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

April 7, 1995

The Hockey News April 7, 1995

<div class="byline">-Mike Loftus</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04742/10086067-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="146" height="137"></div>It took 27 games, but the Boston Bruins finally admitted they might have a problem.The Bruins, 14-11-2 and plagued by inconsistent results, made their first significant roster reduction of the year when they left four forwards at home for a March 22 game with the Quebec Nordiques.Steve Heinze, Daniel Lacroix, Mikko Makela and Glen Murray were not on the trip, while Fred Knipscheer and Sandy Moger, the Nos. 2 and 3 scorers from their American League farm club in Providence, were included.&ldquo;If we were totally pleased with the lineup we had here, we wouldn&rsquo;t be doing this,&rdquo; coach Brian Sutter said. &ldquo;Actually, there were a couple of other guys we could have left behind, too. Flip a coin. And some of the guys we didn&rsquo;t bring with us have played okay, but playing okay isn&rsquo;t good enough.&rdquo;The Bruins were especially disappointed in Murray, their No. 1 draft pick from 1991, who scored a career-high 18 goals in 81 games last season. He scored only two through 16 games this year, and Sutter left him out of the lineup eight times. The Bruins asked him to accept a voluntary conditioning assignment to Providence to get some playing time (at no reduction in salary), but he declined.&ldquo;It was recommended to him,&rdquo; said assistant general manager Mike O&rsquo;Connell, &ldquo;and I don&rsquo;t understand why he wouldn&rsquo;t want to do it. He needs to play.&rdquo;The club suggested other moves were possible if some forwards who survived the March 21 purge didn&rsquo;t pick up their performance.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll continue to do this if necessary,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Connell said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not satisfied with what we&rsquo;re seeing here, and we owe it to guys who have played well in Providence to give them an opportunity.&rdquo;Knipscheer, who played 11 regularseason games for Boston last year and 12 of 13 playoff contests, responded with a goal against the Nordiques. Moger, who had 32 goals in Providence, didn&rsquo;t score in his NHL debut, but impressed Sutter.NOTEBOOK: Daniel Lacroix, who had one goal in 23 games, was claimed on waivers by the New York Rangers March 23&hellip; The Bruins&rsquo; 6-2 loss to the Nordiques March 22 was their sixth in seven games and prompted the players to organize a players-only practice the next day. It followed, assistant GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s first address to the club since Harry Sinden made him his assistant July 5.Negotiations on a contract extension for Adam Oates continued at a brisk pace. Both sides were hoping to extend Oates&rsquo; current deal, which expires after next season, for two or three years beyond that. If a deal is signed, Oates gives up his shot at unfettered free agency at the end of 1995-96. &#9632;</div>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Knipscheer, Moger get call to resurrect struggling club

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian </div><div class="byline">-Richard Pollak</div>San Diego will get a replacement team, San Antonio is an expansion team and the St. Louis Blues may be pulling their farm team out of the International League.IHL owners met in Chicago March 20, where they relaxed expansion criteria and continued the groundwork toward 21 teams next season.San Antonio will likely become the league&rsquo;s 20th team, coming in at a $6 million expansion fee. A replacement franchise for the San Diego Gulls-owner Fred Comrie is moving the franchise to Los Angeles next sea-son-will be the 21 st team.Los Angeles movie producer Steve Perry and attorney Howard Silber reportedly put up $500,000 toward the application process for that new San Diego franchise.League owners, meanwhile, heard an expansion proposal from a Toronto group believed to represent that city&rsquo;s new National Basketball Association ownership.Toronto joins Mexico City, Portland, New York, Baltimore and New Orleans on the long-range expansion list, although the latter may push to come in next season. The league is prepared to jump into Winnipeg and Quebec City should those markets lose their NHL teams.The IHL owners voted unanimously to relax expansion requirements calling for one million city population for candidate markets. The move was made to allow a group backed by Amway Corp., the option of applying for an expansion team for Grand Rapids, Mich., where a 12,000-seat arena is scheduled to open in two seasons.Owners have delayed an expected increase in expansion fees. Teams 22 and 23 are scheduled to pay $8 million, but that could go to $9 million. One ownership faction fears escalation in fees could make it harder to replace major markets that could be lost to NHL expansion-Den-ver, Phoenix and Atlanta.The Blues have been linked to reports they have signed a letter of intent to move their affiliation to American League independent Worcester next season.St. Louis-the first team to operate a full, exclusive farm team in the IHL-told Peoria Rivermen ownership that it had not yet made a final decision. It&rsquo;s rumored Blues&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Keenan favors the less expensive AHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011389/10087123-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="409" height="448"></div>All other IHL affiliated teams reported at the meeting in Chicago that they had been told by their parent clubs they would continue then-working agreements in the IHL next season.PIPE DREAMS: The IHL has been a longtime developer of goalies-the list of IHL alumni in the NHL includes some major stars-but in no other season has there been as much quantity to go with quality.The IHL listed nine goalies with a goals-against average under 3.00.The most sub-3.00 goalies ever posted in one season in IHL history was four, in the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons.Larry Dyck of the Kansas City Blades leads the way with a 2.48 GAA.I-OPENERS: With two weeks left IHL goalies had posted 30 shutouts, up from a 1993-94 full-season total of 14. Only the Detroit Vipers, Kalamazoo Wings, Las Vegas Thunder and Milwaukee Admirals had avoided being shut out as the season headed deep into the stretch&hellip; Chicago Wolves&rsquo; left winger Steve Mal-tais was IHL player of the week for the period ending March 19 with 10 points in three games.The expansion Denver Grizzlies drew 424,469 fans through 38 games (11.170 average), breaking the state&rsquo;s pro hockey record set by the NHL Colorado Rockies in 1979-80. The Detroit Vipers reached 500,000 in attendance March 15, the first non-NHL team to do so.<h2>Latvians to take on world</h2>The Central League will be represented in the World Championship B Pool with three members of the Latvian national team.Defenseman Viktor Ignatjev and goalie Sergei Naumov of the Oklahoma City Blazers and defenseman Igor Bonderev of the Fort Worth Fire were named to the Latvian team, which will play in the second tier of the World Championship April 12-21 in Bratislava, Slovakia.Ignatjev is a CHL second team all-star who finished the season with the Denver Grizzlies of the International League. He was second in voting to Fort Worth captain Eric Richard as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman.Naumov was part of the Lada team that won three games against CHL teams in the pre-season. He joined Oklahoma City when Alan Perry was recalled to the Houston Aeros of the IHL.Bonderev, 20, was the youngest player in the CHL this season. He was released by the Dallas Freeze after nine games before joining Russians Alex Kholomeyev and Alexei Yegarov in Fort Worth. &ldquo;This is the greatest time of my life,&rdquo; Bonderev said. &#9632;

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San Antonio, San Diego become likely for ’95-96

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-011062/10087666-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>VOL. 48, No. 29 April 7. 1995 $2.95 &#9632;

Cover-01

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">-Kevin Johnston</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03737/10086695-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="151" height="149"></div>The Quebec Nordiques added to the stunning depth at forward when their top prospect joined the organization.Right winger Landon Wilson, who was part of the Mats Sundin-Wendel Clark trade last summer, signed a three-year deal with the Nordiques and joined the Cornwall Aces of the American League March 20.The Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; first-round choice in 1993 had just finished his sophomore season at the University of North Dakota, where he scored five goals and 19 points with 141 penalty minutes in 28 games. He also captained the U.S. entry at the World Junior Championship.Wilson made an immediate impact with Cornwall. He scored once, added an assist and was first star in his first game. He duplicated his scoring feats in his second game.&ldquo;It was time for me to turn to something else,&rdquo; Wilson said after his first game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here because I felt that to further my development, I had to play at a superior level. I&rsquo;ve got lots to learn, lots to prove and lots to give. Right now. I&rsquo;m focused on the Aces and helping them go as far as possible this spring.&rdquo;Cornwall coach Bob Hartley was very impressed with what he saw in Wilson.&ldquo;The kid is quite a hockey player,&rdquo; Hartley said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect but he has certainly proved to me that he can hold his own at this level of hockey.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Another 1993 draft pick, Christian Matte, came to terms with the Nordiques and will join Cornwall as soon as his playoffs with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Granby Bisons end. Matte, who was impressive in training camp, scored 50 goals and 116 points this season.Negotiations between the Nordiques and Scott Young have hit a snag. GM Pierre Lacroix and agent Gregg Clifton can&rsquo;t agree on Young&rsquo;s place on the team&rsquo;s depth chart and have decided to suspend negotiations. Young is playing out his option. &#9632;

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Wilson leaves school early to join Cornwall farm team

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011665/10085339-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="336" height="492"></div>The marketing opportunities offered by the Olympics are too good to pass up; the hockey opportunities offered by a reconstituted Canada Cup are equally appealing.1998 in Nagano is all about exposure for the NHL.It promises to attract legions of new followers-even if circumstances such as a compressed schedule make it impossible for the highest level of competition to be achieved.Old followers of the game are excited about the prospect of another Canada or World Cup-as it&rsquo;s likely to be renamed. &ldquo;There is no question that a best-on-best tournament held in the fall will be the best hockey that you can get,&rdquo; said NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow.The Canada Cup has evolved into the true world championship through its five fall-tournament history and it&rsquo;s in the best interests of the NHL and NHLPA to build on that tradition.Hockey isn&rsquo;t as accessible as soccer worldwide, so don&rsquo;t expect a hockey World Cup to equal the soccer World Cup. But it can be upgraded from an event mostly of interest to Canadians to one the rest of the hockey world will more fully appreciate.Marketing, merchandising and broadcasting opportunities will flow from higher prestige.Expectations are the Winter Olympics and hockey World Cup will be held in alternating two-year periods with the &rsquo;98 Games kicking off the rotation. A World Cup event could go in the year 2000, the Winter Olympics in 2002, the World Cup in 2004, etc.With changes in the geo-political world map and subsequent fracturing of hockey powers, it&rsquo;s impossible to say how a reconstituted Canada Cup will look.Any number of possibilities exists-although much discussion must precede the next tournament.Would players, for instance, be willing to compete under flags of convenience (such as the Commonwealth of Independent States at the &rsquo;92 Olympics) in order to ensure the highest level of competition?Would there be a European playdown in advance of a North American showdown?Would there be six teams-as it has been in the past-or will more federations have the chance to join in?Would the tournament ever be headquartered in Europe?The answers will shape the future of hockey&rsquo;s World Cup.Random thoughts that spring to mind:&#9632; Ottawa faces a difficult decision on whom to choose first in the entry draft-assuming it doesn&rsquo;t lose the No. 1 pick in the first-ever lottery. American defenseman Bryan Berard, Canadian defenseman Wade Redden, Finnish defenseman Aki-Petteri Berg and Czech left winger Radek Dvorak are all candidates to go No. 1.&#9632; Mike Ridley is a poor man&rsquo;s Joe Sakic.&#9632; Minutes played is the most important statistic not included in the NHL stats package.&#9632; Individual faceoffs are the second-most important not included.&#9632; Dominik Hasek should win the Hart Trophy this season. He would be the first goalie since Jacques Plante in 1962 to be named league MVP.&#9632; Candidate for biggest surprise of the season: Esa Tikkanen.&#9632; Slapshots in the NHL are like first serves in tennis: entertainmentkillers. Too many players rely on big shots rather than puck skills to carry them into closer scoring range where intricate plays must be conceived and executed.&#9632; Like you haven&rsquo;t read this before: Ray Bourque should receive the Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most gentlemanly player. Ten penalty minutes in 28 games-he&rsquo;s the ultimate advertisement for hard (but fair) play.&#9632; Serge Savard needs a big trade to correct a serious trade deficit.&#9632; Lack of production from Steve Yzerman and Doug Gilmour is the biggest mystery of the season.&#9632; I prefer scorers who get goals in lots of games over scorers who get lots of goals in games. That&rsquo;s why I like Jaromir Jagr, Cam Neely and Ray Sheppard. (Okay, so who doesn&rsquo;t? But I have a reason.) They were the only top players to have goals in more than half of their games. Jagr led the way with goals in 17 of 30 games.&#9632; Players in short supply are those who can score and stick their noses where they don&rsquo;t belong. A sampling: Cam Neely, Theoren Fleury, Jason Arnott. Rick Tocchet and Keith Tkachuk.&#9632; CHIPS Id: Count on California Hockey in Post-Season being a drama. All three of the state&rsquo;s teams will be life and death to make the playoffs.&#9632; Call it The Hockey News jinx. We named Ian Laperriere Western Conference rookie of the half-season and he was demoted to the International League. &#9632;

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief </div><div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>The key issue is not NHL average salary in 1993-94, though that was the genesis of a recently concluded arbitration. The more important issue is NHL average salary in 1994-95. That&rsquo;s what will determine this summer&rsquo;s Group V free agents. Ten-year veteran pros earning less than the league average are entitled to unrestricted free agency once during their careers. Notable potential Group V free agents this summer are Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Daren Puppa. 30; Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; left winger Bob Bassen, 29; Dallas Stars&rsquo; center Peter Zezel, 29; New York Islanders&rsquo; center Ron Sutter, 31; New York Rangers&rsquo; right winger Joey Kocur, 30; Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; right winger Wayne Presley, 30; Rangers&rsquo; right winger Brian Noonan, 29; Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Gerald Diduck. 29; and New York Islanders&rsquo; left winger Troy Loney, 31. All are earning less than prorated salaries of $600,000 in 1994-95-although Puppa&rsquo;s status is muddied somewhat because he has filed for arbitration. This year&rsquo;s average salary hasn&rsquo;t been established, but it&rsquo;s sure to be higher than that-considering last year&rsquo;s mark was somewhere in the $557,000575,000 range. (See next item.) A longshot Group V free agent is Islanders&rsquo; center Ray Ferraro, 30, who is earning $675,000 (U.S.). The average league salary would have to rise by more than 17 per cent for Ferraro to be granted unrestricted free agency. A case of Group V-phobia has led to the pre-emptive signing of several lower-paid veterans this season. Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Garry Galley, Quebec defenseman Craig Wolanin and Vancouver left winger Sergio Momesso have all signed contracts that keep them from becoming Group V free agents&hellip; A Hockey News salary survey puts this season&rsquo;s unofficial average league salary at $653,000 (U.S.). That is merely an indicator, though, because it isn&rsquo;t a result of the official league formula. A decision on some elements being included in that calculation was rendered by arbitrator George Nicolau March 20. His decision had the effect of expanding the definition of compensation from signing bonus, base salary and deferred payments to a larger and more inclusive one. Nicolau was asked to rule on a hotly contested NHL-NHL Players&rsquo; Association dispute over Murray Craven&rsquo;s status. Craven earned $570,000 (U.S.) last season and believed he qualified as a Group V free agent. The NHLPA said the 1993-94 average salary was $575,000 (in mixed dollars); the NHL said the average was $557,000. No distinction is made between U.S., Canadian or pegged dollars (a reduced U.S. dollar) for these purposes. Nicolau ruled on three issues-the most important being inclusion of promotional monies in calculation of the average league salary. The arbitrator sided with the NHLPA. He said all marketing and merchandising monies in contracts between a player and his team (or an affiliated entity) must be included. &ldquo;There is no question,&rdquo; Nicolau said, &ldquo;that a club in signing a player to (a standard player&rsquo;s contract) is buying his services as a &lsquo;skilled hockey player.&rsquo; However, it is only that skill and the public&rsquo;s recognition of it that motivates a marketing agreement. One follows from the other.&rdquo; In the context of Group V free agency, the NHLPA wants the average salary to be as high as possible so more players are eligible for unrestricted status. Nicolau supported the NHL position only contracts dated before June 30 can be attributed to the previous season. Otherwise it goes into the next season-even if it is identified as back pay or retroactive salary. Nicolau also said the NHL was correct in applying a date-of-payment deadline; no payment received after June 30 is to be included in the previous year&rsquo;s average salary calculation. Nicolau&rsquo;s ruling has no impact on Craven, who was traded from Vancouver to the Chicago Blackhawks. &ldquo;The process of determining league average salary helped define what the true component parts of compensation should be,&rdquo; said NHLPA associate counsel Ian Pulver. &ldquo;They are as follows: pegged currency compensation; reporting bonus compensation; base compensation revisions; retroactive compensation; moving and relocation allowances in some circumstances; agents&rsquo; fees in some circumstances and promotional compensation.&rdquo; It would seem the only part of players&rsquo; compensation packages not included are performance bonuses. The salary arbitration decision has an impact on everything from Group V free agency to draft-pick compensation on free-agent signings to walkaway rights in salary arbitration&hellip; Now that the average league salary arbitration is over, the NHL and NHLPA can return to unfinished business-the collective bargaining agreement. Many issues remain, including agent certification, which is expected to be a subject of bargaining. The NHLPA wants all agents who negotiate on behalf of players to be certified by the union. The players adopted four resolutions in June, 1994. It was resolved: the NHLPA adopt a standard form player-agent contract which identifies all fees; policies and procedures be put in place to promote full disclosure of all fees charged by agents; a system of independent binding arbitration be established to resolve player-agent disputes; guidelines be implemented to eliminate agent conflicts of interest, such as representing coaches, scouts or GMs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012243/10085384-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="348" height="300"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021622/10085377-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1056" height="1571"><figcaption class="caption-body">No. 1 goalie Daren Puppa has a shot at unrestricted free agency.</figcaption></div>Ken Daneyko is my new hero.The New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defenseman blew out a knee in a punch-up with Joe Koeur of the New York Rangers March 8. That gave him an opportunity to deliver a blow to hockey&rsquo;s pro-fighting brigade. He didn&rsquo;tDaneyko refuses to condemn the aspect of the game that turns off hockey&rsquo;s peaceniks. So players occasionally get hurt in hockey fights. What else would you expect? They&rsquo;re punching each other, for Pete&rsquo;s sake.When someone suggested it was too bad about the injury, Daneyko responded: &ldquo;I was just getting set to have a good fight.&rdquo;Daneyko slipped early in his bout with Kocur and crumpled to the ice. Result: tears to both sides of his anterior cruciate ligament. He did not mention being upset his season was cut short because of a fight, just disappointment that he wasn&rsquo;t able to go toe-to-toe with Kocur.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-031010/10085370-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="282" height="373"></div>&ldquo;Whether you like fighting or not, it is here to stay,&rdquo; Daneyko said. &ldquo;Hockey has done a tremendous job at curbing stick touts, but it is such a fast, intense game there are always going to be situations cropping up where a fight will ensue.&rdquo;And sometimes people get hurt. Daneyko knew that when he threw his gloves off against Kocur. And the Devils, who will continue to pay Daneyko&rsquo;s pro-rated $750,000 salary while he rehabilitates, knew the risks as well.Those who want to rid the game of fighting don&rsquo;t listen to a good number of NHL players who deem it a necessary evil. They think they know better than those people who don&rsquo;tplay hockey for a living.It takes away from the spectacle? Tell that to the 16,072 people who gathered at Pacific Coliseum for the Vancouver Canucks-Winnipeg Jets game Feb. 22. It was the Canucks&rsquo; largest crowd of the season-and was in response to pre-game talk of a brawl breaking out.It&rsquo;s safe to say they weren&rsquo;t all there to see the last-place team in the Central Division.Daneyko will not alter the style that has served him well through 713 NHL games. He has been a frequent fighter during his career and that was his first injury&rsquo;. &ldquo;If a guy on your teams gets into a fight, it doesn&rsquo;t even matter if he wins,&rdquo; Daneyko said. &ldquo;It can instill confidence and lift the entire team.&rdquo;And sometimes people get hurt. &#9632;

