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

November 18, 1994

The Hockey News November 18, 1994

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; general manager Kelly McCrimmon took a big gamble when he selected Oleg Tverdovsky in 1994 Canadian Hockey League import draft.Thanks to the NHL lockout, that gamble is about to pay off.Tverdovsky, the second player taken in the NHL&rsquo;s 1994 draft, was assigned to the Wheat Kings by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for the duration of the lockout.The 18-year-old Ukrainian, taken 38th overall by the Wheat Kings in the draft, was expected to join the Western League in mid-November. He was recovering from a groin injury sustained at Anaheim&rsquo;s training camp.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very proud to have a chance to play in Canada,&rdquo; Tverdovsky said. &ldquo;I want to play right now. With my injury, I can&rsquo;t do it.&ldquo;Canada is the land of hockey. People in this country understand hockey very well. This will be good for me. I am looking forward to playing in Brandon.&rdquo;Tverdovsky previously signed a three-year, $4.2-million (U.S.) contract with Anaheim. The 6-foot-1, 183-pounder hopes to earn some of his fortune before too long. His agent, Don Mee-han. shares those sentiments.&ldquo;You have to be optimistic enough to assume the NHL season will resume at some point,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;Anaheim has a substantial investment in Oleg. Given a resumption of play, he&rsquo;ll be heading to Anaheim.&ldquo;As far as the labor situation, your guess is as good as mine. If there isn&rsquo;t a resumption of play, he&rsquo;d be happy to play in Brandon.&rdquo;&ldquo;This has been a gamble from the outset and it was recognized as such when we took him,&rdquo; McCrimmon said.ROCKETS FUELED: Tacoma Rockets&rsquo; GM Bruce Hamilton is managing to temper his enthusiasm over a strong start.Somehow.The fourth-year franchise entered November with a 13-3-0 record, which was good for first place in the West Division.<h2>WHL</h2>&ldquo;Sometimes I think our record is a little better than our team because we haven&rsquo;t played Kamloops yet,&rdquo; Hamilton said.To remain in top spot, Tacoma must stave off the powerful Kamloops Blazers.The defending Memorial Cup champions from Kamloops were off to a 11-3-0 start.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a real mind-blower,&rdquo; Hamilton said of his team&rsquo;s first-place status. &ldquo;But Kamloops has played fewer games. They&rsquo;ve got a powerhouse from what everyone tells me.&rdquo;Judging by early indications, Tacoma coach Marcel Comeau also has a powerhouse.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised, but Marcel is more at ease than I&rsquo;ve seen him in three previous years of operations because he has a group of guys who are committed to the same course,&rdquo; said Hamilton, also Rockets&rsquo; governor and a part-owner.Tacoma received more good news when it learned left winger John Varga is returning. The 20-year-old had 60 goals and 125 points in 65 games with Tacoma last season.Varga began the season with the American League&rsquo;s Portland Pirates, the affiliate of the NHL&rsquo;s Washington Capitals. Varga opted for Tacoma instead of an assignment to the East Coast League&rsquo;s Hampton Roads Admirals.&ldquo;I needed to play and be seen,&rdquo; Varga said. &ldquo;I felt this was the best opportunity for me. When you&rsquo;re playing under a coach like Marcel you learn a tremendous amount about the game.&rdquo;HAPPY TIMES: The Moose Jaw Warriors are no longer the Moose Jaw Worriers.Entering November, Moose Jaw sat atop the East Division with a 12-6-0 record.&ldquo;This is great,&rdquo; said left winger Ryan Smyth. &ldquo;When you get a winning attitude, you have fun not only during games, but in practices. There are positives all over in the dressing room. The attitude around here is unbelievable.&rdquo;The 1993-94 Warriors finished 21-48-3 and in last place after suffering 25 one-goal losses.&ldquo;Last season, we were happy with the work ethic,&rdquo; said Warriors&rsquo; coach-GM Al Tuer. &ldquo;This season, we&rsquo;re happy with the results.&rdquo; &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Tverdovsky a Wheat King until end of NHL lockout

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04285/6111921-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="161" height="162"></div>Don&rsquo;t look for Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; general manager Glen Sather in the crowd when the NHL Players&rsquo; Association hosts its 4-on-4 charity event Nov. 10-12 in Hamilton, Ont.&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t even be turning on the radio,&rdquo; Sather snapped. &ldquo;Get on with the real issues. Let&rsquo;s solve the problem instead of working on this big PR deal. It&rsquo;s a huge risk for them.&rdquo;But chances are those games won&rsquo;t be any more dangerous than the annual lackluster All-Star Game, where hits are few and far between and goalies are sitting ducks.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s going to be worse than that,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;You saw those games they had in the pre-season with their little show of solidarity. &lsquo;You don&rsquo;t touch me, I won&rsquo;t touch you.&rsquo; I&rsquo;d rather watch midgets. Peewees play better games than that.&ldquo;What I don&rsquo;t understand is why the league isn&rsquo;t talking about replacement players,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready for anything. Let&rsquo;s get on with it.&rdquo;Oilers&rsquo; player rep Bill Ranford said there is no need for replacements because NHL players are ready to go back to work without a new deal.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not on strike,&rdquo; Ranford said. &ldquo;They locked us out. As soon as the doors open, players will be back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Cape Breton Oilers&rsquo; goalie Steve Passmore, who led the American League with a 1.87 goals-against average and a 4-0-0 record, was pulled from the lineup because of severe muscle cramping. He has undergone neurological tests, but they haven&rsquo;t pinpointed the cause of the cramps, which make it impossible for him to move in the latter stages of games. &ldquo;It happened periodically last year, but it was nothing significant,&rdquo; Passmore said. &ldquo;Now my muscles will cramp up for five to 10 minutes and I can&rsquo;t even move.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Sather rips 4-on-4 event

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01308/6113037-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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WESTERN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>Jason Amott is as eager to start the NHL season as anybody.The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; second-year center can&rsquo;t wait to show the voting members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association he would have been as good a choice for the Calder Trophy as winner Martin Brodeur.The Hockey News, The Sporting News and Beckett Publications all went with Amott as their rookie of the year, but it was small consolation when the hardware he wanted has Brodeur&rsquo;s name on it.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t win it and I was upset, but Brodeur deserved to win it,&rdquo; Amott said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going to go out and show people why I was one of the top three.&rdquo;A banner year for the seventh overall pick in the 1993 draft-and more importantly for a team trying to make the playoffs for the first time in three years-would help.But he has to wait until the end of the lockout. He spent his time practising with a Jr. A team in Collingwood, Ont., and intends to play in the NHL Players&rsquo; Association charity tournament in Hamilton.He figures everybody else in the NHL should wait, too. Amott watched in disapproval as more and more of his union brothers headed overseas to play for teams in Europe.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; Arnott said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting locked out, we&rsquo;re part of a union and we should get locked out together.&rdquo;Amott also thinks those players will be in better shape when the league resumes and will have an unfair advantage over those who stood by their principles.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to stay in shape. They&rsquo;re going to keep up their game speed and it&rsquo;s not fair,&rdquo; Amott said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for us to handle that.&rdquo;But Amott will be up to the challenge. The Wasaga Beach, Ont., native spent all summer getting ready for his second NHL season by adding 15 pounds of muscle. As an 18-year-old, 6-foot-3 freshman in 1993-94, he surprised opponents with his power, speed and shot.However, the element of surprise is no longer on his side.&ldquo;I think everyone knows who I am now so it&rsquo;s going to be harder to put points on the board,&rdquo; Amott said. &ldquo;But I have to fight through that. I take it as a challenge and I like challenges.&rdquo;That was made clear last season when he scored a team rookie record 33 goals and 67 points despite missing six games with a back injury, tonsillitis and appendicitis. He returned from an appendectomy after missing only three games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011400/6111376-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="578" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Arnott disapproves of players going to Europe.</figcaption></div>In the latter stages of the season, with mentor Shayne Corson out of the lineup with a broken leg, he was named an alternate captain. He promises to fill the leadership role on the team even more this year at the age of 19.Oilers&rsquo; coach George Burnett put the names of Amott, Corson and rookie right winger David Oliver together as his first line in the pre-season and liked what he saw. But he said that may change by the time the games begin.&ldquo;Having Corson there for him, with seven or eight years of experience, was important a year ago,&rdquo; Burnett said. &ldquo;Is it absolutely necessary? No.&ldquo;Jason is willing to play physically and stand up for himself and his teammates.&rdquo;What good union man isn&rsquo;t? &#9632;

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Arnott anxious to play, but only with NHL team

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011356/6110911-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="580" height="686"><figcaption class="caption-body">NHL player directory: Alex Mogilny, Russian all-stars. Pages 5,19</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021097/6110904-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="574" height="684"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gartner puts NHLPA cause well before streak. Page 10</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03789/6110897-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="580" height="682"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Mullen happy to be skating, lockout or not. Page 25</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04567/6110890-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="1174" height="2308"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fans hungry for nostalgic books such as Jean Beliveau&rsquo;s. Page 47.</figcaption></div>The Hockey News&ldquo;I like my life now and I don&rsquo;t want to go back to the way it was. I think how I used to be and it makes me sick.&rdquo;&ndash;Hartford Whalers&rsquo; coach Paul Holmgren, a recovering alcoholic. Page 16. &#9632;

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QUOTABLE

<div class="byline">Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05411/6110949-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="378" height="512"></div>Regular readers of The Hockey News will have noticed changes to our publication. Some are subtle; others substantive. Most were planned before the outbreak of labor war.Several have been necessary in the absence of NHL games.We have pledged to continue publishing because we are The Hockey News, not The NHL News-although the world&rsquo;s best league is undeniably our principal focus.It continues to be during the NHL lockout, but adjustments have been made to supplement planned changes.Here&rsquo;s a rundown of them:&#9633; The paper is organized differently than in the past with feature stories and columns positioned at the front of the publication, NHL team reports-now appearing alphabetically-are next, then coverage of minor pro, major junior and U.S. college hockey and, at the back of the book, statistics.&#9633; We have changed the overall look to one we believe is more reader-friendly. There are fewer heavy black boxes-they&rsquo;re called reverses in the trade-and more emphasis on pictures and design elements as we aim for a more open look to the publication.&#9633; The length of NHL team stories has been cut in half for the duration of the lockout. Enough space remains to follow important developments. Those requiring elaboration will be covered elsewhere in the paper.&#9633; We have increased the number of feature/news stories on the other levels of competition we cover-minor pro, major junior, U.S. college and international. This week, we tell you about the Ferraro brothers in Atlanta, Jim Carey in Portland and Daniel Cleary in Belleville.&#9633; Eric Duhatschek of the Calgary Herald is now a regular columnist and will be appearing three times a month. He joins THN columnists Jay Greenberg, Al Morganti, Stan Fischler and Kevin Dupont.&#9633; We have altered our stats package-providing individual scoring for all major junior teams and adding weekly updates on the Swedish and Finnish elite leagues.&#9633; A new feature appears on the second-last page of each week&rsquo;s paper. Senior editor Ken Campbell brings you Hockey World on a biweekly basis and senior editor Jason Kay works Overtime once a month (he claims it&rsquo;s more than that).Hockey World gives you a glimpse into non-NHL subjects and issues, while Overtime addresses a variety of NHL-related subjects. This week, we have the first of regular book reviews.Still to come is a treat we think readers will really enjoy.We&rsquo;ll unveil our latest addition to THN in the Dec. 2 issue. Here&rsquo;s a hint and bold prediction all wrapped up in one: The newest member of our team will be a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year.Combined with faster-than-ever delivery to homes and newsstands, we hope the entire package is to your liking.Let us know what you think.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06299/6110942-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="1172" height="1077"><figcaption class="caption-body">Look for stats on Shawn McEachern and Finnish league players.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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New-look THN ready for hockey’s new times

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011515/6110994-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="372" height="372"></div>Not since the pre-expansion era has the NHL contemplated so short a season as 1994-95.If there is one at all.The NHL cancelled 10 more games per team Nov. 2, bringing to 14 the number of games lopped off the regular-season schedule as a result of the work stoppage.More cuts will be coming. All teams were scheduled to play at least 25 games by the end of November-the absolute earliest league play could begin.The NHL last had a 70-game season in 1966-67, the final year before expansion doubled the number of teams from six to 12.Chances of a zero-game schedule increase daily.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting very close to the point of no return,&rdquo; said NHL Players&rsquo; Association president Mike Gartner. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when it is, but there comes a point when it doesn&rsquo;t make any sense to play a schedule.&rdquo;A schedule of fewer than 42 games-half of the 84-game regular season-would be embarrassing for the league. &ldquo;If you are not going to get in at least half the games, then why bother?&rdquo; said Mighty Ducks of Anaheim president Tony Tavares.Most people who care about the game say 50 is the minimum number of games needed to maintain the integrity of regular-season and playoff competition.All of which translates to a deadline of early January for negotiations between NHL owners and players. The NHL is scheduled to reach game No. 546, its midway point, Jan. 6.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021233/6110987-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="386" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Burke</figcaption></div>The All-Star Game is scheduled for Jan. 21 in San Jose. That&rsquo;s another crucial date on the league calendar because the Fox network is scheduled to kick off its new deal with a telecast of the mid-season classic.If owners and players are able to reach an accord, a training camp of 10-14 days, including exhibition games, will be held. At least two exhibition games for each team would be necessary. There is talk of proceeds from those proposed games going to charity, but in this case charity should start at home.The NHL would be wise to offer them free to all season-ticket subscribers. A nominal price ($5-10) could be charged for remaining tickets with all that money going to charity. It would be a good first step toward rebuilding the bridge between fans and the NHL.All that exists now is a gap.The NHL has said several factors will be considered in reconfiguring the 1994-95 schedule should the league and its players reach agreement on a new contract. Among them are competitive balance, division and conference play, travel and arena availability. The last matter would be particularly vexing in cities where teams share facilities with National Basketball Association teams.Buildings in nine cities-Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, East Rutherford, N.J., New York City, Philadelphia and Washington-are home to teams in both leagues.It has been speculated games between Western and Eastern Conference teams-each club plays twice per season against its interconference rivals-would be eliminated to ease travel strain in a shortened scenario.Eastern-based teams in the Western Conference (Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs) might not think that&rsquo;s such a great idea.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a critical component of scheduling that our fans get to see teams in the other conference,&rdquo; said NHL vice-president Brian Burke. He acknowledged logistical considerations could force elimination of those games.Expectations are the league would extend the regular season beyond its scheduled April 9 conclusion to get in as many games as possible. Players don&rsquo;t receive regular paychecks during the play-offs-only bonus payments based on team play.That circumstance prompted Gartner to suggest the regular season could be lengthened and playoffs shortened to maximize player earnings and minimize owner profits. Executive director Bob Goode-now indicated that possibility is not a big issue.The NHL said a 70-game regular season would include 35 home and 35 road games for each team.Among the 130 games cancelled Nov. 2 were 26 neutral-site games. All have been cancelled, including six in Phoenix. The Arizona state capital, a leading candidate for eventual admission to the NHL, had more neutral-site games than any other city.Others losing games are: Hamilton, Ont. (four); Denver and Saskatoon, Sask, (three each); Minneapolis, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and Halifax, N.S. (two each).Proceeds from neutral-site games are shared by the NHL and NHLPA. The Toronto Sun reported Copps Coliseum in Hamilton was considering legal action to recoup $250,(XX), its budgeted share of neutral-site game revenues.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03820/6110980-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1132" height="1652"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Washington Capitals share a home with the NBA&rsquo;s Bullets.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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The incredible shrinking year

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Steve Dryden</div>Standards have changed as have the seasons throughout NHL history.Since we&rsquo;re destined for a season of fewer than 70 games, The Hockey News thought it would be useful to remind people of long-ago established single-season NHL standards that could be challenged during a shortened season.Here are notable achievements during sub-70-game seasons throughout NHL history and our suggestions on most likely candidates to challenge those marks if 1994-95 comes to pass:60 Games Early union organizer Ted Lindsay led the NHL with 33 goals (1947-48). THN Challenger: Mike Gartner. Sorry for the repetition (see page 10). but the coincidence is too great; the NHL Players&rsquo; Association president is aiming for a 16th consecutive 30-goal season.50 Games Maurice Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games (1944-45). THN Challenger: Pavel Bure. He is the hottest scorer on the planet.48 Games Red Homer led the NHL in penalty minutes nine straight years, including a season high of 144 (1932-33). THN Challenger: Tie Domi. He is a candidate to become the first back-to-back super sinner since Chris Nilan.44 Games George Hainsworth recorded an all-time high 22 shutouts (1928-29). THN Challenger: Dave Brown. He has been shut out three of the past six seasons and scored in36 Games Nels Stewart was the first man to win the scoring championship and cam 100 penalty minutes the same season (1925-26). THN Challenger: Eric Lindros. He is destined to turn the double triple (points and penalty minutes) and win a scoring title.30 Games Babe Dye went 38-6 en route to a44-point scoring championship (1924-25). THN Challenger: Tom Glavine. The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; draft pick and Atlanta Braves&rsquo; pitcher is due for a big year.24 Games Georges Vezina was the first goalie to record a sub-2.00 goals-against average with a 1.97 mark (1923-24). THN Challenger: Dominik Hasek. Part of the goalie&rsquo;s new deal is that Buffalo lobby to have the Vezina Trophy renamed.22 Games Joe Malone scored 44 goals in just 20 games during the NHL&rsquo;s debut season (1917-18). THN Challenger: Mario Lemieux. He should be well enough to play 20 games.18 Games Hap Holmes didn&rsquo;t play many games in goal for Toronto, but he was all-league hospitable (1918-19). THN Challenger Damien Rhodes. He won&rsquo;t play many games in goal for Toronto, but he travels well. &#9632;

NHL TARGET SHOOTING

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Mary Ormsby</div>United States justice officials have squeezed Alan Eagleson once again as they continue to pressure the former head of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association to face charges there.Eagleson&rsquo;s attempt to have a restraining order lifted from his properties in the U.S. and England was rejected Nov. 1 by a Boston judge because the Toronto lawyer is considered a fugitive from American justice.On March 3, a Boston-based grand jury handed down a 32-count indictment against Eagleson, then added two counts Aug. 11. The charges included racketeering, fraud and embezzlement and American authorities have issued a warrant for Eagleson&rsquo;s arrest.Eagleson has said through his lawyers he will not voluntarily return to the States without full disclosure on the charges against him.In the meantime, the ruling by U.S. district court judge Nathaniel Gorton to turn down Eagleson&rsquo;s motion to vacate the restraining order prevents Eagleson from possibly selling the properties in New York, Florida and London, England.Defense team lawyer Brian Greenspan said the rejected motion will not weaken his client&rsquo;s resolve to clear his name. &#9632;

Eagleson stymied in bid to get restraining order lifted

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Locked-out NHLers continued to seek work in Europe as the work stoppage entered its second month.The latest was Doug Gilmour, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; superstar who found a job with Rapperswil in the Swiss Elite League.Here&rsquo;s the latest list of NHLers scattered around the hockey world.Anaheim: Patrik Camback, Frolunda (Swe.).Boston: Mariusz Czerkawski, Djurgarden (Swe.); Ted Donato, Turku (Fin.); Alexei Kasatonov, Russian all-stars; Jozef Stumpel, Cologne (Ger.).Buffalo: Alexander Mogilny, Russian all-stars; Richard Smehlik, Vitkovice (Czech); Denis Tsygurov, Lada Togliatti (Rus.).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011432/6111111-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="316" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Robert Reichel</figcaption></div>Calgary: Roger Johansson, Leksand (Swe.); Frank Musil, Dukia Jihlava (Czech); Michael Nylander, Jyvaskyla (Fin.); Frankfurt (Ger).Chicago: Christian Ruuttu, HIFK Helsinki (Fin.).Dallas: Jarkko Varvio, HPK Hameenlinna (Fin.).Detroit: Sergei Fedorov, Russian all-stars; Nicklas ensky, Russian all-stars; Uwe Krupp, Landshut (Ger).Edmonton: Fredrik Olausson, Farjestad (Swe.); Vladimir Vujtek, Vitkovice (Czech).Florida: Peter Anderson, Malmo (Swe).Hartford: Igor Chibirev, Fort Wayne (IHL); Frantisek Kucera, Sparta Prague (Czech); Andrei Nikolishin, Moscow Dynamo (Rus.); Geoff Sanderson, HPK Hameenlinna (Fin.).Los Angeles: Jari Kurri, Jokerit (Fin.).Montreal: Peter Popovic, Vasteras (Swe.).New Jersey: Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian allstars; Jaroslav Modry, Budejovice (Czech); Alexander Semak, Russian all-stars; Valeri Zelepukin, Russian all-stars.Islanders: Darius Kasparaitis, Russian all-stars; Vladimir Malakhov Russian all-stars; Tommy Soderstrom, Djurgarden (Swe).Rangers: Alexander Karpovtsev, Moscow Dynamo (Rus.), Russian all-stars; Alexei Kovalev, Lada Togliatti (Rus.); Russian all-stars; Sergei Nemchinov, Russian all-stars; Sergei Zubov, Russian all-stars.Ottawa: Alexei Yashin, Las Vegas (IHL).Philadelphia: Patrik Juhlin, Vasteras (Swe.).Pittsburgh: Jaromir Jagr, Kladno (Czech); Shawn McEachern, Kiekko Espoo (Fin.); Tomas Sandstrom, Malmo (Swe.); Martin Straka, Skoda Plzen (Czech).Quebec: Stephane Fiset, Nicolet Nova (Maurice Region Sr.); Peter Forsberg, MoDo (Swe.); Alexei Gusarov, Russian all-stars; Valeri Kam Robert Reichel Valeri KamenskySt. Louis: Igor Korolev, Moscow Dynamo (Rus.); Vitali Prokhorov, Moscow Spartak (Rus.), Russian allstars; Esa Tikkanen, HIFK Helsinki (Fin.).San Jose: Igor Larionov, Russian all-stars; Sergei Makarov, Russian all-stars.Tampa Bay: Petr Klima, Wurtzberg (Ger.).Toronto: Nikolai Borschevsky, Moscow Spartak (Rus.); Doug Gilmour, Rapperswil (Switz.); Mats Sundin, Djurgarden (Swe.).Vancouver: Pavel Bure, one game for Landshut (Ger.), Russian all-stars; Sergio Momesso, Italy.Washington: Peter Bondra, Kosice (Slovakia); Calle Johansson, Kloten (Switz.).Winnipeg: Teppo Numminen, Turku (Fin.); Teemu Selanne, Jokerit (Fin.); Thomas Steen, Farjestad (Swe.). Lidstrom, Vasteras (Swe.).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021033/6111104-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="312" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Valeri Kamensky</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Superstar latest to find work

