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

April 17, 1992

The Hockey News April 17, 1992

Ontario League historians are busy updating another couple of playoff chapters as history repeated itself in the division semifinals.London has gone 15 years without beating the Niagara Falls franchise, and Ottawa has never beaten Peterborough in the post-season.Niagara Falls defeated London 5-1 April 4 to finish their Emms Division series, winning in five games to advance to the franchise&rsquo;s fifth straight division final. London has lost to the Thunder franchise eight times since 1977.The Thunder play either defending OHL champion Sault Ste. Marie or Kitchener in the Emms final. The Soo led 3-2 after Tony lob scored two goals in a 7-1 win April 5.Peterborough is nine-for-nine against Ottawa since they first tangled in 1972. The Petes won 3-1 April 5 for a 4-1 series win.Peterborough plays North Bay in the Leyden final after the Cents swept Sudbury.WESTERN LEAGUE: Swift Current had a difficult time mustering goals against Saskatoon goalie Norm Maracle.Maracle backstopped the Blades to a 2-1 lead against the Broncos in the best-of-five East Division semifinal. The Broncos opened with a 4-1 win April 1 to hand Maracle his first loss but the rookie rebounded with two wins. His most telling performance was in Game 2 April 3 when he blocked 49 shots to lift the Blades to a 3-2 overtime victory.In the West Division semifinal, Spokane beat Seattle 8-2 to knot the series 1-1. Seattle surprised Spokane with a 6-4 win in Game 1.The Chiefs reached the semifinal with a 5-4 overtime win against Portland March 31 to wrap up the quarterfinal in six games.QUEBEC LEAGUE: Drummondville&rsquo;s playoff luck ran out this year after getting swept in four games by Trois-Rivieres in a Dilio Division semifinal.Last year&rsquo;s Cinderella squad lost four games by a combined score of 21-8. Trois-Rivieres goalie Jean-Francois Labbe was the star of the series with a 1.92 goals-against average.In the other semifinals, Shawinigan took a 3-0 lead over Chicoutimi; St-Hyacinthe welcomed the return of goalie Martin Brodeur from New Jersey and evened its series with College Francais at 2-2; and. Hull failed to score an even-strength goal in its first two games against Laval and fell behind 2-1. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Yet another Knightmare; London falls to Niagara

NOTEUnofficial 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>TUESDAY, MARCH 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01747/6431510-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="570" height="3112"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02524/6431503-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="574" height="3479"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011424/6429791-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="345" height="334"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021165/6429784-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="52" height="42"></div>Lake Superior State. Lakers prove their superiority for second time in five years by winning NCAA title.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03854/6429777-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="52" height="41"></div>Gary Roberts. Flames&rsquo; 50-goal man a bright light in an otherwise dismal season for Calgary.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04627/6429770-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="52" height="40"></div>The strike. Now the rest of us know how fans who depend on SportsChannel for their hockey coverage feel.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05460/6429763-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="52" height="40"></div>Decathlon Club. Hobey Baker Award sponsor slips up by not getting trophy to Albany in time for presentation.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06343/6429756-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="341" height="332"></div> &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>The day after NHL players went on strike, Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coachgeneral manager Mike Keenan was behind his desk at Chicago Stadium making plans for next season.&ldquo;The position I&rsquo;ve taken mentally and psychologically is I&rsquo;m starting to prepare for next year,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the only way we can pursue our business. The way I see it, we&rsquo;ve played our last game this season.&rdquo;Keenan was disappointed because the team he worked so hard to assemble might not get a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Keenan made 16 trades since last July.It was finally looking like things were starting to gel for Keenan and the Hawks when the strike was called.&ldquo;The team was coming together, and I think we were posturing well,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;With the number of changes we made and the direction we were going, I felt strongly about our chances this year moreso than a year ago. To work that hard and that long and to have it evaporate on you is a tough feeling.&rdquo;Keenan feels he must start over.&ldquo;A lot will be dictated by what transpires in the (collective bargaining) agreement,&rdquo; Keenan said when asked about next season. &ldquo;There are a lot of questions. How many players are we going to carry? Is there going to be a salary structure? How many players do we have who are going to be free agents? How&rsquo;s free agency going to impact our club? We&rsquo;ve got a number of people (15) in their option year and they may all elect to go to another club.&rdquo;Keenan scoffed at the suggestion he might have made the Hawks an older club with some of his trades in hopes of winning the Stanley Cup this year. The deals for Brent Sutter and Steve Smith, which cost the Hawks Dave Manson, Steve Thomas and Adam Creighton, were trades where Keenan gave up youth.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we did,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;Stephane Matteau is younger than Trent Yawney. (Frantisek) Kucera and (Igor) Kravchuk are younger than (Doug) Wilson and (Bob) McGill. We got 23-year-old Rob Brown for 30-year-old Steve Konroyd.Keenan, who wears his love for hockey on his sleeve, admitted he cried following the Hawks&rsquo; March 31 game in Detroit, which he felt would be the last of the season.SUTTER ANXIOUS: Before the strike, the Hawks were hoping to have Brent Sutter back in the lineup for one game prior to the playoffs.Sutter had missed eight games with an abdominal strain.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating when you can&rsquo;t help the guys in the most critical time of the year,&rdquo; Sutter said.&ldquo;Brent could have played if it was necessary,&rdquo; Mike Keenan said prior to the March 31 game against Detroit. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve tried to be very cautious because we want him healthy for the playoffs. He wants to play. In fact, his intensity is almost a detriment at this point because he wants to play so much.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: With 103 points, Jeremy Roenick became the fourth player in franchise history to score 100 or more points in a season. Denis Savard did it five times and Bobby Hull and Steve Larmer once each&hellip; Roenick tied Hull&rsquo;s club record with 22 power-play goals. Hull did it in 1965-66. Earlier this season, Roenick broke Hull&rsquo;s club mark for game-winning goals. Roenick had 13.In four games against Toronto at Chicago Stadium this season, the Hawks allowed one goal&hellip; Left winger Greg Gilbert was ready to return to the lineup after missing 20 games with a broken ankle.Ground was broken on construction of the new Chicago Stadium April 6. It will be completed in time for the 1994-95 season. &#9632;

Distraught Keenan prepared to start over again

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07219/6429846-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="362" height="460"></div>Guy Lafleur to four.That was the score April 1 when the NHL Players&rsquo; Association voted to stage the first strike in league history&mdash;the first in North American major professional sports history to directly threaten the playoffs.560-4.A massive majority versus a miscroscopic minority in NHLPA balloting.So, how does the retired Lafleur fit into the equation? Well, it&rsquo;s an odd coincidence that the former Montreal superstar scored 560 goals during his NHL career.Lafleur is now in management with the Quebec Nordiques but during his glory days with Les Glorieux, he was an unpredictable force on and off the ice.Just as he dared defensemen to stop him when he handled pucks, he launched periodic challenges against authority, most notably one over bucks.Turns out Lafleur was just slightly ahead of his time when he threatened a one-game wildcat walkout Oct. 25, 1978 to support demands for higher wages. Ironically, he issued the ultimatum at Toronto&rsquo;s Sutton Place, the same place where much of this year&rsquo;s drama has unfolded.The tactic was considered beneath Lafleur and he was criticized for holding the team up for ransom. Eventually, he gave in and played against the Maple Leafs that night more than 13 years ago.But recent events have shed a new perspective on Lafleur&rsquo;s long-ago request for a renegotiated contract that would take him from $ 180.000 per year to $300,000, the pay then commanded by lesser players Marcel Dionne and Gilbert Perreault.We know now that owners have had the ability to compensate their players at a higher rate. Otherwise, they would not have done so the past two seasons.Was it greed or a firm grasp of economic realities that prompted Lafleur to act?The Canadiens&rsquo; superstar was a asking for what he viewed as his fair share in relative terms. Current players have been asking for precisely the same thing. Their definition of fairness, of course, contrasts sharply with that of the owners.That the players were so unified in their response to the owners says more about the union as a whole than it does about them as individuals.The NHLPA officially reached puberty April 1. How quickly it gets through those awkward and turbulent teenage years is what really matters now.Standing up for what they believe is the first step in a growing-up process long overdue for the players.The players say they have been responsible and responsive in negotiations with the league. And they have conveyed that sense of commitment to the public, with a couple of notable exceptions.Chicago star Jeremy Roenick suggested, flippantly, he was headed for Disney World when the strike commenced. Bad move.As was that of the eight Winnipeg Jets who stopped off at Las Vegas on their way home from a cancelled game in San Jose.They didn&rsquo;t have to go straight home, mope around and put on their strike faces.But to start a work stoppage by putting cash on the line was stupid. Those Jets weren&rsquo;t just betting their own money, they were gambling with the fans&rsquo; affections.They should have known better. Guess it&rsquo;s just part of the maturing process. &#9632;

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Players not there yet but are growing up in a hurry

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011569/6429891-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021269/6429884-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="553" height="772"></div>Building on the success of NHL Pro Set Platinum Series I, Pro Set president Lud Denny has released NHL Pro Set Platinum Series II.Boasting rivetting action shots and a borderless design-trademarks of Pro Set&rsquo;s hockey card products&mdash;the series was created with the standards collectors demand from card manufacturers. Continuing a practice that was first initiated with the Parkhurst collection, Pro Set is once again limiting production to just 15,000 cases. To ensure the integrity of the print run, each case is individually numbered before it leaves Pro Set&rsquo;s printing facility.&ldquo;Experts who make it their business to know cards have rated Pro Set Platinum Series I the highest in quality among all hockey cards,&rdquo;. Denny said. &ldquo;However, we have found areas in which to improve on that premiere edition of Platinum product and with those changes, Series II reaches new heights in card collecting.&rdquo;The 160-card series, produced with a special UV coating, gives the cards a glossy finish and more durability, captures many of the greatest moments, plays and players of the 1991-92 anniversary season. Series II also contains a special subset which will be revealed in the coming weeks. Exclusive to the NHL&rsquo;s 75th Anniversary, this subset will feature cards never before included in a hockey card set.In addition to star veterans and league standouts, Series II will include 27 Platinum Prospects or rookies including Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit, Nelson Emerson of St. Louis, Pavel Bure of Vancouver and Tony Amonte of the New York Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03840/6429877-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="2437" height="2980"></div> &#9632;

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NHL PRO SPOTLIGHT

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden and Rand Simon</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011598/6429936-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow is flanked by union executives Mike Gartner, far left, Bryan Trottier and Mike Liut, far right, as strike plans are announced in Toronto.</figcaption></div>The official injury of the NHL has gone from back pains to labor pains and it continued to sideline the league on a day-to-day basis.Until the league and NHL Players&rsquo; Association reached an impasse April Fool&rsquo;s Day, the most debilitating ailment to hit the NHL this season was assorted back woes suffered by superstars Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull.That all changed April 1 when players commenced the first league-wide strike in NHL history. The call to arms came after players voted 560-4 to reject the owners&rsquo; last proposal.There was no settlement as of April 6 when the board of governors received a counter-proposal from the NHL Players&rsquo; Association but did not vote on it before making changes in anticipation of tendering a counter-proposal to the players.That was only the latest stalemate but there was a sense of urgency as the 22 player reps and league superstars such as Gretzky and Mark Messier gathered in New York for what could be the final confrontation. When talks spilled into a new day, the strike officially became the seven-day war.&ldquo;The owners had the opportunity to end the strike today but didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow, &ldquo;and we have tried in every way to resolve this matter.&rdquo;NHL president John Ziegler would not say how long a strike could last before the season would have to be cancelled.&ldquo;The crucial issue is not these playoffs,&rdquo; Ziegler said, &ldquo;but what is really before the players and owners is whether this business will survive as we know it. The graphic economic picture is that over the next two years, this business will face losses of $150 million and that&rsquo;s based on an assumption of a 20 percent salary increase. Any expectations salaries will only go up 20 per cent is fanciful and unrealistic.&rdquo;The two sides&rsquo; failure to reach an accord represented the second straight Monday a decision was put off in the long-simmering dispute. One week earlier, the players delayed their strike deadline from March 30 to April 1, pending the outcome of its strike vote.&ldquo;There are six or seven issues that have not been tied down,&rdquo; Goodenow said after the New York meeting. The most prominent were trading card revenues, free agency, length of contract and control of a 1986 pension surplus.The NHLPA is expected to get $11-12 million from trading card rights fees this season and the NHL will get about $8 million from separate deals with card companies. The union has negotiated its own deals with card companies for more than 20 years but that revenue stream has never been collectively bargained. Only in recent years has it become substantial.&ldquo;Management may own us as hockey players but they don&rsquo;t own our faces,&rdquo; said Mike Liut, a member of the players&rsquo; negotiating committee. &ldquo;We are just trying to claim our faces.&rdquo;The NHL said the standard players&rsquo; contract clearly stipulates those revenues belong to the league. The NHLPA contended relevant contract language spells out the owners&rsquo; right to television monies, not that generated by trading cards-which the players regard as purely player-driven.&ldquo;Without that source of revenues,&rdquo; Goodenow said, &ldquo;the Players&rsquo; Association cannot professionally prepare and represent its membership. And so the owners, by raising this issue, have raised a question in the eyes of many players as to what is the real purpose of this proposal.&rdquo;Implicit was a suggestion the NHL was trying to undermine the strength of the NHLPA. Goodenow said the card money is the &ldquo;lifeblood&rdquo; of the association.Ziegler said the owners are willing to maintain the status quo for this contract and then negotiate the issue when talks begin on a another CBA. Goodenow said, &ldquo;The fight is on right now.&rdquo;The president said it has become a matter of principle. &ldquo;The players&rsquo; position on this is, &lsquo;Give it all to us,&rsquo; &ldquo;Ziegler said,&rdquo; and in that kind of approach, it creates resistance. They say, &lsquo;You must give us the revenue or we&rsquo;re not going to play hockey.&rsquo;&rdquo;While the NHL has said as much $50 million could be at stake in years to come, the players are less certain. &ldquo;No one knows (about the future of trading card revenues),&rdquo; union president Bryan Trottier said. &ldquo;The market could fall out tomorrow. What matters is laying down what are our rights and what are their rights.&rdquo;The free agency issue re-emerged as a topic of debate although it was thought the owners and players had come to an understanding on the matter. Goodenow said he was surprised April 5 when the NHL came to him and pro&rsquo; posed clubs losing a player have the right to get players in return even if they were offered the right to match.Under the old system, a free agent aged 24 to 30 could give his old club the right to match. If he extended that offer, the team would be &ldquo;compensated&rdquo; in draft picks. If he did not do that, &ldquo;equalization&rdquo; would come in the form of players. Players have argued against &ldquo;warm body&rdquo; equalization because they consider it restrictive.Giving up players is seen as a more risky business than surrendering draft choices, witness the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; loss of Scott Stevens last fall when they signed Brendan Shanahan of the New Jersey Devils. &ldquo;Equalization,&rdquo; said Goodenow, &ldquo;is a severe restriction on player movement.&rdquo;) The owners&rsquo; proposal calls for all players aged 29-or-younger to be lumped together as one group unlike the old CBA that called for two categories in that age group, one for players 23&mdash;and-younger and another for those 24-to-30.Length of the new CBA was also a problem area, with the owners proposing it run through the 1992-93 season and end June 30. The players have consistently asked for a three-year deal (retroactive to this season) that would run through 1993-94. Control over a $7.5-million pension surplus from 1986, the last time a collective bargaining agreement was struck, also remained a sticking point.There was no word on whether the owners and players had resolved differences over such matters as:Entry draft: The owners offered to reduce the current format from 12 rounds to 11. The players wanted it reduced to eight.Supplemental draft: Players wanted the draft of college players eliminated. The owners offered to reduce the number of players chosen from one full round plus another for non-playoff teams to one round for non-playoff teams.Roster size: Owners wanted the option to reduce roster size from 18 skaters and two goals to 17-and-two in 1993-94. Players wanted to stay at 18-and-two.However, much had been agreed upon or, at the very least, was within the grasp of easy negotiation as the NHL and NHLPA reached its latest 11th hour. Here are some of the pertinent areas of agreement:Free agency: The owners offered to create two new groups of free agents without compensation, one for 10-year pros who earned less than the league&rsquo;s average salary and a second for players aged 25 who have played fewer than 80 NHL games in three years of pro hockey.Management proposed that it retain first right of refusal on all other free agents, including those aged 30-and-older who are exempt from compensation.I The owners&rsquo; schedule of draft pick compensation for free agents 29-and-younger was as follows: Players signing for less than $200,000 per season (none); $200-250,000 (one third-round pick); $251-350,000 (one second-round pick); $351-500,000 (one first-round pick); $501,000-1 million (two first-round picks); $1 million-plus (one additional first-round pick for each million or portion thereof).Length of season: The owners and players had agreed to an 84-game regular season, with two of the four extra games being played in NHL cities and the other two (for a total of 24) being held anywhere from Tokyo to Saskatoon. Revenues from those games are to be split 50-50 between the league and union.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011512/6429929-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="1465" height="1476"><figcaption class="caption-body">Above, Wendel Clark of the Maple Leafs, left, and Kirk Muller of the Montreal Canadiens talk April 1.</figcaption></div>Playoff, finish and awards money: The owners offered to increase the pool of money from $3.2 million to $7.5 million this season; $8 million in 1992-93; and $8.5 million in 1993-94.Pensions: Owner contribution was to reach $8,000 for players with 399 or fewer games of experienceand $10,000 for players with 400 or more.Waivers: The two sides had agreed to eliminate recallable waivers.Salary arbitration: The players wanted eight independent arbitrators appointed and the owners indicated a willingness to negotiate the matter.Pre-Manhattan skirmishes, meanwhile, began one day before the strike was called in Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021089/6429922-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="629" height="1040"><figcaption class="caption-body">president John Ziegler has done most of the NHL&rsquo;s talking.</figcaption></div>Ziegler held an elaborate press conference, complete with graphs, charts and more numbers than the New York City phone book. The president went public with the NHL&rsquo;s proposal and predictions of dire straits for the league.The NHL is projecting losses of $55 million and $102 million over the next two seasons, not to mention a $9 million loss this season. &ldquo;You are asking people who backed this game to start losing substantial personal fortunes,&rdquo; Ziegler said.Asked how or why the league would sustain those losses, Ziegler said the NHL is willing to absorb a short-term setback to make long-term gains, some of them apparently based on what the president said would be &ldquo;dramatic new opportunities&rdquo; in broadcasting (principally in pay-per-view television).He said the key to realizing the latter was a spirit of co-operation and partnership between the league and its players. &ldquo;We think if we combine oone and one, we come out with three instead of two,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;We think that there will be more revenues available if the players would partner with us.&rdquo;Ziegler said the players (whom the league estimated will receive an average salary of $420,000 next year) would go from receiving 64 per cent of gate and broadcast revenues this season to 82 per cent in 1993-94 under the owners&rsquo; proposal.That compares, Ziegler said, to the players&rsquo; 53 per-cent share in the National Basketball Association. The NBA&rsquo;s owner-player relationship is viewed as a model partnership between labor and management.The owners have maintained costs are outrunning revnues; Ziegler said the 56 per-cent rise in player salaries and benefits over the past two years is life-threatening.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a business in the world that can handle that kind of increase in two years with our revenues only going up eight or nine per cent,&rdquo; Ziegler said.The players have been suspicious of owner claims they are at the breaking point because the inflationary spiral has been almost entirely attributable to factors over which management has control.Teams have not only signed or made offers to free agents but initiated renegotiation of many of their stars&rsquo; salaries. That has exacerbated the trend toward widespread wage hikes.&ldquo;These are all very smart businessman who have done this,&rdquo; Goodenow said. &ldquo;The player agent sits down with the general managers and they do business. There is no criminal act occurring. No one is holding anybody up&hellip;The owners, in essence, really do define fairness. They do define salary structure.&rdquo;From the NHL&rsquo;s perspective, that has been the crux of the problem. If things truly are out of control, the owners have nobody to blame but themselves and Ziegler acknowledged that.He said, &ldquo;Anybody who has ever spent one hour studying the history of professional sports, you will find that if there is not discipline imposed upon owners, they spend themselves out of business. The only legal way you can do that is with a collective bargaining agreement.&rdquo;The NHL and NHLPA had been without a new CBA since Sept. 15 when the old agreement expired. The two sides agreed to continue operating under the old terms until the matter was settled.When lengthy negotiations failed, the players pushed back their original strike date and then, on a day destined to live on in infamy, the players announced they had voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo; Goodenow said. &ldquo;I just knew I was comfortable with the decision of the negotiating committee (to recommend rejection).&rdquo;About 50 players were on hand for the formal declaration of war at the SkyDome. The New York Islanders were scheduled to play the Maple Leafs that night, so they attended along with members of the Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, who flew in for the announcement.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel very good about being on strike,&rdquo; said NHLPA vice-president Mike Gartner.Thirty games scheduled for the last five days of the 1991-92 regular season were not played. Only two playoff berths remained in doubt, fourth place in both the Smythe and Norris Divisions. The playoffs were scheduled to begin April 8.This is Goodenow&rsquo;s first contract and he has taken a much harder line than his predecessor, Alan Eagleson. Still, the players&rsquo; position had been more flexible than the owners&rsquo;. If the player had drawn their line in sand, the owners appeared to have carved theirs in cement.&ldquo;There has been a lot said about whether the owners are trying to bust the union,&rdquo; said Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Mathieu Schneider. &ldquo;I hope the owners don&rsquo;t believe they could bust the union because, as the vote shows, there&rsquo;s undivided solidarity among the players.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0004-01

