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

November 1, 1996

The Hockey News November 1, 1996

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01812/6797683-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div>(OT) denotes overtime gameTeam affiliations are listed in parentheses under names &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Larry Starks</div>You don&rsquo;t have to tell Central League commissioner Monte Miron about potential problems that lie ahead with four private owners joining the six league-owned teams.Miron realizes problems may arise in issues ranging from salary cap violations to player accommodation upgrades to extra spending in the operating budget. But Miron says that&rsquo;s the cost of doing business.Adding private owners was the only way the CHL could expand from six to 10 teams.&ldquo;Sure, I have concerns,&rdquo; Miron said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s too early to say what could or will happen. I would rather reserve comment.&rdquo;As part of the deal to bring in the Nashville Nighthawks, Huntsville Channel Cats, Macon Whoopee and Columbus Cottonmouths, the owners were allowed to keep control of their teams.They were also given the autonomy to hire coaches and GMs. For the other six teams, Miron is in charge of hirings and firings.Miron said to help alleviate potential problems, the four teams will be required to submit regular financial documents to the league to show compliance.But will that work?&ldquo;Time will tell,&rdquo; Miron said.NOTEBOOK: Huntsville Channel Cats&rsquo; center Max Middendorf was suspended four games and fined an undisclosed amount for shoving an official during an exhibition game Oct. 12&hellip;When the Whoopee played its first home game Oct. 10 in Macon, Ga., it had plenty of support from its No. 1 fan, actress Whoopi Goldberg. She signed three pucks that were used during the exhibition game and received the first puck used. It was autographed by all Whoopee players&hellip;Trying to establish a Guinness Book of World Record mark for continuous Zamboni riding-and call attention to the start of the CHL season-Memphis RiverKings&rsquo; GM Jim Riggs drove the machine around the arena&rsquo;s parking lot for five hours, 55 minutes. It was the latest zany antic by Riggs, who last year rode a rollercoaster 12 hours at the start of the season and two seasons ago sat atop a billboard for 12 continuous hours. &#9632;

LEAGUES

Jury out on private teams

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05342/6796943-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="161" height="161"></div>Mike Ridley, so pessimistic about his career during the summer and halfway through training camp, has apparently turned the comer.The veteran center holds one of the keys for the Vancouver Canucks, who are woefully thin up the middle.Ridley began the season on the fourth line, was on the third line by the third game and on the second line by the fourth game, partnering Alexander Mogilny and Markus Naslund on an effective unit. He had a four-point night Oct. 18 against the previously undefeated Dallas Stars.&ldquo;I think I am getting closer to being the way I can play,&rdquo; said the 33-year-old Ridley. &ldquo;When I was in the middle of this stuff a month ago, if you had told me I&rsquo;d feel like this today, I&rsquo;d be happy. Now the thing is to get myself ready to do it consistently.&rdquo;Ridley suffered through a horrendous 1995-96 campaign in which he had back surgery and appeared in just 37 games, most of them without any impact. He managed just six goals and looked finished. He continued working out over the summer, but still didn&rsquo;t feel right. He complained he had no strength in his legs and tired far too easily. He said he was close to hanging them up on more than one occasion. Then halfway through training camp, he began to regain his zip.&ldquo;If I go a month like this and keep my off-ice thing going, I don&rsquo;t expect to have any more questions about my health,&rdquo; Ridley said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see if it keeps going.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Corey Hirsch, whose Alfred Hitchcock&nbsp;Psycho mask has been a big hit, has a new version out with gravestones and vultures added to the basic design&hellip;Despite the return of box office star Pavel Bure from major knee surgery, Canuck attendance for the first four home games averaged just 15,611 at GM Place where capacity is 18,422. Last season, the Canucks averaged 17,795 in their first year at &ldquo;The Garage&rdquo; and had 28 sellouts in 41 games&hellip;The Canucks finally found places for out-of-favor players Frantisek Kucera, a defenseman, and Josef Beranek. a center. Kucera was dispatched to Houston of the International League, while Beranek was sent to Vsetin of the Czech League. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Ridley’s return to good health great sign for pivot-weak team

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League: (shots on goal/plus-minus); SA-shots against: GA-goals against; ENG-empty net goals: Decdecision, charges to goaltenders of record when winning goal is scored.<h2>FRIDAY, OCT. 11</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02618/6797628-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="500" height="2105"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03433/6797621-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="504" height="2481"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04298/6797614-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="504" height="922"></div><h2>SATURDAY, OCT. 12</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05224/6797607-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="506" height="1473"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06188/6797600-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="499" height="2486"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07161/6797593-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="503" height="2487"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08141/6797586-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="498" height="2483"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01809/6797579-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="503" height="3218"></div><h2>SUNDAY, OCT. 13</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02555/6797572-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="494" height="200"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03413/6797565-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="497" height="1948"></div><h2>MONDAY, OCT. 14</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04323/6797558-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="500" height="1470"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06235/6797551-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="506" height="1380"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07213/6797544-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="503" height="549"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05271/6797537-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="1534" height="2072"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary&rsquo;s German Titov scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.</figcaption></div><h2>TUESDAY, OCT. 15</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08175/6797530-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="496" height="746"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09153/6797523-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="497" height="1384"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10136/6797516-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="500" height="3503"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01902/6797509-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="503" height="1142"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02632/6797502-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="497" height="2256"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04385/6797495-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="498" height="1327"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05312/6797488-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="497" height="1326"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03495/6797481-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="1521" height="2112"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit goalie Chris Osgood had great numbers despite losing three of four games.</figcaption></div><h2>THURSDAY, OCT. 17</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06278/6797474-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="497" height="1255"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07255/6797467-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="508" height="3492"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08235/6797460-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="498" height="3491"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>Milestone for Caps&rsquo; Hunter</h2>1. He can score, too Chippy Washington captain Dale Hunter nets 3OOth career goal.2. Panthers Pur-r-ring Stanley Cup finalist Florida last undefeated team with 4-0-2 start.3. Penalty killers Montreal scores three shorthanded goals, two on same penalty, to beat Calgary 4-2.4. Joe job Colorado&rsquo;s Joe Sakic registers six points-one goal, five assists, in 72 win over Edmonton.5. Don&rsquo;t blame Wayne Rangers off to poor start, but Wayne Gretzky playing brilliantly.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021235/6795550-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="329" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03918/6795543-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="329" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky</figcaption></div><h2>Pens sputter in early going</h2>1. The Pitts Pittsburgh lose five of first six games, scoring just 13 goals and allowing 28.2. Be seated Philadelphia&rsquo;s Daniel Lacroix suspended two games for flagrant elbow on L.A.&rsquo;s Kevin Stevens.3. Free for all Western League brawl between Swift Current, Edmonton produces whopping 426 penalty minutes.4. Same old story Once again New Jersey has trouble finding net, score just nine goals in four games.5. St. Louis Cardinals We know it&rsquo;s baseball, but giving up 29 runs in last two games of NLCS can&rsquo;t go unpunished. &#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/f0002-04689/6795581-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="344" height="429"></div>Many things separate Danielle Goyette from teammates on Team Canada. Foremost are attitude and ability. She is among the rarest of players-an elite offensive player who puts collective goals ahead of those she personally scores.But as the world&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked team played in the Three Nations Cup, nothing separated Goyette from them as much as her shoulder. The 30-year-old sensation wasn&rsquo;t expected to play in the tournament because of a separated shoulder.She wouldn&rsquo;t say which one because on the eve of the Eastern Ontariobased competition between Canada, the United States and Finland, Goyette still held out hopes of playing.The speedy left winger hurt her shoulder the previous week when she made her first league appearance with K2 Calvary in the Calgary men&rsquo;s Heritage Hockey League. K2, a women&rsquo;s club that includes eight national team members, plays in the&rdquo; Division. It was 3-1-0 in four games and the team was leading 3-1 at the time of the injury. Goyette, an all-star at the 1994 World Championship, had two goals and was aiming for a third when she burst past an opposing defenseman.&ldquo;I almost beat him with my speed,&rdquo; Goyette said, &ldquo;and I think he did not appreciate this and he hit me with his stick and I fly and when I saw the boards I put my hand on the ice and my weight went over and my shoulder went up.&rdquo;A league spokesman who saw the play said the 5-foot-6. 150-pound Goyette was shoved, not hit with a stick, but the player was assessed a penalty in the non-contact league. Goyette left the players&rsquo; bench on a stretcher and went to hospital by ambulance. A full recovery is expected and she is expected to play a prominent role when three-time titlist Canada plays in the World Championship next spring in Kitchener, Ont.&ldquo;She is our best offensive player without a doubt,&rdquo; said Team Canada coach Shannon Miller, who calls Goyette&rsquo;s customary partnership with center Nancy Drolet &ldquo;magical.&rdquo;Goyette, a native of St-Nazaire, Que., moved to Calgary this year to train fulltime with Team Canada at the Olympic Oval. She receives $810 a month from the federal government as an &lsquo;A&rsquo;-carded athlete and adds to that sum working on the maintenance crew at the Oval. Among her duties, in time, will be driving the Zamboni.It will be good preparation for her role as a driving force for Team Canada at the World Championship and 1998 Olympics.<div class="sidebar"><h2>UPCOMING IN THN</h2>Don&rsquo;t look now, but firewagon hock-; ey is back in Montreal. While NHL scoring is down, the Canadiens are filling nets. Can they sustain it? We&rsquo;ll tell you in our next issue. &#9632;</div>

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Much will rest on her shoulders

It stands to be the Triple Crown of contract negotiations. Colorado Avalanche centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim left winger Paul Kariya, three of the top five young megastars in the game, are all in the final years of their contracts. All are destined to break the bank in upcoming negotiations. All are represented by the same agent. &ldquo;I guess it is a rather unique situation,&rdquo; said Winnipeg-based agent Don Baizley. Baizley is the stealth bomber of player agents. He operates quietly and efficiently, driving a hard bargain without engaging in the confrontational tactics that are the M.O. for many of his less-savvy counterparts. He&rsquo;s as good at what he does as his clients are at what they do. It doesn&rsquo;t hurt to have leverage like this. What are the Avalanche and Mighty Ducks to do? Not sign Sakic, 27, Forsberg, 23, and Kariya, 22? All three are franchise players. All three will have to be paid accordingly. So for the first time since an unproven Eric Lindros got his first contract ($3 million annually to start), someone other than Mario Lemieux. Mark Messier or Wayne Gretzky will be setting the NHL player salary marketplace. Baizley has begun preliminary negotiations with the Avalanche. The best guess is they&rsquo;ll command annual salaries somewhere between Messier&rsquo;s $6 million and Mario&rsquo;s $11 million. It&rsquo;s likely in the Avalanche&rsquo;s best interests to conclude in-season negotiations and lock up their two megastars. The last thing Colorado needs is to have a pair of free agents who could run right by compensation. Five first-round picks for Sakic, a consistent 100-point scorer, or Forsberg, perhaps the most complete player in the game? Where does the line begin? Sakic is earning $3.1 million this season. Forsberg is wrapping up a three-year, $6.5-million (Cdn.) deal, virtually identical to Kariya&rsquo;s except for the currency (U.S.). There have been no negotiations with the Ducks on Kariya, nor will there be until the injured winger gets back on the ice. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Paul&rsquo;s only focus right now, getting back to playing,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;In fact, all three guys are not the types of players to let anything affect their games. We&rsquo;ll continue to work away on this. It will all be very low-key and whether we get something done now (in-season) or later (off-season) it&rsquo;s not really a contentious issue.&rdquo; Suffice to say, though, all three are likely to score bigger at the pay wicket than the goal. And that&rsquo;s saying something&hellip;The NHL&rsquo;s other two young megastars may not be far behind. Even though he has this season and another on his contract, there is talk Eric Lindros will get a new deal from the Philadelphia Flyers. Like Kariya, though, he&rsquo;ll have to overcome his groin problem before negotiations pick up any steam. Lindros is represented by his father. Carl. The Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Jaromir Jagr also has this season and another left on his contract&hellip;The deal to have the Vancouver Canucks and Mighty Ducks open the 1997-98 regular season in Japan is virtually complete. As part of an Olympic tie-in, the teams will play two games in Tokyo and/or Yokohama. A formal announcement from the league was imminent&hellip;The NHL had received five formal applications for expansion. The most recent was from Leslie Alexander, owner of the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Houston Rockets. His is the third application from Houston. Applications have also been received from Nashville and Oklahoma City. The league was waiting to see if interest expressed in St. Paul, Minn., Atlanta and Portland, Ore., translated into formal applications with non-refundable $100,000 checks. Charlotte Hornets&rsquo; owner George Shinn has visited both Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and the Hampton Roads, Va., area with an eye towards owning an NHL expansion franchise in one of the two southern locations. (The Hornets are also in the NBA.) In mid-November, all expansion applicants will make formal presentations to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in New York. Those being seriously considered will likely be asked back for another go-round at the NHL governors&rsquo; meeting in midDecember in Phoenix, at which time final decisions could be made&hellip;Tampa Bay, with its new Ice Palace now up and operating, will be awarded the 1998 NHL All-Star Game&hellip;Official NHL pucks, with team logos on one side and the league logo bearing commissioner Bettman&rsquo;s signature on the other, returned to the ice this season with less fanfare than when they left a year ago. The old double-sided NHL logo pucks are now being used by teams in practices only&hellip;Former NHL GMs Dan Maloney and John Ferguson are more than window dressing as advisors to San Jose Sharks&rsquo; GM Dean Lombardi. Maloney and Ferguson spent the better part of the summer in San Jose working on a master plan for building the Sharks. They were both there from the first day of training camp through the first two weeks of the regular season&hellip;The Sharks, incidentally, are still in the market for competitive veteran talent and, for the right gritty player, will part with a young defenseman, either Michal Sykora or Marcus Ragnarsson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011654/6795626-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="350" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie The Insider</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03866/6795619-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="488" height="642"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021322/6795612-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1205" height="1698"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg promises to be a trend-setter at the NHL pay wicket. (Photo by Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Big deals$ in offing

The Buffalo Sabres have enough to worry about-playing competitively and trying to fill the new Marine Midland Arena-without making like the Hatfields and McCoys.So where do Sabres&rsquo; GM John Muckier and head coach Ted Nolan get off trying to undermine each other in an internal power struggle?Good question.It was one posed by the Buffalo Evening News, which took the organization to task for being a counterproductive outfit doomed to failure if it doesn&rsquo;t get its act together.The Sabres&rsquo; response? They put out a feeble news release, directly in response to the Evening News column, suggesting all is not as bad as it was portrayed. It wasn&rsquo;t a denial of the feud per se, just a weak effort at damage control.The Muckler-Nolan feud has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the NHL for some time. Their differences are rooted in how best to be competitive. Nolan wants more immediate help; Muckler&rsquo;s timetable for improvement is much longer range.But when both men stepped up the intensity of their efforts to undermine the other-inevitably using the media, locally and nationally, as their vehicle-it couldn&rsquo;t help but take on a life of its own. It&rsquo;s a mess and don&rsquo;t let anyone suggest otherwise.The Sabres are an organization in transition, on and off the ice. John Rigas is in the process of taking over ownership control from the Knox family and that process has left the GM and coach to their own devices.It&rsquo;s difficult to see how this gets resolved without some blood being spilled. Muckier, whatever he may say publicly, wants Nolan gone. Nolan has no use for Muckier.Maybe one will emerge triumphant and send the other packing. If they&rsquo;re not careful, though, the new owner will step in and do what anybody would under the circumstances-clean house. &#9632;

Battle of Buffalo brewing

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011670/6795688-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="317" height="406"><figcaption class="caption-body">Valeri Kamensky</figcaption></div>A weekly compendium of significant events and developments (Oct. 11-18).Oct. 11: Holdout left winger Valeri Kamensky signs long-term contract with Colorado.Oct. 12: Hartford claims tough guy Stu Grimson off waivers from Detroit.Defenseman Paul Coffey debuts with Hartford in 6-0 loss to Florida.Center Dale Hunter of Washington scores 300th career goal.Oct. 14: Center Jeremy Roenick signs five-year, $20 million-contract with Phoenix, has assist in first game.Oct. 15: Colorado center Joe Sakic scores one goal, five assists in 7-2 win over Edmonton. Left winger Eric Lacroix has three goals.Oct. 17: Ex-NHLers Andy Bathgate (Eastern Conference) and Doug Wilson (Western Conference) named honorary captains for Jan. 18 All-Star Game in San Jose.Leslie Alexander, owner of basketball&rsquo;s Houston Rockets, applies for NHL expansion franchise.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021465/6795681-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="316" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stu Grimson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

J.R. becomes a Coyote, Coffey reports

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011600/6795743-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Fedorov, Theo Fleury and Mario Lemieux figure to be among the top All-Star Game vote-getters.</figcaption></div>The prosecutor heading the U.S. criminal case against Alan Eagleson was a surprise visitor at the civil suit against the NHL Players&rsquo; Association former executive director.Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kelly watched Eagleson testify Oct. 15 at a Toronto courtroom, quietly taking notes throughout the day during his scouting mission of a man considered a fugitive from U.S. justice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m taking the opportunity to watch Mr. Eagleson testify, to get a chance to judge his credibility as a witness, to listen to the substance of his testimony and some of his explanations for a matter that is part of the indictment in the U.S.,&rdquo; Kelly said.The Boston lawyer added the U.S. government is continuing to pursue its extradition of Eagleson.Former NHLer Mike Gillis is suing Eagleson, claiming his former agent cheated him out of $41,250 (U.S.) in recovering his disability insurance payment in 1986. Eagleson argues his fee was justified.The Gillis claim is part of the criminal indictments handed down March 3, 1994 by a Boston grand jury against Eagleson. His testimony may be used in potential U.S. criminal proceedings.During his final three days on the stand, Eagleson admitted he knowingly made an unlawful deal to charge Gillis a 15 per cent contingency fee in 1986. Contingency fees were illegal in Ontario then.Eagleson also denied he used a company owned by friends called Kingsmar Holdings to conceal the fee. Eagleson said the funds were supposed to go to Rae-Con Consulting (his wife Nancy was Rae-Con president), but didn&rsquo;t, saying Gillis&rsquo; money was likely absorbed in a Kingsmar takeover by lialson Holdings, a company owned by Eagleson&rsquo;s two children.HOCKEY CENTRAL: Canada&rsquo;s hockey development programs have a new home at Calgary&rsquo;s Father David Bauer Olympic Arena.Canadian Hockey, the sport&rsquo;s national governing body, says its &ldquo;Hockey Central&rdquo; will serve as home for the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s national teams and men&rsquo;s national junior team.COOL GAME: A research study in the United States showed boys aged seven to 14 think hockey is one of the two &ldquo;coolest&rdquo; sports.The survey, conducted by The Taylor Research and Consulting Group, showed 49 per cent of boys in U.S. NHL team markets named hockey in the top two choices when asked to select their &ldquo;coolest sport.&rdquo; Basketball was second at 41 per cent.OILER POWER: Wayward Edmonton Oiler Zdeno Ciger scored two goals to lead Slovakia&rsquo;s Bratislava to a 9-0 victory over Vienna in European League action.In other Week 4 games Oct. 15. Litvinov (Czech) and Gothenburg (Swe.) tied 1-1; Rauma Lukko (Fin.) doubled Rouen (France) 4-2; Central Army (Rus.) downed Prague 4-1 (Czech); Farjestad (Swe.) dumped Oslo (Nor.) 7-2; and Moscow Dynamo (Rus.) and Budejovice (Czech) tied 1-1.WOMEN&rsquo;S WEB SITE: Information on women&rsquo;s hockey is now available on a web site, thanks to former Canadian national team member And-ria Hunter.On Hunter&rsquo;s home page (<a href="http://www.cs.toronto.edu/andria">http://www.cs.toronto.edu/andria</a>) information is available on women&rsquo;s hockey in 19 countries.National women&rsquo;s teams from Canada, the U.S. and Finland are in the Ottawa region starting Oct. 21 for the Three Nations Cup. The tournament is a precursor to the Women&rsquo;s World Championship, which will take place in Kitchener, Ont., in March, 1997.ALL-STAR CAPTAINS: Hockey legends Andy Bathgate and Doug Wilson were selected honorary captains for the NHL&rsquo;s Eastern and Western all-star teams.Wilson, 39, was known for a booming slapshot during his 16 NHL seasons. Bathgate, 64, is a Hall of Fame right winger.All-star ballots are available until Dec. 15 for fan voting. The top votegetters at each position (two defenseman) will comprise the starting lineups for the Jan. 18 game in San Jose.Ballots are available at NHL arenas, retail outlets and on the league&rsquo;s official web site (<a href="http://www.nhl.com">http://www.nhl.com</a>).&ndash;With file from Mary Ormsby &#9632;

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U.S. attorney eyes Eagleson

USA Hockey is based in Colorado, but Team USA is located in metropolitan New York.The two NHL teams with the highest American content are the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.Both had eight U.S.-born players on their season-opening rosters, according to statistics compiled by the NHL.Both teams are managed by Americans, Lou Lamoriello of the Devils and Mike Milbury of the Islanders.U.S. content in the NHL has declined marginally this season, from 17.7 per cent of all players on the first day of 1995-96 to 16.9 per cent on the first day of 1996-97.Canadian representation has dropped for the sixth consecutive season, from 61.5 per cent to 60.8 per cent, while non-North American-born players jumped from 20.8 to 22.3.USA Hockey, based in Colorado Springs, has grand plans to improve the quantity of players and quality of play in the U.S. (See pg. 39 for more.)The NHL&rsquo;s Team Canada, meanwhile, is located just where you&rsquo;d expect-in Florida, the favorite winter refuge for many Canadians. The Tampa Bay Lightning leads the league with 20 Canadians (and no Americans).The Los Angeles Kings have the most non-North Americans, 10.Players of all nationalities continue to get bigger. The average NHLer is 6-foot-1, 198.1 pounds (up from 196.2) and 26.9 years old.The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh are the league&rsquo;s biggest teams. Both average 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, with the Flyers slightly heavier.Perhaps, then, it should come as no surprise both teams had trouble taking off this season. Evidently, both had excess baggage. As an example, Flyer forwards John LeClair, Mikael Ren-berg and Dale Hawerchuk didn&rsquo;t have a single goal among them after six games.Mind you, the Flyers were without their most imposing force, 6-foot-4, 229-pound center Eric Lindros.The Buffalo Sabres, who earned lightweight status early in the season with just six goals in five games, have the lowest average weight-190.3 pounds.Mike Keenan&rsquo;s Heroes of Hockey in St. Louis are the oldest team in the league; the Blues&rsquo; average age is 29.4. The New York Rangers are second at 28.8, while the Montreal Canadiens youth movement rolls on. At 24.8, it is the only team with an average age under 25.<h2>BIG AND SMALL, NHL RANKS &lsquo;EM ALL</h2>The average height, weight and age for each NHL team&rsquo;s current roster is listed in the chart below.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021149/6795781-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="544" height="1014"></div><h2>&lsquo;INTERNATIONAL&rsquo; HOCKEY LEAGUE</h2>More than 60 per cent of the NHL is made up of Canadian players. Here is each team&rsquo;s breakdown.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03747/6795774-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="544" height="1011"></div> &#9632;

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Snowbirds flock to Tampa; NHL puts on two pounds

