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.

April 12, 1991

The Hockey News April 12, 1991

<div class="byline">BY GARY OLSON</div>A team that finishes with a 27-39-14 record should have more disappointments in their season than surprises.But for the Minnesota North Stars, the 1990-91 season was far more positive than the numbers reveal.And it turned out to be far more positive than general manager Bob Clarke and coach Bob Gainey envisioned at the beginning of the season.Clarke and Gainey came to the North Stars this season from teams with high expectations. But in the Twin Cities, too many hockey people&mdash;players and fans alike&mdash;have expected too little for too long and mediocrity has become an acceptable goal.Well the comfort zone has changed. Welcome to the new-look North Stars.Leading the way in terms of the biggest surprise for the team this season was the team&rsquo;s penalty killing.On Jan. 16, after the North Stars played their 48th game of the season, their penalty killing ranked last in the NHL, successfully surviving just 74.4 percent of the time.Needless to say, it made winning difficult&mdash;at times impossible.But in 32 games since, the North Stars gave up only 17 power-play goals in 151 shorthanded situations, an 88.8 percent success rate.Goaltender Jon Casey&rsquo;s play was also a bright spot this season.He finished the regular season with a 21-2011 record and a 2.98 goals-against average for a team whose record was 12 games under.500.Casey was also unbeaten in February and had a 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2) that only Boston&rsquo;s Andy Moog duplicated this season.Brian Propp was the other major surprise for Minnesota this year.The 32-year-old left winger was one of the hardest workers all season and finished with 73 points, third on the team.Attendance was pathetic, with only 316,522 finding their way to the Met Center, an average of 7,913 per game. That&rsquo;s the worst attendance in the NHL and comes in a state with a deep hockey heritage.The NHL and Howard Baldwin saved NHL hockey for Minnesota when they forced the Gunds to sell, then added to the never-ending turmoil by reselling to Norman Green, a real estate millionaire who arrived with deep pockets in his Calgary Flames sweater.Green said he is serious about keeping the North Stars at Met Center and has survived some silly marketing.The fans must now show him they&rsquo;re serious about NHL hockey, too.Another disappointment was Minnesota&rsquo;s poor record in one-goal games&mdash;5-15-0.Bobby Smith&rsquo;s return to Minnesota after a seven seasons in Montreal was also a letdown. Minnesota fans expected more.We wanted to believe he&rsquo;d be the same player he was when he was sent packing Oct. 23, 1983, for Keith Acton, Mark Napier and a third-round draft pick.Shame on us.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Dave Gagner, Bobby Smith, Perry Berezan, Marc Bureau.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Brian Propp. Gaetan Duchesne, Basil McRae.RW&mdash;Ulf Dahlen, Mike Modano, Doug Smail, Stewart Gavin, Shane Churla, Mike Craig.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, Neil Wilkinson, Brian Glynn, Rob ZettlerRD&mdash;Chris Dahlquist, Jim Johnson. Curt Giles, Shawn Chambers.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gagner. 40. A&mdash;Broten, 56. P&mdash;Gagner, 82. PIM&mdash;Churla, 284. &#9632;

THE NHL

PHILOSOPHICAL CHANGES SPARK MID-SEASON SURGE

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div>For six minutes, the man who was once hockey&rsquo;s biggest and brightest star looked very, very small.Guy Lafleur stood just short of center ice at the Montreal Forum, the building in which he became the dominant player of a generation, as wave after wave of deafening emotion poured from the stands.Six minutes of memories, six minutes of love, six minutes of saying, &ldquo;Thank you.&rdquo;When public address announcer Claude Mouton tried to intrude, the crowd shouted him into silence.Three times.Lafleur moved his stick back and forth on the ice. He glided back and forth. He hunched over, bent at the waist, looking more like a man trying to recover from a punch in the stomach than a hug.&ldquo;I was holding back,&rdquo; he said of his battle to control the emotions that sprinted inside him. I didn&rsquo;t expect the emotion, the reception from the fans. I expected some, but it was like a volcano. You never knew when it would erupt.&rdquo;This was Montreal fans&rsquo; chance to say goodbye, a night for pure emotion.A big show was planned for the next night in Quebec City where his adopted team would honor him, but this was the one that counted.This was the city and the building where he became the best player of his time, where he became a symbol for the people of the province of Quebec.Lafleur&rsquo;s first goodbye in February, 1985 had been tainted by the feelings of rancor and bitterness created by his early retirement from the Habs and ensuing messy divorce.The bitterness over Lafleur&rsquo;s first retirement and subsequent rejection of his front office job and office &ldquo;clerk&rsquo;s salary&rdquo; with the Habs still lingers in the Lafleur family.The day before the Forum farewell, his aunt called a Montreal phone-in show from Thurso, Que., to once again lay the blame for Lafleur&rsquo;s premature departure from the game at the feet of Habs&rsquo; management.She said they forced her nephew to retire by taking away his ice time.Lafleur&rsquo;s wife, Lise, and the rest of the family was splashed across the front page of le Journal de Montreal the morning of his last night at the Forum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011496/5932158-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="556" height="1532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur salutes crowd during six-minute ovation.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Serge Savard nearly destroyed our life,&rdquo; trumpeted the headline.Habs&rsquo; management remained coldly distant from the festivities. Honoring Lafleur was left mostly to the club&rsquo;s old-timers association which presented him with a key to the old-timers room at the Forum and a fishing outfit.The club&rsquo;s contribution was a $10,000 cheque for one of Lafleur&rsquo;s charities, presented by vice-president Jean Beliveau.Club president Ronald Corey remained in his seat behind the Habs&rsquo; bench during the ceremonies. He said later he didn&rsquo;t want to be accused of being a hypocrite by going out on the ice.Jacques Lemaire, the coach when Lafleur was forced out, was high above in the Habs&rsquo; private box.Savard, the general manager, was nowhere to be seen.But Lafleur, the man with the innate gift of timing, ended the cold war with a warm gesture.As the ceremonies closed, he skated to the Habs&rsquo; bench and walked up to Corey, extending his hand.The pair shook hands and Corey clasped Lafleur by the back of the neck.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s tum the page and look to the future rather than the past,&rdquo; Lafleur said he told Corey after the game. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be positive rather than negative. He wished me the best of luck. It was very nice.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was nicely surprised by Lafleur&rsquo;s gesture,&rdquo; Corey told La Presse. &ldquo;At the same time, I was very relieved. This puts to an end an old story.&rdquo;Lafleur said he did it for the fans.He said the same of his goal, scored at 8:59 of the second period, the 560th of his career.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I scored it for the fans, not for me,&rdquo; he said.Lafleur&rsquo;s farewell weekend transcended the game. It became a people&rsquo;s collective embrace of one of their mostloved idols.&ldquo;Notre week-end des adieux de notre Guy national,&rdquo; (Our weekend of goodbyes for our national Guy, as one columnist put it.)Phone-in shows were jammed with choked-up callers. One Frenchlanguage radio station brought together 30 guests, ranging from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to Jean-Paul Meloche to le Demon Blond&rsquo;s peewee coach.The French-language newspapers churned out page after page of stories about Lafleur&rsquo;s first retirement from the Habs, his bitter relationship with Habs&rsquo; management, interviews with his wife and other family members, interviews with former teammates.Le Journal de Montreal devoted 16 pages to Lafleur the morning of his final game at the Forum.La Presse, which received about 3.500 good-bye letters from Lafleur fans for a special feature, ran 15 pages the morning after Lafleur&rsquo;s final game in Montreal.That Lafleur, who scored 50 goals six straight times with the Habs, hadn&rsquo;t scored 50 in the three years of his come back combined, mattered not at all.It was the myth that was being honored.Yes, Lafleur said, it truly is over.His one regret is he didn&rsquo;t push harder for a trade back in &lsquo;84 when he retired the first time.&ldquo;I should have put more pressure on Savard to get rid of me and play for another team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have missed 4&frac12; years. With what I know today, I should have done that.&rdquo;There are no such reservations now. A front-office job awaits in Quebec with the Nordiques. He&rsquo;ll work on plans for a new Colisee and other special projects.&ldquo;The timing is right now,&rdquo; he told about 50 members of the media crowded into a downtown Montreal hotel suite the day before the Forum farewell.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I can help the team by playing another year. Sunday&rsquo;s game will be my last hockey game as a hockey player. No old-timers games. I&rsquo;ll still skate, but that&rsquo;s it. This is the end of it. &ldquo; &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

LAFLEUR’S SWAN SONG AN EMOTIONAL AFFAIR

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01881/5933773-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>LONG PLAYOFF TRAIL WINDS THROUGH 16 NHL CITIES&hellip;PENGUINS DEFY HISTORY, FINALLY TAKE FLIGHT PAGE 23&hellip;WILL IT END IN HULL&rsquo;S ST. LOUIS OR GRETZKY&rsquo;S LOS ANGELES? PAGE 7THE FLOWER&rsquo;S LAST HOURTHE LEAGUE BIDS GOODBYE TO A LEGEND, THIS TIME FOR GOODJETS FIRE MURDOCH-PAGE 40 &#9632;

Cover-01

PLAYOFFS: YOUR GUIDE TO ALL FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS

<div class="byline">BY ADAM TEICHER AND BILL PICKETT</div>Earlier this season, there were concerns the Phoenix Roadrunners were being short-shifted as the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; other affiliate.The New Haven Nighthawks of the American League have been a Kings&rsquo; farm team since 1981 while this is the Roadrunners&rsquo; first season.But that argument was put to rest as Phoenix prepared for a first-round match up with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in the International League playoffs. In the final weeks of the season, the Kings sent the Roadrunners several players from the Nighthawks.The Phoenix bounty included goalie Robb Stauber, defensemen Eric Ricard and Rene Chapdelaine and wingers Dave Pasin and Darryl Williams.The moves gave Phoenix 25 bodies as the season wound down, a luxury for a team that was racked by injuries much of the year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have that extra cushion,&rdquo; coach Ralph Backstrom said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a little bit of depth now. New Haven isn&rsquo;t making the playoffs, so they (the Kings) figured it would be best to get these guys here and get them some extra playing time.&rdquo;Stauber, a top prospect, is the most intriguing addition. Along with veteran Mario Gosselin, Stauber gives the Roadrunners a goaltending combination that could be tough to beat in the playoffs. Stauber underwent minor knee surgery in mid-March, but was expected back for the playoffs.<h2>PLAYOFF PAYOFF</h2>The playoff positions were just about set heading into the final week of the season but there are some scheduling conflicts.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much problem in the first round as far as the East is concerned,&rdquo; said IHL director of communications Mike Meyers. &ldquo;If the teams finish the way they appear to be headed, Kalamazoo-Muskegon and Indianapolis-Fort Wayne will alternate home dates.&rdquo;The main thing remaining in those series is whether Indy or the Komets will finish second and get the home-ice advantage.&ldquo;The final standings will be determined by winning percentage first,&rdquo; said Meyers. Five teams (Fort Wayne, Muskegon, Salt Lake, Phoenix and San Diego) will play 83 games, the rest 82. &ldquo;Then we&rsquo;ll consider total points and after that, wins.&rdquo;&ldquo;It looks like Salt Lake will play Phoenix,&rdquo; Meyers said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d prefer a 2-2-1-1-1 format all around, but should those two teams meet in the first round, it probably will be 1-2-2-1-1 beginning at Salt Lake.&rdquo;Peoria, which will play either Milwaukee or San Diego, has a major problem with dates in the opening round.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be out of their building for a week (April 11 to 15) because of a car show,&rdquo; Meyers said. &ldquo;So we just don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen there. The goal is to start the second round on the Wednesday (April 24).&rdquo;The latest the end of the first-round series can be delayed is April 22.A compromise schedule had been reached with the Gulls, but the series with the Admirals was being negotiated. Milwaukee (33-40-3 with six games left) and San Diego (28-41-8 with six left) were in a fight for the final West playoff spot and the dubious honor of playing the Rivermen.<h2>DESERT STORM</h2>The feud between Phoenix and Salt Lake, probable first round opponents, is perhaps the hottest in the league. After a 3-1 Phoenix win March.23. the Roadrunners were steamed at a Rich Chernomaz check that bloodied Ricard&rsquo;s face and opened a vicious gash over his eye. Also in that game, in a scene reminiscent of one earlier in the year between the teams. Salt Lake&rsquo;s Darren Banks mixed it up with a few fans behind the Golden Eagles&rsquo; penalty box. The fans taunted Banks, who responded by dousing some of them with his water bottle. The fans then began throwing items at Banks and a couple of fans were ejected from the game&hellip;The IHL passed the 2-million mark in attendance March 22 and at the close of the week (March 24) the league had drawn 2,070,553 fans, an average of 5,125 per game. Milwaukee led the league with 8,409. Peoria averaged 6,295; Kansas City 5,650; Phoenix 5.559; Fort Wayne 5,469; Salt Lake 5,460, San Diego 5,314, and Indianapolis 5,188. Only Kalamazoo (3,589) and Muskegon (2,797) were drawing less than the IHL average. &#9632;

ROADRUNNERS REFUELED BY LATE ADDITIONS

<h2>QUOTABLE</h2>&ldquo;I think that was a good idea.&rdquo;&mdash;Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley, after Darryl Plandowski decided to shoot into an open net in double overtime to give the Wildcats the national title. Page 29.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I scored it for the fans, not for me&rdquo;&mdash;Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s final tribute to his Montreal Forum faithful&mdash;the last of his 560 career goals. Page 8. &#9632;

THIS WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011318/5931796-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="517" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB MCKENZIE</figcaption></div>Six reasons why the summer of 1991 will be the busiest, most issue-oriented and exciting offseason in hockey history:&#9632; The Collective Bargaining Agreement.Militancy on both sides is at an all-time high. The Players&rsquo; Association is intent on capitalizing on the upward salary spiral. The owners and managers are just as committed to stem the tide.The players will be led in negotiations by deputy executive director Bob Gpodenow, who is considered significantly more hard-line than his predecessor, Alan Eagleson.It&rsquo;s too early to forecast the first strike of the NHL&rsquo;s modern era, but all the elements are in place for the most hard-bitten negotiations ever.&#9632; Free agents.Perhaps it is only a quirk, but several players, significant and otherwise, are Type I free agents.For example, Toronto player agent Rick Curran has six clients in that category. They include: Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mark Recchi; New Jersey&rsquo;s Brendan Shanahan; Boston&rsquo;s Glen Wesley; Edmonton&rsquo;s Adam Graves; Winnipeg&rsquo;s Bryan Marchment and St. Louis&rsquo; Glen Featherstone.Short of being a free agent without compensation, Type I (under the right circumstances) is the least restrictive category. For example, Penguin star Mark Recchi may sign with the team of his choice and Pittsburgh would not be able to hold him by matching the offer.Pittsburgh and Recchi&rsquo;s new team would negotiate what amounts to a forced trade. Failing that, each team would propose a compensation package and an arbitrator would choose one or the other.Consider what the Penguins might end up with as compensation if the team signing Recchi was Toronto or San Jose.&#9632; Rival leagues.History tells us that they are difficult to start and even more difficult to maintain. With that in mind, only a fool would predict that either the Continental Hockey Association or the North American Hockey League will get off the ground this fall and flourish in the years to come.But any time a group, which includes a wellheeled sportsman or two, gets together at a conference table and starts divvying up the rights to existing NHL players, the potential for upheaval is there.The new leagues may want to consider some of those Type I free agents or&hellip;&#9632; Eric Lindros.The Quebec Nordiques own the first pick in the 1991 entry draft and that undoubtedly will be Lindros. But there is a long way to go between drafting a player and getting him in uniform.In the case of Lindros, the considerations will be purely financial. The Canadian dollar, high tax rate (in Canada generally and in Quebec specifically) and potential loss of endorsement revenue because he would playing in the NHL&rsquo;s smallest market will all factor into contract negotiations.Will the Nordiques be able to satisfy his demands? And what of the rival leagues? The Canadian Olympic team?The young man may have options. He, as witnessed by his rejection of the Ontario League draft and Sault Ste. Marie, fully understands that a draft merely assigns your playing rights to a specific team should you commit yourself to play in that league.&#9632; The Canada Cup.It makes for a short summer, but hockey&rsquo;s premier event is worth cutting short the vacation. though it remains to be seen if some NHL stars feel the same way.And then there&rsquo;s the issue of international hockey supremacy.Interesting? You bet.&#9632; Expansion.And you thought the drama ended when Ottawa and Tampa Bay were admitted to the NHL last December.Will the Senators be able to make the $22.5 million (U.S.) payment in June? Will the NHL perhaps be forced to negotiate terms and conditions?If so, the irony wouldn&rsquo;t be lost on applicants from St. Petersburg, Miami, Milwaukee, Seattle and Hamilton, among others, who failed to make the grade because they wanted to negotiate terms and conditions and the NHL refused.Oh, yes, it&rsquo;s going to be an interesting summer. A very interesting summer.Bob McKenzie is editor-in-chief of The Hockey News. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

A SIX-PACK OF ISSUES FOR THE LONG, HOT SUMMER

Little could have been expected this year from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mario Lemieux would miss the better part of the season and playoff hopes were bleak once again.In steps John Cullen, who leads the Pens to respectability and challenges Wayne Gretzky for top scorer for a good part of the year.When Lemieux returns, Cullen gets less ice time, loses Mark Recchi to Lemieux&rsquo;s line and finally is traded to Hartford. I&rsquo;m not saying this was a bad trade for the Penguins. They are an improved team, especially defensively. But I can&rsquo;t help but think Cullen deserved better.If, by chance, Pittsburgh and Hartford were to meet in the conference finals, this diehard Penguin fan could find it in his heart to appreciate an overtime goal by Cullen in the seventh game.Mike Frolick Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.<h2>RIGHT ON, TOM</h2>It was with great dismay that I read your negative comments about Tommy McVie in your &ldquo;Cheers and Jeers&rdquo; feature (THN, March 22).If you had done your homework, you would have realized McVie is one of the most knowledgeable and well-respected coaches in hockey. He is a motivator, a teacher and an innovator.When he has the horses, he wins championships, as he did with Winnipeg in the WHA and Maine in the American League. He also led the Utica Devils (AHL) to the playoffs the last two years; if anybody can motivate the listless New Jersey Devils, it&rsquo;s McVie.I&rsquo;ve been a Utica Devils&rsquo; seasonticket holder for the four years they have played in our city and have witnessed first-hand McVie&rsquo;s genius and sense of humor. With the NHL now overloaded with clones behind the benches and shield-wearing, stickswinging Europeans, thank God for the Tommy McVies of the world.He&rsquo;s not a &ldquo;stop-gap&rdquo;, he&rsquo;s a throwback.Gerald J. Carroll Barneveld, N. Y.<h2>BLAKE ROBBED</h2>Your list of Calder Trophy candidates (THN, March 8) demonstrates the typical lack of respect given any NHL player without outstanding offensive statistics.Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; rookie defenseman Rob Blake has stepped into a regular role in the offensive-minded Smythe Division, and has done a wonderful job in helping the Kings drop more than 60 goals from last year&rsquo;s goals-against total. He has been a plus player all season, killing penalties, playing on the power play and amazing people around the league with the longest reach since Mario Lemieux.Yet, because he is only fifth among rookies in scoring, (although the leading defenseman), Blake, without the numbers of Sergei Fedorov or Ken Hodge, is all but ingnored.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011480/5931851-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="556" height="694"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Blake warrants more Calder attention, says a reader.</figcaption></div>Other than Chicago&rsquo;s Ed Belfour, no rookie has had such a positive impact on his team as Blake, who deserves at the very least some serious consideration for the Calder.Mel Powell Los Angeles, Calif.<h2>THANKS, DAVE</h2>Thanks to Dave Molinari for putting hockey in perspective (THN, Feb. 8). It is great, but it&rsquo;s just a game.I am a United States marine who served in Operation Desert Storm. I arrived in Saudi Arabia well before the start of the 1989-90 season and coverage of the NHL here is pretty good. The local daily english-language newspaper has had some coverage of the league.We also hear scores on the radio. I&rsquo;ve had THN issues sent to me and we see some taped games. It doesn&rsquo;t matter which teams are playing, it&rsquo;s simply awesome to be able to enjoy the game.Thanks again for providing outstanding coverage&mdash;and the true perspective&mdash;of the ultimate game.Andrew J. Genovese Sgt. USMC Saudi Arabia<h2>EAT YOUR WORDS</h2>I&rsquo;ve read Stan Fischler&rsquo;s columns with amusement, bewilderment and even anger, but he finally hit the post with that March 22 Rangers&rsquo; advertisement, predicting they&rsquo;d win the Cup again.I&rsquo;ll pay $20 for an 8 &times; 10 glossy of Stan noshing on his column after his cherished New Yorkers get bounced in the Patrick Division final.The Stanley Cup in the Big Apple, indeed. Cleveland will have an NHL franchise before this happens again.Rick Kammerer Concord Twp., OhioMake your feelings known. Sendyour 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;

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Departments

CULLEN DESERVED A BETTER FATE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021204/5931882-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

&#9632; The Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins. The 1967 expansion partners ended long futility droughts by winning their first ever division titles. And neither relied too heavily on their respective superstars. The Penguins proved they could win without Mario Lemieux, while the Kings did it as much with defense as with the Wayne Gretzky-led offense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03794/5931920-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="375" height="359"></div>&#9632; The Northern Michigan Wildcats. Coach Rick Comley and his staff deserve full credit for putting together a national championship team under some adverse conditions. A small school in a small town, Comley outrecruited the neighborhood big guys Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Congratulations.&#9632; The NCAA. Because of the NCAA&rsquo;s insistence that the Hobey Baker winner&rsquo;s identity not be revealed until after the title game, David Emma was left to languish in the bowels of the St. Paul Civic Center, not even being allowed to watch the overtime thriller. And by the time access to Emma was permitted, deadlines for most daily newspapers had passed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04440/5931913-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="377" height="360"></div>&#9632; The Ottawa Sun. It is one thing to pay one million dollars to the Ottawa Senators for exclusive advertising rights. It is quite another for the newspaper to bill itself as &ldquo;the official newspaper of the Senators.&rdquo; It suggests the Sun&rsquo;s editorial content is endorsed and/or approved by the hockey club. &#9632;

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CHEERS JEERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011479/5931965-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="886" height="597"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021339/5931958-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="489" height="251"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031132/5931951-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="582" height="784"></div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goaltender Vincent Riendeau, who registered three straight wins, including his third shutout of the season, a 1.67 goals-against-average and a.942 save percentage, was named NHL Pro Set Player of the Week for the period ending March 31.Riendeau edged two Blues&rsquo; teammates, center Adam Oates and right winger Brett Hull, and Boston Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Ray Bourque for the honor.Throughout the 1990-91 NHL season, Pro Set, Inc. has donated $500 to the youth hockey organization designated by the Player of the Week. Pro Set has also contributed $1,000 on behalf of the Player of the Month and will contribute $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.Riendeau began the week with a 5-4 win against the Norris Division rival Minnesota North Stars March 25.He went on to record his fourth career shutout by stopping 27 shots for a 3-0 Blues win over the visiting New York Islanders March 28, and concluded the regular season with a 2-1 home win over the North Stars March 31.The Blues finished the regular season with a 47-22-11 record, good for 105 points and second place overall behind the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1990-91 NHL standings.Oates had nine assists in four games, while Hull scored five goals and eight points in four games.Bourque scored two goals and eight points in three games. &#9632;

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NHL PRO SET SPOTLIGHT

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Although relations between the NHL Players&rsquo; Association and the NHL Alumni Association were frigid earlier this year, they should warm up in June. The Alumni group, which claims to represent 150 retired players, is planning to launch legal action against the league claiming the NHLPA misappropriated about $25 million of its pension monies. Members of the Alumni group tried&mdash;and failed&mdash;to crash an NHLPA meeting in January. NHLPA deputy executive officer Bob Goodenow says his group will meet with the Alumni at the annual post-playoff meeting. But other NHLPA executives are miffed over the strong-arm tactics by the Alumni group. &ldquo;They tried to crash our meeting without notice last time,&rdquo; one union leader says. &ldquo;Thatjust doesn&rsquo;t cut it. They&rsquo;ll have to soften their act.&rdquo;&hellip;Goode-now says he wants NHLPA nonvoting representative Wayne Gretzky to attend the meeting and deliver his ideas on how to clean up the game. &ldquo;We want to get involved in rule changes,&rdquo; Goodenow says. Gretzky, who missed the last NHLPA meeting in Phoenix because of travel problems, has campaigned against fighting and hitting from behind.<h2>GUY KNOWS</h2>Quebec right winger Guy Lafleur says Quebec fans shouldn&rsquo;t expect &ldquo;the world&rdquo; from Eric Lindros, the Nordiques&rsquo; (and NHL&rsquo;s) probable first pick in the June draft. &ldquo;Eric will not change the team in a day,&rdquo; Lafleur says. &ldquo;A man of his dimensions (6-foot-5, 228 pounds) is a plus no matter what team he plays for. But it&rsquo;s necessary to surround him with good players. And it&rsquo;s important Joe Sakic feels at ease with what&rsquo;s going on. Sakic has proven himself, while Lindros hasn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;&hellip;Capitals&rsquo; goaltender Mike Liut agrees with Whalers&rsquo; critics who say GM Eddie Johnston made a mistake by trading Hartford center Ron Francis. &ldquo;You have to retire people in your organization,&rdquo; Liut says, &ldquo;or it has no identity. It doesn&rsquo;t do anybody any good to roll people over every six years and bring in a new crop. You have more chance to flounder than succeed.&rdquo;&hellip;The NHL will likely abandon plans to move its New York-based PR base to Toronto. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re the only major sport substantially in two countries,&rdquo; an NHL official says. &ldquo;We can have people in Toronto but we can&rsquo;t abandon New York.&rdquo;<h2>AWESOME BOB</h2>A Brett Hull biography is in the works and the meaty part&mdash;-if Brett opens up&mdash;will involve his early relationship with father Bobby. Meanwhile, Brett keeps learning new things about his father. On a recent trip to Boston, Brett discovered Bobby once received one of the Garden&rsquo;s longest standing ovations&mdash;just for walking through the stands. &ldquo;Awesome,&rdquo; Brett says. &ldquo;Simply awesome.&rdquo;&hellip;A potential outcome of the impending Islanders&rsquo; sale could be the construction of a new arena&mdash;conceivably with private funds&mdash;as an alternate to Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders are also studying the feasibility of adding seats to Nassau Coliseum (capacity 16,297). More than 30 people have expressed interest in buying the team from owner John Pickett&hellip;The Rangers ability to land Sergei Nemchenov, a 25-year-old center with the Soviet Wings, will be decided by Sovintersport, the state foreign trade organization controlling the export of players. Insiders say Nemchenov is close to signing a $500,000 contract&hellip;Washington goalie Don Beaupre on the pecking order of NHL goaltenders: &ldquo;There are five or six top guys and 10 or 12 on the next level (his). It&rsquo;s hard to take that step up unless your team wins something.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011386/5931996-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="566" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Working out after a game sets Sergei Fedorov apart.</figcaption></div><h2>HEALTH NUT</h2>Don&rsquo;t expect to see Detroit&rsquo;s Calder Trophy candidate Sergei Fedorov doing an endorsement for McDonald&rsquo;s. He&rsquo;s a health nut, who enjoys a high-intensity workout after a game. &ldquo;He does it to break down the lactic acid in his body,&rdquo; Detroit assistant GM Nick Polano says. &ldquo;Other players watch him and can&rsquo;t believe it. It&rsquo;s hard for most just playing the game.&rdquo;&hellip;Members of the Quebec media say one of the most vicious scrimmage fights this season involved Wayne Van Dorp and Herb Raglan. Van Dorp resented Raglan&rsquo;s cheerleading. &ldquo;We have three coaches on this team, we don&rsquo;t need a fourth. I thought I&rsquo;d shut him up,&rdquo; Van Dorp says&hellip;Terry Crisp has recurring nightmares about the goal referee Denis Morel disallowed in the Flames-Kings series last year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen that goal enough times in my dreams to have it memorized.&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;Denis has to live with the fact he put a team out (of the playoffs). Maybe I&rsquo;d still have my job if not for Denis, but that&rsquo;s life.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

WILL NHLPA WARM UP TO ALUMNI?

