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

November 20, 1992

The Hockey News November 20, 1992

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>San Jose Sharks&rsquo; right winger Pat Fal-loon has put a poor start to his second NHL season behind him.After collecting only four points in his first 11 games this season, Falloon had five in a three-game homestand that began Nov. 5.Falloon ignited his hot streak by racking up a goal and two assists in fewer than three minutes in the third period of a 7-5 victory over Buffalo. He then added goals in losses to New Jersey (6-1 Nov. 7) and Los Angeles (11-4 Nov. 8).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny how that works sometimes,&rdquo; Falloon said. &ldquo;You get in a drought and then all of a sudden things start happening.&rdquo;Falloon had gone five consecutive games without a point before getting the three against Buffalo as the Sharks rallied from a 5-4 deficit. In his rookie season, Falloon led the Sharks in scoring last year with 25 goals and 59 points.Coach George Kingston said Falloon&rsquo;s start was never a problem because Falloon had been contributing even when he wasn&rsquo;t scoring.&ldquo;He was playing well defensively and he was making good choices away from the puck,&rdquo; Kingston said. &ldquo;To say he wasn&rsquo;t playing well just because he wasn&rsquo;t scoring really wouldn&rsquo;t be a fair comment.&rdquo;MUSCLING UP: Lyndon Byers has signed a tryout contract and the Sharks are hopeful the 6-foot-1, 200-pound right winger, who played parts of the last nine seasons with Boston, can add muscle to their lineup.Byers, 28, had been skating on a tryout basis with Kansas City of the International League for three weeks before being promoted to the Sharks Nov. 5. He was inserted into the Sharks&rsquo; lineup after Jeff Odgers sustained a broken right hand a fight with Buffalo&rsquo;s Brad May Nov. 5.Byers had one goal, one assist and 22 penalty minutes in four games with the Blades.NOTEBOOK: The Sharks expect sidelined defenseman Link Gaetz to check himself into a Monterey, Calif., area hospital Nov. 17 to begin a 30-day rehabilitation program. Dean Lombardi, the team&rsquo;s director of hockey operations, said the program will focus on alcohol treatment, physical therapy, cognitive therapy and psychiatric care. Gaetz has a history of alcohol-related problems and Lombardi said the alcohol treatment is the most important part of the program.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 5: Lyndon Byers, RW, signed tryout contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Dale Craigwell, Kelly Kisio, Dean Evason, Mike Sullivan.LW-Johan Garpenlov, David Bruce, John Carter, Larry DePalma, Brian Lawton.RW-Pat Falloon, Petri Skriko, Lyndon Byers, Dave Snuggerud. Ed Courtenay. Perry Berezan.LD-Doug Wilson, Rob Zettler, Sandis Ozolinsh, Pat MacLeod.RD-Doug Zmolek, Neil Wilkinson, Jay More.G-Brian Hayward, Arturs Irbe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Yvon Corriveau, LW, back spasms, indefinite. Link Gaetz, D, impaired motor skills, indefinite. Jeff Hackett, G, groin pull, indefinite. Jeff Odgers, RW, broken right hand, indefinite. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Falloon’s point totals no longer standing Pat

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>Dave Archibald travelled a long way to wind up with the Ottawa Senators.We&rsquo;re not talking about the 13 hours he was on the road Nov. 6 after being acquired from the New York Rangers for a fifth-round draft pick in 1993.Archibald has travelled a long way in a figurative sense-a journey that saw him score a goal as a 14-year-old in the Western League, become a first-round pick at 18 and retire at 21.Now, at 23, Archibald is ready to take advantage of circumstances.&ldquo;This is my break,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My attitude is so much better than it was five years ago.&rdquo;Back then, Archibald was Minnesota&rsquo;s first pick in 1987 after a 50-goal, 107-point season with the Portland Winterhawks. But the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder never fulfilled the potential.After seasons of 13 and 14 goals, he was traded to the Rangers for defenseman Jayson More. He divided the 1989-90 season between the Stars, Rangers and Flint of the International League, before retiring.&ldquo;I needed a chance to step back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re young like I was, it&rsquo;s easy to get confused and lose confidence. That&rsquo;s what happened. I was not ready to handle the situation. I&rsquo;ve said it 100 times, I don&rsquo;t blame one person&hellip;it was unfortunate circumstances.&rdquo;A couple of weeks after quitting, Archibald was contacted by Canadian national team coach Dave King and accepted his offer to play for the Olympic team.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have anything to lose. It turned out to be the best thing for my career,&rdquo; Archibald said. &ldquo;I started to enjoy hockey again. I owe King a lot.&rdquo;Archibald also rediscovered his scoring touch. He led Canada with seven goals at the Olympics.He returned to the Rangers&rsquo; organization at the start of the season and accepted an assignment to their Binghamton farm club in the American League while they worked on a deal. He notched two hat tricks in eight games with Binghamton.DASHIN&rsquo; FOR YASHIN: General manager Mel Bridgman plans to head to Russia to check the progress of top pick, Dynamo center Alexei Yashin.While there was speculation the strapping prospect might play a couple of games with the Senators in the new year, it remains a longshot.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s doubtful and unlikely,&rdquo; said Mark Gandler, Yashin&rsquo;s agent. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say never, but it&rsquo;s unnecessary. He&rsquo;s playing with Dynamo, he has national team commitments and he&rsquo;s going to be with the national junior team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Darrin Madeley made his NHL debut in an 8-4 loss to Calgary Nov. 5. While he gave up six goals on 21 shots and was pulled after 30 minutes, coach Rick Bowness came back with him the next night in Vancouver. The Senators lost 4-1 and Madeley stopped 19 shots. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not disappointed. I don&rsquo;t think I gave up a bad goal,&rdquo; Madeley said.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Steve Weeks, G, assigned to New Haven (AHL). Darrin Madeley, G, recalled from New Haven. Nov. 6: Dave Archibald, C, acquired from the New York Rangers for fifth-round draft pick In 1993.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jamie Baker, Laurie Boschman, Mark Lamb, Neil Brady, Dave Archibald.LW-Sylvain Turgeon, Darcy Loewen, Doug Smail, Rob Murphy.RW-Jody Hull, Marc Fortier, Mike Peluso, Tomas Jelinek.LD-Ken Hammond, Brad Marsh, Norm Maciver, Brad MillerRD-Brad Shaw, Mark Osiecki, Chris Luongo. Darren Rumble.G-Peter Sidorkiewicz, Darrin Madeley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Freer, C, charieyhorse, indefinite. Andrew McBain, RW, groin strain, dayto-day. Jim Thomson. RW, bruised ankle, day-to-day. &#9632;

Another chance for Arch

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01214/6310872-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Stephen Harris</div>Ted Donato and Stephen Heinze have much more in common than most Boston Bruins&rsquo; fans realize.Donato and Heinze each grew up a short distance from Boston Garden-Donato in the suburb of Dedham, Mass., Heinze in North Andover; each starred for a local college-Donato at Harvard, Heinze at Boston College; and each played last season for the U.S. Olympic team before signing with the Bruins one day apart last March.So it wasn&rsquo;t too surprising to see both emerge as important role players in their first NHL season.While overshadowed by offensive guns Adam Oates, Dmitri Kvart-alnov, Joe Juneau, Steve Leach and Vladimir Ruzicka, Heinze and Donato have performed well in several different roles.&ldquo;A lot of guys don&rsquo;t want to accept that (playing new roles) when they move up to a higher level,&rdquo; Donato said. &ldquo;Sometimes, you&rsquo;ve got to bide your time, do the little things well and some day you&rsquo;ll get the chance to step up.&rdquo;The speedy Donato. 23, centers the Bruins&rsquo; second line with Ruzicka and Leach. He has also played left wing and on the point on the power play. He had four goals and nine points in 12 games.Heinze, 22, a right winger, has been used almost exclusively on the checking line. He had four goals and six points in 12 games.&ldquo;Obviously, you wish you could be the guy who scores all the goals and gets all the points,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But if other players are filling that role, you have to fill other roles.&rdquo;SUPER SUMMIT: General manager Harry Sinden left for Helsinki, Fin., as part of an NHL task force (with NHL president Gil Stein, Chicago GM Bob Pulford and Winnipeg GM Mike Smith) for a meeting with hockey officials from the Commonwealth of Independent States.The NHL group hoped to find ways to help the erstwhile Soviet Elite League remain a fruitful breeding ground for NHL talent. One likely solution involved financial aid to C.l.S. clubs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to find a way to keep their Elite League and their Olympic team at a high level,&rdquo; Sinden said.&ldquo;We have to try to reach some kind of agreement to maintain sanity; to stop us from raping them for all their players and stop them from demanding so damn much for the players we do take.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Russian right winger Dmitri Kvartalnov, the Bruins&rsquo; first choice in last June&rsquo;s entry draft, had an impressive first month, scoring at least a point in his first 12 games (11 goals, 20 points).<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 7: Darin Kimble, RW, assigned to Providence (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Ted Donato, Dave Poulin, Brent Hughes.LW-Joe Juneau, Vladimir Ruzicka, Glen Murray, Darren Banks, Dave Reid.RW-Dmitri Kvartalnov, Steve Leach, Steve Heinze, Brent Ashton.LD-Gord Roberts, Don Sweeney, Glen Wesley.RD-Ray Bourque, Gord Murphy, Jim Wiemer.G-Andy Moog, Reggie Lemelin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Glen Featherstone, D, back pain, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW, left knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Top rookies Donato and Heinze adapting to new roles in bigs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01922/6311192-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>Esposito charged-p.8 Japan&rsquo;s big hope-p.18 Terrific Teemu-p. 32This gun for hireMario Lemieux takes dead aim at greatest record of them allWill Senators be worst of modem era?Our annual Christmas contest &#9632;

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CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011400/6309050-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Slumping Brett Hull has not provided the Blues with his customary minimum of a goal a game this year.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021143/6309043-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="378" height="479"></div>Some thoughts-okay, that might be over-selling them-on the new season.&#9633; It makes for a wonderful image, but Mike Keenan insists he is not a power-hungry Pac-Man devouring everything in his path.&#9633; Keep track of Paul Kariya, the University of Maine&rsquo;s imaginative left winger who is eligible for the 1993 entry draft. Maine coach Shawn Walsh, himself headed for the NHL someday, said that not since Brian Leetch has an undrafted freshman made such an impact in college hockey. Kariya had seven points in three Hockey East games. Worth noting is that they were all against a big and strong Providence team. Kariya, who can make crisp 85-foot passes off the backhand, is only 5-foot-9.&#9633; Pat Bums, who describes his role on the Toronto staff as the &ldquo;kickass coach,&rdquo; has presence-that indefinable quality most successful leaders possess.&#9633; Referee Terry Gregson turned 39 on Nov. 7, but according to the NHL he is 53. That&rsquo;s because of the league&rsquo;s &ldquo;65 clause.&rdquo; Officials&rsquo; NHL ages are calculated by adding true age to years of experience. Gregson has been under contract to the league 14 years, thus his NHL age of 53. Referees and linesmen are eligible to retire with full benefits at &ldquo;65.&rdquo;&#9633; Agent Steve Bartlett, 41, was a finalist for the position of NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director three years ago and has a solid clientele, but you may not have known who he was until he negotiated Manon Rheaume&rsquo;s contract with Atlanta. One reason for his anonymity: He is the only NHL agent based in Rochester, N.Y. So, who is this guy? The son of an American Baptist minister, Bartlett was bom in Chicago, spent most of his youth in Rochester and played two seasons at University of Vermont on a hockey scholarship.&#9633; A sensible tactic for players who go to arbitration is to attend their hearings and face, as one agent says,&rdquo;their accusers.&rdquo; NHL employers may be less inclined to devalue a player&rsquo;s worth in his presence.&#9633; Hockey does not lend itself to the arbitration process nearly as well as baseball, a sport chopped up into little bits and pieces that can be easily and accurately measured. Baseball arbitrators, then, have much with which to work. Their hockey brethren are handicapped because no amount or diversity of statistical data can capture a player&rsquo;s true worth.&#9633; Having said that, one of the most shocking developments of the 199293 season is a matter of pure statistics. Brett Hull scored goals in about 66 per cent of St. Louis&rsquo; regular-season games over the past three seasons. Through the first weeks of this season, he had scored in just 33 per cent-five of 15.&#9633; What is the most difficult position to fill in the NHL? A tough and talented, right-shooting defenseman. Once you get past stars Chris Chelios and Kevin Hatcher, not many players fit the profile. Perhaps, Garth Butcher could qualify on career achievement.&#9633; With Felix Potvin&rsquo;s emergence, it&rsquo;s evident Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s most lasting contribution to the Maple Leafs will be what he yields in a trade sure to happen this season. Potvin was one of 13 players identified as potential impact players in last year&rsquo;s Future Watch-the special section in THN that focuses on top prospects in each NHL organization. High-flying Jet Teemu Selanne was also among them. So was grounded teammate Alexei Zhamnov. This season&rsquo;s Future Watch will be in the Feb. 12 issue. &#9632;

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What is toughest position to fill in NHL?

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03833/6309088-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="351" height="348"></div>Luc Robitaille. Flashy Los Angeles winger quietly reached 300-goal plateau in just 488 games. Bravo, Luc.Mike Gartner. Classy Ranger became 10th player to pass Maurice Richard&rsquo;s magical 544 career-goal plateau.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04609/6309081-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="352" height="349"></div>Larger nets. Luckily, NHL governors nixed the radical idea for a 6-by-8 foot net-twice the existing area.Sport Select. Ontario lottery, which allows people to bet on hockey games, did not set a minimum age restriction. &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

&ldquo;I wrestled a circus bear when I was 20 at the Pennsylvania state fair and the bear was not as strong as that kid.&rdquo;&ndash;St. Louis Blue Lee Norwood finds out it isn&rsquo;t much fun fighting Philadelphia Flyer rookie Eric Lindros. Page 55. &#9632;

QUOTABLE

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Brian Burke was in a pinch. Actually, he wanted a pinch of chewing tabacco.&ldquo;Anybody on your team chew?&rdquo; he asked suspended Peterborough Petes&rsquo; captain Geordie Kinnear.Nope. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to get some chew,&rdquo; Burke said.Told there was a store outside Peterborough Memorial Centre, he satisfied his craving between periods of an Ontario League game between the Petes and North Bay.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011570/6309181-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="292" height="371"></div>If only all of Burke&rsquo;s problems could be solved so easily.Hartford GM Brian Burke faces the mammoth challenge of saving sport&rsquo;s largest mammal-the Whale. Hartford&rsquo;s fortunes have dipped dramatically, both in the stands, where crowds have been embarrassingly low, and the standings, where Hartford placed ahead of only expansion Ottawa.Renewal won&rsquo;t be accomplished without surgery, but Burke insisted center John Cullen will not be lost in the operating room. &ldquo;I told John last week that I will not trade him,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s a great scorer in our league.&rdquo;Burke uttered no such assurances about defenseman Zarley Zalapski&rsquo;s future in the organization. He said he was endeavoring to make a trade that would help the Whalers challenge for a playoff berth in the Adams Division.Long term, it would be better for Hartford to miss the playoffs and get a high-ranking member of what is expected to be an excellent draft class. But&hellip;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m committed to improving this team as quickly as I can,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;The owner, fans and media have been very patient. They understand the situation the team is in.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021402/6309174-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="985" height="1612"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Whalers insist center John Cullen is not on the trading block.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Burke in trade market

Dave King wasn&rsquo;t talking about a convenience store when he talked about 7-11 hockey. But the combination has certainly been convenient for the Calgary coach.The subject of discussion was the strategy of dressing seven defensemen and 11 towards, a practice now used by a few NHL teams, including the Hames and Toronto Maple Leafs.Traditionally, teams dress six defensemen, comprising three pairs, and 12 forwards, making up four lines There are several reasons why King employs the 7-11 attack.&ldquo;If a defenseman gets hurt early, you&rsquo;re down to five (if you only dress six),&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;Then one of your best penalty-killers takes a penalty and you&rsquo;re left holding your breath.&ldquo;I like to have the extra defenseman in the lineup. Games are so physical. Already this season there have been three or four games where we had a defenseman hurt early and were glad to have that extra guy dressed.&ldquo;Up front it also allows you to double up some of your key guys giving them a little more ice time.&ldquo;The other important factor is it allows you to dress a young defenseman and spot him in siutations that gives him valuable experience.&rdquo;King said he won&rsquo;t use the combination every game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031176/6309212-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="984" height="1610"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don&rsquo;t count on Patrick Roy&rsquo;s 2.36 average of last season being topped.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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New wave NHL adds up to 7-11

Goal scoring is up in the NHL and so are goalies&rsquo; averages.After one month last season, five teams had goals-against averages under 3.00. This season just one-the Calgary Hames-were under that mark after the same period of time.&ldquo;With all the new rules designed to create more scoring opportunities something had to give,&rdquo; said Glen Hanlon, goalie coach for the Vancouver Canucks.&ldquo;Because of that, we should change the way we think about goals-against averages. Fifteen years ago, a good average was around 2.50. In the last few years it rose to about 3.30. Now if you can keep the other team below four goals in a game, you should win it.&rdquo;Gilles Meloche, goalie coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, agreed.&ldquo;The days of the 2.50 goals-against average are over,&rdquo; Meloche said. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t think goalies mind as long as the coaches and general managers understand why the averages are up.&rdquo;Teams were averaging 3.5 goals per game early last season. It was up to four this season.Patrick Roy, the NHL&rsquo;s top goalie, finished last season with a league-leading 2.36 mark. No first-string goalie this season had anything close to that average. &#9632;

Average goalie average climbing

When does a five-minute penalty last longer than five minutes? When a team fails to put a player in the penalty box for a major that carries with it a game misconduct.Such was the case Nov. 2 when the Vancouver Canucks did not put a player in the box to serve a five-minute butt-ending major assessed to Sergio Momesso.He was automatically ejected from the game after hitting Calgary Flames&rsquo; defenseman Roger Johansson in the face with his stick.Teams are permitted to put a player in the box any time during the penalty. Most teams exercise that option late in the penalty to keep as many players available for action as possible.But when Momesso&rsquo;s first-period major ended, Canucks&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn had not yet put somebody in the box.That meant the Canucks could not return to full strength at the expiration of Momesso&rsquo;s major because the player had to enter play from the penalty box and could no do so from the players&rsquo; bench.The Canucks were frantic to get a stoppage in play.They got one when Gerald Diduck deliberately flipped the puck into the stands after Vancouver had played shorthanded for an additional 15 seconds. They also got a two-minute penalty for delay of game from referee Rob Shick.Calgary&rsquo;s Joe Nieuwendyk scored on the ensuing power play. It was the first goal in a 5-3 victory for the Hames.Teams are only required to have players in the box the entire five minutes for match penalties and majors to goalies.&ldquo;Otherwise it&rsquo;s a team&rsquo;s responsibility to put a player in the box before the penalty expires,&rdquo; said Bryan Lewis, NHL director of officiating.Note to the coaches who risk not putting a player in immediately: In one game this season, play went for 11 minutes without a whistle. &#9632;

Bench bosses beware

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011483/6309291-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"></div>At 27, Mario Lemieux is at his absolute apex and to watch him is to wait for the impossible, to witness it, and to set about waiting again.It is to wonder how one single player can be blessed with an inventor&rsquo;s imagination, a jeweller&rsquo;s touch and a taxman&rsquo;s reach.Lemieux is two years removed from surgery on a herniated disc in his back. A corresponding infection that threatened his career is gone as well and while he will have a bad back for the rest of his life, he says he is without pain for the first time in recent memory.Rule changes designed to increase offense are tailor-made for Lemieux and he is playing with a zeal usually reserved for the post-season.&ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m at my peak-especially with the team and the nucleus we have right now,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s a lot easier to come to work when you&rsquo;re pain-free.&rdquo;Despite the loss of star left winger and linemate Kevin Stevens, expected to be sidelined until late November with a knee injury, Lemieux was on pace to break Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s singleseason records of 92 goals and 215 points.Gretzky established both marks in 80-game regular seasons. The NHL expanded its schedule to 84 games this year.But Lemieux won&rsquo;t need those four extra games to surpass Gretzky&rsquo;s standards if he maintains his early-season pace of 21 goals, 24 assists and 45 points in 16 games.Projected over 80 games, he would score 105 goals, 120 assists and 225 points over 80 games. (Eighty-four game totals would be 109 goals and 235 points.) Apparently safe is Gretzky&rsquo;s mark of 163 assists.Should Lemieux eclipse Gretzky, it would represent a breakthrough for No. 66, who holds just one NHL record by himself-most shorthanded goals (13) in a season.He is listed second to Gretzky an aston-ishing 17 times in regular-season and playoff record categories.Speculation has it Lemieux will receive a $1-million bonus if he sets a new points mark. To do so, however, he will have to come closer to playing a full regular season than he has since 1988-89.He has missed at least 16 games in each of the past three seasons and has never played an entire 80-game regular season during his eight years in the league.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a definite correlation between his health and his desire,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; goalie Tom Barrasso. &ldquo;When he feels healthy, he feels like he could accomplish just about anything.&rdquo;Not coincidentally, the Penguins were virtually unstoppable this season until a lost weekend (Nov. 7-8) in the Norris Division when they dropped consecutive games to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks.The setbacks were only the second and third of the season for the two-time Stanley Cupchampion Penguins.&ldquo;Season records are nice,&rdquo; Lemieux said,&rdquo;but the most important thing is to win the Stanley Cup. That has been my goal throughout my career.&rdquo;With youth and talent on the Penguins&rsquo; side, it&rsquo;s not unthinkable Pittsburgh could challenge the NHL-record five straight Cups won by the 1956-60 Montreal Canadiens.Aside from defenseman Larry Murphy, who is bound for salary arbitration, every one of the Penguins&rsquo; key players is committed to the club for at least three more seasons. Lemieux, himself, has a seven-year contract that will pay him a minimum of $42 million.At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Lemieux has thrived on his reach but what amazes is his ability to keep the world at arm&rsquo;s length. His inner circle consists of his fiance and girlfriend of 10 years, Nathalie Asselin, whom he will marry in Montreal this summer, his family and a small cabal of teammates and business advisors.Lemieux accommodates rather than enjoys interviews and while he is consistently frank, he is not as entertaining off the ice as on.&ldquo;I picked him up in a limousine in his first day in Pittsburgh and he was the same then as now,&rdquo; said Paul Steigerwald, color commentator for the Peguins&rsquo; radio and TV broadcasts. &ldquo;He was sort of stately, a nice person, but there was a touch of royalty.&rdquo;Royalty is a good choice of words, since Lemieux lives in a palatial suburban home. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, he has cultivated passions for wine collecting and golf. Lemieux&rsquo;s off-ice moves have been conservative and well-calculated.&ldquo;Everything Mario does is very well thought-out,&rdquo; said Alain Lemieux, Mario&rsquo;s older brother.While his actions now seem quaint in the Eric Lindros era, the great irony of Lemieux&rsquo;s career is that while he craves quiet, he has often been the center of controversy.At the 1984 draft, Lemieux became embroiled in a dispute with the Penguins over the terms of his first contract and he refused to don the sweater of the team that picked him first overall.Raised just a 20-minute walk from the Montreal Forum, Lemieux came into the league from the Quebec League&rsquo;s Laval Voisins as a unilingual francophone who stopped going to school in Grade 10.He arrived in Pittsburgh armed with nothing more than a Berlitz course in English. He learned English from watching soap operas and began to live year-round in the city his second season.Now, he could run for king, in part because he brought the city two championships, in part because he wanted to stay.Consider that under the current collective bargaining agreement, Lemieux could have played out his contract before his 30th birthday and prompted a bidding war the likes of which the NHL has never seen.&ldquo;This is a town where they booed Terry Bradshaw and threw batteries at Dave Parker,&rdquo; said Tom McMillan, who cov-ered the Penguins for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. &ldquo;But when Mario was having contract talks a cou-pie of years ago, thousands of people turned to the owner&rsquo;s superbox, pointed their fingers and said, &lsquo;Sign Lemieux.&rsquo;&rdquo;Approval has not always been forthcoming. As the Pen-guins churned up coaches-Le-mieux played for four coaches in his first five seasons-he was branded a coach-killer.Lemieux has been guilty of lackadaisical play, but there is no denying he can raise his level of intensity as the situation warrants. He has won the Conn Smythe Trophy two years running. What was once a legion of Lemieux detractors has been long silenced.&ldquo;When you win two Stanley Cups, you&rsquo;re recognized as a winner, not a loser,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;That took a lot of pressure off my shoulders.&rdquo;With Gretzky knocked out of the limelight by a back injury, Lemieux plans to be more vocal about league issues, but he will never be loquacious. Mostly, he will continue to play as well as his back allows.&ldquo;When I had the surgery and the back infection, I didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to skate again,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think about it every day, but when I go through tough times, I think about being in bed for four months. I got to appreciate life and hockey a lot better over those four months.&rdquo;So, now, like the rest of us, he will revel in the prime of Mario Lemieux. &#9632;

