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.

November 1, 1991

The Hockey News November 1, 1991

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>Wendelmania should return earlier than expected.Toronto Maple Leaf captain Wendel Clark was cleared to resume skating after suffering a partially tom medial collateral ligament in his left knee Oct. 7. The healing period was expected to be four to six weeks, but it&rsquo;s now thought he might be back in the line-up forthe first week of November.His return would be welcomed by the Leafs, who lost five straight games after he went down. Clark had nine points, including five goals, and was the NHL&rsquo;s leading scorer when he was injured in a collision with St. Louis&rsquo; Ron Sutter in a 3-0 Leaf win.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be back much earlier than people thought,&rdquo; Leaf president-general manager Cliff Fletcher said. &ldquo;If he can skate in seven days, then he can play in 14.&rdquo;Clark will be fitted with a new brace that allows him to move the joint freely for skating purposes.NEW ASSISTANT: Fletcher is expected to name an assistant GM by the end of October, and the leading candidate is thought to be former player agent and Leaf radio color commentator Bill Watters.Fletcher confirmed he discussed the job with Watters, who was clearly excited.Other candidates for the job include former Leaf GM Gord Stel lick, player agents Gus Badali and Bob Murray, minor-league executive Don Waddell and Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; (Ontario League) GM Sam McMaster.Watters said he relished the job because of his respect for Fletcher and long-time love affair with the Maple Leafs.Watters has been a candidate for a number of high-profile sports positions in recent years, including GM of the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, commissioner of the Canadian Football League and executive-director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very sensitive to finishing second,&rdquo; Watters said.He said he turned down an offer from Quebec president Marcel Aubut four years ago to join the Nords as an assistant GM.NOTEBOOK: Todd Gill broke the baby finger on his right hand in a fierce scrap with St. Louis Slugger Darin Kimble Oct. 15. It was first feared the hand was broken, but Gill should be able to play with a splint and was only expected to miss a couple of games&hellip;Daniel Marois has been shifted to left wing, and scored his first goal of the season from that position Oct. 17 against Calgary.Fletcher visited cancer-stricken Bob Johnson in Colorado Springs, Colo. Johnson&rsquo;s son Peter is working for the Leafs as a full-time scout&hellip;Grant Fuhr was pulled in two consecutive games against St. Louis and Calgary after allowing nine goals in less than three periods. He was pulled after 20 minutes in 6-4 loss to Calgary after allowing three goals on three shots. X-rays after the Calgary game showed Fuhr had strained ligaments in his catching hand, and missed his next start. Fuhr missed the team flight from Winnipeg to Vancouver Oct. 20 without explanation. He arrived on a later flight.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Zezel, Brian Bradley, Tom Fergus, Mike Krushelnyski. Dave Hannan, Ken Linseman.LW&mdash;Mike Bullard, Craig Berube, Daniel Marois, Claude Loiselle, Rob Cimetta.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Rob Pearson, Glenn Anderson, Lucien DeBlois, Mike Foligno.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Bob Rouse, Michel Petit.RD&mdash;Darryl Shannon, Alexander Godynyuk, Bob Halkldis.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark. LW. torn ligaments in left knee, indefinite. Todd Gill, D. broken finger, Oct. 27. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Captain Clark to return earlier than expected

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01643/6026890-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02450/6026883-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="997" height="707"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03340/6026876-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="1004" height="653"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04276/6026869-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="997" height="523"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05226/6026862-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="993" height="122"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06193/6026855-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="1001" height="708"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07173/6026848-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="995" height="659"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08155/6026841-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="994" height="682"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09136/6026834-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="991" height="500"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-10120/6026827-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="997" height="236"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-11104/6026820-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="998" height="651"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIANS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1295/6026813-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="998" height="653"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1385/6026806-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="991" height="631"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1480/6026799-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="995" height="472"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01354/6026792-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="996" height="226"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02235/6026785-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="1001" height="708"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03169/6026778-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="994" height="693"></div><h2>PITTSBU RGHPENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04134/6026771-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="996" height="638"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05113/6026764-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="1004" height="682"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0699/6026757-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="1001" height="169"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0790/6026750-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="998" height="551"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0881/6026743-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="999" height="677"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0970/6026736-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="998" height="708"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1069/6026729-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="994" height="615"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1166/6026722-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="995" height="608"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1262/6026715-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="990" height="684"></div><h2>GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1359/6026708-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="989" height="2333"></div><h2>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1451/6026701-1-eng-US/f0040-142.jpg" title="f0040-14" width="985" height="205"></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>He may be 65, but Len Ceglarski knows the secret of youth.The Boston College coach&mdash;who plans to retire at the end of the season&mdash;finds his zest for life renewed each day when he arrives at the rink.The excitement is still strong even though he is about to begin his 34th year as a Division I coach and his 20th season at BC. He previously coached at Clarkson for 14 seasons.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t hit me yet,&rdquo; Ceglarski said of his upcoming retirement. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still anxious to coach. My routine doesn&rsquo;t change from year to year. Once in a while, I start counting the months.&ldquo;Coaching keeps me busy enough so I don&rsquo;t have much time to think about what&rsquo;s going to happen. I&rsquo;m just going to go out and do the best job I can this year.&rdquo;The Walpole, Mass., native&mdash;a triple letterwinner in hockey and baseball at BC&mdash;enters the season with an overall mark of 659-321-35. His record at BC is 405-224-24 after going 254-97-11 at Clarkson.Ceglarski has been to the NCAA Tournament&rsquo;s Final Four eight times, four at each school. He has never won an NCAA championship.MUSICAL CHAIRS: The University of Maine Black Bears will practise or play at five different rinks in Maine this season.The reason? A $3.9-million expansion to Alfond Arena which will include the addition of 1,800 seats and 12 luxury boxes.The Bears won&rsquo;t begin practising at Alfond until Nov. 7.The construction process will be ongoing throughout the season with new seats expected in place Jan. 15. The entire project will be completed in April.The Bears have been practising at the Sockalexis Memorial Ice Arena on Indian Island, approximately five miles from Alfond Arena. They also held a one-day practice at Sukee Arena in Winslow, 60 miles away. have handled the hectic travel schedule well.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve put their noses to the grindstone and worked hard,&rdquo; said Walsh. &ldquo;The work ethic has been excellent and their attitude has&rsquo; been great.&rdquo;In conjunction with their rink-hopping, Walsh, his staff and players are holding several free hockey clinics for youngsters in the areas they visit.NO CHANGE: Hockey East has changed its tournament formats more often than Elizabeth Taylor changes husbands. But this year, the league will stick to last year&rsquo;s single-elimination style for tournament play. All eight teams will qualify with the number eight team visiting the top seed; No. 7 at No. 2; No. 3 at No. 6 and No. 4 at No. 5. Semifinalists from Hockey East and the Eastern College Athletic Conference will square off during Hockeyfest &rsquo;92 at Boston Garden March 12-14.TV TIMES: For the eighth season, the New England Sports Network will televise league games. NESN and Hockey East are entering the first year of a new three-year contract. It marks the longest continuing relationship between a college hockey conference and a television network. NESN will televise 27 regular season games, 20 Hockey East games and seven more involving conference teams against ECAC teams.In addition, NESN will televise the Beanpot Tournament semifinals and the Hockeyfest &rsquo;92 semifinals and finals (ECAC and Hockey East).<h2>UND could be called UNHL</h2>You won&rsquo;t find &ldquo;NHL-101&rdquo; on the course list at the University of North Dakota, but you wouldn&rsquo;t know it to look at the NHL early this season.A total of 16 UND grads&mdash;including top goalies Jon Casey and Ed Belfour&mdash;were on league rosters as of Oct. 17. That puts the Fighting Sioux firmly at the head of the class when it comes to producing NHLers. Here are the five other schools with the most alumni now playing in the NHL:Wisconsin, WCHA, (13): The list includes two of NHL&rsquo;s top offensive defensemen&mdash;Chris Chelios and Gary Suter.Bowling Green, CCHA, (11): Goalie Mike Liut represents the old guard;-Rob Blake the new wave.Minnesota, WCHA, (10): Nine of the 10 are native Minnesotans&mdash;includings Neal Broten and Mike Ramsey.Michigan State, CCHA, (10): Nearly one-third of grads come from Miller family&mdash;Kevin, Kip and Kelly.Boston College, Hockey East, (8): Talented grads include Craig Janney, Kevin Stevens and Brian Leetch. &#9632;

Ceglarski aiming for regal exit

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011107/6025746-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The North Stars are waiting for Mike Modano to translate his awesome talent into offensive production. (Photo by Bruce Bennet/BBS)</figcaption></div>Mike Modano is growing up in the NHL&rsquo;s fast lane. And the speed limit is about to change.When the 21-year-old right winger rejoined the Minnesota North Stars after six weeks with Team USA in the Canada Cup, he looked a step faster despite the fact he already was one of the fastest Stars.&ldquo;I think Mike has taken his game to another level,&rdquo; said Team USA and Minnesota teammate Jim Johnson. &ldquo;It was obvious when Mike came to (Team USA) camp he was determined to be one of the better players. He had it set in his mind he was going to make that team.&rdquo;Modano failed to score in the Stars&rsquo; first five games this season but he did have four assists and was a big part of a power play which was clicking at a 22.2 per cent success rate. Modano was also partly responsible for linemate Dave Gagner&rsquo;s good start&mdash;four goals in five games. However, Modano&rsquo;s main role on the Stars is to supply offense, especially goals, and so far he hasn&rsquo;t done that.&ldquo;I expect Mike to be a better player this year, just like I expect Mark Tinordi and some of our other young players to improve,&rdquo; coach Bob Gainey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s only 2l years old, he shouldn&rsquo;t be expected to go to the head of the class right now.&rdquo;Slow starts are nothing new to Modano. He struggled through the first two-thirds of last season, scoring just 15 goals in the Stars&rsquo; first 58 games and was benched for the first time in his career&mdash;Oct. 27 against Detroit. Hockey became work instead of fun.Modano and Gainey talked about the situation but nothing helped. Finally, in early February, Gainey moved Modano from center to right wing on a line with Gagner and Brian Propp. He had 13 goals in the last 21 games and averaged nearly a point per game in the playoffs.Modano&rsquo;s first two NHL seasons have not been without their trying times. He has played under the scrutiny that accompanies the first choice (1988) at the NHL draft. First he was compared to Vancouver&rsquo;s Trevor Linden (second overall in 1988). Then, because of Minnesota&rsquo; rivalry with Chicago, to Roenick, the Hawks&rsquo; first pick that year (eighth overall).Modano didn&rsquo;t even make his NHL debut until the 1989 playoffs because of a contract impasse with the Stars. He returned to Prince Albert of the Western League for the regular season where he was a dominating force. Despite suffering a broken wrist at the WHL all-star game which caused him to miss 25 games, Modano recorded a team-leading 105 points in 41 games. He then signed a four-year deal with the Stars for $750,000.But in light of the recent salary explosion&mdash;and Modano&rsquo;s importance to the team&mdash;the Stars reworked his contract and will now pay him $600,000 for each of the next two seasons.&ldquo;The Canada Cup was good for my confidence,&rdquo; Modano said. &ldquo;It was a great experience to play with and against the best players in the world.&rdquo;Modano finished the tournament tied for his team&rsquo;s scoring lead with nine points on two goals and seven assists. And while he established himself as one of the most talented players in the game, it won&rsquo;t mean a thing if the results don&rsquo;t start showing up on the scoresheet. For all that Modano has accomplished at a young age, when you watch him play you expect so much more. He&rsquo;s the fastest skater on the team and he has the hardest, most accurate shot. It only seems a matter of time before he puts it all together. The Stars hope that time comes soon. &#9632;

f0017-01

Shifting Gears

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011339/6025130-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="357" height="361"></div><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021080/6025123-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="36" height="36">Paul Coffey: The Penguins&rsquo; majestic defenseman set the record for most points by a defenseman (1,053).<img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03775/6025116-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="36" height="36">Derek King: Isles&rsquo; winger broke Mike Bossy&rsquo;s team mark for the fastest three goals in a game (78 seconds).<img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04554/6025109-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="37" height="37">Alex Mogilny: His be havior&mdash;firing Don Meehan, alienating teammates&mdash;is not what the Sabres need.<img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05403/6025102-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="37" height="37">The Oilers: Is anybody happy playing (or not playing) for the five-time Stanley Cup champions?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06291/6025095-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="362" height="357"></div> &#9632;

f0002-01

CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07192/6025161-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="490" height="502"></div>Seventy-five good things about the NHL&hellip;1. Wayne and Walter Gretzky. 2. Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s style. 3. Gordie Howe&rsquo;s substance. 4. Memories of Charlie Hodge. 5. Rocket Richard&rsquo;s commitment. 6. Amazing Grace and Louie, who gave us the Sutter boys. 7. Pierre Mondou&rsquo;s skating. 8. Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer. 9. The captain&rsquo;s patch on Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s Original Six uniform. 10. Players named Sergei.11. Swift Current coach Graham James: he qualifies for three reasons&mdash;he has sent players to the NHL, I like him and it&rsquo;s my list. 12. Christian sticks. 13. Cliff Fletcher: intelligence without arrogance. 14. Hockey cards with bubble gum. 15. Multiculturalism. 16. The marriage of two solitudes. 17. Saturday morning game-day skates. 18. The 1972 Summit Series. 19. Canada Cup &rsquo;87 final. 20. Sitting on the players&rsquo; bench at Maple Leaf Gardens.21. Bill Mosienko&rsquo;s three goals in 21 seconds. 22. The skill of Mike Modano. 23. The desire of Dave Gagner. 24. Jean Beliveau&rsquo;s dignity. 25. Orland Kurtenbach: what a great name. 26. Anti-fighting advocates. 27. Mike Keenan. 28. George Hainsworth&rsquo;s 22 shutouts. 29. J.C. Tremblay&rsquo;s wrist shot. 30. Roseau, Minn.31. Bob Turner, the anonymous member of Montreal&rsquo;s five-straight Stanley Cup championship team. 32. Sudden-death Mel Hill. 33. Mike Bossy, who ranks with Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the finest post-expansion forwards. 34. The 1991 all-star logo. 35. The entry draft. 36. European hockey players. 37. Harry Sinden. 38. Ted Lindsay&rsquo;s face. 39. The picture of Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring the Stanley Cup winner in 1970. 40. Noel Picard, for having the sense of drama to trip Orr.41. Howie Morenz, triumph and tragedy. 42. The fascinating career of Doug Harvey. 43. Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. 44. The uniqueness of Robbie Ftorek. 45. Denis Potvin&rsquo;s candor. 46. Mike Smith, the most unlikely GM in professional sport. 47. Eric Nesterenko&rsquo;s skating and acting.48. Jacques Plante. 49. The game&rsquo;s early heroes: One-Eyed Frank McGee and Cyclone Taylor. 50. The magic of 50-goal seasons.51. Sweater numbers between 1 and 30. 52. The incomparable Danny Gallivan. 53. Dave Poulin. 54. Rod Lang way, the only defensive defenseman from the last 50 years to place second in voting for the Hart Trophy. 55. Scouts: David Conte, David McNab, Pierre, Dorion, Ted Hampson, Ken Holland, Pierre Gauthier, Jack Button. 56. Gerry Cheevers&rsquo; goalie mask. 57. Ron Greschner&rsquo;s wife.58. Pierre Page&rsquo;s eyes. 59. Lester Patrick&rsquo;s hair. 60. Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s jaw.61. The Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; first logo. 62. Hall-of-Fame linesman George Hayes. 63. W Muldoon&rsquo;s Curse. 64. Stability in Chicago front office: five GMs in the team&rsquo;s 66-year history. 65. Instant replays on goal calls. 66. Hip checks. 67. The first year of expansion: 1967. 68. Goalies&mdash;the bravest athletes in sport. 69. Jacques Demers. 70. Bobby Hull, a loose cannon with a cannon for a shot.71. Ken Dryden&rsquo;s career winning percentage: .758. 72. Kirkland Lake, Ont. 73. Best-named villains anywhere: the Hunters, Dale and Tim. 74. The Big M and Boom-Boom Geoffrion. 75. What it represents at its best: the joy and spirit of hockey. &#9632;

f0002-07

Honoring the NHL’s past and present

The San Jose Sharks probably won&rsquo;t win more than 20 games this season, but they&rsquo;ll more than make up for it in the sports merchandising department.Licensed Sharks&rsquo; merchandise is selling at a remarkable pace across North America. It has accounted for 24 per cent of all NHL licensed products sold since the beginning of the regular season, easily surpassing Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; merchandise.The first-year NHL club will struggle on the ice, but that hasn&rsquo;t stopped people from wearing their shirts or collecting their memorabilia.&ldquo;The business generated by the new San Jose Sharks has been explosive and dynamic as all new franchises create excitement,&rdquo; said Doug Kelcher, vice-president of Time-Warner Sports Merchandising, which handles retail product licensing for the NHL in Canada.&rdquo;Whether you want a new Sharks&rsquo; jersey or prefer the old standby Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; sweaters, there&rsquo;s one thing you must remember&mdash;plan early. If you&rsquo;re buying Christmas gifts for friends and family, the time to buy NHL licensed merchandise is now. Plus, you should allow at least four weeks for delivery through the mail.With so many retail outlets and mail order organizations offering NHL team-related products, the task of buying the right gift for the right person can be confusing. Not all NHL products are created equal.To eliminate some of the confusion, all advertisements seen in The Hockey News promote official NHL products, registered exclusively with Time-Warner Sports Merchandising.This relationship ensures that everything ordered by mail will be the finest quality merchandise available, whether it&rsquo;s an official NHL team sweater, hat or jacket.As was the case in past seasons, a wide selection of official NHL merchandise is available to hockey fans this year.&ldquo;NHL sales as a whole are stronger than they&rsquo;ve ever been,&rdquo; said Bob McLaughlin, director of sports licensing at Time-Warner. &ldquo;The traditional best sellers are maintaining their momentum. Sales are strong in all sectors of licensed product areas&mdash;outerwear, apparel, headwear, gifts, souvenirs and toys.&rdquo;Perhaps the most popular gift item over the years has been the official NHL team jerseys and jackets. That trend should continue this year, with several styles and designs in all price ranges available.Before purchasing a jersey or jacket, determining the correct size is essential. Know the size of the person you&rsquo;re buying a jacket for and check with the company selling the product. Nothing is worse than seeing a child&rsquo;s face light up after they&rsquo;ve opened their gift, only to see their smile disappear if the apparel is too big or too small.While official NHL jerseys and jackets are always popular gift items, other NHL clothing products make good gifts as well. A variety of clothing items that will be big hits again this Christmas include: NHL hats, nightshirts, oversized T-shirts, sweatwear, leather and down-filled jackets, golf shirts and turtlenecks. All NHL clothing comes in a variety of styles for all members of the family.In addition to clothing products, NHL souvenirs make a great little gift or an excellent stocking staffer. Several types of official NHL souvenirs are available by mail order including: NHL watches, clocks, hats, toques, scarves, wristbands, key chains, spoons, mugs, posters and pens.Two souvenir gift items that continue to grow in popularity are lapel stick pins and NHL pucks. Both items make great gifts for the collector on your list.The boom in the hockey card market is expected to continue this year. Card collectors have numerous hockey card sets to choose from. A box or set of cards not only makes a great gift, but is bound to become an excellent investment.Fans looking for a gift with a little more action might want to choose a table-top hockey game. Several models are offered this year starting at $150. Many of the newest table top hockey games come with sounds and accessories that make the game come to life before your eyes.Other gift items that are growing in popularity are NHL highlight and instructional videos.Besides videos, the NHL has several different publications that make great gifts, including the league&rsquo;s annual Official Guide and Record Book. NHL calenders are also available.If you haven&rsquo;t come up with a good gift idea yet, keep in mind the NHL also offers official name brand hockey equipment, available through mail order. &#9632;

Sharks’ merchandise scores as Christmas hit

<div class="byline">By Mike Beamish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011411/6025247-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaltender Kirk McLean is back where he belongs after suffering through his worst season as a pro last year.</figcaption></div>Quick. Somebody alert the eastern media. Wake up, you guys. The Vancouver Canucks, heretofore known as the blandest, losingest team in North American pro sports, have gone weird on us. They&rsquo;re entertaining. They&rsquo;re winning. They&rsquo;re close to first place. The Vancouver Canucks. Imagine.Sure, I know. You&rsquo;re rolling your eyes. It&rsquo;s hard to imagine the Canucks remaining there for long, right? But then again, why not?If the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves can go from worst to first, if the Minnesota North Stars can reach the Stanley Cup finals, if the New Orleans Saints can lead the National Football League, if the Seattle Mariners can finish over .500, if Columbia University can win a U.S. college football game, if Gino Odjick can score on a penalty shot&hellip;Hold on to your helmets, but another one of the great sporting truths is about to come crashing down. The Canucks have not only become a decent team, they led the Smythe Division with 13 points after eight games&mdash;three more than last year&rsquo;s division champion Los Angeles Kings. What&rsquo;s more, they&rsquo;re playing as if they should be.Great starts don&rsquo;t mean much if you&rsquo;re the Oilers, Rangers, Bruins or Canadiens. But this is the Canucks, remember? Fifteen straight losing seasons. Two winning seasons in 21 years. Never had a player score 50 goals or 100 points in a season. Never had an all-star selection or an individual trophy winner. Lousy management. Ill-considered trades. Bad karma. Mediocre teams.It&rsquo;s possible that might be becoming a bad memory.This could be the team of the &rsquo;90s in the Smythe Division. Clearly, they&rsquo;re the team of October, 1991.Vancouver fans have learned to be skeptical. So when the Canucks got off to the best start in their history&mdash;5-1-0&mdash;the first inclination was to say, who have they beaten? San Jose (twice), Winnipeg, Toronto, and Buffalo.But when the team tied Boston 3-3 Oct. 17&mdash;Bruin goalie Matt DelGuidice made more saves than Billy Graham&mdash;and whipped Calgary 5-2 Oct. 19&mdash;things got out of hand. New Canuck fans were running to catch up to the bandwagon.The Canucks are doing things they haven&rsquo;t in the past&mdash;scoring clutch goals, playing a disciplined game, getting stand-on-your-head goalkeeping from Kirk McLean and receiving quality leadership from captain Trevor Linden.Linden, 21, may hold the key to a successful season. The second overall pick in 1988, Linden signed the most lucrative contract in franchise history Oct. 19 (four years, $3.7 million) with the understanding he is the central figure in the Canucks&rsquo; future.On the ice, that is. Off the ice, it&rsquo;s the omnipotent Pat Quinn, the man who has assembled the best Canucks&rsquo; team since 1982&mdash;the year Vancouver made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup finals. Quinn is demolishing the Canucks&rsquo; hard-earned reputation as losers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always taken solace in the fact we played good games against teams like Calgary, even though we didn&rsquo;t usually win them,&rdquo; Quinn says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not good enough any more. People are making a big thing about our start, but we really have no reason to be cocky.&rdquo;Vancouver is a franchise that has never known glory years, only a few glory weeks. The Canucks never won a playoff series, other than in the spring of &rsquo;82 when they beat the Flames, Kings and Blackhawks before going out in four straight to the Islanders in final.But the Canucks&rsquo; regular-season record that year&mdash;30-33-17&mdash;was still on the minus side, and every team Vancouver defeated in the playoffs finished with fewer points. It was a fluke, plain and simple.Vancouver&rsquo;s only winning seasons came in 1974-75 (38-32-10) and 1975-76 (33-32-15). But put an asterisk in there. Washington and Kansas City, the latter joining Vancouver in the Smythe Division, entered the league in 1974. It was an easy time for the Canucks to fatten their record at the expense of weak expansion teams.The addition of San Jose in the Smythe&mdash;the Canucks play the Sharks seven times&mdash;almost guarantees Vancouver will be 10-12 points better this season. Making the playoffs shouldn&rsquo;t be a problem.Canuck management is strong after a period of instability. Hiring Quinn four years ago was one of Arthur Griffiths&rsquo; most sensible moves.Quinn was not the first choice&mdash;several top hockey men turned down the job&mdash;and the team&rsquo;s progress has been painstakingly slow. The Canucks finished with 59, 74, 64 and 65 points in Quinn&rsquo;s first four seasons.When a typical January swoon last season raised the prospect of missing the playoffs for the third time in four years, Quinn fired coach Bob McCammon Jan. 31 and stepped behind the bench.He decided to remain as coach to closely monitor the team.&ldquo;We got something going last spring and I didn&rsquo;t want to let it go,&rdquo; Quinn says.When Quinn took over, his goal was to trade for more size and depth without sacrificing draft picks. The Canucks have had a long history of poor drafting and trading away young talent&mdash;Boston&rsquo;s Cam Neely and Buffalo&rsquo;s Rick Vaive are two examples.While the draft has produced a couple of blue-chippers&mdash;Linden and Petr Nedved are the most prominent&mdash;Quinn&rsquo;s biggest impact has been on the trading front.Only two players&mdash;defenseman Doug Lidster and right winger Jim Sandlak&mdash;remain from the team Quinn inherited. With the exception of center&mdash;where size is still lacking&mdash;the Canucks&rsquo; lineup is hulking and experienced, especially on defense.The line with the most potential has right winger Linden and center Nedved playing with left winger Greg Adams.Encouraged by regular ice time on the first line and power play, Nedved is rebounding nicely after a disappointing rookie season&mdash;just 16 points in 61 games.Last season, the Canucks used 10 rookies. This year there are none, and veterans Ryan Walter, David Babych and Randy Gregg were added over the summer.&ldquo;They were winners in Montreal (Walter) and Edmonton (Gregg) and they&rsquo;ve brought some of that attitude to this team,&rdquo; says Gino Odjick.Nevertheless, Gregg has been unable to crack the starting defense&mdash;Lidster, Babych, Robert Dirk, Dana Murzyn, Gerald Diduck and Jyrki Lumme&mdash;which is big and difficult to penetrate.On the wings, Linden, Sandlak, Odjick, Sergio Momesso, Andrew McBain, Garry Valk and Jay Mazur have size and like to hit.McLean compares this season&rsquo;s no-fame defense to the one which finished with the third best defensive record in the NHL in 1988-89&mdash;the year the Canucks took the eventual champion Flames to overtime of the seventh game in their first-round playoff series.Last season was McLean&rsquo;s worst as a pro. A pulled groin, tendinitis in his wrist and inexplicable mistakes were the reasons behind the swoon. A Vezina Trophy finalist two years before, he was an anemic 10-22-3. But after five games this season, McLean was 5-0-0 with a 1.78 goals-against average. He won the NHL&rsquo;s first player-of-the-week award.There are plenty of theories about why the Canucks have failed over the years. An extensive travel schedule&mdash;especially in the early part of the season&mdash;has traditionally been blamed for the team&rsquo;s annual January slump.Quinn fought hard to adjust the team&rsquo;s schedule this season, to give the team sufficient time to recover after returning from a road trip.After going 4-1 on their first road trip, the Canucks returned home October 14 with the welcoming prospect of playing nine of their next 10 games at Pacific Coliseum. They&rsquo;ll have four road games in November, each a single-game trip within the Smythe Division.For the Canucks and their long-suffering fans, an institution may be about to crash and bum&mdash;the notion of the Canucks as perpetual losers. &#9632;

