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

February 14, 1992

The Hockey News February 14, 1992

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01742/6676334-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="369" height="466"></div>Under normal circumstances, this would have been about the time I&rsquo;d be getting ready to go to the Olympics. In fact, it&rsquo;s the first time in Lecade I won&rsquo;t be headed for the Stines, and I&rsquo;ll let you in on a little secret: I&rsquo;m not going to miss it.I&rsquo;ll let you in on another little secret: unless you&rsquo;ve got relatives involved in the Games, you&rsquo;re better off watching the competition from home than travelling around the globe to see what amounts to intramural hockey.There are very few times in my life I&rsquo;ve sat in a hockey arena and thought to myself; &ldquo;You know, Don Cherry might be right.&rdquo; Watching the last two Olympiads are among those rare occasions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02501/6676327-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="558" height="817"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Peterson</figcaption></div>You want the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat? Well, don&rsquo;t expect it watching the Swedes and Finns on a sheet of ice the size of Lake Geneva, and a set of rules more appropriate for a spat between Christopher Bowman and Dick Button.sure, the Miracle on Ice was one of great moments in the sports history of the United States, but for the most part Olympic hockey is awful.Look at Team USA&rsquo;s two followups to 1980: a lackluster performance in Yugoslavia where a team with Chris Chelios, Ed Olczyk and Pat LaFontaine was coached to a miserable record by a man who could not skate (Lou Vairo); and an atrocious performance in Calgary where Dave Peterson coached such players as Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Kevin Stevens, and Chris Terreri to a seventh-place finish.The only place Peterson did aforce job than on the ice was in thepress conferences, where he madeJohn McEnroe look like a goodwill ambassador. USA Hockey righted the wrong by re-hiring Peterson for &rsquo;92. Another reason to skip the Games.Apologies to Herb Brooks and Mike Eruzione, and best wishes to Eric Lindros and Sean Burke, but for the most part, Olympic hockey is a snore.Furthermore, the U.S. isn&rsquo;t scheduled for another &ldquo;Miracle&rdquo; until the Year 2000. Beyond that, the geopolitical world has shrunk so dramatically that the so-called Iron Curtain has been rolled up like a cheap window shade.Olympic Hockey?Excuse me, but didn&rsquo;t we just settle this issue of best in the world at the Canada Cup? What is this Olympic thing, a battle of the backup bands&rsquo;?Canada without Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux? Isn&rsquo;t that like the Hole in the Wall gang without. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? The United States without Roenick and Leetch? Nothing more than the E Street Band without Bruce and Patty.Once you get past the Swedes, Czechoslovakians, Canadians and whatever the name is of the Soviet Union these days, it&rsquo;s pretty ugly. Hey, there is a team with a polar bear on the front of its jerseys. Is that Team Norway or Team Klondike Bar?At least when you watch games on TV, you get it all boiled down. They take 99.9 per cent of the garbage time out and give you the highlights.But enough Olympic bashing. Now it&rsquo;s time for the constructive part of this essay. The NHL ought to be twisting the Olympic powers for the one solution which would make everybody happy:Halt the Canada Cup. Play the hockey at the Summer Games and have all of the world&rsquo;s best players compete.If that ever materialized, the sport of hockey would have the forum it needs to showcase its athletes. It would amount to the quality of the Canada Cup with a huge audience.It can&rsquo;t be done?Well, think of it this way: the National Basketball Association season runs parallel to the NHL season and they play basketball in the Summer Games. Don&rsquo;t you think that if the situation was reversed, the NBA would make the Olympic people see the value of basketball in the Summer Games?Until that day, just watch the Canada Cup and forget the Olympics. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Olympic hockey’s a waste of time

Vance Oliver&rsquo;s story on Ray Whitney&rsquo;s German adventure in the Nov. 15 issue of THN was factually incorrect and misleading.First, Whitney played for Koln, not Dusseldorf. Though the two cities are relatively close in proximity and are arch-rivals, the mistake is comparable to mixing up the Calgary Oilers and Edmonton Flames: an insult to all.The second slap in the face was Whitney&rsquo;s comment that the German league isn&rsquo;t competitive enough. Ironically, the Canadian Olympic team, from which Whitney was cut, went 1-1-1 against teams in the &ldquo;not very serious&rdquo; league. We realize it isn&rsquo;t the NHL, but the picture painted by Whitney was biased.The story on this side of the pond regarding Whitney&rsquo;s departure is as follows:He came to a foreign country as a teenager who couldn&rsquo;t speak the language and became homesick after his family returned to Canada. The so-called &ldquo;loophole&rdquo; in his contract was a flight home the night before an away game&hellip; without telling anyone. People here believe he couldn&rsquo;t handle the pressure of losing.We take pride in our game and hope that if&mdash;or when-THN writes another article on international hockey it verifies the facts. The players with &ldquo;six-year contracts&rdquo; would appreciate it.Mike Schmidt, Rick Amann Dusseldorf Hockey ClubDusseldorf, Germany<h2>Phil booster</h2>The skills competition is an exciting addition to the all-star weekend. What makes it so great is when those who do not usually receive top billing shine.Case in point: Phil Housley scored the only two goals on Patrick Roy during the breakaway competition. Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull, meanwhile, went 0-for-3 and 0-for-4.Most fans probably don&rsquo;t know this because the Toronto-based Sports Network (TSN) chooses to ignore everything west of Ontario.Way to go, Phil. We know who the real stars are.Kevin OsachukWinnipeg, Man.<h2>Working wonders</h2>I&rsquo;d like to publicly thank Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; goalie Ed Belfour, who, to me, is the epitome of class.I have taken a lot of abuse in my life because of my weight. Enter Belfour.Undrafted and a rookie at 25, Belfour beat the odds to become the NHL&rsquo;s best goalie. His story helped me stop dwelling on my problems and show me that I am the master of my own destiny.I have lost weight and returned to school because of his positive influence. He reaffirmed my feelings for him by taking the time to call me and by being so down-to-earth and kind.Thanks, again, Ed. You are the best.Michael MinicucciLaSalle.Que.<h2>What&rsquo;s going on?</h2>The Federal Bureau of Investigation&rsquo;s probe into the NHL Players&rsquo; Association is unsettling in itself. That no details of the grounds of the investigation are being released is even more disturbing.Neither the nature nor the individuals involved have been clearly identified. A &ldquo;fishing expedition&rdquo; covering a quarter-century of &ldquo;certain financial transactions and arrangements&rdquo; is not specific and taints a large number of people.With communist Russia gone-but with McCarthyisitic tendencies persisting-it is my hope that FBI agents, in their free time, never pick up the National Enquirer.Stan BropheyLeamington, Que.<h2>Passing thought</h2>In my house 10 would get you 20 that if Pat Burns hurled his stick at Stan Fischler and hit him square in the head, it would miss his pea brain.Claude SauveKanata, Ont.<h2>Poor suspension</h2>The 10-game suspension assessed to Jaromir Jagr is ridiculous.If the league put half the effort into enforcing stick rules as it does into shielding its officials, the NHL would be much better off.Todd BouverotBergenfield. N.J.<h2>Not a rookie</h2>Why, through this dismal Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; season, has THN continually overlooked Andrei Lomakin?He has been physically folded, bended and mutilated all season but has managed to be consistent offensively. Yet you fail to list him in the rookie scoring column. Why?Barry HarkPhiladelphia. Penn.(Ed. note: Lomakin is a first-year player but, at 27, is not eligible for the Calder Trophy and not a rookie as defined by the NHL.)Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-0753&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Other side of the Whitney story

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011471/6674187-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="361" height="357"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021211/6674180-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="53" height="41"></div>Brett Hull. The NHL&rsquo;s most consistent scorer does it again 50 in 50. Congratulations.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03895/6674173-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="53" height="41"></div>University of Denver. College makes severely-injured player assistant coach and honors his scholarship.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04666/6674166-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="50" height="40"></div>Mario Tremblay. Broadcaster crossed the line of fair comment saying Russ Courtnall can&rsquo;t play with pain.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05484/6674159-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="50" height="40"></div>Mario Lemieux. Comments he made about suspensions typify players&rsquo; lack of respect for referees.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06365/6674152-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="358" height="358"></div> &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Dave Tippett is getting a second chance&hellip;at a gold medal, that is.The Washington Capitals agreed to loan the 30-year-old left winger to the Canadian Olympic team Jan. 31 and the seldom-used forward is grateful for the opportunity.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough not playing every night (here),&rdquo; said Tippett, who played for Canada at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s an opportunity to play very competitive hockey and anybody would be crazy to think that playing in the Olympics isn&rsquo;t a great thrill.&ldquo;By the same token, I&rsquo;ll go and play 10 or 12 games in a short period of time to get in game shape for the stretch.&rdquo;Tippett and Canadian coach Dave King have known each other for years and their styles meld well.Reports of Tippett&rsquo;s loan had come up a number of times since training camp. The Capitals finally decided to let him go, hoping the concentrated play would help better prepare him for the playoff drive.I Tippett played in just 18 of the Capitals&rsquo; first 50 games, scoring two goals and nine assists.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a win-win situation for the Capitals and Dave Tippett,&rdquo; Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile said.The 1984 Canadian team lost to Sweden in the bronze medal game. Tippett felt the frustration of a nation at the time, but it didn&rsquo;t discourage him.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s fine, it&rsquo;s added pressure,&rdquo; Tippett said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like playing in Montreal, where you&rsquo;re expected to win the Stanley Cup. It&rsquo;s pressure Montreal seems to handle pretty well.&rdquo;CHAMBER OF HORRORS: Defenseman Shawn Chambers suffered another setback in his attempt to come back from knee problems.Chambers, who came over from Minnesota with a history of knee problems in an off-season deal, played in an exhibition game against the U.S. Olympic team in January and then two regular-season games towards the end of the month. But he experienced swelling in his left knee and doctors advised him not to skate for several days.David Poile knew Chambers was damaged goods when he traded for him, he just didn&rsquo;t know how damaged. The Capitals&rsquo; GM said the league should work toward a system that will give teams a better idea of the condition of players they are trading for.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to take it to a higher level than just &lsquo;Buyer Beware,&rsquo;&rdquo; Poile said.NOTEBOOK: Mike Liut was presented with NHL Milestone awards Feb. 1 for his 500th game (played in 1987-88 while still in Hartford) and his 25th shutout (earned Nov. 1, 1991).Randy Burridge has rediscovered his nose for the net this season. That was never more apparent than in a 52 win over Calgary Feb. 1 when he scored two power-play goals-one of which deflected off his nose. Calle Johansson took a slap shot that caromed off Burridge&rsquo;s beak and past Flames&rsquo; goalie Jeff Reese. Burridge left the game but returned in the second period with a shield over his stitched and broken nose.Defenseman Ken Sabourin was assigned to Baltimore (American League) Jan. 29 to get more playing time.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 29: Ken Sabourin, D, assigned to Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hunter, Mike Ridley, Michal Pivonka, Todd Krygier, Tim BerglandLW&mdash;Randy Burridge, Dimitri Khristich, John Druce, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Kelly Miller, Peter Bondra, Alan May.LD&mdash;Calle Johansson, Rod Langway, Mike LalorRD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Al lafrate, Sylvain Cote.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Mike Liut.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers, D, left knee swelling, day-to-day. &#9632;

Tippett leaves in search of gold and a little more playing time

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07237/6674121-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="373" height="471"></div>One of the really dumb things about the NHL is that goals and assists are considered equal in the scoring race.The result is a distorted view of scoring prowess and value. No assist, not even Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s prettiest pass, should be worth as much as a goal.This, by the way, is no chicken-and-egg argument. You know the one: Which comes first, the goal or the assist?The answer is obvious. The goal. There can be no assist (let alone a silly second assist) without a goal being scored. Tap-in or no tap-in.They don&rsquo;t keep track of passes on the scoreboard. Most assists are earned but too many are awarded.With this in mind, Inside HOCKEY asked sports statistician Murray Townsend to formulate a more equitable means of allocating scoring points for a story in its December/January issue.Townsend determined each goal should be worth a maximum total of two points (one for the goal and one for the assist, although two assists could still be credited), rather than the current maximum of three.The value of each assist is a factor of how many total assists are awarded. Here&rsquo;s how it works. As of Feb. 3, there had been 3,936 goals scored and 6,547 assists awarded in the NHL this season. The value of each assist, then, is .60 (3,936 &divide; 6,547 = .60).The system has its flaws, most notably it comes no closer to differentiating between the values of first and second assists than the current system. But at least there&rsquo;s some damage control.What I like best about this formula is that it recognizes playmaking dominance. Townsend applied this formula to every Art Ross race since the NHL became a six-team league in 1942-43. Seven titles changed hands on paper, only one of them belonging to Gretzky&mdash;the man you would think most likely to suffer.Four players would have won the only Art Ross Trophies of their careers under our system. Maurice Richard, Norm Ullman, Mike Bossy and Steve Yzerman are scoring champs in our minds.The reason I feel compelled to bring all of this up now is because of Brett Hull, the all-galaxy goal-scorer who probably won&rsquo;t win the scoring title if Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s back permits him to play enough games.Consider Lemieux&rsquo;s numbers as of Feb. 3. He had 29 goals and 51 assists (for one fewer point than scoring leader Kevin Stevens), virtually the reverse of Hull&rsquo;s 52 and 27. Surely, Hull&rsquo;s 79 points are more valuable than Lemieux&rsquo;s 80.Here&rsquo;s how the top 10 would look were the Townsend IH formula applied. Listed are: the player&rsquo;s new place in the top 10; their actual place (in parentheses); actual goals (G), assists (A) and points (P); and point total (IH) with assists counting as .60.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-08117/6674114-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg" title="f0002-08" width="568" height="473"></div>Omissions from the NHL&rsquo;s top 10 are Adam Oates and Brian Leetch.You don&rsquo;t have to be an idiot savant to figure out the mathematics of the IH system. But you&rsquo;d have to be an idiot to think the current arrangement is fair.After all, not all points are created equally; they&rsquo;re just counted equally. &#9632;

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Hull should be declared the winner of Art Ross

<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/f0003-011626/6674249-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Iafrate likes loud music, loud clothes and loud, fast bikes. On the ice, he and the Washington Capitals are making some serious noise of their own. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>Al Iafrate has been blessed with great wheels, so it only makes sense he has made fast wheels his life. He plays hockey as though he has wings on his feet, then flies through the rest of life on the wings of one of his three Harley Davidson motorcycles.&ldquo;I see guys spend $50,000 for a Mercedes,&rdquo; Iafrate says, &ldquo;and I figure I can buy five Harleys for that money. Hey, I&rsquo;ve wound up wrecking every car I&rsquo;ve had, anyway.&rdquo;For Iafrate, life is best lived with the tachometer needle at the red line. Forget about the miles per hour, it&rsquo;s the revolutions per minute that count. Getting the most out of every gear. Hey, anybody can go full bore with the wind at his back, but much like Italian skier Alberto Tomba, Alberto Iafrate Jr., goes full bore with the wind in his face.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re an athlete, and things just happen real fast,&rdquo; the Washington Capitals&rsquo; defenseman says. &ldquo;Whizz, you&rsquo;re playing midget hockey and, all of a sudden, it&rsquo;s the Olympics, or junior. Whizz, it&rsquo;s the NHL. You get paid fast. You get from city to city fast. You get hurt fast. You get fast medical help. You heal fast. Fast. Fast. Fast.&rdquo;On this sunny but windy winter day in sububan Washington, Iafrate is driving from the Cap Centre to a local restaurant. It&rsquo;s too cold for two wheels and it&rsquo;s certainly too cold for the shocking outfit he wore to the opening of training camp. He made his entrance for the 1991-92 season wearing boots (no socks), a pair of boxer shorts adorned with lobsters, the required gold chains, cigarette clenched between his teeth and bandanna around his head.It&rsquo;s not the sort of entrance that would appeal to Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile, who, like most other GMs, comes from another planet than Iafrate-earth.&ldquo;I could tell he (Poile) was a little upset,&rdquo; Iafrate says. &ldquo;I knew he was worried and it turned out he called my mother. He told her that he really wanted me to fit in and that he was afraid, maybe, a bike was the sign of a loner. Hey, I just like bikes.&rdquo;As for being a loner, Iafrate isn&rsquo;t tight with many of his teammates. In fact, he&rsquo;s closer to a lot of guys from the Capitals&rsquo; farm team in Baltimore and spends a lot of time at the Port Washington Harley Davidson shop.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re great guys,&rdquo; Iafrate says of his motorcycle buddies. &ldquo;They just want to ride their bikes every day, all year, and they&rsquo;re happy. I like them for that, living by their standards.&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t really understand hockey that much. Mostly, they like the fights. I tell them about rules but they&rsquo;re not big on rules. I keep telling them you&rsquo;ve got to play by the rules.&rdquo;Throughout his life, Iafrate has skirted rules and been a non-conformist. Mostly, it&rsquo;s the unwritten rules he has ignored.&ldquo;In a couple of ways, we took a risk on him,&rdquo; Poile says. &ldquo;In the first place, we took a chance that his knee would be all right and it has been fine. And in the second place, let&rsquo;s face it, he&rsquo;s a different type of guy and we took a risk that he would fit in here. You know, he&rsquo;s still different but he seems real popular.&rdquo;Iafrate, 25, has taken over the Caps&rsquo; stick room as his unofficial office. From there, he&rsquo;dispenses his own special brand of wisdom to teammates and media. He holds court, lighting a cigarette with the blow torch others use to mold stick blades.Later, he walks out of the building towards his car. It looks new in most respects, except for the crack in the windshield which could well have come from his powerfully loud stereo.That&rsquo;s the second aspect of lafrate&rsquo;s lifestyle that stands out. He likes noise. Iafrate listens, at deafening decibels, to Guns&rsquo;n Roses, Judas Priest, maybe some vintage Ted Nugent as a reminder of his adolescent days in Detroit or even some Metallica. But only the old stuff from Metallica.&ldquo;Ah, Metallica,&rdquo; Iafrate says. &ldquo;Their stuff is toned down now. I mean, you should have heard them before they were so popular. That was real heavy metal. The stuff now&hellip;pffft. I like music so loud it makes me comatose.&rdquo;The windshield, by the way, was not a victim of volume. &ldquo;I come out of some bar one night, and it&rsquo;s cracked,&rdquo; Iafrate says. &ldquo;I guess some guy just wanted to put his fist through it. I had nothing to do with it but, you know, things happen to me.&rdquo;Few players in the NHL have been dogged by as much controversy and confusion as Iafrate. A partial list includes:&#9633; The car crash soon after he was drafted fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 1984. &#9633; Charges of public mischief for throwing stones at a light standard in Windsor, Ont., a short time later. &#9633; His disappearance from training camp in 1985 after reporting 20 pounds overweight. &#9633; Ejection from a Bloomington, Minn., hotel in 1987 for making too much noise-along with four teammates. &#9633; The end to his marriage in 1989 and subsequent fallout when teammate Gary Leeman began dating his estranged wife. &#9633; A paternity suit in 1990. &#9633; His alleged part in a domestic dispute between a Toronto couple that went to court in 1991. &#9633; He missed one game of the 1991 playoffs because of what the Capitals called &ldquo;emotional exhaustion.&rdquo;To be sure, it has been an eventful eight years for Iafrate, one of the NHL&rsquo;s most gifted players. And one of its most enigmatic. He has twice scored 20 goals but there is still the feeling Iafrate can deliver more. He scored a career-high 63 points in 1989-90 and was on pace for 55 points this season with 11 goals and 35 points in 51 games.He is part of a highly-talented defense that includes Kevin Hatcher, who is generally regarded as the kingpin. However, many people think that lafrate&mdash;and not Hatcher deserved to play in the 1992 All-Star Game.lafrate&rsquo;s game is built for and on speed. He is a swift and powerful skater. You can imagine, then, how he felt when it was stolen from him March 24, 1990. That was the night he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.&ldquo;I was freaked out,&rdquo; Iafrate says. &ldquo;I mean, I was used to going all out and all of a sudden I had to have somebody tie my sneakers. You know, I was used to being able to do a back flip from the second floor of a bar and landing on my feet. Would I be able to do that again?&rdquo;It might not have been quite as quick as a back flip but Iafrate has made a successful comeback-one helped along by his trade from Toronto last Jan. 15 and his life has continued at warp speed.About the only thing that slows him down these days is his 18-month-old daughter, Meg. The paternity suit, filed by a St. Louis woman, was settled and Iafrate has taken responsibility for the child. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be a good father,&rdquo; Iafrate says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not married but I&rsquo;m going to be a good father.&rdquo;He also wants to be a good NHLer-with a long career. He still smiles at the memory of those who doubted his potential in high school. Friends said he wasn&rsquo;t tough enough to play football when Iafrate quit his high school team to concentrate on hockey. They laughed when he told them he was going to play in the NHL.The following season, Iafrate made the U.S. Olympic team and missed his senior year of high school. He says he&rsquo;ll never forget the look on friends&rsquo; faces when he delivered the news. &ldquo;I think it was the only time I ever got a charge out of proving somebody else wrong,&rdquo; he says.Iafrate has proven some more people wrong since then. Many have predicted stardom for the man who once dubbed himself the &ldquo;Human Highlight Film&rdquo; but Iafrate has settled into a level below that.&ldquo;I know some people think I haven&rsquo;t lived up to their expectations,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not living for them. I&rsquo;m not playing for them. I&rsquo;m happy with who I am.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Life In The Fast Lane

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011645/6674304-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div><h2>Booster club still lives on</h2>The California Golden Seals may be dead and buried, but the Seals Booster Club is alive and well with 130 members.Members gather every month in San Leandro, Calif., and talk hockey, plan trips and reminisce. The club is represented at NHL booster club conventions and plans to bid for the 1994 national convention.The Oakland Seals entered the NHL in 1967, became the California Golden Seals in 1970 and moved to Cleveland in 1976. The team had a 182-401-115 record in nine seasons. Joey Johnston led the Golden Seals in goals (84) and points (186).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021444/6674335-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="559" height="727"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joey Johnston</figcaption></div><h2>Mews, Taylor taking action&rdquo;</h2>Harry Mews returned to action Jan. 31, three months after having his jaw broken in an East Coast League game.The 24-year-old center was struck in the face by the stick of Columbus&rsquo; Jason Taylor while with Hampton Roads Oct. 25. He underwent a five-hour operation, had his jaw wired shut for six weeks and lost 15 pounds.The Washington Capital draft pick is now with Baltimore of the American League.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not bitter towards anyone,&rdquo; Mews said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s forgotten.&rdquo;Taylor was suspended the rest of the season, but said he is considering legal action to get it rescinded &#9632;

