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

April 8, 1994

The Hockey News April 8, 1994

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Matt Carlson</div>The Lake Superior State Lakers secured a spot in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament thanks to more than five games of flawless work by junior goaltender Blaine Lacher.Lacher stretched his record-breaking scoreless streak to 375:01 before Michigan&rsquo;s Brian Wiseman scored in the first period of the Wolverines&rsquo; 3-0 win the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament final.Lacher made 128 saves during the streak, lowered his goals-against average to 1.78 and easily broke a 40-year-old NCAA record (249:40) for the longest shutout string by a netminder. In total, the Medicine Hat, Alta., native posted five consecutive shutouts.He blanked Kent State twice to close out the regular season and whitewashed Ohio State twice in the first round of the playoffs. He then shut out the Michigan State Spartans in the CCHA semifinal before losing to the Wolverines.&ldquo;Blaine has made the saves he needed to make and then made some great saves,&rdquo; said coach Jeff Jackson. &ldquo;This is the way he is capable of playing.&rdquo;Lacher, 23, has had a tough year physically. The undrafted goaltender missed 14 games early in the season after tearing a hamstring muscle in his left leg. In January, he contracted chicken pox.&ldquo;I bounced back from the hamstring pretty well, but the chicken pox really slowed me down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The last few weeks are the first time I feel like I&rsquo;ve been in a regular routine.&rdquo;AWARD WINNERS: The 1993-94 CCHA all-star teams were announced. Included on the team: Michigan goaltender Steve Shields; Ferris State defenseman John Gruden; Bowling Green defenseman Jeff Wells; Michigan forwards David Oliver and Brian Wiseman; and Michigan State forward Anson Carter.The second team: Michigan State goalie Mike Buzak; Miami defenseman Bobby Marshall; Lake Superior State defenseman Keith Aldridge; Michigan State forward Steve Guolla; Michigan forward Mike Knuble; and Lake Superior State forward Clayton Beddoes. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

CCHA

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>On the 174th day of the NHL season, the New Jersey Devils accomplished the improbable and caught the New York Rangers for first-place overall with 99 points.Viacheslav Fetisov was in the Devils&rsquo; lineup for their neutral-site victory over the Quebec Nordiques at the Target Center in Minneapolis March 27, but for the veteran defenseman it was a bittersweet night.A few days before, coach Jacques Lemaire had explained to Fetisov that his playing time would be drastically cut down the stretch and in the playoffs.A career in which Fetisov captained the powerful Soviet teams and then pioneered the influx of Russians to the NHL is nearing its end.&ldquo;I told Slava I would be playing the kids because I want to see if they&rsquo;re good enough,&rdquo; said Lemaire, referring to 20-year-old Jason Smith and 23-year-old Jaroslav Modry.&ldquo;I told him I couldn&rsquo;t promise him when he would play or if he would play, but that I expected him to work hard in practice and be ready if 1 need him. If the kids are good enough, they are going to play. I&rsquo;m going to use my best players in the playoffs.&rdquo;It was a dart to Fetisov&rsquo;s big heart.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d agree if I played that bad. Then it would be a different story,&rdquo; said Fetisov, 35. &ldquo;He tried to explain the plan, but I still don&rsquo;t understand why. I&rsquo;m playing well.&rdquo;Until Lemaire decided to go with his young players, Fetisov had pla-tooned with Smith for 24 games between Jan. 26 and March 17. It was on that day that Modry was recalled from the Albany River Rats of the American League and the writing was on the wall for Fetisov.After 333 games with the Devils, Fetisov became an extra just as the team reached the high point in franchise history.Lemaire said Fetisov could be used in the playoffs in case of injury, but Fetisov said he is not the type of person who hopes for a chance to get back into the lineup at someone else&rsquo;s expense.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the kind of guy who waits for others to make mistakes. That&rsquo;s not my style,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been compared to the best players in the world. I don&rsquo;t sit and wait for somebody else to screw up.&rdquo;HARDWARE HOPEFULS: The Devils are hoping the best season in franchise history results in the Stanley Cup on the team level along with individual recognition.Jacques Lemaire is clearly a leading candidate for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, rookie goalie Martin Brodeur is challenging for the Calder Trophy as top freshman and Scott Stevens is making a spirited bid for the Norris Trophy as best defenseman with a league-leading plus-51 rating.Brodeur equaled the Devils&rsquo; franchise record for victories in one season (24 by Chris Terreri and Alain Chevrier) and led the Devils&rsquo; late-season charge with a 10-game undefeated streak.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Chris Terreri picked up his 100th career victory with a 7-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers March 26.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Corey Millen. Bernie Nicholls. Bobby Carpenter, Alexander Semak. Bobby Holik.LW&ndash;Valeri Zelepukin, Claude Lemieux, Tom Chorske, Mike Peluso.RW&mdash;Bill Guerin, Stephane Richer. John MacLean. Randy McKay.LD&ndash;Scott Stevens. Bruce Driver, Tommy Albelin, Viacheslav Fetisov.RD&ndash;Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer. Jason Smith, Jaroslav Modry.G&ndash;Martm Brodeur. Chris Terreri.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Veteran Fetisov not thrilled to be spare part

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02493/6080245-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Andy Baggot</div>Colorado College coach Don Lucia had planned a small celebration for his players to commemorate the Tigers&rsquo; first National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament bid since 1957.But when the seeds for the 12-team event were announced March 20, the Tigers were not included. It is believed to be the first time in Western Collegiate Hockey Association history a first-place team has been passed over for the NCAA tournament.Lucia was stunned and angry. &ldquo;There was no question in my mind that we were in,&rdquo; he said.The fact the Tigers (23-11-5) had come out of nowhere to win their first-ever WCHA regular-season title apparently failed to carry enough weight with the four-man selection committee.What ultimately did was the fact CC was upset in the first round of the league playoffs. Last-place Michigan Tech, armed with standout goaltender Jamie Ram, won the best-of-three series even though it was outshot 151-69.The selection committee consists of Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley, Boston University coach Jack Parker, Bowling Green athletic director Jack Gregory and St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh.Minnesota and Wisconsin, teams that finished behind CC during the regular season, were the only WCHA teams invited.Lucia said Comley, who chairs the committee, told him March 19 that Colorado College would be invited if Minnesota defeated St. Cloud State in the WCHA playoff championship game. The Gophers won in overtime 32. Comley said, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s 100 per cent not true. (Colorado College) was on the bubble.&rdquo;Lucia is also upset with the new Rating Percentage Index, which is compiled by incorporating winning percentage of a team with that of its opponents. Aside from winning the league tour-nament championship, the index is the top criterium used by the committee to determine NCAA tournament seeds.The Tigers were on the outskirts of the top 12 before the selections, mainly because of a weak non-conference schedule that included Air Force and Kent State. &#9632;

WCHA

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06294/6078903-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="383" height="489"></div>There are few things left for Paul Kariya to accomplish outside the NHL. One of them will enable him to become a true driving force behind the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.Kariya, 19, plans on obtaining his driver&rsquo;s license this summer.Bad experiences in car accidents have made him reluctant to learn how to drive, but the time has come for him to prove he can handle traffic off the ice as well as on it.Kariya is one of the most exciting NHL prospects in years. Only contract gridlock has kept him from the Ducks this season. The 1993 fourth overall pick will not play in Anaheim this season, but is expected to represent Canada at the World Championships in Milan.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be playing (in Anaheim) and they&rsquo;d like to have me there,&rdquo; Kariya says, &ldquo;but this is the way things go. I knew what I was getting into when I started negotiating. I understand that aspect of hockey.&rdquo;He was one of Canada&rsquo;s premier players at the Olympics. He is preparing for another potential role in the national spotlight by playing road hockey in suburban Vancouver, working out at the Burnaby Winter Club and becoming ambidextrous.The left-shooting Kariya wants to improve his shot from the right.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty good with cross-ice passes,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I can one-time it hard and accurately. The stickhandling is giving me trouble.&rdquo;Kariya has been compared to Wayne Gretzky because of similar playmaking vision and a tendency to work from behind the goal. He figures right-shot skills will expand his options on wrap-around scoring efforts to his right from behind the goal line.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier to come out if you switch hands and you can get those junk goals,&rdquo; Kariya says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quicker (on your forehand). Or a one-timer is easier. It&rsquo;s hard to one-time a backhand, it&rsquo;s almost impossible.&rdquo; Kariya is emerging as one of the game&rsquo;s more imaginative thinkers and is sure to be something of a role model for 21st-century NHLers. He is smart, small and sure of himself.It&rsquo;s expected the 5-foot-10,165-pound left winger will play in the NHL next season, but other options include playing in Europe, the International League or Japan, where his ancestry has made him a big star.Odds are he will be with the Mighty Ducks. Neither Anaheim general manager Jack Ferreira, nor Kariya&rsquo;s agent, Don Baizley, will talk about dollars. Some have speculated Kariya wants as much as $2 million in his first year.Whether that is true, it may not be in the Mighty Ducks&rsquo; best interests to sign Kariya now. They have the second choice in the 1994 entry draft and would face a substantial ripple effect if they signed Kariya to a big salary before this year&rsquo;s higher pick.In the meantime, Kariya skates alone-a man for all teams.He wears a Team Canada helmet, Penticton Knights&rsquo; sweater, Anaheim gloves. University of Maine pants and Japanese socks. Kariya played for Penticton in the British Columbia Jr. League three years ago and his brother, Steven, will likely play there next season.Kariya is past the disappointment of missing his final shot of the Olympic shootout while Peter Forsberg scored with a move for the ages. But he is determined to learn from it. &ldquo;Forsberg&rsquo;s goal was just unbelievable,&rdquo; Kariya said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to get a goaltender so I can work on some breakaway moves.&rdquo;One of Kariya&rsquo;s heroes, Gretzky, needs work on breakaways, too. Kariya got chills watching him score No. 802 on television. Count on this in years to come: It will be NHL defensemen breaking into cold sweats when Kariya approaches&hellip;from the left or right. &#9632;

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Mightiest Duckling prepares for debut

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011511/6078979-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="364" height="367"></div>When NHL general managers wanted to open more ice for the league&rsquo;s skilled players, they called for a mid-season crackdown on restraining fouls. The main targets were holding the stick, interference, goalie interference and boarding. The enforcement took effect Feb. 11. Since tightening the belt, interference calls rose from just under one per game to 1.63 in the first 236 games. That&rsquo;s an increase of 81 per cent. Holding-the-stick calls were up 44 per cent; goalie interference 26 and boarding 20 per cent. Interestingly, the crackdown hasn&rsquo;t led to a rise in scoring. An average of 6.4 goals per game were scored prior to Feb. 11. Since that time, the mark has slipped to 6.3. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy the officials reacted in the manner they were asked to,&rdquo; said Bryan Lewis, the NHL&rsquo;s director of officiating. &ldquo;I would have been equally pleased if penalties went down because it would indicate players fell in line with what we hoped to accomplish.&rdquo; Typically, players are divided. San Jose Sharks&rsquo; captain Bob Errey feels the crackdown was a result of owners who were frustrated with the success of recent expansion teams-the Ottawa Senators excepted. The result? In their first 21 games after the enforcement, the first-year Florida Panthers went 8-10-3 (.452 winning percentage). They had a.528 winning percentage prior to the crackdown. The best team since the rules were applied more strictly has been the Pittsburgh Penguins (13-6-2), perhaps the most talented squad in the league. New York Islander left winger Steve Thomas, meanwhile, said the officials have been consistent. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve noticed the rise in interference calls, but the refs have been consistent in their calls,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;Usually they crack down for five games and then things return to the way they were before.&rdquo;&hellip;Two savages were recalled to the NHL from the American League the same day. Brian Savage was summoned to the Montreal Canadiens from the Fredericton Canadiens and Frank Bialowas was promoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs from St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs. Bialowas had 352 penalty minutes in 69 games&hellip;The record book will say Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s all-time goals record was set March 23. But for those of us in the East, it took place in the early hours of March 24&hellip;Peterborough Petes&rsquo; general manager Jeff Twohey on 6-foot-5, 225-pound enforcer Matt Johnson whose stock has dropped in the eyes of many scouts: &ldquo;If Matt played for a top team like North Bay and had the exact same numbers (13 goals, 37 points and 233 penalty minutes in 50 games), he&rsquo;d be a first-round draft choice.&rdquo; The hulking left winger, reputed to be the best fighter in the Ontario League, was ranked 79th among North American prospects in January a for the 1994 NHL entry draft&hellip;A different approach was all it took for Paul Coffey&rsquo;s season to be turned in the right direction. At the start of the season the Detroit Red Wings played the standout defenseman and his partner Nicklas Lidstrom predominantly with the third and fourth lines. Result: Coffey collected two goals and six points in Detroit&rsquo;s first 17 games-he missed four with injury-and his plus-minus was a season low minus-9. Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman began using the pair with the team&rsquo;s No. 1 and 2 lines and Coffey&rsquo;s numbers swelled. After 69 games, he had nine goals, 64 points and had improved to plus-21. &ldquo;Paul is such a great skater and puck carrier when he joins the play with offensive forwards he&rsquo;s able to generate more scoring chances,&rdquo; said Detroit general manager Bryan Murray&hellip; The Toronto Maple Leafs have never been more popular. So popular, in fact, the Leafs&rsquo; booster club has stopped accepting new members for this season. Club president Jackie Middleton formed the club last season and it now has more than 1,000 members, some from as far away as Japan, Germany and England. &ldquo;People who loved the Leafs for years are coming out of the closet,&rdquo; Middleton said&hellip;An NHL executive suggests the Winnipeg Jets were crazy giving up two players &ldquo;who will play 10 years in the NHL&rdquo; and a first-round draft choice for tough defenseman Dave Manson, &ldquo;who will likely play just three years for them.&rdquo; But another executive defends the Jets. &ldquo;If they didn&rsquo;t do something this season they would sell just 5,000 tickets next season and the team would be gone,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;(Jets&rsquo; GM) John Paddock isn&rsquo;t concerned about 10 years from now; he&rsquo;s concerned about the team&rsquo;s immediate future and his job.&rdquo;&hellip;In just two seasons the Senators have lost 125 games. In 14 seasons, the original Senators lost 165.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021357/6078972-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="384" height="553"><figcaption class="caption-body">No. of post-season awards won by Marcel Dionne: Five.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031144/6078965-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="1152" height="1746"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey has been a big plus for Detroit after a sluggish start.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04947/6078958-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="388" height="556"><figcaption class="caption-body">No. of Canadian Juno Awards won by singer Celine Dion: six.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Infractions up, scoring down

Bryan Murray is afraid of going on a road trip and not coming home during the playoffs.It&rsquo;s new the 2-3-2 post-season format that has the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; general manager concerned.&ldquo;You could finish in first place, lose one of your first two playoff games at home, go on the road and not come back again,&rdquo; Murray said.The 2-3-2 format only comes into play if and when a Central Division team meets a Pacific Division team in this season&rsquo;s playoffs. The league established the format to make travel easier for teams in time zones with a three hour difference.The higher-seeded team has the option of playing Games 1 and 2 and, if necessary. 6 and 7 at home or opening on the road for two games and playing Games 3, 4 and, if necessary, 5 at home.All other series will be the traditional 22-1-1-1 formal with the higher ranking team opening at home.The playoffs begin April 17 with the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The Western Conference quarterfinals start the following day. The playoffs could run as late as June 14.If the post-season opened March 25, Murray&rsquo;s Red Wings would be safe. They would have faced the St. Louis Blues. But. the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks would have been first-round opponents. Enter the 2-3-2.The four division regular-season champions will be ranked in the first two positions in their respective conferences-the team with the most number of points in the regular season is seeded first-with the remaining teams from both conferences ranked third to eighth based on points.The rankings hold through the first three rounds, with the higher ranked team getting home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup final.There are three tie breaking methods. They are, in order:&#9633; Wins.&#9633; Head-to-head competition. If two teams are tied and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that has the extra game won&rsquo;t be included. If more than two teams are tied, the highest winning percentage in games among those teams will determine the standing.&#9633; Goals for and against differential. &#9632;

POST-SEASON ROAD TO RUIN

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>The lawyer for the man arrested with attempted grand larceny in connection with threats made to Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; star Alexander Mogilny claims the whole incident is a misunderstanding.Sergei Fomitjov, who helped Mogilny defect from the former Soviet Union in 1989, was charged after Mogilny said a man threatened to shoot and stab him if he didn&rsquo;t pay him $150,000. Fomitjov&rsquo;s attorney, Robert Riordan, said his client was looking for a loan.&ldquo;He needed some money and he went to his best friend and asked if he could borrow it,&rdquo; Riordan said. &ldquo;There never was any threat.&rdquo;Fomitjov, 30, was originally arrested under the name Segey Pavlovsky. Vyacheslav Petechel, 37, reported to be a friend of Fomitjov, was arrested and charged with trespassing. Fomitjov was also charged with trespassing after both men were arrested in Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium.Mogilny, who reported the threat and then went into seclusion, missed the Sabres&rsquo; 6-3 win March 25 over the Hartford Whalers. He returned after the two men were taken into custody and played March 27 in a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders.Mogilny was not eager to talk about the incident, but did say it is &ldquo;a part of life&rdquo; and not a very enjoyable one. He also said he did not owe Fomitjov money and had not seen him for some time.According to police reports, the threat took place after a morning practice at Sabreland in Wheatfield, N.Y. Mogilny observed he had been followed from the practice site to a nearby restaurant where he was confronted by a man.Mogilny phoned police from the home of a friend and reported the threat. The pair was taken into custody while awaiting Mogilny outside the Sabres&rsquo; dressing room after the Hartford game. The two men, who entered the building illegally, were unarmed, according to police.The Sabres&rsquo; winger was under police protection at that time.Petechel, who has not been charged in the alleged extortion incident, reportedly has overstayed his visa by two years and was handed over to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Fomitjov was in jail in Amherst, N.Y., after Justice Sam Maislin ordered him held on $100,000 bail. An arraignment hearing was set for March 30. Both men gave Brooklyn, N.Y., addresses to authorities.Fomitjov put Mogilny in touch with then-Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan in 1989 and lived with Mogilny during his first months in America.Fomitjov was reportedly paid $80,000 by the Sabres for his help in securing Mogilny. When asked if Fomitjov is a friend, Mogilny said, &ldquo;He was just a business partner.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been given assurances that nothing was owed and no promises were broken on (Mogilny&rsquo;s) end,&rdquo; said Meehan, the Sabres&rsquo; executive vicepresident.Meehan said the incident &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t seem to be related to other alleged extortion demands made against players from the former Soviet Union.&rdquo; He said that in the opinion of league officials, this was an isolated incident.Dennis Cunningham, the NHL&rsquo;s director of security, also investigated the incident. &#9632;

Mogilny suspect said he asked for loan

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>NHL governors have approved the implementation of a weighted drawing for the 1995 draft But whether the measure is necessary depends on which owner you askNew Jersey Devils&rsquo; chairman John McMullen said the plan, approved at a board of governors meeting March 25 in New York, is a step in the right direction.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen a number of suspicions incidents,&rdquo; said McMullen, whose team finislied behind the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1984 and lost the chance to draft Mario Lemieux.&ldquo;I think the probability of a last-place team getting the No. 1 choice is still reasonably high.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s much ado about nothing,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; owner Howard Baldwin. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any team in their right mind has gone into the tank.&rdquo;The weighted drawing or lottery, first reported in The Hockey News Feb. 25, provides the team with the worst record a 45 percent chance ot&rsquo; choosing first overall.An initiative of NHL commissioner Gary&rsquo; Bettman, the lottery system was imported from the National Basketball Association with some important modifications.Unlike the NBA, where any one of 11 teams in the draft pool can win the No. I choice, no team can move up more than four positions in the NHL draft order.That means only one of the five worst non-playoff teams can be awarded the No I choice The team with the worst regular-season record can draft no lower than second.The top three draft choices are distributed through a lottery in the NBA. The NHL draw provides for just one team moving up in draft order. Only non-playoff was participate.Although the NHL did not release detail* on how the drawing will be conducted, non-playoff teams will be seeded one through 10 in inverse order of regular-reason finish.The first seed has a 30 percent chance of having its number selected.Since the bottom five teams can&rsquo;t choose first, the No. I seed has a 45 percent chance of picking first its own chance and the combined 15 percent chance of the bottom five seeds.The second team has a 21 percent chance of getting the first choice and the third team has a 15.1 percent chance. Teams four and five own 10.9 and eight percent chances.The chances of winning the lottery-and thus moving up four spots in the draft-for the bottom five teams in the draw are: No. 6 (5.9 per cent); No. 7 (4.2); No. 8 (2.8); No. 9 (1.6); No. 10 (0.5).The selection process reverts to inverse order of regular-season points after the first round.Allegations have arisen teams have tanked games to ensure finishing last and drafting first overall.I think it&rsquo;s more of a perception problem,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;(The new system) protects teams with die worst records, but removes even the possible perception teams might have a reason to lose.&rdquo;The owners also discussed the Feb. 17 court loss to a group of veteran players seeking the return of pension money. The players were awarded more than $40 million. The NHL has until April 18 Io appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Bettman would not say what the league plans to do.Baldwin said he will abide by the league&rsquo;s decision, but if it were up to him, he&rsquo;d pay the ex-players. &ldquo;J think enough is enough&rdquo; Baldwin said. &#9632;

