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 21, 1992

The Hockey News February 21, 1992

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011470/6670294-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="362" height="358"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021210/6670287-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="52" height="41"></div>Dave Andreychuk. A 17-game scoring streak highlights incredible turnaround season for Buffalo winger.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03894/6670280-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="51" height="42"></div>Harvard Crimson. Tradition of excellence continues for college program, which won its 1,000th game Feb. 1.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04665/6670273-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="52" height="41"></div>Fade to black. All these uniform changes to include black are making color TVs obsolete for NHL fans.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05483/6670266-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="51" height="40"></div>Glenn Anderson. Immature responses in Minnesota radio interview detracts from his rejunvenated play.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06364/6670259-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="359" height="357"></div> &#9632;

f0002-01

IN THIS ISSUE

CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>Craig Janney can relate to what his new winger, Brett Hull, is going through.Hull lost his good buddy and linemate Adam Oates Feb. 7 when the St. Louis Blues traded Oates to Boston for Janney and defenseman Stephane Quintal. The trade also separated Janney from his long-time linemate and friend Cam Neely.&ldquo;Cam and I had great chemistry on the ice,&rdquo; Janney said. &ldquo;We had a back for finding each other. We were really good friends.&rdquo;Just like Hull and Oates. &ldquo;They had great rapport, great chemistry on and off the ice,&rdquo; Janney said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s tough, I&rsquo;m sure Brett&rsquo;s hurting. Adam was his best friend.In fewer than three seasons together, Oates assisted on 94 of Hull&rsquo;s 212 goals, Hull assisted on 16 of Oates&rsquo; 58 goals, and they had the two assists on 28 of their teammates&rsquo; goals.That doesn&rsquo;t include the 335 goals they either scored or assisted on without the other&rsquo;s participation. All together, counting goals they had a hand in collectively and individually, Hull and Oates accounted for 473 of 791 Blues&rsquo; goals-59.8 per cent.&ldquo;The thing that hurts most about Adam is that we&rsquo;re best friends,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;We had fun together, but I don&rsquo;t care about the hockey part. He&rsquo;ll get someone a ton of goals, and I&rsquo;m probably still going to get some.&rdquo;Hull said the trade made him feel &ldquo;empty.&rdquo; He was tempted to blast management for allowing Oates&rsquo; contract controversy to degenerate as it did, but he showed restraint.Oates asked the Blues to renegotiate a four-year, $3.2 million contract negotiated last summer, demanding a trade last month after months of talks. Hull was in favor of Oates and once said no one the Blues acquired would replace Oates.&ldquo;I think the Blues have to take a serious look at their&hellip;I can&rsquo;t say that,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just get in trouble. I want to say something so (dam) bad, but I can&rsquo;t.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to try to win every night, I&rsquo;M not going to go out and say, &lsquo;Oatsie&rsquo;s gone, I&rsquo;m not going to try.&rsquo; I have to go out and play, I&rsquo;m still a St. Louis Blue, and I want to win. I play the game to have fun, and it sure took a lot of the fun right out of it, I&rsquo;ll tell you that,&rdquo; he said.Now, he&rsquo;ll play with Janney, a linemate on Team USA during the Canada Cup. They didn&rsquo;t hit it off then, but Hull attributed that to disenchantment.&ldquo;The Canada Cup is not a good indication,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;Craig&rsquo;s a good player. Take a look at Neely&rsquo;s stats the last three years. We&rsquo;re professional players&hellip;We&rsquo;ll be fine.&rdquo;Janney agreed: &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s the superstar in the game. I know what my job description (will) be&mdash;to get him the puck as much as possible&hellip;I don&rsquo;t want him to skip a beat.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Blues 3-1 Feb. 8 in the debuts of Craig Janney and Stephane Quintal. Janney assisted on the Blues&rsquo; only goal, by Brendan Shanahan, and received a warm welcome from the sellout crowd of 18,165. &ldquo;I appreciate it very much,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Quintal, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound defenseman, impressed in his debut with several hard hits.Dave Mackey scored his first goal in a Blues&rsquo; uniform in the 4-1 victory over New Jersey Feb. 4. He was recalled from Peoria of the International League as an emergency replacement for injured Ron Sutter.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Dave Mackey, LW, recalled from Peoria (IHL). Jason Marshall, D, assigned to Peoria, Feb. 5: Pat Jablonski, G, assigned to Peoria. Feb. 7: Adam Oates, C, traded to Boston for Craig Janney, C, and Stephane Quintal, D.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Nelson Emerson, Ron Wilson, Michel Mongeau.LW&mdash;Dave Christian, Brendan Shanahan, Bob Bassen, Dave Mackey, Gino Cavallini.RW&mdash;Brett Hull, Dave Lowry, Rich Sutter, Darin Kimble, Kelly Chase.LD&mdash;Stephane Quintal, Paul Cavallini, Murray Baron, Lee Norwood.RD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Rick Zombo, Garth Butcher.G&mdash;Curtis Joseph, Guy Hebert.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ron Sutter, C, sprained right knee, Feb. 27. &#9632;

Janney aims to make Hull happy as setup man

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>The glory years are behind him and what the Edmonton Oilers have in mind is truly beyond him.But if Kevin Lowe can ponder the future, he ought to know there will be some NHL teams seeking his services this summer.For now, Lowe is on the shelf indefinitely. He felt his right shoulder &ldquo;explode&rdquo; when he threw a pass to Vince Damphousse in the Oilers&rsquo; 2-1 win over Montreal Feb. 5. He reinjured the rotator cuff he strained in December and again in January.The injury isn&rsquo;t career threatening for the 32-year-old veteran in the option year of a contract that pays him $450,000. Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather said he will offer Lowe a new deal but it may not be near the money he&rsquo;ll be offered as a free agent this summer.Lowe wasn&rsquo;t about to suggest the Oilers couldn&rsquo;t re-sign him though.&ldquo;Slats intimated (to the media) they&rsquo;d like to keep me around,&rdquo; Lowe said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not going to try to do their thinking for them.&rdquo;Sather has a chance to match any offer Lowe receives as a free agent. That&rsquo;s assuming Lowe isn&rsquo;t dealt at the trading deadline and Sather has given no indication he will move the veteran, who is enjoying a bounce-back year after a disastrous 1990-91.Lowe scored just 16 points and was minus-nine, better only than Adam Graves&rsquo; minus-21, last season. His point total is meagre again-two goals and nine points in 51 games-but he has been their minister of defense, game in and game out their most consistent defenseman. At times last season he was their worst.He has proven there is ice time left on his resume before he makes the jump to an executive office.SUITCASE GLYNN: Talk about a mobile defenseman.With an Air Force father at the controls, Brian Glynn moved from his birthplace Iserlohn, West Germany at age two, to Canada, hitting Winnipeg, Portage LaPrairie, Man., Toronto, Ottawa and Barrie, Ont.He played junior in Saskatoon, then began his NHL career in Calgary, pit-stopped in Salt Lake in the minors, was traded to Minnesota and then to Edmonton.&ldquo;It was an interesting life although you kind of miss growing up in the same place and having the same friends,&rdquo; said Glynn, 24. &ldquo;I played minor hockey in all those places and every couple of years I was the new guy coming onto a team that had been together a while.&rdquo;Glynn had his best moment as an Oiler in a 4-2 win over the Islanders Feb. 7, finally hitting the scoreboard in his eighth game. He jumped into the play and deflected a pass from Scott Mellanby past goalie Mark Fitzpatrick.NOTEBOOK: Glen Sather and goalie Bill Ranford&rsquo;s agent Tom Reich are getting close to a deal. The two were trying to hammer out an agreement before Sather headed to the Olympics in France Feb. 12. He was going to scout Finns Juha Riihi-jarvi and Keijo Sailynoja and Czechoslovakian Richard Zemlicka, all Oiler draft picks.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bernie Nicholls, David Maley. Craig MacTavish, Anatoli Semenov, Josef Beranek.LW&mdash;Vince Damphousse, Craig Simpson, Marlin Gelinas, Mark Lamb, Louie DeBrusk.RW&mdash;Joe Murphy, Scott Mellanby, Kelly Buchberger.LD&mdash;Dave Manson, Geoff Smith, Luke Richardson.RD&mdash;Norm Machrer, Chris Joseph, Brian Glynn.G&mdash;Norm Foster, Peter Ing.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Petr Klima, RW, groin strain, day-to-day. Kevin Lowe, D, right shoulder rotator cuff strain, indefinite. Craig Muni, D. pinched nerve in left shoulder, indefinite Bill Ranford. G, hamstring pull, day-to-day. Esa Tikkanen, LW. left shoulder surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Lowe wary of status

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds ran out of patience and suspended rugged left winger Chris Simon indefinitely for his unruly play.Simon has been suspended for more Ontario League games this season than he has played (25 compared to 20) and when he got a two-game sentence Jan. 31&mdash;the same day he returned from a four-game suspension&mdash;the team acted.&ldquo;His anger control has been intolerable,&rdquo; said Greyhounds&rsquo; director of operations Sherry Bassin. &ldquo;Chris is a very good player with a lot of skill, but he has got to decide to play. I&rsquo;m sure the referees are aware when he&rsquo;s on the ice, but there comes a time when he has got to cut out the persecution complex. He&rsquo;s enrolled in a course for anger control at the hospital.&rdquo;Simon, 20, was Philadelphia&rsquo;s second-round pick in 1990. He had nine goals, 19 points and 128 penalty minutes in 20 games with Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie this season. His latest suspension came after two 10-minute misconducts and an automatic game misconduct.HEAVY LOAD: Andrew Brunette, Jim Brown and Kirk Maltby knew they had something special together even before the season started. But it took Owen Sound Platers&rsquo; coach Rick Tarasuk a while to realize it.Tarasuk united the trio Nov. 16 and through 30 games it had 150 points. Remarkably, each player had 50 points during that span. Left winger Brunette and center Brown are 18 and undrafted. Right winger Maltby, 19, is undrafted and played in the CHL All-Star Game Feb. 4.&ldquo;At the start of the year, we were asked who we&rsquo;d like to play with and we all put down each other&rsquo;s name,&rdquo; Brunette said. It wasn&rsquo;t until the 18th game their wish came true. &ldquo;Kirk has a real good shot, Jim is a slick passer and I gel whatever&rsquo;s around&mdash;the garbage is left to me.&rdquo;FREE GAME: Desperate for fans, the Detroit Ambassadors offered free admission to a Feb. 2 afternoon game against Niagara Falls at Joe Louis Arena. Attendance was 3,417.Fans had a one-day opportunity to buy season tickets next season for $99, a half-price discount. Poor attendance has fuelled rumors the Ambassadors will move or fold. The team averaged 2,600 fans through 23 home games.NEW MARKET?: Niagara Falls Thunder owner Rick Gay said the honeymoon could be over in that city. Gay said sagging attendance may force him to move the team to Newmarket or Barrie. He said he&rsquo;ll watch the last part of the regular season and the playoffs before making any decision. The team or league won&rsquo;t release attendance figures. The Thunder has been in Niagara Falls since 1988.Goalie Dan Ryder is making his mark on the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s. After coming from Sudbury in a trade Jan. 7, he was 9-3-0 with a 2.50 goals-against average. The 67&rsquo;s eight-game winning streak made the seventh and final playoff spot more of a reality, but coach-general manager Brian Kilrea dislikes an extra team qualifying in each division just so first-place finishers get a bye. &ldquo;I said it was a charade, that we were only trying to fool the fans,&rdquo; Kilrea said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fighting for that playoff spot right now but I still think it&rsquo;s bad.&rdquo;The Guelph Storm were just 2-14-5 under new coach Bill LaForge, but the .214 winning percentage is better than Ron Ivany managed in 28 games-a 1-22-5 record and .125 winning percentage. The conrtoversial LaForge tool over the Storm in December. &#9632;

’Hounds suspend Simon for being too belligerent

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07236/6670356-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="365" height="467"></div>With the way things are going in the NHL, officials may soon need a police escort., on the ice.Well, help is on the way for embattled referees and linesmen.Don Van Massenhoven of Strathroy, Ont., is a rising star among officials. The NHL trainee has just the right background to cope with these troubled times.He is 6-foot-5,230 pounds and a constable with the Ontario Provincial Police.Van Massenhoven, 31, does most of his refereeing in the Ontario League but as part of the NHL apprenticeship program, he has also worked games in the American and International Leagues this season.&ldquo;He really has the feel,&rdquo; says OHL director of officiating Ken Bodendistel. &ldquo;He continues to amaze with the calibre of hockey he can handle.&rdquo;Those who have seen a lot of Van Massenhoven say he has the potential to be another Andy Van Hellemond. In other words, the best.NHL director of officiating Bryan Lewis says Van Massenhoven is an impressive prospect but would not say whether the league will offer him the opportunity to take the next developmental step in 1992-93.All referees spend at least one full season in the minors before graduating to the NHL.Van Massenhoven says the fact he was an experienced referee helped get him onto the police force. Now, it could work in reverse.Bodendistel says the big man has a natural &ldquo;presence&rdquo; but isn&rsquo;t badge-heavy. He is not domineering. Nor is he given to panic.&ldquo;When you see things as a policeman. it puts things that happen on the ice in perspective,&rdquo; Van Massenhoven says.Perspective. Now, there&rsquo;s a word some players ought to learn.This week&rsquo;s generalization: The U.S. produces a higher percentage of excellent skaters than Canada.I have long believed this to be true but have had a tough time finding agreement among hockey people.Canadian Olympic team coach Dave King is one of those who sees it differently. But I will not be intimidated by superior hockey knowledge.Look at the rosters of NHL teams and you&rsquo;ll find most of the very best American players share a common asset-extraordinary skating ability.It is no coincidence the five best American-trained players in the league-Jeremy Roenick, Kevin Stevens, Pat LaFontaine, Brian Leetch and Phil Housley-are also five of the best skaters.Of course, many of the top Canadians are also excellent skaters but in a smaller proportion. Pierre Turgeon, for instance, is more typical of Canadian stars than Craig Janney is of American stars.Both are ordinary skaters at best.One prominent scout says that if skating is the dominant American asset then hockey sense and toughness are the most obvious Canadian strengths.Further to Future Watch &rsquo;92:Alexei Kovalev is generally regarded as the second-best young prospect in the world. Right after Eric Lindros.But the 1991 New York Ranger first-rounder is not without his skeptics. Some scouts think the Russian center&rsquo;s sense of teamwork is weak.He is wonderfully skilled, acknowledges one scout but&hellip;he brings to mind a former fast forward who could dangle but made a minimal impact on the NHL.&ldquo;Kovalev reminds me of Ron Flockhart to a T,&rdquo; he says. &#9632;

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Massive referee earning his stripes

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011625/6670387-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A variety of factors-all taking place at the same time-has brought Theo Fleury and the Calgary Flames to their knees. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>First a chilling thought. Not since 1969-70 has an NHL team which accumulated 100 points the previous season missed the playoffs the following year. And that requires an explanation.The Montreal Canadiens slipped from 103 points to 92, but in the post-expansion NHL that wasn&rsquo;t enough to qualify for the playoffs. Nowadays, 92 points is enough to win most divisions.Historically, there have been some precipitous declines but has there ever been a fall so dramatic and sudden as that experienced by Calgary Flames this season?Consider that in the past five seasons, they have: won a Stanley Cup; won two President&rsquo;s Trophies for finishing first overall; won three Smythe Division titles; and never finished with fewer than 95 points.Say what you will about their disappointing playoff record, the measure of a good organization is one that can consistently succeed from October to April. This season, after recording an even 100-point year in 1990-91, the Flames are on pace for a sub-.500 campaign.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had more successful years than this in the past and it&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; team captain Joe Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;Sometimes, you think that&rsquo;s the problem; that we think we&rsquo;re going to step on the ice and it&rsquo;ll be an automatic two points. The teams have improved in the league tremendously and two points are harder to come by.&rdquo;But what really happened?As with most perplexing questions, there isn&rsquo;t a single easy answer. A lot of different things went wrong all at the same time, creating the current mess, including:&#9633; The incredible shrinking forwards There was a time when the Flames would score a psychological victory just by skating on the ice for the warmup. They took their cue from Joel Otto but also employed Jim Peplinski, Colin Patterson, Tim Hunter-big, rugged forwards who made you pay a price.Now, even the toughest forwards-Gary Roberts, Ronnie Stem-are middleweights. With the exception of Craig Berube, the others-Gary Leeman, Tomas Forslund, Carey Wilson, Sergei Makarov and Paul Ranheim-don&rsquo;t play a particulary tough game. The fear has gone out of the opposition.Moreover, their lack of toughness also hinders the forechecking game. The Flames used to be good at getting on top of other teams. Now, they never get to the comer first. As a result, teams move it out of the zone against Calgary quickly and easily. The opposite is true in the Calgary end. Because the Flames&rsquo; forwards get outmuscled along the boards, opponents can get on top of the Calgary defense quickly.&#9633; Depth. In the years they were on top of the league, the Flames had a bunch of eager kids in the system trying to crack their powerful lineup.One year, their farm team featured a line of Brett Hull, Roberts and Brian Bradley. Two years later, Theo Fleury and Ranheim were tearing up the 1HL in Salt Lake. Now, the best prospects are either goaltenders-not their most pressing need&mdash;or role players: Todd Harkins, Paul Kruse, Sandy McCarthy. Which brings us to:&#9633; Evolution. The Flames are in desperate need of an injection of skill players. From the team that won the Stanley Cup in 1989, the Flames lost: Hakan Loob and Joey Mullen, two first-team all-stars and 50-goal scorers; Doug Gilmour, a great playmaker; plus the leadership of Patterson, Brad McCrimmon, Rob Ramage and Lanny McDonald. The most useful addition since then: Robert Reiche?, a potential 40-goal scorer mired in a slump.&#9633; The Trade. The 10-player, Jan. 2 trade with Toronto stripped the Flames of Gilmour, their only-playmaking center. Gilmour&rsquo;s absence has had a ripple effect, forcing the Flames to switch Fleury to center. Risebrough wanted to do that anyway-he contends Fleury would have been killed eventually if he&rsquo;d had to stay on the right side. However, the deal also cost them the only player that might have been able to coax some goals out of Gary Leeman.The Flames fried Leeman with Fleury and with Reichel. Both experiments were busts. Leeman doesn&rsquo;t compete especially hard and the Flames were mortified by his lack of physical conditioning. Still, they figured by now (15 games and counting), he would have been able to kick in at least one goal.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s put our focus on the team, not the individuals,&rdquo; said Risebrough, discussing the effects of the trade. &ldquo;Gary Leeman has worked hard for this team&hellip;and he&rsquo;s going to have to work harder, but he&rsquo;s not the only one.&rdquo;&#9633; The power play. In four of the past six seasons, the Flames were first in the league with the man advantage. They started that way again before their percentage plummeted in the middle third of the season. (It was fifth in the league at 21.5 percent through Feb. 3.)It&rsquo;s no secret that the way to defend against the Flames&rsquo; power play is to pressure Al Maclnnis and Gary Suter constantly. Most nights, teams are in Maclnnis&rsquo; face so fast the best he can do is wrist the puck towards the net. That creates a 3-on-2 mismatch down low, but so far, the Flames haven&rsquo;t solved that dilemma.&#9633; Contracts. In Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s days as Flames&rsquo; GM, he was accused of being a soft touch. The reason: in 11 years, the Flames did not have a single player of note who so much as played out his option. No one came even close to becoming a free agent. There was only one arbitration case ever-Maclnnis in 1989.This year has been marked by disputes. The most obvious: Gilmour&rsquo;s public and ugly confrontation with Risebrough. The dispute cost the Flames a core player and they didn&rsquo;t get one in return. It also cost them Jamie Macoun.&#9633; Risebrough&rsquo;s dual role as GM and coach. Risebrough is a bright, able man, but the two jobs have put a huge strain on him. This is only his second season as a head coach at any level, so he is still growing into that job. In addition, as a rookie GM, he arrived on the scene in the most disruptive NHL season in memory.&#9633; Conclusion: It&rsquo;s easy and convenient to lay the plight of the Flames on parity. The fact is, in the three years since the Flames ruled the NHL, a lot of the league&rsquo;s have-not teams (Vancouver, Detroit, New York Rangers, Washington) have done an excellent job of building their talent base. The Flames, meanwhile, have seen theirs erode and there isn&rsquo;t a lot of immediate help on the horizon.Essentially, the glory years are over and as the Flames&rsquo; core of players ages, the prospects become more and more bleak. The Edmonton Oilers saw this coming and rolled the dice on young players, hoping to develop a new generation of stars. It remains to be seen if their approach worked. The Flames, meanwhile, cannot decide if they&rsquo;re really as bad as all this&mdash;or if this is just a temporary aberration.By April, we may know a lot more. &#9632;

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A Slow Burn

THN&rsquo;s coverage of the Vancouver Canucks is brutal. The only time THN makes mention of the Canucks is in the divisional or team summary segment or in short articles (few and far between).Wake up and smell the coffee. The Canucks are one of the best teams in the NHL this season.I realize you are trying to sell papers by covering losing teams such as the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs (large population centers and eastern-based cities). But the NHL does not end at the Rockies.Charles W. Tait&nbsp;Delta. B.C.<h2>Hat check</h2>Well, it only took until Jan. 25 to prove Eric Duhatschek wrong. He had predicted in a pre-season column the Sharks wouldn&rsquo;t win more than 10 games.In fact, I&rsquo;m so impressed with the Sharks, I&rsquo;m predicting they&rsquo;ll earn a playoff spot next season. You read it here first.Pete Manzolillo&nbsp;Bellmore. N. Y<h2>Matter of money</h2>In Douglas McEachern&rsquo;s letter complaining of board advertising in the NHL, he stated you would never see the Green Monster at Fenway Park covered with advertising (THN, Jan. 24).I suggest he find some pictures of Fenway from the 1930s and &rsquo;40s when the wall was covered with ads. It stayed that way until the hitters complained about the background.Besides, if Major League Baseball ever loses its multi-million dollar TV contracts, you will start seeing ads all over the walls.It&rsquo;s all a matter of money. Take the advertising off the boards at NHL rinks and the already exorbitant ticket prices go even higher. Let&rsquo;s stop worrying about minor things and concern ourselves with the major problems facing our great sport.Henry J. Bois Jr.Lunenburg, Mass.<h2>No AIDS problem</h2>After reading her letter, I would have to say Katherine Franto is the most ill-informed hockey fan I have ever come across (THN, Jan. 10).For her information, AIDS does discriminate. AIDS is far from the public health emergency homosexual groups and liberals would have us believe. The disease has yet&mdash;and probably never will-penetrate the heterosexual community. Only six per cent of reported cases can be traced to heterosexual contact.Michael Fumento, in his book, The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS, reports more white males will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year than have contacted AIDS through heterosexual contact.Daryl Lubiniecki, GM of the Saskatoon Blades, was essentially correct in believing his team had little to worry about because he didn&rsquo;t think there were any &ldquo;weak wrists&rdquo; in his dressing room (THN, Jan. 10).There is no need for AIDS testing in hockey.Paul Rzasa&nbsp;Vorhees, N.J.<h2>Looking good</h2>It&rsquo;s great the NHL is having teams wear their dark uniforms at home the rest of the season.Being a season-ticket holder for several years, I found it boring to see teams wear the same uniforms night after night, year after year.The NHL should make this switch at mid-season every year. From what I can tell, the fans like it and after all, we&rsquo;re the ones buying the tickets.M. A. Kocsis&nbsp;Montague, N.J.<h2>Not Marvellous</h2>A couple of observations on the recent NHL All-Star Game:1. Did NBC take a corporate vote before the game to determine who the worst possible hockey play-by-play man could be? Color man John Davidson did his usual outstanding job but &ldquo;MonotoneTvlarv&rdquo; Albert was lousy. Sorry this wasn&rsquo;t your beloved New York Knicks or Jets playing, Marv, but you could have at least shown some emotion.2. The most recognizable player on the ice was Doug Wilson. Though I&rsquo;m not in favor of abolishing the mandatory helmet rule, it&rsquo;s going to be a pity when the remaining helmetless warriors retire.Marc A. Guerin&nbsp;Watertown, Mass.<h2>Captain&rsquo;s curse</h2>It has been proven the &lsquo;C&rsquo; worn by Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; players over the past few years doesn&rsquo;t stand for captain. It stands for cursed.Just ask Dave Poulin, traded to Boston; Ron Sutter, traded to St. Louis; and now Rick Tocchet who has had a terrible season and is rumored to be on his way out.A. Brina&nbsp;Philadelphia, Pa.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;

Stop snubbing crazy Canucks

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011644/6670442-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div>THE DEAL; Boston sends center Craig Janney, 24, (53 games played, 12 goals, 39 assists, 51 points), and defenseman Stephane Quintal, 23, (49-4-10-14) to the St. Louis Blues for center Adam Oates, 29, (54-1059-69).THE VERDICT: This is hardly a conventional deal. In the first place, Oates&rsquo; value was affected by two factors: first, by the public acrimony over his contract status and his demand for a trade; and second by the fact that he will be 30 years old this summer.On the other hand, Janney&rsquo;s statistics are hollow. Despite totalling 92 points last season, he was never perceived by either the fans or the organization as a &ldquo;go-to&rdquo; guy in clutch situations.The best you can say for the Blues is they certainly did better getting rid of their problem than Calgary did when it let Doug Gilmour go to Toronto in the Gary Leeman deal. The Blues got a younger player in return, and Brett Hull&rsquo;s shotgun will make Janney look good.However, the Blues had better be wary Janney doesn&rsquo;t dehydrate and vanish in the Norris Division playoffs.As for the Bruins, this is a move which is consistent with the Harry Sinden philosophy of winning today. The Bruins&rsquo; general manager puts more emphasis on character than most of his colleagues, and was willing to give away age and the potential of Janney to get a proven commodity who is well into his prime.The Bruins have made very few mistakes on sending away talent (Bill Ranford and Al Secord being a couple of notable exceptions) and Oates looks like the kind of guy who will give them a better chance of beating Montreal in the playoffs&mdash;and that&rsquo;s what hockey is all about in Boston. &#9632;