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Utterly Vantastic

I read with interest your coverage of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune article by Russ Conway, which took &ldquo;15 months to research and write&rdquo; (THN, Oct. 11). Conway&rsquo;s article was unduly repetitive, replete with innuendo, and unimaginative.The allegations in the article are merely a re-hash of everything I&rsquo;ve read in the Toronto sports columns over the past 15 years. No one has alleged, on the basis of fact, that Alan Eagleson has done anything wrong. The supposed &ldquo;expose&rdquo; in the book Net Worth is similarly dull and artificial.As for the sources, Ed Garvey was the author of the ill-founded NFL strike which destroyed the bargaining power of the NFLPA and Rich Winter has commenced so many legal proceedings that he is totally without credibility in my opinion.Please, tell us something new.Barry MacTavishToronto, Ont.<h2>Flying high</h2>Here are four reasons why the Philadelphia Flyers got the better of the trade that sent Ron Sutter and Murray Baron to St. Louis for Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Dan Quinn:1. Brind&rsquo;Amour will provide immediate scoring on the left side and will work wonders with Mike Ricci.2. Quinn will thrive on the Flyers&rsquo; power play and will be the second-line center the team so desperately needed.3. The Flyers did not need Sutter any longer. Steve Kasper fills the exact same role, but with better results.4. Baron will be a solid defenseman and will enjoy a lot of great seasons&hellip;in Peoria.Jeff MichaelsLas Vegas, Nev.<h2>Keen on Keenan</h2>Mike Keenan goofed? Why did he cut Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic? Who does Keenan think he is?Well, folks, he happens to be the man who has coached the two best hockey teams of the past eight years (Team Canada 1987 and 1991). He was able to win both Canada Cups by selecting the players he knew could do the job.What thanks has he received from the press and the fans? None! If Team Canada would have lost, Keenan never would have heard the end of it. Perhaps &ldquo;Iron Mike&rdquo; deserves just a tiny bit of the credit.Ken HausauerSuffield, Alta.<h2>King of P.R.</h2>Bruce McNall&rsquo;s purchase of the Los Angeles Kings and his subsequent trade for Wayne Gretzky has done more to promote hockey in the U.S. than the NHL has done since its inception in 1917.Ward RobitailleVisalia, Calif.<h2>Leave it alone</h2>I have seen plenty of boring baseball games, many, many boring football games, and virtually all basketball games are boring. But never have I seen a boring hockey game.Please tell Stan Fischler the game doesn&rsquo;t need fixing. It&rsquo;s fine just the way it is.Michael W. BurgessBloomington, Minn.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011589/6025278-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="548" height="817"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruce McNall</figcaption></div><h2>Lousy deal</h2>I don&rsquo;t begrudge the NHL on its decision to sign with SportsChannel America for $17 million per season, back in 1988. It was a large sum and the network promised much growth.But to sign another exclusive deal with the same network for less than one-third of the money offered in the previous contract is ludicrous.Why shut out 95 per cent of the United States from access to NHL broadcasts for a contract that wouldn&rsquo;t satisfy the Pittsburgh Pirates&rsquo; Bobby Bonilla? No doubt provincial halfwits such as John Ziegler and Joel Nixon will cause the popularity of hockey in America to regress.Well, enjoy the season guys. I sure wish I could.Bill FitzgeraldAthens, Ga.<h2>Burning Bernie</h2>It&rsquo;s too bad that Bernie Nicholls&rsquo; wife. Heather, will have three babies to take care of after she delivers her twins.Hopefully, she can teach respect, loyalty and class to the younger two. The older one is a lost cause.Rodney HupaloWest Hills, Calif.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-0753&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

f0006-01

Eagle articles tell tired stories

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021089/6025309-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB GAINEY CREATES THE &ldquo;HAPPY FACE.&rdquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0006-02

Elston

<h2>Policy aimed at treatment</h2>The NHL Players&rsquo; Association is considering a therapeutic drinking policy and the topic is part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.The proposed policy would assist players such as Quebec&rsquo;s John Kordic and Bryan Fogarty. Both players are dealing with alcohol-dependancy problems and have been able to play regularly this season.&ldquo;Currently, each club has its own policy dealing with players in this situation,&rdquo; NHLPA director of operations Sam Simpson said. &ldquo;But sometimes, a player might have doubts whether he wants to step forward.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03696/6025340-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="542" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Kordic</figcaption></div><h2>Bergen bit by golf bug</h2>The golf bug that bit Todd Bergen four years ago and ended a flourishing hockey career is still in his system in Prince Albert, Sask.Bergen, now 28, worked the past two years as a Canadian Professional&rsquo; Golf Association assistant at courses in Prince Albert and Saskatoon. He plans to travel and work as a pro in other cities and still has aspirations to earn a living on tour.Bergen scored 11 goals and 16 points in 14 games for Philadelphia in 1984-85 and added 13 points in 17 playoffs games. He never again played in the NHL and retired in 1987 to take up golfing. &#9632;

f0006-03

UPDATE

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>A 16-year-old goaltender from suburban Montreal was killed Oct. 20 after he was struck in the neck by a slap shot.Stephane Harvey, a goalie with the St-Hubert Jets midget team, was hit by the puck during the second period of a game against the Longueuil Sieurs.Serge Lapointe, Harvey&rsquo;s coach, told Le Journal de Montreal the goaltender was first hit in the mask by a slap shot, followed seconds later by another slap shot that struck the right side of his neck. Harvey collapsed on the ice and died soon after.Results of an autopsy were not available but it was believed Harvey choked on his own vomit.Players and coaches were in shock, many of them in tears, while a nurse tried to resuscitate Harvey at the Colisee Jean Beliveau.An angry Lapointe complained about the lack of proper first aid equipment at the arena and said the door to a clinic was locked. Players tried in vain to find a key.Lapointe said his goalie was wearing a standard cage mask with attached neck protector.Rejean Larue, one of the Jets&rsquo; trainers, told Le Journal de Montreal he believed Harvey would have survived had proper medical equipment been available.<h2>Sharks off-ice smash</h2>The San Jose Sharks may be struggling on the ice in their first NHL season, but they&rsquo;re winners at the souvenir stands.Sharks&rsquo; merchandise is the hottest selling product in the NHL. Over the past three months, about 28 per cent of all income generated from the sale of NHL-licensed merchandise has come from material bearing the Sharks&rsquo; colors and logo.That figure tops last season&rsquo;s league-high of 23 per cent, which was accounted for by the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings.&ldquo;The fact that we&rsquo;ve gone to 28 per cent even surprises us,&rdquo; said Matt Levine, the Sharks&rsquo; executive vice-president in charge of business operations.Levine said a report from the NHL office indicates the Sharks even account for the largest share of sales in Canada, which is unusually high for a team based in the United States. The Montreal Canadiens were the biggest sellers in Canada last season.Levine said unofficial figures provided by manufacturers of souvenir items indicate the Sharks rank among the top 10 sellers in all sports.Part of the reason for the popularity of Sharks&rsquo; merchandise can be traced to the team&rsquo;s colors, which are Pacific Teal, black, gray and white. Black has long been a hot-selling color, and teal also has turned out to be popular.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011438/6025371-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="560" height="924"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Clarke returns to Philly Jan. 18 as an honorary captain.</figcaption></div><h2>Lightning pay up</h2>It was four months late, but the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning finally came up with the cash it owes the NHL.The Lightning followed the lead of the Ottawa Senators and placed $22.5 million (and the accumulated interest) in an escrow account. It&rsquo;s the second installment of the $50-million expansion payment owed to the league. Each franchise paid $5 million to the league last December. The final payment of $22.5 million must be made in December.The money was supposed to be paid June 15, but ownership and financial problems prevented the Lightning from making the payment.The franchise has since clarified its ownership status with three Japanese firms&mdash;Nippon, Tokyo Tower and Kokosoi Green&mdash;holding majority ownership.New York Yankees&rsquo; owner George Steinbrenner is one of the team&rsquo;s limited partners.With the financial status of the franchise seemingly under control, construction is set to begin on a new arena in the Tampa Bay area.Meanwhile, the Lightning announced Oct. 21 the appointment of John Chapman as its head scout. The following were also named full-time scouts. Their assigned leagues are in parentheses: Angelo Bumbacco and Luke Williams (Ontario League); Don Murdoch (OHL and U.S. Colleges); Richard Rose (Quebec League and U.S. Colleges); Doug Macauley and Jake Goertzen (Western League).<h2>NBC still a star</h2>NBC Sports has retained the right to broadcast the NHL&rsquo;s All-Star Game.The NHL and NBC reached an agreement that will keep the league&rsquo;s All-Star Game on the American network for the next two seasons. NBC televised the 1990 and 1991 All-Star Games. The 1992 game will be televised from the Spectrum in Philadelphia on Saturday, Jan. 18. Marv Albert will handle play-by-play duties.&ldquo;We are pleased to continue our association with the NHL,&rdquo; said NBC executive vice-president Kenneth Schanzer. &ldquo;The NHL All-Star Game is one of the premier events in sports and showcases some of the world&rsquo;s most talented athletes.&rdquo;The NHL recently announced a one-year extension&mdash;at $5.5 million&mdash;to its contract with SportsChannel America for U.S. rights to regular season games.The Sports Network will televise the game in Canada.Minnesota general manager Bob Clarke, a former Philadelphia Flyer, will be the honorary captain for the Wales Conference, while Lanny McDonald, who played with Toronto, Colorado and Calgary, will be honorary captain for the Campbell Conference all-stars. &#9632;

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Slap shot to neck kills Quebec goaltender

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02962/6025402-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey received $100,000 for scoring his 1,053rd point breaking Denis Potvin&rsquo;s record for defensemen. (Photo by Brian Miiier/BBS)</figcaption></div>You knew it could happen the first time you saw Paul Coffey go end-to-end in a heartbeat and lash a shot past some befuddled goaltender.And when you saw it for the second, third and fourth times, you knew it probably would. On Oct. 17, it did. Coffey, who plays the game like few other defensemen in NHL history, became the most prolific player ever at his position.He picked up two assists in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 8-5 win over the New York Islanders to nudge past Denis Potvin on the all-time points and assists lists. His work that night gave Coffey 1,053 points and 744 assists; Potvin had 1,052 points and 742 assists during his Hail of Fame career with the Islanders.Coffey was rewarded with a series of thundering ovations from the Civic Arena crowd, a plaque from the Penguins and a $100,000 bonus. All for doing something he realized had been inevitable.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel a whole lot of pressure because it was something I was going to do in time,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something like a single-season record where you&rsquo;re coming down to the last four or five games.&rdquo;Funny that Coffey would ever consider time to be a factor, because he set the records in 815 games. That&rsquo;s 245 fewer than Potvin.One of the most enduring axioms in sports is speed kills. If that&rsquo;s true&mdash;and there is little evidence to dispute it&mdash;the game has no more lethal player than Coffey.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best skater I&rsquo;ve ever seen,&rdquo; Pittsburgh coach Scott Bowman said. Bowman, it should be noted, has been coaching in this league since the 1960&rsquo;s, and a few pretty fair skaters have glided through the NHL in those years.&ldquo;Every time he&rsquo;s out there, he&rsquo;s a threat,&rdquo; said Pittsburgh defenseman Larry Murphy, who mans the power-play point opposite Coffey.Coffey&rsquo;s critics agree, arguing he poses a clear and present danger to his team&rsquo;s goals-against average whenever he&rsquo;s on the ice. Coffey clearly didn&rsquo;t receive two Norris Trophies for exemplary work in his own end, but his supporters insist he&rsquo;s not the defensive liability critics portray.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a more-maligned player than he deserves,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll always point out the flaws in a player who has a lot of points.Some might consider it ill-advised to compare Coffey to Orr, but few will deny he&rsquo;s one of the most spectacular performers in recent history. It&rsquo;s a rare player whose game is a hybrid of such speed and skill.It would have been appropriate for Coffey to set the points record with a Mach II rush that culminated in a laser-accurate shot under the crossbar. In reality, he got it with one of the most innocuous assists of his career.Coffey drove a shot wide of the New York net. Pittsburgh left winger Bob Errey collected the puck and worked his way to the top of the right circle, then beat Islanders&rsquo; goalie Glenn Healy at 4:47 of the third period.&ldquo;He could get another thousand, maybe,&rdquo; Errey said. &ldquo;Is it out of the realm of possibility? Probably not completely.&rdquo;Neither is the idea that his marks&mdash;Coffey is poised to steal Potvin&rsquo;s career mark of 310 goals, too&mdash;might eventually fall, his feats will someday be reduced to a footnote. Coffey knows that can happen, even expects it to, but he doesn&rsquo;t intend to make it easy on whoever sets out to erase his legacy.&ldquo;I plan on putting up a lot more numbers here in Pittsburgh,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Adding to the 1,053. Hopefully, put it out of reach.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-02

Coffey’s trademark speed pays off with record mark

<div class="byline">By Gary Loewen</div>Call it the NHL&rsquo;s television vision for the &rsquo;90s.Rebuffed by the major U.S. networks, the NHL is gazing skyward in search of wider television exposure.Within three to four years, the league intends to make available virtually all of its games to hockey fans across the continent via satellite. The technology isn&rsquo;t totally in place yet. But, essentially, a hockey fan need only be equipped with a tiny satellite dish&mdash;about 18 inches across&mdash;and a descrambler.&ldquo;At the push of a button, a delightful menu of games will be available,&rdquo; NHL president John Ziegler said. &ldquo;It will be the next big jump in our broadcasting.&rdquo;On any given night, all NHL telecasts&mdash;sometimes two of the same game&mdash;will be uplinked to a direct broadcast satellite. Because these modem satellites are more powerful than the older models (about 240 watts, compared to 120), viewers won&rsquo;t require a massive dish that dwarfs the dahlias in their backyard.The smaller dish&mdash;the &rsquo;90s version of rabbit ears&mdash;already is in use in Japan.A form of pay-per-view, the hockey fan will be able to tune in to the game of his choice or perhaps he will have a season subscription to a package of games.&ldquo;It will accommodate, particularly in the U.S., the displaced hockey fan,&rdquo; NHL vice-president of broadcasting Joel Nixon said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re denied the mass media in this country, we need to look for other ways (of getting exposure).&rdquo;Television insiders believe the system will work. Many hockey games already are transmitted by satellite.&ldquo;Most of the equipment is there now. It&rsquo;s quite feasible,&rdquo; said Jim MacKenzie, a supervisor at Calgary&rsquo;s CKKX-TV which televises Flame games. &ldquo;Three to four years might be a little tight&mdash;it depends on how hard the league pushes.&rdquo;While the NHL has been widely criticized for its failure to land a television contract with a major U.S. network, it&rsquo;s inconceivable that the game will achieve widespread appeal south of the border in the near future.Hockey, as one NHL executive said, gets a zero rating in a third of the U.S. And the league isn&rsquo;t interested in teaching a new audience about the game via TV. That has been tried in the past without success.Furthermore, marketing studies have indicated hockey fans, particularly in the U.S., are unusually loyal to their home teams. While baseball and basketball may have success with a game-of-the-week format, not so for hockey.The satellite set-up should compensate for the lack of national TV coverage in the U.S. The league&rsquo;s oft-criticized contract with SportsChannel America provides quality game coverage but the cable network reaches only 12 million to 15 million homes.The sky is the limit as far as the direct-broadcast system goes&mdash;and the dollar figures are up in the air, too. It&rsquo;s premature to speculate about the cost or the demand of the system.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a clue what to charge&mdash;should it be two dollars a game, one dollar a game, $49.95 a season?&rdquo; Nixon said. The dishes will cost about $350 although the introductory price may be a higher.Two U.S. companies, Hughes Communications and U.S. Satellite Broadcasting, have been granted broadcasting licences for the new generation of satellites.It is expected that modem satellites will be launched within the next two years. Nixon said the NHL likely would seek to enter a partnership with a satellite company.The product would be made available to individual homes, cable operators and perhaps individual television stations.Other major sports are investigating the system as well, Nixon said.The NHL is devoting the next year to studying satellite television and may even do some experimenting with games this season. &#9632;

NHL plans to dish up a full satellite TV menu

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011465/6025464-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="382" height="493"></div>How much is Net Worth really worth?The incendiary book&mdash;subtitled Exploding the Myths of Pro Hockey&mdash;is the most withering look at the NHL ever written. But questions have been raised about the book&rsquo;s validity and treatment of its primary target, hockey power broker Alan Eagleson.Co-authored by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths, Net Worth is scathing in its indictment of Eagleson. &ldquo;He is an incredible opportunist who, as head of the players&rsquo; union, turned things to his advantage and not to the players&rsquo; advantage,&rdquo; Cruise said in a face-to-face interview in New York City. &ldquo;But he is coated with Teflon, not unlike Richard Nixon who is still revered in the United States.&rdquo;Griffiths called Eagleson&rsquo;s stewardship of the NHLPA, &ldquo;unethical&rdquo; and &ldquo;immoral.&rdquo;&ldquo;What appalls me most,&rdquo; Cruise said, &ldquo;was his closeness to owners, closeness to management, the overpowering success of his life and career completely based on his control of the Players&rsquo; Association. At the same time, the Players&rsquo; Association has not done very well.&rdquo;Griffiths: &ldquo;Since the Association was formed in 1967, if the players had progressed in direct relationship to Eagleson&rsquo;s own career, wealth and power, hockey players would be as well-paid and have the kind of benefits and perks that baseball players have today.&rdquo;Some critics consider Net Worth a major investigative work. Others suggest its authors, non-hockey people, are guilty of egregious errors and overzealous Eagleson-bashing.Examples: They say that every club but the Blackhawks regularly attracted sellout crowds in the 1950s. In fact, the Bruins and Rangers could hardly fill-half their rinks some nights during that time. They refer to a Detroit paper called The Tribune when none existed. They say one-time Leaf captain Jim Thomson played with &ldquo;strange wings&rdquo; when, in fact, Thomson was a defenseman.&ldquo;There are at least a dozen errors,&rdquo; Eagleson said in a telephone interview, &ldquo;and people being misquoted all over the place. The book has no credibility whatsoever. Worse than that, they used rumor.&rdquo;Eagleson said one Net Worth source, Toronto-based agent Gene McBurney, has already sent him a letter saying he was misquoted in the book. The outgoing NHLPA executive director suggested the authors&rsquo; inspiration came from Eagleson foes Ed Garvey, Rich Winter, Ron Salcer and Carl Brewer.&ldquo;What they&rsquo;ve done is something like the &lsquo;When did you stop beating your wife?&rsquo; kind of question,&rdquo; said Eagleson. &ldquo;No matter what answer you give, you can&rsquo;t win.&rdquo; He said &ldquo;it&rsquo;s not a coincidence&rdquo; that book&rsquo;s publication was timed to coincide with Canada Cup &rsquo;91 and that they are &ldquo;trying to sell books off my hide.&rdquo;As for charges of his opportunism, Eagleson made no apologies. &ldquo;I suppose I am an opportunist,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Yes, I used opportunity to create the Players&rsquo; Association and I used opportunity to develop international hockey.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021041/6025457-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="555" height="1098"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alan Eagleson</figcaption></div>Eagleson considers the hatchet-job that was done on him in Net Worth a product of selective interviewing of people who bear a grudge or who no longer are successfully connected to hockey. &ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t they quote people like Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito or Don McKenney? Just check out the track record of those who were quoted for and against me and see who are the more reliable.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for these people to criticize when they know nothing about the hockey business. And it&rsquo;s even easier to have 20-20 hindsight.&rdquo;This is part one of a two-part series on Net Worth. Part two appears in the Oct. 8 issue of THN. &#9632;

f0009-01

Debating the value of scathing Net Worth

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03669/6025495-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Picking up the offensive slack in Boston earned Ken Hodge a high rating as an underrated player. (Photo by John DiGiroiamo BBS)</figcaption></div>The NHL is caught in a bit of marketing hypocrisy. On one hand, the league downplays fighting as a selling point&mdash;it even censors fight scenes out of annual playoff videos&mdash;but on the other it endorses fighting in other money-making ventures. One of the latest is &ldquo;NHL Hockey,&rdquo; a video game produced by Electronic Arts and licensed by the league, which features fighting as an intrinsic part of the package. The fight itself allows the player a choice of body or head punches. &ldquo;Everything went through the league for approval, even the fighting,&rdquo; says Electronic Arts publicist Nicole Noland. &ldquo;The NHL gave us constant feedback to let us know how things could be more realistic.&rdquo; Of the five statistics featured in the video game, &ldquo;Fights Won&rdquo; is prominent alongside &ldquo;Shots,&rdquo; &ldquo;Power Plays,&rdquo; &ldquo;Penalties,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Attack Zone Time.&rdquo; One game-owner, graduate student Matt Messina of Newark, N.J., tells Bluelines, &ldquo;You also can provoke fights. Upset over a cheap goal, I took a slapshot into the celebration around the net. Gloves were immediately dropped and we both went to the box. And I got the instigator penalty.&rdquo;<h2>No oral replay</h2>The NHL has slapped a gag order on its new video replay operators for fear of controversy. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s to protect them against second-guessing,&rdquo; says a league source. &ldquo;The league is very uptight about criticism the (video-replay) system already has received.&rdquo; The 22 recently-hired replay officials are being paid $75 a game by the league. A TV industry source familiar with the NHL machinery insists &ldquo;it&rsquo;s more advanced than the equipment used by the NFL on its replays.&rdquo;&hellip;Jacques Demers believes there&rsquo;s still hope Eric Lindros will opt for the Nordiques. &ldquo;One of the problems,&rdquo; Demers says, &ldquo;is that Eric had the notion he was being cast as the savior of the franchise and he didn&rsquo;t want that. If the Nordiques show some progress without him, I think he&rsquo;ll change his mind. If he decided to (join the Nords), he&rsquo;d get a longer ovation than Guy Lafleur ever got. It would be to Quebecers like God coming in to Le Colisee.&rdquo; Demers still has his eyes on an NHL coaching job. &ldquo;(Senators&rsquo; GM) Mel Bridgman said I&rsquo;m one of the candidates. I don&rsquo;t want to sound cocky but I&rsquo;ve been there. If there&rsquo;s any interest, the teams know where to get me.&rdquo;<h2>Brother bother</h2>The word in St. Louis is that Brian Sutter may find himself over-Suttered what with brothers Ron and Rich on the club. Nepotism already has been mentioned in print and St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Tom Wheatley noted, &ldquo;Rich Sutter already is resented in the Blues&rsquo; dressing room. As one of Brian&rsquo;s ex-players put it, &lsquo;Richie&rsquo;s lucky to have a job.&rsquo; &ldquo;&hellip;When Sharks&rsquo; equipment manager Bob Crocker went down with a herniated disc in his back, San Jose players pitched in to help. Defenseman Jayson More did the laundry and the skate sharpening was handled by Wayne Presley. Sharks&rsquo; GM Jack Ferreira finally dipped into his development system and promoted Kansas City&rsquo;s equipment man Tim Leroy. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know if I had to notify the league for an emergency recall,&rdquo; jokes Ferreira, &ldquo;and whether or not he would clear waivers.&rdquo;<h2>Paternal concern</h2>Devils&rsquo; forward Claude Vilgrain is keeping close watch on all reports out of strife-tom Haiti. &ldquo;My father still lives down there,&rdquo; says the Haitian-born Vilgrain. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m on the phone with him regularly and, so far, he&rsquo;s all right.&rdquo;&hellip;Both Whalers&rsquo; owner Richard Gordon and GM Eddie Johnston vehemently deny Gordon issued a &ldquo;sign him and you&rsquo;re fired&rdquo; edict to Johnston regarding training camp walkout Pat Verbeek. Meanwhile, Verbeek&rsquo;s agent Tony Abbatine insists he urged his client to return to the team pending arbitrtation of Verbeek&rsquo;s contract. Verbeek returned to the Whalers Oct. 14&hellip;In about a month the Bruins expect to know for sure how much&mdash;if any&mdash;hockey will be played by Cam Neely this season. The Bruins&rsquo; sharpshooter insists he will return but he is uncertain about regaining his pre-injury form. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be lying if I said I wasn&rsquo;t concerned,&rdquo; he says. Neely tells a story about Bruins&rsquo; teamsmanship epitomized by an incident at the club breakup dinner last May. &ldquo;The guys took turns in the middle of the breakup dinner at a pay phone wishing my father a happy birthday back in Vancouver,&rdquo; Neely recalls. &ldquo;They did it right in the middle of the party and were on the blower for40 minutes.&rdquo;<h2>Girl scout</h2>Chances are the first female scout for an NHL team will be Debbie Wright, the 25-year-old who works the Quebec League for Drummond-ville. Wright attends 350 games a year and is utterly devoted to the game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m married to hockey,&rdquo; she asserts. Maple Leafs&rsquo; head scout Pierre Dorion told her, &ldquo;Someday you&rsquo;ll be replacing me.&rdquo;&hellip;Minnesota&rsquo;s pay-per-view TV venture last spring is a portent of things to come in terms of increased team revenue. The Red Wings are showing nine games on pay-per-view this season and the Blackhawks are said to be next in line&hellip;Support for Pat LaFontaine in his walkout-battle with Islanders&rsquo; owner John Pickett is eroding among fans and Isles&rsquo; player. At one point players believed LaFontaine was taking on management for them. The feeling now is that he&rsquo;s simply doing it for himself&hellip;Overlooked amid the NHL&rsquo;s 75th anniversary celebration is the 50th birthday of the Cow Palace, home of the Sharks. It cost the new NHL club $1 million to shape up the old bam for 1991 standards&hellip;Ranger enforcer Kris King&rsquo;s 1991-92 most underrated player list: Bob Sweeney, Mark Hardy, Jan Erixon, Ken Hodge, Joe Nieuwendyk. &#9632;

