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 22, 1991

The Hockey News November 22, 1991

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03375/6547112-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Whaler goalie Kay Whitmore&rsquo;s overnight success story was five years in the making. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>To best understand Kay Whitmore&rsquo;s ascension, perhaps it is best to go back to the future.The Hartford Whalers&rsquo; &ldquo;goalie of the future&rdquo; tag was stuck on Whitmore in June of 1985. Shortly before that spring&rsquo;s entry draft, former Whaler general manager Emile Francis predicted of the netminders available, &ldquo;There are three beauties who could go in the first round.&rdquo;But it was Sean Burke who most intrigued the Whalers. They liked Troy Gamble and Kay Whitmore an awful lot, but they loved Sean Burke. In fact, the Whalers almost took Burke fifth in the first round, but when Dana Murzyn was still available, they opted for the big defenseman.In the second round, the Devils took Burke at No. 24. The Canucks took Gamble No. 25. And the Whalers picked Whitmore at No.26. They didn&rsquo;t get Burke, but the Whalers were happy with Whitmore.It has taken five years, but the Whalers can honestly report they are thrilled with the 24-year-old Whitmore again. So much so that Whitmore (5-3-2, .930 save percentage through early November) has taken over the Whalers&rsquo; No. 1 spot from Peter Sidorkiewicz.&ldquo;He was our MVP in October, Whalers&rsquo; coach Jim Roberts said.But it&rsquo;s been a long climb. In his first season pro, Whitmore was a respectable 17-15-4 in Binghamton (AHL). On the nights he was sharp, Whitmore was something special. But his attention span often wasn&rsquo;t what it should have been, and sometimes he seemed as if he wanted to be the next Ron Hextall. Not in terms of belligerence, but with the way he loved to wander out of his net to handle the puck. On a bad night, he could seem more interested in scoring a goal than stopping it.But Whitmore&rsquo;s reflexes are incredible. Fast. He is, in fact, lightning fast. The tools were all there, arranging the tool box became the problem.Whitmore continued to progress and in 1988-89 he led the AHL with 56 games played. Larry Pleau, who coached Whitmore in Binghamton, started him in two of the Whalers&rsquo; playoff games against Montreal in 1989. He lost both starts, but played well enough for Patrick Roy to predict Whitmore would be a star. Ironically, the divisional semi-final series ended when Whitmore charged 40 feet out of his net during overtime and was beaten to the puck by Russ Courtnall who scored into the unattended goal.Pleau got fired. Rick Ley was hired. And the course of Kay Whitmore&rsquo;s life changed. It got worse. In 1989-90, Whitmore was demoted to Binghamton again and fell so far he was the No. 2 goalie behind Daryl Reaugh on the worst team in AHL history.He started the 1990-91 season in Hartford but suddenly, on Nov. 14, Reaugh appeared in town.&ldquo;I knew what was coming,&rdquo; said Whitmore.What was coming was another demotion, this time to the Whalers&rsquo; new AHL affiliate in Springfield. But instead of the beginning of the end, it was the end of a bad beginning. Whitmore met with Roberts upon his demotion.&ldquo;I told him to forget about everything except stopping the puck.&rdquo; Roberts said.Whit more ended up 22-9-1 in Springfield during the regular season, helped lead the Indians to the Calder Cup championships and was named AHL post-season MVP.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the emotion I rode into the summer,&rdquo; Whitmore said. &ldquo;And when Jimmy was named coach, I believed I would get a shot with the Whalers. I feel really great now.&rdquo; &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Whalers owe Kay

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Randy Burridge hasn&rsquo;t exactly dazzled people with his scoring touch the past two seasons. That&rsquo;s why most Washington Capital fans were skeptical when the team traded for him to help alleviate offensive problems.Burridge, 25, had two productive goal-scoring seasons with the Boston Bruins (27 in 1987-88, 31 in &rsquo;88-89), before fizzling to 17 in 1989-90 and 15 last year.But after the Caps&rsquo; first 16 games, Burridge was one of the team&rsquo;s most consistent performers and led the team with six goals and 23 points.He was tied with Dimitri Khristich for the team lead in scoring when the Capitals travelled to Quebec City Nov. 10. But when the Caps boarded the bus to leave three hours later after a 10-3 victory, Burridge had five more points.&ldquo;They are definitely giving me opportunities,&rdquo; Burridge said of his teammates. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to take advantage of the opportunities. But the way our team is going, everybody feels&rsquo; they can put points on the board.&rdquo;The win over Quebec gave the Caps 81 goals on the season, tops in the NHL.BEAUPRE UPSET: Contract negotiations between Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile and Don Beaupre&rsquo;s agent Ron Simon hit another snag. And Beaupre wasn&rsquo;t exactly thrilled.The most recent problem was whether a new contract would be retroactive to the beginning of the 199192 season.&ldquo;Now, it&rsquo;s clear why (Poile) hasn&rsquo;t made any attempt to get me signed,&rdquo; Beaupre said. &ldquo;He can drag his feet until December or January. It&rsquo;s a good way to save money, I guess. It&rsquo;s just another barrier.&rdquo;Poile declined comment on the specific issue of retroactive payments.Beaupre is the option year of his two-year contract and is due to make $300,000 this season. Since he will be 31 Sept. 19, he could be an unrestricted free agent after his contract runs out.The Capitals reportedly offered a four-year deal, but the money is not to Beaupre&rsquo;s liking. In the fourth year of the deal, Beaupre would make $700,000&mdash;less than Chicago&rsquo;s Ed Belfour will make this season. Bel-four won the Vezina Trophy last season, but it was his first year in the league. Beaupre has more experience and was second in the league (to Belfour) in goals-against-average.NOTEBOOK: Kelly Miller is in the option year of his contract, but negotiations have been slow&hellip;DaleHunter went over the 700-point plateau for his career with three assists in the Nov. 10 victory in Quebec.The Capitals had their first sellout of the season (18,130) for a 5-4 loss to Detroit Nov. 8. It marked the first time Red Wing coach-general manager Bryan Murray beat his old team and brotherTerry, coach of the Capitals, in four tries.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 11: Ken Sabourin, D, recalled from Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hunter, Michal Pivonka, Mike Ridley, Dave Tippett, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Randy Burridge, Dimitri Khristich, Todd Krygier, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Peter Bondra, Kelly Miller, Alan May, John Druce, Jeff Greenlaw.LD&mdash;Calle Johansson, Rod Langway, Mike Lalor, Ken Sabourin.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Al lafrate, Sylvain Cote.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers, D, right knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Winger’s scoring touch produces Capital gains

<h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01855/6546964-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="587" height="1598"></div><h2>ECHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02604/6546957-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="605" height="1720"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03473/6546950-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="599" height="1508"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04364/6546943-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="609" height="1792"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05293/6546936-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="611" height="1590"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06259/6546929-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="605" height="1724"></div><h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07238/6546922-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="615" height="1222"></div><h2>OUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08220/6546915-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="609" height="1372"></div><h2>COLONIAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09197/6546908-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="603" height="632"></div><h2>CCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10192/6546901-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="603" height="1056"></div><h2>CWUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11179/6546894-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="605" height="976"></div><h2>AUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12173/6546887-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="583" height="1210"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Merrimack College coach Ron Anderson experimented with Agostino Casale during training camp and it looks like his tinkering paid off.Anderson moved the left-hand shooting Casale from the left side to right wing and the senior responded with his best start ever, scoring six goals and six assists in Merrimack&rsquo;s first three games.The Montreal native led all scorers in Hockey East through Nov. 5 and had a hat trick and three assists in a 9-6 win over new Eastern College Athletic Conference member Union College Nov. 1. He hit the post on three other occasions.&ldquo;He has become a much better player because of the competition we&rsquo;ve been playing in Hockey East,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;He goes to the net well.&rdquo;Casale has improved his goal totals each season at Merrimack. He scored 12 times as a freshman, 17 as a sophomore and had 22 a year ago.MOST VALUABLE: The sky was the limit for Lowell as the Chiefs won the U.S. Air Tournament in Providence Nov. 1 and 2. Chief right winger Mike Murray was named tournament MVP. Murray had three goals and an assist in a 9-2 win over Division II Elmira Nov. 1 and added a goal in the Chiefs 4-1 win the next day over Providence.Murray was joined on the all-toumament team by teammates Mark Richards (goalie), Scott Meehan (defenseman) and Dave Gatti (left winger). Providence defenseman Chris Therien and Friars&rsquo; center Chad Quenneville were the other selections.Quenneville had four assists in the tourney and was named Hockey East rookie of the week.PENALTY KILLERS: Providence and Northeastern were perfect penalty killers in the early going. The Friars killed 19 penalties in their first four games&mdash;including a five-minute major. Northeastern was 17-for-17 in its first two games. Three New Hampshire seniors had hat tricks in the Wildcats&rsquo; 4-2 and 9-4 wins over Air Force Nov. 1 and 2. Center Joe Flanagan had three goals in the 4-2 win while linemate Scott Morrow scored three the next night. Left winger Dom Amodeo added four in the 9-2 victory.Boston University goalie Scott Cashman had a hot start. He won his first two games and produced a 2.00 goals-against average&hellip;Injuries were hitting Maine hard early in the season. In addition to goalie Mike Dunham&rsquo;s broken finger (out until December), the Bears were without center Mike Barkley (off-season knee surgery, out until mid-December), left winger Martin Mercier (sprained wrist, day-to-day), center Randy Olson (sprained ankle, late November) and right winger Matt McKerrow (broken collarbone, mid-December)&hellip;Maine center Jim Montgomery had six assists in two wins over Kent State: 5-4 in overtime Oct. 31 and 4-2 Nov. 1. In Maine&rsquo;s 4-2 win, the Bears outshot the Golden Flashes 42-6. &#9632;

Training camp adjustment behind Casale’s hot start

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011447/6544895-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="361" height="358"></div><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021189/6544888-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="36" height="36">Brian O&rsquo;Neill: The NHL executive vice-president was correct in rescinding suspensions.<img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03874/6544881-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="37" height="37">San Jose Sharks: One win, let alone two in a row, is reason enough for the Sharks to celebrate.<img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04647/6544874-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="38" height="37">Paul Colletti: The Boston fan lied about Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman attacking him with a hockey stick.<img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05471/6544867-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="37" height="37">Crease interference enforcement: Goalie protection is great, but new rules go too far.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06354/6544860-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="359" height="354"></div> &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07230/6544926-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="391" height="498"></div>When Gary Roberts was lifted from the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens Nov. 9 on a spinal board, head immobilized, hands tied together and body strapped into place, it was a frightening reminder of our sport&rsquo;s perils.The Calgary left winger was knocked into the boards by Toronto defenseman Bob Rouse and precautions were taken when Roberts experienced numbness in his arms and shoulders.X-rays on his spinal cord proved negative and Roberts left Toronto wearing a soft neck brace. Rouse received a two-minute penalty for boarding but said he was just following through on a check from the side&mdash;not from behind. Roberts did not criticize Rouse.There were no replays of the incident but there were of a hit delivered by Edmonton defenseman Luke Richardson the previous night in San Jose. Richardson leveled right winger Wayne Presley into the boards&mdash;and was assessed a five-minute major for boardchecking.He was ejected from the game. Somehow, Presley escaped injury. Richardson&rsquo;s expulsion from the game represented the 10th such call under the NHL&rsquo;s new boardchecking rule.There is no more cowardly act in hockey than cross-checking or hitting from behind. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s gutless and it&rsquo;s not part of hockey,&rdquo; Grant Marshall says.Marshall&rsquo;s neck was broken Dec. 4, 1990, during an Ontario League game between the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s and Sudbury Wolves. Marshall, a rookie defenseman with Ottawa, was shoved into the end boards from behind by Jason Young, a forward with Sudbury.Young was suspended for the balance of the regular season.Marshall&rsquo;s hockey career hung in the balance. One doctor advised the player&rsquo;s mother. Jackie, to tell her son he would never play again.She relayed the words to Marshall and he cried. Marshall said nothing for five hours and then vowed to return. &ldquo;If I fall down and get busted up, will you pick up the pieces?&rdquo; Marshall asked his mother.Yes, was the answer.By the time spring arrived, Marshall had discarded his halo and was practising with the 67&rsquo;s. He appeared in one playoff game. His remarkable recovery has continued this season. Marshall is off to an excellent start, scoring 10 goals and 28 points in 20 games. He also had 51 penalty minutes.The 18-year-old native of Port Credit, Ont., is tied for third with teammate Curtis Bowen in the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s first ranking of draft-eligible players in the OHL. (See Digest on page 6.)The 67&rsquo;s and Wolves have met twice this season at the Sudbury Arena. The first time, Marshall played forward. He played defense the second time and his family was concerned about how he would react to Young.There were no problems, no words exchanged. Nor any blows or cheap shots. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; Marshall says.The campaign to eliminate hitting from behind, however, is just beginning.&ldquo;It has got to stop,&rdquo; Marshall says. That&rsquo;s the message he planned to deliver at the Dr. Tom Pashby Sports Safety Fund dinner Nov. 12 in Toronto.&ldquo;We have to police ourselves and use our heads,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Play the game the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be played. Play it tough, play it rough. But don&rsquo;t be stupid.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Marshall Plan: Stop hits from behind

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011597/6544988-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Canadiens&rsquo; stingy team defense is founded on such capable young players as 22-year-old blueliner Mathieu Schneider. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>Teams searching for a way to defeat the Montreal Canadiens resemble knights in search of the Holy Grail. Want to know what you must do to beat the Canadiens? Simple, battle your way through three rings of fire.The first is in your own zone, where a hellacious forechecking system is followed. The second burns in the neutral zone, where the Canadiens&rsquo; backchecking forwards suffocate offense and then flourish on the counter-attack. The third smolders at the Montreal blue line, where a crew of young defensemen schooled by Jacques Laperriere is playing perfectly within coach Pat Burns&rsquo; system.Now, here&rsquo;s the bad news: If you manage to get through all that, there is still a dragon named Patrick Roy breathing fire in the Canadiens&rsquo; goal.If this all sounds like some fairy tale from ancient times, consider that the Canadiens are off to a fairy tale start: after 19 games they had a goals-against average (1.51) more appropriate to ancient times than these modern times. In fact, the only people working harder than the Canadiens may be the members of The Hockey News staff who searched the libraries to prove what we suspected&mdash;the Canadiens got off to the best defensive start in the NHL&rsquo;s modem history.Over the first 19 games the Canadiens magic number was 29, which would certainly please Ken Dryden. The magic in that number is that the Canadiens (14-4-1) had given up only 29 goals, while accumulating 29 points.Were they to maintain that pace, the Habs would allow just 122 goals this season. The fewest goals allowed during an 80-game season was 171 by the 1976-77 Canadiens, who lost only eight games that season. And the last time any teams gave up fewer than 150 goals was during the 70-game, 1955-56 season when Montreal gave up 131 and the Detroit Red Wings 148.Two other teams in the modem era (since 1943-44 when the center ice red line was introduced) allowed 28 goals in their first 19 games, and a third, the 1955-56 Canadiens, surrendered 29. But it doesn&rsquo;t take higher mathematics to prove the Canadiens&rsquo; 1991-92 record is better. The 1953-54 Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs both surrendered just 28 goals in their first 19 games for goals-against averages of 1.47.There was no regular-season overtime then, so if you eliminate the Habs&rsquo; OT stats&mdash;they had allowed one goal in 16 minutes&mdash;the Canadiens&rsquo; combo of Roy and Roland Melanson goes from a combined GAA of 1.51 to 1.47. Furthermore, the difference between then and now is substantial. Teams are scoring more goals in today&rsquo;s NHL, an additional two-plus per game. The average number of total goals scored per game through Nov. 29, 1953 (after Detroit had played 119 games) was 4.2. Through games of Nov. 10, 1991 (after Montreal had played 19 games), the 1991-92 average was 6.9.Over the first 19 games, the Canadiens shut out their opponents in 40 of 61 periods (including overtimes) and produced four shutouts, along with another game in which the only goal allowed was a penalty shot.Roy had two of those shutouts, and although he is not likely to approach Tony Esposito&rsquo;s modern era record of 15 shutouts during the 1969-70 season, that is of little significance. The fact of the matter is that this below-sea-level GAA is far more a team effort than the product of great goaltending.&ldquo;Their goals-against average is simply astounding,&rdquo; said Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; coach Rick Dudley. He ought to know. His Sabres had already faced Montreal four times, managing one victory. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t make any mistakes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and they have the best defensive forwards possibly in the history of the game.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;They have the best defensive forwards possibly in in the history of the game.&rsquo;</blockquote>Burns is going to love that quote. You already get the idea that this great stretch of games has put Burns and the Habs in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don&rsquo;t situation. The fans of Montreal are demanding enough, and after this start&hellip;Well, you can understand why Burns was not ready to anoint his club as one of the greatest in history&mdash;especially after just one quarter of the season. &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think we can keep up this pace,&rdquo; Burns said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d certainly like to be in the month of March right now. I know we&rsquo;re going to have our difficulties, sooner or later. We&rsquo;re still a young club. But you can&rsquo;t control that. You can&rsquo;t push a button and say we want to peak right now. It doesn&rsquo;t work that way. But I sure wish it was March right now.&rdquo;The Canadiens do not appear to be a team that will burn brightly and fizzle. This early-season success is built upon the cement of defense, not the quicksand of offense which can be shut down during a playoff series.&ldquo;The best defensive forwards in the history of the game&rdquo; that Dudley spoke about are led by captain Guy Carbonneau. The foot soldiers include Brent Gilchrist, Mike McPhee, Mike Keane, Kirk Muller and crafty Denis Savard. Other forwards such as Shayne Corson, Brian Skrudland and Russ Courtnall&mdash;a virtual line of talent&mdash;have been largely missing because of injury or suspension.&ldquo;They have played their system so long now,&rdquo; Dudley said, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ve got it down to a science.&rdquo; He said the best way to penetrate that system is to make radical changes to a game plan&mdash;and most coaches don&rsquo;t want to implement such major changes for one game. &ldquo;The only way to beat their forechecking is to pass underneath it,&rdquo; said Dudley, indicating you virtually have to backtrack on your way up the ice. &ldquo;They are so good at forechecking that you don&rsquo;t get any time. They are right on you.&rdquo;What is more perplexing is how this group of young defensemen, led by 25-year-old Petr Svoboda and 22-year-old Eric Desjardins can be so effective. The group, which also includes Mathieu Schneider, J.J. Daigneault, Sylvain Lefebvre and Lyle Odelein is not what you would call a big defense, but it keeps the area around Roy and Melanson clear, and moves the puck out of the zone.&ldquo;If you could get on top of their defense, you might find some success but getting to them is the problem,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;Their forwards are so good at running interference. Most teams do it as a job&mdash;these guys in Montreal do it very well, because they take great pride in it. It&rsquo;s also an organizational thing. The Montreal Canadiens have done this for a long time. The Canadiens have a history of forcing accountability on the athlete. That&rsquo;s fairly evident by some of the trades they&rsquo;ve made.&rdquo;For example, Stephane Richer is in New Jersey while Muller (and his washing machine work ethic) is in Montreal. &ldquo;Ever since I&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; Muller said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s just 20 guys making a commitment to defense. Twenty guys taking pride in defense.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s astounding how many shots they block and that again is a commitment,&rdquo; Dudley added. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to learn the formula but I think putting on that uniform, and the consequence of not playing under their rules has a lot to do with it.&ldquo;And one of the big advantages they have is that a guy like Guy Carbonneau can be as big a hero as any player. Certainly he was as big a hero as Stephane Richer. The organization and the people, and the media recognize him as a valuable, valuable asset. That goes back for years. Look, Bob Gainey was one of the most popular players in the history of the franchise. What did he score? Twenty goals?&rdquo;Twenty goals, that&rsquo;s a month&rsquo;s worth&mdash;against the Canadiens. &#9632;

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The FlyingTrenchmen

I&rsquo;m a die-hard Sabres&rsquo; fan whose patience is wearing thin. The root of my discontent is with the team&rsquo;s performance and personnel changes over the past few seasons.First they deal Tom Barrasso to Pittsburgh, then Phil Housley to Winnipeg and now Pierre Turgeon to the Islanders&mdash;losing each trade in the process.Doug Bodger, obtained for Barrasso, has been a major disappointment, while at the same time the Sabres&rsquo; goaltending has been inconsistent. Dale Hawerchuk, obtained for Housley, has still only seen the second round of the playoffs once in 10 years. While he led the team in scoring last season, he also cut into Turgeon&rsquo;s ice time.Now, in obtaining LaFontaine, the Sabres get a player with a similar three-year points average (93 per season) as Turgeon&rsquo;s (91), but whose 0.70 points-per-game average in the playoffs is inferior to Turgeon&rsquo;s 1.09. In addition, LaFortaine, 26, is more than four years older than Turgeon and is a center who will be competing for ice time with Hawerchuk.Trades that improve the Sabres are fine with me, but trading for the sake of trading and losing every deal is unacceptable.Carey Miller&nbsp;Saskatoon, Sask.<h2>No fluke</h2>Coach-general manager Bryan Murray has managed to bring a lot of new players to the Detroit Red Wings, but failed to bring any success.Among the Wings&rsquo; poor performances this season are two embarrassing losses in Toronto and less-than-spectacular showings at home against Montreal and Winnipeg.Hopefully Murray will find a coach to motivate this team. If not he must go. He certainly is demonstrating his failures in Washington were no flukes.Bernie Rubenstein&nbsp;Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.<h2>Simply divine</h2>Please inform Kevin Dupont that the inventor of basketball was James Naismith, not his evil twin William (THN, Oct. 25).The inventor of hockey, of course, was God.Jeff Matlock&nbsp;St. Petersburg. Fla.<h2>Losing history</h2>On Nov. 17, the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate the 65th anniversary of their first game and the end of a signifcant chapter in team history. With the end of a chapter comes the need for a contents review. It tells us:1.The Blackhawks are losers (.485 regular-season winning percentage; .462 playoff percentage; and .333 in the Stanley Cup finals).2.Not once among their three Cup-winning seasons did the team finish first overall.Past performances show Blackhawk supporters have rarely received their money&rsquo;s worth. Healthy attendance totals prove nothing will change until fans realize the futility of condoning poor play.Jim Camillo&nbsp;Harwood Heights, III.<h2>Shark baiter</h2>So Eric Duhatschek thinks the San Jose Sharks won&rsquo;t win more than 10 games this season (THN, Oct. 18, p. 19). As a hockey fan in the Pacific Northwest tired of seeing the Vancouver Canucks &ldquo;play&rdquo;, I&rsquo;m looking forward to an exciting season from the Sharks and believe they have a chance for 11 wins or more.Any bets?Tim Flynn&nbsp;Portland, Ore.<h2>Pay back time</h2>An open letter to U.S. NHL fans who have again been stiffed by the league through its decision to award exclusive U.S. TV rights to SportsChannel America:The NHL has now blacked out the majority of U.S. fans for four years. We have been unable to share this exciting game with our children because it is only available in sports bars with a sattelite dish, a less-than-ideal setting to teach the game to the next generation.I suggest all scorned fans fight back by attacking the NHL&rsquo;s greedy pockets. Individual fans should boycott NHL-licensed products and let the league (and merchants) know why.Our household will be supporting college and junior programs in the U.S. through our attendance and the purchase of their merchandise. As the holiday gift season approaches, take your hockey dollars away from the NHL and send them to any hockey organization that cares about the game in the U.S.Wayne GoodmanLittleton, Colo.<h2>Yankee pride</h2>It gets me how so many Canadian-born hockey players make their home year-round in the United States, but when it comes time for an international event (i.e., Canada Cup), they choose to play for Canada.If they want all the advantages of being an American, they should become one, eh?Jill JachymWest I and, Mich.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. Include home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Latest Sabre swapyet another loser

