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

January 7, 1994

The Hockey News January 7, 1994

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>Not all went well in Wayne&rsquo;s World in 1993.But when The Great One looks back on the past 12 months, he does so fondly.That&rsquo;s because 1993 was the year he re-established himself as a force in the game-indeed there were whispers about his waning abilities-and came close to fulfilling his dream of bring the Stanley Cup to Los Angeles.Gretzky&rsquo;s Los Angeles Kings lost in five games to the Montreal Canadiens in the final. And No. 99 was No. 1 in playoff scoring for the sixth time in his career with 15 goals and 40 points. He became the first player in league history to hit the career 100-goal plateau in post-season play.The loss to the Canadiens was a sour ending to what could have been a Hollywood-scripted season.It started when he played his first game of the season Jan. 6 after missing 39 games with a herniated disc in his back. It was his 1,000th career game and he celebrated with two assists.But his success was short-lived. After scoring twice in his second game, Gretzky endured the longest scoring dryspell of his 14-year career when he went 16 games without a goal.&ldquo;I look back on it on the basis that I probably shouldn&rsquo;t have come back so early, but I had to in order to be ready for the playoffs,&rdquo; said the 32-year-old native of Brantford, Ont. &ldquo;I felt I would be an absolute waste if I didn&rsquo;t come back and put a good month in of conditioning and getting ready. I wasn&rsquo;t ready when I came back, but I had to play through it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021015/6352036-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="507" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky</figcaption></div>Gretzky closed the regular season in his usual style, scoring 14 goals and 46 points in his final 27 games. His scoring clip carried over into the post-season. He led the Kings in scoring in each round.&ldquo;As far as the playoffs, it was one of the highlights of my career because we were such underdogs,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;Anytime you&rsquo;re an underdog it&rsquo;s always such a great feeling to come out with a Cinderella story.&rdquo;In a fit of frustration following the Stanley Cup final, Gretzky hinted at retirement, but returned to the Kings after agreeing to a three-year contract extension worth about $25.5 million.This season, the Kings have struggled badly, but in no way is their fall from grace related to Gretzky&rsquo;s performance. He has led the league in scoring since the second week and is shooting for his 10th Art Ross Trophy as league scoring champ.With 13 goals in 32 games, he was on pace for 34 this season, which would leave him two shy of Gordie Howe&rsquo;s record of 801 for most career goals. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Gretzky proves he still has it

<div class="byline">-Steve Dryden</div>Canada&rsquo;s player for the year 1993 was made in Kariya.He is a fabulously talented forward who has put off a career in the NHL to play for his country. Paul Kariya, 19, is currently with his third Canadian national team this year.The North Vancouver native started the year by helping Canada win the World Junior Championships. Kariya was named to the first all-star team.Then he played for Canada at the World Championships. He was the youngest player in the tournament.This December, Kariya joined the Canadian Olympic team headed for the Lillehammer Games. He is expected to breathe life into a moribund offense.It is but the latest challenge facing the 5-foot-10 left winger, who led the Maine Black Bears to a national title and was named U.S. college hockey&rsquo;s best player last year.He was the first freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award after scoring 63 points in 24 league games.Kariya was chosen fourth overall by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1993 entry draft, but opted to start the season with Maine and then play for Canada.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021025/6352401-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="514" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Kariya</figcaption></div>When Kariya left the Bears in December, the team gave him a money clip with the inscription: &ldquo;We hope Maine has been as good to you as you have been for Maine.&rdquo;Anaheim would like Kariya to sign after the Olympics and play the last 20-or-so games with the expansion team. Kariya could return to Maine, but it&rsquo;s more likely he&rsquo;ll play for Anaheim.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a future superstar,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. Kariya is a playmaking genius with extraordinary quickness. The Ducks are counting on superior skill winning out over inferior size.Kariya has a unique ability to focus on the task at hand. Following one bad shift last season, Walsh ripped into Kariya on the bench. His star player didn&rsquo;t say a word-he just breathed deeply. Later, he told his coach, &ldquo;I had a lot of negative energy and I had to exhale it.&rdquo; By season&rsquo;s end, that practise had caught on with teammates. &ldquo;We had so many guys taking deep breaths on the bench I thought I was in a maternity ward,&rdquo; Walsh said.The Mighty Ducks are sure to breathe easier when Kariya joins them. &#9632;

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Duck promises to make splash

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>There is a rift between Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Barry Melrose and general manager Nick Beverley regarding player personnel.Melrose insists the Kings can&rsquo;t win with the players Beverley has supplied, while Beverley insists the Kings can. Besides, he claims Melrose has been &ldquo;a part of every transaction made by this team, and I wouldn&rsquo;t have it any other way.&rdquo;Beverley was irritated by comments Melrose made Dec. 17 after a 2-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. When the Kings lost 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs the next night, it gave them 14 defeats in 17 games and 10 consecutive road losses-two shy of the club record.Melrose said the Kings are smaller now and won&rsquo;t be successful until &ldquo;big, aggressive&rdquo; players are acquired.&ldquo;I said the truth,&rdquo; Melrose said. &ldquo;I told the guys before the (Toronto) game the things I said were not meant as aspersions toward them because they&rsquo;re playing hard for me. But I also said we need some guys who are 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3. That&rsquo;s my opinion, but Nick and (president) Roy (Mlakar) are the bosses.&rdquo;The Kings have no 6-foot-3 players on their roster. They have five forwards and three defensemen under 6-feet.Though Melrose never mentioned defenseman Marty McSorley by name, he made a veiled reference to management&rsquo;s decision not to retain the 225-pound free agent, who was tendered a five-year, $10 million offer sheet by the St. Louis Blues and traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Shawn McEachern.Beverley, who said he is attempting to acquire a big defenseman or winger, also failed to mention McSorley by name. But he said the absence of one player wasn&rsquo;t to blame for the Kings&rsquo; 11-19-2 record, a 19-point drop-off through 32 games a year ago. The only other regular gone from last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalist is 5-foot-7 Corey Millen, shipped to the New Jersey Devils for a fifthround draft pick.Beverley strongly suggested Melrose should concentrate on his duties behind the bench.&ldquo;Each person should do the job he was hired to do,&rdquo; Beverley said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t run down and tell the coach what to do. I don&rsquo;t run into the dressing room and try to motivate the players. That&rsquo;s not my job.&rdquo;BIG SALE: Bruce McNall sold a portion of the Kings-unconfirmed reports put the share at 25 per cent-Dec. 15 to IDB Communications executives Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joe Cohen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011438/6352494-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="568" height="760"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Melrose has a big problem with the Kings&rsquo; small lineup.</figcaption></div>McNall, who remains in control of the team, is a partner in a group that plans to build an arena and entertainment center.McNall, whose Kings have played in the 16,005-seat Forum since 1967, said it will take a year to plan construction and two years to build.If negotiations to include Forum and Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; owner Jerry Buss are successful, it&rsquo;s possible the new arena will be built adjacent to the Forum. The new arena is expected to cost $125-150 million.NOTEBOOK: Despite the Kings&rsquo; problems, Wayne Gretzky doesn&rsquo;t regret returning and agreeing to the three-year, $25.5 million contract he he expected to sign by New Year&rsquo;s Day. &ldquo;I love playing for Barry (Melrose),&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy when things are going well to take the accolades. When things are not going well, I can&rsquo;t be like a rat and jump ship.&rdquo; Gretzky and his advisers waited for Bruce McNall&rsquo;s team deal to go through because they wanted to be certain it wouldn&rsquo;t affect the deferred payments that are included in the contract. Gretzky will be paid $4 million each year of the deal, with the remainder deferred over a number of years.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 18: Rick Knickle. G. and Dominic Lavoie. D, assigned to Phoenix (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Wayne Gretzky. Shawn McEachern, Jimmy Carson. Pat Conacher.LW-Luc Robitaille, Warren Rychel. Mike Donnelly. Dan Currie. Gary Shuchuk. Phil Crowe.RW-Jari Kuril. John Druce. Tomas Sandstrom, Dave TaylorLD-Alex Zhitnik, Darryl Sydor, Mark HardyRD-Rob Blake, Charlie Huddy, Doug Houda, Tim Watters.G-Ketly Hrudey, Robb Stauber.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tony Granato, RW. inflamed disc in lower back, indefinite. &#9632;

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Melrose bemoans team’s tiny troops

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011512/6352005-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div><h2>SNAPSHOTS, SLAPSHOTS OF THE YEAR</h2>From Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s emotional triumph over Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease to the NHL officials&rsquo; 17-day strike, hockey had its share of remarkable stories in 1993.In this special five-page section, we compiled the best of the year that was-12 profiles on 1993&rsquo;s most intriguing personalities and the top 50 news stories. &#9632;

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FREEZE FRAME

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01929/6353968-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>Wayne GretzkyTHE YEAR&rsquo;S 12 MOST INTRIGUING PEOPLEEric LindrosMike RichterMario LemieuxAlexandre Daigle &#9632;

Cover-01

QUOTABLE

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07213/6351740-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="384" height="482"></div>The NHL should enter 1994 with one resolution-work to get the focus of league attention back on the game.It would be a welcome departure.Gil Stein promised to clear away the clouds obscuring the NHL. Instead, the league cleared him up, up and away.League commissioner Gary Bettman vowed to rid the game of distractions that turn people&rsquo;s attention from the game.His reign has witnessed a Hall-of-Fame fiasco, endless speculation on franchise relocation, two sets of collective bargaining talks and an officials&rsquo; strike.It is not the current administration&rsquo;s fault two labor agreements were allowed to expire the same year and it&rsquo;s arguable an executive transition period is unlikely to be problemfree.But the fact remains the NHL agenda has been hijacked by issues far removed from the ice-virtually all of them money-related.When was the last time you picked up a newspaper and didn&rsquo;t read numbers preceded by dollar signs?It would be irresponsible not to comment on the myriad concerns that surround the game and, ultimately, have an impact on how (and where) it&rsquo;s played.But it is similarly irresponsible to forget an average of nearly 16,000 spectators fill NHL arenas to watch games unfold, not the pseudo-drama that encircles and suffocates the spirit of the sport.Sports pages today typically concentrate as much on a team&rsquo;s earning power as its scoring power. Goals and assists have been replaced by dollars and cents as the ultimate barometer of success.Arenas used to be stages for the game&rsquo;s greatest players. Now they are monuments to the game&rsquo;s chattiest owners.Le Colisee was the house that Jean Beliveau built. The new Quebec arena-when one is mercifully agreed to-will be the house that Marcel Aubut built.Bruce McNall is the second-biggest celebrity on the Los Angeles Kings. Suzie Waks, his chief financial officer, is third.It&rsquo;s time the sports pages were repatriated-taken away from accountants and lawyers and given back to the fans.I&rsquo;m anxious to do my part.A couple of weeks ago, 1 started asking people around the league who they think is the best player in the game this season. (My choice is on page 4.)Many didn&rsquo;t share my enthusiasm for the topic.The truth is I felt sheepish talking about the game while controversy raged over whether referees and linesmen were entitled to peanuts or Gouda cheese as their inflight snack.Time is the most precious commodity all of us possess and far too much is consumed by front-office matters.Undeniably, today&rsquo;s hockey fans are too sophisticated to be satisfied with on-ice issues only.There is an appetite and need for off-ice power plays to be scrutinized as carefully-if not more so-as those on the ice.Prying eyes have forced the NHL to share the wealth after a lengthy and despicable period of worker exploitation.Those injustices have been largely rectified, thanks in large part to a proactive NHL Players&rsquo; Association.Some remain, of course, and they will not be overlooked.Nor should the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-08106/6351733-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg" title="f0002-08" width="410" height="419"></div> &#9632;

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Let’s hope new year brings game to forefront

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chiet</div>Sergei Fedorov has been true to his word. After a disappointing playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs last spring, Fedorov vowed to increase productivity. This year, the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; center has arrived as an offensive force and remains one of the NHL&rsquo;s superior checkers. Fedorov has been the league&rsquo;s best player this season. He is an early candidate for the Hart Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player. It would be a breakthrough achievement if Fedorov earned the honor. No European has won a major award apart from the Calder Trophy. Detroit general manager Bryan Murray acknowledges his bias, but said he hasn&rsquo;t seen a better player than Fedorov. That assessment is surprising since Murray is in the midst of contract negotiations with the Russian star. Fedorov, 24, is in his fourth NHL season and headed for a 140-point season. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim GM Jack Ferreira hesitated long enough to take a breath before answering, &ldquo;Fedorov,&rdquo; when asked who has been the NHL&rsquo;s top player in Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s absence. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what he can&rsquo;t do-maybe drive the bus,&rdquo; Ferreira said. Perhaps not, but Fedorov has been the driving force behind Detroit&rsquo;s turnaround. &ldquo;He really has ignited our team,&rdquo; Murray said. Murray anxiously awaits injured star Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s return to establish a powerful one-two scoring punch&hellip;ESPN 2 pays nothing to broadcast NHL hockey. Its parent, ESPN, purchased the right to show games for $16 million a year. The league provides programming for the junior network free of charge&hellip;Remember this name: Chad Kilger. Kilger, 17, is a first-year center with the Kingston Frontenacs and the son of former NHL referee Bob Kilger. Chad is expected to be a high pick in the 1995 entry draft. He had 12 goals and 27 points in 30 games with the Frontenacs. Bob is the Member of Parliament for Cornwall, Ont., and former coach of the Royals. Kilger played with Bobby Orr on the Oshawa Generals&hellip;The Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings could become the first pair of Stanley Cup finalists to miss the playoffs one year after contending for the Cup&hellip;Following an NHL Players&rsquo; Association briefing for agents in Toronto, Dec. 15, there were enough lawyers in the press box to open a branch office of the NHL. One reporter suggested a &ldquo;lawyer toss&rdquo; be conducted. New York-based Jay Grossman, who is in the same height and weight class as Gary Bettman, looked nervous&hellip;Ron Wilson insists the Mighty Ducks could be called Canada&rsquo;s Team because of the abrasive style they play. In reality, they are Sweden&rsquo;s Team. The Mighty Ducks have been among the least-penalized teams all season&hellip;The NHL rulebook has many holes in it, but among the first that should be filled are those dealing with misconducts. It&rsquo;s wrong that 10-minute misconducts don&rsquo;t affect manpower advantage while two-minute unsportsmanlike penalties do. It&rsquo;s illogical players can go from zero to 10 without going through two. The answer: All 10-minute and game misconducts should be accompanied by minors. Handing out power plays in those situations would be an effective deterrent and appropriate punishment&hellip;A Florida reader and fan of the New York Islanders, Joe Belgado, called to say former rugged winger John Tonelli deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. One set of numbers, career goals (325) and points (836), makes him an unlikely candidate. But another, Stanley Cups (four), Stanley Cup finals (six) and Canada Cups (one), suggests he should be considered. Canada Cup performances would count on my Hall-of-Fame ballot and Tonelli was tournament MVP in 1981. Human quote machine Brian Burke produced his best line when he said, &ldquo;Hockey is a man&rsquo;s game and the team with the most men wins.&rdquo; Tonelli delivered the male&hellip;Chicago Stadium could be a proving ground for New York Rangers&rsquo; goalie Mike Richter. The Blueshirts are scheduled to visit Chicago, Jan. 16, and, although coach Mike Keenan says winning and losing won&rsquo;t be foremost on his mind, Richter will want to perform well if he gets the assignment. Backup Glenn Healy&rsquo;s last start as the Rangers&rsquo; first-string goalie was Oct. 16 in Philadelphia. Healy lost to the Flyers, another of Keenan&rsquo;s former employers, and didn&rsquo;t start again for more than a month. It promises to be a difficult homecoming for ex-Hawk coach Keenan, who is separated from his wife and daughter. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not looking forward to going in there because of the emotion that will be involved,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;My family lives there now and I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo; Added emotional baggage Keenan will haul into the Stadium: &ldquo;Being fired by the Chicago Blackhawks was completely unjustified,&rdquo; Keenan said&hellip;How long will it be before NHL uniforms and helmets include the league logo on prominently displayed patches and decals? The National Basketball Association logo appears on all jerseys. By the way, silver or teal piping could replace the current orange on the NHL shield. A motion blur might also be added to a new design. The old look is considered static.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011580/6351809-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="368" height="370"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021410/6351802-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="1144" height="1902"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Fedorov has increasing support as the NHL&rsquo;s best player.</figcaption></div><h2>NHL has holes on U.S. TV map</h2>The National Football league boasts the best TV market penetration of the big four professional sports leagues. It has franchises in 18 of the top 20 U.S. markets. The NHL is in 13 of the largest viewing areas; a four-city hole exists between Nos. 9 and 14.Listed below is where the NHL, NFL. Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association are representedare in the top 30 TV markets. All U.S.-based franchises are listed, including NFL expansion teams in Charlotte. N.C., and Jack-sonville, Fla.One important consideration in future NHL expansion will be what a franchise brings in terms of TV market penetration. Metropolitan areas that encompass more than one city include the designation &ldquo;-plus.&rdquo; Each check mark represents one team in the area.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031182/6351795-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="706" height="1776"></div> &#9632;

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Wings’ center has been best

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>NHL officials are threatening a work to rule campaign if their differences with the league are not resolved.The NHL and its 58-member officials&rsquo; association agreed to a four-year collective bargaining agreement Dec. 1 which brought to an end a 17-day strike.But the CBA hadn&rsquo;t been completed by late December. The officials say there are 16 unresolved issues, the most important concerning travel privileges and the formula which will be used to calculate retroactive pay and pay not collected during the strike.Some of the other issues include per diem, definition of injury indemnification, number of games worked to determine full NHL status and maximum number of games referees and linesmen may work in a season. Under the old contract referees could work up to 70 games and linesmen, 80The NHLOA provided the league with its stance on each of the outstanding issues Dec. 17.The NHL and Don Meehan, the Toronto-based agent representing the NHLOA, held a series of talks including one by telephone Dec. 20. Nothing was resolved and another phone conversation was scheduled for the following day.&ldquo;The NHL has been insulting, arrogant and brazen,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;They have tried to intimidate us, but it won&rsquo;t work.&rdquo;NHLOA vice-president Kerry Fraser didn&rsquo;t rule out a wildcat strike, but said it would be, &ldquo;the absolute last resort.&rdquo;If the officials work to rule, it could mean long nights for players and fans. The officials would call the rules strictly by the book, which would ensure a steady flow of players to the penalty box. They have also indicated linesmen might not break up fights. &#9632;

Will refs work to rule?

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>Hockey Canada&rsquo;s directors have tentatively agreed to a merger with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and are waiting for a report into Alan Eagleson&rsquo;s spending habits.Those items dominated Hockey Canada&rsquo;s annual meeting Dec. 16 in Toronto.Board members discussed an interim report by the Toronto auditing firm of Deloitte and Touche into Eagleson&rsquo;s expenses incurred when he was Hockey Canada&rsquo;s chief international negotiator.&ldquo;They requested further information and we provided it,&rdquo; said Hockey Canada president Ron Robison.Hockey Canada authorized the audit in the wake of a number of investigations of Eagleson by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Justice Department, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Law Society of Upper Canada for dealings during his tenure as executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, which he led for 25 years from its inception in 1967.Hockey Canada has been drawn into the international investigation because Eagleson was its chief international negotiator for more than two decades before being replaced last spring.The organization is co-operating with the U.S. investigation, but is not under scrutiny itself.Robison said he does not know when the investigation will be finished and he isn&rsquo;t sure whether its findings will be released.As for the merger with the CAHA, Robison said the directors felt it was time for one Canadian organization and not two serving its hockey interests.The new agency would come into effect next June and assume control of all hockey programs in Canada, from minor hockey to the national and Olympic team programs. It would also be responsible for future Canada Cup tournaments.Canada is the only world hockey power with two voices. The CAHA governs all amateur hockey up to the World Junior program.Hockey Canada, the non-profit corporation created by the federal government in 1969 in an effort to restore Canada&rsquo;s glory as a world hockey power, handles all senior international endeavors.LEMIEUX WINS: Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Mario Lemieux was named Canada&rsquo;s male athlete of the year by the Canadian Press.Lemieux, 28, captured the NHL scoring title last spring with 69 goals and 160 points, despite playing just 60 games.He picked up eight goals and 18 points in 11 playoff games, leading the Penguins to the Patrick Division final.The Montreal native missed 20 games last season with Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease, a form of cancer of the lymph nodes. He sat out four games with a back ailment. Lemieux also won the award in 1988.Lemieux garnered the most votes in voting by sports editors across Canada. Indy car driver Paul Tracy finished second, while figure skater Kurt Browning was third.WOMAN&rsquo;S WORLD: Monique Finnie is poised to become the first woman to play on a men&rsquo;s team in the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union.The 20-year-old goaltender was added to the Saskatchewan Huskies&rsquo; roster and was scheduled to start against the McGill Redmen in the first game of the Chill Out &lsquo;93 tournament Dec. 26. Finnie practised for six weeks with the Huskies before joining the team. She played for the Saskatoon Chiefs of the Saskatchewan Jr. League last season.DRAFT DAY: The 1996 NHL Entry Draft has been awarded to St. Louis. It will be held in late June at the new 18,500-seat Kiel Center.The 1994 entry draft will be held June 28-29 at the Hartford Civic Center. The 1995 draft will be in Winnipeg.-with a file from Alan Adams<h2>Canada names roster that will defend Jr. gold</h2>Joe Canale will find out the answers to his most burning questions sometime between Dec. 26 and Jan. 4.&ldquo;We know we have guys who can score,&rdquo; Canale said, &ldquo;but the question is on defense. You don&rsquo;t want to run and gun in this tournament, but will we have to play defense to such a point where we can&rsquo;t score?&rdquo;Canada trimmed its roster to 22 players Dec. 18 and will join seven other countries for the WJC from Dec. 26 to Jan 4 in Ostrava and Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic. (For WJC rosters, see page 43.)Five of Canada&rsquo;s seven games will be televised by The Sports Network in English and Reseau des Sports in French. The dates, opponents and Eastern Standard Time starts are as follows: Dec. 29 vs. Russia, 2 p.m.; Dec. 30 vs. Finland, 2 p.m.; Jan. 1 vs. USA, 2 p.m.; Jan. 2 vs. Czech Republic, 2 p.m.; Jan. 4 vs. Sweden, 12:30 p.m. &#9632;