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NO HOLDING BACK MÂRIO

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>One of the biggest sports heroes in Canadian history may need special permission to enter his native country in the future.Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Phil Esposito, who starred for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, was formally charged with common assault in connection with an incident at Maple Leaf Gardens Oct. 15.If convicted of the offense, Esposito could be forced to notify Canadian immigration each time he enters the country.Esposito surrendered himself to 52 Division of the Metro Toronto Police Department and has a date set of Nov. 25 when he will plead guilty or not guilty. If he pleads not guilty, a trial date will be set at that time. If he pleads guilty, he will be sentenced immediately.The charge was laid following a complaint to police by Toronto Star hockey columnist Bob McKenzie.McKenzie alleges Esposito shoved and then struck him while he was conducting an interview in the Lighting dressing room following a game at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto Oct. 15.If convicted and forced to apply for admission into Canada, Esposito could apply annually for permission to be in the country on certain dates prior to the start of each season.&ldquo;That would be the worst-case scenario,&rdquo; said Milt Best of the Canadian Immigration Department.McKenzie said in 13 years as a sports journalist, he had never experienced a physical confrontation prior to the alleged Esposito incident.&ldquo;The reason I have pursued this is because I know the difference between right and wrong,&rdquo; McKenzie said,&rdquo;and what happened in the dressing room that night was wrong. I am pleased the police saw fit to lay a charge of assault.&rdquo;Esposito could not be reached for comment and the Lighting did not release a statement following Esposito&rsquo;s arrest.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really not worth saying anything at this point,&rdquo; said Gerry Helper, the Lightning&rsquo;s vice-president, communications. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll just let the legal matters run their course.&rdquo;<h2>HOCKEY WEEK: NOV. 2-8</h2>A weekly compendium of significant events and developments.Nov. 3: Tampa Bay trades center Anatoli Semenov to Vancouver for left winger Dave Capuano and fourth-round draft pick in 1994.Nov. 4: Tampa Bay GM Phil Esposito charged with common assault following Oct. 15 incident involving Toronto Star hockey columnist Bob McKenzie.Manon Rheaume signs three-year contract with Atlanta Knights of International League.Nov. 5: NHL suspends New York Ranger center Doug Weight four days without pay and fines him $500. Rangers fined $2,536.Nov. 6: Chicago GM Mike Keenan leaves organization.New York Rangers trade left winger Dave Archibald to Ottawa for fifth-round draft pick in 1993.Los Angeles trades defenseman Peter Ahola to Pittsburgh for defenseman Jeff Chychrun.Nov. 7: Tampa Bay defenseman Doug Crossman scores three goals and three assists in 6-5 win over New York Islanders.Nov. 8: Los Angeles center Jari Kurri scores three goals and three assists and right winger Tomas Sandstrom scores one goal and five assists in 11-4 win over San Jose. &#9632;

Esposito surrenders; charged with common assault

The Nov. 6 issue of The Hockey News had two interesting articles.&ldquo;Fighting a Losing Battle&rdquo; reported that college hockey is losing ground to major junior, while &ldquo;A New Generation&rdquo; reported on new inroads being made by American players.The fact those Americans are former collegians-Keith Tkachuk, Kevin Stevens, Bill Guerin-belies the problem with the first article.The story on junior hockey was reported accurately in that junior hockey is stepping up its efforts to go after young players earlier and more aggressively. What isn&rsquo;t totally accurate is the impression left by Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; coach Walt Kyle, who said,&rdquo;college hockey isn&rsquo;t the same as it once was.&rdquo;That is the impression junior hockey wishes to leave with young players. And despite changes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association-none initiated by the college hockey community-the college game&rsquo;s ability to produce pro players remains undiminished.Junior hockey may be the right choice for some young men. But the only complete experience-offering better coaching, solid educational opportunities and Olympic and NHL potential-is with college hockey.Joe Bertagna. Executive Director, American Hockey Coaches Assn. Centerville, Mass.<h2>Money matters</h2>Your reasons for sagging attendance in certain NHL markets were interesting (THN, Oct. 30), but I think it failed to mention basic economic forces at work, especially in Hartford.True, the pervasive problem is probably business woes in the Northeastern U.S. I believe, however, the law of supply and demand, and more specifically, the elasticity of demand and competition, are playing major roles in this case.First, the ticket prices in Hartford were raised from their already exorbitant level, making NHL hockey in the city unaffordable for most families.Second, the product has been inferior, especially for a major sports franchise. And third, Hartford has never captured any noticeable market share from the Boston Bruins.If access to NHL hockey continues to be difficult in Hartford (and elsewhere where the scenarios are similar), I expect to see continued dismal attendance and financial troubles with franchises changing hands (and locations) for less than the expansion fee of $50 million. This is not rocket science. It is Economics 101.Peter Benton, Longmeadow, Mass.<h2>Name game</h2>A lot of people are griping about the changes in the NHL this season, but many have overlooked the most shocking one of all.There is actually a player in the league this season named Dallas Drake. Dallas Drake? That&rsquo;s not a hockey name.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011506/6309346-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="565" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dallas Drake should be racing cars, not racing down the ice.</figcaption></div>If I had Gil Stein&rsquo;s job I would suggest (all in good humor of course) that Dallas change his name to something more hockey-oriented-say Kjell or Tomas or Valeri.Or course, I don&rsquo;t have anything against the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; rookie center. He just has a name that should be given to a NASCAR driver or a country singer. A hockey player? Nah.Ben Carlsen, Erie, Pa.<h2>Ranger ruckus</h2>I am responding to Matthew Pilla&rsquo;s recent letter (THN, Oct. 30) that talks about the New York Rangers&rsquo;&rdquo;goons&rdquo; Tie Domi, Kris King and Joe Kocur.I&rsquo;d like to point out that Kocur is used regularly on the power play, Domi is drawing more penalties than he&rsquo;s called for, and King provides the team with solid boardwork and body checking.All three players contribute significantly to the Rangers&rsquo; attack-they&rsquo;re not just designated goons with no ability.Jack Boyles,&nbsp; Cos Cob, Conn.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-0753&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

f0007-01

College hockey still viable option

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021012/6309377-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-02

THE DRAW

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>The new Sunshine League has opened its 120-player tryout camp and was scheduled to conduct a dispersal draft in Daytona Beach, Fla., Nov. 12.Each of the four Florida teams will draft up to 20 players and begin a 48-game schedule Nov. 21. Salary cap is $275 per player, per week.Teams and coaches are: Daytona Beach Sundevils (Rocky Saganiuk), West Palm Beach Blaze (Bill Nyrop), Lakeland Lasers (Jim Mikol) and Jacksonville Bullets (TBA).Dave MacPherson is president. Nick Durbano is commissioner and Don Murphy is director of player personnel.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03659/6309408-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="574" height="752"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rocky Saganiuk</figcaption></div>NHL loses suit but will appealThe NHL lost its lawsuit hearing against Pepsi-Cola Canada, but has filed an appeal in search of the right one, baby, Uh Huh.The league alleged its reputation was damaged in a promotion Pepsi ran during the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs. The TV ad featuring Don Cherry awarded prizes to fans who had bottle-cap liners giving the eventual Stanley Cup winners.The NHL didn&rsquo;t like the association with gambling and said the appearance of the players in the ad was unflattering. The August decision went in favor of Pepsi. No date is set for the appeal. &#9632;

f0007-03

Sunshine hopes for sunny days

<div class="byline">By THN Staff</div>The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and Hockey Canada have severed their relationship.The split occurred because of a disagreement over which body controls the International Hockey Centre of Excellence. The center, which is funded primarily by the Calgary Flames, is located in the Saddledome and is a resource center with an extensive video library open to amateur teams and coaches in Canada.Hockey Canada, which is also based in the Saddledome, announced recently it considers itself the sole owner and operator of the center. The center was established in 1986.&ldquo;We agreed in January of 1986 when the center came into existence, no one entity should control it,&rdquo; said Murray Costello, president of the CAHA. &ldquo;That way no one would make gains at the expense of others.&rdquo;Hockey Canada president Ron Robison disagreed with Costello&rsquo;s view. &ldquo;Somebody has to be accountable for the goings-on at the center and Hockey Canada has assumed those responsibilities since it opened,&rdquo; Robison said.Costello suggested the problem could be remedied by incorporating the center, with members from all the groups involved sitting on a board.Hockey Canada and the CAHA previously worked in co-operation on instructional videos and a television series, Goals-The Hockey Show.&ldquo;I hope we can continue to work together on a project-to-project basis,&rdquo; Robison said,&rdquo;and that they will eventually come back to the table at the Centre of Excellence.&rdquo;SUIT STARTS: The wheels of the justice system have begun turning in Connie von Hundertmark&rsquo;s wrongful dismissal case against USAir.The former flight attendant alleged her blouse was tom open and a man cupped his hand on her breast during a Boston Bruins&rsquo; charter flight May 12,1991.The Bruins said they witnessed no attack and the airline cited poor job performance as the reason behind von Hundertmark&rsquo;s firing.The 46-year-old New York City resident is seeking $2 million in damages and back pay retroactive to her July 11,1991 dismissal.The airline can now either ask to have the complaint dismissed or file an answer.Next will come the discovery stage, where lawyers from both sides take depositions and accumulate evidence. When that stage is complete, a trial date in state court can be obtained. A trial date is at least a year away.BIG BUCKS: Wayne Gretzky is the only hockey player on Forbes magazine&rsquo;s list of the world&rsquo;s 40 highest-paid athletes.Forbes listed Gretzky&rsquo;s estimated 1992 income at $7.5 million (U.S.), which is 15th on the list. Basketball star Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls is No. 1 at $35.9 million (U.S.).We can assume that no hockey player, aside from Gretzky, will make $4.6 million or more in 1992. That&rsquo;s the salary of baseball&rsquo;s Cecil Fielder, who checked in at No. 40.ON THE AIR: Scandinavian hockey fans will be able to watch one NHL game a week on tape and live coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs thanks to an agreement reached Nov. 3 between NHL Enterprises, ESPN and the Scandanavian Broadcasting Services.The first game will be shown Dec. 9 on Sweden&rsquo;s TV-5 Nordic. Plans were not finalized for TV Norge in Norway and Kanal 2 in Denmark.CORRECTION: The Nov. 6 issue of The Hockey News included a list of all the people associated with hockey who have received the Order of Canada.Steve Stavro, the chairman of the board of the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; has received the honor but wasn&rsquo;t on the list. &#9632;

Canadian amateur hockey bodies sever ties

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011499/6309463-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="378" height="482"></div>I don&rsquo;t usually feel sorry for sports fans. For the most part. I believe they get their money&rsquo;s worth. And more than that, nobody ever forces a citizen to attend a game.Then again, there are the citizens of Hartford, Conn.You have to feel badly enough for those people just on the basis of the economy of the state, which is riding an economy which makes Moscow look like a boom town. On top of all that their one professional sports diversion is the Hartford Whalers.Well, that is not exactly true. I just happened to catch a rare sports double header in Hartford on the final weekend of October. The two attractions were a Friday night basketball game at the Hartford Civic Center between the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns and the following night the Whalers had a Halloween night engagement with the Los Angeles Kings.It should have been a big weekend for the local sports fans and maybe a couple of nights to get their minds off the state of the state. Instead, they picked up the local newspapers the following mornings to find out they had been used.First, Charles Barkley told the fans they were basically chumps. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m on cruise control,&rdquo; said Barkley, who is close to overtaking Michael Jordan as the biggest star of any sport in the United States. &ldquo;I just want to get this exhibition season over with. Hey, it&rsquo;s really just another way to steal money from the fans.&rdquo;Nice touch. Especially after some of these chumps paid about $20 for tickets to the game.The next morning, after the Whalers were smoked by the Kings 7-1, those same fans were treated to a quote from Hartford general manager Brian Burke which in effect stated: &ldquo;The game was an insult to any fan who paid money to get into the building.&rdquo;I bring this up only because the Hartford Whalers are at a desperate crossroads. Despite stout-hearted efforts by people such as Burke and coach Paul Holmgren-and thick-wallet efforts from ownership-the Whalers are no longer a viable entity in Hartford.The club should be given credit for making every effort to make a go of it, but you would have to be a blind man in a dark room if you could not see the franchise has to be moved. The Hartford market is too small to survive in a shrinking economy and the club is about to embark on the dangerous step of allowing the state government to get involved in its financing.This is absurd on two levels. First of all, if an NHL club can&rsquo;t make it without state funding it should not be around. And secondly, no matter how badly a club is run by the private sector, there is no limit to the bungling that is possible when the state is involved. Somehow, I just know there will be toll booths at the blue lines.Day after day there are stories about the plight of the club. Day after day there are stories about just which group of investors is going to buy the club; about just which city will be the next home of the Whalers.Will it be the Miami Whalers? The Milwaukee Whalers? Or the San Diego Whalers? How about Dallas, Anaheim or even Hamilton?And it was no small story the day that the governor of Connecticut met with NHL president Gil Stein in New York. Sure, it was an informal meeting, but the two just happened to discuss in general terms the NHL&rsquo;s written or unwritten policy concerning government involvement in the financial backing of a team.Maybe for awhile the players can shut their eyes to all of that conjecture, but not for too long. And especially not when they are losing in front of crowds which are regularly below 9,000.The optimists might want to draw a parallel with the Minnesota North Stars-a team which appeared on the brink of disaster in 1990- and then came back to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup finals before howling sell-out crowds.If you remember back then, the early-season stories were remarkably similar as the Stars drew about 5,000 per game and it was just a question as to which city they would escape.But Connecticut is not Minnesota.Connecticut is not a hockey hot bed and it is not The Land of 100,000 Lakes, all of which freeze for a winter of budding hockey fans. Rather, Connecticut is the Land of 100,000 foreclosures; The Land of 100,000 bankruptcies; The Land of 100,000 things more important to worry about than how the Whalers played the previous night.The government of the state of Connecticut should have bigger worries than concocting a plan to keep the hockey team in town. If they really want to save the Whales there is only one solution.Let &lsquo;em go. &#9632;

f0009-01

Save the Whalers; get ‘em out of Hartford

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021065/6309494-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Barr is coming back from a career-threatening injury while Manon Rehaume, inset, has started her career in the International League.</figcaption></div>While there have been rumors of franchise movements, NHL president Gil Stein told Bluelines that no applications had been made &ldquo;to date&rdquo; and the deadline for such moves was fast approaching. &ldquo;If a club wants to move, it has until Nov. 15 to file an application,&rdquo; Stein said. The city of Anaheim, Calif., which has a new arena scheduled for completion in June, was mentioned as a potential destination for the Minnesota North Stars. That possibility has since been ruled out. The struggling Hartford Whalers may need a new home, although the State of Connecticut is doing everything possible to help keep the team there. It&rsquo;s worth noting, though, that chairman of the board Bruce McNall does not look favorably on a franchise moving in so close to his Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; territory. &ldquo;I spent a lot of time and money building our following,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t need to have it undermined.&rdquo; Any franchise move must be approved unanimously by the board of governors.<h2>&lsquo;Convicts in PJs&rsquo;</h2>Two pictures on a Wheaties cereal box have pit the NHL in an unusual dispute with the General Mills cereal conglomerate. It all began when GM decided to exploit its &ldquo;Breakfast of Champions&rdquo; theme by featuring photos of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr on both sides of its Wheaties carton. The league objected because of a previous pact the NHL had made with Kellogg&rsquo;s Frosted Flakes. &ldquo;General Mills went behind our back and cut a deal with the agents of Lemieux and Jagr,&rdquo; NHL director of sponsor services Sarah Galvin told Bluelines. What further infuriates the league is the conspicuously unattractive generic uniforms worn by the Penguins&rsquo; stars on each side of the box. &ldquo;They look like convicts wearing pyjamas,&rdquo; Galvin said. &ldquo;It looks like hell and I sent a letter to the president of General Mills telling him so.&rdquo; Wary of copyright infringement, accompanying text on the box does not mention the Penguins, NHL or the team&rsquo;s two Stanley Cups.<h2>TV timeouts</h2>A curious battle has flamed between the NHL and some hockey TV producers over the new rule calling for 70-second commercial time-outs. &ldquo;Some producers have abused this to the point of taking as much as 90 to 100 seconds,&rdquo; a league official said. The league had hoped off-ice officials would carefully monitor the 70-second rule, but some have not been doing so. They are now being supplied with stopwatches and better compliance is anticipated. Meanwhile, at least one coach has been accused of arranging with his team&rsquo;s TV producer to have time-outs bunched near the ends of periods so he can obtain better use out of his rested superstars.<h2>Manonmania</h2>A Madison Avenue marketing source told Bluelines that Manon Rheaume earned $625,000 in commercial fees over a 10-day period. That figure is &ldquo;grossly overstated,&rdquo; said Steve Bartlett, Rheaume&rsquo;s agent. She recently signed an exclusive deal with Classic trading cards. Her card is part of Classic&rsquo;s 120-card draft pick set, although she was never drafted. Rheaume is with the Atlanta Knights of the International League&hellip;The Wichita Thunder of the new Central League has the first female trainer in pro hockey. The Department of Sports Medicine at St. Joseph Medical Center in Wichita, Kan., hired Katie Gilder specifically to be trainer for the team. She will split her duties between the team and hospital this season.<h2>Not pro-Prokhorov</h2>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; insiders said one element that led to Bob Plager&rsquo;s early downfall as head coach was his reluctance to play Russian Vitali Prokhorov. In his first game after Plager&rsquo;s departure, Prokhorov scored a hat trick&hellip;One of the most remarkable comebacks has been fashioned by the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; Dave Barr who suffered a careerthreatening lacerated artery and tendon on his right wrist last Feb. 21 at Winnipeg. &ldquo;My hand surgeon (Dr. Charles Melone of New York City) didn&rsquo;t come out and say my career was over but he hinted at it,&rdquo; Barr said. &ldquo;When my hand came out of the cast, I couldn&rsquo;t even move my wrist. Now I&rsquo;m up to 75 per cent in range and strength, but I don&rsquo;t have any feeling at all in my pointer and middle finger and thumb on the inside.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-02

Clubs must notify NHL of intention to move by Nov. 15

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers returned home and found out he wasn&rsquo;t forgotten.Demers made a successful return to Detroit Nov. 4, as the Canadiens&rsquo; beat the Red Wings 4-3. The Canadiens&rsquo; coach was fired by the Red Wings in July, 1990.Demers had hoped to treat it as just another game, but that proved impossible. He was awake at 6 a.m., preparing for his first interview of the day.&ldquo;I had forgotten how much Detroit meant to me,&rdquo; he said.And how much Demers meant to Detroit.As he entered Joe Louis Arena for the morning skate, he was hugged by a maintenance worker and slapped on the back by the Zamboni driver.He chatted with Red Wings&rsquo; front office personnel and some of the Detroit players remaining from his regime. When the Canadiens returned for the game, Demers&rsquo; entrance was recorded for that evening&rsquo;s early news programs.&ldquo;Jacques didn&rsquo;t mention he was coming back after the Red Wings fired him, but we were well aware of it,&rdquo; right winger Brian Bellows said. &ldquo;He has been very good to us and we wanted to win for him. He treats us with a lot of respect.&rdquo;Demers was presented the game puck by Denis Savard.&ldquo;It pays to be a players&rsquo; coach,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come here for revenge or to rub anything in. I&rsquo;m happy they said they did it for me. I didn&rsquo;t ask them for anything special.&rdquo;FINAL OFFER: The Montreal Canadiens made a last-ditch attempt to acquire Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Lowe.In a radio interview Nov. 4, managing director Serge Savard said he made his best and final offer for Lowe, 33, who has been locked in a contract dispute and hasn&rsquo;t played this season.Savard didn&rsquo;t mention names, but it is believed he offered defenseman Sean Hill, 22, even up.Hill&rsquo;s health proved to be a snag in any deal, however. He strained an abdominal muscle and played just four of the first 13 games.NOTEBOOK: John LeClair won&rsquo;t forget the check he can&rsquo;t remember. The left winger sustained a serious concussion Oct. 31 against the New York Rangers when he was checked by Jeff Beukeboom. While recovering in the dressing room, LeClair was unaware that Mario Roberge had scored against the Rangers. He also kept asking Brian Skrudland, who has missed virtually the entire season with a knee injury, why he wasn&rsquo;t playing.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Denis Savard, Stephan Lebeau, Guy Carbonneau.LW-Gilbert Dionne, Vincent Dam-phousse, Benoit Brunet. Mario Roberge.RW-Ed Ronan, Brian Bellows, Mike Keane, Todd Ewen.LD-Mathieu Schneider, Kevin Haller, Jean-Jacques Dalgneault. Donald Dufresne.RD-Lyle Odelein, Patrice Brisebois. Eric Desjardins.G-Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sean Hill, D, abdominal strain, indefinite. John LeClair, LW, concussion, indefinite. Kirk Muller, C, bruised ribs, day-to-day. Brian Skrudlend, C, tom ligament in right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