NHL adopts draft lottery

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>A member of the Central League&rsquo;s Oklahoma Blazers is anxious for the truth to come out about his part in an ugly incident during a game with the Tulsa Oilers.Defenseman Bruce Shoebottom sustained a serious neck injury after being wrestled to the ground in the penalty box by Tulsa police during the first period of a March 23 game.&ldquo;I am very concerned about the whole situation,&rdquo; Shoebottom said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m married with a daughter and this doesn&rsquo;t reflect well on me. I look forward to when my side of the story can be told.&rdquo;He said he was advised by his lawyer James Brandon not to discuss the incident. The Tulsa District Attorney&rsquo;s office hadn&rsquo;t decided whether to lay charges against the player.Shoebottom was serving a minor penalty and 10-minute misconduct when he got into an argument with Tulsa player Mike MacWilliam, who was on his way to the Oilers&rsquo; penalty box.Shoebottom, 28, attempted to leave the penalty box to get at MacWilliam, but was restrained by off-ice official Guy Smith.A police officer stationed in the penalty box intervened and signalled for more help. Nine other officers at the game came to the area as well as 22 officers who were on duty, but not at the game.Shoebottom was allegedly put in a choke hold and lost consciousness. He was taken to a Tulsa hospital and released March 26, still complaining of a severe headache and some paralysis down the left side of his body.Original reports said Shoebottom was sprayed with pepper spray, but the police denied it was used and doctors found no trace of the substance on him.Shoebottom said he won&rsquo;t play again this season.&ldquo;How can I skate when I can barely walk?&rdquo; Shoebottom said.UNION DUES: The NHL Players&rsquo; Association has launched a lawsuit against 10 Canadian retailers who sell jerseys bearing an NHL player&rsquo;s name.The union claims the use of a player&rsquo;s name belongs to it and is demanding a $5 fee for the sale of every customized sweater. It is seeking damages for lost revenues that could reach $1 million.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want a war,&rdquo; said NHL-PA licensing director Ted Saskin, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re going to do what is necessary to protect our rights.&rdquo;NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league will study the NHLPA lawsuit before deciding what to do.Nine of the 10 merchandising outlets named in the suit are located in Toronto. One of them is Leafsport, a store owned and operated out of Maple Leaf Gardens by the Toronto Maple Leafs.Maple Leafs&rsquo; spokesman Bob Stellick said any response to the lawsuit would come through the NHL.The NHL has already launched a lawsuit to protect American outlets and suppliers who deal in personalized jerseys. The union says it plans to donate licensing revenues to its former player assistance fund.RATINGS UP: Ratings for the first NHL games on ABC this season were up marginally over 1992-93.The league averaged an overnight rating of 1.8 for games March 27. Last year&rsquo;s average for five Sundays of playoff games on ABC was 1.7.A total of 1.67 million U.S. households watched four regional broadcasts, including a marquee game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.While a 1.8 rating is still a low figure-the NBA averaged 5.8 on NBC last season-some are forecasting better results for the NHL this time around.&ldquo;There has been a little buildup with the Wayne Gretzky (career NHL goals) record and some trades to keep the sport in the public eye,&rdquo; said television analyst John Mansell.The games are produced by ESPN crews and broadcasters.Here is a schedule for the final two weeks of the regular season. All times are EST.April 3: Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins; St. Louis Blues at Detroit; Dallas Stars at Washington Capitals (all at 1:05 p.m.); Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings (3:05 p.m.).April 10: New York Rangers at Islanders; Los Angeles at Chicago; Dallas at St. Louis; Boston at Philadelphia Flyers (all at 1:05 p.m.).The network will broadcast conference semifinal playoff games April 17 and 24 and conference semifinals May 1.In Canada, meanwhile, a new five-year agreement is expected between the NHL and current rightsholder, Molson Breweries.CHALLENGE CUP: The Winnipeg Jets will travel to Helsinki, Finland, in early September to take part in a four-game tournament with three Finnish professional teams.The Jets and Jokerit of the Finnish Elite League were the only two participants named in late March.Two of the Jets&rsquo; biggest stars are Finns-right winger Teemu Selanne and Teppo Numminen. &#9632;

Minor leaguer lands in hospital after brawl

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011603/6079113-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky was joined on the ice by parents, Walter and Phyllis, far left, when play was halted to celebrate Gretzky&rsquo;s historic goal.</figcaption></div>INGLEWOOD, Calif.-Stretched out in matching black shirt and long underwear, the most striking thing about Wayne Gretzky is his size.He&rsquo;s not that small.After nearly two decades of watching him skate all scrunched up, it&rsquo;s easy to forget Gretzky is six feet tall.When he sat down, rested his legs on a counter and contemplated hockey&rsquo;s most distinguished career, he was like a cat stretching to its full length.Never has Gretzky stood so tall as March 23 when he established the league&rsquo;s most important individual record with the 802nd goal of his NHL career.&ldquo;You have always been The Great One,&rdquo; said league commissioner Gary Bettman, &ldquo;but tonight you became the greatest.&rdquo;There was never any doubt.Gretzky, 33, has always been larger than life. But it took a second-period, power-play goal against Vancouver Canuck Kirk McLean to further inflate Gretzky&rsquo;s status and fill him with his greatest sense of accomplishment.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever had a moment when I felt like that,&rdquo; Gretzky said.Nor has the NHL.The game was stopped and a 10minute ceremony marked Gretzky&rsquo;s passing of Gordie Howe on the alltime goal list.A sellout crowd of 16,005-including Oscar-winner Tom Hanks-saluted Gretzky with a thunderous ovation.Hollywood wasn&rsquo;t out in full force, but in the aftermath Mary Hart leaned against a corridor wall and Goldie Hawn sashayed past the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; dressing room, singing, &ldquo;Oh, what a night.&rdquo;One GH standing in for another?Gordie Howe, as promised, didn&rsquo;t join a league caravan and follow Gretzky around California as The Great One played seven straight games in The Golden State.The 66-year-old hockey legend was in Traverse City, Mich., staying up past midnight to watch the game on television and witness the fall of his goal mark.&ldquo;Shake his hand for me,&rdquo; Howe said during the third period. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long reach from here.&rdquo;Kings&rsquo; left winger Luc Robitaille and defenseman Marty McSorley earned assists on the historic goal. Robitaille carried the puck into the Kings&rsquo; zone and dropped the puck to Gretzky. No. 99 passed right to a late-arriving McSorley, who responded in kind with a return feed through the slot.McLean was a prisoner of momentum, stranded on the left side of his crease.&ldquo;When I got (the puck) back, I saw the whole net,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe I saw it.&rdquo;One person stood in the way of hockey immortality. Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Gerald Diduck was the last line of defense, the only person with a chance to stop Gretzky&rsquo;s one-timer.&ldquo;I almost got a whack at it, but he put it in,&rdquo; Diduck said. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;ll be in the Hall of Fame forever.&rdquo;The NHL gave Gretzky a bound volume containing official scoresheets of every game in which he scored a goal.Gretzky came full circle with the goal. His first was also scored against the Vancouver Canucks, Oct. 14, 1979 on Glen Hanlon. Hanlon is now the Canucks&rsquo; goalie coach, but did not accompany the team to Los Angeles.No. 99 said this record is tops among the 61 league marks he holds.&ldquo;By far,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is no comparison. The ones that are the best are the hardest ones to break. Somebody is going to have to play 16 years at 50 goals a year.&ldquo;That may happen. I think records are made to be broken. People like (Teemu) Selanne, (Sergei) Fedorov and (Eric) Lindros, if he stays healthy; those three guys have a strong chance.&rdquo;He is being kind. All three, even Lindros, are well off Gretzky&rsquo;s early-career pace.The record has been compared to everything from Hank Aaron&rsquo;s 715th home run to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s basketball points record to Walter Payton&rsquo;s football rushing mark.It belongs in a class of its own.The sheer speed with which Gretzky erased the third of Howe&rsquo;s major career offensive records (goals, assists and points) is the final piece of evidence No. 99 is the most statistically dominant athlete in the history of North American professional sport.Gretzky scored 802 goals in 650 fewer regular-season games than it took Howe to score 801 (1,117 to 1,767).Still, Gretzky isn&rsquo;t sure how the record ranks with those in Major League Baseball, National Football League and National Basketball Association.&ldquo;It probably depends on where you live,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Up in Canada, it might be up there with those records, but down here, it&rsquo;s probably lower on the totem pole.&rdquo;The miracle is not Howe many goals Gretzky has scored, but Howe he has scored them.His first instinct has always been to pass, he doesn&rsquo;t strike fear into the hearts of goalies with the strength of his shot and the only thing overpowering about the lean scoring machine is his determination.Gretzky doesn&rsquo;t rank himself among the game&rsquo;s purest goal-scorers. New York Islanders&rsquo; great Mike Bossy was better in his estimation.So is longtime teammate Jari Kurri.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m better on breakaways, for sure,&rdquo; Kurri said, poking fun at No. 99&rsquo;s showdown shortcomings.How, then, has Gretzky scored all those goals?&ldquo;He finds a spot,&rdquo; Kurri said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a head-up shooter. There are a lot of guys who just put their heads down and shoot.&rdquo;Gretzky seldom buries goals. He deposits them past befuddled goalies, who are more likely to face backhanders and short slapshots than wrist shots.&ldquo;My stick&rsquo;s not designed to snap the puck like that,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;My stick is designed more for passes, taking passes, slapshots and backhands.&rdquo;Gretzky is a more dangerous playmaker than finisher, but holds the most improbable scoring record of all: fastest 50 goals, 39 games in 1981-82.Goal 802 completed Gretzky&rsquo;s triple jump past Howe. He had already passed Howe in career assists and points.Gretzky is aiming for his 10th scoring championship, but said it wouldn&rsquo;t be &ldquo;cool&rdquo; to win another Art Ross Trophy if the Kings don&rsquo;t make the playoffs.What&rsquo;s next for Gretzky?A Stanley Cup in Los Angeles is the first priority.But Gretzky has two more years to run on a contract valued at $25.5 million over three seasons and has not ruled out playing beyond the 1995-96 season.Within his grasp are two unimagineable milestones: 900 goals and 1,851 assists (one more than Howe has NHL points).Gretzky considered retirement last summer after returning from a serious back injury to lead Los Angeles to the Stanley Cup final, but he is back with renewed vigor.&ldquo;When I first got hurt last year and they told me I wasn&rsquo;t going to play,&rdquo; Gretzky said, &ldquo;a couple of my friends immediately thought, &lsquo;You gotta come back because of the 801.&rsquo;&ldquo;I never really thought about it when I was told I probably wouldn&rsquo;t play again. I just said, &lsquo;Well, I&rsquo;ll finish second, but there&rsquo;s nothing I can do about it.&rsquo;&ldquo;When I started coming back and played so poorly at the beginning I didn&rsquo;t know what was going to happen. I think when I had the playoff run and we played well in the playoffs, I knew I was going to give it a good shot at 800.&rdquo;The history-making goal against the Canucks was his 1,044th regular season and playoff goal since joining Sault St. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario League and, at least, the 2,204th since his rookie season as a six-year-old (1967-68).He scored 70 with the Greyhounds to run away with OHL rookie-of-the-year honors. The only major NHL award to elude him is the Calder Trophy, which goes to the NHL&rsquo;s top first-year player.Gretzky shared the league scoring lead with Marcel Dionne that season, but wasn&rsquo;t eligible for the Calder because he was a WHA refugee.Ray Bourque was voted top rookie.NHL logic is somewhat flawed. The league considered the WHA good enough to deny Gretzky the Calder, but not good enough to count Howe&rsquo;s goals.Most believe, though, the NHL erred 15 years ago, not this season by ruling Howe&rsquo;s goals inadmissable evidence.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011451/6079106-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="516" height="527"></div>Howe thinks the WHA was separate but equal because they paid comparable salaries to the NHL.Few others do.A more plausible footnote to Gretzky&rsquo;s latest record is he scored his goals during an inflationary period in NHL scoring.Gretzky said there should be an asterisk beside his record number of goals because his were scored in a different and higher-scoring era than Howe&rsquo;s.He said Howe would have scored many more goals had he played now.As for Gretzky, 99 more goals would propel him past 900, his newest target.&ldquo;Tell him I think he&rsquo;s cutting his goals a little short,&rdquo; Howe said from Traverse City. &ldquo;He could get 1,000. He&rsquo;s a young man, yet. The older he gets, the tougher it will be to leave the game.&rdquo;Gretzky was grateful for the words from him boyhood idol.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a long way to go to 1,000,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll take it one step at a time. I&rsquo;ll shoot for 900 for now.&rdquo;Does he look forward to many more years in the NHL?&ldquo;The more you play,&rdquo; Gretzky said, &ldquo;the more you realize you&rsquo;re closer to the end. When you&rsquo;re young, you think there are so many more things in life you want to do, other things you want to accomplish.&ldquo;But when you get older, the biggest thing of all is you just want to play hockey. My life is hockey.&rdquo;The Hockey News802The Hockey fem marks Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s record 802nd goal with 20-page pullout in center &#9632;

f0006-01

THE GREATEST ONE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02971/6079144-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-02

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><h2>Great One now the Goal King</h2>1. 802 and counting. L.A. King Wayne Gretzky tops Gordie Howe&rsquo;s NHL goal record with 802.2. Mr. Zero. Lake Superior State goalie Blaine Lacher posts four consecutive shutouts.3. Mr. Consistency. Toronto right winger Mike Gartner scores 30 goals for 15 straight season.4. Dazzling debut. Florida Panthers set expansion record with 32nd victory.5. Players of week. Boston&rsquo;s Adam Oates, 10 points; New Jersey&rsquo;s Scott Stevens, five points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03644/6079175-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="578" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blaine Lacher</figcaption></div><h2>Whalers&rsquo; party way too hearty</h2>1. Whale of a party. Six Hartford players, assistant coach busted in early morning barroom bash.2. Tampa Bay Lightning. Winless in nine, playoff hopes fading fast.3. Hex of temper tantrum. Islander goalie Ron Hextall mugs Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Danton Cole.4. Shades of Tonya Harding. Vancouver&rsquo;s Sergio Momesso tries to kneecap Ranger Joey Kocur.5. Evgeny Davydov. Ottawa forward shoves linesman after disallowed goal. &#9632;

f0007-03

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011474/6079206-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Captain Brian Skrudland is enjoying a rare injury-free season. (JIM LEARY/BBS)</figcaption></div>The Florida Panthers are on the verge of becoming the best expansion team in the history of North American pro sports.No expansion team in any sport has ever posted a.500 record in its first season, but the Panthers could be the first, thanks to grit, guile and goaltending. They have already broken the expansion points record of 73 held by the 1967-68 Philadelphia Flyers and 1979-80 Hartford Whalers.Indeed, the Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were given access to better players than were the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning a year earlier. But the Panthers have also acquired talent and character in players such as Bob Kudelski, Stu Barnes and Mike Foligno without gutting their roster or giving up their future.Here are the five main reasons why, entering the final weeks of the season, the Panthers were in position to finish above.500 and make the playoffs.1. Guts. &ldquo;We knew we were going to lose some games,&rdquo; said general manager Bob Clarke. &ldquo;What we wanted was players who wanted to win all the more after a loss.&rdquo;To find them, the Panthers did extensive research before selecting players in the expansion draft. They spoke to anybody, from former teammates to coaches who handled long-departed players in junior, to assess potential recruits. &ldquo;We found out everything that was legal to find out,&rdquo; said assistant coach Craig Ramsay.The Panthers&rsquo; criteria: heart first, talent a close second, age third.&ldquo;You look at guys like Keith Brown (33), Brian Skrudland (31), Dave Lowry (29),&rdquo; said Foligno, a spry 35-year-old. &ldquo;There are a lot of guys who at one point of their careers have been first-string players and who know how to win.&rdquo;2. Goaltending. The new expansion-draft format gave the Panthers the luxury of selecting two quality goaltenders. John Vanbiesbrouck has developed into a Hart Trophy candidate while backup Mark Fitzpatrick is providing stellar relief.&ldquo;If we make the playoffs, John has to be MVP,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;He won games singlehandedly.&rdquo;3. Clutch performances. Two games were important building blocks to this season&rsquo;s success. The Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in their first visit to the Forum Nov. 10. &ldquo;At that moment, we got a lot of confidence,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said.Scott Mellanby&rsquo;s last-minute goal against the Vancouver Canucks March 7 gave the Panthers a 2-1 win and more importantly, ended a streak of eight losses in nine games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d never seen a team so happy,&rdquo; Neilson of the Vancouver win. &ldquo;The dressing room was like a junior team.&rdquo;4. The neutral-zone trap. Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Bums said playing Florida reminds him of his youth.&ldquo;If you can remember trying to get through a barbed-wire fence when you were a kid with baggy pants and a big wool sweater,&rdquo; Bums said, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s like.&rdquo;No one plays the suffocating trap better than the Panthers. Clarke said his team would be mad not to use the passive defensive strategy.&ldquo;It means fewer injuries, less wear and tear on your players and you win more,&rdquo; he said.Because forwards don&rsquo;t forecheck as intensely there is less chance for them to get hurt.Skrudland, who hasn&rsquo;t played a full season since 1987-88, has been injury free while Mellanby, also a frequent injury scratch in recent seasons, missed just four of the team&rsquo;s first 73 games.Aside from Jesse Belanger&rsquo;s 13 games on the sidelines and the seven games Vanbiesbrouck missed with a hand injury, the team&rsquo;s pivotal players have remained healthy.5. Coaching. Neilson, who is with his sixth NHL team, is a master of preparation and his defensive system makes the Panthers extremely hard to beat when they get a lead.Despite a dearth of scorers, the Panthers scored first in 48 of 73 games. They were 29-11-8 (.688 winning percentage) when they did.&ldquo;Roger has been just right,&rdquo; Foligno said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t need a general on this team, you need a guy who forgives. He has done that and he has made every guy want to conform to the way we have to play.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

THE FLORIDA .500

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021046/6079237-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="297" height="379"></div>If Florida is expansion heaven, then Ottawa is expansion hell.Nobody knows that better than Craig Billington, goaltender and human sacrifice for the Senators.Life isn&rsquo;t much fun for the goalie with the most losses and worst save percentage in the NHL. This is the same guy who played in the 1992 All-Star Game, representing the New Jersey Devils.Only Bill Ranford of the Edmonton Oilers has allowed more goals, but at least Ranford can take comfort in knowing his team just might be headed in the right direction. There&rsquo;s no telling when the Senators, who have burned as much rubber spinning their wheels as Billington has faced, might approach respectability.&ldquo;I tell myself every day I&rsquo;m a great goalie,&rdquo; Billington said. &ldquo;I know that sounds corny, but I have to do it. And I have to believe it, too. If I don&rsquo;t and I looked at my numbers. I&rsquo;d go crazy. If there&rsquo;s a book on positive thinking out there I haven&rsquo;t read. I&rsquo;d love to get my hands on it.&rdquo;The 26-year-old London. Ont., native is in the ninth year of a checkered career. Billington might have suspected it would not be a conventional one when, as a 19-year-old, he played 18 games with the Devils and was sent to finish the season with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Belleville Bulls.Billington split the following season between New Jersey and the Maine Mariners of the American League. He was predominantly a minor leaguer until two seasons ago when he cracked the Devils&rsquo; lineup as Chris Terreri&rsquo;s backup. Last season he and Terreri split the games, but Billington was traded to the Senators in June along with Troy Mallette and a draft choice for goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz and Mike Peluso.The two goalies involved in the swap shared a dressing room a few months earlier playing for the Wales Conference in the All-Star Game. Billington remembers feeling sorry for Sidorkiewicz who led the league with 46 losses last season.&ldquo;I used to look at him whenever we played Ottawa and think I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be in his shoes&hellip;or skates,&rdquo; Billington said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think other goalies feel sorry for me, but they empathize with my situation.&rdquo;Billington could best be described as the perfect tabletop hockey goalie: the kind who stands firm and moves from sidc-to-side. He plays the classic stand-up style, like his heroes Jacques Plante and Bernie Parent, remaining on his feet as much as possible.&ldquo;Craig has been great this season,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; assistant coach E. J. McGuire. &ldquo;I remark at his ability to refocus and reload after losses.&rdquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been all torture this season. There was the memorable night, Dec. 13 in Ottawa, when Billington made 39 saves beating the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 in a game carried nationally on Canadian television.Billington earns $300,000 (U.S.) this season and will make the same in his option year next season. After that, he stands to become a free agent without compensation because he would be a 10-year pro earning less than the NHL average salary. And he&rsquo;ll only be 28. Are NHL general managers paying close enough attention to his performance so his bad numbers won&rsquo;t cloud their interest?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m banking on it.&rdquo; Billington said.Billington avoids looking too far ahead, preferring to remain focused on his next game which, when wc talked, happened to be the night before he faced league&rsquo;s highest-scoring team-the Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;They tell me I have to look out for No. 19,&rdquo; Billington said. &ldquo;Or is that 91?&rdquo;Billington held both Steve Yzer-man and Sergei Fedorov goal-less as the Senators upset the Wings 5-4. despite being outshot 41-15.And Billington finally had a peaceful night&rsquo;s sleep. &#9632;

f0009-02

Billington knows expansion hell

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>The fall of the Los Angeles Kings can be traced to a lack of self discipline. The Kings&rsquo; penchant for taking foolish penalties is one reason they will likely miss the Stanley Cup playoffs.That and their inability to kill the penalties off.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the penalties that kill you,&rdquo; coach Barry Melrose said, &ldquo;but the type that you take.&rdquo;As in dumb, dumb, dumb.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t do that,&rdquo; said Wayne Gretzky, who in 15 NHL seasons has never missed the playoffs. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t take penalties that jeopardize the outcome of a game. We&rsquo;ve done it all season and we continue to do it. It&rsquo;s frustrating when it happens periodically, but when it happens consistently, it&rsquo;s a lack of discipline.&rdquo;The Kings were shorthanded more times (421) in 75 games than every team but the Calgary Flames. They averaged more penalty minutes per game (24.76) than every team but the Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets, and were last in power-play goals permitted (85).During a six-game stretch in which they went 2-3-1, the Kings killed off only 20 of 33 power plays, a 60.6 percentage.In the same span, the Kings scored on just four of 33 power plays for a 12.1 percent success rate.&ldquo;It has been a problem for us,&rdquo; said Mike Donnelly. &ldquo;Hockey is a game of emotion and you can get frustrated, but you have to be able to keep your aggressions under control.&rdquo;A 4-3 loss March 27 against the Vancouver Canucks in which the Kings gave up four power-play goals, knocked them 10 points out of a playoff position with nine games to play.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to be a genius to know this puts us in a hole,&rdquo; Gretzky said.ON THE REBOUND: Mike Donnelly has a chance to salvage his most miserable season in three years. The speedy left winger scored only four goals in a 35-game span before erupting March 25 against the Edmonton Oilers.Donnelly, a 29-goal man in each of the previous two seasons, tied the game with 2:02 left in regulation and secured a 4-3 win at 2:24 of overtime. He added another goal, his 23rd of the year, the next day in Vancouver.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone through a lot of down times this year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone home and thought to myself, &lsquo;It can&rsquo;t get worse, it can&rsquo;t get worse.&rsquo; Then, sure enough, it does get worse.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings laughed off a New York Daily News report that said the Rangers made overtures about acquiring Wayne Gretzky at the trading deadline. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a figment of someone&rsquo;s imagination,&rdquo; said general manager Nick Beverley. &ldquo;Why would we consider something like that? (Kings&rsquo; owner) Bruce McNall brought Wayne to Los Angeles to put hockey on the map and he did that, now we&rsquo;re going to get rid of him?&rdquo;&hellip;Tony Granato hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal on the road all season until he got one March 25 in Edmonton and another March 27 in Vancouver.Warren Rychel probably will continue to wear a face shield for the remainder of the season to protect his broken nose. Rychel, who was hurt March 20 in a fight with San Jose Sharks&rsquo; Jeff Odgers, also didn&rsquo;t figure to be fighting even though he led the Kings with 296 penalty minutes.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 21: Brian McReynolds. C. assigned to Phoenix (IHL) March 22: McReynolds recalled from Phoenix.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Wayne Gretzky, Robert Lang. Kevin Todd, Brian McReynolds.LW&ndash;Mike Donnelly, Luc Robitaille. Pat Conacher, Warren Rychel.RW&ndash;Jan Kurri, John Druce. Tony Granato, Gary Shuchuk. Dixon Ward, Phil Crowe.LD&ndash;Alex Zhitnik. Darryl Sydor, Donald Dufresne, Jim Paek.RD&ndash;Rob Blake, Charlie Huddy, Marty McSorley. Tim Watters.G&ndash;Kelly Hrudey, Robb Stauber.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Doug Houda, D. sprained right shoulder, day-to-day Dave Taylor, RW. concussion, indefinite. Dave Thomlinson, RW. broken left hand, out for season. &#9632;