Give Bruins short-term edge

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011570/6670504-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="369" height="474"></div>I went to see the St. Louis Blues. They had the blahs. Brett Hull&rsquo;s jersey was stolen from the Spectrum dressing room before the warmup. During the game against Philadelphia, his body disappeared, too. Adam Oates skated with a steelyeyed resolve not witnessed since Mikko Makela.Growing up with the Eastern League, I always thought John Brophy was the root of all evil. Now I know it&rsquo;s money. Oates was going through some very slow motions while waiting to be traded over a contract dispute.I shook my head. Not so long ago, Oates was in an enviable situation. He was a good player on a strong team who was lucky enough to be centering one of the most prolific shooters in NHL history. Oates was popular in the community, had just had his contract redone and appeared to be enjoying a good life until the thought of comparable players making more money began to make him miserable.The thought crossed my mind as a consequence of his bitterness, Oates might soon be passing the puck to Paul MacDermid. To me, the alienation he had suffered because of his jealousy-really, isn&rsquo;t that the root of all renegotiation?-didn&rsquo;t seem worthwhile. Shows you what I know. Five days later, Oates gave up Hull but got Cam Neely and probably, a better contract.Once again, I had failed to see The Big Picture. I could blame that on Ken Hitchcock standing up behind the bench, but I know the real reason. It&rsquo;s February. It may seem like Christmas to Oates, but the rest of us are stuck in the worst month of the year, fighting flus, tramping through snow and feeling the same way Ron Tugnutt does before the opening faceoff. There is no hope in February. I&rsquo;m in a slump. Admit it: You are, too.That little furry thing that comes out of the ground Feb. 2-no, no, not Michel Mongeau, we mean the groundhog-has the best outlook on Fevrier. Our little rodent friend pokes his head out of his hole and if he sees the shadow of the player Jari Kurri used to be, then it&rsquo;s time for another nap.February is a good month to hibernate. So that&rsquo;s what a lot of players do. It&rsquo;s a long season and sometimes hard to blame them. We are two months away from the playoffs and still one month away from the big trade that&rsquo;s going to determine who&rsquo;s going to win them.Every game in February is Winnipeg at Hartford. Every play is Scott Amiel coming in on Steve Weeks.Division-leading teams go into slumps during February. Nobody catches them because generally this is a month when only bad teams get hot. Toronto and Philadelphia are having improved Februarys. What else do you need to know?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021130/6670497-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="564" height="666"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Mongeau</figcaption></div>Once every four years, we have the small comfort of an Olympics to warm and entertain us. As a matter of fact, U.S. coach Dave Peterson is perfect for a team that puts its season on the line in February: Grumpy. Therefore, I will try to get that Olympic spirit, at least until the point where Italy has to play Switzerland. I can&rsquo;t get up for the skiing. If I want to watch somebody going downhill, it&rsquo;s going to be Neal Broten.But I know I&rsquo;m not alone in my feelings for February. Mario Lemieux also has the blahs. If I interpret him correctly, one of the major problems in hockey today is that the league does not allow its good players to abuse referees. Sounds like a February-kind-of-logic to me. I prescribe traction. Not for Lemieux&rsquo;s back, but his brain.Wayne Gretzky has the blahs, too. Just about every other week, he&rsquo;s moaning about how bad he&rsquo;s playing and telling another writer he&rsquo;s considering retiring at the end of next season. Yeah, right. If Gretzky&rsquo;s not playing in 1994, I&rsquo;m Jarmo Myllys.Eventually, Wayne will do what us mere mortals do. Faced with the option of torturing ourselves with unrealistic expectations or enjoying our lives, we readjust our standards and become content with doing the best we can. That&rsquo;s not giving in. That&rsquo;s growing up. We hang in there and eventually February becomes March, when we can heartily congratulate ourselves on our survival. &#9632;

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We’ve all got a case of February blahs

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN Staff</div>On the eve of the Winter Olympics, Canadian center Eric Lindros said he may not return to the Oshawa Generals when the tournament ends.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;m going back to junior,&rdquo; Lindros told reporters in Meribel, France Feb. 5. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s time to slow it down. Hockey&rsquo;s not the end-all, be-all of life.&rdquo;Lindros has played 12 games this season with the Ontario League Generals, scoring eight goals and 20 assists. He has also played for the Canadian team at the Canada Cup and the national junior team at the World Junior Championships.Lindros&rsquo; agent, Philadelphia-based Rick Curran, said his client could have a change of heart about finishing the season in Oshawa.&ldquo;Eric feels now as though he might like to pack it in after the Olympics, so he said so,&rdquo; Curran said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s his style, outspoken. But it isn&rsquo;t etched in stone.&rdquo;According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, if Canadian Olympic team coach Dave King had his way, Lindros wouldn&rsquo;t even be playing for his team.The paper reported Feb. 9 that King wanted to cut Lindros from the team because he has been a headache and a distraction to have around. But King felt he couldn&rsquo;t make the move because of the negative publicity that would have followed.King called the report completely false and ridiculous.&rdquo;Lindros was drafted first overall by Quebec in the 1991 entry draft but has refused to play for the Nordiques.Meanwhile, the Nordiques&rsquo; charges that six teams tampered with Lindros remained unresolved by the NHL.The charges against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks were filed before the season started. A team can be fined up to $500,000 and forfeit draft choices if found guilty.<h2>Sapergia suing?</h2>The agent for former San Diego Gulls&rsquo; right winger Brent Sapergia said his client is considering suing the International League team for defamation of character.Mark Stowe said Sapergia was upset with comments by Gulls&rsquo; coach-general manager Don Waddell that appeared in the Jan. 3, 1992 issue of The Hockey News.Waddell was quoted as saying: &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t play by my rules, which were to keep his nose clean. He got back into the booze and I couldn&rsquo;t tolerate that.&rdquo; The Gulls released Sapergia Dec. 1.Sapergia, who has admitted to having a drinking problem in the past, denied he started drinking again.&ldquo;He made it out like I was drinking again and that&rsquo;s all wrong,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The only reason I was out drinking was to say goodbye to the boys.&rdquo;Sapergia also said he was upset the Gulls tried to suspend him when his 25-game tryout contract expired Nov. 30. He said the team couldn&rsquo;t suspend him because he wasn&rsquo;t Gulls&rsquo; property.&ldquo;Now, nobody in the International League will touch me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see what right (Waddell) has to play with somebody&rsquo;s career.&rdquo;From San Diego, Sapergia went to play in Switzerland, where he scored two goals and two assists in three games for Sierre. He then played for Rasio in the Finnish second division before returning to North America last month.Sapergia is living in Phoenix, his season likely over. The deadline has passed for IHL teams to sign players who were in Europe this season.<h2>January men</h2>Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; center Pat LaFontaine and Boston Bruins&rsquo; goaltender Andy Moog shared play-er-of-the-month honors for January.LaFontaine scored 19 goals and added 17 assists in 14 games. He recorded points in 13 of 14 games.Moog had a perfect 8-0-0 record with a 2.09 goals-against average.The rookie of the month for January was New Jersey Devils&rsquo; left winger Valeri Zelepukin. He had five goals and eight assists in 10 games.<h2>Williams dies</h2>Tommy Williams, a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, died Feb. 8 of a heart attack in Hudson, Mass. He was 51.Williams scored 161 goals and 430 points in 663 games with the Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars, California Golden Seals and Washington Capitals. In 139 games with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association, Williams had 31 goals and 89 points. He retired after the 1975-76 season.At age 19, Williams was the youngest member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team in 1960. &#9632;

Lindros non-committal about post-Olympic plans

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Quebec League president Gilles Courteau expects the Regie Securite Sports Quebec will honor an agreement allowing major junior hockey players in that province to wear half visors for the next two seasons.Courteau doesn&rsquo;t see any government repercussions after Steve Dontigny of the Shawinigan Cataractes was struck in the eye by an errant stick Feb. 3. The accident occurred three weeks after the Quebec League was allowed to revert to the half visor after playing 31/2 seasons with a mandatory full visor.There were initial fears Dontigny might lose his eye. But the injury wasn&rsquo;t that serious and he is expected to recover folly. (For more on Dontigny. see page 24.)&ldquo;We have an agreement with Regie Securite for two more seasons and I expect them to let us finish that agreement,&rdquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;It was unfortunate but it turned out to be nothing major. It was purely an accident.&rdquo;Regie Securite governs all safety rules for Quebec amateur sports and it took a lot of lobbying by the QMJHL to get the half visor. Courteau said there has never been a serious eye injury in the league.Ontario League commissioner Dave Branch and Western League president Ed Chynoweth do not want the foil visor legislated in their leagues, although players can wear it. The OHL and WHL both require a half visor.&ldquo;I would hope not,&rdquo; Branch said, &ldquo;simply because of the style of hockey we see when foil cages and visors are worn. The stickwoik is absolutely frightening at those levels that use the full cage or visor.&rdquo;Chynoweth even has mixed feelings about wearing a half visor.&ldquo;The old adage is if it saves one eye then it pays its way, but ever since we&rsquo;ve gone with helmets and shields, the sticks are up around the heads,&rdquo; Chynoweth said. &ldquo;But we would be open to an unbelievable amount of criticism if we eliminated the half shield. Our job is still to protect the players.&rdquo;Retired Toronto opthamologist Dr. Tom Pashby said there have been 1,750 hockey-related eye injuries reported in Canada in the past 17 seasons. Of those, 265 resulted in blindness. No player wearing a shield has ever been blinded, according to Pashby.Pashby said there have been three reported cases of blindness in hockey-related injuries in Canada this season. All occurred in oldtimers&rsquo; games. &#9632;

Half visors stay despite injury

<div class="byline">By Stan Flachler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011744/6670583-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour is one of two on Vladislav Tretiak&rsquo;s list of the best goalies in the world. Patrick Roy is the Other. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>Don&rsquo;t be surprised if a former NHLer is responsible for a revolutionary change in NHL hockey rinks next year. Ex-Montreal Canadien and Colorado Rockie Ron Andruff is on the verge of persuading the league to adopt a high-tech system of illuminated, rotating ads built into the side and end boards. Andruff, whose Manhattan-based Dynadx Technologies, is behind the creation, estimates clubs could add 20 to 30 per cent to their existing dasherboard revenue. The Toronto Maple Leafs, for example, are projected to earn an estimated $2.5 million per year from static board ads. Andruff estimates a full Dynadx system could increase incremental profits of $500,000 or more in the first year. Here&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s likely to happen: Los Angeles Rings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall&rsquo;s Multi Vision Marketing subsidiary is exclusive sports distributor of Andruffs product and the Kings are among six NHL clubs considering the switch to the rotational dasher system. There&rsquo;s precedent, too. The National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Utah Jazz use it.<h2>Close call</h2>Cam Neely&rsquo;s romantic pursuits are titillating the Boston media as much as his hockey comeback. A Boston daily recently observed Neely is being double-teamed on and off the ice. At one game it reported Neely&rsquo;s &ldquo;local gal pal&rdquo; was watching him from one Boston Garden private box while &ldquo;his Hollywood squeeze,&rdquo; Glenn Close, was in another. The paper said neither was supposed to be aware of the other&rsquo;s presence&hellip;As if the Hartford Whalers don&rsquo;t have enough problems, they took another economic blow when Connecticut&rsquo;s largest private employer, United Technologies, announced it would eliminate 6,412 jobs in the state by 1995&hellip;NBC&rsquo;s ratings for the All-Star Game dropped from 2.7 last year to 2.3 in 1992&hellip;The running battle between Bruins&rsquo; flagship station (WEE1) broadcaster Eddie Andelman and team president Harry Sinden continues. Andelman fired the latest on-air blast. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to see a Bruins&rsquo; championship banner hang from Boston Garden-along with Harry Sinden,&rdquo; he said.<h2>Montreal bound?</h2>The latest Eric Lindros trade rumor: the Montreal Canadiens would trade Patrick Roy, a Quebec City native, Mathieu Schneider and Shayne Corson plus $5 million to the Nordiques for Lindros. Some newsmen believe the Habs need Lindros for the soon-to-be-built 21,000-seat new Forum. Canadiens&rsquo; coach Pat Burns&rsquo; reaction to the proposed exchange: &ldquo;Ridiculous!&rdquo;&hellip;The seeds of a Los Angeles-San Jose feud have been planted by Jayson More of the Sharks. After a shoving match with Wayne Gretzky near the San Jose net, More threatened to bring his stick down on the defenseless King after he turned away to follow the play.Some L.A. fans threatened to attack More as he and his teammates left the Forum ice but security prevented any incident&hellip;Springfield Indians&rsquo; (American League) coach Jay Leach left members of the local booster club puzzled after delivering a speech to them that concluded, &ldquo;Remember, even a dead mackerel shines in the moonlight.&rdquo; Asked to explain, Leach responds, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Robby Burns. It just means, hey, things aren&rsquo;t as bad as they seem. You&rsquo;re sitting on the beach and there&rsquo;s a dead mackerel there. Even it shines in the moonlight.&rdquo;<h2>He should know</h2>Hall of Famer Vladislav Tretiak rates Ed Belfour and Patrick Roy as the two best goaltenders in the world. As a Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; goaltending consultant, Tretiak has a vested interest in Belfour. &ldquo;I was surprised a Canadian team didn&rsquo;t approach me (about coaching) but Chicago is great,&rdquo; Tretiak says. &#9632;

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Board advertising moving in revolutionary direction

A weekly compendium of significant events and developments.Feb. 2: Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger Cam Neely undergoes arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, which may sideline him for the rest of the season.Feb. 7: The St. Louis Blues trade center Adam Oates to Boston for center Craig Janney and defenseman Stephane Quintal.The San Jose Sharks trade center Tony Hrkac to the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional draft pick in 1993.The Philadelphia Flyers trade left winger Tony Horacek to Chicago for defenseman Ryan McGill.NHL fines Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Mario Lemieux $1,000 for public criticism of officials.Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger Luc Robitaille scores four goals in the Kings&rsquo; 5-5 tie with the Hartford Whalers.Feb. 8: Canadian Olympic team wins its first game of the Winter Olympics, 3-2 over France.Feb. 9: Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Vladimir Ruzicka scores four goals in the Brains&rsquo; 6-3 win over Pittsburgh.The United States Olympic team wins its first game, 6-3 over Italy. &#9632;

THE WEEK IN HOCKEY: FEB. 2-9

<div class="byline">By Stan Flachler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021186/6670645-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="366" height="465"></div>Impertinent thoughts on pertinent subjects:&#9633; Czechoslovak Jaromir Jagr raises a serious question of blatant prejudice when he charges referee Ron Hoggarth calls infractions against him differently because he&rsquo;s European. Jagr isn&rsquo;t alone in his feelings about officiating hostility toward foreigners. Ask Slava Fetisov.&#9633; Granted this is a minority view, but Mark Howe is a future Hall of Famer in my book.&#9633; One of the least-touted onesided exchanges in NHL arbitration history was Randy McKay and Dave Barr to New Jersey as compensation for Detroit&rsquo;s signing of Troy Crowder. McKay alone fights more vigorously and scores more than Crowder whose big-league future is dubious, at best.&#9633; Can there be any argument Pat Quinn is both coach and executive of the year?&#9633; Mark this on your calendar for next December: by Christmas, the Suncoast Dome baseball stadium-converted-to-hockey-rink will prove to be a major league disaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning.&#9633; Bob McKenzie is normally a smart fellow but he&rsquo;s so far wrong picking the Montreal Canadiens to win the Cup that I required five minutes of convulsive laughter when reading his pick. And just to back it up, McKenzie gets dinner at the New York restaurant of his choice if I&rsquo;m wrong.&#9633; When Glen Sather stops looking in the mirror he should remember he&rsquo;s personally responsible for one of the decade&rsquo;s least-discussed blunders-trading Vladimir Ruzicka for Greg Hawgood.&#9633; Before anybody goes ape over Brett Hull winning the Hart Trophy, compare his lousy plus-minus with Mark Messier&rsquo;s and you&rsquo;ll see why the New York Rangers&rsquo; captain is MVP.&#9633; The smartest guys in hockey are the chaps who invested their coin in Pat Kelly&rsquo;s East Coast League three years ago.&#9633; A public apology to Bruce McNall and Los Angeles hockey fans is in order from Jari Kurri. Either that or the god-damdest homesttetch and playoff since the Flubbing Finn was an Edmonton Oiler.&#9633; Any similarity between the 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins and the Stanley Cup champions is purely coincidental.&#9633; Among the more imbecilic NHL rules is the one that inspires the dangerous horse race to the end boards for a &ldquo;touch&rdquo; on icing. If there&rsquo;s icing, the whistle should be blown the second the puck crosses the red line. And if you don&rsquo;t believe me, ask ex-NHLer Bob Dailey whose career was curbed by just such a senseless race.&#9633; There&rsquo;ll be more Adirondack Red Wings in the NHL next year than from any other minor league club&mdash;by a lot. Apart from Keith Primeau, the top guy there is Bill McDougall who does a lot of good things, especially releasing a snapshot of NHL quality.&#9633; Say what you will but the braindead play of hockey is the one where guys wind up and mindlessly shoot the puck into the other end thereby forfeiting puck-possession.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03733/6670638-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="546" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Fergus</figcaption></div>&#9633; The temptation is to revile Cliff Fletcher for gifting the Vancouver Canucks with Tom Fergus. The reality is Fergus would have vegetated in Toronto. His Vancouver renaissance could only have been foreseen by Quinn and Nostradamus.&#9633; I like John Muckier&rsquo;s go-for-broke coaching style. There&rsquo;s a problem, though; after he steers Buffalo through the Adams Division playoffs, his bosses are going to want him to coach next year&mdash;and the year after that. And he should.&#9633; Man, they&rsquo;re loathsome when they&rsquo;re not on your team, but wouldn&rsquo;t you love to have Keith Acton, Dale Hunter and Laurie Boschman on your side?&#9633; Too many TV close-ups of Pat Bums seem to have caused him to have fallen in love with himself.&#9633; Could there possibly be a more even trade than Randy Burridge for Steve Leach?&#9633; If Rick Tocchet is a Flyer by March 5, Russ Farwell won&rsquo;t be Philadelphia general manager by Sept. 5. &#9632;

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Howe has earned place in the Hall

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011584/6670676-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="369" height="470"></div>Nobody&rsquo;s making a big deal out of this but while the NHL celebrates its 75th anniversary season, the Boston Bruins are celebrating an unprecedented silver anniversary.It has been 25 years since the Bruins finished below .500 and it has been a quarter-century since they missed the playoffs. Well, they will have established those marks by season&rsquo;s end, adding to their North American pro sports records.&ldquo;When you live through it and work through it, you can&rsquo;t really appreciate it,&rdquo; said Mike Milbury, the former player, coach and now in his first year as assistant GM. &ldquo;But when you look back and consider what it takes to keep an organization at such a high level over such a long period, it is truly impressive.&rdquo;Even more impressive is how the team has handled on-ice adversity. The Bruins have learned not to complain about their perennial injury plague. Year after year; season after season, shift after shift, the Bruins just march out players who are responsible for carrying on a tradition; a tradition which is rooted well beneath the Boston Garden&rsquo;s parquet floor and buried in the ice surfaces which have been the home to the Bruins.&ldquo;The guy responsible is Harry,&rdquo; said Milbury, referring to general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;He realizes that attitude is the most important thing in the game. In a lot of situations, certainly not all, attitude can overcome talent deficiencies.&rdquo;In a way, the recent trade of center Craig Janney to St. Louis for Adam Oates was the protoypical Sinden deal. True, Janney has the natural talent of a first-round pick, and is six years younger. But Oates made himself into a star as an undrafted player and he will help the Bruins win games this season.Next season? That&rsquo;s another story.&ldquo;(Sinden) realizes that attitude is the most important thing in the game,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t need a seven-foot center. There is not one guy that&rsquo;s going to do it. You need to get a good pack mentality.&rdquo;You could argue that in place of the &ldquo;seven-foot center&rdquo; the Bruins of the past 25 years have been blessed with defensemen named Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque. But there were Pittsburgh Penguin teams which could not reach the .500 level with Mario Lemieux and of all sports, hockey is the one which proves the adage the strength of the wolf is in the pack.Sinden has continually taken castoffs from other organizations and tried to fit them into the Bruins&rsquo; demanding system. The result has been a roster which is bloated from year to year with &ldquo;projects&rdquo; and usually a couple of hidden gems.The approach is much the same as it is in Montreal where every player is held accountable for every shift. The trappings of the Bruins&rsquo; dressing room aren&rsquo;t nearly as imposing as the torch in the Habs&rsquo; room, but each player is expected to show up for each game with a snarl no less menacing than the one on the bear head in their dressing room.If they don&rsquo;t, Sinden snarls and they are shipped away.&ldquo;They either turn into the kind of players we want or Harry gets rid of them,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;Players can&rsquo;t hide it from him. He&rsquo;s been around too long. He jumps on it with both feet.&rdquo;Milbury gave up coaching after last season, handing over that responsibility to Rick Bowness who has quickly discovered the night-to-night demands of the Bruins&rsquo; organization. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to Rick a lot about it,&rdquo; Milbury said, &ldquo;and until you do it, I don&rsquo;t think anybody can understand the game-to-game demands, expectations and pressure of the organization.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same thing that applies in Montreal. There is no comfort level. None.&rdquo;But unlike Montreal, Boston has not enjoyed the ultimate success-a Stanley Cup win-in recent times. Their five trips to the finals since winning it all in 1972 have all resulted in defeat.One could argue that all of Sinden&rsquo;s patching and coaxing may have been good enough to get the Bruins to the big game, but not good enough to put them over the top. That they have been unwilling to sacrifice some short-term gain, it can be said, has haunted them.&ldquo;Take a step back to go forward?&rdquo; Sinden snorted. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re obligated to the fans to win every game, every year. They don&rsquo;t want to pay the kind of money they&rsquo;re paying to see us take one step backwards so that we can better build through the draft.&ldquo;The people of Boston would not tolerate that. I understand the argument, but I don&rsquo;t buy it. If you don&rsquo;t put the show in every night, night after night, you&rsquo;re cheating the fans.&rdquo;And the fans of Boston have not been cheated through the past quarter century. &#9632;

f0007-01

Quietly celebrating a silver anniversary

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>As difficult as they have found the art of collecting enough good players to build a playoff contender, the New York Islanders realize that is only half of their recruiting problem. Getting people into the seats has proven just as troublesome.Nassau Coliseum, once a site for traffic jams and a workshop for scalpers, stands half empty on most game nights. A fifth-place team, a sagging economy and soaring ticket prices have kept many Long Islanders at home when the home team is playing.Only seven times in the first 27 home games did crowds exceed 10,000 in the 16,297-seat arena. Two of those were sellouts when many fans showed up to see the visiting team, the rival New York Rangers. Despite that pair of large turnouts, the Islanders&rsquo; attendance averaged a league-low 9,525 through the first weekend of February, which was perhaps the most disappointing period of all.Not even a stirring reminder of better days could break the box-office slump. As the team retired Denis Potvin&rsquo;s No. 5 Feb. 1, only 11,715 were on hand to watch.It was a poignant counterpoint to the throngs the Islanders drew during the glory era, when Potvin was playing.&ldquo;I remember when it was exciting to go to Nassau Coliseum and feel the chemistry, excitement and exuberance of a full crowd. That&rsquo;s what we have to get back to,&rdquo; said Robert Rosenthal, a longtime season-ticket holder and one of the principals in a consortium that has agreed to buy a controlling interest in the franchise.Various explanations have been given for the box-office decline, the most prominent of which has been the erosion of the once-great team.The Islanders have finished last in the Patrick Division twice in the past three years. Although blockbuster trades in October provided more offensive depth and a more prolific style, the departures of superstar Pat LaFontaine and captain Brent Sutter further chipped away at the franchise&rsquo;s identity. Also, the Islanders have been unable to join the mainstream in the vastly improved Patrick Division.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021068/6670707-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="934" height="2148"><figcaption class="caption-body">An improved offense led by players such as Pierre Turgeon hasn&rsquo;t helped fill seats. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>Jim Johnson, the team&rsquo;s director of sales, added, &ldquo;There still is a diehard nucleus of fans on Long Island.&rdquo; He believes the fan base has been restricted by a recession that has closed Long Island department stores and left hundreds of local defenseplant workers jobless.&ldquo;Businessmen say, &lsquo;Do I lay off a guy or do I cancel my season tickets to the Islanders?&rsquo;&rdquo; Johnson said.Thomas Conoscenti, an economist at Long Island&rsquo;s Polytechnic University and an occasional spectator at Islander games, agreed that &ldquo;the bulk (of the low attendance) is a function of the economy.&rdquo;Even so, fans have resorted to advertising their unsold tickets-for prices lower than face value-in a Long Island newspaper. And many of those people contend the breaking point occurred last summer, when management took virtually no strides to improve a last-place roster, yet raised ticket prices and imposed a service charge on season-ticket holders. (Season ticket sales fell about 20 per cent from last season, to 6,400).The top price for individual game tickets rose from $30 to $35, a factor that apparently has convinced many people to watch the games on SportsChannel. The team&rsquo;s lucrative deal with the cable company has kept the Islanders in the black despite the empty seats.In any event, Islander players and coaches keep track of crowd sizes, becoming optimistic with any hint that more people than usual will come watch. The new owners have been watching, too.&ldquo;The pricing structure has to be looked at,&rdquo; said Ralph Palleschi, another of the consortium&rsquo;s principals. &ldquo;The marketing and merchandising of the team has to be looked at.&rdquo;The new owners plan an aggressive campaign. They believe a grass-roots approach is needed to reclaim Long Island businesses as investors and ticket-buyers.&ldquo;The team and their fans kind of went their separate ways after the glory years,&rdquo; said Stephen Walsh, who will be co-chief executive officer with Rosenthal. &ldquo;I can assure you that will never happen again as long as we&rsquo;re involved with it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-02

