Ideson, John Vandergriendt (most valuable player), Rick Polgar, Steve Daniels; back row (from left) Dave Corner, Dave Patterson, Paul Groeneveld, Brian Schneider, Cam Campbell, Chris Legein, Tom Harmer, Randy Hallows and Doug Crossett (trainer). Not pictured is John G&ouml;ttin. Photo by Cliff Maxwell.</figcaption></div>Want a championship? Just dial John Vandergriendt.The veteran men&rsquo;s recreation hockey player scored nine goals and 15 points in five games leading the Tillsonburg Maroons to The Hockey News Classic Cup tournament title Feb. 8-10 in Tillsonburg. Two months ago at a THN tourney in Kitchener, Vandergriendt helped the Cambridge Hornets to a championship.The Maroons beat London Ault Brokers 11-2, London Pointts 4-0 and Aylmer Raiders 11-0 in preliminary games before downing Oxford Club Oxford 5-2 in the semifinals and Brantford Brown&rsquo;s Auto 5-3 in the deciding game. The tournament was the fifth in a series of 10.Tillsonburg fell behind 2-0 early in the championship match, but two goals by Vandergriendt late in the second period rallied the Maroons to victory. Vandergriendt was named the most valuable player.Rick Polgar scored the go-ahead goal with less than three minutes remaining and Brian Schneider scored the eventual winner. Brad Wilson led Brown&rsquo;s with a goal and assist.Paul Groeneveld added two goals and eight points in the five games for Tillsonburg, Cam Campbell and David Patterson added seven points apiece and Larry Smith, Brian Schneider and Rick Polgar each had six points.Goaltender Barry Ideson had a 1.40 goals-against average in five games for Tillsonburg.The Maroons won $1,000 and Classic Cup equipment bags, while Brown&rsquo;s settled for $700 and Classic Cup golf shirts. Rob Arabski had two goals and six points as Brown&rsquo;s whipped Guelph Blount 12-1 in the other semifinal.Club Oxford beat Blount 4-1 in the consolation final to earn $300.Other teams involved in the three-day 16-team tournament were: Norwich, Guelph Cars, Wilsonville Swannees, Essex Puck Shufflers, St. Thomas Scurvy Dogs, Guelph Puckheads, Petrolia Weebles Warriors, Michigan Sportshaven and Toronto Bayly&rsquo;s Bulls.Future THN Classic Cup tournaments are in Niagara Falls (March 2931), Rexdale and Orangeville (April 5-7), Lindsay (April 12-14) and London (April 26-28).The Classic Cup series is open to men, 19 and over. Previously carded players must be out of junior, semi-pro, CIAU, college or professional hockey for at least one year to be eligible.Tournaments are non-contact with slapshots allowed, and adhere to CAHA rules.The Classic Cup tournament hotline is 1-800-268-7793. &#9632;

f0030-01

MAROONS STRANDED WITH HOCKEY NEWS TITLE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01670/5886463-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01715/5886515-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01636/5886508-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="3060" height="3590"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01723/5886501-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3080" height="3630"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01688/5886494-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3063" height="1221"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

PEPSI ON ICE

Goalies Don Beaupre of the Washington Capitals and Frank Pietrangelo of the Pittsburgh Penguins are rather stingy when it comes to giving up power-play goals.The two Patrick Division stoppers have battled each other all season in the Hot Seat department.Beaupre held the lead through the first quarter of the season before giving way to Pietrangelo for the past 30 games or so. Beaupre forged into the lead in early February allowing one goal every 15 minutes, 14 seconds with his team shorthanded. Pietrangelo was 10 seconds back.Ed Belfour of the Chicago Blackhawks continued to lead in the earned-goal average department. Belfour allowed 1.78 goals per 60 minutes of even-strength play.<h2>TEAMS POWER PLAY/PENALTY KILLING TIME FRAME GAMES PLAYED THROUGH 2/10/91</h2><h3>POWER PLAY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06255/5886759-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="538" height="685"></div><h3>EGA LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07236/5886752-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="537" height="445"></div>All statistics above are copyright Anthony Puma, Long Island, N.Y., 1991. Patent pending.<h3>PENALTY KILLING</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08212/5886745-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="541" height="706"></div>GP:GAMES PLAYEDAVERAGE TIME FOR/AGAINST: AVERAGE TIME TO SCORE/ALLOW A POWER PLAY GOAL.<h3>HOT SEAT</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09196/5886738-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="537" height="467"></div> &#9632;

f0035-06

TWO-MAN BATTLE ON NHL HOT SEAT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06193/5886797-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01620/5886790-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="1847" height="3619"></div> &#9632;