f0009-03

League-endorsed video game promotes fighting

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011532/6025526-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">An off-season conditioning program has helped right winger Owen Nolan get Off to a solid Start. (Photo by Mike DiGirolamo/BBS)</figcaption></div>It was a dreary, drizzly morning in Philadelphia, but Owen Nolan&rsquo;s Irish eyes were smiling as the Quebec Nordiques arrived at the Spectrum for their morning skate.In fact, the entire early season has been bright for Nolan, the burly 19-year-old right winger has suddenly blossomed into the explosive offensive weapon the Nordiques anticipated when they selected him first overall in the 1990 entry draft.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like a different person, not just a different player,&rdquo; Nordiques&rsquo; general manager Pierre Page said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s much more relaxed. He was very quiet last year. I guess that comes with being 18 years old.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what happened, but he came to camp this season and he was just talking so much more and having a great time. He became an extrovert.&rdquo;The fact Nolan&mdash;who was bom in Belfast, Northern Ireland&mdash;is more outgoing is great. But if he never said a word, the Nords would still love the talking he has done with his play. It took Nolan just five games to surpass last season&rsquo;s goal total&mdash;three. He did it with a hat trick against the Sabres Oct. 12.On this night in Philadelphia, he raised his goal total to seven with a first-period goal. It extended his goal-scoring streak to five games, all while playing the physical style which made him a prized player with the Cornwall Royals of the Ontario League.There was also some sweet irony in that Nolan was playing against Mike Ricci, the Flyers&rsquo; prized second-year center who was taken three places behind Nolan in the 1990 draft.According to Page, Ricci had an indirect influence on Nolan&rsquo;s turnaround.&ldquo;Owen won&rsquo;t say anything about it,&rdquo; Page said, &ldquo;but when Eric Lindros said (this summer) the Nordiques made a mistake and should have picked Ricci first, I think that lit a fire under him&rdquo;According to Nolan, the change in his game is due to two factors: 1. He&rsquo;s more comfortable in the NHL;2. He&rsquo;s in better physical shape.&ldquo;I just feel more confident, more relaxed,&rdquo; Nolan said. &ldquo;I think one of the things you learn in your first year is just how to approach the game.&rdquo;More concrete evidence for the change is in Nolan&rsquo;s physical presence&mdash;his very solid body is even more finely tuned. &ldquo;I put on some weight last year (to 207), thinking I would need it in the NHL,&rdquo; said Nolan, who now weighs about 201. &ldquo;Maybe it slowed me down. But I also knew I needed to be in better shape. It wasn&rsquo;t that I was out of shape, I just wanted to get in better shape.&rdquo;Playing alongside Joe Sakic has also helped. That was likely the plan when Quebec chose Nolan at the draft. Which is why the Nords were nervous when Nolan struggled through his first season.&ldquo;We had a real dilemma with Owen,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;We knew he was struggling last season and we really considered sending him down. People forget that 18 is so young. We&rsquo;ve done studies and the difference between a 19-year-old having success and an 18-year-old is amazing.&ldquo;One year makes a big difference.&ldquo;But with Owen, he was the No. 1 pick. He had that pressure. We asked him if he wanted to be sent down. If he would feel more comfortable with another year. He told us no and we worked with him.&ldquo;This year at training camp, he came up to us and thanked us for not sending him down.&rdquo;In his first season, Nolan faced the inherent pressure of being the first pick overall. It was a situation made more difficult by the immediate impacts of Ricci and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jaromir Jagr (selected fifth overall). But Nolan says it was never an unbearable situation.&ldquo;My biggest problem was the frustration. Coming out of junior I was used to getting a lot of ice time, playing on the power play all the time. Last year, I didn&rsquo;t get a lot of ice time, and I was seldom in the power play.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s been different this season. There is plenty of ice time, plenty of time on the power play, and plenty of optimism that Owen Nolan will turn into the sort of bullish winger the Nordiques predicted. &#9632;

f0010-01

Happy Days

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021152/6025564-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="446" height="480"></div>DATELINE&mdash;???If you&rsquo;re a sharp-eyed reader of The Hockey News, you&rsquo;ve probably noticed for some time that we don&rsquo;t kick off our stories with point of origin. Fans of the Original Six, for example, don&rsquo;t get treated to CHICAGO or BOSTON or NEW YORK, DETROIT, TORONTO or MONTREAL to begin their read.Let&rsquo;s face it, any hockey fan worth his/her weight in Zamboni shavings can match the city to the team, anyway. Why, in the Windy City, they could dispense with the &ldquo;Welcome to Chicago&rdquo; sign at city limits and just print &ldquo;Blackhawks.&rdquo; Right? In San Jose, city fathers are feverishly working overtime to let everyone know they&rsquo;ve entered &ldquo;Shark City.&rdquo;Likewise, every hockey writer loves to print the city or town that holds the hotel bed he&rsquo;ll clutter with hockey clips harvested from along the road. Nothing like a king-sized bed to act as worktable and edit board for all the journalistic pearls encountered on a swing through, say, ST. LOUIS, SAN JOSE, PITTSBURGH and EAST RUTHERFORD.Well, for geography and capital-letter buffs alike, we here at THN want to end your dateline doldrums. Here are a few of our favorites, accompanied by one or two paragraphs of each story, some blockbusters, some space-fillers, and some that somehow fell between the cracks.Remember, you read it HERE first:ST. LOUIS&mdash;He&rsquo;s back. In a shocking turn of events, Scott Stevens was returned to the Blues last night, with Judge Edward Houston reversing his decision on the infamous Brendan Shanahan arbitratiion/compensation case.&lsquo;Tve realized the error of my ways,&rdquo; said a humble Houston. &ldquo;In retrospect, it&rsquo;s only fair and equitable that I award the Devils with a player who has the same current scoring prowess of Shanahan. Brett Hull will report to the Devils immediately.&rdquo;MOSCOW&mdash;Red Army, long the powerhouse of Soviet hockey, today signed both Jay Miller and Marty McSorley as defectors from the NHL&rsquo;s Los Angeles Kings. Miller will wear No. 0 and McSorley No. 00.&ldquo;It was a tough decision to make,&rdquo; Tass quoted Miller, who had fellow punchbrother McSorely by his side. &ldquo;But Marty and I both woke up one day and realized that hockey was dead in North America. No third-man in. No bench-clearing brawls. One day, we turned to each other and said, &lsquo;Moscow.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s just great to be here. By the way, was that Dave Schultz I saw selling pretzels in Red Square?&rdquo;SASKATOON (July 7, 1997)&mdash;Incredible, but they&rsquo;ve done it again. Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg, co-owners of the 36 other NHL franchises, today were award the Saskatoon Tunes, as the league finalized its expansion plans for another, oh, at least four months.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re proud to finally have some good Tunes in our league,&rdquo; said NHL president John Ziegler, befuddled as he stared through a magnifying glass to try and locate Saskatoon on a road map.&ldquo;Howard&hellip;Morris&hellip;I thought we&rsquo;d reached the end with your franchise in Kamloops (the Fruit Loops). But, my goodness, you two devils have proven me wrong one more time.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03727/6025557-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="553" height="1092"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marty McSorley</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, flanked by his wife and newborn twins, came racing into Northlands Coliseum today and finally joined the Oilers, some five weeks after the celebrated trade that sent superstar Mark Messier to the Rangers. Nicholls was initially expected to be in uniform tonight when the Oilers host the San Jose Sharks.&ldquo;I got to thinking,&rdquo; said Nicholls. &ldquo;You know, Edmonton&hellip;the fresh air, nice people, Peter Pock&hellip;uh, uh, hmm&hellip;honey, does that Northwest flight to LaGuardia connect through Minneapolis&hellip;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-02

Datelines: more than just 1-900 numbers

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>Kirk Muller figures there&rsquo;s no secret to Denis Savard&rsquo;s improved play with the Montreal Canadiens this season. It&rsquo;s easier to skate without the weight of a city on your back.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t here last year, but Denis talked about his experience,&rdquo; said Muller, obtained from the New Jersey Devils in a September trade that saw 50-goal man Stephane Richer and forward Tom Chorske go to New Jersey. &ldquo;This season, he&rsquo;s more relaxed. (He&rsquo;s not putting the weight of the world on his shoulders. He&rsquo;s having fun playing hockey again.&rdquo;Muller has been a big reason why Savard is working with a smile on his face.Montreal coach Pat Bums had Muller centering a line with Savard on the right side and Sylvain Turgeon on the left. The trio combined for three goals and nine points in a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres Oct. 16., a game Savard called his best as Montreal Canadien.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some good games, but this was certainly my best at the Forum,&rdquo; said Savard, who came to the Habs from Chicago in a deal for Chris Chelios before last season.Savard was pegged as the offensive savior in Montreal, but things didn&rsquo;t work out. He finished with 59 points&mdash;and only 28 goals&mdash;the lowest single-season total of his career.&ldquo;Last year there were times when I didn&rsquo;t really want the puck,&rdquo; said Savard, who had two goals and an &lsquo;assist in the win over Buffalo. He followed that with Montreal&rsquo;s lone goal in a 3-1 loss to the Sabres two nights later.Through Oct. 20, Savard led the team in scoring with eight points in nine games.His total included six points on the power play. Muller and Turgeon each had seven points.ROLLIE SHINES: The Habs&rsquo; season almost became a disaster when goaltender Patrick Roy was hit in the side of the face by a Christian Ruuttu shot Oct. 16.Roy fell to the ice and a large bump formed on the right side of his jaw. He left the ice and was taken to hospital for X-rays which proved negative.Enter Roland Melanson, who had played just five NHL games the last four seasons. Melanson gave up one goal&mdash;on a deflection&mdash;against Buffalo. Three nights later, he got his first start in almost three years and shutout the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0.&ldquo;It took me a couple of shots to get my head in there,&rdquo; said the 31-year-old veteran, part of the Muller-Richer deal. &ldquo;The shots I stopped were the ones goalies are supposed to stop. I concentrated on my angles and tried to stay up.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Montreal enforcer Todd Ewen missed a game against the Hartford Whalers Oct. 14 when the league found he hadn&rsquo;t filed papers indicating he was playing out his option. Technically, he was playing without a contract, which is permitted for five games. The Hartford game was the Habs&rsquo; sixth. Ewen wound up signing a one-year contract. He later missed another game when he landed in Bums&rsquo; doghouse for getting an instigator penalty, a fighting major and a game misconduct against Buffalo&rsquo;s Rob Ray. Ray was given a minor. It was the second time this season Ewen left the Habs having to kill off a major&hellip;Defenseman Petr Svoboda&rsquo;s leadership was questioned by Bums after he was on the ice for the Whalers&rsquo; two third-period goals in a 4-3 loss. &ldquo;I make one mistake and I get all this publicity. Geez, it&rsquo;s one game. It&rsquo;s not like I killed somebody,&rdquo; Svoboda said.<h2>TRANSACTIONS</h2>Oct. 16: Todd Ewen, RW, signed one-year contract. Oct. 17: Paul DiPietro, C, assigned to Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Stephan Lebeau, Kirk Muller, Brian Skrudland.LW&mdash;Mike McPhee, Shayne Corson, Sylvain Turgeon, John LeClair, Mario RobergeRW&mdash;Brent Gilchrist, Mike Keane, Denis Savard, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Jean-Jacques Daigneault, Petr Svoboda, Mathieu Schneider, Sylvain LefebvreRD&mdash;Eric Desjardins, Lyle Odelein, Alain Cote, Donald Dufresne.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Rollie Melanson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Russ Courtnall, RW, aggravated shoulder injury, indefinite. &#9632;

Muller’s addition helps lighten Savard’s load

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>Enough of the goalie of the future nonsense regarding Whaler netminder Kay Whitmore. The goaltending of the present is plenty good enough.The Hartford Whalers surprised more than a few doomsayers with an early-season, five-game unbeaten streak and a 4-1-1 start that matched the best start in club history.The main reasons for the early season success: The return of Pat Verbeek and John Cullen; a new free-flow offensive system; and a improved team psyche under new coach Jimmy Roberts.But undoubtedly, Whitmore&rsquo;s play was the biggest surprise.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter how great a team you have, if your goaltending isn&rsquo;t good, you&rsquo;re not going anywhere,&rdquo; Cullen said. &ldquo;Kay has been terrific.&rdquo;How terrific?Whitmore stopped 191 of 204 shots in six games. His save percentage&mdash;.936&mdash;led the NHL.Whitmore, 24, was buried as the No. 2 goalie on a Binghamton team that had the worst record in American League history two years ago. He was resurrected in Springfield last season under Roberts. He went 33-13-1, including playoffs, in leading the Indians to the Calder Cup.Whitmore remembers last Nov. 14 most of all. That was the day he was replaced on the roster by Daryl Reaugh and assigned to Springfield.&ldquo;I showed up at the rink and Daryl was there,&rdquo; Whitmore said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know anything about it. (Coach) Rickey Ley told me to go home and think about how bad I wanted to play this game. That really hurt, staying home&mdash;watching the Whalers on TV and knowing I was going back to the minors. It made me work to prove them wrong.&rdquo;EMPTY SEATS: The Whalers returned from a successful two-win road trip Oct. 19 to face the Sabres, but only 10,097 fans showed up at the Civic Center.It was the smallest crowd since a Dec. 18, 1985 game against the Calgary Flames.High unemployment, the World Series, a sluggish economy and a six-per cent state tax slapped on tickets and parking assured 5,538 empty seats.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Zarley Zalapski signed a one-year, plus-option contract for $450,000-a-year Oct. 16. Zalapski was starting his option season at $265,000&hellip;Defenseman Todd Richards, former Canadiens&rsquo; property, played his first NHL game Oct. 14 at the Forum in Montreal. &ldquo;Pat Bums told me I didn &lsquo;t have what it takes to make it in the NHL,&rdquo; Richards said.Pat Verbeek, still awaiting an arbitration date, had eight points in three games since ending his holdout. John Cullen had seven points in three games since signing a four-year, $4-million deal. Verbeek, playing in his first home game, got a smattering of boos from the fans&hellip;.Paul Fenton, who signed to a two-year deal with the Whalers for $275,000 per season, didn&rsquo;t see action with the team. He was dealt to San Jose for Mike McHugh Oct. 18.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 16: Paul Cyr, LW, recalled from Springfield (AHL). Oct. 18: Paul Fenton, LW, traded to San Jose for Mike McHugh, LW. McHugh assigned to Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Geoff Sanderson, John Cullen, Andrew Cassels, Barry Pederson, Terry Yake, Mikael Andersson.LW&mdash;Randy Cunneyworth, Pat Verbeek, Paul Cyr, Yvon Corriveau, Michel Picard, Jim McKenzie.RW&mdash;Mark Greig, Rob Brown, Mark Hunter, Bobby Holik, Ed Kastelic.LD&mdash;Zarley Zalapski, Adam Burt, Lee Norwood, Randy Ladouceur.RD&mdash;Marc Bergevin, Brad Shaw, Doug Houda.G&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz, Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Todd Richards, D, bruised left thigh, day-to-day. &#9632;

Whitmore better than just o-Kay, he’s great

<div class="byline">By Stephen Harris</div>The Boston Bruins got off to their worst start in 17 years&mdash;one win, three losses, two ties&mdash;leaving players and fans braced for a major trade.Beantown anxiety was so high, radio talk show lines buzzed with speculation of the imminent trades of prominent stars Ray Bourque, Cam Neely, Andy Moog and Craig Janney.Rumoured players coming to Boston included Islanders&rsquo; disgruntled star Pat LaFontaine, Edmonton hold out Bernie Nicholls and even junior star Eric Lindros, Quebec&rsquo;s No. 1 pick in the 1991 NHL draft who has refused to report to the Nordiques.The Bruins finally pulled the trigger Oct. 16, acquiring New Jersey tough guy Al Stewart.Al who?The 27-year-old left winger, acquired from the Devils fora 1993 conditional draft pick, won&rsquo;t be the offensive savior the club needs. Stewart managed just six goals and 10 points in 60 games over five NHL seasons.What Stewart does bring to the Bruins is toughness. The Fort St. John, B.C., native plays hard and tough&mdash;he had 159 penalty minutes in 41 games for the Devils last season.&ldquo;One of the missing ingredients (so far this season) has been hitting,&rdquo; Bruins&rsquo; assistant general manager Mike Milbury said. &ldquo;Stewart is a physical player who is quick enough to get there and hit. We got him because he hits. If this is a message, it&rsquo;s that we weren&rsquo;t getting any hitting, so we went out and got someone who will hit.&rdquo;The6-foot, 195-pound Stewart had 226 penalty minutes in 60 NHL games, and a reputation as a guy who, win or lose, is willing to fight guys much bigger.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to go, but if I had to, I&rsquo;m glad it was to the Boston Bruins,&rdquo; Stewart said. &ldquo;My game is hitting and hard work, and it feels good to know the Bruins expressed interest in me.&rdquo;NEW SALARY: For over a year, Bruins&rsquo; goalie Andy Moog has waited for an extension and renegotiation of a contract that will pay him $325,000 this season. He has an option year remaining for next season.&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not frustrated by (the relatively low) salary,&rdquo; said Moog. &ldquo;When I signed the contract three years ago, I was very happy with it. I signed it, I&rsquo;ll play with it.&rdquo;Moog, generally regarded as one of the league&rsquo;s top five netminders, wasn&rsquo;t among the top wage earners last season. He is paid significantly less than Montreal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy, who will earn $1.2 million this season. Moog&rsquo;s agent. Herb Pinder, was due to meet with Bruins&rsquo; GM Harry Sinden.NOTEBOOK: Imposing defenseman Glen Featherstone missed three of the Bruins&rsquo; first six games with a hip pointer, but returned to action Oct. 17 against Vancouver&hellip;The most plausible Bruins&rsquo; trade rumor during the first two weeks of the season had winger Peter Klima coming from Edmonton to Boston.The Bruins were considering giving impressive rookie goalie Matt DelGuidice a larger share of playing time than first anticipated.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 15: Andy Brickley, C, recalled from Maine (AHL). Matt Hervey, D, assigned to Maine. Oct. 16: A 1993 conditional draft pick traded to New Jersey for Al Stewart. LW.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ken Hodge, Wes Walz, Bob Sweeney, Andy Brickley.LW&mdash;Chris Nilan, Jeff Lazaro, Bob Carpenter, Petri Skriko, Dave Thomlinson, Al Stewart.RW&mdash; Peter Douris, Lyndon Byers, Steve Leach, Vladimir Ruzicka.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Garry Galley, Don Sweeney.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Bob Beers. Stephane Quintal, Glen Featherstone.G&mdash;Andy Moog, Matt DelGuidice, Reggie Lemelin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Craig Janney, C, infected right elbow, day-to-day. Cam Neely, RW, left thigh contusion, indefinite. Dave Poulin, C, groin pull, indefinite. &#9632;

Trade winds blow burly Stewart to Beantown

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>In less time than it takes to say Alexander Mogilny and Benoit Hogue, the Buffalo Sabres hit the highest highs and the lowest lows and suffered through just about every imaginable distraction in between.It started Oct. 15 when teammates accused Mogilny of engaging in a work slowdown because he was unhappy with his contract.Mogilny, a 30-goal scorer last season, is still locked into a $140,000 a year deal for the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons.The 22-year-old Soviet has been the subject of snide remarks since reporting to camp in poor condition. His work habits have done little to endear him to teammates.In the past, most Sabres never cared for Mogilny&rsquo;s play on the road (23 goals at home last season, seven on the road). But now they don&rsquo;t like his play at home either. Mogilny had just one goal and was a minus-2 through eight games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s selfish,&rdquo; one teammate said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t cafe if the team wins. All he cares about is looking good in home games and collecting his paycheque.&rdquo;Mogilny met with Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan, agent Don Meehan and director of hockey operations John Muckier before a 5-1 loss at Montreal Oct. 16.The result? Mogilny fired Don Meehan.&ldquo;It was unilateral from his end,&rdquo; Don Meehan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of all the efforts I&rsquo;ve given. I&rsquo;m very disappointed he has taken this decision.&rdquo;Meehan did not negotiate Mogilny&rsquo;s first contract which he signed on his own in the days after his defection in the summer of 1989.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my personal business,&rdquo; Mogilny said when asked why he fired Meehan.Don Meehan deferred all questions about the incident to Mogilny. But Meehan said his client was upset with the progression of contract talks with the Sabres.If the Mogilny fracas wasn&rsquo;t enough, Hogue spouted off to the Montreal media the same day about a lack of motivation on the team. The 25-year-old center said numerous players would rather see Muckier behind the bench instead of coach Rick Dudley. He also said he wanted to be traded.The resulting chaos was predictable. The Sabres lost at Montreal in a game Dudley called &ldquo;the worst hockey game a team of mine has ever played.&rdquo;Suitably embarrassed, the Sabres came home to play Montreal two nights later. Mogilny dressed, Hogue did not, and the Sabres won 3-1.NO COMMENT: Sabres&rsquo; GM Gerry Meehan declined comment regarding the team&rsquo;s early season turmoil, but it&rsquo;s known Meehan had meetings with both the coaching staff and the players after the fallouts in Montreal.It&rsquo;s also known both Meehan and Muckier assured Dudley coaching was not the issue and there were no plans to make the coach the fall guy for the team&rsquo;s slow start.The Sabres had only two wins and one tie after the first eight games, including just one win at home.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Clint Malarchuk was the starting goaltender in the 3-1 victory over the Canadiens. Daren Puppa was scheduled to play, but it was not the first time Rick Dudley has turned to the veteran goaltender to get the team out of a tight spot. Malarchuk, who handled 29 shots, missed a shutout when Denis Savard scored with four-tenths of a second remaining in the second period. Malarchuk called the acrimony surrounding the team &ldquo;horse----. Those are things that happen within a family and we&rsquo;re family,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When I got married, my brother was my best man and we got into a fistfight at the reception. &ldquo;Malarchuk noted he still has his brother, but not his wife.Tony Tanti, a regular scratch for the first six games, dressed and made a key play in setting up a goal in the 3-1 win against Montreal. Tanti had the Sabres&rsquo; lone goal in a 4-1 loss Oct. 19 at Hartford&hellip;Dale Hawerchuk scored a goal in the victory over Montreal, his 800th NHL game&hellip;Dave McLlwain&rsquo;s first game as a Sabre Oct. 12 saw him miss on a penalty shot against Quebec goaltender Ron Tugnutt.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruuttu, Dave Snuggerud.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Dave McLIwain, Brad May, Rob Ray, Benoit Hogue.RW&mdash;Donald Audette, Alex Mogilny, Tony Tanti, Rick Vaive.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger, Grant Ledyard, Ken Sutton.LD&mdash;Uwe Krupp, Kevin Haller, Brad Miller, Jay WellsG&mdash;Clint Malarchuk, Daren Puppa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Teammates accuse Mogilny of working-to-rule

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>Mild-mannered Dave Chambers finally blew his cool.The Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; coach had enough of losing and enough of players&rsquo; half-hearted efforts.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick and tired of losing,&rdquo; Chambers said. &ldquo;What I&rsquo;ll do now is simply go with the players who are willing to give the effort on the ice. No matter who they are, stars or marginal players. Those who aren&rsquo;t good enough or too good to play in this league will sit. I&rsquo;ve had enough.&rdquo;The Nordiques have struggled since an opening night 4-2 victory over Hartford, going winless in the next six games.Chambers was dismayed with his club&rsquo;s poor defensive efforts. He warned of tough practices, but &ldquo;not two-a-days because the only one will be tough enough.&rdquo;With the losing, came the complaints. Unavoidably, Eric Lindros&rsquo; name popped up in conversations. Some Nordiques said the team would be better off trading the disgruntled junior star.&ldquo;We need immediate help,&rdquo; defenseman Steven Finn said.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s none of my business, but we need some help,&rdquo; goalie Jacques Cloutier said. &ldquo;And fast.&rdquo;Quebec general manager Pierre Page remains undaunted.&ldquo;We knew there would be pressure,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;We also know that we deserve this pressure. But a trade is not the solution. Not now and certainly not Lindros.&rdquo;FOGARTY BENCHED: Bryan Fogarty is a confused young man. He wants to know where he stands in the organization.Four games into the season, the defenseman was left out of the lineup Oct. 12. Chambers said if Fogarty didn&rsquo;t perform properly in his own zone, he simply wouldn&rsquo;t play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m completely lost,&rdquo; Fogarty said. &ldquo;I was doing fine during training camp and the pre-season. But all of a sudden, I&rsquo;m sitting in the press box.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A story on the Nordiques in the NHL Preview of The Hockey News suggested that Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin were unhappy with their contracts and that Sundin was considering returning to Sweden. This is not the case and The Hockey News apologizes for the misunderstanding. Sundin, meanwhile, isn&rsquo;t scoring and the coaching staff believes he picked up bad habits playing with Sweden at the Canada Cup toumament&hellip;Quebec GM Pierre Page left a message for Nords&rsquo; scout Andre Savard at a Detroit hotel a few weeks back. The Montreal Canadiens were staying at the same hotel and the message was accidently directed towards Denis Savard. The Habs&rsquo; center thought he had been traded to Quebec.Quebec City radio station CJRP, which employs Jacques Demers as a hockey analyst, recently polled listeners, asking them who they&rsquo;d prefer behind the bench&mdash;current coach Dave Chambers or Demers. Demers won handily, getting more than 90 per cent of the votes.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 18:Adam Foote, D, recalled from Halifax (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic, Kip Miller, Mike McNeill, Claude Lapointe.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Wayne Van Dorp, Greg Paslawski. Scott Pearson.RW&mdash;Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Mark Vermette. John Kordic, Herb Raglan.LD&mdash;Randy Velischek, Greg Smyth, Mikhail Tatarinov, Bryan Fogarty.RD&mdash;Steven Finn, Adam Foote, Tony TwistG&mdash;Jacques Cloutier, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Guerard, D, right knee surgery, indefinite. Alexei Gusarov, D, broken finger on right hand, indefinite. Valeri Kamensky, LW-RW, broken left leg, indefinite. Curtis Leschyshyn, D, left knee surgery, indefinite. Stephane Morin, C, sprained knee, indefinite. Doug Small, LW, pulled ligament lower back, indefinite. Craig Wolanin. D, pulled groin, day-to-day. &#9632;