Count full in strike

<div class="byline">By THN Staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011689/6429974-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The loss of Scott Stevens as free agent compensation still has fans in St. Louis bitter about the NHL&rsquo;S business policies. (Photo by Christine A. Nastasi/BBS)</figcaption></div>With the 1991-92 season on its deathbed, nothing could have been more appropriate.The first call we made in our survey to find out who our readers support in the NHL labor dispute was to Gilbert Pattyn, an excavator in Ste-Anne, Man. He wasn&rsquo;t home.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s out digging a grave,&rdquo; his wife said. &ldquo;He should be back in a half an hour.&rdquo;Pattyn, who we eventually did reach, was one of 100 subscribers to participate in the poll. Here&rsquo;s how it worked:We selected at random a proportionate number of readers, based on circulation percentages, in each of four arbitrary geographic regions. In Western Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon and Northwest Territories), for example, we solicited responses from 22 subscribers because those areas combine to make up 22 per cent of our total circulation.We did the same for eastern Canada (26), the western United States (21) and the eastern United States (31), putting forth this question: Who do you support in this dispute?.The results, which we can&rsquo;t pretend are scientific, are nonetheless intriguing. The players easily carried the day, getting 60 per cent of the decided vote. In total, 49 readers sided with the players, 33 backed the owners and 18 weren&rsquo;t sure who to support.While the responses were as varied as the places we called, there were definitely some common threads.Most of the respondents whose sympathies lie with the players simply feel it&rsquo;s time the players got their due; that the scales have been tipped too long in the owners&rsquo; favor and it is now time to make up for past wrongs.&ldquo;From what I can see, the owners have owned and controlled the players for some time,&rdquo; said Diane Young of Perrysburg, Ohio. &ldquo;I can sympathize with them wanting to get out of that situation.&rdquo;Darrell Ringdahl of High Level, Alta., was even more blunt. He feels much of the blame for the current mess is reflective of the way Alan Eagleson, the founder and former executive director of the players&rsquo; association, ran the union.&ldquo;For too many years the players got screwed by Eagleson,&rdquo; Ringdahl said. &ldquo;He was too close to the owners.&rdquo;Those in favor of the owners, on the other hand, find it difficult to comprehend how men with such well-paying jobs could possibly want to go on strike, especially considering the tough economic times.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m from a coal-mining town (Coleman) in southern Alberta where everyone&rsquo;s wages are being cut or frozen,&rdquo; said Marty Lant, a student at the University of Montana. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see how they can want more.&rdquo;&ldquo;People strike for three reasons,&rdquo; theorized Chris Pallas of Port Jefferson, N.Y. &ldquo;Better pay, improved working conditions and benefits.&ldquo;First, anyone who is averaging $350,000 a year is not getting shafted; second, even players who play in the minors work in nice arenas; and third, anyone making that kind of money should take care of their own benefits.&rdquo;While most of the individual issues didn&rsquo;t seem of tantamount importance to the respondents, many cited free agency as a significant hurdle. Here too, most of the sentiment lies with the players.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about time they have some say in what they&rsquo;re doing,&rdquo; said Vermilion, Alta.&rsquo;s Marshall Semenchuk. &ldquo;When they reach 28, 29 they should be able to move.&rdquo;<h2>&lsquo;In St. Louis we feel like there is no free agency.&rsquo;</h2>Fans in St. Louis, many of whom feel their Blues were &ldquo;punished&rdquo;-remember Scott Stevens?-for pursuing free agents, are especially sensitive to this issue, said Ralph Heine.&ldquo;We feel like we don&rsquo;t have any free agency,&rdquo; Heine said. &ldquo;We feel they&rsquo;ve had it too good, too long.&rdquo;But not everyone agrees player movement is a good thing. Doug Flicek of Anoka, Minn., said it has ruined the identifiability of teams in other sports.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d hate to see hockey become like baseball where half the teams change every year,&rdquo; Flicek said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to like a team when it changes so much.&rdquo;&ldquo;It will kill teams in Canada,&rdquo; said Detroit&rsquo;s Ernest Peltier, who thinks less restrictive free agency would imperil the economically disadvantaged Canadian-based teams.For Gary Lipchen of Calgary, the issues are anything but clear.&ldquo;Anyone can play with numbers,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the players are making too much money to be striking. They haven&rsquo;t told us exactly what they want. I&rsquo;m confused.&rdquo;Peggy Sue Luis of Fort Hood Tex., is confused&mdash;and disillusioned.&ldquo;Things are out of control in all of society,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Either way, it&rsquo;s just going to help drive up ticket prices. When is it going to end?&rdquo;After finishing preparations for the burial site, Pattyn put things into perspective.&ldquo;If the (players) were suffering I could understand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But here I am making 10 bucks an hour and they&rsquo;re making 100 bucks an hour. They should be satisfied.&rdquo;The last word goes to Michael Jaye of Thousand Oaks, Calif., who said: &ldquo;I think strikes are dumb. Enough said.&rdquo;<h2>Which side do you support in the dispute?</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021151/6429967-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1476" height="657"></div> &#9632;

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And our survey says…

Once again a professional sport bites the hand that feeds it.The players complain the owners don&rsquo;t share the wealth; the owners counter there isn&rsquo;t a lot of wealth to share. I wish someone would share with those involved the idea that without us, the fans, they wouldn&rsquo;t be getting paid at all.Fans buy the tickets, keep the concession stands busy and purchase everything from posters to pucks. Those of us who aren&rsquo;t lucky enough to live in an NHL market or own satellite dishes, pour our money into local sports pubs to support our favorite sport.So, who really loses? The players? Not if they&rsquo;ve invested their money. The owners? Let&rsquo;s be realistic. No poor man owns a franchise in any sport.The fans and local tavern owners lose out big time. No hockey; no customers; no tips for waitresses, less food and beverage sales. What a domino effect!Nobody scores in a strike situation. Let&rsquo;s put the strike on ice, guys.Jay B. Taclof,&nbsp;Orlando, Fla.<h2>Pass the water</h2>Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; backup goalie Andre Racicot was quoted as saying Ron Tugnutt wouldn&rsquo;t last three more years in the NHL because he too often is caught out of position.Since then, Racicot has allowed two of the worst goals of the season. One came on a shot from center ice against Winnipeg; the other was scored while he was waiting behind the net in San Jose while the puck bounced out in front.Any American League goalie can back up Patrick Roy, play twice a month and face 40 shots.Until he can establish himself as an NHL-calibre netminder, Racicot ought to keep his analysis to himself and do what he does best: pass the water bottle to the real players.David Atkinson,&nbsp;Stoney Island, N.S.<h2>A fine idea</h2>The headline on Bob McKenzie&rsquo;s column &ldquo;Backwards thinking continues to prevail&rdquo; hit the nail on the head (THN, Feb. 28).Unfortunately, the gist of the article that current suspensions are too short missed the mark. This, too, was an example of backwards thinking.The most important commodity the NHL possesses is the talents of its players. I don&rsquo;t condone stick-swinging or any other rule infractions. Yet, depriving the fans of seeing marquee players is of no benefit to anyone.The progressive solution is a series of heavy fines. Rather than suspending a player for 10 games, fine him an amount equivalent to 10 games&rsquo; salary. This way, the player is punished but the fans still get to see the best the NHL has to offer.Let&rsquo;s keep the top players where they belong: on the ice.Dave Rogahn,&nbsp;San Francisco, Calif.<h2>Good riddance</h2>Some feel Sean Burke was mistreated by the New Jersey Devils and their &ldquo;fickle&rdquo; fans. Here&rsquo;s a perspective of somebody who has been there almost every night since their spectacular 1988 playoff drive.Devil fans fell in love with Burke in 1988. But after that storybook run. Burke was not able to sustain the magic. Even when he was playing average, he was given many opportunities to retain his No. 1 job.I became disenchanted with him when he said finishing first wasn&rsquo;t important. When the fans got on him for playing poorly, he said, in effect &ldquo;to hell with them.&rdquo;His refusal to report made it difficult for general manager Lou Lamoriello to trade him. Then he goes and pulls that stunt, signing with San Diego just before the trade deadline.The whole time, Burke thought he was supposed to be top dog without having to earn it. It was the Devils and their fans who were mistreated. Good riddance, Sean.Does anyone want to buy a Burke Devils&rsquo; jersey, cheap?Barry J. Kaye,&nbsp;Kendall Park, N.J.<h2>Whale of a pick</h2>My jaw dropped as my eyes spotted the thick, black print. I blinked. Again. One thought passed through my mind as I read over the headline; I am not alone in this world.My second reaction was pinching my arm. I&rsquo;ve been making this prediction all year long. But others would laugh and call me crazy. And how could I trust this man, the same man who foolishly picks the New York Rangers every year.Aloud, I read the headline again: &ldquo;Want an upset? Whalers over Habs.&rdquo; Stan Fischler is not as blind as I thought.One more thing. If Eric Lindros flops next year, Fm predicting Patrick Poulin will win the Calder.Robbie Dover,&nbsp;Dunstaffhage, P.E.l.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at, (416) 445-0753&nbsp;or write to, Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont, M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to, Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers., THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions., &#9632;

Same old story; fans lose again

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011529/6430029-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div><h2>Modest totals in first season</h2>Expansion teams traditionally struggle offensively their first seasons. Like 20-year-old Gilbert Perreault did in 1970-71, 19-year-old rookie Pat Falloon led his team in scoring this season. Here are the top Morers from expansion teams, not including the six that were added in 1957-68.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021028/6430074-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="575" height="364"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03665/6430067-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="555" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Falloon</figcaption></div><h2>Goaltenders face inflation</h2>Life is never boring as a goalie for an expansion team. Often you&rsquo;re busy pulling the puck out of the net. Jeff Hackett was the most successful of four goalies for the expansion Sharks this season. Here are other top goalies on expansion teams, the year, goals-against average and record.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04448/6430060-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="581" height="356"></div> &#9632;

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LISTS

<div class="byline">By THN Staff</div>An extended NHL strike may prove to be a boon for World Championship teams, most notably Canada and the United States. But before its players battle on the ice, the league wants to avoid a battle in court.Should the league&rsquo;s playoffs be cancelled due to the work stoppage, players would almost certainly be eligible to represent their countries at the world tournament which is being held April 29 to May 10 in Prague and Bratislava, Czech.Alan Eagleson, Canada&rsquo;s leading international hockey figure, said NHL president John Ziegler assured him the league would guarantee the contracts of North American players participating in the tournament.That means the U.S. and Canadian national programs wouldn&rsquo;t be liable in the event of an injury to a player and wouldn&rsquo;t have to pay about $20,000 per player for insurance.However, Ziegler also said the NHL would boycott the tournament unless the Czech and Slovak Hockey Federation agreed to drop or postpone its lawsuit against the Edmonton Oilers.The federation is suing the Oilers for $3 million, claiming Edmonton illegally signed Josef Beranek and Martin Rucinsky to contracts. It is also demanding the players be returned to Czechoslovakia.The tangled World Championships web left three possible scenarios for NHL players.&#9633; If the Czechoslovaks don&rsquo;t comply with Ziegler&rsquo;s demand, no NHLers will be permitted to play at the tournament, strike or no strike.&#9633; If the NHL labor dispute is settled and the season resumes, the Canadian and U.S. clubs would be able to select players from the six non-playoff teams and the eight squads eliminated in the first round of the post-season.&#9633; If the strike continues and Czechoslovakia drops its suit, players from all 22 teams would be available-providing they want to play.Coming off a Canada Cup year, there is no guarantee players who have been involved in competition since August will want to give up time this spring for their countries.Eagleson and Canadian coach Dave King met April 6 to discuss the possibilities.<h2>Strike fallout</h2>In a professional sports&rsquo; strike, it is often said the only losers are the fans. This time around, NHL officials may not necessarily agree.With the playoffs threatened by the work stoppage, the league&rsquo;s referees and linesmen stand to lose up to $386,000 if the post-season is cancelled.The referees earn at least $7,000 per round depending how deep they are into the playoffs while the linesmen start at $5,200 per round.&ldquo;We were all counting on the playoffs,&rdquo; referee Dan Marouelli told Canadian Press. &ldquo;A guy that goes to the (Stanley Cup) final stands to lose a lot of money.&rdquo;The referees and linesmen were able to secure partial strike insurance coverage but it doesn&rsquo;t come close to recovering all their losses.During their layoff, the officials have been encouraged to continue their off-ice regimen but will not work minor pro games to stay sharp.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to create any hard feelings (with the minor pro officials),&rdquo; said NHL director of officiating Bryan Lewis. &ldquo;Those people work those games all year and it wouldn&rsquo;t be very fair to take them off games now.&rdquo;<h2>Tigers ready</h2>It&rsquo;s ironic that a team named after the first NHL club to go on strike may provide hockey during the NHL&rsquo;s impasse with its players.The Hamilton Tigers, a collection of North American players playing in Europe this season, are scheduled to play against the Red Army from the Commonwealth of Independent States at the Copps Coliseum April 15. The original Tigers, who went on a wildcat strike in 1925, moved to New York and became the Americans the next season. There has been no pro hockey in the NHL-starved city since.Some team members include former NHLers Tony McKegney, Doug Wickenheiser. John Tucker and Reed Larson. It will also have former Canadian Olympians Dave Archibald and Dan Ratushny.The Red Army will be without its five best performers, who will be preparing to represent CIS in the World Championships. Missing from the squad will be NHL prospects Viacheslav Butsayev (Philadelphia), Andrei Kovalenko (Quebec), Alexei Zhitnik (Los Angeles), Vladimir Malakhov (New York Islanders) and Sergei Zubov (New York Rangers). Red Army recently lost the Russian Elite League final to Moscow Dynamo.However, the team will be picking up five players from the rival Soviet Wings to replace the lost players, including Buffalo prospect Viktor Gordijuk.Tigers&rsquo; general manager Derek Holmes said it is a one-game concept but it may lay a foundation for an interlocking schedule with the Professional Hockey League, due to be formed next season in Russia. It may even sow the seeds of a rival league.&ldquo;There has been interest expressed by the likes of Detroit, San Diego and Denver,&rdquo; said Holmes, a former Canadian national team player who represents several Canadians playing in Europe. &ldquo;It could get quite interesting. It might even be the beginning of a new WHA.&rdquo;Holmes also said the players will be eager to showcase their talents and possibly impress scouts from the NHL&rsquo;s two expansion franchises, the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning.Meanwhile, there were reports circulating that the Vancouver Canucks may be moving their International League affiliate from Milwaukee to Hamilton. Discussions have taken place but nothing has been confirmed.&ldquo;The line according to (Canucks&rsquo; director of operations) Brian Burke is &lsquo;We&rsquo;ve had discussions,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Canuck spokesman Steve Tambellini. &ldquo;But no deal is set.&rdquo;<h2>No Lac of talent</h2>The Lac St-Louis Lions of Montreal will be out to improve on last year&rsquo;s bronze medals with a gold in the Air Canada national midget championships in Dartmouth, N.S., April 22 to 26.The Lions, who have won the national title for players aged 16 and 17 twice, enter the tournament as a favorite. Other teams include the Miramichi (N.B.) Rivermen (Atlantic), Mississauga Black Hawks (Central) Thunder Bay Kings (Western) and North Kamloops (B.C.) Lions (Pacific).The American equivalent of the midget championships, the under-17 title, was captured by the Detroit Little Caesars, a team sponsored by the pizza chain owned by Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; owner Mike Illitch. The Little Caesars defeated the Buffalo Regals 7-4 in Buffalo April 5.In the under-15 division, Depew, N.Y., defeated the Little Caesars 4-3. In under-13 play, Detroit GDP beat Boston 8-3.The U.S. women&rsquo;s championships, which were played in Duluth, Minn., April 5, were won by Assabet Valley. The Massachusetts-based team defeated Michigan 4-1.Finalists for the Allan Cup, emblematic of senior hockey supremacy, have been decided. The tournament will take place in Charlottetown, P.E.I., April 18 to 25. The P.E.I. Armour Fence Islanders are the host team and the St. John (N.B) Vitos represent the Atlantic region. The Warroad (Minn.) Lakers and Stoney Plains (Alta.) Eagles round out the tournament. &#9632;

International picture clouded by strike and pending lawsuit

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011595/6430129-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="363" height="460"></div>The season that never made much sense came to a screeching halt April 1. Of course, now I get it. Boy, they really had me going there. As I think back, the joke has been on me.The New York Rangers as a strong favorite to win the Stanley Cup? That was a good one. Vancouver running away with the Smythe Division? Turns out, they were just Jyrking me around. The Calgary Flames about to miss the playoffs? Ridiculous, and I went for it.I should have figured out that a season when the road teams wore white jerseys would come to an absurd end.I feel so foolish. I thought hockey was the last sport left where the players cared as much about the game as they did about themselves, so I never thought there would be a strike. I thought Bob Goodenow would carry on like Dave Schultz right up until the deadline, but that as long as the owners gave the players something that represented a significant gain, the union would settle.So I committed my interest to the NHL this year because I believed the season would conclude as it always has, with the deciding of a championship.Now, I have been caught up ice as badly as Steve Duchesne. My innocence has been thrown by me. Greed and inflexibility are breaking in 2-on-1 against reason.I should put my head down and try to get back into the play, just in case this thing gets settled quickly, but I figure: What&rsquo;s in it for me? I feel Petr Klima has had the right attitude all along. From now on, I&rsquo;m going to look out for No. 1, and I don&rsquo;t mean Steve Weeks, either. I&rsquo;ve gotten out my Wendel Clark blinders and from now on I&rsquo;m shooting, not passing.Hell, everybody else is doing the same thing. Steve Dryden, the face at the top of this column does not belong to you. (No jokes, please about this being lucky for him). I want my piece of the action.My defense mechanisms are up. I will laugh my way through this, pretending I don&rsquo;t care. The season was a joke. And these were my Top 10 Yuks of the Year:10. The Kings not only take on Paul Coffey&rsquo;s salary but also pick up Rick Tocchet&rsquo;s, despite the fact Tocchet never becomes Kings&rsquo; property in the three-way deal. The owners, meanwhile, remain adamant against the concept of revenue sharing.9. The Calgary Flames trade their team to Toronto, demonstrating the danger of one man serving as both coach and general manager. Doug Risebrough worried primarily about leadership and dressing room chemistry, the kinds of things with which coaches concern themselves. But he forgot to get talent for talent, which is what a GM has to think about first.8. My votes for the NHL awards: Hart Trophy: Eric Lindros. He had the right idea all along. Why waste any energy on this NHL season?Rookie of the Year: Goodenow, of course.Lady Byng: To the four players who voted to take the owners&rsquo; last pre-walkout offer. Their names are being withheld prior to notification of Bob Probert, Tie Domi and Marty McSorley.Combination Norris and Selke Trophies for the most defensive man in hockey: Phil Esposito.By the way, the television extravaganza and dinner should be held this year on Yom Kippur, a day of fasting.7. Mats Naslund as a vicious animal. (I know the Olympics have nothing to do with the NHL, but there are no games now, so I have to fill this space with something.)To me, you should have come into possession of the puck at some point during the game before you have any right to claim that you were the victim of biased officiating, as Team USA did. Watch the tape guys. You didn&rsquo;t belong on the same ice with the Russians.Of course, if you feel you have to complain, don&rsquo;t simply challenge the referee&rsquo;s judgment, but make his nationality an issue, too. Made me proud to be an American.6. Grant Fuhr as an over-the-hill goalie. Last laugh to Cliff Fletcher.5. Joe Mullen in decline and worth only a second-round pick. Last laugh on Cliff Fletcher.4. How the Canadiens play such good defense with that defense.3. The great October scare: Wayne Gretzky, due to injury and illness in the family, has suddenly become Rob DiMaio! NHL about to go out of business! Boy, I don&rsquo;t know how we all survived that one.2. Rob Brown playing for Mike Keenan. This is hysterical.1. And the biggest joke of the year? Envelope please: the Hartford Whalers were going to make the playoffs. Best reason I can think of to justify a strike. &#9632;

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The joke has been on me the whole time