Deserted Island

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>Chris Terreri never lost his confidence, but during a month-long slump he temporarily lost his job as the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; No. I goaltender to Craig Billington.Whatever panic the Devils may have felt was short-lived. Terreri rebounded with a five-game winning streak and re-established himself as the club&rsquo;s top goalie.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not consciously doing anything different,&rdquo; Terreri said. &ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m more alert. Maybe I&rsquo;m just a little more focused.&rdquo;Between Nov. 14 and Dec. 14 Terreri failed to win in seven straight starts (0-4-3). While he did not play poorly, he was unable to come up with the key save. Goalie coach Warren Strelow said Terreri had started anticipating instead of reacting, which was getting him into trouble.The turnaround began Jan. 12 when Terreri stopped 39 of 41 shots in a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. It was the start of a sevengame unbeaten sfreak (6-0-1).The 5-foot-8, 155-pound Providence, R.I., native peaked with back-to-back afternoon games in Boston (Feb. 8) and Quebec (Feb. 9). In just over 24 hours, he defeated the Bruins with 38 saves (6-4 win) and frustrated the Nordiques with 28 stops (2-1 win) to raise his record to 17-13-6.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just happy that the team is winning,&rdquo; Terreri said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to have your ups and downs during the course of a season. Not playing and not winning for a couple of weeks can work on you, but I felt I wasn&rsquo;t playing that bad.&rdquo;SEVENTH HELL: How much fun is it to be a member of the league&rsquo;s deepest defense corps? Not much if you&rsquo;re the seventh man.Tommy Albelin, a Canada Cup defenseman for Sweden, was able to crack the Devils&rsquo; lineup only when misfortune sidelined one of his teammates. Even after he played flawlessly during Viacheslav Fetisov&rsquo;s five-game suspension for high-sticking Mario Lemieux, Albelin could not stay in the lineup.During the Devils&rsquo; three-game road trip to Montreal, Detroit and Toronto, Albelin was not on the ice for one of the 12 goals against.Albelin had seen action in just one of the Devils&rsquo; first 53 games, earning one point.NOTEBOOK: Ken Daneyko played in his 500th NHL game (197th in a row) in a 4-1 loss at St. Louis Feb. 6&hellip;Claude Lemieux set a career-high by scoring his 32nd goal Feb. 8 in Boston.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 7: Jarrod Skalde, C. recalled from Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kevin Todd, Peter Stastny, Laurie Boschman, Jarrod Skalde.LW&mdash;Valeri Zelepukin, Claude Vilgrain, Tom Chorske, Dave Barr.RW&mdash;Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux, Randy McKay, Doug Brown.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Scott Stevens, Viacheslav Fetisov, Tommy Albelin.RD&mdash;Alexei Kasatonov, Eric Weinrich, Ken Daneyko.G&mdash;Chris Terreri, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Zdeno Ciger, LW, right wrist surgery, day-to-day. Pat Conacher, LW, hernia surgery, indefinite John MacLean, RW, right knee surgery, out for season. Troy Mallette, LW, sprained ankle, day-to-day Alexander Semak, C, separated right shoulder, indefinite. Patrik Sundstrom, C, bruised thigh, indefinite. &#9632;

Scary Terreri panic is history as goalie reclaims No. 1 job

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>The first hat trick of John Druce&rsquo;s professional career was a shock. The second came a long while later and was more pleasing than shocking.A playoff phenom in the spring of 1990, Druce led the Washington Capitals through the Patrick Division finals to their only trip to the Stanley Cup semifinals. His hat trick in Game 2 against the New York Rangers propelled the Capitals to the first of four straight victories.Many a game has passed since then, but Druce&rsquo;s impact had been almost non-existent. Only recently has Druce rekindled the flame at the Capital Centre and on Feb. 9 choruses of &ldquo;Drooose,&rdquo; echoed as the 26-year-old registered a hat trick in a 6-2 win over San Jose.The three goals gave him 13 for the season-nine in the last 15 games. Druce has clicked on a line with right winger Peter Bondra and center Michal Pivonka.&ldquo;Things have started to turn around,&rdquo; Druce said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been playing with great players. Dale Hunter and Dino Ciccarelli and then Pivo and Bondra. With the kind of people they are and the way they do things, it&rsquo;s bound to happen for you. I also think I&rsquo;m skating a lot better and creating more opportunities.&rdquo;Druce was one of three Capitals to dress for all 80 games last season, but only the first two months of the season were like the prior spring. Druce had 15 goals and 30 points by Dec. 1, but just seven goals and 18 points the rest of the way.The slide continued this season. Druce did not have a point in the exhibition season and was scratched in 10 of the first 20 games, while the team was making the best start in franchise history.But as the Capitals came back to the Pafrick Division pack, coach Terry Murray began looking for other players to pitch in with the scoring. Druce filled the bill.THREE&rsquo;S COMPANY: The Capitals have decided to carry three goalies with Jim Hrivnak joining the team for the rest of the season.Don Beaupre recovered from a mid-season slump and rejoined the NHL&rsquo;s top five goalies in goals-against average (2.92).But the issue was not Beaupre, who will play a majority of the remaining games. The concern is over the waning play of veteran Mike Liut.Liut, 36, held off Hrivnak in the battle for the No. 2 job in training camp. Hrivnak has made two trips to Washington since, but this could be the sign Hrivnak will become the definitive backup and Liut&rsquo;s Washington career could be over.&ldquo;Part of it is the win-loss column Mike has had (10-7-2),&rdquo; coach Terry Murray said. &ldquo;If we win some of those (seven) games, we&rsquo;re probably not even talking about it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Shawn Chambers had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Feb. 4. Doctors found no major damage, though they did clean out some scar tissue. Chambers is out until at least March 1. He has played just two games this season&hellip;With the win over San Jose, goalie Don Beaupre moved into third place on the Capitals&rsquo; all-time win list.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 10: Jim Hrivnak, G, recalled from Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ridley, Michal Pivonka, Dale Hunter, Todd Krygier, Tim Bergland.LW&mdash;Dimitri Khristich, John Druce, Randy Burridge, Nick Kypreos.RW&mdash;Kelly Miller, Peter Bondra, Dino Ciccarelli, Alan May.LD&mdash;Calle Johansson, Rod Langway, Mike Lalor.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Al lafrate, Sylvain Cote.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Mike Liut, Jim Hrivnak.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers, D, left knee swelling, indefinite. &#9632;

Druce breaks loose

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>Which of these names doesn&rsquo;t belong: Bryan Trottier, Stefan Persson, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Pat LaFontaine, Tom Kurvers?The answer is none of the above, not even the last one. Kurvers, the veteran defenseman who had a bumpy first half-season with the New York Islanders, joined heady company when he tied a franchise record with a nine-game assist streak.That was emblematic of a general turnaround for a player who rolled up a minus-26 rating through the first half of the season. &ldquo;He has played very well the last month.&rdquo; coach Al Arbour said. &ldquo;He has gotten his confidence back and played very well defensively.&rdquo;Kurvers, 29, realizes he might not be able to get rid of his burdensome plus-minus rating minus-23 through Feb. 7-but avoids focusing on it.&ldquo;I was getting a lot of grief over it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I told myself after 40 games, for my own peace of mind, &lsquo;Well, let&rsquo;s just call it a half a season and start over again.&rsquo; I was doing some things right. The power play was in decent shape, so I had some things to go on. And the last few years, I&rsquo;ve had good second halves.&rdquo;Since a minus-3 outing in an 8-5 loss to Washington Jan. 1, he has played better, due largely to more ice time rather than the occasional shift.With a series of injuries to Islander defensemen, Arbour had no choice but to give Kurvers regular shifts. He did so well on them, he&rsquo;s killing penalties, too.His real strength, however, remains as a quarterback on the power play. His passing from the left point has helped left winger Derek King roll up 17 power-play goals.During his nine-game streak, Kurvers had a goal and 16 assists.A veteran of five trades, Kurvers believes he has endured another below-zero chill. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to be a survivor in this game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not all going to be great days. You&rsquo;ve got to bounce back.&rdquo;POINT AT LAST: Whenever rookie defenseman Dennis Vaske called his father at home in Texas, the elder Vaske kept asking, &ldquo;When are you going to get a point?&rdquo;Finally, in his 25th NHL game, Vaske secured an assist. He set up Ray Ferraro&rsquo;s overtime goal in Vancouver Feb. 6 and appeared even happier than Ferraro at the result.Except his father was going to have to take Vaske&rsquo;s word for it. The official game summary, and the next day&rsquo;s boxscores, incorrectly credited the assist to Derek King.&ldquo;Benoit Hogue told me about it and I thought he was joking,&rdquo; Vaske said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s okay, they&rsquo;ll change it.&rdquo;The scoring was changed and Vaske added, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a monkey off my back. I&rsquo;ve been battling with the (Islander) goalies for point totals.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Linemates Pierre Turgeon, David Volek and Derek King each had at least one point in nine games through Feb. 6. They had 19 goals and 39 points in that span.During the Islanders&rsquo; previous visit to Los Angeles, in October, 1990, Mark Fitzpatrick was in a nearby hospital with then-undiagnosed symptoms. On Feb. 4, having apparently put a serious illness under control, Fitzpatrick returned and made 33 saves in a 2-1 win over the Kings&hellip;The Isles spent a weekend off in the mountain resort of Banff, Alta., Feb. 8-10.<h2>N.Y. ISLES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ray Ferraro, Pierre Turgeon, Hubie McDonough. Tom FitzgeraldLW&mdash;Benoit Hogue, Derek King. Adam Creighton, Steve Thomas.RW&mdash;David Votek, Dave McLIwain. Rob DiMaio. Mick Vukota.LD&mdash;Dennis Vaske. Ken Baumgartner. Bill BergRD&mdash;Tom Kurvers, Dean Chynoweth, Jeff Finley.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. Uwe Krupp, D, bruised left knee, day-to-day Wayne McBean, D, tom left knee ligament, out for season. Jeff Norton, D, tom left wrist ligament, out for season. Gary Nylund, D, broken left heel, day-to-day. Rich Pilon, D, tom left ring finger, day-to-day. Joe Reekie, D, fractured left knuckle, indefinite. &#9632;

Kurvers turns corner on topsy-turvy season

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>He has five Stanley Cup rings and a guaranteed reservation in the Hall of (Fame, but it seems Bryan Trottier still has a little hockey left in his 35-year-old body.He&rsquo;s not the player he was a decade or so ago when he was hockey&rsquo;s premier two-way center, but Trottier has been one of the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; rare bright spots this season.o Trottier&rsquo;s play on the No. I line with Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi was one of the few encouraging notes during a 1-6-1 slide that locked the Penguins into fourth place in the Patrick Division.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing like a 20-year-old,&rdquo; said Mario Lemieux, whose spot Trottier was filling while Lemieux battled his latest round of back problems.The Penguins signed Trottier as a free agent during the summer of 1990 because of his defensive abilities and leadership qualities. But he has shown he still knows his way around the offensive zone. He had nine goals and 22 points in 41 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s stimulating to be asked to step up and contribute to the offense,&rdquo; he said.Trottier had a five-game scoring stteak-picking up 11 points during that span-before being shut out in a 6-3 loss in Boston Feb. 9.His goal in a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers four nights earlier was his 1,400th career point, making him the sixth player in NHL history to hit that plateau.Trottier&rsquo;s ice time has increased significantly this season. He is taking a regular shift and has worked on both special teams. But fatigue hasn&rsquo;t been a factor.&ldquo;Fifteen to 20 (minutes of ice time) is not a problem at all,&rdquo; Trottier said.LEMIEUX FINED: Center Mario Lemieux was fined $1,000 by NHL president John Ziegler for remarks critical of the league and its officiating after a 6-4 loss in Washington Jan. 26.The fine was the maximum allowed under NHL bylaw 17.4.Lemieux called the NHL a &ldquo;garage league&rdquo; and said referees&rsquo; lax enforcement of some rules &ldquo;gives the advantage to the marginal player.&rdquo;Ziegler summoned Lemieux to his New York office for a meeting Feb. 7, and the fine was announced later that day.&ldquo;He indicated these remarks grew out of a series of frustrations,&rdquo; Ziegler said in a prepared statement. &ldquo;Despite provocation, public remarks critical of NHL officials must be penalized.&rdquo;Lemieux, who has kept a low profile while sidelined by back problems, has not commented on the hearing.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Mark Recchi hit the 30-goal plateau for the third consecutive year to join Mario Lemieux as the only players in Penguin history to reach that mark in each one of their first three seasons.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. B: Gord Dineen, D, recalled from Muskegon (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis. Bryan Trottier, Ken Priestley, Jiri Hrdina.LW&mdash;Kevin Stevens, Bob Errey, Troy Loney, Phil BourqueRW&mdash;Mark Recchi, Joe Mullen. Jaromir Jagr, Jamie Leach, Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Gordie Roberts. Grant Jennings, Peter Taglianetti.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy, Paul Stanton, Gord Dineen.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Coffey, D, pulled hip muscle, day-to-day. Mario Lemieux, C. herniated back muscle, day-to-day. Jim Pack, D, surgery on left hand, indefinite. Ulf Samuelsson, D, bruised left hand, day-to-day. Wendell Young, G, broken right hand, indefinite. &#9632;

Trottier rolling along

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>The odds on Ron Hextall getting a shutout and Philadelphia ending a 10-game road winless streak on the same day were as remote as the last-place team getting a trip to Florida.Break out the noisemakers and pass out the suntan lotion. All three improbabilities came true in the space of about four hours Feb. 8.The Flyers had not won a game away from the Spectrum since Dec. 21, a 3-0 shutout produced by Hex tall in Minnesota. In the next seven weeks, the Flyers went 0-8-2 on the road, a good reason why they were in the Patrick Division basement.The streak came to an end the way it started, with Hextall blanking the Quebec Nordiques 3-0 at Le Colisee.Moments after the game, the rejuvenated Flyers (5-1-1 in seven games) chartered to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for three days of rest and light practice.The trip had been plarmed as a getaway weekend well in advance and had nothing to do with the team&rsquo;s recent success. But the timing seemed coincidental.Hextall said he didn&rsquo;t give a hoot about the shutout. In fact, he made an attempt to score his second (third including playoffs) career goal in the closing seconds, but the shot was blocked by Mikhail Tatarinov at the Quebec blue line. Hextall was thinking more about the road win.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re relieved,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;We were concerned. We&rsquo;ve played well at home but everyone does. We had to start winning on the road.&rdquo;As for the trip to Florida, Flyers&rsquo; general manager Russ Farwell and coach Bill Dineen wanted to get the team together for a few days and planned to stay near QuebeC&mdash;like Vermont or Maine. But they couldn&rsquo;t find an available rink. So they wound up getting one in Florida.COMES UP BIG: Right winger Al Conroy, listed as 5-foot-8 but probably closer to 5-foot-6, scored his first NHL goal in a 5-1 win over Boston Feb. 6.Conroy is a 26-year-old rookie with experience in five countries, including Switzerland, Germany and Italy. After the landmark game against the Bruins, Conroy was asked how tall he really is.&ldquo;Tall enough to play in the NHL,&rdquo; was his reply.NOTEBOOK: The Flyers acquired defenseman Ryan McGill from Chicago in a Feb. 7 trade that sent left winger Tony Horacek to the Blackhawks. Russ Farwell, who was McGill&rsquo;s general manager for one year of junior at Medicine Hat (Western League), said McGill would be assigned to Hershey. He said the recent success of Hershey callups made Horacek expendable&hellip; Wes Walz, acquired in a Jan. 2 trade with Boston, scored his first goal as a Flyer in the win over Boston.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Pat Murray, RW, assigned to Hershey (AHL). Feb. 6: Wes Walz, RW, recalled from Hershey. Feb. 7; Tony Horacek, LW, traded to Chicago for Ryan McGill, D, McGill assigned to Hershey.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Mike Ricci, Keith Acton, Mark Freer.LW&mdash;Mark Pederson, Claude Boivin, Dan Quinn.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Al Conroy, Wes Walz, Dale Kushner.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Terry Carkner, Kerry Huffman, Dan Kordic.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Kjell Samuelsson, Garry Gailey, Corey Foster.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Brown, RW, bruised right shoulder, day-to-day. Pelle Eklund, LW, hyperextended left knee, day-to-day. Brad Jones, RW, broken right ankle, indefinite. Steve Kasper, C, right knee surgery, indefinite. Andrei Lomakin, LW, broken left thumb, indefinite Rick Tocchet, RW, fractured left heel. Indefinite. &#9632;

Life’s a beach after team finally ends road jinx

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>If Tie Domi were merely a goon, he wouldn&rsquo;t make much of a story.Yes, Domi fights. He&rsquo;ll fight anyone, any time, basically because it&rsquo;s his job and his meal ticket to an NHL job.But Domi does much more for the New York Rangers than battle NHL enforcers.The 22-year-old Windsor, Ont., native can skate, pass and hit. He&rsquo;ll never be confused with a natural scorer, mind you, but when the Rangers want someone to jumpstart the team, Domi can do it.When the Rangers needed a big, clean hit to change the outcome of a game against Minnesota Feb. 1, Domi provided it. The Rangers rallied in the third period to beat the North Stars 2-1.And when they needed someone to match up with Detroit&rsquo;s Bob Probert, to get in the heavyweight champion&rsquo;s face Feb. 9 against the Red Wings, Domi jumped at the opportunity.When push came to shove, Domi fought Probert&mdash;and lived. There aren&rsquo;t many Rangers who would take that risk or do as well.Domi may not have won his first-period fight with Probert in the physical 5-5 tie, but he won the matchup. He got Probert off the ice for five minutes and baited him into taking a 10-minute misconduct in the second period.The Red Wings were far worse off without Probert for 15 minutes than the Rangers were without Domi.They were behind 2-1 when Domi fought Probert and just over a minute later, they tied the game and never looked back.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011466/6670858-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="551" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gartner has reached several milestones this season.</figcaption></div>In 29 games, Domi had one goal, four assists and 166 penalty minutes.RECORD BREAKER: MikeGartner scored his 500th career goal in a 6-2 loss to Washington Feb. 7.The veteran right winger picked up his 1,000th career point earlier this season and his 30th goal came in the tie with the Red Wings.Gartner is on pace for another milestone this season. Barring injury, He will play his 1,000th career game March 14 in St. Louis.The goal marked the 13th consecutive season Gartner has scored 30 or more times, tying the NHL record shared by Bobby Hull (1959-72) and Phil Esposito (1967-80). Wayne Gretzky has 12 consecutive seasons of 40 or more, but that appears to be in jeopardy this year.After Brian Leetch beat Detroit defenseman Bob Delias with a rush up the left side, Gartner tripped defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, picked up a loose puck, turned and fired a 15-foot shot past Detroit goalie Tim Cheveldae for the milestone.&ldquo;Phil Esposito and Bobby Hull are tremendous hockey players who I watched growing up,&rdquo; the 32-year-old Gartner said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just fortunate that I&rsquo;m able to be mentioned in the same sentence now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: John Ogrodnick has not played much lately and has requested a trade&hellip; The Rangers signed defenseman David Quinn and assigned him to Binghamton (American League). Quinn was out of hockey for four seasons because of condition that prevented his blood from clotting properly. Quinn must take four doses of medicine daily to control the condition. He was a late cut of the U.S. Olympic team.Shorthanded goals by Adam Graves and Mark Messier against Detroit gave the Rangers 10 shorthanded goals this year, surpassing last season&rsquo;s total of nine. It was Graves&rsquo; fourth shorthander of the season. He had not scored a shorthanded goal before this year&hellip;The Rangers hadn&rsquo;t scored two shorthanded goals in a game since Jan. 14, 1987, when Don Maloney did it in Calgary.Darren Turcotte reached the 20-goal plateau for the third consecutive season with a pair of goals in the tie with the Red Wings. He has reached the mark in each of his NHL seasons.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 3: Boris Rousson, G, recalled from Binghamton (AHL) Feb. 4: David Quinn, D, signed contract. Assigned to Binghamton. Feb. 9: Doug Weight, C, assigned to Binghamton. Joe Paterson, LW, loaned to Phoenix (IHL) from Binghamton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier, Segei Nemchinov, Darren Turcotte, Randy Gilhen.LW&mdash;Adam Graves, Kris King, Jan Erixon, Tim Kerr, John Ogrodnick.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Tony Amonte, Paul Broten, Tie Domi.LD&mdash;Brian Leetch, Joe Cirella, Randy Moller, Normand Rochefort.RD&mdash;James Patrick, Jeff Beukeboom, Per Djoos.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Boris Rousson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mike Richter, bruised left thigh, day-to-day. Mark Hardy, D, separated left shoulder, day-to-day. Joe Kocur, RW, separated left shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0011-01

Domi fit to be tied with role of enforcer

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011582/6670889-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray LeBlanc wasn&rsquo;t the first, second or even third goalie considered by the U.S. Olympic team but he&rsquo;s the No. I man now in Meribel. (Photo by k. Tucker/BBS)</figcaption></div>Ray LeBlanc was 15 years old when the the United States performed the Miracle on Ice in 1980. Four years later, when Sarajevo rolled around, he was playing in Kitchener, Ont., and thinking maybe he&rsquo;d like to make a career out of goaltending. By the 1988 Games in Calgary, he was four years into the professional life, tending net for Flint and riding the bumpy buses of the International League.There are more direct routes to fame but LeBlanc never jumped on that bus-until now, perhaps.&ldquo;You always want to do like Jim Craig did,&rdquo; said LeBlanc the day after backtstopping Team USA to a 6-3 win over Italy in America&rsquo;s opening game of the 1992 Olympics. &ldquo;Who knows if that will happen, though? But maybe this will be my chance.&rdquo;Hockey, like all major sports, hands out few options by the time an athlete is closing in on age 30. LeBlanc, 27, turned pro in 1984 with Pinebridge in the defunct Atlantic Coast League and eventually signed on as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks five years later. For the past three years, he has bounced between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne of the IHL, hoping one day the Blackhawks would call and give him a chance in Chicago. As the years went by, the chances didn&rsquo;t come.&ldquo;The situation there looked pretty wide open when I signed,&rdquo; recalled LeBlanc, who was also coach Dave Peterson&rsquo;s choice to start against Germany in Game 2 of the Olympics. While Peterson never named a No. I man for his team, LeBlanc seemed to be the one with a starting job to lose as the Games began.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those things, you know, as a free agent you&rsquo;re just happy to get a foot in the door somewhere.&rdquo;In his time under contract with Chicago, however, LeBlanc has been locked deep on an everlengthening talent depth chart. Eddie Belfour tied up the No. I job in Chicago when he won both the Calder (top rookie) and Vezina (top goalie) trophies last season with a record of 4319-7. Then there was Greg Millen, since gone to Detroit, sitting ahead of LeBlanc. Jimmy Waite and Dominik Hasek lined up in front, too.Meanwhile, LeBlanc kept busy wherever the Blackhawks found him work. Maybe someday, he thought, the call would come. Finally, it came in November, but it wasn&rsquo;t the Blackhawks at the other end of the line.&ldquo;Actually the U.S. Olympic team called Chicago and talked to (general manager Mike) Keenan, I think,&rdquo; LeBlanc said. &ldquo;And eventually, it was up to me. I could stay in the minors or come try out with Team USA. The whole thing was more or less a big surprise, really, and I think I made the right choice&hellip;this is sure giving me a lot more exposure than Indianapolis.&rdquo;Team USA had no shortage of candidates for the job. Last summer, it was auditioning the likes of Scott Gordon and Les Kuntar, all the while hoping Robb Stauber would be able to get over a knee injury. As the months went by, though, Stauber couldn&rsquo;t make it, Kuntar broke his jaw, and Gordon found himself auditioning next to Boston&rsquo;s Matt DelGuidice. Finally, over the course of 90 days, LeBlanc emerged as the No. I man, backed up by Gordon and the University of Maine&rsquo;s Mike Dunham.&ldquo;He handles the puck well, and he&rsquo;s extremely quick,&rdquo; said Peterson, who before the Olympics hinted he&rsquo;d like to get one goalie hot and play him through the whole tournament. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s mentally tough, too, we like that. He has labored in the minors a while now and he&rsquo;s finally getting an opportunity.&rdquo;Chance, hope and dreams all filled LeBlanc&rsquo;s head when he left home in Fitchburgh, Mass., at 16 and went to play junior in Canada. After a short time at the Tier II level, he played for Kitchener of the Ontario League. Wendel Young, Mike Eagles, Al Maclnnis, Wayne Presley and John Tucker were some of his teammates. After a while, it only made sense to LeBlanc that his time would come.&ldquo;People probably don&rsquo;t even know who I am back in Boston,&rdquo; LeBlanc said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re probably saying, &lsquo;Ray who?&rsquo;&ldquo;My biggest problem has always been my size (5-feet-10, 170 pounds). Where ever I went, I always heard I had to grow. And my style&hellip;I butterflied a lot. I still butterfly, but my reactions are quick enough so that it&rsquo;s not a big problem.&ldquo;I played against four NHL teams (on Team USA&rsquo;s pre-Olympic tour) and I was 2-1-1, with a 2.50 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. I hope that&rsquo;s proof to NHL teams. I hope it says, &lsquo;Hey, this guy can play.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Ray of Hooe