‘Sick and tired of losing’, Chambers loses cool

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011256/6025715-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Bladon&rsquo;s eight-point game in 1977 broke Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record for defensemen.</figcaption></div><h2>Bladon&rsquo;s eight enough</h2>Tom Bladon had only one hat trick during his nine seasons in the NHL. But he couldn&rsquo;t have picked a better night to do it.The Philadelphia defenseman scored three goals helping the Flyers to a 6-0 lead against the Cleveland Barons Dec. 11, 1977. Before the night was over, he added another goal and four assists in an 11-1 rout. In the process he broke Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record for most points in a game by a defenseman.&ldquo;All of a sudden things were going my way,&rdquo; Bladon remembers of that night. &ldquo;I could have shot the puck into the stands and it probably would have bounced back into the net or to someone else so they could score.&rdquo;After the third goal, teammate Bob Clarke scooped up the puck and asked Bladon if he wanted it. At the time, Bladon didn&rsquo;t think it was special but took it anyway. A surprised Clarke wondered if Bladon didn&rsquo;t want it because he thought he was going to score some more that night.The record, later tied by Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul Coffey in 1986 when he was with Edmonton, was surprising considering that Bladon&rsquo;s career high for points in a season was 53 (1976-77). After breaking Orr&rsquo;s mark Bladon went on to score an ordinary 35 points that season before being traded to the Penguins.He played two seasons in Pittsburgh before finishing his career in 1980-81 with stops in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Detroit. Bladon&rsquo;s career started in 1972 with the Flyers. He was an offensive defenseman but his role changed later in his career.&ldquo;The Flyers were quite happy playing good defensive hockey,&rdquo; said Bladon, who won Stanley Cups in 1974 and &rsquo;75. &ldquo;They would rather win 2-1 games.&rdquo;Bladon&rsquo;s best playoff performance was when the Flyers won their first Cup&mdash;he had 10 points in 16 games. He finished his career with 73 goals and 270 points in 610 regular-season games but will be remembered for those four goals and four assists that December night.After his career ended in 1980, Bladon moved back to his hometown of Edmonton and started working for a moving company where he is now the director of corporate sales.<h2>Ice in desert hot idea</h2>It&rsquo;s a traditionalist&rsquo;s nightmare, a modernist&rsquo;s dream-come-true. But whatever your orientation happens to be, it&rsquo;s an intriguing concept.Hockey, outside, in conditions better suited to tee shots than slap-shots; to deep tanning than burning an opposing goalie. The technology for outdoor all-temperature ice is in place. The products&rsquo; manufacturer is now hoping for a not-so-icy reception from the hockey community.Ice Technology International (ITI) of Harrisburg, III., got off on the right foot, making its first impression a lasting one. In conjuction with Ice Systems of America, ITI helped build the surface used in the pre-season game between the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers at Las Vegas&rsquo; Caesars Palace.&ldquo;The electricity there was just amazing,&rdquo; says ITI&rsquo;s chief executive officer, Bob Krolak. &ldquo;People came to see a hockey game, sure, but they also came to see a happening. An NHLgame in 88 degree weather, the city in the backround.&ldquo;A lot of the crowd hung on for a half-hour after the game. It was a real party.&rdquo;A party which very nearly was crashed before it even started. A tennis-net type tarp, which was hung about 10 feet above the ice surface to help shade it prior to the contest, was lowered by one of the contractors&mdash;for no apparent reason&mdash;hours before game time. When Krolak and his associates, who weren&rsquo;t around when the tarp fell, returned to rink, about an inch of ice had melted.&ldquo;It was so close to being cancelled,&rdquo; says Krolak. &ldquo;It was almost a disaster.&rdquo;That the staff on hand was able to remedy in the situation in such short time&mdash;and get the ice in perfect condition&mdash;speaks volumes about his product, says Krolak.&ldquo;I challenge anybody in the NHL to come up with better ice,&rdquo; he says.Krolak is also more-than-willing to take on the challenge of building more outdoor ice facilities for the NHL. His company already has had inquiries from several European communities and it supplies most of Sweden&rsquo;s Elite League teams with their indoor ice requirements.But the real challenge may just be in Krolak&rsquo;s backyard, so to speak. Affordable outdoor rinks in the southern states, ones which could be maintained year-round, could help foster hockey interest in an otherwise limited market.&ldquo;In my experience,&rdquo; says Krolak, &ldquo;places that are successful with hockey start with a nice outdoor rink, then they enclose it later.&ldquo;This would give an opportunity for people in the southern states, where there is a lot of interest, to skate.&rdquo;For the time being, however, Krolak is happy to lend a hand in making the ice for promotional games like the one in Las Vegas.&ldquo;The NHL needs promotion,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It needs people like the owner of the Los Angeles Kings (Bruce McNall) to get involved in ventures like this.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

ITECH HOCKEY MEMORIES

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02842/6025777-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="450" height="507"></div>Paul Coffey&rsquo;s summer sanctuary tells you more about the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history than any of the 1,000-plus points he has scored.It is, on the shores of prestigious Lake Joseph in the Muskoka district due north of Toronto. He bought it four years ago and, as he says, &ldquo;pretty much gutted it.&rdquo;He put in a nice, high ceiling. Huge windows dominate its face. The interior favors the open concept.None of that should come as a surprise. Coffey does his best work&mdash;and relaxing, too, apparently&mdash;when he has lots of free space and a clear view.But it is the detail work at his retreat that offers a greater clue as to who he really is.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all done in a very old fashioned way,&rdquo; says his mother, Betty. &ldquo;It has an old-style kitchen. Outside, he has put in a walkway with old Muskoka stone. It&rsquo;s all brand new, but it has an old-fashioned look.&rdquo;Sort of like Coffey himself.He will never be confused as an old-style defenseman, but the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; jet-age offensive dynamo is a 30-year-old man who extols old-fashioned values.Family and friends come first.Coffey is the middle child&mdash;he has two sisters&mdash;in a close-knit family. His father, Jack, and mother, Betty, have lived in the same Storey-and-a-half home in working-class Malton, Ont.&mdash;a slapshot away from Toronto&rsquo;s Pearson International Airport&mdash;for 34 years.&ldquo;During the season,&rdquo; his mother says, &ldquo;he talks to us every other day.Our whole family (except Paul) had Thanksgiving at the cottage this year and he phoned us up there when he was on a road trip. He just wanted to make sure everything was okay, that it wasn&rsquo;t too cold or there were any problems.&rdquo;He has a deep and abiding interest in his young nephew, Kevin, who sometimes takes to the ice on game-day skates when Coffey&rsquo;s team visits Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s wonderful with children,&rdquo; his mother says. &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s going to have any, he had better hurry up, though.&rdquo;Spoken like a true mother.Coffey has had romantic interests over the years&mdash;he is currently seeing someone in Pittsburgh&mdash;but none obviously that have resulted in a commitment to marriage or children.Coffey still has many of the same friends now as he did growing up.His best friend is Joe lanelli, a high-school buddy. Early in Coffey&rsquo;s pro career, the two of them would vacation together at the end of the season.Now, as soon as hockey season ends, Coffey heads straight for his cottage. lanelli is a regular visitor.&ldquo;Joe is my best friend and has been since we met in Grade 9,&rdquo; Coffey says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s more than 15 years. I think it&rsquo;s important to keep in touch with friends.&rdquo;The cottage is Coffey&rsquo;s refuge. He is notorious for disappearing there in the summer, putting as much distance between himself and commitments as possible.He is, for the most part, a private person who cherishes his free time away from the game.For those outside his circle of family and friends, he can come across as a bit aloof, even arrogant at times. There&rsquo;s no question he&rsquo;s an extremely confident athlete&mdash;name a superstar who isn&rsquo;t&mdash;who is sometimes guarded or standoffish with new acquaintances.&ldquo;He seems a little gruff sometimes,&rdquo; says his mother, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s actually very shy.&rdquo;But he has great conviction. He was the first of the Edmonton Oiler stars to take a stand against the team&rsquo;s thrifty ways. He held out&mdash;long before it was fashionable&mdash;for almost three months in 1987, forcing his trade to Pittsburgh.He has an air of nonchalance about him that can easily be mistaken for indifference. He is, however, extremely competitive&mdash;he lives for the playoffs&mdash;and has demonstrated throughout his career that he&rsquo;ll play through painful injuries. It&rsquo;s one of his qualities that is seldom mentioned.Seeing a 17-year-old Coffey glide effortlessly at his rookie training camp with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds remains a vivid recollection for me.I can tell you he has not lost a step or diminished in grace, the hallmarks of his fine NHL career. I can also tell you he&rsquo;s the same genuine person now as he was back in the fall of 1978.That, as much as his record point total, is a measure of the man who is the NHL&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman of all time. &#9632;

f0017-02

Coffey: The man behind the magic

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>The St. Louis Blues raised eyebrows around the NHL once again trading goalie Vincent Riendeau to Norris Division rival Detroit for defenseman Rick Zombo.Riendeau was the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 goalie last season, going 29-9-6 with a 3.01 goals-against average. Zombo&mdash;acquired Oct. 18&mdash;was a Red Wings&rsquo; alternate captain, but lost his role on the Wings&rsquo; defense with the arrival of imports Vladimir Konstantinov and Niklas Lidstrom.Critics wondered if the Blues gave up too much for Zombo, who&rsquo;s three years older (28) than Riendeau.&ldquo;There is risk, but the Blues don&rsquo;t mind taking risks,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron said. &ldquo;A guy like Zombo will make our team better.&rdquo;The Blues hope Zombo can fill the void created by the loss of captain and team leader Scott Stevens as compensation to New Jersey for signing Brendan Shanahan.In trading Riendeau, the Blues made a statement that they believe Curtis Joseph and Pat Jablonski can share the goaltending duties. Both are 24, with less than a full NHL season of experience between them.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re certainly confident and comfortable with them, and Guy Hebert in Peoria (International League) has been outstanding too,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter said.The Blues played well in the first two games after the trade&mdash;a 4-4 tie with Chicago Oct. 19 in St. Louis and a 4-1 victory at Chicago Stadium the following night.Zombo was prominent in both games, picking up two assists, while Joseph and Jablonski starred in the Blues&rsquo; nets. Though Joseph gave up four goals in the first game, he stopped 30 shots and enabled the Blues to come back from three deficits.SHARK REPELLENT: Gino Cavallini was all set to go to San Jose. Caron had warned Cavallini that he was trying to trade the winger to the expansion Sharks.But when it came time to pull the trigger on the deal five days later, Caron withdrew his offer to San Jose GM Jack Ferreira.Why the sudden change of heart?&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been extremely pleased with Gino&rsquo;s (recent) games,&rdquo; Caron said.Cavallini, 29, scored three goals in four games after Caron informed him of the possible trade. He replaced the injured Dave Lowry on a checking line to get some prime ice time, then earned a promotion to the Blues&rsquo; top line with Brett Hull and Adam Oates.NOTEBOOK: Brett Hull broke out of a funk Oct. 19, ending a three-game goal-scoring drought with a goal against Chicago&rsquo;s Jimmy Waite. He also assisted on Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s game-tying goal with five seconds to play in the 4-4 tie. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to play the game properly,&rdquo; said Hull, who was frustrated with his early-season performance. Through eight games, he had three goals and nine points&hellip;Shanahan was the Blues&rsquo; top goal scorer after eight games with six goals, including five in the previous four games. His line, with rookie Nelson Emerson and Ron Sutter flip-flopping between center and right wing, had eight of the Blues&rsquo; previous 13 goals through Oct. 21.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 18: Vincent Riendeau, G, traded to Detroit for Rick Zombo, D.ROSTERC&mdash;Adam Oates, Ron Sutter, Bob Bassen, Ron Wilson.LW&mdash;Gino Cavaliini, Brendan Shanahan. Dave Christian, Dave Lowry, Ron Hoover.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Nelson Emerson, Rich Sutter, Darin Kimble, Kelly Chase.LD&mdash;Jeff Brown. Rob Robinson, Randy Skarda.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Rick Zombo, Mario Marois.G&mdash;Curtis Joseph, Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Baron, D, sprained left shoulder, day-to-day. Paul Cavaliini, D, sprained left knee, Nov. 5. &#9632;

Trade for Zombo leaves youthful goalie combo

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>Adam Creighton silenced his critics by charging out of the starting gate with five goals and 11 points in the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; first eight games.&ldquo;Adam&rsquo;s skating as well as I&rsquo;ve ever seen him,&rdquo; Blackhawks&rsquo; coachgeneral manager Mike Keenan said. &ldquo;He has a fluid motion in his stride. He&rsquo;s not laboring.&rdquo;Creighton, who had an eight-game points scoring streak to start the year, is looking to bounce back from an off season in 1990-91, when he scored only 22 goals with 51 points.Many observers were expecting great things from the tall center after he posted 34 goals and 70 points during his first full season with the Blackhawks in 1989-90.&ldquo;I worked more on my quickness this summer,&rdquo; Creighton said. &ldquo;Last year they wanted me to bulk up and I think it backfired because I lost a step. I feel quicker now and have that little bit extra when I need it.&rdquo;Creighton&rsquo;s quick start, and solid play by third-line center Mike Hudson, forced Keenan to reconsider his plans about acquiring some experienced, big league scoring help.&ldquo;Right now it&rsquo;s hard to say we need a center with the way Creighton and Hudson are playing,&rdquo; Keenan confirmed. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a really positive sign for us.&rdquo;Hudson had two goals, four assists for six points in his first six games before suffering a mild muscle pull in his leg Oct. 17 against the Edmonton Oilers.Hudson is on pace to easily surpass career high totals of nine goals in 1989-90 and 23 points in 1988-89.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been hearing for so long how we only have one center (Jeremy Roenick) and one offensive line (Roenick, Steve Larmer and Michel Goulet), and we get tired of it,&rdquo; Hudson said.NO DEAL: One day after Mike Keenan said trading goaltender Ed Belfour is an option he&rsquo;s considering, Keenan said it was unlikely he would deal the free-agent holdout.&ldquo;Time will help us figure this situation out,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a business decision on the part of both sides right now.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01949/6025856-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="555" height="1162"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Creighton&rsquo;s summer skating workouts are paying off.</figcaption></div>Belfour&rsquo;s agent, Ron Salcer, wouldn&rsquo;t mind seeing his client traded if the Hawks aren&rsquo;t going to pay him the more than $1 million a season Belfour is seeking.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told them if they&rsquo;re not going to pay Eddie, then please trade him and give him the chance to make the money somewhere else. He&rsquo;s not a prisoner,&rdquo; Salcer said.The Hawks are believed to have upped their offer to Belfour to around $900,000 a season.&ldquo;Eddie should be one of the top 15 paid players in the league based on what he did last season,&rdquo; Salcer said.Belfour led NHL goalies in games played (74), wins (43), goals-against average (2.47) and save percentage (.910).He won the Calder (rookie) and Vezina (goalie) Trophies and was runner-up to St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull for the Hart Trophy as most valuable player.The longer Belfour sits, the more difficult it will be for him to reclaim the No. 1 job from Jimmy Waite, who has played well early in the season.&ldquo;Not to take anything away from Ed Belfour, because he&rsquo;s a great goalie, but Jimmy Waite has stepped in and given us a big boost,&rdquo; left winger Steve Thomas said.NOTEBOOK: Despite outshooting St. Louis 78-43 in two games, all the Hawks had to show for their efforts was a tie (4-4 Oct. 19) and a loss (4-1 Oct. 20)&hellip;The No. 1 line of Jeremy Roenick, Steve Larmer and Michel Goulet was held without a point by the Blues in the two games. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to win games if they don&rsquo;t produce, it&rsquo;s as simple as that,&rdquo; Keenan said.After one week in limbo, defenseman Rick Lanz was assigned to the Canadian Olympic team Oct. 17.Trent Yawney remained absent while the Hawks looked to trade the 26-year-old defenseman. The team most interested in Yawney appeared to be Winnipeg. The Rangers were offering center Mark Janssens, but the Hawks rejected that offer.Steve Smith had an assist in his first game against his former Edmonton teammates Oct. 17. The Hawks won 4-2&hellip;Mike Stapleton&rsquo;s goal Oct. 19 at St. Louis was his first in the NHL since the 1987-88 season.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 15: Mike Peluso, LW, and Frank Kucera, D, assigned to Indianapolis (IHl). Oct. 17: Kucera recalled from Indianapolis. Rick Lanz, D, assigned to the Canadian Olympic team. Oct. 19: Mike Stapleton, C, recalled from Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Adam Creighton, Mike Stapleton. John Tonelli.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, Steve Thomas, Greg Gilbert, Stu Grimson.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Brian Noonan, Dirk Graham, Jocelyn Lemieux.LD&mdash;Steve Smith, Bryan Marchment, Steve Konroyd, Frank Kucera.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Keith Brown, Ryan McGill.G&mdash;Jimmy Waite, Dominik Hasek<h3>INJURIES</h3>Karl Dykhuis, D, fractured frontal sinus bone, day-to-day. Mike Hudson, C, pulled upper leg muscle, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0020-01

Creighton and Hudson center of scoring surge

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>The Detroit Red Wings added another of Bob Probert&rsquo;s former sparring partners when the team acquired goaltender Vincent Riendeau from their Norris rival St. Louis Blues for defenseman Rick Zombo.The Oct. 18 deal was a one-for-one swap which the clubs had been discussing since pre-season. It came less than 12 hours after Riendeau gave up six goals on 36 shots in a 6-3 loss to Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.Zombo, 28, a steady defensive defenseman, will shore up a Blues&rsquo; defense corps decimated by the departures of Scott Stevens, Harold Snepsts, Glen Featherstone and Tom Tilley.Riendeau should be one of the league&rsquo;s most capable backups. Tim Cheveldae emerged as the No. 1 goalie the minute he was promoted to the NHL three seasons ago.&ldquo;Vince is going to compete with Timmy now, and we&rsquo;re going to have to work out a rotation,&rdquo; Red Wings&rsquo; coach-general manager Bryan Murray said. &ldquo;Both will get enough work. That&rsquo;s not a problem.&rdquo;With Riendeau in the fold, it&rsquo;s safe to say Cheveldae won&rsquo;t work 65 games like he did last season. Glen Hanlon, one of five backups Detroit tried, was the only backup to win a game last season.Hanlon has since retired and Allan Bester began the season as the backup. He appeared in only one of the team&rsquo;s first seven games, relieving Cheveldae Oct. 5 in an 8-5 loss to Toronto.Murray wouldn&rsquo;t discuss Bester&rsquo;s future, but he&rsquo;s expected to be assigned to one of Detroit&rsquo;s minorleague affiliates.Riendeau joins Troy Crowder in the Wings&rsquo; dressing room as Detroit teammates. The two were popular on Probert&rsquo;s hit list last season. Probert decked Riendeau with one punch in Game 2 of the Norris Division championship last spring. Probert was suspended for what the league called a &ldquo;blatant attack.&rdquo;RIGHT STUFF: Detroit started the season with significant depth on the right side, and it came in handy when Ray Sheppard went down with a wrist injury Oct. 15.Sheppard was cross-checked by Edmonton&rsquo;s Jeff Beukeboom in Detroit&rsquo;s 3-1 win. He joined Troy Crowder (bulging disc in his back) and rookie Martin Lapointe (broken hand) on the sidelines.Sheppard missed one game&mdash;a 6-3 win Oct. 17 over St. Louis&mdash;and returned to score his first two goals of the season in a 6-1 victory at Quebec Oct. 19.Crowder and Lapointe were expected to be out until early November. Team doctors were hoping three weeks of intense therapy would help Crowder avoid surgery.NOTEBOOK: The Red Wings were the last NHL team to get a victory this season. The team cracked the win column with a 3-1 victory Oct. 15<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 19: Rick Zombo, D, traded to St. Louis for Vincent Riendeau, G.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Jimmy Carson, Shawn Burr.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Johan Garpenlov, Keith Primeau, Brian MacLellan, Paul Ysebaert.RW&mdash;Kevin Miller, Bob Probed, Ray Sheppard, Alan Kerr, Brent Fedyk.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Vladimir Konstantinov, Niklas Lidstr&ouml;m, Bobby Dollas, Yves Racine.RD&mdash;Doug Crossman, Brad Marsh, Brad McCrimmon.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Vincent Riendeau, Allan Bester.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Troy Crowder. RW. bulging disc in his back, Nov. 5. Martin Lapointe, RW, broken hand, Nov. 5. Dennis Vial, fractured left thumb, Nov. 5. &#9632;

Murray makes goalline stand, gets Riendeau

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>It wasn&rsquo;t long ago Mark Tinordi was at the top of the world. A Stanley Cup final appearance, recognition as one of the best, young defenseman in the NHL and an invitiation to try out for the host nation&rsquo;s Canada Cup team.Now, he&rsquo;s just hoping he can resume his career.Late in Minnesota&rsquo;s Oct. 15 game in Calgary, Tinordi rushed to stop an Al Maclnnis shot along the boards. The puck hit a nerve in the back of his knee, cutting the skin and severely damaging a nerve. He fell, tried to get up and fell again.&ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d broken my ankle,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My leg was numb from the knee down. When it didn&rsquo;t get better after the game, I began to get concerned.&rdquo;The injury Tinordi suffered is known as foot palsy. The lanky defenseman has no feeling in his foot and can&rsquo;t control the up-and-down movement. The injury is being called career threatening.&ldquo;When doctors first looked at it, they said it could be anywhere from two days to two weeks before the feeling comes back and I can skate again,&rdquo; Tinordi said. &ldquo;No one&rsquo;s saying that any more. What they&rsquo;re telling me now is it&rsquo;ll be two weeks to two months before I&rsquo;m back. Doctors tell me nerves are the slowest to heal.&rdquo;Tinordi&rsquo;s absence almost guarantees rookie Derian Hatcher will remain with the big club, rather than return to his junior team in North Bay (Ontario League).SWEDISH EXPRESS: The Stars&rsquo; big shots didn&rsquo;t contribute much through the team&rsquo;s first six games.Utility man Ulf Dahlen led the team with six goals, surprising considering the progress of the big name players&mdash;Dave Gagner (four goals), Brian Bellows (three), Brian Propp (one), Mike Modano (none) and Bobby Smith (none).&ldquo;The only logical explanation I can see is we have good players who have decided to play the way they want rather than the style that will help us be competitive,&rdquo; coach Bob Gainey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too big a group to name.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bobby Smith, who took his salary dispute to an NHL arbitrator, received a two-year contract worth $550,000 annually. Smith, 33, is beginning his 14th NHL season&hellip;Only three players remain without contracts: Goalie Jon Casey, defenseman Jim Johnson and right winger Stewart Gavin.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 15: Tyler Larter, C, traded to Winnipeg for Tony Joseph, RW. Joseph assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL). Oct. 17: Chris Dahlquist, D, signed two-year contract Oct. 18: Bobby Smith, C, received salary arbitration settlement for $550,000 per season<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dave Gagner, Bobby Smith, Neal Broten, Marc Bureau, Todd Elik.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Brian Bellows, Gaetan Duchesne, Basil McRae.RW&mdash;Mike Modano, Ulf Dahlen, Stewart Gavin, Shane Churla, Mike Craig.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Derian Hatcher, Al Pedersen.RD&mdash;Chris Dahlquist, Jim Johnson, Brian Glynn, Rob Ramage.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Tinordi, D, foot palsy, indefinite. &#9632;