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Next up: New free agents

<div class="byline">-Steve Dryden</div>Goalie Parris Duffus could become hockey&rsquo;s first shootout specialist.The Peoria Rivermen netminder had stopped 30 of 34 shots in International League shootouts. His.882 save percentage was the league&rsquo;s best. It meant he was stopping nearly nine out of every 10 breakaway shots during shootouts-a stunning success rate. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I have a secret,&rdquo; Duffus said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that I&rsquo;m very competitive and I want to win very badly.&rdquo;Peoria had won four of five shoot-outs in which Duffus played goal. The 25-year-old St. Louis Blues&rsquo; farmhand said his size (6-foot-2 and 192 pounds) and skating skills are suited to 1-on-l confrontations.Derek Wilkinson of the Atlanta Knights was second to Duffus with an.862 save percentage (25 of 29). The league average was.684. Worst among the goalies to face at least 25 shots was Mike O&rsquo;Neill of the Phoenix Roadrunners; he had a. 500 save percentage on 50 shots.Tie games go immediately to shootouts in the IHL. Coaches choose five shooters for the first round. It ends when one team has an insurmountable lead. A sudden-death round follows if no decision is reached after five shots. The record for longest shootout is 26 rounds. &#9632;

Peoria goalie doesn’t break down on breakaways

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>The Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues have the new venues, but it&rsquo;s homey Meadowlands Arena that is showing the biggest attendance increase over last season.Even though the New Jersey Devils were treading water near.500, they were drawing 8 per cent more fans than when they had the NHL&rsquo;s second best record in 1993-94.On the flip side, the league&rsquo;s two top teams-Quebec Nordiques and Pittsburgh Penguins-saw attendance dropoffs of 5 per cent.Other attendance notes are:&#9632; Chicago led the league in average attendance thanks to a great start and the new 20,500-seat United Center. The Blackhawks sold out nine of 10 games and their average of 20,817 was the highest in NHL history, exceeding the average of 19,820 set last season by the Detroit Red Wings.&#9632; The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks were the only teams to have sold out each home game this season. The Ducks drew 17,174 to each of 12 games and the Sharks 17,190 to each of 13 games.&#9632; Thirteen of the 18 U.S. teams have shown attendance increases over 1993-94. Seven of the eight Canadian teams experienced decreases.&#9632; The Ottawa Senators sold out the 10,575-seat Civic Centre just twice in 14 games. There was an average of 766 empty seats each game.The following is a ranking of average attendance through March 23 games. Teams are listed in descending order with per-cent capacity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012165/10085463-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="576" height="1177"></div>Source: NHL game summaries &#9632;

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Fan support for Devils on the rise

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021581/10085494-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"></div>The future of the Jets in Winnipeg may be tenuous, but at least the team&rsquo;s fans can take comfort in the fact a local group has the power to control the franchise&rsquo;s destiny.With a list of prospective American buyers lining up-most notably a group in Minnesota-Manitoba Entertainment Complex Inc., (MEC) can keep the team in the provincial capital if it can salvage a deal to build a new arena.MEC holds the option to purchase the 64 per cent privately owned shares-majority owner Barry Shenka-row&rsquo;s stake-of the Jets for $32 million (Cdn.) by May 1.Whether or not that option is exercised will depend on MEC&rsquo;s ability to come up with an approved business plan for the Jets and a new 16,000-seat, $110-million facility before that date.Formulating that business plan has been an ongoing process for MEC and its chairman, John Loewen, CEO of Comcheq, since Winnipeg city council gave informal approval of a proposed arena site north of the area known as The Forks and not far from the downtown Westin Hotel.MEC has been meeting behind closed doors with potential members of a new local ownership group for the Jets as well as city, provincial and federal governments.City council recently asked MEC to bring forward its overall business plan by April 12, in order to leave enough time for examination, debate and approval. Council had tried to impose the date as a deadline, but the motion failed.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re working with all three levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal),&rdquo; Loewen told the Winnipeg Free Press.&ldquo;The dates are not all ones we can necessarily control. Our focus is getting this thing done by May 1. I hope everybody will show reasonable flexibility.&rdquo;Rumors of the franchise&rsquo;s move to Minneapolis to reside in the now publicly owned Target Center were rampant in late March.Glen Taylor, who just bought the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Minnesota Timberwolves, was reportedly interested in buying the Jets. But that speculation was premature in light of MEC&rsquo;s option to purchase the team.And MEC itself was the subject of rumors of failure during March, but much of that talk was traced back to Winnipeg Enterprises, the group currently managing the Jets&rsquo; present home at Winnipeg Arena.To further muddy the waters in Winnipeg, premier Gary Filmon called a provincial election for April 25, just five days before the MEC deadline. Early polls show the race very much up in the air.The Jets&rsquo; arena debate is a sensitive issue for all politicians these days, largely because of the 1991 deal that has provincial and city governments covering the club&rsquo;s losses until the question of a new arena is decided.Numerous city and provincial politieians-have expressed a desire to escape the deal immediately in return for participation in a new arena project, but it wasn&rsquo;t known if the MEC would accept that provision as part of the eventual solution.<h2>Home improvements: 12 teams working on new arena projects</h2>As many as a dozen new NHL buildings could be opening over the next four to five years. Some arena deals have yet to be fmalized-and in the case of Winnipeg, may never be. Opening dates are all projected. Also listed are seating capacity, number of luxury boxes, budgeted cost in that country&rsquo;s currency and expected opening date. &#9632;

f0005-02

Jets’ fate in local hands

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff </div><div class="byline">-with file from Alan Adams</div>Three members of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Windsor Spitfires charged with sexual assault, including 1994 first overall draft pick Ed Jovanovski, appeared in Windsor court March 22 and elected to be tried by a judge and jury.Jovanovski, Bill Bowler and Cory Evans were named in a complaint by a 24-year-old woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by the three players after meeting them in a Windsor bar Feb. 18.A date for a preliminary hearing has yet to be set.10-YEAR SENTENCE: The Ontario Hockey Association suspended a player 10 years for his attack on a referee and linesman.Mike Majewski of the Orillia Terriers hit the officials following a fight in a Feb. 22 playoff game against the Barrie Colts. He was charged two weeks later with two counts of assault and will appear in court April 10.In announcing the 10-year suspension March 23, the OHA said it felt Majewski&rsquo;s actions were deliberate and represented the most serious of infractions.Majewski, 21, won&rsquo;t be eligible for OHA or International Ice Hockey Federation play until the 2004-2005 season.CANADA: The NHL won&rsquo;t leave struggling Canadian teams flapping in the wind as it looks to expand its reach in the future, league commissioner Gary Bettman said.Expansion will ultimately help teams such as the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and others that have teetered on the brink of collapse or relocation, he told junior players, coaches, owners and parents at the Western League&rsquo;s awards banquet in Calgary March 23.&ldquo;The fact there are going to be more teams possibly in the future in the United States isn&rsquo;t intended to diminish the game up here,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s intended&hellip; to keep it strong up here. Because the stronger the NHL is overall the more likely it is the franchises in Canada can survive.&rdquo;He said the same logic holds true for the league&rsquo;s plans to market hockey more vigorously in the U.S. and other countries.Bettman did not get specific on what the league intends to do to help small-market teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-031032/10085525-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="546" height="631"><figcaption class="caption-body">Minnesota&rsquo;s Brian Bonin is one of 10 Hobey Baker finalists.</figcaption></div>The NHL lockout ended in January with a promise to help them compete with salary offers to players by American-based clubs.One of the most pressing problems is a currency exchange rate that means the eight Canadian teams must pay 40 per cent more to line up with U.S. clubs.The league has hired the Denver consulting firm of Bortz and Co., to look into the issue, but Bettman wouldn&rsquo;t say if or when it will come up with some answers.&ldquo;When we can get a handle on exactly what the problem is and how it can be addressed then we&rsquo;ll see what, if anything, on a league basis we can do about it,&rdquo; he said.FINAL 10: Four sophomores are among 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. U.S. college hockey&rsquo;s most prestigious individual honor.The sophomores are forward Greg Bullock of UMass-Lowell, right winger Mike Grier of Boston University, center Brendan Morrison of Michigan and forward Martin St. Louis of Vermont.Junior players in the running are center Brian Bonin of Minnesota, center Anson Carter of Michigan State and center Jay McNeill of Colorado College.The award, presented by the Decathlon Athletic Club of Bloomington, Minn., will be awarded March 31 at the National Collegiate Atheltic Association championships Providence, R.I.Senior players among the finalists are defenseman Brian Mueller of Clarkson, defenseman Chris Imes of Maine and center Brian Holzinger of Bowling Green. (See pg. 47 for more on Holzinger). &#9632;

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Jovanovski takes trial by jury

About 10 years ago when he was playing for the Edmonton Oilers, Wayne Gretzky referred to the New Jersey Devils as a &ldquo;Mickey Mouse organization.&rdquo;This season, Gretzky&rsquo;s Los Angeles Kings have made a host of questionable trades and are on the verge of missing the playoffs for the second straight year. The Devils, meanwhile, are among the league&rsquo;s best teams.So who has the Mickey Mouse organization now?Phill Adamms,&nbsp;Wood-Ridge, N.J.<h2>Travelling man</h2>In Kevin Dupont&rsquo;s March 3 column, he asks, &ldquo;How many times have you gone home and talked about the building?&rdquo;Let me tell you that I&rsquo;ve driven thousands of miles just to see the Montreal Forum, Chicago Stadium and Boston Garden. The hockey was of secondary importance.I drove all that way so someday I could tell my kids that their dad had been to the three greatest shrines in hockey history.It will be a sad day when all of these historical arenas are lost in the name of luxury boxes. It&rsquo;s just another example of how the NHL is catering to the &ldquo;suits&rdquo; and forgetting about the real fans.Tyrone Sluymers,&nbsp;Hampton, Ont.<h2>Cut some slack</h2>After reading Colleen Hains-worth&rsquo;s letter on sex in hockey (THN, March 24), I felt a little confused. For someone who &ldquo;can relate to hockey players,&rdquo; she sounds very naive.I go to many NHL and Ontario League games and when I see the players at clubs, there is a legion of young women who are with these men simply because they play hockey. We even have a name for them-puckbunnies.Believe me, these ladies are anything but the &ldquo;pawns&rdquo; you make them out to be. Cut these guys some slack-this is not a one-sided issue.Kim Fedak,&nbsp;Windsor, Ont.<h2>No Stevie, Y?</h2>I could not believe my eyes when I read Mike Brophy&rsquo;s piece on the 25 most entertaining players in the NHL.With due respect to the ones who were on the list, where on earth was Steve Yzerman? I realize he is not collecting points and scoring as he has in the past, but he is adjusting fine to Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s defensive system.In my opinion, Yzerman has been one of four or five players over the past 10 years whom people come to see. He definitely belongs among the league&rsquo;s top 25.Harold Ferguson,&nbsp;Pictou, N.S.<h2>Oates notes</h2>In Mike Brophy&rsquo;s piece, he lists Theoren Fleury at No. 17 and Chris Chelios at No. 18, which is bad enough. But when he listed Tie Domi as the 25th most entertaining player in the league, he missed the boat.A player such as Adam Oates is far more entertaining than Domi. The name of the game is still scoring points, not penalty minutes.Bill Daly,&nbsp;Norwood, Mass.<h2>Big spenders</h2>The Hartford Whalers have been an awful team for years. The problem isn&rsquo;t a lack of money as much as how they use their money.They are paying Chris Pronger $1.7 million and Glen Wesley $1.5 million this season. Neither of them is worth that much, although some may consider the investment in Pronger justifiable in the long run.They are also paying too much for players such as Adam Burt, Brad McCrimmon and Alex Godynyuk.The Whalers have the 12th-highest payroll in the league, but are not as good as teams such as the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, Boston Bruins or Calgary Flames.If they budgeted their money more wisely, they would be able to sign a big star and Sean Burke wouldn&rsquo;t have to carry the load.Chris Casaleggio,&nbsp;Ringwood, N.J.<h2>Good and bad</h2>Why is everybody raving about the Quebec Nordiques?With the exception of the Wendel Clark trade, it isn&rsquo;t as if the Nordiques used skilled scouting or blockbuster trades to build their team.They did it because they were so bad that they got the first overall pick in the draft three years in a row. Then they got three more first-round picks in the forced Eric Lindros trade.In several years, people will probably be singing the praises of the Ottawa Senators, another team that will undoubtedly prove that finishing last has its benefits in the long run.Steve McPherson,Houston, Texas&#9632;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;

Which organization Mickey Mouse now?

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012537/10085587-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div><h2>PLUS MINUS</h2><h2>No masking Carey&rsquo;s talent Flipped out, now sits out</h2>1. THN top player WashingtonCapitals&rsquo; rookie goalie Jim Carey I I; records back-to-back shutouts.2. He saves, he scores Hampton Roads&rsquo; goalie Corwin Saurdiff scores ECHL goal.3. Magnus force Rookie Magnus Svensson. 32, scores in first NHL game for Panthers.4. Grand achievement Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; veteran Mike Ramsey plays 1.(XX)th NHL game.5. Bernie Nicholls Scored third hat tnck of season March 21. hit 20-goal plateau.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021740/10085580-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="528" height="690"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Carey</figcaption></div>1. You can&rsquo;t do that Washington&rsquo;s Kevin Kaminski suspended three games for abusing official.2. Take that Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; coach-GM John Muckier slaps heckler in face.3. Petes-Generals Longtime Ontario League rivals engage in playoff brawl.4. For crying out loud Tape of baby crying played in Hartford as bleeding Joe Juneau led from ice.5. Nasty Hawks Mass Lowell River Hawks set school penalty record with 1,029 minutes. &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Les Bowen</div>The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; captain was unbuckling his knee braces when a reporter asked a loaded question.&ldquo;Eric Lindros, you were projected to one day be the best player in the NHL. Where do you stand?&rdquo;The 22-year-old center furrowed his bushy brow. He looked at teammate Shawn Antoski, undressing in the next stall. &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he said, solemnly, &ldquo;that I stand about 6-foot-4. What do you think. Shawn?&rdquo;Antoski rubbed his chin, then nodded in agreement. Yeah. 6-foot-4 sounded about right.It&rsquo;s difficult to get a straight answer out of Lindros these days. The more the Flyers win. the more No. 88 deflects praise or shuns serious examination of how the team has finally turned around after five successive years out of the playoffs.&ldquo;We just keep chipping away,&rdquo; he said after each installment of a winning streak that ended at eight with a 4-3 loss to the Hartford Whalers March 22.After a few games, he started saying it with a twinkle in his eye, looking to see if any of the people with the notepads and tape recorders even noticed he was saying the exact same thing every night, wondering if they knew it was a purposely bland cliche.This is the sort of thing Lindros enjoys after two seasons of laborious explanations about disappointment and injury and organizational turmoil. Finally, he can let his play do the talking, have some fun putting on reporters, keeping his true thoughts to himself.The Flyers&rsquo; dressing room has been a quiet, morose place the past several years. Now the atmosphere is lighter and no one seems more profoundly affected than the captain, the man who has carried the burden of the franchise on his broad back since the Flyers sent six players, two first-round draft picks and $15 million to the Quebec Nordiques for his rights in 1992.There are days when he resembles a huge puppy, loping about the room. On one such recent morning, rookie defenseman Chris Therien was on &ldquo;trial&rdquo; for missing a bus. Designated judge Dave Brown was taking too long at his dressing stall, talking with reporters. In the off-limits room behind the showers, the proceedings were ready to commence. Finally, Lindros, beside himself with excitement, bounded out, through the showers, to find Brown.&ldquo;Yo, Ito!&rdquo; he yelled. &ldquo;We need you in here.&rdquo;In a more serious moment, it was finally possible to get Lindros&rsquo; thoughts about the best-in-the-league question.He thinks it&rsquo;s silly and premature. Lindros, the league&rsquo;s youngest captain, knows his candidacy was built on a month of dominant hockey; before that, he was struggling and Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; right winger Jaromir Jagr was being hailed as the best. If you go back to last season, it was Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; center Sergei Fedorov.Lindros believes that until Mario Lemieux retires, the question is moot. Asked who would get his vote as the NHL&rsquo;s best, Lindros answered with a question: &ldquo;Who isn&rsquo;t playing right now?&rdquo; The debate will continue whether Lindros wants it to or not. And he is picking up support.Lindros led the NHL with 19 goals and 46 points in 28 games. In his first 150 career NHL games, Lindros had 101 goals, exactly the same number as Wayne Gretzky and 11 more than Lemieux.&ldquo;Eric Lindros right now is the best player in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; said Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012222/10085632-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="824" height="538"></div><h2>LINE OF FIRE</h2>Since John LeClair joined Philadelphia in a Feb. 9 trade with Montreal. LeClair. Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg had combined for 46 of the Flyers&rsquo; 76 goals in 20 games. That represented 61 per cent of Philadelphia production. LeClair led the way with 17 goals.&ldquo;Jagr is right with him, but I think right now Lindros is the best. Eric, when he first started, would just run over people. Now he uses his head.&rdquo;Demers&rsquo; comments came on the heels of another Lindros&rsquo; masterpiece March 20, a game in which No. 88 scored three times to lead his team past Montreal 8-4. Lindros had also assumed the league scoring lead from Jagr on the strength of a run of 15 goals and 15 assists in 13 games. &ldquo;Lindros will lead the league in scoring for the next seven or eight years,&rdquo; Demers said.One of Demers&rsquo; players, Mark Recchi, has played with both Jagr and Lindros and was stumped when posed with the question.&ldquo;Geez, that&rsquo;s really close,&rdquo; Recchi said. Told of Flyers&rsquo; goalie Ron Hextall&rsquo;s theory-that winger Jagr might be capable of more spectacular individual efforts, but that Lindros is better at raising the play of his teammates-Recchi shook his head. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about that, I think maybe Jagr does that, too,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Eric is definitely the strongest player.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021524/10085625-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1439" height="2608"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Lindros has as many goals as Wayne Gretzky did after his first 150 NHL games.</figcaption></div>Ottawa Senators&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness said that if he could choose one player around whom to build a franchise, it would be Lindros. And the day before Bowness said that, Lindros&rsquo; boyhood idol, New York Rangers&rsquo; captain Mark Messier, called Lindros &ldquo;the prototype player of the &rsquo;90s. There&rsquo;s going to be a time when a player like that will win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;That time might be drawing closer, but it probably isn&rsquo;t here yet. The Flyers&rsquo; rise has mostly been propelled by one line, the big guys that teammate Jim Montgomery named, &ldquo;The Legion of Doom&rdquo;-John LeClair (6-foot-2, 220 pounds), Lindros (6-foot-4, 235 pounds) and Mikael Renberg (6-foot-2, 220 pounds). In a 13-game stretch, the Legionnaires had 78 points-six per game. Demers called it the most dominant line he has seen in a decade.The line has been integral in Lindros&rsquo; emergence this season. In previous years, opponents would match a Jeff Beukeboom and put him all over Lindros. LeClair is very good at setting picks to create open ice and Renberg is a big, strong guy who can go to the net.<h2>Loss to Nordiques was turning point</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012425/10085618-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="1376" height="1791"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fellow Legionnaire John LeClair has been setting picks to give Lindros more room. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>Now Lindros doesn&rsquo;t have to spend as much time in the comers and doesn&rsquo;t take nearly as much abuse. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that he hasn&rsquo;t been injured this season either.But there are other factors at play, namely:&#9632; Maturity. The third year is traditionally a breakthrough year for star players and Lindros is no exception. Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray has been able to get Lindros to play both ends of the ice and Lindros has become much better on faceoffs.&#9632; His game is much more refined. In Lindros&rsquo; first season, coach Bill Dineen&rsquo;s game plan was to send Lindros out first shift and create some havoc. After taking some advice from Gordie Howe on picking his spots, Lindros doesn&rsquo;t have to do that as much now. He still usually ends up with the biggest hit of the game, but it&rsquo;s usually one of three or four instead of nine or 10.The Flyers could use some second-line help for Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and another good defenseman, along with more poise and confidence when trying to hold a lead. They added key elements LeClair and Eric Desjardins in the Feb. 9 Recchi deal and Karl Dykhuis in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, but otherwise, they are pretty much the same bunch that started out 3-7-1, the same team whose captain was getting mildly booed in the throes of a 4-2 home loss to the Quebec Nordiques Feb. 16.Lindros spoke of being out of sync that night, looking at a stat sheet that showed him with four goals and 11 assists in 14 games. There was much speculation about what the problem might be.The Quebec loss kicked off a six-day break in the Flyers&rsquo; schedule and Lindros used the time to get in shape, something he&rsquo;d neglected to do during the NHL lockout, as he partied with some old Toronto-area friends while taking one economics class at the University of Western Ontario. When play resumed after the six-day break, Lindros scored a hat trick in a 6-6 tie with the Nordiques. He hasn&rsquo;t looked back.The lockout conditioning problem showed that in some respects, Lindros is still a kid, something Flyers&rsquo; president-GM Bob Clarke wishes people would bear in mind when assessing him. Entering this season, Lindros had played in 126 NHL games. Jagr entered the season with 311, Sergei Fedorov with 312. Part of that disparity is the 42 games Lindros missed his first two seasons, mostly with knee injuries.He still needs to prove a lot of things-that he can play an entire season without getting hurt, that he can lead a team to playoff success, that he is worth the huge package the Flyers sent to Quebec.There is added incentive to being recognized as the best player in the league. Lindros has a clause in his contract that stipulates if he wins the Hart Trophy as league MVP, his salary is automatically adjusted to be the average of the top five in the league with the exception of Gretzky and Lemieux. That would give him a raise of about $1.1 million on his yearly $3.5 million salary.The bottom line, right now, might be this: Lindros is on his way to doing much of what was predicted for him three years and so many controversies ago. But he really has just started on that journey. &#9632;

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IS BIG NO. 88 NO. 11N NHL?