Hockey Canada will merge, but Eagle report must wait

<div class="byline">By Murray Townsend</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011491/6351888-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="380" height="532"></div>Overweight is a polite term for heavy, which is a polite term for chubby, which is a polite term for just plain fat.I&rsquo;m overweight.I could say slightly, but that&rsquo;s a relative term isn&rsquo;t it?There are some advantages to being on the plus side. For example, I always get my money&rsquo;s worth at all-you-can-eat restaurants, friends don&rsquo;t ask me to help them move because they don&rsquo;t want to be responsible for a heart attack, I have a built-in cushion for benches at sporting events and there&rsquo;s never any question about who gets the last piece of pizza.There aren&rsquo;t many advantages when it comes to actually playing sports. At least I didn&rsquo;t think so.It&rsquo;s too difficult for me to play hockey anymore&hellip;not so much getting around on the ice, but rather, uh, bending over to lace up my skates. The Hockey News boys get together Tuesdays to play some shinny, but I can&rsquo;t go anymore. Guys offered to tie my skates for me, but I&rsquo;m not having any of that. I went public skating with my girlfriend, her two kids, and my two kids and the five of them crowding around tightening my laces was a little too embarrassing, even for me.Then one day something came up that would have made it all worthwhile-being overweight, I mean.The telephone rang one afternoon while I was finishing off a cheesecake. Steve Dryden, editor-in-chief of THN, couldn&rsquo;t talk because he was laughing so much. That either meant he enjoyed my latest humor item submitted to the defunct Inside Hockey or he didn&rsquo;t.He received a call from an agency that was casting for a television commercial. They needed somebody (laugh, laugh) with a big belly (laugh, laugh) who was a good skater.He figured I fit the qualifications (laugh, laugh) and thought maybe I&rsquo;d like to meet (laugh, laugh) the people in charge of the audition (laugh, laugh) for the part.I have some standards, of course, and putting myself up to public ridicule isn&rsquo;t necessarily within them. I said no, immediately.Then he told me I wouldn&rsquo;t have to say anything, the commercial would run in France, the filming would be in Sweden for three days, and the pay was $5,000.I went to see the people the next morning.It was in a small office on a backstreet in downtown Toronto. I had second thoughts all the way up the rickety stairs. 1 understood how Margaret Hamilton must have felt when she auditioned for the part of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. She probably considered it a big career move and a good paycheque, while also wishing she wasn&rsquo;t ugly enough for the role.I went into the office and was relieved to see a bunch of other tubbies taking up space in the waiting room, each of them eyeing the pastries that had been set out.It was explained to us the commercial was for a savings and loan company in France. The character started off wobbly and unsure on his skates, but then as his savings grew his skating improved until he was flying around the ice.Then we were told to go to the change room, take off our clothes and put on a pair of shorts we were advised to bring with us.We went through the door and into the bathroom. If the commercial had paid $4,500 less, I would have just walked out and not come back.I took my time getting changed. I didn&rsquo;t want to be the first one back and looked around for someone to share my feelings of shame. I struck up a conversation with another man, but he didn&rsquo;t feel degraded at all. He thought this was the greatest thing. &ldquo;Good luck,&rdquo; he told me, directing his gaze at my stomach to check out the competition.They saw us one at a time. A bunch of men sitting around with bellies hanging out. Not a pretty sight.Finally, it was my turn. I went into the other room where there were three people-Weight Watchers, I figured. One of them was a rather gorgeous blonde, so my first instinct was to pull in my stomach. Not such a smart move, but it didn&rsquo;t matter because it didn&rsquo;t work anyway.Instead I stood there, averting their eyes, while they asked me questions. Finally, they thanked me for coming and said they would be in touch.I walked out of there determined to lose 50 pounds in the next week. Or at least after I found out whether or not they wanted me for the commercial. Until then, I reasoned. I could indulge myself without guilt to keep up appearances.They never did call me. I take that as a good sign. I guess I just wasn&rsquo;t overweight enough. Until I go on that diet, though-which could be any day now-I&rsquo;m still available if they change their minds.Murray Townsend is a freelance writer living in Milton, Ont. &#9632;

f0005-01

Pound for pound, I was ideal for role

Steve Dryden&rsquo;s suggestion of discounting empty-net goals and assists in the scoring race (THN, Dec. 3) is way out of line.What&rsquo;s next? Discounting powerplay goals and assists, too? The bottom line is that it is still theoretically six players against six.Mr. Dryden&rsquo;s absurd comment ranks right up there with baseball&rsquo;s idiotic rule of discounting a batter&rsquo;s Run Batted In when he scores a runner from third with no outs, but also hits into a double play.If Jacques Demers pulls Patrick Roy from the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; net in favor of a sixth attacker, a player such as Mathieu Schneider had better be prepared to defend his goal when the other team moves the puck into the Montreal zone.Michael Molloy,&nbsp; Brooklyn, N. Y.<h2>No surprise here</h2>I am responding to the item on allstar voting in the Dec. 10 issue of THN.Didn&rsquo;t THN rate Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; center Eric Lindros the second best player in the league in the 199394 Yearbook?Then why does it surprise you so much that he led Eastern Conference balloting for the All-Star Game &ldquo;ahead of such stars as Mario Lemieux, Pat LaFontaine and Pierre Turgeon.&rdquo;Not to trivialize the accomplishments of those other great players, but Lemieux (the guy who made the top spot) has been injured and the other two players, while gifted, can only play one style-offensive.Lindros shoots like Brett Hull, back checks and dishes out more body checks on one shift than the others have thrown in their entire careers.Eric Baker,&nbsp; Bridgewater, N.J.<h2>Mighty Mullen</h2>I read with interest the article by Mike Brophy entitled &ldquo;Future Kids in the Hall&rdquo; in the Nov. 19 issue of THN.But I was extremely disappointed that nowhere on your list of 26 players who should make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot-and nine players on the &ldquo;good bet&rdquo; list&mdash;did the name Joe Mullen appear.This is an oversight which should be corrected. The omission of Glenn Anderson from the list was corrected in the Nov. 26 issue and Joe Mullen deserves the same.The article points out there is no formal criteria used to decide who enters the Hall. But Joe&rsquo;s record is quite impressive:&#9633; Six straight 40-plus goal seasons.&#9633; Nine 30-plus goal seasons.&#9633; An average of 1.09 points-per game over 12 seasons.&#9633; Led all playoff goalscorers twice (1986 and 1989).&#9633; Three-time Stanley Cup winner (1989, 1991 and 1992).Based on the facts, there is no doubt Mullen belongs in the Hall of Fame. The Hockey News has done him a grave injustice.Daniel Condon,&nbsp; Bronxville, N. Y.<h2>Sour Cherry</h2>Well folks, it is the 1990s and the cold war is over, communism has fallen, but fear still lives in Don Cherry&rsquo;s backyard.It&rsquo;s those &ldquo;backstabbing Russians&rdquo; as he so delicately stated in his response to the recent Alexei Kovalev/Dale Hunter incident that seem to scare The Don. Yes folks, it&rsquo;s those same Russians who constantly score goals, get named captains, get voted all-stars each year, by just generally being&hellip;backstabbers.Frankly, I&rsquo;m not surprised by Cherry&rsquo;s latest exhibition of bigotry. What does surprise me, however, is the Canadian media and Hockey Night in Canada still put up with it. We all know his feelings on European hockey in the NHL, but this time an apology is in order.So who is the next subject of one of your tirades, Mr. Cherry? Finns, Czechs, Slovaks or Swedes? Or maybe Jews, Blacks or Orientals?Alex Salzman&nbsp; White Plains, N. Y.<h2>Slick Shick</h2>With all the negatives we&rsquo;ve heard about the NHL officials lately, I would like to say something positive about one of the league&rsquo;s referees.Rob Shick, in my opinion, is fast becoming one of the NHL&rsquo;s top officials. He has shown he is in control at all times and very rarely makes a bad call.He is also man enough to confront NHL coaches directly to explain why he made a certain call, which many other referees appear to be afraid to do.I believe its only a matter of time before Shick is assigned to work Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.M.A. Kocsis,&nbsp; Montague, N.J.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., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

They don’t ask how, they ask how many

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011668/6351943-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><h2>Richter scale hits record</h2>1. Mike Richter. Ranger goalie sets club mark for longest undefeated streak-17-0-3.2. Soo Greyhounds. Could OHL powerhouse be headed for four straight trip to Memorial Cup?3. Mighty Ducks I. Anaheim boasts impressive 12-12-0 record against established teams.4. Royal York. OHA Jr. A team earns tie after 26 straight losses. Resumes losing ways in Game 28.5. Players of week. Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque (3-3-6); St. Louis goalie Curtis Joseph (3-0-0), 1.67 GAA.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021138/6351974-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="578" height="754"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque</figcaption></div><h2>Kings of pain brutal on road</h2>1. Los Angeles Kings. How mighty have fallen-from Stanley Cup finals to 10 straight road losses.2. Blade thrower. Link Gaetz of Cape Breton Oilers tosses skate at member of training staff.3. Mighty Ducks II. Anaheim a dreadful 0-7-0 against other recent expansion teams.4. Canadian Olympians. 1-0 loss to France doesn&rsquo;t bode well for medal hopes in Lillehammer.5. Duck Stu. Anaheim tough guy Stu Grimson accidentally injures two teammates. &#9632;

f0006-02

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Jason Kay</div>1 Mario Lemieux roars back to capture scoring. title after return from Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease. He wins despite playing in only 71 per cent of team&rsquo;s games-an all-time low for scoring champion.2. Montreal Canadiens defeat Los Angeles Kings in five games to win Stanley Cup. Canadiens win 10 overtime games in post-season and tie NHL record by winning 11 consecutive playoff games.3. Wayne Gretzky returns from career-threatening back injury to lead playoff scorers. He contemplates retirement after Kings lose Cup final, but comes back after getting big contract.4. NHL officials call work stoppage when collective bargaining agreement talks fail. Replacements officiate 17 days before strike settled. No major incidents occur in regulars&rsquo; absence.5. Dale Hunter injures Pierre Turgeon with cheap shot several seconds after New York Islander scores in playoff game. Hunter gets 21-game suspension, longest in NHL history for on-ice incident.6. Gil Stein withdraws name for induction into Hall of Fame amidst allegations of conflict of interest. Independent report concludes Stein orchestrated own election.7 Newly appointed commissioner Gary Bettman takes office in February. His main objectives, include securing CBAs with players and officials and beefing up league administration.8. Report of Ottawa Senators&rsquo; tanking scandal surfaces. Team cleared of wrongdoing, but fined $100,000. Governor Bruce Firestone sells his half of team and leaves to pursue business interests.9. Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; right winger Teemu Selanne scores three times against Quebec Nordiques to break Mike Bossy&rsquo;s record (53) for goals in season by rookie.10. Erinc Lindros arrives and lives up to billing as franchise player with Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile, assault charge stemming from alleged beer-spitting incident dropped.11. New York Islanders eliminate heavily favored Pittsburgh Penguins in playoff shocker. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Kevin Stevens sustains serious facial injury in scary collision with Islander Rich Pilon.12. Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; owner Norm Green announces in March team relocating to Dallas. Soon after, North Star employee Kari Dzied-zic files $50,000 sexual harassment lawsuit against Green.13. Bettman invalidates free-agent offers made by San Jose Sharks to Craig Simpson and Kelly Miller. NHL Players&rsquo; Association sues league, claiming it hired Bettman to help curb players&rsquo; salaries.14. Montreal wins Stanley Cup, but city loses some dignity as riot breaks out after clincher. Police make 115 arrests, 168 people are reported injured and damage estimated at $2.5 million.15. Steve Larmer&rsquo;s iron-man streak ends at 884 games as he sits out and demands trade from Chicago Blackhawks. Hawks finally meet request and Larmer ends up with New York Rangers.16. Pittsburgh Penguins win NHL-record 17 straight before losing in stunning second-round upset to New York Islanders. Some complain team expended too much energy during streak.17. Ottawa Senators pick Alexandre Daigle first in entry draft and sign him to five-year, $12.25-million contract. Daigle later makes waves by posing for card promotion in nurse&rsquo;s uniform.18. Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington threatens to move team if he doesn&rsquo;t get new lease from Northlands Coliseum. He makes plans with Minneapolis city officials to relocate in Minnesota.19. New York Rangers hire Mike Keenan and sign him to five-year deal worth reported $5 million. Keenan reaps immediate benefits, leading Rangers to top of standings on eve of 1994.20. Several NHL superstars go down with lengthy injuries. Included in group are Mario Lemieux, Detroit Red Wing Steve Yzerman, Buffalo Sabre Pat LaFontaine and Eric Lindros.21. Italian-Canadian Jimmy Boni charged with involuntary manslaughter after player he struck with stick in Italian League game dies. Boni faces minimum 10-year sentence if convicted.22. Anaheim expansion team ends months of speculation by confirming its nickname is same as Disney movie, Mighty Ducks. Florida expansion team announces its nickname is Panthers.23. Unlikely hero Brad May scores overtime goal to give Buffalo first playoff series win in decade. Rick Jeannerett&rsquo;s hysterical Mayday radio call makes highlight packages across North America.24. NHL announces divisional realignment, new playoff format for 1993-94. New system puts emphasis on conference play and regular-season games become higher intensity, lower scoring.25. Ottawa sets NHL record for consecutive road losses (38) by dropping 7-3 decision to Hartford Whalers. Senators&rsquo; only road win of 1992-93 comes in next game against New York Islanders.26. New York Rangers&rsquo; goalie Mike Richter goes undefeated in 20 consecutive games and counting as 1993 winds down. A year earlier, he was sent to minors because of poor play.27. Buffalo&rsquo;s Alexander Mogilny becomes first player to reach 50-goal plateau 1992-93. He does it in 46 games played, but isn&rsquo;t recognized as 50 in 50 because Mogilny missed seven games.28. Brian Burke leaves post as Hartford&rsquo;s GM to become NHL&rsquo;s vicepresident and director of hockey operations. Discipline policy his most noticeable impact as players again suspended for games.29. Mark Messier/Roger Neilson saga ends with Neilson&rsquo;s firing as Rangers&rsquo; coach in January. Neilson leaves with a.566 regularseason winning percentage in 280 games with team.30. Boston Bruin Cam Neely returns to action in February on semiregular basis. Right winger was rehabilitating for most of previous 1 1/2 years after sustaining leg injury in 1991 playoffs.31. Manny Legace leads Canada to gold medal at World Junior Championships in Gavle, Swe. Five-foot-9 goaltender posts.955 save percentage and 1.67 goals-against average in six games.32. Thirty-three-year-old Mike Gartner has NHL record 14th straight season of 30-or-more goals; wins All-Star Game fastest skater competition; ties all-star record with four goals in 16-6 Wales win.33. Toronto Maple Leafs show confidence in rookie Felix Potvin by trading Grant Fuhr to Buffalo for Dave Andreychuk. Leafs go 4118-8 (a.672 winning percentage) in first 67 games after deal.34. Led by standout goaltending of Potvin, Maple Leafs set NHL record by winning first 10 games of 1993-94 season. Previous record of nine held by 1934 Leafs and 1975 Buffalo Sabres.35. After disappointing playoff loss to Islanders, Scotty Bowman leaves Pittsburgh to become head coach of Detroit Red Wings. Bowman&rsquo;s two-year deal worth estimated $1.8 million.36. Seventeen-year-old Czech Radek Bonk be-comes youngest player ever in International League after signing with Las Vegas Thunder. Bonk among league goal leaders entering 1994.37. Detroit acquires two-time Norris Trophy winner Paul Coffey in six-player trade with Los Angeles Kings. Trade marks fourth time Coffey has been dealt in seven years.38. Atlanta Knights&rsquo; goalie Manon Rheaume becomes first woman to start pro game in 8-6 International League loss to Cincinnati Cyclones. Rheaume allows six goals on 31 shots.39. Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; prospect Peter Fors-berg emerges as best player not in NHL. Swede scores tournament-record 31 points at World Junior Championships.40. Former Los Angeles King Marty McSorley does his part to raise NHL salary scale by signing five-year, $10-million deal with St. Louis Blues. Kings match and trade McSorley to Pittsburgh.41. San Jose Sharks set record for most losses in one season (71). Coach George Kingston sets record for fastest 100 losses in career (130 games). Kingston fired four days after season ends.42. Despite undergoing four procedures during 1992-93 to correct abnormal heartbeat, Philadelphia goalie Tommy Soderstrom records five shutouts in 1992-93, most ever by Flyer rookie.43. Nearly nine months after agreement reached, CBA between NHL and NHLPA signed. Deal runs out Sept. 15 and both sides agree to not disclose progress on talks for new CBA.44. Hockey Canada conducts internal investigation of former chief negotiator, Alan Eagleson. Ex-NHLPA executive director also subject of probes by U.S. grand jury and RCMP.45. NHL governors decide to table shootout issue and study it in committee after majority voices skepticism at December meeting. Entry draft lottery, however, likely to begin in 1995.Winnipeg Jets trade ft defenseman Phil Housley to the St. Louis Blues after protracted contract dispute. Jets get forward Nelson Emerson and defenseman Stephane Quintal in return.47. Former Czech defector Petr Nedved defects from Vancouver Canucks and considers joining Olympic Canucks. Nedved involved in contract dispute with Vancouver management.48. After season of confusion and ineptness, Ottawa fires general manager Mel Bridgman 10 hours after regular-season ends. CEO and president Randy Sexton takes over as GM.49. University of Maine&rsquo;s Paul Kariya becomes first freshman to win Hobey Baker Award as outstanding U.S. collegian. One day later, Kariya helps lead Bears to national championship.50. John Kordic&rsquo;s family sues city of Quebec for $1.6 million. Suit claims police used excessive force, which contributed to former NHLer&rsquo;s death in 1992. Quebec coroner concludes drugs killed Kordic. &#9632;

1993 TOP STORIES

<div class="byline">-Michael Ulmer</div>Alexander Mogilny was his own worst enemy in 1993. He made himself impossible to ignore.The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; right winger scored his 50th goal of 1992-93 in his 46th game (Feb. 3 against the Hartford Whalers), but was denied the honor that ordinarily accompanies the feat.Official recognition and admittance to the exclusive 50-50 club is based on the team&rsquo;s first 50 games, not the player&rsquo;s.The original 50-50 man, Maurice Richard, averaged a goal per game for an entire season, but only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull have since matched that feat.Still, Mogilny&rsquo;s was one of the most formidable offensive seasons ever. He finished the year tied with Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets enjoys the fruits of his labor-he has lavish tastes in clothes and cars-but for the league lead in goals with 76.When the native of Khabarovsk, Russia, defected in May of 1989, he brought world-class skating and shooting skills and a sense of individualism. More than four years in North America have only brought those qualities into sharper focus.Mogilny likes Buffalo, but speaks wistfully of living anonymously in New York City or Los Angeles.The 24-year-old enjoys the fruits of his labor-he has lavish tastes in clothes and cars-but doesn&rsquo;t enjoy the adulation that is showered upon him, particularly from adults, who hunt him down for autographs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011579/6352091-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="512" height="704"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexander Mogilny</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand people like that at all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand it. I never was like that and I never will be.&rdquo;Mogilny missed the first nine games this season recovering from a broken ankle suffered during the playoffs, but showed his old form immediately.The Sabres named him captain Nov. 15 in the wake of Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s season-ending knee injury. Once considered one of the NHL&rsquo;s most misunderstood personalities, Mogilny is the first player bom and raised in Russia to captain a team. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of a shock,&rdquo; Mogilny said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m Russian, I&rsquo;m not supposed to be captain.&rdquo;Since LaFontaine&rsquo;s injury, Mogilny has dovetailed his game to suit a tight-checking style. And while his goal production ebbed-he had seven goals in 17 games after being named captain-the Sabres were winning.His new four-year, $12 million contract made news, but not as much as a relapse of his flying phobia.The problem, which developed in his rookie year, was treated through therapy. Mogilny was thought to be over the condition, but he left the team twice to make solitary car trips when the weather turned bad. &#9632;

f0008-01

Alex the Great fulfills promise

<div class="byline">-Steve Dryden</div>NHL records are many, but few are regarded as unassailable.Teemu Selanne holds one of them.The Flying Finn made a 76-goal debut in 1992-93, a season so spectacular it seems beyond challenge by any future rookie.Selanne, himself, may never equal it.The right winger crushed former New York Islander great Mike Bossy&rsquo;s mark of 53 goals.Only Wayne Gretzky has banished records from the NHL Guide and Record Book so thoroughly.Selanne broke Bossy&rsquo;s record with a hat-trick March 2, against the Quebec Nordiques. It gave him 54 goals in 64 games. He celebrated by throwing a glove in the air and shooting it down.The Helsinki native isn&rsquo;t on pace to score 50 goals this season. He has endured a trying season and harsh assessments from Jets&rsquo; management.&ldquo;I knew it was going to be tougher this season,&rdquo; Selanne said, &ldquo;because teams were going to pay more attention to me.&rdquo;Early this season, general manager Mike Smith said Selanne was in &ldquo;dreamland.&rdquo; Later, coach John Paddock described the play of Selanne and Alexei Zhamnov as &ldquo;brutal.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021234/6352122-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="514" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne</figcaption></div>Selanne said it&rsquo;s too early in his career to speculate on what goal range he will eventually settle into, but would like to think it will be around the 50 mark.He continues to produce points, but not the same excitement or gritty play that distinguished him last season. So, too, does Selanne&rsquo;s personality make him special.He is another in a long line of hockey greats who have shamed peers in other sports with their genuine warmth and generous spirit.Selanne. 23, is a patron saint to children&rsquo;s causes in Finland and has attracted a huge following in Winnipeg, where he plays road hockey with neighborhood kids and rollerblades to the bank.He has been called the best Finnish hockey player ever, but Selanne said, &ldquo;Jari Kurri can keep that record.&rdquo;Indeed, Kurri is the best NHLer ever from Finland. Selanne has the potential to surpass him one day, but the swift-skating Jet will have to recapture his 1992-93 form.He was named a first all-star and unanimous choice as rookie of the year, the first time in league history a first-year player has earned a 100 percent approval rating. &#9632;

f0008-02

Star leaves foes in Jet stream

<div class="byline">-Michael Ulmer</div>If Mario Lemieux proved anything in 1993, it was that giants can disappear, reappear and devastate, then disappear again.Now you see him, now you don&rsquo;t.Lemieux, 28, won his fourth scoring championship in April by blowing past Pat LaFontaine of the Buffalo Sabres to score 160 points in only 60 games.When he left the lineup Jan. 5 with Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease, Lemieux had 104 points and a 21-point lead over LaFontaine in the scoring race. On his return March 2 from a 23-game absence, the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center trailed LaFontaine by 12 points.Despite lingering effects of radiation treatment, Lemieux set his sights squarely on LaFontaine. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my plan, to try to catch LaFontaine,&rdquo; said the Montreal native. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a good race.&rdquo;It was a rout. Down the stretch, Lemieux netted four hat tricks, including back-to-back four-goal games. Throughout the season, he was on the ice for 70 per cent of the Penguins&rsquo; goals in games he played.Lemieux&rsquo;s chronic bad back limited his effectiveness in the Patrick Division and knocked him out of two games. The two-time defending Stan ley Cup-champions fell in seven games to the New York Islanders.Lemieux was named the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player, collecting the second Hart Trophy of his 10-year career and the Masterton Trophy.Back surgery performed July 28 to repair a herniated muscle triggered his latest layoff.Lemieux returned for four games in late October and collected seven points before disappearing again. No date is set for his return, but it will probably be after the Jan. 22 All-Star Game.Out of sight much of 1993, he was rarely out of mind.A fawning television special, The Magnificent One, aired in Canada. Mario, a warts-and-all unauthorized biography, pictured him as a spoiled and often indifferent athlete with superstar talent and drive.In December, Lemieux was named Canadian Press Athlete of the Year, even though Lemieux played just 37 regular-and post-season games during the calendar year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03923/6352153-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="512" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I know over the years there have been some misunderstandings about myself,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;But all and all, I think the fans back in Canada and the reporters respect what I&rsquo;ve done in my career.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-03

Lemieux rises to new heights

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>It wasn&rsquo;t just any goal; it was the goal of 1992-93.Positioned behind the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; net in the second overtime period, Doug Gilmour faked to his left, pivoted 360 degrees, emerged from the right and slid the puck off his backhand behind a startled Curtis Joseph.The May 2 goal gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead in their Norris Division final series and provided a focal point for one of the most memorable playoff performances in league history.Gilmour didn&rsquo;t win the Conn Smythe Trophy-that honor went to Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender Patrick Roy-but he was a worthy candidate to become the first post-season MVP not to appear in the final series.It was a remarkable finish to a remarkable season, one in which Gilmour established himself as the league&rsquo;s second-best player.Only Mario Lemieux was more inspiring. The goal against Joseph was reminiscent of some of the playoff classics scored by Lemieux.&ldquo;I had scored good goals and important goals before, but never one as good as that.&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;I was back there so long. I would go one way and they would follow me; then the other way and they would follow. 1 felt like I was running out of time-not to mention I was tired.&rdquo;You wouldn&rsquo;t know it from watching him.Fueled by pasta power-his favorite energy source-Gilmour led Toronto past the Detroit Red Wings and Blues before the Leafs lost to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup semifi-nals.No NHL player has ever made such a quantum leap during his 10th season. Gilmour was always good, but this good? Not a chance.The 30-year-old Kingston, Ont., native finished eighth in 1992-93 scoring with 32 goals and a career-high 127 points.They were extraordinary numbers for a two-way center recognized as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward with the Selke Trophy.He finished second to Lemieux in voting for the Hart Trophy. Gilmour was second to nobody in competitiveness.His fierce will to win has sparked a hockey renaissance in Toronto.He has become the Leafs&rsquo; undisputed lifeline. Cut him-if you dare-and he bleeds blue and white.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011505/6352184-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="514" height="702"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

Gilmour’s goal typified season

<div class="byline">-Michael Ulmer</div>If it&rsquo;s true that nice guys finish last, Jacques Demers&rsquo; bearhug of the Stanley Cup last June was a glitch.No one in the NHL worked as hard at being nice as the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach. Even the enemies he made were people he tried to recruit as friends.The 49-year-old Demers, hugged players, slapped backs and delivered Hall-of-Fame assessments on the marginal as well as the magnificent.After the Canadiens swept the Buffalo Sabres, Demers was pulled out of a press conference by an aide as he lauded the professionalism of the Buffalo press corps.Critics say he is the most humble of egomaniacs.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the ultimate hot dog of coaches,&rdquo; said Boston Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a cheerleader.&rdquo;With the Detroit Red Wings, Demers was mocked as a coach with a three-year-act on a four-year contract. His departure from the St. Louis Blues to Detroit was marred by charges he was negotiating with Detroit while coaching the Blues.Demers&rsquo; second season in Montreal has been uneven. His good cop worked well on the heels of Pat Bums&rsquo; bad cop. The more wide-open philosophy espoused by Demers is built on sound defensive habits instilled by Bums.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021068/6352215-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="508" height="698"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Demers</figcaption></div>Demers&rsquo; upbeat attitude has been forged through difficult times.Demers, more than many, has known hardship and triumphed in spite of it. At 16, he held his mother&rsquo;s hand as she died of cancer. When Demers left his native Montreal to coach the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association, he left his one-year-old daughter in Montreal and arrived in Chicago with just a few words of English.It took him 20 years, WHA stops in Chicago, Indianapolis and Quebec City and NHL tenures in St. Louis and Detroit, but he and his family finally made it home.Demers is one of only three coaches-Bums and Pat Quinn are the others-to win a pair of coach-of-the-year awards. But after two years perched in the radio booth, Demers wondered if he would coach in the NHL once more.Demers is in tough again, but it has never been wise to bet against his resiliency.&ldquo;It has taken a lot out of me because of the constant scrutiny,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Hopefully, I&rsquo;ve handled it with class.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-02

Demers kept up winning Hab-it

<div class="byline">-Michael Ulmer</div>When Alexandre Daigle learned he had been selected one of The Hockey News&rsquo; 12 most intriguing personalities of 1993, he reacted with the world-weary indifference that has marked his entry into the NHL.&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; gushed the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; prized 18-year-old. &ldquo;It was a great decision.&rdquo;French is the Montreal native&rsquo;s mother tongue, but whatever the language, last year&rsquo;s first overall draft pick delivers from the heart.Passion and fun are the key elements of his persona. False modesty is not.This, after all, is a player who sheathed his stick like a sword in front of the Russian bench at the World Junior Championships.And that was for an assist. After being benched for the first period.Daigle&rsquo;s $12.25-million, five-year-contract, complete with club marketing rights, provided fodder for hockey talk in July, but it wasn&rsquo;t long before his play and wit garnered more headlines.The Senators&rsquo; opening night game against the Quebec Nordiques was overshadowed by a minifuror over Daigle&rsquo;s decision to pose in a female nurse&rsquo;s uniform for a trading card company.The media&rsquo;s silly outrage prompted a clucking of tongues from the Senators&rsquo; management suite, but Daigle just shrugged it off.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03679/6352246-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="512" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandre Daigle</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It was a fun thing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some people didn&rsquo;t like it, some did. I just thought it was funny&rdquo;During a year in which Mario Lemieux had Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease and officials went on strike, when every story seemed to reinforce the business side of hockey, Daigle personified the joy of hockey.&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t know Alexandre, you may think he&rsquo;s flip,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; assistant coach E.J. McGuire. &ldquo;What you don&rsquo;t see is his tremendous desire to learn.&rdquo;With Daigle, the spectacular is always at hand. He flashes speed, explosiveness and playmaking ability reminiscent of another Francophone star: Guy Lafleur.Imagine a Magic Johnson-style hockey player. Now enjoy Daigle.Both Alexei Yashin, and Daigle have won rookie-of-the-month awards, but Daigle&rsquo;s game lacks the maturity evident in the play of his 20-year-old teammate.If he is to be a franchise player, Daigle must learn to contribute in games in which he does not dominate. Eventually, a measure of passion must be traded for polish.But right now, it&rsquo;s time to let the kid play.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s a big business,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;But every day I have fun.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-03

