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.

June 14, 1996

The Hockey News June 14, 1996

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01842/6690625-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Florida&rsquo;s Ed JovanovskiColorado&rsquo;s Sandis Ozolinsh</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY CONGRATULATES FREDERIC DESCHENES-CHL GOALTENDER OF THE YEAR.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01791/6690618-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3101" height="3702"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Don&rsquo;t count on the Coyote killing the Roadrunner just yet. In fact, the rivals may eventually team up.When the Winnipeg Jets announced they were moving their franchise to Phoenix to become the Coyotes next season, most assumed the Phoenix Roadrunners would be crushed by an Acme anvil.Bur Roadrunners&rsquo; owner Lyle Abraham announced May 14 that he had reached a deal with a local management company that will keep the International League team in Phoenix.The Arizona Sports and Entertainment Group, which has financial backing from the Ak-Chin Indian Community, has negotiated an agreement with Abraham to assume management of the team for the next two years with an option to buy.The group also obtained a five-year lease for the team to continue playing at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Roadrunners&rsquo; GM Adam Keller is part of the group that is taking over the team from Abraham and will assume the additional responsibilities as club president.&ldquo;This is a great day for hockey fans in Phoenix,&rdquo; Keller said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m absolutely ecstatic. It&rsquo;s a great, great feeling. Things are settled and ready and we know for a fact fans in the Valley can look forward to seeing the Roadrunners in 1996-97 and beyond.&rdquo;Keller said the Roadrunners would remain affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings for next season, fulfilling the final year of their contract.He said it is too early to say whether the club would be interested in an affiliation agreement with the Coyotes, saying the Roadrunners&rsquo; relationship with the Kings is &ldquo;excellent.&rdquo; But he also said he is interested in doing anything to promote interest in hockey in Phoenix.Keller said he had not spoken to coach Rob Laird about remaining on the job. He said he felt Laird, who is employed by the Kings, had done a good job under trying circumstances.&ldquo;There was a lot of uncertainty and it was difficult, but Rob did a wonderful job keeping everyone playing hard and focused on hockey,&rdquo; Keller said. &ldquo;Once things settle down, we&rsquo;ll talk with Rob and see what will happen.&rdquo;SPIDERS BANKRUPT: The financially troubled San Francisco Spiders, who lost more than $6 million in their first season, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 17. Owner Dave Pasant, who has been searching for either a buyer for the club or a city for relocation, said the move was made to enable the team to get out of its lease at the Cow Palace.Pasant was close to selling the franchise to a group that would have moved it to Tacoma, Wash. However, the group never came up with the $500,000 down payment and the deal fell through.There was interest from groups in Sacramento, but it proved virtually impossible to get a lease. There was also reportedly interest in the franchise in Nashville.QUEBEC NICKNAME: The Quebec franchise that begins play next season at Le Colisee will be known as Les Rafales de Quebec. A rafale (pronounced RAH-foul) is a fierce wind that accompanies a winter storm.Rafales&rsquo; GM Joe Bucchi-no interviewed six candidates for his coaching position and has narrowed the list to three former NHL players-Lucien DeBlois, Jean Pronovost and Guy Chouinard.SHARKS, BLADES PART: The San Jose Sharks ended a five-year affiliation agreement with the Kansas City Blades, announcing they would affiliate with the expansion Lexington Thoroughblades of the American League.Blades&rsquo; GM Doug Soetaert said the Blades will operate as an independent.<h2>IHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01816/6690356-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="810" height="552"></div> &#9632;

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LEAGUES

Roadrunners will stay put despite arrival of Coyotes

Sergei Fedorov was Mr. Everything for the Detroit Red Wings this season. The team&rsquo;s top scorer saw action at center, defense and right wing. Although the NHL all-star ballot listed him at center, we listed him as a right winger because he played the majority of the season there.<h2>FIRST TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021281/6689128-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="295" height="457"></div>Center<h3>Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh Penguins</h3>Key Stat: 2.3 pts. per game 1995-96 Highlights: Back from year off to win fifth scoring title with 161 points&hellip;scored five goals March 26&hellip;got 500th goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03833/6689121-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="297" height="456"></div>Left Wing<h3>Paul Kariya Anaheim Mighty Ducks</h3>Key Stat: 50 goals1995-96 Highlights: Had 11 two-goal games&hellip;led Mighty Ducks with nine game winning goals&hellip;tied for lead in team scoring with 108 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04484/6689114-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="300" height="457"></div>Right Wing<h3>Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh Penguins</h3>Key Stat: 12 game winners1995-96 Highlights: Set NHL records for points (149) and assists (87) by right winger&hellip;led league in shots with 403.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05346/6689107-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="299" height="458"></div>Defense<h3>Ray Bourque Boston Bruins</h3>Key Stat: 390 shots1995-96 Highlights: Had ninth 20-goal season&hellip;second in league in shots on goal&hellip;second highest scoring defenseman, 82 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06286/6689100-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="298" height="457"></div>Defense<h3>Chris Chelios Chicago Blackhawks</h3>Key Stat: 72 points1995-96 Highlights: One of only two defensemen in NHL to lead team in scoring&hellip;tied season-high for assists with 58.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07249/6689093-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="298" height="460"></div>Goaltender<h3>Chris Osgood Detroit Red Wings</h3>Key Stat: 39 wins1995-96 Highlights: scored goal March 6 in Hartford&hellip;tied for best goals-against average with 2.17&hellip;recorded five shutouts.<h2>SECOND TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08215/6689086-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="301" height="461"></div>Center<h3>Eric Lindros Philadelphia Flyers</h3>Key Stat: 47 goals1995-96 Highlights: Led team in scoring, sixth in league with 115 points&hellip;third highest points per game total at 1.58.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09175/6689079-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="298" height="459"></div>Left Wing<h3>John LeClair Philadelphia Flyers</h3>Key Stat: 51 goals1995-96 Highlights: Tied for third in game winning goals with 10&hellip;had streak of 15 goals in 10 games-March 16-April 2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-10159/6689072-1-eng-US/f0012-102.jpg" title="f0012-10" width="298" height="458"></div>Right Wing<h3>Sergei Fedorov Detroit Red Wings</h3>Key Stat: 107 points1995-96 Highlights: Led Red Wings in scoring&hellip;was second in game winners with 11&hellip;played handful of games on defense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-11147/6689065-1-eng-US/f0012-112.jpg" title="f0012-11" width="297" height="457"></div>Defense<h3>V. Konstantinov Detroit Red Wings</h3>Key Stat: Plus-601995-96 Highlights: Led NHL in plus-minus rating&hellip;scored career high 14 goals&hellip;scored three game winning goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-12127/6689058-1-eng-US/f0012-122.jpg" title="f0012-12" width="299" height="458"></div>Defense<h3>Paul Coffey Detroit Red Wings</h3>Key Stat: 1,000th assist1995-96 Highlights: Became first defenseman to hit 1.000 career assists&hellip;third-highest scoring defenseman with 74 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-13115/6689051-1-eng-US/f0012-132.jpg" title="f0012-13" width="295" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Scott Levy/BBS)</figcaption></div>Goaltender<h3>Ron Hextall Philadelphia Flyers</h3>Key Stat: 2.17 GAA1995 Highlights: Tied Detroit&rsquo;s Chris Osgood for best goals-against average&hellip;Had fifth best save percentage, 91.3. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Fedorov: right stuff

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011456/6689328-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="750" height="1647"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kris Draper</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021012/6689335-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="163" height="163"></div>The Detroit Red Wings knew long before Game 6 of the Western Conference final against the Colorado Avalanche their road to the Stanley Cup was going to be grueling.They had to know it in the first round, which went six games against the Winnipeg Jets.Then they received confirmation in the second round when it took a shot from captain Steve Yzerman just inside the blueline in double overtime in Game 7 to down a huge underdog in the St. Louis Blues.Against the Avalanche, the Wings took their home ice advantage and used it against themselves, going into McNichols Sports Arena without a win. Detroit lost Games 1 and 2 at Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty bad, but we have no one to blame but ourselves,&rdquo; said defenseman Marc Bergevin. &ldquo;We had the two losses at home to start this series and that&rsquo;s one thing that really hurt us.&rdquo;Also hurting the Wings was the lack of consistent offensive production by centers Keith Primeau, Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov and defenseman Paul Coffey.It&rsquo;s something that will be addressed this offseason, though coach-director of player personnel Scotty Bowman was less than forthcoming when asked of possible player movement. The one thing he did concede was that the team needs to get bigger before next playoffs. Bowman thinks some of that size will come from within the Wings&rsquo; organization.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get bigger by addition,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;Mathieu Dandenault, Kirk Maltby, Jamie Pushor and Anders Eriksson will all be with us.&rdquo;Dandenault, a right winger, is listed at 6 foot, 174 pounds; Maltby, a right winger, is 6 foot, 180; Pushor, a defenseman, is 6-foot-3, 192; and Eriksson, a defenseman, is 6-foot-3,218.Bowman also thinks his team has a good core of tough players around which to build.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some gritty players like Darren McCarty and Keith Primeau, Marty Lapointe,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be okay.&rdquo;Captain Steve Yzerman agrees with his coach, but thinks the core players are in place for a championship. In fact, he vowed this team would one day win the Cup.&ldquo;We have to do something different,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re close, but we&rsquo;re not there yet. I don&rsquo;t have any plans to go anywhere, but I look at our young nucleus&hellip;and they will one day win the Cup.&rdquo;Still, some changes are in order. The Wings are not expecting 35-year-old defenseman Mike Ramsey to return; he is likely to retire. Slava Fetisov, 38, also is questionable to return next season.In addition to Ramsey and Fetisov, Bergevin and forward Greg Johnson are unsigned.In net, the Wings will have a decision to make regarding Mike Vernon. Though he still has one year remaining on his contract, Vernon could be the odd-man out come next fall. Chris Osgood has solidified his role as the top goaltender and rookie Kevin Hodson recently signed a multi-year oneway contract that kicks in next season.Barring a trade in the off-season, the Wings must make one of the three available in the waiver draft. The Wings don&rsquo;t want to lose Hodson, who is considered among the club&rsquo;s top prospects.Bowman said he wants to coach another year, but said he has heel spurs that may require surgery. He is due for a physical after the Stanley Cup final end.NOTEBOOK: The hit from behind center Kris Draper received from Colorado right winger Claude Lemieux in Game 6 became a focal point for the Wings after the series ended. Draper&rsquo;s injuries included a fractured upper jaw, fractured cheekbone, broken nose, a cut on the inside of his mouth that needed 30 stitches and five teeth that had to be realigned because they were pressing into his throat. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even have a chance to protect myself,&rdquo; Draper said. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s the kind of player he is and we all know that.&rdquo; Several of the Wings vowed their own form of retribution, but none were as vocal as goalie Chris Osgood, a good friend of Draper. &ldquo;We may not see him the rest of this year, but we&rsquo;ll see him next year,&rdquo; Osgood said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to make no secret what we&rsquo;re going to do to him. It&rsquo;s stupid what he did and it&rsquo;s the last time he&rsquo;s going to get away with it. He has four months to get ready for what we&rsquo;re going to do to him.&rdquo; Rep. Kirk Profit introduced a measure in the Michigan State legislature May 31 asking Colorado&rsquo;s attorney general to charge Lemieux for the hit&hellip;Draper wasn&rsquo;t the only Wing to sustain an injury at the hands of Lemieux in Game 6. Center Igor Larionov sustained a fractured bone in his left foot when he was hit into the boards by Lemieux as he was attempting to leave the ice on a line change. Larionov played the remainder of the game and the injury was discovered the next day&hellip;Center Keith Primeau scored his only goal of the playoffs in Game 6 against Winnipeg, an empty-netter. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Don’t expect overhaul

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011474/6688376-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic ties NHL record with five game winning goals for AvalancheDave Lowry matches his season total of 10 goals for the upstartPanthers.</figcaption></div>FREE, UNRESTRICTED&hellip;&hellip;pg. 6SAKIC&rsquo;S SHOW DOWN&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;pg. 8CATS CAN DO&hellip;&hellip;pg.9OUR ALL-STARS&hellip;&hellip;pg. 12ROLLER HOCKEY&hellip;&hellip;pullout<h2>UPCOMING IN THN</h2>The 1996 Stanley Cup champions will grace the cover of our next issue. Read about the glory of victory and the agony of defeat. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

ON THE COVER

<h2>Granby takes national title</h2>1. Granby Predateurs First Quebecbased team to take Memorial Cup in 25 years does it in convincing fashion.2. Avalanche, Panthers Long march to Stanley Cup final comes down to two best playoff teams.3. John Vanbiesbrouck Florida goalie both solid and spectacular. What more can you ask for in playoff goaltending?4. Don&rsquo;t go, Mario No. 66 wins scoring championship, will be MVP. He&rsquo;s not ready for retirement.5. Czech it out Czech Republic wins gold medal at World Championship by beating Canada in final.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021214/6688414-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="334" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Lemieux</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03898/6688407-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="332" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">J. Vanbiesbrouck</figcaption></div><h2>Lemieux hit was reckless</h2>1. Cheap shot Claude Lemieux Kris Draper from behind, causing broken orbital bone, jaw, teeth and 30-stitch2. Dead Things Were people really serious when they compared these guys Montreal Canadiens of the late-1970s?3. Penguins&rsquo; power play NHL&rsquo;s power play goes from 26 per cent during regular season to 13 against Florida.4. Patrick Roy Avalanche goalie&rsquo;s stick between legs of Detroit&rsquo;s Ciccarelli beyond dirty pool.5. Drought, not Storm Guelph mark for futility, scoring just two goals three Memorial Cup games. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04669/6688445-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="350" height="432"></div>A hat-trick of actions and reactions:Action: The regular season record-setting Detroit Red Wings fail&mdash;yet again-to win the Stanley Cup.Reaction: Detroit head hockey man Scotty Bowman did little to address team shortcomings exposed in the 1995 final. Bowman should form an emergency task force-it truly is an emergency after 41 years without a Cup-to determine what ails the team and what can be done to cure it. Before the playoffs, this corner&rsquo;s opinion was that the Red Wings were doomed once they didn&rsquo;t get Rick Tocchet (or a reasonable facsimile) to give the team greater physical and emotional depth. The Red Wings should trade Viacheslav Kozlov to get a gritty, assertive winger and find a crease-clearing defenseman. They should not trade Sergei Fedorov. That would be like throwing out the baby with the bath water.Action: Florida Panthers&rsquo; goalie John Vanbiesbrouck receives a delay of game penalty early in the third period (with the score tied 2-2) in the potentially deciding sixth game of the Eastern Conference final series. His crime? Accidentally shooting the puck over the glass.Reaction: Change that stupid rule: give goalies one free glass-clearing shot a game. Assess a penalty only on repeat offenses. Would it be that big a deal if goalies deliberately stopped play once a game? It would have been a travesty had the Pittsburgh Penguins scored on the ensuing power play and won the game. As for the glass surrounding league rinks, it should be mandatory for all teams to use the new system that does not use metal uprights to hold panels in place. Games shouldn&rsquo;t be decided by unexpected bounces off vertical strips of metal. Nor should fans, paying premium prices, have anything but the very best possible view of games.Action: Claude Lemieux is suspended two games for stapling Kris Draper to the boards from behind; the hit results in frightening facial injuries.Reaction: This was not Dale Hunter cheap-shotting Pierre Turgeon after play stopped. This was Lemieux acting dangerously during play; it was inexcusable, but not a 21-game assault (as Hunter&rsquo;s was deemed in 1993). But if intent to injure was absent from the Lemieux incident, recklessness wasn&rsquo;t. Horrible things happen when you allow hitting in a game. There is a fine line between hard, physical play and violent play. Lemieux crossed it (again) and is accountable for the consequences Draper suffered. Two games is okay; three would have been better for another senseless cheap shot. &#9632;

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Dead Things deserved yet another burial

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021302/6688483-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Ricci has had a terrific playoff after a miserable season.</figcaption></div>The rest of the hockey world has found out what readers of The Hockey News have known for months. That is, Joe Sakic may be the NHL&rsquo;s most elusive player. The Colorado Avalanche center, who entered the Stanley Cup final with 17 goals (two shy of the playoff record) doesn&rsquo;t arrive in scoring position as much as materialize. Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather said it best in a March 1 THN story: &ldquo;He just sort of drifts in and drifts out,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s almost like the mist. It&rsquo;s there and and then it isn&rsquo;t.&rdquo; Sakic has explosive speed, one of the best wrist shots in the game and uncanny instincts on offense. He scored a career-high 51 goals and 120 points during the 1995-96 regular season and was the leading candidate to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy as 1996 playoff MVP. Even if the Avalanche should lose to the Florida Panthers in the final, Sakic could win the Smythe if he sets the record for most goals. Former Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; sniper Reggie Leach, who set the record of 19 in 1976 (later tied by Jari Kurri of the Edmonton Oilers), is one of only four non-winning players to be honored with the Smythe. The other three were goalies: Roger Crozier, Detroit Red Wings, 1966; Glenn Hall. St. Louis Blues, 1968; and Ron Hextall, Philadelphia, 1987. Curiously, Sakic has been somewhat overshadowed by teammate Peter Forsberg, even though Sakic scored 21 more goals and four more points during the regular season. During the playoffs, Sakic had 29 points in 18 games; Forsberg had seven goals and 16 points. &ldquo;There is a wonderment about Forsberg,&rdquo; said Avalanche TV broadcaster Peter McNab, &ldquo;because he always has the puck.&rdquo; Sakic, on the other hand, is more mist-ical than magical. To hear Avalanche coach Marc Crawford tell it, Sakic is like The Shadow, possessed of the ability to cloud men&rsquo;s minds. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost like he&rsquo;s invisible on the ice,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re looking for him, they know he&rsquo;s around, but they can&rsquo;t find him. And when he (appears) he has a scoring chance.&rdquo; The Avalanche is favored in the final because of superior scoring punch and balance-but the Panthers have a devastating defensive system whose underpinning is another Conn Smythe candidate, goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Colorado, meanwhile, has a sublime level of confidence with Patrick Roy in goal. &ldquo;He has a power about him that (teammates) see and they feel more comfortable around him,&rdquo; Crawford said. McNab said. Roy, a two-time Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup winner, oozes good vibrations from every pore. &ldquo;You can feel him seeing the puck,&rdquo; McNab said&hellip;A playoff surprise-likely to everybody but Ottawa Senators&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin, a former Avalanche assistant-has been the productive play of left winger/center Mike Ricci. The 24-year-old had a dreadful, injury-filled season, but had five goals and 16 points in the playoffs. &ldquo;Jacques said it, &lsquo;He has been our best player in the playoffs before and he&rsquo;ll be our best player in the playoffs again,&rsquo; &ldquo;Crawford said. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been our best, but he has been right at the top.&rdquo;&hellip;The NHL is expected to put team logos back on pucks next season rather than just the league shield. The change was criticized because it deprived the game of uniqueness. Fans have long treasured game pucks because they were identified by team logos. Give commissioner Gary Bettman a pat on the back for being responsive. Give him a hearty handshake if he gets rid of the other-worldly puck on Fox. One puck down, one to go.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03855/6688476-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="371" height="365"></div> &#9632;

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‘The Shadow’ knows score

The 79th NHL Stanley Cup final matches the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers. Here&rsquo;s a look at both teams&rsquo; lineups. Forwards are listed by customary line combination and defense by usual pairing. The Panthers are just as likely to ice a 7-11 lineup (including power play specialist) as a traditional lineup of six defensemen and 12 forwards. We have listed the 18 players who played in the deciding game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Avalanche has five players with experience in the Cup final; the Panthers have three. They are indicated with asterisks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011630/6688514-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="533" height="1415"></div> &#9632;

