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.

December 3, 1993

The Hockey News December 3, 1993

<div class="byline">By Jeff Williams</div>Pierre Turgeon didn&rsquo;t play like an $11-million man through the first 17 games, but he made amends in a hurry.Turgeon scored seven goals and 10 points in three games in late November to lead the New York Islanders to wins over the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.That&rsquo;s precisely the kind of effort the Islanders expected from the man they signed to a four-year, $11-mil-lion deal prior to the season.Turgeon played his finest game Nov. 18 against the Canadiens. He was given ample playing time by coach Al Arbour and made the most of it at both ends of the ice.It was the game everyone-Arbour, general manager Don Maloney and his teammates-was waiting for.The Islanders have high expectations for their 24-year-old star and weren&rsquo;t thrilled when he was mediocre in a 4-12-1 start.He had only five goals before scoring a hat trick in an 8-1 win over the Senators Nov. 17. His performance seemed to inspire the entire team.Goaltender Ron Hextall-who had been horrible in his previous starts-regained his confidence, the defense was strong and the forward lines reverted back to the dump-and-chase style that made them so successful in the playoffs last season.&ldquo;Pierre has to be going for this team to be going,&rdquo; said right winger Steve Thomas. &ldquo;Pierre is the kind of person who wants to earn the money he&rsquo;s making. He needs to get a couple of goals and needs alot of ice time to get his confidence up.&rdquo;Turgeon began the season with a sore left wrist that kept him out of the first regular-season game and it took a few games to get strength back in the joint.His patent wrist shots from the right circle weren&rsquo;t getting through and he had troubling controlling the puck.&ldquo;Pierre is using his body more to get the puck instead of trying to sneak it out with his stick,&rdquo; Benoit Hogue said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when you know he is more involved. And when we (wingers) were digging a puck out, he was right there to support us. We didn&rsquo;t have to get it then look around for Pierre.&rdquo;NEW STYLE: Defenseman Vlad-imir Malakhov remains an offensive force for the Islanders, but he is concentrating more on defense this season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve encouraged Vladi to use his size and strength rather than just trying to stick the puck away,&rdquo; said assistant coach Rick Green. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve told him some things to do and it&rsquo;s up to him to do them. He&rsquo;s a strong guy and must take advantage of that.&rdquo;Malakhov had one goal and 18 points in 20 games.NOTEBOOK: Left winger David Volek returned to the Czech Republic following the death of his father Nov. 19. The Islanders weren&rsquo;t sure how long he&rsquo;d be out of the line-up&hellip;The Islanders scored three goals in 39 seconds in the 8-1 win over Ottawa. It broke the team record for the fastest three goals in a game (44 seconds) set in 1979 against the Chicago Blackhawks.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 20: Sandy Smith, LW, recalled from Salt Lake (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pierre Turgeon, Ray Ferraro, Travis Green. Claude Loiselle. Keith Acton.LW-Derek King, David Volek, Benoit Hogue. Marty McInnis, Joe Day, Sandy Smith.RW-Steve Thomas, Mick Vukota, Steve Junker.LD-Vladimir Malakhov, Tom Kurvers, Dennis Vaske.RD-Scott Lachance, Darius Kaspar-aitis, Rich Pilon, Dean Chynoweth. Wayne McBeanG-Ron Hextail, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brad Dalgarno, RW, hip flexor, day-to-day Pat Flatley, RW. broken jaw, indefinite. Uwe Krupp, D. broken sinus bone, indefinite. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Turgeon locates magic

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03713/6210444-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">-Richard Pollak</div>Some players play golf after hockey season ends. Stu Kulak of the Central League&rsquo;s Tulsa Oilers plays hockey after golf season ends.When you only make a few hundred dollars a week playing hockey, you&rsquo;ve got to supplement it somehow. Kulak, 30, is a Canadian Professional Golf Association instructor during the summer. That&rsquo;s his real job.He spent the past two seasons playing with a club team in Holland and the Erie Panthers of the East Coast League. He had three assists in his first game with the defending champion Oilers.&ldquo;This is my off-season job,&rdquo; Kulak said. &ldquo;I have no aspirations to move up in hockey.&rdquo;Kulak is one of most experienced players in the CHL this season. Only teammate Craig Coxc has played more NHL games than Kulak, who played 90 games with five NHL teams.BANG, BANG: Tulsa&rsquo;s Luc Beausoieil set a CHL record for two shorthanded goals in nine seconds against the Fort Worth Hre Nov. 10&hellip;Oklahoma City Blazers&rsquo; left winger Craig Johnson was suspended four games for leaving the bench to join a fight Nov. 11 against the Wichita Wind. Blazers&rsquo; coach Mike McEwen was suspended three games. &#9632;

Kulak tees off on CHL

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>Lying in a New Jersey hospital bed in September, Tommy Albelin must have thought his last chance to play regularly for the New Jersey Devils had passed him by.Diagnosed with a urinary infection called epididymitis, Albelin went from a spot among the Devils&rsquo; top six defensemen to the familiar position of limbo.&ldquo;When I got sick, I said to myself: &lsquo;That&rsquo;s just about typical,&rsquo;&rdquo; Albelin said. &ldquo;Finally I had gotten a chance to move into the top six and play a lot and then that came along and I was down at the bottom again.&rdquo;But Albelin has come back. Even before Scott Stevens sustained a strained right knee Nov. 18 in Ottawa, Albelin had battled his way back into the lineup ahead of rookie Jaroslav Modry.When Stevens was injured, the Devils were reminded once again how valuable Albelin is to the organization.Adversity never dampened the Swedish defenseman&rsquo;s optimism. He overcame a series of disappointments while remaining unselfish and ready to contribute.In Albelin&rsquo;s first full season with the Devils (1989-90), Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov arrived from Russia. Two years later, Scott Stevens was awarded to the Devils as compensation for free agent Brendan Shanahan going to St. Louis.When it became obvious two summers ago that Scott Niedermayer was ready to play in the NHL and Myles O&rsquo;Connor would be given a look in training camp. Albelin considered staying in Sweden.Lemaire called Albelin one of the team&rsquo;s top defensemen in training camp.&ldquo;If Abby didn&rsquo;t get sick,&rdquo; Lemaire said, &ldquo;he would&rsquo;ve been top six definitely.&rdquo;&ldquo;First of all, I&rsquo;m glad the coaches have the confidence to put me in,&rdquo; Albelin said. &ldquo;I just take it shift by shift, game by game. I concentrate on the defensive part of my game. I don&rsquo;t want to get scored on.&rdquo;NICHOLLS&rsquo; PAIN: An agonizing chapter in Bernie Nicholls&rsquo; life came to an end Nov. 19 when his infant son, Jack, passed away in California six days short of his first birthday.Bom with Down&rsquo;s syndrome while Nicholls was still a member of the Edmonton Oilers, the baby contracted spinal meningitis last January and remained comatose in an El Toro, Calif., medical facility.Nicholls and his wife, Heather, visited the child often. Then, hours before the Devils faced the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa Nov. 18, the center left the team and flew to California when doctors feared the worst. Both parents were with their son when he died.NOTEBOOK: Scott Stevens said his knee injury was not as serious as the one he sustained Feb. 20, 1992, and forced him to miss 12 games&hellip;Claude Lemieux did not have a goal in 13 straight games, a streak dating back to Oct. 20.Viacheslav Fetisov played in his 300th career game Nov. 17 against the Buffalo Sabres.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexander Semak. Bernie Nicholls, Corey Millen. Bobby Carpenter. Bobby Hoiik.LW-Valeri Zelepukin. Stephane Richer, Tom Choreke. Mike PelusoRW-Claude Lemieux, Bill Guerin, John MacLean, Randy McKay, Ben Hankinson.LD-Bruce Driver, Viacheslav Fetisov. Tommy Albelin.RD-Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Jaroslav Modry.G-Chris Terreri. Martin Brodeur.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Scott Stevens, D, strained right knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Albelin bounces back from adversity once again

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01911/6212507-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>Calgary&rsquo;s raging Flames blaze to top of standingsSTRIKE ONEThe best player in minor leaguesGO FOR IT THN columnist says shootouts great idea &#9632;

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HOT STUFF

&ldquo;To be honest, I might have strangled somebody.&rdquo;-Hartford Whalers&rsquo; general manager Paul Holmgjren after resigning as coach of the team. Page 17.&ldquo;The medical staff should show more pride in their work. They don&rsquo;t seem to know they are playing with the careers of pro athletes.&rdquo;-Quebec right winger Owen Nolan who contends the Nordiques misdiagnosed his shoulder injury. Page 19. &#9632;

QUOTABLE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05430/6210213-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="361" height="356"></div>The 1993 Hall of Fame inductees. Congratulations to the new men in the Hall: Steve Shutt, Guy Lapointe, Billy Smith, Edgar Laprade, John D&rsquo;Amico, Fred Page, Seymour Knox III and Frank Griffiths.Shane Churla. The Dallas Stars&rsquo; enforcer has gone wild in the west. He was averaging almost six penalty minutes a game and was on pace to break Dave (The Hammer) Schultz&rsquo; single-season record of 472.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06311/6210206-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="363" height="358"></div> &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div>Comparing NHL and National Basketball Association referees is like comparing road apples to oranges. The NHL says its proposed regular-season salary grid puts its officials ahead of counterparts in the NBA. In theory, that&rsquo;s true. In practise, it isn&rsquo;t. Some things to keep in mind: 1. There are 16 NHL referees and 53 NBA referees. It doesn&rsquo;t take a math major to figure out the two groups are not equal in number or in impacton the game. 2. All NBA game revenues are generated in U.S. dollars and all officials are paid in U.S. dollars. About 70 per cent of NHL game revenues are generated in U.S. dollars, but 60 percent of officials (referees and linesmen) are paid in Canadian dollars because the majority of them live in Canada. 3. Career spans are longer in the NBA. Eleven of 53 basketball referees (21 per cent) have at least 20 years experience. One of 16 hockey referees (six per cent) has similar experience. Plus, it&rsquo;s conceivable Andy van Hellemond, the NHL&rsquo;s 21-year veteran, might be the last referee to officiate two decades. 4. The average full-time NHL referee would earn $ 104,000 (in mixed dollars) for regular-season work under the league proposal. The average full-time NHL linesman would earn $69,000 (in mixed dollars). According to information supplied by the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association, the average NBA referee will earn $97,000 (U.S.) for the 1993-94 regular season. Add a universal $8,000 playoff bonus and $18,000 de facto travel allowance and the average NBA referee collects $123,000 (U.S.) before playoff participation bonuses. 5. An NBA crew-three referees-receives an average of $4,632.34 (U.S.) per regular-season game. An NHL crew-one referee and two lines-men-receives an average of $3,427.66 (in mixed dollars) per game. The one significant comparison we can&rsquo;t make is between gross revenues. We assume the NBA has substantially higher revenues, but unless Michael Eisner and Wayne Huizenga have suddenly gone stupid, we also assume the NHL is headed for improved fortunes&hellip;Rookie dinners should be banned. It recently cost the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; first-year players $5,200 to wine and dine veteran teammates. Call it conspicuous consumption. The money and time would be better-spent feeding the poor. A social conscience would be appreciated during these troubled times&hellip;If the NHL isn&rsquo;t going to eliminate fighting, it should provide win-loss-tie records of frequent fighters. Judges could be seated at ringside (oops, rinkside) to record decisions. Ask any hockey man and he&rsquo;ll tell you his team doesn&rsquo;t just want a tough guy, but the toughest tough guy. Note to scouts preparing for the 1994 entry draft: Unofficially, Peterborough Petes&rsquo; prospect Matt Johnson is 20-3 this season&hellip;Peter Forsberg&rsquo;s deal with the Quebec Nordiques is potentially worth $7 million, including signing bonuses that stretch to July 1, 1997. But what really drives the deal is earnings of $5,925,000 over the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons. Members of that exclusive club include Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux. Eric Lindros, Patrick Roy&hellip;The Florida Panthers asked for permission to speak with Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; amateur scouting director Ken Holland during the summer. But Panthers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke was denied the opportunity to hire Holland for the expansion franchise. The Red Wings have offered the highly regarded Holland a new post: director of player personnel and amateur scouting&hellip;Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; GM Craig Patrick, who makes Marcel Marceau sound like a blabbermouth, was asked in the fall if he has long-term objectives for the Penguins. &ldquo;I have some personal goals for the organization and we&rsquo;re part way there,&rdquo; Patrick said cryptically. He would not disclose them, but could it be he wants to equal the number of Stanley Cups (six) won by his legendary grandfather, Lester Patrick? Craig&rsquo;s father, Lynn, captured one Cup. Craig Patrick has won two Stanley Cups&hellip;Should empty-net goals and assists count in the scoring race?&hellip;Jamie Storr could be the highest goalie chosen in the draft since Tom Barrasso went fifth overall in 1983. The Owen Sound Platers&rsquo; netminder has an astounding.931 save percentage in the Ontario League and has at least one influential scout endorsing his candidacy as a top-five prospect for the 1994 draft. &ldquo;He will be a first-rate NHL goalie,&rdquo; the scout says. Storr smothers rebounds and covers the net with Patrick Roy efficiency when he drops to the ice. He was chosen one of three game stars in eight straight starts&hellip;Center Radek Bonk of the Las Vegas Thunder remains the consensus No. 1 choice-he is among the International League&rsquo;s top scorers at age 17-but don&rsquo;t rule out a charge by others, including Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; defenseman Ed Jovanovski. &ldquo;He plays with passion,&rdquo; a scout says. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have Chris Pronger skills, but his desire and determination are the best, bar none.&rdquo;&hellip;Note to Al Morganti, who writes so eloquently in support of shootouts on page 51: Surveys show people who like the instant gratification provided by penalty-shot competitions make bad lovers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011543/6210282-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="365" height="363"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021382/6210275-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="1141" height="1893"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandre Daigle and the Ottawa rookies spent $5,200 on dinner.</figcaption></div><h2>PROPOSED NHL OFFICIALS&rsquo; PAY</h2>This is what referees and linesmen would earn in regular-season pay had they accepted the NHL&rsquo;s final salary offer. Listed are individual ages, years of full-time NHL service and proposed 1993-94 salary. Officials with long dashes under years of service are minorleague officials under NHL contract.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031160/6210268-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="708" height="2394"></div> &#9632;

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Referees same in name only

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chiet</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011456/6210320-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Lachapelle and the replacements were calling more penalties. (BRUCE BENNETT/BBS)</figcaption></div>An uneasy truce between players and replacement referees and linesmen showed signs of faltering seven days into the NHL officials&rsquo; strike.Several prominent players were critical of substitute officials and player safety emerged as an issue.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough of these replacement guys,&rdquo; said Tie Domi of the Winnipeg Jets. &ldquo;Give them their jerseys, let them enjoy their few minutes of glory and get them out of there. We need the old guys back.&rdquo;Domi spoke out after teammate Teppo Numminen was checked from behind into the boards by Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres in a Nov. 19 game.Referee Brien Ricci, an accountant from Hancock, Mich., assessed Mogilny a two-minute boarding penalty. A five-minute major and expulsion from the game would have been more appropriate in the Jets&rsquo; opinion.&ldquo;That was brutal,&rdquo; Domi said. &ldquo;Teppo could have broken his neck. Those clowns don&rsquo;t belong here. The first couple of games were tame. Now it&rsquo;s real hockey and they can&rsquo;t handle it.&rdquo;Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues and Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings also expressed unhappiness with the situation. (For more on Hull&rsquo;s complaints, see page 30).Other players and general managers, though, said the new referees and linesmen were doing an acceptable job.&ldquo;I think the games have been well done,&rdquo; said Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; general manager Craig Patrick.NHL director of hockey operations Brian Burke said the level of officiating was competent and spoke to Hull and Gretzky about their concerns.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t feel there&rsquo;s a safety issue at all, or we wouldn&rsquo;t play the games,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;The fact is the rulebook is the same and rule 34A (which provides for supplementary discipline) is the same.&ldquo;The only difference is the guy wearing the stripes and if a player decides to take advantage of an inexperienced official and goes haywire, he&rsquo;ll be in New York in short order and he&rsquo;d better bring his checkbook.&rdquo;As things heated up on the ice, negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association (NHLOA) and the league resumed in earnest.The two sides met Nov. 21 in Hartford and again the following day in Buffalo, but hopes a settlement could be reached proved groundless. No new meeting date was set.&ldquo;The differences are on money, term and retroactivity,&rdquo; said commissioner Gary Bettman after the Nov. 22 meeting. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to get a deal done, but we can&rsquo;t yet. We would like to get these guys back, but they&rsquo;re not ready to lower their expectations.&rdquo;Apparently still to be bridged is a difference of $1.5 million in what the NHL is willing to give the officials in 1993-94 salary and benefits and what the officials are demanding. (Details of the league&rsquo;s final salary offer are on page 4.)Both bargaining units want to find a compromise in dollars earmarked for NHL budgets covering officials&rsquo; pension, severance, retirement, playoff pool and minor-league costs.Also at issue is the length of a new contract and whether a new agreement would be retroactive to season&rsquo;s start in October.The NHL has made a four-year offer, but the association has indicated it wants nothing longer than a three-year contract. It isn&rsquo;t uncommon for employers to refuse retroactivity when unions go on strike, rather than settle without a work stoppage.NHLOA chief negotiator Don Meehan said the executive committee was empowered to recommend acceptance or rejection of an offer, but an end to the strike required ratification by the 58-member association.The NHLOA also said no officials would return to work unless all officials were brought back.There was general agreement the replacement officials passed early tests, but problems emerged later in the first week of the strike.One criticism of replacements was that they focused so intensely on following the puck, they did not see the entire ice surface and exercise control over the whole game.No picket lines were erected by officials and all 40 games scheduled for Nov. 15-21 went off without a procedural hitch.<h2>Fighting majors up substantially</h2>Fighting rose by 60 per cent during the first seven days of the officials&rsquo; strike.Fighting majors went from an average of 1.5 per game to 2.4 in 40 games played Nov. 15-21. There were 230 games played with regular referees and linesmen before the strike.Also on the rise were penalty minutes, increasing from an average 41.9 per game to 47.7. Scoring remained the same-going up marginally from 6.7 goals to 6.8.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021052/6210313-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="518" height="200"></div> &#9632;

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Player disenchantment with replacements grows

<h2>Tugnutt one Mighty Duck</h2>1. Ron Tugnutt. Mighty Duck goalie blocked total of 90 shots in consecutive road victories.2. Jody Gage. Rochester Americans&rsquo; right winger third American Leaguer to reach 1,000 career points.3. Royal Military College. Beat Queen&rsquo;s University 5-2 Nov 20 for first OUAA win since Nov. 10,1991.4. Rangers&rsquo; specialty teams. Ranked No. 1 in NHL in power play, penalty killing.5. Player of week. Islander center Pierre Turgeon had seven goals, 10 points in three victories.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03702/6210351-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="590" height="717"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Turgeon</figcaption></div><h2>Savard-Smith wasn&rsquo;t savvy</h2>1. Denis Savard-Steve Smith. No amount of frustration justifies battling with weapons.2. Tampa Bay Lightning. NHL&rsquo;s worst road show; no wins, two ties in nine games.3. Heads up, 99. Already in sick bay are Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzer-man, Pat LaFontaine, Eric Lindros.4. Brien Ricci. Replacement ref failed to call penalty shot on thrown stick by Jets&rsquo; goalie Bob Essensa.5. Sophomore slump. Islander defenseman Darius Kasparaitis: no points, minus-12 in 17 games. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>An NHL Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s lawsuit against the league alleges the NHL hired Gary Bettman specifically to curtail player salaries.The union launched the suit this summer after the commissioner ne-gated contract offers made by the San Jose Sharks to Craig Simpson and Kelly Miller. Simpson, then with the Edmonton Oilers, was traded to the Buffalo Sabres while Miller resigned with the Washington Capitals.&ldquo;The basis of our complaint is that Mr. Bettman is not qualified to rule on a dispute impacting players&rsquo; rights to free agency because he is biased against the players,&rdquo; said NHLPA lawyer Jim Quinn.The union will seek to prove Bettman was hired with the understanding he would hold down spiralling player salaries. The suit also alleges that as an employee of the league, he is not an impartial arbiter on the legitimacy of free-agent offers.The league has served notice it intends to ask for summary judgment, a legal procedure for an immediate decision to throw out the suit.The case will be heard in the Federal Court of New York. A date for pre-hearing arguments will be set the week of Nov. 22.It could be years before a hockey player rendered quadriplegic in an on-ice accident will receive his settlement.The insurance firm of Ralph Cowan and Associates has appealed the decision of a Windsor, Ont., judge who ruled John Stein, 22, should be paid $8.5 million by the Town of LaSalle, where Stein was playing minor hockey. Legal wrangling could tie up the judgment for up to two years.Stein, then 17, was injured when he crashed head-first into the boards after skating over a hole in the ice.About $1.5 million of the award is not covered by the town&rsquo;s insurance. If the judgment is upheld, each ratepayer will face a $10-$15 increase in municipal taxes for 10 years.The NHLPA is looking for a suitable adversary in a battle over the sale of NHL jerseys.The association is demanding manufacturers of jerseys that bear players&rsquo; names pay $5 for each one sold.Ted Saskin, the NHLPA&rsquo;s director of licensing, said the union has informed more than 300 American and Canadian retailers that by selling the shirts without paying the fee, they are illegally exploiting a protected name. The question being worked out by union officials is who best to sue.&ldquo;It will probably be those people most resistant and unreasonable.&rdquo; Saskin said. &ldquo;That will send a message. as the Walt Disney Company has been doing for years, not to mess with our (trademark) rights.&rdquo; &#9632;