Daigle brings passion, fire & fun

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>In the end, Gil Stein made a mistake common to the powerful and successful. He got greedy.After seven months as the NHL&rsquo;s caretaker president, succeeding the ousted John Ziegler, Stein set his sights on immortality as a builder with the Hockey Hall of Fame.The Philadelphia native wrote his own glowing nomination letter and pretended it was written by NHL board of governors&rsquo; chairman Bruce McNall.He fired longstanding members of the Hall board, brought in a slate of hand-picked successors and changed the voting formula so brazenly, the NHL took the unprecedented step of appointing an independent investigative team.The report, penned by lawyers Yves Fortier and Arnold Bums and released Aug. 17 in Toronto, recommended against Stein&rsquo;s selection and urged an overhaul of his changes.Stein disagreed with the report&rsquo;s findings, but still became the first person in the annals of North American professional sports Halls of Fame to turn down his game&rsquo;s greatest honor; Stein withdrew his name from the selection list.The report was a public airing of the ruthlessness Stein displayed as he went about arranging his own induction.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Gil was particularly a instigators of fights, making it illegal to hold an opponent&rsquo;s stick and a (good) politician,&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; president Jay Snyder. &ldquo;In the end that was probably his downfall.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011567/6352277-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="518" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gil Stein</figcaption></div>Stein, 66, will get a reported $600,000 a year for three years and a lifetime pension of $250,000 a year.Stein is proud of the role he played in getting the NHL back on ESPN and ABC.He also said he &ldquo;directed revolutionary and progressive&rdquo; rule changes-among them, redefining high sticking, ejecting return to four-on-four play when coincidental minors are called.He is better remembered for implementing a seriously flawed discipline system-the NHL suspended players for non-game days-and giving players the option to not wear helmets.The league has returned to game suspensions and not one player chose to go bareheaded on a permanent basis.Stein said his greatest disappointment was not succeeding in getting NHL participation at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer.&ldquo;It was a lost opportunity for the league, to get NHL hockey back on a major network,&rdquo; Stein said.The league is trying to make the Dream Team concept work for 1998 in Nagano, Japan. &#9632;

f0010-01

Hall fall lasting taint for Stein

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>Another year, another job.It has been an ongoing theme in The Life of Brian.The 38-year-old Burke has been a professional hockey player, playeragent, director of hockey operations and general manager. Burke added to his impressive resume when he was named NHL commissioner Gary Bettman&rsquo;s hockey man Sept. 1.The NHL&rsquo;s senior vice-president and director of hockey operations is a strong-willed traditionalist with a clear vision of how he thinks the game should be played. Burke, a tough guy in his playing days, likes physical hockey. He says there is a place in the game for fighting.But he doesn&rsquo;t enjoy or tolerate cowardly actions and attempts to injure.That is reflected in punishment he hands out. Burke has issued 20 suspensions for crimes such as headbutting, high sticking, hitting from behind, cross checking and slashing.&ldquo;My (disciplinary) system is based on speed and consistency,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;Players and GMs are entitled to that.&rdquo;General managers are generally pleased with Burke&rsquo;s performance.Bom in Providence, R.I., and raised in Edina, Minn., he applied and received dual U.S.-Canadian citizen-ship after working five years for the Vancouver Canucks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021171/6352308-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="512" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Burke</figcaption></div>Burke was approached by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about the position last May. He did not indicate substantial interest because he wanted to continue rebuilding the Hartford Whalers as the team&rsquo;s GM.Other candidates included Harry Sinden of the Boston Brains and Glen Sather of the Edmonton Oilers.&ldquo;To be honest, I was certain one of the big-name guys would take the job,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;I consider the position to be one of the three to five most important in hockey in the world.&rdquo;A few things happened to change his mind, not the least of which was a falling out with Whalers&rsquo; owner Richard Gordon.Burke&rsquo;s going away gift to Whaler fans was big defenseman Chris Pronger. He traded up from sixth at the 1993 entry draft to pick second and select Pronger.Taking the NHL job means learning a new art-diplomacy. Burke is opinionated and outspoken by nature.&ldquo;There were 10 kids in our family,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;If you didn&rsquo;t speak out, you weren&rsquo;t heard.&rdquo;He knows now, when he speaks, it&rsquo;s on behalf of the league. &#9632;

f0010-02

Silver-tongued and iron-fisted

<div class="byline">-Steve Dryden</div>Gary Bettman coasted through his first year as NHL leader, but there were few days of rest.Bettman was introduced as the NHL&rsquo;s first commissioner Dec. 11, 1992, in a room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Florida.Three hundred and sixty-four days later, Bettman sat on the deck of the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif., overlooking the Pacific Ocean.Coast to coast in a year.One day earlier, the ultra-businesslike Bettman wrapped up a scheduled two-day board of governors&rsquo; meeting in about eight hours.Bettman didn&rsquo;t officially take office until Feb. 1, 1993, but this meeting effectively marked his first anniversary with the league.It was an eventful and successful first year for the 41-year-old lawyer from Queen&rsquo;s. N.Y.The month of October heralded the start of a new season and era in the NHL-the first full season with Bettman at the helm.He has seized control of the NHL like no individual in recent years.His &ldquo;buttoned-down&rdquo; approach has won over board members who have ceded substantial power to the former National Basketball Association executive.Bettman has exercised it willingly and well, if not flawlessly. Glitches have been few, but prominent.A 17-day officials&rsquo; strike, Hall-of-Fame embarrassment and Ottawa Senators&rsquo; scandal have harmed the league&rsquo;s image.But Bettman has acquitted himself commendably in most matters, including an overhaul of the league&rsquo;s divisional and playoff format, and established himself as a shrewd and tough negotiator.This is a building period for Bettman and the league. A much-needed big marketing push will follow when the NHL&rsquo;s &ldquo;house is in order.&rdquo;The true measure of Bettman&rsquo;s worth will be the outcome of negotiations with NHL Players&rsquo; Association executivedirector Bob Goodenow on a new collective bargaining agreement.NHLers have been playing without a contract since Sept. 15, but a work stop page is not likely.Bettman fancies himself a &ldquo;dealmaker&rdquo; and focusses on long-term solutions. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not looking for shortterm fixes,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking to put in place a foundation that will last for years and take us into the next century.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03737/6352339-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="514" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Bettman</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-03

New leadership for new NHL era

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>It is said the best-officiated games are those in which nobody remembers the referee. That&rsquo;s the kind of anonymity Terry Gregson seeks.&ldquo;For 15 years I was the unknown referee,&rdquo; Gregson said.All that changed when the 58-member NHL Officials&rsquo; Association walked off the job Nov. 15. Suddenly, the NHLOA president was front and center for the length of a 17-day strike.Gregson, 40, was the officials&rsquo; voice on the negotiating committee. He worked closely with chief spokesman Don Meehan and provided a calming influence on an increasingly cranky membership.&ldquo;I had to remind some guys to keep their emotions in check,&rdquo; Gregson said. &ldquo;Sometimes their mouths flapped before they stopped to think about what they were saying. I had to make the guys realize they were speaking from a very narrow perspective.&rdquo;One of the league&rsquo;s top-rated officials, Gregson assumed the NHLOA presidency in 1989. The native of Guelph, Ont., earned university degrees in science and education and is now taking a course in employee benefits.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011423/6352370-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="514" height="703"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Gregson</figcaption></div>Gregson taught high school biology and chemistry as a young professional, but it wasn&rsquo;t an active enough lifestyle for him.He is an adventurous soul. Gregson and his wife, Laurie, have traveled the world. They have gone hiking, biking and white water rafting and will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary with a trip to Tahiti this summer.Gregson has no idea what direction his life will take after hockey. His intent is to referee six more seasons, which will give him 21 years in the league. He will then evaluate his health and frame of mind before deciding how much longer he will continue.Gregson said he values the collective bargaining experience, but is happy to be back calling penalties instead of NHL bluffs.His term as NHLOA president is up next fall and he won&rsquo;t run for the position again, although he plans to make himself available to help the new executive.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s comforting to know long after I&rsquo;m out of this business, there will be people who benefit from what we went through in this negotiation,&rdquo; Gregson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m most proud of.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-01

Out of shadows and into the fire

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03718/6352432-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="386" height="517"></div>This is how I see 1994 unfolding:<h2>JANUARY</h2>Mario Lemieux returns to action, but announces that if he gets his short game down to where he wants it, he will retire and join the PGA tour. The Pittsburgh Penguins add a bonus clause to his contract which pays Lemieux $5 million for every tournament he either wins or cannot play because of injury.<h2>FEBRUARY</h2>The NHL and its officials finally work out the terms of their new collective bargaining agreement. The officials will be allowed to fly business class in Canada, but only if they agree to mail the extra peanuts they get to league headquarters. It&rsquo;s the first known case of a union agreeing to work for peanuts.Word leaks out an exciting hockey game is played at the Olympics. The report proves to be false.<h2>MARCH</h2>After secretly huddling with NHL officials, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association agrees to a new CBA. The players agree to give up free agency for first-class seating or three seats for two players. After the deal is cut, NHLPA executive director Bob Goode-now leaves to take a job with USAir.<h2>APRIL</h2>New York Rangers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan assigns 24-hour security guards to Brian Leetch and Mark Messier. He has the team fly to Rome for a Papal blessing on Easter Sunday. The Rangers lose four straight to the Washington Capitals in the first round. Keenan and Paramount sue the Catholic Church for fraud. The Pope orders them to say 1,940 Hail Marys.<h2>MAY</h2>The made-for-TV Los Angeles Kings-Pittsburgh Penguins final prompts the Canadian media to raise the spectre of an American conspiracy. The Toronto Globe and Mail even interrupts its cricket coverage to consider the controversy, while flags are flown at half-mast across Canada.<h2>JUNE</h2>Wayne Gretzky scores in overtime of Game 7 to give the Kings the Stanley Cup. Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall has Gretzky sign the trophy and the following night he appears on the Home Shopping Network attempting to sell it for $3 million.The Quebec Nordiques make good on their threat by drafting Brett Lindros in the first round.<h2>SUMMER</h2>Lemieux and Gretzky retire. Lemieux joins the PGA tour, while Gretzky buys the New England Patriots and moves them to Toronto.Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Bums leaves the team to manage and perform in a tour with his good friends Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.<h2>OCTOBER</h2>The NHL adopts shootouts, but fans in Detroit misunderstand and show up for opening night with hand guns, cheering for a tie.<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Lemieux leaves the PGA tour, rejoins the Penguins and scores five goals in his first game. First, though, the league amends a rule to allow him to use a 5-iron instead of a stick. The Penguins give him a $7-million bonus.<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Somebody notices Petr Nedved is still not with the Vancouver Canucks. &#9632;

f0011-03

Fore! Lemieux tees off in ’94

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011529/6352463-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div>There are rumors that this year&rsquo;s NHL All-Star Weekend is in jeopardy. The New York Post recently reported that the NHL Players&rsquo; Association-upset over a league lawsuit against it over players&rsquo; marketing rights and lack of progress in talks for a new collective bargaining agreement-is considering boycotting the All-Star Game. One league insider told Bluelines that such a move would devastate the league. &ldquo;We bring in our biggest advertisers,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;all the heavyweights. In many ways this is the event for us; especially this year at Madison Square Garden.&rdquo; NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow told Bluelines an all-star walkout &ldquo;is not being discussed,&rdquo; although he said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some problems.&rdquo; Meanwhile, Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington offered a ray of hope when he told an Edmonton broadcaster a new CBA agreement could be wrapped up by Christmas. Goodenow said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not likely to happen,&rsquo;&rsquo;and he &ldquo;can&rsquo;t put a date on it,&rdquo; but he sounded as though something might be in the works for the new year.<h2>Wear your hat</h2>Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s agent Neil Abbott told Bluelines there&rsquo;s no question his client wants to play at least one game without a helmet. Despite the fact league rules allow Roenick to do it, Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Darryl Sutter won&rsquo;t hear of it and Roenick won&rsquo;t challenge his coach. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t let Jeremy do it for even a single game,&rdquo; Sutter said. Abbott countered, &ldquo;(The Blackhawks) don&rsquo;t have a concept at all on how to market.&rdquo;&hellip;The best new hitter in the NHL is Edmonton&rsquo;s Kirk Maltby who gave Vladimir Malakhov of the New York Islanders a concussion and five-day headache with a recent devastating board check.<h2>Oh, Canada</h2>Don&rsquo;t be surprised if an all-Canadian professional league of International League-calibre becomes a reality by the end of the century. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal would remain in the NHL while Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Hamilton would comprise the new league. Ottawa&rsquo;s status would depend on whether or not The Palladium becomes a reality&hellip;Former NHL stopper Daniel Berthiaume has turned into a fitness buff and is in the best shape of his life. Berthiaume is playing for the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; affiliate, the PEI Senators of the American League and is proving he belongs back in the NHL as a backup&hellip;From the Irony Department: The best speed-bag puncher on the San Jose Sharks is Lady Byng-type Pat Falloon.<h2>Say what?</h2>Although NHL vice-president Brian Burke is a firm believer in salary caps, he has no quarrel with hockey agents. &ldquo;If my son turns pro tomorrow,&rdquo; said Burke, a former player agent, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to tell him to hire an agent to do the best he can money-wise. I don&rsquo;t blame a player for exploiting the system, but right now the system is skewed too heavily one way. It&rsquo;s not the player&rsquo;s fault. You can&rsquo;t blame him for wanting to maximize his earnings under the system.&rdquo;&hellip;The reason Portland, Ore., has emerged as a top candidate for an NHL expansion franchise is the proposed 20,000-seat arena due for completion in time for 1994-95. The Portland Trailblazers of the National Basketball Association are building it and will spend an extra $2 million to install ice-making equipment and other hockey essentials.<h2>Good luck charm</h2>Although New Jersey Devils&rsquo; rookie David Emma isn&rsquo;t Jewish, he got some Hanukkah help when he was promoted from the Albany River Rats of the AHL during the Hebrew holiday. Prior to his first game against Quebec, Emma was looking for some wax to rub on his stick. SportsChannel production assistant Dave Katz was walking by and pulled a pair of Hanukkah candles out of his pocket. Emma rubbed the candles on the stick. A game later Emma scored the first two goals of his big-league career.<h2>Dad knows best?</h2>Unless the Tampa Bay Lightning can wean Roman Hamrlik away from his father, who has intruded on the defenseman&rsquo;s hockey business, general manager Phil Esposito will have a big problem on his hands, if he doesn&rsquo;t already&hellip;The Detroit Red Wings have survived Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s absence. Next question: can they survive his return?<h2>THE ROOKIES OF1993-94</h2>Alexei YashinBom: Sverdlovsk. Russia.Age: 20Team: Ottawa SenatorsHeight: 6-foot-2Weight: 196 poundsPosition: CenterHow acquired: Ottawa&rsquo;s first choice (second over-all) in 1992 entry draft. &#9632;

f0012-01

Players’ union may torpedo All-Star Weekend

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>After two years among the NHL&rsquo;s elite teams-at least during the regular season-the Vancouver Canucks have settled back into their mediocre ways.Vancouver lost 10 of 15 games from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19 with many of the losses resembling the play of days gone by.The Canucks bottomed out on a mid-December swing to Alberta where they were crushed 8-4 by the Calgary Flames and 7-2 by the Edmonton Oilers.Canucks&rsquo; coach-general manager Pat Quinn said it was the lowest point in his seven years at the helm.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a little bit of an understatement,&rdquo; said the beleaguered boss.Vancouver&rsquo;s problems were almost too numerous to mention.On one night, their defense would crumble. On the next, their forwards wouldn&rsquo;t backcheck. When the forwards and defense played well, their goaltending would let them down.Then when those elements were solid at even strength, their special teams would fail them spectacularly.As the heat began to mount on Quinn, he at least admitted he was trying to make a deal, especially for unsigned free agent Petr Nedved.&ldquo;Some people translate patience as doing nothing,&rdquo; Quinn said while fans and media clamored for an upgrade at center and a point-man for the power play. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been able to remedy the situation as GM. We&rsquo;ve got some problems at center. We&rsquo;ve had that problem for five years.&rdquo;The problem became more acute when Greg Adams was lost until midJanuary with a fractured hand. Quinn was down to Cliff Ronning, Murray Craven and John McIntyre. He re-sponded by moving winger Trevor Linden into the middle.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been talking to teams from the start of the year about acquiring something for Nedved,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;What we have is a bundle of rights and a lot of teams are not interested in acquiring a bundle of rights because they also have to sign this kid.&rdquo;CARSON COMING?: One rumor has Pat Quinn making a pitch for underachieving Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Jimmy Carson. Quinn coached Carson during his rookie season and doesn&rsquo;t seem fazed by Carson&rsquo;s soft reputation.&ldquo;His first year was pretty good and his next two years were outstanding,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;His numbers have fallen off, but it could be his playing time.&rdquo;A trade for Carson would likely involve the Kings picking up a portion of his $1.1 million salary. Among the players rumored going the other way are defensemen Gerald Diduck and Dana Murzyn and left winger Dixon Ward.NOTEBOOK: Pavel Bure&rsquo;s goal-scoring drought continued. In a nine-game stretch from Dec. 2-19, he scored just one goal and that was put in by Flames&rsquo; defenseman Frank Musil&hellip;When Pat Quinn attended the governors&rsquo; meetings in California Dec. 9-10, assistant coach Rick Ley ran the bench and posted two road wins. When an inevitable coaching controversy ensued, Quinn called it &ldquo;pretty goofy&rdquo; and said: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a coaching staff and I&rsquo;m the head of it and those are the facts.&rdquo; Vancouver then lost twice in Alberta.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 13: Dane Jackson, RW. recalled from Hamilton (AHL). Dec. 14: Yevgeny Namestnikov, D. recalled from Hamilton. Dec. 17: Neil Eisenhut. C, recalled from Hamilton. Dec. 18: Eisenhut and Namestnikov assigned to Hamilton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-CIiff Ronning. Murray Craven. John McIntyre.LW-Geotf Courtnail. Dixon Ward. Gino Odjick, Dane Jackson.RW-Pavel Bure. Trevor Linden, Tim Hunter. Dan Kesa.LD-Dana Murzyn. Dave Babych, Robert Dirk, Adrien Plavsic.RD-Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Jiri SlegrG-Kirk McLean, Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Greg Adams, C. stress fracture right hand, indefinite. Shawn Antoski, LW, broken knuckle, indefinite. Jose Char-bonneau, RW. herniated disc, indefinite. Sergio Momesso, LW. sprained left knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Quinn hits rock bottom

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>In the early days of his career, Joe Nieuwendyk was known for his goalscoring, pure and simple.Consider that until Teemu Selanne came along, only Nieuwendyk and Mike Bossy had ever scored 50 goals in their rookie seasons.Nieuwendyk became the third-fastest player ever to reach his first 100 goals, needing only 144 games to do it.Now, in his seventh year-after two years of struggling to overcome a knee injury-Nieuwendyk is scoring again&hellip;and doing a little more than that for Calgary Flames.&ldquo;This is the most confident I&rsquo;ve ever been playing within the team,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to think my game is better than it was back then. I really believe I&rsquo;m skating better than in previous years and feeling a lot stronger on the puck.&rdquo;Nieuwendyk reached the 20-goal plateau in his 32nd game of the season-an 8-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks Dec. 14, when he scored his ninth career hat trick. That put him on pace for 50 goals for the first time in five years.Now Nieuwendyk wears a brace on his left knee as a matter of course. It took him this long to put the injury behind him.&ldquo;There are a lot of examples around the league of guys who&rsquo;ve had knee injuries and done the rehab and when they start playing again, it takes them a long time to get back in the groove,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;John MacLean comes to mind. Even Joey Mullen.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011406/6352549-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="579" height="739"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Nieuwendyk has put his injury troubles behind him.</figcaption></div>Nieuwendyk also made some changes in his life off the ice. He sold his home, briefly moved in with teammate Gary Roberts&rsquo; family and then bought a condominium in downtown Calgary. He also gave up his post as the Flames&rsquo; representative for the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.He decided to put all his energy into playing.&ldquo;Within my own game, there were obstacles to overcome,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;My knee. Being a young captain when there were quite a few older guys around. The strike. All those things had to sort themselves out. With so many other things going on, it took my concentration away from my own game.&rdquo;SLOW PROGRESS: Defenseman Gary Suter, recovering slowly from a knee injury, decided to seek a second opinion from noted surgeon Bill Clancy.Suter flew to Birmingham, Ala., to have his left knee examined. The result: Suter has more damage to his posterior cruciate ligament than originally feared, meaning his return will be delayed until mid-January at the earliest.Doctors in Calgary diagnosed the problem first, but according to Suter, &ldquo;it was deemed to be more serious by the doctor down there.&ldquo;We have a good medical staff here, very competent, but the knee is a very delicate and important part of an athlete&rsquo;s body,&rdquo; Suter said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a million things that can cause pain and sometimes it&rsquo;s hard to detect each one. I just thought it made sense, that two minds could solve a mystery more easily than one.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Ted Drury will report to the U.S. Olympic team Jan. 19, meaning he will be out of the Hames&rsquo; lineup about a month. When Drury originally signed last summer, he asked for and received permission to play in the 1994 Olympics. Drury was also part of the 1992 U.S. team, but an injury spoiled his Olympic tournament. Is he getting excited? &ldquo;I easily could, but I&rsquo;m almost trying not to. I&rsquo;m trying to totally concentrate on what&rsquo;s going on here.&rdquo;<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 15: Peter Ahola, D. recalled from Saint John (AHL). Brad Schlegel, D, assigned to Saint John.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Nieuwendyk, Joel Otto. Robert Reichel, Kelly Kisio.LW-Gary Roberts, German Titov, Paul Ranheim, Paul Kruse.RW-Theo Fleury, Ron Stem. Ted Drury, Sandy McCarthy.LD-Frank Musil. Chris Dahlquist, Trent Yawney, Dan KeczmerRD-AI Maclnnis, Michel Petit Peter Ahola.G-Mike Vernon. Trevor Kidd.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Dahl, D. separated right shoulder, indefinite. Lee Norwood, D, hip strain, day-to-day. Greg Paslawskl, RW, strained left knee ligaments, indefinite. Gary Suter, D, tom left knee ligamerits, indefinite. &#9632;

f0015-01

Nieu and improved sniper regains touch

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02978/6352587-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg"></div>CCM* is the official sponsor of The Hockey News NHL Coach of the Year AwardRules are made to be broken and Jim Webster likes to shatter the coaching adage that says, &ldquo;keep both hands on your stick at all times.&rdquo;Webster maintains there are situations where having two hands on the stick is a hindrance rather than a help.&ldquo;Going around a defenseman to the outside is a situation where having one hand on your stick is the desired solution to the problem,&rdquo; said Webster, who has playing and coaching experience at the professional, European, college and junior level.It&rsquo;s a common hockey move where a forward comes down the ice toward a defenseman, maybe fakes a shot, and pulls the puck to his backhand.Often, on a rush, it&rsquo;s a good idea to keep the puck as far away as possible from the defender and that&rsquo;s much easier to do with one hand on the stick.&ldquo;Pulling the puck to your backhand increases the distance between the puck and the defenseman by another two feet and also gets your body between the puck and the defenseman in a puck protection situation,&rdquo; Webster said.The master of the move is Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; center Mario Lemieux who, with his wide reach, can move the puck from way out on his forehand to way out on his backhand with one hand on the stick.&ldquo;If a youngster can do it with his stick totally extended, he is able to move the puck from one place five or six feet to the right or left very quickly and that makes it very hard for a defenseman to stop them,&rdquo; Webster said.Here is Webster&rsquo;s learning progression system for teaching the skill.&#9633; &ldquo;Give each player a puck and have them assume the forehand shooting position with the puck on the forehand side of their stick. On command, have them pull the puck laterally all the way out and extend their arm and stick on the backhand side, full extension, while still controlling the puck.&rdquo;&#9633; &ldquo;Incorporate skating by having your players skate toward a series of pylons. At each pylon, they&rsquo;re asked to pull way out to their backhand and see if they can get their body between the pylon and the puck.&rdquo;&#9633; &ldquo;Go up against &lsquo;dummy&rsquo; defensemen. A coach stands there and all the kids skate toward him and have to go around him to their backhand side, trying to keep the puck away from the coach with one hand on the stick.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s sound coaching to teach this skill over three separate practices.It&rsquo;s best not to overwhelm players with too much to grasp at once.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03706/6352580-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="562" height="798"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Webster</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>As a child, San Jose Sharks&rsquo; center Dale Craigwell idolized Russian winger Sergei Makarov so much he often pretended to be Makarov while playing in pick-up games.Now the two are linemates.After Igor Larionov sprained his right knee Dec. 12, Craigwell took his spot at center between Makarov and Johan Garpenlov. In their first game together, Craigwell and Makarov assisted on Sandis Ozolinsh&rsquo;s goal in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues Dec. 15.&ldquo;Dale did a decent job of stepping up and playing between those guys,&rdquo; said coach Kevin Constantine. &ldquo;He has the skills to fit well on that line.&rdquo;Before he could take advantage of those skills, Craigwell, 22, had to put aside the emotions of playing alongside his childhood hero.&ldquo;I had to overcome my nervousness,&rdquo; Craigwell said. &ldquo;Sergei told me to relax and play my game. I know I can&rsquo;t replace Igor Larionov, but I hope I can help get some offense going.&rdquo;Garpenlov said Craigwell is a capable fill-in for Larionov.&ldquo;He plays a strong game,&rdquo; Garpenlov said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s good defensively and he can play some offense when he wants to.&rdquo;Craigwell had been on a defense-oriented line with Bob Errey and Rob Gaudreau. In 22 games, Craigwell had two goals and five points.&ldquo;I have to be a more creative with Makarov and Garpenlov,&rdquo; Craigwell said. &ldquo;I have to take more chances. Offense is like an art, especially with those guys. They make passes like I&rsquo;ve never seen before.&rdquo;SUDDEN IMPACT: The Sharks recalled Jaroslav Otevrel from the Kansas City Blades of the International League and he made an immediate impact.The Czech left winger had a goal and an assist in a 7-5 loss to the Quebec Nordiques Dec. 19.Otevrel was recalled to help awaken an offense that scored only 14 goals in eight games.&ldquo;When you don&rsquo;t have a dominant guy, the strategy is to have four lines that can get you a goal,&rdquo; Kevin Constantine said.The goal against Quebec was Otevrel&rsquo;s first in the NHL. He had two assists in seven games last season and six goals and 22 points in 28 games for Kansas City this season.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Doug Zmolek was out of uniform for the first time in his two-year NHL career when the Sharks visited the Edmonton Oilers Dec. 17. Zmolek, who was nursing a bruised right eye, had played a team-record 117 consecutive games before sitting out. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I was proud of.&rdquo;<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 18: Jaroslav Otevrel, LW, recal-led from Kansas City (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Date Craigwell, Ray Whitney, Todd Elik. Jamie Baker. Mike Sullivan.LW-Johan Garpenlov, Gaetan Duchesne, Bob Errey, Jaroslav Otevrel, Dave Maley.RW-Sergei Makarov, Pat Falloon. Rob Gaudreau. Jeff Odgers.LD-Sandis Ozolinsh, Doug Zmolek, Rob Zettler, Mike Lalor. Shawn Cronin.RD-Jay More, Tom Pederson, Michal Sykora, Mike Rathje.G-Arturs Irbe, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Igor Larionov, C, sprained right knee, Dec. 30. Jeff Norton, D. sprained left ankle, Dec. 30. &#9632;