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011618/6545043-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<h2>North Stars, not Stars</h2>The &lsquo;North&rsquo; in Minnesota North Stars hasn&rsquo;t flown south this winter. Contrary to popular belief, the team&rsquo;s nickname hasn&rsquo;t changed.The 24-year-old NHL franchise updated its logo this season, replacing the large &lsquo;N&rsquo; with an exploding star. The base color changed from green to black. Because the &lsquo;North&rsquo; isn&rsquo;t prominent, there&rsquo;s misconception the nickname changed. Not so.&ldquo;There was never any intention to drop the &lsquo;North&rsquo;,&rdquo; said Pat Forciea, vice-president of communications and operations for the North Stars. &ldquo;It was never an issue in the Twin Cities area, just everywhere else.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021429/6545074-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="548" height="861"></div><h2>Dyck&rsquo;s NHL dream alive</h2>Larry Dyck, the goaltender with partial vision, partially realized his dream of making it to the NHL.The 25-year-old Winkler, Man., native is legally blind in his left eye, but plays with a contact lens the Min nesota North Stars fitted him with three years ago. The lens allows him to meet the NHL&rsquo;s bylaw 12.6, which states players with less than 3/60th vision in one eye can&rsquo;t play.Dyck is in his fourth season with the IHL&rsquo;s Kalamazoo Wings and was recalled by Minnesota Nov. 3. He didn&rsquo;t play or even dress for any NHL games and was returned to Kalamazoo Nov. 6. &#9632;

f0004-02

UPDATE

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div>The NHL board of governors will reconvene Nov. 18 to decide if Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg will be the new owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins.The governors met for about seven hours Nov. 6 in New York City&mdash;and spent most of their time talking about the proposed sale&mdash;but wanted more information before putting the matter to a vote.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a $60-million deal,&rdquo; NHL president John Ziegler said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a complicated transaction.&rdquo;Entering the Nov. 6 meeting, there appeared to be three areas of concern.One was finances, determining whether the Baldwin-Belzberg partnership js sufficiently bankrolled notonly for the purchase price ($36 million for the club) but for operating capital as well.Baldwin and Belzberg last year purchased the Minnesota North Stars. When they went looking for other investors, they accepted Calgary Flames&rsquo; owner Norm Green, who subsequently bought them out.The governors wanted to know more about published reports that Baldwin-Belzberg would &ldquo;sell assets&rdquo;, believed to be players, to finance the purchase of the club.Baldwin, contrary to a letter he wrote in August, said there are no plans to sell players. Ziegler reinforced that at a post-meeting media conference, though the president added there is nothing in NHL bylaws to prohibit the blatant sale of players.The second area of concern was the breakdown of the deal. Baldwin and Belzberg are buying the hockey club only from Edward DeBartolo Sr. (for $36 million). The Civic Arena lease, which includes full management of the facility for all events, is being purchased by Spectacor, a building management group owned partially by Philadelphia Flyer owner Ed Snider, for $24 million.The third area of concern involves former Penguin vice-president Paul Martha. Back in the summer when sale negotiations started, he was expected to be part of the ownership group with perhaps as much as 50 per cent of the club. Since then, however, he has been squeezed out by Baldwin and Belzberg. The spectre of a lawsuit by Martha has been hanging over the sale.Baldwin was miffed the approval didn&rsquo;t come Nov. 6.&ldquo;They (the governors) approved our deal in Minnesota last year and this one (in Pittsburgh) is far more straightforward,&rdquo; he said.Board approval requires a three-quarters majority (17 votes).RESIGNATION REJECTED: Chairman of the board Bill Wirtz, embroiled in a controversey at the owner level with two other clubs, submitted his resignation at the Nov. 6 meeting.The other governors unanimously rejected it.&ldquo;Bill was concerned at the perception of the chairman being involved in a dispute,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;The governors did what I thought they would do and told him there&rsquo;s no way they would accept his resignation.&rdquo;It is believed the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; owner is in trouble over comments he made after his team acquired Brent Sutter from the New York Islanders. Wirtz had said the St. Louis Blues wanted Sutter and offered Adam Oates and Paul Cavallini. He also said the Calgary Flames offered Joel Otto and Paul Ranheim. St. Louis general manager Ron Caron, among others, was critical of Wirtz naming players other teams were considering trading.EXPANSION UPDATE: The governors had brief meetings with the ownership groups for conditional NHL franchises in Ottawa and Tampa Bay.Ziegler said it was strictly an informational session. The Senators and Lightning must make a $22.5 million (U.S.) payment Dec. 16 and satisfy a number of other conditions. &#9632;

Owners need more time to discuss Pens’ sale

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Don&rsquo;t pencil Ray Bourque&rsquo;s name into the Wales Conference All-Star Game lineup; carve it in stone.Bourque, a 10-time All-Star Game participant during his 12-year NHL career, led all Wales Conference votegetters with 28,913 votes through Nov. 7.He was third in the league behind St. Louis&rsquo; Brett Hull (35,876) and Chicago&rsquo;s Chris Chelios (31,731) of the Campbell Conference.Bourque wasn&rsquo;t selected for the 1980 game (his rookie season) and played in Rendez-Vous &rsquo;87 against the Soviets, which took the place of that year&rsquo;s All-Star Game.Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Coffey (19,511), second overall among Wales players, trailed Bourque by more than 9,000 votes.Here are the early conference leaders by position with vote totals in parentheses.Wales: Center&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh (18,348); Wingers&mdash;Stephane Richer, New Jersey (15,630); Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia (15,560); Defense&mdash;Bourque; Coffey; Goal&mdash;Patrick Roy, Montreal (17,707).Campbell: Center&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles (23,651); Wingers&mdash;Hull; Steve Larmer, Chicago (15,844); Defense&mdash;Chelios; Al Maclnnis, Calgary (19,535).The All-Star Game is Saturday, Jan. 18 in Philadelphia.<h2>Player jailed</h2>An amateur hockey player who broke an opponent&rsquo;s jaw during a game has been handed an 89-day jail sentence.Neil Sandilands, 26, of Williamstown, Ont., was charged with aggravated assault Dec. 22, 1990, during a game between his team, the Smith Falls Rideaus, and the Manotick Kings of the Eastern Ontario Senior A League. He has also received a lifetime ban from the league.Sandilands was ejected from the game after attacking the Kings&rsquo; Jean Lepine but returned to the ice several minutes later. He attacked Lepine again, punching him repeatedly in the face and head&mdash;breaking his jaw in two places.Sandilands played for several teams in the Ontario League, including the hometown Cornwall Royals, before joining the Rideaus.In another incident, Everette Rose of Prince George, (B.C.) Lumber Kings was slapped with a 25-year suspension by the city of Prince George. The 26-year-old was accused of crosschecking referee Ralph Wood in the mouth during a Prince George Recreational non-contact League game Nov. 3.<h2>Busy Lindros</h2>It was a few more routine weeks forEric Lindros: he scored three points in his last game for the Oshawa Generals, 10 points in four games with the Canadian Olympic team and slapped a handful of singles for the Toronto Blue Jays.Lindros left the Ontario League&rsquo;s Generals Oct. 27 to join the Olympic team in Liberec, Czech., but made a brief detour to Dunedin, Fla., where the Blue Jays were holding an instructional camp for young baseball prospects. He made a good first impression with both the Jays and the Nats.&ldquo;His swing is crude, but that&rsquo;s to be expected,&rdquo; said Jays&rsquo; minor-league manager Garth Iorg. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if he&rsquo;s serious about this or not, but he has a serious swing.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011716/6545129-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="561" height="1336"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Chelios leads all defensemen in all-star fan voting.</figcaption></div>France&rsquo;s national team later found out Lindros has a serious shot. The Quebec Nordique draft pick scored the only goal in a 1-1 tie in Briancon Nov. 5, then added two goals and four points in a 12-0 shellacking the next night in Pralognan.Lindros had three goals and five points in two wins over the Czechoslovakian national B team Nov. 2-3. Team Canada moved on to Sweden for two games&mdash;a 3-2 win Nov. 9 and a 7-1 loss Nov. 10 against the national B team&mdash;and Finland for three games Nov. 12-15. Lindros&rsquo; statistics from Sweden were unavailable.<h2>New league?</h2>A European league designed to keep players in their home countries could be in operation as early as next season.The International Ice Hockey Federation is investigating the viability of a 12-team European circuit in which the top two clubs from six countries (Germany, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Finland and the Soviet Union) would compete from September to December. IIHF president Gunther Sabetzki said a decision would be made at the international body&rsquo;s next congress, planned for May at the World Championships in Czechoslovakia.<h2>Whitney ruling</h2>The NHL has ruled that center Ray Whitney, chosen 23rd overall by the San Jose Sharks in June&rsquo;s entry draft, cannot play in the league this season except under emergency conditions.NHL rules prohibit junior-eligible players from joining NHL clubs if they are unsigned at season&rsquo;s start. But the Sharks were hoping the league would make an exception with Whitney because he started the season with a team in Germany. He returned to Canada when contract problems arose.Whitney, 19, still may sign with the Sharks, but could play this season only if San Jose centers were injured. As of Nov. 11, Whitney had yet to rejoin the Spokane Chiefs, the WHL team with whom he starred in 199091.<h2>Prospect watch</h2>Left winger Todd Warriner of Windsor, right winger Paul Brousseau of Hull and right winger Todd Klassen led the Ontario, Quebec and Western Leagues in the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s first listing of top prospects for the 1992 entry draft.Here&rsquo;s the CHL Valvoline listing of the top five prospects by league. Information listed is order of ranking (including ties), name, position, team, height, weight, games, goals, assists and points.Ontario League: 1. Todd Warriner, LW, Windsor, 6-1, 180, 18-1513-28; 2. Chad Penney, LW, North Bay, 6-1, 195, 20-11-12-23; 3. Grant Marshall, D, Ottawa, 6-1, 190, 2010-18-28; Curtis Bowen, LW, Ottawa, 6-1, 185, 20-13-21-34; 5. Jeremy Stevenson, LW, Cornwall, 6-1, 205, 19-5-8-13.Quebec League: 1. Paul Brousseau, RW, Hull, 6-2, 212, 12-11-1122; 2. Martin Tanguay, C, College Francais, 6-0, 182, 23-17-17-34; Michel St-Jacques, LW, Chicoutimi, 5-11, 192, 23-19-22-41; 4. Simon Roy, D, Shawinigan, 6-1, 181,21-012-12; 5. Philippe DeRouville, G, College Francais, 6-1, 179, 10-3-0 record, 3.28 goals-against average.Western League: 1. Todd Klassen, RW, Tri-City, 6-0, 185, 19-816-24; 2. Kevin Smyth, LW, Moose Jaw, 6-2, 200, 20-8-17-25; 3. Jason Bowen, LW, Tri-City, 6-2, 210, 0-00-0 (injured); 4. Mike Rathje, D, Medicine Hat, 6-4, 190, 17-1-4-5; 5. David Cooper, D, Medicine Hat, 6-1, 190, 19-3-11-14. &#9632;

f0006-01

Bruins’ Ray of starshine big fan favorite in voting

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021169/6545160-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="387" height="499"></div>George Kingston does ultra-marathons. For 50 miles on some days, 100 on others, he runs over rocks, up hills and through streams, putting one foot in front of the other until he reaches the finish.That&rsquo;s what Kingston does to relax. His day job is much harder. He coaches the San Jose Sharks, who will need a hot stretch drive to win nine games and avoid recording the worst season in NHL history.Please note that I distinguish between having the worst season and being the worst team. I realize that one of the joys of sport is fans getting together to argue over which was the most horrendous team they ever saw but it&rsquo;s unfair to compare. These clubs were terrible in different eras.Nostalgic persons always insist things were worse in the past but you can&rsquo;t watch these Sharks objectively without concluding that expansion players in the &rsquo;90s are weaker, slower and less fundamentally sound than those of the &rsquo;70s. I unequivocally state the Sharks would not have beaten the Kansas City Scouts.I covered those Scouts and nobody is going to tell me Rob Zettler could hold a candle to Claude Houde. Actually, it was better to watch Houde with the candle out but I digress. We&rsquo;re talking Sharks here. We&rsquo;re talking bad. We&rsquo;re talking expansion and a return to the &rsquo;70s, those chilling days of yesteryear when uncompetitive regular season games were too common.Look, I know everybody has to start somewhere. Watching a new club dressed in beach pastel colors fall apart every time the game gets close can be entertaining for up to two weeks at a time. But next year&mdash;assuming Phil Esposito can keep the shell with the pea moving faster than the finance committee can track it&mdash;there are going to be two more first-year clubs that will probably be even worse.I&rsquo;m all for expansion. That the NHL cannot attract a decent bid from ESPN underscores the necessity of introducing hockey to new markets. But by adding too many teams in too few years, the talent pool can&rsquo;t regenerate itself. In 1974 the Scouts and Washington Capitals had to take five players that had already been selected in previous expansion drafts. The Senators and Lightning are going to be similar garbage dumps.Fans have had it pretty good for the last five seasons. In that time, only four teams (Quebec twice and Vancouver and Toronto once) have finished with fewer than 60 points. That&rsquo;s a reflection of excellent balance, but you can kiss those days goodbye. In the post-expansion times of the late &rsquo;70s, huge chasms developed between have and have-not clubs. On every given night, the Rockies and Capitals got killed.True, the Islanders, Sabres and Flames had winning records by their third seasons, but in those days the NHL drafted players at age 20, not at 18. Every new franchise didn&rsquo;t get a Gilbert Perreault, but at least its first-round pick could play right away. If an expansion team hit on some second- and third-round picks and made a smart trade or two, by the third season a nucleus was taking shape.Now, building through the draft is much more uncertain. And takes much longer. The Penguins were so talent-poor, they were virtually an expansion team when they drafted Mario Lemieux in 1984. They picked no lower than fifth in the next four drafts, but still took five years to make the playoffs.Six years of losing hockey will sell in Ottawa because the people there are familiar with the players on the visiting teams. In San Jose and Tampa, where they don&rsquo;t know the difference between an Oates and an Odjick, a winning team may be necessary by the third or fourth seasons to sustain interest.The Sharks have a few things going for them. General manager Jack Ferreira, who didn&rsquo;t get enough credit last spring for the groundwork he laid in Minnesota, is a good judge of talent. The Sharks will be moving into a new building in Year 3, just at the point when an expansion team stops being cute and cuddly and starts being bad and boring. This is also San Jose&rsquo;s first major-league team.Neil Wilkinson and Arturs Irbe&mdash;the best of the players George and Gordon Gund looted from the North Stars when they traded franchises&mdash;are young talents of a calibre not normally available in an expansion draft. Still, when the final deal between the North Stars and Sharks went down, Minnesota kept almost all the players it wanted.Knowing how little he would have to work with, Ferreira hired Kingston, who was identified on his resume as a teacher, positivist, and ultra-marathoner. The first two items recommend a man to be a coach of an expansion team. The third should be a requirement. &#9632;

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Sharks’ Kingston in for the long run

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011557/6545198-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="375" height="496"></div>No ifs, ands or buts&hellip;&#9632; Attach this to your calendar: There&rsquo;ll be no repeat Stanley Cup for the Penguins. Two reasons&mdash;no Bob Johnson, no motivation.&#9632; Alexander Mogilny needs a good spanking, preferably at center ice.&#9632; Dumb Move Of The Season I: Norm Green&rsquo;s ludicrous idea about changing the North Stars&rsquo; colors.&#9632; The Sabres will go nowhere again. Forget about the Pat LaFontaine deal; Buffalo lost too much heart when Mike Hartman and Dean Kennedy were dealt to Winnipeg.&#9632; How can the Rangers not win the Stanley Cup with Mark Messier at the helm and the possibility of his amour-to-be, Madonna, singing the national anthem before Game 1 of the finals at the Garden?&#9632; The Blackhawks and Bruins should stick with their 1920s uniforms.&#9632; Why is it nobody has fingered Marcel Aubut for botching up les Nordiques?&#9632; There must be a well-hidden story behind the Flyers unloading Derrick Smith; otherwise it makes no sense at all.&#9632; Before all five bare-headed players retire (oldtimers Randy Carlyle, Rod Langway, Brad Marsh, Doug Wilson, Craig MacTavish), the NHL should write a new rule allowing any player who so desires to discard his helmet.&#9632; Dumb Move Of The Season II: Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s being suckered by Glen Sather into dealing for Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson.&#9632; You&rsquo;ve got to be happy for the Canucks because of good guys Pat Quinn, Brian Burke and Rick Ley, but not for their offensive uniforms. Vancouver should revert to their 1970s colors.&#9632; Smart Move Of The Season I: The Hockey News returning Jay Greenberg to a milieu where his work is appreciated and style unencumbered.&#9632; The NHL will figure a way to save the Lightning before the Dec. 15 deadline. It will require behind-closed-doors wheeling-dealing. When the smoke clears, you can bet that, (a) Tampa won&rsquo;t have to rigidly comply with the original $50-million payment plan; and (b) a waiver will be granted on the requirement 10,000 season tickets be sold.&#9632; Take a good look at Mike Keenan behind the Blackhawks&rsquo; bench because you won&rsquo;t see him there next year. (Hello Darryl Sutter!)&#9632; Smart Move Of The Season II:The Whalers hiring Jimmy Roberts.&#9632; The Kings&rsquo; goaltending isn&rsquo;t nearly as good as Bruce McNall believes but he likely won&rsquo;t realize it until it&rsquo;s too late.&#9632; Best Line of Autumn: &ldquo;War is hell, but expansion is worse&rdquo;&mdash;Tom McVie.&#9632; The NHL wonders why it gets clobbered, then it does yet another dumb thing. Exhibit No. 4,398: Paul Coffey breaks the NHL defenseman scoring record but the league fails to dispatch a representative to Pittsburgh hailing the grand moment.&#9632; If Pat Burns isn&rsquo;t coach of the year, scrap the Adams Trophy.&#9632; Has the message gotten through to Doug Risebrough? The Flames need a shake-up, sooner rather than later.&#9632; Brett Hull may not but I miss Terry Crisp.&#9632; I have obtained a &ldquo;show-cause order&rdquo; demanding to know why the Rangers won&rsquo;t win the Cup this year.&#9632; There&rsquo;s one major problem with Kirk Muller&rsquo;s incessant whining about how the Devils treated him. No matter how you shake it, Kirk was given every opportunity and failed to suitably deliver in 1990-91 as a captain or scorer. The Devils&rsquo; $600,000 contract offer was more than generous.&#9632; The NHL should worry about attendance in &ldquo;former guaranteed-sellout&rdquo; arenas. Exhibit A is Madison Square Garden where in the past you couldn&rsquo;t get a ticket unless you knew the mayor. The Rangers are now advertising heavily for customers and there are still gaping holes with a winning team.&#9632; The saddest story of the season: Mark Tinordi missing in action due to a freak leg injury.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021047/6545191-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="549" height="778"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig MacTavish</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

League botched Coffey break

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03677/6545229-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Los Angeles King Jari Kurri likes the low-key approach of writers in laid-back California. (Photo by Brian Wlnkler/BBS)</figcaption></div>Hartford fan favorite Jim McKenzie will win no fans in Boston after his appraisal of Bruins&rsquo; rooters. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad our fans are not like those in Boston,&rdquo; says McKenzie. &ldquo;They (Bruins&rsquo; rooters) are a bunch of drunken idiots.&rdquo;&hellip;Before signing Ed Belfour, the Blackhawks were seeking Keith Primeau and Gerard Gallant from Detroit&hellip;Among Brett Hull&rsquo;s many fan letters was one&mdash;get this&mdash;from Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s grandmother&hellip;Jari Kurri is tickled with the low-key tone of the California writers. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t read stories with &lsquo;Jari Kurri, who hasn&rsquo;t scored in two weeks, says&hellip;&rsquo; The L.A. media doesn&rsquo;t keep statistics like they do in Edmonton.&rdquo; Meanwhile, Pat Verbeek blames writers for suggesting he&rsquo;s less than a favorite among his Whaler teammates. &ldquo;I think you guys stirred that more than anybody,&rdquo; said Verbeek when it was noted that he was bypassed for the captaincy or assistant captaincy&hellip;Detroit&rsquo;s Kevin Miller, who took a cheap-shot from Greg Smyth, on his Quebec Nordique opponent: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a difference between toughness and being an idiot. He shouldn&rsquo;t even be in the game.&rdquo;<h2>End of an era</h2>The longest-running non-playing act in hockey has come to a close with the retirement of Arthur Reichert, who was a Madison Square Garden off-ice official since 1932. Supervisor of Rangers&rsquo; goal-judges and timers until this fall, Reichert packed in his stop-watch because of his wife&rsquo;s illness. &ldquo;One of my biggest thrills as an official,&rdquo; reveals Reichert who is believed to be in his 80s but won&rsquo;t confirm it, &ldquo;was being goal judge when Bill Mosienko scored three goals in 21 seconds (March 23, 1952)&mdash;all of them in my net.&rdquo;&hellip;New Penguins&rsquo; president Howard Baldwin chastises those who chide the &ldquo;low&rdquo; SSI-million price tag on the team. &ldquo;It should be considered $54 million, taking into account the (Spectacor Management Group) part of the deal,&rdquo; Baldwin explains. &ldquo;When teams are sold, that aspect (lease rights to rinks) is often built into the package.&rdquo;<h2>Singing the Blues</h2>Maple Leafs&rsquo; celebrity captain Gordon Lightfoot has the club suffering second thoughts about whether it made the right choice. The entertainer has refused to do interviews, saying he&rsquo;s &ldquo;too busy&rdquo; writing songs&hellip;Calder Trophy-winner (1963) Kent Douglas argues hockey people who credit the Russians with introducing the five-man attacking unit have it all wrong. &ldquo;Actually,&rdquo; says Douglas, &ldquo;it was Eddie Shore&rsquo;s idea and when I played for him in Springfield the Russians were so intrigued by it, they sent a camera team to an Indians&rsquo; workout in 1961 to take movies of the five-man technique. Then they polished it up and made it part of their system. But Shore was way ahead of them on that one.&rdquo; According to Douglas, Shore was one of hockey&rsquo;s most creative and demanding innovators. &ldquo;He used to tell us there were three ways to do things, &lsquo;The right way, the wrong way and my way; and you&rsquo;d better do it my way because I sign the checks.&rsquo; &ldquo;<h2>Sour on Grapes</h2>Don Cherry got a rare case of lockjaw at the hands of an irate fan during a Toronto hockey show in early November. The woman had bought a pirated photo of Grapes and got in line for his autograph. Before Cherry signed it, she was told she had to buy Cherry&rsquo;s new video in order to get his autograph. With that, she ripped the photo into shreds, tossed the pieces in the face of a startled Grapes and marched away &hellip; has been telling friends the Detroit Red Wings have been rushing him back from his injury (herniated disc) faster than he&rsquo;d like. Crowder has been thinking about a Christmas return.<h2>Simon says</h2>Sergei Makarov&rsquo;s Toronto-based brother, Simon, tells Bluelines thatSergei can&rsquo;t get out of Calgary fast enough. &ldquo;(Flames&rsquo; coach) Doug Risebrough wants everybody on the team to play the way he played,&rdquo; says Simon, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s not the way it works.&rdquo; The elder Makarov says Sergei believes he has more good NHL years ahead and would welcome a trade anywhere, with Detroit high on his list&hellip; A needling fan was getting on Ron Hextall&rsquo;s case within earshot of Ron&rsquo;s wife Diane and her friend. When the fan shouted something about the goalie&rsquo;s sexual preference, Diane&rsquo;s friend shot back, &ldquo;He is not gay and I can prove it.&rdquo; When the fan demanded how, Diane yelled, &ldquo;I am Mrs. Hextall; stick a lid on it!&rdquo;&hellip;Themove of Ron (St. Louis) and Brent Sutter (Chicago) to the Norris Division is making TV-viewing easier for their parents, Louis and Grace Sutter&rsquo;s of Viking, Alta. &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; chuckles Ron whose five brothers in the NHL either play on or coach with the Blackhawks or Blues, &ldquo;they only have to watch two channels on the dish at home.&rdquo;&hellip;Every week, it seems, ex-King Steve Duchesne has another putdown for his former Los Angeles home. &ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t as many fake people in Philadelphia as L.A.,&rdquo; says the Flyer defenseman. &ldquo;There (L.A.) everyone wants to be an actor or actress. People here know their hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-03

Boston Garden faithful harpooned by Whaler

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011622/6545260-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruce Driver is trying to adjust to the added pressure that comes with being team captain. (Photo by Marco Campanelli/BBS)</figcaption></div>Their names likely aren&rsquo;t on anyone&rsquo;s list of top Norris Trophy candidates. Yet as a group, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defense may be the best in the NHL.It is certainly the best that the Devils have ever seen. Ken Daneyko is playing the best hockey of his career and Viacheslav Fetisov, once the target of the Meadowlands boo-birds, seems to have regained some of his touch, at least temporarily. And things are bound to get even better. Two of the team&rsquo;s best three defensemen&mdash;Scott Stevens and Bruce Driver&mdash;haven&rsquo;t even played their best hockey yet.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say as a six&mdash;or seven-man unit we probably have the best defense in the league,&rdquo; Daneyko says. &ldquo;Of course, just because you&rsquo;re good on paper doesn&rsquo;t mean you automatically perform well.&rdquo;On paper and on the ice, the Devils have performed like winners. The team had the third-best goals-against average in the league in early November. With 43 goals against in their first 15 games, the Devils&rsquo; were averaging 2.87 per game, behind only Montreal at 1.41 and Vancouver at 2.76. (For more on Montreal, see story on page 3.)With all due respect to Chris Terreri, certainly among the elite in the NHL goaltending fraternity, the defense corps has been the integral cog in the team&rsquo;s defensive success. And that success has been achieved while operating on a very basic premise: don&rsquo;t get caught out of position. What they lack in talent, they make up for in correct positioning and intelligence.The key member&mdash;despite the massive publicity generated by the offseason acquisition of Stevens and Driver&rsquo;s ascension to the team&rsquo;s captaincy&mdash;is Alexei Kasatonov.Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall was thinking Stanley Cup when he tried to acquire two players during the off-season. The first was right winger Jari Kurri, who returned from Milan, Italy, and was reunited with Wayne Gretzky when the Kings obtained Kurri&rsquo;s rights from the Philadelphia Flyers. The second was Kasatonov, who turned down a two-year contract for a half-million dollars a season as a free agent to re-sign with the Devils for four years and $600,000 per season.Kasatonov&rsquo;s plus-23 last season was the best-ever by a Devil defenseman and came after he was plus-15 in 39 games as an NHL rookie in 198990. He was plus or even in each of his first 15 games this season, making Kasatonov plus-53 in 132 NHL games.Fetisov, who struggled with the adjustment to the NHL, has played his best hockey for the Devils this season. Kasatonov, on the other hand, adapted from the outset.&ldquo;He likes the physical part of the game, which you don&rsquo;t usually find with European players,&rdquo; Stevens says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big, he&rsquo;s fast and he&rsquo;s powerful. I appreciate him a lot more since I&rsquo;ve been playing with him.&rdquo;Perhaps the biggest improvement in the Devils&rsquo; defense over last season is the play of Daneyko. After a year of off-ice distractions created by financial losses and agent problems, Daneyko walked out of training camp after being insulted by a $ 10,000 raise that would&rsquo;ve hiked his salary to $200,000 this season.Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello assured Daneyko a deal could be reached if he returned to camp and, indeed, the two sides agreed to a three-year contract at $450,000 per season. Once signed, Daneyko improved dramatically.As good as the Devils&rsquo; defense has been, it is not at its best. Stevens and Driver have spent much of the first part of the season covering up defensively for sophomore Eric Weinrich and rookie Scott Niedermayer, two rushing rearguards who have much to learn when it comes to taking care of business behind their own blue line.Driver, taking on the dual role of captain and player rep, had not yet settled into his own game as one of the league&rsquo;s most reliable defensemen.Weinrich battled early-season giveaways, reduced ice time and his own confidence problems in between periods of brilliance.&ldquo;We have a lot of great defensemen, no question about it,&rdquo; Stevens says. &ldquo;The challenge is here for us.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