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>Action promises to be wide open when NHL players officially make their return to the ice after more than a month of inactivity.The NHL Players&rsquo; Association 4-on-4 Challenge is set for Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., Nov. 10-12. Members have been locked out by the NHL since Oct. 1.Four teams of NHLers representing Ontario, Quebec, Western Canada and the United States-will be competing for the championship.The home-province Ontario team includes Eric Lindros, Brendan Shanahan and Jason Am-mot, three of the league&rsquo;s rising young stars.Round-robin games consist of one 20-minute, straight-time period and the championship game, two 20-minute halves. Faceoffs only take place after goals.Penalties will be assessed, but not served. Instead, post-game penalty shots will be awarded.CTV is broadcasting the games on English-language television and TVA on French-language television. Proceeds from the event go to Ronald McDonald Children&rsquo;s Charities and minor hockey associations across North America.Tickets for the event, priced at $15 and $20, were in heavy demand.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03689/6111142-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="730" height="1562"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nordique Sylvain Lefebvre bolsters an outstanding Quebec Team blueline.</figcaption></div><h2>Team Ontario</h2>F-Dave Andreychuk (Toronto), Jason Arnott (Edmonton), Doug Gilmour (Toronto), Eric Lindros (Philadelphia), Kirk Muller (Montreal), Brendan Shanahan (St. Louis), Pat Verbeek (Hartford).D-Rob Blake (Los Angeles), Paul Coffey (Detroit), Norm Maciver (Ottawa), Larry Murphy (Pittsburgh), Scott Stevens (New Jersey).G-Curtis Joseph (St. Louis).<h2>Team Quebec</h2>F-Vince Damphousse (Montreal), Benoit Hogue (Islanders), Joe Juneau (Washington), Claude Lemieux (New Jersey), Stephane Richer (New Jersey), Luc Robitaille (Pittsburgh), Denis Savard (Tampa Bay).D-Ray Bourque (Boston), Eric Desjardins (Montreal), Steve Duchesne (St. Louis), Garry Galley (Philadelphia), Sylvain Lefebvre (Quebec).G-Patrick Roy (Montreal).<h2>Team Western Canada</h2>F-Geoff Courtnail (Vancouver), Russ Courtnail (Dallas), Ray Ferraro (Islanders), Trevor Linden (Vancouver), Paul Kariya (Anaheim), Mark Recchi (Philadelphia), Joe Sakic (Quebec).D-Doug Bodger (Buffalo), Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey), James Patrick (Calgary), Darryl Sydor (Los Angeles), Glen Wesley (Hartford).G-Grant Fuhr (Buffalo).<h2>Team United States</h2>F-Tony Granato (Los Angeles). Brett Hull (St. Louis), Craig Janney (St. Louis), Pat LaFontaine (Buffalo), Mike Modano (Dallas), Jeremy Roenick (Chicago), Keith Tkachuk (Winnipeg).D-Chris Chelios (Chicago), Dave Ellett (Toronto), Phil Housley (Calgary), Jeff Norton (San Jose), Gary Suter (Calgary).G-John Vanbiesbrouck (Florida). &#9632;

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Union tournament will be challenge

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>The game was secondary when a dream team of NHL Russian stars met their countrymen from Spartak Moscow in the touring club&rsquo;s first exhibition game.The NHLers won the Nov. 4 contest 5-4 after much pomp and pageantry. The event opened with the appearance of 50 Moscow beauty pageant contestants, who welcomed the players with flowers as they were introduced.Alexander Mogilny scored twice, including a third-period insurance goal, to lead Team NHL. Pavel Bure, Sergei Nemchinov and Alexander Semak also had goals for the Russian all-stars. NHLers Nikolai Borschevsky and Ilya Byakin-playing in their homeland during the lockout-and Alexei Tkachuk and Sergei Butko had the Spartak goals.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pleasant to play in front of the Russians,&rdquo; Mogilny said, speaking in his native language with a slight foreign accent. &ldquo;The game was wonderful, as well as the fans&rsquo; support and the organization of this hockey festival.&rdquo;Tickets for the game were being scalped for as much as $50 each. Spartak tickets generally cost less than $5.POLICY CHAMPS: Two insurance companies are competing to become the unofficial underwriter of locked-out NHLers.Even during normal seasons, William Sutton and Co., of Toronto and American Specialty Underwriters of Woburn, Mass., do virtually all the business insuring hockey players for longterm and non-hockey related disability.The exodus to Europe has business booming.Marc Idelson. sports underwriter with American Specialty, said his company is covering between one-third and half of NHLers playing in Europe and has close to 300 NHL clients in total.&ldquo;Insuring an athlete for disability is a big risk,&rdquo; Idelson said, &ldquo;and traditional carriers just wouldn&rsquo;t do it.&rdquo;Colin Fairlie, manager of sports underwriting for William Sutton, said players using the company&rsquo;s short-term disability insurance for play in Europe include Teemu Selanne, Nicklas Lidstrom and Esa Tikkanen.Major junior players Jamie Storr and Jason Wiemer, who would have been playing with the Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively, have also taken outThe policy cover a player&rsquo;s lost NHL salary for the time he spends recovering from an injury. It kicks in 30 days after the injury or when the season resumes, whichever is longer.Short-term disability is considerably more costly than permanent disability because very few injuries are career-threatening. Some players have taken out long-term policies.Short-term premiums can range from less than $10,000 to more than $30,000 depending on a player&rsquo;s age, contract, position and injury history. Younger players are lesser risks because they recover faster from injury. Premiums for goalies are cheaper than for skaters.During the regular season, NHL clubs continue to pay salaries while players are recovering from hockey-related injuries.AIDES GUILTY: Two former business associates of Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; president Bruce McNall were planning to plead guilty to federal charges stemming from an investigation into McNall&rsquo;s finances, their attorneys said Nov. 2.Bruce Bargmann and Patricia Linden are the fourth and fifth McNall associates to agree to admit their roles in loan fraud and rare coin scams designed to help McNall pay his debts.ATHLETES HONORED: Goalies Guy Hebert of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Erin Whitten of the U.S. women&rsquo;s national team were selected 1994 male and female athlete of the year by USA Hockey.Both players are eligible to receive the U.S. Olympic committee&rsquo;s SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year Award. The announcement will be made Jan. 11.INDUCTION NIGHT: Brian O&rsquo;Neill and Harry Watson will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Nov. 15 in Toronto.O&rsquo;Neill is being honored in the builders&rsquo; category, Watson in the veteran players&rsquo; category. Lionel Conacher is being inducted posthumously and Ted Darling will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for excellence in broadcasting. &#9632;

NHLers victorious

As a hockey fan, I am very concerned with the well being of NHL players during this labor dispute.Naturally, I&rsquo;m relieved that some players will be able to apply for unemployment benefits. These checks, however, won&rsquo;t go very far when a family is accustomed to a six-figure monthly income.Here in the working-class towns of Pennsylvania, we have a tradition of helping our neighbors in tough times. Isolated in their gated estates and golf course communities, our players may not be getting the support they need.I recommend going door to door on the players&rsquo; streets with canned goods, warm gloves for the kids, a turkey for Thanksgiving and circus tickets as a special treat for the whole family.If we all pitch in together, our players will be pampered, coddled and ready to start that rigorous 50-game season.Annette Calgaro,&nbsp; Bridgeville, Pa.<h2>1998 no problem</h2>The way the labor dispute is going, the NHL may not have to worry about the logistics of closing down the league for three weeks during the 1998 Winter Olympics.Dave Smail,&nbsp; Columbia, Md.<h2>No trip to Forum</h2>With the help of my redial button-not to mention persistence and luck-I managed to get tickets for a game at the Montreal Forum between the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins Oct. 29.The Canadiens have been my favorite team for 20 years and this was my golden opportunity to see them live.I&rsquo;d personally like to thank NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the owners and the players for robbing me of my last chance to see hockey&rsquo;s greatest team in hockey&rsquo;s greatest building.Thanks a lot. You&rsquo;re all overpaid.Jeff Czajka,&nbsp; Rochester, N. Y.<h2>Players: Fire Bob</h2>I make no secret of the fact that I think the blame for this labor dispute lies with the players.I believe that greedy players and their agents have forced salaries up so high that owners have to raise ticket prices to survive.If the Winnipeg Jets have to leave town because their fans can&rsquo;t pay the ridiculous ticket prices needed to support the ridiculous salaries, then the greedy players have deprived Winni-peggers their right to see their team live.Come on, players, swallow your pride and think about who really pays your salaries.Fire Bob Goodenow and get on with hockey. I believe you can all survive on a little less.Pete Allison,&nbsp; Nestor Falls, Ont.<h2>ECHL a blast</h2>The NHL work stoppage is just fine for me. Let the owners and players squabble over millions of dollars of the fans&rsquo; money. That is their right.The East Coast League opened Oct. 18 and this marks the fourth consecutive season I have been a season ticket holder for the Raleigh IceCaps.For $205, I can see 34 exciting games in a highly competitive league that features speed, contact, finesse, hungry players and aggressive coaches.By the way, parking at the games is free. Beer costs $2.25 and hot dogs are $1.50.At those prices, I think I&rsquo;ll invite Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow to see a game at my expense.J.R. Rouse,&nbsp; Raleigh, N.C.<h2>Our little secret</h2>No matter how you look at the lockout, the NHL missed a platinum opportunity. From my selfish perspective, however, that&rsquo;s a good thing.I don&rsquo;t care who&rsquo;s right or wrong. I don&rsquo;t care if small market teams are saved this year, move or stay.What is stunning is that hockey didn&rsquo;t take advantage of a sports hungry continent.Now why is this good? Because I prefer that hockey remains a poor, backwater cousin to baseball, football and basketball.That way, it remains our little secret. Our rallying cry should be, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s keep it small.&rdquo;Harvey Levine,&nbsp; Bronx, N. Y.<h2>Please come back</h2>Please, Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow, get back together.I miss hockey so much. I also made a bet back in 1990 that the Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup in 1995.So please come back so I can win my bet.Jeff Doyle,&nbsp; New Ferolle, Nfld.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-2501&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Let’s all do our part to help players out

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011612/6111221-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><h2>Give him puck, Rocket will fly</h2>1. Pavel Bure Russian Rocket lights up scoreboard with three goals in German stopover.2. Portland Pirates Team breaks AHL record for longest undefeated streak to start season.3. Huntington Blizzard ECHL team climbs over 500 mark for first time in club&rsquo;s two-year history.4. Daniel Briere Hot-shot rookie registers points in his first 24 QMJHL games.5. Player of week Alison Stau-ber, wife of L.A. King&rsquo;s goalie Robb, wins car on The Price Is Right.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021100/6111252-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="570" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Bure</figcaption></div><h2>Lockout claims more victims</h2>1. More innocent victims Extended NHL lockout leads to frontoffice layoffs, firings.2. No claws Victoriaville Tigres go 1-3-0 in first four games with Alexandre Daigle in lineup.3. Foul play NHL doesn&rsquo;t inform players it stopped paying medical insurance premiums.4. Stick to coaching Coaches Newell Brown, Blair Mackasey suspended for throwing objects on ice.5. So much for solidarity Some NHL players criticize others for finding employment during lockout. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Al Adams</div>TORONTO-The issue of NHLers and Europe just won&rsquo;t go away.Hockey&rsquo;s international governing body met Nov. 5 to decide on how to reluctantly help Wayne Gretzky arrange his goodwill tour of Europe.The International Ice Hockey Federation has already been caught up in the labor war between the NHL and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association and wound up switching its policy on the transfer of players. And now the IIHF, which doesn&rsquo;t have a warm relationship with the NHLPA, doesn&rsquo;t want to get burned twice.Gretzky sent a fax to IIHF president Rene Fasel asking for his support for No. 99&rsquo;s tour of European centers by a virtual who&rsquo;s who of NHL players in the first two weeks of December.&ldquo;What can you do?&rdquo; said Fasel from Switzerland. &ldquo;Nothing. He is so famous, but it is not so easy to organize the games. There will be conflicts with schedules. It will not be easy.&rdquo;Gretzky said he wants to take a team of stars-including Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure and Paul Coffey-on a tour of games against teams in Helsinki, Stockholm, Milan, Bern and Dusseldorf. No details have been finalized.Meanwhile, the organizer of the Spengler Cup tournament in Davos, Switz. (Dec. 26-31), invited locked-out NHL players to form a team and play in the event.&ldquo;We would like Team Canada to have pro players or to have a full NHL all-star team,&rdquo; organizer Fred Pargatzi told the Toronto Sun.Canada is committed to sending its national team and has refused all offers by locked out NHLers to bolster its lineup.The request by Gretzky and the possible involvement by NHL players in the Spengler Cup are the latest developments in the dispersetnent of NHL players to Europe during the lockout.Many NHLers from Europe have returned home to play for club teams and superstars such as Doug Gilmour of the Toronto Maple Leafs want to join teams overseas. And the number of NHL players shopping themselves around Europe is increasing daily.Just what the Europeans think of all this was to be debated by the IIHF. The Europeans aren&rsquo;t united when it comes to NHLers.In Sweden, the governing federation supported NHL players joining club teams during the lockout, but the Elite League opposed it. Teams then broke a league ban and signed players.The Finnish League, meanwhile, welcomed native players and other NHLers with open arms. &#9632;

IIHF to support proposed Gretzky tour

<div class="byline">Impact of lost season impossible to calculate </div><div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011459/6111283-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Gagner says the rank-and-file membership stands firmly behind NHLPA leaders.</figcaption></div>The last chance is upon us.A window of opportunity exists before the NHL season is nuked. Owners and players have each demonstrated they have sufficient resolve to hit the self-destruct button. The only cracks evident on either side are gaps in competing logic that prevent a settlement.Talks have reached a second phase and what little hope remains is that meaningful dialogue will resolve the biggest fight in NHL history.&ldquo;Both sides are comprehending more the resolve of the other side, so hopefully that will translate into more negotiations and less rhetoric,&rdquo; said Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; president Cliff Fletcher.November likely holds the fate of the season.Experienced negotiators say deals seldom get done before the 11th hour. NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman are now in the 11 th month.The clock and calender are about to strike 12.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m frustrated, very frustrated,&rdquo; Bettman said, &ldquo;but I hope we can get this resolved and get it behind us because I want this league to be playing hockey as quickly as possible.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s no reason negotiations wouldn&rsquo;t go on throughout December and a half-season could start in January, but the two sides could have a hard time finding common ground the longer the process goes on.Neither&rsquo;s sense of charity is that profound.&ldquo;You have a cooling-off period and then you do get back to communicating and talking,&rdquo; said NHLPA executive Doug Wilson. &ldquo;You better accomplish something then because if that cooling-off period is extended, it leads to total polarization. As it stands now, it&rsquo;s a lose-lose situation and that makes no sense for anybody.&rdquo;If a deal isn&rsquo;t done or substantive progress made on a new collective bargaining agreement this month, chances are this will be the first time in modern North American pro sports history a league will not play a single game.Earnest negotiations are expected after a somnambulant October. The two sides met for a total of 13 hours-four in Toronto, four in Chicago and five in Washington-over a period of 26 days spanning Oct. 10 through Nov. 4.Bettman and Goodenow last met on back-to-back days Oct. 4-5. So little was accomplished in subsequent meetings negotiations didn&rsquo;t last a full day.Two hundred players met in Toronto Nov. 2 and like the week before when agents met with the NHLPA executive, they emerged solidly behind the leadership.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s 100 percent belief from every guy in that room they&rsquo;ve tried to get a deal done,&rdquo; said Dallas Stars&rsquo; player rep Dave Gagner. &ldquo;And if Gary Bettman or anybody else on their negotiating committee says otherwise, then it&rsquo;s just not true.&rdquo;Room for movement is likely on contentious issues such as entry-level compensation and arbitration, but true creativity and flexibility will be needed to find a way around the tax issue.&ldquo;Someone has to decide either a different approach or a different position if there&rsquo;s going to be a resolution,&rdquo; Goodenow said.The NHL proposal for a re-allocation and distribution system has been a non-starter for players. It stands ominously in the way of a new season. The top end of the NHL-proposed luxury tax rate is 122 per cent, but should the tax ultimately be a deal-breaker its impact could be as high as 3,500 per cent.Proposed plans are for a combined payrollgate receipt tax to raise about $20 million in reallocation funds. If a season isn&rsquo;t played, the NHL and its players can be expected to lose upwards of $700 million.Players call the NHL&rsquo;s tax proposal onerous. They spell it owner-ous.&ldquo;The whole breaking point is the salary cap issue,&rdquo; Gagner said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve tried to structure it in certain ways to disguise what its true intent is.&rdquo;NHL management has insisted its tax is an inhibition on spending, not a prohibition, and vow floating rates will protect players from an unofficial cap taking effect. League executives frustrated at the player response, point to claims of a $37.6-million collective loss last season and argue the tax system isn&rsquo;t about greed; it&rsquo;s about survival-an industry-wide problem for sports franchises.Bettman said he isn&rsquo;t wedded to the luxury tax, but needs a system that links compensation to salaries, accommodates the presence of large-and small-market teams and is fair.&ldquo;The fact is,&rdquo; Bettman said, &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been able to figure out another way to address that issue and the Players&rsquo; Association hasn&rsquo;t been able to suggest one either. We happen to think the tax is a fair and sensible way to deal with it.&rdquo;That the NHL has teams of vastly different means is one of the trouble points. Consider the low-revenue Winnipeg Jets compete with the high-revenue New York Rangers. They occupy opposite ends of the NHL revenue spectrum. The Rangers had 1993-94 revenues three times as great as the Jets-more than $40 million to less than $15 million.&ldquo;The basic issue is how do you have a healthy league of 26 members when you have widely disparate revenue bases and individual player contract negotiations?&rdquo; said NHL vice-president Brian Burke.Players accept the system is in need of change; they have made a tax proposal and suggested a change in Group I free agency. But they don&rsquo;t want an overhaul when so much about the NHL&rsquo;s revenue potential is uncertain and unfulfilled. A history of mistrust between owners and players has left labor suspicious of its bosses&rsquo; motives. It sees attempts to control spending as a means of raising franchise values.Mediation has not been ruled out, but would be useless without attitude adjustments. A softening of positions on both sides could be a trigger point for outside help. It would be a lastditch effort to save the season and would have to be a strategy carefully employed.What happens if an agreement isn&rsquo;t reached?Hartford Whalers&rsquo; general manager Jim Rutherford raised the prospect of a National Football League-style confrontation between the NHL and its players if the season is lost.&ldquo;If, in fact, the season is cancelled,&rdquo; Rutherford told the Hartford Courant, &ldquo;I would think our next step would be in the off-season (to) do the same as the NFL-just unilaterally implement our own system. The players who want to play will and the ones that don&rsquo;t will sue the owners.&rdquo;That happened in the late 1980s, but NFL impositions picked at the edges of the collective bargaining relationship. It didn&rsquo;t cut to the very heart of it. NHL plans for a luxury tax and other changes in entry-level compensation, free agency and arbitration could have the effect of invalidating contracts. Negotiation, not litigation, remains the preferred means of resolving this conflictWhat happens if the season is cancelled?&ldquo;Everybody is going to be seriously affected by it&rdquo; Goodenow said. &ldquo;I think both sides will continue on in this ugly fight that the owners have started.&rdquo;The hockey world hopes the battle ends without too much more blood being spilled. Owners are certain to lose at least $120 million in gate receipts and the players, at least $109 million in payroll.All is not lost yet though.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if there&rsquo;s legitimate reason for optimism, but there obviously has to be hope,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the consequences of not playing hockey at all this year have been fully evaluated at this point. I think they will be more severe on everybody than we even imagine.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Season’s fate on the line!

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011541/6111345-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veterans such as NHLPA president Mike Gartner won&rsquo;t be affected much by new CBA.</figcaption></div>Mike Gartner has found a new truth to an old cliche. Today really is the first day of the rest of your life.Like every other NHL player, Gartner, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association president, has been saddled with the work stoppage. But unlike his 600 or so charges, Gartner knows the layoff is a precursor to a retirement that is within sight.The Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; right winger turned 35 Oct. 29. He has three years remaining on his contract, a pact that would certainly be his final deal were it not for Gartner&rsquo;s enviable faculty of never seeming to age. The NHL&rsquo;s fifth all-time leading goalscorer, Gartner has played 15 NHL seasons and scored 617 goals.Gartner, who sits on the union&rsquo;s executive committee with Washington Capitals&rsquo; forward Kelly Miller and Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; left winger Ken Baumgartner, is taking note of his new routine.&ldquo;This has given me a glimpse of what it will be like when I&rsquo;m retired,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very strange feeling.&rdquo;Most days are spent on NHLPA business huddled with executive director Bob Goodenow, devising strategy or briefing player representatives and individual players on the status of negotiations.But with talks at an impasse, Gartner has been furnished with ample time for coaching his son Joshua and daughter Natalie. He has volunteered to help coach a Jr. A team in Newmarket, Ont. This was the first fall Gartner was around to rake the leafs at his summer cottage.This is not to suggest should the season somehow be restored, Gartner will pine for his gardening gloves. It&rsquo;s just while many of his union mates view a life without NHL hockey as the ultimate imposition, Gartner sees another side.&ldquo;I do miss playing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I miss the camaraderie and the competition, but this has brought me a realization you don&rsquo;t quite understand until you go through it. I&rsquo;m also realizing there are other things in life.&rdquo;Gartner&rsquo;s standing on the league&rsquo;s all-time scoring list is the result of an unparalleled consistency. He began his professional career as an 18-year-old with the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Cincinnati Stingers, and has never failed to score at least 30 goals in any of his 15 NHL seasons He holds the record for consecutive 30-goal seasons. That he may not get the chance to extend the record has little bearing on his outlook.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not in the record book for anything else, but it&rsquo;s already a record,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;And this is the time to be considering things that are far more important.&rdquo;Such as his duties as NHLPA president. This is his fourth stint on the union&rsquo;s bargaining team and Gartner, a well-spoken man, brings a sense of ease and polish to his job.&ldquo;The thing about Mike,&rdquo; said St. Louis Blues&rsquo; left winger Brendan Shanahan, &ldquo;is that he appears to be in control, he exudes that leadership confidence.&rdquo;&ldquo;Mike is highly respected, not only by the membership, but by the owners&rsquo; side,&rdquo; Baumgartner said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a man of faith, he&rsquo;s committed to his viewpoint and his sincerity is impossible to question.&rdquo;With the season trimmed to a maximum 70 games and no end in sight, Gartner&rsquo;s record 30-goal run will probably end this season. Like everyone else in the union, he is missing a substantial pay-check-$1.5 million this season-but unlike many, the new deal between the league and its players will have limited, if any, impact on him.&ldquo;It goes beyond that,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;I have to make sure I can look a guy in the eye, a young kid who is 25 years old and make sure he doesn&rsquo;t say to me, &lsquo;You sold me down the river.&rsquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the position most of the veteran players are in at this point, knowing we tried to do the best for the association and the players in the future, not just for now. That&rsquo;s what this fight is about, the future.&rdquo;It is the recent past that has been unkind to Gartner. In nearly five seasons with the New York Rangers, he had become a favorite of fan favorite and one of the finest players not to win a Stanley Cup. Gartner, traded to the Maple Leafs for Glenn Anderson last March, returned to New York during the spring and watched from his living room as Mark Messier raised the Stanley Cup.Gartner&rsquo;s cleaving from the organization was final, he did not go to the parade to witness firsthand what he could not be a part of.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been part of a Stanley Cup winner before so watching the team I had been with for 4 1/2 years was very difficult,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;But life goes on. It&rsquo;s not the reason my life goes on, to win the Stanley Cup. Now I&rsquo;d like to win it with Toronto and I think we have a great chance.&rdquo;Gartner shrugs off the frustration of the last six months, taking solace in his Christianity.&ldquo;I have strong faith that enables me to get through a lot of adverse circumstances. Everyone deals with things in different ways, but I find faith puts things in perspective. If there are any positives out of this, I&rsquo;m trying to take them.&rdquo;Forced retirement would be at least a little easier to take, Gartner smiles, if there was some hockey to watch.&ldquo;Now I know how fans feel when they can&rsquo;t see the game played,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;I miss watching hockey very much.&rdquo;<h2>RECORDS MADE TO BE BROKEN?</h2>The NHL lockout and the threat of a shortened season or no season at all has placed several league standards or events in jeopardy.Will Mike Gartner have the opportunity to extend his consecutive 30-goal-season streak? Will brothers Eric and Brett Lindros get the chance to go head-to-head? Will there be an All-Star Game? Will anyone care if there isn&rsquo;t?Below is a list of some streaks which may end because of the work stoppage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021157/6111338-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="588" height="496"></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