Penalty problem costly

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>The Calgary Flames played 75 games by the third week of March, more than any other NHL team.Their schedule has been a source of grumbling all season, but it did provide one upside.In a nine-day span towards the end of March, the Hames played only one game-a 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins March 26.The break allowed coach Dave King to conduct a mini training camp of sorts. King gave his players a single day off in that span.The theory? The mini-camp gave the team&rsquo;s three new players-former Hartford Whalers Michael Nylander, Zarley Zalapski and James Patrick-time to get integrated into the Hames&rsquo; system.Moreover, King wanted to work on the team&rsquo;s conditioning.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011395/6079292-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="580" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Dave King held a team mini-camp in mid-March.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The computer spit out this part of the schedule and we&rsquo;re not complaining,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;The new players didn&rsquo;t have a complete handle on what we were trying to do (when they were acquired March 10). Now, I think they&rsquo;re going to have that.&rdquo;For a three-month period between mid-December and mid-March, the Flames were only a.500 team. One of the problems? An inability to beat teams with winning records, something they did only three times in three months.Then, in the span of six days, they took five of six points from the three other division leaders, something that brought a smile to King&rsquo;s face.&ldquo;As a coaching staff, we&rsquo;re pretty happy,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;The changes we made seem to be. helping. The defense looks a little steadier, a little more poised at the right times. We feel we&rsquo;ve got goalkeeping we can win with in the playoffs, which some teams haven&rsquo;t got.&rdquo;King used goaltender Mike Vemon almost exclusively down the stretch. Vemon played 10 of the team&rsquo;s 11 games in March.King&rsquo;s reasoning for using Vemon so much was the fact the Flames&rsquo; No. 1 goalie had a six-week break recovering from a knee injury, and thus didn&rsquo;t need any time off.Vemon admitted the extra work helped keep him sharp.&ldquo;It helped,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And things are going very well for us right now. If you look at our whole year, we&rsquo;ve had a lot of injuries. There have been a lot of key people out of our lineup and still, we managed to hold on to first place in our division.&rdquo;TOUGH GUY: Left winger Gary Roberts broke his right thumb in seven places, but still played against the Pittsburgh Penguins March 26.The injury occurred in a March 20 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Roberts blocked a Dave Ellett slapshot with the palm of his glove while the Hames were killing a penalty.The impact of Ellett&rsquo;s shot almost severed the thumb from Roberts&rsquo; hand and resulted in profuse bleeding.Even six days later, every time Roberts tried to grip his stick too tightly, the bleeding would start again.Against the Penguins, Roberts couldn&rsquo;t grip his stick properly, but twice managed to bat home loose pucks in the crease.Roberts&rsquo; second goal stood up as the winner.NOTEBOOK: Center Joe Nieu-wendyk skated in late March, the first time he hit the ice since tearing a medial collateral ligament in his right knee in late February. He only skated for 10 minutes, but it was a start. &ldquo;It was pretty good,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said. &ldquo;There is still some pain.&rdquo; Nieu-wendyk is tentatively scheduled to return to the lineup for an April 6 game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Robert Reichel, Michael Nylander, Joel Otto. Kelly Kisio.LW&ndash;Gary Roberts, German Titov, Paul Kruse, Mike Sullivan.RW&ndash;Theo Fleury, Wes Walz, Ron Stem. Sandy McCarthy.LD&ndash;James Patrick, Trent Yawney, DanKeczmer.RD&ndash;AI Maclnnis. Zarley Zalapski, Chris Dahlquist, Michel Petit, Kevin Dahl,G&ndash;Mike Vemon. Trevor Kidd.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Frank Musil, D, hyperextended elbow, day-to-day. Joe Nieuwendyk, C. strained medial collateral ligament in right knee, April 6. Andrei Trefilov, G, strained knee ligaments, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0011-01

King makes most of March hiatus

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>Seven months after it began, the Petr Nedved affair mercifully reached its conclusion March 25 when Jeff Brown pulled a Vancouver Canuck jersey over his head.Brown was a reluctant reportee after he was acquired from the St. Louis Blues March 21, along with Bret Hedican and Nathan LaFayette for Craig Janney.Janney, of course, flatly refused to join the Canucks after he was awarded to Vancouver in the Nedved arbitration with St. Louis.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been upset about coming to Vancouver,&rdquo; Brown insisted. &ldquo;I had a home in St. Louis, my roots were there.&rdquo;Brown created more than a little excitement when he wouldn&rsquo;t accept or return calls to Vancouver management or media for two days. His silence was deafening. It seemed like the Janney scenario all over again.&ldquo;There was no doubt he was going to report,&rdquo; said Brown&rsquo;s agent, Larry Kelly. &ldquo;He was frustrated, but his frustration was not directed at Vancouver. He had no desire or intention to hold a gun to Vancouver&rsquo;s head.&rdquo;In their arbitration brief, the Canucks referred to Brown and Blues&rsquo; winger Kevin Miller as &ldquo;canoes&rdquo; in anticipation they would be offered those players for Nedved. Brown shrugged off the apparent slight in a professional manner, saying it was just part of a negotiation.&ldquo;They were trying to win a case,&rdquo; Brown said.The Canucks, of course, were trying convince arbitrator George Nicolau that power forward Brendan Shanahan was the correct compensation for losing free agent &ldquo;battleship&rdquo; Nedved.BURE BONANZA: Pavel Bure&rsquo;s tremendous second half reached its zenith March 27 when the Russian Rocket netted a hat trick to take over the league lead in goals with 53.Bure&rsquo;s run began Jan. 5 against the Ottawa Senators and from there he went on to score 39 goals in his next 37 games.With Bure entering his option year, the how-much-will-they-pay-him debate is in full swing. His agent, Ron Salcer, stated that Bure is &ldquo;one of the top five players&rdquo; in the league.How does $3.5-$4 million sound?&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to give him whatever he wants,&rdquo; said Vancouver assistant GM George McPhee, half-jokingly.NOTEBOOK: Pavel Bure set two more club records, bringing to 17 the number of franchise marks he either shares or holds outright. On March 23, he scored a goal for the eighth straight game, breaking Tony Tanti&rsquo;s 11-year-old mark of seven. On March 27, Bure scored three power-play goals to reach 22, breaking Tanti&rsquo;s six-year-old mark of 20.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 27: Tim Hunter. RW, suspended three games by NHL for abusing an official. Eligible to return April 1.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Murray Craven. CHff Ronnmg. John McIntyre, Jimmy Carson, Nathan LaFayette.LW&ndash;Geoff Courtnall. Greg Adams. Gino Odjick, Sergio MomessoRW&ndash;Pavel Bure, Trevor Linden, Shawn Antoski. Joe Charbonneau.LD&ndash;Dana Murzyn. Dave Babych, Bret Hedican, Brian Glynn, Adnen PlavsicRD&ndash;Jeff Brown. Jyrki Lumme, Jin Slegr, Gerald Diduck.G&ndash;Kirk McLean. Kay Whitmore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Martin Gelinas, LW, Charley horse, day-to-day. &#9632;

Nedved saga comes to end as reluctant Brown reports

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>His name is Louie DeBrusk and he is an alcoholic.It is the reality that until recently the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; winger wasn&rsquo;t ready to accept.But when DeBrusk woke up Feb. 14 hungover and charged with public mischief after a store window had been kicked in, there was no more denying his problem. He was just 22, but he knew he was running out of time to get his life in order.&ldquo;I woke up that morning after missing the flight to Washington and said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m going nowhere fast and I really have to get a grip on this,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I could have hurt myself. I could have hurt someone that night.&rdquo;DeBrusk rejoined the team March 22 after a month at the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs, Calif. He will plead guilty to the mischief charge in April.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of having to wake up the next day and wonder what I did the night before. I&rsquo;m sick of people coming up and telling me, &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t believe you did that the other night.&rsquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not that type of person. I&rsquo;m like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There is a sober me and a drunk me and I like the sober me. I would like to think other people would probably like the sober me better too.&rdquo;Prior to checking into the Betty Ford Clinic for the second time-he spent time there in the summer of 1992-DeBrusk considered seeking psychiatric care.But a long talk with Luke Richardson&rsquo;s wife, Stephanie, steered him back into alcohol rehab. DeBrusk asked Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather to set it up and he was there four days later.&ldquo;Right now, sobriety and my life is the No. 1 priority,&rdquo; DeBrusk said.ROAD WEARIER: Todd Marchant has played most of his games on the road this season.He has been a U.S. Olympian, a Binghamton Ranger, a New York Ranger and now an Edmonton Oiler.&ldquo;I played 61 of 62 games on the (pre-Olympic) tour, all eight games in the Olympics, eight for Binghamton and one for New York.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been living in a hotel for about eight months. People say, &lsquo;Are you tired?&rsquo; Well, yeah, it has been unbelievably long.&rdquo;The 20-year-old Buffalo native made four trips to Europe in the past six months and played in Norway, Russia, Finland, Germany, Sweden and France. He came from Lillehammer, signed a four-year deal with the Rangers and was dispatched to Binghamton of the American League.He was called up to play his first NHL game against the Chicago Blackhawks and was sent back down, then traded to Edmonton March 21.NOTEBOOK: When the Los Angeles Kings played Edmonton March 25, the Oilers presented Wayne Gretzky with a gold-plated replica of the game sheet bearing his first NHL goal, on Oct. 14, 1979.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 24: Gord Mark. D. recalled from Cape Breton (AHL). Steve Passmore. G, recalled from Kamloops (WHL). March 28: Passmore assigned to Kamloops (WHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Jason Arnott. Doug Weight. Mike Stapleton, Todd Marchant.LW&ndash;Dean McAmmond. Scott Pearson, Brent Grieve, Scott Thornton, Louie De-Brusk.RW&ndash;Kirk Maltby, Steve Rice, Zdeno Ciger, Kelly Buchberger, Shjon Podein.LD&ndash;lgor Kravchuk, Luke Richardson, Fredrik Olausson.RD&ndash;Boris Mironov, Gord Mark, Bob Beers, Ilya Byakin.G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Fred Brathwaite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Adam Bennett, D, left knee surgery, out tor season. Shayne Corson, LW, fractured left fibula, day-to-day Vladimir Vujtek, C, left shoulder surgery, out for season. &#9632;

Sobriety No. 1 for DeBrusk

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>San Jose Sharks&rsquo; center Igor Larionov saved his best for when it was needed most.Larionov, whose presence in the lineup has been vital for the Sharks all season, was in top form on a four-game road swing that ended with a 43 win over the St. Louis Blues March 27.Larionov had eight points on the trip to help the Sharks go 3-0-1. He had four points in an 8-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets March 25, including his second hat trick of the season.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s playing as well as Wayne Gretzky right now,&rdquo; said director of hockey operations Dean Lombardi. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s doing it when the money is on the line.&rdquo;In the team&rsquo;s first 76 games, the Sharks were 26-18-9 with Larionov in the lineup and only 2-15-6 in games he missed because of injury or illness.The 33-year-old Russian centers the Sharks&rsquo; top line with wingers Sergei Makarov and Johan Garpenlov.&ldquo;He has gotten stronger as the season has gone along,&rdquo; said coach Kevin Constantine. &ldquo;People thought that because of their age, Igor and Sergei would tail off at the end of the season. But they just keep getting better.&rdquo;Larionov said he and Makarov, 35, simply know how to make the most of whatever energy they have left. Makarov set a franchise record for goals in a season when he scored his 27th in the March 27 game against the Blues.NO REST: Goalie Arturs Irbe played in 67 of the team&rsquo;s first 76 games and topped the 4,000-minute mark for the season March 27. So is the 27-year-old tired? Not at all.Kevin Constantine figured a March 24 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs was the ideal time to give Irbe a rest, but the Sharks&rsquo; goalie refused.&ldquo;Basically, he refused to not play,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;We wanted to talk to him about after the morning skate, but he refused to come.&rdquo;Irbe stopped 28 of 29 shots in a 2-1 win. He said he didn&rsquo;t talk to the coaches because he had been told that morning he would be playing against the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to see them,&rdquo; Irbe said. &ldquo;They understand me, and they knew I wanted to play.&rdquo;Constantine isn&rsquo;t the type of coach who generally lets players get the best of him, but Irbe is a special case.&ldquo;He gets away with a little more than most people,&rdquo; Constantine said.Irbe had a 25-27-15 record and 2.89 goals-against average.NOTEBOOK: Bob Errey sustained a strained right knee in a 2-2 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins March 22. He missed the rest of a four-game road trip that ended with the win over St. Louis.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 26: Wade Flaherty, G, assigned to Kansas City (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Igor Larionov, Jamie Baker, Dale Craigwell, Viacheslav Butsayev.LW&ndash;Johan Garpenlov. Gaetan Duchesne, Ray Whitney. Jeff Odgers.RW&ndash;Sergei Makarov, Ulf Dahlen, Pat Falloon, Rob Gaudreau.LD&ndash;Jeff Norton, Mike Rathje, Vlastimil Kroupa.RD&ndash;Sandis Ozolinsh, Tom Pederson, Jay More.G&ndash;Arturs Irbe, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Cronin, D, split ring finger on left hand, indefinite. Bob Errey, LW, strained right knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

Playoff chances would be nil without super senior Larionov

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div>Stu Grimson was running out of season.The 6-foot-5 Anaheim Mighty Duck with hands made for fighting, not scoring, didn&rsquo;t have a goal in his first 70 games.He wasn&rsquo;t going to allow himself to finish without a goal in his first season as a regular player. Even in his limited role with the Chicago Blackhawks, Grimson scored once last season and twice the year before.Grimson said he&rsquo;d get one, but &ldquo;it will be be an ugly one.&rdquo; It wasn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;It was a beauty,&rdquo; coach Ron Wilson said after Grimson scored March 22 against the Dallas Stars. It broke a streak of 106 games without a goal, dating to Dec. 31,1992.The celebration came after Patrik Camback fed Grimson at the right side of the net. Grimson handled it deftly at his feet and beat goalie Darcy Wakaluk.The goal-only the fourth of Crimson&rsquo;s 242-game career-set off a celebration at the Mighty Duck bench as Grimson skated down the line high-fiving his delighted teammates.&ldquo;It was all for naught,&rdquo; Grimson said after the game, a 4-3 loss. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t really feel that thrilling when it doesn&rsquo;t count for much.&ldquo;Scoring this late in the season, there were a lot of nights where it was starting to get frustrating. I&rsquo;ve had some near-misses, so you have to be encouraged by that.&rdquo;Grimson wasn&rsquo;t so encouraged by the state of his right hand. Bad cuts on it forced him out of the lineup after a March 24 game against the Boston Bruins. He was listed as day-to-day.NO PROGRESS: There had been no movement through March 27 in contract talks with Paul Kariya, Anaheim&rsquo;s unsigned No. 4 overall draft pick.With the sides millions apart on a multi-year deal, Kariya&rsquo;s agent Don Baizley and general manager Jack Ferreira had not spoken since early March.If Kariya doesn&rsquo;t join the Ducks this season, his next game action will come with the Canadian team that competes at the World Championships in Italy.NOTEBOOK: Center Bob Corkum, who quintupled his previous career high of 10 points by collecting 51 for the Ducks, saw his season end eight games early when a skate blade cut a tendon in his right foot March 27 in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. A two-month recovery period was projected&hellip; Goaltender Guy Hebert, who sat out three consecutive games in March, recovered with fine performances in back-to-back wins over the Hartford Whalers March 26 and Philadelphia Flyers the next day.Former U.S. Olympian John Lil-ley is making an impact with his hard-hitting style, despite his slight size. The 5-foot-8, 178-pound right winger recorded his first two NHL points with two assists in the win over Philadelphia.<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Stephan Lebeau, Shaun Van Allen, Patrik Camback.LW&ndash;Tim Sweeney. Troy Loney, Garry Valk.RW&ndash;Joe Sacco, Terry Yake, Todd Ewen, John Lilley, Peter Douris.LD&ndash;Bobby DoHas, Randy Ladouceur, Mark Ferner. Bill Houkter.RD&ndash;David Williams, Sean Hill, Don McSween,G&ndash;Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtalerrtov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Corkum, C, tom tendon in right foot, out for season. Stu Grimson, LW. deep gash on knuckles of right hand and injured right ring finger, day-to-day. Steven King, RW, reconstructive surgery on left elbow, out for season. Anatoli Semenov, C. strained left hamstring and sore left elbow, day-to-day. Jim Thomson. RW, reconstructive surgery on left shoulder, out for season. &#9632;

Grims’ fairy tale ending

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011485/6079419-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div>Lobbying for a shootout to break ties in the NHL has begun in earnest and a big push will come from Holly-wood. Disney and Might Ducks of Anaheim boss Michael Eisner inserted a climactic shootout scene in the recently released film, D2: The Might Ducks Are Back. The film, which is being distributed worldwide, will be used as a less-than-sub-tle propaganda tool by the Eisner-Marcel Aubut pro-shootout bloc to push the tie-breaker in regular-season play for 1994-95. Release of the film coincides with an upcoming NHL board of governors meeting which will feature a discussion on shootouts. One prominent NHL owner told Bluelines the shootout will be accepted, but not likely for next season. But the NHL will test the idea, likely during the pre-season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s simply too controversial to push down the fans&rsquo; throats without some sort of break-in period that won&rsquo;t affect the standings,&rdquo; the owner said&hellip;Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall is expected to render his resignation as board of governors chairman in June and there is no clear-cut successor. It&rsquo;s possible Gary Bettman will double-dip, becoming the NHL&rsquo;s first commissioner and board chairman.<h2>Dream defense</h2>Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; coach-general manager John Paddock offers an interesting rebuttal to those who argue that he&rsquo;s anti-European defensemen. &ldquo;If you give me two Teppo Numminens and four Darius Kasparaitises. I&rsquo;d have the best defense in the league. Nationality doesn&rsquo;t matter.&rdquo;&hellip;Sources say the 1995 All-Star Game could be reformatted into a four-team event with teams from eastern and western Canada, an American squad as well as a European rep&hellip; Following a recent television interview, New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defenseman Slava Fetisov was offered a choice of gifts, either a wristwatch or pen. After mulling it over for a moment, Fetisov chortled, &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m going into politics, I&rsquo;d better take the pen.&rdquo;<h2>Take the Leafs</h2>In any matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, bet on Toronto for one reason: more heart. Since Detroit was unable to deal Steve Yzerman, coach Scott Bowman&rsquo;s next challenge is improving the captain&rsquo;s defensive capabilities. As one Joe Louis Arena insider told Bluelines, &ldquo;In the past Stevie could do whatever he wanted to do, but now defense has become a top priority.&rdquo; Assistant coach Dave Lewis has become Yzer-man&rsquo;s defensive guru&hellip;Apart from John Vanbiesbrouck, Brian Skrud-land and Roger Neilson, the Florida Panthers&rsquo; best weapon against then-opponents is the weather. Visiting teams are directly affected by the heat and are thoroughly softened-and spoiled-by poolside team meetings before their games. Figure on 20-plus points in the standings for this reason alone.<h2>THE ROOKIES OF 1993-94</h2>Trevor KiddBorn: Dugald, Man.Age: 22Team: Calgary FlamesHeight: 6-foot-2Weight: 185 poundsPosition: GoalieHow acquired: Calgary&rsquo;s first choice (11th overall) in 1990 entry draft<h2>Bob vs. Paul</h2>Don&rsquo;t invite Bob Clarke and Paul Stewart to the same dinner. The Panthers&rsquo; GM barged into the officials&rsquo; room following a game Stewart officiated and told the referee he didn&rsquo;t like his work. Never a shrinking violet, Stewart told Clarke a few things he didn&rsquo;t particularly like about him&hellip;Tom Kurvers has a special reason for liking teammate Dave Maley. It was Maley who set up Kurvers with a blind date, who eventually became Mrs. Suzy Kurvers. &ldquo;She was pretty laid-back,&rdquo; Maley said, &ldquo;and I thought she was the right girl for Tommy.&rdquo; To which Kurvers adds, &ldquo;Dave was aware of my situation in life at the time and he wasn&rsquo;t satisfied with it, so he gave me a call and my life changed forever. Suzy and I are both big David Maley fans.&rdquo;<h2>The Mike Show</h2>There should be no doubt now who is running the New York Rangers. Insiders insist the trade deadline deals prove that coach Mike Keenan, not GM Neil Smith, is running the show. Reflecting on one of his worst deals ever as Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; GM, Keenan recalled, &ldquo;If I had known Dominik Hasek was going to develop this way, I&rsquo;d have asked for Pat LaFontaine instead of Stephane Beauregard.&rdquo;&hellip;Age is irrelevant in discussing Mike Gartner&rsquo;s longevity prospects in the NHL. The winger&rsquo;s wheels ensure at least three high-speed quality years because nobody is more conditioning conscious than Gartner. Bet on Gartner having his best-ever playoff scoring run. &#9632;

f0014-01

Shootout lobbyist Eisner gets his way in movie

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>Coach Pierre McGuire insisted there was a midnight curfew in effect when six Hartford Whalers and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy were arrested during a March 24 brawl at a Buffalo night spot.But captain Pat Verbeek, whom McGuire said he told to notify the players of the curfew, had a very different story.And Whalers&rsquo; owner Richard Gordon said he backs McGuire 100 per cent-curfew or no curfew.Curfews, arrests, suspensions, rescinded suspensions and accusations were the words of the day.The Whalers were eliminated from any chance at the playoffs March 25 in a 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, but the team&rsquo;s latest saga had taken on arms and legs of its own.After a 3:30 a.m. brawl at the Network Nightclub, Verbeek, Geoff Sanderson, Chris Pronger, Marc Potvin, Todd Harkins, Mark Janssens and McCarthy each pleaded guilty in a Buffalo City Court to trespassing.They were ordered to served 20 hours of community service in Buffalo within the next year.&ldquo;I am indignant. I will not tolerate this,&rdquo; owner Richard Gordon said.The day after the incident, Gordon announced the 19-year-old Pronger, who was in Buffalo Bills&rsquo; quarterback Jim Kelly&rsquo;s night club underage, was suspended for the rest of the season. The rest of the players, including assistant coach Paul Gillis&mdash;who was there but not arrested-were suspended indefinitely.NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, however, rescinded the suspensions pending a league investigation.NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow, who said he &ldquo;laughed at Gordon&rsquo;s press release,&rdquo; agreed with the NHL. He also announced, despite McGuire&rsquo;s assertion, the team had broken no curfew.The legal problems surrounding the incident are behind them, but it&rsquo;s obvious the Whalers still have serious internal problems:&ldquo;I told Pat, &lsquo;Make sure everybody is in their room at 12 o&rsquo;clock. I repeated 12 twice,&rdquo; McGuire said. &ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Pete, don&rsquo;t worry about it. The guys are so tired (from one of the toughest practices of the season) they&rsquo;ll be in before 12.&rsquo;&rdquo;Verbeek had a different story.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t say, &lsquo;Make sure to have the guys in by 12,&rsquo;&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Try to have the guys in by 12.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s a big difference to me. To me that&rsquo;s not a curfew.NOTEBOOK: Pat Verbeek said the players were sprayed with pepper spray in the face by Buffalo police during the March 24 brawl. A source told The Hartford Courant police used nightsticks and that the bouncers provoked the altercation. The fight evidently started when one bouncer knocked a beer of out Kevin McCarthy&rsquo;s hand. One witness told The Buffalo News the fights started over a woman. The players denied it. &ldquo;It was an ugly scene,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;But we didn&rsquo;t do anything wrong. It was kind of a setup&hellip;more by the bouncers.&rdquo;<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 26: John Stevens, D, recalled from Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Andrew Cassels, Robert Kron. Ted Drury, Mark Janssens, Todd Harkins.LW&ndash;Pat Verbeek, Geoff Sanderson. Brian Propp, Jim Storm, Marc Potvin.RW&ndash;Paul Ranhelm, Jocelyn Lemieux. Robert PetrovickyLD&ndash;Chris Pronger. John Stevens, Bob McGill.RD&ndash;Brad McCrimmon. Frantisek Kucera, Ted Crowley.G&ndash;Sean Burke, Jeff Reese.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Adam Burt, D. sprained left shoulder, out for the season. Alexander Godynyuk, D, sprained knee, indefinite Mario Gosselin, G, left knee surgery, out for season. Bryan Marchment, D. sprained left ankle, indefinite. Jim Sandlak, RW, cracked bone in right foot, indefinite. Kevin Smyth, RW. sprained shoulder, day-to-day. Darren Turcotte, C. left knee surgery, day-to-day. &#9632;