f0038-06

SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01334/5886828-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="550" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DUPONT</figcaption></div>Some of the talk has reached him in Milan. Jari Kurri is away from the NHL now, playing the easier, more gentlemanly pace of professional ice hockey in Italy.But still, news of the old world, his old NHL world, makes its way regularly across the ocean.The NHL trading deadline is upon us. People are talking, and Glen Sather, Kurri&rsquo;s old boss in Edmonton, has let it be known that he&rsquo;d like to deal the 30-year-old right winger. Why not? It&rsquo;s been all of, oh, nine months since the Oilers won their last Cup. They must be getting itchy in Alberta.&ldquo;I got a cal) from a newspaper reporter from Boston the other day,&rdquo; said Kurri, breaking into an easy laugh. &ldquo;Mike Milbury, the Bruins&rsquo; coach, said he&rsquo;d retire if they traded for me&hellip;&rdquo;That isn&rsquo;t exactly what Milbury said. Responding to a rumor that had the Bruins obtaining Kurri&rsquo;s rights for Glen Wesley, Milbury said he would quit if his boss, Harry Sinden, dealt away Wesley. He wanted Kurri, Milbury emphasized, but he didn&rsquo;t want to lose a promising young defenseman.&ldquo;Anyone would take Kurri,&rdquo; said Milbury, who, like most every NHL coach, could find a roster spot for a man with five Stanley Cup rings and 1,043 career points. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to have six guys from the Oilers&mdash;without giving anybody up. But it doesn&rsquo;t work that way.&rdquo;How does it work? Who will get Kurri? Look for teams with a lot of cash and with a good, quality, playmaking center.Los Angeles already has Wayne Gretzky, Kurri&rsquo;s old center, and more important, it has Bruce McNall&rsquo;s millions of dollars that would look fine in Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s pockets.Detroit, too, is rich, both in cash register and at center with Steve Yzerman. Can you imagine a line, of Yzerman centering both Kurri and rookie-of-the-year candidate Sergei Fedorov? Some may think it sounds more intriguing than, say, a Gretzky-Kurri-Luc Robitaille combination.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Kurri, asked where he believes all the talk will lead, where it will take him&mdash;or not take him. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s pretty interesting. If anyone is interested, I guess they should talk to my agent Don Baizley.&rdquo;There is no immediacy in Kurri&rsquo;s voice. A big part of his leaving Edmonton, beyond Sather not opening the tightly-sealed Edmonton cash vault, was Kurri&rsquo;s desire to be home more and watch his two young sons grow into young men.While he talked on the phone, Kurri&rsquo;s boys could be heard playing in the background. The Italian schedule is only half that of the NHL&rsquo;s 80-game grind. Fewer road trips and shorter stays away from home. The playoffs will be complete by March 2. If Milan plays to the very last day, Kurri&rsquo;s season will end the night the Oilers host the Montreal Canadiens.In Milan, they&rsquo;ll be packing trunks March 2, two days before the NHL&rsquo;s trading deadline. In Edmonton, there will still be 14 games remaining in the regular season, and maybe eight weeks to go in the playoffs. A second season still to play. Does Kurri miss it?&ldquo;No, not really,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;Not too much. I gave my reasons when I was leaving, and I really believe it. We finished with the Stanley Cup and I had this feeling that it was the right time to do it. It had been in the back of my mind for years that I&rsquo;d like to come back, and I was feeling really good with my decision at the time. That hasn&rsquo;t changed.&rdquo;And by mid-February, with all the NHL world looking toward the trade deadline, it sounded as if not much would change for Kurri. His plans were to take a short break after the end of his Italian season, and then go back to his home in Helsinki and play for Finland in the World Championships, April 19-May 5.In 30 games this year, Kurri, even with a couple of minor knee injuries, finished with 27 goals and 75 points&mdash;a pace of 200 points for those of us who are accustomed to projecting numbers over an 80-game schedule. According to Kurri, whose only contact with the NHL now is reading weekly statistics, former Canadien Mark Napier led the league with 42 goals and 118 points. Roberto Romano is Milan&rsquo;s No. 1 netminder.Oh, it&rsquo;s easier in Italy, easier to score and easier to live. And from the sound of his voice, easier just to go with the flow.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look like anything will happen,&rdquo; said Kurri, who has an option to return to Milan next season if he wants it. &ldquo;If you miss anything, it&rsquo;s the guys you play with&hellip;the team&hellip;it was a good time. But I really don&rsquo;t miss it. And right now, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll be going anywhere this year. Anything could happen, but&hellip;&rdquo;But for now, he&rsquo;s a man of Milan, even if 20 NHL GMs would like him to be their man of May.Kevin Dupont is a hockey writer for the Boston Globe. &#9632;

f0040-01

KURRI IN NO HURRY TO RETURN TO NHL

Three NHL players have increased their point totals four consecutive seasons, but only one, Montreal&rsquo;s Brian Skrudland, was on pace to do it again. The player, streak, last season&rsquo;s total and projected total this season: Skrud-lund, four, 42, 51; Toronto&rsquo;s Gary Leeman, six, 95, 31; and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Rick Tocchet, four, 96, 86.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02219/5886859-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="706" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Skrudlund</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0040-02