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STANLEY CUP SHOWDOWN

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04471/6688545-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="349" height="416"></div>The New York Rangers tricked a number of NHL teams two years ago, including themselves.When the Blueshirts stocked up on veterans for their run to the Stanley Cup in 1994, it was as though they had stumbled on to a new formula for success. It was the same new formula the Toronto Maple Leafs used to win their last Cup in 1967.Placing veterans in role positions can be a very successful tactic. That is what the Rangers did, bringing in the likes of Glenn Anderson, Steve Larmer, Craig MacTavish and Doug Lidster to supplement ageless warrior Mark Messier and their splendid youth corps. But remember, it was Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, Alexei Kovalev and Mike Richter-players in or approaching their primes-who were at the heart of the championship.Naturally, you need a veteran presence to be successful. But there is a fine line between a useful elderly player and an over-the-hill slug.The Leafs and St. Louis Blues looked like two oldtimer teams playing in the first round of playoffs this season. It was obvious neither would offer serious challenge for the Cup. The reason? Too many slugs. They loaded up with greybeards, casting youth away in the process, and came away with nothing-except, perhaps, a bleak future.The Rangers ran into injury trouble, but they also showed too much faith in too many players whose families are busy planning retirement parties for them.The Florida Panthers, meanwhile, did the opposite. So did the Pittsburgh Penguins.The Penguins could afford a drastic change in direction because they had a healthy Mario Lemieux coming back. It was more of a risk for the Panthers, but one that paid off. Showing faith in youngsters Ed Jovanovski, Rhett Warrener, Radek Dvorak and Rob Niedermayer has paid off handsomely.&ldquo;When you have older guys you should have a consistent team, one that won&rsquo;t break down defensively as often,&rdquo; said Florida GM Bryan Murray. &ldquo;Younger players are not predictable and might break down occasionally, but they offer potential improvement and enthusiasm. That&rsquo;s what I like.&rdquo;Unlike the Leafs and Blues, the Panthers have reason to like what they see in the future. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

Can’t win Cup without kids

A compendium of significant events and developments (May 3-June 2).May 4: United States defeats Russia 4-3 in overtime to claim bronze medal at 1996 World Championship.May 5: Czech Republic defeats Canada 4-2 to win gold medal at World Championship.May 8: New York Islanders, who lost 528 man-games to injury, fire club&rsquo;s orthopedist, trainer, equipment manager and assistant trainer.May 13: Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Christian Dube named top Canadian Hockey League player for 1995-96.May 14: Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes fire coach Terry Simpson.May 19: Granby defeats Peterborough 4-0 to claim Memorial Cup, becoming first Quebecbased team to win title in 25 years.May 21: Phoenix names former NHLer Bobby Smith executive vice-president.May 22: Arbitrator rules Boston defenseman Al lafrate&rsquo;s right knee injury was hockey related and Bruins must pay his $900,000 (U.S.) salary for 1995-96 season.May 29: Colorado beats Detroit 4-1 to win Western Conference final and advance to Stanley Cup final for first time in franchise history.May 31: Florida defeats Pittsburgh 3-1 in Game 7 to win Eastern Conference final. &#9632;

Avalanche, Panthers earn berths in Stanley Cup final

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011574/6688624-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky expressed an interest in playing with the Rangers.</figcaption></div>The Great One&rsquo;s stay in St. Louis may be a Short One.The Blues acquired Wayne Gretzky with much fanfare Feb. 27, sending three players and two draft picks to the Los Angeles Kings for him.But now 18 regular season and 13 playoff games later, it&rsquo;s a possibility Gretzky won&rsquo;t be back with St. Louis. He becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to sign him if we can,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Keenan. &ldquo;(But) this is the first and only time he&rsquo;ll be a free agent. He&rsquo;s a businessman as well. It&rsquo;s up to him.&rdquo;Not entirely. It&rsquo;s also up to the Blues, who may have gotten cold feet.Early in the Blues&rsquo; first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Gretzky and the Blues seemed like a lock for one another. Sources said the Blues were close to an agreement with Gretzky&rsquo;s agent for a deal worth $21 million over three years.&ldquo;All I can say is the Blues offered a very good package,&rdquo; Keenan said.But a good chunk of that offer was deferred and involved marketing rights, which was a stumbling block in negotiations. Then, when Gretzky struggled with a bad back and fatigue late in the Toronto series and early in the series against the Detroit Red Wings, the Blues pulled the offer off the table.The big bosses started to wonder whether it was wise to commit so much money to a guy who is 35. At $7 million per year, he&rsquo;d be the highest paid player in the league.Going into the off-season, the Blues already have $21,564,000 committed for 22 players next season, which doesn&rsquo;t include Gretzky, unrestricted free agents Jon Casey, Peter Zezel and Steve Leach and restricted free agents Rob Pearson and Stephane Matteau.Keenan said losing Gretzky &ldquo;would be a big blow, but that&rsquo;s the chance we took. It&rsquo;ll be a business decision.&rdquo;&ldquo;I would hope we could come to some kind of understanding (in St. Louis),&rdquo; Gretzky told ESPN from Cancun, Mexico. I really enjoyed my time (in St. Louis). I really enjoyed playing with Brett (Hull).&rdquo;Solving the Gretzky dilemma will be the top priority as the Blues head into the off-season. There was speculation in some media circles that Gretzky might retire this summer. He rebuffed those suggestions by saying he hoped to return to St. Louis and adding he wouldn&rsquo;t mind finishing his career playing alongside Mark Messier with the New York Rangers.&ldquo;Mark Messier is one of the guys I look up to,&rdquo; Gretzky told ESPN. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the guy I&rsquo;d probably want to finish my career with.&rdquo;But does Gretzky really want to come back and play for Keenan? Gretzky cited Keenan as one of the main reasons he came to St. Louis, but insiders said a rift developed between the two soon after he arrived.On the ice, Gretzky displayed flashes of the control and passing game that has made him the most prolific point producer in NHL history. While not nearly as dominating as in the past, he had eight goals and 21 points in 18 regular season games with the Blues.Gretzky topped the 100-point mark for the 15th time in his career, but his 1.28 points-per-game average was the second poorest of his 17 NHL years. He also led the Blues in playoff scoring.When asked whether Gretzky wants to come back, Keenan said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see why not. He said that he did.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Gretzky, Blues gear up for contract showdown

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div>Tom Renney is a busy man.Since returning with a silver medal from the World Championship in early May, Renney has hardly had time to catch his breath. He has done everything from conducting tryout camps for Canada&rsquo;s national team to promoting an international coaching symposium to being interviewed for vacant NHL coaching jobs.Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher had three interviews with Renney in the last two weeks of May.Bobby Smith, the new director of operations for the Phoenix Coyotes has also spoken with him. The Vancouver Canucks are also interested in the Cranbrook, B.C., native.Renney has made a believer out of Ottawa Senators&rsquo; GM Pierre Gauthier, who served as GM of the national team at the World Championship.&ldquo;He is an extremely competent coach in many areas,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;He is very well prepared and is an excellent tactician. I think this guy is ready for the NHL. And the team that would hire this guy would serve themselves well. He is a winner.&rdquo;Renney knows it&rsquo;s a matter of timing on whether he moves to the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021133/6688655-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="582" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Renney</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There comes a time when you have to look whether the opportunity to move on will knock more than once,&rdquo; Renney said. &ldquo;Life is a dynamic thing. To sit stagnant and not challenge yourself, I am not sure if that is what I want. It is not me.&rdquo;Some said Renney would have a hard time handling NHL players after working with the national team for three years. He chased that ghost away with his performance in Vienna, where he took the team to within a goal of gold.Canada limped through the preliminary round, with the low point being a 5-1 loss to Germany. Renney did a great job of regrouping his players and turned a possible disaster into an almost perfect ending.Once in the medal round, the Canadians played with heart and emotion. With Curtis Joseph playing brilliantly, the Canadians moved into the final against the Czech Republic.The Canadians were flat after a mind-numbing sudden-death shootout win over Russia in the semifinal. The Czechs were pumped because it was the first time the country was in the world final since Czechoslovakia split in the early 1990s.Twice the Czechs had the lead, only to lose it. Then when overtime and another shootout appeared possible, Martin Prochazka slipped a 15-foot wrist shot past Joseph with 19 seconds left in the third period. The Czechs added an empty-net goal to seal the victory.The bronze went to the U.S.-its first medal at the worlds since 1962. The Americans were considered longshots, but an outstanding performance by goalie Parris Duffus took the U.S. a long way. In the bronze medal game, the Americans scored twice shorthanded to beat the Russians. &#9632;

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Renney in demand

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Hockey fans might not have known which teams were playing each night in the 1996 &ldquo;flexible schedule&rdquo; playoffs, but that didn&rsquo;t mean they weren&rsquo;t watching. Quite the opposite.The NHL is crediting the new schedule, featuring Eastern and Western Conference matchups on the same nights in the first two rounds, and heavy player-based marketing by the networks for the highest hockey playoff ratings ever in the United States. Fox and ESPN both enjoyed record ratings.In Canada, where it was feared no Canadian teams advancing beyond the first round would send ratings plummeting, the numbers weren&rsquo;t nearly as bad as expected.&ldquo;Everybody predicted there would be an incredible dropoff,&rdquo; said Glen Adamo, NHL vice-president in charge of broadcasting. Instead, Hockey Night in Canada ratings were up 19 per cent from last season (following the lockout) in the first round and 24 per cent in the second round.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;re trying to do is expose the game to the greatest audience and be able to tell a story every night.&rdquo;Adamo said a scheduling decision to expose the Canadian audience to more American teams on Saturday nights during the season helped sustain interest even after all Canadian teams were eliminated.HNIC&rsquo;s second round ratings were down nine per cent compared to the 1994 playoffs.The U.S. ratings on Fox for the playoffs and regular season combined are up 35 per cent from the combined ABC rating two years ago-which works out to an additional I million viewers per game-and 21 per cent from last year in Fox&rsquo;s first season broadcasting the NHL, according to Adamo.ESPN&rsquo;s playoff ratings with one game left in the conference finals were up 33 per cent overall versus last year&rsquo;s playoffs.Game 6 of the Detroit Red Wings-Colorado Avalanche series had a 3.7 rating (2.5 million homes), the the RD-largest hockey audience ever for ESPN.Adamo said the use of heavy player-based promotion spots to sell upcoming games and make players more well known has been a tremendous success. &#9632;

NHL takes credit for TV ratings rise

There will be at least 50 unrestricted free agents available this summer.Most fall into the Group III category, players 32 and over with at least four years of NHL experience. Other categories are Group V, players with 10 years of pro experience earning less than the average salary; Group VI, players 25 or older who have played at least three pro seasons and fewer than 80 NHL games; and players on termination contracts (T). Ages are as of June 30.Listed here are a sampling of players who qualify for unrestricted free agency. 1995-96 salaries are in the currency of team&rsquo;s country unless indicated otherwise. Canadian-based players paid in U.S. dollars are denoted by an asterisk (*). U.S.-based players paid in Canadian dollars have had their contracts converted at a rate of $0.73. All salaries listed are NHL salaries.Not listed is Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; right winger Joe Murphy, tentatively a Group V free agent, pending calculation of the league average salary this summer. (See story at right.)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011749/6688710-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="733" height="1946"></div> &#9632;

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Group III prospects govern list

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Who will roll the dice on 1996&rsquo;s unrestricted free agents?Judging from last summer&rsquo;s signings, it&rsquo;s a gamble for NHL teams to sign 32-and-over Group III free agents.Consider the fates of six prominent UFA&rsquo;s:&#9633; Dale Hawerchuk (three years, $7.5 million, St. Louis Blues), Ray Ferraro (three years, $5.1 million, New York Rangers) and Wayne Presley (two years, $1.55 million, Rangers) were traded.&#9633; Joel Otto and Kjell Samuelsson, obtained for a combined $8.2 million over five years, went down with the heavily favored Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the playoffs.&#9633; Geoff Courtnall (three years, $6.6 million) recorded a mere three assists in 13 playoff games for St. Louis.Only Grant Fuhr (two years, $2 million) saved face for the Blues. He was the most successful of last summer&rsquo;s Group Ui&rsquo;s and clearly the best of St. Louis&rsquo; five new signings.Now the Blues face the biggest of all questions this summer: How much is Wayne Gretzky worth to them? The NHL&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer is one of at least 50 unrestricted free agents. At 35, he&rsquo;s also one of the oldest, most frail and most unpredictable-and over the past 17 years, most successful.Which Gretzky will step onto the ice most nights next season-the one who can at any time still be the best set-up man in the game or the one who during the playoffs had a difficult time avoiding the bodychecks he artfully dodged most of his career. That could be the $7-million question for any team contemplating signing him.This year&rsquo;s other most prominent 32-and-over Group III free agents are: New Jersey Devils&rsquo; defenseman Phil Housley; New York Rangers&rsquo; right winger Pat Verbeek; and Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; center Bernie Nicholls.Chicago left winger Joe Murphy could be an unrestricted free agent, pending determination of the league&rsquo;s average salary. The 1995-96 average NHL salary is expected to be in the $850,000 range, a 16 per-cent increase from $733,000 in 1994-95.Murphy, a 10-year-veteran, made $842,900 in 1995-96. If that is less than the official league average, he will be a Group V free agent without compensation.Other notable UFA&rsquo;s and their free agent classification are Kelly Hrudey (III), Los Angeles Kings, Brent Sutter (III), Chicago, Ed Olczyk (Termination), Winnipeg Jets, Jari Kurri (III), Rangers, and Jeff Beukeboom (V), Rangers, and Dave Reid (III), Boston Bruins.Stocking up on older players with playoff experience fizzled badly for the Blues, Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs.A successful track record may no longer be enough to gamer million-dollar, multi-year contracts for 32-year-olds of any stripe.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s eventually going to happen,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; assistant GM Bill Watters. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to discover that money spent at that back end is not money well spent.&rdquo;The most notable free agents are in the Group II restricted category, but because of the right to match and heavy draft pick compensation, there&rsquo;s usually no movement among core players. These include centers Jeremy Roenick (Chicago), Mike Modano (Dallas Stars) and Doug Weight (Edmonton Oilers). &#9632;

Veteran talent up for grabs in 1996 crop of free agents

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>The question of who owns a player&rsquo;s face-the NHL or the player-is at issue again between the NHL and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.The two sides, which declared labor peace last October, have been negotiating since April to avoid having the dispute go to court.The latest meeting was in Toronto in late-May. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re working on it,&rdquo; said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.The question of who owns a players&rsquo; likeness was the focal point of the 10-day strike in 1992. Hockey cards were the hot spot in that dispute, which was resolved when players won the right to compensation for commercial use of their faces.This time out, the use of players faces in television commercials is being debated. The NHL sold game footage this year to a number of companies, which used it in commercials.Under dispute are commercials by Bud Ice, the U.S. Army featuring the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Legion of Doom line of Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, along with a Bayer Aspirin commercial involving Lindros and Mark Messier of the New York Rangers. Some of the commercials have been pulled off the air.The NHL apparently is arguing that it owns the footage and can therefore sell it to promote the game. The collective bargaining agreement states that players are to help promote the game.The NHLPA&rsquo;s argument is the NHL owns the footage, but not the players and the union feels the players should be compensated.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021189/6688765-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="416" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Roberts</figcaption></div>DOWN TO THREE: Grant Fuhr, Gary Roberts and Steve Smith are the finalists for the 1996 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.Fuhr, 35, played 76 straight games in goal for the St. Louis Blues after a miserable 1994-95 with the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings.Roberts, 30, returned to the Calgary Flames after undergoing two neck surgeries in 1995. He scored 22 goals and 42 points in 35 games.Smith, 33, made a comeback from back problems that were a result of a badly broken leg. The Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; defenseman was a Masterton finalist in 1995.The winner will be announced June 19 at the NHL Awards. The Masterton is awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. It is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association.JOINT EFFORT: The In-line Hockey World Championship will include involvement from the NHL, the International Ice Hockey Federation and USA Hockey In-line.The round-robin tournament, set for Aug. 410 in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area, will feature teams from 16 countries.DEAN OF COACHES: Dean Talafous, who played eight seasons in the NHL, was named coach at Alaska-Anchorage of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. He succeeds Brush Christiansen, who started the program in 1979 and retired after 17 seasons&hellip; Just two years after being named Eastern College Athletic Conference coach of the year, Bruce Delventhal has resigned as coach at Union College. &#9632;

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TV spots prompt row between NHL, union

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Hockey&rsquo;s version of a think tank takes place July in Boston at the second World Hockey Summit.The USA Hockey-sponsored event will play host to hockey leaders from around the world in a three-day exchange of ideas July 11-13.The first World Hockey Summit in 1993 attracted more than 300 delegates and 60 presenters to discuss issues on far ranging hockey topics.&ldquo;The purpose is to bring people from every realm of hockey together in a place that is focused,&rdquo; said Lou Vairo, director of special projects for USA Hockey. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a non-competitive atmosphere with no distractions.&ldquo;The mandate is to discuss what&rsquo;s best for the game.&rdquo;Vairo said he&rsquo;s hoping to get up to 500 delegates this year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great place to meet people in the industry in a stress-free, relaxed setting. A lot of jobs, contacts and spirited debate came out of the 1993 Summit.&rdquo;A variety of agendas and discussions are planned during the three days.VERNON CHAMPS: The Vernon Vipers won the Canadian national Jr. A championship with a 2-0 victory over the host Melfort Mustangs in the Royal Bank Cup championship game.Beau Riedel earned the shutout in the May 12 game and Dustin Whitecotton and Sjon Wynia scored for Vernon in the final of the former Centennial Cup. &#9632;