Gartner fighting for others

<div class="byline">Eric Duhatschsk</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021221/6111445-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="374" height="498"></div>For image reasons, Marty McSorley said no. The day after reaching a tentative agreement to play with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International League, McSorley bowed out, saying he couldn&rsquo;t devote himself to playing full-time while he was a member of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association negotiating committee.Too bad. McSorley was a perfect fit for Las Vegas and not just because his brother Chris is an assistant coach there. The Los Angeles Kings are the most popular team in the Nevada area. Apart from that 99 fellow, McSorley is arguably the Kings&rsquo; most popular player.The problem was, it didn&rsquo;t look good-a high-powered member of the union taking a job away from the 18th man on a minor-league roster. It looked especially bad because McSorley is going to collect $1 million in bonuses this season, even if he doesn&rsquo;t play a single NHL game.The fact is, McSorley would have been good for the IHL. As more and more players find work in other leagues, people ask: Is it right for some NHLers to be working during the lockout, while others sit on the sidelines in the name of union solidarity?Sorry, but the answer is an unequivocal yes.Professional hockey is, after all, a competitive business. Eventually, every player in the game-even the immortals-loses his job to somebody younger, faster, tougher. This is cold a fact of life that isn&rsquo;t going to change, no matter what the state of labor relations between players and owners.In the search to find someone to blame for the absence of NHL hockey, one fact is frequently overlooked. The players were locked out. They offered to play. Their offer was rejected. Accordingly, they are withinUltimately, the ever-escalating exodus of players to Europe will be a major boon to the game of hockey, if not to the NHL. Remember, in the last decade, the NHL did a lot of damage to the European leagues.Not only did the league spirit away all the best players, it didn&rsquo;t always pay development or transfer fees to acquire the Alexander Mogilnys and Sergei Fedorovs of the world. As a result. leagues in Russia and the Czech Republic were dramatically weakened by the departure of their stars.Moreover, their attempts to develop the next generation of stars were hampered by a lack of cash. The Finnish and Swedish leagues did better, but interest there is on the wane too. Gradually, the realization crept in that every time they developed a Peter Forsberg or a Mats Sundin. they would be lost to the NHL at an increasingly early age.Down the road, the NHL wants to expand into Europe. What better way to do this than to rekindle interest in the game overseas? For Sundin&rsquo;s first game back, his Djurgarden team drew over 13,000 spectators, a sellout. It wasn&rsquo;t doing nearly as well before. Frank Musil returned to Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic, essentially to play for expenses. Why? To put something back into Czech hockey. Then there&rsquo;s the Russian Dream team, touring its native land to bolster the development programs.The alternative to spreading the NHL gospel around the world is for players to sit and gather rust, hardly a productive way to pass the season.The money they&rsquo;re earning isn&rsquo;t going to make them rich. But the presence of Doug Gilmour, Steve Yzerman. Geoff Sanderson and others will whet the European appetite for NHL hockey. Fans from Lugano to Las Vegas will see firsthand what the fuss is ail about.And when was the last time anybody cared about what the paying customer wants? &#9632;

f0012-02

Players have every right to take jobs

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011491/6111414-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues&rsquo; left winger Esa Tikkanen isn&rsquo;t crazy about Finland&rsquo;s &ldquo;figure skating hockey.&rdquo;</figcaption></div>Back home in Helsinki, Esa Tikkanen says he is making compromises for the good of the game. He has taken a vow of silence.To hear him tell it, the only chatter coming from the NHL&rsquo;s biggest needier these days is the crunch of his skate blades on European ice.Just following rules, Tikkanen explains. Flapping tongues aren&rsquo;t permitted in Finland.&ldquo;Oh, no,&rdquo; says the left winger for the St. Louis Blues/HIFK, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re not allowed to do that.&rdquo;The thought of Tikkanen skating with his mouth closed would rank among the strangest outcomes of the NHL&rsquo;s season of strife.Others see it a little differently. HIFK general manager Frank Moberg maintains Tikkanen&rsquo;s larynx is getting a full workout every game.&ldquo;His mouth never rests.&rdquo; Moberg says.After five games, Tikkanen had three points and two minor penalties, one for roughing. &ldquo;I just ran over him, hit him too hard.&rdquo;For his part, Moberg would like to see more points. &ldquo;The crowd loves him, but he hasn&rsquo;t been that effective,&rdquo; Moberg says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a showman.&rdquo;The showman is simply happy to be playing, particularly with friends and family nearby to watch him perform. His mother and father both came to his first game against Jokerit and fellow NHL stars Teemu Selanne and Jari Kurri. After games he goes home and eats meals with his parents and stays at their home.&ldquo;Mom and Dad have been taking care of me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Little boy again.&ldquo;The fans are unbelievable here, a full house (8,000 to 9,000) every night. It has been great.&rdquo;Weekend games in Finland begin at four o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon at the Helsinki Ice Hall, where his father retired from a few years ago as caretaker, so nights are free for frolic. Weekday games start at 6:30 p.m.Hundreds of kids line up for autographs after the game, some wearing shirts bearing his name (Selanne is the most popular hero). Some of his teammates are friends from childhood and the three years he played for HIFK before jumping to the Edmonton Oilers for the playoffs in 1985.But a strange thing has happened over the past nine years. Helsinki is still his home, but it&rsquo;s not home to his brand of hockey.Wide ice surfaces and tight, inconsistent refereeing have forced him to back off on the physical play. &ldquo;Figure skating hockey,&rdquo; he calls it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like the NHL (where) you can just run everybody,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You have to be a little more careful of yourself. If you touch somebody and he falls down you get a penalty. It&rsquo;s unbelievable.&rdquo;The only respite comes when playing against the NHLers on other teams. Nine were playing in Finland by the beginning of November, including Chicago Blackhawk Christian Ruuttu on HIFK.Ruuttu was leading the NHL brigade with six points in five games.&ldquo;They let us play really hard (against each other), but a lot of teams don&rsquo;t have NHL players. Referees are up and down, you don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re going to call,&rdquo; Tikkanen says.Tikkanen, 29, still earns respect around the NHL by playing full steam ahead. He had 114 penalty minutes last year with the New York Rangers, his highest total since 1989-90. &ldquo;But his value was put in question when he was sent from the Rangers to the St. Louis Blues along with Doug Lidster this past summer for Petr Nedved as part of the Mike Keenan compensation package.Tikkanen&rsquo;s skating and checking skills remain formidable and he has enjoyed Stanley Cup success with the Edmonton Oilers four times and the Rangers last season. He rebounded for 58 points last season after slumping to 28 and 40 points in the previous two.Tikkanen has two years left on his contract, which he says might be his last. A retreat to the Finnish League is possible thereafter.In the interim, it will be up to Keenan and the Blues to find out how much he has left.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011409/6111407-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="585" height="790"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Hunter says Tikkanen was vital to the Rangers&rsquo; cup win.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He has got all kinds left,&rdquo; insists Keenan, who supported Tikkanen&rsquo;s quest to play during the lockout. &ldquo;Esa is really a very important member of any hockey club because he has a great deal of hockey intelligence, first of all, and he&rsquo;s very adaptable to different situations.&rdquo;Vancouver Canuck forward Tim Hunter says Tikkanen-along with Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Craig MacTavish-was one of the Rangers&rsquo; five best players in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s underrated as a player and overrated as an antagonistic, yapping player. People tend to blow the other stuff out of proportion,&rdquo; Hunter says.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t pay that much attention to him out there. He&rsquo;s Finnish and you can&rsquo;t understand him when he&rsquo;s talking.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Tikkanen talks twice a day to his Swedish wife, Lotta, who remains at home in Edmonton with their two daughters, seven-year-old Stephanie and three-year-old Sabrina until a December visit.By then he will have started earning his HIFK salary, which only kicks in after the team recovers the $30,000 (U.S.) it paid for his insurance. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not making a dime until we recover the expense he&rsquo;s incurred for the club,&rdquo; Moberg says.Moberg wouldn&rsquo;t say how much Tikkanen will earn, but he will receive a percentage of the gate revenue if attendance reaches a certain level.Calgary Flames&rsquo; center Michael Nylander-skating with JyP HT Jyvaskyla-is the only NHLer playing particularly well in Finland, Moberg says, but they have all had an impact.&ldquo;Our other guys are doing even better. They don&rsquo;t want to be in the shadow of these pros.&rdquo;Even so, Moberg is unsure whether allowing NHLers to play in the league was a wise decision. He worries about competitive balance once NHLers find their legs.&ldquo;If the fans love it it&rsquo;s okay by me, but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s very fair,&rdquo; he says.Each team is allowed two imports, but native Finns such as Selanne, Kurri, Ruuttu and Tikkanen are exempt from the rule. &#9632;

f0012-01

PEST CONTROL

<div class="byline">Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011491/6111483-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="382" height="539"></div>Buried in an old scrapbook from 1948 is a faded magazine story about the Cleveland Barons, one of the best pro hockey franchises of all time.For some strange reason, the article&rsquo;s headline-Minor league, but mighty good-remained implanted in my head for the past 46 years.It came to mind the other day at Albany&rsquo;s Knickerbocker Arena, home of the American League&rsquo;s snarly answer to Mickey Mouse, the River Rats.There I was, on an NHL starvation diet, watching Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s beloved rodents playing the Saint John Flames, nephew of a big-league club in Calgary.Instead of Stephane Richer and Joe Nieuwendyk, the marquee players were Scott Pellerin and Dale Kushner. No Martin Brodeur nor Patrick Roy here. It&rsquo;s Corey Schwab and Jason Muzzatti. Like it or lump it.I liked it for a lot of reasons:&#9633; They care. No prima donnas here, thank you. Just a bunch of working stiffs, some of whom have considerable talent and endless elan.&#9633; It moves. The AHL has a number of speed merchants who can get from Point A to B a lot faster than some big-leaguers.&#9633; They fight.You see rousing 1-on-ls reminiscent of the pre-Nervous Nellie NHL era. Call it lusty, call it gutsy, but it got me out of my seat, especially when Albany&rsquo;s Reid Simpson started swinging.&#9633; They entertain. Where else can you see Rowdy the River Rat skid around the ice on a miniature jeep? Or have the world&rsquo;s biggest slingshot fire T-shirts and gift-bearing tennis balls into the crowd? Or have an adult male running up and down the aisles wearing a chunk of plastic cheddar on his head and the name &ldquo;Big Cheese&rdquo; across the back of his River Rat jersey.Truth to tell, the feel at the Knick reminded me of what it was like as a kid, breaking in as a hockey fan at the old Madison Square Garden. My father neither could afford nor did he care much about Ranger games, but the Broadway Blueshirts also operated an Eastern League farm team at the Garden.The New York Rovers were comprised of good, young kids who graduated from Canada&rsquo;s fast junior leagues. They knew the route to the top curved through the minors and played as if every game were the Stanley Cup final.Fans were into it as much as the players and, during the intermissions, Tom Lockhart, who ran the Rovers, managed to feature a kids amateur show, figure skater Sonja Henie and even a skating bear. The same off-the-wall ambience holds in the AHL.&ldquo;We do our darndest to make it a family entertainment night,&rdquo; says Rats&rsquo; president Doug Burch. &ldquo;At $11 a ticket ($6 for kids), you can&rsquo;t go wrong.&rdquo;Although the AHL bills itself as a developmental league, there are several former NHLers around who make no apologies for being there.&ldquo;There are plenty of guys who carry the label &lsquo;career minor leaguers,&rdquo; says Islander and Flyer alumnus Kushner, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t mind that. I had my chance to play in the NHL, but I&rsquo;m happy where I am; this is a good living.&rdquo;The most vivid negative image of minor league hockey is the Iron Lung, alias the bus. Rolling through upstate New York into Cornwall, Ont., isn&rsquo;t necessarily recommended by Cook&rsquo;s Tours yet Pellerin, who had a stint with the Devils, likes the feel of us-on-a-bus.&ldquo;I enjoy the tradition of AHL travel,&rdquo; Pellerin says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a time when all the guys can get together and, in the long run, it develops character. Down here it&rsquo;s not meant to be nice; it&rsquo;s meant for us to be hungry.&rdquo;Some, such as Devils&rsquo; prospects Brian Rolston and Mike Dunham, know eventually they&rsquo;ll be in the Show. Others such as Kushner know they likely won&rsquo;t get another chance. But he&rsquo;s not complaining. He&rsquo;ll get his kicks where it&rsquo;s minor league, but mighty good.&ldquo;It beats working a 9-to-5 job in an office in northern Canada,&rdquo; Kushner concludes. &ldquo;Hey, it&rsquo;s not quite the Show, but it is fun.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021142/6111476-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="507" height="887"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Pellerin</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Minor pro leagues mighty good show

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03784/6111514-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Ferraro, left, and twin brother Peter have bulked up noticeably since the 1992 entry draft.</figcaption></div>Baseball is supposed to be the game of inches, but don&rsquo;t tell that to Chris and Peter Ferraro. The 5-foot-10, Long Island-bom twins keep hearing their size is an obstacle in their quest to make the NHL.In an attempt to overcome that hurdle, the Ferraros stayed off skates this past summer, ate heartily, bulked up in the weight room and are off to a hot start with the International League&rsquo;s Atlanta Knights. Chris, a center, had four goals and 10 points in eight games; Peter, a right winger, had four and seven.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re close,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; coach John Paris. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re about a year away (in terms of) hockey education, learning to play away from the puck. (But) there&rsquo;s no doubt about it. These two men will play in the NHL.&rdquo;The 21-year-olds spumed the New York Rangers, who drafted them in 1992, to sign with the Turner Cup champion Knights. Atlanta is affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the Rangers retain the Ferraros&rsquo; NHL rights.&ldquo;They move the puck real well,&rdquo; said Phoenix Roadrunners&rsquo; defenseman and 13-year NHL veteran Tim Watters. &ldquo;They skate well enough to be prospects. When you have the skills and wheels they do, it makes them tough to defend against.&rdquo;Chris has recovered from mononucleosis, which caused his weight to drop to 170 pounds last year and cost him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. He is playing at 188 pounds. Peter, who had six goals for Team USA at Lillehammer, is playing at 195 pounds.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to give people an excuse that we can&rsquo;t play in the NHL because we&rsquo;re too small,&rdquo; Chris said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s B.S. We&rsquo;ve tried to model ourselves after Jeremy Roenick, get our points, not let anybody off the hook.&rdquo;Paris uses the twins to kill penalties and on power plays. The only concession to their lack of experience is that Devin Edgerton, normally their left winger, takes defensivezone faceoffs. Paris said Chris will take them after he has made one circuit of the league.Chris has better playmaking skills and intercepts more passes than Peter, who might have better offensive moves and toughness. Both are fast, shifty and outstanding skaters. Chris is irritated by suggestions he is a perimeter player.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a huge misconception,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;totally untrue. We have a similar style. It&rsquo;s identical. You can&rsquo;t even tell who&rsquo;s who out there.&rdquo;The Rangers drafted Peter 24th overall in &lsquo;92 and took Chris in the fourth round. After fruitless contract negotiations, Chris signed for about $125,000 and Peter for about $150,000 with the Knights. They have an escape clause allowing them to sign with the Rangers at any time.Peter Ferraro Sr., the twins&rsquo; father, said the Rangers offered four-year contracts with $340,000 guaran-teed-a $100,000 signing bonus each and a $60,000 minor-league salary in each season. A source said Peter&rsquo;s NHL contract was worth about $1.4 million and Chris&rsquo; about $1.2 million. Ferraro Sr., said the offers were insulting.&ldquo;The bottom line is, my brother and I want to play for the Rangers,&rdquo; Chris said. &ldquo;At the same time, everybody knows hockey is a business and you&rsquo;ve got to look out for yourself. We&rsquo;re not out to go our own route, just hopefully to show the Rangers we can play high-level, pro-style hockey.&rdquo;The Ferraros have bucked the system most of their careers. Since Long Island is not an incubator for NHLers, they traveled to Philadelphia to play as youngsters, played bantam in upstate New York, then moved on to Tabor (Mass.) Academy before playing for Dubuque and Waterloo in the United States Jr. League. From there, they went to the University of Maine and Team USA.The Rangers are furious the twins aren&rsquo;t playing for their Binghamton Rangers&rsquo; American League farm club, but have not ruled them out for eventual promotion.&ldquo;Would we hold it against them two years from now and not put them on our team because of the direction they took?&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; assistant general manager Larry Pleau. &ldquo;No. We&rsquo;d be damned fools.&rdquo;In a recent two-game series in which the Knights swept Phoenix, Peter scored in each game and Chris had a goal and three assists. One of Peter&rsquo;s goals came on a Joey Mullen-style move from outside the left post. He kicked a rebound to his stick and flipped the puck high into the net. Chris set up the winning goal in the first game with a cross-ice feed and took a cross-check to screen the goalie on a teammate&rsquo;s goal in the second game.The twins used their sticks to hook and swat the Roadrunners and did not avoid scrums.&ldquo;They get involved,&rdquo; said Phoenix coach Rob Laird. &ldquo;I could tell some of our guys were getting a little disturbed at them, but that&rsquo;s a positive attribute.&rdquo;Said their linemate, Edgerton: &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to make it to the next level. I&rsquo;ve never seen guys go 100 per cent of the time like they do. They take a lot of abuse because they go in the comers and don&rsquo;t back down.&rdquo;The twins hope to make the NHL together. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve enjoyed playing on the same teams as my brother,&rdquo; Peter said. &ldquo;I think it adds something to a team offensively.&ldquo;Tampa Bay or Anaheim might be a better opportunity, but we&rsquo;re just hoping to play for the Rangers. It&rsquo;s going to take some time. We&rsquo;re not going to have a Mario Lemieux or a Wayne Gretzky effect on the Rangers, but what my brother and I have to bring is double the power.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-03

Two-Knights show

<div class="byline">Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011268/6111545-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="381" height="536"></div>There is a numbing sameness and hopelessness to these days. Nevertheless, Paul Holmgren uses them constructively, one at a time.At the rink, he attacks the exercise machines and has lost almost 40 pounds. At home, he lifts a paintbrush and, with every hour of sobriety, his self-esteem. Springfield, where he goes to see the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; prospects, is a short trip, among the easier miles on Holmgren&rsquo;s endless journey from hell.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather be doing what I would normally be doing this time of the year,&rdquo; says the Whalers&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;But in a way, the lockout has been a blessing for me. It&rsquo;s reinforcing the direction of my life.&ldquo;Some days I feel like I&rsquo;m running a marathon and when I turn around I can still see the starting line and the beast chasing me. I like my life now and I don&rsquo;t want to go back to the way it was. I think how I used to be and it makes me sick.&rdquo;He could drink seven, eight, 10 beers and still never have it show on him. Alcohol never made Holmgren mean, boisterous, sloppy or cause him to lose friends, or, at least directly, hockey games. Nobody remembers Holmgren being drunk behind the bench or at practice, either before or after he was twice caught being drunk behind the wheel. Job stress, he believes, did not affect his habits.&ldquo;I drank on both good days and bad days,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My life revolved around it. Did it keep me from doing the job to the best of my ability? Maybe. A player goes out two nights before a game and, thinking he has time to recover, has a good time. But would he be a better player in the long run if he didn&rsquo;t drink at all?&rdquo;It is easier for Holmgren to quantify alcohol&rsquo;s effect on his performance as a father and husband. In March, 1992, after being removed from the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; bench, Holmgren was pounding beers through what he thought would be a carefree afternoon when Doreen got tied up with her day. That forced Paul to pick up their 9-year-old son, Wes, at basketball practice.Holmgren sideswiped a car, ran off the road and overturned his truck. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt. Unfortunately, between Holmgren&rsquo;s ears, nobody was home, either.Certainly he felt shame and remorse at the thought of endangering his son, and another incident with Doreen shook Holmgren enough to cause him to join Alcoholics Anonymous and at least slow his flow of suds. But when he moved to Hartford he stopped going to meetings and gradually lapsed. Holmgren was less into denial now, just powerless to help himself.On March 31, a week after six Whalers and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy were arrested for a bar punch-up in Buffalo, and three weeks before Holmgren planned to slip off at season&rsquo;s end for the Betty Ford Center, he drove off the road, knocking down mailboxes and glancing off a tree and utility pole. All he remembers is the policemen at the door of his car in his driveway.As the inebriated general manager of an organization that wes chugging down alcohol related offenses like they were being offered at a two-for-one happy hour, it seemed impossible for Holmgren to survive.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say I didn&rsquo;t care about losing my job,&rdquo; Holmgren says. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t think about it that much. If I didn&rsquo;t get myself straightened out first, I wouldn&rsquo;t have anything, not a family life, or a job.&rdquo;He spent 26 days at Betty Ford, then returned to answer every brutally put question at a news conference. Owner Richard Gordon, impressed, became convinced Holmgren deserved another chance, although it became a moot point when the sale of the franchise went through to a new ownership that came packaged with its own GM.But Geoff Sanderson, the Whalers&rsquo; rising young star, publicly asked for Holmgren to be put back on the bench and the new GM, Jim Rutherford, became convinced the best guy for the position was the one who had given it up last November for political, survival, reasons.Thus has Holmgren gratefully hit the ground running. Still, when he acknowledges &ldquo;the bad guys are still out there,&rdquo; he is referring to cans and bottles whose contents are even more treacherous than Sneaky Pete McGuire.One of Holmgren&rsquo;s counselors at Betty Ford thought it would be best if he got out of hockey, rather than put himself back in the same places where he used to think about his next beer.&ldquo;During training camp, I did get in some days of sobriety under my belt.&rdquo; Holmgren says. &ldquo;On the road, too.&rdquo; But coaches, like recovering alcoholics, survive one day at a time. As happily as Holmgren is living now, he knows too much, has suffered too much, to assume the ever-after. &#9632;

f0016-01

Holmgren knows battle not over yet

<div class="byline">Jeff Gordon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011121/6111583-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="381" height="559"></div>Position Wanted: Executive vicepresident for saying &ldquo;Scram!&rdquo; Looking to aid helpless general managers draw lines during contract negotiations. Has extensive background in spotting overpriced athletes on rosters. Has never signed Jimmy Carson to a $1 million-a-year deal. Willing to relocate. Will work for one per cent of team payroll, plus refreshments.After reading how vulnerable NHL executives are-those terrible players are stealing most of their hard-earned revenue-my friends and I decided to make our decision-making skills available for any financially strapped team. (Harry Sinden and Glen Sather don&rsquo;t need any help. They can actually say no all by themselves).All across North America, players and their agents are extorting huge contracts from defenseless GMs. We read some of these crime stories and our eyes welled up with tears. Teams simply have no choice but to offer huge money to anybody who can stand on skates.The poor Quebec Nordiques were forced to give rookie Peter Forsberg a contract paying him $2.85 million this season. God knows what might have happened if they didn&rsquo;t capitulate. Does Sweden have an air force?In recent years the Hartford Whalers have suffered budget deficits that would put governmental agencies to shame. Yet new owner Peter Karmanos caved in to free-agent defenseman Glen Wesley. &ldquo;Here is your contract, starting at $ 1.5 million this season. Just quit calling me at dinner time.&rdquo;Rumor has it NHL Players&rsquo; Association toughs surrounded Bill Wirtz outside the United Center and forced him to sign Bob Probert to a contract starting at $1.8 million this year. There could be no other explanation.If beleaguered executives had to work even one more day under the old collective bargaining agreement, virtually every team would fold and once-rich owners would be forced to forage for food in the woods.That&rsquo;s why they decided to shut down the game. Though these teams did little to control their spending and nothing to help small-market clubs, clearly the players were to blame for everything. They had to be punished.Of course, what the owners really needed was a clue. How do you set a workable budget and stick to it? It&rsquo;s one of life&rsquo;s great mysteries. Since owners can&rsquo;t do this themselves, somebody has to help. I&rsquo;m available, as are a half-dozen fantasy team owners in our Noel Picard No-Check Hockey League. We all shudder at the terrible beatings real-life owners have taken.Consider the sad case of John McMullen, owner of the New Jersey Devils. The guy just can&rsquo;t make a buck in hockey. So maybe he isn&rsquo;t the greatest sports owner in the world. He ran the Houston Astros into the ground, nearly ruining that market for baseball. And he hasn&rsquo;t exactly caught the imagination of fans with his marketing genius.His mascot, a guy dressed like a giant puck, went around pawing people. The not-so-pesky Devils have won playoff games in just two of their 12 years in New Jersey. But the real problem, McMullen said, is that NHLPA director Bob Goodenow lacks intelligence.The old CBA was so cruel. Why, McMullen had to pay defenseman Scott Stevens $17 million over four years just because Stevens had the nerve to become a free agent. The Devils could have signed Stevens to a $10million deal months earlier. But who could have predicted the St. Louis Blues would bid for Stevens once his New Jersey contract was up? Go figure. The Blues wanted Stevens?That came out of left field. Only a handful of alert payroll consultants (like me and my friends) could have seen that coming. For a fraction of that $7 million differential, we could have saved McMullen.We can apply this magical talent to the whole league. Listen up, owners. Forget these futile CBA talks. Just play the games and hire us to protect you from yourselves. When the Brad Mays and Bob Rouses want unreasonable sums, we&rsquo;ll say &ldquo;for what?&rdquo; And we&rsquo;ll do it for less than the Los Angeles Kings are wasting on Rob Brown.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02850/6111576-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="514" height="928"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

