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 15, 1996

The Hockey News November 15, 1996

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Most coaches just have to look out on the ice to see how their players are progressing during the hockey season.But when Colgate coach Don Vaughan wants to see how sophomore Brian Owens is doing, he has to go over to the football field.Owens is pulling off one of the most incredible doubles in Division I athletics. During the fall, he&rsquo;s a running back for the Red Raiders Division I-AA football team, which competes in the Patriot League. Once football season is over, he plays left wing for the hockey team.&ldquo;Brian brings a football mentality to the ice,&rdquo; Vaughan said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s aggressive and hard-nosed. There&rsquo;s room for that on most teams.&rdquo;One of the reasons Owens chose Colgate was because the coaching staff would allow him to play both sports. During his senior year at Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Mass., Owens rushed for 1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns.&ldquo;He was heavily recruited by a lot of schools, some strictly for football, some strictly for hockey,&rdquo; Vaughan said. &ldquo;We certainly liked him as a hockey player and the football staff was willing to let him play both sports.&rdquo;As a freshman at Colgate, Owens, a 6-foot, 200-pounder, played in all 11 games with the football squad, primarily on special teams.He then made the jump to hockey, appearing in 19 games and scoring four points. He scored his only goal of the season in an 8-2 win at Brown Feb. 16. Despite his aggressive style, he only picked up 12 penalties.Vaughan expects to get Owens back after the football season ends in December.&ldquo;It takes him a while to adjust because he doesn&rsquo;t skate during football season,&rdquo; Vaughan said. &ldquo;In hockey, he&rsquo;s not a finesse-type player, where you would need to get your vision and hands back. He&rsquo;s an up-and-down winger.&rdquo;200 WINS: Mike Gilligan of Vermont reached another career milestone when he notched his 200th coaching victory at the school.The Catamounts beat New Hampshire 5-1 in their season opener Oct. 19. But win No. 201 was sweeter. The Cats skated into Boston Oct. 25 and defeated Boston University 4-2 before a sellout crowd of 3,806.Gilligan has a 201-165-27 record in 12 years at Vermont. Including stints at Salem State and Yale, Gilligan has 341 career wins overall.IN MEMORY: The Harvard hockey community gathered at the school&rsquo;s Memorial Church Oct. 26 to remember former Crimson defenseman Michel Breistroff. He was killed in the crash of TWA Flight 800, which exploded due to a bomb on board, off Long Island, N. Y., in the summer.Ushers included former Crimson players now playing pro-Ted Donato. Ted Drury, Sean McCann-and Kevin Sneddon, an assistant coach at Union, who served as captains during Breistroffs four years at Harvard. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Owens executes rare double on gridiron, ice

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011721/7016094-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">All-time scoring leader Wayne Gretzky has been a hit with the Broadway Blueshirts. (Photo by Jhon Glamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>To put the spotlight on Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s point production this season is to miss the point.The Great One wasn&rsquo;t merely scoring well, which he has done pretty much, without fail, all his hockey-playing days. He was playing well, too. Very well, as a matter of fact.Should we be surprised? Gretzky has made a habit of confounding the critics, who multiplied astronomically last season when No. 99 stood accused of overt self-interest in the messy orchestration of his trade from the Los Angeles Kings to St. Louis Blues while his play tailed off badly. Yet only his staunchest allies would have imagined the 35-year-old breaking out of the gate this season with the enthusiasm, and results, of a young buck half his age.&ldquo;I knew I would be under the watchful eye,&rdquo; Gretzky told The Hockey News. &ldquo;I wanted to show everyone I can still play.&rdquo;How utterly Gretzky. And, so far, so good for the New York Rangers&rsquo; Renaissance Man.His six goals and 14 assists in New York&rsquo;s first 14 games of the 1996-97 season were only marginally better than his three goals and 16 assists in the first 14 games of last season with the Kings. But there&rsquo;s little similarity between his play and, more importantly, his outlook on life from the tumult of last season to this one. And remember, he did still register 102 points last year, which just goes to show how easy it is to miss the point because of points.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone can even imagine what it was like for me (last season),&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;It was a horrible experience for everyone, especially me. I was extremely stressed. It couldn&rsquo;t help but affect the way I played. I was just saying to my wife (Janet) the other morning over breakfast how much I am enjoying living and playing in New York. Totally. It has been wonderful.&rdquo;And it shows.Don&rsquo;t get the wrong idea about points. Twenty in 14 games isn&rsquo;t shabby by anyone&rsquo;s standards and if Gretzky weren&rsquo;t scoring them, he&rsquo;d be hearing about it. Only the Colorado Avalanche&rsquo;s Joe Sakic (5-16-21 in 13 games) was ahead of Gretzky in the early-season NHL scoring race. Gretzky was on pace to score 35 goals, 82 assists and 117 points over a full season.&ldquo;To be honest and without any exaggeration. Wayne could have had another 12 or 14 points if some of the other Rangers had finished their (scoring) chances,&rdquo; said former NHL goalie John Davidson, color commentator on the Madison Square Garden network. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how good he has been.&rdquo;&ldquo;He has really looked strong,&rdquo; said Florida Panthers&rsquo; coach Doug MacLean, who saw Gretzky up close and personal in four early-season meetings (2-0-2 in favor of the Cats) with the Rangers. &ldquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s line (with Niklas Sundstrom and Luc Robitaille) has been the Rangers&rsquo; best line against us. He&rsquo;s making great plays and he&rsquo;s a threat every time he&rsquo;s on the ice.&rdquo;Many times last season Gretzky was as much a threat to his own team as the opposition. He got into the habit of giving away the puck under pressure, showed disdain for playing in traffic and on too many nights simply looked old and slow. Not so this season. There&rsquo;s a jump back in his step. Quickness, in both his hands and feet, seems to have magically reappeared. Only when he&rsquo;s deep in his own end is he a potential liability, but then that&rsquo;s often true of 6-foot, 175-pound offense-minded centers.It&rsquo;s not just a better game he&rsquo;s playing, it&rsquo;s a different game.With 65 shots in 14 games, Gretzky was the league leader in that category. That&rsquo;s an average of 4.6 shots per game, a mark he hasn&rsquo;t hit since the 1981-82 season, when he scored an NHL-record 92 goals.&ldquo;I would think (the record) is safe,&rdquo; Gretzky said with a laugh.Opposing netminders, however, have no reason to feel secure when Gretzky now gets the puck. He has a new attitude-and a new gun.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always used a stick that&rsquo;s mostly straight because I found that helped me with my slapshot,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;The trouble is there&rsquo;s no time anymore to get off the big Bobby Hull windup like I used to. What I did is curve the toe of the stick more and now I can really snap off the puck quite quickly.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t enough, though, just to change his stick. He also had to alter his mindset.&ldquo;In the past, it was 50-50 whether I would shoot or pass, but then it got so I was almost always making the pass instead of taking the shot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was becoming too predictable. (Defensemen and goalies) were overplaying it because they knew what I was going to do. Now that I feel I can get off the quick snapshot. I&rsquo;m going to do it every time I&rsquo;m around the net. That has been a conscious decision on my part to keep (goalies and defensemen) honest.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s production this season was supposed to be limited because he would be playing more often against bigger, stronger Eastern Conference teams which place a premium on tough team defense. Increasing aversion to traffic was going to be his downfall, but a funny thing happened on the way to the front of the net&hellip;&ldquo;There was so much talk of how I couldn&rsquo;t play anymore and how I couldn&rsquo;t get to the net or through heavy traffic,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I just decided that I am going to go to the net and I am going to succeed at it. I was just determined to do it&rdquo;And he has. His tying goal in a 1-1 game with Florida on Oct. 29 was on a rebound in heavy traffic at the edge of the crease. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all a matter of determination and remembering to keep your feet moving,&rdquo; Gretzky said.The first part of that is up to him. So, too, is the second, although it doesn&rsquo;t hurt to have helpful reminders.&ldquo;If I have a shift where I&rsquo;ve stopped moving my feet,&rdquo; Gretzky said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come back to the bench and Mark (Messier) will remind me to keep them going on the next shift. He&rsquo;s on me about that. That&rsquo;s important. The Eastern Conference teams are not tougher or more physical than the Western teams-that&rsquo;s a really big misconception-but they do trap more and play better defense. The key for me is to keep moving.&rdquo;Gretzky believes preparing for the World Cup and then playing in it worked to his advantage. He said he was energized by playing at that level and it dovetailed nicely with his motivation to prove he&rsquo;s not sliding down the slippery slope at breakneck speed. He has shown that to be true not just in words, but in actions.While his even-strength play in the World Cup tailed off as the tournament progressed, he maintained a solid work ethic without the puck, especially in his role as a backchecker. That continued with the Rangers. In fact, he was hustling back so hard he was able to execute his old trademark lift-the-stick-and-steal-the-puck maneuver to create a turnover and make for a quick transition to offense.&ldquo;The Rangers, especially (coach) Collie (Campbell) have shown real faith in me,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m never going to win the Selke, but I owe it to them to be responsible. If I don&rsquo;t come back, other guys aren&rsquo;t going to come back and we can&rsquo;t have that.&rdquo;In his first 14 games, Gretzky played a total of 315 minutes, 29 seconds, or an average of 23:02 per game. He topped out at 28:25 in the third game of the season against Florida (a 1-1 tie in Miami) and bottomed out at 17:42 in the 14th game against the New Jersey Devils (a 6-1 Ranger win).Gretzky plays the power play (on a separate unit from Messier), kills penalties with Sundstrom and takes his regular turn. It&rsquo;s a situation that will have to be monitored.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to play Wayne and Mark all the time,&rdquo; Campbell said, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m sure they would like to play all the time. But we can&rsquo;t lose sight of what&rsquo;s important and that is these two guys have to be ready to play at the top of their game in the playoffs. I owe it to this team and to them to make sure they&rsquo;re ready and to make sure our kids and other players get the ice time to develop. I have to look at the big picture. I&rsquo;ve got to make sure the well doesn&rsquo;t run dry with those two guys.&rdquo;Gretzky started the season with Alexei Kovalev as his winger, but now skates between Luc Robitaille and Niklas Sundstrom. Robitaille was struggling to score goals (he had three), but not from lack of opportunities. Sundstrom, with six goals, was beginning to develop chemistry with Gretzky. The young Swede is the designated checker on the line, but is both smart and quick with the puck. He&rsquo;s beginning to find the holes that Gretzky helps to open up. Slowly but surely, Gretzky and star defenseman Brian Leetch were also developing a rapport, especially on the power play.But in truth, the Rangers lack the pure finishing winger Gretzky needs. Kovalev and Adam Graves will get their share playing on Messier&rsquo;s line and rookies Daniel Goneau and Christian Dube were solid (often playing with Gretzky on the power play).<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011629/7016087-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="1524" height="2010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gretzky has made it his goal to go for goals in the high-traffic zone near the net. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Trouble is, with what the Rangers are paying Gretzky ($5 million this season) and their total payroll (from $35-$36 million), the Rangers can&rsquo;t or won&rsquo;t spend more to get a scorer such as the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; Alexander Mogilny or, when he was available, Brendan Shanahan, now of the Detroit Red Wings.The lack of that type of player and, perhaps, the missing elements of grit and toughness up front help explain why the Rangers were a game under 500 after 14 outings. That, and the fact Messier, Leetch and netminder Mike Richter hadn&rsquo;t performed well on a consistent basis.Gretzky&rsquo;s strong start is as much a state of mind as anything else. He&rsquo;s enthused again about playing the game. Gretzky said he&rsquo;ll play as long as it continues to be fun-which is why he&rsquo;s virtually certain to outlast Mario Lemieux-and he can contribute to the levels he sets for himself. His contract runs through 1997-98. It&rsquo;s not lost on him that there are still statistical milestones within his grasp.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to getting my 1,800th assist,&rdquo; Gretzky said on a day he was at 1,785. &ldquo;Shooting for No. 1,851 is going to be fun, too.&rdquo;No. 1,851 is a milestone Gretzky set for himself when he eclipsed Gordie Howe&rsquo;s total points record a couple of years ago. Gretzky wants to have as many career NHL assists as Howe did career NHL points. If he continues to produce at his current rate, he&rsquo;ll get it this season. On the long-term front, the 843-goal scorer has one eye on scoring 900, though at Gretzky&rsquo;s age that falls under the category of long-range goals.&ldquo;I like to set those little milestones for myself,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun and it motivates me, gives me something to shoot for.&rdquo;Mostly, though, he&rsquo;s aiming for contentment. Gretzky is secure with his place in the history of the game. It&rsquo;s immediate gratification he&rsquo;s after. It&rsquo;s early, but so far he has found it in New York.He and his family are settled in a condo apartment on Manhattan&rsquo;s Upper East Side. He walks his kids to school in the morning. He is within a five-minute walk of seven or eight Ranger teammates, including Messier, Leetch and Richter. While he&rsquo;s older and more settled, it&rsquo;s the closest he has come to duplicating the camaraderie of the old Edmonton Oiler days. And there is nothing, Gretzky said, quite like being reunited with his soulmate Messier.&ldquo;The biggest difference for me is having Mark here, on and off the ice,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;On the ice, he opens up so much room for me. I&rsquo;m not seeing the top checking line from the other team because Mark&rsquo;s line is. That&rsquo;s one big difference. Off the ice, he takes away so much of the pressure. If we lose, it&rsquo;s not everyone crowding around me asking me why. It was Mark&rsquo;s team before I got here and it&rsquo;s still Mark&rsquo;s team. I&rsquo;m feeding off that energy. I&rsquo;m excited. I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;And that, more than the points, is the point. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Broadway Smash

I read Bob McKenzie&rsquo;s story regarding the anticipated large raises for Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya (THN, Nov. 1) and asked myself, &ldquo;Who is excited by this story?&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not the fans, who continue to play higher ticket prices and face the potential loss of their teams to cities with new arenas and deeper pockets.It&rsquo;s not the owners, who find it harder and harder to build a competitive team. It&rsquo;s not the GMs and coaches who make far less than these players.It&rsquo;s not the average players who find themselves traded, cut or playing for less.The winners? The superstar elite who can command the big salaries. The other winners are the International, American and East Coast Leagues, who will find fans turning to their teams as an exciting alternative to overpriced NHL hockey.The message should be loud and clear to Messrs. Bettman and Goodenow: the NHL is dangerously close to the same cliff off which the National Basketball Association has jumped-teams of high-priced talent and journeymen, where the players run the teams and public is beginning to turn away. Stop this insane salary spiral before it wrecks the game, or you will lose your audience.Bruce Ferguson,&nbsp; Harper Woods, Mich.<h2>What a laugher</h2>I found Stan Fischler&rsquo;s review of THN&rsquo;s player rankings to be some of the funniest reading I&rsquo;ve enjoyed in quite some time (THN, Oct. 25).I particularly enjoyed the bit where he said that Alexei Kovalev not only ranks ahead of Pavel Bure, but is the most talented forward this side of Mario Lemieux.&rdquo;Stop it Stan, my side hurts! Ha, ha, ha! What a card!Timothy Cottrell,&nbsp; Victoria, B.C.<h2>Stan&rsquo;s rank drops</h2>Over the years, I have often disagreed with Stan Fischler&rsquo;s opinions, but this time he has gone over the top. To suggest that Alexei Kovalev is the second-best right winger in hockey is preposterous.I wonder if he has ever seen Teemu Selanne, Alexander Mogilny, Theoren Fleury and Brett Hull play.Fischler has fallen even further down my list of sports columnists.Markus Bogad,&nbsp; Waterloo, Ont.<h2>Bearded bet</h2>Come on Stan, wake up and smell the coffee. Do you really think the Ottawa Senators will be better than the Florida Panthers this season (THN, Oct. 11)?Tell you what I&rsquo;ll do, Stan. Since you and I both have beards, I&rsquo;ll shave my beard off if Ottawa finishes the season with a better record than Florida. You shave yours off if Florida finishes higher than Ottawa.Tim Flynn,&nbsp; Beaverton, Ore.<h2>Get a scorer</h2>Brendan Shanahan for Keith Primeau. Another trade involving scoring forwards and where were the Washington Capitals? Watching and waiting&hellip; again.It&rsquo;s the same old story. The Capitals&rsquo; defense is stellar, but the offense is spotty. Every year when they bow out of the playoffs there are calls for more offense.The Capitals never seem to be able to make a deal for a marquee player, not because of GM David Poile, but because of owner Abe Pollin. While Pollin doesn&rsquo;t hesitate to spend money on players such as Juwan Howard for his basketball team, the Washington Bullets, he has yet to convince me that he is as financially committed to the Capitals and their needs.Pollin deserves credit for bringing the NHL to Washington and getting a new arena, but the time has come for him to spend money on some players.Joe Kasell,&nbsp; Annadale, Va.<h2>OSU rules</h2>I can&rsquo;t see why the NHL is even thinking of expanding to Columbus, Ohio (THN, Oct. 11).An NHL team will never survive here because of the presence of Ohio State University. I moved here recently from central Massachusetts and I&rsquo;ve found that locals treat you like an outcast if you don&rsquo;t have the letters OSU on your clothing. Even worse, they don&rsquo;t even know what the &ldquo;B&rdquo; in the honeycomb on my hat pin means.Steve Charron,&nbsp; Columbus, Ohio<h2>No World beater</h2>If you need any more evidence that Mike Richter was the key to Team USA&rsquo;s victory in the World Cup, just check out his play in the early season.If Richter had played for USA the way he played for the New York Rangers in the first couple of games, Canada would have walked away with the Cup.Don Love,&nbsp; Regina, Sask.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641 or write to Letters, THN, 777 Bay St, Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;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. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

DEPARTMENT

NHL’s salary explosion claiming many victims

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01161/7017976-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01964/7018152-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>ANNUAL CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDEWHY FEDOROV&rsquo;S FLOUNDERINGSuper-scorer Wayne Gretzky back on top of his gameGreyhounds&rsquo; prodigy leads &lsquo;97 draft classJoe ThorntonGoals for grit Habs trade Turgeon to get bigger, badderShayne Corson &#9632;

Cover-01

UP, UP AND AWAY

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editorin-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021262/7015698-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="327" height="462"></div>Call it the ultimate backhanded compliment.There may be nobody in the NHL more dangerous on the weak side of his stick than Mats Sundin. Joe Sakic can unleash a rink wide backhand pass with force, Brett Hull is deadly on the redirect and Paul Kariya loves to go top shelf off his backhand. But it&rsquo;s likely nobody goes backhand as often and as well as Sundin. Three of his first seven goals this season were scored on the backhand and if shots were tallied by category-wrist, back, slap, snap (crackle and pop)-Sundin would be recognized for what he is, a throwback.There was a time, oh so many Gordie Howe goals ago, NHL players used steel blades on their skates and straight blades on their sticks. Shooting off the backhand was common and garnered no special attention. But in today&rsquo;s NHL, liberally curved blades and powerful alternatives have made it uncommon.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a breakaway or a good chance and I&rsquo;m in all alone,&rdquo; Sundin says, &ldquo;I like to go to my backhand if I can because I&rsquo;m comfortable with it and it&rsquo;s something I don&rsquo;t think most goalies expect-especially if you&rsquo;re a right hand shot. They expect you to either shoot it high or try to deke and go to your forehand.&rdquo;Sundin, who favors a big stick blade with minimal curve, was off to an excellent start with the Toronto Maple Leafs (nine goals and 15 points in 11 games). He was the World Cup&rsquo;s most dangerous player and continued to be a dominant force this NHL season. Curiously, that isn&rsquo;t always enough for Toronto hockey fans, some of whom don&rsquo;t appreciate Sundin&rsquo;s unique gifts, believing the 6-foot-4 Swede has more to offer. This despite the fact he has clearly been the Maple Leafs&rsquo; best player in 199697 and continued his growth as a defensive presence.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;m victimized,&rdquo; Sundin says, &ldquo;but when you&rsquo;re playing in Toronto there are a lot of expectations and sure I&rsquo;ve had that feeling (that it&rsquo;s impossible to please the fans).&rdquo;But he&rsquo;s not complaining. &ldquo;With the salaries and the way the league is going,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I think the fans have every right to demand a lot from the players.&rdquo;Sundin was more than answering that demand with a huge supply of highlight film goals and assists this season.And that is no backhanded compliment.Mea Culpa: Mike Gartner has recorded one 50-goal season (1984-85), contrary to what was reported in the Nov. I issue of THN. We said he had none to his credit. It is to our debit that we messed up. &#9632;