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-012152/10085663-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Alexei Yashin has scored nearly one-third of Ottawa&rsquo;s goals. (photo by Jim Leany/BBS)</figcaption></div>He has had to cope with a public and very bitter contract dispute, a rough stint in the International League during the lockout, his father being seriously injured in a car accident and criticism from some of his teammates for being selfish.Off the ice, it has been a hellish season for Ottawa Senators&rsquo; sophomore center Alexei Yashin.On the ice, he has performed like he&rsquo;s heaven-sent for the third-year franchise, the singularly bright offensive light for the perennially last-place team.Through his first 25 games, the 21-year-old had 17 goals. Projected over an 84-game schedule, that&rsquo;s a 57-goal season. He had scored almost one-third of the club&rsquo;s goals. No other player in the league comes close to matching that contribution.&ldquo;A lot of people don&rsquo;t know how good this kid is,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great competitor and a solid, solid team guy. They say there are players who are worth the price of admission. Well, he&rsquo;s one of them.&rdquo;Yashin has enhanced his reputation as one of the game&rsquo;s best young players despite distractions that might have rendered others ineffective.During the summer, he claimed a promise that he could renegotiate the five-year, $4-million (U.S.) deal he signed in 1993 was revoked and at one point demanded a trade. Senators&rsquo; GM Randy Sexton said a renegotiation promise was never made.The situation was resolved just in time for Yashin, who was less than brilliant for the IHL&rsquo;s Las Vegas Thunder during the lockout, to start the NHL season. Yashin now has bonuses tied to the club&rsquo;s performance which could earn him an additional $400,000 (U.S.) a season.If the club achieves them this year-which doesn&rsquo;t look likely-he could have his deal redone after this season. If not, it will be done in the summer of 1996.Yashin&rsquo;s troubles continued when his 49-year-old father, Valery, was seriously injured in a one-car accident Feb. 8 in Ottawa. Valery sustained fractured vertebrae, a collapsed lung, broken ribs and required surgery on his elbow.Yashin played that night against the Montreal Canadiens.On Feb. 28, after he had returned home, Valery suffered a seizure and was rushed to hospital. After spending the day at his father&rsquo;s bedside, Yashin played that night against the Hartford Whalers.Valery, once a regular at his son&rsquo;s games and practices, has since recovered enough that he can once again make occasional visits to the Civic Centre.Meanwhile, Yashin had to contend with teammates&rsquo; claims he was selfish with the puck and ice time.Yashin and fellow sophomore Alexandre Daigle were criticized by the club&rsquo;s captains after a loss against the Florida Panthers Feb. 15. They were both scratched by Bowness for the next game.&ldquo;Some of the stuff they said in the newspaper made our hair stand on end,&rdquo; Yashin&rsquo;s mother, Tatiana, told the Ottawa Citizen.The captains&rsquo; comments led to a post-game confrontation involving Yashin&rsquo;s agent Mark Gandler, Tatiana and Senator players Randy Cunney-worth and Troy Murray.&ldquo;They should go to the bathroom, look in the mirror and throw up,&rdquo; said Gandler of the captains.Through it all, Yashin has remained a rock. He refuses to talk about anything but what he does when he&rsquo;s on the ice.&ldquo;All my decisions are made to try and help the team,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;Sometimes I make mistakes.&rdquo;While Yashin has never admitted as much, it&rsquo;s believed he was (and still is) miffed at management for two personnel decisions: the trading of linemate Bob Kudelski, who worked well with Yashin, and the failure to sign Dan Quinn, who scored seven goals in the final 13 games of last season playing with Yashin.But through it all, Yashin keeps delivering.He has incredible hands, which makes up for any skating shortcomings he may have. He seldom loses a battle for the puck along the boards and his size, 6-foot-3 and 216-pounds, allows him to bull his way to the net when finesse won&rsquo;t work.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a franchise player,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; goaltender Craig Billington. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s right up there now in the top echelon of players. And you know what? He&rsquo;s only going to get better.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Alexei excellent despite turmoil

<div class="byline">By Epic Duhattchek</div>One team advanced to the Stanley Cup final last spring and came within a goal of winning it all.The other won the Pacific Division regularseason title and came within a game of knocking off the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round.The Canucks and Calgary Flames were supposed to be the best teams in the NHL&rsquo;s worst division.Instead, they stumbled out of the gate, played half-heartedly in mid-season and as April approached, were dangerously close to missing the playoffs. Not a single team in the Pacific had a winning record-a disgrace for the Flames and Canucks, two teams that should be so much better than they are right now.At least two Pacific teams will make the playoffs and Calgary and Vancouver are the two most talented. But there&rsquo;s an important distinction between good teams playing poorly and mediocre teams doing as well as their personnel permits.The Edmonton Oilers could be the most physi-cal team in the NHL by year&rsquo;s end. The San Jose Sharks took one step backward to move two forward. but with their glut of young talent they could become very good, very fast. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Los Angeles Kings are two teams pasted together with Band Aids. Anaheim&rsquo;s excuse is it is a second-year franchise. I&rsquo;m still trying to figure out who to blame for the decline and fall of the Kings.In Calgary, however, the Flames have skilled players who lack grit and gritty players who lack skill. When everyone is on the same page, doing what they&rsquo;re supposed to do, they can be a preUy effective team-as they&rsquo;ve demonstrated a number of times.On the nights when the skilled players are absent from the scoresheet and the gritty players try to compensate with goals, they can get bombed by the worst teams in the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021512/10085694-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="344" height="461"></div>In Vancouver, it&rsquo;s pretty much the same story. It&rsquo;s easier to point the finger at a single culprit-the disappointing Pavel Bure-simply because: a) Bure makes $4.5 million; and b) because alter scoring 60 goals last year, he had just nine in 24 games. On paper, both the Flames and Canucks have the personnel to produce more offense. They&rsquo;re just not getting it done when it matters most. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s because we&rsquo;re not ready to play,&rdquo; said Canucks&rsquo; captain Trevor Linden. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not prepared to do the little things to win games.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not getting 20 guys going the same way all the time,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; right winger Ron Stem.The difference is in their respective attitudes. The Flames believe that all will eventually be well in their world-that a 2-6-2 run in mid-March was part of the cycle of the season. Maybe.The Canucks know they came within a hair of missing the playoffs altogether last year and the mathematics of the short season give you fewer opportunities to dig yourself out of an early grave.Linden will acknowledge that simply gaining a playoff spot is the No. 1 consideration. Over on the Flames&rsquo; side, they&rsquo;re not even aware it&rsquo;s a race.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not just going to be able to turn the switch on when it&rsquo;s time to turn the switch on,&rdquo; Linden said. &ldquo;To say we&rsquo;re going to play poorly throughout the season and turn it on again in the playoffs is asking a lot. You&rsquo;re fooling yourself if you think you can do that.&rdquo;&ldquo;Making the playoffs&rsquo;? It&rsquo;s not concerning me,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; center Joel Otto. &ldquo;We can play with Detroit. St. Louis. Chicago. I&rsquo;ve been through this so many times. It&rsquo;s going to happen. We&rsquo;ll break through and have a good stretch.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-02

Who’s playoff-bound in pathetic Pacific?

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012404/10085732-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="352" height="497"></div>Pulp Fiction has nothing on some of the thinking around the NHL. As a public service, here are some distinctions between fairy tale and fact.Myth: The Quebec Nordiques are a Stanley Cup contender.Reality: Joe Sakic, Owen Nolan and Wendel Clark are impressive, but they&rsquo;re all up front. The Nordiques&rsquo; defense hovers between average and mediocre with a heavier tilt toward the latter. But what separates the Nordiques from Cup contention is the goaltending, which shows no signs of being capable of withstanding playoff pressure. A first-round exit would not be surprising.Myth: Jacques Demers is a two-year wonder.Reality: The Demers act is real. He&rsquo;s a gregarious, sensitive, caring coach who also happens to have more than a few brains in his head. He won a Stanley Cup with a team that had no business taking it in 1993 and has kept the current club afloat despite a thin defense and an attack that begins with Kirk Muller and ends with Mark Recchi.Myth: Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s return converts the Buffalo Sabres into a playoff threat.Reality: Sorry, but the Sabres without LaFontaine were a lot like the Pittsburgh Penguins without Mario Lemieux. Absence of a superstar imposes a team togetherness that often is more effective than star-reliance. What Buffalo gains from the addition of LaFontaine, it loses in the departure from an effective defense-first philosophy.Myth: Eric Lindros is a creep.Reality: The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; captain has matured into a thoughtful, captivating and thoroughly intelligent personality who looms as the game&rsquo;s best salesman.Myth: The NHL is not worried about the International League.Reality: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman&rsquo;s propaganda ministry keeps pooh-poohing the IHL as a threat while the &lsquo;I&rsquo; keeps stepping on NHL toes in Chicago and Detroit. When the IHL&rsquo;s brand new clubs further trespass onto NHL turf and move into Los Angeles and San Francisco next fall, you&rsquo;ll hear a banshee cry from New York that will be the signal for all-out war.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021763/10085725-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="486" height="845"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine</figcaption></div>Myth: Wayne Gretzky is washed-up.Reality: Put Gretzky on the Detroit Red Wings or Chicago Blackhawks and you&rsquo;d hardly notice his defensive shortcomings. The Great One might even be the Art Ross Trophy winner since he still can dish a delicious pass, but he&rsquo;s on the road to retirement in Los Angeles.Myth: NHL vice-president Brian Burke will improve officiating by using videos and other technological advances.Reality: For the past decade, the league hasn&rsquo;t figured out which direction it&rsquo;s going vis-a-vis officiating. One year referees are told to crack down on restraining fouls; the next year they&rsquo;re told to restrain themselves. One season fighting is out; the next season it&rsquo;s in. Rules that are in the book are never called and rules that are not in the book are manufactured.Myth: Manon Rheaume is a hockey player.Reality: The real goods in the Rheaume family rest with Pascal, who plays for the Albany River Rats. He&rsquo;s one of the American League&rsquo;s best faceoff men and top defensive checkers. The day Manon hooks up a full-time job with a men&rsquo;s pro team is the day Pascal wins the Hart Trophy.Myth: Hockey is the world&rsquo;s fastest team sport.Reality: Maybe a decade or three ago, but not today. With the surplus of clutching, grabbing, chronic interference and other uncalled restraining fouls, stickhandling up ice these days is like skating through linguini.Myth: Getting on the Fox Network is the greatest thing that has happened to the NHL since the invention of artificial ice.Reality: If playoff games are as dreadfully boring as too many regular-season games have been, Fox&rsquo;s ratings will be pitiful. And if the Calgary Flames meet Quebec in the Stanley Cup final, Fox will wish it had coughed up its bucks for bathtub racing. &#9632;

f0010-01

Nordiques not real Stanley Cup threat

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; center Mike Peca says he is ready to forgive and forget. Whether the Winnipeg Jets are willing to reciprocate, he&rsquo;s not so sure.Understand one thing: The Jets don&rsquo;t like Mike. Twice in two games enforcer Tie Domi has tried to hunt the 21-year-old down. Teemu Selanne thinks he was the victim of a late hit from Peca. Dallas Drake was embarrassed by him.The Jets respect Peca, certainly. They want revenge, very likely. Some lacking in courage might even want to be more like him. But like him? Not a chance.Peca, a 5-foot-ll, 180-pound rookie who apparently knows no fear, is public enemy No. 1 in Winnipeg after a pair of crushing open-ice hits on Selanne and Drake in consecutive visits to Winnipeg Arena Feb. 9 and March 14.He caught Selanne admiring a pass just over center ice and nailed him, arguably late, and sparked a near brawl. The hit on Drake, just outside the Winnipeg blueline, left the Jets&rsquo; winger spinning on the ice like a rag doll.So when Peca returns to Winnipeg April 7 for the last regular-season meeting between the two teams, he&rsquo;ll keep his head up.&ldquo;For me it&rsquo;ll be just another game,&rdquo; Peca said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;ve got it out of their system.&rdquo;But you can be sure his tail won&rsquo;t be between his legs. If there was any time to back down, it would have been on Peca&rsquo;s return to Winnipeg.It was only his third game back after missing 12 games with a fractured cheekbone (suffered on the Selanne hit) and the scrutiny was intense.Domi had been warned against retaliating by league senior vice-president Brian Burke. Winnipeg media surrounded Peca as he got off the bus for the pre-game skate to ask &ldquo;if I was as scared as they thought I was.&rdquo;He stepped on the ice for his first shift during a stoppage in play two minutes into the game to hisses from a season-high 15,556 Winnipeg fans. Jets&rsquo; coach John Paddock sent Domi over the boards.But all Peca had on his mind was proving he would not be intimidated.&ldquo;I wanted to get involved physically early, whether it was get hit or hit someone else,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a big thing to do, to show myself how I&rsquo;d react.&rdquo;The opportunity presented itself almost immediately. Drake received a suicide pass coming out of his own end. Peca clobbered him.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031138/10085763-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="896" height="1895"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Peca is public enemy No. 1 in the city of Winnipeg. (Photo by C.J. Relke)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I had my head down and he caught me, nothing wrong with that,&rdquo; Drake said. But he didn&rsquo;t feel so kindly at the time. He got up, went after Peca and gave him a cross check. Domi came by and gave him a facewash. The Canucks scored on a 5-on-3 power play.&ldquo;He stood up to the occasion, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; Domi said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t run and hide. I didn&rsquo;t even know who he was until he flattened Teemu.&rdquo;Peca&rsquo;s resilience in the face of pressure surprised even his own teammates.&ldquo;I think he really showed how much courage he has,&rdquo; said winger Geoff Courtnall. &ldquo;He just nailed Dallas. It just showed the kid is here to play.&rdquo;Peca, chosen 40th overall by the Canucks in the 1992 draft, has been a welcome addition to a team in desperate need of a playmaking center. Peca doesn&rsquo;t fill that void yet-he had four goals and seven points in 16 games-but was playing on a line with Trevor Linden and Sergio Mom-esso.Though he led the team in scoring during the pre-season, Peca isn&rsquo;t a fancy player and never will be, said his junior coach, Brian Kilrea of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Ottawa 67&rsquo;s.Peca led Ottawa in scoring in 1992-93 and &rsquo;93-94, but it was his leadership that had the most impact. &ldquo;What he did for us we&rsquo;U never forget,&rdquo; Kilrea said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 170 pounds, but he&rsquo;s almost like Indian rubber.&rdquo; Come after him and he bounces back.There are still some things for Peca to work on. Canuck coaches told him his work ethic waned in two road games after Winnipeg. Watching tapes later, Peca could see they were right.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be the kind of guy who can play on the first line and still play defensively,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to be a leader someday on this hockey team.&rdquo;But now he&rsquo;s just happy earning the respect of veterans-on his team or others. After the Drake hit, both Drake and Domi were telling him he was going to die. Peca is proud of that.&ldquo;At this level,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;they make more of a point to let you know they&rsquo;re going to get you back and seek vengeance.&ldquo;It was just a thrill to be booed my first time in an NHL arena.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-03

