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.

January 22, 1993

The Hockey News January 22, 1993

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021043/6162234-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

THE DRAW

When the Central League ceased operations in 1984. it was gone but not forgotten.Average attendance in the minor-pro league-which was revived this season-stood at 5,221 per game, compared to 3,785 per game for the 57-year-old American League. The booming East Coast League, which was averaging 4.361 fans per game, was also ahead of the AHL.But the big attendance winner is the big-city dominated International League. The IHL was averaging 6,143 fans per game, which put the league well on pace to shatter its record 2.4 million fans it drew last season when an average of 5.862 fans attended each IHL game.Leading the way for the IHL were the Cincinnati Cyclones, who had drawn 151,650 fans through 17 home dates for an average of 8.921 fans.The AHL&rsquo;s Providence Bruins, who weren&rsquo;t in the league last season, were averaging 8.786 fans after 18 home games.The Colonial League was averaging 1,724 fans per game, followed by the Sunshine League at 1,610 and the American Association at 1.463. &#9632;

Minor leagues a major draw

<div class="byline">By Rand Simon</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-0363/6164068-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al lafrate&rsquo;s best season earns him a spot on defense on the Patrick Division&rsquo;s mid-season all-star team. (Jim Leary/BBS)</figcaption></div>Welcome to the Patrick Division, home of the NHL&rsquo;s best team, best player and arguably the best rookie. It&rsquo;s no surprise this is the league&rsquo;s best division.Four of the top 10 intradivisional records belong to Patrick teams, with the Pittsburgh Penguins holding down top spot with a .705 winning percentage against opponents from the weaker divisions.Patrick teams are playing .574 hockey against the other divisions. The Norris (.504) is the only other division above .500 in that category.It&rsquo;s no secret what makes the Patrick Division so strong. Start with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins and work your way down to the best last-place team in the league, the Philadelphia Flyers.While center is the Patrick&rsquo;s marquee position (witness Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Eric Lindros), no division has so many outstanding defensemen. Brian Leetch, Al lafrate, Kevin Hatcher, Larry Murphy and Scott Stevens are all legitimate Wales Conference all-stars.The division&rsquo;s weakness is in goal where only Craig Billington and Tom Barrasso are having good seasons.All-Star Team: C-Lemieux, Pittsburgh; LW-Kevin Stevens, Pittsburgh; RW-Mark Recchi, Philadelphia; D-Murphy, Pittsburgh and lafrate, Washington; G-Barrasso, Pittsburgh.Top Rookie: Lindros is the odds-on favorite to become the first Flyer ever to win the Calder Trophy.Even though Lindros missed 11 games with a knee injury, he had more goals (20) and points (34) than any other rookie in the division.He has been everything the Flyers hoped he would be when they acquired his rights from Quebec.SURPRISES: New Jersey goaltender Billington has been the division&rsquo;s second-best goaltender.The only real positive surprise among the teams is that the Penguins are playing this well in the regular season. After finishing with 87 points last season, the Penguins were on pace for 120 this season.DISAPPOINTMENTS: The play of the New York Rangers and the performance of goaltender Mike Richter have been extremely disappointing.The Rangers were just a few points ahead of the fifth-place New York Islanders as the season reached the mid-way point, while Richter&rsquo;s awful season (4.25 goals-against average in 20 games) was a major concern.MVP: There continues to be no doubt Lemieux is the league&rsquo;s best and most valuable player. He has elevated his game this season in his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s single-season points scoring record.As long as Lemieux&rsquo;s back problems don&rsquo;t continue to flare up-he&rsquo;s expected to be out of the lineup until at least Jan. 25-Lemieux is a shoot-in for his fourth scoring title and second Hart Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-0454/6164061-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="1732" height="338"></div> &#9632;

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Simply the best

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>You couldn&rsquo;t blame Ottawa Senators&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness if he has had trouble sleeping.With his team on track through the first half of its season to become the worst NHL team of all-time, Bowness knows what is waiting for him when he nods off.&ldquo;This has to be the worst nightmare,&rdquo; said Bowness, assessing his team&rsquo;s first 44 games.The numbers aren&rsquo;t pretty. Four wins. Thirty-seven losses. Three ties. Eleven measly points.&ldquo;I never thought it would be this bad,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not happy. I&rsquo;m not happy with 11 points. I&rsquo;m not happy with the results. But I also believe our players are playing as well as they can.&rdquo;Unfortunately for Bowness, his players and their fans, that&rsquo;s not good enough. If any team in the NHL wants to beat the Senators on any given night, it pretty much can.Still, Bowness said he sees no signs on his club that losing has become either expected or accepted.&ldquo;I hope not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think going into games everybody is optimistic and prepared to win. As games unfold we might become frustrated. We fall behind, frustration sets in and that affects our work ethic, it affects the way we play. It&rsquo;s not a matter of quitting. It&rsquo;s a matter of not being able to maintain the level we start the game at.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01743/6163064-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="571" height="930"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jamie Baker says head-banging won&rsquo;t solve Ottawa&rsquo;s woes.</figcaption></div>Despite the mounting losses, the players are remaining upbeat.&ldquo;What else are you going to do?&rdquo; asked center Jamie Baker, whose performance has been one of the few pleasant surprises for the Senators. &ldquo;You can only bang your head against the wall for so long.&rdquo;Morale on the team is no problem, said defenseman Brad Marsh.&ldquo;A journalist could pick up the paper in Timbuktu, look and see we have nine points and say, &lsquo;They&rsquo;re brutal,&rsquo;&rdquo; Marsh said. &ldquo;But being here day to day, I don&rsquo;t feel that way. When you look at it from day to day, things don&rsquo;t seem to be that bad.&rdquo;BOB&rsquo;S YOUR SCORER: Winger Bob Kudelski likes having a little shark for lunch.Kudelski scored the first hat trick in the Senators&rsquo; short history-a natural one, to boot-in Ottawa&rsquo;s 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks in a matinee at the Civic Centre Jan. 10.It was Kudelski&rsquo;s second hat trick against the Sharks-he was the first player to turn the trick against San Jose last year while with the Los Angeles Kings. He also had a two-goal effort against the Sharks in the pre-season.His historic effort helped the Senators snap an 11-game losing streak, tying their longest skid of the year.&ldquo;Today is the first day I&rsquo;ve felt comfortable,&rdquo; said Kudelski, who was obtained from Los Angeles in a four-player deal Dec. 20. &ldquo;It seems I have a lot of good luck against those guys.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: One of the reasons for Ottawa&rsquo;s defensive problems was a lack of success on faceoffs. &ldquo;When you lose a draw (in your own zone) something is going to happen and it&rsquo;s probably bad,&rdquo; said Rick Bowness. &ldquo;If you lose a draw clean, you&rsquo;re giving up a shot. You don&rsquo;t have to win a faceoff. You take it not to lose it. You have to tie the other guy up.&rdquo;In the 11-game losing streak broken by the win over the Sharks, Ottawa gave up fewer than four goals only once.The Senators were not amused when a fan showed up at practice Jan. 4 with $1,000 worth of equipment he said he purchased the night before and asked for a tryout. He jumped on the ice and skated with the club for a couple of minutes before being asked to leave by assistant E.J. McGuire.Dave Archibald could be sidelined for two months after he was tripped and took New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens&rsquo; knee in his left side and back. He sustained a bruised kidney, sprained vertabrae and four hairline fractures in the transverse process in the spinal area.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Steve Weeks, G. assigned to New Haven (AHL). Jan. 11: Brad Miller. D/LW. recalled from New Haven.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Freer, Jamle Baker, Neil Brady, Laurie Boschman.LW&mdash;Sytvain Turgeon, Mike Peluso, Brad Miller, Rob Murphy.RW&mdash;Bob Kudelski, Darcy Loewen.LD&mdash;Norm Maciver, Brad Marsh Darren Rumble, Ken Hammond.RD&mdash;Mark Ostecki. Chris Luongo, Brad Shaw.G&mdash;Peter Sidorkiewicz, Daniel Berthiaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Archibald, C. tower back injury, indefinite. Jody Hull, RW, concussion, day-to-day. Tomas Jelinek, RW. right knee surgery, day-to-day. Mark Lamb, C, pinched nerve in neck, day-to-day. Jeff Lazaro, LW. strained right leg muscle. indefinite Andrew McBain, RW, tom ligament in left knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

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Players putting out maximum effort, but team receives minimal results

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04579/6162062-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="353" height="352"></div>Alexander Mogilny. The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; enigmatic winger has supplanted Brett Hull as the league&rsquo;s most dangerous goalscorer. Mogilny scored 41 times in 36 games, on pace for a staggering 89 goals.San Jose Sharks. Losing 3-2 to the Ottawa Senators Jan. 10 is an indication of how they&rsquo;ve gone from not bad to really bad in their second season. Don&rsquo;t pencil Ottawa in for last place overall just yet.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05421/6162055-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="352" height="351"></div> &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06306/6162093-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="379" height="481"></div>There is no perfect solution to problems posed by the need for NHL realignment. Geography does not permit it. A preponderance of eastern teams makes it impossible for the league to achieve a natural vertical balance in terms of time zones.Counting new teams in Anaheim and Miami (neither of which has confirmed it will begin next season), 16 teams play in the Eastern time zone. That leaves four in Central, two in Mountain and four in Pacific.Time zones are important considerations for travel and broadcast reasons. They have an impact on team performance and TV/radio ratings. Player and viewer fatigue sets in when teams travel west and start times are moved back.That&rsquo;s why the Winnipeg Jets receive a subsidy of $1.2 million per season-they share a division with more than two teams two time zones away. It&rsquo;s also why the Jets belong in a realigned Norris Division, not the Smythe.Here&rsquo;s one suggestion for when the league next ponders realignment, likely at the board governors meeting Feb. 7: 1) Add Anaheim to the Smythe. Subtract Winnipeg; 2) Add Winnipeg and Miami to the Norris. Subtract Toronto; 3) Add Toronto to the Adams; and 4) Leave the Patrick intact.Among advantages are minimal movement of established teams and two important circumstances: Winnipeg wouldn&rsquo;t be linked directly (and disproportionately on the NHL schedule) with at least four West Coast teams and Toronto can intensify rivalries with teams such as Montreal and Buffalo.The result would be 13 teams in each conference: six in the Smythe and seven in the Norris; plus seven in the Adams and six in the Patrick.Future expansion would be better accommodated if there were two available slots in the Campbell (or Western) Conference. Likely destinations are two of Dallas, Houston, San Diego. Phoenix, Seattle and Atlanta.But things could potentially open up in the Campbell (or Eastern) Conference by moving Tampa and Miami into the Patrick someday, but that shouldn&rsquo;t be an option now.One immediate possibility, though, is for the NHL to adopt a balanced conference. Panick and Adams teams would play 13 Campbell rivals twice each and play the remaining 58 games against 12 Wales rivals-meeting 10 intra-conference foes five times and two others four times.Qualifying for the playoffs would be the top three teams in each division (perhaps identified by geographical designations next year) and two conference wild cards-all seeded one through eight on total points. That would mean a return to 1st vs. 8th; 2nd vs. 7th, etc., and an end to mind-numbing repetitive divisional matchups.<h2>CAMPBELL</h2>SmytheAnaheimCalgaryEdmontonLos AngelesSan JoseVancouverNorrisChicagoDetroitMiamiMinnesotaSt. LouisTampaWinnipeg<h2>WALES</h2>AdamsBostonBuffaloHartfordMontrealOttawaQuebecTorontoPatrickNew JerseyIslandersRangersPhiladelphiaPittsburghWashington &#9632;

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Here’s one answer to league realignment

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011532/6162148-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Toronto Maple Leafs are concerned they might lose goalie Grant Fuhr in the expansion draft if they can protect only one stopper. (Tim Parker)</figcaption></div>The NHL&rsquo;s yard sale may offer more than just a few trinkets to expansion teams this time around. but some of the league&rsquo;s home owners are more uneasy about parting with their treasures than others.The NHL&rsquo;s newest teams in Orange County and South Florida will likely get more than any other first-year teams through the expansion draft but proposed changes to it were greeted with mixed reviews by some league general managers and governors.The main change would allow teams to protect only one goalie, five defensemen and nine forwards, with exemptions for players with one year pro experience and unsigned draft choices.The NHL&rsquo;s market development committee emerged from its meeting in New York Jan. 5 with the bold new plan. It has been given a thumbs up by a number of progressive-thinking governors who realize expansion teams will need instant credibility to crack uncertain markets. Last season when Ottawa and Tampa Bay drafted, existing teams protected 14 skaters (they did not have to distinguish between forwards and defensemen), two goalies and players with two years of pro experience. Unsigned draft choices were exempt.The board of governors gathered in Arizona Jan. 11 for four days of meetings to discuss details of the new proposal. Some feel existing teams are being forced to surrender too much. The NHL&rsquo;s new regime, led by Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner and chairman of the board of governors, Bruce McNall, has demonstrated foresight and vision but the old guard still has some pull.&ldquo;If I was The Hockey News, I wouldn&rsquo;t be too hasty in reporting this plan will go through,&rdquo; Toronto Maple Leaf president and GM Cliff Fletcher said prior to the latest meetings. &ldquo;There is no set formula and Toronto is definitely against the concept of protecting just one goaltender. Theoretically, two of the three best players in our organization are goalies and we won&rsquo;t be giving one away; that I guarantee.&rdquo;Fletcher, of course, was referring to veteran Grant Fuhr and youthful Felix Potvin.Some teams would have an easier decision than others. The ones that stand to lose a front line stopper include Chicago (Jimmy Waite) Quebec (Stephane Fiset), New York Rangers (John Vanbiesbrouck or Mike Richter), Los Angeles (Kelly Hrudey or Robb Stauber), Nev Jersey (Chris Terreri or Craig Billington) and Hartford (Frank Pietrangelo).&ldquo;I feel very strongly that the NHL already gives more to its new teams than any other professional sport,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;I went through expansion with Atlanta. The first year we were in the playoff race until the final month of the season and the second year we made the playoffs The (New York) Islanders won the Stanley Cup in Year 8 and for the next three years after that. A lot of it boils down to good management.&rdquo;The Toronto Sun reported one governor saying: &ldquo;If a team is getting hammered by the rules we&rsquo;ll look at them and think this is one that will be changed.&rdquo;Others see it as a Catch-22 situation.Neil Smith, president and GM of the Rangers told USA Today. &ldquo;I put my president&rsquo;s hat on and voted for the plan. Then I put my GM&rsquo;s hat and now I&rsquo;m worried about it.&rdquo;One thing is certain, the NHL can&rsquo;t afford to have an Ottawa Senator situation in Orange County or South Florida. The Senators could afford to be bad because their games were sold out before the first puck flew past Peter Sidorkiewicz.Ironically, Ottawa&rsquo;s chairman and governor Bruce Firestone, who is part of the market development committee, favors the expansion team getting additional help.&ldquo;A lot of people voted with new vision,&rdquo; Firestone said. &ldquo;When sitting on a committee, we are expected to take off our team hat and put on a league hat. Last year we didn&rsquo;t have any influence; we were on the outside looking in. Now that we&rsquo;re on the inside we want to make sure no new teams faces the problems we did.&rdquo;NHL president Gil Stein, a member of the market development committee, said changes in the draft shouldn&rsquo;t come as a surprise.&ldquo;The objective of any expansion draft has always been to make the new teams competitive,&rdquo; Stein said. &ldquo;There was an evaluation of the results from our last plan and the belief is, generally, we have to do much better to make the new teams more competitive quicker.&rdquo;Stein said making the NHL more attractive network television is one of the reasons for the urgency to make the new teams competitive.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no secret that one of the reasons for this expansion into major U.S. areas is to help hockey grow to the point where it will be attractive to the networks,&rdquo; Stein said. &#9632;

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GROWING PAINS

When the NHL expanded to 12 teams in 1967, the Original Six protected 11 skaters and one goaltender for the expansion draft. Exempted players included those eligible to play junior in &rsquo;66-67 and players sold to minor pro teams in the Western and American Leagues.Other expansion drafts were as follows:&#9633; 1970 (Buffalo, Vancouver): Protected: 15 skaters and two goalies. Exempt: First-year pros, unsigned amateur draft choices under age of 22.&#9633; 1972 (Atlanta, N.Y. Islanders): Protected: 15 skaters, two goalies. Exempt Same.&#9633; 1974 (Kansas City, Washington): Protected: 15 skaters, two goalies. Exempt: Same.&#9633; 1979 (Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, Winnipeg): Protected: 15 skaters, two goalies. Exempt: First-year pros, unsigned amateur picks from 1978 draft, unsigned picks from previous drafts who are attending college.&#9633; 1991 (San Jose): Protected: 16 skaters, two goalies. Exempt: Players with fewer than three seasons pro experience.&#9633; 1992 (Tampa Bay, Ottawa): Protected: 14 skaters, two goalies. Exempt: Players with fewer than two years pro experience, unsigned draft choices. &#9632;

NHL’s expansive moods

The firing of Roger Neilson has to be one of the worst moves the New York Rangers have made to date.If a player, in this case Mark Messier, does not see eye-to-eye on the strategies of the game, that player should swallow his pride and play the way the coach wants-or not play at all.The NHL is now chock full of million-dollar babies. It&rsquo;s time those players realized the coach is hired to coach, not rock their cradles.Steve Hawkins, Inverary, Ont.<h2>Get it right</h2>On Dec. 23, referee Paul Devorski called a checking from behind penalty on Philadelphia&rsquo;s Kevin Dineen.It was the correct call according to the new NHL rules to protect its players. Three nights later, however, Washington&rsquo;s Kevin Hatcher clearly checked Flyer Mark Recchi from behind and the same referee didn&rsquo;t make the call.Granted, the game was in overtime and it would have given the Flyers a power play. But officials should be more consistent. It&rsquo;s hard to believe Devorski can have such a short memory.Colleen Meehl, Belmont, Mass.<h2>Devils&rsquo; dive</h2>I&rsquo;m tired of listening to the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; management blame its coaches and players for the organization&rsquo;s constant mediocrity.Ever since Lou Lamoriello became general manager in September, 1987, the team has had five coaches and made an enormous number of trades.All of Lamoriello&rsquo;s wheelings and dealings have earned him a career record of 190-190-56 through Jan. 5, 1993.The team has had solid talent during Lamoriello&rsquo;s tenure so there&rsquo;s no excuse for the team to be stuck at the .500 level. It&rsquo;s time owner John McMullen fired him.J. Nazaro, Frankford, N.J.<h2>Sound advice?</h2>Perhaps the next Cheers and Jeers section in The Hockey News should read like this: Cheers to THN for continuing to give readers coverage of the NHL&rsquo;s attempts to curb fighting.Jeers to THN for continuing to run classified advertisements which glorify fighting. Could it be that while the NHL has qualms about promoting the more violent aspects of the game, THN does not? Maybe THN should conduct a review its own advertising policy.Robert Morin, Iqaluit, N.W.T.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011445/6162203-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="563" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">L.A. King Marty McSorley is much more than iust an enforcer.</figcaption></div><h2>Mr. Versatility</h2>All right THN, enough with the Marty McSorley bashing (&ldquo;Jeers&rdquo;, Jan. 8.)Nobody is mistaking McSorley for Frankie Boucher, the original winner of the Lady Byng Trophy. And nobody is mistaking him for Bobby Orr on the blueline, either.But your magazine has no business jeering him because he has a lot of penalty minutes. Remember, THN, you recently devoted an entire front-page color spread to the mindless Bob Probert-Tie Domi armageddon.McSorley is more than just an enforcer. He&rsquo;s not flashy, but he&rsquo;s versatile-he has played right wing on several occasions-kills penalties and scores the occasional goal.He&rsquo;s a valuable member of the Los Angeles organization, so get off his case.Mel Powell, Los Angeles. Calif.<h2>Expansion wrong</h2>After hearing of the new Anaheim and Miami franchises, I became worried that the NHL is growing too fast.There are still some markets out there such as Hartford and Minnesota that are in trouble. And the European talent pool is not deep enough to supply 26 teams.I&rsquo;d say cool the expansion plans, introduce some revenue sharing for teams and a salary cap.And please, Anaheim, don&rsquo;t call your team the Mighty Ducks for heavens sake. Something more traditional will do.Richard Ronzone.&nbsp; Joliet, III.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 Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947. Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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Neilson’s dismissal a terrible decision

<div class="byline">By Jason Kay</div>A more lively puck? Corked sticks? Four more games? There has to be an explanation for the number of NHLers on pace to score 50-goals this season. Through Jan. 3, 17 were in line to reach the milestone, smashing the record of 13 set in 1979-80:Alex Mogilny (90); Mario Lemieux (84); Pavel Bure (73); Kevin Stevens (73); Luc Robitaille (65); Teemu Selanne (65); Brian Bradley (61); Steve Yzerman (58); Dave Andreychuk, (56); Rob Gaudreau, (56); Eric Lindros (54); Gary Roberts (54); Adam Oates (53); Mark Recchi (53); Rick Tocchet (53); Brett Hull (52); Pat LaFontaine (52).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03695/6162265-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="574" height="753"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Bradley</figcaption></div>If the date a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs signals the start of golf season, then the Ottawa Senators can circle Feb. 23 on their calendars. That&rsquo;s the day The Hockey News computer predicts the NHL&rsquo;s most hapless team will be officially out of post-season contention.Granted, it&rsquo;ll be tough to sink a putt through a foot of snow, but the Senators have become used to facing impossible situations.The team&rsquo;s magic elimination number, which stood at 50 through Jan. 7, is the combination of fourth-place Buffalo points and missed Ottawa points necessary to sink the Sens. &#9632;

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Record 17 on 50-goal pace Magic number disappearing

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN Staff</div>Brett Hull isn&rsquo;t scoring like he has in the past, but that didn&rsquo;t stop fans from making him the top vote-getter in NHL all-star balloting for the third straight year.The St. Louis Blues&rsquo; right winger received 303,953 votes from fans at the 24 NHL arenas. Hull had 26 goals in 42 games and was on pace for a 52-goal season, his lowest output since he scored 41 goals in 198889.Joining Hull as starters on the Campbell Conference team are Vancouver right winger Pavel Bure, Detroit center Steve Yzerman, Los Angeles defenseman Paul Coffey, Chicago defenseman Chris Chelios and Blackhawks&rsquo; goaltender Ed Belfour.The closest voting was at center where Yzerman edged Chicago&rsquo;s Jeremy Roenick by fewer than 4,000 votes.Among the surprises was that Tampa Bay winger Mikael Andersson finished sixth at forward ahead of such players as Gary Roberts, Theoren Fleury and Brendan Shanahan The ballots did not distinguish between left and right wing.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011625/6162296-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="570" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull is as popular as ever with NHL fans.</figcaption></div>Another was Lightning defenseman Joe Reekie, who was fifth among blueliners, putting him ahead of Gary Suter, Dave Manson and Mark Tinordi, among others.Perhaps Tampa Bay fans were showing their anger at the fact neither Brian Bradley nor Chris Kontos were on the ballot. The names on the ballot were chosen by members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association before the season started.In the Wales Conference, Boston defenseman Ray Bourque was the leading vote-getter with 301,161. He will be joined on defense by New York Ranger Brian Leetch, as long as Leetch is recovered from his neck injury. The goaltender is Montreal&rsquo;s Patrick Roy.The rest of the Wales starting lineup is made up of Pittsburgh Penguins-center Mario Lemieux and wingers Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Stevens. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Rick Tocchet finished third among wingers.Voting was conducted from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15. For complete results, see page 35. &#9632;