No place like home for Demers in triumphant return to Joe Louis

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>Hartford Whalers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren made an emphatic statement Nov. 4 when he put John Cullen on the bench and left him there for almost all of the final 30 minutes of a 3-3 tie with Quebec.&ldquo;We ask players to do certain things and John wasn&rsquo;t following the game plan,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;I have to do what I think is best for the hockey club.&rdquo;Cullen was in the lineup Nov. 6 for the 5-2 loss in Detroit, scoring his third goal, and Nov. 7 when he was scoreless and minus-4 in a 6-2 loss to Washington. All three of Cullen&rsquo;s goals were on the power play and he had only six points in 14 games.&ldquo;Things are not going to script,&rdquo; Cullen said. &ldquo;So that&rsquo;s pressure. When you don&rsquo;t perform night in and night out, the pressure builds.&rdquo;In the 107 games since Cullen and Zarley Zalapski were acquired from Pittsburgh March 4, 1991 for Ulf Samuelsson and Ron Francis, the Whalers have gone 32-59-16. They were 47-44-16 in the 107 games preceeding the deal.Cullen had 37 goals, 62 assists and was minus-44 during the time.&ldquo;When he was in Pittsburgh and I was in Philadelphia (as coach), John was a dominant guy because he played hard all the time,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;He played nasty. Mix that in with the skills he has, he&rsquo;s a premier player in the league.&ldquo;He has to play with a certain passion for the game that puts him above a lot of guys. Outside the game against New Jersey (Oct. 28), I haven&rsquo;t seen that passion, the John Cullen we&rsquo;re all waiting to see.&rdquo;Cullen doesn&rsquo;t think benchings are going to help.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m not playing up to my capabilites,&rdquo; Cullen said,&rdquo;but I can&rsquo;t prove myself sitting on the bench.&rdquo;Despite trade rumors, general manager Brian Burke said he isn&rsquo;t trying to trade Cullen.&ldquo;I think John would agree he hasn&rsquo;t played as well as he can, or even close to it,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;People here have given him a rough ride, some deserved, some not. I think he has ghosts from the past, coming here for the most popular player in the history of the franchise.&rdquo;HEAVY HITTER: Nick Kypreos already matched his goal total for last season when he scored his fourth of the season Nov. 4.Acquired from Washington for Yvon Corriveau and Mark Hunter, Kypreos took the lead in the GMC Heavy Hitter Award. Management picks a player it feels best makes a physical impact each game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just having more confidence in myself and confidence shown in me by coaches,&rdquo; Kypreos said. &ldquo;Part of the reason things didn&rsquo;t work out in Washington was I didn&rsquo;t feel they had confidence in me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Whalers were stopped a sixth consecutive time (05-1) from winning their 400th game by losing to the Capitals&hellip;Paul Holmgren threw his players off the ice in practice Nov. 2 two days after they were smoked 7-1 by Los Angeles. Captain Pat Verbeek went in and convinced the coach to allow them to complete workouts. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t cry over spilled milk,&rdquo; Murray Craven said. &ldquo;And right now we&rsquo;re drowning in it.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Andrew Cassels, John Cullen, Mark Janssens, Robert Petrovicky, Paul Gillis.LW-Murray Graven, Geoff Sanderson, Jim McKenzie, Patrick Poulin, Randy Cunneyworth.RW-Pat Verbeek, Tim Kerr, Nick Kypreos, Michael Nylander.LD-Zarley Zalapski, Eric Weinrich, Allen Pedersen, Randy Ladouceur.RD-Doug Houda. Steve Konroyd. Adam Burt, Jim Agnew.G-Sean Burke. Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Cullen enigma unsolved

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>The road was not good to the Buffalo Sabres early in the 1992-93 season. But then the Sabres were pretty brutal on the road.Buffalo limped home from a four-game road trip Nov. 7 with one point and even that was something of an embarrassment.After leading the expansion Ottawa Senators 2-0 Oct. 31, the Sabres had to settle for a 2-2 tie. It was the Senators&rsquo; first point since a 5-3 opening night win.In addition to the game in Ottawa, the Sabres blew a two-goal lead in losing 7-6 Nov. 2 to the New York Rangers. They pulled a similar routine against San Jose Nov. 5, losing 7-5.Buffalo completed the winless portion of the circuit with a 5-2 loss Nov. 7 at Los Angeles.The defeats didn&rsquo;t sit well with Sabres&rsquo; coach John Muckier.&ldquo;Everyone played bad,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Our road games definitely have to improve,&rdquo; captain Pat LaFontaine said. &ldquo;We have to play the same as if we were at home. Each one of us has to take a good look at ourselves.&rdquo;The Sabres lost only once (5-1-0) on home ice entering a Nov. 11 game against the Boston Bruins. But the league&rsquo;s second-highest scoring team-71 goals in 14 games-was just 1-5-2 away from Memorial Auditorium.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been giving up a lot of goals in the third period and good teams don&rsquo;t do that,&rdquo; Muckier said.RUMOR MILL: The Sabres&rsquo; mediocre play created a spate of trade rumors. Sources suggested the team was about to acquire either Calgary goaltender Mike Vernon or Toronto goalie Grant Fuhr.General manager Gerry Meehan, however, maintained he was not close to making a deal with Calgary or Toronto.Most of the rumors had the Sabres packaging either Dale Hawerchuk or Dave Andreychuk and defenseman Doug Bodger for a goalie and a forward or defenseman.The Sabres have four goalies under contract-Daren Puppa, Dominik Hasek, Tom Draper and Clint Malarchuk. They would like to move one of them in a deal.NOTEBOOK: Tom Draper got his first starts of the season at San Jose and Los Angeles. His last NHL start was in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs last spring at Boston Garden&hellip;John Muckier declined to comment on allegations he had a dispute with right winger Alexander Mogilny during and after the loss at New York. Muckier said that anything said between himself and a player is &ldquo;no one else&rsquo;s business.&rdquo;<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pat LaFontaine, Dale Hawerchuk, Bob Sweeney, Bob Corkum, Dave Hannan.LW-Dave Andreychuk Yuri Khmylev, Viktor Gordijuk, Brad May, Colin Patterson.RW-Alex Mogilny. Wayne Presley, Randy Wood, Rob Ray, Gord Donnelly.LD-Doug Bodger, Petr Svoboda, Richard Smehlik.RD-Philippe Boucher, Keith Carney, Randy Moller, Greg Brown.G-Daren Puppa, Dominik Hasek, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette, RW, right knee surgery, indefinite. Grant Ledyard. D, fractured middle finger on right hand, indefinite. Ken Sutton. D, broken left foot, Nov. 17. &#9632;

High-scoring homebodies are powder puffs on road

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>Of all the new players who arrived in Quebec this fall, Scott Young came with the least fanfare. But he has had people talking since then.Young spent last year in the Italian League with Bolzano and with the U.S. Olympic team before the Nordiques acquired his rights from Pittsburgh for Bryan Fogarty in March. But there were no guarantees Young was going to return to the NHL.Contract negotiations during the summer were so tough, Nordiques&rsquo; coach-general manager Pierre Page had written Young off and told him to stay in Europe. Young and the Nordiques finally came to an agreement on a one-year deal in the $400,000 range.Young, 25, also played with the 1988 U.S. Olympic team before debuting in the NHL with Hartford. During his first two seasons, he scored 19 and 24 goals and had 123 points in 156 games as a winger.Then he was put on the blueline and struggled. Young had just six goals in 34 games in 1990-91 and was traded to Pittsburgh for Rob Brown. He didn&rsquo;t make much of an impact with the Penguins and not satisfied with contract offers, fled the next season for Italy.After one season away a return was imperative for his development.&ldquo;I was ready to come back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to play more than one season in Italy. A longer stay could have been harmful.&rdquo;The re-adjustment has been easy. Young had five goals and nine points in 14 games. He wasn&rsquo;t being used as a defenseman, except for a few stints to play the point on the power play.&ldquo;I like it here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This team has so much raw talent. My style goes well with the players. I like to carry the puck, use my speed. My objective was to prove to everyone I belonged to the NHL.&rdquo;CIVIL TALKS: Don Baizley is the first to admit contract negotiations between his client Joe Sakic and the Nordiques are complicated.But how so, no one knows. Baizley won&rsquo;t negotiate through the media.&ldquo;All I can say is there are no shouting matches between (owner) Marcel Aubut and myself,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;Everything is cordial. Both parties understand the other position.&rdquo;Baizley said Sakic is happy.&ldquo;People have to understand Sakic will play his best hockey the next four or five seasons,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll have to be paid accordingly. The problem is in this funny market, it&rsquo;s hard to situate where Joe fits in. But I put my confidence in Aubut. He finds solutions for everything.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Owen Nolan was in hot water after leaving too early after practice Nov. 4. The day before, he had been thrown out of a game in Hartford. He was expected to work overtime at practice with assistant coach Don Jackson. But Nolan &ldquo;forgot&rdquo; and Jackson blew his top in front of reporters. No disciplinary action was mentioned&hellip;Pierre Page upped the ante on Edmonton defenseman Kevin Lowe. Page won&rsquo;t give details, but said he was proud of what he had offered Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather for the services of Lowe. &ldquo;I know what other teams have offered and I have no reason to be shy of my own offer,&rdquo; Page said.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Mike Ricci, Claude Lapointe.LW-Scott Young, Martin Rucinsky, Bill Lindsay, Mike Hough. Tony TwistRW-Andrei Kovalenko, Gino Cavallini, Owen Nolan, Tim Hunter.LD-Steven Finn, Kerry Huffman, Curtis Leschyshyn, Mikhail Tatarinov.RD-Steve Duchesne, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, David Karpa. Craig Wolanin.G-Ron Hextall, Jacques Cloutier, Stephane Fiset.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Scott Pearson. LW, sprained left knee, Nov. 22. Valeri Kamensky, LW, broken right ankle, indefinite. &#9632;

Young proves he belongs

<div class="byline">By Bob Hutton</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011435/6309669-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Analyzing the highlights, not making them, is part of Rick Vaive&rsquo;s new job.</figcaption></div>Rick Vaive will never forget his last few NHL games. He had a front row seat&hellip;at the end of the bench&hellip;next to the backup goalie.It was part way through the 1991-92 season and the Buffalo Sabres were hit by a rash of injuries. It was a perfect chance for the fallen star to force his way back into the lineup.&ldquo;I had been sitting in the press box most of the season,&rdquo; the veteran of 900 NHL games recalled. &ldquo;Then a few guys got injured and I got a chance to dress. I&rsquo;ll never forget it. They called up Jody Gage from Rochester and I sat on the bench&hellip;they never even gave me a chance to play. Nothing against Jody, but he&rsquo;s a 13-year minor leaguer. I knew at that point it was over.&rdquo;Vaive, 33, is now a player/assistant coach with the new Hamilton Canucks in the American League. It&rsquo;s not the NHL, but it&rsquo;s an opportunity for a fresh start in a new field.Last season with the Sabres, Vaive dressed for 20 games and had just a goal and four points. The Sabres were changing their philosophy and Vaive simply didn&rsquo;t fit into their plans.Vaive said sitting on the bench made him realize it was time for a career change. The Sabres, with the acquisition of Pat LaFontaine, began to put a premium on speed and Vaive was stuck in the out basket. But for a guy who had been playing hockey since the age of four and someone who had never scored fewer than 22 goals in any of his 12 NHL seasons, it wasn&rsquo;t an easy thing to accept.He was the first Toronto Maple Leaf to score 50 goals. And he did that three times. He was a member of the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Birmingham Bulls in 1978-79. He also had productive seasons with Chicago and Buffalo. He had 441 goals and 788 points, 1,445 penalty minutes in 876 games. He had eight straight seasons of at least 30 goals.After sitting on the bench in Buffalo, Vaive requested assignment to the minors for the first time in his career. &ldquo;I thought if I got some playing time in I could hook up with another team,&rdquo; Vaive said.He had four goals and 13 points in 12 games with Rochester, but the offers never came. The Sabres did not pick up the option year on his contract and Vaive became a free agent without compensation. He contacted all 24 NHL teams this past summer and was given the same response. Tryouts perhaps, but no contracts.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want that,&rdquo; he said flatly. Vaive then realized he could stay in hockey with the Hamilton Canucks. He knew president/general manager Pat Hickey and coach Jack McIlhargey.Vancouver was moving its farm team from Milwaukee of the International League to Hamilton and Vaive wanted to stay in the Golden Horseshoe area. He lives on the outskirts of Buffalo and commutes to Hamilton.&ldquo;It was important for me to stay close to home.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My wife is involved in the community and I didn&rsquo;t want to move my kids out of school.&rdquo;Hickey signed Vaive to a one-year contract as player/assistant under Mcllhargey. The plan was for Vaive to be a player first, a coach second, but he broke the scaphoid bone in his right wrist and has yet to play. He participates in practices and coaches the defense.&ldquo;We were counting on him to score goals,&rdquo; McIlhargey said of Vaive. &ldquo;The injury hasn&rsquo;t allowed him to do that. In a way it has thrown him into coaching a little quicker. Rick is in on most of the decisions. We want the players to look up to Rick and they do. And when they see what he can do as a player.Vaive isn&rsquo;t expected to make his playing debut until at least early December so he appreciates the head start he&rsquo;s getting as a coach.&ldquo;It was a good time for a career move,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I could have caught on with another team somewhere and be playing in the NHL. But you have to think of the future.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m looking at being an AHL head coach down the road. I think it might be better coaching in the AHL than the NHL. Helping a couple kids and seeing them make the NHL would be really gratifying.&rdquo;Vaive didn&rsquo;t figure his NHL career would end this way. But. then again after his personal success, who would?&ldquo;Maybe if I played on a Stanley Cup winner it would have been different,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People are always looking for winners. It will always be one of my biggest regrets. I understand exactly what happened in Buffalo. It would have been nice if it had been handled a little differently, but there&rsquo;s nothing I can do about it now.&rdquo;Vaive still believes he can play in the NHL but isn&rsquo;t holding his breath waiting for offers. The Vancouver Canucks have already said it&rsquo;s very doubtful they would ever recall him. Besides, he&rsquo;s under contract with Hamilton, not Vancouver.As a coach, Vaive can offer advice on what made him successful as a player. During his glory years, he was one of the best at planting himself in front of the net and taking a pounding while waiting for rebounds or tipping in shots. And as a player, he&rsquo;ll show it to his teammates first-hand.Standing in front of the net or behind the bench is fine. But sitting at the end of it is another thing. It just doesn&rsquo;t do him justice. &#9632;

f0013-01

RE-VAI VED

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Two days after his recall from Cincinnati of the International League, it would have been understandable if Utica Devils&rsquo; goalie Corey Schwab had asked to go back to the Cyclones.The Baltimore Skipjacks blasted 51 shots and scored eight goals against Schwab. The 8.00 goals-against average was ugly, even though he and the Devils won the game 10-8.&ldquo;But there was only one goal you could have considered close to being a suspect goal,&rdquo; said Utica coach Robbie Ftorek.Schwab certainly didn&rsquo;t let the eight-goal game affect him. In his next two starts, the second-year goalie posted shutouts, the only shutouts in the American League this season.Schwab stopped 30 shots as the Devils handed the Binghamton Rangers their first loss of the season, 5-0 Oct. 30 in Utica. Two nights later, he made 37 saves in a 2-0 victory against the Hamilton Canucks at Copps Coliseum.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really happy-1 don&rsquo;t usually get a shutout too often,&rdquo; said Schwab, New Jersey&rsquo;s 12th-round pick (200th overall) in the 1990 entry draft. &ldquo;I only had one shutout in three years of junior (with Seattle of the Western League) and that was right at the end of my last year.&rdquo;Schwab, 22, gave his teammates most of the credit for the shutout against Binghamton, though he did stop two third-period breakaways.&ldquo;Some of our people were saying that was the best game they&rsquo;ve ever seen our team play here,&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;But the second game was more of a Corey game. We didn&rsquo;t play well and Corey made some big saves.&rdquo;One save is engraved in the memories of Schwab and Ftorek.Trailing 2-0, the Canucks pulled their goalie in the final minute and had pressure on the Devils. As the Canucks jammed the net, the puck came to Mario Marois at the point.&ldquo;It was going to my glove side to the comer and I saw it at the last second,&rdquo; Schwab said.&ldquo;We were right in line with it from the bench,&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;Just as the shot came, the crowd moved and Corey had a chance to see it. The shot was dipping, too. You could see him go out with his glove, then go down and snag it. It was actually behind him when he caught it.&rdquo;Schwab played almost all of his rookie pro season in Utica, going 9-12-1 with a 4.31 GAA as he split time with rookie Chad Erickson.ON THE AIR: The AHL is only a signature away from having a game of the week in the U.S. on SportsChannel America.&ldquo;The only obstacle is to see the contract,&rdquo; said AHL marketing director Bob Ohrablo. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty amazing.&rdquo;The package is nearly identical to the Canadian TV game of the week that was finalized before the season with CHCH and ATV. The games are on Sundays at 1 p.m. after Jan. 1.SportsChannel affiliates that plan to carry the game are in New York, New England, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco/Oak-land, Florida and Ohio. Announcers haven&rsquo;t been determined.BIG-GAME HUNTERS: Providence rookie winger Jozef Stumpel scored three goals and four assists in a 9-3 victory over Capital District Oct. 30. The seven points were two shy of Art Stratton&rsquo;s single-game record set in 1962-63 for Buffalo&hellip;Cape Breton center Shaun Van Allen had five assists in a 6-4 victory over Hershey Oct. 28.Fredericton released left winger John Ferguson Jr., son of Ottawa player personnel director John Ferguson&hellip;Providence lost its top defenseman when the parent Boston Bruins traded Bob Beers to Tampa Bay. &#9632;

Schwab shuts down shooters

Your name doesn&rsquo;t have to be John to be a successful minor pro coach, but apparently it doesn&rsquo;t hurt. Three of the top four winningest coaches are named John.Here&rsquo;s a look at the coaches with the most wins entering the 1992-93 season. Records include time coached in the American, East Coast and International Leagues.Dennis Desrosiers, 43, Cincinnati (IHL). Through stops in Flint, Saginaw and Cincinnati has compiled mark of 286-202-50.John Van Boxmeer. 39, Rochester (AHL). In four full seasons and parts of two others at Rochester, has posted record of 227-177-46.John Brophy. 59. Hampton Roads (ECHL). Former Toronto coach has 217-16536 record in AHL and ECHL.John Marks, 44, Indianapolis (IHL). Four seasons in Kalamazoo and one with Ice produced 212-162-36 record.Robbie Laird. 37, Moncton (AHL). Compiled 206-154-17 mark in four good years with Fort Wayne and one bad year with Baltimore.Doug Carpenter, 50, Halifax (AHL). Has 194-172-34 record with New Brunswick, St. Catharines, Halifax and New Haven. &#9632;

Johnny’s on coaching spot

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>Just one year ago, the Raleigh IceCaps sustained a serious meltdown from Day 1 of the regular season.The expansion team lost its first four games on the road and didn&rsquo;t fare much better at home, en route to a fifth-place finish in the East Coast League&rsquo;s East Division.Things changed drastically this season, as the IceCaps bolted from the gate with a six-game winning streak. They were the only undefeated team (5-0-1) after the first three weeks of play.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a world of difference,&rdquo; said Raleigh coach Kurt Kleinendorst.The IceCaps knocked off defending champion Hampton Roads, regular-season titlist Toledo, powerful Erie twice, Greensboro and Richmond in the early going.&ldquo;If I could have come home 2-2-0 after the first road trip. I would have said we had a successful start,&rdquo; Kleinendorst said. &ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t? I never expected this.&rdquo;Raleigh won overtime shootouts-a tie-breaking rule Kleinendorst detests-against Toledo and Erie.&ldquo;I hate them. I can&rsquo;t stand them,&rdquo; Kleinendorst said of shootouts. &ldquo;Fortunately, I have a team that should win more than we lose. I&rsquo;ve got forwards who can put the puck in the net.&rdquo;Pittsburgh farmhand Joel Gardner led the IceCaps with four goals and 10 points in six games.The 25-year-old forward was limited to 36 games a year ago with the Knoxville Cherokees because of a serious knee injury.HALLOWEEN HAVOC: The Knoxville Cherokees played a nasty Halloween prank on their fans.The team won a 4-3 overtime shootout in Birmingham Oct. 30 for just their first victory of the season, so the rowdy Civic Coliseum crowd anticipated a win over the Bulls the next night to snap a nasty four-game home losing streak.But the payback-minded Bulls embarrassed Knoxville 10-3, triggering numerous boos from Cherokee faithful.The loss dropped Knoxville to 1-7-1, last in the West Division.CZECH IT OUT: Vaclav Nedomansky Jr., who was cut by Columbus during training camp, had two goals and an assist in his Cherokees&rsquo; debut at Birmingham.The University of Michigan graduate is the son of Vaclav Nedomansky, who defected from Czechoslovakia and played six seasons in the NHL with Detroit, the New York Rangers and St. Louis.RED-LIGHT DISTRICT: Toledo averaged a league-leading seven goals-per-game in bolting to a 5-2-1 start and a first-place tie with Nashville in the West Division.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a very solid club,&rdquo; said Storm coach Chris McSorley. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve definitely got guys on our team who don&rsquo;t belong in this league.&rdquo;One of those players is 29-year-old left winger Iain Duncan, who is in his first season in the league. The Bowling Green University product played parts of four seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. He had eight goals and 17 points in the first eight games with the Storm.THAT&rsquo;S NO BULL: The Birmingham Bulls signed Russian defenseman Alexander Hava-nov. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a strong, offensive-minded defenseman with lots of potential,&rdquo; Bulls&rsquo; coach Bruce Garber said. The 21-year-old played for Moscow Alifa (Soviet Division II) last season. &#9632;

IceCaps’ sizzling start puts foes in deep freeze

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>The expansion Atlanta Knights have upgraded female goalie Manon Rheaume&rsquo;s status, signing her to a three-year International League contract Nov. 4.Rheaume, the first female to try out for an NHL team, was assigned to Atlanta by parent club Tampa Bay in October. She became the first female to sign a professional hockey contract.Atlanta team governor Richard Adler had said Rheaume wouldn&rsquo;t be ready to play for up to three months, and that she was being placed in a state-of-the-art conditioning program.&ldquo;But what sped up the process was our loss of goalie David Littman,&rdquo; said Adler, referring to Littman&rsquo;s recall by Tampa. &ldquo;(Atlanta coach) Gene Ubriaco has seen Manon play in practice and felt she was able to do this. The hoopla is not her doing. She just wants to be a goalie.&rdquo;A separated shoulder to Tampa Bay goalie Wendell Young created emergency conditions that triggered a series of moves which put Rheaume in uniform for the Knights.Littman was placed on emergency recall to Tampa to fill in for Young, leaving J.C. Bergeron to play for the Knights. Rheaume was signed to backup Bergeron during Littman&rsquo;s absence. She was scheduled to be on the bench for a three-game weekend that started with Atlanta&rsquo;s game Nov. 6 in Cincinnati.&ldquo;She is the No. 2 goalie until Littman returns,&rdquo; Adler said. &ldquo;If something were to happen to Bergeron, Manon would play.&rdquo;Adler said Rheaume has improved her strength since she began a conditioning program at Georgia Sports Institute, where she goes through a three-hour workout every day.BLACK IS BACK: The Indianapolis Ice may be the young guns of the IHL, except for one thing. They do dress in silver and black, but these guys have been good, not bad, on the ice the first month of the season.With a roster stocked by 10 rookies and an average age of just 21, coach John Marks saw his club quietly move into first place in the Central Division Nov. 1.Indianapolis, which checked out at 20 games under.500 last season, was on a roll with a three-game win streak and 6-4-0 record.&ldquo;We could be better than that,&rdquo; Marks said. &ldquo;We lost some close. We lost to Cincinnati 3-0-(goalie) Doug Dadswell absolutely stood on his ear. We have a few games coming to us.&rdquo;With young, emerging stars such as Chicago first-round draft pick Sergei Krivokrasov, winger Alexandr Andrievski and winger Kevin St. Jacques, it may be only a matter of time before this team comes of age.DEFENSELESS: The Peoria Rivermen had suffered through several epic defensive collapses in losing four of five games.Peoria allowed 20 goals in a combined span of 27:55: five goals in 5:07 against Cleveland, four goals in 11:19 to blow a 4-1 lead against Indianapolis and three goals in 72 seconds against Kansas City, then two more in 70 seconds to blow a 4-0 lead.I-OPENERS: Indianapolis goalie Ray LeBlanc has been nominated by USA Hockey for the U.S. Olympic committee&rsquo;s Sportsman of the Year Award&hellip;Salt Lake goalie Andrei Trefilov beat Milwaukee twice, including a 52-save performance, to earn player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Nov. 1 and an NHL recall to Calgary. &#9632;