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UPDATE

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011571/6674373-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="366" height="474"></div>Dad was still in the NHL at age 51, so perhaps we shouldn&rsquo;t be astounded Mark Howe is still a wonderful player at 36. Considering all he has been through, however, Howe is a marvel.The pain that shot down his legs limited him to 40 games in 1989-90 and only 19 last season. Even when a more specific cause than wear and tear-a herniated disc-was finally discovered, there was no guarantee surgery would alleviate the problem. When Howe had the operation, then relapsed in late summer, training camp loomed not as a new start, but merely the means to an end. He would play some games and if it still hurt too much, Howe would never have to wonder if he had done enough to try to prolong his career. He could leave without regret.With the help of an osteopath, deep massage and the patience and concern of Philadelphia Flyer therapist Gary Smith, Howe began to feel good again, however. He played so well in his few exhibition appearances the Flyers, who believed the acquisition of Steve Duchesne over the summer had made Howe&rsquo;s availability less necessary, began salivating at what he still might mean.Then, on opening night at the Capital Centre, Howe couldn&rsquo;t get through the second period. This was in Game 1. It had to be over.But it wasn&rsquo;t. He returned Oct. 24 in Minnesota. The Flyers won 5-2 and Howe was plus-5. &ldquo;He was the best player on the ice.&rdquo; North Star GM Bobby Clarke said. As a precaution, Howe took the next night off, then over the next two weeks played only when he felt up to it. It was surprising how often that was. The Flyers had told themselves they would be thrilled if Howe could play 50 games, but soon he was in the lineup every night. The back was actually getting stronger.Then, the angels&rsquo; chorus was rudely interrupted by the slash of a New Jersey Devil Nov. 23. The resulting break in Howe&rsquo;s thumb, which put him out for two months, probably cost coach Paul Holmgren his job. Duchesne, coming to the belated realization that there was no Wayne Gretzky in Philly, panicked, tried to do too much, and developed a severe case of hand yips. Rick Tocchet slumped, Pelle Eklund slipped into a catatonic state, and the Flyers played a two-week stretch in which they were so horribly uncompetitive that general manager Russ Farwell became convinced Holmgren would never be able to restore confidence.A competent coach lost his job. Even more sadly, the Flyers learned that despite Farwell&rsquo;s considerable efforts to make them younger and faster, their most essential player was still 36 years old. This speaks sadly about the Flyers but impressively about Howe.Howe doesn&rsquo;t jump up into the play quite as much as he once did. But he can still cheat two or three steps in the offensive and neutral zones because he retains the acceleration to recover. He continues to make wonderful passes and the right decision 29 times out of 30. He is among the one per cent of players who can process information more quickly than the others on the ice and therefore make opponents one second, or step, slower.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021131/6674366-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="553" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Howe</figcaption></div>Twenty years after Gordie&rsquo;s kid first started making his own name as a 16-year-old U.S. Olympian, there is considerable irony Howe is still playing and enjoying hockey. The Hartford Whalers traded him in 1982 because they thought Howe was passionless, and even though the Flyers instantly appreciated him, he had teammates who believed he enjoyed money more than the game itself.To be sure, Howe is a capitalist. If his back continues to hold up, he could do well as a unfettered free agent this summer, whether he resigns with the Flyers or goes to a contender for a last shot at a Stanley Cup. &ldquo;If I can stay healthy,&rdquo; said Howe, &ldquo;I might have some decisions to make.&rdquo;On all those persons who failed to understand Howe or prematurely wrote him off, he is having the ultimate revenge: they all only wish they could age as gracefully as he. &#9632;

f0005-01

Graceful aging runs in Howe family

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN Staff</div>Swedish hockey fans gave Eric Lindros a rough ride but it wasn&rsquo;t nearly as rocky as the one experienced by the Commonwealth of Independent States team getting to the Globen hockey tournament held in Stockholm Jan. 30 to Feb. 2.Winning the gold medal could prove easier for the CIS than getting to Albertville, site of the 1992 Olympics. With the economic and social upheaval taking place in the former Soviet Union, athletes no longer enjoy their privileged place in that society.To get to the Globen tournament, CIS players had to endure a 36-hour train ride from Moscow to Tallin, Estonia, followed immediately by a 16-hour boat trip to Stockholm. After sitting up all night, the team disembarked at 10 a.m., then defeated Czechoslovakia 2-0 later that same day.&ldquo;We must meet the new challenge,&rdquo; said coach Vladimir Yurzinov. &ldquo;We have a very hard future. We can no longer afford to take planes because of the dramatic rise in airfares and they will only take hard currency. It&rsquo;s essential we are able to meet these very difficult circumstances if we are to develop as a hockey team.&rdquo;For the CIS, the bottom line is no longer just on the scoreboard. For example, at the Globen Cup, the hammer and sickle was replaced by a banana. The team was sponsored by the Chiquita Bananas company.Judging by the reception Lindros received, he&rsquo;s about as well-liked in Sweden as he is in Quebec. Each time Lindros touched the puck, he was booed mercilessly by Swedish fans who are unwilling to forgive him for the devastating check he put on Ulf Samueisson at the Canada Cup.&ldquo;They have to have someone to yell at but it&rsquo;s really just kittens on curtains,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no big deal. It&rsquo;s part of the game if they&rsquo;re not yelling at you then you&rsquo;re not doing anything right.&rdquo;Canada was doing a lot right at this four-team round-robin tournament, winning it with a record of 2-01. The CIS was second at 1-1-1 followed by Czechoslovakia and Sweden with 1-2-0 marks.Even though the tournament featured the Olympic teams from Sweden and Czechoslovakia and a strong CIS squad, the Canadians refused to read too much into the result.Team Canada made several roster moves in preparation for the Olympics. Added were Toronto Maple Leaf center Dave Hannan and Washington Capital left winger Dave Tippett. Forwards Alan Haworth, Stephane Roy, John Chabot and Chris Kontos were cut from the team.<h2>En-Lightning news</h2>A Japanese real estate firm announced Jan. 30 it is the majority owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning.Kokusai Green will own 60 per cent of the team. The other 40 per cent will be divided among the Nippon Meat Packers Co., Tokyo Tower and former New York Yankees&rsquo; owner George Steinbrenner.The NHL announced Jan. 27 the team will play in the Suncoast Dome next season. The Lightning signed a one-year lease with four one-year options. The Lightning has promised to build a new arena more suitable for hockey.<h2>Star of stars</h2>The smallest player had the largest production in the International League All-Star Game Feb. 2 in Atlanta.Ray Whitney, the San Diego Gulls&rsquo; 5-foot-9, 160-pound center, scored two goals and three assists in the West&rsquo;s 7-6 win over the East. He was named the game&rsquo;s MVP.The East was led by Indianapolis ice center Mike Stapleton, who scored twice. Attendance for the game was 8,029 at the Omni.<h2>Major mismatch</h2>The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association game between the first-place Rayside-Balfour Canadians and the last-place Elliot Lake Vikings was expected to be a mismatch. But no one could have predicted just how much of one.The Canadians scored a league-record 30 goals&mdash;the old mark was 25-in a 30-3 win Jan. 28. John Stos led the way with five goals and nine assists to break the league mark of 12 points in a game. &#9632;

CIS faces tough times as athletes no longer top banana

<div class="byline">By THN Staff</div>Several NHL teams looking for help in the run to the playoffs will get some once the Olympics end Feb. 23.Here&rsquo;s a team-by-team look at which Olympic reinforcements are expected in the NHL:Boston: Canadian center Joe Juneau is expected to make the Bruins, provided they can sign him. American forwards Ted Donato and Stephen Heinze have a shot.Buffalo: The Sabres are pursuing CIS right winger Viktor Gordijuk.Calgary: Canadian winger Chris Lindberg and American winger Tim Sweeney should both make the Flames. Canadian goaltender Trevor Kidd could join the Flames, but is likely to go back to Spokane of the Western League.Chicago: CIS defenseman Igor Kravchuk may be signed.Detroit: None.Edmonton: The Oilers are looking at Finns Sami Nuutinen. a defenseman, and winger Keijo Sailynoja.Hartford: Defenseman Dan Keczmer of Team USA will likely join the Whalers.Los Angeles: The Kings may get Swedish center Daniel Rydmark and CIS defenseman Alexei ZhitnikMinnesota: The Stars have talked about re-signing Canadian defenseman and former Star Curt Giles.Montreal: Canadian winger Patrick Lebeau will likely report to Fredericton of the American League. Swedish right wingers Patrik Carnback and Patrik Kjellberg are possibilities.New Jersey: U.S. center David Emma will join the Devils either in New Jersey or on their farm team in Utica.Islanders: USA defenseman Scott Lachance will be added once signed. They&rsquo;re also hopeful of signing CIS defenseman Vladimir Malakhov.Rangers: Canadian center Dave Archibald wants to play for the Rangers, but is there room for him?Philadelphia: The Flyers hope to sign CIS center Viacheslav Butsayev.Pittsburgh: Team USA center Shawn McEachern is signedQuebec: None.St. Louis: Bret Hedican. a USA defenseman, will be in St. Louis or Peoria (International League).San Jose: American defenseman Tom Pederson may join the Sharks.Toronto: lite Leafs expect Canadian left winger Kent Manderville and USA center Joe Sacco to make the team. They are pursuing CIS defenseman Dmitri Mironov.Vancouver: Defenseman Adrien Plavsic of Canada will provide blue line insurance in case of injury.Washington: Team Canada defensemen Brad Schlegel and Jason Wooley appear headed for Baltimore (AHL) Wooley has college eligibility left at Michigan State.Winnipeg: Keith Tkachuk, a right winger for the Americans, is expected to make the Jets. Canadian defenseman Dan Ratushnv is a 50-50 proposition. The Jets are hopeful of signing CIS center Alexei Zhamnov and right winger Evgeny Davydov. &#9632;

Help on way after Games

<div class="byline">By Stan Flschler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011745/6674452-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Aspiring history teacher Tim Cheveldae is on pace to make his own history this season. (Photo by Mitch Jaspan/BBS)</figcaption></div>The NHL has been discussing the idea of eliminating the center red line-at least on an experimental basis. &ldquo;My friends in management have told me about it,&rdquo; Hockey Night In Canada broadcaster Harry Neale tells Bluelines. &ldquo;They may try it in some of the (1992-93) pre-season games. It would be a huge change and, historically, the NHL hasn&rsquo;t made many huge ones easily.&rdquo;&hellip;Where will the NHL expand when it grows from 24 to 26 teams? Cliff Fletcher believes there will be a second team in Florida and a third in California. &ldquo;I feel very strongly that a team in Miami would have a very good chance to succeed,&rdquo; the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; president says. &ldquo;I like Miami a lot and on the West Coast it would be good in either Anaheim or San Diego but my preference would be San Diego.&rdquo; Fletcher, who broke into the NHL as general manager in 1972 with the Atlanta Flames, has a soft spot for the Georgian city. &ldquo;To me Atlanta would have a chance because its population has increased almost three-quarters of a million since we left (for Calgary) in 1980. But for Atlanta to do well in hockey there would have to be a new arena in the suburbs.&rdquo;<h2>Dineen&rsquo;s team</h2>Kevin Dineen&rsquo;s list of NHL Underrateds: Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Brad Shaw. Brian Skrudland and Dave Gagner. Jari Kurri on his disappointing comeback with the Los Angeles Kings: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing they don&rsquo;t know about hockey pools in Los Angeles.&rdquo;<h2>Alphabet scoop</h2>If New York Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Randy Moller believes in historical precedent, he&rsquo;d better keep his bags packed: every recent Blueshirt whose last name started with an M and had a double L in it is gone: Kevin Miller, Troy Mallette. Brian Mullen, Corey Millen and most recently Greg Millen&hellip;Super agent Don Meehan isn&rsquo;t the least bit happy about Harry Sinden&rsquo;s put-down of the rep&rsquo;s handling of Wes Walz, recently traded from Boston to Philadelphia. The Bruin GM contends Meehan&rsquo;s push for a one-way deal had a negative reaction on Walz. &ldquo;He ended up getting all the money,&rdquo; Sinden says, &ldquo;but I think (Meehan) hurt the player&rsquo;s career.&rdquo; To which Meehan tells Bluelines, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s absolute nonsense. It would be far more constructive if he (Sinden) looked at the developmental process with the Bruins. His comments are cheap and insulting to Wes and myself.&rdquo;<h2>Identity crisis</h2>Though he hasn&rsquo;t even stepped on the ice this season, Quebec&rsquo;s Valeri Kamensky has already been criticized for his play in North America&hellip;by his mother. Mrs. Kamensky read headlines in her local paper about her son taking a lot of penalties as a member of the Nordiques and called to tell her son off. That&rsquo;s when she learned of the identity mixup: the player involved was really feisty Kevin Kaminski. It seems a Calgary-based Russian reporter saw the name in the summary and assumed it was the former Russian superstar&hellip;If Tim Cheveldae is caught reading a history book there&rsquo;s good reason; when he retires from hockey he plans to teach high school history or physical education. Cheveldae, meanwhile, may be in the midst of making a little history of his own. He had played in 47 of the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; 48 games though Jan. 27 and was on pace to break Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s record of appearances in a season by a goaltender (75)&hellip;It has been more than three years since Bob Probert last played in Canada (Toronto, Dec. 10, 1988) and he&rsquo;s baffled by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service rules that restrict his travel. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t understand why I can&rsquo;t get a trial permit, why I just can&rsquo;t play a game and come right back. They could even escort me there and back. They keep telling me, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re getting closer, we&rsquo;re getting closer. But it has been three years.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Red line may be dead linein the NHL’s near future

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021187/6674483-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="370" height="470"></div>Some 35 years have passed since Willie O&rsquo;Ree broke the color barrier and became the first black player in the NHL.O&rsquo;Ree, who recently dropped over for a living room chat before lecturing at a Hockey in Harlem program, still carries mental scars from the racial barbs he absorbed on the ice.This is hardly surprising. There was racism in the world then and there&rsquo;s racism now. Whether or not there&rsquo;s any in pro hockey is debatable.Capital District Islander Graeme Townshend, a black native of Jamaica, won&rsquo;t find it a moot point. As a Boston Bruin he was involved ii an incident with Kris King of the New York Rangers a couple of years ago. Again in January, Townshend was targeted, this time in an American League game at Troy.The offending player, Gord Kruppke of Adirondack, apologized t day later. He claims he&rsquo;s not a racist and allowed that &ldquo;in an emotional and intense game, things are said that probably shouldn&rsquo;t be said.&rdquo;Therein lies the problem. Baiting has always been a part of hockey&rsquo;s intimidation fabric. Name-calling-no that it&rsquo;s acceptable-comes as easily to some as stickhandling.Like Townshend, Willie O&rsquo;Ree is a Canadian (Townshend moved to Toronto as a child) and racism is as touchy a situation with him now just as it was when he skated for the Bruins.A native of Fredericton, N.B., where there&rsquo;s a substantial black community, O&rsquo;Ree claims he never knew intense prejudice until he became a big-leaguer in 1958.&ldquo;I only began feeling a lot of the prejudice and racism when I came to the United States,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Ree says. &ldquo;It was a novelty seeing a black man in a white man&rsquo;s sport on the ice. But if I gave somebody a bodycheck, they didn&rsquo;t like it because I was black.&ldquo;Milt Schmidt, my coach, said, &lsquo;Willie, you&rsquo;re gonna be subject to a lot of name-calling and things but you got the makings and it&rsquo;s up to you if you want to stay here.&rsquo; When I left the rink I forgot the name-calling because it wasn&rsquo;t there until I got back on the ice.&rdquo;How good was O&rsquo;Ree? I saw him a couple of times at Madison Square Garden and was impressed by his speed and stickhandling. In games against the Rangers, he never seemed to be singled out for special harassment, but then again I was way up in the balcony.&ldquo;I had the most trouble in Chicago,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Ree remembers. &ldquo;I heard the name-calling and racial remarks during the pre-game skate. I just let that go, but I wasn&rsquo;t going to be run out of the rink, whatever it took. Then the game started: I went behind the net and along comes Eric Nesterenko, one of the two or three players who had been baiting me.&ldquo;Nesterenko was a big guy for the time, something like 6-foot-1. He deliberately came at me, butt-ended me and kaboom! He knocked my two front teeth out, split my lip and split my nose. I just took my stick and hit him right over the head with it. We both grabbed each other and went down. Then the benches cleared.&ldquo;In the paper the next day it said there&rsquo;d be a contract on O&rsquo;Ree the next time he came back to Chicago but I came back and played. I got beat up, no doubt about it, but if I hadn&rsquo;t made a stand there in Chicago I wouldn&rsquo;t have lasted two games.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Ree played 45 NHL games, finishing the 1960-61 season in Boston with an abysmal last-place club. Willie vividly recalls that Bruins&rsquo; general manager Lynn Patrick said he was impressed and that O&rsquo;Ree would return for 1961-62.&ldquo;I went back to Fredericton and a big homecoming,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Six weeks later the phone rings. It&rsquo;s a sportswriter telling me I&rsquo;ve been traded to the Montreal Canadiens.&rdquo;Willie never played for Montreal. The Habs shipped him to Hull-Ottawa from where he was traded to Los Angeles of the old Western League. In time O&rsquo;Ree became a WHL legend, first in L.A. and then San Diego. But Willie always suffered a gnawing ache from the knowledge that he belonged in the bigs and not the WHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been asked the question many a time,&rdquo; he muses, &ldquo;&lsquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you get the opportunity to go back to the National Hockey League?&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t know. I was a sound hockey player. The only thing I can think of is that it had to be politics.&rdquo;Although O&rsquo;Ree played only 45 NHL games spread over two seasons, the 100 Hockey in Harlem kids listening to Willie figured it must have been 4,500. Entranced, they fired questions at him at Central Park&rsquo;s Lasker Rink and when the session was over 13-year-old Francis Brand said O&rsquo;Ree had given him a lesson in life. &ldquo;He said the important thing is not to quit.&rdquo;I hope Graeme Townshend also gets the message. &#9632;

f0006-02

Baiting still a prominent element of pro hockey

A weekly compendium of significant events and developments.Jan. 27: Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; right winger Jaromir Jagr receives a 10-game suspension for physically abusing referee Ron Hoggarth Jan. 26 in a 6-4 loss to the Washington Capitals.Jan. 28: St. Louis Blues&rsquo; right winger Brett Hull becomes the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games more than once in his career. Hull scores No. 50 in a 3-3 tie with the Los Angeles Kings.Jan. 30: A Japanese real estate firm. Kokusai Green, announces it owns 60 per cent of the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning franchise.Feb. 1: The New York Islanders retire Denis Potvin&rsquo;s No. 5 in pregame ceremonies before a 5-5 tie with the Philadelphia Flyers.Feb. 2: Canada wins the Globen Cup tournament in Stockholm with a 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia. &#9632;

THE WEEK IN HOCKEY: JAN. 27-FEB. 2

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011585/6674545-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="373" height="491"></div>On the eve of scoring 50 goals in 50 games for the second consecutive year, Brett Hull wasn&rsquo;t biting. Not even nibbling.How do you feel about not being an alternate captain on the St. Louis Blues?&ldquo;Oh, let&rsquo;s not get into that now,&rdquo; he said from Los Angeles, after a spending an off-night at the Wayne Gretzky estate.How do you like Los Angeles? Does it fit in with your laid-back California style?&ldquo;Hey, it&rsquo;s beautiful out here,&rdquo; he said before heading off to tape the Up Close show, with host Roy Firestone. &ldquo;Unbelievable. I love it.&rdquo;Enough to want to play there?&ldquo;Oh, come on,&rdquo; he pleaded, with a laugh. &ldquo;Give me a break.&rdquo;It has been some time coming this season, but the NHL&rsquo;s most prolific goal-scorer is trying to conduct himself off the ice the way he does on the ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021069/6674538-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="556" height="736"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull</figcaption></div>With as little notice as possible.It doesn&rsquo;t make for a very productive fishing trip, but then Hull has already taken hook, line and sinker on several occasions this season.&ldquo;You have to understand something,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of my success is that I don&rsquo;t draw attention to myself.&rdquo;It seems incongruous that a player with the profile of Hull, and his sizzling goal-scoring act, would just try to blend in, but make no mistake, he is practised in the art of deception.On the ice, that is.&ldquo;My big thing is I don&rsquo;t piss anyone off,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t go around hitting anyone. I don&rsquo;t go out there mouthing off and getting guys mad at me.&ldquo;Mostly, I just go out there and try to go unnoticed, wait for a loose puck, get off a shot and hopefully score.&rdquo;Brett Hull the invisible man? For all the publicity he has generated, that is exactly his game plan.Watch him. He stands on the periphery, darts in, darts out, finds a seam to his liking and goes for the goal. More often than not, he gets it.This ninja act of his, lately anyway, is carrying over to his performances away from the rink, too.It just might be overdue. In the last five months, he has fired almost as many shots off the ice.First, there was the Canada Cup fiasco. He raged at the seriousness of it and at his role on Team USA under coach Tim Taylor.Then came the Scott Stevens-Brendan Shanahan arbitration. Hull pronounced the fix was in, the arbitrator was bought off and the league was bush.Next was the release of his book, Shootin&rsquo; and Smilin&rsquo; which took dead aim at former Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Terry Crisp.And finally, there was the Adam Oates&rsquo; saga. When Hull&rsquo;s amigo threatened to walk out to back a renegotiation demand, Hull dusted off the soapbox. He considered sharing his salary with Oates, perhaps taking a walk with him and then committed the grievous sin of taking some Blues&rsquo; fans to task for their booing of Oates. He even wanted to step outside with one of them.There may be those who disagree, but a good part of The Golden Brett&rsquo;s charm is his sincerity and candor. It&rsquo;s a battle for him to mask his emotions. He is an open book.And he&rsquo;s not likely to radically change. If something really rubs him, he&rsquo;ll shoot from the lip. But, especially in light of the Oates&rsquo; situation, you can discern these days a conscious effort by Hull to be tame, to go through an entire interview without saying anything too outrageous.No sense inviting controversy.If you didn&rsquo;t know better, you would think Hull&rsquo;s agent, Mike Barnett, and perhaps even the Blues had a heart-to-heart with Hull, reminding him that it&rsquo;s all well and good to be outspoken, but he should be careful to not jeopardize his own standing as a superstar who is in much demand precisely because he&rsquo;s a happy young man with a warm smile.For now, anyway, Hull seems prepared to let his scoring do all his talking.And, as we all know, that speaks volumes.Bob McKenzie is a hockey columnist for the Toronto Star &#9632;

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‘Open book’ Hull trying to lay low

<div class="byline">By Jett Gordon</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03686/6674576-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Shanahan isn&rsquo;t having the type of season he anticipated but is on pace to record career highs. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>When Brendan Shanahan signed with the St. Louis Blues as a free agent last summer, visions of stardom danced in his head.He was leaving the New Jersey Devils, a perennial also-ran, to play for a 105-point team. He seemed likely to play with prolific scorers Brett Hull and Adam Oates and expand his offensive horizons.&ldquo;I really wanted to go somewhere and explode,&rdquo; Shanahan said after signing. &ldquo;I think the Blues will give me an opportunity to do that.&rdquo;It hasn&rsquo;t worked out that way, at least not yet. Shanahan had 20 goals and added 28 assists through 51 games. He is on pace to record career scoring highs, but not the 90- or 100-point season he might have expected.Shanahan, 23, has been nearly lost in the confusion of this tumultuous season in St. Louis.His troubles began almost immediately. Blues&rsquo; captain Scott Stevens was awarded to the Devils as compensation for losing Shanahan and the new Blue had an immediate burden to bear.&ldquo;Nobody wanted to lose Scott Stevens,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The thing is, what they lost in one department, they gained in another. Last year all you heard about was they lacked a second line that could score. This summer they went out and got free agents to alleviate that problem. Now the fans say our problem is our defense.&rdquo;Another distraction was the Oates&rsquo; controversy. The center became jealous of Shanahan&rsquo;s $675,000 contract and similar deals awarded free-agent Dave Christian and veteran defenseman Garth Butcher.Oates asked for a new deal or a trade. The Blues chose the latter option and put him on the block, seeking a young winger or defenseman in return.Coach Brian Sutter played Hull with Shanahan and Ron Sutter when Hull was bidding to score his 50th goal in his 50th game Jan. 28. With Oates watching from the bench, Shanahan set up the landmark goal with a deft backhand pass.&ldquo;It was really nice to be a part of that,&rdquo; Shanahan said.Before the Oates controversy arose, Sutter tried to spread his scorers among three or four forward lines. Shanahan spent as much time on a checking line in the first half as he did playing with Hull and Oates.Sutter quickly fell in love with his solid two-way play and occasionally sacrificed Shanahan&rsquo;s offense while asking him to shadow big, high-scoring wingers.Sutter has mostly used him at left wing on a line with center Ron Sutter and rookie right winger Nelson Emerson. Shanahan does see powerplay time, though he doesn&rsquo;t get the minutes Hull and Oates do.Since he didn&rsquo;t kill penalties either, he plays about half as much as Hull and Oates.&ldquo;At the start of the year, I was growing impatient,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;Brian kept telling me to be patient, that I had a long future ahead of me. I was still the youngest guy on the team. There was a lot of time ahead.&rdquo;If Oates is indeed traded, Shanahan would be thrust into a more prominent role.General manager Ron Caron seems to be building his offensive future around Shanahan, Emerson and University of Michigan star Denny Felsner, who could arrive in time for the Stanley Cup playoffs.Shanahan wants to become one of the Blues&rsquo; leaders.&ldquo;Part of that is being a leader on the ice and leading by example,&rdquo; Shanahan said.&ldquo;It was kind of hard to start all over again in St. Louis. Now I&rsquo;m trying to prove that I can be a leader here.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-03