<div class="byline">BY DAMIEN COX</div>Picture this scene.It&rsquo;s opening night for the San Jose Sharks on a balmy October evening at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. As the Sharks get set to take their first NHL faceoff at the center ice, goalie Greg Millen readies himself in the San Jose crease. As defensemen Rob Ramage and J.J. Daigneault glide to their blue line posts, the Sharks&rsquo; forward line of center Keith Acton between left winger Ryan Walter and right winger Tony McKegney gets set to go on the attack.These are just some of the current NHL players who may soon know the way to San Jose (or Minnesota).The league will hold its expansion draft for the Sharks and Stars June 17, the first since the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts joined in 1974.Sharks&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira has spent months observing NHL games to get a handle on which players he&rsquo;ll get a shot at selecting in the draft, which has been designed so the Sharks should end up with a better quality of players to choose from than previous expansion outfits.All 20 teams&mdash;Minnesota, which will receive half of the Sharks&rsquo; expansion draft picks, is exempt because of the deal with former North Star owners George and Gordon Gund that founded the Sharks&mdash;can protect 16 skaters and two goalies. Players with less than three years pro experience are exempt.Among the unprotected players of each team, however, must be one goalie with at least 60 minutes NHL experience, as well as one defenseman and two forwards with at least 70 games NHL experience over the last two years, and at least 40 games this season.These requirements are to stop clubs from manipulating their rosters to prevent losing any players of value, which is what usually happens in the October intra-league waiver draft.Teams may try to gamble on exposing certain kinds of players in hope the Sharks and Stars won&rsquo;t bite.Teams might also gamble and expose big salaried veterans because the two clubs are unlikely to want to load up on expensive players who won&rsquo;t be around long.Here is a list of current players who might be available in the June 17 expansion draft:BOSTON: G&mdash;Norm Foster; D&mdash;Jim Wiemer; F&mdash;John Carter, Peter Douris, Nevin Markwart, Lyndon Byers.BUFFALO: G&mdash;Darcy Wakaluk, Steve Weeks; D&mdash;Jay Wells, Grant Ledyard; F&mdash;Lou Franceschetti, Greg Paslawski.CALGARY: G&mdash;Steve Guenette; D&mdash;Kevan Guy, Jim Kyte; F&mdash;Tim Hunter, Brian MacLellan.CHICAGO: G&mdash;Greg Millen; D&mdash;Trent Yawney; F&mdash;Tony McKegney, Mike Hudson. Stu Grimson.DETROIT: G&mdash;Glen Hanlon, Alain Chevrier; D&mdash;Brad Marsh, Bobby Dollas; F&mdash;Marc Habscheid, Randy McKay.EDMONTON: G&mdash;Pokey Red dick; D&mdash;Charlie Huddy, Norm Maciver; F&mdash;Kelly Buchberger, Mark Lamb.HARTFORD: G&mdash;Darryl Reaugh; D&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Marc Bergevin; F&mdash;Jeff Parker, Ed Kastelic.LOS ANGELES: G&mdash;Ron Scott, Mario Gosselin; D&mdash;Tim Watters, Rod Buskas, Bob Halkidis; F&mdash;Ilkka Sinisalo, Scott Bjugstad, Jay Miller.MONTREAL: G&mdash;Frederic Chabot; D&mdash;J. J. Daigneault; F&mdash;Todd Ewen, Ryan Walter, Sylvain Turgeon.NEW JERSEY: G&mdash;Roland Melanson; D&mdash;Tommy Albelin, Jamie Huscroft; F&mdash;Pat Conacher, Walt Poddubny, Alan Stewart.NEW YORK ISLANDERS: G&mdash;George Maneluk or Danny Lorenz; D&mdash;Joe Reekie; F&mdash;John Tucker, Richard Kromm, Mick Vukota.NEW YORK RANGERS: G&mdash;Mark LaForest; D&mdash;Mark Hardy, Normand Rochefort, Lindy Ruff; F&mdash;Jody Hull, Paul Broten.PHILADELPHIA: G&mdash;Pete Peelers; D&mdash;Dave Fenyves; F&mdash;Keith Acton, Normand Lacombe, Craig Berube.PITTSBURGH: G&mdash;Wendell Young; D&mdash;Randy Hillier, Gordie Roberts; F&mdash;Barry Pederson, Jay Caufield, Troy Loney.QUEBEC: G&mdash;Scott Gordon; D&mdash;Randy Velischek; F&mdash;Jeff Jackson, Herb Raglan, Mark Vermette.ST. LOUIS: G&mdash;Tom Draper; D&mdash;Harold Snepsts, Tom Tilley, Mario Marois; F&mdash;Kelly Chase, Steve Tuttle, Ron Wilson.TORONTO: G&mdash;Damian Rhodes; D&mdash;-Rob Ramage; F&mdash;Kevin Maguire, Lucien DeBlois, Aaron Broten, Greg Johnston, Doug Shedden.VANCOUVER: G&mdash;Bob Mason; D&mdash;Robert Nordmark; F&mdash;Stan Smyl, Steve Bozek.WASHINGTON: G&mdash;Mike Liut; D&mdash;Rod Langway; F&mdash;John Kordic, Dave Tippett, Tim Bergland.WINNIPEG: G&mdash;Stephane Beauregard; D&mdash;Gord Donnelly, Moe Mantha; F&mdash;Mark Kumpel, Phil Sykes.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for the Toronto Star. &#9632;

FEEDING SHARKS MAY PROVE COSTLY FOR SEVERAL TEAMS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021009/5932051-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="546" height="1164"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM MCKENZIE</figcaption></div>Born: Nov. 3, 1969, Gull Lake, Sask. Height: 6-foot-3. Weight: 205 pounds. Team: Hartford Whalers. Position: Left wing. Acquired: Hartford&rsquo;s third choice, 73rd overall, in the 1989 draft.Career highlight: &ldquo;My first NHL game last season against Pittsburgh. To see players like Paul Coffey and guys you watched on TV, it&rsquo;s an unbelievable feeling.&rdquo;Best memory from first game: &ldquo;Before the game, Kevin Dineen stood up and said &lsquo;Okay guys, Jim wants to make a speech.&rsquo; At first I thought he was serious because he said it with a straight face. But then everybody laughed and I felt okay.&rdquo;Most respected opponent: Theoren Fleury. &ldquo;I played with him in junior. There were people who said he was too small and wouldn&rsquo;t go anywhere. But the more people told him what he couldn&rsquo;t do, the more he used it to prove them wrong.&rdquo;On being classified a goon: &ldquo;I definitely don&rsquo;t like it. Fighting&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve used to get here, but it&rsquo;s not what I&rsquo;ll use to stay here.&rdquo;What he&rsquo;ll do after hockey: &ldquo;Join the World Wrestling Federation. I think it&rsquo;s great. I don&rsquo;t really have all my marbles together so I&rsquo;d fit in pretty good.&rdquo;Person in history he&rsquo;d like to meet: Billy the Kid. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see if the wild west is really the way they portray it in the movies.&rdquo;On life in the NHL: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not everything it&rsquo;s cracked up to be. Some people see you on TV and think &lsquo;Oh he was in L. A. last night, tough life.&rsquo; But you really don&rsquo;t see anything except the lights coming in and the lights going out.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-02

PRO FILE

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>Scott Bowman, the winningest coach in NHL history, and ironman linesman Neil Armstrong were elected to the Hall of Fame March 27.Bowman, now director of player development for the Pittsburgh Penguins, won 739 games as coach of the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres between 1967 and 1987.Bowman, who won five Stanley Cups with the Habs and went to the finals on three other occasions with the Blues, was elected in the builders&rsquo; category.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve attended a lot of Hall of Fame induction ceremonies over the years and I guess it has always been in the back of my mind that I&rsquo;d someday like to be inducted,&rdquo; Bowman told the Toronto Star.&ldquo;In Montreal, St. Louis, Buffalo and now Pittsburgh there were and are some pretty great players. It&rsquo;s nice in that I&rsquo;ll be able to be with them again, so to speak, in the hall.&rdquo;Armstrong, who didn&rsquo;t miss an assignment for 16 consecutive seasons, was elected in the officials&rsquo; category. Armstrong retired following the 1977-78 season after working in a record 1,744 games.&ldquo;The integrity and dedication that he brought to NHL rinks for over 20 years was unmatched,&rdquo; said Brian O&rsquo;Neill, chairman of the board of directors of the Hall-of Fame. &ldquo;Neil is a most worthy inductee.&rdquo;<h2>THREE BANNED</h2>Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Tom Webster and Calgary Flames&rsquo; Doug Gilmour and Tim Hunter were each suspended by NHL vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill for their part in an altercation during a game March 23.Webster, who after being shoved by Gilmour punched the Calgary center, received a four-game suspension and $5,000 fine, while Gilmour and Hunter each were assessed two-game bans and $500 fines. Flame center Joel Otto was also given a $500 fine.&ldquo;A coach has special responsibilities and must set an example for his players,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Neill. &ldquo;It is also clear the Flames&rsquo; players acted in a highly irresponsible manner.&rdquo;Webster, Gilmour and Hunter all began serving their suspensions March 28. Gilmour and Hunter returned March 31, while Webster is eligible to return for the Kings&rsquo; third playoff game, April 8 in Vancouver.<h2>RED ARMY BLUES</h2>For the first time in 40 years, the Central Red Army hockey club has failed to win a medal in the Soviet championships.The Red Army team, which has lost eight of its players to the NHL over the last two years, placed fourth in the championships.Moscow Dynamo won the gold for the second year in a row. Spartak, coached by Alexander Yakushev, placed second and the Soviet Wings were third.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011566/5932082-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="568" height="1084"><figcaption class="caption-body">Suspended coach Tom Webster missed the start of the playoffs.</figcaption></div>Red Army&rsquo;s chances of regaining the gold medal it lost to Dynamo last year were diminished in February when coach Viktor Tikhonov suspended Ilya Biakin, a member of the national team for the last four years. Biakin, who averaged a point a game in the Super Series, was disciplined for among other things driving his car to a game instead of traveling on the team bus.The last time an army club failed to win a medal in the Soviet championships was during the 1950-51 season.<h2>MCKENNEY QUITS</h2>Don McKenney, head coach at Northeastern the past two seasons, announced his resignation March 28.An assistant behind Fern Flaman for 19 years before succeeding him in 1989, McKenney will remain at the university until July.NU athletic director Irwin Cohen said the search for a new head coach would begin immediately.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;s decision leaves a void at Northeastern and in eastern college hockey,&rdquo; said Cohen. &ldquo;He always projected a positive image of the university and the sport.The Huskies, who finished with a 16-19-2 record in McKenney&rsquo;s first season, fell to last place in Hockey East with an 8-25-2 mark this campaign.<h2>ONE MORE YEAR</h2>Boston College&rsquo;s Len Ceglarski, the winningest coach in collegiate hockey history, will give up his job at BC following the 1991-92 campaign.Ceglarski who was the head coach at Clarkson before coming to BC in 1972, has compiled a 659-321-35 record in his 33-year career. He is the only collegiate coach to have won 250 or more games at two different institutions.Ceglarski was 254-97-10 at Clarkson before returning to BC, his alma mater, where he has compiled a 405224-24 record.His Eagles won their sixth Hockey East regular season title in seven years this past year but were upset by Northeastern in the Hockey East quarterfinals and were stunned by Alaska-Anchorage at home in the first round of the NCAA tournament.&ldquo;I have done a lot of thinking about it during the season and my wife Ursula and I decided that I will retire after next year,&rdquo; said Ceglarski.<h2>IHL AFFILIATE</h2>The International League&rsquo;s Kansas City Blades will serve as the primary farm team of the expansion San Jose Sharks next season.Sharks&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira and Blades&rsquo; owner Russell Parker made the announcement of the two-year agreement March 30 in Kansas City.&ldquo;Kansas City is a logical choice,&rdquo; said Ferreira. &ldquo;The Blades are a solid organization on and off the ice. They are committed to our philosophy on player development that is so important to making the Sharks a successful hockey club.&ldquo;Also, I like the IHL. It is a league that stresses player development. It is known for its good skating teams, which is condusive to the style of play we will find in our division (Smythe) next season.&rdquo;The Blades, who just completed their initial regular season, operated as an independent and play out of the IHL&rsquo;s largest facility, the 16,039-seat Kemper Arena.<h2>BIG POINTS</h2>Jeff Marshall&rsquo;s goal midway through the second period proved to be the winner as the Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers won their third straight NCAA Division III championship March 16 with a 6-2 win over Mankato State (Minn.) in Elmira, N.Y.The Pointers, who share&mdash;with the 1951-53 Michigan Wolverines&mdash;the distinction of being the only NCAA teams to win three consecutive titles, also got goals from Marc Strapon, Todd Tretter, Al Bouschor, Paul Caufield and Sean Marsan.UWSP&rsquo;s most famous hockey alumnus is Boston Bruin Ralph Barahona, who graduated last spring as the school&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer.&mdash;with files from Denis Gibbons and Larry Mahoney<h2>DATEBOOK</h2>April 7: IHL regular season ends.April 19-May 4: World Championships in Turku, Finland. &#9632;

f0006-01

BOWMAN AND ARMSTRONG ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT MORRISON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011412/5932127-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Recchi led Pittsburgh with five goals and 11 points against New Jersey.</figcaption></div>The race for the Stanley Cup has begun, but this spring it will undoubtedly be more marathon, than sprint.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the potential.&rdquo; said Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach/general manager Mike Keenan, &ldquo;to play 28 games in 57 days. It&rsquo;s going to be a marathon. It&rsquo;s almost inhuman.&rdquo;There exists, too, no fewer than eight legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup, that group including five 100-point teams, who were separated by just six points in the final standings.&ldquo;It is probably as competitive as I&rsquo;ve ever seen it.&rdquo; said Keenan.What follows is a look at the division semifinals, their outcomes almost as tough to predict as the next move of Toronto Maple Leaf management:<h2>NORRIS</h2><h3>CHICAGO-MINNESOTA</h3>The Blackhawks finished the season first overall, on a decided roll, with the best defensive record. They have depth, discipline, good coaching, absolutely everything required to win.Still, the North Stars improved defensively, too, have the option of two good goalies and have the ability to upset. The key, though, is somehow getting to Ed Belfour, though the Blackhawks have depth in goal, too.<h3>ST. LOUIS-DETROIT</h3>Since no one in the league really found a way to neutralize Brett Hull and Adam Oates, there is no good reason to believe the Red Wings will now either.Playing an abrasive, physical game is probably the best way to stop them, or at least limit the damage, and the Wings have a capable staff. An additional key for the Wings, though, will be to find flawless goaltending, but the Blues still rate ahead in all areas.<h2>SMYTHE</h2><h3>LOS ANGELES-VANCOUVER</h3>The Kings improved by 27 points this season, the most in the NHL, because they discovered defense without an appreciable loss in offense.This has the potential to be the briefest opening set, which is the impetus the Kings require. They wanted first for an easier ride and they know they must finish off the Canucks quickly to take full advantage.The Canucks proved a couple of springs ago they can be defiant, taking Calgary to seven games in 1989. But to do it this time, they will need superior goaltending and probably a miracle, not to mention a way to stop Wayne Gretzky.<h3>CALGARY-EDMONTON</h3>The Flames ended the season in a slight tailspin, failing twice to defeat the Kings with first place at stake, then tying and losing to the Oilers. It was enough to at least prompt concern.In terms of talent and depth, the Flames should prevail, but the question remains whether they have the mettle to win the big series. This is not, repeat, not the 1989 team.The Oilers, meantime, know what it takes to win. are deep in goal, and gave notice in the final week that they might again be revving for the spring.To win. the Flames need consistently good goaltending, the Oilers a big series from Mark Messier and the re-emergence of the Kid Line.<h2>ADAMS</h2><h3>BOSTON-HARTFORD</h3>A year ago, the Whalers gave the Bruins a mighty scare, but fell just short. There is hardly an optimistic air this spring, however. Goaltending has been inconsistent, there has been discontent within the team, and they have slumped since the all-star break.The Bruins, meantime, are healthy and poised for another run to the final. They are better in goal, on the blue line, and are disciplined up front. In short, they are too strong.<h3>MONTREAL-BUFFALO</h3>The Sabres were major underachievers, finishing with 17 fewer points than last season, though there were signs of improvement in the final weeks with a 5-1-2 record.That they are entering the playoffs without high hopes may actually work in their favor, too. Remember, the Sabres haven&rsquo;t seen the second round in seven springs. It has haunted them, but now expectations aren&rsquo;t so great.The return to health of both goalies, Daren Puppa and Clint Malarchuk, is a major boost along with the scoring resurgence of left winger Dave Andreychuk.The Canadiens have been a health hazard all season and while goalie Patrick Roy insists he is fit, he hasn&rsquo;t been sharp of late. He, of course, is the key. The improved play of winger Stephane Richer helps their chances of advancing.<h2>PATRICK</h2><h3>PITTSBURGH-NEW JERSEY</h3>Their dealings at the trade deadline and the revival of goalie Tom Barrasso brought good defense to the Penguins, a commodity they had previously lacked. The offense is excellent.The Devils&rsquo; big guns, sporadic much of the season, have to be firing for them to entertain hopes of an upset. As well, either Scan Burke or Chris Terreri must get hot.<h3>NEW YORK RANGERS-WASHINGTON</h3>The Capitals, defending division champions, entered the playoffs with a hot goalie. Don Beaupre had consecutive shutouts and three in his final seven starts. A very good omen.Always sound defensively, they have adequate offense and special teams to advance through that division, particularly having won last year and shrugged the monkey off their back.The Rangers have been a curious entity the final month. After holding down first place much of the season they finished up 2-9-1, barely keeping second place. They became very ordinary in all areas of the game, raising doubts about whether they have the character to win when it matters. There is sufficient talent, but is there enough heart?<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02956/5932120-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1489" height="1353"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03636/5932113-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="1487" height="1357"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

HOW THE FIRST ROUND SHAPES UP

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN DUPONT</div>Sure, if you were Joe Sakic or Adam Oates, you might be upset. The same goes for Pat LaFontaine, Theo Fleury and maybe Brian Leetch just to name three more.Who are the Top 10 players in the NHL? It is not a difficult list, until it comes time to hold the line at 10.Three of the best&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier and Patrick Roy&mdash;missed long stretches this season due to injury. But if you could start a team today, and had the first 10 draft picks from all the world&rsquo;s talent, would you dare leave one of them unclaimed?Here it is then, THN&rdquo;s Top 10.And, no doubt, you&rsquo;d be upset if you were Luc Robitaille, Jeremy Roenick, Esa Tikkanen. Kevin Hatcher, Rick Tocchet, Alexander Mogilny&hellip;Happy second-guessing:1. WAYNE GRETZKY. Still the Great One, with a boyish look about him that might get him stopped trying to crash the doors to a junior prom. How can The Kid still be this good? He turned 30 in January and went on to capture his 10th scoring title, bettering his league-high 142 points of last season. When there isn&rsquo;t a pass available, he makes one, leaving a linemate rushing to the post for what in the end looks like a diagrammed play. His career assists alone would place him fourth behind Gordie Howe, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito on the all-time scoring list. When the sad day of his retirement comes, his assists alone probably will be enough to make him the league&rsquo;s alltime scorer.2. MARIO LEMIEUX. This should have been the year he broke 1,000 points, but his bad back kept him on the sidelines through late January&mdash;and he returned at the human/pedestrian scoring pace of less than two points per game over the final one-third of the season. Oh, the shame. He is magnificent in the slot, a smooth-skating big man (6-feet-4, 210 pounds) who can barrel through the two-and three-man defenses he commands in the middle. If he can keep his back in shape, and prevent his overall conditioning from slipping, he may be the only player who ever gets even an outside shot at equalling Gretzky&rsquo;s offensive marks.3. RAY BOURQUE. He was nosed out by Mark Messier last season as the MVP, but a slow start this time around caused some to wonder if turning 30 in December wasn&rsquo;t going to signal the onset of his seniorsomething days. Wrong. He returned with a blistering second half, rolling along to his highest point total in four years and playing the dominating defense that should bring him his fourth Norris Trophy&mdash;behind only Doug Harvey (7) and Bobby Orr (8). Dominating and durable, he typically plays 32-35 minutes per game, and when provoked dishes out some of the most menacing hits in the game. The best blend of force, finesse and puckhandling behind the blue line.4. BRETT HULL. When Lemieux was chugging along to 85 goals two years ago, it wasn&rsquo;t exactly ho-hum, but it also didn&rsquo;t get the headlines and magazine covers that the Golden Brett has drawn this season with nearly identical arithmetic. A fierce shot off right wing, with an uncanny, Houdini-like ability to get away from defensive coverage and somehow end up standing in the slot with open acres of shooting room. Elusive and explosive at the same time, with a quick-lift wrist shot that can be more intimidating than his slapper. Imagine how good the Flames would have been with him still in Calgary. A Golden Bet for the MVP.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011446/5932189-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="565" height="1093"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cam Neely&rsquo;s plays like a crazed bull on the ice.</figcaption></div>5. CAM NEELY. The best power forward in the league, and now only the second member of the Bruins ever to record back-to-back seasons of 50 goals. Phil Esposito used to pop them in from 10- and 12-feet, dotting the net with soft, accurate dabs. Neely thunders down right wing like some crazed bull through the streets of Pamplona, finishing off with low, heavy slaps from the right circle ordrilling in one-timers with power-play set-ups by Craig Janney. Also the best fighter on the Top 10 list. Once couldn&rsquo;t crack the lineup in Vancouver, now everything the Canucks, and a lot of teams, need up front&mdash;a tough, mean and talented streak.6. MARK MESSIER. Knee and wrist injuries, coupled with his pleas for more money, made this the least productive of his dozen seasons. Make no mistake, though, he is still the toughest and most feared of the game&rsquo;s centers. A joy to watch in big games. Moved to true dominance in the 1984 Stanley Cup finals when he rubbed out the Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier in head-to-head matchups. New York&rsquo;s four-year Cup reign was finished, and the Oilers were off and running to five Cups in seven seasons. Look behind that statue of Gretzky at Northlands Coliseum, and you&rsquo;ll see this man&rsquo;s shadow.7. PATRICK ROY. The injury bug that bit most every Canadien put a bad bite on St. Patrick this season. Without a doubt, though, the two-time Vezina winner is the best goalie in the game, especially behind a defense that lost Chris Chelios and had more young adults working than the New Kids on the Block. Don&rsquo;t expect to see sensational saves when you watch Roy. Like another great Canadien, Ken Dryden, he stands up, plays the angles and edges toward boredom with his consistency. The Canadiens didn&rsquo;t have a great season, but can&rsquo;t be discounted in the playoffs. Why? That&rsquo;s right, Roy.8. STEVE YZERMAN. What more can one man do? He has broken 100 points fora fourth straight season, darting around in the offensive end the way few players can. if the Red Wings had solid goaltending and defense, and could be true Cup competitors, he&rsquo;d have to be a Hart candidate. In seven years, though, the crafty center has never finished even as runner-up for the MVP. Not a slot man with a lot of size (5-feet-11, 185), but not afraid to push his nose into the traffic, where he typically skates out with the puck. He&rsquo;s the best thing Detroit has had now for eight seasons and he won&rsquo;t turn 26 until next month. He still has time to get his name on a Cup, if he can get some help.9. AL MacINNIS. But for one pick in the draft, he could have been with Bourque on the Bruins all these years. In &lsquo;81, Boston took Normand Leveille 14th overall and the Flames followed at 15 with Maclnnis. And for the past, oh, four or five years Maclnnis has been overshadowed by Bourque&rsquo;s dominance at the position. No one shoots the puck harder and he can wheel the puck up and quarterback on the power play like Bourque. But the job primarily is defense, and Bourque finishes a step or two ahead at keeping the puck clear in a division that is more defensive. Maclnnis finished No. 2 to Bourque last year in the Norris balloting and will be a bridesmaid once more. But what a wedding it would have been.10. EDDIE BELFOUR. The Blackhawks went dealing last summer and figured getting Chris Chelios for Denis Savard would be a key building block in the franchise. They weren&rsquo;t wrong, but Belfour has moved ahead of Chelios and even Steve Larmer as most important man in the franchise. He should win the Vezina and the Calder&mdash;the first man to to do that since Tom Barrasso in 1984, and only the second since Chicago great Tony Esposito in 1970. Some scouts and coaches don&rsquo;t believe he stands up enough, but who can argue style when a goalie finishes with 40-plus wins. In the long run, fellow rookies Jaromir Jagr and Sergei Fedorov could prove more valuable, but for 80 games he has been the best of the newbloods. &#9632;