Designated hitter

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Gentlemen, start your telephones.The NHL trading deadline is looming-it&rsquo;s April 7 at 3 p.m. (EST) and there is speculation there will be plenty of player movement.That&rsquo;s because in the shortened 48-game schedule, the majority of teams still have a shot at making the playoffs and there are a number of teams which consider themselves legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.Last season there were 18 D-Day transactions involving 32 players and eight draft picks. This year promises to be every bit as active.&ldquo;I think you will see the normal flurry of trades at the deadline,&rdquo; said New York Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith. &ldquo;It definitely won&rsquo;t just be another day at the office.&rdquo;&ldquo;Our league is getting more like other leagues that are very cyclical. Teams that know they are not contenders make moves that will possibly make them contenders next season, sort of how junior teams have done it for years.&rdquo;Deals at the deadline generally fall into one of two categories-acquiring immediate help for a run at the Cup or trading away a front-line player with high market value for a package of players who will help in the future. The two often go hand-in-hand.Florida Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray said you face tough decisions either way. Last season, when he ran the Detroit Red Wings, Murray traded two weeks before the deadline to address his team&rsquo;s goaltending. The move to get Bob Essensa from the Winnipeg Jets didn&rsquo;t help; the Red Wings were upset in the first round of playoffs and Murray lost his job.Murray&rsquo;s Panthers have a shot at making the playoffs in just their second season, but are not a Cup threat. Making a move at the deadline for the future could be perceived as giving up on this season.&ldquo;Obviously you want to make the playoffs so the players are rewarded for all their hard work,&rdquo; Murray said.There has been speculation the Panthers would part with John Vanbies-brouck, but Murray said he had neither made nor received a call concerning the star goaltender&rsquo;s availability.A lot of players might relish the idea of moving to a contending team. Vanbiesbrouck doesn&rsquo;t think that way.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a danger in thinking that way because if you do, it could affect your play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My goal is to win the Stanley Cup and my goal is to win it with this team. Until my circumstances change, my focus won&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Murray may trade veteran checking center Brian Skrudland, a solid two-way performer with leadership qualities who could fill the role with a contender similar to the one Craig MacTavish did with the Rangers last season.Deadline deals can go a long way toward pushing a team over the top. When the Pittsburgh Penguins won their first Cup in 1990-91, it was after acquiring center Ron Francis and defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings from the Hartford Whalers at the deadline.They repeated as champions the next season after once again making another big deadline trade-this time getting right winger Rick Tocchet, defenseman Kjell Samuelsson and goalie Ken Wregget from the Philadelphia Flyers.The Rangers Keenan-ized their team at the deadline last season, acquiring role players who provided the Rangers with depth, grit and experience in three deals. Smith has vowed to be active again as his Rangers attempt to repeat as Cup champs.&ldquo;You have to materially and psychologically improve the team,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;You have to do something so the players believe they are a better team and stand a better chance at winning than before the deal.&rdquo;Smith did that when he acquired Pat Verbeek from the Hartford Whalers March 23 for spare defenseman Glen Featherstone, minor league defenseman Michael Stewart and two draft picks, including a 1995 first rounder.A number of prominent players have been mentioned as candidates to move. Expect the New York Islanders to trade veteran right winger Steve Thomas.Another team likely to make a move is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Semifinalists the past two seasons, the Leafs have struggled to stay at.500 and need help on the blueline.<h2>MOST LIKELY TO BE TRADED</h2>Brian Bellows heads the list of candidates for trade-at least in terms of salary. Listed are 1994-95 full-season salary and final season of current contract, except for those who have filed for arbitration. Asterisks indicate U.S. dollar-contracts for Canadian-based players.15 Players Who Could Be Traded1. Brian Bellows. Montreal 30$975,000* Contract expires: Arbitration2. John Vanbiesbrouck, Florida 31$950,000 Contract expires: 1994-953. Steve Thomas, Islanders 31$837,000 Contract expires: 1994-954. Nelson Emerson, Winnipeg 27$798,000 Contract expires: 1995-965. Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Philadelphia 24$900,000 Contract expires: 1995-966. Bryan Marchment, Edmonton 25$750,000 Contract expires: 1996-977. Pat Falloon, San Jose 22$750,000 Contract expires: 1996-978. Claude Lemieux. New Jersey 29$700,000 Contract expires: 1994-959. Brian Skrudland Florida 31$700,000 Contract expires: 1995-9610. Chris Terreri, New Jersey 30 $600,000 Contract expires: Arbitration11. Scott Young, Quebec 25$600,000 Contract expires: Arbitration12. Tom Kurvers. Anaheim 32$525,000 Contract expires: 1995-9613. Tie Domi, Winnipeg 25$400,000* Contract expires: 1994-9514. Craig Billington Ottawa 28$300,000* Contract expires: 1994-9515. Corey Hirsch Rangers 22$290,000 Contract expires: 1996-97<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011992/10085815-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="540" height="621"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Bellows</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021451/10085808-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="510" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Thomas</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03971/10085801-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="528" height="631"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nelson Emerson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06472/10085794-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="576" height="1720"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Prepare for trade flurry as deadline approaches

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04724/10085860-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="388" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Housley</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05563/10085853-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="408" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Skrudland</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-07420/10085846-1-eng-US/f0011-072.jpg" title="f0011-07" width="2550" height="1164"></div> &#9632;

f0011-04

THE HOCKEY NEWS TRADE DEADLINE SKINNY

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>Peter Bondra hasn&rsquo;t been caught in a trap this season.While a host of high-profile super-stars have struggled under swarms of neutral zone checkers, the Washington Capitals&rsquo; right winger has thrived.Bondra recorded at least one shot on goal in the Capitals&rsquo; first 29 games and scored 15 goals, far and away the highest figure on the team. He was on pace to better last year&rsquo;s 69-game total of 24 goals, a figure that was boosted enormously by a five-goal night recorded against the Tampa Bay Lightning.Like most NHL players, Bondra sees increased traffic between the red lines.&ldquo;In the neutral zone, if you play against Ottawa, there&rsquo;s no room there, there are four guys there holding you,&rdquo; Bondra said. &ldquo;Even if you dump the puck in, they don&rsquo;t let you go chase it. You need so much skating to get through the checkers.&rdquo;Always one of the league&rsquo;s fastest skaters, Bondra once scored most of his goals from the rush. But since odd-man situations are almost nonexistent in the NHL. Bondra has generated new chances by snaring loose pucks and cycling out of the comer.&ldquo;The game is being played more defensively so of course you&rsquo;re going to change your game as well,&rdquo; said Bondra, a 27-year-old Slovak who moved from the Ukraine to Czechoslovakia at the age of three. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t get as many chances off the rush. You have to fight much more to get through and when you get a chance off the rush, you&rsquo;ve got to score.&rdquo;Bondra spent the off-season adding weight to his upper body. By the time the season started, he had boosted his weight from 194 pounds to about 203.Suddenly, contact and defensive play, two of Bondra&rsquo;s banes in his first four years in the league, became manageable. Bondra&rsquo;s defensive game has improved to the point that he is now holding down a spot on the Capitals&rsquo; penalty-killing unit.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t strong enough, even last year, but with a new coach, Jim Schoenfeld, he wants you to play tough,&rdquo; Bondra said. &ldquo;I worked on that during the lockout, there wasn&rsquo;t anything else to do. It was tough, but I worked out my upper body and I feel much more comfortable. I can hit people.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012340/10085891-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="864" height="1879"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Bondra holds the NHL record for the fastest four goals (Photo by Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s using his speed as an asset a lot more,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said, &ldquo;not only to go wide on a defenseman or drive the net, but to get on an opponent and to create a lot more turnovers. He&rsquo;s stronger now and with strength comes extra confidence.&rdquo;For most of the season, Bondra has been paired with Michal Pivonka at center and Dmitri Khristich at left wing. The combination, a staple of the Capitals&rsquo; attack two seasons ago, has prospered in large part due to a career season by the gifted but inconsistent Pivonka, who has moved the puck with a precision and economy rarely seen in his previous seven NHL campaigns.Bondra, a left-hand shooting right winger, has been the natural recipient for passes from the left-hand shooting Pivonka.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re seeing Pivonka moving the puck really well to Peter,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;He can find Peter when he goes to the net.&rdquo;&ldquo;Two years ago, we played the same combination and we had a successful year,&rdquo; Bondra said. &ldquo;I really like the way we play, we see each other pretty well. I can use my speed and Michal makes such good passes. We can all score, every game it seems one of us gets a chance.&rdquo;Last season, Bondra slumped after his remarkable five-goal night and struggled to stay in the lineup late in the year. Schoenfeld said there is a vast difference between last year&rsquo;s version of Bondra and the 1995 edition.&ldquo;The biggest difference between this year and last for Peter is that he has made a commitment,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;Playing a more physical game can take a toll on you, but it has been something that Peter has been far more willing to do this season.&rdquo;Bondra&rsquo;s ability to score has never been questioned. He scored 37 times in his second full NHL season and while limited abilities as a playmaker have always hampered his assists total, he owns one of the more accurate and powerful shots in the league.He is also one of the most anonymous record holders in the league. Bondra scored four goals in 4:12 in the Tampa Bay game and holds the record for the fastest four goals.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know it was a record until the Hall of Fame got my stick after the game,&rdquo; Bondra said. &ldquo;Wayne Gretzky has all those records so it felt good to have one.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Cruising in neutral

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-012041/10085929-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="360" height="493"></div>When the St. Louis Blues landed Mike Keenan last summer, one NHL executive viewed it as a perfect fit.&ldquo;At least now we&rsquo;ve got all the lunatics under the same roof,&rdquo; quipped a league GM.The joke is reflective of how Keenan&rsquo;s motives and tactics are perceived. Some consider it craziness, others genius.In two months with the Blues, Keenan did little to change that thinking. In fact, there are those who believe a psychiatric evaluation may be in order based on the way he has tinkered with his team&rsquo;s lineup.If the daily departures to the team&rsquo;s International League affiliate in Peoria and the Craig Janney affair weren&rsquo;t enough to make people stop and take notice, his move of Brett Hull from right wing to center certainly caught people&rsquo;s attention.Move Hull to center? The idea was (take your pick)&hellip;Crazy. Nutso. Off the wall. Bizarre. Wacko. Ludicrous. Pure Keenan. Sheer desperation. All of the above.&ldquo;We had a need at center,&rdquo; Keenan said, &ldquo;and Brett agreed to give it a try, to see if maybe he could help out. So, why not give it a try?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just an experiment. If it works, it&rsquo;s a plus. If not,Brett goes back. He&rsquo;s fine with it.&rdquo;Hull was taking the situation with the usual combination of humor and thoughtfulness which often makes it difficult to determine how he really feels.&ldquo;The way I look at it,&rdquo; Hull said, &ldquo;is that I&rsquo;ve been complaining about my centers since we traded Adam (Oates). Now, I can&rsquo;t complain about my center. I am my center.&rdquo;Among other things, that has meant taking faceoffs, a skill more difficult than it appears.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they wanted to tell me the (faceoff) stats after the first couple (of games),&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;But I think I&rsquo;m getting better.&rdquo;By the time the Blues showed up in Anaheim for what turned into a 5-3 win over the Mighty Ducks, Hull was actually winning his share of faceoffs. However, he was not scoring goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021422/10085922-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="468" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull</figcaption></div>During the first four games of what should turn out to be a very temporary arrangement, Hull had one assist, was minus-3 and had no goals.You either have to be crazy to move a goal-a-game machine such as Hull off his wing or you&rsquo;ve got to be desperate: Chalk this move up to early desperation and Keenan&rsquo;s insane and insatiable desire to win in the playoffs.The Hull switch came within days of a defeat to the Detroit Red Wings. It was a defeat in which it became very clear the Wings owned a huge advantage at center and Keenan became desperate to alter that situation.What you can read into this is the Blues are not sold on Guy Carbon-neau&rsquo;s ability to neutralize the Red Wings in a possible playoff matchup and the Blues&rsquo; general lack of confidence they can push very deep into the playoffs with their present lineup.So why did Keenan trade Janney to the San Jose Sharks and not get a center in return?How could a team in need of a center send Ian Laperriere back to the minors, even if it was only for a short stretch during which Hull started playing the middle?Whether it makes sense or not, Keenan believed Laperriere needed some fine tuning and was thinking addition by subtraction when he sent Janney packing to get a defenseman, Jeff Norton, in return.Actually, the Blues still need a real banger on the blueline, but not as much as they need a center. Keenan can continue to shuffle, talk about an overall game plan at center, rather than the one &ldquo;go-to&rdquo; guy, and make lateral moves with his personnel.But you have to know when the playoffs roll around, Hull will be back riding shotgun on the right side and the Blues will have made a trading deadline maneuver to get a center.In the meantime, it has become evident Hull has bought into Keenan&rsquo;s do-anything-to-win philosophy. The Golden Brett just better be praying goaltender Curtis Joseph doesn&rsquo;t get injured. &#9632;

f0013-01

Hull at center of Keenan craziness

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Brad May became a million-dollar player in the off-season. That hardly makes him unique in today&rsquo;s NHL, but it still means he&rsquo;s under pressure to produce.And he simply hasn&rsquo;t been doing it this season. The 23-year-old bruising left winger for the Buffalo Sabres has come under intense heat for a lack of production in 1995 after signing a contract that would have paid him just over $1 million in a full season.May&rsquo;s hands have caused him all kinds of problems. He had just three goals and five points in 22 games before breaking his hand in four places with a punch to the head of Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Ulf Samuelsson March 11.The inauspicious start earned May a starting role on THN&rsquo;s We Expected More From You team.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been disappointed in my play at all,&rdquo; May said. &ldquo;If you watch tapes of our games you&rsquo;d see I have had a lot of chances and some good fights.&ldquo;People see that you sign a big contract and automatically expect your numbers to go up. They don&rsquo;t seem satisfied when you just go out and do the same things that got you the big contract-which is what I am doing.&rdquo;May had inched closer and closer to becoming a consistent impact player in each of his three seasons with the Sabres, improving from 11 goals as a feisty rookie in 1991-92 to 13 to 18 last season.He broke into the league with both guns blazing, willing to fight anyone anytime, but his penalty minutes were reduced each year from freshman to 242 to 171 last season.This season he has taken a step backward. May was on pace, prior to hurting his hand, to score seven goals.Pro-rated over an 84-game schedule that&rsquo;s just 12 goals.Buffalo coach-GM John Muckier said he is pleased with the way May has played this season, but feels he could take another step toward be coming a consistent NHL power for-ward.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not Pat LaFontaine or Alexander Mogilny,&rdquo; Muckier said. &ldquo;He is a power forward capable of taking his game to the point where he scores 20-25 goals, works the comers and drives to the net. If we made him available, every team in the league would want him.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-031023/10085960-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="864" height="1855"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad May vows he&rsquo;ll come back to have a monster playoff.</figcaption></div>For his part, May promised better things in the future.&ldquo;I believe things happen for a rea-son. I hurt my hand and I&rsquo;ll miss a month, but when I come back there will be 10 games left and then the playoffs-my favorite time of year. I&rsquo;ll prove you guys wrong about me.&rdquo;May is in some pretty good com-pany.The We Expected More From You team is made up of players who showed signs of taking their game to a higher level, but have slipped this season.Rookies and veterans having off-years were exempt and inclusion on the team could be temporary; we acknowledge there&rsquo;s still a third of the season to be played.Rounding out the team are:Goalie: Little Arturs Irbe was the NHL&rsquo;s busiest-and one of the league&rsquo;s most successful-goaltender last season, winning games singlehandedly for the San Jose Sharks. His shaky performances this season are one reason why the Sharks are swimming in dangerous waters.Defense: Patrice Brisebois seemed ready to become an offensive force on the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; blueline when he scored 10 goals and 31 points as a sophomore in 1992-93. Brisebois dipped to a disappointing two goals and 23 points in 53 games last season and has been ineffective at both ends this season.&#9632; There was a day, not too long ago, when the Islanders thought Vladimir Malakhov was going to be the next Ray Bourque. He no longer draws those comparisons. Malakhov has tremendous offensive instincts, but too often makes bad plays. His rushes rarely amount to much.Forward: Time could be running out in Pittsburgh for Penguins&rsquo; right winger Markus Naslund. When he does something, it&rsquo;s usually brilliant. But then he disappears for long stretches. A lack of consistency is a flaw.&#9632; New York Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith admits he has been disappointed with center Petr Nedved&rsquo;s play this season, but cautions he will be careful before making any decision to move him because of Nedved&rsquo;s age.Nedved, 24, scored 38 goals for the Vancouver Canucks in 1992-93, but has not accomplished much since then.After a good training camp with the Rangers, Nedved has been ineffective in the regular season, playing too much of his game on the perimeter. &#9632;

f0013-03

Great Expectations

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>You can make a goalie richer by paying him a lot of money. The problem is, you can&rsquo;t make him any better.That is the moral of the story of Bob Essensa, whom the Detroit Red Wings will pay about $600,000 this season for working in the plush purgatory of the San Diego Gulls in the International League.&ldquo;If I had the choice of sitting in the press box in Detroit or playing games down here, I&rsquo;d want to do what I&rsquo;m doing right now,&rdquo; Essensa said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the middle of the pack in terms of the standings, but I&rsquo;m getting in games and hopefully I&rsquo;ll get into a position where a team will notice me and get me back in the NHL.&rdquo;A year ago, Essensa was traded to a Stanley Cup favorite in Detroit from the struggling Winnipeg Jets. Tim Chevel-dae had become a hockey pinata in Detroit and the Wings, desperate for a playoff goalie, signed Essensa to a $3.8-million three-year, one-way contract.But Essensa was a poorly cast saviour. Aside from a remarkable 1991-92 season, when he led the league in shutouts, he has never been anything but a workmanlike mid-dle-of-the road NHL goalie. Last season was only the second in Essensa&rsquo;s career he had managed to post a sub-3.00 goals-against average.Playing behind a flaccid defense, Essensa won just four of the 13 regular-season games in which he appeared, flubbed his only start in the playoffs and was swept aside along with his patron, Bryan Murray, before the Red Wings landed Mike Vemon from the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;I played decent at the end of the season, but during the playoffs I got my one start and didn&rsquo;t play worth a damn,&rdquo; Essensa said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t complain I didn&rsquo;t get my one shot. I did. I didn&rsquo;t make the most of it.&rdquo;Through it all, Essensa retained his self-esteem. He never hid from the media after a poor game and told people he was doing his best.The Red Wings, top heavy in goal with Vemon and Chris Osgood, loaned Essensa to the Gulls after the lockout ended. He has been piecing his game together in a rotation with another Detroit cast-off, IHL all-star Allan Bester. So far, Essensa has racked up fair numbers (5-5-1, 3.26 GAA,.900 save percentage).Essensa has won admirers in San Diego.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012318/10085991-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="864" height="1894"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Essensa isn&rsquo;t bitter about how things unfolded in Detroit (Photo by Mel Bailey)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d think there could be problems since he was coming down from the NHL, but he told me right from the first minute, he&rsquo;d do whatever I asked,&rdquo; said Gulls&rsquo; coach Walt Kyle. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great team guy. I&rsquo;m really glad to have him around.&rdquo;&ldquo;From the first practice, you can see guys who are bad guys trying to put on a good face,&rdquo; said Gulls&rsquo; GM Don Waddell. &ldquo;Bob&rsquo;s not like that. He wants to get back to the NHL, but he&rsquo;s giving us the kind of veteran leadership you need.&rdquo;Essensa, meanwhile, remains locked out of the NHL by his salary as much as his play.&ldquo;If my contract was different, I would have been given the opportunity,&rdquo; Essensa said. &ldquo;Obviously the size of it scares some people away.&rdquo;Goalies of comparable ability such as Vincent Riendeau, Jeff Hackett, Jeff Reese, Ron Tugnutt and J.C. Bergeron are all drawing major league stipends. Cheveldae will earn $1.1 million (U.S.) with the Jets this season and is in a battle for the No. 1 job with rookie Nikolai Khabibulin.Essensa was scheduled to make $1.2 million this year, but the lockout cost him more than half of that. The Gulls will pick up about $50,000.The Red Wings have limited options and none are cheap. No one will touch Essensa at his current price. He has already cleared waivers and unless they are willing to pick up the lion&rsquo;s share of his contract, he will stay in San Diego.The club can buy Essensa out, swallowing a $2.3-million hit. Essensa is then free to sign with anyone as a free agent.&ldquo;A buyout would certainly open a few doors for me,&rdquo; Essensa said. &ldquo;I could take the two thirds, sock it away and sign for whatever I could anywhere else.&rdquo;In his last tour of the minors with the Moncton Hawks in 1990 and 1991, Essensa rode the buses. In $an Diego, most of the travel is by air and ports of call include Atlanta. Houston, Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas. An avid golfer, Essensa spends his summers in South Carolina and is challenging his six handicap several times a week.Still, Essensa wants back, even if it means a return to a situation like the one he encountered in Detroit.&ldquo;I enjoyed the pressure, to be honest with you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like being the go-to man, the quarterback back there, the guy who is under the gun. That&rsquo;s where I&rsquo;d like to be again.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

What about Bob?