No explosion yet

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>Fifty-goal scorers have always been part of an exclusive club in NHL circles. So they&rsquo;d better prepare a membership card with Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s name on it.Not only is the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; center zeroing in on the magic 50-goal mark for the first time in his career he had 38 goals in 54 games&mdash;the 22-year-old dynamo has a shot at the club record of 58 set by the immortal Bobby Hull in 1968-69.Only two Hawks have ever scored at least 50 goals in a season. Hull did it five times and Al Secord once. Secord scored 54 in 1982-83.&ldquo;Getting 50 would be exciting, but I&rsquo;m not even thinking numbers yet,&rdquo; said Roenick, who had a career-high 41 last year. &ldquo;All I want is 41, then one more than that. Then I&rsquo;ll know I&rsquo;ve improved this season.&rdquo;Hawks&rsquo; defenseman Steve Smith thinks Roenick has the potential to go way beyond the 50-goal mark.&ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;s thinking about more than 50 because if this team is going to be successful, he has to score,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;All the things he has to contribute, the Hawks can&rsquo;t do without.&rdquo;Smith pays Roenick the ultimate compliment by comparing him to Mark Messier, Smith&rsquo;s former teammate in Edmonton.&ldquo;The only guy I can think to compare him to is a young Mark Messier,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so fast. And when Jeremy Roenick hits people, believe me, he hurts them. The only thing is maybe he doesn&rsquo;t have the mean streak of Mess.&rdquo;Modesty prevents Roenick from dwelling too much on his potential to score 50 goals.&ldquo;Dwelling on that would be selfish,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go out there and hog the puck.&ldquo;If I do get 50, I&rsquo;ll get the puck and put it on the wall right next to where I hope my Stanley Cup trophy goes someday.&rdquo;NOONAN OUT: The Hawks might have won three of the first five games on their seven-game road trip, but they lost four players to injury.The most serious was right winger Brian Noonan, who suffered a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Jan. 30 at Vancouver.Noonan, the Hawks&rsquo; fourth-leading scorer with 17 goals, was to undergo arthroscopic surgery Feb. 3 to find out the extent of the injury.If further damage was found, he would be out for the rest of the season. If it was a partial tear, Noonan would be back for the playoffs.Defenseman Keith Brown and left wingers Stephane Matteau and Dan Vincelette were also hurt. Brown sprained his right ankle and Matteau broke his left foot Jan. 27 against Calgary. Vincelette sprained his left knee in practice Jan. 26.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Jimmy Waite was forced to stay in the minors at Indianapolis of the International League after clearing waivers. Waite was assigned to Indianapolis Jan. 1 for a conditioning stint at his own consent. He demanded to be renamed to Chicago when it was finished, but had no choice other than staying after clearing waivers.Brent Sutter scored his 300th career goal Jan. 27 at Calgary.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Paul Gillis, C. traded to Hartford for future considerations. Jan. 28: Rob Conn, LW, and Steve Bancroft, D. recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). Jan. 30: Ryan McGill, D, and Brad Lauer, LW, recalled from Indianapolis. Bancroft assigned to Indianapolis Jan. 31: Conn assigned to Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick. Brent Sutter. Mike Hudson. Jocelyn Lemieux.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet. Rob Brown, Greg Gilbert. Brad Lauer.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, John Tonelli. Mike Peluso.LD&mdash;Frantisek Kucera, Steve Smith. Cam Russell.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Bryan Marchment, Rod Buskas, Ryan McGill.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, sprained right ankle, Feb. 17. Stephane Matteau. LW, broken left foot, indefinite. Brian Noonan, RW, left knee surgery, indefinite. Dan Vincelette, LW, sprained left knee, indefinite. &#9632;

Roenick on verge of joining exclusive 50-goal club

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>Once Doug Gilmour and Cliff Fletcher were reunited, they didn&rsquo;t take long to make each other happy.Gilmour, who joined Fletcher&rsquo;s Toronto Maple Leafs in the monster Toronto-Calgary deal Jan. 2, did his part by registering 19 points in his first 11 games as a Leaf and helping to pull winger Glenn Anderson out of a season-long slump.Fletcher, in turn, has rewarded Gilmour with a four-year deal that will make the feisty center the NHL&rsquo;s 19th millionaire and the second-highest paid Leaf at $1 million per season. Only goalie Grant Fuhr, at $ 1.6 million, earns more.&ldquo;When Cliff took me, he knew I wanted a longer-term contract and he satisfied me,&rdquo; said Gilmour who was scheduled to sign the deal in the first week of February.It was Calgary&rsquo;s lack of interest in giving Gilmour either the length of contract or dollar figure he was looking for that precipitated the trade. Gilmour walked out on the Flames New Year&rsquo;s Day after an arbitrator awarded him $750,000. Gilmour was asking for $1.2 million.SCHILL THRILL: For Dave Schill, it was a long way from Junior B. That&rsquo;s where the 22-year-old Schill played last year when he starred with the Waterloo Siskins, But Feb. 1, he was the backup goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the New Jersey Devils (6-4 win) due a series of odd circumstances.The day before, veteran backup Rick Wamsley left the team for a few days due to the death of his father. That forced the Leafs to call up Damian Rhodes from their American League affiliate in St. John&rsquo;s. Rhodes is usually the backup to highly-touted prospect Felix Potvin, but Potvin had not returned to action from a knee injury.Rhodes was scheduled to arrive in Toronto the next morning but a snowstorm in Moncton, N.B., prevented planes from flying in or out. Robert Horyna, No. 5 on the depth chart and a frequent fill-in at Leaf practices, was also in St. John&rsquo;s due to Potvin&rsquo;s injury.That left the Leafs with no recourse but to turn to Schill, who doesn&rsquo;t appear in either the Toronto or NHL media guide.Schill, who plays for the Brantford Smoke of the Colonial League, wasn&rsquo;t pressed into action and Rhodes arrived to take his place the next day.NOTEBOOK: The Maple Leafs stretched a modest winning streak to four games with a 6-4 win over New Jersey Jan. 29, the first time in two years they won four straight&hellip; Dave Hannan was awarded a $260,000 (U.S.) salary by NHL arbitrator Al Hinnegan Jan. 27. Hannan earned $ 180,000 last year, but had been looking for $300,000 when his hearing was held Nov. 27. The Leafs were offering $200,000. Hannan is playing with the Canadian Olympic team.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for the Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 1: David Schill, G, recalled on amateur tryout from Brantford (CHL). Feb. 2: Schill assigned to Brantford (CHL). Damian Rhodes. G, recalled from St. John&rsquo;s (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Peter Zezel. Brian Bradley, Claude Loiselle.LW&mdash;Mike Krushelnyski, Wendel Clark, Mike Bullard. Guy Larose, Rob Cimetta.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Lucien Deblois, Kevin McClelland, Daniel Marois.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Jamie Macoun, Todd Gill.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Ric Nattress. Bob Halkidis, Darryl Shannon.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Rick Wamsley, Damian Rhodes.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mike Follgno, RW, broken left leg, indefinite Kevin Maguire, RW, bruised back, indefinite. &#9632;

Gilmour gets big reward

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>Is Tim Cheveldae burning out?That&rsquo;s what critics were charging after the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goalie gave up nine goals on 24 shots in a tie with Buffalo (4-4 Jan. 29) and a loss to New Jersey (6-3 Jan. 31) at Joe Louis Arena. Cheveldae failed to finish either game.&ldquo;Chevy&rsquo;s fine. Don&rsquo;t be blaming Chevy,&rdquo; said veteran backup Greg Millen. &ldquo;Everything that went in was hitting something on the way in.&rdquo;Wings&rsquo; coach and GM Bryan Murray may be more tired of facing questions about his goaltender&rsquo;s stamina than Cheveldae is of facing pucks. Yet Murray also knows that it is a question that weighs heavily on Stanley Cup-hungry fans in Detroit. Cheveldae had seen action in 50 of the Wings first 51 games, starting 49.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s tough for a guy to play every night in this league, but I&rsquo;m not worried about Tim,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the one who should be pointed at.&rdquo;Cheveldae, himself, seemed unconcerned that he was pulled in two consecutive starts.&ldquo;Truthfully, I feel like I haven&rsquo;t played all that bad the last couple of games,&rdquo; Cheveldae said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a long season and you&rsquo;re going to have ruts like that.&rdquo;And for the record, Cheveldae said he is not tired.&ldquo;No, I feel fine,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Right now, it&rsquo;s frustrating for myself and for the team. It&rsquo;s just one of those stretches when it&rsquo;s not a lot of fun.&rdquo;WHAT A RELIEF: Greg Millen fortified the confidence of his new teammates with two strong relief appearances against Buffalo and New Jersey.In 35 minutes against the Devils, Millen stopped all 12 shots he faced. Against Buffalo two nights earlier, Millen played the final 15 minutes, stopping all 13 shots he faced while teammates forged a comeback with three third-period goals.Millen not only made the saves against the Devils but tried to inspire his team by skating out of his crease to challenge several Devils.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s from being a veteran,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He tried to help get his teammates into the game.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Red Wings won their arbitration battle with New Jersey after signing enforcer Troy Crowder but statistics showed they were losing the war.The Devils were getting far more mileage out of Randy McKay and Dave Barr than the Wings were out of Crowder, who has missed all but the first three games this season because of a herniated disc in his back. New Jersey, which had asked for Bob Probert as compensation, has received nice dividends from their new right wingers. McKay had seven goals and 12 points and was leading the Devils with 160 penalty minutes through Jan. 31. Barr had five goals and 15 points. Crowder was pointless with no penalty minutes and is out of the lineup indefinitely.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 26: Bobby Dollas, D, assigned to Adirondack (AHL). Feb. 2: Keith Primeau, LW, recalled from Adirondack. Feb. 4: Dollas recalled from Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Jimmy Carson, Sergei Fedorov.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Bob Probert, Shawn Burr, Keith Primeau, Brian MacLellan.RW&mdash;Kevin Miller, Ray Sheppard, Paul Ysebaert.LD&mdash;Nicklas Lidstrom, Vladimir Konstantinov. Yves Racine.RD&mdash;Brad McCrimmon, Brad Marsh, Steve Chiasson, Bobby Dollas, Doug Crossman.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Troy Crowder, RW, bulging disc in back, indefinite.Alan Kerr, RW, broken foot, indefinite. Vincent Riendeau, G, right knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Chevy insists he has plenty of miles left on him

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>Craig Ludwig isn&rsquo;t Bob Gainey&rsquo;s drinking buddy anymore, but the North Stars didn&rsquo;t bring the veteran rearguard to Minnesota to keep the coach company.Ludwig and Gainey shared more than a few swigs as teammates for seven seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, but the nature of their relationship has changed dramatically.Ludwig no longer sees Gainey as an equal, a teammate to joke around with. Gainey&rsquo;s now the boss and Ludwig must answer to him.&ldquo;There are things you can say and ways you can say them player to player that you just can&rsquo;t say or do player to coach,&rdquo; Ludwig said. &ldquo;The way I&rsquo;ve been taught, you don&rsquo;t question your boss.&ldquo;As a young player in Montreal, he and Larry Robinson really helped me learn about the NHL. Now that Bob&rsquo;s my coach, the best thing I can say about him is that he&rsquo;s really straight forward with his players. You know where you stand.&rdquo;Ludwig came to the Stars from the Islanders on June 22 of last season. He was involved in a three-way trade that sent Dave Babych to Vancouver and Tom Kurvers to Long Island.The North Stars have been more than pleased with their acquisition. Ludwig has brought a steadying influence to their often shaky blue line.&ldquo;Whenever a player goes to a new team, he wants to show he can live up to his reputation and he usually tries to do too much. That&rsquo;s how he often gets in trouble,&rdquo; Ludwig said. &ldquo;But I feel I&rsquo;ve done well.&rdquo;SLUMP ENDS: Much has been made of center Neal Broten&rsquo;s scoring slump.But it finally ended Jan. 28 in Hartford when Broten scored the winning goal in a 4-3 win. It was his first goal since Oct. 19.&ldquo;The win feels a heck of a lot better than the goal,&rdquo; Broten said. &ldquo;I was the most surprised guy in the building when it went in.&rdquo;Broten&rsquo;s goal came in his 761st game with the North Stars, the most anyone has ever played with Minnesota. He also holds the Stars&rsquo; record for points (749) and assists (516).NOTEBOOK: The Stars and Hartford Whalers were each fined $1,000 after they didn&rsquo;t report to their respective benches during a second-period fight in their game Jan. 28&hellip;The Stars&rsquo; win over Hartford was their first when trailing after two periods. They had a 1-18-1 record in 20 games when trailing after two periods.Left winger Brian Bellows is on the verge of passing Dino Ciccarelli as the North Stars&rsquo; all-time leading goal-scorer. He had 329 through Feb. 3, and needed three goals to tie him. But Bellows hadn&rsquo;t scored in eight straight games.The Stars&rsquo; standing-room-only crowd against the New York Rangers Feb. 1 (2-1 loss) was the seventh full house in nine home dates in 1992.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Todd Elik, Dave Gagner, Neal Broten. Marc Bureau, Bobby Smith.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Brian Propp, Gaetan Duchesne, Derrick Smith.RW&mdash;Ulf Dahlen, Mike Modano, Mike Craig, Basil McRae.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Al Pedersen. Enrico Ciccone.RD&mdash;Chris Dahlquist, Jim Johnson. David Shaw.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shane Churta, RW, back spasms, day-to-day. Stewart Gavin, RW, strained groin muscle, day-to-day. Derian Hatcher, D. broken right ankle, indefinite. Rob Ramage, D, left knee surgery, Indefinite Mark Tlnordl, D, bruised left hip. day-to-day. &#9632;

Ludwig adjusting to new relationship with boss

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>Now that Brett Hull has joined Wayne Gretzky in the record books as the only two-time members of the NHL&rsquo;s exclusive 50-50 club for scorers of 50 goals in a season&rsquo;s first 50 games, the next question is&hellip;what does Hull do the rest of this season for an encore?Will he surpass his 86-goal output of last season, the third-highest single-season total in NHL history? Will he challenge Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s NHL record of 92 goals? What about 100 goals? Could he possibly do it?As St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron once said, &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s possible until it&rsquo;s proven impossible,&rdquo; but in Hull&rsquo;s case, with the turmoil surrounding the Blues and Adam Oates, Gretzky&rsquo;s record and 100 are unlikely.And based on back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh (4-1 Feb. 1) and Philadelphia (5-1 Feb. 2) in which Bob Errey and Keith Acton shadowed Hull into oblivion, Hull may be hard-pressed to top 80 goals.Hull, who scored No. 50 Jan. 28 in Los Angeles, needed 28 goals in the Blues&rsquo; last 27 games to reach 80 (he had 52 goals in 53 games through Feb. 3). Very attainable under normal circumstances but the shadowing and the Oates situation had Hull in a deep funk.Caron has been trying to trade Oates since the center went public with his pay-me-or-trade-me demand.The prospect of Oates leaving-which seems certain now-has been weighing on Hull for weeks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to fathom,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a thought that baffles me. He&rsquo;s such an unbelievable player. There&rsquo;s no one in the league worth giving him up for, except the obvious&hellip;&rdquo;Such as?&ldquo;The big guys,&rdquo; Hull said in reference to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;ll guarantee you that won&rsquo;t happen.&rdquo;When asked how much of his success he attributes to Oates, Hull said: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s very easy. All of it. That&rsquo;s not being modest. It&rsquo;s being honest.&rdquo;And honestly, without Oates, Hull says he won&rsquo;t be the same.TRADE TALKS: Caron has talked with at least 10 teams about Oates, with the hottest rumors involving the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers.The Kings reportedly turned down a deal in which Oates and defenseman Paul Cavallini would have been sent to L.A. for winger Tony Granato and defenseman Rob Blake.Ranger GM Neil Smith squelched a deal in which Oates, Jeff Brown and Nelson Emerson would have been swapped for Tony Amonte, James Patrick and Darren Turcotte.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m inquiring, but there&rsquo;s nothing there,&rdquo; Caron said.NOTEBOOK: After being removed from Brett Hull&rsquo;s line, Adam Oates took extra long shifts to get some playing time with Hull, drawing criticism from teammate Ron Sutter. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing new, but it&rsquo;s all magnified by what&rsquo;s going on with him,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just him, Hullie does it, too, and it hurts the guys that are coming up next.&rdquo; Oates returned to Hull&rsquo;s line after Ron Sutter suffered a sprained knee in Pittsburgh Feb. 1&hellip;Rookie Jason Marshall made his NHL debut against San Jose (4-2 win Jan. 30), playing in place of injured veteran Lee Norwood, and two nights later in Pittsburgh, Marshall scored his first NHL goal.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 30: Jason Marshall. D, recalled from Peoria (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, Nelson Emerson, Michel Mongeau, Ron Wilson.LW&mdash;Dave Christian, Brendan Shanahan, Bob Bassen, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Rich Sutter, Dave Lowry, Darin Kimble.LD&mdash;Lee Norwood, Paul Cavallini, Murray Baron.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Rick Zombo, Garth Butcher.G&mdash;Curtis Joseph, Guy Hebert.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kelly Chase, RW, bruised left knee, day-to-day. Pat Jablonski, G, pulled groin, day-to-day.Ron Sutter, C, sprained left knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Hull’s nifty 50-in-50 tempered by Oates’ imminent departure

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>He has become an overnight sensation&mdash;and it took him only eight years.Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Jean-Jacques Daigneault is playing the best hockey of what has been a checkered career; one in which he has spent nearly as much time in the minors as in the NHL.With 15 points and a plus-14 rating through 51 games, Daigneault is playing remarkably well for someone long considered a high-risk player.The man they call JJ. is finally enjoying some good times after enjoying years of hard times. It&rsquo;s ironic that a player who made his name as an offensive force in junior hockey has finally found a place with the most defense-minded team in the NHL.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s having a hell of a year for them-not to my happiness,&rdquo; said Ed Johnston, general manager of Adams Division rival Hartford Whalers. &ldquo;He moves the puck well and his overall play has picked up.&rdquo;Daigneault, 26 and in his eighth pro season, easily considers this year his best. He says he has matured, is more disciplined, is playing with confidence and is healthy for the first time in ages.It&rsquo;s hard to believe that less than two years ago, in 1990, Daigneault was languishing in the American League. Only last June, the 5-foot-ll, 185 pounder wondered where he fit in with the Canadiens&rsquo; organization after Montreal failed to protect him in the expansion draft. San Jose selected a Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman, minor leaguer Jayson More, over Daigneault.&ldquo;I think I did have something to prove, not only to (the Canadiens), but to myself,&rdquo; Daigneault said.Daigneault, an avid art collector and musician, learned how to play a number of diverse instruments, like the guitar, piano and harmonica in a relatively short time period. But it took him years to leant how to play defense. Even at that, it took a trade to the Canadiens and hours of tutelage from Pat Burns and assistant coach Jacques Laperriere before he could make the grade.It was only natural Daigneault should enter the NHL believing he was the second-coming of Bobby Orr. He had 84 points during his final season of junior with Longueuil (1982-83) and was named the Quebec League&rsquo;s top defenseman.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011583/6674727-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="944" height="2057"><figcaption class="caption-body">Through the bad times, J.J. Daigneault said he never considered giving up hockey. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>But Vancouver, which drafted him 10th overall in 1984, thrust Daigneault into a regular role before he was ready.&ldquo;We asked him to do it before he could, and that thwarted his development,&rdquo; said Harry Neale, the Canucks&rsquo; general manager at the time.Daigneault spent two seasons with the Canucks before requesting a trade; losing had simply become too much of a burden for him.He was dealt to Philadelphia in 1986. Daigneault played a full season with the Flyers in 1986-87, but again lacked consistency.From that point, his career got progressively worse and seemed to be going nowhere even after he was traded to Montreal in 1988.Through it all, Daigneault persevered.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not always nice, maybe it&rsquo;s no fun, to be in the minors, but there&rsquo;s always something to be learned,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t happy being down there, but in the mornings when I woke up, I never had any thoughts of doing something else.&rdquo;Daigneault was back in Montreal at the start of 1989-90, only to be dispatched to the farm in Sherbrooke halfway through the year. It was to be his last minorleague stint.&ldquo;I was hard on him,&rdquo; Burns said. &ldquo;Laperriere and I (repeatedly) sat him down and told that he couldn&rsquo;t play like he was. He was taking lots of chances that would cost him; chances that he couldn&rsquo;t get away with.&ldquo;He was tough to crack at times. I would take him out of the lineup and he would bitch and complain. But he realizes now that if he plays within his limits, he can play in the NHL&rdquo;.Daigneault said coming to the Canadiens, the team he dreamed of playing for while growing up in the Montreal suburb of Ville Emard, salvaeed his career.Daigneault, signed a one-year contract this season calling for $275,000 annually and is on the threshold of joining other big-money Montreal defensemen like Petr Svoboda, Eric Desjardins and Mathieu Schneider.&ldquo;He should be commended for the fact he hung in there to get the chance,&rdquo; Neale said. &#9632;

f0012-01

Second Coming

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021278/6674758-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="368" height="481"></div>Bobby Orr has been out of a Boston Bruins&rsquo; sweater now for going on 20 years. Nonetheless, grown New Englanders still choose No. 4 first in those rare moments when they leave their jobs and families behind to skate in weekend pickup games.Boys of winter from Massachusetts to Maine and through Canada will be going on seventysomething and Orr&rsquo;s No 4 always will hold some magic, a presence, a degree of majesty that makes them feel bigger than life when they escape to their own displays of ineptitude on ice. Falling down with a No. 4 on their backs may still smart, but it forever will guarantee them a certain grace amid their own shattered fantasy.Bostonian tots and teens of today think much the same way about No. 77. What Bobby Orr was, to fans of the Beatles, Woodstock and campus unrest, Ray Bourque now is to the generation that plugs into INXS, late-night TV rock shows and the politically-correct law schools. The NHL has expanded four-fold in the era spanning Orr-to-Bourque. We live in different times, when players are better known for their salaries and free-agent status than their skating style and point totals.Bourque, though, has proven the perfect bridge in time and style. He has quietly endured the endless comparisons to No. 4, sweetly surrendered his original No. 7 for a proper Phil Esposito retirement, and steadfastly piled up the points that by the end of January had him on the threshold of becoming only the third defenseman ever to break 1,000 points (behind Paul Coffey and Denis Potvin). Orr finished with 915 points at age 30, his knees too tired to continue. Bourque turned 31 in December and still had the spring of a man in his mid-20s.The measure of Bourque&rsquo;s greatness will not be his connection to the Big, Bad Bruins, his revolutionizing the position of defense or his number being worn ad infinitum by the kids of today into their seniority of tomorrow. He has played in a far different era, in a time when the Bruins were not resurging but maintaining, when defense was played on the attack rather than in front of the goalie.Rather than change the position, Bourque has taken it for what it is today and then set the standard for 130 to 150 NHL defensemen to follow each season. Like Potvin before him, he has done that now for nearly a decade. His greatness has been his near-perfect blend of quality and endurance, perhaps not as eyecatching, sensational or charismatic as Orr, but equally as impressive and unparalleled.If Brian Leetch wins the Norris Trophy this season as the league&rsquo;s best defenseman, it could be the first sign that the position&rsquo;s invisible torch is being passed. If so, Bourque now will play out his thirtysomethings as the gentlemanly curator of the position instead of its skating standard of excellence. Leetch one day, no doubt, will follow Bourque&rsquo;s ruts straight to the Hall of Fame.There may never be a Stanley Cup for Bourque in Boston. Unlike Orr, he has never been surrounded by an over abundance of gifted, gritty players. His younger years found him parked behind good scorers, but stationed in front of weak goalies. Later, when the net was fixed, the Bruins&rsquo; ability to score often approached the anemic.He&rsquo;ll break 1,000 points in February and likely finish 1991-92 as Boston&rsquo;s top scorer for the sixth time in eight years. An offense so rear-loaded is rarely a ticket to a championship. One Boston forward equal to Bourque&rsquo;s statistics all these years might have meant two or three Stanley Cups.In a span of 13 seasons, Bourque has won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year and the Norris Trophy four times. He has lived through five coaches-six, if we count Harry Sinden&rsquo;s role as short reliever&mdash;and a steady wave of trade rumors, the most recent a tale that had him headed to Quebec City for Eric Lindros.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I could do it-not to him,&rdquo; said Mike Milbury, once one of Bourque&rsquo;s fellow defensemen, then his coach and now Boston&rsquo;s assistant general manager. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m not saying that just because of his performance, but because of the person he is. No question, he&rsquo;s a marketable commodity, but he&rsquo;s also what this organization is all about. He epitomizes everything that we try to get every player to be. He works his hardest every night. He cares for his teammates. He&rsquo;s a family guy. In every way, he&rsquo;s a model citizen.&ldquo;Some things are&mdash;and I hesitate to use the word-some things are sacred. He&rsquo;s as close to that as anything I know in Boston. He&rsquo;s the essence of the game and the organization.&rdquo;Bourque is defense of today, perhaps better than anyone ever will be tomorrow. &#9632;

f0012-02

Bourque still setting defensive standards

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; right winger Russ Courtnall has been in extreme pain all year, thanks to an early season slash on his right hand by Minnesota&rsquo;s Jim Johnson.But recent comments by former Canadien-tumed-broadcaster Mario Tremblay have hurt Courtnall even more.Tremblay criticized Courtnall on La Soiree du Hockey (the French version of Hockey Night in Canada) Jan. 26, saying, unlike other players, Courtnall is unable to play with pain.Tremblay made the comments during the second intermission of the Canadiens-Hartford Whalers broadcast. He asked just how serious Courtnall&rsquo;s hand injury is-especially since the speedy winger spent the entire all-star break in New York with his fiancee.Courtnall was livid with Tremblay&rsquo;s accusations.&ldquo;For him to question whether I want to play or not&hellip;it&rsquo;s just complete bull,&rdquo; Courtnall said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s full of hot air, making comments where he doesn&rsquo;t have the facts. He backstabbed me.&rdquo;Tremblay, who stood by his accusation, refused to apologize.To make matters worse, former Canadiens&rsquo; coach Jean Perron, now a broadcaster in Quebec City, claimed Courtnall&rsquo;s injury was not the result of Johnson&rsquo;s slash, but due to a barroom scuffle outside a suburban Montreal tavern.Courtnall denied Perron&rsquo;s allegations. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t gone to a bar for three months,&rdquo; he said.The last time Courtnall did go to a bar-in September after the Canada Cup-he wound up on the losing side of a scuffle. The police were called but no charges were laid.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting the impression the only thing I&rsquo;m good for these days is big headlines. I&rsquo;m starting to believe I&rsquo;m the victim of a conspiracy.&rdquo;The accusations have turned Courtnall&rsquo;s forgettable year into a nightmare. The Canadiens&rsquo; leading scorer last year with 26 goals and 76 points has missed all but six games this season.WHAT A GUY: How much did the Canadiens miss their captain and premier checking center, Guy Carbonneau when he was sidelined with a rib injury?Consider this: The Canadiens-who were leading the league when Carbonneau went down Jan. 11 with a broken rib-went 2-3-2 in the seven games he missed.However, Carbonneau was just one of eight regulars out of the lineup over that span.NOTEBOOK: Denis Savard was booed by Canadiens&rsquo; fans for the first time he can remember Jan. 29 at the Forum. The Canadiens lost 4-3 to New Jersey that night&hellip; Goalie Patrick Roy was given a night off Jan. 31 against Buffalo (a 5-3 loss) after starting 15 straight games. Andre Racicot started in his place.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Patrice Brisebois, D, and Ed Ronan, RW, assigned to Fredericton (AHL). Jan. 30: Jesse Belanger. C, assigned to Fredericton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Stephan Lebeau, Kirk Muller, Paul DiPietro.LW&mdash;Mike McPhee, Gilbert Dionne, Shayne Corson, John LeClair.RW&mdash;Brerrt Gilchrist, Denis Savard, Sylvain Turgeon, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Jean-Jacques Daigneault, Petr Svoboda, Mathieu Schneider.RD&mdash;Eric Desjardins, Lyle Odelein, Sylvain Lefebvre, Alain Cote.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot<h3>INJURIES</h3>Benoit Brunet, LW, broken right ankle, indefinite Russ Courtnall, RW, bruised right hand, day-to-day. Mike Keane, RW, left ankle sprain, day-to-day. Roland Melanson, G, strained grain, day-to-day. Mario Roberge, LW, strained left thigh, indefinite. Brian Skrudland, C, broken nose, day-to-day. &#9632;