<div class="byline">By Al Maki</div>Sean Burke came away from Canada&rsquo;s first game of the Olympics with a respect for hockey players from France. But if it hadn&rsquo;t been for Burke, Canada would have lost their first game and a lot of respect itself.Burke helped save Canada from a major embarrassment in the first game of the tournament Feb. 8 when he stopped 27 shots in a 3-2 win over the host. How ordinary did Canada play in the game. Tres ordinaire. The team had only 19 shots.The New Jersey Devils&rsquo; exile was in the nets two days later as Canada defeated Switzerland 6-1 to improve its record to 2-0-0.&ldquo;You had to respect the way they played,&rdquo; Burke said of the French team. &ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t intimidated by us. They were pretty aggressive.&rdquo;Burke missed a day of practice with the flu but was healthy enough for the opener. Canada is going to need him to be healthy and sharp if they hope to win a medal.In a packed 6,500-seat Olympic hockey arena, the crowd cheered, screamed and sang for the French team, which featured four Canadian-born players, including Benoit Laporte, a former Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; prospect.The French team hit, elbowed and ran center Eric Lindros at every opportunity, a move that backfired in the second period when Lindros took out two defensemen and allowed Dave Archibald to score.&ldquo;They (France) had three guys hanging on him all night,&rdquo; said Team Canada assistant coach Terry Crisp.&ldquo;That was how our coach (Kjell Larsson) wanted us to play,&rdquo; countered Laporte. &ldquo;He wanted us to be physical.&rdquo;The first three days of competition unfolded as expected with no upsets.Team USA scored four times in the third period to rally past Italy 6-3 Feb. 9; the Swedes got two goals each from Hakan Loob and Lars Edstrom to beat Poland 7-2; the Unified Team got goals from eight players in an 8-1 win over Switzerland.Czechoslovakia and Finland also breezed to early wins. The Czechoslovaks defeated Norway 10-1, with Petr Rosol scoring three goals, while Finland beat Germany 5-1 behind Hannu Jarvenpaa&rsquo;s five-point showing. Teemu Selanne also had two goals for Finland.In other B pool games Feb. 10, Unified Team defeated Norway 8-1 and Czechoslovakia beat France 6-4. &#9632;

Burke works wonders as Games get underway

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011484/6670951-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="369" height="486"></div>Nevin MarKwart is no longer a Boston Bruin. He&rsquo;s a Biel now. That&rsquo;s right, a Biel, a working right winger for a team in a quaint little town in Switzerland located 90 miles west of Zurich and about 3,000 miles east of the NHL.&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t any names like Bruins or Blackhawks, or anything,&rdquo; said Markwart, who was a Bruin for more than eight years before he became a Biel. &ldquo;You just say you play for Biel, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;Once considered a promising first-round draft pick of the Bruins, Markwart bid Boston adieu in mid January when it became evident the Bruins wanted to call him a Mariner-as in Maine of the American League-more than anything else. His goal production never where the Bruins wanted it, and his trademark nastiness all but a memory. Markwart no longer figured in the Bruins&rsquo; plans. Rather than have him sit in the minor leagues, they bought up the last year of his contract and cleared the way for him to head overseas.&ldquo;I was happy with the Bruins, that they allowed me to get out of my deal,&rdquo; said Markwart, shortly before returning to Biel during his new club&rsquo;s Olympic break. &ldquo;Who knows, maybe they figured they had seen enough of me. I was there 8 1/2 years and I wanted to stay, to play in Boston, and I&rsquo;m disappointed things didn&rsquo;t work out this year.&rdquo;If all went according to grand design, the 27-year-old Markwart would still be in a black-and-gold uniform, knocking in goals and knocking off heads for the Bruins the way he did during his junior days in Regina. No one likes to give up on first-round picks.The Chicago Blackhawks might say the same about Ken Yaremchuk, their first-round pick (No. 7 overall) in 1982 who now also plays in Switzerland. Yaremchuk didn&rsquo;t see enough ice in the NHL to chill a bottle of Perrier and his days between Chicago and Toronto left him with little in the way of points, but tons in terms of frustration. How different things might have been for the Blackhawks if in &rsquo;82 they had chosen, say, Paul Cyr, Rich Sutter, Dave Andreychuk, Murray Craven or Ken Daneyko.The point is, the draft is a devilish dartboard. Of the six teenagers chosen ahead of Yaremchuk in &rsquo;82, only the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; Brian Bellows remains with the team that took him (second overall). Gord Kluzak surrendered from the Bruins last year to knee pain. Gary Nylund went from Toronto to Chicago to the New York Islanders. Ron Sutter went from the Philadelphia Flyers to the St. Louis Blues earlier this season. Scott Stevens, the No. 5 pick by Washington, is a New Jersey Devil now-his hell to pay for going to St. Louis as a free agent. And Phil Housley left the beauty of Buffalo for bucolic Winnipeg.The European life, meanwhile, is not always the runners-up position that it might sound. Markwart figures an ex-NHLer can pull down $100,000, tax-free, for a season in Switzerland, free car and apartment tossed into the deal. There are two games a week, every game is a bus ride away, and the day following a game never calls for a practice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021049/6670944-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="564" height="741"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nevin Markwart</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The whole experience is much different, just the ice surface to start with-it&rsquo;s probably twice the size of the (Boston) Garden ice,&rdquo; Markwart said. &ldquo;And the game isn&rsquo;t taken anywhere near as seriously. Most of the players have jobs and hockey is just something else they do.&rdquo;This time next year, Markwart could be back in the NHL. Tampa and Ottawa have rosters to fill and a total of 24 teams will be vying for talent to fill 460 jobs. If not, there are worse fates than another year staring at the peaks of the Alps.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so different in Switzerland,&rdquo; Markwart said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ve had a war in 600 years. People are friendly and there is no fighting in the games. In my first four games, I took only one penalty. The game was out of reach and I just let go and two-handed a guy. There was nothing to lose, so I figured, &lsquo;Why not?&rsquo;&rdquo;Which goes to show, you can take Markwart out of the NHL but you can&rsquo;t take the NHL&hellip; &#9632;

f0013-01

Markwart more than biding his Swiss time

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03786/6670982-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; new offensive approach maximizes Dave Andreychuk&rsquo;s natural scoring ability. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>For nearly all the years he has been in the NHL, it has been said that Dave Andreychuk, under the right circumstances, could be a great hockey player.There was always a hint of proof. There&rsquo;s a flood of it now.Since teaming with center Pat LaFontaine and right winger Alexander Mogilny, Andreychuk has become one of the league&rsquo;s most dangerous offensive players with 22 goals and 51 points in 36 games. His season highlight, so far, is a 17-game point-scoring streak-one which was snapped Feb. 7 against Minnesota. He had 28-33-61 totals in 55 games and was on pace for a career-high 89 points.Considering he started the sea-son-his 10th in the NHL-with four goals and two assists in his first 20 games, it has been one dramatic turnaround season for Andreychuk.Why?He gives much of the credit to LaFontaine, and sure, a speedy, playmaking center with a deft passing touch and a winner&rsquo;s attitude makes any winger look good.But Andreychuk has had good years before. He scored 40 goals in 1989-90 and has totaled at least 80 points three times.Well, having John Muckier as his coach also helps. Muckier believes in offense and in maximizing a player&rsquo;s ability, which in Andreychuk&rsquo;s case is, first and foremost, the ability to score.Muckier teamed Andreychuk with LaFontaine and the ultra-quick Mogilny, though many people felt the combination would never work. Andreychuk is by no means a swift skater but Muckier gave the line time to click.&ldquo;It reminded me of the line we had in Edmonton when Mess (Mark Messier) and Glenn Anderson were going pretty good,&rdquo; Muckier said. &ldquo;We put Craig Simpson on that line and he would complement the other two guys. He would often come up on the play and with that good shot of his, he would often get the goal.&rdquo;Andreychuk has built on that. Not only is he often the trailer on the play, following up on the rushes or forechecking opportunities created by LaFontaine and Mogilny, but he does the comer work as well.But his best attribute is his ability to convert chances.&ldquo;Andy has two of the quickest hands I&rsquo;ve ever seen,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t need much time to get off a shot.&rdquo;It has all made for a kind of funtime revival for Andreychuk. For most of his career in Buffalo he was looked upon as a symbol for the team&rsquo;s inability to get out of the first round of the playoffs. A good player, but not good enough. Not unlike his team.After most every playoff defeat, there was a groundswell of popular opinion to move him. It&rsquo;s known management considered the proposal, but Andreychuk was always the top scorer on the left side.To trade him meant the Sabres had to get the same goal production (30-plus) and a player who was faster. And there has long been the sentiment that he was ready to become a dominant player at any time.Now that the hunch has paid off, the Sabres are happy they didn&rsquo;t deal him. So is Andreychuk.&ldquo;It has been a long time (since he had ftm),&rdquo; Andreychuk said. That&rsquo;s the main thing. Everybody who goes to work has to have fun or you&rsquo;re not going to do well.&rdquo;A subtle dig at ex-coach Rick Dudley and his defense-first philosophy? Probably, but Andreychuk won&rsquo;t say that. In all his years in Buf6falo, he has never publicly complained about anything. You have to sense the differences in Andreychuk. You almost always have to read between the lines.&ldquo;But the way the points have come, it has been fun, for sure,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feel that every time I go on the ice I can make something happen.&ldquo;Whether the line scores or I score, the confidence level is definitely there. The way Patty&rsquo;s playing right now, I just try to get him the puck as much as I can and he&rsquo;s going to make things happen.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-03

Super Dave

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>As the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; winless streak stretched to a franchise-record 14 games (0-8-6), owner Richard Gordon could merely sit, steam and stretch his patience.Defenseman Dan Keczmer, who joined the Whalers after a bitter last-minute cut from the U.S. Olympic team, and the recall of Terry Yake and Daniel Shank from the American League farm team in Springfield were the only additions of note.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m exfremely disappointed and there&rsquo;s no question I expected to have a better record than we have (15-2610 for 20th of 22 NHL teams)&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re lacking leadership and chemistry. Ronnie Francis wasn&rsquo;t the greatest leader of all-time, but he&rsquo;s looking like General Schwarzkopf right now.&rdquo;Gordon said the club set specific goals this season: improve on last season&rsquo;s 73 points; move up from fourth place in the Adams Division and advance to the second round of the playoffs. The Whalers are buried in fourth, need to play five games above .500 in the last 29 games just to get to 74 points&hellip;and how would you bet a Montreal-Hartford playoff?&ldquo;But those goals were very clear,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;We all set them. I stand by (general manager) Eddie Johnston, no question about it. If you&rsquo;re asking if I&rsquo;d fire him-no. Am I happy with the coach (Jim) Roberts? Yes. We&rsquo;re going to be very patient. But we can&rsquo;t wait forever.&rdquo;DINO DELIVERS: Former Whalers&rsquo; center Dean Evason, now with the San Jose Sharks, said he isn&rsquo;t surprised his former team is struggling so badly.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised at all. No team could so drastically change their nucleus, their core, and expect to keep winning,&rdquo; Evason said.&ldquo;In my mind, the Whalers are an expansion club like us. They&rsquo;ve got to find the five-six core players to give stability and leadership. We&rsquo;ve got a lot less pressure on us because we&rsquo;re a new team and they&rsquo;ve been around for a while.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Paul Gillis sustained a broken left foot blocking a shot in a 6-5 loss to San Jose Feb. 4&hellip;Pat Verbeek, who was in the penalty box for an overtime goal earlier this year, escaped a similar fate Feb. 8 during a 4-4 tie with Minnesota. Verbeek, called for slashingNorth Star right winger Mike Modano, resisted an urge to berate referee Denis Morel: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t make enough money to say what Mario Lemieux did (fined $1,000 for blasting NHL officiating),&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t afford it.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 10: Dan Keczmer, D, returned from U.S Olympic team. Terry Yake, C, and Daniel Shank, LW, recalled from Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;John Cullen, Geoff Sanderson, Andrew Cassels, James Black Terry Yake.LW&mdash;Mikael Andersson, Pat Verbeek, Jim McKenzie, Murray Craven, Paul Cyr, Daniel Shank.RW&mdash;Bobby Holik, Yvon Corriveau. Ed Kastelic, Mark Hunter.LD&mdash;Zariey Zalapski, Randy Ladouceur, Steve Konroyd, Adam BurtRD&mdash;Doug Houda, Marc Bergevin, Brad Shaw, Dan Keczmer.G&mdash;Kay Whitmore, Peter Sidorkiewicz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Randy Cunneyworth, LW, right ankle strain, day-to-day. Paul Gillis, C, broken left foot, indefinite. &#9632;

Owner growing restless but resists pulling trigger

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>Patrick Roy called it his worst game of the season. And there are few who would argue with the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender.Roy was beaten on a 70-footer by Toronto defenseman Ric Nattress-whom nobody mistakes for Brett Hull-as the Canadiens dropped their third straight game, 6-4 Feb. 8 against the Maple Leafs.The Nattress goal pretty much summed up what has happened to the league&rsquo;s best defensive team. Their once air-tight defense has sprung some huge leaks. The Canadiens were outscored 42-35 in an 11-game stretch through Feb. 8. They went 3-8-0 during that span.Captain Guy Carbonneau suggested the team had stopped putting defense first and instead was waiting for the opposition to make a mistake. Montreal coach Pat Bums concurred.&ldquo;Our defense is lamentable and it&rsquo;s worrying me a lot,&rdquo; said Bums, who benched Mathieu Schneider in particular for poor play. &ldquo;Players are being left alone in front of the net. I&rsquo;ll have to analyze the situation with (general manager) Serge Savard. A few defensemen are playing badly right now and I&rsquo;ll probably have to make some changes.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011569/6671037-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="558" height="999"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy was beaten on a 70-foot shot by Ric Nattress.</figcaption></div>SITTING OUT: Struggling winger Sylvain Turgeon is wondering what the future holds for him in Montreal.Turgeon, who had seven goals in 51 games, was left out of the lineup to make room for Tri-City Americans&rsquo; (Western League) left winger Vladimir Vujtek for games in Vancouver and Edmonton during the Canadiens&rsquo; recent western swing.NOTEBOOK: Brian Skrudland has been out of the lineup for 37 games and doctors don&rsquo;t know when he&rsquo;ll return. Skrudland has been diagnosed with labyrinthitis, an inflammation of the inner ear that causes dizziness. Meanwhile, a cut he received Jan. 25 against Buffalo became infected.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 2: Patrice Brisebois, D, recalled from Fredericton (AHL); Alain Cote, D, assigned to Fredericton. Feb. 3: Vladimir Vujtek, LW, recalled from TriCity (WHL). Feb. 6: Roland Melanson, G, assigned to Fredericton. Vujtek returned to Tri-City.<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;Brent Gilchrist, Denis Savard, Sylvain Turgeon, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Jean-Jacques Daigneault, Petr Svoboda, Mathieu Schneider.RD&mdash;Eric Desjardins, Lyle Odelein, Sylvain Lefebvre, Patrice Brisebois.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Andre RacicoL<h3>INJURIES</h3>Benoit Brunet, LW, broken right ankle, indefinite. Russ Courtnall, RW, bruised right hand, day-to-day. Mike Keane, RW, sprained left ankle, day-to-day. Mario Roberge, LW, strained left thigh, indefinite Brian Skrudland, C, labyrinthitis, indefinite. &#9632;

f0014-01

Defense springs a leak

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>It took just two games for the Boston Bruins to prove they told the truth when they traded center Craig Janney and defenseman Stephane Quintal to St. Louis for center Adam Oates.Less than 15 hours after arriving in Boston Feb. 7, Oates picked up two assists in a 6-4 loss to New Jersey Feb. 8. He added two more in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh the next day.The Bruins vowed Oates would help their power play and he did: all four assists came while Boston enjoyed a man advantage. The Bruins were 0-for-12 on the power play before Oates arrived and 4-for-13 in his first two games he was with them.But many observers wondered whether the Bruins gave up too much to get him. Some felt the 29-year-old playmaker was merely an older version of the 24-year-old Janney, who was often criticized for his often timid style of play.Skeptics also wondered why the Bruins had to give away the promising 23-year-old Quintal.&ldquo;You hate to let anyone go from your organization,&rdquo; assistant general manager Mike Milbury said, &ldquo;but (Oates) is a player. He can make an awful lot happen for us.&rdquo;President-general manager Harry Sinden said questions about the trade&mdash;the team&rsquo;s most significant since Steve Kasper and Jay Miller were sent to Los Angeles for Bob Carpenter in January 1989-were fair.&ldquo;Both players&rsquo; reputations are based on setting up plays for goalscoring wingers,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;We feel Adam does it better.&rdquo;The deal wouldn&rsquo;t have been made if the Bruins hadn&rsquo;t been so convinced of Oates&rsquo; talent.The trade was made four days after Cam Neely, Janney&rsquo;s long time right winger, was sidelined after surgery on his wonky left knee.&ldquo;Adam is multi-dimensional and we think he can get the puck to any of our wingers,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;He brings us closer to where we want to be.&rdquo;Oates was &ldquo;ecstatic&rdquo; with the trade.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re showing a lot of confidence in me, so I hope to produce for them,&rdquo; he said.The Bruins aren&rsquo;t worried about Oates&rsquo; contract demands and are eager to negotiate a new deal. Oates isn&rsquo;t concerned about producing in the tight-checking Adams Division, where he&rsquo;ll spend most of his time on smaller-than-regulation ice surfaces.&ldquo;In a smaller rink you&rsquo;re always closer to the puck,&rdquo; Oates said. &ldquo;Boston and Buffalo were always two of my favorite places to play because of that.&rdquo;<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 2: Scott Amiel. RW, and Barry Pederson, C, assigned to Maine (AHL). Feb. 4: Glen Murray, RW, recalled from Sudbury (OHL). Feb. 5: Murray returned to Sudbury. Feb. 7: Craig Janney, C, and Stephane Quintal, D, traded to St. Louis for Adam Oates, C, Petr Prajsler, 0. recalled from Maine. Feb. 8: Chris Winnes, C, recalled from Maine.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Vladimir Ruzicka, Adam Oates, Ken Hodge, Chris Winnes.LW&mdash;Oave Reid, Brent Ashton, Bob Carpenter, Lou Crawford.RW&mdash;Steve Leach, Peter Douris, Chris NHan, Lyndon Byers.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney, Petr Prajsler.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Gord Murphy, Bob Beers.G&mdash;Andy Moog, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Andy Brickley, LW, right rotator cuff surgery, day-to-day. Brian Dobbin, LW, lower back bruise, indefinite. Glen Featherstone, D, back surgery, indefinite. Jeff Lazaro, LW, sprained right knee, indefinite. Reggie Lemelin, G, strained left hamstring, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW, left knee surgery, indefinite. Bob Sweeney, C, knee swelling, indefinite. Dave Thomlinson, LW, lower back pain, indefinite. Jim Vesey, C, right shoulder surgery, indefinite Jim Wiemer, D, strained groin, day-to-day. &#9632;

Oates quickly sows seeds of success in Boston

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>When Randy Wood came to the Buffalo Sabres as a part of the Pat LaFontaine-Pierre Turgeon deal, he had a dual reputation.He complemented LaFontaine and often scored timely goals. He has extended that reputation in Buffalo.Wood scored winning goals against Montreal (5-3, Jan. 31) and Washington (7-3, Feb. 4) and came back with a superb effort against Los Angeles Feb. 9. He set up Dave Andreychuk for a goal that made the score 4-3, then tied the game with his 18th of the season.The Sabres lost that game 5-4 on a late goal by former Sabre Mike Donnelly, but Wood&rsquo;s efforts did not go unnoticed. He was the game&rsquo;s first star. It&rsquo;s all part of the process for someone who is often overlooked.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to do as well as I can,&rdquo; Wood said. &ldquo;The only thing I think I can control is going out there and playing as well as I can, scoring goals and setting up plays and helping the team win.&rdquo;Wood helped fill in for the suspended Alexander Mogilny (who returned Feb. 12) on a line with Pat LaFontaine. That&rsquo;s a spot Wood wouldn&rsquo;t mind staying.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played the majority of my career with Pat,&rdquo; said Wood, 28. &ldquo;I love playing with Pat and I certainly would like that chance in Buffalo, but it&rsquo;s out of my control.&rdquo;With 18 goals this season including five in a five-game stretch, he&rsquo;s worthy of a chance.BACK IN FOLD: Goalie Clint Malarchuk, sidelined since Jan. 26 by an adverse reaction to stomach medicine and alcohol was playing himself back into shape in Rochester of the American League.Malarchuk played two games with the nearby Americans, winning both and allowing just three goals on 57 shots. He was due to join the Sabres Feb. 16 against Hartford.In Malarchuk&rsquo;s absence, Daren Puppa started 10 straight games, compiling a 5-3-2 record. Puppa was in the net for every game of the seven-game unbeaten streak.NOTEBOOK: The 2-0 loss to Minnesota Feb. 7 was due to the strong play of North Stars&rsquo; goalie Darcy Wakaluk, a former Sabre who earned his first NHL shutout. That loss ended a seven-game unbeaten streak for the Sabres, their longest of the season. It also ended a nine-game home winning streak and an 11-game home unbeaten streak.Rick Vaive hired agent Gus Badali and was given permission to shop himself to other teams. Vaive has been reduced to a role player in the new Sabres&rsquo; scheme and was out of the lineup on a day-to-day basis with a hand injury.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Jody Gage, RW, and Clint Malarchuk. G, assigned to Rochester (AHL). Feb. 9: Bob Corkum, RW, recalled from Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine. Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Snuggerud.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Tony Tanti, Brad May, Rob RayRW&mdash;Donald Audette, Alex Mogilny, Randy Wood, Gord Donnelly, Bob Corkum.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger, Grant Ledyard, Ken Sutton.RD&mdash;Randy Hillier, Kevin Haller. Brad Miller. Jay Wells.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Colin Patterson, C, left knee sprain, day-to-day. Rick Valve, RW, cut right hand, day-to-day. &#9632;

New clutch performer Wood coming through as he should

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>The Quebec Nordiques have signed one of their top prospects in the hopes he can help them escape the NHL&rsquo;s basement.Bill Lindsay, 20, a 6-foot, 190-pound left winger with the Tri-City Americans of the Western League, signed a three-year deal Feb. 5.He was among the WHL&rsquo;s top scorers this season with 34 goals and 93 points in 41 games.Lindsay&rsquo;s signing was a bit of a surprise. He scored two goals in the Canadian Hockey League All-Star Game in Saskatoon Feb. 4 and signed with the Nordiques the next day.He played his first NHL game that night against the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome. He had no points in his first three games.&ldquo;We had been talking with Bill for a while,&rdquo; said coach-general manager Pierre Page. &ldquo;But before Christmas, the NHL wasn&rsquo;t his top preoccupation.&rdquo;The Grand Forks, Mont., native who has duel citizenship in Canada and the U.S., started the year with the U.S. Olympic team. He had hoped to make the trip to Albertville for the Olympics, but was cut so he rejoined the Americans.Lindsay, a sixth round pick (103rd overall) in the 1991 draft, was surprised he made it to the NHL this fast.&ldquo;Things are moving along at a pretty fast pace,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I really haven&rsquo;t had time to think it over.&ldquo;I was nervous in Calgary but once you get into the game, you forget where you are and try to do your job as best you can.&rdquo;TANNER&rsquo;S BACK: Controversial goalie John Tanner was recalled from the Nordiques&rsquo; American League affiliate in Halifax Feb. 3.He replaced backup netminder Ron Tugnutt, who was assigned to Halifax.Tanner, 20, spent the early part of the season with New Haven (AHL). After a difficult start, he raised his record to 7-6-2 with a 3.77 goals-against average.The Cambridge, Ont., native was sent to Halifax after the Nordiques recalled Stephane Fiset in December. Tanner won his first six games with the Citadels, posting a 2.32 GAA.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve decided to shut up and stop pucks,&rdquo; Tanner said. &ldquo;Controversy and me won&rsquo;t go together any more. From now on, everything I say will be positive.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Despite his sttong start this season, sophomore right winger Owen Nolan is starting to hear some boos from Nordique fans who think he&rsquo;s not hustling. He&rsquo;s not scoring much either. Nolan had 28 goals in 51 games this season, but just three in his last 16 games&hellip; Nordiques&rsquo; sources say New York Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith is pursuing unhappy goalie Ron Tugnutt.Defenseman Adam Foote, the Nordiques&rsquo; best defenseman this year, will be out for the remainder of the season with a fractured right thumb. Foote suffered the injury Feb. 8 against Philadelphia.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 5: Bill Lindsay, LW. signed three-year contract. Feb. 8: Alexei Gusarov, D. and Randy Velischek, D, recalled from Halifax (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Saklc, Marc Fortier, Jamie Baker, Claude Lapointe. Kip Miller.LW&mdash;Mike Hough, Bill Lindsay, Wayne Van Dorp. Doug Smail, Tony Twist.RW&mdash;Owen Nolan, Mats Sundin. Greg Paslawski. Herb Raglan, Mike McNeillLD&mdash;Curtis Leschyshyn, Steven Finn, Randy Velischek, Dan Lambert.RD&mdash;Alexei Gusarov, Mikhail Tatarinov, Craig Wolanin, Greg Smyth.G&mdash;John Tanner. Jacques Cloutier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Flse,. G. sprained left knee. Indefinite Adam Foote. D, fractured right thumb, out for season. Stephane Guerard. D, right knee surgery, indefinite. Valeri Kamensky. LW, fractured left leg, indefinite. &#9632;