As a fan since 1967, I was outraged to read about the NHL&rsquo;s projected expansion plans (THN, Oct. 11).Where does Gary Bettman and the NHL expect to find an additional 60 NHL-calibre players? Does Bettman really expect fans to continue playing the highest ticket prices in professional sports to see the likes of Nashville, Columbus and Houston?Has it all come to soulless new arenas full of corporate boxes and glowing pucks on Fox? If so, this longtime fan&rsquo;s days of watching &ldquo;the coolest game on earth&rdquo; are numbered.Robert Hisnay, Cleveland Heights, Ohio<h2>Richter did fine</h2>Why doesn&rsquo;t Mike Richter get the credit he deserves? He backstopped the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup in 1994, was MVP of the AllStar Game the same year, is consistently among the top goalies in the league and was MVP of the World Cup.But in your World Cup Special, which was printed before the tournament, Kevin Allen wrote &ldquo;the Americans suffered a huge blow when John Vanbiesbrouck withdrew because of an injury.&rdquo;No, Kevin, the Americans did just fine with Richter in goal, don&rsquo;t you think?Joe Landolfi, Huntington Station, N. Y.<h2>We like Mike</h2>If Mike Keenan had coached Team Canada, it would have won the World Cup.I hope the players who didn&rsquo;t want to be coached by him are satisfied with their second-place performance and the disappointment they were to their country.The intensity and desire Keenan would have brought would have made the difference. It&rsquo;s too bad Canada&rsquo;s standing in the hockey world has been affected by a few egos who chose comfort over victory.Brian Morrison, Fair Oaks, Calif.<h2>Defense wins</h2>After reading &ldquo;Oh no, Canada&rdquo; (THN, Sept. 20), I felt the sudden need to consult a dictionary. Did you know that the word defenseman is rooted in the word defense?I can&rsquo;t understand why so much importance is placed on offense in the development of today&rsquo;s defensemen. At least hockey isn&rsquo;t like basketball-a high-scoring league where a blocked shot makes the highlight reel.Of the top 11 scoring defensemen last season, none made the Stanley Cup final. Last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup was won on the stellar defensive play of rearguards such as Sylvain Lefebvre and Adam Foote. In fact, Sandis Ozolinsh was the only defenseman in the final who scored more than 10 goals in the regular season.Paul Van Beek, Kitchener, Ont.<h2>Devils will prevail</h2>Bob McKenzie&rsquo;s pick of the New Jersey Devils to win the Stanley Cup (THN, Oct. 18) was right on.Because of their terrible season last season, they have been written off, but they will return. New Jersey will probably go into a shell in the regular season, but this is a team that is built for success in the playoffs.Chris Cromwell, Ottawa, Ont.<h2>Here&rsquo;s a gem</h2>Geoff Smith might not be the biggest star in the NHL, but he certainly deserves better than being shipped to the Carolina Monarchs of the American League.This is an open invitation to all NHL GMs. Take a look at this guy. If you&rsquo;re looking for flash, you won&rsquo;t find it. But if you&rsquo;re looking for a non-stop work ethic, solid defensive play and one of the classiest guys in the league, your next phone call should be to the Florida Panthers concerning Smith.His name won&rsquo;t be under any records or scoring championships, but it is on the Stanley Cup. which he won as a rookie with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990.Patrick Major, Westfield, Mass.<h2>Roll the video</h2>To avoid the time consuming hassles associated with video replay, the NHL should add a second referee to each game. This person would not lace up the skates, but would sit in the press box and scan the video for infractions missed by the on-ice officials.A case in point was Steve Yzer-man&rsquo;s winning goal in the first game of the World Cup final. The referee in the press box could have quickly phoned down to the timekeeper&rsquo;s bench and informed him the play was offside and the goal should not have been allowed.This will eliminate a lot of problems-namely teams and referees asking for replays.Derek Rogers, Marionville, Ont.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, 777 Bay St, Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 142409947. 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;

Coolest game on earth will expand, lose fans

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011776/6795836-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021214/6795867-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="599" height="881"></div>Dick Irvin Sr. wanted a two-man crew. The respected Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach thought the NHL was just too fast for one referee to handle. The year was 1953.The referees did competent work, he said in THN&rsquo;s Nov. 14 issue, but it was folly to expect a single man to keep up with the play. &ldquo;Two referees in every rink,&rdquo; he bellowed. &ldquo;Hockey is the fastest it&rsquo;s ever been. But 55 years ago it had one official and today it&rsquo;s still got only one official. There isn&rsquo;t a man dead or alive who can skate with 30 players for a full 60 minutes.&rdquo;Irvin&rsquo;s complaint was sparked by a disallowed Canadiens&rsquo; goal in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. The referee was out of position when he waved it off, but &ldquo;movies&rdquo; showed the goal should have counted. Still, Irvin wouldn&rsquo;t blame the zebra.&ldquo;Movies, shmoovies,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Showing the referee made a mistake isn&rsquo;t accomplishing anything and something has to be done. So I say put one referee in each end of the rink. And to keep the ice from getting cluttered up, take the linesman off it. They could either sit in the crowd, at the blueline, or be suspended in baskets over the ice.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-02

Why not two refs?

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011614/6795905-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flying high: Heavy hitter Ed Jovanovski demonstrates the Panthers&rsquo; in-your-face, hate-to-play-against style, But don&rsquo;t be fooled; the Panthers have ample talent, too. (Photo by Al Messerschmid)</figcaption></div>The last time Doug MacLean&rsquo;s team took the night off there was hell to pay.It was in the early 1970s when the Florida Panthers&rsquo; head coach was captain of the Brock-ville Braves and New York Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith was a teammate, patrolling the Brockville blueline.It was the final game of the regular season against the Smith&rsquo;s Falls Bears. Because of the 1 vs. 3,-2 vs. 4 playoff configuration, the loser that night would fall into the favorable fourth place position and avoid the first place Pembroke Lumber Kings, scourge of the Central Ontario Junior League.&ldquo;I knew there was going to be trouble when our owners called me into the office in the morning and told me how important it was that we lose the game,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;He could when he arrived at the rink that night to find some of his teammates mysteriously absent. As MacLean remembers it, Smith&rsquo;s Falls scored the first goal on a shot that legitimately deflected off Smith. On the ensuing faceoff, the irate Bears (whose disdain for a playoff date with Pembroke was at least the equal of the Braves) turned and fired the puck into their own net.The farce was on.&ldquo;I got myself kicked out of the game,&rdquo; MacLean said with a chuckle. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to be a part of it.&rdquo;As it turned out, neither of the two sandbagging teams had to contend with the Lumber Kings in the playoffs. Both the Braves and Bears were disqualified.MacLean can laugh about it now. There will, however, be no such levity if his Panthers decide to take a night off.But then there&rsquo;s fat chance of that now, isn&rsquo;t there?The Panthers were the talk of the NHL last spring when they shocked everyone with their incredible run to the Stanley Cup final, featuring series wins over the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins before falling to the Colorado Avalanche in four hard-fought games.And the Panthers are once again the talk of the NHL.Two weeks into the 1996-97 season, who was the only undefeated team? The 4-0-2 Panthers, who earned the distinction with a 2-1 victory over the Avalanche in Denver on the same night the Vancouver Canucks upended the previously spotless Dallas Stars.Not perfect, but close. The only blemishes were a home tie with the New York Rangers and road draw with the San Jose Sharks. The Panthers&rsquo; early-season victims included the Rangers, Philadelphia, Hartford Whalers and, of course, the defending Stanley Cup champions.The only surprise is that anyone is surprised. They could be real trouble if they ever get their power play (1-for-27 in their first six games) in gear.&ldquo;Plain and simple,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; coach Colin Campbell, &ldquo;they are a very good hockey team.&rdquo; MacLean&rsquo;s Panthers have emerged as the hardest-working team in hockey. James Brown, move over.Who are these guys anyway? One shouldn&rsquo;t have to ask, not after what they accomplished last spring. But for those who haven&rsquo;t been paying attention, the 1996-97 Panthers go something like this:John Vanbiesbrouck and Mark Fitzpatrick in goal. Robert Svehla, Terry Carkner, Rhett Warrener, Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Paul Laus, Jason Woolley and Per Gustafsson on defense. Brian Skrudland between Mike Hough and Tom Fitzgerald; Rob Niedermayer between Scott Mellanby and Johan Garpenlov; Stu Barnes between Dave Lowry and Ray Sheppard; and Martin Straka between Bill Lindsay and Radek Dvorak or Brad Smyth.If the names don&rsquo;t jump out at you, the players do. Contrary to the well-established myth, Florida is not a boring neutral zone trap club that drags the game down to its lowest common denominator. It is, in fact, an aggressive, in-your-face team (with underrated speed and skill) that plays the game the way it was meant to be played-hard, fast and as a team.Not only are they full value for the title of hardest-working team, so far anyway, the Panthers are perhaps the NHL&rsquo;s most annoying team to play against&ldquo;They tick you off,&rdquo; Campbell said, &ldquo;because they do so many of the things a team is supposed to do so well.&rdquo;And precisely how do they do that? At least eight ways.<h2>1. The Beezer Factor</h2>Any discussion of Panther success must start and finish with Vanbies-brouck. Based on his play during the 1995-96 regular season and playoffs and five of the Panthers&rsquo; six games this season, he is the best goaltender in NHL.His value to Florida cannot be measured in saves or goals against-though his 96.5 save percentage and 0.98 goals-against average in his first five outings were truly remarkable.&ldquo;What you notice,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray, &ldquo;is how his play gives his teammates an enormous sense of confidence to play their game. They can be aggressive, they can take chances because they are so confident Vanbiesbrouck will be there for them.&rdquo;Vanbiesbrouck is something of anomaly these days-a standup goaltender who uses positioning and technique over flopping and reflexes.&ldquo;He is a top goaltender at the top of his game,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;He has fought through some tough times, some questions of whether he could play pressure hockey down a stretch drive or in the playoffs. He has done that.&rdquo;<h2>2. The Work Ethic Factor</h2>Night in, night out, the Panthers are the NHL&rsquo;s most industrious team. No one epitomizes it better than team captain Skrudland. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the guy who sets the tone,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not alone, but no one works harder.&rdquo;His commitment is infectious. &ldquo;The knock on Marty Straka (with Pittsburgh, the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders),&rdquo; MacLean said, &ldquo;was that he didn&rsquo;t compete. Well, he has become a real hard worker here. That&rsquo;s nothing more than peer pressure and expectations.&rdquo;&ldquo;I gotta tell you,&rdquo; Skrudland said, &ldquo;we work like dogs in practice. It&rsquo;s only for 45 minutes or an hour, but it&rsquo;s intense, just like a game. It carries over, for sure.&rdquo;<h2>3. The Character Factor</h2>Though he&rsquo;s not likely to admit it, it must rankle Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke the foundation he put together in Miami is made of sterner stuff than the nucleus he has assembled in Philadelphia. The Panthers proved that against the Flyers last spring.It was Clarke who chose Skrudland, Hough and Fitzgerald, among others, in the expansion draft. That trio is all heart. They are the Panther stabilizers when adversity strikes.&ldquo;Skrudland went 55 games last season without scoring a goal,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;It never fazed me. He never missed so much as a shift. Now, he was personally uptight. It was driving him crazy. But he never let it affect the team. He continued to be a leader and an indispensable player for us. That&rsquo;s character, that&rsquo;s leadership.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s a source of league-wide envy.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a team in the league that isn&rsquo;t looking for Skrudland-, Hough-, Fitzgerald-type players,&rdquo; said the Rangers&rsquo; Campbell. &ldquo;(Dave) Lowry, too&hellip;(Clarke) did a very nice job acquiring that quality of player, that quality of person in the expansion draft.&rdquo;<h2>4. The Detail Factor</h2>It&rsquo;s the little things the Panthers do so well.&ldquo;A lot of their players have been career third- and fourth-liners,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;They had to do the little things all their (NHL) life just to stay in the league. They&rsquo;re still doing them.&rdquo;And now the younger Panthers, the more talented ones, are doing them, too. Crisp, timely line changes (three sets of penalty killers per two-minute minor). Safe, deep dump-ins, time after time after time&hellip;winning faceoffs, it goes on and on.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s our coaches,&rdquo; Vanbies-brouck said of MacLean and assistants Lindy Ruff and Duane Sutter. &ldquo;They harp on the little things because it&rsquo;s the little things that make the difference in a close game.&rdquo;<h2>5. The Talent Factor</h2>The Panther may be an endangered species in Florida, but skill is not. Experienced players such as Sheppard, Garpenlov, Barnes, Straka and Svehla all possess fine offensive qualities. Youngsters Dvorak and Niedermayer are real comers. And if you really watch guys such as Lindsay or Jovan-ovski or Fitzgerald, you will see the ability is there to make the splendid plays to go with their stock-in-trade grit.<h2>6. The Tactics Factor</h2>Under former coach Roger Neilson, the Panthers were a defense-first team that regularly set up the 1-2-2 rat trap. Not anymore.What strikes you about the Panthers&rsquo; approach is just how aggressively they pursue the puck. They have the speed and physical elements to make it work. The preferred forechecking system is a hard 2-1-2 that relies on total commitment to physical play. Truth be told, though, the Panthers&rsquo; preference is to create offensive opportunities off the rush.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011669/6795898-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="1823" height="1581"><figcaption class="caption-body">Panther pride: Coach Doug MacLean and captain Brian Skrudland are key character builders for Florida. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt)</figcaption></div>Panther forwards love the challenge of going 1-on-1 in the offensive zone. Their confidence is soaring. It&rsquo;s amazing how many offensive opportunities they create by beating foes 1-on-1 and going to the net with abandon. They also tend to draw a lot of penalties, another reason why it would be a boon to get the power play in order.The defense regularly pinches to keep the puck in the offensive zone. This is a team that doesn&rsquo;t like to take a backward step.&ldquo;Personnel dictates style,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;We have a big, mobile, aggressive defense so you don&rsquo;t want to do anything to take that away from them. They don&rsquo;t back off on the (offensive blueline) and they don&rsquo;t back off in the neutral zone.&rdquo;One of the reasons they can afford to be so aggressive is the Panthers are, without question, the best backchecking team in the NHL. Their forwards regularly turn 3-on-2 disadvantages into 3-on-3s. It was that element that did in the Penguins last spring. The Panther defense took away the Penguins&rsquo; space, the backchecking forwards took away Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s and Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s time.The Panther players continually support each other so well in all areas of the ice.&ldquo;Support, support, support,&rdquo; Van-biesbrouck said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all we ever hear in practices and games. Support on offense. Support on defense. We work a lot of support systems for our breakouts. The centers have to support the wings. If the center leaves the zone early on a breakout, he&rsquo;s going to hear about it.&rdquo;<h2>7. The Motivation Factor</h2>The Hockey News picked the defending Cup finalists to finish seventh in the conference. The New York Times writes about them like their style is a pox on the game. People question their skill and talent level.&ldquo;They play up that, &lsquo;We&rsquo;ve got something to prove&rsquo; angle,&rdquo; Terry Murray said. &ldquo;They want to show everyone they didn&rsquo;t just get lucky.&rdquo;&ldquo;You could say the (pre-season) polls played into our hands a little,&rdquo; added Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray. &ldquo;Not a lot of people think we deserved what we got (last spring).&rdquo;Just don&rsquo;t call them boring.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s one thing that really gets us,&rdquo; Skrudland said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s the criticism that we&rsquo;re boring. Good Lord, I watch a lot of hockey on TV and the Panthers aren&rsquo;t boring or dull.&rdquo;Many figured the Panthers would lack for motivation this season, that they couldn&rsquo;t help but be self-satisfied by their amazing Cup final appearance. Campbell certainly was not one of them.&ldquo;While a lot of young guys in the NHL were on the beach soaking up sun last May and June,&rdquo; Campbell said, &ldquo;(Florida&rsquo;s young players) were learning how to win. They were going to the best hockey school you can go to, playing seventh games, playing hurt, playing every other day under the most difficult circumstances. They can&rsquo;t help but be better for that experience.&rdquo;<h2>8. The MacLean Factor</h2>Initially, it was said MacLean only got the job because he was Bryan Murray&rsquo;s pal. That&rsquo;s no longer an issue, but MacLean&rsquo;s ability to grate is. &ldquo;Cocky and thin-skinned,&rdquo; is how the New York Times described him.&ldquo;Can you believe that?&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;I told my wife about it. She said, &lsquo;Well, you are that.&rsquo; I guess maybe I am.&rdquo;Get to know MacLean and you&rsquo;ll quickly find he&rsquo;s as self-deprecating as he is brash. He&rsquo;ll jaw at referees, toss jibes at opposing players-he learned at the feet of the master, Bryan Murray-but when the Panthers gave him a new three-year contract offer in the off-season with the relatively modest annual income of $400,000 he gratefully and quickly signed it. He wasn&rsquo;t about to let ego get in the way of a good thing.Cocky? Yes. Abrasive? Absolutely. But arrogant and/or self-centered? Not a chance.&ldquo;He has the ability to be one of the guys, to keep us loose and enjoy a laugh,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said. &ldquo;But he also has the ability to keep us on edge, to know when to draw the line and how to get the most out of everyone.&rdquo;The Murray brothers, Bryan and Terry, usually try to get together on Canada Day back home in Shawville, Que., for a big family celebration. They sit back, crack a couple of beers and ruminate on the state of the game.As painful as losing to the Panthers was, Terry can at least take some familial pride in the ruthlessly efficient work of his big brother&rsquo;s team. Others in the NHL aren&rsquo;t nearly so generous with their sentiments towards the Panthers. As aggravating as they are to play against, they are equally bothersome to lavish praise upon.It&rsquo;s clearly a matter of payroll envy.At $17.2 million last season, the Panthers&rsquo; payroll was a mere fraction of other contenders, some of whom are now in the $30 million range. Pittsburgh spends almost as much on two players (Lemieux and Jagr) as the Panthers do on the better part of their entire roster. Their off-season was not marred by a single contract hassle. Panthers&rsquo; owner Wayne Huizenga continues to get more bang for his buck than any owner in the NHL today.&ldquo;We talked about that,&rdquo; Terry Murray said. &ldquo;Bryan knows their time will come. Their young stars will need new contracts, they&rsquo;ll one day have to deal with a lot of the problems that plague other teams in the NHL.&rdquo;Until then, though, the Panthers stand as a model of modern-day efficiency, the hardest-working, potentialmaximizing team in the NHL. They are most every club&rsquo;s worst nightmare, the team everyone least wants to play and most wants to emulate.But then that&rsquo;s nothing new for Bryan Murray, who just happened to be the coach of the Pembroke Lumber King team that MacLean&rsquo;s Brockville Braves and the Smith&rsquo;s Falls Bears so desperately wanted to avoid in the playoffs.&ldquo;We were a tough team to play against back then,&rdquo; Murray recollected fondly. &ldquo;No one wanted to play us.&rdquo;Some things never change. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Blue collar heaven ‘Fluke’ angle a motivator

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011644/6795943-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="381" height="534"></div>Jeremy Roenick insists he&rsquo;s the same fun-loving character he always has been. And he&rsquo;s determined to make sure everybody knows it.That said, the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; center faces a big challenge.&ldquo;If people think I&rsquo;m selfish because I was outspoken the past few years, there&rsquo;s nothing I can do about that,&rdquo; Roenick says. &ldquo;I only spoke out because I want to win the Stanley Cup and I didn&rsquo;t see the Chicago Blackhawks doing the necessary things for that to happen. It was very frustrating.&rdquo;The Blackhawks would counter Roenick became so consumed with his salary and contract status he put his own interests ahead of the team&rsquo;s. When Roenick signed a five-year, $5-million contact with the Blackhawks prior to the 1991-92 season, it seemed like a great deal, offering security along with a high wage for a young player.He responded with back-to-back 50-goal years and three straight 100-plus-point seasons. But it didn&rsquo;t take long for his contract to become outdated and Roenick found himself locked into a long-term deal that left him clearly underpaid.Roenick was once the spark plug for the Blackhawks, a player whose passion for playing hockey was obvious to everyone around him, but his image has taken a beating in recent years. He insists it&rsquo;s not something that consumes him and he&rsquo;s not even certain he agrees with the sentiment, but the fact remains Roenick has gained more notoriety in the past few years for things said and done off the ice than on it.He was one of the most emotionally-charged and outspoken players during the lockout two years ago; a player who caused friction on his team by feuding with the coach; and one whose contract hassles and restricted free agency status led to his being traded to the Coyotes. It didn&rsquo;t end there. Roenick skipped training camp and the start of this season until he got what he wanted-a five-year contract worth an average $4 million a season.The contract impasse also led to his skipping the World Cup, a tournament he predicted the Americans would win. Roenick wouldn&rsquo;t risk injury without having an NHL contract.The company line in Chicago these days goes something like this: It&rsquo;s over with and we don&rsquo;t want to talk about it. But before the cone of silence came down, Blackhawks&rsquo; captain Chris Chelios said Roenick&rsquo;s situation hurt the team.&ldquo;I love Jeremy Roenick as a person and he&rsquo;ll always be a friend,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;But somewhere along the way I think he got messed up. You could feel (tension) in the room. Obviously Jeremy wasn&rsquo;t happy the past few years. That affected him as a person and definitely as a player.&rdquo;Can Roenick, at age 26, deliver as he did in his early 20s? Of course he can. And the Blackhawks will rue the day they let him go.But the Blackhawks were damned no matter what they did. It&rsquo;s bad business for management to let a player think he can run the show. It&rsquo;s worse business to let a valuable commodity get away. Roenick&rsquo;s replacement, Alexei Zhamnov, is an elite scorer, but doesn&rsquo;t bring nearly as complete a package to the table.The past two seasons have been unkind to Roenick. Two years ago, he dislocated his knee and last season he suffered a concussion and sprained knee.His production suffered both years (34 points in 33 games in 1994-95; 67 points in 66 games in 1995-96), prompting Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke to suggest Roenick isn&rsquo;t worth $4 million a year. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a point-per-game player now,&rdquo; Clarke said. To which Roenick responds, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s supposed to say things like that. He&rsquo;s paid by the owners to try to keep salaries down.&rdquo;When he&rsquo;s on his game, Roenick is one of the NHL&rsquo;s best centers and most entertaining performers.&ldquo;I see no reason whatsoever I can&rsquo;t return to being a 40-goal, 100-point guy,&rdquo; Roenick says. &ldquo;I feel really good about myself and my new team. It&rsquo;s exciting to be part of something new.&rdquo;If Roenick is right, and he gets his career back on track, the Coyotes will win a Stanley Cup with him sooner than the Blackhawks will without him.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021218/6795936-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="507" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