Boston to host July summit

If you have ever spent more than a few weeks in the Buffalo area, you&rsquo;ve probably picked up on its pride. It&rsquo;s a feeling that no matter what outsiders might have to say about the climate, the politics, the economy or the people, you still can&rsquo;t diminish the pride people have in their home.With the death of Seymour Knox III on May 22, western New York has taken a huge hit to its pride. Nobody ever had to sell Seymour Knox on his hometown. He was the one who led the sales pitch.Along with his brother Norty, Bob Swados, a young George Steinbrenner and a host of others, Seymour tried to bring major league baseball to Buffalo.At the same time, they were also trying to join the NHL as it doubled in size from the Original Six. Buffalo was ranked eighth in a field that included six winners.But Seymour wouldn&rsquo;t take no as an answer from the league. In order to prove his group&rsquo;s ability to run a hockey club, it bailed the NHL out of a losing proposition in Oakland and almost moved the team to Buffalo. Instead, the group was granted an expansion franchise to begin play in the fall of 1970.Hockey was an instant hit in Buffalo. But as time marched on, more cities were being held hostage by their teams. Seymour Knox didn&rsquo;t allow that to happen here.About five years ago, he realized a new building would be necessary for the Buffalo Sabres to survive in today&rsquo;s market. After a great deal of behind-the-scenes work by Seymour, ground was finally broken for the Marine Midland Arena.It isn&rsquo;t fair that he won&rsquo;t be there when it opens next season. But we can all take comfort in the fact that another 30 years of Sabres&rsquo; hockey has been secured because of Seymour&rsquo;s vision.Using Seymour&rsquo;s own words when the Sabres said goodbye to the Buffalo Auditorium, I can only say, &ldquo;Farewell, old friend.&rdquo;Pete Weber, Kenmore, N.Y.(Ed. Note: Pete Weber is the radio play-by-play man for the Buffalo Sabres.)<h2>Presidential state</h2>I just read your interesting piece on John LeClair (THN, May 17). I have followed his career since his days at the University of Vermont and we are all very proud of his accomplishments.However, I must point out that the state has produced two U.S presidents, not one. Chester Arthur was bom in 1829 in Fairfield, a town not far from LeClair&rsquo;s hometown of St. Albans.Along with Vermont native Calvin Coolidge, that gives presidents a 2-1 lead over NHLers in Vermont.Linda Ryan,&nbsp; Shelburne, Vt.<h2>Stan was right</h2>In its May 17 issue, THN printed several letters criticizing Stan Fischler&rsquo;s New York Ranger-bashing column from May 3.Well, after seeing the Rangers sent packing after five games by the Pittsburgh Penguins, it seems &ldquo;The Hockey Maven&rdquo; wasn&rsquo;t so far off the mark after all.I find Stan&rsquo;s commentaries on the Rangers refreshing, since he is the only hockey journalist in this area who has the guts to criticize a team which enjoys such favorable media coverage.Perhaps more fans and writers should adopt his &ldquo;Call them as I see them&rdquo; approach to the Rangers, rather than using the &ldquo;Call them as Mark Messier sees them&rdquo; attitude.Anthony Bendick,&nbsp; Brentwood, N. Y.<h2>Leave him alone</h2>I am responding to the numerous attacks on THN columnist Stan Fischler.People, leave the man alone. He has an opinion and he is welcome to express it. We may not always agree with it, but if it weren&rsquo;t for columnists such as Fischler, we wouldn&rsquo;t have a great magazine such as THN.Greig Trask,&nbsp; Hampton. N.B.<h2>Lowlight film hits</h2>I would like to see a highlight film of all the uncalled highsticks by Eric Lindros during the playoffs.Why does he keep getting away with it? Pretty cheap play from a skill player.Dan Henderson,&nbsp; Kennewick, Wash.<h2>No Jagr? Too bad</h2>The nominees for the Hart Trophy this season are Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier and Eric Lindros.What&rsquo;s wrong with this picture? Well, let me see, I know. Jaromir Jagr, truly the best player in the NHL this season, isn&rsquo;t among them.Vicky Sulliman,&nbsp; Plymouth, Pa.<h2>U.S. vs. the World</h2>So Kevin Paul Dupont doesn&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a good idea to hold the World Cup in the summer because not enough Americans would be interested at that time of the year (THN, April 19).It&rsquo;s a typical American attitude: the world revolves around them. Perhaps we should hold the World Cup in December in Massachusetts. It&rsquo;s prime time of the year, supposedly on prime American hockey soil. Remember the World Junior Championship?The fact is, the World Cup will be supported and revered where hockey is truly loved-Canada.A.T. Silvasti,&nbsp; Phoenix, Ariz.<h2>Give me a break</h2>So Mike Brophy thinks we should give NHL referees a break (THN May 10). I have to disagree with him on that one.I have witnessed a lot of bad officiating in my 25-plus years as a fan, but I have to say that the refereeing in this year&rsquo;s playoffs is the worst I have ever seen.Should I give Mark Faucette a break for allowing Eric Lindros to slash, punch and highstick his way through Game 2 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Florida Panthers series? Should I give Rob Schick a break for singlehandedly turning the momentum in Game 2 of the Chicago Blackhawks-Colorado Avalanche series?Sorry Mike, but it is time the NHL gave the fans a break and hired competent referees.Brian Intieri,&nbsp; Columbus, Ohio<h2>No consistency</h2>Mike Brophy&rsquo;s column criticized fans for demanding perfection from referees. What upsets us is not a lack of perfection, but a lack of consistency.The automatic change in refereeing philosophy that occurs in the playoffs is laughable. Messrs. Bettman and Burke always tell us there will be no change in how the games are called during the playoffs. Sure, and theWinnipeg Jets will open at home next season.The criticism we hurl at officials has nothing to do with their lack of perfection. If they were perfect, we&rsquo;d have nothing to argue about the morning after the game and that&rsquo;s half the fun. But reaching a standard of consistency will go a long way toward pulling the thorn out of the fan&rsquo;s paw.Bruce Ferguson,&nbsp; Harper Woods, Mich.,Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641.&nbsp;Write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont., M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:THN@transc.com">THN@transc.com.</a> Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

NHL pioneer Knox was Sabres’ savior

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011589/6688844-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011646/6688875-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic was the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy going into the final. (Photo By Dan Hamiliton)</figcaption></div>Joe Sakic stood at the side of the rink, anxiously waiting to take the ice. His team had no surname and after seven years in Quebec City, Sakic was known to most fans outside La Belle Province as Joe Who.Before taking the ice with his &ldquo;Colorado NHL&rdquo; sweater, Sakic was approached by a youngster for an autograph. After he finished obliging the young boy, Sakic was asked, &ldquo;Who are you, anyway?&rdquo;Fast forward nine months to a Denver sports auction for charity. Among the items for bid were jerseys of Denver sports stars Dikembe Mutombo and John Elway and a sweater belonging to Sakic.The one that sold to the highest bidder? It would have to be Elway&rsquo;s. After all, he&rsquo;s the one with the key to the city.Not even close. Elway&rsquo;s went for a little more than $700, but when the bidding for Sakic&rsquo;s Colorado Avalanche sweater was finished, it went for nearly four times that amount.The last time the good folks of Denver had NHL hockey was 13 years before the Quebec Nordiques arrived this season. Don Cherry and Barry Beck were better known than Sakic in the Mile High City. But now there are no more, &ldquo;Who are you, anyway?&rdquo; questions for Sakic to endure, either in Denver or around the NHL.It used to be that you could always find at least one person wearing an orange Elway jersey in any crowd of people in Denver. Now the same is true for Sakic&rsquo;s No. 19 sweater. And there is a reason for that. It&rsquo;s because, going into the Stanley Cup final, there was no better player in hockey. He was the leading contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy.Through his first 18 playoff games, Sakic had a league-leading 17 goals, just two short of the NHL record belonging to Jari Kurri and Reggie Leach (Kurri turned the trick in 18 games, Leach 16). Five of his goals were game winners for the Avalanche, which also equalled a playoff record.Every time the Avalanche needed a big goal through the first three rounds, Sakic was there.In Colorado&rsquo;s first-round series against the Vancouver Canucks, he scored in overtime to win a crucial Game 5, then scored with less than two minutes left in Game 6 to win the series.In the second round against the Chicago Blackhawks, Sakic scored what many around the team have called the defining goal of this year&rsquo;s playoffs. With the Avalanche down two games to one to the Blackhawks, Sakic scored a goal in triple-overtime to even the series. Colorado went on to win the next two games to defeat Chicago in six games.Then came the mighty Detroit Red Wings for Sakic and Co. Sakic made his presence felt through the first five games of the series with seven points.Colorado took a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 at McNichols Sports Arena, but there was plenty of nail-biting around the Avalanche camp. If Colorado lost, it would have to go back to Detroit for a seventh game.But Sakic made sure it wouldn&rsquo;t happen. He scored the Avalanche&rsquo;s first two goals-one on a blazing one-time slapshot, the other on a trademark bullet wrist shot-and that was all goalie Patrick Roy needed.Sakic&rsquo;s assist on Mike Ricci&rsquo;s goal that made it 3-1 loosened up his team and nervous crowd even more and the Avalanche went on to win the game to advance to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in franchise history.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable; what a great feeling,&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;This was a total team effort. You think about going to play for a Stanley Cup all your life, but you never know what it&rsquo;s going to feel like until it happens.&rdquo;Indeed, there had to have been times when Sakic had to seriously wonder if he would ever feel the thrill of going to the final as a member of the Quebec Nordiques.Sakic was a bright light on terrible teams his first few years in the league. Not only were the Nordiques bad, they were very good at being bad. They finished out of the playoffs five straight years, were last overall three straight times and totalled 31 points in 1989-90. When the Nordiques did make it to the playoffs in 1992-93 and last year&rsquo;s lockout shortened season, they were knocked out in the first round.Many blamed Sakic for the early playoff exits, despite having seven goals and 11 points in his 12 career playoff games. Many felt Sakic didn&rsquo;t rise to the occasion enough in post-season play. That may have been true, but he had more than enough company on the underachieving Nordiques.&ldquo;It was tough sometimes. It&rsquo;s not any fun losing in the first round and it was frustrating for me,&rdquo; said Sakic, whose parents emigrated to Canada from Croatia before he was bom.But all doubts about the quiet 27-year-old are long gone now.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s in a zone right now. He has been in a zone the whole year. He has got a great shot,&rdquo; said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman after his team lost the series to Colorado.Said Avalanche coach Marc Crawford: &ldquo;His leadership speaks for itself. He has been just tremendous the whole year, even more so in the playoffs. Every time our team has needed a big play, Joey has been the one to provide it.&rdquo;Sakic said it has been satisfying seeing the people of Denver take to the game and his team throughout the playoffs.&ldquo;It has been fun, not only for the players, but for the fans,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s just great for the city. Obviously, right now with the way things are going, everybody is turning into a hockey fan.&rdquo;Sakic, who signed a two-year, $6 million contract extension earlier this season, still wears exactly the same expression after games, win or lose.After the clinching victory over Detroit, a game in which he was named the No. 1 star, Sakic acted as if his car was double parked during an interview in a packed media room afterward.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s quiet, but he sets a tremendous example for others,&rdquo; said teammate Claude Lemieux. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t need to say a lot. He just goes out and plays his butt off every night. I think these playoffs are going to do so much good for him down the road. He knows now that he doesn&rsquo;t have to prove anything to anybody anymore.&rdquo;Sakic is finally a winner on a team that has finally proven it can win when the stakes are highest. Now that both of those goals have been realized, Sakic is enjoying the ride. A Stanley Cup parade in downtown Denver would be a nice way to end it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made believers out of people who didn&rsquo;t think we could win,&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;So, yeah, that feels good. It&rsquo;s good to see that we&rsquo;re getting recognition now.&rdquo;Now almost everybody in Denver recognizes Sakic. Around the NHL, fans are coming to recognize him as a star. &#9632;

f0008-01

SCORE

ODE TO BIG JOE

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03694/6688958-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="387" height="509"></div>It just seems too easy.We don&rsquo;t mean the part where you have to get the puck into the slot against the Florida Panthers. That&rsquo;s damn near impossible.We just wonder whatever happened to waiting in line. Three years and you are in the final? Do those rodent-tossing, Johnny Vanbiesbrouck-come-latelies have any clue how many years Jean RATelle played without winning a Stanley Cup?Three years, the mere speck of time it takes Sandy McCarthy to go from blueline to blueline, and the Miami Arena is full and the team terrific. It not only makes you wonder what the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; problem has been, but also a little envious not to have an invitation to the party.It&rsquo;s amazing, really, considering the two decades before Johan Garpenlov became a hit at the beach, Oakland, Kansas City, Atlanta, Cleveland and Denver all went down the rat hole.When Jack Kent Cooke bought a franchise for Los Angeles in 1966, he thought the presence of 400,000 ex-Canadians in southern California would give him a license to print money. When his building turned out to be half-filled, like most of the others in the first wave of expansion, Cooke said he figured out why those people left Canada. &ldquo;Because they hate hockey,&rdquo; he said.The people who owned the 12 teams added between 1967 and 1974 thought all they had to do was open the gates. They did, to apathy. Two decades later, in Anaheim, Miami, San Jose, Tampa and Dallas, there are stampedes to the rink.Merlin Malinowski&rsquo;s career did not die in vain. Even before the people in Denver knew who Joe Sakic was, let alone that he could get them to a final, they could not wait for the NHL. In 1981, they couldn&rsquo;t wait for it to leave.Floridians were wired for the NHL even before Dave Lowry became the greatest scorer in the history of the game. Tampa packs a baseball stadium to see its fourthyear team in the playoffs. With a 1-2 punch of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim should not be absent from too many more Mays. The San Jose Sharks won a playoff round in their third and fourth seasons. The Ottawa Senators? Uh, can&rsquo;t all be gems.We thought the NHL learned nothing from its mistakes of the 1970s. It gave a franchise to owners who, against all odds, managed to make Minnesotans hate hockey, then two more to under-financed fast talkers from Ottawa and Tampa.We thought adding five teams in three years would give the talent pool no chance to replenish itself. We covered that club in Kansas City, which was forced to take a number of the same players palmed off on the Atlanta Flames and the New York Islanders two years earlier. We thought the Panthers, for the lack of a better alternative, would have to select Normand Dube again. We thought the 18-year-oId draft, down from 20, would make expansion teams wait dangerously long for a fresh young billboard talent around whom to build. We thought wrong.After a critical correction stocking formula for Anaheim and Florida, enough decent players have got to the new teams to give them a chance. The Panthers have 10 expansion draft players playing in the final. Plus, everybody has nice uniforms.&ldquo;The game has been exposed so much more to the U.S. public,&rdquo; said Bill Torrey, who started in Oakland, succeeded grandly on Long Island and is now the Pied Piper of Florida. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s much more coverage of sports. We&rsquo;ve gone into a market that everyone questioned whether it would take hockey, but they forget half the people in places like this are transients from the north.&rdquo;Sounds logical.Also sounds pretty much what Cooke thought would work in L.A. 30 years ago. Huge mistakes were made, however. Draft choices were traded away. The Philadelphia Flyers, the only new club that didn&rsquo;t go that route, were the first to win the Cup.Coaching has improved even more than the level of management. Then, the priority was to put a recognizable name behind the bench. Now, the Doug MacLeans and Ron Wilsons are trained teachers able to make a whole better than the sum of its parts. The parts are better, too.Although the league&rsquo;s 1967 doubling in size was an emancipation for many good players trapped in the minors, we have seen enough of those kinescopes to know that people have idealized memories of the level of play in the Original Six era. The Europeans have not only deepened the pool of talent, they&rsquo;ve made the North Americans better players, too.Marketing, merchandising and Sun Belt populations have grown substantially, even if national television ratings for hockey have not. That seems inevitable now. And we wondered if we would live to see this day. &#9632;

f0009-03

Panther success easy as 1-2-3

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div>As the Prince of Wales Trophy sat on a table in the Florida Panthers&rsquo; dressing room, veteran defenseman Gord Murphy tried to put his feelings into words.&ldquo;I look around this room and see the smiles on these guys&rsquo; faces,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great thing to share with these guys because we&rsquo;re so close-knit. We busted our backs and our humps for three years and now we&rsquo;re able to finally see something come out of it.&rdquo;Finally? Perhaps Murphy and his teammates weren&rsquo;t aware that, with their stunning seven-game victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference championship. they became the fastest non-1967 expansion team to reach the Stanley Cup final.And if they could carry their incredible run through just one more series, they would become the first expansion team-bar none-to win the NHL&rsquo;s most coveted prize.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t plan for things like this,&rdquo; said goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who stopped 39 of 40 shots in the Panthers&rsquo; 3-1 victory in Game 7 and was spectacular throughout the series. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so difficult to explain what this feels like. It&rsquo;s the best ever. Everything is the best ever.&rdquo;You could argue Vanbiesbrouck was playing his best hockey ever going into the final. One of the biggest moments in the series was early in Game I when Vanbiesbrouck pokechecked the puck off Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s stick on a breakaway. Vanbiesbrouck, who had allowed a league-high 27 goals by Lemieux, gave up just one goal each to Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in the series.&ldquo;I think you have to look back at things that give you life,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said, &ldquo;and I think that first period of the first game, even though it seems like an eternity ago&hellip;I&rsquo;d have to say that&rsquo;s definitely something that I drew from and the team drew from all series long.&rdquo;&ldquo;We had chances,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; coach Ed Johnston, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve seen anybody in this zone the way (Vanbiesbrouck was in these playoffs, not only against us, but against Philadelphia and Boston as well. He stopped everything but the kitchen sink.&rdquo;The Panthers employed the same tactics to beat the Penguins as they did to subdue the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers. They got strong goaltending by Vanbiesbrouck, great penalty killing (they held the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins to four goals in 32 chances through the series) and hard work in all zones led to opportunities upon which they capitalized.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no secret to our success,&rdquo; said left winger Mike Hough. &ldquo;Backcheck hard, forecheck hard and get some traffic in front of the net.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011565/6688927-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="453" height="444"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021106/6688920-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1520" height="1900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Mellanby, right, and the Florida Panthers have been a huge hit in the playoffs.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011625/6688913-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="1201" height="1373"><figcaption class="caption-body">Florida fans lived to litter the ice with toy rats for another series.</figcaption></div>Having four lines singularly dedicated to the cause didn&rsquo;t hurt, either. The Panthers are not stocked with superstars, but managed to trample over their opponents with hard work from a bunch of foot soldiers.&ldquo;We seem to find a new hero every night,&rdquo; said coach Panthers&rsquo; Doug MacLean.After scoring only 10 goals all season, left winger Dave Lowry had 10 goals in the playoffs heading into the final. In the Panthers&rsquo; must-win Game 6 against the Penguins, Martin Straka, who wasn&rsquo;t even dressed for Game 5, tied the game before Rob Niedermayer, who hadn&rsquo;t scored since May 9, netted the game winner.When the final buzzer sounded to end Game 7 against the Penguins, the Panthers spilled over the boards and surrounded Vanbiesbrouck. Owner H. Wayne Huizenga hugged Tom Fitzgerald, who scored the game winner on a blast from the blueline that went off Penguin defenseman Neil Wilkinson&rsquo;s stick and past goalie Tom Barrasso.&ldquo;It surprised me,&rdquo; said Fitzgerald, who has scored five of his six career playoff goals against Pittsburgh, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m sure it surprised Barrasso.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021206/6688906-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="385" height="539"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Skrudland (Photo by Messerschmidt)</figcaption></div>Huizenga called winning Game 7 &ldquo;unbelievable.&rdquo; Fitzgerald admitted, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m kind of numb.&rdquo; MacLean said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in a bit of a fog.&rdquo;But you couldn&rsquo;t miss the elation as the Panthers surrounded the Prince of Wales Trophy. Panther fans from South Florida, including Miami Dolphins&rsquo; quarterback Dan Marino, crowded against the glass in the Panthers&rsquo; comer to cheer the team.In South Florida, where fans throw plastic rats on the ice after each Panther goal, they were limbering up their throwing arms for another playoff series.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so happy right now and spent that emotion is hard to show, but I know that everybody back in South Florida is showing their emotion,&rdquo; said Vanbiesbrouck. &ldquo;I can feel that right now.&rdquo;Just three years ago, the Panthers took part in the expansion draft and had nothing to look forward to but a long, hard building process. They still have 10 players from that group of so-called castoffs, including captain Brian Skrudland, who played with the vigor of an 18-year-old rookie.&ldquo;Just three years ago we came into &#9632;