<div class="byline">-Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021426/10086029-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="524" height="853"><figcaption class="caption-body">Milos Holan</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-012005/10086036-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="120" height="111"></div>The Philadelphia Flyers didn&rsquo;t have much use for Milos Holan, leaving him with the Hershey Bears of the American League so long he exercised an option in his contract to go home to the Czech Republic.The Quebec Nordiques didn&rsquo;t have a spot for Dave Karpa and his troublesome right wrist, either.But the two 23-year-old defensemen have found new life in Anaheim, immediately grabbing spots in the lineup after being acquired by the Mighty Ducks in early March.Mighty Ducks&rsquo; GM Jack Ferreira continued his trend of dealing aging or out-of-favor veterans for prospects when he gave up center Anatoli Semenov for Holan, who had played only eight NHL games.Holan&rsquo;s hard shot gave a quick boost to the dismal Duck power play, and Semenov had outlasted his usefulness in Anaheim, finding his way into coach Ron Wilson&rsquo;s doghouse.Holan was given a green light to unleash his shot when he arrived and fired 22 shots on net in his first four games. He had three assists.Karpa was the player Los Angeles had acquired from Quebec, but rejected as unfit to play because of his improperly healed right wrist. The Kings had their trade for him voided.But the Ducks gambled Karpa could wait until the end of the season for surgery and gave up a conditional draft pick to get him. What they got was a hard-nosed defenseman who isn&rsquo;t afraid to hit even if the next hit might end his season.&ldquo;I wish my wrist felt better, but I&rsquo;m not afraid to fight,&rdquo; Karpa said. &ldquo;If they drop the gloves, mine are coming off. I&rsquo;d probably to try throw a left, though.&rdquo;Karpa, a native of Regina, Sask., had 148 penalty minutes in 60 games with Quebec last season and eight in his first four games with the Ducks.NOTEBOOK: Rookie Paul Kariya was riding a seven-game points streak and put together six consecutive two-point games in March&hellip; Center Bob Corkum&rsquo;s sharply disappointing season continued in a 3-3 tie with Los Angeles March 23. Corkum deliberately dislodged the net with 1:07 left in the game, giving the Kings&rsquo; Dan Quinn a penalty shot. Quinn scored, denying Anaheim the victory. Corkum, who led the Ducks with 23 goals last season, had only three goals through his first 23 games.Ducks&rsquo; coach Ron Wilson likes to refer to tough guys Stu Grimson and Todd Ewen as his &ldquo;two missile silos&rdquo; who act as nuclear deterrents. Recently, though, he has sometimes called on only one of them, scratching a healthy Ewen four times in favor of Grimson.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03994/10086022-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="516" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Karpa</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

Unwanted by other teams, Holan, Karpa fitting right in

<div class="byline">by MENNEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-012084/10086098-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="424" height="621"></div>QUESTIONS&hellip;1. True or False. Sheldon Kennedy of the Calgary Flames was the vice on Manitoba&rsquo;s provincial curling team that finished second at the Canadian championships in 1986.2. Which former Boston Bruins&rsquo; goalie (1970s) owns a restaurant in Rhode Island?3. In what year did it become an NHL rule for each team to dress two goaltenders in regular-sea-son games?4. What Dallas Stars&rsquo; center twice played professional soccer and in 1986 appeared in the hockey movie Youngblood?5. Name the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; assistant coach who was the first pick of the Washington Capitals in the 1974 expansion draft.6. The grandfather of which Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman played and coached for Belgium in the 1936 Olympics.7. True or False. Benoit Hogue of the New York Islanders visited his uncle in Venezuela during the NHL lockout.8. Who is the tallest player in the NHL?9. When was the last time the Montreal Canadiens finished with a sub-,500 record during the regular season?10. When is the last time teammates finished one through four in league scoring?11. True or False. In the early days of pro hockey, goalies were penalized for dropping to the ice to stop a puck.12. Who is the only player in the NHL with five consecutive consonants (non-vowel) in his family name.Picture bonus: This Saskatoon native was known for his gritty, relentless work as a super-pest in his 221 games with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 1980s.<h2>ANSWERS&hellip;</h2>1. False.2. Ross Brooks.3. 1965-66.4. Peter Zezel played in both the North American Soccer League and the Canadian Soccer League5. Ron Low.6. Grant Jennings.7. True.8. Defenseman Kjell Samuelsson of the Pittsburgh Penguins is 6-foot-6.9. The 1983-84 Canadiens were 35-40-5.10. In 1973-74, Phil Esposito (145 points). Bobby Orr (122), Ken Hodge (105) and Wayne Cashman (89) topped the NHL scoring derby.11. True. In 1917-18, a rule was introduced to permit goalies to fall to the ice in making a save.12. Dave McLIwain of the Ottawa Senators.Picture bonus: Gary Rissling. &#9632;

f0016-01

TRIVIA SPEED STICK

<div class="byline">-Jim Kelley</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021588/10086129-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="118" height="121"></div>One of the ugliest games the Buffalo Sabres have played this season was followed by one of the ugliest incidents in franchise history.Seconds after the Sabres lost 6-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, coach-GM John Muckier was involved in a physical altercation with a fan in the hallway leading to the Sabres&rsquo; dressing room at the Auditorium.The fan, an assistant district attorney named Vincent G. LoTempio, declined comment on the incident and his boss, district attorney Kevin Dillion, said there would be no comment and no charges filed.Few people witnessed the incident as it lasted just five seconds and most spectators had already left the building. There is only partial video.Muckier said a heckling fan confronted him as he went to the team&rsquo;s dressing room. &ldquo;He told me I was a disgrace to the city of Buffalo,&rdquo; Muckier said. &ldquo;One thing led to another, I shoved him and then 1 went to the dressing room.&rdquo;Another man claiming to be an eye witness said Muckier summoned the man to him and slapped him across the face. The witness said assistant coach John Tortorella then jumped on the riser and grabbed the man and tried to pull him over the railing, but security intervened.&ldquo;I blame security more than anyone else,&rdquo; Muckier said, adding he regretted the incident. &ldquo;People shouldn&rsquo;t be in a position to be involved and they are. We&rsquo;ll cure that problem.&rdquo;Team president Doug Moss said Muckier should have known better.&ldquo;When someone is staring you in the eye and they say you are a so and so, it&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; Moss said. &ldquo;But John has to move on. There&rsquo;s no excuse for him to react the way he did.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Dominik Hasek returned March 24 after missing just three games with a strained rotator cuff. Hasek had been expected to miss at least two weeks&hellip; Alexei Zhitnik sustained a ruptured right calf muscle after a collision with Marc Bergevin of Tampa Bay and may not be back until the playoffs. &#9632;</div>

f0016-02

Miffed Muckier loses cool, takes on Sabres’ heckler

<div class="byline">-Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04850/10086160-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="498" height="906"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theoren Fleury</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031149/10086167-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="136" height="127"></div>Slump? Did somebody say slump?With only two wins in 10 games-in a span of 18 days between March 2 and 20-you could certainly call it that.The biggest reason why the Calgary Flames were unable to put any distance between themselves and the rest of the Pacific Division was their inability to hold onto the lead late in a game.Six times, the Flames carried leads into the 56th minute and didn&rsquo;t win. The result: A total of nine points lost in the first 30 games.Enough was enough. A trio of players-Joe Nieuwendyk, Theo Fleury and Joel Otto-called a team meeting March 21 to discuss the problem.For his part, coach Dave King was trying to keep spirits up, even though the level of play was deteriorating.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not happy with the way they&rsquo;re playing,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;In the dressing room, there has been sincere disgust with the way they&rsquo;ve played. As long as you&rsquo;re seeing that, you&rsquo;re seeing something you can build on.&ldquo;Because that&rsquo;s all you&rsquo;re searching for in a slump-something to build on. It&rsquo;s easy to tear down.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>NOTEBOOK: Zarley Zalapski was fuming about a collision with the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Jason Arnott in a March 20 game. Arnott left his feet to deliver an elbow and received a major. Zalapski was upset, mainly because he&rsquo;d lost his helmet earlier in the shift. &ldquo;He had one thing in mind and that was to hurt me,&rdquo; Zalapski said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;d had a helmet on, it&rsquo;d be a little different story.&rdquo; Zalapski wasn&rsquo;t seriously hurt on the play&hellip; Theoren Fleury broke out of a mini-scoring slump with two goals against the St. Louis Blues in a March 22 game. Fleury had scored only two goals in his previous eight games and according to Dave King, was showing signs of tiring. Said Fleury: &ldquo;The coaching staff and myself have tried to work together to get me as much rest as possible.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-04

Late lapses cost dearly

<div class="byline">-Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05605/10086205-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="510" height="882"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06496/10086198-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="138" height="124"></div>Ed Belfour&rsquo;s contract squabble with the Chicago Blackhawks had a happy ending when heagreed to a three-year deal worth approximately $9 million.Belfour and agent Ron Salcer felt the Hawks were dragging their feet in negotiations, which were finally completed March 17 after Salcer made a trip to Chicago to meet with GM Bob Pulford.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy to have an agreement,&rdquo; Belfour said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have it done and settled. Now I don&rsquo;t have to think about it anymore. I can just play hockey.&rdquo;Belfour denied suggestions the negotiations were affecting his play.&ldquo;If it was a distraction to him, it&rsquo;s not now,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter.Belfour didn&rsquo;t get the kind of deal Mike Richter did with the New York Rangers (four years at $13 million). Pulford didn&rsquo;t deny that&rsquo;s the kind of contract Belfour sought.&ldquo;Everyone wants to be compared with that contract,&rdquo; Pulford said.By signing for three years, Belfour will be an unrestricted free agent after the 1996-97 season at 32.NOTEBOOK: Darryl Sutter hinted Bob Probert may play this season. Sutter said the Hawks shipped Probert&rsquo;s equipment to California, where he remains in drug rehab, so he could begin skating. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be back,&rdquo; Sutter said. Of course, Probert must still get the okay from commissioner Gary Bettman&hellip; Murray Craven made his Hawks&rsquo; debut March 23 at Vancouver and had an assist in a 3-1 victory over the Canucks. Craven was rushed into the lineup after Joe Murphy hurt his knee March 21.Chris Chelios&rsquo; five assists in a 7-3 win at San Jose March 21 was a career high for assists and points in a game. &#9632;</div>

f0016-05

New deal for Belfour

<div class="byline">-Mike Heika</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011783/10086236-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="128" height="101"></div>Darcy Wakaluk had been keeping his temper in check-no small chore for the volatile goalie who inthe past has had a few minor injuries inflicted by walls, doors and promotional automobiles.But March 16 in Detroit, Wakaluk succumbed to his emotions. Following a 5-4 loss to the Red Wings in which Wakaluk was pulled in the second period, he punched a metal door at Joe Louis Arena and broke the ring finger knuckle on his right hand.&ldquo;Emotions got the better of me and now it costs the team,&rdquo; Wakaluk said. &ldquo;Nobody feels worse about it than me.&rdquo;Wakaluk hopes to be back sometime in mid-April, if not earlier. In the meantime, the Stars called up 23-year-old Mike Torchia from Kalamazoo of the International League. Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey said Torchia could expect to play at least a few games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting to a part of the schedule where we could use (Andy Moog) for a while,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;But I think we&rsquo;ll be looking at using the guy who comes up. Eventually, you need relief.&rdquo;Torchia was 18-13-5, with a 2.95 goals-against average in the IHL. Gainey was aware Kalamazoo&rsquo;s other goalie, Manny Fernandez, had better numbers, but preferred Torchia&rsquo;s experience.&ldquo;Fernandez is getting ready for the playoffs up there and that&rsquo;s an experience he hasn&rsquo;t been through yet,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;We thought it would be best for him to experience that and establish himself there.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Dave Gagner had seven goals and 18 points in 12 games in March. He took over the team lead in goals, assists and points&hellip; Mike Donnelly had eight goals and 14 points in 16 games since being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings and had become an instrumental penalty killer.Mike Modano missed four games over a two-week period with a bruised ankle after taking a puck in the foot. &#9632;</div>

f0017-01

Torchia punches in after Wakaluk punches door

<div class="byline">-Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03959/10086267-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="520" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021350/10086274-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="143" height="117"></div>If there is any controversy in the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; camp, it&rsquo;s over the method and degree of physical intimidation necessary to win it all.For years, the Red Wings could boast the toughest team in the league. They seemed to have an unending supply of punch-Bob Probert, Joe Kocur, Randy McKay, Troy Crowder, Basil McRae.But that gravy train has been derailed and it&rsquo;s left some wondering if the Wings can withstand the hits and shots they seem to take on a regular basis.&ldquo;We have (had) to bite our lip on a couple of opportunities,&rdquo; Dino Cic-carelli said. &ldquo;We may be losing the battle a little bit, but it&rsquo;s something we have to do. It hurts sometimes to suck it up for the power-play chance.&rdquo;Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman scoffs at talk the Wings should bring aboard an enforcer to help take the burden off Darren McCarty and Keith Primeau. He was asked if the players would get too tired.&ldquo;Tired?&rdquo; Bowman replied. &ldquo;Tired of taking shots on the power play, maybe. No, we&rsquo;re team tough. And we&rsquo;ve got a tough power play.&rdquo;Everything the Wings do now is geared toward winning in the playoffs and it is a proven fact that once the playoffs start, fighting stops.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;The bottom line is the final score,&rdquo; Paul Coffey said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get me wrong. It would be nice to get an equalizer to go out and beat the crap out of their big guy.&ldquo;But there aren&rsquo;t a whole lot of tough guys out there who can play.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Mike Ramsey was honored before the March 22 game against the Winnipeg Jets for reaching the 1,000-game milestone. He received an engraved crystal statue from team owners Mike and Marian Ilitch and a large action photo from Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; owner Seymour Knox. Ramsey then gave back, scoring his first goal in 63 games&hellip; The Red Wings play 11 of their 16 games in April on the road. &#9632;

f0017-03

Are Red Wings tough enough?

<div class="byline">-Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011962/10086305-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="150" height="148"></div>The kid is a natural.Even before David Oliver&rsquo;s first NHL hat trick (a natural, no less), it was obvious the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; rookie knew his way to the net and exactly what to do when he got there.After a hat trick March 22 in Dallas against the Stars, the 23-year-old right winger led NHL rookies with 13 goals, eight power-play goals and 14 power-play points.The only rookies with more total points than his 22 were $2.8-million boys Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg. With bonus and regular salary, Oliver would have made $410,000 without the lockout.But make no mistake. Oliver is a money player.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have somebody who&rsquo;s a natural goal scorer to make plays to,&rdquo; Shayne Corson said. &ldquo;You give him a chance, nine out of 10 times it&rsquo;s going to be in the back of the net.&rdquo;Oliver has shown a flair for pouncing on rebounds and collecting what some refer to as garbage goals.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of my job,&rdquo; Oliver said. &ldquo;If the puck is there I&rsquo;m supposed to put it in. I&rsquo;ve scored a lot of those goals in my day and I hope it continues.&rdquo;He has been such a sensation that it is hard to imagine coach George Burnett demoting him to the fourth line earlier this season. Oliver&rsquo;s confidence was shot and he needed help. He went to Burnett, veteran defenseman Dean Kennedy and also placed a call to his University of Michigan mentor Red Berenson. They all talked to him about perseverance.&ldquo;For me to do what I&rsquo;ve done all my life, score goals and create offense, you need to be confident in your game,&rdquo; Oliver said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to be full of confidence when you&rsquo;re not playing that much. But I feel like I belong here. I know I can play here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Mike Stapleton&rsquo;s first three goals came on Jan. 22, Feb. 22 and March 22&hellip; Shayne Corson broke a 12-game scoring slump March 17 at San Jose.. .Jason Arnott collected his first career hat trick March 20 against Calgary. &#9632;

f0018-01

Rookie scoring ace Oliver adds twist to Calder race

<div class="byline">-Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-031026/10086336-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="525" height="936"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Vanbiesbrouck</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021446/10086343-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="144" height="130"></div>After watching a morning skate at the Montreal Forum March 22, Florida Panthers&rsquo; president Bill Torrey leaned against a wall outside the visitor&rsquo;s dressing room and proclaimed, &ldquo;Every player on our team is available.&rdquo;Naturally, Torrey added, the price has to be right. The NHL&rsquo;s trade deadline is April 7.Trade rumors continued dogging goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who is in the option year of his contract. But Torrey said many of the rumors regarding Vanbiesbrouck are &ldquo;blown out of proportion,&rdquo; as are rumors of other players leaving South Florida.&ldquo;I think there is a considerable amount of discussion going on all around the league, even more so than usual,&rdquo; Torrey said.But has Torrey had direct discussions about Vanbiesbrouck with any teams?&ldquo;Presently, it&rsquo;s a fact to say there are no direct discussions,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;But discussions are not always direct. No one likes to tip their hand; no one likes to get too antsy.&rdquo;Torrey said any deals the Panthers make must be looked at in two ways.&ldquo;We have a situation where we have to look to see if we want to do something short term to help us get in the playoffs, or what we&rsquo;re doing is in the best interest of the franchise long term,&rdquo; Torrey said.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>NOTEBOOK: After losing consecutive games in overtime, and three in one week, the Panthers snapped their string of bad luck with a 3-2 victory March 22 in Montreal. The Panthers are 3-0 at the Forum&hellip; Captain Brian Skrudland. who played eight seasons in Montreal, was forced to miss the game with a strained flexor muscle&hellip; Left winger Bill Lindsay, who has played in every Panthers game over the franchise&rsquo;s two seasons, scored in four consecutive games-a club recordincluding one against the Canadiens. He was reunited with former linemates Tom Fitzgerald and Stu Barnes in Montreal, and each scored a goal. &#9632;

f0018-03

Torrey mum on dealings

<div class="byline">-Jeff Jacobs</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04691/10086381-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="508" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff O&rsquo;Neill</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05478/10086374-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="140" height="133"></div>Pat Verbeek used the best term to describe the trade-inevitable.The Hartford Whalers&rsquo; captain and player representative was earning $1.15 million on the final year of his contract. He wants in the neighborhood of $2 million a season.The Whalers said no and everybody awaited the trade. It finally came March 23 when the New York Rangers acquired Verbeek for a 1995 first-round pick, a 1996 fourthround pick and defensemen Glen Featherstone and Michael Stewart.As an old Group HI free agent, Verbeek will be subject to no compensation, although the Rangers will have a right to match any bid. It was a risk the Whalers did not want to take.Verbeek scored 192 goals and 403 points and had 1,114 penalty minutes in 433 games with the Whalers.The Whalers&rsquo; focus seemed to be recouping one of three first-round picks they surrendered to get Glen Wesley from with Boston Bruins.&ldquo;Part of this was economics,&rdquo; Whalers GM Jim Rutherford said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re dealing with a 30-year-old who wanted more money than at this time we were willing to pay.&ldquo;The other part of the equation was where are we going? When do we contend for the Stanley Cup? Is it two years? Is it five years? Is Pat still going to contribute to that contending team?&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: No. 1 pick Jeff O&rsquo;Neill signed a four-year deal for $3.5 million March 19. &ldquo;We feel he may have been the most skilled player in the 1994 draft,&rdquo; said GM Jim Rutherford. &ldquo;Someday, he&rsquo;s going to be the No. I center every franchise needs.&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill could join the Whalers if the Guelph Storm are eliminated from the Ontario League playoffs. &#9632;</div>

f0018-04

Whales don’t stand Pat

<div class="byline">-Rick Sadowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021274/10086412-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="544" height="1537"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Quinn</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011708/10086419-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="153" height="133"></div>Rookie Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; general manager Sam McMaster has come under considerable heat this year, but his signing of free agent Dan Quinn last summer has turned out to be a positive transaction.Desperate to add some punch to an offense that often sputtered in the clutch, the Kings signed Quinn, 29, to a one-year deal that pays him $400,000.Quinn failed to score a goal in his first seven games-he was benched three straight by coach Barry Mel-rose-and he had only one goal in his first 10 games.Then he caught fire. After sitting out a game with a groin injury, Quinn had eight goals in an 11-game stretch. His March 21 goal on a penalty shot with 1:07 left in regulation salvaged a 3-3 tie for the Kings in Anaheim.Quinn had 10 goals and 17 points in 24 games. Among the Kings, only Rick Tocchet, with 14 goals, had scored more often.&ldquo;Since the first six or seven games. I&rsquo;ve been real fortunate. I&rsquo;m getting some chances,&rdquo; said Quinn, a left winger who usually skates on a line with Tocchet on the right side.&ldquo;(Tocchet) gives you that look sometimes, the one that tells me that if you don&rsquo;t work hard, he might rip your head off.&rdquo;Quinn scored 239 goals in 682 games with seven different teams before this season. A 1992 incident in which he was arrested for rape in Minnesota but never charged nearly destroyed his career.The North Stars released him after 11 games, and he wound up in Bern. Switz., last season, scoring 12 goals in 25 games. He returned to the NHL at the end of the year and popped in seven goals for Ottawa in 13 games.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing I&rsquo;d rather do than play in this league,&rdquo; Quinn said.NOTEBOOK: Neither co-owner Joseph Cohen nor Mike Milbury would comment on reports that said Milbury recently was offered but turned down the positions of general manager and coach of the Kings. GM Sam McMaster is halfway through the first year of a two-year contract and Barry Melrose has another year left on his contract. McMaster bristled at any suggestion his or Melrose&rsquo;s jobs were in jeopardy. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s 100-per-cent false, complete nonsense,&rdquo; McMaster said. &ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;sjob is in danger.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-02