Rheaume is Atlanta’s Knight in signing armour

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>The Detroit Falcons were the top team in the 1991-92 regular season and look to be well on their way to repeating.The Falcons, whose 75 points were three better than Brantford last year, were unbeaten in the first month with a 7-0-1 record.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of good people in the dressing room,&rdquo; said coach-general manager Terry Christensen. &ldquo;The talk starts with the team first and &lsquo;I&rsquo; second. We play as a team.&rdquo;It also doesn&rsquo;t hurt having players such as Clayton Young, Brent Bobyck, Jamie Stewart and Bill Horn around. Young led the league in scoring with 10 goals and 20 points in eight games. He was Detroit&rsquo;s leading scorer last season with 35 goals and 88 points in 60 games.Linemate Bobyck was also among the top-10 scorers most of the season. Stewart and Hom finished the month as the league&rsquo;s top two goalies. Last season, Hom led the CHL with 20 wins and was second with a 4.05 goals-against average. Stewart was fourth in both categories with 14 victories and a 4.35 GAA.VETS SIGN: Two NHL veterans have turned to the CHL to jump-start their careers.The Brantford Smoke signed goalie Mark Laforest while the Muskegon Fury nabbed center Doug Shedden.Laforest, who played 98 NHL games in five seasons with Detroit, Philadelphia and Toronto, won two of his first three games. He signed with the Smoke after running into contract problems with the Ottawa Senators.Shedden, a friend of Muskegon coach-GM Bruce Boudreau, signed with the Fury after being released by the Milwaukee Admirals of the International League. He hoped to play in Europe, but the season there had already started.Shedden played 416 NHL games over eight years, including two 30-goal seasons. He had three goals in two games with Muskegon helping the Fury win their first game.&ldquo;The players look up to a guy who was in the NHL All-Star Game five years ago,&rdquo; Boudreau said.WAR OF WORDS: The bad blood brewing between the Flint Bulldogs and Chatham Wheels reached the boiling point Oct. 24.A club-record crowd of 4,212 in Hint watched the game turn ugly in the third period when several fights broke out in the stands. The game was ended with 20 seconds left, when players and fans became involved in altercations.Chatham coach Ron Caron was doused with beer and blamed the Bulldogs&rsquo; management for the mess.He called Bulldog coaches Skip Probst and Marty Howe &ldquo;Abbott and Costello&rdquo; adding &ldquo;that idiot (Probst) doesn&rsquo;t have any strategy. He&rsquo;s a poor excuse for an owner, coach and GM. He should be ashamed of himself.&rdquo;Probst blamed Caron for the situation. saying he fueled the fire with comments to the media.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so full of it,&rdquo; said Probst. &ldquo;He instigated everything. He&rsquo;s an embarrassment and the league should do something about it.&rdquo;Chatham&rsquo;s Gary St. Pierre was suspended for the two games after climbing atop the boards and punching a fan, whom St. Pierre said spit on him. Security at the IMA Sports Arena has been increased to avoid future incidents. Chatham won the game 7-1. &#9632;

Flying Falcons aim to pick up where they left off in 1992

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Tom Vukota has taken his place on future lists of Vermont hockey trivia.When the subject of Catamounts&rsquo; goalie Christian Soucy&rsquo;s career comes up, Vukota will be remembered as the goaltender who broke Soucy&rsquo;s string of consecutive starting assignments.Vukota, a sophomore, saw no varsity action last season but started in goal in a 4-3 win over Providence College Nov. 1. It ended Soucy&rsquo;s streak of 21 consecutive starts.Catamount fans shouldn&rsquo;t expect to see anyone but Soucy in goal for the majority of the season, however. He is definitely the No. 1 man at Vermont.&ldquo;We wanted to make sure we took a look at someone behind (Soucy),&rdquo; said coach Mike Gilligan. &ldquo;The first three games (all non-league contests) might be the only chance we get to see someone else in goal.&rdquo;Vukota played 20 minutes against the Friars, stopping all six shots he faced. Soucy played the final 40 minutes and got the win when Dom Ducharme scored his second goal of the game with 7:05 left.Soucy was an iron man for the Catamounts last season, starting 29 of 31 games and finishing with 1,773 minutes played. He had played 716 consecutive minutes prior to Vukota&rsquo;s start.&ldquo;Christian is used to playing a lot,&rdquo; Gilligan said. &ldquo;He was playing 65 or 70 games a year in junior hockey in Ottawa (for the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Ontario Junior League) and he was getting shelled.&rdquo;Soucy, who has not been drafted, plans to finish his college career at Vermont. If he doesn&rsquo;t miss games to injury, he could become the school leader in games played. The record of 102 is held by former Catamount and current Buffalo Sabre Tom Draper.QUICK SILVER: RPI is one of the fastest teams in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.The Engineers showcased some of their quickness by scoring two power-play goals and a shorthanded marker in a 5-3 win over a much bigger Providence team Oct. 30.&ldquo;If we continue to do things like that, shorthanded situations will be to our advantage,&rdquo; said sophomore Kelly Askew, who scored one goal and set up the shorthander by freshman Tim Regan.FRESH FACES: Dartmouth may be playing as many as four freshmen on defense in the first half of the season.Dan Bloom, Dax Burkhardt, Scott Dolesh and Darren Peers were steady in exhibition games and may be the answer to the Big Green&rsquo;s defensive problems.&ldquo;Defense was our weak point last season,&rdquo; said Dartmouth coach Roger Demment. &ldquo;We needed more players with the ability and skills to get the puck out of our own end. They give us much-needed help.&rdquo;HONOR ROLL: Clarkson junior goalie Jason Currie was named ECAC player of the week for the period ending Oct. 31.Currie made 39 saves-including a team record 21 in the third period-as the Golden Knights beat New Hampshire 6-1. &#9632;

Soucy Vermont’s No. 1 man

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>Western Collegiate Hockey Association officials have reached an agreement they hope will result in an annual series of games between member schools and teams representing the Czech and Slovak Ice Hockey Federations.Negotiations that began in June 1991 culminated in an eight-game, two-week holiday tour of the WCHA beginning Dec. 27.&ldquo;It is a truly exciting step forward for the WCHA and will afford a unique opportunity to expose our student-athletes and fans to an exciting international brand of hockey,&rdquo; said commissioner Otto Breitenbach. &ldquo;The association plans to make similar tours an annual event.&rdquo;One future goal is to reciprocate by sending teams to Europe during the summer to get a taste of that level of competition and culture.The Czechoslovak team, comprised of top 20-23-year-olds, will play Minnesota Dec. 27, Minnesota-Duluth Dec. 29, Wisconsin Dec. 31, Michigan Tech Jan. 1, St. Cloud State Jan. 3, Northern Michigan Jan. 4 and North Dakota Jan. 6. The two schools not included in the tour-Colorado College and Denver-will take part in the future as the WCHA rotates sites.Hai Dorf. the WCHA faculty representative from Northern Michigan who spearheaded the negotiations, said the agreement &ldquo;is just the tip of the iceberg of exchanges.&ldquo;I firmly believe we have an obligation to assist the emerging former Eastern Bloc countries in their transition from a socialist society to a free market society,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The potential benefits to the athletes, their respective universities, to the WCHA and its fans, and the Czech Ice Hockey Federation is an exciting prospect.&rdquo;In addition to arranging a series of competitions, Dorf said he would also like to put together an exchange of academic personnel from Prague.HIGH HOPES: Judging from pre-season assessments of league coaches, North Dakota center Greg Johnson and Minnesota-Duluth center Derek Plante are far and away the top forwards in the WCHA. There isn&rsquo;t much argument there.But there are those who believe Colorado College left winger Jody Jaraczewski will make a major impression before his junior year is complete.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m aiming for 30 goals this season,&rdquo; the DePere, Wise., native said. &ldquo;I have high expectations for myself.&rdquo;Jaraczewski had 21 goals and 41 points in 41 games last season. He was one of the big reasons why the Tigers advanced to the WCHA Final Four for the first time in school history.IMPRESSIVE DEBUT: Jim Carey became the first freshman in Wisconsin history to record a shutout in his first game. Carey, from Weymouth, Mass., was credited with 22 saves in an 11-0 victory over Northern Michigan Nov. 1.Sophomore Wayne Thomas beat Pennsylvania 11-0 in his first appearance for the Badgers in 1968. Back then, the NCAA prohibited freshmen from competing with varsity teams.ROUGH START: Northern Michigan, the defending league playoff champion, opened the season with series losses to Alaska-Anchorage and Wisconsin.Two factors in the auspicious beginning were injuries and suspect goaltending.Wingers Joe Frederick and Mike Harding, the top returning forwards, sat out the first four games with ankle and groin injuries, respectively. Meanwhile, veterans goalies Corwin Saur-diff and Rob Kruhlak were a combined 0-4-0 with a 7.75 goals-against average.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just not a very good hockey team right now,&rdquo; said coach Rick Comley. &#9632;

European showdown a reality

When Boston College coach Len Ceglarski retired last season, he left the game as the winningest coach in college hockey history. The Walpole, Mass., native compiled a 673-339-38 record in 34 seasons with Clarkson and Boston College.But Ceglarski&rsquo;s record is now in jeopardy. Michigan State coach Ron Mason is within striking distance and could pass him this year. Here&rsquo;s a look at the coaches with the most wins entering the 1992-93 season.Ron Mason, 52, Michigan State (CCHA). Has 651-279-43 record in 26 years with Lake Superior, Bowling Green and the Spartans.Jeff Sauer, 48, Wisconsin (WCHA). His 440-366-30 mark is eighth-best in NCAA Division I history.Jerry York, 47, Bowling Green (CCHA). Twenty-year veteran has lifetime record of 429-297-31 with Clarkson and Falcons.Rick Comley, 45, N. Michigan (WCHA). Only coach to win titles in CCHA and WCHA. Has 414-295-36 record.Jack Parker, 47, Boston University (HE). Last year&rsquo;s Hockey East coach of year is 400219-32 in 20 years with Terriers. &#9632;

Hats off to top-notch coaches

<div class="byline">By Lappy Mahoney</div>Boston University coach Jack Parker reached a personal milestone in the Terriers&rsquo; seasonopening 5-3 win over Colgate at Walter Brown Arena.The Oct. 31 victory was the 400th of Parker&rsquo;s career. He is in his 20th season as the coach of his alma mater.A surprised Parker was chosen the game&rsquo;s first star by local media in honor of his achievement.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been the first star of a game,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t even have those (star awards) when I played.&rdquo;Parker downplayed his milestone, saying he would rather have won the Terriers&rsquo; last game a year ago-a 4-2 loss to Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Providence.&ldquo;I have 400 wins to go with over 200 losses (400-219-32 through Nov. 5) but they never talk about the losses. If you coach over 600 games, you&rsquo;re bound to have a lot of wins,&rdquo; he said.Parker took over the head coaching job at Boston University from Leon Abbott six games into the 1973-74 season. He has guided the Terriers to 20 or more wins 10 times and has one NCAA Tournament championship to his credit (1977-78).Parker, 47, has also won the Spencer Penrose Memorial Trophy twice (national coach of the year); is a three-time winner of the New England coach of the year award; and has won the Hockey East coach-of-the-year award twice.The ever-modest Parker admits he is proud of BU&rsquo;s hockey tradition and success.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to keep it going,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It certainly isn&rsquo;t the milestone that (Michigan State&rsquo;s) Ron Mason will attain when he passes Lenny (former BC Coach Len Ceglarski) for the most wins.&rdquo;ON THE WARPATH: Merrimack got off to a 3-1-0 start and a balanced scoring attack was the main reason why.The Warriors had six players with three or more points in the first four games.&ldquo;We have a little more depth than we&rsquo;ve had in past years,&rdquo; said coach Ron Anderson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got more scoring balance. We&rsquo;re bigger and stronger on defense and the goaltending has been strong.&rdquo;Junior left winger Jim Gibson led the Warriors with three goals and seven points after four games.WIN SOME, LOSE SOME: Lowell&rsquo;s 3-0-0 record matched its best start since the team moved to Division I competition in the 1983-84 season.Junior goalie Dwayne Roloson was named co-player of the week for the period ending Oct. 31 after stopping 61 of 65 shots in 3-2 and 6-2 non-conference wins over Air Force.The first victory was a costly one, however. Senior left winger Dave Stevens sustained a broken right fibula and could be sidelined for the rest of the season.Stevens, an assistant captain, finished fourth in team scoring a year ago with 12 goals and 27 points in 31 games.TOP GUNS: Northeastern sophomore right winger Jean-Francois Aube and rookie left winger Jordon Shields captured major awards after a weekend sweep of Illinois-Chicago Oct. 30-31. Aube scored four goals and six points to earn co-player-of-the-week honors with Dwayne Roloson. Shields had two goals and four points to capture rookie-of-the-week honors. &#9632;

Terriers’ first triumph a milestone for Parker

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The Miami Redskins are serving notice that last season&rsquo;s surprising fifth-place finish was not an accident.After splitting a season-opening series at Alaska-Fairbanks Oct. 23-24, the Redskins scalped the Michigan State Spartans, taking a two-game set Oct. 30-31 at Munn Arena.It was the first time the Spartans had been swept at home since Feb. 24-25, 1989, when Lake Superior State took four points in East Lansing.The Redskins (3-1-0) were one game behind defending Central Collegiate Hockey Association champion Lake Superior (4-0-0) after the first two weekends of play.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look at it as an upset,&rdquo; said Miami head coach George Gwozdecky, a former assistant at MSU. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play well in the first and second period of the first game, but (goaltender) Rich Shulmistra kept use close. We played much better the next day and it was no fluke we won.&rdquo;The Redskins have a three-game winning streak at Munn Arena. They beat the Spartans 42 at Munn last season.&ldquo;Winning at Munn Arena is something special to me,&rdquo; Gwozdecky said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough building to play in and it&rsquo;s great to beat a team considered to be above us in the standings. I don&rsquo;t get any extra kick out of beating Ron (MSU coach Mason), however. I just want to see my kids play well.&rdquo;The Redskins&rsquo; attitude has changed drastically since Gwozdecky took over at Miami in 1989-90. One of the players who has ushered in a new attitude is senior right winger and captain Chris Bergeron.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a kid who sees the big picture and what we want to do as a staff,&rdquo; Gwozdecky said. &ldquo;He has won over a lot of people and brought them around to his way of thinking.&rdquo;BUCKING BRONCOS: After icing teams with high-powered attacks in the mid 1980s, the Western Michigan Broncos have reverted to a more conservative, defense-minded approach the past two seasons.But Broncos&rsquo; coach Bill Wilkinson wants to loosen the reins this year.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some young players who are quick skaters with good pucks skills,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We want to try to play a higher tempo game.&rdquo;Wilkinson has infused six freshmen-forwards Chris Brooks, Jeremy Brown and Jamal Mayers, plus defensemen Thomas Carriere, Scott Chartier and Jim Holman-into his lineup.His tinkering paid off in the early going. Western Michigan kept pace with talent-rich Michigan in a home-and-home series Oct. 30-31, earning a 2-2 tie in the first game and winning 8-4 the following night The Broncos were a respectable 2-1-1 after four games.FLASHES IN PAN?: The Kent State Golden Flashes jumped out to a 3-1-0 start, beating fellow newcomer Notre Dame twice and Bowling Green in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs&hellip;Michigan linemates Brian Wiseman and David Oliver had impressive starts. Wiseman, a center, had three goals and 10 points in five games. Oliver, a right winger, had eight goals and nine points over the same span. &#9632;

Oh, Mi-ami! Redskins scalp Spartans at Munn

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Alain Rajotte has made a living by building things from the ground up. But the 27-year-old owner of his own construction company is proving he can work with more than just cement.The rookie College Francais coach has added some promise to what looked like a rebuilding year for last year&rsquo;s Quebec League champions. College Francais beat Chicoutimi 4-2 Nov. 1 to move into a first-place tie with St-Jean atop the Lebel Division with a 12-7-0 record. Last season College Francais was 14-5-0 after 19 games.But gone from last year are College Francais&rsquo; four leading scorers (Marc Rodgers, Robert Guillet, Dave Chouinard and David St-Pierre), the top defenseman (Kari Dykhuis) and No. 1 goalie (Eric Raymond). Coach Claude Therrien also left after the Memorial Cup due to work commitments with Canada Post.It was time to put on the hard hat and get to work, which is exactly what Rajotte has done.&ldquo;I held a tough camp,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was looking for mental toughness and character players.&rdquo;He seems to have found them. College Francais tied a team record with its sixth consecutive road win Oct. 27 and was 8-2-0 away from home. Rajotte said he has been surprised by the performance of his young team.&ldquo;They were very receptive and have been fast to put everything together,&rdquo; Rajotte said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have any big scorers except for Martin Tanguay (17 goals and 32 points in 19 games) so I&rsquo;ve asked them for good team play.&rdquo;This isn&rsquo;t the first time Rajotte has built a winning team with young players. Last year he led the Chateauguay Elites-a team with 15 rookies-to the final of the Quebec Junior Tier II League before losing to Joliette in six games.But a team can&rsquo;t win with rookies alone and Rajotte has also been pleased with his veterans this season-especially goalie Philippe DeRou-ville and defenseman Joel Bouchard.DeRouville was a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins at this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft. Bouchard was taken by the Calgary Flames in the sixth round.&ldquo;They came back from NHL camps with good attitudes,&rdquo; Rajotte said. &ldquo;A lot of times players come back to junior and think they&rsquo;re above everyone else and have big egos.&rdquo;STREAK NIPPED: Victoriaville&rsquo;s Claude Savoie saw his consecutive game goal-scoring streak come to an end Oct. 30 in a 7-6 loss to Laval. Savoie had scored at least one goal in each of his first 15 games since returning from the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; training camp. His slump didn&rsquo;t last long, however, as he scored twice in Victoriaville&rsquo;s next game-a 10-3 romp over Granby-giving him 35 goals on the season.EYES WATCHING: Sheldon Ferguson, the general manager of Canada&rsquo;s national junior team, started a tour through Quebec Nov. 1 to scout players for this year&rsquo;s World Junior Championships.&ldquo;This is the time to have a big game,&rdquo; said Hull&rsquo;s Paul Brousseau, who hopes to make the national squad. Brousseau was the first Quebecer taken in last year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft (28th overall by Quebec).GROLEAU DUE: The struggling Shawini-gan Cataractes got some good news when it was announced defenseman Francois Groleau should rejoin the team by mid November. Groleau, who led all QMJHL defensemen last season with 78 points on eight goals and 70 assists, sustained a broken right wrist at the Calgary Flames&rsquo; training camp. Groleau was Calgary&rsquo;s second-round pick (41st overall) in the 1991 NHL entry draft. &#9632;

College Français still schooled in ways of winning

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Fred Brathwaite has been like a Swiss bank account for the Oshawa Generals. The Generals keep collecting interest on the overage goalie.The Detroit Jr. Red Wings did some crossborder shopping Oct. 28 that netted Brathwaite. It cost the Wings a second-round pick in the 1994 Ontario League draft.Brathwaite has become the most-travelled and expensive goalie, going from Oshawa to London, back to Oshawa, and now to Detroit.He and his 64-21-6 record make the Wings Memorial Cup contenders. The Generals won the 1990 title with him out-duelling Kitchener in double overtime.&ldquo;Anytime you pay a price that&rsquo;s higher than the standard rate (a fourth-round pick is normal for an overager), you&rsquo;re not doing it just to get to.500,&rdquo; said Jr. Wings&rsquo; general manager Jim Rutherford.Coach Tom Webster said &ldquo;we should have higher expectations. We should no longer consider ourselves an expansion team.&rdquo;Despite leading the OHL last season with a 3.31 goal-against average, Brathwaite hasn&rsquo;t been drafted by an NHL team. He&rsquo;s in the ideal spot now because somebody from the NHL Wings&rsquo; club is at nearly every Jr. Wings&rsquo; game.&ldquo;I was given the choice between here and the Sault,&rdquo; Brathwaite said,&rdquo;and the Sault would have been a great place, but with the NHL team here it helps.&rdquo;When Brathwaite was traded to London Jan. 9, the Generals got a fourth-round pick in 1992 and a third-rounder in 1993. The Knights got an eighth-round pick in 1993 when they sent Brathwaite to Oshawa Oct. 15. Under terms of the deal, the Generals would get Brathwaite if the Knights didn&rsquo;t use him this season.When Brathwaite indicated Oct. 6 he was going to play in the East Coast League, the Knights traded for Newmarket goalie Ilpo Kauhanen. The ECHL deal then fell through and Brathwaite again belonged to Oshawa.OHL commissioner Dave Branch investigated because loaning players isn&rsquo;t permitted. But Branch found no fault with the arrangement.REACHING PEAKE: While the Jr. Wings look for Fred Brathwaite to stop pucks, they&rsquo;re looking to Bob Wren. Pat Peake and Kevin Brown to keep putting them in at the other end.The Wings&rsquo; Jr. Production Line is living up to its name. Since Brown was acquired Oct. 9 from Belleville, the line had accounted for 38 of the team&rsquo;s 63 goals in the 10-game stretch.Peake, with 22 goals and 45 points, and Wren, 14 goals and 45 points, shared the OHL scoring lead while Brown was among the leaders with 10 goals and 36 points.Peake is on pace for 113 goals and 220 points, which would smash OHL records. Ernie Godden scored 87 goals for Windsor in 198081 and Bobby Smith holds the single-season points record of 192 (69-123) with Ottawa in 1977-78. Wren is on pace for 132 assists, which would break Smith&rsquo;s assists record.NO SHOWDOWN: So much for the much-anticipated showdown between Brett Lindros of the Kingston Frontenacs and the Sault Ste. Marie fans Nov. 1. Eric Lindros&rsquo; snub of the Greyhounds in 1989 is no longer an issue.The only excitement was created by Greyhounds&rsquo; 5-foot-8, 170-pound center Ralph Intranuovo when he punched the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Lindros late in the game. The crowd of 3,753 booed when Lindros wouldn&rsquo;t retaliate.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 6-3 and he&rsquo;s 5-3,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d never fight someone his stature. I don&rsquo;t know what would happen. But he would have been shorter to the ground than he already is.&rdquo; &#9632;