f0009-01

Year of Cat/Rat: Carry on Florida

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011469/6688989-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="387" height="511"></div>It was March. There was a month to go in the regular season and Igor Larionov was asked about the prospect of his Detroit Red Wings establishing an NHL record for most wins in a season.Larionov, an insightful man who long ago discovered the fascination of the Stanley Cup chase, commented: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to hear about records. I&rsquo;ve got so many records in the past. We had a record one time when I played for the Red Army team-in a 44-game season in Russia-we won 39 games in a row. We lost just one game, the 40th game. Forty-three games we won out of 44, but who remembers? People remember championships. World Championships. Olympic championships. Right now, my focus is on the playoffs and the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;Larionov understood the difference between regular-season and playoff success. Steve Yzer-man understood. You wonder if enough of their teammates did.This is a team that lost just 12 times between October and April and then proceeded to drop nine games in the next six weeks.What happened? Injuries, for starters. In 1955, when the Red Wings last won a championship, you needed only two series victories to hoist the Stanley Cup. Now? From start to finish, playoffs add two full months to the season.The Red Wings were eliminated in their 101st game, not counting exhibitions. So not only do you need to play well and play smart, you need to get lucky. You cannot survive groin injuries to Steve Yzerman or Keith Primeau or back injuries to Paul Coffey.Turn it around for a minute. In a series that matched two of the NHL&rsquo;s most talented teams, what if Joe Sakic were playing at only 70 per cent of his capacity? Or if Sandis Ozolinsh missed two games? Or if Mike Ricci couldn&rsquo;t go to the net with gusto?The Avalanche endured its injury problems early, playing without Ricci and Uwe Krupp for the better part of the season. Their absence probably cost them a number of wins. In the end, however, when it mattered most, they were fresh and productive.Hobble three or four of the Red Wings&rsquo; top players and they suddenly fell back to the pack-which in the case of the Avalanche, wasn&rsquo;t that far back. The Avalanche was No. 2 in the NHL. The team couldn&rsquo;t win even a single playoff round in the Eastern Conference last year, but in its first season in the West, rolled over all the opposition.The Red Wings took too many penalties against a club capable of capitalizing, but in the end, they were built for regular-season, not playoff, success.They would cruise if they called obstruction fouls the way they did in the first two months. They are fleet and skilled and if Slava Kozlov or Sergei Fedorov are unimpeded, they can be dangerous and wonderful to watch. Get into the tighter-checking style of playoff hockey and their effectiveness diminishes.So the Red Wings now get the rest of the summer to ponder changes to a club that won 62 games, but came up a full round shorter than they did the previous year. How to improve on what they already had? More grit is a sure starting place. They need more players like Yzerman, Larionov and Kris Draper, who understand the difference between playoffs and regular season.Finally, they need to improve the quality of their talisman, so the next time they get into the playoffs, they emerge with a shorter casualty list. &#9632;

f0011-01

Avalanche of injuries hurt Red Wings

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011586/6689020-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextall posted better statistics in the playoffs than the regular season.</figcaption></div>Ron Hextall has grown accustomed to being heckled, booed and second guessed.So the fiery Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; goalie would never expect to win a popularity contest.Yet that&rsquo;s almost what happened. Hextall wasn&rsquo;t No. 1, but he was named a second-teamer on the THN Readers&rsquo; Choice All-Star Teams as voted by our readers. They paid tribute to Hextall&rsquo;s spectacular season-he tied for best goals-against average (2.17) and had the fifth best save percentage (91.3) among NHL stoppers. Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings was named to the first team.&ldquo;My, my, there&rsquo;s a first for everything,&rdquo; said Hex-tall when informed the fans had acknowledged his individual achievements.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m somewhat surprised. It certainly is an honor, especially since it&rsquo;s voted by the fans.&rdquo;Critics claim Hextall is the weak link on a team that should be a more serious Stanley Cup contender. The Flyers made it to the semifinals a year ago, but bowed out in the quarterfinal this year to the upstart Florida Panthers. Goaltending definitely was not the reason why.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think, with the way Ron played this year, that anybody could point the finger at our goaltending being the reason why we didn&rsquo;t advance in the playoffs,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray. &ldquo;He plays with such a passion for the game, I think the fans have picked up on that.&rdquo;Hextall&rsquo;s GAA shattered his career-best 2.89 established the previous year. It also dipped marginally in the post-season to 2.13 and his save percentage went up slightly to 91.5.&ldquo;I actually don&rsquo;t feel any redemption because I have learned not to pay attention to what people say about me,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;Sure it bothered me early in my career, but now all I care about is what my teammates feel about me, how management (and) the coaching staff feels. I don&rsquo;t care what some beat writer in Vancouver or San Jose who only sees me once or twice a year writes about me.&ldquo;It was a fun year, ultimately disappointing because of the playoffs, but I believe we grew as a team,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;A lot of the big pieces of the puzzle have been put in place.Could Hextall&rsquo;s acceptance by the fans be a new starting point for him?&ldquo;I honestly hope so,&rdquo; he said.<h2>FANS CHOOSE STARS ON ICE</h2>More than 2,000 THN readers voted for the 1996-97 first and second THN Readers&rsquo; Choice All-Star Teams. The regular season champion Detroit Red Wings placed four members on the first and second teams. For result of voting see pg. 37. &#9632;

f0012-01

THN readers place a Hex

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011487/6689159-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicago&rsquo;s Eric Daze says the waiting on draft day is the hardest part. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Now that he&rsquo;s a Calder Trophy finalist, Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; right winger Eric Daze can look forward to an NHL career with cool confidence.But back on his draft day, June 26, 1993, the lanky forward was sweating bullets.Of course Daze, who turns 21 this summer, wasn&rsquo;t the only perspiring prospect at Le Colisee in Quebec City that day. The 1993 NHL entry draft was held at the non-air conditioned facility on a sweltering day. Still, Daze, a Montreal native, admits more than the weather made him sticky.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re very nervous,&rdquo; recalled Daze, who finished first among rookies in 1995-95 with 30 goals and second with 53 points. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know what to expect.&rdquo;Despite a rap for being an awkward skater (not unusual for a skinny 6-foot-4 prospect), Daze was rated 77th overall by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau entering the draft.&ldquo;Nobody had made any big promises to me about where I was going to be drafted,&rdquo; said Daze, a former Beauport Harfang who trained with Olympic speedskating champion Gaetan Boucher to improve stamina and footwork. &ldquo;(The draft) seems to go on so long because you don&rsquo;t know when you&rsquo;re going to be picked.&ldquo;The first round takes two hours. Then, they take a break after the fifth round. So for sure, you want to be picked by then.&rdquo;Daze got his wish. The Hawks selected him the fourth round, 90th overall.&ldquo;What really matters when you&rsquo;re a player is what everyone is telling you,&rdquo; said Daze&rsquo;s agent, Gilles Lupien. &ldquo;If your agent and family are telling you that you&rsquo;re going to go in the first round and you&rsquo;re picked in the fifth, it&rsquo;s tough.&ldquo;Every hockey player would like to go early, but I had told Eric all the time that he probably would go in the fourth or fifth round.&rdquo;Lupien said Daze, normally a &ldquo;shy kid who doesn&rsquo;t express his emotion a lot,&rdquo; jumped a little when the Hawks chose him.&ldquo;When you finally hear your name, it&rsquo;s almost like you don&rsquo;t know where you are for a few minutes,&rdquo; Daze said. &ldquo;But the whole thing turned out to be a lot of fun. Because the draft was in Quebec City, a lot of my family and friends-about 30 people-had come and we all stayed at the same hotel.&ldquo;When my name was called I heard a little crowd up there (in the stands).&rdquo;Then, Daze said, everything became an adrenaline-fueled blur. He left the draftees&rsquo; section of Le Colisee and descended to the arena floor where he was met by one of the Hawks&rsquo; representatives. The next thing he recalled was pressing flesh with the Hawks&rsquo; brass, coaching staff and scouts at the team&rsquo;s table.&ldquo;It all goes fast,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t even know who you are meeting sometimes. You think you&rsquo;re meeting one guy and it turns out to be someone else.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Daze knows draft anxiety

<div class="byline">-Mark Brender</div>The St. Louis Blues have a special treat for fans who come out to see the NHL entry draft at Kiel Center June 22.It&rsquo;s called a first-round pick.Blues&rsquo; fans haven&rsquo;t seen one of those since way back in 1989, when St. Louis chose Jason Marshall ninth overall. After that they chose other routes to build their talent pool.The Blues&rsquo; flipped their 1990 first-rounder with the Montreal Canadiens in January, 1989, then a year later traded Montreal&rsquo;s pick to the Vancouver Canucks. First-rounders from the next five years were lost as compensation to the Washington Capitals when the Blues signed free agent Scott Stevens.This year&rsquo;s draft, like last year, will consist of nine rounds, down from 11 in 1994. The order of selection among non-playoff teams was determined by a draft lottery May 19, won by the Ottawa Senators. All other teams select in reverse order of their regular season finish. The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and the Capitals each have two first round picks, while the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hartford Whalers and Los Angeles Kings will be spectators until Round 2.Nine rounds times 26 teams works out to 234 overall selections, but there will be more; compensatory picks are awarded to teams which lost a Group III unrestricted free agent (those 32 and over) last summer. The size of a free agent contract determines where the compensatory pick will be slotted into the draft order, but no free agent compensatory pick will be awarded before the 11th pick of the second round.Teams would also have received a second-round compensatory pick if they failed to sign a non-European, non-U.S. college player chosen in the first round of the 1994 draft, but all 17 such players have come to terms with their teams.The draft begins at 12:30 p.m (EST). TSN and ESPN2 will broadcast the first three hours live for Canada and the United States, respectively. ESPN is scheduled to air an edited two-hour version June 25 at 1 p.m. (EST). &#9632;

Blues’ fans to see another first

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021052/6689221-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="258" height="320"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Skrbek</figcaption></div>Nobody&rsquo;s perfect-at least not all the time. Last year in THN&rsquo;s Draft Preview, we had pictures of each of our top 52 prospects. This year, we missed on two-No. 25 Pavel Skrbek and No. 44 Oleg Kvasha. Our Top 52 list appears again on pg. 41, along with the Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s final ranking.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03789/6689214-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="257" height="321"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oleg Kvasha</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-02

Draft rank and file

Whoever said you&rsquo;ve got to be good to be lucky wasn&rsquo;t talking about the NHL draft lottery-just ask the Ottawa Senators.They finished last overall for the fourth straight season and were rewarded with a 30 per-cent chance of winning the May 19 sweepstakes for the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL entry draft, June 22 in St. Louis. Ottawa had the best odds among the five teams contending for top pick-the San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals and Dallas Stars were the others-and everything fell Ottawa&rsquo;s way.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04673/6689259-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="272" height="407"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Phillips</figcaption></div>If they don&rsquo;t trade the pick, the Senators will likely use the No. 1 selection to choose one of defenseman Chris Phillips of the Western League&rsquo;s Prince Albert Raiders; defenseman Andrei Zyuzin of Ufa in the Russian Professional League; or right winger Alexandre Volchkov of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Barrie Colts.Listed below is the order going into the draft. Still to be inserted, potentially in the second round and definitely in later rounds, are compensatory draft picks for Group HI free agents who signed last summer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05541/6689252-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="548" height="1064"></div><h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>1. Caps get Kings&rsquo; pick in Dimitri Khristich trade July 8,1995. 2. Bruins get Whalers&rsquo; pick in Glen Wesley trade Aug. 24,1994.3. Flyers get Leafs&rsquo; pick in Dimitri Yushkevich trade Aug. 30.1995.4. Oilers get Bruins&rsquo; pick in Bill Ranford trade Jan. 11, 1996. 5. Jets expected to get Flyers&rsquo; pick from Darryl Shannon trade with Sabres Feb. 15, 1996. Flyers can give Winnipeg No. 15 or 24. &#9632;

f0013-04

Senators get lucky for once

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011573/6689297-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="394" height="548"></div>Impertinent thoughts on pertinent subjects:&#9633; Memo to Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; owner Mike Hitch: Sign Jeremy Roenick for whatever and offer Nogoals Fedorov as compensation.&#9633; Those nouveau riche Denver fans impress me not a whit. The fact is, the Nordiques never had to vacate Quebec any more than the Jets had to leave Winnipeg. It was a matter of making bigger bucks, not losing money. So, fie on the Colorado Avalanche with its lousy uniforms and worse name.&#9633; Verbal cheapshots in the playoffs reached a new low with Marc Crawford&rsquo;s putdowns of Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s head plate. You have to wonder about a guy like Crawford when he says things like that.&#9633; Chaps Who Can Play For Me Anytime: 1. Darren McCarty. Hustle and muscle; 2. Gord Murphy. NHL&rsquo;s most underrated point man; 3. Reid Simpson. Best fighter, pound-for-pound, since Garry Howatt; 4. Igor Ulanov. A young Vlad Konstantinov; 5. Jeff Hackett. If I can&rsquo;t have Ed Belfour, why not J.H.?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021193/6689290-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="522" height="897"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg</figcaption></div>&#9633; How&rsquo;s this for pathetic irony? The more the NHL spends on public relations, the more difficult it is to find players available for interviews. Ask Tom Barrasso, but don&rsquo;t wait for an answer.&#9633; Trying to find fault with Gary Bettman is a tough assignment these days. But I&rsquo;m mad at him for allowing Fox Network to continually foist the abominably idiotic Ghostbusters (FoxTrax) puck on us.&#9633; Biggest farce of the NHL-NHL Players&rsquo; Association negotiations was the rookie salary cap. While the Calgary Flames officially paid Jarome Iginla $850,000 (the rookie cap amount), they gave him &ldquo;bonus&rdquo; clauses which will make him a millionaire for lacing on his skates, appearing at practices and coming to games.&#9633; Memo to Florida Panthers&rsquo; fans: The rodent-dumping is no longer cute, funny or symbolic. Cut the stupid ratstorm unless you Floridians want to be rated bush for the rest of your sun-filled lives.&#9633; If there are any brains left in the money-grubbing Wayne Gretzky camp, he will be advised to take a whopping salary cut and plead with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to take him on next season. Disney and hockey&rsquo;s Prince Charming are made for each other.&#9633; Too bad we can&rsquo;t hook up the lie detector and find out what Gretzky really thinks of Bela Lugosi behind the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; bench.&#9633; Arguably the toughest question of the year: Which referee is more consumed with himself? How about a dead-heat between Paul Stewart and Kerry Fraser?&#9633; Worst non-call of the playoffs belongs to Andy Van Hellemond. He stared at Patrick Roy while the goalie tried to surgically remove two of Dino Ciccarelli&rsquo;s body parts with an upward chop of his goalie stick in Game 4 of the ColoradoDetroit series. Never did the whistle reach his lips.&#9633; Mostexciting playoff double moment occurred during the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins series when Chris Tamer saved an overtime goal and Ken Wregget then stopped Joe Juneau&rsquo;s penalty shot after Tamer&rsquo;s alleged netpushing.&#9633; Best playoff bodychecks: 1.Vladimir Konstantinov upending Claude Lemieux in Game 5 of the Detroit-Colorado series; 2. Ed Jovanovski iceberging Eric Lindros throughout the Philadelphia FlyersFlorida series.&#9633; The most deceptively dirty player since Gordie Howe has to be Peter (I Look Like An Angel) Forsberg.&#9633; One thing you have to like about Brian Burke; right or wrong, his pugnacity quotient has a heavy touch of Winston Churchill.&#9633; Is Craig Patrick a genius or what for obtaining Sergei Zubov for Ulf Samuelsson and an improving Petr Nedved for fading Luc Robitaille?&#9633; Still awaiting confirmation of ESPN&rsquo;s springtime &ldquo;exclusive&rdquo; the Whalers will leave Hartford in midApril 1996 for Nashville; followed by the cow jumping over the moon.&#9633; Has anyone noticed Felix Potvin isn&rsquo;t Felix Potvin anymore? &#9632;

f0014-01

Answer to Red Wing woes lies in Chicago

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04532/6689366-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="748" height="1644"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03728/6689373-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="163" height="161"></div>Tom Fitzgerald was playing for the New York Islanders in 1993 and he picked up a bit of valuable knowledge during a second round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.That it isn&rsquo;t exactly unprecedented for Penguins&rsquo; goalie Tom Barrasso to give up a stoppable, series-winning goal.David Volek got one in overtime of Game 7 for the Islanders three years ago; Fitzgerald scored another for the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final June 1.With the score tied 1-1 early in the third period, Fitzgerald took a shot from just inside the Pittsburgh blueline. The puck glanced off the stick of defenseman Neil Wilkinson and sailed toward Barrasso.&ldquo;The next thing you know,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said, &ldquo;I saw the red light on.&rdquo;And the lights went out for Pittsburgh, which could have reached the Stanley Cup final with a win in one of the final two games.&ldquo;That was a back-breaker,&rdquo; said center Bryan Smolinski. &ldquo;When there are (about) 12 minutes to go and they get a goal like that, you kind of wonder.&rdquo;Well, the Penguins had plenty to think about, for while Fitzgerald&rsquo;s goal, which put Florida up to stay in a 3-1 victory, was the obvious reason the Panthers were playing the Colorado Avalanche for the Cup, there were other factors.Like how Pittsburgh was forced to play Round 3 without center Ron Francis, whose left foot was broken by an Adam Graves shot in the final game of the second round. Francis is a key member of both special teams and one of hockey&rsquo;s best twoway forwards.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a huge loss,&rdquo; Petr Nedved said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big part of the team. You can&rsquo;t replace a guy like that.&rdquo;Then there was the matter of the Penguins&rsquo; power play. It was the NHL&rsquo;s most productive during the regular season, but converted on just four of 32 tries against Florida.&ldquo;The power play was awful the whole series,&rdquo; Mario Lemieux said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably why we lost.&rdquo;Well, there was one other minor factor. That Fitzgerald scored three goals against the Penguins, which means he out-produced Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr combined.Lemieux and Jagr beat Vanbiesbrouck during Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 2-1 win in Game 2, but neither was able to score for the rest of the series. That means the two top goal-scorers in the league this season went 10 man-games without hitting the net.&ldquo;I would never have believed it,&rdquo; said coach Ed Johnston.The futility of Jagr and Lemieux was a by-product, in large part, of the Panthers&rsquo; swarming defense, which rarely gave them room to operate. When Lemieux and Jagr had been able to shake free during Round 2 against the New York Rangers, they scored 15 times in five games.&ldquo;The (Florida) series was tough,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have any room out there.&rdquo;And when they did find a sliver of space, they had to contend with Vanbiesbrouck, who stopped 210 of 224 shots (93.8 save percentage) thrown at him by the NHL&rsquo;s most volatile offense.&ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t get a pea past him,&rdquo; Johnston said.They also couldn&rsquo;t get motivated to play hard for seven games, either, and that might have been the Penguins&rsquo; greatest failing.NOTEBOOK: Signing free agent forwards Petr Nedved, Bryan Smolinski andKevin Miller will be an off-season priority for GM Craig Patrick, but the most critical personnel decision will come when center Mario Lemieux determines whether he will return for another season. He played this season after sitting out a year and made his comeback in glorious style. Lemieux won his fifth scoring title and is the Hart Trophy favorite. Lemieux, however, said recently he doesn&rsquo;t believe he plays the game at the same rarified level he once reached, a sign observers took as a hint he is leaning toward retiring. Coach Ed Johnston said, &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll be back,&rdquo; but Lemieux offered no assurances. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to sit down for the next month or so and decide on my future,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Until goalie Tom Barrasso won Games 4 and 5 against Honda, he had gone without victories in consecutive playoff games since Round 2 in 1993. Barrasso is 6-12 in his past 18 playoff decisions&hellip;Pittsburgh&rsquo;s run of five road victories-one shy of the franchise playoff recoRD-was broken by a 5-2 loss May 24. That game also marked the Penguins&rsquo; first defeat in their &ldquo;third&rdquo; uniforms, which they had worn for 11 straight wins. Pittsburgh finished 12-2 in those uniforms&hellip; Left winger Dave Roche was suspended for Game 4 of the Eastern final after butt-ending Tom Fitzgerald in the face at the end of Game 3. The blow broke Fitzgerald&rsquo;s nose. &ldquo;From what I see on tape, I missed with a punch and hit him with the forearm,&rdquo; Roche said. &lsquo;There&rsquo;s no indication of stickwork.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-04