Lindsay surprises everyone

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011210/6671140-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="371" height="478"></div>News: Wayne Gretzky ponders retiring at the end of next season.Views: This is not exactly a threat but a warning the NHL should take seriously.Gretzky has hinted about the possibility of retiring a couple of times this season already, so obviously, the idea is playing and preying on his mind.His explanation is commendable, too: that by his standards, 100 points per season is a mediocre achievement; that if he cannot play better than this, then he will seriously re-examine his future in the game.Presumably, Gretzky has watched too many other players hang on way past their primes, never knowing the right time to quit. For a generation of fans who saw these players when they were among the league&rsquo;s elite, their last memories will be of doddering fourth-liners, who were on the roster as much for sentimental reasons as for their contributions to the cause.However&hellip;Gretzky is far from that stage yet. Even as unproductive a season as this has been for him; even with an early-season back injury that hampered him for a month; even playing through the emotional hard times associated with his father&rsquo;s illness, he was hanging in as the NHL&rsquo;s No. 4 scorer the last time I checked.Maybe by his standards, that is mediocre. By the wider measure of what constitutes a star player, the Great One can wear his nickname without embarrassment.Now part of being a columnist means you get to dabble in amateur psychology. From watching Gretzky half-a-dozen times this season and touching base with him here and there, the problem seems to be not a decline in his considerable abilities, but simply burnout.Life has been much more complicated for him ever since he landed in L.A. in 1988 to take on a two-part mission: to make hockey a part of the U.S. sporting mainstream and to help the Kings win a Cup.The demands were always high in Edmonton, but they&rsquo;ve become increasingly pressing in L.A. There are the endorsements. The talk shows. The demands for interviews. There&rsquo;s the travel and the traffic.Then there&rsquo;s the fact he also has owner Bruce McNall&rsquo;s ear when it comes to personnel decisions. Unfortunately, not every move the Kings have made has worked out.You always want a trade to succeed the way Randy Burridge-for-Steve Leach succeeded. Sometimes, a trade turns out to be Doug Gilmour-for-Gary Leeman. In the case of Jari Kurri-for-Steve Duchesne, the Kings have not adequately replaced Duchesne and Kurri basically hasn&rsquo;t given them anything that Tomas Sandstrom didn&rsquo;t provide last season.Gretzky talks about his own mediocrity because he&rsquo;s too classy to apply the term to the team he plays for. The Kings are not bad, but they&rsquo;re not great either. They fell into the Ron Caron syndrome last summer, trying too hard to make themselves better. The net result of all their moves was they took a giant step backwards.The only reason they can entertain thoughts of getting out of the Smythe Division is because everybody, except Vancouver, is in the same boat.The other consideration is Gretzky&rsquo;s deep loyalty to McNall. Their relationship has gone beyond player-owner. They&rsquo;re good friends now.At this key juncture in the league&rsquo;s history, the NHL cannot live without Gretzky. His absence would just kill the game in L.A. The Kings cannot sustain the high ticket prices or the Hollywood chic or the Prime Ticket contract without a winner or a marquee player. Frankly, the game needs him-probably more than he needs the game.He&rsquo;s the only player to transcend the barrier of playing hockey and gain a place in the U.S. public&rsquo;s consciousness.St. Louis Blue Brett Hull is in the process of doing that too, but right now, if only two NHLers fall into that category, they can hardly afford to lose one.The cumulative effect of his Canada Cup training, his injuries, his 14-year pro career, the complications in his personal life and the Kings&rsquo; struggles have exacted a heavy toll on Gretzky this season.My advice would be to go to ground when the season ends veg out as they say in Califomia-and find some time in the off-season for himself. It wouldn&rsquo;t be a bad idea to talk to Guy Lafleur, either. Lafleur retired from the Montreal Canadiens amid similar misgivings about his game and lived to regret his original decision.Because there&rsquo;s one thing Gretzky can leam from Lafleur&rsquo;s experience: don&rsquo;t quit too soon&mdash;or you may be sorry the rest of your life. &#9632;

f0017-01

The Tired One simply needs to veg out

<div class="byline">By Kevin Allen</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02915/6671171-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Ferriera Is a proven risk-taker but the GM isn&rsquo;t willing to gamble with the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; future. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>Long after the herd of happy fans had moseyed out of the Cow Palace, the trail boss of the San Jose Sharks was not a happy cowboy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of us winning a game and the other team getting punished,&rdquo; general manager Jack Ferreira confided in his staff after a Sharks&rsquo; win. &ldquo;Every time we win, the loser always has a big team meeting and holds a four-hour practice because they played bad. They never say, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s because the Sharks played well.&rsquo; I&rsquo;m just sick of that.&rdquo;Ferreira began to grit his teeth. &ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t wait for the day when we go into building and the other team fears us. I know our time will come.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s the competitive spunk that helped Ferreira, 48, become an all-American goalie at Boston University in the 1960s. That&rsquo;s the gumption that earned him his first management job with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association.That&rsquo;s the will-to-win that drives Ferreira daily as he tries to turn his team into a winner.The Sharks are the NHL&rsquo;s expansion darling with their whopping souvenir sales, cute logo and strong fan support. Ferreira is proud of those accomplishments but &ldquo;satisfaction&rdquo; is not a word that escapes from his lips. There is no contentment, he says, in being first in the hearts of Bay Area fans and last in the Smythe Division. Ferreira is not one to add up his moral victories and accept congratulations for beating the odds with 11 wins before February.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the one thing that gets to him,&rdquo; Sharks&rsquo; assistant GM Dean Lombardi says. &ldquo;He hates reading that we are doing well because we are keeping the score close.&rdquo;Ferreira has never been afraid to be daring evidenced by his trading and draft records.When he was in Minnesota, he took some criticism when he traded Brian Lawton, a first overall pick, and the rights to Rick Bennett to get unheralded Mark Tinordi, who was one of Ferreira&rsquo;s finds when he scouted for the New York Rangers. Three years later, Tinordi was playing in the All-Star Game.He took more heat two years ago when he traded speedy Mike Gartner to the New York Rangers for plodding Ulf Dahlen. Gartner, 32, remains a top goal-scorer, but Dahlen, 25, has started to develop and led the North Stars in goals with 24.In 1989, he drafted high schooler Doug Zmolek seventh overall when others had him pegged for late first round, early second.&ldquo;When Jack believes in something he doesn&rsquo;t care what his peers think,&rdquo; Lombardi says. &ldquo;He knew he would get crucified when he pulled the trigger for Dahlen. But he knew it was best for the team.&rdquo;Ferreira is a planner, a schemer, a man who puts more stock in intangibles than statistics. &ldquo;He likes players with grit, players with a little dirt on their sleeve,&rdquo; Lombardi says.Lombardi has known Ferreira since playing for him as a 17-year-old in a summer league in Enfield, Conn. &ldquo;He was man you had instant respect for,&rdquo; Lombardi says.When he became GM in Minnesota, Ferreira hired Lombardi as his assistant.&ldquo;Loyalty is very important to Jack,&rdquo; TV analyst John Davidson says. &ldquo;Even with his draft picks. He sticks with them. Look at Jay More.&rdquo;Ferreira found More with the Rangers, traded for him when he got to Minnesota, then claimed him from Montreal in the expansion draft. Though others had written him off, Ferreira still believed in him.Though Ferreira is disappointed not to be winning regularly, he is anything but pessimistic. &ldquo;I know the scouting staff will give me players in three years,&rdquo; Ferreira says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my job to make us competitive until then.&rdquo;Ferreira has made some important veteran acquisitions as Shark GM, but he isn&rsquo;t willing to mortgage the future. Patience is one of his virtues.&ldquo;Jack is about as thorough as they come,&rdquo; Davidson says. &ldquo;His blueprint doesn&rsquo;t take him until April. It takes him five years down the road.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-02

Only just begun

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Until a few months ago, Darrin Shannon was just another hockey player waiting for a chance.Presented with one after being traded by Buffalo to Winnipeg Oct. 11, Shannon has taken full advantage of his opportunity. He was the Jets&rsquo; leader at plus-12 through Feb. 9 and was on the team&rsquo;s most resourceful line.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with the trade, though I was upset at first,&rdquo; the left winger said. &ldquo;But I couldn&rsquo;t have asked for anything better. If you don&rsquo;t do well with the chance, you&rsquo;ve got nobody to blame but yourself.&rdquo;Shannon had 11 goals and 33 points in 45 games. He was a hot performer in early December, while the Jets were forging an 11-game unbeaten streak and he was up to the same sort of tricks again with a five-game point streak in early February.Since he was a first-round pick of Pittsburgh in 1988, he had never had a season with more time in the NHL than the minors-until now. He had become something of a key to the Jets&rsquo; attack, skating with Luciano Borsato and Thomas Steen.&ldquo;Luc and I have done well together,&rdquo; Shannon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good passer and he gets open. Thomas is a great player whether he&rsquo;s full force or just 90 per cent.&rdquo;SCORING, AS USUAL: John LeBlanc has scored goals before, so the fact he had six in 12 games since being recalled from Moncton shouldn&rsquo;t be considered unusual.LeBlanc was summoned the day after Mark Osborne broke his ankle in early January. This is his comeback season after sitting out the entire 1990-91 campaign.LeBlanc led the American League with 54 goals for Cape Breton two seasons ago. He sat out the following season after his trade request didn&rsquo;t pan out. The Jets acquired him for a draft pick from Edmonton last June.LeBlanc played 43 games with Vancouver between 1986 and 1988 and two with Edmonton in 1988-89, totalling 14 goals.NOTEBOOK: Keith Tkachuk, a first-round pick in 1990, signed a contract Feb. 5 and is expected in Winnipeg after duty with Team USA at the Olympics&hellip;Phil Housley sat out an automatic one-game suspension in the Jets&rsquo; 4-1 win over Calgary Feb. 7. Housley slashed Craig Janney on the wrist Feb. 4 in a 3-3 tie with Boston.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 4: Bob Joyce, LW. recalled from Moncton (AHL). Feb. 5: Keith Tkachuk. LW, signed four-year contract Feb. 6: Rick Tabaracci. G, assigned to Moncton. Feb. 8: Joyce.and Igor Ulanov, D, assigned to Moncton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Thomas Steen, 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.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Fredrik Olausson, Mario Marois.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Stephane Beauregard.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Danton Cole. RW. strained left knee ligament Feb. 18 Pat Elynuik, RW, left knee bruise, day-to-day. Bryan Erickson, RW, abdominal surgery, March 25. Dean Kennedy, D, left knee surgery, out for season. Ed Olczyk, LW, dislocated left elbow. Feb 24. Mark Osborne, LW. hairline fracture left ankle, day-to-day. &#9632;

Shannon no longer buffaloed; he’s taking bull by the horns

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>When Wayne Gretzky speaks, people listen.Gretzky sent shockwaves through the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; organization Feb. 3 when he said he&rsquo;s contemplating retirement after next season if he is unable to play to his standards.&ldquo;There have been a lot of circumstances I&rsquo;ve had to face, which is why I&rsquo;m not putting a lot of stock in my numbers,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;But if I have the same numbers next year, then I&rsquo;d have to look at my future. I compare myself to Wayne Gretzky. It&rsquo;s as simple as that.&rdquo;Gretzky had 22 goals and 78 points in 50 games, a full-season pace of 34 goals and 118 points-outstanding for most other players but the worst of his 13-season career.This has hardly been a dream season for the 31-year-old captain. His father, Walter, sustained a brain aneurysm last October and has been in rehab since. Walter&rsquo;s condition caused Gretzky to miss five games and has weighed on his mind all year.A hyperextended back sustained in the Canada Cup and reaggravated in an exhibition game was also a factor.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned a lot about myself and the people around me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Things have run pretty smoothly for me throughout my career and I&rsquo;ve had to fight through this.&rdquo;Owner Bruce McNall doesn&rsquo;t expect the superstar will retire soon.&ldquo;He has told me consistently, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m playing, I love it,&rsquo;&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;I think he gets as frustrated as anyone about the way the team is playing, but I think he fully intends to continue playing for a long period of time.&rdquo;Gretzky is signed through 1997-98.WEBSTER WATCH: General manager Rogie Vachon cancelled his Olympic trip in order to accompany the Kings on a four-game excursion that began Feb. 8.His presence fueled speculation coach Tom Webster is on the hot seat. &ldquo;No one is safe,&rdquo; Vachon said.While saying he didn&rsquo;t believe Webster was to blame for the Kings&rsquo; mediocre 22-21-12 record, Bruce McNall said Webster&rsquo;s fate is controlled by Vachon. What if Vachon decides Webster should go?&ldquo;I would do it,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can lay (the blame) on the coaches. They can&rsquo;t go on the ice. These are decisions Rogie makes. If he wants to make a coaching change, he makes the decision.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Luc Robitaille was on a hot streak that saw him score seven goals in a four-game span, including a club-record tying four goals Feb. 6 in a 5-5 tie with Hartford&hellip;Mike Donnelly scored the winner in a 5-4 win over Buffalo Feb. 9, giving him 21 goals in 55 games. Donnelly began the season with 21 goals in 149 games.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Scott Bjugstad. Corey Millen. John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Tony Granato, Luc Robitaille, Mike Donnelly, Jim Thomson. Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Bob Kudelski. Kyosti Karjalainen, Dave Taylor.LD&mdash;Rob Blake, Brian Benning, Larry Robinson, Brent Thompson.RD&mdash;Jeff Chychrun, Marty McSorley, Peter Ahola, Tim Watters.G&mdash;Keliy Hrudey, Darryl Gilmour.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Charlie Huddy, D, chest contusion, indefinite. Tomas Sandstrom, RW. dislocated right shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

Gretzky considers retirement if greatness doesn’t return

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>The San Jose Sharks Sharks may be out of the playoff picture in the Smythe Division, but they&rsquo;re still involved in a tight race as the 199192 season heads down the stretch.The Sharks were tied with the Quebec Nordiques for 21st place overall with 25 games to play (30 points).The Sharks are determined they won&rsquo;t finish last in their debut season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a so-called expansion team and they&rsquo;ve (Quebec) been rebuilding for three or four years, so beating them would be a great accomplishment,&rdquo; goalie Jeff Hackett said. &ldquo;I think it would be something we could be proud of.&rdquo;San Jose fans obviously agree. During a recent game at the Cow Palace, one of the biggest cheers of the night came after it was announced the Nordiques had been beaten.&ldquo;For us to not finish last would be a credit to the management and to the players themselves,&rdquo; coach George Kingston said. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re an expansion team, your players are labeled as castoffs. You&rsquo;re expected to be a doormat, and you&rsquo;re expected to lose every time you play.&rdquo;Many people expected the Sharks to rival the woeful 1974-75 expansion Washington Capitals this year.The Capitals set NHL records for the fewest wins (eight), fewest points (21) and most losses (67) in a season.EXPERIMENT ENDS: The Sharks&rsquo; experiment with center Tony Hrkac has ended.Hrkac, 25, was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 7 for a conditional draft pick in the 1993 entry draft.The Thunder Bay, Ont., native was a disappointment this season, scoring just two goals and 12 points in 22 games.He missed the first 27 games of the season with a broken left wrist.Sharks&rsquo; general manager Jack Ferreira, who was scouting in Europe at the time of the trade, said the deal was made with the future in mind.&ldquo;We made this move because of the development of some of the younger players in our system,&rdquo; Ferreira said. &ldquo;It allows us to give those players an opportunity in our organization and enables us to stockpile another draft pick, which also is important for our future.&rdquo;The Sharks obtained Hrkac from the Quebec Nordiques in the offseason for right winger Greg Paslawski.The Sharks felt Hrkac would be one of their primary offensive weapons, but he never got on track.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman David Williams changed his uniform from No. 41 to No. 3 when the Sharks met the Washington Capitals Feb. 9. &ldquo;Having the lower number makes me feel more like a regular,&rdquo; said Williams, who has split time between the Sharks and the Kansas City Blades of the International League this season&hellip;Victories have come infrequently for the Sharks in their debut season, but the team has developed a flair for the dramatic. Five of the Sharks 13 victories came on last-minute goals.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 7: Tony Hrkac, C, traded to Chicago for conditional pick in 1993 entry draft.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Perry Berezan, Mike Sullivan, Steve Bozek, Dean Evason.LW&mdash;David Bruce, Brian Lawton, Paul Fenton, Perry Anderson.RW&mdash;Brian Mullen, Pat Falloon, Wayne Presley, Jeff Odgers.LD&mdash;Link Gaetz, Doug Wilson, Rob Zettler, Ken Hammond.RD&mdash;Jayson More, Bob McGill, David WilliamsG&mdash;Jeff Hackett, Jarmo Myllys.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brian Hayward, G, herniated disc In back, out for the season. Kelly Kislo. C, pulled rib cage muscle, day-to-day. Neil Wilkinson. D, strained back, day-to-day. &#9632;

Respect is still at stake

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>Vancouver Canuck boss Pat Quinn hasn&rsquo;t had much to fret about this season, other than Petr Nedved&rsquo;s trade request and the odd no-show by his team against weak opponents.But Quinn&rsquo;s biggest concern right now is goaltending depth. Kirk McLean has been brilliant all season and is a Vezina and Hart Trophy candidate. After McLean, however, there&rsquo;s a void that grows wider each time Troy Gamble plays.The 24-year-old sophomore hasn&rsquo;t played well in eight starts this season. He lost five of seven decisions, compiling a 4.90 goals-against average and an .843 save percentage.To compound matters, the Canucks don&rsquo;t play well in front of him when he plays.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand why,&rdquo; said defenseman Dave Babych after the Canucks and Gamble were beaten 54 in overtime by the New York Islanders Feb. 6. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse for us not playing (well) in front of him. Gamble is a good goalie and it&rsquo;s rotten to do these things to him.&rdquo;Why do the Canucks falter when Gamble plays? Two theories come to mind.Theory No. 1: Quinn uses Gamble in less important games-San Jose, Toronto, Quebec, Islanders-when the team isn&rsquo;t up. The emotional sag leads to uncharacteristic breakdowns and more scoring opportunities for the opposition.Theory No. 2: The players have lost confidence in Gamble. Subconsciously, they feel they must score at least five goals per game when he plays, leading to a higher-risk game which ultimately backfires.Quinn, who rarely criticizes individual players in public, professed to being &ldquo;comfortable&rdquo; with Gamble after the Islander loss.His immediate option is journeyman Bob Mason, who is playing well with the Canucks&rsquo; International League affiliate in Milwaukee. The other is a trade for an established backup.&ldquo;If they feel I&rsquo;m not the guy, I think they&rsquo;ll make a change,&rdquo; Gamble said. &ldquo;The ultimatum is either you play well or you don&rsquo;t play. If you don&rsquo;t produce, you&rsquo;re not going to be here. But I still believe I&rsquo;m the guy.&rdquo;CRAZY GUY: Despite his on-ice woes, Gamble is keeping his zany reputation intact.In the loss to the Islanders, he lost track of the score and thought the Canucks were trailing 4-3 in the last minute. He began racing to the bench for a sixth attacker as defenseman Jyrki Lumme led a rush up the ice. His teammates waved him back to his crease.In his previous start, Gamble asked trainer Larry Ashley to cut his hair during a delayed penalty because his bangs were falling in his eyes.NOTEBOOK: Pat Quinn finally made a public comment on Petr Nedved&rsquo;s trade request. Quinn told viewers on the Canucks&rsquo; in-house TV network Nedved &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t going anywhere, he&rsquo;s staying right here. We have a big investment in him.&rdquo;<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Igor Larionov, Petr Nedved, Tom Fergus.LW&mdash;Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams, Sergio Momesso. Gino Odjick, Garry Valk.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, Jim Sandlak, Ryan Walter, Jim Agnew.LD&mdash;Robert Dirk, Dave Babych, Dana Murzyn, Randy Gregg.RD&mdash;Doug Lidster, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme.G&mdash;Kirk McLean. Troy Gamble.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Robert Kron, RW. fractured right ankle, March 12. &#9632;

Playing Troy now a Gamble after several shaky starts

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>Life in the middle just isn&rsquo;t what Theo Fleury remembers it being.Fleury is perhaps the most acute victim of the Calgary Flames&rsquo; trade that sent Doug Gilmour to Toronto. To replace Gilmour, coach Doug Risebrough switched Fleury to center&mdash;the position he played in junior, minor pro and his first NHL season.The results? Something less than. After three goals in four games as a center, Fleury scored only once in his next 12.Fleury had a dismal January last season and caught fire in the final third, scoring 29 goals in 29 games to finish with 51. So there&rsquo;s hope for a strong finish. Fleury says he needs just one goal to turn his season around.Last year, as Fleury remembers it, he just got on a roll.&ldquo;I felt I could go out and score every night and every game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That hasn&rsquo;t happened this year. I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;m not shooting as much. Maybe because Im at center.&rdquo;Risebrough planned to keep Fleury at center. His reasoning: Fleury was getting hit too often on the boards.It&rsquo;s also why Craig Berube is riding shotgun for him and Paul Ranheim. Berube&rsquo;s presence creates more room, but there&rsquo;s a downside too. The unit doesn&rsquo;t possess nearly the skill level it did in the Gilmour days.STRANGE YEAR: It has been a funny kind of a year for Flames&rsquo; goalie Mike Vernon.For the first time since he made two appearances as a junior, Vernon was carrying around a losing record. Calgary&rsquo;s 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Feb. 7 dropped Vernon to 18-19-4.It&rsquo;s funny because Vernon is having a good season. His teammates figure the Flames&rsquo; could be even worse if Vernon hadn&rsquo;t bailed them out.Technically, the major difference in Vernon&rsquo;s game is his concentration, something he credits to an increased workload. Vernon has faced, on average, 31 shots per game.NOTEBOOK: From Jan. 13 to Feb. 7, the Flames won three times in 12 games. Two victories came over Quebec, one over San Jose. They hadn&rsquo;t beaten a team in the NHL&rsquo;s top 20 since a 7-5 win over Pittsburgh Jan. 10.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk, Theo Fleury, Joel Otto, Robert Reichel.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Paul RanheIm, Tomas Forslund, Marc Habscheid, Carey Wilson.RW&mdash;Sergei Makarov, Ron Stem, Craig Berube, Martin Simard, Gary Leeman.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Frank Musll, 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 fradure, right ankle, indefinite. &#9632;

Fleury caught in the middle of Toronto trade aftermath

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01932/6671346-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">It won&rsquo;t be easy for Salt Lake&rsquo;s Jason Muzzatti to land a job in Calgary, especially with highly-touted Trevor Kidd around. But the rookie goalie has never shied away from a fight and he&rsquo;s not going to start now. (Photo by Mei Bailey)</figcaption></div>Jason Muzzatti possesses a calm, laid back demeanor off the ice, but he&rsquo;s anything but meek and shy on it.The Salt Lake Golden Eagle goaltender has an intense competitive desire that&rsquo;s impossible to overlook.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a fierce competitor,&rdquo; Eagles&rsquo; coach Bob Francis says.&ldquo;His competitive nature really stands out,&rdquo; adds Ron Mason, his former coach with the Michigan State Spartans.Muzzatti&rsquo;s heritage has a lot to do with his on-ice personality. His father, Rico, an Italian immigrant, imparted a strong work ethic on his youngest son that filtered down through older brothers Loris and Diego.&ldquo;One of my big brothers (Loris, who played at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) was a fighter in Junior B,&rdquo; the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Woodbridge, Ont., native explains. &ldquo;And the other (Diego) was a tall goalie. I learned a lot from him by analyzing his style.&rdquo;Muzzatti. 22, may have&mdash;consciously or subconsciously-incorporated characteristics from both siblings. And that has helped him make a strong impression in his first professional season at the minor pro level.The Eagles&rsquo; are often involved in close, low-scoring games, forcing Muzzatti to channel his competitive spirit into stopping the puck. He has done so effectively since logging significant icetime at the Calgary Flames&rsquo; training camp last fall.Calgary&rsquo;s first round pick (21st overall) in the 1988 entry draft, Muzzatti has posted solid numbers for the Golden Eagles this season. He was among the IHL leaders after 31 games with a 14-12-5 record, 3.04 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a natural, it&rsquo;s just a matter of time before he gets his chance in the NHL,&rdquo; Francis says. &ldquo;Jason&rsquo;s doing a good job for us and he&rsquo;s always intense. He&rsquo;s a hell of an athlete, has an unbelievable build for a goaltender and skates well.&rdquo;Mason called Muzzatti an &ldquo;active goaltender&rdquo; in college because of his penchant for picking up penalties. But he has toned down his physical play somewhat at the professional level and is concentrating on the finer points of his trade.&ldquo;Earlier this year, he didn&rsquo;t come out and challenge they way he does now,&rdquo; Francis says. &ldquo;He challenges as well as any goalie in our league. Because he moves so well, he has the ability to recover quickly.&rdquo;One of Muzzatti&rsquo;s strengths is his ability to play the puck. That skill, among others, has caught the eye of Flames&rsquo; general managercoach Doug Risebrough.&ldquo;He handles the puck well, but doesn&rsquo;t overhandle it,&rdquo; Risebrough said. &ldquo;That can be a problem with young goalies. But he clears it out or passes it right up.&rdquo;While Muzzatti has little trouble getting his competitive juices flowing, a circulation problem hindered him early in his career. He was bom with a heart murmur and a defective heart valve and underwent surgery at 13 to correct the problem.The surgery was initially successful, and he played well enough as a teenager with St. Michael&rsquo;s College in Toronto to earn a scholarship to Michigan State.He made an immediate impact with the Spartans, registering an 11-game unbeaten streak and a berth on the Central Collegiate Hockey Association&rsquo;s second all-star team in his first season. He appeared in 33 games, posting a 19-9-3 record and 3.42 GAA. The Flames were impressed, making him their top draft pick.Calgary&rsquo;s interest prompted Muzzatti to take inventory of his health. A second operation was necessary after he started experiencing shortness of breath during games.&ldquo;It affected my stamina,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After I realized I could continue my career after college, I wanted to get it out of the way. It was a timing thing. It was definitely coming, so I said, &lsquo;Why not take care of it?&rsquo;&rdquo;Muzzatti appeared in 42 games as a sophomore, finishing with a 32-9-1 record and 3.03 GAA. He had similar numbers in his junior year-24-6-0, 3.01 GAA&mdash;and the Spartans were favored to win the NCAA title. But they fell to Boston University in the quarter-finals of the Final Four tournament.Muzzatti&rsquo;s senior year was even more disappointing. The Spartans were favorites to repeat as CCHA champions and he was touted as a pre-season contender for the Hobey Baker Award for the most valuable player in college hockey. But it didn&rsquo;t work out that way.Hindered by veteran players whom Mason called &ldquo;less-than-dedicated&rdquo;, the Spartans dropped to 17-18-5. Muzzatti finished 8-10-2 with an uncharacteristic 3.74 GAA.&ldquo;It was one of those years when nothing went right,&rdquo; Muzzatti said. &ldquo;Our stronger players didn&rsquo;t have big years and I was one of them.&rdquo;Muzzatti heeded the advice of agent Rick Curran and cut a deal with the Flames after the season. He reported to Salt Lake after a strong training camp.&ldquo;He was a standout,&rdquo; Risebrough said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t start strong, but what he did to impress me was he got better. He showed good composure.&rdquo;Regardless of how well Muzzatti plays in Salt Lake, he faces a goaltending log-jam in Calgary. The Flames are set in goal with Mike Vernon and Jeff Reese, while 19-year-old Trevor Kidd, currently skating with the Canadian Olympic team, is routinely labelled Calgary&rsquo;s goalie of the future.The Flames also have Warren Sharpies, Muzzatti&rsquo;s partner with the Golden Eagles. Sharples tended goal for the Michigan Wolverines when Muzzatti played with the Spartans.&ldquo;We drafted two kids in the first round,&rdquo; Risebrough said, referring to Kidd (11th overall, 1990) and Muzzatti. &ldquo;Both have a chance to be impact players in the NHL. You&rsquo;ve got to remember where this team drafted (late) in the last couple of years. We wanted to get a quality goaltender in the first round that other people might not take early.&rdquo;The move shows promise of paying off for the Flames. But Risebrough won&rsquo;t offer a timetable&mdash;or any guarantees-regarding Muzzatti&rsquo;s arrival at the Saddledome. In the meantime, he&rsquo;ll keep fighting his way to the big leagues via Salt Lake. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a (schedule) at all,&rdquo; Muzzatti said. &ldquo;All you can do is work hard. Other people make the decisions. If it doesn&rsquo;t work out, then maybe it&rsquo;s not meant to be.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-01