Craigwell lives youth dream by playing with idol Makarov

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&rsquo;s goaltending duo of Guy Hebert and Ron Tugnutt has worked. They&rsquo;ve taken turns going on hot streaks.Hebert made 38 saves against the Toronto Maple Leafs Dec. 15 to become the first Duck goalie to record a shutout. Tim Sweeney&rsquo;s shorthanded goal in the third period gave Anaheim a 1-0 win.Four days later, Tugnutt made a shutout bid against the Chicago Blackhawks before losing 2-0 on Joe Murphy&rsquo;s third-period goal. The Hawks then scored an empty-netter.&ldquo;We take turns on which guy is going to do what in the history books,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;(Tugnutt) got the first win, so I knew I had to come up with something besides the first loss.&rdquo;Hebert stymied some of the NHL&rsquo;s top scorers. Wendel Clark had six shots and Dave Andreychuk five. Hebert stopped Kent Manderville on a breakaway in the second period and made a clutch save on Clark&rsquo;s pointblank attempt with 11 seconds left.&ldquo;They come pretty rare,&rdquo; he said of the shutout. &ldquo;I saw the puck well. It&rsquo;s strange, like sometimes you get that feeling once a year and if you&rsquo;re fortunate you get it a couple of times.&rdquo;Hebert&rsquo;s goals-against average over a six-game stretch in December was 1.50. His overall 2.56 GAA put him among the league&rsquo;s elite.Tugnutt&rsquo;s hottest streak came in November, when he helped lead the Ducks to a four-game winning streak on the road by stopping 119 of 125 shots over three starts.The only goaltending worry the Ducks have had is figuring out which one to play. Coach Ron Wilson&rsquo;s approach is that if the chosen plays well, he starts the next game, too.SCALDING HOT: Jarrod Skalde is proving to be a good replacement for Anatoli Semenov.After Semenov went down with an elbow injury Dec. 7, Skalde had three goals and five points in four games after being recalled by the Ducks from the San Diego Gulls of the International League.He scored in overtime against the St. Louis Blues Dec. 12 and had two power-play goals in a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars Dec. 17.Skalde, 22, is a fast skater with good passing skills who was expected to make the team in training camp.&ldquo;All summer my buddies were saying this and that. Everybody expects you to make the team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You feel like you&rsquo;re letting everybody down when you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Ducks had a a.500 record (12-12-0) against established teams, but were 0-7-0 against the four recent expansion teams&hellip;Left winger Stu Grimson struck again. Anatoli Semenov dislocated his elbow Dec. 7 when he was accidentally checked by Grimson. On Dec. 15, Garry Valk was scratched after Grimson bumped into him in a pre-game warm-up. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to feel like one of those bugzappers,&rdquo; Grimson said. &ldquo;People just fly into me and fall down dead.&rdquo;<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 15: David Williams. D, recalled from San Diego (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bob Corkum, Shaun Van Allen, Jarrod Skalde, Patrik Camback.LW-Tim Sweeney, Joe Sacco, Stu Grimson, Robin Bawa.RW-Terry Yake. Todd Ewen. Peter Douris, Steven King, Jim Thomson.LD-Randy Ladouceur. Bill Houlder, David WilliamsRD-Bobby Dollas, Alexei Kasatonov, Myles O&rsquo;Connor.G-Guy Hebert, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Femer, D. Charley horse, day-to-day. Sean Hill, D. bruised rib cage, day-to-day. Troy Loney, LW, right knee surgery, day-to-day, Anatoll Semenov, C, dislocated left elbow, indefinite. Garry Valk, LW. concussion, day-to-day. &#9632;

Goalies share kudos

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>Not a drop of Doug Weight&rsquo;s blood, sweat or tears went into the winning of the championship banners that hang above the Coliseum ice in Edmonton.But the 22-year-old center has pride in the team&rsquo;s history and has heard enough about the woeful, awful Oilers to last a season.&ldquo;It would be nice to stick it in everybody&rsquo;s face after what we took in the first 25 games,&rdquo; he said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011154/6352666-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="570" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Weight is sick of hearing about the demise of the Oilers.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Everywhere we went on the road it was &lsquo;The Edmonton Oilers, what a joke.&rsquo; It was from people who don&rsquo;t know a damn thing about hockey and haven&rsquo;t watched our games, but it was embarrassing.&ldquo;You hear it from all the teams. That&rsquo;s natural, trash talking on the ice. If a guy has a big nose, you call him big nose. If he&rsquo;s ugly, you call him ugly.&rdquo;And if the Oilers are in last place, they are an easy target. But they clawed their way out of the basement, rebounding from the 3-18-3 start that got coach Ted Green fired. They were 8-22-5 after 35 games, four points ahead of the Ottawa Senators.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re coming out of this thing stronger than people think,&rdquo; Weight said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like getting sent down to the minors for a week and coming back up. You never want to get sent down again.&rdquo;Weight is one of the big reasons for Edmonton&rsquo;s resurgence. He had 12 goals and 28 points in 35 games and was starting to show the talent the Oilers expected when they acquired him from the New York Rangers for Esa Tikkanen on March 17, 1993.&ldquo;If a guy has got talent, it comes around,&rdquo; said coach-general manager Glen Sather. &ldquo;(Weight) is playing better. He&rsquo;s more aggressive, in the right spots at the right times. Maybe it&rsquo;s 25 games experience, who knows?&rdquo;Or maybe it&rsquo;s the fact Weight has realized he doesn&rsquo;t have to carry the team by himself.&ldquo;I started off with four goals in two games so your mind is thinking, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got to put the puck in the net; shoot the puck more, get open myself,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But my whole game has always been pass the puck. I&rsquo;ve always had more assists than goals. I&rsquo;m glad I&rsquo;m getting back to it. I&rsquo;m feeling more comfortable with the puck.&rdquo;TOP TRIO?: The Oilers are trying to figure out which line is the team&rsquo;s top trio.Is it the line of Jason Arnott, Shayne Corson and Zdeno Ciger or Doug Weight, Scott Pearson and Steve Rice?The Weight-Pearson-Rice line was hot through the end of December, but the Oilers expect just as much offense from the Arnott line.&ldquo;For the club to win, our line is going to be counted on to produce,&rdquo; Corson said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re going to have tough times, too, and other lines have to pick up the slack.&rdquo;The last big game the Arnott line had was a five-point outing in a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 1.All three players had points in the next seven games, but they didn&rsquo;t dominate.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to step up,&rdquo; Arnott said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re struggling, as every line does at times. You can&rsquo;t score goals every game. If we&rsquo;re not scoring we have to play well in the defensive end.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Kelly Buchberger scored his first goal in 60 games against the Vancouver Canucks Dec. 15, much to the delight of the North-lands Coliseum crowd. &ldquo;It was a little embarrassing,&rdquo; said Buchberger, who hadn&rsquo;t scored since last February. Defensemen Luke Richardson (47 games) and Dave Manson (26) took over as team leaders of the goaldrought derby&hellip;Right winger Shjon Podein played just 10 of the Oilers&rsquo; first 35 games and may soon be traded.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Weight. Jason Amott. Peter White. Vladimir Vujtek.LW-Scott Pearson, Shayne Corson. Scott Thornton. Louie DeBrusk.RW-Steven Rice, Zdeno Ciger, Kirk Maltby Kelly Buchberger, Shjon Podein.LD-Fredrik Olausson. Luke Richardson, Igor Kravchuk.RD-Bob Beers, Dave Manson, Adam Bennett. Ilya Byakin.G-Bill Rantord, Fred Brathwaite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Craig MacTavish, C. whiplash, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0017-01

Weight carrying fair share of load

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>It was an incident one might hear about in New York or Los Angeles or Miami. But in Quebec City?Armed robberies do happen in La Vieille Capitale, but they take on even more significance when a member of the Quebec Nordiques is involved.Especially when that player doesn&rsquo;t understand what the gunman is saying.On Dec. 14, Nordiques&rsquo; left winger Martin Rucinsky and his girlfriend were shopping at a supermarket in the suburbs.Rucinsky was looking through magazines white his girlfriend was waiting in line to pay for the groceries when several shouts forced Rucinsky to look up.&ldquo;I saw this guy come in with a hood over his head,&rdquo; Rucinsky said. &ldquo;I thought it was some kind of Halloween joke. But then, most of the people in the store were lying down on their stomachs and I was the only one standing.&ldquo;The robber saw me. pointed his gun in my face and started shouting. I couldn&rsquo;t understand a word he was saying. But finally, I got the message and went down like everybody else.&rdquo;Rucinsky, a Czech who is fluent in English, evidently doesn&rsquo;t grasp French just yet.&ldquo;Once the gunman was gone, I finally realized I had been very lucky,&rdquo; Rucinsky said. &ldquo;I can tell you this, I&rsquo;ve never been so scared in my life. It may seem funny now, but it sure wasn&rsquo;t when I had that gun in my face. It&rsquo;s something I don&rsquo;t want to live through again.&rdquo;FISET BACK: Goaltender Stephane Fiset returned to the lineup after missing more than a month with a herniated disc in his back.Fiset played his first game since Nov. 4 when he started in goal for the Nordiques&rsquo; American League affiliate, the Cornwall Aces Dec. 19.He lost the game 4-1, but was relieved his long spell away from the game was over.Fiset agreed to play his first game in the AHL, but didn&rsquo;t spend much time there. He was recalled the next day and joined a crowded crease with veteran Jacques Cloutier and rookies Jocelyn Thibault and Garth Snow.The Nordiques plan to carry four goaltenders until after Christmas, when Snow will rejoin the U.S. Olympic team for the Winter Games.NOTEBOOK: Adam Foote will soon be a wealthy man. Foote is reportedly close to signing a three-year deal worth about $500,000 to $600,000 per season. Foote was the lowest paid player on the team with an annual salary of $140,000.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 17: Ed Ward, RW, assigned to Cornwall (AHL). Dec. 18: Stephane Fiset, G, assigned to Cornwall. Dec. 19: Fiset recalled from Cornwall.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Mike Ricci.LW-lain Fraser. Valeri Kamensky. Claude Lapointe. Martin Gelinas. Martin Rucinsky. Tony Twist.RW-Andrei Kovalenko. David Karpa. Scott Young, Chris Lindberg.LD-Steven Finn, Curtis Leschyshyn, Mike McKee.RD-Alexei Gusarov. Adam Foote, Craig Wolanin.G-Stephane Fiset, Garth Snow. Jocelyn Thibault Jacques Cloutier.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul MacDermid, RW. lumbar sprain in back, indefinite Owen Nolan, RW, left shoulder surgery, indefinite. Chris Simon, LW, strained back, indefinite. &#9632;

Rucinsky just happy to be alive after close call in supermarket

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>The Pittsburgh Penguins, who angered many fans with their clumsy handling of ticket price increases during the past off-season, might have come up with a couple of ways to, placate their public.First, they introduced what the team calls an unprecedented plan that will allow season-ticket buyers to spread their payments over 12 months with no interest charges.A day later, the Penguins became the only Pittsburgh sports team to agree to lower its ticket prices when the city&rsquo;s amusement tax is sliced from 10 to five per cent.Penguins&rsquo; officials estimated the cut, which will reflect the drop in the amusement tax, will cost them $1 million next season.The Penguins actually plan to offer amusement-tax rebates for tickets from the 1993-94 season if the reduction happens quickly enough, but it is not expected to take effect until summer.Howard Baldwin, the Penguins&rsquo; chairman of the board, said the amusement tax change &ldquo;is really great news for our fans and the city of Pittsburgh.&rdquo;Management of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s other two major-league teams, the Steelers and Pirates, said they will not lower ticket prices to reflect the cut in the amusement tax. The same was true of officials from the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, which have some high-profile athletic programs.Revenue lost because of the lower amusement tax is expected to be made up by a county-wide increase in the sales tax, from six per cent to seven.Baldwin said the 12-month payment plan came about because, &ldquo;I felt something had to be done to make it easier for our fans to pay for their tickets and to reward their loyalty to us.&rdquo;POWER OUTAGE: The Penguins&rsquo; power play features some of the most skilled personnel in the NHL, but that talent hasn&rsquo;t translated into productivity this season.The Penguins converted on 29 of 153 chances in 32 games, a success rate of 18.9 per cent. That ranked in the middle of the NHL pack.&ldquo;If our power play doesn&rsquo;t turn it around soon, you&rsquo;re going to see us getting into trouble,&rdquo; right winger Rick Tocchet said. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t have good special teams, you&rsquo;re not going to win consistently in this league.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Mario Lemieux, sidelined since early November by back and conditioning troubles, continues to keep a low profile white going through his rehabilitation. &ldquo;We hope to get that reclusivity, if that&rsquo;s the right word, behind us once Mario feels better and starts playing again,&rdquo; said league commissioner Gary Bettman&hellip;Ron Francis earned the 700th assist of his NHL career when he set up Bryan Trottier&rsquo;s empty-net goal during a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings Dec. 14. Right winger Joe Mullen earned his 500th NHL assist five nights later.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 13: Pat Neaton. D. assigned to Cleveland (IHL). Dec. 16: Ed Patterson. RW, recalled from Cleveland Dec. 17: Patterson assigned to Cleveland.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Ron Francis, Martin Straka. Bryan Trottier, Mike Stapleton.LW-Kevin Stevens, Markus Naslund, Jeff Daniels.RW-Rick Tocchet. Jaromir Jagr, Joe Mullen. Doug Brown.RD-Larry Murphy, Kjell Samuelsson, Marty McSorley. Peter Taglianetti.LD-Jim Paek. Mike Ramsey. Grant Jennings.G-Ken Wregget, Roberto Romano.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Barrasso, G, injured left hip. day-to-day Mario Lemieux, C, back rehabilitation, indefinite. Mike Needham, RW, back surgery, indefinite. Ulf Samuelsson, D bruised right foot, day-to-day. &#9632;

Baldwin gives fans a break

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>On the 12th day before Christmas, left winger Jim McKenzie requested a trade. Three days later, he got it.Talk about quick work. Talk about getting the present you asked for.McKenzie ended up with the Dallas Stars as part of three-way deal that saw the Hartford Whalers get 23-year-old defenseman Alexander Godynyuk and the Florida Panthers get a 1995 fourth-round draft pick. McKenzie was traded by the Whalers to the Panthers, who then dealt him to Dallas.&ldquo;Unhappy guys are usually in search of other unhappy guys,&rdquo; said Whalers&rsquo; general manager Paul Holmgren. &ldquo;Misery loves company. Rather than have a forest fire, I tried to put out a brush fire.&rdquo;After Godynyuk picked up three assists in his first game with Hartford, a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals, coach Pierre McGuire had a huge piece of praise for Holmgren&rsquo;s firefighting.&ldquo;People better start calling Holmgren the Heist Man, because he is heisting players from all over the NHL,&rdquo; McGuire said. &ldquo;This guy (Godynyuk) is a very capable player. He has skill, size, speed.&ldquo;He played without ever practising with our system. We have different players filling the lanes than Florida. Their high forward cuts off the middle of the ice. In our system, the defense does it. He adjusted very well.&rdquo;The Kiev Kid matched McKenzie&rsquo;s season output of three points in 19 minutes, 28 seconds of playing time Dec. 18.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011110/6352745-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="736" height="938"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexander Godynyuk joined the rush and had three assists in his first game.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s Bobby Orr in my book,&rdquo; said-winning goalie Sean Burke.For his part, Godynyuk, a sometimes enigmatic talent, seemed relieved to escape the yoke of Panthers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson&rsquo;s tight-defensive system.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of talent on this team,&rdquo; Godynyuk said. &ldquo;I enjoyed playing. This was the first time since the start of the season I joined the rush. Florida is the most defensive team I&rsquo;ve ever played on.&rdquo;PATRICK&rsquo;S BACK: James Patrick could be the next Christmas present to appear in the Whalers&rsquo; lineup.The 30-year-old defenseman, sidelined since Dec. 7 with a herniated disc, is feeling much better and may return as soon as Dec. 23 or Dec. 26 in games against the Ottawa Senators. Patrick, however, is still adjusting to life off-Broadway.Recalling his final days with the New York Rangers, Patrick said: &ldquo;(Coach) Mike Keenan told me that this is it for me. I&rsquo;d been here 10 years and if I don&rsquo;t perform, I&rsquo;m not going to be around. Mike&rsquo;s the kind of coach where, if you don&rsquo;t have a great first shift, you don&rsquo;t play again.&ldquo;I was wondering, &lsquo;Am I not good enough to play in this league?&rsquo; They were paying me this ton of money ($1.05 million this season) and not using me. I knew I could start rotting. Since coming here, you wouldn&rsquo;t believe how the burden has been lifted. Maybe my memory is bad, but I&rsquo;m having more fun than in the past five years.&rdquo;Patrick still has close ties to the Rangers. Brian Leetch is one of his best friends and he is also close to goalie Mike Richter. He&rsquo;s quietly hoping Leetch can win the Norris Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defenseman.&ldquo;But if they win (the Stanley Cup), it&rsquo;s going to hurt,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be frustrating. I wish Mike Keenan had tried to coach me, push me, rather than just get rid of me.&ldquo;But I must say he was always honest, never rude or ignorant. I&rsquo;m not hateful or bitter.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bryan Marchment was suspended automatically for the 4-1 victory over Washington Dec. 18, but NHL director of hockey operations Brian Burke had yet to make a ruling on a supplementary suspension. Marchment got his third game misconduct of the season when he crushed the Rangers&rsquo; Mike Gartner into the goal post Dec. 15. Paul Holmgren thought Marchment might end up being suspended three games. Gartner, who had swung his stick at Marchment a few minutes earlier, received a $500 fine by the NHL.Left winger Randy Cunneyworth was fined $500 and put on the list of repeat offenders for attacking Markus Naslund of the Pittsburgh Penguins Dec. 4.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 16: Jim McKenzie. LW, traded to Florida for Alexander Godynyuk. D.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Michael Nylander, Andrew Cassels, Igor Chibirev, Mark Janssens.LW-Geoff Sanderson, Jim Storm. Brian Propp. Randy Cunneyworth.RW-Robert Kron. Pat Verbeek. Marc Potvin. Jim Sandlak. Mark Greig.LD-Adam Burt, Chris Pronger, Bryan Marchment, Alexander Godynyuk.RD-Zartey Zalapski, Brad McCrimmon. Bob Mc-Gill.G-Sean Burke, Jeff Reese, Frank Pietrangelo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mario Gosselin, G. knee surgery, out for season. James Patrick, D, herniated disk, day-to-day. Darren Turcotte, C, knee surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

f0019-01

Forced trade nets enigmatic Godynyuk

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>Cool-hand Serge, never too fast on the trigger finger, remained patient while those around him-even his coach-clamored for a trade.Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; managing director Serge Savard had no intention of making a December trade to boost his floundering team, but said anything is possible in the New Year if the team doesn&rsquo;t improve.&ldquo;If this thing doesn&rsquo;t get turned around, I&rsquo;ve got to make some moves and I will,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not about to change the whole team. I still think this team has the potential to be better than the team we had last year.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to look at things through Christmas, but I&rsquo;m confident that things can get better.&rdquo;The possibility of a trade was raised by coach Jacques Demers following a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals, the Canadiens&rsquo; second straight defeat at the Forum. That left Montreal one game over.500.&ldquo;(A trade) is not for me to decide, I&rsquo;ll leave that up to the GM,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;But you&rsquo;ve got to think maybe that&rsquo;s the best thing. I&rsquo;ve expressed my feelings to Serge. We have some valuable soldiers on this team, but we have to surround them better.&ldquo;Some players are not doing it. They have deceived us.&rdquo;The Canadiens then tied two games on a road trip to Florida before returning home to thump the Detroit Red Wings 8-1 Dec. 18. The Red Wings were on a five-game winning streak.RACICOT TO RESCUE: Goalie Patrick Roy missed games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers with a sore neck, but the Canadiens remained afloat thanks an unlikely hero in Andre Racicot.The much-ridiculed backup goalie was superb in both matches.Against the Lightning in a 1-1 tie, Racicot blocked 33 shots. The following night against the Panthers, Racicot stopped 30 and blanked Florida for the final 28 minutes in a 3-3 tie. The Panthers had a 3-0 lead.Racicot was sharp following a three-game conditioning stint with the Fredericton Canadiens of the American League. He hadn&rsquo;t played an NHL game since Nov. 24 against the Philadelphia Flyers when he allowed eight goals on 18 shots and was removed after the second period.NOTEBOOK: Russian rookie Oleg Petrov scored his first career hat trick against Detroit. The 5-foot-9, 161-pound winger had five goals in eight games after being recalled from Fredericton Dec. 2&hellip;Tough winger Donald Brashear is expected to remain with the team the rest of the season. The 6-foot-3, 206 pounder had two goals and four points in eight games and fought with some heavyweights, including Detroit&rsquo;s Bob Pro-bert and Darren McCarty.Shifting Paul DiPietro from center to right wing paid dividends. He responded with two goals and an assist against Detroit&hellip;The Canadiens and CJAD extended their contract three years for English radio broadcast rights. The agreement now goes through 1996-97, Montreal&rsquo;s first full season in the new Forum.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 17: Les Kuntar, G. assigned to Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Kirk Muller, Stephan Lebeau, Guy Carbonneau, John LeClair, Ron Wilson.LW-Gilbert, Dionne. Vincent Damp-housse. Oleg Petrov, Donald Brashear. Mario Roberge.RW-Brian Bellows, Benoit Brunet. Mike Keane. Paul DiPietro. Ed Ronan, Gary Leeman.LD-Mathieu Schneider, Kevin Haller, Jean-Jacques DaigneaultRD-Lyle Odelein, Peter Popovic, Eric Desjardins,G-Patrick Roy, Andre Racicot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrice Brisebois, D, left ankle fracture. indefinite. Pierre Sevigny, LW. tom left knee ligaments, indefinite. &#9632;