Is Courtnall victim of a conspiracy? He thinks so

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>Cam Neely, so relieved Jan. 29 after learning there was nothing seriously wrong with his left knee, was sent almost all the way back to square one five days later.Neely, who sustained serious damage to his left thigh in the Bruins&rsquo; final playoff game of 1991, missed this season&rsquo;s first 38 games. Just nine games into his comeback, however, fluid developed in the his left knee and he was shelved again.Though team physicians were hopeful Neely simply needed rest, the knee didn&rsquo;t respond and Boston&rsquo;s two-time 50-goal scorer underwent arthroscopic surgery Feb. 3. It was not know when, or if, Neely would return this season.During the procedure, a fractured piece of cartilage that had come off the joint surface was removed. Neely was to be hospitalized for just one night, but then was to be hooked up to a continuous passive motion (CPM) machine for three weeks.Bob Carpenter, who fractured his kneecap during a game in December, 1990, also used a CPM during his recovery. The device aids therapy by continuously moving a joint.A team of three physicians who examined Neely said the knee injury appeared related to his thigh injury, which Neely sustained from a leg check dished out by Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman Ulf Samuelsson. The doctors said in a statement issued by the team they were unable to determine when Neely could return from the surgery.Neely skated lightly on a few occasions after the optimistic tests of Jan. 29, including the team&rsquo;s first annual Skills Competition the day before the surgery. The knee, however, became more painful and began clicking.Neely scored nine goals and three assists in his short comeback.DANDY ANDY: Bruins&rsquo; president Harry Sinden wasn&rsquo;t exactly thrilled when goalie Andy Moog signed a multi-million dollar deal with the team Jan. 20. To Sinden, the estimated $900,000 (U.S.) per year, three-year pact represents another example of a salary structure gone wild.But the Bruins&rsquo; boss never said Moog didn&rsquo;t deserve to be among the NHL&rsquo;s best-paid goalies.And Moog proved his worth by leading the team to an impressive 8-01 streak through Feb. 1.Like the rest of the Bruins, Moog was fabulous in January. He posted a 2.20 GAA in nine starts, cutting his season GAA to a respectable 3.05.NOTEBOOK: Glen Murray was an emergency recall from Sudbury of the Ontario League Jan. 27 and scored his first NHL goal in a 4-2 win over Quebec Jan. 28. He was returned to Sudbury the next day.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Lyndon Byers, RW. recalled from Maine (AHL). Jan. 28: Bob Beers, D. recalled from Maine; Glen Murray, RW, recalled from Sudbury (OHL). Jan. 29: Murray returned to Sudbury. Feb. 1: Scott Amiel, LW. and Barry Pederson, C, recalled from Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Vladimir Ruzicka, Craig Janney, Bob Sweeney, Ken Hodge, Barry Pederson.LW&mdash;Oave Reid, Brent Ashton, Bob Carpenter, Lou Crawford. Scott Amiel.RW&mdash;Steve Leach Chris Nilan.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Gord Murphy. Stephane Quintal, Bob Beers.G&mdash;Andy Moog, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Andy Brickley, LW. right rotator cuff surgery, indefinite. Lyndon Byers, RW, bruised right middle finger, day-to-day. Brian Dobbin, RW, lower back bruise, day-to-day. Glen Featherstone. D, back surgery, indefinite. Jeff Lazaro, LW, sprained right knee, indefinite Reggie Lemelln. G, strained left hamstring, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW, left knee surgery, indefinite.. Dave Poulin, C, abdominal surgery, indefinite. Dave Thomlinson, LW, lower back pain, indefinite. Jim Vesey. C, right shoulder surgery, indefinite. Jim Wiemer, D, strained groin, indefinite. &#9632;

Neely’s sudden knee surgery cuts like a knife

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>For the second time in his career, Clint Malarchuk had a brush with death.The 30-year-old goalie-who almost bled to death after having his jugular vein slashed by an errant skate blade in a game against the St. Louis Blues on March 22, 1989-mixed pain medication with alcohol in an attempt to get a good night&rsquo;s sleep after a Super Bowl party Jan. 26.The potion knocked him unconscious and he was rushed by ambulance to the Erie County Medical Center where he was revived by doctors.&ldquo;I went through hell,&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the most traumatic experience I&rsquo;ve ever had. The biggest mistake of my life.&rdquo;It was also way out of character. Malarchuk, a social drinker, had been given a prescription pain medication for a stomach ailment that was diagnosed during a road trip in St. Louis and Pittsburgh.He attended a party in Buffalo where he said he had &ldquo;three or four beers.&rdquo; He went home, took his medication and had another drink.&ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t been sleeping well,&rdquo; Malarchuk said. &ldquo;I was in pain and I mixed the two thinking maybe I could concoct almost a sleeping pill because it does say on the medication if taken with alcohol you can get drowsy. I thought, &lsquo;Great.&rsquo; &ldquo;Malarchuk was embarrassed by his mistake and knows rumors are inevitable.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to hurt to hear things,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I care what people say I know what they&rsquo;re going to think. But this is an opportunity for me to say, &lsquo;Yeah, I made a mistake.&rsquo; It was an accident.&rdquo;HOT SHOTS: The Sabres are red hot, but they can&rsquo;t seem to gain ground in the Adams Division.They went 8-0-2 in their last 10 games at home and 4-0-2 in their last six overall. They beat Montreal twice, the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins in Pittsburgh and tied the Bruins in Boston.But they remained nine points behind the Bruins in the race for second place in the Adams Division through Feb. 3.NOTEBOOK: Alexander Mogilny&rsquo;s request to have his 10-game suspension reduced to three was denied after a hearing with league vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill. Mogilny attempted to argue he accidentally struck linesmen Dan Schachte during the first period of a 4-3 loss to St. Louis Jan. 21&hellip; Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s streak of six-straight games with at least one goal (the club record is eight) ended in the 5-3 win over Montreal Jan. 31. He scored again the next night in Boston and had 36 points in 14 games in the month of January.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 3: Rick Dudley named minorleague scout.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine, Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Snuggerud, Colin Patterson.LW&mdash;Randy Wood, Dave Andreychuk, Tony Tanti, Brad May, Rob Ray.RW&mdash;Donald Audette, Alex Mogilny, Jody Gage. Rick Vaive, Gord DonnellyLD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger, Grant Ledyard, Ken SuttonRD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Kevin Haller, Brad Miller, Jay WeHs.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Clint Malarchuk G, adverse reaction to medication, day-to-day. &#9632;

Malarchuk’s brush with death teaches him valuable lesson

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>How the mighty have fallen. And where they&rsquo;ll land is anyone&rsquo;s guess.Ron Tugnutt, Randy Velischek and Alexei Gusarov-three veterans who were being counted on to help lead the Quebec Nordiques this season-were assigned to the team&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Halifax in a series of surprise moves.Velischek&rsquo;s and Tugnutt&rsquo;s departures from Quebec may prove to be permanent.Tugnutt, the 24-year-old goalie whose future looked so bright entering this season, has been a disappointment and was sent to the AHL along with Gusarov following an embarrassing 82 loss at Edmonton Feb. 2. But only Gusarov was on the plane that was to bring the pair back to Quebec.Tugnutt decided to disembark in Toronto, visit his parents and lay low.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather not say anything that I would regret later,&rdquo; said Tugnutt who hadn&rsquo;t ruled out not reporting to Halifax. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to study my options and then I&rsquo;ll see.&rdquo;In 30 games before his demotion, Tugnutt had a 6-17-3 record, a 4.02 goals-against average and a .864 save percentage.Velischek, meanwhile, cleared waivers and was assigned to the Citadels Jan. 27. The 30-year-old defenseman, who had two assists in 16 games, believed he was leaving Quebec for good. That his picture was removed from the Nords&rsquo; dressing room wall was a less-than-subtle hint.&ldquo;I was prepared for this,&rdquo; said Velischek, who was used in a limited role by coach-general manager Pierre Page. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s two months left this season, so I&rsquo;m going to Halifax to try and help them. There simply isn&rsquo;t any room for me here.&ldquo;I was treated like a king my year and a half here. If I had the choice, I would stay put. My wife Kathy, who is American, loves it.&rdquo;But Quebec has players in the same mold-Curtis Leschyshyn, Craig Wolanin, Adam Foote and Steven Finn&mdash;and they&rsquo;re all younger.Velischek still has a year to go on his contract. With expansion, he hopes to find an NHL job next year.Gusarov, a talented defenseman.also accepted his demotion with a positive attitude and the team hoped his stay in Halifax would be short.&ldquo;The big problem with Alexei is that he plays without emotion,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good hockey player, a veteran at 26. I&rsquo;m sure a few days in Halifax will do him the world of good and get him back on track.&rdquo; Gusarov had two goals and 13 points in 41 games for the Nordiques.NOTEBOOK: Joe Sakic&rsquo;s bout with bursitis became more serious than a day-to-day injury. His left ankle got infected where some fluid had been extracted. He isn&rsquo;t expected back until Feb. 17 at the earliest&hellip;Valeri Kamensky is aiming to make his NHL debut March 3 against Buffalo.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Randy Velischek, D, assigned to Halifax (AHL). Jan. 28: Bryan Fogarty, D, assigned to New Haven (AHL). Jan. 30: Stephane Charbonneau, RW, and Kevin Kaminski, C, assigned to Halifax Jan. 31: Greg Smyth, D, recalled from Halifax. Feb. 2: Ron Tugnutt, G, and Alexei Gusarov. D, assigned to Halifax. John Tanner, G, recalled from Halifax.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Marc Fortier, Jamie Baker, Claude Lapointe. Kip Miller, Ken McRae.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Tony Twist, Wayne Van Dorp, Doug Smail.RW&mdash;Owen Nolan, Mats Sundin, Herb Raglan, Greg Paslawski.LD&mdash;Curtis Leschyshyn, Steven Finn, Dan Lambert.RD&mdash;Mikhail Tatarinov, Adam Foote, Craig Wolanin. Greg Smyth.G&mdash;John Tanner, Jacques Cloutier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Fiset, G. sprained left knee, indefinite. Stephane Guerard, D, right knee surgery, indefinite. Valeri Kamensky, LW, fractured left leg, indefinite. Joe Sakic, C, bursitis left ankle, indefinite. &#9632;

Big three take the big fall

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>If Paul Gillis had tried to enter the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; dressing room in 1987, there would have been a fullscale riot.Then again, there are people who believe Paul Gillis could start a riot in an empty room.But this is 1992, not 1987, and one of the most notorious opponents in Whalers&rsquo; history was welcomed with open arms by a club desperate for penalty killing and grit down the middle.That&rsquo;s why Whalers&rsquo; general manager Ed Johnston acquired Gillis, 28, from Chicago Jan. 27 for future considerations-which Johnston says will be a small price tag.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very, very soft at the center spot,&rdquo; Whalers&rsquo; coach Jim Roberts said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t seem to intimidate the other centers.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why Terry Yake was assigned to Springfield of the American League Jan. 26 Second-year center Andrew Cassels has been in the press box recently and James Black was recalled from Springfield Jan. 25 and joined Gillis in the lineup.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a guy to go up against centers like Craig Janney. We&rsquo;ve been looking and waiting,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting down there on the schedule. We needed a guy there to kill penalties, take face-offs and make matters miserable for other centers. We don&rsquo;t have a Kirk Muller, but this adds grit.&ldquo;Ronnie Francis can attest to Gillis. His arms are probably still sore from getting whacked.&rdquo;Along with Chris Nilan, Claude Lemieux, Dale Hunter, Mike Milbury and Michel Bergeron, Gillis is right up their as the hockey personalties Hartford loved most to hate. He seemed to be on a one-man mission to hurt Ron Francis over the years.Gillis, acquired by Chicago at the March trade deadline after eight seasons in Quebec, played only two games for the Blackhawks this season and spent the rest of the time with Indianapolis of the International League.&ldquo;My shoulders (a source of much pain in his career) are fine and I believe I still can play in the NHL,&rdquo; Gillis said.&ldquo;Gillis, that little disturber,&rdquo; said tough guy Jim McKenzie. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of talented guys here, but a lot of quiet guys, too. Gillis can really fire things up. I think it can help.&ldquo;As far as him starting things and somebody else finishing it, that&rsquo;s no big deal. I think I played with the alltime manure disturber in Theoren Fleury in Moose Jaw in juniors. Nobody can stir it up more than Theoren and leave you hanging. I got used to it. I didn&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;REUNION TIME: The Whalers crossed paths with former coach Rick Ley in Vancouver for the first time since he was fired May 29.The moustache was gone and Ley-coach Pat Quinn&rsquo;s right-hand man-has found happiness working for the most surprising team in the NHL. But he still has little use for Whalers&rsquo; owner Richard Gordon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011355/6674885-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="550" height="1164"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Ley is still bitter towards Richard Gordon over his firing.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Richard Gordon actually did me a favor,&rdquo; Ley said. &ldquo;Because it was just a matter of time before he pulled the plug on me. It gave me a chance to get on with my life and give them a chance to get on with a new coaching staff.&ldquo;If it didn&rsquo;t happen last May, it could have happened a week or two into the season and I&rsquo;d be in a worse position. If Richard had been astute enough, he would have seen that if you keep making changes at the management level, all you&rsquo;re asking for is trouble.&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t have stability at the top, you&rsquo;ll never have it in your ranks. I coached my last 15 games wondering if I&rsquo;d get fired after each game.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It&rsquo;s streak time: The Whalers&rsquo; 4-4 tie in Vancouver Feb. 1 extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3) at Pacific Coliseum dating to Feb. 1, 1985. But the Whalers took an 11-game winless streak (0-7-4) into their first trip to San Jose Feb. 4. The club record is 12 in 1982-83. The Whalers also had gone 31 successive attempts on the power play since Jan. 15 without a goal.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 25: Paul Gillis, C, acquired from Chicago for future considerations. James Black. C, recalled from Springfield (AHL). Jan. 26: John Stevens, D, and Terry Yake, C, assigned to Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;John Cullen, Geoff Sanderson, Paul Gillis, James Black, Andrew Cassels.LW&mdash;Murray Craven, Mikael Andersson, Jim McKenzie, Paul Cyr, Randy Cun neyworth.RW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Bobby Holik, Ed Kastelic, Yvon Corriveau, Mark Hunter.LD&mdash;Zartey Zalapski, Randy Ladouceur, Steve Konroyd.RD&mdash;Doug Houda, Marc Bergevin, Adam BurtG&mdash;Kay Whitmore, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brad Shaw, D, right knee strain, day-to-day &#9632;

f0016-01

Instigator Gillis added to stir teammates and opponents

<div class="byline">By Igor Kuperman and Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011211/6674916-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Viktor Tikhonov is going for his third-and possibly last-Olympic gold medal as head coach of the Commonwealth of Independent States. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;Tikhonov is the system itself. Distant, cold, all powerful.&rdquo; &mdash;Ken Dryden,&nbsp;Home Game</blockquote>It was a cold morning in March, 1980. Viktor Tikhonov&rsquo;s mighty Soviet national team had just lost the gold medal in the Winter Olympics to a bunch of college kids from the United States.Leonid Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet Union and the Communist party, had requested a meeting with Tikhonov. He had failed in his first Olympics and expected the worst.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be upset Viktor,&rdquo; Brezhnev said, hugging the coach. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter that Team USA won the Olympics. I know for sure that our guys are better than the Americans.&rdquo;Brezhnev, a huge hockey fan, knew what he was talking about. No country in the world has been better on a consistent basis than the Russians under Viktor Vasilevich Tikhonov. No coach has been as successful as Tikhonov but there is likely not a coach in the world who has been regarded with such disdain by his players.Tikhonov, who has the symbolic rank of colonel in the Red Army, has run the national team and the Central Red Army team like a boot camp since he took over in 1977. He has had unprecedented success-two Olympic titles, eight world championships, a Canada Cup, 12 national titles with Red Army and an amazing record of 488-67-62&mdash;and has enjoyed omnipotent rule. &ldquo;I think he would prefer to work with robots,&rdquo; says Viacheslav Fetisov, now with the New Jersey Devils. &ldquo;People who don&rsquo;t know what family, friends and relationships mean. That will be ideal for Tikhonov.&rdquo;As Tikhonov prepares his team for its Olympic gold medal defense in Meribel, France, he faces his most challenging task as a coach. For the first time, the Commonwealth of Independent States is on equal ground with other countries who don&rsquo;t have access to their best players for the tournament. Although few hockey observers would be surprised to see the CIS skate off with the gold medal in France, it is anything but a lock for first place.Political upheaval has radically changed the complexion of the former Soviet Union. It has also changed hockey there. No longer does Tikhonov&rsquo;s Red Army team have divine right over the best players; no longer is the hockey federation supplied with unlimited funds to develop players and produce &ldquo;special hockey bread&rdquo;-gold medals. Freedom of choice has made the NHL the league of choice for young players.But Tikhonov&rsquo;s most daunting challenge may be keeping his job. A hard-line communist who is approaching his 62nd birthday, Tikhonov is unlikely to bend. So the biggest question now is: can a hockey dictator survive in an era of democracy?&ldquo;No,&rdquo; says former Soviet national team superstar Igor Larionov, now of the Vancouver Canucks. &ldquo;He is so stupid, he has never changed his methods but the players have changed. He still expects players to be in training camps 11 months of the year. If they win it&rsquo;s all because of him, if they lose it&rsquo;s because the players did not play well enough. I think he will lose his job.&rdquo;Others aren&rsquo;t quite so sure about that. While the Soviet Union has made great strides in democracy, the hockey community has lagged behind. Everything is so unstable that a change might do more harm than good. Some say a gold medal in Meribel will allow Tikhonov to leave a winner, while others say it will vindicate him and make it even more difficult to unseat him.Another problem is a lack of a suitable replacement. That has made Tikhonov seem invincible in the past and may work in his favor now. He remains a tireless worker and continues to dedicate his life to hockey.&ldquo;Many times I was invited to work with foreign clubs,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I always refused. What would happen to our hockey if I ever agreed? Who would be in charge? Nobody.&rdquo;The two leading candidates for the job would appear to be Vladimir Yurzinov, the coach of Moscow Dynamo, and Igor Dmitriyev, coach of the Soviet Wings. Yurzinov has guided Dynamo to the last two Soviet Elite League titles over Red Army.&ldquo;The only problem is that all the coaches there are communist hard-liners so there wouldn&rsquo;t be much difference,&rdquo; says Lawrence Martin, author of The Red Machine, a book about Russian hockey. &ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t been pushed aside yet. There is no young blood to take things over.&rdquo;Even Tikhonov&rsquo;s most vocal detractors do not deny his strategic genius and ability as a coach. As a marginal defenseman with the Air Force and later Moscow Dynamo, Tikhonov was a shrewd player who would have been a star if his talent level had been equal to his intelligence. His work ethic, developed since the age of 10 when he worked full shifts repairing buses in Moscow, is impeccable. As a player he spent two hours before every game working on his stick.Tikhonov got his first coaching job with Dynamo Riga in 1968. It was there he pioneered the use of five-man units and four forward lines instead of three. With teams based on speed, discipline and hard work, Tikhonov won titles at the first and second division levels before elevating his team into the Elite League. Tikhonov accomplished more in five years than most Russian coaches do in a lifetime.Early in his career, he developed a win-at-all costs mentality that has not abandoned him. Players say his obsession with winning has no end.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t understand why our best players played so badly against Dynamo in Riga,&rdquo; recalls one player. &ldquo;Then I noticed that some good looking girls attended their rooms the night before the game. The girls spent the night only with the best players on our team. We called these girls &lsquo;The Blue Division.&rsquo;&rdquo; When asked about that Tikhonov responds, &ldquo;Do you have any questions about hockey?&rdquo;In 1977, Tikhonov was hired to coach Red Army and the national team and made his mark immediately.Superstar and captain Boris Mikhailov saw his ice time reduced dramatically under his new coach and Valeri Kharlamov was cut from the national team just before the 1981 Canada Cup.Tikhonov reportedly had a stick swinging match with former Soviet star Helmut Balderis during one practice and punched Alexander Mogilny during a World Championship game.&ldquo;Why do you think (Pavel) Bure and Mogilny and (Sergei) Fedorov left?&rdquo; asks Larionov. &ldquo;They wanted to play in the NHL, sure, but they wanted away from Tikhonov, too.&rdquo;Recent times have not been good to Tikhonov. The Soviets lost the World Championships to Sweden last year and finished a disappointing fifth in the Canada Cup. And now the NHL is competing for his players.&ldquo;Everybody is going crazy about money right now,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Even 16-year-old players dream about the NHL, not the national team.&rdquo;Tikhonov has said in the past he will not step down and will have to be fired. He has also said Russian hockey cannot survive without him. Some players, though, can&rsquo;t live with him.&ldquo;I know that as long as he is coach of the national team,&rdquo; Larionov says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to play there. &#9632;

f0017-01

Viktor Victorious

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011246/6674947-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A low shot total is one reason why Edmonton&rsquo;s Craig Simpson is on just a 24-goal pace. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>Close your eyes and it&rsquo;s easy to picture a typical Craig Simpson goal.Okay, not so easy this year-he had just 16 in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; first 54 games-but give it a shot anyway.Back to the goalie, he tips home a point shot or chips in a rebound while an opposition defenseman stencils the logo of his stick across some portion of Simpson&rsquo;s anatomy. Simpson winds up celebrating while flat on his back.Garbage goals. Goal-scorers pay the price to get them. And they rely on them. Simpson, who has made a good living on offensive refuse, can&rsquo;t remember the last time he scored one of those.&ldquo;It has been a weird kind of a season but the only thing I&rsquo;m really disappointed in is my goal production,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At some key times I could have helped the team with a timely goal.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not what a 16-goal output has done to him or to his chances of bumping a $655,000 salary next year that matters to him. It&rsquo;s the fact that goal-scorers get paid to score goals so the team can win games that bothers the former 56-goal man, now on pace for 24. It would be his worst total since his rookie year of 198586, when he had 11 in 76 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who drafted him second overall in 1985.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be really disappointed if I felt I wasn&rsquo;t helping the team out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My game has been strong at both ends of the ice. I&rsquo;ve been forechecking and creating opportunities. The missing piece of the puzzle is putting the puck in the net.&rdquo;Simpson said he has changed the way he thinks on the ice, the way he enters the offensive zone with the puck, the way he attacks the net. And they haven&rsquo;t been changes for the better.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone through stretches where I haven&rsquo;t had a lot of breaks,&rdquo; said Simpson, who had 87 shots in 53 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not getting the easy goals. A lot of that is my fault because I&rsquo;m not shooting. I&rsquo;ve passed up some great opportunities to get good shots or score and I&rsquo;m looking to make the play. The second after I make the pass I&rsquo;m thinking, &lsquo;Why the hell did I pass?&rsquo; You can&rsquo;t expect to be sitting with 30 goals.&rdquo;The Oilers have come to expect 30 goals a year from Simpson, who has delivered seasons of 30, 29, 35 and 43 after the Nov. 24, 1987 trade that brought him to Edmonton along with Dave Hannan, Moe Mantha and Chris Joseph. Paul Coffey, Dave Hunter and Wayne Van Dorp were sent east in the deal.&ldquo;Simmer and I would both be happy with a few more goals, although I don&rsquo;t have any bonuses for them,&rdquo; chuckled coach Ted Green. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed in his goal production but I think Simmer has been one of the hardest-working guys on the team. He&rsquo;s busting his butt every shift in every game to get this thing turned around for him.&rdquo;Simpson plays left wing on a line with center Anatoli Semenov and right winger Scott Mellanby. It has a high-potency potential. Mellanby&rsquo;s hands are underrated and he&rsquo;s good in the comers. Semenov is a brilliant playmaker. And Simpson is supposed to be the trigger man.But things have yet to unfold the way they did when he played with Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson during most of the past four seasons. Simpson and Anderson both suffered when Messier was dragged down by injuries last year and played only 53 games. Anderson scored 24 times. Simpson had 30.&ldquo;With Mess and Andy, I didn&rsquo;t have to look,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew where they&rsquo;d be.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s confident he will rediscover that sixth sense. Maybe he&rsquo;ll get hot in the playoffs. Maybe the Oilers will make the playoffs if he gets hot sooner than that. He may have lost his touch, but he hasn&rsquo;t lost his head or any sleep worrying about his bargaining position after this year.&ldquo;My confidence level is the important thing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been able to keep my head about myself through it. I can&rsquo;t say I haven&rsquo;t been incredibly frustrated but when push comes to shove, I can contribute.&ldquo;In the playoffs I play my best hockey. With our team, that playoff run is right now in January.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Slim Pickings