Suit says Bettman hired to kill pay rise

It&rsquo;s inconceivable to me how the NHL can continue to pay Gil Stein&rsquo;s salary after the Hall of Fame debacle and turn around and refuse to pay the officials more money.While it may be true referees and linesmen aren&rsquo;t perfect, what could be more terrible than what Stein did?The NHL should take the money they&rsquo;re spending on Stein and use it to put an end to the officials&rsquo; strike. I may be wrong, but I figure the NHL can afford to pay officials greater salaries for another 20 years easily.Dan Durkin. Hurricane, W. Va.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011635/6210413-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="576" height="852"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cam Neely is the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 power forward, a reader says.</figcaption></div><h2>Neely No. 1.</h2>Steve Dryden&rsquo;s article &ldquo;The Power Company&rdquo; in the Oct. 29 issue of THN said &ldquo;out of respect for Cam Neely&rsquo;s career achievements&rdquo; he rates fifth out of 10 on the list of power forwards.In my opinion, to play the physical style of game Neely does night after night-when he&rsquo;s not resting his leg-and still score the way he does, he deserves the No. 1 rating.I&rsquo;m sure THN offended Cam Neely and all Neely fans with this gross comment.Dennis Decevito.&nbsp; Homepayne, Ont.<h2>Yap attack</h2>I am writing with regard to your article &ldquo;The Babble of Quebec&rdquo; in the Nov. 5 issue of THN.After reading this article, Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; general manager Pierre Page reminded me of Ross Perot trying to shoot down the North American Free Trade Agreement on Larry King Live.Both Perot and Page do a lot of flowery yapping, showing one per cent substance and 99 per cent brainless tirade.Dean Rosenau, Whitehorse, Yukon.<h2>Pokey&rsquo;s place</h2>As a fan of the Cincinnati Cyclones of the International League, I was excited when goalie Pokey Reddick broke Gerry Cheevers&rsquo; pro record for most consecutive games played without a loss Nov. 5.It was a milestone that was greeted by cheers and adulation by the fans.The problem is, some sources have refused to give Reddick his place in history. First they say Cheevers&rsquo; record was 24 wins, no losses and eight ties. Reddick was 31-0-1.The problem was Reddick&rsquo;s &ldquo;tie&rdquo; came in an overtime loss. In reality, the game was tied after regulation and a five-minute overtime period. The Cyclones lost in a shootout, but according to IHL rules, earned one point in the standings. Reddick was credited with one point in the standings, just like a tie.I&rsquo;m sure if the NHL had a shootout rule when Cheevers played, he would have &ldquo;lost&rdquo; one of the eight games that ended in ties.Robert Nydick.&nbsp; West Chester, Ohio.<h2>Gentleman Mike</h2>As a Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; fan, I was saddened at the trading of Mike Foligno to the Florida Panthers.Though I think the trade was made with Foligno&rsquo;s best interests in mind, I feel the Leafs have lost a player who gave his team and fans 100 per cent dedication on and off the ice.About a year ago while attending a game between Toronto and the Detroit Red Wings, I had the privilege of enjoying the game in the company of Foligno.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021117/6210406-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="582" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Foligno showed fans he is a class act on and off the ice.</figcaption></div>He talked with us the entire game and acted as if I was the celebrity and he was the fan. He answered all of my questions as if we were friends for years.I want Foligno to know he has a fan for life who is going to miss a great player and great person.Brett Goddard, Windsor, Ont.<h2>Sunshine State</h2>Dear residents of Hamilton and Saskatoon and all of you who were skeptical that hockey would not thrive in Florida: Have you seen the attendance figures lately?Tampa Bay, a city with an average winter temperature of 75 degrees fahrenheit, posted the largest crowd (27,227) in NHL history.If you&rsquo;re still interested in a professional team, I suggest you look west, not south. The Edmonton Oilers are lagging in attendance and it can&rsquo;t be attributed to their performance because the Lightning isn&rsquo;t much better.Maybe the Oilers ought to move to Houston and the Calgary Flames back to Atlanta. See you on your vacation-and don&rsquo;t forget the lotion.Dan Santaniello. Miami, Florida.<h2>Shaq attack</h2>In the Etc. column of the Nov. 12 issue, Steve Dryden and Mike Brophy surmise that if the Florida Panthers draft Jeff O&rsquo;Neill next year &ldquo;the city of Miami could lay claim to the O&rsquo;Neall Bros.-Shaq and Jeff.&rdquo;I do believe Shaq plays in Orlando. Miami and Orlando are different cities. That&rsquo;s like a Florida newspaper in the 1980s identifying Wayne Gretzky with Calgary.Contrary to what Canadians believe, we realize Calgary and Edmonton are separate cities. They&rsquo;re in Saskatchewan, right?Howard Zalkowitz, New York, N. Y.<h2>Toronto mania</h2>I agree with Stephen Mays&rsquo; letter in the Nov. 12 issue of THN concerning the Toronto Maple Leafs having basically their own national TV network.The Sports Network and Hockey Night in Canada almost always show either Toronto or the Montreal Canadiens on their national telecasts. I think it&rsquo;s time the major networks showed all eight Canadian-based teams or change the name to &ldquo;Hockey Night in Toronto.&rdquo;Dennis Pasta, Victoria, B.C.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-2501&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 142409947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

f0006-01

Use Stein’s money to end refs’ strike

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011482/6210475-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theo Fleury is the Flames&rsquo; only player among the NHL&rsquo;s top 20 scorers.</figcaption></div>Robert Reichel was asked the same question most hockey people have been asking this season: How did the Calgary Flames end up first in their division after the first quarter?&ldquo;How?&rdquo; shrugged the Flames&rsquo; center. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s not alone. There is no single explanation for the Flames&rsquo; rise this season-nor any proof they can maintain an early-season pace that staked Calgary to a record of 14-5-3. It was the second-best mark in the NHL.This year&rsquo;s Flames defy analysis, not to mention the natural laws of hockey. They have just one player among the top 20 scorers-Theo Fleury-and are scoring at a lower pace than last season, yet coach Dave King&rsquo;s team ranked fifth in the league in goals-per-game.They have dealt with major injuries to core players, have a penchant for undisciplined play and been average on special teams.But they&rsquo;re up there with the best teams in the league-at least for the time being. What gives?&ldquo;Dave King tried something new last year,&rdquo; Reichel said. &ldquo;He wanted more effort. More blocked shots. More faceoffs won. These are all little things, but they become big things in the last minute. When you block the shot or win the faceoff or the goalie makes the save, then you win the game.&rdquo;Few teams did that with more regularity than the Flames in the first two months of the season. Here are some explanations why:&#9633; Look at their talent. The Flames possess a solid nucleus with three 50-goal scorers (Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts and Theo Fleury) and one 40-goal man in Reichel. There are two all-star defensemen, Gary Suter and Al Maclnnis. In Mike Vernon, they boast the most consistently underrated goaltender in the game. This is not the same talent that won the Stanley Cup in 1989, but in a diluted, 26-team NHL, not many teams possess more.&#9633; Their record in one-goal games. Eight of the Flames&rsquo; first 14 wins were by a single goal. For whatever reason, a team that used to get flustered when the opposition turned the heat up is now playing with more poise.&ldquo;Those are great victories,&rdquo; said left winger Paul Ranheim. &ldquo;Those are real character tests. If you can hang on to win by one-or come from behind to win by one-it really gives the team confidence.&rdquo;Calgary&rsquo;s only one-goal loss came Nov. 20 in Dallas, when they lost 4-3.&#9633; This team always starts well. Traditionally, the Flames are among the best teams in the league during November. It&rsquo;s April, once the playoffs start, that they run into problems. Part of the reason for that is geography. The wear-and-tear of the season generally catches up to a team that travels as much as the Flames do and this year, they will spend 88 days on the road, 11 more than last season. The Flames were 136-3 after the first quarter last year; 25-11-4 at the halfway mark. After Jan. 2, however, they were below.500 (18-19-7).Even though the team posted a 6-2-2 record in its first 10 games this season, the Flames didn&rsquo;t play particularly well. They were winning because Nieuwendyk was scoring a goal a game and the Flames were getting great goaltending.Although the Flames stood ninth in the league in goals against, Vernon has been among the league&rsquo;s best stoppers and Trevor Kidd was the first star in each of the four games he won.&#9633; The kids are all right. Unable to alter their player core through trades, the Flames adopted a different strategy and cleared out 10 players from the team&rsquo;s perimeter. With six open spots, the Flames had an extremely competitive training camp. The players who emerged (German Titov, Ted Drury, Sandy McCarthy and Kidd) have all added something special to the mix.Titov and Drury have excelled under King&rsquo;s system because it requires intelligent players who read and react to the play. Titov is a solid all-around player, someone who makes linemates better. He doesn&rsquo;t make many mistakes. After scoring just two points in his first 10 games, he had 12 in his next 10.Drury is better defensively than offensively right now and also demonstrates good hockey sense. McCarthy provides the most effective heavyweight presence Calgary has had in years. Kidd is a highly rated prospect who needed a chance to play.&ldquo;These kids are nervous for every game,&rdquo; King said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s good in the dressing room. Now, the veteran looks around and sees this kid kind of twitching in his locker and says: &lsquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s right. That&rsquo;s the feeling you want to have.&rsquo; &ldquo;Add Kelly Kisio, Paul Kruse, Wes Walz, Brad Miller and Lee Norwood and all of a sudden the Flames possess a whole new chemistry. All of them contribute enthusiasm to a team that had grown stale the last couple of seasons.&#9633; The achy-breaky players haven&rsquo;t killed them. The Flames have been forced to overcome injuries to Kisio, Suter, Nieuwendyk, Trent Yawney, Greg Paslawski and Kevin Dahl. Kisio missed 18 of the first 19 games with a fractured kneecap and Yawney hadn&rsquo;t returned after tearing a shoulder muscle in training camp. But the Flames have turned the negative into a positive.&ldquo;Because of the injuries, we have no one sitting out,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;That adds to your harmony. Everybody feels they are contributing.&rdquo;&#9633; All of King&rsquo;s men are happy. The Flames are practising less than a year ago. By March of 1993, the Flames looked burned out in some games.King played Vernon 27 games in a row at one stage and that contributed to his second-half decline. That&rsquo;s why they want to get Kidd some playing time early-so that Vernon is fresh for the home stretch when the tempo picks up.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had more days off,&rdquo; Ranheim said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re having shorter, higher quality practices. Vernie isn&rsquo;t playing every night, which is good for both goalies. Trevor gets a lot of experience and a chance to build his confidence. Vernie is playing the best I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He&rsquo;s not going through as much wear-and-tear. That should be good for both the goalies in the long run.&rdquo;&#9633; The Pacific Division has gone south. The Flames play in the league&rsquo;s weakest division. They have also been helped out a bit by the schedule-maker.The Flames had feasted on the NHL&rsquo;s weaker teams with a 5-0-1 record against the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Overall, in games against teams with sub-.500 record, Calgary was 11-2-1.By comparison, the Flames had a 3-2-0 mark against the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings. In their eight games against teams with.500 records or better, the Flames were 33-2.But in the end, all hockey seasons ebb and flow. Eventually, the Flames may get all their players back healthy and suddenly start losing all the games they&rsquo;re now winning by slim margins.&ldquo;Right now, we&rsquo;re at a point where, if there was one more injury or suspension, it might put us at a level where we really can&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;I mean, how much can you compensate?&ldquo;How many guys can play up and still keep that level where you&rsquo;re going to be successful?&rdquo;<h2>Winning the close ones</h2>Calgary has excelled in one-goal games, winning eight of its first nine. Here are teams&rsquo; records in one-goal games and two-goal contests in which an empty-net goal was scored. &#9632;

f0007-01

Calgary Flames playing game of one-upmanship

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011552/6210513-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="379" height="536"></div>The Hockey Hall of Fame is a huge, airy place, a high-tech paean to tradition built in the gutted shell of a stately Toronto bank.But even in the new Hall, the giants are jammed, red, white and blue shoulder to red, white and blue shoulder.More than any other team, the Montreal Canadiens own the Hockey Hall of Fame. One of the Hall&rsquo;s most popular exhibits is a replica of the Canadiens&rsquo; dressing room, reproduced in detail right down to the weathered thermostat.Two of this year&rsquo;s players inducted at the Nov. 16 ceremonies, Steve Shutt and Guy Lapointe, are exclusively known for their moments with the Canadiens. Another, Larry Robinson. will be elected within the next couple of years.Discount for a moment the Hall of Famers who either did not play in the NHL (it is after all, the Hockey, not NHL Hall of Fame) or who played with teams which are now defunct.A whopping 28 per cent of 140 elected players spent the balance of their careers with the Canadiens (see chart).Even when measured against the Hall&rsquo;s total 203 inducted players, 36, or almost 18 per cent, spent the majority of their careers wearing the tri-colors. That&rsquo;s almost one in five and that dominance of a Hall of Fame by one team is unique in North American sport.&rsquo;The New York Yankees, baseball&rsquo;s pre-eminent franchise and the winner of 22 World Series, have placed 15 players in that game&rsquo;s Hall of Fame. That works out to nine per cent.The Boston Celtics, the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s equivalent to the Canadiens, have won 16 titles. Eleven Celtics are among the 97 players enshrined in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. That&rsquo;s 11.3 per cent.For Shutt, a gifted and resourceful scorer who prowled the Canadiens&rsquo; left side for a dozen years, the explanation is simple.&ldquo;No other team has won 24 championships,&rdquo; said Shutt, now a Canadiens&rsquo; assistant coach. &ldquo;The reality is this is the best franchise in the history of professional hockey.&rdquo;The Canadiens&rsquo; emblem so much in evidence at the Hall, stayed with Lapointe, even when he left the Canadiens for the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues and became an assistant coach with the Quebec Nordiques. Lapointe now works for the Calgary Flames, but in the eyes of the public, he remains a perpetual Canadien.&ldquo;I accept that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased that people remember me.&rdquo;Naturally, the team with the greatest history of great players should have the largest crew of Hall of Famers. The Toronto Maple Leafs, second to the Canadiens in Stanley Cups with 11, are also second in Hall of Famers. Twenty-four Maple Leafs have earned enshrinement.But championships aren&rsquo;t the sole criteria. While the NBA and Major League baseball operated more franchises than the NHL during roughly the same time span, the Canadiens, Yankees and Celtics have won a comparable number of championships.Those teams may be their sport&rsquo;s standardbearers, but the Canadiens&rsquo; impact on the Hall of Fame proves that no team in professional sports has so dominated its sport. Their place in the Hall is natural and justified.Forget championships, what lasts are the images of superstars, from Howie Morenz to Rocket Richard, to Jean Beliveau to Guy Lafleur, embossed on the walls at the Hall of Fame and in the memory of fans who visit.<h2>Hall belongs to Montreal</h2>The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; dominance stretches beyond the walls of the Forum and into rooms of the Hockey Hall of Fame.Of the 140 Hall of Famers who played for NHL franchises that still exist, almost 28 per cent are Canadiens. The Toronto Maple Leafs are second with 17 per cent.Here&rsquo;s how the current NHL teams stand in terms of Hall-of-Fame players. Games played was the deciding factor for those who saw duty with more than one team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021214/6210506-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="532" height="505"></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Hall of Fame Canadien tradition

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03915/6210586-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Hockey Hall of Fame inducted Billy Smith, Steve Shutt, Edgar Laprade and Guy Lapointe Nov. 17.</figcaption></div>The hockey universe is unfolding once again as it should.Just three months after Gil Stein ended his end run at the Hall of Fame, the sparkling new Hall enshrined its newest deserving members Nov. 17.Four players, former New York Islanders&rsquo; goalie Billy Smith, former Montreal Canadien stars Steve Shutt and Guy Lapointe and veteran New York Ranger Edgar Laprade joined 200 retired players in the Hall.Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; owner Frank Griffiths, Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; owner Seymour Knox and former Canadian Amateur Hockey Association official Fred Page were enshrined in the builders&rsquo; category. Longtime NHL linesman John D&rsquo;Amico was inducted in the officials&rsquo; category.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04475/6210579-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="432" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Griffiths</figcaption></div>Longtime Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; broadcaster Al Shaver was honored with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award. Toronto Globe and Mail hockey writer Al Strachan earned the Elmer Ferguson Award.Stein became the first person to withdraw his-nomination to any Hail of Fame Sept. 17, the day a damning independant report urged the withdrawal of his name from nomination. On induction night, the talk was of merit, not Stein&rsquo;s manipulations.For Shutt, the visit to the Hall was a chance to go home and earn his sport&rsquo;s most lasting homage in front of friends and family.Shutt, a nine-time 30-goal scorer, three time allstar and five-time Stanley Cup winner, said enshrinement in the new Hockey Hall of Fame was the ultimate thrill.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05343/6210572-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="432" height="422"><figcaption class="caption-body">Seymour Knox</figcaption></div>&ldquo;For it to happen here and now, this is the chance of a lifetime.&rdquo; Shutt said.Lapointe, a Montreal native, was a vital part of the big-three, the Canadiens&rsquo; defense trio of Lapointe-Larry Robinson and Serge Savard that provided much of the backbone for five Stanley Cups.Enshrinement, he said, means being a part of a new team, one that spans the league&rsquo;s best franchises and players.&ldquo;As much as it&rsquo;s an honor to be included with Jean Beliveau. I&rsquo;m honored to be in with players from different teams and different eras like Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull and Glenn Hail.&rdquo; Lapointe said.Smith was the cantankerous biggame goalie largely responsible for the Islanders&rsquo; four-year Cup run in the 1980s.Laprade. a smooth skating center, won the Calder Trophy as a 24-year-old rookie with the Rangers and went on to win the Lady Byng Trophy in 1949-50. Laprade was elected on the veterans&rsquo; ballot.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-06274/6210565-1-eng-US/f0008-062.jpg" title="f0008-06" width="431" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">John D&rsquo;Amico</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-07211/6210558-1-eng-US/f0008-072.jpg" title="f0008-07" width="429" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fred Page</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-08172/6210551-1-eng-US/f0008-082.jpg" title="f0008-08" width="428" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Shaver</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-09141/6210544-1-eng-US/f0008-092.jpg" title="f0008-09" width="432" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Strachan</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-03

New slate of greats finds way into shrine

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>It can&rsquo;t get much worse for the lowly Edmonton Oilers.As the NHL&rsquo;s quarter mark passed, the Oilers were last in the league with a 3-17-3 record and had the worst winning percentage (.196).The Oilers are in serious trouble and there are few players with the Cape Breton Oilers of the American League who can help them.The team needs a front-line player and there are few ways to accomplish that goal. Their only marketable players are goaltender Bill Ranford, defenseman Dave Manson and resurgent left winger Shayne Corson.There has been trade talk, but until something happens or unless the Oilers move out of the basement, the heat mounts on coach Ted Green.He knows people are calling for his firing on phone-in shows, but he shrugs it off because he demands more from himself than any fan does.&ldquo;I put a lot of pressure on myself,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;For crying out loud, we&rsquo;re last in the NHL. I don&rsquo;t care how you slice it, that bothers you.&rdquo;It bothers everybody in the organization as well. But the heat has come to rest on Green&rsquo;s shoulders. And it was burning hot after the Oilers lost 4-2 to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Nov. 21. The night before, they battled the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-2 draw that was broken by Leaf winger Mark Osborne with 13 seconds left in the game.&ldquo;Hopefully this is as low as it gets,&rdquo; Green said.MEMORY TROUBLE: Ted Green doesn&rsquo;t remember the first time NHL referees held a work stoppage and he has the perfect excuse.&ldquo;I was too busy having a convulsion to notice who was there and who wasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Green said.It was Monday, Sept. 21, 1970 during a pre-season game between Green&rsquo;s Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues in Ottawa. Green and Wayne Maki swung their sticks at one another and Green nearly died from a head injury sustained in the first-period battle.Senior NHL officials weren&rsquo;t doing the game, having stopped work on over a contract dispute. Instead, first-year officials took over, including Ron Finn who worked that game as a linesman.Ken Bodendistel, a part-time linesman during the 1969-70 season, was elevated to referee. He doesn&rsquo;t think a senior official would have made a difference in the game.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; said Bodendistel, the Ontario League&rsquo;s director of officiating. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as if the game was building up to full-scale war and that happened. It was one of those spontaneous things that happened.&rdquo;Two days after that game, the senior officials returned to work.NOTEBOOK: Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington had his lawyers preparing a legal challenge to the court injunction obtained by Edmonton Northlands. The injunction prevents the Oilers from playing home games away from the Coliseum until their lease with Northlands expires in the 1998-99 NHL season.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 15: Marc Laforge. D, assigned to Cape Breton (AHL) Brad Werenka. D. recalled from Cape Breton. Nov. 17: Werenka assigned to Cape Breton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jason Arnott, Doug Weight. Scott Thornton. Craig MacTavish.LW-Shayne Corson. Zdeno Ciger, Scott Pearson, Dean McAmmondRW-Vladimir Vujtek, Steven Rice. Kelly Buchberger. Kirk Maltby. Shjon Podein.LD-Dave Manson. Adam Bennett. Luke Richardson. Geoff SmithRD-llya Byakin, Bob Beers. Ian Herbers.G-Bill Ranford. Fred Brathwaite<h3>INJURIES</h3>Igor Kravchuk, D. groin strain, day-to-day. &#9632;

It’s not easy being Green in Edmonton these days

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>Luc Robitaille was anything but &ldquo;Lucky&rdquo; for more than a month.That&rsquo;s how long it had been since Robitaille knocked a puck across a goal line.So his Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; teammates, being the sympathetic lot they are, pinned a new name on the perennial all-star: &ldquo;Sahara.&rdquo;Robitaille&rsquo;s goal production had dried up before he broke the longest slump of his career-14 games-with two goals in a 7-4 loss to the Dallas Stars Nov. 21.Robitaille hadn&rsquo;t scored since Oct. 16 when he collected two in an 8-4 win over the Calgary Flames. He failed to score on 43 consecutive shots after a third-period shot beat Flames&rsquo; goalie Jason Muzzatti.With seven goals in 21 games, Robitaille was tied with Tomas Sandstrom for fourth place on the Kings. He has never scored fewer than 43 in a season and had 63 goals last year, an NHL record for left wingers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be lying-or stupid-if I said this wasn&rsquo;t bothering me,&rdquo; Robitaille said. &ldquo;Sure I wanted things to change. I&rsquo;m never happy with myself. I expect a lot more out of myself than I&rsquo;m getting.&rdquo;Coach Barry Melrose also expected more, but at least he wasn&rsquo;t threatening to bench Robitaille.Melrose was critical of Robitaille&rsquo;s play in the early stages of his slump, but cut him more slack than he did other Kings.&ldquo;Barry and I have had some good talks,&rdquo; Robitaille said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t really care if the coach yells at me or not. I just want to play.&rdquo;Melrose wasn&rsquo;t happy with Robitaille&rsquo;s production, but he was satisfied with the manner in which he handled himself through the difficult period.&ldquo;Luc has matured a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Something like this might have sent him off the deep end a few years ago. He knows he has more to offer the team than just scoring goals.&rdquo;Robitaille has never scored fewer than 44 goals in seven previous seasons. He is notoriously streaky and could begin to scorch without a moment&rsquo;s notice.His longest previous slumps were eight games in 1987 and six games in 1991.BLAKE PEEVED: Defenseman Rob Blake was angry at Barry Melrose for benching him for the last two periods of the Kings&rsquo; 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues Nov. 20.&ldquo;He must have seen something I didn&rsquo;t. He was wrong,&rdquo; said Blake, who took regular shifts the next night in Dallas. &ldquo;It was B.S. I know when I&rsquo;m not playing well.&rdquo;When told Blake was angry, Melrose responded, &ldquo;Who cares? He shouldn&rsquo;t be mad at me. He should be mad at himself.&ldquo;If Wayne Gretzky has an average night, people say his back is hurting or his career is over. Rob is approaching the level of a Chris Chelios and he has to play that way on a consistent basis.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings were outscored 45-19 in nine straight road games, eight of which they lost&hellip;Goaltender Kelly Hrudey started nine consecutive games and made 12 appearances in a row before rookie David Goverde got the call in the loss to Dallas.Tony Granato went 15 games without scoring a goal.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 5: Robb Stauber, G, assigned to Phoenix (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Wayne Gretzky. Shawn McEachern, Jimmy Carson, Pat Conacher.LW-Jari Kum. Mike Donnelly. Luc Robitaille, Warren Rychel, Phil CroweRW-Tony Granato. Tomas Sand-strom, John Druce. Dave Taylor. Gary Shuchuk.LD-Alex Zhitnik. Darryl Sydor, Brent Thompson.RD-Rob Blake, Charlie Huddy. Doug Houda, Tim Watters. Mark Hardy.G-Kelly Hrudey. David Goverde<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Cold hands around net hamper Cool Hand Luc