How to fix NHL’s ills: Just say no

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03619/6111614-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Martin Brodeur is seen by many as the key to New Jersey&rsquo;s Stanley Cup hopes, but will he be there to win one?</figcaption></div>It is either the ultimate sophomore jinx or the longest summer vacation of Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s life.As November arrived without a game having been played, the NHL&rsquo;s rookie of the year spent his time fulfilling fantasies other than tending goal for the New Jersey Devils.Brodeur was on the pages of GQ magazine modeling a $1,060 overcoat. He was also on the ice practising with the team he idolized as a boy, the Montreal Canad ens, who asked him to fill in for Ron Tugnutt.Where Brodeur could not be found was in the office of Devils&rsquo; general manager Lou Lamoriello, working on a new contract which would keep him with the organization that drafted him first (20th overall) in 1990. On the bright side, while teammate Scott Stevens lost $200,000 in pay every two weeks during the lockout Brodeur lost only $10,(XX).&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I didn&rsquo;t sign a new contract Fortunate ly, I&rsquo;m not losing that much money,&rdquo; said Brodeur, whose contract would pay him the same $140,000. he got last season as league&rsquo;s lowest-paid goalie. &ldquo;Look at the money some guys are losing. Look at how much Scotty is losing. Even if I had a chance to sign, right now I&rsquo;d rather wait.&rdquo;If agent Gilles Lupien&rsquo;s threats were fulfilled, Brodeur would be playing (or sitting) out his option with the Devils this season. In fact, if the labor dispute wipes out the entire 1994-95 season, it&rsquo;s possible the 22-year-old goalie played his last game for the Devils in last season&rsquo;s Eastern Conference final.If the new collective bargaining agreement relaxes free agency, Brodeur may be moving.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been determined whether players who are in their option years can become free agents if there is no season,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;Those are details that would be part of a new CBA.&rdquo;Brodeur won the Calder Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie with a 27-11-8 record and 2.40 goals-against average.He starred in the playoffs in a memorable series against the Buffalo Sabres and in a classic seven-game showdown with the New York Rangers.During the off-season, he asked for a three-year deal at $1.4 million, $1.75 million and $1.75 million. The Devils offered $750,000 a year without a signing bonus, which Lupien called an insult.Unlike Buffalo&rsquo;s Dominik Hasek, who became a training camp holdout before signing a $3-million, eight-year deal with the Sabres, Brodeur decided not to walk out.&ldquo;Under the current system, Martin will become a free agent July 1,&rdquo; Lupien said. &ldquo;He will not sign with the Devils and they cannot match the offer. It is over. Lou Lamoriello had six months. Now, it is too late.&ldquo;I am telling you that if Lou called me tomorrow and offered Martin a three-year contract for $6 million, he would not sign it.&rdquo;Really? Brodeur had a slightly different view.&ldquo;Gilles has to say those kind of things because I can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Brodeur explained. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m paying him to do that. I&rsquo;m not saying if they come up with a really, really good offer that I won&rsquo;t take it, I want to play here. This would be my first pick.&rdquo;Lamoriello said the Devils have every intention of keeping Brodeur.&ldquo;Martin, to my knowledge, wants to remain a New Jersey Devil,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He likes it here. You can&rsquo;t control what an agent says, but we want him. He&rsquo;s an important part of our future.&rdquo;Of course, so was Sean Burke, who left following a 1991 dispute involving his contract and playing time. He is now part of the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; future.To many, Brodeur is the key to the Devils&rsquo; Stanley Cup chances.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good kid,&rdquo; said Devils&rsquo; coach Jacques Lemaire.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s smart and he knows what&rsquo;s coming up in front of him. That, you can&rsquo;t teach. He has a great glove and he&rsquo;s a big kid.His movement is quick for a big guy. Uroking at him in the net, he gives you confidence.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-03

Exorcising his options

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011163/6111645-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ottawa&rsquo;s Rick Bowness wishes he had handled some things better.</figcaption></div>Rick Bowness doesn&rsquo;t want sympathy, but if you ask him he will tell you the truth. Coaching is often about expanding your threshold for pain.The good times are spent wondering when things will go sour, the bad worrying how to make things right. The most telltale sign it&rsquo;s time to get out is the realization your job is no longer killing you by degrees.&ldquo;The day losing doesn&rsquo;t hurt is the day you have to get out of the business,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why you have to love coaching so much, you have to be willing to live with that.&rdquo;Bowness, 39, has been an NHL coach for three seasons and parts of another. He had one year with the Boston Bruins, won 36 out of 80 games, took the team to the Conference final and was fired. In 1988-89, he was interim coach of the Winnipeg Jets for the last 28 games of the season and was replaced by Bob Murdoch.With the Ottawa Senators, he has won 24 out of 168 games and his. 182 winning percentage is the worst in NHL history for a coach who has led the same team for two seasons. But Bowness had his contract extended, reaffirming a curious sports law that while coaching a terrible team may be torture, you at least get to suffer a little longer.It&rsquo;s a life often amazingly free of reward. Desperate for scoring last season, Bowness went to the wall with management to give Vladimir Ruzicka a final ledge from which to jump out of the NHL.Ruzicka scored five times in 42 games, was minus-21 and blasted Bowness&rsquo; abilities on the way out the door. &ldquo;I have no words,&rdquo; he said, sarcastically, &ldquo;for this great coach.&rdquo;Last season was the most difficult of Bowness&rsquo; career and more relevantly, the hardest year of his life.&ldquo;When you lose, it never leaves you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re constantly thinking about what you can do to turn it around.&rdquo;The Senators won twice between Dec. 23 and March 15 and throughout, Bowness prospected through the rubble for a grain of good. But the most lasting loss for Bowness came in February when his father Bob-Big Bob to his friends-died of cancer.&ldquo;My Dad was one of my best friends, it wasn&rsquo;t a typical father-son relationship,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;We spent a lot of time together in the summer, a lot of time together on the golf course. That left a void that can never be filled.&rdquo;Bowness thought his countenance had been unaffected by his loss. He now knows better.&ldquo;You have a job to do and as you do it, you&rsquo;re telling yourself it&rsquo;s not a distraction,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you analyze it, you realize you let it affect you more than you should have.&ldquo;There are certain situations last year I didn&rsquo;t handle as well as I would have liked. I don&rsquo;t want to be specific.&rdquo;In the worst days, Bowness threw himself into his coaching and somehow, it got him through.&ldquo;Doing what I love to do helped me get through last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you lose, man, it affects you and it will for the rest of your life, but you have to say to yourself, &lsquo;are you doing what you want to do?&rsquo; The answer for me, is yes.&rdquo;Since then, there has been good news. Hockey Night in Canada hired Bowness as an analyst for three playoff series last season and he acquitted himself well.The Senators, Bowness insists, are lurching toward respectability.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be better than last year,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t know how much until we play, but we improved our points by 50 per cent between our first and second year. Now, that&rsquo;s easy to do when you get 24 points in your first year, but I expect to see at least that much improvement this year and maybe a little more.&rdquo;Bowness is renewed, he said, by a love of the game and a hope even a frozen season can&rsquo;t erode. It&rsquo;s a love he acquired from an absent friend.&ldquo;My dad played in the American Hockey League and played senior hockey in the days when it was probably better hockey than the American League,&rdquo; Bowness said, &ldquo;but to the day he died, he viewed it as an honor and a privilege to be associated with the National Hockey League.&ldquo;What I bring from him is a love and respect for the game.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

The lost seasons

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011086/6111676-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="166" height="166"></div>Paul Kariya&rsquo;s pursuit of the Calder Trophy is on hold. How about the National Juggling League rookie of the year?Kariya returned to his North Vancouver home when the lockout began and has since picked up juggling.&ldquo;I can do the trick where you eat an apple while you&rsquo;re juggling and I can juggle behind my back.&rdquo;Kariya, who is fond of books on philosophy and motivation, was passing through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport during the exhibition season when he spotted a book on juggling that he&rsquo;d heard has been used as a motivational tool by some Fortune 500 companies.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a metaphor for learning through the art of juggling,&rdquo; said the Mighty Ducks&rsquo; of Anaheim rookie. &ldquo;It teaches juggling step by step. It has helped me see how I learn in hockey, too. And it&rsquo;s good for handeye coordination.&rdquo;Though he&rsquo;s skating regularly, the challenge is to keep his days full.&ldquo;Maybe if I&rsquo;m still out of work, I can go down to the street comer and juggle,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: Ducks&rsquo; president Tony Tavares criticized the NHL for not notifying the players that the league had quit paying medical insurance premiums, saying the situation was mishandled. &ldquo;It was not one of the league&rsquo;s shining moments,&rdquo; Tavares said after Ducks&rsquo; defenseman Tom Kurvers and his pregnant wife, Suzy, were told by a hospital administrator while seeking treatment after a car accident that their coverage had been terminated. However, U.S. law provides that employees can continue their coverage without interruption if they agree within 60 days to take over payments and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association has agreed to pay for players&rsquo; insurance during the lockout. &#9632;

f0019-01

Rookie Kariya now juggling two pastimes

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Mike Loftus</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02785/6111707-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque will represent Quebec in the NHLPA&rsquo;s tournament.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03519/6111714-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="164" height="165"></div>The Boston Bruins have given season-ticket holders a money-back option during the lockout, but are offering patrons something many other clubs can&rsquo;t: Tickets to real, live pro hockey games.The Bruins, whose American League affiliate is located just an hour south of Boston in Providence, R.I., sent free tickets to one of two Baby Bruins&rsquo; contests to every holder of a season-ticket account.&ldquo;We just did it as a gesture,&rdquo; said Nate Greenberg, the assistant to Boston president Harry Sinden. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not saying it&rsquo;s a replacement for the NHL by any means. What we&rsquo;re saying is &lsquo;While we&rsquo;re out, enjoy a Providence game on us.&rsquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gotten a lot of good feedback and on Providence&rsquo;s end, they may get some people who&rsquo;ll want to come back and see more.&rdquo;The tickets were for the Baby Bruins&rsquo; game against the St. John Flames on Oct. 30 or a Nov. 13 date against P.E.l. Senators. Both were Sunday afternoon games.&ldquo;It would be harder to do later in the season, because Providence draws some great crowds,&rdquo; Greenberg said, &ldquo;but early in the season they have some tickets available. This seemed like a nice thing we could do for our season-ticket customers until we get up and running here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins elevated Bob Tindall to director of pro scouting and development on Oct. 31. Tindall, in his 21st season with the organization, was made director of scouting last season. He will be responsible for scouting all pro leagues and monitoring the development of all Boston draftees&hellip;Ray Bourque agreed to play in the NHL Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s 4-on-4 tournament in Hamilton, Ont., Nov. 10-12. He will represent the Quebec team. &#9632;

f0019-02

Here’s a novel concept: Real, live hockey games

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04408/6111745-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="164" height="162"></div>Alex Mogilny&rsquo;s return to his Russian homeland was almost as secretive as his arrival in North America.He just kept his mouth shut and left.Mogilny was among a group of NHL players bom in the former Soviet Union who returned for a five-game tour of their homeland.Mogilny had nothing to say before departing. The way was cleared when Russia&rsquo;s foreign ministry ordered new passports be issued to Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov of the Detroit Red Wings. The move effectively pardons Mogilny for defecting and clears the way for him to return to Russia. Mogilny left in 1989 and was branded as a defector and a deserter from the Russian army.It is believed the way was cleared for Mogilny to return to his homeland after he had lunch in Washington with Russian president Boris Yeltzin in late September.The decision to go home again caused some concern for the Buffalo Sabres, who someday hope to have Mogilny back on the ice fulfilling terms of a $12 million contract he signed last year.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what kind of safeguard guarantees he has got or what protection has been arranged,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; executive vice-president Gerry Meehan.The Sabres are also concerned about the possibility Mogilny could be harmed by a criminal element. The high-scoring right winger recently was threatened by a former friend who helped him defect.NOTEBOOK: Another Russian-born Sabres&rsquo; player, Yuri Khmylev, decided not to join Alex Mogilny in his homeland. His former team, the Soviet Wings, is coming over to play a series of games against International League teams. Khmylev said he might play for them. &#9632;

f0019-04

Mogilny goes home quietly

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02638/6111783-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="580" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">German Titov</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01961/6111790-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="166" height="166"></div>German Titov is going home-sort of.The Russian-born forward became the fourth Calgary Flames&rsquo; player to find employment in Europe during the NHL lockout.Titov has joined TPS Turku of the Finnish Elite League, the team for which he played in 1992-93. That&rsquo;s where the Flames spotted Titov, a 12th-round draft choice who blossomed into a 27-goal scorer in his first full NHL season.The Flames rewarded Titov by tearing up his old contract and signing him to a new, three-year deal. Now, he&rsquo;ll have to wait to collect on that.In halting English, Titov indicated he made the move because he was unwilling to wait much longer for the NHL work stoppage to end.In Finland, Titov gets a chance to play against teammate Michael Nylander, a member of Jyvaskyla. Robert Reichel and Frank Musil are playing in Germany and the Czech Republic.The next departure could be right winger Theo Fleury. Fleury, who led the NHL in scoring during the preseason, has had a number of inquiries from European teams.Until November,&rsquo;Fleury was biding his time, waiting to see how negotiations between owners and players would develop. Now that it looks as if the lockout could extend indefinitely, Fleury was looking seriously again.&ldquo;(We&rsquo;ll) have to get more serious about finding him a place to play,&rdquo; said agent Don Baizley. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s going to be a problem.&rdquo;Fleury&rsquo;s offers came from teams in Germany, Switzerland and Finland. To keep busy in the meantime, Fleury was working for the new Western League expansion franchise that will begin play in Calgary next season.Fleury, along with Joe Sakic of the Quebec Nordiques, are major investors in the as-yet unnamed team. His duties included scouting local bantam and midget players.NOTEBOOK: The Flames issued paychecks to two of their injured players-goaltender Andrei Trefilov and center Joe Nieuwendyk-leaving only left winger Gary Roberts unsure if he&rsquo;ll get paid during the work stoppage. General manager Doug Risebrough received a letter from Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s doctor, saying the center would have been unable to start the season because of a back problem. Under terms of the league&rsquo;s lockout, injured players must be paid until they receive medical clearance to play. Nieuwendyk missed all of training camp with back spasms. He will continue to draw his $925,000 (U.S.) salary until his condition clears up. Roberts&rsquo; case remained in limbo as the Flames awaited medical documents from a Toronto specialist. Roberts is bothered by nerve damage in his neck and shoulder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03427/6111776-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="581" height="920"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theo Fleury</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

Titov finds work in Europe; Fleury figures to be next

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04266/6111821-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="164" height="163"></div>Jeff Shantz may be with the International League&rsquo;s Indianapolis Ice in body, but a large part of his heart remains with his Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; teammates who are out of work because of the NHL&rsquo;s lockout.It&rsquo;s not an easy situation for the 21-year-old Shantz, who if not for the lockout would be a regular center for the Hawks.Shantz, who had three goals and 16 points in 52 games as a rookie in 1993-94, was one of the five players assigned to Indianapolis Sept. 30, the day the start of the NHL season was postponed.At first he was worried some of his Hawks&rsquo; teammates might resent the fact he was able to play in the minors and continue earning a regular paycheck.To ease his conscience, he discussed the situation with team captain Dirk Graham.&ldquo;Before I went down I asked Dirk if it was all right because I didn&rsquo;t want to step on any toes,&rdquo; Shantz said. &ldquo;He said it was.&ldquo;I hope nobody has a problem with it. I&rsquo;m a young guy and I just want to play and get better.&rdquo;Shantz, Sergei Krivokrasov, Steve Dubinsky, Ivan Droppa and Christian Soucy are all in the same boat at Indianapolis-young players who were either ticketed to start the season in Chicago or who were very close to it. Indianapolis head coach Duane Sutter said the IHL team has tried to make the transition a comfortable one for the players.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried to make it a positive situation for these guys,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;The alternative is they could be sitting at home not drawing a paycheck.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Blackhawks are trying to work it out with the league so that if and when the season begins, they get to play their first game at the United Center against the St. Louis Blues. The Hawks were scheduled to play their historic regular-season opener at the United Center Oct. 2 against the Blues and would like to still have fans use the commemorative tickets printed for the occasion.Five Hawks have been skating together during the lockout. They are: Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Steve Smith. Gary Suter and Rich Sutter.One-quarter of United States team for the NHL Players&rsquo; Association 4-on-4 Challenge is made up of Blackhawks. Roenick, Chelios and Suter confirmed their participation in the Nov. 10-12 event to be held at Hamilton&rsquo;s Copps Coliseum. Team USA will compete against squads made up of NHLers from Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec. Former Blackhawks&rsquo; star Denis Savard is playing for Team Quebec. &#9632;

f0020-04

Shantz has mixed emotions about collecting paycheck

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01854/6111852-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="164" height="166"></div>The Dallas Stars have fired 13 of their 55-full-time administrative employees.The cuts, which were announced Oct. 28, came in sales, community relations and public relations.The employees were terminated and not laid off, said Stars&rsquo; president Jim Lites, because of the uncertainty of the length of the NHL lockout. He said some employees may be rehired, but that would occur on a case-by-case basis.In addition, all employees received pay cuts, from Lites and coach-general manager Bob Gainey on down. It was the team&rsquo;s first cost-cutting move and Lites said the team would re-evaluate the situation for possibly more cuts Dec. 1.&ldquo;It was brutal,&rdquo; Lites said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very difficult to tell young people who have done a great job for us and are a part of our family that their jobs are interrupted because of circumstances beyond their control.&rdquo;Jeff Cogen, the team&rsquo;s vice president, advertising and promotions, had the brunt of the firings occur in his department.&ldquo;These people were doing a great job. If we&rsquo;re playing hockey, none of these cuts happen,&rdquo; Cogen said.Lites said the team has missed out on gains that will be hard to get back.&ldquo;We were determined to show Texas what a great game hockey is and now we can&rsquo;t do that,&rdquo; Lites said. &ldquo;Even if we were to start the season tomorrow, we&rsquo;d still have lost 30 or 40 days of selling and it&rsquo;s hard to get back that momentum.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Hockey hasn&rsquo;t completely died in Texas. The StarCenter, where the Stars practice, opened its second sheet of ice Oct. 29 and began junior league play. It is only the second NHL-sized sheet in North Texas available to the public. &#9632;

f0022-01

Unlucky 13 employees receive pink slips

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Keith Gave</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02591/6111883-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Fedorov was reunited with Pavel Bure and Alex Mogilny.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03421/6111890-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="163" height="163"></div>MOSCOW-Sergei Fedorov learned you can go home again, but first you&rsquo;d better work on your penmanship.The Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; star was hounded by fans on his arrival to the Sokolniki Arena in Moscow. He was there to prepare for a 10-day tour of Russian stars in his homeland.After he signed a few slips of paper, the youngsters looked up at him in confusion.&ldquo;&lsquo;What is this?&rsquo; they ask me,&rdquo; Fedorov said. &ldquo;And I said, &lsquo;Oh, I should sign in Russian.&rsquo; In the States I try to sign using more English.&rdquo;At a practice earlier in the day, Fedorov was flanked by former junior linemates Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny, which would likely be the best line in the world now had Russia not been strip mined of its top talent.&ldquo;It just clicked, it&rsquo;s easy,&rdquo; Fedorov said. &ldquo;We just play hockey with closed eyes.&rdquo;Fedorov and Mogilny shared some tense moments the day before on their flight to Moscow. Both lost their passports when they defected and their citizenship was in question.&ldquo;We were shaking,&rdquo; Fedorov said. &ldquo;Lots of thoughts were coming to us.&rdquo;But a Russian government official quickly assured them they were both welcome to come and go as they pleased and new passports would be issued as soon as they had their pictures taken.Fedorov desperately wanted to perform well during the tour for his countrymen who hold him in such high esteem.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited, but a little nervous. I don&rsquo;t want to show bad hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s history. I think it&rsquo;s history we are making.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Wings&rsquo; defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov was on the original list of players for the Russian tour, but he declined. &#9632;

f0022-02

Defector to Russian hero: Fedorov goes home again

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01759/6111952-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="564" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Fitzpatrick</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02482/6111959-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="164" height="164"></div>Florida Panthers&rsquo; goalie Mark Fitzpatrick has agreed to a pretrial intervention program with the state of Florida that could lead to the dismissal of a felony charge against him for allegedly beating his former wife.Fitzpatrick, who was to stand trial Nov. 14, has agreed to participate in the program for a year. If he follows the 12 conditions outlined in an order by Circuit Judge Jefferson Overby of the Plantation Key Court House, the charges will be dropped.Fitzpatrick was charged July 13 with allegedly beating his former wife, Susan, while on vacation in the Florida Keys. Fitzpatrick denied the charges.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something done on a routine basis with domestic violence cases,&rdquo; said Mark Kohl, assistant state attorney. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t treated any differently than anybody else.&rdquo;Kohl added the program is only offered to first-time offenders.Under the conditions of the agreement, Fitzpatrick must complete a domestic abuse-anger program-or an equivalent private counselling program-violate no state or local laws, hold a regular job, keep in weekly contact with a court officer and participate in 48 hours of public service.NOTEBOOK: Peter Andersson, who returned to Sweden with the intention of playing for Malmo of the Elite League, was unable to come to terms with the team&hellip;Assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher departed on a scouting trip that was to include a stop Windsor, Ont. Fletcher and GM Bryan Murray will be keeping close tabs on No. 1 draft pick Ed Jovanovski, currently playing with Ontario League&rsquo;s Spitfires. Jovanovski agreed to a deal with the Panthers worth a reported $6.2 million over four years. &#9632;