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02919/6674985-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="366" height="469"></div>Let&rsquo;s see. In the past two years, NHL referees have received special directives on restraining fouls, stick fouls, crease interference and most recently, checking from behind.In addition to cracking down on all of the above infractions, referees must enforce a 79-page rulebook that includes 86 different regulations, some of which have up to 13 different subsections.So for 60 to 65 minutes a night, one man is asked to watch 12 players and try to separate real fouls from dives; to follow the puck but also to follow the play away from the puck with his peripheral vision. He must keep up with the pace of the game in an era when the skating has never been faster and make two-dozen split-second decisions every night.Try it just once and you&rsquo;ll discover how difficult the task is. And it just gets more and more complicated every season as the league&rsquo;s policy makers decide how they want the game to evolve.Now you cannot argue with the league&rsquo;s objectives. On the matter of reducing restraining fouls, for example, its logic is sound: too many marginally-talented players were mugging the NHL&rsquo;s stars, causing the overall level of hockey to drop.Accordingly, the league figured if the referees called every possible restraining foul, sooner or later the message would sink in. Teams would do less holding, stars would get more room to operate and the game&rsquo;s entertainment level would improve.Safety played a major part in the other three directives. The league wanted players to become more responsible for controlling their sticks. So they introduced a major penalty and a game misconduct for players who draw blood with their sticks. They made life a little safer for goalies by forcing players to skirt the crease. They want to avoid the possibility of serious neck or back injuries by eliminating hitting from behind. They&rsquo;re all good ideas-except for one thing: the message does not appear to be getting through. Rather than seeing a cleaner version of hockey, we&rsquo;re getting games that feature an endless parade to the penalty box.The Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks were on pace to play a man short more than 500 times each this season. That has never happened before. Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto will all serve 450 penalties if this keeps up. Last season, only two teams played shorthanded more than 400 times.Does anybody enjoy this crackdown? Not the players. They can&rsquo;t get into the flow of a game if there&rsquo;s a penalty every couple of minutes. Not the coaches. If they&rsquo;re not trying to harpoon officials, they&rsquo;re maligning the ancestry of that night&rsquo;s referee. Not the fans. They&rsquo;re just not showing up in many towns.Perhaps the solution is to implement a plan they talked about a couple of years ago: use two referees in every game and move the linesmen off the ice. If the linesmen sat right along the blue line, they could call offsides and icings the way tennis linesmen call the service line.The problem then is, what do you do about fighting? To make this system work, you&rsquo;d have to follow Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s advice and ban it altogether make it so uncommon that the odd time a fight did break out, the two referees could step in after the players had punched themselves out.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03634/6674978-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="543" height="738"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr</figcaption></div>The major complaint from GMs and coaches used to be that there was no consistency from night to night. Some referees would call everything. Others would swallow their whistles and call almost nothing. The result? You couldn&rsquo;t get a read on how a referee would call the game.In effect, the league now finds itself in a Catch-22 situation. If the referee does call everything, the players and coaches charge he wants to be the center of attention. If he uses discretion and lets some things go, then the Mario Lemieuxs and Jaromir Jagrs start screaming about inconsistency.Thus, despite all its good intentions, the league has created something of a regulatory jungle here. Just don&rsquo;t blame the referees. Amid the confusing signals they&rsquo;re receiving from all sides, they&rsquo;re trying to muddle through an extremely demanding job the best way they know how. &#9632;

f0018-02

Don’t blame the refs for regulatory on-ice mess

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnas</div>Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; coach Ted Green believes some of his defensemen need &ldquo;a meaner demeanor&rdquo; if they are going to play regularly.It certainly applies to Chris Joseph, who failed to make the seven-man defensive roster because he didn&rsquo;t play a physical game.&ldquo;Chris has got a lot of skills,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a little soft in some areas. Apparently he has improved that in the minor leagues.&rdquo;Joseph knows he must play tougher if he&rsquo;s to stay in Edmonton after being recalled from Cape Breton of the American League Jan. 30.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to get more emotion in my game. It&rsquo;s not something that comes naturally. I&rsquo;ve got to work at it.&rdquo;Joseph hasn&rsquo;t forgotten his Oct. 14 trade request that coincided with his demotion to the minors and confirmed that by saying if things don&rsquo;t work out in Edmonton, he still wants out of the organization.Joseph&rsquo;s stats have done the talking for him in the AHL. In 41 games he had 11 goals, 30 points, 54 penalty minutes and was minus-1.&ldquo;You sometimes get the feeling down there the world has forgotten about you,&rdquo; Joseph said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to get a bad attitude and fall into a rut. But there are worse places on earth.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Martin Gelinas broke an 18-game goal-scoring slump against Chicago Jan.29. He hadn&rsquo;t scored since Nov. 27. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what to do after this goal, where to put my hands,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Greg Hawgood was plus-5 with an assist in four games for Edmonton but was demoted to Cape Breton Jan.30. &ldquo;Hawgie proved a lot of points,&rdquo; Ted Green said. &ldquo;The problem being you just need a little more size on defense. But he&rsquo;s an intelligent hockey player with a super attitude.&rdquo;A high stick from Quebec&rsquo;s Wayne Van Dorp&rsquo;s broke Brian Glynn&rsquo;s nose Feb. 2 but there was no penalty. The Oilers sent a tape to the NHL. &ldquo;It was a vicious, intended slash to a person&rsquo;s face,&rdquo; Green said. Van Dorp said it was an accident.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 30: Peter Ing, G, and Chris Joseph, D, recalled from Cape Breton (AHL). Greg Hawgood, D, assigned to Cape Breton.ROSTERC&mdash;Anatoli Semenov, Bemie Nicholls, Craig MacTavish. David Maley, Josef Beranek.LW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Vince Damphousse, Martin Gelinas. Mark Lamb.RW&mdash;Scott Mellanby, Joe Murphy, Petr Klima, Kelly Buchberger.LD&mdash;Geoff Smith, Dave Manson, Luke Richardson.RD&mdash;Brian Glynn, Norm Maciver, Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Norm Foster, Peter Ing.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Louie DeBrusk, LW, separated right shoulder, day-to-day. Kevin Lowe, D, right shoulder rotator cuff strain, day-to-day. Craig Muni, D pinched nerve in left shoulder, day-to-day. Bill Ranford, G, hamstring pull, day-to-day. Esa Tikkanen, LW, left shoulder surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Green looking for ill will

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>Before crashing on the ice at the Winnipeg Arena, the San Jose Sharks nearly crash-landed at the city&rsquo;s airport.The Sharks had to endure an aborted landing and a near accident Feb. 1 because of heavy fog in the Winnipeg area. The Sharks lost 6-0 to the Jets the next night.The Sharks were on a commercial flight en route to Winnipeg Feb. 1 after making a connection in Minneapolis. They wound up spending three hours in Fargo, N D, however, after the pilot aborted his first attempt to land in Winnipeg because he missed the runway.&ldquo;I looked out the window and saw buildings and the ground,&rdquo; said Ken Arnold, the Sharks&rsquo; assistant director of media relations. &ldquo;The next thing I knew, we were going straight up.&rdquo;The pilot found the runway the second time but slammed the plane down so hard a few ceiling panels fell to the floor.&ldquo;He just threw it to the ground from about 50 feet,&rdquo; winger Perry Berezan said. &ldquo;I guess those planes are designed to handle that, but I didn&rsquo;t like it very much.&rdquo;&ldquo;I thought for a second there we might be holding steady at 11 wins for a long time,&rdquo; defenseman Ken Hammond said.LIFE OF BRIAN: A frustrating season has come to a premature end for Sharks&rsquo; goalie Brian Hayward.Hayward, 31, is suffering from a herniated disc in his back and has been advised to take the rest of the season off.The back problem has plagued Hayward all year, limiting him to only seven appearances, including just four starts.Team physician Dr. Arthur Ting said he doesn&rsquo;t believe the problem is serious enough to require surgery, but that might become an option if Hayward is experiencing pain in six months.NOTEBOOK: J.F. Quintin, who led the Sharks in scoring in the pre-season but has missed the regular season because of a severe knee injury, has resumed playing for Kansas City of the International League.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kelly Kisio, Mike Sullivan, Steve Bozek, Dean Evason, Tony Hrkac.LW&mdash;Brian Lawton, Brian Mullen, Paul Fenton, David Bruce, Perry Anderson.RW&mdash;Perry Berezan, Pat Falloon, Wayne Presley. Jeff Odgers.LD&mdash;Jayson More. Doug Wilson, Rob Zettler. RD-NeH Wilkinson, David Williams, Bob McGill. G-Jarmo Myllys, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ken Hammond, D, pulled groin, day-to-day. Link Gaetz, D bruised right shoulder, day-to-day. Brian Hayward, G, herniated disc in back, out for season. &#9632;

On-ice fog continues after shaky plane ride

The way Bryan Stoothoff has been tending goal on Long Island, he might be bringing back memories of Billy Smith or Chico Resch.But the nine-year-old resident of Blue Point, N.Y., was named after another former New York Islander great-center Bryan Trottier.Stoothoff plays goal for the Suffolk County PAL mite team and in 26 games this season had a 2.46 goals-against average and eight shutouts. He allowed just six goals in a recent four-game tournament.The 4-foot-10, 98-pounder is a Grade 4 student at Blue Point Elementary School who likes to draw pictures of NHL goalies in his spare time.Stoothoff&rsquo;s favorite team is the New York Islanders and his favorite player is Calgary Flames&rsquo; goalie Mike Vernon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011037/6675064-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="552" height="952"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Stoothoff</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be a 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, attention: 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;

f0020-01

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Phil Housley is a busy man, and a modest one.With his on-ice production continuing at a near 100-point clip, there&rsquo;s a new element to Housley&rsquo;s season.The matter of recognition, specifically the Norris Trophy race, became front and center following the all-star break as the Winnipeg Jet star rearguard put up eight goals and 16 points during an 11-game stretch.The concentration on awards began Jan. 30, when Housley was a guest on CJOB radio&rsquo;s open line show in Winnipeg and was peppered with questions about his standing among the NHL&rsquo;s best defensemen.The week continued with columns and stories in the newspapers about Housley&rsquo;s Norris Trophy chances and what the Jets&rsquo; organization was doing to promote him.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel uncomfortable being recognized as a Norris Trophy candidate but yes, I feel uncomfortable talking about myself,&rdquo; said Housley, who, after 54 games, led NHL defensemen with 19 goals and 67 points. He was also on course to surpass his personal-best total for points in one season, 81 with Buffalo in 1989-90, and his own Jets&rsquo; record for points in a season by a defenseman, 76 last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m being put in a position to say things I don&rsquo;t like to say about myself,&rdquo; he said.Being a great distance from the media centers of the league, the question of what the Jets are doing or should do to promote Housley was raised. Jets&rsquo; communications director Mike O&rsquo;Heam said the club is hesitant to get into an all-out sales war and would instead rely on personal contact with members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.&ldquo;I think they (the Jets) are going to go about it the right way,&rdquo; Housley said. &ldquo;I know there are other teams that push their players for awards by sending out tapes and I think writers are aggravated by teams trying to tell them things they already know.&rdquo;WHITEWASH WEEK: Bob Essensa broke his franchise record for shutouts in one season by turning a double play in the space of six days.Essensa blanked Pittsburgh 4-0 with 38 saves Jan. 28, then San Jose 6-0 with 40 saves Feb. 2.The 27-year-old goalie grabbed the NHL lead with five shutouts, three on the road and none with fewer than 34 saves. He has 11 career shutouts in 145 games. In his 16 wins this season, Winnipeg was outshot in 15.NOTEBOOK: The fresh-faced look the Jets decided on in October had changed by the end of January. When the club sent center Stu Barnes to Moncton Jan. 31, it ended the hopes for scoring from freshmen Barnes and Russ Romaniuk. also in Moncton. Barnes sat out three of five games after the all-star break and left with eight goals and 17 points in 46 games&hellip;Another rookie, 26-year-old Luciano Borsato, had four goals and six points in three games, giving him 26 points in 32 games.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 31: Stu Barnes, C, assigned to Moncton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Troy Murray, Luciano Borsato, Mike Eagles, Rob Murray.LW&mdash;Darrin Shannon, Doug Evans, Phil Sykes, Aaron Broten, John LeBlanc.RW&mdash;Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDermid, Mike Hartman.LD&mdash;Teppo Numminen, Shawn Cronin, Randy Carlyle. Igor Ulanov.RD&rsquo;hil Housley, Fredrik Olausson, Mario Marois.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Stephane Beauregard, Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Danton Cole. RW, strained left knee ligament, Feb. 18.Bryan Erickson. RW, abdominal surgery, March 25.Dean Kennedy, D, left knee surgery, out for season. Ed Olczyk. LW, dislocated left elbow, sprained left ankle, March 17. Mark Osborne, LW, hairline fracture left ankle. Feb. 24. Thomas Steen, C, back pain, day-to-day. &#9632;

Low-key Housley prominent among Norris candidates

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>As a player who just played in his 500th NHL game, Joel Otto knows the difference between the two types of trade rumors.&ldquo;There are the ones where another team wants you,&rdquo; said Otto who played No. 500 against Washington Feb. 1, &ldquo;and the ones where a team is trying to get rid of you.&rdquo;Fortunately, for Otto, whenever his name comes up in trade discussions, it&rsquo;s usually for the first reason. This year&rsquo;s destination of choice is somewhere in the Patrick Division outside of New York.As the New York Rangers slowly pull away, their three main competitors-Washington, Pittsburgh and New Jersey-look at Otto as a possible means of neutralizing Mark Messier&rsquo;s effectiveness in the playoffs.Messier and Otto were frequent dance partners in the glory days of the Battle of Alberta. Ever since Messier moved east, there has been speculation Otto would follow.The quality that sets Otto apart from other big centers is he&rsquo;s unusually fast on his feet. He is also a good faceoff man and relishes the challenge of playing against someone of Messier&rsquo;s calibre.Whether he&rsquo;ll get to do that as a member of a Patrick Division team remains to be seen. That he is in the option year of his contract could be somewhat of an obstacle. If he doesn&rsquo;t work out a new deal by July 1, he becomes a free agent. Negotiations between his agent, Don Baizley, and Flames&rsquo; coach-general manager Doug Risebrough are only in the preliminary stages.There is also a fear that if the age for unrestricted free agency drops a year in the new collective bargaining agreement, the 30-year-old Otto will be able to make his own deal with any NHL team and compensation would not be required.NEW DEAL: Captain Joe Nieuwendyk became the second-highest paid player in team history when he signed a three-year, $2.5-million contract Jan. 28.Nieuwendyk will earn $800,000 this season and $850,000 in the final two years of the deal. In addition, the Flames included a number of bonuses tied to the team&rsquo;s regular-season and playoff performance. If Nieuwendyk cashes those, his total package could be worth $1 million per season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very excited and very pleased,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;I think the Flames are showing a commitment to keep me happy.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The mood of the team was turning ugly as it had dropped five in a row through Feb. 2. Witness Joel Otto and Gary Roberts, who dropped the gloves in practice &ldquo;Tempers flared,&rdquo; Otto said. &ldquo;It was just one of those things. He&rsquo;s a competitive guy and we need more of those on this team&rdquo;.The Flames lost Jim Kyte for at least two months because of a dislocated fracture of his right ankle sustained in a Jan. 27 fight with Chicago&rsquo;s Mike Peluso. The injury is virtually identical to one right winger Tim Hunter sustained also in a fight-in early December.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Neil Sheehy, D, recalled from Salt Lake (IHL). Jan. 28: Joe Nieuwendyk. C, signed three-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Theo Fleury, Joel Otto, Robert ReichelLW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Paul Ranheim, Tomas Forslund, Carey Wilson, Marc Habscheid.RW&mdash;Sergei Makarov, Ron Stem, Craig Berube, Gary Leeman, Martin Simard.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Frank Musil, Trent Yawney. Alexander Godynyuk.RD&mdash;AI Maclnnis, Michel Petit, Mark Osiecki, Neil Sheehy.G&mdash;Mike Vernon, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tim Hunter. RW, dislocated fracture, left ankle, indefinite. Jim Kyte. D. dislocated fracture, right ankle, indefinite. &#9632;

Otto show still strong at 500but will it move to east coast?

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; sophomore center Petr Nedved has refused to withdraw his trade request despite increased ice time and productivity.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to comment on that question right now,&rdquo; the controversial 20-year-old said following Vancouver&rsquo;s 4-1 victory Jan. 30 over the Chicago Blackhawks.The game was highlighted by the first two-goal performance of Nedved&rsquo;s career. It also marked the first time this season he was named one of the night&rsquo;s three stars.Nedved placed a huge burden on his own shoulders when he publicly demanded a trade Jan. 20. And he had been held pointless for 11 straight games when he walked into Pat Quinn&rsquo;s office Jan. 12 and told the Canuck boss he wants out of the organization, citing a lack of playing time and the feeling he had reached a dead end in Vancouver. Nedved scored four goals and seven points in the eight games after the meeting.&ldquo;After I made my comment in the paper, I didn&rsquo;t feel very comfortable around the guys,&rdquo; admitted Nedved, picked second overall in the 1990 entry draft. &ldquo;The team was winning and maybe the timing wasn&rsquo;t the best. But I felt I had to do it.&rdquo;The fans in Vancouver showed a great deal of class by applauding the young Czechoslovakian rather than booing him for disrupting team harmony. In another place, or another time, he might have been run out of town.Quinn, meanwhile, has been consistent in his approach to the controversy by not discussing it in the media.OVERCONFIDENT: As the Canucks leave their underdog status behind, they are suddenly experiencing trouble in their new-found role as favorites.Playing a top team presents no problem. It&rsquo;s handling the lesser lights that poses a motivational handicap.Quinn was livid after the Canucks blew a 4-2 third-period lead against Hartford Feb. 1.The Whalers, in the midst of a 10-game winless streak, came back for a 4-4 tie.&ldquo;There are a lot of nights when you don&rsquo;t have emotion but you must be professional in your approach and you must be able to focus on what your jobs are,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;When you ask about areas we need to work on, we need to work really hard on that. We&rsquo;re not a professional group of athletes yet.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Canuck payroll has increased by about 42 per cent in just over a year, jumping to $8,341,000 from $5,892,000. And it figures to become a lot higher next season with the team&rsquo;s unexpected success. &ldquo;You have to pay the price,&rdquo; said Canuck vice-chairman Arthur Griffiths, who seems almost pleased to be handing out big contracts&hellip; Griffiths maintains the team will not let goaltender Kirk McLean &ldquo;get away.&rdquo; McLean is playing out his option this season.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Igor Larionov, Tom Fergus, Petr Nedved.LW&mdash;Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams, Sergio Momesso. Gino Odjick.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, Jim Sandlak, Ryan WalterLD&mdash;Dave Babych, Dana Murzyn, Randy Gregg, Jim Agnew.RD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Troy Gamble.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Robert Dtrk, D, sprained left knee, indefinite. Robert Kron, RW, fractured ankle, March 12.Garry Valk. LW, strained left shoulder. Feb. 10. &#9632;

Nedved’s fortunes reversed but trade stance hasn’t

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>When it comes to handling a lead, the Los Angeles Kings are about as clueless as bumbling Inspector Clouseau.If it weren&rsquo;t for the 12 games in which they had turned leads of two or more goals into losses or ties through Feb. 2, the Kings would have been in first place instead of battling for a playoff spot.The Kings had lost five of them And tied the other seven; that&rsquo;s 17 prints they&rsquo;ve blown. The Kings were only 7-4-4 in games when they take a 2-0 lead, with four of the wins coming at San Jose&rsquo;s expense.&ldquo;Obviously you have to be concerned any time you give away points,&rdquo; coach Tom Webster said. &ldquo;But the only thing you can do after the fact is to find the reasons why.&rdquo;The reasons are simple enough. The Kings either play too cautiously or take too many risks when games are on the line.&lsquo;Time, place and score. Those are the three factors we always talk about,&rdquo; Webster said. &ldquo;In certain situations you have got to make a high-percentage play.&ldquo;On the other hand, you don&rsquo;t want to go into a shell.&rdquo;HRUDEY&rsquo;S HOT: Goaltender Kelly Hrudey made his eighth consecutive start a memorable one, making 25 saves in a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 1 at the Forum.Hrudey had a 3-1-4 record to go along with a 2.64 goals-against average during this stretch as rookie backup Darryl Gilmour waited to make his NHL debut.The way Hrudey has been playing of late, Gilmour may be in for a long wait.&ldquo;I just stood there,&rdquo; Hrudey said of his 13th career shutout, his seventh as a King. &ldquo;We had tenacious forechecking and great backchecking.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to make some progress.&rdquo;Hrudey played in all but seven minutes of the Kings&rsquo; last 10 games through Feb. 2.NOTEBOOK: Charlie Huddy tracked a rib in the third period of the Chicago game and is out indefinitely&hellip;Jeff Chychrun learned just before the game against the Blackhawks that his mother had suffered a heart attack and passed away. The defenseman, acquired from Philadelphia in the offseason, was scratched from the lineup and left Los Angeles that evening to be with his family in Ottawa.Officially, Tom Webster had a 100-83-28 record as Kings&rsquo; coach, but that includes the 10-20-2 record the team compiled while he was sidelined with illnesses or suspensions&hellip; With a 20-20-11 record, the Kings needed 26 wins in their final 29 games to match last season&rsquo;s total. They needed 51 points to match last year&rsquo;s points total.Kelly Hrudey had 10 ties, equal or better than any other team in the NHL&hellip;The normally high-scoring Kings have experienced a drop-off this season. Through 51 games they had 181 goals for an average of 3.55 per game. That was tied with Vancouver but behind Calgary (3.73) and Edmonton (3.63).<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 1: Peter Ahola, D, recalled from Phoenix (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky. Scott Bjugstad, Corey Millen, John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Tony Granato, Luc Robitaille, Mike Donnelly, Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Jari Kurd, Bob Kudelski. Kyosti Karjaiainen, Dave Taylor. Jim Thomson.LD&mdash;Rob Blake, Brian Benning, Larry Robinson. Brent Thompson.RD&mdash;Jeff Chychrun. Marty McSorley, Peter Ahola, Tim Watters.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey. Darryl Gilmour.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Charlie Huddy.D, cracked rib. indefinite. Tomas Sandstrom, RW, partially dislocated right shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