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Golden Brett leads voting

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN Staff</div>It was eventful year in hockey except to those writers and editors who voted on the top sports stories of 1992 in the Associated Press&rsquo; annual poll.Female goalie Manon Rheaume&rsquo;s tryout with the Tampa Bay Lightning was the top hockey story of the year according to AP. It ranked 14th overall. Boxer Mike Tyson&rsquo;s conviction and jail sentence for rape was the top vote-getter.Other hockey-related stories that received votes were the NHL strike, Pittsburgh repeating as Stanley Cup champs and Ray LeBlanc starring for U.S. Olympic team.The botched Eric Lindros trade, in which the Quebec Nordiques traded him to both Philadelphia and the New York Rangers, received just one vote.Among the hockey events in 1992 which failed to receive a single vote were the naming of Gary Bettman as the NHL&rsquo;s first commissioner and NHL expansion to Anaheim and Miami.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021109/6162327-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="572" height="1014"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie Guy Hebert earned co-player-of-the-week honors.</figcaption></div>HOWE&rsquo;S A HERO: The Heroes of Hockey game during All-Star Weekend will have an old, but new face.Gordie Howe, who has bypassed previous such games because of the pension dispute between retired players and the NHL, said he will participate in the match-up of ex-NHL greats against Montreal Canadiens alumni.Howe said he is playing in this year&rsquo;s game Feb. 5 because one of the major sponsors is the card company Upper Deck, for which Howe is a spokesman.ROOKIES RULE: Rookie goaltenders Tommy Soderstrom of Philadelphia and Guy Hebert of St. Louis shared NHL player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Jan. 10.Hebert posted a 3-0-0 record with a 1.31 goals-against average, while Soderstrom was also 3-0-0, with one shutout and a 1.67 GAA.The co-winners edged Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; center Pat LaFontaine. who led all players with six goals and eight points in three games. &#9632;

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Scribes ignore hockey

A weekly compendium of significant events and developments.Jan. 5: Pittsburgh center Mario Lemieux injures back in 6-2 win over Boston and is expected to be sidelined two-to-three weeks.NHL announces starting lineups for 1993 All-Star Game Feb. 6 in Montreal. St. Louis right winger Brett Hull is leading vote-getter.Jan. 6: Los Angeles center Wayne Gretzky plays first game of season and 1,000th of career in 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay.Jan. 7: NHL suspends St. Louis left winger Brendan Shanahan six non-game, non-travel days without pay and fines him $500 for high-sticking incident in Dec. 22 game. Team fined $21,738.Jan. 9: Philadelphia defeats New York Rangers 4-3 for 1,000th victory in franchise history.Jan. 10: Ottawa right winger Bob Kudelski scores first hat trick in franchise history in 3-2 win over San Jose.Chicago left winger Michel Goulet plays 1,000th game in 5-4 loss to Los Angeles. &#9632;

HOCKEY WEEK: JAN. 5-11

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011471/6162389-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="384" height="538"></div>It is likely to be a short-term window of opportunity, but it has now become fashionable to trash Mark Messier. Mind you, none of this criticism is spoken at him directly, but it takes place behind his back and under the cloak of anonymity.&ldquo;Some kind of leader,&rdquo; the critic will say. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t like the coach, so he went belly up.&rdquo; And from another comer you will hear a similar complaint that, &ldquo;Messier got Roger Neilson fired, it&rsquo;s as simple as that. He&rsquo;s supposed to be the leader and he quit.&rdquo;Mark Messier quit?Right, you can build a strong case for that. Just like it&rsquo;s easy to believe Lee lacocca drives a Toyota; Bill Clinton is going to name Al lafrate Secretary of Transportation; and Alan Eagleson should have been named Man of the Year.You might be able to build a case Messier was not playing well during the first half of the season. You might even be able to build a case Messier was not approaching his job with the same upbeat attitude which he took into New York last fall.But you&rsquo;re never going to be able to build a convincing case that Mark Messier got Neilson fired.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it was any secret Roger and I had our differences,&rdquo; said Messier following a Rangers&rsquo; loss at Philadelphia Jan. 9. The loss occurred about a week after the club fired Neilson and replaced him with Ron Smith. &ldquo;We had some differences of opinion, and I made those known to management.&rdquo;Now, let&rsquo;s stop at that point. According to some people, there is all the proof you need that Messier was playing politics. After all, no matter how much he makes, Messier is still just a player, right?Not quite.The reason Messier is in New York and the reason he&rsquo;s making the huge paycheck is he is a special player and a leader. And it would be pretty silly to think a player who has been asked to break the hex of the Rangers&rsquo; 53-year curse would simply keep his mouth shut about a perceived coaching problem.Mark Messier had every right&hellip;no, make that Mark Messier had an obligation to march into the office of general manager Neil Smith and complain about the coaching. It happens all the time and it happens to coaches with a lot better resume than Roger Neilson&rsquo;s (such as Scott Bowman and Mike Keenan), and the complaints come from players with a lot less talent than Messier.As you might recall, it was less than a year ago Messier was being hailed as one of the NHL&rsquo;s all-time great leaders and much of that leadership ability was supposed to manifest itself off the ice.It just should not come as a shock to anybody that a guy who would skate through the boards on the ice for a victory, might run over a coach in the locker room for that same victory.But what was a shock was the ease at which people suddenly changed their perception of Messier, and started to consider he would use the games as a vehicle to get his way with management.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s crazy to even think I would not play as hard as I could so that a coach would be fired,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;Actually, it&rsquo;s an insult to me and to anybody else in the locker room.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02985/6162382-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="573" height="806"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Messier</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Look, I didn&rsquo;t play on all those Stanley Cup champions by playing with that kind of attitude. A lot of crazy things happened in Edmonton-a lot of real crazy things. But when the games started, we were there. That&rsquo;s what made us special and I think I&rsquo;m the same player now as I was then.&ldquo;I was ready for the stuff about how I got the coach fired. I&rsquo;m not even going to say that too much was made out of the situation, or that everything was blown out of proportion. It just happened that way and I&rsquo;ll live with it.&rdquo;No excuses. No false tears. And that is exactly why anybody who thinks Mark Messier dogged it during the first 35 games to get his way is off base. He did not play well and neither did the New York Rangers. When that happens, the first rule in the NHL is the coach gets fired.Mark Messier just happened to agree with it. It&rsquo;s as simple as that. &#9632;

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Don’t blame Messier for firing

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03651/6162427-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Some of the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; new Europeans have had a tough time adjusting to the NHL. Teemu Selanne isn&rsquo;t one of them.</figcaption></div>Things haven&rsquo;t unfolded in the Smythe Division during the first half the way people expected.True enough, the Vancouver Canucks are in contention for a second straight division crown. No surprise there. But, the Canucks&rsquo; toughest competition for top spot has come from an unlikely source-the Calgary Flames. After last season&rsquo;s fifth-place finish in the Smythe, some wondered if management hadn&rsquo;t erred in not making player changes in the off-season. It didn&rsquo;t.Fans were robbed of seeing the game&rsquo;s greatest player of all-time, Wayne Gretzky, because of a back injury, but his Los Angeles Kings survived and actually played inspired hockey under new coach Barry Melrose. Ironically, they began to slide about the time it was announced Gretzky was preparing to to return.Things are bleak in the bottom half of the division. The Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers are battling for fourth place-and the final playoff position-while the San Jose Sharks actually are worse than last season, and that&rsquo;s saying something.All-Star team: C-Jari Kurri, Los Angeles; LW-Gary Roberts, Calgary, Luc Robitaille, Los Angeles (tie); RW-Pavel Bure, Vancouver; D-Gary Suter, Calgary and Paul Coffey, Los Angeles; G-Mike Vernon, Calgary.Top rookie: Right winger Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets is a leading contender for the Calder Trophy.A Johnny-Come-Lately in the rookie department is San Jose Sharks&rsquo; right winger Rob Gaudreau (14 goals in his first 13 games).Surprises: Considering they made only one major change in the off-season-hiring coach Dave King from the Canadian Olympic program-the Flames&rsquo; return to form has been somewhat shocking. King&rsquo;s biggest contribution has been convincing his players to stop taking the foolish penalties that did them in last season.Although he began to slide near mid-season, Jari Kurri&rsquo;s rebound from last season&rsquo;s dismal 60-point, minus-24 performance proved he wasn&rsquo;t washed up after all.Disappointments: The Winnipeg Jets-or, Team United Nations as they have been called by some-stumbled from the gate despite an abundance of youthful, Europeans. The acquisition of former New York Rangers Tie Domi and Kris King should help the Jets rebound in the second half.The mirrors general manager Glen Sather used to work magic in Edmonton appear to be broken. The absence of holdout free agent Joe Murphy and poor play of Esa Tikkanen hasn&rsquo;t helped.MVP: Although he has been maligned in the past, Calgary goalie Mike Vemon has stood the test of time. Even when the Flames flickered last season, Vemon was outstanding and was hardly to blame for their poor showing. He is established as one of the league&rsquo;s best stoppers and rumors of an imminent trade have finally died.Other MVP candidates in the Smythe include Kurri and Bure. Bure has been among the most exciting players to watch as he shoots for a 60-goal season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04442/6162420-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="1729" height="341"></div> &#9632;

f0007-03

Flames on high

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>Three games, six points.Not too shabby for a guy whose career had been threatened by a herniated thoracic disk in his back, even if the guy is Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;The first night was a little tough because of all the nervous excitement, but I feel really comfortable with the way things are going,&rdquo; he said.Gretzky&rsquo;s return following a 38-game absence took place Jan. 6 at the Forum. Gretzky played 17:40 and delivered a pair of assists but couldn&rsquo;t prevent his team from dropping a 6-3 decision to Tampa Bay.&ldquo;Wayne&rsquo;s a great athlete, the greatest player in the world,&rdquo; coach Barry Melrose said. &ldquo;He could have had five or six points if we had buried some of our chances.&rdquo;Flanked by Luc Robitaille and Tony Granato Jan. 8 in Winnipeg, Gretzky scored two goals-Nos. 750 and 751 lifetime-but the Kings lost 6-3, stretching their winless streak to 10 games.The original plan for Gretzky was for him to skip the Jan. 10 game in Chicago.&ldquo;The doctors think it would be too many games (three) in too short a period of time (five nights),&rdquo; Melrose said.But Gretzky desperately wanted to play, back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins and team physician Dr. Ronald Kvitne relented, and the Great One had two assists-he fed Granato for the winner-in a 5-4 victory.&ldquo;The last thing I want to do is bail out on the guys when times are tough,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I feel good. I&rsquo;m playing 18-20 minutes a game and I&rsquo;m happy with that. It&rsquo;d be hard to jump in and play 25-30 minutes right away.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011545/6162458-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="732" height="1069"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky assisted on the winning goal in his third game back.</figcaption></div>The fact the 31-year-old is playing at all is a minor miracle in itself.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a miracle as far as I&rsquo;m concerned,&rdquo; Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall said. &ldquo;Certainly he didn&rsquo;t come back because of the money or the records. It&rsquo;s just his love for the game.&rdquo;Considering how the Kings were butchering the sport, his fondness for the game must truly be strong.&ldquo;The thought of not being able to play again was frightening,&rdquo; said Gretzky, whose injury was diagnosed in September. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting a second chance and a lot of people don&rsquo;t. But I worked hard to get it and I&rsquo;m glad I did.&rdquo;Gretzky, who is wearing protective padding but not a flak jacket, received medical clearance to play Jan. 3 following tests that showed him to be in better shape than he was in camp.Dr. Watkins, whose previous patients included Mario Lemieux and Darryl Strawberry, said it is possible Gretzky could be injured again.&ldquo;If some guy&rsquo;s got a bad back and gets hit from behind and he didn&rsquo;t see it coming, it would be a potentially injurious thing.&rdquo; he said.Gretzky blamed the cumulative effect of being hit during his career for the injury. But he was confident he would avoid getting hurt again.&ldquo;Other people are worrying more than me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t play (feeling) apprehensive. That&rsquo;s when you get hurt. When you love to play, you don&rsquo;t think about the risks.&rdquo;KURRI BENCHED: Barry Melrose benched leading scorer Jari Kurri and Charlie Huddy for the Chicago game. Kurri had 17 goals and 58 points in 41 games, but didn&rsquo;t have a goal in 12 games and only one in 19.&ldquo;Barry makes the decisions, it&rsquo;s as simple as that,&rdquo; said Kurri, whose only previous benching in 12 seasons came in 1988-89 in Edmonton.Huddy said it had been &ldquo;six or seven years,&rdquo; also in Edmonton, since his previous benching. &ldquo;(Melrose) told me I was playing horsebleep, that I wasn&rsquo;t going to play.&rdquo;A week earlier, Melrose sat defensemen Brent Thompson and Alexei Zhitnik.NOTEBOOK: The Kings were 21-16-5 at the halfway mark of the season. That&rsquo;s six points better (47-41) than they were after 41 games last season&hellip;The 10-game winless streak was the fifth-longest in team history. The record of 17 games (0-13-4) was set in 1969-70.Kelly Hrudey was 0-5-3 with a 5.26 goals-against average in eight games&hellip;Marty McSorley&rsquo;s nine goals in 41 games were two more than he scored in each of the two previous seasons. He had a career-high 15 in 1989-90.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 7: David Goverde, G. recaged from Phoenix (IHL). Guy Leveque, C, assigned to Phoenix.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky. Jari Kurri, Pat Conacher. John McIntyre.LW&mdash;Luc Robitaille, Marc Fortier, Mike Donnelly. Warren Rychel.RW&mdash;Tony Granato. Jim Hiller, Dave Taylor. Marty McSorley, Jim Thomson, Sean WhyteLD&mdash;Paul Coffey. Darryl Sydor, Alexei Zhltnlk.RD&mdash;Rob Blake. Charlie Huddy, Brent Thompson, Jeff Chychrun.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Robb Stauber, David Goverde.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Lonnie Loach, LW. fractured left thumb, indefinite. Corey MilIen, C. groin strain, indefinite. Tomas Sandstrom, RW, broken left arm, indefinite. &#9632;

f0008-01

Gretzky’s return doesn’t spell end to woes

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>The official scorer took away Brad Werenka&rsquo;s &lsquo;A&rsquo; on a Martin Gelinas&rsquo; goal and a Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; trainer dropped an &lsquo;E&rsquo; from his jersey.The NHL debut for the rookie defenseman from Two Hills, Alta., in Chicago Stadium Jan. 7 wasn&rsquo;t letter perfect but he made an immediate impact as an Edmonton Oiler.With the name &ldquo;WERNKA&rdquo; sewn on the back of his sweater, he showed poise and offensive ability. He was credited with an assist but it was later given to Bernie Nicholls. One game later in Washington, he earned an assist on a Shjon Podein goal for his first NHL point.&ldquo;I felt comfortable,&rdquo; Werenka said of his debut. &ldquo;It was my 10th game in 13 nights. You play that often and you get into a routine and it&rsquo;s just one after the other.&rdquo;He showed up after playing the night before in Kirkland Lake, Ont., for the Canadian national team. He wasn&rsquo;t even notified of his recall to the Oilers until after that game, a 6-5 loss against the Russian nationals.Then it was into a car for what turned into a five-hour drive to North Bay, Ont. He had to detour around a truck collision that featured one carrying diesel and another hauling dynamite.Werenka, who had refused an assignment to Cape Breton of the American League, held out and was sued over bonus money by the Oilers before his loan to the national team.Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather has apparently ruled out legal action against Werenka. He said the $125,000 lawsuit was dropped as soon as Werenka joined the national team.SCARY INJURIES: Kelly Buchberger sat in his dressing room stall trembling, long after the Oilers had lost a 4-3 decision to the Washington Capitals Jan. 9. Head bowed, eyes red, a gaping wound in the back of his head from a Kevin Hatcher slapshot, Buchberger couldn&rsquo;t speak.He was killing a third-period penalty when he dropped in the way of a Hatcher wind-up. He has blocked hundreds of shots every year, but he&rsquo;s usually closer to the shooter.But the Capital Centre crowd groaned as they realized he had taken the puck in the back of the head. He tried to get up off the ice but couldn&rsquo;t raise himself on both arms. The blow caused a concussion and a cut that needed 15 stitches to close.In the first period of the same game, Shaun Van Allen caught a rut and crashed head first into the boards. He was taken to hospital after losing consciousness and then complaining of numbness in his hands.&ldquo;He was a scared kid,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; spokesman Bill Tuele, who accompanied Van Allen on the ambulance ride to the hospital. &ldquo;He was pretty sure he was paralyzed.&rdquo;Van Allen did not experience any paralysis.NOTEBOOK: Owner Peter Pocklington said he won&rsquo;t build a new arena in Edmonton unless he receives commitments for 60 luxury boxes and 10,000 season tickets. Neither target seems likely and Pocklington can&rsquo;t make money without his own building. Pocklington, who put a price tag of $85 million on the Oilers, said five U.S. cities would accept the Oilers and speculation has it Milwaukee and San Diego are among them.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 5: Vlactimlr Vujtek, C, suspended. Jan. 6: Brad Werenka, D, recalled from Canadian national team. Jan. 7: Vujtek agreed to report to Cape Breton (AHL) and re-instated. Jan. 8: Scott Thornton, RW, Shjon Podein, RW, recalled from Cape Breton. Dan Currie, LW, and Steven Rice, RW, assigned to Cape Breton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bemie Nicholls, Craig MacTavish, Shayne Corson. Brent GilchristLW&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Martin Gelinas. Louie DeBrusk, Josef Beranek.RW&mdash;Scott Mellanby Shjon Podein. Scott Thornton, Kelly Buchberger.LD&mdash;Dave Manson, Geoff Smith, Luke Richardson, Brad Werenka.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Greg Hawgood, Chris Joseph, Brian Glynn.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Petr Klima, RW, groin pull, day-to-day. Craig Stmpeon, LW. recurring back strain, day-to-day. Shaun Van Allen, C, concussion, indefinite. &#9632;

Werenka earns ‘A’ for effort in long-awaited NHL debut

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>The Calgary Flames received some good news when they learned defenseman Al Maclnnis&rsquo; comeback is ahead of schedule.Maclnnis, out of the lineup since mid-November with a dislocated hip, shocked his teammates by showing up for a Jan. 3 practice.He took a couple of turns around the ice and pronounced himself satisfied with how his recovery is progressing.Everything nas gone well so tar so they figured why not give it a chance and toy around and see how it feels,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just exciting to get back on the ice. Mentally, it&rsquo;s uplifting.&rdquo;If all goes according to plan, MacInnis will be back in the Flames&rsquo; lineup after the all-star break. That would give him two months to get his timing and conditioning back before the playoffs begin.So it looks like MacInnis will still play a lot of hockey this season.In mid-December, Maclnnis underwent a senes of tests, one to determine the rate of blood flow to his injured hip; the other to determine whether there was any bone damage.Both results were encouraging. There was a small bone bruise, but it was not serious.A strong blood flow is important because the most serious threat to MacInnis&rsquo; recovery comes from a degenerative bone disease known as avuscular necrosis. It&rsquo;s the same condition that has disrupted Bo Jackson&rsquo;s pro football and baseball careers recently.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty lucky,&rdquo; Maclnnis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never forget when they cut my equipment off in the operating room and I looked down at my hip. I&rsquo;m surprised to this day I didn&rsquo;t pass out. They gave me two shots of morphine in the ambulance and two more in the hospital. I said, &lsquo;This is not working. You&rsquo;ve got to give me something else.&rsquo; They said: &lsquo;We&rsquo;ll fix you up once we get the X-rays done.&rsquo; Twenty minutes later, I woke up and my leg was straightened out. I cried for 30 seconds-that&rsquo;s how happy I was to see my leg straight again.&rdquo;As part of his therapy program, MacInnis spends about 30 minutes a day exercising in a swimming pool. He has also been cleared to ride the exercise bicycle.The most frustrating part of the experience, MacInnis said, was that, within a week of the injury, there were no visible signs of a problem. He was walking without crutches or a cane.&ldquo;Everybody said, &lsquo;Geez, you&rsquo;ve got no limp. When can we expect you back?&rsquo; You&rsquo;d say, &lsquo;Probably the middle of February&rsquo; and they would look at you like you&rsquo;re milking the thing. But it&rsquo;s a long process.&rdquo;STALLED OTTO: Without center Joel Otto in the lineup, the Flames lost four straight games.Otto, a defensive specialist in the midst of his finest season, sustained a partial tear of the rib cartilage in a Jan. 2 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.The Hames left him behind on their six-game, mid-January road swing.NOTEBOOK: Center Joe Nieuwendyk was stuck in his longest goalscoring slump of the season. Nieuwendyk went all of December without scoring an even-strength goal. Between Dec. 2 and Jan. 9, he&rsquo;d scored only three times. Meanwhile, right winger Sergei Makarov, was having even more trouble. Makarov scored only one goal during the same period of time.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Joe Nteuwendyk, Robert Reichel, Theo Fleury, Todd Harkins.LW&mdash;Gary Roberts, Chris Lindberg, C.J. Young, Craig Berube, Paul Kruse.RW&mdash;Paul Ranheim. Sergei Makarov, Ron Stem, Gary Leeman.LD&mdash;Gary Suter, Frank Musil. Trent Yawney. Greg Smyth.RD&mdash;Michel Petit Chris Dahiquist, Roger Johansson. Alexander Godynyuk.G&mdash;Mike Vemon, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Dahl, D. strained ligament in left knee. Indefinite. Al Macinnis, D. dislocated hip, indefinite Joel Otto, C, tom rib cartilage, day-to-day. Carey Wilson, C, tendinitis in left knee, indefinite. &#9632;

Maclnnis healing much faster than expected

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>Never underestimate the seductive powers of a winning team.Under normal circumstances, Kay Whitmore should be dancing a jig at the thought of this June&rsquo;s expansion draft. Whitmore is the No. 2 netminder with the Vancouver Canucks and he will remain No. 2 as long Kirk McLean can draw a breath. When you&rsquo;re No. 2, you play less and you earn less and you don&rsquo;t receive many endorsement opportunities either.But Whitmore expressed some dismay when it was revealed established teams will be permitted to protect only one goaltender in the Anaheim-Miami expansion allocation. If the plan gets NHL board of governors approval, six goalies will be picked.&ldquo;I thought they might keep two goalies,&rdquo; said Whitmore, who has an outstanding 9-3-2 record and goals-against average of 2.90 in 14 starts. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m finally part of a winning team and I don&rsquo;t want to go anywhere. I think we&rsquo;ve got a chance to do a lot as a team.&rdquo;Unless he disintegrates in the second half, Whitmore would appear to be an excellent expansion pick. At 25, he is entering his prime years and his contract is far from onerous. He signed a one-plus-one with Vancouver in October for about $275,000.&ldquo;You always want to think you&rsquo;ll be a No. 1 goalie again but I don&rsquo;t want to move around too much either,&rdquo; said the former Hartford Whaler, acquired this season for minor-leaguer Corrie D&rsquo;Alessio and a conditional middle-round draft pick. &ldquo;Obviously it&rsquo;s something to think about. There are a lot of goalies out there. Maybe they&rsquo;ll get picked first.&rdquo;Maybe. But barring some fancy footwork by Canuck boss Pat Quinn, it seems unlikely Whitmore will be overlooked six times.WHO&rsquo;S NEXT?: The Canucks shouldn&rsquo;t lose too many players in the expansion draft. With rookies Jiri Slegr and Dixon Ward exempt, Vancouver will be able to keep six defensemen and 10 forwards.Defensemen Jyrki Lumme, Gerald Diduck and Adrien Plavsic should be protected while Quinn will likely have to choose between Doug Lidster and Dave Baby ch for one spot and Robert Dirk and Dana Murzyn for the other. Lidster is the most logical of the four to be exposed as he turns 33 this year and is playing out his option.Up front, the Canucks should protect Greg Adams, Pavel Bure, Geoff Courtnall, Trevor Linden, Petr Nedved, Cliff Ronning, Anatoli Semenov and Gino Odjick.Quinn would then have to choose between big wingers Jim Sandlak and Sergio Momesso. Momesso, who turns 28 in September, is 15 months older than Sandlak and has a better scoring touch. Sandlak is the better bodychecker and more intense player.NOTEBOOK: The Canucks&rsquo; 6-3 loss in Detroit Jan. 8 ended three streaks. The Canucks had been undefeated in nine games (8-0-1) and needed a win or tie to equal the franchise record unbeaten streak of 10. It also ended a four-game road unbeaten streak (3-0-1) and put the lid on Kirk McLean&rsquo;s personal 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1).The Canucks bombed Tampa Bay 7-0 Jan. 4 to extend their home undefeated streak to 16 games (14-0-2). Their last defeat at home was 3-2 to Minnesota Oct. 30. Vancouver outscored the opposition 91-32 in the streak.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Petr Nedved, Tom Fergus, Robert Kron, Ryan Walter.LW&mdash;Grog Adams, Sergio Momesso, Geoff Courtnall. Dixon Ward, Garry.RW&mdash;Trevor Linden. Pavel Sure, Jim Sandlak, Gino Odjick.LD&mdash;Robert Dirk, Dana Murzyn, Adrien Plavsic, Dave Babych.RD&mdash;Jyrki Lumme, Jiri Slegr, Doug Lidster.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gerald Diduck, D, sprained knee, day-to-day. Cliff Ronning C, sprained hand, day-to-day Anatoli Semenov. C, bruised knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Playing second fiddle is O-Kay for Whitmore