Tinordi worried injury could be career-ending

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01813/6025935-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Preparing for his post-hockey career means acting lessons for Flames&rsquo; center Doug Gilmour. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS.)</figcaption></div>The location: Not Schwab&rsquo;s Drugstore or any of the other Hollywood landmarks people traditionally go to get discovered.That much, Doug Gilmour knows for sure.Gilmour can&rsquo;t exactly remember where he first met producer Gene Corman, the man who got him to consider a career in acting.The chance meeting happened on a Calgary Flames&rsquo; road trip to Los Angeles early last season. They were introduced by friends of friends. Corman apparently liked Gilmour&rsquo;s look and manner.Presto, before you could say Lana Turner, Gilmour was signed to a three-picture deal.Even though Gilmour was to begin his acting career by playing a race car driver, Peter Revson, things happened too fast to suit him.For starters, Gilmour wanted this career development to stay under wraps until it came closer to the time for someone to shout lights, camera, action.Then there was this little matter of stage experience. Until he started doing some rather lame commercials for a local sporting goods chain, Gilmour didn&rsquo;t even have high-school drama-club experience.The leak: It came when those publicity-conscious Hollywood-types couldn&rsquo;t wait to get the message out. They faxed all the newspapers and TV stations in Calgary, making the Gilmour household a busy night on Oct. 30, 1990.As it turned out, there was no urgency. Almost one year later, things haven&rsquo;t changed. Gilmour has only just recently signed up for acting lessons.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be private,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;because I don&rsquo;t have time for the group thing. We&rsquo;ll just see how it goes.&rdquo;The first project: Not The Peter Revson Story, as originally planned. That has been shelved for now. Ideally, Gilmour would like to make his debut in a made-for-TV movie currently in the works about the Swift Current Broncos bus crash.Will it be a feature role? That would be Gilmour&rsquo;s preference.&ldquo;It depends on how prepared I am,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I get enough classes in, then yeah, I&rsquo;d like to do more of a feature role rather than just be a stand-in.The schedule: Could pose a problem. As long as he plays hockey, Gilmour&rsquo;s shooting schedule will be restricted to the summer months. He knows that.&ldquo;They know my restrictions. That&rsquo;s going to have a lot to do with it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The main thing right now is that I prepare myself for an acting career&mdash;even if it doesn&rsquo;t come about for two, three, four years, whatever it may be. Because one day, I may have lots of time to do it. I know it&rsquo;s out there. My main concern is to get a little bit of experience.&rdquo;The profile: Needed work this summer. Gilmour&rsquo;s beak looked like it has been bopped by more than just Tom Webster over the years. In fact, it has been broken so many times that this summer, he voluntarily allowed surgeons to break his nose. The reason: So he can breathe properly again.&ldquo;They break the nose on the inside and then shaved a lot of the bone,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;The nasal passage on the right side is still blocked. One of these days I&rsquo;m going to have it all done. They didn&rsquo;t want to do it at this point because it&rsquo;s major surgery.&rdquo;The weight: Was up to 182 after a summer of heavy lifting. Perennially, one of Gilmour&rsquo;s biggest problems is his playing weight drops to 165 pounds by the end of the season. Gilmour didn&rsquo;t want to go to camp that heavy, so he dropped to 175 in early September. He&rsquo;s down to 172 now and that&rsquo;s not a bad playing weight for him. The trick is to keep it on.The new contract: Is weighing heavily on Gilmour&rsquo;s mind. He will go to arbitration to settle the dispute.The trade rumors: For more than a season, Gilmour endured a steady diet of them. He says they don&rsquo;t bother him. When Joe Nieuwendyk returns from a knee injury around Nov. 1, the Flames will be five deep down the middle.&ldquo;Obviously, if there&rsquo;s going to be a move, it&rsquo;d be me or Joel Otto,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think (general manager Doug) Risebrough&rsquo;s going about it the right way.&rdquo;The hockey: That&rsquo;s what he does for a living, isn&rsquo;t it? In three seasons with the Flames, Gilmour averaged a respectable 86 points-per-season. The original plan this year was to use him in a defensive role, the way he played when he first came into the league with St. Louis. That strategy was put on hold when Nieuwendyk went down.&ldquo;I still think they want, not a lot offense, but big goals at certain times. They want me to play aggressively and forecheck and play a good defensive role. That&rsquo;s fine with me. I&rsquo;m prepared to do whatever it takes to help the team win at this point.&ldquo;You prepare yourself to take it day-by-day and that&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;m doing. As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, I&rsquo;m a Calgary Flame until the day they trade me or something else happens.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

A hard act to follow

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02551/6025973-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="445" height="480"></div>Not everyone will agree with the premise, but is there a better match in hockey right now than goaltender Grant Fuhr and the Toronto Maple Leafs?Consider that Fuhr is happiest: (a) when he&rsquo;s playing every night, which is one certainty in Toronto; and (b) when he&rsquo;s completely overworked, which is a second certainty.The 1991 Leafs resemble the early Edmonton Oilers in one sense: They don&rsquo;t pay much attention to defense. That&rsquo;s more a function of talent than it is of Tom Watt&rsquo;s coaching philosophy.The Oilers used to leave Fuhr to his devices and go for goals. Five times, they scored more than 400 goals a season&mdash;one reason why, despite Fuhr&rsquo;s status as one of the game&rsquo;s best goaltenders, his numbers didn&rsquo;t compute. He gave up three-and-a-half goals a game all the years the Oilers were winning Stanley Cups.But if he allowed a bad goal, it rarely came with the game on the line. On a Leafs&rsquo; team that produced 337 goals two seasons ago (but only 241 last season), his presence in the nets gives them a chance every time out.No one made life more miserable for the Flames and Jets and Canucks than did Fuhr. One example: In last year&rsquo;s Smythe Division semifinal against Calgary, he just wouldn&rsquo;t give up a goal with the game on the line. In seven games, the Flames only scored twice in the third period against him.Many of those white hairs in Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s head came as a result of Fuhr&rsquo;s goaltending.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; said Fuhr. &ldquo;That means we were doing something right.&rdquo;Presumably, that&rsquo;s also why Fuhr&rsquo;s new boss went to such lengths to get him. The Leafs tied their rebuilding program to him, surrendering four young players with various degrees of ability to get him to Toronto.The conventional wisdom says the Oilers won the deal because they acquired youth for a goalie who has seen better days.How much of their future did the Leafs really mortgage to get him? Yes, Vince Damphousse will score his 75 points a season. The deal will hinge on how the other three&mdash;Scott Thornton, Peter Ing and Luke Richardson&mdash;mature. If they become above-average NHLers, then you could argue Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather made the right deal.But if they become only journeymen, well, as Sather knows better than anyone, putting together a supporting cast is a comparative snap once you have your Messiers, Gretzkys and and Coffeys in place.As a rule, goalies&mdash;like pitchers A or quarterbacks&mdash;have a disproportionate impact on the game. Moreover, Fuhr, at 29, hardly played at all the past two seasons. It looks as if he has five more good years in him.In addition to his playing ability, Fuhr also possesses the correct temperment to play goal in Toronto. People keep dredging up the Leafs&rsquo; sorry recent history&mdash;and that&rsquo;s an unfortunate fact of life when you play for a team that has been a laughingstock for more than a decade.When things get bleak, Fuhr&rsquo;s positive attitude will shine like a beacon in the Leaf dressing room. A He never blames anyone but himself for a goal. He never shows up a teammate with one of those imploring, &ldquo;I-didn&rsquo;t-see-it&rdquo; shrugs.If he gives up three goals on 50 shots in a 3-2 loss, he&rsquo;ll say it was his fault he didn&rsquo;t make 49 saves instead of 47. After developing that me-first approach in all those losing years, this is the kind of attitude injection the Leafs desperately need.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03353/6025966-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="558" height="846"><figcaption class="caption-body">Grant Fuhr</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think their past is their past,&rdquo; said Fuhr. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to start a new future starting this year, where we start to win our share of games and keep a positive attitude in the room.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going in the right direction, but it&rsquo;ll take a little time for everybody to get together. We&rsquo;ve got 17 new faces from last year. Anytime you throw 17 new faces together, it takes time for a team to get to be a team.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-02

Firing line perfect location for Fuhr

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>The theory goes something like this: Because they&rsquo;re a fairly experienced team, the Calgary Flames play a heavy number of road games early in the season, hoping to capitalize on the unsettled nature of NHL lineups this time of year.That allows them an extended homestand from mid-February on, so they can get rested and prepared for the playoffs.This season, the Flames overdid it. They had 13 of their first 18 games away from the Saddledome&mdash;and the early returns were not favorable.The Flames lost four of their first five road games through the season&rsquo;s opening three weeks and faced the daunting prospect of playing only one home game in a 26-day span between Oct. 18 and Nov. 11.The players held a closed-door meeting to discuss their poor play away from home, following a 5-1 loss to Vancouver Oct. 19. Coach Doug Risebrough was so incensed with the team&rsquo;s effort in the second period of that loss he would not permit left winger Gary Roberts to do a between-periods interview for Hockey Night In Canada.So what happens to the Flames when they hit the road? Nobody had a lot of insights on the matter.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our own fault,&rdquo; center Doug Gilmour said. &ldquo;Nobody can point fingers at one person. Everyone has to look at themselves in the mirror.&rdquo;Added defenseman Al Maclnnis: &ldquo;What was said was just between the players. But it was no big secret. We&rsquo;ve got to dig down a little deeper and find ways to win on the road.&rdquo;NIEUWENDYK UPDATE: Joe Nieuwendyk, who has been out since Sept. 30 recovering from knee surgery, hoped to be back in the lineup by Oct. 19. But it looks like he&rsquo;ll be cleared to play Oct. 26 against St. Louis or Oct. 30 against New Jersey.&ldquo;Ironically, the problem isn&rsquo;t with the cartilage that was removed, but from the arthroscopic procedure itself,&rdquo; he said.The three little holes they drilled to remove his knee cartilage have been slow to heal.&ldquo;The one side of my knee is pretty numb. Once the swelling goes down, it&rsquo;ll feel so much better,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;Because now, just the pressure of my brace against the holes is painful. But the knee itself feels pretty good.&rdquo;In terms of stability, Nieuwendyk believes he&rsquo;ll be back to where he was last season.&ldquo;Once the holes go down, I&rsquo;ll be in better shape,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be rushing it or favoring it. I&rsquo;d like to come back as close to 100 per cent as I can. It&rsquo;s a long year.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: With five spare forwards on the roster, it took newly-acquired Marc Habscheid until the sixth game to crack the lineup. Once he got his chance, however, Habscheid made the most of it, scoring five points (two goals) in his first two games. He played on a line with Robert Reichel and Gary Roberts. Said Habscheid: &ldquo;After you don&rsquo;t play five games, you realize you&rsquo;re not too high on the depth chart. You just have to keep working and do what you can when you get the opportunity.&rdquo;&hellip;Mike Vernon became the winningest goalie in Flames&rsquo; history defeating Los Angeles Oct. 10. That was his 171st career win, one more than Dan Bouchard.Theo Fleury scored his 100th NHL goal six days later in a 6-3 win over Toronto&hellip;Left winger Colin Patterson, who did not dress for the team&rsquo;s first eight games asked to be traded.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 15: Kevan Guy, D. assigned to Salt Lake (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Joel Otto, Robert Reichel, Carey Wilson.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Paul Ranheim, Thomas Forslund, Tim Sweeney, Colin Patterson.RW&mdash;Theo Fleury, Ron Stern, Marc Habscheid, Tim Hunter, Martin Simard, Sergei Makarov.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Frank Musil.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Ric Nattress, Mark Osiecki, Neil Sheehy.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jim Kyte, D, hyperextended elbow, indefinite Stephane Matteau, LW, Charley horse, day-to-day Joe Nieuwendyk, C, left knee surgery, Oct. 26. &#9632;

Road warriors playing more like road worriers

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>The time for talking is nearly over.Phil Housley has heard enough, or not enough, depending on your point of view. Discussions with the Winnipeg Jets about a new contract will end soon and Housley and agent Larry Kelly may have to settle for an arbitrator&rsquo;s ruling on the star defenseman&rsquo;s salary and a one-year contract.&ldquo;Not much of anything is happening,&rdquo; Housley said of talks with Jets&rsquo; general manager Mike Smith, which began in August. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed. We&rsquo;ll make a move to do something soon.&rdquo;Housley is looking for a long-term deal, four or five years with a starting salary in the $l-million range. The Jets latest offer is a reported $700,000 per season, not including deferred money, which has become something of a sticky issue.Housley filed for arbitration, having earlier decided not to play out the option on the contract that paid him about $450,000 (U.S.) last season.&ldquo;Something has got to happen, put it that way,&rdquo; said Housley, who was the Jets&rsquo; leading scorer (1-9-10) through seven games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to make a decision and I&rsquo;ve waited long enough.&rdquo;Housley said his comment wasn&rsquo;t meant to be interpreted as a threat he might walk out on the team.STEEN SIDELINED: For a third straight season, Jets&rsquo; center Thomas Steen has been hit with a major injury.Steen is sidelined with nerve root irritation of the lower back and is not expected back until Dec. 15. He hadn&rsquo;t played since the flare-up during the team&rsquo;s final exhibition game. He was orginally expected to be out about two weeks.Steen missed 22 games two years ago with an unrelated back ailment, and 20 games last season with a broken ankle. Despite that, the 31-year-old Swede has 133 points in 111 games.&ldquo;This is not something we can practise or fix, so I can&rsquo;t spend time worrying about it,&rdquo; Jets&rsquo; coach John Paddock said. &ldquo;We have to worry about burying the puck&mdash;something we aren&rsquo;t doing&mdash;and that&rsquo;s not Thomas&rsquo; forte. His is setting guys up.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Thomas Steen&rsquo;s inj ury ended Ed Oiczyk&rsquo;s wish to play the wing this season. Olczyk has moved from the left side, where he began the season, back to center and will likely stay there for the duration, coach John Paddock said&hellip;01czyk recorded two assists in the Oct. 19 victory over his former team, Toronto, giving him 300 in his career.Goalie Stephane Beauregard was 2-2-0 after his first four starts, but has given up early goals in every game. He has allowed the first shot twice and the second shot twice and the longest he has held off an opponent from the start is 4:18&hellip;After not practising for two weeks, defenseman Moe Mantha played Oct. 16 against Hartford when Randy Carlyle came up with a pulled groin.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 14: Kent Paynter, D, assigned to Moncton (AHL). Oct. 15: Tony Joseph, RW, traded to Minnesota for Tyler Larter, C. Rick Tabaracci, G, recalled from Moncton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Troy Murray, Ed Olczyk, Stu Barnes, Mike Eagles. Tyler Larter.LW&mdash;Brent Ashton, Russ Romaniuk, Mike Hartman, Darrin Shannon, Mark Osborne, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Danton Cole, Don Barber, Paul MacDermid.LD&mdash;Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin, Dean Kennedy, Moe Mantha.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Teppo Numminen, Fredrik Olausson.G&mdash;Stephane Beauregard, Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bryan Erickson, RW, abdominal strain, day-to-day; Bob Essensa. G, bruised knee, day-to-day; Thomas Steen, C, nerve root irritation of the lower back. Dec. 15. &#9632;

Housley’s contract woes lead to frustration

It began as the road trip from hell for the Edmonton Oilers and ended with a heavenly win over the New York Rangers and Mark Messier.The problems began in Detroit where Czechoslovakian winger Petr Klima stood up in the dressing room after a 3-1 loss to the Red Wings Oct. 15 to reiterate his burning desire to be traded to a U.S.-based team.&ldquo;I thought I could go through this, bite the bullet and work hard,&rdquo; Klima said. &ldquo;But I wasn&rsquo;t happy off the ice and that hurt my game.&ldquo;I was just not playing well. I tried to but my mind wasn&rsquo;t there. It&rsquo;s best for the organization and me that the trade be made.&rdquo;For the second straight game he was benched in Detroit, his former home. &ldquo;That was the final straw,&rdquo; he said.But it was hardly the final act of the Klima saga. The next day, the team went on to Chicago and Klima was sent home. He had just one assist in four games after recording 40 goals and 28 assists in 70 games last season.Coach Ted Green labelled Klima &ldquo;greedy&rdquo; and &ldquo;selfish&rdquo; in a scathing verbal attack, adding that Klima, a talented goal scorer, had turned his back on his teammates who needed offense.Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather put Klima on recallable waivers the next day and 48 hours later he had cleared them. And while Sather had originally threatened to send Klima to the Oilers&rsquo; American League affiliate in Cape Breton, that action wasn&rsquo;t taken. Instead, Sather began trade talks with Boston.But the Klima problem was just the tip of the iceberg. Demoted defenseman Chris Joseph and goalie Pokey Reddick, had their agent, Don Meehan, tell Sather they too wanted out of the organization. And then on Oct. 19 in Long Island, frustrated left winger Troy Mallette took his turn.&ldquo;I have nothing against the Oilers&rsquo; organization and Teddy is a great guy but I&rsquo;m in a position where I think I should be playing,&rdquo; said Mallette. &ldquo;Things aren&rsquo;t working out. &ldquo;Mallette came to the Oilers as compensation for the Rangers&rsquo; signing of free agent left winger Adam Graves.Because he only played two of the Oilers&rsquo; first nine games (he had no points), because he didn&rsquo;t come in a trade, because the Oilers wanted Louie DeBrusk and Steven Rice as compensation, Mallette believes he was never in the team&rsquo;s plans.BABY-SITTING: There was a break in the Bernie Nicholls story Oct. 20.His agent, Mike Barnett, said the Oilers&rsquo; center would report to the NHL team that owns his rights after his wife Heather delivers twins and Nicholls finally feels comfortable leaving them in White Plains, N.Y.Nicholls left the announcement up to Barnett while he concentrated on the welfare of his family. Heather&rsquo;s due date was early December but she may deliver as soon as late October.Nicholls hadn&rsquo;t reported to the Oilers after his Oct. 4 trade from the Rangers for Messier.NOTEBOOK: When the Oilers met Mark Messier and the Rangers for the first time Oct. 20, it was an emotional trial for defenseman Kevin Lowe, Messier&rsquo;s best friend and former roommate. &ldquo;I was standing on the blue line during the national anthem,&rdquo; Lowe said, &ldquo;and I thought it was an intrasquad game. I saw Mark in a Ranger uniform and as much as I&rsquo;ve prepared myself for it, I still said &lsquo;what the heck is going on?&rsquo; I&rsquo;m just glad he&rsquo;s not in our division. If he went to L.A., I&rsquo;d probably retire.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 16: Petr Klima, LW, placed on recallable waivers. Oct. 18: Klima recalled.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Vincent Damphousse, Josef Beranek, Craig MacTavish, Scott Thornton, Mark Lamb.LW&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Craig Simpson, Martin Gelinas, Louie DeBrusk, Troy Mallette, Petr Klima.RW&mdash;Anatoli Semenov, Joe Murphy, Scott Mellanby, Kelly Buchberger.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Luke Richardson, Geoff Smith, Norm Maciver.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Dave Manson.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Peter Ing.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Martin Rucinsky, LW, broken collarbone. indefinite. &#9632;

Rocky road trip takes team to hell and back

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>Trevor Linden has looked like a million bucks since he joined the Vancouver Canucks in 1988, and now he&rsquo;s going to be paid like it.The 21-year-old Vancouver captain signed a four-year deal Oct. 19 that will gross him $3.7 million (Cdn)&mdash;roughly $3.25 million U.S.&mdash;over the life of the contract.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good deal for me and it&rsquo;s a good deal for the team,&rdquo; said Linden, who made $130,000 (Cdn) last season. &ldquo;If you look around the league, it puts me right where I should be on the salary scale. The negotiations went pretty smoothly and both sides should be commended.&rdquo;In September, Linden rejected a four-year, $2.8-million (U.S.) proposal, fearing the rapidly escalating market would pass him by if he was locked in forthat length. However, he did say he would accept a longer term for the right money. Obviously, $3.7 million struck a responsive chord.&ldquo;The figures had something to do with the longer term,&rdquo; Linden said. &ldquo;I want to be a Vancouver Canuckfor a long time and this is part of it. It&rsquo;s nice to have it behind me.&rdquo;The deal was the richest in team history, surpassing the four-year, $2.5 million (U.S.) contract Geoff Courtnall signed.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted,&rdquo; Canucks&rsquo; coach-GM Pat Quinn said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the biggest step our owners made (in salaries). We&rsquo;re hopeful Trevor will continue to get better. He&rsquo;s a big part of our future.&rdquo;Linden has been a sensation since he broke into the league as an 18-year-old. He scored 30 goals as a rookie and finished runner-up to New York Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch for the Calder Trophy.The Medicine Hat, Alta., native slumped to 21 goals his sophomore season but rebounded with a career-high 33 last year and captured every available Canuck team award.Now he can add &lsquo;richest Canuck of all time&rsquo; to his resume.FAN FAVORITE: Gino Odjick, known more for his fists than his finesse, brought down the house in Vancouver Oct. 19 scoring on a penalty shot against Calgary Flame goalie Mike Vernon.Odjick was hooked on the arm by Al Maclnnis after being sent into the clear by Ryan Walter resulting in the penalty shot. Odjick promptly beat Vernon to the stick side. The Canucks went oh to beat their Smythe Division rivals 5-2.&ldquo;It was the second biggest thrill of my career,&rdquo; the hulking left winger smiled. &ldquo;My first goal is my biggest thrill.&rdquo;Prior to taking the shot, Odjick asked equipment manager Pat O&rsquo;Neill for a new stick.&ldquo;I said &lsquo;give me the right one, Patty&rsquo; and he did,&rdquo; Odjick said. &ldquo;I was just praying to God I would score. I&rsquo;m pretty happy. It looks a lot better when you look at my stats in the scoring column and see a &lsquo;one&rsquo; instead of all zeroes and then penalty minutes.&rdquo;Pat Quinn, a plodding defenseman in his playing days, said he had little advice to offer Odjick. &ldquo;I told him to talk to the guys who know something about scoring,&rdquo; Quinn quipped.NOTEBOOK: Gino Odjick&rsquo;s successful penalty shot was the first in five years for the Canucks. Stan Smyl, now a Vancouver assistant coach, also beat the Flames&rsquo; Mike Vernon on a penalty shot Jan. 16, 1987 in a 9-5 Canuck victory&hellip;Kirk McLean was the NHL&rsquo;s player of the week for the period ending Oct.<h2>Vancouver</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 19: Trevor Linden, RW. signed four-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Petr Nedved, Ryan Walter, Igor Larionov. Robert Kron.LW&mdash;Greg Adams, Sergio Momesso, Geoff Courtnall, Gino Odjick. &lsquo;RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Jim Sandlak, Jay Mazur, Garry Valk, Andrew McBain.LD&mdash;Robert Dirk, Dave Babych, Dana Murzyn, Jim Agnew.RD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Randy Gregg.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Troy Gamble.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Linden’s new contract richest in team history

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>The frustrations of a 1-8-0 start are beginning to show in the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; dressing room.&ldquo;I can tell you right now, this is no fun,&rdquo; Sharks&rsquo; left winger Steve Bozek said after an 8-2 loss Oct. 17 to the Minnesota North Stars. &ldquo;When the puck is going in your net and the guys on the other teams are smiling and laughing, it makes you mad and frustrated. Then you start trying to do too much.&rdquo;oTypically, the Sharks haven&rsquo;t had wait long for frustration to arrive.They were outshot 119-71 during first periods in their initial nine games, and were outscored 17-5.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost like there&rsquo;s a real hesitation to do anything,&rdquo; Bozek said. &ldquo;Instead of taking the bull by the horns, we seem to sit back and wait for something bad to happen.&rdquo;Goalie Jeff Hackett called the play in front of him &ldquo;disgusting&rdquo; after he was forced to face an onslaught of odd-man breaks in an 8-5 loss to the Los Angeles Kings Oct. 16.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just not playing smart hockey,&rdquo; Hackett said. &ldquo;We have to tighten up.&rdquo;Sharks&rsquo; coach George Kingston being badly outplayed in the early stages of games makes it difficult for players to maintain their confidence.To their credit, the Sharks played a much better game in a 4-1 loss Oct. 19 to Boston&mdash;the final home game before a seven-game road trip. The Sharks outshot the Bruins 37-28, Asking the first time they outshot an oponent.ROTATION GAME: Jeff Hackett, Brian Hayward and Jarmo Myllys are becoming more and more displeased with the three-goalie rotation the Sharks have adopted.&ldquo;It has never worked,&rdquo; Hayward said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re all frustrated by it. We all want to play, but we don&rsquo;t make the decisions. We just have to deal with it.&rdquo;Sharks&rsquo; coach George Kingston said rotating three goalies is the fairest way to give each an equal opportunity to earn a job.NOTEBOOK: The Sharks will be without veteran center Kelly Kisio for two or three weeks. He suffered sprained ligaments in his left foot against Minnesota Oct. 17. Kisio was the team&rsquo;s second-leading scorer (three goals, seven points in eight games) when he was hurt&hellip;The Sharks acquired much-traveled veteran Paul Fenton Oct. 18 from the Hartford Whalers in exchange for left winger Mike McHugh. Fenton appeared in more than 350 NHL games, and was a 32-goal scorer for the Winnipeg Jets in 1989-90. Remarkably, the left winger will be playing for his sixth NHL team in the last 11 months.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 15: Ed Courtenay, RW. recalled from Kansas City (IHL). David Bruce, LW, and Kevin Evans, LW, assigned to Kans City. Oct. 18: Mike McHugh, LW, traded to Hartford for Paul Fenton, LW. John Carter, LW, recalled from Kansas City.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Perry Berezan, Dean Evason, Brian Lawton.LW&mdash;Steve Bozek, John Carter, Link Gaetz. Paul Fenton, Perry Anderson.RW&mdash;Pat Falloon, Brian Mullen, Wayne Presley, Craig Coxe.LD&mdash;Ken Hammond. Rick Lessard, Pat MacLeod, Bob McGill.RD&mdash;Neil Wilkinson, Doug Wilson, Rob Zettler.G&mdash;Jeff Hackett, Brian Hayward, Jarmo Myllys.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ed Courtenay, RW, contusion on left wrist, day-to-day. Tony Hrkac, C, cracked bone in left wrist, indefinite. Kelly Isio, C, sprained ligaments in left foot, Bbv 7. Jayson More, D, fractured bone iin left foot. Nov. 10. &#9632;