Devilishly Good

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021267/6545298-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="384" height="481"></div>When Earvin (Magic) Johnson announced his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers, it broke through the imaginary lines which separate sports from real life.Although this is The Hockey News, the devastating news that Jordan tested HIV positive is much too important a sports and social story to set aside as the burden of some other sport.Just because he practised his magic on a highly polished floor of wood, rather than the slick ice surfaces of the NHL, does not mean the tragedy which struck down Magic Johnson should not be a lesson to every hockey player from the shakiest bantam league, to the best league in the world.For sure, Johnson&rsquo;s plight should serve as a lesson and guideline for every social being. But it is especially important that all youthful, budding hockey players and even the established stars who read this publication open their eyes to the real world.Throughout my seasons covering sports, I have always been amazed and envious of the utter confidence which drives an athlete. In order to succeed, every athlete needs to have that inner assurance he is as good as anybody else, that he can succeed against all odds.The problem arises when the athlete&mdash;usually the young athlete&mdash;begins to believe the suit of armor carries over into all avenues of life. It&rsquo;s easy enough to understand. You reach a degree of success and you start to feel invincible.You&rsquo;re one of the best players on a peewee team. You make an all-star team. You make a travelling team. College coaches start to call. Pro scouts show up in the stands. Your name is in the newspaper.You get bigger. You get stronger. And along the way you get more and more confident.Maybe you get caught having a few beers and you get treated lightly because you&rsquo;re &ldquo;somebody special.&rdquo; You don&rsquo;t actually have the grades you need to get into a certain school, but your grade-point average is overlooked in deference to your goals-against average.You are somebody special.You get older, you get caught driving when you shouldn&rsquo;t, and you give the cop an autograph with two tickets to a game, and all is forgotten.You are somebody special.As a result, what you sometimes forget is that in the overall scheme of things, you are nobody special. The laws of physics do not change for athletes, and when a car driven too fast by a driver who has no right to be behind the wheel slams into a tree, you are nobody special.From my own experience, I saw this firsthand when Pelle Lindbergl was killed in an auto crash. You can&rsquo;t tell me there was anybody with reflexes faster than Lindbergh but once you leave that rink, or once you leave that playing surface the rules are different.And you thought maybe you were special because you are an all-star in some bantam league; or maybe an all-state right winger; or some kind of junior or college phenom?You thought you were special, because you were drafted in the NHL?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03941/6545291-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="553" height="912"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pelle Lindbergh</figcaption></div>Magic Johnson is a man who transcended his sport to become the personification of success: A marvelously talented human being, with a warm and generous soul. A man who was sought after for endorsements and rightfully held up as one of the world&rsquo;s true role models.And at the height of all of this, he made a simple mistake. He was struck down by a disease which cannot discern between &ldquo;special&rdquo; people and the average guy on the street.The lesson to be learned is simple: no matter how important it is made to appear, your success in one small part of life means nothing in other areas.Whether it is safe sex, drinking and driving, or trying to beat the odds in any other endeavor, always remember the odds aren&rsquo;t any better for you than anybody else.You can wreck an entire career&mdash;or even a lifetime&mdash;with one simple mistake. &#9632;

f0008-02

Tragedy doesn’t play favorites

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>Joe Mullen is 34. That&rsquo;s an age when most players are out of the game and the few who remain are studying the pension benefits they have coming.Not Mullen. He looks like a guy who&rsquo;s on a salary drive.He had nine goals and 11 assists in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s first 16 games to rank among the team&rsquo;s most productive players. And there are no statistics to reflect the value and quality of his two-way performance.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a complete player,&rdquo; Pittsburgh coach Scott Bowman said. &ldquo;If one part of his game runs into a problem, he still has a lot of value.&rdquo;If anything, that value has risen in conjunction with his age. Mullen has added penalty-killing to his repertoire this season and been effective.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been fortunate that I still have the coaches&rsquo; confidence,&rdquo; Mullen said. &ldquo;They play me a lot, put me in situations that you&rsquo;d put a veteran player in, especially defensively.&rdquo;Mullen has been a consistent scorer since he secured fulltime employment in the NHL with St. Louis in 1981-82, but never has been one to dwell on statistics.&ldquo;He has been able to play without a lot of personal pressure on himself,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s team-oriented, so he&rsquo;s not concerned about his production so much. And he still gets enough of it to satisfy himself.&rdquo;Mullen&rsquo;s greatest asset might be his ability to read and anticipate plays. &ldquo;He plays a lot with his head,&rdquo; Bowman said.But there are no signs the rest of his body is breaking down, either. &ldquo;I try to take care of myself more as I get older, so I think that has a lot to do with it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I want to continue to play&mdash;and I do&mdash;there&rsquo;s no reason I need to slow down. If I want to go out to the pasture and retire, then I might slow down.&rdquo;ANOTHER RECORD: Paul Coffey was thrilled by the goal he got during a 3-1 victory in Winnipeg Nov. 10 to break Denis Potvin&rsquo;s record of 310 career goals for a defenseman.Not because he shattered another of Potvin&rsquo;s marks, but because it was a game-winner. And while Coffey has claimed a lot of records this season, the Penguins hadn&rsquo;t won that many games (7-6-3 as of Nov. 11).Besides, Coffey knew it was inevitable he would pass Potvin.&ldquo;The goal was something I was going to get sooner or later,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like I&rsquo;m going to retire tomorrow.&rdquo;Coffey got credit for the record-setting goal, although it actually was put in by Winnipeg&rsquo;s Randy Carlyle. He deflected a Coffey shot behind Jets&rsquo; goalie Rick Tabaracci.NOTEBOOK: The Penguins&rsquo; defense corps, which has struggled much of the season, had to endure a grim run of personal problems in early November. Ulf Samuelsson returned to Sweden after his father died. Larry Murphy missed a game because of his mother-in-law&rsquo;s serious illness. And Coffey returned to his home near Toronto after an uncle died, although he did not miss any playing time.The Penguins did not have a victory against an opponent with a winning record as they entered the second full week of November&hellip;Left winger Kevin Stevens broke out of his early-season slump by earning 12 points in five games.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.ROSTERC&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Ken Priestlay, Bryan Trottier, Jiri Hrdina.LW&mdash;Kevin Stevens, Phil Bourque, Bob Errey, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Mark Recchi, Joe Mullen, Jaromir Jagr, Jamie Leach, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Ulf Samuelsson, Gordie Roberts, Grant Jennings.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Peter Taglianetti, Jim Paek.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Stanton, D. torn knee cartilage, indefinite. &#9632;

End is nowhere in sight for veteran Mullen

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>If nothing else, the New York Islanders had another opportunity to recognize just how much goalie Glenn Healy means to them.Whether or not a few quirky long shots that went in constitute a slump is debatable. Healy vigorously said they do not. Either way, the speculation is testimony to the high standard he set last season (a 3.32 goals-against average in 52 games), when he singularly kept the outmanned and outshot Islanders competitive most nights.With Mark Fitzpatrick being forced to take a measured conditioning program while suffering from eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, Healy started all but one of the Islanders&rsquo; first 14 games and generally played well, posting a 4-8-2 record and 4.32 GAA.But coach Al Arbour, who rarely criticizes individual players, said after having pulled Healy in the second period of two games: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt about it, Heals has been fighting (the puck).Healy, on the other hand, said of published reports about his supposed struggle: &ldquo;I totally disagree. It was just one spurt of three minutes in the second period of one game (5-3 loss in Edmonton Nov. 6).&rdquo;Arbour added the defensive play of the forwards and defensemen had not helped Healy. In a 6-0 loss to Vancouver Nov. 10, the Isles&rsquo; coach didn&rsquo;t blame Healy for any of the goals.And although veteran Steve Weeks started and played creditably in a road game against San Jose (a 4-3 loss Nov. 9), the coach left no question about who his No. 1 goalie is.&ldquo;We wanted him just to take a step back and watch,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s one thing we need, it&rsquo;s solid goaltending and I know he&rsquo;s going to bounce back and give it to us.&rdquo;SECOND HOME: The Islanders&rsquo; first trip to the San Francisco Bay Area for a game against the San Jose Sharks Nov. 9 was a return, of sorts, to the franchise&rsquo;s roots. Bill Torrey had been the general manager of the ill-fated California Golden Seals before former Seals&rsquo; minority partner Nelson Doubleday suggested him to Islanders&rsquo; founder Roy Boe.Torrey&rsquo;s chief scout, Gerry (Tex) Ehman, played for the Seals as did staff members Earl Ingarfield and Bert Marshall.So when Torrey returned for the Islanders&rsquo; game at the Cow Palace Nov. 9, he encountered many old friends and vivid memories, including one story of owner Charlie Finley.NOTEBOOK: A consortium of Long Island investment groups, headed by Steven Walsh and Robert Rosenthal, was reported to be the frontrunner in a bid to buy the Islanders. Both said they are negotiating together, but would not mention the possible price.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 5: Dean Chynoweth, D. assigned to Capital District (AHL). Nov. 9: Hubie McDonough, C, assigned to Capital District.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Adam Creighton, Ray Ferraro, Benoit Hogue, Rob DiMaioLW&mdash;Derek King, David Volek, Dave Chyzowski.RW&mdash;Patrick Flatley, Steve Thomas, Mick Vukota, Dave McLIwain.LD&mdash;Jeff Norton. Ken Baumgartner, Wayne McBean.RD&mdash;Joe Reekie, Tom Kurvers, Uwe Krupp.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bill Berg, LW, broken left foot, indefinite Mark Fitzpatrick, G, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, indefinite. Tom Fitzgerald, C. abdominal strain, day-to-day. Gary Nylund, D, broken left heel, indefinite Rich Pilon.D, pulled groin, day-to-day. &#9632;

Healy not sole reason for defensive woes

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>Money is important to Murray Craven. But so is principle and that&rsquo;s why he no longer wants to be a Philadelphia Flyer.&ldquo;The only light I see is a move,&rdquo; Craven said. &ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be unwelcome.&rdquo;At issue is Craven&rsquo;s salary, which will pay him $200,000 this season. It is so much an issue that Craven admitted it affected his play to the point where coach Paul Holmgren benched him for two straight games.&ldquo;There are too many of my contemporaries on this hockey club and around the league that are over those numbers,&rdquo; said Craven of his salary.A day after disgruntled Craven met with Holmgren to discuss his future, he was benched for 4-3 win over St. Louis Nov. 5 and a 5-2 win over Buffalo two nights later. It was only the second time in Craven&rsquo;s NHL career he had been scratched.He returned to the lineup for one game&mdash;a 4-3 loss to the Sabres Nov. 8&mdash;before suffering a pinched nerve in his neck during a contest against the U.S. Olympic team (1-1 tie) Nov. 10. It wasn&rsquo;t immediately known how long he would be out of action, though the injury wasn&rsquo;t considered serious. Craven, who was third on the Flyers last season with 66 points in 77 games, had three goals and three assists in 12 games this season.&ldquo;When a guy admits he sulks when he&rsquo;s not on the power play,&rdquo; said Holmgren, &ldquo;and the situation is bothering him, add in the way he has played of late, then I think I have to send a message to Murray Craven and everyone else.&rdquo;Craven said in the meeting with Holmgren that his financial situation was a factor in his play.&ldquo;I told him (Holmgren) without a doubt, that no one can block it out of their mind completely,&rdquo; said Craven, who is in the final year of a four-year deal. &ldquo;I conveyed to him it&rsquo;s never far from my mind.General manager Russ Farwell said the Flyers had offered a contract beginning at $350,000 and indicated incentives could bring that to $400,000. Craven, now the 14th highest-paid player on the Flyers, was said to be looking for a deal that would give him abase salary of $500,000 by 1993-94.&ldquo;He wants quite a bit more than I&rsquo;m prepared to pay him,&rdquo; said Farwell. &ldquo;If we could trade him for a player that could help us, we would do it.&rdquo;MIGHTY QUINN: Dan Quinn finally broke into the scoring column with timely goals in each of back-to-back games against Buffalo Nov. 7-8.Quinn scored the winning goal in the first game, a 5-2 Flyer win at the Spectrum. His second goal of the season knotted the score in the third period at Buffalo the next night before the Flyers lost 4-3 in overtime.&ldquo;Tonight&rsquo;s only one game,&rdquo; he said after his first goal as a Flyer. &ldquo;But it (good play) is crucial if you&rsquo;re going to get on any kind of roll. It&rsquo;s getting there.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Flyers continued to excel in shorthanded situations. Pelle Eklund&rsquo;s shorthanded goal against Buffalo Nov. 7 gave the Flyers one in four straight games, a team record. Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour scored three of the team&rsquo;s six through Nov. 11. The Flyers had only two shorthanded goals last season.A pair of power-play goals against the Sabres ended an 0-for-20 skid by the Flyers. They entered the series 5-for-73 (14.6 per cent).<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dan Quinn, Mike Ricci, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour. Steve Kasper, Keith Acton.LW&mdash;Pelle Eklund, Andrei Lomakin, Mark Pederson, Tony Horacek.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Brad Jones, Kimbi Daniels, Dave Brown.LD&mdash;Terry Carkner, Mark Howe, Kerry Huffman, Dan Kordic, Corey Foster.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Kjell Samuels-son, Gord Murphy.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Craven, LW, pinched nerve in his neck, day-to-day. Jiri Latal, D, bruised tailbone, day-to-day. &#9632;

Murray’s Craven a trade

Playing defense and concentrating on shutting down the opposition hasn&rsquo;t stopped Jeff Taylor from scoring goals. He has been collecting them in bunches.The 10-year-old rearguard averaged more than three goals per game for his Maidstone, Sask., novice A team last season. Taylor also added 82 assists for a team high 214 points&mdash;just under five points per game average.Taylor, as you may have guessed, is very refined in the offensive aspect of the game. He has displayed excellent skating, puck-handling and passing skills. The 4-foot-10, 85 pounder led his novice team to a league championship and the squad finished either first or second in all tournaments it entered last season.The Grade 5 student has been coached by his father since taking up hockey and has been an avid fan of the Boston Bruins. Taylor&rsquo;s favorite player is also a high-scoring defenseman&mdash;Ray Bourque.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011555/6545425-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="558" height="1153"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Taylor</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of The Hockey News Minor Hockey Showcase. Just send a photograph (non-returnable), along with biographical information (age, height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to The Hockey News, attn: Player Of The Week, 85 Scarsdale Rd.. Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as The Hockey News Minor Hockey Player of the Year. &#9632;

f0012-01

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>The moment Stephane Richer stepped off Air Canada flight No. 424 and was greeted by newspaper and television cameras, he was reminded why he was so anxious to leave Montreal.Besieged by the Montreal media which recorded his first appearance at the Forum since the Sept. 20 trade to the New Jersey Devils, Richer felt tense and harried while being compared to Kirk Muller, the player for whom he was traded.&ldquo;I was really nervous,&rdquo; Richer said. &ldquo;I played my best, but I&rsquo;m pretty glad it&rsquo;s over. It was a tough two days, mentally and physically.&rdquo;It showed. In a 3-2 overtime loss to the Canadiens Nov. 4, Richer was held to one shot. He had a chance to win the game with 4:18 left in the third period, but rushed his shot and fired wide of the net.&ldquo;They keyed pretty well on him,&rdquo; linemate Kevin Todd said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough for a 50-goal scorer to have two guys on his back. Stephane did a good job. If the puck doesn&rsquo;t roll on him, we win the game.&rdquo;In stark contrast, Richer seemed relaxed in the rematch four nights later at the Meadowlands Arena. Despite a painful groin injury he had re-aggravated, Richer was in the lineup and scored two goals in a 3-2 win over the Canadiens. He scored the game-winning goal and was the first star.&ldquo;was pretty tough for me to go up to Montreal and have to deal with the press and see all my friends around,&rdquo; Richer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad the two games are over and I&rsquo;m really a Devil now. I&rsquo;m glad to be here. Now, everybody can see we have a great team and should go far.&rdquo;CURTAILED COMEBACK: After recovering from reconstructive surgery performed on his right knee last Dec. 12, Walt Poddubny was optimistic about resuming his career.But it has been a disappointing start to his comeback season. He played in only five of the Devils&rsquo; first 17 games and scored his only goal Oct. 26 against San Jose.&ldquo;Ihavetoplay. That&rsquo;swhat it boils down to,&rdquo; said Poddubny, who missed the first five games with a strained left knee. &ldquo;The last two years I&rsquo;ve been trying to get back. I&rsquo;d like to get a chance now, a fair chance. Not one period on and three games off, one period on and three games off. This must be resolved.&rdquo;Coach Tom McVie said Poddubny simply cannot stand up to the pounding yet. &ldquo;I could certainly use him,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re playing thesegrinding, checking games and he has missed two years.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Although he was headed for arbitration, Doug Brown was not bitter. &ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been in the front of my mind. I realize it&rsquo;ll be taken care of in due process and time. I chose to be a Devil and I&rsquo;m happy being a Devil. I have no problem with a third party deciding my value. No hard feelings.&rdquo;Peter Stastny had an 11-game scoring streak ended in a 4-0 loss to Boston Nov. 9.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 9: Jon Morris, C, assigned to Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kevin Todd, Peter Stastny. Patrik Sundstrom, Laurie Boschman.LW&mdash;Stephane Richer. Dave Maley, Dave Barr, Pat Conacher. Walt Poddubny.RW&mdash;Tom Chorske, Claude Lemieux, Doug Brown, Randy McKay.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Scott Stevens, Viacheslav Fetisov.RD&mdash;Alexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich, Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Zdeno Ciger, LW. right wrist surgery, indefinite John MacLean, RW, torn right knee ligaments, indefinite. Claude Vilgrain, LW, strained groin, day-to-day. &#9632;

Former Canadien Richernervous in return to Forum

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>If you want to touch a nerve with Roger Neilson, just ask the New York Rangers&rsquo; coach what he thinks of the rules designed to inhibit crease interference.In fact, you don&rsquo;t even have to ask. Wait around long enough, Neilson simply will start talking on the subject. He is all for protecting the goalies, but he finds the punishment&mdash;disallowing a goal and assessing an interference penalty against a player in the crease&mdash;hardly fits the crime when the player has nothing to do with the play.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no value at all, none whatsoever, to disallowing a goal and giving a penalty, too,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;The faceoff should come outside the zone and that should be it.&rdquo;The problem is, a faceoff outside the zone isn&rsquo;t any kind of punishment for improper behavior. No coach is going to tell his players: &ldquo;Look, make sure you don&rsquo;t bang into the goalie, because the faceoff is going to come outside the zone.&rdquo;&ldquo;The whole purpose of the rule was, they wanted to keep the goalkeeper from getting bumped and jostled and run,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;Good. Great. They&rsquo;ve got a good rule. But it&rsquo;s an entirely different thing when a guy is standing at the edge of the crease and he has got nothing to do with the goalkeeper and the puck goes in the net and you have to call it. I disagree completely with that.&rdquo;So go ahead, Rog. Rewrite the rule.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s any contact with the goalkeeper while he&rsquo;s in the crease, it&rsquo;s a penalty,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good rule, and it has really helped. But for a guy that has nothing to do with the goalkeeper in any way, leave it alone.&rdquo;BY THE RULES: The new rules against crashing the crease have had an impact on the Rangers&rsquo; power play. Mike Gartner and John Ogrodnick, who plant themselves in front of the net, have had to make sure they don&rsquo;t get checked into the goaltenders. But those weren&rsquo;t the sole reasons for the five-game stretch that saw the team&rsquo;s power play fail to produce a goal in 27 opportunities through Nov. 10.The absence of a right-handed setup man played a more major role. Bernie Nicholls, gone in the Mark Messier deal, created a lot of power-play offense from his office in the left-wing comer.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got all our right-handed shots on defense,&rdquo; said Neilson.NOTEBOOK: During one recent optional practice, Darren Turcotte borrowed John Vanbiesbrouck&rsquo;s equipment and played goal in an informal scrimmage. &ldquo;Doug Weight didn&rsquo;t get any goals on me,&rdquo; Turcotte said, a boast that lasted until Turcotte was reminded they were playing on the same team&hellip;There was another participant for the first few minutes of the optional skate: Paramount boss Stanley Jaffe, who occasionally skates. Jaffe has not named a team president, nor has there been any evidence he intends to do so.Six of the Rangers&rsquo; first 18 games were decided in final eight minutes of the third period and three were decided in the final 30 seconds. Of the latter three, the Rangers had one tie and two victories.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Mark Janssens, C, assigned to Binghamton (AHL). Greg Millen, G. recalled from San Diego (IHL). Nov. 9: Jeff Bloemberg, D, assigned to Binghamton<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Doug Weight, Darren Turcotte, Adam Graves.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick. Kris King, Jan Erixon, Tony Amonte.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Paul Broten, Joe Kocur, Tie Domi.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Per Djoos. oRD&mdash;James Patrick, Joe Cirella, Randy Moller.G&mdash;Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tim Kerr, RW. arthroscopic surgery right shoulder, indefinite. Sergei Nemchinov, sprained right knee, Nov. 10. Normand Rochefort, D, tendinitis right knee, day-to-day.David Shaw, D. sprained right knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Roger rabid over rule

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011461/6545504-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="369" height="502"></div>The new owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins will not sell Paul Coffey.The financial fortunes of the expansion Ottawa Senators couldn&rsquo;t be better.And the Tampa Bay Lightning will make good on everything to become a member in good standing of the NHL.To be(lieve) or not to be(lieve), that is the question.The NHL board of governors convened at 11 a.m. Nov. 6 in New York City for what was supposed to be a brief meeting. More than seven hours later, NHL president John Ziegler emerged for his obligatory media conference.There wasn&rsquo;t much to report.The governors spent considerable time, he said, discussing the proposed sale of the Penguins from Edward DeBartolo Sr., to Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg. The matter had been deferred, pending further investigation.They also heard the status of conditional expansion franchises in Tampa Bay and Ottawa. No news to report there, Ziegler said.The truth is, you never know much of what goes on behind those closed doors. The governors are, for the most part, a secretive bunch.But as you stake yourself out in the opulent foyer of a posh Manhattan hotel, there is much to be learned by talking to those who come and go for appearances in front of the board.If you believe them.It is to tread on thin ice to suggest any man is a liar. It&rsquo;s a harsh statement that impugns character. There are laws, especially stringent in Canada, to prevent you from being cavalier.But let&rsquo;s be honest. When sports and business get together, truth&mdash;as in the whole truth and nothing but the truth&mdash;is one of the first casualties. That&rsquo;s accepted as part of the ground rules.So there was Baldwin, personable but a little edgy, awaiting word on his fate as the new owner of the Penguins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad all that stuff got out about selling players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just not true. There are no plans to sell players. We&rsquo;ve decided to finance the purchase in other ways.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone on record as saying the payroll there is too high. But if anything is going to be done, it will be done by (general manager) Craig Patrick and we&rsquo;ll get value for value.&rdquo;It was as if the letter written by Baldwin, and published by a Pittsburgh newspaper, that said he intended to sell &ldquo;assets&rdquo; to offset the cost of the club never existed.Ziegler went far out of his way to address the situation of asset selling. He immediately called Baldwin when he first heard rumors Coffey would be sold to the Philadelphia Flyers. He said the governors specifically asked Baldwin Nov. 6 about the prospect of swapping superstars for cash.And then the president said there are no rules against selling a player purely for profit.Why, then, was everybody seemingly so concerned about the issue?A few hours later, the owners of the Senators dashed in and then out of the meeting.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re on target (for acceptance),&rdquo; said Randy Sexton, chief executive officer officer of the Senators. &ldquo;The message from the governors was, &lsquo;Keep on going, you&rsquo;re doing a good job.&rsquo; I can&rsquo;t speak for the governors, but there was very solid support for us.&ldquo;Our latest stock offering (of $20 million) is going very well. We expect to be oversubscribed, more than $20 million.&rdquo;Yet only a day earlier, an NHL governor suggested privately the Ottawa franchise was leveraged to the hilt, that the only way they&rsquo;ll make good on their $50 million (U.S.) franchise fee&mdash;to say nothing of the capital required to build the Palladium&mdash;is with bank loan after bank loan.The Senators vehemently dispute that scenario.Who do you believe?Phil Esposito? The front man for the Tampa Bay franchise was the last to appear before the board. By the time he got in, many of the governors were packed up and heading home.Esposito, unusually subdued and clearly stung by Ziegler&rsquo;s stem reprimand in Tampa a few days earlier, maintained his group would have its financing and a suitable lease arrangement with Tampa Coliseum Inc., by the deadline.Baldwin, Sexton and Esposito all spoke with conviction.For the sake of the game, it would be nice to believe all they said that day. But, believe me, I&rsquo;m not sold.The great thing about truth&mdash;the whole truth and nothing but the truth&mdash;is that even if you&rsquo;re not looking for it, it eventually finds you anyway. &#9632;

f0013-01

I’m not buying in to party lines…yet

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>Curtis Joseph wasn&rsquo;t even considered good enough to be part of a compensation package last summer. But now, the 24-year-old goalie is providing the St. Louis Blues with a complete package of talent.When the Blues offered Joseph, left winger Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and draft picks as part of the compensation package to New Jersey for the signing of free agent Brendan Shanahan, Devils&rsquo; general manager Lou Lamoriello said Joseph added &ldquo;no value&rdquo; to the package and that he was &ldquo;an overpriced, average goalie&rdquo; who was prone to injury and &ldquo;devalued, rather than enhanced&rdquo; the Blues&rsquo; proposal.Lamoriello really didn&rsquo;t mean all those nasty things. He just wanted defenseman Scott Stevens more and the tactic worked. Lamoriello would have been happy with Brind&rsquo;Amour and Joseph but downgrading their talents left him in a no-lose situation.Joseph and Brind&rsquo;Amour, meanwhile, couldn&rsquo;t win. Neither the Devils nor the Blues wanted them at the expense of Stevens. Lamoriello&rsquo;s comments, combined with the fact he felt the Blues didn&rsquo;t want him, hurt Joseph.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t feel good when people say bad things about you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of the business. They really wanted Scotty, so they had to put together a negative proposal.&ldquo;It makes you want to prove them wrong. Adversity doesn&rsquo;t kill anybody, if anything it makes you stronger.&rdquo;Joseph had been a pillar of strength in the Blues nets early in the season. While the Blues struggled to regain their form from last season, Joseph seized the No. 1 goaltending spot and posted a respectable 3-3-5 record with a 2.93 goals-against average. More importantly, the Blues had enough confidence in Joseph that they traded goalie Vincent Riendeau to Detroit for defenseman Rick Zombo.&ldquo;All of a sudden, he got a chanceand, boom, he&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; said Brind&rsquo;Amour, now with the Philadelphia Flyers. &ldquo;I knew all along he was good. I guess somebody in management woke up just in time to keep him.&rdquo;Management woke up after the Blues&rsquo; season-opening debacle at New Jersey, where coach Brian Sutter inexplicably started Riendeau over Joseph, who had great incentive to beat the Devils.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021037/6545535-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="936" height="2140"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curtis Joseph became the No. 1 goalie in St. Louis after the Blues traded Vincent Riendeau. (Photoby Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>Riendeau bombed, allowing four goals on 22 shots, and Joseph didn&rsquo;t do much better with three goals against on 15 shots in a 7-2 loss. Still, he played well enough to earn a start against Toronto two nights later.Grant Fuhr outdueled Joseph in a 3-0 shutout, but it was the last time Joseph lost in more than a month. He rolled up a 3-0-5 record after the loss to Toronto, allowing 17 goals on 250 shots for a goals-against average of 2.01 and a .932 save percentage. His total save percentage of .905 is sixth in ihe NHL and his GAA ranks him in seventh spot.His unbeaten streak came to an end in a 4-3 loss to the Hartford Whalers Nov. 9, though it could have ended four nights earlier. The Blues started horrendously against Philadelphia and trailed 3-1 halfway through the first period. Joseph was yanked for the first time in his career and he had a fit on the Blues&rsquo; bench. After Pat Jablonski gave up the fourth goal in a 4-3 loss, Joseph was put back in net.Joseph&rsquo;s strong start makes the Blues&rsquo; compensation offer look pretty good.&ldquo;You mean, it didn&rsquo;t look good before?&rdquo; asked Joseph, whose butterfly style and quick reflexes have earned him the nickname &ldquo;Cat&rdquo;.Joseph&rsquo;s early success can be attributed to a fitness program that he followed strictly over the summer.&ldquo;I worked really hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I felt really good.&rdquo;That wasn&rsquo;t the case before last season, when Joseph couldn&rsquo;t work out because of shoulder surgery at the end of the 1989-90 season.If not for that injury, Joseph&rsquo;s ascension to No. 1 status could have occurred much sooner.Joseph played well as Riendeau&rsquo;s understudy last season, with a 16-102 record and a 3.12 goals-against average. He may have taken the No. 1 job late last season too, but injury struck again when Joseph sprained his right knee Feb. 28.Despite his impressive credentials&mdash;a 25-15-3 career mark and a 3.21 GAA&mdash;New Jersey didn&rsquo;t want him. Now he&rsquo;s got the role expected when the Blues signed him from the University of Wisconsin in 1989 to a $1.1 million four-year deal.Not bad for an &ldquo;overpriced, average goalie.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-02