f0009-01

TOP 10: SECOND-GUESSER’S DELIGHT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011516/5932220-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="490" height="623"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN FISCHLER</figcaption></div>If you can&rsquo;t be an expectant millionaire like Eric Lindros, the next best role in the NHL fiscal soap opera would be Rick Curran&rsquo;s.The 38-year-old Toronto native has become hockey&rsquo;s premier agent because: 1. He represents Eric Lindros and 2. He handles coveted free agents like Brendan Shanahan, Mark Recchi and Glen Wesley.Merely having Lindros in your stable is like owning the dollar-printing machine at the national mint. When Eric is drafted first by Quebec in the June entry draft, he&rsquo;ll be the most highly touted NHLer since Wayne Gretzky.So how did a gentle, 14-year agent like Curran latch on to Lindros?&ldquo;For that, I have to thank the late (NHL officiating director) John McCauley,&rdquo; Curran says. &ldquo;When Eric was playing junior B, John felt he might develop better playing in junior rather than by going the college route. McCauley introduced me to the family and suggested I might be able to help. My relationship with Eric evolved from there.&rdquo;Curran&rsquo;s relationship also developed with Eric&rsquo;s parents, Bonnie and Carl. Both will be major players when Curran begins meetings with Nordique president Marcel Aubut and general manager Pierre Page.&ldquo;From Day 1 of our relationship, we formed a caucus of sorts to address all issues,&rdquo; Curran says. &ldquo;We put the facts on the table and looked at them. Bonnie provides emotion. Carl, being an accountant, is very methodical and keeps us moving in the proper direction. I bring the hockey viewpoint into focus.&ldquo;No one person necessarily has any greater input than the other. And, of course, there&rsquo;s the fourth member: Eric. He lets us all know how he feels and always has the final say.&rdquo;Curran says NHL agents are less competitive than people think.Even arch-rivals Don Meehan (who represents Pat LaFontaine and Al Maclnnis) and Ron Salcer (who represents John Cullen) sound more like frat brothers than foes.Ironically, Curran lost two of his best clients&mdash;Rob Brown and Kevin Hatcher&mdash;to Meehan and Salcer, respectively.But he holds no grudges.&ldquo;Robbie got frustrated because I wasn&rsquo;t getting anywhere in our negotiations with (Penguins&rsquo; GM) Tony Esposito,&rdquo; says Curran. &ldquo;He panicked a bit and gave me a week to get the job done. The timing was all wrong and I couldn&rsquo;t make the deal we wanted. He ended up with Donny, who had previously told him I could do a good job. I appreciated that.&ldquo;I lost Kevin Hatcher because I had been spending too much time in other areas&mdash;like my minor-league clients&mdash;and I hadn&rsquo;t been giving him the attention he deserved. I thought it was enough to be there if he had a problem. It wasn&rsquo;t. Our communication broke down. I made a mistake, paid the price and have tried to learn from it.&rdquo;The Lindros connection has sharply altered Curran&rsquo;s business outlook and client list, which he deliberately sliced from 90 to 40.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried not to make the same mistake as in the past,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I used to let my competitive nature get the best of me. I recruited clients like hell and kept going until I realized I had too many. I became too greedy and selfish.&rdquo;Curran says agents don&rsquo;t make as much money as people think, mostly because of the time invested in each deal.He says the business is also fraught with as much trauma as coaching.&ldquo;It becomes an emotional rollercoaster,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Your highs and lows are relative to the success and failures of your clients. One minute you&rsquo;re soaring with a client who has just been selected in the first round of the draft. The next you&rsquo;re sharing in the disappointment of another who didn&rsquo;t go at all.&ldquo;It can be devastating when a player decides to have someone else represent him. Maybe I shouldn&rsquo;t, but I take it very personally. When Rob Brown left me, I nearly put a lock on the door and walked away from it all.&rdquo;Many GMs wish Curran would lock up and go away&mdash;for a decade. The NHL establishment feels the same way. They&rsquo;re afraid agents are now too powerful&mdash;more influential than coaches or GMs.The NHL&rsquo;s perspective has not eluded Curran.&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the case,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;then perhaps management has only itself to blame. They&rsquo;ve created the environment that has forced players to turn to us for guidance.&rdquo;Stan Fischler is a freelance writer based in New York City. &#9632;

f0010-01

CURRAN BRINGING LINDROS’ FUTURE INTO FOCUS

&hellip;Former Montreal Canadien Bob Gainey is the only left winger to win the Conn Smythe Trophy since it was first awarded in 1965? Gainey won the award in 1979 after leading the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup championship. The current Minnesota coach had six goals and 16 points in 16 playoff games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021144/5932251-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="977" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Gainey</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

DID YOU KNOW…

<h2>NORTH STARS</h2>It appears the Lou Nanne era with the North Stars is coming to an end. Even though owner Norman Green insists Nanne has a job as long as he wants and Nanne says he hasn&rsquo;t decided whether he&rsquo;ll stay or leave, there are reasons to believe he&rsquo;ll leave the team shortly after the playoffs. The best bet is he&rsquo;ll go to work in the financial community and try to hook on as an analyst with whoever lands the new NHL television contract. Nanne joined the North Stars late in their first season and followed 11 seasons as a player with 10 as GM and two as the team president. This season, he has been vice-president of public relations and marketing-&hellip;North Stars&rsquo; vice-president Dick Arneson, the man given the task of firing employees during Green&rsquo;s housekeeping sweep last summer, has been told his contract will not be renewed. Arneson is the last tie to the original North Stars&hellip;Neil Armstrong, the linesman elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame recently, is the father of Doug Armstrong, the Stars&rsquo; director of team services.<h2>RED WINGS</h2>With goals in his final two games, Steve Yzerman reached 51 for the season, his fourth straight 50-goaI season. But a month-long slump prevented him from reaching the 60-goal plateau for the third straight year&hellip;Goalie Allan Bester missed the final weekend of the season to attend the funeral of his brother, Gerard, who lost a long, difficult battle to cancer&hellip;With two games left in the season, right winger Marc Potvin got the clearance to play without a full, protective face shield he wore over a healing left cheekbone that was shat-tered by a puck.<h2>BLUES</h2>Brett Hull scored his 86th goal of the season in the Blues&rsquo; 2-1 victory over Minnesota in the season-finale March 31, finishing third on the NHL all-time single-season list behind Wayne Gretzky. Hull could have tied Gretzky&rsquo;s second-place mark of 87, but passed up an empty net goal in the second-last game of the season, giving the puck instead to Tom Tilley. Hull didn&rsquo;t want the empty-net goal. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone 77 games without an empty-net goal, my whole career without one,&rdquo; he said&hellip;The Blues finished the season with a team-record-tying winning streak of seven games, matching a record set in the 1987-88 season. They allowed only 11 goals in those seven games&hellip;The Blues&rsquo; penalty killers finished the season with 11 straight successful kills&hellip;Left winger Dave Lowry, who emerged as the top left winger on a line with Brett Hull and Adam Oates, was the Blues&rsquo; player of the month in March.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2>By winning the President&rsquo;s Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top team with 106 points, the Blackhawks claimed the NHL&rsquo;s regular season championship for the third time. They also did it in 1966-67 and 1969-70. &ldquo;In the years I&rsquo;ve been in this organization, this is probably the high point,&rdquo; 14-year veteran Doug Wilson said after the Hawks clinched first place with a 5-1 win over Detroit on the final night of the regular season. &ldquo;Over an 80-game period, to battle the way we did, this is a proud day. But we&rsquo;re only halfway to our real goal of winning the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;&hellip;The Hawks won the Norris Division title for the second year in a row and for the third time in the last six seasons&hellip;Steve Larmer played in every game for the ninth straight season. His consecutive games streak stands at 727&hellip;Ed Belfour started 70 games and made 74 appearances. That&rsquo;s one shy of Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s league mark of 75&hellip;Dave Manson finished with 191 penalty minutes, 112 fewer than he totaled in 1989-90&hellip;The Hawks were 13-2-1 at home against Norris Division teams. Detroit was the only Norris club to win in the Stadium&hellip;Jocelyn Lemieux and Steve Konroyd returned from the injured list March 28 against Toronto, but Michel Goulet suffered a sprained right knee on the final night of the season.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2>The end of the Leafs&rsquo; season March 30 may have also marked the end of the Wendel Clark era in Toronto. The truculent right winger, considered the club&rsquo;s heart and soul since his arrival for the 1985-86 season, played out the the option year of his $250,000 contract this season and officially becomes a free agent at midnight June 30. GM Floyd Smith, his own future uncertain, had very little to say about Clark&rsquo;s future when queried following Toronto&rsquo;s season-ending 52 loss in St. Louis. &ldquo;There are no discussions planned at this time,&rdquo; commented Smith. Clark, who scored just 18 goals and totalled only 34 points in 62 games this season, said he hasn&rsquo;t even thought about resigning. &ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m just going to take some time to rest and then start training for next season,&rdquo; said Clark. who spent most of last off-season listening to his name being mentioned in persistent trade rumors. He realizes there will be considerable speculation about his future with the Leafs. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing I can do about that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to leave. I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a better town to play in. I can&rsquo;t think of any reason why I&rsquo;d want to leave.&rdquo; A significant number of Leafs, including Kevin Maguire, Vince Damphousse and Peter Ing, are heading into their option years next season&hellip;Coach Tom Watt and his assistant, Mike Kitchen, will also be out of work soon unless re-signed by the Leafs prior to June 15. &ldquo;Obviously I&rsquo;d like to have it (a new contract) taken care of as soon as possible, but it&rsquo;s out of my hands,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s up to the club.&rdquo; &#9632;

NANNE NO LONGER STARRY-EYED

<div class="byline">BY DAVE LUECKING</div>After the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars 2-1 March 31, their fate was in the hands of the Detroit Red Wings.They had to await the outcome of the Red Wings&rsquo; game against the Chicago Blackhawks, needing a Detroit victory to finish first overall in the NHL standings.The Red Wings&rsquo; 5-1 loss to Chicago put the Blues in second place behind the Blackhawks.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re really happy with 105 points,&rdquo; defenseman Jeff Brown said. &ldquo;If someone had said before the start of the season that we&rsquo;d finish with 105 points, we&rsquo;d have been pretty happy.&rdquo;The 105 points, the second highest in club history, represented a quantum leap for the Blues, a perpetual.500 team.They improved 22 points over last season&rsquo;s 83-point finish, won a record 47 games overall and had a franchise best 23-13-4 record on the road, the best road record in the league.The huge improvement was one of many pleasant surprises for the Blues this season.Brett Hull and Adam Oates rewrote the Blues&rsquo; record books just as they did last season. Hull scored a whopping 86 goals, third on the all-time NHL single-season list behind Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 92 in the 1981-82 season and 87 in the 1983-84 season.Despite missing 19 games with injuries, Oates set the Blues&rsquo; record with 90 assists and finished with 25 goals and 115 points&mdash;both career highs.The Blues&rsquo; determined checking crew allowed only 250 goals, finishing third in the league in team defense and slashing 29 off their total of a year ago.The acquisition of free-agent Scott Stevens in the offseason solidified the defense and the arrival of checker Bob Bassen in the waiver draft strengthened an already deep cast of checkers.Bassen became one of the Blues&rsquo; primary defensive players, combining first with Rich Sutter and Dave Lowry and later with Sutter and Rick Meagher to form a potent checking line.Goalie Vincent Riendeau thrived behind the tight defense, going 29-9-6 with a 3.01 goals-against average&mdash;all career bests.Disappointments were few for the Blues this season, but the biggest was the horrible record they had against Chicago in the season series.The Blackhawks beat St. Louis six of eight meetings, including a sweep in a home-and-home series two weeks before the end of the season that spelled disaster for the Blues.The Blues&rsquo; power play also proved to be a disappointment despite finishing in the top third of the league. The Blues allowed 18 shorthanded goals, the most in the NHL.Another disappoinment was the performance of the team&rsquo;s left wingers.Geoff Courtnall scored 27 goals for the Blues, but he was packaged with Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning and Robert Dirk in a late season trade with Vancouver for center Dan Quinn and defenseman Garth Butcher.Momesso was a major disappointment and Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Gino Cavallini slumped badly. Checker Lowry finally emerged as the Blues&rsquo; top left winger on the line with Hull and Oates.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, Dan Quinn, Rick Meagher, Ron Wilson.LW&mdash;Dave Lowry, David Bruce, Bob Bassen, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Rich Sutter, Darin Kimble, Steve Tuttle.LD&mdash;Scott Stevens, Paul Cavallini, Glen Featherstone, Harold Snepsts.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Garth Butcher, Mario Marois, Tom Tilley.G&mdash;Vincent Riendeau, Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Curtis Joseph. G, sprained right knee, April 15.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash; Hull, 86. A&mdash;Oates, 90. P&mdash;Hull. 131. PIM&mdash;Butcher, 289. &#9632;

HULL AND OATES MADE SWEET MUSIC THIS SEASON

<div class="byline">BY MARK HARDING</div>As Tom Watt put it so succinctly after Toronto&rsquo;s final game this season:&ldquo;When you finish where we did in the standings, we&rsquo;ve obviously had more valleys than peaks this year.&rdquo;It was indeed a season filled with an incredible number of valleys for Toronto, 46 in all to be precise, compared to just 23 peaks.It was those 46 losses that combined to give the Leafs their greatest disappointment of the season: Not making the playoffs.When the season began in earnest and the club struggled miserably, the pressure on such stars as Vincent Damphousse, Daniel Marois and Gary Leeman to lead the Leafs out of the wilderness was too great.None responded to the challenge, which brings us to the team&rsquo;s second major disappointment of the year: The collective inability of the team&rsquo;s high-profile players to produce when needed most.Though he finished with a respectable 73-point total, Damphousse was 21 points below his production of a year ago.Marois was in a slump from Oct. 4 to March 30, managing just 21 goals and 30 points.Leeman, meanwhile, missed 25 games due to injury and never recovered. He was in a funk for most of the year over the loss of his bosom buddy, center Ed Olczyk, who was shipped to Winnipeg early in the season.Leeman was also subjected to constant trade rumors and benched for his lethargic play.It was a year in which the luster on Leeman&rsquo;s star was dulled considerably.There are assorted other disappointments to glean from this season and which could be used as a third on this list, but the departure of so many Leafs had to rank as one of the lows of this season.Some faces which Leaf fans had grown accustomed to (Al lafrate, Olczyk, Mark Osborne, Allan Bester and Brad Marsh), as well as a few they were becoming more and more familiar with (John McIntyre, Scott Pearson, Lou Fran-ceschetti and Tom Kurvers), all were shipped out.So much for the downside of the Leafs&rsquo; year. There were, despite reports to the contrary, several positive aspects to the season.Heading the list would have to be the emergence of Todd Gill on the blue line.After years of battling with his confidence, being shifted from defense to forward and trying to bring his game to the NHL level, Gill flourished more than any other player under Watt&rsquo;s tutelage.Playing not too far behind Gill was rookie netminder Peter Ing, who also merits attention in the pleasant surprise category.Though the original game plan called for Ing and Jeff Reese to support Bester, Ing assumed the No. I job early and never relinquished it.Finally, though their acquisitions were questioned at the time, the play of Dave Ellett and Michel Petit on the Leaf blue line ranks as one of the more promising signs for the team next season.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel, Mike Krushelnyski, Claude Loiselle. Dave Hannan. Brian Bradley.LW&mdash;Vincent Damphousse, Wendel Clark. Rob Cimetta, Dave Reid.RW&mdash;Daniel Marois, Gary Leeman, Mike Foligno, Kevin Maguire.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Todd Gill. Luke Richardson, Darryl Shannon.RD&mdash;Rob Ramage, Michel Petit, Alexander Godynyuk.G&mdash;Peter Ing, Damian Rhodes<h3>INJURIES</h3>Aaron Broten. LW, dislocated shoulder. Lucien DeBlois, RW, leg infection. Tom Fergus, C, back and chest strain. Jeff Reese. G. broken transverse processes. Bob Rouse, D, hairline collarbone fracture.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Damphousse, 26. A&mdash;Damphousse. 47. P&mdash; Damphousse, 73. PIM&mdash;Richardson. 238 &#9632;

GILL SHINES BRIGHTLY IN 1990-91

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div>Trying to find disappointments in the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; season is like looking for flaws in Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s game.You may be looking for a long time.But there were some definite surprises for the Hawks along the way as they finished with 106 points, won the President&rsquo;s Trophy for being first overall in the NHL and tied a club record with 49 victories.Perhaps the biggest surprise was the magnitude of rookie Ed Belfour&rsquo;s season. The Hawks began training camp looking for one of their five goaltenders to seize the No. 1 job. Not only did Belfour do that, he became the league&rsquo;s top goalie by winning an astounding 43 games and posting a 2.47 goals-against average.&ldquo;Eddie Belfour is the reason we had as many points as we did,&rdquo; said Steve Larmer, who had a pretty good season himself with a career-high 101 points. &ldquo;He was outstanding since Day I. He kept us in a lot of games and gave us a chance to win.&rdquo;&ldquo;Eddie&rsquo;s year was phenomenal,&rdquo; added captain Dirk Graham. &ldquo;He was there night in and night out for us. He had a competitiveness, a willingness and a want to win every night.&rdquo;Thanks to Belfour&rsquo;s consistent play and the arrival of Chris Chelios to steady the defense, the Hawks were able to knock 83 goals off the total of 294 they surrendered in 1989-90 to win the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed (211).Chicago&rsquo;s defensive improvement not only surprised people, it downright shocked them.&ldquo;Everyone made a commitment to defense,&rdquo; said Doug Wilson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had guys sacrifice their personal stats for the sake of defense and you see the results.&rdquo;Not as stunning as Belfour&rsquo;s dominating season was the year Jeremy Roenick turned in. Just 21 years old and in only his second full season, Roenick handled the pressure put on his shoulders with the departure of Denis Savard like a seasoned veteran.The Hawks were hoping for 80 points out of Roenick. They got 94, including 41 goals. The play of Roenick also helped linemates Larmer and Michel Goulet have big seasons. In fact, Larmer had his best season ever playing alongside Roenick while Goulet contributed 27 goals, his best output since 1987-88.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say enough about how Jeremy played for a kid who just turned 21,&rdquo; Larmersaid. &ldquo;He played like a veteran of seven or eight years.&rdquo;&ldquo;I never felt any pressure to replace Denis Savard,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;How could I not have a good season playing with two superstars like Larmer and Goulet?&rdquo;Roenick&rsquo;s big season helped make up for one of the team&rsquo;s few disappointments&mdash;the year center Adam Creighton had.After getting a career-high 34 goals and 70 points in 1989-90, Creighton dipped to 22 goals and 51 points.There were rumors right up to the trading deadline that Creighton would be dealt, but his play picked up down the stretch and head coach Mike Keenan was hoping he could come through with a big playoff.Like Creighton, left winger Steve Thomas couldn&rsquo;t duplicate his 1989-90 season when he led the Hawks with 40 goals. Thomas scored just 19 goals this season, which began on the wrong foot when he missed the first 11 games with a knee injury.Thomas never really got it together until midFebruary and was able to finish the season as one of the club&rsquo;s best forwards.Players like Wayne Presley, Jocelyn Lemieux and Mike Hudson came to accept their roles. They were big scorers in junior hockey and after years of struggling to do the same in the NHL, now appreciate two-way play and team success.The Hawks took a gamble on Jan. 29, when they acquired forward Tony McKegney from Quebec for goalie Jacques Cloutier. They were looking for goals from McKegney, but he didn&rsquo;t score once for his new team and wound up sitting out the final 15 games.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 28: Cam Russell, D, assigned to Indianapolis (IHL). March 31: Russell recalled from Indianapolis<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick. Adam Creighton. Mike Hudson. Paul Gillis.LW&mdash;Greg Gilbert, Steve Thomas, Tony McKegney, Stu Grimson.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer. Wayne Presley, Dirk Graham, Jocelyn Lemieux.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson, Steve Konroyd, Trent Yawney, Cam Russell.RD&mdash;Dave Manson, Chris Chelios, Bob McGill.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown. D, strained chest muscle, day-to-day. Michel Goulet. LW, sprained right knee, indefinite. Troy Murray, tom thumbnail, day-to-day<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Larmer, 44. A&mdash;Larmer, 57. P&mdash;Larmer, 101. PIM&mdash;Peluso. 320. &#9632;

SPARKLING DEFENSE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL SEASON

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div>In his a first season with the Red Wings, general manager and coach Bryan Murray concentrated on changing the image of the Red Wings&mdash;with mixed results.By the time the season opened in October, Murray had identified a list of problem areas&mdash;and many still existed as he prepared his team for the playoffs.&ldquo;We knew we had lots of work to do,&rdquo; he said. We didn&rsquo;t have a good feel as a team to play defense. Our physical conditioning and strength needed to be upgraded. Our practice work ethic wasn&rsquo;t what it should be. A number of players were pretty comfortable here.&rdquo;Asked to name his three biggest disappointments of the season, Murray named inconsistency, injuries and poor team defense. The three biggest surprises: Sergei Fedorov&rsquo;s emergence as a star in his rookie season; Tim Cheveldae&rsquo;s development as a capable workhorse in goal in his first full season and the contributions of several young forwards who could develop into complementary wingers for the team&rsquo;s three star center.Over a mid-winter cup of coffee with Chicago&rsquo;s Mike Keenan, the only other man in the NHL who doubles as coach and GM, Murray confessed his frustration with his team.&ldquo;I was telling him how frustrating it is to be there one night and play so well and not be there at all the next night,&rdquo; Murray said.&ldquo;It takes time,&rdquo; Keenan assured Murray. &ldquo;Three years at least. And that&rsquo;s if everything goes well.&rdquo;Murray was also dismayed with the team&rsquo;s defense this season.He was spoiled in Washington, where he coached one of the best defenses in the NHL. In Detroit, it&rsquo;s his greatest frustration, and one that will take the longest to fix.The three defenseman whom he had expected the most from were&rsquo;t disappointing.Yves Racine lost his confidence in training camp and started over again in the minors. Rick Zombo was inconsistent and Chiasson struggled at the start, then, just as he was finding a groove, broke his ankle.But there were some surprises Murray was happy about, including the emergence of rookie Soviet Sergei Fedorov.Before the season, Murray described Fedorov as a solid third-line center who would contribute mostly as a checking defensive specialist who could eventually develop into a 30-35 goal scorer.But Fedorov was sensational with the puck, leading all NHL rookies in scoring with 31 goals and 79 points despite a slump in the final month.Tim Cheveldae also impressed.He finished strong last season, but the Murray regime didn&rsquo;t know what to expect from a young goalie facing his first full NHL season. The Wings were hoping he could play 50-55 games.He played 65&mdash;second to Chicago&rsquo;s Ed Belfour&mdash;and won 30, the most victories by a Detroit goalie in 25 years.The development of several young forwards also impressed Murray.He was particularly pleased with Paul Ysebaert and Kevin Miller, two players he acquired in mid-season trades, along with Johan Garpenlov, Brent Fedyk, and Keith Primeau as players who should develop into fine NHLers.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Jimmy Carson, Gary Shuchuk, Marc Habscheid.LW&mdash;Brent Fedyk, Shawn Burr, Keith Primeau, Paul Ysebaert.RW&mdash;Johan Garpenlov, Kevin Miller, Bob Probert, Marc Potvin.LD&mdash;Yves Racine, Rick Green, Brad Marsh, Bobby Dollas, Dennis Vial.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Rick Zombo, Doug Crossman.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Allan Bester, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Barr. RW, broken ankle, out for season. Steve Chaisson, sprained right ankle, day-to-day. Gerard Gallant, LW. back surgery, out for season Randy McKay, RW, arm surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Yzerman, 51. A&mdash;Yzerman, 57. P&mdash;Yzerman, 108. PIM&mdash;Probert, 315. &#9632;