Brathwaite like money in the bank

The old adage that suggests coaches are hired only to be fired doesn&rsquo;t hold true for a select group of junior mentors.Here&rsquo;s a list of the active coaches with the most wins in the Canadian Hockey League going into this season.There is no guarantee even these coaches can keep their current jobs as long as they want, but they are about the closest you&rsquo;ll find to sure things as there is in the coaching industry.Ken Hodge, 46, Portland (WHL). Winter Hawks&rsquo; coach has produced many NHLers and wins with 696-570-71 record,Brian Kilrea, 58, Ottawa (OHL), Cigarchomping veteran coached with Islanders two seasons and has 621-395-60 mark with 67&rsquo;s.Bert Templeton, 52, North Bay (OHL). Has won 40 games five times. Has 576-402-87 mark with Niagara Falls and Cents.Dick Todd, 47, Peterborough (OHL). Consistent excellence, not excitement, his trademark. Has 431-224-48 record.Larry Mavety, 50, Belleville (OHL). When Mav talks, players listen. Has 355-340-36 mark with Bulls and Kingston. &#9632;

No tag days for these guys

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>The Medicine Hat Tigers and Spokane Chiefs shook up their rosters and completed a blockbuster eight-player deal.The slumping Tigers, sitting in eighth place in the East Division with a 5-9-0 record Nov. 3, received center Mike Jickling, 19, left winger Aaron Boh. 18, and defensemen Jared Bednar, 20, and Justin Hocking, 18.The Chiefs, who had dropped six straight games, acquired left winger Dana Rieder, 19, center Scott Townsend. 18, and defensemen Jon Duval, 20, and Bryan McCabe, 17.&ldquo;We may have over-estimated this team,&rdquo; Tigers&rsquo; rookie general manager Dennis Polon-ich said. &ldquo;We looked at last year&rsquo;s standings (second place), at the illustrious CHL poll (No. 1 rating), at our defense, we have Mike Rathje and David Cooper&hellip;everybody thought we were shoo-ins. But somewhere along the line nobody thought we had to work.&rdquo;Jickling, an eighth-round draft pick of Quebec in 1992 and the key player in the trade, is sidelined until late November with broken wrist.MARACLE STREAK: The Saskatoon Blades believe in Maracles. With a no-name offense and Norm Maracle in goal, the Blades were a hot commodity.The Canadian Hockey League all-rookie goalie led the Western League with a 2.64 goals-against average, .924 per-cent save percentage, and a 12-3-0 record.&ldquo;Maracle has been outstanding,&rdquo; said Blades&rsquo; coach Lorne Molleken. &ldquo;He has given us the opportunity to win.&rdquo;The Blades got off to a slow start going 2-4-0 before reeling off 10 straight wins. Their streak was snapped with a 5-4 loss to Regina Nov. 4.&ldquo;The guys were relying on what we accomplished last year,&rdquo; said Molleken, who guided the Blades to the WHL finals in 1991-92. &ldquo;Once they realized that wasn&rsquo;t going to do it, we started to play as a team and work hard.&rdquo;OVER-LOOKED: The Nov. 1 deadline for overage players passed without fanfare.WHL teams are allowed to carry three 20-year-olds. The Red Deer Rebels are permitted five in their first season. The biggest concern is lack of quality players in that age group.Only overage center Jason Krywulak, who is fourth in scoring with 13 goals and 30 points, figured among the top 10 scorers in the league.Last season, the top four point-getters in the WHL were overagers: Kevin St. Jacques, of Lethbridge; Terry Degner and Brian Sakic of Tri-City; and Kevin Riehl of Medicine Hat.The best 20-years-olds are joining the growing number of minor leagues-East Coast, Colonial, and Central Leagues.&ldquo;More of them are staying in the pros,&rdquo; said Red Deer GM Wayne Simpson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to have (20-year-old) role players down there because the game is going toward skill. The skilled guys play in the pros and the role players come back.&rdquo;PRINCELY SUM: The last-place Prince Albert Raiders hope they mended a clipped wing.The Raiders were searching for a left winger to complement Dean McAmmond at center and speedy right winger Jeff Gorman.They may have solved their problems Oct. 29 when they acquired 19-year-old left winger Van Burgess from the Tacoma for 18-year-old center Barkley Swenson. Burgess had five goals and 11 points in 12 games with Tacoma, while Swenson had four goals and 13 points in 14 games for Prince Albert. &#9632;

Slumping teams stir pot with eight-player trade

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011192/6310036-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrew McBain and his Ottawa Senator teammates aren&rsquo;t exactly striking fear in any of their opponents in their first season.</figcaption></div>They are not Senators so much as foot soldiers, the cannon fodder on which all future gains, both great and small, will be built.The expansion Ottawa Senators are a particularly untalented collection of journeymen and discards earning a major-league salary and a chance to stay in the game.They are not paid to win, they are paid to play hard. They are supposed to be disappointed when they lose, but they can&rsquo;t be too remorseful because, despite their honest efforts they will lose often-probably in record numbers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re professionals,&rdquo; said goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz,&rdquo;and we have to try to make the best of it. But no one likes to lose.&rdquo;The 1974-75 Washington Capitals are the worst team in modem NHL history thanks to a record of eight wins, 67 losses and five ties over an 80-game schedule. The Capitals&rsquo; 21 points were nine worse than the previous futility kings, the &rsquo;72-73 New York Islanders. Their record had seemed one for the ages.But the Senators, with a 1-11-1 mark were on an 19-point pace and the only glimmer of hope was that from Nov. 9 to Dec. 7, they play 11 of 15 games at home. Ottawa was on pace for a record-low six wins and record-high 72 losses.The Senators problems are easily identified. Their goaltending, particularly Sidorkiewicz, has been palatable, but the defense has been bad (on pace to allow a record 478 goals) and the offense has been worse.&ldquo;Anytime you have a team that has scored 31 goals, 17 even-strength and 14 on the power play, over 12 games, you need improvement,&rdquo; said Ottawa coach Rick Bowness.Defenseman Norm Maciver, a waiver draft acquisition, led the team with 14 points in 13 games. The leading goal-scorer was center Jamie Baker with five. The five former 20-goal scorers with the Senators (Laurie Boschman, Marc Fortier, Andrew McBain, Doug Smail and Sylvain Turgeon) combined for a paltry eight goals in 55 games.&ldquo;Right now, teams aren&rsquo;t afraid of our offensive ability,&rdquo; Maciver said. &ldquo;It makes it a little tough when they come at you as hard as they do.&rdquo;Maciver, a veteran of big-league stints with the New York Rangers, Hartford and Edmonton, has been the club&rsquo;s most-reliable player, averaging 30 minutes a night.The Senators speak hopefully of scoring more frequently and meshing into a better unit, but so far the results have not been encouraging. The worst game was Oct. 30-a 12-3 thrashing by Buffalo. Nine of the 11 losses were by three goals or more. Not including Ottawa&rsquo;s only win-5-3 over Montreal opening night-the Senators have been ahead in games a total of eight minutes and 49 seconds.The Senators can afford to think long-term. They have the league&rsquo;s lowest payroll at close to $6 million (Cdn.) and their fans will buy every ticket available at the 10,500-seat Civic Centre.The Senators spumed immediate help at the draft, selecting Alexei Yashin with their first pick. In later rounds, the team bypassed players who could have helped right away such as Russians Nikolai Borschevsky, Yuri Khmylev and Igor Korolev.As a result, their American League team in New Haven is bare and the remainder of the team&rsquo;s prospects are in major junior or college.Director of player personnel John Ferguson disdains any fear of the Senators being the worst team ever.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not too concerned about Washington&rsquo;s record, we&rsquo;re worried about playing and developing players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Records are made to be broken and unfortunately, if that&rsquo;s the one that&rsquo;s going to be broken, we don&rsquo;t really give a damn about it.&rdquo;NHL general managers have reportedly made offers for the Senators&rsquo; first-round pick and a shot at either Moscow Dynamo&rsquo;s Victor Kozlov or Victoriaville&rsquo;s Alexandre Daigle. The Quebec Nordiques were said to have offered $6 million, Todd Warriner and Philadelphia&rsquo;s first-round draft choice, obtained in the Eric Lindros deal.Ferguson said the club will listen to any offer, but if they don&rsquo;t trade the pick, they will likely take Kozlov (Yashin&rsquo;s roommate) or Daigle (the linemate of Claude Savoie, the Senators&rsquo; ninth-round pick in June who is on pace to break Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s Quebec League goal-scoring record).There is very little the Senators can do except keep try to find positives in negatives, a won period one night, a strong effort by the special teams another.&ldquo;The No. 1 priority is for the players to give their best effort,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;If a team is giving everything it has, you can&rsquo;t always be worried about the end result.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Capital Collapse

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02878/6310067-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="377" height="482"></div>Hiroyuki Miura skates quick like a Bunny. Seriously.In fact, his coach with the Fort Saskatchewan Traders of the Alberta Junior League calls him,&rdquo;Ben Johnson on skates.&rdquo;Miura became the first Japaneseborn and-trained player to be drafted when the Montreal Canadiens chose him 260th overall last June. Since then he has left the land of the rising sun to apprentice in the land of the rising sticks.Miura is in North America this season on the tab of the Tokyo-based Kokudo Bunnies, the team Randy Gregg played two seasons for before joining the Edmonton Oilers in 1982. The Japanese League team is counting on Miura to quarterback its power play for years to come. The 18-year-old defenseman is pleased with the arrangement, but is counting on the Bunnies being a patient lot.&ldquo;NHL, NHL,&rdquo; he answered when asked about his ultimate hockey goal. &ldquo;I want to play NHL.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a longshot proposition, but Miura does have the size-he&rsquo;s 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds-and the skating ability to realize his dream. In 15 games with the Traders, a Tier II team based 15 miles east of Edmonton, Miura had six goals and 18 points.He&rsquo;s one of the best offensive rearguards in the league, but has shortcomings as a defensive player. It&rsquo;s clear the Traders are looking for more Hiro sandwiches along the boards and in front of their net.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s having a little trouble with the physical part of the game,&rdquo; said Traders&rsquo; general manager Dale Eccleston. &ldquo;Most defensemen in this league see a guy in front of the net and they want to bounce him on his head. Hiro goes up to him and wants to shake his hand.&rdquo;Miura provided a portent of things to come when he scored the first two goals in league play. Although he has trouble dishing out punishment, he has taken his hits and shown discipline in not retaliating.&ldquo;When he came here it was like he had a bulls-eye on him,&rdquo; said Traders&rsquo; coach Doug Schum. &ldquo;In training camp and early in the season the guys took some pretty good runs at him and he had no problem with it.&rdquo;Communicating is not a big problem, despite the fact Miura knows almost no English. Schum uses diagrams and a Japanese/English hockey dictionary devised by Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Dave King. When Schum wants Miura to throw a check, he simply says,&rdquo;boddichekku.&rdquo; A pass is &ldquo;pasu&rdquo; and if Miura has a clear chance to score, Schum can always bellow,&rdquo;shotto,&rdquo; which means shoot.The Canadiens would have preferred to see Miura play major junior hockey this season, but he wasn&rsquo;t chosen in the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s draft of non-North American players last June.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want to tell any of the junior teams about him,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; director of scouting Andre Boudrias,&rdquo;because if he had been drafted, then other NHL teams would have probably put him on their lists.Miura first emerged as a prospect in the summer of 1991 when he played for the Japanese under-17 team in the Phoenix Cup, a four-team tournament that attracted the best young players from Canada, the United States and the former Soviet Union.He will have a chance to showcase his talents on the world stage again this year when he leads Japan at the World Junior Championships in Sweden. Japan will be in the A pool for the first time after winning the B pool last season.&ldquo;That will be a very good tournament to evaluate him,&rdquo; Boudrias said. &ldquo;If he passes the test there, we&rsquo;ll know he can compete with the best in the world who are going to be in the league in the future. He&rsquo;s definitely a prospect.&rdquo;Observers predict North America will see more players from the Orient in the future. The country has a strong high school developmental system and a six-team company league that imports coaches, but not players. Like Miura, most of the country&rsquo;s players come from the northern island of Hokaido.Japan&rsquo;s biggest triumph on ice has been promotion to the A pool, but the team also tied Canada and defeated the United States to finish third in the Pacific Cup under-18 tournament last summer. Japan was allowed to use several 19-year-old players for the tournament.&ldquo;They have a number of players who could play minor pro here and compete quite well,&rdquo; said Dave King, who travelled to Japan many times as coach of the Canadian national team. &ldquo;They are very good skaters and they do have some skill. They are highly motivated and they have incredible discipline. There aren&rsquo;t many players who work harder than they do.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-02

Japanese import has great wheels

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>Kevin Stevens realized in training camp that something was amiss inside his left knee. He just didn&rsquo;t know what the problem or solution was.Both answers became obvious during Stevens&rsquo; first shift in the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; game against St. Louis Nov. 5. &ldquo;The puck got away from me and I was lunging for it when my knee buckled,&rdquo; he said.An examination the next day turned up tom cartilage. A few hours later, he underwent arthroscopic surgery and was expected to be sidelined until early December.A couple of streaks came to an end-his stretch of 196 consecutive games played and his run of points in 13 games in a row.When he was injured, Stevens trailed only linemate Mario Lemieux in the NHL scoring race and was among the leaders in goals with 14 and assists with 19.Coach Scott Bowman used several players, including Joe Mullen and Bob Errey, in Stevens&rsquo; spot on the No. 1 line.It was no coincidence Pittsburgh was 11-1-2 with Stevens in the lineup, but lost the first two games he missed. He was a first-team all-star last season when he set a record for points by a U.S.-bom player (123), and is widely regarded as the premier power forward in the game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping I can come back and keep producing,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to slow down. Even if I miss eight or 10 games, maybe I can have the same (stats) as last year.&rdquo;WHAT, NO GOAL?: Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s latest bid for a record was short-circuited Nov. 3 when the New York Islanders held him without a goal during Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 2-0 win.It was the first time in 13 games Lemieux failed to score. He had six shots at goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, but said he felt out of sync all night.&ldquo;I rushed a couple of shots,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t get going. It was one of those nights when I wasn&rsquo;t making the right plays.&rdquo;Lemieux believes he can make another run at the NHL record of 16 consecutive games with a goal, a mark set by Harry (Punch) Broadbent of Ottawa in 1921-22. &ldquo;With the type of players I&rsquo;m playing with, I think it&rsquo;s reachable,&rdquo; Lemieux said.Despite speculation he is being plagued by a new round of back problems, Lemieux got a goal in each of the three games that followed.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jeff Chychrun rejoined the team a few days after going AWOL in Ottawa in October, but not for long. He was traded to Los Angeles for defenseman Peter Ahola Nov. 6. Chychrun, whom the Penguins acquired from the Kings Feb. 19, dressed for just one of 14 games this season. Ahola, 24, was a teammate of forward Shawn McEachern at Boston University.Pittsburgh did not give up a short-handed goal in 14 games, but was burned by Toronto&rsquo;s Doug Gilmour and Dirk Graham of Chicago on consecutive nights Nov. 7-8&hellip;Czechoslovakian center Martin Straka made his NHL debut in a 4-2 loss in Toronto Nov. 7.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 3: Jeff Chychrun, D. reinstated by team after being suspended. Nov. 6: Chychrun traded to Los Angeles for Peter Ahola. D.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Martin Straka. Dave Tippett, Mike Stapleton.LW-Shawn McEachern, Bob Errey, Troy Loney, Jeff Daniels.RW-Rick Tocchet, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Mullen. Mike Needham, Jamie Leach, Jay Caufield.LD-Ult Samuelsson, Jim Paek, Grant Jennings, Bryan Fogarty, Peter Ahola.RD-Larry Murphy, Paul Stanton, Kjell Samuelsson.G-Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Stevens, LW, left knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Stevens knew wonky knee would catch up to him

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>It took Peter Stastny all of two games to remind the New Jersey Devils why they desperately needed him back.Although the 36-year-old&rsquo;s first two goals of the season came in a 6-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks Nov. 7, Stastny quickly re-affirmed his standing as the team&rsquo;s best center.&ldquo;Obviously, what Peter has to offer gives you a different dimension to your hockey club,&rdquo; said Devils&rsquo; coach Herb Brooks. &ldquo;Guys like Stastny don&rsquo;t come along too often and even at this stage of his career he gives you a little extra.&rdquo;On a team struggling to find production in the middle, Stastny gave the Devils more than a little extra.He was re-signed Oct. 22 and spent the next two weeks skating to get in shape. Upon returning, he centered a line with left winger Zdeno Ciger and right winger Claude Lemieux.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad he&rsquo;s back,&rdquo; captain Scott Stevens said. &ldquo;Peter was a great part of our team last year. I don&rsquo;t think people gave him enough credit for the way he played.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy because I had my career-high playing with him last year,&rdquo; Lemieux added. &ldquo;We started clicking more at the end of the year and in the playoffs and we became one of the best two-way lines.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01987/6310122-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="578" height="663"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Stastny&rsquo;s return gives the Devils more punch up the middle.</figcaption></div>Stastny&rsquo;s first game back was Nov. 5 in Los Angeles. Two nights later, his line combined for six points against the Sharks.Stastny was also successful taking faceoffs. But despite making an immediate impact, the 14-year veteran was not in top condition.&ldquo;When you don&rsquo;t play in as many months as I did, everybody misses something,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My conditioning was always okay, but there are adjustments and you have to play games to make them.&rdquo;DEFENSIVE LAPSE: While the Devils searched for their offensive identity under Herb Brooks, they were a defensive disaster.The team&rsquo;s entire defense corps struggled in front of goalies Chris Terreri and Craig Billington.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not playing well defensively,&rdquo; Scott Stevens said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re giving up 3-on-2s and 2-on-ls in front of our own net. We&rsquo;re also not playing well positionally. We practise it, but we&rsquo;re not cohesive in our own end.&rdquo;Brooks maintains he will make drastic changes if the defense doesn&rsquo;t improve.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Scott Niedermayer scored his first NHL goal Nov. 7 with a stunning rush against the Sharks&hellip;General manager Lou Lamoriello reportedly resisted Detroit GM Bryan Murray&rsquo;s offer of Steve Yzerman for Scott Stevens.Despite sustaining a separated left shoulder suffered on a blind hit from New York Islanders&rsquo; defenseman Darius Kasaparaitis, left winger Randy McKay did not miss a single game.Unhappy forward Doug Brown met with Lamoriello and Herb Brooks to discuss his future with the team. Brown played in only four of the Devils&rsquo; first 14 games.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Kevin Todd, Peter Stastny, Janne Ojanen. Alexander Semak, Dave Barr, Troy Mallette.LW-Bobby Holik, Valeri Zelepukin, Zdeno Ciger, Tom Chorske, Randy McKay.RW-John MacLean, Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer, Bill Guerin, Doug Brown.LD-Scott Stevens, Bruce Driver, Viacheslav Fetisov, Myles O&rsquo;Connor.RD-Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Alexei Kasatonov, Tommy Albelin.G-Chris Terreri, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0020-01

Offense won’t Peter out now that Stastny’s back

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>Doug Weight sat down with a calendar and figured 10 days would go by before he finished serving his four-day suspension for high-sticking Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Garry Galley across the mouth.The incident occurred just before the buzzer sounded to end the second period in the New York Rangers&rsquo; 3-1 victory over the Flyers Nov. 4.Weight threw a big bodycheck on Dmitri Yushkevich, sending the Philadelphia defenseman over the boards and into the Rangers&rsquo; bench.When Galley and some other Flyers converged on Weight to express their disapproval, Weight brought his stick up-splitting Galley&rsquo;s lower lip and cutting the defenseman&rsquo;s chin.Weight was suspended by the NHL for four consecutive non-game, nontravel days. He was fined $500 and docked 4/275ths of his $175,000 salary, which amounts to $2,506. The Rangers must take that amount and give it to the league instead of putting it in Weight&rsquo;s next pay envelope.&ldquo;You know what I think?&rdquo; an angry Galley asked through his split lip. &ldquo;I think when they fine the son-of-a-gun, they should give the money to the guy who got fouled. His pay should come to my checking account. That would put a stop to it (careless use of the stick).&rdquo;Weight&rsquo;s suspension forced him to miss the team&rsquo;s skills competition Nov. 8. He also missed practice Nov. 10 and Nov. 12. His suspension ended Nov. 15.The only playing time Weight would lose would be at the discretion of coach Roger Neilson, who figured to use the second-year center in every game possible.&ldquo;Yeah, I feel punished,&rdquo; Weight said. &ldquo;I feel real punished.&rdquo;After reading the particulars of his suspension, you might think Weight was being sarcastic. But the tone in his voice suggested otherwise.&ldquo;Twenty-five hundred: That&rsquo;s punishment to me,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: The Rangers traded center/left winger Dave Archibald to the Ottawa Senators Nov. 6 for a fifth-round pick in the 1993 entry draft. Archibald, 23, played 19 games since he was traded from Minnesota for Jayson More on Nov. 1, 1989. He spent the past two seasons with the Canadian Olympic team. He also played five games for Bolzano of the Italian League last season.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 3: Corey Hirsch, G, recalled from Binghamton (AHL). Nov. 5: Doug Weight, C, suspended four days by NHL for crosschecking incident. Nov. 6: Dave Archibald, LW, traded to Ottawa for fifth-round pick in 1993.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mark Messier, Sergei Nemchinov, Darren Turcotte, Doug Weight, Randy Gilhen.LW-Adam Graves, Jan Erixon, Kris King, Phil Bourque, Joe Kocur.RW-Mike Gartner, Tony Amonte, Paul Broten, Alexei Kovalev, Tie Domi.LD-Brian Leetch, Mark Hardy, Peter Andersson.RD-Jeff Beukeboom, Joe Cirella, Jay Wells.G-Mike Richter, Corey Hirsch.<h3>INJURIES</h3>John Vanblesbrouck, G, pulled groin muscle, day-to-day. James Patrick, D, sprained right shoulder, Nov. 22. &#9632;