Look out for No. 1

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>Brian Bellows may rank second on the all-time Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; goal-scoring list, but he&rsquo;d easily be top dog if he played more games against the Toronto Maple Leafs.Through Nov. 11, Bellows had scored a staggering 17 per cent of his goals against Toronto in just 10 per cent of his games&mdash;54 goals and 92 points in 70 games. Overall he had 321 goals and 665 points in 689 career games.Bellows&rsquo; success against the Maple Leafs continued Nov. 6, when he scored all three North Stars&rsquo; goals in a 4-3 loss. It was the first meeting of the season between the Norris Division rivals.&ldquo;For a kid who grew up in Eastern Canada, playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs is something special,&rdquo; Bellows said after notching his sixth career hat trick. &ldquo;When I play against Toronto, I know my parents and family and a lot of the kids I grew up with will be watching. Playing in the media capital of Minnesota, it may be their only chance to see you play.&rdquo;Bellows grew up in St. Catharines (about an hour&rsquo;s drive south of Toronto) and is one of seven North Stars from Ontario. Dave Gagner, Basil McRae, Derrick Smith, Mike Craig, Stewart Gavin and Todd Elik are the others.&ldquo;I probably only got to see a couple games in Maple Leaf Gardens when I was growing up because tickets were tough to get,&rdquo; Bellows said. &ldquo;But the Leafs were on television every Wednesday and Saturday night. I think I get better prepared mentally when we play Toronto because I know there will be family and friends watching.&rdquo;Bellows should become the North Stars&rsquo; all-time leading goal-scorer later this season. His 20th goal&mdash;he has scored at least that many in nine seasons as a North Star&mdash;will give him 332. Dino Ciccarelli, now with Washington, holds the team record with 331.POWER OUTAGE: The North Stars continued to have problems scoring on the power play early in the season.Minnesota&rsquo;s power play ranked 14th among NHL teams through Nov. 11&mdash;17 for 104 for an unsatisfactory mark of 16.3 per cent.The Stars&rsquo; also gave up seven shorthanded goals.Unlike last season when the Stars&rsquo; penalty killers hurt the team, this year&rsquo;s penalty-killing unit has been a success. The Stars successfully killed all but 13 of 97 penalties after 16 games&mdash;86.6 per cent, fifth in the NHL.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Jon Casey is close to signing a four-year, $3.8-million contract. He will get salaries of $600,000 and $900,000 the first two seasons and $1.1 million in the third and fourth years. Casey received a $100,000-signing bonus and several playoff bonuses that are tied to team and personal success.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 6: Stewart Gavin, RW, signed three-year contract. Larry Dyck, G, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL). Nov. 8: Gaetan Duchesne, LW, began serving four-game NHL suspension. Eligible to return Nov. 22.ROSTERC&mdash;Dave Gagner, Bobby Smith, Neal Broten, Mike Modano, Marc Bureau, Todd Elik.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Derrick Smith, Basil McRae.RW&mdash;Mike Craig, Brian Bellows, Stewart Gavin, Shane Churla, UH Dahlen.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Derian Hatcher, Brian Glynn, Al PedersenRD&mdash;Jim Johnson, Rob Ramage, Chris Dahlquist.G&mdash;Jon Casey. Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Tinordi, D, foot palsy, indefinite. &#9632;

Playing against Maple Leafsbrings out best in Bellows

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>The St. Louis Blues returned home from a four-game journey to the Great White North feeling pretty good.Their unbeaten streak had hit eight games (3-0-5) and they had lost only one game since starting the season with two straight losses.But the good feeling didn&rsquo;t last. The bad karma returned Nov. 5, and the Blues lost four in a row, their worst losing streak since a five-game slide near the end of the 1989-90 season.Through Nov. 11, the Blues were below .500 at 6-7-5 and were outscored 24-13 during the four games. Ten of those goals came in one game, a 10-3 loss Nov. 7 to Detroit at Joe Louis Arena. It was the most goals given up by the Blues in Brian Sutter&rsquo;s 258 games as head coach.Sutter was at wit&rsquo;s end about how to reverse the losing streak. Most of the problems could be attributed to horrendous starts. Opponents outscored St. Louis 16-6 in the first period.Sutter threw a temper tantrum on the bench in the first period of a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia Nov. 5 at The Arena, pulling goalie Curtis Joseph after the Flyers&rsquo; third goal in the first period, kicking a towel into the stands and tossing a water bottle.But he showed little emotion two nights later as Detroit rolled over the Blues and goalie Pat Jablonski for a 5-1 lead in the first.&ldquo;When you start pointing fingers, you look like a (jerk) yourself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What is there to say?&rdquo;Sutter said a lot in team meetings the next day, but the Blues came out poorly, falling behind 4-2 to Hartford in a 4-3 loss Nov. 9 and 3-1 in a 6-4 loss against the Red Wings Nov. 10.CUTTING BLOW: The Blues were extremely upset with referee Bill McCreary following their 6-4 loss to Detroit Nov. 11.The team felt McCreary missed a blatant elbow on center Michel Mongeau just before Shawn Burr scored the game-winner.&ldquo;Unfortunately, the guy who should have had the penalty was the guy who scored the goal.&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; captain Garth Butcher said. &ldquo;He was open in front because he cut a guy&rsquo;s face open.&rdquo;Mongeau suffered a one-inch gash on his left eyebrow from the force of Burr&rsquo;s elbow ramming under his eye shield. Mongeau went down in a daze.&ldquo;I saw him coming, the puck was right there, but I couldn&rsquo;t get by the check,&rdquo; Mongeau said, being polite. &ldquo;Well, actually, it was an elbow.&rdquo;With Mongeau down. Niklas Lidstrom gave the puck to Sergei Fedorov in the left comer, and Burr circled back into the slot.Mongeau lifted his head in time to see Burr&rsquo;s goal.&ldquo;That,&rdquo; Mongeau said, &ldquo;was the worst part.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Brett Hull&rsquo;s early season funk seems like ancient history in the wake of four impressive performances in the Blues&rsquo; four-game losing streak. Though the Blues have struggled, Hull scored eight of the Blues&rsquo; 13 goals in that span. At one point, he had seven of nine, including his first hat trick of the season in a 4-3 loss to Hartford Nov. 9. Through Nov. 11, he had a seven-game point-scoring streak with 10 goals and two assists for 12 points. Still, he was not too happy. &ldquo;All I know is we lost, so nothing&rsquo;s going right,&rdquo; he said.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Randy Skarda, D, assigned to Peoria (IHL). Dominic Lavoie, D. recalled from Peoria.Nov. 8: Michel Mongeau. C, recalled from Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates. Ron Sutter. Bob Bassen, Michel MongeauLW&mdash;Gino Cavallini, Brendan Shanahan, Dave Lowry, Dave Christian.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Nelson Emerson, Rich Sutter, Kelly Chase, Darin Kimble.LD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Murray Baron. Mario Marois, Rob Robinson.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Rick Zombo, Dominic Lavoie.G&mdash;Curtis Joseph, Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Cavallini, D, sprained left knee, Dec. 10. &#9632;

Horrible starts costly

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>The deal was on the table: Petr Klima back from the Edmonton Oilers to the Detroit Red Wings for Paul Ysebaert.The Wings were tempted. Then Ysebaert quelled any notions of a trade with his best night in the NHL, scoring two goals and two assists in a 10-3 rout of St. Louis Nov. 7. Three nights later, in a 6-4 win over the Blues, Ysebaert scored again to raise his team-leading goals total to 11. He led the Wings with 21 points in 18 games.Suddenly, the Wings thought very highly of the versatile second-year forward. Now it would take more than Klima&mdash;whom Wings&rsquo; coach-general manager Bryan Murray still believes can be a 50-goal scorer&mdash;to pry Ysebaert from Detroit.&ldquo;It would take one hell of a package,&rdquo; Murray said.Murray might be willing to deal other players in the organization for Klima, who joined the Red Wings after defecting from Czechoslovakia in September 1985. Klima went to Edmonton in the Nov. 2, 1989 deal for Jimmy Carson, who was second on the team to Ysebaert with 10 goals in 18 games.Ysebaert, 25, was stunned to learn of trade talks.&ldquo;Geez, thank God for tonight.&rdquo; he said after his four-point night. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way I want to leave Detroit. I was just traded last year (from New Jersey for defenseman Lee Norwood) and I&rsquo;m fitting in. We have something good here and I want to be part of it.&rdquo;Ysebaert is a natural center who has played a variety of roles this season. He has played on Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s right wing and centered the fourth line. Lately, he has found a home on a checking line centered by Sergei Fedorov.BIG ASSIST: Credit Detroit TV technicians with an assist in getting Bob Probert&rsquo;s 10-game suspension lifted.&ldquo;Only because we provided crystal-clear videotape proving he didn&rsquo;t instigate anything,&rdquo; Wings&rsquo; executive vice-president Jim Lites said. &ldquo;Frank Albin (producer for PASS cable) did a terrific job getting us the film.&rdquo;After reviewing tape provided by the Wings of the Nov. 2 post-game brawl against the Boston Bruins, NHLexecutive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill reversed his decision and rescinded Probert&rsquo;s suspension. Based on a report by referee Mark Faucette, O&rsquo;Neill initially ruled both Probert and Boston&rsquo;s Stephane Quintal would be suspended 10 games&mdash;Quintal for returning to the ice to participate in the altercation and Probert for instigating it.O&rsquo;Neill rescinded Quintal&rsquo;s suspension Nov. 4, saying the Boston defenseman broke no rules coming back on the ice because he wasn&rsquo;t sent off for an infraction. O&rsquo;Neill also decided Probert was unfairly singled out as the instigator.Wings&rsquo; captain Steve Yzerman was relieved to hear a Boston Gardens&rsquo; fan who punched him recanted his version of the incident. Paul Colletti initially said he did it as retaliation for Yzerman butt-ending him with his stick.But videotape showed Yzerman wasn&rsquo;t even holding his stick, so the fan changed his story. Yzerman shrugged off the incident until he learned of the accusation. Then he was angry. Colletti said he intended to write Yzerman an apology.NOTEBOOK: The Wings retired the numbers of Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay (7) and Alex Delvecchio (10) in a ceremony Nov. 10. Their numbers join Gordie Howe&rsquo;s No. 9 as the only three in Detroit&rsquo;s 66-year history to be honored. Jimmy Carson wore No. 10 until the ceremony. He has switched to No. l2&hellip;Three straight wins briefly vaulted the Wings into first place in the Norris Division. Their win over the Blues Nov. 10 put them in first for about an hour, until Chicago regained top spot with a 3-0 win over Hartford.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 8: Marc Potvin, RW, assigned to Adirondack (AHL).ROSTERC&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Jimmy Carson.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Shawn Burr, Kevin Miller, Johan Garpenlov, Brian MacLellan.RW&mdash;Bob Probed, Paul Ysebaert, Ray Sheppard, Brent Fedyk, Alan Kerr.LD&mdash;Niklas Lidstrom, Vladimir Konstantinov, Yves Racine.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Doug Crossman, Brad Marsh. Dennis Vial.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Dave Gagnon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Steve Chiasson, D, sprained right ankle, day-to-day. Troy Crowder, RW. bulging disc in back. Nov 29. Bobby Dollas.D, abdominal muscle strain, day-to-day. Martin Lapointe, RW, fractured left hand, Nov. 29. Vincent Riendeau, G, sprained right knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Ysebaert’s hot streak nixes trade to Edmonton

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>Through their first 19 games, the Chicago Blackhawks experienced more ups and downs than an elevator.The Hawks couldn&rsquo;t find a way to break free of the .500 mark as they struggled to find their identity and come together as a group after an off-season filled with change.Despite his club&rsquo;s inconsistency, coach Mike Keenan remained calm.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s probably not enough people working at a high enough level now,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not getting a sustained team effort by all the members collectively. Some nights some players perform well and others don&rsquo;t. Then it&rsquo;s just the reverse the next night.&rdquo;There have been suggestions the Hawks made too many changes. When the club gathered for its team picture recently, there were 11 new faces from a year ago. While chemistry might have been a problem, associate coach Darryl Sutter said too many people are looking for immediate results.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s strictly a media thing,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;You guys are looking to the short term, but those trades we made were made for April 6 (the day after the regular season ends). We feel the addition of those players will make us a better team in the long run.&rdquo;Perhaps defenseman Steve Smith, one of the Hawks&rsquo; many newcomers, explained the poor start best.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been on the defensive side of the puck enough,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;With so many new players, some of them are trying to make an impact, and playing defense is not going to make as good an impact as you&rsquo;d like. &ldquo;CHELIOS HURTING: Chris Chelios admits he hasn&rsquo;t played well this season. But the all-stardefenseman refuses to make excuses, even if he has a legitimate one.Chelios has been playing with a painful leg injury since he was hit by a shot in back of his right knee Oct. 20 against St. Louis. The impact caused a minor nerve injury that for a while left Chelios without feeling in his toes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something like (Minnesota&rsquo;s Mark) Tinordi has but not as bad,&rdquo; said Chelios, who had three goals and 13 assists in 19 games. &ldquo;I had this before in college and I know nerves take a long time to heal. I can play and it won&rsquo;t cause any further damage.&rdquo;Chelios skips the odd practice, but hadn&rsquo;t missed a game this season.NOTEBOOK:Mike Keenan came away very impressed with the red-hot Montreal Canadiens after they defeated the Hawks 4-2 at the Forum Nov. 9. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the best team in the league right now,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Goaltending consultant Vladislav Tretiak was brought in from Moscow by Keenan to spend 17 days observing and working with goalies Ed Belfour and Jimmy Waite.After sitting out four straight games, defenseman Bryan Marchment played his best game as a Hawk Nov. 7 in a 4-2 win over Quebec. &ldquo;Mike (Keenan) gave me a kick start, got on my back and said a few things,&rdquo; Marchment said. &ldquo;More or less he said I better get going or I won&rsquo;t be here.&rdquo;&hellip;Belfour earned his fifth career shutout with a 3-0 win against Hartford Nov. 10.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 7: Shawn Byram, LW, assigned to Indianapolis (IHL). Nov. 10: Frank Kucera, D, recalled from Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Brent Sutter, Mike Hudson, Mike Stapleton.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet, John Tonelli, Greg Gilbert, Stu Grimson, Mike Peluso.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Brian Noonan, Jocelyn Lemieux, Brad Lauer.LD&mdash;Steve Smith, Steve Konroyd, Frank Kucera, Karl Dykhuis.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Bryan Marchment, Rod Buskas, Trent Yawney.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, groin pull, day-to-day. &#9632;

Sluggish start of no concern

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>Mark down Nov. 8 as a red letter day for the Toronto Maple Leafs.First, the Leafs tied the New York Rangers 3-3 at Madison Square Garden that night for the club&rsquo;s first point away from home this season after eight consecutive losses.Second, and maybe more important from a team development point of view was that backup goalie Jeff Reese was guarding the Leaf net in that game, the first time in five appearances for Reese that the Leafs had done anything but lose.&ldquo;The biggest thing for me is that I don&rsquo;t want to let the guys down when I get in there,&rdquo; said Reese, who blocked 40 of 43 shots in a strong performance. He had replaced Fuhr in road losses in St. Louis and Calgary earlier in the season. then had lost back-to-back starts against Winnipeg and Vancouver on the same road trip.After battling with Allan Bester and Peter Ing for the No. 1 goal tending job in Toronto the last two years, Reese has found himself thrust squarely into the background this season with the arrival of netminder Grant Fuhr from Edmonton.Strangely enough, the role as Fuhr&rsquo;s back-up seems to fit Reese well, and has made him more relaxed.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s different than last year, because last year I was fighting for the No. 1 job,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;Now, Iknow where I stand. Sure, I&rsquo;d like to play more, but when you&rsquo;ve got the best goalie in the world, that&rsquo;s the way it is.&rdquo;WENDEL WOES: Don&rsquo;t be surprised if you catch yourself thinking you&rsquo;ve read this before, because you have.In what has become a weekly occurrence for the Maple Leafs, team captain Wendel Clark injured his knee in a 4-3 victory Nov. 6 over Minnesota, just four days after returning to the lineup from the injury list.After missing 10 games this season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Clark returned to the Leaf lineup Nov. 2 against Los Angeles. Through seven periods and 17 minutes against the Kings, San Jose Sharks and Minnesota North Stars Clark scored three goals and an assist to briefly reclaim the team scoring lead. The Leafs lost to the Kings 5-2 Nov. 2 but rebounded to beat the Sharks 4-1 two nights later. They beat the North Stars 4-3 Nov. 6.But late in the second period of the Minnesota game. Clark re-injured the same knee after being checked by North Star defenseman Craig Ludwig.The injury turned out to be a slight sprain, rather than damage to the ligaments. Clark missed the Ranger game Nov. 8 and a 6-1 loss to Calgary the next night, and was listed as day-to-day.NOTEBOOK: Grant Fuhr suffered two broken teeth in a 6-1 loss to Calgary Nov. 9 when he was hit in the face by a Tim Hunter slap shot. Fuhr, who finished the game, had two root canals scheduled for the next day and was not scheduled to miss any games.Michel Petit injured his thumb in the same game in a fight with Ronnie Stern. X-rays proved negative, but Petit&rsquo;s thumb was badly swollen&hellip;As of Nov. 11. Daniel Marois had one goal and no assists since Feb. 27.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 5: Ken Linseman. C, placed on waivers.ROSTERC&mdash;Peter Zezel, Brian Bradley. Mike Bullard. Tom Fergus, Mike Krushelnyski, Dave Hannan.LW&mdash;Craig Berube. Daniel Marois, Claude Loiselle, Rob Cimetta.RW&mdash;Gary Leeman, Mike Foligno. Glenn Anderson, Rob Pearson, Lucien Deblois.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Darryl Shannon. Bob Halkidis.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Todd Gill, Alexander Godynyuk.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr. Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark, LW, sprained knee, Nov. 17. Michel Petit, D, bruised thumb, day-to-day. &#9632;

Reese comfortable asbackup to No. 1 Fuhr

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011186/6545693-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="391" height="475"></div>They say Winnipeg is a nice place to live, but you wouldn&rsquo;t want to visit there.Ed Olczyk knows what that&rsquo;s all about.Early in his career. Olczyk would visit Winnipeg in the dead of winter with his Chicago Blackhawk teammates and thought what many people around the NHL do: That after Quebec, Winnipeg was probably the second-worst city in which to play.It was too cold, too snowy, too dreary, too taxing and just too dull. Teams couldn&rsquo;t get out of town fast enough.&ldquo;If you took a poll around the NHL, there&rsquo;s a stereotype about Winnipeg and Quebec&mdash;that it&rsquo;s cold and taxes are high and it&rsquo;s in the middle of nowhere,&rdquo; said Olczyk.Nothing in Olczyk&rsquo;s background suggested he would adapt to Winnipeg as well as he did. He grew up in Chicago. He played for the hometown Blackhawks. The Blackhawks traded him to Toronto, Canada&rsquo;s largest city. He was one of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; biggest names.Suddenly, he was headed for one of the NHL&rsquo;s least-appealing outposts. Olczyk came in with an open mind because, as he put it: If you come in with a negative attitude, the problems are just goin; to mount up.&ldquo;Nov. 10 was a year to the day that I was traded here and I&rsquo;ve found it great,&rdquo; Olczyk said. &ldquo;The people are tremendous. We can get everywhere in 10 or 15 minutes. That&rsquo;s a big difference between here and Toronto and Chicago.&ldquo;Plus, there&rsquo;s a lot of family-oriented things that go on in this organization.&rdquo;Okay, that&rsquo;s one view. How about Troy Murray, the newest Jet? He spent his entire NHL career playing in the bright lights and deafening roar of Chicago Stadium. Surely, this is a comedown for Murray. On the contrary.&ldquo;Everybody I talked to here finds it the same way&mdash;a good place to live,&rdquo; said Murray. &ldquo;Thomas Steen plans to live here after his career is over. That says a lot about a city.&ldquo;The only thing they have to gripe about is the money and the tax situation.&rdquo;Ultimately, too, that epitomizes the challenge facing the seven Canadian-based NHL franchises.Until the Canadian government gets around to offering players some significant tax breaks, teams operating north of the 49th parallel will be forced to offer players something other than money to entice them to stay in Canada.They will have to sell them on lifestyle. For every player attracted to the 4 a.m. bar closings in Chicago, others will be attracted to Winnipeg and Calgary and Edmonton by low crime rates and affordable housing.More than any other Canadian team, the Jets need the revenues that a new building can generate in the worst way. For now, they do not share in private box revenue or concessions or parking, the same as Calgary and Edmonton and Vancouver. But at least those cities are packing them in at the gate.Not so in Winnipeg. The Arena features some of the worst sightlines in the NHL. If the Jets were a Stanley Cup contender, maybe people would come out and watch them anyway, no matter how bad the view.For a middle-of-the-road Smythe Division team, people just aren&rsquo;t prepared to sit up in the nosebleed seats. From last year to this year. Jets&rsquo; average attendance dropped from 12,859 to 11,308 over the first 10 games&mdash;and &rsquo;90-91 was not exactly a banner year for the franchise.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02893/6545686-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="555" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Olczyk</figcaption></div>Now, finally, the Jets&rsquo; private owners, Winnipeg Enterprises, the Province of Manitoba and a trio of high-powered local businessmen sound as if they&rsquo;re finally going to get together on a new, franchise-saving arena. (For more, see the story on page 18.)The rest will be up to Olczyk, Murray and Co.&ldquo;I think the only way we&rsquo;re going to get people out is by winning,&rdquo; said Olczyk, &ldquo;and if they don&rsquo;t come out when we&rsquo;re winning, the team&rsquo;s going to be in serious trouble.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-01