MURRAY’S TROOPS PROVIDE BIG SURPRISES

<div class="byline">BY BOB AMESSE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011467/5932426-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="535" height="632"></div>Ask Bob Gainey a question and he&rsquo;ll usually respond with one word. Two if you&rsquo;re lucky.The Soviets, after all, once called him pro hockey&rsquo;s most complete player, not the most talkative.So it was a delicious irony when Gainey was called upon to describe his first season behind an NHL bench in one word and the North Stars&rsquo; coach couldn&rsquo;t comply.Clearing his throat and twirling a telephone wire around his fingers, Gainey had more trouble sizing up the year in a single word than his team had winning games during the first half of the season.Weighing his thoughts carefully, he paused and finally came up with the answer he was ferreting for. But it wasn&rsquo;t one word.&ldquo;It has been a roller coaster ride,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but you get good thrills on a roller coaster.&rdquo;In a season punctuated by a horrible start (his team won only six games by December) and a red-hot finish (in two months following the AllStar Game the North Stars lost only six games) Gainey, 36, has had to endure more highs and lows this season than during his previous 16 as a NHL player.Clearly the lows have outnumbered the highs, but Gainey, low-key, soft-spoken and patient, has been able to sustain a positive air about him&mdash;a trademark during his playing days with Montreal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to say it was a difficult year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we had lots of obstacles to overcome. I feel fortunate that I&rsquo;ve had a chance to learn all that I have.&rdquo;Gainey has had to learn a lot. His fiercest opponents have not only been the wily teams from the Norris Division. North Star players have whispered about his coaching style.His predecessor, Pierre Page, shook with ballistic outbursts behind the bench; with Gainey the players sometimes had to peer over their shoulders to make sure he was still there.That&mdash;and more&mdash;has made for trying times. The North Stars lost more often this season than his Canadiens did during three consecutive years (1975-1976 to &lsquo;78-&rsquo;79). A trip to the first round of the playoffs is certainly helping to salve Gainey&rsquo;s wounds.&ldquo;I had a fairly good idea of what this job would be like,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but things took a little longer than I felt they would. I assumed a little more than I actually knew.&rdquo;Gainey&rsquo;s only coaching experience came last season in Epinal, France, where he was babysitter for a European team. He learned about coaching in a most unusual way.His Canadien teammates recoiled at Gainey&rsquo;s soul-searching, 9,000-mile odyssey but he plodded forward, helping the team improve as he read how-to-coach books and gained confidence in his off-ice activities.&ldquo;I was so far out of my own environment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to carry the nets off the ice and lock up the arena at midnight. I had a feeling I was in the wrong place.&rdquo;Less than a year later, Gainey could be forgiven for feeling the same way. A team mired in an early-season slump was distressing enough. Then his worst nightmare unfolded.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to dwell on it too much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were landing at the airport at about 2 a.m. after a game in Winnipeg. Bob Clarke and the team doctors were waiting for me in the lobby of the airport. That&rsquo;s how I got the news.&rdquo;The news was devastating. His wife Cathy had been rushed to the hospital after collapsing at home. Doctors discovered a large tumor growing inside her brain.&ldquo;I had spoken to her earlier in the day but we thought she had the flu. It was very quick. It&rsquo;s not like we were seeing symptoms come along for two weeks or six months.&rdquo;Scared but optimistic, Gainey was buoyed by a parade of visitors. Letters kept his spirits up, too.&ldquo;I feel a little corny saying this, but it&rsquo;s hard to imagine the kind of outpouring of support that we had from people here.&rdquo;The tumor surgically removed, and her treatments finished, his wife is now getting stronger.The team has been accomodating&mdash;Gainey often travels to away games long after the players have. That gives him crucial time with his four children, Anna, 12, Stephen, 10, Laura, 8, and Colleen, 5.The illness hasn&rsquo;t transformed him from a quiet person to one with more emotion. It&rsquo;s just not his style.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s never anything you can&rsquo;t overcome,&rdquo; he said with the determination of someone who has played on five Stanley Cup championships.Things won&rsquo;t get any easier, either. But the roller coaster rider wouldn&rsquo;t have it any other way. &ldquo;I doubt it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just never think it&rsquo;s going to be easier.&rdquo;Bob Amesse is managing editor of The Hockey News. &#9632;

f0014-01

ROOKIE COACH RIDES THE RAILS

A center for 14 seasons with the Calgary Flames, Cleveland Barons, Minnesota North Stars and Washington Capitals from 1975-76 to 198889, Dennis Maruk, 35, is a consultant at Sagedahl sports training facility in Minneapolis. &ldquo;Just making it to the NHL was the highlight for me.&rdquo; Maruk said. &ldquo;You dream of playing until you&rsquo;re about 15. After that, you realize you can make the dream come true.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021131/5932457-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="531" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dennis Maruk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-02

THEN & NOW

<h2>BRUINS</h2>Chris Nilan set an NHL record with 10 penalties during the Bruins-Whalers season-finale at Boston Garden March 31. Nilan piled up six minors, two fight majors, a 10-minute and a game misconduct. The old record of nine was shared by seven players&hellip;Against the Islanders March 30, Nilan twice fought young Isles&rsquo; defenseman Dean Chynoweth. &ldquo;He told me I was a tired old man,&rdquo; said Nilan. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll show you tired,&rsquo; and I put him on his back. Twice.&rdquo;&hellip;Ray Bourque had a goal and three assists in the Bruins&rsquo; penalty-filled (210 minutes) 7-3 win over the Whalers to finish with a career-high 73 assists, passing the injured Craig Janney for the team scoring title (94 points)&hellip;Cam Neely, who scored 31-of-51 goals at the Boston Garden, was voted the top Bruin in home games&hellip;Injury-prone Lyndon Byers was doing well in his comeback from Feb. 12 foot surgery, but rebroke the bone in a fluke on-ice incident March 25.<h2>SABRES</h2>Goaltender Clint Malarchuk was this season&rsquo;s recipient of the Punch Imlach Award for dedication and leadership. Malarchuk, who came back from a near fatal neck injury and this year played through disc problems that impacted on both his neck and shoulder, is also a candidate for the Masterton Trophy&hellip;Defenseman Grant Ledyard received the Tim Horton award as the team&rsquo;s unsung hero&hellip;Defensemen Mike Ramsey and Uwe Krupp both finished plus-14, the highest mark for Buffalo defensemen. Center Pierre Turgeon had the same total&hellip;Defenseman Doug Bodger tested his injured shoulder in the next to last game of the season against Hartford and came up lame. Bodger went out in the first period after missing nearly six weeks with a separated shoulder. His availability for the playoffs is doubtful&hellip;Only Alexander Mogilny, Krupp, and Benoit Hogue established personal highs this season. Mogilny finished with 30-34-64 totals, bettering his rookie totals of 15-28-43. Krupp set personal bests for goals (12), assists (32) and points (44). Hogue hit a career high with 19 goals and 47 points.<h2>WHALERS</h2>The Whalers&rsquo; 73 points was their lowest season total since they had 69 points in 1984-85. After running off an 8-2-0 mark on the road, including an NHL best six wins in a row in December, the Whalers finished the season by winning only four of their last 22 road games. And after their March 4 trade with Pittsburgh that brought John Cullen. Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker to Hartford, they finished 3-8-2 and went winless in their last seven games. Overall, the Whalers won only three of their final 19 games&hellip;Pat Verbeek was the landslide winner in both the players&rsquo; and booster club&rsquo;s MVP awards&hellip;The Whalers went 0-5-1 in the games against Boston following the celebrated Thanksgiving weekend brawl. They were outscored, 17-1, in the first period by Boston in the season series.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2>Two top officials of the Soviet Central Red Army team, general Anatoly Akentiev&mdash;president of the hockey and soccer teams and Vladimir Be-niashvily, general manager of Mos-profsport, visited Quebec recently as special guest of Nordiques&rsquo; president Marcel Aubut. They were discussing the possibility of bringing Valeri Kamensky to Quebec next season. Aubut wants the Soviet star in Quebec in September&hellip;Mats Sundin has been invited to Team Sweden&rsquo;s training camp and should compete at the World Championships in Finland&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Fogarty left the team a few days before the end of the season. He entered, under his own accord, a halfway house at the Hazelton Institute of Minneapolis. He&rsquo;ll be there until the end of July&hellip;A playful shoving match between Joe Sakic and tough guy Wayne Van Dorp turned into a wild fight between Van Dorp and Herb Raglan at a Nordiques&rsquo; practice March 25. The incident started when Van Dorp was checked by Sundin at center ice, allowing Sakic to skate in on the goaltender. Van Dorp poked the puck away, but his stick came up in Sakic&rsquo;s face. The two shoved each other and Raglan broke in, muttering something to Van Dorp. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound left winger took offense and dropped the gloves.<h2>CANADIENS</h2>Mike McPhee made a nice gesture March 30 in the closing moments of the Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s last game at the Forum. With the Habs leading 4-3 and Quebec goaltender Jacques Cloutier on the bench for an extra attacker, Lafleur was put out on the ice by Quebec coach Dave Chambers with just over a minute to go. As expected, the crowd was on its feet to say a last goodbye to its hero when McPhee got the puck near center ice. Instead of blasting away at the empty net and perhaps spoiling the moment, he simply dumped the puck in the comer&hellip;Defenseman Petr Svoboda said he will play for his native Czechoslovakia, if asked, in the Canada Cup tournament&hellip;Russ Courtnall, the Habs&rsquo; leading scorer this season with a career-best 76 points, was honored as the Molson Cup winner for the season&hellip;Coach Pat Burns asked GM Serge Savard to send a tape of Quebec winger Scott Pearson&rsquo;s attack on defenseman Alain Cote March 30. Cote suffered an eye injury when he was punched in the face by Pearson. Cote&rsquo;s highstick on Pearson had gone unpunished a few seconds earlier. Cote was hospitalized with the injury. &#9632;

NILAN SETS DUBIOUS PENALTY RECORD

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div>The 1990-91 season was a forgettable one for the Montreal Canadiens. There were certainly more disappointments than pleasant surprises.There was little in the way of individual accomplishment and the team finished with less than 90 points for the first time in six years.It&rsquo;s interesting to note however, that the last time the club failed to break the 90-point barrier was 1986.The Canadiens went on to win their 23rd Stanley Cup that spring.Serge Savard&rsquo;s performance as general manager ranks as the team&rsquo;s biggest disappointment this season.Savard got off to a bad start this season with the Denis Savard-for-Chris Chelios trade.While the final numbers won&rsquo;t reveal that the deal was one-sided, the fact remains Chicago went on to win the regular season title while the Habs struggled to stand still.Savard was also burned by the way he handled the Brian Hayward situation early in the season.The veteran backup netminder walked out on the Habs leaving the team vulnerable in goal&mdash;a point that was proven later in the season when Patrick Roy was injured.Things got worse when Savard shipped Craig Ludwig to the New York Islanders for Gerald Diduck.Diduck was bad and wound up being dealt to Vancouver after an argument over playing time with coach Pat Bums.He also dealt disgruntled winger Claude Lemieux to New Jersey for Sylvain Turgeon. It&rsquo;s not Savard&rsquo;s fault Turgeon missed all but 19 games with injuries. The fact remains Lemieux scored 30 goals while Turgeon had five.Savard then chose to stand pat at the trading deadline, ignoring the Habs&rsquo; need for toughness, an experienced defenseman and some backup goaltending.Denis Savard was a close second in the disappointing category.The flashy center joined the team in the blockbuster deal for Chelios and was expected to come in and breath life into the Habs&rsquo; moribund offence.Savard proved the job was beyond his considerable talents.Right winger Stephane Richer gets the nod as the third biggest disappointment.Richer continued his roller coaster career, following up a 50-goal season with a mediocre campaign.Despite Richer&rsquo;s numbers, the Canadiens&rsquo; did get a few surprises this season.Defenseman Eric Desjardins rebounded from the sophomore jinx to establish himself as the Canadiens&rsquo; steadiest blueliner.Unfortunately, his season was interrupted by a bad ankle sprain.Goaltender Andre Racicot also impressed.Lyle Odelein gets the nod as the third biggest surprise in Montreal this season.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 30: Donald Dufresne. D, recalled from Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Andrew Cassels. Stephan Lebeau, Brent Gilchrist, Brian Skrudland.LW&mdash;Mike McPhee, Shayne Corson. John LeClair, Ryan Walter.RW&mdash;Russ Courtnall, Stephane Richer. Mike Keane. Tom Chorske.LD&mdash;Mathieu Schneider, Sylvain Lefebvre, Donald Dufresne. Petr Svoboda.RD&mdash;Lyle Odelein, Eric Desjardins, Donald Dufresne.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Alain Cote, D. eye contusion, indefinite. Todd Ewen, RW, broken right hand, indefinite. Mike Keane, RW. neck, day-to-day. Denis Savard, C, bruised foot, day-to-day. Sylvain Turgeon, LW, broken right knee cap. indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Richer, 31. A&mdash;Courtnall, 50. P&mdash; Courtnall, 76. PIM&mdash;Odelein, 259. &#9632;

POOR MANAGEMENT BLAMED FOR DISAPPOINTING SEASON

<div class="byline">BY JEFF JACOBS</div>With their worst finish since 1984-85, the Hartford Whalers had more bad things happen to them than good this season.They started the season 4-9-3 and finished 3-11-5. And if it wasn&rsquo;t for the Quebec Nordiques and a 24-18-3 stretch through midseason, the Whalers might not have finished fourth in the Adams Division for the fourth successive season.But amid the darkness of the Whalers&rsquo; disappointing season there were some bright spots.Light winger Pat Verbeek, who early this season said &ldquo;this town doesn&rsquo;t deserve a team&rdquo; in reference to booing Whaler fans, led the Whalers with 43 goals and 246 penalty minutes.Verbeek switched from right wing to left wing during the season and established himself as one of the games&rsquo; best left wingers.Shifty right winger Rob Brown was also a big surprise this season.After being traded from Pittsburgh for Scott Young Dec. 21, Brown used his deft scoring touch and playmaking skills to rack up 18 goals and 38 points in 31 games.Gritty left winger Paul Cyr was also a big surprise this season.With Brown and rookie Bobby Holik coming in, Cyr probably won&rsquo;t be remembered as the most celebrated of the newcomers, but his addition was significant nonetheless.Cyr played hard all the time, unlike some Whaler underachievers. After playing only one game in two years after massive knee surgery. Cyr scored 12 goals and held up as perhaps the club&rsquo;s best defensive forward.The list of disappointments greatly outdistances the surprise list this season for Hartford.Among the most disappointing things was the treatment of former captain Ron Francis.The Whalers did several unpopular things to Francis this season including failing to sign him to a contract and stripping him of his captaincy.Francis had 49 points in his last 32 games with Hartford before being traded to Pittsburgh March 4.Francis and agent Frank Caputo said the classy Whaler center was assured before the trading deadline he wouldn&rsquo;t be dealt. He was. In handling Francis so poorly, the Whalers demeaned only themselves.Kevin Dineen&rsquo;s status with the Whalers was also a sore spot.Dineen&rsquo;s contract of $473,000 per season is the highest on the team, but he didn&rsquo;t contribute this season. He had 17 goals and 47 points, down from a 25-goal campaign last season.Dineen also spent a good part of the season battling Crohn&rsquo;s Disease. He missed nine games in January because of the affliction.Contract squabbles were also prominent on the most disappointing things list.Several key players spent the season complaining about contracts, severely upsetting team unity.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 28: Geoff Sanderson. C, recalled from Swift Current (WHL). March 29: Brian Chapman, D, recalled form Springfield (AHL). John Stevens, D, assigned to Springfield. March 30: Todd Richards, D. recalled from Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dean Evason, John Cullen. Geoff Sanderson, Mike Tomlak. Terry Yake.LW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Jim McKenzie, Todd Krygier. Randy Cunneyworth, Paul Cyr.RW&mdash;Rob Brown, Bob Holik. Mark Hunter. Kevin Dineen, Ed Kastelic.LD&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Doug Houda. Brian Chapman.RD&mdash;Sylvain Cote, Brad Shaw, Todd Richards, Zarley Zalapski.G&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz, Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Babych, D, broken right thumb, indefinite. Adam Burt, D. knee surgery, out for season. Daryl Reaugh, G, hamstring injury, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Verbeek. 43. A&mdash;Cullen, 51. P&mdash; Cullen. 110 PIM&mdash;Verhenk 246. &#9632;

VERBEEK SHINES DESPITE LETDOWNS

<div class="byline">BY STEPHAN HARRIS</div>For the Boston Bruins, the 1990-91 season included elements of the good, the bad and the ugly.Taking the last first, the Bruins were periodically capable of putting on dismal, uninspiring performances, especially on the road, where in eight memorable losses they were outscored 59-11.But there were several good points that outweighed the bad in 1990-91. Like reaching the century mark in total points and finishing first in the Adams Division.&ldquo;Getting 100 points in a season is pretty good, given all the injuries we&rsquo;ve had,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; coach Mike Milbury, whose club successfully defended its Adams Division title despite losing 412 manpower-games to injury.Rookie Ken Hodge was probably the biggest surprise in Boston this season.Acquired from Minnesota for next to nothing last &ldquo;summer, the rookie center had a remarkable season, scoring 30 goals and 29 assists in 70 games.&ldquo;No way in my wildest dreams did I think I&rsquo;d score 30 goals this year,&rdquo; said Hodge.Hodge was definitely the cream of the rookie crop this year in Boston, but several young players also moved to the forefront this season.Because of the injury Epidemic, the Bruins needed a steady stream of reinforcements from their American League affiliate, the Maine Mariners.Boston used 39 different players this season, eight of them rookies.Hodge, veteran Nevin Markwart, speedy youngster Jeff Lazaro, Pete Douris, Ron Hoover and Normie Foster all helped the Bruins to the Adams Division crown.Dave Christian was another reason the Bruins excelled this season.The classy veteran&mdash;who scored just 15 goals last season splitting time with Washington and Boston&mdash;had 32 this season.One the disappointing side, the Bruins were hurt by the retirement of defensemen Gord Kluzak, 26, and Michael Thelven, 30.The Bruins&rsquo; were optimistic both would make it back this season, but bad knees ended their careers.Wes Walz&rsquo;s poor campaign was another disappointment.Billed as a high-scoring No. 2 center, Walz had 8-8-16 totals in 56 games before landing in Maine.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a tendency, an inclination to be disappointed by Walz,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;But I think we were brain-washed to think he&rsquo;d be better right away. Maybe it was the contract negotiations. I think he is going to be a better player than he showed this year. He just has to understand, like everybody, that there&rsquo;s a learning curve here.&rdquo;Bobby Carpenter&rsquo;s left knee injury was also a letdown.At home in Boston and finally enjoying hockey again, Carpenter shattered his kneecap Dec. 8 and his career was in jeopardy.But after months of monotonous rehabilitation. Carpenter was skating again in March.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 27: John Carter, LW. Peter Douris, RW, Ron Hoover, C, assigned to Maine (AHL). March 30: Graeme Townshend, RW. and Shayne Stevenson, RW, recalled from Maine March 31: Ken Hammond. O. and Hoover recalled from Maine April 1: Townshend. Stevenson and Hammond assigned to Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney. Ken Hodge, Dave Poulin, Ron Hoover.LW&mdash;Randy Burridge, Petri Skriko. Jeff Lazaro, Nevin Markwart.RW&mdash;Dave Christian, Bob Sweeney Cam Neely. Chris Nilan.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley. Don Sweeney, Jim Weimer, Bob Beers.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Garry Galley, Stephane Quintal.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Andy Moog.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers, RW, broken left foot, indefinite Bob Carpenter. C. left knee surgery, out for season. Vladimir Ruzicka. C, left ankle surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Neely. 51. A&mdash;Bourque, 73. P&mdash; Bourque, 94. PIM&mdash;Nilan, 277. &#9632;

HODGE SHINES BRIGHTLY IN CRIPPLING SEASON

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>The Buffalo Sabres didn&rsquo;t just have surprises and disappointments this season.More often then not, they had shocks and disasters.A team that was picked by many to wm the Adams Division and perhaps advance to the Stanley Cup final, can now only achieve one of the two forecasts.Anything can happen in the playoffs, but somehow finishing first in the Adams seemed a more reasonable goal.Instead the Sabres finished third and needed a closing rush (6-2-2) to secure that position. Buffalo ended its season one game above.500 (31-3019) with 81 points, a far cry from the 98 of a season ago.The team also set a club and league record for the most ties (19) since the advent of the five-minute overtime period.But in the midst of their mediocrity, some Sabres had surprisingly good campaigns.Alexander Mogilny was perhaps the biggest surprise. Everyone knew the talent was there, but everyone wondered if he&rsquo;d emerge from the shroud of personal problems last season.Mogilny responded with a 30-goal season including a hat trick on the final night of the season.Grant Ledyard also impressed this season.A non-factor for the first 20 games, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound defenseman emerged as a solid performer in the final 60 games of the season.Rob Ray also proved he could play in the NHL.A comeback kid, Ray was dispatched to Rochester (American League) at the start of the season but came back and became one of the team&rsquo;s most aggressive forecheckers.Unlike Ray, Daren Puppa had a disappointing campaign.The 6-foot-3, 205-pound goaltender was seemingly poised on the edge of greatness last season, but started out hurt this season and never fully recovered.Last season, Puppa won games single-handedly. But that wasn&rsquo;t the case this year.Pierre Turgeon&rsquo;s season mirrored Puppa&rsquo;s. Except for a closing rush where he resembled the player who scored 40 goals and 106 points last season, Turgeon was ineffective most of the year.Some said he didn&rsquo;t adjust well to the arrival of Dale Hawerchuk, while others believed he had a falling out with coach Rick Dudley.But remember, Turgeon is just 21 and hasn&rsquo;t yet found the level of consistency he will eventually obtain.Buffalo management gets the nod as the other biggest disappointment this season.Once again the Sabres were a franchise mired in mediocrity. For more than a decade Buffalo has iced a team that&rsquo;s neither bad nor great. And they always disappoint when it matters most.Affixing blame for this often seems to be the primary focus of the organization. And finding a cheap, inexperienced coaches like Jim Schoenfeld, Craig Ramsay, Ted Sator and Dudley is the method of choice.But it obviously doesn&rsquo;t work. Especially when winning for the sake of success appears to be an after-thought.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Christian Ruuttu, Pierre Turgeon. Dave Snuggerud.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk. Darrin Shannon, Mike Hartman. Benoit Hogue.RW&mdash;Alexander Mogilny, Rick Vaive, Rob Ray, Mikko Makela, Greg Paslawski, Tony Tanti.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Ken Sutton, Kevin Haller.RD&mdash;Grant Ledyard, Uwe Krupp, Dean Kennedy, Jay Wells.G&mdash;Clint Malarchuk, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette, RW. torn knee ligaments, out for season. Doug Bodger. D, separated shoulder, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Andreychuk. 36. A&mdash;Hawerchuk 59. P&mdash;Hawerchuk, 89. PIM&mdash;Ray, 348. &#9632;

SHOCKS, DISASTERS HIGHLIGHTED SEASON

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011137/5932608-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Joe Sakic developed into a bonafide NHL star this season.</figcaption></div>Things don&rsquo;t seem to happen quite the same way in Quebec as they do elsewhere in the NHL. And 1990-91 was no exception.While most teams are now involved in the playoffs, the Nordiques are once again lamenting how some day they might make the post-season party.But despite their inability to reach the playoffs for the third consecutive season, several positive things happened in Quebec this season.The first, believe it or not, was their last-place finish.Quebec&rsquo;s position in the NHL cellar assured them of the first pick in June&rsquo;s 1991 entry draft. That will most certainly be the NHL&rsquo;s next franchise player, Eric Lindros. The 6-foot-5, 228-pound Oshawa (Ontario League) center has been pegged as the 1991 entry draft&rsquo;s first overall selection since 1988.And with Lindros and possibly Soviet star Valeri Kamensky in Quebec next season, the Nordiques could break their playoff appearance drought.Joe Sakic&rsquo;s emergence as a bona-fide NHL star was the second positive thing to happen in Quebec this season.The Burnaby, B.C., native was the first NHL player to pick up 100 points in two consecutive seasons for a lastplace team. He finished with 109 points.Sakic was also the first player in the Adams Division to total 100 or more points two seasons in a row. Peter Stastny also did it in 1984-85, 198586.Rookie Mats Sundin gets the nod as the third best thing to happen in Quebec this season. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound right winger showed why the Nordiques drafted him first overall in 1989.Sundin. 19, scored 60 points this season, the second highest total behind Sakic. He was also second in NHL rookie scoring behind Detroit&rsquo;s Sergei Fedorov (80 points).Sundin didn&rsquo;t back down from anyone this year. He was tested throughout the league and met all challenges. The classy Swede played well in the Boston Garden, a good test for rookies, especially European ones.Despite the positive points, the Nordiques had their share of negative situations this season.The worst thing that happened to the team was once again being the worst team in the league. Being the NHL&rsquo;s doormat is taking a toll on the team&rsquo;s younger players, such as Sakic and Curtis Leschyshyn.&ldquo;This has been the worst year of my career,&rdquo; said Sakic. &ldquo;How can you get up for something when you know you&rsquo;re out of the playoffs as soon as February?&rdquo;Claude Loiselle&rsquo;s attitude gets the nod as the second biggest disappointment this season.It made everyone look bad, the team, the administration, the city, everyone. Loiselle had been asking repeatedly for a trade because he felt Quebec wasn&rsquo;t a good place for his career to continue.He was eventually traded to Calgary but the deal was voided by the league. He was then picked up by Toronto on waivers.The third biggest disappointment this season involved the treatment of last season&rsquo;s first-round draft pick Owen Nolan.Nolan was said to be a competitor, a young man who could step right into the NHL. But after a training camp marred by injury. Nolan spent most of his time on the bench the first half of the season.Nolan was deemed to be a lazy player, with a terrible work ethicr. That&rsquo;s why he was kept on the bench or in the press box.Finally, with just a few weeks left in the season, Nolan was given a chance to prove himself. And he did.If he gets a chance next season, Nolan could quite conceivably score 30 goals. And that will certainly help the Nordiques in their quest to return to the playoffs.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 25: David Latta, LW. recalled from Canadian national team. Bruce Major, RW. recalled from Halifax (AHL). March 27: Daniel Dore, RW, recalled from Halifax March 29: Dore assigned to Halifax.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic, Tony Hrkac, Mike McNeill.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Herb Raglan, Scott Pearson, Stephane Morin, David Latta.RW&mdash;Mats Sundin. Guy Lafleur, Owen Nolan, Bruce Major. Mark Vermette.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Shawn Anderson, Tony Twist, Bryan Fogarty.RD&mdash;Craig Wolanin, Randy Velischek, Alexei Gusarov.G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Jacques Cloutier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Jackson. LW. broken left forearm, out for season. Claude Lapointe, C, severely pulled groin, out for season. Curtis Leschyshyn. D, torn ligaments in left knee, out for season. Everett Sanipass, back spasms, out for season. Wayne Van Dorp, torn muscle in shoulder, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Sakic. 48. A&mdash;Sakic, 60. P&mdash;Sakic, 108. PIM&mdash;Finn, 228. &#9632;