COLUMNISTS

J.R. ready to stand, deliver for Coyotes

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Everyone predicted the Dallas Stars would be better. No one dreamed they would be the best.Yet two weeks into the season that&rsquo;s exactly what they were, soaring through a frightful opening schedule by chalking up six wins in seven games, looking for the first time in years like a team that actually believes in itself.&ldquo;We have showed tremendous resiliency in our game,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; second-year coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seemed to walk into teams that have had snarls on and we&rsquo;ve taken their best hit and stayed together. We&rsquo;ve had an opportunity to run and hide and we didn&rsquo;t and that&rsquo;s a big change from the way it was.&rdquo;Dallas began the winning binge with a homeopener win over the Colorado Avalanche, whirred through three games in five nights with the big boys from the East (Washington Capitals, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils on the road), finished with a Chicago Blackhawks chaser and the only hangover was a giddy smile.Then it was back home to face the Detroit Red Wings, a team they hadn&rsquo;t beaten since April, 1994. Dallas threw its fortunes behind a back-up goalie who played poorly enough with the San Jose Sharks last year to earn a $500,000 pay cut in Dallas-and who has a history of strong play against Detroit. Arturs Irbe led his new team to a 3-1 win. A 6-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks two nights later finally broke the streak of perfection.The Stars know as well as anyone all this winning could turn into stuffed turkey by Thanksgiving. This is still the franchise that has one winning season in the past 10. But chances are the big collapse won&rsquo;t happen.That the Stars were able to win so consistently without injured centers Joe Nieuwendyk (cracked rib cartilage) and Bob Bassen (herniated disk in back) is proof they finally have the depth at forward to play four lines. They can also stay fresh late in games-a necessary feature under Hitchcock&rsquo;s swarming, puck-pursuit game plan.GM Bob Gainey did it right in the free agent market this past summer by luring Dave Reid from the Boston Bruins and Pat Verbeek from the New York Rangers. Verbeek&rsquo;s three-year, $9-million deal is looking like money well spent if only because of his contagious, take-no-garbage attitude.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03757/6795974-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="967" height="1958"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Zubov has taken the role of power play quarterback. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t let guys push him around,&rdquo; said Mike Modano, who led the Stars with two goals and eight points. &ldquo;A lot of our guys watch that and learn.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s what Modano did a great deal of as a member of Team USA at the World Cup-watch and learn and be humbled. People in Dallas are talking about how much defenseman Derian Hatcher grew from the experience, but the more changed player may be their franchise player, who has never seemed to be giving his all.Modano, 26, has led the Stars in scoring four of the past five seasons, but for all those years he has still been at the core of management theories over what ailed the middling offense. Either the Stars didn&rsquo;t have anyone to help him (true) or the gifted center wasn&rsquo;t doing enough (also true).Modano rubbed shoulders with the likes of Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch and Brett Hull and returned a sobered man.&ldquo;Watching them practise and play and how consistent they are, I had a lot of room to go to bring my game to another level,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all great players on our own teams, but they&rsquo;re great players among great players. That was the humbling part.&rdquo;This also seems to be the year Dallas will see the benefit of its patience with younger players such as Todd Harvey, Grant Marshall and Jamie Lan-genbrunner.And for good measure, Gainey reached into his past and signed 38-year-old right winger Sergei Makarov. The two formed a mutual admiration society as international hockey opponents and when Gainey saw Makarov scrimmage with the Russian World Cup team this past summer, he was convinced Makarov could provide depth and some goals on the Stars&rsquo; right side.On defense the Sergei Zubov-for-Kevin Hatcher trade was working out just as planned; Zubov is a more consistent player and a patient power play quarterback-although Dallas had only two power play goals in its first 28 chances (7.1 per cent).The only long-term concern is in net, where Irbe and Andy Moog both have something to prove. So far, so good. Moog had a 4-1-0 record and 91.7 save percentage, while Irbe was 2-0-0 with a 90.8 mark.With their history, the Stars aren&rsquo;t about to get cocky, but winning does give you a certain swagger.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve started to take ourselves seriously,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not afraid to win anymore.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-03

Starry, starry nights

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011483/6796005-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne&rsquo;s playmaking has raised more than a few eyebrows. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Teemu Selanne, listen up. Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; defenseman Chris Chelios has a word for you. This passing stuff, it&rsquo;s not you, it&rsquo;s not what you&rsquo;re supposed to do. Quit it.It&rsquo;s not a criticism, Teemu, so don&rsquo;t get your back up. Chelios is hardly saying this playmaking stuff is a bad thing; you must be doing something right to get all those assists. And sure, even Chelios can admit you&rsquo;re fun to watch as long as you&rsquo;re not his opponent.Watch as Selanne passes to Warren Rychel. Furrow your brow as he feathers one to J.F. Jomphe. Salivate as the puck slithers over to a wide open Joe Sacco.It&rsquo;s just that six assists in six games, along with five goals, are not the numbers Chelios expects of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim sniper.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s surprising that he&rsquo;s making plays because he&rsquo;s not that type of player,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great individual player.&rdquo;Meaning he&rsquo;s a goal scorer-the kind of player you don&rsquo;t want to let beat you, especially when Anaheim&rsquo;s only other legitimate goal-scoring threat, left winger Paul Kariya, is injured.Hence Chelios&rsquo; instruction on how to play Selanne bearing down on a 2-on-1.&ldquo;The rule of thumb says let the goaltender handle the shot,&rdquo; Chelios said, &ldquo;but if it&rsquo;s him and, let&rsquo;s see, Bobby Dollas, you give it to Dollas.&rdquo;But Selanne, 26, has more than enough skill to get the pass across, and two weeks into the season enough teammates were finishing to make him look good.In the minds of many, Selanne is still the kind of player who scored a record 76 goals and 56 assists as a rookie right winger taking Phil Housley&rsquo;s breakaway passes with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93.But that was back when Selanne was a relative unknown among some pretty impressive offensive talents on the Jets. His speed could still take people by surprise. So take it from teammate, linemate and fellow countryman Jari Kurri: this is no passing fancy.&ldquo;Everybody remembers him scoring 76 goals his first year, but that is tough to get again,&rdquo; Kurri said. &ldquo;A lot of teams play him closer than his first year. His game had to change.&rdquo;Before his trade to the Ducks last February, Selanne had 24 goals and 48 assists for the Jets. When he joined Anaheim, his scoring picked up as the Ducks drove for the playoffs, but he still had 20 assists (to go along with 16 goals) in 28 games. With a combined 40 goals and 68 assists, it was the first season of Selanne&rsquo;s pro career that he had notably more assists than goals.Early this year, Selanne adapted his game. Kariya wasn&rsquo;t supposed to miss the first month of the season with an abdominal injury and because of that-and coach Ron Wilson&rsquo;s defensive emphasis-the Ducks weren&rsquo;t supposed to play two 6-6 ties in their first four games, one each against the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche.Selanne was double-shifted and led the Ducks back from a 6-2 deficit midway through the third period against the Avalanche. He scored two goals and an assist in the last three minutes of the Oct. 10 game.Selanne wasn&rsquo;t supposed to among the scoring leaders this early in this season. Not with Kariya out and not playing with a center who, with all due respect to Ted Drury, was Ted Drury.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a good situation when you know the pressure is there and the challenge is there and you have to push yourself to succeed,&rdquo; Selanne said.Breathtaking speed is still the key to his game. Part of the reason for the good start is good health; he emerged from the World Cup in good shape and free of the knee and Achilles&rsquo; tendon injuries that plagued him the past couple of seasons.&ldquo;If I can&rsquo;t skate, I&rsquo;m useless,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, not useless, but it doesn&rsquo;t feel right. That&rsquo;s my game. When our defensemen have the puck I want to go as soon as possible. We can get a 3-on-2, other teams can&rsquo;t set up the trap. Speed is the key for me.&rdquo;&ldquo;Sometimes I hang onto the puck,&rdquo; said Kurri, who was playing left wing on the line, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s too late.&rdquo;Kurri may move to center when Kariya returns. Selanne and Kariya made beautiful ice carvings last year in just two months together.&ldquo;When Paul is back it means I&rsquo;m going to get some extra room, especially if we&rsquo;re on the same line,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wait till Paul gets back.&rdquo;Then maybe Chelios will recognize more of the shooter in Selapne. Of course, that poses its own problems. &#9632;

f0011-01

Playmaking Selanne sets up for success

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021060/6796036-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="383" height="503"></div>The first dispatches from World Cup training camp made it sound so innocent. Defenseman Al MacInnis, out with the flu. You figured he&rsquo;d spend a couple days on the sidelines&hellip;&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t think much of it,&rdquo; MacInnis said. &ldquo;I got a swollen elbow. It felt like a touch of the flu. Then I go to the World Cup and in six days, it seems like two months of conditioning disappeared from under my feet, just like that.&rdquo;Canada dropped MacInnis from the roster days before the tournament began. Little did he realize the ensuing battle against his condition-osteomilitis-would turn into a two-month saga.Injuries are a fact of life for NHL players. The longer you play, the&rsquo;more you learn how to deal with them. Illnesses are a completely different story. Injuries can threaten your career. Illnesses can threaten your life.Upon returning home to St. Louis, MacInnis wasn&rsquo;t thrilled with the news.&ldquo;I got a little nervous when the specialist told me all the things that could happen with that disease. The infection could spread to a joint; it could become a staph infection and spread to your heart. I&rsquo;m saying, &lsquo;Do you really have to tell me all this stuff? Can you heal it?&rsquo;&ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ll get it under control.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s all I want to hear.&rdquo;In laymen&rsquo;s terms, Maclnnis was suffering from a bone infection. Unlike other parts of your body, bones take a long time to heal. The treatment was right on the cutting medical edge. Instead of admitting Maclnnis to hospital, doctors hooked him up to an intravenous antibiotic 24 hours a day.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s called a pick line,&rdquo; MacInnis explained. &ldquo;It went in above my elbow, ran up my arm, across my shoulder and then went down just above my heart. A lot of times, they&rsquo;ll put them in the chest, but they wanted me to be able to shower. It was really weird. They strapped on a little computer and these little bags of IV antibiotic. I&rsquo;d automatically get a dose every four hours. Then, every three days, a nurse would come to the house and change it.&ldquo;It was pretty wild. It sure beat being in hospital for three weeks.&rdquo; MacInnis&rsquo; physical activities were limited to walking around the neighborhood.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t want me to sweat because they didn&rsquo;t want any infection to run into the IV, so I couldn&rsquo;t do a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was going crazy, not going through training camp.&rdquo; MacInnis missed the entire pre-season, but was able to return for opening night, a month ahead of schedule.By the second week, he was playing his usual 23 to 25 minutes per night, relying more on emotion than conditioning.On a team that produced a Western Conference-low 219 goals last season, the Blues couldn&rsquo;t do without MacInnis&rsquo; offense. Coach-GM Mike Keenan stripped the team of prospects, draft choices and role players in the misguided deal for Wayne Gretzky, leaving the Blues with a curious mixture of talent-a handful of front-line players and a bunch of journeymen who played for him somewhere along the way.For a change this season, Keenan moved in a couple of youngsters up front-Harry York and Jim Campbell-but on balance, his formula rarely varies. Keenan relies on proven NHLers, which is why his teams are always more competitive than you think they&rsquo;ll be. It only works, however, if the high-priced help contributes, night after night.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve turned the comer now,&rdquo; MacInnis said, &ldquo;but geez, it was a long haul.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-02

Maclnnis back on track after illness

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011604/6796074-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="379" height="533"></div>We live in a world of buzz words, slogans and advertising campaigns. Now, a couple of seasons removed from &ldquo;Game On,&rdquo; it appears the &ldquo;Coolest Game on Earth,&rdquo; has had a few poor starts because of &ldquo;World Cup hangovers.&rdquo;Excuse me? Are we actually supposed to believe the greatest players on the planet are being seriously hampered because of their appearances in the World Cup?Rough starts by Mike Richter and Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers, John LeClair of the Philadelphia Flyers, Pat LaFontaine of the Buffalo Sabres, Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues, Tony Amonte of the Chicago Blackhawks (and so on and so on) had some people wondering about the effects of the summer tournament.And let&rsquo;s not forget the toll the World Cup took in terms of injuries to players such as Eric Lindros and Rob Blake.Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke, whose team was off to a sluggish 2-4-0 start, was bemoaning the effects of the World Cup long before &ldquo;World Cup Hangover&rdquo; was a catch phrase.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021292/6796067-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="508" height="879"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ulf Samuelsson</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The worst, most disrupted training camp I&rsquo;ve ever been associated with,&rdquo; said Clarke while the Flyers were trying to get their preseason rolling without LeClair, Lindros, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Joel Otto and Eric Desjardins. &ldquo;With all the people out, your coaching staff just can&rsquo;t get a feel for the team.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the Rangers, the last team in the NHL to win a game this season, were going through similar problems. When the season finally started, World Cup MVP Richter was shaky.&ldquo;I think the mental effect is the biggest problem,&rdquo; said Richter, who likened the World Cup to finishing a marathon, and then having to start another right away.&ldquo;I can see where some guys might have a mental letdown, that&rsquo;s understandable,&rdquo; said the Rangers&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky, who has been through a few of these cycles before, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s that big of a deal. Maybe you just start playing badly and thinking too much about playing badly, and people blame it on the World Cup.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s Ranger teammate Ulf Samuelsson missed this year&rsquo;s tournament because of an injury, but has played in previous Canada Cups. Did he feel lucky to escape the grind of this summer&rsquo;s competition?&ldquo;I see that some guys are struggling and some guys are hurt,&rdquo; Samuelsson said, &ldquo;but I still would have loved to be there. I think you can use it to have a great season and use it to sort of boost your career.&rdquo;Team USA coach Ron Wilson can see some of the post-Cup symptoms.&ldquo;For teams that had a lot of players (in the Cup) this (early season) is like a training camp,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Going from that level to early season NHL is like going from the NHL to the AHL&hellip;but it actually gets harder (to score) because the game is less organized.&rdquo;Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray said part of the problem was the NHL Players&rsquo; Association-enforced week off for players who competed in the Cup. &ldquo;I would think it would have been better to keep active,&rdquo; said Murray, who lost Lindros to a groin injury. &ldquo;(Even if it&rsquo;s just) ride a bike, keep active, be around the guys, rather than not play or skate for several days.&rdquo;The big concern now is whether the 1998 Olympics will give NHL teams the much bigger headache of an &ldquo;Olympic Hangover&rdquo; when players leave Japan and return to their teams in the stretch drive.It sounds like a lot of fretting about very little. You want to worry about injuries, fine, but they happen just as frequently during the regular season (perhaps more) as in international play.Don&rsquo;t give yourself a headache over the &ldquo;Olympic Hangover&rdquo; theory. The NHL will be in full flight at that time, so it won&rsquo;t be like trying to mentally crank up for games in early-October. And for virtually every team and every player there is a down time of the season, a flat spot where the grind seems just too long. You get over it and if we don&rsquo;t put a buzz phrase on it, it doesn&rsquo;t make headlines. &#9632;

f0012-01

No need to fret over ‘Olympic hangover’

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div>Mike Gartner never intended to be a goal-scorer. When he broke into the NHL in 1979 as an 18-year-old with the Washington Capitals, he figured he could become a solid two-way player, mostly because he could skate like the wind.Maybe, if things worked out, he&rsquo;d play for 10 years and be happy to call it a career.But never in his wildest imagination did he think he could be where he is today-playing in Phoenix and having a shot at catching Gordie Howe as the No. 2 goal-scorer in NHL history.Howe scored 801 goals in 26 seasons. Gartner, who turns 37 Oct. 29, pushed his career total to 670 after his first five games with the Coyotes, his fifth team in 18 seasons.&ldquo;I think maybe if I get dreaming I can see (catching Howe),&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;I still have a ways to go to get to 700, though. Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll do that this year. After that, I don&rsquo;t even know.&rdquo;He never thought he&rsquo;d be this close to begin with. He had only decent goal totals (33, 41) in two years of major junior hockey with the Niagara Falls Flyers of the Ontario League, where 60- and 70-goal seasons by star players are not unusual. But when he joined the weak Capitals in 1979 he was given a ton of quality ice time and&hellip;.&ldquo;All of a sudden, I&rsquo;m a goalscorer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess when you start to think you can score goals at that level, then you want to score goals at that level and you start to develop different ways to do it. I&rsquo;m still learning ways to do it.&rdquo;During his first 10 seasons in the league, Gartner said he mainly used his speed to find the back of the net. Since he could breeze past defenseman, he didn&rsquo;t need to develop many other ways to score.And why should he? This is, after all, the same guy who won the league&rsquo;s fastest-skating title last year at 36.&ldquo;People laugh at me when I tell them, but as fast as he is today, you should have seen Mike Gartner when he was 25,&rdquo; said Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; defenseman Brad McCrimmon, also in his 18th season. &ldquo;People wouldn&rsquo;t be able to comprehend he was even faster.&rdquo;Gartner said he didn&rsquo;t start to alter his game and learn how to really work around the net until about six years ago, after he was traded to the New York Rangers.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I developed being able to score goals in the slot area, taking a pounding in front of the net, getting whacked and hacked, getting tip-ins and rebounds and finding different ways to score,&rdquo; he said.Despite his place in the record book, Gartner&rsquo;s place in headlines has been sporadic. Whether it&rsquo;s because he has been traded so many times (four), or because he is perceived as being weak defensively, or his spotty playoff performances, or because he has been overshadowed in the Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux era, Gartner isn&rsquo;t viewed as a megastar.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t really bothered me that much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I realize the 10 years I spent in Washington, it wasn&rsquo;t a hockey mecca. It wasn&rsquo;t until I got to New York and then to Toronto that the attention started coming. But that doesn&rsquo;t bother me.&rdquo;What did bother him was getting traded last summer by the Toronto Maple Leafs to Phoenix for a fourth round draft pick.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t make a lot of sense to me. It still doesn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said the Ottawa native. &ldquo;I understand they were going through a transition period in Toronto&hellip;(but) I certainly was disappointed by the way it was handled.&rdquo;Gartner said he had a verbal commitment he could finish his career with the Maple Leafs. Now, he&rsquo;s thinking about retiring in Phoenix. But he only signed a two-year contract with the Coyotes. If he is to score 802 goals and move past Howe, he will need to play longer.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only been here a couple of months, but I really enjoy living in Phoenix,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So do my wife and kids. I can honestly say I don&rsquo;t know what the future holds. I&rsquo;m here for at least the next two years and I&rsquo;m not looking beyond that right now.&rdquo;Staying healthy, which he has been able to do throughout his career, is one key to his catching Howe.Gartner, known for his commitment to conditioning, has had only one season of fewer than 70 games (not including the lockout-shortened 1994-95).And what about his poor defensive reputation? &ldquo;Mike has done everything we&rsquo;ve asked of him on both ends of the ice,&rdquo; said Coyotes&rsquo; coach Don Hay. &ldquo;Sometimes, when you&rsquo;re a great goal-scorer, it&rsquo;s just assumed you can&rsquo;t play defense. That&rsquo;s not the case (with Gartner).&rdquo;Whether Gartner catches Howe or not, one thing is certain.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt he&rsquo;s a Hall of Famer,&rdquo; McCrimmon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s already deserving of that.&rdquo;<h2>Climbing NHL all-time ladder</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03839/6796112-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="689" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gartner (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Nobody, not even Gordie Howe, has recorded more 30-goal seasons than Mike Gartner.The Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; right winger has 16 to his credit-two more than Howe, Wayne Gretzky or Marcel Dionne. That&rsquo;s one for every season of at least 60 games. Gartner has never had a 50-goal season, the magic mark for NHL goal-scorers.It&rsquo;s not inconceivable, albeit improbable, the fifth-ranked Gartner could one day surpass Howe on the all-time goal list. He needed 62 goals as of Oct. 18 to climb past Phil Esposito and Marcel Dionne into third place and 132 to get past Howe.Listed are the top 10 scorers of all-time, number of years each played at least 60 games, number of 30-goal seasons, number of 50-goal seasons, career goals-per-game average and total goals. Gretzky, Gartner, Jari Kurri and Mario Lemieux are active. Their goal totals are as of Oct. 18.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04488/6796105-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="698" height="500"></div> &#9632;

f0012-03

Phoenix’s G-Man

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011502/6796143-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="162" height="161"></div>It might be tempting to blame the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&rsquo;s shaky start on the absence of injured 50-goal scorer Paul Kariya.But much of the real blame lies with the defense.The Ducks gave up 24 goals in their first six games-and their only win in that stretch was a 2-0 shutout of the Chicago Blackhawks.Twice the Ducks managed to score six goals in a game without Kariya. Both times they ended up with ties.The reasons for the defensive breakdowns were inexperience and personnel turnover on the blueline. Only two defensemen-Bobby Delias and Fredrik Olausson-had played 225 or more NHL games. Three entered the season with fewer than 30 games NHL experience-Jason Marshall, Darren Van Impe and Ruslan Salei. Adrien Plavsic and David Karpa, front-line rearguards on the Ducks, would qualify as fifth or sixth defensemen on most teams.The Ducks were committing frequent turnovers, having trouble clearing the puck from their end and often let opponents go unchecked in the slot. Management hopes the situation works itself out.&ldquo;You hope it does,&rdquo; said GM Jack Ferreira. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re still always looking to improve the team. That&rsquo;s easier said than done.&rdquo;Goalie Guy Hebert was a victim of the poor play, allowing 20 goals in four starts. He wasn&rsquo;t at his sharpest, but wasn&rsquo;t getting much help.&ldquo;The one good thing, I mean, I don&rsquo;t want sympathy, but it&rsquo;s nice to hear from your teammates that you weren&rsquo;t solely responsible for letting in six goals,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;It seems hard to believe, but we&rsquo;ve made a ton of changes from the team we finished with last year.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;ll take some time for the team defense to get back to where it was last year. We&rsquo;ve got to be patient sometimes with people. I think every one in the locker room can play much better, including myself.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Francois Allaire has been hired as a goaltending consultant, something goalies Guy Hebert and Mikhail Shtalenkov have wanted since management decided it could do without the help of former NHL goalie Brian Hayward. Allaire was previously with Montreal&hellip;Center Steve Rucchin, who scored 19 goals last season, had just one point (an assist) through six games&hellip;Right winger Valeri Karpov has yet to prove he can be the scorer the Ducks predicted he would be when they drafted him in 1993 and is still struggling to become a regular at 25. He was a healthy scratch twice in six games&hellip;Four Ducks are on the NHL all-star ballot: forwards Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Jari Kurri and goalie Guy Hebert. &#9632;

f0013-01

Shoddy work by ‘D’ at root of poor start

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021059/6796174-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="162" height="159"></div>In good times, Steve Heinze has been on the ice for the game&rsquo;s final shift to help protect a Boston Bruins&rsquo; lead. In bad times, he has watched the final moments from the press box.The early part of 1996-97 represented the best times of Heinze&rsquo;s NHL life.When coach Steve Kasper put the right winger on the ice for the last 18 seconds of an Oct. 14 game against the Vancouver Canucks, it wasn&rsquo;t to defend, but attack. Right winger Rick Tocchet scored the overtime winner that day, but the Bruins were in position to win because Heinze had earlier scored his fourth and fifth goals in Boston&rsquo;s fourth game.&ldquo;You always want to be that guy,&rdquo; said Heinze, who is entering his fifth full NHL season. &ldquo;I never thought I couldn&rsquo;t be that guy. It just happened that I wasn&rsquo;t that guy.&rdquo;Heinze, 26, scored 18 goals as a rookie in 1992-93 and 16 last season, but there have been tough times. Former coach Brian Sutter scratched him from the lineup for one-quarter of the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season and tried to get him to go to the minors on a conditioning assignment, which Heinze refused. Kasper didn&rsquo;t dress him for four games last season.But things had been different this season. Kasper said the key for Heinze is to keep things simple.&ldquo;He has gotten away from trying to make those fancy plays,&rdquo; Kasper said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to give him a lot of credit.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Jeff Odgers, who had just one point (an assist) in his first 45 games with San Jose last season, scored three goals in his first four games as a Bruin. The hard-rock forward was also picked to replace the retired Cam Neely as an alternate captain&hellip;Boston won the first two games of a four-game West Coast trip. It took seven games (2-4-1) to reach two road victories last season and 14 games to reach three road wins (3-9-2)&hellip;Defenseman Dean Chynoweth, who had abdominal surgery in early-August, joined the team on the road trip to practise. He hoped to be cleared to play in early-November&hellip;Defenseman Jon Rohloff, bothered by a persistent ankle sprain, didn&rsquo;t go on the trip. &#9632;

f0013-02

Heinze shines in key role by keeping things simple

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04676/6796205-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="568" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ted Nolan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03793/6796212-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="163" height="159"></div>A losing record, dispirited play and allegations of internal dissension rocked the Buffalo Sabres early in the season.The team fell to 1-5-0 and was outscored 10-1 in their first two games at the new Marine Midland Arena. Both were losses.Those losses came on the heels of a 1-2-0 western road swing in which the Sabres were beaten by the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames before squeaking through with a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.After home losses to the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning, there was a lengthy report in the Buffalo News, indicating the franchise is &ldquo;in near total disarray.&rdquo; It reported feuds between GM John Muckier and coach Ted Nolan as well as front office problems between team president Doug Moss and Marine Midland Arena president Larry Quinn.The report also said there were divisions at all levels of the company because of the feuds at the top of the business and hockey departments.The club issued a statement attributed to the ownership group acknowledging there are differences, but they &ldquo;have been overstated.&rdquo;The statement also said the organization has confidence in Muckier, Nolan, Moss and Quinn and they will continue to carry out their roles accordingly.On the ice, the team rebounded and beat the still struggling Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 Oct. 17 for their first win in their new home.NOTEBOOK: Center Pat LaFontaine was knocked out by defenseman Francois Leroux early in the Pittsburgh game. He suffered a slight concussion and was scheduled to miss the Oct. 19 game at Washington. It is thought to be LaFontaine&rsquo;s fourth concussion. The last one came last season and LaFontaine missed about a week&hellip;Right winger Matthew Barnaby was on the verge of signing a new contract. Barnaby said Oct. 18 the two sides were &ldquo;very close&rdquo; with just some minor details to be worked out regarding bonuses&hellip;Left winger Brad May&rsquo;s shoulder woes are worse than expected. May is expected to be out until the new year after undergoing surgery to repair loose ligaments that allowed the right shoulder to pop out of place. &#9632;