Surprisingly mighty Quinn helps boost anemic offense

<div class="byline">-Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03869/10086450-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="148" height="107"></div>Are the Montreal Canadi-ens beginning to panic, faced with the reality of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1970?It certainly appeared that way in the hours following a 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers at the Forum March 22. It left the Canadiens sixth in the Northeast Division with only 10 wins and five ties in 29 games.The following day, the Canadiens announced they were calling up left wingers Mario Roberge and Yves Sarault from Fredericton of American League to help the team get back on track.At the same time, forwards Craig Darby and Donald Brashear were assigned to the AHL.The recall of Roberge in particular indicated panic. The 31-year-old joined Fredericton Jan. 17, where he was expected to close out his career as a player/coach.Hours before the loss to Florida, Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Serge Savard said the chances of Montreal recalling Roberge were slim.&ldquo;Where would we play him?&rdquo; Savard said at the time.But coach Jacques Demers, after discussing the matter with several veteran players, felt he had no recourse. Not only will Roberge provide the Canadiens with a physical presence on the ice, Demers hopes he can clear the stale air in the dressing room.&ldquo;We need a change of atmosphere,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;A guy like Roberge could give us a spark in the room. We have no spark. Something&rsquo;s missing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like the whole room is upside down,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s no atmosphere in the room. Why hide things?&ldquo;This sounds drastic but it&rsquo;s not that drastic.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A fractured jaw and two broken teeth didn&rsquo;t keep Mike Keane out of the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup against Florida. The gritty right winger played a regular shift only 48 hours after having his face rearranged by a high stick from Philadelphia&rsquo;s Eric Lindros. &ldquo;In 15 years at this job, I&rsquo;ve rarely seen a player with such a high pain threshold,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; trainer Gaetan Lefebvre. &ldquo;A lot of people talk about Bob Gainey playing with separated shoulders or a fractured foot. But looking at Keane, he may be the toughest of them all.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0019-03

Demers banking on Roberge to provide necessary spark

<div class="byline">-Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011714/10086481-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="153" height="155"></div>In the days leading up to overall) in 1989, Guerin is making the April 7 NHL trading deadline, no one was mentioned in more potential deals than New Jersey Devils&rsquo; right winger Bill Guerin.Guerin was going to the Edmonton Oilers for Shayne Corson, to the Winnipeg Jets for Stephane Quintal and to any number of other teams anxious to take the 24-year-old forward off the hands of Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello.Guerin was anxious to put the trade talk to rest while trying to jump-start his own-and the team&rsquo;s-baffling season.&ldquo;The last thing I want is to be traded from here,&rdquo; Guerin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of scary that you could be here one day and gone the next. I&rsquo;ve made great friends in New Jersey and I like it here a lot.&rdquo;For the Devils, who cannot financially afford to miss the playoffs, Guerin is certainly one of their top commodities in the trade market. He is big, strong, fast and can score.The Devils&rsquo; first choice (fifth overall) in 1989, Guerin is making $190,000 in this, the final year of his contract. Despite scoring only eight goals in 29 games, Guerin&rsquo;s salary will rise considerably after this season.&ldquo;Billy Guerin is the type of player who hears all of the time how much potential he has, how good he&rsquo;s going to be,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;Sometimes when that&rsquo;s the case, rather than focusing on what you have to do within a framework to achieve that success, a player will skip the steps necessary to get there.&ldquo;Billy has to bang every time he has the chance. He has to be aggressive, go to the net.&rdquo;But will he go to another team first?NOTEBOOK: Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s agent Steve Freyer rejected the team&rsquo;s reported three-year, $3.8-mil-lion offer for his client. Lemieux is seeking $1.5 million per season for three years&hellip; Randy McKay, coming off an injury, played two games before reinjuring his groin March 18. &#9632;

f0020-01

Guerin wants to stay put, salvage mediocre season

<div class="byline">-Jeff Williams</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03861/10086512-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="512" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jamie McLennan</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021230/10086519-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="147" height="133"></div>It was just one moment in a 48-game season, but it epitomized the struggles the New York Islanders-and in particular, their young players-have experienced this season.Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger Cam Neely beat 23-year-old goalie Jamie McLennan between the legs with a 50-foot slap shot to help his team overcome a 3-0 deficit, win the game 4-3 and break the Islanders&rsquo; spirit. Earlier on the play, 24-year-old forward Marty McInnis bailed out of a mid-ice collision with Don Sweeney, who forwarded the puck to Neely.Had McInnis stayed with the puck, or McLennan stopped the long shot he saw clearly, the Islanders could have salvaged one win on a five-game road trip. Instead they lost all five.McInnis and McLennan shouldered the blame.&ldquo;I hope that&rsquo;s the worst game I ever play in my life,&rdquo; said McInnis, who was on for all four Bruins&rsquo; goals.Said McLennan in a weak, choking voice: &ldquo;This is a game we had. I feel I could do more to get the win and I didn&rsquo;t&hellip; 1 take full responsibility.&rdquo;After being called up in mid-season last year, McLennan performed well enough to make the Islanders think he could be their goalie of the future. Now it&rsquo;s apparent he&rsquo;s not ready and the Islanders are leaning towards Tommy Soderstrom.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>McInnis had 25 goals last season, including six shorthanded, and led the team at plus-31. He had five goals, none shorthanded, and was minus-5 in 27 games this season.NOTEBOOK: The Islander management committee expressed confidence in GM Don Maloney and a lack of confidence in the way the team was playing. &ldquo;Most of our top players are not producing,&rdquo; said chief operating officer Ralph Palleschi. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the second year of a five-year plan. The fans have got to be patient and trust management.&rdquo;&hellip; Ron Sutter returned from a badly sprained ankle sustained Feb. 7 to play against the New York Rangers March 23. &#9632;

f0020-03

Tough times for McDuo

<div class="byline">-Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04592/10086557-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="520" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05375/10086550-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="142" height="145"></div>In what may or may not turn out to be the lone big deal they make this season, the New YorkRangers acquired Pat Verbeek from the Hartford Whalers March 23 without paying a big price.In the market for a snarly type of player to replace the departed Esa Tikkanen, the Rangers parted with Glen Featherstone, a No. 7 defenseman on their roster, and former No. 1 pick Michael Stewart, who had yet to challenge for an NHL job in five years since the 1990 draft. They also gave up a No. 1 pick in what should be a watered-down 19-year-old draft in July, and a fourth-rounder in 1996.Verbeek, 30, becomes a free agent in July and will be seeking about $2 million a year. The Rangers will have the right to match any offer he receives. He is a player capable of scoring 30 goals and piling up 200 penalty minutes.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for some peskiness, some fire,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; coach Cohn Campbell. &ldquo;I think the freshness of the trade will invigorate him. He&rsquo;s a guy who&rsquo;s not big, but he plays a big guy&rsquo;s game.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fresh start for me,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;I liked it in Hartford. I wasn&rsquo;t asking for a trade or anything. Hopefully I can be a person that can contribute a lot. I&rsquo;m excited.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It had been seven months between trades for GM Neil Smith, the longest of his tenure. Smith&rsquo;s 54th trade on Aug. 18 was center Daniel Lacroix to the Boston Bruins for Glen Featherstone. Smith claimed Lacroix on waivers from the Bruins Aug. 18&hellip; Mark Messier, who had two fighting majors in three years, had two in two games, against the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Kevin Haller and Washington Capitals&rsquo; Kevin Kaminski. &#9632;</div>

f0020-04

Verbeek cost reasonable

<div class="byline">-Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011374/10086588-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="152" height="145"></div>In what could be a postlockout blip or a serious sign of things to come, attendance is down at Ottawa Senators&rsquo; games by almost 500 fans per night.Through 14 home dates, the Senators&rsquo; average attendance dropped from 10,284 a year ago to 9,809 this season. The club has seen attendance dip closer and closer to the 9,000-mark-9,267 against the Philadelphia Flyers Feb. 6, then 9,174 against the Hartford Whalers Feb. 28 and finally 9.114 against the Tampa Bay Lightning March 2.There have been only two sellouts&mdash;Feb. 8 against Montreal and opening night against the Buffalo Sabres Jan. 28. That compares to 32 sellouts in the club&rsquo;s first year.With the team poised to move into the $200-million, 18,500-seat Palladium next January, many in Ottawa are wondering how the Senators hope to fill the seats there if they can&rsquo;t sell out the 10,575-seat Civic Centre.Senators&rsquo; president-general manager Randy Sexton attributes the falloff to the wonky schedule, a product of the lockout. The Senators played six home games in the space of 10 days at one point in February. Sexton figures that&rsquo;s too many for fans to afford in such a short time.As a concession to season ticket holders after the lockout, the Senators also offered them the chance to swap their tickets for more desirable teams.Sexton said improved services at the Palladium and a more competitive team will attract fans to the new building, not to mention a greater number of more reasonably priced tickets.&ldquo;There&rsquo;ll also be 8,000 seats at the Palladium priced at less than $30 (before taxes),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now, there&rsquo;s 860 of those seats at the Civic Centre.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Randy Sexton remains on the hunt for goal-scoring help as the trade deadline approaches, but wasn&rsquo;t going to rush into anything. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like going to K-mart to get a shower cap,&rdquo; he said. Craig Billington, a free agent without compensation after this season, is the goalie most likely to be moved. &#9632;

f0021-01

Team’s wonky schedule blamed for sellout slump

<div class="byline">-Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03575/10086619-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="522" height="924"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Dineen</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02896/10086626-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="154" height="137"></div>With the Eric Lindros special getting so much attention, hardly anyone even tuned in to the Kevin Dineen comeback show.But Dineen drew high ratings from the audience that counts the most-his coaches and teammates.Dineen, saddled in the worst slump of his career, was benched for the first time in his 11-year NHL tenure on March 3, a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers. He had scored only one goal in the Flyers&rsquo; first 20 games, although he was injured for six.The veteran right winger had a talk with coach Terry Murray to clear the air. He returned to the lineup with fire in his eyes and scored four goals in the next eight games-all Flyer vic-tories-capped by a two-goal, one assist effort in an 8-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens March 20.Murray rewarded Dineen by placing him on the Flyers&rsquo; second line with Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Shjon Podein.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice for our line to get a few,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;Sometime you get in a trance watching those other guys (Lindros line).&rdquo;Murray was worried about Dineen&rsquo;s slow start, which was partly attributed to a shoulder injury.&ldquo;I was very concerned,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;If the puck is not going in the way it used to, then there has to be some adjustments. He has grinded it out. When he&rsquo;s playing that kind of a game, he&rsquo;s a pain to play against.&rdquo;Dineen&rsquo;s two goals against Montreal left him one shy of 300.NOTEBOOK: The Flyers&rsquo; eightgame winning streak matched their longest since they won the final eight games of the 1992-93 season. The streak ended with a 4-3 loss to the Hartford Whalers March 22. The team record is 13, set in 1985&hellip; Eric Lindros scored back-to-back hat tricks (in a 4-3 over the Panthers at Florida March 18 and an 8-4 win over Montreal March 20)&hellip; John LeClair&rsquo;s 18th. goal of the season in the Hartford game left him one shy of tying his career high, which he achieved twice in full seasons. &#9632;

f0021-03

Dineen does turnabout

<div class="byline">-Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011369/10086664-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="516" height="912"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ulf Samuelsson</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02987/10086657-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="147" height="115"></div>The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the NHL&rsquo;s top teams since the earliest days of this season and a few players have wondered just how good they could be with their lineup intact.Trouble is, that question might never get beyond the hypothetical stage. The reason? Goalie Tom Bar-rasso had elbow surgery on opening day and team doctors have been working overtime ever since.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like what we&rsquo;re going through here,&rdquo; said coach Ed Johnston.The latest casualty of consequence was Ulf Samuelsson, who had surgery March 23 to remove bone chips from his right elbow. A similar operation a few years ago forced him to sit out four games.&ldquo;Nobody recovers like Ulf does,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;Just about anybody else, you&rsquo;d worry he&rsquo;ll be out a long time. Not Ulf.&rdquo;You couldn&rsquo;t blame Johnston for hoping that&rsquo;s the case for Samuelsson, a key member of the defense corps.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one guy we can&rsquo;t afford to lose,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing more on our power play now. He&rsquo;s picking up points on a regular basis.&rdquo;So was John Cullen, who had 12 goals and 30 points in 29 games before injuring his knee March 19 against the Ottawa Senators. Fortunately, the injury was not serious.NOTEBOOK: Mario Lemieux held a rare press conference after competing in a charity game at the Civic Arena Feb. 19, but shed no light on whether he&rsquo;ll rejoin the Penguins next season. &ldquo;It would be nice to come back, but like I said before, I&rsquo;m only going to come back if I&rsquo;m healthy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m not healthy, there&rsquo;s no sense for me to try to come back and hurt my back again and suffer for the rest of my life.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0023-01

Injury bug biting hard

<div class="byline">-Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05404/10086726-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="516" height="933"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ian Laperriere</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04548/10086733-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="140" height="125"></div>The honeymoon between Mike Keenan and the St. Louis Blues is over.With the Blues in the midst of a 1-4-1 slide, the Blues&rsquo; coach-general manager sniped at the Blues&rsquo; management team of chairman Mike Shanahan and president Jack Quinn. He also took swipes at Blues&rsquo; stars Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan and Curtis Joseph.He called the Blues&rsquo; approach &ldquo;crisis management,&rdquo; trashing management for creating a star mentality by handing out big contracts and thereby creating a selfish atmosphere.He spoke of the Blues as if he was an outsider with references such as &ldquo;they&rdquo; and &ldquo;there.&rdquo;&ldquo;The management there has promoted superstar status without team concept,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They filled the building without developing a winning culture. They produced a very selfish culture.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all individually driven, even in some of the contracts they have drawn up&hellip; They paid the players for marquee value rather than for performance.&ldquo;Those are the core players-the goalies and two supposedly superstar players&hellip; You can fill the building but you can never win.&rdquo;Mike Shanahan, the Blues&rsquo; chairman, was surprise when told of Keenan&rsquo;s remarks, which came after a 4-3 loss to Calgary March 22.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe he said that,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;Mike&rsquo;s a better man than that&hellip; If he said that, I&rsquo;d chalk it up to the heat of battle and the agony of defeat at the end of a two-week trip.&rdquo; Also on the trip, Keenan said the Blues were &ldquo;not even close&rdquo; to being Stanley Cup favorites. That came just two weeks after he had proclaimed them favorites.NOTEBOOK: Mike Keenan finally met left winger Kevin Miller&rsquo;s request for a trade, sending him to the San Jose Sharks March 23 for center Todd Elik, who may help boost the Blues&rsquo; woeful power play. The Blues scored on only 14.7 per cent of their power plays through the first 27 games. &#9632;

f0023-05

Iron Mike in fine form

<div class="byline">-Mike Weaver</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011546/10086764-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="140" height="147"></div>The San Jose Sharks added to a wild month of wheeling and dealing by sending center Todd Elik to the St. Louis Blues for left winger Kevin Miller.The March 23 deal made Elik the fourth key member of the team that made a run through two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season to be traded. Earlier, the Sharks dealt Bob Errey to the Detroit Red Wings, Johan Garpenlov to the Florida Panthers and Jeff Norton to the Blues.Miller, 29, is the second player the Sharks have rescued from Keenan&rsquo;s scrap heap. The Sharks obtained playmaking center Craig Janney from the Blues March 6 for Norton and a draft pick.In Miller, the Sharks believe they get a gritty player who can contribute to the team in several ways.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good all-around hockey player,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; director of hockey operations Dean Lombardi. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have a real high-end asset like Janney, who we know is a great set-up guy, but he has grit, he can make plays, he can score, he can kill penalties.&rdquo;Miller, who had 92 goals and 207 points in 351 career games entering this season, posted just 2-5-7 numbers in 15 games with the Blues this season.Elik, meanwhile, said he is happy to be leaving the Sharks and their youth movement. At the time of the trade, Elik, 28, was San Jose&rsquo;s second-leading scorer with 17 points, including a team-high seven goals.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think this organization is committed to winning,&rdquo; Elik said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they respect the older guys here. They treat the young guys like kings and they treat us like (crap). I have no emotional ties or anything here, so I have no remorse for saying that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Sergei Makarov, who hadn&rsquo;t collected a point in six straight games, was scratched from four in a row&hellip; Viktor Kozlov scored his first NHL goal in his 12th game during a 7-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks March 21. &#9632;</div>

f0026-01

Miller second Blues’ reject to be welcome in San Jose

<div class="byline">-Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03868/10086795-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="524" height="937"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Crisp</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-021116/10086802-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="149" height="154"></div>The job coach Terry Crisp has done in building the Tampa Bay Lightning into a playoff contender has not gone unnoticed. Nor has it gone unrewarded.Crisp, whose contract was set to expire at the end of this season, signed a contract extension through 1995-96.&ldquo;This is where I want to be, coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning, so I&rsquo;m really happy about it,&rdquo; said Crisp, coach of the Lightning since its 1992-93 expansion season. &ldquo;This organization set some goals, things like making the playoffs and establishing hockey in this area, when we started out. And I truly want to be a part of that.&rdquo;Assistant coaches Danny Gare and Wayne Cashman were also offered extensions. Cashman is expected to sign, while Gare said he will discuss the pact with his agent before making a decision.In his two-plus seasons with the Lightning, Crisp has compiled a 62111-20 record and had the team in playoff contention beyond the midpoint each year.After leading the team to a 53-point finish during its first season, Crisp guided the Lightning through a 71-point campaign a year ago. The 18-point improvement was the second best ever achieved by an expansion team in its second season.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Crisp is one of only 12 former NHLers to win the Stanley Cup as both a coach and player. He won the Cup while coaching the Calgary Flames in 1989 and as a player with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974 and 1975.NOTEBOOK: The Lightning added some depth to its blueline March 22 when it acquired Adrien Plavsic from the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-round draft pick in 1997...Terry Crisp moved Chris Gratton from center to left wing for a March 19 game against the Buffalo Sabres and Gratton responded with the first four-point effort of his career. The Lightning won the game 6-1. &#9632;