f0023-01

Charges may be dropped

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Viv Bernstein</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03334/6111990-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="166" height="166"></div>A month of inactivity was enough for Hartford Whalers&rsquo; left winger Geoff Sanderson.With little hope of a quick settlement to the players&rsquo; lockout, Sanderson signed a 45-day contract to play for HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish elite league.The deal runs through Dec. 15 and it is believed to pay a few thousand per game, far below the $800,000 he would have made with the Whalers. Sanderson can leave at any time if the lockout ends.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not getting rich off it,&rdquo; Sanderson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going for the money. I have nothing else to do and the opportunity came up so I thought it would probably be a great experience.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like I&rsquo;m working or going to school. I would like to be going to school, but classes already started. If things keep dragging on, I&rsquo;ll be in school Jan. 1. Until then, I don&rsquo;t have anything else planned. I&rsquo;ve got all my insurance in place to protect me. I&rsquo;m just going for the experience.&rdquo;Sanderson, 22, is the third Whaler to head overseas. Defenseman Frantisek Kucera is playing in the Czech League; forward Andrei Nikolishin returned to Russia to play for Moscow Dynamo.Sanderson&rsquo;s departure is more significant for the Whalers because he was their leading goal-scorer the past two seasons.&ldquo;He is one of our top players,&rdquo; general manager Jim Rutherford said. &ldquo;Other than that, it&rsquo;s the same as all players, they have the right to do that. That&rsquo;s his business.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Whalers&rsquo; player representative Pat Verbeek and defenseman Glen Wesley, agreed to play in the 4-on-4 Challenge.Left winger Kevin Smyth will have a cast and pin removed from his left thumb Nov. 9. Smyth needed surgery after sustaining ligament damage in the thumb in an exhibition game fight with Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; prospect Ruman Nedr in September. When he is healthy, Smyth will report to Springfield (AHL). &#9632;

f0023-03

Sanderson off to Finland before returning to school

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rick Sadowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05198/6112021-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="566" height="990"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Zhitnik</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04240/6112028-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="166" height="166"></div>Imagine how it must feel to have invested $60 million in an enterprise that doesn&rsquo;t get off the ground because of a labor dispute.The nightmarish scenario is all too real for new Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coowners Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joseph Cohen, who paid that amount last May to purchase 72 per cent of the team from Bruce McNall.The telecommunications executives didn&rsquo;t envision spending their first season as hockey owners without hockey.&ldquo;There hasn&rsquo;t been much joy,&rdquo; Cohen said. &ldquo;We should be attending hockey games and there are no games to go to.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hopeful there will be hockey this year, but I have no concrete reasons (for a settlement being reached) to cite to you.&rdquo;Cohen met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in late October during a business trip to New York and left &ldquo;convinced that Gary wants to make a deal and knows how to make a deal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m certain Gary is the person who can bring this to a conclusion.&rdquo;Cohen said he doesn&rsquo;t object to players organizing charity games and playing in Europe. &ldquo;They are free to do whatever they want,&rdquo; Cohen said. &ldquo;But I think all of our time would be better spent trying to settle this dispute.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: About a halfdozen Kings continue to skate four times a week at the team&rsquo;s Iceoplex practice facility. Dodgers&rsquo; catcher Mike Piazza and Angels&rsquo; pitcher Mark Langston joined a recent session&hellip;Goaltender Robb Stauber&rsquo;s wife, Alison, won a car during a recent taping of the NBC-TV game show The Price Is Right.Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik has returned to his home in Kiev, Ukraine. Zhitnik married his longtime girlfriend, Ludmila, in midAugust, but hadn&rsquo;t seen her since leaving for training camp&hellip;Joseph Cohen said the Kings still are not planning layoffs for front-office employees. &#9632;

f0023-05

Tough start for owners

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01829/6112059-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="159" height="159"></div>Peter Popovic has decided there&rsquo;s no place like home.The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman returned to his native Sweden Oct. 26 and played for Vasteras the following night in a 3-3 tie with MoDo.Popovic, who played five seasons with Vasteras before coming to Montreal. became the first Canadien to play for a non-NHL team during the lockout.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t sit around,&rdquo; said Popovic, an NHL rookie last season. &ldquo;I need to play more than the other guys.&rdquo;Popovic had been expected to remain in Montreal until Nov. 1, but his plans changed after receiving a call from Vasteras. The team paid for Popovic&rsquo;s flight and has provided him with insurance. Popovic is expected to receive at least $500 per game.The 6-foot-6, 247-pound Popovic was a marginal player for Montreal, playing only 47 games last season. But with Vasteras, he&rsquo;s an important cog.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big plus for us,&rdquo; said Randy Edmonds, Vasteras&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;Peter can lift a team by himself.&rdquo;Popovic was held without a point in his first two games.NOTEBOOK: It took hockey-starved fans 12 minutes to purchase the 600 available tickets for a 4-on4 charity game in Rosemere, Que., Nov. 5. Canadiens&rsquo; players and Montreal-area NHLers participated in the game. Proceeds are being donated to local minor hockey groups&hellip;Goaltender Patrick Roy said he&rsquo;ll start looking to play elsewhere after Christmas if the lockout is still in effect. &#9632;

f0024-01

Popovic first to lump ship

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02559/6112090-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="161" height="159"></div>With connections in Europe, Tommy Albelin and Bobby Holik considered going home to continue their hockey careers.There were reports Albelin was welcome to play for his old Swedish team in Djurgarden while Holik had an offer from Dukla Jihlava in the Czech Republic.But in the end, both chose not to give up on the NHL season and the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; chances at winning it all once a collective bargaining agreement was reached.&ldquo;You have to be careful with insurance and taxes,&rdquo; Albelin said. &ldquo;(Djurgarden&rsquo;s) roster should be full now. They&rsquo;d have to cut people to get guys for one week or three months. Who knows? How willing are they to do that? Right now I don&rsquo;t have any plans.&rdquo;Nor did Holik.&ldquo;The (Czech) league is playing right now,&rdquo; the 23-year-old said. &ldquo;I got an offer from the team I used to play for, but it&rsquo;s an insurance thing. It&rsquo;s not worth taking the chance. Besides, my teammates are here.&rdquo;This should have been Albelin&rsquo;s most comfortable NHL season. The 30-year-old Stockholm native figured prominently in coach Jacques Lemaire&rsquo;s plans.&ldquo;Every year I come back I figure I have a spot on the team and always something happens,&rdquo; Albelin said. &ldquo;Last year I got sick (urinary infection), couldn&rsquo;t play and had to fight my way back. Now this year we&rsquo;re locked out. It&rsquo;s frustrating.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Executive director Bob Goodenow and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association filed an official letter of protest with the league regarding the Devils&rsquo; Oct. 13 recall of Brian Rolston from Albany of the American League. Rolston, who was on a $250,000 one-way NHL contract, later signed an AHL deal at $50,000 in order to continue playing.General manager Lou Lamoriello said he was close to laying off some team employees&hellip;Claude Lemieux on Financial World magazine&rsquo;s estimate of the Devils&rsquo; $51-million value: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s being very conservative. You think (owner John McMullen) would sell this team for $50 million? I don&rsquo;t think so. It&rsquo;s worth more like $60-70 million.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-02

Albelin, Holik staying put

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Lou Friedman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01734/6112121-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="164" height="162"></div>When most of the dozen or so New York Islander players leave the ice after their three-times-a-week informal skates, the looks on their faces show aggravation and resignation.But for one skater, the current lockout is merely a speck in the problems of life.Brian Mullen is one of the few players who can afford to smile. He is working his way into playing shape, hoping to soon play a professional game for the first time since May 24, 1993.Mullen, 32, sustained a stroke, had open heart surgery, and experienced a seizure since the Islanders&rsquo; Eastern Conference final loss to the Montreal Canadiens 18 months ago.Prior to the setbacks, Mullen had missed just 28 games in six previous seasons.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m having a lot of fun out there now,&rdquo; Mullen said after the informal scrimmage. &ldquo;I have a long way to go to get into (game) shape, but I&rsquo;m really enjoying myself.&rdquo;Mullen, currently in limbo on the league&rsquo;s waiver wire, is not expected to be taken by another team, and will most likely head to Denver of the International League when the lockout ends and he&rsquo;s healthy enough to play.His most productive years are behind him, but just the prospect of making it back is worth maintaining the right attitude.&ldquo;Once the lockout started, I had to look at the positives,&rdquo; Mullen said. &ldquo;(The workouts) are benefiting me very much.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A number of Islander employees are taking pay cuts to preserve their jobs during the lockout. Depending on base salary, the cuts are in the 15-25 percent range, with the higher incomes taking the biggest cuts&hellip;The skaters who work out as a group are wearing their practice jerseys inside-out, so the Islander logo doesn&rsquo;t show.Right winger Mick Vukota thought about one hidden aspect of the lockout: &ldquo;I wonder if the divorce rate for the players will go up.&rdquo; Vukota gets out of his wife&rsquo;s hair by making a daily trek to a hardware store. This is not a step marriage counselors normally recommend-Vukota does it because he&rsquo;s a new homeowner. &#9632;

f0025-01

Mullen using postponement to continue long comeback

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02465/6112152-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="586" height="1578"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Olczyk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03295/6112159-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="162" height="160"></div>There may not have been a player in the NHL who was looking forward to this season more than Ed Olczyk of the New York Rangers.Olczyk fell into disfavor under coach Mike Keenan last year, yet remained such a positive force in the clubhouse that the Rangers voted him their players&rsquo; player award.Because of Keenan&rsquo;s benching and an injury which cost him 23 games, Olczyk fell three games short of qualifying for having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. The archaic rule states a player must play in at least 40 games, or in the finals. Olczyk played in 37 games and played in the most pivotal game of the playoffs, Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.To top it all, Olczyk had to take a paycut, from $850,000 to $550,000. after playing out his option. He was almost happy to do so, because he felt he would get a chance to restart his career, at age 28, under new coach Colin Campbell.Then he was hit with the lockout.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; Olczyk said, &ldquo;but the way things have gone the last 14 or 15 months, it didn&rsquo;t surprise me.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as frustrating as last year, because last year it didn&rsquo;t matter what I did, I wasn&rsquo;t going to get a chance. I could accept if I got the job done, or didn&rsquo;t, but I didn&rsquo;t get the chance to succeed or fail.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Mark Messier for the first time wondered if he had played his final game as a Ranger, due to the lockout which stalled his slow-moving contract renegotiation talks. &ldquo;If things don&rsquo;t work out, I can always say I won the Stanley Cup in New York on my way out,&rdquo; Messier told the New York Post. &ldquo;There are worse ways to end my career.&rdquo; He went on to say, &ldquo;If they want me to play, they&rsquo;re going to have to pay me. I feel that strongly about it.&rdquo;Adam Graves returned from Lbs Angeles, where he underwent back surgery Oct. 11 and subsequent reha-bilitation, spent a week at his in-laws, and was then to fly home to New York for continuing rehab work.Joby Messier recovered from an exhibition-season knee sprain and was assigned to Binghamton of the American League Nov. 2. The defenseman made the Rangers in camp, but will play in the AHL until the lockout is over. &#9632;

f0025-02

Anxious Olczyk still hurting over lost Stanley Cup year

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01798/6112190-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="163" height="160"></div>Ottawa Senators&rsquo; winger Randy Cunneyworth doesn&rsquo;t make the most money in the NHL, but he is among those players with the most to lose in the lockout.Cunneyworth is a journeyman veteran who will lose $425,000 if the season is scrapped. Although that pales in comparison to the $6.5 million Wayne Gretzky will lose or the $8,000 teammate Alexandre Daigle loses daily, it represents more money than he has ever made.And at the age of 33, Cunneyworth has one maybe two, more years ahead of him.But it is the players such as Cunneyworth who make up a large chunk of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association brotherhood, who will dictate how long union solidarity will hold.Cunneyworth won&rsquo;t even be around to reap whatever benefits this collective bargaining agreement might hold.Then why do it?&ldquo;Because I truly believe in the principle of it,&rdquo; Cunneyworth said. It&rsquo;s the only way to justify it. everybody I speak to reminds me of (my situation). I really feel we are doing the right thing.&ldquo;I still think there&rsquo;s enough money there for all concerned and keep it reasonable for the fans.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A recent poll which showed public support in Canada is in favor of the owners had no effect on Randy Cunneyworth. &ldquo;Who cares, really?&rdquo; Cunneyworth said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not public opinion we&rsquo;re worried about, it&rsquo;s doing what&rsquo;s right for the game and in our minds, we&rsquo;re doing that. No other thing matters.&rdquo;Senators&rsquo; general manager Randy Sexton still thinks the season can be salvaged. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m optimistic the season will start,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In order to be meaningful, I think we will have to play at least 45 games.&rdquo;A team of NHLers-most of them Senators-were scheduled to play a charity game against the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s of the Ontario League Nov. 8 with proceeds going to a local children&rsquo;s hospital. &#9632;

f0026-01

Cunneyworth losing cash, but stands by his beliefs

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03418/6112221-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="566" height="986"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Acton</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02526/6112228-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="161" height="160"></div>People wondered if Keith Acton could just walk away quietly from a 14-year playing career to become an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers.Well, now they have their answer and the answer is &lsquo;no&rsquo;.The NHL lockout is creating some unusual job opportunities, none more unique than Acton&rsquo;s decision to sign a 25-game tryout contract with the Hershey Bears of the American League.Acton, 36, will play for the Bears and also serve as an unofficial assistant to coach Jay Leach.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I think will help my coaching career,&rdquo; Acton said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it will be a good experience for me. Everybody in this business says the best job you can have is to be a player.&rdquo;Acton should have little trouble fitting into the Bears&rsquo; lineup. He&rsquo;s still in top shape and outskated many of the young Flyers during lap drills in training camp.&ldquo;Having Keith will be a big boost for us,&rdquo; Leach said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be here to play first and coach second.&rdquo;Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke said Acton will rejoin the Flyers as an assistant to coach Terry Murray when the lockout ends and the NHL season begins.Acton spent four-plus seasons with the Flyers and won a Stanley Cup ring with the Edmonton Oilers in 1988.NOTEBOOK: Forwards Eric Lindros and Mark Recchi will participate in a charity exhibition tournament with other NHL stars in Hamilton Nov. 10-12. Rod Brind&rsquo;-Amour also indicated he would be interested in playing charity events if invited. &ldquo;It will keep the guys busy,&rdquo; Recchi said.NHL vice-president Brian Burke visited Philadelphia Oct. 27 as part of a tour of NHL cities to clarify the league&rsquo;s latest offer in the labor negotiations&hellip;A revolving group of about 10 Flyers continues to skate three mornings a week at a rink in Sewell, N.J. &#9632;

f0026-03

Antsy Acton back on ice

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04303/6112259-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="566" height="973"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05232/6112266-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="164" height="161"></div>Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; right winger Jaromir Jagr is the first NHL player to be injured while playing in Europe.Jagr was playing with Kladno in the Czech Elite League when he was checked into the boards by Jiri Sejba of Pardubice Oct. 30. Bruised ribs are expected to sideline Jagr until mid-November.&ldquo;My side is sore and I want to take it easy to make sure I am ready if the NHL season were to start.&rdquo; said Jagr, who declined payment to play for his former team. Not coincidentally, Jagr&rsquo;s father is Kladno&rsquo;s general manager.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to take it (a paycheck),&rdquo; Jagr said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll play for my dad, and that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m doing it.&rdquo;Pittsburgh general manager Craig Patrick feared an injury to one of his Penguins might happen. He&rsquo;s grateful it wasn&rsquo;t serious.&ldquo;I need to spend time in church,&rdquo; Patrick said, &ldquo;saying my prayers that they don&rsquo;t get (seriously) hurt.&rdquo;Jagr had two goals and five points in two games before the injury. He said he paid $15,000 for a $2 million personal injury insurance policy.NOTEBOOK: Other Penguins playing in Europe during the NHL lockout are center Martin Straka with Skoda Plzen of the Czech elite league and center Shawn McEachern Kiekko Espoo in Finland.The NHL&rsquo;s lockout has reduced the Penguins&rsquo; revenues to a trickle. Roy Mlakar, the team&rsquo;s chief operating officer, said ticket sales &ldquo;have just about ceased&rdquo; and &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve dropped right off the face of the earth,&rdquo; in terms of merchandising.November arrived without layoffs for Penguins&rsquo; staff or Civic Arena workers. Tim Murphy. GM of the arena, said layoffs would be &ldquo;a last resort, and we&rsquo;ve not at that stage.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-04

Jagr injured in Europe

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Kevin Johnston</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01781/6112297-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="164" height="163"></div>Uwe Krupp is locked out of his new home, so he&rsquo;s going back to his old one.Krupp was scheduled to leave for his native Germany Nov. 8 and to play five games with Landshut of the German League.Krupp, who was acquired in the off-season from the New York Islanders, played four seasons in the league for Koln before joining the Buffalo Sabres in 1986.Landshut owners would have liked to see him stay until the end of the NHL lockout, but he will likely stay only until Nov. 20. Krupp&rsquo;s wife is eight months pregnant and he wants to come back to Quebec to be with her. &ldquo;But if the NHL is still out in January,&rdquo; Krupp said, &ldquo;then I would like to go back.&rdquo;Krupp said the German League does not yet have the reputation that the Swedish and Finnish Elite Leagues have. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s getting there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Teams are hiring more and more imports. I know guys like Tony Tanti, Mike Bullard and John Chabot are over there now.&rdquo;Krupp said was told by many people in his country that he would be wasting his time going to the NHL. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t listen to them and I&rsquo;m happy I didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bob Bassen (shoulder) and David Karpa (wrist) were still working out at Le Colisee with team physiotherapist Jacques Lavergne&hellip;The Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens hoped to organize exhibition games in the province for charity. Sylvain Lefebvre, Steven Finn, Claude Lapointe, Stephane Fiset and Andrei Kovalenko, Valeri Kamensky and Alexei Gusarov will be available to play against Montreal. Quebec natives on other teams, such as Patrick Poulin (Chicago Blackhawks) and Claude Boivin (Ottawa Senators) may also play in the games. &#9632;

f0028-01

Krupp bolts Quebec for five home games

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Luecking</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02526/6112328-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curtis Joseph will represent Ontario in the NHLPA 4-on-4 event.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03370/6112335-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="163" height="161"></div>Brett Hull went to the NHL Players&rsquo; Association meeting on Nov. 2 in Toronto hoping to make a proposal to end the NHL&rsquo;s labor impasse, but he left with the realization that the 1994-95 hockey season may end before it even starts.&ldquo;The way I feel right now, there won&rsquo;t be any play this year because the owners don&rsquo;t want to play,&rdquo; said the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; captain. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re testing our solidarity.&ldquo;Until they figure out how strong we are, there will be very little talking.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The players want to play and we offered to play again.&rdquo;Well, not quite. Hull&rsquo;s plan going into the meeting was to ask the NHLPA to reinstate its offer to play the season under terms of the old collective bargaining agreement with a nostrike pledge. The owners rejected that plan on Sept. 30 and again on Nov. 2 before Hull even had a chance to propose it to the union.&ldquo;Jim Rutherford, the Hartford general manager, got on the radio and said, &lsquo;Tell Brett, No,&rdquo; said Hull, who heard the report en route to the meeting with former Blue Garth Butcher. &ldquo;Butchie said, &lsquo;Your offer has been shot down, and we haven&rsquo;t even gone to the meeting yet.&rsquo; &ldquo;NOTEBOOK: The Blues&rsquo; new home, the $135 million Kiel Center, played host to its first professional hockey game on Oct. 30 when the Peoria Rivermen beat the Cincinnati Cyclones 7-2 in an International League game.Brett Hull. Brendan Shanahan. Curtis Joseph and Craig Janney committed to play in the NHLPA&rsquo;s 4-on-4 tournament in Hamilton. Ont., from Nov. 10 to Nov. 12. Hull and Janney will represent the United States, Shanahan and Joseph will play for Ontario. &#9632;

f0028-02

Hull predicts end of season: ‘Owners don’t want to play’

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Mike Weaver</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04262/6112366-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="158" height="163"></div>Just when the San Jose Sharks thought they had found a place for winger Viktor Kozlov to play during the NHL lockout, the league stepped in and voided the deal.Kozlov joined the Kansas City Blades of the International League Oct. 30 and was expected to play in a Nov. 5 game against the Las Vegas Thunder. But the NHL ruled Kozlov ineligible because of a directive prohibiting players under NHL contracts from signing new minorleague deals after Oct. 12.Kozlov, 19, signed a one-way contract during the summer worth $3.45 million over four seasons. He would be entitled to his full NHL salary if assigned to the minors. But because of the lockout, he agreed to play in Kansas City for $100,000.&ldquo;The league is not singling out the San Jose Sharks or Viktor Kozlov,&rdquo; said NHL vice-president Brian Burke. &ldquo;This decision has been directed at numerous other teams.&rdquo;A Sharks&rsquo; spokesman said the NHL directive applies only when a team signs a player on its roster to a minor-league deal with a team to which it has an affiliation. That means Kozlov conceivably could cut his own deal to play with an independent minor-pro franchise.Kozlov, meanwhile, made a lasting impression on Blades&rsquo; coach Jim Wiley during his short stay in K.C.&ldquo;In the first couple of drills, he dangled a few of our defensemen and I think they&rsquo;re still looking for their jock straps,&rdquo; Wiley said.NOTEBOOK: Sharks&rsquo; management will treat the team&rsquo;s seasonticket holders to an IHL game between Kansas City and the Minnesota Moose Nov. 9 at San Jose Arena. There will be no public sale of tickets because the team has enough holders of full and partial season tickets to virtually fill the arena if they all show up. &#9632;

f0028-04

No Kansas for wizard of Koz

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01681/6112397-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="159" height="161"></div>At a time when good-paying jobs in prof hockey are hard to find, Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Alexander Selivanov boldly has decided to give up the one he had with the International League&rsquo;s Atlanta Knights.Apparently homesick for his family in Russia, the 23-year-old right winger has asked for and received permission from the Lightning to return temporarily to his home near Moscow.He is expected to play with his former Russian team, Spartak.&ldquo;He wants to go back home and see his family, his wife and kids,&rdquo; said Lightning general manager Phil Esposito said. &ldquo;He misses them. I guess he&rsquo;s homesick and he didn&rsquo;t want to stay in Atlanta anymore, so we decided, under the circumstances, to let him go home for awhile.&rdquo;Selivanov, who was one of the NHL&rsquo;s big training-camp surprises, returned to Russia Nov. 1 and probably will stay there for about a month. During that span, Selivanov will not be paid by the Lightning. He was earning approximately $40,000 while playing for the Knights.NOTEBOOK: Petr Klima became the first Lightning player to sign a deal with a European team during the lockout when he agreed to a contract with Wurtzburg of the German Elite League&hellip;Teams in Germany and Sweden expressed interest in Mikael Andersson, but he turned down both opportunities.Among those working out with the team during informal skating sessions are ex-Lightning players Adam Creighton and Pat Jablonski. &#9632;