Hollywood’s team not comfortable in leading role

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01911/6675198-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div>Good things frequently come in small packages in college hockey, but that&rsquo;s not necessarily how it works in the NHL.Smaller players are frowned upon by most big-league scouts and as a result, some of this year&rsquo;s top NCAA Division 1 players are facing a premature end to their competitive careers.Northern Michigan center Scott Beattie, Lake Superior State goaltender Darrin Madeley, Maine center Jim Montgomery, and St. Lawrence center Mike Lappin fall into that category. Each is also the leading candidate for his league for the the Hobey Baker Award for the outstanding college player.Beattie, Madeley and Montgomery are all undrafted. Lappin&rsquo;s rights belong to the Chicago Blackhawks, but he was selected in the 12th round (237th overall) of the 1987 entry draft and may not be offered a contract.&ldquo;These guys won&rsquo;t be handed any opportunity,&rdquo; a prominent NHL scout says. &ldquo;Smaller guys will always be doubted. Theoren Fleury &ldquo;could become a free agent tomorrow and 10 teams wouldn&rsquo;t want to sign him.&rdquo;Adds another scout: &ldquo;Teams want big, strong, fast skilled players. If you&rsquo;re small, you&rsquo;re missing one of the ingredients. It&rsquo;s tough to make anyone bigger. You can work on skating and skills.&rdquo;Ironically, skating ability and physical skills are qualities that make these players great.<h2>Not beating down door</h2>At 5-foot-7, 175 pounds, Scott Beattie is anything but intimidating. But the 23-year-old Kimberley, B.C., native is more than just a diminutive, high-scoring center on one of college hockey&rsquo;s most prolific lines.Beattie feeds on action and won&rsquo;t shy away from a physical game. &ldquo;He has no fear of traffic,&rdquo; Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley says. &ldquo;He won&rsquo;t initiate hitting, but he&rsquo;ll take a hit to make a play and will go to the net.&rdquo;Beattie&rsquo;s best attributes are speed and skill. He led the nation with 89 points in 46 games last season, and was among the leaders in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this year with 57 points in 25 games.While he will take a pounding to score, Beattie always has the option of dishing off to two larger linemates-6-foot-2, 208-pound junior Jim Hiller and 6-foot-l, 180-pound senior Dallas Drake.Hiller and Beattie played together with the Melville Millionaires of the Tier 11 Saskatchewan Junior League, before being recruited to Northern Michigan. Since then, Beattie has blossomed. Because he was a freshman at 21, he only three years of NCAA eligibility.Beattie, a senior, maintains he wants to continue his career at the minor pro level next season. But he knows he&rsquo;ll need to do some major convincing to earn a spot.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02610/6675191-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="571" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darrin Madeley hasn&rsquo;t given pro hockey much thought. Unfortunately, pro hockey hasn&rsquo;t given him or St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Mike Lappin (inset) much thought. (Photo by Liz Rattaeie)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I guess the thing that really aggravates me is the prejudice against smaller players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not being two or three inches taller affects my whole life. It&rsquo;s hard to believe two or three inches makes that big of a difference.&ldquo;You have to fight your way to the top, but I definitely want a chance. I&rsquo;ve done this all my life and I don&rsquo;t want it to end.&rdquo;<h2>Custom Madeley</h2>Like Beattie, Lake Superior goalie Danin Madeley hasn&rsquo;t exactly drawn rave reviews from pro scouts. While size isn&rsquo;t really a problem he&rsquo;s 5-foot-ll, 165 pounds Madeley is a late bloomer who is also playing out his third and final year of NCAA eligibility.The Holland Landing, Ont., native is considered the best goaltender in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and arguably the nation.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought much about it (pro hockey) to tell you the truth,&rdquo; Madeley says. &ldquo;College is a lot farther than I thought I&rsquo;d ever be and beyond my wildest dreams after playing for acrummy junior team.&rdquo;Madeley, 23, was bombarded as the netminder for Richmond Hill of the Central Junior League. He was rescued by Lakers&rsquo; coach Jeff Jackson by accident. Jackson was attending a game between St. Mike&rsquo;s and Richmond Hill to watch defenseman David Harlock, who eventually went to Michigan.When Madeley joined the Lakers in 1989-90, the Lakers&rsquo; coaching staff worked with him to improve his conditioning and play around the net. He has progressed to the point that he was flirting with a 2.00 goals-against average in 20 games this year.&ldquo;Positional play and rebound control are what makes him so effective,&rdquo; Jackson says. &ldquo;He takes away most of the net. I think with his style, size isn&rsquo;t a factor (as a potential pro). If he were flopping and all over the ice, it would be a factor.&rdquo;<h2>One Jim dandy</h2>Unlike Beattie and Madeley, Maine center Jim Montgomery was a freshman at 19. The 5-foot-9, 175-pound junior can return to the Black Bears next season for his senior year.Montgomery, 22, was among the Hockey East scoring leaders last season with 24 goals and 81 points in 43 games. He had 20 points (eight goals) in 20 games this year, but junior linemate Jean-Yves Roy has received more attention. However, frequent observers know that Montgomeiy is every bit as good as Roy and just as important to the Black Bears.&ldquo;Jean-Yves is a great player,&rdquo; says Mon gomery, who wears No. 19 in honor of his favorite player, Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman. &ldquo;He puts the puck in the net and that&rsquo;s what attracts scouts. I just try to get the assists.&rdquo;Montgomery spent a season after high school with a Tier II team in Pembroke, Ont., before being recruited by Maine. The extra year helped him mature.&ldquo;All of us Canadian boys usually look to (major) junior,&rdquo; Montgomery says. &ldquo;But when you&rsquo;re smaller, you look for other ways and to get an education to fall back on. You always want to have&rsquo; another option. And besides, in junior, you&rsquo;re done when you&rsquo;re 20. Going to college, you get to play until you&rsquo;re older.&rdquo;Will the extra time buy Montgomery a pro offer when he completes his NCAA eligibility? &ldquo;Roy gets all the attention, but Montgomery is terrific,&rdquo; a veteran NHL scout says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s as smart a player as there is in college hockey and is as good a passer as there is. They see Roy, who is a terrific player, but they forget who made the play to give him the puck.&rdquo;<h2>Lappin up accolades</h2>St. Lawrence senior center Mike Lappig has one up on Beattie, Madeley and Montgomery. He has been drafted. But considering the 23-year-old Chicago native was taken in the 12th round (237th overall) by the Blackhawks, he was likely little more than a sentimental pick.Lappin began his college career at Boston University and transferred to St. Lawrence after two seasons with the Terriers. His two older brothers, Pete and Tim, played for the Saints, as does 24-year-old brother Chris, a senior defenseman.At 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, Mike is the most gifted of the Lappin lads. He had 11 goals and 26 points in 12 games, tops in the Eastern College Athletic Conference scoring race.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a complete offensive player,&rdquo; St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very good playmaker who sees the ice very well. He&rsquo;s a skilled one-on-one player.&rdquo;The Hawks haven&rsquo;t exactly forgotten him, either. Vice-president Bob Pulford has seen him play a couple of times this year and plans to visit St. Lawrence in February.&ldquo;The one good thing he can do is put the puck in the net,&rdquo; Pulford says. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s not very big. He&rsquo;ll definitely come to training camp, but until you see him, you don&rsquo;t know.&ldquo;If he does well at camp, we might offer him a contract. But when you&rsquo;re not big, you&rsquo;ve got to be awfully quick.&rdquo;In other words, Lappin won&rsquo;t show up in Chicago with any guarantees. But then, there&rsquo;s no guarantee Beattie, Madeley or Montgomery will ever skate on NHL rinks either. But that hasn&rsquo;t diminished their accomplishments this season. &#9632;

f0024-01

Hobeys not so hopeful

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Maine senior left winger Scott Pellerin isn&rsquo;t the most recognizable player in college hockey, but that could change in the near future.The Black Bear tri-captain is running away with the Hockey East goal-scoring race at the midway point of the season.Pellerin had 15 goals in 10 league games, giving him a seven-goal edge over eight other players. The 22-year-old Shediac, N.B., native had his first career four-goal game in a 7-3 win over Providence Jan. 25.Pellerin has a knack for scoring big goals at key times. He had 23 goals last year, 22 as a sophomore and 29 as a freshman.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been getting a lot of scoring chances this year,&rdquo; said Pellerin, a fourth round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 1989. &ldquo;The lines I&rsquo;ve been playing on have been successful, the team has been rolling pretty well and I&rsquo;ve been fortunate enough to get some chances.&rdquo;Besides leading the Bears in goals, Pellerin is first in game winners (four) and shorthanded goals (four). He scored at least once in 12 of Maine&rsquo;s first 22 games and his performance against Providence extended his point-scoring streak to 15 games.&ldquo;He is the best all-around player in Hockey East,&rdquo; Maine coach Shawn Walsh said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the consummate leader, a great defensive player and has twice as many goals as anybody else.&ldquo;The impressive thing is, he isn&rsquo;t even on our No. 1 power play. He&rsquo;s the epitome of what the Hobey Baker Award is all about.&rdquo;Pellerin worked hard on his conditioning in the off-season. He is 10 pounds lighter and has improved his quickness.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great player,&rdquo; Providence senior center Mike Boback said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a strong kid who is always in the right position.&rdquo;Pellerin became the third player in Maine history to eclipse the 200-point mark earlier this year. He had 94 goals and 110 assists in 152 career games.NO ROAD WARRIORS: The New Hampshire Wildcats are one of the toughest teams in Hockey East to beat in their own rink. But it&rsquo;s a much different story when they play on the road.The Wildcats are 9-2-0 at home (overall) but only 4-5-0 away from their Schneider Arena home.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any answers,&rdquo; coach Dick Umile said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried to approach everything on the road like we do at home. We haven&rsquo;t been capitalizing on our chances on the road and we&rsquo;ve received only mediocre goaltending.&rdquo;STREAK ENDS: The Merrimack Warriors snapped the Boston University Terriers&rsquo; nine-game winning streak with a 5-4 victory Jan. 24. It marked the Warriors&rsquo; first win over BU in 27 games dating back to a forfeit win in 1972-73&hellip;The last-place Northeastern Huskies upset Maine 4-3 Jan. 24. The Huskies&rsquo; win wasn&rsquo;t all that surprising, however. Northeastern is 12-3-2 lifetime against Maine at their home rink (Matthews Arena), 8-2-2 in the Shawn Walsh era.Providence Friars&rsquo; senior defenseman Rob Gaudreau reached the 200-point milestone with an assist in a 7-3 loss to Maine Jan. 25. Gaudreau had 101 goals and 99 assist in 134 games. He is the third player in school history to reach the mark. Ron Wilson (250) and Gates Orlando (213) are the others&hellip;Friars&rsquo; left winger Brady Kramer was named Hockey East rookie of the week ending Jan. 27. Kramer had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 win Jan. 21 over New Hampshire and a goal in the 7-3 loss to Maine.<h2>Welcome to the scoring Ward</h2>Western and Central Collegiate Hockey Association goaltenders are having a tough time warding off a pair of high-scoring siblings this season.North Dakota senior left winger Dixon Ward, 23, and brother Colin, a 21-year-old sophomore with the Western Michigan Broncos, are scoring at an amazing pace.Dixon, a sixth round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 1988, led the Fighting Sioux with 25 goals in 26 games. He had 102 goals and 204 career points, the only player in school history to reach the &ldquo;100-100&rdquo; plateau.Colin, who is undrafted, is one of the biggest surprises in the CCHA. The speedy winger had 20 goals in 22 games.The Leduc, Alta., natives skated together as teenagers for the Red Deer entry in the Alberta Junior League. Dixon was always the more prolific scorer, but Colin is finally getting his revenge.Dixon isn&rsquo;t quite ready to relinquish the family goal-scoring title yet, however.&ldquo;At Christmas, we were tied at 15 goals,&rdquo; Colin said. &ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Wait &lsquo;til the end of the year.&rsquo; I guess I&rsquo;ve got to keep my mouth shut.&rdquo; &#9632;

Anonymous Pellerin scoring big

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>The amazing part-of Dale Band&rsquo;s senior year at Colgate isn&rsquo;t the fact he&rsquo;s battling for the Eastern College Athletic Conference scoring championship.The amazing thing is he&rsquo;s playing in the first place.Just 10 months ago, the Red Raiders&rsquo; center suffered a career-threatening injury when he tore ligaments in his right knee. But following major surgery and exhaustive rehabilitation, Band is having the best year of his career.&ldquo;The injury was extremely serious in that he damaged the anterior cruciate and the medial collateral was gone,&rdquo; Colgate coach Brian Durocher said. &ldquo;We looked at the timetable other guys had gone through with the same type of injury. Their first year, they would come back so-so. In the second, they would be able to attain a percentage, maybe 85 or 90 per cent, of what they had been. Dale was full go Oct. 1.&rdquo;Band has been in high gear since mid-January. He scored 22 points (five goals) in a seven-game stretch to push his career totals to 46 goals and 150 points.Band was the glue that held the team together following the sudden death of coachTerry Slater in early December. &ldquo;He was a rock,&rdquo; Durocher said. &ldquo;He had a lot to do with keeping the team together.&rdquo;CUTHBERT BACK: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute sophomore defenseman Craig Cuthbert has been cleared of wrongdoing by a school disciplinary board in the alleged rape of another student.Tracy Malfetano, 19, accused the 20-year-old Mississauga, Ont.; native of forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him on Sept. 1, 1991. She did not report the case to police, opting instead to pursue her complaint through the school&rsquo;s disciplinary body.A seven-member panel ruled Oct. 9 that Cuthbert &ldquo;had engaged in lewd, embarrassing and indecent behavior&rdquo; and recommended he be suspended for the entire season, be placed on academic probation and perform 40 hours of community service. Cuthbert exercised his right to appeal the suspension Dec. 3 and the board reversed its decision, citing a lack of evidence. Cuthbert missed 10 games before returning.&ldquo;As far as Rensselaer is concerned, the case is closed,&rdquo; school spokesman Matt McGuire said. &ldquo;There was no evidence to merit disciplinary action.&rdquo;Malfetano has since filed a $1 million civil suit against Cuthbert. Cuthbert maintains he will countersue for defamation of character. He could not be reached for comment.FRUITFUL EFFORT: When was the last time a team lost because of an orange?It happened Jan. 25 at Union College when the Skating Dutchmen lost to rival RP1 5-3.The Engineers jumped in front 4-0, but when Union senior forward Rick Clifford scored in the second period, the fans unloaded a barrage of oranges in the direction of RPI goalie Neil Little. The orange throwing tradition dates back to Union&rsquo;s Division III days.Referee Dan Murphy relayed a message to the press box that further debris would result in a Union bench penalty.But when Clifford scored his second goal, a stray orange came arching down from the stands.Murphy immediately assessed the penalty. It killed a Union power play, and RPI freshman Craig Hamelin scored 17 seconds later to put the game out of reach. &#9632;

Band plays on for Raiders after serious knee injury

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The saying goes, &ldquo;Where there&rsquo;s a will, there&rsquo;s a way,&rdquo; but can the Bowling Green Falcons find their way with this Will in goal?Coach Jerry York says it&rsquo;s too early to pass judgment. But with freshman goaltender Will Clarke in the nets for three straight games, the Falcons gave up just nine goals.&ldquo;He looked confident and was solid in the games he played,&rdquo; said York, who hadn&rsquo;t used the newcomer all season until a Jan. 18 game at Ferris State (8-3 win) and a pair of 3-2 losses to Western Michigan Jan. 24 and 25. &ldquo;He had been a very good practice goalie, but it was hard to evaluate him without game experience. So we decided to give him a chance.&rdquo;I Clarke has made the most of it. He had a 2.94 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in his first three games. That&rsquo;s considerably better than junior incumbent Angelo Libertucci (38-3, 5.09 GAA, .844) and freshman Nathan Cressman (1-4-0, 7.14 GAA, .810).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s early, but look at his (Clarke&rsquo;s) save percentage. We haven&rsquo;t had that since (Gary) Kruzich,&rdquo; York said.Clarke, 20, is a native of the affluent Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Ill. But like most Windy City hockey hopefuls, he had to blow out of town to improve.He groomed his skills at the Tabor Academy in Massachusetts and Northwood Prep in Lake Placid, N.Y.&ldquo;Our team needed a change,&rdquo; York said. &ldquo;Our goals-against was getting too high (5.32 in 22 games). &ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t necessarily our goaltenders&rsquo; faults, though.&rdquo;Meanwhile, York sees defensive improvement elsewhere on the ice.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re right on the threshold of doing something,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really close. We don&rsquo;t need a few more players, only a few more smart plays.&rdquo;And a few more wins. At 5-14-3 overall and 4-13-3 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Bowling Green was in eighth place through Jan. 30 and on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time ever.BATTERED BUCKEYES: Ohio State coach Jerry Welsh thought his defense would be the team&rsquo;s strength at the start of the season. But it hasn&rsquo;t worked that way. The Buckeyes have surrendered 150 goals in 24 games.And they&rsquo;ve had to endure another blow to their blue line corps. Junior defenseman Glenn Painter has been ruled academically ineligible for the remainder of the season.Painter had four goals and 15 points in 18 games and was an important member of the Buckeyes&rsquo; power play.SOUND OF MUSIC: For Western Michigan coach Bill Wilkinson, there&rsquo;s no accounting for the musical taste of his players.So every Wednesday in the Bronco&rsquo;s dressing room, the 10-year WMU coach lowers the boom on his team&rsquo;s stereo. Loud rock, rap and high energy music is strictly forbidden. Only the coach&rsquo;s softer selections are heard.&ldquo;I play classical mostly, but not always,&rdquo; Wilkinson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not necessarily that I&rsquo;m a big classical fan. I also play some country and western and sometimes some 50s.&ldquo;The guys joke around sometimes and play their own crap on Wednesdays just to get my goat. But they kind of respect it.&rdquo; &#9632;

Will finds a way to help defenseless Falcons

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>The Wisconsin Badgers&rsquo; role as host of the 1993 National Collegiate Athletic Association Final Four is in jeopardy.At issue is a preliminary financial agreement that would see Hockey Wisconsin&mdash;the organizing body that includes the university, host Bradley Center, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and the Wisconsin Sports Authority-set aside $400,000 in revenue for the NCAA.Hockey Wisconsin would receive the next $125,000, with the remainder of the proceeds being split up-75 per cent for the NCAA and 25 per cent for the organizers.But university officials contend they shouldn&rsquo;t have to make a preliminary agreement. They maintain organizers of last year&rsquo;s event in St. Paul, Minn., didn&rsquo;t make a preliminary agreement, and neither did organizers in Albany, N.Y.,the site of this year&rsquo;s Final Four April 2 to 4.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t feel comfortable with the initial proposal,&rdquo; UW associate athletic director Joel Maturi said.Wisconsin officials are afraid to make a major financial commitment, mainly because the UW athletic department is currently weighted down by a $1.8 million deficit.The NCAA Hockey Committee-which includes NCAA assistant director of championships Phil Buttafuaco, Northern Michigan coach-athletic director Rick Comley, Boston University coach Jack Parker, Bowling Green athletic director Jack Gregory, and Cornell athletic director Laing Kennedy-rejected a counter-proposal by organizers Jan. 27.COACH AIKENS: Former Denver defenseman Mike Aikens has received medical clearance to resume his hockey career but he&rdquo;ll continue it behind the bench.Pioneer officials offered the Rochester, Minn., native a coaching position instead of his spot on the team and he accepted. Aikens suf&rdquo; fered a fracture near the second and third cervicle vertebrae in his back after being hit by Wisconsin defenseman Sean Hill on Jan. 18, 1991. Hill is now with the U.S. Olympic team.Surgery to fuse the vertebrae together was performed four days later at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, it was successful and Aikens wore a halo neck brace for the next two months and a regular neck brace for six weeks. Mayo physicians gave Aikens clearance to play in mid-January, but DU officials-citing the opinion of other specialists who believe Aikens is risking permanent damage-refused.In offering the sophomore a coaching post, Denver will continue to honor Aiken&rsquo;s scholarship.WILDCATS LOSE BIG: Northern Michigan senior center Dallas Drake will be sidelined until early March. Drake broke his right foot in practice Jan. 22. He was one of the country&rsquo;s leading scorers with 55 points in 24 games. &#9632;

Badgers’ hosting role suddenly in jeopardy

Nobody expected the Brandon Bobcats to challenge for first place in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association this season, but many believed they had a lock on a playoff spot.Last season the Bobcats were all offense, no defense. This season, they&rsquo;ve subtracted the offense and as a result, were in last place in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association with a 3-15-2 record.Last season, the Bobcats finished fifth with a 7-16-5 mark but were second in goals scored with 130.The Bobcats still can&rsquo;t keep a beach ball out of their net, but their scoring prowess has disappeared.The Bobcats had the second-worst defense in the CWUAA through 20 games (100 goals against), and the worst offense (67 goals).Gary Gaudet, Richard Oswald and Dave Schettler, accomplished scorers last season, have struggled.Oswald had 18 goals and 48 points last year, but just seven goals and 20 points in 20 games. Gaudet (16-22-38 last year) had 10 goals and 23 points. And Schettler had only three goals and 13 points. Gaudet was the only Bobcat to hit double figures in goals.AUAA: The Acadia Axemen are making a torrid bid to reclaim the Kelly Division pennant.After opening the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association season with a mediocre 5-4-1 record, the Axemen went on a 10-game unbeaten run-nine wins and a tie&mdash;to open a four-point lead on their arch-rival, the Dalhousie Tigers. Last season, the Tigers ended Acadia&rsquo;s three-year reign as Kelly Division champions.The Axemen outscored their opposition 5527 in their last 10 games. And they have excelled at home. They boast an 11-0-1 record at War Memorial auditorium.OUAA: The Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union has delayed its decision regarding alleged illegal payments to hockey players at Trois-Rivieres.Patriotes&rsquo; officials admitted in November they paid players $500 a season in meal money. The Patriotes believed the payments were allowed under ClAU&rsquo;s regulations, but the union&rsquo;s executive vice-president disagreed.After two months of wrangling over whether the punishment should be determined by the CIAU president or the chair of the eligibility committee, the CIAU will appoint a judicial committee to decide the outcome.That committee will re-examine all the evidence, so a decision isn&rsquo;t likely until next season.If Trois-Rivieres is found in violation, most of the players involved will have graduated when the penalty takes effect. And because the Patriotes won&rsquo;t be in the Ontario Universities Athletic Association next year, whatever penalties are applied will be served against new opponents.&mdash;With files from Robin Brownlee, Bruce Hallihan and Claude Scilley &#9632;