NUMBERS

<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Left winger Benoit Brunet, the 22-year-old who hadn&rsquo;t played in a month, was sent down to the Canadiens&rsquo; AHL farm team in Fredericton Feb. 7. While Brunet would like to stay with Montreal, he said he&rsquo;d try his luck with an expansion team if things didn&rsquo;t work out&hellip;Underachieving right winger Stephane Richer, a 51-goal scorer last season, is on pace for 29 this season. And his honeymoon with the French-language media is over. One columnist has branded him a floater&hellip;Denis Savard, meanwhile, has also struggled But his work ethic has saved him from the treatment Richer&rsquo;s been receiving. Savard was shifted to left wing in a game Feb. 7 in an attempt to get him going. He had just 15 goals&mdash;four on Forum ice&mdash;through Feb. 10. Savard was one of 10 Habs to show up for an optional practice Feb. 8.<h2>SABRES</h2>Dale Hawerchuk almost scored his 400th NHL goal in Winnipeg Feb. 10, but referee Kerry Fraser ruled the puck crossed the line after the net was knocked off its moorings. It was a disappointment for Hawerchuk, who scored his 100th, 200th and 300th career goals at The Arena. He scored 379 of his 399 goals with Winnipeg. Hawerchuk&rsquo;s disappointment was eased somewhat when the Sabres won the game 2-0, ending a seven game winless streak&hellip;Defenseman Uwe Krupp suffered a bruised hand in a 4-4 tie with Los Angeles Feb. 8 and had to leave the game. Alexander Mogilny suffered a separated shoulder when he was tripped by Kings&rsquo; defenseman Rob Blake. He will be lost until Feb. 22&hellip;Lou Franceschetti was inserted into the lineup against Winnipeg to replace the injured Mogilny and played left wing on a line with center Christian Ruuttu and right winger Mikko Makela. Greg Paslawski, acquired from Winnipeg Feb. 10, took Mogilny&rsquo;s right wing spot on a line with center Pierre Turgeon and left winger Benoit Hogue.<h2>WHALERS</h2>The Whalers averaged 12,250 fans through 29 home dates, 78 per cent of capacity. Owner Richard Gordon said the club must average 13,000 to make the franchise viable. Asked if he would sell the team if offered $50 million, Gordon said, &ldquo;No. I don&rsquo;t want to sell the club. I don&rsquo;t want to be forced to sell the club. But the economics determine a lot, too. If you don&rsquo;t get crowds big enough to make it viable, those are things you don&rsquo;t control. &ldquo;&hellip;Ed Kastelic received a two-game suspension for his fourth game misconduct of the year when he violated one of the off-shoots of the famed rule 66a Feb. 10 against Chicago. Kastelic came off the bench on a line change after a fight between Adam Creighton and Jim McKenzie. Before play resumed, however, he got in a battle with Mike Peluso, who had already been on the ice&hellip;Rumors the Whalers were trying to pry Ken Wregget from Philadelphia remain strong. But goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz allowed just two goals in his last three games, including just one in a 3-1 win over Chicago Feb. 10. Whalers&rsquo; GM Ed Johnston said the Flyers want to much for Wregget.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03155/5886890-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="551" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boston left winger Randy Burridge will miss the rest of the season.</figcaption></div><h2>BRUINS</h2>The Bruins may have lost hardworking Randy Burridge for the season after the left winger suffered a tom knee ligament in a 4-1 loss against Calgary Feb. 7&hellip;Andy Brickley&rsquo;s career with the Bruins appeared over when he was sent to Maine (AHL) Feb. 8&hellip;Lyndon Byers (foot) and Chris Nilan (ankle) underwent surgery Feb. 7 to repair cracked bones that had failed to heal on their own. Vladimir Ruzicka (ankle tendinitis) was to undergo surgery Feb. 12 ..Craig Janney, on his way to a four-assist performance against in a 5-3 win over Chicago Feb. 9, got his 200th career point. Ray Bourque passed the 900-point mark in career scoring in that game&hellip;Ken Hodge, cut loose by Minnesota last year, has quietly climbed to third in rookie scoring, with 16 goals and 38 points in 50 games. He got goal No. 16 and added an assist in the 7-4 win over Quebec Feb. 10.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Darin Kimble was a hero one day, a goat the next. The 22-year-old right winger who beat NHL heavyweight champ Troy Crowder in a fight Jan. 24, was traded to the St. Louis Blues Feb. 4 for Herb Raglan, Tony Twist and minor leaguer Andy Rymsha. Kimble had a personality conflict with head coach Dave Chambers and had to move on. His attitude was very negative in the dressing room-&hellip;Quebec management is still courting Soviet star Valeri Kamensky. It is reported the Italian League&rsquo;s Milan Devils have offered him a million dollar deal&hellip;The Claude Loiselle saga continues. Loiselle has asked repeatedly for a trade and was not happy to see veterans Joe Cirella and Tony McKegney get their wishes granted. He finally went to GM Pierre Page who put him on waivers. He was claimed by the New York Islanders Feb. 6 but was recalled by the Nordiques and assigned to Fort Wayne of the International League. &#9632;