f0029-01

Selivanov gets okay to leave

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02447/6112428-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="162" height="164"></div>Doug Gilmour has never been known as a particularly patient fellow.So it wasn&rsquo;t surprising that with the start of the locked-out NHL season nowhere in sight, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; captain went to Europe.Gilmour decided in early November to join Rapperswil of the Swiss league.&ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t wait around any longer,&rdquo; Gilmour said.That decision, however, didn&rsquo;t endear him to some fellow NHLers. Players such as Brett Hull and Mike Modano voiced disappointment with players like Gilmour who chose to work elsewhere.Those comments angered Gilmour, particularly Hull&rsquo;s, since he made a point of discussing the issue with the Golden Brett before a union meeting Nov. 1 in Toronto.&ldquo;Brett&rsquo;s trouble is that he speaks before he thinks. I told him the other night to wake up,&rdquo; Gilmour said.The Leaf center will get an estimated $3,000 per game, but he told NHL Players&rsquo; Assocation executive director Bob Goodenow he&rsquo;ll give all his earnings to the union. The issue, Gilmour says, isn&rsquo;t money.&ldquo;I woke up one day and realized I was getting comfortable not doing anything,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;That scared the crap right out of me.&ldquo;I realized if I sit around and do nothing, I&rsquo;m not going to have any skill left. I&rsquo;m 31 years old. I have to play or I&rsquo;m going to lose my edge.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Gardens announced in October there would be no layoffs until January despite a projected loss of $15 million or more should the lockout continue. Leafs&rsquo; president Cliff Fletcher pre-sented chairman Steve Stavro and the Gardens&rsquo; board of directors with a cost-cutting plan that included up to 50 layoffs and 15 per cent pay cuts. Under the plan, everyone in the organization, from Fletcher to assistant GM Bill Watters to coach Pat Burns, would have had their salary slashed. Stavro decided against both the layoffs and the pay cuts, saying he didn&rsquo;t want anyone to lose their job this close to Christmas.About 4,000 fans attended an open house Oct. 29 at the Gardens, which raised $7,000 for charity. &#9632;

f0029-02

Gilmour off to Europe

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01777/6112459-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="161" height="163"></div>The Russian Rocket finally took off, although predictably it wasn&rsquo;t in a NHL rink.Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; right winger Pavel Bure played his first game since the NHL lockout began and scored three goals for Landshut of the German League Oct. 28.It was a one-time appearance by Bure, who was working his way to Moscow for the Russian Dream Team exhibition tour. Bure was insured for $10 million by Landshut and skated on a line with former NHLer Mike Bullard.The team was coached by Bernie Johnston, another former NHLer who played 57 games for the Hartford Whalers from 1979-81.&ldquo;The German League just wanted him to play one game and Pavel wanted to get away rather than climb the walls every day,&rdquo; said Ron Salcer, Bure&rsquo;s Los Angeles-based agent.In addition to netting a hat trick, the Russian Rocket was not injured and filled the Landshut Arena to its capacity of 6,000.NOTEBOOK: The Canucks laid off ticket manager Denise McDonald and special events co-ordinator Suzanne Campbell-Clement and loaned director of information Steve Frost to the Vancouver Grizzlies, the expansion National Basketball Association team that begins in 1995&hellip;Cliff Ronning appeared in a fund-raising soccer match with the Vancouver Whitecaps old-timers and was chided by national team coach Bob Lenarduzzi as &ldquo;a ball hog.&rdquo;Ronning, Trevor Linden, Greg Adams and Geoff Courtnall took part in a charity softball game for the B.C. Special Olympics&hellip;A book commemorating the Canucks&rsquo; 25th anniversary was launched Nov. 1 despite the fact there is not yet a 25th season. Author Sean Rossiter quipped: &ldquo;I can only see this as an opportunity for people, who have no hockey to watch Saturday nights, to read this book instead.&rdquo; The photography is first-rate and has a number of memorable shots of the Canucks&rsquo; 1994 run to the Stanley Cup final. &#9632;

f0030-01

Bure wows ‘em in Germany with one-time nerformance

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03356/6112490-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="566" height="1000"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kelly Miller</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02527/6112497-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="160" height="160"></div>When he was growing up in Lansing, Mich., Kelly Miller could usually be found at the Michigan State ice rink, even when he was far too young to be a Spartan.&ldquo;My dad was a Michigan State player around 1960 and was deeply involved in the program,&rdquo; the Washington Capitals&rsquo; right winger recalled. &ldquo;Mom was a figure skating coach so it was natural that we became rink rats-running around the place, getting in trouble with the Zamboni driver, just having fun while our parents were coaching.&rdquo;Miller later became an all-America at MSU, was a Hobey Baker Award finalist, got drafted into the NHL, played for Team USA in the Canada Cup and has been a Cap for almost eight seasons.Now Miller is a member of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s negotiating committee trying to resolve the differences with the league over a collective bargaining agreement. Union work is not something he was bom into, but a degree in business and an MBA in finance help.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been one not to sit back and let others do things for me,&rdquo; he said. He got involved with the NHLPA when Alan Eagleson was still in charge, didn&rsquo;t like what he saw and got even more involved.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very difficult, very frustrating process,&rdquo; Miller said of negotiating. &ldquo;Each negotiation is different, you have different people involved. The people the NHL brought in, Gary Bettman and his group, I think they are hardball negotiators. We&rsquo;ve seen that right from the start with the takeaways; they are really very fierce negotiators. Most people would think there would be a lot of give and take, but this negotiation is far from that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Rob Pearson (broken thumb) has been given clearance to play, meaning he&rsquo;ll no longer be paid during the lockout&hellip;The number of Capitals skating three times a week continued to dwindle as more and more headed for points elsewhere while the lockout dragged on. &#9632;

f0030-03

Miller backs union efforts

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04249/6112528-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="566" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Tkachuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05177/6112535-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="164" height="168"></div>The clock is ticking on the 1994-95 season, but the realities of a reduced number of games doesn&rsquo;t have to be all negative.Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; coach-general manager John Paddock has heard the rumor that a 45-55-game schedule may see teams playing games only within their conference. He likes the idea of all-conference play.&ldquo;That would make geographical sense,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to play more games than usual in a shorter period of time, that kind of schedule would make it easier.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re centrally located, so it won&rsquo;t make a lot of difference to us. But this would be good. You should play games against teams you&rsquo;re battling for the playoff spots.&rdquo;Paddock, however, said it was only hopeful things would get to that stage. He&rsquo;s not optimistic about the impasse that has stretched into the first week of November.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s clearly little trust between players and owners.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I believe (players) are together on these issues, though I don&rsquo;t pretend to understand why.&ldquo;For them to doubt the owners are behind the commissioner is a foolish mistake. If the players are just waiting around for Jan. I because they think that will make the owners cave in, well, there&rsquo;s no chance.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Keith Tkachuk is the only Jet participating in the NHLPA&rsquo;s four-on-four tournament in Hamilton Nov. 10-12&hellip;Defenseman Teppo Numminen returned to Finland to play for Turku. Numminen&rsquo;s teammate Teemu Selanne is playing for Jokerit Helsinki.About a dozen Jets are working out at the University of Manitoba. Chris Pronger of the Hartford Whalers joined them recently while he was in Winnipeg visiting a friend. &#9632;

f0030-04

Paddock likes plan

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>When Kevin Cleary talks about his son, a sense of pride comes through loud and clear. But even more pronounced is the concern he carries for his 15-year-old boy who is more than 2,000 miles from home.It&rsquo;s great he&rsquo;s tearing up the Ontario League, but is he getting his homework done? Will he have all his teeth when he comes home for Christmas?Deep down he knows Daniel had to leave. The boy was toying with the competition in Grace Harbour, Nfld. Kevin wishes he could be with his son in Belleville, but realizes his responsibility is not to pave the road, but to provide a road map.&ldquo;That hockey, I don&rsquo;t trust it,&rdquo; says Kevin Cleary, an electrician and father of three. &ldquo;How many kids try it and put everything into it and how many get burned out? Sure, I worry about him major, but his mom worries about him more than I do.&rdquo;Oh yeah, about those teeth. He took a stick in the chops last week.But that hasn&rsquo;t kept Daniel Cleary from taking a bite out of the OHL. A rookie left winger with the Belleville Bulls, Cleary was tied for the league lead in scoring with 16 goals and 34 points in 18 games. Born Dec. 18, 1978, Cleary is the youngest player in Canadian major junior hockey this season and isn&rsquo;t eligible for the NHL draft until 1997.Cleary is off to an astonishing start. He is due to miss five games playing at the Canada Winter Games, but if he maintains his pace, he&rsquo;ll score 115 points in 61 games. Although no records are kept, it&rsquo;s believed that would be more than any player in Canadian Hockey League history who started his first season as a 15-year-old. Mario Lemieux holds the unofficial record of 96 points.And check this out: Cleary&rsquo;s 30 points in his first 17 games were exactly the same number Eric Lindros scored in the first 17 games of his major junior career.Nobody&rsquo;s about to compare Cleary to Lemieux or Lindros, least of all Cleary himself. But the 6-foot, 195-pounder does things 15-year-olds have no right being able to do.He&rsquo;ll skate down the boards and immobilize defensemen going from his forehand to the backhand.He&rsquo;ll calmly carry the puck over the blueline, look for an open man and fire a laser to the top comer when he sees nobody in the clear. In a recent game against the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, he shot the puck from his off-wing, skated around the net, picked up his own rebound and scored on a backhander. Later in that game, he fought off a check and flipped the puck over a defenseman&rsquo;s stick onto linemate Brian Secord&rsquo;s tape for an easy goal.Another night, another three goals and one assist.&ldquo;Geez, you see 19-year-old kids doing stuff like that in this league, but not a kid that young,&rdquo; says Bulls&rsquo; coach-general manager Larry Mavety, who started coaching in the OHL about the time Cleary was taking his first steps. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a kid come in and do what he&rsquo;s doing this season.&rdquo;Cleary&rsquo;s hockey apprenticeship began in eanest last season when he left home at the age of 14 to play Jr. A in Kingston.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01715/6112566-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="578" height="1020"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Cleary isn&rsquo;t eligible for the NHL draft until 1997.</figcaption></div>Cleary&rsquo;s hometown (pop. 3,000) sits on the shore of Conception Bay, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. Its landscape is ruggedly beautiful, its people warm and friendly.&ldquo;For me, this is a big city,&rdquo; Cleary says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like you can go to your neighbour and ask for a loaf of bread.&rdquo;Cleary told OHL teams he would only report to Belleville-50 miles west of Kingston-and was chosen 11th overall by the Bulls in the 1994 OHL draft.He is surprised by his early-season heroics. He never imagined he&rsquo;d be doing this well, not even after he scored one-handed on a shorthanded breakaway less than a minute into his first shift of his first game. He finished with three goals and two assists in an evening capped off with a call of congratulations from Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;Honestly, I never thought I&rsquo;d do half of what I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; Cleary says. &ldquo;When I came into training camp I was so intimidated and really scared. But after that first game, things really came together for me.&rdquo;Things actually started coming together for Cleary last season, when he made the jump from bantam hockey in Newfoundland to the Kingston Voyageurs of the Metro Toronto Jr. A League, where he scored 47 points in 43 games. Voyageurs&rsquo; coach Chris MacDonald acted on the recommendation of a former player and granted the 14-year-old a tryout.Cleary once told MacDonald as soon as he&rsquo;s told something he never forgets it. So MacDonald told Cleary he&rsquo;d have to be more intense for every game and cope better with the slashing, hooking and mugging goalscorers endure.&ldquo;Now the little bugger is killing me,&rdquo; says MacDonald, an assistant coach with the OHL-rival Kingston Frontenacs. &ldquo;He beat us singlehandedly one night.&rdquo;When Peterborough Petes&rsquo; GM Jeff Twohey looks at his scouting reports on Cleary, they look much like those he did for Mike Ricci, who also took the OHL by storm as a 15-year-old. Ricci scored 24 goals in 41 games as a rookie with the Petes and went on to seasons of 52 and 54 goals before going fourth overall in the 1990 NHL draft.&ldquo;Mike always wanted the puck and he was such a competitor and I see a lot of that in Cleary,&rdquo; says Twohey, who also scouts for the Dallas Stars. &ldquo;The knock on Mike at the NHL level has always been his skating, but I see more quickness in Cleary.&rdquo;Quickness is nice, but toughness is a trait he&rsquo;ll really have to develop. Already teams have tried to manhandle him and North Bay Centennials&rsquo; defenseman Brad Brown-a fellow Newfoundland native-has taken great delight in roughing up the youngster. In a recent game, Cleary took a vicious crosscheck in the back while celebrating a goal.Cleary has an eye toward the 1997 draft, but he&rsquo;s not consumed by it. He realizes his junior career is in its infancy.And geography is not on his side. Florida Panthers&rsquo; defenseman Keith Brown is the highest-drafted player from Newfoundland-seventh overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1979.Cleary isn&rsquo;t one to look too far ahead.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look beyond this practice today,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Well maybe a little. I know we play North Bay on Wednesday, but I have no idea who we play after that.&rdquo;Cleary may not know who his opponents are, but they know him. &#9632;

f0031-01

Maritime magician

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Trevor Gallant has felt ill since reporting to the Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; training camp. Many tests have been conducted on the 20-year-old center, but doctors can&rsquo;t pinpoint the problem.Whatever it is, Gallant still makes Ontario League goalies feel sick. He was among leaders with nine goals and 26 points in 14 games.This is his fourth season and the Rangers&rsquo; captain has never allowed his size (5-foot-7 and 176 pounds) to become a problem. But the pros don&rsquo;t seem interested.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just keep thinking happy thoughts,&rdquo; said Gallant, who hasn&rsquo;t heard anything from the higher ranks. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough knowing other guys my age are making millions.&ldquo;But I decided when I came to the league, I&rsquo;d come out and do what I could. I&rsquo;m still going to do what I can.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to look back in 10 years and say I quit. Joe (McDonnell, Rangers&rsquo; coach-general manager) keeps putting the word out for me. People say they like the way I play with my heart. Hopefully there&rsquo;ll be something.&rdquo;Gallant entered this season with 83 goals and 263 career points after leading the Rangers last season with 39 goals and 119 points.&ldquo;Height and weight aren&rsquo;t measured when it comes to Trevor,&rdquo; McDonnell said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s in his chest.&rdquo;Gallant spent a month and a half with the Philadelphia Bulldogs in Roller Hockey International this past summer. He left before the schedule finished because of his undetermined illness.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve done blood tests and they did a scan of my head. They found nothing. It was empty,&rdquo; Gallant joked.STING BUZZING: Rich Brown did such a fine job as interim coach of the Sarnia Sting, the interim was removed by Sarnia GM Terry Doran.Brown will coach the Sting the remainder of this season, then the position will be re-evaluated. He was promoted to interim coach from assistant when coach-GM Don Boyd was fired Oct. 17.<h2>OHL</h2>At 28, Brown is the second-youngest active OHL coach. Paul Maurice of the Detroit Jr. Red Wings is 27.The Sting went 2-2-0 when Brown was interim coach. It was 2-6-1 under Boyd.&ldquo;The work Rich has done in the past two weeks has been positive and the players have been responding well to him,&rdquo; Doran said. &ldquo;We have to set realistic expectations that this is a. 500 club. Our goal is to make the playoffs, then go from there.&rdquo;Brown previously was an assistant coach with the Niagara Falls Thunder for a year and last season was head coach of the Thorold, Ont., Jr. B team.OLD HABITS: Peter Brearley of the London Knights had one skate in the penalty box when it hit him. He was at the wrong door.Sheepishly, and much to the dehght of the 3,500 spectators in Kitchener Oct. 30, the former Ranger turned and headed for the visitor&rsquo;s penalty box.&ldquo;I was just used to going over there. Luckily on a line change. I didn&rsquo;t go in their bench,&rdquo; said Brearley, who was traded to the Knights Sept. 27 and was playing his first game in the arena where he&rsquo;d spent the past two years.RETIRED: Ryan Appel. London&rsquo;s first-round pick in 1993, retired Oct. 28, saying his heart isn&rsquo;t in hockey.Appel, 17, had one assist in nine games after two goals and eight points in 45 games his rookie season, during which he saw limited ice time. The right winger from Toronto was chosen 11th overall in 1993 after being rated 27 by the OHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau.&ldquo;He expressed an interest not to play here or anywhere else,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Fedorko. &ldquo;Perhaps he had different expectations of his role at this time.&rdquo; &#9632;

Gallant Ranger still ticking despite mystery ailment

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; rookie center Daniel Briere is making a name for himself in the Quebec League. In fact, 24 games into the season, opposing teams had yet to keep his name off a game scoresheet.Briere, 17, extended his points streak with three goals in a 6-3 win over the Victoriaville Tigres Nov. 1. The performance boosted his season totals to 24 goals and 45 points, just one point behind league leader Sebastien Bordeleau of the Hull Olympiques.Not bad for a 5-foot-8, 153-pound rookie.&ldquo;How can you describe him&hellip;he&rsquo;s just a natural.&rdquo; said Voltigeurs&rsquo; coach Blair Mackasey. &ldquo;The thing that impressed me the most about him is his competitiveness. He&rsquo;s not big and you have to worry about that when he&rsquo;s moving up a league with bigger, older players, but this kid is as competitive as anyone. He digs in the comers, he goes in front of the net, he&rsquo;s just a real good player.&rdquo;Briere was the leading scorer in the Quebec midget league last year with 56 goals and 103 points in 44 games for the Gatineau Intrepide. He was heavily recruited by American universities and that scared off a number of QMJHL teams at this year&rsquo;s midget draft. But the Voltigeurs gambled on him with the seventh overall pick.However, no one-not even Briere-expected a start like this. In a pre-season interview, Mackasey predicted Briere would get 30 goals and 60 points as a rookie. He&rsquo;ll surely eclipse those numbers by the mid-point of the season.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect this at all,&rdquo; Briere said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just a rookie. I thought it would take a couple of months to feel good on the ice, but it only took four games.&rdquo;Briere&rsquo;s speed and exceptional vision make up for what he lacks in size.&ldquo;You need a good vision and you have to be fast when you&rsquo;re small,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t want them to catch you, you have to be fast.&rdquo;&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get hit a lot,&rdquo; Mackasey said. &ldquo;You have to catch him before you can hit him. He&rsquo;s sort of like (Wayne) Gretzky, he never seems to put himself in a vulnerable position to get hit.<h2>QMJHL</h2>&ldquo;People in the stands are buzzing about him. He can put people in the seats. Every time he&rsquo;s on the ice he makes something happen. He&rsquo;s the kind of kid you build a franchise around.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s exactly what the Voltigeurs plan to do.DAIGLE WATCH: Alexandre Daigle. who was returned to Victoriaville by the Ottawa Senators as a result of the NHL labor dispute, picked up two goals and an assist in the Tigres&rsquo; 6-3 loss to Drummondville Nov. 1.That boosted his season totals to five goals and nine points in four games after returning to junior. The Tigres had a disappointing 1-3-0 record during that span.MACKASEY SUSPENDED: Drummondville coach Blair Mackasey was suspended three games for throwing sticks onto the ice in a 4-2 loss to the St-Hyacinthe Laser Oct. 21.Mackasey is the fourth coach to be suspended this season. Laval Titan&rsquo;s Michel Therrien and Granby Bisons&rsquo; Alain Rajotte were each suspended 10 games after a fight in a pre-season game, while St-Hyacinthe&rsquo;s Richard Martel was suspended three games after jumping on the ice in another pre-season game.BACK TO EARTH: After picking up 14 goals and 35 points in seven games-the quickest start in league history-Hull&rsquo;s Sebastien Borde-leau slumped to seven goals and 11 points in the next 15 games. Olympiques&rsquo; coach Robert Mongrain said he&rsquo;d like to see Bordeleau shoot more.Drummondville put an end to the Beauport Harfangs&rsquo; nine-game winning streak with a 4-3 win Oct. 30. It was the Harfangs&rsquo; fourth loss of the season (14-4-1) and their first at home (7-11). Beauport goalie Steve Vezina had a perfect 8-0-0 record and 2.67 goals-against average as of Nov. l&hellip;The Chicoutimi Sagueneens, the defending league champs, continued to struggle. A 4-1 loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes Oct. 30 was the Sags&rsquo; 10th straight on the road. &#9632;

Volts’ gamble paying off as Briere keeps scoring

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>They have never met, but the similarities between Jim Carey, goaltender, and Jim Carrey, actor, are unmistakable.Their bodies contort, diving and sprawling and energetic. Each has magical powers behind a mask. Both are show stoppers. They are rising stars in the making-just watch the tapes of their best performances.Carrey has starred in the television show In Living Color, along with hit movies Ace Ventura, Pet Detective and The Mask. Carey has been a star of the runaway American League hit known as the Portland Pirates.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen them all,&rdquo; Carey said of the works done by his comic namesake. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a funny guy. I can&rsquo;t compete.&rdquo;AHL opponents would surely agree, because there&rsquo;s nothing funny about what Carey and his Portland teammates are doing to their foes.After sitting on the bench for the season opener. Carey was in goal for 13 straight games to lead the defending Calder Cup champions to a 11-0-3 start and an AHL record for the longest undefeated streak at the start of a season. He was 10-0-3 with a 2.34 goals-against average and a. 914 save percentage.Carey has been so good, they&rsquo;re calling him Ace (as in Ventura). Two masks are in the shop being molded and painted in Pirate red and blue, with the new moniker-courtesy of Randy Burridge at the Washington Capitals&rsquo; training camp-emblazoned twice on the back and once on the front near his chin.Only three years out of high school in Dorchester, Mass., Carey has become the Capitals&rsquo; ace in the hole. In fact, Carey could be the best goalie in the Caps&rsquo; organization.The prevailing opinion is the 20-year-old is more advanced at his age than were Byron Dafoe or Olaf Kolzig, the Capitals&rsquo; first two picks in 1989 who have spent much of their careers in the minors.&ldquo;As far as any glaring weaknesses go,&rdquo; said Capital scout Shawn Simpson, &ldquo;there are very few holes in (Carey&rsquo;s) game.&rdquo;Carey is 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, but what is most prominent is his athletic versatility. He has the ability to come out to cut down the angle while maintaining good lateral movement. His glove hand is excellent.&ldquo;When he has to make the incredible save,&rdquo; says coach Barry Trotz, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s a good enough athlete to do it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02553/6112669-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="814" height="2230"><figcaption class="caption-body">There&rsquo;s no masking the show-stopping talents of either Jim.</figcaption></div>Carey played both football and baseball in high school and was offered several college football scholarships as an inside linebacker. His brother Paul is an outfielder in the Baltimore Orioles&rsquo; organization.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s one of the top prospects in the league,&rdquo; said Worcester IceCats&rsquo; coach Jimmy Roberts. &ldquo;Very poised, great size. He plays with a great team in front of him, too, that doesn&rsquo;t hurt.Carey almost never had the chance to hear the accolades. Contract negotiations were rocky from the outset. The Capitals&rsquo; second-round choice in 1992 went down to the day before Washington&rsquo;s training camp opened this year to sign a four-year deal worth approximately $1.6 million, including a $350,000-signing bonus.He was disappointed to only appear in one period of an NHL exhibition game before being sent to Portland. It was expected he and Dafoe would split the Pirates&rsquo; workload for the season.But when Andre Racicot of the International League&rsquo;s Phoenix Roadrunners sustained a groin injury, Dafoe was sent as a replacement and Carey was handed the No. 1 job. Now Phoenix general manager Adam Keller is trying to keep Dafoe for the rest of the season and Carey&rsquo;s unchallenged status with the Pirates looks secure.&ldquo;When we moved Byron I said to (Carey), &lsquo;You&rsquo;d better be pretty good, or the guys will be all over you,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;He has answered the bell.&rdquo;Carey said he didn&rsquo;t feel any pressure taking over from two players who played such major roles in last season&rsquo;s Pirate championship. Kolzig was the league&rsquo;s regular-season MVP, Dafoe the playoff MVP.&ldquo;The only thing you can worry about is not playing,&rdquo; Carey said. &ldquo;It has been a while since I&rsquo;ve sat on the bench and I&rsquo;ve worked hard not to be there.&rdquo;Carey played 66 games over the past two years with the powerful University of Wisconsin, including 40 of 42 last season, the most of any collegiate goalie.There&rsquo;s a chance his stay in Portland will be a short one. Although the Capitals&rsquo; goaltending ranks are swelling, there is a big concern about the quality. Kolzig. Dafoe, and Rick Tabaracci are all playing out the option years of their contracts and this is expected to be incumbent Don Beaupre&rsquo;s last season.&ldquo;Everywhere you go there&rsquo;s going to be good goalies,&rdquo; Carey said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;re just going to pay me the money and put me in the minors or they wouldn&rsquo;t have signed me.&ldquo;If I fulfill my end, then everybody&rsquo;s happy.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0034-02