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>After 11 weeks in Europe, free agent Petr Nedved returned to North America, vowing to sign with the Canadian Olympic team if the Vancouver Canucks don&rsquo;t trade him.The Canucks and the center were unable to reach terms during an acrimonious contract squabble that has deteriorated into a clash of personalities.Vancouver assistant general manager George McPhee said Nedved&rsquo;s rookie agent did not know the market and was making unrealistic demands. McPhee suggested in a letter to the agent. Tony Kondel. that he bow out of the picture. Nedved took exception to what he felt were attempts to drive a wedge between himself and Kondel. his legal guardian when he defected to Canada five years ago.&ldquo;Playing in Vancouver is over,&rdquo; Nedved said. &ldquo;For them to say I have to fire Tony Kondel to play in the NHL is ridiculous. I won&rsquo;t go back to Vancouver even if they offer me more money than I am asking.&rdquo;Nedved, 21, hopes his threat to join the Olympic program by the end of November will spur the Canucks into a trade. The Czech Republic native became a Canadian citizen last July.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be proud to play for Canada if it happens,&rdquo; said Nedved, who is living at Kondel&rsquo;s home in Calgary and skating with the University of Calgary Dinosaurs.George Kingston, the Olympic program&rsquo;s personnel director, won&rsquo;t touch Nedved without the Canucks&rsquo; blessing. The Canucks have no problem with Nedved joining the Olympians, providing he can be released at any time-perhaps for a trade.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not acceptable,&rdquo; Kondel said. &ldquo;Our position is that once we make a commitment to the Olympic team it will be improper to leave. We are negotiating with sponsors and can&rsquo;t tell them suddenly their superstar player is returning to the NHL.&rdquo;SOPHOMORE BLUES: Second-year winger Dixon Ward, a surprise last season with 52 points and plus-34, was struggling. He had just two goals in 15 games and was minus-6.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if frustration is the word or what the word is,&rdquo; Ward said. &ldquo;It got to a point where I&rsquo;m not worried about it anymore because it just compounds the problem.&rdquo;When Ward failed to produce and meet his own expectations this season, self-doubt began to creep into his every move.&ldquo;I tried to over-think every situation and when you do, you get hesitant,&rdquo; Ward said.NOTEBOOK: Gino Odjick put together a five-game points streak (four goals and six points) that was snapped in Vancouver&rsquo;s 6-3 loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Nov. 19&hellip;Coach Pat Quinn called the Anaheim loss &ldquo;maybe the worst since I&rsquo;ve been coaching here except for the first one.&rdquo; His first loss, after firing Bob McCammon Jan. 31, 1991, was 9-1 to the Los Angeles Kings.The Canuck power play scored at least one goal in all eight games Pavel Bure missed with his groin injury. In three games with Bure back, the power play went O-for-9.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 20: Stephane Morin, C, assigned to Hamilton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Greg Adams. Neil Eisenhut.LW-Geoff Courtnail. Sergio Momes-so, Dixon Ward, Gino Odjick.RW-Pavel Bure, Trevor Linden, Jose Charbonneau. Shawn AntoskiLD-Dana Murzyn, Dave Babych, Robert Dirk, Adrien Plavsic.RD-Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme. Jiri Slegr.G-Kirk McLean. Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Craven, C, groin strain, day-to-day. Tim Hurrter. RW. sprained right knee, indefinite. John McIntyre C, fractured left fort, indefinite. &#9632;

Nedved says he’ll play for Canucks…in Olympics

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>The last time Gary Suter went down with a serious injury, his long-time partner on the Calgary Flames&rsquo; power play, Al Maclnnis, responded with some of the best hockey of his career.That came in the 1989 playoffs after Suter broke his jaw against the Vancouver Canucks. The theory was, teams could crowd Maclnnis on the power play, making his life miserable.Ultimately, it didn&rsquo;t matter. He scored a point a game in the final 19 playoff games; won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff&rsquo;s MVP and the Flames won the Stanley Cup.Three years later, Maclnnis is being asked to do the same thing. The Flames&rsquo; defense was devastated by injuries-not just to Suter, but to Kevin Dahl and Trent Yawney.Maclnnis&rsquo; 24 points in 22 games was second among NHL defensemen. His play is at its 1991-92 level when he collected a career-high 103 points and challenged Ray Bourque for the Norris Trophy.Last season, Maclnnis&rsquo; missed three months with a careerthreatening hip injury. When he returned to the lineup, his play was good, but not sensational.Maclnnis said the hip no longer bothers him.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any side effects,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It feels absolutely normal.&rdquo;REESE A WHALER: It took them exactly a quarter of the season, but the Flames cut their goaltending rotation down to size.After starting the season with four goalies, the Flames traded Jeff Reese, last year&rsquo;s No. 2 netminder, to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for defenseman Dan Keczmer.Reese became expendable when the Flames decided to go with youth in goal. Trevor Kidd won the back-up job out of training camp.NOTEBOOK: The NHL suspended left winger Gary Roberts one game and fined him $500 for highsticking Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks in the mouth Nov. 13. Roberts said the contact was accidental; that he raised his stick to protect himself from a hit.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 15: Brad Schlegel. D, recalled from Saint John (AHL). Nov. 19: Jeff Reese. G. traded to Hartford Whalers for Dan Keczmer. D. Mark Freer, C. recalled from Saint John. Nov. 21: Freer assigned to Saint John.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Nieuwendyk, Robert Reichel, Joel Otto, Kelly Kisio, Wes Walz.LW-Gary Roberts. German Titov. Paul Ranheim. Paul Kruse.RW-Theo Fleury, Ron Stem, Ted Drury Sandy McCarthyLD-Frank Musil, Chris Dahiquist, Lee Norwood, Dan Keczmer, Brad Miller.RD-AI Maclnnis, Michel Petit. Brad Schlegel, Kevin Wortman.G-Mike Vernon, Trevor Kidd.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Dahl, D, separated left shoulder, day-to-day. Greg Paslawski. RW. strained left knee ligaments, indefinite. Gary Suter. D, torn left knee ligaments, indefinite. Trent Yawney. D. tom muscle in right shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

Maclnnis nicks up slack in wake of injuries

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are a quarter of the way home in their first season. And they aren&rsquo;t doing half bad.About the only thing that keeping them from looking like an expansion success story is the striking performance of the Florida Panthers, who would make the playoffs based on their 21-game record.Still, with six wins in 21 games, the Ducks were on a 24-victory pace. That put them ahead of the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; pace of 17 victories in 1991-92 and the Tampa Bay Lightning&rsquo;s 23 wins last season.After a shaky offensive start-they averaged two goals a game over the first 12-they scored nearly four a game over the next nine. The offensive standouts were Anatoli Semenov and Terry Yake-along with surprises such as Bob Corkum, who had seven goals and 14 points and Garry Valk, with five goals and 12 points.There have been ups and downs defensively, some of the downs coming when defensemen Sean Hill and Bill Houlder abandon caution and are too aggressive. But the team seems to recognize its chances of winning are linked to a tight-checking style.Other trouble spots include a power play that has had only modest success while allowing four shorthanded goals-tuming three possible wins into two losses and a tie.Positives are the goaltending of Guy Hebert and Ron Tugnutt and a crack penalty-killing unit that didn&rsquo;t allow a goal in 23 chances.Management is reasonably pleased and assistant general manager Pierre Gauthier said the front office is not pushing to make a big trade.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not looking to do anything. We still think we can improve with what we&rsquo;ve got,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;We feel confident. Most first-year teams get in that mode where they make trades right and left. We&rsquo;d like to maintain stability.&rdquo;GOAL IN GOAL: Ron Wilson believes it takes two or three goalies to play on an expansion team, but he&rsquo;s ready for somebody to take the lead.None of Guy Hebert, Ron Tugnutt or Mikhail Shtalenkov has stood above the competition, though Tugnutt certainly distinguished himself in two straight wins, a 6-3 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks Nov. 19 and a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Nov. 21.Tugnutt stopped a total of 90 shots in the two games and was particularly sharp against the Oilers.NOTEBOOK: Troy Loney is expected to be out until mid-December after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Nov. 17. The operation was necessary to remove damaged cartilage which has been troubling Loney. Todd Ewen, Stu Grimson and Randy Ladouceur are sharing the captain&rsquo;s duties&hellip;Anatoli Semenov. the former Moscow Dynamo player who sometimes claims his English is lacking, explained his success to the Vancouver Sun this way: &ldquo;Darwinism. That is my theory. Like animals in the jungle. The strong survive.&rdquo;<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: David Williams. D, recalled from San Diego (IHL). Nov. 18: Mikhail Shtalenkov, G. assigned to San Diego.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Anatoli Semenov. Bob Corkum, Shaun Van Allen, Patrik Camback.LW-Garry Valk, Tim Sweeney, Joe Sacco. Stu Gnmson, Robin Bawa.RW-Terry Yake. Peter Douris, Todd Ewen. Steven King. Jim Thomson.LD&mdash;Bill Houlder, Randy Ladouceur. David Williams.RD-Sean Hill, Alexei Kasatonov, Bobby Delias. Myles O&rsquo;Connor.G-Guy Hebert, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Ferner, D. strained groin, day-to-day. Troy Loney. LW. arthroscopic surgery on right knee. Dec. 10. &#9632;

Happy days here already

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>Going.500 on a seven-game road trip wouldn&rsquo;t get many NHL teams excited, but it&rsquo;s a major accomplishment for the San Jose Sharks.The Sharks earned as many points on the road in that one trip (Nov. 1121) as they did away from San Jose all of last season. It was the most productive trip in team history. San Jose won only three road games each of their first two seasons.The Sharks also earned an earlier road victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, giving them more road points this season than they collected in either of the previous two.The victories on the trip came over the New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals and Hartford Whalers and the tie came against the New York Rangers. All but the Whalers had been hot before meeting the Sharks.&ldquo;We proved something,&rdquo; Rob Gaudreau said. &ldquo;We played seven road games in 11 nights and beat some good teams. It&rsquo;s a good feeling.&rdquo;So good, in fact, the Sharks believe making the Stanley Cup playoffs is a realistic goal. They were 7-5-3 in a 15-game stretch and were only one point out of a tie for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.&ldquo;You start every year thinking you can make the playoffs, but reality set in pretty quickly the last two seasons,&rdquo; Jeff Odgers said. &ldquo;Now, everybody really believes we can make it.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s a goal new coach Kevin Constantine has drilled into the players from the start of training camp.&ldquo;To say we want respect has to be combined with some kind of success,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;We want to surprise people. We&rsquo;ve mentioned the playoffs and if we keep chipping away and hanging around, pretty soon it will be January or February and we&rsquo;ll still be talking about the playoffs. That&rsquo;s what we want.&rdquo;TOUGH TRIP: The road trip that was so successful left a little to be desired for goalie Jimmy Waite, the starter for two of the three losses.Waite started the first game of the trip and lost 4-0 to the Dallas Stars Nov. 11. His next start came in the last game, when he was pulled after allowing four goals on six shots in the first 14 minutes of a 6-5 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Nov. 21.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still asking myself what happened,&rdquo; Waite said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason for a bad game like that. After every goal, I told myself to concentrate and come back, but I couldn&rsquo;t concentrate.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie defenseman Michal Sykora, who sustained a strained right knee during the loss to Dallas, resumed playing with the Kansas City Blades of the International League. He might have a hard time winning back his spot because fellow rookie Mike Rathje has been impressive since rejoining the Sharks Nov. 10 after completing a two-week conditioning assignment with Kansas City.Goalie Arturs Irbe became the alltime leader in victories for the Sharks when he earned a 3-2 win over the Hartford Whalers Nov. 20. The victory gave Irbe 14. one more than Jeff Hackett.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 18: Mike Sullivan. C, recalled from Kansas City (IHL). Nov. 19: Michal Sykora. D, assigned to Kansas City.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-lgor Larionov, Todd Elik. Dale Craigwell, Jamie Baker, Mike Sullivan.LW-Johan Garpenlov, Gaelan Duch-esne. Bob Errey, Dave Maley. Shawn CroninRW-Sergei Makarov. Pat Falloon, Rob Gaudreau, Jett Odgers.LD-Doug Zmotek, Sandis Ozolinsh,RD-Tom Pederson, Jeff Norton. Rob Zettler.G-Arturs Irbe, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mike Lalor, D, tom right knee ligament. indefinite. Jay More, D, broken right wrist, indefinite. Ray Whitney, LW, strained ngnt Knee, inaetinite. &#9632;

Banner road trip has players talking playoffs

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011389/6210761-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"></div>One profound change that will undoubtedly emerge from the NHL officials strike is how the officials will be treated by their supervisors in the future. &ldquo;The first thing we have to do,&rdquo; NHL vice-president and director of hockey operations Brian Burke told Bluelines, &ldquo;is change our supervisors&rsquo; role from that of critic to that of a teacher. We don&rsquo;t do enough instruction and our young officials don&rsquo;t get enough guidance as much as they get hammered.&rdquo; Next year the NHL will follow National Football League&rsquo;s procedure of using tapes as a teaching tool for officials. Burke also said, &ldquo;a lot more penalty shots should be called.&rdquo; He will address that problem in the off-season.<h2>Kiss of death?</h2>The New York Rangers, who haven&rsquo;t won a Stanley Cup in 53 years, may have had a hand in David Dinkins&rsquo; loss in the New York mayoral race to Rudy Giuliani. On election day, Dinkins appeared on the front page of the New York Times showing off a Rangers&rsquo; emblem. To which The Village Voice observed, &ldquo;He might just as well have worn a sandwich-board saying, &lsquo;I will fail to win.&rsquo; &lsquo;&lsquo;&hellip;Keep your eye on Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; assistant general manager George McPhee. Word around the league is that McPhee is one of the brightest and fastest-rising young executives in the business. McPhee was offered the NHL vice-president job by commissioner Gary Bettman, but declined&hellip;Ifs funny how the snide, behind-the-back sniping at Ottawa Senators&rsquo; rookie GM Randy Sexton has abruptly ended with Ottawa&rsquo;s arresting improvement over last season.<h2>Garth and Brad</h2>Brad Dalgarno of the New York Islanders became an off-ice hit at the Nassau Coliseum recently. The right winger brought his guitar to the Coliseum, hoping that country music star Garth Brooks would sign it, which he did. &ldquo;But then,&rdquo; Dalgarno recalled, &ldquo;Brooks said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;d really appreciate it if you would wing with me on stage.&rsquo; I came on during the last couple of choruses of Friends In Low Places. When I walked out, people in the front rows were like, &lsquo;Who is this?&rsquo; It was just amazing. I was numb while I was out there and had a huge sense of relief after.&rdquo;&hellip;If Craig Janney of the St. Louis Blues isn&rsquo;t the most underrated productive NHL ace, then who is?&hellip;It&rsquo;s premature to label Eric Lindros brittle. That&rsquo;s what they said about Maurice Richard 50 years ago after he suffered two early career injuries. After that The Rocket became hockey&rsquo;s Babe Ruth.<h2>What&rsquo;s in a name?</h2>Although more than 30 years have elapsed since the term &ldquo;Juzdacheck&rdquo; was coined in Prague and environs, Czechs still use the expression to describe a devastating open-ice hit. The man for whom it was named, former NHL defenseman, Bill Juzda, is still a regular at Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; games. &ldquo;Juzdacheck&rdquo; came into vogue when Juzda played in a tournament in Prague for the Winnipeg Maroons in the late 1950s. &ldquo;I had a field day,&rdquo; the 73-year-old Juzda recalled. &ldquo;Back then, they all skated with their heads down. I just stood there and let them run into me.&rdquo;&hellip;Two reasons why the Los Angeles Kings have more heart than most teams-Dave Taylor and Pat Conacher&hellip;Nobody has done more with less than San Jose Sharks&rsquo; coach Kevin Constantine.<h2>Domi cover boy</h2>Why the fuss over Tie Domi on the cover of the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; media guide? The Albanian Assassin remains the most popular hockey player in Winnipeg and nobody knows it better than Jets&rsquo; GM Mike Smith&hellip;The NHL is formulating plans for a major weekly television show along the lines of the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s successful production. Finding a corporate backer is the next-and most formidable-challenge.<h2>Five class acts</h2>Class acts who go unnoticed: 1. Dale Hawerchuk; 2. Adam Oates; 3. Pat Conacher; 4. Al Pedersen; 5. J.J. Daigneault&hellip;The major strategic mistake made by NHL on-ice officials was not walking out when their contract expired on Sept. 15. By extending the deadline, the regulars gave the league the opportunity to train replacements and allow the games to continue&hellip;Early candidate for Norris Trophy: Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils. &ldquo;He has never played better,&rdquo; said Devils&rsquo; coach Jacques Lemaire. &#9632;

f0015-01

V-P Burke promises kinder, gentler ref bosses

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>Randy Sexton couldn&rsquo;t take any more.The Ottawa Senators&rsquo; general manager had seen his team go from it&rsquo;s pinnacle-a 3-2 overtime road win over the Montreal Canadians Nov. 17- to the pit-an 8-1 loss to the New York Islanders Nov. 13.Citing a lack of effort, Sexton was on the phone to the Senators&rsquo; American League affiliate in Prince Edward Island before the game was even over.&ldquo;To hell with this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;ll be five new bodies here. If I could get 10 guys on the plane, I&rsquo;d bring 10 up.&rdquo;True to his word, the next morning winger Andrew McBain, centers Andy Schneider and Jake Grimes and defenseman Hank Lammens were in Ottawa, although Schneider was the only one officially called up and that didn&rsquo;t happen until Nov. 19.None of the players were used in the Senators&rsquo; next game, a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils Nov. 18. but Sexton figured having them looking over his players&rsquo; shoulders served its purpose.&ldquo;I think (the callups) had a definite impact,&rdquo; Sexton said. &ldquo;I was happier with the effort.&rdquo;The message wasn&rsquo;t lost on winger Troy Mallette, who scored his first goal of the season against the Devils.&ldquo;When I saw four or five new bodies, I started counting numbers,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing if the guys are far away in P.E.I. It&rsquo;s another if they&rsquo;re here in the dressing room.&rdquo;NO PROBLEMS: The agent for Ottawa&rsquo;s outstanding rookie center Alexei Yashin said he and his client won&rsquo;t be asking for a raise.Yashin&rsquo;s deal pays him about $4 million (U.S.) over five years, ac-cording to Mark Gandler. That pales in comparison to the $12.5 million, five-year deal signed by Senators&rsquo; top 1993 pick Alexandre Daigle and lags behind the deals signed by other 1993 first rounders. Yashin was taken second overall in 1992.&ldquo;Alexei will honor the contract he signed,&rdquo; Gandler said. &ldquo;If he had a terrible year, he wouldn&rsquo;t offer to give the money back. Those are the terms of the contract.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Winger Vladimir Ruzicka was signed as a free agent to score goals, but he had just one through the Senators&rsquo; first 18 games. &ldquo;I worry about anyone who is assigned to score goals and is not scoring them,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;We want him to score goals and he has got to put some numbers up. That&rsquo;s a simple as I can make it.&rdquo;<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Daniel Berthiaume. G, recalled from P.E.I. (AHL) Nov.19: Andy Schneider. C. recalled from P.E.I (AHL) Nov. 20: Graeme Townshend, RW, and Daniel Berthiaume, G, assigned to P.E.I.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexandre Daigle, Alexei Yashin. Mark Lamb. Andy Schneider.LW-Vladimir Ruzicka. Dave Mc-Llwain, Troy Mallette. Darcy Loewen.RW-Bob Kudelski, Bill Huard, Jarmo Kekalainen.LD-Dmitri Filimonov, Darren Rumble, Dennis Vial.RD-Brad Shaw. Brian Glynn, Gord Dineen.G-Craig Billington. Darrin Madeley<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Archibald, RW, strained left shoulder, indefinite. Pavol Demitra. RW. broken right ankle, indefinite Norm Maciver. D, bruised heart, day-to-day Sylvain Turgeon. LW, broken left arm. indefinite. &#9632;

Sexton looks to P.E.I. to throw scare into complacent players

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>Gilbert Dionne is skating on thin ice with the Montreal Canadiens for the second time in as many seasons.The left winger was scratched for two games and only returned to the lineup because injuries left coach Jacques Demers with no alternative.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why I wasn&rsquo;t playing,&rdquo; Dionne said. &ldquo;I know I wasn&rsquo;t scoring. I know I wasn&rsquo;t producing on the power play, but no one else has. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised I&rsquo;m not in Fredericton.&rdquo;Dionne, was held to two goals and 10 points in 18 games. His goals were scored in Montreal&rsquo;s first four games. He hadn&rsquo;t scored since Oct. 11 at Boston.Dionne went through a similar funk last season when he slumped to 20-28-48 in 75 games after scoring 21 goals in 39 games the year before as a rookie. He was briefly demoted to Fredericton-Montreal&rsquo;s American League affiliate-for a three-game stint last December.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to play to be happy,&rdquo; Dionne said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m not, I might as well move on.&rdquo;Canadiens&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers said he hasn&rsquo;t written Dionne off.&ldquo;He will come back,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not giving up on Gilbert Dionne.&rdquo;BELLOWS OUT: The Canadiens, in an offensive drought this season, lost leading goal-scorer Brian Bellows to a freak rib injury Nov. 18 against the New York Islanders in a neutral-site game at Hamilton.Bellows was hit cleanly by an Islander player, fell backward and landed on top of the boards by New York&rsquo;s bench. He cracked a rib. He is expected to be out until at least early December.Bellows was leading the Canadiens with 10 goals. Through 20 games, Montreal had just 58 goals. After 20 games last season, the Canadiens had scored 93 goals.&ldquo;This is frustrating, especially when we need offense,&rdquo; Bellows said. &ldquo;But it gives the others an opportunity to get in and fill the void.&rdquo;Bellows is one of a number of Canadiens injured.Center Stephan Lebeau had a sprained right ankle, while left wingers Benoit Brunet and Donald Brashear were suffering from mildly sprained right knees.Defenseman Patrice Brisebois was close to returning from strained ligaments in his right knee while backup goaltender Andre Racicot returned from a similar injury Nov. 20.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll never hear me complain about injuries,&rdquo; Jacques Demers said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re part of the game and you have to live with it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to find excuses. The players in place have to do the job.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Donald Brashear was an instant hit for the Canadiens after being promoted from Fredericton of the AHL Nov. 14. The 6-foot-3, 206 pounder scored a goal and an assist in his first two games and provided an intimidating presence on the ice before getting hurt.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 14: Donald Brashear, LW, recalled from Fredericton (AHL). Nov. 22: Frederic Chabot. G. assigned to Fredericton<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Kirk Muller. Paul DiPietro, Ron WH-son, Guy Caibonneau.LW-VIncent Damphousse, Gilbert Dionne. John LeClair. Mario Roberge.RW-Gary Leeman. Mike Keane. Pierre Sevigny. Ed Ronan.LD-Kevin Haller. Mathieu Schneider, Jean-Jacques Daigneault.RD-Eric Desjardins. Lyle Odelein. Rob Ramage.G-Patrick Roy. Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brian Bellows. RW. cracked rib. indefinite. Donald Brashear LW, sprained right knee, indefinite. Patrice Brisebois, D, sprained right knee ligaments. Nov 23 Benoit Brunet, LW. sprained right knee, indefinite. Stephan Lebeau, C. sprained right ankle, indefinite. Peter Popovic. D, bruised right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