f0013-04

Club wracked by infighting

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021205/6796243-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="567" height="967"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theo Fleury</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011592/6796250-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="161" height="160"></div>When Theo Fleury sounded off about his desire for extra playing time, Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Pierre Page took an unusual approach to the demand. He said, &ldquo;Sure, absolutely, why not?&rdquo;&ldquo;We listen to our players,&rdquo; Page said.Page&rsquo;s open-door policy, instituted last season, defused a potentially thorny early-season controversy.The situation arose following a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, when Fleury suggested that, as the team&rsquo;s captain and highest-paid player, he wasn&rsquo;t being deployed properly.Fleury began his tirade by acknowledging his own poor start to the season-only one assist (on an empty-net goal) through the team&rsquo;s first seven games. He also went on to say he couldn&rsquo;t lead the team when he was perched on the bench.Page wasn&rsquo;t put off by Fleury&rsquo;s comments and-in the aftermath of Sandy McCarthy&rsquo;s broken ankle-acknowledged Fleury would find himself double-shifted on occasion.Some of Fleury&rsquo;s teammates weren&rsquo;t crazy about the captain&rsquo;s outburst, however.&ldquo;We have a pretty open dressing room among the players,&rdquo; right winger Ron Stem told the Calgary Herald. &ldquo;I told Theo that I didn&rsquo;t think it was right, but he&rsquo;s a big boy and he can say what he wants.&rdquo;Fleury said the air has been cleared between him and Page.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked,&rdquo; Fleury said, &ldquo;and everything&rsquo;s fine.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Attempts to trade disgruntled left winger Paul Kruse were put on hold when it became clear right winger Sandy McCarthy&rsquo;s broken ankle could keep him out of the lineup until December&hellip;.James Patrick joined fellow defensemen Steve Chiasson and Zarley Zalapski on the injured list when his back acted up before an Oct. 16 game against Montreal. Patrick was listed day-to-day. In the absence of the team&rsquo;s three most experienced defensemen, the Flames used four rookie rearguards-Joel Bouchard, Todd Simpson, Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan and Cale Hulse-for the second time this season. Chiasson and Zalapski should be healthy enough to return to the lineup by late-October. &#9632;

f0014-02

Page quells Fleury fury

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03828/6796281-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="161" height="160"></div>If center Alexei Zhamnov thought it was difficult getting a contract from the Chicago Blackhawks, he&rsquo;s in for a surprise.Now comes the really hard part-replacing Jeremy Roenick.-Nearly two months to the day he was acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes for Roenick, Zhamnov finally agreed to a five-year, $15-million contract with the Hawks Oct. 18.The deal, which includes performance incentives, will pay Zhamnov $2.6 million this season and escalate by $200,000 each year thereafter.Now Zhamnov is on the spot to prove he is worth the money.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to have a difficult time with the fans in Chicago initially, I believe,&rdquo; said defenseman Steve Smith. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very gifted hockey player, but he has big shoes to fill.&rdquo;Coach Craig Hartsburg said Zhamnov is aware of the expectations. The topic came up during a visit with Zhamnov during the World Cup.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s excited and nervous about it because he understands the reaction so far with the fans and certain media,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;He understands that part of the game, that there are going to be expectations on him and comparisons to Jeremy and what Jeremy did.&rdquo;Zhamnov placed third in league scoring two years ago. His 30 goals that lockout-shortened season translated to 51 in an 82-game schedule.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a gifted offensive player, and I think he will help out immediately on the power play,&rdquo; said defenseman Gary Suter.NOTEBOOK: Now that center Alexei Zhamnov is in the fold, the Blackhawks can turn their attention to extending the present deals of defenseman Chris Chelios and goalie Ed Belfour. Belfour will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and said he wishes to remain in Chicago. Chelios has this year and an option year left on his contract &ldquo;They&rsquo;re talking, but I&rsquo;m in no hurry,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going anywhere.&rdquo;&hellip;In their first six games, the Hawks were 3-0 on the road and 0-3-0 at the United Center. &ldquo;We play a simple style on the road, but at home we press and think we&rsquo;ve got to make something great happen,&rdquo; said right winger Tony Amonte&hellip;.The Hawks finally won at home Oct. 17, beating Detroit 2-1. &#9632;

f0014-03

Can Zhamnov make fans forget about popular J.R.?

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04557/6796312-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="163" height="162"></div>When the Colorado Avalanche first announced Claude Lemieux had a simple groin pull and might miss a couple of games, there was little cause for alarm.When it was next announced the injury was really a pulled abdominal muscle and Lemieux would be out of action a couple of weeks, the concern grew.Now, it appears the injury is a tom abdominal muscle and there is real worry about how long the embattled right winger will be gone.Lemieux suffered what was first termed as a groin pull Oct. 5 in Dallas. He tried to skate with the team again Oct. 13, but had to leave the ice after just 10 minutes because of too much pain in his lower left abdominal region.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not too optimistic,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not much better than it was at the beginning.&ldquo;Usually, if it&rsquo;s just a pull, it will go away after this long. We might have to look at other options now.&rdquo;The option decided upon was complete rest for another two weeks. Nobody has used the &ldquo;S&rsquo; word yet-surgery-but defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre went under the knife for a tom abdominal muscle in the off-season.The saving grace for Lemieux and the Avalanche is the timing of the injury.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather have it happen now than in the playoffs,&rdquo; said Lemieux, who played at least 74 games in the past five non-lockout seasons. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never fun to have an injury, though. But I&rsquo;ll just have to be patient with it.&rdquo;Lemieux&rsquo;s injury prevented the reunion of last season&rsquo;s vaunted line of Lemieux, center Peter Forsberg and left winger Valeri Kamensky.Kamensky missed the first five games because of a contract holdout. Only Forsberg had played in every game through the first two weeks.Lemieux was fourth in team scoring last season with 39 goals and 71 points. He had 117 penalty minutes.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Valeri Kamensky signed a three-year, $4.8-million deal, one in which only the first two years are guaranteed, however. Kamensky will make $1.5 million each of the next two years, with a third year at the club&rsquo;s option at $1.8 million. If the Avalanche picks up the option, Kamensky could wind up with as much as $2.5 million because of some pro-rated performance clauses&hellip;Only Chris Simon was without a contract. The Avalanche hadn&rsquo;t budged from an offer of $625,000 a year to the tough left winger. Simon, who made $500,000 last year, was seeking $1.2 million. &ldquo;I feel like a bystander more than anything right now,&rdquo; said Simon&rsquo;s agent Larry Kelly. &lsquo;That offer is an insult.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-04

Lemieux’s ailment worrisome

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011471/6796343-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="162" height="149"></div>The question has dogged Andy Moog for a couple of seasons. Just when will he end his NHL career?Moog has taken a year-by-year strategy in his career planning, but as of October, the 36-year-old goalie didn&rsquo;t look anywhere near retirement. Moog burst out of the gate to start the season 4-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average as he led the Stars to their best start in franchise history.And in the process, he temporarily quieted any questions about the Stars&rsquo; goaltending problems.&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, there never was a question about our goaltending,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;Or if there is one, it&rsquo;s simply a question of health and that&rsquo;s one that every team faces. But a healthy Andy Moog is a top-flight goalie in this league.&rdquo;Media experts and hockey poolies would disagree as Moog rarely is listed in the top 20 among any ranking of NHL goalies. And even Moog admits that during contract talks, the Stars have tried to convince him of his vulnerability.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been telling me for three years that I&rsquo;m a backup goalie, but I guess that&rsquo;s just part of the game,&rdquo; he said.So far, the Stars have not been able to find a player to unseat Moog. He has led the team in wins the past three seasons and again appears ready to occupy the position of No. 1 goalie. The Stars brought in Arturs Irbe, who has gained confidence and is playing well in the backup role, and Roman Turek to battle with Moog during training camp.The veteran won by a knockout.Because of that, Turek is able to refine his game with the Michigan K-Wings of the International League while at the same time pushing Manny Fernandez to get better.&ldquo;And Manny isn&rsquo;t out of this,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;We really have four goaltenders that we&rsquo;re working with right now.&rdquo;But Moog remains the key. The question is whether he can play 50 or 60 games-which he was on an early pace to do-and still be fresh for the playoffs.&ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m not worried,&rdquo; Moog said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to play.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Stars signed longtime international star Sergei Makarov, a right winger, to a one-year contract Oct. 18. The deal is believed to worth $300,000 and loaded with incentive bonuses. Makarov, who becomes the third-oldest player in the NHL at 38, last played with San Jose in 1994-95, when he had 10 goals and 24 points in 43 games. Makarov was an assistant coach with the Russian entry in last summer&rsquo;s Word Cup&hellip;The Stars&rsquo; six-game winning streak was one shy of the franchise record of seven set March 16-28, 1980&hellip;The team&rsquo;s power play started slowly. Coach Ken Hitchcock said he might move Derian Hatcher to the front of the net to create traffic&hellip;Defenseman Craig Ludwig already had a goal and an assist playing with Sergei Zubov. &#9632;

f0015-01

Mighty Moog rumbles on

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021024/6796374-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="164" height="161"></div>When Scotty Bowman came to Detroit for the 1993-94 season, he almost couldn&rsquo;t believe his eyes. That season Sergei Fedorov exploded with 56 goals and 120 points.At the end of that season, Fedorov claimed the Hart and Selke trophies, which basically anointed him not only the league&rsquo;s best all-around forward, but its best player overall.Since that time, Bowman has attempted to bring in players who could help Fedorov re-establish himself as the premier player. First came defenseman Slava Fetisov in the 1995 lockout season. Next came Igor Larionov at the start of last season.Now it appears as though Brendan Shanahan could be the one to urge Fedorov to upgrade his play. The plan is to have Fedorov center Shanahan and rugged winger Martin Lapointe.&ldquo;I think Sergei is going to have a banner season,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen more hockey from him than I have in a long time. Brendan takes the pressure off him. I think Sergei could have a year like the one he had when I came here.&rdquo;The pressure isn&rsquo;t off Fedorov as much as it is displaced. Shanahan is a proven prolific scorer and Lapointe is a player on the rise. Already Shanahan and Fedorov have developed a friendship, with Fedorov acting as Shanahan&rsquo;s chauffeur for the first week or so after the trade. That communication was proceeding on the ice as well, Shanahan said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to play with Sergei because he&rsquo;s always talking to me out there,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;Sergei doesn&rsquo;t need me to have a banner season. Sergei is one of the best players in the game and he&rsquo;ll probably be one of the best players ever.&rdquo;Fedorov&rsquo;s main adjustment is, ironically, to pay more attention to the defensive game. The two-time Selke winner said that because left winger Shanahan likes to forecheck, he must stay back to maintain the left wing lock system.&ldquo;They call that Murphy&rsquo;s Law,&rdquo; Fedorov said, grinning. &ldquo;I just learned about that saying. Every time I try to play more offensive, I have to play more defense. That&rsquo;s Murphy&rsquo;s Law.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Wings continued to juggle their roster to accommodate the 24-man limit and injuries helped them. With defenseman Slava Fetisov ready to come off injured reserve, left winger Tim Taylor sustained a separated shoulder in an Oct. 15 game at Dallas. The following day, the Wings activated Fetisov and placed Taylor on injured reserve. Detroit&rsquo;s main plight is that it continues to carry three goaltenders-Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon and rookie Kevin Hodson. Hodson cannot be returned to the minors without first clearing waivers, which he likely would not&hellip;The Wings were nearing an agreement with captain Steve Yzerman that would keep him in Detroit for another four seasons at an estimated $4.5 million a year. &#9632;

f0015-02

Bowman sees revival for Fedorov

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021065/6796405-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="566" height="972"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boris Mironov</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011378/6796412-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="162" height="161"></div>Boris Mironov had just buried his father-his best friend-then flown all night from Moscow to Edmonton to face the job of getting on with hockey and life.His haggard face said otherwise, but he said he was ready, that he had to play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s better for me to play,&rdquo; said the 24-year-old Mironov. &ldquo;If I start to play, I&rsquo;ll feel much better.&rdquo;Coach Ron Low disagreed. He took Mironov on a two-game road trip, but decided against playing him.Mironov hadn&rsquo;t slept much since Oct. 7, the day he was told that his father Oleg-a former competitive cyclist, policeman and farmer-had died of a heart attack at age 57.&ldquo;I talked to him two days before,&rdquo; Mironov said. &ldquo;He says he&rsquo;s feeling good. He says, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not taking any more medication.&rsquo;&ldquo;I say, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s very nice. Maybe you come to Edmonton again, see some games.&rsquo; He say we talk about it later.&rdquo;They never spoke again, but it was almost as good as saying goodbye.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I talk to him before,&rdquo; Mironov said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like my best friend. I call him every week.&rdquo;Oleg spent about six weeks in Edmonton last year with the younger of his two hockey-playing sons. Dmitri, a defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins, is the other.Boris said last year&rsquo;s visit was the best time he ever had with his father. &ldquo;He likes Edmonton so much,&rdquo; Mironov said. &ldquo;He was happy here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Mike Grier is drawing some attention as the first U.S-bom African American to play in the NHL. &lsquo;I&rsquo;m definitely proud of it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s more special to myself and my family than anybody else and I don&rsquo;t feel any added pressure or burden to be a role model.&rdquo; The Detroit native was facing pressure, however, to stay in the lineup. He was a healthy scratch for back-to-back games and may be ticketed for a stint in Hamilton of the American League&hellip;Center Doug Weight, a 104-point producer last season, had three assists through seven games&hellip;Left winger Dean McAmmond, who led the Oilers with five goals in pre-season, shared the regular season lead (four) with center Jason Arnott after seven games. &#9632;

f0016-02

Difficult loss for Mironov

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03790/6796443-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="161" height="158"></div>The Beezer is back and better than ever.Florida Panthers&rsquo; goalie John Van-biesbrouck, who underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery in the off-season, showed through the early season he hadn&rsquo;t missed a step.The 14-year NHL veteran was 4-01 with a 96.5 save percentage and 0.98 goals-against average and registered his 24th career shutout against the Hartford Whalers Oct. 12. He also earned NHL player-of-the-week honors.Vanbiesbrouck deflected the praise to the Panthers&rsquo; entire defense.&ldquo;My statistics are basically the statistics of the team, too,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So we should all be proud that the defense is playing well.&rdquo;Team defense, the Panthers&rsquo; trademark, was indeed as solid as ever. Second-year players Ed Jovanovski and Rhett Warrener and veterans Gord Murphy, Terry Carkner, Paul Laus and Robert Svehla were picking up where they left off last season.The biggest surprise defensively, however, was 26-year-old rookie Per Gustafsson.A 10th round pick (261st overall) in the 1994 entry draft, Gustafsson had a goal and an assist and was plus-5 in his NHL debut in the game against the Whalers.Vanbiesbrouck said Gustafsson&rsquo;s performance was a good illustration of the Panthers&rsquo; team concept.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a great sign for us,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said, &ldquo;because we know everyone has to be able to contribute.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Jody Hull, a 20-goal scorer last season, was a frequent healthy scratch to start the season. With Tom Fitzgerald moving from center to right wing to make room for Martin Straka, Hull found himself a victim of numbers. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; Hull said. &lsquo;There&rsquo;s going to be a point where, for me to be a successful player, I&rsquo;ve got to play-or not play here. I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve reached that point, but I also don&rsquo;t want this to drag on a long time.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Jason Woolley was also disgruntled about not getting into the lineup on a regular basis. &ldquo;Being just happy to be in the NHL isn&rsquo;t clicking anymore,&rdquo; Woolley said, &ldquo;especially when I was able to contribute last year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-03

Vanbiesbrouckled defense keeps on stifling opposition

<div class="byline">By Michael Arace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04579/6796474-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="160" height="159"></div>Trades are incredibly common in the NHL, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean they&rsquo;re always easy for the players involved.Take Paul Coffey, for example. The highest-scoring defenseman in league history wants another Stanley Cup ring before he is dispatched to the Hall of Fame. And he was in a good situation.Coffey, his wife and daughter were settled in Detroit, where the Red Wings like to think they are closing in on a Stanley Cup. After 16 years, 1.154 games and 1,410 points, Coffey was content to take his last few laps in Motown. And then came the trade to the Hartford Whalers.The portrait Coffey had of his last years in the league had been ripped to shreds. After saying he wouldn&rsquo;t report, Coffey went ahead and joined the Whalers without missing a game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a hockey player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what I do.&rdquo;But that doesn&rsquo;t mean he isn&rsquo;t still stinging.&ldquo;It was very, very difficult,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;Any athlete, any hockey player, knows trades are part of the game. (But) the way this was handled was very disappointing.&rdquo;Whalers&rsquo; GM Jim Rutherford would prefer to keep Coffey, but said if Coffey decides to ask for a trade, the Whalers will grant his wishes.Whalers&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos had a meeting with Coffey in suburban Detroit the day before Coffey reported.&ldquo;I laid out what his choices were,&rdquo; Karmanos said, &ldquo;and I explained to him that, contrary to all the reports-and it really ticks me off when I hear people talk about Hartford as some ghost city&mdash;it&rsquo;s a fun place to play, our team is treated as well as any team in the league.&rdquo;Coffey, who had no points in two games with the Whalers, said he hadn&rsquo;t decided whether he would request another move. &ldquo;I just want everyone to be happy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to be happy, I want my family to be happy and I want the Whalers and their fans to be happy. How that happens, I don&rsquo;t know yet. All I&rsquo;m worried about right now (is playing). I&rsquo;ve got some more thinking to do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jeff Brown, who pulled himself from the first game of the season, may need surgery to cure his chronic back problem. Brown could be out until March or longer&hellip;An interesting twist to the big trade: Detroit had to activate center Keith Primeau before it could move him. To make a roster spot, it exposed Stu Grimson on waivers for 48 hours. The Whalers, in desperate need of an enforcer, claimed Grimson. &ldquo;I am glad for the opportunity,&rdquo; Grimson said. &ldquo;I enjoyed my time in Detroit and certainly my teammates. The achievements we had while I was a part of the organization came at the expense of me not playing. For a career standpoint this is a great opportunity for me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-04

Coffey still pondering best option

<div class="byline">By Lisa Dillman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05429/6796505-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="160" height="158"></div>Minutes after Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger Kevin Stevens lit the light for the first time this season, the lights went out on him.Stevens scored his first goal of 1996-97 and his first since Feb. 24-in the second period of an Oct. 15 game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Before the end of the period, however, he was rocked with a cheap shot elbow to the face delivered by Flyers&rsquo; left winger Daniel Lacroix.No penalty was called on the play. The Kings sent a tape to the NHL and the league suspended Lacroix for two games.Stevens missed the next game against his former team, the Boston Bruins, and could be out longer. He wanted to play in the Bruin game, but after experiencing headaches, which kept him up the entire night after the injury, he saw a local neurologist and was told he had a concussion.Doctors put Stevens&rsquo; neck in a brace that night to prevent further injury, and he also had an eight-stitch cut on his mouth as well as a strained neck.Stevens was disappointed about being knocked out of the lineup. &ldquo;When I was a kid I used to play 80 games a year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;(The Flyer game) was the first game where I really felt good.&rdquo;The injury is the latest in a run of tough luck for Stevens. Injuries knocked him out of 10 games last season and he managed just three goals and 13 points in 20 games for the Kings. This season, he had one goal and an assist in six games.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Steven Finn, out since the pre-season, was ready to return to the lineup. Team officials had said Finn had a leg contusion, but tests revealed it was really a stress fracture and explained why he missed so much time&hellip;Defenseman Mattias Norstrom learned he has arthritis in his right hip, but was optimistic about his prognosis. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those things that can stay exactly the same or even get a little better,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Jan Vopat is out indefinitely with a herniated disc in his lower back&hellip;The Kings were leading the league in penalty-killing, having allowed just two goals in 33 opportunities. The key penaltykillers up front were center Ian Laperriere and right winger Dan Bylsma. &#9632;

f0016-05

More tough luck for Stevens as cheap shot knocks him out

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07331/6796536-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="562" height="965"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saku Koivu</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06359/6796543-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="162" height="160"></div>He didn&rsquo;t win the Calder Trophy as the outstanding rookie, but Saku Koivu might be the best sophomore in the NHL.The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; 21-year-old center started the new season in electrifying fashion, recording at least one point in each of the team&rsquo;s first six games.Koivu was the Canadiens&rsquo; leading scorer, with three goals and seven assists. His 10 points were nearly one-quarter the total it took him 82 games to amass as a rookie, when he went 20-25-45.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bit surprised,&rdquo; Koivu said. &ldquo;Last year we lost our first five games and I didn&rsquo;t get my first point until the seventh game. I think playing in the World Cup and playing good in the exhibition games helped me a lot.&rdquo;Koivu&rsquo;s role has changed this season. Last season as a third-liner, his primary concern was defense. While that facet remains important, Koivu now is playing on what&rsquo;s widely viewed as the team&rsquo;s No. 1 line between Mark Recchi and Brian Savage. Koivu is also on the power play and kills penalties.The trio accounted for 12 of Montreal&rsquo;s 26 goals through the first six games.Canadiens&rsquo; coach Mario Tremblay said he isn&rsquo;t surprised by the 5-foot-9, 175-pound dynamo.&ldquo;For a player his age, he&rsquo;s very mature. You don&rsquo;t normally see a player that age who plays as well defensively as he does. He sees the ice very well and he plays at both ends.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Canadiens tied a 48-year-old record with three shorthanded goals in a 4-2 win against Calgary Oct. 16. Two of the goals, by left winger Martin Rucinsky and right winger Marc Bureau, came on the same penalty-a double high-sticking minor to center Scott Thornton. Montreal scored three shorthanded goals against Chicago March 20, 1948&hellip;Players were asked to reach into their pockets after coaches and upper management contributed $1,000 each to the Centraide (United Way) campaign, a charity with which president Ronald Corey is involved. &ldquo;We make more money than most people in the community who are asked to contribute and we&rsquo;re part of that community,&rdquo; said GM Rejean Houle. &#9632;