Weight has 2,506 reasons to feel bad about suspension

The dream of every young hockey player is the major focus of this season&rsquo;s hockey book market.The Stanley Cup and its centen-nial anniversary are the subjects of four books. They&rsquo;re sure to be among this year&rsquo;s league leaders.Here&rsquo;s a look at the hottest hockey titles this season.&#9633; The Official NHL Stanley Cup Centennial Book, McClelland & Stewart.Anyone who enjoyed the official NHL 75th Commemorative Anniversary Book won&rsquo;t want to miss out on this one.It presents the Cup&rsquo;s history from its humble 19th century beginnings with all the exciting photos and interesting information that characterized the NHL&rsquo;s earlier effort. The book details the history of the Cup and the great teams that have captured it.&#9633; The Stanley Cup: A Hundred Years of Hockey at its Best, McClelland & Stewart.D&rsquo;Arcy Jenish analyzes the players, coaches and owners who have sought the Stanley Cup from its inception. From the fans to the telegraph operators, who were the first to bring play-by-play accounts of games, Jenish tries to capture the famous Stanley Cup moments in this 319-page book.&#9633; Pride and Glory: One Hundred Years of the Stanley Cup, McGraw-Hill Ryerson.William Houston looks at the dynasties that have dominated the Stanley Cup from the Ottawa Silver Seven to the Edmonton Oilers.Hockey&rsquo;s all-time greats from Jean Beliveau to Paul Coffey tell what it was like to be in the dressing rooms of Stanley Cup champions. Houston also ranks the great teams and selects the alltime Stanley Cup all-star team.&#9633; Stanley Cup Fever: 100 Years of Hockey Greatness, Stoddart Publishing.Brian McFarlane chronicles the Stanley Cup decade by decade in this examination of the spills and thrills that are a part of its history.From the Cup&rsquo;s spill into the Rideau Canal to the thrill of the high-flying Edmonton Oilers it&rsquo;s all here-including photos and all the Cup statistics you could ask for.&#9633; All-Time Book of Hockey Lists, McGraw-Hill Ryerson.Stan and Shirley Fischler present every conceivable hockey list. From the best playoff performers to the best arenas, everything that you might have a question about this book answers.&#9633; Shooting for Glory, Stoddart Publishing.Paul Henderson recounts the famous 1972 Canada-Soviet Summit Series that culminated with his game-winning goal.With author Mike Leonetti, Henderson also recalls playing alongside such legends as Gordie Howe and Dave Keon in the NHL before jumping to the World Hockey Association where he witnessed a new generation of stars including Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.&#9633; Official Guide and Record Book, 1992-1993, Dan Diamond NHL Publishing.One of the most popular and respected publications is back. Featuring all the updated stats and records imaginable, everyone from the casual fan to the hockey fanatic will find something to enjoy.&#9633; Hockey Scouting Report, 1992-1993, Douglas & McIntyre Publishing.More than 420 in-depth player evaluations examine players in three critical areas. Authors Frank Brown and Sherry Ross look at skaters&rsquo; finesse and physical games as well as their intangibles. Goalies are broken down by their mental and physical capabilities as well as intangibles.&#9633; The Hockey Handbook, McClelland & Stewart.The late Lloyd Percival&rsquo;s book that became the Soviet Union&rsquo;s hockey bible has been revised and updated.His techniques and ideas, dismissed by some coaches in his day, were adopted successfully by Soviets, forcing North Americans to re-examine his ideas on scientific training, precise passing drills and tough conditioning programs.More than 40 years after its original publication, his theories are as valuable now as they were then.&#9633; Behind The Mask, Raincoast Books.Ian Young&rsquo;s book teaches goaltenders and their coaches the techniques that will help lead them to success.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01881/6310177-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="572" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr is one young star who is part of a hockey book.</figcaption></div>&#9633; Hockey&rsquo;s Young Superstars, Raincoast Books.Players such as Eric Lindros and Jaromir Jagr are sure to dominate the NHL into the next century. But they are by no means the only ones. Take a closer look at the rising young stars of the NHL&rsquo;s new generation.&#9633; In addition to the new books on the market, McClelland & Stewart is also releasing three hardcover favorites in paperback. The Habs, An Oral History of the Montreal Canadiens is Dick Irvin&rsquo;s 40-year analysis of the most successful franchise in Canadian sports history. Brett, His Own Story, is an autobiography (with writer Kevin Allen) of the most prolific goal-scorer in the NHL. And Sittler offers a close-up look at one of the most successful Toronto Maple Leafs of all-time. &#9632;

f0022-01

Lord Stanley’s mug focus of season’s top new books

Hockey fans can live the excitement and intensity of the NHL with their own VCRs.A slew of new videos are available this season featuring enough finesse and hard-hitting action to satisfy the most ardent NHL fan.And if fans would rather play than watch, there&rsquo;s also a collection of instructional tapes that will help improve any player&rsquo;s game.Here&rsquo;s a look at the new videos the hockey fan in your family might like to see under the tree this Christmas:&#9633; The 1992 Stanley Cup, K-5 International.A look back at the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs features the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; victory against the Chicago Blackhawks and how each team earned the right to vie for the Cup. Game footage, player interviews and fan rallies retrace the Hawks&rsquo; remarkable 11-game winning streak that took them to the final. The Penguins&rsquo; own 11-game-winning steak that culminated in the championship is also chronicled. Starting with the opening round, the drama and tension of the 1991-1992 playoffs can be enjoyed again and again.Watch Penguins&rsquo; heroes Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens and Jaromir Jagr battle Blackhawks&rsquo; stars Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick and Ed Belfour.The video also includes a look at the Stanley Cup&rsquo;s centennial anniversary.&#9633; Against The Odds, Pittsburgh Penguins.The story of the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; successful defense of the Stanley Cup is featured along with a touching tribute to the late Bob Johnson. From the regular season to the glory of hoisting the Stanley Cup, the Penguins&rsquo; year is chronicled from start to finish in one video.There&rsquo;s also a look at the team&rsquo;s first 25 years in the league.&#9633; Top 50 Playoff Goals, Quality Video.The best and most important NHL playoff goals are shown in this hour-long tape. The most dramatic moments in playoff history include memorable goals by Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Pat LaFontaine, Bobby Orr, Lanny McDonald and many others.&#9633; 50 Great Goals, K-5 International.Fifty of the greatest and most memorable goals in NHL history are on this tape. It includes outstanding moments like Gretzky&rsquo;s goal that made him the NHL&rsquo;s alltime leading scorer, Bobby Orris Stanley Cup winner, and Ron Hextall&rsquo;s unlikely empty net goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01856/6310208-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="575" height="924"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Stevens is featured in several new Stanley Cup videos.</figcaption></div>&#9633; The Best of the Best on Ice, Quality Video.Hockey Night In Canada&rsquo;s Harry Neale, Jim Peplinski and John Garrett bring you hockey at its best and worse. Speed, grace and bone-jarring collisions are featured with hockey&rsquo;s bloopers and foul-ups.&#9633; Rock &lsquo;Em Sock&rsquo; Em 4, Quality Video.If you loved the first three in hockey&rsquo;s best selling series you&rsquo;ll love the latest effort. Don Cherry brings fans the best hits, goals and saves of the regular season and playoffs along with the do&rsquo;s and don&rsquo;ts of hockey. You&rsquo;ll also get Blue&rsquo;s bloopers and the best from Coach&rsquo;s Corner.&#9633; 100 Thunderous Hits, K-5 International.The best hits from the NHL&rsquo;s hardest hitters will rock your television set. The video takes a look at the fine arts of body checking and hitting. It showcases the 100 most memorable hits from recent seasons.&#9633; Stick Down, Head Up, Burggraf Skating Clinic.This training tape is great for skaters of all ages and skill levels. Nancy Burggraf, an internationally respected skating instructor with more than 20 years experience, uses proven techniques to help players with their skating. Agility, balance, strength and speed are the focus of this video, which will help improve your play whether you&rsquo;re a goalie or a goal-scorer. Burggraf also provides nutrition and exercise advice.The tape comes with a 180-page training manual you can take to the rink.&#9633; Skate Like a Pro With Paul Coffey, Cinemaction Video.Improve your skating skills with one of the NHL&rsquo;s best. Paul Coffey, skating instructor Marianne Watkins and Hockey Night In Canada&rsquo;s Ron MacLean bring you an instructional video that teaches the proper techniques and drills for better skating.There&rsquo;s also game highlights of Coffey.&#9633; Fintastic Voyage, San Jose Sharks.All the sensational excitement of the NHL&rsquo;s return to the Bay Area is shown in this video highlighting one of the most popular expansion teams ever.Led by sensational rookie Pat Falloon, veteran Doug Wilson and team most valuable player Jeff Hackett, the Sharks snuck up and took a bite out of some of the NHL&rsquo;s established teams. &#9632;

f0024-01

New videos for players and couch potatoes

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Rod Langway had an unsettling period, full of frustrations and decisions to be made. But it ended with a shortterm decision that will allow him more time to make the longer, more difficult call.The 35-year-old two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman has played 10 years for the Washington Capitals, always as a regular. That was until Oct. 30 in Calgary, when he was scratched from the lineup. It happened again two games later and, after a discussion with general manager David Poile, Langway left the team to contemplate his future. The options were to accept a diminished role as a parttime player, retire or seek a trade.&ldquo;I know I can still play,&rdquo; he said.None of the options is appealing to Lang way. He gave himself time to make that decision by deciding to have a bothersome-but-not-debilitating problem with his left knee (partially tom cartilage) cleaned up. Langway may also have surgery on his left shoulder that has made sleeping-and hitting-uncomfortable. Both were irritations for more than a year.Surgical work would put him out of commission until mid-December.In that time, will Langway consider accepting a role that might only have him in the lineup for 40 games?&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t answer that,&rdquo; Langway said. &ldquo;Is it worth going back? Do you want a captain that is in and out of the lineup? No. What you want is a guy who&rsquo;s always there.&rdquo;Langway is bothered that management suggests his end is near. He doesn&rsquo;t want to sever ties. His children from his first marriage (Drew, Tucker, Nicole) still live in Washington. His fiancee, Scarlet, is expecting their first child in a couple months. Langway&rsquo;s Sports Club, the restaurant and bar bearing his name, seems like a home to Langway.There were flyers on the walls letting patrons know there would be a celebration in December when Langway would have played his 1,000th NHL game. He is 16 games shy. And part of his contractual deal is he would fill some post-playing role. It&rsquo;s all part of why he didn&rsquo;t seem inclined to ask for a trade.TO THE RESCUE: Two seasons ago, when the forwards were not high-scoring, defensemen stepped up and did more of the scoring. History is repeating itself now.Right winger Peter Bondra was the leading scorer with 16 points (11 goals) after 15 games. But if you add Bondra&rsquo;s 11 to the 13 goals scored by defensemen Kevin Hatcher, Sylvain Cote and Calle Johansson, you have 24-half the team&rsquo;s total output.NOTEBOOK: Mike Ridley snapped an eight-game goal-less streak with a goal against Hartford Nov. 8 and also collected his 300th career assist&hellip;Jim Hrivnak was 2-0-1 in three straight games, the last two played with Don Beaupre hurt.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Brad Schlegel, D, assigned to Baltimore (AHL). Nov. 5: Duane Derksen, G, recalled from Baltimore. Nov. 6: Derksen assigned to Baltimore. Byron Dafoe, G, recalled from Baltimore. Nov. 7: Dafoe assigned to Baltimore.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter. Steve Konowalchuk, Alan May.LW-Kelly Miller, Todd Krygier, Bobby Carpenter, Keith Jones.RW-Paul MacDermid. Peter Bondra, Pat Elynulk, Jeff Greenlaw.LD-Calle Johansson, Al latrate, Paul Cavallini.RD-Kevin Hatcher, Sylvain Cote, Shawn Anderson.G-Jim Hrivnak.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Don Beaupre, G, rib cage muscle pull, day-to-day. Randy Burridge, LW, right knee surgery, indefinite. Dimitri Khrlstich, LW broken right foot, indefinite. Rod Langway, D, cartilage damage in left knee and left shoulder, indefinite. Michal Pivonka, C, groin strain, day-to-day. Jason Woolley, D, broken left wrist, indefinite. &#9632;

Hobbled Langway has tough decision to make

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>A seven-game winless streak nearly had the Philadelphia Flyers ready to throw in the towel until Eric Lindros took matters into his own fists.Lindros engaged in his first NHL fight in a game against St. Louis Nov. 7 and it inspired the Flyers to get off the canvas.Midway through the second period, Lindros took exception to defenseman Lee Norwood&rsquo;s shove of Gord Hynes. Norwood managed to tie up Lindros briefly but the massive Flyers&rsquo; rookie slipped his right arm out of his jersey and won the fight.The Flyers, who were trailing 2-1 at the time, answered the bell with two quick goals from Brent Fedyk and went on to a 4-2 win-their first victory since Oct. 18 They halted an 0-5-2 streak with the win.A sold out Spectrum crowd of 17,380 roared its approval as Lindros skated to the penalty box. Fans had seen Lindros score goals, thread accurate passes and throw some devastating bodychecks, but a fight was the only thing they hadn&rsquo;t seen.&ldquo;You do what you can to get things going,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say it was a real jump-start but it was something that had to be done.&rdquo;Fedyk, promoted to the LindrosMark Recchi line for this game by coach Bill Dineen, did the rest. He hustled to knock in the rebound of his own shot for the first goal, then beat Curtis Joseph with a 45-foot blast for a second just a minute later.Fedyk said the Lindros scuffle had a positive effect on the Flyers.&ldquo;It got the fans into it,&rdquo; Fedyk said. &ldquo;We got a guy like that, doing whatever it takes, that inspires everybody.&rdquo;LOOKING GOOD: Stephane Beauregard erased memories of a bad four-goals-on-six-shots performance against Montreal Oct. 24 with a pair of strong starts against the New York Rangers and St. Louis.The 24-year-old goalie was sharp in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers Nov. 4, then stopped the Blues Nov. 7 for his first win of the season against three losses.Holding Brett Hull to one goal on nine shots proved the difference against St. Louis.&ldquo;Whenever you play St. Louis, you know he&rsquo;s (Hull) shooting quite a lot,&rdquo; Beauregard said. &ldquo;He likes to shoot from everywhere and he&rsquo;s very sharp and accurate.&rdquo;Beauregard is challenging Dominic Roussel for the No. 1 job in goal. Beauregard&rsquo;s win against St. Louis lowered his goals-against average to 3.39. Roussel&rsquo;s was 4.59.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Tommy Soderstrom underwent another medical procedure to have his abnormal heartbeat condition corrected. The procedure was performed at Adventist Hospital in suburban Washington D.C. Soderstrom has a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a secondary heart signal. He was originally treated for the problem on Oct. 1 in Philadelphia. Soderstrom will undergo more tests to determine if the procedure was successful.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Eric Lindros, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Keith Acton, Steve Kasper.LW-Brent Fedyk, Claude Boivin, Mark Pederson, Andrei Lomakin.RW-Mark Recchi, Kevin Dineen, Doug Evans, Greg Paslawski, Dave Brown.LD-Terry Carkner, Garry Galley, Shawn Cronin.RD-Dimitri Yushkevich, Brian Benning, Gord Hynes, Ryan McGill.G-Dominic Roussel, Stephane Beauregard.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Viacheslav Butsayev, C, groin pull, day-to-day. Pelle Eklund. C, broken right foot, indefinite. Ric Nattress. D, lower back strain, indefinite. Tommy Soderstrom, G, abnormal heartbeat, indefinite. &#9632;

The big guy lands big punch and fires up team

<div class="byline">By Jeff Williams</div>Darius Kasparaitis is fast becoming Kaspar the Unfriendly Ghost. And just to prove he is a ghost, he likes to go bump in the night games.The 20-year-old Lithuanian isn&rsquo;t big-5-foot-11 and 190 pounds-but he&rsquo;s more than happy to mix it up with opposing players.Kasparaitis was the New York Islanders&rsquo; first pick in the 1992 entry draft. He arrived in the United States on Oct. 3 after protracted contract negotiations and played his first game three nights later in New Jersey.He struggled as the Devils&rsquo; scored twice while he was on the ice in a 4-3 Islander loss.But the young defenseman is making amends for his slow start with his physical play. He gave new meaning to the term butt-ending when he took two Devils&rsquo; forwards out with one check Oct. 31, a derriere first thumping of Kevin Todd and Zdeno Ciger.He then stood up Devils&rsquo; tough guy Randy McKay at center ice and traded shoves with Troy Loney the next night against Pittsburgh.Against the New York Rangers Oct. 18, he knocked Mark Messier into the net and then kept him there, pinning him in the mesh.Kasparaitis&rsquo; forceful approach has helped him win respect with his teammates.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very enthusiastic and I think sometimes people underestimate the importance of enthusiasm,&rdquo; Pat Flatley said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not intimidated by anybody.&rdquo;The Islanders are thrilled with Kasparaitis&rsquo; combative nature and positive attitude. And the youngster is thrilled to be here.&ldquo;No relax in NHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My job is no score, understand? Here, smaller rink, big players, more body, more physical.&rdquo;Kasparaitis had one goal in 15 games games. He also had 60 penalty minutes, among the NHL leaders in that category.BRAIN DRAIN: Coach Al Arbour wasn&rsquo;t thrilled after the Islanders were shut out in successive games-2-0 at Pittsburgh Nov. 3 and 3-0 at Minnesota Nov. 5.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re brain dead, I guess,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;We missed the net and we missed the net repeatedly. And our power play stinks. I&rsquo;m going to refuse the next penalty and take the yards.&rdquo;Arbour switched his lines around in the third period against Pittsburgh, putting Benoit Hogue at center with Marty McInnis on the left side and Pat Flatley on the right. Arbour then took Steve Thomas and put him at left wing with center Ray Ferraro and right winger Daniel Marois.David Volek was also moved to the right side on a line with Pierre Turgeon.Unfortunately for Arbour, nothing worked. Not only did the Islanders lose two straight shutouts, but they lost 6-5 in overtime to Tampa Bay at Nassau Coliseum Nov. 7.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jeff Norton returned to the lineup Nov. 5 after missing five games with a hip flexor. Center Tom Fitzgerald returned the same day after missing four games with a tom muscle in his rib cage.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Plerre Turgeon. Hay Ferraro, Benoit Hogue, Tom Fitzgerald, Claude Loiselle.LW-Derek King, Steve Thomas. Marty McInnis, Bill Berg.RW-David Volek, Daniel Marois, Patrick Flatley, Brian Mullen, Mick Vukota.LD-Darius Kasparaitis, Scott Lachance, Jeff Norton.RD-Uwe Krupp, Rich Pilon, Vladimir Malakhov, Gary Nytund, Tom Kurvers.G-Glenn Healy, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Rough-and-tumble style suits Darius just fine

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01799/6310311-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne has done his part to turn on Winnipeg fans, even though the wins haven&rsquo;t come regularly for the Jets this season.</figcaption></div>A stunning European rookie hits town and suddenly a faceless team is swept along in the mania.It happened last year in Vancouver with Pavel Bure. It could be happening this year in Winnipeg with Finnish sensation Teemu Selanne.The Jets averaged 11,415 fans through their first six home dates last season. This season through six games, the average attendance climbed to 13,355.The Jets have struggled through the early going, winning four of their first 13 games but coach John Paddock couldn&rsquo;t blame Selanne.Playing with a casting call of linemates, the 22-year-old right winger scored 11 times and generated enough chances to already be sitting near the 20-goal mark.&ldquo;It could potentially be like the Bure situation in Vancouver,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;He has that charisma to attract people. He has a chance to be a star who people will flock to see.&rdquo;Like Bure, it&rsquo;s Selanne&rsquo;s style people are paying to witness.&ldquo;He has gotten his scoring chances on pure speed,&rdquo; Paddock said,&rdquo;he has just blown by some defensemen.&rdquo;Selanne said the adjustment to the NHL has been a minor one.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bit surprised,&rdquo; Selanne said,&rdquo;but I knew that if I played at my own level and I played with good guys and was healthy, I could play well. I knew that much.&rdquo;Selanne (pronounced Seh-lah-nee) arrived in Winnipeg with a reputation as a high-volume player, someone who could not only score goals, but dazzle fans the same way Bure does just by the chances that he creates.&ldquo;I thought he was going to be a guy who was going to have to take a lot of chances to score his goals but some nights he scored without taking too many chances,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;I think he could very well score at a goal-a-game pace.&rdquo;If he comes close, Selanne will become a darling in Winnipeg, as he already is in Finland where he is among the two or three most popular athletes in the country. Selanne spent much of his off-ice time recently filming a commercial for a Finnish dairy and he represents a wide range of companies, from sporting good manufacturers to hotel chains.His appeal wasn&rsquo;t damaged an iota by a decision to stay in Finland an extra year and help his Jokerit team win the Finnish first division title.Selanne&rsquo;s agent Don Baizley said his client&rsquo;s personality makes him such a hot commercial property.&ldquo;Teemu is a very extroverted person,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;We have a stereotype of Finns being a very closed type of person, but he doesn&rsquo;t fit that mold at all.&rdquo;Selanne&rsquo;s arrival was initially heralded because of his contract after he became a Type IV free agent by the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. The Jets had to match Calgary&rsquo;s offer of a three-year, $1.2-million deal with a $1.5-million signing bonus to retain their 1988 first-round draft choice. All of this, the contract, the Jets&rsquo; search for their first genuine star since Dale Hawer-chuk, the size of the market, amounts to extraordinary pressure for a young player.&ldquo;Teemu puts a tremendous amount of pressure on himself,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;He has had a lot of success at home and he wants to prove to everyone he can be a good player here. Outside of (Eric) Lindros, he certainly has as much pressure as any other rookie in the league.&rdquo;Selanne had 11 goals-nine on the power play-and nine assists after 13 games. Lindros had eight goals and seven assists at the same point. Selanne&rsquo;s defensive game has also drawn praise from Paddock.For now, the rookie race is one place Selanne can dodge the spotlight.&ldquo;I think Eric has all the pressure,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;All the other rookies can put pressure on him if we play well. Of course, he&rsquo;s a really good player and he probably should be the rookie of the year. But he has a lot of pressure and the other rookies have nothing to lose.&rdquo; &#9632;

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High-flying Finn

<div class="byline">By Philippe Cantin</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02550/6310349-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="375" height="475"></div>Nancy Masse made a bombshell claim Oct. 29 during the inquest into the death of former NHL enforcer John Kordic. According to his former girlfriend, Kordic took cocaine with several players.That revelation undoubtedly caused discomfort for the league and its Players&rsquo; Association, which were faced with a problem they have long chosen to overlook.It was inevitable events would catch up with the NHL, whose zerotolerance policy is outdated and lagging behind those of other major professional sports.That Kordic was into more than cocaine is not surprising; he was also using steroids. Masse told the inquest how Kordic prepared for a planned tryout with the Edmonton Oilers this fall.&ldquo;He injected steroids in my presence, always in the same place on one buttock,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He was a cop in the NHL, he was there to fight and, at the age of 27, he claimed that all the young players wanted to take him on. That&rsquo;s why he felt obliged to take steroids, in order to keep his job.&rdquo;On the night of Aug. 8, Kordic&rsquo;s life came to a sorry end.Under the influence of cocaine, he repeatedly called the front desk of a suburban Quebec City motel. He was abusive and the hotelkeeper called police.When two police constables arrived to find the unruly guest was Kordic, they called for reinforcements. Ultimately, it took 10 officers to overpower Kordic. He died in an ambulance en route to hospital, apparently the victim of a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol.Quebec coroners have no legal authority, but do exercise moral authority. Coroner Gerald Locas is presiding over the inquest and must decide, among other things, if excessive force was used to bring Kordic under control.Initial proceedings were expected to last until mid-November, but Locas quickly came to one conclusion: &ldquo;Although Ms. Masse has not given all her testimony,&rdquo; Locas said,&rdquo;I feel it is obvious there is a cocaine problem in professional hockey.&rdquo;Locas&rsquo; work is far from complete and the NHL&rsquo;s potential participation not yet clear. League officials could be called to testify by February. Kordic played for Montreal, Toronto, Washington and Quebec in the NHL. The only reason he had jobs in the league was because he was one of the league&rsquo;s fiercest fighters. He took steroids to remain competitive in NHL jungle warfare.The NHL and NHLPA must not treat this as an isolated incident. The arrest and conviction of Bob Probert for transporting cocaine across the Canada-U.S. border is obvious evidence Kordic was not a lone gunman.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03380/6310342-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="563" height="1198"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Kordic</figcaption></div>Major corporations offer drugrehabilitation programs. So do the other major sports. It&rsquo;s time the NHL did the same to combat drug and steroid use. Major junior and intercollegiate officials would be well-advised to initiate a preemptive strike, extensively educating their players about the dangers of drug use.The NHL&rsquo;s zero-tolerance drug policy, which former president John Ziegler and current president Gil Stein have defended so staunchly, is a very serious mistake. It forces players such as Kordic with problems to hide them and team officials to overlook them.Kordic had a serious problem and it&rsquo;s inconceivable that NHL coaches and executives weren&rsquo;t aware of it. If the NHL had an assistance program, he might still be alive today.Twenty-seven is too young to die. &#9632;

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Was Kordic victim of outdated drug policy?