Honeymoon over as losses continue to mount

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>The games people play didn&rsquo;t seem very important after Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s father, Walter, was stricken with a brain aneurysm Oct. 16 and rushed to Hamilton (Ont.) General Hospital.As Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; goaltender Kelly Hrudey put it, &ldquo;Hockey will always be around. When something happens to your family, that&rsquo;s the No. 1 priority. We&rsquo;re all concerned about it.&rdquo;Wayne Gretzky was granted a leave of absence just hours before the Kings defeated San Jose 8-5 in Los Angeles that night. Given the use of Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall&rsquo;s private jet, Gretzky flew to Hamilton with his wife. Janet, and brother Keith, who plays for San Diego in the International League.The elder Gretzky suffered an attack while painting a house at the family farm. An aneurysm is a bubble in a blood vessel in the brain.&ldquo;Everybody was down (before the Sharks&rsquo; game),&rdquo; Bob Kudelski said. &ldquo;It has been in the back of all of our minds.&rdquo;Walter Gretzky, 53, underwent a six-hour operation Oct. 19&mdash;the same day the Kings turned back Minnesota 5-2 in Los Angeles. He was listed in critical condition.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve told Wayne to stay there as long as he wants. It&rsquo;s all up to him,&rdquo; Kings&rsquo; general manager Rogie Vachon said. &ldquo;Everyone knows how close the family is.&rdquo;McNall planned to visit with the Gretzkys during the Kings&rsquo; sevengame road trip that was to begin Oct. 22 in New Jersey.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spoken with Wayne several times and he has sounded a lot better than he did in the very beginning,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;Obviously, he is still very concerned.&ldquo;The doctors haven&rsquo;t given a prognosis. Wayne is frustrated because he can&rsquo;t get any answers either. Certainly our thoughts and prayers are with Wayne and his family.&rdquo;Walter Gretzky taught his talented son the game in the rinks around Brantford, Ont. The last time he saw Wayne play was at the Canada Cup when Gretzky suffered a back injury.CHANGING LINES: Tomas Sandstrom was taken off the No. 1 line with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, and moved to a unit with center Bob Kudelski and Tony Granato following the Kings&rsquo; 3-3 tie with Winnipeg Oct. 12.Mike Donnelly replaced Sandstrom on the top line, which was realigned again when Gretzky left to be with his ailing father. Gretzky&rsquo;s spot was taken by Randy Gilhen, who was also centering the checking line.John McIntyre went to the middle between Luc Robitaille and Dave Taylor, then sprained his left thumb and was replaced by rookie Sylvain Couturier.The Sandstrom-Gretzky-Kurri line combined for five goals and six assists in five games, with three goals and four assists coming opening night.Kings&rsquo; coach Tom Webster said he wanted to spread the scoring around.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still in the experimental stage with the lines,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have a lot of new players and it&rsquo;s going to take time before we find out how everyone fits in. Even the new lines aren&rsquo;t etched in stone.&rdquo;Sandstrom didn&rsquo;t mind the change.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that we had any great expectations,&rdquo; he said of himself, Gretzky and Kurri. &ldquo;All you can do is go out there and give it your best. You can&rsquo;t expect one line to get six goals every night. It doesn&rsquo;t matter to me who I play with. The most important thing is we have to put some wins together.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings killed off 22 consecutive penalties before Minnesota&rsquo;s Neal Broten scored a power-play goal against them Oct. 19. The Kings scored as many shorthanded goals (four) as they permitted power-play goals in 47 disadvantages over seven games&hellip;The power play should be as effective. It produced eight goals in 47 chances over the same number of games.Defenseman Tim Watters, assigned to Phoenix (IHL) Oct. 9 after failing to dress in the first three games, was recalled Oct. 16 due to a rash of injuries. Watters, who is on a termination contract, hadn&rsquo;t been in the minors since playing five games for Tulsa of the Central League in 1981-82. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t happy being sent down, but at least I got a lot of ice time there,&rdquo; said Watters, who played in three Roadrunners&rsquo; games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just excited to be back. Ijust want to play. It seems like I&rsquo;ve had to prove myself for years.&rdquo;&hellip;Rookie defenseman Peter Ahola collected his first NHL goal Oct. 16, beating Jeff Hackett in an 8-5 win over San Jose. &ldquo;Playing here is getting easier all the time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody helps me out. Thex coaches have been playing me a lot.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s nice to feel like they trust you.&rdquo;<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 16: Wayne Gretzky, C, granted leave of absence for personal reasons. Rene Chapdelaine, D, and Tim Watters, D, recalled from Phoenix (IHL). Oct. 17: Sylvain Couturier, C, recalled from Phoenix.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Randy Gilhen, Bob Kudelski, Sylvain Couturier.LW&mdash;Mike Donnelly, Tony Granato, Luc Robitaille. Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Jim Thomson, Frank Breault, llkka Sinisalo.LD&mdash;Brian Benning, Darryl Sydor, Peter Ahola.RD&mdash;Marty McSorley, Tim Watters, Rod Buskas, Rene Chapdelaine.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rob Blake, D, sprained right shoulder, indefinite. Jeff Chychrun, D, fractured left wrist, indefinite Charlie Huddy, D, groin pull, indefinite. John McIntyre. C, sprained left thumb, day-to-day. Larry Robinson, D, bruised shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

Gretzky, team stunned by his father’s illness

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01700/6026148-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darcy Kaminski&rsquo;s Hampton Road Admirals will have trouble hanging on to the Riley Cup they won last season. (Photo by Yvonne Paxson)</figcaption></div>What goes around comes around.The Knoxville Cherokees were the worst team in the East Coast League in 1989-90 and rebounded last year to win the league regular-season championship&mdash;with a record 46 wins.But the Cherokees, 46-13-5 last season, will return to mediocrity in 1991-92.Knoxville coach and director of hockey operations Don Jackson left to join the Quebec Nordiques as an assistant. The only veteran from last season certain to be back is Troy Mick, who scored 35 goals and 83 points in 38 games. However, the second-team all-star left winger will miss opening night because of off-season knee surgery.Hampton Roads has the firepower to retain its East Division crown. However, the Admirals are not favored to defend the Riley Cup and become the league&rsquo;s first repeat champion.Cincinnati, the best in the West, is the team to beat.The Cyclones had the league&rsquo;s third-best record (37-24-3) in their first season and there&rsquo;s good reason to expect more. The organization learned from its mistakes and Cincinnati Gardens, because of its large and vocal crowds, kives the Cyclones the ultimate home-ice advange.Dennis Derosiers was runner-up to Jackson in coach-of-the-year balloting as a rookie. Derosiers is blessed with a nucleus of veteran talent Derosiers and quality recruited newcomers.At the top of the returnees list is the 1-2 scoring punch of Steve Cadieux (47-54-101) and Chris Marshall (35-49-84). A welcome addition is ce ter Craig Charron. Charron scored 13 goals last season during stints with Winston-Salem and Fredericton (American League).In a league short on defensemen, steady Steve Shaunessy (6-21-27, 264 penalty minutes) adds muscle.As if that wasn&rsquo;t enough for the Cyclones, they also recruited a top rookie candidate&mdash;defenseman David Craievich. Craievich scored 2 goals and garnered 30 assists in 66 games for the Oshawa Generals last season.Newcomer Doug Dadswell, who was 16-6-1 with a 2.92 goals-against average for the Canadian national team, has emerged as the No. 1 netminder.Derosiers main concern is depth in a league that imposes a 16-man roster&mdash;14 skaters and two goalies&mdash;limit, including six Americanborn players.Hampton Roads has the snipers. Up front all-star Brian Martin (55-61-116) works on a line with center Murray Hood (21-82-103) and Billy Nolan (28-41-69). It&rsquo;s defense which has coach John Brophy and goalie Mark Bernard (12-6-2, 4.45 GAA) uneasy.The predicted order of finish:East: Hampton, Richmond, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, Roanoke Valley, Knoxville West: Cincinnati, Erie, Louisville, Toledo, Dayton, Johnstown, Columbus, Nashville.Changing times:The salary cap was boosted by $25 so players could earn $275 per week and the rosters were trimmed. That paved the way for a few defections to the fledgling Colonial League.A veterans&rsquo; rule limiting each team to two players with three or more years of experience (excluding those under NHL contract) was adopted.The biggest changes came behind the bench, where eight coaches debut with new teams. Claude Noel moved from Roanoke Valley to Dayton. Terry Ruskowski (Columbus), Kurt Kleinendorst (Raleigh) and Chris McSorley (Toledo) will direct the other expansion teams. Bill Nyrop was hired in Knoxville, Roy Sommer replaced Noel at Roanoke Valley, Frank Anzalone took over for Peter Horachek in Nashville and Doug Sauter succeeded Marcel Comeau in Winston-Salem.Pre-season MVP picks:1. Steve Cadieux, LW, Cincinnati. Cadieux, Montreal&rsquo;s 12th choice in the 1989 draft, had 97 points in only 53 games.2. Brian Martin, LW, Hampton Roads. More than one coach asked the question: &ldquo;What&rsquo;s he doing back?&rdquo; Averaged more than a goal a game on his way to a 55-goal season.3. Trevor Jobe, LW, Richmond. A change of scenery and a change of attitude should help the former Toronto Maple Leaf farmhand become a 60-goal scorer. Jobe&rsquo;s 97 goals is the league career mark.4. Sheldon Gorski, RW, Louisville. Nobody is stronger on the power play than this IceHawk. He blistered the nets for a league-high 24 powerplay goals en route to a 51-goal season.5. Peter Buckeridge, C, Erie. It&rsquo;s the fourth time around for him, but he is still an offensive threat. Injuries limited his playing time to 38 games last season, but he still scored 35 goals.For the defense:1. Ryan Kummu, Erie. He was nearly a unanimous choice in a pre-season coaches poll. Kummu&rsquo;s offensive skills&mdash;he led the Panthers in scoring with 24 goals and 50 assists last year&mdash;overshadow his ability to clear the puck.2. John Blessman, Greensboro. Nobody has a harder shot from the point on power plays. In 29 games he accumulated 131 PIM to establish his physical presence.3. Billy Whitfield, Roanoke Valley. It&rsquo;s like having a coach on the ice when this veteran takes his shift. He didn&rsquo;t miss a game and doesn&rsquo;t take foolish penalties (66 PIM).4. Tom Nickolau, Nashville. Only Winston-Salem (323) allowed more goals than the Knights (317) last season, so they went out and got a winner in Nickolau, who played nine games for Hampton Roads last season.5. Alain Decks, Columbus. At 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, this Vancouver farmhand should make opponents pay for staying too long in front of the Chill net.The puck stops here:1. Wayne Cowley, Raleigh. A free agent who left Cincinnati, he posted a 19-9-2 record and a 3.86 GAA.2. Dean Anderson. Greensboro. An all-star with Knoxville, he led the league with a 23-3-2 record, a 2.95 GAA and an ECHL record three shutouts.3. Nick Vitucci, Greensboro. His GAA has gone down in each of his three years to 3.85, while his wins have increased. His 47 wins is an ECHL career record.4. Chris Clifford, Louisville. Clifford, drafted by Chicago, spent last season at Muskegon (24-26-4, 4.01 GAA). He was 7-1 with a 1.75 GAA for Virginia, now Roanoke Valley, in 1989-90.5. Rob Dopson, Knoxville. This is assuming he is sent down by Pittsburgh from Muskegon. Ironically, his stellar play for Louisville in the playoffs paved the way for the upset of the Cherokees.Moving on up:The ECHL lost several players who graduated to the AHL and International League this season. Knoxville was hit the hardest losing Stan Drulia and Dan Gauthier&mdash;Drulia led the ECHL with 140 points while Gauthier was second with 134. &#9632;

f0031-01

Cyclone on horizon

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>During the summer, Max Mid-dendorf contemplated testing the free agent market and signing with a team in the International League.But two weeks into the American League season, Middendorf was glad he signed a contract to stay in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; organization.The 6-foot-4, 210-pound right winger was among the leaders in AHL scoring with five goals, six assists and 10 points through seven games with the Cape Breton Oilers.&ldquo;I took a look at my opportunities before I signed with Edmonton and I must say I&rsquo;m a lot happier here than I would have been there (with the unnamed IHL independent team),&rdquo; said Middendorf, a third-round pick (57th overall) of Quebec in 1985. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting married this summer and my fiancee lives in Halifax, and there are a great bunch of guys here. It&rsquo;s pretty hard to overlook those things.&rdquo;Those things and some quality linemates, he admits. Middendorf has been on an explosive line with center Shaun Van Allen and left winger Dan Currie.But Middendorf, a 41-goal scorer for Halifax in 1988-89, is one of just a handful of Edmonton imports who are flourishing in Cape Breton. Defenseman Greg Hawgood had nine points (1-8-9) and center Craig Fisher eight (7-1-8).All three came to the Oilers in trades last season. Middendorf was acquired from Quebec for a ninthround draft choice last November and Hawgood arrived last October in the trade that sent Vladimir Ruzicka to Boston.Fisher, who scored 43-36-79 in 77 games with Hershey last season, was part of the three-way Scott Mellanby-Jari Kurri-Steve Duschesne deal between the Oilers, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in May.&ldquo;One thing we do at this level is scout American League players when we play teams,&rdquo; Cape Breton coach Don MacAdam said. &ldquo;Middendorf was a natural attraction for Edmonton because of his size and pure hockey abilities, Hawgood played well for Boston against Edmonton in the playoffs two years ago, and Fisher always played well against us in the four games against Hershey last year.&rdquo;SOLID START: There aren&rsquo;t many new faces in the Capital District lineup&mdash;only five&mdash;but the team is heading in a new direction this season. After finishing with a 28-43-9 record last season&mdash;11 points from a playoff berth&mdash;the Islanders jumped off to a 7-0-2 start this season and had a five-point lead over two-time defending Calder Cup champion Springfield in the Northern Division. Rookie Phil Huber has given a boost to the offense with five goals and six assists and newcomer Graeme Townshend was 6-5-11. &ldquo;Everyone feels good about themselves,&rdquo; coach Butch Goring said. &ldquo;They feel good in practice and it&rsquo;s easier to get them to work because good things are happening.&rdquo;Rochester center Peter Ciavaglia, who was signed as a free agent out of Harvard, was the ProCards rookie of the week for Oct. 7-13. He was 2-3-5 in four games after scoring the tying and winning goals in the Americans&rsquo; 1-0-1 week&hellip;Nine-year defenseman Steve Smith left Rochester Oct. 14 to play for Zell Am Zee in Austria.<h2>Perfect record</h2>Sheldon Kennedy did this season what nobody else has done in the history of hockey. As far as we can tell. The Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; right winger started with a 9-0 record in four games. Nine goals and zero assistsAn eclectic record, you say?More like electric, we say.Granted, there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be a league in North America that keeps track of such things but we&rsquo;re convinced it&rsquo;s a record.Kennedy&rsquo;s streak came to an end Oct. 18 when he earned an assist in the Wings&rsquo; 5-4 loss to Capital District. Kennedy, who was a fourth-round pick by Detroit in 1988, was 9-2 after six games. &#9632;

Trades work wonders for Cape Breton imports

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>Arturs Irbe is back in the cold war, the one he prefers, the one where being the last line of defense means facing men armed with sticks and pucks instead of guns and bullets.How this world-class goaltender got to the International League is a story in itself. How he&rsquo;ll one day leave the Kansas City Blades to play hockey in the NHL for the San Jose Sharks is the happy ending this 24-year-old from Riga, Latvia, is hoping for.&ldquo;It was always my dream to play in the NHL,&rdquo; said Irbe, who had a 5-0 record for the Blades. &ldquo;I play for Kansas City now, but I think maybe soon I play for San Jose.&rdquo;For five seasons Irbe was the goalie for Dynamo Riga of the Soviet Elite League and one of the top goalies in the Soviet Union before his political views got him into trouble.Last January, Irbe, who was the Soviet national team starter for three years, was very outspoken of his views of the Soviet crackdown in Latvia. That led to his refusal to play for the national team.Irbe, who was attempting to come to North America, then had to sweat out the attempted coup in the Soviet Union last August before leaving Latvia a few weeks later.Now he has been assigned to Kansas City by the Sharks, who acquired Irbe in the dispersal draft last summer from Minnesota. In his first five games he stopped 126 of 135 shots for a .933 save percentage&mdash;second-best in the league. His goals-against average of 1.80 led the league.&ldquo;Sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable in net,&rdquo; Irbe said. &ldquo;The North American rinks are smaller and when I play the angles they don&rsquo;t seem right. I lose control of the net.&ldquo;The forwards shoot quicker here, and harder than the Europeans, but the shots are simpler.&rdquo;EUROPEAN VACATION: Irbe and several other players around the league are putting the International in IHL. The league&rsquo;s European contingent has continued to increase.In addition to Irbe, there are three other Soviets: Defenseman Sergei Starikov (San Diego) and left wingers Dmitri Kvartalnov (San Diego) and Mikhail Kravets (Kansas City). The other Europeans are: Swedish left winger Kyosti Karjalainen (Phoenix); Danish left winger Soren True (San Diego); and, from Czechoslovakia, center Ladislav Tresl (Milwaukee) and defenseman Milan Tichy (Indianapolis). True and Karjalainen played in the IHL last season.Kvartalnov has had the biggest impact, scoring seven goals and four assists in eight games. He was acquired by the Gulls after they had signed Starikov&mdash;San Diego was informed that Kvartalnov was available.Kvartalnov, 25, played his fifth season with Khimik in the Soviet Elite League last year finishing fourth in scoring on the team with 12 goals and 10 assists in 42 games. The right winger tied for the team scoring lead with three goals and five assists in seven games when Khimik played in the USSR-NHL Super Series last year.GULL PROBLEMS: The San Diego Gulls&rsquo; ownership status is in limbo again, according to general manager and head coach Don Waddell. Previous owner Harry Cooper had reached an agreement to sell the team, along with other properties, to Howard Baldwin and Ballard Smith. But Baldwin pulled out of the deal Oct. 11, said Waddell. Baldwin, meanwhile, is part of the group that bought the Pittsburgh Penguins. &#9632;

Irbe real coup for K.C.

<h2>OCTOBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01666/6026297-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="477" height="659"></div><h2>NOVEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02459/6026290-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="493" height="1393"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03335/6026283-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="503" height="1626"></div><h2>DECEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04265/6026276-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="470" height="552"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05217/6026269-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="487" height="1893"></div><h2>JANUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06185/6026262-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="480" height="285"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07168/6026255-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="497" height="2282"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08140/6026248-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="398" height="112"></div><h2>FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09122/6026241-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="500" height="2066"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10110/6026234-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="469" height="573"></div><h2>MARCH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-11105/6026227-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="471" height="1629"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

ECHL SCHEDULE

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01751/6026328-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Radek Sip came to Lethbridge from Czechoslovakia last season to cut himself a path to professional hockey. So many other Europeans did the same this year that the CAHA and CHL met to discuss restricting their movement. (Photo by Laura Campbell)</figcaption></div>The flow of Europeans into major junior hockey that has gone from a trickle to a rising tide faces the introduction of controls.Officials from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and Canadian Hockey League met Oct. 21 in Ottawa to discuss the future of Europeans in major junior hockey.The Western League indicated its position on the issue when it voted privately to prohibit teams from adding Europeans to their 50-man team protected lists as of Oct. 7. League president Ed Chynoweth said it was a precautionary move pending the outcome of the Ottawa meeting.Under consideration were measures that would have the effect of restricting the number of overseas players in the Western, Ontario and Quebec Leagues. Twenty players from European countries are playing in the CHL this season&mdash;including 11 in the WHL.The two hockey governing bodies were contemplating guidelines largely in response to Ray Whitney&rsquo;s short-term European vacation this fall. The Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; high-scoring center was lured to Germany by a lucrative deal but returned because all contract conditions were not met.&ldquo;They took a player who was still part of our development system,&rdquo; said CAHA president Murray Costello. &ldquo;That made it a concern. Was this going to continue? Kids coming back from NHL camps could either play for $50-60 expense money (in the CHL) or they could have a $150,000 contract and tour through Europe. It became an issue.&rdquo;Should North American teams stop recruiting European players, the CHL would feel justified in asking European teams to not lure junior-aged players overseas. Two other reasons exist for instituting guidelines: one, moral and the other, economic.&ldquo;Every time you have a European playing over here, he&rsquo;s taking a Canadian job,&rdquo; said Chynoweth, who is also president of the CHL. &ldquo;In all fairness, I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re getting the type of player who should be displacing a Canadian.&rdquo;Additionally, European players represent a heavy expense. One major junior official said that when all expenses are calculated (scouting, international transfer fees and transportation), the cost can be anywhere from $8-10,000 more than signing North Americans.As it stands, some clubs feel compelled to sign Europeans in order to compete at the highest level. New guidelines could be construed as a measure intended to protect teams against themselves.Until this season, the presence of Europeans had not been an issue. No more than six or seven played on CHL teams in any one season. But this season, the CAHA received 34 applications from Europeans wanting to play in the CHL.Thirteen of the 20 who have earned major junior employment are from Czechoslovakia where young NHL hopefuls have been inspired by Petr Nedved&rsquo;s success. The Czechoslovakian defector starred in the WHL before being selected second overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1990. Young Czechoslovakians have been leaving their homeland to play in North America and other countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Sweden.It was unlikely the CHL would seek a ban on Europeans altogether. More likely was the introduction of regulations&mdash;perhaps in the form of a draft or quota system.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can eliminate any particular race, creed or color,&rdquo; OHL commissioner David Branch said. &ldquo;That would bring with it a whole new set of problems.&rdquo;Chynoweth was asked if the CHL could be accused of discrimination if it did not accept players who wanted to make better lives for themselves by coming to North America.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the farthest thing from my mind,&rdquo; said Chynoweth. &ldquo;There are enough problems in North America without us worrying about solving the problems of the world. I&rsquo;m a great believer in hockey players from North America.&rdquo;<h2>Junior Team Europe full of draft-eligible players</h2>There are 20 European players on major junior rosters this season. The breakdown of nationalities is: Czechoslovakia, 13; Finland, 4; Sweden, 1; Italy, 1; Germany, 1.The most highly-rated is Czecholovakian left winger Vladimir Vujtek of the Tri-City Americans, a fourth-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1991. None of the other 19 belong to NHL teams. All are eligible for the 1992 entry draft. Listed are their vital statistics: position, team, 1991-92 games, goals, assists and points, and native country.Western League: Niklas Barklund, RW, Regina, 8-3-2-5 (Sweden); Jiri Beranek, RW, Portland, 8-2-4-6 (Czech.); Dan Blasko, D, Kamloops, 2-0-0-0 (Czech.); Tuomas Gronman, D, Tacoma, 9-1-2-3 (Finland); David Hebky, RW, Tri-City, 6-0-2-2 (Czech.); Niko Ovaska, RW, Regina, 3-0-1-1 (Finland); Lasse Pirjeta, RW, Tacoma, 4-0-0-0 (Finland); Radek Sip, RW, Lethbridge, 8-3-4-7 (Czech.); Michal Sup, C, Kamloops, 5-0-4-4 (Czech.); Michael Sykora, D, Tacoma, 8-3-2-5 (Czech.); Vladimir Vujtek, LW, Tri-City, 6-6-6-12 (Czech.).Quebec League: Radoslav Balaz, LW, Beauport, 5-0-0-0 (Czech.); Michal Longauer, C, Hull, 6-2-5-7 (Czech.); David Pekarek, LW, Laval, 8-3-4-7 (Czech.); Jan Simcik, RW, College Francais, 8-1-1-2 (Czech.); Petr Valenta, D, Laval, 9-0-0-0 (Czech.).Ontario League: Jan Benda, D, Oshawa, 10-1-3-4 (Germany); Markus Brunner, C, Oshawa, 10-2-7-9 (Italy); Ilpo Kauhanen, G, Cornwall, 4.38 goals-against average, (Finland); Zbynek Kukacka, RW, Ottawa, 9-3-2-5 (Czech.). &#9632;

f0034-01

Czechs, Balances

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The Max Factor is again a factor in Windsor and Motor City Smitty had no choice but to motor out of town.The power struggle in Windsor finally ended Oct. 15 when Spitfire owners fired third-year coach Brad Smith and installed general manager Wayne Maxner as interim coach. Assistant Aach Dave Prpich was also let go by the Ontario League club.Maxner rejoined the Spitfires last season after being fired after four years as coach-GM of the London Knights. It wasn&rsquo;t a well-kept secret that he and Smith weren&rsquo;t co-existing.Smith got assurance from the owners last season that only they had the power to fire him. They exercised that power when the Spitfires got off to 2-6-2 start this season.&ldquo;(Reports of the personality conflict) have been definitely overblown,&rdquo; Maxner said. &ldquo;I worked very hard with Brad to try and develop him as a coach. It&rsquo;s a very difficult time and emotional time for me, but they (the owners) made a decision. They felt the team has underachieved.&rdquo;Smith issued a blunt &ldquo;no comment&rdquo; when asked if he thought Maxner had something to do with his firing and if their relationship had soured. Maxner coached Smith in junior in Windsor and then with Detroit in the NHL.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for me to swallow. Sure I&rsquo;m surprised,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I think I had done an excellent job. I thank all the players for giving everything they had.&rdquo;The Spitfires were 17-41-8 and last in the films Division Smith&rsquo;s first year, then improved to 33-29-4 and a fourth-place finish last season.Spitfires&rsquo; president Steve Riolo said the owners didn&rsquo;t see the team developing.&ldquo;Since Aug. 29, we do not believe the team has developed its potential,&rdquo; Riolo said. &ldquo;It (the change) will do a lot of good for the hockey club.&rdquo;LINDROS ON ICE: Oshawa Generals&rsquo; center Eric Lindros was slapped with an automatic three-game suspension after getting a match penalty for butt-ending Glen Murray of the Sudbury Wolves Oct. 13.Meanwhile, Lindros is receiving rough receptions in his tour of OHL cities this season. In London Oct. 11, one sign had a large green frog and the words &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s our Prince Charming?&rdquo; That was in reference to a claim by Martin Lapointe of the Detroit Red Wings that Lindros called national junior team francophone players &ldquo;frogs.&rdquo; Lindros denied it.GOALIE SCORES: Kingston Frontenacs overager Peter McGlynn became the third OHL goalie to score a goal when he found the Belleville Bulls&rsquo; empty net with 33 seconds remaining Oct. 11.The others to score are Chris Clifford of Kingston Jan. 7, 1986 against the Toronto Marlboros and Jason Houle of the North Bay Centennials Sept. 25, 1988 against the Kitchener Rangers. Both went into empty nets.McGlynn, who earned player of the week honors, also had an assist in the game, giving him two points this season&mdash;more than seven of his teammates after seven games.SLANEY HURT: The Cornwall Royals, off to an 8-1-1 start, are without all-star defenseman John Slaney until mid-November.It was believed Slaney would be out a week after suffering a sprained shoulder ligament when checked into the boards in London Oct. 6 by the Knights&rsquo; Chris Taylor. Taylor was assessed a minor penalty.It was Slaney&rsquo;s third game after being returned by the Washington Capitals. He had three goals and six points.<h2>On road to the Memorial Cup</h2>As host of the Memorial Cup May 9-17, the Seattle Thunderbirds have a chance to become the third U.S.-based club to win the major junior championship. They qualify automatically. Other teams aren&rsquo;t as fortunate. Here is The Hockey News&rsquo; ranking of five early title contenders:1. Hull (QMJHL): The addition of Paul Brosseau is the latest key acquisition. The Olympiques are building a contender.2. Oshawa (OHL): Eric Lindros will missgames while playing internationally, but he&rsquo;ll be back for the stretch drive.3. Prince Albert (WHL): There&rsquo;s plenty of talent to go around. Six 1991 draftees lead the WHL&rsquo;s best offensive charge.4. Kamloops (WHL): The return of goalie Corey Hirsch make the Blazers the strongest team from the net out.5. College Francais (QMJHL): Since moving from Longueuil to Verdun this year. College is the CHL&rsquo;s hottest team. &#9632;