Many factors stopped Pitt

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021055/6689411-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="586" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Lemieux</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011358/6689418-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="160" height="161"></div>Claude Lemieux isn&rsquo;t about to change his style of game just because of some criticism. In fact, he thrives on it.The Colorado Avalanche right winger drew the wrath of hockey observers for a Game 6 hit from behind against Kris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings May 29.Lemieux hit an unsuspecting Draper into the boards near center ice in the first period of Colorado&rsquo;s series clinching victory. The Avalanche moved on to the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers, while Lemieux was handed a two-game suspension-Games 1 and 2 of the deciding series.&ldquo;I thought it was just worth a twominute penalty,&rdquo; said Lemieux, who received a major and game misconduct on the play.&ldquo;I hit him shoulder to shoulder. You never want to see a guy get injured, but I try to hit people as hard as I can, just like people try to hit me as hard as they can.&rdquo;The Avalanche wasn&rsquo;t expected to have Lemieux back until Game 3 of the final. Coach Marc Crawford doesn&rsquo;t anticipate the scrappy winger will be any less timid because of the incident which left Draper with cuts and broken bones.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think what he did was vicious or in any way malicious,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;What happened was unfortunate, but these things happen in our sport. It&rsquo;s a fast-moving sport and this has been magnified well above what it should have been.&rdquo;Advancing to the Cup final was the big news in Colorado. The Avalanche takes pride in that and yearns to complete the final step.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t win the Cup if you don&rsquo;t believe,&rdquo; said GM Pierre Lacroix.Still, not many gave the Avalanche a chance to get past the vaunted Red Wings this year.But, in its first year in Denver, the Avalanche did beat the Wings to get to the final, thanks in large part to Lacroix&rsquo;s numerous dealings over the past two years.&ldquo;We all jelled together as a team and gained more and more confidence as the playoffs went on,&rdquo; said goalie Patrick Roy. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of unbelievable we did it in our first year in Colorado, but it happened.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Avalanche fever took a firm grip on Colorado after it beat Detroit in the Western Conference final. The team&rsquo;s merchandise sales jumped into the top five in the NHL and talk of hockey pervaded the city. Local TV ratings for some games set records and scalpers were getting up to $700 for tickets to some home games&hellip;Goalie Patrick Roy&rsquo;s appearance in Game 6 against Detroit was his 132nd playoff game, which tied Billy Smith&rsquo;s all-time record&hellip;Denver is a special place for Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck. Beezer made his NHL debut for the New York Rangers in 1982 against the defunct Colorado Rockies. He was called into the game to replace current television hockey analyst John Davidson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03783/6689404-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="588" height="920"></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

Lemieux won’t change color despite check from behind

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04572/6689449-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="161" height="161"></div>The irony is inescapable.Florida Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray and coach Doug MacLean, two men ousted by the Detroit Red Wings two years ago, are in the Stanley Cup final and their former team isn&rsquo;t.The odds of that happening were long, indeed-40:l according to The Hockey News. THN rated Detroit even-money (1:1) to win the Cup and Florida, 40:1 longshots before the playoffs. Those odds were thought to flatter No. 14-ranked Florida.Instead, they reflected a widely held misconception. Too often, playoff prognosticators put undue emphasis on how teams finish.Florida went from a team 18 games over 500 after 59 games to one that finished 10 games over the break-even mark after 82 games. But the Panthers, who collapsed down the stretch drive while Detroit finished off a record-setting 62-win season, have emerged as a team of Wing-nots during the playoffs.Not because they have a few Red Wing refugees (Terry Carkner, Ray Sheppard and Johan Garpenlov, as well as Murray and MacLean), but because they have an abundance of something Detroit doesn&rsquo;t-heart and grittiness.Splash and dash can often be negated by crash and smash during the playoffs.Led by a suffocating, no-name defensive unit-all 18 skaters and goalie John Vanbiesbrouck-more anonymous even than the 1970s Miami Dolphins&rsquo; great defense, the Panthers limited Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; superstars Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr to a combined two goals. Neither scored after Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinal series. Seven Panthers, including playoff sensation Dave Lowry (10 goals in 18 games), outscored Lemieux and Jagr, the NHL&rsquo;s top two regular season scorers, during the series.&ldquo;We have some great players in this room,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; president Bill Torrey. &ldquo;They are just now beginning to get the recognition they deserve.&rdquo;That may be something of an over-statement-Vanbiesbrouck is the only Panther who should be accorded star status-but it would be dead on if Torrey had inserted the word &ldquo;team&rdquo; between &ldquo;great&rdquo; and &ldquo;players.&rdquo; Florida&rsquo;s fabulous playoff run, with victories over the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Penguins, may be the most stunning triumph of the collective over the individual in NHL history.NOTEBOOK: The NHL is expected to enact some form of legislation to ensure Panther fans don&rsquo;t litter the ice with rats whenever Florida scores next season&hellip;The Panthers scored just three goals on 34 power play chances against Pittsburgh. They compensated for that by allowing the Penguins, whose power play was the league&rsquo;s best during the regular season, just four goals on 32 chances&hellip;Scrappy left winger Bill Lindsay has earned a reputation for clutch scoring performances: he scored the series-winning goal against Boston, contributed one goal (shorthanded) and one assist in the seriesdeciding victory over Philadelphia and helped finish off Pittsburgh with one goal and one assist in Game 6 and an assist in Game 7. &#9632;

f0016-04

From longshots to hotshots: Panthers prey on Penguins

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011214/6689480-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

BESTSELLERS LIST

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02921/6689511-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="574" height="987"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Sims</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011250/6689518-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="160" height="161"></div>Slowly but surely, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim assistant coach Al Sims seems to be moving toward his first NHL head coaching job.After finishing runner-up for the Anaheim job three years ago and drawing interest from the Buffalo Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks last year, Sims is a finalist for the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; job.Sims and Brian Sutter were the first candidates to be invited for second interviews, outlasting such contenders as Dave King and Tom McVie, who both were eliminated from consideration. Roger Neilson was also in the picture.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see what happens. It&rsquo;s one step at a time,&rdquo; said Sims, 43, who spent 10 years in the NHL as a defenseman, playing for the Boston Bruins, Hartford Whalers and Los Angeles Kings.Sims finished second to Ron Wilson for the Ducks&rsquo; job in 1993 after coaching the Fort Wayne Komets to the International League championship. Anaheim management was so impressed with Sims it asked Wilson to consider him as an assistant and Wilson ended up hiring him.&ldquo;I think Al&rsquo;s as prepared as anybody for (the San Jose job),&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He was prepared three years ago when he interviewed for the job here. What he has now is a knowledge of the NHL that he probably didn&rsquo;t have then. He knows the league and he knows what to do with that type of team. He&rsquo;s the perfect man for the job.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Ron Wilson&rsquo;s name keeps cropping up on the rumor mill should Vancouver coach-GM Pat Quinn decide not to continue coaching next season with the Canucks. But Wilson, who rebounded from a tumultuous first half of the 1995-96 season, is under contract for two more seasons with the Mighty Ducks. Under the terms of his contract, the Ducks had to offer him a second year after this season or allow him a window to talk to other teams. &ldquo;They closed the window,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, everything is settled except for negotiating the contract.&rdquo;&hellip;The Ducks signed University of Minnesota defenseman Dan Trebil to a two-year contract May 23. &#9632;

f0018-02

Sims could go up coast

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03636/6689549-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="162" height="160"></div>The Al lafrate saga refuses to die.On May 20, nearly four months after grievance hearings began, the Boston Bruins were told by arbitrator George Nicolau they owed the injured lafrate his $900,000 salary for 1995. But for the Bruins, it wasn&rsquo;t the end of the story.&ldquo;We have to talk to the league, talk to the doctors, talk to Al&rsquo;s agent, before we decide on a course of action,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; assistant GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell.The Bruins, who played a second straight season without lafrate, withheld his salary because they felt his right knee injury wasn&rsquo;t hockey-related. Iafrate filed a grievance, Nicolau was brought in and the matter remained in limbo for months-many of them while Iafrate continued rehabilitation which seemed to have him on the verge of returning late in the season.The big question now is whether the team offers Iafrate a new contract. If it doesn&rsquo;t do so by June 30, Iafrate becomes an unrestricted free agent after playing just 12 regular season games in a Bruins&rsquo; uniform since being acquired in March, 1994. If the Bruins protect their matching and compensation rights by making a qualifying offer and Iafrate signs it, they see themselves in the same boat as last season: on the hook for his salary, but unsure if he&rsquo;ll be able to play.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we did last year,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Connell said. &ldquo;Do we want to risk that again?&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins weren&rsquo;t helped or hurt by the draft lottery. They&rsquo;ll select eighth in the first round, with a pick obtained by trading Glen Wesley to Hartford in the summer of 1994&hellip;Early signing efforts seemed concentrated on Swedish defenseman Mattias Timander, a ninth round draft pick in 1992 (208th overall), and Peterborough (Ontario League) winger Cameron Mann, who followed a 102 point regular season with an MVP effort in the Memorial Cup tournament&hellip; With defenseman Ray Bourque apparently bowing out, three Bruins are now expected to play in the World Cup-left winger Shawn McEachern for the United States, center Jozef Stumpel for Slovakia and goalie Bill Ranford for Canada. &#9632;

f0018-03

lafrate wins first battle, but will he stay a Bruin?

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04397/6689580-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="164" height="162"></div>It didn&rsquo;t take long for the rhetoric to start flying back and forth between free agent-to-be Jeremy Roenick and his agent and Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; management.The day after the Blackhawks were bounced from the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche, GM Bob Pulford proclaimed: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you right now, no one is going to take Roenick because we&rsquo;ll match (any offer).&rdquo;Roenick&rsquo;s agent, Neil Abbott, said he expected Pulford to make that statement.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s obligatory,&rdquo; Abbott said. &ldquo;I expect him to say that, but does that mean the sky&rsquo;s the limit, that the vault is open? If money isn&rsquo;t an issue, how come we&rsquo;re still talking? This could have been done two years ago.&rdquo;Abbott is seeking to have the 26-year-old Roenick, a restricted Group II free agent as of July 1, paid in line with premier forwards such as Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov, Pat LaFontaine and Brett Hull. That would put Roenick&rsquo;s asking price at somewhere between $4.5 million and $5 million per season.Roenick, who earned $1.4 million last season, was pleased to hear Pulford say the Blackhawks want to keep him, but not enough to prevent him from testing the free agent waters.&ldquo;Obviously, it gives you a good feeling inside when you hear (them) say they&rsquo;ll match any offer,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;I appreciate the commitment, but talk is cheap. I won&rsquo;t be happy until I&rsquo;m signed and ready to go.&rdquo;Abbott indicated there would be no talks with Chicago, that he instead will be offering up his client around the league come July.&ldquo;I have no desire to talk to them,&rdquo; Abbott said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just going to let it unfold. We&rsquo;ve come this far. We were required to play out the old contract and we did. I know what I want to do and I don&rsquo;t think most of my time will be spent talking to Chicago.&rdquo;Roenick claims he wants to remain in Chicago.&ldquo;I have no idea how things will work out, but hopefully they do for the best,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to stay here because I call Chicago my home now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Bob Pulford acknowledged he faces some tough decisions with regard to the team&rsquo;s unrestricted free agents. Centers Bernie Nicholls. Brent Sutter and Denis Savard are all free to shop their services, while right winger Joe Murphy likely will be, too. Murphy, a 10-year veteran, will be unrestricted if, as expected, his salary of $842,900 falls below the league average&hellip;The team&rsquo;s restricted free agents are centers Jeremy Roenick andSteve Dubinsky, right wingers Jeff Shantz andSergei Krivokrasov, left winger James Black, defensemen Keith Carney and Ivan Droppa and goalie Jimmy Waite&hellip;Left winger Tony Amonte might need surgery to repair the dislocated right kneecap he suffered in the playoffs against Colorado. &#9632;

f0018-04

Word war begins in J.R. talks

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05265/6689611-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="160" height="161"></div>The position had been vacant for almost a year since Bill Hay left the Calgary Flames&rsquo; organization.In the end, the Flames&rsquo; search for a new president and chief executive officer ended when they hired Ron Bremner, president of BCTV. Bremner&rsquo;s hockey experience is limited to playing in high school and negotiating for the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; television rights, but he has a strong background in sales, marketing and broadcasting.&ldquo;I believe we&rsquo;ve got a first-class guy,&rdquo; said Harley Hotchkiss, the Flames&rsquo; chairman and governor. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an important position we&rsquo;re filling and it took quite a bit of time.&rdquo;Bremner described the job as, &ldquo;a great opportunity. I&rsquo;ve always liked sports. The chance to take my business experience and meld it into a sports opportunity was something that, in the end, was too good to turn down.&rdquo;Al Coates, who had been running the organization as executive vicepresident and interim GM, was left in charge of the hockey operation. Bremner&rsquo;s primary responsibility will be to enhance the marketing side of the operation.Despite an average attendance of 18.000 last season, the Flames were in the bottom half of the NHL in terms of revenue. Operating in a small Canadian market represents Bremner&rsquo;s biggest challenge.&ldquo;Sometimes you&rsquo;re only limited by the limitations you put on yourself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s just so much potential in Calgary.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Flames are preparing a contract offer for center Robert Reichel. who played last season in Germany. Reichel signed a three year contract with Frankfurt, but GM Al Coates believes he has an escape clause. &ldquo;Sooner or later, if he&rsquo;s going to come back, we may as well get into contract negotiations to see if there&rsquo;s interest.&rdquo;&hellip;Assistant coach Don Hay has surfaced as a candidate for the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; opening. Hay completed the first year of a three-year contract. There&rsquo;s a clause in that deal that would force a team to provide compensation to the Flames to forego the final two years of the agreement. &#9632;

f0018-05

TV executive Bremner assumes CEO position

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07183/6689642-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="572" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body">Seymour H. Knox III</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06212/6689649-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="162" height="162"></div>The man who brought the NHL to Buffalo is dead.Seymour H. Knox III, the chairman, co-founder and primary owner of the Buffalo Sabres, died of cancer May 22 in his Buffalo area home.Knox, 70, leaves behind a long list of civic accomplishments in Buffalo, but for sports fans he will forever be remembered as the man, along with brother Northrup and long-time friend and business associate Robert O. Swados, who brought the NHL to Buffalo and worked hard to keep it there.Among Knox&rsquo;s many legacies is the new Marine Midland Arena, the 19,500-seat building that is set to open this fall. Knox was the driving force behind the project, a building he saw as absolutely necessary for keeping the Sabres competitive and in Buffalo.Knox, who was inducted into the builders&rsquo; category of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993, spearheaded the drive to bring an NHL team to Western New York.He was named The Hockey News Executive of the Year in 1975, the year the team went to the Stanley Cup final.Knox worked hard to keep the Sabres in Buffalo when there were ample opportunities to move the team elsewhere.&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t many owners that wouldn&rsquo;t have taken the guarantees and just moved some place else,&rdquo; said Doug Moss, the current team president. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t because (staying in Buffalo) was the right thing to do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Randy Burridge came to terms on a three-year deal worth about $2.5 million. Burridge, who earned $350,000 this season, will earn $800,000 in each of the first two years of the contract and $900,000 in the third&hellip;Left winger Brad May suffered a slight dislocation of his right shoulder in the World Championship in Vienna, but is expected to be fine for the start of next season&hellip;Defenseman Richard Smehlik is said to be fully recovered from the major reconstructive knee surgery that caused him to miss all of the 1995-96 season. Smehlik is slated to play in the World Cup. &#9632;

f0018-07

Sabres lose founder Knox

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02693/6689687-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="583" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Modano</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011040/6689694-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="162" height="160"></div>Decisions, decisions.Mike Modano will likely re-sign with the Dallas Stars, but for how long? That was yet to be determined.The Stars&rsquo; highest paid player last season at $2.9 million, who could become a restricted free agent July 1, Modano was offered a four-year package worth $3 million a year.But he and his agent, Howard Gour-witz, were leaning towards signing for just one season. The Stars gave Modano until June 15 to make a decision, but Modano said he expects to get something done before then.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a solid offer either way,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; president Jim Lites. &ldquo;Either he signs for one year and proves to everyone he&rsquo;s worth more or he takes the security of a long-term deal. We feel it&rsquo;s a fair deal for him. He&rsquo;s not going to get any more (from us) so we&rsquo;d really rather not go through all the goofing around.&rdquo;Modano led the Stars in goals last season with 36 and tied for the team lead in assists with 45. However, his 81 points ranked him only 32nd among NHL scorers. Modano has never cracked the 100-point barrier, posting back-to-back seasons of 93 points in the two years prior to the lockout season.&ldquo;I expected to get 100 points this season, but it was a strange season,&rdquo; Modano said. &ldquo;Starting out the year fresh with Hitch (coach Ken Hitchcock) would probably make a big difference.&rdquo;Hitchcock increased Modano&rsquo;s playing time and put more of an emphasis on the offensive side of the game then previous Stars&rsquo; coach Bob Gainey.Lites said getting Modano, named the Stars&rsquo; MVP for the fourth time, under contract would start the summer on the right foot.NOTEBOOK: The Stars combined with American Airlines to offer free travel with the purchase of a season ticket. For every season ticket purchased for the 1996-97 season, American Airlines will provide a voucher good for one ticket to any destination American flies in the continental United States, or to Montreal or Toronto. The plan is good for season ticket renewals, upgrades and new purchases&hellip;Richard Matvichuk was named the team&rsquo;s best defenseman and most improved player. Right winger Jere Lehtinen was selected rookie of the year&hellip;Defenseman Derian Hatcher and right winger Todd Harvey were expected to join a group of Stars&rsquo; prospects at a skating camp in British Columbia in the off-season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03464/6689680-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="585" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard Matvichuk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