Dionne sits and stews

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>At the age of 32, Pierre McGuire is the youngest coach in the NHL. But McGuire, who was named Hartford Whalers&rsquo; coach Nov. 16, is faced with an old, painful problem: How to make the Whalers winners.McGuire was most anxious to do a job Paul Holmgren didn&rsquo;t want anymore. Holmgren, who added the general manager&rsquo;s duties to his job description Sept. I when Brian Burke went to the NHL, becomes full-time GM.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011137/6210840-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="576" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre McGuire was inspired to coach by Scotty Bowman.</figcaption></div>After last season&rsquo;s 26-52-6 record, Holmgren was off to a 4-11-2 mark when he promoted McGuire. An assistant coach last season, McGuire was assistant GM under the triumvirate setup. Kevin Maxwell remains as director of player personnel.&ldquo;Pat Verbeek asked me, &lsquo;If we&rsquo;re 11-4-2, would you be doing this?&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Yes, I would,&rsquo;&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;My wife and (assistant coach) Kevin McCarthy know how frustrated I&rsquo;ve been, how upset I&rsquo;ve been with certain individuals. It got to the point where I didn&rsquo;t like coaching.&ldquo;I played 11 years in this league and I don&rsquo;t know if I was a good enough player to play one. But I did because I cared and I worked my butt off. Having watched guys not do that with a lot more talent pushed me over the edge. To be honest, I might have strangled somebody.&rdquo;McGuire, in his first head coaching job, was Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins for their second Stanley Cup. McGuire said he used to cut school in Montreal to watch the Canadiens practise under Bowman. He met Bowman when Scotty took his daughter to St. Lawrence University and McGuire was coaching there.McGuire had his salary bumped from $125,000 to $200,000. Holmgren will make $300,000. McGuire made his first statement in his second game when he left Geoff Sanderson and Michael Nylander home rather than play them in a 6-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m mad,&rdquo; said Sanderson, who led the Whalers with 13 goals. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m going to stay that way until I&rsquo;m back and playing well. I want to show (McGuire), stick it to him.&rdquo;Sanderson and Nylander were back in the lineup for a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks Nov. 20 that dropped the Whalers to 1-12-2 since Oct. 14 and 0-3-0 under McGuire.GOALIE SHUFFLE: Paul Holm-gren acquired veteran backup goaltender Jeff Reese from the Calgary Flames for defenseman Dan Keczmer Nov. 19.The Whalers will add a fourthround pick if Reese starts 25 games the rest of the season. Holmgren called it a band-aid move.With Reese expected to debut Nov. 23 against the Florida Panthers, the Whalers will have used five goalies through 21 games.Sean Burke, who had played only two of the past 37 regular-season games, was expected back in the lineup by the first week of December. He was out with a series of hamstring pulls.Mario Gosselin, meanwhile, was out with anterior cruciate ligament damage in his left knee. Surgery might put him out for the remainder of the season.NOTEBOOK: Owner Richard Gordon&rsquo;s son, David, was the hero of Boston College&rsquo;s stunning 41-39 victory over No. 1 ranked Notre Dame in U.S. college football. He kicked a 41-yard field goal with no time left on the clock.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Dan Keczmer, D, and future considerations traded to Calgary lor Jeff Reese, G. Mike Lenarduzzi, G. assigned to Springfield (AHL). Nov. 16: Paul Holmgren, coach-acting general manager, named GM. Pierre McGuire, assistant GM, named coach.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Andrew Cassels, Darren Turcotte, Michael Nylander, Mark Janssens. Robert PetrovickyLW-Geoff Sanderson, Brian Propp, Jim McKenzie, Jim Storm, Randy CunneyworthRW-Pat Verbeek, Robert Kron. Mark Greig. Marc Potvin.LD-Bryan Marchment, Chris Pronger, Zarley Zalapski, Al Pedersen. Bob McGill.RD-James Patrick, Brad McCrimmon, Adam Burt.G-Frank Pietrangelo, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sean Burke. G. hamstring pull, day-to-day Mario Gosselin. G. damaged left knee ligament, indefinite. Jim Sandlak, RW. fractured right foot, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0017-01

McGuire takes coaching reins

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>Tom Barrasso became the 21st NHL goalie to get 250 career victories when the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 Nov. 18.Barrasso claimed his place in history in style, making 32 saves and being named the game&rsquo;s No. 1 star.&ldquo;That (250 wins) is a big thing for a goalkeeper,&rdquo; said Pittsburgh coach Ed Johnston, who won 236 games during his 16-season career. &ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t many guys who have posted that number.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty elite company to be in,&rdquo; Barrasso said. &ldquo;I think that says something for what I&rsquo;ve been able to do. It&rsquo;s the equivalent of 1,000 points for a forward&hellip;I think it says something for my staying power and being able to do it in the time frame I have.&rdquo;Barrasso, 28, had little time to savor his achievement. The next day he was taking a test to pinpoint a problem he was having with his left hip.But there would be no answers that day, so Barrasso still did not know what condition was causing his range of motion to be so severely restricted.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve noticed a deterioration in the last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But in the last six weeks, it has gotten progressively worse. At some point, you have to stop and find out what&rsquo;s wrong.&rdquo;Tests failed to pinpoint his problem. The next scheduled step was a bone scan.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011177/6210871-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="601" height="806"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Barrasso has been playing with a deteriorating hip.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I kept thinking it was a muscular problem and that it was going to go away,&rdquo; Barrasso said. &ldquo;But the more (medical) people I talk to, the less likely it looks like a muscular problem. It looks like it&rsquo;s some kind of problem with the joint in my hip.&rdquo;Barrasso was understandably eager to learn the nature of his problem, but didn&rsquo;t appear to be in danger of suffering an anxiety attack before answers became available.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see where it goes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All we can do is keep checking and hopefully we&rsquo;ll find the answer we&rsquo;re looking for. We&rsquo;ve got a good staff of doctors.&rdquo;The Penguins were hoping the problem, when identified, would not be a major one. Barrasso is a critical part of their team and likely will be for many more seasons.&ldquo;Tommy has got a long way to go,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;I think Tommy&rsquo;s capable of getting 500 (wins).&rdquo;QUARTERLY REPORT: The Penguins got more injuries-and fewer goals-than they would have liked during the first quarter of the season, but they remained optimistic.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play our best hockey so far,&rdquo; said right winger Joe Mullen. &ldquo;And I think we&rsquo;re a little disappointed with that. But I think that in the long run, we&rsquo;re in a good position and things should get a lot better.&rdquo;The Penguins were 11-7-3 during the first quarter, good for a share of first place in the Northeast Division. Which means their mediocre offense and often-limp power play haven&rsquo;t inflicted lethal blows.&ldquo;We have to be pleased with our position in the standings,&rdquo; Larry Murphy said, &ldquo;taking into consideration how we&rsquo;ve been playing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Howard Baldwin, the Penguins&rsquo; chairman of the board, downplayed talk that Mario Lemieux considered retiring when back and conditioning problems forced him from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s lineup in mid-November. &ldquo;He was a frustrated man,&rdquo; Baldwin said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think that thought is in his mind at all now.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Nicole Meloche, wife of Penguins&rsquo; scout and goalie coach Gilles Meloche, died in Montreal after a long battle with cancer.Defenseman Pat Neaton didn&rsquo;t need long to get his first goal. He scored in the 11-5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers Nov. 16, just hours after being recalled from the Cleveland Lumbeijacks of the International League.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Pat Neaton, D. recalled from Cleveland (IHL). Ladislav Karabin, LW. assigned to Cleveland. Nov. 17: Greg Brown, D. assigned to San Diego (IHL) Nov. 18: Ed Patterson. RW. and Greg Andrusak, D. recalled from Cleveland<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Ron Francis, Martin Straka, Bryan Trottier, Mike Stapleton.LW-Kevin Stevens. Markus Naslund, Doug Brown. Jeff DanielsRW-Rick Tocchet, Jaromir Jagr. Joe Mullen, Ed Patterson.RD-Larry Murphy, Kjell Samuelsson. Pat Neaton. Greg Andrusak.LD-Ulf Samuelsson, Jim Paek. Grant Jennings.G-Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mario Lemieux. C, back surgery, indefinite. Marty McSortey. D, sprained ankle, day-to-day. Mike Needham RW. strained back, indefinite. Mike Ramsey. D. broken toe, day-to-day. Peter Taglianetti, D, strained neck, day-to-day. &#9632;

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Black injury cloud hangs over Barrasso’s milestone

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>The Buffalo Sabres lost their captain and points leader to a knee injury for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.Pat LaFontaine, a Hart Trophy runner-up last season, was felled by a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He will have to undergo major reconstructive surgery and the prognosis is he will be ready for training camp next season.LaFontaine made the announcement Nov. 19 along with Gerry Mee-han, the Sabres&rsquo; executive vice-president, and John Muckier, the coach-general manager.&ldquo;It has been a very difficult two or three days,&rdquo; Lafontaine said. &ldquo;I injured my knee in the first game (of the season) in Boston and from that point on I had considerable swelling, chronic swelling, through the next 15 games. As a result, I don&rsquo;t think I was anywhere near 100 per cent.&rdquo;That led to a series of knee examinations in Buffalo and with two doctors in New York City. The doctors told him his knee was nowhere near 100 per cent and that if he continued to play, it would only get worse.&ldquo;Playing on it would cause further complications,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;But if I do have surgery, I could be back to 100 per cent and playing.&rdquo;LaFontaine sustained a slight ligament tear in his knee five years ago while playing for the New York Islanders. A minor knee injury in February limited his effectiveness during the playoffs last season.He underwent an arthroscopic examination at the end of the playoffs, but no surgery was performed. He said a further injury in the opening game at Boston caused complications.Muckier said LaFontaine kept his pain to himself this season and complimented him on his courage.LaFontaine had 18 points in 16 games, but it was clear he was not skating with the same speed and quickness he had shown in previous seasons. No date has been scheduled for the surgery.NOTEBOOK: In the absence of Pat LaFontaine. Alexander Mogilny is the first Russian-born player ever to captain an NHL team. John Muckier said Mogilny is a true com-petitor and has no doubt Mogilny will be able to maintain a leadership role&hellip;Muckier said he planned no immediate changes in the form of trades, but would realign his lineup in the hopes of producing more goals. He moved Dale Hawerchuk to center with Mogilny. He also recalled center Doug Macdonald from the Rochester Americans of the American League.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 17: Doug Macdonald, C, recalled from Rochester (AHL). Nov. 19: Scott Thomas, RW. recalled from Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Dale Hawerchuk. Derek Plante, Dave Hannan, Doug Macdonald.LW-Yuri Khymlev. Randy Wood. Brad May. Rob Ray,RW-Alex Mogilny. Donald Audette. Wayne Presley, Scott Thomas.LD-Doug Bodger. Richard Smehlik, Petr Svoboda. Randy Moller.RD-Ken Sutton. Craig Muni, Gord Donnelly. Philippe Boucher.G-Grant Fuhr, Dominik Hasek.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Pal LaFontaine. C. right knee surgery. out for season Sergei Petrenko. RW. gram strain, day-to-day. Craig Simpson, LW, sore back, day-to-day. Bob Sweeney. C. bruised ribs. day-to-day Denis Tsygurov D, severe charley horse, indefinite. &#9632;

LaFontaine finished for season with surgery on injured knee

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>Owen Nolan is furious the Quebec Nordiques didn&rsquo;t act early enough to properly diagnose and treat his injured left shoulder.The fiery right winger and Toronto-based agent Gene McBumey are demanding the team compensate him for what they contend is negli-gence.Nolan underwent arthroscopic surgery Nov. 16 to determine the extent of the injury that forced him to miss most of the first quarter of the season.&ldquo;The scope proved the damage to Owen&rsquo;s left shoulder was more important than previously detected,&rdquo; said Dr. Pierre Beauchemin in a news release.Earlier tests indicated the shoulder was stable. He injured it in the playoffs last season.But the Nov. 16 scope proved there was a stability problem which could only be corrected by surgery. Nolan had surgery Nov. 25 and is expected to be out until at least the end of February and possibly the season. McBumey was furious when he heard the diagnosis.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to examine this situation under every possible aspect,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I do not like the way the organization treated the case. (Nolan) did not seem to receive the medical attention he should have gotten.&ldquo;I still maintain if he had had his shoulder scoped as early as last March, we would not be discussing this matter right now.&rdquo;McBurney has asked to meet with Nordiques&rsquo; president Marcel Aubut to discuss possible financial compensation for Nolan, whose contract calls for substantial amounts to be paid in personal bonuses.Nolan was talking much tougher than his agent in his response to the situation.&ldquo;I am not the only case of misdiagnosis in this dressing room,&rdquo; said Nolan without revealing specifics. &ldquo;The medical staff should show more pride in their work. They don&rsquo;t seem to know they are playing with the careers of pro athletes.&rdquo;Assistant general manager Sherry Bassin defended the medical staff.&ldquo;This is a medical problem and not a contractual problem as some people are trying to make it out to be,&rdquo; Bassin said. &ldquo;The competence of our medical staff is not at cause here. Our staff is very competent and would not take chances with our star players.&rdquo;MATTER OF STYLE: Coach-general manager Pierre Page has tried to convince the Nordiques to concentrate more on defense this season, but some of the players aren&rsquo;t thrilled with the change.One player who supports the style change, however, is Swedish center Mats Sundin, who led the team with 114 points a year ago.&ldquo;Pierre knows what he&rsquo;s doing,&rdquo; Sundin said. &ldquo;Sure, it&rsquo;s not easy to change. But it&rsquo;s for our own good. It&rsquo;s the only way we&rsquo;ll win.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Stephane Fiset will be sidelined longer than expected with a strained lower back. The Nordiques&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender is having difficulty staying pain-free on skates. He is out of the lineup indefinitely.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 20: Mike McKee, D, assigned io Cornwall (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Mike Ricci.LW-Chris Simon, Valeri Kamensky. Martin Rucinsky, Martin Gelinas, Chris Lindberg, Tony Twist.RW-Claude Lapointe. Scott Young, lain Fraser. Andrei Kovalenko, Paul MacDermid.LD-Steven Finn. Curtis Leschyshyn. Craig Wolanin. Kerry Huffman.RD-David Katpa, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov.G-Jacques Cloutier. Jocelyn Thibault.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Flset. G, strained tower back, indefinite. Owen Notan. RW. left shoulder surgery. Indefinite. &#9632;

Nolan says team at fault

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>Glen Murray has an impeccable sense of timing.The Boston Bruins&rsquo; first-round draft pick from 1991 made the opening-night roster for the second straight year, but again didn&rsquo;t have a strong start.Murray was assigned to the Providence Bruins of the American League in mid-November of last year for basically the rest of the season. He came up for six scoreless outings in January, returned again from Providence in late February to get one assist in seven games, then went back to the minors for good. Boston didn&rsquo;t call him up for the playoffs.Murray played 18 games without a goal this year, but burst out for two Nov. 18 against the San Jose Sharks, when coach Brian Sutter put him in Cam Neely&rsquo;s spot on the first line.&ldquo;I thought I might end up playing on that line,&rdquo; Murray said, &ldquo;but I told myself to go out and play relaxed, not to worry about it.&rdquo;Murray may not have known, but if he hadn&rsquo;t chipped in soon Sutter might have sent him to Providence.&ldquo;No question,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;When a guy&rsquo;s not putting the puck in the net, you&rsquo;ve got to look at what&rsquo;s best for the club. We&rsquo;ve been very, very patient with him.&rdquo;Murray, 21, is supposed to be like the player whose spot he filled. Neely has long said he must play a physical game to be successful and Murray is learning he must do the same thing.&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t be satisfied unless I keep working hard and taking the man.&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;It gives me more chances to score.&ldquo;The coaches keep reminding me about it and I keep reminding myself: Take the man, take the man, take the man. And I will&mdash;it&rsquo;s in my head.&rdquo;Murray started the season on a line with rookies Cam Stewart and Bryan Smolinski, but when Stewart fractured a finger and as Smolinski developed into a top first-year player, Sutter started to shuffle the deck: Murray&rsquo;s two-goal effort has earned him another game in the same spot for games Neely sits out, but when Neely plays Murray drops to the third or fourth line.INJURY OF WEEK: The Bruins, who specialize in getting at least one player get hurt each week, came up with another bizarre one in a 4-2 win Nov. 17 over the Hartford Whalers.Defenseman Glen Featherstone, faring well in a fight with Whaler Marc Potvin, missed with a roundhouse right, was taken down by Potvin while off-balance and sprained his left shoulder.&ldquo;I need training wheels,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: The Bruins tied six of their first 20 games after tying only seven games last season. Four of Boston&rsquo;s six ties were in Saturday games&hellip;Dave Reid, who scored a career-high 20 goals last season, hadn&rsquo;t scored through 20 games. However, he was plus-8.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 14: Sergei Zholtok. C, and Darren Banks, LW. assigned to Providence (AHL). Nov. 17: Zholtok recalled from Providence. Nov. 19: Banks and Andrew McKim. C, recalled from Providence Nov. 20: Banks and McKim assigned to Providence.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Bryan Smolinski. Jo-zef Stumpel, Serger Zholtok.LW-Ted Donato. Steve Leach. Dave Reid. Brent Hughes.RW-Cam Neely. Steve Heinze, Glen Murray, Dmitri Kvartalnov.LD-Gten Wesley, Don Sweeney. Gord Roberts.RD-Ray Bourque. David Shaw. Paul Stanton.G-Jon Casey. John Blue.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Glen Featherstone, D, sprained left shoulder, day-to-day. Joe Juneau, LW, fractured jaw, day-to-day. Daniel Marois, RW. shoulder surgery, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW. sore left knee, day-to-day. Cam Stewart, LW. fractured finger, day-to-day. &#9632;

Murray emulates Neely and rises to occasion

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div>Jacques Plante&rsquo;s revolutionary use of a fiberglass face mask in a regular NHL game has produced reaction ranging from &ldquo;start of a new trend,&rdquo; to &ldquo;sissifying the game of hockey.&rdquo;New York Rangers&rsquo; coach Phil Watson said Plante was &ldquo;steady and not jittery as he usually is in Madison Square Garden,&rdquo; Nov. 1 in the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; 3-1 win.Montreal coach Toe Blake said he thought the Canadiens played their finest game of the season after Plante donned the mask. Blake told reporters he planned to let Plante wear the mask at the end of the campaign even if the goalie had not been hurt.Other were less ecstatic about the invention.Maurice (Rocket) Richard said he thought the mask caused blind spots, particularly at the goalie&rsquo;s feet. Plante&rsquo;s colleague, Rangers&rsquo; netminder Gump Worsley, really debunked the mask as a panacea for puckstopping.&ldquo;How the hell can a mask protect you when it&rsquo;s flush against the face?&rdquo; Worsley asked. &ldquo;They say you don&rsquo;t get cut, just bruised when a puck hits the mask. Well, sometimes it&rsquo;s better to get cut than bruised.&rdquo;Worsley was asked six times and six different ways whether he would wear a mask. His &ldquo;no&rdquo; was as emphatic as a split save on Jean Beliveau.&ldquo;My objection to the mask is that it&rsquo;s not necessary,&rdquo; Worsley said. &ldquo;Why all of a sudden after hockey has been played for 70 years do they decide we should wear masks?&rdquo;A reporter told Worsley it was merely a process of evolution, the same as in baseball where catchers at first were reluctant to wear masks.&ldquo;Awww, don&rsquo;t tell me that and don&rsquo;t tell me the game has changed. Besides, you don&rsquo;t see college goalies wearing masks and they&rsquo;re a careful bunch. Do boxers wear masks?&ldquo;Plante may make a pot full of money on that mask idea. He can have it. I don&rsquo;t want the thing.&rdquo;Worsley was asked if he ever was badly hurt about the face. He shook his head and rapped his knuckles for good luck on the wooden bench.&ldquo;If I had been, I wouldn&rsquo;t be here,&rdquo; he said.Rookie Irvin Spencer wondered why the fuss over goalie masks.&ldquo;Defensemen have to get in front of shots,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but nobody ever says we should wear masks.&rdquo;&ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; said trainer Frank Paice. &ldquo;If they keep that up they&rsquo;ll make a sissy game out of hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

Opposition to Plante’s goalie mask

Jim Peplinski isn&rsquo;t one to dwell on the past, but there&rsquo;s one moment of his NHL career he&rsquo;d like to change.The right winger spent 10 seasons in the NHL with the Calgary Flames from 1980 to 1990 and while he was fortunate enough to play on a Stanley Cup champion, he didn&rsquo;t play in the Cup-clinching game.Peplinski and Tim Hunter were not in the lineup for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final May 25, 1989 against the Montreal Canadiens. &lsquo;Pepper&rsquo; spent much of the game preparing for a possible Game 7 by riding an exercise bike in the dressing room.The two players were still dressed in tracksuits when they joined the celebration after the Flames beat the Canadiens 4-2.It wasn&rsquo;t the way it was supposed to be for the hardworking Peplinski, who had established himself as one of the team leaders after being drafted by the Atlanta Flames in the fourth round of the 1979 entry draft.He had hoped to contribute in a greater capacity on the ice.&ldquo;Yeah, I was disappointed,&rdquo; said Peplinski, who scored 423 points in 705 career games. &ldquo;But whether it was right or wrong it happened. The end result is we achieved what we set out to achieve.&ldquo;If we had lost, I at least would have been ready to play the next game.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01740/6210998-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="574" height="1117"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Peplinski spent 10 seasons with the Calgary Flames.</figcaption></div>Staying cognizant of the big picture was one of Peplinski&rsquo;s strengths with the Flames and that&rsquo;s why he announced his retirement a few games into the 1989-90 season.He was just 29 at the time, prompting many questions from teammates, family and friends.&ldquo;A lot of people asked me why, but when I started, I said I&rsquo;d play five years,&rdquo; Peplinski said. &ldquo;Then I said I&rsquo;d play until I won a Stanley Cup. After we won, I didn&rsquo;t know if there was anything else I wanted to do in the game. It was time for a new challenge.&rdquo;Peplinski had several options after retiring, but his father-in-law encouraged him to get involved in the car leasing business in Calgary.He is now president of Jim Peplinski&rsquo;s Hartfield Auto Leasing and is also a member of the broadcast team on CFR radio in Calgary and a color commentator for Hockey Night in Canada.He is also aware of his role in the community. As a player, he was longtime supporter of the Special Olympics and Uncles at Large program and was presented with the Charlie Conacher Memorial award in recognition of his community involvement in 1985.He is still active in the community and feels everyone should make an effort to improve the quality of life for those who are less fortunate.&ldquo;One thing you don&rsquo;t realize as a player is you have a great impact on people in the community,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s everyone&rsquo;s responsibility to help in that capacity, whether you&rsquo;re a mailman or garbageman or whatever.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-01