Sputtering Spitfires fire Smith

<div class="byline">By Ken Warren</div>The scenario is well documented.After a strong rookie season, some players have been known to struggle considerably in their second campaign. The question is: can it affect teams as a whole?The Quebec League&rsquo;s Beauport Harfangs must be asking themselves that question these days.The Harfangs surprised even themselves by finishing an impressive 26-40-4 and a single point out of the playoffs in their first year. But now they&rsquo;re struggling to find the winning formula this season.After losing 6-4 to the Laval Titan Oct. 14, Beauport&rsquo;s record stood at 1-11. Twelve games into the 1990-91 season, the Harfangs had seven points.&ldquo;If I am frustrated, it&rsquo;s because our record does not indicate the talent of my club,&rdquo; Harfangs&rsquo; coach Alain Chainey said. &ldquo;Take our game (Oct. 13) at Victoriaville. We allowed seven goals on only 17 shots by the Tigres.&rdquo;The Tigres, last season&rsquo;s Canadian Hockey League horror story, own a 3-8-1 record.Beauport&rsquo;s lone win came against the Voltigeurs in Drummondville and the club has yet to win at home this season. The Harfangs were 19-12-4 at home last season.LINE BACKERS: The Granby Bisons started the season with something few people could remember in Granby&mdash;the hottest line in the league. The trio of Martin Balleux, Hughes Mongeon and Marc Rodgers were averaging more than three goals per game through 11 outings.&ldquo;I am a little surprised,&rdquo; said Mongeon, the QMJHL&rsquo;s scoring leader with 13 goals and 33 points. &ldquo;All of us just want to play 70 games and try not to put pressure on ourselves.&rdquo;Although he&rsquo;s a conscientious defensive stalwart, Rodgers is also gifted in the offensive zone. He led the Bisons last season with 28 goals and 77 points in 64 games and already has 10 goals and 29 points through 11 games. Balleaux is ninth in league scoring with 11 goals and 23 points.The Bisons are an extension of their own top line: performing above expectations. They were off to a 7-2-2 start. Mongeon, traded from the Shawinigan Cataractes in the off-season, says the key to the start is Paris&rsquo;s ability to find ways to win.GOOD NEWS: The Montreal Canadiens can&rsquo;t complain what major junior hockey has done for Jim Campbell. And the Hull Olympiques can hardly complain about what the defenseman has done for them.Campbell, who opted for Hull instead of U.S. college this season, was named QMJHL player of the week for the period ending Oct. 13. The Canadiens&rsquo; second-round draft pick in 1991 had two goals and five points in two games.The excitement was tempered by the loss of rugged defenseman Eric Lavigne for at least six weeks. Lavigne, a second-round choice of the Washington Capitals, separated his shoulder against the Drummondville Voltigeurs Oct. 13.VERDUN STREAKING: College Francais may have moved their base from Longueuil to Verdun, but it has done little to slow the club down. College set a franchise record nine-game winning streak after dropping their season opener.Coach Gerard Gagnon said the key is goaltender Andre Boulianne. &ldquo;He was drafted by Los Angeles and that provided him with extra motivation. He now has a specific goal&mdash;to make a professional team.&rdquo; &#9632;

Harfangs suffering sophomore slump

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>The expansion Tacoma Rockets tablished a Western League attendance record when 14,975 fans turned out for a game against state-rival Seattle Thunderbirds.The turnout at the 17,700-seat Tacoma Dome topped the previous WHL standard of 12,464 set last season by Seattle. The Thunderbirds had the final say winning the Oct. 11 Rockets&rsquo; home-opener 8-4.Seattle and Tacoma are natural rivals. The Washington State cities are 30 miles apart.&ldquo;It will probably be one of the most heated rivalries in junior hockey, for sure,&rdquo; Rockets&rsquo; president-GM Bruce Hamilton said. &ldquo;I want to see us get into the 5,000-6,000 attendance range for the season)&rdquo;The Rockets&rsquo; success on the ice won&rsquo;t hurt their fortunes at the gate. Tacoma was 4-4 after eight games, including a 2-3 mark on an abbreviated East Division road swing.WHITNEY WATCH: Ray Whitney is back in Canada, but the Spokane Chiefs aren&rsquo;t sure if he&rsquo;s back for their sake.Whitney signed a two-year deal with Cologne of the German League&rsquo;s First Division during the off-season, but returned to Canada in early October when Cologne apparently failed to honor contractual obligations.There was speculation Whitney was trying to reach a agreement with the NHL&rsquo;s San Jose Sharks, but as an underage junior he would have to return to Spokane. The deadline for signing underage players was Oct. 2. The WHL&rsquo;s MVP last season made an appearance at a Canadian Olympic team practice Oct. 11.Spokane general manager Tim Speltz said he was uncertain where Whitney will play this year.Whitney, 19, was a second-round draft pick of San Jose in 1991 after leading the Chiefs to a Memorial Cup championship.KNOX TOO ROWDY: Left winger Blake Knox celebrated his trade from the Swift Current Broncos to the Seattle Thunderbirds Oct. 7 with a little too much zest.Knox, who had requested a trade, was arrested after he became too rowdy that evening in a Swift Current nightclub. He also kicked out the rear window of a police car and spent the night in jail.In court the following day, Knox was fined $270 for mischief and violating the liquor act.Knox, 19, was traded to Seattle, along with defensemen Kurt Seher and Joel Dyck, for all-star defenseman Brent Bilodeau.HARDY DEAL: The Brandon Wheat Kings traded overage captain Hardy Sauter and rookie defenseman Aaron Boh to Spokane for left winger Cam Danyluk and the overage rights to right winger Mike Chrun Oct. 15. In the deal, the teams swapped 1992 bantam draft picks with Brandon getting Spokane&rsquo;s second pick and Spokane getting Brandon&rsquo;s third choice&hellip;Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; left winger Craig Lyons had a goal in his team&rsquo;s first eight games this season, including fivetwo-goal performances. &#9632;

Rockets soar to single-game attendance mark

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>University of North Dakota player Jace Reed remains in serious but stable condition after receiving a kidney and liver transplant Oct. 7.Reed, a junior left winger-defenseman from Grand Rapids, Minn., collapsed from severe dehydration during a 10-kilometer training run Sept. 15.&ldquo;He has made very strong progress in the past week,&rdquo; Fighting Sioux coach Gino Gasparini said Oct. 20. &ldquo;His body is accepting the organs and he has been removed from intensive care.&rdquo;Reed collapsed about midway through the run. His body temperature was 106 degrees when he was rushed into the emergency room at The United Hospital in Grand Forks. Blood was not flowing freely internally and there was damage to at least five major organs.When complications arose, he was taken by air ambulance to Rochester, Minn., where he underwent surgery at Methodist Hospital.&ldquo;You stop sweating because you run out of fluids,&rdquo; said Dr. Phillip Marin, who treated Reed. &ldquo;Then your core temperature goes up like a nuclear reactor. It goes running wild. It&rsquo;s like being hit by a truck. Once you&rsquo;re hit, you&rsquo;re down. It&rsquo;s like an explosion. It can be fatal. When you get to that point, basically you&rsquo;re just picking up the pieces.&rdquo;Reed ran until he stopped sweating and collapsed. The temperature in Grand Forks, N.D., that day was 74 degrees and the humidity 100 per cent.Marin said Reed survived because he is 20 years old and is in great physical shape.Assessing the extent of the damage took days. Physicians awaited improvement in his condition but weren&rsquo;t satisfied with Reed&rsquo;s progress. He was sent to Rochester where the transplants were performed.GOPHER&rsquo;S CHOICE: Minnesota received five first-place votes and defending national champion Northern Michigan four in the annual pre-season coaches&rsquo; poll conducted by the Grand Forks Herald.aThe teams met in the annual Hall of Faie exhibition game in Eveleth, Minn., Oct. 12. Northern Michigan won 7-5.Wisconsin, North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth (tie), Michigan Tech, Colorado College and Denver rounded out the ranking.WAITING GAME: The University of Wisconsin is still awaiting word on the eligibility status of Latvian defenseman Ulvis Katlaps.The school appealed the academic case of Katlaps, a 23-year-old who played last season for Dynamo Riga of the Soviet Elite League, to the Big Ten Conference eligibility committee Oct. 14. Two days later, the committee referred the case to the NCAA&rsquo;s initial eligibility committee.As of Oct. 18. the school was preparing appeal. UW officials were examining a similar situation at Michigan where Anton Fiodorov, a 19-year-old from Leningrad, had received clearance to compete as a student-athlete.Coach Jeff Sauer said he has been told Katlaps will someday be eligible to compete under Big Ten guidelines, but it may not be until next season.NOTEBOOK: Northern Michigan took a league-record 26-game unbeaten streak and school-record 33-game home unbeaten streak into a season-opening series against Colorado College at Lakeview Arena Oct. 18-19&hellip;Colorado College coach Brad Buetoe turned down an offer from the Pittsburgh Penguins over the summer to coach its International League affiliate in Muskegon. &ldquo;It was a very attractive offer,&rdquo; Buetow said. &ldquo;But I look at Colorado College and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as big-time hockey. &#9632;

Two-organ transplant after player’s collapse

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The Irish are fighting to get back into the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. And it looks like they&rsquo;ll win the battle.Notre Dame, which competed as a member from 1981 to 1983, has applied to rejoin the league in 1992-93.If their request is granted, Notre Dame will join already-approved Kent State as a CCHA member. That will bring the total number of CCHA teams to 11.High costs forced Notre Dame to disband its Division I hockey program after the 1982-83 season. Hockey was reborn at the school a few years later as a club team. Three years ago, the Irish became a Division I team, but operated as an independent.The university&rsquo;s decision to rejoin the conference is based on its desire to be part of a viable Midwest league with an automatic NCAA tournament bid. Scheduling considerations are also an issue.&ldquo;We found the CCHA to be attractive for a variety of reasons,&rdquo; said Dick Rosenthal, Notre Dame&rsquo;s athletic director. &ldquo;First of all, the visibility in college hockey circles is tremendous, especially with Michigan State, Bowling Green and Lake Superior having won NCAA championships in recent years.&rdquo;Approval of Notre Dame&rsquo;s application is expected at the CCHA&rsquo;s next league meeting in January, 1992 at the NCAA&rsquo;s annual convention in Anaheim, Calif.NO CLEAR FAVORITE: On paper, the Michigan Wolverines look like they&rsquo;ll run away and hide from the rest of the CCHA.But Bowling Green coach Jerry York believes the 1991-92 season won&rsquo;t be a one-horse race.&ldquo;Michigan is returning so many players so let&rsquo;s give them all the credit they deserve,&rdquo; said York.York says the Wolverines&rsquo; advanced build-up could hurt other CCHA teams during the selection process for the NCAA tournament next spring.York has good reason to think that far ahead. Bowling Green has an impressive array of young talent.Five Bowling Green skaters were selected in the NHL entry draft last June in Buffalo: Sophomore center Sean Pronger (Vancouver); sophomore left winger Keith Redmond (Los Angeles); sophomore defenseman Aris Brimanis (Philadelphia); freshman winger Tony Prpic (Montreal); and, freshman center Brian Holzinger (Buffalo).The biggest question mark is in goal. Junior Angelo Libertucci was shaky last season, going 12-15-1 with a 4.67 goals-against average and a .834 save percentage.CCHA ON TV: Twenty-two CCHA games, including playoff and tournament contests, will be broadcast this season to some 25 million cable television subscribers across the U.S. via Prime Network. CCHA games are offered on the following Prime Network affiliates: Home Sports Entertainment (Southwest); Sunshine Network (Florida); Prime Sports Network (Rocky Mountain Region); PSN Midwest; PSN Upper Midwest; PSN Intermountain West; Prime Ticket Network (West); Pacific Sports Network; Prime Sports Northwest, KBL Sports Network (Western Pennsylvania); SportsSouth Network (Southeast); Home Teams Sports (Mid-Atlantic); Madison Square Garden Network (Northeast); and for satellite dish ownerMl Satellite Sports Network. &#9632;

Notre Dame expects approval to rejoin league

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>Neil Little hopes to get a bad case of Saturday Night Fever in 1991-92.Little was the designated Friday night goalie for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last season when he shared netminding duties with Sean Kennedy.A sophomore from Medicine Hat, Alta., Little made 12 of his 17 starts last year on Friday nights. He finished with a 7-5 record and 4.09 goals-against average.But Little was just 1-3 on Saturdays. His three losses were to Boston University, Providence and St. Lawrence.Even though he woke up Saturday mornings knowing he wasn&rsquo;t going to play that night, Little was still mentally prepared for the game.&ldquo;My train of thought was always the same, no matter what day it was,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a bad situation,&rdquo; said RPI coach Buddy Powers. &ldquo;On Saturday, now we&rsquo;re coming back with the veteran (Kennedy). Potentially, it&rsquo;s more of a pressure situation.&rdquo;Kennedy, a senior from Brandon, Manitoba, missed five games last year with an ankle injury. He finished with a 10-8-1 record and a 4.32 AA.The platooning system worked well for the Engineers. Once Little and Kennedy got into their Friday-Saturday routine, RPI never lost more than two games in a row.Each goalie will be given the opportunity to win the No. 1 job this season.&ldquo;Last year, neither one dominated enough to put the other guy on the bench,&rdquo; said Powers. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any specific plans for them right now. If one of them plays well, I might stick with one guy.&rdquo;Which would suit Little and Kennedy just fine.&ldquo;It (platooning in goal) isn&rsquo;t my goal right now, and I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s not Sean&rsquo;s goal,&rdquo; said Little, who earned a spot on the Eastern College Athletic Association All-Rookie team last year.&ldquo;This year, he&rsquo;s trying to be No. 1 and I&rsquo;m trying to be No. 1,&rdquo; said Kennedy. &ldquo;But we can&rsquo;t let it be a personal battle. We have to keep focused on the team 100 per cent of the time.&rdquo;CLARKSON BEST: Clarkson has been picked to repeat as ECAC champion in the annual pre-season coaches&rsquo; poll.The Golden Knights received nine of a possible 12 first-place votes. North Country travel partner St. Lawrence garnered two votes, while Cornell received the other first-place ballot.The predicted order of finish: Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Cornell, Vermont, Brown, Harvard, RPI, Colgate, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and Union.The Knights will try to extend their home-ice winning streak when they move into the new Cheel Center this year. Clarkson was 18-0-1 in Walker Arena last season. &#9632;

Little hopes to change his status

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>If Regina Cougars&rsquo; coach Bill Liskowich was playing his cards close to the vest, he wasn&rsquo;t admitting it.But by sitting out Len Nielsen and Troy Edwards during a game against arch-rival Calgary in the Saskatchewan Huskies&rsquo; Classic Tournament Oct. 5-6&mdash;the major pre-season tournament in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association&mdash;he was definitely holding onto a pair of aces.Nielsen, who was third in conference scoring last season with 22 goals and 48 points and Edwards, who notched 18 goals and 46 points were surprise benchwarmers against the Golden Bears.With the Cougars and the Golden Bears pegged to fight it out for top spot this season, the move by Liskowich didn&rsquo;t go unnoticed.The Bears won 7-6 and finished with a 3-0 record. Six of the eight CWUAA teams participated.OUAA: Last season&rsquo;s Ontario Universities Athletic Association West Division champion Waterloo Warriors were a poor host at the annual Octoberfest tournament Oct. 5-6.The Warriors beat McGill, Western and Wilfrid Laurier&mdash;all by one goal&mdash;to win. Waterloo beat Laurier 5-4 in the final.Warrior freshman Troy Stephens was named the tournament most valuable player. Western beat Brock 6-1 in the bronze medal game, while Toronto, with two goals from Mark Haarmann. edged McGill 7-6 in the consolation match.The Guelph Gryphons, meanwhile, had a disappointing weekend. The Gryphons tied U.S. college independent Alaska-Fairbanks 3-3 Oct. 5 and lost 3-2 Oct. 6 in a pair of exhibition games at Anchorage.AUAA: Players and coaches from the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association were saddened Oct. 10 when former Mount Allison Mounties&rsquo; winger Chris Young died following a two-year battle with cancer. He was 20.Young, a native of Twillingate, Nfld., arrived at the Sackville campus in September, 1989, with his identical twin brother Craig. Both players cracked the lineup that season.The 5-foot-5, 145-pound Young was a defensive specialist who wasn&rsquo;t afraid to mix it up. He scored three goals and six points in his rookie season.But a chronic shoulder problem was diagnosed as cancerous in February, 1990. Young underwent extensive surgery and follow-up treatment for the next six months.Although unable to play hockey, he returned to Mount Allison last fall to continue his studies. He worked as the team statistician and occasionally trained with the club. But the cancer spread and he returned home. &#9632;

Cougars play possum, bench top two scorers

<h2>STANDINGS</h2>NHL STANDINGS AS OF MONDAY, OCT. 21/9(PCT) PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL POINTSVERSUS POSSIBLE POINTSCLARENCE CAMPBELL CONFERENCE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01680/6026670-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="966" height="920"></div><h2>OVERALL STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02517/6026663-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="500" height="629"></div><h2>OVERTIME RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03419/6026656-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="473" height="925"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04323/6026649-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="497" height="626"></div><h2>SCHEDULE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05241/6026642-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="486" height="1106"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06202/6026635-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="592" height="780"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07186/6026628-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="968" height="1090"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Rangers&rsquo; Mike Gartner scored his 500th goal in a 5-3 lOSS to Washington. (Photo by Bruce Bennet/BBS)</figcaption></div><h2>POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV)-TOTAL MAN ADVANTAGES; (PPG)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS; (PCT)-POWER-PLAY GOALS DIVIDED BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08160/6026621-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="483" height="624"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(PIM)&mdash;TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES IN&rsquo; CLUDING (BMI) BENCH PENALTY MINUTES; (AVG)&mdash;AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES PER GAME.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-09145/6026614-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="392" height="634"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2>(TSH)-TOTAL TIMES SHORTHANDED; (PPGA)-POWER-PLAY GOALS ALLOWED; (PCT)&mdash;PENALTY-KILLING PERCENTAGE.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-10128/6026607-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="468" height="632"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-11120/6026600-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="460" height="694"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Roberts</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-12111/6026593-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="460" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch</figcaption></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-13101/6026586-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="474" height="672"></div><h2>TOP SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1493/6026579-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="598" height="641"></div><h2>TOP DEFENSEMAN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1588/6026572-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="595" height="355"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1682/6026565-1-eng-US/f0038-162.jpg" title="f0038-16" width="595" height="191"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1776/6026558-1-eng-US/f0038-172.jpg" title="f0038-17" width="575" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hunter</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1870/6026551-1-eng-US/f0038-182.jpg" title="f0038-18" width="1051" height="690"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek King</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

f0041-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01191/6027575-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="593" height="1326"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02135/6027568-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="576" height="670"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0395/6027561-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="560" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Tookey</figcaption></div><h2>COLONIAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0477/6027554-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="587" height="446"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0558/6027547-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="599" height="1513"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0650/6027540-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="613" height="1790"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0743/6027533-1-eng-US/f0046-072.jpg" title="f0046-07" width="599" height="1822"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0830/6027526-1-eng-US/f0046-082.jpg" title="f0046-08" width="584" height="1487"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0928/6027519-1-eng-US/f0046-092.jpg" title="f0046-09" width="1158" height="1488"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wisconsin was among the WCHA pack but Duane Derksen wafl fourth in goals-against average. (Photo by Ross Dettman)</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1023/6027512-1-eng-US/f0046-102.jpg" title="f0046-10" width="593" height="826"></div><h2>OUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1122/6027505-1-eng-US/f0046-112.jpg" title="f0046-11" width="579" height="878"></div><h2>AUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1219/6027498-1-eng-US/f0046-122.jpg" title="f0046-12" width="585" height="666"></div><h2>CWUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1316/6027491-1-eng-US/f0046-132.jpg" title="f0046-13" width="587" height="1022"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

The most important people in Ken Tangen&rsquo;s business are always hanging around.Tangen, 27, is the president and founder of the Norman James Corporation (NJC), a Toronto-based company that produces ProStat Sports Posters.Licensed by Time-Warner Sports Merchandising, ProStat offers posters from North America&rsquo;s most popular professional sports leagues&mdash;the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the NHL.Founded in the fall of 1986, NJC has grown from a modest Van-couver-based entertainment poster company to a successful sports distributor.&ldquo;We started in the entertainment business, but soon realized those types of items were trendy and didn&rsquo;t offer long-term potential,&rdquo; said Tangen, whose company is named in honor of his grandfather. &ldquo;I was always interested in sports and knew the market, so we tried it. Within two years, we were doing nothing but sports.&rdquo;Ironically, NJC&rsquo;s success in the entertainment market paved the way for growth in the sports industry. Shortly after the hit movie Batman, NJC received the offical license for Batman posters from LCA merchandising (now Time-Warner). The posters sold well and shortly thereafter, the company acquired licenses for NBA and NFL posters.In 1989, NJC expanded its sports production by acquiring MLB and NHL licenses. A year later, NJC purchased the Denverbased sports poster company Making Waves to enhance its presence in the U.S.But the company&rsquo;s Vancouver location was a problem. To increase its profile, NJC moved to Toronto three months ago.&ldquo;We knew we had a good product out there, but we felt we were having a tough time with the eastern companies not taking us seriously,&rdquo; Tangen said. &ldquo;Toronto is the sports capital for Canada. It has the population, the right market.&rdquo;NJC has flourished since moving east. This year, the company has expanded its hockey line to include more posters of all 22 NHL teams. Action posters and team collage posters are available. NJC also features officially licensed 8-by-10 glossy color prints of high-profile NHL stars.The fan favorites: St. Louis right winger Brett Hull, Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy, Los Angeles center Wayne Gretzky and Pittsburgh center Mario Lemieux.NJC is also offering the new team logo poster of the fledgling San Jose Sharks&mdash;and working on similar posters for all NHL teams.Tangen believes NJC&rsquo;s success is based on two factors, craftmanship and design. Unlike other products, ProStat posters are smaller (22 inches-by-34) and feature more than one central photo. In addition to the main action photo&mdash;which clearly identifies team logo and player number&mdash;ProStat posters have a smaller headshot without helmet or mask.ProStat posters also feature personal statistics running vertically down the left-hand side. A full-time staff of 10, which includes Tangen&rsquo;s father Don and cousin Kevin Turner, ensures every detail is accurate.NJC works with the NHL&rsquo;s top photographers, including Bruce Bennett and Dan Hamilton.Tangen receives much praise for his posters, but his greatest reward comes from the players themselves.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve received several letters from players telling us how they liked the posters,&rdquo; Tangen said. &ldquo;I was talking to Bill Ranford and he said he saw Mark Messier&rsquo;s (now with the Rangers) and wanted one immediately.&rdquo;As a courtesy measure, NJC offers each player 200 posters to give to fans.ProStat posters retail between $6-10 (Cdn). They are available at major sports stores, specialty shops and NHL licensed retail outlets. &#9632;