f0040-03

FRENCH MEDIA BLASTS RICHER

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>For most players, being traded from the NHL&rsquo;s top team to the league&rsquo;s worst would be a disappointment. But for Quebec goaltender Jacques Cloutier, it was a golden opportunity.The 31-year-old backstop from Noranda, Que., was acquired by the Nordiques Jan. 29 from Chicago for left winger Tony McKegney.Cloutier, who was backing up NHL rookie-of-the-year candidate Ed Bel-four in Chicago, had seen little ice time with the Blackhawks this season. He was part of a goaltending log jam that included Belfour, veteran Greg Millen and promising netminders Dominik Hasek and Jimmy Waite.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy to come to Quebec,&rdquo; Cloutier said. &ldquo;I will see a lot of action here. It&rsquo;s definitely a good move career-wise.&rdquo;The acquisition of Cloutier was also a good move by Nordique management.Ron Tugnutt, the team&rsquo;s No. 1 goaltender, has played often&mdash;and well&mdash;-for Quebec this season. The addition of Cloutier will give Tugnutt a chance to rest without sacrificing experience or talent in goal.For most players coming to Quebec, the changes are difficult. The tax structure, the language and frequent losing streaks are unappealing factors. Just ask Millen, who left Quebec after only 18 games last season.But Cloutier was bom in Quebec and has a different attitude than his former bench mate.&ldquo;With the way Ed Belfour was playing in Chicago, there really wasn&rsquo;t any hope for anyone else to grab their share of games,&rdquo; Cloutier said. &ldquo;This trade materialized at the right time.&rdquo;Cloutier didn&rsquo;t enjoy spending time on the bench in Chicago. But he&rsquo;d better get used to seeing more pucks in Quebec.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s true, it won&rsquo;t be easy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the Nordiques are headed in the right direction with all the young talent already in place. I trust Pierre Page (Nordique general manager). He knows what he&rsquo;s doing. The team can&rsquo;t stay in last place much longer.&rdquo;Cloutier compares himself to veteran Boston goalie Reggie Lemelin.&ldquo;In a certain way, our careers are similar,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The first three seasons weren&rsquo;t easy. But I&rsquo;m very proud of my last five. I&rsquo;m convinced I can still do the jobCloutier had asked Chicago GM Mike Keenan for a trade two months ago. Keenan agreed in principal to move him if the offer was good.Tugnutt wasn&rsquo;t sure how to react to Cloutier&rsquo;s arrival.&ldquo;I just hope that I keep getting as much ice time,&rdquo; said Tugnutt. &ldquo;I thought I proved I didn&rsquo;t need any help. In my books, a new goalie wasn&rsquo;t a priority. But on the other hand, I understand management wanting an insurance policy.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Kip Miller, C, recalled from Halifax (AHL). Feb. 8: Mark Vermette. RW, recalled from Halifax.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic, Tony Hrkac, Stephane Morin, Kip Miller.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Everett Sanipass, Paul Gillis, Scott Pearson.RW&mdash;Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Ken Quinney, Guy Lafleur, Claude Loiselle. Mark Vermette, Herb Raglan.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Curtis Leschyshyn, Randy Velischek, Tony Twist.RD&mdash;Craig Wolanin, Alexei Gusarov, Shawn Anderson.G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Scott Gordon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jacques Cloutier, G, pulled hamstring, day-to-day. Jeff Jackson, LW, fractured left arm, out for season. Wayne Van Dorp. LW, torn muscle in shoulder, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Sakic, 31. A&mdash;Sakic, 44. P&mdash;Sakic, 75. PIM&mdash;Finn, 146. &#9632;