Winnipeg really isn’t that bad

<div class="byline">By Mike Beamish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03649/6545724-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Bure has become an instant fan favorite in Vancouver, where he&rsquo;s being billed as a franchise savior. The young Soviet has also been a big hit off the ice. (Photo by Dan Hamilton)</figcaption></div>Pavel Bure could be the first NHL player scratched from the lineup because of writer&rsquo;s cramp.The Red Rocket, as he has been dubbed by the Vancouver media, was overwhelmed by well wishers and autograph seekers after he arrived in Vancouver following the signing of a four-year contract with the Canucks Oct. 31.For long-suffering west coast hockey fans, new dreams are possible with the team in first place and Bure in the lineup.Bure seems generally captivated by the reception and sincerity of his new public. He has all the makings of a teen heartthrob, though he left the eligible bachelor category when he arrived in Los Angeles in September. His new wife, Jymi, an American citizen, is a model in Los Angeles and will not join him in Vancouver during the NHL season.Even before he played a game for the Canucks, Bure was amazed when a departing Pacific Coliseum crowd spontaneously burst into applause and cheers as he made his way through the throng to the Canuck dressing room.Fans, two and three deep, stuffed their way into a small community center rink to see him appear in his first NHL practice.A product of the disciplined Red Army system, the 20-year-old Bure seemed quite unprepared for this outbreak of Pavelmania.&ldquo;Tell them I can&rsquo;t stay, I have to go,&rdquo; Bure begged to his Russian interpreter.On Nov. 6, Bure played his first NHL game, drawing a sellout crowd of 16,123 to watch the Canucks tie the Winnipeg Jets 2-2. Already he has started to pay back the Canucks four-year, $2.7 million investment in him. The sale of walk-up tickets was estimated at 4,000. And Bure&rsquo;s debut was nothing short of electrifying.No forward in the history of the Canucks had started his career so impressively without earning a point for his labors. Bure was cheered every time he stepped on the ice and brought gasps from the crowd and disbelieving looks from media onlookers with his bold and autonomous dashes. Three times Bure almost went through the entire Winnipeg team.After the game, defenseman Dean Kennedy, who played with Alexander Mogilny in Buffalo, says that Bure has the same natural skills and deftness of body movement.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re very similar, tremendous raw talent and skill,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;If Bure can handle the lifestyle transition into the NHL, he&rsquo;s going tohave a great future.&rdquo;Of course, the true test of his prodigous talent will come later, when the grind of the schedule and the competition begin to take their toll.Initially, at least, he appears to be the gamebreaker the Canucks have never had. The Red Rocket. The Rushin&rsquo; Magician.Though comparable to Mogilny in playing style, Bure is establishing himself as a much different personality. Mogilny is a loner who shuns interviews and has not allowed his teammates in Buffalo to get close to him. Bure, however, seems to be more from the Igor Larionov school of social graces. He is friendly, polite, approachable and conscious of his obligations to press and public.In terms of natural skills, Bure is without question a superior athlete. But NHL success is not simply a matter of better talent. To be confirmed as a true star, a player must be able to play with fire in his heart.Early on, that didn&rsquo;t appear to be a problem and just so other teams get the message, Bure was placed on a line with policeman Gino OdjickThe only ingredient Bure seems to be missing right now is timing and finishing ability around the goal area, which was dulled after weeks without competition. Otherwise, he appears to be too good to be true. &#9632;

f0017-03

Red Rocket’s glare something to behold

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>By winning his first two NHL starts, Latvian goalie Arturs Irbe has put the San Jose Sharks in a difficult position.Irbe was recalled from the Kansas City Blades of the International League Nov. 6 to fill in for injured goalies Brian Hayward (strained back) and Jarmo Myllys (split finger). Irbe made his NHL debut two days later and made 30 saves to help the Sharks snap a 13-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.Sharks&rsquo; coach George Kingston started Irbe ahead of Jeff Hackett again the following night, and Irbe made 24 saves in a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders. Irbe&rsquo;s victories marked the first time the Sharks have won consecutive games.So what happens when Hayward and Myllys are ready to come back?&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to make a difficult decision,&rdquo; Kingston said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s nice to have that kind of difficult decision to make.&rdquo;Irbe, 24, was a hit with the Cow Palace spectators, who chanted his name whenever he made a big save.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have words to say how I feel,&rdquo; Irbe said after beating the Oilers. &ldquo;If the people say my name and like the way I play, that is good.&rdquo;Before joining the Sharks, Irbe was 6-1-1 with a 2.09 goals-against&rsquo; average in Kansas City. The Sharks were 1-15-0 when he arrived.&ldquo;He came up with the big save when we needed it,&rdquo; said defenseman Bob McGill, who scored the winner with 40 seconds left against the Islanders.CAPITAL CRIME: By snapping their 13-game losing streak, the Sharks temporarily ended the comparisons that were being made to the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, who lost 17 consecutive games to establish the longest losing streak in NHL history.&ldquo;It was great to see the players finally get a reward,&rdquo; Kingston said. &ldquo;They got a monkey off their backs in terms of those comparisons to Washington.&rdquo;The Sharks snapped their losing streak at home after returning from a nightmarish seven-game road trip in which they scored only 11 goals.NOTEBOOK: The Sharks made themselves at home immediately in their victories over the Oilers and Islanders. Paul Fenton scored against Edmonton 48 seconds into the first period, and rookie Jeff Odgers scored his first NHL goal only 19 seconds into the game against the Islanders. &ldquo;Coming home to a positive crowd was good,&rdquo; Fenton said.Rookie right winger Pat Falloon, the first player chosen by the Sharks in June&rsquo;s NHL entry draft, had a goal and an assist against the Oilers to snap an 11-game streak in which he had failed to produce a point. &ldquo;It was great to score again, but it was even better to win,&rdquo; Falloon said.In the absence of captain Doug Wilson and alternate captain Kelly Kisio, who have been sidelined by injuries, Neil Wilkinson has emerged as a leader for the Sharks. To get an idea of how well Wilkinson has played, consider that he was the only player on the team with a positive plus-minus rating after the team&rsquo;s first 18 games. After the game against the Islanders, Wilkinson had a plus-two rating on a team that had given up 45 more goals than it had scored.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 6: Arturs Irbe, G, recalled from Kansas City (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Brian Lawton, Perry Berezan, Mike Sullivan, Dean Evason.LW&mdash;Brian Mullen, Steve Bozek, Perry Anderson, Paul Fenton.RW&mdash;Wayne Presley, Pat Falloon, David Bruce, Jeff Odgers.LD&mdash;Rob Zettler, Ken Hammond, Pat MacLeod.RD&mdash;Neil Wilkinson, Bob McGill, David Williams, Jayson More.G&mdash;Arturs Irbe, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Link Gaetz, LW, strained knee ligaments, day-to-day. Brian Hayward, G, strained back, day-to-day. Tony Hrkac, C, cracked bone in left wrist, indefinite. Kelly Kisio, C, sprained ligaments in left foot, indefinite. Rick Lessard, D, punctured ear drum, day-to-day. Jarmo Myllys, G, split finger, Nov. 10. Doug Wilson, D, dislocated right thumb, indefinite. &#9632;

Irbe’s debut a winner

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>If you hear a rumor about the Winnipeg Jets moving, ignore it.The team&rsquo;s private owners, headed by club president Barry Shenkarow, in conjuction with the Province of Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg and its Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation (Arena landlords and 36 per cent owners) and a group of the city&rsquo;s prominent business leaders have struck a deal that will ensure the financial viability of the Jets in Winnipeg.It&rsquo;s a complicated deal that has taken months to reach and it involves a financial commitment from each group.The agreement calls for another study on a proposed new arena for the city. This one, however, will be undertaken to decide on the design and exactly what the downtown building should include.The main components of the agreement give the Jets a much-needed financial shot-in-the-arm in the short term.A privately-financed fund, termed a management draw, will amount to $10 million and it will provide the club&rsquo;s private owners with an annual return on their investment&mdash;the first since they bought their share of the team in 1978.The Jets also appear to have made a breakthrough in gaining a share of parking and concession revenue from WEC for both hockey and non-hockey dates at the current Arena.The province and city are also believed to be guaranteeing the team&rsquo;s losses up to $5 million for between three and five years. The Jets lost a reported $1.2 million in 1990-91. In exchange for this guarantee, the province will receive half the city&rsquo;s 36 per cent ownership share in trust.It all amounts to good news for Winnipeg hockey fans and the Jets&rsquo; owners, particularly considering the club is suffering at the box office early in the season.Through the first 10 home games, the Jets have drawn an average crowd of 11,308. That&rsquo;s off 1,550 per game compared to last season&rsquo;s first 10 games and translates to nearly $300,000 less in revenue in the first quarter.ON THE REBOUND: The Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; highly regarded defense corps is finally starting to meet expectations, thanks largely to the improved play of Fredrik Olausson.The 25-year-old Swede had netted seven goals and 16 points in 16 games&mdash;a 35-goal, 80-point pace over 80 games&mdash;and has been anything but lost in the shadow of teammate Phil Housley.NOTEBOOK: After a 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh Nov. 8 extended their winless streak to six games (0-4-2), the Jets had only 27 of their 51 goals at even strength, or a league-low 53 percent. The league average was 70.6 per cent.Thomas Steen&rsquo;s progress was reported as &ldquo;promising&rdquo; after the injured center spent a week in Los Angeles having his back treated at the Soft Tissue Centre. Steen, who is suffering with nerve irritation in his lower back, is expected to return to action in mid-December.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Rob Murray, C, assigned to Moncton (AHL). Nov. 7: Doug Evans, LW, assigned to Peoria (IHL). Nov. 8: Darren Veitch, D, signed contract and assigned to Moncton.<h2>ROSTER</h2>C&mdash;Troy Murray, Ed Olczyk, Stu Barnes, Luciano Borsato, Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Darrin Shannon, Russ Romaniuk, Mark Osborne. Mike Hartman, Phil Sykes.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Petri Skriko, Danton Cole, Paul MacDermid, Don Barber, Bryan Erickson.LD&mdash;Dean Kennedy, Randy Carlyle, Shawn Cronin, Moe Mantha.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Fredrik Olausson, Teppo Numminen.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Stephane Beauregard, Rick: Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Thomas Steen, C, nerve irritation of the lower back, Dec. 15. &#9632;

Short-term future secure with new deal

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>In Calgary, they used to shout it at Kent Nilsson and then Hakan Loob and most recently, at Sergei Makarov.&ldquo;Shoo-oot,&rdquo; they would say, but the advice would invariably fall on deaf ears. Then along came a 20-year-old Czechoslovakian named Robert Reichel and no one had to tell him what to do with the puck.All Reichel ever does is shoot. From the crease, from the slot, from the blue line, from bad angles.Reichel is the opposite of every European ever drafted by the Flames. He loves to shoot the puck and he puts enough on it that he can score from just about anywhere inside the blue line.&ldquo;If anything, he uses his shot more than he should sometimes,&rdquo; coach Doug Risebrough said. &ldquo;He has great quickness and can make great plays. I think he needs to skate with the puck more.&rdquo;Reichel scored his 10th goal in his 17th game this season, a 6-1 win over Toronto Nov. 9. That pace would produce 47 goals for the second-year player. As Joe Nieuwendyk struggled to return from a knee injury&mdash;only one goal in his first six games&mdash;Reichel was picking up the slack.&ldquo;They told me, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve got a good shot, shoot from everywhere,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Reichel, in his improving English. &ldquo;So I do. Sometimes they say, &lsquo;Beat the guy, then shoot, not just with the hands, but skate and shoot.&rsquo; So I try to do that too. I think shooting&rsquo;s a big thing for me. I&rsquo;ve got a good shot. If I shoot on the net, I&rsquo;ll get lots of scoring chances.&rdquo;All the special teams play in the NHL may be taking away from the purity of the game, but it suits Reichel perfectly. If not a power-play specialist exactly, he excels with the man advantage.Defensively? Well last season, Reichel&rsquo;s ice time was limited by his unfamiliarity with the Flames&rsquo; system. Basically, Risebrough refused to put him in a close game because he couldn&rsquo;t rely on him to take the right man. Reichel may not be Guy Carbonneau yet, but there were signs that he was getting better.&ldquo;He has great hockey instincts,&rdquo; Risebrough said. &ldquo;Last year, when we worked with him on his defense, he seemed to pick up things quickly. The only thing he needed was repetition.&rdquo;ROBERTS OKAY: One day after being carried off the Maple Leaf Gardens ice on a stretcher, left winger Gary Roberts was shaken, sore but okay.Roberts lost his footing after Leafs&rsquo; defenseman Bob Rouse crosschecked him in the win over Toronto. Roberts crashed into the boards head first and was taken to hospital for X-rays.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just really bad whiplash,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the only problem. They did a bunch of X-rays on my spinal cord and the upper neck area and things seemed fine.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be pretty stiff for a day or two. I&rsquo;m going to get some massaging right away to get the soreness out&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Joe Nieuwendyk received a scare in the 4-4 tie with Boston Nov. 7 when he twisted his bad knee again. Luckily the injury wasn&rsquo;t serious and he was back playing two nights later. &ldquo;I think I caught it in time before I did something else. That&rsquo;s what the doctor said, that I caught it in time.&rdquo;Playing for the first time in 25 days, Sergei Makarov scored twice in the win over Toronto. But was it a showcase game? Or a chance for reconciliation? Doug Risebrough wasn&rsquo;t saying. &ldquo;I wanted to reunite the line (of Makarov, Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts),&rdquo; said Risebrough. &ldquo;I just wanted to see what he could give me. It hasn&rsquo;t been easy for him. He showed something coming back, playing the way he did.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Robert Reichel, Joel Otto.LW&mdash;Paul Ranheim, Thomas Forslund, Marc Habscheid, Tim Sweeney.RW&mdash;Theo Fleury, Ron Stern, Tim Hunter, Carey Wilson. Martin Simard, Sergei Makarov.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Jamie Macoun, Frank Musil.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Neil Sheehy, Mark Osiecki.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Matteau, LW, charleyhorse, indefinite. Rlc Nattress, D, surgery to repair miniscus cartilage in left knee, indefinite.Gary Roberts, LW, whiplash, day-to-day &#9632;

Reichel has shot at magical 50-goal plateau

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>The Los Angeles Kings have become quite adept at playing catch-up this season.They&rsquo;ve had enough practice, giving up the first goal in each contest of a recent seven-game stretch, winning four of them and tying two.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re concerned.&rdquo; assistant coach Cap Raeder. &ldquo;We want to be more consistent. We have to play three periods, not just one or two. That&rsquo;s something we haven&rsquo;t done a lot this season.&rdquo;During the seven-game segment, which began Oct. 26 with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders and continued on to Nov. 9 in a 4-4 tie with Edmonton, the Kings were outscored 11-4 in the first period.Even with all the Kings&rsquo; offensive power, that&rsquo;s a lot of ground to make up.&ldquo;One of our biggest problems,&rdquo; Bob Kudelski said, &ldquo;is that we haven&rsquo;t been able to get off to a good start and sustain some pressure. Sometimes we play 20 good minutes, then we take off for 20 minutes. We&rsquo;ve been sluggish, but I can&rsquo;t tell you why.&rdquo;The Kings fell behind Edmonton 3-0 before the game was 11 minutes old and needed a Peter Ahola goal&mdash;his first in 10 games&mdash;with 54 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game into overtime.They weren&rsquo;t so fortunate Nov. 7, rallying from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits against Vancouver before falling 4-3.Goaltenders Kelly Hrudey and Daniel Berthiaume accept their share of the responsibility for the poor starts, but it would be unfair to lay the blame on them. For the most part, their play has been solid.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been getting great goaltending,&rdquo; coach Tom Webster said. &ldquo;Those guys have kept us in games, allowed us to come back.&rdquo;BIG PAYDAYS: Left winger Tony Granato and defenseman Marty McSorley agreed to terms on contracts Nov. 9.Granato, who was in his option year, will receive a three-year contract worth $1.95 million. McSorley, whose contract was renegotiated to bring it in line with the ever-changing salary structure, will get a two-year deal worth $1.2 million.Granato will make $550,000 this season, $700,000 next season and $700,000 in 1993-94, his option year. McSorley will make $550,000 this year and $650,000 in his option year.NOTEBOOK: Tom Webster was bed-ridden with the flu and unable to coach two consecutive home games, a 4-3 loss to Vancouver Nov. 7 and a 4-4 tie with Edmonton Nov. 9&hellip;Luc Robitaille&rsquo;s 10-game point-scoring streak ended in the Kings&rsquo; loss to Vancouver. The league&rsquo;s leading scorer was held without a shot.Defenseman Jeff Chychrun was getting antsy about making his Kings&rsquo; debut. Chychrun, acquired May 30 from Philadelphia, underwent bone-graft surgery July I to repair his fractured left wrist and was given the go-ahead to shoot pucks and take light contact in practices Nov. 6. &ldquo;I go through good days and bad days,&rdquo; he said.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Brent Thompson, D, assigned to Phoenix (IHL) Nov. 9: Tory Granato, LW, agreed to terms on a three-year contract. Marty McSorley, D. agreed to terms on a two-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Bob Kudelski, John McIntyre, Randy Gilhen.LW&mdash;Luc Robitaille, Tony Granato, Mike Donnelly, Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Jim Thomson, Frank Breault, llkka Sinisalo.LD&mdash;Brian Benning, Larry Robinson, Peter Ahola, Darryl Sydor.RD&mdash;Rob Blake, Rene Chapdelaine, Marty McSorley.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jett Chychrun, D, fractured left wrist, day-to-day Charlie Huddy, D, groin pull, day-to-day Tim Watters, D, bruised left ankle, day-to-day. &#9632;

‘Catch-up kids’ need an earlier wake-up call

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011014/6545851-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Assistant coach Rick Ley says defensive-minded right winger Garry Valk is the kind of player every team needs. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>Like any successful army, the Vancouver Canucks have their generals and they have their foot soldiers.Trevor Linden, Cliff Ronning and goaltender Kirk McLean have been the battlefield leaders for Vancouver while Ryan Walter, Gerald Diduck and Garry Valk have been among the most prominent infantrymen.Valk, especially, has been an extremely pleasant surprise. The former North Dakota Fighting Sioux was on the bubble heading into training camp. He had finished the 1990-91 season on a 36-game goal drought. He had been converted from left wing to right wing. A scorer in college, he was now pencilled in as a checker, a grinder and a role player.&ldquo;It was a big challenge,&rdquo; said Valk. &ldquo;There was a bunch of us in the same situation&hellip;myself, Jay Mazur, Andrew McBain, even Rob Murphy who they could have moved to the wing.&rdquo;But Murphy wasn&rsquo;t moved to the wing, he was moved to the Canucks&rsquo; IHL farm team in Milwaukee. Mazur and McBain followed last week. Valk? He is off the bubble and no longer on the fringe. The Edmonton native has become an integral part of the Canuck machine.&ldquo;I think I am in my role right now and I enjoy it,&rdquo; said Valk, who turns 24 Nov. 27. &ldquo;I enjoy being used as a defensive player, being out there protecting a 4-3 lead in the last minute. I don&rsquo;t really care how many points I get, I just want to play a strong physical game and be a positive plus player.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing aggressively, he&rsquo;s forechecking well, he&rsquo;s doing a good job for us,&rdquo; said Canuck assistant coach Rick Ley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely the type of player you need on every team. He didn&rsquo;t play as well in training camp as he is right now.&rdquo;PAVELMANIA: Soviet import Pavel Bure picked up his first NHL point in the Canucks&rsquo; 6-0 rout of the New York Islanders Nov. 10.Canuck head coach Pat Quinn has been breaking Bure in slowly, playing him mostly on the fourth line with Gino Odjick and Ryan Walter. But with the Canucks leading the Islanders 5-G late in the game, Quinn threw out a new unit of Bure, Cliff Ronning and Greg Adams. The result was a Bure-to-Adams-to-Ronning Vancouver goal. Bure received a standing ovation for his assist from the sellout crowd.&ldquo;I am very happy to get assist but it is still my dream to score goal,&rdquo; said Bure, who had been held pointless in his first two games.Speaking without the aid of an interpreter, Bure said his three-month layoff has been a factor in his &lsquo;slow&rsquo; start.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t play three months, it has been difficult for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Here every game big, every game physical.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: There has been much speculation over the details of Pavel Bure&rsquo;s contract, signed Oct. 31. Here is how the four-year deal breaks down: Bure receives a $600,000 (Cdn.) signing bonus and a base salary that begins at $300,000 (Cdn.) and escalates to $450,000, $550,000 and $600,000. He also receives $200,000 (US) for legal and living expenses incurred while trying to obtain his release from the Central Red Army. The grand total is $2.7 million, not including personal bonuses.Kirk McLean recorded his first shutout in three years when he blanked the Islanders 6-0. It was his sixth career shutout and tied him for second place on Vancouver&rsquo;s all-time list with Richard Brodeur. Gary (Suitcase) Smith holds the club record with 11.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Petr Nedved, Igor Larionov, Ryan Walter.LW&mdash;Sergio Momesso, Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams, Gino Odjick.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Jim Sandlak, Garry Valk, Pavel Bure, Robert Kron.LD&mdash;Robert Dirk, Dave Babych, Dana Murzyn, Jim Agnew.RD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Randy Gregg.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Bob Mason.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0020-01

Grinder Valk is no boy on the bubble

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>Tradewinds blew the Edmonton Oilers into their two-day California desert golf hiatus this year.Rumors continued to swirl Nov. 9 around suspended center Bernie Nicholls and enigmatic Czech sniper Petr Klima&mdash;both of whom have asked to play elsewhere&mdash;and a new name has been tossed into the mill.Two New York Rangers&rsquo; insiders insist Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Jeff Beukeboom is Big Apple bound. And soon.Beukeboom was an intimidating physical force in last season&rsquo;s playoffs and Rangers&rsquo; general manager Neil Smith is desperate for tough help on the blue line. The rumor first surfaced while the Mark Messier trade was coming together in early October and it won&rsquo;t go away.&ldquo;Any time I talk to a general manager I talk about defensemen,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got guys who can score, we&rsquo;ve got guys who play hard, but they don&rsquo;t rock anybody.&rdquo;One of the sources suggested Beukeboom&rsquo;s impending arrival is in fact tied to the Messier trade. The other said the Oilers will get defenseman David Shaw in the deal.As for Klima, it appears Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather took too much time and has blown the Paul Ysebaert for Petr Klima deal.An NHL source said the Oilers could have had Ysebaert, a 25-year-old Red Wings&rsquo; center/right winger, three days after Klima went public with his renewed trade demand Oct. 15 in Detroit.The Red Wings weren&rsquo;t scoring any goals and Ysebaert, who had 20 goals in 72 NHL games for New Jersey and Detroit before this season, was expendable. The Wings then caught fire, scoring 15 goals in two games. Ysebaert led the team with 11 goals and 21 points in 18 games.So where does the Klima deal stand?One report has him and Nicholls going to the Boston Bruins for three players.EASY MONEY: Oilers&rsquo; pest Esa Tikkanen doesn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll look at it as the one that got away. He stared into an empty New York Islander net Nov. 6 with time running out in the Oilers&rsquo; 5-3 win. Tikkanen clearly had an easy hat trick goal in the bag. Instead he went looking to pass to linemate Vince Damphousse, took too long and nobody scored.Now, doesn&rsquo;t Tikkanen have a goal-scoring bonus in his contract? &ldquo;Yes, I have a bonus but I don&rsquo;t care about the bonus,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just try to help the team. I wanted Vinny to have his first hat trick as an Oiler.&rdquo; Tikkanen led the Oilers with nine goals in 18 games.NOTEBOOK: Vince Damphousse, who is in his option year, is close to finalizing a new multi-year deal. He is making $215,000 this season&hellip;Left winger Troy Mallette had sat out 16 straight games heading into the Oilers Nov. 13 game at Pittsburgh. He has asked to be traded and is growing more frustrated every day. He had no points in two games.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Martin Rucinsky. RW, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Craig MacTavish, Josef Beranek, Mark Lamb. Bernie Nicholls.LW&mdash;Vince Damphousse, Craig Simpson, Martin Gelinas, Louie DeBrusk, Troy Mallete. Scott Thornton.RW&mdash;Joe Murphy, Scott Mellanby, Petr Klima, Kelly Buchberger, Anatoli Semenov.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe. Geoff Smith, Luke Richardson, Norm Maciver.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Dave Manson, Jeff Beukeboom.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Peter Ing.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None &#9632;

Beukeboom reportedly going to the Rangers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02627/6545906-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="544" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">A broken ankle didn&rsquo;t keep Alex Shibicky out of the playoffs</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01913/6545913-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="180" height="157"></div>It&rsquo;s a trivia question even Alex Trebek likely wouldn&rsquo;t answer correctly. Who is the father of the slap shot?The most common responses are Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion and Bobby Hull. But they were still learning to skate when Alex Shibicky was firing bullets past NHL goalies.Alex who?A slick center out of Winnipeg, Shibicky first saw the slap shot in action when he joined the New York Rangers as a rookie in 1935. Teammate Bun Cook was fooling around in practice with this new shot he had invented and even dared to use it once in an exhibition game. But, according to Shibicky, Cook was hesitant to employ it in league games.Shibicky, on the other hand, was determined to make this newfound weapon a deadly one.&ldquo;When done properly, it really paid dividends,&rdquo; says Shibicky who&rsquo;s now 78 and retired in New Westminster, B.C. &ldquo;I was the leading goal-scorer in New York because of it.&rdquo;The key to a successful slap shot, says Shibicky who scored 24 times in his best season (1938-39), is two-fold. First, it&rsquo;s important to strike the ice about two inches behind the puck, like a golfer using a sand wedge from a bunker: &ldquo;Then when you follow through it&rsquo;s the most beautiful shot you&rsquo;d ever want to see.&rdquo;Second, and equally as important, the stick should never come above the player&rsquo;s hip. The element of surprise is paramount and a full wind-up, he says, defeats the purpose.&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s players all telegraph their slap shots by raising their stick above their shoulder,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It gives the goalie time to cut down the angle.&rdquo;Shibicky soon gained a reputation for his big shot and it helped the Rangers to success in the late 1930s and, of course, to their last Stanley Cup in 1940. But that playoff year was a memorable one for Shibicky for more than just winning the NHL&rsquo;s most-prized possession.In the first round, the Blueshirts met Boston and Shibicky suffered a broken nose. In the final round against Toronto, he broke his right ankle and was forced to miss a game because he couldn&rsquo;t get his skate on over the swollen joint.The club had a shoemaker produce a special boot for Shibicky and had the doctors provide the medicine. He was back a game later, and if not in full stride, at least in full spirit.&ldquo;The only problem was I couldn&rsquo;t turn to my right,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I spent the rest of the series turning only to my left.&rdquo;Shibicky&rsquo;s career took a turn for the worst in 1942. He answered the call of duty and served with the Canadian Armed Forces overseas until 1945, sustaining a serious back injury in the process.He gave it another shot with the Rangers in &rsquo;46, but he just wasn&rsquo;t right. He was also unhappy with the way the club was treating him, so he asked for and was granted his unconditional release.He spent the ensuing years doing everything from coaching in New Westminster, to running restaurant frachises in Vancouver, to opening a Drive-In theatre in Red Deer, Alta., to owning a wheat farm in his native Winnipeg.These days he just sits back and takes life easy on the West Coast. He just recently received his Stanley Cup ring&mdash;they awarded medallions when the Rangers won it all in &rsquo;40&mdash;and still marvels that nobody seems to know who made the slap shot an integral part of today&rsquo;s game.&ldquo;I still hear people say Boom Boom and Bobby Hull,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a bunch of malarkey. It never has been really explained.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-02