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Sundin goes back in time around goal

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011520/7015743-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Will Paul Kariya&rsquo;s return be enough to turn around the struggling Mighty Ducks? Pgs. 16, 20. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div><h2>Florida keeps up win streak</h2>1. Perfect Panthers Impressive Panthers go 8-0-4 to remain NHL&rsquo;s only unbeaten team.2. Big night Toronto&rsquo;s Doug Gilmour scores 350th career goal, Mats Sundin nets 200th against Islanders Oct. 31.3. Savers Veterans John Vanbiesbrouck (1.41 GAA, 95.0 SP) of Florida, Andy Moog (1.49,93.9) of Dallas shine.4. Goals by Goneau Rangers&rsquo; Daniel Goneau leads rookie scorers with seven goals in 14 games.5. He&rsquo;s No. 5 Assist in 1,000th career game moves Phil Housley into fifth place in career scoring among defensemen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03942/7015736-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="327" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mats Sundin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04711/7015729-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="346" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Moog</figcaption></div><h2>Powerless to score goals</h2>1. Decline the penalty Detroit&rsquo;s power play dead last in NHL, operating at embarrassing 5.7 per cent success rate.2. Killer coach Rangers&rsquo; Colin Campbell involved in incidents with Buffalo&rsquo;s Ted Nolan, New Jersey&rsquo;s Ken Daneyko.3. Cougars declawed WHL&rsquo;s Prince George Cougars drop eight games in a row after impressive 9-2-0 start.4. Blockhead St. John&rsquo;s goalie Marcel Cousineau suspended one game for punching opponent with blocker.5. Home, (not) so sweet, home. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 0-5-0 at the Pond, outscored 23-9. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie The Insider</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011704/7015781-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="345" height="414"></div>The race for No. 1 in 1997 has all the appearances of turning into a rout.Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&rsquo; center Joe Thornton is way out in front of this season&rsquo;s NHL draft class and showing no signs of coming back to a deep and talented pack. By most accounts, he&rsquo;s emerging as the game&rsquo;s next big thing, literally and figuratively.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best young player I&rsquo;ve seen since Eric Lindros,&rdquo; said Florida Panthers&rsquo; scout Paul Henry. &ldquo;He has distanced himself from the (&lsquo;97 draft) field by a large amount.&rdquo;Nine out of 10 NHL scouts agree.&ldquo;I remember a conversation with (Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; director of scouting and player personnel) Mike Penny a couple of years ago in Moscow,&rdquo; said Dallas Stars&rsquo; director of scouting Craig Button. &ldquo;We were talking about who would be hockey&rsquo;s next big thing and we both said then it would be Joe Thornton. I believe he&rsquo;s the real deal.&rdquo;Thornton is in his second season with the Ontario League Greyhounds. At a shade over 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds-and still growing-he&rsquo;s impossible to overlook.Ditto for the numbers the Soo forward was putting up on the board.The 17-year-old from St. Thomas, Ont., was the OHL&rsquo;s early-season scoring leader with 11 goals and 33 points in 16 games. He led all OHL rookie scorers last season with 30 goals and 76 points in 66 games. Prior to that, he played one year of Jr. B with his hometown St. Thomas Stars and collected 40 goals and 104 points in 50 games.Thornton is a virtual lock to play on Canada&rsquo;s entry at the World Junior Championship at Christmas in Geneva and is no stranger to the international arena, having won world titles at the under-17 and under-18 levels.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not just the best prospect in our league,&rdquo; said Greyhounds&rsquo; GM Dave Mayville. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best player.&rdquo;Being tabbed as the most exciting prospect since Lindros should not be confused with being the next Lindros. While the two share the same altitude, their attitudes differ.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t initiate physical contact the way Eric does, although he can play it that way,&rdquo; Mayville said. &ldquo;He tends to be a more creative, fluid player.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s pretty much how the personable Grade 12 student sees it.&ldquo;Playmaking,&rdquo; Thornton answered when asked about his best attribute. &ldquo;I guess I see the ice pretty well.&rdquo; Weaknesses? &ldquo;Skating and strength,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to have to get some bulk.&rdquo;That shouldn&rsquo;t be a problem. Just check out the gene pool. His mom, Mary, is 5-foot-11. His dad, Wayne, is 6-foot-1, and older brothers Alex, 24, and John, 20, are 6-foot-6, 220 pounds and 6-foot-5, 275, respectively. Little Joe? Hardly.Scouts like most everything about him. He can score, make plays, hit and, if challenged, fight. His skating is not great, but not a problem. He has some flair for the dramatic, a solid work ethic and the desire to be a star pro. He is projected as a prototypical No. 1 offensive power NHL center.Thornton&rsquo;s favorite player is Wayne Gretzky. They share the same agent (Mike Barnett), though not the same number. Thornton has almost always worn No. 19 because &ldquo;my brother (John) is a huge Steve Yzerman fan and he told me a long time ago I should wear it.&rdquo;Nothing shabby about No. 1 either.&ldquo;It would be nice but I&rsquo;m not going to get hung up on it,&rdquo; Thornton said of the &lsquo;97 draft. &ldquo;If I do my best, it will all turn out okay.&rdquo;Not every scout, however, is convinced Thornton is a lock for No. 1. NHL scouts are at a pre-WJC tournament in Europe this month to check out big Finnish center Ollie Jokinen, who is the No. 1 center for IFK Helsinki and was the early leader in Finnish Elite League scoring. Russian wunderkind Sergei Samsonov, now with the Detroit Vipers of the International League, is considered a longshot to challenge for No. 1 because he&rsquo;s just 5-foot-8.&ldquo;Maybe Thornton will be No. 1 when it&rsquo;s all said and done,&rdquo; one scout said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s premature to crown him, or anyone else, this early. I hope, for his sake, he doesn&rsquo;t start believing his press clippings because (Jokinen) can&rsquo;t read English too well and he&rsquo;s a heckuva prospect, too.&rdquo;<h2>No Ordinary Joe</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021365/7015774-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1533" height="2702"><figcaption class="caption-body">The 1997 draft class is considered the best in two decades and leading the way is Joe Thornton. He may be the highest rated prospect since Eric Lindros by the time the draft rolls around June 21 in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Soo-perstar

<h2>RINKSIDE</h2>As the door closed on NHL expansion in Portland, Ore.-for the time being anyway-it opened, if ever so slightly, for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.That was but one of a number of potential scenarios envisioned after the NHL deadline (Nov. 1) came and went for expansion applications.The league received a total of 11 applications representing nine markets. They included one each from Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio; Hamilton, Ont.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Nashville; Hampton Roads (Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News), Va.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; plus three bids from Houston.&ldquo;The response was really quite overwhelming,&rdquo; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told The Hockey News. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re thrilled. It speaks well of our game.&rdquo;While the NHL has been careful not to tip its hand, conventional wisdom is that two new teams would be added in the fall of 1998 with another two awarded two years after that. Nashville and Portland were frontrunners for the first wave; Atlanta and Houston for the second.But Portland, along with Kansas City and North York, Ont., asked for deadline extensions and were rejected. Now, the smart money to replace Portland as odds-on favorite with Nashville is Minneapolis-St. Paul.The Twin Cities is a viable market that can be up and operating within two years. Nashville, Atlanta and Houston remain the top contenders.The longest of the longshots is the sole Canadian entry from Hamilton. There is virtually no support within the league for another small-market Canadian franchise, especially one within the territory belonging to the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs. There is, however, an outside chance Portland would be considered if the league chose to re-open expansion talk a year from now. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if the large number of applications alters the league&rsquo;s timetable on processing.All applicants are scheduled to make presentations to the league Nov. 14 in New York, but that date may be put off or expanded to accommodate the crush. It was anticipated the awarding of franchises could happen as early as mid-December, but it may take longer than that now. &#9632;

Twin Cities emerges as one of expansion frontrunners

<div class="byline">-Brian Costello</div>Most people spend their August holidays checking out the sun with an iced drink. Barry Trapp spent his at an arena in the Czech Republic.As the new director of scouting for Canadian Hockey, Trapp spends 70 per cent of his time on the road scouring talent for national junior teams and evaluating the opposition. He&rsquo;s the architect of Canada&rsquo;s quest for a fifth consecutive gold medal at the World Junior Championship in Geneva, Dec. 26-Jan. 4.&ldquo;I always wanted to work for my country,&rdquo; said Trapp, former chief scout of the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau.Trapp, 54, spent the past 10 seasons with CSB and prior to that coached the Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western League. He replaces Ray Payne, who returned to the San Jose Sharks after one year as director of Canadian Hockey scouting.Trapp, a Fort Qu&rsquo;Appelle, Sask., resident is assembling a 32-player invitation list for Canada&rsquo;s national junior team training camp, which opens Dec. 13 in Kitchener, Ont. He&rsquo;s also responsible for the national under-18 team, which plays in the Pacific Cup each year.He says there&rsquo;s a big difference between scouting for CSB and Canadian Hockey.&ldquo;CSB scouts for kids with hopes they can play in the NHL,&rdquo; Trapp said. &ldquo;Size isn&rsquo;t as important for us. We look at skilled players for bigger ice surfaces.&rdquo; &#9632;

Canada to use the Trapp at World Junior Championship

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>Depending upon how you slice the information, attendance in the NHL this season is up.,,umm, make that down.The overall average attendance, through the first 148 games, was up 523 fans a game-from 15,493 at the same point last season to 16,016 this season. That represented an increase of 3.4 per cent.But when you take other factors into consideration, those positive numbers aren&rsquo;t so rosy.The league was close to its customary 90 per-cent capacity, but there were serious declines in seven cities. The first-year Phoenix Coyotes and four teams playing in new arenas were largely responsible for the increase.The Coyotes attracted an average of 5,819 more fans per game than they did as the Winnipeg Jets last season and were playing at 92 per cent of capacity at America West Arena.Several other teams with new facilities also helped inflate the numbers. The Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens are playing in new and larger arenas than they were at the start of last season.The Tampa Bay Lightning, on the other hand, is playing in a new arena smaller than the 28,000-seat Thunder Dome and was drawing 8.9 per-cent fewer fans than a year ago.Thirteen of the 26 NHL teams experienced attendance declines through Oct. 31 games. Seven of those were considered significant dropoffs. They include the Los Angeles Kings (16.5 per cent), New York Islanders (15.8 per cent), Calgary Flames (14.8 per cent), Boston Bruins (14.7 per cent), St. Louis Blues (12 per cent) Tampa Bay (8.9 per cent) and Vancouver Canucks (6.6 per cent).NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said it&rsquo;s still too early to be worried about attendance.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get revved up with attendance figures in October,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s early in the season. We go through this every year at this time and by the end of the season&hellip; we were up last year. We broke 17 million for the first time.&ldquo;October is generally our lightest month. Our comparisons from October to October, we&rsquo;re up. There are certain places where we&rsquo;re down and a lot of that is performance-related.&rdquo;The only teams with significant attendance increases, save for the teams with new arenas, were the Edmonton Ollers (a whopping increase of 36.7 per cent) and the unbeaten Florida Panthers (28.7 per cent).<h2>ATTENDANCE REPORT: 3.4 PER CENT INCREASE</h2>Listed is number of 1996-97 home games, sellouts, 1995-96 average attendance at the same time of the season, 1996-97 average, difference, percentage difference and per cent capacity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011647/7015884-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="814" height="1213"></div> &#9632;

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Crowds up, but down

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>The trial cost involving former NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Alan Eagleson and ex-player Mike Gillis is expected to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.Closing arguments in the civil case against Eagleson were scheduled to begin Nov. 4 in a Toronto courtroom. The case will run more than twice as long as originally anticipated.Gillis is suing his former agent over disputed legal fees regarding a disability insurance claim. Gillis broke his leg at the Boston Bruins&rsquo; 1984 training camp and never played another NHL game.Gillis claims Eagleson didn&rsquo;t tell him his twice-denied insurance claim had been approved when Gillis agreed to pay Eagleson $41,250 (U.S.) to pursue it. Gillis eventually received his entire $275,000 (U.S.) in benefits, minus Eagleson&rsquo;s fee, in 1986.Eagleson counters that the fee was justified and he did not withhold any information from his former client.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever been involved in a case where the legal fees so far exceeded the amount ($41,250) involved,&rdquo; said Charles Wagman, Eagleson&rsquo;s lawyer.Six weeks of testimony ended Oct. 31 without the defense actually calling anticipated witnesses Harry Sinden, GM of the Bruins, and Serge Savard, former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; GM, due to scheduling conflicts.One defense witness, former Team Canada physician Charles Bull, contradicted earlier Gillis testimony regarding the timing of the injured hockey player&rsquo;s Feb. 13, 1986, insurance-related examination. The time is important to the case because the day&rsquo;s events are disputed.TEAM TO BEAT: Russia&rsquo;s Moscow Dynamo remained unbeaten in European League action following a convincing 8-1 victory Norway&rsquo;s Oslo Valerenga.Vladimir Gratchev scored two goals for the 2-0-1 Division B leading team from Moscow.In other Week 6 EHL games Oct. 29, Central Army (Rus.) beat Vienna (Aus.) 5-2; Litvinov (Czech) downed Rauma Lukko (Fin.) 5-3; Gothenburg (Swe.) blanked Rouen (France) 8-0; and Budejovice (Czech) tied Farjestad (Swe.) 3-3.GOING AWAY GIFT: The 1980 gold medal U.S. Olympic hockey team made a special presentation to the outgoing managing editor of Sports Illustrated.Team captain Mike Eruzione presented Mark Mulvoy the exact seat Mulvoy occupied at the Lake Placid arena the day the U.S. team defeated the Soviet Union en route to the gold medal in 1980. Mulvoy spent more than three decades at the magazine.-With a file from Mary Ormsby &#9632;

Eagleson trial nears end

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011828/7015939-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">France St. Louis, Nancy Deschamps and Therese Brisson celebrate win. (Photo by Jim Young)</figcaption></div>Canada won another women&rsquo;s hockey tournament, but the margin of victory is getting smaller every time.Nancy Deschamps scored the only goal of the championship game at the Three Nations Cup in Ottawa Oct. 27 as the Canadians beat their American counterparts 1-0 in front of 4,200 fans. Finland finished a distant third in the seven-game event.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re physically a better team than we are,&rdquo; said Canadian coach Shannon Miller. &ldquo;They outplayed us, but somehow we won.&rdquo;USA&rsquo;s round-robin win marked the first time it has beaten Canada&rsquo;s national team and set the stage for an exciting finale.Deschamps&rsquo; goal came with eight minutes remaining. The Americans held a two-man advantage in the final 18 seconds and pulled goalie Erin Whitten for an extra attacker. Canada outshot the U.S. 27-20. Goalie Danielle Dube earned the shutout.USA coach Ben Smith sees his team closing ground on Canada.&ldquo;As Canada has found out in the last 25 years, people are quick to copy their style,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Things are looking pretty even now. We held Canada to six goals in three games. Unfortunately, they held us to five.&rdquo;Smith said he will continue to audition players in preparation for the 1997 World Championship in Kitchener, March 31-Apr. 6.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t expect to win if you don&rsquo;t score,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s an aspect we will continue to work on.&rdquo;Canada has not lost a major international tournament in the six years such events have been held.&ldquo;We have a long road ahead of us,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to work hard to stay with the Americans.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Canada wins Three Nations Cup

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>The original Washington Capitals had a 20th anniversary reunion, in 1994 and as each player received his sweater, he put it on just like they do on draft day. Capitals&rsquo; owner Abe Pollin looked on.As Greg Joly, the Capitals&rsquo; first ever draft pick in 1974, put his sweater over his shoulder, he assured Pollin he wasn&rsquo;t having a nightmare.To say that Joly was a bust is harsh, but he is likely the least productive first overall pick of all-time. His final statistics read: nine seasons, 365 games, 21 goals, 97 points and 20 penalty minutes.What the statistics don&rsquo;t tell is that Joly was an offensive defenseman, a riverboat gambler who was asked to be a savior on a team so bad that in the middle of its first year, a local beer league team issued it a challenge. The 1974-75 Capitals were 8-67-5, the worst team in NHL history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021248/7015970-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="289" height="406"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Joly</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I never expected it would be as bad as it really was,&rdquo; says Joly, a 42-year-old insurance salesman in Glens Falls, N.Y. &ldquo;But you learn a lot from losing.&rdquo;Joly struggled with injuries and fragile confidence for two years in Washington. Then he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for 34-year-old journeyman Bryan (Bugsy) Watson.Joly had a decent, unspectacular career with the Red Wings and won two Calder Cups with the Wings&rsquo; minor league affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings.He retired in 1986 and settled in upstate New York, where he works for a firm that sells insurance packages to minor sports organizations and high schools.Joly has two sons playing hockey and gets on the blades as coach of a bantam team. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re at about my skill level now,&rdquo; he says. Joly says his players know he had an NHL career, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;re not totally impressed by it. I&rsquo;m not their hero, let&rsquo;s put it that way.&rdquo; &#9632;

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First pick Greg didn’t have Joly run with Caps

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011665/7016025-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

ELSTON

<h2>Leafs wilt in Day-time</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021118/7016056-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="596" height="882"></div>Toronto Maple Leaf center Ted Sloan must have been glad Hap Day&rsquo;s return to the coaching ranks was just a one-day affair. Anything more and Sloan might have shrunk himself right out of the league.Day, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; GM during the 1955-56 season, took the whistle one day in February for a practice the Leafs wouldn&rsquo;t soon forget. Day filled in when Leafs&rsquo; coach King Clancy had the day off to attend a celebrity sports dinner in North Bay, Ont. No coach was ever missed so much.The GM put his team through a punishing. un-Clancy-like 75-minute session of stops and starts, shooting and a full-contact scrimmage. Sloan, whose 32 goals was more than double the output of the next closest Leaf, was wearing a rubber sweat suit under his uniform; he wore it about once a week during Clancy&rsquo;s practices to work up a good sweat. Once Sloan found out Day was in charge, it was too late to change. He sweated away six pounds.Watching the brutality from the stands was injured Boston Bruins&rsquo; left winger Real Chevrefils, who was left behind in Toronto to work out a charley horse.&ldquo;If I ever get word I&rsquo;ve been traded to Toronto, I&rsquo;ll pack up quick,&rdquo; Chevrefils said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like this.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-02