CLOUTIER’S ARRIVAL EASES THE PRESSURE

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>Since center Rob Brown came to Hartford Dec. 21 in a trade with Pittsburgh for right winger Scott Young, Ron Francis had 32 points in 22 games.But the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; center, who struggled through the first 35 games of the season, maintains his new linemate is only the second best arrival of the season.The first was his daughter, Kaitlyn Ann.Francis&rsquo; wife, Mary Lou, gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s first child Feb. 6.And the same night against Edmonton, Francis became the 65th player in NHL history to score 800 points. His goal was the game winner in the Whalers&rsquo; 5-1 win. Francis finished with three points that night.&ldquo;I had been a mess all day,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;Running here and there. I borrowed money from at least three people. I left my wallet one place. I didn&rsquo;t bring my bank card. We didn&rsquo;t get much sleep. I was running on adrenalin.&rdquo;And skating on air.&ldquo;This has been a great couple of days for me,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;I saw Mary Lou in the hospital before the game and she said, &lsquo;Try to get 800 tonight for Katy.&rsquo;I said, &lsquo;One point for her and one point for you.&rsquo;&rdquo;Mary Lou Francis was almost two weeks overdue with the baby. Labor was induced, and ultimately, a Caesarian section was needed because the baby was so big: 11 pounds, two ounces and nearly 23 inches long.&ldquo;My poor wife,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;Katy&rsquo;s so big I hear she&rsquo;s already taking meal money from the other kids at the hospital.Francis&rsquo; third point against Edmonton was obviously for those who doubt he can still lead the Whalers.Just two games earlier, Francis had hit the 700-game barrier, all with the Whalers. Francis, the Whalers&rsquo; first choice, fourth overall in the 1981 entry draft, has played eight full seasons in Hartford.&ldquo;The young guys see that, shake their heads and think I&rsquo;m an old man,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m 27. I&rsquo;m still young. I feel good.&rdquo;But Francis, who is making $370,000, is playing out his option this season. He was stripped of his captaincy in December and there have been numerous trade rumors.&ldquo;It could be. I just don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t look at it like that right now. I&rsquo;m putting it out of my mind.&ldquo;All the stuff bothers you in a sense. I&rsquo;ve been here a long time. I love the city. I love the people. If 1 had my choice, I&rsquo;d finish my career here. But a trade is out of my control.&rdquo;But Francis hasn&rsquo;t lost his sense of humor through contract and captaincy concerns. When asked if Kaitlyn is spelled with a &ldquo;K&rdquo; or a &ldquo;C&rdquo;, Francis smiled and said, &ldquo;No, no &lsquo;C&rsquo; this year.&rdquo;Whalers&rsquo; assistant coach Brent Peterson thinks Francis will continue to play well now that Brown is around.&ldquo;I think since Rob&rsquo;s come, Ronnie&rsquo;s a lot better focused, feistier,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Ronnie is a sensitive guy. He cares what goes on. I think things affect him more than others. He&rsquo;s the kind of player who has to have every-thing set up in the right direction.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 8: Mikael Andersson. LW, assigned to Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Dean Evason, Mike Tomlak, Carey Wilson.LW&mdash;Todd Krygier, Jim McKenzie, Paul Cyr, Pat Verbeek, Chris Govedaris.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Bobby Holik, Ed Kastelic, Kevin Dineen.LD&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Grant Jennings, Adam Burt.RD&mdash;Sylvain Cote. Doug Crossman, Dave Babych, Ulf Samuelsson. Brad Shaw.G&mdash;Daryl Reaugh, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>NJURIES</h3>Randy Cunneyworth, LW, fractured left fibula, Feb. 25.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek, 29. A&mdash;Francis, 41. P&mdash; Francis. 59. PIM&mdash;Kastelic. 181. &#9632;

YOUTHFUL INJECTION SPARKS FRANCIS

<div class="byline">BY STEPHEN HARRIS</div>A never-ending story for the Boston Bruins this season has been Mike Mil-bury&rsquo;s juggling and tinkering with his forward lines.The changes are not by whim but necessity, because of an injury plague (see injury box, bottom of page) that has hit the team.One result of Milbury&rsquo;s search for chemistry and balance has been to split Cam Neely and Craig Janney.But with the playoffs fast approaching, Mil-bury reunited the pair the weekend of Feb. 8-10, and their old magic was instantly reborn.&ldquo;He has an incredible knack for making the big play at the right time,&rdquo; said Milbury, after Janney earned four assists&mdash;three on goals by Neely&mdash;in the Bruins&rsquo; 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 9 at Boston Garden.The next day in Quebec, Janney scored two goals and Neely had a goal and an assist in a 7-4 win against the Nordiques&mdash;a tidy five-goal, five-assist 24 hours for the pair. The wins vaulted Boston to the top of the overall NHL standings after 60 games.&ldquo;They sure looked good together and they&rsquo;ve looked good in the past,&rdquo; said Milbury. &ldquo;I felt if we could get one line cooking, we&rsquo;d be okay.&rdquo;Janney and Neely, along with Ray Bourque, are waging a close race for the team scoring lead.Janney&rsquo;s two goals against Quebec gave him a career-high 64 points in 58 games. After a slow start, 50 of those points had come in his last 37 games.Neely, who had played 52 games, was just behind with 37 goals and 63 points&mdash;including 26 goals in 29 games. Bourque had 13 goals and 61 points after 60 games.Said Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan after the Bruins&rsquo; win: &ldquo;Their better players were better than our better players.&rdquo;Janney, 23, a third-year Bruin who was hampered by injuries in each of his first two full seasons, has stayed healthy this season. And he&rsquo;s beginning to show why the Bruins made him their first choice, 13th overall, in the 1986 entry draft.&ldquo;I think he saw the ice in this game as well as he ever has since he has been here,&rdquo; said Neely after Janney &lsquo;s four-assist game against Chicago.Boston got a major scare the next day in Quebec, when Nordique Paul Gillis slashed Janney across the left wrist, prompting the center to writhe in pain. But Janney was not seriously injured.&ldquo;I know Craig goes down three or four times a game,&rdquo; said Neely. &ldquo;We find ourselves calling it the Craig Janney dance.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Ken Hammond, D. recalled from Maine (AHL). Feb. 6: Hammond and Matt DelGuidice, G, assigned to Maine. Feb. 9: John Byce, C. John Carter, LW. Shayne Stevenson, RW, and Wes Walz, C. recalled from Maine. Ralph Barahona. C, Andy Brick-ley, LW, and Peter Douris. RW, assigned to Mame.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Ken Hodge. Bob Sweeney, Wes Walz.LW&mdash;Jarmo Kekalainen, Petri Skirko, John Carter. John Byce.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Dave Christian, Graeme Townshend, Shayne StevensonLD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney, Jim Weimer, Al Pederson.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Stephane Quintal. Garry GalleyG&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Norm Foster.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Randy Burridge, LW, torn right knee ligament, indefinite. Lyndon Byers, RW, left foot surgery, indefinite. Bob Carpenter. C, left knee surgery, out for season. Jeff Lazaro. LW. neck whiplash, day-to-day. Andy Moog. G. sprained right knee, day-to-day Chris Nilan, RW. left ankle surgery, indefinite. Dave Poulin, C, fractured shoulder blade, indefinite. Vladimir Ruzicka, C, left ankle tendinitis, indefinite. Michael Thelven, D, chronic right knee pain, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely. 37. A&mdash;Bourque. 48. P&mdash;Janney, 64. PIM&mdash;Nilan, 190. &#9632;