Lack of recognition slap in face for inventor of the famous shot

You know the smell. It&rsquo;s in every arena, every dressing room, every duffle bag. Play hockey once and your equipment already smells like you&rsquo;ve lent it out to every beer-league team in the country. It&rsquo;s that horrible lingering stench that sometimes takes two or three showers to get rid of. Don&rsquo;t think your teammates aren&rsquo;t aware of it either. They don&rsquo;t mention it because their equipment stinks worse.But an environmentalist from Stratford, Ont., with a keen sense of smell aims to change all that. Brent Toman has invented a spray that he claims will make repugnant hockey bag odor a thing of the past.Toman, a businessman and recreational hockey player, grew tired of the foul aroma emanating from equipment in his team&rsquo;s dressing room after games. He went back to his lab and after months of experimentation came up with a new sanitizer-deodorizer called Hockey Scents, designed to be sprayed on hockey equipment. Already 50 junior teams have begun using the product.&ldquo;Something had to be done to control the smell,&rdquo; Toman said. &ldquo;It got to the point where the first thing my wife said to me when I got home from playing was Wash your hands&rsquo;. And that was after taking a shower. The smell just sticks to you.&rdquo;Hockey Scents is not a masking agent. It&rsquo;s an odor control product. Naturally, Toman isn&rsquo;t about to give away his secret recipe, but in simple terms the formula kills the bacteria that grows on equipment.Toman started his own company, RBS Environmental, two years ago to specialize in natural odor-control products.&ldquo;Everything we produce is environmentally safe,&rdquo; Toman said. &ldquo;Hocket Scents is non-toxic, non-aerosol, non-harmful.&rdquo;Hockey Scents is a registered product that comes in a two-ounce spray bottle. It retails for $2.99 and is available in 150 sports stores in Canada and several states.Several Ontario League teams are into their second season using the product.&ldquo;I find that it&rsquo;s very effective,&rdquo; said Rick Chambers, trainer for the Kitchener Rangers. &ldquo;It works best on gloves and skates. I apply it usually once a week, while the equipment is drying, after the players have gone. Most of the players aren&rsquo;t really concerned about it, but I notice it does a good job eliminating the odor.&rdquo;There was never any intent to make the spray smell like a flower garden or a forest, but Toman did add a scent for psychological purposes. First there was bubble gum, now it comes in a cinnamon scent.But don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll be skating down the ice emanating the bouquet of a cinnamon-bun factory or popping bubbles with each gasp. The scent lasts only about 30 seconds.Toman&rsquo;s next task is marketing the product. It has been available in stores less than a year and there&rsquo;s hope professional teams will pick up its scent. &#9632;

Sweet smell of hockey

<div class="byline">By Pete Wevurski</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01811/6545968-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">There&rsquo;s plenty of room inside the 17,700-seat Tacoma Dome for a WHL expansion team, enough fans to set a league attendance mark and seven Rockett cheerleaders. (Photo by Dan Hamilton)</figcaption></div>The birth of television might have hastened the demise of the old Tacoma Rockets, but the new edition of the hockey team expects to number TV among its closest allies. The Rockets are the only team in the Canadian Hockey League to have some of its games broadcast on over-the-air TV.That is just one of many things that makes the Western League&rsquo;s newest team a unique addition to major junior hockey. Tacoma offers a vision of the future and reminder of the past.One of the reasons Tacoma dropped out of the old Pacific Coast League was television&rsquo;s growing popularity during the 1950s cut into live gates. Nearly 40 years after the original Rockets&rsquo; demise, the young and restless Rockets will be seen on Tacome-Seattle TV station KTSW seven times this season.Other CHL teams have local cable TV exposure but nothing approximating the arrangement worked out by the expansion Rockets.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a joint deal,&rdquo; Rockets&rsquo; president-general manager Bruce Hamilton says. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t cost us anything and we split the profits. But it&rsquo;s a gamble for both sides, we&rsquo;ll play four of those games here.&rdquo;Many NHL teams don&rsquo;t even televise home games for fear of hurting their home gates.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a major plus for the Rockets and all of us,&rdquo; WHL president Ed Chynoweth says. &ldquo;With the Memorial Cup tournament being played in Seattle this spring, we re trying to put together a TV package for that, too.&rdquo;Ah, Seattle, home of the 1992 Memorial Cup and hated Thunderbirds. The Pacific Northwest cities of Tacoma and Seattle are natural rivals, separated by 32 miles of Interstate 5 and many more miles of mindset. Gourmet coffee-brewing, white-collar Seattle contrasts sharply with Tacoma, where the collars and language are blue and the favorite beverage is a very different brew altogether.Tacoma sits on the southern rim of Puget Sound, a thriving deep-water port where the natural colors are the blues of the cool, clean Sound and skies (for eight months, anyway) and the greys of chilling rain in winter.The city of 400,000 offers something else for the senses: the aroma of Tacoma. Its one draw-back of note is the unmistakable smell of pulp and paper. One of Tacoma&rsquo;s major industries is the Simpson Craft Mill. If that fragrance contributes to feelings of inferiority vis-a-vis Seattle, Tacoma has something new with which to fight back. For the first time since 1953, Tacomans have hockey to rally behind&mdash;and match up against the smug Seattlites.Which helps you understand how big a deal it was Sept. 28 when the Rockets went to Seattle to play their first WHL game and stunned the Thunderbirds 5-4. A dozen nights later, there was a league-record crowd of 14,975 on hand when the Rockets made their home debut against the T-Birds. Seattle won 8-4, but 17 games into the season one victory separated the two Washington state teams.A generous expansion plan has provided the Rockets with an inordinate amount of firepower for a first-year team. Ordinarily, new teams are provided minimal help. The Rockets got more than that and it showed during the pre-season (when they went 6-2) and early season (3-3 during a swing through the prairies).They aren&rsquo;t headed into orbit yet but nor are there any obits being written about them. Average attendance was 4,925 through the Rockets&rsquo; first eight home games.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen a city where the demographics are so favorable,&rdquo; marketing director Mark Dennis says. &ldquo;This is a blue-collar town with lots of working men, two military bases and a couple of colleges. We&rsquo;ve got to ground the boat pretty bad not to make it work.&rdquo;Not since Tacoma played in the old PCHL has there been high-level hockey in the city. Tacoma was represented in the PCHL from 1946 until 1953, and the Rocketmen included future Hall-of-Famers Muzz Patrick and Babe Pratt. The focal point for Tacoma fans was a rivalry with the Seattle Ironmen.While there is no denying the competitiveness between Tacoma and Seattle remains, there has been tremendous co-operation at the executive level. Thunderbird owner Bill Yuill and governor Russ Williams held territorial rights to a 50-mile radius but waived rights to indemnification and helped Hamilton every step.&ldquo;I think this town can be a great hockey town,&rdquo; Hamilton says. &ldquo;The reasons are, first, this building; second, the rivalries with Seattle and Portland (141 miles to the south); and third, this is a big-time market.&rdquo;Other than a handful of NHL exhibition games and a pre-Olympic match in 1988, there hasn&rsquo;t been much hockey in Tacoma. It has been necessary to reintroduce the sport to Tacomans, who can&rsquo;t get NHL games from their cable systems. Coach Marcel Comeau authored a question-and-answer column in The Morning News Tribune and public address announcer Jeff Randall routinely explains offsides and other stoppages in play.&ldquo;We need to figure out how to get these fans involved to make this an intimidating place,&rdquo; Hamilton says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of teams coming in here and looking around.&rdquo;Built in 1983, the Tacoma Dome is the world&rsquo;s largest wooden domed structure. Northern Michigan University opened the Yooper Dome in Marquette this fall&mdash;it measures 531 feet across the base to the Tacoma Dome&rsquo;s 530&mdash;but it is 20 feet shorter, has 15,000 fewer seats and 3-million cubic feet less space.Regardless, the Tacoma Dome is plenty big. It is also plenty different with a hanging display of unique neon abstract artwork dominating one comer. The Rockets&rsquo; next mission is to dominate the comers of the playing surface. &#9632;

f0023-01

There’s no place like Dome

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>Bill Lindsay has exchanged one American uniform for another. The right winger recently returned to the Tri-City Americans after leaving the U.S. Olympic team.Lindsay joined the Americans Oct. 30, two days before Western League teams must declare their three overage players for the season. Each team is allowed three 20-year-old players. The Americans dropped overage center Todd Esselmont to make room for Lindsay.Lindsay, a fifth-round choice of the Quebec Nordiques in 1991, had 46 goals and 93 points in 63 games for the Americans last season. The native of Sparwood, B.C., also played for Team USA in the World Junior Championships in Saskatoon. Lindsay was able to represent the American squad because his parents live in the U.S. and he holds dual citizenship.Lindsay had four goals and one assist in his first three games back with Tri-City. He had hoped to represent his country in France but was seeing very little action with the Olympians.&ldquo;He left because of a lack of ice time,&rdquo; Amerks&rsquo; president Bob McCammon said. &ldquo;They had five or six lines and he was hardly playing. He certainly enjoyed the experience of playing in the big buildings, but he wants to play hockey and he wasn&rsquo;t playing a lot.&rdquo;The other major roster change involved center David Struch of the Saskatoon Blades. Struch, a ninth-round choice of the Calgary Flames in 1991, returned to the Blades after a 30-day tryout with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, the Flames&rsquo; affiliate in the International League.The return of Struch and his 45 goals and 102 points forced the Blades to trade defenseman Rob LeLacheur to the Kamloops Blazers. Kamloops dropped center Ryan Harrison to make room for LeLacheur.KARIYA OR BUST: The Americans gambled when they sent four players to the Victoria Cougars Oct. 29 for 19-year-old defenseman Todd Harris and the rights to 17-year-old center Paul Kariya.Kariya, who had 53 points in 17 games with the Penticton Panthers of the British Columbia Junior League, is considered the key to the trade. Kariya has been compared to Wayne Gretzky and is considered a top prospect for the 1993 entry draft. However, Kariya has spumed junior hockey and intends to play at a U.S. college, most likely Maine.The Americans gave up 17-year-old right winger Francesco Defrenza, 18-year-old defenseman Jeff Fancy and 19-year-old right winger David Hebky in the deal.CHANGING TIMES: The WHL altered its format for the 1991-92 playoffs.The opening round will feature best-of-seven series between first and sixth place, second and fifth and third and fourth.The team with the best regular-season record among the three surviving teams will get a bye in the second round, while the other two teams will meet in a best-of-five series. The winner of that series meets the top team in a best-of-seven division final. The league championship remains a best-of-seven series between the East and West Division champions.In previous seasons, only four West Divison teams qualified for the playoffs and they engaged in best-of-nine series. In the East Division, the first- and second-place teams received byes in the first round, while the other four qualifiers had best-of-five series to determine semifinalists.NO, NO, IDAHO: The WHL has decided to not expand to Boise, Idaho for the 1993-94 campaign. Prospective owner Bill Pereira had been granted a conditional franchise, but he failed to produce the $100,000 downpayment required by the league. The decision was made at a WHL board of governors&rsquo; meeting Oct. 28 in Calgary. &#9632;

Lindsay once, twice American

<div class="byline">By Ken Warren</div>Norm Flynn wants money or answers. But the coach of the St-Jean Lynx would rather have the two players he lost to the Ontario League under what he calls suspect circumstances.The Lynx lost centers Yvan Corbin to Kitchener and Jason Campeau to Oshawa before this season. According to Flynn, the Lynx released Corbin to play in the OHL based on the assumption of a family move. Corbin joined Kitchener but Flynn became suspicious when he bumped into the player&rsquo;s parents at a St-Jean grocery store.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Flynn said. &ldquo;I thought the family was moving, but I talk to the father and he says they couldn&rsquo;t move because he didn&rsquo;t have the rent money.&rdquo;Flynn left Corbin&rsquo;s name off the team&rsquo;s roster at the beginning of the season and the Rangers assumed he was a free agent. Corbin, the team&rsquo;s second-leading scorer with 23 goals and 61 points last year, had 15 points in 13 games with Kitchener.Flynn was also upset with Quebec League president Gilles Courteau over the departure of Campeau. Courteau granted Campeau&rsquo;s rights to the OHL&rsquo;s Oshawa Generals without consulting the Lynx. Campeau&rsquo;s family moved to Whitby over the summer. In 12 games of limited ice time, Campeau had one assist with the Generals.Flynn says the Lynx deserves compensation for losing Corbin and for providing Campeau with educational expenses over the summer.&ldquo;It has been tough,&rdquo; Flynn said. &ldquo;We lose Corbin, we lose Campeau and we lose (Stephane) Ouellette (for personal reasons) in training camp. That leaves us with one center from last year.&rdquo;&ldquo;We are going to deal with both cases,&rdquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to say what might happen. It&rsquo;s a peculiar situation and we want to make sure we do the right thing.&rdquo; The issue will be on the agenda the next time the QMJHL. OHL and Western League presidents meet.Despite the loss of Corbin, Campeau and Ouellette, Flynn is credited for keeping St-Jean in the LeBel Division race. As of Nov. 4, the Lynx was in second place with a 9-9-3 record. Flynn is in his first season with St-Jean.&ldquo;First we had to change the attitude,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These guys haven&rsquo;t made the playoffs in two seasons. I&rsquo;m satisfied up to now.&rdquo;The Lynx have also made improvements at the box office. Average attendance for home games is 1,400, up 150 per game from the same point last season.SLUMPING BISONS: Two heads aren&rsquo;t near as good as one in Granby. The mid-October coaching change in which co-coaches Luc Boucher and Pierre Cliche replaced John Paris was looking worse with every passing game.The Bisons were second in the LeBel Division with a 8-4-2 record under Paris, but posted a 1-5-0 under the new tandem. Paris was fired over philosopical differences with general manager Rene Constantin.QUITE A FEAT: The Hull Olympiques became the first team to shut out St-Hyacinthe left winger Patrick Poulin when they defeated the Laser 7-6 in overtime Nov. 5.Poulin won Canadian Hockey League player of the month honors for October after scoring 13 goals and 33 points in his first 11 games. The Hartford Whalers&rsquo; first-round choice was returned to the Laser in early October&hellip;.Trois Rivieres Draveurs&rsquo; goaltender Jean-FrancoisLabbe, who led the Draveurs to a 11-4-2 start, was defensive player of the month. Labbe led all QMJHL goalies with a 3.08 goals-against average. &#9632;

St-Jean coach furious about missing Lynx

Used to be junior coaches were as much entertainer as line changer. But these days, Canadian Hockey League fans are seeing more steak and less sizzle behind benches. Still, there are holdovers who offer a blend of both. Here are five. (Career records in parentheses).1.Graham James, Swift Current (223-20215). The history and wrestling buff almost stripped to the buff during a game to protest refereeing. He is bright, articulate and knows it.2.Brian Kilrea, Ottawa (597-375-57). Look up old-school in the dictionary and you&rsquo;ll find a picture of the cigar-chomping Kilrea. A true character, Killer is a junior hockey treasures.3.Alain Vigneault, Hull (164-113-23). He flies into rages with the slightest provocation. His prancing on the bench and finger-pointing draws comparisons to Michel Bergeron.4.Larry Mavety, Belleville (340-320-29). Mavety isn&rsquo;t afraid to say a game is lousy or his players stink. His gravelly voice comes from another era. He&rsquo;s an old teammate of Kilrea.5.Glenn (Chico) Resch, Tri-City (6-10-1). The rookie isn&rsquo;t as dramatic as James, but once he gets used to the WHL, he&rsquo;ll be an entertainer. The former NHL goalie offers a clever wit. &#9632;

Colorful leaders dying breed

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>For London Knights&rsquo; right winger Denny Purdie, 1990-91 was the lost season. Now he&rsquo;s making up for lost time.Purdie apparently didn&rsquo;t show enough of his two most abundant commodities, toughness and talent, and was passed over by all 22 teams in the 1991 NHL entry draft. Even though he scored 33 goals and 71 points with 133 penalty minutes in 57 Ontario League games, many scouts thought Purdie slumped badly in the second half of the season.This season he earned 10 goals and 17 points in nine games and the renewed respect of the scouting establishment. Purdie boosted his fortunes with three goals in a 4-3 win over the Windsor Spitfires Nov. 1 and four more in an 8-6 win over the Detroit Ambassadors two days later.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s out to prove us all wrong and he&rsquo;s doing it,&rdquo; Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; scout Jack Bowman said. &ldquo;His attitude has changed.&rdquo;A lingering groin injury impeded Purdie&rsquo;s progress last season and another first-round exit by the Knights in the playoffs didn&rsquo;t help his cause. Despite being ranked 27th by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, all teams passed on him. Purdie, though, had to be selected in the first three rounds.Discontent over the draft led to a late-summer request for a trade out of London after two seasons. Purdie laid some blame on Knights coach-general manager Gary Agnew for his draft disappointment. He and Agnew ironed out their differences but early in training camp the groin injury re-occured and he was sidelined until Oct. 11.ROAD LOSS: Goalie Mike Lenarduzzi suffered his first loss with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s Nov. 4. His equipment bag fell out of a storage bin under the bus somewhere on Highway 17 as the team returned from a game in Sudbury.The driver noticed he bin was open and doubled back. A search party was formed but the equipment wasn&rsquo;t found.The 67&rsquo;s issued a public appeal to anyone who might have found the bag containing about $3,800 in equipment, but nobody stepped forward. Lenarduzzi, who didn&rsquo;t play in the Slid bury game, beat the Cornwall 6-3 Royals Nov. 1 in his first start for the 67&rsquo;s since being traded from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Oct. 29.HOME SWEET HOME: There&rsquo;s no place like home for teams in the Leyden Division. Through 71 games, teams in the Leyden had a record of 56-8-7 at home, but weren&rsquo;t near as impressive on the road. Listed below are the home and road records for each team in the division.North Bay (7-0-1, 5-5-0); Belleville (4-0-3, 3-7-2); Peterborough (9-1-0, 0-7-2); Oshawa (8-1-1, 3-5-1); Cornwall, (8-1-1, 2-4-1); Sudbury (8-2-0, 1-7-0); Ottawa (6-1-0, 2-7-1); Kingston (6-2-1, 1-3-1).The Petes established a franchise record with nine straight wins at the&rsquo;Peterborough Memorial Center to start the season. The string ended with a 6-5 overtime loss to Ottawa Oct. 31.&ldquo;All of a sudden people are talking about the record we set and I think the players forgot how hard they had to work to win those games,&rdquo; Petes&rsquo; coach-GM Dick Todd said. &ldquo;When the players looked ahead to the game they saw Ottawa was down in the standings. We got exactly what we deserved.&rdquo;The Royals&rsquo; streak of eight straight wins at the Cornwall Civic Complex was halted the same night in a 6-2 loss to the Kingston Frontenacs. &#9632;

Knights’ winger looking Purdie to NHL scouts

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>With Wayne Gretzky wearing 99 and Mario Lemieux 66, it was only a matter of time before things got out of hand. But the Capital District Islanders wear numbers more suitable for football players because of superstition, not due to a need for individuality.Defenseman Dennis Vaske skates with No. 71 on his back. Goalie Danny Lorenz wears No. 50, right winger Graeme Townshend has 89 and center Travis Green 59. Until they hit a losing streak, the players said they would continue to wear the training-camp uniforms instead of their game sweaters.The Islanders started the season with a 7-0-3 string and had the American League&rsquo;s best record (8-2-4) through Nov. 7. Even if the players wanted to switch, equipment manager Larry Ness wouldn&rsquo;t let them.&ldquo;If it ain&rsquo;t broke, don&rsquo;t mess with it,&rdquo; Ness said. &ldquo;One night the guys talked about going to the new uniforms and I actually lost sleep over it.&rdquo;Ness is resting comfortably these days. And the Islanders look very comfortable on top of the Northern Division standings. It is a stark contrast to last season, when the New York Islanders&rsquo; affiliate finished 28-43-1, the third-worst record in the AHL.&ldquo;I think we all came into the year a little more motivated because of last year,&rdquo; Lorenz said. &ldquo;We all wanted to turn this thing around. The good thing is that in some games we were not playing that well and we were still getting a tie or a win. That&rsquo;s the sign of a good team.&rdquo;LINEUP MIX-UP:Utica coach Herb Brooks qualified himself for the absent-minded move of the month in a Nov. 1 game at Binghamton.In the lineup he gave to the official scorers before the game, Brooks deleted defenseman Tommy Albelin and included rookie right winger Daryn McBride. The problem with that was that McBride had been assigned to Cincinnati of the East Coast League two days earlier, and Albelin dressed and played.Albelin assisted on a first-period power play goal, and shortly after officials were alerted to the fact that he had been scratched. Albelin was ordered off the ice, but the goal was allowed to stand because the error wasn&rsquo;t caught at the time of the goal. It didn&rsquo;t affect the outcome in an 8-3 Binghamton win.AWOL WHALER: Left winger Chris Govedaris was suspended by the Hartford Whalers for failing to report to the Springfield Indians&rsquo; game against New Haven Oct. 27. Govedaris, who had 3-7-10 totals in nine games, was scratched from the lineup for an Oct. 25 game at Baltimore because of what Springfield coach Jay Leach considered to be indifferent play. The 21-year-old Govedaris, Hartford&rsquo;s first-round pick (11th overall) in 1988, went home to Toronto to contemplate his future with the Whalers.The great goalie switch has begun in Baltimore. Don Beaupre&rsquo;s return to Washington forced Jim Hrivnak back down to the Skipjacks. And because the Capitals want Olaf Kolzig and Byron Dafoe to also get playing time, they will rotate the three between Baltimore and Hampton Roads of the ECHL.New Haven right winger Stan Drulia earned player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Nov. 2 by scoring five goals and three assists in four games&hellip;Utica left winger Valeri Zelepukhin was named the rookie of the week for the second time this season. The Soviet had 11 goals and 15 points in 11 games and was tied with Drulia for goals among rookies. &#9632;

New-look Islanders playing by the numbers

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>When Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Bruce Boudreau watches the baseball movie Bull Durham, it must seem a little like his own life story.Like Crash Davis, Boudreau is chasing a minor pro record and hardly anyone is aware of it.Boudreau, 36, is the oldest player in the minor leagues. The Komets&rsquo; player-assistant coach may also be close to becoming the all time scoring leader in minor-league history.Boudreau has done everything but win a championship in his 16-year, 11-team. four-league pro career. But he has always scored. &ldquo;Who has the most points ever in the minors?&rdquo; Boudreau said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to know. If it&rsquo;s within my grasp, it&rsquo;s an honor I&rsquo;d like to go for.&rdquo;Boudreau&rsquo;s 514 goals and 1,284 points in 976 minor-league games (including 81-148-229 in 163 games in the International League) is impressive, but there is no definitive way of measuring his totals against other players. But Boudreau is on the verge of history when compared to the best the IHL or American League have to offer. Boudreau has played in the AHL, the defunct Central League, the North American League and the IHL.The IHL&rsquo;s all-time mark for career goals is 551, established by Joe Kastelic in the 1950s and &rsquo;60s. The all-time point record is 1,377, set by Len Thomson in that same era. At the same time in the AHL, Willie Marshall was setting the career marks of 523 goals and 1,375 points. All three players spent their careers in the same leagues.Boudreau is one of the reasons why the Komets&mdash;one of two independent teams in the International League&mdash;were leading the East Division with a 9-1-1 record through Nov. 5.Veterans such as Boudreau (3-5-8), Colin Chin (8-7-15) and Scott Gruhl (5-9-14) played a big part in Fort Wayne&rsquo;s solid start.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a different kind of team than last year,&rdquo; Boudreau said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re bigger at forward, stronger along the boards and big on defense. We like to wear teams down.&rdquo;SHOOTOUT DUEL: When Peoria goalie Guy Herbert prevailed over Kansas City goalie Arturs Irbe 4-3 in a shootout Nov. 1, it evened an old score.Hebert was the goalie for Team USA in the Goodwill Games two years ago, when the Soviets rallied in the final seconds of regulation in the championship game and eventually won in a shootout. The Soviet goalie then? Irbe.&ldquo;He remembered me,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;He nodded and tapped me on the pads as he skated by after the first period. I remember thinking during the shootout, &lsquo;No way I&rsquo;m going to let him beat me this time.&rsquo; &ldquo;SHARK BAIT: A lengthy losing streak for the parent San Jose Sharks meant more changes in Kansas City. The Sharks returned left winger John Carter, center Ed Courtenay and right winger Craig Coxe Oct. 28. The same day, the Sharks recalled right winger David Bruce centers Mike Sullivan and David Williams and left winger Jeff Odgers. Then San Jose recalled Arturs Irbe Nov. 6. He won his first NHL start by beating Edmonton 6-2 Nov. 8.The IHL was leading the minor-league attendance race after the first month of the 199192 season. IHL teams drew 345,407 fans for a per-game average of 5,314 through 65 games. The East Coast League drew 177,721 for 42 games, an average of 4,231. The AHL counted 323,961 in 96 games, an average of 3,375 per game.The members of Peoria&rsquo;s Production Line of Michel Mongeau, Steve Tuttle and Dave Mackey shared player-of-the-month honors for October. It marked the first time in league history the award has gone to more than one player. The line had 27 goals and 39 assists in nine games. &#9632;