f0016-07

Sophomore not jinxed

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011234/6796574-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="163" height="162"></div>Almost 17 years after Lake Placid and the 1980 Winter Olympics, Neal Broten was hoping for another miracle. This time he was looking to save his NHL career.Unhappy with a perceived lack of enthusiasm from the 36-year-old center and unable to make a trade to dump his $950,000 salary, New Jersey Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello placed Broten on waivers Oct. 15. Broten cleared waivers and was awaiting assignment.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be shocked if there is no interest,&rdquo; Broten said. &ldquo;Then again, I&rsquo;m getting up there. I think I can still play. I know I can still play for this team.&rdquo;Lamoriello, who gave Broten and his brother/agent, former Devils&rsquo; forward Aaron Broten, 24 hours to make their own deal before placing Neal on waivers, said the move was designed to give youngsters Petr Sykora, Sergei Brylin and Steve Sullivan more icetime.&ldquo;A decision was made to go with a couple of younger players at that position because, in my mind, Neal did not show the enthusiasm and excitement that had to be shown,&rdquo; Lamoriello explained. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have seen Neal have more aggressiveness.&rdquo;Broten was acquired Feb. 27, 1995, from the Dallas Stars in a trade for Corey Millen and played a key role as the Devils won the Stanley Cup that season. Aside from an incident last season in which he skipped an unpopular practice session at the start of the all-star break in order to join his family in Florida, he was a key and popular player for coach Jacques Lemaire.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way this business works,&rdquo; Broten said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s, &lsquo;What have you done for me lately?&rsquo; Wasn&rsquo;t I right up there leading the team in scoring during training camp? Maybe I wasn&rsquo;t showing the spirit and life I had in the past. (Lamoriello) comes to every practice. When the puck is dropped, I usually play hard. I think I could still help this team, but I can&rsquo;t say anything more. I might hurt some feelings.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ken Daneyko was close to agreeing on a three-year contract worth $4 million. He could become an unrestricted free agent after this season. Daneyko has spent his entire 13year NHL career with the Devils&hellip;With a 69-5-9 record in games they held the lead entering the third period during the Jacques Lemaire era, the Devils were stunned when they blew back-to-back leads in the third period of losses to Philadelphia and Dallas&hellip;Looking to rescue the power play, Lemaire increased defenseman Scott Stevens&rsquo; playing time at the point when the opposition was shorthanded&hellip;Goaltender Martin Brodeur started the first four games and had a 2.26 goals-against average with a 91.9 save percentage. &#9632;

f0017-01

Broten waits for word on his future

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02932/6796605-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="163" height="161"></div>The New York Islanders see in Todd Bertuzzi all the ingredients for a dominant NHL power forward. Except, perhaps, Bertuzzi&rsquo;s desire to be one.So it was no coincidence that Bertuzzi, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound right winger, found himself shaking hands with Islanders&rsquo; great Clark Gillies the morning of the team&rsquo;s home opener.Gillies, 42, averaged 30 goals a year in his first nine seasons (1974-83), became the NHL&rsquo;s quintessential power forward and was an intimidating contributor to the Islanders&rsquo; run of four straight Stanley Cups.Coach-GM Mike Milbury invited him to discuss the facts of NHL life with Bertuzzi, 21, who had 18 goals and 21 assists in 76 games as a rookie last season, but did not make full use of his size and strength.&ldquo;I think Clark faced some of the same pressure Todd did,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big guy who was expected to be physical, although in both their cases it&rsquo;s not really comfortable for them to be that way.&rdquo;Bertuzzi had just one assist after five games this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to have to wake up or I&rsquo;m not going to be here,&rdquo; Bertuzzi said. &ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s starting the game with a big hit or a big shot on net, I&rsquo;ve got to do something to get myself going, to get the team going.&rdquo;&ldquo;I told Todd right now people are not afraid to come and take his body because they know they&rsquo;re not going to get hurt,&rdquo; Gilles said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;You have to start by punishing some people.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Eric Fichaud left practice with a sore abdominal muscle Oct. 15, prompting the Islanders to recall Tommy Soderstrom from Utah of the International League to back up Tommy Salo. &ldquo;It has been sore for a while,&rdquo; Fichaud said. &ldquo;They thought it might have been a hernia, (but tests) show it&rsquo;s a muscle in my lower abdomen.&rdquo; Fichaud allowed five goals and was 1-1-1 in his first three starts&hellip;Former NHLer Gilles Gilbert was hired as goalie instructor&hellip;New player personnel director Gordie Clark retained Earl Ingarfield as the team&rsquo;s Western Canada scout and will employ Tex Ehman for special assignments&hellip;Islander great Mike Bossy dropped the ceremonial first puck on opening night. &#9632;

f0017-02

Gillies takes on mentor role to bolster Bertuzzi’s future

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04494/6796636-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="566" height="965"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Goneau</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03674/6796643-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="163" height="160"></div>The tattoo on the right shoulder of Daniel Goneau is that fabled critter, Wile E. Coyote, from the Roadrunner cartoon.There may be little significance because, as the New York Rangers&rsquo; rookie left winger says, &ldquo;I got it when I was, like, 16.&rdquo;Yet Goneau, who had three goals in seven games for the Rangers, said he can draw something from old Wile E.&ldquo;Everybody knows that cartoon,&rdquo; said the 20-year-old Goneau. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a little bit dumb and I don&rsquo;t mean like I&rsquo;m dumb, but he never quits, you know? He always goes back again, back again, as hard as he can, and never quits. I just try to go out every shift, go back again if it doesn&rsquo;t work.&rdquo;A perfect example of his tenacity is the NHL entry draft.The Boston Bruins picked him in the second round, 47th overall, in 1994. However, the Bruins were unable to sign him by the &lsquo;96 draft, so he re-entered and the Rangers got him in the second round, 48th overall.A solid 6-foot, 190-pounder, Goneau discovered a scorer&rsquo;s touch in his final season of junior, scoring 54 goals and 105 points for Granby of the Quebec League.&ldquo;We said, &lsquo;If you want to make this league, the first thing you have to do is when the puck comes along the boards, you have to get it out,&rdquo; said coach Colin Campbell.&ldquo;Then the coach will play you. The scoring will come, but just show us, give us the confidence you won&rsquo;t be a liability.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie center Christian Dube, 19, scored his first NHL goal Oct. 16 against Pittsburgh&hellip;The experiment of left winger Luc Robitaille playing with center Mark Messier has apparently ended. Robitaille was back with center Wayne Gretzky and right winger Niklas Sundstrom, and that line was very effective. The move of right winger Alexei Kovalev from Gretzky&rsquo;s line to Messier&rsquo;s appeared to spark the enigmatic Russian, who came to life scoring three goals and five points in two games&hellip;Gretzky was on a six-game point streak after being blanked in the opener&hellip;The Rangers began the season 0-3-2, their worst since 1958-59, when they opened 0-2-4. They won their first game Oct 14, 5-4 over Calgary. &#9632;

f0017-04

Wily Goneau getting goals

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02935/6796674-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="566" height="969"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Duchesne</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011267/6796681-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="161" height="160"></div>Ottawa Senators&rsquo; defenseman Steve Duchesne got a break when he found out he didn&rsquo;t have one.Duchesne. Ottawa&rsquo;s power play quarterback, jammed his right thumb and wrist in the third period against the New York Islanders Oct. 9. He was sent for X-rays, but they were inconclusive because of swelling. Duchesne and the Senators feared the worst-that the wrist or thumb was broken and he would be lost to the club for an extended period of time.When Duchesne was sidelined for 20 games with a sprained ankle last season, the Senators&rsquo; power play efficiency plunged to five per cent.But after he missed back-to-back games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, a bone scan Oct. 15 found the thumb and wrist were only sprained. Duchesne practised and declared himself fit to play against the New Jersey Devils Oct. 18.&ldquo;At first I was scared. When they took the cast off, I really thought it was broken,&rdquo; Duchesne said. &ldquo;When they told me it wasn&rsquo;t fractured, it was a big relief. I can shoot the puck no problem.&ldquo;The only time I feel it is when I hold my stick in one hand (his top hand).&rdquo;Duchesne&rsquo;s participation on the Ottawa power play is crucial. All but 10 of his 36 points last season came with the Senators holding a manpower advantage. Despite missing those 20 games, he was still in on almost half of Ottawa&rsquo;s 53 power play goals.NOTEBOOK: In an effort to generate more offense, coach Jacques Martin planned to juggle his lines. Left winger Shawn McEachern, who had been playing with center Alexei Yashin and right winger Daniel Alfredsson on the club&rsquo;s most productive line (15 points in four games), was moved to a unit with center Alexandre Daigle and struggling right winger Radek Bonk, Randy Cunneyworth took McEachern&rsquo;s spot with Yashin and Alfredsson. Bonk, third overall pick in the 1994 entry draft, was pointless after four games, but was defended by Martin. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with his performance,&rdquo; Martin said. &lsquo;The points will come with time.&rdquo;&hellip;The Senators attracted only 12,237 for an Oct. 11 Corel Centre game against Pittsburgh. &#9632;

f0018-02

Sigh of relief for Duchesne

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03646/6796712-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="162" height="158"></div>Dainius Zubrus may be the youngest player in the 30-year history of the Philadelphia Flyers, but you might have a hard time convincing opponents he faced.Zubrus, who turned 18 in June, had goals in two of his first three NHL games and didn&rsquo;t look out of place.In fact, the Lithuanian-born right winger was so impressive, coach Terry Murray gave him some playing time on the second line.Zubrus, the Flyers&rsquo; first round pick (15th overall) in the 1996 entry draft, impressed during the pre-season with strong skating and a willingness to play a physical game.&ldquo;He has the size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), strength and speed that you don&rsquo;t find in too many 18-year-olds,&rdquo; Murray said.Murray remembers being impressed with Zubrus when Murray was still coaching the Washington Capitals. Zubrus appeared in a junior tournament there about five years ago playing for a team from Ukraine.&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m ready to play here,&rdquo; said Zubrus, who made the unlikely jump directly from the Jr. A Caledon (Ont.) Canadians to the NHL in one season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting used to playing with the older guys and being in front of the big crowds,&rdquo; said goalie Ron Hextall. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s going to be a heck of a player.&rdquo;Zubrus was the only first round pick from the 1996 draft playing on a NHL team in early-October.NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Lindros tested his injured right groin by skating for the first time in several weeks Oct. 17. The Flyers went 3-4-0 in their first seven games with Lindros out of the lineup. Overall, they were 21-32-7 when he was out&hellip;Center Daniel Lacroix, recovering from a rib cartilage injury, made his return Oct. 15 at Los Angeles, but only lasted one game. Lacroix received a two-game suspension for an elbow to the face of Kings&rsquo; left winger Kevin Stevens. No penalty was called on the play, but the Kings sent a videotape to the league office. Lacroix was fined the maximum $1,000&hellip;Left winger John LeClair and right winger Mikael Renberg each ended six-game droughts with their first goals of the season Oct. 16. &#9632;

f0018-03

Zubrus plays like he belongs despite lack of experience

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04403/6796743-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="161" height="159"></div>Less than 48 hours after Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s agent threatened to stop negotiations for good, the Phoenix Coyotes reached contract terms with the star center, ending a 56-day dispute.How were the two sides able to bridge the gap so quickly?&ldquo;(Coyotes&rsquo; vice-president) Bobby Smith decided to fly to Boston and after 10 hours in my office, we got it done,&rdquo; said Roenick&rsquo;s representative, Neil Abbott. &ldquo;There were times when I had to leave the room and say, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s it. I need to take a walk.&rsquo; He&rsquo;d do the same thing and then we&rsquo;d come back and start up again.&rdquo;Roenick, who signed a five-year deal worth $20 million, said he couldn&rsquo;t be happier with the deal.&ldquo;This is where I wanted to be the whole time after I got traded,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to play anywhere else. It&rsquo;s important people realize this is a big step in my hockey career and I don&rsquo;t think I could be in a better place with better players.&rdquo;Roenick said he will be out to score 50 goals, despite missing the first four games. He showed flashes of brilliance during his Phoenix debut against the Edmonton Oilers. Skating just hours after his introductory news conference Oct. 14, he had an assist, three breakaway chances and seven hard checks in 20 shifts.&ldquo;He adds another dimension to our team,&rdquo; said right winger Mike Gartner. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a player that&rsquo;s capable of being a game breaker and there aren&rsquo;t a lot of players like that around the league.&rdquo;Coach Don Hay let Roenick take the opening faceoff against the Oilers, putting him alongside Craig Janney and Keith Tkachuk, but he spent the rest of the night as a winger on the second line centered by Chad Kilger.Roenick has already made overtones about wanting to play with fellow Boston-area natives Tkachuk and Janney. It might be difficult to drop Gartner to the No. 2 line, however, judging by his great start this season.&ldquo;Whatever happens,&rdquo; Roenick said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here to play-and to win.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Juha Ylonen is racking up some pretty good frequent flier miles. In a little more than a week, he was shipped to Springfield of the American League, recalled when center Cliff Ronning got injured, then sent back to Springfield after center Jeremy Roenick came to contract terms&hellip;Roenick said he chose sweater No. 97 instead of asking defenseman Teppo Numminen for No. 27 because he wants to &ldquo;put all the past in Chicago behind me. This is a new start for me and I feel like a kid again. I feel like I&rsquo;m 18-1997 is like my new draft year.&rdquo;&hellip;The Coyotes killed 18 consecutive penalties before Edmonton connected during a 6-3 Oilers&rsquo; victory Oct. 14&hellip;The Coyotes&rsquo; 3-1-0 start matched the franchise&rsquo;s best ever. &#9632;

f0018-04

J.R. shoots for 50-goal campaign

<div class="byline">By Mike Oudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05269/6796774-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="161" height="160"></div>As Mario Lemieux apparently nears the end of his NHL career, he says the long-running, futile battle he has fought with the league is making the decision to retire easier and easier.&ldquo;It was the same old boring hockey out there,&rdquo; Lemieux said after a 3-2 Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; victory over the Ottawa Senators Oct. 12. &ldquo;Nothing has changed.&rdquo;Lemieux, upset at a non-call after he was chopped down by Senators&rsquo; defenseman Frank Musil, reiterated what he has been saying for years: clutching and grabbing must be curtailed.&ldquo;I think the league is at fault,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have to enforce the rules. It&rsquo;s not so much the referees. I think they&rsquo;re told what to do on the ice.&rdquo;Lemieux said he met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and vicepresident Brian Burke over the summer to discuss the issue.&ldquo;They promised to do some things to improve the game.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The great players in this league have to go on the ice, do their thing. Obviously, things haven&rsquo;t changed that much. If you can&rsquo;t get out and enjoy yourself, what&rsquo;s the use? There are so many other things to enjoy, golfing, traveling, playing with my kids.&rdquo;And once Lemieux leaves the game, he said not to expect him to continue to crusade for changes.&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m done playing, I won&rsquo;t give a (dam),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried for 10 years to change the game and it hasn&rsquo;t changed. When I&rsquo;m done, I&rsquo;m out of here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Dmitri Mironov was back in the lineup Oct. 16 against the Rangers after missing three games to attend the funeral of his father in Moscow&hellip;Penguins&rsquo; chairman of the board Howard Baldwin said if the team and the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County did not reach an agreement on financial relief for the team by December, he would start making plans to move the team. That is an absolute last resort,&rdquo; Baldwin said. &ldquo;Yet I&rsquo;m not going to stay and keep losing money and be made a fool.&rdquo; The Penguins are looking for about $20 million in government assistance to help finance Civic Arena upgrades&hellip;The Penguins tied the franchise record for worst start ever by going 1-5-0. &#9632;

f0018-05

Lemieux still frustrated by ‘same old boring’ play

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07186/6796805-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="564" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">Grant Fuhr</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06215/6796812-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="160" height="159"></div>With a straight face, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; enforcer Tony Twist tried to convince a skeptical reporter his four-punch knockdown of Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; tough guy Nick Kypreos wasn&rsquo;t significant.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a big deal,&rdquo; Twist said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of the game. The game is the most important thing.&rdquo;Perhaps. But the fight came in a close second.Much to the delight of goalie Grant Fuhr and the crowd of 15,128 at Kiel Center Oct. 17, Twist enacted a measure of revenge on Kypreos for his part in a knee injury that threatened Fuhr&rsquo;s career.When defenseman Chris Pronger cross-checked Kypreos at the side of the net in Game 2 of an opening round playoff series between the two teams last season, Kypreos artfully landed on Fuhr, basically exploding Fuhr&rsquo;s right knee.Fuhr was lost for the playoffs and his brilliant comeback season came to an end.Fuhr still feels his season was unfairly ended by Kypreos, whom he whacked with his stick during the Oct. 17 game. Fuhr slashed Kypreos on the back of the legs, but referee Mick McGeough didn&rsquo;t see the infraction.&ldquo;Half the art is not getting caught,&rdquo; Fuhr said. &ldquo;It was a just a little reminder. I&rsquo;d hate to let him forget.&rdquo;Fuhr was asked what he liked better-the 6-1 victory over Toronto or Twist&rsquo;s pummeling of Kypreos, who made a quick exit after the game.&ldquo;A little bit of both,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: The Blues&rsquo; No. 1 line of right winger Brett Hull (one goal), center Shayne Corson (two) and left winger Geoff Courtnail (none) had three goals through six games&hellip;Rookie center Jim Campbell led the Blues in scoring with four goals and six points&hellip;Goalie Grant Fuhr, coming off major knee surgery, won four of five starts&hellip;There were plenty of no-shows for the Oct. 17 game against Toronto because of the baseball Cardinals&rsquo; appearance in Game 7 of the National League Championships Series. The Cardinals, who lost the game 15-0, were down 60 before the opening faceoff of the Blues&rsquo; game&hellip;Attendance at Kiel Center averaged just 15,700 for the first three home games. Capacity at the arena is 19,260. &#9632;

f0018-07

Twist seeks out revenge

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02843/6796843-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="568" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Sutter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011170/6796850-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="162" height="160"></div>The remaking of the San Jose Sharks did not stop when the NHL regular season began.The Sharks took another dip into the veteran free agent pool Oct. 12 when they signed 14-year pro Ron Sutter. San Jose had been in desperate need of a checking center since the June trade that sent Jamie Baker to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Todd Gill.&ldquo;One of our holes was a third- or fourth-line center who could be a stabilizing influence with a lead,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; assistant GM Wayne Thomas. &ldquo;We needed someone who could play defense and win faceoffs.&rdquo;Sutter, 32, made his Sharks&rsquo; debut hours after he agreed to a one-year contract. It came against the team for which he last played, the Boston Bruins, in a 5-3 loss.After beginning last year with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International League, Sutter had five goals and seven assists in 18 games with the Bruins. He was not re-signed after going scoreless in five playoff games. The Sharks are Sutter&rsquo;s sixth NHL team, his fifth in the past four seasons.&ldquo;My body is young. I haven&rsquo;t played a lot in the last year and a half,&rdquo; said Sutter, who missed much of the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season with the New York Islanders because of an ankle injury.&ldquo;I know I can still contribute both ways. I can still put up some points and I know what my job is when I step on the ice.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Ray Whitney, the Sharks&rsquo; fourth-leading scorer in 1995-96, was assigned to Kentucky of the American League Oct. 16. Whitney had no points in three games with the Sharks before the demotion&hellip;Forwards Ville Pel-tonen and Todd Ewen underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in mid-October and were expected to be out until early November&hellip;Right wingers Owen Nolan and Ulf Dahlen are the lone Sharks on the all-star ballot&hellip;Capacity at the San Jose Arena was increased from 17,190 to 17,442 with the addition of seats to accommodate the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Golden State Warriors. The Warriors are playing this season at the Arena while their permanent home in Oakland is remodeled. &#9632;

f0019-02

Sutter plugs center hole

<div class="byline">By Boy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03558/6796881-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="161" height="155"></div>Despite having one of the worst power plays in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning was off to its best start ever.The Lightning was a worrisome 1-for-21 during power play opportunities after four games, but sported a 3-1-0 record.&ldquo;We seem to be doing everything right on the power play,&rdquo; said coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re moving the puck well, we&rsquo;re getting the shots off. But we&rsquo;re not controlling the rebounds and that&rsquo;s where the problem is.&rdquo;Control certainly has been a problem for the manpower unit, which surrendered almost as many scoring chances as it produced.Turnovers often forced goalies Daren Puppa and Corey Schwab to outwork their counterparts during Lightning power plays.The power play&rsquo;s problems were certainly not due to a lack of practice. The team devoted nearly half an hour of practice time each session to the power play.Personnel didn&rsquo;t seem to be the problem, either. The only player missing from last year&rsquo;s power play squad, which ranked fourth in the NHL, is triggerman Petr Klima and he has been replaced by Chris Gratton, whose shots from the point are equally hard and accurate.On the bright side, although the power play struggled, the penalty killing thrived. Through its first four games, the Lightning allowed just two power play goals against in 17 shorthanded situations.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Corey Schwab posted his first NHL victory in Tampa Bay&rsquo;s 7-4 win at Toronto Oct. 12 and followed it up with his first NHL shutout, Oct. 15 at Buffalo. Of his first victory Schwab said: &ldquo;When I was a kid playing street hockey with the guys, my older brother always had to be the Maple Leafs so I had to be some other team. It seems I&rsquo;ve lived my life trying to beat the Leafs, so it was really special to get that first victory against them.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Chris Gratton registered his first NHL hat trick against the Maple Leafs. He followed up with a two-assist performance against die Sabres&hellip;Defenseman Drew Bannister recorded his first NHL goal in the victory over Buffalo. &#9632;

f0019-03

Limp power play weak link in strong start for Lightning

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04434/6796912-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="161" height="160"></div>The Toronto Maple Leafs spoke of the need to get out of the gate quickly to take the heat off themselves.Well, a 1-4-0 start, good for dead last in the Western Conference, wasn&rsquo;t what Mike Murphy was hoping for in his second stint as an NHL head coach.Following a season-opening victory at home over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Leafs lost four straight, including three at home. Things got worse Oct. 17 in their first road start in St. Louis when a 2-1 deficit after 40 minutes turned into an ugly 6-1 loss.&ldquo;It seems we get a couple of goals down and everything falls apart,&rdquo; said right winger Mats Sundin. &ldquo;It sometimes seems we don&rsquo;t know what our system is or what we&rsquo;re supposed to be doing.&rdquo;With 10 of their first 15 matches at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Leafs were hoping to use home cooking as a springboard to a strong start. That didn&rsquo;t happen mostly because of a puny offense and critical turnovers, many by the club&rsquo;s most experienced players.In two of the losses, veteran defenseman Jamie Macoun gave away the puck on the winning goal, while youngster Matt Martin was similarly victimized in a home loss to Chicago. In the loss to St. Louis, the Leafs were trailing only 2-1 early in the third when Blues&rsquo; rookie Konstantin Shafranov stripped center Kirk Muller of the puck inside the Toronto blueline and waltzed in to score.&ldquo;These were veteran guys making huge errors in critical situations,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;When you have that many errors-individual ones and collective ones-you can&rsquo;t win in the NHL.&rdquo;To be sure, all but giving away Mike Gartner, Dave Gagner and Dave Andreychuk since March while receiving nothing but draft choices in return figured to hobble the Leaf attack. But after five games, the Leafs had managed only 12 goals, with Doug Gilmour scoreless and Wendel Clark scoring just once. Only Sundin, a World Cup standout, was even lukewarm with three goals in five games.NOTEBOOK: The Leafs&rsquo; plan to use 19-year-old rookie blueliner Jeff Ware lasted three games before the youngster took a seat in the press box. He was replaced by Matt Martin, who played his first game since breaking his ankle Jan. 10. Martin, however, gave away the puck on the winning goal and was sent to the press box himself the next game and replaced by Jamie Heward&hellip;Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. has hired H.O.K. Sports of Kansas City, Mo., to design a new arena. The firm was involved with designing The Pond in Anaheim and Chicago&rsquo;s United Center. The Leafs have not announced firm plans to move ahead on a building or a site&hellip;Defenseman Jamie Macoun was a club worst minus-5 after five games. &#9632;