NEELY AND JANNEY SHOW A SMASHING SUCCESS-AGAIN

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>There were a number of things the Buffalo Sabres had hoped to accomplish this season. But playing inconsistent hockey wasn&rsquo;t one of them.The Sabres, who were supposed to challenge for the Stanley Cup this season, were just 21-2311 after 55 games, fourth in the Adams Division.After cracking the .500 mark for the first time at the 50-game mark (21-19-10), the Sabres went on a swan dive, going winless in their next four games. They broke the streak with a 2-0 shutout of Winnipeg Feb. 10.The team&rsquo;s inconsistent&mdash;and often lethargic&mdash;play has frustrated general manager Gerry Meehan and particularly coach Rick Dudley.&ldquo;I never, never expected this kind of inconsistency,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s exasperating. You look at this team, the elements it has and you would expect much more consistency and a great many more wins than losses.&rdquo;Meehan and Dudley believe there are several reasons why the Sabres have been inconsistent this season.&#9632; Goaltender Daren Puppa, who missed several games due to injuries, has been surprisingly inconsistent. Touted as the NHL&rsquo;s next dominating goaltender, Puppa has not performed up to expectations. When he&rsquo;s good, he&rsquo;s the main reason the team wins. But when he&rsquo;s off his game, he lets in morale-crushing goals that eventually lead to defeat.A neck and shoulder injury to backup goaltender Clint Malarchuk has compounded the problem. The team lacks confidence in rookie Darcy Wakaluk.&#9632; Inconsistent defense. The loss of veteran Phil Housley to Winnipeg has hurt the Sabres. Veterans Mike Ramsey, Uwe Krupp and Doug Bodger are playing too much hockey and as a result are breaking down in key situations.Boston College defenseman Greg Brown has been a big disappointment. His inability to contribute as a regular has upset Sabres&rsquo; management. And a recent shoulder separation to Kevin Haller will mean more playing time for Buffalo&rsquo;s aging rearguards.The Sabres added strength on the blueline when they picked up Brian Curran from Toronto Dec. 17. But the 27-year-old Curran plays the same game as Dean Kennedy and Jay Wells and as result, the younger players haven&rsquo;t developed.&#9632; Doug Bodger, expected to fill at least a part of the void created by the absence of Housley, hasn&rsquo;t been the force at the point or on the power play.&#9632; Rick Vaive, who was a constant offensive spark plug earlier this season, had just two goals since Jan. 4 and none since Jan. 10.&#9632; Dale Hawerchuk had just two goals since Jan. 24.&#9632; Benoit Hogue, expected be a major contributor at center or left wing, had just two goals since Jan. 1.&#9632; Dave Snuggerud has played so many roles, his offensive game has been disrupted. He&rsquo;s&rsquo; now playing on the checking line. Christian Ruuttu has received similar treatment, skating miles but accomplishing little.The hows and whys for the team&rsquo;s problems are more obvious than the numbers, but there appear to be problems with this team that don&rsquo;t show up in statistics.Puppa has been bothered by injury and illness, but his inconsistency when he&rsquo;s healthy remains a mystery.When Vaive and Hawerchuk were hot, Pierre Turgeon and Mogilny weren&rsquo;t. And when Turgeon and Mogilny were being offensive, Hawerchuk and Vaive weren&rsquo;t.Some players feel selfishness could be the answer.To air out their problems, the players held a private meeting before the Winnipeg game to iron out their problems.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Kevin Haller, D. recalled from Rochester (AHL). Greg Paslawski, RW. obtained from Winnipeg for future considerations. Feb. 6: Darrin Shannon, LW, recalled from Rochester. Feb. 8: Greg Brown. D, recalled from Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Christian Ruuttu. Pierre Turgeon, Dave Snuggerud.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Benoit Hogue, Mike Hartman. Damn Shannon, Lou Franceschetti.RW&mdash;Greg Paslawski, Rick Vaive, Rob Ray, Mikko Makela.LD&mdash;Doug Bodger, Mike Ramsey, Brian Curran.RD&mdash;Greg Brown. Grant Ledyard, Jay Wells.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette. RW, torn knee ligaments, out for season. Kevin Haller, D. separated shoulder, day-to-day. Dean Kennedy. D, hip pointer, day-to-day Clint Malarchuk, G, strained neck and shoulder muscles, day-to-day Alexander Mogilny, RW, separated shoulder, Feb. 22.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Turgeon, 25 A&mdash;Hawerchuk, 34 P&mdash; Hawerchuk. 54. PIM&mdash;Ray, 185. &#9632;