50th ANNIVERSARY FLASHBACK

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>It was expected two Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; centers would be on a near point-a-game pace through the first month of the NHL season.Jason Arnott figured to one of them. But rookie Rem Murray?Yep, Murray&rsquo;s the guy. Drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1992 and signed as a free agent by the Oilers in 1995, Murray had five goals and 10 points in 12 games this season.While Doug Weight struggled early, Murray put up points playing with the likes of Mariusz Czerkawski and Kelly Buchberger on the third or fourth line. But the 24-year-old Michigan State grad isn&rsquo;t looking for a promotion to a more offensive role. He knows chances are slim that his scoring fortune will continue the entire season.&ldquo;If I chip in offensively it&rsquo;s nice,&rdquo; Murray said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not out there to score every game. I&rsquo;m not going to get ahead of myself and think I belong somewhere I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Murray&rsquo;s strength is, and always will be, defense. Despite scoring 31 goals and 90 points with the American League&rsquo;s Cape Breton Oilers last season, defense is why he made Edmonton and it&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s not likely to be sent back to the AHL. He was second on Edmonton at plus-7 and was a teamleading plus-32 in Cape Breton last season. The next closest player was linemate Ralph Intranuovo at plus-16.His versatility also makes him valuable; he can play all three forward positions and has an excellent touch around the net.Murray heads a list of this year&rsquo;s rookie surprises-count Jim Campbell of the St. Louis Blues among them-and is one of the biggest contributors among first-year players.Six teams-the Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins-had no rookies.If they want to find one they should look to Calgary. The Flames have one for each of them. &#9632;

Defensive specialist Murray scores big

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011696/7016163-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The sparkling play Edmonton&rsquo;s Rem Murray is one of the league&rsquo;s great rookie surprises. (Photo by Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div>The Hockey News takes a look at all significant newcomers to the league, not all of whom are eligible for the Calder Trophy, which goes annually to the league&rsquo;s top rookie. Teams not listed had no significant rookie contributors as of Nov. 1.Anaheim: Faint praise for defensemen Jason Marshall and Ruslan Salei is they were fitting in on the 1-9-2 Ducks. They were expected to make rookie mistakes and they came through. Marshall, a strong physical defensive type, had been the more consistent and effective of the two. Salei, the Ducks&rsquo; 22-year-old first round pick last summer, needs more time to make the transition from the International League. He has a booming shot and excellent physical tools, but was pointless in nine games.Boston: Rookies rule the Beantown blueline, where three of the top six regulars had a combined 16 games of previous NHL experience. Still, things were going surprisingly well, starting with the unexpectedly solid play of former St. Louis farmhand Steve States. Staios proved adept at breaking up rushes in the neutral zone and teamed with Don Sweeney to form the team&rsquo;s best defense pairing. Rookies Mattias Timander and Barry Richter played together to passing reviews. Timander provides a heavy shot for the power play; Richter has speed and rushing ability.Buffalo: Is Curtis Brown confident or what? As a 19-year-old, he greeted Sabres&rsquo; GM John Muckier in the dressing room with a friendly &ldquo;Hey, Mucks, how&rsquo;s it going?&rdquo; Now 20, the smooth-skating left winger was the only one of a bumper crop of Sabres&rsquo; young players to prove he&rsquo;s ready for the big time. Defenseman Jay McKee wasn&rsquo;t seeing much playing time while center Wayne Primeau and right winger Vaclav Varada should ride the Rochester-Buffalo shuttle much of the season.Chicago: Popular left winger Ethan Moreau made a name for himself by hitting everything and backing down from no one. Detroit&rsquo;s Martin Lapointe dropped Moreau with one punch, but the next time the two teams met Moreau went after him and fought him to a draw. Steady defenseman Tuomas Gronman was among the Blackhawks&rsquo; top six before an elbow injury knocked him out of the lineup.Colorado: Right winger Landon Wilson was in a free-fall. Wilson&rsquo;s lackluster performance is notable because of what he was projected to be when Toronto chose him 19th overall in the 1993 entry draft: a tough, scoring power winger. Instead, an unproven work ethic and penchant for taking bad penalties had him fifth on Colorado&rsquo;s right wing depth chart and a healthy scratch in seven of 13 games.Calgary: Check out this rookie six-pack: Jarome Iginla. Jonus Hoglund. Joel Bouchard. Todd Simpson, Cale Hulse and Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan. The Hames were winning because of youth, not in spite of it. Right winger Iginla (4-5-9, 13 games) was already a solid second-liner and legitimate Calder Trophy candidate who played sound positionally while making few mistakes. For a while he was playing with center Dave Gagner and left winger Hoglund, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound pure goal scorer with a quick release and a heavy, accurate shot (4-2-6, 11). The jaw-dropping performances came from Simpson and Bouchard, the most anonymous defense pairing in the league. They won&rsquo;t be for long if coach Pierre Page keeps sending them out to defend against 5-on-3 power plays, as he did against Pittsburgh. Simpson is a classic bruising defensive defenseman: Bouchard a strong skater who provides quality minutes without flash. Defensemen Hulse and O&rsquo;Sullivan were receiving less playing time, but weren&rsquo;t liabilities.Dallas: Right winger Jamie Langenbrunner&rsquo;s training camp was only average, but the Kalamazoo K-Wings&rsquo; 1995-96 MVP stepped it up when it counted. One month into the season, Langenbrunner had carved himself an important niche-he and center Todd Harvey were the rambunctious spirits to whom coach Ken Hitchcock looked when the Stars needed a boardthumping wake-up call. Feisty play, not three goals and four points in 11 games, is what makes his roster spot secure.Detroit: Bulky Anders Eriksson was THN&rsquo;s 199596 Minor Pro Prospect of the Year, but it was stringy Jamie Pushor who had been the more consistent defenseman on Detroit&rsquo;s blueline. Pushor, last year&rsquo;s captain in Adirondack, was performing steadily alongside veteran Bob Rouse. Eriksson is talented offensively, but had just two assists in 10 games and was twice a healthy scratch. The Wings wanted him to get better at clearing the slot, but Eriksson&rsquo;s conditioning is suspect. Goalie Kevin Hodson continued to play third fiddle behind Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon despite a 2-0-1 record, 1.32 goals-against average and 94.7 save percentage in four career games-including a 2-2 tie versus Chicago this year.Edmonton: Center Rem Murray got the press, right winger Mike Grier the playing time. Grier (1-23, 10 games) was acquired from St. Louis a year ago in the Shayne Corson trade. Grier&rsquo;s skating isn&rsquo;t in a league with most of his Oiler teammates, but when he parks his 6-foot-l, 232-pound mass in front of the net, it takes a forklift to move him. Because of it, he saw first team power play duty and was playing a regular shift on the third line.Florida: Defenseman Per Gustafsson sat out the Panthers&rsquo; first three games of the season. Coach Doug MacLean dressed him for the fourth and he responded with a goal and an assist and a single-game plus-5. He didn&rsquo;t sit any more. Gustafsson, 26, was cut for eight stitches after blocking a shot with his face in a game against Ottawa, then was seen diving in front of shots a couple of nights later. MacLean was using the extremely mobile Gustafsson on the power play and killing penalties. Not bad for the 261st pick of the 1994 entry draft.Los Angeles: Right winger Kai Nurminen was supposed to supply the splash and left winger Matt Johnson the bash, but right winger Dan Bylsma made the biggest impact. Nurminen was a 31-goal scorer in Finland last season and Johnson, an early second round draft pick in 1994. Bylsma made his mark the old-fashioned way-through hard work. He was a valued penalty-killer on one of the best units in the NHL and was doing what every coach loves-going into the comer and grinding it out. Nurminen, meanwhile, was adjusting to the North American game and Johnson was learning to be more than a 6-foot-5 statue on skates.Montreal: The pressure on defenseman David Wilkie was eased somewhat by the arrival of Murray Baron from the Blues in the Pierre Turgeon deal. Wilkie emerged from a trio of young defenseman to earn an the open spot on Montreal&rsquo;s blueline created by the Lyle Odelein trade this summer. Wilkie (1-5-6, 10 games) has the potential to be an offensive threat.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011526/7016156-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="347" height="493"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Campbell</figcaption></div>Islanders: Defenseman Bryan Berard and coach Mike Milbury struck a pact. Berard, the first pick in the 1995 entry draft, would be rewarded with power play time if he made sure to take care of his own end first. A month into the season the deal was holding. Along with five assists in 10 games, Berard stayed at an even plus-minus by not allowing his offensive instincts to lead him adrift defensively. Goalie Eric Fichaud was slowed by an abdominal muscle pull and had one poor period in four starts (Tampa scored four in the first Oct. 22), but was in the running with Tommy Salo for the No. 1 job when he recovered. Forward Andreas Johansson was average as an up-and-down mucker on the second line.Rangers: Left winger Daniel Goneau isn&rsquo;t the kind of scorer to repeat his early-season streak of five goals in five games, but teammates Luc Robitaille or Alexei Kovalev might if they went hard to the net the way Goneau does. Goneau led all rookies with seven goals in 14 games. Christian Dube was there as a little-used fourth-line center. Towering defenseman Eric Cairns proved he knows no fear, but remained well down on the depth chart.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021088/7016149-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="349" height="495"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jarome Iginla</figcaption></div>Ottawa: Defenseman Wade Redden arrived as advertised: unspectacular, steady, immune to pressure. He didn&rsquo;t appear out of place after injuries to Stan Neckar and Sean Hill pushed him into the role of a top-four defenseman. If they&rsquo;re smart, the Senators will choose a Swedish right winger in the fifth round of every future entry draft after longshot Andreas Dack- ell (136th overall in 1996) made the team with hustle and strong work along the boards. He&rsquo;s seen as a lower-case Daniel Alfredsson (133rd in 1995).Philadelphia: Defenseman Janne Niinimaa is one of the highest-skilled rearguards the Flyers have ever had. He can turn it on to carry the puck out of his own end in the blink of an eye and has the size (6-foot-l, 210 pounds) to play physically. Right winger Dainius Zubrus proved to be a bigger surprise, though. He was the only 1996 first rounder playing regularly in the NHL and doesn&rsquo;t turn 19 until next summer. Zubrus uses his body well to protect the puck and showed great hockey sense.St. Louis: Right winger Jim Campbell made the most of the one thing coach Mike Keenan gave him that no one in Anaheim or Montreal would-ice time. Campbell, who had five points in 16 games last season with the Ducks, led all rookie scorers with 11 points (six goals) by shooting hard and often. He was third on the Blues behind Brett Hull and Al MacInnis with 32 shots. Czech defenseman Libor Zabransky. in his first year in North America, was poised and refused to be intimidated. Center Harry York cooled down after a hot start, but was still a notable physical presence (and a defensive liability).Tampa Bay: Corey Schwab&rsquo;s play allayed the Lightning&rsquo;s fear of failure when Daren Puppa gets hurt. The former New Jersey prospect played nine of Tampa&rsquo;s 10 games, posting a 3.02 goals-against average and 89.4 save percentage after Puppa strained a groin in the first week. Coach Terry Crisp said if Schwab stayed hot he would continue to play when Puppa returned. Drew Bannister drew little attention en route to becoming Tampa&rsquo;s steadiest defenseman behind Roman Hamrlik. Fourth-line center Daymond Langkow returned from a short stint in the minors directly to the short side of Crisp&rsquo;s bench.Toronto: The good news is THN pre-season Calder pick Sergei Berezin had his chances. The bad news is half his shots missed the net and the other half hit goalie equipment. The right winger had just two goals in 11 games. Center Brandon Convery showed flashes of offensive creativity and was rewarded with a spot on the Doug Gilmour-Kirk Muller line. Injuries limited the playing time of left winger Fredrik Modin; inexperience did the same to defenseman Jeff Ware.Washington: Remember what kind of season Peter Bondra had six years ago? Didn&rsquo;t think so. People probably won&rsquo;t remember left winger Richard Zednik&rsquo;s rookie season, either-he had just two goals in eight games-but at the turn of the century the kid could be dynamite. At various times he showed explosive speed, a scorer&rsquo;s finishing touch and the resiliency to pick himself up after being knocked down. Center Andrew Brunette digs the puck out of the comers on the power play as well as anyone on the team. If he can somehow overcome below-average skating, he could stick around. &#9632;

f0010-01

NHL Rookie Report

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011653/7016201-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="376" height="533"></div>Sergei Fedorov has a Hart Trophy to his credit, but the question being asked these days is: does the 26-year-old star have the heart to lead the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup?The Red Wings, perennial contenders to win the Cup they haven&rsquo;t claimed since 1955, are not a threat as long as Fedorov remains mired in a prolonged scoring slump.The 6-foot-1,200-pound center has been reluctant to venture where players must go to score goals-the high-traffic zones where a price is paid to score. He chooses to dish the puck off rather than risk being hit.Unfortunately for the Red Wings, the players to whom Fedorov passes don&rsquo;t have his scoring potential.That, in a nutshell, is the No. 1 reason why a player who, dating back to last season, had just six goals in his past 37 games. Fedorov scored opening night, the only Detroit goal in a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, and was silent the next 10 games.When Canada prepared to play Russia in the World Cup, a member of the Canadian coaching staff was asked how it planned to handle the opposition&rsquo;s speed. He said it wouldn&rsquo;t be a problem because Fedorov wouldn&rsquo;t pay the price to score goals.It has been that way for a while. All the skills are still there-the speed, the stickhandling, the terrific defensive play. He won his second Selke Trophy last year as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward.But if the player who scored 56 goals and 120 points in 1993-94 plays like Bob Gainey, it creates a new problem for the Red Wings. They made lineup adjustments to insert more youth into the mix and are counting on Fedorov&rsquo;s contribution to help ease the transition.The Wings thought they inched closer to the Cup with the acquisition of power forward Brendan Shanahan. If Fedorov can&rsquo;t score any more, how do they replace his goals?It&rsquo;s not as though Fedorov is the only culprit. In their first 12 games, the 7-4-1 Red Wings scored just 32 goals, an average of 2.6 per game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021317/7016194-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="505" height="878"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Fedorov (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Last season, when they were the third-highest scoring team in the league, they averaged 3.96 goals per game. Scoring is down all across the league, but not that much.A few years ago the Red Wings had a number of bona fide offensive threats. Now, with Ray Sheppard, Dino Ciccarelli and Paul Coffey departed and Fedorov spinning his wheels, only Steve Yzerman, Shanahan and Slava Kozlov can be counted on to score regularly.The Red Wings remain the class of the league defensively, which is coach-GM Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s pride and joy. Bowman venemently denies the reports he&rsquo;s upset with Fedorov&rsquo;s play.&ldquo;What many people forget is Sergei broke into the league as a good two-way player and he has only scored more than 40 goals once,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;One year everything clicked for him. He plays a regular shift and kills penalties and a lot of the good things he does don&rsquo;t show up on the scoresheet. Sergei plays on a team that gives up a goal-and-a-third per game and everybody is complaining about him. I don&rsquo;t get it.&rdquo;In Detroit, a frustrated Fedorov is telling reporters he&rsquo;s a checker now and says, &ldquo;I have no offensive game.&rdquo;Those who watch him daily insist if Fedorov wanted to he could take the puck on his stick and play keepaway, he is that skilled, and scoring 50 goals is a realistic target.Fedorov was pleased when injuries prompted Bowman to reunite the Russian Five Oct. 30 against Montreal. He had a goal and an assist in that game.It has been suggested a hit in the 1994 playoffs that knocked Fedorov unconscious has killed his spirit. If that&rsquo;s the case, then perhaps he&rsquo;ll never be a consistent scorer again.Fedorov controls his own destiny. Twenty games into the season he could have 10 goals and all will be forgotten. He clearly has the ability to score goals, maybe not 56 as he did three years ago, but certainly more than his current pace of 14.But if he wants to be a scorer again, it&rsquo;s just a matter of going where angels fear to tread. &#9632;

f0012-01

COLUMNISTS

Fedorov must pay the price for goals

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>He was hailed as the francophone superstar the Montreal Canadiens needed, the man who would be the marquee attraction with this franchise moving into a new arena.But in the end, Pierre Turgeon became the latest in a long string of captains traded by the Canadiens.Montreal GM Rejean Houle, who has displayed no reluctance in pulling off major deals in his first year, did it again when he sent Turgeon, defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick and minor-league center Craig Conroy to the St. Louis Blues for rugged left winger Shayne Corson and physical defenseman Murray Baron. The Canadiens also receive the Blues&rsquo; fifth round draft choice in 1997.Turgeon became the fifth Canadiens&rsquo; captain dealt since 1990. The third, Kirk Muller, was sent to the New York Islanders with Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby for Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov on April 5, 1995. The others were Chris Chelios (1990), Guy Carbonneau (1994) and Mike Keane (1995).The trade returns Corson to Montreal, where he launched his NHL career during the 1986-87 season. He was traded to the Edmonton Oilers as part of the 1992 package that brought Vincent Damphousse, Montreal&rsquo;s new captain. Corson, 30, adds leadership and experience and brings the Canadiens another character player.He was the Blues&rsquo; best player in the playoffs last year, scoring eight goals and 14 points in 13 games. But he had just two goals and an assist in 12 games this season. He had a goal disallowed in his Canadiens&rsquo; debut, a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Oct. 30.Baron is considered a good acquisition by Montreal. A 29-year-old veteran, the 6-foot-3, 215 pounder is an unspectacular defensive rearguard whom the Canadiens hope will improve their defensive play.Montreal had allowed 41 goals in 10 games prior to the trade. It was no secret the Canadiens required an experienced, physical defenseman, preferably one who shoots left, as Baron does. The team was carrying eight defensemen, including three left-handed shots: Malakhov, Peter Popovic and Francois Groleau. Four of the eight-Groleau, Fitzpatrick, Craig Rivet and David Wilkie-were inexperienced.&ldquo;This trade makes us a bigger, tougher team,&rdquo; Houle said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a trade for the second half of the season and the playoffs.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011542/7016232-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="965" height="1955"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Damphousse has the &lsquo;C&rsquo;, but how long will it last? (Photo by Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div>The Blues, meanwhile, are hoping Turgeon will be the offensive center they require to feed right winger Brett Hull on their top line.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure Brett will have to be happy,&rdquo; said St. Louis coach and GM Mike Keenan. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t wait much longer. Brett&rsquo;s not getting younger.&rdquo;Hull had been struggling with just four goals in 11 games. He failed to score in Turgeon&rsquo;s debut, a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche Oct. 30.&ldquo;The bottom line is that we&rsquo;ve added a world-class center,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; assistant GM Bob Berry. &ldquo;I think our search for a No. 1 center is over.&rdquo;Turgeon led the Canadiens last season with 38 goals and 96 points in 80 games, but was pilloried in the media and by Molson Centre spectators for his lackluster performance in the playoffs against the New York Rangers. Turgeon scored two goals and four assists in the six-game series, but failed to generate a point in the first two games and didn&rsquo;t score until the fourth game.Turgeon said he was asked by Canadiens&rsquo; coach Mario Tremblay to assume a defensive role in the series.At training camp this season, it became clear Tremblay had lost confidence in Turgeon, who was relegated to third on the team&rsquo;s depth chart behind centers Saku Koivu and Damphousse.Turgeon went to Houle Oct. 2, three days prior to the Canadiens&rsquo; regular season opener, and requested a trade.&ldquo;If I was 32, it would be a different story. I would have adjusted my style,&rdquo; said Turgeon, who moves to his fourth team. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m 27. 1 have a lot of good years in front of me. I think I&rsquo;m not a third-line guy.&rdquo;When Sam Pollock was running the Canadiens in the 1960s and &lsquo;70s and regularly winning Stanley Cups, he used to say the team that gets the best player wins the trade. Montreal gave up the best player in this trade-and in the one last December involving goaltender Patrick Roy.However, in both cases, Turgeon and Roy forced management into trading them. Could the Canadiens have received more for both players? That&rsquo;s a question that will long be debated.&ldquo;With Corson, Scott Thornton and Turner Stevenson on the third line and Marc Bureau, Donald Brashear and Chris Murray on the fourth line, that&rsquo;s the kind of team I like,&rdquo; Tremblay said. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re equipped to play on the road.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Talent for toughness