f0018-01

SAKIC, SUNDIN BRIGHT SPOTS FOR LAST-PLACE CLUB

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011061/5932639-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="532" height="617"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC DUHATSCHEK</figcaption></div>Forget second place in the Smythe Division. Forget fourth overall. Forget 18 mid-season home games without a loss. Forget the March 23 stumbling and bumbling against the Los Angeles Kings.Forget it all.Now that the playoffs are here, the most important factor in how the Calgary Flames do this season is their ability to play with poise.In all the hand-wringing over last year&rsquo;s playoff loss to the Kings, the one issue never fully explored was their loss of composure.Yes, the Denis Morel call on Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s possible winning goal (Game 6, first round just in case you are suffering from temporary amnesia) did hurt the Flames&rsquo; chances.But it didn&rsquo;t kill them.Or excuse the fact they were dead in the water from that moment forward.There was time to get that goal back, all the time in the world to score once more and force a seventh game in Calgary.Except the Flames lost their focus amid all the wailing over the referee who &ldquo;stole&rdquo; the game from them&hellip;and they never got it back.If Mike Krushelnyski&rsquo;s knuckler hadn&rsquo;t floated over Mike Vernon&rsquo;s outstretched hand in double overtime, something else would have happened.Morel&rsquo;s miscue gave everybody, players and coaches, a convenient way out.Next, consider how poorly the Flames handled playoff adversity over the last five seasons, a span in which they&mdash;not Edmonton or Boston or Montreal&mdash;were the NHL&rsquo;s top point-getting team.&#9632; In the 1987 playoff opener against Winnipeg, the Jets&rsquo; Thomas Steen scored a controversial goal that crossed the goal line after time ran out in the first period. But the goal counted. The Flames lost that game, never recovered, and lost the series in six.&#9632; In 1988, against Edmonton, Calgary lost two nailbiters by a hair and they let the losses overwhelm them, falling out of the playoffs in four easy steps.&#9632; One could argue that in 1989, they played seven, jittery games against a Vancouver team which finished 43 points behind them in the standings and needed an overtime goal off Joel. Otto&rsquo;s foot to advance to the second round.Oddly enough, the Flames gained an extraordinary amount of confidence from Otto&rsquo;s flukey goal. It was as if it sent them a signal&mdash;that this was their year.The last time the Flames lost to a team that finished ahead of them in the standings was 1985, when the Jets (two points better in the standings) won the division semifinal in six games.If you lose to a better team, fine, there&rsquo;s no disgrace. Talent usually wins out in the end.The Flames&rsquo; pattern is to lose to an opponent that, on paper, doesn&rsquo;t match up.So if recent history is any indication, the Flames should: a) not take Edmonton lightly; and b) do something to keep their cool, even if everyone around them loses theirs.Gilmour was asked recently: After he scored the goal that didn&rsquo;t count last season, did the Flames get their composure back?&ldquo;That&rsquo;s tough to say,&rdquo; said Gilmour. &ldquo;If anybody lost focus, I think it was our coaching staff more than we did. If you look at the goal they scored, it was not a nice goal. It was a broken play. It just happened.&ldquo;If you look back, you can say a lot of things about that L.A. series, but we put ourselves in that position and that&rsquo;s something we don&rsquo;t want to do this year. We want a better start&mdash;in the series, in the game.&ldquo;The main thing is our confidence level has to be high, even if we&rsquo;re down a goal or two goals. We can&rsquo;t be negative and say: &lsquo;Look what happened last year.&rsquo; We don&rsquo;t want the same thing to happen. We have to be positive.&rdquo;The early rounds are never easy for the Flames. In three of the past four seasons, they lost to teams that cumulatively finished 37 points behind them in the regular season.The Flames are saying all the right things again this year, but they said all the right things last year and lost.Objectively, the Flames stand the same chance as the four other teams grouped together in the NHL&rsquo;s upper echelon&mdash;-Chicago, St. Louis, Boston and Los Angeles.They won the season series from their three major opponents outside the division, so there&rsquo;s reason to believe if they get to the final four, they can win it all.On paper, the Flames are not nearly the team they were in &lsquo;89 when they finished with 117 points, the ninth highest total in NHL history.&ldquo;Our team is not as good as the one that won it in 1989,&rdquo; said general manager Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;Fortunately, no one else is either. That&rsquo;s cal led parity.&rdquo;Eric Duhatschek is a hockey writer for the Calgary Herald. &#9632;

f0019-01

LOOK OUT HAWKS: FLAMES POISED TO WIN IT

April 13,1985: Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo;right winger Tim Kerr set an NHL playoff record for the most power-play goals in a period. Kerr scored three power-play goals in the second period of a 6-5 win against the New York Rangers. The previous record of two powerplay goals in a period was held by 32 players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02770/5932670-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="617" height="410"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Kerr</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

FLASHBACK

<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>As the season ended, Al Arbour still gave no clue whether he will return as coach of the Islanders next season. Reports during the season indicated he would retire, but he has not announced anything of the sort. After the season finale March 31, he hinted he had no plans to clear out his desk immediately. He said he planned to meet with players, attend organizational meetings and scout the minorleague playoffs. Although this season clearly strained him emotionally, he said: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of the game. Everything doesn&rsquo;t always go rosy. I&rsquo;ve had some pretty good times and now I&rsquo;ve had some bad times.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Gary Nylund underwent surgery March 28 on his broken left heel. Doctors implanted steel plates and screws to repair damage he suffered when he crashed into the boards&mdash;following a sprint in an attempt to get an icing call&mdash;in the final minute of a game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden March 24. Nylund isn&rsquo;t expected to be ready to play again until November.<h2>RANGERS</h2>To shakeup his club for the final game of the season, against first-place Pittsburgh, coach Roger Neilson benched center Bernie Nicholls, defense-men James Patrick and David Shaw, and left winger John Ogrodnick&hellip;The win over Pittsburgh March 31 (6-3) gave the Rangers 85 points, matching last season&rsquo;s total&hellip;Mike Gartner finished the regular season with 49 goals, the second-highest total in team history behind Vic Hadfield&rsquo;s 50 in 1971-72&hellip;The club&rsquo;s 265 goals-against was the lowest since they permitted 251 in 1973-74&hellip;The Rangers used only 34 players all season, the fewest in the NHL. Last to arrive was right winger Steven Rice, who was recalled after his Kitchener Rangers were eliminated from the Ontario League playoffs. After a brief stay in Binghamton (AHL), Rice played in the season finale against the Pens and collected his first NHL goal.<h2>DEVILS</h2>Wearing a specially padded helmet and face shield. Lee Norwood played the final game of the regular season (3-2 loss to the Islanders) despite swelling around his left eye. Norwood had a plate inserted on Feb. 17 to repair a fractured orbital bone&hellip;The Devils tied their 1987-88 team record of 23 home victories in a season.<h2>CAPITALS</h2>March is the time for cherry blossoms in Washington, but it is also when the Capitals enjoyed their most success of the regular season. Fifth place was their residence for most of the season and they were still housed there at the start of the month. On March 2, they were six points out of a playoff spot. Their streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances was very much in doubt. But the desperation of the situation combined with the calm of fewer lineup changes made for a great mix. They finished March with a 9-4-2 record and finished third in the Patrick Division with 81 points&hellip;When goalie Don Beaupre registered back-to-back shutouts against Philadelphia and New Jersey March 28 and March 30, it was the first time a Cap had accomplished the feat since Clint Malarchuk did it to Winnipeg and Minnesota in February of 1988. Beaupre&rsquo;s five shutouts led the league and nearly doubled his career total before the season (six).<h2>PENGUINS</h2>The Penguins got a severe scare in their final regular-season home game when Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mark Pederson kneed Mark Recchi, who fell to the ice and writhed in pain before being helped to the locker room. The injury looked serious, but was diagnosed as a sprained right knee and Recchi was expected to play in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s playoff opener against New Jersey. Pederson got a five-minute kneeing major&hellip;The Penguins hit a number of milestones en route to their first division championship in team history. They set a team record for victories (41) and tied the franchise marks for wins on home ice (25) and the road (16)&hellip;When the Penguins&rsquo; titleclinching game March 27 in Detroit ended, defenseman Paul Coffey scooped up the puck and presented it to equipment manager Steve Latin, who used to work for the Red Wings. &ldquo;He has kind of been tossed around a little bit&mdash;Detroit didn&rsquo;t really give him a fair shake&mdash;so I thought it was just special, him coming home and us clinching it here,&rdquo; Coffey said.<h2>FLYERS</h2>The Flyers finished March with a 2-10-2 mark and missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 24 years. Some ill feelings surfaced when GM Russ Farwell questioned the desire of some of his players, which drew the ire of several veterans. &ldquo;If they knew that, why didn&rsquo;t they do something before the trade deadline?&rdquo; asked Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to start criticizing guys now on March 28th. When March 5th came around, that&rsquo;s when they should have done something. &ldquo;&hellip;The Flyers recalled center Kimbi Daniels from Swift Current of the Western League for the last two games of the season. Daniels, 18. played in his first NHL game March 28 against Washington and notched an assist for his first NHL point in Pittsburgh March 30,. In ceremonies prior to the March 28 game, Pelle Eklund received the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the Flyers&rsquo; MVP, Kjell Samuelsson won the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the Flyers&rsquo; best defenseman and Gord Murphy picked up the Class Guy Award for his strong rapport with the media. &#9632;

ARBOUR REMAINS QUIET ON FUTURE

<div class="byline">BY MARK HERRMANN</div>In weighing the best and worst moments of the New York Islanders&rsquo; season, there&rsquo;s no question about which side more decidedly tips the scales.The team is up for sale and on the threshold of major changes, following its third straight losing season and its second last-place finish in three years.Topping the unmemorable list was the season-long impasse between Pat LaFontaine and team management over a new contract.The superstar center left the team for four days at the end of training camp because he was disillusioned about the pace of contract extension talks, which, LaFontaine and his agent claimed, the Islanders initiated.Although the superstar center collected 41 goals and was the best player on the ice most nights, the situation affected his play.Intense feelings grew bitter, ultimately prompting LaFontaine to ask for a trade and provoking general manager Bill Torrey&mdash;who called him &ldquo;Pretty Patty&rdquo; in an interview in The Hockey News&mdash;to blame his best player for damaging the team&rsquo;s season.Goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s career threatening illness also had a negative effect on the team this season.Early in the season, Fitzpatrick landed in a Los Angeles hospital with severe swelling in his hands, feet and forearms.The goalie&rsquo;s condition was diagnosed as eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, a potentially fatal illness that added an alarming aspect to an already difficult season.Fortunately, he returned for the final week of the season.The Islanders front office slumber also hurt the team in 1990-91.GM Bill Torrey failed to make big changes coach Al Arbour had said the Islanders required after their playoff elimination last season.Torrey made but one offseason transaction, trading Gerald Diduck for Craig Ludwig, leaving Arbour with basically the same flawed team.But not all the developments were negative.Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s comeback was an inspirational reminder that anything is possible.The 6-foot-2 190-pound Toronto native is still battling the condition, but he made a dramatically swift return with two solid starts in the final week.&ldquo;It was like getting my first NHL win all over again,&rdquo; he said.Rich Pilon was also a source of inspiration.Pilon was hit in the eye with a shot by Detroit&rsquo;s Brent Fedyk in November, 1989, and his career appeared to be over.But the gutsy defenseman returned and was one of the team&rsquo;s most physical players.John O. Pickett&rsquo;s decision to sell the team rounded out the season&rsquo;s biggest surprise list.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 30: Jeff Finley, D, recalled from Capital District (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Ray Ferraro, Hubie McDonough, Tom Fitzgerald, Scott Scissons.LW&mdash;Bill Berg. Derek King, David Volek, Dave Chyzowski, Brad Lauer.RW&mdash;Randy Wood, Mick Vukota, Brad Dalgarno, John Tucker.LD&mdash;Gary Nylund, Ken Baumgartner. Wayne McBean, Dennis Vaske.RD&mdash;Dean Chynoweth, Joe Reekie, Craig Ludwig. Jeff FinleyG&mdash;Mark Fitzpatrick, Glenn Healy, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrick Flatley, RW, broken left little finger Jeff Norton, D, right shoulder surgery Gary Nylund. D, broken left heel. Rich Pilon, D, sprained left medial collateral ligament Brent Sutter. C, slight rotator-cuff muscle tear, right shoulder.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;LaFontaine, 41. A&mdash;LaFontaine, 44. P&mdash;LaFontaine, 85. PIM&mdash;Baumgartner. 282. &#9632;

FITZPATRICK’S RETURN HIGHLIGHT OF YEAR

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div>For the first five months of the season, it looked like the Philadelphia Flyers might sneak a fast one past the NHL.Then came March, an untimely injury or two, and the Flyers were exposed as the paper-thin team they really were.Shortly after bowing out of the playoff picture for the second straight year (a first in franchise history), the Flyers addressed their weaknesses.They need scoring help, skating help and surprisingly-more dependable performers at the goaltender position.Lack of scoring balance killed the Flyers this year. With just 252 goals, their lowest total in 20 years, the Flyers finished fifth in scoring in the Patrick Division, coincidentally their final position in the standings.Rick Tocchet is the team&rsquo;s only bonafide scorer, one of the worst-kept secrets in the NHL.The Flyers were just 1-9-1 with Tocchet in and out of the lineup due to a groin injury suffered Jan. 26.Team speed is another major Flyer deficiency. Pelle Eklund and aging Keith Acton are the only two players who strike fear in opposing defensemen and neither is big enough to muscle through and complete scoring plays by themselves.General manager Russ Farwell said skating ability will be one prerequisite for most future draft picks.Goaltending, practically a trademark of the Flyers since the Bernie Parent days and considered by team insiders as still the strongest suit as late as last September, is suddenly a question mark.Ron Hextall, 26, has been plagued by groin muscle injuries; three last season and two more this year. The latest occurred on March 12 and hastened the Flyers&rsquo; slide from second to fifth place in less than three weeks.Ken Wregget, also 26, had a chance to step in down the stretch and make good on his claim that he could handle the No. I assignment. Instead, he played poorly, was yanked in the first period of a crucial game at Buffalo March 24 and forced coach Paul Holmgren to start 33-year-old Pete Peeters in the last two meaningful games against Pittsburgh and Washington.The Flyers will probably trade one of their top two goaltenders during the offseason but that&rsquo;s a rumor that has been floating around since 1989.On the plus side, the Flyers received a good first season from rookie center Mike Ricci, saw their young defense make strides and reduced their 1989-90 goals allowed total by 30.Ricci missed 11 games at the beginning of the season with a broken finger but bounced back to become only the ninth rookie in Flyer history to reach the 20-goal mark.The play of Murray Baron. Jiri Latal and Gord Murphy compensated for the loss of veteran Mark Howe (back surgery) on defense. Baron and Latal displayed an ability to rush the puck up ice while Murphy quarterbacked the power play from the point.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 28: Kimbi Daniels, C, recalled from Swift Current (WHL). March 29: Bruce Hoffort, G, recalled from Hershey (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ricci, Ron Sutter. Keith Acton. Murray Craven, Kimbi Daniels.LW&mdash;Pelle Eklund, Mark Pederson, Derrick Smith, Craig Berube.RW&mdash;Tim Kerr, Scott Mellanby, Dale Kushner, Chris Jensen, Norm Lacombe.LD&mdash;Jiri Latal, Terry Carkner, Murray Baron. Dave Fenyves.RD&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson, Gord Murphy, Jeff Chychrun.G&mdash;Ken Wregget, Bruce Hoffort.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ron Hextall G, pulled groin. Tony Horacek. LW. multiple eye injuries. Mark Howe, D, back surgery Pete Peeters. G, sprained left knee. Rick Tocchet, RW, pulled groin.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Tocchet, 40. A&mdash;Eklund. 50. P&mdash; Tocchet. 71. PIM&mdash;Berube. 293. &#9632;

SCORING DROUGHT KILLED CHANCES

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>In a season that has offered its share of disappointments, the ultimate disaster for New Jersey Devils fans would be the sale and transfer of the team to Milwaukee or another city.Devils&rsquo; owner John J. McMullen has repeatedly denied the team is for sale and said reports Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; owner Lloyd Pettit will buy the club are simply rumors.Needless to say, a sale of the Devils would rank as the worst surprise of 1990-91.But since that event hasn&rsquo;t occurred, the downfall of goaltender Sean Burke ranks as the Devils&rsquo; worst surprise of the season.Not only did he finish with an 8-128 record and 3.59 goals-against average&mdash;his worst in three full NHL seasons&mdash;but his relationship with the fans and front office deteriorated to a point where he vowed not to re-sign with the Devils next season.Burke is one of several key players the Devils could lose in the off-season.Brendan Shanahan, Alexei Kasatonov, Doug Brown, Dave Maley and Eric Weinrich also finished the season playing out their options.The March 4 firing of coach John Cunniff was the second-worst surprise. After replacing Jim Schoenfeld in November of 1989, Cunniff led the Devils to a second-place finish in the Patrick Division last season.When the Devils were eliminated in the first round of the 1990 playoffs by Washington, general manager Lou Lamoriello acquired the missing ingredient&mdash;toughness&mdash;with Claude Lemieux and Laurie Boschman.Cunniff had high hopes for this season but, in the end, his easygoing nature and unpopular lineup juggling did him in.Also disappointing was the Nov. 27 trade for defenseman Lee Norwood.Lamoriello sent left winger Paul Ysebaert to Detroit in an effort to solidify the team&rsquo;s defense.Unfortunately, Norwood suffered a series of injuries which included a separated shoulder and a fractured left orbital bone.Among the three best surprises was the rise of Chris Terreri as a top NHL goalie.Terreri stepped in when Burke failed and finished seventh in the league with a 2.91 GAA. He also tied Alain Chevrier&rsquo;s team record of 24 victories (24-21-7).Lamoriello never stopped hearing criticism for his 1989 trade of Pat Ver-beek to Hartford for Sylvain Turgeon, but found a way to ease the pain when he sent the often-injured Turgeon to Montreal for Claude Lemieux.The arrival of rookie Zdeno Ciger from Czechoslovakia offered hope for the Devils&rsquo; future. While some of his fellow countrymen received more fanfare, Ciger quietly earned respect in the league and became an untouchable on Lamoriello&rsquo;s roster.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 30: Jeff Madill, RW, recalled from Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Jon Morris, Peter Stastny, Patrik Sundstrom, Laurie Boschman.LW&mdash;-Zdeno Ciger, Brendan Shanahan, Doug Brown, Pat Conacher.RW&mdash;Claude Lemieux, John MacLean, Jamie Huscroft, Troy Crowder, Jeff MadillLD&mdash;Viacheslav Fetisov, Bruce Driver, Tommy Albelin, Lee Norwood.RD&mdash;Alexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich, Ken Oaneyko.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Sean Burke.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Maley, LW, fractured left hand, indefinite. Walt Puddubny, LW, right knee surgery, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;MacLean, 45. A&mdash;Muller, 51. P&mdash; MacLean, 78. PIM&mdash;Daneyko, 249. &#9632;

TERRERI’S RISE, CUNNIFF’S DEMISE BIGGEST NEWS

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SELL</div>The Washington Capitals had a topsy-turvy season in 1990-91, finishing third in the Patrick Division with 81 points.And one of the brightest spots for the team this season was the play of veteran goaltender Don Beaupre.Of all the Capitals this season, Beaupre was by far the most consistent.The 29-year-old netminder finished the season with a 2.64 goals-against average, the best of his career and among the league leaders.After allowing three goals in his first two games, Beaupre responded with a shutout and a GAA that never gravitated above 3.00.His 20-18-3 record was reflective of the team as a whole. The Capitals finished at 37-36-7 and scored more than three goals in any of Beaupre&rsquo;s losses&mdash;36 goals in 18 losses.&ldquo;It has been a dream year statistically for me,&rdquo; said Beaupre.The Capitals again had to scramble in March to qualify for the playoffs. And Beaupre was there to lead the way.He shut out the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 March 28, to secure a playoff spot and two nights later blanked New Jersey 4-0 to help grab third place in the division.Another big surprise was the play of Kelly Miller and Kevin Hatcher. Both finished with 24 goals, the most on the club this season.Every team would love to have Miller because of his work habits and defensive abilities. But this season, he put up career highs in goals (24), assists (26) and points (50).Hatcher took a pass on training camp this season to drive home the point he should be paid like a top 10 defenseman. Once that was settled, he had his best NHL season.Hatcher led the team in scoring with 24 goals and 50 assists for 74 points.One of the most disappointing things was the personnel changes.Once the season began, it seemed a new player would come aboard or depart every three or four weeks. John Kordic&rsquo;s short, turbulent tenure was only one episode and it was not all bad.Injuries also hurt the Capitals.Other teams lost more man-games to injury, but the Capitals certainly felt their share of aches.Dino Ciccarelli, who led the team in goals last season with 41, missed 21 games with a fractured thumb, courtesy of New Jersey&rsquo;s Laurie Bosch-man.Rod Langway played the fewest games (56) since he became a fulltime NHL player. Back spasms were the main culprit. The team was 8-14-2 without him.Losing Scott Stevens to St. Louis also hurt Washington.The defense eventually evolved without Stevens, but it took time, especially with Langway out for much of January.How much of a loss it proves to be over the long haul will depend on what the Capitals do with the compensation they recieved in the trade.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 30: Mark Ferner, D, recalled from Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Michal Pivonka, Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Dimitri Khristich, Kelly Miller, Alan May. Nick Kypreos. Dave Tippett.RW&mdash;John Druce, Dino Ciccarelli, Steve Leach, Jeff Greenlaw. Peter Bondra.LD&mdash;Rod Langway, Calle Johansson, Ken Sabourin.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Al lafrate, Mike Lalor. Mark Ferner.G&mdash;Don Beaupre. Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Chris Felix, D, broken ankle, day-to-day. Neil Sheehy. D, back surgery, indefinite Mikhail Tatarinov, D. torn left hamstring, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Miller, Hatcher, 24. A&mdash;Hatcher, 50. P&mdash;Hatcher. 74. PIM&mdash;May. 264. &#9632;

BEAUPRE PROVIDES MAGIC IN TOPSY-TURVY CAMPAIGN

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div>The three best things that happened to the New York Rangers in 1990-91:1. Brian Leetch recovered.The star defenseman showed no ill effects whatever from the fractured left ankle that ended his 1989-90 season in mid-March. Leetch led the team in scoring, set a club record for assists in one season, and quarter-backed the power play to a second consecutive campaign of more than 90 goals.2. Goalie Mike Richter.The NHL&rsquo;s other star rookie net-minder continually bailed the team out of trouble and repeatedly got the club points in games when the opposition got 40 or more shots&mdash;including one epic 3-3 tie in Vancouver, Bob McCammon&rsquo;s last game as coach, when the Canucks rained 62 shots on the New York net.3. Ray Sheppard.The &ldquo;one-dollar man&rdquo; made general manager Neil Smith look brilliant with 24 goals in an injury-speckled campaign. Outside of the trade for Mike Gartner, whose work ethic should shame some of his teammates, the acquisition of Sheppard might be the best deal Smith ever will make.The three worst things that happened to the Rangers in 1990-91:1. The trade of Kevin Miller.It may be the worst deal Smith ever makes.Kevin Miller was one of the few Ranger centers who had any speed. He had fine hands. He was hugely popular in the dressing room, and his departure blew a whopping hole in the team chemistry.Beyond that, one of the things the Rangers lack is a defenseman with a mean streak. Normand Rochefort hits when he&rsquo;s not hurt, David Shaw will take the body, Mark Hardy tries. But Dennis Vial&mdash;limited, admittedly&mdash;could have filled that role, could have kept opposing forwards from running Ranger goalies. Now Vial is in Detroit, and in one of his first games, he put Rochefort in the hospital&mdash;knocking out the guy he would have been called up to replace, had he still been with the organization.Then there is the matter of the player who arrived, Joe Kocur. Kocur may prove himself useful in the playoffs, but because of suspensions, he was utterly irrelevant as the Rangers reeled down the stretch.2. The eight-game losing streak that blew first place.Every other team has a satellite dish, every other team could see the Rangers hate playing &ldquo;down low&rdquo; in the defensive zone. So they planted the puck behind the net, planted a big forward in front, and watched the Rangers self-destruct.3. Bernie Nicholls disappeared.The center was never quite right after a left-shoulder separation suffered in January on a questionable check by Randy Wood. He hurried back into the lineup, got hurt again, played anyway but essentially vanished from the scoresheet.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 28: Steven Rice, RW. assigned to Binghamton (AHL). March 30: Louie DeBrusk, LW, assigned to Binghamton. March 31: Boris Rousson, G. signed as free agent from Granby (QMJHL) and assigned to Binghamton. Rice recalled from Binghamton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, Darren Turcotte, Corey Millen. Mark Janssens.LW&mdash;Jan Erixon, Kris King, Troy Mallette, John Ogrodnick, Lindy Ruff.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Jody Hull, Brian Mullen. Steven Rice. Joe Kocur, Paul Broten, Tie Domi.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch. Mark Hardy. Joe Cirella, Miloslav Horava.RD&mdash;James Patrick, David Shaw, Randy Moller, Jeff Bloemberg.G&mdash;Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck.<h3>ROSTER</h3>Bob Froese. G, shoulder surgery, out for season. Kelly Klslo, C, hip flexor, April 15. Normand Rochefort, D, fractured vertebra, April 15. Ray Sheppard. RW, separated left shoulder, April 15.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Gartner, 49. A&mdash;Leetch, 72. P&mdash; Leetch. 88 PIM&mdash;Kocur. 289. &#9632;