Man behind The Mask

<div class="byline">By MENNEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01770/6112700-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="446" height="552"></div><h2>QUESTIONS&hellip;</h2>1. TWO new major-junior franchises begin operations in the Canadian Hock&not;ey League in 1995-96. Who are they?2. Who are the NHL&rsquo;s top retired goal&not;scorer and point producer not in the Hockey Hall ot l-ame?3. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are expected to be led by first-round entry draft picks Paul Kariya and Oleg Tverdovsky this season. Who was the only first rounder that played for the Ducks last season?4. Which Hall of Earner did former Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard sign to a 10-year contract in 1983?5. Dave &lsquo;Tiger&rsquo; Williams is the NHL&rsquo;s all-time penalty minutes leader with 3,966 minutes. Which active NHLer has the highest minutes-per-game average (minimum 1,500)?6. Who is the NHL&rsquo;s top all-time point producer to have spent his entire career with one team?7. Which NHLer had the longest surname?8. When the New York Rangers snapped a 54-year Stanley Cup drought in June, it left which team with the longest dryspell?9. Name the Florida Panthers* goalie who is the Western League career leader in games played, minutes played, goals allowed and most saves.10. Which Pacific Division assistant coach played 12 NHL seasons, recorded 530 points, yet never played in an NHL playoff game?11. Which U.S. college leads the way in having players drafted into the NHL?12. Going into the 1994-95 season, which Hull has more regular&not;season NHL goals: Brett of the St. Louis Blues or his uncle Dennis, the retired 14-year veteran?BONUS: This journeyman forward (shown above) gained notoriety for wearing a headband when he played.<h2>ANSWERS&hellip;</h2>1. The Barrie Colts ol the Ontario League and the unnamed Calgary Iran* chise of the Western League.2. Rick Middleton scored 440 goals and Bernie Federko had 1,130 points,3. Defenseman Bobby Oollas was a first-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 1963.4. Francis &lsquo;King&rsquo; Clancy, at the age of 80, was signed as vice proaident of the Maple Leafs. He died three years later.5. Shane Churla, 4.93 minutes per games. (Williams had a 4.12 aver&not;age).6. Stan Mikita had 1,467 points in 22 seasons for the Chicago Black&not;hawks. He ranks fifth overall behind Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mar&not;cel Dionne and Phil Esposito.7. Boston&rsquo;s 14-letter man John Brackenborough.8. Detroit Red Wings, 40 years.9. Danny Lorenz played tour seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds.10. Guy Charron of the Calgary Flames.11. The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are tops with 46 draftees. The Michigan Tech Huskies are next with 44.12. Brett has 413 goals in 540 games. Dennis had 303 goals in 959 games. Bobby still leads the way with 610 goals in 1,063 games.Bonus: Henry Boucha &#9632;

f0034-01

TRIVIA SPEED Stick

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>The signing of established NHL star Alexei Yashin by the Las Vegas Thunder did not draw rave reviews from fellow International League owners in late October.League sources said at least four teams-Peoria Rivermen, Kansas City Blades and Atlanta Knights among them-sent letters of protest to IHL commissioner Bob Ufer.&ldquo;Atlanta has no intention of signing NHLers,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; owner Richard Adler. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fair to the guys who worked their ass off going through camp to win a job., It hurts the chemistry of your team to bring in a player who&rsquo;s going to be temporary.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question signing Wayne Gretzky or even a Yashin would help us. But what happens when he leaves? Will Yashin put more people in the stands? He&rsquo;s sure not on any cereal boxes in my cupboard.&rdquo;Peoria owner Bruce Saurs is considering withholding his team&rsquo;s participation in the Jan. 18 All-Star Game because of Yashin signing.&ldquo;We won&rsquo;t be (signing NHLers),&rdquo; said another small-market general manager, Kalamazoo Wings&rsquo; Bill Inglis. &ldquo;Hopefully our teams act in the best interests of the league.&rdquo;Another outspoken league official was IHL chairman of the board of governors Richard Parker, who owns the Kansas City Blades.&ldquo;(The NHL) wants to know, &lsquo;What are we up to?&rsquo; and that&rsquo;s putting it mildly,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;We have governors who have no interest in working with the NHL. They would like to establish the &lsquo;I&rsquo; as a major league. They&rsquo;re still a minority.&rdquo;Ufer confirmed he has received letters from some teams, but said he has received no flak from NHL circles to date.&ldquo;To borrow something from Shakespeare, I&rsquo;d probably classify this as much ado about nothing,&rdquo; Ufer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had no discussions with NHL people about this. My viewpoint is that every one of our teams has to make its own decision on its roster.&rdquo;Self-control, apparently, will be the IHL policy toward signing NHL players.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed in Las Vegas,&rdquo; said Rick Dudley, coach-GM of the expansion Detroit Vipers, who for some time courted, but never signed, NHL free agent Kevin Hatcher. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some calls from some of the best players in the NHL-some of them Detroit Red Wings-and we haven&rsquo;t bit.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01730/6112731-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="388" height="438"></div>HAPPY TOGETHER: ESPN manager of programming Milt Lawrence says the cable company likely won&rsquo;t continue IHL broadcasts once the NHL labor conflict is resolved, although both sides are happy with each other.&ldquo;The IHL has been most cooperative and we&rsquo;re pleased,&rdquo; said Lawrence, who notes the, ratings for the 16-million subscriber cable channel have been acceptable. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting a great response.&rdquo;But that doesn&rsquo;t automatically add up to a 1995-96 IHL broadcast package. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to say,&rdquo; Lawrence said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re committed to three NHL games a week. That&rsquo;s quite a bit of hockey. I wouldn&rsquo;t close the door there, but our production dollars are limited.&rdquo;I-OPENERS: Bob Ufer was targeting Nov. 7 or 8 as a possible date for an official settlement between the IHL owners and players union on a labor agreement&hellip;The Kansas City Blades and expansion Minnesota Moose scheduled an exhibition game for San Jose Arena Nov. 9.Peoria defeated the Cincinnati Cyclones 7-2 before 8,544 at the new Kiel Center in St. Louis Oct. 30. Bruce Saurs said gate receipts totaled $120,000&hellip;Phoenix Roadrunners&rsquo; coach Robbie Laird notched his 200th IHL win when Phoenix beat Kansas City Oct. 26. &#9632;

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Vegas among minority in seeking NHL talent

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Hey, baseball scouts, better get to Glens Falls, N.Y., and check out the arm of Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; coach Newell Brown.He&rsquo;ll have a little time to attend a tryout camp, too, since the American League slapped him with a five-game suspension as punishment for hitting referee Dennis LaRue in the back with a thrown water bottle.Brown, in his third AHL season, heaved the bottle in disgust of what he considered a blown icing call, then a questionable delayed penalty which led to the tie-breaking goal in a 4-3 loss to the Portland Pirates on Oct. 29.With LaRue indicating a delayed penalty against Andrew McKim of the Red Wings, the Pirates got an extra attacker on the ice and Norm Batherson scored with 5:33 to play. As LaRue skated to the timekeeper to report the goal, Brown let fly.&ldquo;There was no malicious intent, I just wanted to show my disgust,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;In any other game, you might not get upset after a call like that, but in a game where everything was being let go, to call that little tug at that point.He expected a suspension, but said five games is too severe and is contemplating an appeal. Brown is eligible to return Nov. 12.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to be accountable for my actions and I&rsquo;m willing to accept two or three games, but five games is excessive,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m being painted as it I went after an official&rsquo;s head.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t try to hit the referee. He was moving and I was 60 feet away. I couldn&rsquo;t hit him with a half-full water bottle if I tried it 1,000 times. If I could, I wouldn&rsquo;t be a hockey coach, I&rsquo;d be a baseball pitcher.&rdquo;Regardless of intent, the result is what mattered, the AHL said.&ldquo;Yes, water bottles and sticks and pucks and buckets and a thousand other things have been thrown from the bench, but they never hit the referee,&rdquo; said Gord Anziano, vice-president, operations. &ldquo;We have to support our officials better than with a slap on the wrist.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02545/6112762-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="422" height="420"></div>SUPER START: The Portland Pirates roared to the Calder Cup last spring and have started the new season playing even better. The Pirates broke the AHL&rsquo;s 10-year-old record for the best start, going 10-0-3, including 6-0-2 on the road. They tied the record with a 4-1 win over the Rochester Americans Oct. 28, then broke it the next night with a 4-3 win in Adirondack.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have your name or your team in the record book,&rdquo; said center Kevin Kaminski. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a mini-championship, something you can look back on and say you were a part of it.&rdquo;The streak was in jeopardy in Game 11, however, when the Cornwall Aces took a 3-2 lead into the third period. Portland rallied with three goals in the final nine minutes to win 5-3.&ldquo;During the playoffs last year, we talked about the fact that your lives are short, your careers are short, and that you have to make yourselves accountable,&rdquo; said coach Barry Trotz. &ldquo;It came up again when we were down after the second period. We said, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s make ourselves accountable.&rsquo; &ldquo;When the Cornwall game ended, the puck was retrieved because the Pirates thought the record was 11. But Jim Schoenfeld, coach of the parent Washington Capitals, informed them the record was 12. Schoenfeld knew because he coached the &lsquo;84-85 Americans.AHL TIDBITS: Binghamton&rsquo;s franchise record 14-game unbeaten streak (stretching back to last season) ended when Worcester IceCats&rsquo; goalie Les Kuntar posted a 4-0 shutout Oct. 26. The Rangers started with an 8-0-2 record this season. &#9632;

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Accuracy nets Brown five-game suspension

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Richard Pollak</div>Heather McDaniel will become the first female on-ice official in professional hockey when the Central League assigns her to a game sometime in November or December.The 22-year-old Chicago native completed the CHL&rsquo;s officiating camp in October and is one of several alternate referees waiting for duty. McDaniel impressed consultant and former NHL referee Ron Hoggarth at the camp.&ldquo;She belongs,&rdquo; Hoggarth said. &ldquo;She showed all the vision, positioning and penalty-calling ability to have a long officiating career.&rdquo;USA Hockey rates McDaniel at its highest rating level. The former figure skater averaged 260 games over a three-year period and last season officiated in the U.S. Jr. League.HOT EQUIPMENT: The San Antonio Iguanas were faced with the prospect of making their league debut without equipmentA U-Haul truck with $25,000 worth of pants, pads, sticks, gloves and underwear went missing from a Houston hotel Oct. 24, five days before the season opener. Louisville Hockey scrambled to secure replacement equipment in time for the Oct. 29 game. &#9632;

Female ref ready on call

<div class="byline">By Randy King</div>Their coach may be named Playfair, but in the East Coast League&rsquo;s early going the Dayton Bombers were playing strictly to win.In breaking the fastest start by a team in ECHL history, the Bombers blasted out of the gate with a 7-0-0 record. The record-clinching victory was 4-3 over the Toledo Storm Nov. 2.Dayton was not only winning, but it was winning big, outscoring the opposition by a 45-20 count. The Bombers won by eight (once), four (once) and three (four times). In that time, they didn&rsquo;t trail a game at the end of any period.The dominating start had coach Jim Playfair beaming.&ldquo;It sure has made things easier for me,&rdquo; said Playfair, the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; first-round pick in 1982. I didn&rsquo;t know tor sure in training camp how good this club would be. But I love what I&rsquo;ve seen so far. We&rsquo;ve got great speed, some good, strong defensive players and a lot of character.&rdquo;The main characters in Dayton&rsquo;s early bombing raid were a trio of rookies-center Karson Kaebel, and defensemen Brandon Smith and Steve Lingren.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03440/6112817-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="494" height="334"></div>Kaebel, the ex-Northem Michigan university star who was the leading scorer in the Peoria Rivermen&rsquo;s International League camp, was tied for the ECHL scoring lead with five goals and 16 points in six games.Smith, a former Western League all-star with the Portland Winter Hawks, was third with 13 points and Lingren seventh with 10 points.Playfair said the key was getting time to recruit this past summer.In last season&rsquo;s mediocre 29-31-8 campaign, he had to settle for leftovers after being hired in early August to replace the departed Claude Noel.&ldquo;I got a late start, plus I had never recruited before,&rdquo; Playfair said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really know what kind of players I would need to be successful in this league.&rdquo;He knows now.&ldquo;Fourteen of our 18 players attended IHL camps,&rdquo; Playfair said. &ldquo;If you have guys who all have the ability to go to the next level, you should be in pretty good shape in this league.RED-HOT RENEGADES: Roy Sommer&rsquo;s revamped Richmond Renegades have been another early-season scourge.Richmond also won its first six games before losing 6-5 in overtime to the Greensboro Monarchs Nov. 1. Aside from a 5-2 home win over the Hampton Roads Admirals, all of Richmond&rsquo;s wins were by one goal.Richmond&rsquo;s resurgence was keyed by the sparkling performance of 14 first-year players and Scott Gruhl, the 35-year-old IHL goal-scoring king who had seven goals in the six wins.COASTERS: The Huntington Blizzard, 1449-5 in its dismal expansion season, achieved a milestone Oct. 27, beating the Roanoke Express 5-2 to climb over the. 500 mark (2-1-1) for the first time in team history. &#9632;

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Playfair’s Bombers on fast track to perfection

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>It didn&rsquo;t take the University of Maine long to experience the pressure of a shootout.The Black Bears were on the losing end of two shootouts in their first two games of the season. Despite the losses, Maine coach Shawn Walsh remained firm in his support of the concept.Of course it helped that Walsh&rsquo;s team still got a point for its efforts in each game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great for college hockey and for fan entertainment,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;There didn&rsquo;t seem to be too much pressure, but maybe that&rsquo;s because we were on the road. The fact we get a point makes you feel much better.&rdquo;Northeastern University and Maine battled to a 4-4 overtime tie Oct. 28 before Northeastern won the shootout 3-2 on Mike Collett&rsquo;s goal.Two nights later, Boston University and Maine tied 3-3 after 65 minutes. The Terriers won 4-3 after sweeping the shootout by a 3-0 count.The league voted in the off-season to institute shootouts if the game is tied after five minutes of overtime. Losing teams get one point for a shootout loss, but none for an overtime loss.NINE IS ENOUGH: Hockey East commissioner Bob DeGregorio has talked about expanding the league to 10 teams but, for the time being, it will remain at nine.Hockey East was hoping to add Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, but the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference school decided to remain in its present league.&ldquo;That was disappointing,&rdquo; DeGregorio said. &ldquo;That would have been an added plus for our league.&ldquo;At this point, we have no plans for further expansion. We&rsquo;re busy trying to get more corporate support.&rdquo;<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>PRINCIPAL PLAYER: He is high school principal by day, but on most weekend nights, Bob Norton can be found behind a microphone as color analyst for Hockey East games on the New England Sports Network.His 11 years as color commentator have been a labor of love for the 51-year-old Norton, whose real job is as the principal at Woburn (Mass.) High School.&ldquo;I love the game,&rdquo; Norton said. &ldquo;I really enjoy watching hockey, even if I&rsquo;m not working it. It&rsquo;s a lot of fun. I get a big kick out of going.&ldquo;The better the game, the better the broadcast. It doesn&rsquo;t do any of us any good if it&rsquo;s a lousy game, but lousy games aren&rsquo;t that common.&rdquo;Norton was an assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire from 1970-76 and had a chance to broadcast the last regular-season game from Snively Arena a year ago. His son, Pat, plays for the Wildcats. Snively is being transformed into a recreation center while a new arena is being built.&ldquo;How many guys in the broadcast business can say they broadcast the last game at Snively and watch their son play in that last game?&rdquo; asked Norton.Norton said the league has grown over the years in terms of parity.&ldquo;Some of those premier teams have changed over the years,&rdquo; Norton said. &ldquo;This year, from top to bottom, the league is more balanced than it has ever been.&rdquo;Norton has also filled in as color commentator on NESN telecasts for the NHL&rsquo;s Boston Bruins and the American League&rsquo;s Providence Bruins. &#9632;

Black Bears experience perils of shootout early

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Most coaches can only dream about an undefeated season. But for Cornell University Big Red coach Brian McCutcheon, that dream was once a reality.It has been 25 years since Cornell compiled a flawless 29-0-0 record under coach Ned Harkness. The Big Red is the only U.S. Division I college team ever to go through an entire season undefeated and untied.The leading goal-scorer of that Cornell team was McCutcheon, who is three coaching wins away from his career 100th at Cornell. That Big Red team will be honored at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament in Lake Placid in March.According to McCutcheon, the foundation for the undefeated season was put in place the previous year.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t forget, the year before, we went 27-2 and lost to Denver in the (national) finals,&rdquo; McCutcheon recalled. &ldquo;No one was making any bold predictions, but the way Ned was, from Day 1 he was telling us we could win the national championship.&rdquo;The reason Cornell wasn&rsquo;t making any bold predictions was the loss of four All-Americans, including goaltender Ken Dryden, from the 1968-69 team.But Brian Cropper, one of the smallest Big Red goalies ever at 5-foot-5, 140 pounds, filled that big hole in the goal, compiling a remarkable 1.86 goals-against average to backbone the 29-0 season.The 1969-70 team didn&rsquo;t just beat people; it overpowered them. During one three-game span against RPI, St. Lawrence and Boston University, Cornell outscored its opponents 20-1. The Big Red scored seven goals or more in 12 of 24 regular-season games.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t ever remember feeling any pressure,&rdquo; McCutcheon said of the winning streak. &ldquo;We were so confident in our ability, it was never a question of if we were going to win, just by how much.&rdquo;<h2>ECAC</h2>ROOKIE SUCCESS: Four freshman goalies passed their first tests.Brian Masotta of RPI, Dan Murphy of Clarkson, Clint Owen of St. Lawrence and Dan Brenzavich all notched wins in games Oct. 28-29.Owen earned rookie-of-the-week honors for his 30-save performance in a 3-2 victory over UMass-Lowell. Masotta came up with 24 saves to beat Merrimack 2-1 in a non-conference road game.Murphy got off to a 2-0-0 start for Clarkson with victories over Division III Elmira College and Boston College.When he went out on the ice against Elmira, Murphy became the first freshman to start in goal at Clarkson in the opening game of the season since freshmen became eligible to play in 1972.EAST NOW LEAST: There has been a shift in the balance in power in the East so far this season.Last year, ECAC teams recorded only 10 non-conference victories over Hockey East opponents. In the first two weeks of the 1994-95 season, the ECAC already held a 7-4-0 advantage over its rivals from the East.Vermont accounted for three of those victories, beating Providence, New Hampshire and Boston College. Last year, the Catamounts were 2-4-0 against Hockey East opponents. &#9632;

Cornell’s flawless year lives on in McCutcheon

<div class="byline">By Chris Miller</div>Lee Schill went from secret to standout last season. His play made Alaska-Anchorage one of the surprise teams in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.The Seawolves were picked to finish last during their first season as a full-fledged member of the WCHA. Instead they were sixth, thanks to the all-league goalie.Before that, few knew about Schill. The Coquitlam, B.C., native came to Anchorage with three seasons of eligibility. He played in 10 games his first season before breaking through last year with a 3.46 goals-against average and. 891 save percentage.Now everyone in the league knows about Schill-but not enough to beat him too often.&ldquo;The way I look at it, I have to go out and do my job just like everyone else,&rdquo; said Schill, 23. &ldquo;A goalie is a lot more visible, so when he does well everyone knows about it.&rdquo;The Seawolves have a veteran team back to support Schill.&ldquo;Our problem is consistency-you&rsquo;re never sure how we&rsquo;ll play from night to night,&rdquo; said Anchorage coach Brush Christiansen. &ldquo;But we can always count on Lee Schill.&rdquo;The 6-foot, 185 pounder has great reflexes and intuition. He&rsquo;s difficult to beat low and he is strong on the glove side.His emergence has made him the center of attention to NHL scouts at Seawolves&rsquo; games. Schill is an undrafted free agent who&rsquo;s certain to get offers when his season ends.<h2>WCHA</h2>UNDER THE GUN: Taras Lendzyk always knew being a goalie was a little like walking the high wire, but the Minnesota-Duluth junior preferred working with a net.Now Lendzyk is out there by himself. Senior Jerome Butler, who shared duties with Lendzyk two years ago when the Bulldogs won the WCHA title, left the school Oct. 26. Butler was upset about being relegated to backup duty.&ldquo;The way I&rsquo;ve been feeling since Jerome quit is there&rsquo;s more pressure,&rdquo; Lendzyk said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s all laid out there, that I have to play well.&rdquo;Butler wanted assurances from coach Mike Sertich that he would play more, but when Ser-tich couldn&rsquo;t issue guarantees, Butler returned home to Salol, Minn. He was a regular as a freshman, alternated with Lendzyk as a sophomore, then started only five times in 1993-94.Lendzyk has posted the second-best career goals-against average in UMD history. He got his school-record fourth career shutout in a 2-0 win over Alaska-Anchorage Oct. 29.TOUGH BREAK: St. Cloud State senior Marc Gagnon, who led the team with 22 goals last season, broke his ankle Oct. 28 against Northern Michigan and is expected to be sidelined until early January. &#9632;

Schill’s coming-out year has Seawolves on rise

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The Bowling Green Falcons began the Central Collegiate Hockey Association season by unexpectedly bowling over their opponents and flying to the top of the standings.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy with the way we&rsquo;ve started,&rdquo; said senior center Brian Holzinger, who had a CCHA-leading three goals and 11 points in four straight wins. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to get the program back the way it was in the 1980s.&rdquo;The Falcons were averaging six goals per game. The scoring splurge was a pleasant surprise for new coach Buddy Powers, who had worried about his team&rsquo;s scoring depth before the start of the season.&ldquo;We have to have guys who put fear in an opponent besides the Holzinger line,&rdquo; Powers said. &ldquo;They will make a difference in the kind of team we have.&rdquo;Three weeks into the season, Bowling Green was getting solid production from all three lines.Holzinger centered a line with sophomores Curtis Fry and Brett Punchard.A line of senior Tom Glantz, sophomores Kevin Lune and Dale Crombeen also was connecting. When Glantz was sidelined with a dislocated shoulder, Jeff Herman stepped in.A third trio with juniors Jason Clark and Mike Hall and sophomore Mike Johnson was contributing. Sophomore defenseman Kelly Perrault had four goals and 13 points in seven games this season.<h2>CCHA</h2>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re capitalizing on our offensive opportunities,&rdquo; said Holzinger, a 1991 Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; draftee. &ldquo;In the past, we got our scoring opportunities, but didn&rsquo;t capitalize on them.&rdquo;Holzinger slipped from 31 goals and 57 points in 1992-93 to 22 goals and 37 points last year.&ldquo;My numbers were down last season, but I was getting and creating a lot of opportunities.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s when you don&rsquo;t get the opportunities that you start to worry.&rdquo;KNUBLE CLEARED: Michigan senior right winger Mike Knuble was cleared by doctors Oct. 31 to resume practising and playing.Knuble, who had an irregular, accelerated heartbeat in an Oct. 14 game, had been sidelined pending test results.The power forward was expected to return to the Wolverines&rsquo; lineup beginning with a Nov. 4 home game against Ohio State.BIG TURNOUT: An Oct. 29 game at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Mich.) between the defending national champion Lake Superior Lakers and Notre Dame attracted 13,274&hellip;Illinois-Chicago freshman goalie Adam Lord was outstanding in his first collegiate start, stopping 44 shots as the Flames came back for a 2-2 tie against Michigan State. The only goals against the 6-foot-1, 180-pound North Vancouver native were on the power play. &#9632;

What Powers shortage? Falcons soar out of gate

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01695/6112944-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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CLASSIFIED

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01660/6112975-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HOW WINNERS PLAY THE GAME.