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>The San Jose Sharks lost more than self-esteem when they were beaten 32 by the expansion Ottawa Senators Jan. 10 in Ottawa.As if losing to the lowly 3-37-3 Senators wasn&rsquo;t bad enough, the Sharks also lost forward Pat Falloon until Feb. 1 with a dislocated right shoulder.Falloon led the Sharks in scoring last season and was the co-leader in goals (14) this season before being hurt. He had nine points in nine games before being injured when he was checked by Ottawa defenseman Brad Shaw.The injury is the first major one for Falloon since the Sharks made him the second overall choice in the 1991 NHL draft. He missed one game last season because of a groin pull and had sat out one game this season because of a shoulder problem.Falloon&rsquo;s absence compounds what already had become a dire situation for the Sharks, who had scored only nine goals in a six-game period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011499/6162561-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="580" height="846"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Falloon was starting to get hot when he was sidelined.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not shooting the puck enough.&rdquo; coach George Kingston said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been guilty since the tum of the year of not taking the shots. We get good puck movement, but then we don&rsquo;t finish.&rdquo;The Sharks&rsquo; margin over the lastplace Senators in the race for last place overall dwindled to just three points following the loss.&ldquo;Both teams had a lot riding on this game,&rdquo; winger Jeff Odgers said. &ldquo;We wanted to win this game badly, but now we have to put it behind us and look ahead to our next game.&rdquo;HELLO, HUBIE: The Sharks made a move to perk up their sleeping offense by adding center Hubie McDonough Jan. 6.McDonough, 29, was leading the International League in scoring with 64 points (21 goals, 43 assists) in 37 games with the San Diego Gulls before being called up. His arrival allowed the Sharks to return Pat Falloon to right wing after Falloon had scored eight points in eight games while playing center. McDonough and Falloon skated on a line with Mike Sullivan until Falloon&rsquo;s injury.&ldquo;Hubie&rsquo;s natural position is center and we thought we might be able to jump-start our offense with him there,&rdquo; George Kingston said. &ldquo;He had generated a lot of points at San Diego, so we decided to give it a try.&rdquo;McDonough, who had played 165 NHL games with Los Angeles and the New York Islanders before being obtained by the Sharks during the offseason, picked up his first point in a Shark uniform when he assisted on a goal by Dean Evason in the Jan. 10 game against the Senators.Still, McDonough said he must concentrate more on defense.&ldquo;The only way you get out of the minors is by putting up points.&rdquo; McDonough said. &ldquo;But up here, you have to find a niche.&rdquo;The Sharks also placed wingers Perry Berezan and John Carter on waivers for the purpose of assigning them to Kansas City of the IHL.Berezan, 28, had two goals and five points in 23 games, while Carter, 29, had four goals and 12 points in 34 games.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Arturs Irbe, sidelined since Nov. 27 because of a strained knee ligament, was in uniform as backup to Jeff Hackett Jan. 10. Irbe was forced into the backup role because Brian Hayward aggravated a hip flexor. Hayward&rsquo;s status was listed as day-to-day.The game at Ottawa marked a homecoming for defenseman Doug Wilson, who grew up in Ottawa and played junior hockey for the Ottawa 67s, a team that shares the Ottawa Civic Centre with the Senators. &ldquo;I have some great memories from this building,&rdquo; said Wilson, who missed three games because of a broken bone in his right foot. &ldquo;It meant a lot to me to play here again. You never know how many more chances you&rsquo;ll get to come back.&rdquo;Winger David Bruce, who has been hampered by a nagging groin pull all season, left the team two games into a nine-game road trip to return to the Bay Area, where he was to begin a three-week rest period. If his injury still prohibited him from playing at the end of the rest period, Brace said he would undergo surgery. Brace was a 22-goal scorer last season but played in only 16 of the team&rsquo;s 43 games this season.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 4: Larry DePalma, LW, assigned to Kansas City (IHL). Jan. 6: Hubie McDonough. C. recalled from San Diego (IHL). John Carter, LW, and Perry Bere-zan, RW, assigned to Kansas City.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kelly Kisio. Dean Evason. Hubie McDonough. David Matey.LW&mdash;Johan Garpenlov. Yvon Corriveau, Michel Picard, Ray Whitney, Lyndon Byers.RW&mdash;Rob Gaudreau. Jeff Odgers. Mike SuHivan. Robin Bawa.LD&mdash;Neii Wilkinson, Doug Zmolek, David Williams.RD&mdash;Jay More, Doug Wilson. Rob Zettier.G&mdash;Jeff Hackett. Arturs Irbe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>David Bruce, LW, groin pull, indefinite. Pat Falloon, RW, dislocated right shoulder. Feb. 1. Brian Hayward, G, hip flexor, day-to-day. Pat MacLeod. D. separated shoulder, Feb. 8 Sandls Ozolinsh. D. tom left knee ligament, out for season. Mark Pederson LW, separated shoulder. Feb. 8. Tom Pederson. D, back strain, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0012-01

Loss to Senators, injury latest setback for team

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>The charismatic Finnish Flash and the quietly cocky Russian have brought danger to Winnipeg ice that has been missing for years.Teemu Selanne and Alexei Zhamnov, working most of the time on a line with left winger Darrin Shannon, have provided consistent production to help the Winnipeg Jets climb out of their early-season funk. After going 4-11-0 in the first 15 games, the Jets were back to 18-20-4 by the halfway mark of the season. That included a run of 6-1-1 to take them to the 42-game mark.Selanne had 34 goals and 60 points in 42 games, clicking for four goals and four assists as the Jets won three straight with a road win in Calgary and home wins Jan. 8 over Los Angeles and Jan. 10 over Pittsburgh. Selanne is the first Jet to score more than 32 goals in the past four seasons and he did it in the first half. Dale Hawerchuk was the last Jet to hit 40, netting 41 in 1988-89.And now that coach John Paddock appears to have settled on Zhamnov as the center for Selanne, the 22-year-old Russian redhead has emerged from a slow start to display eye-popping ability. He had seven goals and 14 points in the 11 games before the halfway mark, giving him 34 points on the season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to know Alex off the ice very well,&rdquo; said Selanne, who was leading the rookie scoring race. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s helping, knowing some of the things he&rsquo;s thinking.&rdquo;The impact of Zhamnov&rsquo;s improvement has been as dramatic as Selanne&rsquo;s consistency. To see the difference you only need compare Zhamnov now to guy that held out of most of training camp and then couldn&rsquo;t make it through the team&rsquo;s first practice when he did show up.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011418/6162592-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="578" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Zhamnov continues to show great improvement.</figcaption></div>Paddock said the big-play production from his rookies was adding as much confidence as the late-December trade that brought Tie Domi and Kris King from the New York Rangers.&ldquo;The offensive show rises to the occasion and it gives you confidence that you&rsquo;re never out of it,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t even play that well and you can get it turned around.&rdquo;HOUSLEY HOT: His contract headache may be a long way from solved, but Jets&rsquo; defenseman Phil Housley has picked up his pace.The 28-year-old played his 800th NHL game Jan. 10 and led a 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh with the gamewinning goal and two assists to extend a points and assists streak to nine games (3-12-15).Housley, coming off a career-best 86-point season in Winnipeg, is playing out his option. He might leave Winnipeg pending a still-complicated contract situation that involves tax rulings between the United States and Canada major deferred dollars.He raised his season totals to 11 goals and 47 points in the win over Pittsburgh and said his recent consistency was helped by the release of his one-year-old son, Wilson, from hospital. The youngster burned his feet with hot water two days before Christmas and was released from hospital Jan. 4.NOTEBOOK: Teemu Selanne was 10 goals and 12 points ahead of Dale Hawerchuk&rsquo;s pace at 42 games when Hawerchuk won the 1981-82 Calder Trophy with 45 goals and 103 points. Those still stand as Jets&rsquo; rookie records.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Russ Romaniuk, LW. assigned to Fort Wayne (IHL). Sean Gauthier, G, recalled from Moncton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Alexei Zhamnov. Thomas Steen. Luciano Borsato. Mike Eagles.LW&mdash;Darrin Shannon, Keith Tkachuk, Evgeny Davydov, Kris King. Andy Buckley.RW&mdash;Teemu Selanne. John Druce, Bryan Erickson, Tie Domi.LD&mdash;Frsdrlk Olausson. Sergei Bautin, Igor Ulanov. Randy Carlyle.RD&mdash;Phll Housley, Teppo Nummfnen, Mike Lalor. Dean Kennedy.G&mdash;Bob Essensa, Sean Gauthier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Troy Murray, C, broken left fool, Jan. 23 Rick Tabaraccl, G. tower back strain, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0013-01

Euro-rookie sensations lead club’s resurgence

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011498/6162630-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s Detroit Red Wings have the talent to contend for the Stanley Cup, but haven&rsquo;t shown it in the first half of the season. (Brian Winkler/BBS)</figcaption></div>The Norris Division is an odd one.The division has two Stanley Cup potential contenders in the Detroil Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, but it&rsquo;s a last-place expansion team generating most of the headlines.Maybe that&rsquo;s because nobody in the division has shown any signs of consistency. The top four teams. Detroit, Chicago, Toronto and Minnesota, have shown spurts of good play, but no team has taken the division and claimed it. The St. Louis Blues, well, it&rsquo;s tough to rule a division when you&rsquo;re fighting for a playoff spot.The Tampa Bay Lightning is not the pushover expansion teams are supposed to be.Bob Gainey continues to improve the Minnesota North Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs have made gains under the guidance of Pal Bums. Unless the St. Louis Blues improve-and quick-they could fine themselves drafting ahead of the Lightning.All-star team: C-Doug Gilmour Toronto; LW-Chris Kontos, Tamp; Bay; RW-Brett Hull, St, Louis D&mdash;Chris Chelios, Chicago; and Steve Chiasson, Detroit; G-Ed Belfour Chicago.Top Rookie: If this is truly the Year of the Rookie, then somebody forgot to tell the Norris Division There isn&rsquo;t a rookie in the division who would receive serious consideration for the Calder Trophy.The best Norris freshman in the first half was Toronto&rsquo;s goalie Felix Potvin but he was sent to the American League Jan. 1. That left Dallas Drake of the Detroit and Richarc Matvichuk of Minnesota to fight it out for the honor.Surprises: Early success enjoyed by the Lightning ranks as the surprise of the league, never mind the division. Phil Esposito is a candidate for executive of the year for building a team that could finish with more points than Ottawa and San Jose combined.Chris Kontos became the Lightning&rsquo;s first star but has shown signs of fading. Little Brian Bradley has demonstrated more staying power.The Minnesota North Stars have surprised a few by remaining competitive even though center Mike Modano isn&rsquo;t putting up the big numbers expected from him.Disappointments: The St. Louis Blues and star right winger Brett Hull both had a lousy first half. Hull showed signs of coming out of his blue funk in late December but it&rsquo;s quite possible his team will still miss the playoffs.The Detroit Red Wings will make the playoffs but have been nowhere near the force they were thought to be. There&rsquo;s no question they have the talent to be better than they are.MVP: No single team has dominated the division and the same could be said about individuals. Bradley has established himself as Tampa&rsquo;s key player and the same can be said for center Doug Gilmour of the Toronto.Serious consideration must be given to Chicago goalie Ed Belfour, who is playing as well these days as he did in his rookie season when he won the Calder and Vezina Trophies.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021147/6162623-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1720" height="341"></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Anyone interested?

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03788/6162668-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="388" height="540"></div>A look back at 1993, the year that not yet was in the NHL:Jan. 25: The NHL Dream Team concept becomes a reality and Ray LeBlanc is named Team USA&rsquo;s starting goaltender for the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.March 19: Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; owner Bill Wirtz, calling himself a progressive dealmaker, convinces Kodak to pay $50 million for an expansion franchise (Original Team No. 27) in his backyard, Milwaukee. In keeping with precedent established in similar expansion to Anaheim, Wirtz will pocket $25 million for yielding his territorial rights to the new club, the Kodak Hash. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s against my nature to take this kind of money,&rdquo; says Wirtz, former chairman of the league&rsquo;s board of governors. &ldquo;But, hey, who am I to buck progress?&rdquo;March 20: Marcel Aubut, the Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; president and governor, is seen shaking hands with Polaroid representatives in a desolate 100-acre expanse in Trois-Rivieres. &ldquo;No comment,&rdquo; says Aubut, posing for an instant picture. &ldquo;For 25 million reasons. I can say nothing.&rdquo;April 1: A year to the day when the players began their 10-day walkout in 1992, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman proclaims, once and for all, that fighting has been banned from NHL games. &ldquo;Mind you,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;that doesn&rsquo;t rule out kickboxing.&rdquo;May 20: Former NHL president John Ziegler is hit with a line drive at Tiger Stadium. &ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; Ziegler says, righted in his seat by his old marketing whiz, Steve Ryan, &ldquo;when did they start making white, leathery pucks? They&rsquo;re messin&rsquo; with our game, Steve, messin&rsquo; with it.&rdquo;June 7: The Pittsburgh Penguins clinch their third straight Stanley Cup by dumping their suprise co-finalists, the California Disney Ducks. The Ducks entered the league in March, upon anteing up an extra $ 12.5 million in expansion fees and selling Disneyland to Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall.July 21: The Rauncho Corp., maker of party favors and magic kits for kids, signs Eric Lindros to an $18 million deal to endorse imitation E-Z-escape handcuffs (not available in Quebec).Aug 13: Glen Sather and Harry Sinden. in the midst of their annual fishing trip north of Yellowknife, N.W.T., stumble upon the frozen corpse of man believed to be 7,000 years old. &ldquo;Slats spotted him first, but just ignored him, Sinden says. &ldquo;He thought he was Joe Murphy.&rdquo;Aug. 14: Agent Don Meehan is pleased to announce he will represent every player in the 1994 draft.Sept. 15: The NHL&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement expires, but the hockey world is astonished by a sudden new three-year CBA deal struck overnight by Bettman and NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow. A salary cap and revenue sharing, thought to be necessary to craft any new deal, are remarkably not included in the pact. &ldquo;In the end, we decided, &lsquo;Hey, what&rsquo;s wrong with the old way?&rsquo;&rdquo; Goodenow says. &ldquo;If Steve Konroyd can make $700,000 per year, who can complain?&rdquo; As part of deal, the NHLPA is granted a free expansion franchise in Houston (Original Team No. 28) with all future profits to benefit NHLPA pensioners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04529/6162661-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="568" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Konroyd</figcaption></div>Sept. 16: Gordie Howe, 65, signs a five-year deal to suit up for the Houston expansion franchise.Oct. 6: The NHL begins its 77th season and Bettman drops the puck for the opening faceoff in Miami. A crowd of 127 sees the Montreal Canadiens prevail, 11-1. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to welcome you all to the NHL,&rdquo; Bettman announces to the sparse-but-enthusiastic gathering. &ldquo;So, please, stop by my suite at the Marriott on your way home, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;Dec. 16: The diminutive Bettman, sitting atop the Stanley Cup alongside Santa at a Knoxville, Tenn., shopping mall, accidentally falls into the shiny trophy&rsquo;s bowl and cannot be found. Gil Stein mandates an NHL security search, to begin sometime after the holiday season. &#9632;

f0014-03

The 1993 Cup final: Penguins vs. Ducks

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>When a Montreal hockey writer travelled to Toronto last fall to interview Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Bums during training camp, Bums left him with some telling words.&ldquo;See you Jan. 9,&rdquo; the former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach said.Even before the season began, Bums had that date circled on his calender, the date when he would return to The Forum for the first time since leaving the Canadiens last summer.&ldquo;I thought about it a lot during the summer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nobody would let me forget it.&rdquo;The fact the Leafs managed to win the game 5-4 despite playing their fourth game in six nights undoubtedly meant a lot to the Leafs&rsquo; new coach, whose attempts to play down the contest as just another game fooled no one.And while the Leafs always have a sizeable number of supporters whenever they play in Montreal, a good number of the 17,000-plus at The Forum seemed to relish Bums&rsquo; victorious homecoming.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011383/6162699-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="569" height="593"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Burns had Jan. 9 marked off on his calender.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It was a very emotional night for the fans, for everybody,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;I do feel I had a lot of supporters and fans around here. I had four pretty good years in Montreal and I imagine some people were satisfied with what I did during those years.&rdquo;The win not only made Bums happy, but it put the Leafs above .500 (18-17-7) for the first time since Dec. I.BIG PROBLEM?: The Maple Leafs could face a major problem if the league&rsquo;s expansion committee stands by its tentative plans for the expansion draft which is expected this spring.Under the rules proposed by the committee, each NHL club will only be able to protect one goalie with more than one year&rsquo;s pro experience when the Anaheim and Miami franchises draft from the 24 existing clubs in June.If those plans stand, the Leafs may have to trade either Grant Fuhr or highly touted youngster Felix Potvin, or face losing them for nothing to one of the expansion clubs.General manager Cliff Fletcher fought unsuccessfully for a two-year goalie exemption at the governors meetings in late December and remained defiant afterwards he won&rsquo;t be pushed into making a deal he doesn&rsquo;t want to make.&ldquo;We will not be intimidated into trading one of our goalers because of expansion draft rules we&rsquo;re still trying to overcome,&rdquo; Fletcher said.The other option would be for the Leafs to convince whichever of the new clubs that has first pick of goalies to select another Leaf goalie, with the Leafs sending them a better prospect or two as compensation. No team can lose more than one goalie in the expansion draft.NOTEBOOK: Versatile center Peter Zezel narrowly escaped serious injury Jan. 6 against the Vancouver Canucks when Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Jiri Slegr accidentally stepped on Zezel&rsquo;s right hand. Slegr&rsquo;s skate sliced through Zezel&rsquo;s glove, but the Leaf veteran sustained only a sprained wrist in the incident. He was listed as day-to-day. Vancouver won the game 5-2.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for The Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 7: Dave Tomlinson, C/LW, recalled from St. John&rsquo;s (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, John Cullen, Dave McLIwam, Mike Krushelnyski.LW&mdash;Wenctei Clark, Ken Baumgartner. Bill Berg, Dave Tomlinson.RW&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Nikolai Borschevsky. Rob Pearson, Mike Foligno, Mark Osborne.LD&mdash;Dave Eliett, Jamia Macoun, Sylvain Lefebvre.RD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Dmitri Mironov, Bob McGdl.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Rick Wamsley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Peter Zezel, C/LW, sprained right wrist, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0015-01

Burns’ homecoming a success at Forum

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>Quietly, while no one seemed to be paying much attention, Dave Gagner righted a season that began on the rocks.It happened while the Minnesota North Stars struggled and when the focus of concern was on Mike Modano&rsquo;s mid-season holiday and the drop in quality play by Mark Tinordi, Jon Casey and others.Gagner scored at least one goal in seven consecutive games from Dec. 26 to Jan. 7 and had 13 points in eight games. He reached mid-season with a respectable 16 goals and 38 points, on pace for what the Stars have come to expect from him.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think David has changed the way he plays,&rdquo; coach Bob Gainey said. &ldquo;Some of his chances are finally going in. Early, when the chances weren&rsquo;t going in for him, he was still getting opportunities and creating opportunities for his linemates. It&rsquo;s one of the signs that kept me from getting too concerned.&rdquo;Gagner scored one goal in the first 12 games and only four in the first 25. He managed just enough assists to stay close to the point-per-game pace the Stars hope from him.&ldquo;I was discouraged for a while,&rdquo; Gagner said, &ldquo;but once you score at this level, you realize you can do it. It just takes a lot of work to get it back. I wasn&rsquo;t pushing myself as hard as I used to and I don&rsquo;t have that hard a shot that I&rsquo;m going to get many goals by hanging back and taking shots.&rdquo;STEADY RUSS: People said Russ Courtnall wasn&rsquo;t much of a follower. That&rsquo;s good.&ldquo;Early in our season, Russ participated in our good start,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;In the last 10 or 15 games, we&rsquo;ve been chugging along. We&rsquo;ve had some good games and some not so good. Russ hasn&rsquo;t fallen in with the team&hellip;his game has steadily gotten better.&rdquo;They said he wasn&rsquo;t much of a team player. That&rsquo;s wrong.Courtnall had back-to-back two-goal games against Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay in early January and reached the mid-point of the season leading the team in each offensive category: 19 goals. 28 assists, 47 points. And, he had a plus-12 rating.NOTEBOOK: Jim Johnson broke his finger Jan. 3 in Hartford and was expected to miss four games in 10 days. But when Derian Hatcher sprained his knee against New Jersey Jan. 6, Johnson was pressed back into service and a protective splint allowed him to play.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 4: James Black. LW, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL). Jan. 8: Roy Mitchell, D. assigned to Kalamazoo Jan. 9: Enrico Ciccone, D. recalled from Hamilton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Modano, Neal Broten, Dave Gagner. Bobby Smith.LW&mdash;Ulf Dahlen, Gaetan Duchesne. Mike McPhee, Todd Elik.RW&mdash;Mike Craig, Russ Courtnail. Stewart Gavin, Shane Churla.LD&mdash;Mark Tinordi, Craig Ludwig, Enrico Ciccone.RD&mdash;Tommy Sjodin. Jim Johnson, Brad Berry.G&mdash;Jon Casey, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Derian Hatcher. D, sprained knee, indefinite. Trent Klatt, RW, broken right finger, day-to-day Richard Matvichuk. D, sprained left ankle, day-to-day. &#9632;