f0019-04

Leafs feel heat with poor start

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07235/6796974-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="568" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hunter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06267/6796981-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="160" height="161"></div>The glare Dale Hunter uses to stare down an opponent in the faceoff circle is best described as menacing. Threatening might be another good word.It is one of the little things in the sport that is often overlooked, winning a key draw in the defensive zone, one of the many aspects the Washington Capitals&rsquo; center has mastered in 16-plus NHL seasons.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s your basic complete hockey player,&rdquo; said left winger Keith Jones. &ldquo;The stuff he has brought to this club is immeasurable.&rdquo;Hunter scored his 300th NHL goal Oct. 12 in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. It was his 942nd point in his 1,185th NHL game. The figures are not staggering, but they are impressive when one considers Hunter has frequently been asked to be a checker over the years and he is the second-most penalized player in NHL history (3,224 minutes and counting through Oct. 17).&ldquo;Whatever type of game you want to play, you&rsquo;ve got at least one guy who&rsquo;s able to play it with you,&rdquo; said Capitals&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld of Hunter, whom he feels deserves to be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.Hunter jokes about his lofty statistics, claiming they don&rsquo;t mean much, &ldquo;because it took me 30 years.&rdquo; He is more proud, he said, of the seasons he was a set-up man for Michel Goulet and the Stastny brothers with the Quebec Nordiques, taking pride in the way he helped Goulet become a four-time 50-goal scorer.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Olie Kolzig got medical clearance to play Oct. 13, a week earlier than expected. He had been down with mononucleosis since Oct. 5&hellip;Left winger Steve Konowalchuk (separated rib cartilage) also came off the Capitals&rsquo; bloated injured reserve list&hellip;Center Joe Juneau played his 300th NHL game Oct. 12 against Los Angeles. Goalie Jim Carey played his 100th in the season-opener against Chicago&hellip;Right winger Kelly Miller suffered a groin injury Oct. 12 and took most of the following week off. He was afraid of doing further damage to the groin. Miller saw a consecutive games streak come to an end at 322 last season with a similar injury that was not treated properly. &#9632;

f0019-07

Hunter still does it all

Any true hockey fan who wanders into a book store is instantly magnetized to the sports section.The intent is not there. There may be no interest in buying a book, no time to browse, no money in the wallet. But there you are, staring at all those hockey books, examining what&rsquo;s out there and what might make a good read.Some are historical flashbacks, some are pictorial, some are fiction, some are even downright too good to put back. Here&rsquo;s a quick look at some of the hockey books available to you this season:&#9633; The Hockey Play Book, Teaching Systems to Amateur Players. Firefly Books Ltd.Mike Smith, the former coach and GM of the Winnipeg Jets completed his fifth book, an analytical look at hockey strategies. Smith approached the book acknowledging that every team needs a system of its own, and that there is not one perfect system. He says systems are strategies that capitalize on a team&rsquo;s strength.Smith goes on to present a methodology for teaching hockey systems, first outlining the philosophy behind the systems discussed and then providing an analytical breakdown of the system. The systems described can be adapted and adjusted according to zone and type of play.&#9633; Hockey Drill Book. Firefly Books Ltd.Practise makes perfect. We&rsquo;ve all heard that phrase. Author Mike Smith puts the latest techniques on paper in an easy to use format. The Drill Book is in a smaller format than The Hockey Play Book, and therefore easier to handle on the ice.It presents a wide selection of 200 drills in eight different chapters which cover the fundamentals of: skating, stickhandling, passing, shooting, conditioning, goaltending, checking and game situations.Smith reinforces that coaches should continue practising these fundamentals, both on an individual and team basis. And above all, Smith says, coaches should make the drills fun.&#9633; Boom Boom, The Life and Times of Bernard Geoffrion. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.Read about one of the catchiest and original nicknames in all of sports in this publication by accomplished author Stan Fischler. Bernie Geoffrion was a high-scoring right winger for the Montreal Canadiens during their most successful run. &lsquo;Boom Boom&rsquo; won six Stanley Cups, including five consecutive in the late 1950s during his 16-year NHL career.Also in the co-authored book, Geoffrion relates to readers how he invented the slapshot, thereby changing the way the game was played; was one of the first players in the post World War II era to score 50 goals in a season; teamed with Jean Beliveau and Bert Olmstead to form one of hockey&rsquo;s greatest lines; had teammate Doug Harvey saw off his leg cast against doctor&rsquo;s orders so he could play in the 1961 playoffs; and how he won four individual NHL awards, including the Hart Trophy in 1960-61.&#9633; The Name Game. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.Ever wondered how a sporting team got its nickname? The Vancouver Canucks? The Green Bay Packers? The interesting book by Montreal writer and avid sports fan Michael Donovan offers the origin of nicknames for all 116 North American pro sports clubs (foot-ball, baseball, basketball and hockey), plus 108 division A U.S. college teams and 100 of the wackiest names from other sports or other leagues.This book can act as a quick reference book for all sports fans and trivia buffs. The Canucks? We&rsquo;ll end the suspense right now. They&rsquo;re named after &lsquo;Johnny Canuck,&rsquo; a term used to describe Canadian Soldiers in World War II. And the Packers?They got their name from the Indian Packing Company that supplied the team&rsquo;s jerseys and lent out its athletic field for practise.&#9633; Canadiens Captains, Nine Great Montreal Canadiens. Macmillan Canada.If you enjoyed author Michael Ulmer&rsquo;s foray into captains of the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, you&rsquo;re guaranteed to love this book on some of the great leaders of the Montreal Canadiens.Ulmer details the experiences of nine Canadiens&rsquo; captains and the diverse paths that led them to the helm of hockey&rsquo;s foremost franchise. The stories of Toe Blake, Butch Bouchard, Maurice Richard, Doug Harvey, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Bob Gainey and Pierre Turgeon are not only of triumph, but tragedy. Critics have raved about the book&rsquo;s history, nostalgia and vignettes that come to life.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01956/6797019-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="411" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadiens&rsquo; Captains</figcaption></div>Ulmer has been writing about hockey for more than a decade. He has written for The Hockey News for four years and served as a columnist with the Globe and Mail and Thomson News Service.&#9633; Pro Hockey, Play-by-Play, The Ultimate NHL Guide. Macmillan Canada.If you&rsquo;ve ever picked up The Baseball Book by Bill James, you know that in addition to understanding the game, James&rsquo; biggest strength is that he doesn&rsquo;t hold back when it comes to discussing what he likes and hates about certain players. The same can be said of Ted Montgomerie&rsquo;s annual analysis of NHL teams and players.Montgomerie is a hockey enthusiast from Michigan who looks at hockey from a fan&rsquo;s point of view. Included in the package are NHL team reviews, color commentary on interesting trends in the game, advice fro hockey pool enthusiasts, individual player comments, regular season statistics, playoff reviews and a 1996 NHL entry draft review.This is a book every serious hockey fantasy league should have. At a glance, you&rsquo;ll see who Montgomerie thinks is injury prone or a money player. New categories this year include speedy skaters, top goalies and one-way players.&#9633; The New York Flangers, Broadway&rsquo;s Longest-Running Hit. Sagamore Publishing.The 70-year history of the New York Rangers is captured in this book by John Kreiser and Lou Friedman, with a forward provided by Rangers&rsquo; president Neil Smith. Fans can read about the legendary feats of stars such as Brad Park, Andy Bathgate and Canadiens&rsquo; Captains Mark Messier, not to mention key figures in team history such as the Patrick family, Emile Francis, Rod Gilbert, Ed Giacomin and more.This book highlights each season with a profile of a prominent player, a look at one of the season&rsquo;s most memorable moments and a rundown of transactions and statistics. Also included are all-time Rangers&rsquo; teams from three different eras as voted on by a panel of media members. The collection is also rife with photographs, features, profiles and memories.&#9633; Legends of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Penguin Books Canada Ltd.This large format pictorial book was inspired by the Hockey Hall of Fame&rsquo;s Legends series and created in conjunction with the five-part documentary series &lsquo;Legends of Hockey&rsquo; to be televised on The Sports Network and ESPN.Legends takes the reader on a journey through the history of the sport in North America. Author Michael McKinley explains the life and times of hockey&rsquo;s legends, spanning a century of storytelling.&#9633; Original Six: True Stories from Hockey&rsquo;s Classic Era.The pocket-sized book focuses on memorable moments from hockey&rsquo;s pre-expansion era. Canadian novelist Paul Quarrington writes one short story per team. An interesting twist on the chapters is the myth-making spin Quarrington puts on a real event.The books purpose, according to one chapter&rsquo;s author, is, &ldquo;to let people know where hockey comes from, that it has mythic underpinnings,&rdquo; said Wayne Johnston.&#9633; Shutout: The Legend of Terry Sawchuk. Penguin Books Canada Ltd.Author Brian Kendall tells a story that spans hockey&rsquo;s Golden Era of the 1950s and 1960s to goalie Terry Sawchuk&rsquo;s untimely death in the spring of 1970. The Hall of Fame goaltender led the Detroit Red Wings to three Stanley Cups and the Toronto Maple Leafs to another. He became one of hockey most enigmatic and misunderstood heroes.&#9633; A Day in the Life of the NHL. Harper-Collins.Eighty photographers from across North America were commissioned last March 23 to capture the day&rsquo;s hockey activity. The result is an eye-opening pictorial into many of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the game many fans aren&rsquo;t aware take place just about every day.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02657/6797012-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="410" height="593"><figcaption class="caption-body">Original Six</figcaption></div>&#9633; War Games: Hockey&rsquo;s Fighting Men. Penguin Books Canada Ltd.Author Douglas Hunter&rsquo;s War Games is a story of how hockey&rsquo;s Conn Smythe, GM and co-owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, precipitated the conscription crisis that almost toppled William Mackenzie King&rsquo;s Liberal government during World War II. It&rsquo;s also a story about how pro hockey&rsquo;s reaction to the war helped make the Montreal Canadiens a powerhouse team. &#9632;

f0022-01

Allure of hockey books as strong as ever Still plenty of classic ice tales

Hockey fans yearning for a trip down memory lane have hit the mother lode with the new Hockey Legends series.A five-part television documentary presented by The Sports Network and Vancouver-based Opus Productions takes viewers on a guided tour through hockey&rsquo;s rich past.Each one-hour segment is highlighted by strong interviews, according to series director Derik Murray.Legends of Hockey premiers in Canada on TSN Nov. 11 and runs five consecutive Mondays until Dec. 9. The series will be repeated three separate times in December and January, ESPN is scheduled to show the U.S. premiere in March, 1997.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01847/6797057-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="527" height="526"><figcaption class="caption-body">Legends of Hockey</figcaption></div>The segments are as follows:&#9633; The Game Begins.A look at the game&rsquo;s origins in the early 19th century, the introduction of the Stanley Cup, the contribution of builder Art Ross and other of the game&rsquo;s early participants, including a women&rsquo;s team from Queens University.&#9633; The NHL&rsquo;s First Era (191726).The NHL begins its first regular season in 1917-18. Frank Calder and Lady Byng make their mark and the sport marches on through World War I.&#9633; The Golden People (1926-42).NHL franchises arrive in Chicago and Detroit, while figures such as King Clancy and Conn Smythe put their stamp on the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02539/6797050-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="371" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rock&rsquo;em Sock&rsquo;em 8</figcaption></div>&#9633; Dynasties: The Rise of the Original Six (1942-67).The heroes of hockey such as Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard and Bobby Hull are created and idolized.&#9633; The Game Expands: From Frozen Ponds to the Sun Belt (1967-1995).Hockey grows through expansion into the southern United States, the 1972 Summit Series and back to expansion and relocation again in the 1990s.Legends naturally grew to include the Hockey Hall of Fame and was more than two years in the making. A companion to the series is a classic pictorial book.The documentary uses material from 140 hours of taped interviews with 32 Hall of Fame players and at least 10 writers and broadcasters. Most interviews lasted between two and four hours, so there was a plethora of interesting material for editors to pick and choose from.The early segments of the series use still photographs and other archival footage for video, but they are of a high-enough quality that the narrative supports the image.The series is a must-see for hockey fans.Several other videos are also available this season at your favorite outlet. They include:Don Cherry&rsquo;s Rock&rsquo;em Sock&rsquo;em 8, available from Quality Video, is the top selling sports tape in the world. Are you ready for the latest, greatest hits delivered to you from one of hockey&rsquo;s most colorful personalities?Cherry also shows you the best goals, saves, bloopers and fights from more than 400 NHL games. Also provided on the video are some of Cherry&rsquo;s more controver-| sial intermission segments from Hockey Night in Canada&rsquo;s Coaches&rsquo; Corner.Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s All-Star Hockey Tips is an Astral Entertainment Group production that offers viewers the opportunity to learn from the best players on the ice.Gretzky invites stars such as Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure and Jari Kurri to show what it is that allows them to excel at the NHL level. An added bonus is the one-on-one Superstars Skills Competitions that sees the stars go toe-to-toe in a test of speed, agility and shooting accuracy.In Gretzky&rsquo;s Volume 2, some of the game&rsquo;s top players help the Great One outline a series of on-ice and in-line drills that are key to superior training.Some of the stars in this video include Scott Stevens, Martin Brodeur, Steve Thomas, Larry Murphy and Owen Nolan. &#9632;

f0023-01

History, pro tips available on video

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01930/6797095-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anaheim center Alex Hicks spent two full ECHL seasons in Toledo. (Photo by Robert Laberge/BBS)</figcaption></div>When the East Coast League was formed in 1988, NHL teams avoided it the way a pleasure skater stays away from thin ice.Most everyone felt it was just another roughhouse outfit in the mold of the old Eastern, Southern and Atlantic Coast Leagues. And they were right. In order to attract fans, the ECHL was a physical league the first few years. Plenty of fisticuffs-and the occasional brawl-were the norm.&ldquo;When we started,&rdquo; said Pat Kelly, the league&rsquo;s first commissioner and current commissioner emeritus, &ldquo;we envisioned getting into a developmental stage. But we knew we had to get rid of that old stigma of the goon league.&ldquo;(NHL clubs) were reluctant to send their draft picks to these leagues because they were afraid every night somebody would hatchet them.&rdquo;The stigma remained with the ECHL for several seasons before, gradually, the American and International Leagues, and then the NHL, began to show interest in sending prospects to a league that seemed to be cleaning up its act.&ldquo;I worked with the NHL,&rdquo; said Kelly, who once coached the old Colorado Rockies. &ldquo;I kept telling them, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid to send your people. We&rsquo;re going to play hockey the way hockey should be played. If the tough guys don&rsquo;t do the right thing, they&rsquo;ll be suspended.&rdquo;With a lot of the hand-to-hand combat and bench-clearing brawls being eliminated, NHL clubs and their AHL and IHL affiliates were more comfortable putting young prospects in the ECHL.Baton Rouge Kingfish coach-GM Ron Hansis watched the growth of the ECHL as Erie Panthers&rsquo; coach-GM for eight years.&ldquo;Once the league was able to establish an image of a developmental league as opposed to the old rough-and-tumble Eastern League-and we went to great lengths to dispel that image-we felt guys would give this league a shot They saw that guys were getting an opportunity to move on to the IHL or AHL.&rdquo;The 23-team ECHL has evolved into the equivalent of Double-A baseball. Most of its callups are to the IHL and AHL, which are the equivalent of Triple-A. Last season there were 89 callups to the IHL and 109 more to the AHL. The other four minor pro leagues are considered a step below the ECHL.But the most significant move has come in the number of players who have gone from the ECHL, mostly via the IHL and AHL, to the NHL. Seventy-one ECHL players have graduated to the NHL-albeit many played only briefly. Twenty are active in the NHL this season.&ldquo;It has become a development league,&rdquo; said Terry McDonnell, vicepresident, hockey operations for the Hartford Whalers. &ldquo;They patterned themselves after the AHL.&ldquo;Players seem happier playing there now. A few years ago, players would go there and think, &lsquo;This is it.&rsquo; Now they know they&rsquo;re going to get a chance to get to the AHL. It gives teams the option of sending younger players there who aren&rsquo;t quite ready.&ldquo;The league has really improved. I&rsquo;d say 50 per cent of the players are capable of playing in the AHL.&rdquo;One of the latest examples is also one the quickest. Harry York, who starred for the Nashville Knights last season as a rookie, opened the season with the Blues. In his first NHL game, York set up Jim Campbell&rsquo;s winning goal against the Colorado Avalanche.And the beat goes on. Twenty-one of the 26 NHL teams have working agreements with ECHL clubs this season. The ultimate goal of the league is for each of its teams (23 this year and at least one more in 1998-99) to be affiliated with an NHL club.<h2>From ECHL to The Show</h2>Calgary Hames&rsquo; winger Sasha Lakovic is the 71st East Coast League player to advance to the NHL. Here&rsquo;s a select list of some of the players who played at least 20 games in the ECHL before appearing in the NHL. Players ate listed by season in which they made their NHL debuts. The ECHL team is their first; the NHL team is their first or current in case of active olavers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02624/6797088-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="531" height="1195"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

ECHL making strides as development loop

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>It didn&rsquo;t take Andy Van Hellemond long to make his presence felt in the East Coast League.Shortly after the exhibition season started. Van Hellemond issued Dan Fournel of the South Carolina Stingrays a seven-game suspension and fined him $400 for what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to injure Shawn Harris of the Charlotte Checkers with a cross-check in the mouth Oct. 12.A longtime NHL referee, Van Hellemond is the league&rsquo;s new senior vice-president, hockey operations.&ldquo;(Fournel) raised his stick and struck (Harris) in the face,&rdquo; Van Hellemond said. &ldquo;I talked to Dan. I wanted to know what his thought process was. I talked to (South Carolina coach) Rick Vaive and I talked to (ECHL commissioner emeritus) Pat Kelly, who was at the game.&ldquo;I looked at the tape and felt he knew what he was doing. We&rsquo;re not going to condone that kind of use of the stick. If you&rsquo;re mad at a guy and you want to drop your gloves, that&rsquo;s one thing. But this was a match penalty because he injured the guy.&rdquo;Harris had a broken tooth, two more knocked loose and a split lip that required four stitches.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01828/6797126-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="380" height="394"></div>Van Hellemond, who spent 25 years calling games in the NHL, had sent a disciplinary directive to all teams before training camps opened Oct. 6. He said he wasn&rsquo;t trying to send a message with his action, but the suspension and fine very likely got the attention of other players around the league.HELPING OUT: The ECHL announced Oct. 10 it will recognize Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America as an official charity of the league. The ECHL, in co-operation with all 23 teams, will assist with the recruitment of volunteers through local and community-based activities.Teams will participate in a variety of ways, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters Nights, hockey clinics and dressing room tours.COAST LINES: The Wheeling Nailers rely exclusively on working agreements with the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers to supply players. Some much-needed help arrived Oct. 15 when the Oilers assigned goalie Mike Minard and defenseman Brad Symes to Wheeling&hellip;Andy Van Hellemond said the ECHL training camp for officials, held Oct. 4-6 in Columbus, Ohio, was a success. Fifty-eight referees and linesmen were on hand. Van Hellemond said 12 will work fulltime for the ECHL&hellip;The Toledo Storm received last season&rsquo;s all-America first team goalie Ryan Bach on loan from the American League&rsquo;s Adirondack Red Wings. Bach spent four seasons with the Colorado College Tigers&hellip;The Huntington Blizzard named its home rink, the Huntington Civic Arena, &lsquo;The Tundra,&rsquo; while the Wheeling Nailers&rsquo; arena, the Wheeling Civic Center, will be known as &lsquo;The Hammerdome.&rsquo;&hellip;David Alcorta, who was vice-president, broadcast and media sales for the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Indiana Pacers for five years, was hired as vice-president, marketing and sales for the league. &#9632;

f0025-01

Van Hellemond backs directive with stern action

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Frederic Cassivi knew the pressure was on when he joined the Syracuse Crunch and became their No. 1 goalie to start the season.After all, this was the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; farm team and he is property of the Ottawa Senators. So if Cassivi planned to get any playing time when veteran goalie Mike Fountain eventually arrived from Vancouver, he had to perform well immediately.Pressure? What pressure?Cassivi won his first four starts, posting a 1.74 goals-against average, as the Crunch jumped on top in the American League&rsquo;s Empire State Division.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t know me so I had things to prove,&rdquo; Cassivi said. &ldquo;If I get off to a bad start, they might be wondering who Ottawa sent I have to make them appreciate me.&rdquo;Cassivi, 21, worked his way to No. 1 last season as an AHL rookie with the P.E.I. Senators, going &rsquo;20-14-3 with a 3.27 average. He also played all five playoff games (a 3-2 series loss to the Fredericton Canadiens).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02526/6797157-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="429" height="422"></div>But the moment P.E.I. was eliminated, the parent Senators ceased operations in Charlottetown, where the franchise was floundering. Rather than fill an entire AHL roster this year, Ottawa chose to loan its prospects to various teams.The bulk of the skaters went to the Worcester IceCats. But as the top development team for the St. Louis Blues, the IceCats didn&rsquo;t want a goalie. So Senators&rsquo; assistant GM Ray Shero needed to find a place for the goaltenders. Mike Balas, the organization&rsquo;s depth veteran, went to the Baltimore Bandits while Cassivi, the top prospect, went to the Crunch.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a kid who really improved the last couple of years,&rdquo; Shero said.The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Cassivi was Ottawa&rsquo;s ninth round pick in the 1994 NHL entry draft and improved his stock with the good season in P.E.I. While continuing to make his game better-a priority is his puckhandling skills-Cassivi also must prove to Syracuse coach Jack Mcllhargey he deserves playing time.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big goalie, he covers a lot of net and he moves well for a big guy,&rdquo; Mcllhargey said.Learning the habits and styles of his new teammates will take time, but Cassivi said it&rsquo;s not a big concern.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same game: you play against the puck,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just worry about the puck.&rdquo;NO MORE ORR: Citing a potential conflict of interest, Bobby Orr relinquished his ownership share in the expansion Lowell, Mass., franchise that will begin play next season.Orr was part of the ownership group that bought the franchise, but he also owns Bob Woolf Associates Inc., a sports management and player representation firm in Boston.&ldquo;There was a potential conflict of interest and while he still supports the team, he thought business-wise it was best to back out,&rdquo; said Darren Orr, Bobby&rsquo;s son and a member of the Lowell front office staff.Critics may say Orr&rsquo;s name was used solely to gain support for the franchise, but Darren said that&rsquo;s not the case. &ldquo;They can believe what they want to, but he truly did want to be involved in an American League team.&rdquo;BAD RUMOR: A report circulating on wire services in the middle of October that had the New York Rangers moving their affiliation to Lowell, Mass., irked Binghamton Rangers&rsquo; managing partner Tom Mitchell.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the first I&rsquo;d ever heard of it,&rdquo; said Mitchell, whose contract with New York runs through 1997-98. &ldquo;One of the conditions of that Lowell franchise is they have to find an affiliate that isn&rsquo;t already in the league.&rdquo;AHL TIDBITS: Third-year Saint John Flames&rsquo; defenseman Sami Helenius doubled his career goal total by scoring twice against the Rochester Americans Oct. 11. Helenius played 69 games without a goal last season and had two as a rookie in 1994-95&hellip;Hamilton Bulldogs&rsquo; center Jason Bonsignore, fourth overall pick in the 1994 entry draft, had his biggest night as a pro with a goal and four assists in a 6-5 win over the Adirondack Red Wings Oct. 12&hellip;Carolina Monarchs&rsquo; rookie right winger David Nemirovsky scored two game-winners in the final three minutes of the third period&hellip;Portland Pirates&rsquo; left winger Andrew Brunette was player of the week for the period ending Oct. 13 after scoring four goals and eight points in four games. &#9632;