Demers losing patience while Savard sitting cool

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01761/6352800-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandre Daigle&rsquo;s slash on Enrico Ciccone drew the attention of the NHL front office.</figcaption></div>Alexei Yashin may be outplaying his teammate and fellow rookie Alexandre Daigle, but don&rsquo;t tell that to Ottawa Senators&rsquo; fans.Daigle&rsquo;s game-worn jerseys from this season were selling for $1,700, while Yashin&rsquo;s were going for $1,200.Yashin was second on the team in scoring with 16 goals and 39 points in 33 games and is an early favorite for the Calder Trophy. The charismatic Daigle wasn&rsquo;t far behind. His 12 goals and 31 points in 34 games put him third in team scoring.The team is also selling autographed sticks, pucks, photos and paintings of the young stars.&ldquo;We have no idea what the response will be because so much depends on the players,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; vice-president of corporate communications John Owens. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of interest in players in their rookie season because it only comes around once. We talked to a lot of collectors in the U.S. before we set the prices. Those prices are fair market value.&rdquo;Only four jerseys from each player are available, but if there&rsquo;s enough demand, the club will increase the stock by giving the rookies new sweaters on a regular basis.Daigle was also fetching more for autographed sticks. Sticks with Daigle&rsquo;s signature were selling for $275, while those with Yashin&rsquo;s were selling for $225.HE HAS BEEN NAUGHTY: Alexandre Daigle is likely to receive a Christmas present from NHL vice-president Brian Burke and it&rsquo;s not going to come with bows and ribbons on it.Daigle slashed Washington Capitals&rsquo; defenseman Enrico Ciccone Dec. 17 and the league is expected to render a suspension based on videotape evidence.Daigle&rsquo;s slash was a deliberate two-hander to the legs of the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Capital. Ciccone was not hurt, but Daigle received a slashing major and was ejected from the game by ref-eree Rob Shick.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen guys get suspended for swinging and missing,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness said. &ldquo;(Daigle) didn&rsquo;t initiate it. He didn&rsquo;t try to injure him.&rdquo;Daigle was suspended twice last season while playing for the Victoriaville Tigres of the Quebec League. They were for non-stick related hits on opponents.NHL officiating supervisor Dave Newell was at the game and recommended Burke review the incident. Daigle said he was retaliating for Ciccone&rsquo;s punch to his head.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think about it,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s some provocation, I can react.&rdquo;Daigle played in the Dec 19 game against the New York Rangers.STUCK AT CUSTOMS: Rookie defenseman Dmitri Filimonov missed a team flight to Tampa Bay Dec. 14 when he showed up at the Ottawa airport without his passport.The 22-year-old native of Perm, Russia also cannot speak English very well and wasn&rsquo;t able to get any assistance at the airport. As a result, the Senators will not fine or suspend him over the incident. &ldquo;He couldn&rsquo;t understand why,&rdquo; Rick Bowness said.Filimonov has had a decent season since coming over from Moscow Dynamo of the Russian Professional League. He had one goal, five points and was minus-5 in 24 games.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Bob Kudelski set a club record for goals in a season Dec. 13 against the Los Angeles Kings. He scored two goals to give him 25 on the season, a career high. Kudelski added his 26th goal in a 6-3 loss to the Rangers Dec. 19. In four previous seasons, he had totals of 23, 23, 22 and 24 goals&hellip;. Alexandre Daigle and Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; rookie goaltender Jocelyn Thibault faced each other for the first time Dec. 11 at Le Colisee in Quebec City. The two freshmen are good friends and have known each other for the past seven years. They were rivals in the QMJHL and first-round draft choices in 1993.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 13: Graeme Townsend. RW, assigned to P.E.I. (AHL). Dec. 14: Pavol Demitra, LW, and Darren Rumble, D, assigned to P.E.I. Dec. 20: Rumble recalled from P.E.I.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexandre Daigle. Alexer Yashin. Mark Lamb.LW-Vladimir Ruzicka, Dave McLIwain. Troy Mallette, Darcy Loewen. Jarmo Kekalainen.RW-Bob Kudelski, Bill Huard, Dave Archibald, Andrew McBainLD-Norm Maciver, Dennis Vial, Dmitri Filimonov. Darren Rumble.RD-Brad Shaw, Gord Dineen. Hank Lammens, Brian Glynn.G-Craig Billington, Darrin Madeley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Francois Leroux, D. broken left thumb. Jan. 3. Sylvain Turgeon, LW, broken left arm, Jan. 3. &#9632;

f0021-01

Yashin outplaying, but not outselling Daigle

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>For the second time this season, one of the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; premier players is scheduled to see a doctor about an injured knee.Grant Fuhr doesn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s in the same position as Pat LaFontaine, but he faced an arthroscopic examination with some trepidation. LaFontaine underwent surgery in December to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and is likely lost for the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just constantly sore,&rdquo; Fuhr said of an ailing left knee that has kept him out of the lineup since late November. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not getting better and if anything, it&rsquo;s a little worse. It&rsquo;s time to see what&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;Fuhr was scheduled for an arthroscopic examination Dec. 22 in Buffalo. Club officials stressed the key word was examination and not surgery, but if there&rsquo;s something that could be fixed (via an arthroscopic procedure), it would be done.&ldquo;The problem is under the surface of the kneecap,&rdquo; said Dr. Peter James, the team&rsquo;s orthopedic specialist. &ldquo;The knee has not responded to medicine, therapy or rest.&rdquo;Fuhr has not played or skated since a 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils Nov. 24. Dominik Hasek has taken over as the team&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie and played well, but that hasn&rsquo;t made things any easier for Fuhr.&ldquo;It has been frustrating because it hasn&rsquo;t been getting better no matter what we do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Rest, exercise, medicine-nothing seems to make a difference.&rdquo;Fuhr said his knee problems date back to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. A deal between Buffalo and Toronto was put off until last January, when Sabres&rsquo; officials were comfortable Fuhr&rsquo;s knee problems were not long term.However, Fuhr is convinced his latest problem is connected to his original injury and said the knee simply hasn&rsquo;t had time to heal.DOMINATING DOMINIK: When the Tampa Bay Lightning scored three goals in the second period against Dominik Hasek Dec. 19 it was like, well, Lightning striking the same place three times: an unheard of occurrence.&ldquo;To get three on Dominik is almost like a miracle the way he&rsquo;s playing these days,&rdquo; said Lightning goalie Daren Puppa, a former teammate of Hasek. &ldquo;We got some bounces, some fluky goals, but that&rsquo;s what it takes sometimes.&rdquo;Two of the goals came off deflections and a third was off a 2-on-1 break.It marked the first time Hasek had allowed more than two goals in a game through a 13-game span.NOTEBOOK: The Sabres traded Gord Donnelly to the Dallas Stars for center James Black and an undisclosed draft pick Dec. 15. The Stars were looking for a bigger player up front and Donnelly had been sitting out most games this season. Black, 25, will get a close look with the Sabres before a determination is made as to where he will play&hellip;Veteran Dave Hannan played his 100th game as a Sabre against Tampa Bay.Wayne Presley had one shorthanded goal and set up another in the tie with the Lightning&hellip;Craig Simpson continues to have trouble with his ailing back. Simpson played in just 21 of the Sabres&rsquo; first 33 games.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 15: Gord Donnelly, RW/D, traded to Dallas for James Black, C, and undisclosed draft pick.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Dale Hawerchuk, Derek Plante. Bob Sweeney. Dave Hannan, James Black.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-Domimk Hasek, Markus Ketterer.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Grant Fuhr, G, sore left knee, indefinite. Pat LaFontaine, C, tom anterior cruciate ligament in right knee, out for season Craig Simpson, LW. sore back, indefinite. &#9632;

Knee ache prompts Fuhr to ask, ‘What’s up, Doc?’

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>Gordie Roberts and Mark Howe have more in common than being former teammates with the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s New England Whalers. They&rsquo;ve been playing pro hockey for more than half their lives.At 36, Roberts is a veteran of four WHA seasons and 15 NHL campaigns. Last year, he became the first American-bom player to play 1,000 games in the NHL. Yet he&rsquo;s still learning.Roberts was humbled three years ago when the St. Louis Blues demoted him to the minor leagues. A trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins moved him from the scrap heap to the penthouse and two Stanley Cup rings.The survivor is now playing a key role for the Boston Bruins after appearing in just 11 of Boston&rsquo;s first 23 games this season. He missed seven games with a shoulder injury.Roberts watched six straight games from the press box before coach Brian Sutter dressed seven defensemen and only 11 forwards Dec. 12 against the Hartford Whalers.The move was a lucky one: Glen Featherstone was ejected for instigating a fight before the game was three minutes old and Don Sweeney (bruised ribs) and David Shaw (sprained thumb) were lost before the first period ended. Roberts was one of four defensemen left.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to get good ice time,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting the opportunity to play and I&rsquo;m trying to make the most of it. I&rsquo;m not worrying about decisions that might be made for the next game.&rdquo;Roberts&rsquo; personal numbers weren&rsquo;t dazzling-no points, minus-9 through 14 games-but other statistics were: Boston lost the last four games Roberts didn&rsquo;t play, then went 3-0-1 when he returned.HISTORIC PROPORTIONS: Glen Wesley&rsquo;s hat trick Dec. 15 against the New Jersey Devils was special even considering Boston&rsquo;s long history of standout defensemen.Only two others-Bobby Orr (nine times) and Ray Bourque (once)-have scored three goals in a game.&ldquo;It was one of those nights where everything went right,&rdquo; Wesley said. &ldquo;I got the puck with some time to shoot and we were good about getting traffic in front of the net.&rdquo;Wesley has had an impressive option-year season. He scored 23 points through 33 games-just 10 points fewer than he had in 64 games last season.NOTEBOOK: Ray Bourque&rsquo;s goal Dec. 19 against the Florida Panthers was the 300th of his career&hellip;Adam Oates already had a career-high 35 minutes in penalties before Christmas. He received a major and automatic game ejection for spearing Florida defenseman Geoff Smith Dec. 19.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01787/6352855-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="592" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran rearguard Gordie Roberts is a relic from the WHA era.</figcaption></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 14: Andrew McKim. C, recalled from Providence (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Bryan Smolinski, Ted Donato, Andrew McKim.LW-Joe Juneau. Dave Reid, Brent Hughes, Cam Stewart.RW-Cam Neely, Steve Leach. Steve Heinze. Glen Murray, Sergei Zholtok.LD-Glen Wesley, Glen Featherstone, Gordie Roberts.RD-Ray Bourque, David Shaw, Paul Stanton.G-Jon Casey, John Blue.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Daniel Marois, LW, left shoulder surgery, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW. sore left knee, day-to-day. Don Sweeney, D, bruised ribs, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0023-01

Roberts’ patience helps when patient list grows

<div class="byline">By Barry Meisel</div>Stanley Cup history will never forget 73 saves by a goaltending machine named Kelly Hrudey. It will forever remember 128 minutes, 47 seconds of hockey by a giddy band of New York Islanders and a terribly depressed group of Washington Capitals.At 1:55 a.m. on Easter Sunday at the Capital Centre, six hours and 15 minutes after the Islanders and Capitals faced off in Game 7 of their Patrick Division semifinal series, Pat LaFontaine banked a 45-foot slapshot off the left goal post and into Bob Mason&rsquo;s net, ending the longest NHL game in 44 years.LaFontaine&rsquo;s goal, on assists from Gord Dineen and Ken Leiter at 8:47 of the fourth overtime period, advanced the Islanders to the Patrick Division final.The goal did more than place the 1987 Islanders alongside the 1942 Maple Leafs, the 1975 Islanders and the 1985 Islanders as teams that have rallied from the brink of playoff elimination by winning three straight games.What this triumph did was allow an overachieving collection of underdogs-which once trailed the Capitals three games to one-to escape the mystique of its fourtime Stanley Cup predecessors. They can now stand alone.The only problem was, at 2 o&rsquo;clock on Easter Sunday morning nobody could stand at all.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t ask me anything about the first five periods, because I&rsquo;ve forgotten already,&rdquo; Hrudey said. &ldquo;I thought it was a dream. I never thought I could face 75 shots and let in two goals.&rdquo;The Caps outshot the Islanders 75-57. Bob Gould was credited with 12 of Washington&rsquo;s shots, six in the second overtime period.With 5:23 remaining in regulation, Bryan Trottier slipped a backhand between Mason&rsquo;s skates to tie the game. Washington had taken a 2-1 lead at 18:45 of the second period on rookie Grant Martin&rsquo;s first NHL goal. It came on Washington&rsquo;s 24th shot of the game, which meant Hrudey stopped the Caps&rsquo; last 51 shots in a span of 90:02.&ldquo;I looked up at the shot clock one time,&rdquo; Mason said. &ldquo;I saw (Hrudey) had made about 70 saves and I had made 50 or so. I felt like I hadn&rsquo;t done anything.&rdquo;Mason couldn&rsquo;t do anything about the winner. Dineen ambled down right wing behind Mason&rsquo;s net, whirled into the left circle and shot. Kevin Hatcher blocked the puck, which slid back to the blue line.&ldquo;I was going back to cover for Gordie,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;When the puck came to me, I just slapped it and hoped I&rsquo;d get it on net.&rdquo; &#9632;

LaFontaine ends Easter marathon

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01837/6352910-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Nystrom spent his entire 14-year career with the New York Islanders. He helped the team win four straight Stanley Cups.</figcaption></div>The New York Islanders knew one thing was for sure about right winger Bob Nystrom: He could always be counted on to score in the clutch.His four Stanley Cup playoff overtime goals rank second only to Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; great Maurice (Rocket) Richard.Nystrom scored many important goals, but none as significant as the one he scored in Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup final.It is without a doubt the most important goal in franchise history.The Islanders entered the final series against the Philadelphia Flyers a distinct underdog, having finished 25 points behind them during the regular season.They had a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 on Long Island and the score was tied 4-4 after regulation time.Nystrom&rsquo;s magic came at 7:11 of overtime. He broke into the Flyers&rsquo; zone with teammate John Tonelli and sped past defense-man Bob Dailey.He headed straight for the net and set up just to the left of goaltender Pete Peeters.Tonelli fed Nystrom a cross-ice pass and Nystrom slid it past Peeters for the Cup-clinching goal.It was the first of four straight Stanley Cup titles for the Islanders and the highlight of Nystrom&rsquo;s career.&ldquo;Winning the Stanley Cup for the first time was everything I thought it would be,&rdquo; Nystrom said. &ldquo;You dream about it when you&rsquo;re growing up and to score the winning goal was fantastic. It was a dream come true.&rdquo;Nystrom was the Islanders&rsquo; third pick in the 1972 draft and spent his entire career on Long Island.He played 900 games-third most in team history-and finished with 235 goals and 513 points. He was also one of the team&rsquo;s top playoff performers, scoring 39 goals and 83 points in 157 games.The 41-year-old native of Stockholm, Swe., retired as a player in-in 1985, but stayed with the club as director of amateur hockey development and alumni relations. &#9632;

f0026-01

Nystrom’s Cup-clinching goal most important in team history

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>Defenseman Shawn Anderson was so frustrated at his lack of playing time with the Washington Capitals he was willing to be suspended in the hope it would bring a trade.Anderson was placed on waivers, but when the 48-hour period expired Dec. 17, he was still unclaimed.Once Anderson cleared waivers, the Capitals assigned him to their affiliate, the Portland Pirates of the American League. He refused to report and was suspended indefinitely by the team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to try to trade him,&rdquo; said Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile. &ldquo;He went through waivers and other teams could have had him for nothing. We put him on waivers and that was at his request. Things change fast in this business. If I were him, I&rsquo;d be going to Portland.&rdquo;Anderson said going to Portland made no sense.&ldquo;(Poile) said when I show up in Portland, he would work on (a trade),&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious I have no future with the Capitals, so maybe I should have nothing to do with the Capitals, including their farm team.&rdquo;Anderson would have taken a significant cut in pay in Portland. He makes $250,000 at the NHL level and $60,000 at the AHL level. But Anderson said it&rsquo;s not the money. He simply wants to go to an organization that will give him more of a chance to play.&ldquo;We asked if he would give us an opportunity to talk to other teams, even if it meant going to another team&rsquo;s farm club,&rdquo; Anderson said.Anderson played in 16 of 30 games and did not have a point. He was frustrated with not getting more playing time and when his comments appeared in print, he was put on waivers.It was surprising Anderson was unclaimed. He represented little in the way of risk or cost. He is on a termination contract, so there is no obligation past this season and the waiver fee was only $18,750.GOAL RUSH: The Capitals exploded for 11 goals against the Ottawa Senators in an 11-2 win Dec. 17 and they were hoping it signalled an end to the scoring problems of the first three months of the season.The seven goals in the second period tied a team record and the 11 goals was one shy of the team mark.However, the next night, the Capitals lost 4-1 against the Hartford Whalers. Worse, the lone player to score in both games, Michal Pivonka, was hit in the ribs with a shot in the Hartford loss. After a slow start, Pivonka had four goals and six assists in seven games. He wasn&rsquo;t expected to miss any games.NOTEBOOK: Dale Hunter, who tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Nov. 28, resumed light skating Dec. 13. But Hunter, 33, experienced pain in the second session, so he won&rsquo;t be on the ice until after Christmas&hellip;Defenseman John Slan- ey collected his first career NHL point with an assist on Alan May&rsquo;s goal against Ottawa Dec. 17. Slaney has been playing alongside Kevin Hatcher.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 17: Shawn Anderson, D, sus-pended indefinitely by team.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Ridley. Michal Pivonka, Dave Poulin, Kevin Kaminski, Steve Konowalchuk.LW-Randy Burridge, Dimitri Khnstich, Keith Jones. Craig Berube.RW-Kelly Miller, Todd Krygier. Pat Peake. Alan May.LD-John Slaney, Calle Johansson, Enrico Ciccone. Brian Curran.RD-Kevin Hatcher. Sylvain Cote, Al lafrate.G-Don Beaupre, Rick Tabaracci<h3>INJURIES</h3>Peter Bondra, RW, broken left hand, day-to-day. Dale Hunter, C, tom ligament in left knee, indefinite. &#9632;

Anderson chooses suspension over demotion

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>The return of Eric Lindros was supposed to put some life back in the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; faltering offense.Instead, the Flyers&rsquo; scoring problems seemed to rub off on Lindros in his first three games back after a 14-game injury layoff.Lindros failed to score a goal in those games and the Flyers could manage only seven as they went 1-1-1.After leading the league in goals for much of the season, the Flyers scored only 19 goals in their final eight games without Lindros.And the drought continued when Lindros came back on Dec. 16. Lindros did show signs of his old self, but his timing was still off and his energy level looked a little low.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting the puck on the net, but it&rsquo;s either not very hard or it&rsquo;s not in the right spot,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;My assertiveness around the net has got to pick up.&rdquo;As Lindros goes, so go the Flyers. In 18 games before a partially tom medial collateral ligament in his right knee, Lindros scored in 14 of them. The Flyers were 12-2-0 in those games and 0-4-0 when he didn&rsquo;t score.The Flyers also weren&rsquo;t getting much from their second line of Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Kevin Dineen and Josef Beranek, although Beranek continued to score opportunistic goals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re struggling as bad as we&rsquo;ve ever struggled,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;If you look at it personally, it can&rsquo;t go any further than the two of us (Dineen, Brind&rsquo;Amour) right now. The consistency is there, but it&rsquo;s consistently bad.&rdquo;ONCE IN A BLUE MOON: Garry Galley achieved a dubious distinction Dec. 18 when he accidentally scored a length-of-the-ice goal into his own net on a delayed penalty call.Flyers&rsquo; officials believe it is the first time such a play has happened in team history.The Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks were tied 1-1 late in the second period and Chicago already had one man in the penalty box when referee Kerry Fraser lifted his arm to signal a delayed high-sticking call against Steve Smith.Galley skated into the left attacking comer, heard Kevin Dineen yell for the puck at the top of the slot and tried to pass to him. The pass eluded Dineen and went all the way down the ice into the Flyers&rsquo; net.Goalie Tommy Soderstrom, on his way to the bench, tried to reverse course and skate after the puck, but it was too late. The Flyers scored on the same power play and the game ended 2-2.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a comical side to it and an upsetting side,&rdquo; Galley said. &ldquo;I just wish it hadn&rsquo;t cost Tommy a win. It was like a long putt, only mine never go in. This one did.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jeff Finley had the deletion clause in his contract extended from 30 to 50 games. The Flyers couldn&rsquo;t make a decision on whether to give him a one-way contract for the rest of the season. The 20-game extension gives them more time to evaluate. Finley makes $250,000 per year.The National Basketball Association Philadelphia 76ers said they were close to signing a deal for a new arena to be built by the state of New Jersey in nearby Camden. The Flyers&rsquo; parent company, Spectacor, said it would wait about one to two months before deciding whether to go ahead with the proposed Spectrum II project without the 76ers.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Eric Lindros, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour. Vracheslav But-sayev, Pelle Eklund.LW-Josef Beranek, Brent Fedyk, Claude Boivin, Jim Cummins.RW-Mark Recchi. Kevin Dineen. Dave Brown, Al Conroy.LD-Garry Galley, Yves Racine, Jeff Finley, Stewart Malgunas.RD-Dimitn Yushkevich, Jason Bowen. Rob Ramage. G-Tommy Soderstrom. Dominic Roussel.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ryan McGill, D. sprained left wrist, indefinite. Mikael Renberg, LW, strained left hip flexor, day-to-day Dave Tippett, C, fractured left foot, day-to-day. &#9632;

Well remains dry even with Lindros

<div class="byline">By Bick Carpinlello</div>Mike Richter won 13 games last season, lost 19, and tied three.He spent time with the New York Rangers&rsquo; affiliate, the Binghamton Rangers in the American League, and time on the bench wondering what went wrong.So it seemed improbable, maybe even unbelievable, that he would set any kind of goaltending records with the Rangers this season.But that&rsquo;s what happened Dec. 19 when New York beat the Hartford Whalers 5-2 and Richter ran his personal unbeaten streak to 20 games. It broke the team mark set by Davey Kerr, who went 14-0-5 during a 19-game streak in the Rangers&rsquo; last Stanley Cup season in 1939-40.Richter knows he had a little luck on his side.&ldquo;There should be an enormous asterisk there,&rdquo; Richter said.Coach Mike Keenan pulled Richter three times during the streak. In a game against the New York Islanders Nov. 27, with the Rangers trailing 4-1, Glenn Healy replaced Richter. Though the Rangers never threatened to win, they did score four goals. Healy was collared with the 6-4 loss and Richter was off the hook.Richter also was yanked from a Nov. 16 win over the Florida Panthers in which Healy took over a 1-1 game and got the 4-2 victory; and he was pulled from the Rangers&rsquo; 6-4 loss against the Detroit Red Wings in which he left trailing 2-0. The Rangers tied it and went on to defeat in front of Healy.Not that Richter was undeserving. The Rangers were 19-2-3 during the 24 games, 23 of which Richter started. He had two shutouts during the streak and his 17 victories led the league.&ldquo;Streaks are a fun thing, but they&rsquo;re not the important thing,&rdquo; Richter said. &ldquo;&ldquo;If you get wins, the little things will come their way. All these things will fall into place.&rdquo;ON THE BRINK: Right winger Mike Gartner, nearing a major milestone, got off with a $500 fine for an exchange with Hartford&rsquo;s Bryan Marchment.The two collided and their sticks came up. Gartner came down with his stick and whacked Marchment on the helmet. Gartner received a minor high-sticking penalty from referee Kerry Fraser. After Gartner was released from the penalty box and foiled on a breakaway by goalie Sean Burke, Marchment ran him from behind into the crossbar and goalpost, drawing a major penalty and game misconduct.After telling NHL senior vice-president Brian Burke his side of the story, Gartner avoided a suspension.Two games later, Gartner scored the 599th goal of his career. Only Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Phil Esposito, Marcel Dionne and Bobby Hull have scored 600 in NHL history.NOTEBOOK: The Rangers&rsquo; record of 21-63 (45 points) matched the best 30-game mark in team history. They were 20-5-5 in 1971-72&hellip;Mark Messier passed former Rangers&rsquo; center Jean Ratelle and is now 11th on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time scoring list&hellip;Joey Kocur said fighting his good friend and former roommate Bob Probert was one of the toughest things he has ever done. The two squared off in the Detroit game after pairing off in a scrum.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mark Messier. Sergei Nemchinov, Esa Tikkanen, Mike HudsonLW-Adam Graves, Ed Oiczyk. Tony Amonte, Greg Gilbert, Mike Hartman, Nick Kypreos, Phil Bourque.RW-Mike Gartner, Alexei Kovalev. Steve Larmer, Joey Kocur.LD-Brian Leetch, Jay Wells, Kevin Lowe. Peter Andersson.RD-Jeff Beukeboom, Alexander Karpovtsev, Sergei Zubov, Doug Lidster.G-Mike Richter. Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Red-hot Richter hits mark with hand from asterisks

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>Until he got the call from Albany River Rats&rsquo; coach Robbie Ftorek to pack his bags for the NHL, Jim Dowd&rsquo;s biggest claim to fame was his designation as the only native of New Jersey ever to play for the Devils.But that changed when Dowd and fellow rookie center David Emma combined to help the Devils through their first crisis of the season.Emma scored five goals and seven points in five games after his Dec. 16 recall from the American League, while Dowd had a goal and an assist in back-to-back wins over the Quebec Nordiques and Philadelphia Flyers.Their strong play helped the Devils survive a rash of injuries to their veteran centers.&ldquo;We kept pushing each other in Albany to get back up here,&rsquo;&rsquo;Dowd said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to go back. We&rsquo;re trying to make the best of this opportunity.&rdquo;The opportunity arose when Bernie Nicholls sustained a sprained left knee Dec. 4 and Bobby Holik followed with a severely bruised left shoulder Dec. 8. Three days later, a third veteran center, Alexander Semak, went down with a strained right knee.Dowd was Albany&rsquo;s top scorer with 15 goals and 36 points in 30 games, but it was Emma who got the first call Dec. 9.Dowd was recalled Dec. 16 and stepped in to center a line with left winger Valeri Zelepukin and right winger Bill Guerin. The Devils&rsquo; seventh pick in the 1987 draft also saw time on the power play.Emma&rsquo;s first two goals came in a 5-2 win Dec. 11 over the Edmonton Oilers. The 25-year-old was the Devils&rsquo; sixth pick in the 1989 draft.LEGAL VICTORY: A three-year ordeal and three-week courtroom battle ended for Viach-eslav Fetisov Dec. 17 when a federal jury ruled the Devils&rsquo; defenseman owed Rhode Island agent Mark Malkovich nothing.Malkovich had filed a $1 million breach-of-contract suit against his former client Fetisov, as well as suits against the Devils and general manager Lou Lamoriello. In turn, Fetisov had sued the Devils to cover his losses.The jury ruled that no money would change hands on any of the suits.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy. (Malkovich) made it difficult for me the last three years. I got into lots of trouble because of him,&rdquo; Fetisov said. &ldquo;I went through a tough time in the Soviet Union fighting for my human rights and my sporting rights. I knew nothing about American law. He came to me and said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m your friend. I will help you.&rsquo; But he was lying to me. He did nothing for me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Lou Lamoriello. Ottawa Senators&rsquo; GM Randy Sexton and league officials had a Dec. 17 conference call to begin the process of determining compensation owed the Devils in the Peter Sidorkiewicz trade. Sidorkiewicz was traded to New Jersey by the Senators in the off-season, but had an injured shoulder at the time of the trade&hellip;Mike Peluso sustained a severe concussion Dec. 18 when his helmet came off and he hit his head on the ice during a fight with Quebec&rsquo;s Tony Twist.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 16: Jim Dowd, C. recalled from Albany (AHL).<h3>INJURIES</h3>C-Corey Millen, Bobby Carpenter, David Emma, Jim Dowd.LW-Valeri Zelepukin, Stephane Richer, Tom Chorske, Ben Hankinson.RW-Claude Lemieux, Bill Guerin. John MacLean. Randy McKay.LD-Scott Stevens, Viacheslav Fetisov, Jaroslav Modry.RD-Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer. Tommy Albelin, Jason Smith.G-Chris Terren. Martin Brodeur. Peter Sidorkiew-<h3>ROSTER</h3>Bruce Driver, D, dislocated left shoulder, indefinite. Bobby Holik, C, bruised left shoulder, day-to-day. Bernie Nicholls, C, strained left knee, day-to-day. Mike Peluso, LW, concussion, day-to-day. Alexander Semak, C, strained right knee, indefinite. &#9632;