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011520/6430160-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="362" height="464"></div>The father of sports comebacks is 50 years old this month and I hope Maple Leaf Gardens takes note of it.In April 1942, the first and only team ever to lose three games in a final series rebounded to win the next four and the Stanley Cup.It all began when the favored second-place Toronto Maple Leafs met the fifth-place Detroit Red Wings in the finals. It seemed to be a breeze for Toronto-until the series opened.Under coach Jack Adams, the Wings exploited the slower Leaf defense with what then was a revolutionary dump-and-chase strategy that befuddled snowshoeing Toronto backliners such as Bucko McDonald. Even worse, the Leafs&rsquo; top scorer Gordie Drillon had lost his touch.One, two, three-just like that&mdash;the Leafs were one game away from elimination. &ldquo;It was incredible,&rdquo; &ldquo;emembers Wally Stanowski, 72, who was a 22-year-old defenseman admired for his then-unusual end-to-end rushes. &ldquo;One of our directors&mdash;a Colonel MacBrien&mdash;got us together and said, &lsquo;Just don&rsquo;t pay any attention to the newspapers tomorrow.&rsquo;&ldquo;When we picked up the papers The next day, there was a statement from MacBrien, &lsquo;The Maple Leafs Are Going To Accept Defeat.&rsquo; The Detroit players became overconfident and were all set to have a party.&rdquo;There were other reasons for over confidence, especially after Toronto coach Hap Day announced veterens McDonald and Drillon wouldf be replaced by inexperienced defense-man Ernie Dickens and a bench-warming forward named Don Metz.&ldquo;It was quite a shock,&rdquo; says Stanowski from his Toronto home, &ldquo;because we were losing two of our top players and nobody expected much from Metz and Dickens.&rdquo; I Before sending his players out on Detroit&rsquo;s Olympia Stadium ice for Game 4 April 12, Day pulled out a letter he received from a 14-year-old girl. She expressed her conviction the Leafs could rally.A few seconds after Day finished his reading, Sweeney Schriner clambered off his bench and said, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry, Skipper, we&rsquo;ll win this one for the little girl.&rdquo; Then, Billy Taylor shouted, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not licked yet!&rdquo;The Leafs rallied for a 4-3 win in Game 4 and the enraged Adams charged referee Mel Harwood, hurling blows. Adams was suspended as the teams returned to Maple Leaf. Gardens April 14 with Toronto&rsquo;s Frookies the talk of the playoffs.&ldquo;Metz and Dickens fitted in perfectly,&rdquo; says Stanowski, &ldquo;and all Hap kept telling us was &lsquo;you only have to win one at a time.&rsquo; We beat Detroit, 9-3. Now we were rolling.&rdquo;Pete Langelle was a 24-year-old center on the Leafs&rsquo; second line. Now 75 in his native Winnipeg, he remembers hockey&rsquo;s greatest comeback.&ldquo;Once Hap put the young guys in the lineup,&rdquo; Langelle says, &ldquo;we started to go a little harder. It took a while to get used to Detroit&rsquo;s shoot-and-chase game and then we were OK.&rdquo;The Wings hoped to derail the surging Leafs in Game 6 at the Olympia. Led by Don Grosso and Sid Abel, Detroit mounted assault after assault in the first period but Toronto goalie Turk Broda stopped everything.At 14 seconds of the second period Metz beat goalie Johnny Mowers and that was all Broda needed en route to a 3-0 win.&ldquo;They made me out to be a hero,&rdquo; says 76-year-old Metz from his home in Regina, &ldquo;but I was rested up from not playing in the first three games.&rdquo;By the seventh game April 18, Canada was enveloped in playoff frenzy. The largest crowd in Canadian hockey history to that point, 16,240, jammed Maple Leaf Gardens. Leafs&rsquo; manager Conn Smythe, wiib was then a major on leave from the Canadian army, showed up in the dressing room before the game to give his troops a pep talk.Detroit scored first early in the second period and took a 1-0 lead into the third. &ldquo;One of the things that turned it around for us was the forechecking,&rdquo; says Langelle. At 7:46 of the third Schriner tied the score. The next goal was the winner.&ldquo;Just before the middle of the period, Hap threw me out there with Johnny McCreedy,&rdquo; says Langelle. &ldquo;We had Detroit in their end, there was a scramble in front of the net. The puck bounced 10 feet from Mowers and I banged at it. Next thing I knew the red light was on.&rdquo;Schriner scored an insurance goal at 16:13. Pandemonium engulfed the Gardens.&ldquo;Frank Selke (acting manager) warned me not to give my stick away,&rdquo; says Langelle, &ldquo;but I gave it to him. The only souvenir I have is an autographed picture of the team and a spoon for being one of the three stars.&rdquo;A half century after the fact, Don Metz is asked what the comeback of comebacks proves.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s easy,&rdquo; says the benchwarmer who ignited the most remarkable comeback, &ldquo;it proves that anything can happen in hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

Greatest comeback ever: 50 years later

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div>The Vancouver Canucks are resigned to the thought of Pavel Bure losing the Calder Trophy to either Tony Amonte or Nicklas Lidstrom because Bure obtains so little publicity in the Eastern media. &ldquo;We were thinking bt sending out videos of Bure to help him get votes,&rdquo; says Canucks&rsquo; official Norm Jewison, &ldquo;but we don&rsquo;t think anyone in a voting position would be swayed.&rdquo; Vancouver Province, columnist TonvGallagher, who frequently disagrees with the Canucks, concurs this time. &ldquo;But ignorance among the writers (in the East) is no excuse for making the wrong choice,&rdquo; says Gallagher. &ldquo;Put it this way: Would the Canucks trade Bure for Amonte? Would anybody? Would the Rangers?&rdquo;&hellip;Cleveland could surface as a potential NHL expansion site now that work is underway for a $361.7-million Gateway project that includes a 21,000-seat downtown arena. The National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Cavaliers are committed to the arena, which is targetted for completion in 1994. Backers would like to fill other dates with pro hockey. The ill-fated Cleveland Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978 after two seasons of operation.<h2>Murphy&rsquo;s Law</h2>Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; seasonticket holder Guy Drees knows all about Murphy&rsquo;s Law. When Oilers&rsquo; winger Joe Murphy scored his third goal in Edmonton&rsquo;s 7-4 win over Minnesota Jan. 13 at the Met Center, Drees threw his hat on the ice celebrating the hat trick. Within seconds, Drees said he was handcuffed and escorted from his seat by Bloomington Police. No arrest was made but Drees says he was thoroughly embarrassed. Though the Stars have no such policy against fans who doff their hats on the ice after hat tricks, a team spokesman said the fan, in this case, had become unruly and obnoxious. Drees who swears he was neither drunk or oker-exuberant, isn&rsquo;t holding grumes, &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll never wear another hat to a hockey game.&rdquo;<h2>19th century man</h2>Ever the iconoclast, Al lafrate says if he had his way he&rsquo;d prefer to have lived during the mid-to-late 19th century. &ldquo;To survive then,&rdquo; Al explains, &ldquo;you had to be honest.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021080/6430191-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="865" height="932"><figcaption class="caption-body">Washington&rsquo;s Al lafrate would have preferred to live in the past because he says the world is a mess.</figcaption></div>There were a few bad guys but the bad guys then are famous now because there were only a couple of them who lied and cheated and stole. Now the world is a mess.&rdquo; lafrate adds that if he could be reincarnated into an animal, he&rsquo;d prefer being a black panther, &ldquo;because they&rsquo;re alone and depend on themselves. They don&rsquo;t trust any body .&rdquo;&hellip;Zarley Zalapski&rsquo;s late season surge raised plenty of eyebrows among those who had written Double Z off as a never-bloomer. &ldquo;If I could take anybody from the Whalers, I&rsquo;d take him,&rdquo; says Sabres&rsquo; coach John Muckier. &ldquo;Zarley can skate, he can pass, he can shoot. He may not be the greatest defensive defenseman but he&rsquo;s young and he can learn. He&rsquo;s not far from putting it all together.&rdquo;<h2>Rangers cursed</h2>A Detroit-area consulting psychologist who carefully studies NHL trends says the &ldquo;curse&rdquo; against the New York Rangers will prevent them from winning the Stanley Cup for the 52nd straight year. Dr. George M. Engelhardt of West Bloomfield. Mich., an author and consulting sports shrink, has devised a sophisticated multivariate statistical analysis called the Playoff Index Composite. &ldquo;It indicates the degree to which any NHL team can perform and execute those required behaviors necessary to advance through the playoffs,&rdquo; Engelhardt says. The PIC rates Montreal (l 00) and Washington (93) as the two top teams. The Rangers ranked fifth (75) which prompts Engelhardt to conclude, &ldquo;They are not even close to winning The Cup.&rdquo;&hellip;One of the little-discussed reasons for the Canucks climb this year has to do with travel. &ldquo;For a long time we didn&rsquo;t have a fair schedule,&rdquo; says coach Pat Quinn. &ldquo;The Alberta teams were getting 13, 14 tired teams a year in their buildings. We were getting two or three. We always played the teams fresh. This year-it is equitable. And it has made a difference along with the Sharks. We played them seven times. That&rsquo;s seven less times to travel to some other place to play. We used to spend 140 nights on the road a year. It&rsquo;s 118 now and that&rsquo;s the difference San Jose has made.&rdquo;&hellip;One of the more clever lines about John Cullen&rsquo;s penchant for falling to the ice comes from Randy Smith&rsquo;s Manchester (Conn.) Journal-Inquirer, column: &ldquo;If Hartford&rsquo;s Chamber of Commerce were on its game, it would try to entice tourists to town to see a new Civic Center land-mark-Cullen Falls.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Canucks claim eastern bias will keen Bure from Calder

A weekly compendium of significantevents and developments.March 31: Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; rookie Donald Audette sustains his second major knee injury in as many years during loss to the North Stars in Minnesota and is lost for season.Calgary Flames&rsquo; left winger Gary Roberts becomes fourth player this season to reach 50-goal plateau, scoring twice in a 5-2 win over Vancouver Canucks.Flames&rsquo; left winger Nevin Markwart scores into empty net at 19:36 of the third period. It is the k^goal scored before the strike,April 1: NHL PJajrers&rsquo; Association executive doctor Bob Goodenow announce voted 560 to 4 to reject owners&rsquo; latest proposal. League-history is made as first NHL-wide strike ever is called.April 2: Day 2 of strike produces nothing new as Goodenow, union members and NHL president John Ziegler meet in Toronto.April 4: Brian Rolston scores winning goal at 15:08 of the third period to lift Lake Superior State Lakers to their second National Collegiate Athletic Association title in five years. Lakers beat Wisconsin Badgers 5-3 in Albany, N.Y.April 6: NHL governors, meeting in New York, postpone vote on players&rsquo; proposal by one day. &#9632;

THE WEEK IN HOCKEY: MARCH 31-APRIL 6

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011579/6430253-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fans in Minnesota put their faith in Norman Green last season. Now the North Stars&rsquo; owner is asking NHL players to do the same and form a partnership with the league. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021177/6430246-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="529" height="616"></div>I&rsquo;s time for hockey players to put their money where their mouths are. That&rsquo;s how Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; owner Norman Green feels.He thinks NHL owners and players should become partners and share profit and loss equally in new ventures. He says players seem more interested in sharing profits or, more precisely, revenue.&ldquo;There are levels of partnership and areas of partnership that make sense,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always had partnerships with our players in international hockey and we&rsquo;ve barely scratched the surface. The issue of trading cards is treated as a partnership.&ldquo;In the kind of partnership I&rsquo;m talking about, you would need to be a partner in profit and loss. We&rsquo;re talking about a pure partnership, where we, the owners and the players&rsquo; association, make a seed-money investment, both make a commitment to the staff and support of facilities and go after new revenue sources very aggressively.&rdquo;Green argues it&rsquo;s always better to be a full partner in business because the profit potential is greater. And for the players to realize what they are seeking, they need to take some risks.&ldquo;We wouldn&rsquo;t deal directly with the players; we&rsquo;d deal with their union,&rdquo; Green says. &ldquo;It has already established itself as our full-time partner and a partner of strength.&rdquo;Green has become a leader among progressive NHL owners, if that&rsquo;s not a contradiction of terms. Like many, he has been hoping for a brief strike and knows talk of partnerships will have to wait until after a settlement.&ldquo;Both sides are so preoccupied with the short-term that they haven&rsquo;t had a chance to look long-term,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;The deal that&rsquo;s being structured is to developed a shortterm solution and then spend the whole next year exploring the partnership idea.&rdquo;Green said he sees no reason for players or owners to reject the partnership idea. &ldquo;What it does is give the players&rsquo; association an opportunity to create stable revenue,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The players can look to that as increases in revenue as opposed to relying strictly on their salaries.&ldquo;The big-market viewpoint-mostly the teams that are still making money-is that it would be nice if players had another, source ot income and security other than their salaries.&rdquo;Green sees a partnership between the NHL and its players as a way to ensure that there will always be a place in hockey for the small-market teams.&ldquo;The idea of a partnership isn&rsquo;t a tough sell (to big-city owners) if you do it right,&rdquo; Green says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough sell if you want to take something away from them that they already have.&ldquo;But when we&rsquo;re able to create new revenue from new ideas, we should be able to share it equally.&rdquo;He cites dasherboard advertising as an example. Had there been a league-wide deal negotiated before it came into prominence, he says the revenue generated could have been shared.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not asking anyone to give up half of future revenue because the idea is to explore and find new ways of creating revenue that we don&rsquo;t have,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never bad to have a partner that wants to share new sources of revenue.&ldquo;If your partner comes to you and says he wants half of what you&rsquo;ve already got, that&rsquo;s not a partner, that&rsquo;s the government.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Green’s partnership idea deviates from the Norm

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03740/6430284-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="361" height="488"></div>If there is anything good to come of the NHL strike, it is that the league has discovered the joys of good public relations.In a big way.Specifically, NHL president John Ziegler has become user friendly.This labor dispute has given the NHL&rsquo;s chief executive officer an opportunity to exhibit grace under pressure.He has had a chance to be slick and smooth, two adjectives seldom used in his tenure as president.And you know what? He has been a superstar front man for the NHL owners, cozying up to the fans and delivering his side&rsquo;s message in the most effective manner possible.If it weren&rsquo;t for all those years of attending media conferences-where Ziegler was often any or all of the following: arrogant, elitist, aloof, condescending, abrupt and obtuse-you just might think he&rsquo;s one swell guy.And who knows? Maybe when you strip away the legal veneer, he is.But that&rsquo;s not the point. The point is Ziegler is doing something now that a lot of us figured he simply wasn&rsquo;t capable of doing.His development as a public person has been nothing short of remarkable.Last fall, I did an extensive telephone interview with Ziegler a few days before this season began. The focus of the interview was the number of major problems the league faced heading into its 75th anniversary season-no collective bargaining agreement, no U.S. TV deal, no Eric Lindros, expansion uncertainties in Tampa Bay and Ottawa and investigative media probes of the league and Alan Eagleson, among others.It was one of his worst performances I have witnessed in my 10 years covering the league. He was confrontational, argumentative, snide, abrupt and generally a displeasure to deal with.Now, facing perhaps the most adverse conditions of his presidency, he is calm, cool and collected, the picture of professionalism.Throughout the myriad of news conferences during the CBA talks, many of them carried live across Canada, it has been a kinder, gentler Ziegler.Even when a Toronto radio reporter temporarily took leave of his senses and admonished Ziegler for &ldquo;wasting people&rsquo;s time&rdquo; and contributing to the spectre of a strike, Ziegler bravely smiled through it and rationally explained the situation.He has been more forceful and more clear in his answers. If his answers have an edge to them, it is intended for the striking players, not the inquirer. When he can&rsquo;t answer a question, he&rsquo;ll say something along the line of, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a very legitimate question, a very good question, but&hellip;&rdquo;Even after marathon negotiations that lasted much of the day and night, he emerged with a smile, his sense of humor intact and not a hair out of place, literally and figuratively.This is not, however, a one-man show.The influence of Bill Wilkerson, a media consultant who now guides the NHL public relations department, is obvious.The usually helpful NHL public relations staff has been going the extra mile during the negotiations, quickly providing full transcripts of all Ziegler remarks and attempting to meet every media need during trying times.That the owners have been united in their approach helps Ziegler, too. While many of them have been making the snowballs, Ziegler has been lobbing them and looking good doing it.Ziegler press conferences used to be austere affairs; now he&rsquo;s prancing out onto stage with pie graphs and bar charts.He has done a tremendous job of forcefully presenting his side&rsquo;s position to the public and casting aspersions on the integrity of the players, who he blames for interrupting hockey&rsquo;s rites of spring.A cynic would suggest it&rsquo;s all smoke and mirrors, a performance to end all performances.And, to a large degree, that&rsquo;s true. But then isn&rsquo;t that what public relations is all about? Isn&rsquo;t what Ziegler is doing now precisely what we have&rdquo; criticized him for not doing in the past?The true test of the new and improved John Ziegler will be a few months from now. A fan on an openline show or a reporter at a news conference will ask him a pointed question about how flawed the NHL&rsquo;s TV policy is.If he says, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a very legitimate question, a good question, but&hellip;&rdquo; something positive will have come out of a very negative experience.Ziegler and the NHL will finally have learned the value of good public relations.Bob McKenzie is a hockey columnist for the Toronto Star. &#9632;

f0010-03

Strike brings out Ziegler’s good side

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter often compares coaching in the NHL to raising children, so his description of the players&rsquo; strike should come as no surprise.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like going all year to school, and at the last minute, the students tell the teacher they&rsquo;re not going to write the final exam,&rdquo; Sutter said.In hockey, the final exam is the layoffs, and this season&rsquo;s playoffs are in jeopardy because of the players&rsquo; strike called April 1.&ldquo;You play all year for the 81st game and that may not come,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where the disappointment and hurt comes in. To say I&rsquo;m disappointed is the understatement of the year.&rdquo;The coaches are caught, in Sutter&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;smack dab in the middle,&rdquo; in the impasse between owners and players in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re sitting in the same seats as the fans, kind of sitting on the fence,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very empty feeling. I don&rsquo;t know what more I can say. Wou&rsquo;re not in control of anything. I hate the uneasy feeling of uncertainty.&rdquo;Sutter has been at a loss about what to do during the strike. In the first few days of the strike, he reported to work at 8:30 a.m. He watched television coverage of the NCAA hockey tournament, scouting Blues&rsquo; prospects Denny Felsner and Dave Roberts of the University of Michigan. And he started preparing a game plan for a Chicago playoff series that may never happen.&ldquo;I always have hope,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re optimistic something&rsquo;s going to happen but we&rsquo;re also realistic. If you look in the crystal ball, it&rsquo;s not too optimistic.&rdquo;So what happens if the worst should happen?&ldquo;If that happens, then you prepare for next year,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Peoria&rsquo;s playoffs are about to start. I haven&rsquo;t been able to see the kids there. You have the college playoffs and the draft.&rdquo;Plus, there&rsquo;s the family at home.&ldquo;It gives you a chance to enjoy the family at a time of the year you usually can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;I went to my little boy&rsquo;s hockey game last night. I&rsquo;ll get to do things like that.&rdquo;PLAYERS LAMENT: Striking players feel just as lost as the coaches. Playoffs are the fun time of year and hockey in spring is a tradition.&ldquo;It&rsquo;d be nice if they&rsquo;d get it resolved,&rdquo; winger Dave Lowry said. &ldquo;We want to play. This is our livelihood. We have all summer to sit around the house. This is what we work for.&rdquo;Lowry worries what effect a strike would have on others who count on hockey for their livelihood.&ldquo;Everyone suffers through something like this, not just the owners and the players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are the small businesses around the rinks&mdash;the restaurants, the bars. There are ticket takers, concessionaires, the little people.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: One player didn&rsquo;t go on strike, through no choice of his own. Goalie Guy Hebert, recalled on an emergency basis when Curtis Joseph was injured, was assigned to Peoria just before the strike&hellip;Trainer Mike Folga has continued treating injured players Joseph (ankle), Brett Hull (back), Rick Zombo (foot) and Garth Butcher (foot) at a local hospital. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t war,&rdquo; chairman Mike Shanahan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a disagreement.&rdquo; &#9632;

School has been let out early but Sutter still wants to teach

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey sees the NHL players&rsquo; strike as an opportunity to catch up before the playoffs. That&rsquo;s what being an optimist does to you.Gainey and assistant coaches Doug Jarvis and Andy Murray came to the Met Center as usual the day after the players went on strike (April 1) even though their game that night wouldn&rsquo;t be played.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re working with a three-part plan,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;The first phase assumes we could resume the season right away and we&rsquo;d have to play our last three games. For that, we&rsquo;re going about our normal business of preparing for St. Louis and Detroit.&ldquo;The second phase would be if the rest of the regular-season games are eliminated and we&rsquo;d go directly into the playoffs. If that was to happen, we&rsquo;d take a long look at Detroit and prepare our game plan for a series against the Red Wings.&ldquo;The third phase is if the strike ends the season. Should that happen, we&rsquo;ll use the time to start getting ready for next year.&rdquo;If the NHL season continues, the North Stars are almost certain to eventually play a first-round playoff series against the Red Wings.But, because Toronto hadn&rsquo;t been officially eliminated&mdash;the Stars were within two points of eliminating the Leafs&mdash;and because a few other situations remain unsettled, the NHL may decide to resume at the point the schedule was abandoned.&ldquo;A year ago, we had a playoff spot locked up a little earlier,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;Until now, we&rsquo;ve spent most of our time working on the day-to-day task of trying to win a game. We&rsquo;ve glanced ahead but for the most part, we&rsquo;ve been forced to keep one eye on the rearview mirror.&rdquo;The North Stars used the playoffs last season to make amends for a dismal regular season. They may not get that chance this spring.&ldquo;For most people with some experience in the playoffs, it&rsquo;s a real exhilarating time,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a time to wipe out all the peripheral things that go with our business and concentrate all your energy on hockey. It&rsquo;s usually when the hockey is best and most exciting.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a time when the real competitors usually come through.&rdquo;CLARKE WINS: Owner Norm Green lost $1,100 by betting general manager Bobby Clarke the players wouldn&rsquo;t strike. He was so sure, one of his bets was $100 at 10-to-l odds.He&rsquo;ll lose more money if the strike continues, yet he seems to understand the work stoppage better than most owners.&ldquo;The players were put in a position where they either support or don&rsquo;t support the players&rsquo; association,&rdquo; Green said, &ldquo;and I think they did the right thing by supporting it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed the players&rsquo; association elected to call a strike to establish their position of strength. I think they could have found a compromise on the issues and I think a strike is a huge infringement on the most important people of all, the fans.&rdquo;Green said he expects a brief strike, solved by a short-term solution that&rsquo;s followed by a partnership with the players on new ventures.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s no prospect for teams that are losing money to ever make a profit, the players could strike for five years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have to make much, we just need a situation where we can quit losing money.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK:Centers KipMiller and Mark Janssens were assigned to the Stars&rsquo; International League team in Kalamazoo, Mich., April 2. Both had been recalled after the trading deadline, making their return to the K-Wings possible&hellip;The Stars offered University of Minnesota junior center Trent Klatt a multiyear contract. The fourth-round draft pick in 1989 is weighing all of his options. &#9632;

Gainey playing catch up

Spinoff effects of the Wayne Gretzky trade to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 include an increase in minor hockey interest and registration.Seven-year-old David Shreken-hamer of Redlands, Calif., attends all Kings&rsquo; home games and is in his second year of competitive action. He&rsquo;s a right winger for the Ontario Jets mite team.The 4-foot-3, 70-pounder picks up pointers watching Gretzky, his favorite player, and applies it to his own play under the guidance of his coach, Pete Bauers.Shrekenhamer is even a member of the Jr. Kings Fan Club and has an impressive collection of autographs. He is a Grade 2 student at Clare Cherry school in San Bernadino, Calif.You or someone you know can be a part of the Coca-Cola 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.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011430/6430363-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="553" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body">David Shrekenhamer</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Player of the Week