Crowded at the top

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>Troy Mick has been a sharpshooter all of his career. But he&rsquo;s quickly becoming known as a straight-shooter. And he&rsquo;s not too choosy about his victims.The Knoxville Cherokees&rsquo; captain, frustrated by his team&rsquo;s fall from first place last season to place this season, lashed out at his teammates-then some of the team&rsquo;s fans-after the Cherokees lost their fifth straight home game, a 6-3 loss to Hampton Roads Feb. 1.&ldquo;If anyone out there has some extra heart and desire in their socks, please donate them to the Knoxville Cherokees because we stink!&rdquo; Mick said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t put it any more bluntly than that. We don&rsquo;t show up to play. It&rsquo;s not one person; it&rsquo;s everyone.&ldquo;I feel sorry for our goalies,&rdquo; said Mick of Mike Greenlay and Dean Anderson who had surrendered 45 goals in the Cherokees&rsquo; six straight losses through Feb 2. &ldquo;They aren&rsquo;t playing that badly. They&rsquo;ve got sunbum on the backs of their necks from all the red lights.&rdquo;The loss to the Admirals dropped the Cherooes&rsquo; record to an East Coast League-worst 14-5, which includes an 8-12-3 record at Civic Coliseum. The Cherokees led the ECHL last season with 97 points and a 46-13-5 record.Attendance has yet to suffer, but many fans are starting to turn on coach Bill Nyrop and his team. A rubber chicken wearing the red-and-white colors of the Cherokees dangled from the Coliseum balcony during the loss to Hampton.Cherokee-bashing has become fashionable. A disenchanted group covered their heads with grocery sacks at a recent game. Others hung a banner which read: &lsquo;Nyrop Go Back to Idaho.&rsquo; The sign, which was ripped off the wall by Mick before the opening faceoff against Hampton, was in reference to the off-season home of the beleaguered first-year coach.&ldquo;They pay eight bucks, I guess they can do what they want,&rdquo; Mick said of the fans. &ldquo;(But) it shows no class; it&rsquo;s ignorant. We love them, but not when they turn against us like that.&rdquo;THE GREAT GORSKI: Sheldon Gorski is leading the resurgence in Louisville where the IceHawks reached the .500 plateau with a 5-2 win over Columbus Feb. 2.The IceHawks&rsquo; right winger had five goals and 11 points in leading the team to three straight victories. He also extended his scoring streak to 25 games-a league high&mdash;and earned ECHL player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Feb. 3.Twenty-four of Gorski&rsquo;s 51 goals last season came on the power play and the IceHawks&rsquo; special team, which led the league last season, is improving. They were five-for-five in the victory over Columbus.&ldquo;The power play certainly was our strong point last season,&rdquo; Louisville coach Warren Young said. &ldquo;Earlier we struggled with our point men. We&rsquo;ve been shooting more.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a shot and a rebound, we&rsquo;re probably going to get it. Sheldon is always around the net and he looks for rebounds.&rdquo;Young said Gorski, who went to Hartford&rsquo;s training camp, is pretty much the same player he was last season. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 26 and that&rsquo;s the big knock against him.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Cincinnati right winger Dan Beaudette announced his retirement Jan. 30&hellip;Goalie Doug Dadswell, in his first start since returning from Utica of the American League, turned aside 34 of 36 shots as Cincinnati defeated Columbus 7-2 Jan. 31. The next night he stopped five Chill shooters in the shootout as the Cyclones won 6-5 at Columbus to break an eight-game drought on the road. &#9632;

‘We stink’ Cherokees’ Mick says

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>When people say the Moncton Hawks are buried in the American League&rsquo;s Atlantic Division, it may have nothing to do with their place in the standings.A record Maritime snowfall of 161 centimetres&mdash;about five feet, eight inches&mdash;paralyzed Moncton Feb. 1 and 2, trapping the Hawks&rsquo; training staff in the Coliseum and the Cape Breton Oilers in their hotel.&ldquo;I think they set a world record,&rdquo; Cape Breton general manager Dave Andrews said.Howling winds created immense snow drifts that blocked the doorways to the Coliseum, trapping trainers and a few staff members inside the building for a day.Moncton and Cape Breton were scheduled to play Feb. 1, but didn&rsquo;t play until Feb. 3, even though both teams were in town. When the teams finally played they tied 3-3.&ldquo;Even by Monday, the fans (about 600) had to walk to the rink because there was no where to park,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; coach Dave Farrish, who cross-country skied to the Coliseum.The snow began falling Feb. 1, but trainers Rob Snitzer and Wayne Flemming and some staff members reported to the rink the next morning for the game-day skate.Farrish called the players to cancel the skate, and rescheduled it for 5 p.m., thinking the snow would stop. It didn&rsquo;t. By then, however, the trainers weren&rsquo;t able to leave the rink.&ldquo;The drifts were over the Coliseum in most places,&rdquo; Snitzer said. &ldquo;We tried to drive out in a (Ford) Bronco 4x4 and couldn&rsquo;t. We couldn&rsquo;t even get out by walking.&rdquo;Snitzer and Fleming spent the night in the rink, eating hot dogs and nachos and listening to the wind howl.&ldquo;I makes you think that anything can happen to you,&rdquo; Snitzer said. &ldquo;A few years ago the old Coliseum they had here collapsed because there was so much snow on the roof.&rdquo;Snitzer and Flemming forced open a door and ventured out the next day.&ldquo;If you saw the way we were dressed when we went out you would have thought we were scaling Mount Everest,&rdquo; Snitzer said. &ldquo;We had garbage bags wrapped around our feet, we put on plastic pants, parkas and towels around our heads.&ldquo;We pretty much crawled 20-30 feet and waded through drifts that were waist-high to chest-high.&rdquo;At one point, when it seemed the snow would never end, Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Mark Laforge joked that he wanted to get to the post office to get a change of address.TREES STANDING TALL: Binghamton&rsquo;s Mark Laforest is the AHL&rsquo;s hottest goalie, after stringing together a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1).Laforest credits the team for his sparkling play. The Rangers were 14-2-4 in the 20 games prior to Feb. 7.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to get where everybody knows what they have to do, and they&rsquo;re doing it well,&rdquo; Laforest says. &ldquo;Goalies always reap the benefits when the team plays well.&rdquo;PROBLEM SOLVED: New Haven received a big help on defense when Quebec loaned the Nighthawks Bryan Fogarty Jan. 31&hellip;Right winger Bill Guerin, a New Jersey prospect, joined Utica after being released by the U.S. Olympic team.Binghamton loaned left winger Joe Paterson to Phoenix (International League) and signed defenseman David Quinn to a tryout contract. &#9632;

Hawks’ trainers trapped by vicious winter storm

Three years removed from his NHL days with Toronto, John Brophy is alive and thriving as coach of the East Coast League&rsquo;s Hampton Roads Admirals. And he hasn&rsquo;t changed a bit.A 20-year coaching veteran of nearly every North American pro league, Brophy, 58, spends as much energy now as he ever did stomping, ranting and raving behind the bench. No one-officials, opposing players and coaches-is exempt from his tirades. He isn&rsquo;t shy about being tough on his own team, either.During a January loss to Greensboro, Brophy didn&rsquo;t get 100 per cent from the Admirals.So he had them skate sprints for 20 minutes after the game before the 1,000-plus fans who remained in disbelief to watch.And, believe it or not, Brophy thinks he has found a permanent home in Hampton Roads.&ldquo;First of all, I&rsquo;ve got the best job in hockey,&rdquo; says the coach of the ECHL&rsquo;s defending champions. &ldquo;I love every second on the rink and every minute on the bus. That may sound corny and stupid but I enjoy what I&rsquo;m doing.&rdquo;Retire isn&rsquo;t in Brophy&rsquo;s vocabulary. &ldquo;Never for a minute,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;I suppose when it happens, there won&rsquo;t be much time left.&rdquo; &#9632;

Content Brophy still the same

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>The International League used its Feb. 2 All-Star Game to make inroads to its American markets, but they didn&rsquo;t gain ground luring the rival American League to a minor-pro all-star duel.The older, eastern-based AHL is still maintaining its distance.&ldquo;What is the upside for us?&rdquo; AHL president Jack Butterfield said. &ldquo;There are mixed emotions on whether we should involve ourselves. The last AHL All-Star Game was played in the 1960s, and it was a financial failure.&rdquo;There is some bitterness involved here, too, based on other comments Butterfield made in reference to the IHL&rsquo;s raid of AHL parent clubs conducted on NHL draft day in 1987.&ldquo;We expressed interest in an All-Star Game a couple years ago,&rdquo; Butterfield said. &ldquo;But when the IHL raided the AHL, those talks were tabled. I&rsquo;m not sure we&rsquo;re looking at an All-Star Game from the same points of view. If there is ever to be a minor-league showcase, both leagues should benefit.&rdquo;Countered IHL commissioner Tom Berry: &ldquo;We have this game booked two years in advance and that&rsquo;s two years further than anyone else. We&rsquo;re headed in the right direction.&rdquo;A few months ago, IHL owners were talking up an all-star showcase with the AHL, and there was even talk of merging elements of the two league operations into one common effort.&ldquo;Quite frankly, we&rsquo;ve grown cool to a merger,&rdquo; Peoria Rivermen owner Bruce Saurs said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure the IHL wouldn&rsquo;t be doing more for the AHL than they would be doing for us. I just don&rsquo;t know how much the AHL can help us. They aren&rsquo;t very aggressive, they have some small markets and rinky-dink buildings. I think the IHL has passed them by.&rdquo;PEACHY COMBINATION: Tony Esposito, director of player development for NHL expansion Tampa, had this to say last month on his team&rsquo;s minor-league plans:&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not locked in, but it looks like (IHL expansion) Atlanta will be our farm team. The location, the city, a lot of things about Atlanta make sense for us. It&rsquo;ll be official soon.&rdquo;More good news for future Atlanta fans: Esposito said the parent club does not plan to keep more than one or two extra players at the major-league level, unlike many NHL teams.&ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t see any reason to do that,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;A lot of teams have guys sitting around, but we won&rsquo;t be one of them. It doesn&rsquo;t do the player or the team any good. We want our players to develop.&rdquo;I-OPENERS: San Diego rookie center Ray Whitney hasn&rsquo;t played an NHL game yet, but already he has made the Hockey Hall of Fame. The IHL says Whitney&rsquo;s game sweater from the Feb. 2 All-Star Game-in which he was MVP-has been sent to Toronto, at the Hall of Fame&rsquo;s request, for permanent display&hellip;IHL owners met Feb. 2 for the second time in three weeks with Bill Hunter-who tried to start up the Continental Hockey Association&mdash;and again rejected his bid for an expansion team in Saskatoon. The league likes Hunter, but not his location, and would consider another venue.Phoenix has been awarded the All-Star Game for next season&hellip;IHL owners voted Feb. 2 to keep the schedule at 82 games next season, defeating a proposal to match the NHL&rsquo;s 80-game format. &#9632;

Rival minor leagues steer clear of all-star battle

<div class="byline">By Ken Warren</div>His worst fears weren&rsquo;t realized and Steve Dontigny can think about playing hockey again.Dontigny, a right winger with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Shawinigan Cataractes, was the victim of a scary accident during a game against the Laval Titan Feb. 3.Titan left winger Yan St-Pierre attempted to clear the front of the net when the blade of his stick struck Dontigny&rsquo;s right eye. As blood cascaded out of Dontigny&rsquo;s eye, there was fear he would lose sight. But after a night in hospital, Dontigny was able to see. He&rsquo;s expected to return to action this season.&ldquo;(St-Pierre) went to lift up Dontigny&rsquo;s stick, but he missed and the blade caught him in the eye,&rdquo; Shawinigan trainer Andre Baker said. &ldquo;He couldn&rsquo;t see anything for a long time, but by the end of the night, he started to see things.&rdquo;St-Pierre was assessed a major and a game misconduct for the incident, which came just two weeks after the QMJHL allowed players to skate without full face shields. They now have the option of wearing visors that come down just below the nose and Dontigny was of the majority who now wear the three-quarters visor.&ldquo;The sticks were supposed to come down because of it, but obviously there needs to be acclimatization to the small visors,&rdquo; Baker said.Dontigny, tied for 10th in league scoring with 33 goals and 73 points in 47 games, was expected to have had full vision restored within days. But as for returning to the ice, no decision is expected until late February.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be all right. He&rsquo;s back home resting,&rdquo; Baker said. &ldquo;Maybe it will take two weeks before we know (when he can play), maybe two months. Nobody knows right now. But it looks good that he will play again.&rdquo;THE MAIN GUY: Guy Chouinard is the man in the middle of one of the strangest coaching scenarios imaginable: fired from a first-placed club, then hired by a first placed-club.Three years separated Chouinard&rsquo;s stint with Victoriaville and his hiring by Trois Rivieres in late December. After a month with the Draveurs, Chouinard is in charge of a team with a chance to advance to the Memorial Cup.&ldquo;Usually when you replace somebody in midseason, you expect the team to be in last place&mdash;or close to it,&rdquo; said Chouinard, who had a 9-5-2 record since taking over the Draveurs from Gaston Drapeau Dec. 26.&ldquo;When you come into a situation where the team is pretty good, you know some good things have been done. I wasn&rsquo;t about to change everything. If you take over a team in last place, then you sometimes have to change everything.&rdquo;One spot Chouinard doesn&rsquo;t hold in high regard is Victoriaville. Chouinard led the Tigres to a first-place finish in 1988-89 and was named coach of the year for his efforts.But the Tigres disappointed in the first round of the playoffs and chouinard&mdash;along with general manager Michel Larocque&mdash;were dumped. Gilbert Perreault took over the next season.&ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s a bad thing to be named coach of the year, because then you lose your job,&rdquo; Chouinard joked. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s in the past. I didn&rsquo;t agree with the decision. Even then everything was in place for Perreault to take over.&rdquo;Chouinard went back to school and earned his real estate license last year. But now there&rsquo;s no question Chouinard would rather sell tickets in the stands than houses.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect it all,&rdquo; Chouinard said. &ldquo;Just lately I&rsquo;ve figured out how most of the guys will react to different situations during certain game situations. That&rsquo;s the big thing you learn.&rdquo; &#9632;

Dontigny retains vision, career after eye injury

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>The inaugural Canadian Hockey League All-Star Challenge turned into a 77-minute marathon.In the end, west proved best.A breakaway goal by Prince Albert&rsquo;s Dean McAmmond at 7:36 of double overtime gave the Western League all-stars a 5-4 win over all-stars from the Quebec and Ontario Leagues.&ldquo;This was more than just an All-Star Game,&rdquo; said Saskatoon&rsquo;s Richard Matvichuk, player of the game for Team West. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about bragging rights and who&rsquo;s better and who&rsquo;s not. Everybody was out there to win.&rdquo;Only 4,519 fans showed up at 11,306-seat Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon Feb. 4 for a battle that started slowly but gained momentum with a dramatic ending.McAmmond took a pass from Swift Current&rsquo;s Andy Schneider and snapped a shot that trickled past London goaltender Fred Brathwaite. North Bay&rsquo;s John Spoltore, with two, Owen Sound&rsquo;s Kirk Maltby and Oshawa&rsquo;s Scott Hollis scored for Team East. Medicine Hat&rsquo;s David Cooper, Tri-City&rsquo;s Bill Lindsay, Prince Albert&rsquo;s Jeff Nelson and Matvichuk scored for Team West.Trois Rivieres&rsquo; Jean-Francois Labbe and Brathwaite made 51 saves for Team East, while Spokane&rsquo;s Scott Bailey and Seattle&rsquo;s Chris Osgood stopped 40 shots for Team West.KINGS REBUILDING: The Brandon Wheat Kings kept cleaning house right until the trading deadline Jan. 31.They sent defenseman Terran Sandwith, 19, to Saskatoon for left winger Sean McFatridge, 17, and future considerations. Sandwith, a second-round pick of Philadelphia in 1990, had six goals, 20 points and 145 penalty minutes in 41 games with the Wheat Kings.Brandon shipped overage center Brian Purdy to Spokane for overage right winger Greg Gatto and future considerations. Purdy had 24 goals and 53 points in 47 games.The Wheaties completed a busy day sending right winger Chris Constant, 18, to the Regina Pats for future considerations.&ldquo;Brandon&rsquo;s out of the playoffs, so I anticipated something happening,&rdquo; Sandwith said. &ldquo;They have to go with youth. There&rsquo;s no sense keeping guys who won&rsquo;t be there next year. They have draft picks and young players they traded for, so they&rsquo;ll be fine in a couple years.&rdquo;COUGAR COACH: The Victoria Cougars hired former NHL defenseman Rick Lapointe as their new coach Jan. 30.Lapointe started for the Cougars in the early 1970s and played 11 seasons in the NHL with five teams. He replaced Ron Coleman, who inherited the job from general manager Rick Hopper earlier this season and couldn&rsquo;t turn the club around. Coleman was fired Jan. 30.The last-place Cougars won just two of 13 games in January and will likely miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Lapointe doesn&rsquo;t believe a losing attitude is the problem.&ldquo;People don&rsquo;t have losing attitudes,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;We are creatures of habit and habits are formed in practice. Winning and losing is formed in practice. There&rsquo;s no kid that can go this far in junior hockey and go through this routine, if he doesn&rsquo;t know how to win.&rdquo;BAD MEDICINE: Lethbridge center Rob Hartnell, who was second in team scoring with 40 goals and 83 points in 50 games, was hospitalized with a bout of mononucleosis. He may miss the rest of the season. &ldquo;That takes away from our offense and our spark,&rdquo; Lethbridge coach Bob Loucks said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a high energy player.&rdquo; &#9632;

Team West proves it is best

Eric Lindros is on assignment, Yanic Peneault is CHL history and Pat Falloon is in San Jose. So who are the stars in the Canadian Hockey League this season? Here are some of the leading candidates for the CHL&rsquo;s MVP, top defenseman, goaltender and rookie awards.MVP: Jean-Francois Labbe, G, Trois Rivieres. Labbe leads the QMJHL in wins (20-112), goals-against average (3.23) and has the Draveurs in first place. Also: Fred Brathwaite, G, London. Bill Lindsay, RW, Tri-City.Defenseman: Scott Niedermeyer. Kamloops. The class of rearguards since returning from New Jersey. He was an all-star at the World Championships. Also: Scott Boston, Belleville. Francois Groleau, Shawinigan.Rookie: Alexandre Daigle, C, Victoriaville. He&rsquo;s among the QMJHL&rsquo;s top scorers (42 games, 22-52-74) and factors in more than half the Tigres&rsquo; goals. Also: Chris Pronger, D, Peterborough. Paxton Schulte, LW, Spokane.Goaltender: Labbe is enjoying his second consecutuive outstanding season and is finally receiving some well-deserved attention from fans and scouts. Also: Chris Osgood, Seattle. Brathwaite. &#9632;

An early line on CHL awards

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Providence coach Mike McShane has seen a lot things in his 12-year tenure as a college head coach. But this year&rsquo;s version of the Friars confounds him to no end.While most teams flourish in their own arenas, the Friars are struggling to keep their heads the .500 mark at Schneider Arena. They had an 8-7-0 record at home but were an impressive 8-1-1 record on the road.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to figure it out but it&rsquo;s a mystery to me,&rdquo; said McShane, who is in his seventh year at Providence after spending five as the head coach at St. Lawrence. &ldquo;They say winning on the road shows great character. But what do they say about losing at home? It has been a really weird year.&rdquo;The Friars had an 11-3-2 record at Schneider Arena last year and a 13-4-2 overall record at home in 1989-90.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played well enough at home to win the majority of our games (but didn&rsquo;t),&rdquo; McShane said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like we stink the joint out. I guess it has been an overall team letdown. We&rsquo;ve got to get tougher mentally.&rdquo;Senior defenseman and co-captain Rob Gau-dreau maintains the Friars try too hard in front of their own fans.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re putting too much pressure on ourselves to win,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We want to keep the place filled and we&rsquo;re afraid if we lose, we&rsquo;ll lose the fans.&ldquo;And there aren&rsquo;t any distractions on the road We there are at home. You don&rsquo;t have to worry out things like getting tickets for people.&rdquo;The Friars&rsquo; only road loss this season (5-2-Dec. 21) came against Minnesota of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in the Mariucci Classic.STREAK ENDS: The Maine Black Bears&rsquo; 18-game winning streak at Alfond Arena came to a dramatic end Jan. 31. The Boston University Terriers rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the Bears 4-4.Terriers&rsquo; freshman goalie J.P. McKersie replaced junior Scott Cashman at the beginning of the second period and blanked the Bears the rest of the way.McKersie made 18 saves, including two great stops on junior center Jim Montgomery and another on a breakaway by senior right winger Steve Tepper.Terrier junior center Dave Sacco picked up his 100th career assist in the game.Maine bounced back the next night to beat the Lowell Chiefs 5-2. The Bears are now 26-02 in their last 28 games at Alfond Arena.NOT THIS TIME: Boston College coach Len Ceglarski was denied a chance to compete for his third Beanpot Tournament title when Harvard eliminated his team with a 6-4 win Feb. 3.It marked Ceglarski&rsquo;s 20th appearance at the tournament as Eagles&rsquo; coach. Boston College won in 1976 and 1983. Ceglarski will step down at the end of the season. He coached at Clarkson from 1958 to 1972.Meanwhile, several current college coaches have expressed interest in replacing Ceglarski next season. They include: Jerry York (Bowling Green), Rob Riley (Army), Joe Marsh (St. Lawrence), Shawn Walsh (Maine) and BC assistant Steve Cedorchuk.CLEARY OUT: Boston College will be without senior defenseman and captain Joe Cleary until at least late February. Cleary suffered a sprained right knee in a 3-3 tie with Boston University Jan. 25. He underwent exploratory arthroscopic surgery in Boston Feb. 4. Cleary had three goals and 15 points in 14 games. &#9632;