ONE-DOLLAR MAN SHINES

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>Left winger Phil Bourque figured he had made a sound investment in his future by signing with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 1982.But over the next few years, just about everyone he knew told him how wrong he&rsquo;d been, that he&rsquo;d condemned himself to spending his career with a chronic non-contender.&ldquo;I remember my buddies back home telling me, &lsquo;Bourquie, get out of this organization. They&rsquo;re going nowhere. Ask them to trade you or something,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Well, I&rsquo;m going to stick with it because they&rsquo;re definitely going to go somewhere sooner or later and I want to be there when it happens.&rsquo;&rdquo;It finally did March 27, when the Penguins locked up first place in the Patrick Division&mdash;and the first championship in team history with a 7-4 victory in Detroit.They finished the regular season 41-33-6, a 16-point improvement from last season, and face New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs.The 1990-91 season was a pleasant one in many ways for the Penguins, but perhaps their biggest surprise was the fact they learned to win without Mario Lemieux.Lemieux didn&rsquo;t play until Jan. 26 because of a back infection that threatened his career.&ldquo;Without him for 50 games, we stayed competitive, which was amazing,&rdquo; coach Bob Johnson said.The Penguins, whose season disintegrated when Lemieux left the lineup with back problems last February, went 26-21-3 before he debuted this year.Lemieux was still trying to raise his game to its normal level as the playoffs approached, but Pittsburgh still went 14-9-3 in the 26 games he played during the final two months of the season. Lemieux had at least one point in 22 of those 26 games and finished with 19 goals and 45 points.The second biggest surprise of the 1990-91 season was general manager Craig Patrick&rsquo;s exceptional trading skills.Virtually every player Patrick acquired before or during the season made a significant contribution.Patrick overhauled the lineup&mdash;the Penguins finished the season with 13 players who had played elsewhere last year&mdash;beginning with the trade that brought right winger Joe Mullen from Calgary for a second-round draft choice last June.Each player Patrick brought in added something: Gordie Robert&rsquo;s solid defensive work; Scott Young&rsquo;s sound two-way play; Bryan Trottier&rsquo;s leadership; and Peter Taglianetti&rsquo;s muscle.And the impact of players like Larry Murphy and Jiri Hrdina also helped.&ldquo;Any of the player moves he made this year, especially the last one, made the team better,&rdquo; Washington GM David Poile said.Poile was referring to the March 4 blockbuster trade that brought Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings from Hartford for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker.The trade sparked a 9-2-1 surge that carried the Penguins to the Patrick title.The Penguins&rsquo; competent defensive abilities also surprised this season.Johnson did what many thought was impossible: He got the Penguins to play decent defense, although it didn&rsquo;t happen regularly until the final month of the season.No one will mistake Pittsburgh for the Montreal Canadiens or Chicago Blackhawks, but they pared their goals-against total by 54 from last season.And they did it without sacrificing any offense&mdash;Pittsburgh scored 342 goals this season, 24 more than last year.But not every development was positive, even during this overwhelmingly upbeat season.Being without Lemieux for so long kept the Penguins from challenging for more than the Patrick championship.The team was seventh in the overall standings but finished 18 points behind Chicago, the regular-season champion.A final disappointent during 1990-91 was the fact players who donned the Penguins jersey previously&mdash;and gave 100 per cent all the time&mdash;couldn&rsquo;t share in the celebration.Dave Hannan, Randy Cunneyworth, Jim Johnson and John Cullen were just a few of the the former Penguins who excelled in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;You think of the guys who worked their tails off and never got there.&rdquo; left winger Bob Errey said. &ldquo;There are a lot you wish could be here.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 25: Ken Priestlay, C, signed a contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Bryan Trottier, Jiri Hrdina, Randy Gilhen. Barry Pederson, Ken Priestlay.LW&mdash;Bob Errey. Phil Bourque, Kevin Stevens, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Jaromir Jagr, Scott Young, Jay Caufield, Jamie Leach.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Ulf Samuelsson, Gordie Roberts.RD&mdash;Peter Taglianetti, Larry Murphy, Paul Stanton, Randy Hillier.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Delorme. D. leg stress fracture. indefinite. Grant Jennings, D, separated left shoulder. April 10. Joe Mullen, RW, neck surgery, day-to-day.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Recchi, RW, sprained right knee, day-to-day Wendell Young. G. dislocated right shoulder, indefinite.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Recchi, Stevens, 40. A&mdash;Recchi, 73. P&mdash;Recchi, 113. PIM&mdash;Samuelsson. 211. &#9632;

PATRICK’S GENIUS KEY TO TITLE WIN

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA AND PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01801/5932869-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Todd broke the Utica Devils&rsquo; all-time assist record in three seasons.</figcaption></div>Last season, Kevin Todd was overshadowed by teammate Paul Ysebaert&mdash;who had an MVP season. This season, Todd erased Ysebaert&rsquo;s name from the Utica Devils&rsquo; record book and may succeed him as the American League&rsquo;s MVP.While the Devils struggled through a season of inconsistency, Todd has been consistently superior.After scoring only 18 goals and 54 points last season, Todd entered the season with a renewed commitment. He has romped away with the AHL&rsquo;s scoring title and emerged as the league&rsquo;s best player.Here&rsquo;s the rundown of the AHL&rsquo;s top 10 players:1. Kevin Todd, Utica Devils, C, 22, 5-foot-10, 175 pounds. Third-year pro drafted by New Jersey in the sixth round (129th overall) in 1986.Todd, who works continuously, is the likely choice as the AHL&rsquo;s MVP. With one week remaining in the regular season, he had 37 goals and 112 points in 72 games.The point total is a single-season Utica record, surpassing the 105 amassed by Ysebaert in 1989-90. Todd also became the club&rsquo;s all-time assist leader, with 156 in his three seasons.&ldquo;He has carried this team,&rdquo; says coach Tim Burke. &ldquo;He has been the key to our power play (the league&rsquo;s best at 25.6 per cent).&rdquo;2. Michel Picard, Springfield Indians, LW, 21,5-11, 190. Second-year pro drafted by Hartford in ninth round (178th) in 1989.After a rookie season that saw him score just 16 goals in Binghamton. Picard has been a sharpshooter. He became the first Springfield player in history to reach the 50-goal mark and was the league leader with 54 entering the final week of the season.&ldquo;He has a tremendous, tremendous release,&rdquo; says Indians&rsquo; general manager Bruce Landon. &ldquo;He has great hands. He has the offensive ability to score goals several ways. He has a booming slapshot, he has finesse, moves in close and he can snap off a shot from the slot. He certainly has the skills to play at the NHL level.&rdquo;3. Shaun Van Allen, Cape Breton Oilers, C, 24, 6-1, 205. Fourth-year pro drafted by Edmonton in seventh round in 1987, 147th overall.Van Allen is a competitive, pesky player who is among the team leaders with 168 penalty minutes. He also leads the team in scoring and was certain to break the 100-point barrier for the first time in his career. With three games remaining, he had 97 points (23 goals and 74 assists).&ldquo;He spent his summer getting in shape,&rdquo; says Oiler coach Don MacAdam. &ldquo;The way he finished up the last 10 games last year and the playoffs, he knew that was what he had to concentrate on.&rdquo;4. Norm Maciver, Cape Breton. D, 27, 5-11, 180. Fifth-year pro traded to Edmonton by Hartford in 1989.Maciver, the team captain, is the Oilers&rsquo; leader on the ice, in the dressing room and the quarterback on the point. At the time of his recall to Edmonton in the middle of February, he was among the team leaders in scoring with 59 points (13 goals and 46 assists) in 56 games and was the AHL&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman. He has since been passed by Rochester&rsquo;s Bill Houlder.&ldquo;He played 56 games and he is still our fourth top scorer and we&rsquo;re an offensive team.&rdquo; MacAdam says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of good defensemen in the AHL but I haven&rsquo;t seen any better than Norm Maciver.&rdquo;5. Patrick Lebeau. Fredericton Canadiens, LW, 21,5-10, 170. Rookie drafted by Montreal in eighth round in 1989. 167th overall.Lebeau, one-third of Fredericton&rsquo;s Kid Line with Gilbert Dionne and Jesse Belanger, is the Canadiens&rsquo; top scorer and is certain to pass the 50-goal mark. He had 49 with four games remaining. The highlight of Lebeau&rsquo;s season came Feb. I when he tied an AHL record by scoring six goals in an 8-7 Fredericton win.Lebeau entered the league under tremendous scrutiny as his older brother Stephane rewrote the record books two years when playing in Sherbrooke. Stephane holds the league record for goals (70) and points (134) in a season. Patrick&rsquo;s numbers aren&rsquo;t as impressive, but they are very worthy.6. Terry Yake. Springfield. C, 22. 5-11, 185. Third-year pro drafted by Hartford in the fourth round (81st) in 1987.At this time last season, the question heard around the AHL was what happened to Terry Yake? After an impressive rookie season in 1988-89 (39 goals and 95 points in 75 games), Yake slumped to 13 goals and 55 points in two more games than the previous season.Yake has rebounded splendidly from his offseason with 77 points (35 goals and 42 assists) in 60 games and a promotion to Hartford that saw him score his first NHL goal.7. Jeff Bloemberg. Binghamton Rangers, D, 23, 6-2, 200. Third-year pro drafted by the New York Rangers in the fifth round (93rd overall) in 1986.Bloemberg has been an all-star at both ends. He has been nearly flawless in his own end because of his skating and puck-handling, and has contributed 15 goals and 44 assists to the offense.8. Don Biggs, Rochester Americans, C, 26, 5-8, 175. Sixth-year pro drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round (156th overall) in 1983.Biggs will get strong consideration as Rochester&rsquo;s MVP. Heading into the final week of the season, he had 30 goals ahd 53 assists in only 61 games.9. Dave Littman. Rochester, G, 23, 6-0, 175. Second-year pro drafted by Buffalo in the 11th round (211th overall) in 1987.Littman, who started 16 straight games heading into the final week, is the league-leader in wins (with a 32-11-5 record) and goals-against average (2.95), and is second in games played (52) and minutes (2,969).10. Bill McDougall. Adirondack Red Wings, C, 24, 6-0, 185. AHL rookie signed by Detroit as a free agent in 1990.Never drafted by a junior tearh or the NHL, McDougall continues to make the system look foolish. He was 44-52-96 in 68 games heading into the final week, and had a brief recall to Detroit in early March. &#9632;

f0024-01

IN TODD WE TRUST

<div class="byline">BY NICK GATES</div>The Greensboro Monarchs are back in the Riley Cup finals.The defending East Coast League champions reached the final by sweeping the Louisville IceHawks in four games.Monarchs&rsquo; goalie Nick Vitucci stopped 44 shots to complete the sweep of Louisville beating the IceHawks 4-2 in Louisville March 26. Len Soccio staked the Monarchs to a 2-0 lead and Phil Berger collected three assists.But will the seven-day layoff hurt the Monarchs&rsquo; chances?&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have minded four or five days off,&rdquo; Greensboro coach Jeff Brubaker said as he prepared his team for the best-of-seven finals against the Hampton Roads Admirals&mdash;which opened April 3 in Norfolk.Greensboro, third in the West during the regular season, lost only one playoff game while eliminating Cincinnati and Louisville. The Monarchs were wearing down foes with relentless toughness.&ldquo;I would say it&rsquo;s more of a mental toughness than a physical toughess,&rdquo; Brubaker said. &ldquo;We just have a lot of guys who know what they want.&rdquo;<h2>ADMIRALS READY</h2>The Admirals had little trouble getting past the Johnstown Chiefs&mdash;especially with a 10-0 win in the deciding game March 29&mdash;to capture their series 4-1.Murray Hood had three goals and three assists and Dave Gagnon and Mark Bernard shared the shutout for the Admirals.Al Murphy&rsquo;s two goals were the difference as the Admirals won 4-3 at Johnstown in Game 3 March 26. Dave Flanagan&rsquo;s goal&mdash;-his third at 10:34 of overtime&mdash;gave Hampton Roads a 3-2 win in Game 4 the next night.The Admirals, Eastern Division champions, won the regular-season series from the Monarchs 4-2 and have home-ice advantage.&ldquo;They blew us out one time,&rdquo; Monarchs&rsquo; coach Brubaker said. &ldquo;The rest of the games were close. We could have easily won four of the games with a couple of goals in the right places.&ldquo;John Brophy (Admirals&rsquo; coach) gets 100 per cent out of everyone he has got,&rdquo; Brubaker said. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t let up and they never give you a break.&rdquo;Greensboro goalie Vitucci is looking for his third consecutive championship ring. He was with Winston-Salem in 1988-89 when the Thunderbirds won the Riley Cup&hellip;Hampton Roads goalie Gagnon had a 2.40 goals-against average in the playoffs and was 7-0&hellip;ECHL regularseason attendance was a record 1,433,439. The league averaged 4,072 per game. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to find words to describe those numbers,&rdquo; commissioner Pat Kelly said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody thought we&rsquo;d draw like that after the first two seasons.&rdquo; &#9632;

REIGNING MONARCHS TRYING CROWN ON FOR SIZE

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ AND KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div>It took almost five months, but the Halifax Citadels finally got the message. Defense wins hockey games.For most of the season, the Citadels had the dubious distinction of being the American League&rsquo;s top-scoring team but also the top scored-against team.&ldquo;I think we got a little preoccupied in the amount of goals we were scoring,&rdquo; said assistant coach Dean Hopkins, &ldquo;and not concentrating in our own end. I think that&rsquo;s a big reason why we&rsquo;ve struggled all year.&rdquo;In 50 of their 77 games this season, the Citadels allowed four goals or more. Six times they&rsquo;ve allowed six goals in a game and nine times they&rsquo;ve allowed seven.But the Citadels have tightened up in their end in the final month of the season. In the first 10 games of March, the Citadels allowed three goals or fewer in six games, including two shutouts by goalie Scott Gordon&mdash;4-0 at Moncton March 20 and 2-0 at home against Maine four nights later.&ldquo;To be successful,&rdquo; Hopkins said, &ldquo;you have to keep your goals-against down. When the players start believing it, they work harder at it.It has been a tough task for Hopkins and head coach Clem Jodoin, but they finally seem to have the players&rsquo; attention.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to be a liar to say it didn&rsquo;t get frustrating,&rdquo; Hopkins said. &ldquo;We were harping on defense, but no one was grasping it. Then all of a sudden, our whole team was taking pride in defensive play and I couldn&rsquo;t think of a better time for it to start.&rdquo;<h2>PARKS DEPT.</h2>Greg Parks&rsquo; career outline didn&rsquo;t include a trip to the NHL this season.As a little guy in game where big men are coveted, Parks figured he&rsquo;d have to compile impressive statistics with the Capital District Islanders in order to turn some heads for a shot at the NHL next season.Parks did get people&rsquo;s attention&mdash;amassing the AHL&rsquo;s second-highest points-per-game average of 1.55&mdash;and it earned him three recalls and 20 games with the New York Islanders.Heading into the final weekend of the season, Parks led Capital District in scoring with 31 goals, 39 assists and 70 points in 45 games.&ldquo;Going into the season, with the centerman situation (in New York), I kind of expected to be down the whole year, so I&rsquo;m kind of ahead of my schedule,&rdquo; said Parks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough when you&rsquo;re a guy my size (5-foot-8, 175); maybe you have to convince people a little more than a guy 6-foot, 190.&rdquo;After shooting to the top in scoring for Capital District, the parent Islanders gave him three looks, and he scored a goal in his first NHL game. But he had only 1-2-3 in 20 games.&ldquo;Obviously you&rsquo;re excited to play in the NHL,&rdquo; Parks said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m a little disappointed in the fact that I got called up three times and I didn&rsquo;t take advantage of the chances.&rdquo;<h2>RENT A GOALIE</h2>While NHL teams were trying to get goalies into shape for the playoffs or were looking for injury replacements their minor league affiliates were scrambling to find warm bodies for backup goalies. When Newmarket goalie Damian Rhodes was recalled by Toronto March 22, the Saints signed 27-year-old Ron Ince out of a Toronto men&rsquo;s league to be the backup for Robert Horyna. Four nights later, when Rhodes was recalled again, the Saints signed 36-year-old Tony Fallis out of a senior league. Neither played and the Saints then got Dean Anderson from the Knoxville Cherokees (East Coast League), but the two stand-ins will have stories to tell. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re making dreams come true,&rdquo; said Saints&rsquo; executive assistant Alan Miller. When Devils&rsquo; goalie Rollie Melanson injured his back March 22. Utica called on Adam Brinker, a 26-year-old assistant coach at nearby Hamilton College, to serve as the backup to Mark Romaine March 24. Brinker did not play-&hellip;. The AHL announced a change in voting for the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for coach of the year. Since its inception in 1968, the award was voted on by the board of governors. It now will be decided by a vote of the coaches. Coaches will pick a top three, but will not be permitted to vote forthemselves. In case of a tie, a panel of five media representatives will break the tie. The winner will be announced two weeks after the end of the playoffs. &#9632;

CITADELS MAKING CASE FOR DEFENSE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01765/5932972-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Moose Jaw&rsquo;s Chris Schmidt led the Warriors past Kelly Thiessen and the Broncos. (Photo by Bill Hamilton)</figcaption></div>Bert Templeton is a picky man, but it&rsquo;s for good reason.The coach-general manager of the North Bay Centennials was less then satisfied with his team even though they sported a perfect record through five Ontario League playoff games.&ldquo;We had eight guys who were playing and 12 guys who were carrying pompoms,&rdquo; Templeton said after North Bay&rsquo;s third playoff victory. &ldquo;We played lazy hockey. We haven&rsquo;t had the killer instinct all year.&rdquo;The Centennials swept the Peterborough Petes in four games in their Leyden Division quarter-final series and got off to a good start against the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s in their best-of-seven semifinal series winning Game 1 4-3 March 29.Templeton knows, that if the Centennials are to win the division and OHL title, they must get by the defending Memorial Cup champion Oshawa Generals.&ldquo;I am satisfied that we&rsquo;re winning, but we have to work on keeping the intensity level up,&rdquo; Templeton said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t afford any mood changes. We&rsquo;ll have to play well all the time.&rdquo;<h2>OHL</h2>John Spoltore led the North Bay attack with five goals and 10 points through five games. Brett Seguin, who scored on a penalty shot in Game 1, led the 67&rsquo;s with five goals and 17 points through seven games.After losing the first two games of their quarter-final series with the Belleville Bulls, the 67&rsquo;s rallied to win the series in six games, taking the clincher 6-4 March 26.The winner of the Ottawa/North Bay series will meet the Generals, who received a second-round bye after beating the Sudbury Wolves 6-4 in the clinching game March 26 and winning the series 4-1.In that series, Sudbury goalie John Tanner and Oshawa center Eric Lindros exchanged jousting motions with their sticks several times. Tanner went after Lindros in Game 5, but no complaint was filed to the OHL.Lindros led Oshawa with five goals and 12 points in five games. Glen Murray had eight goals and 12 points in five games for Sudbury.In Emms Division semifinal action. Brad May and Jason Winch staked the Niagara Falls Thunder to a 2-0 lead over the Windsor Spitfires.May scored four goals in the Thunder&rsquo;s 7-3 Game 1 triumph March 30, and Winch took over in Game 2 the next night scoring five goals in a 10-4 pasting. May and Winch led the OHL playoff scoring race with 21 points apiece.Jason Cirone led Windsor with seven goals and 15 points in nine games.The winner of this best-of-seven series meets the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, who received a second-round bye after sweeping the Dukes of Hamilton in four games.In quarter-final action, Niagara Falls disposed of the Kitchener Rangers in six games, winning 5-2 in Game 6. Windsor won the deciding game 5-2 after the London Knights won Games 5 and 6 by scores of 7-6 and 3-2.Windsor coach Brad Smith was suspended two games for an altercation after Game 6. He missed the first two games of the series with Niagara Falls and was replaced behind the bench by GM Wayne Maxner.<h2>WHL</h2>Steve Junker of the Spokane Chiefs scored his second goal of the game at 1:33 of the second overtime period to knock the Seattle Thunderbirds out of the Western League playoffs.The Chiefs won the March 31 game 4-3 and captured the best-of-nine West Division semifinal series 5-1. Spokane won the first three games 1-0, 4-3 and 6-3, but Seattle won Game 4 6-4. The Chiefs will await the winner of the Kamloops Blazers/Tri-City Americans series.Spokane coach Bryan Maxwell said the tough, physical series against Seattle took its toll on his team.&ldquo;We had no easy games against Seattle the last two years,&rdquo; Maxwell said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure if you take a look in our locker room, you&rsquo;ll see we paid a big-time price for the wins.&rdquo;Kamloops was leading the other best-of-nine West Division semifinal series 4-2 after the Americans won Game 6 6-3.Czechoslovakian import Vladimir Vujtek scored the game-winner at 11:23 of the third period March 31 to keep Tri-City&rsquo;s playoffs hopes alive.The defending WHL champion Blazers won three straight games 5-3, 6-5 and 3-1 after the teams split the first two games.Kamloops defenseman Darryl Sydor led the WHL in playoff scoring with two goals and 18 points in six games.In the East Division semifinal series, the first-place Lethbridge Hurricanes (45-21-6) dumped the Moose Jaw Warriors 10-3 in Game 2 marred by more than 400 penalty minutes.A brawl at 14:15 of the first period forced referee Brad Davis to stop the game and add the remaining time to the second period.The Hurricanes, who earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs, led the best-of-seven series 2-0 after winning Game 13-1.The Warriors earned the right to face Lethbridge when they defeated the Swift Current Broncos 5-2 March 25. Moose Jaw stunned the Broncos 3-0 in the best-of-five preliminary round series.In the other East Division semifinal series, rookie Stacey Roest. playing in only his sixth WHL game, scored twice leading the second-place Medicine Hat Tigers (40-27-5) to a 7-2 win over the Regina Pats March 31.Medicine Hat won Game 1 5-4 and led the best-of-seven series 2-0.<h2>QMJHL</h2>So much for pre-season prognosticators.The fourth-place St-Hyacinthe Laser (36-304) dropped a 9-3 decision to first-place College Francais (41-27-2) March 31, putting them a single loss away from elimination. The loss, which featured a bench-clearing brawl, followed on the heels of 6-4 and 1-0 defeats.In defense of the Laser, picked by many fans to win the Quebec League&rsquo;s LeBel Division, they are not healthy. They lost all-star center Pierre Sevigny for the season with a freak injury and defenseman Denis Leblanc injured his foot in the first game and didn&rsquo;t play Game 2.In the other LeBel Division best-of-seven semifinal series, the third-place Laval Titan (3730-3) were in a position to upset the second-place Hull Olympiques (36-27-7).Despite losing all-star center Denis Chalifoux with a broken finger in the Titan&rsquo;s 6-5 overtime win, Laval won Game 2 6-4 March 28.Ironically, the difference in the series has come from rookie Marc Beaucage, who replaced Chalifoux on Laval&rsquo;s top line. Beaucage scored the overtime winner and followed it up with four-point night in Game 2.Titan Martin Lapointe led all scorers in the series with two goals and seven points. Hull&rsquo;s Todd Sparks led the Olympiques with four points.In the Dilio Division, both series were tied 1-1.The fourth-place Shawinigan Cataractes (2740-3) bounced back from a 6-3 loss to the first-place Chicoutimi Sagueneens (43-21-6) in the opener March 29, to win Game 2 4-3 on defenseman Eric Marcoux&rsquo;s goal at 5:07 of the second overtime period.The Sagueneens played the final 2&frac12; periods of Game 2 without all-star goaltender Felix Potvin, who was ejected from the game for bumping referee Michel Lemieux after a Shawinigan goal.Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Patrick Bisaillon is the only player among the playoff scoring leaders with four points in two games.The third-place Drummondville Voltigeurs (42-25-3) and the second-place Trois Rivieres Draveurs (44-25-1) are also tied 1-1. The Draveurs took the opener 3-1, but the Voltigeurs bounced back with a 4-1 win March 29.&mdash;with files from Brian Costello, Vance Oliver and Ken Warren &#9632;

f0026-01

DANGER BAY

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>The Kingston Frontenacs vow to continue rebuilding with youth. They just won&rsquo;t have their youthful mentor.First-year coach Randy Hall was fired March 24, nine days after the Frontenacs completed their second worst season in franchise history.&ldquo;Randy lacked qualities of leadership and discipline,&rdquo; Frontenacs&rsquo; president Bob Attersley said. &ldquo;We have a young hockey team. We needed someone who could guide them. From what I saw, the leadership could have been better.&rdquo;Kingston had nine rookies this season and struggled to a 15-47-4 record, last place in the Leyden Division. The Frontenacs lost 21 of their last 23 games.&ldquo;We had a divide in the team,&rdquo; Hall said. &ldquo;The 10 veteran players never really welcomed the rookies. And there was a difference in philosophy between (general manager) Wren Blair and myself. It couldn&rsquo;t have lasted much longer.&rdquo;Hall&rsquo;s only previous coaching experience in the Ontario League was an assistant to George Burnett in Niagara Falls last year. He has a year remaining on his contract with Kingston and isn&rsquo;t about to rush back into coaching.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t afford another strike against me,&rdquo; Hall said. &ldquo;I have to be choosey about where I go next.&rdquo;Attersley said he hopes to have a new coach hired before the OHL midget draft in May.<h2>SOUNDING OFF</h2>When the Owen Sound Platers were picked to win the Emms Division of the OHL, it was the kiss of death.The Platers struggled to a 13-48-5 record, missed the playoffs and coach Len McNamara felt the pucker March 21.&ldquo;Len would be the first to admit it wouldn&rsquo;t make sense for him coming back,&rdquo; Platers&rsquo; GM Rob Holody said. &ldquo;I know we were expected to do well, but I think a lot of people got too caught up in the success we had our first year.&rdquo;McNamara was fired, but Holody said there&rsquo;s a chance he may remain with the team in some capacity. McNamara&rsquo;s two-year contract expired at the end of the season.The Platers were 28-31-7 in their first season after moving over from Guelph and upset the Sudbury Wolves in the first round of the playoffs last season. But after a horrible start in which the Platers won four of their first 30 games, Holody joined McNamara behind the bench.&ldquo;We made changes last year and it worked,&rdquo; Holody said. &ldquo;This time it didn&rsquo;t work. We&rsquo;ll bring someone else in.&rdquo;Despite the abysmal season, average attendance rose to 2,300 from 2,000 last year. At the Platers&rsquo; final home game of the season March 13, 3,950 fans showed up in the 2,800-seat Bayshore Community Centre.<h2>PENALTY-FREE</h2>Sudbury and Kingston played the first penalty-free OHL game in three years March 15, the final day of the regular season. It was the sixth such game since 1984. Sudbury won 6-5 and the game took just over two hours to complete&hellip;Owen Sound&rsquo;s Ted Miskolczi scored three third-period goals in the Platers&rsquo; final game of the season March 13 (8-6 win over the Kitchener Rangers) to become the third 50-goal scorer in franchise history. Kirk Muller (52 in 1982-83) and Keith Miller (50 in 1986-87) were the others to do it&hellip;Kitchener right winger Steve Rice was joking around playing goalie at the end of a Rangers&rsquo; practice March 21, but didn&rsquo;t get any laughs from coach-GM Joe McDonnell. McDonnell stormed out of his office and pulled his makeshift goalie for good. &ldquo;That ended in one hell of a hurry,&rdquo; he told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. &ldquo;He could have taken a shot in the head.&rdquo; &#9632;