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>Within a few days of the first players&rsquo; strike in NHL history, one man who tried desperately to avert the walkout removed himself from the process of ending it.Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; owner Mike Ilitch was one of the negotiators on the management team. He convinced the owners to stay at the bargaining table the week before the strike just when talks appeared to be breaking down.He also presented an emotional appeal to his players after their final game March 31 that had them evaluating their options before they cast their strike vote. After the strike began, Ilitch returned to running his Little Caesar&rsquo;s pizza empire.&ldquo;The process frustrated him greatly,&rdquo; said Jim Lites, Wings&rsquo; executive vice-president and Hitch&rsquo;s son-in-law. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going back to his other business. He has had it. I think he has learned a lesson. Our eyes have been opened. It&rsquo;s depressing.&rdquo;Hitch wasn&rsquo;t the only one suffering withdrawal symptoms. The players were also suffering a withdrawal from not playing hockey.Suddenly, they weren&rsquo;t going to the rink any more. To make sure their equipment wasn&rsquo;t taken, the owners changed the locks on their dressing room door and stationed an armed guard outside it.Few Detroit players skated after the strike began. Of several polled, only Kevin Miller had all the gear he needed to practice.&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s got any equipment,&rdquo; said Shawn Burr, the team&rsquo;s player representative. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a pair of skates but a lot of guys don&rsquo;t. And most of us are used to wearing 9 3/4 AAAs, and it takes a couple of weeks to order a pair. It&rsquo;s not the same as buying them off the rack.&rdquo;Goaltender Tim Cheveldae tried to order some pads through his distributor. But he also needed skates-he only had a pair of rollerblades.Even though they couldn&rsquo;t practise, the players were mindful of the union&rsquo;s warning to stay fit and ready to play in the event of a short strike.&ldquo;We were told by Stevie (Yzerman) to be responsible, to keep in shape,&rdquo; said Paul Ysebaert, who spent the first full day of the strike scrounging around his parents&rsquo; home in Corunna, Ont., for equipment. &ldquo;Everybody should do something every day, whether it be running or riding the bike or something. Most guys have bikes at home or memberships at clubs. Nobody&rsquo;s going to be sitting around getting fat.&rdquo;The players were divided when asked if they thought the strike would last a long time.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re at a crossroads,&rdquo; said defenseman Doug Crossman. &ldquo;When you get through all the bull, we&rsquo;re all interested in the good of the game. If we get through it, it&rsquo;ll be good for the game and good for both sides.&ldquo;The guys want to play, that&rsquo;s the thing. They really want to play. Hey, you can&rsquo;t go through the ups and downs the way we have without wanting to know what we&rsquo;re going to be in the 1991-92 season.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Wings gathered at Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s home in suburban Grosse Pointe after a 3-3 tie with Chicago March 31 to vote to reject the owners&rsquo; final contract offer. They mulled it over while munching Little Caesar&rsquo;s pizza&mdash;the kind Mike Ilitch makes&hellip; Sergei Fedorov scored his 30th goal of the season against Chicago, making him the fifth Detroit player to score 30 or more this year, tying a club record. The 1969-70 club also had five 30-goal scorers. Yzerman, Paul Ysebaert, Jimmy Carson, and Ray Sheppard are the other Wings with 30 or more goals. &#9632;

Hitch, players, suffering withdrawal symptoms

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>It was perhaps the worst imaginable situation in which a rookie could find himself.On one hand, there was an interest in furthering his career and not angering his employer.On the other, an interest in not alienating himself from a fraternity of fellow players.Five Toronto Maple Leafs-Rob Pearson, Kent Manderville, Joe Sacco, Mike Eastwood and goalie Felix Potvin-found themselves in such a dicey situation when the NHL Players&rsquo; Association went on strike April 1.The next day, all five were assigned to Toronto&rsquo;s American League farm team in St. John&rsquo;s as part of the &ldquo;clear day list&rdquo; of eligible players that teams filed March 10.The only problem was, none of them wanted to go under the appearance they were deserting the union.Pearson had been with the Leafs for all but a month or so this season, while Sacco and Manderville joined Toronto after the Winter Olympics and hadn&rsquo;t played in the minors all season.Those three eventually decided to stay and strike, while Potvin and Eastwood, both of whom had been with the club for less than a month, headed to St. John&rsquo;s.&ldquo;The players haven&rsquo;t encountered a situation like this before,&rdquo; Manderville said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t look back and say so-and-so did right by doing this. We&rsquo;re on our own.&rdquo;Leafs&rsquo; assistant general manager Bill Watters, who acts as St. John&rsquo;s GM, wasn&rsquo;t angry over the decision of Sacco, Pearson and Manderville.&ldquo;They are obliged from a financial sense but really, they&rsquo;re like anybody else, they can do what they want, it&rsquo;s their decision,&rdquo; Watters said. &ldquo;We could suspend them but what&rsquo;s the use&hellip;they are not getting paid anyway.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to create any uncomfortable situations for these players. We&rsquo;re not in the business of union-breaking, we&rsquo;re in the business of hockey development.&rdquo;Toronto player rep Todd Gill supported the decision of the three rookies to stay.&ldquo;They just gave their decisions. There was no pressure on them,&rdquo; Gill said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t go up to them and say, &lsquo;We&rsquo;ll kick the you-know-what out of you if you go.&rsquo; We aren&rsquo;t like that, and neither are the Leafs.&rdquo;PUT ON HOLD: Peter Zezel was ready to return to action against the New York Islanders April 1 but that was nixed by the strike.Zezel had missed 10 games after injuring his left knee March 5 in a game against Calgary at the Olympic Saddledome.The strike also forced postponement of a sweater number retirement ceremony in honor of former Leafs Ace Bailey and Bill Barilko. Their sweater numbers, No. 6 and 5, have been retired for decades, although Bailey permitted Ron Ellis to wear No. 6 for several seasons.Bailey, 87, was to have been brought to Maple Leaf Gardens for I the event, at which time banners were to have been raised for both men.Barilko died in a 1951 plane crash after scoring the winning goal in that spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final.NOTEBOOK: When Dave Hannan played his seventh game for Buffalo March 25 after being acquired from Toronto 15 days earlier, the Leafs&rsquo; draft choice was improved to a fifth-round draft pick this June from a sixth rounder. Hannan had to play half the remaining games for the pick to be upgraded.The massive turnover in the Maple Leaf roster since September forced the club to take a new team picture March 25.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for the Toronto Star. &#9632;

Five rookies get caught in middle of players’ strike

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011414/6430473-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="365" height="462"></div>The strike that sent 564 NHL players packing April 1 also-sent Boston Bruins&rsquo; left winger Dave Reid driving, all the way from Boston to Toronto. Nine hours. A chance to get home. An opportunity to be with his wife Kathy, visit with friends, and keep an eye on his business, All-Pro Sports Collectibles in Ajax, Ont.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like the cutthroat end of it,&rdquo; said Reid, referring to the business of dealing in trading cards. &ldquo;I like it as a hobby. I used to spend all my extra cash on hockey cards.&rdquo;Only some 36 hours after arriving home, some of Reid&rsquo;s extra cash was flying right out of his storefront window. At approximately 4:45 a.m. April 3, the card collecting shop that Reid co-owns with former Toronto goalie Allan Bester was robbed of $10,000 in merchandise-including a prized 1952 Mickey Mantle card that carried a $ 1,200 sticker price.While NHL owners and players were still attempting to sort out their differences, the rights to trading card fees among them, Reid was getting a crash course in working world street economics. Two lead pipes tossed through a storefront window equalled a $10,000 loss, not to mention one giant headache. Vandalism and their are not new to North American society, but the timing of it carried a not-so-sweet irony.Locked in their contract battle with owners, the players have been stressing they want to keep the big, growing money that comes with licensing rights. They contend the fees from trading cards, in part, are the lifeblood of their union. The market is hot, and never was it hotter than the morning when the burglar alarm was blaring in Reid&rsquo;s shop. The lifeblood of the union was racing down the street in Ajax.&ldquo;They came running in here and you could tell they knew exactly where to go,&rdquo; said Derek Lee, All-Pro&rsquo;s assistant manager. &ldquo;They ripped off a lot of the old hockey and baseball cards, the Mantle card and some Wayne Gretzky rookie cards. But that&rsquo;s the way things are right now in southern Ontario. It&rsquo;s pretty well one a month that gets ripped off around here, and it&rsquo;s almost impossible to catch (the robbers).&rdquo; &ldquo;The problem is,&rdquo; said Reid, underscoring the difficulty in identifying stolen cards, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ll probably come around in a week or so and try to sell the cards back to us.&rdquo;In a short time, the broken glass was repaired and Reid&rsquo;s shop opened its doors without delay. Lee spent the day behind the counter and reported by late afternoon everything had been business as usual. There had been no sign of the stolen merchandise, or leads for police, but that wasn&rsquo;t so troubling, either, because everything was insured.It was the threat of their, in part, that led Reid to open up the storefront business in the spring of 1990. When he was collecting for personal enjoyment, his own collection soared to 200,000 cards, leaving him with boxes and binders full of cards that he never really had the time to enjoy.&ldquo;It got to the point where it was a risk to keep them in the house,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People know me, they know my wife, they know where I live and that I collect. It was just too risky.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02983/6430466-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="545" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Reid</figcaption></div>Risk, too, was at the very root of the players&rsquo; walkout. When the league&rsquo;s rank-and-file hit the bricks for the first time in the NHL&rsquo;s 75-year history, they walked out amid the chance that club owners could try to throw a lead pipe or two through their union by calling in replacement players. There were no signs of that in the early strike hours but a protracted strike held the potential of club owners holding open auditions this summer for anyone interested in an NHL career.At 3:56 p.m. April 1, exactly 56 minutes into the strike, the first call from a replacement player came into the Bruins&rsquo; office. There are many hungry people out there, holding resumes and dreaming in technicolor of someday seeing their own faces on a hockey card.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing,&rdquo; Reid said. &ldquo;I come home to get away from everything, relax, see my family&hellip;and this happens. But it&rsquo;s just part of the business.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Reid can’t escape the wrath of card sharks

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>Hartford Whalers&rsquo; owner Richard Gordon did not like Rick Ley. That&rsquo;s no secret in Hartford. That&rsquo;s no secret around the NHL.When Whalers&rsquo; general manager Ed Johnston said in early May 1991 Ley would return for his third season as coach only to announce three weeks later Ley had been fired and Jimmy Roberts hired, all fingers pointed to Gordon.Nearly a year later, Gordon maintains he was not solely responsible for the move.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a non-issue now,&rdquo; Gordon says. &ldquo;The important thing is we support Jim Roberts 100 per cent.&rdquo;After winning two Calder Cup titles with the American League&rsquo;s Springfield Indians, Roberts, 51, arrived back in the NHL with a game plan: put smiles on faces, bring in the kids, skate like the wind and score goals.&ldquo;I accepted this challenge because of a bum that has been rekindled in me,&rdquo; said Roberts, who had lost a taste for the NHL as an assistant coach after seeing many of his friends get fired-often needlessly. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to get something going in this area. There&rsquo;s enough unemployment and long faces. We want to give people something to yell about.&rdquo;With an NHL-low 12 home victories, an average attendance under 11,000 and only a marginal offensive improvement this season, there wasn&rsquo;t much to yell about at the Civic Center.Much of the media heat this mediocre season has fallen on Gordon, to resurrect his franchise and make sure it doesn&rsquo;t leave town, and Johnston, who was put in charge in May, 1989 to improve on a .500 team and instead has seen it gone backwards.When Roberts came in, many fans and some players seemed in favor of Ley&rsquo;s departure.But the transition to Roberts was not totally smooth. There has been an undercurrent of dressing-room discontent.It centers on two areas. First, Roberts has a penchant for skating the stuffing out of the team in practice, particularly on days immediately before games. It led to grumbling and maybe to the Whalers, particularly the ones with older legs, leaving part of their game at the practice rink.Second, and more significantly, by trying so hard to filter in his former Springfield players, Roberts at least partially, alienated some of the veterans. And when some of the young players proved not ready, Roberts had to come back to older players and try to restart their engines. Naturally, there was some resentment.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03709/6430511-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="933" height="1815"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rugged Jim McKenzie is doesn&rsquo;t exactly see eye-to-eye with coach Jim Roberts (inset). (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04518/6430504-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="369" height="471"></div>After a 5-2 loss to St. Louis Feb. 25, the Whalers demoted five players and announced they were going to a set, more veteran lineup. Many feel it was a Johnston directive. The Whalers went 7-9-2 in the next 18 games. That&rsquo;s not superb certainly.But considering their 0-8-6 stretch in late January, early February, it was a marked improvement.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve adapted from the beginning of the year,&rdquo; captain Randy Ladouceur said. &ldquo;I think Jimmy wanted to go more with an offensive (team), more of a flow. A fast, young team.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we can play like that yet. I think we&rsquo;ve got to take care of our own end and play a good, solid defensive game. The other way may come in time.&rdquo;The Jim McKenzie situation, meanwhile, is a little more volatile. Early in the season, when Roberts&rsquo; philosophy leaned towards uptempo, he seemed to send a message he didn&rsquo;t encourage fighting.Later, saying he wanted players to play more physically and with the acquisition of Paul Gillis, that message seemed to change. McKenzie, however, was slow to make amends with Roberts and there is a coolness between the two. When McKenzie didn&rsquo;t jump into a fight to help John Cullen against St. Louis&rsquo; Bob Bassen March 26, Roberts was critical about players not helping others out. He didn&rsquo;t name McKenzie specifically yet the message was clear.Shortly before that incident, McKenzie had said: &ldquo;Ricky and Jimmy are two different guys. They&rsquo;re going to have different styles and employ different ideas. We&rsquo;ve changed so much during the course of the year with different guys coming and going kind of thing. I think we started a different style and kind of changed that.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve got bangers, they bang. If you&rsquo;ve got skaters, they skate. If you&rsquo;ve got a potpourri, you mix and match.&ldquo;Ricky was a great guy to play for. If you went out and screwed up. you heard about it before you ever got back to the bench. Do it again, and chances were you&rsquo;re on the bench or in the press box. But we hit it off that way. He let you know where you stood.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-03

Mixed Reviews

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>Marcel Aubut has made his position clear. The Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; part owner and president has one thing on his mind: to save the game of hockey.As a member of the committee negotiating an end to the players&rsquo; strike, Aubut is suggesting a meeting between NHL governors and people from outside the game to help prepare a partnership with the players.&ldquo;A strike?&rdquo; Aubut said. &ldquo;I still have problems dealing with that. It&rsquo;s certainly not how I wanted to write the history of our national sport.&rdquo;In his partnership, the players would get an equal share of all revenue, &ldquo;at least 50 per cent,&rdquo; Aubut said. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t do that, we&rsquo;re heading straight for bankruptcy. We&rsquo;re in a very serious situation. If this doesn&rsquo;t go through in the near future, we&rsquo;re going to lose half our teams.&rdquo;Aubut first has to convince governors this is the way to go-not all of them share his ideas. He senses a certain mistrust among the owners.&ldquo;Some are ready to do anything,&rdquo; Aubut said. &ldquo;The weakness of our system is more evident than ever. If one owner gets up one morning and decides to give one player an enormous contract, he just changed the whole salary structure.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s also the matter of American anti-trust laws that prohibit owners from consulting each other to try and resolve this issue. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t even have meetings to try and protect ourselves from ourselves,&rdquo; Aubut said.TEAM LOSSES: Aubut also had plenty to say about his team.The Nordiques will declare losses of $2.5 million this season, &ldquo;our first deficit since the Colisee was expanded to 15,000 seats in 1980,&rdquo; Aubut said. &ldquo;The money we picked up for the expansion will be lost to our operation costs. That&rsquo;s money we won&rsquo;t have in the future.&rdquo;Aubut knew he would be losing money this year. That&rsquo;s why he went to Quebec City municipal authorities for a new lease.&ldquo;If the municipal authorities are still unconvinced of the necessity of building a new rink,&rdquo; Aubut said, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ll never be. The time has come to get things under way. It&rsquo;s urgent.&rdquo;But is there enough money around Quebec? &ldquo;Sure there is,&rdquo; said Aubut. &ldquo;A sum of $50 million was set aside to convert the Montreal Velodrome into a biology center. The government is spending like crazy for arts and science. They certainly must have a little set aside for sport. We have to get what rightfully comes to us.&rdquo;Some observers are convinced the Nordiques are in trouble because of the small market. But it&rsquo;s no smaller than most Canadian cities and some American cities when you take into consideration affluent fans in other parts of the province. Unknown to most observers, the Nords are one of the few franchises in the NHL (some say only six) without debt.&ldquo;We are lucky to be owned by companies like Metro-Richelieu (grocery chain), Daishowa (Japanese-owned pulp and paper), le Fonds de solidarite des travailleurs du Quebec (labor union) and la Mutuelle d&rsquo;assurance (insurance),&rdquo; Aubut said. &ldquo;These companies are looking more at social involvement than profits.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bill Lindsay, who was returned to the Tri-City Americans of the Western League March 25, was recalled when the Americans were eliminated from the playoffs. He got into town just in time for the strike.. Peter Mahovlich, a candidate for the assistant coach&rsquo;s job in Quebec last summer before Don Jackson was hired, says he&rsquo;ll be back knocking at Pierre Page&rsquo;s door. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m anxious to get back into hockey,&rdquo; Mahovlich said. &ldquo;If I have to start in the minors, so be it. I know I can teach. I&rsquo;ve had enough experience in pro hockey. I know what I&rsquo;m talking about.&rdquo; &#9632;

Aubut has novel approach to revenue sharing

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>With a resounding 560-4 vote to strike, it&rsquo;s obvious the NHL Players&rsquo; Association gave executive director Bob Goodenow a clear mandate.But a secret ballot and speaking out publicly are different matters, and nobody has been more vocal than Hartford Whalers&rsquo; player representative Pat Verbeek.&ldquo;Obviously, the owners don&rsquo;t want any playoffs,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;Absolutely in our minds we&rsquo;re doing the right thing. We&rsquo;ve had the raw end of the stick for a long time. If we didn&rsquo;t do what we say, we&rsquo;re a laughing stock. It&rsquo;s time to face up to the fight. And the fight is at hand.&ldquo;The owners are trying to do what they did in the NFL and break the union. But I don&rsquo;t think it will happen. Now that we pretty much have our money in our pockets, we can pretty much afford to wait a long, long time.&rdquo;Verbeek went on to say that the players don&rsquo;t believe the owners&rsquo; claims they&rsquo;re going from making $40 million a year profit to a $9 million loss this year and up to $150 million over the next two years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011168/6430566-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="545" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek led his team in insults towards the owners.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody believes it,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;The owners are trying to call our bluff. But this is no bluff. I don&rsquo;t think from the beginning the owners were serious with us or thought we were serious. The players have taken it on the chin for too long now. It&rsquo;s time to get our fair share.&rdquo;Verbeek doesn&rsquo;t believe the owners dealt with the players in good faith from the start. And he wasn&rsquo;t exactly thrilled when New Jersey Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen questioned the IQ of the players in statements to the New York Times.&ldquo;Right from the start, when we tried to negotiate, they threw us into court (on a technicality last summer). I think it has been nothing but bad faith on their part. I think they&rsquo;re relying on the mentality of the 1940s hockey player. As decades go along, things change.&ldquo;McMullen said, &rsquo;We trusted the players.&rsquo; Well, if they trusted us so much, why did they sue us last summer? He thinks we&rsquo;re not intelligent. I think just the opposite.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Whalers&rsquo; rookie centers James Black and Joe Day didn&rsquo;t have to go on strike. Two days before the walkout, they were assigned to the Whalers&rsquo; American League affiliate in Springfield.&ldquo;It has nothing to do with the strike but we can recall them if needed and we&rsquo;ll see what happens,&rdquo; Whalers&rsquo; general manager Ed Johnston said.&ldquo;They were up here under emergency conditions because players are hurt.&rdquo;Black had four goals and 10 points in 30 games with the Whalers. Day had three assists and three points in 24 games. &#9632;

f0017-01

Angry Verbeek grills owners over their ‘outdated’ views

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>The Montreal Canadiens, long known for their defensive posture, went on the offensive when the team&rsquo;s players went on strike.General manager Serge Savard and team president Ronald Corey organized media briefings to get the owners&rsquo; message to the fans.Their message was this: even the Canadiens, one of the most successful professional sports franchises in North America, has seen its bottom line bottoming out.The profits the players claim are there just don&rsquo;t exist, said Corey.&ldquo;Le club de Hockey Canadien is known as one of the most solid franchises,&rdquo; Corey said. &ldquo;Well, our profits are not astronomical.&rdquo;Corey revealed the club&rsquo;s pre-tax profit for the fiscal year which ended March 31 would &ldquo;be between $2.4 million and $2.7 million. After a corporate tax of 35 per cent, the club&rsquo;s profit would be somewhere between $1.5 and $1.75 million.If this year&rsquo;s playoffs are wiped out it also appears that would be the difference between the club making and losing money for the fiscal year ending next March.The team budgets for six home playoff games a year, said Corey, with each game providing $365,000 in revenue.Player salaries are the single biggest expense incurred by the team with between $12 million and $13 million per season going into the players&rsquo; pay envelopes.Corey said if the mighty Montreal Canadiens need the playoffs to turn a profit, where does that leave other franchises in the league?Savard, meanwhile, was blaming the owners for driving up player salaries 37 per cent this season and creating the need for a restrictive free agent system.&ldquo;We need a system to discipline ourselves,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;As long as we&rsquo;re competitors, another guy will give more money to sign a free agent. We need a system because we created this mess.&rdquo;Savard said he would like to see the players agree to a short-term agreement of perhaps a year&rsquo;s duration to allow for the negotiation of some sort of revenue-sharing agreement among the owners.A SLOW BURN: Habs&rsquo; head coach Pat Burns looked the way most hockey fans felt upon hearing the news of the players strike-hurt.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t felt this way for a long time,&rdquo; said a distraught Burns. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to take right now. I didn&rsquo;t think a strike would ever happen.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s different in Montreal than elsewhere because we&rsquo;re not just a city team, we&rsquo;re a provincial team. Everyone comes together during the playoffs. The bars, restaurants, everyone depends on us. They feel just like I do now-kind of hurt. But that&rsquo;s business.&rdquo;Burns, who turned 40 April 4, was left with nothing to do but think about the past and speculate on the future.&ldquo;It has been a good season even though we&rsquo;ve been horrible the last two weeks,&rdquo; Burns said. &ldquo;For 70 games, we were in and out of first place overall. There&rsquo;s a lot of frustration right now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Player representative Guy Carbonneau said it wasn&rsquo;t the owners who were backed into a comer but rather the players. &ldquo;We gave the owners a chance to do something,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But they didn&rsquo;t. Then we had no choice.&rdquo;Forward Brent Gilchrist realizes the players are having difficulty getting fan sympathy for their position. &ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s hard for us to justify a work stoppage to someone who earns $20&mdash;or $30,000 a year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s impossible to explain to the average fan who at one point dreamed of playing in the NHL.&rdquo;Left winger John LeClair was recalled from Fredericton of the American League March 30, two days before the strike began. &#9632;