Boudreau on verge of history

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>Toledo left winger Mike Gober was suspended for 15 games by East Coast League commissioner Pat Kelly Nov. 5.Gober cross-checked Johnstown center John Mooney from behind in the first period of the Storm&rsquo;s 6-5 overtime victory over the Chiefs Nov. 1.Mooney fell head-first into the boards and suffered a broken nose, a shattered bone under his right eye, a broken jaw, and several loosened teeth as a result of the hit. Mooney was hospitalized and transferred to a hopsital in nearby Pittsburgh. He was expected to be out of the lineup until at least January.Gober is eligible to return for Toledo&rsquo;s Dec. 16 game against Columbus.&ldquo;It was a vicious check from behind that could have been avoided,&rdquo; Kelly said after reviewing tapes. &ldquo;We hope we don&rsquo;t have anymore (incidents). In the first two or three weeks, things are hectic. Players are trying to impress coaches by showing them how tough they are. We&rsquo;re just hoping it settles down like it has in other years.&rdquo;Johnstown coach Steve Carlson believes Gober got off lightly.Carlson advocated a season-long suspension similar to the one levied against Columbus&rsquo; Jason Taylor the previous week. Taylor swung his stick from the bench and struck Harry Mews of Hampton Roads. Mews sustained a broken jaw.&ldquo;In my opinion, the kid should be gone from the league,&rdquo; Carlson said.Johnstown general manager John Daley was also upset with the length of the suspension. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed about the extent of it,&rdquo; Daley said. &ldquo;I was hoping (Gober) would get as many games on suspension as Mooney is out because of the injuries.&rdquo;PANTHERS HOWLING: Championships aren&rsquo;t won in November, but they can be lost in the first full month of the season.A team can fall so far back of the leaders that it loses hope of ever fighting their way back.That&rsquo;s why Erie Panthers&rsquo; coach Ron Hansis, whose team went down to the wire before wrapping up a playoff berth last season, is elated by his team&rsquo;s 3-1-0 start.&ldquo;Historically, we haven&rsquo;t got off to a good start,&rdquo; hesaid. &ldquo;It has been a revolving door for the first couple of months until we kind of sort things out.&rdquo;The Panthers were right on the heels of Western Division leader Toledo (5-1-0) after beating the Storm 4-3 Nov. 2 at Erie.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got pretty good balance right now,&rdquo; Hansis said.Veteran center Peter Buckeridge and defenseman Ryan Kummu have led the way offensively with three goals each. Two of Buckeridge&rsquo;s goals were shorthanded.However, Hansis credits 30-year-old center Bob Bodak for a lot of Erie&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;He brings a lot of experience,&rdquo; Hansis said. &ldquo;He is like a player-assistant coach this season. He has been in the AHL for years and helped settle things down.&rdquo;GREAT START: Highly regarded defenseman David Craievich scored a pair of goals in each of his first two games with Cincinnati&mdash;a 6-3 loss to Dayton Oct. 30 and a 6-4 win over Louisville two nights later.Greensboro defenseman John Blessman was assigned to Kansas City (International League) Oct. 30. Right winger Mike Hiltner was then re-assigned to Nashville from the Blades&hellip;.Daryl Harpe, the league&rsquo;s first MVP&mdash;in 1988-89 with Erie&mdash;was claimed off waivers by Knoxville Oct. 28. &#9632;

Storm winger benchedafter hit from behind

We thought the confusion over names ended when Greg C. Adams retired. That left Vancouver with one Greg Adams. Now, there are two Bill Armstrongs in Hershey so broadcaster Dan Kamal calls them Bill D (defenseman) and Bill F (forward). Other nifty names:Steven King: This rookie right winger from Brown University terrorized opposing goaltenders with nine goals in his first 11 games with Binghamton.Stephane J.G. Richer: Fredericton defenseman was signed by Montreal in the off-season before they traded the more famous Stephane J.J. Richer to New Jersey.Phil Esposito: Johnstown center, who is no relation to the Tampa Bay Lightning president, shared in a Centennial Cup championship last season in Vernon, B.C.John Ferguson: Fredericton left winger isn&rsquo;t nearly as rugged as his father, former Montreal star John Ferguson, but he&rsquo;s a regular with the Canadiens&rsquo; farm team.Michael Jackson: With his demotion from St. John&rsquo;s to Brantford of the Colonial League, it can be safely assumed the right winger is not in the singer&rsquo;s wage class. &#9632;

Hey, give my name back

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>It didn&rsquo;t take Colgate coach Terry Slater long to find out how important Jamie Cooke was to his hockey team.The Red Raiders dropped their first two games of the season&mdash;7-3 to Northeastern Oct. 26 and 4-3 to Boston University Nov. 2&mdash;without the bruising 6-foot-2, 205-pound right winger in the lineup.Cooke passed on his final year of eligibility after signing with the Philadelphia Flyers in August. He is currently playing for the American League&rsquo;s Hershey Bears.Cooke scored 29 goals last season and Slater had planned to build the team around the Bramalea, Ont., native.&ldquo;We would have built around him with a senior line of Cooke, (Dale) Band and (Jason)Greyerbiehl,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Losing Jamie was a huge loss.&rdquo;With Cooke gone, Band and Greyerbiehl will be pressed to carry the team offensively. Band had 37 career goals and 118 points entering the season and Greyerbiehl had 21 points in 30 games last season.Slater also expects sophomores Clayton Fahey and Chris Mackenzie to contribute more. Fahey scored 51 goals in 57 games two years ago with the Nanaimo Clippers of the British Columbia Junior League but had only three goals in 23 games as a rookie last season with Colgate.Mackenzie also had a tough time adjusting to Division I hockey. The left winger had 50 goals and 108 points in 64 games for the Thornhill Thunderbirds of the Metro Toronto Junior B League, but was limited to just one goal as a freshman at Colgate.THAT&rsquo;S ENTERTAINMENT: With a nickname like the Skating Dutchmen, Union College isn&rsquo;t about to strike fear in the hearts of its opponents. But the first-year member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference has proven it will be entertaining in its first season of Division I hockey.Union debuted with a 9-6 loss Nov. 1 to Hockey East&rsquo;s Merrimack Warriors. After falling behind 3-0 at the end of the first period, the Dutchmen surged in front 4-3 after two. But Merrimack scored six goals in the third to win handily.For the record, Union&rsquo;s first Division I goal came at 1:02 of the second period when senior center Craig Ferrero scored on a power play.CHARMED DUCHARME: Freshman center Dominique Ducharme scored two goals and added two assists as Vermont crushed Boston College 9-3 Nov. 2&hellip;Senior Ivan Moore&mdash;who had played every position but goalie during his college career&mdash;ended a 41-game goal-scoring drought in RPI&rsquo;s 4-3 win over Merrimack Nov. 2. Moore scored the first goal of the game, his second career goal. &#9632;

Time to Cooke up new plan

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley grades No. 1 in a salary survey of Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches. Comley earns a base salary of $70,000 in his dual role as coach and athletic director at NMU.Doug Woog of Minnesota is the highest-paid among those with coaching duties only. He&rsquo;ll earn a base salary of $66,030 in 1991-92.Minnesota-Duluth&rsquo;s Mike Sertich is next at $65,520, followed by Jeff Sauer of Wisconsin ($65,403), North Dakota&rsquo;s Gino Gasparini ($62,660), Newell Brown of Michigan Tech ($46,580) and St. Cloud State&rsquo;s Craig Dahl ($39,000).Seven of the WCHA&rsquo;s nine schools provided salary information. Colorado College and Denver are not required to do so because they are private institutions. But sources say Brad Buetow of Colorado College and Denver&rsquo;s Frank Serratore both have base salaries of approximately $50,000.ONE GIANT STEP: Michigan Tech coach Brown said his Huskies&rsquo; 3-2 victory and 4-4 tie in a home-and-home series with Northern Michigan Nov. I and 2 represents the club&rsquo;s most significant accomplishment since he arrived in Houghton last season.In the opener, goalie Geoff Sargeant made 40 saves to lead Michigan Tech and end NMU&rsquo;s record home unbeaten streak at 35 games.One night later at Maclnnes Ice Arena, Jim Storm scored three goals as Tech rallied from a 4-1 deficit.PLAYERS OUT: Two of the league&rsquo;s marquee players&mdash;Wisconsin center Doug Macdonald and Denver defenseman Ken MacArthur&mdash;suffered shoulder injuries the weekend of Nov. 1 and 2. Macdonald was expected to be out until February; MacArthur will be lost for the season.Macdonald sustained a third-degree separation of the left shoulder when checked from behind by Kevin Kaiser of Minnesota-Duluth. Macdonald underwent surgery Nov. 3.Kaiser was assessed a five-minute major penalty. The league was investigating the incident to see if further punishment is warranted.MacArthur, meanwhile, has had recurring problems with the shoulder popping out of its joint. It happened again during an Oct. 20 game with Minnesota. Surgery was Nov. 1.REMEMBERING DAD: Sertich had mixed emotions Nov. 2 after Minnesota-Duluth defeated Wisconsin 3-2. It marked his 200th career victory and Sertich&rsquo;s players doused him with a bucket of Gatorade to mark the milestone.&ldquo;There was one very important guy missing here,&rdquo; said Sertich, referring to his dad, Mike Sr., who died in 1985. &ldquo;I wish he could have been alive to see this.&rdquo; &#9632;

Comley tops salary listof WCHA head coaches

You won&rsquo;t find Bemidji State on the short lists of most high school recruits, but the tiny Northern Minnesota campus has more going for it than an intriguing name and a picturesque location. The Beavers have one of the country&rsquo;s best NCAA Division III hockey programs and are a big hit with the 3,000 faithful who routinely pack John Gias Fieldhouse.Here&rsquo;s a short list of what you need to know about Bemidji State:1.Bemidji&rsquo;s program started in 1946 but collapsed-&mdash;literally&mdash;in 1950 when the arena roof caved in. Hockey returned in 1959.2.The Beavers have produced a surprising number of NHL players, rhe best is Calgary Flames&rsquo; center Joel Otto. Other grads are former NHLers Gary Sargent, Jim McElmury and Dale Smedsmo.3.Entering 1991-92, Bemidji State&rsquo;s composite record was a staggering 600-217-27.4.Bemidji State captured seven NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) titles between 1968 and 1980 and won the NCAA&rsquo;s Division II-III tourney in 1984.5.Beavers&rsquo; coach Bob Peters has been at the helm for 26 seasons. He began his coaching career at the University of North Dakota and has a career mark of 563-193-27. &#9632;

Minnesota’s forgotten gem

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The University of Illinois-Chicago likely won&rsquo;t win any awards for defensive excellence this season but the Flames are gaining confidence from a hot freshman goaltender.Despite the Flames&rsquo; 0-3-1 start in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association,Jon Hillebrandt has provided the team with solid, and &lsquo;sometimes spectacular goaltending. It&rsquo;s something to which the Flames aren&rsquo;t accustomed. During their 0-8-0 start last season, Flame coach Larry Pedrie made no secret of the fact that less-than-stellar goaltending was a big factor.Hillebrandt, a 19-year-old native of Cottage Grove, Wise., allowed 17 goals in four games for a 4.16 goals-against average and a .873 save percentage. His 117 saves were second in the league to Mike Bales of Ohio State.&ldquo;He has played well in every game,&rdquo; Pedrie said. &ldquo;He gave us good, solid, consistent goaltending. Most of the goals against have been on rebounds and power plays.&rdquo;A case in point occured during the Nov. 1 and 2 series against Ferris State. Of the nine goals the Flames allowed in a 4-4 tie and a 5-2 loss, seven of them were scored while the team was shorthanded.With Hillebrandt getting a chance to prove himself, senior netminder Gary Mangino&rsquo;s was reduced to the role of back-up.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a statement,&rdquo; Pedrie said of playing the rookie. &ldquo;(Hillebrandt) has been doing a good job, but I don&rsquo;t want to wear him out. But if he plays well on a consistent basis, he&rsquo;ll play the majority of our games.&rdquo;BETTER WATCH OUT: On-ice officials in the CCHA are calling more penalties this season, but the league&rsquo;s co-ordinator of officiating Dave Fisher said that&rsquo;s because things are being called more closely.Taking a cue from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), all four college leagues are more closely monitoring interference, holding and other tactics that slow up skill players.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s up to the player and coaches to discipline themselves,&rdquo; Fisher said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that we didn&rsquo;t see these things before. It&rsquo;s just that we chose not to call them.&rdquo;In the first 16 league games through Nov. 1 and 2, a total of 375 penalties (an average of 23 per game) were called, resulting in 788 penalty minutes (an average of 50 per game). Last season the league average was 19 penalties and 45 minutes per game.ROAD TO PROS: According to CCHA research, 116 former league players are currently playing with professional teams. The breakdown: 34 NHLers, 30 American Leaguers, 24 International Leaguers and 28 East Coast Leaguers. Eighty-three current CCHA skaters have been drafted by NHL teams&hellip;Despite losing several top players. Lake Superior State was a perfect 5-0-0 to start the season. The Lakers scored 36 goals in those games but were getting their power from a variety of sources. In 8-1 and 8-3 wins over Bowling Green Nov. 1 and 2, 12 Lakers scored. &#9632;

Hot goalie sparks Flames

When the Canada West Universities Athletic Association dropped its rule limiting player eligibility to 25 over the summer, it gave Grant Delcourt of British Columbia another life.The 26-year-old, five-year veteran was leading the Thunderbirds in scoring after six games with five goals and six assists. If the rule had not been changed, he would have been ineligible this season.Delcourt&rsquo;s presence helped UBC get off to a great start. Projected to struggle in the competitive CWUAA under rookie coach Mike Coflin, the Thunderbirds got three wins and a tie in their first six games. The team finished dead-last a year ago with an 8-15-5 record.NICE TIE: The Calgary Dinos earned a 2-2 tie with the Alberta Golden Bears at Clare Drake Arena Nov. 2, giving them their first point in Edmonton since Nov. 15, 1986. Calgary&mdash;outshot 50-24 in the contest&mdash;was 0-9-0 in that span. The Bears are 0-8-0 at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary over the last five seasons.OUAA: Royal Military College will be fighting for hockey survival on and off the ice this season.The school&rsquo;s main administrative body is questioning whether to keep a hockey team in the Ontario Universities Athletic Association.The Redmen had won just three games in the last two years and must show school administration they can win&mdash;and win often&mdash;if they want to stay in the league.&ldquo;This year&rsquo;s mandate is to make sure the team is competitive enough to stay in the league,&rdquo; coachJacques Tremblay said.The Redmen were 1-5-0 after six games in 1991-92, but their record included one-goal losses at Laurentian and Guelph and a two-goal setback against Western.GEE, WE WON: Third-period goals by Luc Frechette and Paul Cloutier gave the Ottawa Gee Gees a 5-3 win over Queen&rsquo;s Nov. 3. It was Ottawa&rsquo;s third win in its last four games&hellip;Though winless in league play, the Brock Badgers reached the final of the Rochester Institute of Technology tournament, losing 12-3 to the host team.AUAA: St. Francis Xavier coachJim MacDonald retired Nov. 1, citing personal reasons. MacDonald was in his sixth season with the X-Men and was an assistant coach for the two previous seasons. He was replaced by assistant coach Wayne Synishin.&ldquo;It was my decision. The school had nothing to do with it,&rdquo; MacDonald said. &ldquo;I thought about leaving at Christmas, but that wouldn&rsquo;t have been fair to the players. I decided if I was going to break it had to be now.&rdquo;MacDonald said his resignation had nothing to do with the team&rsquo;s 0-4-0 start in the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association&rsquo;s Kelly Division.&ldquo;No that&rsquo;s not the case at all. I&rsquo;ve put up with a lot worse in my years here.&rdquo;&mdash;With files from Robin Brownlee, Bruce Hallihan and Claude Scilley &#9632;

Delcourt’s second lifehelps Thunderbirds

<h2>STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01859/6546678-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="973" height="915"></div><h2>OVERALL STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02568/6546671-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="494" height="604"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03402/6546664-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="455" height="1144"><figcaption class="caption-body">Randy Burridge</figcaption></div><h2>OVERTIME RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04285/6546657-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="485" height="608"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05224/6546650-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="483" height="1019"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06193/6546643-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="592" height="768"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07173/6546636-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="979" height="1077"><figcaption class="caption-body">A 3-0 shutout against Hartford Nov. 10 helped Chicago&rsquo;s Ed Belfour to a 2-2 record in his first week.</figcaption></div><h2>POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV)&mdash;TOTAL MAN ADVANTAGES; (PPG)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS; (PCT)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS DIVIDED BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-08157/6546629-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="493" height="627"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(PIM)-TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING (BMI) BENCH PENALITY MINUTES; (AVG)&mdash;AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES PER GAME.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-09146/6546622-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="404" height="635"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2>(TSH)&mdash;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/f0028-10140/6546615-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="482" height="628"></div><h2>TOP SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-11134/6546608-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="605" height="555"></div><h2>TOP DEFENSEMAN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-12127/6546601-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="602" height="346"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-13117/6546594-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="604" height="295"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-14102/6546587-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="618" height="1396"></div><h2>SCHEDULE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1596/6546580-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="478" height="1206"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1678/6546573-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="473" height="822"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1762/6546566-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="454" height="812"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull</figcaption></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01752/6546559-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="1003" height="943"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02483/6546552-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="1009" height="818"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03308/6546545-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="1006" height="683"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04219/6546538-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="1001" height="272"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05192/6546531-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="1011" height="664"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06157/6546524-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="1015" height="817"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-07131/6546517-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="1018" height="658"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-08114/6546510-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="1013" height="661"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-09106/6546503-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="1015" height="86"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1097/6546496-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="1011" height="739"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1191/6546489-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="1007" height="685"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1280/6546482-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="1008" height="721"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1367/6546475-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="1010" height="485"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01853/6546468-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="998" height="190"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02568/6546461-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="1008" height="1101"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03390/6546454-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="1012" height="708"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04276/6546447-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="1011" height="681"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05202/6546440-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="1013" height="478"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06165/6546433-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="1013" height="232"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-07140/6546426-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="1014" height="817"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-08126/6546419-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="462" height="744"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek King</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-09111/6546412-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="465" height="744"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Tocchet</figcaption></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1098/6546405-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="1007" height="766"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1191/6546398-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="1007" height="601"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1285/6546391-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="998" height="218"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1380/6546384-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="1003" height="712"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1474/6546377-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="999" height="690"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1569/6546370-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="1004" height="658"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1656/6546363-1-eng-US/f0030-162.jpg" title="f0030-16" width="993" height="871"></div><h2>GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01787/6546356-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="1013" height="1156"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02515/6546349-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="1017" height="1244"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03373/6546342-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="999" height="266"></div><h2>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04281/6546335-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="1013" height="876"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus rating); SA&mdash;shots against; GA&mdash;goals against; ENG&mdash;empty net goals; DEC&mdash;decision, charged to goaltenders of record when deciding goal is scored.<h2>Monday, Nov. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05230/6546856-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="611" height="1632"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06192/6546849-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="597" height="2179"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07167/6546842-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="600" height="553"></div><h2>Tuesday, Nov. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08144/6546835-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="605" height="1522"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-09126/6546828-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="622" height="2174"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-10107/6546821-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="591" height="863"></div><h2>Wednesday, Nov. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1189/6546814-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="599" height="1226"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01848/6546807-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="609" height="3290"></div><h2>Thursday, Nov. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02583/6546800-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="589" height="115"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03403/6546793-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="602" height="3493"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04278/6546786-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="604" height="2096"></div><h2>Friday, Nov. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05205/6546779-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="595" height="1313"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06170/6546772-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="611" height="3495"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07143/6546765-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="587" height="1748"></div><h2>Saturday, Nov. 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08127/6546758-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="602" height="1635"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01766/6546751-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="596" height="3521"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02521/6546744-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="593" height="2222"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03385/6546737-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="603" height="845"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04303/6546730-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="1807" height="1192"><figcaption class="caption-body">Getting two goals and an assist from Joe Sakic helped the Quebec Nordiques avoid being shut out in a 10-3 loss to the Washington Capitals Nov. 9. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div><h2>Sunday, Nov. 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05252/6546723-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="597" height="1284"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06217/6546716-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="619" height="948"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07197/6546709-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="593" height="2236"></div> &#9632;

f0031-05

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">By Frank Orr</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01814/6546995-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The mythology of Harold Ballard, who always watched the Leafs from his Gardens&rsquo; bunker, is debunked in the William Houston book Ballard. (Photo by Dam Hamilton)</figcaption></div>The assignment was a snap, a laugher: Pick the 10 best hockey books ever. As an old Toronto politician once said: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s simple. Like trying to nail jelly to the wall.&rdquo;What follows is not an attempt to fill the editor&rsquo;s request and pick the best hockey tomes. Instead, it&rsquo;s a list of books one man has admired, envied, but mostly, enjoyed. At best, it&rsquo;s a &ldquo;sort of&rsquo; 10 best list (sort of, because there are actually 12 books on it) with a highly-personal stamp on it.Scrubs On Skates, by Scott Young, is a treasure, a book read often enough by an Ontario farm kid to be memorized. It&rsquo;s doubtful a better juvenile sports fiction book has ever been written than this 1952 work about Winnipeg high school hockey. Boy on Defence came out a year later and in 1963, Young wrote A Boy at Leaf Camp. They are three of my favorites.The Young books were re-issued in a 1985 paperback set, updated and ruined. Try to find the originals. They&rsquo;re magic, especially Scrubs.In the view of many NHL diehards who watched from the 1920s to the 1980s&mdash;few are left in that category&mdash;the finest pure talent, with the possible exception of Bobby Orr. was Howie Morenz. To most he was a shadowy figure of history, best-known by the wonderful spoken tales of men like King Clancy. Fortunately, Western Ontario journalist Dean Robinson wrote Howie Morenz, Hockey&rsquo;s First Superstar. This fine, meticulously-researched book tells the story of an unusual man and extraordinary athlete from the ponds of Ontario to his funeral in the packed Montreal Forum in 1936.Ken Dryden&rsquo;s The Game might be the best hockey book ever written. Not only is the author an insightful, perceptive, intellectual man, he was an extraordinary player, a trophy-winning all-star. Dryden&rsquo;s work on his life and times with the Montreal Canadiens combines excellent writing with a view of the game no one else has captured.William Houston takes a comprehensive look at the storied Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; franchise in Ballard and Inside Maple Leaf Gardens, two books that reveal how Harold Ballard turned the Maple Leafs into a joke.Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; general manager Mike Smith gives us a another treasure with Life After Hockey. The book tells the enlightening stories of 22 players (top stars to never-made-its), their view of the game and how they adjusted to the real world when their careers ended.Remember Doug Michel? He was a Toronto electrician and minor hockey booster who wound up playing with the Ottawa Nationals in the World Hockey Association. Left Wing And A Prayer, written with Ottawa columnist Bob Mellor, is Michel&rsquo;s story of his experience. It&rsquo;s an honest, straightforward look at the tacky side of the game.For fictional realism, it&rsquo;s hard to beat Rink Rat, an extraordinary book first published in about 1950. Written by Don MacMillan, it reveals the ins and outs of the game from smalltown Canada to the New York Rangers. A biting tale and a wonderful read.Another splendid novel is The Last Season, Roy MacGregor&rsquo;s complex, multi-layered work. It ranges from ethnic mythology to the violence of Canadian junior hockey to the NHL to Finland. The Last Season is a haunting book that sticks to the roof of your mind long after it&rsquo;s back on the shelf.Gary Ronberg was among the best U.S. hockey writers (Sports Illustrated, Philadelphia Inquirer) and his coffee-table-sized book The Icemen combines his splendid words with excellent color photography. &#9632;

f0035-01

Hockey’s magical moments bound in classic fashion

<div class="byline">By Gary Loewen</div>As the unofficial biographer of the NHL, Stan Fischler has grappled figuratively with Dave Schultz, tangled legally with John Ziegler and deciphered the verbally-fractured dogmas of Don Cherry.North America&rsquo;s most prolific sports author, Fischler has lost count of how many hockey books he has written. (It&rsquo;s somewhere between 60 and 65.)Any hockey fan&rsquo;s library is certain to contain at least one title penned by Fischler, 59, a columnist for The Hockey News and a New York-based television commentator.A hockey writer for 36 years, an author for 24, Fischler crossed paths with Ziegler even before Ziegler ascended to the NHL&rsquo;s presidency.It was 1967 and Fischler, then a hockey writer for the New York Journal American, had just completed his first book, a biography of Gordie Howe.&ldquo;I received a letter from a law firm in Detroit, threatening to sue me because I didn&rsquo;t get permission from Howe to write the book.&rdquo; Fischler recalls. &ldquo;It was signed by John Ziegler, who was then the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; counsel.&rdquo;The nervous, neophyte author passed it on to his publisher, who invited the Wings to sue. &ldquo;That was the end of it,&rdquo; Fischler says.But it was only the start of the Brooklyn, N.Y., native&rsquo;s career as an author.His most successful book, Bobby Orr and the Big, Bad Bruins, sold about 30,000 copies in hardcover and 80,000 in paperback during the Bruins&rsquo; heyday in the early 1970s.While Fischler has become accustomed to the foibles of the publishing industry, writing the books hasn&rsquo;t become easier. So often it depends on the demeanor of the subject.&ldquo;When you get a guy who is either uncooperative or wants to say less than he should, like Dave Schultz, it&rsquo;s a tremendous ordeal,&rdquo; Fischler says. &ldquo;The book Dave wanted to do would have appealed to about seven people, all in the Schultz family. The publisher wanted him to talk about being a goon but it was like pulling teeth.&rdquo;Conversely, Fischler has done books with the likes of Cherry, a former NHL coach who was a joy to work with.&ldquo;He just talks,&rdquo; Fischler says.Though he has written books on a variety of topics including baseball and transportation, Fischler invariably comes back to hockey. He is quick to caution, however, hockey books aren&rsquo;t a gold mine.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a very profitable business, I want you to know,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I did very well on a few books but I&rsquo;ve always written for the fun of it.&rdquo; &#9632;