Top scorer, MVP Modano likely to re-sign with Stars

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04292/6689725-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="163" height="162"></div>The Edmonton Oilers hung out the &lsquo;For Sale&rsquo; sign-on 13,000 season tickets that is-and hockey fans both in and out of the corporate arena bought into the challenge.In a dramatic, three-week push during May, the Oilers sold about 3,000 season tickets, 1,000 of those to The Real Canadian Superstore, and announced May 31 their new total was 13,482. It qualifies them for about $2.3 million (Cdn.) this season from the NHL&rsquo;s financial assistance program and up to $7 million next season.In doing that, it secures the immediate fate of the franchise in the city, as owner Peter Pocklington said time and again it wouldn&rsquo;t make economic sense to stay in Edmonton without the subsidy.&ldquo;You did it Edmonton,&rdquo; said a beaming Mayor Bill Smith as he announced the ticket total during a news conference at City Hall. &ldquo;You scored what I would have to say is one of Edmonton&rsquo;s biggest goals. We can give ourselves a big pat on the back.&rdquo;The Oilers&rsquo; ticket base had fallen from 16,000 to 6.200 in five years.&ldquo;It was a death spiral,&rdquo; said Doug Piper, the team&rsquo;s executive vice-president, business operations.The Oilers had to reach the 13,000 level by May 31 in order to meet the criteria for the assistance plan. They also had to sell 90 per cent of their luxury suites and only three of 52 remained unsold. They must also sell all rinkboard advertising.The influx of money from the league subsidy and the rebuilding of the Oilers&rsquo; season ticket base will likely have a huge impact on GM Glen Sather&rsquo;s ability to sign players such as leading scorer Doug Weight, Jason Arnott and Zdeno Ciger, who are scheduled to become restricted free agents this summer.NOTEBOOK: Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington said the team has signed right winger Mike Grier to a contract. He was obtained with goalie Curtis Joseph from St. Louis last summer&hellip;The Oilers unveiled their new uniform May 31. The logo remains the same oil drop shape, but the primary colors have changed to midnight blue and copper. A shoulder patch featuring an oil rig worker with a hockey stick has been added to the look&hellip;GM Glen Sather opened contract negotiations with center Doug Weight in mid-May by offering him a five-year deal&hellip;Sather and agent Don Meehan are talking about a one-year contract for center Jason Arnott. Arnott had a turbulent year and figures he can hit a home run with his next contract if he has a good fourth season. &#9632;

f0020-04

Oiler fans come to rescue, team qualifies for subsidy

<div class="byline">By Michael Arace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01812/6689756-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="160" height="161"></div>Hartford&rsquo;s Save the Whale campaign, perhaps the biggest public/private venture since the advent of prison-manufactured license plates, ended with Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland and Whalers&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos thumbing their noses at one another.&ldquo;Quite frankly,&rdquo; Rowland said, &ldquo;that owner is pretty far out there.&rdquo;Countered Karmanos, &ldquo;Who is running that state, anyway?&rdquo;The Whalers will be in town for two more years, at least, but they won&rsquo;t like the circumstances. The team didn&rsquo;t get a state subsidy that could&rsquo;ve helped quell its massive losses. It was also miffed the state didn&rsquo;t provide a one-year escape clause. The Whalers turned down an offer which would have given them full control of the Civic Center, which has seen its revenues cut since a downtown amphitheater began drawing concert business two years ago.The state said the Whalers&rsquo; bargaining stance was unreasonable-especially since the team was unwilling to make any long-term commitments. So in order to break the lease, which has two years left, the team would have had to pay $35 million.Karmanos said he now must fight the good fight and tighten his belt and pursue the rugged road of selfreliance.If there is no state aid by 1998&mdash;right about the time Rowland announces he is running for a second term as govemor-Karmanos will be in position to leave and blame the governor for the mess.The reason it came to this is because the valiant Save the Whale effort fell short. The season ticket drive netted 8,482 customers-some 3,000 more than the team had last year.The team had been searching for 11,000 in season ticket sales, a number it says would &ldquo;stabilize attendance.&rdquo; This stabilization had been described as the first step in a plan to help the Whalers survive in the league&rsquo;s last small American market.NOTEBOOK: Former Whalers&rsquo; goaltender Daryl Reaugh established himself as a rising hockey analyst during his year with Whalers&rsquo; play-by-play man John Forslund. Reaugh worked nine post-season games for ESPN and later accepted a two-year contract to provide color for the Dallas Stars. &ldquo;This was a tough decision,&rdquo; Reaugh said. &ldquo;I wanted to stay with the Whalers&rsquo; organization and obviously I wanted to stay with Johnny. But the people in Dallas were so good to me, they made it easier (to move) than maybe it should have been.&rdquo;&hellip;Prospect Hnat Domenichelli was asking for about $250,000 more than the team was offering for a signing bonus. If Domenichelli doesn&rsquo;t sign by midnight June 22, he will go back into the 1996 draft. &#9632;

f0021-01

Team stays, but situation still unstable

<div class="byline">By Lisa Dillman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02443/6689787-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="160" height="161"></div>The Los Angeles Kings are hoping Steve McKenna will help them reach new heights.The 23-year-old defenseman will accomplish just that if he simply makes the NHL. McKenna, signed as a free agent after his junior season at Merrimack College, stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 245 pounds.Colorado Avalanche defenseman Uwe Krupp and Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defensemen Kjell Samuelsson, both 6-foot-6, are the tallest players ever to play in the NHL.At this stage, McKenna is a project, but the Los Angeles Kings saw enough promise and progress from him to ink him to a contract in mid-May.&ldquo;On his skates he is 6-foot-l 1,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; GM Sam McMaster. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not counting on him to be in L.A. this season, but hopefully he will develop in Phoenix (of the International League). He&rsquo;s a good skater for his size and he&rsquo;s really improved.&rdquo;McKenna had 27 points and 211 penalty minutes in 140 games over three seasons at Merrimack.His most memorable moment at the school, however, likely came off the ice when he saved the life of basketball player Mike Nugent by performing the Heimlich maneuver when Nugent started choking in the school cafeteria.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll always remember that,&rdquo; McKenna told the Lawrence EagleTribune. &ldquo;Maybe someday I&rsquo;ll be walking down Mass. Ave in Boston and see Mike coming the other way. I&rsquo;ll say, &lsquo;Hey, remember me?&rsquo; &ldquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Sam McMaster signed three other players in May-centers Jason Morgan and Chris Schmidt and free agent goaltender Brad Guzda. Morgan was a fifth round draft choice in 1995, and Schmidt went in the same round a year earlier. Guzda played in 19 games with Knoxville of the East Coast League and went 16-1 with a 3.82 goals-against average. McMaster also said he was closing in on a contract with Czech defenseman Jan Nemecek, a seventh round choice in 1994, and had yet to make a decision on the status of center Andrew Dale, a sixth round selection in 1994&hellip;Rob Laird, coach of the Kings International League affiliate in Phoenix this season, has been offered a pro scouting position with the big team. &#9632;

f0021-02

McMaster takes chance on gargantuan McKenna

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04176/6689818-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="569" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Shutt</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03247/6689825-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="160" height="160"></div>Steve Shutt has the sevenyear itch, but his marriage isn&rsquo;t on the rocks.Rather, after having paid his dues for seven years, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; assistant coach figures he&rsquo;s ready to assume control of an NHL team.Shutt, through his Toronto-based agent, Harry Radomisky, said he&rsquo;ll pursue all head coaching positions that become available this summer.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get into this job to be an assistant my entire career,&rdquo; Shutt said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite happy and this is a good set-up; the (Canadiens are) on the upswing. But if the situation comes, I&rsquo;ll look at it.&rdquo;Shutt, 43, has been a Canadiens&rsquo; assistant for three seasons. Before that, he served four seasons as a television and radio commentator.Shutt said he has had preliminary discussions with one or two organizations, which he wouldn&rsquo;t name.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m actively going out and seeing what&rsquo;s available,&rdquo; he said.Shutt, a unilingual anglophone, admits the unstable political climate in Quebec likely will prevent him from ever coaching the Canadiens-although a similar scenario didn&rsquo;t thwart Marc Crawford, appointed Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; coach in 1994. Crawford took French lessons and was conducting French interviews by season&rsquo;s end.Despite his aspirations, Shutt has verbally agreed to a new two-year contract. Shutt&rsquo;s contract contains an escape clause should an opening exist.NOTEBOOK: Although his view is admittedly biased, Ron Salcer. the agent for Andrei Kovalenko, said he believes the Canadiens would be making a mistake by trading the Russian winger. Kovalenko, acquired from Colorado last December in the Patrick Roy trade, scored 28 goals and 56 points in 77 games, but was inconsistent. After being held without a point in six playoff games, the Canadiens said they would &ldquo;look closely at moving,&rdquo; Kovalenko. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t control what they do,&rdquo; Salcer said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s an excellent player whose best years are ahead. He&rsquo;ll score a lot of goals.&rdquo; Asked about Kovalenko&rsquo;s playoff drought, Salcer said: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to point fingers at guys. He wasn&rsquo;t the only one who didn&rsquo;t play great.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-04

Shutt out? It’s possible

He&rsquo;s definitely no Ordinary Joe.Joe Sakic, super center for the Colorado Avalanche, was the leading candidate to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP heading into the final, thanks to his 17 goals in 18 games. His heroics, which included five game-winners, made him an easy choice for Dodge Trucks NHL player of the month for May.The 26-year-old Sakic, who led his team in scoring for the second straight year, was third in league scoring with 51 goals and 120 points in 82 games. Both represented single-season personal bests for the Burnaby, B.C. native in his eighth season.Following three rounds of playoffs, the Avalanche captain was poised to establish a new record for goals in the playoffs, breaking the mark of 19 set by Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 16 games in 1975-76 and tied by Jari Kurri of the Edmonton Oilers in 18 games in 1984-85.At one point Sakic had a sevengame goal-scoring streak going where he notched 10 goals. On the night the Avalanche advanced to the final, Sakic was leading the playoffs in point scoring, four points ahead of Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins and seven ahead of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jaromir Jagr, the lethal duo that finished 1-2 in scoring in the regular season race.Also considered for player of the month in May were Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso and Florida Panthers&rsquo; forward Dave Lowry. Barrasso played brilliantly in the semifinal against Florida while Lowry, normally a defensive specialist, turned up the heat offensively by scoring 10 goals in his first 17 post-season games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01935/6689870-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="991" height="1189"></div><h2>FACTS & STATS</h2>Player: Joe SakicTeam: Colorado AvalanchePosition: CenterAge: 26<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02645/6689863-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="998" height="611"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01835/6689856-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="711" height="1035"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02614/6689901-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="577" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body">Robbie Ftorek</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01915/6689908-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="164" height="165"></div>After being named American League coach of the year for the second straight time, there was little doubt Robbie Ftorek would be back in the NHL next season. Somewhere.Few, however, thought it would be with the New Jersey Devils as Jacques Lemaire&rsquo;s assistant coach.With several NHL teams having displayed interest in Ftorek, including the San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs, GM Lou Lamoriello came through with a lucrative multiyear offer in which Ftorek replaced the fired Chris Nilan in a reorganization of the Devils&rsquo; coaching staff. Only Lemaire and goalie coach Jacques Caron retained their same jobs.Former Devils&rsquo; coach John Cunniff, who had remained with the team as a pro scout, was named coach of the AHL&rsquo;s Albany River Rats. Dennis Gendron, demoted from his position as a Devils&rsquo; assistant, became Cunniff&rsquo;s assistant with the Rats.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to lose Robbie,&rdquo; Lamoriello said, &ldquo;so I made a significant offer to keep him.&rdquo;Speculation was that, along with a salary higher than most assistant coaches, Ftorek was told he would be in line to replace Lemaire at some point in the future. Lamoriello denied making any promises.The 44-year-old Ftorek said he&rsquo;s looking forward to his new position.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d like to be a head coach, but sometimes the road takes a turn,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This time it turned towards New Jersey as an assistant.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It was believed the Devils would not try to keep unrestricted free agent defenseman Phil Housley&hellip;The Devils extended their working agreement with their American League affiliate in Albany for three more years. They will continue to supply the River Rats with a full team of players&hellip;Bill Murray, who spent the past two seasons with the International League&rsquo;s Detroit Vipers, was named the team&rsquo;s new medical trainer May 24, filling the position vacant since Ted Schuch was dismissed in mid-April&hellip;Russian-born defenseman Sergei Vyshedkevich, the Devils&rsquo; third draft pick in 1995. was signed to a multi-year contract along with minor league forwards Bobby House and Krzysztof Oliwa. &#9632;

f0024-02

Ftorek gets Milan’s job

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03397/6689939-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="161" height="162"></div>A New York Islanders&rsquo; nutritionist is monitoring Bryan Berard&rsquo;s diet and a club-referred conditioning specialist is supervising his workouts. But as of early-June there was no progress toward signing a contract which would put the junior defenseman in an Islanders&rsquo; uniform next season.Agent Tom Laidlaw said he sent a proposal to Islanders&rsquo; GM Mike Mil-bury in early May and had not heard back from Milbury. If he does not sign, he will play another year with the Detroit Jr. Whalers of the Ontario League.Milbury has conceded the entrylevel wage cap of $850,000 a year on a three-year deal. Laidlaw is believed to be seeking bonuses under which Berard could approach the $3.64-mil-lion Eric Lindros was guaranteed in each of the first three years of the six-year, $23-million contract he got in 1992.&ldquo;I hope it gets done,&rdquo; Berard said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see it done as soon as possible. I want to be an Islander.&rdquo;Berard had 51 goals and 113 assists in 114 games over the past two years. This season, he was named top defenseman in Canadian junior hockey and captained Team USA at the World Junior Championships.Berard said if he signs with the Islanders, he will provide financially for his family.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;d like to do,&rdquo; Berard said of his parents, &ldquo;make sure they&rsquo;re taken care of for all the sacrifices they had to make.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Islanders maintained the third overall draft spot in the lottery and indications were GM Mike Milbury will trade it for a proven forward who can score. If the team holds onto the pick, it may opt for one of the three toprated players-defenseman Chris Phillips of the Western League&rsquo;s Prince Albert Raiders, defenseman Andrei Zyuzin of Ufa in Russia or right winger Alexandre Volchkov of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Barrie Colts&hellip;Milbury fired club orthopedist Dr, Jeffrey Minkoff and three members of his staff: trainer Ed Tyburski, equipment manager John Doolan and assistant trainer Jerry lannarelli. All reportedly got severance packages and in return, they agreed not to criticize the team. &#9632;

f0024-03

Berard wants to be Islander, but contract stands in way

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04250/6689970-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="162" height="162"></div>The Hall of Fame career of one of hockey&rsquo;s great competitors and leaders may have come to an end when the New York Rangers were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Eastern semifinals May 11.Defenseman Kevin Lowe, 37, sat on the Rangers&rsquo; bench the entire third period, suffering from a recurring wrist injury, and watched his team be eliminated.The six-time Stanley Cup champion is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. It is doubtful the Rangers would ask him to return for a 19th season.Lowe, one of the Rangers&rsquo; unquestionable leaders-perhaps as much as Mark Messier in many cases-tried to smile after tossing a bandage and ice pack aside.&ldquo;Disappointing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought we had the guns. There&rsquo;s not much to say other than that.&rdquo;So he sat on the bench for the final 20 minutes of the Rangers season, with plenty to think about regarding his future.&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something that has been clear to me for a year. That&rsquo;s just a realistic point of view. But whichever way it happens, whether they want me back or what, I never want to rule out anything.&rdquo;Lowe has said in the past he would like to get into the coaching fraternity when his playing days are over and his name has been mentioned for some vacancies.&ldquo;Whether I&rsquo;m going to play or coach, I&rsquo;m really uncertain,&rdquo; Lowe said. &ldquo;1&rsquo;11 just leave it at that.&rdquo;But he made a statement that sounded like he&rsquo;s done with the Rangers.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want it to sound final, but it has been a great experience being in New York,&rdquo; he said of his four-season run.&ldquo;It has been nothing but class. I&rsquo;ll tell you that they want to win. I give them full marks on that.&rdquo;The same could always be said for Lowe.NOTEBOOK: Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts had begun negotiating with Rangers&rsquo; president-GM Neil Smith on a long-term contract extension. Smith wants to be paid in excess of $1 million a year, which is the going rate for the league&rsquo;s top executives. Smith was earning about $550,000 a year on his current contract&hellip;.Ulf Samuelsson suffered a broken orbital bone and broken nose when he was hit in the face by the puck which ended up in the Rangers net for Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 1-0 goal in Game 3. He also may need surgery for the damage the puck did to his nose. Samuelsson said it is doubtful he will play for Sweden in the World Cup tournament because his wife is due to deliver a baby in late-August. &#9632;

f0024-04

Lowe’s NHL journey may be finished

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02588/6690001-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="574" height="981"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Neckar</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01893/6690008-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="163" height="163"></div>Stop us if you&rsquo;ve heard this one before.An Ottawa Senator says he was promised he&rsquo;d have his deal reworked if he outperforms one of his teammates and when the alleged promise goes unfulfilled, asks to be traded.Defenseman Stan Neckar appears ready to go down the road frequently travelled by Alexei Yashin, who engaged in a long and bitter contract dispute that was resolved after he held out for the first half of last season.Neckar&rsquo;s agent, Rich Winter, said in a letter to GM Pierre Gauthier his client, at home in the Czech Republic, would not train or take English lessons unless the Senators give him a new three-year deal, &ldquo;in an amount comparable to what Radek Bonk is being paid.&rdquo; Bonk made $1.025 million in 1995-96 and is scheduled to make $1.325 million next season. Neckar made $400,000 in 1995-96 and is slotted to make $500,000 next year.When the request for a contract negotiation brought no response, Winter suggested Gauthier consider trading his client.Winter claims former Senators&rsquo; GM Randy Sexton promised he would renegotiate Neckar&rsquo;s deal after its second year if &ldquo;(Neckar) substantially outplayed Radim Bicanek. He has.&rdquo; Sexton flatly denies the allegation.Bicanek, who spent the season with the P.E.I. Senators of the American League, would have made $375,000 had he spent the season in the NHL, but made $125,000 on the minor league portion of his contract.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Wade Redden, the second overall pick in the 1996 entry draft whom the Senators acquired in a three way trade with the Islanders, signed a three-year contract May 30. It&rsquo;s believed he&rsquo;ll get the entry level salary cap of $850,000&hellip;The Senators dealt left winger Michel Picard to Washington for future considerations. Picard, 26, had two goals and eight points in 17 games with the Senators last season. While blessed with a wonderful touch around the net, Picard&rsquo;s coaches often said his size (5-foot-11, 198 pounds) prevented him from transferring his minor league success to the NHL&hellip;Eighty-six per cent of the Senators&rsquo; approximately 9,300 season ticket holders renewed their tickets for next season. &#9632;

f0026-02

Will Neckar hold out too?

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03465/6690039-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="162" height="163"></div>The big shower-room mirror at the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; training facility didn&rsquo;t get a lot of traffic the morning after the Flyers were eliminated from the playoffs.And it wasn&rsquo;t just because the team&rsquo;s season was over. Nobody seemed to want to look failure straight in the eye. The regular season Eastern Conference champions had a lot of soul searching to do after falling to the Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs.Florida&rsquo;s excellent play aside, theories abounded as to why the Flyers came up short. The Flyers grudgingly admit they are lacking in several areas.They need an agitator, in-your-face player in the Claude Lemieux-Dino Ciccarelli mold.And the dressing room chemistry isn&rsquo;t quite right.&ldquo;Sometimes it can get pretty quiet in there,&rdquo; said coach Terry Murray, who alluded to some &ldquo;in-house problems,&rdquo; but wouldn&rsquo;t get more specific.&ldquo;We know we have to do things,&rdquo; said GM Bob Clarke. &ldquo;Sometimes a fit for players isn&rsquo;t good on teams and things have to be moved around a bit.&rdquo;Scoring goals-11 in six games against Florida-is still a struggle. &ldquo;I still want to impress the defensive part of it,&rdquo; Murray said, &ldquo;but I would like to open things up a bit more.&rdquo;Clarke said there won&rsquo;t be major changes in the off-season and made it clear he was satisfied with Murray&rsquo;s performance. But he also hinted next season will be a telling one for the nucleus of the team.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Mikael Renberg underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured abdominal muscle May 24. The operation took place at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Renberg said he will rest instead of playing for Sweden at the World Cup&hellip;Defensemen Karl Dykhuis and Petr Svoboda are the only unsigned Flyers. GM Bob Clarke intends to get both under contract&hellip;Clarke also plans to sign goalie Ron Hextall, entering his option year, to a new contract over the summer and would like to re-work captain Eric Lindros&rsquo; deal. Lindros has two years remaining on a six-year deal&hellip;The Flyers&rsquo; six-game loss to Florida marked only the second time in team history they surrendered a 2-1 lead in games. &#9632;

f0026-03

Overhaul not necessary, but grit and goals required

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04337/6690070-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="162" height="163"></div>It&rsquo;s strangely appropriate the St. Louis Blues one-shot season came down to just that-one shot.One shot was the difference between victory and defeat in double overtime of Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Red Wings.Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman got that shot, giving his team a 1-0 victory and the right to be knocked out of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final.The Blues will lament that shot, as well as one missed by Shayne Corson in the first overtime, all summer. They were that close to advancing and proving perhaps Mike Keenan isn&rsquo;t a mad scientist after all.He had patched together a team of experienced veterans outfitted with a gaudy collection of Stanley Cup jewelry-33 rings in all-just for this reason, to be playoff-ready for their one shot at glory.Though his team didn&rsquo;t win, Keenan was proud of its performance.&ldquo;We came back from being down two games in the series,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;We took them the distance. A lot of our players played their hearts out. That, we can take solace in.&ldquo;We played against the best team in the history of the NHL and we took them to the final game in overtime, a 1-0 game. A lot of people in our locker room really went to the wall. You have to be proud of that.&rdquo;But they didn&rsquo;t do it. And this one-shot team, with Wayne Gretzky possibly leaving and numerous players retiring, will probably be disassembled in the off-season.&ldquo;Hey, it&rsquo;s a one-shot deal with every team,&rdquo; said center Craig MaC-Tavish, the team&rsquo;s oldest player at 38. &ldquo;Who knows from year to year who&rsquo;s going to have the team the following year.&ldquo;New Jersey won the Stanley Cup last year and didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs. It&rsquo;s a one-shot deal with a young team or an old team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: At least half of the 10 Blues&rsquo; players who are 34 and older will depart in the off-season, either voluntarily or involuntarily. Defenseman Charlie Huddy. 37, and left winger Glenn Anderson. 35, become unrestricted free agents June 30 and won&rsquo;t be re-signed. Defenseman Jay Wells, 37, and wingers Basil McRae, 35, and Greg Gilbert, 34, have one year remaining on their contracts, but probably will be bought out&hellip;Goalie Jon Casey, 34, also is an unrestricted free agent, but was so impressive in the playoffs after Grant Fuhr went down the Blues will try to re-sign him. Forwards Peter Zezel and Steve Leach also are unrestricted free agents the Blues want to re-sign. &#9632;