Gagner picking up slack

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>The money or the goal? For St. Louis Blues&rsquo; winger Brendan Shanahan the choice was easy. He took the goal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather have the game-winner,&rdquo; he said of the goal that gave the Blues a 3-2 win over Calgary Jan. 7. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my first OT goal. The $21,000 is gone, so why cry over spilled milk?&rdquo;Shanahan lost $22,238 but no playing time as the result of a six nongame, non-travel day suspension for cutting Minnesota&rsquo;s Mike Craig in a game on Dec. 22. NHL president Gil Stein issued the suspension and fined Shanahan $500. He fined the Blues&rsquo; $21,738-Shanahan&rsquo;s lost pay for six days of the season, based on his $1 million yearly salary.Stein said Shanahan&rsquo;s two previous suspensions prompted his action. Shanahan was suspended for five games for cutting Michel Petit with a highstick Jan. 13, 1990. He was fined $500 for hitting Greg Smyth on the neck with his stick April 22, 1988.&ldquo;This is not the first time Shanahan has injured a player by hitting him (on) the face with his stick,&rdquo; Stein said. &ldquo;It is evident these prior disciplinary measures did not get the point home to Shanahan that he must not swing his stick at a player&rsquo;s face. A more stringent deterrent is apparently necessary.&rdquo;Shanahan shrugged off the episode. In fact, after scoring the game-winner against Calgary, he lamented that he wasn&rsquo;t wearing a headband with the name &ldquo;Stein&rdquo; spelled on it, a la former Chicago Bears&rsquo; rebel quarterback Jim McMahon and his well-publicized shot at former National Football League president Pete Rozelle.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad I didn&rsquo;t have it on after the goal,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;That would have been fun.&rdquo;When first asked about the fine and suspension, he put on a grim face and said, facetiously, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really, really sorry. I mean, really sorry. For embarrassing my teammates, my team, my family and my high school teachers.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011276/6162754-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="576" height="800"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Shanahan felt little remorse about his suspension.</figcaption></div>Then he decided to get serious for a moment.I don&rsquo;t want to seem casual about this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But what can I do? I can&rsquo;t let it affect my game. I just have to keep my stick down.&ldquo;In each case, I&rsquo;ve retaliated with a highstick by bringing up mine, too. I can&rsquo;t do that&hellip;but I&rsquo;m not going to let this hurt the way I play.&rdquo;GUY&rsquo;S THE GUY: After goalie Curtis Joseph went down with a mild knee sprain in Toronto Jan. 2, backup goalie Guy Hebert staked temporary claim on the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 goaltending job.Although Toronto came back for a 2-2 tie in Hebert&rsquo;s relief appearance and Buffalo beat him 6-5 in overtime the following night, Hebert backstopped the next three games, all victories that matched the Blues&rsquo; longest winning streak of the season.The Blues beat Edmonton 6-1 Jan. 5, Calgary 3-2 Jan. 7 and Norris Division-leading Chicago 4-1 Jan. 9. In those three games, Hebert&rsquo;s goals-against average was 1.33 and his save percentage was .946.In that span, Hebert, 26, improved his GAA from-4.39 to 3.67 and his save percentage from .873 to .878. He also created a minor goaltender controversy. Joseph was deemed fit to play against Chicago, but coach Bob Berry went with the hot hand.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s full of confidence right now,&rdquo; Berry said.Hebert&rsquo;s confidence had been shaky after almost a month of inactivity.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a character kid,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;His approach is: &lsquo;When they need me, I&rsquo;ll be there.&rsquo; He&rsquo;s proud. He wants to play, but he has the ideal makeup for a goalie. He doesn&rsquo;t worry about what he can&rsquo;t control. He worries about only what he can control.&rdquo;The long layoff bothered Hebert, but he understood the Blues wanted to play Joseph a lot so he&rsquo;d revert back to his form of last season. Joseph was 10-16-4, with a 3.46 GAA and an .890 save percentage.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to go 28 games without playing,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;We joked about the first-game, that when I got the chance, I&rsquo;d be so hyped up, I&rsquo;d either be great or bad. After you get another start, and another, you get more confidence.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: In the week he finished as the top vote-getter in all-star ballotting for the third straight year, Brett Hull regained his scoring touch. He had seven goals in a four-game span after winger Dave Lowry was added to his line with Kevin Miller at center. Hull had two goals in three of those games, giving him four multiple-goal games. He had 26 goals in 42 games, a 52-goal pace for the season.The final seconds of the game against Chicago Jan. 9 got ugly when the players decided to take justice into their own hands. A total of 119 minutes in penalties were called in two skirmishes in the the final 7.3 seconds. Four players-Chicago&rsquo;s Cam Russell, Bryan Marchment. and Brian Noonan and the Blues&rsquo; Lee Norwood-and Bob Berry were ejected. The Blues&rsquo; Stephane Quintal had been ejected for instigating a fight with Stu Grimson and Chicago&rsquo;s Greg Gilbert was ejected for cutting Nelson Emerson above and below the left eye with a high stick. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big rivalry and that stuff happens,&rdquo; said Emerson, whose eye was swollen shut the next day.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 9: Geoff Sarjeant, G, assigned to Peoria (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Craig Janney, Kevin Miller, Ron Sutter. Ron Wilson, Vitali Karamnov.RW&mdash;Nelson Emerson, Brett Hull, Rich Sutter. Kelly Chase.LW&mdash;Brendan Shanahan. Dave Lowry. Philippe Bozon, Igor Korolev.LD&mdash;Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican, Lee Norwood, Curt Giles. Murray Baron.RD&mdash;Garth Butcher, Rick Zombo, Stephane Quintal.G&mdash;Guy Hebert, Curtis Joseph.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Bassen, C, broken right foot, Jan. 20. Vitali Prokhorov, LW. dislocated right shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0016-01

Shanahan takes goal over green any day

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div>The Tampa Bay Lightning was fading from the Norris Division playoff picture at the mid-season mark, but that didn&rsquo;t force it to change its lofty pre-season goal.At a dinner in Bloomington, Minn., Jan. 8, Tampa Bay president-general manager Phil Esposito refused to alter his pre-season goal for his team. He reconfirmed that making the playoffs is his priority.&ldquo;I still think we can do it,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been shooting for the playoffs ever since this thing started and I don&rsquo;t see any reason to stop now.&ldquo;A lot of people didn&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;d do as well as we have, so why shouldn&rsquo;t we be able to play just a little bit better the second half and make the playoffs? I think that would be great.&rdquo;The Lightning entered the second half of the season in last place in the Norris Division with 32 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011127/6162792-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="570" height="889"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito says his team can earn 80 points this season.</figcaption></div>The team was 11 points behind the fourth-place Toronto Maple Leafs after dropping a 6-4 decision to Minnesota Jan. 9.Esposito thinks the Lightning will need 80 points to make the playoffs. If that&rsquo;s the case, Tampa Bay must win more often than they did in the first half, when they won 15 games.Esposito is very confident his team is capable of reaching the 80-point plateau.&ldquo;We lost a lot of close games in the first half,&rdquo; he said, referring to the team&rsquo;s 12 one-goal losses. &ldquo;If we had gotten just one point in half of those, a couple of teams would be chasing us right now.&rdquo;Lightning coach Terry Crisp, who is no stranger to playoff pressure, said he is thrilled to be leading an expansion team towards a possible playoff berth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02854/6162785-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="572" height="904"><figcaption class="caption-body">Basil McRae scored his 50th career goal against Minnesota.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s pressure on you to win no matter what you do, so why not go for the playoffs?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It would be such a great achievement for this franchise to accomplish that. We really want to make it. I hope we do.&rdquo;BLIND RACE: Center Brian Bradley had no idea he was on pace to break Blaine Stoughton&rsquo;s record for most goals by a player on an expansion team.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know a record like that existed, so it&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;ve been thinking much about,&rdquo; said Bradley, who had 31 goals in 43 games.Stoughton scored 56 goals in the 1979-80 season for the Hartford Whalers. Bradley was on pace to score 61 this season.Bradley said he doesn&rsquo;t plan to make breaking Stoughton&rsquo;s record a priority.&ldquo;It would be especially nice to get to the 50-goal plateau,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That would be very special. But other than that, I&rsquo;m not even going to think about anything like trying to break records.&rdquo;Bradley gives credit for his success to his linemates, especially left winger John Tucker, who led the team with 25 assists (32 points) in 43 games. When asked where he would be without Tucker, Bradley replied, &ldquo;Probably somewhere in Europe.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Shayne Stevenson, who was cut above the eye during Tampa Bay&rsquo;s game against the Los Angeles Kings Dec. 6, has been fitted with a half-face shield on his helmet. Stevenson is now among four Lightning players wearing the half-shield. The others are defensemen Roman Hamrlik and Doug Crossman and center Steve KasperLeft winger Basil McRae scored the 50th goal of his career during a 64 loss to Minnesota at the Met Center Jan. 9. McRae, who was one of Minnesota&rsquo;s most popular players when he played with the North Stars, received a spirited ovation from the crowd when he scored.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;8nan Bradley, Adam Creighton. Steve Kasper, Rob Zamuner.UW&mdash;John Tucker, Chris Kontos, Mikael Andersson, Shayne Stevenson.RW&mdash;Steve Maltais, Marc Bureau, Basil McRae. Mike Hartman. Danton Cole.LD&mdash;Roman Hamrilk, Peter Taglianeti. Joe Reekie, Shawn Chambers.RD&mdash;Rob Ramage, Marc Bergevin, Bob Beers.G&mdash;J.C. Bergeron, Pat Jablonski, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Doug Crossman, D, right shoulder strain, day-to-day. Rob DiMalo, C. tom right pectoral muscle, indefinite. &#9632;

f0017-01

Playoffs still possibility, defiant Esposito claims

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>Michel Goulet has experienced a bit of everything this season. The Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; left winger has been benched, injured and frustrated.One of the more positive moments in Goulet&rsquo;s season came Jan. 10, when he played in his 1,000th career game against Los Angeles. Goulet became the 81st player in NHL history to reach the milestone.&ldquo;What does it mean? It means I&rsquo;ve played a lot of games,&rdquo; joked Goulet.Kidding aside, Goulet is a proud athlete, a future Hall of Famer, and deep down inside it truly meant something to him.&ldquo;I guess it is something special,&rdquo; Goulet said. &ldquo;When you look at the average career of an NHL player, only five years, it&rsquo;s something not too many guys accomplish.&rdquo;When Goulet reminisces about his 15-year career, it&rsquo;s a smorgasbord of interesting memories.Goulet talks about the year he spent with Birmingham of the World Hockey Association in 1978-79. He was 18 and fresh off a 73-goal season in his final year of junior hockey.Goulet remembers the 11 1/2 seasons he spent with the Quebec Nordiques, when he scored 50 or more goals four times, had four 100-point seasons and was regarded as hockey&rsquo;s best left winger.Goulet rattles off the names of the best players with whom he has skated: Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in the Canada Cup, Dale Hunter and Peter Stastny in his glory years in Quebec and Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer in Chicago.This is Goulet&rsquo;s third year in Chicago, where he hopes to end his career.At 32. the legs no longer let Goulet fly up and down the left side like he did 10 years ago. but he can still make a play with anyone and works harder on defense than most.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing how fast it all goes,&rdquo; Goulet said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very long season and some days it&rsquo;s hard to come to practice, but it&rsquo;s still fun. I hope to play a few more years.&rdquo;SELKE CANDIDATES: Two years ago, when the Hawks led the NHL in defense, Dirk Graham was rewarded with the Selke Trophy. With the Hawks No. 1 in defense again this season at the midway point, who are their Selke candidates?&ldquo;The obvious guys would be Dirk and Brent (Sutter), no question,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter.Graham and Sutter are the logical candidates even though seven Hawks had better plus-minus ratings.&ldquo;Sometimes your top defensive guys, if they don&rsquo;t score a lot, over the course of 20 games might be a minus-1,&rdquo; Darryl Sutter said.NOTEBOOK: Steve Larmer became the fourth player in Hawks&rsquo; history to reach the 900-point plateau Jan. 10. Larmer joined Stan Mikita (1,467), Bobby Hull (1,153) and Denis Savard (1,013 points with the Hawks) in the exclusive club.Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s 20 goals at the season&rsquo;s halfway point didn&rsquo;t concern Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s only down four goals from last year (when he scored 53),&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Two good games and he&rsquo;s back where he was.&rdquo;Darryl Sutter was hoping to bring younger brother Duane back into the organization after he was dismissed as coach at Medicine Hat in the Western League. Duane Sutter is a former Hawks&rsquo; player and scout.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 10: Karl Dykhuis. D. recalled from Indianapolis (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jeremy Roenick, Brent Sutter. Christen Ruuttu, Dave Christian.LW&mdash;Michei Goulet, Stephane Matteau. Greg Gilbert, Stu Grimson, Rob Brown.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Jocelyn Lemieux, Dirk Graham. Brian Noonan. Brad LauerLD&mdash;Steve Smith, Frantisek Kucera, Cam Russell, Kart Dykhuis.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Bryan Marchment, Milan Tichy.G&mdash;Ed Beltour, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D. left shoulder surgery, day-to-day. Mike Hudson, C. virus, day-to-day. Igor Kravchuk. D. sprained left ankle, indefinite. &#9632;

Goulet in his glory following milestone

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>Bob Probert found himself wearing the dreaded yellow sweater during two practices in early January, and in Detroit&rsquo;s color scheme that meant he was one step away from being a spectator.&ldquo;I hope it&rsquo;s a wake-up call,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;The next step is sitting out some games. He certainly has played better in the past.&ldquo;This is a message. Bob Probert is an important player on our hockey team. He has got to go to the front of the net and challenge the goaltender and the defense to move him.&rdquo;Not once, even since immigration authorities granted him permission to travel to Canada, has another NHL team inquired about Probert&rsquo;s availability, Murray said, adding: &ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s a given that the Detroit Red Wings aren&rsquo;t going to trade him.&rdquo;Could that be part of the problem? &ldquo;Maybe,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;If he wants a challenge, then maybe I have to provide it. Maybe he can&rsquo;t play all the time. Maybe he has to prove he can climb up to a top line on this team.&rdquo;But Probert, who remained in the lineup on the fourth line in a 6-3 win over Vancouver Jan. 8, begged to differ with those who say his game has slipped drastically.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really been consistent,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s so bad. I&rsquo;ve got the same amount of points as I did last year (27 in 40 games), with four less goals (seven). So it&rsquo;s not at the point where it&rsquo;s real serious.&rdquo;And it&rsquo;s not as though he hasn&rsquo;t been trying to do something about it. He was skating on his own after several practices and logging a lot of time on the stationary bike-even after games.KEEN FOR GAME: Steve Yzerman will get to play for Mike Keenan after all.Two years ago, Keenan surprised the hockey world by cutting the Red Wings&rsquo; captain from Team Canada in the Canada Cup. But NHL fans are impressed with Yzerman. They helped vote him to starting center for the Campbell Conference team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011093/6162847-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="576" height="930"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Red Wings have no intention of trading Bob Probert.</figcaption></div>Keenan, though not in the NHL, will coach the Campbell team because he led Chicago to the Stanley Cup finals last spring. So he&rsquo;ll have no choice but to play Yzerman.&ldquo;One shift anyway,&rdquo; Yzerman laughed, enjoying the sweet irony. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll probably have to change right after the (opening) faceoff.&rdquo;For the first time since fans began selecting starters for the game, they&rsquo;ve chosen a Red Wing, but it was nip and tuck. Yzerman edged Chicago&rsquo;s Jeremy Roenick for the starting berth by fewer than 4,000 votes.&ldquo;Good for him,&rdquo; Bryan Murray said of Yzerman&rsquo;s selection. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s terrific. He has had a good first half. His numbers are good, but he&rsquo;s playing really well overall, playing both ends of the rink very well.&rdquo;Which was one of Yzerman&rsquo;s shortcomings, according to Keenan. Through 44 games, Yzerman had 30 goals and 59 points and was plus-10.Other Wings Murray strongly recommended for Keenan&rsquo;s consideration when he picks reserves: defenseman Steve Chiasson and center Sergei Fedorov.Chiasson, 25, is having a career season with nine goals and 36 points in 41 games, ranking him 10th in scoring among NHL defensemen. Fedorov, 22, had 19 goals and 39 points in 36 games, despite being limited by a nagging shoulder injury.NOTEBOOK: A slight hip injury prevented goaltender Vince Riendeau from starting his third straight game for the Red Wings. He was replaced by Tim Cheveldae in a 4-2 loss to Toronto Jan. 4, Detroit&rsquo;s seventh defeat in 11 games at home&hellip;The Wings play 22 of their final 34 games on the road.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 7: Allan Bester, G, and Dennis Vial, D, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman. Sergei Fedorov. Jimmy Carson, Dallas Drake.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant. Shawn Burr, Keith Primeau, Bob Probert. Chris Tandll, John Ogrodnick.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccareili, Paul Ysebaert, Ray Sheppard, Jim Cummins, Sheldon Kennedy.LD&mdash;Steve Chiasson, Yves Racine, Nicklas Lidstrom, Dennis Vial.RD&mdash;Vladimir Konstantinov, Mark Howe, Brad McCrimmon, Bobby Dollas.G&mdash;Tim Cheveldae, Allan Bester.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Vincent Riendeau. G, sore hip, Jan. 17. &#9632;

f0019-01

Probert not used to being yellow-bellied

<div class="byline">By Philippe Cantin</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01969/6162885-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="385" height="539"></div>On a Saturday just before Christmas, Michel Bergeron was watching television when his wife said, &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t things great like this? It&rsquo;s quiet, friends are coming for dinner and life&rsquo;s a breeze.&rdquo;Maybe so, but Le Petit Tigre misses the stormy seas that come with coaching in the NHL. As a former coach with the Quebec Nordiques and the New York Rangers, he has become easily accustomed to light breezes.Bergeron, who has become something of a legend in Quebec, simply smiled. He was quick enough on the uptake to realize his wife was sending him a message. Although he won&rsquo;t admit it, Bergeron would like nothing better than to return to the NHL. During an interview, he let slip the following comment: &ldquo;It may seem pretentious, but I&rsquo;ll say it anyway. I know a lot about hockey. I was an NHL coach for 10 years and I continue to study the game and analyze new ideas. I have a feeling that one day I&rsquo;ll join some organization or another.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02645/6162878-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="576" height="929"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Bergeron</figcaption></div>Why does Bergeron want to return to the NHL madhouse? Money certainly can&rsquo;t be the reason, as he is very well paid as a radio and television commentator in Montreal. Glory and celebrity status can&rsquo;t be the reason, as he continues to enjoy widespread public popularity.If Bergeron wants to return to hockey, it&rsquo;s because he hasn&rsquo;t gotten over his love affair with the sport. Like many others before him, he&rsquo;ll probably never get over it. If General MacArthur had been a coach instead of a military leader, when President Harry Truman fired him he probably would have said &ldquo;Old coaches never die, they just want their old jobs back.&rdquo;Bergeron almost had his old profession back last summer when the Montreal Canadiens were looking for a head coach. The Canadiens ultimately went with Jacques Demers, saying they were concerned for Bergeron&rsquo;s health. Bergeron, who had a heart attack in 1990, said that was a bunch of bunk and claims he has never felt better.Coaches who are fired by North American professional sports teams can soften the blow by becoming sports commentators, a lucrative form of psychotherapy. Once they&rsquo;re in the spotlight, the airwaves allow them to offer a lot of banalities. After all, their chances of being rehired must not be jeopardized. For a year or two, these men, who have hockey in their blood, pretend to be journalists. However, many of them jump every time the phone rings. Who knows, it might be a general manager calling!Want some examples? Scott Bowman seemed happy on Hockey Night in Canada until the Pittsburgh Penguins offered him a job as director of player personnel. Of course, they never thought he would be behind the bench the next season.Demers didn&rsquo;t last long on the radio. The day Pat Burns left Montreal for Toronto, the long-term contract Demers had just signed with an important radio network was tossed out the window. The prospect of becoming the Canadiens&rsquo; coach was too tempting. And what about Phil Esposito, Herb Brooks and many others who have given up an easy life because they couldn&rsquo;t resist working again behind the bench or on the sidelines?It&rsquo;s almost impossible to break with the past. Bill Walsh took on a coaching job with the Stanford University football team because he missed the game too much. Despite a heart attack. Bill Parcells is anxious to get back into the picture.What about Michel Bergeron? I hope he receives a good offer, especially after the disappointment of not replacing Burns. After all, he&rsquo;d undoubtedly do a better job than a number of coaches out there. I just hope that his ambition doesn&rsquo;t give Harry Neale any ideas. What would we do without his jokes during boring televised hockey games? &#9632;

f0020-01

Bergeron deserves another chance

<div class="byline">By Jason Kay</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03434/6162923-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; right winger Alexander Mogilny is one of six Adams Division snipers on pace to score at least 50 goals. (Marco Campanelli/BBS)</figcaption></div>The Adams Division, traditionally the home of small arenas, small goals-against averages and, some may argue, small mindedness when it comes to offense, has been transformed almost overnight into the league&rsquo;s most prolific, wide-open division.Tight-checking, defensive, wake-me-up-when-its-over games have been replaced on many nights by last-goal-wins shootouts. Need proof?Through mid-January, the division&rsquo;s top four offensive teams combined to score more goals than the top four in each of the other three divisions. Six Adams players had 50-goal seasons within their grasp, while Buffalo&rsquo;s Alexander Mogilny looks a good bet to become the league&rsquo;s new goal-scoring king.The most telling stat, however, is Patrick Roy&rsquo;s GAA is over 3.00 for the first time since his rookie season.All-star team: C-Pat LaFontaine, Buffalo; LW-Vince Damphousse. Montreal; RW-Mogilny, Buffalo; D-Steve Duchesne, Quebec and Mathieu Schneider, Montreal; G-Ron Hextall, Quebec.Top Rookie: Four years in college and a stint with the Canadian Olympic team prepared Joe Juneau well for his first full season in the NHL.With Cam Neely on the sidelines, Juneau, 25, entered the Bruins&rsquo; lineup with pressure to score immediately and he hasn&rsquo;t disappointed. Playing alongside Adam Oates, whose footsteps Juneau followed from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Juneau was second among rookie scorers and in the midst of what appeared to be a three-way race for the Calder Trophy with Philadelphia&rsquo;s Eric Lindros and Winnipeg&rsquo;s Teemu Selanne.Juneau&rsquo;s accomplishments are that much more remarkable considering he has had to switch from his career-long center position to left wing.Surprises: Really, guys, we weren&rsquo;t laughing at you for the past five years, we were laughing with you.Of course, the last laugh belongs to the Quebec Nordiques who have parlayed the return on the Lindros trade, along with the rising talents of players such as Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin, into a new attitude and a winning formula.Going from worst to first and staying there will be a real challenge for the Nordiques, who lost Sundin and Sakic to injuries for indefinite periods.But based on the team&rsquo;s first half this season, it would be unwise to count them out.Disappointments: The Ottawa Senators are hockey&rsquo;s version of The Silence of the Lambs. The black sheep of the Adams family, they go quietly to the slaughter virtually every night.The fans who flock to the Civic Centre could be seeing history in the making, however. The Senators were on pace to set futility marks for wins and points at the halfway point in a season.MVP: Hextall&rsquo;s numbers aren&rsquo;t overwhelming, unlike the effect he has had on the Nordiques.His fierce competitiveness is infectious and for the first time in years he has been healthy enough to put it to use. While he may not lead the NHL in GAA, he is making the big saves and winning the big games. He is also the experienced leader the Nordiques have lacked and has played on a winner.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04272/6162916-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="1718" height="341"></div> &#9632;

f0020-03

Red-light delight

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>Do as I say, not as I do, is obviously Jacques Demers&rsquo; credo.Three days before the Montreal Canadiens hosted Toronto at the Forum Jan. 9&mdash;it was the most-anticipated game of the season, marking the return of former coach Pat Burns-Demers told his players to chill out.&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, it&rsquo;s only another game to me,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to me to get the two points, of course, but that&rsquo;s where it ends. The fact that Bums is behind the Toronto bench doesn&rsquo;t mean a thing to me. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve spoken to the man more than three times in my life.&ldquo;I know it could be different with some of the players, though. A few of them have had their differences with Bums and may get too pumped up. I want to avoid that.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want them caught up in the zoo atmosphere. I don&rsquo;t want them thinking about revenge, or whatever. That would be a big mistake. I want the players to act like professionals.&rdquo;Then, two days later, in a move that could be compared to pouring fuel on a fire, Demers claimed Bums doesn&rsquo;t like him. Demers said he doesn&rsquo;t knowingly do things to antagonize Bums, but said he believes Bums interprets many of his moves as an affront to his style.Demers is the antithesis of Bums. He has transformed the Canadiens into a more offensive team and has given the players more days off than did Bums.&ldquo;I think the main thing Pat doesn&rsquo;t like is that I get along with the media,&rdquo; said Demers, a former broadcaster for the Quebec Nordiques. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a media suck. It&rsquo;s part of my job. I knew coming in here people wanted something different. That doesn&rsquo;t mean the old style was no good. They got 93 points last season.&rdquo;Burns, incidentally, got the last laugh. Toronto jumped into a 4-0 lead en route to a 5-4 victory-the Canadiens&rsquo; third consecutive home-ice loss.NO EXCUSE: Denis Savard said there was no correlation between a knee injury he sustained in mid-November and a reduction in his production.Savard is suffering from a mildly sprained right knee, originally injured Nov. 17 against Ottawa and re-aggravated Ian. 2 at Los Angeles.Savard, also sustained a bruised lower back, was expected to be sidelined indefinitely but, following an MR1 examination, the prognosis appeared more promising.Savard, who turns 32 in early February, refused to use the injury as an excuse, although his production dropped significantly following it. Savard had seven goals and 28 points in 19 games before playing the Senators. Since then, he was held to 3-7-10 totals in 17 games. His goal, Dec. 19 against Buffalo, was his first in nine games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to use that as an excuse,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;If I was out there to play it was because I was able to. I&rsquo;ll get back to the way I can.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Jack Ferreira, the former San lose general manager who was hired as a pro scout by the Canadiens after his firing from the Sharks, was interviewed to become GM of the expansion Anaheim franchise.Managing director Serge Savard was scouting Los Angeles and St. Louis, hoping to acquire a winger or defenseman in a trade. Savard confirmed he was negotiating a trade with the Blues.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Ed Ronan, RW, recalled from Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Stephan Lebeau. Brian Skrudland, Guy Carbonneau.LW&mdash;Benoit Brunet, Vincent Damp-housse. John LeClair, Mario Roberge.RW&mdash;Bnan Bellows, Mike Keane, Ed Ronan, Todd Ewen.LD&mdash;Mathieu Schneider, Jean-Jacques Daigneaull, Donald Dufresne, Kevin Haller.RD&mdash;Lyle Odelein, Eric Desjardins. Patrice Brisebois, Sean Hill.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Gilbert Dionne, RW. flu, day-to-day. Denis Savard, C. sprained right knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Demers added fuel to fire, got Burned by Maple Leafs