Punchless offense hurts’Cats

<div class="byline">By Dave Emlnian</div>The Kansas City Blades haven&rsquo;t lost their edge in the International League race for the Huber Cup Trophy and West Division title just yet.But at one time it looked like only divine intervention could make a race. And according to Blades&rsquo; coach Kevin Constantine, that may be just what has happened.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the hockey god being fair. Our lead is misleading-teams have a lot of games in hand. We&rsquo;d be foolish to think we have a lock on anything.&rdquo;Kansas City is still the team to beat, but the Blades were going through a mid-year crisis-4-5-1 in 10 games through Jan. 27.The Blades led Peoria and San Diego each by 18 points in the West Division, but both teams had five games in hand. In the Huber Cup race for first place overall in the IHL, Fort Wayne trailed by six points with two games in hand.&ldquo;They&rsquo;d really have to go into a tailspin for us to catch them,&rdquo; Peoria coach Harold Snepsts said. &ldquo;I still hope, but realistically I&rsquo;ve conceded first place to them. We&rsquo;re playing for second.&rdquo;The Blades, with a 37-13-2 record through Jan. 27, need to win 22 of their last 30 games to set an all-time IHL single-season record for most wins. That would also make for an emphatic entrance to the playoffs.&ldquo;Slumps like these are typical in this league,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a better league this year. The teams are closer in ability to each other. A couple teams, like Peoria, could get some guys back and become tough to beat.&rdquo;OLYMPIC IMPROVEMENTS: With the Winter Olympics ending Feb. 23, several IHL teams stand to benefit from players returning from Olympic-team assignments.Salt Lake may get the biggest boost, with parent club Calgary having five players in either Team USA or Team Canada programs.The Golden Eagles could get from Team Canada, high-scoring left winger Chris Lindberg, defenseman Kevin Dahl and goalie Trevor Kidd, and from Team USA, C.J. Young and Tim Sweeney. If any of those players joined the parent club, it would knock a player back to Salt Lake.Indianapolis stands to inherit forward Jim Johannson and goalie Ray Leblanc from USA. Kansas City could get defenseman Dan Keczmer from USA if he doesn&rsquo;t go to parent San Jose.I-OPENERS: Sources involved in the IHL governors&rsquo; meeting last month in Phoenix say owners were given an &ldquo;impressive presentation&rdquo; for an expansion team from a representative of a group from Las Vegas, and that the league will likely grant that city a team. Another pitch the IHL received came from Saskatoon, Sask., which was rejected.. Kansas City set a franchise attendance record Jan. 25 with 14,759 at Kemper Arena, the seventh-largest crowd in IHL history. That same night, Milwaukee drew 13,774 fans, the league&rsquo;s lOth-largest crowd ever.Muskegon&rsquo;s Dave Michayluk was player of the week for the period ending Jan. 27. He had six goals, including two game-winners, and 10 points in three games. Linemate Jock Callander had a big week, too, with eight assists to take over the league lead in that category.Salt Lake&rsquo;s Shawn Heaphy scored six goals in two games, including four goals against Phoenix Jan. 24&hellip;The Phoenix Roadrunners were rocked by mass call-ups to Los Angeles. Included were IHL all-stars Scott Bjugstad. Brent Thompson, Kvosti Karjalainen, plus non-all-star goalie Darryl Gilmour. &#9632;

Blade runners slowing down in long marathon

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>It seems every time John Tanner reads a hockey story these days, he&rsquo;s reading his name in a trade rumor.And based on the way he has played, it&rsquo;s easy to see why other teams want the first-year goaltender.Tanner, who was loaned to independent New Haven after training camp, has been the American League&rsquo;s hottest goalie since rejoining Quebec&rsquo;s AHL affiliate in Halifax Jan. 16.Tanner, the Nordiques&rsquo; third-round draft choice in 1989, had a 4-1-1 record with one shutout, a 2.64 goals-against average, and a .906 save percentage in helping the Citadels to their longest unbeaten streak of the season (4-02).&ldquo;It has just been some good play on the part of the team,&rdquo; Tanner said. &ldquo;Ever since I got here, the team has played really well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve pretty much blocked those (trade) rumors out. You have to believe none of what you hear and half of what you see. I just go out there and try to win. Everybody always wants a winner, whether it&rsquo;s Quebec or someone else, so that&rsquo;s what you try to do, win.&rdquo;Tanner, 20, was loaned to New Haven because Quebec wanted its young goaltending prospects to play more often. The plan was for Stephane Fiset to play in Halifax and Tanner in New Haven.But George Maneluk&rsquo;s solid play with the Nighthawks led coachDoug Carpenter to go with the fourth-year veteran more often than the rookie. Tanner was 7-6-2 with a 3.77 GAA and .884 save percentage in 16 games,.When the Nordiques recalled Fiset in mid-January, it gave them a reason to bring Tanner back to Halifax.&ldquo;I started 1-5-0 and George Maneluk was playing well, and since I was the only rookie, I think the coach wanted to go with the veteran,&rdquo; Tanner said. &ldquo;It took me two months to play six games. But I had an eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) and I really enjoyed playing there.&rdquo;Tanner has enjoyed it even more in Halifax. The Citadels have moved back into contention for a playoff berth after a 5-3-2 start. They went 6-20-9 before their recent hot streak.FAST STARTS: Two former members of Team USA made flashy professional debuts after their dreams of playing in the Olympics ended.Goalie Les Kuntar, who was released Jan. 2, stopped 26 shots and allowed only one goal as Fredericton beat Capital District 3-1 Jan. 25 in Troy. It was Fredericton&rsquo;s only victory (1-3-1) on a five-game, seven-day tour of New York.Kuntar, an NCAA East first-team All-America at St. Lawrence of the Eastern College Athletic Conference last season, was a fifth-round pick of Montreal in 1987.Defenseman Keith Carney, Buffalo&rsquo;s fourth-round pick in 1988, joined the Rochester Americans after he was released Jan. 16. He had one assist in his debut, a 4-2 victory at New Haven Jan. 24. He picked up two assists in a 33 tie at Maine the next night.Another former Team USA member, defenseman Ted Crowley, joined St. John&rsquo;s after he was released Jan. 16.PITCHING ZEROES: Moncton Hawk goalie Mike O&rsquo;Neill got his first shutout in 12 AHL games, when he blanked Halifax in a 0-0 tie Jan. 26. It was O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s fourth shutout of the season. He had three with Fort Wayne of the International League.St. John&rsquo;s rookie Yanic Perreault had his 16-game point streak-an AHL season high-stopped in the Maple Leafs&rsquo; 3-3 tie with Cape Breton Jan. 25.<h2>Colonial League catching on</h2>While the Continental and Global Leagues gained most of the headlines in attempting to start up, it&rsquo;s the Colonial League that came through on its proclamations and is operating quite respectably in its first season.The two U.S.-based CHL franchises-in Flint (Bulldogs) and Fraser, Mich., (Falcons)-have been the best draws, averaging 3,000 and 2,000 fans per game. The three Ontario-based clubs are experiencing growing pains. The Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks, Brantford Smoke and St. Thomas Wildcats average 2,000, 1,200 and 1,000 fans per game.The calibre of play is similar to the East Coast League and three clubs have working agreements with NHL teams. Players were signed as free agents and are paid $300-$400 a week. Teams&rsquo; weekly payroll Emit is $7,000.The Falcons have been the hottest team going 30-15-2 through 47 games. The 60-game schedule ends March 1 and the top four teams qualify for the playoffs.Commissioner Bob Myers has issued just four suspensions this season and says the CHL is not a goon league. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a place you&rsquo;d want to take your kids,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

Rumors don’t faze Tanner

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>Their reputation precedes them like a gunfighter from the Old West.With 1,787 penalty minutes through Jan. 27 and a propensity to hit&mdash;legally or otherwise-anything that moves, the Columbus Chill are the undisputed nasty boys of the East Coast League.Goons? Thugs?No, at least not if you ask Terry Ruskowski, the former Chicago Blackhawk who assembled and coaches the expansion team.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider it a goon team,&rdquo; he said after the Chill beat Knoxville 12-4 Jan. 24 for its fourth consecutive victory. The winning streak came to an end the next night in Louisville as Chill was burned for five power-play goals in a 7-4 loss.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a marked team and get extra attention (from officials) because of our reputation,&rdquo; Ruskowski said. &ldquo;We were 1-1 at Louisville after one period and at that point the referee took us out of our game. He was handing out penalties and 10-minute misconducts like bubble gum.&rdquo;Ruskowski said his team, which was assessed 94 penalty minutes and three misconducts in the loss to the IceHawks, won&rsquo;t alter its style.&ldquo;We have guys who are physical,&rdquo; Ruskowski said. &ldquo;When we play a team and start hitting,they know we want to win the game.&ldquo;Our first priority is to take the body. We don&rsquo;t go looking for a fight. If one comes along, we don&rsquo;t back down.&rdquo;The Chill averaged a league-leading 42.5 penalty minutes per game. As a result, Columbus, which was tied for fifth in the West Division, had allowed 77 power-play goals.The triumvirate of Barry Dreger (248 penalty minutes), Mark Cipriano (235) and Joey Mittelsteadt (233) are the main muscle men. They stood 1-3-4 in penalty minutes.Part of the Chill&rsquo;s ornery disposition may be attributable to their early-morning practices. Because they share State Fairgrounds Arena with a minor-league basketball team and must vacate for special events, most workouts are scheduled at Ohio State&rsquo;s facility. The only time OSU Ice Rink is available to the Chill is from 6:45 until 7:45 a.m.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not too bad,&rdquo; Ruskowski said, &ldquo;Maybe we&rsquo;re getting used to it because I don&rsquo;t hear many complaints.&rdquo;MOVING ON UP: Raleigh goalie Wayne Cowley, who won nine of his last 10 starts, was promoted by Edmonton to Cape Breton of the American League Jan. 27. &ldquo;Wayne was the premier goalie in our league and deserves a shot,&rdquo; IceCaps&rsquo; coach Kurt Kleinendorst said. &ldquo;Obviously, he was one of our key players and we hate to lose him, but it&rsquo;s nice to see him get the opportunity.&rdquo;Cowley was leading the ECHL in minutes played (1,974) and saves (984). Two days earlier, goalie Paul Cohen of Nashville was reassigned to Springfield (AHL). Johnstown center Brian Ferreira, meanwhile, (24 goals, 47 assists) was promoted to Maine (AHL) Jan. 25.NOTEBOOK: Louisville&rsquo;s Sheldon Gorski burned Columbus for four goals Jan. 25 to extend his scoring streak to 22 games, longest in the league this season. The right winger had 24 goals and 17 assists during the stretch.Louisville acquired defenseman Terry Virtue and left winger Brian Bellefeuille from Roanoke Valley Jan. 21 for defenseman Trevor Smith and left winger Scott Eichstadt. &#9632;

Columbus ‘Nasty Boys’ live and die by the boards

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>An 9-0-0 record. Back-to-back shutouts. A 1.44 goals-against average. Three wins over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 11 days. And first place in the Ontario League&rsquo;s Emms Division.London Knights&rsquo; goalie Fred Brathwaite should consider running for mayor.Brathwaite blanked the Greyhounds 5-0 Jan. 28 before 4,000 spectators in London and a national TV audience on The Sports Network. It was the Knights&rsquo; 11th straight win, one shy of the club record set in 1985-86, and it knocked the defending OHL champion Greyhounds out of first place for the first time since Oct. 6.Brathwaite beat Owen Sound 5-0 Jan. 25 and Niagara Falls 6-1 Jan. 30. He went 176 minutes without allowing a goal.&ldquo;I look out there, see him and sometimes have to pinch myself he&rsquo;s here,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; coach-general manager Gary Agnew, who acquired Brathwaite from Oshawa Jan. 9. &ldquo;I think he could probably run for mayor.&rdquo;Brathwaite, 19, is undrafted and wasn&rsquo;t rated among the top 30 draft eligible goaltenders by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau. He&rsquo;s 5715-6 in three seasons. The Knights&rsquo; 11-game streak is the best in the OHL this season. Niagara Falls won eight straight earlier this year.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s riding high and feeling good about himself,&rdquo; Greyhounds&rsquo; coach Ted Nolan said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see if he can keep it up.&rdquo;Hounds&rsquo; director of personnel Dave Mayville watched with mixed emotions. He was scouting director in Oshawa when Brathwaite was drafted as a l0th-rounder in 1989.&ldquo;Any time you draft a guy you want to see him do well,&rdquo; Mayville said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a special feeling you never lose. They&rsquo;re always yours. You bring them into the family and they never leave&hellip;Iwish he was still in Oshawa.&rdquo;ONE STEP CLOSER: Wayne Gretzky and John Candy have their dates. Now all they need is their man.Gretzky, the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center, and Candy, the Canadian-born actor, moved a step closer to securing an OHL expansion franchise for Toronto next season when they reached agreement to play in Maple Leaf Gardens.Linder the proposal, most home games will be Saturday afternoons and fans can purchase a ticket allowing them to see the Leafs&rsquo; skate in the morning before the OHL game.A source said Gretzky is attempting to get Sam McMaster from the Sudbury Wolves, where he&rsquo;s director of operations. Although the Wolves are battling for a playoff spot, an indication of why Gretzky wants McMaster&rsquo;s marketing skills are the crowds in Sudbury.The Wolves drew a season-high 6,010 fans in a 2-2 tie with Sault Ste. Marie Jan. 24.ON THE RISE: Attendance is up in the OHL with the league drawing 994,191 fans through Jan. 26. The Canadian Hockey League is expecting an eighth straight record-setting season, projecting 3,824,044 spectators in 43 centers. Last season, 3,821,145 fans showed up&hellip;Detroit&rsquo;s Todd Harvey, the first player chosen in the 1991 draft, is second in rookie scoring with 16 goals and 53 points in 40 games. He&rsquo;s not NHL draft eligible until 1993, but scouts like his 111 penalty minutes total.Darren McCarty of Belleville is challenging to become the second straight OHL scoring champion to have more penalty minutes than points. McCarty was second in OHL scoring with 36 goals and 93 points in 50 games. He also had 147 penalty minutes. Last season, Oshawa&rsquo;s Eric Lindros had 149 points and 189 penalty minutes. Derek Sanderson, with the 1966-67 Niagara Falls Flyers, was the first to do so with 101 points and 193 penalty minutes.<h2>Don&rsquo;t invite them to dinner</h2>Just as the Montreal-Boston and Calgary-Edmonton rivalries have developed, the Canadian Hockey League has its classic matchups. Here are the most exciting and emotionallycharged rivalries in each of the three leagues.Laval vs. Hull: The Titan and Olympiques and have been the winningest teams in the Quebec League the past five seasons and have met in the playoffs three of the last four years. Both teams pride themselves on a bump&mdash;and grind style. Emotions and scores always run high.Peterborough vs. Oshawa: The Generals and Petes share a tradition of success in the Ontario League and a spite for one another. Oshawa has a vocal fan base that loves to get on the Petes at every opportunity. Oshawa vs. Peterborough is an annual event in the Leyden Division playoffs.Saskatoon vs. Prince Albert: The 90-minute drive between the two prairie cities makes this Western League matchup special. The Blades and Raiders are regulars at or near the top of the East Division standings. Raider fans simply don&rsquo;t like Blades&rsquo; fans and viceversa. &#9632;

Brathwaite was worth the wait

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>The Western League&rsquo;s Seattle Thunderbirds are fitting the pieces together for their Memorial Cup jigsaw puzzle.The Thunderbirds, who as host are guaranteed a berth at the May 9 to 17 Memorial Cup, completed their second trade of the month Jan. 24 acquiring center Kimbi Daniels from the Swift Current Broncos for center Dody Wood.The T-Birds obtained all-star goalie Chris Osgood and right winger Glen Webster from Brandon for goalie Andrew Reimer, center Jesse Wilson, right winger Jeff Jubenville and future considerations Jan. 13.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the pieces, now,&rdquo; Seattle coach-general manager Peter Anholt said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to put the puzzle together.&rdquo;Daniels, 20, had been playing with the NHL Philadelphia Flyers, but was receiving little ice time and was returned to junior Jan. 23.When he joined the Canadian team at the World Junior Championships at Fussen, Germany, it was evident the Flyers would eventually return him to Swift Current. The Broncos dealt him to Seattle the next day.&ldquo;We needed a guy who could light up the lamp at any given time,&rdquo; Anholt said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a proven scorer and a game-breaker.&rdquo;The surging Thunderbirds won nine of their last 14 games and were fourth in the West Division with a 22-23-4 record.Wood, 19, had 13 goals, 32 points and 232 penalty minutes in 37 games for Seattle and was a third-round pick of San Jose in 1991.NEWMAN IS IRONMAN: Victoria Cougars&rsquo; defenseman Dwayne Newman has become the new ironman of the WHL.Newman, 20, set a record Jan. 26 against the Tacoma Rockets when he appeared in his 290th consecutive game.The previous record of 289 games belonged to Edmonton Oil Kings&rsquo; Terry McDonald, who established the standard from Oct. 8, 1971 through Nov. 14, 1975.Newman, who is in his fifth season in the league, hasn&rsquo;t missed a game since he was a rookie with Brandon Jan. 31, 1988.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to bring one home for all the blue-collar guys in the league,&rdquo; Newman told the Regina Leader-Post. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to dazzle anyone with a show of skill like some of the premier players. This is nice for a guy like me.&rdquo;Newman had five assists and 147 penalty minutes in 52 games this season. The undrafted Winnipeg, Man., native had six goals, 57 points and 572 penalty minutes through 326 games.ATTENDANCE MARK: The Tacoma Rockets pushed the WHL attendance record little higher Jan. 25 when 15,240 fans showed up for a 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Tacoma Dome.The Rockets had set a new mark against the same T-Birds with 14,975 fans Oct. 11. Tacoma plays in the 17,700-seat Tacoma Dome.Four WHL single-game attendance records have been broken in the past two years. The previous records were 12,253 (Seattle, Feb 9i 1990), 12,341 (Saskatoon, Nov. 16, 1990) and 12,464 (Seattle, Feb. 8, 1991).SIMPSON FLEXIBLE: Though Terry Simpson is owner of the expansion Red Deer franchise, he allows that the lure of the NHL could keep him with Winnipeg a long time. &ldquo;It depends on what happens in the NHL next year,&rdquo; Simpson said. &ldquo;If I stay in the NHL, I&rsquo;ll hire a GM and coach to work in Red Deer. I&rsquo;d still like to pursue a head coaching job but if I don&rsquo;t get it, at least I have some job insurance.&rdquo; &#9632;

Seattle hoping Daniels last piece in Cup puzzle

<div class="byline">By Ken Warren</div>Prognosticators forgot to factor in motivation.The Dilio Division all-stars stunned their LeBel rivals in the Quebec League All-Star Game Jan. 25, but it wasn&rsquo;t supposed to be that way.On paper&mdash;and in the papers it was supposed to be no contest. The LeBel Division featured 11 NHL-drafted players and the Dilio only four.But the key figures turned out to be a pair of undrafted Dilio stars. Eric Bellerose of Trois-Rivieres and Victoriaville&rsquo;s Alexandre Daigle led the Dilio Division to a five-goal third period explosion and an 8-3 romp. Bellerose and Daigle each had two goals. Pierre Allard, Carl Boudreau. Claude Savoie and Dave Paquet also scored for Dilio. Charles Poulin, with a pair, and Benoit Larose replied for LeBel.&ldquo;I explained to the guys that the media treated us as if we were a Tier II team playing against a major junior team,&rdquo; said Dilio coach Alain Sanscartier of the Shawinigan Cataractes. &ldquo;I told them I see 12 teams in the league. Not just six.&rdquo;Sanscartier says the media underestimated the Dilio Division just like in the playoffs last season. The supposedly inferior division was represented in the Memorial Cup by both Drummondville and Chicoutimi, while the LeBel contenders were eliminated.&ldquo;The last two years, nobody has treated us with respect,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sure, they have a lot of good offensive players, but in the playoffs it always boils down to the best teams.&rdquo;Only 2,050 showed up to the Verdun Auditorium. The All-Star Game was a substitute for the Ontario League/QMJHL Challenge, an emotional get together which produced excellent action.This year, a combined OHL-QMJHL team takes on a Western League all-star team in Saskatoon Feb. 4. QMJHL president Gilles Courteau is happy with the new format.&ldquo;The new formula is great,&rdquo; said Courteau. &ldquo;I was disappointed with the crowd (in Verdun). Buffalo was playing Montreal at the same time, and both games were on TV. I think those factors made a difference.&rdquo;BRODEUR STRONG: St-Hyacinthe Laser goalie Martin Brodeur was player of the week for the period ending Jan. 26, after leading the Laser to 9-2 and 8-1 wins over Shawinigan and a 4-2 win over powerhouse College Francais.Brodeur, a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; first-round pick in 1990, then stopped 45 shots in turning back Hull 5-3 Jan. 27.THREE&rsquo;S LUCKY: To the Shawinigan Cataractes and St-Hyacinthe Laser, the combination is as famous as the double-play combination Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.The Laser line of Charles Poulin. Patrick Poulin and Martin Gendron had 50 points in four games against Shawinigan. The Poulins are no relation but on the ice, they&rsquo;re like brothers. They each had five points in an 8-1 win over the Cataractes Jan. 26.The next night, Gendron, 17, became the first major junior player to reach 50 goals. His recent stretch put him second behind Granby&rsquo;s Hugues Mongeon in the scoring race, while Charles Poulin was third and Patrick Poulin fifth.HOT TO TROT: Martin Lapointe was named captain of the OHL-QMJHL all-star team. Since arriving with Laval after playing for. Detroit and Canada&rsquo;s junior team in the World&rsquo; Junior Championships, Lapointe had 12 goals and 23 points in nine games. &#9632;

Dilio Division answers LeBel in all-star game

<h2>STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01778/6675598-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="996" height="922"></div><h2>OVERALL STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02503/6675591-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="495" height="608"></div><h2>OVERTIME RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03323/6675584-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="479" height="605"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04229/6675577-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="984" height="1120"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05201/6675570-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="521" height="779"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06164/6675563-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="895" height="1055"><figcaption class="caption-body">A revitalized Glenn Anderson has helped the Leafs to a season-high four game winning streak.</figcaption></div><h2>POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV)&mdash;TOTAL 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/f0029-07138/6675556-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="438" height="638"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(PIM)&mdash;TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING (BMI) BENCH PENALTY MINUTES; (AVG)&mdash;AVERAGE PENATY MINUTES PER GAME.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-08120/6675549-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="386" height="650"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2>TSH)&mdash;TOTAL TIMES SHORTHANDED; (PPGA)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS ALLOWED; (PCT)&mdash;SUCCESSFUL PENALTY-KILLING PERCENTAGE.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-09111/6675542-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="460" height="642"></div><h2>TOP SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-10102/6675535-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="586" height="612"></div><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1194/6675528-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="585" height="319"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1283/6675521-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="588" height="298"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1370/6675514-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="595" height="1389"></div><h2>SCHEDULE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1463/6675507-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="472" height="1163"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1556/6675500-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="472" height="1003"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1653/6675493-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="467" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01880/6675839-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="998" height="1413"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02589/6675832-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="987" height="970"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03405/6675825-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="984" height="845"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04289/6675818-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="986" height="284"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05212/6675811-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="984" height="1161"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06173/6675804-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="988" height="993"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-07146/6675797-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="987" height="786"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-08132/6675790-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="1007" height="232"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-09116/6675783-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="996" height="1051"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-10103/6675776-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="992" height="796"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1195/6675769-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="997" height="880"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1289/6675762-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="990" height="174"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01814/6675755-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="999" height="735"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02532/6675748-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="1003" height="851"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03386/6675741-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="1011" height="1329"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04291/6675734-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="994" height="322"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05235/6675727-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="997" height="540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06197/6675720-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="975" height="1477"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Nemchinov is second in goal scoring among first-year NHLers but is ineligible for the Calder Trophy.</figcaption></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07172/6675713-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="988" height="1014"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08147/6675706-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="984" height="173"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-09128/6675699-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="992" height="588"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-10109/6675692-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="991" height="802"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1191/6675685-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="984" height="879"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1265/6675678-1-eng-US/f0031-122.jpg" title="f0031-12" width="992" height="740"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1353/6675671-1-eng-US/f0031-132.jpg" title="f0031-13" width="993" height="118"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01873/6675664-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="992" height="980"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02604/6675657-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="989" height="228"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03421/6675650-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="997" height="563"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04292/6675643-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="986" height="651"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05218/6675636-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="991" height="64"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06182/6675629-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="990" height="1158"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