Red ink not that far away

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>Timing hasn&rsquo;t been the Boston Bruins&rsquo; strong suit this season. Just when they seemed poised to make a strong run in the Adams Division, something happened-usually a rash of injuries&mdash;to thwart their progress.The NHL&rsquo;s first player strike was the latest event to mess up their plans.The Bruins were 35-32-10 before the strike and were riding a modest two-game winning streak, which included three wins in four games.They had also clinched second-place in the Adams Division and home-ice advantage for what has become their annual first-round date with the Buffalo Sabres.The key player during the streak was former Canadian Olympian Joe Juneau. He had three goals and nine points, despite playing a new position-left wing.When coach Rick Bowness decided to go with three lines down the stretch, he already had three top-flight centers in Adam Oates, Vladimir Ruzicka and checker Dave Poulin.Juneau, the team&rsquo;s fourth center, was shifted to the portside on a line with Oates and former U.S. Olympian Steve Heinze. It proved to be a potent combination. Oates had three goals and seven points in four games, while Heinze had a goal and five points.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m feeling more and more comfortable in the NHL,&rdquo; Juneau said. &ldquo;At first I was very nervous. I thought every time I got the puck, I had to pass it back to Adam or to Ray Bourque-they&rsquo;re such great players.&ldquo;But the coaches and the players told me to do what I do best, so I started handling the puck more. It&rsquo;s a thrill just to play in the NHL and things are starting to go well. You hate to see anything get in the way.&rdquo;Juneau had four goals and 16 points in his first 11 NHL games.STRIKE STUFF: Shortly after the Bruins voted unanimously (26-0) to endorse the player strike, coach Rick Bowness ran the club through a tough, one-hour-plus practice April 1.Bowness let some players go after about an hour but kept more than a dozen players on the ice for another 15 minutes of sprints and skating drills.Ironically, Boston&rsquo;s player representative, Andy Brickley, did not take part in the vote. The Bruins assigned Brickley to Maine of the American League March 10, making him the second Bruins&rsquo; player representative to be removed from the roster since February.Craig Janney, who preceded Brickley as the Bruins&rsquo; player representative, was traded to St. Louis on Feb. 7.As the strike dragged into what was supposed to be the regular season&rsquo;s last weekend, the Bruins worked out on their own and had no plans to skate as a team.NOTEBOOK: The Bruins will finish with a .500 or better record for the 25th consecutive season. But they could be outscored for the first time since their last losing season (1966-67). They scored 259 goals in 77 games while giving up 267.Defenseman Don Sweeney left the Bruins&rsquo; 5-4 overtime win at Quebec March 31 with a mild concussion. He was able to practise the next day.Right winger Steve Leach sustained a separated right shoulder against the Nordiques. The injury was not serious and he is expected to be back in the lineup when play resumes. &#9632;

Untimely NHL work stoppage halts impressive playoff drive

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>Donald Audette&rsquo;s brilliant rookie season came to an end the night before NHL players went on strike.The Sabres&rsquo; rookie-of-the-year candidate sustained tom ligaments in his right knee and a dislocated right shoulder in a first-period collision with Minnesota defenseman Jim Johnson March 31 at the Met Center.He will miss whatever is salvaged from the regular season and the playoffs and is facing a long off-season of rehabilitation.It was Audette&rsquo;s second major knee injury in as many seasons. He missed 66 games last year after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left knee.He sustained that injury in an open-ice collision with Edmonton defenseman Craig Muni.&ldquo;It was the same as last time,&rdquo; Audette said. &ldquo;I knew it was bad. I never saw him but I knew he was coming. It didn&rsquo;t seem like a cheap shot.&rdquo;Audette made a sparkling recovery from that injury, scoring 31 goals and 48 points in 63 games.Despite the prospect of major offseason surgery, Audette is certain his latest knee injury is not career threatening.&ldquo;The doctor fixed my other one and did a great job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;l&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;The injury occurred whfen the 5-foot-8, 175-pound Audette was rubbed out along the boards in the Stars&rsquo; end.Johnson took a run at Audette and hit him in the head with his elbow. Johnson finished up with a body slam that drove Audette&rsquo;s right shoulder hard into the glass.The force of the hit caused Audette to fall to the ice with his right leg underneath him in an awkward position.Johnson was assessed a two-minute penalty for elbowing and an additional two minutes for roughing after a scuffle with Sabres&rsquo; defenseman Ken Sutton, who came to Audette&rsquo;s aid.The incident elevated an already chippy game to ugly status. The Sabres and Stars combined for 72 penalties and 360 penalty minutes. Each team had 20 penalties in the second period-129 PIM for the Sabres, 121 for Minnesota. For the game, Buffalo had 36 penalties for 188 PIM and the Stars had 36 for 172. The Sabres established club records for the most penalty minutes in a game and the most penalties in a game.&ldquo;There were a lot of frustrated players out there,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; captain Mike Ramsey, in reference to the tone of the game and the apparent end of the regular season. &ldquo;Everybody was kind of on edge. I think the players kind of took it out on each other.&rdquo;STAND PAT?: Minnesota defenseman Mark Tinordi took a swipe at Pat LaFontaine-physically and verbally-in the game with the Stars.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t really like each other to begin with and we heard talk out of Buffalo that he&rsquo;s not as strong behind the players (strike issues) as we&rsquo;d like,&rdquo; Tinordi said. &ldquo;It was something to get his mind off the game.&rdquo;LaFontaine took exception to Tinordi&rsquo;s remarks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve supported the players position all along,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;I really have no comment except to say I&rsquo;ve had the same reservations as anyone early on down the road but I&rsquo;ve always supported the players and put my trust and faith in Bob Goodenow.&rdquo;The issue appeared to suggest there was dissension among the players regarding the strike but the Sabres denied it.NOTEBOOK: The Sabres assigned defensemen Keith Carney and Bill Houlder, goaltender Tom Draper and forward Bob Corkum to Rochester of the American League April 1. &#9632;

Audette facing surgery

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>Corey Millen was beginning to wonder whether he would ever find his niche in the NHL, or even whether anyone would ever find him.At 5-feet-7 and 168 pounds, he isn&rsquo;t the easiest guy to spot.So frustrated was Millen over being stuck in the New YorkRangers&rsquo; minor-league system again last December that he seriously considered putting on a red. white and blue Team USA sweater and participating in his third Olympic Games.&ldquo;If it wasn&rsquo;t for the trade, there&rsquo;s a good chance I would have gone to France.&rdquo; he said.Team USA&rsquo;s loss proved to be the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; gain. The Kings acquired Millen from the Rangers in exchange for Randy Gilhen Dec. 23, a seemingly minor deal that has rejuvenated both Millen and the Kings.Millen, an outstanding playmaker who possesses blazing speed, produced 19 goals and 38 points in his first 44 games with the Kings.The Kings were 22-163 after acquiring him. and they moved from fourth place in the Smythe Division to sole possession of second. Millen mostly has been playing between left winger Mike Donnelly and right winger Kyosti Kaijalainen on a third line that on many evenings is the team&rsquo;s best.The unit combined for 13 goals and 30 points in its first 14 games together, with Millen contributing six of the goals and 15 of the points.And they said the little guy couldn&rsquo;t play. Too bad the Rangers never bothered to measure his heart.&ldquo;I always had a lot of confidence in my own ability,&rdquo; the 27-year-old said. &ldquo;All I ever wanted was a chance to see if I could play in this league. I&rsquo;m sure my size had something to do with it but I had done well in the Olympics.&ldquo;I have to admit that I was starting to get a little down on hockey.&rdquo;Millen, a native of Cloquet. Minn., who spent four years at the University of Minnesota, didn&rsquo;t register a point during the 1984 Olympics but was the Americans&rsquo; leading scorer in 1988 with 11 points in six games.Not that it did him much good. Millen spent the 1988-89 season playing in Switzerland, signed a contract with the Rangers (who drafted him out of Cloquet High School in 1982) the following summer, then he ripped his left knee apart and required three operations to repair a cartilage problem.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01873/6430669-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="921" height="1900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Being traded from New York to Los Angeles has rejuvenated Corey Millen&rsquo;S career. (Photo by Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I kept having pain and swelling, but I have no problems at all anymore,&rdquo; he said.Millen played in four games with the Rangers and 11 with Flint of the International League in 1989-90; in four games with New York and 40 with Binghamton of the American League in 1990-91; and in 11 games with the Rangers and 15 with Binghamton this season before the Kings came calling.&ldquo;You just need an opportunity to play.&rdquo; Millen said. &ldquo;I think people can put you in a no-win situation sometimes. No one can be put down, shuttled back and forth, treated poorly and be expected to produce.&rdquo;Millen has no complaints about moving from the Patrick Division to the Smythe, where rink-to-rink rushes are so commonplace.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s more skating up and down. I definitely like it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s suited to my kind of game. There&rsquo;s a lot more freewheeling over here.&rdquo;Millen isn&rsquo;t the first gem Vachon has discovered in a scrap heap. He got Donnelly from the Buffalo Sabres in October 1990 for Mikko Makela, which has turned out to be one of his best deals.DQnnelly, 28, scored seven more goals (28) through 78 games this season than he had in his entire NHL career, which consisted of 149 games over parts of five seasons.In Millen&rsquo;s case, Vachon theorizes the arrival of Mark Messier and Sergei Nemchinov in New York gave the Rangers too many skill players at center.The Millen-for-Gilhen trade filled needs for both teams: the Kings got a center who could provide some offense, while the Rangers picked up a very capable checker.&ldquo;Corey has so much speed that he forces the defense to back in,&rdquo;Vachon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very smart player and he moves the puck so well. He&rsquo;s very clever. That line has good puck control and utilizes its speed very well.&rdquo;Vachon paused.&ldquo;We hoped (Millen and Donnelly) would make an impact,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But now we all look at each other and say, This is really nice, this is really fun.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

King of Hearts

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02582/6430700-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="367" height="468"></div>On the day he took the NHL Players&rsquo; Association out on strike, Bob Good-enow rejected the idea of binding arbitration-probably because he didn&rsquo;t know I was available.My interests in volunteering my services are completely altruistic. I want to see this strike settled so all the affected parties can get back to work-especially sportswriters who&rsquo;ve been threatened with softball tournaments.Besides, I hate to think what will happen if a nation has to go through hockey pool withdrawal because there are no playoffs. It could get ugly.Here&rsquo;s how we&rsquo;ll do it:&#9633; The owners get a 10-round draft, with extra rounds for non-play-off teams.Let&rsquo;s face it, the NHL cannot afford a shortened, six-round draft. That would bring us back to the days when the Ray Staszaks and Dwight Mathiasons of the world slipped through the cracks and then received ridiculously high entry-level salaries from owners who didn&rsquo;t know any better.Players who establish themselves in the league deserve their six&mdash;and sometimes seven-figure salaries. But not a bunch of NHL wannabees.&#9633; The players get unrestricted free agency at 30, with no right of first refusal. That way, teams will be forced to make a reasonable first offer&mdash;or risk losing a player for zilch.Currently, teams can afford to lowball a Group III free agent, knowing that if he gets a better offer elsewhere. they can simply step in. match the offer and retain his rights.Group 1 free agents-under the age of 24-don&rsquo;t get a lot of sympathy from me. If the draft system is going to work, a player must be bound to his team for a reasonable period of time. My definition of reasonable is four years&mdash;and that&rsquo;s assuming most players don&rsquo;t get to the NHL until age 20.Once you get into Group II free agents, my sympathy shifts to the players. These are their prime earning years. The recent salary escalations make the old compensation schedule for Group II free agents too prohibitive.So we&rsquo;ll allow a maximum of three first-round draft choices to players making over $1 million; two first-rounders for players earning between $700,000 and $999,999; and one No. 1 for players earning between $350,000 and $699,999; and the rest they can figure out for themselves.Nobody was willing to go five first-rounders on Sean Burke this year but a number of teams would have anteed up two or three No. Is, especially if they were a goaltender away from a Stanley Cup run.&#9633; The owners get to keep the present salary arbitration system, in which the arbitrator gets to choose either the team&rsquo;s offer, the players&rsquo; demand or any number in between.The only changes: the two sides will jointly recruit eight independent arbitrators who have 72 hours from the point of the hearing to issue their findings.&#9633; The players get more playoff money. Not as much as they want, mind you. but the cunent numbers-roughly $25,000 if you win the Stanley Cup-are patently ridiculous. So let&rsquo;s double it to a minimum of $50,000. That&rsquo;s not as much as the National Basketball Association but then hockey doesn&rsquo;t have basketball&rsquo;s TV revenues either.&#9633; The players get the $7.5 million pension surplus created in 1986. Legally, the owners may have a clairr to it but morally, the money belongs to the players. Incidentally, the players should use the entire sum to bump up the pensions of players who retired before 1967-since their contributions essentially created the investment capital which generated the surplus to begin with.&#9633; That brings us to trading cards which-as ridiculous as it may sound-is the most divisive issue right now. The upside of trading card revenue is so great that the players don&rsquo;t want vague promises from the owners, they want the matter of trading card revenues spelled out in the new contract. That&rsquo;s a fair request.So we&rsquo;ll guarantee the first $10 million raised in trading card revenues every season goes to the players.That allows them to run the association efficiently and should quiet all the conspiracy theorists in the NHLPA, who figure the owners are trying to break the union. Plus it&rsquo;ll put some money in their pockets. The owners get to keep the next $5 million.Anything above that gets split right down the middle. This way, the union stays in business, the owners share in income that previously wasn&rsquo;t theirs and we are well on our way to that mythical partnership between players and management that both sides speak of so warmly.Gentlemen, you&rsquo;re welcome. Now get back to work. &#9632;

f0024-02

Here’s how to resolve the NHL dispute

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>Bruce McNall has always tried to treat his players like, well, kings.Los Angeles&rsquo; $13.5 million payroll is the highest in the league and the flashy Kings&rsquo; owner flies his players to NHL cities in a $5-million plane complete with first-class seats and gourmet meals.So it was understandable he was upset when his players voted &ldquo;yes&rdquo; to an NHL strike.&ldquo;Perhaps they don&rsquo;t like the Caesar hsalad we serve on the plane,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;If the only thing I cared about was my bottom line. I wouldn&rsquo;t have an airplane. I wouldn&rsquo;t have the highest salaries in the league.&ldquo;I always thought, if you treat players well, if you pay them well, you get rewarded. So this is my reward. Thank you very much.&rdquo;McNall added that he was angry at the Kings as a fan and disappointed in them as an owner.&ldquo;My relationship with the players has always been very close. I won&rsquo;t change that,&rdquo; he said.For most players voting &ldquo;yes&rdquo; to strike was an agonizing decision. They are devoted to McNall but wholeheartedly support the NHL Players&rsquo; Association and are resolved to stay out for as long as necessary.&ldquo;We are not fighting (McNall),&rdquo; Wayne Gretzky said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important people realize that. The hardest part about the whole thing is we get treated so well here.&ldquo;Bruce has been so good to me, and people are probably saying to him now, &lsquo;He had a chance to stick it to you and he took it.&rsquo; Of course, that&rsquo;s totally untrue.&rdquo;As difficult as it was to skate into the sunset, the Kings believe they are obligated to look out for players throughout the league-including the younger ones who are poised to join the NHL.&ldquo;(Striking) isn&rsquo;t something any member of the Kings is pleased about,&rdquo; said player representative Marty McSorley. &ldquo;We do it very regretfully. We feel bad for Mr. McNall and the fans. I don&rsquo;t want to argue with Mr. McNall. He&rsquo;s a great owner and we have great fans. This is not a personal thing.&rdquo;Assistant player representative Tony Granato wanted to emphasize the union isn&rsquo;t interested in hurting the game or the fans.&ldquo;We worry a lot about that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Hey, this is our time of the year, too. We&rsquo;ve played all year to get ready for the playoffs and hopefully win a Stanley Cup. All we want to do is get this resolved so we can do that.&rdquo;NO LAYOFFS: Bruce McNall said he would do everything in his power to prevent ushers, ticket takers, concessionaires and other Great Western Forum employees from losing their jobs during the strike.&ldquo;A lot of these game-day people need these jobs to feed their families,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take care of them but I don&rsquo;t think consideration was given to these people by the players.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Kelly Hrudey sustained a severely bruised finger on his catching hand in the final practice before the strike. He had to be helped off the ice and was in severe pain afterwards. X-rays were negative and the injury was not serious&hellip;Coach Tom Webster spotted several players working out during the strike at the beachside gym he attends. &ldquo;At least they&rsquo;re taking care of themselves,&rdquo; he said.If there was such a thing as good timing for a strike, this was probably it for the Kings. They were mired in a 2-6-1 slump. &ldquo;We wanted to establish some momentum heading into the playoffs and we were playing really sloppy,&rdquo; Tony Granato said&hellip;Several players were trying to break out of scoring slumps before the strike. Luc Robitaille had one goal in seven games, Tomas Sandstrom one goal in eight, and Granato one goal in nine. &#9632;

Bitter McNall lashes out at striking players

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>The April 1 strike that put the NHL in limbo became secondary for the San Jose Sharks the next day when defenseman Link Gaetz was critically injured in an automobile accident.Gaetz, 23, suffered head injuries and facial and back lacerations when the car in which he was a passenger tumbled down a freeway embankment.Gaetz was comatose, attached to a breathing machine and was listed in critical condition for several hours at Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame, Calif., after the 10:20 a.m. crash but improved rapidly and was awake and upgraded to fair condition the following day.&ldquo;For him to have made such a quick turnaround is good,&rdquo; said Dr. Arthur Ting, a team physician who indicated Gaetz will be able to resume his career next season.Ting said the head injury Gaetz suffered amounted to a severe concussion. Gaetz needed extensive stitching to close the cuts in his face.Gaetz is a recovering alcoholic and there is a concern he may have been drinking. His traveling companion, 22-year-old Patrick Bell of San Francisco, was arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. The two, who apparently weren&rsquo;t wearing seat belts, were traveling in a 1989 Chevrolet Camaro registered to Gaetz, and both were thrown from the car. Bell sustained minor injuries.&ldquo;Our concern is he&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; Sharks&rsquo; assistant general manager Dean Lombardi said. &ldquo;He has been through a traumatic experience. If this wakes him up maybe it was a blessing in disguise. But if he comes out of it thinking he&rsquo;s Superman, we might be at a point where there&rsquo;s nothing more we can do.&rdquo;NO HARD FEELINGS: The labor rift that led to the strike hasn&rsquo;t strained the relationship between players and management.In fact, Sharks&rsquo; defenseman Doug Wilson, a vice-president of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association said the league could learn a few things by following the expansion team&rsquo;s lead.&ldquo;If more franchises were run like this, we might not have this problem,&rdquo; Wilson said.The Sharks, who drew sellout crowds to all home games, are hoping that a protracted strike won&rsquo;t cause casual fans to lose interest.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a concern,&rdquo; owner George Gund said. &ldquo;If it goes on for a long time, some of those people might get fed up.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Sharks&rsquo; player representative Brian Lawton said the team voted unanimously in favor of striking&hellip;The Sharks assigned defensemen Pat MacLeod and David Williams, center Dale Craigwell, right winger Jeff Odgers and goalie Arturs Irbe to Kansas City of the International League. &ldquo;We talked it over and we have the blessing of our teammates and the players&rsquo; association,&rdquo; MacLeod said. &#9632;

Gaetz to play again

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>If the Winnipeg Jets were to be anything but a doormat this season, they could not afford a repeat of sub-par years from their veterans.That was provided the elite players continued at the top of their games.Defenseman Phil Housley satisfied his part of the bargain, leading the team in scoring for the second straight season. The 28-year-old established a career-best season in Game 77 against San Jose, reaching 82 points. That bettered his own Jets&rsquo; record for defenseman of 76.To boot, Housley posted the 23 goals and 59 assists in 71 games, having missed one game because of suspension and five because of a late-February abdominal-muscle pull.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve been consistent,&rdquo; Housley said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve given me more responsibility and I&rsquo;ve enjoyed that. It has helped keep me focused and prepared for every game.&rdquo;The Jets were pushing Housley as a Norris Trophy candidate. Housley&rsquo;s nip-and-tuck battle with New York Rangers&rsquo; Brian Leetch as the league&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman waged on into February. Leetch, however, continued the torrid pace while Housley counted no points between Feb. 21 and March 10, a period including his injury.&ldquo;Either he or Troy Murray is our MVP,&rdquo; coach John Paddock said. &ldquo;Look at how Phil has come to play every night. He has been very consistent and you can&rsquo;t say enough about how he played while his contract was getting sorted out.&rdquo;Though the deal has still not been signed because the parties are waiting for tax-department rulings on the four-year agreement, it will make him the highest-paid Jet, starting at $1.15 million retroactive to this season.RUSSIAN FEAST: A third Russian player is expected on his way to Winnipeg.Moscow Dynamo center Alexei Zhamnov, a fourth-round pick in 1990, was promised to Winnipeg after the Russian season ends. When Dynamo won its third straight championship April 3 and Zhamnov was named playoff MVP, Jets&rsquo; general manager Mike Smith revealed he had a previously arranged deal that would release the 21-year-old redhead to the NHL.Zhamnov is a gritty forward who was the Soviet Union&rsquo;s best player in last fall&rsquo;s Canada Cup and a gold-medal winner for the Unified Team at the Olympics.The Jets added defenseman Igor Ulanov from Khimik in January and winger Evgeny Davydov from Red Army in early March. Ulanov and Davydov, short on cash and long on confusion about the players strike, stayed witK Thomas Steen during the work stoppage. &#9632;