Calgary warhorse Peplinski missed out on clinching game

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01866/6211029-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="380" height="536"></div>Let me up. I&rsquo;ve had enough.The NHL season has barely begun and the most welcome sight right about now would be commissioner Gary Bettman throwing in the towel.If he did that, though, chances are a player, probably Wayne Gretzky, would slip on it, blow out a knee and join the rest of the league&rsquo;s elite players on the injury list.It&rsquo;s not Bettman&rsquo;s fault, of course, but the good commissioner&rsquo;s first full season in the NHL is turning out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.A good degree of that is just plain bad luck.Three of last season&rsquo;s top four scorers have been sidelined for extended periods. The game just can&rsquo;t be a better place without Mario Lemieux, Pat LaFontaine and Steve Yzerman. There&rsquo;s no telling when, or even if, Mario will return. LaFontaine is expected to miss the rest of the season. Only Yzerman&rsquo;s prognosis is fair and he&rsquo;s still indefinite.Two of last season&rsquo;s top three rookies-Eric Lindros and Joe Juneau-have also been cut down for weeks at a time.Injuries happen, but it has been epidemic this season, especially where marquee players are concerned.Quebec Nordique Owen Nolan is gone for the season. Boston Bruin Cam Neely, if he&rsquo;s lucky, plays every other game. Has anybody seen Edmonton Oiler Dave Manson lately? Or Calgary Flames Gary Suter or Kelly Kisio? Toronto Maple Leafs Peter Zezel or Nikolai Borschevsky or Rob Pearson or Todd Gill? Hartford Whalers Sean Burke or Zarley Zalapski? Ottawa Senator Sylvain Turgeon? Dallas Star Dave Gagner?It&rsquo;s not as if these guys are fringe players.And this just in-really, I just now heard it on the radio-Florida Pan-thers&rsquo; rookie Rob Niedermayer is gone until December with a shoulder injury.Unbelievable.We have already had the misfortune of missing the Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny and Kirk Muller for significant stretches this season, although all three, thankfully, are now back in the saddle.Injuries aren&rsquo;t the only problem.Steve Larmer, now of the New York Rangers, has gotten over his ironman streak coming to an end, but I&rsquo;m not sure I have.And while the Oilers&rsquo; departure from Edmonton to the Twin Cities looks to be a done deal, does that make it right? And if Edmonton goes, can the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames be far behind?Then there are the self-inflicted wounds.The NHL officials&rsquo; strike is an enormous blight on the game.Bettman and his staff-from legal counsel Jeff Pash to vice-president and director of hockey operations Brian Burke to director of operations Jim Gregory to director of officiating Bryan Lewis-are spending an inordinate amount of time with the War Measures Act in place. Is it really for the greater good of the game?No, it&rsquo;s just to make sure the games are played in their most basic form. These gentlemen, most of them anyway, are entrusted with formulating the grand plan for our game, not working on the water line to fight fires.Admittedly, anarchy hasn&rsquo;t broken out with the use of replacement officials, but there isn&rsquo;t an occasion I don&rsquo;t cringe when they step onto the ice.I expect to see the best in the NHL. The best players. The best coaches. The best officials. And the replacement officials simply are not the best.The frightening aspect of it all is the officials&rsquo; strike is the minor labor strife the league faces this season.Anyone with even a passing interest in NHL labor relations knows a new collective bargaining agreement between the players and the league will be much more difficult to achieve.Correct me if I&rsquo;m wrong, but is the NHL not going down the exact path it followed two years ago when the NHL Players&rsquo; Association struck on the eve of the Stanley Cup playoffs?And isn&rsquo;t it the same course the owners said they would never follow again?Maybe it&rsquo;s only fitting that in this star-crossed year the NHL suffers the final indignity-a full-scale player walkout.I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised.The good news, though, is that hockey is a resilient game. The injured players, most of them, will return. The labor strife will, sooner or later, be put to bed. And, with any luck at all, the playoffs will start on time and we&rsquo;ll forget all about the many negatives of 1993-94.Fat lot of good that does us now, though.Bob McKenzie is a hockey columnist for the Toronto Star. &#9632;

f0022-01

Season’s worst may be yet to come

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Every time Bob Kudelski scores a goal, he gets a visit from teammate Brian Glynn.&ldquo;Keep up the magic season,&rdquo; the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; defenseman says to Kudelski. &ldquo;Keep it going.&rdquo;With 18 goals in 18 games with the Senators, Kudelski is undoubtedly enjoying a magical season. But it&rsquo;s likely to culminate with his best trick yet, the one where the right winger pulls a disap-pearing act before the season ends.&ldquo;I doubt very much I&rsquo;ll be with the team at the end of the season,&rdquo; Kudelski said. &ldquo;Chances are I&rsquo;ll be moved at the deadline (March 19, 1994). Ottawa is on a youth kick and I&rsquo;m 29. I don&rsquo;t consider that old, but they might.&rdquo;Kudelski and the Senators were unable to agree on a contract prior to this season, so he elected to play out his option. Ottawa offered him a one-year deal for about $400,000 in Canadian funds, which translates to about 20 per cent less than the $400,000 U.S. he&rsquo;s collecting for playing out his option.The Senators have occasionally been accused of mismanagement in their brief two-year NHL existence. This time, though, they have engineered a win-win situation. If Kudelski stumbles after his great start, they could set him free at the end of the season. If he continues to score at a 50-plus goal pace, he drives up his value on the trade market. And if he&rsquo;s really good, the Senators could spend the money to keep him.Senators&rsquo; general manager Randy Sexton is non-committal on Kudelski&rsquo;s future in Ottawa. He did say, however, he has received phone calls from other GMs inquiring about Kudelski&rsquo;s availability.&ldquo;I have an obligation to make moves in a continuing effort to improve the hockey club,&rdquo; Sexton said. &ldquo;I feel good for Bob that he&rsquo;s off to a great start in his option year. He has an opportunity to prolong his career. I think it will work out well for everyone.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02599/6211067-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="968" height="1484"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Kudelski Ottawa Senators</figcaption></div>A trade wouldn&rsquo;t be a crushing blow for Kudelski. He has been through it before.Picked second overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1986 supple-mental draft after four years at Yale University, Kudelski was a classic late bloomer. He split his first two pro seasons between Los Angeles and the New Haven Nighthawks of the American League before cracking the Kings&rsquo; lineup as a full-time member.But anytime Kudelski has had a chance to play regularly, he has proven to be a capable 20-goal scorer in the NHL. He has scored at least 20 goals the past four seasons and only a disaster would prevent him from eclipsing the career-best 24 he established last season.Despite his offensive ability, Kudelski was never able to crack the Kings&rsquo; top two lines except as an emergency fill-in.Barry Melrose took over as coach of the Kings last season and made it clear his team would be made up of two scoring lines and two more lines of big. bruising checkers. Kudelski didn&rsquo;t fit into the plan.On Dec. 19 he was traded to the Senators with Shawn McCosh for Marc Fortier and Jim Thomson. Fortier is playing in the Kings&rsquo; minor-league system and Thomson was taken by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the expansion draft.&ldquo;Of course I didn&rsquo;t like the idea of playing for a losing team, but the Senators gave me a chance to show what I could do,&rdquo; Kudelski said.And he came through, scoring 21 goals and 35 points in 48 games.Kudelski has been the model of consistency this season. Playing mostly with gifted rookie Alexei Yashin at center and veteran Dave McLlwain at left wing, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder compensates for mediocre skating speed with his touch around the net.McLlwain, a member of the the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, compares him to Leaf sniper Dave Andreychuk.&ldquo;Neither of them is a particularly good skater, but they can shoot the puck and they both have a real knack around the net,&rdquo; McLlwain said.&ldquo;I just go out every game trying to score goals, trying to help the team win,&rdquo; Kudelski said. &ldquo;The trade rumors don&rsquo;t affect me at all.&rdquo;<h2>New names among NHL&rsquo;s hottest gunners</h2>Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres and Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets tied for the league lead in goals last season with 76. but aren&rsquo;t among this season&rsquo;s leaders. Mogilny missed nine games, but is on pace for 83 goals with 11 in his first 10 appearances. Here are the goal leaders as of Nov. 21. This season&rsquo;s projected totals are in the last column.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03427/6211060-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="912" height="383"></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

The magic season

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>September optimism was long gone and the natives had reason to be restless in Winnipeg.The Jets went past the quarter pole a team in dire straits and through 22 games were a disappointing 8-11-3.The players had trouble explaining their inconsistencies. The coaching staff under John Paddock had tried a variety of options. And fans were increasingly prone to start pointing fingers at everyone.Some went straight to an old standby, that the Jets have too many European-born players. In fact, this season, they have nine on their roster. Others insist the team simply isn&rsquo;t consistent in its effort.A four-game stretch in late November bore out that theory. After a 7-2 loss in Calgary Nov. 15, the Jets squeezed out a 2-1 home win against the Detroit Red Wings.But in Buffalo Nov. 19, the Jets were embarrassed 6-0 before heading for Quebec and staging two rallies to gain a 5-5 tie the next night.Paddock also had his team practise without pucks in between the games. He called one practice for 8 a.m. on Nov. 22 to shake things up.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01772/6211098-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="738" height="1324"><figcaption class="caption-body">Thomas Steen agreed he and his team-mates haven&rsquo;t been sharp this season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We obviously need the work because we&rsquo;re not playing the way we should,&rdquo; said goalie Bob Essensa. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve worked hard enough. If we haven&rsquo;t come to crunch time, it&rsquo;s right around the comer. If we don&rsquo;t start putting up some wins, the 23 guys here will definitely change.&rdquo;&ldquo;That was a statement,&rdquo; said center Thomas Steen about the Nov. 16 practice without pucks.Steen also said it was high time for a wake-up call.&ldquo;We get down a goal and we lose our heads,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We do things we&rsquo;re told not to do. It&rsquo;s up to the team to sharpen up.&rdquo;Paddock decided to turn up the workload a bit, hoping his troops will see how unacceptable their start has been.&ldquo;Check the standings lately?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some of them have to know they&rsquo;re letting everybody down here, everybody in the organization, the fans and the city. I don&rsquo;t want to go too far with that, but we have to be embarrassed to be in the street and have people talk (to us about) hockey-&rdquo;The coach disagreed with some of the criticism about his lineup and its mix.&ldquo;There haven&rsquo;t been big enough changes made to say we have the wrong mix,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;We were pretty happy with the way our team was in last year&rsquo;s playoffs. It&rsquo;s mental. It&rsquo;s not much different a situation than last year (4-11-0 after 15 games). Is it a slump? I don&rsquo;t know. It&rsquo;s not a good situation. What we&rsquo;re talking about is the fragile nature of our team in these situations.&rdquo;CHEMISTRY TEST: Even if there&rsquo;s the right mix of speed, skill and toughness, the matter of the Jets&rsquo; chemistry was raised after the first-quarter performance.&ldquo;Chemistry is a factor on every team,&rdquo; Bob Essensa said. &ldquo;People point to that as the problem. Whenever a team is not playing well or playing together, chemistry is a problem.&rdquo;Finnish-born defenseman Teppo Numminen, one of nine regulars who are European-born, said it&rsquo;s a vicious circle.&ldquo;It maybe looks like we don&rsquo;t have it (good chemistry), but I think we have the guys in here to have it. It looks like we have the elements we need,&rdquo; Numminen said. &ldquo;So much of it is just winning. We&rsquo;ve got some new guys in here and the team has to grow up together. I feel good about the team but we&rsquo;ll have to have some more wins to have some chemistry.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so tough to play when you&rsquo;re losing like we have been. Everybody tries to play too safe.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: When the Jets nipped the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Nov. 17, it was only their second win in eight games against a Central Division rival. Teemu Selanne scored the winning goal in the third period, only his 10th goal of the season and second game-winner&hellip;The win snapped the Jets&rsquo; home-ice losing streak at five games and also stopped a five-game string of losses in one-goal decisions.Goalie Stephane Beauregard got his fourth start of the season Nov. 20 in Quebec and after allowing three early Nordique goals, battled back to gain his first point for the standings in the 5-5 draw.Jets&rsquo; coach John Paddock scrambled his line combinations through the first three weeks of November. Said Paddock about his frequent switching: &ldquo;Lines should be together for more than one game, but not in the situation we&rsquo;re in.&rdquo;The Jets lost 6-0 in Buffalo against the Sabres Nov. 19, taking their all-time record at The Aud to 1-19-2.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 17: Kevin McClelland. RW. recalled tram Moncton (AHL). Nov. 21: McClelland assigned to Moncton<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Zhamnov, Thomas Steen. Nelson Emerson Stu Barnes, Mike Eagles.LW-Keith Tkachuk, Darrin Shannon. Luciano Borsato. Kris King.RW-Teemu Selanne, Paul Ysebaert, Tie Dorm. Bryan Erickson.LD-Teppo Numminen. Sergei Bautin. Igor Ulanov. Arto Blomsten.RD-Stephane Quintal, Boris Mironov. Dean Kennedy, Fredrik OlaussonG-Bob Essensa. Stephane Beauregard.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

f0023-01

Lackluster work ethic reason for awful start

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02491/6211136-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg"></div>One of Ted Sator&rsquo;s cardinal rules in hockey&rsquo;s age of offense is to try and present a forehand target in all zones of the ice.&ldquo;I look at players who are prolific goalscorers and it seems they have a knack for shooting off the pass,&rdquo; said Sator, an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues.&ldquo;Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull are guys that jump to mind. It seems that in the offensive zone they&rsquo;re always finding a good area and when they find it, they&rsquo;re invariably finding it on their forehand.&rdquo;Sator, who spent the past two seasons coaching in Italy, maintains that presenting a forehand target to a passer is often as simple as repositioning the body by a quarter of a turn.&ldquo;I see so many tennis players, when they have time, running and opening up their body to smash the ball on the forehand,&rdquo; Sator said. &ldquo;I think the same is true for the hockey scenario where you&rsquo;re in the offensive zone and getting in a position to shoot off the pass.&rdquo;Sator theorizes that a puck on a player&rsquo;s forehand must be honored and respected.&ldquo;I think one of the reasons we stress forehand positioning is the fact that on the backhand, you&rsquo;re not really a threat to score unless you&rsquo;re low in the slot and really tight to the goal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A player with the puck on his forehand has a tendency to freeze defensemen and freeze the goaltender, which opens up his options and buys time, if needed.&rdquo;&ldquo;Driving the net&rdquo; has become a popular phase in coaching vernacular but Sator thinks a player sometimes has to drift away from the net, higher in the slot, to get into a scoring position that allows for a one-time shot.So in order to keep from getting tied up or having the stick held, a forward has to be able to find that free space.As in basketball, a coach doesn&rsquo;t want a forward idling too long in the high percentage slot area.&ldquo;You arrive in the point on the hardwood ready to do something with the ball when it comes to you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think the same analogy applies in hockey and you can make a lot more good things happen if you can accept a pass on your forehand when the puck comes.&rdquo;Sator encourages coaches to design drills that force their players to get into scoring position on the forehand and reinforce the idea through the use of videotape. Get a parent to video a game or two and analyze the goals being scored.It&rsquo;s easy to find examples of goals being scored as a result of players having found good positions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03340/6211129-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="553" height="807"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ted Sator</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-02

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">By Terry Egan</div>Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey had the perfect tonic for his struggling team-a good old-fashioned tonguelashing.Gainey ripped into his team after the Stars&rsquo; lackadaisical effort in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Nov. 14.The Stars&rsquo; coach questioned his players&rsquo; character and told them they must play a physical style in front of the opponent&rsquo;s net.The tirade obviously worked, as the Stars responded with two come-from-behind wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning (4-3 Nov. 17) and Calgary Flames (4-3 Nov. 20).The team&rsquo;s effort in those games was a far cry from the way it played in losing to recent expansion teams in the Ottawa Senators, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim twice and San Jose Sharks.Gainey was particularly critical of forwards James Black, Mike McPhee, Mike Craig, Trent Klatt and Mike Modano-who led the team with 34 points in 23 games-against the expansion opponents.The five played much better against the Flames and Lightning and were particularly strong in a 7-4 win over the Lxis Angeles Kings Nov. 21.REPORT WRONG: Stars&rsquo; owner Norm Green was angered by a story that appeared in the Fort Worth Star Ledger that alleged he may move the team.The paper reported Green was ready to listen to offers to move the team to Fort Worth if the city of Dallas did not address the issue of renovating Reunion Arena to add luxury boxes or build the team a new arena.Green maintains the story quoted him out of context. He said he was the guest speaker at a Dallas International Sports Commission meeting, the topic of which was the relocation of sports franchises.He said he spoke about luxury boxes being a reality in the financial world of sports in the 1990s. When a reporter noted there were no luxury boxes at Reunion Arena, Green said that was something the city would have to address.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t say he was going to move the team again,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; president Jim Lites. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not. It was nothing like that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Swedish defenseman Tommy Sjodin was assigned to the Kalamazoo Wings of the International League Nov. 19. The 28-year-old led Stars&rsquo; defensemen in scoring last season with seven goals and 36 points in 77 games. The Stars had been using him as a power-play specialist. He had just two assists in six games&hellip;After scoring five points in the first three games, left winger James Black didn&rsquo;t record a point in his next nine.The Stars were 7-2-2 in games when left winger Ulf Dahlen scored a point and 3-6-2 when he was held pointless&hellip;At the pace right winger Shane Churla is amassing penalty minutes, he&rsquo;ll break the NHL&rsquo;s single-season record set by Philadelphia Flyer Dave Shultz in 1974-75. Shultz had 472 minutes and Churla was on pace for 478. He had 118 PIM in 20 games.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 17: Chris Tancill, LW, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL). Nov. 19: Tommy Sjodin. D. assigned to Kalamazoo.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Modano, Neal Broten, Dave Gagner. Dean Evason. Dave BarrLW-UH Dahlen, Mike McPhee, Trent Klatt, Brent Gilchrist. James Black.RW-Russ Courtnall, Paul Broten, Mike Craig, Shane Churla.LD-Denan Hatcher. Mark Tinordi, Craig Ludwig.RD-Paui Cavallini. Grant Ledyard. Jim Johnson, Brad Berry.G-Andy Moog. Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Gainey’s lambasting keys impressive turnaround

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>Goalie Tim Cheveldae finally tasted victory after a six-week absence with a knee injury. But the workhorse of past seasons may have to battle for ice time with rookie Chris Osgood.Cheveldae&rsquo;s 22-save performance earned him his first win Nov. 20, but only after Slava Kozlov scored his second goal of the game in overtime for a 4-3 win at New Jersey. Cheveldae was injured in the season opener during a goal-mouth collision.Vince Riendeau and Peter Ing-since returned to the Adirondack Red Wings of the American League-faltered in Cheveldae&rsquo;s absence. So the Wings turned to 20-year-old Osgood and he staked a claim to the job with a 2.82 goals-against average and 4-3-2 record.Osgood feels he can contribute and continue his development in the NHL, even if it means backing up Cheveldae. &ldquo;I think I can improve a lot just by practising with this team and playing 25 or 30 games, he said.&rdquo;Coach Scotty Bowman said Osgood wasn&rsquo;t going anywhere anytime soon. Which prompted questions about the team&rsquo;s plans for Riendeau, who has requested a trade from the Wings.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t plan to do anything, at least for a couple of weeks,&rdquo; said general manager Bryan Murray. &ldquo;Nobody seems to be looking right now. There&rsquo;s not much of a demand.&rdquo;Riendeau may have to prove his value in the minors, but his assignment to Adirondack would mean clearing waivers. The Wings then would loan Ing to the Las Vegas Thunder of the International League.LATE ARRIVAL: Slava Kozlov is living up to billing he has had since North American scouts labeled him the best prospect in the world when he was 15.Kozlov, 21, had his second two-goal game in a week against the New Jersey Devils. He also had two goals Nov. 13 against Pittsburgh Penguins Nov. 20. Normally a center, Kozlov is playing left wing next to Sergei Fedorov. Martin Lapointe played right wing on the line, Detroit&rsquo;s best in the two games.&ldquo;Kozzie was an absolute star,&rdquo; Bryan Murray said. &ldquo;But Martin La-pointe didn&rsquo;t get enough credit. He drove to the net and cleared out the traffic so those guys could do things.&rdquo;Lapointe carried his play into St. Louis, too, scoring his first NHL goal by banging a rebound behind Curtis Joseph.NOTEBOOK: Steve Yzerman, out until mid-December with a herniated disc in his upper back, is making steady progress. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming along,&rdquo; said athletic therapist John Wharton. &ldquo;Improvement is a slow, incremental process. It&rsquo;s hard to say where he is right now. But there haven&rsquo;t been setbacks.&rdquo;&hellip;Scotty Bowman has had to crack down on players who overextend their shifts and there are several chronic offenders, forward Ray Sheppard said. &ldquo;We had some guys out there for two minutes, a minute and a half, but it was everybody,&rdquo; Sheppard said. &ldquo;That comes from self discipline.&rdquo;<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Martin Lapointe, RW. recalled from Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Sergei Fedorov. Mike Siliinger. Greg Johnson. Micah AivazoftLW-Slava Kozlov, Dallas Drake, Keith Primeau, Shawn Burr.RW-Martin Lapointe, Ray Sheppard, Dino Ciccarelli, Darren McCarty, Sheldon Kennedy.LD-Paul Goffey, Mark Howe, Steve Chiasson, Steve Konroyd.RD-Nick Lidstrom, Terry Carkner, Vladimir Konstantinov, Bob Halkicbs.G-Chns Osgood. Tim Cheveldae. Vince Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Probert, LW. strained back, day-to-day. Steve Yzerman. C, herniated disc, Dec. 13. &#9632;

Cheveldae returns, but Osgood still part of plan

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>When the season started, one of the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; major concerns was in goal.Not with Felix Potvin, but with the No. 2 spot left vacant after Daren Puppa was taken by the Florida Panthers in the expansion draft and subsequently dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Leafs chose not to fill the job from outside, instead giving fourth-year pro Damian Rhodes a chance.One-quarter of the way through the season, Rhodes had answered all the questions and more. His strong, 28-save effort in a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Nov. 20 left him undefeated and untied in his first four NHL starts and lowered his goals-against average to 2.73.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of confidence in him,&rdquo; said winger Mark Osborne, &ldquo;the same as we had in Felix last year when Grant Fuhr wasn&rsquo;t playing.&rdquo;Several things were important about Rhodes&rsquo; win against the Oilers. First, it was his first start against an established team after two starts against Florida and one against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Second, it was televised nationally on Hockey Night in Canada, and gave Leafs&rsquo; management a glimpse of how the young goaltender would react to such conditions.Finally, it was his second start in three games and four days, giving the Leafs some confidence he might able to fill in short-term at least if Potvin were to be injured.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad the guys are feeling more confident in me because I&rsquo;m feeling more confident every game,&rdquo; said the former Michigan Tech player.Head coach Pat Bums is expected to start increasing Rhodes&rsquo; workload, since he wants him to play between 20-25 games this season.Rhodes also beat Anaheim 4-3 Nov. 16, giving him some satisfaction, since the Ducks passed him over in the expansion draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01764/6211215-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="570" height="719"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark was the first player to score 20 goals this season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I just wanted to show them what they missed,&rdquo; smiled the effervescent Rhodes afterwards.MADE HIS DAY: No one was quite sure why Mike Eastwood was even still around.In the pre-season, he only played in four games and was clearly not in Pat Bums&rsquo; plans. Even though he was headed into his option year and had the possibility of becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer, the Leafs didn&rsquo;t bother to sign him.He was available in the waiver draft, but no one was interested. The Leafs made it clear they were trying to trade him with only limited ideas of what they might get in return.When the 26-year-old center didn&rsquo;t dress for the first 19 games of the season, his imminent departure had become a kind of macabre death watch.But Bums became disenchanted with the performance of some of his veterans and Eastwood was thrust into action Nov. 16 in Anaheim.&ldquo;It has been a while,&rdquo; Eastwood said. &ldquo;I was upset, but the team was doing well. But it&rsquo;s sure hard to feel part of the team when you&rsquo;re not playing.&rdquo;Eastwood played well enough against the Ducks that he stayed in the lineup for games against the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton.NOTEBOOK: In his first 20 games, Leaf captain Wendel Clark had 20 goals, surpassing his season total in each of the past three campaigns&hellip;Winger Rob Pearson rejoined the Leafs Nov. 19 after missing 13 games with a sprained knee.Winger Eric Lacroix was called up from the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs of the American League to accompany the Leafs on their five-game western road trip Nov. 16-25. He immediately came in handy on the second game of the trip in Los Angeles when Bill Berg went down with a hip flexor problem.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for The Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 15: Eric Lacroix, LW. recalled from St. John&rsquo;s (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Gilmour, John Cullen. Mike Krushelnyski, Yanic Perreault, Mike Eastwood.LW-Wendel Clark, Mark Osborne, Ken Baumgartner, Eric Lacroix, Chris Govedans.RW-Dave Andreychuk, Rob Pearson, Glenn Anderson, Kent Manderville Bill Berg.LD-Dave Ellett, Sylvain Lefebvre, Jamie Macoun.RD-Drake Berehowsky, Bob Rouse. Dmitri Mironov.G-Felix Potvin. Damian Rhodes.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Nikolai Borschevsky, RW spleen removed, indefinite. Todd Gill, D. groin strain, indefinite. Peter Zezel, C, back disk problems, indefinite. &#9632;

f0027-01

Rhodes scholar pinches in with first-rate goaltending

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; captain Brett Hull wasn&rsquo;t taking sides in the officials&rsquo; dispute with the NHL, but he wasn&rsquo;t hiding his feelings about their re-placements.On Nov. 21, replacement referee Michael Foy gave Hull a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing a call in the Blues&rsquo; 2-2 tie with the Detroit Red Wings.Hull didn&rsquo;t appreciate the treatment.&ldquo;I got told to (take) off more by this guy in one minute than I&rsquo;ve ever been told by a referee in my nine years in the league,&rdquo; Hull said.The outburst was Hull&rsquo;s second against the replacement officials, who stepped in when the NHL&rsquo;s regular officials went on strike Nov. 15.Hull lashed out the first time on the second day of the strike after the Blues&rsquo; 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.He qualified his remarks by saying the Blues didn&rsquo;t lose because of the officiating, but he added &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t good.&rdquo;He said he was so disgusted during the game he didn&rsquo;t even speak with replacement referee George McCorry or linesmen Miles Spencer and Bob Porter.&ldquo;I thought, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s the sense in wasting my breath?&rsquo;&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;It was sickening. I didn&rsquo;t know if it was a hockey game or a rodeo. I bet you I could have (drawn) 15 penalties while I was out there-either cross-checking, high-sticking, holding, just absolutely being dragged down.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the stuff we&rsquo;ve been trying to get out of the league for a long time. The league has done such a great job of making the game better for the fans who pay to see us play, but that was not good. That&rsquo;s not what we want.&rdquo;SUTTER BASHING: With a twin brother and four other hockey playing brothers, Ron Sutter is used to being mistaken for someone else.But for a few groggy moments Nov. 16, he too was confused.A check by Vancouver&rsquo;s Shawn Antoski knocked Sutter unconscious early in the third period of the Blues&rsquo; 3-0 loss to the Canucks at Pacific Coliseum.Antoski, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound winger, charged into Sutter and slammed his head against the glass with his left forearm.Sutter was out cold before he landed on the ice. He wasn&rsquo;t moving when trainer Tom Nash got to his side.&ldquo;I asked him if he knew which Sutter he was,&rdquo; Nash said. &ldquo;He said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m one of them.&rsquo; He wasn&rsquo;t sure which one.&rdquo;&ldquo;I just remember my head hitting the glass and I remember a real sharp pain on the back of my head,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;The next thing I knew I was lying face down on the trainer&rsquo;s table.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Phil Housley missed two games with a re-currence of the back spasms that sidelined him for six games earlier in month. His problems were not as severe, however, and he was listed as day-to-day&hellip;Brendan Shanahan was so sick on the road trip he was sent home for tests. He was suffering from a severe viral infection, but wasn&rsquo;t expected to miss any games.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Ron Sutter. Craig Janney, Bob Bassen. Tony Hrkac, Kevin MiehmLW-Philippe Bozon, Brendan Shana-han. Igor Korolev. Basil McRae.RW-Brett Hull, Kevin Miller, Vitali Karamnov. Kelly Chase.LD-Murray Baron, Bret Hedican, Jeff Brown.RD-Rick Zombo. Garth Butcher. Tom Tilley.G-Curtis Joseph, Jim Hrivnak.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Phil Housley, back spasms, day-to-day. &#9632;