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011641/7016270-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="375" height="529"></div>At the Boston Garden auction, Cam Neely&rsquo;s old mouthpiece went for $665, foam at the mention of Ulf Samuelsson&rsquo;s name included. A one-quarter-smoked Red Auerbach cigar was sold for $575, worth double a half-eaten Gary Doak sandwich.They sold off banners, sweaters, seats, Blaine Lacher&rsquo;s locker and the training table, presumably with Al lafrate still on it. Everything went faster than Gordie Kluzak&rsquo;s knees, receiving pennies even prettier than the first ones Harry Sinden ever saved, which were auctioned off, too.Someone&rsquo;s garbage is somebody else&rsquo;s collectible, except, of course, for I.O.U.&rsquo;s from Bruce McNall. Some of these items will be passed around more than Todd Elik. That is because unlike Craig Janney, people are willing to pay a price.One cannot put a value on the stash of NHL memorabilia I have accrued. I am offering the greatest auction since Marcel Aubut sold off Eric Lindros and I&rsquo;ll sell this stuff twice, too, if I can. Unfortunately, for me, most of it is so valuable only Pat Verbeek can afford to bid. We offer&hellip;1. The necktie Terry Crisp blew his nose into while the Flames were going down to the Kings in 1990.Now, OF Crispy insists to this day he was the victim of a snotty piece of journalism, that all he really was doing was symbolically holding his shnozz to protest a call. But this year, people do that every night at The Pond without using even a hankie, so Crisp&rsquo;s story doesn&rsquo;t wash and neither does his tie. There is video to confirm this neckwear was not paisley before the Calgary coach got caught without a Kleenex.2. Sport coat once worn by Ken Hitchcock, currently being used to cover the infield at The Ball Park at Arlington.3. Full set of teeth extracted over the years by Dr. Mark Messier in various competitions, authenticated by dental records of the Sutter family.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021237/7016263-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="546" height="1068"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Messier (Photo By Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>4. Donut offered Don Koharski by Jim Schoenfeld during 1988 playoff series. Slightly harder by now than a Mike Milbury negotiating stance, but still as sugar-coated as a Brett Hull-Mike Keenan declaration of mutual respect.5. Shoes once used by Milbury to beat Madison Square Garden patron over head, with strings representing Islander budget.6. Original patent on hockey taken out by its inventor, Devils&rsquo; coach Jacques Lemaire.7. Seat at Hartford Civic Center. Mint condition.8. Jim Peplinski finger, lightly chewed by Claude Lemieux in 1986 playoff incident, but perfect for pointing blame or for Peter Karmanos to raise in symbolic gesture the day the vans pull up in Hartford.9. Written pledge by Norm Green to keep the North Stars in Minnesota. Will take first offer, even below value of paper promise is written on.10. Marty McSorley sweater shredded by Doug Risebrough with his skates during playoff rage. Still more attractive than Islander fishsticks&rsquo; jersey.11. Illegal McSorley stick that turned 1993 final, almost as warped as Mario Tremblay&rsquo;s thinking when he ran off Patrick Roy.12. Pictures that Wayne Presley has of GMs in compromising positions.13. Match book cover containing full financial disclosure statement used by Bruce Firestone to obtain NHL franchise for Ottawa.14. Uniform Derek King retired five years ago, even though he still plays in it.15. Blinders worn by Bill Wirtz. Guaranteed impenetrable by light for 30 years.16. Shirt worn by Bob Pulford. Monogrammed and stuffed.Make me an offer. Hopefully, I won&rsquo;t have to wait as long for one as Curtis Joseph did last season. If I don&rsquo;t get what I want, I&rsquo;m going to Nashville. &#9632;

f0014-01

Crisp blew it, but we won’t by selling tie at auction

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011426/7016308-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="379" height="535"></div>This is what we put losing NHL coaches through:Ron Wilson is standing at a podium following the Anaheim Mighty Ducks&rsquo; seventh consecutive loss, a team record, trying to straddle the fence between truth and the correct spin.One part of Wilson clearly wants to blurt out: Don&rsquo;t you people understand? Without Paul Kariya, we&rsquo;re not good enough right now. Even with Kariya, we&rsquo;re no better than a run-of-the-mill NHL team, one that&rsquo;ll perhaps challenge for a playoff spot only because there are so many other run-of-the-mill teams in the NHL right now.The other part of Wilson knows that coaches don&rsquo;t stay employed for long if they start criticizing their personnel. Not only does it alienate the players, it implies the GM isn&rsquo;t doing a proper job of providing the necessary talent to compete.Just about everybody figured the Ducks would take flight this season after narrowly missing the playoffs a year ago.Since February, when they added right winger Tecmu Selanne to a lineup that also included Kariya, one of the NHL&rsquo;s most dynamic young talents, they won twice as many games as they lost when both players were dressed.If one or the other was missing from the lineup, however, their percentages dropped significantly-only one victory in a dozen games.Together. Selanne and Kariya gave the Ducks a scoring line to rival the best in the NHL. So why is it that without Eric Lindros, the Philadelphia Flyers were surviving, but without Kariya. the Ducks were sinking like a stone?The answer is. no team ever wins or loses because of one individual player. The Pittsburgh Penguins have played brilliant hockey in the past without Mario Lemieux and now they&rsquo;re playing brutal hockey with him Hockey is the consummate team game and the Ducks represent a curious experiment in team building. If there&rsquo;s a lesson to be learned from their expansion counterparts in Florida, it is this: in today&rsquo;s NHL, you win with NHLers.Sounds simple, doesn&rsquo;t it? With the possible exception of John Vanbiesbrouck. there isn&rsquo;t a single player on Florida&rsquo;s roster that you&rsquo;d trade, straight up, for either Kariya or Selanne.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021099/7016301-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="553" height="1066"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Florida wins because its first line is virtually indistinguishable from its fourth. Panthers&rsquo; management feeds the young players into the system little by little, but in the end. it relies on the Brian Skrudlands and Mike Houghs and Tom Fitzgeralds and Bill Lindsavs-all olavcrs well-schooled in the NHL game-to rattle off all those close wins.The Tampa Bay Lightning borrowed a page from the Florida script and the San Jose Sharks are now doing likewise. Thirtysomethings are sprinkled all over their lineups, alongside handfuls of blue-chip kids-and the) get by.The Ducks, meanwhile, bravely turn to their farm system for the J.F. Jomphes and Mark Hickses, the Jason Marshalls and Darren Van Impes. promote them to the NHL and then live with their inevitable ups and downs.So while the Panthers&rsquo; nucleus has already undergone its growing pains, the Mighty Ducks&rsquo; are played out game after game before Wilson&rsquo;s eyes.The Ducks won 33 games in their first season, with a ragtag collection of expansion draft talent. There was little to distinguish them from the Panthers.Since then, the Ducks have gotten younger, hut not appreciably better.Now Wilson, a month removed from coaching Team USA to a World Cup victory, is hack to a grindingly difficult reality, trying to make ago of things when they look desperately bleak. &#9632;

f0016-01

Mediocre Ducks take different course

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02744/7016346-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="573" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Wilson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011099/7016353-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="161" height="160"></div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim thought Paul Kariya would be ready to start the season on time in spite of the abdominal injury that kept him out of the World Cup.Eleven games into the season, they were 1-8-2 without him.Kariya finally returned Oct. 30 against the Vancouver Canucks, but even his presence couldn&rsquo;t prevent another loss, their franchise-record eighth in a row. Nevertheless, for the Ducks it was the long-awaited day.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s our go-to guy,&rdquo; said coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;When we go into the third period (without him), we don&rsquo;t have anybody who feels like they can score except Teemu Selanne, and the other team knows that. Paul opens up the ice. He puts the other team on their heels.&rdquo;Kariya didn&rsquo;t have a point in his debut, but he gave the Ducks the spark and creativity they have lacked, creating scoring chances and turning the power play into a threat.Though his timing was off and he might have been a bit slower than usual, Kariya didn&rsquo;t shy from contact and his skills were evident.&ldquo;My game shape should pick up quickly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take a little time, even with Teemu. We&rsquo;re back to when we first played together, looking for each other instead of just reacting. We just all have to keep it simple until the chemistry is there.&rdquo;The collaboration between Selanne and Kariya began last season when Selanne was acquired in February from the Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks went 178-3 with both in the lineup and the power play clicked along at 20 per cent. Fittingly, they both had 108 points on the season. Kariya had 50 goals, Selanne 40.The power play was just 4-for-45 (8.9 per cent) this season without Kariya. His absence was no excuse for the abysmal 1-8-2 record, but the Ducks desperately hope he can save them from oblivion.&ldquo;He picked up our emotions,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Guys were slapping each other on the back.&ldquo;We all know what kind of player he is,&rdquo; said center Steve Rucchin. &ldquo;He not only helps the guys who are on the ice, but the guys who head out on the next shift as well. You know he&rsquo;s going to keep the other team sitting back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Despite an offer to extend his contract after last season, coach Ron Wilson is still signed only through the end of this season. The sides have differences of opinion about salary-especially after Wilson guided the U.S. to the World Cup victory&hellip;Anaheim&rsquo;s 40-game sellout streak at the Pond was broken Oct 27 against Calgary&hellip;The team&rsquo;s poor start prompted a three-hour meeting among Disney Sports Enterprises president Tony Tavares, GM Jack Ferreira and the entire coaching staff. &ldquo;If you think we&rsquo;re so arrogant we&rsquo;re not looking at ourselves right now, you&rsquo;re wrong,&rdquo; Tavares said&hellip;.Mikhail Shtalenkov was taking turns in goal with Guy Hebert, who got off to a slow start. &ldquo;(Shtalenkov) has our only win so far,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He deserves a chance.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03505/7016339-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="577" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mikhail Shtalenkov</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

NHL TEAMS

Kariya’s return inspires hope for moribund Mighty Ducks

<div class="byline">By Mike Loltus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04321/7016384-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="161" height="162"></div>The term isn&rsquo;t used often when speaking of goalies, but when coach Steve Kasper used it to describe Bill Ranford, it fit perfectly.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a go-to guy,&rdquo; Kasper said of the Boston Bruins&rsquo; No. 1 goalie. &ldquo;When Billy is in his groove he&rsquo;s really good and right now he&rsquo;s very hot.&rdquo;Ranford put together some spectacular work over a five-game stretch at the end of October, when he was almost too much of a go-to guy. Boston played without captain Ray Bourque (slight shoulder separation) for all but a few minutes in that span and 1995-96 allrookie defenseman Kyle McLaren missed two games, so opponents were getting to Ranford fairly easily.The Bruins, however, managed a 22-1 split in those five games, which included their first victory at FleetCenter after an 0-3-1 start at home.Ranford turned back 46 shots in a 52 victory over the New Jersey Devils Oct. 29, then backstopped a 4-4 tie with the Hartford Whalers two nights later with 31 more saves. His goals-against average fell from 4.29 to 3.04 in those five starts, while his save percentage rose from 84.7 to 90.0.Everyone realized, however, he couldn&rsquo;t keep it up forever.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re giving up way too many chances and Billy is making way too many saves,&rdquo; said right winger Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;He has seen third and fourth chances and Superman can&rsquo;t stop those all the time.&rdquo;Ranford saw it as a half-empty, halffull situation.&ldquo;I feel good right now,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but that has a lot to do with the way the team plays in front of you. They&rsquo;re giving me the opportunity to see the puck and that makes it easier.&ldquo;But we have to play a little better hockey than this. We actually played better games in our losses here (2-1 defeats at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs Oct. 24 and Detroit Red Wings Oct. 26) than we did in the (New Jersey and Hartford) games. If we keep playing like that, it&rsquo;s going to be a long season.&rdquo;&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to give up that many shots and make Billy work so hard,&rdquo; said rookie defenseman Steve Staios, &ldquo;even though we know he&rsquo;s always there for us. Billy has been so great behind us that maybe we&rsquo;re taking him for granted a little.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ray Bourque. who sustained a first degree shoulder separation Oct. 20 at Anaheim, hoped to be back in the lineup in early November&hellip;On the day St. Louis obtained center Pierre Turgeon from Montreal, a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the Blues might be close to obtaining Bruins&rsquo; center Adam Oates. &ldquo;I heard it, so it was in the back of my mind,&rdquo; Oates said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think it affected me.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Jon Rohloff, assigned to Providence of the American League for conditioning, re-injured his sprained ankle in his first game there&hellip;Right winger Sheldon Kennedy, who was given permission to attend to personal matters, was expected in Boston at the start of November. &#9632;

f0020-04

Ranford Boston’s go-to guy, foes going to net too often

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01866/7016415-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="161" height="147"></div>The first battle in the war to control the Buffalo Sabres was won by Larry Quinn.The president of the Marine Midland Arena Corp, was named president of the team Nov. 1. Quinn replaced Doug Moss who was pushed out the door, but was officially allowed to resign.In making the move to fire Moss and replace him with the 44-year-old Quinn, Northrup R. Knox, one of the founders of the franchise, said Quinn had, &ldquo;vision, skill and drive and that in looking toward the future we thought it was in the best interests of the organization to accept Doug Moss&rsquo; resignation.&rdquo;Moss, who had been feuding with Quinn in recent months, resigned after a meeting with Knox and Robert O. Swados, another long-time owner. He was not available for comment.Quinn said he expected to make changes in the front office, though he would not discuss specifics. He said he would oversee the hockey department with an eye toward ending the feud between GM John Muckier and coach Ted Nolan, but not anticipate any immediate changes.&ldquo;John will report to me,&rdquo; said Quinn with an emphasis that left little doubt who the new boss was. &ldquo;There will be a little more control (of the hockey department) then there was in the past.&ldquo;I see myself as being in a facilitator&rsquo;s role and I&rsquo;ll have a say in what goes on there.&rdquo;Quinn then added some praise for Muckier nothing that he has five Stanley Cup rings and that he was an &ldquo;able guy-&rdquo;Muckier and Nolan have been at odds with one another over how the team should be run.Knox had some praise for Moss, but noted the team&rsquo;s board was unanimous in accepting his resignation. He conceded there were some problems regarding Moss&rsquo; tenure, but declined to discuss them.A recent story in the Buffalo News noted Moss was under fire for his hiring practices, a lack of staff morale and a relationship with a female employee. There also appeared to be disappointment in the ownership ranks over ticket sales.NOTEBOOK: After coach Ted Nolan criticized Andrei Trefilov for allowing soft goals in a 6-4 loss to the Rangers Oct. 27, the goaltender fired back about his lack of playing time. &ldquo;1 expected to play way earlier than this,&rdquo; said Trefilov who made his season debut in the Ranger game. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stop goals sitting on the bench.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik got a two-game suspension and was fined $1,000 for high sticking Dallas center Jamie Langenbrunner Oct. 30&hellip;Right winger Matthew Barnaby was fined $1,000 by the NHL for clipping Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Bruce Driver in the head with his stick Oct. 27&hellip;Rangers&rsquo; coach Colin Campbell and Sabre coach Ted Nolan engaged in an altercation in a hallway after the game. The two made slight physical contact, but later downplayed the incident. &#9632;

f0021-01

Quinn wins power struggle

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02490/7016446-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="162" height="160"></div>Theo Fleury&rsquo;s slow start was almost a no-start. The Calgary Flames&rsquo; captain had one point in seven games and that one, an assist on an empty-net goal, was added after the game.The post-World Cup blahs hit Fleury hard for a fortnight. Considering the right winger had his poorest professional season after the 1991 Canada Cup, inquiring minds wanted to know: Was this dejavu?Then Fleury ran off nine points in three games and jumped back to the top of the Flames&rsquo; scoring list.&ldquo;It was just a matter of time,&rdquo; Fleury said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as if I wasn&rsquo;t getting scoring chances. A lot of times, when you&rsquo;re slumping, it only takes one assist to get it going. It was nice to know you can still score. That first goal (Oct. 20 against the Edmonton Oilers) opened up the floodgates. Things have started to get back to normal.&rdquo;While many were worried about Fleury&rsquo;s slump, Flames&rsquo; coach Pierre Page wasn&rsquo;t panicking. He told his captain not to worry about the goals; to keep playing a strong defensive game. The Flames were on a pretty good roll in the first month, winning seven games in October, largely because of their defense-first philosophy.It marked a big improvement over last season when they had only one victory by Halloween.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question, we have a better team this year,&rdquo; Fleury said. &ldquo;When you looked at it at the beginning of the year, us going with so many young guys, we might have had thoughts about last year, but&hellip;the young guys have been the key to this whole turnaround.&ldquo;You win early and it gets contagious. Everybody rallies around one another. Just the way the defense alone is playing is a surprise to everyone. We&rsquo;ve played with four rookies back there and haven&rsquo;t lost anything yet.&rdquo;For two weeks, however, they did it without much help from the best player.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a difficult thing to play at such a high level for about a month and then come back here,&rdquo; Fleury said of the World Cup. &ldquo;It was nice that the team played well, even though I wasn&rsquo;t producing offensively.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Flames&rsquo; assistant coach Kevin Constantine returned to San Jose Oct. 30, his first appearance there since being fired by the Sharks a year ago. Constantine downplayed the significance of the game, noting there were few players in the Sharks&rsquo; dressing room from his tenure&hellip;The team&rsquo;s injury jinx continued when defenseman James Patrick suffered a small tear of the anterior cruciate knee ligament and was forced to miss a three-game road trip. Through the end of October, the team&rsquo;s three top blueliners-Patrick, Steve Chiasson and Zarley Zalapski-had missed more games than they&rsquo;d played&hellip;The Flames&rsquo; were carrying three goalies again after Dwayne Roloson returned from a conditioning stint in Saint John of the American League. &#9632;

f0021-02

Fleury breaks out with flurry

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02573/7016484-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="584" height="924"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01886/7016491-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="161" height="161"></div>Goaltending may still be a strength of the Chicago Blackhawks, but coach Craig Hartsburg found out how quickly that could change because of injuries.Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Ed Belfour missed two starts because of a sore back and hamstring, problems that could linger all season.Meanwhile, backup Jeff Hackett was slow to recover from a broken finger and Jimmy Waite, the No. 3 goalie on the depth chart, suffered a severe case of dehydration when he was recalled from the minors and pressed into service.&ldquo;We may have to go looking for someone off the street just to practise,&rdquo; Hartsburg joked.Hartsburg doubts whether Belfour can handle playing too many back-to-back games this season. Belfour battled back and leg injuries last year.&ldquo;When it comes to injuries, I never question a player,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;But it has been a lingering thing. So we&rsquo;re going to do everything possible to find out what we can do, whether that means Eddie doing a different routine in his exercise class, whatever. I&rsquo;m trying to look for solutions rather than digging for problems.&rdquo;Belfour, 31, said he can&rsquo;t recover from games like he did when he was younger and regularly had 65 to 70 starts.&ldquo;In the past, I&rsquo;ve always been able to just suck it up and play,&rdquo; Belfour said.&ldquo;But as you get older, things don&rsquo;t go away as quickly.&ldquo;With goaltenders, it&rsquo;s a little different. You&rsquo;re expected to play when you&rsquo;re a little bit hurt.&rdquo;Hackett, out since Oct. 6, was set to return Oct. 25 against the Detroit Red Wings, but he re-injured his finger in practice. Waite was recalled from the Indianapolis Ice of the International League and was terrific in a 2-2 tie with the Red Wings.However, Waite lost 12 pounds from dehydration, and when he was forced to start two days later against the San Jose Sharks, he gave up five goals in the first period en route to a 6-2 loss.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to find a solution because obviously Jimmy has a problem,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;For a guy to dehydrate like that, I don&rsquo;t think, is normal.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Steve Smith returned to the lineup Oct. 29, a little earlier than expected. He had been out since Oct. 5 with a nerve problem in his left leg&hellip;Trade rumors had the Hawks talking with three or four teams about finding some offensive help, specifically at center. The Hawks were finding it a grind to score goals and an anemic power play wasn&rsquo;t helping&hellip;The Hawks failed to sell out the United Center for their first seven home games, with crowds barely reaching 17,000. Last season, they set an NHL record by averaging more than 20,000 fans a game&hellip;The Hawks tied a 30-year-old club record by going unbeaten in their first five road games to start the season (3-0-2). A 3-2 loss at Florida Oct. 30 snapped the streak.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03397/7016477-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="582" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Hackett</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-02