Rookies Dowd and Emma help ease injury crisis

<div class="byline">By Craig Dolch</div>Brian Benning was a steady-scoring defensemen when he was acquired by the Florida Panthers. He had averaged almost 37 points a year over seven seasons, never finishing with more than 49 or fewer than 25.This year has been different. He had only one goal and two assists in his first 20 games and was taken off the team&rsquo;s power play.That wasn&rsquo;t what the Panthers had in mind July 15 when they made him their biggest freeagent signing with a three-year, $1.358-million deal.&ldquo;It has been frustrating because I know I can play a lot better,&rsquo;&rsquo; Benning said.Benning recently showed signs of ending his slump. He had two goals in Florida&rsquo;s 4-4 tie with the Dallas Stars Dec. 12. He also assisted on a game-tying goal with six seconds left in a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins Dec. 19.Asked if he was concerned the Panthers&rsquo; management was losing confidence in him, Benning said: &ldquo;I was-and I am.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a vicious cycle. When you don&rsquo;t play well, you lose your confidence. But it&rsquo;s hard to get your confidence back when you&rsquo;re not playing. The power play has been my bread and butter for eight years. It&rsquo;s tough not being out there.&rdquo;The season has been a series of setbacks for Benning, 27. He missed five games after separating a shoulder during a fight with Pittsburgh Penguin Rick Tocchet. Benning was then suspended four games for slashing Martin Rucin-sky of the Quebec Nordiques.&ldquo;It has been tough getting into a rhythm,&rdquo; Benning said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just now getting back to where I want to be.&rdquo;Panthers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke said he and coach Roger Neilson felt Benning wasn&rsquo;t playing as badly as the numbers indicated.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you should judge a player on his stats, particularly a defenseman,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;Brian has been taking care of his own end, which is what Roger wants.&rdquo;BAD TIMING: The Panthers traded defenseman Alexander Godynyuk to the Hartford Whalers Dec. 16 because Roger Neilson had lost confidence in Godynyuk&rsquo;s offensive style of play.But the deal may have backfired on the Panthers. The day after the trade, it was learned defenseman Joe Cirella needed surgery for a detached retina in his right eye and would be sidelined a month.Because of Godynyuk&rsquo;s departure, the Panthers were left with only six healthy defensemen, including rookie Paul Laus, who hadn&rsquo;t played in five of the six previous games.NOTEBOOK: The Panthers sold out all three games on their Dec. 15-22 homestand, giving them five sellouts in 18 games at Miami Arena. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they play only four home games each in January and February, when the winter residents are in South Florida&hellip;Rookie Scott Levins had four goals in the season&rsquo;s first six games, but didn&rsquo;t have a goal in his next 16 games.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 16: Alexander Godynyuk, D, traded to Hartford for Jim McKenzie. LW. McKenzie traded to-Dallas for fourth-round draft pick in 1994 or 1995.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Skrudland, Jesse Belanger. Tom Fitzgerald. Stu Barnes.LW-Mike Hough, Andrei Lomakin, Bill Lindsay, Evgeny Davydov.RW-Scott Mellanby, Jody Hull. Scott Levins. Mike Foligno.LD-Brian Benning, Brent Severyn.RD-Gord Murphy, Greg Hawgood, Paul Laus, Geoff Smith.G-John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, right knee surgery, day-to-day. Joe Cirella, D. right eye surgery, indefinite. Rob Niedermayer, C, separated right shoulder, indefinite. &#9632;

Benning not providing much bang for team’s bucks

<div class="byline">By Jett Williams</div>Several members of the New York Islanders got off to a slow start this season, but center Marty McInnis is making an impact in his second full season.Coach Al Arbour hasn&rsquo;t had many good words for his players and McInnis was one of the underachievers early on. But following a 52 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 11, Arbour found words of praise for the 23-year-old.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very, very pleased with the way Marty is playing,&rdquo; Arbour said.McInnis was particularly strong on special teams. The speedy center scored a shorthanded goal in the Flyers&rsquo; game and added another in a 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Dec. 17. He and penalty killing partner, Pierre Turgeon, were a nightmare for opposing team&rsquo;s powerplay units.When the Islanders were playing the Flyers for the first time Oct. 22, Arbour demoted McInnis to the fourth line. He had one assist and no goals in six games and said at the time: &ldquo;I thought it was impossible to be less productive.&rdquo;Two months later, McInnis has increased his offensive productivity. He had nine goals and 22 points in 31 games, including four shorthanded goals.McInnis has been reunited with his Kid Line mates, center Travis Green and right winger Brad Dalgarno. The line produced the go-ahead goal against the Flyers and has been one of the Islanders&rsquo; best units.Consistency is McInnis&rsquo; main goal.&ldquo;At the start of the year I wanted to make sure I was making a consistent effort,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought I was making it without getting the results. I did a good job of keeping myself from being frustrated and the work has paid off.&rdquo;BLUELINE HURTING: The Islanders&rsquo; defense was dealt a severe blow in a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Dec. 19.Dennis Vaske sustained a broken right foot trying to block a shot and Uwe Krupp sustained a tom hamstring when he tried to stop a puck when Ron Hextali was caught out of the net.Vaske has been the team&rsquo;s steadiest defenseman and had a plus-19 rating coming into the Pittsburgh game. The 27-year-old blueliner, while typically a stay-at-home specialist, was starting to see power-play time. He was also gaming confidence stepping up into the play in the offensive zone. He is sidelined indefinitely.Krupp has had an unlucky season. It started when he sustained a broken toe against the Edmonton Oilers Oct. 8, then sustained a broken sinus bone against the Los Angeles Kings Oct. 26. He missed 20 games, then played five games before getting hurt again. He is also out indefinitely.The Islanders were also without Rich Pilon with a separated left shoulder and Tom Kurvers with a broken left thumb.NOTEBOOK: Center Pierre Turgeon ended a nine-game goal-less drought with a shorthanded goal against Toronto Dec. 17. He scored another shorthanded goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins two nights later&hellip;Center Claude Loiselle underwent successful reconstructive surgery on his left knee Dec. 14, but is still gone for the season.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 13: Jamie McLennan, G, assigned to Salt Lake City (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pierre Turgeon, Ray Ferraro, Travis Green, Keith Acton.LW-Derek King. Benoit Hogue. Marty McInnis. David Votek, Joe DayRW-Steve Thomas. Pat Flatley. Brad Dalgamo. Mick Vukota.LD-Scott Lachance, Darius Kasparaitis, Wayne McBean.RD-Vladimir Malakhov, Dean Chynoweth.G-Ron Hextall, Tom Draper.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Uwe Krupp, D. torn hamstring, indefinite Tom Kurvers, D, cracked left thumb, indefinite Claude Loiselle, C, left knee surgery, out for season Brian Mullen, RW, recovering from stroke, indefinite. Rich Pilon, D, separated left shoulder, indefinite. Dennis Vaske, D, broken right foot, indefinite. &#9632;

McInnis earns high praise

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div>Phil Esposito doesn&rsquo;t usually get worked up over trades involving players on other teams, but two recent deals of that nature angered the Tampa Bay Lightning&rsquo;s general manager.The deals in question had defenseman Geoff Smith going from the Edmonton Oilers to the Florida Panthers for a third-round draft pick and Fredrik Olausson from the Winnipeg Jets to Edmonton for a third-round pick, both Dec. 6.Esposito had been trying to acquire Smith for weeks and Olausson for months. What bothered Esposito was Smith was traded just weeks after the Oilers reneged on a deal with Tampa Bay.The way Esposito tells it, Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather agreed to swap Smith for a rostered Lightning player as part of the Nov. 12 Chris Joseph-for-Bob Beers trade.Sometime afterwards, Sather changed his mind and decided to keep Smith, so the deal was done as just Joseph for Beers, which didn&rsquo;t bother Esposito at the time.&ldquo;He said he wanted to keep the guy so I said, fine,&rdquo; Esposito recalled. &ldquo;I was upset because Geoff Smith is a good young defenseman who can skate and he could have helped us. But I figured, if that&rsquo;s the way he wants it, okay.&ldquo;But now he goes and trades him for a third-round pick. And to a team that&rsquo;s in our division. That&rsquo;s not right and you bet I&rsquo;m unhappy.&rdquo;Sather was not available for comment.Esposito said he was somewhat disturbed by the Olausson deal because the Jets turned down his offer of a third-round pick many times.&ldquo;I tried to give them a third-rounder but they wouldn&rsquo;t take it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They wanted a player&hellip;and a good one.&rdquo;BIG RETURN: Rob DiMaio wasn&rsquo;t expected to return from a broken left leg until the new year. But he was back in the lineup against the Boston Bruins Dec. 18.&ldquo;The leg feels great and I was ready to go,&rdquo; said DiMaio, who broke his leg during a fight Oct. 16. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no soreness. It healed fast. I hated sitting out. I couldn&rsquo;t wait to get back and start helping.&rdquo;One player who could wait for DiMaio&rsquo;s return was Tim Bergland. The 28-year-old center has spent the season shuttling between Tampa Bay and the International League affiliate in Atlanta and was again expected to go back to the minors after DiMaio&rsquo;s return.But Bergland received good news two days before DiMaio&rsquo;s return. He was told he would be spending Christmas in Tampa Bay.&ldquo;He showed us he belongs,&rdquo; said coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;He used his time to show he&rsquo;s willing to work hard and do what it takes to play in this league. A lot of guys come and enjoy their cup of coffee. He didn&rsquo;t do that and we&rsquo;d be sending the wrong message if we sent him back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: John Tucker, who has been out since late November with a sprained right knee, has begun skating. He&rsquo;s expected to return Jan. 1&hellip;A bout with tonsillitis kept goalie Daren Puppa out of the lineup for games Dec. 14 and 15. Pat Jablonski filled in and was impressive in a 1-1 tie with the Montreal Canadiens and a 43 victory over the Ottawa Senators.Chris Gratton scored his first goal in 18 games during a 5-3 loss to Boston Dec. 17.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 13: J.C. Bergeron. G, recalled from Atlanta (IHL). Dec. 16: Bergeron assigned to Atlanta.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Bradley. Denis Savard, Chris Gratton, Tim Bergland.LW-Mikael Andersson, Adam Creighton, Rob DiMaio, Gerard Gallant, Rob Zamuner.RW-Petr Klima, Danton Cole, Pat Elynuik, Marc Bureau.LD-Joe Reekie. Marc Bergevin. Shawn Chambers, Rudy Poeschek.RD-Chris Joseph, Chris LiPuma, Donald Dufresne. Roman Hamrlik.G-Daren Puppa. Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>John Tucker, RW, sprained right knee, indefinite. Wendell Young, G. right shoulder surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

Rival player dealings leave Esposito riled up

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01817/6353116-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="382" height="529"></div>For the record, Richard Park&rsquo;s international hockey odyssey began the day he was born in Seoul, South Korea.Truth be told, though, it was on a sunny southern California day about six years ago when his dreams and ambitions really crystallized.&ldquo;I was sitting at home with The Hockey News, reading a story about a black player named Reggie Savage tearing up the Quebec junior league,&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;That was the day I decided I wanted to be a hockey player. I said to myself, &lsquo;1 could be just like him. I&rsquo;m going to be in that newspaper one day.&rsquo; &ldquo;And now he is.The 17-year-old from Rancho Paolos Verde, Calif., (just south of Los Angeles) is in his second season with the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario League. He will also be a member of the U.S. national team that will participate in the 1994 World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic.And he&rsquo;s quite likely to be a first-round selection in the 1994 NHL entry draft.These circumstances hardly make the 5-foot-11, 190-pound center unique among his elite hockey-playing peers. But how he arrived at them sets him completely apart.&ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s a unique story, but I never thought about it as trying to be different,&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;I just wanted to play hockey, really play it the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be played.&rdquo;The youngest of four Korean-born children-his family emigrated to California when Richard was three-was all of 13 years old when he shocked his parents by announcing his desire to move to Toronto to advance his hockey opportunities.&ldquo;At first, they were opposed to it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the baby, like my mother&rsquo;s little doll. But being the youngest, I usually got what I wanted. Once they realized how serious I was, they were very supportive.&rdquo;So Park, along with his sister, Christina, who was just 19 at the time, packed up and moved to Toronto. The two of them took an apartment in the city, underwritten by their parents, and Christina became Richard&rsquo;s legal guardian. She enrolled at the University of Toronto; he with the prestigious Young Nats organization of the competitive Metropolitan Toronto Hockey League.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even have a winter coat when I arrived,&rdquo; he said.It took him no time at all to warm up to the Canadian way of life. In California, he played hockey and skateboarded. In Toronto, he played hockey, three years with the Young Nats before being taken by the Bulls in the first round of the OHL draft.&ldquo;The Canadian way of life is very fascinating to me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As compared to Los Angeles, kids here seem to be given more responsibility at an early age. Certainly, in hockey it&rsquo;s that way. I think it matures you a lot more quickly and builds character.&rdquo;Park is an excellent pro prospect. He scored 23 goals and 61 points in 66 games as a 16-year-old OHL rookie. He had 18 goals and 45 points in 31 games this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02549/6353109-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="576" height="668"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard Park</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He has a lot of natural skill,&rdquo; said Bulls&rsquo; coach-general manager Larry Mavety. &ldquo;He has excellent speed, a tremendous shot and is very, very smart with the puck. He&rsquo;s very creative one-on-one.&rdquo;His play invites comparisons to offensive stars such as Steve Yzer-man and Pat LaFontaine, but a number of NHL scouts figure him closer to the style of former Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; star Marcel Dionne.&ldquo;That is most flattering for me because I know Marcel,&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;His daughter was in my class at school in California and my best friend lived two doors away from Marcel.&rdquo;The knock on Park is he isn&rsquo;t the NHL prototype 6-feet tall. He can&rsquo;t do anything about that, but he acknowledges his consistency of effort and output from shift to shift requires work.The WJC will afford him an opportunity to display his skills in world-class surroundings, which is perhaps only fitting for a Koreanborn, American-raised, Canadian-trained player.He remains focused on the ultimate goal-a career in the NHL.As Park said, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t leave home at 13 and travel 3,000 miles for nothing.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

Czech next stop for Park’s world tour

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>A Russian has never been selected first overall in the draft, but Oleg Tverdovsky may just be too good to pass up.Whether the Florida Panthers actually make Tverdovsky their first choice on June 28 remains to be seen. But one thing is certain, the Soviet Wings&rsquo; defenseman is a terrific NHL prospect.&ldquo;Everybody is talking about (Radek) Bonk, but this guy is miles ahead,&rdquo; one scout said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great skater, he plays well in his own end and he has tremendous character. He has it all.&rdquo;The rest of the world will get a glimpse of Tverdovsky at the World Junior Championship in Ostrava and Frydek-Mistek in the Czech Republic Dec. 26 to Jan. 4. Tverdovsky, the youngest player on the Russian team, is also a strong possibility to represent his country at the 1994 Winter Olympics.The WJC will give Tverdovsky and other draft-eligibles a chance to exhibit their talents on the world stage. But this year&rsquo;s WJC draft crop likely won&rsquo;t match the 1993 group in quality and quantity. Eleven of the 26 players chosen in the first round, including the first six overall, represented their countries in 1993.Here are other first-round candidates who will be playing in the tournament, listed in alphabetical order.Jason Bonsignore, C, USA: Once a candidate for first overall, there is some concern that Bonsignore could drop into the second round.But most scouts say don&rsquo;t count on that happening. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re making a list of guys you might find 10 or 12 guys you&rsquo;d pick ahead of him,&rdquo; said a scout. &ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t find 14 more.&rdquo;Bonsignore started slowly with the Newmarket Royals of the Ontario League, but his play improved after a trade to the Niagara Falls Thunder.Jason Botterill, LW, Canada: Botterill has a chance to improve his rating with this tournament. The University of Michigan freshman was scoring at a goal-a-game pace as a 17-year-old.Botterill&rsquo;s skating needs work, but he is described as a hard-working player with excellent offensive instincts and a scoring touch to match.Jeff Friesen, C, Canada: Another early candidate for first overall, Friesen has experienced a drop despite the fact he was scoring two points per game with the Regina Pats of the Western League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03375/6353147-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="968" height="1772"><figcaption class="caption-body">The WJC is an important tournament for Jason Bonsignore.</figcaption></div>Scouts want to see a more consistent effort from Friesen. &ldquo;There is no question about his talent,&rdquo; one scout said. &ldquo;But he cruises a lot of nights. Scouts are leaving the rink nervous after watching him.&rdquo;Edvin Frylen, D, Sweden: The 6-foot-1, 213-pound rearguard was on Sweden&rsquo;s team last year. He is not terribly mobile, but plays an effective all-round game. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d be a first-rounder for sure if he was playing major junior,&rdquo; a scout said.Alexandr Kharlamov. LW, Russia: The son of the late Soviet star Valeri, Kharlamov wears his father&rsquo;s No. 17 with Red Army. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not sensational, but he&rsquo;s a good, honest two-way player,&rdquo; a scout said.Mattias Ohlund. D, Sweden: Ohlund is playing regularly and well in the Swedish Elite League. At 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, he&rsquo;s part of a huge Swedish defense corps that will be the strongest in the tournament. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not close to a guy such as (1993 first-rounder Kenny) Jonsson, but he plays well,&rdquo; a scout said.Richard Park. C, USA: Park is an offensive force with excellent skating skills. He had an excellent evaluation camp last summer and should be a middle first-round choice. &ldquo;He has great skills with the puck,&rdquo; a scout said, &ldquo;but he has to play with guys who can get him the puck.&rdquo;Deron Quint, D, USA: Quint made the jump from U.S. high school hockey to the Western League and has played well for the Seattle Thunderbirds. He needs work defensively, but has excellent skills. &ldquo;Whoever drafts him won&rsquo;t be taking a banger,&rdquo; a scout said. &ldquo;But he can skate, shoot and move the puck.&rdquo;Vadim Sharifianov, RW, Russia: Sharifianov is already in his second season in the Russian Professional League. His hallmarks are high speed and high skill. &ldquo;He goes to the net really well and he has a good touch,&rdquo; a scout said.Jamie Storr. G, Canada: Storr continues to impress with the Owen Sound Platers of the OHL. His biggest strength is that he moves laterally very quickly and manages to stay on his feet instead of sliding over on his pads. He could be the highest-selected goalie in draft history. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and he has great reflexes,&rdquo; said one scout. &ldquo;He won&rsquo;t last long.&rdquo;Other notables: Johan Davidsson, RW (Sweden); Pavel Desyatkov, LW (Russia); Josef Marha, C (Czech Republic); Tommi Miettinen, C (Finland); Ladislav Prokupek, C (Czech Republic); Jussi Tarvainen, C, (Finland). &#9632;

f0030-03

The world awaits

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>That magical, mystical 33-0-0 record is safe for another year.The defending Memorial Cup champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds saw their perfect home record suffer a blemish Dec. 12 when they tied the Guelph Storm 3-3 at the Soo Memorial Gardens. The Greyhounds had won their first 15 home games.The 1984-85 Greyhounds went 33-0-0 at the home, the only time a Canadian Hockey League team has won every regular-season home game.The Greyhounds still had the best record in the OHL, 21-7-2, with a lot of credit going to goalie Dan Cloutier.The Hounds&rsquo; first pick in the 1992 midget draft ran his record to 17-4-1 with the secondbest goals-against average in the league at 3.24.Cloutier played in only 12 games last season and saw action in three playoff games when No. 1 man Kevin Hodson was injured.Cloutier spent most of last season playing Jr. A in Timmins.After three straight trips to the Memorial Cup, this figured to be the year the Greyhounds would rebuild. Instead, they reloaded. And despite being only 17, Cloutier is cool and confident.&ldquo;The Greyhounds bring along their rookies slowly and they&rsquo;re ready to step up when the vets leave,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Going down to Timmins was tough at the start, but that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m ready to play this year. I played every game there.&rdquo;Cloutier was one of 10 players suspended for two games each after a five-on-five brawl against the Kingston Frontenacs Dec. 10.Cloutier fought Frontenacs&rsquo; goalie Greg Lov-ell. Others suspended were Aaron Gavey, Brad Baber. Tom MacDonald and Wade Gibson of the Greyhounds, along with David Ling, Cail MacLean, Matt Kiereck and Jason Disher of the Frontenacs.Last season, Cloutier fought his older brother Sylvain, who plays for the Guelph Storm.ON CHARGES: Former Greyhound Jarret Reid was in Sault Ste. Marie court Dec. 13 to begin preliminary hearings looking into 20 criminal charges involving allegations of assaults, sexual assaults and a variety of mischiefs, including break and entering.Reid, 20, was recently demoted by the American League&rsquo;s Springfield Indians to the Raleigh IceCaps of the East Coast League.City police detectives laid the charges from incidents that occurred dating back to 1991. Judge Norman Glaude placed a ban on publication of the two complainants&rsquo; names and all evidence presented during the hearings.Defense lawyer Frank Caputo told the court his client wants to be tried by a judge and jury.EYES HAVE IT: A Kitchener woman is asking the league to help her recover $249 she paid for new glasses after she said she was struck by an errant puck shot by an unidentified Windsor Spitfire after a game Dec. 3.Norma Pyne, a season ticket holder, said her glasses were broken and she was cut for eight stitches. Pyne wants to be compensated because the puck was shot after, not during, the game.&ldquo;I know when the game is in play you watch for this stuff,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But the game was over and there was no reason for that guy to do that.&ldquo;Somebody said 1 should press charges, but I don&rsquo;t want to get the kid in trouble.&rdquo;Branch refused comment.EIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH: Belleville Bulls&rsquo; center Corey Isen is quick, but not quick enough to make it into the record book.Isen scored two goals eight seconds apart Dec. 11 as the Bulls defeated the Kitchener Rangers 5-2. The OHL and CHL record for the two quickest goals is three seconds, held by former Ranger Tyler Ertel Jan. 8, 1989. Both goals were into an empty net.Peterborough Petes&rsquo; center Mike Harding was suspended 10 games by the OHL for tripping official Dave Cassidy in a game Nov. 26. No penalty was called on the play. &#9632;

Relentless Greyhounds play near perfect at home

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Hull Olympiques&rsquo; coach Alain Sanscartier must be wondering where his team would be if he had right winger Martin Gendron from the start of the season.The Olympiques acquired Gendron in a preseason trade with the St-Hyacinthe Laser, where he had 73 goals and 134 points in 63 games last season. However, Gendron threw the Olympiques a curve when he decided to join Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team instead.But Sanscartier finally got his man Dec. 1, when the Olympic team returned Gendron to junior in time for the World Junior Championship. Gendron was part of Canada&rsquo;s gold-medal team at last year&rsquo;s WJC.&ldquo;It was in my contract that they had to tell me whether they were going to keep me or not by Dec. 1,&rdquo; Gendron said. &ldquo;If not, I would have missed the junior championships.&ldquo;They told me the main reason they weren&rsquo;t keeping me is that they wanted to make room for some NHL players for the Olympics.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t take long for Gendron to make an impact in Hull. After being held pointless in his first game, the 19-year-old had four goals and seven points his next three games to win the Quebec League&rsquo;s offensive player-of-the-week honor for the period ending Dec. 12.But after only four games, Gendron was gone again, this time to Team Canada&rsquo;s final evaluation camp for the WJC.&ldquo;We were supposed to have him from the start of the season,&rdquo; Sanscartier lamented. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a bonus for us now, not a savior. We already had a good winning streak going and then he arrived&hellip;it&rsquo;s a real bonus.&rdquo;The Olympiques were in third place in the Lebel Division with a 21-14-2 record, 15 points behind the first-place Laval Titan.While Gendron admitted he was disappointed after being released by the Olympic team, he doesn&rsquo;t regret giving it a shot.&ldquo;It was high-level hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I improved my defensive skills and my offensive skills. Everything is done faster there&hellip;you have to think faster and move faster.&ldquo;If I had to do it over again I&rsquo;d do the same thing. It was good for my English and I got to travel over Europe. I&rsquo;ll take all that experience and put it in my bag.&rdquo;Sanscartier is expecting big things from Gendron-a third-round pick of the Washington Capitals in 1992-after the WJC wraps up Jan. 4.&ldquo;His job is not only to score goals,&rdquo; Sanscartier said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll help our leadership and character. That guy is a winner.&rdquo;HARFANGS IMPROVING: Joe Canale will get a chance to coach Canada&rsquo;s top junior players at the WJC, but he has already proven he can handle a team with much less talent than he&rsquo;ll have in the Czech Republic.Canale left the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and took over the Beauport Harfangs this season. The Harfangs finished dead last in the QMJHL last season with a 17-51-2 record. As of Dec. 14, they had already equalled last season&rsquo;s points total with a 16-18-4 record.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say we got 70 (per cent) on our report card so far,&rdquo; Canale said prior to leaving for the WJC evaluation camp. &ldquo;When you were getting 30 in the past you have to be optimistic&hellip;30 is way below failure.&ldquo;It looks optimistic for the second half.&rdquo;Assistant coach Eric Lavigne will handle the Harfangs while Canale is at the WJC.HOT PROSPECTS: Chicoutimi goalie Eric Fichaud and Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs center Stephane Roy tied for top spot in the second segment of the QMJHL Valvoline Top Draft Prospect Award voting.Fichaud had a 3.12 goals-against average, the third best in the league, and a.909 save percentage. Roy, the first overall pick at this year&rsquo;s midget draft, had 11 goals and 27 points in 41 games.Rounding out the list were Laval left winger Daniel Goneau, Sherbrooke Faucons&rsquo; right winger Mathieu Dandenault, Laval center Jason Boudrias. Laval center Yanick Dube, St-Jean Lynx goalie Jose Theodore and Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; left winger Carl Paradis. &#9632;