Verbeek, McGuire clash over infamous incident

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>The Ottawa Senators haven&rsquo;t won much as a team this season, but they haven&rsquo;t given up on winning an individual honor for Alexei Yashin.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to do everything we can to get that guy rookie of the year,&rdquo; said coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;In my opinion, he deserves it.&rdquo;Yashin has been the Senators&rsquo; statistical leader this season, but his value goes beyond the numbers he has put on the scoresheet.He is easily the club&rsquo;s most valuable player and at the tender age of 20, has assumed the offensive leadership of the team.After hitting the doldrums in early March, he rediscovered his touch once he started playing alongside Dan Quinn. He had five points in the three games following Quinn&rsquo;s arrival, including the winning goal and two assists in Ottawa&rsquo;s 5-4 upset of the Detroit Red Wings March 23.It was Yashin&rsquo;s 26th of the season, tying the club record set earlier this year by since-traded Bob Kudelski. Yashin was second among NHL rookies with 68 points.Yashin&rsquo;s chief competition for the Calder Trophy will come from Philadelphia Flyer Mikael Renberg, who recently overtook Yashin in the rookie scoring race, Edmonton Oiler Jason Arnott and goaltenders Chris Osgood of Detroit and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.Yashin has made believers out of many around the league, including San Jose coach Kevin Constantine.&ldquo;Yashin is the best young player in the league,&rdquo; Constantine said.VETERAN HELP: The Senators added two veterans at the March 21 trading deadline, winger Phil Bourque from the New York Rangers and defenseman Steve Konroyd from the Detroit Red Wings.Bourque, 31, seldom used by the Rangers, was obtained for future considerations. The 33-year-old Konroyd moved from the Red Wings for goaltender Daniel Berthiaume.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Dennis Vial was suspended for one game and given a $500 fine by NHL vicepresident Brian Burke for shooting the puck into the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; bench as time expired March 20. Vial returned to action March 24 against the Pittsburgh Penguins&hellip;The league is investigating Evgeny Davydov&rsquo;s shoving of linesman Jerry Pateman in a 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh March 24.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Mark LaForest. G. and Kent Paynter. D. assigned to P.E.t. (AHL). Darrin Madeley. G. recalled from P.E.I. Brad Lauer, LW, assigned to Las Vegas (IHL). Herb Raglan, RW, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Alexei Yashin, Alexandre Daigle, Troy Murray.LW&ndash;Dave McLiwain, Phil Bourque, Claude Boivin. Troy Mallette. Darcy Loewen. Bill Huard.RW&ndash;Dan Quinn. Sylvain Turgeon Andrew McBain, Evgeny DavydovLD&ndash;Oarren Rumble. Dennis Vial. Francois Leroux.RD&ndash;Gord Dineen. Derek Mayer, Steve Konroyd.G&ndash;Craig Billington. Darrin Madeley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Archibald, RW, pulled groin muscle, indefinite. Kerry Huffman, D. sore back, day-to-day Scott Levins, RW, sore back, day-to-day. Norm Maciver, D. contusion on right ankle. April 5. Brad Shaw, D, sore back, indefinite. &#9632;

Team shooting to help Yashin win NHL rookie-of-year award

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>Just one day after the Boston Bruins swallowed the news they wouldn&rsquo;t have Cam Neely again until next season, they were force-fed another distasteful situation.In a 5-3 loss March 22 against the Quebec Nordiques, captain Ray Bourque left the ice with a damaged medial collateral knee ligament of his own. The injury wasn&rsquo;t as serious as Neely&rsquo;s ligament tear, but enough to keep him out until the playoffs open April 17.The Bruins, on an 0-6-1 streak, seemed destined to fall even further than fifth in the Eastern Conference, where they&rsquo;d been ranked No. 2 as recently as nine days earlier.Coach Brian Sutter insisted that didn&rsquo;t have to be so and he turned out to be right. Boston proceeded to run off three straight victories, including its first in five tries against the Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;Sure, this is a tough situation,&rdquo; Sutter said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s as tough as you want to make it. The tough times are when you find out who&rsquo;s with you and who&rsquo;s just going to pack it in.&rdquo;The streak, accomplished in home games with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Montreal and extended March 27 on the road against the Washington Capitals, was backed by a new first line of Adam Oates between Ted Donato and Glen Murray, which combined for 17 points.Not to be overlooked was the work of Al lafrate, who joined Boston&rsquo;s defense in the game Bourque was hurt.Iafrate collected a pair of assists against the Canadiens, then scored two goals-including the third-period winner-against his old Washington teammates.&ldquo;That trade (lafrate for Joe Juneau) looks like a steal,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;We lost a great player, but we added a dandy in lafrate.&rdquo;&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s as good as Raymond,&rdquo; lafrate said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t replace him. I just hope to come in and play a good two-way game.&rdquo;READY FREDDIE: Fred Knip-scheer, who made the club out of training camp, but played just one game before his demotion to the Providence Bruins, returned from Boston&rsquo;s American League club with a vengeance April 24.He scored his first NHL goal that night against Anaheim, added another two days later against Montreal, and collected two assists the next day at Washington.&ldquo;I have a lot more confidence in myself this time,&rdquo; said Knipscheer, signed as a free agent last April after playing at St. Cloud State. &ldquo;When I was here in October I was nervous.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The signing of rookie defensemen John Gruden, a 1990 draftee who completed his career at Ferris State, meant reduced playing time for veterans Paul Stanton and Glen Featherstone. Stanton sat out four straight games and Featherstone, three in a row.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 21: John Gruden, D. signed contract March 24: Fred Knipscheer, C, recalled from Providence (AHL). March 26: Cam Stewart, LW. from recalled Providence.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Adam Oates, Bryan Smolinski, Fred Knipscheer. Andrew McKimLW&ndash;Ted Donato, Dave Reid, Brent Hughes, Cam Stewart.RW&ndash;Glen Murray. Daniel Marois, Dmitri Kvartalnov, Jamie Huscroft.LD&ndash;Glen Wesley, Don Sweeney, John Gruden, Glen Featherstone.RD&ndash;AI lafrate. Gord Roberts, David Shaw, Paul Stanton.G&ndash;Jon Casey. Vincent Riendeau.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ray Bourque, D, sprained right knee ligament, indefinite Steve Heinze, RW, back spasms, day-to-day. Steve Leach, RW. sprained right knee ligament, day-to-day. Cam Neely, RW, torn left knee ligament, out for season. Jozef Stumpel, C, sprained left knee ligament, day-to-day. &#9632;

Healthy players respond

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>It took a while, but Kirk Muller finally had his contract renegotiated by the Montreal Canadiens.Muller signed a four-year deal, plus an option, retroactive to the start of the season, that is reportedly worth $1.9 million annually.Muller still had another year remaining on his contract, but Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Serge Savard, late last season, invited the center to renegotiate at the start of this season.It took until March 22 to finalize terms of the deal. Muller had been earning $875,000.Savard described Muller as one of the Canadiens&rsquo; &ldquo;most important leaders,&rdquo; adding that Muller &ldquo;helped us tremendously&rdquo; in capturing last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup.After launching his career in New Jersey, Muller has grown comfortable with living and playing in Montreal and hopes the Canadiens are his final stop.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to finish my career here and live here,&rdquo; said the 28-year-old.Muller is in his third season with the Canadiens. He was acquired with goaltender Roland Melanson from the Devils for Stephane Richer and Tom Chorskein September, 1991.His 37 goals and 94 points last season equalled career highs. This year, following a slow start, Muller had 21 goals and 52 points in 67 games.NICE REST: Guy Carbonneau, at age 34, felt like a college student again on spring break.The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; veteran captain got an unexpected March holiday in Florida while his teammates were playing three road games over a four-day period.Carbonneau and his wife spent five days in West Palm Beach at goaltender Patrick Roy&rsquo;s condominium.The late-winter respite was the idea of coach Jacques Demers, who wanted Carbonneau well-rested for the playoffs.Carbonneau has been one of the NHL&rsquo;s best comeback stories. His career appeared in doubt after he developed tendinitis in his knees last season and underwent arthroscopic surgery over the summer.Yet Carbonneau, the Canadiens&rsquo; nominee for the Masterton Trophy, missed only two of Montreal&rsquo;s 72 games, scoring 12 goals and 23 assists, before his holiday.Demers said he had a tough time convincing Carbonneau to take the holiday, but left the final decision to his captain.NOTEBOOK: The Canadiens lost rugged left winger Mario Roberge for the remainder of the regular season and, quite likely, for the duration of the playoffs. Roberge sustained a cracked left ankle against Winnipeg March 23 following a first-period scuffle with Kris Kins He returned home, on crutches, in the midst of a three-game road trip. He&rsquo;s expected to be sidelined for six weeks. But by the time he&rsquo;s ready to return, the Canadiens will be well into the playoffs and he&rsquo;ll probably be a victim of the numbers game.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Kirk Muller. C, signed five-year contract. Brian Savage. C, recalled from Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;John LeClair, Kirk Muller, Brian Savage, Paul DiPietro, Guy Carbonneau, Ron Wilson.LW&ndash;Vincent Damphousse, Benoit Brunet. Gilbert Dionne. Pierre Sevigny, Gerry Fleming.RW&ndash;Brlan Bellows. Mike Keane, Oleg Petrov, Ed Ronan.LD&ndash;Bryan Fogarty, Jean-Jacques Daigneauit. Kevin Haller.RD&ndash;Lyle Odelein. Eric Desjardins, Patrice Brisebois, Peter Popovic.G&ndash;Patrick Roy. Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mario Roberge, LW, cracked left ankle. out for season. Mathieu Schneider, D, hyperextended left elbow, indefinite. &#9632;

Muller reaps reward of last year’s Cup triumph

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div>Just when everyone was wondering what was wrong with Grant Fuhr, the Buffalo Sabres goalie provided a one-word answer: Nothing.The veteran netminder struggled in two starts before rebounding with a solid win against the Hartford Whalers (6-3, March 25) and a nearperfect performance over the New York Islanders (4-1, March 27).Competition is still the driving force for the 31-year-old Fuhr.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ready for the backseat yet,&rdquo; he said after serving as backup to Dominik Hasek three straight games. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s too much competitive fire left. As soon as you give up it&rsquo;s time to get out. I have too much spirit left yet to give up.&rdquo;Fuhr was fully aware he was the Sabre-most-likely-to-be-traded up until the March 21 deadline. Now that that has passed, he has a one-track mind. He wants to prove Buffalo management made a good decision in not giving up on him.&ldquo;Right now the reality is that Dom (Hasek) is playing better than I am,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know that. For me to play, I&rsquo;m going to have to work harder and play better.&rdquo;But Fuhr has been in this situation before and he can give Hasek a ran for the top.&ldquo;This year hasn&rsquo;t been a lot of fun so far,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Frankly, it has been a little bit of a grind, but I&rsquo;ve been in this spot before. It seems everywhere I go there&rsquo;s somebody younger who all of a sudden catches fire.&ldquo;It happened to me in Edmonton. Billy (Ranford) struggled in Boston and caught fire in Edmonton. I go to Toronto and Felix (Potvin) wasn&rsquo;t ready yet, but all of a sudden catches fire. I come here, they&rsquo;re not sure about Dom and all of a sudden Dom catches fire.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on, but I think I bring the best out in everybody.&rdquo;Including himself.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not through yet though,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is just one more mountain to climb.&rdquo;INJURY UPDATE: Coach John Muckier is hoping the return of a couple players from injuries will prime the team for the playoffs.Center Bob Sweeney is close to returning from stretched right knee ligaments sustained March 9 in Anaheim.Defenseman Peter Svoboda has partially tom ligaments in his left knee and it&rsquo;s hoped he will be ready for the first round of the playoffs, which begin April 16.However, center Pat LaFontaine (right knee surgery) and left winger Craig Simpson (sore back) aren&rsquo;t expected to be healthy enough to play until next season.NOTEBOOK: The Sabres set a team record for shorthanded goals in one season. Wayne Presley&rsquo;s fourth shorthanded goal of the season against the Islanders was the team&rsquo;s 18th&hellip;Dominik Hasek continues in his quest to become the first goalie since Bernie Parent to finish the season with a goals-against average below 2.00. He was at 1.95 after a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues March 23.The Sabres were set to induct former captain Danny Gare into the team&rsquo;s Hall of Fame with a ceremony March 30. Gare held the team record for goals by a right winger until Alexander Mogilny shattered it last season.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 20: Sergei Petrenko, LW. recalled from Rochester (AHL). March 27: Petrenko and Matthew Barnaby. RW, assigned to Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Dale Hawerchuk, Derek Plante. Dave Hannan. Todd Simon.LW&ndash;Yuri Khmylev, Brad May. Rob Ray, Randy Wood.RW&ndash;Alexander Mogilny, Donald Audette. Wayne Presley. Jason Dawe.LD&ndash;Doug Bodger, Philippe Boucher, Ken Sutton.RD&ndash;Craig Muni, Randy Moller, Richard Smehlik.G&ndash;Dominik Hasek, Grant Ruhr.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Pat LaFontaine, C, right knee surgery, out for season Craig Simpson, LW, sore back. Indefinite. Peter Svoboda, D, left knee surgery, indefinite. Bob Sweeney. C. stretched right knee ligaments, day-to-day. &#9632;

Fuhr not ready to give up yet

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>The Quebec Nordiques don&rsquo;t have much to be excited about this season, but the development of rookie goaltender Jocelyn Thibault is one exception.The Nordiques&rsquo; first choice, 10th overall, at last June&rsquo;s entry draft surprised everyone in the organization by making the team in training camp and he has exceeded expectations in his first season.He appeared in 28 games through March 28 and had an 8-12-3 record. His goals-against average of 3.21 was quite respectable considering he plays behind a suspect blueline corps.Even more impressive was the 19-year-old&rsquo;s tremendous maturity.Case in point was his reaction to a critical 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers March 20. The Nordiques desperately needed to win the game to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, but Thibault let in a pair of soft goals that proved to be the difference.But instead of sulking, the Montreal native analyzed the situation and handled it like a professional.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny, but I felt OK before jumping on the ice,&rdquo; Thibault said. &ldquo;But it just wasn&rsquo;t happening. I knew I let down the team.&ldquo;But the worst thing you can do is live only for your last outing. That can ruin your career. So I made it a point to practise even harder.&rdquo;Daniel Bouchard, the Nordiques&rsquo; goalie coach, had a long talk with Thibault following the game which helped put the situation in perspective.&ldquo;Daniel has been through everything,&rdquo; Thibault said. &ldquo;I can rely on him and I know what he tells me is what&rsquo;s best for me. And I am also fortunate to have guys like Jacques Cloutier and Stephane Fiset to talk to.&rdquo;WERENKA ADDED: The Nordiques made a small deal at the March 21 trade deadline, adding defenseman Brad Werenka from the Edmonton Oilers. In return, the Nordiques gave up goalie Steve Passmore, 20, one of the top goaltenders in the Western League.Passmore is the third young goaltender the Nordiques have traded in the past few months. Emmanuel Fernandez was traded to the Dallas Stars for defenseman Tommy Sjodin in February and John Tanner was traded to the Mighty Ducks of AnaheimThe 25-year-old Werenka, who played for Canada in the Olympics, is an offensive defenseman, something the Nordiques lack.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Owen Nolan received clearance from team doctors to start practising. Nolan, who has missed much of the season following left shoulder surgery, was expected to return to action March 30 against the Ottawa Senators&hellip;Rumors have surfaced again that the Nordiques will move from Quebec City to Phoenix, Ariz. Radio reports in late March suggested the Compuware Corp., owners of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Detroit Jr. Red Wings, were trying to buy the team from Marcel Aubut and move it. The Quebec owner denied a deal is in the works.<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Joe Sake. Mats Sundin. Mike Rica. Ron SutterLW&ndash;Vateri Kamensky. Claude Lapointe. Tony Twist, lain Fraser.RW&ndash;Owen Nolan, Andre-Kovalenko, Scott Young, BoP Basson. Pant MacDcnrioLD&ndash;Stovoe Finn. Alexei Gusarov. Brad Weronka. Curtis Leschyshyn.RD&ndash;Gadh Butcher. Craig Wolanin. Tommy Sjo-cm. David KarpeG&ndash;Jacques Ctouber. Stephane Fiset. Jocelyn Thibault<h3>INJURIES</h3>Adam Foote, D, herniated disc in back, indefinite Martin Rucinsky, LW. sprained wrist. Indefinite. Reggie Savage, RW. fractured left wrist, out for season. Chris Simon, LW. recurring back problems. day to-day &#9632;

Thibault lone bright spot in disappointing season

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div>Bryan Trottier has heard the whispers, the speculation that the player portion of his player-assistant coach job description doesn&rsquo;t really apply anymore.But Trottier, who is 37 and idled by back problems for most of this season, insists he has no plans to give up the game just yet.&ldquo;In spite of what anybody&rsquo;s thinking,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s more important what I&rsquo;m thinking.&rdquo;Trottier, the No. 6 scorer in NHL history with 1,425 points, has been in uniform for less than a period since late lanuary, but vows he will be back on the ice.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t hope anything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know I will.&rdquo;Trottier said he has felt no urgency to return to the lineup because the Penguins have played well of late, thus getting an opportunity to &ldquo;heal a little more than what I need to.&rdquo;Pittsburgh coach Ed Johnston has not crossed Trottier off his depth chart, although he didn&rsquo;t assure him a spot in the lineup, either. &ldquo;If we have an injury, he might be there,&rdquo; Johnston said.Even if he never appears in another game, however, Trottier has a guaranteed spot in the Hall of Fame after being one of the premier twoway centers in NHL history. Johnston likened Trottier&rsquo;s play to that of Jean Beliveau and Norm Ullman and called him &ldquo;very, very dependable.&rdquo;&ldquo;In his prime, he was one of the best ever to play the game,&rdquo; Kevin Stevens said. &ldquo;He did it all.&rdquo;And he did it often enough to earn six Stanley Cup rings, four with the New York Islanders and two in Pittsburgh.Just where he&rsquo;ll be in any big games the Penguins might find themselves in this spring isn&rsquo;t clear.Trottier has put in a lot of time behind the bench lately and many in Pittsburgh believe he could become an outstanding head coach someday.&ldquo;He knows the game very well and relates to people very well,&rdquo; Johnston said.VETERAN CORPS: There are two ways to look at Pittsburgh&rsquo;s defense corps. One is that it is too old to perform well in the playoffs. The other is it is too experienced to fail.Ed Johnston acknowledges his team&rsquo;s bounty of thirtysomething defensemen, but believes the post-season grind won&rsquo;t wear the unit down.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a day in between games, as opposed to a couple of years ago when you played four games in five nights,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That would take its toll. But I think with a day in between, it helps a lot.&rdquo;Pittsburgh&rsquo;s defense is mainly a stay-at-home group, but Johnston insists there&rsquo;s no need to get it involved in the offense very often.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think our defense gets enough credit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If our forwards do the job when we get the puck up to them, I think they (the defensemen) can do the job.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Mario Lemieux became the 21st player in NHL history to hit the 1,200-point plateau when he got a goal and an assist during Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 5-3 loss to the Calgary Flames March 26&hellip;Jaromir Jagr had a nine-game scoring streak end during Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators March 24.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Larry DePalma, LW, assigned to Cleveland (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Mario Lemieux. Ron Francis, Martin Straka, Shawn McEachern.LW&ndash;Ksvin Stevens, Tomas Sandstrom, Jim McKenzie. Markus Naslund.RW&ndash;Rick Tocchet. Jaromir Jagr. Joe MullenLD&ndash;Ulf Samuelsson, Grant Jennings, Chris Tamer, Greg Hawgood. Mike Ramsey.RD&ndash;Larry Murphy, Kjell Samuelsson, Peter Taglianetti. Greg Brown.G&ndash;Tom Barrasso. Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Doug Brown, LW. Charley horse, day-to-day. Bryan Trottier, C, sore back, day-to-day. &#9632;