Aches, pains, dehydration lead to minor crease crisis

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04281/7016522-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="161" height="161"></div>Peter Forsberg must feel like a panelist on the old game show What&rsquo;s My Line?Trying to guess who will skate with Forsberg and left winger Valeri Kamensky this season hasn&rsquo;t been an easy task.Lately, another lucky contestant was granted the chance to play with the Swedish star and his name is Adam Deadmarsh.The 21-year-old Deadmarsh was tabbed by Colorado Avalanche coach Marc Crawford to replace injured Claude Lemieux at right wing on the unit.Forsberg&rsquo;s linemates in the early days of Lemieux&rsquo;s absence included Jon Klemm, Rene Corbet, Landon Wilson and Aaron Miller. But with Lemieux expected to be out until at least February because of abdominal surgery, Crawford wanted Forsberg and Kamensky to have a set partner at right wing.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve come to the realization now, especially with the injury to Claude being one of some duration, that we&rsquo;re going to have to put Adam out there, leave him there and let him get comfortable,&rdquo; Crawford said.The new line sure looked cozy in its first game together Oct. 30 against the St. Louis Blues. Deadmarsh had two goals and one assist and the line combined for four goals and nine points in Colorado&rsquo;s 6-3 victory. Deadmarsh had been in a scoring slump before the line was put together.&ldquo;My job was just trying to keep up with those two,&rdquo; said Deadmarsh, who had four goals and six points in nine games. &ldquo;Peter and Val played a great game and when they&rsquo;re playing like that it makes it a lot of fun.&rdquo;Deadmarsh started the season as an odds-on favorite to play left wing on Joe Sakic&rsquo;s line. That&rsquo;s where Deadmarsh played the last two rounds of the 1996 playoffs, when Sakic led the league with 18 goals and 34 points, and the pair clicked.But the good chemistry this season between Sakic and left winger Eric Lacroix, who was acquired this past summer from the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Stephane Fiset, prompted Crawford to move Deadmarsh all over the lineup the first three weeks.Now, though, Deadmarsh has a comfortable home-at least until Lemieux gets back.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s surgery, performed in Boston, was termed a success by Avalanche team physician Dr. Andrew Parker, but Parker said there was a &ldquo;significant amount of repair&rdquo; needed for a tom muscle in his abdomen. Parker said Lemieux would have to be inactive for six weeks followed by another four to six weeks of rehabilitation&hellip;The Avs had a string of 43 straight penalty kills before Edmonton scored two power play goals Oct. 27&hellip;Center Mike Ricci will be out until at least mid-November because of a partially separated shoulder suffered Oct. 30 against St. Louis&hellip;Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix said Lemieux&rsquo;s injury will not intensify the team&rsquo;s efforts to sign free agent left winger Chris Simon. &#9632;

f0023-04

Deadmarsh finds good home playing alongside Forsberg

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01866/7016553-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="164" height="149"></div>The Dallas Stars loaded up on high-priced veteran help in the off-season, but a couple of 21-year-olds from within the system were making the biggest impact.Todd Harvey and Jamie Langenbrunner have been providing inspiration with their energetic play.&ldquo;What they help us do is establish momentum and get energy in the game,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been able to do it consistently since the beginning of the season.&rdquo;Harvey and Langenbrunner were anchoring the N-R-G (energy) line and playing with a rotation of left wingers, including enforcers Bill Huard and Marc Labelle, as well as more skilled players such as Dave Reid, Brent Gilchrist and Greg Adams.&ldquo;Even at 21, they help in their own way to lead the team and fire up some of the veterans,&rdquo; Hitchcock said.Harvey is a 1993 No. 1 pick (ninth overall) in his third NHL season. After he had a great start as a rookie, his play was sidetracked last season.&ldquo;It was hard because it seemed like it was a step down, like I was doing things wrong,&rdquo; Harvey said. &ldquo;But now, I&rsquo;m not scoring and I still know I&rsquo;m impacting the game.&rdquo;Langenbrunner has enjoyed immediate success at every level he has played. He was a 1993 second round pick (35th overall).&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always just focused on the level I was at,&rdquo; Langenbrunner said.That focus has been instrumental as he helped carry the Ontario League&rsquo;s Peterborough Petes to a strong run in the 1995 OHL playoffs (eight goals, 22 points in 11 playoff games) and was named the International League Michigan K-Wings&rsquo; player of the year last season with 65 points in 59 games.And while their offensive production wasn&rsquo;t huge-Harvey had just two assists through 11 games and Langenbrunner had three goals and an assist-the team was off to an impressive 9-2-0 start for second overall in the NHL.&ldquo;There will come a time when they need to score and they&rsquo;re getting plenty of opportunities,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t argue with their results right now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Stars&rsquo; power play continued to struggle, going 4-for-45 in the first 11 games. It was fourth-worst in the NHL, operating at an 8.9 per-cent success rate. Defenseman Derian Hatcher was tried in front of the net and then at the left point. Center Joe Nieuwendyk was expected to return from a chest injury in early-November&hellip;Goaltender Andy Moog had two shutouts in his first eight appearances. He had two all of last season, none during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season and two in 1993-94&hellip;One big reason for the Stars&rsquo; success to date was their play against Eastern Conference opponents. The Stars went 5-0-0 against the east in October. They were 5-16-5 against the east last season. &#9632;

f0025-01

Langenbrunner, Harvey lead way

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02553/7016584-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="162" height="160"></div>Right winger Martin Lapointe had only one wish entering this season. Though he was pegged by coach Scotty Bowman to fill much of the void left by traded winger Dino Ciccarelli, Lapointe wanted to be assessed only on his abilities, not Ciccarelli&rsquo;s.Ciccarelli was immensely popular in Detroit and has since gone on to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he led the team with eight goals in 10 games, three coming on the power play. Detroit&rsquo;s power play, in the meantime, has struggled.But Lapointe helped his situation in two games-Oct. 26 at Boston and then Oct. 30 at home against Montreal. Lapointe scored on the power play in the 2-1 win over the Bruins and scored again in the 5-3 victory over the Canadiens. The goals were his second and third of the season.&ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d be answering a lot more questions,&rdquo; a grateful Lapointe said. &ldquo;Questions like, &lsquo;Dino would have done this,&rsquo; or, &lsquo;Why isn&rsquo;t the power play working?&rsquo; There was a lot going on, so maybe that helped.&rdquo;The Keith Primeau holdout and the subsequent trade along with Paul Coffey to the Hartford Whalers for Brendan Shanahan took up much of the early-season spotlight. It meant Lapointe had more time to develop and adjust to his expanded role. His goal against Boston was proof that he, too, has genuine offensive ability, even if it is not as polished as Ciccarelli&rsquo;s.On his goal, Lapointe took a crosscrease pass from Vyacheslav Kozlov, then held the puck for a moment before firing it high into the net past goalie Bill Ranford.&ldquo;He waited for the goalie to go down,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;I think he has confidence in scoring. It was a real good pass, too.&rdquo;But the goal didn&rsquo;t compare to the shorthanded one he scored against Montreal, when, while being hooked to the ice by Vladimir Malakhov, Lapointe lifted the puck high into the net past Pat Jablonski.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing a lot more on the penalty-killing unit, getting more icetime,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not necessarily trying to go out there to score goals all the time, but I&rsquo;m glad they&rsquo;re going in.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After going 10 games without a goal, center Sergei Fedorov had a goal and an assist against Montreal. Fedorov was playing with the four other Russians at the time. &ldquo;It was nice to be back together with the Russian unit,&rdquo; said Fedorov, who has been frequently moved from line to line. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m back home, like by my fireplace.&rdquo; (See Brophy on pg. 12 for more on Fedorov.)...Left winger Bob Errey has requested a trade. Errey asked to be moved after Detroit took a one-year contract extension off the table following the playoffs and had been playing him sparingly this season&hellip;The Wings are considering signing free agent enforcer Joe Kocur, but will likely wait until after Dec. 1 when he would not have to clear waivers. &#9632;

f0025-02

Lapointe proving he belongs

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01954/7016615-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="159" height="144"></div>Ryan Smyth didn&rsquo;t belong on center Doug Weight&rsquo;s left wing. Ask anybody.There wasn&rsquo;t a chance this 20-year-old who managed all of two goals in 48 games last season for the Edmonton Oilers deserved a shot on the No. 1 line. Until training camp, of course, when he worked his tail off to catch coach Ron Low&rsquo;s eye.Still, when that opening night roster was posted, there were dumbfounded looks all around the media scrum, at least more than usual.&ldquo;I was a little apprehensive,&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;But after the first shift in the first game when he scored his first goal I told myself, &lsquo;I guess I don&rsquo;t have to worry about that.&rsquo; &ldquo;Smyth scored his team-leading eighth and ninth goals in the Oilers&rsquo; 12th game of the season, a 4-1 home win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Weight set up both of them and together with right winger Andrei Kovalenko, the trio notched seven points.&ldquo;(Smyth) doesn&rsquo;t quit. He&rsquo;s playing unbelievable hockey now,&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not smoke and mirrors. He wants to pay the price to score.&rdquo;Smyth makes his living in or near the crease. His goals are of the hardworking variety and he&rsquo;ll take crosschecks, slashes, cheap shots and elbows to score them. That makes him wonder what the fuss is all about. It&rsquo;s not like he&rsquo;s going end-to-end.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still saying,&rsquo;Wow, this is unbelievable.&rsquo; But I know it&rsquo;s all from hard work,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to stay focussed on continuing to do it and keeping the confidence I have right now. It&rsquo;s like that first goal (against Phoenix). Going to the net is all that I did. I have to give all the credit on that one to Doug.&rdquo;Smyth and Weight were starting to make a dangerous duo, to be sure. Weight said his success is linked to how much he carries the puck.&ldquo;Early in the year I wasn&rsquo;t moving my feet and wasn&rsquo;t playing well and (Smyth) was carrying the puck a lot,&rdquo; Weight explained. &ldquo;I told Smitty I need the puck to get me going.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so good along the boards, getting the puck out. Now he looks for me early and busts his butt into the zone.&rdquo;NOTES: Goalie Curtis Joseph came within inches of scoring a goal in a 4-1 win over Phoenix Oct. 30. His end-to-end shot was going just wide when defenseman Boris Mironov dove and deflected it into the net. &ldquo;Can you imagine if it was going in and he did that?&rdquo; Joseph said. &ldquo;I would have killed him.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Doug Weight had 11 points, all assists, in 12 games. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if I get 100 assists and no goals as long as I&rsquo;m contributing and I feel I am,&rdquo; Weight said&hellip;The Oilers went 7-5-0 in October, their best start since they were 8-4-0 in 1986&hellip;The Oilers registered a sellout (17,099) at Northlands Coliseum for their game against Colorado Oct. 26&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Marchment led the team in two categories: he was plus-9 and had 29 penalty minutes. &#9632;

f0026-01

Smyth earns spot on top line

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02636/7016646-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="160" height="158"></div>After being acquired by the Florida Panthers as a free agent two years ago, defenseman Terry Carkner said he was heading to Miami, &ldquo;to prolong my career or watch it come to a quicker ending.&rdquo;If the Panthers have their way, Carkner will be sticking around a while longer. GM Bryan Murray is looking at ways to extend the 30-year-old&rsquo;s contract.Carkner, who fell into disfavor with the Detroit Red Wings in 1994-95, has experienced a rebirth with the Panthers. Since being acquired in August, 1995, Carkner has been rock solid on the blueline, playing in 107 of a possible 116 games. Carkner finished last season plus-10 and was part of the Panthers&rsquo; strongest playoff duo, playing alongside Robert Svehla.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the most focused athletes I&rsquo;ve been around,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; coach Doug MacLean. &ldquo;He plays his own game, within his limitations and he has been outstanding since coming here.&rdquo;This play has come from a player the Red Wings gave up on two years ago. Carkner missed the first half of the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign in Detroit, then was a healthy scratch during the playoffs.Murray, who signed Carkner when he was GM in Detroit, knew Carkner could contribute.&ldquo;For whatever reason, (Detroit) didn&rsquo;t think he could play,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t have the speed, wasn&rsquo;t tough enough&hellip;I don&rsquo;t know what the reason was. But I know guys don&rsquo;t drop off that quickly.&ldquo;Terry&rsquo;s quiet, but very, very determined. I know it bothered him not playing, but he&rsquo;s also not the kind of guy to complain. He won&rsquo;t say anything bad about people, but he knows the difference between right and wrong. For us, he has been stable and strong.&rdquo;Carkner, plus-6 for the unbeaten Panthers through the first month of the season, said he was, &ldquo;disturbed about the situation in Detroit,&rdquo; but thrilled to be a Panther.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with my situation here,&rdquo; said the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Carkner. &ldquo;This is a team first and this team has developed a lot of confidence.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Panthers had the fifth best start in league history at 8-0-4 and were within striking distance of the four clubs which had better starts. The 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers went 12-0-3 and won the Stanley Cup: the 1943-44 Montreal Canadiens started 11-0-3 and won the Cup; the 1972-73 Habs opened 9-0-4 and won the Cup and the 1994-95 Pittsburgh Penguins went 12-0-1 and lost in the second round of playoffs&hellip;. Defenseman Jason Woolley was the only Panther not to play in October. &ldquo;He knows how well the team is playing and doesn&rsquo;t want to disrupt anything.&rdquo; said coach Doug MacLean. Goalie John Vanbiesbrouck was NHL player of the month in October with a 6-0-3 record, 1.41 goals-against average and 95 per cent save percentage. &#9632;

f0026-02

Castoff Carkner now rock solid

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01904/7016677-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="162" height="162"></div>For the second time in two months, the Montreal Canadiens are attempting to build for the future with a link to their past.The Canadiens reacquired left winger Shayne Corson from the St. Louis Blues, along with defenseman Murray Baron and the Blues&rsquo; fifth round draft choice in 1997. In return, the Canadiens sent captain Pierre Turgeon, defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick and center Craig Conroy to St. Louis.In late August, the Canadiens reacquired right winger Stephane Richer from the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Lyle Odelein.GM Rejean Houle appears willing to wipe the slate clean and has forgiven both Richer and Corson for transgressions committed under previous Canadien regimes.Corson, 30, was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in 1992 after six often tumultuous seasons in Montreal. During that time, Corson made headlines as much for his off-ice escapades as his on-ice exploits. The former included arrests and bar-room brawls.Corson, as did Richer upon his return, said he&rsquo;s older and wiser.&ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;ve grown up some in the past five or six years,&rdquo; Corson said.Four times in his 10-year career Corson has scored at least 23 goals, but he wasn&rsquo;t acquired for his offensive capabilities. He was added for his leadership and winning desire. He served terms as captain with both Edmonton and St. Louis.&ldquo;I think (Montreal) got me to play the way I&rsquo;ve always played,&rdquo; Corson said. &ldquo;Play hard. Play gritty. Play aggressive.&rdquo;The Canadiens hope the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Baron provides the physical blueliner they lost with Odelein&rsquo;s departure. Baron was in his sixth season with the Blues after breaking in with the Philadelphia Flyers.&ldquo;Playing well in our end of the ice is my game,&rdquo; explained the 29-year-old Baron. &ldquo;Keep the goals against down. My job is to play hard for my team. I&rsquo;m glad to go to a team which has a better track record winning.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: No. 1 goalie Jocelyn Thibault is expected to be out until midNovember after fracturing a finger on his left hand during practice. The injury leaves the netminding duties to veteran backup Pat Jablonski and rookie Jose Theodore&hellip;Three days after complaining about being scratched, rookie defenseman Craig Rivet was demoted to Fredericton of the American League. Rivet, who had been alternating on a game-by-game basis with Rory Fitzpatrick, was upset Francois Groleau, rather than himself, replaced injured Vladimir Malakhov. Groleau was recalled from Fredericton. &ldquo;When a guy is hurt and I&rsquo;m the seventh (defenseman) and they call up Groleau, that&rsquo;s tough to swallow,&rdquo; Rivet said. &#9632;

f0027-01

Habs go back with intent to move forward

<div class="byline">By Michael Arace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02570/7016708-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="161" height="161"></div>Paul Coffey and the Hartford Whalers were supposed to have reached some sort of decision by early-November. Would the highest-scoring defenseman in hockey history stay in Hartford or request a trade?Three weeks after the deal that brought him to the Whalers from the Detroit Red Wings, Coffey, 35, was sounding like he wouldn&rsquo;t mind if this were his last stop-providing negotiations on a contract extension were successful.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s fair to say that I&rsquo;m warming up a little bit to this situation here,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as bad as I thought or perceived, playing in Hartford and being a Hartford Whaler. The guys are great. Management is very classy. Just the little things make a big difference.&rdquo;Coffey said he wants to avoid becoming a rent-a-player.&ldquo;If I go somewhere else I could be in the same kind of situation. I could be a hired gun. My dad says, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re like David Cone.&rsquo; He came to the Jays, went somewhere else and now he&rsquo;s on the Yankees. If I decide to come here, I want to still be a Whaler. Whether it&rsquo;s in Hartford if the team is still here, or if it&rsquo;s not here, I still want to be a Whaler.&rdquo;Coffey has three years remaining on a contract worth $2.6 million this season, $2.6 million in 1997-98 and $2.9 million in 1998-99. The Wings are responsible for $2.1 million of Coffey&rsquo;s total remaining compensation. It&rsquo;s likely a fourth year would be added to any new deal.NOTEBOOK: Whalers&rsquo; coach Paul Maurice seemed to have settled on his first two lines, although he continued to tinker with the others. Geoff Sanderson-Andrew Cassels-Kevin Dineen was the top line and Andrei Nikolishin-Keith Primeau-Robert Kron was 1-A. In its first game together, the Primeau line produced two goals and 14 shots&hellip;The Whalers were on fire with the man advantage before going 0-for-4 on the power play in a 4-4 tie at Boston Oct. 31. Through their first six games, they had a 28.6 per cent conversion rate, second in the league behind the Rangers&hellip;Center Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, who had been centering the third line, was scratched against the Bruins for the first time since early last season. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s a bit of a wake-up call,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &#9632;