FRONTENACS FIRING BLAMED ON KIDS IN THE HALL

<div class="byline">BY VANCE OLIVER</div>Maybe there is a pot of gold at the end of a long, disappointing year for Scott Scissons.The Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; center completed his star-crossed season in the NHL. Scissons endured injury, controversy and confusion with the Western League team, before his recall to the New York Islanders March 23.The Islanders selected Scissons sixth overall in 1990 and expected him to improve on 30- and 40-goal seasons the past two years. But Scissons injured his wrist, was cut from Canada&rsquo;s national junior team, was stripped of his captaincy and settled for 24 goals and 77 points in 57 games.Scissons, 19, was expected to play in New York&rsquo;s final three games of the season. The Islanders are not in the playoffs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll practise with them and see how I fit in,&rdquo; Scissons said. &ldquo;I think they&rsquo;ve indicated to me that if I don&rsquo;t embarrass myself, I should see some game-action.&rdquo;When the Blades&rsquo; season ended March 19, Islanders&rsquo; chief scout Gerry Ehman asked Scissons if he would like to report. Even though he&rsquo;s not under contract, Scissons jumped at the opportunity to strut his stuff.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01711/5933027-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="558" height="642"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Kozuback was suspended one game and his team lost 11-5.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re covered by the offer of your first contract,&rdquo; Scissons said. &ldquo;Even if you&rsquo;re unsigned, you&rsquo;re still covered by the agreement. You&rsquo;re pretty much taken care of.&rdquo;<h2>GREAT SCOTT</h2>The Kamloops Blazers faced the Tri-City Americans in the first round of the West Division playoffs without all-star defenseman Scott Niedermayer.Niedermayer, who is touted as a high first-round pick in June&rsquo;s NHL entry draft, stretched ligaments in his left knee when bodychecked by Turner Stevenson of the Seattle Thunderbirds in a regular season game March 12.Niedermayer had 26 goals and 82 points in 57 games this season.<h2>TOP HONORS</h2>Jeff Nelson of the Prince Albert Raiders and Ray Whitney of the Spokane Chiefs were named East and West Division Molson players of the year.Nelson, 18, set a WHL record for the longest point-scoring streak at 56 games. The third-year center finished the campaign with 46 goals and 120 points.Whitney, a third-year veteran with the Chiefs, handily won the WHL scoring championship with 67 goals and 185 points.<h2>COACH MISSED</h2>Tri-City coach-GM Rick Kozuback was suspended for one game and fined $750 for an incident in a game against the Portland Winter Hawks March 17.Kozuback was assessed the penalty after making contact with Portland left winger Chris Rowland during a fight.Americans&rsquo; right winger Bill Lindsay was suspended for two games for his actions in the fight-filled contest.<h2>EXPANDEDTITLE</h2>The Victoria Cougars expanded coach Rick Hopper&rsquo;s job description to include general managerial duties.Lyle Moffatt, who was GM and director of marketing this season, will remain in a marketing capacity. &#9632;

f0027-01

SCISSONS FINALLY GETS A BREAK

<div class="byline">BY KEN WARREN</div>Yanic Perreault&rsquo;s torrid scoring pace may have tailed off at the end of the season, but he got all the playoff incentive he needed at the Quebec League&rsquo;s awards banquet.Not only did Perreault leave the March 24 ceremony on a full stomach, he also left with an armful of goodies.The Trois Rivieres&rsquo; center, who scored 87 goals and 185 points in 67 games to easily win the scoring derby, captured three trophies and was a first-team all-star selection.Perreault accepted the Jean Beliveau Trophy as scoring champion, the Michel Briere Trophy as outstanding player and the Frank Selke Trophy as most gentlemanly performer.Perreault&rsquo;s linemate, overage left winger Todd Gillingham (46-102148), and College Francais right winger Robert Guillet (55-32-87) complete the all-star forward line. Defensemen Eric Brule of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Patrice Brisebois of the Drummondville Voltigeurs and goaltender Felix Potvin of Chicoutimi round out the all-star team.Brisebois won the Emile (Butch) Bouchard Trophy as top defenseman; Drummondville left winger Rene Corbet captured rookie-of-the-year honors; Granby Bisons&rsquo; defenseman Philippe Boucher was rated the best professional prospect and Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Joe Canale was named coach of the year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01742/5933058-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="551" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Chalifoux broke a finger on a slash by Todd Sparks.</figcaption></div><h2>SPARKS MELEE</h2>Another chapter was added in the already fierce playoff rivalry between the Hull Olympiques and Laval Titan.Hull left winger Todd Sparks slashed Laval center Denis Chalifoux across the hands in the opener of their best-of-seven Lebel Division semifinal series March 26. Chalifoux suffered a broken finger and is expected to miss at least six weeks.&ldquo;What Todd Sparks did to Denis Chalifoux is a crime,&rdquo; Laval director general Claude Morissette said. &ldquo;We are victims of filthy play.&rdquo;Olympiques&rsquo; coach Alain Vigneault said the major penalty and game misconduct Sparks received cost his team the game. Hull led 5-3 at the time, but Laval scored twice on the power play and went on to win 6-5 in overtime.&ldquo;We lost because of referee Mario Gagnon,&rdquo; Vigneault said. &ldquo;The slash by Sparks on Chalifoux was commonplace (in the game).&rdquo;<h2>LASER THERAPY</h2>St-Hyacinthe Laser captain Pierre Sevigny is expected to be out until the end of April after a freak accident at practice March 25. Sevigny tripped on a flight of stairs and a teammate landed on his leg. He cut a knee ligament in the process and is now on crutches&hellip;Karl Dykhuis made it in time for College Francais&rsquo; first playoff game March 27, but not before picking up a bit of jet lag in the process. Dykhuis was excused from Dave King&rsquo;s Canadian national team in order to return to the QMJHL. The defenseman left Kelowna, B.C. at 7:10 a.m., stopped off in Vancouver and Ottawa before arriving in Montreal at 5:30 p.m. Dykhuis made it to Longueuil&rsquo;s Colisee Jean Beliveau at 7:10 p.m., 20 minutes before game time&hellip;As the jockeying for playoff positions went down to the wire, so too, did the battle for best individual goals-against average. Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Felix Potvin held off a late charge from Hull&rsquo;s Francis Ouellette. Potvin finished with a 2.70 GAA, the best in the Canadian Hockey League. Ouellette, who allowed three goals in Hull&rsquo;s final two games, finished at 2.71. &#9632;

f0028-01

PERREAULT LANDS HAUL AT AWARDS CEREMONY

<div class="byline">BY JASON KAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01645/5933089-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terrier goalie Scott Cashman is the lone dog in a wild Cats&rsquo; celebration.</figcaption></div>The pre-game storyline was as clear as the St. Paul Civic Center&rsquo;s transparent boards. The actual plot, however, was as bizarre and twisted as a Stephen King thriller.The main characters in Northern Michigan&rsquo;s 8-7 triple overtime NCAA tournament championship win over Boston University performed to expectations, but not altogether in their expected roles.What was supposed to be a classic matchup of offense versus defense March 30, evolved into a surreal series of impossible plays, electrifying moments and curious incidents. And when the ice chips finally settled some four hours after the game began, the Wildcats&rsquo; Darryl Plandowski, who had been assigned the unenviable role of the shadow, emerged from the dark to steal the spotlight.A defensive left winger, who had totaled 29 points in his previous 43 games, Plandowski scored three times including the game winner at 1:57 of the third overtime period to give NMU its first ever national title.Plandowski&rsquo;s description of the winner, in which he fed a drop pass to fourth-line center Mark Beaufait, then headed to the front of the net for the return, typified the comically strange atmosphere that surrounded the game.&ldquo;(Beaufait) held on to it, drew everyone over to the right side and I was just standing in the middle alone,&rdquo; said Plandowski. &ldquo;Then he threw it back on my stick. I looked at the net and saw nobody was in there, so I decided to shoot it in.&rdquo;To which Wildcat coach Rick Comley commented: &ldquo;I think that was a good idea.&rdquo;Plandowski, along with linemates Dean Antos and Joe Frederick, were given the task of stopping the Terriers&rsquo; Red Line, comprised of Hobey Baker finalist Shawn McEachern, freshman left winger Keith Tkachuk and sophomore right winger Tony Amonte, possibly the most dangerous player in the nation in the second half of the season.And for the contest&rsquo;s first 52 minutes, Plandowski and friends achieved their objective, while at the same time contributing two timely goals.After quickly surrendering three goals to BU (28-11-2) in the first nine minutes and 27 seconds of the game, the Wildcats (37-5-4, including 24-0-2 in their final 26 games) mounted a massive blitz in the second, scoring five unanswered goals.The game appeared to be in hand for NMU by the 8:24 mark of the third period, as it held a 7-4 lead. Then the magic began.Amonte&rsquo;s fourth goal in two games, followed by a McEachern score at 14:59 set the stage for a frenzied finish. The inevitable tying goal came as the result of an outstanding effort by freshman defenseman Scott Lachance.After taking a pass deep in the NMU zone, Lachance lost control of the puck. As two Wildcat defenders converged on the loose puck, Lachance dove, used his long reach to tip a pass to center David Sacco, who fired a bullet past goalie Bill Pye.The Terriers almost won it in regulation on an Amonte slap shot labelled for the bottom right comer. But Pye came up with the save of the game with one second remaining.&ldquo;I looked up and saw him coming in and I couldn&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; said Pye. &ldquo;He shot it and somehow it landed in my glove.&rdquo;Comley said he laid it on the line during a speech to his squad following the third period.&ldquo;We panicked when it got to 7-5,&rdquo; Comley said. &ldquo;Even though we were telling people not to go into a shell and you don&rsquo;t want to, it&rsquo;s only human nature. Fear takes over.&ldquo;So when I went into the locker room, I made one statement and asked one question. I just said, &lsquo;We blew it. We absolutely choked.&rsquo; We had to face it and get it out of our system.&ldquo;Then I asked, &lsquo;If we were starting the year and you could go into an overtime with a chance to win the national championship, would you take it?&rsquo; &ldquo;The Cats answered with an emphatic &lsquo;yes&rsquo; as they completely dominated the initial 10-minute overtime period, outshooting BU 8-2. They came within a puck&rsquo;s width of defeat in the period, however, when the Terriers beat Pye and hit three posts in a matter of seconds.On the play, defenseman Kevin O&rsquo;Sullivan snapped a shot that hit the inside of the left post and deflected to Amonte. Amonte&rsquo;s rebound shot hit the same post, caromed across the crease, hit the right post, teetered precariously along the goal-line before Pye had the presence of mind to fall on it.&ldquo;I almost knocked it in myself,&rdquo; said Pye. &ldquo;Brad (Hobey Baker finalist and all-America defenseman, Werenka) is going, &lsquo;Jump on it, jump on it.&rsquo; So I jumped on it.&rdquo;On the ensuing faceoff, NMU&rsquo;s Tony Szabo took the puck up ice and nailed the crossbar behind BU&rsquo;s Scott Cashman (who had come in to replace starter John Bradley following NMU&rsquo;s fifth goal).Following a sluggish second OT period, in which Wildcat Scott Beattie said &ldquo;everybody felt the way the ice looked&rdquo;, NMU came out strong in the sixth period, and was rewarded with the winner just two minutes in.Terrier coach Jack Parker summed up the mood of the evening, borrowing a line from actor Marlon Brando. Responding to a Connie Chung question on his philosophy of life, Brando, according to Parker, said, &ldquo;My philosophy on life is you take your last breath and say to yourself &lsquo;What was that?&rsquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all I could think of out there. That wasn&rsquo;t a hockey game. We created something different.&rdquo;<h2>NOTES</h2>Almost lost in Darryl Plandowski&rsquo;s championship game heroics, was the performance of teammate Scott Beattie. The nation&rsquo;s leading goalscorer added three more to give him 48, breaking the NMU single-season record of 45 set by Gary Emmons in 1985-86&hellip;The game&rsquo;s other scorers were Dean Antos and Mark Beaufait for NMU, while Ed Ronan and David Sacco each had a pair for BU, with David Tomlinson, Tony Amonte and Shawn McEachern adding singles&hellip;NMU&rsquo;s Brad Werenka had an apparent goal disallowed in the second period of the title game when, after being hauled down by BU defenseman Tom Dion, he slid into the net, along with goalie John Bradley and the puck. Referee Matt Shegos said he was &ldquo;in the process of blowing the whistle,&rdquo; but the whistle never sounded&hellip;The title game was the second longest in championship history. Minnesota-Duluth and Bowling Green played four overtimes in the Falcons&rsquo; 1984 5-4 win at Lake Placid&hellip;The 15 goals scored by the two teams were the most since 1957, and the third highest total in championship history&hellip;NMU advanced to the final with a hard-fought 5-3 win over Maine in one semifinal March 28. Dallas Drake&rsquo;s goal with 3:13 remaining broke a 3-3 tie and spoiled a brilliant three-goal performance by Maine&rsquo;s Jean-Yves Roy. In the second semifinal, BU&rsquo;s Tony Amonte scored three times in the first period as the Terriers jumped to a 5-1 lead and cruised to a relatively easy 7-3 win over Clarkson&hellip;12,564 was the paid attendance lor the title game, bringing the two-day total to 35,938&hellip;The loudest ovation during the championship game, came when the public address announcer gave the Duke/UNLV score in the semifinals of the NCAA&rsquo;s other tournament. &#9632;

f0029-01

YEAR OF THE CAT

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Jason Kay</div>Chalk another one up for the little guy.David Emma, the nifty 5-foot-9, 175-pound Boston College center, was named the 11th winner of the annual Hobey Baker Memorial Award at a news conference following the NCAA championship game March 30.The Decathlon Club of Bloomington, Minn., has been awarding the Hobey to college hockey&rsquo;s outstand i ng player since 1981.Emma, the senior captain of an Eagle team upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament by independent Alaska-Anchorage, said winning the award is the &ldquo;most exciting moment in my life and a dream come true.&ldquo;Four years ago, if anyone was to tell me I&rsquo;d be standing here tonight (accepting the Hobey), I would have told them they were crazy.&rdquo;BC&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer with 239 points in 145 games, Emma led Hockey East with 51 points this season cn route to earning league MVP honors.Emma, drafted in the sixth round of the 1989 draft by the New Jersey Devils, said joining the NHL team wasn&rsquo;t in his immediate plans.&ldquo;From here, I&rsquo;m headed to the World Championships,&rdquo; said the 22-year-old Cranston, R.I., native. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where my focus is now. But I&rsquo;m looking forward to having the chance to play for the U.S. Olympic team. I dreamed of playing on the Olympic team as a kid.&rdquo;Emma beat out nine other finalists for the award: Northern Michigan&rsquo;s Brad Werenka and Scott Beattie, North Dakota&rsquo;s Greg Johnson, Michigan&rsquo;s Denny Felsner, Lake Superior State&rsquo;s Jim Dowd. Boston University&rsquo;s Shawn McEachern, Maine&rsquo;s Jean-Yves Roy, RPI&rsquo;s Joe Juneau and Harvard&rsquo;s Peter Ciavaglia. &#9632;

DREAM COME TRUE FOR HOBEY WINNER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01737/5933165-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01681/5933158-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3087" height="3603"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01727/5933151-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3069" height="3591"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01647/5933144-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="3077" height="3612"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

PEPSI ON ICE

Anyone who still thinks Sergei Fedorov is a better rookie than Ed Belfour should look at another category the Chicago Blackhawk goalie dominated this season.While it&rsquo;s clear Detroit&rsquo;s Fedorov had far better statistics (79 points in 77 games) than any other freshman player, he wasn&rsquo;t in the NHL&rsquo;s top 25 scorers.Belfour, on the other hand, was the best goalie in the league&mdash;rookie or not. He compiled an earned goal average of 1.83, almost a half goal better than the runner-up, New Jersey&rsquo;s Chris Terreri (2.22).The EGA is a goalie&rsquo;s goals-against average, not including power-play goals. The NHL average is 2.84.Belfour also ranked 10th in the NHL with a Hot Seat average of 9.51, most than one minute better than the NHL average.TEAMS POWER PLAY PENALTY KILLING TIME FRAMEGAMES PLAYED THROUGH 3/31/91<h2>POWER PLAY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07202/5933374-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="541" height="671"></div><h2>EGA LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08189/5933367-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="538" height="446"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09173/5933360-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="546" height="756"></div><h2>HOT SEAT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10169/5933353-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="542" height="469"></div> &#9632;

f0034-07

BELFOUR BEST ROOKIE/GOALIE

<h2>Mon., March 25</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01732/5933322-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="580" height="2239"></div><h2>Tues., March 26</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02538/5933315-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="583" height="1115"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03423/5933308-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="587" height="3477"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04318/5933301-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="585" height="3474"></div><h2>Wed., March 27</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05252/5933294-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="580" height="1219"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06219/5933287-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="580" height="1284"></div><h2>Thur., March 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01697/5933280-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="586" height="3523"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02529/5933273-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="586" height="3564"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03428/5933266-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="581" height="636"></div><h2>Fri., March 29</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04343/5933259-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="579" height="1289"></div><h2>Sat., March 30</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05285/5933252-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="573" height="1533"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06258/5933245-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="582" height="3563"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07239/5933238-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="584" height="3519"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01663/5933231-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="585" height="659"></div><h2>Sun., March 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02483/5933224-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="583" height="1487"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03390/5933217-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="579" height="2202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04296/5933210-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="572" height="2194"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05243/5933203-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="578" height="2201"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06211/5933196-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="574" height="2191"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-07" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07193/5933412-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01578/5933405-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="1840" height="3589"></div> &#9632;

f0036-07

SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01664/5933443-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="553" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DUPONT</figcaption></div>David Quinn is free to make his own deal somewhere, free to skate again and, most important, free to play hockey once more and not worry about staying alive.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be as healthy as I&rsquo;ve ever been,&rdquo; said Quinn, thinking ahead to playing the sport he had to abandon four years ago. &ldquo;As soon as I get my drug. I&rsquo;ll be normal again&mdash;I mean. I&rsquo;ll be just like everybody else.&rdquo;Once a talented and promising defenseman at Boston University, Quinn had to give up hockey in 1987 because of a rare type of hemophilia, Christmas Disease, which made him vulnerable to life-threatening internal bleeding that could be induced by body checks or collisions along the boards.But a new drug licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Dec. 31 should have the one-time Olympic hopeful back stickhandling shortly. AlphaNine, developed by Alpha Therapeutic Corporation in Los Angeles, is the drug that could make Quinn&rsquo;s blood whole again, and perhaps put him back on track toward an NHL career.&ldquo;Right now, all I&rsquo;m thinking about is tomorrow. no more than that,&rdquo; said Quinn, who was the North Stars&rsquo; firsf-round pick (13th overall) in the 1984 draft. &ldquo;The ideal situation for me right now would be to make the Olympic team. But I have to prove first that I can get back to where I was. And, who knows, has there been a precedent for this? I&rsquo;m 24, so it&rsquo;s not like I&rsquo;m trying to do this at 34. But who really knows?&rdquo;The first step in finding out where his career stands will come by mid-April, when Quinn expects he&rsquo;ll finally begin taking the intravenous drug. He began working with two doctors in January, the day after a relative spotted a USA Today story about the new drug, and by mid-April he should be able to resume full practices, body contact and all.Christmas Disease, named after the surname of the first two people diagnosed with it in 1952, is also known as Hemophilia &lsquo;B&rsquo;. The more common disease is Hemophilia &lsquo;A&rsquo;, which differs from Christmas Disease in its particular deficiency in coagulation factors. According to Quinn, his blood is 94 per cent deficient in one factor, making him one of some 3,000 Americans with the disease.&ldquo;I never knew I had it,&rdquo; said Quinn, whose condition was discovered in a blood exam after his sophomore season at BU. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d played hockey at a high level for a long time, and football in high school, and the only trouble I had was that I was always banged and bruised. In football, especially&hellip;! was a running back, and I&rsquo;d always have bruises on my arms. There were days that I couldn&rsquo;t take exams, because my arms would be so bruised I couldn&rsquo;t hold a pen.&rdquo;Despite the bad news, Quinn continued his career and played his junior year (1986-87), but was hampered by a thigh injury that hospitalized him for 10 days with internal bleeding. Only days after that season ended, just as he was getting ready to join the U.S. Olympic team tryouts, he fractured his right ankle while playing pick-up basketball. He spent five more weeks in the hospital, and his right leg still carries a 13-inch scar from the five operations necessary to stem the bleeding. His college career had come to an end.&ldquo;Idon&rsquo;tthink I ever got over it,&rdquo; said Quinn, who spent his senior year coaching the Terriers&rsquo; junior varsity team. &ldquo;But it did get easier as the years went by&hellip;I do know, though, that I was difficult to deal with my last year in school. There were times it was definitely depressing.Where this will all take Quinn now is anybody&rsquo;s guess. Within days after learning of the drug, Quinn contacted Dartmouth coach Ben Smith, the former assistant coach at BU, and asked him to put him in contact with Dave Peterson, the United States Olympic coach in &lsquo;88 and again next year in France. In a short phone conversation, Peterson invited Quinn to an Olympic tryout camp at Lake Placid in late May. If all goes well for Quinn there, he&rsquo;ll likely be invited back for more workouts in June and then, perhaps, stay with the team right through the Winter Games.The NHL Players&rsquo; Association said the North Stars have dropped Quinn from their protected list, making Quinn a free agent. He has had informal conversations with a few NHL clubs about continuing his professional aspirations.&ldquo;Every time I turn on the TV, I see a guy I played with, or against,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that I&rsquo;m jealous, but I&rsquo;ll admit I&rsquo;ve been envious. I mean, I&rsquo;m happy for every one of them, but it has always left me with a big question mark. It&rsquo;s not like I feel like I was a failure, or anything, but it has left me thinking about how good I could have been.&rdquo;Four years later, David Quinn may have a chance to find out.Kevin Dupont covers hockey for The Boston Globe. &#9632;

f0038-01

IT’S TIME TO FIND OUT SOME ANSWERS

Boston&rsquo;s Cam Neely and Ray Bourque are dangerous scorers with goalies in the net, but they also excel in empty net situations. Through March 26, Bourque led the NHL in empty net points with seven&mdash;two goals and five assists. Neely had three goals and two assists, tied with Los Angeles&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky (three goals, two assists).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02508/5933474-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="713" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0038-02