Determined Trottier vows he’ll return to action

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011080/6079618-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="389" height="542"></div>Knowing Mike Keenan, there had to be a method to the seeming madness of inviting Denis Potvin out of a five-year-old retirement.My theory is that with Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe, Jay Wells, Steve Larmer and other ancients already playing important roles on the New York Rangers, coach Keenan saw implanted pacemakers as the way to go.In hockey&rsquo;s future, a coach will stand behind a control board throwing switches that will toss impulses into a player&rsquo;s heart. For instance, when Greg Gilbert begins running a little low on zip, Keenan will give him a zap. Gilbert&rsquo;s heart will pound as he races into the Pittsburgh end and pounds Ulf Samuelsson.I&rsquo;m not sure how the new technology will impact a team such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have a player-Mike Krushelnyski-with no discernible pulse. But certainly any advances in coronary care would be welcomed by Ron Caron, who has been having a heart attack for 30 years.Now to some, it smacks of desperation when the Rangers, a team that hasn&rsquo;t won the Stanley Cup in 54 years, begins acquiring all these guys who may not last one more. But didn&rsquo;t Keenan once call the challenge of winning a Cup in New York the greatest undertaking of his career? Now I understand exactly what he meant.Eventually, Potvin turned down Keenan&rsquo;s offer, but the Ranger coach didn&rsquo;t stew in his prunes. Within days, two more golden oldies, Glenn Anderson and Craig MacTavish, were wearing Code Blueshirts. Life went on, although we&rsquo;re not sure for how long.On one hand, the concept of bringing back all these great, soon-to-be late, players and dressing them in Ranger uniforms for a farewell Stanley Cup tour was a fascinating one. Of course, general manager Neil Smith would have had to hire someone to actually dress these guys, but that wouldn&rsquo;t have been a big deal. As long as Keenan didn&rsquo;t go as far as signing Mike Kaszycki, these NHLers might have awakened a few echoes, provided they could still stay awake for 60 minutes themselves.Perhaps professional senior hockey is an idea whose time has come, even though one should never use that expression around old people. Nevertheless, I have come to believe that Potvin made the right decision not only for himself, but for the welfare of the sport. Had he been successful at age 40, Potvin might have established a dangerous trend.Not only would the egos of many great former stars demand they try comebacks, but Harvey Bennett probably would have wanted to play again, too. No player would have stayed retired, not even Adam Creighton. There would have been more teams in Florida than the NHL could use, all filled with guys who wore white skates, pulled their pants up to their chests and complained about the government full time.The game would resemble shuffleboard more than hockey, which means everybody would shoot like Jack Mcllhargey, skate like Joe Reekie and even worse, look like Gerry Odrowski. The league&rsquo;s marquee names would have become Wayne Elder and Terry Gray.With so many clubs feeling a financial squeeze, a lot of general managers might have become attracted to players who have a chance to expire before their contracts. Winnipeg would have had to use more dead players than ever before. A guy like Hilliard Graves might have been paid more than his team could afford.Even bigger trouble would have been inevitable once the NHL reaches a settlement with the retired stars who have sued for pension increases. When the judge has his final say, old guys might wind up owning the league. Current stars such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux may only be allowed to play one game a year, the night before the All-Star Game.Eventually, a player under 40 may be permitted to play in the NHL only by special dispensation. Claude Lemieux could stay in the league, certainly, because his act has gotten certifiably old. There may also be a place held for somebody named Lyle Odelein, but Wendell Young&rsquo;s career will be as good as over.Sooner or later, players would have to be elected to the Hall of Fame before they became eligible for the entry draft. And we can foresee this becoming a huge problem, too, because how do these guys make the Hall of Fame unless they once played the game? It&rsquo;s hard to see any future for a game with no players.Maybe I&rsquo;m overreacting. But at the very least, age would certainly take a priority over beauty, which guaran-tees that Tim Hunter&rsquo;s days are numbered. I have many other objections to old people playing hockey, but I am afraid I have forgotten them. &#9632;

f0019-01

Geritol hockey wave of future

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>In the end, the Detroit Red Wings still needed a front-line goalie, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn&rsquo;t get their second-line center and the New York Rangers succeeded in doing what Peter Pocklington has been trying for months-they got the Oilers out of Edmonton.The busiest trading deadline period in NHL history saw a total of 18 trades involving 35 players, but how many were meaningful?The Calgary Flames I and Chicago Blackhawks raised their talent levels and the St. Louis Blues, by re-acquiring center Craig Janney, now boast an impressive offensive arsenal.Two other Stanley Cup contenders, the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils, stood pat.&#9633; The day after the Rangers made four dead-line deals, headlines in the New York dailies screamed &ldquo;Panic on 33rd&rdquo; and &ldquo;Ranger Roulette.&rdquo;But the Rangers, who clearly realize the future is now, simply made themselves a better team. There&rsquo;s no guarantee the Rangers will end 54 years of frustration with a Stanley Cup, but at least general manager Neil Smith can&rsquo;t be accused of standing pat.He acquired left winger Stephane Matteau and right winger Brian Noonan from the Blackhawks, right winger Glenn Anderson from the Maple Leafs and center Craig MacTavish from the Oilers in March 21 deadline deals. He gave up two proven scorers in future Hall of Famer Mike Gartner and Tony Amonte, both right wingers.MacTavish and Anderson bring to eight the number of former Oilers in Manhattan.The Rangers have been among the challengers for the President&rsquo;s Trophy for first overall all season, but coach Mike Keenan wanted more toughness up front.Matteau is a grinding winger and Noonan a streaky scorer. Both played for Keenan in Chicago. Anderson has a history of rising to the occasion in the playoffs and MacTavish possesses leadership and defensive expertise.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02781/6079649-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="972" height="1713"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Rangers are grittier up front with Stephane Matteau.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Every year about six teams get the opportunity to step up to the plate and if you&rsquo;re one of them, you had better swing the bat,&rdquo; Smith said.The Rangers insist the Chicago deal had been in the works.Veteran broadcaster John Davidson, a former NHL goaltender, said the Rangers made all the right moves.&ldquo;They are a better team now,&rdquo; Davidson said. &ldquo;With Amonte and Gartner in the lineup they had too many of the same type of players. They now have, and I hate to use this term because everybody uses it, but more grit. They have more depth than any team in the NHL.&rdquo;&#9633; The Red Wings remained quiet at the deadline, but their fans were not. After getting Bob Essensa in a previous trade for Tim Cheveldae, there were still serious doubts as to whether the Wings are strong enough in goal. Essensa lost his first four games in Detroit.Speculation is that if the Red Wings had been willing to part with 22-year-old Keith Primeau, they might have been able to get Bill Ran-ford from the Edmonton Oilers or Chris Terreri from the New Jersey Devils.Adding insult to injury was the fact that the much-maligned Cheveldae, 3-2-0 in his first six games with Winnipeg, had beat his former team and posted two shutouts.&ldquo;If you identify a need and feel by filling it you can go all the way, then you should fill it,&rdquo; said Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster and former NHL coach Harry Neale. &ldquo;If getting Ranford or Grant Fuhr means winning the Stanley Cup, you go for it.&ldquo;What if next season (Steve) Yzerman and (Sergei) Fedorov break their legs and the chance to win the Cup is gone?&rdquo;&#9633; As for Gartner, his ultimate destination is the Hall of Fame. Now he&rsquo;s just a mile up the street from it in Toronto. Still, he doesn&rsquo;t fill the need the Leafs have for a No. 2 center; someone who can take the pressure off Doug Gilmour.&#9633; One of the more perplexing trades was the one that saw defenseman Al lafrate go from the Washington Capitals to the Boston Bruins for forward Joe Juneau.With Cam Neely out for the season, how could the Bruins trade a 100-point man for an offensive defenseman when they already have Ray Bourque and Glen Wesley?Well, first of all, Juneau enters his option year next season and will demand a huge raise from the $250,000 he now makes. Juneau&rsquo;s goal production was down dramatically this season and the team has a player by the name of Mariusz Czerkawski coming from Sweden whom they hope will fill the void left by Juneau and play a grittier game.The Bruins also figured with Neely out, their focus for the post-season should be on defense.&#9633; The Devils and Canadiens resisted temptation.&ldquo;New Jersey and Montreal might have been the smartest teams because they didn&rsquo;t make any deals,&rdquo; Neale said. &ldquo;When you change the chemistry of your team late in the season, you sometimes play with fire.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-02

Here’s the deal…

<div class="byline">By Bick Carpiniello</div>Neil Smith had a chance to blow his own horn, but didn&rsquo;t dare.He was asked if he thought in his wildest dreams that Adam Graves would turn into a 50-goal scorer when Smith signed him as a free agent in 1990.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say that I did,&rdquo; said the New York Rangers&rsquo; general manager. &ldquo;I was just thinking he&rsquo;d be a 30-35 goal scorer, a hard-working, great kid, battle-for-his-teammates type of guy.&rdquo;The 25-year-old Graves was all of that until this season. Now he&rsquo;s one more thing-the Rangers&rsquo; all-time single-season goal-scoring leader.With two goals against the Edmonton Oilers March 23, Graves tied and passed Vic Hadfield, the only other Ranger to ever score 50 in a season.Graves, a former Edmonton Oiler and Detroit Red Wing, had 51 goals and 73 points in 76 games.&ldquo;Now he has the desire to score,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;He feels it&rsquo;s part of his role. He realizes we need him to score goals. I think the reason he didn&rsquo;t score when he was with Edmonton and in his first year with us was he didn&rsquo;t feel they needed him to score.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01955/6079680-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="570" height="936"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Graves has turned into an offensive threat this season.</figcaption></div>Graves dreaded the attention he was getting as he approached 50, answering questions either with a put-down of his abilities, or with an &ldquo;I go out and try to play the same way.&rdquo;In typical, over-modest Graves fashion, he wanted to cut the puck into 25 slices and divvy it up among his teammates.No. 50 came on a 2-on-1 pass from Mark Messier, who returned from a charley horse promising that he was on a mission to get Graves the record.No. 51 was a more typical Graves goal. Less than three minutes after he scored No. 50, Graves banged in a goal past Oilers&rsquo; goalie Bill Ranford.HEATED EXCHANGE: Coach Mike Keenan was involved in a verbal altercation with Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn at the end of a 5-2 Rangers&rsquo; victory March 25.With 40 seconds left in the game, Quinn had tough guys Shawn Antoski and Tim Hunter on a power play unit and AntosKi Knocked Jay wens out of the game with an elbow, then pummeled Craig MacTavish in a fight.The final 40 seconds took about 15 minutes to play because of several skirmishes and ugly incidents, including Keenan and Quinn exchanging words. Keenan was knocked backward by Gino Odjick&rsquo;s stick, which missed its target.NHL senior vice-president Brian Burke was present at the game and was looking into the whole affair, including an exchange between Joey Kocur of the Rangers and Sergio Momesso of the Canucks.Kocur broke his stick over the arms of Momesso, who earlier in the game had given Kevin Lowe a concussion. Momesso retaliated with a two-handed baseball swing that Kocur had to leap to avoid. Momesso received a match penalty for attempt to injure.NOTEBOOK: Brian Leetch, who missed two of the last four Aprils with broken ankles, ended the month of March on a tear. Leetch had two goals and seven assists in three games, including seven shots on goal in one period against the Calgary Flames March 22.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Daniel Lacroix, C. assigned to Binghamton (AHL)<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Mark Messier. Alexei Kovalev. Esa Tikkanen. Craig MacTavish, Ed OlczykLW&ndash;Adam Graves, Stephane Matteau, Greg Gilbert. Nick Kypreos, Mike Hartman.RW&ndash;Glenn Anderson, Steve Larmer. Brian Noonan. Joey Kocur.LD&ndash;Brian Leetch. Kevin Lowe, Mattias Norstrom.RD&ndash;Jeff Beukeboom, Sergei Zubov. Alexander Karpovtsev, Doug Lidster.G&ndash;MIke Richter. Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jay Wells. D. concussion, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0020-01

Graves digs way into team record book with goal feats

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>When the spotlight started to bum in Boston, Joe Juneau thought it best to find some shade.While some players thrive with the attention in a hockey-first market, the newest Washington Capital looks forward to the relative peace and quiet in a different setting.Juneau said he doesn&rsquo;t feel much pressure in his new situation, but that will increase if he doesn&rsquo;t produce.&ldquo;I just want to play and have fun,&rdquo; said Juneau, who was acquired from the Boston Bruins at the March 21 trade deadline for defenseman Al lafrate. &ldquo;Hopefully, I will have more fun than I had in Boston.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to play in Boston with a lot of pressure. It&rsquo;s a hockey town. It&rsquo;s like Montreal or Quebec. You can&rsquo;t compare it with Washington. When I came to Boston, instead of three (reporters), there were 15.&rdquo;When the deal was made, Juneau expressed anger toward Boston management. He referred to newspaper stories in which assistant general manager Mike Milbury said Juneau wasn&rsquo;t going to be traded.&ldquo;It was a shock,&rdquo; Juneau said. &ldquo;I heard a week before that I was not going to get traded, so you don&rsquo;t expect it and you kind of believe it until you find out they were lying.&rdquo;Juneau, who wore No. 49 on his Boston jersey, chose 90 with his new team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different city and a different team,&rdquo; Juneau said. &ldquo;Everything is new. I always had No. 9. but I decided to wear 90 instead of 49.&rdquo;Capitals fans won&rsquo;t care what number he wears as long as Juneau puts numbers on the board. He had 102 points last season as a rookie and the 72 points he brought from Boston made him the Capitals leading scorer.&ldquo;(GM David) Poile told me how much they needed me and it made me feel wanted and good about myself,&rdquo; Juneau said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have that feeling in Boston this year, playing behind (Ray) Bourque, (Cam) Neely, and (Adam) Oates. It might be different starting here. I&rsquo;ve just got to do my job, meet the new guys and feel comfortable.&rdquo;USTORF SIGNS: David Poile completed the final details on a three-year contract for third-round 1992 draft pick Stefan Ustorf.The 20-year-old center played for the German Olympic team this season. He recently had his injured knee examined by team doctors and is expected to play for Germany in the World Championships in April then join the Capitals at training camp next fall.Ustorf watched the Capitals&rsquo; March 22 game against the Hartford Whalers and was asked if he thought he could play for the Capitals next season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got no idea, but it&rsquo;s hard to say after one game,&rdquo; Ustorf said. &ldquo;They were playing pretty well. It&rsquo;s a lot quicker than back in Germany.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Capitals tied a dubious team record-for the fourth time-by allowing three shorthanded goals in a 6-4 loss to Boston March 27&hellip;Dave Poulin scored his 200th career goal March 27 against the Bruins.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Joe Juneau, Mike Ridley. Dale Hunter. Dave Poulin, Steve Konowal-chuk.LW&ndash;Randy Burridge. Kelly Miller, Craig BerubeRW&ndash;Peter Bondra. Pat Peake, Keith Jones, Dimitri Khristich, Tim Bergland.LD&ndash;Calle Johansson, Joe Reekie. Shawn Anderson, John Slaney.RD&ndash;Kevin Hatcher, Sylvain Cote, Jim Johnson.G&ndash;Don Beaupre. Byron Dafoe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Michal Pivonka, LW. concussion, day-to-day. Rick Tabaracci, G, strained knee, indefinite. &#9632;

New setting fits low-key Juneau quite nicely

<div class="byline">By Jeff Williams</div>Uwe Krupp is trapped in a horror movie. His mind sees the title in big, bold letters. The Season From Hell, he calls it.The script for Krupp&rsquo;s season could have been written by Steven King and directed by Brian De Palma.Reluctantly, Krupp is the star. The New York Islanders&rsquo; defenseman has suffered through enough misery this season to last a career.Krupp&rsquo;s injury woes began Oct. 8 against the Edmonton Oilers. He broke the big toe on his left foot and missed three games.He returned to the lineup, but sustained a broken orbital bone when he was hit by Mark Hardy&rsquo;s clearing attempt against the Los Angeles Kings Oct. 26.After sitting out 17 games, Krupp returned in early December. He played well, but pulled a hamstring Dec. 19 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and missed nine games.Krupp&rsquo;s injury woes didn&rsquo;t end there. He also sprained his right hand against the Washington Capitals Feb. 19 (missed two games), sustained a bad cut against the Philadelphia Flyers Feb. 25 (missed four games) and re-injured his wrist March 10 against the San Jose Sharks.Krupp&rsquo;s totals through March 27: 34 games played, 41 games missed. He has never played fewer than 67 games in seven full seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and Islanders.Injuries have contributed to the Islanders&rsquo; poor showing this season. They had four players out with season-ending injuries: forwards Brian Mullen (heart surgery), David Volek (lower back strain), Claude Loiselle (left knee surgery), and defenseman Rich Pilon (separated left shoulder).Krupp&rsquo;s injuries hurt the team the most. Not only is he a capable blueliner, but general manager Don Maloney could have dealt Krupp at the March 21 trading deadline to acquire a rugged forward. Several teams were interested in Krupp, but his health was a stumbling block.Krupp, 28, isn&rsquo;t happy about the way things have gone this season.&ldquo;I always thought I earned my money,&rdquo; Krupp said. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m not earning what I&rsquo;m making.&rdquo;NO DEALS: The March 21 trading deadline passed and the Islanders passed on making a deal.&ldquo;We got everything out there to make us better, which was nothing at all,&rdquo; Don Maloney said.Basically, there were three factors involved in the Islanders standing pat: They didn&rsquo;t want to give up their future; they didn&rsquo;t want to jeopardize the present precarious playoff chase; and management has enough confidence in the ability of this team to ultimately earn a playoff spot.&ldquo;I believe in this team,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;I hope the players believe in themselves.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Brian Mullen was sent home from a Long Island hospital March 22, where he had been recovering after collapsing from a seizure during practice March 20. He is not expected to suffer any long-term effects from the seizure, which was likely related to the stroke he suffered Aug. 11. He is out for the season.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Pierre Turgeon. Ray Ferraro, Travis Green, Keith Acton.LW&ndash;Oerek King. Benoit Hogue. Marty McInnis. Dave Maley.RW&ndash;Steve Thomas, Pat Flatley, Brad Dalgamo, Mick Vukota. Yan Kaminsky.LD&ndash;Scott Lachance, Darius Kasparaitis. Dennis Vaske. Chris Luongo.RD&ndash;Vladirnir Malakhov, Tom Kurvers. Dennis Vaske, Dean Chynoweth.G&ndash;Ron Hextail. Jamie McLennan.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Uwe Krupp, D, sprained right hand, day-to-day. Claude Loiselle, C, left knee surgery, out for season. Brian Mullen, LW, recovering from seizure, out for season. Rich Pilon, D, separated left shoulder, out for season David Votek, LW, lower back strain, out for season. &#9632;

Krupp’s misery continues

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div>The trading of Rob DiMaio and Joe Reekie seemed to cast a pall of uncertainty over the Tampa Bay Lightning.Fans, even players, questioned the moves, some wondering out loud if the team hadn&rsquo;t suddenly veered off the path toward Stanley Cup playoff contention it had been riding.Phil Esposito has had no such doubts. The Lightning general manager and the engineer of the two controversial trades March 18 and 21 says his moves have not forced the team off chosen path. Instead, he says, they have moved the Lightning further down that path and brought them closer to their ultimate goal.DiMaio was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for rugged winger Jim Cummins, while Reekie was dispatched to the Washington Capitals for another physical presence, defenseman Enrico Ciccone. Cummins was assigned to the team&rsquo;s International League affiliate in Atlanta.&ldquo;These were not lateral moves,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;With these trades, we got younger, which is what we&rsquo;re supposed to be doing. And we got tougher, which is something we need to do considering the division we&rsquo;re in.&rdquo;The initial returns on the moves did not look good. Without Reekie and DiMaio, Tampa Bay blew a four-goal lead for the first time in franchise history March 22 and wound up dropping a 5-4 decision to the New York Islanders in overtime.A 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils two nights later and a 2-2 tie with the Dallas Stars March 27 followed.Esposito said losses like those suffered in New York and New Jersey may become commonplace as the season winds down and the Lightning begin looking at its prospects. But he said heartbreaking losses are part of the building process.&ldquo;We went through the same thing last year after we traded Basil McRae, Rob Ramage and Peter Taglianetti,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;Sure we&rsquo;re going to lose some games. But the kids are going to be gaining some very valuable experience. We&rsquo;re going to be able to evaluate them, which we would have done earlier, but we were fighting for a playoff spot.&rdquo;BOOT CAMP: The Lightning&rsquo;s youth movement continued March 23, when defenseman Eric Charron and Jim Cummins were recalled from Atlanta.Both were expected to play in about four games, then be replaced by fellow youngsters defenseman Cory Cross and winger Jason Ruff.&ldquo;We think some of these kids can be part of our future, so we&rsquo;re getting a jump on training camp right now,&rdquo; Phil Esposito said. &ldquo;If we know going in to camp next year that so-and-so can be a part of this club and that so-and-so can&rsquo;t, then we&rsquo;ve made some very valuable progress in terms of evaluation.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: No. 1 goaltender Daren Puppa sustained a groin pull in practice the day before the loss to the Devils. The injury is not believed to be serious and Puppa will be used as a backup to Wendell Young until the injury heals.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 23: Eric Charron, D, Jim Cummins, RW, recalled from Atlanta (IHL). March 25: J.C. Bergeron, G. recalled from Atlanta (IHL). March 27: Bergeron assigned to Atlanta.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Brian Bradley, Chris Gratton, Denis Savard, Marc Bureau.LW&ndash;Adam Creighton, Petr Klima, Gerard Gallant, Mikael Andersson, Rob Zamuner.RW&ndash;John Tucker. Danton Cole, Pat Elynuik. Rudy Poeschek, Jim Cummins.LD&ndash;Marc Bergevin, Shawn Chambers, Enrico Ciccone.RD&ndash;Chris Joseph. Donald Dufresne. Roman Hamrtik, Eric Charron.G&ndash;Daren Puppa. Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Trader Phil still convinced late deals were necessary

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>Ed Snider has never been one to stand pat. He wheeled and dealt to build the Philadelphia Flyers and needed only seven years to bring Philadelphia its first Stanley Cup.The team&rsquo;s majority owner is, however, showing patience with today&rsquo;s Flyers.Although the Flyers are the only NHL team to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs the past four years-and could make it five this season-Snider claims general manager Russ Farwell and coach Terry Simpson will be back next year.&ldquo;No doubt about it,&rdquo; Snider said. &ldquo;The coach is Russ&rsquo; decision, but I have no doubt (Simpson) will be the coach.&rdquo;The Flyers&rsquo; 9-16-4 collapse since the Jan. 22 All-Star Game and the resignation of team president Jay Snider (Ed&rsquo;s son) in February raised speculation Florida Panthers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke might be coming back to Philadelphia.Both Clarke and Snider decline to talk about that subject, but Clarke has let it be known he would not accept the president&rsquo;s post without GM responsibilities.Snider said he believes the Flyers are on the right course and predicted the team will win a Stanley Cup by 1997.&ldquo;You can bet on it,&rdquo; he said.Snider also defended Farwell, who last year signed what is believed to be a three-year contract extension. He centered that defense on what Farwell has done since the organization was depleted by the 1992 Eric Lindros trade.&ldquo;I believe with what he has had to work with, he has done a very good job. He&rsquo;s bright, he has a game plan and it&rsquo;s not just hit-or-miss to satisfy the fans or media.&rdquo;As for his own patience, Snider said he knew when he acquired Lindros success would not happen overnight.&ldquo;I look at this as the second year of the Lindros era. It took the Penguins five or six years to get in the playoffs with Mario Lemieux.&rdquo;Farwell has been GM of the Flyers since succeeding Clarke in June, 1990. Simpson was hired after the 1992-93 season to replace Bill Dineen.RECCHI MILESTONES: Mark Recchi picked up an assist in a game against the New Jersey Devils March 26 for his 500th career point.A night later, Recchi assisted on another goal against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to give him 100 points for the second straight season. Last year, Recchi set a team record with 123 points. The 100-point plateau has been reached seven times in the Flyers&rsquo; 27-year history.Recchi reached triple figures despite a switch to center in mid-February. He has been playing on the second line and even did third-line duty. The Flyers have also asked Recchi to take on a more defensive role.NOTEBOOK: Mikael Renberg&rsquo;s 35th goal of the season-which was scored March 27 against Anaheim-gave him 75 points on the season, one shy of Dave Poulin&rsquo;s team rookie scoring record set in 1983-84. Renberg&rsquo;s 74th point made him the highest scoring Swedish rookie in NHL hi story&hellip; Goalie Tommy Soderstrom recorded a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Blues March 22, his first NHL victory since Dec. 27.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 23: Frederic Chabot, G. recalled from Hershey (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Eric Lindros Mark Recchi, Mark Lamb, Dave Tippett.LW&ndash;Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Josef Beranek, Andre Faust Rob DiMalo.RW&ndash;Mikael Renberg, Kevin Dineen, Brent Fedyk. Dave Brown, Al Conroy.LD&ndash;Garry Galley, Jason Bowen, Yves Racine. Rob Zettler, Jeff Rnley.RD&ndash;Ryan McGill, Dimitri Yushkevich, Stewart Malgunas. Rob Ramage.G&ndash;Dominic Roussel, Tommy Soderstrom, Frederic Chabot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None. &#9632;