<h2>TEAM-BY-TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07155/6675891-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="988" height="1980"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08135/6675884-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="997" height="1205"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-09113/6675877-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="970" height="1958"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Essensa took the lead in shutouts with numbers four, Jan. 28 at Pittsburgh, and five, Feb. 2 vs. San Jose.</figcaption></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-10102/6675870-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="992" height="786"></div> &#9632;

f0032-07

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

NOTEUnofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus); 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, JAN. 27</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01791/6676062-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="582" height="2532"></div><h2>TUESDAY, JAN. 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02540/6676055-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="582" height="550"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03401/6676048-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="594" height="3500"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04314/6676041-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="605" height="3494"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05262/6676034-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="591" height="838"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06227/6676027-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="589" height="2589"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07207/6676020-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="590" height="2193"></div><h2>THURSDAY, JAN. 30</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08171/6676013-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="584" height="1237"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01880/6676006-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="617" height="1727"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02620/6675999-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="613" height="1717"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03485/6675992-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="612" height="1714"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04376/6675985-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="589" height="705"></div><h2>FRIDAY, JAN. 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05304/6675978-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="576" height="948"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06270/6675971-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="595" height="1716"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01840/6675964-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="610" height="2145"></div><h2>SATURDAY, FEB.1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02614/6675957-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="606" height="1281"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03498/6675950-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="639" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04400/6675943-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="615" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05337/6675936-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="601" height="1998"></div><h2>SUNDAY, FEB. 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06307/6675929-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="614" height="1424"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07283/6675922-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="619" height="3496"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01790/6676296-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="584" height="1918"></div><h2>WOMENS&rsquo; WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02552/6676289-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="604" height="1358"></div>NOTE: ALL STATISTICS ARE AS OF MONDAY, FEB. 3/92, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED NHL AFFILIATIONS OF MINOR PROFESSIONAL TEAMS APPEAR IN BRACKETS: INDEPENDENT TEAMS WITH NO NHL AFFILIATION ARE INDICATED BY (IND).<h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03454/6676282-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="588" height="1910"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04345/6676275-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="578" height="343"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05289/6676268-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="557" height="943"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shaun Van Allen</figcaption></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06252/6676261-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="584" height="806"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07231/6676254-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="606" height="907"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08211/6676247-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="556" height="795"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colin Chin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09197/6676240-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="551" height="758"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Tuttle</figcaption></div><h2>ECHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10187/6676233-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="588" height="1709"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11180/6676226-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="583" height="403"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12170/6676219-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="557" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trevor Jobe</figcaption></div><h2>COLONIAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-13161/6676212-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="573" height="350"></div><h2>NATIONAL TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-14151/6676205-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="584" height="1880"></div><h2>OLYMPICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-15147/6676198-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="593" height="1422"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01710/6676191-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="586" height="947"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02499/6676184-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="584" height="743"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03385/6676177-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="565" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hugues Mongeon</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04319/6676170-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="562" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Rodgers</figcaption></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05286/6676163-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="593" height="1844"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06251/6676156-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="590" height="1504"></div><h2>NCAA TOP 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07224/6676149-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="587" height="456"></div><h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08188/6676142-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="596" height="1403"></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09160/6676135-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="597" height="1403"></div><h2>CCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10144/6676128-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="584" height="1170"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-11122/6676121-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="558" height="798"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Holmes</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-12107/6676114-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="590" height="1294"></div><h2>AUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1398/6676107-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="588" height="1107"></div><h2>OUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1489/6676100-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="593" height="1335"></div><h2>CWUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1578/6676093-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="587" height="821"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03377/6676365-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A six-point night in Quebec Nov. 18 was the dramatic turning point in Mark Recchi&rsquo;S season. (Photo by Brian Miller/BBS)</figcaption></div>Mark Recchi spent most of training camp hammering out a contract that would pay him $3.6 million over four seasons; and the first seven weeks of the regular season wondering if he would ever play well enough to justify it.Recchi established himself as one of the premier right wingers last season, when he had 113 points to finish fourth in the NHL scoring race. But his play for the first month-and-a-half this year was a monument to mediocrity.He had figured he might get off to a sluggish start after missing most of the pre-season but it never occurred to Recchi that he could struggle so much for so long.His productivity shrank in conjunction with his confidence as the season progressed. He bounced between all three forward positions and accomplished nothing of note at any of them. Recchi is, by nature, upbeat and personable but found it almost impossible to leave his anxiety on the ice.That meant more than an occasional unwarranted snarl at his girlfriend and a sense of guilt that swelled with every lackluster performance.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t helping the team win, and that&rsquo;s the main thing,&rdquo; he said.Recchi was one of the NHL&rsquo;s biggest bargains last season at $105,000, making him what was believed to be the league&rsquo;s only player to earn less than $1,000 per point.There was no chance of duplicating that feat this season, when his salary rose to $800,000, but Recchi wasn&rsquo;t thrilled with the idea of becoming known as one of hockey&rsquo;s most overpaid players, either.Any danger of that disappeared during a 7-3 victory in Quebec Nov. 18. Rarely does a player snap an extended slump in such a resounding fashion.Recchi, who had managed just five goals and eight assists in his first 19 games, got three goals and three assists that night.&ldquo;He turned it around pretty quick in one game,&rdquo; teammate Bob Errey said.&ldquo;That definitely started to turn things around for me,&rdquo; Recchi said. &ldquo;It got me going in the right direction. That&rsquo;s when I started to feel really good.&rdquo;When Recchi&rsquo;s game is in sync-as it has been most nights since that game against the Nordiques-he plays a style that belies his relatively modest size (5-feet-10, 185 pounds). It is no accident that he is known around the Civic Arena as &ldquo;Wrecking Ball.&rdquo;Recchi&rsquo;s feisty play earns him a spot among the Penguins&rsquo; most-penalized players-he&rsquo;s averaging about 1.5 minutes a game this season&mdash;and the misconducts he occasionally earns for yapping at referees help pad that total.But the most important numbers associated with him are his points. He had 27 goals and 30 assists in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s first 49 games-a 92-point pace-but 25 of those goals and 22 of the assists came in the 30 games after his miserable start.He has pieced together scoring streaks of seven and eight games and has regained his role as a vital member of the most volatile offense in the NHL.Recchi&rsquo;s most lethal weapon is his wrist shot and like New York Ranger center Mark Messier, has developed a knack for snapping it into the net while skating down the off wing.Recchi said he didn&rsquo;t develop theshot because he was trying to mimic Messier. Or anyone else.&ldquo;I worked on my shot a lot when I was younger, just on the tennis courts and that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I really don&rsquo;t know where I got it&hellip;it just happened.&rdquo;Where it came from really doesn&rsquo;t matter; the key is that Recchi has refined that shot. Just as it doesn&rsquo;t really matter why his season turned around that night in Quebec. The important thing is that it did.So Recchi is back, with his elbows, enthusiasm and points back up to the levels people have come to expect.&ldquo;As soon as he started to get that little hop going, play his aggressive style, then you knew Recchs was into the game,&rdquo; Errey said.And intent on giving Pittsburgh its money&rsquo;s worth. &#9632;

f0039-03

This Penguin Can Fly

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div>Claude Lemieux is at it again. The league&rsquo;s most celebrated pest is once again angering opponents with his swashbuckling style.But the 26-year-old right winger has added a new dimension to his game this season: offensive punch.Lemieux scored two goals in a 6-4 loss to Toronto Feb. 1 to match his career high of 31 goals set in 1987-88 with Montreal. He reached the mark in just 45 games, and even missed four games in early December with an injured back.It took spectacular back-to-back saves by Grant Fuhr to rob him of the hat trick.Lemieux&rsquo;s goals came one night after a memorable two-assist performance in a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.The Devils tied a franchise record in that game with their fourth straight road victory.In addition to playing his usual chippy style against the Red Wings, Lemieux raised his game another level with the help of comments from Detroit tough guy Bob Probert.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t respect him. Not with the way he plays,&rdquo; Probert said before the game. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a cheap-shot artist and a stick man. He hits you from behind, then backs down. He won&rsquo;t stand up to you.&rdquo;Probert also criticized Lemieux&rsquo;s incessant yapping, a tactic which has annoyed opponents as much as his aggressiveness.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s constantly talking, constantly,&rdquo; Probert said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an idiot. Don&rsquo;t ask me what he&rsquo;s saying, either. He&rsquo;s French. I don&rsquo;t understand it, anyway. You try not to take a stupid penalty against a guy like that. If you have to take one, though, you make sure it&rsquo;s a real good one.&rdquo;Lemieux actually enjoyed Probert&rsquo;s comments.&ldquo;As for the first part, it goes both ways big time and I don&rsquo;t have to say why,&rdquo; Lemieux responded. &ldquo;And he understands clearly what I&rsquo;m saying. He just doesn&rsquo;t want to repeat it.&rdquo;BLACK MAGIC: New Jersey will join the growing number of NHL teams to add black to their team colors next season.The Devils&rsquo; uniforms will be red, black and white instead of red, green and white.Aesthetics were not the only factor behind the change. Black has been successful in pro sports from an economic and psychological standpoint. Black sells in the world of sports merchandise.&ldquo;The change is to give us a more distinct sort of look,&rdquo; general manager Lou Lamoriello said. &ldquo;Merchandising was not the prime reason, although it helps because of the current trends. In this day and age, with the rise of salaries and everything else, we have to look to bring our team to the forefront.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie center Kevin Todd snapped an 18-game goal-scoring slump with a goal in the Devils&rsquo; win over Detroit. He added another goal against the Leafs the next night.The victory over Detroit moved the Devils nine games over .500 for the first time ever.Randy McKay stole the spotlight from former Habs Claude Lemiex and Stephane Richer Jan. 29, with two goals in a 4-3 win over the Canadiens at the Forum. McKay was bom and raised in Montreal.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 27: Jarrod Skalde, C. assigned to Utica (AHL). Jan. 30: Jeff Christian, LW, assigned to Utica.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kevin Todd, Peter Stastny, Laurie Boschman, Alexander SemakLW&mdash;Valeri Zelepukin, Doug Brown, Claude Vilgrain, Dave BarrRW&mdash;Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux, Randy McKay, Tom Chorske.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Scott Stevens, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Aiexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich, Ken DaneykoG&mdash;Chris Terreri, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Zdeno Clger. LW, right wrist surgery, indefinite.Pat Conacher. LW, hernia surgery, indefinite.John MacLean, RW, right knee surgery, out for season. Troy Malletts, LW, sprained ankle, day-to-day. Patrik Sundstrom, bruised thigh, day-to-day. &#9632;

Pesky Lemieux adds offense to his annoying bag of tricks

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>The New York Islanders are vigilant against living in the past on most occasions. But sometimes a visit is just fine.Current members of the team were honored not slighted as they watched former defenseman Denis Potvin&rsquo;s No. 5 jersey raised to the rafters at Nassau Coliseum in a moving ceremony Feb. 1.&ldquo;He deserves everything he gets. He was my idol growing up. He and Bryan Trottier,&rdquo; said center Rob DiMaio, who joined the Islanders the season after Potvin&rsquo;s 1988 retirement. &ldquo;They were legendary.&ldquo;Just standing around him, there&rsquo;s an air about the guy because of all he has accomplished.&rdquo;Goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick, who was a teenager in Kitimat, B.C. when the Islanders won four Stanley Cups in the early &rsquo;80s, concurred.&ldquo;Any time you see a player as great as Denis Potvin get honored, it sends chills up and down your spine,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said.Potvin admitted he nearly broke down and cried as he watched the 10-by-15-foot banner bearing the likeness of his No. 5 Islander sweater raised to the ceiling near the four Stanley Cup banners.Potvin was the first Islander so honored. Fellow Hall of Fame inductee Mike Bossy will be honored March 3.&ldquo;These were the best years of my life,&rdquo; Potvin told the crowd. &ldquo;I want you to know I grew up here. I came here as a teenager and left as a man.&ldquo;I usually prepare for things like this, but I wanted so much to let my emotions run the show.&rdquo;Potvin&rsquo;s successors sat on the Islanders&rsquo; bench, pounding the boards in a sign of appreciation.&ldquo;A lot of great things happened here,&rdquo; said defenseman Tom Kurvers, who played against Potvin in his final game, a 1988 playoff match in New Jersey. &ldquo;This (retirement ceremony) was the right thing to do.&rdquo;While the evening was considered a success on most accounts, management was a little miffed by the paltry attendance. Only 11,715 people turned out to honor the greatest player in Islander history.VOLEK SIGNS: Right winger David Volek dropped his trade request and agreed to a two-year contract extension reported to begin at $375,000.Volek was at the bottom of the Islanders&rsquo; pay scale at $160,000 with an option season left on his existing contract.&ldquo;This is a lot of pressure off me,&rdquo; he said.The Islanders did not announce the signing, saying they hadn&rsquo;t formalized the paperwork.But they acknowledged an agreement had been reached. The deal was struck during a surge in Volek&rsquo;s play. He had four goals and 15 points in an 11-game span, rebounding from a two-month slump.NOTEBOOK: The Islanders lost another defenseman to a bizarre injury. Just after a deflected shot in practice broke the foot of veteran rearguard Rick Green, another deflection this one off the stick of Benoit Hogue nearly took off the tip of Rich Pilon&rsquo;s left ring finger. A doctor had to remove Pilon&rsquo;s fingernail and stitch the tip, back on.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 1: Dean Chynoweth, D, recalled from Capital District (AHL). Feb. 2: Dave Volek, RW, signed contract extension.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ray Ferraro, Pierre Turgeon, Rob DiMaio, Hubie McDonough.LW&mdash;Benoit Hogue, Derek King, Adam Creighton, Dave McLIwain.RW&mdash;Steve Thomas. David Volek, Tom Fitzgerald, Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Dennis Vaske, Ken Baumgartner, Jeff Finley.RD&mdash;Uwe Krupp, Tom Kurvers, Dean Chynoweth.G&mdash;Mark Fitzpatrick, Glenn Healy, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brad Dalgamo RW. broken left wrist, March 15 Patrick Flatley, RW, broken right thumb, indefinite. Rick Green, D, fractured right foot, March 1. Wayne McBean, D, torn left knee ligament, out for season. Jeff Norton, D, tom left wrist ligament, out for season Gary Nylund, D, broken left heel, Feb. 15. Rich Pilon. D, tom left ring finger, Feb. 12. Joe Reekie. D, fractured left knuckle, indefinite. &#9632;

Potvin ceremony stirs hearts of players, fans

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>Throughout their 25-year history, the Philadelphia Flyers have won almost as many games on emotion as they have with talent. From Bobby Clarke to Ken Linseman, they&rsquo;ve always had someone to stir the pot.Few are confusing this year&rsquo;s Flyers with the teams of the glory years but that concept was underlined by a recent 3-0-1 streak that coincided with the return of veteran center Keith Acton Jan. 28.Acton, sidelined since Nov. 27 with a fractured left wrist, played a big role in all three wins.In a 3-2 victory over Washington Jan. 28, Acton took a misconduct penalty three minutes into the first period but atoned for his error. He then assisted on Dan Quinn&rsquo;s game-winning goal and helped kill off a critical power play late in the third period to preserve the win.His second game back was equally impressive. He got tossed out of the circle before the opening faceoff against Minnesota. He finished by scoring an empty-net insurance goal in a 5-3 win.in his third game back-a 5-1 win over St. Louis Feb. 2-Acton shadowed Brett Hull and held him without a goal while scoring a goal of his own.&ldquo;(Acton) just makes a world of difference,&rdquo; said coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;Not only on the ice, but his enthusiasm, his maturity, his experience&hellip;he&rsquo;s a leader and the players are willing to follow him.&rdquo;Goalie Ron Hextall noticed a big difference in the Flyers&rsquo; play with the 33-year-old Acton on the ice.&ldquo;He had a lot to do with it, physically and emotionally. He adds spark and grit and you can&rsquo;t get enough gritty guys in there.&rdquo;BOIVIN SCORES: Claude Boivin, the Flyers&rsquo; No. 1 pick (14th overall) in the 1988 draft, scored his first NHL goal after 27 games. He scored two goals in a 5-5 tie with the New York Islanders Feb. 1.Boivin, 21, had been playing tough, aggressive hockey but hadn&rsquo;t enjoyed any success around the net.Bill Dineen finally put him on a line with second-year center Mike Ricci and it paid dividends. Boivin had a pair of assists the next night in the win over St. Louis.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jiri Latal accepted a buyout of his contract, which was scheduled to run through 1993-94. Latal cleared waivers, refused to report to Hershey of the American League and negotiated the buyout (reportedly one-third of his $210,000 annual salary). The 25-year-old Czechoslovakian had been plagued by injuries since joining the Flyers in 1989. He played 10 games this season, scoring one goal and three points&hellip;Right winger Brad Jones suffered a chip fracture and ligament damage in his right ankle when checked into the boards by Washington&rsquo;s Calle Johansson Jan. 28. He will be out until mid-March.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 29: Dale Kushner, RW, recalled from Hershey (AHL). Feb. 1: Jiri Latal. D, agreed to buyout of contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Mike Ricci, Dan Quinn, Mark Freer.LW&mdash;Mark Pederson, Claude Boivin, Tony Horacek, Keith Acton.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Pat Murray, Al Conroy, Dale Kushner.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Terry Carkner, Dan Kordic, Kerry Huffman.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Garry Galley, Kjell Samuelsson, Corey Foster.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Brown RW, bruised shoulder, day-to-day. Pelle Eklund, LW, hyperextended left knee, day-to-day. Brad Jones, RW, chip fracture in right ankle, indefinite. Steve Kasper, C, right knee surgery, indefinite. Andrei Lomakin, LW, broken left thumb, indefinite. Rick Tocchet, RW, hairline fracture in left heel, indefinite. &#9632;

Acton sparks streak

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>John Vanbiesbrouck has been traded in print more times than any other New York Ranger this season.But the 28-year-old goalie has set his personal situation aside to play towards a greater goal-contributing the best he can when he gets the chance.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to make a contribution,&rdquo; he said after a sparkling 41-save effort in a 2-1 win over Minnesota Feb. 1. &ldquo;I want to play hard and play for this team.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d be silly not to want to play for this club. That&rsquo;s where my priorities are: To try to get myself prepared so if something happens to Mike (Richter), I&rsquo;m going to try to be there as much as I can. And in the locker room, too. I try to be there as much as I can for the guys.&rdquo;The Rangers needed him at the end of a recent five-game road trip.Starting goalie Richter aggravated a thigh bruise in the first period of a Jan. 30 game in Los Angeles, but Vanbiesbrouck stepped right in and was brilliant in a 4-2 win.He was equally strong against Minnesota.The North Stars stormed the Rangers&rsquo; zone for 15 first-period shots, but the only goal came on the 11 th shot by Mike Modano. Vanbiesbrouck stoned the North Stars after that.MILESTONE WATCH: Several Rangers are closing in on personal milestones.Right winger Mike Gartner entered February needing one goal to join an exclusive group of players who have 30 or more goals in 13 consecutive seasons.Only Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito have accomplished the feat, although Wayne Gretzky has 12 successive seasons of 40 goals or more. Left winger John Ogrodnick, who has reached milestones of 900 games and 800 points, was seven short of 400 goals.Brian Leetch and Mark Messier could become the Rangers&rsquo; first 100-point scorers since Mike Rogers in 1981-82. And coach Roger Neilson was seven victories short of 300 lifetime. Only 17 coaches in NHL history have recorded 300 or more.NOTEBOOK: By scoring an open-net goal in the win at Los Angeles and a shorthanded goal in the victory at Minnesota, Jan Erixon collected goals in consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 8 and 11, 1989&hellip;The Rangers&rsquo; game against the North Stars ended a stretch of 11 games against rivals from other divisions. They finished with an impressive 8-2-1 inter-division record.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 1: Mark Laforest, G, recalled from Binghamton (AHL). Feb. 2: Laforest assigned to Binghamton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Sergei Nemchinov, Darren Turcotte, Randy Gilhen.LW&mdash;Adam Graves. Kris King, Jan Erixon. John Ogrodnick.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Tony Amonte, Paul Broten. Tim Kerr, Tie Domi.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Joe Cirella, Normand Rochefort.RD&mdash;James Patrick, Jeff Beukeboom, Per Djoos.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Hardy. D, separated left shoulder. Feb 20. Joe Kocur. RW, separated left shoulder, indefinite, Randy Moller, D, separated left shoulder, day-to-day Doug Weight. C, chip fracture, ligament damage, right wrist, day-to-day &#9632;

Vanbiesbrouck comfortable playing in Richter’s shadow

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; president Howard Baldwin wants Mario Lemieux to sign a contract that will cover the rest of his playing days. But there&rsquo;s a chance Lemieux already did. Several years ago.Lemieux, dismayed by yet another recurrence of back trouble in late January, said he has thought about retiring, even though he has no immediate plans to do it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too early (to say if he will retire), but I&rsquo;ve thought about it,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s going to hurt me for the rest of my life, it&rsquo;s not worth it.&rdquo;His latest problem began before a game against Winnipeg Jan. 28. As usual, it started innocently enough.&ldquo;He bent over and something went wrong,&rdquo; coach Scott Bowman said.Lemieux missed the final two periods of the Jets&rsquo; game (a 4-0 loss), then sat out games against the New York Islanders (an 8-5 loss Jan. 30) and St. Louis (a 4-1 win Feb. 1).&ldquo;He has had a couple of setbacks when, just when he&rsquo;s feeling better, all of a sudden it comes back,&rdquo; said Dr. Charles Burke, an orthopedic surgeon and the Penguins&rsquo; team physician. &ldquo;They always seem to come right after he has been feeling so good.&ldquo;I think everybody&rsquo;s frustrated because we can&rsquo;t figure out what&rsquo;s causing the pain,&rdquo; Lemieux said.But the Penguins might have hit on at least part of Lemieux&rsquo;s problem. He apparently has a herniated muscle in scar tissue near the site of his back surgery July 11, 1990, and that is believed to be the cause of the &ldquo;sharp pain&rdquo; Lemieux has mentioned of late.Burke said the treatment for that condition is rest, that Lemieux will &ldquo;just wait it out, see if it gets better on his own.&rdquo; He said there is no time frame for Lemieux&rsquo;s return to the lineup, but gave the impression it would be a few days or weeks, not months.Burke said the problem can be addressed by surgery, if necessary.As for that proposed &ldquo;lifetime&rdquo; contract, well, Baldwin said Lemieux&rsquo;s latest round of back woes won&rsquo;t change anything, that &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t mean we don&rsquo;t want to do something with him.&rdquo;ROAD WARRIORS: The Penguins are closing in on the franchise record for road victories. Good thing, too, because otherwise they might be looking up at all of the Patrick Division instead of just most of it.They lost four consecutive games at the Civic Arena before beating St. Louis Feb. 1. That victory raised their home record to 11-11-4 and might have ended what was becoming a pronounced home-ice disadvantage.NOTEBOOK: The NHL upheld right winger Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s 10-game suspension for bumping referee Ron Hoggarth late in a 6-4 loss to Washington Jan. 26. Jagr is eligible to return Feb. 20 against Quebec&hellip;General Manager Craig Patrick signed a five-year contract Jan. 30. The deal includes a promotion to executive vice-president, giving Patrick a say on issues at the management and league levels.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 30: Craig Patrick, GM, signed five-year contract. Feb. 3: Jaromir Jagr, RW, serving 10-game suspension for making contact with referee. Eligible to return Feb. 20.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Bryan Trottier. Ken Priestlay, Jiri Hrdlna.LW&mdash;Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Troy Loney.RW&mdash;Mark Recchi, Joe Mullen. Jamie Leach, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Paul Coffey, Gordie Roberts, Grant Jennings, Peter Taglianetti.RD&mdash;Uff Samuelsson, Larry Murphy, Paui Stanton.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso. Frank Pietrangelo. Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Phil Bourque, LW. broken left foot, indefinite. Mario Lemieux. C, back spasms, indefinite. Jim Paek, D. finger surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Hurting Mario frustrated

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01297/6676554-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="904" height="605"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02176/6676547-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="553" height="777"></div>Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; goaltender Bot Essensa, who recorded two shutouts in three games, was named NHL Pro Set player of the week for the period ending Feb. 2.Essensa posted a 2-0-1 record and a 1.30 goals-against average to lead the Jets into second place in the Smythe Division.Throughout the 1991-92 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 winner.In its second season as sponsor of these NHL Awards, Pro Set is contributing over $56,000 to youth hockey organizations across North America.Essensa began the week by recording his fourth shutout of the season, stopping 38 shots in a 4-0 win at Pittsburgh Jan. 28.He then turned aside 24 of 28 shots in a 4-4 tie with Quebec at the Winnipeg Arena Jan. 31.Essensa finished off the week by posting his second shutout of the week, stopping 40 shots in a 60 home win over the San Jose Sharks Feb. 2.In three games, Essensa blocked 102 of 106 shots for a .962 save percentage. His two shutouts increased his leagueleading total to five. He also leads all goalies in save percentage (.921) and ranks fourth in GAA (2.66).Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; center Steve Yzerman (seven goals, eight points in three games) and Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; right winger Glenn Anderson (four goals, seven points in two games) were runners-up for player-of-the-week honors.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03123/6676540-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="2457" height="3004"></div> &#9632;

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February 14, 1992

Olympic hockey’s a waste of time

Other side of the Whitney story

CHEERS & JEERS

Tippett leaves in search of gold and a little more playing time