f0026-03

Crisp gets extension

<div class="byline">-Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04646/10086840-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="516" height="936"><figcaption class="caption-body">Damian Rhodes</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05496/10086833-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="150" height="141"></div>It was the opportunity Damian Rhodes had been waiting for.Established as the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; backup goalie and the subject of frequent trade rumors, Rhodes found himself playing and excelling in a string of games.Two nights after No. 1 goalie Felix Potvin struggled in a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, Rhodes started March 15 against the San Jose Sharks and earned a 2-1 win. Forty-eight hours after that, Rhodes tied the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on the road 3-3, then beat the Kings the next night 5-3.&ldquo;It has been fun winning some games, especially when people don&rsquo;t expect you to,&rdquo; Rhodes said.Rhodes&rsquo; hot streak left Potvin anchored to the end of the Leafs&rsquo; bench for a week and created a bit of controversy in Toronto.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate this has become an issue when we&rsquo;re winning some games,&rdquo; said coach Pat Bums.A 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks March 21 gave Bums his out and Potvin his job back, but clearly Rhodes has upped his value. That may help the Leafs as the trading deadline approaches.Potvin, meanwhile, held his composure.&ldquo;Of course it&rsquo;s difficult when you&rsquo;re used to being out there every night,&rdquo; Potvin said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s good to see Damian playing well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Pat Burns picked up his 100th victory as Leafs&rsquo; coach March 18 at Los Angeles&hellip; The Leafs asked NHL vice-president Brian Burke to review an incident in which Kings&rsquo; enforcer Troy Crowder sucker-punched winger Bill Berg. Berg suffered a swollen eye and two separate cuts in the incident. &#9632;

f0026-04

Rhodes rolls on the road

<div class="byline">-Elliott Pap</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011523/10086871-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="140" height="133"></div>Relations between Trevor Linden, his agent Don Meehan and Vancouver Canuck management took a nosedive in late March, due mainly to remarks made by assistant GM George McPhee during a Vancouver radio show.McPhee, who is a regular guest on the show, said contract talks between Linden and the Canucks were going nowhere because Meehan &ldquo;has not once made a list of comparables or made a concrete proposal.&rdquo;McPhee also said Meehan told him &ldquo;&lsquo;We&rsquo;re just going to play it out and see what happens.&rsquo;&rdquo; McPhee further said that Meehan opened negotiations by stating &ldquo;&lsquo;We&rsquo;ll just start at $3 million and go up.&rsquo;&rdquo;McPhee said these demands were simply too rich for the club&rsquo;s blood. Linden, 24, is in the final year of his contract and makes $1 million.&ldquo;I wish negotiations were better,&rdquo; McPhee concluded. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made some offers and done our best.&rdquo;Linden was upset by McPhee&rsquo;s remarks, but refused all comment.Meehan was furious with McPhee, claiming he had breached a confidentiality agreement. (Former Canuck Petr Nedved&rsquo;s agent, Tony Kondel, made an identical claim when negotiations with his client weren&rsquo;t proceeding smoothly.)&ldquo;George McPhee&rsquo;s comments are not accurate and they are not true,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;But more importantly, I&rsquo;ve made an agreement with both (Canuck GM) Pat Quinn and George McPhee that we would conduct these meetings in a private, professional and confidential manner-without any comment to the media-and I intend on keeping my word.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Pavel Bure&rsquo;s miserable season took another wrong turn when he was sidelined by a badly bruised knee. Initially injured March 11 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Russian Rocket kept playing and aggravating the knee until he was forced out of the lineup five games later. While he was rehabilitating the injury, he decided on a new look and cut off most of his hair. &#9632;</div>

f0028-01

Linden’s agent incensed at McPhee’s radio talk

<div class="byline">-Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03791/10086902-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="504" height="936"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Allison</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-021069/10086909-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="155" height="151"></div>The Washington Capitals, in the playoff hunt after a near-disastrous first half, have another problem on their hands: injuries.The Caps were playing their first injury-or illness-free game of the season March 20 against the Hartford Whalers, but it didn&rsquo;t last. Center Pat Peake&rsquo;s dormant mononucleosis resurfaced and he was back on the shelf.The next day, right winger Keith Jones tore rib cartilage in a game against the Ottawa Senators and was sidelined. Center Dave Poulin was still recovering from a groin pull. The flu was taking a late run at the club and rookie center Jason Allison agreed to report to the Portland Pirates of the American League for two weeks of conditioning.That left no spares among skaters and some holes to fill. Only goalie Rick Tabaracci was waiting in the wings-and he had a tender back.Nonetheless, the Caps lost only one of 11 March games with centers on wing, right wingers on the left and defensemen up front.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a situation where someone has to do a little more, do a little better,&rdquo; said coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;Injuries are as much a part of the NHL as goal-scoring or anything else.Allison had played in just 12 games this season and was scratched for 12 straight. He last played Feb. 26 and hadn&rsquo;t scored since January.NOTEBOOK: The Caps were furious March 20 against the Hartford Whalers when Joe Juneau was cut around his eye by an errant stick and the Whalers&rsquo; public address system played a tape of a baby crying as the center left the ice. The Whalers apologized&hellip; Defenseman Jim Johnson, an 11-year veteran, played left wing March 18 for the first time ever. He now answers only when addressed &lsquo;Pavel.&rsquo;Kevin Kaminski, who earlier took 15 stitches in the forehead, went wild after a fight with Mark Messier of the New York Rangers March 18 and was suspended by the league for three games for pushing linesman Pierre Champoux. &#9632;

f0028-03

Line growing in sick bay

<div class="byline">-Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04574/10086947-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="532" height="909"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05455/10086940-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="158" height="156"></div>Before the lockout-shortened season started, forecasters said to watch for streaks. Both winning and losing skids, they said, would be crucial to a team&rsquo;s fortunes.Unfortunately for the Winnipeg Jets, they fell into the latter category through late March. A five-game winless skein sent them spiralling down the Western Conference ladder and looking up at a playoff spot. There was a sense of urgency among the players.&ldquo;Now we can&rsquo;t say we have lots of games left,&rdquo; Teemu Selanne said. &ldquo;Now we have to take those points. There&rsquo;s no more later, saying we&rsquo;re coming on. It&rsquo;s now or miss the playoffs.&rdquo;Making matter worse was that Selanne wasn&rsquo;t feeling 100 per cent. The Finnish Flash had 13 goals and 35 points in 28 games, but patella tendinitis had limited his practice time to almost nil since he missed one game, March 2 against the Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;For me, it&rsquo;s hard to play lately,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;I have no touch. I have no touch with the puck, no control. I haven&rsquo;t practised for two or three weeks now. It&rsquo;s hard to play when you do that.&rdquo;Coach-GM John Paddock tried to juggle his lines to get the team out of its 0-4-1 funk. Success was very limited, considering Nelson Emerson had one goal in his 15 games and Dallas Drake had only three all season and none since Feb. 6.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin faced his first NHL penalty shot March 22 and was beaten by Detroit Red Wing Bob Errey, but was saved when the puck hit the post&hellip; Igor Korolev had six points in three games between March 1722, matching his entire total from the season&rsquo;s first 25 games. &#9632;

f0028-04

Time not an Jets’ side

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011338/10086985-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Todd Bertuzzi is big reason why the Storm finished first overall. (photo by Dan Hammilton/VPS)</figcaption></div>GUELPH-Never in his 20 years had Todd Bertuzzi seen his father so vulnerable, so helpless. Never had he been so scared.When Bertuzzi walked into a Sudbury, Ont., hospital room Nov. 25, 1994&mdash;at about the same time his Guelph Storm teammates were facing off for an Ontario League game in Ottawa against the 67&rsquo;s-he saw his father badly injured, heavily sedated and lucky to be alive.For the first time since the hockey season began, the 6-foot-3, 227-pound right winger felt powerless to do anything.Earlier that afternoon Albert and his wife Sue were driving from their home in Sudbury to London to watch their daughters play in a ringette tournament. The weather turned poor and near Parry Sound, Ont., the car hit a patch of black ice and spun out of control. Albert, reclining in the passenger seat with a copy of The Hockey News-but without a seat belt-flew through the windshield and down and embankment 30 feet away.One lung collapsed, all the ribs on one side of his body broke and there was serious kidney damage. He was airlifted to hospital.Bertuzzi took the first flight out of Ottawa. He stayed at the hospital with his father half the night, but didn&rsquo;t sleep all weekend.&ldquo;To see (him) that close to death is pretty frightening,&rdquo; Bertuzzi said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s traumatic, it&rsquo;s awful. You never forget something like that.&rdquo;Though Albert&rsquo;s recovery since has been inspiring-he returned to his janitorial supply business in March-the experience still isn&rsquo;t easy for the younger Bertuzzi to talk about.But it doesn&rsquo;t take a psychologist to uncover the impact it had on his life and his game.The effort Bertuzzi occasionally forgot to bring to the rink became a part of his equipment. In his first 19 games of the season, Bertuzzi had 12 goals and 36 points. In 10 games in December after his father&rsquo;s accident, he had 15 goals and 27 points. He was the game&rsquo;s first star five times.&ldquo;I had so much more to give to the team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it was that made me play that much harder. I guess just seeing him lying there, 60 minutes (during a game) doesn&rsquo;t seem much to ask.&rdquo;&ldquo;When he came back I think he had a real appreciation for life and the little things,&rdquo; said Guelph coach Craig Hartsburg. &ldquo;He played for his dad, but I also think he wanted to make sure he wasn&rsquo;t cheating himself.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02919/10086978-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="528" height="741"><figcaption class="caption-body">Todd Bertuzzi would be a top-10 pick if he re-entered the NHL draft.</figcaption></div>The spotlight turned on Bertuzzi even more in December and early January while all-star teammate Jeff O&rsquo;Neill played at the World Junior Championship. Bertuzzi took up the challenge and played well the rest of the season, finishing as the OHL&rsquo;s sixth-top scorer with 54 goals and 118 points.The Storm, meanwhile, finished first overall in the OHL and was a top contender for the Memorial Cup.Until this year, however, Bertuzzi&rsquo;s OHL career was marked more by indifference than distinction.He was drafted 23rd overall in 1993 by the New York Islanders, though his talent warranted a higher selection. (He remains unsigned and will re-enter the draft he doesn&rsquo;t come to terms before June 1). The package of imposing size and outstanding skating ability was dampered by questions about his commitment.In his first two seasons with the Storm, he scored a total of 80 points while wracking up 309 penalty minutes.Even last season-82 points in 61 games-was more of a progression than a breakthrough. &ldquo;If you compare him where he was a year ago to where he is now,&rdquo; said Islanders&rsquo; GM Don Maloney, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a gigantic leap.&rdquo;But is it enough for Bertuzzi to do in the NHL what he has done in junior? That still remains a concern.His recent success can be chalked up to off-ice maturity and changes with the Storm as much as his dad&rsquo;s accident. Hartsburg gets significant credit for instilling order and discipline.But in the NHL, Bertuzzi&rsquo;s style-take the puck in his own end, bull his way down the ice on the virtue of physical superiority-will be tested.The knock is that he may not be physical enough or creative enough to be an impact player in the NHL.According to one scout, players with less talent are doing more in the NHL now than Bertuzzi may ever do because he doesn&rsquo;t play physically.&ldquo;He was more chippy and retaliatory than physical,&rdquo; the scout said. &ldquo;I never thought Todd was a guy who used it to establish his presence in a game or room on the ice. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s in Todd Bertuzzi to play that way. I think if he ever did, look out.&rdquo;In his defense, Bertuzzi is just 20. He still has time to develop that trait. And his stock is still high enough to make him a sure-fire top-10 pick should he re-enter the draft.&ldquo;He has got to do it against men,&rdquo; said Hartsburg of Bertuzzi&rsquo;s challenge next year. &lsquo;1 don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s going to be an overnight thing. Obviously he has got to learn a lot quicker than it took him the four years in junior.&rdquo;That was in the past, Bertuzzi said. The father now wears a seat belt in the car; the son now says he knows what it takes to perform consistently.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;ll take four years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned my lesson.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0029-01

Guelph’s Storm trooper

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Marty Murray is modest-unlike his accomplishments.The Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; center had 128 points, including a Western League-high 88 assists, in 65 regular-season games. Thanks to such productivity, Murray was named the WHL&rsquo;s player of the year.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how it could have turned out much better,&rdquo; Murray said, reflecting on his four-year major junior career. &ldquo;This has been great for me.&rdquo;Murray, the East Division nominee, won over West Division candidate Day-mond Langkow.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011533/10087023-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="572" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brandon&rsquo;s Marty Murray is the Western League&rsquo;s top player.</figcaption></div>Langkow, a Tri-City Americans&rsquo; center, led the WHL in goals (67) and points (140). He was honored as&rsquo; the WHL&rsquo;s top scorer.Other individual award winners are: Paxton Schafer. Medicine Hat Tigers (top goalie); Nolan Baumgartner. Kamloops Blazers (top defenseman); right winger Darren Ritchie, Brandon (most sportsmanlike); center Grady Manson, Moose Jaw Warriors (humanitarian award); defenseman Perry Johnson, Regina Pats (top scholastic player); center Todd Robinson, Portland Winter Hawks (top rookie); Don Nachbaur, Seattle Thunderbirds (top coach); general manager Kelly McCrimmon, Brandon (top executive); and Herm Hordal, Saskatoon Blades (marketing/public relations).Kamloops was also recognized as the regular-season champion. The Blazers had a 52-14-6 record and were the only Canadian Hockey League team to hit the 50-victory mark.STARS ON ICE: The first-team all-stars are as follows:East Division-Goalie: Paxton Schafer (Medicine Hat). Defensemen: Chad Allan (Saskatoon) and Bryan McCabe (Brandon). Forwards: Marty Murray (Brandon), Darren Ritchie (Brandon) and Curtis Brown (Moose Jaw).West Division-Goalie: Todd MacDonald (Tacoma Rockets). Defensemen: Nolan Baumgartner (Kamloops) and Deron Quint (Seattle). Forwards-Daymond Langkow (Tri-City), Darcy Tucker (Kamloops); and Chris Wells (Seattle).HOME ON THE ROAD: Tacoma is slated to play its home games at Vancouver&rsquo;s Pacific Coliseum if the Rockets advance to the second round of the playoffs.The Tacoma Dome is booked from April 2-11 for a boat show. Rockets&rsquo; GM-govemor Bruce Hamilton struck a deal with Roller Hockey International&rsquo;s Vancouver VooDoo to play at the Pacific Coliseum.The roller hockey group hopes to receive an expansion WHL franchise or move an existing club to Vancouver. The Rockets&rsquo; games are a test of the Vancouver junior hockey market.There is speculation Hamilton may move his franchise.&ldquo;I want to make it abundantly clear, there will be no chance of us transferring there,&rdquo; Hamilton said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03766/10087016-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="924" height="553"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Prolific Murray feeling like king of Kings

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Laval Titan right winger Frederic Chartier hopes being named the Quebec League&rsquo;s MVP this season will get the attention of NHL scouts who passed him over at the past two entry drafts.Chartier, 19, finished the season in sixth place in the league scoring race with 51 goals and 110 points and his plus-54 was best in the league.&ldquo;I was disappointed not to get drafted last year, but I didn&rsquo;t put extra pressure on myself,&rdquo; said Chartier, who is 5-foot-l 1 and 200 pounds. &ldquo;I just went out and gave my 100 per cent as always. That&rsquo;s all I can do.&ldquo;(The scouts) say I need another inch&hellip; I have to be 6-feet tall to play my style. But whoever (in the NHL) gives me a chance will learn an inch isn&rsquo;t that much.&rdquo;Chartier had 28 goals and 82 points last season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not 6-foot-5, but he plays like he&rsquo;s 6-foot-5,&rdquo; said Titan coach Michel Therrien, who won the Ron Lapointe Trophy as coach of the year. &ldquo;He goes in the comers and wins the battles. He&rsquo;s willing to pay the price in front of the net.&rdquo;TOP GUNS: Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; left winger Patrick Carignan won the Jean Beliveau Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top scorer. Carignan had 37 goals and 137 points, nine more than Sebastien Borde-leau of the Hull Olympiques. It is the lowest point total for a QMJHL scoring champion in the 26-year history of the league.Stephane Julien of the Sherbrooke Faucons was named top defenseman and right winger Eric Daze of the Beauport Har-fangs was named the most gentlemanly player and personality of the year.Daniel Briere of the Drummondville Voltig-eurs was the league&rsquo;s top offensive rookie and the player who best combined hockey and academics. The first all-star team is as follows:Michel Therrien (Laval). Goalie: Eric Fich-aud (Chicoutimi Sagueneens). Defensemen: Charles Paquette (Sherbrooke) and Stephane Julien (Sherbrooke). Left wing: Patrick Carignan (Shawinigan). Center: Sebastien Bordeleau (Hull). Right wing: Eric Daze (Beauport).CANALE&rsquo;S DEFENSE TEAM: The Beauport Harfangs posted the best defensive record in the history of the QMJHL. Joe Canale&rsquo;s team allowed 202 goals in 72 games, an average of 2.81 per game. The old record of 2.94 goals per game was set by the Cornwall Royals in 1971-72.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-021058/10087061-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="564" height="669"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shawinigan&rsquo;s Patrick Carignan led the QMJHL in scoring.</figcaption></div>The main reason for Beauport&rsquo;s defensive success was rookie goalie Martin Biron, who won the Jacques Plante Trophy for the best goals-against average at 2.48, shattering the previous league record of 2.70 set by Felix Potvin in 1990-91 with Chicoutimi.Biron was named top defensive rookie, the top pro prospect and was named to the league&rsquo;s all-rookie team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04573/10087054-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="924" height="553"></div> &#9632;

f0030-02

Titanic effort nets Chartier MVP award

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Bryan Berard can walk out of Joe Louis Arena, look across the Detroit River and see the Windsor Casino.But not even Berard would have gone over and laid down a couple of dollars, betting he would be voted the Ontario League&rsquo;s outstanding defenseman.It was quite a week for the Detroit Jr. Red Wings&rsquo; first-rounder, rated No. 1 by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau. Three days after he was named the Max Kaminsky trophy winner for best defenseman, he was named the league&rsquo;s top rookie.Berard, 18, a native of Woonsocket, R.I., is the first American and the first rookie voted top defenseman by the coaches.He had 20 goals and 74 points in 58 games, second in defenseman scoring behind Wes Swinson of the Kingston Fronte-nacs. Swinson had 19 goals and 77 points in 62 games. Ed Jovanovski of the Windsor Spitfires was third.The voting was even closer, Berard getting 35 points, Jovanovski 31, Swinson 30.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t even thinking about the defenseman award,&rdquo; Berard said. &ldquo;I was thinking more about the rookie award, but it&rsquo;s pretty exciting. I didn&rsquo;t even think I&rsquo;d be in the running for that.&rdquo;Jr. Wings&rsquo; coach Paul Maurice said Berard&rsquo;s selection over the likes of Jovanovski, Swinson and Jamie Rivers of the Sudbury Wolves was justified.&ldquo;If you look at all aspects, Bryan has enough offensively, enough defensively and enough physically. He plays those three parts better than anybody else,&rdquo; Maurice said.Berard was tied for third in rookie scoring, but outpointed rookie scoring champion Daniel Cleary of the Belleville Bulls, 57-51 in voting points. Tim Findlay of Windsor was a distant third with 10 points.Cleary had 26 goals and 81 points, Findlay 34 goals and 76 points.Berard will represent the OHL in both categories at the Canadian Hockey League awards May 15 in Kamloops, B.C., during the Memorial Cup.SCORING CHAMP: Marc Savard of the Oshawa Generals won the scoring title with 43 goals and 139 points. David Ling of Kingston was second with 61 goals and 135 points, tied with Bill Bowler of Windsor, whose total included 33 goals.Ling, who led the league in penalty minutes last season, was the top goal scorer while cutting his PIM to 136 from 254. He sustained a broken thumb in the final game of the regular season. But with the Frontenacs getting a bye inthe first round, Ling might be back in time for the second round.Bowler, the Spitfires&rsquo; overage captain, fell 12 points short in his chase of Stan Drulia&rsquo;s OHL career points mark of 479. Bowler had 149 goals and 467 points in four seasons, while Drulia played five years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05441/10087092-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="936" height="545"></div> &#9632;