Housley’s consistency makes Norris a possibility

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>An irate hockey fan doesn&rsquo;t have to smack Kevin Lowe over the head for the message to reach him.The Oilers&rsquo; captain and player representative knows fans are upset NHL players are on strike and much of their anger is directed at the striking players. But he also said the decision to strike was the correct one because the owners resubmitted a rejected offer and were no longer bargaining in good faith.&ldquo;I was at someone&rsquo;s house (the first night of the strike). They had a dish and we watched reports from all over North America. It was amazing to see how the reactions varied. In some cities they were supportive, while in some they blamed the players.&ldquo;I think we could state our case until we&rsquo;re blue in the face and not convince all the people.&rdquo;Lowe said he hadn&rsquo;t dealt with irate fans face-to-face, however. He said he would like the opportunity to speak to every fan and present the players&rsquo; side but would leave that jot to NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow.Lowe is careful not to speak toe long or loudly about the strike. He chose not to speak on the first day April 1 because he didn&rsquo;t want to prejudice negotiations.But after a team meeting the next day he said the Oilers are being kept well-informed and were aware of the issues when they took their unanimous strike vote.&ldquo;It was a closed vote so there was no peer pressure and we stayed there until all the guys knew the issues,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everyone is disappointed. God, my mom is disappointed. She won&rsquo;t change the sheets on a bed if we win a hockey game at this time of year. There&rsquo;s all that superstition. So there&rsquo;s some doubt and all the guys are a bit nervous but we feel strong in our position.&rdquo;TIK READY?: The wheels may have fallen off the NHL season but Esa Tikkanen is ready to roll.And that&rsquo;s news to Oilers&rsquo; therapist Ken Lowe.Tikkanen. the Oilers&rsquo; feisty winger, has been out of action since he sustained a fractured left shoulder Jan. 4 in Calgary. He said he would be able to return by April 10, even though he had not received medical clearance to play.&ldquo;My strength is back.&rdquo; Tikkanen said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working, doing excellent job. I was working the right way, not pushing it or doing the wrong thing.&rdquo;Tikkanen missed 37 games. He had 12 goals and 28 points in 38 games before the injury.Lowe said he would be surprised to see Tikkanen able to join the lineup before mid-April.&ldquo;Tik runs on his own time schedule. I haven&rsquo;t seen him for a while and I wouldn&rsquo;t know exactly what his status was but I&rsquo;d be very surprised (if he was ready).&rdquo; Lowe said.NOTEBOOK: Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather took a jab at the owners when commenting on the strike. &ldquo;When you get right down to it, the owners don&rsquo;t really have anybody to blame but themselves,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;They created their own problems. They gave out the contracts. We didn&rsquo;t do it in Edmonton. We couldn&rsquo;t afford it. So we traded them (Wayne Gretzky, Grant Fuhr, and Mark Messier). When you can see you&rsquo;re going to be losing money and you keep giving them dollars, it is pretty stupid.&rdquo;Left winger Martin Gelinas had a busy first day of the strike. &ldquo;I went to a couple of businesses in town and put my resume in,&rdquo; he said laughing. &ldquo;You read the paper, listen to the radio, talk to friends. That&rsquo;s all they talk about. And the hard thing to take is not a lot of people agree with the players. You get heck from everybody.&rdquo; &#9632;

Angry fans won’t alter Lowe’s view on strike

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>It didn&rsquo;t take long for the NHL players&rsquo; strike to claim its first victim in Vancouver, that being the image of Canucks&rsquo; captain Trevor Linden.Linden was named the Canucks&rsquo; player representative during the summer after Garth Butcher was traded to St. Louis last March and Tom Kurvers moved to the New York Islanders in June. When the players went on strike April 1, Linden was perceived as a villain and &lsquo;millionaire militant&rsquo; by frustrated fans.The 21-year-old right winger, who signed a $3.7-million contract this season&mdash;the richest in Canuck history-was not enjoying his sudden reversal in popularity.&ldquo;Maybe if I was more of a rebel I wouldn&rsquo;t feel as bad about this as I do,&rdquo; Linden told the Vancouver Sun., &ldquo;I&rsquo;m being made to look like the radical villain. That&rsquo;s not the case. I&rsquo;m just the spokesman. I guess at times I wish I wasn&rsquo;t. But I&rsquo;m the captain; that&rsquo;s the way things go. If you ask any one of our players, they&rsquo;re going to say the same thing I would say.&rdquo;The immediate effect, however, was Linden&rsquo;s reluctance to show his face in public. Captain Canuck said he is going to become a recluse for the time being.&ldquo;Most days off this year, we won the night before and you could walk out the door in the morning with a smile,&rdquo; Linden said. &ldquo;The thing I love about Vancouver is when the sun shines, everyone&rsquo;s so excited. There&rsquo;s so much life and I can&rsquo;t be a part of that now.&rdquo;Although he was outspoken in his support of the players demands, Linden said he was shattered when the strike became a reality.&ldquo;No one ever thought it would come to this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Believe me, I wasn&rsquo;t hoping for it. But it has happened and now I have to come to the forefront. This is no fun. There&rsquo;s incredible pressure. Believe me, I go to bed praying this thing will be resolved, not for the players, not for management but for the fans. This is easily the worst time in my life.&rdquo;DIRK IN DUMPS: Defenseman Robert Dirk expressed bitter disappointment at the strike, calling it &ldquo;the low point&rdquo; of his career.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s worse than any trade or injury,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very sad, frustrating, empty feeling. I think we believed things would be resolved.&rdquo;Before the strike, there was a feeling in the Canuck dressing room that the team was a true Stanley Cup contender. With the playoffs in jeopardy, this version of the Canucks may never discover whether it had the right stuff.&ldquo;Fifteen or 16 years, we don&rsquo;t have a .500 season and then we win the division this year,&rdquo; goalie Troy Gamble said. &ldquo;It makes it tough, especially in this city, for the people to understand.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Canucks&rsquo; landlords at the Pacific Coliseum threw open the doors for free public skates on the nights Vancouver was supposed to play its final regular-season games. Free hot dogs and drinks were provided to the first 1,000 people who showed up.Radio station CKNW, which broadcasts all Canuck games, replayed the team&rsquo;s first league game from their inaugural 1970-71 season to fill air time lost by the strike. Danny Gallivan did the play-by-play as the Canucks lost 3-1 to the Los Angeles Kings. &#9632;

New image doesn’t suit Linden

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>Did anyone benefit more from that two-day postponement of the NHL strike than Calgary Flames&rsquo; left winger Gary Roberts?Not likely.On the day NHL players were scheduled to go on Strike-March 30-it looked as if Roberts had lost his last chance to reach the 50-goal plateau for the first time in his career. He was stuck at 49.Then the players put off their work stoppage for 48 hours, adding one more game to the Flames&rsquo; season&mdash;a March 31 game against the Edmonton Oilers&mdash;and Roberts responded to the second chance by scoring twice.His 51 goals tied him for the second highest total by a Flame behind Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s 66 in 1982-83.Roberts deviated from his usual style maybe only once this season, a March 28 game against Minnesota. Seeing that as possibly his last chance to get 50, he got away from his usual game and went for goals.&ldquo;I found myself ahead of the play all night and I was mad at myself because I really felt I was trying too hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Dougie Gilmour called me that day and was pushing me to get it. We have a bet this year: First guy to 10 goals, first guy to 20, 30, 40, 50 for a case of beer. I beat him to every plateau. He says: &lsquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to spend a lot of time together to kill five cases of beer.&rsquo; And we&rsquo;re from Ontario where five cases is five 24s, not five 12s.&rdquo;Since there are no individual bonuses for Flames&rsquo; players Roberts will not profit by hitting the 50 mark. He does, however, have bonus money coming to him if he is named to the first or second all-star team.OWNER TALKS: The Flames&rsquo; ownership group keeps a low profile but April 3&mdash;three days before the pivotal board of governors meetings&mdash;Harley Hotchkiss broke from tradition and granted a interview to the Calgary Herald.,Hotchkiss discussed a number of issues, including the team&rsquo;s short&mdash;and long-term financial prospects. Despite the fact the Flames will average more than 19,500 spectators per game this season, Hotchkiss said the NHL Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s demands in the current strike put the Calgary franchise in &ldquo;real jeopardy.&rdquo;Said Hotchkiss: &ldquo;Ticket sales do not cover our costs. The only reason we have any profit is because of our broadcast revenues and our sports sales&mdash;and this last couple of years, (revenues) have been inflated because of expansion money. We haven&rsquo;t taken money out of the team except to repay shareholders&rsquo; loans and to offset the tax impact of the money that flows through the system.&rdquo;Excluding expansion revenues, Hotchkiss predicted 91 per cent of next year&rsquo;s income would be earmarked to cover player costs.NOTEBOOK: Flames&rsquo; players decided against holding workouts during the strike, choosing to work out individually. &ldquo;We talked about getting ice somewhere but realized it&rsquo;s pretty tough to do, considering we have no equipment,&rdquo; Gary Roberts said. &#9632;

Roberts finds 50 ways to take postponement

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01731/6430875-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lake Superior junior Dean Hulett hoists the NCAA trophy after his team&rsquo;s 5-3 win over the Wisconsin Badgers April 4 in Albany, N.Y. (Photo by Mike Groll/AP)</figcaption></div>Earlier this season, Lake Superior State coach Jeff Jackson made a seemingly insignificant roster change that turned out to be one of the best moves he has ever made.Jackson moved senior center Paul Constantin, a defensive specialist, to right wing, in the hopes he could provide some offensive punch.Constantin responded by scoring six goals in three tournament games to lead the Lakers to the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship.Lake Superior beat Wisconsin 5-3 in the championship game April 4 at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, N.Y., to capture its second Rational title in the last five years. The Lakers beat St. Lawrence 4-3 in 1988 at Lake Placid, N.Y.&ldquo;Paul Constantin has always been a really great defensive player,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;He played center for the majority of the season but we had problems scoring goals on the road earlier this year and that&rsquo;s why I moved him to right anything.&rdquo;&ldquo;After scoring just 15 goals in 40 games, Constantin found his touch when it counted most. He had a pair of goals in a 4-2 semifinal win over Michigan State April 2 and scored the first goal in the win over the Badgers. The 23-year-old Burlington, Ont., native-selected in the 10th round by Vancouver in 1988-was named the tournament&rsquo;s most valuable player for his efforts.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been skating with new linemates and it took me time to get used to them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just give the puck to (sophomore center) Clayton Beddoes and he does all the dangling and attracts all the players. That lets me get open.&rdquo;The Badgers led 2-0 after the first period on a pair of goals by sophomore left winger Jason Zent. Constantin scored his goal at 11:40 of the second period to get the Lakers on the board.Lakers&rsquo; defenseman Tim Hanley tied the game with six seconds left in the second period and junior defenseman Michael Smith put Lake Superior ahead 3-2 early in the third. Zent tied the game with his third goal of the game at 8:24 of the third.The teams were tied 3-3 late in the game when Laker freshman Brian Rolston scored the winning goal with 4:52 left. Rolston, a first-round pick of New Jersey in 1991, grabbed his own rebound, circled the net and stuffed the puck past Badger senior goalie Duane Derksen.Lakers&rsquo; sophomore left winger Jay Ness added an empty-net goal at 19:58 to complete the scoring.&ldquo;All through hockey, I&rsquo;ve never won anything,&rdquo; said Lakers&rsquo; senior goalie Darrin Madeley, a Hobey Baker candidate who made 24 saves in the championship game. &ldquo;Winning something like this is beyond me. It will probably take a month to sink in.&rdquo;Madeley, who was recruited by only two U.S. colleges-Lake Superior and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute-outplayed Derksen, another Hobey candidate, in the finals.Madeley, who is undrafted, was the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 ranked goalie this season. Derksen, selected in the fourth round by Washington in 1988, finished in the top five.That the Badgers reached the championship game was a huge accomplishment. They advanced to the final with a 4-2 win over heavily favored Michigan of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Michigan went into the tournament as a top seed, while the Badgers were seeded sixth in the West.&ldquo;You work hard all year and it comes down to this,&rdquo; said Derksen, who stopped 33 shots. &ldquo;It hurts so much to come this far and lose.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Four Lakers were named to the all-tournament team. Paul Constantin, Brian Rolston, Darrin Madeley and senior defenseman Mark Astley joined Wisconsin&rsquo;s Jason Zent and junior right winger Barry Richter&hellip;The Michigan Wolverines, making their first trip to the NCAA semifinals since 1977, may have succumbed to Final Four mania in their semifinal loss to Wisconsin. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t look like the team we were all season,&rdquo; said Wolverines&rsquo; coach Red Berenson. &ldquo;Maybe the excitement and thrill of the Final Four was too much for this team.&rdquo;The Badgers had the largest contingent of fans at the Knickerbocker Arena. Many of the legendary &ldquo;Cheeseheads&rdquo;-who wear tri-cornered hats that resemble wedges of cheese-set up camp in one comer of the arena. According to Badgers&rsquo; coach Jeff Sauer, seven busloads of fans made the trip from Madison, Wise. On the eve of the championship game, the Wisconsin band played the school&rsquo;s fight song in the swimming pool of the Sheraton Inn.The staff at the Knickerbocker Arena received rave reviews for the way it handled its first collegiate hockey tournament. The semifinal games April 2 drew a total of 21,219 fans. The championship game drew 12,891-fewer than 2,000 tickets from being sold out. &#9632;

f0029-01

Simply Superior

Maine left winger Scott Pellerin spent many hours in high school struggling to perfect his on-ice techniques.And his hard work paid off April 3 as the 22-year-old senior captured the 1991-92 Hobey Baker Award, awarded to the most outstanding player in U.S. college hockey.&ldquo;The motto at Notre Dame (his former high school in Wilcox, Sask.) is struggle and emerge,&rdquo; Pellerin said. &ldquo;I feel that today I finally emerged.&ldquo;In my junior and senior years in high school, coach Barry MacKenzie taught me a lot of things. He taught me what it takes to be a winner and what it takes to be a complete player.&rdquo;Pellerin has been a complete player since joining the Bears four years ago. The Shediac. N.B., native is the only player in Maine history to score more than 100 career goals and 100 assists. He finished third in team scoring during the regular season with 33 points in 21 games.Although Pellerin was named the Hobey Baker winner, he had nothing to show for it at the presentation ceremonies. The actual Hobey Baker Trophy didn&rsquo;t arrive in Albany in time for the ceremony. It was shipped from Bloomington. Minn., by the sponsoring Decathlon Club a week prior to the event but was held up in the mail.Pellerin, selected in the third round of the 1989 entry draft by New Jersey, rebounded from a serious knee injury this season. He tore ligaments in his left knee on the third day of the Canadian Olympic team training camp in May and didn&rsquo;t skate again until mid-July.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a subtle message here going out to underclassmen,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a guy who could have turned pro after his junior year but came back to Maine, will get his degree (in business) in May and has walked off with the Hobey Baker.&rdquo;By winning the Hobey, Pellerin completed an amazing post-season trophy run. He was named player of the year in Hockey East, MVP in the Hockey East tournament and was named a first-team all-America in the east.Pellerin was joined by Maine teammate Jean-Yves Roy at forward on the east&rsquo;s first all-America team. Also named to the first team were Parris Duffus of Cornell in goal, Dan Laperriere and Mike Brewer of Brown on defense and Dave Sacco of Boston University at forward.Christian Soucy of Vermont and Scott LaGrand of Boston College tied in voting for goalie on the second team. Other second teamers in the east were Tom Dion of Boston University and Rob Gaudreau of Providence on defense and Domenic Amodeo of New Hampshire, Dale Band of Colgate and Mike Lappin of St. Lawrence. The west team was due to be named in mid-April. &#9632;

Feisty Pellerin captures top individual honor

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>The Peoria Rivermen needed a pair of spare parts to pull off one of the most dramatic victories in International League history March 29 at Carver Arena.The Rivermen beat the Indianapolis Ice 4-3 in a sudden-death shootout&mdash;the teams combined for 22 shooters in all-after inserting emergency backup goalie Mike Mudd cold off the bench to face Indianapolis counterpart Ray LeBlanc.Mudd stopped all 10 shots he faced, while local boy Butch Kaebel-an emergency signee from Pekin, Ill.-beat LeBlanc for the winner.&ldquo;The hairs on the back of my head were still standing for an hour afterwards,&rdquo; said Kaebel, 25, who was signed as a free agent after playing for Dayton of the East Coast League. &ldquo;It was a pretty emotional situation out there. Nothing I&rsquo;ve ever done can compare to this.&rdquo;The Ice entered the game needing a win or tie to catch Salt Lake City for the final playoff spot. LeBlanc-who starred for the U.S. Olympic team at the Winter Olympics-played a spectacular game to keep his team in it. But the Rivermen rallied from a 3-0 deficit after two periods to tie the game with 63 seconds left.After a scoreless-overtime frame, the game went to a shootout. Indianapolis winger Craig Woodcroft scored on his first shot to put the Ice ahead 1-0 but Peoria goalie J.C. Bergeron sprained his ankle on the play and had to leave the game.Rivermen coach Harold Snepsts had no choice but go with Mudd, who had a 5.16 goals-against average and an .852 save percentage while going 9-11-5 for Raleigh of the ECHL.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t really sunk in yet what happened out there,&rdquo; the 23-year-old Buffalo native said. &ldquo;I saw J.C. laying there, and I could feel the pit of my stomach tighten. I had nothing to lose.&ldquo;One shootout doesn&rsquo;t make a career in the IHL but it makes a helluva memory that I can tell my grandkids about.&rdquo;Bergeron was credited with the win, however, and it helped him gain player-of-the-week honors for the period ending March 29. Bergeron had a 3-0-0 record and a 2.67 goals-against average.The Rivermen ended up going 2-for-11 in the shootout while the Ice scored once in 11 shots. Fifty-three IHL games have been decided by shootouts this season.STRIKING POSE: The NHL strike will not have a major impact on the IHL said league spokesman Mike Meyers.League owners met March 31 to discuss the transfer of the Muskegon franchise to Cleveland, Ohio and discuss options in case of a strike.The IHL is in the first year of a three-year deal with the Professional Hockey Players Association The league&rsquo;s deal with the players includes a no-strike clause.Under the terms of the deal, IHL games will continue unless NHL teams decide to call up minor-leaguers as replacement players. If such a scenario occurred, league games would be suspended.I-OPENERS: The East Division champion Fort Wayne Komets will be without left winger Bob Lakso for the playoffs. Lakso sustained multiple fractures in his left ankle March 29 in a 6-3 loss to Kalamazoo. Center Colin Chin also left the game with a badly bruised knee. returned to action March 31 against MilwaukflrSan Diego Gulls&rsquo; sniper Dmitri Kvartalnov had 25 power-play goals in 74 games, two shy of the IHL record set last season by Peoria&rsquo;s Dave Thomlinson. &#9632;

Rivermen use hot Mudd to cool streaking Ice

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>The Brabham Curse has claimed another victim.The Toledo Storm&mdash;the East Coast League&rsquo;s Brabham Cup winner for finishing first in the regular season (95 points)-lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Louisville IceHawks.The IceHawks won the best-of-seven-series 4-1. Last year, they swept the regular-season champion Knoxville Cherokees in the first round after the Cherokees won all six regularseason games.Since the ECHL began play in 1988-89, no team has captured the regular-season title and the Riley Cup championship trophy in the same season.&ldquo;We really picked things up since January,&rdquo; said IceHawks&rsquo; coach Warren Young. &ldquo;We started the season very shaky on defense. At times, we had forwards playing back there.&rdquo;The defense was solidified with the arrival of Scott Humeniuk Jan. 15 from Springfield of the American League and defensive forwards Brian Cook and Rob Reimer.Goalie Chris Clifford, who finished the year with a 4.25 goals-against average and 29-19-6 record, also improved down the stretch. At one point early in the year, his GAA was over 5.00.&ldquo;He (Clifford) was outstanding,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;He was the difference for sure.&rdquo;Said Clifford: &ldquo;Toledo has nothing to be ashamed of. It was a funny series.&rdquo;Right winger Sheldon Gorski led Louisville with eight goals in the series.&ldquo;It goes to show you how ridiculous the league is when a guy like Gorski isn&rsquo;t even voted to the all-star team,&rdquo; said Toledo coach Chris McSorley.TOMMY HAWK CHOPPED: The Ice-Hawks&rsquo; mascot. Tommy Hawk, was tomahawked by the league in the Toledo-Louisville series.Tommy Hawk-played by 21-year-old Dominic Latkovski-was barred from the rest of the series and fined $100 for his behavior during the third period of Game 3 at Broadbent Arena March 26.Latkovski leaned over the glass of the penalty box and tapped the Storm&rsquo;s Bruce MacDonald on the shoulder with a pair of inflatable lips. MacDonald retaliated and tried to hit Latkovski with his stick. A melee ensued and MacDonald was slapped with a gross-misconduct penalty and ejected. Latkovski and several fans were also ejected.The IceHawks won the game 5-2.&ldquo;I gave Bruce permission to go after the mascot,&rdquo; Chris McSorley said. &ldquo;I think Bruce wanted to give him a dirt nap.&rdquo;Billy Bird, the mascot of the Louisville Redbirds minor-league baseball team, filled in for Tommy Hawk in Game 5. Billy Bird is played by Dominic&rsquo;s brother Brennan Latkovski.Ironically, Dominic Latkovski returned in full plumage two days later for Game 4. He didn&rsquo;t enter the arena but signed autographed photos in the parking lot. The photos sold for $1 each and the proceeds (more than $300) went to the Louisville Zoo to help crippled birds.SLAPSHOT REVISITED: Johnstown center Brian Ferreira became so enraged with the officiating during the Chiefs&rsquo; 7-1 loss to Cincinnati at Johnstown March 29, he threw a puck at league president Pat Kelly, who was sitting in the press box. Ferreira missed but then put on skateguards and charged after Kelly with a minute left in the game. He stopped before he reached Kelly and returned to the dressing room. Kelly did not comment on the incident. &#9632;