f0026-04

Expect Team Geritol to be disassembled

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01848/6690101-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="158" height="161"></div>The San Jose Sharks&rsquo; commitment to Owen Nolan increased to the tune of $4.6 million, when the club signed him to a new contract in early-May.The right winger agreed to a two-year contract that will make him the highest-paid player in Sharks&rsquo; history.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m real happy about the deal and awfully glad to stay with the Sharks&rsquo; organization,&rdquo; Nolan said.Nolan had been scheduled to earn $1.15 million next season in the option year of his previous contract.&ldquo;We all believe Owen is a big piece of the puzzle here,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; assistant GM Wayne Thomas. &ldquo;He adds a lot of dimensions that you just can&rsquo;t find in a player.&rdquo;Nolan, 24, had 33 goals and 69 points between the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose last season. He scored 29 goals, one short of the club record set by Sergei Makarov in 1993-94, in 72 games after joining the Sharks.Nolan, the first overall pick by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 entry draft, scored a career-high 42 goals with the Nords in 1991-92, totalled a personal-best 77 points the following season and had 30 goals during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign.NOTEBOOK: After interviewing six candidates to fill the Sharks&rsquo; vacant head coaching job, GM Dean Lombardi pared the field to two finalists, former St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter and Anaheim Mighty Ducks&rsquo; assistant Al Sims&hellip;The Sharks announced an agreement with the Kentucky Thoroughblades May 16 to make the American League expansion team their top player-development affiliate. &#9632;

f0027-01

Nolan becomes richest Shark

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02529/6690132-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="159" height="162"></div>One down, one to go.That&rsquo;s how the Tampa Bay Lightning stood after GM Phil Esposito signed a three-year contract. Would coach Terry Crisp follow suit?Crisp, whose contract expired at the end of May, said he wants security most of all in his new contract. He said he is seeking a three-year deal and after Esposito signed his own extension May 14, the GM said he would gladly accommodate his coach.&ldquo;Signing Terry comes (next),&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I hope to get him signed as quickly as possible and as far as giving him three years, that was always my intention.&rdquo;Really? When all Esposito was being offered was a two-year extension, he made it known a two-year deal was all Crisp could hope for.That stance increased the chances of Crisp leaving and taking a job else-where-the vacancy with the Toronto Maple Leafs was continually being mentioned. But the chances of the Lightning retaining Crisp appeared to be improved by early-June.&ldquo;Three years is fine,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said all along my first desire, my real wish is to stay in Tampa Bay. I see so much potential with all the young kids we have. We&rsquo;ve started something and now I want to see it through.&rdquo;Crisp said he is also hoping to earn a salary that will put him in the top third of all NHL coaches.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve earned it,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here four years and I&rsquo;ve won a Stanley Cup (in 1989 with the Calgary Flames). I think I&rsquo;ve paid my dues.&rdquo;Crisp&rsquo;s agent, Harry Radomski, said negotiations are going well and he is optimistic a deal can be reached.NOTEBOOK: Center Brian Bradley, who has led the team in scoring each of its four seasons, is seeking a three-year extension on a contract that expires after next season. Bradley is said to be looking for $1.5 million per year in the new pact. The Lightning is believed to be offering $1.2 million per season&hellip;The Lightning signed free agent left winger David Matsos to a multi-year deal May 17. Matsos, 22, spent last season with the Canadian national team&hellip;Right winger Mikael Andersson of Sweden and defenseman Roman Ham rlik of the Czech Republic were the only two Lightning players listed on the final rosters for their country&rsquo;s respective World Cup squads. Both are expected to play in the tournament this summer. &#9632;

f0027-02

Crisp should get new pact

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01888/6690163-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="163" height="163"></div>The Toronto Maple Leafs didn&rsquo;t do very well in getting bang for their $33-million payroll last season, so it&rsquo;s probably no surprise they&rsquo;re having some difficulty determining the value of their best young player.Felix Potvin made $1.4 million last season and as a Group II free agent, is looking to at least double his salary. But the Leafs aren&rsquo;t sure where Potvin fits into the overall NHL scale.Potvin has been a workhorse goalie since taking over the No. 1 job in 1993. But there&rsquo;s no Vezina Trophy, no first or second all-star team, no NHL hardware of any kind and a rising goals-against average.&ldquo;This may be a classic case where arbitration could benefit everyone,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;I mean friendly arbitration.&rdquo;Now the 17th highest paid netminder in the league, Potvin and agent Gilles Lupien want to elevate his salary into the top five in the league. Moving Potvin into that stratosphere would make him the Leafs&rsquo; highest paid player.&ldquo;The bottom line is Felix is a good goaltender and he will be back here next season,&rdquo; Fletcher said.NOTEBOOK: Canadian national team coach Tom Renney was the first Leaf coaching candidate to be interviewed in late-May. Fletcher also was expected to interview former Leaf assistant Mike Murphy after asking the Rangers for permission. Terry Crisp, Marc Crawford and Darryl Sutter were some of the other names being tossed around&hellip;Speculation continued Fletcher was pressured into dealing for former captain Wendel Clark by ownership. &#9632;

f0028-01

Potvin’s deal big dilemma

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02588/6690194-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="164" height="163"></div>Pat Quinn has always been a deliberate thinker, never prone to rash or impulsive moves. So while other NHL teams began interviewing coaching candidates, the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; GM had not even revealed whether he intends to remain as coach himself or hire someone else to do the job.&ldquo;There are two questions: whether I want to coach and, of the candidates who are out there, which is the right one,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s an important decision.&rdquo;Quinn said he would like to have a decision made by the June 22 draft.The Canucks do seem interested in Canadian national team coach Tom Renney, and he in them, but Renney may be gone before Quinn is ready to make his move. New York Ranger assistant coach Mike Murphy, who has worked with Quinn in both Vancouver and with the Los Angeles Kings, said he will put his name forward.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how forceful Pat is looking for a coach, but if there&rsquo;s an opening, I&rsquo;d definitely be interested,&rdquo; Murphy said.Quinn, whose first stint as Canuck coach was a resounding success, handed over the reins to Rick Ley following the 1993-94 season in which Vancouver took the New York Rangers to Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final. Ley&rsquo;s record was 18-18-12 during the lockout shortened campaign and 29-32-15 when Quinn fired him March 28. The Canucks were 5-7 under Quinn, including playoffs.The betting in Vancouver is the longer Quinn waits, the more likely he is to do the job himself.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t surprise me if Pat Quinn stayed on,&rdquo; Renney said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s obviously a great coach.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Swedish defenseman Mattias Ohlund, the Canucks&rsquo; top prospect, paid a visit to Vancouver in late-April, but remained unsigned. Ohlund, the team&rsquo;s 1994 first round pick, is looking to max out on the rookie salary cap of $850,000, while the Canucks would prefer to keep his money below that figure and let him make up the difference on bonuses. Because he is a European. Ohlund would not go back into the draft if he remained unsigned&hellip;The Canucks made an offer to unrestricted free agent right winger Joey Kocur&hellip;Pat Quinn said the Canucks are not counting on center Mike Ridley, whose season was plagued with back problems, and added if Ridley does play, it&rsquo;s &ldquo;a bonus.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-02

Quinn won’t rush decision

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01780/6690225-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="159" height="160"></div>Would medical science continue to advance at the rate it is without the unselfish contributions made by members of the Washington Capitals?The team has one player, right winger Pat Peake, who is so devoted to increasing the world&rsquo;s knowledge about what makes man tick he is waiting for his second operation of the current off-season.It is a continuation of a year which saw the Capitals lose 233 man-games during the regular season. Only team captain Dale Hunter, who turns 36 on July 31, played a full season.&ldquo;It all happened at almost the same time,&rdquo; said GM David Poile. &ldquo;With the exception of (rookie defenseman Brendan) Witt, it all happened right after the trading deadline so it made it impossible to do anything else to recover from it.&rdquo;What the Capitals could and did do was raid their American League farm team, the Portland Pirates, but even that was not good news for some of those called up. Defenseman Stewart Malgunas, for instance, was 14 minutes into the second period of his first game when he dislocated a shoulder and was lost for the season.Peake underwent surgery on a shattered right heel May 8 and will be in casts until at least early-August. But that&rsquo;s only the start for him.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be in a cast for three months and then he&rsquo;s going to have a shoulder operated on as soon as he can walk,&rdquo; Poile said of Peake, who may or may not be ready for training camp.NOTEBOOK: The Capitals took part in the draft lottery May 19, but the status quo was maintained with top-seeded Ottawa winning. Washington owns Los Angeles&rsquo; fourth pick overall in the draft&hellip;The Capitals picked up left winger Michel Picard from the Senators May 21 for future consideration. GM David Poile described Picard as a &ldquo;depth guy.&rdquo; Picard, 26, played 17 games in Ottawa and 55 for the P.E.I Senators of the American League. He had two goals and eight points with Ottawa and was tied for second in scoring in P.E.I. with 37 goals and 82 points. Picard, the 178th overall pick by Hartford in 1989, has long been a scoring star at the minor pro level, but hasn&rsquo;t been able to make a permanent jump to the NHL. &#9632;

f0029-01

Sorry injury saga continues into off-season for Capitals

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03325/6690256-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="567" height="971"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Simpson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02505/6690263-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="159" height="162"></div>Change is the buzzword for the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes this off-season. The franchise move to the American southwest is already taking place and the makeup of the team&rsquo;s management is being reworked almost daily.The club could use better management after the way the Terry Simpson firing was bungled in mid-May.GM John Paddock said the decision was his to dismiss Simpson, who got the lame-duck Jets into the playoffs despite major political and logistical distractions during the season. The Jets, in fact, were only one win away from finishing fourth in the Western Conference.But Simpson was informed his services were no longer required by new owner Richard Burke, who had apparently resisted Paddock&rsquo;s lukewarm pitch to retain the coach.There&rsquo;s also a new card in the management deck. Bobby Smith, former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; and Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; center, takes over as the team&rsquo;s executive vice-president, hockey operations and is on the depth chart above Paddock.&ldquo;I see (John&rsquo;s) job as being largely unchanged and that&rsquo;s important to him,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I think the hockey department will be a larger outfit in Phoenix than it has been in Winnipeg. We&rsquo;ve got a lot of other things to do, like a lot of the other southern teams, trying to cultivate hockey in the south and I also have some responsibilities on the financial side. I see a need for more depth in the hockey department.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rumors GM John Paddock would go back to coaching with the Coyotes this fall appeared unfounded. &ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, it&rsquo;s the status quo for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Unless somebody has a surprise for me, being the coach is not something we&rsquo;ve talked about.&rdquo;&hellip;Among the office and hockey personnel moving to Phoenix are assistant GM Mike O&rsquo;Hearn, finance vice-president Don Binda, contract specialist Laurence Gilman, media relations director Rich Nairn, hockey information director Igor Kuperman, public relations director Lori Summers and training and equipment regulars Stan Wilson. Gord Hart and Phil Walker. The status of assistant coaches Randy Carlyle and Perry Pearn was undetermined as of late-May. &#9632;

f0029-03

Smith hired, Simpson fired

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01882/6690294-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrew Brunette was returned to the AHL Pirates from Washington. (Photo by Jim Leary/BBS)</figcaption></div>They say the playoffs are the second season. That&rsquo;s good news for the Calder Cup finalists in the American League.Because the first one for both the Rochester Americans and Portland Pirates was nothing to write home about. Despite the fact both teams entered the playoffs after coming off sub 500 seasons, they fashioned impressive playoff runs that had them battling for the AHL championship.Only once in the AHL&rsquo;s 60-year history have both finalists finished below 500 when the Springfield Kings swept the Providence Reds in 1971. This year will mark the sixth sub-.500 Calder Cup champion.They were given up for dead at mid-season, mere roadkill on the shoulder of the AHL&rsquo;s highway of excellence.On Jan. 27, with 60 per cent of their season over, the Rochester Americans were 17-28-3 and loomed as a threat to break franchise futility records.Now they&rsquo;re a threat to leave a mark on the 40-year-old franchise in the form of a Calder Cup banner.After rallying down the stretch to finish with a 37-38-5 record, the Amerks became a playoff juggernaut. They won their first nine Calder Cup games, sweeping the Adirondack Red Wings 3-0 and Cornwall Aces 4-0 before ousting the Syracuse Crunch 4-1 in the semifinal.The reassignment of right winger Rob Conn and the demotion by the Buffalo Sabres of center Brian Holzinger and defenseman Doug Houda helped greatly, adding firepower up front and 10 years of experience to the defense.Conn and Holzinger joined left winger Dixon Ward on one of the AHL&rsquo;s most explosive lines.An integral part of the mid-season turnaround was the development of goalie Steve Shields. The year before, as a rookie, he was shipped to the East Coast League. But he turned his game around and led the playoffs in goals-against average (2.13) and save percentage (92.8).&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to accomplish what we&rsquo;ve accomplished without good goaltending,&rdquo; said Rochester coach John Tortorella. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not just Shields, it&rsquo;s the whole team.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s grinding left winger Scott Metcalfe scoring the first hat trick of his pro career in the series-breaking 4-1 victory in Game 4 at Syracuse. It&rsquo;s 33-year-old grinding right winger Dan Frawley, making a comeback after two years in retirement, playing like a 25-year-old.When the Pirates won the Calder Cup in 1993-94, Andrew Brunette, Darren McAusland and Martin Gendron were spare parts, youngsters who couldn&rsquo;t crack a talented lineup.&ldquo;Now they&rsquo;re our most valuable players,&rdquo; said Pirates&rsquo; coach Barry Trotz of the trio of clutch performers.Midway through the season, no one on the Pirates was considered valuable. They had just 10 wins at Christmas and were stuck in last place in the Northern Division.Yet there they were, playing in the final for the second time in three years. The Pirates finished third in the North with a 32-38-10 record, then went about bouncing out higher seeded opponents in the playoffs.Despite a lineup depleted by recalls to the parent Washington Capitals, Trotz patched together a team with six players on amateur tryouts, one on a pro tryout and one fresh out of junior to eliminate the Worcester IceCats 3-1 in the opening round.The Pirates ousted the Springfield Falcons 4-2 in the second round before rallying past the Saint John Flames in the Eastern Conference final. The Flames led the series 3-2 going home for Games 6 and 7, but goalie Ron Tugnutt was fabulous as the Pirates posted 5-2 and 5-0 victories.&ldquo;Two things I&rsquo;ve always said about the playoffs: home ice is overrated and talent is overrated,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;Chemistry and character are things that make winners.&rdquo;Those chemistry changes took place during the season. Defensemen Eric Charron, Stewart Malgunas and Jay Mazur were obtained in trades and defenseman Ron Pascucci and goalie Martin Brochu were promoted from the East Coast League. Brochu was a star against Worcester. By the time the Pirates were playing Saint John, Tugnutt had the hot glove and had the Flames believing they couldn&rsquo;t score.&ldquo;If there weren&rsquo;t upsets and Cinderella teams, sport would be pretty boring,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;If the regular season was all that mattered, Detroit would have the Stanley Cup.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

Amerks, Pirates put bad seasons in past

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Fans of the Utah Grizzlies began throwing trout on the ice at the Delta Center during the International League Turner Cup playoffs to celebrate a goal by the home team.Everyone knows a Grizzly&rsquo;s favorite treat is trout. Why not reward them? Goals were hard to come by for the Grizzlies, but not nearly as hard as they were for the opposition.Utah used superb goaltending from Tommy Salo and an unyielding defense led by captain Gord Dineen to win the Western Conference title and earn a chance to defend the Turner Cup.The Orlando Solar Bears are the other finalists after beating the Cincinnati Cyclones in the Eastern Conference final.The Grizzlies upset the season-champion Las Vegas Thunder 4-2 in the West, using a huge edge on special teams. Utah went 12-for-35 on the power play while killing 24 of 28 penalties.The Grizzlies were the IHL&rsquo;s top defensive team during the season and continued that performance in the playoffs. Utah permitted just 41 goals in 18 playoff games, an average of 2.27.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02591/6690325-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="392" height="501"><figcaption class="caption-body">Allan Bester</figcaption></div>A lot of that was because of Salo. Only four times in 18 games had he allowed four or more goals.Veteran forward Andy Brickley was another key for the Grizzlies. He has battled injuries and is slated to undergo left knee surgery after the playoffs.He wasn&rsquo;t able to play in all the games, but his presence made a difference. In the playoffs, Utah was 8-4 with him in the lineup and 3-3 without him. More significantly, Utah was 4-0 in the conference finals with Brick-ley and 0-2 without him.&ldquo;Imagine what he&rsquo;d do with two good legs,&rdquo; said Utah coach Butch Goring. &ldquo;But if he had two good legs, he wouldn&rsquo;t be here. He&rsquo;d be in the NHL.&rdquo;Brickley led Utah in playoff scoring with 17 points. Veteran Scott Arniel was second with nine goals and 16 points.In the East, the Solar Bears took the word shootout to a new meaning. Virtually every game the club played was high scoring, as it finished second in the league with 352 goals scored, but allowed 307.The Bears proved in the playoffs, though, that they could change their game, particularly when it was most important.Trailing the Cyclones 3-1, the Bears won three straight, including Game 7 in Cincinnati 1-0. In the last two games, Orlando held the Cyclones to just one goal.Orlando relies heavily on veteran goalie Allan Bester, who finished the regular season with a 32-16-2 mark and a 3.58 goal-against average. In the playoffs, Bester improved his numbers considerably. He was 11-8 with a 2.87 GAA and two shutouts.The Solar Bears surround Bester with a veteran defense, led by all-star Todd Richards as well as Mark Ferner, Pat Neaton and Duane Joyce.Up front, the Solar Bears suffered a tremendous loss in Game I of the conference final when right winger Craig Fisher, who led the league with 74 goals, the second-best total in league history, suffered a concussion after taking a clean hit from Dale DeGray.He did not return in the series and was questionable for the final.But the Solar Bears have a stable of talented forwards, led by Mark Beaufait and Dave Barr. Center Hubie McDonough was playing well and Orlando received contributions from role players such as Bob Joyce and Mike Hartman. &#9632;

f0030-02

Grizzlies, Bears battle for all the fish

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>The coaching merry-go-round is in full swing during the East Coast League&rsquo;s off-season.The Pensacola franchise, formerly the Nashville Knights, introduced former NHL defenseman Al Pedersen as its new coach May 22.Pedersen, who played most of his 10 NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins, succeeds Mark Kumpel, who was let go despite leading the Knights to a 42-22-6 record last season and a second-place finish in the South Division.A fifth-round draft pick of the Bruins in 1983, Pedersen served as assistant coach for the International League&rsquo;s Atlanta Knights last season.&ldquo;Al built his pro career on a foundation of hard work,&rdquo; said Pensacola GM Joe Bucchino. &ldquo;I fully expect that will be his trademark as he embarks on a career as head coach.&rdquo;Further west on Interstate-10 in Biloxi, the Mississippi Sea Wolves hired Bruce Boudreau. Boudreau, who will serve as coach and director of operations for the expansion team, played 17 seasons of pro hockey.Boudreau spent the past season as assistant coach-GM for the IHL&rsquo;s San Francisco Spiders. Boudreau has also been coach of the Muskegon Fury in the Colonial League and the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL.&ldquo;Bruce fits perfectly for us,&rdquo; said Sea Wolves&rsquo; GM Stephan Boutin. &ldquo;In his second year of coaching, he took his team to the (Turner Cup) finals and was named coach of the year in the IHL. He&rsquo;s a winner.&rdquo;Another relocated team, Baton Rouge, La., is looking for a new coach after Barry Smith was dismis. sed. Smith directed the Erie Panthers to a 25-40-5 record last season.&ldquo;Going into this market, we wanted someone with a little more experience,&rdquo; said GM Ron Hansis.Meanwhile, the Johnstown Chiefs announced Nick Fotiu has been signed for 1996-97. Johnstown was 2138-11 last season. The Mobile Mysticks also renewed the contract of Eddie Johnstone. The expansion club was 22-37-11 last season.The Richmond Renegades gave coach of the year Roy Sommer a three-year contract, as well as the title of GM. Craig Laughlin. GM for the past two seasons, will serve as president of hockey operations.Moe Mantha, who guided the Columbus Chill the past two seasons, left to become coach of the Ontario League&rsquo;s London Knights.CHANGE AT HELM: Blake Cullen, who turned the Hampton Roads Admirals into one of the most profitable ECHL teams, is selling the Norfolk, Va., club to Mark Garcea and Page Johnson, who plan to keep the club in Norfolk.Cullen, who paid $25,000 for the expansion franchise in 1989, sold the club for an estimated $2.5 million.COAST LINES: The South Carolina Stingrays hired former defenseman Chris Foy as director of sales and marketing. Foy, who played for the Stingrays the past two seasons, retired because of knee problems. He worked for South Carolina last summer as a marketing representative. &#9632;