f0025-02

Cassivi already showing he can handle Crunch time

<div class="byline">By Kevin idle</div>The Cincinnati Cyclones had their hands on three top-notch goalies prior to the start of the International League season. Then, for one reason or another, they lost all three.But after the season&rsquo;s first two weeks. Geoff Sarjeant was quieting any fears fans may have had about the Cyclones&rsquo; goaltending.Over the past three seasons, Cincinnati has allowed the fewest goals in the IHL, due in part to brilliant goaltending provided by Pokey Reddick first and, more recently, Danny Lorenz and Frederic Chabot.But Lorenz and Chabot signed as free agents with other IHL teams, Lorenz going to the Milwaukee Admirals and Chabot taking a big contract from the Houston Aeros. Cincinnati then had NHL veteran Craig Billington for a while, but lost him when the Colorado Avalanche claimed him in the NHL waiver draft Oct. 7.That left Sarjeant. who fell off the map last year with a dismal season. But in the early going, Cincinnati sat atop the defensive standings and the reason was its goaltending.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03340/6797188-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="348" height="399"></div>Sarjeant was the league&rsquo;s goalie of the week for the period ending Oct. 13. He went 3-0-0 and stopped 103 of the 106 shots (97.2 save percentage) and all five in a shootout victory.&ldquo;He has been on fire,&rdquo; said Cincinnati coach-GM Ron Smith. &ldquo;Our first night against Cleveland, I don&rsquo;t want to say he outright stole it, but he gave us goaltending as good as we ever had from either guy last year. He was amazing.&rdquo;And that, in part, is somewhat amazing considering Sarjeant&rsquo;s fall from grace last year. He signed an IHL contract with Milwaukee in the summer of 1995 that included an NHL out clause, which he exercised when the San Jose Sharks offered him a deal.But the Sharks were overrun with goalies and Sarjeant found himself with the IHL&rsquo;s Kansas City Blades. And that was a situation not entirely designed to make a goaltender look good. There was turmoil and near-chaos last year with the Blades. At one point, he was almost traded to the Las Vegas Thunder.&ldquo;I would have welcomed the trade,&rdquo; said Sarjeant, whose 3.88 goals-against average with the Blades was the highest of his IHL career by more than half a goal a game.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say bad things about the organization, but I thought I&rsquo;d be given a chance to make it when I went there and I wasn&rsquo;t and that really frustrated me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One of the reasons I signed with Cincinnati was I wanted to get to a place where everybody was pulling in the same direction.&rdquo;&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see him play too much last year,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;but I did some research and I was comfortable with what I found out.&rdquo;A DEAL&rsquo;S A DEAL: The Cleveland Lumberjacks are in the final year of their affiliation with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but at first glance you might think it has already ended.The Penguins have scattered a number of their prospects throughout the IHL. But Jacks&rsquo; GM Larry Gordon said there is no rift between the two longtime associates.Pittsburgh wound up with more contracted players than it thought it would.Cleveland, on the other hand, had 12 players under contract to Pittsburgh.&ldquo;It has been a good two-way deal,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;But what happened is that they told me to sign eight, nine or 10 of my own players. We did that and it turned out they had more players than they thought, so they&rsquo;ve had to put them around the league.&rdquo;I-OPENERS: Goalie Rick Knickle is the backup in Milwaukee, making the Admirals his 12th IHL club. He has also played for the Muskegon Mohawks, Hint Generals and Spirits, Saginaw Generals, Peoria Rivermen, Fort Wayne Komets, Albany Choppers, San Diego Gulls, Phoenix Roadrunners, Detroit Vipers and Las Vegas&hellip;The Utah Grizzlies received goalie Tommy Soderstrom on assignment from the New York Islanders&hellip;Members of the DeVos family who own the Orlando Solar Bears and Grand Rapids Griffins have come up with a bet. The loser of the season series will buy a billboard in the winner&rsquo;s town congratulating him. In addition, the losing team will make a $500 per-game contribution to a charity of the winning team&rsquo;s choice. Daniel DeVos is co-owner of the Griffins, while his father. Rich, owns the Solar Bears. Daniel and his wife. Pamella, also own the Kansas City Blades. &#9632;

f0025-03

Cyclones’ Sarjeant happy marching to winning beat

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>A native son became a hated son.Rico Fata, who last Ontario League season played to cheers in his hometown Sault Ste. Marie, heard jeers when he returned with the London Knights for a 7-2 loss.Fata, 16, triggered a 4-on-4 melee late in the game as the Knights played the Greyhounds Oct. 13. Much to the fans&rsquo; dismay, he didn&rsquo;t receive a penalty.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the enemy now,&rdquo; said Fata, who played with the Greyhounds as a 15-year-old before being drafted first overall by London. &ldquo;You kind of expect it. It&rsquo;s nothing against the fans. Personally, I&rsquo;d like to thank the fans here. Last year they chanted my name.&rdquo;Fata, eligible for the 1998 NHL entry draft, is heralded as a future star. He got his first pair of skates at three and, after crashing into the end boards, didn&rsquo;t want to skate for two years.Fata displays great intelligence on and off the ice. He&rsquo;s a straight-A student and the Knights&rsquo; challenge is making sure they have people who play the way he thinks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m living in a dream world (with hockey),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You always have to be thinking one or two plays ahead. The mental part of the game is so important. It&rsquo;s 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical. My father says ability will get you there, but the thing that will keep you there is your brain.&rdquo;Fata had five goals and 15 points in eight games with London. He had 11 goals and 26 points in 62 games for the Greyhounds last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01908/6797219-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="697" height="239"></div>The night before, against the Detroit Whalers, Fata scored a goal as the Knights defeated the Whalers 5-3 for their third win in seven games after going 3-60-3 last season. The third win came in Game 61 last season.EXPOSED: CBC-TV&rsquo;s The Fifth Estate takes another damning look at junior hockey in Thin Ice, to be aired Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. (EST).It examines hazing rituals and sexual assault charges laid against junior players, in particular the 21 charges brought against former Greyhound Jarret Reid in December, 1993.Reid, now attending university, pleaded guilty to eight charges and served part of a nine-month jail term.&ldquo;Leagues generally forbid hazing with varying degrees of effectiveness,&rdquo; says The Fifth Estate host Linden MacIntyre, &ldquo;but all teams seem to tolerate at least some dubious tices in the name of team building. The paramount concern of teams is winning and to that end, rules are bent.&rdquo;Former NHL goalie Ken Dryden, who never played in the OHL, says: &ldquo;You have the sense about yourself that you can do whatever it is you want to do, whenever you want to do it and there are no consequences. You will get out of the consequences yourself or somebody else will get you out of them.&rdquo;While the OHL is the main thrust in Thin Ice, it&rsquo;s painted with the same brush as two incidents in Ontario Jr. B and Jr. C hockey.Three years ago, the program explored the OHL in Promises of Glory. The league saw it as an attack and OHL commissioner Dave Branch declined to be interviewed about Thin Ice.OPEN DOORS: The league has acted after the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds banned the media from their dressing room.Branch issued a policy saying the media is admitted to dressing rooms five minutes after a game ends and players will be available for interviews until 90 minutes before game time. All practices are open to the media.Earlier this season, the Greyhounds banned media from the dressing room after reading numerous negative reviews of their new logo.THEIR MANN: Cameron Mann had eight goals and 17 points in six games after returning to the Peterborough Petes from the Boston Bruins. He had three goals in a 6-4 win over the Erie Otters Oct. 12. &#9632;

f0026-01

Fata irks hometown fans, but finds home in London

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Bill Riley is finding out what life is like on the other side and it has been an eye-opener.As coach of the Moncton Wildcats, Riley is gaining a new appreciation for the coaches he had during a five-year NHL career.&ldquo;I go back to the days when Tommy McVie was coaching us in Washington as an expansion club,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;The guy should have had a medal. I&rsquo;m just realizing that.&rdquo;Riley&rsquo;s first month as a coach-GM in the Quebec League was rocky. Apart from a 1-13-0 start, including a 12-game losing streak, Riley and his star player, Pierre Dagenais, had a conflict that resulted in the left winger being traded to the Laval Titan Oct. 10 in an eight-player deal involving three teams.The Wildcats sent Dagenais, (the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; second round pick in the 1996 NHL entry draft), and defenseman Jeff Bennett to the Titan in exchange for defensemen Mathieu Letourneau and Ben Berthiaume, David Thibault, a second round pick in the 1997 QMJHL midget draft and another player to arrive Dec. 20, believed to be center Jean-Francois Lortie. The Victoriaville Tigres then acquired Thibault from Moncton in return for center Remy Boudreau and right winger Jim Shepherd.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02599/6797250-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="594" height="299"></div>Sources close to the Wildcats said Riley didn&rsquo;t like Dagenais&rsquo; attitude and considered him a problem player.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for me as a coach to badmouth players,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;All I can say is that the kid didn&rsquo;t fit into our plans and we had a chance to improve our hockey club.&rdquo;Dagenais, who was the first overall pick in the 1995 midget draft and scored 43 goals as a rookie with Moncton last season, said Riley had no system and there was a communication problem on the team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult for a (francophone) Quebecer to have a dialogue with Bill Riley because he&rsquo;s a unilingual anglophone,&rdquo; Dagenais told the Journal de Montreal.&ldquo;There was absolutely no problem (with language),&rdquo; Riley responded. &ldquo;My associate coach (Roland Collette) is fully bilingual. There&rsquo;s no problem. (Dagenais) understands what he wants to understand.&rdquo;Riley is confident the Wildcats are a better team as a result of the trade and was thrilled to acquire Boudreau, a Moncton native known for his strong leadership qualities.&ldquo;We like the people that we&rsquo;ve acquired,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a better hockey team overall. And the spirit in the dressing room is a lot better.&rdquo;FIRING LINE: It took just 10 games for the axe to fall on the first QMJHL coach this season.Rouyn-Noranda fired rookie coach Pierre Plante Oct. 14 after the Huskies got off to a 1-81 start. Plante, 29, was hired in the off-season after spending three seasons with the Jr. A St-Jerome Panthers. The Huskies didn&rsquo;t name a replacement immediately, but were hoping to land Guy Chouinard, who was fired by the Sherbrooke Faucons last season.Huskies&rsquo; GM Sylvain Danis is earning a reputation for having an itchy trigger finger. Last year, when the franchise was based in St-Hyacinthe, Danis fired co-coaches Carl Pepin and Jean-Pierre Comtois after a 5-7-0 start.NOTEBOOK: Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; center Daniel Briere, last season&rsquo;s league scoring champ, had three goals and three assists in a 10-3 victory over Laval Oct. 14, giving him 15 goals and 29 points in 10 games. He had a five-goal game in a 7-4 win over the Rimouski Oceanic Oct. 9&hellip;After tying a team record with eight consecutive wins to start the year, the Shawinigan Cataractes lost three straight while being outscored 14-5. Shawinigan, which has been in the QMJHL since the league&rsquo;s formation in 1969-70, has never won the President&rsquo;s Cup&hellip;Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; goaltender Marc Denis was hot in his first five games after returning from the Colorado Avalanche training camp, posting a 4-0-1 record with two shutouts and a 1.17 goals-against average. &#9632;

f0026-02

First-year Wildcat coach not living the life of Riley

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Red Deer Rebels&rsquo; GM Wayne Simpson scoffs at the suggestion a five-year plan is coming to fruition.&ldquo;Our five-year plan was to survive,&rdquo; quipped Simpson, who has managed the Western League franchise since its debut in 1992.Red Deer was the WHL&rsquo;s hottest team in the early stages of 1996-97. After losing their opener, the Rebels responded with 10 consecutive victories to post the league&rsquo;s best record.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s rewarding,&rdquo; Simpson said. &ldquo;You feel good about it for the kids, especially the ones who have been through a lot, like Mike McBain, Jonathan Zukiwsky and Jesse Wallin.&ldquo;You also feel good for our faithful fans. They&rsquo;re the ones we&rsquo;re playing for. They&rsquo;ve had patience through some tough times-especially through the third year, which was really bad-and they&rsquo;ve stuck with us.&rdquo;Red Deer had winning percentages of. 444,. 493,. 264 and. 424 before this season&rsquo;s uprising.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03474/6797281-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="357" height="358"></div>There were signs of a breakthrough in the 1996 playoffs when the Rebels upset the Swift Current Broncos (36-31-5) in the first round.&ldquo;A lot of the credit has to go to (coach) Rick Carriere and the coaching staff for the way they handled the team last year,&rdquo; Simpson said. &ldquo;We had a very young team and he gave them the opportunity to play together, regardless of the mistakes they made.&ldquo;In the playoffs against Swift Current, we gained a tremendous amount of confidence. Coming back this year, we basically only lost the three 20-year-olds we had last season.&rdquo;They hadn&rsquo;t lost much else, as evidenced by the 10-1-0 start. Simpson responded with tempered optimism.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s such a struggle to get to this level,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if we&rsquo;re at that level yet. It&rsquo;s a start, but we have to keep getting better.&rdquo;PRODIGAL PROSOFSKY: At 16, Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; center Garrett Prosofsky has already made an impact in the WHL.Prosofsky had eight goals and 20 points after the first 11 games of his rookie season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a good player,&rdquo; Blades&rsquo; coach Donn Clark said. &ldquo;At the start of the season, if somebody had told me he would have 20 points after 11 games, I would have laughed.&ldquo;With veterans, you can gauge what production you&rsquo;re going to get. With young guys, you don&rsquo;tknow what they&rsquo;re going to do.&rdquo;The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Prosofsky was an underage midget AAA player last season with the Saskatoon Contacts. At 15, he had 81 points in 42 games, despite playing against players who were one or two years older.Prosofsky is again excelling against his elders. Did he envision anything like this?&ldquo;Not even close,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everything is going well for me now. I&rsquo;m getting lots of power play time, which helps me get points and my wingers are helping me out by putting the puck in the net or giving me nice passes for goals.&rdquo;Prosofsky is the cornerstone of the Blades&rsquo; rebuilding program. Saskatoon got off to a 1-10-0 start.&ldquo;This is the right time to be with the Blades, because they&rsquo;re a young team,&rdquo; Prosofsky said. &ldquo;Everyone is getting their fair share of ice time.&rdquo;ICY STARES: Swift Current and the Edmonton Ice produced a whopping 426 penalty minutes during the Broncos&rsquo; 9-3 home-ice victory Oct. 16.The game included a third period line brawl. Edmonton received 18 of 33 minors, 14 of 26 majors, one of three misconducts, 10 of 18 game misconducts and one of two gross misconducts.&ldquo;It was a long night,&rdquo; said Broncos&rsquo; coach-GM Todd McLellan, who was tossed in the first period for arguing with referee Greg Johnson.&ldquo;(Johnson) lost control of the game and it went from there,&rdquo; Broncos&rsquo; right winger Chris Szysky said. &ldquo;We won, which is the good thing, but it was an all-around bad night.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-03

Improved Rebels finally find cause to celebrate

<div class="byline">By Chris Miller</div>When Tim Watters and Dean Talafous played in the NHL, it was with a high degree of professionalism and a strong desire to do anything for their teams.The two hope to pass along those ideals as first-year coaches in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.Watters, who was an NHL defenseman for 14 seasons, takes over at Michigan Tech. Talafous, who played eight NHL seasons, is the new boss at Alaska-Anchorage. They are the only WCHA coaches who played at hockey&rsquo;s highest level.Watters, an assistant last year with the Boston Bruins, took over in mid-summer after Bob Mancini left to take a job with USA Hockey.&ldquo;Coming in in Aug. I didn&rsquo;t give me a great deal of preparation time,&rdquo; Watters said. &ldquo;I looked at a lot of videotape, but I probably won&rsquo;t put a lot of emphasis on that. It will be a quick learning experience as the players adjust to me and I get to know them.&rdquo;Talafous, 43, spent the past seven seasons at Wisconsin-River Falls, where he led the Falcons to the 1994 Division III championship. The Seawolves didn&rsquo;t win a road game last season and finished ninth in the 10-team WCHA, but they opened this season with a road win.&ldquo;It will take time,&rdquo; Talafous said. &ldquo;We have to be disciplined-we led the league in penalties last year-but sometimes when you have less talent it&rsquo;s easier to develop an identity.&rdquo;<h2>WCHA</h2>Talafous said his team would no longer use travel weariness as an excuse, nor would he complain about recruiting problems.&ldquo;This is a city of 250,000 and we&rsquo;re the only show,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have the mountains, we have the salmon fishing, the inlets-and we only need 20 good players, not 100.&rdquo;WANDERING WILDCATS: Northern Michigan will play its final season in the WCHA before joining the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in 1997. The Wildcats started their program in 1976 and were in the CCHA until 1984, when they joined the WCHA.&ldquo;We need to re-establish ourselves in the state of Michigan,&rdquo; said Northern coach Rick Comley. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the Upper Peninsula. We need to get downstate, where the large daily papers are and where Lansing, the budget capital, is. We need the exposure down there.&rdquo;Starting next season, six of Michigan&rsquo;s seven Division I teams will be in the CCHA. Michigan Tech will stay in the WCHA, although Northern is its chief rival. Both schools have long promoted the idea of a super conference, where the WCHA and CCHA would merge and form three divisions.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much difference between the leagues now,&rdquo; Comley said. &ldquo;A lot of people might disagree with that, but the CCHA has won three of the last five national titles. The WCHA may be a little stronger top to bottom.&rdquo; &#9632;

Expros Watters, Talafous now give it old college try

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Ten days after fracturing his fifth cervical vertebra in a fall during practice, University of Alaska-Fairbanks sophomore defenseman Erik Drygas awaited transfer from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital to a spinal rehabilitation institute.Drygas, 20, was injured when he fell into the boards head-first during a drill Oct. 7. After undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs and repair the vertebra two days after the accident, Drygas still had limited use and feeling in his upper body and paralysis in his lower body. It was hoped he would regain neurological function after the post-surgery swelling went down.&ldquo;Right now it&rsquo;s just a waiting game and there&rsquo;s no significant change,&rdquo; said the Central Collegiate Hockey Association team&rsquo;s sports information director Scott Roselius.Drygas, 6-foot-3 and 214 pounds, had become a team leader after a summer conditioning program which put him among the team&rsquo;s fastest players in running drills, according to Nanooks&rsquo; coach Dave Laurion.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s never a reason for these tragedies and there&rsquo;s no reason for this one,&rdquo; he said.But Laurion also said Drygas is upbeat and wants to be kept abreast of the team&rsquo;s progress.&ldquo;Part of Erik&rsquo;s recovery will be living through us vicariously,&rdquo; Laurion said.The coach also said it has been hard to gauge the effect Drygas&rsquo; injury has had on the team because, &ldquo;20-year-old young men don&rsquo;t wear their hearts on their sleeves. It&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;re trying to keep tabs on, how they&rsquo;re feeling about it and giving them all the help we can.&rdquo;<h2>CCHA</h2>The Drygas family has been in touch with the family of Travis Roy for moral support. Roy was paralyzed last Oct. 20 during his first shift as a Boston University freshman.A fund has been set up for Drygas through the Denali State Bank. The address is 119 North Cushman St., Fairbanks, Alaska. 99701. The account number is 1030857. Cards should be sent to Erik Drygas, c/o University of Alaska-Fairbanks Faceoff Club, P.O. Box 8143, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99708-1043.A RECORD, BUT&hellip;: There was good news and bad news when Lake Superior State opened its season by hosting Michigan at Abel Arena.The two teams set an attendance record of 4,218 Oct. 12. That broke the previous record set last Feb. 24, when the same teams met.But the Lakers dropped a 4-2 decision to the defending U.S. college champions as the Wolverines&rsquo; Brendan Morrison collected three assists. It was a non-conference game.SENIOR-I-TY: Bowling Green&rsquo;s all senior line of center Curtis Frye, left winger Brett Punchard and right winger Mike Johnson were in mid-season form when the Falcons defeated Ohio State 7-2. Frye collected three assists Oct. 12, Punchard had a goal and three assists and Johnson, two goals and two assists. &#9632;

Injured rearguard Drygas still playing waiting game

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>All players look forward to a new season, but Cornell junior Vinnie Auger may be a little more pumped up about 1996-97 than many of his teammates.For the first time in a long while, Auger is playing without pain.That&rsquo;s a good omen for Big Red coach Mike Schafer because the defending Eastern College Athletic Conference champion lost three of its top six scorers, including Brad Chartrand, who led the Big Red with 24 goals and 43 points. Schafer is going to need players such as Auger to pick up the slack.&ldquo;Vinnie came back with no pain,&rdquo; said Schafer, who led Cornell to the ECAC title in his first season behind the bench. &ldquo;He dropped a little weight, strengthened his lower back and is really excited about getting going.&rdquo;Auger should be excited. As a freshman in 1993-94, the 6-foot, 193-pound center was one of the most dynamic rookies in the league. He was named Ivy League freshman of the year and scored 11 goals and 24 points, the most points by a Big Red rookie since Kent Man-derville had 26 in 1989-90.But a lower back problem forced him to miss the entire 1994-95 season. He had surgery in May, 1995. The 1993 Colorado Avalanche draft pick came back last season and scored five goals and 20 points in 23 games, but missed 11 games because of back problems.<h2>ECAC</h2>&ldquo;He tried to come back (too early),&rdquo; Schafer said. &ldquo;He helped us in games that he played, but he still had a lot of pain, and he didn&rsquo;t say anything about it. There were games he played that he probably shouldn&rsquo;t have.&rdquo;But now Auger is back at full strength, and will try to get the Big Red back to the top of the ECAC heap, after a 14-4-4 record and fourth place regular season showing.WILL AND A WAY: There will be a lot of Will on the Union College blueline this winter.Sophomore defenseman Mark Will will again join his older brother, Andrew, on Union&rsquo;s defensive corps.Andrew Will is one of the most durable players in Union&rsquo;s lineup. He has dressed in all but one game over three seasons. He goes into his senior season with 11 goals and 50 points.Mark Will developed into one of Union&rsquo;s best defensive players last season. He had one assist in 16 games, with a minus-5 rating for the 11th-place, 4-15-3 Skating Dutchmen.BUSY SAINTS: Most teams take a break during the Christmas holiday, but that will be the busiest time of the year for St. Lawrence.Because of a scheduling mix-up, the Saints will play two tournaments in a seven-day span.On Dec. 27-28, they will be in Michigan, playing in the Grand Rapids Tournament. Then, it&rsquo;s back east to play in the Auld Lang Syne at Dartmouth Dec. 30-31. &#9632;

Healthy back Auger’s well for Cornell’s cornerstone

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Bruce Crowder is looking forward to the challenge of bringing the Northeastern Huskies back to respectability.Crowder, 39, left the University of Massachusetts-Lowell at the end of last season to become the coach at Northeastern.&ldquo;My only real thoughts team-wise are to get the guys to compete,&rdquo; said the former Boston Bruin and Pittsburgh Penguin. &ldquo;If you can get a team to play every night and develop a great second and third effort, it&rsquo;ll really help. Like Maine and Lowell, we&rsquo;ve got a lot of freshmen so we&rsquo;re going to be better in the second half.&rdquo;The job of resurrecting a team that finished seventh with a 6-13-5 record is tough because the Huskies were hurt by graduation. Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Dan McGillis is the most notable senior not back this season.Crowder was made to feel welcome coming from Hockey East rival Mass.-Lowell. He was pleased with the reception he received from the alumni at the Boston-based school.&ldquo;They seem excited about me and it always helps to have them behind you,&rdquo; Crowder said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to working with them.&rdquo;Crowder said he will be able to put a &ldquo;few more things into my recruiting bag&rdquo; at Northeastern such as being in Boston, the renovated Matthews Arena, the co-op program which enables student to get on-the-job training in their major and the Beanpot Tournament.<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>&ldquo;They will all help in the recruiting battles,&rdquo; Crowder said. &ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t going to win every one of them, but at least I&rsquo;ll be able to go after a different brand of kid.&rdquo;TERRIERS TOP: Boston University is the heavy favorite to defend its Hockey East title according to the coaches&rsquo; poll.The Terriers were followed in order by New Hampshire, Boston College, Maine, Providence, Merrimack, UMass-Amherst, Northeastern and UMass-Lowell.The coaches also voted on an all-Hockey East pre-season team. These are players expected to have the best chance of making the allHockey East team at the end of the season.Making up the team are: centers Shawn Bates, Chris Drury and Jon Coleman from Boston University; centers Eric Boguniecki and Mark Mowers from New Hampshire; defenseman Jason Mansoff and right winger Dan Shermerhorn from Maine; goalie Dan Dennis and defenseman Hal Gill from Providence; center Marty Reasoner and defenseman Ken Heinenway from Boston College; and goalie Martin Fillion from Mass.-Lowell.Fillion, meanwhile, was suspended by new Riverhawks&rsquo; coach Tim Whitehead for the first four games of the regular season. The senior stopper broke team rules, but officials at the school would offer no further comment on his suspension. &#9632;