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>It took them a half season to get their act together, but the Buffalo Sabres are finally living up to expectations.The Sabres vacated their season-long lease on fourth place in the Adams Division with a 5-3 win over Calgary Jan. 10.It was the Sabres&rsquo; sixth win in a row, lifting them into sole possession of third place, two points ahead of the Boston Bruins.The Sabres went on an 11-4-2 run after a 3-0 loss to Montreal Nov. 30, a loss captain Pat LaFontaine called &ldquo;an embarrassment.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve worked a long time, almost half a season, to get back into the race,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;We had a rough start, but we haven&rsquo;t quit. We&rsquo;re playing our best hockey of the year right now and there&rsquo;s room for improvement.&rdquo;LaFontaine and right winger Alexander Mogilny have played a big part in the team&rsquo;s most recent success.LaFontaine had three goals and finished with a four-point night against Calgary. The hat trick gave him 30 goals and 81 points in 42 games, second in the scoring race to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux.Mogilny scored his league-leading 41st goal and picked up an assist in the win over the Flames.The speedy Russian has been attracting most of the headlines lately with his run at the coveted 50 goals in 50 games, but LaFontaine has also been hot.In his last 14 games, the Sabres&rsquo; captain had 10 goals and 31 points. He assisted on 14 of Mogilny&rsquo;s goals over that span.DYNAMITE PACE: Alexander Mogilny was held scoreless in a 3-1 win over Hartford Jan. 6, but was still on pace to score 50 goals in 50 games.He bounced back with two goals in a 6-5 win over the New York Islanders Jan. 8 and scored again against the Flames.Mogilny had 16 goals and five assists in an eight-game span, including back-to-back hat tricks against the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators.He had 41 goals in 36 games (66 points). The Sabres had played 42 games.NOTEBOOK: The last time the Sabres had a six game-winning streak was in January, 1988&hellip;Pat La-Fontaine&rsquo;s hat trick in the win over Calgary was the 12th of his career and his fifth as a member of the Buffalo Sabres.Defenseman Randy Moller was recalled from Rochester of the American League Jan. 8. He replaced Gord Donnelly on the blueline for the games against the Islanders and Calgary.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Randy Moller. D, recalled from Rochester (AHL)<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pat LaFontaine. Date Hawerchuk, Bob Sweeney, Bob Corkum. Dave Hannan.LW&mdash;Brad May, Randy Wood. Dave Andreychuk, Yuri Khymlev, Colin Patterson.RW&mdash;Alex Mogilny. Donald Audette. Wayne Presley, Rob Ray.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Doug Bodger. Petr Svoboda, Richard Smehlik. Randy Moller.RD&mdash;Ken Sutton. Philippe Boucher. Gord Donnelly. Grant Ledyard.G&mdash;Daren Puppa, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dominik Hasek, G, pulled stomach muscle, day-to-day. &#9632;

Red hot Mogilny, LaFontaine vault team into division race

<div class="byline">By Viv Bernstein</div>When Eric Weinrich arrived in a trade from New Jersey in August, he was billed as an offensive defenseman who would make a contribution at the point on the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; power play.It hasn&rsquo;t happened.Weinrich, acquired with goalie Sean Burke for Bobby Holik and draft picks, had a goal and 15 points through 42 games. Only two assists have come on the power play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not satisfied with what I&rsquo;ve done,&rdquo; Weinrich said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t done what I feel I can do this year.&rdquo;But Weinrich has shown the Whalers what he&rsquo;s capable of doing. When the Whalers played at Montreal Dec. 21, he stepped up and headed down the slot to take a pass from Geoff Sanderson. Weinrich&rsquo;s rising shot beat Patrick Roy and turned out to be the winning goal in a 5-2 victory.It&rsquo;s also his only goal.&ldquo;I envisioned him doing that a lot more,&rdquo; coach Paul Holmgren said. &ldquo;From a skill standpoint, he&rsquo;s our second best guy behind Zarley Zalapski. Some nights, we get the entire package. Some nights, I think he can do more.&rdquo;And some nights, Holmgren has taken Weinrich out of the lineup.&ldquo;That happens,&rdquo; Weinrich said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a guy to let it bother me.&rdquo;On a team that gives up an average of 4.5 goals per game. Weinrich has made his defensive duties the priority. That has been the dilemma.&ldquo;The way it&rsquo;s going, it seems like we have to keep the score down to win,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I try to get in there are much as I can. If the opportunity is not there, it doesn&rsquo;t seem right to force the play and get caught.&rdquo;WINNER TO VERBEEK: Pat Verbeek has always been a productive goalscorer. But the one he scored against Montreal in a 7-5 loss Dec. 10 wasn&rsquo;t what he had in mind.Verbeek was behind the Montreal net during a delayed penalty to the Canadiens in the third period and sent the puck to Murray Craven in the slot. Craven didn&rsquo;t get his stick on the puck and it slid all the way into the Whalers&rsquo; net at the other end. Because there was a delayed penalty, goalie Mario Gosselin had gone to the bench for a sixth attacker.&ldquo;All you can do is laugh it off,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;I wonder if they&rsquo;ll give me credit for the game-winner.&ldquo;Almost 200 feet, straight in the middle of the net. The incredible thing is I did something like this (about 10 years ago) against the Whalers. I won a faceoff draw against Mike Zuke and it went all the way back into the empty net.&rdquo;Kirk Muller, a former linemate of Verbeek&rsquo;s with New Jersey, was credited with the Montreal goal that made it 6-1.NOTEBOOK: Frank Pietrangelo earned his first victory since Nov. 28 when he beat Quebec 4-2 on Jan. 9. He is 3-12-1 for the season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a better goalie than that. I know I am,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Whalers&rsquo; 1992 first-round pick Robert Petrovicky, who has seen little ice time, was assigned to Springfield of the American League. &ldquo;I have to play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just told them that I&rsquo;ve got to play.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 5: Robert Petrovicky C, assigned to Springfield (AHL). Jan. 10: Martin Hamriik, D, assigned to Ottawa (OHL). Jim Agnew, D, assigned to Springfield. Jan, 11: Mario Gosselin. G, assigned to Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Murray Craven. Andrew Cassels, Mark Janssens. Joe Day, Paul Gillis.LW&mdash;Patrick Poulin, Geoff Sanderson, Nick Kypreos, Jim McKenzie, Rendy Cunneyworth.RW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, Michael Nylander, Terry Yake, Jamie Leach, Tim Kerr.LD&mdash;Zariey Zalapski, Steve Konroyd, Adam Burt.RD&mdash;Al Pedersen, Eric Weinrich, Randy Ladouceur, Doug Houda.G&mdash;Sean Burke, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Weinrich lacking power

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01838/6163033-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02472/6163026-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="601" height="3648"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

WE ARE BUYING HOCKEY PRE-WWII TO 1968

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>The injury bug has bit hard in Quebec of late, but the Nordiques finally received some good news from sick bay.Left winger Valeri Kamensky, sidelined for much of the season with a badly broken right ankle, is apparently going to return to action much sooner than expected.Kamensky was originally pegged to return in late March, but team physiotherapist Jacques Lavergne said the Russian winger could be back by the first week of February.&ldquo;We really think we&rsquo;ll be able to save the last two months of the year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I remember back when Valeri was injured, we were convinced he would only be able to play around mid-March, which would have left him barely a month to get ready for the playoffs. But the way things look now, he&rsquo;ll be in top shape for the playoffs.&rdquo;The Nordiques won&rsquo;t rush Kamensky, who missed the majority of last season with a broken left leg. He will begin skating with the team Jan. 15.&ldquo;We have to be very careful,&rdquo; Lavergne said. &ldquo;Ankle injuries are among the toughest to rehabilitate. If you rush a player back, the situation can get worse.&ldquo;The one positive thing in this situation is Valeri was so dedicated to rehabilitating himself in the first part of his training that he made things a lot easier for me. He worked tremendously hard to keep in shape. I haven&rsquo;t seen such a dedicated athlete as Valeri.&rdquo;Nordiques&rsquo; coach-general manager Pierre Page was very pleased to hear of Kamensky&rsquo;s progress.&ldquo;When you know you&rsquo;ll be able to count on a guy of his calibre in the last stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs, you have to smile,&rdquo; Page said.To help change his luck, Kamensky said he will change his jersey number. He will now wear No. 31 instead of No. 17. Stephane Fiset, who had No. 31, will now wear No. 35.CHARACTER PLAYER: Center Mike Ricci picked up the slack after Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and Steve Duchesne went down with injuries.Ricci led the Nordiques to a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders Jan. 5. He assisted on the first goal and scored the game-winner unassisted late in the second period. He was playing with a very bad flu virus.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve rarely seen such a courageous effort,&rdquo; Pierre Page said.NOTEBOOK: The Nordiques have renewed their interest in a pair of veteran Russian draft picks. Viacheslav Bykov, a 32-year-old center, and Andrei Khomutov, a 31-year-old right winger, have played for Fribourg in the Swiss League the past two seasons. &ldquo;We thought they were too old,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;But the new style of the NHL has changed things. If we can get them next year, we&rsquo;ll take them.&rdquo; Bykov was a ninth-round pick in the 1989 entry draft. Khomutov was taken in the 10th round of the same draft.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 5: Niklas Andersson, C-LW, recalled from Halifax (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mats Sundin, Mike Ricci, Niklas Andersson, Mike Hough, Claude Lapointe.LW&mdash;Gino Cavallini, Bill Lindsay, Tony Twist, Martin Rucinsky. Scott Pearson.RW&mdash;Owen Nolan, Andrei Kovalenko. Tim Hunter. Scott Young.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Mikhail Tatarinov, Curtis Leschyshyn. Alexei Gusarov.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne. Craig Woianin, Kerry Huffman, Adam Foote.G&mdash;Fton Hextail, Stephane Flset.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jacques Cloutier. G. strained ligaments in right ankle, indefinite. Valeri Kamensky, LW, fractured right ankle, Feb 2. Joe Sakic, C. hemorrhage behind right eye, Jan. 23. &#9632;

Hard-luck Kamensky finally gets good news

<div class="byline">By Stephen Harris</div>Reggie Lemelin may have been bitter over being forced into retirement, but if so, did a good job keeping his feelings to himself.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t prepared. I didn&rsquo;t see it coming,&rdquo; said Lemelin, who was touched by the fact every Boston Bruin teammate showed up in support of him at his retirement news conference Jan. 11. &ldquo;I think I can still help a team. But I knew this day had to come. Maybe now is a good time to move on to the next stage of my life.Players were shocked to find goalies Andy Moog and Lemelin replaced by John Blue and Mike Bales. The two were recalled from Providence of the American League Jan. 7.Though Moog was criticized by management for sub-par play this season, his absence was temporary: he was suffering from a bruised back sustained Jan. 5 in Pittsburgh.But the 38-year-old Lemelin cleared waivers Jan. 9 and retired rather than report to the minors.Lemelin will apparently be paid the remainder of his $277,000 salary this season. There is a chance he&rsquo;ll be offered a job with the organization.Lemelin may have been a scapegoat to motivate the team after its slump. The move may also light a fire under the 32-year-old Moog, whom the Bruins feared had lost his drive.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel Andy has been tuned in,&rdquo; assistant general manager Mike Milbury said. &ldquo;I remember so often a few years ago him being wired. He had bounce in his step. You could see it in his eyes. (This season), he just hasn&rsquo;t been ready.&ldquo;I have confidence Andy, with his competitiveness, intelligence and track record, will pull it together.&rdquo;But Lemelin, in his 15th season and still an efficient standup netminder, found his career in jeopardy.&ldquo;It seems strange that in this whole ordeal, I have become the victim&hellip;someone who has nothing to do with the ordeal,&rdquo; said Lemelin, when informed by a reporter that he had been placed on waivers. Lemelin had appeared in only 10 games (5-40, 3.43 goals-against average).&ldquo;This came totally out of the blue. Why, all of a sudden, is the backup goalie-who, I should add, is 16-5-2 in his last 23 starts, suddenly out?&rdquo;Moog had not been in top form most of the season, with a 17-11-2 record and a 3.64 GAA.Blue played decently, but lost his first two games, at home against Quebec Jan. 7 and New Jersey Jan. 9, when he was relieved by Bales.NOTEBOOK: Ray Bourque denied a Toronto Globe & Mail report he was angry about the Bruins&rsquo;, &ldquo;frugal approach to players&rsquo; salaries and lack of gratitude,&rdquo; and had stormed into GM Harry Sinden&rsquo;s office and told him this would be his final season with the team. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy here, and I don&rsquo;t want to play anywhere else,&rdquo; Bourque said.<h2>BOSTON</h2>Jan, 7: John Blue. G. and Mike Bales. G, recalled from Providence (AHL). Jan 8: Bales assigned to Providence Jan. 9: Glen Murray, RW, and Bales recalled from Providence. Jan. 11: Reggie Lemelin, G. retired.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Adam Oates, Vladimir Ruzicka, Joe Juneau, Dave Poulin.LW&mdash;Grigori Panteleyev. Dmitri Kvartalnov, Dave Reid, Ted Donato. Brent Hughes.RW&mdash;Glen Murray. Steve Leach, Steve Heinze, Darin Kimble.LD&mdash;Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney, Stephane Richer.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque. David Shaw, Gord Murphy.G&mdash;john Blue. Mike Bales.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Glen Featherstone, D. strained groin, indefinite, Andrew McKim, C. broken jaw, indefinite, Andy Moog G; bruised back, Indefinite Cam Neely RW, left knee surgery, indefinite. Gord Roberts, D, viral Infection In left arm, indefinite. Jozef Stumpel RW, separated shoulder, indefinite Jim Wiemer, O, strained groin. Indefinite. &#9632;

Veteran Lemelin takes retirement over minors

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01793/6163164-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"></div><h2>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS</h2>Statistics provided by National Hockey League; NO.-uniform number; GP-games played; G-goals; A-assists; P-points; +/-plus-minus; PM-penalties in minutes; PP-power play goals; SH-short-hand goals; GW-game-winning goals; GT-game-tying goals; S-shots on goal; PCT-shooting percentage. Players indicated by an asterisk (*) are eligible for the Calder Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01689/6163157-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="3070" height="3655"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01788/6163150-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3085" height="3635"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01723/6163143-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3088" height="992"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02477/6163195-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg"></div><h2>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS</h2>Statistics provided by National Hockey League; GP-games played; MIN-minutes played; AVG-goals-against-average; W-wins; L-losses; T-ties; EN-empty-net goals; SO-shutouts; GA-goals against; SA-shots against; SV%-save percentage. Players indicated by an asterisk (*) are eligible for the Calder Trophy. &#9632;

f0031-02

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, JAN. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03341/6163387-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="590" height="460"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04256/6163380-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="590" height="878"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05206/6163373-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="594" height="876"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06170/6163366-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="592" height="876"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07147/6163359-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="596" height="882"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01772/6163352-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="596" height="892"></div><h2>TUESDAY, JAN. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02533/6163345-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="584" height="2478"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03363/6163338-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="592" height="3222"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04240/6163331-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="584" height="134"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05170/6163324-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="580" height="3460"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06139/6163317-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="580" height="2708"></div><h2>THURSDAY, JAN. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07116/6163310-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="584" height="650"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08102/6163303-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="584" height="3462"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01690/6163296-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="600" height="2230"></div><h2>FRIDAY, JAN. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02472/6163289-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="598" height="1172"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03345/6163282-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="604" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04272/6163275-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="596" height="1668"></div><h2>SATURDAY, JAN. 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05224/6163268-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="590" height="1720"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06191/6163261-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="596" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07174/6163254-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="606" height="3504"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01779/6163247-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="596" height="2312"></div><h2>SUNDAY, JAN. 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02557/6163240-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="592" height="1050"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03433/6163233-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="592" height="3472"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04328/6163226-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="604" height="3464"></div> &#9632;

f0031-03

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01739/6163432-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01700/6163425-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3082" height="3516"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01621/6163418-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="3080" height="3538"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01702/6163463-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div>CALL TOLL FREE NOW TO SUBSCRIBE The Hockey News CALL 1-800-268-7793 &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01665/6163494-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Rand Simon</div>The 1992-93 O-Pee-Chee set is kind of like a library. Some of the writing is good, some not bad, some awful.The writing on the backs of the cards in this year&rsquo;s set is some of the best and some of the worst ever to appear on the backs of hockey cards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01316/6163532-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="574" height="784"><figcaption class="caption-body">Some useful information appears on Dave Manson&rsquo;s card.</figcaption></div>From the worst file consider this gem from the back of Jimmy Carson&rsquo;s card:&ldquo;As rookies in L.A. he and both Luc Robitaille were taken under the wing of Marcel Dionne and both learned fast.&rdquo;O-Pee-Chee could be in trouble for violating child labor laws by hiring whoever the company did to write that one.On the other hand, you can actually learn something about some of the players by reading the blurbs on the back. As an example, here&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;ll find on Dave Manson&rsquo;s card:&ldquo;Last year, Dave curbed his tendency to overreact and emerged as a very steady defenseman. After starting the season minus-9 in his first 10 games he was switched from right defense to left, where he felt more comfortable. He thrived when paired with Norm Maciver and finished plus-9.&rdquo;Obviously, someone has done his or her homework.It&rsquo;s also refreshing to see some accurate criticism of certain players on the card backs, something you rarely see. O-Pee-Chee says Jari Kurri, &ldquo;seemed slower after returning to the NHL from a stint in Italy,&rdquo; and that for Sergei Makarov, &ldquo;defense isn&rsquo;t his strong suit, but he gets by with the right linemates.&rdquo; Not exactly hard-hitting stuff, but pretty good for a hockey card.O-Pee-Chee is one of the few companies to care at all about the writing on the card backs. Some sets, such as Fleer Ultra and Topps Stadium Club, don&rsquo;t have any descriptions of the players.The O-Pee-Chee set is also among the most complete when it comes to statistics. Numbers are given for every season the player has been in the NHL and league-leading and league-tying totals are clearly indicated.Overall, the card backs are rather plain. The italicized type that dominates them creates an overcrowded look.The fronts feature a clean design, but is not terribly exciting. The photos reproduced a little dark and there are too many static shots. As is usually the case, there are several photos taken during practices or pre-game warm-ups.The most exciting part of the series is the special rookie card reproductions which are included because this is O-Pee-Chee&rsquo;s 25th consecutive season of producing NHL cards.What O-Pee-Chee has done is take the designs used for their cards from the past 25 years and put a never-before-used photo of a player who had a rookie card in that particular season. For example, card no. 220 shows Wayne Gretzky on a card with the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee card design. The card back shows what the real rookie card looks like. The Gretzky and Mario Lemieux cards are the most valuable in the entire set.There&rsquo;s also a 26-card insert set which reproduces the player&rsquo;s rookie card. The inserts are found one per pack so it&rsquo;s quite easy to complete.Overall player selection is rather dull. There are only four rookie cards in the entire set, with New Jersey&rsquo;s Bill Guerin being the only real prospect.O-Pee-Chee doesn&rsquo;t release production numbers, but there appears to be less product this season than last.The set is also smaller, down from 528 cards, making it more attractive to collectors. This isn&rsquo;t O-Pee-Chee&rsquo;s best set, but there&rsquo;s enough there to make it a worthwhile addition to your collection.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02204/6163525-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="570" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body">Can you find anything wrong with this picture?</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

O-Pee-Chee set has write stuff-sometimes

<div class="byline">By Rand Simon</div>Hockey card manufacturers should know by NHL playoff time whether or not they&rsquo;ll be making hockey cards for the 1993-94 season.Current licensing agreements with Fleer, O-Pee-Chee, Pro Set, Score, Topps and Upper Deck expire at the end of this season. The NHL and its Players&rsquo; Association are expected to decide shortly which ones will be back and whether any new companies will be added to the mix.It&rsquo;s no secret card companies Action Packed, Classic, Donruss and Wild Card have expressed interest in the past in obtaining an NHL licence. Chris Malone, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s associate director of licensing and business development, said more than a dozen companies have expressed an interest in obtaining a licence.The Pro Set situation will be the most interesting to watch. The Dallas-based company is operating under bankruptcy protection and owes the NHL close to $2 million. If its licence is not renewed, the league can say good-bye to the money. On the other hand, can the NHL afford to gamble that Pro Set will recover and face the possibility of being out even more revenue in the future?&ldquo;They&rsquo;re under review like everybody else,&rdquo; said Ilene Kent, the licensing and marketing director for collectibles for NHL Enterprises. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to look at all prospective licencees to see what best fulfills the NHL&rsquo;s needs for the trading card industry.&ldquo;Their name has taken so much abuse, we have to look at how the marketplace is going to react. We&rsquo;re trying to be sensitive to the marketplace.&rdquo;Malone also mentioned the marketplace as an important factor in determining the number of licencees and the amount of product they produce. The NHLPA must balance the fact that more licencees means more cards and more publicity for its players with the reality that overproduction and the number of sets could ruin the industry.The wild card in all of this is new NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who takes over the post Feb. 1.While Bettman wasn&rsquo;t involved in the day-to-day operations of the trading card business when he was a vice-president with the National Basketball Association, he was a big proponent of that league&rsquo;s &ldquo;less is more&rdquo; philosophy.The NBA has been the stingiest of the four professional sports leagues when it comes to licensing card manufacturers. Fleer, SkyBox, Topps and Upper Deck are the only companies licensed to produce NBA cards. It&rsquo;s fair to expect Bettman would like the NHL to keep its number of licencees to a minimum.Of course, the decision won&rsquo;t be only up to Bettman and the NHL. When a company wants a licence, it approaches both the league and the Players&rsquo; Association. While both licences are necessary to produce a legitimate set of cards, the NHLPA licence is arguably more important. If a company has an NHL licence, but doesn&rsquo;t have one from the NHLPA, it can&rsquo;t show the league&rsquo;s players, only the team logos. If a company has an NHLPA licence, it&rsquo;s difficult for the NHL to turn that company down.It&rsquo;s also worth noting Malone&rsquo;s last job was with the NBA Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s trading card department. One of his accounts was Fleer.Malone said the introduction of Bettman as commissioner and the expansion into new markets such as Tampa Bay, Miami and Anaheim, the NHL is being viewed as an up-and-coming league by the card manufacturers. Now it&rsquo;s up to his organization and the league to determine how many ways the trading-card pie gets sliced and who gets a piece. &#9632;