Owner Snider remains patient, stands by his men

<div class="byline">By Craig Dolch</div>John Vanbiesbrouck gets most of the publicity and Brian Skrudland does most of the talking.But, quietly, center Stu Barnes has been one of the Florida Panthers&rsquo; best players down the stretch as the expansion team tries to secure a playoff spot.&ldquo;He has played exceptionally well for us during the last month,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;He has been our best forward.&rdquo;Barnes didn&rsquo;t envision this opportunity when the Panthers traded veteran center Randy Gilhen to the Winnipeg Jets Nov. 26 to acquire his servicesThe fourth overall pick in the 1989 entry draft was just happy to be leaving the Jets after three frustrating seasons of playing on the third and fourth lines.Barnes had 15 goals and 31 points in his first 50 games with the Panthers, leaving him with career highs of 20 goals and 40 points through March 28. He went on a spree in March, scoring a goal in six of eight games.&ldquo;To be honest, I thought 20 (goals) might be a little too much to expect,&rdquo; the 23-year-old said. &ldquo;But the key is I&rsquo;ve been getting more ice time and it helps Roger has confidence in me.&rdquo;Barnes is doing more than finding the net. After checking winger Jody Hull injured his right shoulder, Barnes was called upon to kill penalties. He had killed penalties in junior, but never in the NHL.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like I haven&rsquo;t done it before, but it had been a while,&rsquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;(Assistant coach) Craig Ramsay has been real good working with me and showing me a lot of videotape. I like having all this responsibility. It makes the game a lot more fun when people are asking a lot of you.&rdquo;GIVING &lsquo;EM FITZ: Backup goalie Mark Fitzpatrick considered asking for a trade earlier this season because of a lack of playing time.The Panthers are glad he didn&rsquo;t.Fitzpatrick has rebounded from a 1-5-1 start to go 11-3-2 during a 16-game stretch. He has done more than give starter John Vanbiesbrouck an occasional night off.&ldquo;We have all the confidence in the world in Mark,&rdquo; Roger Neilson said. &ldquo;We know he can do the job.&rdquo;Fitzpatrick lowered his goals-against average to 2.78 after beating the New York Islanders 3-1 March 26. It was his third win against his former team this season. Fitzpatrick, 25, has never had a goals-against average below 3.00.NOTEBOOK: The Panthers are the winningest expansion team in NHL history. They surpassed the 31 wins by the 1967-68 Philadelphia Flyers and the 73 points earned by the Flyers and the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers&hellip;Right winger Jeff Daniels and defenseman Peter Andersson have both played key roles since coming to the Panthers just before the NHL trading deadline. Daniels has spent time on the Panthers&rsquo; top checking line in place of the injured Jody Hull while Andersson has received power-play time in addition to playing a regular shift.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Brian Skrudland, Stu Barnes, Jesse Belanger. Rob Niedermayer.LW&ndash;Mike Hough. Andrei Lomakin. Dave Lowry, Bill Lindsay.RW&ndash;Tom Fitzgerald. Scott Mellanby. Bob Kudelski, Jeff Daniels, Mike Foligno.LW&ndash;Brian Benning. Geoff Smith. Brent Severyn. Peter Andersson.RD&ndash;Keith Brown, Gord Murphy. Joe Cirella, Paul Laus.G&ndash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jody Hull, RW, separated right shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

Stu’s Barnes-storming crucial to playoff drive

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01791/6079883-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01743/6079876-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="3120" height="3685"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01774/6079869-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="3065" height="3645"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01674/6079862-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="3132" height="3676"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01768/6079855-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3138" height="3031"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

HOCKEY THE WAY YOU WANT TO PLAY IT.

<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; DecAfecision, charged to goaltenders of record when deciding goal is scored.<h2>MONDAY, MARCH 21</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02470/6080145-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="592" height="1173"></div><h2>TUESDAY, MARCH 22</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03335/6080138-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="600" height="1810"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04253/6080131-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="628" height="3502"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05203/6080124-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="588" height="702"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06167/6080117-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="590" height="782"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07144/6080110-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="596" height="708"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08126/6080103-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="596" height="800"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-09110/6080096-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="593" height="1599"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01709/6080089-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="1204" height="1927"><figcaption class="caption-body">Devils&rsquo; right winger John MacLean led his team in goals with 35.</figcaption></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1095/6080082-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="598" height="1799"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01759/6080075-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="602" height="3476"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02529/6080068-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="584" height="662"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03359/6080061-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="586" height="827"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04238/6080054-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="576" height="366"></div><h2>THURSDAY, MARCH 24</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05168/6080047-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="573" height="191"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06137/6080040-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="579" height="833"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07114/6080033-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="609" height="3481"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08100/6080026-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="591" height="2488"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1080/6080019-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="1191" height="1925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sharks&rsquo; Todd Elik scored his 19th goal against Toronto March 24.</figcaption></div><h2>FRIDAY, MARCH 25</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0985/6080012-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="581" height="901"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02464/6080005-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="604" height="3477"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03339/6079998-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="612" height="3480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04269/6079991-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="575" height="175"></div><h2>SATURDAY, MARCH 26</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01675/6079984-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="1189" height="1913"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Donnelly of the Kings hit the 20-goal plateau for the third time.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05221/6079977-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="579" height="412"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06189/6079970-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="579" height="816"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07172/6079963-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="584" height="681"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08143/6079956-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="584" height="819"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09125/6079949-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="606" height="3489"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01763/6079942-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="596" height="1392"></div><h2>SUNDAY, MARCH 27</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02552/6079935-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="596" height="1997"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03430/6079928-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="614" height="3480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04325/6079921-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="618" height="3476"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05259/6079914-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="603" height="3471"></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06226/6080176-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="459" height="2895"></div><h2>NHL PLAYOFFS</h2>(All series best-of-seven)Conference Quarterfinals<h3>Eastern Conference</h3>Sunday, April 17; Tuesday, April 19; Thursday, April 21; Saturday, April 23; Monday, April 25 (if necessary); Wednesday, April 27 (if necessary); Friday, April 29 (if necessary).<h3>Western Conference</h3>Monday, April 18; Wednesday, April 20; Friday, April 22; Sunday, April 24; Tuesday, April 26 (if necessary); Thursday. April 28 (if necessary); Saturday, April 30 (if necessary). &#9632;

f0034-06

NHL SCHEDULE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01723/6080214-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01685/6080207-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="606" height="3450"></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01605/6080276-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01689/6080314-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="379" height="536"></div>Murray Costello insists sour grapes has nothing to do with it.Even if Canada had won the shootout at Hakon Hall during the Lillehammer gold rush, Costello still thinks it&rsquo;s no way to end such an important gun fight.That&rsquo;s why the president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association has put forth a motion to the International Ice Hockey Federation congress to eliminate the shootout in games where precious medals are on the line.Costello was in Hakon Hall for the gold medal game and said the fact Sweden came away with gold has nothing to do with his motion.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t deny the fact it was very exciting, but even if Canada had won I would have felt the same way,&rdquo; said Costello, who thinks the shootout should be adopted by the NHL for regular-season games. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t think a game of that importance should come down to one guy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to these meetings on some kind of crusade. I just think it&rsquo;s worthy of discussion.&rdquo;IIHF delegates will vote on the proposal during meetings at the World Championships in Italy in late April. Costello has a tough sell ahead of him for two reasons: Most other countries don&rsquo;t view the shootout as the scourge on humanity that North Americans do and television constraints prevent the IIHF from extending games.Opponents of the shootout claim the tie-breaker is a made-for-television event. That&rsquo;s exactly what it is, but the IIHF gets most of its revenues from television. Besides, what&rsquo;s wrong with catering to millions of people whose only access to the event is through TV?Canadians don&rsquo;t mind missing the national news and late-night talk shows to watch triple overtime. European networks have not grasped that mentality and insist on finishing the games in the times allotted.&ldquo;Murray will have a hard time changing it,&rdquo; said Gordon Renwick, Canada&rsquo;s representative on the IIHF. &ldquo;The difference is that here, we&rsquo;re selling the game to hockey fans and in the rest of the world we&rsquo;re selling it to sports fans. I never hear them grumbling.&rdquo;Costello&rsquo;s motion would require a simple majority of the 104 IIHF delegates to pass.Here&rsquo;s hoping that the IIHF sticks to its guns and realizes that it has one up on the NHL in the excitement department.Canada&rsquo;s hopes for Olympic hockey gold in 1998 rest on the shoulders of a 15-year-old bantam player from Calgary.Hayley Wickenheiser will be 19 by then and undoubtedly will be a pivotal player on Canada&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s Olympic team in Nagano, Japan. Wickenheiser and women&rsquo;s hockey will make their debuts at the 1998 Games.Wickenheiser will also be a driving force behind Canada&rsquo;s bid for its third straight World Women&rsquo;s Championship in April 11-17 in Lake Placid, N.Y.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02523/6080307-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="569" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hayley Wickenheiser</figcaption></div>Wickenheiser, who plays for a boys bantam AAA team in Calgary, gave Canadian coach Les Lawton no other choice but to include her on the team after a tryout camp in December.&ldquo;When she came into camp, I didn&rsquo;t think she would crack the lineup,&rdquo; Lawton said. &ldquo;All week we were waiting for her to crack and show signs she couldn&rsquo;t handle it, but she got better and by the end of the camp she was in the top five players.&rdquo;A distant cousin to former NHLer Doug Wickenheiser, she was worried the coaches would put more stock in her birth certificate than her skating, shooting and hockey sense, all of which are excellent.&ldquo;I knew that if I could get the coaches to see past the age barrier I could make the team,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I knew I would have to be that much better to prove myself.&rdquo;After three years of playing girls&rsquo; hockey Wickenheiser joined an elite boys&rsquo; league this season and was fourth in team scoring with 21 points in 35 games. She has designs on moving up to the midget ranks next season. &#9632;

f0038-01

Shootout likely to survive IIHF vote

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian and Kevin Oklobzija</div>Looking for a safe bet in the International League Turner Cup playoff race?The Imperial Palace Race and Sports Book in Las Vegas produced a playoff line in early March on the favorites to win the Turner Cup.Fittingly, the league-leading Las Vegas Thunder are 3:1 favorites, followed by the Cincinnati Cyclones at 5:1 and Peoria Rivermen, Kalamazoo Wings and Atlanta Knights at 7:1.The Imperial Palace-which offers the only full betting casino action on IHL games-was working on odds for the league&rsquo;s major award winners as well, with those numbers scheduled for release at the end of March.In the American League, there was no suspense last season when it came time to announce awards. Don Biggs&rsquo; record-breaking 138-point season made him the MVP and Corey Hirsch was a landslide pick as rookie of the year and best goaltender.But even Las Vegas would have a difficult time establishing odds for this season&rsquo;s AHL awards, with numerous justified candidates jockeying for the five major awards.Here are the major award contenders. IHL contenders are listed first in each category:<h2>MVP</h2>&#9633; By unanimous vote, Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Rob Brown will be the winner of the James Gatchene Memorial Trophy in the IHL.Brown was headed toward the greatest single-season point total in league history. The former 40-goal scorer in the NHL led the league with 101 assists and 134 points in 67 games.In a normal year, Ken Quinney of Las Vegas (46 goals, 92 points), Atlanta&rsquo;s Stan Drulia (50goals, 104 points), Milwaukee Admiral Brian Dobbin (46 goals, 96 points) and Cincinnati&rsquo;s Pokey Reddick (27 wins, 3.00 goals-against average) would make this a heated race.&#9633; Rich Chernomaz of the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs has defied Father Time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03425/6080352-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="509" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Pederson of Adirondack leads minors in goals.</figcaption></div>After a six-year stint in the IHL, Chernomaz returned to the AHL to become a player/assistant coach. But the emphasis is on player, because he has a career high for points (102) and is the team&rsquo;s most important forward at age 30.Contenders for the Les Cunningham Plaque include Hamilton Canuck goalie Mike Fountain and Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; left winger Mark Pederson, who had 51 goals in only 60 games.<h2>TOP GOALIE</h2>&#9633; Geoff Sarjeant of the Peoria Rivermen resided in the top-ranked position nearly all season. His 2.45 average was more than half-a-goal better than the next challenger and his.916 save percentage was No. 1.Cincinnati&rsquo;s Pokey Reddick is the heart and soul of the Cyclones and will challenge Saijeant for the James Norris Memorial Trophy in the IHL.&#9633; Fountain plays every night for a team that rarely opens a big lead, meaning he doesn&rsquo;t have much time to relax. He had a league-high three shutouts.The runners-up for the Harry (Hap) Holmes Memorial Trophy are Adirondack&rsquo;s Kevin Hodson and Portland Pirate Byron Dafoe.<h2>TOP ROOKIE</h2>&#9633; Las Vegas&rsquo; 18-year-old center Radek Bonk (36 goals, 76 points) will likely have his name on the Garry F. Longman Trophy before he goes to the NHL draft.His teammate, Patrice Lefebvre, is a worthy candidate and has more points (28 goals, 82 points). Salt Lake Golden Eagles&rsquo; left winger Zig-mund Palffy has been outstanding for a franchise that died.&#9633; Adirondack goalie Kevin Hodson had the league&rsquo;s second-best average (2.92) and save percentage (.904) as well as a 17-8-3 record.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04329/6080345-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="508" height="892"><figcaption class="caption-body">Zigmund Palffy is a standout rookie for Salt Lake.</figcaption></div>Cornwall Aces&rsquo; left winger Rene Corbet and Saint John Flames&rsquo; center Cory Stillman are contenders for the Dudley Garrett Memorial Trophy.<h2>TOP DEFENSEMAN</h2>Jean-Marc Richard of Las Vegas had a league second-best plus-41 rating and 13 goals and 41 points, but Peoria&rsquo;s Darren Veitch, who could have the inside track on the Governors&rsquo; Trophy with 20 goals and 68 points.Other contenders are San Diego Gull Dale DeGray (18 goals, 62 points), Milwaukee Admiral Pat MacLeod (21 goals, 70 points) and Todd Richards of Las Vegas (nine goals, 41 points).&#9633; There is no debate here. Chris Snell of St. John&rsquo;s will be the runaway winner with a league-record 88 points and a league-best rating of plus 33.The runners-up for the Eddie Shore Plaque are Adirondack&rsquo;s Jason York and Bob Wilkie of the Hershey Bears.<h2>COACH OF YEAR</h2>&#9633; The Commissioner&rsquo;s Trophy traditionally goes to the Turner Cup champion coach-so the playoff outcomes will probably decide this one.Clearly, Butch Goring&rsquo;s expansion Las Vegas Thunder has been the league&rsquo;s point leader and showcase team all season and he&rsquo;s a good bet to win the award even if his club doesn&rsquo;t add the Turner Cup to its list of honors.Top contenders are Peoria&rsquo;s Paul MacLean and Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Ken Hitchcock.&#9633; Cornwall&rsquo;s Jacques Martin has taken a low-scoring team that lost its best forwards to trades and injury (Denis Chasse, Niklas Andersson) and kept it in the middle of the Southern Division race. That could be good enough to earn Martin the Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award in the AHL.Rochester American John Van Boxmeer has kept a light-on-talent, heavy-on-injury roster in the hunt for a playoff berth. Rob Laird of the Moncton Hawks&rsquo; helped his team overcome a 6-11-1 start to challenge for second place. Portland&rsquo;s Barry Trotz guided his team to the league&rsquo;s second-best defense and a battle for first overall. &#9632;

f0038-03

Major-league minors

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Just two years ago, Tim Taylor lost his spot in the Baltimore Skipjacks&rsquo; lineup and was being shopped around the American League by the parent Washington Capitals.Last season, he remained low on Washington&rsquo;s prospect list and was finally sent to the Vancouver Canucks in a minor-league trade for Eric Murano.Taylor&rsquo;s four-year career appeared to be ending before it ever really went anywhere.But an August move to the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; organization as a free agent enabled Taylor to re-establish himself as a prospect and restore his credibility as an offensive threat.Put at center between left winger Mark Pederson and right winger Martin Lapointe, Taylor has been the AHL&rsquo;s leading scorer for nearly every week of the season. He had 33 goals and 104 points in 69 games.That&rsquo;s quite an outburst after AHL seasons of 67, 67, 27 and 68 points.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve felt rejuvenated,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Taylor, Washington&rsquo;s second-round draft pick in 1988. &ldquo;I was so frustrated the last couple of years in Baltimore.&ldquo;When they drafted me, I thought they wanted me to play both ends. But they started to try to change me. I was only getting ice time as a defensive forward and I didn&rsquo;t really grasp the opportunities when they were there.&rdquo;Taylor, 25, blames himself for stagnating in Baltimore after a 31-goal, 67-point rookie season in 1989-90.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have the right attitude to be a pro when I came in,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize you have to work hard in practice. In junior, you can get by on talent alone, but here, everyone is working to be the best.&rdquo;Not that it was easy in Baltimore.&ldquo;It seemed like in the Washington organization, they were always putting players down,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;They were always saying, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re no good, you can&rsquo;t do this.&rsquo; Pretty soon you&rsquo;re saying, &lsquo;Well, why did you draft us?&rsquo;&ldquo;But here, everything is positive and when someone tells you that you can do something, you start feeling positive all the time.&rdquo;Apparently the Adirondack coaching staff is telling Taylor he can score. He had a one-game recall to Detroit and scored the Red Wings&rsquo; only goal in an 8-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.SUPER POWER: Hershey Bears&rsquo; center Mitch Lamoureux put his name in the AHL record book by scoring his 26th power-play goal of the season March 20.That&rsquo;s one more than Richard David scored for Fredericton in 1981-82 and Paul Gardner scored for Rochester in &lsquo;85-86.Lamoureux went six games without a goal before scoring in an 8-4 win over the Rochester Americans on the power play.&ldquo;Records can wear on you,&rdquo; he said.PENALTY BARRAGE: Saint John Flame Alex Nikolic earned 51 minutes in penalties on one stoppage of play against the P.E.I. Senators. That was three minutes shy of Wally Weir&rsquo;s AHL record for minutes in a game.Nikolic was assessed a double minor for crosschecking, an instigating minor, fighting major, 10-minute misconduct and triple game misconduct. The game misconducts were for being an instigator, mouthing off and throwing his stick into the crowd.AHL TIDBITS: Cape Breton Oilers&rsquo; leading scorer Jim Nesich is out until the playoffs after having arthroscopic knee surgery&hellip;The Adirondack at Albany River Rats game March 19 drew a team record 9,859 fans to Knickerbocker Arena. That&rsquo;s 6,600 above the River Rats&rsquo; average.Fredericton Canadien Brian Savage was player and rookie of the week for the week ending March 20. He had six goals and 10 points in four games. &#9632;

Taylor revives career with positive feedback

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Brendan Savage </div><div class="byline">&#x2013;Richard Pollak</div>Regular season or playoffs, it doesn&rsquo;t matter to the Thunder Bay Senators. They&rsquo;re still the Colonial League&rsquo;s most dominant team.After setting CHL records with 45 wins and 94 points, the Senators stormed into the Colonial Cup final by sweeping the defending champion Brantford Smoke in four games.Brian Downey led the offense with three goals and 10 points while goalies J.F. Labbe and Alain Harvey limited Brantford to 11 goals.Thunder Bay will meet the winner of the semifinal series between the Chatham Wheels and Flint Generals. Chatham won the first two games before Flint reeled off three victories, including a 5-4 overtime triumph.Flint won all three despite the absence of MVP Kevin Kerr, who was suspended for three games after being ejected, then returning to fight in Game 2.CENTRAL LEAGUE: When push came to shove, the Dallas Freeze got back in its series with the Central League regular-season champion Wichita Thunder.Wichita won the first two games of the best-of-seven semifinal by a score of 15-4. Dallas then won on home ice 6-4 in a game featuring a CHL playoff record 213 penalty minutes.Wichita has been led by top scorers Brent Sapergia and Ron Handy, along with goalie Robert Desjardins, the regular-season MVP.In the other series, home ice was the difference as the Tulsa Oilers and Oklahoma City Blazers were tied 1-1.A playoff record crowd of 10,506 in Oklahoma City watched the Blazers win 9-1 in Game 2. George Dupont, The Hockey News&rsquo; Canadian University player of the year in 1992-93, had three goals. &#9632;

Senators clinch berth

<div class="byline">By Dave Emlnian</div>The only race John Paris has ever really concerned himself with during his coaching career is the one in the standings.And while the newly hired coach of the Atlanta Knights understands he has broken the color barrier for his position, he sees his obstacles on the ice en route to a Turner Cup.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a coach,&rdquo; said Paris, after being named the first black bench boss in the history of the International League March 7. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t change my heritage, of which I&rsquo;m very proud. I don&rsquo;t look at my color, don&rsquo;t think about it.&ldquo;But I guess there&rsquo;s little question I&rsquo;m breaking a barrier.&rdquo;Paris replaces Gene Ubriaco, who left the Knights to join the parent Tampa Bay Lightning scouting staff.Paris is believed to be the first black head coach in pro hockey history. Paul Jerrard was a player-assistant coach last season with the Kalamazoo K-Wings and Bill Riley was an assistant coach in the American League with Moncton in the mid-1980s.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t have landed in a better place than Atlanta if they dropped me out of a satellite,&rdquo; said Paris, 47, who was bom in Curry&rsquo;s Comer, N.S. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a class organization, a wonderful community. The people have treated me with respect, been just terrific. I&rsquo;m not saying (racia injustice) doesn&rsquo;t happen-there are problems al over the world-but I&rsquo;ve seen no change in going to the South as in any other place I&rsquo;ve been.&rdquo;Those places include numerous stops around the junior coaching ranks, including the head coaching position with the St-Jean Lynx of the Quebec League, a job he left earlier this season. Paris was also a scout for the St. Louis Blues in 1991 and credits Blues&rsquo; director of scouting Ted Hampson as his mentor.Paris says he also draws from the philosophies of men such as Bob Johnson. Roger Neilson, Mike Keenan and former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; great Claude Ruel.&ldquo;Hockey is something you never graduate from, you are always learning from people in the game,&rdquo; Paris said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve drawn things from those people, but still, I mostly like to think it&rsquo;s John Paris.&rdquo;In the Knights, Paris inherits a division leader and a team that figures to be a major factor in the Western Conference playoff race.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always come into teams before that were riding at the bottom,&rdquo; Paris.said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pleasure to come in to a team in this position.&rdquo;Paris feels the same about the league he&rsquo;s entering. He said it is one of the best places to work outside the NHL.&ldquo;This league is not what it was 25 years ago,&rdquo; Paris said. &ldquo;You always want to coach at the highest level. In my opinion, to get to that level-the NHL-you have to pass through the IHL.&rdquo;MARKING CALLANDER: Cleveland Lumbeijacks&rsquo; center Jock Callander scored his 1,000th career IHL point March 18.It was fitting the 11-year veteran&rsquo;s milestone was achieved as an assist on a goal by longtime linemate Dave Michayluk.Only nine players in IHL history have reached the 1,000-point plateau in their careers, but three of them-Callander, Michayluk and Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Scott Gruhl-are still active in the league.I-OPENERS: Salt Lake Golden Eagles coach Dave Farrish broke his left leg in practice in mid-March, but returned to the bench the next day in an ankle-to-knee cast&hellip;The San Diego Gulls picked up defenseman Lee Norwood on loan from the Calgary Flames March 21.The Fort Wayne Komets get goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz on loan from the New Jersey Devils and in his second outing he shut out the Cincinnati Cyclones-the Devils&rsquo; primary affiliate-3-0 March 18. &#9632;