f0030-05

Berard named best rookie, top rearguard

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Welcome to the latest episode of As the American League Turns.In what has become a minor league soap opera, the AHL&rsquo;s expansion plans have been complicated by the Charlotte Checkers&rsquo; decision not to leave the East Coast League.Charlotte and the Greensboro Monarchs submitted applications for AHL franchises March 13 while the Richmond Renegades, Hampton Roads Admirals, South Carolina Sting-rays and Raleigh IceCaps wanted more time to study a move.Now only Greensboro wants to make the jump. Charlotte, once one of the major players for the proposed switch, decided it wasn&rsquo;t a good idea financially and withdrew its application.The AHL&rsquo;s $1 million expansion fee obviously was a factor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02944/10087154-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="428" height="435"></div>The Monarchs still say they&rsquo;re intent on moving up as long as the AHL approves their application.&ldquo;Maybe we&rsquo;re the hockey city in North Carolina,&rdquo; said Monarchs&rsquo; president Bill Black. &ldquo;Charlotte has the NFL and the NBA, so we feel hockey is our opportunity.&rdquo;The AHL and Greensboro have concerns about a franchise operating by itself in the Southeast because of high travel costs. But Raleigh hasn&rsquo;t officially ruled out a move.Sources also say a group from Lexington, Ky., wants a team and a Baltimore group is close to securing a lease at Baltimore Arena.AHL president Dave Andrews wouldn&rsquo;t be specific, but said, &ldquo;Rumors of the death of our expansion plan are premature. We&rsquo;re a persistent lot. I don&rsquo;t think this is over yet.&ldquo;As easily as it appeared three days ago that everything was a go and as easily as it seems that it&rsquo;s done, it can change again tomorrow.&rdquo;EYEING A RECORD: Providence Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Jeff Serowik. fresh off his first NHL game in four years, is closing in on Greg Tebbutt&rsquo;s single-season record for goals by a defenseman (28).Serowik signed with the Boston Bruins in the off-season and had 25 goals and 55 points for Providence. With eight games to play, % he was gunning for the record.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to do it and I think I&rsquo;m going to,&rdquo; Serowik said.Serowik scored only six goals for the Cincinnati Cyclones in the International League last season, but has become a focal point for the Bruins&rsquo; power play.&ldquo;The Boston organization is notorious for giving guys an opportunity,&rdquo; said Serowik, who played in Boston&rsquo;s 6-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens March 16. His only other NHL game was for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1990-91.NEW DEAL WITH PHPA: The AHL and Professional Hockey Players&rsquo; Association finally reached agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, though details weren&rsquo;t available.What is known is that the players will have better insurance benefits and get a bigger piece of the player licensing pie.The contract includes the current season, plus the next three. The players were expected to vote on and ratify the contract before April 1.AHL TIDBITS: Garth Snow&rsquo;s 5-0 shutout of the Adirondack Red Wings for the Cornwall Aces March 18 was the AHL&rsquo;s 38th of the season, the most since 1971-72&hellip; The Worcester IceCats lost six consecutive one-goal games, including three in overtime.Landon Wilson, fresh out of the University of North Dakota, made his pro debut with Cornwall March 19 and was first star after scoring a goal and an assist. Wilson, the 19th overall pick in the 1993 draft by Toronto, was acquired by the Quebec Nordiques in the off-season. &#9632;

f0031-02

Andrews still confident AHL will absorb teams

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>The East Coast League world won&rsquo;t be shrinking, after all. In fact, the ECHL universe is getting larger and expanding west of the Mississippi River.The Charlotte Checkers and Richmond Renegades informed ECHL commissioner Pat Kelly March 21 they would not be moving to the American League. The South Carolina Stingrays and Hampton Roads Admirals were expected to follow suit and stay in the ECHL.The Greensboro Monarchs will likely be the only franchise to shift to the AHL. For a while, it looked as though up to six teams were going to form a new Southeast Division in the AHL.Despite the ECHL&rsquo;s lower classification, Carl Scheer, Charlotte&rsquo;s president, felt the ECHL was the best league for the Checkers&rsquo; franchise and withdrew his application to the AHL.&ldquo;It became apparent we made remarkable progress in the ECHL,&rdquo; Scheer said of the two-year-old franchise. &ldquo;We listened to our fans and realized there are advantages to this league.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the ECHL awarded expansion franchises to Louisville, Ky., and Lafayette, La., which is 100 miles west of New Orleans and the Mississippi River. The former Louisville franchise, which sat out this season, moves to Jacksonville, Fla.If Greensboro leaves, the ECHL will have 21 teams, up from 18.The new Louisville franchise, to be called the RiverFrogs, is owned by the Louisville Red birds, a member of minor league baseball&rsquo;s American Association.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03709/10087185-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="512" height="345"></div>The Lafayette team is owned by Ernest Parker and Logan Nichols and will play at the Cajundome (capacity 11,000).Mobile, Ala., was added in January and that franchise chose Mysticks as its nickname.SAURDIFF SCORES: Corwin Saurdiff of Hampton Roads became the sixth goalie in pro hockey to be credited with scoring a goal when he sent a shot the length of the rink into an empty net with 1:14 left in a 5-2 Admirals&rsquo; win over Charlotte March 17.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been trying to score,&rdquo; Saurdiff said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a fluke. I was aiming for the net.&rdquo;LANDSLIDE WIN: ECHL players voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Professional Hockey Players&rsquo; Association as their collective bargaining representative.The result of the March 17 vote was 246 to 13 and was conducted by the National Relations Labor Board.The PHPA now represents more than 1,200 players in the ECHL. AHL and International League and is one of the largest associations in pro sports.COAST LINES: South Carolina broke the Wheeling Thunderbirds&rsquo; ECHL record for consecutive home wins with its 1 Sth in a row over the Nashville Knights March 19. WheeUng had won 17 straight earlier this season.By finishing with a record of 46-17-5, Wheeling tied the league mark for most points with 97. Knoxville went 46-13-5 in 1990-91. &#9632;

f0031-03

Checkers, Renegades to stay, Monarchs to move

Just as it was last year, Colorado College was on the outside looking in at the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs.This year, the Tigers were thrilled to be in that position. Last year they were devastated.The Tigers lost 4-3 in overtime to Wisconsin in the Western Collegiate Athletic Association final March 19, but their 5-4 win over Minnesota in the semifinal the day before guaranteed them a first-round bye in the first-round of the NCAA tournament. The Tigers rallied from two three-goal deficits to beat the two-time defending playoff champions.The Tigers also finished first in the WCHA in the regular season.&ldquo;We accomplished what we wanted to do,&rdquo; said Colorado College coach Don Lucia. &ldquo;First, we wanted to make the NCAA tournament. Then we wanted to get the bye. It&rsquo;s nice that was decided on the ice and not by a computer.&rdquo;Last season, the Tigers won the regular season, but failed to to qualify for the NCAA tournament after losing in the first round of the playoffs.Wisconsin&rsquo;s win gave it the league title for the first time since 1990, the year the Badgers also won the national title.Wisconsin&rsquo;s NCAA bid was its eighth straight and Minnesota&rsquo;s was its 10th in a row. Colorado College hasn&rsquo;t been to the NCAAs since 1978. Denver&rsquo;s last trip was in 1986.In the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Lake Superior State was simply superior for the fourth time in five years. The defending national champions scored three goals in the final eight minutes to defeat Michigan 5-3 in the league final March 19.In the semifinal game, the Lakers stunned first-place Michigan with a 5-4 overtime win. After falling behind 2-0, the Lakers fought back for a 4-3 lead late in the third period.Michigan&rsquo;s Mike Knuble tied it 4-4 with less than a second remaining in regulation. Lakers&rsquo; winger Jason Trzcinski won it with a powerplay goal three minutes into overtime.In the final, Michigan State was ahead 2-0, but the Lakers steamed back with three goals in the final eight minutes for the 5-3 victory.In the Hockey East tournament, Boston University defeated Providence 3-2 in the championship game for its second straight league playoff championship.In the Eastern College Athletic Conference, sixth-seeded RPI scored three power-play goals to beat Princeton 5-1 in the final to win its first championship since 1985.RPI junior goalie Mike Tamburro was named the most valuable player in the ECAC tournament after allowing just five goals in four tournament games.Tamburro&rsquo;s easiest game of the tournament was the last one, as Princeton managed just 18 shots on goal.The 12 finalists for the NCAA tournament were announced March 21.The East Region, scheduled for March 24-25 at The Centrum in Worcester, Mass., featured, in order of seeding: Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire, Clarkson, Lake Superior State and Denver.The West Region, scheduled for March 24-25 at Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wis., featured, in order of seeding: Michigan, Colorado College, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan State and RPI.<h2>Badgers come of age to take league crown</h2>There were still people who doubted the Wisconsin Badgers, clucking their tongues at the Badgers&rsquo; second-place finish in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. But after Wisconsin won the WCHA tournament, doubters had to admit it has a pretty good team.&ldquo;People thought we were overachievers,&rdquo; said senior defenseman Maco Balkovec, who scored the overtime winner as Wisconsin beat Colorado College 4-3 in the WCHA championship. &ldquo;Well, you can take the prefix off that word. We&rsquo;re just plain achievers.&rdquo;Hockey people thought Wisconsin would rebuild this season after losing several of its top forwards from the 1993-94 squad. The Washington Capitals signed junior goalie Jim Carey before this season started, leaving the Badgers&rsquo; status more in doubt.<h2>WCHA</h2>&ldquo;Nobody thought we could do this-nobody thought we&rsquo;d be here,&rdquo; said sophomore goalie Kirk Daubenspeck, who stepped in for Carey and was the tournament MVP. &ldquo;The only people who did were the guys in our locker room.&rdquo;Coach Jeff Sauer said last season was his most frustrating.&ldquo;We had as much talent as we&rsquo;ve ever had, but couldn&rsquo;t put it together,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This team has more heart. It doesn&rsquo;t have as much talent, but it does things last year&rsquo;s team couldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Senior defenseman Mark Strobel, the team&rsquo;s captain, agreed.&ldquo;Everyone seemed to be going their own way last year,&rdquo; Strobel said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d have all these meetings and nothing would get resolved. This year, from the beginning, the players seemed to be much more comfortable around each other. There was a real chemistry.&rdquo;Wisconsin tied for second place during the regular season. After getting past Northern Michigan in the opening round of the playoffs, it rallied to beat Denver 5-4 in a semifinal before stopping Colorado College.That had to make national officials happy. As soon as Wisconsin was seeded into the west regional-in Madison, Wis.-all games at Dane County Coliseum sold out.-Chris Miller<h2>CCHA</h2>Never count the Lake Superior State Lakers out. At least not uptil the final buzzer.With a 5-3 decision over Michigan State in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association final, the Lakers won their fourth post-season crown in five seasons. Lake Superior State was 7-10-5 midway through the season, then went 15-1-1 through the CCHA playoffs.Lake Superior State also earned its eighth straight berth in the national tournament and a chance to defend its national title.&ldquo;It took us a little longer this year than usual, but our leadership came though,&rdquo; said coach Jeff Jackson. &ldquo;But confidence breeds confidence. Everybody&rsquo;s playing well.&rdquo;Still, experienced Lakers such as junior right winger Sean Tallaire, senior center Wayne Strachan and defenseman Keith Aldridge led the charge down the stretch.&ldquo;Earlier, our upperclassmen were putting so much pressure on themselves that they stopped doing the things they needed to do for us to play as a team,&rdquo; Jackson said.FALCONS SHOT DOWN: Despite an upbeat 25-11-2 season, the Bowling Green Falcons were excluded from the national playoffs.The problem was Bowling Green&rsquo;s weak schedule. The Falcons had a slate that ranked 40th in difficulty among the 44 Division I programs. Bowling Green played Notre Dame and Ohio State, the CCHA&rsquo;s bottom teams, five times each and affiliate Alaska-Fairbanks twice.The Falcons also were hurt by losing to Michigan State in the CCHA semifinals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re disappointed,&rdquo; said Buddy Powers, the CCHA&rsquo;s coach of the year, &ldquo;but there&rsquo;s no bitterness about it.&ldquo;THE WINNER IS: CCHA major award winners were Bowling Green senior center Brian Holzinger as player of the year and Michigan freshman goalie Marty Turco as top rookie.Also honored were Lake Superior State&rsquo;s Wayne Strachan as best defensive forward; Bowling Green&rsquo;s Kelly Perrault as best offensive defenseman and Michigan&rsquo;s Steven Haiko as best defensive defenseman.-Matt Carlson<h2>Sharp Pain Spells end for Princeton Tigers</h2>After leading the Princeton Tigers to the Eastern College Athletic Conference championship game for the first time ever, senior center Ian Sharp was a spectator in the most important game of his college career.Sharp tore ligaments in his right knee during the Tigers&rsquo; 2-1 upset of regular-season champion Clarkson in the semifinal and could only watch as RPI defeated his teammates 5-1 in the championship game March 18.Voted the ECAC&rsquo;s best defensive forward for the second year in a row, Sharp tore the ligaments in his knee in the third period of the Tigers&rsquo; win over Clarkson. He fell backward and the Clarkson player he had been tangled up with fell across the side of sharp&rsquo;s leg. Sharp immendiately knew it was something serious.<h2>ECAC</h2>&ldquo;I felt a couple of pops. I thought I broke my leg,&rdquo; Sharp said. &ldquo;But then they stood me up and when I got back to the dressing room, there wasn&rsquo;t a lot of pain and I wanted to walk about on it. I thought I was just being a baby.&rdquo;Injuries hit the Tigers hard during the playoffs. Junior defenseman Dan Brown broke his leg against Union College in the preliminary round and freshman Matt Brush, who had scored the winning goal in double overtime in the quarterfinals against Brown, sprained his ankle in the semifinals and was also on crutches for the championship game.The RPI win was a historical one for Dan Fridgen. The Engineers&rsquo; coach became the first rookie to win the ECAC since Jack Parker guided Boston University to the title in 1974.GAUDET TOP COACH: Bob Gaudet of Brown was selected as the ECAC coach of the year. The Bears were to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll, but sat on top of the league for most of the regular season before falling behind Clarkson to finish second.St. Lawrence forward Paul DiFrancesco earned the league&rsquo;s rookie-of-the-year award. DiFrancesco was the league&rsquo;s highest-scoring freshman with six goals and 27 points in 22 games. Overall, he had eight goals and 28 assists in 33 games.-Tom Boggie<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Parity is a growing concern in Hockey East-a growing concern for the top teams who wish they had a few weak sisters to play.UMass.-Lowell coach Bruce Crowder said the parity in the league can be partly attributed to major junior hockey.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there are as many blue-chip players in college hockey as there used to be because the major junior teams are doing a good job getting the 16- and 17-year-olds,&rdquo; Crowder said, citing National Collegiate Athletic Association sanctions as the reason.The parity was evident in the Hockey East playoffs. Among the nine post-season games, four upsets were registered and three others won by higher seeds were decided by two or fewer goals.Coaches said one of the keys behind the league&rsquo;s growth has been its coverage on the New England Sports Network. The network has covered the league since the 1985-86 season and the league just completed the first year of a new five-year deal with the network.&ldquo;It has really helped in our recruiting,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shawn Walsh.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve given us great exposure,&rdquo; said New Hampshire coach Dick Umile.NESN can be picked up on satellite dishes all across North America.PENALTY KINGS: The UMass.-Lowell River Hawks set a school record this season by taking 1,029 penalty minutes, including 56 in the 6-0 Hockey East consolation loss to Maine.Their 638 PIM in 24 regular-season games was the highest in the league. That trend will not continue according to Bruce Crowder, who benched league scoring champ Greg Bullock after he took 19 penalty minutes in the second period of the Maine game.&ldquo;We had a lot of new faces this year and I wanted to see what they could do. They were a little more free-spirited than usual,&rdquo; Crowder said. &ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t win championships taking over 1,000 minutes in penalties.&rdquo;He benched Bullock &ldquo;because what was happening wasn&rsquo;t good for him or our program.&rdquo;-Larry Mahoney &#9632;

Tigers earn bye, lose in WCHA final

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>Nobody is saying Bowling Green center Brian Holzinger is going to be the next Pat LaFontaine. But the subtle parallels between the two players are difficult to ignore.Both were bom in non-traditional hockey areas, but honed their skills in Michigan. Both are among the best players at their level. Both are allAmerican, self-effacing, down-to-earth types who are respected by their peers. And most important to the Buffalo Sabres, the team that drafted Holzinger 124th overall in 1991, both are superior skaters.&ldquo;He skates a lot like Pat LaFontaine,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; coach-GM John Muckier, who made a trip to watch Holzinger play during the NHL lockout. &ldquo;I was very impressed with his speed and he seems to read the ice really well.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01641/10087635-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="532" height="737"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Holzinger may join the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; organization soon.</figcaption></div>Muckier isn&rsquo;t the only one who has been impressed with the Parma, Ohio native this season. Holzinger, who finished with 35 goals and 79 points in 38 games, was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association&rsquo;s player of the year and has the inside track on the Hobey Baker Award, U.S. college hockey&rsquo;s top individual honor.While Muckier sees a little LaFontaine in the 5-foot-l 1, 180-pound senior. Falcons&rsquo; coach Buddy Powers likens Holzinger&rsquo;s footwork to another NHL center, Joe Juneau of the Washington Capitals. Powers formerly coached Juneau at RPI.&ldquo;There have got to be at least seven or eight times this season when Brian picked up the puck in the neutral zone on transition, took one step, was by everyone and in on the goaltender,&rdquo; Powers said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a complete, all-around player.&rdquo;Holzinger has had to go all around to nurture his development. Growing up in suburban Cleveland, where he was introduced to the ice as a figure skater at age five, Holzinger was geographically challenged.&ldquo;Cleveland isn&rsquo;t exactly a hockey hotbed,&rdquo; Holzinger said. &ldquo;At some point if you want to improve, you have to go elsewhere.&rdquo;After his sophomore year of high school, Holzinger joined the Detroit Jr. Red Wings of the North American Jr. League. Holzinger got better, got points and got noticed. He was swamped by college scholarship offers, but chose Bowling Green.&ldquo;I liked the program, the academic atmosphere,&rdquo; said Holzinger, who carried a 3.3 grade-point average (out of 4.0) in information systems management into his final semester.With his Falcons eliminated from the playoffs in mid-March, Holzinger was free to sign with the Sabres, but it was unclear whether that would happen before he completes his degree.If he doesn&rsquo;t sign with the Sabres, Holzinger may join the U.S. team for the World Championships, which will be held in Sweden April 25-May 8.What is certain is the Falcons will dearly miss Holzinger next season.&ldquo;The biggest thing is he&rsquo;s just a great kid,&rdquo; Powers said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been around a better guy in college hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

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April 7, 1995

Knipscheer, Moger get call to resurrect struggling club

San Antonio, San Diego become likely for ’95-96

The Hockey News

Wilson leaves school early to join Cornwall farm team