Race is on for next season’s card licences

<div class="byline">By Rand Simon</div>Blaming the sagging trading card industry and the struggling United States economy, Star Pics president Richard Poyle announced the card manufacturer is ceasing operations.Star Pics made its only hockey card set last season when it was one of four non-NHL licensed companies to produce a draft pick set. The 72-card set was highly acclaimed for its player selection and design. Star Pics was the only one of the four manufacturers to include Vancouver Canuck Pavel Bure and New York Ranger Alexei Kovalev.The Farmington Hills, Mich. based company had considered producing a draft pick set this season. A tentative player checklist was drawn up and some of the card backs were already written for a draft pick set which would have also included several Russians playing in the NHL.Of the other three companies which made draft pick sets in 1991, only Classic produced another one this season. Neither Arena Holograms nor The Ultimate Trading Card Co., made another draft pick set.Star Pics was founded in 1990 and also produced draft pick sets for basketball and football in addition to non-sports sets such as Saturday Night Live and Twin Peaks cards.HOWE ABOUT THAT: Gordie Howe will be the first retired hockey player ever honored by Upper Deck in its Hockey Heroes insert set.A 10-card Howe set is going to be randomly inserted in foil packs of the company&rsquo;s upcoming High Number series, which is scheduled to be released next month.Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky have been in the Hockey Heroes series. The Hull set is worth about $20, the Gretzky set about $40.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01340/6163587-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="818" height="560"><figcaption class="caption-body">Manon Rheaume is a notable grad in the biggest card set.</figcaption></div>The 10-card Howe set traces his career from his one-year stint with Omaha of the United States League to his comeback with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association.The High Number series of 200 cards will also include 35 players from the recently completed World Junior Championships in Sweden and a 30-card Young Guns subset.Additionally, there are four insert sets randomly inserted in foil packs:&#9633; Ameri/Can-Rookie Team hologram cards. Features an all-rookie team of North American-born players.&#9633; Gordie Howe selects. Howe chooses who he believes are the NHL&rsquo;s 10-best players and the 10best rookies.&#9633; Calder Candidates. This American-only insert features the 20 top rookie-of-the-year candidates.&#9633; World Junior Grads. Twenty of the NHL&rsquo;s best players who have played in the WJC. This insert set is only available in Canada.PEE-WEE PIECES: The most famous pee-wee hockey tournament in existence also produces perhaps the biggest hockey card set in the world.The Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament, which runs from Feb. 11 to 21 in Quebec City, will make cards of close to 2,000 players. One of the tournament&rsquo;s organizers, Bill Leblanc, anticipates selling close to 3.5 million cards this year.The hockey card program began last year when more than one million cards were sold featuring 1,900 players. Additionally, 500 complete sets were sold at the tournament.Several past and present NHL greats such as Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux played in the tournament, which is in its 34th year.PARKHURST: The sophomore set for Parkhurst is scheduled for release Jan. 18. when the 240-card series is shipped to stores across North America.Pro Set, the manufacturers of Parkhurst, announced the company is printing 10,000 cases of the product, with 3.000 of those cases containing jumbo toil packs.Parkhurst contains one very limited insert set of original Parkhurst reprints. Regular foil packs contain goalie-card reprints, such as Jacques Plante and Terry Sawchuk, while the jumbo packs include reprints of defensemen cards.Additionally, every issue in the 240-card regular set comes in an emerald foil stamped version. Each foil pack contains one emerald foil stamped card.Parkhurst includes two sub-sets-Sensational Sophomores and International Rising Stars. Both subsets feature special designs which differ from the regular cards in the set.Boston Bruin Dmitri Kvartalnov, Toronto Maple Leaf Nikolai Borschevsky and Tampa Bay Lightning Chris Kontos are some of the players who make their first appearance on an NHL-licensed card in Parkhurst.McCARD SET: For the second season in a row, McDonald&rsquo;s and Upper Deck have teamed up for an NHL all-star card promotion.For 39 cents a pack (with any purchase) you get four cards from the 27-card series which includes such players as Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Mogilny. The set also includes an unnumbered checklist.Unlike last season, the all-star holograms aren&rsquo;t included in each pack, they are randomly inserted. There are six holograms, one for each member of the NHL&rsquo;s 1991-92 first all-star team.As they were last season, the cards are only available from McDonald&rsquo;s Restaurants in Canada. &#9632;

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Star Pics blames slim pickings for demise

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01245/6163625-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maine coach Shawn Walsh (Scott D’Errico)</figcaption></div>If you measure a man by his willingness to challenge the concepts of conventional wisdom, then Shawn Walsh sleeps in a king-size bed, is ushered about in a stretch limousine and casts an exceedingly long shadow.Conventional wisdom, tested time and again at virtually every level of sports, says that the team with the best defense wins championships.Walsh, the highly regarded coach at the University of Maine, is in the midst of trying to prove there is another way to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association title.Specifically, that a high-powered offense can vault a team to the top. And for the most robust attack in college hockey, no one has to look further than the team Walsh has assembled on the Orono campus.Twenty-two games into their regular season, the Black Bears were the only unbeaten team at the Division I level (21-0-1). They are the unanimous choices to sit atop every notable media poll. And in a season in which there is a smaller-than-usual pool of legitimate NCAA title contenders, they are in a class by themselves.Maine has the best goaltending tandem in the country in Mike Dunham and Garth Snow, who sport a cumulative 2.35 goals-against average. It has a capable, if overlooked, blueline corps led by Chris Imes, Jason Wein-rich, Dan Murphy and Matt Martin.But what makes the Black Bears the odds-on favorites to become to first Hockey East representative to claim a national title, what has them in a position to become the first undefeated national champion in the 45year history of NCAA competition, is an offense that makes one shudder.&ldquo;Things have changed in all sports,&rdquo; said Walsh, who has guided Maine to a 182-46-9 (.787) record over the past six-plus seasons. &ldquo;Coaching has improved. It&rsquo;s easy now to coach defense. Offense wins championships.&rdquo;It is an approach Walsh hopes will enable his top-shelf program to make the next step. The defending regular-season and playoff champion in Hockey East, Maine has reached the NCAA Final Four three times (1988, &rsquo;89 and &rsquo;91) since Walsh took over nine years ago, but has never made it to the championship game.It is both ironic and frightening that the Black Bears are putting this kind of season together now.Ironic because the 1991-92 team, featuring Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Pellerin and three-time 30-goal scorer Jean-Yves Roy, was the one that was supposed to take everyone&rsquo;s breath away and in the end carry off the NCAA plaque.Instead, Maine finished with a 31-42 record after enduring a disappointing 3-2 loss to Michigan State in the NCAA quarterfinals. To know Walsh is to know it bugged him immensely that he was outdueled by MSU coach Ron Mason, who is not only the second-winningest coach in NCAA history, but also Walsh&rsquo;s father-in-law.Frightening because some observers contend this team is better than a year ago, this despite the fact the Hockey East media guide used the word &ldquo;rebuilding&rdquo; to describe Maine in 1992-93.Why is this team so good?It boils down to three newcomers at forward-center/winger Paul Kariya and twin forwards Peter and Chris Ferraro-who comprise a recruiting class that rivals the &ldquo;Fab Five&rdquo; Michigan parlayed into a berth in the NCAA men&rsquo;s basketball championship last spring.Kariya, a 5-foot-ll, 165-pounder, was the Junior A player of the year at Penticton. B.C., last season. He was also a member of the Canadian junior team at the age of 17 and is projected as a top-10 selection in the NHL entry draft later this year.In 16 games prior to joining Team Canada for its gold-medal-winning performance at the World Junior Championships in Sweden, Kariya (pronounced Korea) had 13 goals and 49 points, for an astounding average of more than three points per game.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best college hockey player I&rsquo;ve seen in a long time,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;What makes him special is he is also a talented defensive player.&rdquo;Some who have seen Kariya play believe he should be the favorite for the Hobey Baker Award.&ldquo;He can do things no one else can.&rdquo; said Northeastern coach Ben Smith. &ldquo;It would be an embarrassment if he doesn&rsquo;t get (the Hobey).&rdquo;The Ferraros, both 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, feature impressive resumes of their own. Both are skilled, hard-nosed performers who were drafted last summer by the New York Rangers-Peter in the first round and Chris in the fourth. Both recently completed their second tours of duty with the United States entry at the World Junior Championships. They are considered prime candidates for the 1994 Olympic team, should it be decided that amateurs will comprise the bulk of that squad.Chris had 12 goals and 28 points in 16 games while Peter had seven goals and 23 points.The three have fit in perfectly on an offense that came into the season expecting to feature center and captain Jim Montgomery (10 goals. 45 points last year) and winger Cal Ingraham (25-18-43). The offense currently is averaging almost seven goals per game.In 22 games, Maine&rsquo;s only blemish was a 3-3 standoff with Providence during the first week of the regular season. The Black Bears have had blowouts (scoring nine or more goals seven times) and nailbiters (one-goal decisions over Boston University, Northeastern, New Hampshire and Lake Superior State, the defending national champion). Therein lies their strength.&ldquo;To their credit, they&rsquo;re finding ways to win in every type of game,&rdquo; said Lowell coach Bruce Crowder, Walsh&rsquo;s former assistant.Walsh, thought to be the highest-paid coach at the college level at $90,000-plus per year, likes his teams to play at a high tempo. Three years ago, he said he began to make note of all the pro teams that were transforming a great offense into championships. He decided to follow suit.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t coach offense as much as you have to recruit it,&rdquo; Walsh said, quickly crediting his chief recruiter. Grant Standbrook. &ldquo;The thing that separates (last year from this season) is offensive explosiveness, the ability to score goals in bunches.&rdquo;Given the one-game knockout format of the NCAA tournament, some would say a top-flight defensive team still might have the edge. But Crowder does not fault Walsh for espousing his current style.&ldquo;You win games wherever your strongest personnel is,&rdquo; Crowder said.Walsh said it is not his goal to go unbeaten, but the streak has provided a healthy source of motivation for his players. He also pooh-poohed the notion that a loss or two would be beneficial to his young team before the pressure gets turned up at playoff time. He said it was a media-imposed albatross.&ldquo;If you find someone who wants to lose,&rdquo; Walsh said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to meet them.&rdquo;<h2>NCAA TITLE RECIPE</h2><blockquote class="pullQuote">Take one elite coach add three top freshmen; mix for winning season</blockquote><h2>Bear facts on top frosh</h2>Here&rsquo;s a look at the top freshman scorers in college hockey through Jan. 8 (overall games).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02152/6163618-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="536" height="256"></div> &#9632;

f0044-01

Maine Ingredients

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>While the hockey world continues to sing the praises of Peterborough Petes&rsquo; defenseman Chris Pronger, another member of the family is making a name for himself this season.Chris is being touted as a possible first overall choice in the 1993 entry draft, while his older brother Sean, a right winger with Bowling Green, is emerging as one of the top power forwards in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.After two so-so seasons with the Falcons, the Dryden. Ont., native has blossomed as a junior. He had 16 goals and 31 points in 21 games (overall) to rank among the CCHA&rsquo;s top scorers.&ldquo;When we recruited Sean, we realized that in his last two years he would be much more dominant than in his first two years,&rdquo; said coach Jerry York. &ldquo;That was because of his age. He was only 17 when he first came here as a freshman.&rdquo;Pronger, 20, played for the Thunder Bay Flyers of the U.S. Junior League before coming to Bowling Green.Pronger got off to a slow start his freshman year and finished with just three goals and 10 points. He improved to nine goals and 16 points a year ago.Despite his sluggish start, Pronger&rsquo;s size-6-foot-2, 200 pounds-and raw skill caught the eye of pro scouts. The Vancouver Canucks showed the most interest, selecting him 51st overall in the 1991 entry draft.York cites Pronger&rsquo;s move from center to right wing as one of the key reasons for his emergence this season.&ldquo;He has really improved his offensive game,&rdquo; York said. &lsquo;He is a good skater who has improved his speed from a standstill&rdquo;GOALIE SEARCH: The Ohio State Buckeyes have floundered near the bottom of the CCHA standings all season. The main reason? A very unstable goaltending situation.Fortunately, things may be looking up for Buckeyes&rsquo; coach Jerry Welsh.Freshman Kurt Brown posted two shutouts in December and went 2-1-0 with a 2.19 goals-against average in his first five starts.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pretty good athlete and a great skater,&rdquo; Welsh said. &ldquo;But of course, like just about any goalie, you&rsquo;d like him to stand up more.&rdquo;The Buckeyes had one of the best goalies in college hockey a year ago in Prince Albert, Sask., native Mike Bales. But he left to join the Boston Bruins&rsquo; organization and Welsh turned to freshman Tom Askey and senior Jim Slazyk to fill the void. Neither has been consistent, however.GOPHER HUNT: The Ferris State Bulldogs took a bite out of the Minnesota hockey mystique by winning the Mariucci Classic Tournament Jan. 2 and 3 at the University of Minnesota.The Bulldogs beat the Western Collegiate Hockey Association&rsquo;s Golden Gophers 6-4 in their first game and wrapped up the title with a 4-1 win over St. Lawrence of the Eastern College Athletic Conference.To make matters worse for the Golden Gophers. they lost the consolation final 3-2 to the Illinois-Chicago Flames-one of the CCHA&rsquo;s weakest teams.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played very well this season although we&rsquo;ve been hovering around the .500 mark,&rdquo; said FSU coach Bob Daniels. &ldquo;Almost all of our games have been tight.&rdquo;The Bulldogs were 4-5-3 in league play entering the second half. 11 points behind league-leading Miami-Ohio. &#9632;

Falcons’ Pronger takes flight

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>It was only fitting that Dartmouth College used the annual Auld Lang Syne Tournament to ring out a lot of old memories.The Big Green, winners of just four games in the last two years, upset a pair of Hockey East opponents to give Dartmouth its first title of any kind.Dartmouth beat host New Hampshire 4-3 in the opening round and knocked off Northeastern 5-4 in the championship game of the Dec. 28-29 tourney.Senior goalie Vern Guetens was the hero in the final, making 48 saves.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying all along that we&rsquo;re a much improved team from last year,&rdquo; said second-year coach Roger Detriment. &ldquo;But they needed to taste victory in back-to-back games like that to believe in themselves.&rdquo;Dartmouth&rsquo;s seniors-Guetens, center Peter Clark, right winger Greg Chapman, center/left winger Shawn Burt, and left winger Chris Clancy-have won just eight games in three years and each has survived personal struggles along the way.Guetens had the distinction of having the worst record in college hockey (0-15-3) before beating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in last year&rsquo;s home opener. Clark missed half of his sophomore season because of a broken leg. Chapman gave up his forward position-and his chance a prominence-to play defense and Clancy didn&rsquo;t play at all last year to concentrate on his academic load. Burt, meanwhile, has struggled to crack the Big Green lineup for the last three years.All five stuck it out and now have a tournament title to show for their efforts.&ldquo;I feel really good for those guys,&rdquo; Detriment said. &ldquo;They stuck it out through thick and thin and some really tough times.&rdquo;&ldquo;Many observers would think after three years and being able to count the number of wins on two hands, I would give it all up,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;But they have not had the opportunity to be involved with such a great group of guys.&rdquo;Dartmouth was second last in the Eastern College Athletic Conference with a 1-5-0 record.THAT&rsquo;S NO BULL: The Yale Bulldogs turned in their best offensive performance of the season without six of their top players. The Bulldogs defeated Northeastern 8-7 in overtime Jan. 2.Missing from the lineup were freshmen Dan Brierly and John Emmons, who were playing for the U.S. team at the World Junior Championships. Forwards Jamie Lavish (strained knee ligaments) and Zoran Kozic (pulled groin); defenseman Richard Giroux (separated shoulder) and starting goaltender Todd Sullivan (strained leg muscle) were also sidelined.Yale still had enough firepower to defeat the Huskies. Junior right winger Martin Leroux scored his first career hat trick, senior center Mark Kaufmann scored two goals, including the game winner and senior goalie John Hockin tied his career-high with 43 saves.SERIOUS DECAY: The Colgate Red Raiders had a disappointing first half and the absence of junior winger Marcel Richard certainly didn&rsquo;t help.Richard had a goal and five assists in Colgate&rsquo;s first six games, but has been sidelined since late November because of mononucleosis. The Red Raiders were winless in their first six league games. &#9632;

New year already great for struggling Big Green

Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Robb Stauber is the only goalie to ever win a Hobey Baker Award (1988), but there are several collegians who could jump into the hunt for this year&rsquo;s honor. Here&rsquo;s a look at the top goalies.Mike Dunham, Jr., Maine. Black Bears stand-up specialist had perfect 12-0-0 record in first half. NHL rights: New Jersey.Taras Lendzyk, Fr., Minnesota-Duluth. Led Bulldogs to top spot in WCHA, posting a 7-1-0 record. NHL rights: Not drafted.Chris Rogles, Sr., Clarkson. Had second-best save percentage in nation (.930) at Christmas break. NHL rights: Not drafted.Steve Shields. Jr., Michigan. Led CCHA in GAA and save percentage after 14 games. NHL rights: Buffalo.Garth Snow, Sr., Maine. Has been brilliant in complementing Dunham with 7-0-1 record and 2.35 GAA. NHL rights: Quebec.Tripp Tracy, Fr., Harvard. Spent first half tripping up opposition. Was second in nation in GAA (2.15). NHL rights: Not drafted.Other notables: Jim Carey, Wisconsin; Pat Mazzoli, Ferris State; Jamie Ram, Michigan Tech. &#9632;

Meet top-notch masked men

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>For the first time since its inception six years ago, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Four playoff tournament could be staged at a site other than St. Paul, Minn.Decreasing attendance and revenues, coupled with the fact the St. Paul Civic Center will stage the National Collegiate Athletic Association Final Four in 1994, are the primary reasons why the WCHA may move the semifinal and final portions of the league playoffs to the Bradley Center in Milwaukee next year.A decision on the matter was expected during the annual NCAA convention Jan. 11-16 in Dallas. Commissioner Otto Breitenbach said he believes the four-member WCHA tournament committee will make a final recommendation to faculty representatives during the gathering.Breitenbach, Minnesota athletic director McKinley Boston, Minnesota-Duluth athletic director Bruce McLeod and Wisconsin associate athletic director Joel Maturi are members of the tournament committee.According to Breitenbach, records show that after two years of great success out of the Civic Center gate, it would appear interest has waned a bit in the hockey-mad area of the Twin Cities.&ldquo;Revenues from St. Paul have slightly decreased the last three years, between two and three per cent,&rdquo; Breitenbach said, adding crowds over the two-day event (it will be three days this year because a preliminary game was added) averaged around 12,000.Maturi said the decrease would indicate hockey fans in the Twin Cities have reached a limit-however temporary-given they have a pro team in the North Stars and a plethora of small college and high school teams to keep frack of and support in addition to the hometown Golden Gophers.&ldquo;There is a feeling that since St. Paul will host the NCAAs next year, it might be a good idea to look at some place else,&rdquo; Maturi said.Maturi admits he has biased feelings. He was the primary architect of the hugely successful Badger Showdown tournament at the Bradley Center. In four years, the event has drawn record crowds at the facility that seats 18,200 for hockey. It has become perhaps the premier holiday hockey tournament in the country.&ldquo;There is no guarantee what money will be generated in Milwaukee,&rdquo; Maturi said. But he is encouraged given the track record of the Showdown.WICKED PACE: Minnesota-Duluth center Derek Plante had 20 goals and 45 points in 18 games, slightly ahead of the school-record scoring pace established by Hobey Baker Award winner Bill Watson in 1984-85. Watson had 17 goals and 43 points in 18 games that year.Plante had a 16-game points streak-at least a point in 35 of 36 games-entering a series against Minnesota Jan. 8-9. He led the league in scoring, goals, points-per game, power-play goals, short handed goals and game-winners.STIFF COMPETITION: WCHA teams were 9-11-1 against non-league competition during the first half of the season. Colorado College was 1-0-0, Denver 2-0-0, Michigan Tech 0-2-0, Minnesota 1-2-1, Minnesota-Duluth 2-0-0, North Dakota 1-3-0, Northern Michigan 1-3-0 and Wisconsin 1-1-0. &#9632;

Playoff tournament could move from Twin Cities

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>For 17 years, Steve Cedorchuk quietly helped Len Ceglarski build a successful hockey program at Boston College.And when Ceglarski retired at the end of last season, Cedorchuk finally got the chance to fulfill his lifelong dream: to be the head coach at his alma mater.But like any rookie, Cedorchuk has had to learn to deal with adversity.The Eagles dropped their fifth-straight game Jan. 3, 5-2 to Harvard at Bright Hockey Center.The team&rsquo;s five-game slide is the longest losing streak Cedorchuk has endured at BC in 22 years as a player, assistant coach and now head coach.&ldquo;I knew we were going to take our lumps this year. We&rsquo;re in the first stage of rebuilding the program and it takes time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t run up a mountain, you&rsquo;ve got to climb up a mountain. The kids have played hard. They&rsquo;ve never quit. But there&rsquo;s not much you can do about inexperience in goal.&rdquo;The Eagles were 4-9-3 (2-4-1 in league play) and had given up an average of almost five goals per game while scoring just over three.Sophomore Josh Singewald, who played in only six games last season, is the No. 1 goalie. He has struggled, registering a 4.50 goals-against average in 14 starts.A difficult schedule hasn&rsquo;t helped the team, either. The Eagles played road games at Providence, Boston University and Harvard-all tough opponents-during their five-game slide. They also travelled to Milwaukee, Wise., to play in the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown against Wisconsin and Miami-Ohio during the Christmas break.&ldquo;Even one of this league&rsquo;s top teams would have had a difficult time with that schedule,&rdquo; Cedorchuk said.&ldquo;It has been hard but you can only learn from adversity,&rdquo; Cedorchuk added. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned more this year than I have in the previous five years as an assistant.&rdquo;DOGGONE GOOD: The Boston University Terriers strung together an impressive winning streak thanks in part to the play of a newly formed line.The unit of freshman left winger Jay Pandolfo, senior center and captain David Sacco and junior right winger Doug Friedman combined for 11 goals and 24 points in four games.MODEST STREAK: The Providence College Friars got offensive production from two unlikely sources Dec. 29-30 at the RPI tournament in Troy, N.Y.Center Erik Peterson and right winger George Breen both scored game-winning goals.Peterson&rsquo;s goal came in the Friars&rsquo; 4-3 win over Clarkson in the semifinal. It was his second goal of the year.Breen scored his fourth goal of the season in the championship game, a 5-4 win over host RPI. &#9632;