Hull not impressed with substitute referees

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>Things are finally looking up for Chris Chelios and the Chicago Blackhawks.On the ice, the Hawks put together a six-game winning streak to right their wavering ship, while off it Chelios and management came to a tentative agreement on a contract extension.Chelios&rsquo; new deal was believed to be worth $12,275 million over five years, which will net the two-time Norris Trophy winner an average salary of approximately $2.45 million over the length of the contract.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just glad it&rsquo;s all over,&rdquo; said Chelios, who didn&rsquo;t want to comment further until the deal was officially completed.The Chelios deal is the largest ever negotiated by the Hawks, topping the five-year, $5.05 million pact Jeremy Roenick received two years ago.The Hawks&rsquo; winning streak coincided with Chelios&rsquo; attempt to turn over a new leaf when it comes to penalties.Since returning from the four-game suspension he received for abusing an official Oct. 14 in an incident against the Hartford Whalers, Chelios picked up only three minor penalties for six minutes in his first 10 games.Chelios had 71 penalty minutes in the first five games of the season.&ldquo;The suspension is maybe what it took for me to learn the hard way,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;When something like that happens, it&rsquo;s embarrassing.&rdquo;What embarrassed Chelios was how he felt he let down his teammates by having to sit out four games. He still maintains he didn&rsquo;t abuse linesman Bernie DeGrace.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01730/6211270-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="730" height="937"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Chelios agreed to a new deal that makes him the richest Blackhawk ever.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I feel I didn&rsquo;t abuse him and he said I didn&rsquo;t abuse him,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;For the league to say I did wasn&rsquo;t right.&rdquo;So how does Chelios make sure he doesn&rsquo;t have to go through anything like that again?&ldquo;Basically, he has got to stay away from the officials,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter.Chelios agrees and he has been trying to keep his distance from the men in striped shirts.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t make any promises, but I&rsquo;m not yapping at them anymore,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;You shouldn&rsquo;t let the referees influence how you play anyway.&rdquo;Sutter hasn&rsquo;t noticed a big change in Chelios&rsquo; play, nor does he think his star has lost that edge he normally plays with by trying to stay out of the penalty box.&ldquo;The thing with Chelly is you don&rsquo;t ever want him to lose that emotion and he hasn&rsquo;t lost it,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;He has done a tremendous job staying out of the penalty box, but he still needs to play physical and be an agitator.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still playing physical,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to change my style. If I see someone in trouble, I&rsquo;ll be there.&rdquo;SHOOTOUT DEBATE: Darryl Sutter would hate to see the NHL go to the use of shootouts to decide tie games. Sutter didn&rsquo;t like the gimmick when he coached in the International League, which still uses it.&ldquo;I just think it allows you to keep guys on the bench who don&rsquo;t even need shoulder pads,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Guys who have no interest in making contact or looking anyone in the eye. It&rsquo;s not hard to score on a breakaway when no one is chasing you. It&rsquo;s not a team concept. It&rsquo;s marketing.&rdquo;Jeremy Roenick takes just the opposite view and would like to see shootouts.&ldquo;I think it would be exciting and really bring the fans into the game,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;It might hurt some teams that don&rsquo;t have a lot of scorers, but I like it. There are pluses and minuses. You could lose, but you could win, too.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Darryl Sutter thought Jeremy Roenick should have been included in The Hockey News&rsquo; recent ranking of the top 10 power forwards in the NHL. &ldquo;He does everything at full speed and to me that&rsquo;s power,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;I think they&rsquo;re talking about the prototypical big guys like Kevin Stevens and Cam Neely, but everyone underestimates Jeremy&rsquo;s size.&rdquo; A panel of players, coaches and general managers ranked the players&hellip;Ed Belfour went 14 periods in a five-game stretch without allowing an even-strength goal.Steve Smith faced a possible suspension along with Tampa Bay Lightning Denis Savard following a stick-swinging incident Nov. 20. &ldquo;There was no injury or intent to injure on my part,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;It was just reaction.&rdquo;<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 17: Chris Chelios. D. agreed to terms on five-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jeremy Roenick. Brent Sutter, Jeff Shantz, Troy Murray.LW-Stephane Matteau, Patrick Poulin, Jocelyn Lemieux, Michel Goulet, Dave Christian.RW-Joe Murphy. Dirk Graham. Rich Sutter. Dann Kimble, Brian Noonan.LD-Steve Smith, Eric Weinrich, Frank Kucera. Keith Carney.RD-Neil Wilkinson. Chris Chelios, Cam Russell.G-Ed Belfour, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Christian Ruuttu, C, broken right ankle, indefinite Kevin Todd, C, sprained right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

f0031-01

Chelios more mild-mannered upon return

NHL airwaves reached the trilingual age this season when regular-season games of the Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were broadcast in Spanish.Fernando Gonzalez and Rudolfo Hernandez call the action for radio station KWIZ in Los Angeles. In Miami, WCMQ with Manolo Alvarez, Arley Londono and Mandy Llanes provide Spanish broadcast of all Panther games. Prime Ticket La Cadena Deportiva is telecasting their own feed of 17 Anaheim games on a regional basis.&ldquo;Feedback has been amazing,&rdquo; KWIZ&rsquo;s Andy Mars said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t wait to see the ratings. Everyone knows Wayne Gretzky now as &lsquo;El Grandioso&rsquo;. It&rsquo;s really catching.&rdquo;Below is the radio and television directory of the 26 NHL teams starting from Dec. 1. A schedule of games carried by ESPN, TSN and CBC will appear in the Dec. 10 issue. &#9632;

Tres Spanish stations join play-by-play team

f0032-08

NHL TEAM-BY-TEAM LISTINGS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01788/6211566-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01749/6211559-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3076" height="3531"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01708/6211552-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3105" height="3550"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01629/6211545-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="3071" height="1285"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02445/6211597-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-02

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; DECdecision, charged to goaltenders of record when deciding goal is scored.<h2>MONDAY, NOV. 15</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01709/6211768-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="592" height="3080"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02527/6211761-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="590" height="1051"></div><h2>TUESDAY, NOV. 16</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03429/6211754-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="608" height="2346"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04333/6211747-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="588" height="2648"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, NOV. 17</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05250/6211740-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="590" height="753"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06210/6211733-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="594" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07194/6211726-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="602" height="3508"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01673/6211719-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="598" height="688"></div><h2>THURSDAY, NOV. 18</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02464/6211712-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="594" height="2715"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03353/6211705-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="590" height="3497"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04288/6211698-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="595" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05236/6211691-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="595" height="373"></div><h2>FRIDAY, NOV. 19</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06202/6211684-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="589" height="3027"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07182/6211677-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="592" height="1031"></div><h2>SATURDAY, NOV. 20</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08161/6211670-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="586" height="2374"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01383/6211663-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="601" height="3516"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02250/6211656-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="585" height="3511"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03180/6211649-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="591" height="3501"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04146/6211642-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="590" height="185"></div><h2>SUNDAY, NOV. 21</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05123/6211635-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="585" height="3224"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06108/6211628-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="600" height="3507"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01322/6211806-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01332/6211799-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="3107" height="3523"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01347/6211837-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0043-01

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02156/6211875-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01253/6211868-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="3096" height="3020"></div> &#9632;

f0044-02

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01237/6211913-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="376" height="533"></div>Week 1 of the NHL&rsquo;s rent-a-ref experiment got off to a decent start, but ended up being a weak one.A few easy games for the replacement officials, coupled with acceptance from players and fans, made the NHL look good early.But by week&rsquo;s end on Nov. 21, reality had set in and it was obvious the replacements were in over their heads. And suddenly the 58 striking members of the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association were being seen for what they are-the best in the world at their jobs.Reviews of the replacements ranged from &ldquo;the worst refereeing I&rsquo;ve ever seen,&rdquo; by Theoren Fleury of the Calgary Flames (who insisted reporters quote him) following a game in Dallas Nov. 19 to &ldquo;an utter joke&rdquo; by Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Barry Melrose.Keep in mind, the same is often said about the striking officials. But generally it&rsquo;s their consistency, not competence in question.Who were these replacements, anyway?Michael Foy, a referee, recently purchased a Roller Hockey International franchise with former NHL bad boy Dave Schultz.There was also an arena manager. A police investigator. An owner of a foreign automobile engineering business. An aerospace contractor.Noble professions. But using these people has made one thing crystal clear: Officiating in the NHL is not a part-time job.The NHL would have you believe all replacements they hired were competent. Don&rsquo;t be fooled. The majority of the second tier of officials refused an offer to fill in for strikers. Some of the replacements were dropped from the NHL trainee program because the league felt they couldn&rsquo;t cut it.The best officiating during the strike might have been in the American League, where 24 linesmen were promoted to referee to fill in for striking refs normally provided by the NHL. These are the guys originally pursued by the NHL to be replacements.No game in Week 1 was decided by a bad call. Which put the replacements a notch up on Denis Morel, who allowed a player to throw a puck into the net earlier this season.However, the replacements proved to be a distraction. Too much attention was on them and not the players. What on earth was I doing watching referee Luc Lachapelle instead of Doug Gilmour?It was naive to think an important facet of the game could be removed and not have some negative effect.Confusion was obvious from the first night. Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; captain Wendel Clark was stepping into the shower, believing he&rsquo;d been ejected from the game, only to be informed he was assessed just a boarding major; not a game misconduct.The misunderstanding was sorted out and Clark returned to score two goals, helping his team earn a tie.The same night, replacements had easy games in Ottawa and Calgary. ESPN2 made a big deal about a blown offside call in the Montreal Canadiens-Ottawa Senators game, showing the replay a number of times, but missed calls occur regularly in the NHL.The consensus is, replacements had an easy time of it early on. Players were uncharacteristically polite to them on their way to the penalty box.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02168/6211906-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="577" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Gregson</figcaption></div>Perhaps it was simply an adjustment period for players unsure of parameters being established by the replacement refs (with a little help from radio friends in the stands). They know how far they can push Kerry Fraser and Terry Gregson. But what about Bob Morley or Tom Monahan?Regardless, officials who struck should be afforded the same respect upon their return.One NHL coach said the real test came when replacements worked games on consecutive nights. Conditioning became a factor.What it always comes down to is how the players feel. If they had been confident replacements were not having an adverse effect on their ability to perform at a high level, the NHL wouldn&rsquo;t have felt compelled to settle quickly. That was not the case.The players gave the replacements a thumbs down. That&rsquo;s all it took for serious negotiations to begin. &#9632;

f0047-01

Rent-a-ref officials in way too deep

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Pokey Reddick has had too much of a good thing. The goalie who almost never loses a game is starting to lose his patience.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting pretty boring,&rdquo; Reddick said. &ldquo;After a while at this level, you can pretty well do whatever you want to do. I&rsquo;m at the top of my game right now. I&rsquo;m just in the wrong league.&rdquo;Frustrated forwards in the International League agree. So do several members of a panel of minor-league coaches and general managers and NHL scouts canvassed by The Hockey News to find out who is the best player in minor pro hockey.Although the respondents varied in their answers, they agreed on one thing: No player has been hotter in 1993-94 than Eldon (Pokey) Reddick of the IHL&rsquo;s Cincinnati Cyclones.&ldquo;He used to run hot and cold, I guess, but it&rsquo;s obvious to me he has been hot for a long time now,&rdquo; said panel member Denis Cyr, general manager of the IHL&rsquo;s Peoria Rivermen. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mystery to me that he isn&rsquo;t in the NHL.&rdquo;With 10 wins in his first 12 starts, Reddick picked up where he left off last season.The 29-year-old Halifax, N.S., native led the Fort Wayne Komets to the 1993 Turner Cup championship, posting a perfect 12-0 mark in the playoffs. His 3.01 goals-against average and .913 save percentage this season were best among starting goalies in the IHL.In fact, Reddick suffered just his first non-shootout loss in 33 games in mid-November.&ldquo;His numbers are indicative of his play,&rdquo; said Cyclones&rsquo; coach Dennis Desrosiers. &ldquo;We have an okay team, but there have been many nights when we were slow out of the gate and he held us in.&rdquo;&ldquo;Reddick beat us 8-2,&rdquo; said Kalamazoo Wings&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;You would think the game was a blowout, but we fired 26 shots at him in the second period and only scored once,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;Sixteen of those shots were good scoring chances-from between the faceoff circle and the goalie.&rdquo;A change in style has resulted somewhat in a change in fortune for Reddick. Formerly a flopper who often went down too early in the past, Reddick now stands his ground and forces shooters to make quick decisions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03134/6211944-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="567" height="837"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pokey Reddick can&rsquo;t understand why he&rsquo;s not in the NHL.</figcaption></div>After playing the best hockey of his career in last year&rsquo; playoffs, Reddick made a decision of his own to sign a three-year contract with the Florida Panthers. Unfortunately, he signed with a team that has probably the best goaltending tandem in expansion history in John Vanbies-brouck and Mark Fitzpatrick. Reddick was assigned to Cincinnati, Florida&rsquo;s primary minor-league affiliate, after training camp.The Panthers say Reddick is a solid No. 3 on their depth chart. Reddick has a clause that allows him out of his contract with the Panthers after this season.&ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t get called up, you can bet I&rsquo;ll be exercising that option,&rdquo; he said.Reddick held the No. 1 job with the Winnipeg Jets as a rookie in 1986-87 and played with the Jets for three seasons. But he wasn&rsquo;t consistent enough and was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers for future considerations in 1989. He played 13 games with the Oilers over two seasons and has been in the minors ever since. He has a 46-57-16 career NHL record and 3.69 GAA.Why does Reddick think he hasn&rsquo;t made it back? &ldquo;If I knew the answer to that question maybe I wouldn&rsquo;t be here,&rdquo; Reddick said.Two other minor-league veterans, Rich Chernomaz of the American League&rsquo;s St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs and Hubie McDonough of the IHL&rsquo;s San - Diego Gulls, also figured prominently in the informal poll.Rick Dudley, director of pro scouting for the Los Angeles Kings, cast his vote for McDonough. McDonough, a 30-year-old center has played 195 NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and San Jose Sharks. In 9 games before going down with a shoulder injury, he had four goals and 12 points. Dudley coached McDonough with the Gulls last season.&ldquo;Had he not been called up (by the Sharks) last season, he would have won the IHL scoring race and been named the league&rsquo;s top defensive forward,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;He might be the best defensive forward I&rsquo;ve ever coached.&rdquo;Chernomaz, a 30-year-old playerassistant coach in St. John&rsquo;s, was among the AHL&rsquo;s leading scorers with 16 goals and 33 points in 20 games. Chernomaz, who has scored more than 300 goals in the minors, has 51 big-league games to his credit.&ldquo;He sets real high standards of excellence for himself and his teammates,&rdquo; said Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; pro scout Phil Russell. &ldquo;I still think he could help an NHL team.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0047-03

Cyclone stopper

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>Rene Corbet may one day be the best the best player in the American League, but don&rsquo;t count on it.The 6-foot, 180-pound left winger is excelling as a freshman with the Cornwall Aces. He scored 13 goals and 27 points in his first 16 games. He led the Quebec League in scoring last season with 79 goals and 148 points in 63 games with the Drummondville Voltigeurs.The Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; picked Corbet 24th overall in 1991 and showed confidence in him during his NHL debut earlier this season, using him in the final minute of a one-goal loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. He&rsquo;d likely still be with the Nordiques now if they were so weren&rsquo;t so loaded with talent at forward.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0491/6211975-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="541" height="508"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rene Corbet</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a great skater, but he&rsquo;s deceptive and a great shooter-like Steve Larmer.&rdquo; said Aces&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin. &#9632;

f0047-04

Corbet Cornwall’s Ace in the hole

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>In years to come, Jody Gage will be the gauge by which other American Leaguers are measured.Gage became the third AHL player to reach the 1,000-point barrier when he assisted on David Cooper&rsquo;s goal in the second period of the Rochester Americans&rsquo; 8-6 win over the Binghamton Rangers Nov. 12.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great achievement that I&rsquo;m proud of,&rdquo; Gage said. &ldquo;Getting memos from the league and other teams was nice. A lot of players contributed to it. I&rsquo;ve had so many good linemates.&rdquo;The 15th-year right winger is the league&rsquo;s alltime goals leader with 487 and his 513 assists are sixth best. He also holds the league record for career playoff goals (51).Willie Marshall&rsquo;s AHL scoring record of 1,375 points is safe. Gage, 34, probably will retire when his contract expires after 1994-95. Fred Glover is second in scoring with 1,334.Gage continues to score at his habitual 40-goal pace. He had eight goals and 15 points in 14 games and is coming off two consecutive 40-goal, 80-point seasons. He has been a 40-goal scorer six of the past eight seasons.REPLACEMENT REFS: Many believe the quality of AHL refereeing won&rsquo;t suffer much because of the officials&rsquo; strike.AHL referees are NHL trainees and members of the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association, which went on strike Nov. 15. But most AHL linesmen are individual contractors and aren&rsquo;t affected.Because many linesmen also work college hockey, the AHL will use them as referees.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re probably going to have as good, if not better, officiating,&rdquo; said Rochester&rsquo;s John Van Boxmeer. &ldquo;These guys probably have much more common sense (than the younger trainees).&rdquo;THIS SPACE FOR RENT: The logo of Chrysler Canada will become a part of the home sweaters of the six Atlantic Division teams.As part of the sponsorship agreement, the Atlantic Division teams will wear the auto maker&rsquo;s logo and the Chrysler Cup will be awarded to the Atlantic Division&rsquo;s regular season champion.It&rsquo;s the first time AHL teams will wear advertising. The league&rsquo;s board of governors approved the use of one advertising patch, as long as they are no larger than four inches in diameter and provided they aren&rsquo;t advertising a tobacco or alcohol product.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited about the Chrysler deal and we&rsquo;re hoping it can open some other doors in Atlantic Canada,&rdquo; said AHL marketing director Maria D&rsquo;Agostino.The Hershey Bears started the trend at the start of the season. The Bears are paid $15,000 by Coca-Cola to wear Coke sweaters in the pregame warmup.HE LOVES OT: Springfield Indians&rsquo; center Mike Tomlak scored overtime goals on successive nights.Tomlak&rsquo;s goal at the 59-second mark defeated the Adirondack Red Wings 6-5 Nov. 12. The next night, he scored at 2:02 to defeat the Hershey Bears 4-3.The Indians were 3-0-0 in overtime, with Tomlak assisting on Scott Morrow&rsquo;s winner against the Rochester Americans Nov. 6.AHL TIDBITS: The shutout streak of Fredericton Canadiens&rsquo; goalie Martin Brochu reached 129:04 Nov. 16. That included four games but just one start, a 5-0 shutout over the Hamilton Canucks Nov. 6. He played the final 50:12 against the Moncton Hawks Nov. 10 and won 9-3 after Les Kuntar allowed three goals&hellip;Com wall Aces&rsquo; left winger Rene Corbet was rookie of the week for the period ending Nov. 14 after scoring five goals and 10 points in four games. Fredericton right winger Oleg Petrov was the player of the week with five goals and nine points in two games. &#9632;

Gage not nearing empty after hitting 1,000 points

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>Some day, Dave Michayluk promises he&rsquo;ll think about the goals he has scored in the International League.For now, the newest member of professional hockey&rsquo;s Fortune 500 club has more intangible goals on his mind.&ldquo;At the end of my career, when it&rsquo;s all over, that&rsquo;s when I&rsquo;ll sit down and try to figure out what this all means,&rdquo; said the Cleveland Lum-beijacks&rsquo; left winger, who Nov. 4 scored his 500th IHL goal in a 3-1 win over the Peoria Rivermen. &ldquo;Right now, the wins are still more important to me.&rdquo;But it&rsquo;s those goals that Michayluk for which will be remembered. How many players have notched 500 goals in one league in their career? In the IHL, just three others-Brian McLay (516), Joe Kastelic (551) and former Michayluk teammate Scott Gruhl (574).&ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m the last of a breed.&rdquo; Michayluk, said. &ldquo;Nowadays, I don&rsquo;t know if guys will play the 10-, 15-year careers in the minors anymore. There aren&rsquo;t many of us left.&rdquo;The 12-year pro has scored 40 or more goals eight times and is gunning for his 10th consecutive 100-point season.&ldquo;In a way, it was a relief to get (No. 500) out of the way,&rdquo; Michayluk said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been known for my end-to-end rushes. I get a lot of garbage goals by standing in front of the net and letting the puck bounce in off me.&rdquo;Which is exactly how his 500th was scored. Teammate Steve Bancroft cranked a shot from the left point and it deflected in off Michayluk&rsquo;s skates near the right post during a power play.&ldquo;Goalscoring has gotten hard because the league has improved dramatically-I&rsquo;d say 200 per cent-in five years,&rdquo; Michayluk said. &ldquo;There are some great teams, a lot of great players.&rdquo;What was the greatest goal he ever scored? Michayluk, 31, will tell you it came in Game 5 of the 1988-89 Turner Cup finals, when he finished a two-on-one with longtime linemate Jock Callander to clinch a title for Muskegon against the Salt Lake Golden Eagles.Who&rsquo;s the toughest goalie he has faced? He&rsquo;ll tell you it&rsquo;s Pokey Reddick.&ldquo;And most of all, I&rsquo;ll tell you this,&rdquo; Michayluk said. &ldquo;When people remember me or think about anything I did, I want them to know that in my case, I was lucky to play on a lot of great teams and with a lot of great players.&ldquo;For me, it has never been a one-man game.&rdquo;FIRED-UP KOMETS: The Fort Wayne Komets&rsquo; dressing room caught fire overnight after a Nov. 12 game at Allen County Memorial Coliseum.Smoke and soot covered the room and damaged some team equipment, leaving six players without their regular gear.The structure was empty at the time, so there were no injuries. The cause of the fire was undetermined, but speculation was it started from a heater located in the middle of the dressing room.I-OPENERS: The remarkable 23-game personal win streak of Cincinnati Cyclones&rsquo; goaltender Pokey Reddick ended Nov. 12 at Milwaukee, where the Admirals beat him 3-2. The streak dated back through the playoffs and into last season.Las Vegas Thunder rookie Radek Bonk scored four goals against the Peoria Rivermen Nov. 12-including the winner with half a second remaining in the third period-to lead a 7-6 comeback win. He called his last-second goal his biggest career thrill. Peoria coach Paul MacLean: &ldquo;We probably made him a millionaire. He&rsquo;ll probably sign for something like $12 million now.&rdquo;Kalamazoo Wings&rsquo; goaltender Troy Gamble was player of the week for the period ending Nov. 14. He stopped 88 of 94 shots and had victories in all three games. &#9632;