f0027-02

Happier Coffey warms to idea of remaining full-time Whaler

<div class="byline">By Lisa Dillman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04249/7016739-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="560" height="966"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Stevens</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03373/7016746-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="160" height="160"></div>Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Ray Ferraro remembers the days when he hardly ever left the Eastern time zone for a game. And left winger Kevin Stevens fondly speaks about hopping on a bus after a road game and being home in a couple of hours.Welcome to the travel hell of the Western Conference.Before coming to the Kings last season, Ferraro and Stevens spent their entire careers with Eastern Conference teams.The two were still seeing plenty of the east through the first month of 1996-97. The Kings had already made three trips there.&ldquo;Whoever made the schedule-it&rsquo;s asinine,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;This is unbelievable,&rdquo; Ferraro echoed.Of course, the more you travel, the more likely you&rsquo;ll encounter logistical problems.Case in point: the Kings&rsquo; chartered plane was involved in a minor accident in Toronto Oct. 29. A cart used to transport baggage hit the rear section of the plane, knocking into the stairs.The ensuing damage meant the stairs could not be raised for takeoff. There were no injuries and most of the players did not even notice the mishap. The team stayed in Toronto and traveled to Ottawa the following day.Stevens, slumping with one goal in 12 games, retained a sense of humor. &ldquo;Knowing the luck I&rsquo;m having,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;(the plane) might have been in the air.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Aki Berg, the third overall pick in the 1995 entry draft, was assigned to Phoenix of the International League Oct. 24 to get more icetime. In four games with the Kings, the 19-year-old Berg had no points and was minus-2. &ldquo;We feel at his age and with his potential, he can&rsquo;t fully develop when he&rsquo;s played sparingly,&rdquo; said coach Larry Robinson. &ldquo;He has to go to Phoenix and play every day.&rdquo;&hellip;A 5-2 victory over the Toronto Oct. 29 was just the Kings&rsquo; first against a Western Conference opponent this season. They were 0-4-1 going into the game&hellip;Center Ian Laperriere aggravated his strained right shoulder in Toronto and returned to Los Angeles to be examined by team doctors. &#9632;

f0027-04

Kings travel the NHL world

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01944/7016798-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="966" height="1173"></div><h2>FACTS & STATS</h2>Player: Mike GartnerTeam: Phoenix CoyotesPosition: Right WingAge: 37<h2>SEASON TOTALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02627/7016791-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="990" height="174"></div><h2>OCTOBER TOTALS:</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03447/7016784-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="984" height="160"></div><h2>OCTOBER WINNER: MIKE GARTNER</h2>Scoring is down in the NHL this season, but apparently somebody forgot to tell Mike Gartner.The 37-year-old veteran right winger for the Phoenix Coyotes tore up the league with 10 goals in his first 11 games during a time when other renowned snipers were having trouble finding the net. Gartner is the Dodge Trucks NHL Player of the Month for October.Gartner kicked his season off with three goals in Phoenix&rsquo;s second game of the season, a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins Oct. 7. Perhaps his sweetest night was Oct. 26 when he scored against his most recent former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.Gartner, who won the NHLs fastest skating competition last season, was dealt to Phoenix in the off-season by the Maple Leafs in a budget cutting move. The Coyotes extended Gartner&rsquo;s contract by a year.Of Gartner&rsquo;s 10 goals, two were game-winners and another a game-tying goal.Although Gartner was a dominant player, he wasn&rsquo;t an easy choice for player of the month.A couple of veteran goalies, John Vanbiesbrouck of the Florida Panthers and Andy Moog of the Dallas Stars, also made serious bids.Vanbiesbrouck was a big reason why the Panthers remained the NHLs only undefeated team through opening month with his 1.41 goals-against average and 95.0 save percentage while Moog had a 1.49 GAA and 93.9 save percentage.Wayne Gretzky, meanwhile, looked the The Great One of old, leading the New York Rangers with six goals and 20 points in 14 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01833/7016777-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="712" height="1025"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01945/7016829-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="159" height="158"></div>Having already supplied much of the NHL with quality goaltenders who came througn the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; system, GM Lou Lamoriello has vowed he will not let highly regarded rookie Mike Dunham leave after this season via free agency.The problem that faces Lamoriello and coach Jacques Lemaire, however, is how to get Dunham into 28 NHL games to prevent him from becoming an unrestricted Group VI free agent after this season.&ldquo;This is not something of which Mike, his agent and I are unaware,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be in 30 games. It&rsquo;s not an issue.&rdquo;Yet it seems to be an issue on a team which boasts Martin Brodeur as its No. 1 goalie. Corey Schwab and Chris Terreri appeared in a combined total of 14 games last season and both were traded.Dunham, who needs to play only one minute of a game to be credited with a full game played, still has to share backup duties with veteran Jeff Reese. And the 24-year-old Dunham didn&rsquo;t make his NHL debut until Oct. 29 (the Devils&rsquo; ninth game of the season), when he relieved Reese in the third period of a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really worried about that right now&rdquo; said Dunham, who was recalled from the Albany River Rats of the American League the day of the Bruins&rsquo; game when Brodeur returned to New Jersey for the birth of his twin sons. &ldquo;I have no control over it.&rdquo;&ldquo;It would be tough to play one minute each game, but it would be better for me down the road. This is my first season in the NHL, I&rsquo;m not here to cause any problems. I want to be in this organization for awhile. But you never know; nobody is in this organization for long except for Ken Daneyko and John MacLean.&rdquo;Dunham&rsquo;s Boston-based agent, Bob Murray, said he hopes Dunham will be treated fairly.&ldquo;If Lou plays him 30 minutes all year, we&rsquo;ll deal with it accordingly,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;If he plays in 28 games and it&rsquo;s (tainted), we&rsquo;ll deal with it. If it&rsquo;s done to deprive Mike of free agency, the league would have to deal with it. In all honesty, I&rsquo;m not concerned. I don&rsquo;t feel Mike gets hurt whether he becomes a free agent or gets his games in. I don&rsquo;t think the league will allow the Devils to circumvent the rules.&rdquo;Other NHL goalies who have developed in the Devils&rsquo; system and moved on are Terreri, Schwab, Craig Billington, Sean Burke and Kirk McLean.NOTEBOOK:Defenseman Ken Daneyko called Colin Campbell a &ldquo;little weasel&rdquo; after the Rangers&rsquo; coach taunted him for trying to fight New York defenseman Jeff Beukeboom in an Oct. 30 game. Campbell kept yelling about former Ranger right winger Joey Kocur, who injured Daneyko&rsquo;s knee in a past fight. That prompted Daneyko to challenge Campbell to &ldquo;step outside.&rdquo;&hellip;Left winger Mike Peluso, who dated pop star Alanis Morissette when he played in Ottawa, denied he is the subject of the hit song, You Oughta Know. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have that kind of relationship,&rdquo; Peluso said&hellip;Right winger Randy McKay on having two goals disallowed Oct. 26 in Tampa Bay. &ldquo;I scored three and had two called back. That&rsquo;s a hat trick in my book.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

Dunham’s status thorny issue

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02628/7016860-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="160" height="158"></div>Most observers expected Eric Fichaud to be a shoo-in as the New York Islanders&rsquo; No. 1 goalie this season, but Tommy Salo was making a bid for the job with an excellent start.&ldquo;I think (Salo) is a lot more driven than he looks,&rdquo; said coach-GM Mike Milbury. &ldquo;I think he has pretty good focus. You can&rsquo;t achieve the level of success he has achieved without having some drive and competitive instincts.&rdquo;Salo, 25, led the Islanders&rsquo; International League farm clubs, the Denver and Utah Grizzlies, to back-to-back Turner Cup championships. But every time the Islanders called him up the past two seasons, he floundered. Salo is determined not to let that happen this year.Milbury took the pressure off him by banishing goalie Tommy Soderstrom to Utah earlier this season. With Fichaud bothered by a sore abdominal muscle, Salo appeared in four straight games, stopped 108 of 117 shots, lowered his goals-against average to 2.29 and raised his save percentage to 92.0. His 0-32 record reflected the team&rsquo;s anemic offense, which scored only 23 goals in the team&rsquo;s first 10 games.Salo said he felt like he was in midseason form because he had only seven weeks off between the end of the IHL playoffs and the day he reported to Team Sweden&rsquo;s camp for the World Cup. He had a good tournament and was brilliant in a 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in the semifinal.&ldquo;I feel much better right now,&rdquo; Salo said. &ldquo;I do feel I can play at this level. I&rsquo;ve always played pretty well when I&rsquo;ve played with the national team. I&rsquo;ve played well everywhere but here. I need to show something here.&rdquo;Salo was 73-29-6 in the IHL the past two seasons and 22-7 in the playoffs, but his NHL record stood at 2-12-1 entering 1996-97.&ldquo;I want to win so bad every game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t think about how many goals we&rsquo;re going to score. I&rsquo;m going out to play as good as I can.&ldquo;Everything has to do with confidence. When you feel good, you&rsquo;re going to play good.&rdquo;Salo is on the last year of a contract at $300,000 and is hoping to sign a new deal before season&rsquo;s end. That Milbury advised him to move out of the hotel he was living in and find something more permanent may be a good sign, but Salo isn&rsquo;t getting ahead of himself.&ldquo;(Former Islander GM) Don Maloney told me the same thing last year,&rdquo; Salo said. &ldquo;Two weeks later I was back in the minors. If I play good, the contract is going to come.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Owner-to-be John Spano released a statement Oct. 30 saying his deal to buy the club was almost done. The paperwork had to be reviewed by lawyers before it goes to the NHL board of governors for approval&hellip;The Islanders have reportedly withheld $19,800 in fees from former team physician. Dr. Jeffrey Minkoff. Minkoff&rsquo;s lawyer said his client would recover the money. The issue apparently centers around former Islander right winger Brett Lindros, who was forced into retirement because of multiple concussions&hellip; Coach-GM Mike Milbury handled the bench alone in consecutive games Oct. 30-31, saying he was sending a message he is in charge&hellip;Right winger Mick Vukota played his 500th career game Oct. 31. &#9632;

f0030-02

Salo battles for No. 1 billing

<div class="byline">By Rick Carplniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02635/7016891-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="564" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Richter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01932/7016898-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="162" height="162"></div>The way Mike Richter started the 1995-96 season, you wouldn&rsquo;t know he was the best goalie on the planet this summer.The tournament MVP for Team USA in its World Cup triumph, Richter had a 3-4-1 record, 3.88 goals-against average and 87.5 save percentage in his first eight games with the New York Rangers.Something had to change and the New Jersey Devils just happened to be the victim when the Mike Richter of Sept. 14 returned Oct. 30. The Devils fired a club record-tying 54 shots at Richter, and only one got through. Richter stopped the first 44 shots and beat the Devils 6-1.&ldquo;I felt I certainly have the ability to play better than I have,&rdquo; said Richter, who sat while backup Glenn Healy played three of the previous four.Richter&rsquo;s play against the Devils reminded Brian Leetch-Team USA captain and probably the player who knows Richter best-of the World Cup hero.&ldquo;The way he stood up, the way he went side-to-side, the way he kept everything in front of him,&rdquo; Leetch said of the similarities.Richter, one of a number of Canadian and U.S. players who got off to tough starts this season following the World Cup, said he may have been trying to do too much.&ldquo;Sometimes I get in my own way by trying too hard,&rdquo; Richter said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t win the game in one period or one shift. Aggressiveness is good, but you also have to have patience.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ulf Samueisson suffered a second-degree sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee when he collided with Florida center Rob Niedermayer and went awkwardly into the boards Oct. 25 in Miami. He was expected to miss six weeks&hellip;The Rangers&rsquo; power play was on a 9-for-16 roll after the Oct. 30 Devils&rsquo; game&hellip;Coach Colin Campbell was involved in two post-game incidents in less than a week. First he had a brief shoving match with Buffalo coach Ted Nolan following a 6-4 win at the Garden Oct. 25, then he had two verbal confrontations with New Jersey defenseman Ken Daneyko in East Rutherford Oct. 30-one from the bench and another in the corridor. &#9632;

f0032-02

Real Richter re-emerges

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04307/7016929-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="160" height="161"></div>Who was that wearing a Trent Klatt mask on Halloween?After the player wearing No. 20 for the Philadelphia Flyers scored the tying and winning goals in a come-from-behind 4-3 win in Tampa Bay Oct. 31, the Lightning might have been tempted to check for an imposter.But no, it wasn&rsquo;t a trick. It was simply a treat for Klatt and Flyer fans.Klatt&rsquo;s two goals early in the third period capped a four-goal comeback and saved Philadelphia from suffering its first four-game losing streak in two-plus seasons under coach Terry Murray. The offensive outburst was also timely for Klatt, who had been scratched the previous game and four of the first 12.Klatt, who had four goals and six points in 13 games, said the reason for his sporadic appearances was a bit of a mystery to him.&ldquo;To be real honest with you, I have no idea why it is,&rdquo; Klatt said. &ldquo;Murray has told me I&rsquo;m playing well, but it&rsquo;s a numbers thing. I&rsquo;ve just tried to prove to these guys that I can play every night.&rdquo;Said Murray: &ldquo;That performance tonight, he&rsquo;s quickly earning the right to play more often.&rdquo;Klatt wasn&rsquo;t even sure he would be with the Flyers this season. He was left exposed in the waiver draft, but wasn&rsquo;t claimed.When Murray put together an enforcer line of Scott Daniels, Daniel Lacroix and Dan Kordic. Klatt was the odd man out. But the Flyers&rsquo; offense staggered, scoring just 35 goals in 13 games. Help was needed.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been sitting out the guy (Klatt) who has been giving us some offense,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He has worked hard and stayed positive.&rdquo;It was Klatt&rsquo;s first two-goal game since the 1994-95 lockout season.&ldquo;I could shoot more,&rdquo; said Klatt, who is used mostly for his defensive ability. &ldquo;Tonight I did shoot the puck and it went in.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Dale Hawer- chuk reported progress with his strained left hip after working with sports chiropractor John D&rsquo;Amico. Hawerchuk, who had no points in seven games, re-injured his hip in the pre-season. The hip problems date back three years to his days in Buffalo&hellip;Defenseman Kevin Haller was scratched from the Oct. 31 game at Tampa Bay after defenseman Petr Svoboda returned from a separated shoulder. The Flyers have a numbers overload on defense since rookie Janne Niinimaa established himself on the roster&hellip;GM Bob Clarke was unhappy with the Flyers&rsquo; schedule the first month of the season. Twice the team played three road games in four nights, with extensive travel involved. &#9632;

f0032-04

Klatt clicks at right time for Flyers

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03447/7016960-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="161" height="162"></div>The already battered Ottawa Senators&rsquo; blueline corps took another hit when Lance Pitlick fell victim to a sucker punch by Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; right winger Kevin Stevens and the pressure built for the Senators to make a deal to shore up the defense.Pitlick sustained cuts around his eye and a suspected fractured cheek bone when Stevens, who had dropped his gloves, caught the unsuspecting Pitlick with the punch in the dying seconds of a 2-2 tie Oct. 30.Stevens said he hit Pitlick in retaliation for what he said was a punch in his face thrown by the Ottawa player.&ldquo;I was going wide and he punched me in the face,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;I kind of lost it. I thought he was looking at me. The next I knew he was down. I didn&rsquo;t want to do that. It was just one of those things.&rdquo;Stevens was not penalized on the play by referee Dennis LaRue.While the Senators waited to see if any discipline might be meted out by the league, of more pressing concern was the lack of healthy bodies on the blueline. If Pitlick is out for any length of time, he would join Sean Hill and Stan Neckar, both out indefinitely with knee injuries.The Senators called up Phil Von Stefenelli from the Detroit Vipers of the International League when Hill and Neckar went down in the same game Oct. 18. That left only Patrick Traverse, 22 (five games of NHL experience), and Radim Bicanek, 21 (no NHL games), in the farm system.NOTEBOOK: After attracting just 12,237 fans-the lowest turnout ever at the Corel Centre-for a game against Pittsburgh, the Senators commissioned a survey to find out why fans were staying away. The bottom line: 55 per cent of the 403 randomly selected residents of the Ottawa area interviewed by Opinion Search Inc., said high prices were keeping them from buying tickets. The Senators will target their marketing to point out there are tickets available for as low as $10. The good news is 75 per cent of the fans had a good or excellent image of the franchise, up from 44 per cent in December, 1994&hellip;Goalie Damian Rhodes allowed five goals in each of his two previous starts, but bounced back against Los Angeles Oct 30, letting in just two. &#9632;

f0032-03

Blueline corps shrinks more after facial injury to Pitlick

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01844/7016991-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="165" height="161"></div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Keenan identified his team&rsquo;s biggest area of concern, then went out and got his man.In a high-impact, five-player trade Oct. 29, the Blues picked up No. 1 center Pierre Turgeon from the Montreal Canadiens. The Blues also acquired defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick and center Craig Conroy and sent left winger Shayne Corson, defenseman Murray Baron and a fifth round draft pick to Montreal.&ldquo;We thought we had to acquire more skill, and certainly, most importantly, a No. 1 centerman,&rdquo; Keenan said.Turgeon is the third high profile center Keenan has acquired in less than two years. He signed Dale Hawerchuk as a free agent in the summer of 1995, then traded for Wayne Gretzky last season. Both players subsequently moved on.Keenan is hoping Turgeon will click with right winger Brett Hull while the sniper is still in his prime.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it, Brett is 32 years of age and we can&rsquo;t wait much longer,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s still scoring goals and playing well, but in fairness to him, we felt we needed to utilize his skill the best we could and that&rsquo;s to provide him with a No. 1 centerman.&ldquo;Turgeon is a very talented player. He&rsquo;s a great passer. We think that&rsquo;s going to be a real good match for Brett. I&rsquo;m sure Brett will have to be happy. He&rsquo;s always wanted a No. 1 centerman and now he has one.&rdquo;Turgeon has scored more than 100 points twice in nine NHL seasons. He had a career-high 58 goals and 132 points in 1992-93 with the New York Islanders.The 27-year-old Turgeon, who had asked to be traded, was happy to join Hull on a line.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be nice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Brett can put the puck in the net.&rdquo;Turgeon and Hull didn&rsquo;t score in Turgeon&rsquo;s debut-a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche Oct. 30-but Hull had several great scoring chances.NOTEBOOK: The other new Blues-center Craig Conroy, 25, and defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick, 21-had opposite experiences in their St. Louis debuts. Conroy had a goal against Colorado, while Fitzpatrick was on the ice for two goals against and was shipped to Worcester of the American League following the game., Goalie Grant Fuhr was out on a day-to-day basis because of a neck injury that limits his mobility. Fuhr tried to play through the injury, but was ineffective&hellip;Right winger Gary Leeman made his Blues&rsquo; debut against Colorado and had an assist&hellip;Center Peter Zezel suffered a tom abdominal muscle in the Blues&rsquo; 6-4 loss to Washington Oct. 26 and was expected to be out two weeks. &#9632;

f0033-01

Turgeon-Hull magic act anticipated

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02571/7017022-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="160" height="160"></div>Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; coowner Richard Burke is flatly denying rumors he&rsquo;s going to join the expansion effort to bring the NHL back to Minnesota.It was speculated Burke, a Minnesota resident who attempted to move the Winnipeg Jets to the area before settling on Phoenix, would divest himself from the Coyotes and lure Phoenix sports mogul Jerry Colangelo into becoming partners with Steven Gluck-stern, the club&rsquo;s other co-owner.Burke said that&rsquo;s simply not the case. &ldquo;Under no circumstances,&rdquo; Burke said when asked whether he would be involved in a Minnesota bid. &ldquo;My hockey team is in Phoenix.&rdquo;Minnesota is searching for a financial point man to lead its efforts and although Burke is an obvious candidate because of his prior work in that area, he has told team officials he remains committed to Phoenix.Colangelo has declined a standing invitation to buy a minority interest in the team from Burke and Gluckstem.The owner of the National Basket ball Association&rsquo;s Phoenix Suns and Major League Baseball&rsquo;s Arizona Diamondbacks, an expansion franchise set to begin play in 1998, Colangelo&rsquo;s only official tie to the Coyotes is a multi-year lease agreement he drew up with the team&rsquo;s co-owners for the club to play at America West Arena.Expansion presentations are scheduled for New York Nov. 14 and applications will be reviewed at the league&rsquo;s board of governors in meetings scheduled for December in Phoenix.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin suffered from dehydration in a 5-2 loss at Toronto Oct. 26 and sat out the next game. Trainer Gord Hart said Khabibulin simply didn&rsquo;t drink enough water during the game&hellip;Defenseman Norm Maciver had surgery to remove a lesion on his neck in late October and was expected to be out six to eight weeks. Maciver had been experiencing numbness in his hands and arms, but the exact nature of the ailment was unclear&hellip;Center Jeremy Roenick and left winger Keith Tkachuk were chosen for Hard Copy&rsquo;s &lsquo;Hunks of Hockey&rsquo; segment&hellip; The coaching staff was split on whether to activate defenseman Jason Doig after his minor pro conditioning stint ended Oct. 31 or return him to junior hockey. &#9632;