Pedersen, Boudreau join coaching front

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>After the Samia Sting was eliminated from the Ontario League playoffs and after the spring rain ended, Mark Hunter was in the fields on the family farm in Petrolia, Ont.When next season begins, Hunter will be doing more farming, trying to cultivate the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; prospects with the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs of the American League.A veteran of 12 NHL seasons at right wing, Hunter was hired by the Maple Leafs May 16. He replaces Tom Watt, who remains with the organization as a scout.Hunter, 33, coached the Sting the past year and a half. In his one full season as coach, Samia went 39-23-4 and finished second in the West Division. The Sting lost to eventual OHL champion Peterborough Petes in the second round of the playoffs.&ldquo;Mark&rsquo;s team plays a lot like the way he played,&rdquo; said Maple Leafs&rsquo; assistant GM Bill Watters. &ldquo;They come to play every night and don&rsquo;t lose easily.&rdquo;Hunter played 628 NHL games for five teams. He helped the Calgary Flames win the Stanley Cup in 1988-89, when Leafs&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher was with the Flames.&ldquo;Cliff knew me and they had some people watching our team,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;They approached me after the season and it&rsquo;s quite an honor. It always feels good when someone approaches you and wants you to be a part of their organization.&rdquo;Hunter is looking forward to his first pro coaching job, but leaves Sarnia with one regret. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough leaving the kids,&rdquo; he said.ANOTHER TRY: The Edmonton Oilers confirmed rumors in mid-May by announcing they are moving their AHL farm team from Cape Breton to Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.Hamilton hosted an AHL team in 1992-93 and 1993-94, the Canucks, but fled to Syracuse because of financial problems. The parent Vancouver Canucks were forced to take over operations from private owners just to keep the franchise operating in 1993-94.But a commitment from Copps&rsquo; management and the city convinced Edmonton and the league the city may support the AHL.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great building in a large market, so there is potential there,&rdquo; said AHL president Dave Andrews.The Oilers left Cape Breton because of dwindling attendance-a decline of 1,000 per game the past three seasons.Andrews brought the Oilers into Sydney, N.S., when the franchise was established in 1988-89, so losing the city was a disappointment.&ldquo;1 spent six years there. I launched the franchise,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But in that size market and in that size building, if it&rsquo;s not full all the time, it&rsquo;s not going to work financially.&rdquo;BACK TO ROOTS: John Cunniff is back behind an AHL bench, 14 years after starting his coaching career with the Binghamton Whalers.Cunniff, a pro scout for the New Jersey Devils the past five seasons, will coach with the Albany River Rats. Dennis Gendron, a Devils&rsquo; assistant the past four years, will assist Cunniff.Cunniff, 52, replaces Robbie Ftorek, who won back-to-back top coach awards. Ftorek was promoted to New Jersey to assist Jacques Lemaire.AHL TIDBITS: The Kentucky Thoroughblades confirmed reports the San Jose Sharks will be their parent team&hellip;Franchise shifts forced some divisional realignment. The Binghamton Rangers move into the Central Division, replacing the Cornwall Aces, Hamilton will play in the Atlantic Division in place of Cape Breton, and Kentucky and the Philadelphia Phantoms will play in the South Division.<h2>AHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02534/6690411-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="868" height="550"></div> &#9632;

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Hunter gets early start on farming job

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01875/6690449-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Doig, J.F. Tremblay and Granby triumphed over the Petes, the fog and goalie Zac Bierk.</figcaption></div>PETERBOROUGH, Ont.-Jean-Claude Morrissette stood at center ice and pounded his chest. Every handshake, every embrace, every sentence was punctuated by the thump of fist striking chest.For Morrissette, the defacto GM of the Granby Predateurs, hockey is a game of emotion and sometimes that makes you do crazy things. But above all, heart wins hockey games and for the first time ever, his team had the biggest heart in major junior hockey.When the Predateurs beat the Peterborough Petes 4-0 to capture the Memorial Cup May 19, it meant so many things to so many people. For Morrissette, it marked a happy end to an odyssey that had brought him so much pain in the past. For his Predateur players and the rest of the Quebec League, it brought the first taste of victory in many agonizing years and, with it, a measure of respect that has never come easily.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve lost this tournament four times and when you lose, it&rsquo;s hell,&rdquo; Morrissette said. &ldquo;But when you win, you are in heaven.&rdquo;Heaven can wait, but this was getting ridiculous. The Predateurs ended a drought of 24 years between Memorial Cup wins for a QuebeC-based team. The Cornwall (Ont.) Royals won in 1972, &lsquo;80 and &lsquo;81 as a QMJHL member, but that doesn&rsquo;t count.The drought between Cups wasn&rsquo;t the only shackle from which the QMJHL was trying to escape. To say the league suffers from an image problem is an enormous understatement.NHL scouts who see all three junior leagues say the QMJHL is by far the weakest. Some refer to it as nothing more than a glorified Jr. A league. When it comes to firing coaches, owners in Quebec have an itchier trigger finger than Clyde Barrow.Lopsided trades between teams are commonplace and are often followed by reciprocal deals the next season. For example, the Predateurs got captain Francis Bouillon and left winger Daniel Goneau (who led the Canadian Hockey League at plus-82) from the Laval Titan for three draft picks. Then in January, the Predateurs got NHL-caliber defenseman Jason Doig and 118-point man Benoit Gratton from Laval for three fringe players and $100,000.By the way, the Titan just happens to be owned and operated by Morrissette&rsquo;s brother Leo-Guy. Shortly after the Memorial Cup, Leo-Guy was quoted in a French newspaper as saying by making those trades to Granby and not the Hull Olympiques, he decided who would win the Cup.Wait, it gets even better. JeanClaude Morrissette himself was reinstated just before the Cup for attacking referee Luc Lachapelle at the 1994 tournament when he was GM of Laval and Predateurs&rsquo; coach Michel Therrien, who coached Laval last season, was suspended seven games this season for calling Lachapelle, &ldquo;a thief, a double-crosser, a liar and a man who perjured himself on the witness stand.&rdquo;This was just after he challenged Lachapelle to fight, then grabbed a pair of sunglasses and a hockey stick while impersonating a blind man. Two years ago, Therrien was suspended 10 games for fighting then-Granby coach Alain Rajotte.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02605/6690442-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="589" height="940"></div>So who could blame the Predateur players, some of them draped in Quebec flags, when they chanted &ldquo;Respect, Respect, Respect,&rdquo; after their victory?&ldquo;They always say teams from Quebec never have the defense, size, work ethic and discipline,&rdquo; Doig said, &ldquo;but those were the biggest things we had going for us. I think we changed some minds.&rdquo;Therrien was irked his team entered the tournament as third seed despite the fact it set a CHL record with 56 regular season wins. &ldquo;Nobody ever respected us, but they don&rsquo;t have a choice anymore,&rdquo; Therrien said.Granby flexed its muscles from the beginning of the tournament when it opened with an 8-0 thrashing of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Guelph Storm. The Petes defeated Granby 6-3 during the round-robin portion of the event, but were no match for the well-rested Predateurs in final. Played in stifling heat-the temperature was 26 degrees Celsius in Memorial Centre-the final was pond hockey at its best. Throughout the game, large pools of water formed around the fog-covered ice.Granby, the Petes and the Brandon Wheat Kings all had 2-1 records inthe round-robin, but the Predateurs advanced to the final posting the best goal differential. The Petes, who defeated the Wheat Kings 4-3 in the semifinal, were worn down by the Predateurs, who had three days to rest.The Petes had two breakaways and 17 shots in the first period of the game, but came away with nothing. Right winger Phillippe Audet scored a power play goal in the second period and Granby added three more in a span of just over three minutes in the third by centers Martin Chouinard and David Brosseau and Goneau.The Petes were never able to mount a sustained attack against Granby, largely because their smallish forwards were dominated by the huge Granby defensemen. Instead of cutting to the net, they spent much of the game being pushed into the perimeter and out of harm&rsquo;s way.&ldquo;Our players are exhausted,&rdquo; said Petes&rsquo; coach Dave McQueen. &ldquo;I honestly don&rsquo;t believe there is an ounce of energy left in that room. They gave it everything they had.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Several records of dubious distinction were set at this year&rsquo;s tournament. Guelph established a mark for fewest goals in a Memorial Cup tournament with two; the 43 total goals was fewest ever in the four-team format; and the Petes added to their record with their sixth loss in a Memorial Cup final. On the plus side, Petes&rsquo; right winger Cameron Mann tied a record with three game winning goals&hellip;Mann was named most valuable player of the tournament, center Mike Williams of Peterborough was named most gentlemanly player and Granby&rsquo;s Frederic Deschenes, who had two shutouts in four games, was the outstanding goalie. Granby right winger Phillippe Audet, with four goals and eight points in four games, was the tournament&rsquo;s top scorer&hellip;The tournament all-star team consisted of: Deschenes in goal, Wade Redden of Brandon and Jason Doig of Granby on defense, Granby center Xavier Delisle, Audet at left wing and Mann at right wing. &#9632;

f0032-01

VIVE LE QUEBEC

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Ron Vogel hopes to be saving pucks for the Windsor Spitfires next season. Two weeks before the Ontario League draft, the young goalie was helping to save his father&rsquo;s life.Tim Vogel, 44, a videotape editor in London, suffered a heart attack at 6 a.m. May 20. While his wife Donna went to summon a policeman who lives next door, Ron applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.Officer Peter Louwe administered CPR until the fire department arrived with a defibulator. Tim spent 26 hours in a coma and was expected to be in hospital until late-June.&ldquo;Dad wanted to be here, but the doctors said it would be too much stress,&rdquo; Ron, 17, said June I after being the fifth goalie taken in the OHL draft in Kitchener. He was rated the eighth goalie after playing Jr. B with Strathroy and went in the seventh round.Rico Fata, rated No. 1, went No. I to the London Knights. He was greeted on the arena floor by Adam Colagiacomo, the Knights&rsquo; No. 1 pick last year. The two walked to the stage with Colagiacomo on Fata&rsquo;s left side. It&rsquo;ll be that way on the ice.&ldquo;This is an opportunity to play with each other and I can&rsquo;t wait,&rdquo; said Fata, who met Colagiacomo last year at hockey camp.Fata played this season as a 15-year-old with his hometown Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. His father has no problem with his son joining the worst team in major junior history (3-60-3).&ldquo;You give kids roots and wings,&rdquo; Rico Fata Sr., said. &ldquo;He has used his roots and now he has to try out his wings.&rdquo;BID ON HOLD: An expansion bid from St. Michael&rsquo;s College for 1997-98 was tabled May 31.Commissioner Dave Branch said the governors weren&rsquo;t comfortable with the Toronto school&rsquo;s 1,800-seat arena after only two years ago telling the Samia Sting it must build a larger arena.&ldquo;How do I look Samia mayor Mike Bradley in the eye if we let a new team come in with a substandard arena and no provision to meet our standards in a specific time frame?&rdquo; Branch said.St. Michael&rsquo;s looks to eventually move into a proposed 8,000-seat arena on the former Downsview air force base. OHL expansion guidelines require a minimum 4,000 seats.The governors were also uneasy with St. Michael&rsquo;s proposed five-year payment plan. The $1.5-million expansion fee is to be paid within 30 days of the team&rsquo;s first draft. The governors gave St. Michael&rsquo;s until Aug. 9 to return with specifics.&ldquo;We might never be able to satisfy their standards,&rdquo; said St. Michael&rsquo;s spokesman Dennis Mills, a member of Canadian parliament. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a little surprised. Obviously what we can bring to the league didn&rsquo;t excite enough owners.&rdquo;OSH AWA COACH: Former NHLer Bill Stewart left the Muskegon Fury of the Colonial League to coach the Oshawa Generals. He replaces the fired Stan Butler.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01793/6690487-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="586" height="680"><figcaption class="caption-body">GM Doug Mosher was suspended by the Swift Current Broncos.</figcaption></div><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03402/6690480-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="909" height="539"></div> &#9632;

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Windsor prospect makes huge save for own father

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>The Swift Current Broncos have filed a tampering complaint against the Medicine Hat Tigers in the wake of GM Doug Mosher&rsquo;s departure from the Western League team.The Broncos&rsquo; board of directors feels Mosher was negotiating with Medicine Hat while still in their employ.Mosher resigned from the Broncos May 13-three days after Swift Current&rsquo;s board suspended him. Mosher is expected to resurface with Medicine Hat.&ldquo;We feel we&rsquo;ve been damaged,&rdquo; said Broncos&rsquo; governor Ben Wiebe. &ldquo;We feel we were a lesser organization and we want compensation.&rdquo;That is up to WHL commissioner Dev Dley.&ldquo;Tampering is very serious,&rdquo; said Dley, who expects to make a ruling in mid-June. &ldquo;It can be that a team found to be tampering would be allowed to protect three players from its list. The other team could then select one player.&rdquo;Mosher&rsquo;s two-year contract with Swift Current was to expire June 1.&ldquo;We were targeting June I to see who the best available guy was,&rdquo; said Medicine Hat governor Darrell Maser. &ldquo;With (Mosher) coming available, he moves to the front of the pack.&rdquo;DEJA VU: Center John Kachur holds the distinction of being selected in two consecutive WHL expansion drafts.The Calgary Hitmen claimed Kachur, 19, from Swift Current in 1995, only to trade him to Medicine Hat Jan. 10. The Edmonton Ice plucked Kachur from Medicine Hat&rsquo;s list May 23.The Ice also claimed left wingers David Darguzas (from the Brandon Wheat Kings), Scott Burt (Swift Current), Chris Martin (Prince George Cougars) and Jay Henderson (Red Deer Rebels); centers Chris Fizzell (Prince Albert Raiders) and Jared Hope (Spokane Chiefs); right winger Kevin McDonald (Regina Pats); defensemen Graham Belak (Kamloops Blazers), Craig Strain (Lethbridge Hurricanes), Ron Grimard (Kelowna Rockets), Pavel Kriz (Saskatoon Blades) and Gary Toor (Tri-City Americans); and goalie Tim Winters (Portland Winter Hawks).Edmonton acquired right winger Jason Norrie from Calgary; left winger Andy Penny and center Charlie Mattersdorfer from the Seattle Thunderbirds; and right winger Chad Kletzel and defenseman Jeff Zorn from the Moose Jaw Warriors.NEW LOGO: Calgary reverted back to its original logo-a menacing-looking, stick-wielding masked character.It was scrapped last year in response to suggestions it had violent connotations. The team switched to a tamer logo, consisting of HITMEN written over two intersecting hockey sticks.Calgary assistant GM Rusty James said the team decided to use the original logo after fans clamored for its return.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02542/6690525-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="581" height="673"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center John Kacher has caught on with the Edmonton Ice.</figcaption></div><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04315/6690518-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="906" height="544"></div> &#9632;

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Broncos cry foul as Mosher leaves scene

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>The Laval Titan took the first step in a major rebuilding program by selecting 15-year-old defenseman Jonathan Girard with the first pick at the Quebec League&rsquo;s midget draft.Girard was one of three first round Titan picks. Laval had the first overall pick June 2 in Victoriaville after finishing with the worst record (14-54-2) and acquired the Granby Predateurs&rsquo; 14th overall pick in January, giving up Jason Doig and Benoit Gratton, who played key roles in the Predateurs&rsquo; Memorial Cup victory.The day before the draft the Titan made another deal, getting the Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; seventh overall along with left winger David Thibeault and a fourth round pick for left winger Gordie Dwyer, defenseman Frederic Jobin, left winger Marc Sigouin and a third round pick.Laval took another 15-year-old defenseman, Francois Beauchemin, with the seventh pick, and 16-year-old center Jean-Francois Lortie with the 14th pick.In Girard, the Titan is getting a 5-foot-ll, 194-pounder who was rated No. 1 heading into the draft. He had 11 goals and 33 points with the midget Laval Regents and brings a good combination of toughness and skills. He has been compared to Boston Bruins&rsquo; star defenseman Ray Bourque at the same age.&ldquo;I find that flattering,&rdquo; Girard said. &ldquo;All I&rsquo;m going to do is try and be better than him.&rdquo;Jean-Francois Damphousse was the first goalie selected, going to the Moncton Alpines with the fifth pick. Damphousse led the Ste-Foy Gouvemerus to the Air Canada Cup title.STAYING PUT: The Alpines, which were on the verge of folding in their first season, will return with a new owner.The QMJHL purchased the financially troubled franchise from Gerry Sternberg then sold it to Robert Irving, the president and founder of the Maritimes-based Irving Oil Ltd. The price of both transactions was a reported $550,000.Former NHLer Bill Riley takes over from Lucien DeBlois as coach.BAIE GETS TEAM: The league&rsquo;s board of governors voted unanimously to grant Baie Comeau an expansion team for 1997-98 at a cost of $650,000.Originally it was thought the league would expand next season, but league commissioner Gilles Courteau said he was too busy handling the Moncton situation to get a deal in place for 1996-97.COACHES CORNER: Robert Mongrain left the Hull Olympiques after two years to take over the Sherbrooke Faucons. Mongrain, who was 94-44-4 with Hull, is reunited with friend Normand Dube, who is Faucons&rsquo; GM. Claude Julien, who was Mongrain&rsquo;s assistant in Hull, is the Olympiques&rsquo; new coach&hellip;The Drummondville Voltigeurs named Martin Daoust as their new coach, replacing Blair Mackasey, who resigned. Daoust was coach of the midget Jonquiere Elites.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05263/6690556-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="906" height="536"></div> &#9632;

f0033-05

Titan selects Bourque-like defenseman

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01882/6690587-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

June 14, 1996

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Roadrunners will stay put despite arrival of Coyotes

Fedorov: right stuff

Don’t expect overhaul