Gendron adds fuel to Hull’s fire

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Jeff Friesen is difficult to please.The Regina Pats&rsquo; left winger scored 27 goals and 67 points in his first 34 games of the Western League season. Most of his peers can only fantasize about such totals. But the talented Friesen has loftier expectations.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to be having the worst good season in junior hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s exactly it.&rdquo;The Meadow Lake, Sask., native is a high first-round prospect for the NHL&rsquo;s 1994 draft.Everything he does is closely scrutinized-and not just by NHL scouts. The 17-year-old is his own worst critic.&ldquo;I should have 15 more goals on Karry Biette&rsquo;s passes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In Spokane, he set me up three times and I didn&rsquo;t have a clue.&rdquo;Perhaps Friesen&rsquo;s self-assessment is overly harsh.&ldquo;If I have intensity and work hard, I know I can reach the expectations,&rdquo; said Friesen, who had 45 goals as a 16-year-old. &ldquo;Those are the two things that have been hurting me. If I can change that, I can turn the season around.&rdquo;Friesen took a step in that direction Dec. 10.He scored three goals as Regina beat the Saskatoon Blades 5-3. That was Friesen&rsquo;s final game before he left for Canada&rsquo;s national junior selection camp in Kitchener, Ont.SWIFT ASCENT: Right winger Todd Holt became the leading scorer in Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; franchise history.A four-goal performance Dec. 9 against the Tacoma Rockets gave Holt 372 points-three more than Doug Morrison recorded for the Lethbridge Broncos from 1976-80.The team moved from Lethbridge to Swift Current in 1986-87.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great,&rdquo; said Holt, in his fifth WHL season. &ldquo;A lot of great players have passed through this organization. It&rsquo;s exciting for my name to be on top of the list and be known as one of the elite players in Broncos&rsquo; history.&rdquo;Holt&rsquo;s four-goal performance, which came in a 7-4 victory, gave him 194 goals. Morrison is a distant second on the team&rsquo;s all-time list with 163 goals. Holt recorded the fifth four-goal game of his career by scoring into an empty net.&ldquo;I broke Joe Sakic&rsquo;s team record for most four-goal games,&rdquo; Holt said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I hogged the puck.&rdquo;EMPTY SEATS: Todd Holt&rsquo;s record-setting performance was witnessed by 2,247 fans-the smallest crowd in Rockets&rsquo; history.This is Tacoma&rsquo;s third WHL season.Swift Current was also the visitor when Tacoma established its previous low of 2,379 onlookers Jan. 23, 1992.But two days after that 1992 game, the Rockets set a WHL attendance record by attracting 15,240 patrons to the Tacoma Dome for a game with the Seattle Thunderbirds.BOH KNOWS TRADES: The Tri-City Americans acquired Aaron Boh from the Medicine Hat Tigers for Marc Hussey in a Dec. 8 swap of 19-year-old defensemen.If that exchange sounds familiar, it should.On Aug. 22, 1990, the Brandon Wheat Kings received Boh from the Moose Jaw Warriors for-you guessed it-Hussey.FULL CIRCLE: Center Dean Tiltgen has returned to Tri-City, where he began his WHL career in 1990-91.Tri-City obtained Tiltgen from the Victoria Cougars Dec. 12, for right winger Adam Rettschlag and defenseman Graeme Harder.Tiltgen, 19, was dissatisfied in Victoria and requested a trade. He had nine goals and 23 points in 29 games with the Cougars.The Cougars expected more from Tiltgen. He had 50 goals and 111 points last season with the Red Deer Rebels.STREAK OVER: The Portland Winter Hawks&rsquo; run of prosperity on home ice is over.Portland had won its first 16 home games of the season, but the Medicine Hat Tigers snapped that with a 6-5 overtime win Dec. 15.Dating back to 1992-93, the winning streak reached 21 games-five short of the WHL record. The Flin Flon Bombers won 26 straight home games in 1967 and 1968. &#9632;

Two-point-a-game clip not enough for Friesen

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>There&rsquo;s no absolute answer either way, but the Salt Lake Golden Eagles offer an intriguing test case on which to build a comparison between the International and American Leagues.The New York Islanders&rsquo; farm team was the Capital District Islanders of the AHL last season, where it finished third in the Northern Division with a 34-34-12 record.With 10 players on its current IHL roster making the move from last year&rsquo;s AHL squad-including two of its three top scorers in Chris Taylor and Brent Grieve-Salt Lake started slowly, struggling to a 7-20-0 mark, second-worst in the league.Meanwhile, the St. John Flames of the AHL were 11-11-7. The Calgary Flames&rsquo; affiliate has six players on its roster who were with the 3839-5 IHL Salt Lake team last season.&ldquo;It has been a bit of a transition,&rdquo; said Salt Lake defenseman Kevin Cheveldayoff, who played the last three seasons for AHL Capital District. &ldquo;The biggest difference is the NHL-experienced players that are on every team in this league. That experience really comes through when it&rsquo;s down to crunch time.&ldquo;The culture shock is a big factor in the IHL. You&rsquo;re changing travel from buses to planes, you&rsquo;re in big-city markets, big buildings. The style of play is a little different. The opportunity here is for a more wide-open game.&rdquo;Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; pro scout Larry Carriere, who works both leagues, offered this: &ldquo;Maybe the IHL caught the New York Islanders a little bit by surprise. The IHL has an abundance of recent NHLers in it and some of these kids in Salt Lake City carry a degree of awe for the opponents they&rsquo;ve heard of.&ldquo;As for the two leagues, they both have the prospects, but the IHL is a little better in caliber because it has all the older players, too.&rdquo;MINNY IS BACK: Professional hockey in Minneapolis/St. Paul made its return Dec. 15 when the IHL granted an expansion franchise for next season.The IHL board of governors unanimously approved a franchise for Kevin MacLean and Roger Sturgeon-who own an electronic software company in Califomia-marking the IHL&rsquo;s return to a territory it last occupied from 1959-62.The expansion price tag was $5 million.The area may still get an NHL team-perhaps the Edmonton Oilers-by next season, but the league doesn&rsquo;t feel threatened.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re targeting families,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s our intention to offer a package where two parents and two kids can get in for $50, as opposed to a single NHL ticket costing $50.&rdquo;MacLean hasn&rsquo;t signed a lease yet, saying he has several proposals from area sites, including the St. Paul Civic Center and the Target Center.A nickname and color schemes are not yet in place, but the community will be given a chance to have some input. The team will operate as an independent for at least the first season.BY THE NUMBERS: The Milwaukee Admirals packed the Bradley Center with 16,906 spectators Dec. 10 to post the IHL&rsquo;s second-largest single-game gate in league history.The Admirals are masters of the big crowd, accounting for nine of the top 10 gates all-time, including the record mark of 17,845 in 1988-89.I-OPENERS: Veteran IHL linesmen Patrick Berry-whose father is league commissioner, Tom-was seriously injured during a Dec. 10 game when he was struck in the head with a puck being cleared during a penalty-killing situation in Peoria. Despite a helmet, Berry had to be hospitalized and X-rays later showed his skull was fractured in three places. He&rsquo;s expected to be sidelined until at least mid-February.The Phoenix Roadrunners lost 4-2 to the San Diego Gulls Dec. 10 to run their losing streak at San Diego Sports Arena to 18 games, dating back to Nov. 15, 1991. &#9632;

Golden Eagles struggle after transfer from AHL

<div class="byline">-Richard Pollak</div>There&rsquo;s no stopping the Central League&rsquo;s version of the French Connection-Luc Beausoleil and Sylvain Naud of the Tulsa Oilers.The Quebec natives soared to the top of the scoring race as the Oilers scored 26 goals in two wins-14-4 over the Dallas Freeze Dec. 1 and 12-2 over the Oklahoma City Blazers Dec. 3.Playing on separate lines, Beausoleil had 23 goals and 40 points in 23 games and Naud had 18 goals and 40 points. A third Oiler, Doug Lawrence, was fifth in league scoring with six goals and 37 points on a third line.&ldquo;I knew we would be a high-scoring team,&rdquo; said coach Garry Unger. &ldquo;I only wondered about holding the opposition to fewer goals.&rdquo;The Oilers were averaging 5.6 goals per game, a goal better than any other team. They were also allowing more than four goals per game.BONUS TIME: The Wichita Thunder won the league&rsquo;s first quarter cash bonus for posting the best record (11-5-0). Each player received a $150 cash award&hellip;Memphis RiverKings&rsquo; right winger Tom Mutch returned to the team after a stint in Germany. He was fourth in league scoring last season with 43 goals and 81 points in 59 games. &#9632;

Quebec duo pacing Oilers

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>The stormy career of Link Gaetz is again on hold after he was suspended by the Cape Breton Oilers for insubordination.Club officials wouldn&rsquo;t disclose specifics, but sources said the situation reached a boiling point Dec. 8 when Gaetz threw a skate at a member of the training staff and had a confrontation with at least one teammate.Gaetz, 25, is trying to resurrect his career after sustaining a brain stem injury in a 1992 auto accident. He was signed in the off-season by the Edmonton Oilers and assigned to Cape Breton, where he had one assist and 138 penalty minutes in 20 American League games.A second-round pick of the Minnesota North Stars in 1988, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound defenseman played just five games in the East Coast and International Leagues last season.&ldquo;His play was improving and he was getting better in the games he played,&rdquo; said Cape Breton general manager Dave Andrews.But off-and on-ice actions began to wear.&ldquo;He was suspended for what basically was a series of conduct unbecoming of a professional and because he was a detriment to our club,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;It got to the point where we didn&rsquo;t think it was good to have him around.&rdquo;Gaetz has had a history of alcohol problems, but Andrews stressed this incident &ldquo;has nothing to do with substance abuse.&rdquo;Gaetz was sent home to Vancouver and couldn&rsquo;t be reached for comment.BEARS/FLYERS TIFF: In need of goaltending help and aware the parent Philadelphia Flyers wouldn&rsquo;t be doing anything about it, the Hershey Bears acquired Frederic Chabot on loan from the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 30.The Flyers weren&rsquo;t pleased their privately-owned affiliate made a move that could take playing time away from in-the-system players.&ldquo;It potentially presents a problem,&rdquo; Flyers&rsquo; GM Russ Farwell told the York Daily Record. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something we would have to address if we&rsquo;re going to continue in that relationship. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s something we can leave alone.&rdquo;Doug Yingst, Hershey&rsquo;s director of operations, discussed with the Flyers a deal for Chabot earlier in November. He pulled the trigger when the Bears were down to only one healthy, capable goalie in Scott LaGrand.&ldquo;We added depth to the Hershey Bears and Flyers&rsquo; system,&rdquo; Yingst said.LaGrand was inconsistent, Norm Foster was sidelined with an ankle injury and an ineffective Yanick DeGrace was contemplating whether to accept the Flyers&rsquo; buyout offer. Chabot was 3-01 with a 3.08 goals-against average with the Bears.GOLD MINE: Declining attendance forced Ed Anderson to move his franchise from Portland, Me., to Providence, R.I. two years ago.As the Maine Mariners, Anderson&rsquo;s club drew an average of 3,828, second-lowest total in the 15-year team history. He moved to Providence, in the heart of Boston Bruins&rsquo; country, and the affiliation with Boston is one reason the club averaged 9,279 last year and 8,596 this year.But Portland is showing it&rsquo;s still a hockey town, embracing its new franchise, the Portland Pirates. Moved from Baltimore where the Tom Ebright-owned Skipjacks never broke 4,000 in average attendance, the Pirates were at 5,755.Winning helps. The Pirates were 20-9-2 and tied for first in the Northern Division.&ldquo;That has to be the primary reason,&rdquo; said team president Godfrey Wood. &ldquo;We knew (the fans) were hungry and missed the game and we&rsquo;ve kind of re-done the marketing approach.&rdquo;Odd events happen on the ice. Cream Cornwall Night featured contestants taking dips in a huge vat of creamed com. For a game against the Bruins, fans were encouraged to bring stuffed bears and throw them on the ice. The bears were then donated to charity. &#9632;

Gaetz finds trouble again, this time in Cape Breton

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>There has not been much job security among East Coast League coaches this season.The Louisville IceHawks fired Warren Young Dec. 13. His dismissal came four days after the Huntington Blizzard dumped Bob (Battleship) KellyYoung was replaced by seven-time NHL allstar Bill Goldsworthy as coach and director of operations. Blizzard vice-president Bob Destocki took over for Kelly on an interim basis.Huntington general manager Bob Henry said Destocki will be in charge until late December, when management will re-evaluate his situation.The two firings brought to three the number of coaching changes this season. Steve Gatzos resigned from the Huntsville Blast in November and was replaced by Vic Posa. Posa was a player-assistant coach for the Blast under Gatzos.Louisville GM Dave Alcorta said the change was difficult to make.&ldquo;We had to make clear we have an obligation to our fans and our sponsors,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The performance of the team was unacceptable.&rdquo;The IceHawks had a 6-15-5 record, their worst start ever. Goldsworthy, 49, signed a contract that runs through 1994-95.PROTEST FIZZLES: Blizzard captain Brad Harrison and alternate Doug Roberts met with team officials after Bob Kelly was fired to discuss the chance of a player walkout.The players balked at such a move after ECHL commissioner Pat Kelly informed them a walkout would terminate their careers in the league.Instead of a work stoppage, the players decided to show their support for Kelly on the ice and dedicated their effort in a game against the Richmond Renegades Dec. 10 to their ex-coach.The Blizzard came up short as the Renegades defeated Huntington 4-3 in a shootout.FOR CHARITY: Knoxville Cherokees&rsquo; goalie Manon Rheaume and Toledo Storm goalie Erin Whitten played in a charity game between the Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Dec. 9 at Arrowshead Pond.Proceeds from the game were donated to the Southern California chapter of the American Red Cross to assist victims affected by fires that swept through that region.Hollywood celebrities were invited to play in the game, along with former NHLers Charlie Simmer and Brian Engblom. Ex-Johnstown Chiefs&rsquo; coach Steve Carlson, his brother Jeff, and Dave Hanson-the famed Hanson brothers of the movie Slap Shot-also took part.KNIGHT BEAT: Nashville Knights&rsquo; coach Nick Fotiu said rumors of Trevor Jobe&rsquo;s return were well-founded until the team the ECHL&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer plays for in Austria renegotiated his contract&hellip;Fotiu will make periodic apperances as color analyst on Madison Square Garden Network&rsquo;s cable TV broadcasts of New York Rangers&rsquo; games. &#9632;

Coaching purge underway as two more let go

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>The Boston University Terriers are finally living up to their pre-season billing as one of the top teams in Hockey East.The Terriers got off to a mediocre 4-3-0 start before winning six straight games. Ironically, a freakish accident played a significant role in the turnaround.The incident occurred Nov. 28 against the Princeton Tigers when junior goaltender Derek Herlofsky dislocated his right shoulder after slamming his stick on the crossbar following a Tigers&rsquo; goal.Backup goaltender J.P. McKersie took over in the Terrier net and promptly went 7-0-0 with a 2.34 goals-against average and.900 save percentage.Boston University coach Jack Parker, while pleased with the winning streak, is concerned about his team&rsquo;s consistency, particularly on offense.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a funny 10-3-0,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;Our record and ranking (second in the country) are more than we could have expected. But I don&rsquo;t feel we&rsquo;ve lived up to our capabilities.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still working to take responsibility for our talent. We have the talent to be one of the top teams in the country, but we aren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;The Terriers were bolstered by the offense generated by sophomore forwards Jay Pan-dolfo and Bob Lachance, as well as defensemen Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan and Jon Coleman. All four players were named to the United States team for the World Junior Championship Dec. 26 to Jan. 4 in the Czech Republic. The Terriers had more representatives on the WJC team than any other school.COMPLETE WHITEWASH: UMass-Lowell Chiefs&rsquo; senior goalie Dwayne Roloson had a big game against the Maine Black Bears Dec. 12.He stopped 28 shots leading the Chiefs to a 5-0 win, the first shootout of a Maine team in 304 games. The last time the Bears were shutout was Nov. 22, 1986, when the Michigan State Spartans won 4-0.UMass-Lowell was outshot 22-5 at one point, but led 4-0 a the time.&ldquo;I think our kid (Roloson) has been slighted in the past, goaltending-wise,&rdquo; said UMass-Lowell coach Bruce Crowder.INGRAHAM BACK: Maine right winger Cal Ingraham returned to the lineup against the Chiefs.The senior from Georgetown, Mass., was forced to sit out a 14-game suspension imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for a clerical error concerning his academic status.Ingraham&rsquo;s return came at an opportune time for the Bears because they lost the services of high-scoring sophomore center Paul Kariya, who joined the Canadian Olympic Team on Dec. 11.FABULOUS FROSH: UMass-Lowell left winger Greg Bullock is having a terrific start to his college career. The freshman led Hockey East in scoring with 12 goals and 26 points in 13 games. &#9632;

McKersie revives Terriers

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>You might not realize it from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings, but Ohio State Buckeyes&rsquo; coach Jerry Welsh believes his team has made an important improvement this season.&ldquo;We have been playing better defensively,&rdquo; said Welsh, whose team landed in the league cellar after losing 3-2 at Illinois-Chicago Dec. 10. &ldquo;Our shots-against per game are down and goals-against are down markedly.&ldquo;Generally, we&rsquo;re doing a good job. But we&rsquo;re young and giving up two or three glaring opportunities. Good teams are capitalizing on it.&rdquo;The Buckeyes allowed about six goals per game last season. This season, they gave up 56 goals in 15 games overall, for a 3.68 goals-against average.The Buckeyes also gave up 39 shots per game last season and this season, they were down to 34.&ldquo;Our goaltending also has been pretty good,&rdquo; said Welsh, referring to the work of Tom Askey and back-up Kurt Brown. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had any soft periods. &ldquo;The improved defensive effort hasn&rsquo;t been enough for the Buckeyes, who were 5-30-2 last season overall and 3-25-2 (last place) in the CCHA. This season, OSU was 2-11-2 overall and 1-9-2 in the CCHA.The problem has been offense. Ohio State scored just 28 goals in league play and 36 overall.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have the talent to skate with some teams and our power play has to come through for us,&rdquo; Welsh said.ANCHORS AWAY: Because of their remote location, the Lake Superior State Lakers always reveled in their built-in home-ice advantage. However, that could be changing.Lake Superior State was only 3-3-0 at the Norris Center this season. Meanwhile, the Lakers, who were ranked No. 2 nationally, were 91-0 away from their Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., home.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been having success on the road this season, but not at home,&rdquo; said Jeff Jackson, LSSU&rsquo;s coach and athletic director. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing a little different style on the road, playing more defensively. We&rsquo;re not as wide open offensively this season, lacking players such as Brian Roiston and Michael Smith.&rdquo;But Jackson, whose team had 68 goals in 16 games overall and 55 in 13 CCHA games, wants key players to improve their offensive outputs.&ldquo;We need to have Clayton Beddoes, Wayne Strachan and Sean Tallaire pick up the pace,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not consistently doing it and that&rsquo;s why we have four losses.Still, Beddoes, Strachan and Tallaire had decent numbers. Beddoes, a senior center, had eight goals and 18 points in 16 games. Strachan, a junior center, had 9-7-16 totals. Tallaire, a sophomore right winger, led the Lakers with 912-21 totals. &#9632;

Buckeyes plug leaks, but still sink to cellar

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>The Northern Michigan Wildcats and Wisconsin Badgers took different routes in finishing the first half the Western Collegiate Hockey Association season in a dead heat.The Wildcats did most of their damage at home in Lakeview Arena, where they were 9-00 and outscored opponents 44-18.The Badgers, meanwhile, went 6-3-1 on the road, including series sweeps over the Denver Pioneers and Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. No other team in the league had a winning record on the road.The result? The Wildcats and Badgers went into the holiday break with 9-4-1 records and 19 points.While it was not surprising to see Wisconsin and Northern Michigan in top spot, there were several eye-opening developments.Topping the list was Colorado College. The Tigers capitalized on a favorable home schedule and were 7-0-2 at the Broadmoor World Arena. They had sole possession of first place entering the month of December, but back-to-back losses at Northern Michigan dropped the Tigers into second.It is obvious, however, the program has been rejuvenated under coach Don Lucia.The Tigers are trying to become the first WCHA team in 30 years to go from worst to first.The Minnesota Golden Gophers surprised for another reason. They opened the season 0-5-1 and were in danger of not qualifying for the national tournament for the first time in nine seasons.A 5-1-2 stretch heading into a series at Alaska-Anchorage Dec. 17-18 indicated things were getting better for the Gophers, who lost forwards Darby Hendrickson and Craig Johnson to the U.S. Olympic team.The play of the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs raised eyebrows. The defending MacNaughton Cup champions were last in the league (3-8-3).The Bulldogs have a young defense corps and their inexperience showed on numerous occasions.They limped into the break having won just one of their last 11 games (1-8-2).ROOKIE WATCH: It&rsquo;s difficult for a freshman to come into the league and have success, but two players did exactly that in the first half.North Dakota Fighting Sioux center Landon Wilson established himself as a scoring threat with 10 goals and 20 points in 16 games.Northern Michigan center Dean Seymour also excelled, scoring six goals and 20 points. Both were ranked among the WCHA&rsquo;s top 10 scorers.ROAD WARRIORS: Given its difficult travel schedule, it was thought the Alaska-An-chorage Seawolves would have a tough time on the road during their first full season in the WCHA.But at the halfway mark, the Seawolves were 2-5-0 at home and 3-3-1 on the road. &#9632;

Wildcats, Badgers dead even

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>Cornell Big Red coach Brian McCutcheon is convinced two goalies are better than one, but sophomore Eddy Skazyk has had top billing for the Big Red so far this season.Because of nagging injuries to junior Andy Bandurski, Skazyk has emerged as the No. 1 goaltender. But that&rsquo;s not the way McCutcheon wants it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had to keep Andy out of a couple of games because of injuries, but we&rsquo;re shooting to be able to have both of them play every weekend,&rdquo; McCutcheon said.It&rsquo;s not hard to see why McCutcheon wants Bandurski back in the lineup. He recorded the team&rsquo;s two ties&mdash;1-1 against the Vermont Catamounts and 1-1 against the Princeton Tigers-and had a 1.81 goals-against average and.947 save percentage.Skazyk, who joined the team in the second semester last season, was in goal for both of Cornell&rsquo;s one-goal victories-4-3 in overtime at Dartmouth and 2-1 at Yale. The native of Lock-port, Man., had a 4.09 GAA and.886 save percentage at the Christmas break.If one of the two emerges as the dominant player in the second semester, chances are he&rsquo;ll get the majority of the work. But McCutcheon maintains he will still use both in goal.&ldquo;When we had Parris (Duffus), he was playing every night, but he was a little bit older and a little more mature. He was able to handle the situation mentally and physically.&ldquo;Both of these guys have the ability to move into the same situation, but right now I think it&rsquo;s better if we have them both playing.&rdquo;POWER FAILURE: Both Cornell and the Yale Bulldogs have had little power in their power plays this season.Cornell converted just three of 43 power-play opportunities (seven per cent) in its first eight games, and was 0-for-30 against Eastern College Athletic Conference opponents.The Bulldogs weren&rsquo;t much better, converting just three of 40 (eight per cent) situations with the man advantage.SO LONG: Two members of the Union College Skating Dutchmen won&rsquo;t be back after the holiday break.Junior forward Kevin Darby and sophomore defenseman Brad Kukko quit the team, citing a lack of playing time.Darby appeared in just one of Union&rsquo;s first eight games while Kukko had seen very little playing time since early November.SCORING BINGE: When Ted Drury left Harvard to join the Calgary Flames, observers said the Crimson offense would suffer.The only people suffering are opposing goalies. Junior center Steve Martins averaged over two points-per game and senior left winger Brian Farrell was on a goal-a-game-pace for the first-place Crimson. &#9632;