Paris becomes first black coach in league’s history

<div class="byline">By Nick Gates</div>The Curse of the Brabham Cup has struck again.Brian Cook&rsquo;s hat trick enabled the Louisville IceHawks to upset the East Coast League&rsquo;s top team this season, the Knoxville Cherokees, 6-4 March 27.The IceHawks&rsquo; victory eliminated the Cherokees in the opening round of the Riley Cup playoffs 2-1. Their victory marks the third time in the past four years Louisville has stunned the regular-season champion in the first round.The Brabham Cup winner has never won the post-season title in the same season.Despite their first-round defeat, the Cherokees pulled off one of the most impressive regular-season turnarounds in ECHL history.Coach Barry Smith&rsquo;s team struggled to a franchise-low 19 wins a year ago and missed the playoffs.But Smith&rsquo;s hard work paid off this season as the Cherokees first in the league with a 44-18-6 record. Smith was selected coach of the year for his efforts.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nice award for me as far as my peers feeling I did a good job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of people are part of it. The only way I could achieve this was through the hard work of my players.&rdquo;Knoxville captured its second Brabham Cup as regular-season champions with an 8-3 win over the Huntsville Blast March 19.CLEAN SWEEP: Birmingham&rsquo;s Joe Flanagan was selected the league&rsquo;s most valuable player for the 1993-94 season.Last season&rsquo;s ECHL rookie of the year scored 54 goals and 126 points and was runner-up in the scoring race to Greensboro Monarch Phil Berger (56-83-139).&ldquo;I&rsquo;m flattered, considering all the great players in the league,&rdquo; said the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; draft pick.PLAYOFF UPDATE: The IceHawks&rsquo; victory over Knoxville was the only first-round playoff upset.All the higher seeded teams advanced to the best-of-five quarterfinals.The Raleigh IceCaps swept the Roanoke Express in two straight games while the Wheeling Thunderbirds bounced the Nashville Knights in consecutive games.The Greensboro Monarchs defeated the Charlotte Checkers, the Birmingham Bulls edged the Huntsville Blast, the Columbus Chill stopped the Johnnstown Chiefs and defending Riley Cup champion Toledo Storm prevailed over the Dayton Bombers, two games to one. &#9632;

Upstart IceHawks upset first-place Cherokees

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Victoria Cougars&rsquo; owner Rick Brodsky wants to move his Western League franchise to Prince George, B.C.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re struggling,&rdquo; Brodsky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure if it&rsquo;s in anybody&rsquo;s best interest to have the WHL continue in Victoria.&rdquo;Brodsky contacted Prince George civic officials about transferring to the city next season. He is competing with two groups which aspire to land an expansion franchise for Prince George.However, the WHL announced Feb. 28 expansion has been put on hold.Brodsky hopes the fact he already owns a franchise is to his advantage.&ldquo;The position I&rsquo;m in is if Prince George doesn&rsquo;t fly, I have no choice but to operate in Victoria next season,&rdquo; Brodsky said. &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the case, I will do my best.&rdquo;The 1993-94 Cougars had an 18-51-3 record and missed the playoffs for the fifth straight season. Victoria averaged 2,373 fans at the 4,861-seat Memorial Arena.Brodsky, who bought the Cougars from Bob Vranckaert in March 1992, cited losses of $300,000 in each of the last two years.A new Prince George team would play next season at the 1,875-seat Coliseum. A 5,300-seat, community-owned arena could be completed by December of 1995.Also vying for a team in Prince George are the Jr. A Prince George Spruce Kings and a private group led by former Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; and Medicine Hat Tigers&rsquo; coach Bryan Maxwell.Maxwell is the director of hockey operations for a group backed by a Prince George-based helicopter business.&ldquo;With my connections, they&rsquo;ve asked me to do whatever it takes to find a franchise,&rdquo; said Maxwell, who resigned from the Chiefs Jan. 22.HOT SEATS: The Portland Winter Hawks shattered their own WHL and Canadian Hockey League single-season attendance records, attracting 286,513 customers.The 1986-87 Winter Hawks set the previous mark of 250,084.This season&rsquo;s Winter Hawks averaged 7,959 fans at the 9,997-seat Memorial Coliseum, playing to 79.6 percent capacity.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we expected it to be as high,&rdquo; said Portland marketing director Mark Miller. &ldquo;We expected large numbers and we expected to break the record, but not by over 30,000.&rdquo;Portland helped the 16-team WHL attract a record 2,133,765 fans. The WHL&rsquo;s hottest tickets belonged to supporters of the Kamloops Blazers. Kamloops sold out 27 games this season.FAT STATS: Portland&rsquo;s Lonny Bohonos became the fifth player in WHL history to lead the league in both goals (62) and assists (90) in a season.Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; right winger Todd Holt finished with career regular-season totals of 321 games (14th-highest in WHL history), 216 goals (eighth) and 423 points (19th).Broncos&rsquo; goalie Ian Gordon, had six shutouts-the most since John Davidson had eight for the 1971-72 Calgary Centennials.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01362/6080486-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="577" height="674"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Brodsky wants to move his Cougars out of Victoria.</figcaption></div><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03172/6080479-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="893" height="202"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (MARCH 21 TO MARCH 27): The defending Western League champions began the playoffs in fine fashion. The Swift Current Broncos won the first two games of a best-of-five East Division quarterfinal against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Todd Holt had five goals and eight points in the two games. In the West Division, the Tacoma Rockets and Tri-City Americans split the first two games of their quarterfinal. The third-place Tacoma Rockets visited the sixth-place Americans for the first two games because the Tacoma Dome was booked. The final three games were set for Tacoma. &#9632;

f0040-01

Brodsky plans for transfer to Prince George

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Laval Titan goalie Emmanuel Fernandez wasn&rsquo;t on hand to accept the Michel Briere Trophy as the Quebec League&rsquo;s MVP at the annual awards banquet March 20.The Titan didn&rsquo;t reserve a place for Fernandez at its team table after suspending him the day before. Titan management felt Fernandez was being selfish.Fernandez was back with the team for its first playoff game March 21, but sat on the bench as backup Martin Villeneuve played in a 5-4 loss to the Victoriaville Tigres.Fernandez ended the regular season with a 3.09 goals-against average and lost the Jacques Plante Trophy to College Francais&rsquo;s Philippe DeRouville. who finished at 3.06. Fernandez was upset that coach Michel Therrien made him play in some meaningless games at the end of the year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all taken care of,&rdquo; Fernandez said. &ldquo;It was a communication problem.&rdquo;&ldquo;In life there are three things: acceptable, tolerable and unacceptable,&rdquo; said Titan GM Jean-Claude Morissette said. &ldquo;Manny had reached the unacceptable stage. There is nobody bigger than the team.&rdquo;Other award winners were: Laval&rsquo;s Yanick Dube, top scorer, most gentlemanly player and personality of the year; St-Hyacinthe Laser&rsquo;s Richard Martel, top coach; Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; Steve Gosselin, top defenseman; Sherbrooke Faucons&rsquo; Christian Dube, top offensive rookie; St-Hyacinthe&rsquo;s Jimmy Drolet, top defensive rookie; Laval&rsquo;s Patrick Boileau, top student/athlete; Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Eric Fichaud, top pro prospect; and Laval&rsquo;s Jean-Claude Morissette, top administrator.MARITIMES MAY JOIN: The QMJHL awarded a conditional franchise to Halifax for next season. The team will play at either the Dartmouth Sportplex, Halifax Metro Centre or Halifax Forum.Moosehead Breweries plans to own 60 per cent of the team with the other 40 going to local investors.The brewery deposited a $30,000 application fee and had a number of requests, including exclusive rights to players from the Maritimes. QMJHL president Gilles Cour-teau said the league will respond by April 15 and foresees &ldquo;no major problems.&rdquo;&ldquo;We have skeptics (in the Maritimes) about whether a major junior team will work,&rdquo; said Harold McKay, the vice-president of sales for Moosehead Breweries. &ldquo;We want to ice a competitive team and we want to feature Maritime talent.&rdquo;The price for the expansion team is $500,000, the same amount the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs paid to join this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02239/6080524-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="580" height="673"><figcaption class="caption-body">Emmanuel Fernandez won the Quebec League&rsquo;s MVP award.</figcaption></div><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04138/6080517-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="903" height="209"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (MARCH 21 TO MARCH 27): The Drummondville Voltigeurs caught fire under new coach Claude Therrien, who took over from the fired Jean Hamel. The Voltigeurs beat College Francais 6-1 March 27 to move within one game of sweeping their first round series. Drummondville finished with 16 fewer points than College Francais. The Beauport Hartangs. making their first ever playoff appearance, led the Shawinigan Cataractes 2-1. The Laval Titan, which was shocked 5-4 in overtime by the Victoriaville Tigres in Game 1, rebounded to win the next three games. &#9632;

f0040-02

MVP Fernandez grounded for awards banquet

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Jim Rutherford doesn&rsquo;t answer to the nickname Slats, but if the name fits&hellip;When the Detroit Jr. Red Wings&rsquo; general manager was named the Ontario League&rsquo;s and Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s executive of the year last season, someone said he is &ldquo;The Glen Sather of the OHL.&rdquo;Rutherford said thanks for the compliment, then moved on to name the people who have helped him in Detroit&rsquo;s quest for major junior hockey&rsquo;s most coveted prize.It wouldn&rsquo;t be a big surprise to see Rutherford win both awards again this season. The Jr. Wings were regular-season champions of the Emms Division in only their fourth year. This was preceded by finishes in eight place, seventh and a tie for first last year.But right from the start of this season, the Jr. Wings have been the favorites. Rutherford responded in January with a flurry of trades that netted the Jr. Wings first place.Veterans Shayne McCosh, Dale Junkin, Gerry Skrypec, Mike Harding and Duane Harmer were added in trades to make a powerful team even better. The Wings already had the likes of Kevin Brown. Bob Wren and Todd Harvey. Skeptics said Rutherford would have a hard time satisfying the demands for ice time. Rutherford said the thought of a Memorial Cup championship quelled any complaints players may have had.&ldquo;If it had been all year, we couldn&rsquo;t have kept them happy,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;But we have something to work toward.&rdquo;COACHING KUDOS: It took 19 years, but Bert Templeton finally won another coach-of-the-year award. The honor is voted upon by his peers.&ldquo;For years I said if I got it again it would be an insult because it means all those other jerks are liking me,&rdquo; the sharp-tongued Templeton joked.Templeton was coach of the year in 197475 with the Hamilton Fincups, his first season in the OHL.It&rsquo;s the third time the Cents have won their division, but they did it the hard way after finishing in seventh place a year ago.&ldquo;It must mean I&rsquo;m old or something,&rdquo; said Templeton, 53. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of that new outgoing personality I have. I have a lot quieter, artistic way about me.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s also a lot leaner, going on a health kick a couple of years ago. Wife Sandi even takes a calculator to the grocery store to figure out the fat percentage in the food.&ldquo;People think I&rsquo;m underpaid because she uses the calculator to see if we can afford food,&rdquo; Templeton said.MORE KUDOS: The OHL has handed out other regular-season awards-Vitali Yachmenev, North Bay, top rookie; BJ. MacPherson, North Bay, top overage player; Jamie Rivers, Sudbury Wolves, top defenseman; Jason Allison, London Knights, scoring champion and most gentlemanly player.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05115/6080555-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="905" height="208"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (MARCH 21 TO MARCH 27): The Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds know the right time to get hot. The defending-Memorial Cup champions swept the Windsor Spitfires in their best-of-seven Emms Division quarterfinal, giving the Greyhounds an eight-game winning streak. A good defense beats a good offense. Although three Kitchener Rangers led playoff scoring, it was Owen Sound goalie Jamie Storr who gave the Platers a 4-1 series win over the Rangers in another quarterfinal. The Peterborough Petes were tied 2-2 with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s even though they finished 37 points behind Ottawa. &#9632;

f0040-05

GM Rutherford laid groundwork for powerhouse

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are in position to do something they haven&rsquo;t done since 1979-win a national championship. And the Gophers can do it in their own backyard.The Gophers advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Final Four in St. Paul March 31-April 2 by squeezing past UMass-Lowell 2-1 in a double-overtime West Regional game March 27.The Gophers play the Boston University Terriers in one semifinal, while the Lake Superior State Lakers and Harvard Crimson meet in the other semifinal. The winners meet April 2 for the title. Here&rsquo;s a look at the Final Four participants:<h2>Harvard Crimson</h2>The great Harvard teams of years past either had an explosive offense or a great defense. This year&rsquo;s team has both. The defense is solid, led by seniors Sean McCann, a Hobey Baker finalist, Derek Maguire and Lou Body.Opponents of the Eastern College Athletic Association champions scored just 85 goals in 32 games. Sophomore goalies Aaron Israel and Tripp Tracy had outstanding seasons. Steve Martins, the ECAC player of the year, leads the offense.<h2>Boston University</h2>The Terriers are the epitome of balance and depth.They do not have a Hobey Baker Award candidate, but they do have eight players who had 30 or more points and eight who scored 11 or more goals.Jack Parker&rsquo;s Hockey East regular-season and tournament champions took a 13-game winning streak into the semifinals.In that stretch, they allowed only 1.7 goals per game and of the 22 goals allowed, 14 came on the power play, including eight by defending national champion Maine in their Hockey East quarterfinal series. BU beat Wisconsin 4-1 to advance to the Final Four.<h2>Lake Superior State</h2>The Lakers advanced to the Final Four for the third straight season by defeating Central Collegiate Hockey Association and national powerhouse Michigan 5-4 in overtime in the West Regional.Although they had their ups-and-downs during the regular season, the Lakers are peaking at the right time.Lake Superior State moved into the St. Paul Civic Center with a 12-1-2 mark in its last 15 games. Before losing to Michigan in the CCHA title game, they were undefeated (10-0-2) in their previous 12 outings.<h2>Minnesota Golden Gophers</h2>The Gophers&rsquo; win over UMass-Lowell was a microcosm of the team&rsquo;s season.They parlayed great team defense, an opportunistic offense led by senior winger Jeff Nielsen and solid goaltending to prevail. It was Nielsen, a 29-goal scorer, who provided the winning goal, blowing a slap shot past Hobey Baker Award finalist Dwayne Roloson.After opening the regular season with two victories in their first 11 games, the Western Colle-giate Athletic Association team went 23-6-1. &#9632;

Home-ice advantage should give Gophers big lift

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tom Boggle</div>Bigger certainly doesn&rsquo;t mean better when it comes to the top players in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.Two of the smallest players in the league walked off with two of the biggest awards at the league&rsquo;s pre-toumament banquet in Lake Placid, N.Y.Harvard junior center Steve Martins was named player of the year while Vermont freshman forward Eric Perrin was named rookie of the year.Martins stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 175 pounds while Perrin is 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds.&ldquo;I think Steve Martins is one of the best kept secrets in college hockey,&rdquo; said Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni.Martins won the ECAC scoring title with 17 goals and 41 points in 21 games and had 24 goals and 56 points overall heading into the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.Martins is the third Harvard player in the past four years to win the ECAC&rsquo;s top honor. Peter Ciavaglia won the award in 1991 and Ted Drury won it last year.Perrin was the leading freshman goal-scorer in the nation with 24 and wanted to share his award with longtime friend and teammate, Martin St-Louis.&ldquo;If it wasn&rsquo;t for him, I wouldn&rsquo;t have this award,&rdquo; Perrin said.TOP BOSS: Union College coach Bruce Delventhal captured coach-of-the-year honors.In just their third season of Division I, the Dutchmen climbed out of the cellar and finished sixth with a 10-9-3 record (15-11-4 overall). Union won just six games in its first two years as a Division I program.INJURY CRISIS: Brown&rsquo;s injury situation became so serious in the playoffs that coach Bob Gaudet was forced to use junior Jeff Reschney, a defenseman who hadn&rsquo;t played in one game all year, as a forward in the championship tournament.After Brown&rsquo;s 6-2 loss to Clarkson in the consolation game, Gaudet said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really kind of glad the season&rsquo;s over. We don&rsquo;t have enough bodies left to play hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

ECAC

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Larry Mahoney</div>Hockey East&rsquo;s 10th season will be remembered as much for the headlines generated off the ice as the ones on it.The league had one of its most successful years, placing four teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament for only the second time (Boston University, UMass-Lowell, New Hampshire, Northeastern).But the off-ice problems overshadowed the on-ice accomplishments. The most significant problems:&#9633; Three NCAA violations against the Maine Black Bears forced them to forfeit 24 games and led to their banishment from the Hockey East tournament.&#9633; Popular Hockey East assistant commissioner Nonni Daly resigned in protest of the Maine suspensions.&#9633; Four members of the New Hampshire Wildcats were charged with assault in an off-campus brawl in late February.&ldquo;The shenanigans involving Maine, their forfeits and the league standings overshadowed the (regular) season,&rdquo; said Boston University coach Jack Parker. &ldquo;But once Maine got knocked out of the tournament (by BU), people focused on the other teams in the league and to get four in the NCAA tournament is a feather in the cap for the league.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think the problems were overshadowed by the good things that happened in the league,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. &ldquo;We placed four teams in the NCAA tournament despite losing more players to the Olympic teams than any other league and this was the best parity we&rsquo;ve ever had in the league from top to bottom. That bodes well for the future.&rdquo;ATTENDANCE DOWN: Attendance for this year&rsquo;s Hockey East semifinals and finals was down significantly over the past two years.Only 10,720 fans attended the two nights of action at Boston Garden.Each of the previous two years, the semifinals and finals drew more than 15,000 and the two championship games alone, featuring Maine against New Hampshire and Boston University, respectively, drew 12,212 and 9,234. &#9632;

HOCKEY EAST

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01233/6080713-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="385" height="539"></div>The best-kept secret in the NHL is slowly leaking out of The Meadowlands.His name is Martin Brodeur, who says of his ambition, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wait to get my name on a Nintendo game.&rdquo;Brodeur, barely a glint in the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; game plan last fall, is a serious Calder Trophy candidate. And if you don&rsquo;t believe it, just look at the statistics.With appallingly little fanfare, Brodeur had posted a 2.39 goals-against average, a 24-9-7 won-lost record and a solid.915 save percentage. He was also drawing comparisons to Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; goalie Felix Potvin, who may have won the Calder last year if it weren&rsquo;t for a guy named Teemu Selanne.&ldquo;Felix and I have a lot in common,&rdquo; says the affable 21-year-old. &ldquo;We played two years in a row on the same midget team and I played against him for two years in (the Quebec League). We even have the same agent (Gilles Lupien).&rdquo;Like Potvin, Brodeur impetuously was thrust on to center stage and prematurely established his credentials as a big-leaguer. In Brodeur&rsquo;s case, the saga began when Devils&rsquo; No. 2 goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz showed up lame at training camp after being traded from the Ottawa Senators.The S.O.S. went out to Brodeur and by opening night, he had become Chris Terreri&rsquo;s understudy. By midseason, the husky Montreal native was splitting the No. 1 chores. Perhaps even more noteworthy, Brodeur has remained sublime and competent as his Devils cruised through the homestretch.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel any pressure at all,&rdquo; says the son of Denis Brodeur, an accomplished hockey photographer and former pro goalie. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier when you&rsquo;re a rookie. Everyone is going to forgive you. If I make a mistake, they say, &lsquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s normal; it&rsquo;s his first year.&rsquo;&ldquo;I try to be like Patrick Roy because he&rsquo;s so steady and he&rsquo;s always there. I want to be steady all the time. If I can do that, I know that my career is going to be great.&rdquo;Denis Brodeur wasn&rsquo;t great, but he was good enough to play minor pro when the NHL was a six-team cocoon and teams carried only one netminder. It would only be natural for his son to follow in his footsteps, but fate had more to do with Martin&rsquo;s career decision.&ldquo;I was a really good forward and my dad was hoping that I would stay up front,&rdquo; Brodeur says. &ldquo;Then, one day our goalie didn&rsquo;t show up for a game so I decided to put on the pads and I&rsquo;ve been in the net ever since. If I had stayed a forward, I wouldn&rsquo;t be talking to you right now.&rdquo;Brodeur credits Devils&rsquo; goaltending coach Jacques Caron for helping to make his first year a success. Before a game against the Montreal Canadiens on intimidating Forum ice, Caron offered Brodeur some sound advice.&ldquo;Usually, I&rsquo;m not a nervous guy,&rdquo; Brodeur recalls, &ldquo;but I was pretty nervous this time. I was playing in my hometown, against the Stanley Cup champions in front of all my family and friends. I tried not to make too much of it, but I had to do three TV interviews before the game, which I didn&rsquo;t like because I wanted to concentrate.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02148/6080706-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="579" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Martin Brodeur</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Then, Jacques Caron told me, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t try to do too much. Let it come at you and take it easy.&rsquo; So, I thought of that and told myself, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t try to beat them; let them try to beat you.&rsquo; And I beat them.&rdquo;Since that December game, the Devils have relentlessly moved to the NHL&rsquo;s upper echelon while Brodeur has alternated with Terreri in a goaltending marriage that has worked as well as a two-goalie system can.If nothing else, Brodeur&rsquo;s ascent is a tribute to a superior work ethic which is evident every time the Devils hold a practice. Brodeur invariably is the last man off the ice.&ldquo;For me, hockey is not just waking up in the morning and going to the rink,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;For me, it&rsquo;s not a job. I love hockey and love goaltending. If I could, I&rsquo;d love to stay on the ice another hour at practice, today and every day.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0044-01