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01368/6113006-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01321/6113068-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ONTARIO LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01334/6113099-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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QUEBEC LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01238/6113144-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01195/6113137-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="606" height="3513"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02124/6113130-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="603" height="3522"></div><h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: C. Breton at Bingh&rsquo;ton, 7:35 PM; Hershey at Cornwall, 7:30 PM; P.E.I. at Providence, 7:05 PM; Worcester at Rochester, 7:35 PM; Adirondack at Springfield, 7:35 PM; Saint John at Syracuse, 7:05 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Portland at Adirondack, 7:30 PM; Worcester at Albany, 7:00 PM; C. Breton at Bingh&rsquo;ton. 7:35 PM; Hershey at Cornwall, 7:30 PM; St. John&rsquo;s at Fredericton, 6:00 PM; Saint John at Springfield. 7:35 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: P.E.I. at Providence, 2:05 PM; Cornwall at Rochester, 6:05 PM; C. Breton at Syracuse, 3:00 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 15: Fredericton at Saint John, 7:30 PM; P.E.I. at Worcester, 7:05 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 16: Saint John at Fredericton, 7:05 PM; C. Breton at Hershey. 7:30 PM; Adirondack at Portland, 7:05 PM; P.E.I. at Springfield. 7:00 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Worcester at Albany, 7:00 PM; Adirondack at Bingh&rsquo;ton, 7:35 PM; C. Breton at Cornwall, 7:30 PM; Fredericton at Providence. 7:05 PM; Hershey at Rochester, 7:35 PM; P.E.I. at Springfield, 7:35 PM; Portland at Syracuse, 7:05 PM.Saturday, Sept. 19: Worcester at Adirondack, 7:30 PM; Fredericton at Albany, 7:00 PM; P.E.I. at Bingh&rsquo;ton, 7:35 PM; C. Breton at Cornwall, 7:30 PM; Rochester at Hershey, 7:30 PM; Providence at Portland, 7:35 PM; St. John&rsquo;s at Saint John, 7:00 PM.Sunday. Nov. 20: P.E.I. at Syracuse, 3:00 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 22: St. John&rsquo;s at P.E.I., 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 23: Portland at Adirondack, 7:30 PM; Bingh&rsquo;ton at Albany. 7:00 PM; Cornwall at Hershey, 7:30 PM; Syracuse at Providence. 7:05 PM; Fredericton at Springfield, 7:00 PM; Rochester at Worcester, 7:05 PM.Thursday, Nov. 24: Hershey at Bingh&rsquo;ton, 7:35 PM.Friday, Nov. 25: Adirondack at Albany, 7:00 PM; Saint John at P.E.I., 7:30 PM; Syracuse at Portland, 7:35 PM; Fredericton at Providence, 2:05 PM: Cornwall at Rochester, 7:35 PM; C. Breton at St. John&rsquo;s, 7:30 PM; Springfield at Worcester, 7:35 PM; Saturday, Nov. 26: Syracuse at Adirondack, 7:30 PM; Bingh&rsquo;ton at Cornwall, 7:30 PM; Albany at Hershey, 7:30 PM; Springfield at Portland, 7:35 PM; Rochester at Saint John, 7:00 PM; C. Breton at St. John&rsquo;s. 7:30 PM; Fredericton at Worcester, 7:35 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: Syracuse at Bingh&rsquo;ton, 5:00 PM; Rochester at P.E.I., 6:00 PM; Springfield at Providence, 2:05 PM.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Chicago at Indianapolis, 8:00 PM; Fort Wayne at Peoria, 7:30 PM; Soviet Wings at Kalamazoo, 7:30 PM; Houston at San Diego, 7:00 PM; Atlanta at Las Vegas, 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Kansas City at Cleveland, 1:00 PM; Minnesota at Fort Wayne, 8:00 PM: Detroit at Peoria, 7:30 PM; Indianapolis at Kalamazoo, 7:30 PM; Cincinnati at Chicago, 7:30 PM: Soviet Wings at Milwaukee, 7:30 PM; Houston at Phoenix, 7:00 PM; Atlanta at Las Vegas, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: Kalamazoo at Fort Wayne, 6:00 PM; Minnesota at Cincinnati, 6:00 PM; Soviet Wings at Cleveland, 6:00 PM; Kansas City at Detroit, 6:00 PM; Atlanta at San Diego, 6:00 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 15: Chicago at Minnesota, 7:00 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 16: Fort Wayne at Peoria, 7:00 PM; Atlanta at Houston, 7:00 PM; San Diego at Denver, 7:00 PM; Milwaukee at Phoenix. 7:00 PM.Thursday, Nov. 17: Detroit at Indianapolis, 6:00 PM; Milwaukee at San Diego, 7:00 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Kansas City at Fort Wayne. 8:00 PM; Indianapolis at Cincinnati, 7:30 PM; Chicago at Kalamazoo, 7:30 PM; Atlanta at Milwaukee, 7:30 PM; Denver at Phoenix, 7:00 PM; Peoria at Cleveland, 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 19: Kansas City at Indianapolis, 7:30 PM; Atlanta at Kalamazoo, 7:30 PM; Peoria at Chicago, 7:30 PM; Phoenix at San Diego, 7:00 PM; Denver at Las Vegas, 7:00 PM; Cincinnati at Cleveland. 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 20: Detroit at Chicago, 6:00 PM; Kansas City at Atlanta, 7:00 PM; Cincinnati at Fort Wayne, 6:00 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 22: San Diego at Phoenix, 7:00 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 23: Chicago at Cleveland, 7:00 PM; Peoria at Cincinnati, 7:30 PM; Kalamazoo at Indianapolis, 7:30 PM; Kansas City at Atlanta, 7:30 PM; Phoenix at Milwaukee, 7:30 PM; Houston at Minnesota, 7:00 PM; Denver at Las Vegas, 7:00 PM.Thursday, Nov. 24: Chicago at Fort Wayne, 8:00 PM; Cincinnati at Detroit. 7:30 PM.Friday, Nov. 25: Chicago at Peoria, 7:30 PM; Fort Wayne at Kalamazoo, 7:30 PM; Indianapolis at Cleveland, 7:00 PM; Milwaukee at Kansas City, 7:30 PM; Houston at Atlanta. 1:00 PM; Phoenix at Denver, 7:00 PM; San Diego at Las Vegas, 7:00 PM; Detroit at Minnesota, 1:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 26: Fort Wayne at Indianapolis, 7:30 PM; Cincinnati at Peoria, 7:30 PM; Cleveland at Kalamazoo, 7:30 PM; Houston at Atlanta, 7:30 PM; Milwaukee at Kansas City, 7:30 PM; Detroit at Minnesota, 1:00 PM; Denver at Phoenix, 7:00 PM; Las Vegas at San Diego, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: Peoria at Indianapolis, 3:00 PM; Cleveland at Chicago, 7:30 PM; Minnesota at Houston, 6:00 PM; San Diego at Denver, 6:00 PM.<h2>EAST COAST LEAGUE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Johnstown at Erie, 7:30 PM; Toledo at Wheeling, 7:30 PM; Dayton at Columbus, 7:30 PM; Nashville at Huntington, 7:30 PM; Knoxville at Birm&rsquo;ham, 7:30 PM; Richmond at S. Carolina, 7:35 PM; Greensboro at H. Roads, 7:30 PM; Roanoke at Raleigh, 7:30 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Wheeling at Erie, 7:30 PM; Columbus at Johnstown, 7:30 PM; Toledo at Dayton, 7:30 PM; Birm&rsquo;ham at Knoxville, 7:30 PM; Huntington at Nashville, 7:30 PM; Roanoke at S. Carolina, 7:35 PM; Charlotte at Tallahassee, 7:00 PM; Raleigh at Richmond, 7:35 PM; H, Roads at Greensboro, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: Erie at Johnstown. 6:00 PM; Wheeling at Columbus, 4:00 PM; Charlotte at Tallahassee, 4:00 PM. Tuesday, Nov. 15: S. Carolina at Birm&rsquo;ham, 7:30 PM; Rich mond at Greensboro, 7:00 PM; Charlotte at Raleigh, 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 16: Dayton at Erie, 7:30 PM; Johnstown at Wheeling. 7:30 PM.Thursday, Nov. 17: Birm&rsquo;ham at Huntington, 7:30 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Columbus at Erie, 7:30 PM; Johnstown at Toledo, 7:30 PM; Wheeling at Dayton, 7:30 PM; Birm&rsquo;ham at Huntington. 7:30 PM; S. Carolina at Knoxville, 7:30 PM; Nashville at Tallahassee, 7:00 PM; Charlotte at H. Roads, 7:30 PM; Richmond at Roanoke, 7:30 PM; Greensboro at Raleigh, 7:00 PM.Saturday. Nov. 19; Erie at Columbus. 7:30 PM; Wheeling at Toledo, 7:30 PM; S. Carolina at Knoxville, 7:30 PM; Nashville at Tallahassee, 7:00 PM; Charlotte at Richmond, 7:35 PM; Raleigh at Roanoke, 7:30 PM; H. Roads at Greensboro, 7:00 PM.Sunday. Nov. 20: Johnstown at Columbus, 7:30 PM; Roanoke at Richmond, 7:35 PM; Charlotte at Raleigh, 7:30 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 22: Huntington at Tallahassee, 7:00 PM; Roanoke at Charlotte, 7:35 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 23: Columbus at Toledo, 7:00 PM; Nashville at Birm&rsquo;ham, 7:30 PM; Charlotte at S. Carolina, 7:35 PM; Huntington at Tallahassee, 7:00 PM; Raleigh at H. Roads, 7:30 PM.Thursday. Nov. 24: Johnstown at Erie, 7:30 PM; Toledo at Wheeling. 7:30 PM; Richmond at Roanoke. 6:00 PM.Friday, Nov. 25: Wheeling at Columbus, 7:30 PM; Johnstown at Toledo, 7:00 PM; Erie at Dayton, 7:30 PM; Nashville at Knoxville, 7:30 PM; Huntington at Birm&rsquo;ham, 7:30 PM: Tallahassee at S. Carolina, 7:35 PM; Greensboro at H. Roads, 7:30 PM; Roanoke at Richmond. 7:35 PM; Raleigh at Charlotte, 7:35 PM.Saturday, Nov, 26: Columbus at Erie, 7:30 PM; Toledo at Johnstown, 7:30 PM; Dayton at Wheeling, 7:30 PM; Knoxville at Nashville, 7:35 PM; Huntington at Birm&rsquo;ham, 7:30 PM; Tallahassee at S. Carolina, 7:35 PM; H. Roads at Richmond, 7:35 PM; Greensboro at Raleigh, 7:30 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: Dayton at Columbus, 4:00 PM.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Spokane at Brandon, 2:30 PM; Seattle at Kamloops, 2:30 PM; Portland at Regina, 7:30 PM; Red Deer at Sw. Current, 2:30 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Red Deer at Med. Hat, 7:30 PM; Portland at M. Jaw, 7:30 PM; Seattle at Tacoma, 7:05 PM; Kamloops at Tri-City, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: Sw. Current at Brandon, 2:30 PM; Med. Hat at Lethbridge, 6:30 PM; Spokane at Saskatoon, 6:00 PM; Kamloops at Tri-City, 6:00 PM.Monday, Nov. 14: Spokane at Pr. Albert, 7:30 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 15: Lethbridge at M. Jaw, 7:30 PM; Tacoma at Pr. George, 7:30 PM; Brandon at Saskatoon, 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 16: Sw. Current at Lethbridge, 7:00 PM; Kamloops at Portland, 7:00 PM; Brandon at Pr. Albert, 7:30 PM; Tacoma at Pr. George, 7:30 PM; Med. Hat at Red Deer, 7:30 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Lethbridge at Brandon, 7:30 PM; Tri-City at Portland, 7:30 PM; Sw. Current at Red Deer, 7:30 PM; M. Jaw at Regina, 7:30 PM; Pr. Albert at Saskatoon, 7:30 PM; Kamloops at Seattle, 7:05 PM; Pr. George at Spokane, 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 19: Sw. Current at Med. Hat, 7:30 PM; Regina at M. Jaw, 7:30 PM; Tacoma at Portland, 7:30 PM; Saskatoon at Pr. Albert, 7:30 PM; Seattle at Spokane, 7:00 PM; Pr. George at Tri-City, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 20: Lethbridge at Brandon, 6:00 PM; Tri-City at Kamloops, 6:00 PM; Med. Hat at Saskatoon, 6:00 PM; Portland at Seattle, 6:05 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 22: Pr. George at Kamloops, 7:30 PM; Med. Hat at M. Jaw. 7:30 PM; Pr. Albert at Sw. Current, 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 23: Seattle at Portland, 7:00 PM; Brandon at Pr. Albert, 7:30 PM; Lethbridge at Red Deer, 7:30 PM; Regina at Spokane, 7:00 PM; Kamloops at Tacoma, 7:05 PM.Friday, Nov. 25: Pr. Albert at Brandon, 7:30 PM; M. Jaw at Red Deer, 7:30 PM; Sw. Current at Saskatoon, 7:30 PM; Pr. George at Seattle, 7:05 PM; Regina at Tri-City, 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 26: M. Jaw at Lethbridge, 7:00 PM; Red Deer at Med. Hat, 7:30 PM; Regina at Portland, 7:30 PM; Pr. George at Seattle, 7:05 PM; Tri-City at Spokane, 7:00 PM; Saskatoon at Sw. Current, 7:30 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: Regina at Seattle, 6:05 PM; Pr. George at Tacoma, 6:05 PM; Spokane at Tri-City, 6:00 PM.<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Granby at Laval, 7:30 PM; Hull at St-Jean, 7:30 PM; Halifax at Chicoutimi, 8:00 PM; Beauport at Drum&rsquo;ville, 8:00 PM; Vict&rsquo;ville at Shawin., 8:00 PM; St-Hyacinthe at Sherbrooke, 8:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Halifax at Beauport, 7:30 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: Sherbrooke at Chicoutimi, 6:00 PM; Drum&rsquo;ville at Hull, 7:00 PM; Halifax at Shawin., 7:00 PM; Laval at St-Jean, 7:00 PM; Granby at Val d&rsquo;Or, 7:00 PM.Monday, Nov. 14: St-Hyacinthe at Beauport, 7:00 PM; Shawin. at Laval, 7:30 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 15: Granby at Sherbrooke, 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 16: Vict&rsquo;ville at Chicoutimi, 7:30 PM; St-Jean at Val d&rsquo;Or, 7:30 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Val d&rsquo;Or at Laval. 7:30 PM; St-Hyacinthe at St-Jean, 7:30 PM; Hull at Granby, 8:00 PM; Drum&rsquo;ville at Sherbrooke, 8:00 PM; Shawin. at Vict&rsquo;ville, 8:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 19: Vict&rsquo;ville at Drum&rsquo;ville, 4:00 PM; Hull at Chicoutimi, 6:00 PM; Beauport at Halifax, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 20: Beauport at Halifax, 2:00 PM; Sherbrooke at Shawin., 7:00 PM; Val d&rsquo;Or at St-Jean, 7:00 PM; Chicoutimi at Vict&rsquo;ville, 7:00 PM; St-Hyacinthe at Granby, 7:30 PM.Monday, Nov. 21: Hull at Laval, 7:30 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 22: Vict&rsquo;ville at Beauport, 7:00 PM; Laval at Hull, 7:30 PM; Granby at St-Hyacinthe, 7:30 PM; Sherbrooke at St-Jean, 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 23: Chicoutimi at Halifax, 7:30 PM; Shawin. at Vai door, 7:30 PM.Thursday, Nov. 24: Chicoutimi at Halifax, 7:30 PM; Granby at Drum&rsquo;ville, 8:00 PM.Friday. Nov. 25: Shamin. at Beau port, 7:30 PM; DRUM&rsquo;VILLE at Hull, 7:30 PM; St-Jean at Granby, 8:00 PM; Laval at St-Hyacinthe, 8:00 PM; Val door at Victorville, 8:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: Sherbrooke at Halifax, 2:00 PM; Granby at St-Hyacinthe, 2:00 PM; Val door at Chicoutimi, 6:00 PM; Laval at DRUM&rsquo;VILLE, 7:00 PM; Beau port at Shamin., 7:00 PM; Hull at St-Jean, 7:00 PM.<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Belleville at Kingston, 7:30 PM; Guelph at Kitchener, 7:30 PM; Owen Sound at London, 7:30 PM; Windsor at Ottawa, 7:30 PM; North Bay at $. $. Marie, 7:30 PM; Sarnia at Sudbury, 7:30 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Kingston at Belleville, 7:30 PM; Kitchener at Niag. Falls, 7:00 PM; Sudbury at Owen Sound, 7:30 PM; Windsor at Peter boro, 7:30 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: Sudbury at Guelph, 6:30 PM; Windsor at Kingston, 6:30 PM; Oshava at London, 2:00 PM; Ottawa at North Bay, 7:00 PM; Sarnia at $. $. Marie, 7:00 PM.Monday, Nov. 14: Oshava at Detroit, 7:00 PM. Wednesday, Nov. 16: Peter boro at Belleville, 7:30 PM; Nag. Falls at Owen Sound, 7:30 PM.Thursday, Nov. 17: Sudbury at Niag. Falls, 7:00 PM; Detroit at Peterboro, 7:30 PM; $. $. Marie at Windsor, 7:30 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Oshawa at Guelph, 7:30 PM; Peterboro at Kingston, 7:30 PM; Detroit at Kitchener, 7:30 PM; Sudbury at London, 7:30 PM; Owen Sound at Ottawa, 7:30 PM; S. S. Marie at Sarnia, 7:30 PM.Saturday, Nov. 19: Owen Sound at Belleville, 7:30 PM; Detroit at Niag. Falls, 7:00 PM; Kingston at Ottawa, 2:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 20: Sudbury at Guelph, 6:30 PM; Owen Sound at Kingston, 6:30 PM; Belleville at North Bay, 7:00 PM; Detroit at Oshawa, 7:00 PM; London at Sarnia, 7:00 PM; Windsor at S. S. Marie, 7:00 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 21: Sarnia at S. S. Marie, 7:30 PM; Belleville at Sudbury, 7:30 PM.Wednesday, Nov. 23: Kitchener at London, 7:30 PM.Thursday, Nov. 24: Owen Sound at Niag. Falls, 7:00 PM; Oshawa at North Bay, 7:30 PM; Peterboro at Windsor, 7:30 PM.Friday, Nov. 25: North Bay at Kingston, 7:30 PM; Windsor at Kitchener, 7:30 PM; Niag. Falls at London, 7:30 PM; Guelph at Ottawa, 7:30 PM; Peterboro at Sarnia, 7:30 PM; Detroit at S. S. Marie, 7:30 PM; Oshawa at Sudbury, 7:30 PM.Saturday, Nov. 26: Guelph at Belleville, 7:30 PM; Kingston at Niag. Falls, 7:00 PM; Kitchener at Owen Sound, 7:30 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: Sudbury at North Bay, 1:00 PM; Peterboro at Detroit, 1:00 PM; Guelph at Oshawa, 7:00 PM; Kitchener at Sarnia, 7:00 PM; London at S. S. Marie, 2:00 PM.<h2>WESTERN COLLEGIATE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Wisconsin at Mich. Tech, 7:35 PM, Min.-Duluth at N. Michigan, 7:00 PM; Minnesota at N. Dakota, 7:35 PM; Colorado at Denver, 7:05 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Wisconsin at Mich. Tech. 7:00 PM; Min.-Duluth at N. Michigan, 7:00 PM; Minnesota at N. Dakota, 7:35 PM.Sunday, Nov. 13: Denver at Colorado, 2:00 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: N. Dakota at Min.-Duluth, 8:00 PM; N. Michigan at Wisconsin, 7:00 PM; Colorado at St. Cloud, 7:00 PM; Denver at Alaska-A, 7:00 PM.Saturday. Nov. 19: Mich. Tech at Minnesota, 1:00 PM; N. Dakota at Min.-Duluth, 7:00 PM; N. Michigan at Wisconsin, 7:00 PM; Colorado at St. Cloud, 7:00 PM; Denver at Alaska-A, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 20: Mich. Tech at Minnesota, 2:00 PM.<h2>CENTRAL COLLEGIATE</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Ferris at N. Dame, 7:00 PM; Mich. St. at Michigan, 7:00 PM; W. Mich, at Miami-Ohio, 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: Ferris at N. Dame, 7:00 PM; Michigan at Bowling Gr., 7:00 PM; W. Mich, at Ohio St., 7:00 PM.Thursday, Nov. 17: N. Dame at W. Mich., 7:00 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Bowling Gr. at N. Dame, 7:00 PM; Ill-Chi. at Ferris, 7:00 PM; Miami-Ohio at Michigan, 7:00 PM; Ohio St. at L.S.S., 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 19: W. Mich, at Bowling Gr., 7:00 PM; Ill-Chi. at L.S.S., 7:00 PM; Miami-Ohio at Michigan, 7:00 PM; Ohio St. at Ferris, 7:00 PM<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Friday, Nov. 11: Boston U. at N&rsquo;eastern, 7:00 PM; Maine at Boston C., 7:00 PM; Merrimack at New Hamp., 7:00 PM; Lowell at Providence, 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 12: N&rsquo;eastern at Boston U&bdquo; 7:00 PM; New Hamp, at Merrimack, 7:00 PM; Providence at Lowell, 7:00 PM.Sunday. Nov. 13: Maine at Boston C., 7:00 PM.Tuesday. Nov. 15: Lowell at Merrimack. 7:00 PM.Friday, Nov. 18: Boston C. at New Hamp., 7:00 PM; Merrimack at N&rsquo;eastern, 7:00 PM; Boston U. at Amherst, 7:00 PM; Providence at Maine. 7:00 PM.Saturday, Nov. 19: New Hamp, at Boston C., 7:00 PM; N&rsquo;eastern at Merrimack, 7:00 PM: Amherst at Boston U., 7:00 PM; Providence at Maine, 7:00 PM. Friday, Nov. 25 Boston U. at Maine, 7:00 PM;<h2>EASTERN COLLEGES</h2>Friday, Nov. 18: Yale at St. Lawrence, 7:30 PM; Cornell at Harvard, 7:30 PM; Vermont at Dartmouth, 7:30 PM; Princeton at Clarkson. 7:30 PM; Colgate at Brown, 7:30 PM.Saturday. Nov. 19: Princeton at St. Lawrence. 7:00 PM; Colgate at Harvard, 7:00 PM; Dartmouth at Vermont, 7:00 PM; Yale at Clarkson, 7:00 PM; Cornell at Brown, 7:00 PM.Tuesday, Nov. 22: Yale at Princeton, 7:30 PM.Saturday, Nov. 26: Union at Harvard, 7:00 PM; RPI at Brown, 7:00 PM.Sunday, Nov. 27: RPI at Harvard, 7:00 PM; Union at Brown, 7:00 PM. &#9632;

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November 18, 1994

Tverdovsky a Wheat King until end of NHL lockout

Sather rips 4-on-4 event

WESTERN LEAGUE

Arnott anxious to play, but only with NHL team