Tough time for rookie Cedorchuk

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>The Brantford Smoke players didn&rsquo;t hide their feelings when Ken Mann was fired as coach on New Year&rsquo;s Day.The players threatened to boycott their game in Muskegon the following day and it wasn&rsquo;t until Mann urged them to continue that the Smoke players boarded the bus for their trip to Michigan.Mann, who was very popular with the players, became the first coach to be fired in the Colonial League&rsquo;s two-year history despite having his club in second place with a 19-11-0 record.Mann&rsquo;s firing was a collective decision between general manager Don Robertson and the group of owners, who felt the Smoke had the talent to be in first place and wasn&rsquo;t progressing as well as expected.&ldquo;We need someone who can extract as much as possible from the players,&rdquo; said Robertson, who has been Mann&rsquo;s close friend and working partner for more than 15 years. &ldquo;Ken was a player&rsquo;s coach, not necessarily an owner&rsquo;s coach.&ldquo;There are people in the organization who feel we are better than 19-11-0. The last-place team (St. Thomas) beat us five times in those 11 losses.&rdquo;Following the loss to Muskegon, the Smoke players once again were contemplating a boycott the next night in Detroit. They ended up taking the ice against Detroit, but not before sitting out most of warmups.Was Mann stunned by the news?&ldquo;Why is a coach who has a team at 19-11-0 and in second place fired? They don&rsquo;t hand out trophies at this time of year.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If the fact that I was too close to the players was the reason, I can&rsquo;t understand that.&rdquo;Robertson served as interim coach for two games before replacing Mann with Ken Gratton. the club&rsquo;s assistant coach.WELL-WISHER: Commissioner Bob Myers reduced the suspension of Thunder Bay&rsquo;s Brian Wells from 20 games to 17. Wells drew the suspension after biting a Detroit player and drawing blood in a fight Nov. 15.Wells&rsquo; early return was mainly because Thunder Bay was facing a shortage of players. Myers cleared the move with the other CHL teams before reinstating Wells.GOODWILL TOUR?: The Russian Professional League has approached the CHL about a goodwill tour next season. The CHL hosted Lada Togliatti of Russia in a six-game series this year.Next year&rsquo;s proposed exhibition series will be discussed at the league&rsquo;s semi-annual meetings Feb. 1-2 in Detroit, but rumor has it a few teams will oppose it because not all the coaches were happy with the hassles that went along with hosting Team Lada. &#9632;

Brantford players revolt after main Mann let go

It&rsquo;s hard to believe a nine-year-old is playing his seventh year of organized hockey, but goalie Douglas Rendell has made each year of experience count.The Phoenix, Ariz., resident has been a wall of defense for the mite A junior Roadrunners this season. Douglas has a 170-0 record, .914 save percentage, 0.77 goals-against average and nine shutouts for the powerhouse squad.The 4-foot-11, 84-pounder didn&rsquo;t start playing goal until the age of seven making the transition from defenseman and quickly found his calling. He has attended several hockey camps for goalies.Douglas is a Grade 4 student at Kyrene De La Colina elementary school and enjoys playing the guitar in his spare time.If Douglas isn&rsquo;t on ice skates, he&rsquo;s on in-line skates, his best pastime. His favorite team is the Los Angeles Kings and his favorite goalie is Kelly Hrudey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01205/6163800-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="532" height="1191"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doualas Rendell</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be a part of The Hockey News Minor Hockey Showcase. Send a photograph (non-returnable), along with biographical information (age. height, weight, team, statistics, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, favorite NHL team and player) to The Hockey News, attention: Player of the Week. 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100. Don Mills. Ont., M3B 2R2. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as The Hockey News Minor Hockey Player of the Year. &#9632;

f0046-01

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>The San Diego Gulls have reportedly turned down an offer to pick on someone their own size-like the American League&rsquo;s powerhouse Binghamton Rangers.The Rangers, who were 28-5-5, wanted to fill a lull in their schedule by playing a two-game exhibition against the 32-1-4 Gulls on Jan. 11 and 12.The Gulls declined. If they played, they would end up on the ice for four games in five nights, which could jeopardize what may be an 11-game win streak by then.The Gulls are out to challenge the pro hockey record win streak of 18 set by Peoria in 199091.STAR COACHES: The coaching staffs for the 19th International League All-Star Game were locked into place Jan. 1 by virtue of the division standings. Each coach chosen has piloted his team to first place in his respective division.Coaching the West squad at the Feb. 3 game in Phoenix will be San Diego&rsquo;s Rick Dudley and Milwaukee&rsquo;s Curt Fraser. The East team will be coached by Atlanta&rsquo;s Gene Ubriaco and Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Al Sims. All-stars from the Midwest and Pacific Divisions will play the best from the Atlantic and Central Divisions.THEY SAID IT: There were some all-star calibre entries in the war of words as the league reached its mid-season point.The best quote of the half-season came from Cincinnati coach Dennis Desrosiers.The fiery Desrosiers, who has a reputation for shooting from the lip, was especially unimpressed with goalie Chad Erickson&rsquo;s performance in an 8-4 Dec. 27 loss at Peoria. It was his team&rsquo;s 13th defeat in 16 games.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there was a single goal Peoria scored that would have been scored against a good goaltender,&rdquo; Desrosiers said. &ldquo;Erickson was a complete joke. He will never play for us again. He&rsquo;s done. The guy who drafted him should be dead.&rdquo;Erickson, a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; draft pick in 1988 who played two games for the Devils last season, was re-assigned to Birmingham of the East Coast League the next day. He didn&rsquo;t report to his new team and went home.Runner-up for best quote: San Diego general manager Don Waddell, who has been taking flak around the league for his team&rsquo;s payroll and its 32-1-4 record after 37 games.&ldquo;A couple years ago we sat in San Diego and won 30 games and I didn&rsquo;t hear anyone cry for us and say we needed to be helped for the good of the league,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;Hey, I was in Flint in 1988-89 the year we lost 60 games-we were an independent team then, too-and none of the NHL affiliated clubs gave a damn about us.&rdquo;Honorable mention for top quote: Kalamazoo coach Bill Inglis, during his team&rsquo;s seven-game losing streak (through Jan. 4) in which four of the losses came after regulation: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re kind of the Houston Oilers of the IHL.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t play bad. We just don&rsquo;t get a great deal accomplished in the end.&rdquo;I-OPENERS: Fort Wayne tied the IHL record for consecutive road wins with 10. The record is shared with the 1984-85 Muskegon team and the &rsquo;90-91 Kalamazoo Wings&hellip;Don Waddell said he will get 6-foot-4, 210-pound Max Middendorf. a forward who has played for Fort Wayne, as the player to be named later in a December trade made by the Gulls. In that trade, the Gulls sent center Peter Hankinson and 1991-92 IHL defenseman of the year JeanMarc Richard to the Komets. &#9632;

Gulls turn down chance to face best team in AHL

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Part of the reason Roger Neilson and his assistant, Colin Campbell, are no longer coaching the New York Rangers is they didn&rsquo;t reach expectations.After finishing first overall in the NHL last season, the Rangers bowed out in a second-round playoff loss to Pittsburgh, then plodded along at 19-17-4 through the first 40 games.&ldquo;Expectations were high and my only regret is that we&rsquo;re departing before we had a chance to finish the job,&rdquo; Campbell said of Neilson&rsquo;s Jan. 4 firing and his re-assignment to coach the Rangers American League affiliate in Binghamton.Campbell is well aware expectations, while obviously being on a different scale, are even higher in Binghamton.The Rangers were on pace to shatter AHL records for victories (54 is the record, they were on pace for 59) and points (the record is 113, they were on pace for 128).A Calder Cup, something never won by a Binghamton franchise, is expected.&ldquo;I know, it&rsquo;s my job not to screw it up,&rdquo; said Campbell, who inherited a team with a 28-5-5 record after Binghamton coach Ron Smith was promoted to replace Neilson. &ldquo;I said to Ron, &lsquo;Give me your exact practices, your exact lines. I want your blueprint.&rsquo; &ldquo;Smith&rsquo;s assistant, Al Hill, will remain in Binghamton during the transition period. It will help give Campbell, 39, a chance to acquaint himself with the minor leagues and adjust to the shock of the job change.Campbell was Neilson&rsquo;s assistant in New York the past 21/2 seasons. He worked under Jacques Demers the previous five years in Detroit.And while the Rangers weren&rsquo;t performing at a top level, Campbell thought the problems were being rectified.&ldquo;I thought we were turning things around, but they say all good things must come to an end and unfortunately this came to an end too soon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was very active with Roger and if I couldn&rsquo;t be head coach, there&rsquo;s no sense staying as an assistant. If he was the reason we weren&rsquo;t going well, then there was no reason I should stay.&rdquo;Campbell actually had a choice between the Binghamton head coaching job in 1990-91 or being Neilson&rsquo;s assistant in New York. He chose the NHL.He didn&rsquo;t ask to go to Binghamton this time, but understands it can be beneficial.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been an assistant in the NHL for 71/2 years and the aspiration of most assistant coaches is to be a head coach,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been a head coach and when my resume excludes the part of head coach, that&rsquo;s a huge gap&rdquo;BITTER FEUD: Springfield right winger Trevor Stienburg and New Haven right winger Gerry St. Cyr received automatic six-game suspensions for fighting after the final buzzer in a Jan. 3 game.The suspensions will be served the next six times Springfield and New Haven play.&ldquo;These two guys just don&rsquo;t like each other; they&rsquo;ve been fighting all year,&rdquo; said AHL vice-president Gord Anziano. &ldquo;Now if they want to fight, they&rsquo;ll have to go to the gym.&rdquo;MOE HELP: Hershey assistant coach Moe Mantha was forced to become a player/coach for one game because of his team&rsquo;s injury problems.Mantha played in a 6-6 tie Dec. 6 against Utica. The 12-year NHL veteran had no points and was a plus-1 in the game. &#9632;

Campbell on hot seat once again

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>A high-stakes shootout is taking place between Knoxville Cherokee snipers Mike Murray and Jamie Adams and a ticket to the East Coast League&rsquo;s All-Star Game awaits the victor.Murray and Adams are running neck-and-neck in their quest to represent the Cherokees at the ECHL&rsquo;s inaugural All-Star Game Feb. 2 in Wheeling, Va.If both players are overlooked in a ballot of league coaches and media representatives. Cherokees&rsquo; coach Barry Smith must pick one to represent Knoxville at the game.The event showcases the best players from the East Division against the best from the West Division. At least one player from each of the league&rsquo;s 17 team&rsquo;s must be selected to play.&ldquo;They both deserve to go to the game,&rdquo; Smith said diplomatically.But that&rsquo;s highly unlikely considering Knoxville&rsquo;s 10-20-4 record after 34 games.Murray led the Cherokees with 17 goals and 39 points. Adams had 20 goals and 36 points.Murray, a member of Knoxville&rsquo;s Brabham Cup champions in 1990-91, elected to play in Europe last season. He has been a stabilizing force for the Cherokees all year.The 26-year-old was married on Christmas Eve and had every reason to blow off a Dec. 26 game against Birmingham. Instead, he celebrated with a hat trick against the Bulls in a 5-4 victory.&ldquo;I played in the game, but I&rsquo;m not getting divorced.&rdquo; Murray joked after the game.Adams, 21, would benefit the most from playing in the All-Star Game. Several NHL scouts are expected to be in attendance and he is a free agent.&ldquo;C&rdquo; YA LATER: Toledo&rsquo;s Brent Sapergia had enough. Mired in the worst slump of his career. Sapergia walked into coach Chris McSorley&rsquo;s office and resigned his captaincy before the New Year began.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think I was playing properly.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In 10 years. I&rsquo;ve never worn the &ldquo;C&rdquo;. With the &ldquo;C&rdquo; on, I was an extension of Chris&rsquo; arm. Every 30 seconds, he was sending me out to talk to the referee. I got sick of it. This game is mental and I was at at the end of my rope.&rdquo;Sapergia was a 58-goal scorer for Salt Lake City of the International League in 1985-86. He had just nine goals in his first 24 games this season.Derek Booth temporarily replaced Sapergia as captain. But he was loaned to Adirondack of the American League Dec. 29.ROUND-TABLE TALKS: Three teams have been given permission to pursue relocation.Roanoke Valley, averaging a league-low 1,645 fans through Jan. 8. is likely to move to Huntington, West Va.Nashville and Knoxville are also looking for greener pastures. Owners of both franchises were granted permission to try to secure a lease with the 7.200-seat Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Ala.Knoxville&rsquo;s request isn&rsquo;t earth-shattering news. The Cherokees have been in limbo since last season. They wanted to shut down operations a year ago, but decided to endure. They are averaging just 2,075 fans per game in the 4,800 seat Knoxville Civic Arena.Nashville&rsquo;s crowds average more than 5,000. However, Knights&rsquo; ownership is miffed by the city&rsquo;s refusal to renovate Municipal Auditorium which holds 7,941. &#9632;

Cherokees’ dynamic duo jostling for All-Star invite

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>The Quebec League will have no shortage of offensive talent when it takes on the best of the Ontario and Western Leagues in the Chrysler Cup challenge Jan. 19 at the Montreal Forum.The 12 forwards chosen by the league represent a total of 353 goals, almost 30 goals per player so far this season. And that includes right winger Martin Lapointe, who had eight goals in eight games with Laval. Other big scorers include right wingers Martin Gendron of St-Hyacinthe (44), and Claude Savoie of Victoriaville (53) as well as left winger Rene Corbet of Drummondville (41). Center Alexandre Daigle of Victoriaville, who had 85 points in 26 games, will also be on the team.Other forwards include: centers Ian Laperriere (Drummondville). Patrick Nadeau (Sherbrooke) and Normand Paquet (Victoriaville); left wingers Matthew Barnaby (College Francais), Patrick Carignan (St-Jean) and Eric Lecompte (Hull); and right winger Daniel Guerard (Victoriaville).The defense corps includes Stephane Julien and Eric Messier of Sherbrooke, Joel Bouchard of College Francais. Benoit Larose of Laval, Francois Groleau of Shawinigan and Dean Melanson of St-Hyacinthe.Philippe DeRouville of College Francais and Jocelyn Thibault of Sherbrooke will take care of the goaltending duties.Pierre Aubry of Victoriaville will be the head coach and he will be assisted by Guy Chouinard of Sherbrooke and Alain Rajotte of College Francais.NO ALEX, NO PROBLEM: The Victoriaville Tigres have proven they are not a one-man team.While Alexandre Daigle is definitely the marquee player in the league, the Tigres have shown they can win without him. The Tigres went 5-1-0 while Daigle was with Canada&rsquo;s team at the World Junior Championships to improve their league-leading record to 31-10-1.The Tigres have a surprising overall record of 11-4-1 without Daigle, who has also missed 10 games this season due to suspensions.Daigle was scheduled to make his return to the Victoriaville lineup Jan. 8 against College Francais. He rejoined a team which was 12-1-1 in its last 14 games to open up a 13-point lead over Sherbrooke (22-17-4) in the Dilio Division.One of the main reasons for Victoriaville&rsquo;s success while Daigle was in Sweden is that right winger Claude Savoie seems to have learned to play without his centerman.During Daigle&rsquo;s eight-game suspension in November, Savoie had two goals. But while Daigle was in Sweden, Savoie had eight goals in six games to take over the league scoring race from his linemate with 53 goals and 39 assists for 92 points. Daigle had 29-56-85 totals in only 26 games.TITANIC STRUGGLE: The Laval Titan managed to stay above water without right winger Martin Lapointe. Laval was 4-3-0 without Lapointe, who was Team Canada&rsquo;s captain.College Francais and St-Hyacinthe couldn&rsquo;t have been happier to see the end of the WJC.College Francais went 1-3-0 without defenseman Joel Bouchard and goaltender Phillippe DeRouville. The Verdun-based team allowed 23 goals in the four games without its two stars and fell to fifth spot in the Lebel Division (19-20-1), three points behind Laval for the final playoff spot.St-Hyacinthe, meanwhile, was 1-6-0 without high-scoring right winger Martin Gendron. The Laser scored only 23 goals during Gendron&rsquo;s absence. &#9632;

League loads up for big game

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>The Medicine Hat Tigers fired rookie head coach Duane Sutter Jan. 3.Duane, one of the six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL, was apparently unable to motivate a highly talented hockey team.Medicine Hat, which was favored to capture the Western League title at the beginning of the season, occupies last place in the East Division with a 13-27-1 record.&ldquo;It was a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking decision and I&rsquo;m not just saying this because he&rsquo;s a Sutter,&rdquo; said Tigers&rsquo; general manager Dennis Polonich, who assumed head-coaching duties. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just saying that he&rsquo;s salt of the earth. No one gave more to the organization than he did.&rdquo;&ldquo;Our biggest problem was our top players haven&rsquo;t performed,&rdquo; Polonich said. &ldquo;Mike Rathje hasn&rsquo;t played near his potential, but yet he goes to the World Juniors and is one of their better defensemen. David Cooper, why is he not playing up to his potential? You can go on and on, down the line.&rdquo;The Tigers trailed the seventh-place Prince Albert Raiders by five points and Lethbridge Hurricanes by seven points.ALL-STAR PICKS: The WHL portion of the WHL-Ontario League team for the Chrysler Cup challenge Jan. 19 at the Montreal Forum will be:Goal: Trevor Robins (Brandon).Defense: Darren Van Impe (Red Deer), Jason Smith (Regina) and Michael Sykora (Tacoma).Forward: Rob Niedermayer (Medicine Hat), Dean McAmmond (Prince Albert), Jeff Shantz (Regina), Rick Girard (Swift Current), Valeri Bure (Spokane) and Adam Deadmarsh (Portland).Brandon coach Kelly McCrimmon will represent the WHL as a coach. A team of all-stars from the OHL and WHL-10 players from each league-take on the best from the Quebec League in the game.HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES: eff Calvert should have his stick bronzed.Calvert, a goaltender with the Tacoma Rockets, was the offensive star of a WHL game Dec. 29 when he collected a goal and an assist in a 64 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors.Calvert, 19, fired the puck the length of the ice to record an empty-net marker at 19:50 of the third period and seal the win.Calvert&rsquo;s goal was the third by a goaltender in WHL history. Olaf Kolzig of the Tri-City Americans (1990) and Chris Osgood of Medicine Hat (1991) had the others.OUT FOR FOUR: The WHL has suspended Red Deer left winger Ken Richardson for four games.Richardson, 19, had been suspended indefinitely following a Dec. 19 game against the Prince Albert Raiders. Richardson, who was in the penalty box, allegedly struck a fan with a helmet and hit another with a water bottle.&ldquo;According to all reports, (the fan) both verbally harassed the player when he entered the penalty box and also poured coffee on him.&rdquo; said WHL vice-president Richard Doerksen. &ldquo;But the WHL does not condone Richardson&rsquo;s retaliatory actions.&rdquo;The league office also fined the Raiders $1,000 for failing to provide adequate security around the visitor&rsquo;s penalty box.Richardson, however, must still appear in Prince Albert provincial court Jan. 12 to answer to charges of assault causing bodily harm. &#9632;

Rookie Sutter takes fall for Medicine Hat’s woes

They may be underagers. but they&rsquo;re not underachievers.In fact, the opposite is probably more accurate. Listed below are the youngest players in each of the junior leagues this season. All three started the season as 15-year-olds. Also listed is each player&rsquo;s age as of Jan. 8:OHL: Ryan Gillis, 16 years, nine days, North Bay. Born at 11:50 p.m. on Dec. 31, 1976, the Salisbury, N.B., native is just eligible to play this season. &ldquo;He has a good head for the game,&rdquo; Centennials&rsquo; coach Bert Templeton said of the 6-foot, 180-pound defenseman.QMJHL: Christian Laflamme, 16 years, 45 days, College Francais. Laflamme is only 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, &ldquo;but he plays like a bulldog,&rdquo; said College Francais coach Alain Rajotte of the defenseman. &ldquo;He makes big hits, moves the puck well and makes good passes.&rdquo;WHL: Mike LeClerc. 16 years, 59 days, Victoria. LeClerc couldn&rsquo;t drive a car until the season&rsquo;s halfway point, but the 6-foot-2, 190-pound left winger&rsquo;s drive has impressed the Cougars. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tough kid who likes to crash around.&rdquo; said Cougar assistant Doug Hobson. &#9632;

Meet three young guns of CHL

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The London Knights, hoping for a seventh-place finish at the beginning of the Ontario League season after graduation wiped out much of their firepower, have reloaded their guns.They&rsquo;re now taking dead aim at first place in the Emms Division and a berth in the Super Series to determine one of the OHL&rsquo;s two entries in the Memorial Cup.The Knights were only three points behind Detroit after a 5-1 victory over the Jr. Red Wings Jan. I in London and a 4-4 tie two days later at Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely going for first,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; forward Brad Smyth. &ldquo;I decided when we came back from Christmas. &lsquo;Why not go for it?&rsquo; &ldquo;Smyth, a 20th-round draft choice in 1990 who went home for a week during his first training camp when he couldn&rsquo;t be guaranteed a regular spot, led the Knights with 35 goals in 39 games. He&rsquo;s hoping to become only the 12th player in the Knights&rsquo; 28-year history to have a 50-goal season.Smyth is also shooting for 50 goals in the Knights&rsquo; first 50 games, a feat coach-general manager Gary Agnew doesn&rsquo;t think is unreasonable.&ldquo;We always tell the players we want them to have goals, individual and team,&rdquo; Agnew said. &ldquo;Without goals, you don&rsquo;t have direction.&rdquo;GOLDEN STARS: Five players from Canada&rsquo;s gold-medal team at the World Junior Championships will represent the OHL in the Chrysler Cup challenge Jan. 19 at the Montreal Forum.Niagara Falls&rsquo; goalie Manny Legace, Sault Ste. Marie center Ralph Intranuovo, Kingston left winger Chris Gratton and Peterborough defensemen Chris Pronger and Brent Tully will be on the team.Others on the team are center Jason Arnott of Oshawa, left winger Andrew Brunette of Owen Sound, right wingers Pat Peake of Detroit and Scott Hollis of Oshawa and Scott Walker of Owen Sound on defense.Sault Ste. Marie coach Ted Nolan will represent the OHL behind the bench.TROUBLE BREWING: Veteran OHL referee Paul Coleman was suspended 30 days for breaking league policy by accepting two beers from Ottawa 67&rsquo;s coach-general manager Brian Kilrea after a game in Ottawa.The OHL, fearing repercussions from drinking and driving, instructed its teams last season not to provide officials with post-game beer. The officials were told not to accept if it was offered.However, Kilrea said nothing was done wrong because Coleman was flying home to London from Ottawa. Kingston Frontenacs&rsquo; management reported the violation although a source said the practice is still done by many teams. One owner reportedly takes the beer into the officials&rsquo; dressing room himself.&ldquo;This is silliness and heavy-handed by everyone,&rdquo; Kilrea said of the suspension, which cost Coleman eight games. An OHL referee gets $95 per game, plus expenses. &ldquo;If a referee taking a beer is harmful to the league, then I better be suspended because I like a beer, too.&rdquo; &#9632;