Book ’em Stan-o: Fischler writes on

Listed below are all the new hockey books and videos available this year with authors in parentheses.<h2>Books</h2>Bad Boys, (Stan Fischler): Profiles on toughest players in NHL history.Blood, Sweat and Hockey, (Borje Salming with Gerhard Karl-son): NHL&rsquo;s first Swedish star on his career.Brett Hull: Shootin&rsquo; and Smilin &lsquo;, (Brett Hull with Kevin Allen): Hull details rise to stardom.Fire On Ice (Eric Lindros with Randy Starkman): Lindros gives his side of story.The Habs: An Oral History of the Montreal Canadiens 1940-1980, (Dick Irvin): Forty years of memories on the Canadiens.Hockey Scouting Report 1991-92, (Frank Brown and Sherry Ross): Analyses of more than 400 NHLers.It Happened In Hockey. (Brian McFarlane): Anecdotes and amazing stories are retold.Net Worth: Exploding the Myths of Pro Hockey, (David Cruise and Allison Griffiths): A less-than-flattering look at the business&mdash;and businessmen&mdash;of the NHL.The Official NHL 75th Anniversary Commemorative Book: A league-authorized history.Power Play: The Memoirs of Hockey Czar Alan Eagleson, (Alan Eagleson with Scott Young): Brash and controversial, Eagle tells his side of the story.The Rivalry, (Stan Fischler): Spotlight on the Montreal Canadiens-Toronto Maple Leafs rivalry.Shooting to Win. (Jean Perron): Coach-tumed-broadcaster Perron&rsquo;s guide to hockey strategy.Sittier, (Darryl Sittler and Chrys Goyens with Allan Turowetz): Sittler chronicles career as Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; captain.<h2>Videos</h2>Don Cherry&rsquo;s Rock &rsquo;Em Sock &rsquo;Em Hockey Part III: Grapes introduces the All-Cherry Team.Hockey Heroes & History, NHL 75th Anniversary Video: A look at the NHL&rsquo;s first 75 years.Hockey&rsquo;s Hardest Hitters Part III: The name says it all.Hockey&rsquo;s Top Gun. Brett Hull: The NHL&rsquo;s best goal-scorer shows how it&rsquo;s done.Ice Follies: Hockey Bloopers &rsquo;91: Harry Neale hosts this view of hockey&rsquo;s lighter side.The Offside: The wild and wacky side of pro hockey.Stanley Cup Playoffs 1991: The Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; championship run is highlighted. &#9632;

The good, the bad and the funny

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01691/6547081-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="384" height="481"></div>Ty Toki is 68 years old now and has been out of the dry cleaning business for a few years. He&rsquo;s taking in a few NHL games and enjoying retirement in San Francisco, where life has been Jonely for Toki and many of his hockey-loving friends ever since the Seals picked up their sticks and left the Bay Area.&ldquo;They went to Cleveland&mdash;when was it, &rsquo;75 or &rsquo;76?&mdash;and a bunch of us just looked at each other and said, &lsquo;Hey, we&rsquo;ve got a pretty good group here,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Toki, whose Seals&rsquo; Booster Club may rank as the world&rsquo;s greatest group of hockey loyalists. &ldquo;There must have been 600 of us back then, and, with families and all, probably 1,000 total. All of sudden, we didn&rsquo;t have a hockey club.&rdquo;Ever since, Toki and his fellow seals have kept up the vigil. A game in Los Angeles? No problem.bunch of the stout-hearted Seals would jump in a car and head to La-La Land to see the Great One, and even some of the Lesser Ones during the Kings&rsquo; lean years.To keep their eyes on the game they loved, some Seals&rsquo; Boosters would even take in games in Vancouver or Edmonton or Calgary. They were hooked on hockey. For a decade and a half, their numbers dwindling to 125 members, they found ways to keep up their fanaticism and their memories. Maybe their old team did lace up white skates but it was their team. And maybe Charlie Finley wasn&rsquo;t the best friend hockey ever had but time has a way of softening even the hard, craggy lines of the former crusty owner of the area&rsquo;s hockey and hardball teams. &ldquo;Ah, the things I heard about Finley, what the papers wrote, I don&rsquo;t think they were half-true,&rdquo; said Toki.All these years later, patience &ldquo;and pride have paid off for Toki and his fellow friends of forechecking. Hockey came back to the Bay Area over the summer and there was Toki, standing along the boards for the first practice open to the public at the Cow Palace. He has a pair of season tickets to see the players file on and off the ice. And so what if the Sharks have only played like minnows.&ldquo;I think they&rsquo;re doing a heck of a job,&rdquo; said Toki, who used to say the same about men like Wayne Carleton, Carol Vadnais, Gary Jarrett and Norm Ferguson.&ldquo;Naturally you get attached to guys like Doug Wilson and Kelly Kisio. Too bad Kisio got hurt right away, because he and that new kid, Pat Falloon, were playing okay. They get Kisio back, they&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;No one knows if hockey is in the Bay Area to stay but, so far, the Sharks are a raving off-ice success. Their new fans fill the Cow Palace on a regular basis, dutifully punching all-star ballots as they enter. A large fin tops the Zamboni. And no hockey team is selling more jerseys, sweatpants and caps, thanks to a stick-chomping Shark that adorns each item. In the early going, it appears the owners, the Gund Brothers, have been bom under a lucky star&mdash;although they had to leave one behind in Minnesota to find it.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s here for a while,&rdquo; said Toki. &ldquo;The thing is, you have to promote, you have to get out there and sell it. That&rsquo;s always been the key to the Bay Area. A good example is the A&rsquo;s. They won all those World Series and they didn&rsquo;t draw like they should have.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02486/6547074-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="552" height="967"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Ferguson</figcaption></div>Times change. Teams go. Teams come. New men wear new sweaters. When hockey left the Bay Area, some men wore helmets, but real men wore nothing at all. Today, only Wilson and a few others bare their curly locks. The NHL will soon expand to the Original Twenty Four.&ldquo;The crowd&rsquo;s different now, a lot different, than when I was in my prime, so to speak,&rdquo; said Toki. &ldquo;They like the fighting. I like to see good plays. The finesse. I don&rsquo;t care who it is, even the other team, I see a good play and I&rsquo;ll clap my hands.&rdquo;And really, what else would you expect from a faithful Seal? &#9632;

f0037-01

Bay boy gives his Seal of approval

<div class="byline">By Stephen Harris</div>In the end, Chris Nilan decided that being a part-time player would be better than being a no-time player. And as soon as he got the chance, he set out to prove that he deserved to be a fulltime player.The veteran enforcer led the Boston Bruins with two goals in a 4-0 win over the New Jersey Devils Nov. 10, perhaps their best game of the season. It was Nilan&rsquo;s first game since refusing to play if he was to be used in a limited role. The 33-year-old met with Bruins&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness the day before and agreed to accept whatever ice time he was given. Nilan sat out seven straight games.&ldquo;He did what a player is supposed to do,&rdquo; Bowness said of Nilan. &ldquo;He proved to the coach he should play. You can either pout about it, or you can come back and show the coach.&rdquo;&ldquo;All I&rsquo;ve wanted is an opportunity to play and show what I can do. I feel I can help this team,&rdquo; Nilan said. &ldquo;I guess I was just looking for some respect.Joining Nilan was center Bob Sweeney, who served a one-game stint with the American League&rsquo;s Maine Mariners. Sweeney initially refused his Nov. 4 demotion, was suspended and filed a grievance with the league.The Bruins made peace quickly with Sweeney. His agent, Neil Abbott of Boston, filed a league grievance, contending the demotion was timed to hurt Sweeney in his salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Nov. 13.&ldquo;The arbitration and those perceptions are something that doesn&rsquo;t concern me,&rdquo; said Bowness of Sweeney, who had one goal and five assists in 14 games.WAKEUP CALL: The Bruins, fed up with lacklustre effort, made a dramatic roster shakeup after the club&rsquo;s 6-4 loss to the New York Islanders Nov. 3. Along with Sweeney, they sent Wes Walz, Dave Thomlinson and Jeff Lazaro to the Maine Mariners. Called up were longtime Bruin Nevin Markwart, plus rookies Matt Glennon and Jim Vesey.The shakeup had its desired effect. The Bruins rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie Pittsburgh 5-5 Nov. 5, then tied Calgary 4-4 at home Nov. 7 and beat New Jersey 4-0 Nov. 9.NOTEBOOK: After being checked by Vancouver specialists Drs. Andrew Seal and Ross Davidson, Bruins&rsquo; center Dave Poulin was told he does not need abdominal surgery&mdash;for now. It&rsquo;s hoped the problem, which has sidelined Poulin since late in training camp, will clear up on its own by the end of November.Craig Janney had a six-game scoring streak (1-11-12) snapped by the Devils Nov. 9&hellip;In just 10 games since his recall, Andy Brickley had seven goals and 18 points.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Shayne Stevenson, C, recalled from Maine (AHL). Nov. 3: Bob Beers, D, recalled from Maine. Nov. 4: Bob Sweeney, C, Wes Walz, C, Dave Thomlinson, LW, and Jeff Lazaro, LW, assigned to Maine. Matt Glennon, C, Jim Vesey, C, and Nevin Markwart, LW, recalled from Maine. Nov. 8: Sweeney recalled from Maine Nov. 10: Glennon, Stevenson and Vesey assigned to Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Andy Brickley, Jim Vesey, Chris Winnes.LW&mdash;Brent Ashton, Vladimir Ruzicka, Nevin Markwart. Matt Glennon.RW&mdash;Chris Nilan, Steve LertCh, Shayne Stevenson, Bob Sweeney.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Garry Galley, Don Sweeney.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Stephane Quintal, Jim Wiemer, Bob Beers.G&mdash;Andy Moog, Matt DelGuidice, Reggie Lemelin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lyndon Byers. RW, pulled groin muscle, indefinite. Bob Carpenter. LW, swollen left knee, day-to-day. Peter Douris, RW, strained hip muscle, indefinite. Glen Featherstone, D, back strain, day-to-day. Ken Hodge, C, sprained right knee, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW, left thigh contusion, indefinite.Dave Poulin, C, groin pull, indefinite. &#9632;

Nilan knockout in return

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>They&rsquo;ve been abused, kicked around and have taken some cheap shots. And that&rsquo;s just in the media. But now Montreal forwards Mike Keane and Brent Gilchrist are having the last laugh.Both Keane and Gilchrist were branded &ldquo;teacher&rsquo;s pets&rdquo; when they joined the Habs along with coach Pat Burns from the Canadiens&rsquo; American League team in Sherbrooke in 1988. Some members of the French media couldn&rsquo;t understand why these two products of the Western League were getting a shot when most of the duo&rsquo;s shots failed to find the mark.Gilchrist, the Habs&rsquo; sixth choice in 1985 had just eight goals in 48 games that first year while Keane, a free-agent signing, had 16 in 69.Burns liked Keane&rsquo;s scrappiness and Gilchrist&rsquo;s all-round game and he stuck with the pair. His confidence is paying dividends, though Keane&rsquo;s successful season hit a minor roadblock when he suffered a bruised knee in a 3-2 loss Nov. 8 in New Jersey. It wasn&rsquo;t considered serious and Keane was expected to return to the lineup Nov. 11 after missing one game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny you&rsquo;re talking about Gilchrist and Keane today,&rdquo; he said in a mocking tone to the assembled press corps after Keane scored an overtime winner in a 3-2 win over New Jersey Nov. 4. It gave the right winger five goals and 10 points on the season. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about you guys, but I&rsquo;ve always been positive about them.&rdquo;Five days later, the night after the Habs&rsquo; winning string was snapped at nine games by the Devils, it was Gilchrist&rsquo;s turn to play the hero as he scored a pair of goals, including the winner, in a 4-2 victory over Chicago.Gilchrist filed in admirably for the injured Russ Courtnall, taking the speedy winger&rsquo;s spot on the right side with Mike McPhee and Guy Carbonneau. He had 13 points in 19 games.SUSPENDED AGAIN: The Canadiens are upset, but willing to live with the 10-game suspension assessed to center Shayne Corson, who was banned for leaving the Habs&rsquo; bench and starting an altercation in a 5-0 win over Buffalo Nov. 2.Complicating matters is the fact Corson jumped on the ice as the sixth attacker when referee Don Koharski signaled a delayed penalty against Buffalo&rsquo;s Colin Patterson. Corson then got involved in a fight with the Sabres&rsquo; Brad Miller.Burns said the Habs had to accept the suspension because, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a rule and you can&rsquo;t appeal a rule.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Denis Savard&rsquo;s visor experiment lasted all of two games. Savard vowed to wear the shield after getting accidentally clipped for 16 stitches near the eye by Winnipeg&rsquo;s Luciano Bursato. &ldquo;I know I said I&rsquo;d wear it, but what I didn&rsquo;t say was if it took something away from my game, I&rsquo;d take it off.&rdquo;<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Shayne Corson, C, given 10-game NHL suspension, Eligible to return Nov. 25.Nov, 5: Paul DiPietro, C, and Andre Racicot, G. recalled from Fredericton (AHL). Nov. 9: Racicot assigned to Fredericton<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller, Stepheanj Lebeau, Paul DiPietro.LW&mdash;Mike McPhee, Sylvain Turgeon, Benoit Brunet, John LeClair, Mario Roberge.RW&mdash;Brent Gilchrist, Denis Savard, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Jean-Jacques Daigneault, Petr Svoboda, Mathieu Schneider, Sylvain Lefebvre.RD&mdash;Eric Desjardins, Lyle Odelein, Alain Cote, Donald Dufresne.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Roland Melanson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Russ Courtnall, RW, rotator cuff strain, indefinite Mike Keane, RW, bruised right knee, day-to-day. Brian Skrudland, C, torn knee ligament, indefinite. &#9632;

Western duo making believers of Hab fans

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>It would be easy for the Hartford Whalers to get excited about Mikael Andersson&rsquo;s recent performance. But they&rsquo;ve been down this path before.Andersson had a two-goal game for the first time in his NHL career in a 4-3 win over St. Louis Nov. 9. The 25-year-old has shown superb bursts of speed, offense and aggression in the past.During an uneventful seven-year tenure in the NHL, Andersson has shown a tendency to drift into listlessness. That was precisely the case the next night in a 3-0 loss in Chicago.Andersson has bounced back and forth between the American League and the NHL in each of his first six full professional seasons with Buffalo and the Whalers. Hartford general manager Ed Johnston can think of at least one reason why.&ldquo;That guy has to shoot the puck more. He drives me crazy sometimes,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;I told him the first year he was here (1989-90), &lsquo;If you don&rsquo;t shoot it, you&rsquo;ll sit in the stands.&rsquo; He has a rocket. Plus, he&rsquo;s great on breakaways. But you&rsquo;ll see him play great. The next night he&rsquo;s a no-show offensively. That&rsquo;s what scares you. He gets in there better than anybody. He had a breakaway against Calgary (a 3-2 loss Nov. 6) and passed it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01757/6547191-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="714" height="829"><figcaption class="caption-body">Inconsistency has been the rule with left winger Mikael Andersson.</figcaption></div>Andersson was Buffalo&rsquo;s first choice (18th overall) in the 1984 draft. He was claimed by the Whalers in the 1989 waiver draft after parts of four unproductive seasons in Buffalo. He was named the Whalers&rsquo; unsung hero that season, after scoring 13 goals and 37 points in 50 games before injuring his knee.After 15 games, Andersson was fourth in team scoring with four goals and nine points.BANKRUPTCY WOES: A new chapter was written in Whalers&rsquo; history Nov. 6. It was called voluntary bankruptcy.That&rsquo;s where 37 per cent of the Whalers&rsquo; stock ended up when financially-plagued Colonial Realty&mdash;whose ownership in the club is called the Colonial Whalers&mdash;sought protection from a takeover bid by owner Richard Gordon. The NHL is also considering rescinding the 1989 sale of Donald Conrad&rsquo;s shares to Colonial because the company allegedly mispresented its financial status when it sought admission to the league.Gordon, who has management control over the team, also owns 37 percent. The remaining 26 per cent is owned by local corporations. Gordon is continuing to negotiate with a trustee for Colonial about acquiring its 37 per cent. Colonial Realty and the Colonial Whalers have declared bankruptcy and are not making any financial contributions to the team.Gordon said he could lose up to $7 million this season. Financial information obtained by The Hartford Courant showed this amount included interest and principle payments on the 1988 sale of the team to him, the skyboxes, the Coliseum Club and the Avon Old Farms practice rink.NOTEBOOK: The Whalers released center Barry Pederson Nov. 7. Ed Johnston said he&rsquo;d try to get Pederson a spot with a European team if he cleared NHL waivers&hellip;Faced with some penalty-killing problems, the Whalers called up Joe Day for the Nov. 9 game with St. Louis and the Nov. 10 game against Chicago. Day is from&rdquo; the Chicago suburb of Barrington and had friends and family at both games.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 7: Barry Pederson, C, released, Todd Richards, D, assigned to Springfield (AHL) Nov. 8: Joe Day, C, recalled from Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;John Cullen, Geoff Sanderson, Andrew Cassels, Joe Day.LW&mdash;Mikael Andersson, Pat Verbeek, Randy Cunneyworth, Jim McKenzie, Michel Picard, Paul Cyr.RW&mdash;Mark Hunter, Kevin Dineen, Rob Brown, Bobby Holik, Ed Kastelic, Mark Greig.LD&mdash;Randy Ladouceur, Zarley Zalapski, Doug Houda.RD&mdash;Marc Bergevin, Adam Burt, Brad Shaw.G&mdash;Kay Whitmore, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lee Norwood, D, hip flexor, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0038-01

Andersson has rocket but must launch it more

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>Barely a day goes by when Donald Audette doesn&rsquo;t have to deal with the &lsquo;Tiny Tim&rsquo; syndrome.At 5-foot-8 and a deceptive 180 pounds, the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; right winger was supposed to be too small for the NHL: Not big enough, not tough enough, not mean enough.So how come the undersized Laval, Que., native keeps scoring crucial goals in critical situations?&ldquo;Nobody ever measures what&rsquo;s in here,&rdquo; Audette said pointing to his chest. &ldquo;You can be tough from the inside.&rdquo;Through the Sabres first 15 games, Audette was more than tough. Against the Philadelphia Flyers Nov. 8, he scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Sabres to a 4-3 win, ending the team&rsquo;s four-game losing streak. He did it after Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Terry Carkner temporarily knocked him unconscious with a vicious check along the boards. The goal was his sixth of the season to go along with two assists in 12 games.Audette is in his third NHL season, but is still classified as a rookie. He was the Sabres&rsquo; ninth pick (183rd overall) in the 1989 entry draft.LaFONTAINE BATTERED: Center Pat LaFontaine accompanied the Sabres on their first Western road trip of the season, but he was hurting.The former New York Islander made the trip Nov. 9 with a welt under his right eye and a potentially serious problem with his left foot.While club officials did not comment on the injury, it was believed LaFontaine would miss several games with a possible chip fracture in his left foot. LaFontaine suffered the injury Nov. 8 in the 4-3 win over the Flyers in Memorial Auditorium.NOTEBOOK: The win over the Flyers took some heat off coach Rick Dudley. Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan travelled with the team during the first part of the season and didn&rsquo;t like what he saw. Meehan would not comment on whether he is considering a coaching change.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Christian Ruuttu, Dave Snuggerud.LW&mdash;Randy Wood, Dave Andreychuk, Brad May, Rob Ray, Colin Patterson.RW&mdash;Donald Audette, Alex Mogilny, Tony Tanti, Rick VaiveLD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger, Grant Ledyard, Ken Sutton.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Kevin Haller, Brad Miller, Jay Wells.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Pat LaFontaine, C, suspected chip fracture in left foot, indefinite. Clint Malarchuk, G, strep throat, day-to-day. &#9632;

Audette comes up big despite small stature

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>After several weeks of bad news, the Quebec Nordiques finally got some good news when Curtis Leschyshyn began scrimmaging with teammates.The 22-year-old defenseman suffered a potential career threatening injury to his left knee Feb. 18 when then Vancouver Canuck Ronnie Stem, clipped him with his knee.Leschyshyn underwent major reconstructive surgery and indications are he has progressed faster than expected. He wasn&rsquo;t supposed to skate&mdash;let alone scrimmage&mdash;so quickly.Leschyshyn is a self-proclaimed fitness nut and has spent the last month at home in Saskatoon. Sask., getting in top condition. He said he&rsquo;s in good shape, but the Nords don&rsquo;t expect him back before the end of December.&ldquo;If Curtis had suffered this type of injury 10 years ago, his career would have been over,&rdquo; team physiotherapist Jacques Lavergne said.Leschyshyn played 55 games last season scoring three goals and adding seven assists.GUN SHY: Most pro athletes have experienced a period where their confidence wanes, and Nordiques&rsquo; right winger Mats Sundin is no exception.After a brilliant World Championships and great Canada Cup, the lanky Swede has fallen on hard times.Sundin scored two goals and an assist in the second game of the season against New Jersey, but was criticized for his defensive play. He struggled ever since with just five goals (11 points) in his first 15 games.&ldquo;To be told off when you think you&rsquo;ve done a good job is really demoralizing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t expecting it and was confused for a certain time. I was also mentally exhausted. There&rsquo;s a very fine margin between winning and losing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK:Stephane Morin returned to action Nov. 7. He was out since Oct. 12 because of a sprained right knee&mdash;Peter Stastny wants to return to Quebec. The Devils&rsquo; high-scoring center said he&rsquo;ll play out his option this season with New Jersey and would love to finish his career with the Nordiques. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m keeping my options open,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But you all know how much I love Quebec.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Stephane Fiset, G, assigned to Halifax (AHL). Nov. 8: Ken McRae, C, assigned to Halifax. Fiset. Marc Fortier. C, and Kevin Kaminski, C, recalled from Halifax. Nov. 11: Fiset, Kaminski. Mike McNeill. RW, assigned to Halifax.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Sakic, Kip Miller, Claude Lapointe, Marc Fortier.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Stephane Morin, Doug Smail, Scott Pearson.RW&mdash;Mats Sundin, Tony Twist, John Kordic, Greg Paslawski.LD&mdash;Mikhail Tatarinov, Bryan Fogarty, Steven Finn, Alexei Gusarov.RD&mdash;Adam Foote, Craig Wolanin, Greg Smyth.G&mdash;Ron Tugnutt, Jacques Cloutier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Guerard, D, right knee surgery, indefinite. Valeri Kamensky, LW, fractured left leg, indefinite. Curtis Leschyshyn, D, left knee surgery, indefinite.Owen Nolan, RW, Charley horse, day-to-day. Herb Raglan, RW, broken nose, Nov. 25 Wayne Van Dorp, LW, separated left shoulder, indefinite. Randy Velischek, D, broken left foot, indefinite. &#9632;

Early return for Curt

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01428/6547270-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="546" height="763"></div>Right winger Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues, who tallied eight goals (8-0-8) to lead all NHL scorers, was named the NHL Pro Set player of the week for the period ending November 10. Hull, whose eight-goal performance ties the highest seven-day total since the player-of-the-week competition began in 1980-81, edged left winger Randy Burridge of the Washington Capitals and a pair of goaltenders&mdash;Kirk McLean of the Vancouver Canucks and Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens.Throughout the 1991-92 NHL season, Pro Set, Inc. will donate $600 to the youth hockey organization designated by the player of the week. Pro Set will also contribute $1,200 on behalf of the player of the month and $8,500 for the player of the year Award. Entering its second season as sponsor of these NHL awards, Pro Set is contributing over $56,000 to youth hockey organizations across North America.Hull opened the week by recording two consecutive two-goal games&mdash;versus Philadelphia (a 34 win Nov. 5) and Detroit (a 10-3 loss Nov. 7). He registered all three St. Louis goals in a 4-3 loss to Hartford Nov. 9 before tallying his league-leading 16th goal of the season at Detroit (a 6-4 loss Nov. 10).Hull currently leads all NHL goals-corers in 1991-92 with 16 in 18 games. Last year&rsquo;s Hart Trophy recipient as the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player to his team, he has now recorded a point in his last seven games (10-2-12) and stands third overall on the NHL&rsquo;s overall points list (18-6-24).Burridge tallied seven points (25-7) in two games, McLean posted a 2-0-1 record, including one shutout, and a 1.62 goals-against average, while Roy recorded a 3-1-0 mark and 2.00 GAA. &#9632;

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November 22, 1991

Whalers owe Kay

Winger’s scoring touch produces Capital gains

SCOREBOARD

Training camp adjustment behind Casale’s hot start