Home woes haunting Providence

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>If the Mankato State (Minn.) Mavericks have their way, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association will be growing in the future.The Mavericks recently announced they will elevate their Division III hockey program to Division I status for the 1992-93 season. And although the Mavericks will operate as an independent next season, they hope to gain full membership in the WCHA by the 1995-96 season.The upgrade is in response to a National Collegiate Athletic Association directive that states a Division 111 school cannot compete at that level if it fields a team in any sport at the Division II level.The Mavericks&rsquo; football and basketball teams compete in Division II.Mavericks&rsquo; coach Don Brose&mdash;who guided the team to the NCAA Division III title game last season&mdash;is scheduling 20 Division I games next year.&ldquo;In order to gain entrance into the WCHA, we will have to prove some things to their structure committee over the next few years,&rdquo; Mankato athletic director Don Amiot said. &ldquo;We have to keep informing them of our progress as far as commitment from the university and the community is concerned, and that we are able to play competitive hockey.&rdquo;The Mavericks&rsquo; bid should be enhanced by a new 4,500-seat arena which has been included in a downtown Mankato redevelopment plan. The project&mdash;dubbed Riverfront 2000&mdash;received voter support last October.University officials must now formulate a plan to upgrade the athletic department budget so it can underwrite the cost of scholarships and travel.&ldquo;There are a lot of variables to consider,&rdquo; WCHA commissioner Otto Breitenbach said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s the facility and there&rsquo;s the financial package. That, in turn, addresses the issue of competitiveness over a 32-game schedule.&rdquo;Meanwhile, WCHA members will vote on making Alaska-Anchorage the 10th member of the league at their annual meeting in April.The Central Collegiate Hockey Association voted in January to admit Alaska-Fairbanks on a conditional basis for next season.MARTINI RETURNS: Michigan Tech senior defenseman Darcy Martini made his presence felt in his first game back after suffering a broken bone in his lower back in early November.The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder scored three goals and seven points as the Huskies swept North Dakota 6-3 Jan. 31 and 9-6 Feb. 1.Martini earned WCHA player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Feb. 3 for his effort.RECORD SETTERS: The Minnesota Golden Gophers have been on a tear since being swept by the Northern Michigan Wildcats in a Dec. 14 and 15 series at Mariucci Arena.The Gophers won a school-record 12 straight games entering a series Feb. 7 and 8 at Wisconsin. The streak included back-to-back road sweeps of Colorado College (Jan. 24 and 25) and Northern Michigan (Jan.31 and Feb. 1).The Gophers moved from third place to first and built a six-point lead over second-place Wisconsin&hellip;NMU junior forward Jim Hiller had his 25-game point-scoring streak (dating back to last season) snapped in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota Jan. 31. But Hiller continued to lead the WCHA in scoring with 22 goals and 60 points in 24 games. &#9632;

Independent Mavericks join hunt for membership

Here&rsquo;s a look at college hockey&rsquo;s top rivalries:Michigan vs. Michigan State: The 70-year-old rivalry is even better this season. Both teams are nationally ranked and have a legitimate shot at an NCAA title. Series record: Michigan, 98-89-6.Boston College vs. Boston U: U.S. Olympic team plucked BC bare, but they still hold the upper hand this season (1-0-1). One of college hockey&rsquo;s oldest rivalries dates back to 1917. Series record: BU, 82-78-10.Minnesota vs. Wisconsin: This conflict has roots in the mutual dislike between former Badger coach Bob Johnson and former Minnesota coach Herb Brooks. Rivals first met in 1964. Series record: Minnesota, 96-58-11.St. Lawrence vs. Clarkson: Located 10 miles apart in Canton and Potsdam, N.Y.. the Saints and Golden Knights battle twice annually. The ECAC neighbors first met in 1925. Series record: Clarkson, 81-46-3.Army vs. RMC: National pride is at stake when the troops from West Point clash annually with their Canadian counterparts from the Royal Military College. It&rsquo;s a spirited, physical contest. Series record: Army, 29-27-5. &#9632;

Student clashes for the ages

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>The Harvard Crimson have joined the Minnesota Golden Gophers as the only two college hockey teams to record 1,000 victories.The Crimson picked up its 1,000th win Feb. 1 in a 7-3 triumph over Union College at Bright Hockey Center in Boston.Union coach Bruce Delventhal kept his sense of humor after watching the post-game ceremonies, which included a cake inscribed with the number 1,000.&ldquo;I feel like Al Downing,&rdquo; Delventhal said, referring to the infamous pitcher who gave up Hank Aaron&rsquo;s 715th home run that broke Babe Ruth&rsquo;s career home run record.Harvard junior center Steve Flom-shoft who scored the game-winning goal in the second period-vowed he will never use his stick again. He plans to make it a family heirloom.&ldquo;This is such a great accomplishment,&rdquo; second-year Crimson coach Ronn Tomassoni said. &ldquo;I look back at all the former players who made 1,000 possible. And I&rsquo;m just a small part of it. When I think about the tradition of Harvard hockey, I think about someone like Bill Cleary (the school&rsquo;s athletic director), who played here and coached here. He has been here 23 years, I&rsquo;m glad I&rsquo;ve been a part of it.&rdquo;Cleary played a major role in the Crimson&rsquo;s success. He posted a school-record 324 wins in 19 years behind the bench. Ralph &ldquo;Cooney&rdquo; Weiland is second with 315.Harvard recorded its first collegiate win on Jan. 11, 1900. The Crimson beat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 10-1.Harvard is one of the biggest surprises in the Eastern College Athletic Conference this season. The Crimson were expected to finish sixth in the preseason coaches&rsquo; poll, but led the division with a 10-3-3 record through Feb. 7.&ldquo;As I said at the start of the season, we&rsquo;re not as explosive or as talented individually as we&rsquo;ve been in the past, but we&rsquo;ve got some kids who can motor,&rdquo; Tomassoni said.HOME FREE: The Vermont Catamounts have had 11 sellout crowds at Gutterson Fieldhouse and they&rsquo;ve given their home fans something to cheer about. On the road, however, the Cats are a different story.Vermont was 9-1-1 at home (overall) and 27-0 on the road. The Catamounts were averaging 1.54 goals-against per game at home, but 4.66 away from home.Consistency on offense has hampered the Catamounts. During one sttetch. freshman goalie Christian Soucy allowed three or fewer goals in 12 of 13 games. But the team still struggled to a 7-5-1 record.STREAK BREAKERS: Yale broke its &ldquo;Colgate jinx&rdquo; Feb. 1 with a 6-3 victory over the Red Raiders. The Bulldogs swept the regularseason series with Colgate for the first time since the 1960-61 season. Yale won 10-5 earlier this year.With senior goalie Nadew Befekadu out of the lineup following knee surgery, Yale freshman Todd Sullivan is getting more work backing up junior John Hockin. Sullivan was named ECAC rookie of the week for the period ending Feb. 3 after leading the Bulldogs to wins over New Hampshire (5-4 Jan. 28) and Colgate (6-3 Feb. 1). &#9632;

Milestone win puts Crimson in select company

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The Michigan Wolverines are proving they&rsquo;re no longer inferior to Lake Superior. But the battle for superiority between the two teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association is far from over.The Wolverines posted their first home victories over LSSU since 1983-84 with 4-3 and 1-0 wins at Yost Arena Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The Wolverines were just 1-10-2 against the Lakers in their previous 13 meetings.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always had good games with Lake Superior,&rdquo; Michigan coach Red Berenson said. &ldquo;But we just haven&rsquo;t been able to beat them. You would think the odd time we would win in our building.&rdquo;The odds finally caught up with the Lakers, who, despite the losses, remained first in the CCHA.&ldquo;I think our team played close to its potential,&rdquo; said Berenson, whose team moved into second place in the CCHA standings with the wins.Michigan State was third and Western Michigan was fourth.WELCOME HOME: Michigan State freshman center Steve Suk staged a spectacular homecoming Jan. 31 as the Spartans rallied to beat Illinois-Chicago 6-3 at the U1C Pavilion.Suk keyed the win with two goals and two assists, while junior center Bryan Smolinski chipped in with a hat trick, The 5-foot-11, 194-pound Suk played in front of family members for the first time as a collegian.&ldquo;Actually I didn&rsquo;t think about it before the game,&rdquo; Suk said. &ldquo;I had grandmothers, aunts and uncles here.&rdquo;Like many Chicago-area college hockey hopefuls, Suk left the city as a teenager to play at an East Coast prep school (Canterbury in Connecticut). He skated for the Omaha Lancers of the United States (Tier II) Junior League last season before being recruited by Mason&rsquo;s Spatans.Suk had eight goals and 34 points in 21 games, tops among CCHA rookies. He was not drafted last year but was rated as a sixth-round choice (143rd overall) by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau in its mid-term rankings.NOTEBOOK: Ohio State caught Bowling Green in the battle for the CCHA&rsquo;s final playoff berth. The Buckeyes beat the Falcons 5-4 in overtime Jan. 31 and tied them 5-5 at Columbus Feb. 1. The Buckeyes improved to 4-15-4 (12 points) in league play and 7-15-4 overall. The Falcons dropped to 4-14-4 in the CCHA and 515-4 overall. Coach Jerry Welsh&rsquo;s squad snapped a 17-game CCHA road losing streak (0-16-1) with the win at BGSU Ice Arena&hellip;Michigan&rsquo;s Steve Shields has certainly lived up to his name in the past few weeks. The Wolverines&rsquo; sophomore goaltender had a 10-10 record in his last 11 games, posting a 1.95 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. &#9632;

Michigan gets revenge upon ‘superior’ LakersBy Matt Carlson

The Brandon Bobcats have held down last place in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association all season. But they didn&rsquo;t hit bottom until Jan. 24.That&rsquo;s the day seven-year coach Mark Arnett resigned in the wake of a player walkout. Five players quit the team in support of Richard Oswald, who was stripped of his captaincy. Oswald also quit the team.Garth Johnson, Kelly Anderson, Gord Ransom, Blaine Sautner and Dave Schertler all quit, leaving Brandon with 12 players on the eve of a two-game series with British Columbia.The bad feelings between Oswald and Arnett date back to the beginning of the season, when Oswald went to the school&rsquo;s dean of education Robin Enns with concerns over how the program was run.Arnett, who guided the Bobcats to a 43-89-8 record in his tenure as coach, subsequently removed Oswald as team captain.Dr. Morris Mott and Tom Skinner have been named interim coaches. All six players returned to the team.OUAA: The Guelph Gryphons aren&rsquo;t having much trouble scoring this season. After all, they scored seven or more goals in six of their last 10 games.But coach Marlin Muylaert believes the reason behind the team&rsquo;s recent success&mdash;they&rsquo;r second in the Ontario Universities Athletic Association West Division-is the play of freshman goaltender Jeff Wilson.&ldquo;Jeff Wilson has started making saves to keep us in the games,&rdquo; Muylaert said. &ldquo;We started playing with leads and we didn&rsquo;t have these big holes to get ourselves out of.&ldquo;Anybody who&rsquo;s familiar with the league knows you can&rsquo;t challenge for the top spot without outstanding goaltending. Jeff was just like any rookie coming into the league. He had some adjustments to make.&rdquo;Wilson, 21, spent the last three seasons in the Ontario League with the Kingston Frontenacs and Windsor Spitfires.He suffered a fractured skull last April 20 at a Spitfire team gathering and spent the summer recuperating.He opted to play at the university level this season.AUAA: St. Thomas coach Al MacAdam is tired of seeing hard work but no results.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of good efforts,&rdquo; MacAdam said after the Tommies dropped a 4-3 decision to the Moncton Blue Eagles Jan. 25. &ldquo;We need a win.&rdquo;The second half of the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association schedule hasn&rsquo;t exactly panned out the way MacAdam envisioned.The Tommies have won only two games in the second half of the season. They were one point up on the last-place Mount Allison Mounties in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the MacAdam Division through Feb. 7.&mdash;With files from Robin Brownlee, Bruce Hallihan and Claude Scilley. &#9632;

Revolt results in resignation

<h2>STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01846/6672028-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="991" height="926"></div><h2>OVERALL STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02527/6672021-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="486" height="601"></div><h2>OVERTIME RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03341/6672014-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="468" height="600"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04235/6672007-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="991" height="1114"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05165/6672000-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="513" height="769"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-06128/6671993-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="903" height="1056"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Trottier became the sixth player in NHL history to score 1,400 points with a goal Feb. 5.</figcaption></div><h2>POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV)&mdash;TOTAL ADVANTAGES; (PPG)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS; (PCT)&mdash;POWERPLAY GOALS DIVIDED BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-07107/6671986-1-eng-US/f0027-072.jpg" title="f0027-07" width="452" height="625"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>(PIM)&mdash;TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING (BMI) BENCH PENALTY MINUTES; (AVG)&mdash;AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES PER GAME.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0894/6671979-1-eng-US/f0027-082.jpg" title="f0027-08" width="386" height="644"></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/f0027-0988/6671972-1-eng-US/f0027-092.jpg" title="f0027-09" width="450" height="630"></div><h2>TOP SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1080/6671965-1-eng-US/f0027-102.jpg" title="f0027-10" width="590" height="553"></div><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1169/6671958-1-eng-US/f0027-112.jpg" title="f0027-11" width="584" height="294"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1259/6671951-1-eng-US/f0027-122.jpg" title="f0027-12" width="590" height="344"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1353/6671944-1-eng-US/f0027-132.jpg" title="f0027-13" width="597" height="1431"></div><h2>SCHEDULE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1448/6671937-1-eng-US/f0027-142.jpg" title="f0027-14" width="453" height="1102"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1538/6671930-1-eng-US/f0027-152.jpg" title="f0027-15" width="455" height="968"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1631/6671923-1-eng-US/f0027-162.jpg" title="f0027-16" width="469" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman</figcaption></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01886/6671916-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="1011" height="1416"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02586/6671909-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="993" height="970"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03417/6671902-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="991" height="800"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04295/6671895-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="999" height="224"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05230/6671888-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="1003" height="1272"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06198/6671881-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="1001" height="972"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07178/6671874-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="993" height="718"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-08162/6671867-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="999" height="226"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-09151/6671860-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="1001" height="863"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-10144/6671853-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="1000" height="754"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-11138/6671846-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="1000" height="838"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-12131/6671839-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="989" height="422"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01777/6671832-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="990" height="408"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02502/6671825-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="991" height="813"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03322/6671818-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="1003" height="1192"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04228/6671811-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="995" height="760"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05200/6671804-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="992" height="57"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06163/6671797-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="993" height="978"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-07137/6671790-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="985" height="763"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-08119/6671783-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="991" height="758"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-09110/6671776-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="983" height="515"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-10101/6671769-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="987" height="462"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1193/6671762-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="987" height="682"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1282/6671755-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="990" height="1084"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1369/6671748-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="993" height="757"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1462/6671741-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="985" height="87"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01879/6671734-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="999" height="578"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02588/6671727-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="993" height="36"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03404/6671720-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="999" height="450"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04288/6671713-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="1005" height="582"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05211/6672080-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg"></div><h2>TEAM-BY-TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06172/6672073-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="995" height="1292"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-07145/6672066-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="993" height="439"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-08131/6672059-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="997" height="762"></div> &#9632;

f0030-05

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus); SA-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, FEB. 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-09115/6672244-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="590" height="1041"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-10102/6672237-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="576" height="1400"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1194/6672230-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="586" height="62"></div><h2>TUESDAY, FEB. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1288/6672223-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="591" height="1262"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1382/6672216-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="591" height="1401"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1476/6672209-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="585" height="1405"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01813/6672202-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="595" height="3019"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, FEB. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02531/6672195-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="583" height="395"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03385/6672188-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="595" height="3508"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04290/6672181-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="586" height="3506"></div><h2>THURSDAY, FEB. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05234/6672174-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="610" height="3436"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06196/6672167-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="591" height="1590"></div><h2>FRIDAY, FEB. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07171/6672160-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="617" height="1850"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01872/6672153-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="599" height="3520"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02603/6672146-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="589" height="414"></div><h2>SATURDAY, FEB. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03420/6672139-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="599" height="3022"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04291/6672132-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="575" height="2980"></div><h2>SUNDAY, FEB. 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05217/6672125-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="603" height="468"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06181/6672118-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="585" height="3518"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07154/6672111-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="587" height="3489"></div> &#9632;

f0030-09

NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>OLYMPICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01790/6672443-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="595" height="1835"></div><h2>SATURDAY, FEB. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02539/6672436-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="585" height="765"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03400/6672429-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="555" height="663"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Burke</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04313/6672422-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="1165" height="1114"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clark Donatelli scored early in the third period as the United States came from behind to defeat Italy 6-3 Feb. 9.</figcaption></div><h3>CANADA</h3>HEAD COACH: DAVE KING.GOALTENDERS: SEAN BURKE, TREVOR KIDD, SAM ST, LAURENT.DEFENCEMEN: KEVIN DAHL, CURT GILES, GORD HYNES, ADRIEN PLAVSIC, DAN RATUSHNY, BRAD SCHLEGEL, BRIAN TUTT, JASON WOOLLEY.FORWARDS: DAVE ARCHIBALD, TODD BROST, DAVE HANNAN, FABIAN JOSEPH, JOE JUNEAU, PATRICK LEBEAU, CHRIS LINDBERG, ERIC LINDROS, KENT MANDERVILLE, WALLY SCHREI8ER, RANDY SMITH, DAVE TIPPETT.<h3>CZECHOSLOVAKIA</h3>HEAD COACH: IVAN HLINKA.GOALTENDERS: PETR BRIZA, JAROMIR DRAGAN, OLDRICH SVOBODA.DEFENCEMEN: LEO GUDAS, MILOSLAV HORAVA, URAHOMIR KADLEC, FRANTISEK PROCHAZKA, BEDRICH SCERBAN, JIRI SLEGR, RICHARD SMEHLIK, ROBERT SVEHLA.FORWARDS: PATRICK AUGUSTA, PETR HRBEK, OTAKAR JANECKY, TOMAS JELINEK, KAMIL KASTAK, ROBERT LANG, IGOR LIBA, LADISLAV LUBINA, PETR ROSOL, RADEK TOUPAL, PETER VESELOVSKY, RICHARD ZEMLICKA.<h3>FINLAND</h3>HEAD COACH: PENTTI MAMATIKAINEN.GOALTENDERS: MARKUS KETTERER, SAKARI LINDFORS, JUKKA TAMMI.DEFENCEMEN: TIMO BLOMQVIST, KARI ELORANTA, TIMO JUTILA, JANNE LAUKKANEN, HARRI LAURILA, ARTO RUOTANEN, SIMO SAARINEN, VILLE SIREN.FORWARDS: RAIMO HELMINEN, HANNU JARVENPAA, JARI LINDROOS, MIKKO MAKELA, MIKA NIEMINEN, TIMO PELTOMAA, TIMO SAARIKOSkI, KEIJO SAILYNOJA, TEEMU SELANNE, PETRI SKRIKO, RAIMO SUMMANEN, PEKKA TUOMISTO.<h3>FRANCE</h3>HEAD COACH: KJELL LARSSON.GOALTENDERS: JEAN-MARC DJIAN, FABRICE L&rsquo;HENRY, PETRI YLONEN.DEFENCEMEN: STEPHANE BOTTERI, GERALD GUENNELON, MICHEL LEBLANC, JEAN-PHILIPPE LEMOINE, DENIS PEREZ, SERGE POUDRIER, BRUNO SAUNIER.FORWARDS: PETER ALMASY, MICHAEL BABIN, STEPHANE BARIN, PHILIPPE BOZON, ARNAUD BRIAND, YVES CRETTENAND, PATRICK DUNN, BENOIT LAPORTE, PASCAL MARGERIT, CHRISTIAN POUGET, PIERRE POUSSE, ANTOINE RICHER, CHRISTOPHE VILLE<h3>GERMANY</h3>HEAD COACH: LUOEK BUKAC.GOALTENDERS: HELMUT DE RAAF, KARL FRIESEN, JOSEPH HEISS.DEFENCEMEN: RICHARD AMANN, MICHAEL HEIDT, ULRICH HIEMER, UDO KIESSLING, JORG MAYR, ANDREAS NIEDERBERGER, MICHAEL SCHMIDT, FORWARDS: THOMAS BRANDE, ANDREAS BROCKMANN, PETER DRAISAITL, RON FISCHER, DIETER HEGEN, RAIMOND HILGER, GEORG HOLZMANN, AXEL KAMMERER, ERNST KOEPF, JURGEN RUMRICH, MICHAEL RUMRICH, BERND TRUNTSCHKA, GORD TRUNTSCHKA.<h3>ITALY</h3>HEAD COACH: GENE UBRIACO.GOALTENDERS: DAVID DEL FINO, DIEGO RIVA, MICHAEL ZANIER.DEFENCEMEN: JIMMY CAMAZZOLA, ANTHONY CIRCELLI, GEORG COMPLOI, MICHAEL DE ANGELIS, ROBERT MANNO, GIOVANNI MARCHETTI, ROBERT OBERRAUCH, WILLIAM STEWART.FORWARDS: GIUSEPPE FOGLIETTA, ROBERT GINETTI, EMILIO IOVIO, RICK MOROCCO, FRANK NIGRO, SANTINO PELLEGRINO, MARCO SCAPINELLO, MARTINO SORACREPPA, LUCIO TOPATIGH, JOHN VECCHIARELLI, IVANO ZANATTA, BRUNO ZARILLO.<h3>NORWAY</h3>HEAD COACH: BENGT OHLSON.GOALTENDERS: STEVE ALLMAN, JIM MARTHINSEN, ROBERT SCHISTAD.DEFENCEMEN: MORGAN ANDERSEN, JAN FAGERLI, MARTIN FRIIS, RUNE GULLIKSEN, GEIR HOTT, TOMMY JACOBSEN, JON KARLSTAD, PETTER SALSTEN, KIM SOCAARD.FORWARDS: ARNE BILLKVAM, OLE DAHLSTROM, JARLE FRIIS, CARL GUNNAR GUNDERSEN, TOM JOHANSEN, ERIK KRISTIANSEN, ORJAN LOVDAI, OYSTEIN OLSEN, EIRIK PAULSEN, MARIUS RATH, PETTER THORESEN.<h3>POLAND</h3>GOALTENDERS: MAREK BATKIEWICZ, MARIUSZ KIECA GABRIEL SAMOLEJ.DEFENCEMEN: MAREK CHOLEWA, DARIUSZ GARBOCZ, HENRYK GRUTH, KAZIMIERZ JUREK, ANDRZEJ KADZIOLKA, JERZY SOBERA, RAFAL SROKA, ROBERT SZOPINSKI.FORWARDS: JANUSZ ADAMIEC, KRZYSZTOF BUJAR, MARIUSZ CZERKAWSKI, JANUS HAJNOS, WALDEMAR KLISIAK, KRZYSZTOF KUZNIECOW, DARIUS PLATEK, MARIUSZ PUZIO, ANDRZEJ SWISTAK, WOJCIECH TKACZ, MIROSLAW TOMASIK, SLAWOMIR WIELOCH.<h3>SWEDEN</h3>HEAD COACH: CONNY EVENSONGOALTENDERS: FREDRIK ANDERSSON, ROGER NORDSTROM, TOMMY SODERSTROM.DEFENCEMEN: PETER ANDERSSON, PETER ANDERSSON, KENNETH KENNHOLT, PETRI LIIMATAINEN, BORJE SALMING, TOMMY SJODIN, FREDRIK STILLMAN.FORWARDS: CHARLES BERGLUND, PATRIK CARNBACK, LARS EDSTROM, PATRIK ERICKSON, BENGT GUSTAFSSON, MIKAEL JOHANSSON, PATRIC KJELLBERG, HAKAN LOOB, MATS NASLUND, PETER OTTOSSON, THOMAS RUNDQVIST, DANIEL RYDMARK, JAN VIKTORSSON.<h3>SWITZERLAND</h3>HEAD COACH: JUHANI TAMMINEN.GOALTENDERS: RETO PAVONI, RENATO TOSIO, CHRISTOPHE WAHL.DEFENCEMEN: SAMUEL BALMER, SANDRO BERTAGGIA, ANDREAS BEUTLER, PATRICE BRASEY, DOUG HONEGGER, DINO KESSLER, ANDRE KUENZI, SVEN LEUN\ENBERGER.FORWARDS: MARIO BRODMANN, MANUELE CELIO, JORG EBERLE, KEITH FAIR, PATRICK HOWALD, PETER JAKS, ALFRED LUTHI, GIL MONTANDON, ANDRE ROTHELI, MARIO ROTTARIS, ANDREAS TON, THOMAS VRABEC.<h3>UNIFIED TEAM</h3>HEAD COACH: VIKTOR TIKHONOV.GOALTENDERS: NIKOLAI KHABIBOULINE, MIKHAIL SHTALENKOV, ANDREI TREFILOV.DEFENCEMEN: ALEXEI JITNIK, DARIUS KASPARAITIS, IGOR KRAVTCHOUK, VLADIMIR MALAKHOV, DMITRI MIRONOV, SERGUEI PLIRENKO, DMITRI, YOUSHKIEVITCH, SERGUEI ZOUBOV.FORWARDS: IGOR BOLDIN, NIKOLAI BORSTCHEVSKI VIATCHESLAV BOUTSAEV, VIATCHESLAV BYKOV, EVGUENI DAVYDOV, YURI KHMYLEV, ANDREI KHOMOUTOV, ANDREI KOVALENKO, ALEXEI KOVALEV, SERGUEI PETRENKO, VITALI PROKHOROV, ALEXEI ZHAMNOV.<h3>UNITED STATES</h3>HEAD COACH: DAVE PETERSON.GOALTENDERS: MIKE DUNHAM, SCOTT GORDON, RAY LEBLANC.DEFENCEMEN: GREG BROWN, GUY GOSSELIN BRET HEDICAN, SEAN HILL, SCOTT LACHANCE, MOE MANTHA, DAVE TRETOWICZ.FORWARDS: CLARK DONATELLI, TED DONATO, TED DRURY, DAVE EMMA, STEVE HEINZE, JIM JOHANNSON, SHAWN MCEACHERN, MARTY MCINNIS, JOE SACCO, TIM SWEENEY, KEITH TKACHUK, C.J, YOUNG, SCOTT YOUNG.NOTE: ALL STATISTICS ARE AS OF MONDAY,FEB, 10/92, 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/f0033-05261/6672415-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="594" height="1670"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06226/6672408-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="589" height="193"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07206/6672401-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="554" height="747"><figcaption class="caption-body">Felix Potvin</figcaption></div><h2>COLONIAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08170/6672394-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="583" height="498"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09149/6672387-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="579" height="1561"></div><h2>ECHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10133/6672380-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="593" height="1761"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01879/6672373-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="593" height="1119"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02619/6672366-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="589" height="507"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03484/6672359-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="556" height="817"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brent Gretzky</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04375/6672352-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="553" height="796"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Taylor</figcaption></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05303/6672345-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="605" height="1523"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06269/6672338-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="599" height="1795"></div><h2>NCAA TOP 10</h2>THE COLLEGE HOCKEY COMPUTER RATING IS A MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF ALL DIVISION I TEAMS, IT IS NOT A POLL NOR IS IT USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NCAA SELECTION PROCESS.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07247/6672331-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="593" height="341"></div><h2>CCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08228/6672324-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="609" height="1283"></div><h2>WCHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09205/6672317-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="592" height="1484"></div><h2>ECAC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10197/6672310-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="599" height="1399"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11184/6672303-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="552" height="805"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Band</figcaption></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12178/6672296-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="602" height="1035"></div><h2>AUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13157/6672289-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="601" height="1263"></div><h2>OUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14150/6672282-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="589" height="1042"></div><h2>CWUAA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15140/6672275-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="599" height="922"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>Grant Fuhr chortles at the suggestion it&rsquo;s possible to understand Glenn Anderson.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll never figure Glenny out,&rdquo; Fuhr says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played 11 years with him and I haven&rsquo;t figured him out.&rdquo;Trying to get a handle on Anderson, now in his 12th NHL season and his first with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is like trying to catch waves on the sand. He is a man of contradictions: a highly-skilled player who is as ruthless as they come with his stick, a modem day cowboy who likes rules only when they are broken.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely a free spirit,&rdquo; says Fuhr, his teammate in the glory days with the Edmonton Oilers and now with the Leafs.. &ldquo;He does whatever he feels like doing every day, which is a great way to live life if you can do it that way.&rdquo;Anderson seems to have found such a way, although his independent streak often means he can be difficult, even rude.Minnesota radio producer Mike Coppock found that out when he tried to interview Anderson prior to a Feb. 3 game at the Met Center. Anderson, who some referred to as Mork for his spacey tendencies during his Oiler days, agreed to do the interview, then proceeded to answer every question with the phrase: &ldquo;Sex on the beach.&rdquo;Coppock was still shaking his head hours later.Anderson&rsquo;s first season as a Leaf has also been hard to fathom. After missing most of training camp&mdash;he was on a remote island when the Edmonton&mdash;Toronto deal came down in September&mdash;Anderson scored just four times in his first 40 games. Since then he has been red-hot.The right winger scored 10 goals and 21 points in his next 10 games and began to play to expectations.&ldquo;It took a little longer than I anticipated,&rdquo; Anderson says. &ldquo;At the beginning of the season, I set some goals but I really didn&rsquo;t know what I was getting into here in Toronto.&ldquo;Every week it seems, I&rsquo;ve had to re-assess where I am and where I want to be.&rdquo;One place Anderson has found to his liking is alongside center Doug Gilmour, who arrived Jan. 2 from Calgary. Anderson&rsquo;s revival has coincided with the addition of Gilmour to the Leaf lineup, which only seems natural since Gilmour tends to make wingers, right wingers in particular, look good. Anderson, meanwhile, who played with Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky in Edmonton, is used to nothing but the best.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01789/6672474-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="941" height="1840"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glenn Anderson is having a good time in Toronto but will it be for a long time? (Photo by Jim Leary/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We sat down when I first got here,&rdquo; Gilmour says. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Just do what you want to do and I&rsquo;ll follow.&rsquo;&rdquo;Anderson, in turn, sees Gilmour as his personal savior in a season that at one time threatened to be his worst; worse even than his 55-point effort last year with Edmonton that had many predicting his demise.&ldquo;Playing with Doug Gilmour will bring anybody out of a slump,&rdquo; says Anderson, who played with Gilmour in the 1987 Canada Cup. &ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve done to this point without really knowing each other has been great. We&rsquo;ve shown a little bit of light and I think we could really become a duo.&rdquo;If Anderson, the fourth leading alltime playoff scorer, does indeed have some prime time left, it&rsquo;s not certain he&rsquo;ll be spending it in Toronto. He&rsquo;s a Type III free agent this summer, which means he can sign with any club and choose to either: a) allow the Leafs the option to match the offer; or b) give the Leafs right to compensation.Since all significant Type III free agents to date have chosen the former, it seems likely Anderson will do likewise. On the other hand, the Leafs may decide to trade Anderson before the March 5 deadline.After several years of acrimonious contract talks with Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather, Anderson is relishing his upcoming free agency.&ldquo;Everyday I come up with a different idea of what would be best for Glenn Anderson,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only got so many years left, and only so much time to make so much money.&rdquo;And if the Leafs come up with an appropriate increase on his current $350,000 salary?&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really decided yet,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have to write down all the pros and cons, weigh things out with a lot of quiet time and just let the answer come to me.&rdquo;It has been suggested Anderson wasn&rsquo;t particularly thrilled to be traded to Toronto, that he would have preferred going to an American city where hockey isn&rsquo;t so much in the limelight.&ldquo;I think that like with any transition, it has taken a little while,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;(The trade) was a big change for me as an individual. I think I have more feelings than people assume and making changes is hard.&rdquo;Now that he has made at least a partial adjustment, Anderson is proving he can help the Leafs&mdash;at least this season. &#9632;