INCONSISTENT PLAY FRUSTRATES MEEHAN, DUDLEY

<div class="byline">BY STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01300/5887041-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="421" height="604"></div>Snapshots, slapshots, cheapshots and observations as the hockey season heads into its final stretch:&#9632; I used to think David Poile was smart. Then he traded for John Kordic. Now I think David Poile is more desperate than smart.&#9632; Does Cliff Fletcher go to bed at night wondering how many Stanley Cup rings he would have retired with had he not listened to Terry Crisp and traded Brett Hull to St. Louis?&#9632; The Rangers are a big forward away from being real Stanley Cup contenders. We wonder if Chris Nilan is available.&#9632; I can&rsquo;t imagine any coach doing more for the lousy Vancouver Canucks than Bob McCammon did. The Canucks are simply a bad team that McCammon got more out of than was possible.&#9632; Some people thought the Canucks had it backwards. Pat Quinn should have been the coach, Bob McCammon the GM.&#9632; When Floyd Smith and Leafs&rsquo; president Don Giffin emerged from their early-season meeting saying they had &ldquo;a plan&rdquo; you have to wonder if this is what they had in mind?.&#9632; You know the NHL has changed dramatically when the two leading Stanley Cup contenders these eyes have seen both play in the Norris Division. Since the NHL re-aligned in 1981, no Norris Division team has even reached the finals.&#9632; Was Dave Peterson the only applicant to coach the 1992 U.S. Olympic team? And if he wasn&rsquo;t, why then was he hired?&#9632; Having taken the pen to paper and filled up several waste paper baskets in the process, I can now report the results. Divisional alignment of a 24-team NHL cannot make everyone happy. It just isn&rsquo;t possible. The new divisions will represent an interesting test to see where the NHL power bases sit.&#9632; If Jacques Demers was Italian, he&rsquo;d be a shoo-in to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning. He&rsquo;s French, which puts him on a waiting list.&#9632; Only one NHL team has been drastically affected by adding a Soviet player to its lineup, that being the Detroit Red Wings. The Flames are unhappy with Sergei Makarov and Sergei Priakin; Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov have hardly turned around the Devils and what has Igor Larionov done for the Canucks but throw off their salary structure? The young Soviets can help. The old Soviets aren&rsquo;t worth the trouble.&#9632; Why in the name of Harry Ornest would Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky be interested in buying the Canadian Football League&rsquo;s Toronto Argos? Could it serve (a) as a farm team; (b) as a write off; or (c) in the case of McNall, be one of those relics he collects. Once upon a time the Argos were worth something, about the same time Gretzky was leaving Brantford to play junior hockey.&#9632; Both the Flames and the Blackhawks knew more about Ed Belfour than either would care to admit a year ago. Before Belfour was even playing in Chicago, the Flames offered a first-round draft pick for the goalie. Bob Pulford said no. End of conversation.&#9632; Is the Bill Torrey who is running the Islanders now the same Bill Torrey we used to refer to as a genius? Just checking.&#9632; What makes Brett Hull&rsquo;s 50-in-50 even more impressive is that so few NHL players are on pace this season to score 50 in 80 games. When last we checked only Steve Yzerman would join Hull in the 50-goal club this season.&#9632; I give up, why won&rsquo;t the Islanders give Pat LaFontaine anything he damn well wants? The Islanders are a terrible team with LaFontaine, without him they&rsquo;d be both pathetic and boring.&#9632; The NHL All-Star Game was a perfect showcase event for Vincent Damphousse. Where else could he so shine but in a game where there is no checking or interest in defense?&#9632; Dave King thinks it&rsquo;s too early to give up on Sean Burke. A lot of others disagree. Perhaps a change of scenery is necessary.&#9632; Every time I see Ken Hodge Jr. &lsquo;s name in a summary I feel old. The first hockey autograph I ever got was his dad&rsquo;s. I was 10. Ken Hodge was a Blackhawk.&#9632; An NHL general manager was recently asked what he would do to revive the Maple Leafs? His answer? &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there is an answer anymore,&rdquo; he said. Can anything be sadder for the Leafs&rsquo; loyal supporters?&#9632; Two good reasons why the Edmonton Oilers should win the Smythe Division come playoff time: Bill Ranford and Grant Fuhr.&#9632; You have to wonder if Tony McKegney wakes up some mornings not certain which team he is playing for. He&rsquo;s one team away from completing the Norris Division. Are you listening Floyd Smith?Steve Simmons is a feature writer/columnist for the Toronto Sun. &#9632;

f0043-01

TOP TWO CUP CONTENDERS RESIDE IN THE NORRIS

The New Jersey Devils are once again involved in the race for the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 draft pick. In 1983-84, the Devils battled Pittsburgh for the right to choose Mario Lemieux. They&rsquo;ll hold the rights (Toronto&rsquo;s 1st round pick) to Eric Lindros if the Leafs finish last overall. The key game in &rsquo;83-84 was New Jersey&rsquo;s 6-5 win over Pittsburgh March 6. Had the score been reversed, New Jersey would&rsquo;ve had Lemieux.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02222/5887072-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="556" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