IceHawks weather the Storm

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Sometime later in Paul Cohen&rsquo;s life, perhaps when he&rsquo;s telling his grandchildren about his playing days as a goaltender, he might embellish the story of how he once scored a goal.But for now, Cohen is sticking to the facts. The Springfield Indians&rsquo; third-year goalie admits the empty-net goal he scored March 28 in a 4-2 win over Rochester wasn&rsquo;t planned.&ldquo;To be honest, it was a fluke,&rdquo; Cohen said. &ldquo;I was just clearing the puck. It was total luck.&rdquo;Cohen is the second American League goalie to score a goal. Rochester&rsquo;s Darcy Wakaluk shot the puck into an empty net for the fifth goal in a 5-2 victory at Utica on Dec. 7, 1987.Three other professional goalies have managed to score. Philadelphia&rsquo;s Ron Hextall has scored twice in the NHL, once in the regular season and once in the playoffs. New York Islander Billy Smith was credited with a goal against the Colorado Rockies on Nov. 28, 1979 and Michel Plasse scored when he played for Kansas City of the Central League in 1970-71.Cohen&rsquo;s goal came with the Indians leading 3-2 and the Americans pressing with an extra attacker.&ldquo;The shot came in from the point and I tried to glove it down but it was knuckleballing and it hit the top of my glove and dropped,&rdquo; Cohen said. &ldquo;I was going to fire it off the boards but one Of the Rochester guys was coming at me. As I faked it off the boards, he swung to the boards. Nobody was covering the points so A only place I could fire it was up the middle of the ice.&rdquo;The goal is the least of Cohen&rsquo;s contributions to the Indians this year. After joining the team in February after injuries to Mario Gosselin and Daryl Reaugh, he had an 11-5-1 record with a team-leading 3.10 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage.FIGHTING BACK: Capital District own Albert W. Lawrence has filed a civil suit against Adirondack, maintaining the Red Wings and coach Barry Melrose are responsible for injuries that cost the Islanders the services of three players.The injuries occurred in three separate games against the Red Wings. In the first game Jan. 29, Kevin Cheveldayoff broke his leg during a late-game fight. He missed 32 games. Dean Trboyevich suffered a knee injury during a fight in the second game Feb. 7 and is out for the season.Lawrence has also asked the city of Troy, N.Y., to determine whether criminal charges should be laid against Adirondack center Max Middendorf, who slashed Graeme Townshend in the face March 13. The blow broke Townshend&rsquo;s nose and fractured a sinus. He missed three games. Middendorf was suspended for the final 11 games of the season.&ldquo;I do think there should be a distinction between good, hard hockey and intent to maim, and I intend to make that distinction,&rdquo; Lawrence said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m also upset there hasn&rsquo;t been a whisper of apology from the Red Wings, which is to say they&rsquo;re unrepentant and rather proud of slugging a star player with a stick in the face intentionally.&rdquo;The Red Wings had no comment.TOUGH TO FIGURE: The Baltimore Skip-jacks drew 9,410 for their March 27 game against Hershey-a 3-3 overtime tie&mdash;the third-largest crowd in team history. The stumbling Skipjacks have been eliminated from the playoffs. &#9632;

Cohen shoots and scores! Not too bad for a goalie

Please excuse Lonnie Loach for not being all caught up in the excitement of the American League&rsquo;s rookie of the year battle.The 24-year-old New Liskeard, Ont., native is a candidate for the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Trophy but Loach firmly believes his name shouldn&rsquo;t be on the ballot.Loach spent the past three seasons in the International League and last year led scorers with 55 goals and 131 points. After he signed with Detroit in the off-season, the last thing Loach considered himself was a rookie.When Loach heard he was being considered for the award-he had 36 goals and 84 points in 64 games-he asked his name be taken off the ballot. But president Jack Butterfield says as a first-year AHL player, the Adirondack left winger is a rookie.&ldquo;Those are our rules,&rdquo; Butterfield said.Loach says the calibre of play in the two leagues is similar and the AHL should consider ammending its rookie guidelines.&ldquo;If I win, they should put an asterisk by my name,&rdquo; Loach said. &ldquo;It would be an honor but I wouldn&rsquo;t be jumping up and down about it.&rdquo; &#9632;

Loach AHL’s reluctant rookie

<div class="byline">By Ken warren</div>The Hull Olympiques couldn&rsquo;t wait to get Philippe Boucher onto their roster. Now they can&rsquo;t wait until he jumps to the NHL.Boucher&rsquo;s two-year junior career has been marked by controversy. Although the Olympiques introduced him to the league, they have already seen more than enough of him.Three years ago, their choice of Boucher was the reason for a major rule change at the Quebec League draft. Boucher, then 15, was selected even though he was ineligible. The Olympiques took the QMJHL to court and forced a rule change that now allows 15-year-olds to be drafted.But they also lost Boucher&rsquo;s rights. Boucher re-entered the draft two years ago and was selected by the Granby Bisons.Boucher was dealt to Laval in February, along with high-scoring center Hughes Mongeon, in a deadline trade.Boucher, a defenseman who possesses an Al Maclnnis-type slapshot, scored a natural hat trick against the Olympiques in a 6-1 win in the first game of the playoffs March 31.Sometimes, Boucher can&rsquo;t help but wonder what might have been.&ldquo;I think about it a little,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was drafted 13th by Buffalo in the (1991) NHL draft, but (Olympiques director of operations) Charlie Henry told me I would have gone higher had I played for Hull,&rdquo; said Boucher,.When Boucher was drafted by Hull, Henry claimed he would be selected immediately following Eric Lindros in the 1991 draft.Boucher now has an idea of what playing for a contender is like. He says going from hapless Granby to hopeful Laval is like night and day.&ldquo;In Granby, Hughes and I were at the top,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This team here has so many good players, we&rsquo;re just a part of a team.&rdquo;LASER BURN: The high-scoring St-Hyacinthe trio of Patrick Poulin, Martin Gendron and Charles Poulin finished 1-2-3 in QMJHL scoring. So it came as no surprise that all three were named to the QMJHL&rsquo;s first all-star team. But the awards didn&rsquo;t stop there.Patrick Poulin, who had 52 goals and 138 points in 56 games, won the Jean Beliveau Trophy as league&rsquo;s top scorer. Charles Poulin was named the QMJHL&rsquo;s most valuable player.Joining the them on the first all-star team were Shawinigan&rsquo;s Francois Groleau-who won the Emile Bouchard Trophy as top defenseman&mdash;and College Francais&rsquo; Yan Arsenault. Trois Rivieres&rsquo; goalie Jean-Francois Labbe rounded out the first all-star team.Shawinigan&rsquo;s Alain Sanscartier, who guided the Cataractes to second place, was top coach.BIG LOSS: NHL hockey fans may be mourning the strike but it came at a perfect time for the St-Hyacinthe Laser.The Devils&rsquo; decision to recall goalie Martin Brodeur late in the season left the Laser with little goaltending experience. Brodeur was the backbone of the team with a 27-16-4 record and 3.39 goals-against average in 47 games.Brodeur was returned to the Laser April 1, an hour before NHL players walked out. &#9632;

Boucher haunts Olympiques

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>The Lethbridge Hurricanes lost their best player and their inspirational leader when Kevin St. Jacques had to leave the East Division quarterfinal series against the Saskatoon Blades.The Hurricanes, who trailed the best-of-seven series 2-1 when St. Jacques took himself out the lineup, dropped the next two games and were eliminated from the playoffs.St. Jacques, who led the Western League in scoring during the regular season with 65 goals and 140 points in 71 games, aggravated a hernia injury he sustained in late December.&ldquo;His absence affected us,&rdquo; Hurricanes&rsquo; coach Bob Loucks said. &ldquo;It took away from our offense, not only on the power play but he killed penalties as well. You don&rsquo;t replace guys like that.&rdquo;St. Jacques, 20, was uncertain how he sustained the injury. He first experienced pain when he returned home to Edmonton for the Christmas break. The pain subsided, however, so he kept playing.But following Game 3, he had trouble eating and going to the bathroom. He pulled himself from the lineup and plans to undergo surgery by mid-April to correct the problem.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those things where you take a gamble (if you continue to play),&rdquo; said St. Jacques, Chicago&rsquo;s sixth-round choice in 1991. &ldquo;When we were going along and it didn&rsquo;t bother me, everyone said, &lsquo;OK, let it be,&rsquo; and so I thought maybe I could make it through the season. Unfortunately, for me and the Lethbridge Hurricanes, I couldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;MAX LEAVING?: One hot rumor had Spokane coach Bryan Maxwell leaving the team to coach the expansion Ottawa Senators next season.Maxwell, who guided the Chiefs to the Memorial Cup last year, admitted he has talked to several Ottawa-based reporters about his future. But he maintains he has not talked with Senators&rsquo; management about the job.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t talked to the Senators about that at all, absolutely not,&rdquo; he said.Maxwell did say, however, he would be interested in the position. But he plans to wait until the end of the year to evaluate his options.BATTLE ROYALE: Three members of the Tri-City Americans were suspended for their roles in a third-period melee in Game 5 of the West Division quarterfinal in Seattle.Tri-City defenseman Dan O&rsquo;Rourke was suspended for five games while Trevor Sherban was suspended for three and Jodi Murphy for two.The Americans were fined $1,000 for not controlling their players. The Thunderbirds were assessed a $1,000 fine for not providing sufficient security to prevent fans from harassing players in the Tri-City penalty box.The Thunderbirds won the game 5-2 to take the best-of-seven-series 4-1. The suspensions carry over to next season. &#9632;

Injury to St. Jacques seals Hurricanes’ fate

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman and Ken Campbell</div>The future of the Cornwall Royals will ultimately be decided by the benevolence of the team&rsquo;s owner and the commitment of its fans.Royals&rsquo; owner-general manager William Wise was ready to move the franchise to Newmarket but decided to give the city until April 22 to decide whether or not it will support the franchise enough to make it economically feasible to stay in Cornwall.Wise decided to put off the move after the Ontario League&rsquo;s board of governors meeting april 6. At the meeting, Cornwall mayor Ron Martell and local member of parliament Bob Kilger, a former Royals&rsquo; coach and NHL referee, presented the board with an impassioned plea and a petition with more than 25,000 names.&ldquo;It is totally in the hands of the city of Cornwall,&rdquo; Wise said. &ldquo;We felt that given the mayor&rsquo;s and local MP&rsquo;s involvement, we would give them another chance.&rdquo;Wise had applied to the board to move the franchise to Newmarket and was hoping the meeting would result in a positive vote. Despite setting a team record for wins this season, the Royals drew an average of only 1,400 fans per game and lost in the first round of the playoffs.OHL commissioner Dave Branch was encouraged by the meeting but said that iftthe fans of Cornwall don&rsquo;t satisfy Wise, the board will have no option but to grant the transfer.Wise said he and his partners are unwilling to sell the franchise,. The city has the first option to buy the Royals if they are put up for sale.&ldquo;One way or another, we will be the owners of the Royals,&rdquo; Wise said, &ldquo;whether they are the Cornwall Royals or Newmarket Royals.&rdquo;Wise, meanwhile, fired his coaching staff March 27, despite the fact rookie coach John Lovell was voted to the third all-star team.&ldquo;I appreciate the job John and his staff did but there was a lack of harmony between John and myself,&rdquo; Wise said.&ldquo;Willie&rsquo;s attitude is it&rsquo;s my team, not the community&rsquo;s team,&rdquo; said Lovell, who was fired along with assistant Paul Fixter.THUNDER STAYS: The honeymoon is going to continue in Niagara Falls.The citizens responded to an ultimatum from owner Rick Gay that they buy 1,500 season tickets for 1992-93 or the team leaves. When sales reached 1,337, the most in the OHL, Gay relented. They sold 680 season tickets this season.&ldquo;I never said I wanted to move,&rdquo; Gay said. &ldquo;I let the people of Niagara Falls decide.&rdquo;MONEY TALKS: Keith Primeau of the Detroit Red Wings gave the Thunder financial incentive as they trailed the Detroit Ambassadors 3-2 in an Emms Division quarterfinal. Primeau, a Thunder graduate, offered $100 before Game 6 to the player who scored the winning goal. Kevin Brown collected the prize when he scored the winner in an 8-3 rout. Primeau offered the same prize for Game 7 and Todd Simon cashed in as the Thunder won 7-2. &#9632;

Wise move by Cornwall Royals’ owner put on hold

<h2>STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01822/6431472-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="995" height="910"></div><h2>OVERALL STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02564/6431465-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="500" height="600"></div><h2>OVERTIME RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03390/6431458-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="481" height="597"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04265/6431451-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="985" height="1087"></div><h2>DIVISIONAL RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05194/6431444-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="519" height="767"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06160/6431437-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="899" height="1014"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s 130 points may be enough for him to capture his third Art Ross Trophy.</figcaption></div><h2>POWER PLAY</h2>(ADV)&mdash;TOTAL ADVANTAGES; (PPG)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS; (PCT)&mdash;POWER-PLAY GOALS DIVIDED BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07133/6431430-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="463" height="619"></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/f0032-08118/6431423-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="392" height="639"></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/f0032-09100/6431416-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="454" height="636"></div><h2>TOP SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1090/6431409-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="600" height="544"></div><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1178/6431402-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="593" height="286"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1273/6431395-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="592" height="290"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1368/6431388-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="600" height="1423"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1462/6431381-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="466" height="668"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1556/6431374-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="466" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Amonte</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1653/6431367-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="469" height="666"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Andreychuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1741/6431360-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg" title="f0032-17" width="463" height="659"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Ysebaert</figcaption></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01741/6431353-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="993" height="1147"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02504/6431346-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="993" height="1145"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03370/6431339-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="1001" height="369"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04292/6431332-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="1008" height="778"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05241/6431325-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="1001" height="1235"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06208/6431318-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="988" height="780"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07189/6431311-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="999" height="248"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08157/6431304-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="1001" height="1090"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09138/6431297-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="993" height="982"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10122/6431290-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="998" height="395"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01831/6431283-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="997" height="529"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02589/6431276-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="1000" height="1003"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03458/6431269-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="992" height="808"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04351/6431262-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="992" height="863"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05280/6431255-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="991" height="109"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06247/6431248-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="988" height="1312"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07227/6431241-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="997" height="892"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08211/6431234-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="997" height="865"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09189/6431227-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="999" height="224"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10184/6431220-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="998" height="1009"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11173/6431213-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="991" height="1001"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12168/6431206-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="1010" height="974"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01790/6431199-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="994" height="61"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02580/6431192-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="993" height="1064"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03470/6431185-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="983" height="590"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04378/6431178-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="1001" height="723"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05318/6431171-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="991" height="839"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06290/6431164-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="995" height="147"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07268/6431157-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="987" height="669"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08240/6431150-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="995" height="1146"></div><h2>NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><h2>TEAM-BY-TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09220/6431143-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="986" height="1367"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10193/6431136-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="983" height="1467"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11169/6431129-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="992" height="475"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12148/6431122-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="999" height="888"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

NOTE: ALL STATISTICS INCLUDE GAMES OF SUNDAY, APRIL 5/92, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED.NHL AFFILIATIONS OF MINOR PROFESSIONAL TEAMS APPEAR IN BRACKETS; INDEPENDENT TEAMS WITH NO NHL AFFILIATION ARE INDICATED BY (IND).<h2>AHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03426/6431618-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="575" height="3258"></div><h2>IHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01669/6431611-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="586" height="1322"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02472/6431604-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="584" height="1271"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03361/6431597-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="550" height="703"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dmitri Kvartalnov</figcaption></div><h2>ECHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04298/6431590-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="605" height="3356"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05266/6431583-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="581" height="1589"></div><h2>OHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06233/6431576-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="596" height="1689"></div><h2>WHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07206/6431569-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="590" height="2885"></div><h2>MEMORIAL CUP</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08171/6431562-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="583" height="375"></div><h2>NCAA TOP 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09146/6431555-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="581" height="468"></div><h2>NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10132/6431548-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="596" height="1643"></div><h2>WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-11111/6431541-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="582" height="1017"></div> &#9632;

f0036-03

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01705/6431649-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="364" height="468"></div>There are so many angles to the story of Washington Capitals&rsquo; goalie Don Beaupre, you could pick your direction:If you want the &ldquo;Comeback Story,&rdquo; all you have to do is recall his glory days with the Minnesota North Stars followed by his demise, and then his return to glory with the Capitals.If you want the &ldquo;Hold Out Story,&rdquo; simply go back to last fall when Beaupre held out until the end of October.If you prefer the &ldquo;Big Contract Story,&rdquo; just check out the numbers on the new deal Beaupre signed in January. It&rsquo;s a three-year pact which made Beaupre the hihest-paid Capital at about $800,000 per season.But if you want a story which goes just a little deeper, you want the tale about a guy struggling after all of this rediscovered success. After a long among the NHL&rsquo;s elite, Beaupre was very inconsistent in the latter stages of the season.&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve struggled a little bit,&rdquo; Beaupre said, &ldquo;but like the team, it has been against teams that maybe we think we should beat. You know, you tell yourself you&rsquo;re all geared up, but sometimes you&rsquo;re not mentally there.&rdquo;Fortunately for Beaupre, the way the Caps have been scoring this season, he hasn&rsquo;t had to be his best every night to win. The fact of the matter is Washington does have enough offense to get by without spectacular goaltending-but they certainly aren&rsquo;t going to get anywhere in the playoffs (assuming there is a post-season) if Beaupre struggles.When the Caps sort of stumbled upon Beaupre a few seasons ago, they found something which had kept them from reaching the success for which they had appeared destined. Here was a goalie who could come upnig in the playoffs.Hey, this is a franchise which lists the immortal Al Jensen as one of its great goalies, and a franchise which intrepidly went into the playoffs with an aging Pete Peeters.Thus, when Beaupre won 43 games over the past two seasons, and led the NHL with five shutouts last year, it appeared all of those goaltending woes were gone. The evidence was even stronger over the first half of this season as Beaupre was 12-5-0 through Dec. 20, with a 2.51 goals-against average.Beaupre was recognized for his substained high level of play by being invited to the All-Star Game.Usually, that&rsquo;s not such a big deal, but for Beaupre it was highly symbolic: he was making his first all-star appearance since 1980-81.The up-and-down pattern continued from there; he struggled for a couple of seasons, was named The Hockey News comeback player of the year when he won 25 games in 1985-86, and then slipped backward again.Eventually, he was banished to the minors and was acquired by the Caps for the legendary Claudio Scremin in November, 1988. It was thought to be just another one of those minor league deals but Beaupre played so well at Baltimore he eventually displaced Mike Liut as the Caps&rsquo; No. 1 man.His play over the past two years has earned him spots among the Caps&rsquo; all-time goalie leaders: his 2.64 GAA last season was a club best; his nine shutouts are a career high for the Caps; and sometime next season he will surpass Jensen&rsquo;s career record of 94 victories.Providing, of course, everything gets back on track.&ldquo;I think I appreciate this success more than most guys,&rdquo; Beaupre said. &ldquo;I feel like I got a second chance and I&rsquo;m making the most of it.&rdquo;Perhaps it&rsquo;s just a coincidence, but ever since he signed the new deal, and just after he got shellacked at the NHL all-star game, (which goalie isn&rsquo;t?), Beaupre has been on and off.&ldquo;When I got the new contract,&rdquo; Beaupre said &ldquo;that was a different kind of pressure: every time you have a bad game, there seems to be somebody waving that in your face, the media, whoever.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve learned to deal with that. And overall. I&rsquo;ve been really happy with my season. It&rsquo;s more wins than I&rsquo;ve ever had, and the team has just played so well.&rdquo;Toward the end of March, Beaupre was pulled after allowing five goals on 20 shots during an 8-2 loss to Hartford. In his previous outing, he gave up seven goals during a 7-6 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. By any standards, it was a bad &ldquo;trend,&rdquo; but there is also a curious side: the Flyers and Whalers aren&rsquo;t exactly what you would call dangerous teams.He followed up those losses with impressive wins over Montreal and Vancouver during what may have been the final weekend of the regular season, setting the Caps up for a playoff run&hellip;whenever the playoffs finally open. &#9632;