Poster company hangs tough in NHL market

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01134/6027630-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">After being bumped from one line to another in St. Louis last season, sophomore Rod Brindd&rsquo;Amour got to where he was almost praying for a trade. (Photo by Brian Winkier/BBS)</figcaption></div>Even before Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour started looking for a new place to live, he had to search for his old confidence.The Flyers&rsquo; left winger arrived in Philadelphia at the start of the season with a duffle bag full of talent but not enough self-esteem to fill a glove.Who could blame him? A year ago, the problems started in St. Louis when he began a slow descent from the Blues&rsquo; first line to their third. With reduced time on special teams, Brind&rsquo;Amour&rsquo;s numbers dropped off from the previous year, his rookie season.No one apparently took the time to explain to him what he wasn&rsquo;t doing right.But there was plenty of talk about why he was to blame when the Blues lost.While all this was going on, Brind&rsquo;Amour&rsquo;s name began to surface in trade rumors. Possible destinations included Philadelphia.And finally, Brind&rsquo;Amour was included in the Blues&rsquo; compensation offer&mdash;rejected by the arbitrator&mdash;after the team signed free agent Brendan Shanahan, formerly of the New Jersey Devils.The 21-year-old couldn&rsquo;t help but hear as New Jersey explained to the judge why Brind&rsquo;Amour, goaltender Curtis Joseph and a high draft pick weren&rsquo;t enough to make up for the loss of Shanahan.So by the time the Flyers finally agreed to send nine-year veteran Ron Sutter and defenseman Murray Baron to the Blues for Brind&rsquo;Amour and center Dan Quinn, there was a feeling of relief.&ldquo;It (a trade) is almost something I was praying for,&rdquo; said Brind&rsquo;Amour.Brind&rsquo;Amour hints he was often singled out by St. Louis coach Brian Sutter for miscues. As the Blues&rsquo; offense centered more and more on Brett Hull and Adam Oates last season, Brind&rsquo;Amour spent a greater portion of time on the bench.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s early here (in Philadelphia),&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and you don&rsquo;t know what could happen. But you just hope they understand that you can play and they won&rsquo;t be all over you if you make one mistake.&rdquo;As a rookie in 1989-90 coming out of Michigan State after only one season of college hockey, Brind&rsquo;Amour enjoyed a strong first half and finished the season with 26 goals and 61 points. He was named to the NHL all-rookie team and at the beginning of the year was even considered a contender for the Calder Trophy.Playing on a line with Oates and Paul MacLean, Brind&rsquo;Amour showed maturity beyond his 19 years.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t do anything wrong,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;Then all of a sudden, I don&rsquo;t know why, I started getting moved.&rdquo;Last year, the offensive production continued to wane. He registered only 17 goals and 49 points in 78 games.But after the trade, Holmgren showed immediate faith in Brind&rsquo;Amour by placing him on the Flyers&rsquo; first line with Pelle Eklund and Rick Tocchet. Recently, he has been playing on a second unit comprised of Mike Ricci and Mark Pederson.Increased playing time should bring Brind&rsquo;Amour&rsquo;s numbers back to a respectable level. The key might be the first 20 games. If he does play a bad game or two and still keeps his regular shift, it might set the tone for the season.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t said anything to him but positive things,&rdquo; Flyers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had the need to say anything bad to him. But, yeah, you can tell he&rsquo;s a kid who probably wouldn&rsquo;t react well to negative criticism.&rdquo;Brind&rsquo;Amour concurred.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s confidence,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you know you&rsquo;re going to play a lot, you don&rsquo;t worry about one bad shift here or there.&rdquo;Brind&rsquo;Amour certainly has all the tools to become a top-flight winger&mdash;size (6-foot-l, 202 pounds), speed and a goal-scorer&rsquo;s touch. A fresh start might be all he needs to take his game to the next level. &#9632;

f0050-01

Deal sparks lightning Rod for Brind’Amour’s esteem

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-0295/6027668-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="387" height="486"></div>The date circled on the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; team calendar is Oct. 25. That&rsquo;s the day Ron Hextall is scheduled to make his return from suspension in front of the hundreds of people who have been showing up at the Winnipeg Arena these days.For those who do not get to travel to such exotic outposts, the main attraction in the Winnipeg rink is the enormous portrait of the Queen which hangs above the stands at the north end of the building. It&rsquo;s fitting that such a powerful authority figure will be looming above Hextall, practically waiting to lower the boom.The latest boom for Hextall occurred during a pre-season game when the Flyers&rsquo; goaltender engaged in a sword fight of sorts with Detroit prospect Jim Cummins. The game was played in Miami, which is not exactly a hot bed of hockey information.Maybe Hextall didn&rsquo;t think his &ldquo;wanted&rdquo; posters circulated that far south, but the local news hounds knew enough of Hextall&rsquo;s reputation to keep a camera trained on him and the tactic paid off. The TV tape of Hextall playing Zorro again was used as evidence and Hextall was banished for six early-season games.Those of you who are counting will acknowledge this was Hextall&rsquo;s third suspension. The first two occurred during the heat of playoff competition when he chopped down Edmonton&rsquo;s Kent Nilsson in 1987, and the second when he roped Montreal&rsquo;s Chris Chelios in 1988.In addition to the bans, Hextall has been hampered by groin injuries which have caused him to miss large parts of the past two seasons, making him nothing more than a part-time player.In fact, if you figure Hextall&rsquo;s hefty salary over the past two seasons on a per-game basis you will find it averages roughly $34,000, or just a shade below what Wayne Gretzky was paid per contest over the same period. The difference, of course, is that Gretzky appeared in 170 games to Hextall&rsquo;s 44.In other words, this isn&rsquo;t a guy who needs time out of the lineup&mdash;especially for a foolish stick incident, even if he wasn&rsquo;t the instigator.The good news is that it appears the message has finally reached its mark. Hextall, who showed little remorse after the Nilsson affair, and tried to explain away the Chelios incident as protecting his teammate, has finally realized the selfish side of his inability to control his temper.Or so he says.&ldquo;In a way, I look at it like I was protecting a teammate, and it was something I did for the team,&rdquo; said Hextall, &ldquo;but in another way, I s^ that I really hurt the team.&rdquo;His lack of self control put the Flyers and coach Paul Holmgren in a very sticky situation. The Flyers are attempting to blend 10 new players into the lineup, and the last thing they needed was for the starting goalie to take a vacation.Furthermore, any team which lists Dave Brown and Dan Kordic on its roster does not need its goaltender to stand up for teammates. But more importantly, Hextall should never even think of getting involved in an altercation.In fact, if Hextall starts to move away from the crease with any sort of malice, it should be the job of Brown or Kordic to leap off the bench and tackle their own goalie&mdash;for the good of the team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-0351/6027661-1-eng-US/f0050-032.jpg" title="f0050-03" width="559" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextall</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there is any question that I&rsquo;ve learned my lesson,&rdquo; said Hextall. &ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t lose it like that, I have to think of helping the team in the long run. I&rsquo;M not just standing up for somebody at that moment.&rdquo;Interestingly, the Flyers made very little noise about Hextall&rsquo;s most recent suspension. Sure, there was some suggestion Hextall was treated more harshly because of his history, but that&rsquo;s the rub: His history tells you the next time the NHL might lock him up and throw away the key.The real key to this suspension had nothing to do with its length, but it had everything to do with the Flyers&rsquo; criticism of Hextall.&ldquo;He has to learn to control himself,&rdquo; said Holmgren, who knows from temper tantrums. &ldquo;He has to learn that he&rsquo;s hurting his &ldquo;own team.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0050-02

Hextall vows days as royal pain over

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>Sergei Nemchinov may be the most pleasant surprise of the New York Rangers&rsquo; young season. The first-year center from the Soviet Union scored five goals in one three-game sequence and zoomed to the team lead in that department with six in his first 10 games.Of the 27-year-old center&rsquo;s six goals, two were game-winners and two should have been. His first NHL goal Oct. 5 defeated Montreal 2-1 in overtime at the Forum. His fourth goal&mdash;and second of the game&mdash;on a breakaway, provided an insurmountable 4-2 lead Oct. 16 against New Jersey. Nemchinov also scored to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead with 5:05 to play in an eventual 5-4 victory Oct. 19 at Pittsburgh.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of guy you win championships with&mdash;that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; Mark Messier said.Of course, while Nemchinov adjusts to the NHL, the league could adjust to him. He might draw tougher checking assignments as his reputation grows and his goal total increases.Nemchinov spent 6/2 seasons with the Soviet Wings and three with the Soviet Red Army.BROTEN&rsquo;S BEST: Ranger super-pest Paul Broten spent Oct. 19-20 at his effective best.In a Saturday-Sunday sequence against the past two Stanley Cup champions&mdash;Pittsburgh and Edmonton&mdash;Broten collected a shorthanded goal plus a game-winning assist. He drew four penalties that resulted in 36 penalty minutes (two ejections) to key opposing players.In Pittsburgh, Broten scored the Rangers&rsquo; first shorthanded goal of the season and kicked the puck to Darren Turcotte for the gamewinning goal with 1:10 remaining in regulation. Broten was held by Paul Coffey, then clipped Coffey on the nose with his stick as he fell to the ice. Coffey was incensed that Brotenwasn&rsquo;t penalized, and received two extra minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.In addition, Broten was butt-ended by Kevin Stevens (major, game misconduct) with 16:32 remaining. He was also held by Joey Mullen with 6:35 to play, wiping out a Penguins&rsquo; power play. He finished the night at plus-2.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman David Shaw suffered a sprained right knee in the second period of a game against the Oilers Oct. 20. He will miss a minimum of two weeks&hellip;Left winger Jan Erixon, who missed the first nine games with a hamstring pull in his left leg, made his 1991-92 debut against Edmonton.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 13: Corey Millen, C, Jody Hull, RW. and Per Djoos, D, assigned to Binghamton (AHL). Oct. 15: Mark Janssens, C, assigned to Binghamton for conditioning. Millen, Rick Bennett, LW, Djoos, D, recalled from Binghamton. Oct. 17: Greg Millen, G, assigned to San Diego (IHL). Oct. 21: Peter Fiorentino, D., recalled from Binghamton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier. Darren Turcotte, Sergei Nemchinov, Corey Millen.LW&mdash;Adam Graves, John Ogrodnick, Kris King, Rick Bennett.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Tony Amonte, Paul Broten, Tie Domi, Joe Kocur.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Per Djoos, Peter Fiorentino.D&mdash;James Patrick, Randy Moller, Mark Hardy.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Joe Cirella, D, lower back strain, indefinite. Tim Kerr, RW, dislocated right shoulder, Nov. 12. Normand Rochefort, D, tendinitis in right knee, day-to-day. David Shaw. D, sprained right knee. Nov. 4. Doug Weight, C, sprained right elbow, Oct. 29. &#9632;

Nemchinov’s offense getting rave reviews

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>When your goaltending is shaky and your next two opponents are French Canadian teams, it would only make sense to go with a kid named Roussel.That logic didn&rsquo;t dawn on the Philadelphia Flyers until they fell behind the Quebec Nordiques 3-0 early Oct. 17 at the Spectrum.With just 2:54 gone in the second period, coach Paul Holmgren pulled goaltender Ken Wregget and inserted Dominic Roussel, a rookie seeing his first NHL action.The Hull, Que., native stopped all 12 shots he faced and the Flyers rallied for five unanswered goals and a 5-3 win.Two nights later, the 21-year-old made his first NHL start against the Montreal Canadiens and was equally brilliant.To the chants of &ldquo;Roo! Rool&rdquo;, Roussel held the Canadiens to a solitary goal&mdash;coming off the skate of Brent Gilchrist which prompted a video replay review in a tough 1-0 loss at the Spectrum.Roussel figured he would get one or two starts when No. 1 goaltender Ron Hextall received a six-game suspension starting Oct. 10. But Wregget played well enough to start the first four and Holmgren said he only made the switch against Quebec because the Flyers weren&rsquo;t playing well.Holmgren was surprised by his young goalie&rsquo;s play.&ldquo;It might get him a little more fired up,&rdquo; said Holmgren of starting Roussel against a Quebec team. &ldquo;But no one expected him to play as well as he did.&rdquo;&ldquo;When he (Holmgren) told me I just felt great,&rdquo; said Roussel after the Nordiques&rsquo; game. &ldquo;I just thought, &lsquo;This is my chance, I&rsquo;ve got to play well.&rsquo;&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t much pressure on me because the score was 3-0. So when I got in, the players just played unbelievable. The crowd was more in the game. I didn&rsquo;t even stop the puck. The change just made the game tum around, I guess.&rdquo;TOCCHET STALLED: Flyers&rsquo; captain Rick Tocchet enjoyed a breakthrough season after competing in the 1987 Canada Cup. But Tocchet wasn&rsquo;t following the same pattern through the Flyers&rsquo; first seven game.The 27-year-oId right winger had been drawing a lot of shadow coverage and had only two goals and two assists. The Montreal game was typical of Tocchet&rsquo;s dilemma. He had only one good scoring chance.NOTEBOOK: Rick Tocchet drew a two-minute minor penalty against Quebec Oct. 17 that moved his care total to 1,601 and past Paul Holmgren (1,600) as the most penalized player in Flyer history&hellip;Andrei Lomakin continued his early scoring spree with a pair of goals against the Nordiques.The Flyers converted only three of their first 39 power-play chances, ranking them last in the NHL&hellip;Corey Foster, who suffered a broken collarbone in a pre-season game at Hartford, said he&rsquo;s still a few weeks away from returning to the lineup.Ron Hextall was scheduled to return from a six-game suspension Oct. 25 at Winnipeg. Hextall was suspended for hitting Detroit&rsquo;sJim Cummins in a pre-season game.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pelle Eklund, Mike Ricci, Dan Quinn. Steve Kasper, Keith Acton.LW&mdash;Andrei Lomakin, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour. Murray Craven, Mark Pederson. Tony Horacek, Derrick Smith.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Brad Jones, Kimbi Daniels, Dave Brown.LD&mdash;Terry Carkner, Jiri Latal, Kerry Huffman, Dan Kordic.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Kjell Samuelsson, Gord Murphy.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Dominic Roussel, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Corey Foster, D, broken collarbone, indefinite Mark Howe, D, sore back, ini definite. &#9632;

Rookie Roussel nets rave reviews in debut

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with the 4-2-1 record Pittsburgh had after its first seven games of the season. That&rsquo;s a fairly strong start by most standards.But the Penguins were more than a little concerned about how they put up those numbers. And they should have been.They were displaying all the disturbing habits&mdash;the mental lapses, the defensive breakdowns&mdash;that were exorcised from their game last spring and relying on sheer talent to win.Three of their four victories came in games in which they trailed after two periods. And no game seemed complete until the Penguins had spotted their opponents a multiple-goal lead. Catch-up hockey was a regular part of their repertoire during the early weeks of the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting,&rdquo; coach Scott Bowman said, &ldquo;but not practical.&rdquo;That was proven in Game No. 7 Oct. 19, when Pittsburgh overcame a 3-1 deficit against the New York Rangers after two periods, but lost 5-4 on a goal by Darren Turcotte at 18:50 of the third.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just not playing good defense,&rdquo; left winger Bob Errey said. &ldquo;And we cost ourselves at least a point (against New York).&rdquo;The same could have been true of consecutive games against the New York Islanders, if Pittsburgh hadn&rsquo;t salvaged wins with strong third periods fueled by great individual efforts.&ldquo;I hate these games,&rdquo; left winger Phil Bourque said. &ldquo;These are the worst games to play, so many peaks and valleys. It&rsquo;s not how we played in the playoffs last year, that&rsquo;s for sure.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t have shootouts like this. This is old Penguin hockey, where you win five of these and lose five of these, and what good is that?&rdquo;BANNERS RAISED: It took the Penguins 24 years to earn a championship banner, so they didn&rsquo;t mind waiting a little longer than expected to see it go up.Pittsburgh delayed its bannerraising ceremony in the hope coach Bob Johnson, who is gravely ill with brain tumors, could attend. But the team finally put them up before playing the Rangers Oct. 19. Johnson watched the proceedings on TV at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo.Getting the banners that honor the Penguins Patrick Division, Wales Conference and Stanley Cup championships last season into position was almost as much of an ordeal as winning them.Civic Arena workers pulled them into position without mechanized assistance, which means the banners made a long, lurching trip.&ldquo;I got a sore neck watching them go up,&rdquo; left winger Bob Errey dead-panned.NOTEBOOK: Mario Lemieux left the Rangers&rsquo; game Oct. 19 during the third period because of back spasms. The Penguins weren&rsquo;t immediatley sure of the injury&rsquo;s severity&hellip;Pittsburgh GM Craig Patrick invited free-agent center Ron Francis&mdash;who has remained in suburban Hartford during his contract negotiations&mdash;to attend the bannerraising ceremony and the team luncheon at which the players received their Stanley Cup rings. Francis accepted.Defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, whose rugged style has made him a cult hero at the Civic Arena, might be tempted to play in Sweden after his contract expires this season. &ldquo;I can score real big (financially) next year if I go home,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Goalie Tom Barrasso, on Scott Bowman&rsquo;s surprisingly reserved approach to coaching: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he feels it&rsquo;s necessary now to hound guys.&rdquo;<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Ken Priestlay, Bryan Trottier, Jiri Hrdina, Glenn Mulvenna.LW&mdash;Kevin Stevens, Phil Bourque, &lsquo;Bob Errey, Troy Loney, Jeff Daniels.RW&mdash;Mark Recchi. Joe Mullen, Jaromir Jagr, Jamie Leach.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey. Ulf Samuelsson, Jim Paek, Gordie Roberts, Grant Jennings.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Peter Taglianetti, Paul Stanton.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jay Caufield, RW, sore back, day-to-day. &#9632;

Bad habits and ugly wins starting to worry coaches

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>Eric Weinrich anticipated playing the best hockey of his career this season after being named to the NHL&rsquo;s All-Rookie Team last season and enjoying a successful Canada Cup tournament in September.But six games into the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; season, Weinrich was searching for a lucky rabbit&rsquo;s foot.&ldquo;I was thinking back on some guys I thought could be unluckier than me,&rdquo; Weinrich said. &ldquo;Maybe Gary Suter. At the Canada Cup, Steve Larmer took the puck away from Suter and scored the winning goal. That was probably a lot more meaningful than our fifth game of the year.&rdquo;It was Weinrich&rsquo;s giveaway to Philadelphia&rsquo;s Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour Oct. 13 which killed a New Jersey comeback and ended the Devils&rsquo; four-game win streak. He was replaced in the lineup by rookie Scott Niedermayer three nights later.In an earlier victory over Quebec, Weinrich coughed the puck up so often in the first period that he was benched for the final two periods.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not concerned about it,&rdquo; Weinrich said. &ldquo;Usually one of my strong points is passing and handling the puck. It&rsquo;s something that will work out, I hope.&rdquo;Weinrich was right. His luck changed. He signed a three-year contract at $300,000 per season Oct. 16 and returned to the Devils&rsquo; lineup for a regular shift with defensive partner Scott Stevens.GREAT SCOTT: Two weeks into the regular season, only three of 22 players selected in the first round of June&rsquo;s entry draft were still on NHL rosters. One was Devils&rsquo; defenseman Scott Niedermayer, who made his debut Oct. 16 against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. (The others: Pat Falloon in San Jose and Martin Lapointe in Detroit.)Niedermayer, 18, had some tough moments. He and Scott Stevens were caught in deep giving the Rangers a 3-on-0 break. The youngest player ever to play for New Jersey assisted on Dave Maley&rsquo;s second-period goal for his first NHL point.&ldquo;Playing on the road and especially in New York can be tough, but being young and just coming in you don&rsquo;t realize it,&rdquo; Niedermayer said.The plan was still to return Niedermayer to his junior team in Kamloops of the Western League.NOTEBOOK: Dave Maley enjoyed the best offensive performance of his 300-game NHL career when he scored three goals and added an assist Oct. 18 at the Capital Centre. All three goals came in the third period for a natural hat trick&hellip;Viacheslav Fetisov became the second Devil to be sent home by Tom McVie after arriving late for a practice Oct. 15. He joined Peter Stastny in McVie&rsquo;s doghouse.After a 4-0 start, the Devils dropped four games to fall to .500.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 16: Al Stewart, LW, traded to Boston for future considerations. Eric Weinrich, D. signed three-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kevin Todd. Peter Stastny, Laurie Boschman, Jon Morris.LW&mdash;Dave Maley, Claude Vilgrain, Pat Conacher. Patrik Sundstrom, Walt Poddubny.RW&mdash;Tom Chorske, Claude Lemieux, Doug Brown, Randy McKay.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Scott Stevens, Viacheslav Fetisov, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Alexei Kasatonov. Eric Weinrich. Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Barr, RW, separated shoulder, indefinite. Zdeno Ciger, LW, right wrist surgery, indefinite. John MacLean. RW, torn right knee ligaments, indefinite. Stephane Richer, LW, strained groin, day-to-day &#9632;

Weinrich changing his luck

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>For a change, sudden and decisive developments brought Mark Fitzpatrick welcome news.On the eve of camp, Fitzpatrick suffered severe swelling and fatigue&mdash;signaling a flareup of eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, the illness that threatened his life and career and kept him out nearly all of last year.But the goalie recovered so quickly and played so well during a minor-league conditioning stint that the New York Islanders recalled him two weeks into the season.&ldquo;After what happened in training camp, we didn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d be doing this now,&rdquo; coach Al Arbour said.Soon after the team learned he would be out indefinitely, he responded well to medication and began practising. Just before the start of the season, he was sent to Capital District of the American League. He played well there, with a 2-0-1 record and 2.27 goals-against average.&ldquo;As time goes on, I&rsquo;m feeling better,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said. &ldquo;Even in the first game I played, I kind of surprised myself.&rdquo;Despite what he considered a &ldquo;very average&rdquo; season debut&mdash;he allowed two goals on the first three shots in a 4-2 loss to Edmonton&mdash;Fitzpatrick said he is stronger and more confident than he had been last season.Even so, he recognizes his symptoms could flare again when he stops taking prednisone, a cortisone-type medication.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a person having to deal with arthritis or some other everyday type of illness, &ldquo;he said. &ldquo;As long as it&rsquo;s not that bad and it allows me to play, I&rsquo;ll be happy. I know there&rsquo;s a chance it could come back at any time.&rdquo;KING FOR A WEEK: Left winger Derek King had a career-high 19 goals last season and is making a determined effort to maintain the pace that brought him seven goals in the first seven games.No Islander ever had a stretch like King did against the Penguins Oct. 15, when he scored on three successive shots in a span of 78 seconds. It shattered Denis Potvin&rsquo;s franchise record for the fastest three goals&mdash;3:21.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Rich Pilon missed three games, having gone home to Saskatchewan for personal reasons. The Islanders announced he left to get married because his fiancee was having difficulties with immigration. But team sources said his fiancee ill.Center Hubie McDonough admitted having been on edge and out of sorts during his struggle last season. He said right from the outset of camp this year he was not going to worry as much, and maintained that philosophy when he was sent to the minors. He saw it pay off with a promotion to the NHL, and said he will be patient while waiting for ice time.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 17: Rich Kromm. LW, Hubie McDonough, C, and Dennis Vaske, D, recalled from Capital District (AHL). Oct. 18: Kromm and Greg Parks. C. assigned to Capital District. Oct. 19: Mark Fitzpatrick, G, recalled from Capital District.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brent Sutter, Ray Ferraro, Rob DiMaio, Fitzgerald, Hubie McDonough, Pat LaFontaine.LW&mdash;Derek King, Dave Chyzowski, Bill Berg, Brad Lauer.RW&mdash;Patrick Flatley, Randy Wood. David Volek, Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Jeff Norton, Rich Pilon, Ken Baumgartner, Dennis VaskeRD&mdash;Joe Reekie, Tom Kurvers, Randy Hillier, Wayne McBean.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Mark Fitzpatrick, Steve<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gary Nylund, D, broken heel, indefinite &#9632;

No complaints about Fitz’s ‘average’ debut

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Seven wins in eight games was an excellent storybook beginning to the season for the Washington Capitals. But two contract disputes served as major subplots.Goalie Don Beaupre returned Oct. 15, four weeks after he left. His return was prompted by some movement by the team and a desire to be part of the action. But his contract is a long way from being settled.Kelly Miller&rsquo;s holdout had been much shorter, but a new deal had not been resolved by Oct. 19 and another walkout was possible.Beaupre was arguably the Capitals&rsquo; MVP last season, when he had the second-best goals-against average (2.64) in the league. Though he missed time with two groin injuries, he was the most consistent performer. He is in the option year of a contract that will pay him $300,000 plus bonuses this year.The Capitals apparently offered $500,000 per season, but Beaupre is looking for a first-year salary closer to $600,000. Agent Ron Simon said general manager David Poile equated Beaupre with Los Angeles&rsquo; Kelly Hrudey. When Hrudey signed a new deal that had a first-year salary of $575,000 and increases each year after, the comparisons ended.&ldquo;I want to be part of a winning team,&rdquo; Beaupre said. &ldquo;I had to get back playing for myself and with the team doing well, you want to be part of that.&rdquo;Miller returned from his two-game, four-day holdout because he was promised that there would be discussions on a new contract. But two days before the deadline (Oct. 22), there hadn&rsquo;t been much progress. The Capitals were due to leave Oct. 21 for a four-game, nine-day road trip and Miller wasn&rsquo;t sure if he was going.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m going to do,&rdquo; said Miller, who is also in his option year and apparently looking for roughly $600,000 per year.GREAT START: The 7-1 start is the best in franchise history. In their 17 previous seasons, the Capitals had never won more than six of the first 10 games.&ldquo;Any team in any league would take a 7-1 record at the start,&rdquo; Mike Ridleysaid. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve worked hard and scored more goals than some people thought we would.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Mike Liut caught an elbow in the jaw during the Oct. 19 game against New Jersey and did not play the following night, but did practise a day later. Byron DaFoe was called up from Baltimore (American League) and dressed as Jim Hrivnak&rsquo;s backup for the Oct. 19 game in New Jersey. That afternoon, Don Beaupre played in Baltimore&hellip;For a few days, Dale Hunter was tied for the league lead in points. Asked when the last time that occurred. Hunter, who had 12 points in eight games, said, &ldquo;When? How about ever?&rdquo; Hunter had just 46 points all of last season (76 games).John Druce was benched for three games and scoreless in the other four before scoring the game-winner against New Jersey Oct. 19&hellip;Randy Burridge had at least one point in his first seven games before failing to register a point in the eighth.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 18: Byron DaFoe, G. recalled from Baltimore (AHL). Oct. 19: DaFoe assigned to Baltimore.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dimitri Khristich. Mike Ridley. Michal Pivonka, Dale Hunter.LW&mdash;Randy Burridge. Todd Krygier, John Druce. Nick Kypreos, Dave Tippett, Tim Bergland.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Kelly Miller, Peter Bondra, Jeff Greenlaw.LD&mdash;Calle Johansson, Rod Langway, Mike Lalor, Ken Sabourin.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Al lafrate. Sylvain Cote.G&mdash;Mike Liut. Jim Hrivnak.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers, D, sprained knee, day-to-day. Alan May. RW, sore hand, day-to-day. &#9632;

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November 1, 1991

Captain Clark to return earlier than expected

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Ceglarski aiming for regal exit

Shifting Gears