f0033-02

Burke denies he’s behind NHL revival in Minnesota

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04332/7017053-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="563" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03427/7017060-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="160" height="160"></div>His Pittsburgh Penguins were losing regularly, but Jaromir Jagr didn&rsquo;t lose his sense of humor.When the Penguins&rsquo; bus pulled up to the gate at General Motors Place in Vancouver for a game Oct. 26, Jagr looked out the window and shook his head at the sight of the crowd waiting for autographs.&ldquo;Why would anyone want autographs from a bunch of losers like us?&rdquo; he laughed.The Penguins stumbled badly out of the gate, going 2-8-0 to match the worst start in team history, posted by the 1983-84 team. They also lost their first seven road games, something that had never happened previously.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here seven years and I&rsquo;ve never been in this situation before,&rdquo; Jagr said. &ldquo;When you have a good start, everything comes easy to you. Confidence is like 60-70 per cent of what you do on the ice and right now we don&rsquo;t have any confidence.&rdquo;Offensive and defensive efforts were spotty, work ethics were called into question on a regular basis and generally it wasn&rsquo;t a good situation for the team Mario Lemieux returned to for one more shot at a Stanley Cup.Jagr could not be accused of dogging it though. He had six goals and an assist in 10 games, had fired 43 shots on goal and did everything except drive the team bus on the road.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s working like hell and nothing is really going in for him,&rdquo; said coach Eddie Johnston. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing everything we ask of him.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that Steve Ryan would announce Nov. 4 he is resigning as president and CEO of Pittsburgh Sports Associates-the umbrella company that owns the Penguins-for a job outside of hockey&hellip;. There was no progress on the Bryan Smolinski front, except for the fact the restricted free agent center signed a 25-game contract with Detroit of the International League. (See pg. 36 for more on Smolinski.)&hellip;The Penguins picked up left winger Petr Klima from Tampa Bay Oct. 25. With center Dan Quinn (bruised calf) and right winger Tomas Sandstrom (pulled groin) out of the lineup, they were short on firepower&hellip;The Penguins didn&rsquo;t have eight losses last year until Dec. 22. &#9632;

f0033-04

Jagr not at fault in skid

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02657/7017091-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="563" height="969"><figcaption class="caption-body">Owen Nolan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01947/7017098-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="159" height="160"></div>On his arrival at training camp, newly acquired San Jose Sharks&rsquo; center Bernie Nicholls said one of his goals was to help right winger Owen Nolan achieve his first 50-goal season.As it turned out, the secret to getting Nolan going this year was taking him off Nicholls&rsquo; line. Teamed with Russian youngsters Andrei Nazarov on left wing and Viktor Kozlov in the middle, Nolan collected his ninth career hat trick in San Jose&rsquo;s 6-2 road win over the Chicago Blackhawks Oct. 27. He added two more goals in a 3-1 win over the visiting Calgary Flames Oct. 30.&ldquo;(Kozlov and Nazarov) like to hang on to the puck a lot, so I just try to get into the open,&rdquo; Nolan said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to worry about making plays.&rdquo;Nazarov and Kozlov each fed Nolan for a goal against the Blackhawks. Not to be left out, Nicholls got into the act on Nolan&rsquo;s third goal. Nicholls also assisted on Nolan goals in each of the previous two games, as well as a power play strike in the game against Calgary.&ldquo;I think Viktor and Andrei Nazarov are good for Owen,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; coach Al Sims. &ldquo;They are both set-up men and Owen is a finisher. I think Owen feels more like shooting when he&rsquo;s with them, rather than passing. With Bernie, he wants to pass it back to Bernie all the time.&rdquo;Nolan&rsquo;s eight goals and 17 points put him among the league scoring leaders. He also had a nine-game scoring streak, second only to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 13-gamer.NOTEBOOK: The Sharks established a franchise record by scoring five goals in the opening 18:50 of the 6-2 win at Chicago Oct. 27. The previous mark, 22:21, came in a 7-4 win over visiting Quebec Feb 26, 1992&hellip;The Sharks finished a season-high, six-game October road trip with a 3-2-1 record. Four wins in its opening nine road dates left San Jose halfway to last season&rsquo;s road win total of eight&hellip;Right winger Todd Ewen and left winger Ville Peltonen. who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Oct. 8 and Oct 12, respectively, resumed skating Oct. 29. Neither was being counted on to return soon&hellip;Defenseman Marty McSorley, recovering from Sept. 10 arthroscopic hip surgery, wasn&rsquo;t expected back until early-November in a best-case scenario. &#9632;

f0034-02

Nolan binges after line flip

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03515/7017129-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="160" height="159"></div>It didn&rsquo;t take Dino Ciccarelli long to establish himself as the Tampa Bay Lightning&rsquo;s best scoring threat.And it didn&rsquo;t take the Lightning long to reward the veteran right winger for his accomplishment.In the hours just prior to their ninth game, one in which Ciccarelli scored both Tampa Bay goals in a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Lightning signed Ciccarelli to a one-year contract extension that carries through the 1997-98 season.The deal calls for Ciccarelli to earn the same base salary he will earn this season-$1.25 million-but through a series of team bonuses, Ciccarelli can earn much more.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in individual bonuses,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said.&ldquo;I believe you do everything for the team, so if the team does well, like if we make the playoffs, I&rsquo;ll be rewarded for that.&rdquo;Ciccarelli has been rewarding the Lightning ever since he came to Tampa Bay from the Detroit Red Wings in a summer trade. He helped set up Tampa Bay&rsquo;s first goal of the season and later scored in the team&rsquo;s first game, a 4-3 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.He registered seven points over the next four games and after a two-game scoring slump, he notched the two goals against the Blackhawks to take over the team lead in goals (eight) and points (12).&ldquo;He has been such a big addition,&rdquo; said Lightning coach Terry Crisp.NOTEBOOK: Coach Terry Crisp gave goaltender Corey Schwab a couple of days off from practice before the game against Chicago Oct. 29 and the netminder responded with his best performance of the season. He made 38 saves to help the Lightning to a 2-2 tie&hellip;Goalie Daren Puppa&rsquo;s groin injury was improving and he was hoping for a return by early-November&hellip;Chris Gratton was moved from center to left wing alongside center Brian Bradley and right winger Dino Ciccarelli. The line responded with 15 shots and a goal in the 2-2 tie with Chicago&hellip;Defenseman Craig Wolanin. recuperating from off-season shoulder surgery, was practising with the team, but still not taking part in contact drills. &#9632;

f0034-03

Ciccarelli rewarded with added year on contract

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04399/7017160-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="161" height="160"></div>There weren&rsquo;t many of them in the stands, but they came to boo and heckle Kirk Muller.When the Toronto Maple Leafs ventured into Nassau County Coliseum on Halloween to face the New York Islanders, only 7,719 fans were officially in the building to welcome back Muller, Wendel Clark and Mathieu Schneider, all three of whom played for the Isles last season before being dealt to the Leafs.Clark and Schneider were greeted warmly. For Muller, however, the reception was decidedly different. With a story in the New York Post encouraging fans to boo the Leaf forward, he received that negative response every time he stepped on the ice in a 5-3 Leaf victory.Muller said he expected the booing in his first game back on Long Island.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to build the whole thing up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in the past.&rdquo;The 30-year-old center/winger was traded to the Islanders April 5, 1995, by the Montreal Canadiens along with Schneider and Craig Darby for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov and ended up playing 12 regular season games there at the end of that season.He believed he had an agreement to work out a new contract with the Isles over the summer, but that didn&rsquo;t happen.He then asked to be traded, but with the team struggling, GM Mike Milbury opted to send Muller home after 15 games. That quickly spiralled into accusations that Muller had &ldquo;quit&rdquo; on the Islanders.It wasn&rsquo;t until Jan. 23 that Milbury included Muller in the three-way trade with the Ottawa Senators and Toronto that landed Muller and goalie Don Beaupre with the Leafs.&ldquo;I did what I felt I had to do for my career and the security of my family,&rdquo; Muller said. &lsquo;&lsquo;I had no grudge against the Islanders, far from it, but some things that were supposed to happen did not happen. I&rsquo;m happy with the way it turned out and I hope the Islanders are, too.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Mike Ware, brother of Leaf rookie defenseman Jeff Ware, opted to retire and pursue his education Oct. 25 after playing in only two of the first nine games for St. John&rsquo;s of the American League&hellip; Jeff Ware had to get signed permission from coach Mike Murphy in order to skip a University of Toronto exam Oct. 24 to play in Boston&hellip;Forward Ralph Intranuovo was reclaimed by Edmonton Oct. 25 after being taken by the Leafs in the waiver draft. The entire transaction cost the Leafs $30,000-the $60,000 waiver draft fee minus $30,000 received from the Oilers&hellip;Left winger Scott Pearson cleared waivers and was demoted to St. John&rsquo;s Oct. 25&hellip;Right winger Mats Sundin had nine goals in Toronto&rsquo;s first 11 games. &#9632;

f0034-04

Island boos don’t fluster calm Muller

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02636/7017198-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="575" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Wotton</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01894/7017205-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="161" height="160"></div>The odds of making it to the NHL as a 10th round pick are long indeed, but odds don&rsquo;t measure the size of a person&rsquo;s heart.Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Mark Wotton was selected 237th overall in the 1992 NHL entry draft because he was considered too small, too slow and not particularly tough. He didn&rsquo;t even bother attending the draft that year in Montreal, didn&rsquo;t watch it on television and only discovered he had been selected by Vancouver on radio later that day.&ldquo;I knew I would be a late pick if I was taken so I didn&rsquo;t have any intention of going to Montreal,&rdquo; Wotton said. &ldquo;Of course, I wanted to get drafted, but I wasn&rsquo;t banking on it. I didn&rsquo;t really think about what round I went in, I was just happy that I was picked and that I would have an opportunity to come to an NHL camp.&rdquo;Wotton never quit on his dream. He is listed at 5-foot-l I and 192 pounds-Wotton says he is 6 foot-and starred with the Western League&rsquo;s Saskatoon Blades, captaining the team for two years.Last season, at 21, he became captain of the Syracuse Crunch, the Canucks&rsquo; American League affiliate, and he was captain again this season when he was called up Oct. 24. He never believed his draft position or lack of size would hold him back.&ldquo;It has always been a dream of mine to make the NHL and basically that&rsquo;s all you need to keep you going,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t give up on the dream, not for a while. You&rsquo;re always hopeful you&rsquo;ll get a chance and I&rsquo;m getting mine right now.&rdquo;Wotton&rsquo;s strength, aside from his obvious character, is his ability to think on the ice and make good decisions. Canucks&rsquo; head coach Tom Renney was impressed.&ldquo;This is a guy who has just persevered,&rdquo; Renney said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an extremely dedicated athlete. I thought he had an outstanding training camp this year and certainly when the opportunity was there to bring a guy up, I don&rsquo;t think there was any doubt it would be him.&ldquo;He does nothing fancy and a lot of times that&rsquo;s exactly what you&rsquo;re looking for at the back end.&rdquo;Wotton played in one regular season game and five playoff games last year for the Canucks without earning a point.NOTEBOOK: When the Canucks beat Pittsburgh and Anaheim in consecutive games in late October, it marked the first time dating back to early March of last season that Vancouver won two in a row&hellip;Center Trevor Linden went through a nine-game goal drought to start the season before scoring twice in Vancouver&rsquo;s 10th game against Anaheim&hellip;Right winger Alexander Mogilny&rsquo;s name surfaced again in trade rumors. Word over the summer had the Canucks quietly shopping the 55-goal scorer, but nothing happened and the talk died. It began again in late October. One report had Mogilny heading to the New York Rangers for right winger Alexei Kovalev&hellip;Waiver draft pick-up center Alexander Semak was a healthy scratch in four of the Canucks&rsquo; first 10 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03518/7017191-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="576" height="912"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexander Mogilny</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0035-02

Wotton too slight to succeed, too determined not to succeed

The American League&rsquo;s decision to target a new audience will make it easier for two hockey playing high school students to pursue a higher education.The AHL, in partnership with CCM, will present two $3,500 scholarships to hockey playing students who live in an AHL city or surrounding area and plan to go on to university or college.Players must have a 3.0 grade point average or equivalent and play on a team sanctioned by USA Hockey or the Canadian Hockey Association in 1996-97.At the conclusion of this season, each AHL team will put forward one candidate and from the 18 students, two scholarships will be awarded.&ldquo;High school students is one audience that often gets ignored,&rdquo; said Michael Humes, AHL vicepresident, sales and marketing.&ldquo;We are hoping to tap into that audience and by doing so, help two students further their education.&rdquo;Each month during the NHL season an AHL graduate will be honored for his performance and $1,000 will be contributed in the selected graduate&rsquo;s name to the CCM AHL Scholarship Fund.The AHL and CCM will also contribute $500 in the winner&rsquo;s name to the charity of his choice in the respective NHL city.The AHL and The Hockey News have reached an agreement whereby the monthly winners will be publicized exclusively in THN.&ldquo;The Hockey News is pleased to participate in a program that not only furthers the development of young hockey players, but also ensures their further education,&rdquo; said THN publisher Ed Pearce. &#9632;

CCM, AHL team up on scholarship program

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04414/7017260-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="159" height="159"></div>Fourteen seasons ago, a baby-faced 18-year-old defenseman named Phil Housley played in his first NHL game for the Buffalo Sabres.On Oct. 30, now 32 years old, but still baby-faced, Housley played in his 1,000th NHL game as his sixth NHL club, the Washington Capitals, beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2.Only 118 players have reached the 1,000 game plateau in the 80 years of the NHL and only two did it as Capitals. The first was Dale Hunter, who reached the milestone during the 199293 season.&ldquo;The guys were joking around with me, asking if I ever thought I&rsquo;d play in 1,000 games,&rdquo; Housley said. &ldquo;Heck, to me it was more if I could reach 27 and grow a moustache. Here I am, 32 and still playing.&rdquo;And still without a moustache.Housley was warned by his agent after the Sabres drafted him sixth overall in 1982 that he might spend time in the minors. That didn&rsquo;t happen in his first year and he picked up the scoring in his second to make sure it didn&rsquo;t happen then, either.&ldquo;I remember when I scored my 30th goal in my second season,&rdquo; he said when asked what stands out. &ldquo;That made me the youngest defenseman in NHL history to score 30 goals. It was a big moment for me and I didn&rsquo;t realize how much impact it would have.&rdquo;Housley is in the first year of a four-year deal with the Caps that he would like to complete.&ldquo;I still feel I have great jump and I think my mental grasp of the game can cany me another year or two,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Who knows, hopefully my motivational factor will still be there five or six years down the line&hellip;if I stay healthy.&rdquo;That hasn&rsquo;t been much of a problem despite his relatively small size-5-foot-10 and 185 pounds-in a sport filling up with larger men.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a big guy, but he is a great skater and puckhandler and sees the ice as well as most players in the league,&rdquo; said coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;He has the ability to make a play and get himself out of harm&rsquo;s way.&rdquo;Housley had an assist in his milestone game to give him 959 career points, good for fifth all-time among defenders. His 277 career goals rank fourth.NOTEBOOK: Center Michal Pivonka was the latest to join the Caps&rsquo; injury list. He tore cartilage in his right knee Oct. 26 in St. Louis and will be out until at least late-November. a serious blow to the team. He centered the first line, ran the first power play unit and killed penalties. He is in his 11th season., Jack (Jake) Doniger, a veteran sportscaster and reporter for Associated Press and NBC who was part of the Caps&rsquo; first radio broadcasting crew 23 years ago, died Oct. 30 of cancer. He was 73&hellip;Right winger Peter Bondra played in his 400th NHL game Oct. 28 versus Colorado&hellip;Teammates heaped praise on Olaf Kolzig for his part in a 1-0 loss to Colorado, but the goalie was having none of it. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s nice, but it doesn&rsquo;t change the bottom line.&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0035-04

Housley still slick as ever, happy wheeling in the years

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01853/7017291-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Graeme Townshend says fighting doesn&rsquo;t conflict with his Christianity. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Thirteen-year-old Graeme Townshend cowered in fear. His stomach ached, his head pounded. But he hardly felt the welts that were raised on his body from the strap his father, Errol, had taken to him. Townshend was overcome by shame and humiliation.He was about to face his mother, Yvonne, for the first time after being arrested for shoplifting $90 worth of records and tapes from a Toronto department store.&ldquo;That incident changed my life,&rdquo; Townshend says. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe what I had done to my mother. I knew I had her hurt very badly. And that hurt me more than anything anyone could have done to me at that point.&rdquo;So, Townshend, whose parents separated when he was 10, strived to become the type of person his pious mother hoped he would. Now 31, he is a successful 6-foot-2, 225-pound power forward for the International League&rsquo;s Houston Aeros. He was off to the best start of his career, leading his team in goals (seven) and tied in points (12) after 13 games.That, though, is not what makes Graeme Townshend unique. Townshend was named the IHL&rsquo;s 1996 Man of the Year for tireless community involvement. He spends much of his spare time working on behalf of several charities or visiting children in schools and hospitals.Part of his upbringing as a Christian baptist directs him to try to ignore the aches and pains and fears and uncertainties that are the life of a professional hockey player and to give of himself. But, he says, he has selfish reasons for getting involved.&ldquo;Because we&rsquo;re athletes, we have a forum most people don&rsquo;t have, so it seems to be a good idea to take advantage of that and help a kid,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I get something out of that, too. These kids are the ones who in a few years are going to run this country, so by doing this, I&rsquo;m helping to solidify a future for myself.&rdquo;Townshend&rsquo;s future will undoubtedly be more solid than his past. A native of Kingston, Jamaica, he moved to Toronto with his family at age five and grew up in government-subsidized housing.It was the type of place where hope was in short supply. Drugs, on the other hand, were plentiful and stealing, Townshend says, was common. &ldquo;It was just something you did,&rdquo; he says.But a transformation took place after he was caught shoplifting and hockey gave him the vehicle out. After spending four years playing college for Rensselaer, he signed as a free agent with the Boston Bruins in 1989, moved on to the New York Islanders&rsquo; organization in 1991, then caught on with the Ottawa Senators in 1993. Entering this season, he had three goals and 10 points in 45 NHL games.As well as he&rsquo;s playing offensively, much of Townshend&rsquo;s time is spent battling in the alleys. He typically gets 100 or more penalty minutes a year and has had his share of fights-some-thing to which he has no moral opposition despite his Christian beliefs.&ldquo;When I fight, it&rsquo;s not vengeful,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and I fight for God with love in my heart. It&rsquo;s a noble job to stand up for your teammates.&rdquo;He has also had to stand up for himself. Being black in an ivory white sport hasn&rsquo;t always been easy.RPI coach Mike Addesa was fired after allegedly calling Townshend a &ldquo;nigger&rdquo; following a 1989 game. Then, as a member of the Bruins in 1990, Townshend jumped Kris King of the New York Rangers after an alleged racial slur. Townshend downplays the significance of the events.&ldquo;To be honest, there have only been a few very isolated incidents,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I did not always handle it the proper way. I&rsquo;m certainly not proud of the way I handled (the King incident).&rdquo;Townshend, who says he wants to teach high school athletics after his playing career ends, feels good about the future. He&rsquo;d like to impact on the lives of youngsters the way his heroes-such as former NHLer Tony McKegney-impacted on him.&ldquo;He showed a lot of young black kids that it is possible to succeed at anything and that race doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; Townshend says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I hope I can get across to kids.&rdquo;The person Townshend most reveres is his mother.&ldquo;She&rsquo;s my definition of a hero, raising three children in the projects and having them turn out to be successful people,&rdquo; says Townshend, who bought his mom a house after signing his first pro contract. &ldquo;To me, to see what she was able to do against the odds she faced, that makes her a hero in my book.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0036-01