Former Bruin Crowder received well in Boston

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01800/6797429-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01902/6797422-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3109" height="3506"></div>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONSStatistics provided by National Hockey League: PLAYER-listed by uniform number, position (F-torward; D-defenseman; G-goalie), name; GP-games played; G-goals; A-assists; P-points; +1--plus/minus; PIM-penalties; PP-power-play goals; SH-short-handed goals; GW-game-winning goals; GT-game-tyiing goals; S-shots; PCT-shooting percentage. Players indicated by an asterisk (&ldquo;) are eligible for the Calder Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01834/6797415-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3117" height="3534"></div><h2>NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01897/6797408-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3117" height="886"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Transactions include player moves from Oct. 11-18. Rosters and injuries are as of Oct. 18. Players in roster are listed in sequence of latest line combinations and defense pairing (i.e. first center plays on line with first left winger and first right winger).<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 14: Joe Day, C, assigned to Baltimore (AHL). Oct. 15: Barry Nieckar, RW, recalled from Long Beach (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jari Kurri, Steve Rucchin, Kevin Todd, J.F. Jomphe, Alex Hicks. LW-Ted Drury, Joe Sacco, Garry Valk, Ken Baumgartner. RW-Teemu Selanne, Warren Rychel, Roman Oksiuta, Barry Nieckar, Valeri Karpov. LD-Bobby Dollas, David Karpa, Fredrik Olausson, Darren Van Impe. RD-Adrian Plavsic, Jason Marshall, Ruslan Salei. G-Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtalenkov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Kariya, LW, strained abdominal muscle injury, day-to-day.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Jozef Stumpel, Trent McCleary, Clayton Beddoes. LW-Todd Elik, Ted Donato, Cam Stewart, Troy Mallette, David Emma. RW-Rick Tocchet, Steve Heinze, Jeff Odgers, Rob DiMaio. LD-Kyle McLaren, Don Sweeney, Barry Richter. RD-Ray Bourque, Steve Staios, Mattias Timander, Bob Beers. G-Bill Ranford, Scott Bailey.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dean Chynoweth, D, abdominal surgery, indefinite. Dean Malkoc, D, left wrist surgery, indefinite. Sandy Moger, RW, broken left foot, indefinite. Jon Rohloff, D, sprained left ankle, indefinite.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 11: Vaclav Varada, RW, assigned to Rochester (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Derek Plante, Mike Peca, Brian Holzinger. LW-Randy Burridge, Michal Grosek, Curtis Brown, Wayne Primeau. RW-Jason Dawe, Donald Audette, Dixon Ward, Rob Ray, Anatoli Semenov. LD-Mike Wilson, Alexei zhitnik, Bob Boughner, Rumun Ndur. RD-Darryl Shannon, Garry Galley, Richard Smehlik, Jay McKee. G-Dominik Hasek, Andrei Trefilov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Pat LaFontaine, C, concussion, day-to-day. Brad May, RW, subluxation of the right shoulder, indefinite.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 17: Dwayne Roloson, G, and Marko Jantunen, RW, assigned to Saint John (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Robert Reichel, Dave Gagner, Corey Millen, Todd Hlushko. LW-German Titov, Cory Stillman, Mike Sullivan, Jonas Hoglund, Paul Kruse. RW-Theo Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Ron Stem, Sasha Lakovic. LD-Tommy Albe-lin, Joel Bouchard, Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan. RD-Todd Simpson, Cale Hulse, Jamie Huscroft. G-Trevor Kidd, RickTabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Steve Chiasson. D, sprained knee, indefinite. Sandy McCarthy, RW, broken ankle, indefinite. James Patrick. D, back spasms, day-to-day. Zarley Zalapski. D, bruised knee, day-to-day.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 18: Alexei Zhamnov, C, signed five-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Murray Craven, Denis Savard, Brent Sutter, Jeff Shantz, Adam Creighton, Alexei Zhamnov. LW-James Black, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Basil McRae. RW-Tony Amonte, Kevin Miller, Sergei Krivokrasov, Mike Prokopec, Jim Cummins. LD-Keith Carney, Gary Suter, Enrico Ciccone. RD-Chris Che-lios, Eric Weinrich, Cam Russell. G-Ed Belfour, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Eric Daze, LW, sprained left ankle, day-to-day. Tuomas Gronman, D, dislocated left elbow, late-October. Jeff Hackett, G, broken right index finger, day-to-day. Steve Smith, D, nerve damage in left leg, indefinite.<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 12: Valeri Kamensky, LW, signed three-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Stephane Yelle. LW-Eric Lacroix, Valeri Kamensky, Rene Corbet, Yves Sarault, Brent Severyn. RW-Scott Young, Aaron Miller, Mike Keane, Landon Wilson. LD-Sylvain Lefebvre, Uwe Krupp, Alexei Gusarov, Jon Klemm. RD-Adam Foote, Sandis Ozolinsh, Curtis Leschyshyn. G-Patrick Roy, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Adam Deadmarsh, RW, bruised ribs, day-to-day. Claude Lemieux. RW, strained abdominal muscle, indefinite.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 11: Patrick Cote, LW, recalled from Michigan (IHL). Oct. 14: Dan Keczmer, D, assigned to Michigan. Oct. 18: Sergei Makarov, RW, signed one-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Modano, Brent Gilchrist, Todd Harvey, Guy Carbonneau. LW-Greg Adams, Benoit Hogue, Dave Reid, Patrick Cote. RW-Jere Lehtinen, Pat Verbeek, Jamie Lanqenbrunner, Mike Kennedy, Grant Marshall. LD-Richard Matvichuk, Craig Ludwig, Mike Lalor, Grant Ledyard. RD-Derian Hatcher, Sergei Zubov, Darryl Sydor. G-Andy Moog, Arturs lrbe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Bassen, C, herniated disc, indefinite. Bill Huard, LW, separated shoulder, early-November. Joe Nieuwendyk, C, tom rib cartilage, day-to-day.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 12: Stu Grimson, LW, claimed on waivers by Hartford.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Kris Draper, Greg Johnson. LW-Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Bob Errey, Tomas Holmstrom. RW-Martin Lapointe, Steve Yzer-man, Darren McCarty, Kirk Maltby, Doug Brown. LD-Nicklas Lidstrom, Anders Eriksson, Slava Fetisov, Mathieu Dandenault. RD-Bob Rouse, Jamie Pushor, Vladimir Konstantinov, Aaron Ward. G-Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon, Kevin Hodson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tim Taylor, LW, separated left shoulder, indefinite.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Weight, Jason Arnott, Todd Marchant, Rem Murray, Jesse Belanger. LW-Ryan Smyth, Dean McAmmond, Miroslav Satan, Mariusz Czerkawski, Louie DeBrusk. RW-Andrei Kovalenko, David Oliver. Mike Grier, Kelly Buchberger. LD-Jeff Norton, Luke Richardson, Greg de Vries. RD-Bryan March-ment, Donald Dufresne, Boris Mironov, Dan McGillis. G-Curtis Joseph, Bob Essensa<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Lowe, D, inflamed nerve in neck, indefinite.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Stu Barnes, Rob Niedermayer, Martin Straka, Brian Skrudland. LW-Dave Lowry, Johan Garpenlov, Bill Lindsay, Mike Hough. RW-Ray Sheppard, Scott Mellanby, Radek Dvorak, Tom Fitzgerald, Jody Hull, Brad Smyth. LD-Terry Carkner, Ed Jovanovski, Jason Woolley, Per Gustafsson. RD-Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Rhett Warrener. G-John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Laus, D, bruised foot, day-to-day.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 12: Stu Grimson, LW, claimed on waivers from Detroit. Nolan Pratt, D, assigned to Springfield (AHL). Oct. 14: Marek Malik, D, assigned to Springfield. Kent Manderville, LW, assigned to San Antonio (IHL). Oct. 15: Manny Legace, G, recalled from Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Andrew Cassels, Keith Primeau, Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, Mark Janssens. LW-Geoff Sanderson, Andrei Nikolishin, Paul Ranheim, Hnat Domenichelli, Stu Grimson. RW-Sami Kapanen, Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron, Steven Rice. LD-Glen Featherstone, Glen Wesley, Alexander Godynyuk. RD-Paul Coffey, Adam Burt, Gerald Diduck. G-Jason Muzzatti, Manny Legace.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Brown, D, back strain, indefinite. Sean Burke, G, back spasms, day-to-day. Kelly Chase, RW, broken wrist, day-to-day. Nelson Emerson, RW, sprained ankle, day-to-day.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Ray Ferraro, Ed Olczyk, Ian Laperriere, Paul DiPietro. LW-Dimitri Khristich, Brent Grieve, Barry Potomski. RW-Yanic Perreault, Petr Klima, Dan Bylsma, Kai Nurminen, Matt Johnson. LD-Mattias Norstrom, Aki Berg, Sean O&rsquo;Donnell. RD-Rob Blake, John Slaney, Jaroslav Modry. G-Stephane Fiset, Byron Dafoe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Philippe Boucher, D, sprained right shoulder, day-to-day. Steven Finn, D, right leg stress fracture, day-to-day. Craig Johnson, LW, hip flexor/abdominal strain, day-to-day. Kevin Stevens, LW, concussion/strained neck, day-to-day. Vladimir Tsyplakov, LW, pulled abdominal muscle, indefinite. Jan Vopat, D, herniated disc, indefinite. Vitali Yachmenev, RW, sprained left shoulder, day-to-day. Doug Zmolek, D, concussion, day-to-day.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 16: Olivier Morin, RW, signed three-year contract. Morin remains with Chicoutimi (QMJHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Pierre Turgeon, Scott Thornton, Darcy Tucker. LW-Brian Savage, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Donald Brashear, Terry Ryan. RW-Mark Recchi, Valeri Bure, Stephane Richer, Marc Bureau. LD-Peter Popovic, Vladimir Malakhov, David Wilkie. RD-Patrice Brisebois, Stephane Quintal, Rory Fitzpatrick, Craig Rivet. G-Jocelyn Thibault, Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Chris Murray, RW, fractured right hand, indefinite. Turner Stevenson. RW, sprained left knee, day-to-day.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct 14: Steve Sullivan, C, Ricard Persson, D. and Reid Simpson, LW, assigned to Albany (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bobby Holik, Bobby Carpenter, Petr Sykora, Sergei Brylin. LW-Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Valeri Zelepukin, Mike Peluso. RW-Steve Thomas. John MacLean, Bill Guerin, Randy McKay. LD-Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Kevin Dean. RD-Shawn Chambers, Jason Smith, Lyle Odelein. G-Martin Brodeur, Jeff Reese, Mike Dunham.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ken Daneyko, D, sore hip, day-to-day.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 11: Darby Hendrickson, C, claimed on waivers by Toronto. Oct. 15: Tommy Soderstrom, G, recalled from Utah (IHL). Oct. 16: Brent Hughes, assigned to Utah. Oct. 17: Jim Dowd, C, assigned to Utah.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Travis Green, Andreas Johansson, Dave Archibald, Derek Armstrong. LW-Derek King, Nicklas Andersson, Randy Wood, Mick Vukota. RW-Ziggy Palffy, Todd Bertuzzi, Marty McInnis, Mick Vukota, Mike Donnelly. LD-Darius Kasparaitis, Kenny Jonsson, Scott Lachance. RD-Bryan Berard, Bryan McCabe, Corey Foster. G-Tommy Salo, Tommy Soderstrom.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Eric Fichaud, G, sore abdominal muscle, indefinite. Rich Pilon, D, strained groin, Nov. 15. Dennis Vaske, D, separated shoulder, Nov. 15.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 11: Peter Ferraro, RW, assigned to Binghamton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Sergei Nemchinov, Christian Dube. LW-Adam Graves, Luc Robitaille, Daniel Goneau, Bill Berg, Sergio Momesso, Darren Langdon. RW-Alexei Kovalev, Niklas Sundstrom, Patrick Flatley. LD-Brian Leetch, Ulf Samuelsson, Bruce Driver, Eric Cairns. RD-Jeff Beukeboom, Jay More, Alexander Karpovtsev, Doug Lidster. G-Mike Richter, Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shane Churla, RW, broken right hand, late-October.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Yashin, Radek Bonk, Dave Hannan, Bruce Gardiner, Shaun Van Allen. LW-Randy Cunneyworth, Shawn McEachern, Denny Lambert. RW-Daniel Alfredsson, Alexandre Daigle, Andreas Dackall, Denis Chasse. LD-Stan Neckar, Wade Redden, Janne Lauk-kanen, Frank Musil. RD-Steve Duchesne, Sean Hill, Jason York, Lance Pitlick. G-Dami-an Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Chorske, LW, hip pointer, day-to-day. Dennis Vial, LW, sore right hand, day-to-day.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 12: Paul Healey, RW, and Craig Darby, C, recalled from Philadelphia (AHL). Oct. 13: Dominic Roussel, G, assigned to Philadelphia. Patrik Juhlin recalled from Philadelphia. Oct. 16: Juhlin assigned to Philadelphia. Oct. 17: Daniel Lacroix, C, suspended two games by NHL for elbow against Kevin Stevens Oct. 15. Eligible to return Oct. 22.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Dale Hawerchuk, Craig Darby, Trent Klatt. LW-John LeClair, John Druce, Shjon Podein, Dan Kordic. RW-Mikael Renberg, Pat Falloon, Dainius Zubrus, Scott Daniels, Paul Healey. LD-Chris Therien, Janne Niinimaa, Kevin Haller. RD-Eric Desjardins, Kjell Samuelsson, Karl Dykhuis. G-Ron Hextail, Garth Snow.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Eric Lindros, C, strained right groin, day-to-day. Joel Otto, C, strained rib muscle, day-to-day. Petr Svoboda, D, separated shoulder, indefinite.<h2>PHOENIX</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 14: Jeremy Roenick, C/LW, signed five-year contract. Juha Ylonen, D, assigned to Springfield (AHL). Oct. 17: Jason Doig, D, assigned to Las Vegas (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Craig Janney, Chad Kilger, Mike Stapleton, Bob Corkum. LW-Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick, Jim McKenzie. RW-Mike Gartner, Dallas Drake, Kris King. LD-Oleg Tverdovsky, Norm Maciver, Jeff Finley. RD-Teppo Nummi-nen, Dave Manson, Brad McCrimmon, Jim Johnson. G-Nikolai Khabibulin, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shane Doan, RW, sprained ankle, day-to-day. Cliff Ronning, C, broken right hand, indefinite. Darrin Shannon, LW, lower back strain, day-to-day.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Tyler Wright, Dan Quinn. LW-Alek Stojanov, Petr Nedved, Dave Roche, Joe Dziedzic. RW-Jaromir Jagr, Glen Murray, Shawn Antoski, Ed Patterson, Joe Mullen. LD-Chris Tamer, Stefan Bergkvist, Francois Leroux, Dmitn Mironov. RD-Kevin Hatcher, Craig Muni, J.J. Daigneault. G-Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tomas Sandstrom, RW, pulled groin, day-to-day. Neil Wilkinson, D. abdominal surgery, indefinite.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 17: Libor Zabransky, D, recalled from Worcester (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Shayne Corson, Harry York, Peter Zezel, Robert Petrovicky, Craig MacTavish. LW-Geoff Courtnail, Joe Murphy, Stephane Matteau, Tony Twist, Yuri Khmylev. RW-Brett Hull, Jim Campbell, Brian Noonan, Konstantin Shafranov, Stephen Leach. LD-Murray Baron, Libor Zabransky, Igor Kravchuk. RD-AI Maclnnis, Chris Pronger, Marc Bergevin, Christer Olsson. G-Grant Fuhr, Jon Casey.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Trent Yawney, D, strained groin, day-to-day.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 12: Ron Sutter, C, signed one-year contract as free agent. Oct. 14: Chris Tancill, LW, assigned to Kentucky (AHL). Oct. 15: Tancill recalled from Kentucky. Oct. 16: Ray Whitney, LW, assigned to Kentucky.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bemie Nicholls, Darren Turcotte, Viktor Kozlov, Ron Sutter. LW-Tony Granato, Jeff Friesen, Andrei Nazarov, Dody Wood, Chris Tancill. RW-Owen Nolan, Ulf Dahlen, Shean Donovan, Tim Hunter. LD-Doug Bodger, Mike Rathje, Greg Hawgood, Marcus Ragnarsson. RD-Todd Gill, Al lafrate, Michal Sykora, Vlastimil Kroupa. G-Chris Terreri, Kelly Hrudey.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Todd Ewen, RW, arthroscopic knee surgery, Oct. 25. Wade Flaherty, G, broken collarbone, Nov. 1. Marty McSorley, D, arthroscopic hip surgery, Nov. 1. Ville Peltonen, LW, arthroscopic knee surgery, Oct. 29.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 13: Daymond Langkow, C, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Bradley. Chris Gratton, Daymond Langkow, John Cullen. LW-Rob Zamuner, Jason Wiemer, Aaron Gavey, Shawn Burr, Patrick Poulin. RW-Alexander Selivanov, Dino Ciccarelli, Mikael Andersson, Brian Bellows. LD-Roman Hamrlik, Igor Ulanov, Cory Cross, Jay Wells. RD-Rudy Poeschek, Drew Bannister, Bill Houlder. G-Corey Schwab, Derek Wilkinson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Daren Puppa, G, strained groin, day-to-day. David Shaw, D, sore back, day-to-day. Craig Wolanin, D, shoulder surgery, indefinite. Paul Ysebaert, RW, strained groin, indefinite.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 11: Darby Hendrickson, C, claimed on waivers from Islanders. Oct. 16: Hendrickson assigned to St. John&rsquo;s (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Gilmour, Kirk Muller, Jamie Baker, Brandon Convery. LW-Wendel Clark, Sergei Berezin, Todd Warriner, Ralph Intranuovo, Nick Kypreos, Scott Pearson. RW-Mats Sundin, Tie Domi, Mike Craig, Fredrik Modin. LD-Dave Ellett, Jamie Macoun, Jeff Ware, Matt Martin. RD-Mathieu Schneider, Dimitri Yushkevich, Larry Murphy, Jamie Heward. G-Felix Potvin, Don Beaupre.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 16: Frantisek Kucera, D, assigned to Houston (IHL). Josef Beranek, C, assigned to Vsetin (Czech Republic).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Trevor Linden, Mike Ridley, Mike Sillinger, Alexander Semak. LW-Martin Gelinas, Markus Naslund, Esa Tikkanen, Gino Odjick, Dave Roberts. RW-Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Russ Courtnail, Troy Crowder. LD-Dave Babych, Leif Rohlin, Jassen Cullimore. RD-Jyrki Lumme, Adrian Aucoin, Chris Joseph. G-Kirk McLean, Mike Fountain.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bret Hedican, D, strained back, early-November. Corey Hirsch, G, bruised ribs, day-to-day. Dana Murzyn, D, sprained right wrist, day-to-day. Scott Walker, C, abdominal strain, day-to-day.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 13: Robb Stauber, G, assigned to Portland (AHL). Oct. 14: Stauber recalled from Portland. Oct. 16: Stauber assigned to Portland.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Michal Pivonka, Joe Juneau, Dale Hunter, Stefan Ustorf. LW-Steve Konowalchuk, Richard Zednik, Todd Krygier, Keith Jones, Craig Berube. RW-Peter Bon-dra, Jason Allison, Kelly Miller, Mike Eagles. LD-Mark Tinordi, Sylvain Cote, Brendan Witt, Joe Reekie. RD-Calle Johansson, Sergei Gonchar, Ken Klee, Phil Housley. G-Jim Carey, Olaf Kolzig.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Eric Charron, D, strained left knee ligaments, Nov. 1 Kevin Kaminski, C, tom right calf muscle, Oct. 25. Pat Peake, RW, shattered right heel, indefinite. &#9632;

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01728/6797714-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div>Team affiliations are listed in parentheses under names(OT) denotes overtime game &#9632;

f0037-01

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01795/6797745-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div>NHL affiliations for players are listed in parentheses beside their names. &#9632;

f0038-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01757/6797783-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Now that USA has the World Cup, will world supremacy be next? (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02509/6797776-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="614" height="440"></div>Whenever an American team failed at the Olympics or World Junior Championship in the past, officials from USA Hockey would trot out a well-rehearsed list of excuses: the talent pool is small; resources are limited; and the best athletes gravitate to other sports.No longer.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t buy it,&rdquo; says David Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. &ldquo;That crutch is gone.&rdquo;If hearing an American hockey official adopt an American attitude doesn&rsquo;t scare the rest of the hockey world silly, it should. The United States of America is a superpower waiting to happen and USA Hockey may finally have the people in place to make that happen.Hockey is exploding south of the 49th parallel. Expansion to the Sun Belt has created a new pool of potential fans and players and USA Hockey is confident it will top 500,000 members this season, in addition to the 30,000 playing in-line hockey.The potential for growth appears limitless. So does the potential for success now that amateur hockey&rsquo;s governing body finally has its house in order.Under the leadership of Ogrean, who came on board in 1993, USA Hockey has dispensed with its old boys&rsquo; network and finally taken the role of player development seriously.Here&rsquo;s the three-pronged plan the U.S. hopes will transform it from inconsistent to invincible:&#9633; Strengthen elite programs and opportunities for teenage players. The last time Jeff Jackson was involved in international hockey, he contracted pneumonia, watched his team lose to the Ukraine and suffered through a miserable fifth-place finish at the 1995 WJC.&ldquo;Our teams can compete with anyone at the youth levels and with the World Cup we proved we can do the job,&rdquo; Jackson says. &ldquo;Where we have the real problem is from bantam to pro. When we&rsquo;re always finishing fifth in the World Junior, something&rsquo;s not right.&rdquo;As USA Hockey&rsquo;s new national coach and director of elite development programs, Jackson has a plan to make it right. He also has the credentials. Jackson, 40, is recognized as one of the top coaches in the U.S. and led tiny Lake Superior State University to NCAA championships in 1992 and 1994.Jackson is responsible for elite players under 20 and one of his objectives is to take those players in the high school system out of it and get them in programs better-suited to their needs.The plan is to form under-17 and under-18 national teams that, as early as next season, would live and play year-round in Ann Arbor, Mich.Each team would play 60-80 games against top Jr. A teams in the U.S., perhaps Canadian Hockey League major junior teams and European teams. In a perfect world, players would retain their college eligibility and graduate to college or CHL teams.Jackson is working with the CHL and National Collegiate Athletic Association to overcome problems posed by college-eligible players competing against players the NCAA considers pros.Potentially part of a new system would be an eight-to-10 team super junior league in the U.S. to provide a better developmental alternative to high school hockey. That would keep all the elite players together and out of a high school and prep school system that is woefully weak. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a high school league in the country that is worth a damn,&rdquo; says one NHL scout.&#9633; Develop a support system for arena development projects. As participation levels increase, facilities pose a major challenge. The U.S. has just 1,200 covered rinks, fewer than half the Canadian total.Many rinks are privately owned and facing skyrocketing insurance costs, tight finances and the prospect of closure. USA Hockey is adding a staff member to assist local rink operators and lend expertise to groups who want to build new rinks.&#9633; Earn two hockey medals at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The U.S. is second to Canada in women&rsquo;s hockey, but no country, including Canada, has worked harder to improve. The Americans have their coach in place for 1998-respected Northeastern University coach Ben Smith-and hold mini-training camps monthly. They will also likely have a full-time national team for the year before the Games. The men will enter the Olympics as no worse than cofavorites to win the gold medal. &#9632;

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November 1, 1996

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Jury out on private teams

Ridley’s return to good health great sign for pivot-weak team

NHL SUMMARIES