Surprising Knights take dead aim at first place

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01141/6164030-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="381" height="534"></div>I&rsquo;m the worst hockey player who ever lived. Even worse than Fran Huck. I made this realization a long time ago and confirmed it in a pick-up game just this morning.I&rsquo;m like one of those journeymen defenseman who surface in the Colonial League from time to time. I won&rsquo;t stop playing until I&rsquo;m cut by every team in the universe. Next season looks a little dicey at this point, but I think there are a few teams that haven&rsquo;t heard of me.It&rsquo;s that kind of keen insight that has served me well in a long and unfruitful career. Few people are more qualified to write the official Pick-Up Game and Beer League code of ethics as I am. This is required reading for anyone over the age of 25 who takes his (or her) hockey seriously and shouldn&rsquo;t:&#9633; No matter how late you are for your game, never-and I mean never-show up at the rink with your equipment on. You really look like a Gumby and besides, I can spot any Zamboni driver in the world three laps of the rink and still be dressed before he&rsquo;s finished.&#9633; It&rsquo;s bad form to ride your stick after scoring a goal when your team is winning a pick-up game 13-2, even if it&rsquo;s the first goal you&rsquo;ve scored in a hundred years.&#9633; Clothes make the man. Always wear the best equipment and make sure everything matches. This is especially important for lousy players since it makes the glaring weaknesses less conspicuous.&#9633; If you borrow tape like I do, spread around your sources. Don&rsquo;t hit up the same guy every time. Nobody likes a freeloader.&#9633; Unless they are close, personal friends, never learn the last names of or anything about the players on your team. This isn&rsquo;t a hard-and-fast rule, things just usually turn out that way.&#9633; Never try to jump into the arms of a teammate after a goal the way the NHLers do. You&rsquo;ll both fall down and look stupid. People will probably talk, too.&#9633; When your goalie gives up a couple of bad goals, don&rsquo;t go out of your way to hit his pads. They know when you&rsquo;re patronizing them.&#9633; Don&rsquo;t pull your goalie in the last minute. It may work occasionally in the NHL, but it&rsquo;s a useless ende-vour in a beer league.&#9633; Anyone who actually coaches a beer league team should take a long look at his life.&#9633; If you&rsquo;re looking for ice time, become a defenseman. Nobody ever wants to play there so most teams only go with two pairs on the blueline. Besides, you don&rsquo;t get as tired.&#9633; After a goal is scored against your line, come off the ice breathing heavily. That way it looks like you were working really hard and the goal wasn&rsquo;t your fault.&#9633; Under no circumstances should you pass the puck if you have a chance to shoot.&#9633; Don&rsquo;t take stupid penalties. It screws up everybody else&rsquo;s ice time.&#9633; Never pour beer over a guy&rsquo;s head if you win a championship. That stuff&rsquo;s expensive, eh.&#9633; Either wear contact lenses or ditch the glasses and take your chances. Look at this picture of Al Arbour. You don&rsquo;t want to look like that, do you?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-0299/6164023-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="570" height="906"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Arbour</figcaption></div>&#9633; If the other team&rsquo;s goalie doesn&rsquo;t show up, don&rsquo;t take slapshots from the hashmarks.&#9633; Don&rsquo;t fight. Few things look more ridiculous than two guys flailing at each other&rsquo;s face shields with hockey gloves on.&#9633; When the whole bench is yelling for you to come off, don&rsquo;t keep playing and pretend you can&rsquo;t hear them.&#9633; Take a shower after the game. Your friends will appreciate it.&#9633; When you&rsquo;re shaking hands with the other team, show some respect and take your glove off.&#9633; Show up at the rink no earlier than 15 minutes before game time. Any earlier than that and it looks like you have no life.&#9633; When it&rsquo;s your turn to buy a round after the game, don&rsquo;t try to sneak out of the bar via the washroom. &#9632;

f0049-01

Don’t pull the goalie, it never works

<div class="byline">By Jeff Williams</div>New York Islanders&rsquo; captain Pat Flatley sustained a rare injury. Rare in a sense of degree rather than affliction. Rare in the fact it won&rsquo;t keep him out of action for an extended period.On one hand the injury was a disappointment to Flatley, not to mention a blow to the team. On the other, it was thankfully minor.&ldquo;Most of the injuries during my career have been boomers,&rdquo; Flatley said. &ldquo;I usually don&rsquo;t miss a game or two. I miss weeks. When the doctor told me I wouldn&rsquo;t be in a body cast, I said &lsquo;All right!&rsquo; &ldquo;Flatley&rsquo;s play was starting to come alive when he sustained a hairline rib fracture in early January. Through 30 games, the nine-year veteran had two goals and 17 points. In the next 10 games he had four goals and 12 points, including two goals in a 4-3 win at Pittsburgh Dec. 19.Flatley has missed 180 games in six seasons due to injuries. He has had thumb surgery, knee surgery and shoulder surgery. His rugged, up-against-the-wall style of play makes him a prime candidate for a bruising.It&rsquo;s tough to pinpoint when Flatley fractured the rib. He could think of no specific incident, though it started to hurt him in a 2-1 home loss to Quebec Jan. 5.Flatley hoped to miss only two games. He retained optimism about the team despite the fact it finished the first half by losing three games and posting a record of 17-21-4, seven points out of the fourth spot in the division.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not disappointed,&rdquo; Flatley said. &ldquo;Sure, the results have been discouraging but its too early to make a judgement on this team. We beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Montreal in Montreal. We just have to be more consistent.&rdquo;BOOS FOR VOLEK: Right winger David Volek is being booed by the hometown crowd.This has been an unproductive season for the 26-year-old Czech who in 1988-89 scored 25 goals and was on the all-rookie team. He had five goals and 13 points in 37 games and was scratched from the lineup in five recent games.Volek was relegated to the fourth line this season and asked for a trade. With injuries to other players, he was moved up to the No. 1 line with Pierre Turgeon. But in nine games of regular work he had just two assists.The boos rained down in a 5-4 loss to Vancouver Jan. 9. Volek failed to score on a breakaway, let Jim Sandlak get past him for a goal and threw a behind-the-back pass off the boards in his own end that Trevor Linden picked off to score the winning goal.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t hear anything,&rdquo; Volek said.NOTEBOOK: Claude Loiselle had four teeth broken off at the gum line when he was accidentally hit in the mouth by the stick of Tim Hunter Jan. 5 against Quebec. Hunter received a five-minute major. Then Jan. 9, Loiselle was high-sticked by Vancouver&rsquo;s Trevor Linden and suffered a mild concussion. Loiselle didn&rsquo;t miss any games because of the injuries.Spare defenseman Tom Kurvers, who has taken the team to arbitration, would not sign a contract in December that might have allowed him to be traded to Hartford. The contract was for about $500,000 for each of two seasons. He turned down a similar offer last spring.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 3: lain Fraser, RW, assigned to Capital District (AHL). Jan. 9: Mark Fitzpatrick, G, recalled from Capital District.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pterre Turgeon, Tom Fitzgerald. Claude Loiselle, Marty McInnis, Travis Green.LW&mdash;Benoit Hogue. Derek King, David Volek. Steve Thomas.RW&mdash;Daniel Marois. Brian Mullen, Mick Vukota, Brad Dalgamo.LD&mdash;Darius Kasparaitis. Scott Lachance, Jeff Norton.RD&mdash;Uwe Krupp, Rich Pilon, Vladimir Malakhov, Gary Nylund, Tom Kurvers.G&mdash;Mark Fitzpatrick, Danny Lorenz.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ray Ferraro, C, broken right leg, indefinite. Pat Flatley RW, broken rib. day-to-day. Glenn Heaty, G, tendinitis in right wrist, day-to-day. &#9632;

Injury bug finds Flatley

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>Alexander Semak has found the scoring touch that made him so attractive to the New Jersey Devils when they drafted him from Russia&rsquo;s Moscow Dynamo four years ago.Semak scored goals in five consecutive games between Dec. 29 and Jan. 6, one game short of the club record shared by Kirk Muller and Pat Verbeek. The burst, which gave Semak 14 goals on the season, moved him into a tie with Stephane Richer behind leading scorer Claude Lemieux as the Devils extended their unbeaten streak to five straight games (3-0-2).&ldquo;He has scored in the past,&rdquo; coach Herb Brooks said. &ldquo;He was more of a goal-scoring center rather than a playmaking center.&rdquo;During his 5 1/2-year career with Dynamo, Semak averaged 20 goals per season in an average of 45 games per season. He first gained the attention of NHL scouts in 1984, one year after the Devils drafted Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov from the Central Red Army.&ldquo;We saw (Semak) play for the first time before the Michal Pivonka draft in &rsquo;84,&rdquo; said director of player personnel Marshall Johnston.&rdquo; He was a smaller guy (5-foot-10, 180), but a good player. He could have been drafted then, but at that time you didn&rsquo;t know how you were going to get him out. When things started to change (in Russia) and he was there, we took him in &rsquo;88.&rdquo;The Devils made Semak their 12th choice (207th overall), but did not see him until New Year&rsquo;s Eve 1991. He had five goals and 11 points in 25 games last season.After starting slowly, Semak adjusted to the NHL&rsquo;s physical play and benefitted from centering a line with Valeri Zelepukin and Bobby Holik, who has since been traded to Hartford.&ldquo;The hitting is not new to me. I took some hits in Russia,&rdquo; Semak said with translation help from Fetisov. &ldquo;This is pretty close in style to what is played in Russia.&rdquo;Asked if his European players understood his instructions, Brooks said: &ldquo;No. That&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re doing so well. They are overcoming my thought process. All they do is nod. I think I&rsquo;ve said some good things. I know I&rsquo;ve said some crazy things and they nod at both.&rdquo;TRADE BAIT: Claude Lemieux was convinced he would be traded because of his abra-sive style on and off the ice, but the seven-year NHL veteran let it be known he did not want to go to Edmonton. He even had a message for Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather.&ldquo;Tell them not to waste their time trading for me,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t report. No way.Lemieux was affected by the rumors.&ldquo;It has been a distraction,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In Montreal, I was involved because I had asked to be traded. There were rumors about me going to Quebec last summer for (Eric) Lindros, but I didn&rsquo;t think the Devils could make that deal.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK:John MacLean played his 582nd Devils&rsquo; game Jan. 6 against Minnesota, breaking Aaron Broten&rsquo;s club record&hellip;Scott Stevens, who missed three games with a concussion and eight-stitch gash behind his ear, was back in the lineup for three games when he was hit in the nose with the puck while sitting on the bench. It required eight stitches.Herb Brooks has benched Peter Stastny, Alexei Kasatonov and Viacheslav Fetisov.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan, 6: Troy Mallette LW. recalled from Utica (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Stepliane Richer. Alexander Semak, Peter Stastny, Kevin Todd, Janna Ojanen.LW&mdash;Bobby Holik. Valeri Zelepukin, Scott Pellerin, Zdeno Ciger, Troy Mallette.RW&mdash;Claude Lemieux, John MacLean, Bill Guerin, Randy McKay, Dave Barr.LD&mdash;Bruce Driver, Scott Stevens. Viacheslav Fetisov. Tommy AlbellnRD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Alexei Kasatonov, Myles O&rsquo;Connor.G&mdash;Craig Billington, Chris Terrori.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Semak’s scoring touch arrives after year delay

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Rod Langway was starting to peel off the equipment Jan. 9, after playing his first game for the Washington Capitals in 10 weeks. And when asked about what it felt like to wear the captain&rsquo;s &lsquo;C&rsquo; on his jersey, Langway said he might not be doing so for much longer.&ldquo;It might be a change in the near future,&rdquo; Langway said. &ldquo;Hatchy carried the &lsquo;C&rsquo; very well when he was wearing it and it may be time for a change.&rdquo;He was referring to fellow defenseman Kevin Hatcher, who was the acting captain in Langway&rsquo;s absence. Langway is the NHL&rsquo;s longest-reigning team captain, having received the honor when he arrived in Washington via a 1982 trade from Montreal.Lang way, 35, had not played since Oct. 31, when the Capitals played in Edmonton and it was against the Oilers that Langway made his return. The 10 weeks were spent coming to grips with the fact he would not be in the lineup every night and having work done on his left shoulder and left knee. It is the uncertainty of his place in the lineup every night that prompted Langway to consider relinquishing the captaincy, which the Capitals planned to let him keep whenever he was in the lineup.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t heard that one,&rdquo; said coach Terry Murray when informed of Langway&rsquo;s comment. &ldquo;No, Rod and I haven&rsquo;t talked and to be honest, I haven&rsquo;t really thought about that. As soon as he was healthy and ready to play, it was automatic for me he was going to be the captain of the team again. I&rsquo;d like to sit down with Rod and see what his thoughts are. Until that happens, I don&rsquo;t have anything else to say.&rdquo;A couple of players were skeptical when Hatcher was made acting captain. But one of those players later said he was surprised at how quickly Hatcher had taken to the role.&ldquo;I think he handled it very well,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good player now and will be for a long time. When you have a player like that, who is respected on the team, he is the most logical guy.&rdquo;STREAK OVER?: Defenseman Calle Johansson began the season with one of the longest current streaks of consecutive games played.Chicago&rsquo;s Steve Larmer was way ahead of the pack, but Johansson trailed only Larmer and Edmonton&rsquo;s Craig MacTavish as of Jan. 1. But then MacTavish missed two games with a back strain, so Johansson moved up on the list. But in his 271st straight game-against MacTavish and Edmonton-Johansson strained his rib cage.It was uncertain whether he would play in the Capitals&rsquo; next game, Jan. 13 in New York.&ldquo;Yeah, it means something,&rdquo; Johansson said.NOTEBOOK: Olaf Kolzig, who was called up after an injury to Don Beaupre, replaced Jim Hrivnak during an 8-2 loss in Philadelphia Jan. 7. It was Kolzig&rsquo;s first NHL appearance since Oct. 21, 1989 and third overall&hellip;With a 43 win over Edmonton Jan. 9, the Capitals extended their home unbeaten streak to 10 games (8-0-2). Since they last lost on Nov. 20 and don&rsquo;t play at home again until Jan. 23, it will be more than two months between home losses.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 11: Shawn Anderson, D, recalled from Baltimore (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Ridley. Michal Pivonka, Dale Hunter, Todd Krygier.LW&mdash;Dimitri Khristich. Alan May, Keith Jones. Bobby Carpenter.RW&mdash;Kelly Miller, Peter Bondra, Pat Elynuik, Paul MacDennid.LD&mdash;Al Wrote, Calle Johansson, Rod Langway. Shawn Anderson.RD&mdash;Kevln Hatcher, Pau! Cavallini. Jason Woolley.G&mdash;Jim Hrivnak, Olaf Kolzig.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Don Beaupre, G, groin pull, day-to-day. Randy Burridge LW, left knee surgery, indefinite Sylvain Cote, D, hip flexor, day-to-day. &#9632;

Little-used Langway talks of dumping the ‘C’

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>The New York Rangers showed small signs of improvement after interim head coach Ron Smith took control of the team Jan. 4.The greatest improvement came on defense. The way things had been going at the end of Roger Neilson&rsquo;s tenure, New York opponents were getting an average of 22 shots on goal in the first half of the game.But a commitment to team defense seems to be the watchword of Smith&rsquo;s tenure and he has worked hard to encourage the Rangers to play a more defensive game.&ldquo;There are some basic concepts any team needs to live by,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;My job is to make it as simple as possible for the team to learn, believe in and execute those basic things, so that if we&rsquo;ve chosen the right system, it&rsquo;ll be great.&rdquo;Mark Messier, who clearly had differences with Neilson this season, said Smith&rsquo;s coaching tenets were &ldquo;music to my ears.&rdquo; Smith emphasizes forechecking pressure and puck pursuit, which is the way Messier prefers to play.After being fired Jan. 4, Neilson said the one thing that amazed him this season was the team&rsquo;s resistance to checking concepts. But in their first three games under Smith, the Rangers allowed just nine goals.&ldquo;If we start allowing 22 shots every night, instead of just on occasional nights, we&rsquo;re going to win a lot of games,&rdquo; Mike Gartner said.The Rangers won 50 games last season with a pressure attack that swarmed in the opponent&rsquo;s zone. It was an opportunistic attack that created turnovers and converted them.This year&rsquo;s team remains one that keeps throwing pieces out on the table, but never quite puts the whole picture together. In a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia Jan. 9, the checking stood up but the goaltending faltered as Mike Richter was pulled for the fourth time this season.And while the commitment to defense was apparent, the offense was kept pretty much away from the Flyers&rsquo; zone.&ldquo;I like the way we played,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;We had a lot of grit, a lot of enthusiasm. The confidence level is growing day by day.&rdquo;TALK, TALK: Roger Neilson had quite a lot to say after losing his job.When asked about his relations with Mark Messier, Neilson said: &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have any face-to-face confrontations. When we met the first day of training camp, he said, &lsquo;We may be miles apart in our philosophy, but you don&rsquo;t have to worry about that. I&rsquo;ll play my ass off for you.&rsquo;&rdquo;As though he didn&rsquo;t suffer enough during the week of his firing, Neilson&rsquo;s beloved dog, Mike, died of cancer before the former coach could get him back to Canada.NOTEBOOK: The Rangers were in a Patrick Division swoon. Entering a Jan. 13 game against Washington, they were 0-5-1 their past six divisional games, 1-6-1 in the past eight and 2-9-1 in the past 12.The team&rsquo;s road woes continued. After losing in Philadelphia, New York had lost five games in a row away from Madison Square Garden.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Messier. Sergei Nemchinov. Doug Weight, Randy Gilhen.LW&mdash;Adam Graves, Ed Olczyk, Phil Bourque, Joe Kocur.RW&mdash;Mike Gartner, Tony Amonte, Darren Turcotte, Paul Broten.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe. Sergei Zubov, Mark Hardy, Mike Hurlbut.RD&mdash;James Patrick. Jay Wells, Jeff Beukeboom, Joe Cirella.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jan Erixon, LW, hip pointer, day-to-day. Alexei Kovalev, RW, back spasms, day-to-day Brian Leetch, D, stretched nerve in neck/shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

Smith has defensive philosophy

<div class="byline">Wayne Fish</div>Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Bill Dineen had a little chat with his son Kevin Jan. 6 and it wasn&rsquo;t to discuss who would host the next family get-together.Kevin was mired in a two-goals-in-20-games slump and although he was contributing in other ways, he looked extremely frustrated.Dineen had just eight goals in his first 37 games, not acceptable for a player who had a career-high 45 goals in 1988-89 with the Hartford Whalers.The pep talk had its desired effect. One night later, Dineen scored his first hat trick as a Flyer to spark an 8-2 win over the Washington Capitals. He scored twice more in a 4-0 win over Edmonton Jan. 10.&ldquo;It was good to see Kevin snap out of it,&rdquo; coach Dineen said. &ldquo;He has struggled a bit but this should help his confidence a great deal.&rdquo;Kevin acknowledged he is a streaky goalscorer. It just took a little fine-tuning to get him back on track.&ldquo;He (Bill) doesn&rsquo;t say a lot to me,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;We just went over a couple key things and it paid off for me.&rdquo;Center Eric Lindros said he was glad to see Dineen regain his scoring touch, but the Flyers&rsquo; rookie pointed out that Dineen makes other contributions that go unnoticed.&ldquo;Kevin doesn&rsquo;t get credit for what a leader he is, how he is to younger players,&rdquo; Lindros said.STILL GOING: Goalie Tommy Soderstrom went in for another test on his abnormal heartbeat condition Jan. 5 and found out the problem still exists.But doctors say the condition, known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, falls into the &ldquo;tolerable range&rdquo; and the rookie was given clearance to play. He will be tested again in March.Soderstrom didn&rsquo;t miss a beat, winning three home games in four nights. He beat Washington, the New York Rangers and Edmonton, raising his record to 6-4-2 with a 2.95 goals-against average.NOTEBOOK: Eric Lindros aggravated his sprained left knee in a Jan. 9 game against the Rangers. He had some fluid drained from the knee and did not play against Edmonton Jan. 10. Doctors termed Lindros&rsquo; condition as day-to-day.Left winger Claude Boivin faces season-ending surgery Jan. 18 after tearing the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee at Calgary Jan. 2. Boivin was injured in a collision with Flames&rsquo; right winger Ron Stern. Boivin also sustained a fractured tibia and tom muscles.The Flyers&rsquo; 4-3 win over the New York Rangers was the 1,000th victory in franchise history. Philadelphia is the first expansion team to hit the four-figure mark. The Flyers&rsquo; all-time mark was 1,001-697-317.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mark Recchl, Rod Brind Amour, Keith Acton, Dave Snuggerud.LW&mdash;Brent Fedyk. Pelle Eklund, Doug Evans, Andre Lomakin.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Greg Paslawsidi, Dave Brown.LD&mdash;Brian Benning, Terry Carkner. Garry Galley. Shawn Cronin.RD&mdash;Ric Nattress. Dimitri Tushkevich, Gord Hynes, Ryan McGill.G&mdash;Tommy Soderstrom, Dominic Roussel. Stephane Beauregard.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Claude Boivin, LW, tom ligaments in left knee, indefinite. Eric Lindros, C. sprained left knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Dineen’s fatherly advice helps son shake slump

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>For half a season, Mario Lemieux looked like a man bent on making history, on putting his name next to one of the most impressive individual marks in the NHL record book.But that was before the Pittsburgh Penguin center slipped into a role he has played frequently in recent years: the star betrayed by a cranky back.In a matter of hours, questions about whether he could break Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s record of 215 points in a season were replaced by concerns about whether his back troubles were flaring to a crisis level again.Lemieux had little trouble with his back during the first three months of this season, but was advised Jan. 7 by doctors to rest for several weeks after he began to have discomfort near a surgical site in his back. He is scheduled to rejoin the team Jan. 25.Lemieux led the league in goals (39), assists (65) and points (104) when he was sidelined. He has appeared in 40 games and could play in 75 this season if he returns when expected.Back problems forced Lemieux to leave games against the New York Rangers Jan. 2 and Boston Jan. 5. He still seems optimistic about his chances of breaking Gretzky&rsquo;s record.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure if I stay healthy (after his rest), I have a good shot at it,&rdquo; Lemieux said.Lemieux&rsquo;s absence created a large void in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s lineup, but coach Scott Bowman revamped his lines and strategies to minimize the damage. Ron Francis took Lemieux&rsquo;s spot on the No. 1 line and assumed some of his duties on the power play.The Penguins maintain they will try to prove they can get by without Lemieux, at least for a little while.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be more of a team effort now,&rdquo; left winger Kevin Stevens said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to need 20 guys picking it up a notch and going from there.&rdquo;PACE MAKERS: The Penguins were on pace to obliterate their club record for points in a season.The Penguins have never had more than 89 points in a season, but were on pace to finish with 120 this year.Pittsburgh closed out the first half of the season with a league-best record of 28-10-4 and kicked off the second half with a 3-2 win against Calgary Jan. 9.And while doing well in the playoffs is the Penguins&rsquo; priority, the players clearly like the idea of putting up some impressive numbers during the regular season.&ldquo;We know we have a great team, but we have yet to prove it over the 84-game schedule,&rdquo; Bob Errey said. &ldquo;We usually pick it up in the playoffs. But we&rsquo;ve done a good job this year and a lot of guys are out to prove we&rsquo;re the best team from start to finish.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Bryan Fogarty, who has had a nominal impact since being acquired from the Quebec Nordiques late last season, was assigned to Cleveland of the International League Jan. 8. Fogarty had not started for the Penguins since Nov. 17.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Jan. 8: Mike Needham, RW. Peter Ahote, D. and Bryan Fogarty, D, assigned to Cleveland (IHL). Jan. 9: Needham and Ahoia recalled from Cleveland.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Dave Tippett, Martin Straka. Mike Stapleton.LW&mdash;Kevm Stevens, Shawn McEachern. Bob Errey, Troy Loney, Jeff Daniels.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Mullen. Mike Needham. Jay Caufield.LD&mdash;Ulf Samuelsson. Jim Paek, Grant Jennings. Peter Ahoia.RD&mdash;Larry Murphy. Paul Stanton.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso. Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mario Lemieux, C. sore back, Jan 25 Kjell Samuelsson, D, broken cheekbone, indefinite. &#9632;

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January 22, 1993

THE DRAW

Minor leagues a major draw

Simply the best

Players putting out maximum effort, but team receives minimal results