Michayluk joins elite Fortune 500-goal club

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>Columbus is on its best behavior.Two years after setting the East Coast League record for penalty minutes, the Chill was the league&rsquo;s least-penalized team, amassing just 248 minutes in 11 games.&ldquo;The way the rules are now, we were hurting ourselves with a rough and tough team,&rdquo; said Columbus coach Terry Ruskowski. &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t afford to keep playing shorthanded.&rdquo;The transition from bad guys to good guys wasn&rsquo;t an easy one.&ldquo;The more I stressed discipline, the more undisciplined we became until we got the undisciplined people out of here,&rdquo; Ruskowski said.The change of philosophy hasn&rsquo;t affected the Chill at the gate. The team recently posted its 43rd consecutive sellout at the 5,700-seat Ohio State Fairground Coliseum-to extend its minor pro record-and won five consecutive games to move behind the Toledo Storm in the North Division. The streak included a 9-8 victory over the Storm in Toledo.Goal-a-game scorer Clayton Young and center Jason Smart are providing offense. Jim Slazyk (5-1-0, 3.52 goals-against average) has been solid in goal, but Ruskowski wants more consistent play from backup Serge Tkachenko.HOLLYWOOD EXTRA: When the movie Mighty Ducks II comes out early next year, Hampton Roads Admirals&rsquo; center Victor Gervais will be one of the first in line to see the movie sequel. Gervais was playing roller hockey during the summer for the Anaheim Bullfrogs and skated as a double in the film.&ldquo;A few of us were at the L.A. Kings&rsquo; practise facility once day and (actor) Emilo Estevez and some guys were skating,&rdquo; said Gervais, the Admirals&rsquo; captain and leading scorer.Gervais was contacted later and served as an extra, playing the part of a skater from Iceland.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if my part will end up in the movie,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but if it makes it in, nobody but myself will know me. I was wearing a face mask and sitting on the bench most of the time.&rdquo;So could Estevez skate?&ldquo;Not at all.&rsquo; Gervais said.MIFFED MOOSE: Commissioner Pat Kelly suspended Roanoke Express captain Dave &lsquo;Moose&rsquo; Morissette one game and fined him $250 for what he deemed a premeditated attack on Jason Clarke of the Charlotte Checkers Nov. 9.The Morissette-Clarke feud started in Charlotte Nov. 3 when Clarke kneed the Express&rsquo; enforcer. Morissette left the game with a deep bruise. On the morning of Charlotte&rsquo;s visit to Roanoke, Morissette vowed he would get even.After both players taunted each other in warmups, Morissette jumped Clarke on their first shift and received a game misconduct.&ldquo;We knew it was coming,&rdquo; said Charlotte coach John Marks. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t need that kind of stuff in this league.&rdquo; &#9632;

Contending Columbus finally learns to Chill out

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Bob McCammon resigned as the Tri-City Americans&rsquo; coach, general manager and president Nov. 12.But why?&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t really get into it,&rdquo; said Ron Toigo, owner of the Western League team, noting that McCammon cited only personal reasons.The 52-year-old McCammon, a former NHL coach with the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers, left Tri-City after the Americans posted a 4-12-2 record to start the season. He could not be reached for comment.Assistant coach Keith Gretzky-Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 25-year-old brother-was interim coach. Director of player personnel Gerry Johannson assumed the GM&rsquo;s duties on an interim basis.Shortly after McCammon left, Toigo offered Rick Kozuback the dual role of coach-GM.Kozuback was behind the bench Nov. 16, when Tri-City lost 8-4 to the Kamloops Blazers, but indicated he was serving in an interim capacity while considering Toigo&rsquo;s offer of fulltime employment. Tri-City suffered two earlier losses under Gretzky.Kozuback was the Americans&rsquo; coach for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons. He doubled as the GM for &lsquo;90-91 before resigning.For the next two seasons, Kozuback was an associate coach with the International League&rsquo;s Phoenix Roadrunners. Phoenix dissolved his position after last season.Tri-City has had eight different coaches, including Gretzky, over six years.McCammon had a 58-74-5 coaching record with Tri-City. He took over as coach after cocoaches Mike Busniuk and Glenn Resch began 1991-92 with a 9-13-2 record.KAMLOOPS COPS CUP: Kamloops will stage the 1995 Memorial Cup.The Blazers were chosen over four other aspiring host teams-the Regina Pats, Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades and Lethbridge Hurricanes.The Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s tournament will be played at the 5,000-seat Riverside Coliseum, which opened in 1992.There is little risk in granting Kamloops an automatic berth. The Blazers have won at least 40 games each of the past 11 seasons and have competed in 10 straight West Division finals.The Blazers participated in the 1984, 1986, 1990 and 1992 Memorial Cups-winning the 1992 title in Seattle.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Kamloops&rsquo; building is any better than ours, Red Deer&rsquo;s, Lethbridge&rsquo;s or Regina&rsquo;s,&rdquo; said Saskatoon governor Jack Brodsky. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that Kamloops has had such a good team over the years.&rdquo;Four rounds of voting were needed to determine a host. The lowest vote-getter was dropped each round. Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Red Deer and Regina were eliminated in that order.The Western, Ontario and Quebec Leagues play host to the tournament on a three-year rotating basis.SWIFT START: This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the defending league-champion Swift Current Broncos.The defending WHL champions lost six of their top nine scorers to the pro ranks, but that didn&rsquo;t prevent the Broncos from enjoying a 14-. 6-1 start-included a 10-game winning streak.&ldquo;This is a surprise,&rdquo; said Rick Girard, a 71-goal man last season. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t expecting this much. I figured we might be in the middle of the pack, battling for every win. The young guys have been excellent and the older guys great.&rdquo;VRANCKAERT DIES: Former Victoria Cougars&rsquo; owner Bob Vranckaert died Nov. 9 at his home in Anchorage, Alaska.Vranckaert. 53, died in his sleep of heart failure. He underwent triple bypass surgery in 1984, but had not had complications. He owned the Cougars for three seasons before selling the franchise to Rick Brodsky in March, 1992. &#9632;

McCammon resigns from tri-position with Tri-City

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>A year ago, North Bay Centennials&rsquo; coach-general manager Bert Templeton told the Canadian Hockey League it could wait.He was going to tee off on the 10th hole before making his pick by cellular phone in the European import draft. That pick from Chelyabinsk, Russia has teed off on the rest of the Ontario League this season.Vitali Yachmenev, 18, scored 24 goals in 19 games to lead the league. He was tied for eighth in points with 36, tops for a rookie.&ldquo;I like to score,&rdquo; Yachmenev said. He&rsquo;s on pace for an 83-goal season. The OHL record is 87, set by Ernie Godden in 1980-81.Templeton isn&rsquo;t about to put pressure on his prized right winger, who is 5-foot-9, weighs 185-pounds and hasn&rsquo;t been drafted by the NHL.&ldquo;He has scored at every level and played in an older league last year against guys up to age 30, but I never expected this,&rdquo; Templeton said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to say &lsquo;I knew this was going to happen all along,&rsquo; but you have no expectations.&rdquo;Yachmenev had scored six game-winning goals, helping the Centennials to a 13-3-3 record atop the Leyden Division. He scored four consecutive goals in a 10-3 rout of the Newmarket Royals Nov. 12.Templeton thinks Yachmenev has flourished because he came to Canada in the summer, allowing him to adjust to a new environment.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s taking English as a second language and I think he&rsquo;ll be able to switch into regular high school programs for the second semester,&rdquo; Templeton said.Yachmenev used to be a defenseman, but that lasted only two seasons. &ldquo;I was good, but I liked scoring goals better,&rdquo; he said.He came to the OHL because &ldquo;I always wanted to play in Canada. The NHL is my dream. Everybody wants to play in the NHL.&rdquo;FIFTH DEGREE: CBC-TV&rsquo;s 5th estate didn&rsquo;t win any friends in the OHL with its look at junior hockey.A documentary titled &ldquo;Promises of Glory&rdquo; aired Nov. 16 and one outside observer said the one-hour program, which followed four players entering the league, was a &ldquo;lynching.&rdquo;&ldquo;It looked like they had the conclusion before they started,&rdquo; said Dr. Bert Carron, a professor of sports psychology at the University of Western Ontario in London.&ldquo;They started with the premise that education and major junior hockey are a bad combination, but they never demonstrated that. The data wasn&rsquo;t there. It wasn&rsquo;t a very balanced view.&ldquo;The CBC owes it to the league to present data on both sides of the issue, kids who have gone on to university and kids who have ended up doing nothing. But they also must show that in relation to the normal population.&rdquo;Carron pointed to three former London Knights and two members of the 1993 Memorial Cup-champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds now at Western and playing university hockey. He said the program failed to talk about OHL grads who have become doctors, lawyers, educators and members of parliament.&ldquo;It was like one of those Hollywood town storefront sets: You go around the back and there&rsquo;s nothing there,&rdquo; Carron said.&ldquo;It will create some controversy, but we feel we were fair,&rdquo; said Leslie Fruman, an associate producer with the 5th estate.HINKS ON MOVE: Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; coach Glenn Merkosky gave up goals and kept character when overage forward Rod Hinks was traded to the Owen Sound Platers. The Wolves got defenseman Jeff Smith in return.Hinks, who had 104 points last season, was returned to Sudbury from the Rochester Americans of the American League. That meant the Wolves had to choose two of Hinks, Jamie Matthews (92 points in 65 games last season) and Mike Yeo (13 points in 24 games) as its two overage players.It came down to Hinks or Yeo, the team captain.&ldquo;The deciding factor on Yeo was character,&rdquo; Merkosky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a coach who preaches character. For me to trade Mike Yeo would have been a contradiction of that philosophy.&rdquo; &#9632;

Yachmenev Vital to Cents’ drive

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Laval Titan goaltender Emmanuel Fernandez hasn&rsquo;t given up on the Quebec Nordiques, but he&rsquo;s doing his best to impress other NHL teams, just in case.Fernandez was the Nordiques&rsquo; third-round pick in the 1992 NHL entry draft. However, when the Nordiques selected 18-year-old Jocelyn Thibault from the Sherbrooke Faucons in the first round of this year&rsquo;s draft and made him the backup to Stephane Fiset, Fernandez&rsquo;s stock dropped.&ldquo;Right now I don&rsquo;t really think about Quebec,&rdquo; Fernandez said. &ldquo;If they want me in the future they&rsquo;ll make the necessary moves.&rdquo;Fernandez, 19, admitted he was disappointed when he was sent back to junior while Thibault stayed in the NHL.&ldquo;But it was a decision they had to make between me and him and they made it,&rdquo; Fernandez said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t support that decision, but it was their choice. I know Thibault had a great camp.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not my decision to say I wasn&rsquo;t given a fair chance. I had a good camp. I&rsquo;m happy with my camp.&rdquo;One thing Fernandez didn&rsquo;t do after he was returned to junior was sulk.&ldquo;I was pumped when I came back to junior,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My first game was a real good game-I only gave up one goal.&rdquo;Fernandez hasn&rsquo;t had many bad games since.In his first 20 games, he had a 13-4-1 record and a league-leading 2.90 goals-against average with two shutouts. Fernandez and center Yanick Dube, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer, are the two main reasons the Titan have been sitting on top of the standings.&ldquo;I set some goals for myself this year,&rdquo; Fernandez said. &ldquo;The first is to go to the World Junior Championships.&rdquo;Fernandez attended Team Canada&rsquo;s summer camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., and has done his best to impress national team coach Joe Canale, who also coaches the rival Beauport Har-fangs.However, College Francais&rsquo; Philippe De Rouville. the backup on last year&rsquo;s gold-medal team, has also been hot with a 14-5-0 record and 3.19 GAA.Another personal goal Fernandez has set is to finish the year with the best GAA in the Quebec League. He was third last season behind Thibault and Jean-Francois Labbe of the Hull Olympiques.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it as low as I can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year I didn&rsquo;t start well, but I played real well in the playoffs. This year I&rsquo;m trying to do that sooner. I think I&rsquo;m playing very well right now.&rdquo;And what about the future?&ldquo;A decision will come in time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think Quebec wants to wait and see what kind of a year I have and then make a decision.&rdquo;Fernandez, 19, has yet to sign a contract with the Nordiques. If Quebec doesn&rsquo;t sign him by June 1 he will be eligible to re-enter next year&rsquo;s entry draft.LACHAPELLE GETS STRIPES: Luc Lachapelle, a 39-year-old correctional worker who has spent 15 years as a referee in the QMJHL, was among the replacement referees called up when the NHL officials went on strike Nov. 15.Lachapelle worked the Toronto Maple Leafs-Edmonton Oilers game at Maple Leaf Gardens Nov. 15.MOVING EAST?: Representatives of Moosehead Breweries met recently with QMJHL president Gilles Courteau about bringing a team to Halifax for the 1995-96 season&hellip;Russian Alexei Lozhkim has had no trouble adjusting to life in Quebec. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound left winger had 13 goals and 38 points in his first 28 games with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.The Laval Titan was in second spot in the Canadian Hockey League rankings released Nov. 16. The Portland Winter Hawks of the Western League were first. Sherbrooke, the only other QMJHL team in the top 10, was ranked ninth. &#9632;

Fernandez out to show he’s as good as Thibault

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>The Massachusetts-Lowell Chiefs made significant strides in the early stages of the Hockey East season.Coach Bruce Crowder&rsquo;s team jumped out to a 4-0-1 start, its best mark since joining Division I play in 1983.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice, particularly since we&rsquo;ve had to battle some adversity,&rdquo; Crowder said.Crowder was referring to injuries to senior center Mike Murray-who missed two games recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery-and injuries to senior defenseman Travis Tucker (groin pull) and junior defenseman Aaron Kriss (sprained knee).&ldquo;Fortunately, we found ways to get the job done and that&rsquo;s the sign of a good team,&rdquo; Crowder said.Four players played important roles in the quick start-senior goaltender Dwayne Roloson and the team&rsquo;s most productive line of senior center Ian Hebert, freshman left winger Greg Bullock and senior right winger Normand Bazin.Bullock led the team with eight goals and 13 points, while Hebert had eight points.WEINRICH OUT: The Maine Black Bears will be without senior Jason Weinrich until the end of December.Weinrich sustained a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee when a teammate fell on his leg in practice.The native of Gardiner, Me., had one goal and no assists in three games.&ldquo;Jason was playing the best hockey of his career. We&rsquo;ll miss his physical presence,&rdquo; said coach Shawn Walsh. &ldquo;He was also a senior on a team without many seniors or upperclassmen.&rdquo;Maine is also without defenseman Jeff Tory for an indefinite period. The freshman defenseman is having his eligibility reviewed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.Junior Jacque Rodrigue was forced into duty on the blueline and responded with a game-winning goal Nov. 12 against the Merrimack Warriors.NOKE CONTEST: The Northeastern Huskies were forced to use rookie Kevin Noke in goal against the Boston University Terriers Nov. 13.Starting goaltender Todd Reynolds was sidelined with a strained back and back-up Mike Veisor sliced his finger with a knife prior to the game.Noke made 37 saves but lost the game 7-2. Northeastern had rallied to beat the Terriers 5-4 the previous night, only their second win over their crosstown rivals in their past 14 meetings.NEW DIGS: Massachusetts-Lowell will soon have a new arena. A multi-million dollar ice arena/recreation center is in the works but the specifics won&rsquo;t be known until a feasibility study is completed.The school has also signed a television deal with cable station WNDS in Derry, N.H. Eight games are included in the package. It is a two-year deal with an option for two more years. &#9632;

Fast start impresses Crowder

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>When Don Lucia first got a look at what was in store for his Colorado College hockey team this season, he became concerned.The schedule showed the Tigers would open with three straight Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at home. That would be followed by a pair of non-league games with Division I independent Air Force, located just up the road on Interstate 25.In other words, it would be almost a month before CC ventured outside the 719 area code.That moment arrived Nov. 19-20 when the Tigers (6-0-2) came to the Dane County Coliseum to play pre-season favorite Wisconsin. After that it was on to North Dakota.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to it, to be honest,&rdquo; said Lucia, in his first season with the Tigers. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to make too much of it, but this will be a good test for us.&rdquo;Such a schedule can be detrimental. If a team stumbles, recouping losses on the road can be difficult. In addition, a coach is not afforded a complete reading on the weaknesses of his team.But the Tigers, fresh off a last-place finish under the ousted Brad Buetow, put their time at the Broadmoor World Arena to good use. The Tigers swept Minnesota and Alaska-Anchorage before back-to-back ties with Michigan Tech.Now Lucia must find out how his team will adapt to playing away from the cozy confines of the Broadmoor World Arena and how it will handle the larger ice surfaces against teams with superior speed.&ldquo;I was telling my wife that when we used to play (arch-rival) Alaska-Anchorage four times a year, it was intense,&rdquo; Lucia said. &ldquo;Now we have a season of those games every week.&rdquo;SAD NEWS: Connie Gotziaman, whose son Chris is a senior right winger for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm Nov. 12 in a hospital at Grand Forks, N.D.Hours after her death, after family members decided to discontinue life-support, Chris not only played against St. Cloud State, he scored two goals.After the first goal, he skated over to the corner of the rink where his mother routinely sat and raised his stick in silent tribute.Gotziaman, a senior, played in both games, saying it is what his mother would have wanted him to do.VIEW FROM BOTTOM: After starting the season an uncharacteristic 0-5-1, the Minnesota Golden Gophers made an upward turn Nov. 1213.The Gophers picked up three out of four points in a series at Minnesota-Duluth. Prior to the pivotal meeting, Gophers&rsquo; coach Doug Woog was asked if the remainder of the season looked hopeless.&ldquo;It depends on your definition of hopeless,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re expecting to have a lot of fun the second half.&rdquo; &#9632;

Youthful Tigers face test

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The Alaska-Fairbanks&rsquo; Nanooks will not be left out in the cold, but they won&rsquo;t become full-time members of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association any time soon.That&rsquo;s the message from commissioner Bill Beagan, who made it clear Nov. 10 the Nanooks would not be awarded full-time member status.&ldquo;I have to look at it from a practical standpoint,&rdquo; Beagan said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see them being granted permanent membership. It&rsquo;s not practical because we don&rsquo;t have the support from enough of our members right now. It&rsquo;s also not practical geographically.&rdquo;Beagan added that the Nanooks will &ldquo;remain an affiliate member of the CCHA until they wish to terminate it.&rdquo;As an affiliate, the Nanooks can schedule as many games as possible against CCHA opponents (12 this season). The school must pay for all transportation costs of those CCHA squads to Alaska and games do not count in league standings.The Nanooks do have the opportunity to participate in the CCHA playoffs, however, where they can be seeded anywhere from seventh to 12th.This season, the neighboring Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves became full members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.Beagan maintains the ultimate solution is for both Alaska programs to compete as full members of the same league.&ldquo;In a wonderful world, Alaska-Fairbanks, Alaska-Anchorage, Denver, Colorado, Air Force and other schools would play in a new Pacific or Western Conference,&rdquo; Beagan said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t have patchwork conferences. Having Alaska-Fairbanks in our league would be like the NHL putting Quebec in the same division with Los Angeles.&rdquo;FERRIS FIXED: Division I hockey will remain a fixture at Ferris State, despite $300,000 in athletic department budget cuts at the Big Rapids. Mich., school.Ferris State&rsquo;s board of control approved a new plan Nov. 13 that will eliminate six men&rsquo;s sports programs.Hockey was not left untouched, however, with $91,000 lopped from coach Bob Daniel&rsquo;s program. The program is expected to make up the lost funding from revenues generated through the Ewigleben Ice Arena.&ldquo;That was a big cloud hanging over our heads,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got a clean bill of health and are set to go.&rdquo;SHIELDS DOWN: The Michigan Wolverines&rsquo; will be without starting goalie Steve Shields for a while.The senior from North Bay, Ont., sustained a strained left knee in a 5-2 win at Ferris State Nov. 6.Shields, who has a collegiate career record of 87-19-8, was sidelined indefinitely. &#9632;

Alaska-Fairbanks still just affiliate member

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>So often, success in college hockey is measured strictly by numbers, the number of goals and assists players pile up.But numbers aren&rsquo;t everything for the Harvard Crimson defense corps.Coach Ronn Tomassoni is quick to point out the school has had a number of outstanding defensemen over the years, but this year&rsquo;s group-headed by seniors Sean McCann. Derek Maguire and Lou Body-could easily be the best ever.All three have good offensive potential, yet have combined for just 22 goals in a total of 219 games among them. Their forte is defensive play-&ldquo;With the talent and experience they have, we&rsquo;ve encouraged the defensemen to get more involved in the offense this year,&rdquo; said Tomassoni, in his fourth season as coach. &ldquo;But we don&rsquo;t want to sacrifice their great strength, which is defensive ability.&rdquo;Maguire, a native of Randolph, N.J., didn&rsquo;t play in the first semester of the 1992-93 season because of the death of his father, but is again a dominant force in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.McCann, the Crimson captain, had to refine his game after coming to Harvard from the Thornhill Thunderbirds of the Metro Toronto Jr. League. He piled up 88 minutes in penalties his freshman season, but cut that back to 38 last season. He also matched his career-high with four goals.The player who receives the least attention is the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Body, a native of Plandome, N.Y. He is the highest-scoring Crimson defenseman with 36 points (five goals) in 81 career games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of he toughest kids, mentally, that I&rsquo;ve ever coached,&rdquo; Tomassoni said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not pretty, but he gets the job done.&rdquo;SIGN OF TIMES: Many ECAC schools used the early signing period to lock up recruits for the 1994-95 season.Among the schools to get an early jump were Harvard, which received an early decision from Wexford Raiders&rsquo; (MTJHL) defenseman Gordie Hyland. The Clarkson Golden Knights picked up forward Chris Clark of the Springfield Olympics junior team.Other recruits making early decisions were goalie Brian Mosata of The Hotchkiss School by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Matt Cumming, a left winger for St. Mike&rsquo;s (MTJHL) by the Yale Bulldogs.CLOSE CALLS: One-goal games were the norm in the ECAC in the early going. All of Clarkson&rsquo;s first five games were decided by one goal or fewer (2-2-1) while each of Vermont&rsquo;s first five games were decided by one goal or fewer. The Catamounts were winless in the early going (0-4-1). &#9632;