Big Red gets big boost from backup Skazyk

HOCKEY THE WAY YOU WANT TO PLAY IT.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02576/6353470-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="502" height="462"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01816/6353463-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3095" height="2978"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01777/6353456-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3071" height="3535"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01734/6353449-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3097" height="3535"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01657/6353442-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="3057" height="1230"></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02464/6353501-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg"></div><h2>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS</h2>Statistics provided by National Hockey League; Rk-overall rank; No.-uniform number; GP-games played; Min&mdash;minutes played; GAA-goals-against average; W-wins; L-losses; T-ties; ENG-empty-net goals; SO-shutouts; GA-goals against; SA-shots against; SV%-save percentage. Players indicated by an asterisk (*) are eligible for the Calder Trophy. Overall rank is based on goals-against average with ties broken using the following criteria: minutes played, save percentage and wins (minimum 600 minutes played). &#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; Dec-decision, charged to goaltenders of record when deciding goal is scored.<h2>MONDAY, DEC. 13</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01731/6353665-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="587" height="3071"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02540/6353658-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="600" height="316"></div><h2>TUESDAY, DEC. 14</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03436/6353651-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="599" height="3080"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04339/6353644-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="593" height="3029"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05256/6353637-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="590" height="355"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06216/6353630-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="589" height="3486"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07200/6353623-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="598" height="3487"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01695/6353616-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="592" height="2775"></div><h2>THURSDAY, DEC. 16</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02474/6353609-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="594" height="626"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03361/6353602-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="584" height="1500"></div><h2>FRIDAY, DEC. 17</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04293/6353595-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="586" height="1890"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05241/6353588-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="584" height="3485"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06207/6353581-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="602" height="3483"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07186/6353574-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="592" height="1590"></div><h2>SATURDAY, DEC. 18</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08165/6353567-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="590" height="1804"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01401/6353560-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="600" height="3498"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02262/6353553-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="591" height="3493"></div><h2>SUNDAY, DEC. 19</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03188/6353546-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="596" height="3394"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04153/6353539-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="592" height="3491"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05130/6353532-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="596" height="3495"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01342/6353724-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01352/6353717-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="3085" height="3519"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01364/6353710-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="600" height="1024"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02259/6353703-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="584" height="316"></div><h2>WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP</h2>Final rosters for Canada and the United States and preliminary rosters for four other nations (rosters for Germany and Switzerland were unavailable at press time) participating in the World Junior Championship being held Dec. 26-Jan. 4 in Ostrava and Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic follow:<h3>Canada</h3>Goaltenders-Emmanuel Fernandez, Laval (QMJHL); Jamie Storr, Owen Sound (OHL).Defenseman-Chris Armstrong, Moose Jaw (WHL); Drew Bannister, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL); Joel Bouchard, Verdun (QMJHL); Bryan McCabe, Spokane (WHL); Nick Stajduhar, Lon&not;don (OHL); Brent Tully, Peterborough (OHL); Brendan Witt, Seattle (WHL).Forwards-Jason Allison, London (OHL); Jason Botterill, Michigan (CCHA); Curtis Bowen, Ottawa (OHL); Anson Carter, Michigan State (CCHA); Brandon Convery, Niagara Falls (OHL); Yanick Dube, Laval (QMJHL); Jeff Friesen, Regina (WHL); Aaron Gavey, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL); Martin Gendron, Canadian Olympic Team-Hull (QMJHL); Rick Girard, Swift Current (WHL); Todd Harvey, Detroit (OHL); Marty Murray, Brandon (WHL); Mike Peca, Ottawa (OHL).<h3>United States</h3>Goaltenders-Aaron Ellis, Detroit (OHL); Toby Kvalevog, North Dakota (WCHA).Defensemen-Jon Coleman, Boston U. (HE); Ashlin Halfnight, Harvard (ECAC); Jason McBain, Portland (WHL); Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan, Boston U. (HE); Deron Quint, Seattle (WHL); Blake Sloan, Michi&not;gan (CCHA); David Wilkie, Kamloops (WHL).Forwards-Kevyn Adams, Miami-Ohio (CCHA); Jason Bonsignore, Niagara Falls (OHL); Andy Brink, Minnesota (WCHA); Adam Deadmarsh, Portland (WHL); John Emmons, Yale (ECAC); Kevin Hilton, Michigan (CCHA); Jason Karmanos, Harvard (ECAC); Bob Lachance, Boston U. (HE); Jamie Langenbrunner, Peterborough (OHL); Jay Pandolfo, Boston U. (HE); Richard Park, Belleville (OHL); Ryan Sittler, Michigan (CCHA); John Varga, Tacoma (WHL).<h3>Czech Republic</h3>Goaltenders-Jaroslav Miklenda, Robert Slavik, Petr Franek.Defensemen-Jaroslav Spacek, Viacheslav Skuta, Marek Malik, Jaroslav Spelda, Pavel Kowalczyk, Pavel Rajnoha, Radim Tesarik, Pavel Zubicek, Libor Prochazka.Forwards-Dusan Huml, Petr Sykora, Ondrej Steiner, Tomas Blazek, Martin Slaby, Tomas Bartoska, Zdenek Sedlak, Tomas Vlasek, Lukas Smital, David Vybomy, Ladislav Prokupek, Milan Navratil, Vaclav Prospal, Zdenek Nedved.<h3>Finland</h3>Goaltenders-Jussi Markkanen, Petri Engman, Kimmo Kapanen.Defensemen-Jani Nikko, Jermu Pisto, Jere Karalahti, Tom Koivisto, Kimmo Timonen, Mikko Turunen, Tommi Hamalainen, Tuomas Gron-man, Janne Niinimaa.Forwards-Saku Koivu, Jari Kauppila, Tommi Miettinen, Niko Halttunen, Veli-Pekka Nutikka, Jani Hassinen, Jussi Tarvainen, Teemu Kohvakka, Jonni Vauhkonen, Juha Lind, Niko Mikkola, Antti Aalto, Lasse Pirjeta, Jukka Tiilikainen.<h3>Russia</h3>Goaltenders-Evgeni Ryabchikov, Ostap Ploskov, Denis Kuzmenko.Defensemen-Maxim Tsvetkov, Alexei Krivchenkov, Sergei Gusev, Alexander Osadchy, Ilya Stashenkov, Oleg Tverdovsky, Nikolai Tsulygin, Dimitri Podlegayev, Vasili Turkovsky, Alexei Chikalin, Sergei Kolesnik.Forwards-Pavel Desyatkov, Evgeni Babariko, Konstantin Kuzmichev, Sergei Kondrashkin, Vadim Sharifjanov, Nikolai Zavarukhin, Dimitri Gorenko, Sergei Brylin, Maxim Smelnitysky, Vitali Tomilin, Andrei Davletov, Valeri Bure, Maxim Bets, Sergei Olimpiyev, Alexei Yegorov, Alexandr Kharlamov.<h3>Sweden</h3>Goaltenders-Jonas Forsberg, Peter Olsson.Defensemen-Daniel Johansson, Joakim Lund&not;berg, Mattias Timander, Dick Tamstrom, Edvin Frylen, Mattias Ohlund, Anders Eriksson, Kenny Jonsson.Forwards-Johan Davidsson, Johan Hagman, Fredrik Modin, Anders Soderberg, Mikael Hakansson, Mathias Johansson, Mat Lindgren, Peter Gerhardsson, Per Svartvadet, Niklas Sundstrom, Peter Strom, Roger Rosen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03216/6353696-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="586" height="978"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04145/6353755-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0043-04

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02167/6353793-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01272/6353786-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="3093" height="3021"></div> &#9632;

f0044-02

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>After a weekend that included one of their most inspired wins followed by one of their most lopsided losses, the Detroit Red Wings left coach Scotty Bowman to publicly declare what has been obvious for too long.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll never win with that kind of goaltending,&rdquo; Bowman said.When Bowman speaks of winning he speaks in terms of the Stanley Cup. And though his team made great strides with a streak of eight wins in 10 games, Bowman knows the Wings must upgrade their goaltending to be a serious threat in the playoffs.In a wild 6-4 win over the New York Rangers Dec. 17, Tim Cheveldae allowed a 70-foot goal by Kevin Lowe. He looked unsure of himself on another shot from the blueline moments later. He was pulled shortly after that.Rookie Chris Osgood played the final 17 minutes and saved the game, making 14 saves, including a handful of difficult shots from close range that had the capacity Joe Louis Arena crowd on its feet with roaring approval.But 24 hours later in Montreal, Osgood allowed four goals on 13 shots in 30 minutes. He gave way to Cheveldae, who gave up four goals on 25 shots in an 8-1 loss.While the Wings are concerned, they aren&rsquo;t panicking. Unlike a few months ago, no one is talking about the need to trade for a goalie.Osgood, 21, is better more often than not and the Wings say he needs time as all young players do to develop consistency in his play.&ldquo;Osgood is ready to play in this league, no question,&rdquo; said general manager Bryan Murray. &ldquo;Can he take you the whole way? Who knows? There&rsquo;s a consistency he needs that guys such as Sergei Fedorov and Keith Primeau are starting to get and they&rsquo;re in their fourth season.&rdquo;The club is more concerned about Cheveldae, who has struggled intermittently since appearing in the All-Star Game two years ago.GOOD FRIENDS?: Bob Probert emerged from a scrum in a bear hug with a New York Rangers&rsquo; player he couldn&rsquo;t identify.&ldquo;Then I got punched in the helmet and I thought, &lsquo;Who&rsquo;s this?&rsquo;&rdquo; Probert said.It turned out to be his former teammate and roommate, Joe Kocur. And a fight fans had dreamed of for years but never expected was under way.Kocur got in the first two licks. Probert was bleeding from a small cut on his nose, though it was unclear whether it happened from a punch or a helmet.Unfazed, he struggled to get his right hand free, and when he did he smacked Kocur upside the head and appeared to sting him. That&rsquo;s when the two fighters separated, with Kocur backing off.The linesmen quickly intervened and the fight was over. No big deal.&ldquo;We fought worse than that over whose turn it was to clean the house,&rdquo; Kocur said.NOTEBOOK: Dallas Drake had successful surgery Dec. 20 to repair a ligament in his right hand. He is sidelined indefinitely&hellip;Steve Yzer-man, out with a herniated disc in his back, hoped to return to the lineup New Year&rsquo;s Eve, when the Wings play the Los Angeles Kings. Yzerman has missed more than two months.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 18: Tim Taylor, C. recalled from Adirondack (AHL). Dec. 19: Taylor assigned to Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Sergei Fedorov. Keith Primeau, Mike Sitlinger, Greg Johnson.LW-Slava Kozlov. Sheldon Kennedy, Bob Probert, Micah Aivazoff.RW-Dino Ciccarelli. Ray Sheppard, Darren McCarty. Martin Lapointe.LD-Paul Coffey, Steve Chiasson, Steve Konroyd.RD-Nicklas Lidstrom, Terry Carkner, Vladimir Konstantinov, Bob Halkidis.G-Chris Osgood, Tim Cheveldae, Vince Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Burr, LW. surgery to repair tendon in left thumb, indefinite. Dallas Drrke, RW. surgery to repair tom ligament in hand, i indefinite. Mark Howe, D, strained back, day-to-day Steve Yzerman, C, herniated disc in back, Dec. 31. &#9632;

Goaltending questions remain

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>The Winnipeg Jets have had trouble with a lot of things this season, but some of them are getting sick of hearing about it.The club had only 12 wins in 35 games. Christmas was approaching and there was imminent danger the rest of the Central Division teams were getting away.&ldquo;Why is there so much pointing the finger? Let us play,&rdquo; Teemu Selanne said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to talk about it. I&rsquo;ve heard enough about this. I don&rsquo;t read the papers, I just do my job as well as I can. They can&rsquo;t get to me, that&rsquo;s for sure.&rdquo;Selanne, Alexei Zhamnov, Bob Essensa and to some extent captain Keith Tkachuk have come under intense scrutiny through the first three months of the season. And clearly, the critics have started to annoy them.&ldquo;We have key players and if they&rsquo;re not playing well, they have to handle the situation,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;But sometimes I think it&rsquo;s unfair. It&rsquo;s amazing that when the team wins, every-body says &lsquo;we won.&rsquo; When the team loses, everybody says, &lsquo;they lost.&rsquo; &ldquo;Selanne agreed that only on-ice performance will stop so many pointed questions. And he insisted the adversity the team faces daily will turn out to be a good thing in the end.&ldquo;You know, we&rsquo;re not Mr. Nobodys anymore,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It makes it so much tougher. We have to get used to the attention.&rdquo;Jets&rsquo; coach John Paddock had criticized Selanne and Zhamnov in recent weeks. He didn&rsquo;t backtrack, but decided to soft-sell his point and acknowledge the battle with consistency faced by young players.&ldquo;They played pretty well (in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames Dec. 18),&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got to do that for the rest of the season. We&rsquo;ve talked to them before. Will they play the rest of the season like Doug Gilmour plays? That&rsquo;s every night basically. I don&rsquo;t think they can quite do that because they&rsquo;re much younger players.&rdquo;EXPANSION OUCHES: One of the most irritating things about the Jets&rsquo; season was their record against the NHL&rsquo;s five newest teams.Winnipeg was 2-4-1 against new clubs-two losses to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and one each to the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers.&ldquo;Those four losses, especially with three of them at home, have turned our season around,&rdquo; John Paddock said. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t prepared to play how we needed to against those teams. It&rsquo;s everybody&rsquo;s responsibility.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Winnipeg mayor Susan Thompson and Manitoba premier Gary Fil-mon appointed a nine-member Implementation Team to find enough private-sector funding to build a $100-million downtown arena. The team is headed by James Burns, CEO of Great-West Life. Under the terms of a 1991 agreement be-tween the Jets&rsquo; private owners (headed by president Barry Shenkarow) and the city, province and a private-sector group, a June 30 deadline looms for a plan to be in place for a new facility. While the wheels are in motion, Shenkarow has agreed to keep the team in Winnipeg and the city and province have agreed to cover the club&rsquo;s losses, which are projected at about $6 million this season.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 16: Rob Murray. C, recalled from Moncton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Zhamnov, Randy Gilhen, Mike Eagles, Rob Murray.LW-Keith Tkachuk. Paul Ysebaert. Darrin Shannon, Kris King.RW-Teemu Selanne, Nelson Emerson. Tie Domi. Luciano Borsato. Bryan Erickson.LD-Teppo Numminen. Sergei Bautin. Igor UlanovRD-Stephane Quintal, Boris Mironov, Dean Kennedy. Oleg Mikulchik.G-Bob Essensa. Stephane Beauregard.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Thomas Steen. C, pulled groin. Dec. 23. &#9632;

Selanne growing weary of critics’ finger pointing

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>Dave Andreychuk remembers looking longingly at the 400-goal plateau a few years ago.&ldquo;I thought it was out of reach,&rdquo; he said.That obviously wasn&rsquo;t the case, as Andreychuk became the 42nd NHLer to hit the 400-mark Dec. 18 with a spectacular individual effort against the Los Angeles Kings.The historic goal was classic Andreychuk. He used his reach to work his way past Darryl Sydor, then flipped the puck past Kings&rsquo; goalie Kelly Hrudey&rsquo;s right arm while falling to the ice.&ldquo;This is a big accomplishment for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure my dad taped this game.&rdquo;The game was a landmark in several other ways for Andreychuk. He added another goal to give him 28 on the season and the league lead ahead of teammate Wendel Clark.He also had an assist to jump into the team scoring lead ahead of Doug Gilmour. You could make an argument Andreychuk has been the team&rsquo;s best player this season. He added strong defensive play and penalty killing to his reper-toire.On Dec. 11 against the Calgary Flames, he scored the first shorthanded goal of his career.&ldquo;If I had ever thought Andreychuk was as good as he is, I would have been a lot more intense and excited when we were making the deal to get him,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; assistant general manager Bill Watters.In 66 regular-season games after arriving from the Buffalo Sabres-along with goalie Daren Puppa and the 12th overall pick in the 1993 draft for goalie Grant Fuhr-Andreychuk had 52 goals. That&rsquo;s a better scoring pace than he has enjoyed at any time in his career.Andreychuk, 30, also set a Leaf playoff record with 12 goals in 21 playoff games.&ldquo;His speed was always a complaint, but he knows how to position himself and he&rsquo;s so strong,&rdquo; said coach Pat Bums.OUT OF PENTHOUSE: After being in first place overall since the beginning of the season, the Leafs were knocked off that perch Dec. 15 by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.A 1-0 home-ice loss to the Ducks that featured both the first shutout and first shorthanded goal scored by the Anaheim franchise, combined with a victory by the New York Rangers over the Hartford Whalers, knocked the Leafs into second place.&ldquo;New York is on top now, so we&rsquo;ll let the pressure be on them for awhile,&rdquo; Pat Bums said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll just have to earn our stripes again.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Nikolai Borschevsky was expected to return to action for a Dec. 22 home game against the San Jose Sharks. He has been out since having his spleen removed Nov. 3&hellip;Defenseman Todd Gill is expected back early in the new year. He has been out since Nov. 1 with groin and abdominal problems.With the return to good health of veteran winger Mark Osborne, Chris Govedaris and Eric Lacroix were assigned to the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs of the American League Dec. 15&hellip;Damian Rhodes&rsquo; loss Dec. 15 to Anaheim was his first as an NHLer. It left him with a 6-11 mark in his career.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for The Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 15: Eric Lacroix, LW. and Chris Govedaris, LW. assigned to St. John&rsquo;s (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Gilmour. John Cullen. Mike Krusheinyski. Mike Eastwood.LW-Wendel Clark. Ken Baumgartner. Mark Osborne, Guy Larose.RW-Nikolai Borschevsky. Dave Andreychuk. Glenn Anderson, Rob Pearson. Bill Berg, Kent Mandervile.LD-Sylvain Lefebvre. Jamie Macoun, Greg Smyth.RD-Drake Berehowsky. Bob Rouse, Dmitri Mironov.G-Felix Potvin. Damian Rhodes.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Ellett, D, strained rib cage muscle, indefinite. Todd Gill, D, groin strain, indefinite. Peter Zezel, C. back disk problems, indefinite. &#9632;

Andreychuk barges way into 400-goal fraternity

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>If it&rsquo;s the truth you seek, talk to Darryl Sutter. You&rsquo;ll almost always get a straight answer from the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach.But lately some Hawks have grumbled in private that Sutter has been too straight to the point of being critical of them. They wish he would ease up on the reins and cool it with the biting sarcasm that often accompanies his comments about individual performances.Sutter, who truly can&rsquo;t understand what the fuss is all about, stands by his methods and doesn&rsquo;t appear ready to change.&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m being critical of them, I&rsquo;m not being critical of the person. It&rsquo;s the number,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;For the most part they understand that. No one is above criticism. If you&rsquo;re not playing well, I&rsquo;m going to say so. But I also say you&rsquo;re playing well. I just tell the truth.&rdquo;And sometimes the truth hurts.&ldquo;They get lots of positive reinforcement, too,&rdquo; said Sutter, who called Ed Belfour the best goalie in the league not long ago. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that a lot of times it only gets written about when it&rsquo;s negative.&rdquo;Sutter stresses whatever hardline approach he may take to coaching, it&rsquo;s done with one thing in mind and that&rsquo;s to win.&ldquo;You see what happens in this game, like with Teddy Green in Edmonton when the coach is held responsible (for losing),&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I am how I am, because you don&rsquo;t get many chances. You do what you have to do and get on with it. &ldquo;Sutter made his remarks amid reports there was a problem in the dressing room between he and star center Jeremy Roenick. Both men downplayed the reports.&ldquo;This is not Keenan-Savard,&rdquo; Sutter said.Sutter doesn&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a problem in the dressing room other than perhaps a bruised ego or two on the part of certain players.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think (there&rsquo;s a problem),&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re being very selective there. You don&rsquo;t hear Dirk Graham saying anything, and there are a lot of guys like that in there. Every team goes through it. It&rsquo;s egos.&rdquo;ROAD WARRIORS: The Hawks like playing on the road and it shows. From Nov. 18 through Dec. 18, the Hawks played 11 of 12 games away from home and went 6-3-2.&ldquo;Our game is conducive to the road,&rdquo; Darryl Sutter said. &ldquo;We can frustrate people. Plus, we have a lot of people who don&rsquo;t mind playing on the road.&rdquo;Such as Michel Goulet, who had seven of his eight goals on the road.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand when teams say they can&rsquo;t win on the road,&rdquo; Goulet said. &ldquo;To me, it&rsquo;s the same game.&rdquo;&ldquo;This team is disciplined and patient when it plays on the road,&rdquo; Eric Weinrich said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t ever get away from the game plan, which starts with tenacious forechecking.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Christian Ruuttu returned to the lineup Dec. 18 in a 2-2 tie against the Philadelphia Flyers. He missed the first 28 games with a broken ankle. Ruuttu got credit for a goal when Garry Galley shot the puck into his own net during a delayed penalty situation. &ldquo;I considered it a comeback present,&rdquo; Ruuttu said.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jeremy Roenick. Jeff Shantz, Brent Sutter, Christian Ruuttu. Troy Murray.LW-Michel Goulet. Jocelyn Lemieux. Patnck Poulin, Rich Sutter, Dave Christian.RW-Joe Murphy. Dirk Graham. Brian Noonan, Darin Kimble.LD-Eric Weinrich, Steve Smith, Frank Kucera.RD-Chris Chelios, Cam Russell. Neil Wilkinson G-Ed Belfour, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stephane Matteau. LW, pulled groin, day-to-day. Kevin Todd, C. sprained right knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Sutter vows he will continue telling it like it is

<div class="byline">By Steve Huber</div>Dallas Stars&rsquo; center Dave Gagner isn&rsquo;t sure when it happened, but something got him fired up and he has been on fire ever since.The veteran was riding a month-long, 13-game point scoring streak through Dec. 20, tying him for the longest scoring streak in the NHL this season with Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; center Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour.Gagner attributes part of his success-which contributed to a team-high 11-game unbeaten streak at Reunion Arena-to his rather unpleasant disposition on the ice.He started slowly and was even scratched for a game in Chicago by coach Bob Gainey. He responded by scoring seven goals and 16 points in 13 games, giving him 12 goals and 26 points in 27 games. It was the longest scoring streak of his career.&ldquo;The past three season I&rsquo;ve started slowly,&rdquo; Gagner said. &ldquo;I always feel like I&rsquo;ve worked hard in the summer, but maybe not. I have to be kind of irritable on the ice to play well. Maybe I wasn&rsquo;t in the right frame of mind to play, but once I got things rolling, got some rhythm, I got more comfortable.&rdquo;Gagner said he was able to raise the level of his play by putting extra pressure extra on himself. He maintains the team&rsquo;s recent success was also a motivating factor.&ldquo;There was a sense of urgency,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to start contributing. I&rsquo;m not a totally happy person unless I reach my expectations. If you put them high enough and reach them, then you&rsquo;re going to make a lot of people happy besides yourself.&rdquo;Gainey was particularly pleased with Gagner&rsquo;s play around the net. Most of Gagner&rsquo;s goals came from within 10 feet of the net.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not big in stature (5-foot-10, 180 pounds), but he&rsquo;s not small either,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s strong and he has an understanding of what his game is. He knows the things he has to be good at.&rdquo;TOUGH TRADES: The Stars added much-needed toughness in a pair of trades in a span of 24 hours.Dallas acquired right winger/defenseman Gord Donnelly from the Buffalo Sabres Dec. 15 for little-used winger James Black and an undisclosed draft pick.General manager Bob Gainey then acquired rugged left winger Jim McKenzie as part of a three-way trade with the Hartford Whalers and Florida Panthers.McKenzie was traded to the Panthers by the Whalers for defenseman Alexander Godynyuk. The Panthers in turn traded McKenzie to Dallas for a fourth-round draft pick in either the 1994 or 1995 entry draft.&ldquo;We felt we were vulnerable in that area,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;A lot of work was being left to a few people.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Andy Moog returned to the lineup Dec. 19 against the Vancouver Canucks after missing three weeks with a severe groin strain. Moog was impressive, stopping 30 of 31 shots in a 3-1 win. Moog showed the the type of sharp goal-tending the Stars hoped he would bring when they acquired him from the Boston Bruins in an off-season trade for veteran Jon Casey. Moog was 8-7-4 in 21 starts with a 3.54 goals-against average and.883 save percentage.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 15: James Black, LW. traded to Buffalo for Gord Donnelly, RW/D. Dec. 16: Jim McKenzie. LW, acquired from Florida for conditional draft pick. Troy Gamble, G, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Modano, Neal Broten. Dave Gagner, Dean Evason, Dave Barr.LW-Ulf Dahlen, Mike McPhee, Trent Klatt. Brent Gilchrist. Jim McKenzie.RW-Russ Courtnail, Paul Broten, Mike Craig. Shane Churla, Gord Donnelly.LD-Derian Hatcher, Mark Tinordi. Craig Ludwig.RD-Paul Cavallini, Grant Ledyard, Jim Johnson. Brad BerryG-Andy Moog, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Fired up Gagner impresses

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>A separated shoulder and subsequent surgery prematurely ended Vitali Prokhorov&rsquo;s first season in the NHL and threatened to end his career.The injury didn&rsquo;t have any lingering physical after-effects, but it was clear Prokhorov wasn&rsquo;t ready to compete at the start of this season. To be blunt, he was awful and after one regular-season game, he earned a ticket to the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; International League farm team, the Peoria Rivermen.&ldquo;He was a big disappointment in training camp,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; coach Bob Berry. &ldquo;His heart wasn&rsquo;t in it. He was our hungriest player in our camp the year before. He wasn&rsquo;t alive in (this) camp.&rdquo;But Prokhorov, 26, came back to life in Peoria. In 19 games, he led the team with 13 goals and 23 points.He earned a promotion to the Blues Dec. 13 and scored goals in back-to-back wins over the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. Prokhorov credited his stay in Peoria for his new-found scoring touch.&ldquo;Peoria was good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I played a lot and had a chance to score goals. I got my game back. I did there what I know I can do here.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to play here.&rdquo;Prokhorov wants to prove he belongs in the NHL and justify the $400,000 per year that the Blues have been paying him since selecting him 64th overall in the 1992 entry draft.&ldquo;Before he went down, he said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll be back,&rsquo;&rdquo; said assistant coach Ted Sator. &ldquo;He went there with a real sense of commitment.&rdquo;&ldquo;I missed almost full year,&rdquo; Prokhorov said. &ldquo;Any player, if he loses one year, needs time on the ice to get his game back. Practice doesn&rsquo;t do it. Game does. Anyone. Even guys like (Mario) Lemieux and (Wayne) Gretzky need the time.&rdquo;BACK OUT: Phil Housley, who will undergo back surgery Jan. 4, is hoping to be back in the Blues&rsquo; lineup by mid-April, in time for the start of the playoffs.The defenseman will have the operation to repair a disc in his lower back that got progressively worse as he tried to rehabilitate it.&ldquo;I feel (terrible),&rdquo; Housley said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very disappointing. Coming to a new team, you really want to prove yourself, but this is a setback. At the same time, I feel good that I might be back by the end of the season-that&rsquo;s what I hope.&rdquo;&lsquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of mixed emotions,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; president Jack Quinn said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a setback, sure. He&rsquo;s such a highly skilled player. We were looking forward to using him for the entire season.&ldquo;But at the same time, it&rsquo;s a relief to know exactly what&rsquo;s wrong.&rdquo;In 13 games this season, Housley had seven goals and 11 points.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Brett Hull had three goals in the Blues&rsquo; 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers Dec. 19. It was his first hat trick of the season and his first since March 2, 1992. Hull did not score a hat trick all of last season&hellip;Goalie Curtis Joseph was on pace to shatter his league record of 2,202 shots faced, which he set last season. At their current pace, opponents will fire more than 2,500 shots at Joseph this, season.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Dec. 13: Tony Hrkac, C. and Nathan Lafayette. RW. assigned to Peoria (IHL). Vitali Prokhorov, LW, and Jim Montgomery, C, recalled from Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Craig Janney, Ron Sutter. Bob Bassen, Jim Montgomery.LW-Kevin Miller. Brendan Shanahan. Philippe Bozon, Vitali Prokhorov, Basil McRae.RW-Brett Hull. Igor Korolev, Vitali Karamnov, Kelly Chase.LD-Jeff Brown. Bret Hedican, Dan Laperriere.RD-Garth Butcher, Rick Zombo, Doug Crossman.G-Curtis Joseph. Jim Hnvnak.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Baron, D. groin pull, day to day. Phil Housley, D. herniated disc in lower back, indefinite. Tom Tilley, D, groin pull, day-to-day. &#9632;

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January 7, 1994

Gretzky proves he still has it

Duck promises to make splash

Melrose bemoans team’s tiny troops

FREEZE FRAME