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>Just one year ago, Joe Nieuwendyk didn&rsquo;t even play until the last day of October.Struggling to recover from a serious knee injury, the Calgary Flames&rsquo; center didn&rsquo;t score much when he returned either. And by the end of the season, he finished with a career-low 22 goals.So the fact Nieuwendyk tied Kent Nilsson for the Calgary Flames&rsquo; alltime goal-scoring record Nov. 5-he did it with a pair in an 8-4 win over the Ottawa Senators, giving him 229 for his career-was incidental to a more pertinent development: he is finally scoring at his old clip again.Nieuwendyk led the team in scoring with 10 goals in the first 16 games. The major reason for his turnaround? Confidence in his right knee, twice injured in major international competitions.&ldquo;The knee feels really good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The long break we had last summer gave me the opportunity to work on it-and it has been pretty strong all year.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s strength has always been scoring on the power play. He does so by getting in front of the net and staying there, no matter how much abuse the defense hands out.Last year, he was on his knees more often than he&rsquo;d care to remember. But this season, he plants himself there again, just like in the old days. He had five power-play goals.To most people, the great irony in Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s accomplishment is that the man he replaced as the all-time scoring leader, Nilsson, was the man the Flames traded to Minnesota for the pick that they used to select Nieuwendyk. But Nieuwendyk, 26, doesn&rsquo;t put much stock in that.&ldquo;Some of the guys were building it up as me, the guy who got traded for Kent Nilsson, breaking his record,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the trade didn&rsquo;t mean anything to me at the time. I was going back to school anyway.&rdquo;VIEW TO A KILL: The Flames were No. 1 in the NHL killing penalties (87.1 per cent efficiency), a major reversal of last season&rsquo;s form which saw them finish 19th overall.Much of the success can be traced to Dave King&rsquo;s three-part coaching plan which focuses on penalty killing, discipline and defense.The primary reason for the improvement, King said, is the willingness of his players to block shots.&ldquo;Anytime you&rsquo;re a man short, the other team is going to get you in trouble,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of times, you&rsquo;re looking at the goalie to make the stop.Well, we&rsquo;re looking at the guy in front of the net to go down and help out the goalie in that circumstance.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Ron Stern, out since Oct. 15 with lower back spasms, received medical clearance to play, but Dave King wanted him to skate himself back into shape. The nature of Stem&rsquo;s injury prevented him from doing off-ice training. Stem&rsquo;s imminent return meant Tomas Forslund was assigned to the Flames&rsquo; affiliate in Salt Lake of the International League.<h2>CALGARY</h2>TRANSACTIONSNov. 3: Andrei Trefilov, Q, recalled from Salt Lake (IHL). Nov, 5: Trefilov assigned to Salt Lake. Nov. 6: Tomas Forslund, LW, assigned to Salt Lake.ROSTERC-Joe Nieuwendyk, Joel Otto, Robert Reichel, Carey Wilson.LW-Gary Roberts, Chris Lindberg, Gary Leeman, Craig Berube.RW-Sergel Makarov. Theo Fleury, Paul Ranheim, Ron Stem.LD-Gary Suter, Frank Musil, Roger Johansson.RD-AI Maclnnis, Chris Dahlquist, Kevin Dahl, Greg Smyth, Alex Godynyuk.Q-Jeff Reese, Mike Vernon.INJURIESMichel Petit, 0, dislocated right shoulder. Trent Yawney, D, broken right clavicle, Indefinite. &#9632;

Confident Nieuwendyk tower of power once again

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>One goalie&rsquo;s shot in the head is another&rsquo;s shot in the arm. At least that&rsquo;s the way it worked out for the Edmonton Oilers Nov. 3 against the Ottawa Senators.When Laurie Boschman&rsquo;s blast hit Bill Ranford in the mask, knocking the Oilers&rsquo; starting goalie out of a game, reliever Ron Tugnutt rolled up his sleeves and got his hands dirty for the first time since Oct. 14 in Winnipeg.In just his third appearance this season, Tugnutt recorded his first win by stopping 33 of 35 shots.Tugnutt was named the second star in the Oilers&rsquo; 5-2 win. He was 2-1-1 in six games over the past two seasons in Edmonton.That&rsquo;s not much work for a guy who was a frequent starter for four seasons with the Quebec Nordiques from 1988 to 1992. But the 25-year-old is starting to adjust to his new role as a backup to Ranford.&ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;ve contributed to the team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I was starting to feel a little guilty.&rdquo;Tugnutt had to fend off a bout of the flu that made him sick to his stomach before the Senators&rsquo; game.He didn&rsquo;t have time to think about his health, though, as his first saves came on a 2-on-1 shortly after he came into the game. He stopped Doug Smail in close after a nice feed from former Oiler Mark Lamb with the Senators shorthanded.Tugnutt returned to his usual spot on the bench Nov. 6 as Bill Ranford started against the Winnipeg Jets.THE BIG HOOK: Oilers&rsquo; coach Ted Green didn&rsquo;t come right out and say &ldquo;show me what you&rsquo;re made of.&rdquo;In fact, Green didn&rsquo;t say much when he yanked Brent Gilchrist from the lineup Nov. 3 against the Ottawa Senators.Gilchrist was understandably confused about why he was told to sit, mainly because Green wasn&rsquo;t unhappy with the way he was playing.Green praised the 25-year-old left winger for his forechecking and penalty killing abilities.After the one-game break, Gilchrist was back in the lineup in a 6-1 win over Winnipeg Nov. 6. He scored the Oilers&rsquo; third goal to give him three on the season.NOTEBOOK: Free agent defenseman Kevin Lowe wasn&rsquo;t exactly making travel plans when he heard the latest trade rumor that had him off to Montreal for defenseman Sean Hill. &ldquo;I hear the same rumors you do. I think they&rsquo;re working at it and that&rsquo;s all we can ask,&rdquo; he said. The Oilers were trying to move him and Montreal was the most likely destination. The Habs had been offering defenseman Jean-Jacques Daigneault but the Oilers apparently weren&rsquo;t interested&hellip;Defenseman Francois Leroux did not go quietly when he was assigned to Cape Breton of the American League Nov. 2. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really (&mdash;ed) off right now but I&rsquo;ll definitely report to the Cape,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t cause any controversy. It never works. Especially in this place.&rdquo;<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Francois Leroux, D, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bemie Nicholls, Shayne Corson, Craig MacTavish, Esa Tikkanen. Tyler Wright.LW-Craig Simpson, Vladimir Vujtek, Martin Gelinas, David Maley, Louie De-Brusk.RW-Petr Klima, Brent Gilchrist, Kelly Buchberger, Scott Mellanby.LD-Dave Manson, Geoff Smith, Luke Richardson.RD-Craig Muni, Greg Hawgood, Chris Joseph.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brian Glynn, D, tear in meniscus of left knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Former starter Tugnutt adapting to back-seat role

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>The Russian revolution has been a flop so far.And while Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; coach John Paddock was careful not to direct his magnifying glass only at his Russian rookies, they were the focus of much of his concern.There have been a variety of problems for Alexei Zhamnov, Sergei Bautin, Evgeny Davydov and even Igor Ulanov. Things such as English lessons, community promotions and even driving classes have not gone smoothly.On the ice, Zhamnov and Bautin have been almost non-entities, Ulanov was bad enough in camp to get sent to the minors and Davydov remains an unpredictable character.Zhamnov, who had no goals in 13 games, left the lineup after aggravating a hip flexor, but he was likely headed for the press box anyway.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s nowhere close to how he can play,&rdquo; said general manager Mike Smith. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look like his head is into it. I&rsquo;mJohn in whatevel^gB^MHS do about the problem. And it&rsquo;s the press box or Moncton (of the American League), so be it.&rdquo;The Jets lost eight of 10 games as of Nov. 8 to fall to 4-11-0 overall.SNAIL&rsquo;S PACE: It was only another small step, but optimism that a new arena will be built in Winnipeg continues.The interim steering committee set up by the deal between the Jets and city and provincial governments last year had six submissions to consider by the time its deadline passed for submissions on arena proposals.The committee headed up by Art Mauro of Investors Group Ltd., was charged with the task of making a final study to determine the viability of an NHL franchise in Winnipeg. If that&rsquo;s a positive finding, then a decision must be made about a new facility. The committee will hear brief presentations from each of the six groups in a public forum Nov. 25.Jets&rsquo; president Barry Shenkarow, who has insisted the Jets can only survive if they have a new arena, entered the agreement with the promise to keep the team in Winnipeg until at least the 1996-97 season.NOTEBOOK: The Jets averaged 13,637 fans a game after seven home dates, up more than 2,300 a game over the same period last season.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Alan Kerr, RW, and Stu Barnes, C, recalled from Moncton (AHL). Nov. 3: Scott Levins, RW, assigned to Moncton. Nov. 5: Barnes assigned to Moncton. Levins recalled from Moncton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Thomas Steen, Troy Murray, Luciano Borsato, Mike Eagles.LW-Keith Tkachuk, Evgeny Davydov, Darrin Shannon, Russ Romaniuk.RW-Teemu Selanne, Eddie Olczyk, Scott Levins, Alan Kerr.LD-Mike Lalor, Sergei Bautin, Igor Ulanov, Randy Carlyle.RD-Phil Housley, Teppo Numminen, Dean Kennedy.G-Bob Essensa, Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>John Druce, RW, broken right wrist, Dec. 1. Bryan Erickson. RW, hernia and abdominal surgery, indefinite. Fredrik Olausson D, right ankle laceration, day-to-day. Alexei Zhamnov, C, hip flexor, day-to-day. &#9632;

Russians feeling the heat

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>Will a herniated thoracic disc prevent Wayne Gretzky from playing again? He doesn&rsquo;t sound all that optimistic.During a Nov. 7 interview on Hockey Night in Canada, Gretzky said,&rdquo;I hope I can come back to play. Reality is telling me maybe that is not possible.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the future holds. I&rsquo;m optimistic. In time, I believe I&rsquo;ll be able to exercise and do the things I want to do. But the physical side of the game and what it takes to play, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; physician Dr. Ron Kvitne conceded Gretzky is frustrated by his slow progress.&ldquo;He has good days and bad days, but we&rsquo;re not losing ground,&rdquo; Kvitne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like every day is a step forward. What we&rsquo;re trying to achieve is for the good days to outnumber the bad. A situation like this is always hard on the patient.&rdquo;Gretzky said he is experiencing considerable pain. He said he and his doctors have talked about trying a nerve block and discussed a complicated surgical procedure that could involve removing a rib.&ldquo;A lot of people think the pain is in my back. The pain is in front,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;Basically, it stops me from doing physical exercise. The reality of it is I can&rsquo;t really do anything because of the pain.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01726/6310476-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="572" height="818"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky hasn&rsquo;t been able to do any physical activity.</figcaption></div>Kvitne said Gretzky&rsquo;s pain isn&rsquo;t severe enough to use a nerve block, which is the injection of anesthetic material to deaden the nerve. He called surgery &ldquo;a last resort&rdquo; that is not being considered at this time.Compounding Gretzky&rsquo;s frustration is that no other top athlete is known to have suffered the same sort of injury. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one out there for Wayne to compare himself to,&rdquo; Kvitne said.Paul Coffey sympathizes with Gretzky.&ldquo;This is so hard on him,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;Great players like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr should be able to go out on their own terms, hop on a white horse and leave whenever they want.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Nine months after sending Jeff Chychrun to Pittsburgh, the Kings reacquired the 6-foot-4 215-pound defenseman Nov. 5 for defenseman Peter Ahola. The Kings brought him back, coach Barry Melrose said,&rdquo;to give us another banger and crasher. We had too many of the same type of defenseman.&rdquo; Chyrchrun was ecstatic about coming back to the Kings.The Luc Robitaille-Jari KurriTomas Sandstrom line combined for seven goals and 17 points Nov. 8 when the Kings beat San Jose 11-4. Robitaille and Kurri each had hat tricks while Sandstrom had one goal and a career-high six points. Kurri matched his career for points with six and moved past Jean Beliveau into 16th place on the all-time goals list with 508. Robitaille picked up his 300th career goal.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Brent Thompson, D, recalled from Phoenix (IHL). Nov. 5: Peter Ahola, D, traded to Pittsburgh for Jeff Chyrchrun, D.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jari Kurri, Corey Millen, Pat Conacher, Bob Kudelski, Robert Lang.LW-Luc Robitaille, Mike Donnelly, Warren Rychel, Lonnie Loach.RW-Jim Hiller, Tomas Sandstrom, Tony Granato, Dave Taylor.LD-Paul Coffey, Alexei Zhitnik, Darryl Sydor, Brent Thompson.RD-Rob Blake, Charlie Huddy, Marty McSorley, Jeff Chychrun.G-Kelly Hrudey, Robb Stauber.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wayne Gretzky, C, herniated disc, indefinite. John McIntyre. C, back strain and hip contusion, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0036-01

Gretzky’s progress limited

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>The Search for a Center.It sounds like a soap opera. In fact, it was starting to become one in Vancouver until Canucks&rsquo; boss Pat Quinn finally pulled the trigger on a long-awaited trade.Quinn picked up Anatoli Semenov from the Tampa Bay Lightning Nov. 3 for out-of-favor minor-leaguer Dave Capuano and a 1994 fourthround pick. Quinn immediately declared that Semenov, the 30-year-old Russian veteran, would become Pavel Bure&rsquo;s regular center.Bure had not settled into a regular line since countryman Igor Larionov split for Switzerland in the summer. Greg Adams, Petr Nedved and Cliff Ronning all had their shots, but couldn&rsquo;t mesh with Bure, even though he was still scoring.Bure was pleased with Semenov&rsquo;s acquisition.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very close to Igor, a smart player,&rdquo; Bure said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for me if I can play with the same center.&rdquo;Semenov had little trouble slipping between Bure and Adams, who once again became a left winger. The line had 11 points in its first two games together. Semenov had four assists and was plus-3.&ldquo;I like playing with Pavel,&rdquo; said Semenov, who had only five points in 13 games with Tampa. &ldquo;Pavel doesn&rsquo;t play standard. He skates this way and that way and I like that.&rdquo;Quinn likes it too. The Canuck boss admitted he had been pursuing Semenov almost since the July day Larionov announced he was leaving.&ldquo;Semenov did very well in his first two games,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;We were looking for a center with some playmaking skills. I think he&rsquo;ll be able to help us out.&rdquo;Capuan won&rsquo;t be missed. The forward walked out on the team last season after being demoted to the minors but recently re-signed and was being showcased on the farm in Hamilton with the American League&rsquo;s baby Canucks.&ldquo;As far as I was concerned he would have been old and grey before I moved him,&rdquo; said Quinn who changed his policy of ignoring AWOL players.DOCTOR DIRK: Blueliner Robert Dirk epitomizes the stay-at-home defensemen. He&rsquo;s big, he&rsquo;s slow and he&rsquo;s pretty much all thumbs when it comes to handling the puck. Last season, he set a career high with two goals.But within every plodder&rsquo;s body is a Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey trying to escape. Dirk escaped Nov. 8 against Winnipeg as he scored the gamewinning goal, assisted on the insurance goal and was named the first star in Vancouver&rsquo;s 6-1 victory.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a first for me and you won&rsquo;t see it happen too often,&rdquo; said Dirk, referring to his game winner-on a goalmouth pass from Petr Nedved-and his first-star selection.&ldquo;The guys were kidding me when I got back to the bench saying, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing you scored because nobody else was back,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nine times out of 10 you won&rsquo;t see me do that. I&rsquo;ll be the guy staying back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Through their first 14 games, the Canucks were 7-5-2 but failed to beat a team with a.500 record. They had three wins over Winnipeg, two over Edmonton and one each over Washington and Ottawa.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 3: Dave Capuano, RW, and a &rsquo;994 fourth-round draft choice traded to Tampa Bay for Anatoli Semenov, C.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Anatoli Semenov, Petr Nedved, Ryan Walter, Tom Fergus.LW-Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams, Sergio Momesso, Dixon Ward, Garry Valk.RW-Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, Jim Sandlak, Gino Odjick, Robert Kron.LD-Robert Dirk, Dana Murzyn, Adrien Plavsic.RD-Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Doug Lidster, Jiri Slegr.G-Kirk McLean, Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Babych, D, hernia surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Semenov signing ends center quest

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01649/6310552-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01722/6310545-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="3096" height="3624"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01687/6310538-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3094" height="3631"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01393/6310531-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="3084" height="522"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

Can’t Beat the Real Thing

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02256/6310583-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0040-02

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus); SA-shots against; GA-goals against; ENG-empty net goals; DEC-decision, charged to goaltenders of record when deciding goal is scored.<h2>MONDAY, NOV. 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03184/6310796-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="592" height="1096"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04150/6310789-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="594" height="1508"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05127/6310782-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="583" height="1274"></div><h2>TUESDAY, NOV. 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06112/6310775-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="583" height="136"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07101/6310768-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="591" height="1508"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0892/6310761-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="591" height="1510"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01333/6310754-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="580" height="2963"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02211/6310747-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="589" height="410"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03154/6310740-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="585" height="3472"></div><h2>THURSDAY, NOV. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04129/6310733-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="583" height="3376"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05116/6310726-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="589" height="3464"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06107/6310719-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="582" height="1761"></div><h2>FRIDAY, NOV. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0794/6310712-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="588" height="1617"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01344/6310705-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="587" height="3074"></div><h2>SATURDAY, NOV. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02238/6310698-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="592" height="299"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03181/6310691-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="586" height="425"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04141/6310684-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="1795" height="2174"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Crossman scored three goals after assisting on three as the Lightning beat the Islanders 6-5 in overtime Nov. 7. The six points tie the record for points by a defenseman in a road game.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05124/6310677-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="589" height="776"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06112/6310670-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="588" height="418"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-07103/6310663-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="584" height="771"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0892/6310656-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="587" height="412"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0984/6310649-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="583" height="780"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1073/6310642-1-eng-US/f0042-102.jpg" title="f0042-10" width="580" height="3464"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01357/6310635-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="592" height="3498"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02254/6310628-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="586" height="1494"></div><h2>SUNDAY, NOV. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03213/6310621-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="589" height="1904"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04142/6310614-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="586" height="3492"></div> &#9632;

f0040-03

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05126/6310841-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01264/6310834-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="3084" height="3642"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01216/6310827-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="1858" height="3532"></div> &#9632;

f0043-05

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01244/6310903-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0047-01

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01165/6310934-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Keenan took the Blackhawks to three Campbell Conference championships and a Stanley Cup final in his four years as coach.</figcaption></div>Did Mike Keenan resign as the general manager of the Chicago Black-hawks-as they contend-or was he fired?The Blackhawks said it is a matter of semantics; Mike Keenan said it is a matter of principle and the truth of the whole situation is that no matter how it occurred, it was really just a matter of time before Keenan and the Hawks parted company.Although the Blackhawks issued a vague statement in which they contended the 43-year-old Keenan left the team Nov. 5, Keenan insisted he was fired. Vice-president Bob Pulford returns to the GM job to replace Keenan. Pulford left the job atfer the 1989-90 season to make room for Keenan.&ldquo;We made an offer and he rejected the offer,&rdquo; said Blackhawk spokesman Jim DeMaria. &ldquo;So the offer was taken off the table.&rdquo;Keenan said the Hawks were unwilling to accord him the same powers available to other GMs in the NHL. Keenan did not dispute the fact he was offered a five-year deal worth $2 million to continue in his position as GM, but the Hawks would not include a very important clause. They would not give Keenan the right to negotiate contracts.Pulford, 57, was reportedly willing to give Keenan that power but Blackhawk owner Bill Wirtz wanted Pulford to continue to do contracts.Keenan also reportedly wanted to be named an alternate governor and wanted the power to initiate all trades.&ldquo;I think what it comes down to is that Bob Pulford and William Wirtz have a long and fast relationship going back a number of years,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;In a lot of ways I have to admire them for having that close and lasting a business relationship. They really respect each other.&ldquo;But in my situation that relationship got in the way of my job. All I wanted was the usual set of duties.&rdquo;Keenan assumed that would include the job of negotiating contracts. &ldquo;There is a principle involved here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was supposed to be the general manager and I believe to be effective you have to have all of the responsibilities. I thought I made that clear when I stepped aside as coach.&rdquo;The picture you should be getting here is Keenan was not comfortable in an arrangement where Wirtz and Pulford were still pulling the strings.&ldquo;I think what happened is that Bob Pulford gave up the job of general manager before he was ready,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I think he felt he was too young to step well back of the situation. With his long relationship with the Blackhawks&rsquo; ownership he managed to keep some of the powers.&rdquo;For those who have watched Keenan&rsquo;s career in the NHL, you could perceive this as a situation where Keenan wanted total control or no control at all.&ldquo;When I was still coaching,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;It made sense Bob Pulford would work out the contracts. But when Darryl (Sutter) took over as coach, there was no need for anybody to do that job except the general manager.&rdquo;Keenan will receive a severance package from the Hawks although the team maintains it is not required to do so. He will either receive $300,000 on the condition he doesn&rsquo;t take a job with a Norris Division team until at least next season or $150,000 with no employment restrictions. Keenan&rsquo;s agent Alan Eagleson is recommending he choose the latter option.The Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers were rumored to be most interested in Keenan.Keenan is also upset at the persistent argument he is so tough on his players they bum out. He heard that in Philadelphia and again in Chicago.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting ridiculous,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;Why can&rsquo;t people understand you can&rsquo;t pin a label on somebody and assume nothing ever changes? And for all those people who think I&rsquo;m too tough on players, why don&rsquo;t they check with the players? Why don&rsquo;t they ask guys like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Rick Tocchet, Dirk Graham, Mark Howe&hellip;why don&rsquo;t they ask the players?&rdquo;&ldquo;I think that has been a bad label placed on me for a few years now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just an easy story to write. It&rsquo;s the easy headline, but it&rsquo;s not true.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0048-01

Ex-Hawk talks

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02107/6310972-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg" title="f0048-02" width="377" height="477"></div>We return you now to Montreal, June 21, 1992, and the NHL entry draft is in progress.But first, a word of warning: ignore that background chatter you&rsquo;re hearing about Marcel Aubut dealing Eric Lindros to Philadelphia, then to the New York Rangers, then to the guy who offered The Three Stooges $1,000 (U.S.) for their junk car. Really, what&rsquo;s the worry? John Ziegler is president, he&rsquo;ll just have to fix the glut d&rsquo;Aubut, won&rsquo;t he? Yeah, that&rsquo;s it, just like the Pavel Bure thing. Not to worry.Ah, well, back to the draft, down to the floor of the Montreal Forum.Just listen to all those phonetic fender-benders piling up into the microphone in the first round. Yashin, Kasparaitis and Nazarov. Krivokrasov, Gonchar, Kvartalnov and Bautin. Pick a name, repeat it three times fast and no doubt one of three things will happen:1. You&rsquo;ll win a full scholarship to the Columbia School of Broadcasting (sorry, airfare to British Columbia not included).2. Someone nearby will issue a heartfelt,&rdquo;God bless you,&rdquo; and hand over three sheets of Kleenex.3. The motorcade racing by you will be rushing Don Cherry and Blue to the next available Aeroflot flight.The &rsquo;92 draft forever will be remembered as the lottery that brought Mother Russia&rsquo;s orphans of fortune here by the bushelful. In the &rsquo;91 draft, the Rangers dared to make Alexei Kovalev the only first-round selection from Russia and only 12 months later the rest of the league dared not to be different.And, let it be duly noted the feeding frenzy wasn&rsquo;t focused on only the lads of the USSR/CIS/COD. Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Roman Hamrlik, the No. 1 pick, was bom in Zlin, Czechoslovakia. Three other first-rounders also grew up in Czechoslovakia.&ldquo;Some people might not like it,&rdquo; said Hartford GM Brian Burke, talking bluntly with the media soon after his Petrovicky pick. &ldquo;But, hey, if they start playing hockey in Chile, we&rsquo;ll draft &lsquo;em from there.&rdquo;Now we fast forward to the week of Nov. 8-14. Now that they&rsquo;ve strip-mined the former Soviet Union of its best skaters and shooters, the NHL realizes it has to save itself from itself-not to mention keep the widget machine continuing to make widgets.Winnipeg GM Mike Smith (never met a hockey player with 12 vowels in his last name he didn&rsquo;t like) has accompanied two NHL front-office lifers, Harry Sinden (Boston) and Bob Pulford (Chicago), along with NHL president Gil Stein, to Finland. The purpose of the trip: to meet with the top hockey officials of the former Soviet Union in an attempt to figure out how to keep both sides happy.On this side of the sea, the NHL wants to keep the pipeline of talent open and flowing freely. Over there, they want to keep cashing in on NHL rights fees-no doubt one concern addressed at the Helsinki summit-but they also have grave concerns about the future of the game in Moscow and connecting environs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0370/6310965-1-eng-US/f0048-032.jpg" title="f0048-03" width="556" height="818"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Yashin</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Just look what (the NHL) has done,&rdquo; said Sinden, who hit the Russian Motherlode with his first-round pick of sniper Dmitri Kvartalnov. &ldquo;All the best defenseman from their Olympic team, their best national team are here this year. (Sergei) Bautin is in Winnipeg, (Igor) Kravchuk is in Chicago, (Vladimir) Malakhov and (Darius) Kasparaitis are with the Islanders and (Dmitri) Mironov is in Toronto.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said for years you could blindly draft a guy from the Soviet national team-I mean, never see him or scout him once-and you wouldn&rsquo;t have to worry. You&rsquo;d know you had yourself a player.&ldquo;But what happens to hockey over there if we take all their good players? Then what? There&rsquo;s the chance hockey doesn&rsquo;t get supported over there and Russian kids stop playing. This could be an endless supply of great talent for our league, but only if it&rsquo;s managed properly.&rdquo;And if it isn&rsquo;t?&ldquo;If we screw it up,&rdquo; Sinden said,&rdquo;I guess we to turn to China.&rdquo;Red Square to the red line. What&rsquo;s next, Peking to the power play? &#9632;

f0048-02

But can anyone in China play hockey?