ODDITIES

When Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan records his 300th career victory later this season (he had 293 through Feb. 11), he&rsquo;ll become one of the fastest coaches in NHL history to reach the mark. And he&rsquo;ll also be just the third NHL coach to get at least 300 wins in seven seasons. Fred Shero and Glen Sather were the others. Coaches to reach 300 wins in the fewest number of games: Toe Blake, 1955-56 to &rsquo;62-63, (518); Shero, 1971-72 to &rsquo;77-78, (539); Glen Sather, 1979-80 to &rsquo;85-86, (542); Scotty Bowman, 1967-68 to &rsquo;75-76, (553); Emile Francis, 1965-66 to &rsquo;73-74, (574); Art Ross 1917-18 to &rsquo;41-42, (585); and Bryan Murray, 1981-82 to &rsquo;88-89, (589).<h2>DRAFT WATCH</h2>St-Hyacinthe left winger Patrick Poulin has taken the lead in the Quebec League draft rankings through the fourth segment of the season.Poulin displaced Trois Rivieres&rsquo; center Yanic Perreault, who led the Canadian Hockey League in scoring with 68 goals and 152 points in 52 games.Oshawa center Eric Lindros continues to lead the Ontario League standings. He had 55 goals and 106 points in 42 games. Detroit center Pat Peake remained in second place.Kamloops&rsquo; defenseman Scott Neidermayer has had an impressive season and has been rewarded for his strong play in the Western League standings. Neidermayer was the leader through the fourth segment, ahead of Spokane center Pat Falloon.ONTARIO LEAGUE: 1. Eric Lindros, C, Oshawa. 2. Pat Peake, C, Detroit. 3. Dennis Purdie, RW, London. 4. Glen Murray, RW, Sudbury. 5. Dale Craigwell, C, Oshawa. 6. JassenCullimore, D, Peterborough. 7. Jason Dawe, LW, Peterborough. 7. (tie) Kevin MacKay, RW, Windsor. 7. (tie) Alex Stojanov, RW, Hamilton.QUEBEC LEAGUE: 1. Patrick Poulin, LW, St-Hyacinthe. 2. Martin Lapointe, LW, Laval. 3. Philippe Boucher, D, Granby. 4. Rene Corbet, LW, Drummondville. 5. Yanic Perreault, C, Trois Rivieres. 6. Francois Groleau, D, Shawinigan. 7. Eric Lavigne, D, Hull. 8. Patrick Labrecque, G, St-Jean.WESTERN LEAGUE: I. Scott Neidermayer, D, Kamloops. 2. Pat Falloon, C, Spokane. 3. Jeff Nelson, C, Prince Albert. 4. Brent Bilodeau, D, Seattle. 5. Richard Matvichuk, D, Saskatoon. 6. Lee J. Leslie, C, Prince Albert. 7. Bill Lindsay, LW, Tri-City. 8. Ray Whitney, C, Spokane. 8. (tie) Chris Osgood, G, Medicine Hat.<h2>COLLEGE PRANKS</h2>Games between the Quebec Nordiques and Montreal Canadiens are always entertaining, but the Feb. 7 game at the Colisee in Quebec City was particularly wild. Several university students played pranks during the game to celebrate the Quebec Winter Carnival. One group showered the ice with tennis balls, delaying the game in the second period. But the best prank was pulled off by a student who jumped onto the ice during the pre-game skate wearing a No. 88 Quebec jersey. The number belongs to Oshawa Generals&rsquo; star Eric Lindros, who will almost certainly be the NHL&rsquo;s top draft pick at the entry draft in June. Quebec, the NHL&rsquo;s worst team, could make Lindros the first pick.<h2>QUESTION OF THE WEEK:</h2>With the way your previous trades have been criticized this season, do you feel gun shy about making a deal before the NHL trading deadline?&ldquo;You have to understand that being in the trading business in the NHL is like being in the Saudi Arabian desert right now,&rdquo; said Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Serge Savard. &#9632;

KEENAN ON PACE TO JOIN SELECT GROUP

&#9632; Hobey Baker candidate Denny Felsner, fellow St. Louis Blues&rsquo; prospect David Roberts and Washington Capitals&rsquo; draftee Mark Ouimet form college hockey&rsquo;s highest-scoring line.&#9632; With the NHL Senators ready to settle in Ottawa, the future of majorjunior hockey in Ottawa and Hull is in doubt. Both teams are making survival plans.&#9632; Where would the Fredericton Canadiens (25-26-7) be without their four horsemen&mdash;rookies Patrick Lebeau, Gilbert Dionne, Jesse Belanger and Paul DiPietro? We&rsquo;ll take a look at the Canadiens&rsquo; sparkplugs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03188/5887127-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="554" height="634"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Ouimet</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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February 22, 1991

THIS JOB IS TOUGHER THAN IT LOOKED

LaFONTAINE AIMS FOR CLASS OF YZERMAN

RACICOT, BERGERON FRIENDLY RIVALS

NHL SUMMARIES