Harvard’s Big Red machine lacks high-scoring defense

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01135/6212277-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg" title="f0051-01" width="380" height="536"></div>One of the integral parts of any arena or stadium is its scoreboard. Many of today&rsquo;s high-tech numbers have better video capabilities than the TV sets in our own homes and virtually all of them have the bells and whistles which make them an event unto themselves.Still, the basic reason for any scoreboard is simple: to tell the score.Sure, it keeps track of game and penalty time, but its main function is to let the fans know who is winning and who is losing. That is, after all, what the game is all about.That basic premise should be enough to encourage the NHL to take a serious look at shootouts as a means of resolving tie games.I expect some of you are shocked a writer from this publication is embracing such a progressive notion. After all, this is the hockey bible. And if I may say so, some of the people who run The Hockey News take their bible a little too seriously.Was there ever any doubt editorin-chief Steve Dryden would be opposed to shootouts? Did anyone not believe Dryden would go on record as saying the folks at Disney had flipped their Mouseketeer hats when they suggested shootouts be incorporated into the game?Like so many others, Dryden looks at hockey as some sort of religion. These so-called &ldquo;purists&rdquo; are like the sappy American baseball fans who pine for the good-ole&rsquo; days; the same people who panic when it&rsquo;s suggested a rule be changed in their game.I truly believe Dryden and his kind take 15 minutes each day to bow towards the hockey Hall of Fame, curse the memory of the Broad Street Bullies, conjure memories of the old six-team league and ask the hockey gods to cast out the southern demons who want to tamper with their holy game.After that, they get together in a dark room somewhere to discuss their all-time favorite 3-3 ties from the months of October through April.Its time for a reality check. People go to hockey games to be entertained. They go to to see a winner and a loser. There are few more dissatisfying sports experiences than leaving the rink after a tie game.That Disney supports the idea should tell you something about its potential public appeal. It&rsquo;s time to borrow from the International League and institute shootouts.The purists can still have the brief sudden-death overtime period, which usually amounts to nothing more than five minutes of trying not make a mistake. If the game is still tied, let the five top shooters from each side take their best shots.With one simple alteration to the game, two problem are fixed: ties become extinct and penalty shots become a regular feature.Call me a heathen. Call me a crass marketing man. But don&rsquo;t tell me the possibility of a shootout would not peak the interest of most fans. Don&rsquo;t tell me the people who are mocking the idea wouldn&rsquo;t be on their feet to see a Pavel Bure-Ed Belfour or Mario Lemieux-Patrick Roy showdown.Where is the downside?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-0299/6212270-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg" title="f0051-02" width="573" height="929"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption></div>Like the IHL, teams would earn one point for a shootout loss and two for a shootout win. To placate statistics freaks, shootout numbers would be a category unto itself, while the stats in the first 65 minutes would just be counted as per usual.Imagine how intriguing shootout stats could be. How many goalies would win in 1-on-1 situations? How many shooters would have the nerve needed to succeed in the shootout? Hey, it would give pool fanatics another category for their fantasy leagues, too.Heck, some teams may carry an extra player for his breakaway skills, instead of his break-some-bones skills.All a shootout would do is add some excitement to the regular season. Those who dismiss it with such disdain ought to remember the first question they&rsquo;re asked after watching a game.&ldquo;Who won?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0051-01

Shootouts winning idea for everyone

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-0365/6212308-1-eng-US/f0051-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shayne Corson is proving to be a valuable leader for the Oilers.</figcaption></div>There are players who are far more appreciated by those inside the game than by outsiders. Few players fit that category better than Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; left winger Shayne Corson.The public sees:&#9633; A one-time 30-goal scorer whose totals have decreased for three straight seasons.&#9633; A problem child with a penchant for stupid penalties, punch-ups and assorted off-ice incidents. The latest was an early-morning boating accident last summer in which he was charged for failing to keep a proper lookout.&#9633; A reject from the Montreal Canadiens who has found a home in Edmonton, hockey&rsquo;s final resting place for worn-out demonstrator models.Ask around, however, and you get a radically different picture.&ldquo;You bet I&rsquo;d take him,&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; director of pro scouting Bill Barber.If Barber, who scouts for one of the most forward-rich franchises in hockey covets Corson, odds are most others do, too, in part because of that magic commodity, potential.Corson is 27 and he retains the skating speed, hands and meanness to be an effective player; a 35-goal man who adds two inches and 20-pounds to his linemates.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a charisma to a player like that,&rdquo; said Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; assistant general manager Doug MacLean. &ldquo;He has had it since he was a junior and he has never really lost it.&rdquo;Then he must have misplaced it the last two seasons. Successive years with 17 and 16 goals with Montreal and Edmonton, combined with a checkered off-ice reputation have conspired to drop Corson&rsquo;s stock considerably.But the 6-foot-1, 201-pound Corson has bounced back early in the season. He had 10 goals in the Oilers&rsquo; first 21 games, putting him on pace for a 40-goal season. He hasn&rsquo;t scored 30 since he had a career-high 31 in 1988-89.Corson will fight a little less as he gets older-he didn&rsquo;t have a fighting major this season-but his good skating, solid touch and honest work habits will make him a frontline player on a poor team and an excellent support player on a good one.He proved that with a stellar performance at the World Championships last spring when he scored three goals and assisted on seven more for Canada in eight games.But Corson would be welcome in more places than a Visa card because he is a well-liked, honest player. In fact, the Oilers entrusted him this season with their most vital asset, rookie center Jason Arnott.When Arnott&rsquo;s game inexplicably fell off in mid-November after a quick start, it was Corson he sought out for counsel.&ldquo;For a couple of games, I was playing as if I was intimidated,&rdquo; Arnott said. &ldquo;I asked what could I do to change it. He said, &lsquo;be intense all the time, I&rsquo;ll talk to you on the ice, I&rsquo;ll be there with you out there, if you do something wrong, I&rsquo;ll help you correct it.&rsquo; He&rsquo;s like a big brother to me.&rdquo;Corson is an open, emotional man, popular with teammates and liked by the media. When asked about his sub-par 1992-93 season he speaks with disarming genuineness of the effect of the death of his father Paul, who died last season of cancer.&ldquo;Last season was a very difficult one for me,&rdquo; Corson said. &ldquo;People tend to forget that we have lives, that we&rsquo;re not just hockey players.&rdquo;Ask about his burgeoning on-ice maturity and Corson speaks of his two-year-old child, of the responsibility of marriage and fatherhood.&ldquo;I enjoy being a leader,&rdquo; Corson said. &ldquo;The Oilers have talked a lot to me about leading, they stuck with me through some tough times and I want to do it for them.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0051-03

Back on Corson

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpimello</div>Adam Graves is too easy to predict, on the ice and off.When it was pointed out to Graves that, at his pace of 15 goals for the first quarter of the season, he might score 60, you just knew he&rsquo;d be embarrassed.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to talk about that,&rdquo; Graves said with typical modesty. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even think about those things.&rdquo;Okay, so 60 is probably too big a number. But how does 45 sound for a player who has become the prototypical team leader and power forward?Add in that Graves can kill penalties, score shorthanded, play the power play, double-shift, fight any heavyweight in the league, be the team&rsquo;s best checker and biggest hitter virtually every night and, after a summer of working specifically on one thing, can skate better than he ever has. Boy, that&rsquo;s some package.New York Rangers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan was asked if Graves is the best left winger he has ever coached. He thought about it, and said &ldquo;yes,&rdquo; qualifying that he used Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky as occasional left wingers in Canada Cups.Keenan then tried to compare Graves to other left wingers who did the things he does.&ldquo;People in Montreal would say Bob Gainey,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;But Gainey couldn&rsquo;t score like Adam and couldn&rsquo;t fight like Adam. Some people might argue Clark Gillies. (Kevin) Stevens in Pittsburgh is probably the closest comparison. He has won two Stanley Cups and is a big contributor offensively. But he probably doesn&rsquo;t have the toughness component or the intimidation aspect, certainly not since he had that face injury.&rdquo;At $400,000 per season, Graves is a huge bargain for the Rangers. It won&rsquo;t be long before team president Neil Smith tears up Graves&rsquo; contract.RISKY BUSINESS: Mike Keen-an stole the thunder of the Rangers&rsquo; first game against their former coach. Roger Neilson, when the Rangers played the Florida Panthers Nov. 16.Keenan, who had seen his team struggle against expansion teams (22-1), felt the Rangers needed a spark.So he yanked Mike Richter after Florida&rsquo;s first goal on its 19th shot that tied the game 1-1 midway through the second period. Keenan called on Glenn Healy, who hadn&rsquo;t played in a month.&ldquo;It was in no way a reflection on Mike&rsquo;s play,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;We just needed something to spark the team.&rdquo;The Rangers responded to the wake-up call with three goals in the span of a minute to win the game 4-2.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to come out,&rdquo; Richter said, &ldquo;but the bottom line is it worked. I am glad because it would have done nobody any good for him to not pull me and not have it work.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Rangers&rsquo; 10-02 unbeaten streak was the team&rsquo;s longest since a 14-0-2 streak in 197273. It is the seventh longest unbeaten streak in team history&hellip;The Rangers continued to lead the NHL in power play, penalty killing and shorthanded goals. They allowed opponents two goals in the 38 power-play chances, while scoring six times shorthanded in a span of seven games.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mark Messier, Sergei Nemchinov. Esa Tikkanen. Mike Hudson, Ed Olczyk.LW-Adam Graves. Greg Gilbert, Tony Amonte. Mike Hartman. Nick Kypreos, Phil Bourque.RW-Alexei Kovalev. Mike Gartner, Steve Larmer, Joey Kocur.LD-Brian Leetch, Jay Wells, Kevin Lowe. Peter Andersson.RD-Jetf Beukeboom. Doug Lidster, Sergei Zubov. Alexander Karpovtsev.G-Mike Richter. Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Graves does everything and does it cheaply

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>He always was the quiet Philadelphia Flyer, the one who did the job quickly, efficiently and without drawing much attention to himself.That&rsquo;s pretty much the way veteran Pelle Eklund is still going about business in what is probably his final season with the Flyers.The nine-year pro is the senior member of the Flyers in terms of continuous service. He has enjoyed his stay here and, at 30, still has the skills to play in the NHL.But the Swedish player always had a dream of playing a few years in his native country before retiring.A gold medal in the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo is his most cherished memory and he wouldn&rsquo;t mind winning another international honor before hanging up the skates.Plus his son, Daniel, 7, begins school next year and Pelle wants him to start in a Swedish school.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to jump in and help out in certain spots and help the team make the playoffs,&rdquo; said Eklund, who has accepted a more defensive role. &ldquo;It would be a nice way to end up, make the playoffs this year.&rdquo;Pelle, his wife, Liseolott. Daniel and daughter Nathalie will return to Sweden, probably to a rural town outside of Stockholm. After a fast-paced nine years, Eklund is ready to live a slower lifestyle.&ldquo;Next fall is his (Daniel&rsquo;s) first year in school,&rdquo; Eklund said. &ldquo;I think that was probably not the biggest but a big part of the decision.&ldquo;I also said to myself I want to spend a few years playing in Sweden. If I move back now, I&rsquo;ve got a few more years to play.&rdquo;DOUBLE TROUBLE: Eric Lin-dros went home to Toronto Nov. 15 to have an MRI test that had been taken on his injured right knee checked by another doctor.But while home, Lindros developed a urinary tract infection Nov. 19. He had to take antibiotics for three weeks to clear up the infection. That delayed rehabilitation on the partially tom medial collateral ligament in his right knee.The Flyers say he will be out until mid- to late-December. The illness left Lindros weak for several days.NOTEBOOK: Kevin Dineen had his right shoulder examined by Dr. Frank Jobe. Jobe told Dineen he would probably need surgery to cure the problem. Dineen said he would put off action until after the season. He injured the shoulder in a pre-season collision with a linesman.Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour picked up an assist Nov. 21 against the New York Islanders, extending his point-scoring streak to 12 games. It tied him with Eric Lindros for longest in the NHL this season.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Yves Racine. D. signed multi-year contract<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Viacheslav But-sayev. Pelle Eklund, Dave Tippett.LW-Mikael Renberg. Joset Beranek. Brent Fedyk. Chris Winnes.RW-Mark Recchi. Kevin Dineen, Dave Brown. Al Conroy.LD-Garry Galley. Yves Racine, Jeff Finley, Greg Hawgood.RD-Dimitri Yushkevich. Ryan McGill, Stewart Malgunas.G-Dominic Roussel. Tommy Soderstrom<h3>INJURIES</h3>Claude Boivin LW. left knee surgery, indefinite Jason Bowen. D, bruised cornea in left eye, day-to-day. Eric Lindros. C, tom medial collateral ligament in right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

Eklund looking for a winner before flying back to Sweden

<div class="byline">By Boy Cummings</div>Tampa Bay Lightning coach Terry Crisp hates to make excuses for his club&rsquo;s poor position in the standings, but he can no longer deny injuries have played a big role in the bad start.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve taken away what I consider to be a part of the core of our team,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;Players like Adam Creighton, Shawn Chambers, Rob DiMaio and Roman Hamrlik. When you lose players who are that important to you, you&rsquo;re going to suffer.&rdquo;During a 13-game stretch that ended with a 43 win over the Chicago Blackhawks Nov. 20, the Lightning was 2-10-1. It played most of that stretch without Creighton, Chambers and DiMaio. In all, Tampa Bay had lost 85 mangames to injuries.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s bad enough that we&rsquo;ve lost those players, but even tougher because we don&rsquo;t have the depth to replace those guys,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;For instance, we can&rsquo;t just go down to Atlanta and call up a big centerman to replace Creighton, or a power-play guy to replace Chambers.&rdquo;Crisp said the Lightning has done a good job of making do.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not scoring, but the overall effort is there and the defensive effort is there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our goals against are down and that&rsquo;s important. As long as we can keep the games close, we&rsquo;ve got a shot at winning them.&rdquo;Unfortunately for the team, that wasn&rsquo;t the case through the early part of the season. The Lightning was 3-8 in one-goal games or two-goal games in which an empty-net goal was scored.The Lightning&rsquo;s ability to keep its goals against down may have taken a hit as well. Goalie Daren Puppa bruised his left wrist in a 43 loss to the New York Rangers Nov. 19 and was forced to miss the next game. He was expected to return within a game or two.EERIE FEELING: The first trip to Dallas for many of the players offered a unique experience. In town days before the 30th anniversary of John F. Kennedy&rsquo;s assassination, a number of players ventured to Dealey Plaza for a look at the murder site. Many walked along the final legs of the president&rsquo;s parade route and took a stroll on the &ldquo;grassy knoll.&rdquo;A few others took the time to tour the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, the site from which Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy Nov. 22, 1963.The sixth floor has been turned into a museum detailing Kennedy&rsquo;s presidency and the controversy that surrounds his assassination. Those who toured it came away quite moved.&ldquo;It was really eerie,&rdquo; Joe Reekie said. &ldquo;I mean, you see the spot where he got shot and it gives you kind of an eerie feeling.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Pat Jablonski filled in for the injured Daren Puppa Nov. 20 and earned his first victory (4-3 over the Chicago Blackhawks) in three tries this season&hellip;Petr Klima broke out his scoring slump in the victory over Chicago. He had just four goals in his previous 20 games, but scored two against the Blackhawks.Rob Zamuner scored his first goal in a 30-game period Nov. 19 in the 4-3 loss to the Rangers. He suffered through a 29-game scoring drought last year as well.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 18: Tim Bergland. RW. assigned to Atlanta (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Bradley, Denis Savard, Chris Gratton, Bill McDougall.LW-Petr Klima, Mikael Andersson, Rob Zamuner, Danton Cole.RW-John Tucker. Marc Bureau, Pat Elynuik, Rudy Poeschek.LD-Joe Reekie. Shawn Chambers, Chris LiPumaRD-Chris Joseph, Roman Hamrlik, Donald DufresneG-Daren Puppa. Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Marc Bergevln. D, bruised back, day-to-day Adam Creighton, C. strained right knee, Nov 28 Rob DiMaio, C, broken left leg. indefinite. Gerard Gallant, LW. bruised back, day-to-day. Wendell Young. G, nght shoulder surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Injuries to blame for woes

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Whether it was inevitable from the moment in March when he joined the Washington Capitals or whether it was a temporary situation, Rick Tabaracci has become the No. 1 goalie.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s making big strides toward that,&rdquo; said coach Terry Murray.Murray is cautious with goaltending pronouncements. Even if he gives signals, he is superstitious about uttering the words, &ldquo;So-and-so will start tonight.&rdquo;And, like most reasonable coaches, he always retains the right to change his mind at a moment&rsquo;s notice. Still, the numbers fill in the details of the evolution. Tabaracci played eight of 10 games Oct. 25 to Nov. 18.He played well during that stretch and led the league in goals-against-average and save percentage for a short time. His record was not as good because the team was struggling.However, the team was not struggling as badly as it was at the start of the season, when it was 0-6-0. In that phase, the Capitals were losing and giving up lots of goals. That meant Don Beaupre&rsquo;s goals-against average ballooned to the worst in the league for a few days.&ldquo;I feel eventually I&rsquo;ll be in there,&rdquo; Beaupre said during four games of inactivity. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll sit and wait, but I&rsquo;m not going to wait all year. If I don&rsquo;t play for a few weeks or whatever circum-stances are reasonable, then I&rsquo;ll go in and talk to them, but it hasn&rsquo;t been that long.&rdquo;Murray said he had a general understanding with the goalies that he wanted to play Tabaracci in a series of games to get a better feel for his capabilities. Tabaracci arrived in March from the Winnipeg Jets and played six regular-season games and the first four playoff games.The most games Tabaracci played in one season is 24. While Tabaracci said he thinks he has established himself enough that there won&rsquo;t be any more time in the minors, Murray was inter-ested in seeing whether he is can be a 60-game-per-year No. 1 goalie.SCORING DROUGHT: The team&rsquo;s problem with scoring again became paramount fol-lowing a 2-0 shutout loss to the New York Rangers Nov. 13 and a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks Nov. 16.&ldquo;The offensive production is not where we need and have to have it for this team to have success,&rdquo; Terry Murray said.It took 20 games before any player had 10 goals (Peter Bondra) and the once potent power play was among the least effective in the league. Michal Pivonka, who averaged more than a point per game last season, was on a pace this time that would give him just 25. That&rsquo;s part of the reason why Murray made Pivonka the fourth-line right winger for one game. A left-handed shot, Pivonka had never played right wing.&ldquo;Sure I&rsquo;m frustrated, but if it&rsquo;s with Terry or with me, it&rsquo;s probably both,&rdquo; Pivonka said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to start with myself. If I&rsquo;m playing well and he&rsquo;s not playing me then we&rsquo;ve got a problem. But I wasn&rsquo;t playing too well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie right winger Pat Peake scored his first NHL goal Nov. 18 in Pittsburgh&hellip;Suspended center Dale Hunter plays his first game Nov. 26 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunter traveled with the Capitals for the first time when they played in Pittsburgh Nov. 18 and Florida Nov. 20.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mrke Ridley. Michal Pivonka. Dave Poulin. Steve Konowalchuk.LW-Ketly Miller, Dimitn Khristich, Randy Burridge. Craig Berube.RW-Peter Bondra. Keith Jones. Todd Krygier, Pat Peake.LD-AI lafrate, Calle Johansson, Shawn Anderson, Enrico Ciccone.RD-Kevin Hatcher, Sylvain Cote, Brian Curran.G-Rick Tabaracci. Don Beaupre.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Alan May. RW, broken left hand, indefinite. &#9632;

Tabaracci wins top job over Beaupre…for now

<div class="byline">By Craig Dolch</div>Florida Panthers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson has called rookie center Rob Niedermayer the &ldquo;franchise&rsquo;s hope for the future.&rdquo;Forget about the future. He&rsquo;s their hope for the present. And the Panthers&rsquo; hopes were dealt a blow when Niedermayer separated his right shoulder Nov. 18 in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. The 18-year-old center led the Panthers with five goals and 14 points in 20 games.He is sidelined until mid- to late-December.&ldquo;This was a major blow,&rdquo; said center Brian Skrudland. &ldquo;He was starting to hit his stride.&rdquo;Niedermayer sustained the injury when he lost his balance along the boards. As he was falling, he was hit by defenseman Cam Russell, but Russell did not drive him into the boards.&ldquo;I got tangled up and all my weight was on my shoulder when it hit the boards and the ice,&rdquo; Niedermayer said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating because I was just starting to feel comfortable.&rdquo;Niedermayer was having a great game. He had a goal and an assist and hit a crossbar.&ldquo;That could have been a hump game for him,&rdquo; Dave Lowry said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t realize how great he&rsquo;s going to be. He&rsquo;s going to dominate.&rdquo;Niedermayer also has shown a willingness to mix it up. Neilson said he had the team&rsquo;s three best checks against Chicago.In short, he has been everything the Panthers thought they were getting when they took him with the fifth overall pick in June&rsquo;s entry draft and signed him to a four-year, $3.3-million deal.&ldquo;For a kid, it usually takes 15-to-20 games to come around, so now he was just ready to go,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;He looked like he was starting to get a grip. That&rsquo;s a tough break.&rdquo;ROAD WARRIORS: Expansion teams are supposed to be awful on the road and mediocre at home.Not the Panthers. Through 21 games, they had a winning record on the road (4-3-1) and a losing record at home (4-7-2).The road record is impressive considering the showing of recent expansion teams in their first seasons: Ottawa Senators (1-41-0), Tampa Bay Lightning (11-27-4) and San Jose Sharks (3-352). So what about the home record?&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing the same system and we&rsquo;re patient at home or on the road,&rdquo; said defenseman Joe Cirella. &ldquo;But certain teams think they can beat us in their place just by showing up.&rdquo;General manager Bob Clarke agrees the team may be better off on the road because the pressure is on the home team to beat the expansion club.NOTEBOOK: Veterans Brian Benning and Mike Foligno were given four-and three-game suspensions by the league. Foligno head-butted Dave Karpa of the Quebec Nordiques and Benning slashed Quebec&rsquo;s Martin Rucinsky after an empty-net goal in a game Nov. 14. It took the league five days to announce the punishment. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s ridiculous the NHL can&rsquo;t make up their mind,&rdquo; Roger Neilson said. &ldquo;Before they&rsquo;ve made the decision, they&rsquo;ve given them a two-game suspension. What&rsquo;s the holdup?&rdquo;Goalie John Vanbiesbrouck is sure to be reminded about the goal he allowed to Kevin Lowe in a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers. Lowe is renting Vanbiesbrouck&rsquo;s house in Westchester, N.Y. &ldquo;Guess he doesn&rsquo;t like the house,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 17: Stephane Richer, D. recalled from Cincinnati (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Skrudland. Jesse Belanger, Tom Fitzgerald, Randy Gilhen.LW-Dave Lowry. Mike Hough. Evgeny Davydov. Bill Lindsay.RW-Scott Mellanby, Jody Hull, Andrei Lomakin, Scott Levins, Mike Foligno.LD-Alexander Godynyuk, Brian Benning. Brent Severyn.RD-Joe Cirella. Gord Murphy. Greg Smyth, Paul Laus, Stephane Richer.G-John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown. D, bruised knee, day-to-day. Rob Niedermayer. C, separated right shoulder, Dec. 20. &#9632;

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December 3, 1993

Turgeon locates magic

ELSTON

Kulak tees off on CHL

Albelin bounces back from adversity once again