Brodeur having Calder season

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>The good soldier has moved on again.For the third time in five years, 34-year-old Mike Gartner was dealt at the trade deadline, this time from the New York Rangers to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Glenn Anderson, a draft choice and a prospect.It was an abrupt end to a fine tenure on Broadway. Gartner was the Rangers&rsquo; top goal-scorer in each of the three full seasons he played there and this season passed Bobby Hull to stand fifth on the all-time goal list.Gartner was preparing for a game in Calgary when he received word of the deal. Before he could tell his wife Colleen and their children Joshua and Natalie, they had heard the news on their car radio.Gartner is making $1.2 million (U.S.) this year and will make the same next season in his option year. Money is a wonderful thing, but it doesn&rsquo;t ease the sudden sense of estrangement that comes from being snipped off a team like an unwanted branch.It can&rsquo;t buy peace of mind for a players&rsquo; children or make reassuring them they will make new friends in a different school any easier.But Gartner, a past president of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, accepts the game&rsquo;s mechanics. Is a future Hall of Famer owed more than a pat on the back and a shove out the door? Gartner says no.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m owed any more, not in the present atmosphere of hockey I don&rsquo;t think I am,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;A team is paying you good money and they expect you to do certain things. When they don&rsquo;t feel you fit into their plans, you&rsquo;re gone.&rdquo;For what it&rsquo;s worth, the trade also hurt the man who pulled the trigger.&ldquo;Trading Mike Gartner was the hardest thing I&rsquo;ve ever had to do as the general manager of the New York Rangers,&rdquo; Neil Smith said. &ldquo;He was one of the people I was the proudest to put in a Rangers&rsquo; uniform. But part of being a GM is that sometimes, you have to make decisions that put a knot in your stomach. You have to put that ahead of how you feel.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03103/6080744-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="970" height="1842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gartner reached 30 goals for the 15th straight season.</figcaption></div>In the end, the Rangers traded their good soldier for a mercenary who has said he would like to play in Europe after this season. Throughout his career, Anderson has run goalies, used his stick carelessly and shown a disregard for the safety of other players.&ldquo;Nobody wants to win more than Mike Gartner,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;This trade was not about getting rid of Mike, it was about getting Glenn. What it comes down to is that Glenn brings more of a physical dimension to our team.&rdquo;Gartner and Anderson are headed to the Hall by radically different routes. Gartner&rsquo;s career has been built on a phenomenal regular-season consistency-he has scored 30 goals an NHL record 15 consecutive seasons. Anderson was open in his disdain for any game played before mid-April.Anderson was considered aloof in the Leafs&rsquo; dressing room. Gartner has long been one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier ambassadors. He is accommodating with the media and active in Christian as well as community projects.But Anderson won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers and I enjoyed a good playoff last season with the Leafs. He is third in playoff goals with 88 and fourth in points with 201. He has played 185 play-off games.Because he has never advanced to the Stanley Cup final, many of the game&rsquo;s observers believe Gartner, who has 30 goals and 69 points in 80 playoff games, isn&rsquo;t postseason tough.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a perception, not a fact,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;The statistics aren&rsquo;t that bad. The numbers for players across the board drop in the playoffs. Plus, I was on a lot of teams where I was considered the only scorer and I was checked accordingly.&rdquo;In 15 playoff series with the Washington Capitals, Minnesota North Stars and Rangers, Gartner has led his team in playoff scoring five times. Anderson played for one of the most dominant franchises in league history and averaged.48 goals per playoff game. Gartner has averaged.38.Gartner, grew up in southern Ontario and retains an off-season cottage in the Muskoka region. For him, a trade to Toronto represented a hockey homecoming.&ldquo;As disappointing as it was to leave the Rangers, I&rsquo;m very excited to play here,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;Being here year round is something my wife and I have talked about doing once my career is over.&rdquo;As for pulling on a Leafs&rsquo; jersey?&ldquo;Well, obviously it was a little bit different,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;But I think I can get used to it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0044-03

Gartner soldiers on

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>There is more talk about chemistry in the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; dressing room these days than in most high school hallways.Eleven new players have been added since mid-January, so there is going to be a break-in period.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no pressure, we&rsquo;re not fighting for first place,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;Our objective is to get our players to play together. Just because 20 guys put on the same jersey doesn&rsquo;t mean they&rsquo;re a team.&rdquo;Tony Amonte, Paul Ysebaert and Robert Dirk are the newest players trying to fit in after being acquired in general manager Bob Pulford&rsquo;s trading binge at the deadline.Amonte and Ysebaert were looking forward to a fresh start.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t happen for me in Winnipeg for whatever reason,&rdquo; Ysebaert said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a thank-God-I&rsquo;m-out-of-there feeling, but I&rsquo;m happy to be going to Chicago.&rdquo;Ysebaert had only nine goals in 60 games with the Winnipeg Jets. He scored a pair of goals March 24 in a 5-5 tie with the Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;In goal scoring, you never really lose it,&rdquo; said Ysebaert, acquired for a third-round draft pick in 1995. &ldquo;You just miss it for a while.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t Winnipeg. You can be happy anywhere. You can be happy in the North Pole if you&rsquo;re playing.&rdquo;Amonte wants to be a key player with the Hawks, the same way he used to be with the New York Rangers.He will be given every opportunity on a line with Jeremy Roenick and Joe Murphy. Amonte was playing his familiar position at right wing with Murphy moving to the left.&ldquo;I hope I can be a key man,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what every player wants.&rdquo;Amonte claims he wasn&rsquo;t looking to escape from New York, but it&rsquo;s common knowledge the 23-year-old right winger didn&rsquo;t hit it off with Rangers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan.NOTEBOOK: Michel Goulet might miss the rest of the season because of the serious concussion he sustained March 16 at Montreal. &ldquo;The question isn&rsquo;t when he can come back, it&rsquo;s if he can come back,&rdquo; Darryl Sutter said&hellip;Only eight players are left who finished last season in Chicago. &ldquo;Looking around the room, I feel like I&rsquo;m the one who was traded,&rdquo; Jeremy Roenick said.Ed Belfour missed the first game of his four-year career March 24 against Montreal with a strained hip muscle.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 24: Chris Regles. G. recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). March 25: Rogles assigned to Indianapolis. March 26: Christian Soucy. G. recalled from Indianapolis. March 28: Soucy assigned to Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Jeremy Roenick, Christian Ruuttu. Brent Sutter, Jeff Shantz.LW&ndash;Joe Murphy, Patrick Poulin. Randy Cunneyworth, Steve Dubinsky.RW&ndash;Tony Amonte, Rich Sutter, Paul Ysebaert, Darin Kimble, Seigei Krivokrasov.LD&ndash;Keith Carney, Gary Suter, Robert Dirk.RD&ndash;Chris Chelios, Ivan Droppa, Greg Smyth, Neil Wilkinson.G&ndash;Ed Belfour, Jeff Hackett.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Michel Goulet, LW, concussion, indefinite. Dirk Graham, RW, separated left shoulder, day-to-day Cam Russell, D, neck surgery, out for season. Steve Smith, D, broken left leg, out for season. Eric Weinrich, D, broken jaw, day-to-day. &#9632;

Ysebaert and new kids in town take crash course in chemistry

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>When Craig Janney skated onto the ice before the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; game against the San Jose Sharks March 27, the Arena crowd of 17,600 gave him a big ovation.They turned up the volume when he took his first shift and cranked it to deafening decibels when he picked up his first assist. Needless to say, Blues&rsquo; fans were happy to have him back after a two-week absence.Arbitrator George Nicolau, at the Blues&rsquo; behest, awarded Janney and a second-round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks March 14 as compensation for signing free-agent Petr Nedved.Janney refused to report to Vancouver and asked to be traded. The Canucks obliged, sending him back to the Blues March 21 for Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican and Nathan LaFayette.Janney needed time to consider his future after the bizarre turn of events, but he finally reported March 25.In some ways, it was as if he had never left, but Janney added: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still like, kind of crazy. I&rsquo;m the lowest man on the totem poll on this team as far as time here. It&rsquo;s a change because I&rsquo;m back.&rdquo;Janney needed a few days to decide whether he wanted to come back. He previously said he didn&rsquo;t think he would.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I had to digest, to let the impact of what happened settle in,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a weird two weeks.&rdquo;NIFTY 50: A year ago, Brett Hull reached the 50-goal plateau for the fourth consecutive season and it was considered a monumental failure-54 goals is a huge drop off after three consecutive seasons of at least 70 goals.Hull made it five straight 50-goal years March 25 scoring a hat trick in a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars.Only five other players in NHL history have scored at least 50 goals five consecutive seasons. And with 51 goals in 71 games, Hull is in position not only to regain his league goal scoring title, but to finish the season with 60 goals.&ldquo;The only thing that bothered me last year was the abuse I took,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;The media was (getting) on me and I really didn&rsquo;t do anything wrong. I scored 54 goals.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Phil Housley returned to the lineup March 22, playing his first game since Nov. 18. He underwent back surgery Jan. 4. He had two assists in his first four games back&hellip;Veteran Peter Stastny had three goals and nine points in eight games with the Blues.With the return of Craig Janney and the addition of Stastny, Petr Nedved has been centering the third line, with Kevin Miller and Vitali Prokhorov. He had three goals and 12 points in 10 games&hellip;Brendan Shanahan missed two games with a pulled right hamstring, but returned to the lineup March 27.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Vitali Karamnov. RW. and Denny Felsner, RW, assigned to Peoria (IHL). March 23: Karamnov, Tony Hrkac, C. and Pams Duffus. G, recalled from Peoria. March 25: Terry Hollinger, D. recalled from Peoria. March 26: Duffus assigned to Peoria.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Peter Stastny. Craig Janney, Petr Nedved. Jim Montgomery. Tony Hrkac.LW&ndash;Philippe Bozon, Brendan Shanahan. Vitali Prokhorov. Dave Mackey.RW&ndash;Brett Hull, Igor Korolev. Kevin Miller, Vitali Karamnov.LD&ndash;Murray Baron. Stove Duchesne. Terry Hollinger.RD&ndash;Rick Zombo, Phil Housley. Doug Crossman.G&ndash;Curtis Joseph, Jim Hrivnak.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kelly Chase, RW, strained groin, day-to-day. Denis Chasse, RW. neck surgery, out tor season. Alexei Kasatonov. D, sprained foot, day-to-day. Basil McRae. LW, abdominal surgery, April 4. Tom Tilley, D. mouth laceration, day-to-day. &#9632;

Janney relents, reports

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>When it came to nominating a Toronto Maple Leaf for the Masterton Trophy, the Toronto chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association was faced with a difficult task.After all, there wasn&rsquo;t an obvious candidate available, a player like Cam Neely or Mario Lemieux who had fought back from a terrible injury to play again.Still, the chapter managed to come up with a strong choice in unsung defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre, the gentle giant of the Maple Leaf defense corps. Lefebvre is a player who certainly meets the criteria-a player who embodies &ldquo;the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy to be nominated for the award because it&rsquo;s encouraging people see I make a contribution to the team even though I don&rsquo;t score a lot of goals or do fancy things,&rdquo; said Lefebvre, 26. &ldquo;I take pride in what I do and how I play.&rdquo;Lefebvre was traded to the Leafs by the Montreal Canadiens on Aug. 20. 1992 for a third-round draft pick. The deal came just after Pat Bums joined the Leafs from Montreal as head coach.Bums obviously knew something, as Lefebvre quickly emerged as the steadiest defender on the blueline.Lefebvre, who wasn&rsquo;t drafted, was the player most teams asked the Leafs for in trade talks this season. General manager Cliff Fletcher refused to cough him up.DYNAMIC DOUG: Good things seem to happen to those fortunate enough to skate alongside Doug Gilmour.Left winger Dave Andreychuk, who plays on Gilmour&rsquo;s line, hit the 50-goal mark for the second straight season with Toronto&rsquo;s lone goal in a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks March 24.&ldquo;It was a classic example of a great pass again (from Gilmour),&rdquo; Andreychuk said. &ldquo;One guy cannot score 50 goals. It takes a lot of guys around him, especially ones like Doug Gilmour.&rdquo;Mike Gartner, meanwhile, is quickly finding out what Andreychuk already knows. Gartner scored his first two goals as a Leaf in a 6-3 win over the Quebec Nordiques March 26.Gartner, the right winger on the Gilmour line, hit the 30-goal plateau for the 15th straight season. No player in the history of the game has accomplished that feat.Gartner has two more 30-goal seasons than Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito.NOTEBOOK: The Leafs will again seek seclusion for two days in Collingwood, Ont., about two hours north of Toronto at the end of the regular season&hellip; Defenseman Jamie.Macoun signed a one-year contract extension.Damien Cox is a hockey writer for The Toronto Star.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Mark Greig. RW. assigned to St. John&rsquo;s (AHL). March 23: Ken McRae. RW. and Frank Bialowas, LW/D. recalled from St. John&rsquo;s. March 24: Pat Jablonski, G. recalled from St. John&rsquo;s. March 25: Jablonski assigned to St. John&rsquo;s.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Doug Gilmour, Peter Zezel, Mike Eastwood. Mike Krushelnyski, Alexei Kudashov, John Cullen.LW&ndash;Wendel Clark. Bill Berg. Kent Manderville, Frank Bialowas.RW&ndash;Dave Andreychuk. Mike Gartner. Rob Pearson, Mark Osborne, Ken McRae.LD&ndash;Jamie Macoun. Dave Ellett.RD&ndash;Sylvaln Lefebvre. Bob Rouse. Drake Berehowsky. Dmitri Mironov, Todd GillG&ndash;Felix Potvin. Damian Rhodes.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ken Baumgartner, LW. broken right wrist, indefinite. Nikolai Borschevsky, RW, separated right shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

Master blueliner Lefebvre Masterton candidate

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div>It took more time than anyone expected-six games over nearly three weeks-but goalie Bob Essensa finally put a streak together that impressed the Detroit Red Wings and their fans.After hitting rock bottom with a third-period collapse in a 5-4 loss against the Ottawa Senators March 23, Essensa allowed one goal in almost two games to earn a tie and a win after losses in his first four games in Detroit.Essensa came to Detroit March 8 from the Winnipeg Jets in a four-player swap.&ldquo;It feels good to get the monkey off your back a little bit,&rdquo; Essensa said after a 24-save, 31 win March 27.The win followed a 2-2 tie with the Washington Capitals two nights earlier, when Essensa was summoned to relieve rookie Chris Osgood.The Caps scored on their first two shots on net and Essensa entered the game at 4:55 of the first period. He paced the Detroit comeback with 14 saves over the next 60:05, turning catcalls he heard when he entered the game into cheers.No one was saying it, but the Wings were worried Essensa would become a target for abuse from Detroit fans just like his predecessor, Tim Cheveldae, who was booed so much coach Scotty Bowman stopped playing him in games at Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want the fans to get on another guy, but no one here questions his ability,&rdquo; Shawn Burr said.DINO FURIOUS: The Wings were in a predictably lousy mood after being embarrassed by hapless Ottawa, but no one was more upset than Dino Ciccarelli, who didn&rsquo;t play.Ciccarelli was furious about being scratched from the lineup by Scotty Bowman and grew even angrier when he learned Bowman had explained to reporters the reason for leaving Ciccarelli out was a fall in a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks the night before that left him dazed for part of the first period.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s B.S.,&rdquo; Ciccarelli fumed. &ldquo;Tell him to (expletive) off. The communication on this team stinks. All he did was walk into the room and say, (Ray) Sheppard&rsquo;s in. (Martin) Lapointe&rsquo;s in. Ciccarelli, you&rsquo;re out.&ldquo;Then he tells you guys I need a rest? I missed 20 games with a broken foot.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie winger Micah Aivazoff, a checking specialist, led Detroit&rsquo;s offense with a two-goal effort in the loss to Ottawa. The goals doubled AivazofTs production for the season. He had four goals and eight points in 52 games. &ldquo;I scored two goals, but who cares?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We lost the game. I&rsquo;d give both of them back for a win. It was a bad loss, obviously the worst of the year.&rdquo;&hellip;Detroit was 8-7-1 against the top four teams in the NHL, but 6-7-0 against the bottom four teams.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Sergei Bautin, D, and Greg Johnson, C. assigned to Adirondack (AHL). Martin Lapointe, RW, recalled from Adirondack. March 23: Jason York, D, recalled from Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper.LW&ndash;Dino Ciccarelli. Keith Primeau, Martin Lapointe, Micah Alvazoff.RW&ndash;Slava Kozlov. Ray Sheppard, Mike Sillinger, Bob Probert.LD&ndash;Paul Coffey. Steve Chiasson. Bob Halkidis. Mark Howe.RD&ndash;Nicklas Lidstrom. Vladimir Konstantinov. Jason YorkG&ndash;Bob Essensa. Chris Osgood.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Terry Carkner, D, bruised collarbone, day-to-day. Sheldon Kennedy, RW, bruised collarbone, day-to-day Darren McCarty, RW. sprained shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

Essensa back on track after slow start in Motown

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Free agency for older and still capable NHL players can often be a lucrative proposition.Thomas Steen wanted none of that, and in the end, wanted only one thing-to remain a Winnipeg Jet.The 33-year-old veteran center got his wish when he agreed to another contract with the Jets March 24. The deal takes him through the end of next season with a salary of $750,000 (U.S.), the same pay he received this season.There had been inquiries from a couple of contenders about Steen before the March 21 trade deadline, but he made it clear to the Jets he didn&rsquo;t want to move.&ldquo;I feel very strong about this team,&rdquo; Steen said, somewhat remarkable because the Jets are not going to be in the playoffs. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to overrate us or anything, but I really feel good about the team here.&rdquo;Part of Steen&rsquo;s enthusiasm are recent trades made by coach-general manager John Paddock, especially the acquisition of defenseman Dave Manson.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think (Steen) plays the game for money, he plays to win,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;I think he sees a better chance of it now and that&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s happy.&rdquo;At the beginning of the year, Steen turned the option year of his old four-year deal into a double-eagle contract-a straight one-year deal with no option-and he would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to sign a long-term (contract) if I knew I couldn&rsquo;t play,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m really excited about next year because of the team.&rdquo;&ldquo;If things weren&rsquo;t getting any better, I would have felt it was my fault and maybe I would have stepped aside. But John has put down the rules and everybody here follows it.&rdquo;Steen has played every one of his 911 NHL games with the Jets, totalling 797 points, and for the second straight year is the team&rsquo;s Masterton Trophy nominee. He had 18 goals and 46 points in 68 games.ON THE MOVE: There was simply not enough room, both on the ice and in the budget, for Paul Ysebaert.So after nine goals in 60 games with the Jets, Ysebaert was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 1995 third-round draft choice.The deadline-day deal ended a major disappointment for both the team and the 27-year-old right winger, who had signed a new contract at the beginning of the season worth $750,000 (U.S.) this year.&ldquo;If Teemu Selanne, Nelson Emerson and Paul Ysebaert are our right wingers next year, how much ice time would Paul get?&rdquo; John Paddock said. &ldquo;And yes, the contract does play a part, as it does in any trade you make. If Paul had 30 goals at this point, we wouldn&rsquo;t think of trading him or how much money he&rsquo;s making.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Jets&rsquo; 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens March 23 was their first over the Canadiens since 1990. The win, and an identical score March 27 over the first-place New York Rangers, helped Winnipeg complete a 4-1-0 March homestand without three of its top players-Teemu Selanne, Alexei Zhamnov and Teppo Numminen.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 22: Craig Fisher, C, recalled from Moncton (AHL). March 27: Dave Tomlinson. C, recalled from Moncton. Fisher assigned to Moncton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Thomas Steen. Dallas Drake. Mike Eagles, Dave Tomlinson.LW&ndash;Keith Tkachuk, Darrin Shannon. Kris King. Russ RomaniukRW&ndash;Nelson Emerson, Luciano Borsato. Tie Domi. John LeBlanc.LD&ndash;Dave Manson, Igor Ulanov, Dean Kennedy.RD&ndash;Wayne McBean, Stephane Quintal. Darryl Shannon.G&ndash;Tim Cheveldae. Mike O&rsquo;Neill.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Randy Gilhen, C, right shoulder surgery, out for season. Teppo Numminen, D. fractured left thumb, out for season. Teemu Selanne, RW, severed right Achilles tendon, out for season. Alexei Zhamnov, C, back spasms, indefinite. &#9632;

Steen decides to stay put

<div class="byline">By Steve Huber</div>Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey doesn&rsquo;t need an infomercial to sell his &ldquo;less is more&rdquo; system.His players are its biggest advocate.&ldquo;How can you not believe after the year we&rsquo;ve had?&rdquo; defenseman Craig Ludwig said. &ldquo;When we stray from it or try to play undisciplined, we&rsquo;re finished.&rdquo;It has taken some time, but the Stars are buying what Gainey is selling&mdash;that the team&rsquo;s success is built on individual sacrifice, team contribution and instead of personal goals.Gainey is not looking for one player on his team to dominate. He wants contributions to start in the defensive zone by forcing the opposition to take shots from &ldquo;bad ice&rdquo; and the Stars to strike when they can in the attacking zone.A problem for the Stars is that they rarely blow opponents out with their offense. Even teams with less skill have a chance late in the game. But the Stars are comfortable in close games. Through March 27, they were 15-8-0 in games decided by one goal and 9-3-7 when tied after two periods. They were also 6-3-11 in overtime games.&ldquo;You have to convince players every year to sacrifice and it takes away from their offense,&rdquo; Ludwig said. &ldquo;And the only way some players get big money is by racking up points and if they&rsquo;re not allowed to roam and rack up the points it may cost them. But in the long run if you don&rsquo;t play the system you don&rsquo;t get paid.&rdquo;Center Dave Gagner said players have come to understand team goals are the focus, that the win is the most important goal and the reward will come from that.&ldquo;Bob has instilled a selflessness,&rdquo; Gagner said. &ldquo;Look at what Wayne Gretzky accomplished. It has overshadowed what Los Angeles is doing. They&rsquo;re losing every night and they&rsquo;re celebrating (because he broke the Gordie Howe&rsquo;s NHL goal scoring record).&rdquo;BACK TO HELP: The Stars had a familiar face in their dressing room during their two-game Florida swing-injured captain Mark Tinordi.Tinordi, who sustained a broken left leg Feb. 23 against the Los Angeles Kings, was asked by coach Bob Gainey to join the team during its six-game road trip-the longest of the season.&ldquo;He has been away for quite a while and it has been a long trip for us,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the whole group here, the ones were going to go to the end of the season with us. I think he&rsquo;s part of it.&rdquo;Tinordi, who is walking without crutches, said the trip was as much to improve his morale as it was the team&rsquo;s.Tinordi had another diversion though as wife Lorene gave birth to their third child, Natalie Anne, bom during the Stars&rsquo; 4-3 win over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim March 22. Tinordi said he listened to the game on the radio while his wife was in the delivery room.NOTEBOOK: Shane Churla isn&rsquo;t known for his scoring, but don&rsquo;t tell the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had two goals on four shots against them this season, including the tying goal in a 2-2 tie March 27&hellip;Russ Courtnail picked up his 51st assist against the Lightning, a new career high. He needed two to break the Stars&rsquo; single season record for a right winger (52) held by Dino Ciccarelli in 1981-82.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 26: Jarkko Varvio, LW, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&ndash;Neal Breten. Mike Modano, Dean Evason. Dave Gagner, Dave Barr. Pelle Eklund.LW&ndash;Mike McPhee. Brent Gilchrist. Alan MayRW&ndash;Russ Courtnall, Mike Craig, Paul Broten. Shane Churla, Mike Needham.LD&ndash;Derian Hatcher. Craig Ludwig, Richard Matvi-chuk. Coug Zmolek. Mike Lalor.RD&ndash;Grant Ledyard, Paul Cavallim. Gord Donnelly.G&ndash;Andy Moog, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mark Tinordi, D, broken left femur, out for season. &#9632;

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April 8, 1994

CCHA

Veteran Fetisov not thrilled to be spare part

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

WCHA