f0039-01

Beaupre’s career just one long elevator ride

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02482/6431680-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The one criticism that really bothers Tom McVie is when people say he&rsquo;s not qualified to be in the NHL. (Photo by Mitch Jaspan/BBS)</figcaption></div>In the moments following the NHL players&rsquo; walkout April 1, Tom McVie looked like a young boy whose dog had just run away.The 56-year-old head coach of the New Jersey Devils wasn&rsquo;t sure how he should react.&ldquo;At first, it was business as usual,&rdquo; McVie explained. &ldquo;But when the players didn&rsquo;t come, it felt like the end of the season. Sort of an emptiness. I&rsquo;ll be sitting here waiting until they do come back.&rdquo;McVie, who is trying to capitalize on what may be his last chance as an NHL head coach, should have known it would be this kind of a season when he was left twisting in the wind for more than two months last spring before being rehired June 17.Although McVie got the team into the 1991 playoffs and had the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on the ropes in the Patrick Division semifinals, the Devils weren&rsquo;t sure they wanted him back. It was owner John McMullen who ultimately insisted on McVie&rsquo;s rehiring.&ldquo;I like Tommy McVie because of his honesty,&rdquo; McMullen said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no facade about it. He&rsquo;s consistent, he&rsquo;s upbeat and he&rsquo;s funny. As a matter of fact, you have to make sure he&rsquo;s not too funny.&rdquo;Because of his one-liners, rowdy sense of humor and old-fashioned style, McVie is sometimes not respected as much as some of his tight-lipped, less colorful peers who talk of their &ldquo;new age&rdquo; coaching style.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a complete idiot but I get treated like that,&rdquo; McVie said.Nevertheless, McVie has successfully led a collection of players from every comer of the world who often seem to be pulling in different directions and has kept them within striking range of the first-place New York Rangers. And he has done it without 45-goal-scorer John MacLean.Only when injuries struck key players such as Scott Stevens, Peter Stastny, Claude Lemieux and both goaltenders, did the Devils go into a March tailspin. Even so, they wrapped up a playoff spot and accumulated a franchise-record 85 points with three games still to be played.Not bad for a guy who was supposed to be replaced by assistant Robbie Ftorek or Herb Brooks, coach of the Devils&rsquo; American League farm team in Utica, N.Y., by November.The talk of Brooks &ldquo;waiting in the wings&rdquo; and that the Devils&rsquo; veterans would be burned out by Christmas did not sit well with McVie but he learned to cope with it.&ldquo;Herb Brooks is fine,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care who the guy is who replaces me, Herb Brooks or Foster Brooks. And I&rsquo;ve heard all that &lsquo;burning teams out&rsquo; bull. I&rsquo;m really not sensitive about those.&ldquo;You know what I&rsquo;m sensitive about? When people say I&rsquo;m not qualified enough to be here. That tears me up because I paid my dues more than anyone in hockey.&rdquo;Without question, there was some dissension in the Devils&rsquo; dressing room, various hard-headed veterans asserting themselves. Yet there may have been less of that this season than in past seasons under different coaches.McVie got a career year out of Lemieux and got Viacheslav Fetisov&rsquo;s best NHL season. Rookie Kevin Todd credits McVie for much of his successful season and Claude Vilgrain, who couldn&rsquo;t make it through past training camps, became a 19-goal scorer while leading the team at plus-31.A former head coach at Winnipeg. Washington and during an earlier term with the Devils, McVie worked with two definite handicaps. First, he was forced to coach virtually every game as if his job was on the line, because it was. Resting players in November could have been suicidal.Second, he did not get any help from general manager Lou Lamoriello at the trade deadline even though it was obvious the team needed a goalscoring forward.While he survived, McVie could still be in what some have called a &ldquo;lame duck&rdquo; situation. Many feel he must work some magic in the playoffs to keep his job.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come down the river on a bale of hay. I know the situation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You walk the tightrope with this job.&rdquo;McVie moreso than most of his peers.&ldquo;I got fired in Winnipeg and I got fired in Washington,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get fired in Maine (of the AHL), but the Flyers sold the franchise just to get rid of me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0039-02

The Firing Line

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>Mark Messier didn&rsquo;t like what he saw when he arrived at the New York Rangers&rsquo; practice rink in Rye, N.Y., for an informal skate April 2.His teammates&ndash;ressed in all sorts of hockey garb&ndash;from Kris King&rsquo;s neon pink sweatshirt to Jeff Beuke-boom&rsquo;s Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; practice jersey-were haphazardly skating around in disarray.&ldquo;It really, to me, didn&rsquo;t look right,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;After the season our team has had, it was embarrassing to see the players reduced to being out there, skatingin sweats and old pickup equipment. It wasn&rsquo;t something for the fans tp see-us having been reduced to that point.&rdquo;Goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, the Rangers&rsquo; player representative, had rented the ice at the facility for $195 per hour.The players chipped in for the ice time, scrounged whatever equipment they could, and were running some informal drills when Messier. Adam Graves, Mike Richter and Brian Leetch arrived from a trip at Messier&rsquo;s off-season home in Hilton Head, S.C.&ldquo;It just didn&rsquo;t do the game justice,&rdquo; said Messier, who told his teammates practising also didn&rsquo;t help the players&rsquo; cause against the owners.The informal practice received widespread media coverage and apparently enraged officials of other teams.They accused Rangers&rsquo; management of helping stage the workouts. That put the team at risk of being slapped with a league-imposed $1 million fine for practising during the strike.A team source said the Rangers&rsquo; fax machine was burning up with messages from other teams alleging they were trying to gain an unfair advantage by practising.But Rye is a public facility, and anyone can rent the ice. And judging from the condition of the players&rsquo; equipment, the practice was anything but organized.The Rangers&rsquo; equipment was returned to the players shortly after the practice. The NHL Players&rsquo; Association also made it clear to all players that informal practices were giving the wrong impression and could be deemed unfair to other union members.&ldquo;The general philosophy was the guys would not be working out on the ice,&rdquo; said union leader Bob Good-enow. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to be staying in shape and riding the bikes and doing what they always do but as far as doing on-ice work, most teams felt it would be best not to do it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The night the player strike began, the Rangers&rsquo; Fan Club held its April meeting.Some members have been waiting patiently for decades for the Ranged to win the Stanley Cup and the strike severely damaged their hopes.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m annoyed. I waited 40 years to see us get where we are,&rdquo; said John Prevot, the club&rsquo;s second vice-president. &ldquo;But the players are doing what they feel is right, and as a union member, I agree with them.&rdquo;Prevot led the Fan Club on its scheduled trip to Toronto. The Rangers were to have completed the regular season at Maple Leaf Gardens April 4. The Fan Club had already chartered a bus for the trip.They went anyway hoping to at least see the Stanley Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, wasn&rsquo;t there. It had been sent to Montreal for another event. &#9632;

Informal practice session irks Messier, union members

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>It was bad enough the Pittsburgh Penguins didn&rsquo;t look much like champions for a lot of the regular season. And even worse they didn&rsquo;t look like a playoff team for long stretches.They often seemed uninterested and disorganized, and their game looked to be stuck in neutral. But the Penguins shifted into overdrive during the stretch run and when the NHL strike began April 1, they won three games in a row&ndash;including two against Montreal and Vancouver, both division champions&ndash;and were on an 11-3-1 clip.&ldquo;Our team was playing as well as anybody,&rdquo; left winger Kevin Stevens said. &ldquo;We were coming together.&rdquo;What was most encouraging for Pittsburgh was its late-season sprint was fueled by its core players, the ones the Penguins would rely on during the playoffs. Consider that when the strike began:&#9633; Mario Lemieux had a 13-game scoring streak-a run that produced 36 points&mdash;and goals in six games.&#9633; Stevens had a nine-game scoring streak and had the most productive season of any left winger in NHL history. He had 122 points in 77 games, breaking Michel Goulet&rsquo;s record of 121 set in 1983-84.&#9633; Right winger Rick Tocchet, despite missing three games because of a broken jaw, had 29 points in 16 games with the Penguins. That&rsquo;s the same total he had in 42 games with Philadelphia before the Feb. 19 trade.&#9633; Larry Murphy had a nine-game scoring streak snapped but still ranked fourth among defensemen in points (75) and second in the league with a plus-minus rating of plus-34.When the season skidded to a halt, the Penguins were beginning to like their chances of a sequel to last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup.&ldquo;We feel we&rsquo;re capable of making another successful run for the Cup,&rdquo; center Ron Francis said. &ldquo;This is what we all play for. You want to win the Stanley Cup, and we feel we have a great chance to do it again.&rdquo;GRANT FOILED: Few, if any, people were happy about the strike but the timing was particularly unfortunate for defenseman Grant Jennings.The work stoppage began after Jennings had played two of his finest games of the season. He had two assists and was plus-5 in a 6-3 win against Montreal March 28, then picked up two goals in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 6-5 win over Philadelphia March 31.His effort against the Flyers, which included the game-winning goal, was the first two-goal game of begining career.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to worry about him,&rdquo; right winger Rick Tocchet said laughing. &ldquo;He might cross the picket line, the way he&rsquo;s playing.&rdquo;Well, Jennings didn&rsquo;t do that but he neither did he get carried away by his two strong performances.&ldquo;I remember what Bob Johnson always said,&rdquo; Jennings said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re only as good as your last game.&rdquo;Jennings, like his teammates, hoped he hadn&rsquo;t played his last one for this season.NOTEBOOK: The Penguins were poised to break the franchise attendance record when the strike disrupted their season. The anticipant sellout crowd of 16,164 for their April 4 home game against Washington, which was postponed, would have raised their 40-game attendance to 641,297. The record of 640,700 was set two years ago.The NHL overturned a stick-related major left winger Bob Errey received Feb. 27 against Hartford, sparing him the automatic one-game suspension after he got a five-minute penalty for slashing Montreal&rsquo;s Eric Desjardins March 28.Center Ron Francis raised his career assist total to 599 when the strike arrived. He is poised to become the 35th player in NHL history reach 600 regular-season assists. &#9632;

Strike stifles encore

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>Being on the road for the start of the NHL strike was not an inconvenience for the New York Islanders. It was an education.The Islanders were in Toronto April 1 for a game against the Maple Leafs when the players voted to strike.The Islanders conducted their own secret ballot, rejecting the owners&rsquo; deadline proposal, in the Toronto-cased offices of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association. When they held their final pre-game skate at Maple Leaf Gardens, five TV crews attended.Photos of several Islanders appeared on the front pages of daily newspapers nationwide, showing them gathered around the podium at a press conference as the union announced the strike.Before they became the first team to head home on its own-with airfare paid for by the NHLPA&mdash;the Islanders realized what an interesting vantage point they had had.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say our team is somewhat fortunate to have been here (Toronto),&rdquo;I&rsquo;d Islanders&rsquo; player representative Tom Kurvers. &ldquo;Obviously, we&rsquo;re loaded with guys from Canada but when you play in New York long enough, you lose sight of the emotional feeling toward the game that lies in this country.&rdquo;The Islanders realized their scrimmage at Maple Leaf Gardens April 1 might have been their final &ldquo;game&rdquo; of the season. So they made the best of the situation. Half the team wore team jerseys, the other half wore practice gear and assistant coach Ken Morrow acted as the referee/lines-man.The players were in good spirits during the workout and goalie Glenn Healy even made his unofficial return to competition following finger surgery.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01349/6431759-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="546" height="1074"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Glenn Healy unofficially returned to the lineup April 1.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Way to turn the game around, Heals,&rdquo; someone shouted from the bench after Healy allowed two quick goals.Center Ray Ferraro was calling for teammates to backcheck and coach Al Arbour, a spectator at the scrimmage, said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s talking about backchecking?&rdquo;But despite the good-natured practice, the day was filled with conflicting emotions.&ldquo;We feel for the fans,&rdquo; said right winger Steve Thomas, adding that he sympathized with teams heading for the playoffs.Mick Vukota, far from a favorite at Madison Square Garden, said, &ldquo;You have to give the Rangers a lot of credit (for solidarity).&rdquo;There was a bittersweet aspect to the strike as Arbour held a closed-door meeting with the players&mdash;per-haps his last one&mdash;to tell them he understands their position.There was also some confusion about whether the players were allowed to keep their skates. As it turned out, the skates were packed with the rest of the team-owned equipment. But there was speculation they would be made available.Although their season was just about over anyway, the Islanders believed they helped make a difference in the final vote.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to look at it and say, &lsquo;Oh no, we&rsquo;re not playing and it&rsquo;s scary.&rsquo; But you really have to see it in the sense that it&rsquo;s helping the younger guys,&rdquo; said 19-year-old Scott Lachance, whose NHL career began less than a month before the strike.The walkout proved costly for Arbour, who needs to coach all 80 games this year to break Dick Irvin&rsquo;s NHL record for the most games coached (1,437).NOTEBOOK: The strike forced the cancellation of the annual Good Guy luncheon and awards ceremony, which was scheduled by the Long Island Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association to honor Ray Ferraro&hellip;Players who required medical treatment still received it during the strike. That was good news for Brad Dalgamo, who had left shoulder surgery April 1. &#9632;

f0041-01

April Fools road trip to Toronto an educational experience

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>When Terry Carkner took over as the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; player representative this season, he got more than he bargained for.Carkner, a solidly built young defenseman who usually lets his playing do most of the talking, had only a mild interest in hockey&rsquo;s business off the ice.But when former rep Scott Mellan&mdash;by was traded to Edmonton and a player who lives close to Toronto for union meetings was needed to represent the Flyers, Carkner answered the call.The past month of strike-related activities has given Carkner a crash course in labor negotiations. It has been one long stream of contract reviews, team meetings and parking lot press conferences.&ldquo;I never realistically thought it would get to this point,&rdquo; Carkner said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t go to school and learn the stuff I&rsquo;ve learned this year.&rdquo;The demands on his time have had an adverse effect on Carkner&rsquo;s play, which he readily admits. He had to sit out the last game before the strike&ndash;a March 30 game at Pittsburgh&ndash;after he was suspended for a high-stick infraction against New Jersey&rsquo;s Randy McKay March 28.Despite all the problems, Carkner manages to keep his sense of humor. When people ask him if the off-ice distractions have affected his game, he offers a unique response.&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think I would have played any worse than I have.&rdquo;Like the other 21 NHL player repsic Carkner has spent much of his free time studying contract proposals, filling in players on the latest developments and getting his viewpoints across to the media.&ldquo;There are far worse things that can go on in my life than to have business to do on game day,&rdquo; he said.Carkner said he doesn&rsquo;t think it has been as tough for him as it has been for players in Canada.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s so bad quite yet,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If this drags into the summer, I think all the guys will be frustrated. They don&rsquo;t want this anymore than anyone does.&ldquo;As far as personally, it&rsquo;s not too bad down here. The hockey following in Canada is much greater than it is down here. So the negative feedback is a lot less than what is going on in Canada right now.&rdquo;After the strike was called April 1, Carkner&rsquo;s South Jersey home served as strike headquarters for the players. He has hosted several parties and the players congregate to get the the mosr recent information.BACK TO HERSHEY: With a players&rsquo; strike just hours away, the Flyers sent Mark Freer, Al Conroy and Dale Kushner back to Hershey of the American League April 1.All three were eligible to play with the Bears and checked in for duty, although the trio reportedly voted to strike with their NHL brethren.Freer, a center, had the most impact of the three players. In 50 games, he had six goals and 13 points, developing into a good two-way player.NOTEBOOK: Terry Carkner was waiting for a hearing with the league over his high-stick on New Jersey&rsquo;s Randy McKay when the strike hit&hellip;Flyers&rsquo; president Jay Snider said the team would begin the season on time next year, even if it had to use replacement players.Hershey coach Mike Eaves has been mentioned as a possible candidate for coaching jobs in either Pittsburgh or Calgary. With Bill Dineen all but signed for next year as coach of the Flyers, Eaves might not want to wait another year at Hershey and instead accept an offer elsewhere.Center Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour was the only player to participate in all 77 Flyers&rsquo; games this season. He was second in team scoring with 31 goals and 73 points. &#9632;

Strike a learning experience for rep Carkner

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>At first, rookie center Jarrod Skalde felt guilty. While his teammates were striking, Skalde would be playing in the minors and collecting a paycheck.Teenage goalie Martin Brodeur was disappointed. His dream of starting for the New Jersey Devils in the playoffs seemed shattered when he was returned to his junior team.When NHL players went on strike April 1. Skalde and Brodeur were among those players who received a ticket back to the bushes. Skalde, Bill Guerin and Doug Dadswell were assigned to the Devils&rsquo; American League farm team in Utica and Brodeur, an emergency replacement was returned to his Quebec League team in St-Hyacinthe.&ldquo;Jarrod was concerned about how the players here would feel,&rdquo; Devils&rsquo; player representative Bruce Driver said. &ldquo;None of our players are going to say anything. He has a chance to play hockey and win a championship down there. I think it&rsquo;s great.&rdquo;&ldquo;I asked Bruce and he said the guys going down shouldn&rsquo;t feel bad.&rdquo; Skalde said. &ldquo;I get the best of both worlds. I get paid to play. Of course, I&rsquo;m behind the union. The guys are going on strike, in essence, for younger guys like me.&rdquo;Like the three AHL players, Brodeur had been recalled by the Devils under emergency conditions. Injuries to Chris Terreri and Craig Billington made Brodeur&rsquo;s promotion from St-Hyacinthe necessary.&ldquo;I came here to play hockey, not to strike,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know what the strike was about. In juniors I didn&rsquo;t pay attention to it. It&rsquo;s strange that I played so well and then the strike happened.&rdquo;Brodeur also knew he could be back with the Devils if the strike is settled. Teireri&rsquo;s lower back remained sore while Billington&rsquo;s right knee was serious enough to investigate the possibility of arthroscopic surgery.BOOK &lsquo;EM: The players&rsquo; strike rescued Ken Daneyko from a suspension but it did not prevent the veteran defenseman from being fined for missing a team meeting and arriving late for a March 31 practice.Had the strike not occurred, Daneyko would have been suspended for the April 1 Washington game.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s just say enough is enough. It has happened too many times with Dan-o,&rdquo; coach Tom McVie said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s breaking my heart but rules are rules. He doesn&rsquo;t have a problem. He just needs to buy a new alarm clock.&rdquo;Daneyko said he was involved in an auto accident on the way to practice and had to call his girlfriend for a ride. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not happy about this but I&rsquo;ve been late a lot before,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I understand Tommy. I&rsquo;m not conscientious. It&rsquo;s just a bad habit.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Craig Billington on public reaction to the strike: &ldquo;The country of Canada is ready to shut down because of this strike. But here (New Jersey), it&rsquo;s the second-most important story behind the NIT (basketball tournament).&rdquo;&hellip;The Devils handed out paychecks March 31 but general manager Lou Lamoriello attached a note which warned some money might have to be returned if the strike is a lengthy one.An often-fragmented Devils&rsquo; team pulled together during the strike. &ldquo;That was something we talked about,&rdquo; said Bruce Driver, who set up practices and helped acquire equipment. &ldquo;There had been points in the year when we felt we were drifting apart. We&rsquo;ve definitely made an attempt to stay together.&rdquo; &#9632;

Minors, juniors not the greatest but it certainly beats strike pay

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>In the midst of two unfortunate situations, Washington Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile has tried to brighten the future of his team.With his players joining their colleagues in a league-wide strike April 1-putting the brakes on one of the best seasons in team history-Poile began to work on next season.He started by bringing up seven flayers from the Canadian major junior and U.S. college ranks and inserting them into the Baltimore Skipjacks&rsquo; (American League) lineup. It was simply a case of making the best of a bad situation.&ldquo;Right now, we&rsquo;re starting to build the team for next season,&rdquo; defenseman John Slaney said. &ldquo;Hopefully, we can do the job next season.&rdquo;The organization would just as soon forget this Skipjacks&rsquo; season. After a strong start, the team deteriorated, falling to the bottom of the AHL&rsquo;s Southern Division. Barry Trotz replaced Rob Laird as coach, fcbut the Skipjacks, who finished the season with a 28-42-10 record, were not able to scramble into a playoff spot.Joining the Skipjacks as the season drew to a close were the Capitals&rsquo; last two first-round draft picks, Cornwall&rsquo;s John Slaney (ninth overall in 1990) and Detroit&rsquo;s Pat Peake (14th overall in 1991), both of the Ontario League; Portland center Steve Konowalchuk, fresh off being named Western League MVP; Guelph (OHL) left winger Bill Kovacs; Oshawa (OHL) defenseman Rob Leask; Keith Jones, a right winger from Western Michigan of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association; and, Bowling Green (CCHA) center Martin Jiranek.Slaney played in a couple of preseason games for the Capitals last fall before being returned to Cornwall where he had 19 goals and 40 assists in 34 games. His season was curtailed by a shoulder separation that forced him to miss 17 games.&ldquo;These games will help me even more,&rdquo; Slaney said of playing at AHL level. &ldquo;Exhibition games are not the real thing. These are regularseason games and they will help me next season.&rdquo;Slaney, a native of St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., who is best remembered for scoring the winning goal against the Soviets to give Canada the 1991 world junior title, is an offense-minded defenseman.The Capitals already have several defenseman in their mid-20s who are reasonably adept at moving the puck and joining the rush. Plus, Jason Woolley, a prominent member of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team, has joined the organization so the Capitals seem well-stocked.&ldquo;I would enjoy playing in Baltimore,&rdquo; said Slaney, who plans to spend the summer working out to build his upper-body strength. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not too fussy. I just want to do what&rsquo;s best.&rdquo;TALKING TOUGH: Team owner Abe Pollin said he is against the idea of using replacement players for the playoffs, in the event the strike is not settled. But he did not rule out the idea for next season if the disagreement continues.&ldquo;If it doesn&rsquo;t get resolved soon, it will be confrontational,&rdquo; Pollin said. &ldquo;Some owners, legitimately, will feel they have been seriously hurt financially. It will get to the point where the playoffs are in fact cancelled.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Capitals&rsquo; players worked out at local health clubs during the first few days of the strike, though there was no informal practice.With three games remaining in the regular season, the Capitals had 95 points and were second overall behind the New York Rangers. If they maintain that ranking, it would be their highest overall ranking in team history. &#9632;

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April 17, 1992

Yet another Knightmare; London falls to Niagara

NHL SUMMARIES

CHEERS & JEERS

Distraught Keenan prepared to start over again