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>The numbers, from a Toronto Maple Leaf point of view, are shocking.Five games in Chicago, five shutouts by the Blackawks. It is a record of ineptitude unmatched currently in the NHL.In their last five games in Chicago Stadium, the Leafs have been outscored 15-1, including a 1-0 loss to Ed Belfour and the Hawks Nov. 5. The fact that the Leafs haven&rsquo;t won in Chicago Stadium since December, 1989, is almost a side issue. It&rsquo;s more how they&rsquo;ve lost.When the Leafs finally did score in the third period of the Nov. 5 game, it was eliminated by an iffy two-line offside call by linesman Swede Knox.Replays showed the play, a pass by Glenn Anderson from his own blueline to Doug Gilmour on the other half of the neutral zone, was probably onside. Anderson insisted that he hesitated before the pass to ensure he was onside.&ldquo;But we can&rsquo;t rely just on one play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had opportunities to score throughout the game, but we didn&rsquo;t capitalize.&rdquo;The result was almost as bad as the fact Toronto lost center Peter Zezel to a right knee bruise in the first period of Toronto&rsquo;s first visit to Chicago for the second consecutive season. Zezel sustained a nasty bruise but was expected back by mid-November.SYLVAIN WHO?: You don&rsquo;t think of Sylvain Lefebvre versus Mario Lemieux as one of the NHL&rsquo;s great one-on-one matchups.But Lefebvre has enjoyed a long history of success against No. 66, and did so again in Toronto&rsquo;s 4-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins Nov. 7. Lefebvre was the best Leaf defenseman on the ice and played his most physical game of the season.&ldquo;Anything I can do to get him off his game just a little helps.&rdquo; said Lefebvre. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a great player that you have to be very careful with him. I don&rsquo;t do anything too bad because I don&rsquo;t want penalties. I just try to crowd him and be between him and where he wants to go.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s tough because he comes up to our line very slowly, almost as if nothing is happening. Then it happens all of a sudden, speed by him or a quick pass.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Burns made a return to the Ottawa area where he spent 26 years as a police officer and junior coach when the Leafs went to play the Ottawa Senators Nov. 9. Bums&rsquo; mother, 81-year-old Marie, was a spectator for only the second time in Bums&rsquo; NHL coaching career.Center Peter Zezel is headed to arbitration. He made $410,000 last season.Leaf goalie Felix Potvin has officially adopted &ldquo;The Cat&rdquo; as his nickname, a name given to him by Toronto hockey writers when he first came to the Leafs last season. He now has &ldquo;The Cat&rdquo; written across the bottom of the back of his goalie mask and has cat whiskers painted on the front.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for The Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Gilmour, Dave McLIwain, Mike Krushelnyski.LW-Nikolai Borschevsky, Joe Sacco, Mark Osborne, Ken Baumgartner, Guy Larose.RW-Glenn Anderson, Rob Pearson, Mike Foligno, Kent Manderville.LD-Dave Ellett, Jamie Macoun, Sylvain Lefebvre, Darryl Shannon.RD-Bob Rouse, Dmitri Mironov, Drake Berehowsky, Todd Gill, Bob McGill.G-Felix Potvin, Damian Rhodes.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Grant Fuhr, G, damaged right knee cartilage, day-to-day. Rick Wamsley, G, left knee strain, day-to-day. Peter Zezel C, right knee bruise, day-to-day. &#9632;

Chicago not their kind of town after another zero

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>For the first time in his distinguished career with the Detroit Red Wings, Gerard Gallant is no longer a fixture in the lineup.To succeed in the NHL, Gallant has said frequently you need to keep picking yourself up off the ice because you&rsquo;re going to get knocked down a lot.In his nine seasons as an NHLer, that hasn&rsquo;t been much of a problem for Gallant, not even in the pre-surgery days when his back was killing him.Until now.The 29-year-old left winger was banished to the press box on at least two occasions early this season. He felt as though he had been crosschecked from behind by coach-general manager Bryan Murray.&ldquo;It hurts,&rdquo; Gallant said before sitting out a 5-1 loss the Montreal Canadiens at the Forum Nov. 7.Several of Gallant&rsquo;s friends had driven to Montreal from his native Prince Edward Island to watch him play in the game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of embarrassing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But being scratched against Hartford (Nov. 6) was tougher. That was the first time I was ever scratched for a game since I&rsquo;ve been here.&rdquo;Gallant isn&rsquo;t outspoken, opting instead to lead by example. Therefore, he was reluctant to talk about his predicament.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it would be in my best interest to say anything,&rdquo; he said.After an anxious training camp in which he felt as though the Wing &ldquo;were trying to push me out the door,&rdquo; Gallant opened the season on the No. 1 line next to center Steve Yzerman.The unit enjoyed some success, but Murray juggled his lines, replacing Gallant in a rotation that included Paul Ysebaert for two games, Bob Probert for several, Keith Primeau in Probert&rsquo;s absence in Canada and John Ogrodnick for the occasional shift.Murray maintains Gallant&rsquo;s situation is the result a bloated roster. The Wings tried to deal one of their forwards to breakup the rotation, but have been unable to do so.But Gallant and his many allies or the team believe he belongs in the lineup.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;d all like to see him in the lineup,&rdquo; Yzerman said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s hard for me to say anything. He&rsquo;s my best friend. It&rsquo;s a tough decision for the coaches.&rdquo;Gallant is in the option year of his contract that pays him $400,000 a season. He was trying to negotiate a new deal with a raise to $600,000, but those talks were on hold while Murray decides how-or if-Gallant fits into the Wings&rsquo; future.If he doesn&rsquo;t, the Wings will have little difficulty trading him. Montreal and Calgary have expressed interest.NOTEBOOK: What&rsquo;s wrong with Sergei Fedorov? That&rsquo;s what Wing coaches want to know. After two seasons of excellence, Fedorov was simply average in his first 15 games, compiling five goals and 11 points. He was minus-3. &ldquo;We need him to take charge more often,&rdquo; Murray said, criticizing Fedorov&rsquo;s poor positional play and his overhandling of the puck.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 4: Jim Cummins, RW, assigned to Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Jimmy Carson, Mike Sillinger.LW-Bob Probert, Shawn Bun, Keith Primeau, John Ogrodnick, Gerard Gallant.RW-Dino Ciccarelli, Paul Ysebaert, Ray Sheppard. Dallas Drake, Martin Lapointe, Sheldon Kennedy.LD-Nicklas Lidstrom, Yves Racine, Mark Howe, Dennis Vial.RD-Brad McCrimmon. Vladimir Konstantinov. Steve Chiasson.G-Tim Cheveldae, Vince Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Frustrated Gallant caught in numbers game

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div>The Tampa Bay Lightning front office doesn&rsquo;t care about Dave Capuano&rsquo;s questionable reputation. The team is willing to give him a fresh start.The Lightning acquired the 24-year-old minor-league center from Vancouver Nov. 2 for center Anatoli Semenov. Tampa also receives a fourth-round draft choice in 1994.The trade brings to Tampa a gifted skater who management believes is capable of 20 goals at the NHL level.Capuano has been hindered this season and in the past by sore knees and what some observers described as a questionable attitude. He managed just four games with Vancouver&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Hamilton this season and had one assist. He was assigned to the Lightning&rsquo;s International League affiliate in Atlanta.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about going there,&rdquo; Capuano said. &ldquo;A couple years ago I might have made a stink about going to the minors. But I understand that&rsquo;s part of it now and besides, I&rsquo;ve got a lot of work to do to get into shape.&rdquo;Capuano was drafted 25th overall by Pittsburgh in 1986. He was traded to Vancouver in 1989-90 and in his first full NHL season a year later, scored 13 goals and 44 points in 61 games.He was sent to the minors after a slow start the following year, but left after a month and was suspended. The Warwick, R.I., native re-signed with the Canucks in the off-season under the condition they would trade him.Semenov, 30, was expected to lead the Lightning offense this season, but never got untracked.&ldquo;I know this sounds weird, but I think Anatoli may have been too good for our team,&rdquo; president-general manager Phil Esposito said. &ldquo;It was tough finding him a place where he fit in.&rdquo;Semenov had just two goals and five points in 13 games.NO FLUKE: Chris Kontos&rsquo; 14 goals put him in a tie with injured Kevin Stevens for second place in NHL goal-scoring. Are teams going to start shadowing him?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been in this situation before.The 14 goals are more than half Kontos&rsquo; career total of 27, which took him eight seasons to accumulate.Kontos&rsquo; string of success has increased his popularity among the media, which regularly asks if his early-season heroics are a fluke.&ldquo;Do you think it&rsquo;s a fluke?,&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;d done all this in two weeks and had done nothing else then I could understand that. But I&rsquo;ve been going like this since camp.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Lightning defenseman Shawn Chambers was sent to Atlanta Nov. 5 for a two-week conditioning stint. He had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Oct. 9&hellip;Defenseman Doug Crossman registered his first career hat trick and became the first Lightning player to record six points in a game when he led Tampa to a 6-5 overtime win against his former team, the New York Islanders Nov. 7.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Matt Hervey, D, assigned to Atlanta (IHL). Anatoli Semenov, C, traded to Vancouver for Dave Capuano, C, and fourth-round draft pick in 1994. Capuano assigned to Atlanta. Nov. 5: Shawn Chambers, D, assigned to Atlanta.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Bradley, Rob DiMaio, Adam Creighton, Ken Hodge.LW-Chris Kontos, Mikael Andersson, Rob Zamuner, Mike Hartman.RW-Marc Bureau, Danton Cole, John Tucker, Stan Drulia.LD-Roman Hamrlik, Peter Taglianetti, Joe Reekie.RD-Rob Ramage, Marc Bergevln, Doug Crossman, Bob Beers.G-Pat Jablonski, David Littman.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Basil McRae, LW, broken left leg, indefinite. Martin Simard, RW, right knee sprain, Nov. 14. Wendell Young, G, dislocated right shoulder, Nov. 14. &#9632;

Minor-leaguer Capuano hopes to make impact

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0052-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-01135/6311082-1-eng-US/f0052-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-01134/6311075-1-eng-US/f0053-012.jpg" title="f0053-01" width="3074" height="3615"></div> &#9632;

f0052-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>Dave Gagner is a goal scorer who isn&rsquo;t scoring goals. Was he frustrated? &ldquo;Ask my wife,&rdquo; Gagner said, leaving no doubt about his mood prior to scoring two goals as the Minnesota North Stars blanked the New York Islanders 3-0 Nov. 5.Gagner wasn&rsquo;t happy with the way last season ended. He said he didn&rsquo;t feel he played a significant role in the playoffs as the Stars bowed out in the first round to Detroit. He vowed to make up for it early this season, but had just one goal in 12 games.&ldquo;I was putting a lot of pressure on myself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Finally, I decided to lay off. There were still 72 games left.&rdquo;Gagner scored 111 goals over the last three seasons, 40 in 1989-90, 41 the following season and 30 last season. He had two goals in seven playoff games last spring.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t feel losing in the first round of the playoffs is acceptable,&rdquo; Gagner said. &ldquo;In my case, I felt the effort was there but I didn&rsquo;t contribute the way I wanted to.&ldquo;I was going to help myself forget about that with a quick start to this season. I&rsquo;ve had a lot of chances but I haven&rsquo;t been able to get the puck to go in for me. It has been frustrating.&rdquo;Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey hasn&rsquo;t added to Gagner&rsquo;s pressure. He has given him solid wingers and plenty of ice time to work through his drought.HE&rsquo;S BACK: Big banger defenseman Mark Tinordi is regularly leaving opponents stretched on the ice long enough for them to inventory body parts before regaining their feet.It was the last part of his game to return after an Al MacInnis clearing shot hit him behind the knee last season and crushed the nerve that controls his foot.While most players around the league remember how tough the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Tinordi is, it seems many have forgotten his willingness for open-ice collisions. Through the early stages of the season, Tinordi was on pace to reclaim his starring role on this season&rsquo;s highlight video.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Jon Casey&rsquo;s shutout against the New York Islanders was the 10th of his career. His goals-against average at Met Center was 1.95 through Nov. 7&hellip;Gaetan Duchesne scored a goal in the 2-2 tie with Edmonton Nov. 7 and the Stars&rsquo; luck continued. Even though the tie interrupted an 18-game winning streak in games when he scores, Minnesota was unbeaten in 21 (19-0-2) games when he scores a goal, a stretch dating to the 1990-91 season.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 2: Mike Torchia, G, assigned from Canadian national team to Kalamazoo (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Modano, Neal Broten, Dave Gagner, Dan Quinn, Bobby Smith.LW-Todd Elik, Mike McPhee, Gaetan Duchesne, Stewart Gavin, Brian Propp.RW-Mike Craig, Russ Courtnall, Ulf Dahlen, Shane Churla.LD-Mark Tinordi, Craig Ludwig, Richard Matvichuk.RD-Derian Hatcher, Jim Johnson, Tommy Sjodin, Brad Berry.G-Jon Casey, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Gagner confident he’ll regain scoring touch

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div>After 15 games, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; right winger Brett Hull had only six goals, a pedestrian pace of 34 goals projected over a full season.It&rsquo;s nowhere near the pace one would expect from the three-time NHL goal leader, who has scored 82, 86 and 70 goals the last three seasons.A frustrated Hull blamed himself after the Blues&rsquo; 6-4 loss to Tampa Bay Nov. 3, in which he had no goals and four shots.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get enough shots,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get any goals. What good am I?&hellip;I should be able to dominate the game, and I don&rsquo;t even do anything. How do you expect to win?&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t there. When I&rsquo;m there, the puck is bouncing. Or when I do get shots, it&rsquo;s not going in. I guess I&rsquo;m out of sync. All I know is I (stink).&ldquo;If teams were shadowing me, I&rsquo;d have an excuse, but they&rsquo;re not. I can&rsquo;t sit here and say I&rsquo;m upset at the coach. I love the coach. I&rsquo;m trying.&rdquo;Although his goal totals were down, Hull has been working hard and led the Blues with 15 assists and 21 points after 15 games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not totally bad, but you have to show consistency,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These guys count on me. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m in the game. I&rsquo;m not in it to follow.&rdquo;NO IRON MIKE: After Mike Keenan&rsquo;s departure in Chicago, someone put two and two together and came up with five, thinking Keenan was heading to St. Louis.Not so, said the Blues, who were forced to issue a denial, stating &ldquo;the rumors are totally unfounded.&rdquo;&ldquo;Everybody thinks he&rsquo;s going everywhere,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; president Jack Quinn. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t talked to Mike or Alan Eagleson, who represents him. All I can say is we&rsquo;re all aware what happened in Chicago.&rdquo;Chairman Mike Shanahan Sr., said,&rdquo;We have no interest in him.&rdquo;The Blues fired Brian Sutter as coach, in part, because Sutter wanted too much control. It would make little sense for them to hire Keenan.NOTEBOOK: Philadelphia&rsquo;s Eric Lindros pounded Lee Norwood in a fight Nov. 7, prompting this assessment by Norwood: &ldquo;I wrestled a circus bear when I was 20 at the Pennsylvania state fair and that bear was not as strong as that kid.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-01126/6311137-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg" title="f0055-01" width="571" height="756"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull is getting the shots, but he&rsquo;s not making them count.</figcaption></div>Goalie Curtis Joseph was frustrated with his play. In 11 games, he was 3-7-1, with a 3.95 average and.881 save percentage. &ldquo;I (stink),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it&hellip;I&rsquo;m losing it. I just can&rsquo;t make the saves. I&rsquo;m (terrible).&rdquo;<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 3: Jason Ruff, LW, assigned to Peoria (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Craig Janney, Nelson Emerson, Bob Bassen, Kevin Miehm.LW-Kevin Miller, Philippe Bozon, Dave Mackey, Vitali Prokhorov.RW-Brett Hull, Igor Korolev, Rich Sutter, Ron Wilson.LD--Curt Giles, Murray Baron, Lee Norwood, Dan Laperriere.RD-Jeff Brown, Garth Butcher, Rick Zombo, Stephane Quintal.G-Curtis Joseph, Guy Hebert.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kelly Chase, RW, groin strain, dayto-day, Bret Hedican, D, sprained left knee, day-to-day, Vitali Karamnov, RW, groin strain, indefinite. Dave Lowry, LW, sprained right knee, indefinite. Brendan Shanahan, LW, groin strain, day-to-day. Ron Sutter C, pulled abdominal muscle, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0055-01

Baffled Hull points finger at himself

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>While Mike Keenan&rsquo;s firing as general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks shocked many of the players, the news didn&rsquo;t touch off the celebration some had expected.In fact, a few players sounded sad to see Keenan leave.&ldquo;He taught us about ourselves,&rdquo; Steve Larmer said. &ldquo;He taught us to expect more of ourselves.&rdquo;&ldquo;Mike&rsquo;s objective was to win, which is why I was able to get along with him,&rdquo; Dirk Graham said. &ldquo;Mike&rsquo;s reputation is one that paints him a certain way, but I had a great deal of respect for the job he did.&rdquo; The overall feeling in the dressing room was Keenan&rsquo;s firing wouldn&rsquo;t have much impact on the players since he was GM and not coach.Keenan&rsquo;s firing had nothing to do with coach Darryl Sutter, who expressed disappointment. While Keenan hinted he might like to coach again someday, there was virtually no chance he would return to the Hawks&rsquo; bench as had been suggested when the club got off to a slow start.&ldquo;This was not a Mike Keenan-Darryl Sutter controversy,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;I never felt any pressure. We had a hell of a relationship.&rdquo;What cost Keenan his job was a request he made of owner Bill Wirtz for more authority as GM. Specifically, Keenan wanted to negotiate contracts and have a stronger voice when it came to making trades. Bob Pulford, who replaces Keenan as GM, handled all contractual matters in his role as senior vice-president.What irked owner Bill Wirtz most about the situation was Keenan&rsquo;s decision not to sign a five-year, $2-million contract the two sides had appeared to agree upon three weeks before Keenan&rsquo;s firing.Keenan wanted to wait until March to commit to five more years with the Hawks. He felt by then he would know for sure whether he wanted to return to coaching. Wirtz reportedly gave Keenan an ultimatum: Sign now or hit the road.Pulford eases back into the GM&rsquo;s chair he held from 1977 through 1990, when he stepped aside for Keenan. Pulford promises to be more aggressive than he was the first time around when the knock against him was his reluctance to trade.It&rsquo;s not known how long the 57-year-old Pulford will keep the GM job. He indicated it might not be much past this season. A possible replacement might be Bob Murray, the former defenseman who is the Hawks&rsquo; director of player personnel.NOTEBOOK: The new facility that will house the Hawks beginning in 1994 will be called the United Center. United Airlines paid approximately 10 per cent of the building&rsquo;s $175 million price tag for the right.Brent Sutter had a goal and an assist in a 7-4 win at Quebec Nov. 7 in his first appearance of the season. Sutter missed the first 14 games with a broken right foot.Ed Belfour&rsquo;s 1-0 shutout of Toronto Nov. 5 was the fourth of his career against the Maple Leafs and third straight on Chicago Stadium ice&hellip;Jeremy Roenick recorded his 300th career point-in his 272nd game-Nov. 7 in a 7-4 win over Quebec.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 3: Kari Dykhuis, D, recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). Nov. 5: Milan Tichy, D, Sergei Krivokrasov, RW, and Steve Tepper, RW, recalled from Indianapolis. Nov. 6: Mike Keenan fired as general manager. Bob Pulford named GM. Rod Buskas, D, Tichy and Tepper assigned to Indianapolis. Nov. 8: Krivokrasov assigned to Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jeremy Roenick, Brent Sutter, Christian Ruuttu, Mike Hudson.LW-Stephane Matteau, Dave Christian, Michel Goulet, Stu Grimson, Rob Brown.RW-Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Jocelyn Lemieux, Greg Gilbert.LD-Steve Smith, Frantisek Kucera, Kari Dykhuis, Cam Russell.RD-Chris Chelios, Igor Kravchuk, Bryan Marchment, Adam Bennett.G-Ed Belfour, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, left shoulder surgery, Jan. 1 Brian Noonan, RW, bruised right shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

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November 20, 1992

Falloon’s point totals no longer standing Pat

Another chance for Arch

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

Top rookies Donato and Heinze adapting to new roles in bigs