f0036-01

Another World

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02551/6672512-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="372" height="496"></div>Mark the week of Feb. 25th on your calendar. Now start praying.If there&rsquo;s going to be an NHL strike this season, it will almost certainly hinge on what transpires in the last week of this month in New York.That&rsquo;s when the NHL owners and NHL Players&rsquo; Association are tentatively scheduled to resume negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.If in those meetings, the two sides don&rsquo;t make some serious headway on key issues, March will come in like a picket sign and go out like who knows what.There is a very real danger there&rsquo;ll be no NHL action next month because the players will either be on strike or locked out by the owners.Who says so?Not NHL president John Ziegler or NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow, who despite going five months without a new CBA are still talking in the most conciliatory of tones.No, the only public pronouncement of a possible strike in March comes from yours truly, armed and dangerous with a frightening weapon&mdash;logic.Let&rsquo;s look at the facts. The owners and players have been without a contract since Sept. 15. They have had no formal negotiations since late September. On a progress scale of one to 10, they barely register. There is a great deal of work to be done and not much time to do it.You might wonder why there is a sense of urgency now, given nothing concrete has been done for more than four months. The answer is simple. The players are not about to let the 1991-92 regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs pass without securing a new deal. They&rsquo;d be crazy to.It would indicate to the owners that the players lack the solidarity and will to fight for a new contract.With that as a given, the next most popular theory is the players will pull the plug on the eve of the playoffs.The reasoning appears sound. The players only get paid from the beginning of the regular season to the end of it. If they struck immediately before the playoffs, when owners maximize revenue, they would be forfeiting only bonus monies&mdash;$25,000 if they won the Cup. Big deal.Oh, Ziegler and a few owners have cooked up a good one, something about a player&rsquo;s salary being allocated to playoff games, too, but they&rsquo;re going to have a tough time selling a judge on that one. Does that mean players on non-playoff teams owe the club money at the end of each season? And if so, how much? How far would they have gone if they had made the playoffs? Nice try.Nevertheless, a strike won&rsquo;t 4i happen in the first week of April, just before the playoffs. The NHLPA simply cannot afford to be that callous to the game and risk alienating a legion of fans who already believe players are overpaid.The solution for the players, then, is to use the meetings at the end of February as a barometer.If there is real progress made and some of the key issues are actually settled, the players can continue to bargain in good faith. If, however, there&rsquo;s no movement from the owners, the players would have to come to the conclusion a new agreement isn&rsquo;t going to be reached in the remaining month of the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03453/6672505-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="526" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Goodenow</figcaption></div>So rather than upset everyone on the eve of or during the playoffs, they would walk out in early March.With a little creative public relations, they could try to sell to the public that the ball is in the owners&rsquo; court; that if the playoffs are in danger of not being played it&rsquo;s because the owners aren&rsquo;t serious about bargaining in good faith.The owners, meanwhile, would be trying to discredit the players&rsquo; position. Word is the owners are prepared to dig in and sacrifice the year if need be.In spite of the posturing, the pressure on both sides to get a deal done would be intense. So far, pressure to bargain has been nonexistent.Logic dictates that, with the regular season approaching its conclusion, something has to give soon.In the meantime, keep on prayingBob McKenzie is a hockey columnist for the Toronto Star &#9632;

f0036-02

Player strike still very real possibility

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>At the time, it seemed dreadfully unimportant.After all, with the woeful Toronto Maple Leafs lingering in the lower echelons of the NHL, why would anyone notice a minor-league deal on Boxing Day between the Leafs and New York Rangers?The swap sent left winger Mike Stevens from Toronto&rsquo;s American league affiliate in St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., to the Rangers&rsquo; AHL club in Binghamton, N.Y., for left winger Guy Larose. Neither Stevens, 26, nor Larose, 24, were prime prospects for full-time NHL work.In fact, the only points of interest seemed the stuff of trivia quizzes. Stevens&rsquo; brother Scott is a standout blueliner with New Jersey, Larose&rsquo;s father Claude played 16 seasons with Montreal, Minnesota and St. Louis, and the deal was the first engineered by former player agent/broadcaster Bill Watters since he was hired as assistant general manager last fall.Larose was summoned by the lafs Jan. 20 after scoring 14 points 15 games with St. John&rsquo;s. He teamed with center Claude Loiselle and Daniel Marois on a checking line.That his arrival coincided with a second half Leaf resurgence didn&rsquo;t hurt. In Larose&rsquo;s nine appearances, the Leafs won seven times, and he scored his first two NHL goals Feb. 8 in a 6-4 win over Montreal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been waiting so long for someone to give me an opportunity,&rdquo; Larose said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sure I&rsquo;d ever get the chance to play (in the NHL), but when I was traded to Toronto, I knew this was my big chance.NEW SWEATERS: The Leafs are changing their uniforms and the good news is there&rsquo;s no black involved.The current Leaf jerseys, in use since the early 1970s, will be ditched in favor of a model that will incorporate the modem 11-point Leaf crest with the classic look of the vintage sweaters the team has been using in commemoration of the NHL&rsquo;s 75th anniversary.A deeper royal blue will also be used, while the stripe down the arms is eliminated.NOTEBOOK: Leaf goalie Grant Fuhr will try and qualify for the Canadian pro golf tour this summmer&hellip;Leaf prospect Yanic Perreault will be out of St. John&rsquo;s lineup until mid-march due to a knee injury. The 20-year-old center was leading the AHL scoring race with 32 goals and 64 points in 52 games at the time of the injury.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for the Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 2: Greg Johnston, RW, recalled from St. John&rsquo;s (AHL). Feb. 3: Ted Crowley, D, and Dave Tomlinson, C, recalled from St. John&rsquo;s, Feb. 6: Damian Rhodes, G, assigned to St. John&rsquo;s, Feb. 8: Crowley and Tomlinson assigned to St John&rsquo;s.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Peter Zezel, Claude Loiselle, Brian Bradley.LW&mdash;Mike Krushelnyski, Wendel Clark, Guy Larose, Mike Bullard, Rob Cimetta.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Lucien Deblois, Daniel Marois, Kevin McClelland, Greg Johnston.LD&mdash;Dave Ellett, Jamie Macoun, Todd Gill, Darryl Shannon.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Ric Nattress, Bob Halkidis.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mike Foligno, RW, broken left leg, indefinite Kevin Maguire, RW, bruised back, indefinite. &#9632;

Deal comes up smelling nice with emergence of Larose

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>On the same day the Blues made their blockbuster Adam Oates deal. Mike Keenan and the Chicago Blackhawks were in St. Louis.Not wanting to be left out, coachgeneral manager Keenan made a pair of deals Feb. 7, acquiring center Tony Hrkac from San Jose for a draft choice and left winger Tony Horacek from Philadelphia for defenseman an McGill.&ldquo;We had to get some depth,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hurting with five guys out of the lineup.&rdquo;Keenan was referring to the injured Brian Noonan, Keith Brown, Stephane Matteau and Dan Vincelette, and the suspended Stu Grimson.Hrkac hadn&rsquo;t been playing often in San Jose but the Sharks showcased him in a 5-2 win over the Hawks Feb. 5 and he responded with two assists.&ldquo;I heard my name mentioned a little bit but I was surprised,&rdquo; Hrkac said. &ldquo;This is a great opportunity. I haven&rsquo;t been in the playoffs for a couple years, that&rsquo;s going to be nice.&rdquo;Hrkac was expected to center the third line, bumping Mike Hudson to left wing.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a skill guy who is something of a power-play specialist,&rdquo; said associate coach Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;The main thing is he gives us some skill, and the one thing our team lacks is skill.&rdquo;The Hawks like the size of Horacek-6-foot-4, 210 pounds.Once everyone&rsquo;s healthy, the Hawks will have an abundance of left wingers in Horacek, Matteau, Vincelette, Michel Goulet, Greg Gilbert, Mike Peluso, Grimson, John Tonelli and Hudson.GOOD NEWS: The Hawks were encouraged by news that Brian Noonan&rsquo;s injured left knee wouldn&rsquo;t require surgery.Club physician Dr. Louis Kolb decided surgery wasn&rsquo;t necessary when he found no damage to Noo-nan&rsquo;a anterior cruciate ligament or tom cartilage. Those problems would have sidelined Noonan for three months.As it turns out, the small tear in the medial collateral ligament will keep Noonan off the ice until mid-March.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Jimmy Waite will be out of the Indianapolis lineup up to six weeks after tearing cartilage in his right knee in a game Feb. 1. Waite was to undergo arthroscopic surgery Feb. 12. The Hawks were looking for a goalie to play at Indianapolis with rookie Roch Belley until Ray LeBlanc finishes his tour of duty with the U.S. Olympic team.CIS defenseman Igor Kravchuk agreed to a contract that should bring him to the Hawks following the Olympics. All that was left to work out was financial terms with the CIS Hockey Federation. &ldquo;If he can make the adjustment to the physical aspect, he&rsquo;ll probably be slotted as our third defenseman,&rdquo; Mike Keenan said.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 7: Tony Hrkac, C, acquired from San Jose for a sixth-round draft pick in 1993. Ryan McGill, D, traded to Philadelphia for Tony Horacek, LW, Rob Conn, RW, recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). Brad Lauer, LW, assigned to Indianapolis. Feb. 8: Adam Bennett, D, recalled from Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Brent Sutter, Mike Hudson, Tony Hrkac.LW&mdash;Michel Goulet Tony Horacek, Greg Gilbert, Mike Peluso, John Tonelli.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Rob Brown, Dirk Graham, Jocelyn Lemieux, Rob Conn.LD&mdash;Steve Smith, Frantisek Kucera, Cam Russell.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Bryan Marchment, Rod Buskas, Adam Bennett.G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, sprained right ankle, Feb. 16. Stephane Matteau, LW, broken left foot, March 1. Brian Noonan, RW, tom left knee ligaments, March 15. Dan Vincelette, LW, sprained left knee, March 1. &#9632;

Hrkac, Horacek add depth

Shawn Flanagan can relate to NHL players who make an immediate impact to their team after coming over in a trade.The 11-year-old forward recently moved to Plattsburgh, N.Y., from Montreal and although hockey wasn&rsquo;t the reason for the transfer, his new team gladly accepted the dividends.Flanagan scored a winning goal which lifted the Plattsburgh youth club to a berth in the International Silver Sticks tournament in Sarnia, Ont. He had 41 goals and 70 points in 31 games.The 4-foot-11, 75 pounder is a Grade 6 student at St. Johns Academy and is known for his fine stickhandling and hard shot.Flanagan&rsquo;s favorite team is the St. Louis Blues and his favorite player is Brett Hull. He also enjoys fishing and swimming.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01776/6672591-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="546" height="966"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shawn Flanagan</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;

f0038-01

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>The day after the Minnesota North Stars went into overtime against Toronto with two players in the penalty box, general manager Bob Clarke and coach Bob Gainey met with Bryan Lewis, the NHL&rsquo;s director of officiating.&ldquo;My concern is (referee Don) Koharski didn&rsquo;t let the players decide the outcome,&rdquo; Clarke said of the 3-2 loss Feb. 5 that ended when Wendel Clark scored on a two-man advantage. Jim Johnson was called for roughing with 33 seconds remaining and Mark Tinordi was called for crosschecking after time expired.&ldquo;With so much on the line and at that time in the game, the referee took the outcome away from the players,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;If our players had done something that took a scoring chance away from Toronto, that should have been a penalty. But the calls Koharski made are for the same kinds of things he let go the whole period.&rdquo;Clark and Gainey said they expected nothing tangible from their meeting with Lewis but wanted an opinion about the officiating from the people who judge the officials&rsquo; work. Lewis&rsquo; comments were not made public.SHOES STAY: David Shaw spent 10 weeks in Edmonton between the trade that sent him there from the New York Rangers and the deal that brought him to the North Stars.They weren&rsquo;t the best weeks of his career. He played five games and was benched for nine. Even after the deal, the Oilers refused to let him run away. They took his running shoes.&ldquo;They had an equipment guy stand over me while I packed,&rdquo; Shaw said. &ldquo;When I put my shoes in the bag, he said, &lsquo;They stay with the club. Just the stuff you brought goes with you.&rsquo;&ldquo;Bernie Nicholls asked the guy, &lsquo;What are you going to do with a used pair?&rsquo; His reply: &lsquo;If Brian Glynn wears the same size, he&rsquo;ll get &lsquo;em.&rsquo;&ldquo;That was my last memory of the Oilers.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bob Gainey said Mark Tinordi would be disciplined for taking the costly penalty in Toronto. Gainey said, &ldquo;It will be handled within the team and is not for anyone else to know about.&rdquo;<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bobby Smith, Dave Gagner, Broten, Marc Bureau, Todd Elik.LW&mdash;Brian Bellows, Gaetan Duchesne, Derrick Smith.RW&mdash;Ulf Dahlen, Mike Modano, Mike Craig, Basil McRae.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, 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, day-to-day, Derian Hatcher, D, broken right ankle, indefinite, Brian Propp, LW, dislocated right shoulder, Indefinite, Rob Ramage, D, left knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Clarke questions officiating after Clark’s power-play goal

With over 25 years of experience, Christian Bros. Hockey Sticks continues to be a large player in the hockey stick industry.As has been the case for the past 10 years, Christian continues to increase its market share worldwide, especially in the very competitive Canadian market place.The reason for their success is simple according to Tim McClure, product/marketing manager for Jelinek Sports (Christian&rsquo;s exclusive Canadian distributor).&ldquo;Christian is a family business and the principles of the company ensure products with their name don&rsquo;t leave the factory unless it is top quality,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Because of their involvement in the day-to-day business, they are very quick to pick up on problems and correct them. As players try the sticks, they find that they appreciate the balance, responsiveness and overall feel.&rdquo;Christian Bros, continues to display one of the company&rsquo;s strongest characteristics: Innovation.For the 1992 season, Christian is introducing the Diamond Design &ldquo;SLAPSOCK&rdquo; blades on all sticks, including replacement blades and goal sticks. This &ldquo;SLAPSOCK&rdquo; blade utilizes a special blend of state-of-the-art fibers which are braided to give the blade higher strength and greater impact resistance.&ldquo;What this does is it allows Christian to keep the blades thin yet stiff, giving the player a great feel for the puck,&rdquo; states McClure. &ldquo;Also the &ldquo;SLAPSOCK&rdquo; prevents premature chipping and splitting on our goal sticks.&rdquo;Due to its&rsquo; success in both Canada and the U.S., Christian will carry the &ldquo;C7009 REALITE&rdquo; aluminum shaft. This &ldquo;chrome-look&rdquo; shaft is stiff yet much lighter than other aluminum shafts. The C7009 compliments Christian&rsquo;s strong lineup which includes the &ldquo;Pro Stiff&rdquo; EXT and POWERTECH models.The Christian &ldquo;Pro-Rite&rdquo; replacement blades are not only &ldquo;best sellers&rdquo; in stores throughout Canada and U.S., but they are the choice of many the NHL&rsquo;s hardest shooters, including Brett Hull.The company also continues to endorse and support the war against drugs by adding brief messages on stick shafts. Messages such as &ldquo;Just Say No To Drugs&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Choice for Me &hellip; Drug Free&rdquo; have been accepted by coaches, parents, fans and the many NHL players who are using the Christian product.More and more professional players in Canada, the U.S. and Europe have taken notice of Christian&rsquo;s reputation for quality, craftsmanship and service. It&rsquo;s for these reasons that the list of satisfied professional customers continues to grow.Some of the game&rsquo;s brightest have chosen to use Christian products, including: Ed Belfour, Jon Casey, Don Beaupre, Jaromir Jagr, Craig Janney, Luke Richardson and Andy Moog, who plays with the very unique Curtis Curve.&ldquo;We feel Christian Bros, can make a stick that is ideally suited for every type of player from the 2020 Excell to the original Pro 1000,&rdquo; says McClure. &ldquo;There is no substitute for craftsmanship and feel in a stick and this is important to a player because a stick is really an extension of himself.&rdquo;As Dave Christian of the St. Louis Blues says: &ldquo;The Christians are still playing the game and making hockey sticks, so the motto lives on - Hockey Sticks Made By Hockey Players.&rdquo; &#9632;

“SLAPSOCK” STRENGTHENS CHRISTIAN’S SHARE OF THE HOCKEY MARKET

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goalie Greg Millen has come full circle this season and in the process, has stared Down his mortality as a professional hockey player.Not long ago, Millen&rsquo;s career was lifeless. No pulse, no vital signs, just a flat line on the heart monitor.He supposedly signed his career&rsquo;s death certificate earlier this season when he quit the New York Rangers&rsquo; raining camp after a restless summer.So how is it Millen managed to step from the coffin and into a Red Wings&rsquo; uniform to play so well?&ldquo;I worked through all of it last summer, the frustrations, the fears about the career being over, where to live, what to do now,&rdquo; the 34-year-old said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked through all the scenarios and what ifs. There&rsquo;s a new peace of mind now and a new confidence.&rdquo;Millen has shown incredible confidence with the Wings, even though he saw limited ice time last year as the third-string goalie in Chicago.He appeared in more games with Detroit (five) in his first month than he did all year as a Blackhawk (three). Twice in a span of five days, he spelled No. I goalie Tim Cheveldae.Millen&rsquo;s 1-1-2 record in five games included a shutout streak of 93 minutes, 27 seconds that ended in a 4-4 tie with Pittsburgh Feb. 3. There&rsquo;s no doubt he has been a pleasant surprise for the Wings.&ldquo;My main concern is helping this team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to get some silverware over my head before it&rsquo;s over. We have a chance (to win a Stanley Cup). We need more commitment as a group, but that&rsquo;s nothing we don&rsquo;t all know.&rdquo;UNEVEN EFFORT: Coach-general manager Bryan Murray was not amused when the Wings lost 4-3 to Toronto Feb. 7, two nights after beating Washington 4-1.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s maddening,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were coming off one of our good games of the year, if not our best defensively against Washington. And then we do this to ourselves.&rdquo;The Wings have played at the level of their competition all season-good games against better teams, bad efforts against lesser teams.NOTEBOOK: Forwards Sheldon Kennedy and Keith Primeau were a big hit after being recalled from Adirondack (American League). Kennedy drew rave reviews after belting Washington defenseman Rod Langway in the win over the Capitals. Primeau had seven hits in the first period of that game&hellip;The win over Washington gave Bryan Murray a three-game series sweep over the Capitals, coached by his brother, TerryThe Wings are continuing to pursue Philadelphia right winger Rick Tocchet. Murray was also working on a separate deal that would bring a big, tough defenseman to Detroit. High on his wish list is Quebec&rsquo;s Greg Smyth.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 3: Sheldon Kennedy, LW, and Bobby Dollas, D, recalled from Adirondack (AHL). Feb. 7: Dennis Vial, D, assigned to Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Jimmy Carson, Sergei Fedorov, Kevin Miller.LW&mdash;Keith Primeau, Gerard Gallant, Shawn Burr, Sheldon Kennedy, Johan Garpenlov, Brian MacLellan.RW&mdash;Ray Sheppard, Bob Probert, Paul Ysebaert, Brent Fedyk.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;

Millen revives career

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01442/6672732-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="892" height="604"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02286/6672725-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="555" height="780"></div>Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger Luc Robitaille, who led NHL scorers with seven goals and nine points in four games, was named NHL Pro Set player of the week for the period ending Feb. 9.New Jersey Devils&rsquo; goaltender Chris Terreri (3-0-0 record, 2.00 goals-against average) and center Michal Pivonka of the Washington Capitals (eight assists in four games) were runners-up for the award.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.Now in its second season as sponsor of these NHL awards, Pro Set is contributing over $56,000 to youth hockey organizations across North America.Robitaille began the week by scoring the Kings&rsquo; lone goal in a 21 loss to the New York Islanders Feb. 4.He then posted the first four-goal game of his NHL career in a 5-5 tie with the Hartford Whalers Feb. 6.Robitaille later scored a last-minute, game-winning goal and added an assist as the Kings beat Pittsburgh 4-3 Feb. 8.To complete the week he recorded a goal and an assist as the Kings completed back-to-back road wins with a 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres Feb. 9. The goal was his 17th power-play goal of the season.Robitaille was eighth in NHL scoring with 71 points (30-41-71) in 55 games. He reached the 30-goal mark for the sixth time in his six seasons.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03206/6672718-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="2439" height="3002"></div> &#9632;

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February 21, 1992

CHEERS & JEERS

Janney aims to make Hull happy as setup man

Lowe wary of status

’Hounds suspend Simon for being too belligerent