NUMBERS

<h2>KINGS</h2>It came down to the final game of the season, but Marty McSorley was able to catch Calgary&rsquo;s Theoren Fleury for the league&rsquo;s best plusminus figure. Each finished a plus-48 after McSorley was a plus-one in the Kings&rsquo; 5-3 loss to Calgary March 31, a game Fleury sat out. &ldquo;I thought about it a little bit, but only because the game didn&rsquo;t mean very much,&rdquo; McSorley said. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re on a good team, you&rsquo;re going to have a good plus-minus. I was minus a whole whack when I played for Pittsburgh. &ldquo;&hellip;John Tonelli collected his 500th career assist in that game and kept the puck as a memento&hellip;Dave Taylor and Larry Robinson used unconventional means to get updates on Calgary&rsquo;s 6-5 overtime loss in Edmonton March 29, which clinched the Smythe Division title for the Kings. &ldquo;Larry kept calling his sister, who was watching the game on television in Calgary, then he&rsquo;d call me at home,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;I was never so nervous. I was pacing the floors.&rdquo;<h2>FLAMES</h2>Do the Calgary Flames get a raw deal from NHL referees? For eight consecutive seasons, the Flames have had more penalties assessed against them than were called against their opponents. The final tally for 1990-91 showed they played a man short 420 times and were on the power play 384 times. That added up to 36 extra penalties served by Calgary players this season. The total for eight seasons is even more staggering. The Flames were assessed a whopping 319 more minor penalties than were their opponents. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re dealing with a referee&rsquo;s perception,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; coach Doug Risebrough, &ldquo;and it is very tough to change that perception. They must look at us as a very physical team and therefore think they have to watch us more closely. I&rsquo;m not sure that&rsquo;s fair, but that must be how they perceive us&rdquo;&hellip;The matter of officiating came up again after the Flames lost a controversial 6-5 overtime decision to Edmonton March 29, which cost them the Smythe Division championship. Gary Roberts&rsquo; apparent game-winner was disallowed by referee Andy Van Hellemond. Replays showed the goal should have counted.<h2>JETS</h2>General manager Mike Smith did not fire assistant coaches Terry Simpson and Clare Drake when he gave Bob Murdoch his pink slip April 1, saying those decisions may or may not come after a new head coach is hired. Simpson has another year to go on his contract, while Drake&rsquo;s current contract is up&hellip;After firing Murdoch, Smith said it was too early to discuss other options for him within the organization but that some may be available. Murdoch&rsquo;s three-year contract runs through next season&hellip;Despite major injuries in each of the last two seasons, center Thomas Steen completed a career-best third straight season with better than a point per game. Over three years, Steen has 221 points in 191 games&hellip;Center Ed Olczyk finished with 30 goals on the season, ranking him right in the middle of his career numbers. He never scored that many in three seasons in Chicago (20, 29, 16) and never had that few in three seasons in Toronto (42, 38, 32).<h2>CANUCKS</h2>Right winger Trevor Linden was a runaway winner in fan voting which decided several awards at the conclusion of the regular season. The 20-year-old Linden won in the categories of most exciting player, most valuable player, top scorer, most assists and the Molson Cup for most three-star selections. Doug Lidster was voted the Canucks&rsquo; top defenseman, Steve Bozek was the team&rsquo;s unsung hero, and Gino Odjick was the most aggressive Canuck as determined by team management&hellip;A 3-2 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets March 28 decided fourth place in the Smythe Division turtle derby, but the suspense was old hat to Canuck defenseman Tom Kurvers. Three years ago, Kurvers was a member of the New Jersey Devils when John MacLean scored in overtime of the 80th game of the season (a 4-3 win over Chicago) to put the Devils in the playoffs. &ldquo;Everything that was said about this &lsquo;turtle derby&rsquo; seemed kind of negative,&rdquo; Kurvers said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of a relief to get through with it.&rdquo; Geoff Courtnall scored the winning goal at 1:49 of overtime with Winnipeg&rsquo;s Scott Arniel serving a five-minute major penalty for high sticking Steve Bozek. Linesman Swede Knox made the call, informing referee Andy Van Hellemond at the next stoppage in play, several moments after the incident.<h2>OILERS</h2>Veterans Mark Messier (1,000 points) and Glenn Anderson (400 goals) received NHL milestone awards for their Jan. 13 achievements in Philadelphia. Anderson tipped home Messier&rsquo;s shot as the two players reached their respective milestones on the same play, perhaps an NHL first&hellip;Geoff Smith didn&rsquo;t want to appear alarmed, but the Oilers&rsquo; defenseman was relieved just the same. A bone scan on the 22-year-old&rsquo;s back was negative and he has been cleared to return to the lineup. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think there was a fracture, but I had some numbness that needed to be checked out,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;Now I know it can&rsquo;t get any worse, so I have the green light to play. That&rsquo;s a sense of relief. &ldquo;&hellip;A bad back kept veteran defenseman Craig Muni out of the Oilers&rsquo; last three regular-season games, while Esa Tikkanen was also hampered by a similar problem. Tikkanen returned for the final game, though, and won the team scoring race with 69 points, pocketing a personal $100,000 bonus. &#9632;

McSORLEY, FLEURY SHARE LEAGUE LEAD

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>The essence of Theo Fleury&rsquo;s season was on display the Tuesday night before the regular season came to a close.The Calgary Flames were to play the Vancouver Canucks, needing a win to overcome the psychological effects of a tough 8-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings three days before.In that game, Fleury stretched the medial collateral ligaments in his left knee and it looked as if he would need a week, maybe more, to recover.The day after he injured his knee (in a collision with the Kings&rsquo; Tony Granato), Fleury was limping badly. The next day, he was walking reasonably well. On the third day, he was mesmerizing the Canucks&rsquo; defense for three goals to reach the 50-goal plateau for the first time in his career. If ever there was a positive story for the Flames this season, it was Fleury&rsquo;s emergence as an NHL all-star.Not many people gave Fleury a chance to score 50 in the NHL, least of all Fleury himself.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d score 50 either,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When it got to 40,1 thought maybe there was a chance. Actually, I was just happy to be able to play and to play without pain.&rdquo;At the start of the season, the Flames forecast that Fleury and Paul Ranheim between them would make up for Joey Mullen&rsquo;s lost offense. Fleury did it all by himself.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a challenge that&rsquo;s beyond him,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;He goes out every night to prove that a little man can compete in the league. He has just made huge strides this season.&rdquo;Other positives for the Flames this season:The way defenseman Al Maclnnis responded to the pressure of being Calgary&rsquo;s first $1 million man. Maclnnis signed the most lucrative deal in team history&mdash;four years, $4 million&mdash;and proceeded to give the team its money&rsquo;s worth. Despite missing the final two games of the season to be with his mother, who is ill, Maclnnis finished the season with 103 points, smashing the team record for points by a defenseman, 91, held by Gary Suter. In addition, he completed the season plus-42, third-best in the league. The stats sometimes lie, but in this case, they do not.The team&rsquo;s ability to adapt to a new coach without missing a step. Despite two changes on the coaching staff and seven new faces in the lineup, the Flames finished with 100 points, one point better than a year ago. It took the team half the season to adapt to Doug Risebrough&rsquo;s coaching methods, but they eventually fell in step with his all-for-one and one-for-all philosophy.On the flip side, in a basically decent season, the most disappointing result was the finish. After three successive years as Smythe Division champions, the Flames relinquished the title to Los Angeles.Arguably, what stung the most was how they did it: By faltering down the stretch. They won a lot of big games up to mid-March, but in key home-and-home series with Edmonton and Los Angeles and the division title on the line, they took only one of a possible eight points.Elsewhere, injuries to Ranheim and Colin Patterson cost the Flames one half of their starting left side. Patterson missed the entire season when a freak collision with a Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; prospect, Jeff Serowik, in an exhibition game, resulted in major reconstructive knee surgery. Ranheim missed more than half the season (41 games) recovering from a shattered right ankle.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 31: Sergei Priakin, LW, Paul Kruse, LW, and Rick Lessard, D, recalled from Salt Lake (IHL). April 1: Kruse assigned to Salt Lake.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Robert Reichel.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Paul Ranheim, Paul Fenton. Stephane Matteau, Brian MacLellan, Sergei Priakin.RW&mdash;Theo Fleury, Sergei Makarov, Carey Wilson, Ron Stern, Tim Hunter.LD&mdash;Gary Suter. Jamie Macoun. Frank Musil, Kevan Guy.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Ric Nattress, Jim Kyte, Roger Johansson.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Colin Patterson, LW, knee surgery, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Fleury, 51. A&mdash;Maclnnis, 75. P&mdash; Fleury, 104. PIM&mdash;Roberts, 234. &#9632;

FASHION OF FLEURY’S 50th TYPIFIES HIS CAMPAIGN

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div>Disappointments, not pleasant surprises, were the name of the game this season in Winnipeg and Jets&rsquo; coach Bob Murdoch paid the price for that April 1, one day after the regular season ended.With the Jets dropping 22 points in one year to a record of 26-43-11 and missing the Smythe Division playoffs, Murdoch was fired by general manager Mike Smith.Plagued by some curious and unsuccessful moves through most of the season, Murdoch fell through thin ice when his club went 5-14-2 in its final 21 games and lost a playoff spot to the Vancouver Canucks on the final Thursday of the season.Murdoch came under criticism for the way he handled numerous players, for his team&rsquo;s terrible third-period play and for the disappearance of the exciting and potent skating style that carried the Jets a year ago.That was when the team finished with a surprising 85 points and came within a whisker of upsetting the Edmonton Oilers. It culminated 10 months ago in Murdoch winning the Jack Adams Trophy as NHL coach of the year.Somehow, the skating game was never an issue with the Jets this season and consequently, the club&rsquo;s once highly-touted blueliners and transition game fizzled as the days passed.Winnipeg was outscored 110-84 in third periods this season, accounting for almost the entire difference of 28 (260-288) in overall goals for and against.Player-wise, Murdoch would not admit to having a No. 1 goaltender until there were 10 games left in the season. He also had some major injuries to contend with at mid-season but did some other second-half lineup tinkering that would rate as trying to fix something that wasn&rsquo;t necessarily broken.Removing rookie defenceman Bryan March-ment from Phil Housley&rsquo;s side was one example of that.In the season of great decline, however, there were a couple of noteworthy pluses with a little searching.The Jets&rsquo; penalty-killing, for one, which was simply excellent all season long, was one of the few consistent things about the team.It finished the season with a success rate of 83.8 per cent, thanks largely to the work of forwards Phil Sykes, Scott Arniel, Dave McLlwain and Mark Kumpel.Goalie Bob Essensa was another plus. Officially a sophomore, the reknowned jinx bypassed the 26-year-old netminder. He posted a club-record four shutouts and was touted through much of the season as the Jets&rsquo; most valuable player in 1990-91.Though it doesn&rsquo;t exactly rate as a surprise, the skill and talent of Phil Housley was another positive.He led the Jets with a club-record (for defensemen) 76 points this season, including a 23 goals, also a team record. Points-wise, it was Housley&rsquo;s third-best year in his nine-year NHL career.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 29: Bryan Erickson, RW, and Sergei Kharin. RW, assigned to Moncton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Thomas Steen, Ed Olczyk, Dave McLlwain. Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne, Phil Sykes, Doug Evans, Scott Arniel.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDermid, Danton Cole, Mark Kumpel.LD&mdash;Randy Carlyle. Bryan Marchment, Shawn Cronin, Gord Donnelly.RD&mdash;Phil Housley. Teppo Numminen, Fredrik Olausson. Moe Mantha.G&mdash;Bob Essensa. Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brent Ashton. LW, facial fracture<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Elynuik, 31. A&mdash;Housley, 53. P&mdash;Housley 76. PIM&mdash; Donnelly. 263. &#9632;

MURDOCH PAYS PRICE FOR INCONSISTENT SEASON

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BEAMISH</div>The Canucks have had only two winning seasons, in 1975 and &lsquo;76, so perhaps the least surprising aspect of Vancouver&rsquo;s 1990-91 NHL season is that the team finished 15 games under the.500 mark.Vancouver was 28-43-9 in its 15th straight losing season, the longest such streak in league.The Detroit Red Wings (1973-74 to 1986-87) and Chicago Blackhawks (1946-47 to 1959-60) were previously tied with Vancouver at 14.Team scoring was down by two goals from last season, and the Canucks&rsquo; goals-against was up by nine, for a net decline of 11 goals from last season.All the factors for an explosive offensive team were supposed to be in place this season.Petr Nedved, Vancouver&rsquo;s first choice (2nd overall) in last season&rsquo;s draft, was supposed to add more scoring and muscle to the team.A better schedule, goaltending depth, and significant personnel changes&mdash;added up to a improvement of just one point&mdash;65 against 64&mdash;from 1989-90.But by winning games at crucial times, Vancouver showed an ability to come from behind, the resilience and strength of character that was needed to put them in the playoffsHere are some other surprises and disappointments in Vancouver&rsquo;s 1990-91 season:After the Canucks were destroyed 8-0 by Chicago March 3 and reached an emotional low point, coach and general manager Pat Quinn dealt Garth Butcher and Dan Quinn to the St. Louis Blues for Cliff Ronning, Geoff Courtnall, Sergio Momesso and Robert Dirk at the March 5 trading deadline.The Canucks improved greatly from the trade.Another surprise was the emergence of Canucks&rsquo; rookie Gino Odjick is one of only six reserve natives who have gone on to play in the NHL in the league&rsquo;s 74-year history.Trevor Linden also raised eyebrows this season with his strong play.Bitten by the sophomore bug in 1989-90, Trevor Linden reasserted his leadership and scoring touch in his third NHL season.Despite the positive performances this season, the Canucks endured several disappointments.Perhaps the biggest was the failure of Soviet stars Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov.Goaltender Kirk McLean, who led NHL goalies with 63 appearances last season and was runner-up to the Vezina Trophy in &lsquo;89, was also disappointing.A final disappointment in Vancouver&rsquo;s season was the firing of coach Bob McCammon.Picked by most to finish last in the Smythe, the Canucks were one of the NHL&rsquo;s early-season surprises and reached the.500 mark (1717-3) Dec. 22.But the Canucks went 2-13-2 in their next 17 games, a slide which cost head coach Bob McCammon his job Jan.31.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 31: Steve McKichan, G, assigned to Milwaukee (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Igor Larionov, Petr Nedved, Rob Murphy.LW&mdash;Geoff Courtnail, Steve Bozek. Sergio Momesso, Gino Odjick, Garry Valk.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Dave Capuano, Jay Mazur, Jim Sandlak, Stan Smyl.LD&mdash;Tom Kurvers, Robert Dirk, Jyrki Lumme, Adrien Plavsic.RD&mdash;Doug Lidster. Dana Murzyn, Gerald Diduck. Jim Agnew. Robert Nordmark.G&mdash;Troy Gamble, Bob Mason.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Greg Adams. LW, sprained wrist and forearm, indefinite. Robert Kron, LW, knee surgery, indefinite. Kirk McLean. G, tendinitis in wrist, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Linden, Courtnall, 33. A&mdash;Linden, 36. P&mdash; Linden, 69 PIM&mdash;Odjick, 296. &#9632;

KEY TRADE HELPED CLINCH BIRTH

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>The dates Oct. 16 and Feb. 18 have been circled on the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; 1990-91 calendar.The autumn date clearly epitomizes the single worst moment endured by the defending Stanley Cup champions during a NHL season of discontent.Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Craig Muni knocked St. Louis Blues&rsquo; left winger Dave Lowry into Mark Messier, causing an excrutiating jolt of pain in the Edmonton captain&rsquo;s left knee.Feb. 18 signalled one of the Oilers&rsquo; better days of the season.Goaltender Grant Fuhr, who had been suspended for the entire pre-season and 59 games of the regular season for admitted drug use. returned to the NHL after being reinstated by president John Ziegler.The 28-year-old played like he never missed a beat, turning aside 27 shots in blanking the Devils 4-0 in New Jersey.But more on the good news later.First a look at the bad&hellip;Messier was supposed to miss six to eight weeks after tearing a ligament in his left knee.But after the Oilers&rsquo; lost for a team record nine games in succession, the burly center made a premature return to the lineup.The Oilers record had dropped to a dismal 2-11-2 before his return Nov. 14&mdash;two days shy of a month. Messier returned with a vengeance, sparking the Oilers to a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton&rsquo;s first triumph over a Smythe Division foe.Messier missed an 8-3 Dec. 15 loss in Los Angeles when his knee acted up again. And when Messier locked knees with Doug Gilmour Dec. 22 in Calgary, he was gone again, this time for eight games. When he returned, he wore a knee brace for the first time in his career.Messier suffered another major injury Feb. 11 against Pittsburgh.He was tripped by Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso on a breakaway, tumbled into the end boards and suffered a fractured thumb.Messier missed another eight games, and has been playing with a cast on his thumb since.&ldquo;It makes it tough to shoot,&rdquo; he said.The Oilers&rsquo; combined record with Messier out of the line-up: 8-17-2.The nine losses in succession, which included back-to-back l-0 shutouts at home, rate as the second worst thing to happen this season.The Oilers were shut out a team record five times this season. And for an outfit that has never managed less than 301 goals per season. they finished with a paltry 272.The lack of offense may be traced to sub-par production from Glenn Anderson (24 goals), Esa Tikkanen (27) and Craig Simpson (30).Simpson&rsquo;s 30 goals weren&rsquo;t horrendous, but obviously there was room for improvement, especially when one considers only nine came at home.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather be a road player than a homer,&rdquo; said Simpson of his 21 road tallies.Fuhr&rsquo;s return from a lengthy suspension for admitted drug abuse provided the Oilers with the finest goaltending tandem in the NHL heading into the playoffs.With Fuhr missing almost the entire 1989-90 campaign with injuries, Bill Ranford emerged as a bonafide NHL netminder, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable performer during the Stanley Cup playoffs.Coach John Muckier must now decide which one to employ to start the title defense&mdash;a difficult decision but one that makes Muckier the envy of opposition coaches.While the Oilers&rsquo; struggled around.500 all season, they did make one substantial run.From Game 16 (Messier&rsquo;s initial return from his knee injury) to Game 52. their 25-11-1 record was tops in the NHL during that span.The emergence of 40-goaI man Petr Klima was another bright spot.Despite scoring the triple overtime goal during Game I of the 1990 final series with Boston, Klima was used sparingly for most of last season&rsquo;s playoffs. But as this season wore down. Klima was even killing penalties.And he scored three times during the last game to reach 40 goals and a personal $ 120.000 bonus.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 30: Francois Leroux, D. recalled from Cape Breton (AHL). April 2: Leroux assigned to Cape Breton<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Adam Graves, Mark Lamb, Ken Linseman.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Kelly Buchberger. Martin Gelinas, Esa Tikkanen.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Dave Brown, Joe Murphy, Petr Klima. Anatoli Semenov.LD&mdash;Steve Smith, Kevin Lowe. Charlie Huddy, Geoff Smith.RD&mdash;Jeff Beukeboom, Norm Maciver. Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Grant Fuhr.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Craig Muni. D, strained back, day-to-day.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Klima, 40. A&mdash;Messier, 51 P&mdash;Tikkanen, 69. PIM&mdash;Smith. 193. &#9632;

MESSIER’S INJURIES CREATED PAINFUL MOMENTS

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>For the Los Angeles Kings, the 1990-91 regular season was one for the ages, a magical ride that included the first division championship in the franchise&rsquo;s 24-year history.&ldquo;Very sweet,&rdquo; said captain Wayne Gretzky, whose 163 points enabled him to walk off with his record ninth scoring title and who finished with a club-record-tying 25-game points scoring streak.The Kings, who finished with a club-rccord 46 wins and 102 points, will play fourth-place Vancouver in a Smythe Division semifinal.Coach Tom Webster, who was slapped with a four-game suspension and $5,000 fine on March 28 for exchanging punches with Calgary&rsquo;s Doug Gilmour in a fight-filled game March 23, was equally excited.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s most gratifying is how we were able to play so consistently under all circumstances.&rdquo; Webster said.The team&rsquo;s second-biggest surprise was their improvement on defense.Not only did Kelly Hrudey and Daniel Berthiaume provide solid goaltending, but coach Tom Webster coerced his arsenal of high-scoring forwards to discover the art of back-checking.As a result, the Kings permitted only 254 goals (a 3.13 goals-against average)&mdash;83 fewer than in the pre-vious season and the lowest total since 1977-78. when 245 were allowed.The play of the oldtimers&mdash;Larry Robinson, 39, Dave Taylor. 35. and John Tonelli. 33&mdash;was the other big surprise.Robinson, who finished at plus-22, was a steadying influence who rarely turned the puck over in his own end after struggling in his first season in LA.Taylor rebounded from his worst year as a pro to score 23 goals and was a plus-27. Tonelli didn&rsquo;t come close to matching the 31-goal seasons he posted in each of the previous two seasons, but he scored 14 goals in a limited role and was a plus-three.Lost in the glory of the Kings&rsquo; successful season were a tew disappointments.Topping the list was Webster&rsquo;s four-game suspension for slugging Calgary&rsquo;s Doug Gilmour March 23.The Kings&rsquo; erratic power play was also disappointing. They scored 80 power-play goals but gave up 18 shorthanded goals, tying them with St. Louis for last in the league.Daniel Berthiarume&rsquo;s late season slump gets the nod as the third biggest disappointment this season.The Bandit won nine of his first 10 decisions and was superb for five months. But he tailed to win a game in March, going 0-3-2 with one nodecision and a bloated 4.68 GAA. Hrudey will get the lion&rsquo;s share of the postseason work.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky. Todd Elik. Sieve Kasper, John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Tony Granato, Luc Robitaille, John Tonelli. Mike Donnelly. Brad Jones, Scott Bjugstad.RW&mdash;-Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Bob Kudelski, Jay Miller. Ilkka Sinisalo, Jim Thomson.LD&mdash;Larry Robinson, Brian Benning, Tim Watters. Bob Halkidis.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Rob Blake. Marty McSorley. Rod Buskas.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, out for season.<h3>LEADERS</h3>G&mdash;Robitaille, Sandstrom, 45. A&mdash; Gretzky. 122. P&mdash;Gretzky, 163. PIM&mdash; Milter. 259. &#9632;

SMYTHE CHAMPIONSHIP A COMPLETE SURPRISE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01295/5933656-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01306/5933649-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="1237" height="2407"></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

CLASSIFIED

Through March 26, 73 high-sticking majors had been called in the NHL this season&mdash;down from 120 last season. In addition to HS majors, five butt-ending majors, five cross-checking majors, seven slashing majors and 25 spearing majors were also called. Calgary&rsquo;s Frantisek Musil led the league with three high-sticking majors. &ldquo;Our main focus this season was to keep the stick work out of the face and that message has been delivered,&rdquo; NHL director of officiating Bryan Lewis said.<h2>HE&rsquo;S THE BOSS</h2>Toronto Maple Leaf&rsquo;s right winger Kevin Maguire has let the cat out of the bag on who will be the next chief executive officer/director of hockey operations at Maple Leaf Gardens. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s me,&rdquo; Maguire says jokingly. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re grooming me for the job and I want a five-year contract.&rdquo;<h2>QUESTION OF THE WEEK:</h2>Was it a letdown that you didn&rsquo;t capture first place in the Norris Division?&ldquo;I just wish we had one more game against those guys,&rdquo; said St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goaltender Vince Riendeau, referring to the Chicago Blackhawks. &ldquo;But we did our very best every night and some nights it&rsquo;s not going to work.&rdquo; &#9632;

STICK WORK DOWN FROM LAST SEASON

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS STEVENSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02227/5933711-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="542" height="615"></div>A conversation with Stephane Richer is probably like facing him on the ice.He moves left.He moves right.He gathers speed and then there&rsquo;s the hard shot that knocks you off balance.In the space of a couple of days recently, the enigmatic right winger threw the following verbal moves:&#9632; He will play out his option next season and will consider playing with the expansion Ottawa Senators in 18 months time;&#9632; His six-year love-hate relationship with the Montreal fans hit its lowest point this season;&#9632; A six-year-old kid gave him the best advice he has heard in a long time;&#9632; The playoffs will be his redemption.&#9632; He&rsquo;s not gay and can&rsquo;t figure out why people keep saying he is.The 24-year-old native of Ripon, Que., has had the most bewildering, frustrating, bizarre season in his six years with the Montreal Canadiens.There was early optimism in the fall.There was a new one-year contract worth $750,000.There was the prospect of lining up with Shayne Corson and Denis Savard and sparkling numbers that would outshine his career best 51-goal, 91-point season of last season.And with four goals and seven points in his first four games, he had increased expectations.But then, nothing.Four goals in the next 15 games.Last season, Richer finished with 51 goals, the second time he hit the magic 50 (he had 50 in &lsquo;87-88).This year he had 31.And his bargaining power has gone the way of the economy&mdash;straight downhill.&ldquo;With the season I&rsquo;ve had, I&rsquo;m not going to be in a very good position to negotiate,&rdquo; he said after a recent game.Richer said he&rsquo;ll play out his option and hopes there will be new free agency rules as a result of the new collective bargaining agreement which will be negotiated this summer between the Players&rsquo; Association and owners.He&rsquo;s hoping to qualify as a free agent without compensation if the qualifying period is dropped from its present 10 years to six or seven.&ldquo;If everything works out, there&rsquo;s going to be a new club in Ottawa, not too far from my home,&rdquo; he said.But in the next breath, Richer denies he really wants to leave Montreal, despite his wildly vacillating relationship with Montreal fans.He admitted the day he was booed by 18,000 kids at a promotional practice was the lowest point of his professional life.&ldquo;Honestly, it was really, really a day I&rsquo;d like to forget,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My first game in Montreal they shouted my name. Now there are some nights when I don&rsquo;t want to play in the Forum. I&rsquo;m wondering, &lsquo;What are the fans going to do tonight?&rsquo;&ldquo;I was out shopping near my home a few days ago and this six or seven-year-old boy said to my friend, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t cheer for the Canadiens anymore because Stephane Richer doesn&rsquo;t smile anymore after he scores a goal. He used to dance.&rsquo; I had no answer. But what he said hit me in the heart. It showed me how much a model I am for some kids. I have to think of that.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not enough Richer has to score. He has to worry about how he looks after scoring.Then there are the rumors. The rumor that Richer&rsquo;s gay won&rsquo;t go away.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned so many things this season,&rdquo; Richer said. &ldquo;I had a great season last year, and the first day of this season there are rumors. Something&rsquo;s always out there. Maybe it&rsquo;s because I&rsquo;m still a bachelor. Maybe it&rsquo;s because I&rsquo;m popular. I keep asking myself &lsquo;why?&rsquo; The only answer I can come up with is thats Mon-treal, maybe?&rdquo;But in Montreal, what truly counts is how you do in the playoffs and Richer&rsquo;s hoping a postseason run of two months will wipe out the bitter and lingering feelings of the last six.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to having great playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a money player. I like to win. There&rsquo;s no tomorrow in the playoffs and I love that challenge. A good playoff and I can set myself up for next year. I&rsquo;m young and I can put everything on my side.&rdquo;The Habs are hoping so, too.Their playoff success swings on Patrick Roy&rsquo;s ability to keep pucks out of the net and Richer&rsquo;s ability to put them in.Chris Stevenson covers the Montreal Canadiens for the Ottawa Sun. &#9632;

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RICHER SHOOTING FOR PLAYOFF REDEMPTION

Few NHL teams have finished first in total points and penalty minutes in the same season. But Mike Keenan&rsquo;s Chicago Blackhawks might this season. Through Match 25, Chicago led the league with 101 points and 2.323 penalty minutes. Los Angeles (2,159 PIM) and Calgary (2,048 PIM) were in second and third respectively. All three were were among the top five in the overall standings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03193/5933742-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="564" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Keenan</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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April 12, 1991

PHILOSOPHICAL CHANGES SPARK MID-SEASON SURGE

LAFLEUR’S SWAN SONG AN EMOTIONAL AFFAIR

PLAYOFFS: YOUR GUIDE TO ALL FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS

ROADRUNNERS REFUELED BY LATE ADDITIONS