LEAGUES

Tough Townshend straight as an Aero

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>The Orlando Solar Bears are not only selling a winner, they&rsquo;re selling stability.The second-year International League franchise extended the contracts of its top three people. GM Don Waddell, coach Curt Fraser and assistant Peter Horachek signed contract extensions through 1997-98.That gives the Turner Cup finalist some rare stability through three seasons. Only three IHL coaches-the Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; Phil WittlifT, Cleveland Lumberjacks&rsquo; Rick Paterson and Utah Grizzlies&rsquo; Butch Goring-are in the same position as they were in 1994-95.Fraser, who guided Orlando to a 52-24-6 mark last season and 6-3-1 record so far this season, said the extensions will help make the franchise more attractive to free agent players.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve built this franchise by bringing in good people and what the stability in the hockey operations will do is allow us to go out and make certain we&rsquo;re only bringing in people of the highest character,&rdquo; Fraser said.Fraser&rsquo;s deal has a clause that allows him to accept an NHL head coaching job at any time.SMOLINSKI TO IHL: Bryan Smolinski was pointless in his IHL debut for the Detroit Vipers, but looked much sharper in his second game with two goals and an assist in a 4-3 win over the Phoenix Roadrunner Oct. 30.Smolinski, a Group II free agent who had yet to come to terms with the Pittsburgh Penguins (and was expected to be traded), signed a 25-game contract with the Vipers Oct. 29.The center has an escape clause from the contract should he sign a contract with an NHL team. &ldquo;We know his situation with Pittsburgh,&rdquo; said Vipers&rsquo; GM-coach Rick Dudley. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think the 25 games will hurt Bryan or the Penguins. He wants to play hockey.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02580/7017322-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="386" height="430"></div>DEAL CHANGED: The Las Vegas Thunder&rsquo;s deal with Torpedo Yaroslavl of the Russian League has undergone some alterations.Initially, the Russian team was to provide the Thunder with four players a month from October through January, then allow Las Vegas to pick two players to keep from February through the playoffs.But the deal has changed twice. First, the sides agreed to cut it from four players a month to two and in October, Yaroslavl sent forward Konstantin Peregudov and defenseman Ilja Gorokhov to the Thunder.Gorokhov, a New York Rangers&rsquo; draft pick, was returned to Russia, while Peregudov played just two games before going back to Torpedo.The deal was then amended again. The Thunder won&rsquo;t get any more players until December, when it will get the players it feels are the two best on the Russian team, forward Andrei Skabelka and defenseman Dmitri Krasotkin.I-OPENERS: NHL holdout Igor Korolev has joined the Michigan K-Wings for the extent of his contract dispute. Korolev, 27, has been unable to come to terms with the Phoenix Coyotes. The four-year NHL veteran made his IHL debut Nov. 2&hellip;Carey Wilson, who came out of retirement to play for his hometown Manitoba Moose, retired after seven games. Wilson hadn&rsquo;t played since 1992-93. He had four assists. &ldquo;I know he tried as hard as he could,&rdquo; said Manitoba coach-GM Jean Perron. &ldquo;He was one of the players I wanted to sign because he is a character individual.&rdquo;&hellip;Sergei Samsonov took over the scoring lead for the Detroit Vipers. Samsonov paced the Vipers with six goals and 13 points in 13 games to lead all IHL rookies in scoring. He was also plus-5, helping the Vipers to an 8-4-1 start. The 17-year-old Russian is a projected top-five selection in the 1997 draft. &#9632;

f0036-02

Solar Bears lock in winning staff

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>For less than a month, all was perfect in the hockey life of Ralph Intranuovo.The ninth player taken in the Sept. 30 NHL waiver draft, Intranuovo was out of the American League and playing with his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;It was always my dream to play for the Leafs,&rdquo; Intranuovo said. &ldquo;My family and friends are all in Toronto.&rdquo;But the dream didn&rsquo;t last long for Intranuovo, a second-team AHL all-star in 1994-95. As the Maple Leafs struggled through the first three weeks, management decided the 5-foot-8, 185-pound center wasn&rsquo;t the answer and placed him on waivers Oct. 25 for the purpose of sending him to the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs.The Oilers immediately claimed him back and assigned him to the Hamilton Bulldogs.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re picked up on waivers, you assume they&rsquo;re interested in you and plan to use you,&rdquo; Intranuovo said. &ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m disappointed. But my agent (Pat Morris) told me if the Leafs ever put me on waivers, Edmonton was probably going to take me back.&rdquo;Intranuovo, 22, was left unprotected by Edmonton in the waiver draft because of a numbers situation, but the Oilers view him as a quality depth player.&ldquo;When they lost him, it put a hole in the depth chart,&rdquo; said Hamilton coach Lome Molieken. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited to have him back because he means so much to our team. He competes every night and offensively he&rsquo;s a threat.&rdquo;Intranuovo joined the Bulldogs Oct. 25 and was again playing his whirling, pesky game. Last season, he scored 34 goals and 73 points in 52 games when Edmonton&rsquo;s farm team was in Cape Breton and had one goal and three points in 13 games for Edmonton. In three AHL seasons, Intranuovo had 101 goals and 218 points in 188 games.He also played in the AHL All-Star Game the past two seasons, earning Canadian player-of-the-game honors last year. He also won the fastest skater competition.HOME AT LAST: Because of renovations to their home arena, the Rochester Americans started the season with 10 road games.They didn&rsquo;t play at home until Oct. 30. &ldquo;I forgot what a home game is like,&rdquo; said center Craig Charron.Considering the Amerks went 6-3-1, being away from home wasn&rsquo;t all that bad.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing well on the road. If I had my way, we&rsquo;d stay out here a little longer,&rdquo; said coach John Tortorella.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01766/7017353-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="393" height="391"></div>TRADING PLACES: Saint John Flames&rsquo; right winger David Ling and Fredericton Canadiens&rsquo; center Scott Fraser flip-flopped New Brunswick locales as the result of an NHL trade.The Calgary Flames traded Ling to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Fraser.Ling had an immediate impact with Fredericton, scoring two goals in a 7-1 win over the Adirondack Red Wings. Fraser also scored in his Saint John debut, a 3-2 loss to St. John&rsquo;s.UNDER-GRAD STUDIES: The AHL and CCM are partners in a scholarship program that will recognize AHL graduates and provide educational funding for student-athletes.Each month, an AHL graduate will be honored for his play in the NHL, with $1,000 donated to the CCM AHL Scholarship Fund in the player&rsquo;s name. At the end of the season, the 18 AHL teams will nominate a hockey playing student from their area. Two winners of a $3,500 scholarship will be selected.AHL TIDBITS: Saint John rookie defenseman Denis Gauthier, Calgary&rsquo;s first round pick in 1995, had the AHL&rsquo;s best plus/minus in October with a plus-10&hellip;Binghamton Rangers&rsquo; goalie Ken Shepard made an AHL season-high 52 saves in a 4-3 home loss to the Hershey Bears Oct. 25&hellip;Carolina Monarchs&rsquo; goalie Kevin Weekes made 49 saves to give them a 11 tie with the Philadelphia Phantoms Oct. 26. &#9632;

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Intranuovo makes journey back to Edmonton’s farm

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>Phil Berger will be 30 in December-ancient by East Coast League standards-but the Charlotte Checkers&rsquo; right winger isn&rsquo;t ready to start pounding the pavement in search of a day job just yet.&ldquo;As long as the game is still fun and as long as you&rsquo;re doing well what you do well, just keep playing,&rdquo; Berger said. &ldquo;Why get a real job?&rdquo;Berger, the league&rsquo;s second all-time leading scorer, continues to enjoy himself. The 6-foot, 196-pounder had three goals and 11 points in helping the Checkers get off to a 3-0-1 start. He was leading the league in assists in the early going with eight, but instead of dwelling on his own stats, he preferred to talk about how good his teammates have been.&ldquo;We have a strong team,&rdquo; Berger said. &ldquo;We have two strong goaltenders and they&rsquo;ve saved us&hellip;just giving up one goal instead of two, three or four. We have a bunch of guys who can handle the puck well. We have decent size, enough toughness and everybody but me has speed.&rdquo;The goalies are veteran Nick Vitucci, 29, and rookie Paxton Schafer, 20, a 1995 Boston Bruins&rsquo; draft choice. The duo allowed just three goals in the first three games, before the Richmond Renegades beat the Checkers 5-4 in a shootout Oct. 26.Berger, who has spent most of his career with the Greensboro Monarchs, appeared to have finished his days as a player last season when he became coach of the West Palm Beach Blaze of the Southern League. But he was fired in midseason when the team changed ownership.&ldquo;I had pretty much decided that if I could work it out that way, get a full year (coaching) and have a decent record, that I probably wouldn&rsquo;t play hockey any more,&rdquo; Berger said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d try coaching. I&rsquo;d been a player-coach in Greensboro and it was something I wanted to do eventually.Unfortunately (coaching) didn&rsquo;t work out, but fortunately for me it did work out (with Charlotte).&rdquo;Berger called Charlotte coach John Marks and after the Checkers obtained his rights from the Louisiana IceGators, he joined the team Feb. 10. In 23 regular season games, Berger had 10 goals and 24 points. In the Checkers&rsquo; run to the Riley Cup, he led all playoff scorers with 10 goals and 27 points.&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t any problem with Phil at all,&rdquo; Marks said. &ldquo;He gets a bad rap for some reason. He doesn&rsquo;t have a real outgoing personality. He always looks like he&rsquo;s grumpy. But he&rsquo;s actually a very quiet individual. (He) keeps to himself and slowly slides into the mix.&rdquo;Berger says he still wants to get into coaching, but at the moment, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy I don&rsquo;t have to do anything here but play hockey and play golf.&rdquo;DALEY PASSES: John Daley, who helped bring pro hockey back to Johnstown in 1988 and served as the Chiefs&rsquo; GM until April, 1994, died of cancer Oct. 25. He was 73.Daley, who was also GM of the Johnstown Jets of the old Eastern League from 1962 to 1966, bought the ECHL franchise with Henry Brabham.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02529/7017384-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="393" height="407"></div>CAPACITY CROWDS: Louisiana broke its own opening-night attendance record when 11,700 packed the Cajundome Oct. 25. The Pensacola Ice Pilots, formerly the Nashville Knights, also had a full house of 8,053 at the Civic Center for their home opener Oct. 25.The Peoria Rivermen, who moved from the International League to the ECHL after last season, attracted 7,111 to the Peoria Civic Center for their first ECHL game Oct. 26.COAST LINES: U.S. President Bill Clinton, making a campaign tour through Louisiana, received an authentic sweater from the Baton Rouge Kingfish Oct. 25. The sweater was signed by the entire team and presented to Clinton by Louisiana senatorial candidate Mary Landrieu. &#9632;

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League dinosaur Berger not ready for ‘real job’ yet

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The Canadian Hockey League is considering a course of action in response to a segment on CBC-TV&rsquo;s The Fifth Estate, which took a damning look at junior hockey.CHL president and Ontario League commissioner David Branch held an Oct. 30 conference call with Western League commissioner Dev Dley and Quebec League president Gilles Courteau following the Oct. 29 show titled. Thin Ice.The segment examined hazing rituals and sexual assault charges laid against Jr. C, Jr. B and major junior players, most prominently in Ontario. The Fifth Estate host Linden MacIntyre said the league forbids hazing, but tolerates it to a degree. The segment included comments from former NHL goalie Ken Dryden, who never played major junior hockey.Branch said he was given the opportunity to respond to the incidents, but said he felt a &ldquo;30-second defense didn&rsquo;t provide enough balance in a fairly one-sided 20-minute segment.&rdquo;The CHL executive council discussed the idea of writing an open letter to the parents of current and potential junior hockey players. Branch said a decision will be made in early November.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very concerned with the image of our program,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;(The show) implied that all junior players engage in inappropriate behavior. Nothing could be further from the truth. They didn&rsquo;t consider all the positives of junior hockey. There was no balance to their story.&rdquo;TEAM FINED: The London Knights were fined $2,500 by the OHL after an investigation prompted by allegations of a reporter.Sault Star reporter Bill Montague claimed he was verbally attacked by Knights&rsquo; coach Brad Selwood after an Oct. 20 game in Sault Ste. Marie. Montague, who is black, later heard that a racial comment was made toward him by Selwood. Montague said he didn&rsquo;t hear the slur.A hearing conducted by the OHL Oct. 30 ruled Selwood did not make a racial comment, but the first-year coach conducted himself in an improper fashion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01830/7017415-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="699" height="237"></div>BIDS ARE IN: The OHL has three groups seeking expansion teams in the Toronto area.One bid is from Brampton and headed by Scott Abbott, a former Montreal reporter and co-inventor of the Trivial Pursuit game. He is owner of the Caledon Canadians Jr. A team. The two other bids are both from Mississauga, but the identities of those parties have not been revealed.Brampton and Mississauga are to the west of Toronto, which returns to the OHL next season after an application from Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s College Majors was approved in the summer.A Scarborough group is also interested in the league, but has not submitted a formal application. Scarborough is an eastern suburb.The board of governors meets Nov. 18.HEADIN&rsquo; NORTH: Bob Ertel, fired in the summer as GM of the Kitchener Rangers, has joined the North Bay Centennials as GM after the firing of coach-GM Shane Parker. Assistant coach Greg Bignell is the Centennials&rsquo; interim coach.Ertel and the Rangers have never spoken publicly about his dismissal in Kitchener, which came two weeks after he signed a new contract. Ertel, 57, also coached the Rangers for three seasons (1978-81).TRADER DAVE: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&rsquo; GM Dave Mayville was busy Oct. 22, acquiring overage right winger Nathan Perrott from the Oshawa Generals for a third round pick in 1997 as well as sixth and ninth round selections in 1998.The same day, the Greyhounds sent overage left winger Andre Payette to the Kingston Frontenacs for a sixth pick in 1998 and, six days later, overage left winger Scott Cherrey went to the Owen Sound Platers for a sixth round pick.-With a file from Brian Costello &#9632;

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Branch upset with TV show’s dark look at junior hockey

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>The Memorial Cup champion Granby Predateurs were expected to be in a rebuilding mode this season with 12 rookies in the lineup.Think again.The Predateurs beat the Halifax Mooseheads 3-1 Oct. 27 to extend their unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) and improve their record to 12-4-2, the best in the Quebec League.Usually when a team does better than projected, its management will say it was confident the team would excel. Predateurs&rsquo; coach Michel Therrien, however, is a little more candid about his team&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;To be honest, I&rsquo;m a little surprised,&rdquo; Therrien said. &ldquo;But we always want to win. I think you can teach kids how to play with winning; I don&rsquo;t think you have to finish in last place to teach.&ldquo;We play with a lot of rookies-11 or 12 every night-and right now I&rsquo;m very satisfied with them. They&rsquo;re learning and they play with emotion.&rdquo;One of the most eye-catching rookies was defenseman Jeffrey Sullivan, an 18-year-old who played Jr. A hockey last season in Nova Scotia.&ldquo;We have a scout in the Maritimes, John Fisher, who brought Jeff to Granby,&rdquo; Therrien explained. &ldquo;The first time I saw him I knew he could play in this league. He&rsquo;s good offensively and he&rsquo;s tough. He needs to work on his 1-on-l situations, but that&rsquo;s normal for someone his age. The rhythm is a lot quicker than he&rsquo;s used to. But he&rsquo;ll be a good defenseman in this league.&rdquo;Sullivan, a 6-foot-l, 199-pounder, had three goals and 10 points in 18 games and was plus-5. He was also named the league&rsquo;s defensive player of the week in mid-October.With so many rookies in the lineup, Therrien has had to do more teaching in practice than he did last year.&ldquo;Last year we had so many veterans,&rdquo; Therrien said. &ldquo;On Day 1, we had to start all over again and bring in the system, but the kids want to learn. It&rsquo;s fun when you come to the rink and you have kids who want to learn.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02593/7017446-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="580" height="290"></div>RED LIGHT BURNING: The way things are going in Drummondville these days, the Voltigeurs&rsquo; public address announcer is going to have laryngitis before the midway point of the season.The Voltigeurs had a record of 13-7-0 and had scored a whopping 105 goals, an average of 5.25 per game and 31 more than any other team in the league. In their first 10 home games, the Voltigeurs scored 71 times.The Volts&rsquo; attack has been led by Slovakian right winger Lubos Bartecko (17 goals, 49 points) and center Daniel Briere (19 goals, 43 points). The pair occupied the top two spots in league scoring.If the Volts kept lighting up the scoreboard at that pace, they would finish the season with 368 goals. The league record is a whopping 620 goals (an average of 8.86 per game) set by the Sorel Eperviers in 1973-74. That team was led by Pierre Larouche, who had 94 goals and 251 points.WILDCATS ROAR: Things are finally starting to look up for the hard-luck Moncton Wildcats.After starting the season 1-13-0, the Wildcats won four of their next five games. Their 7-3 win over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies Oct. 27 ended a 24-game winless streak on the road (0-22-2) dating to last Dec. 22 when they beat the Victoriaville Tigres 6-4.The Wildcats also defeated the Halifax Mooseheads 3-2 in overtime Oct. 23, marking Moncton&rsquo;s first victory ever over its Maritime rival after going 0-7-1 in their first eight meetings.NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs center Jean-Pierre Dumont, the first Quebec player selected at this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft (third overall by the New York Islanders), had four goals in the Foreurs&rsquo; 5-2 win over the Laval Titan Oct. 26. In 13 games, the 6-foot, 180-pounder had 13 goals and 21 points. &#9632;

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Surprising Predateurs on top despite freshman-filled lineup

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>An apologetic Bryan Maxwell has been fined $200 after pleading guilty to assaulting Western League referee Brent Reiber following a March 23 playoff game.Maxwell, the Lethbridge Hurricanes&rsquo; coach and director of hockey operations, was tried Oct. 28 in Lethbridge.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very sorry about the incident,&rdquo; Maxwell said outside court. &ldquo;It will never happen again.&rdquo;Maxwell was found not guilty on charges of assaulting linesman Jeff Klick. A third charge of uttering a threat was withdrawn.Maxwell confronted Reiber underneath the stands at the Lethbridge Sportsplex following a 6-5 loss to the Regina Pats. During testimony, Maxwell admitted grabbing Reiber and spinning him around.A defense application that Maxwell be granted an unconditional discharge was denied, meaning Maxwell has a criminal record. Judge A.P. Demong said the courts can&rsquo;t condone actions against officials.Maxwell plans to appeal the decision.&ldquo;I never, ever want to go through anything like that again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ve ever been through anything as stressful as that. It&rsquo;s an experience I don&rsquo;t wish on anybody.&rdquo;The WHL applied its own sanctions soon after the incident. Maxwell was suspended from coaching for 1996-97 and placed on probation for three years. He was fined $1,000 and is barred from attending Hurricane games, but he remains director of hockey operations for the team. Parry Shockey is the Hurricanes&rsquo; interim coach. Lethbridge had a 13-1-1 start under Shockey.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned a lesson-a big-time lesson,&rdquo; Maxwell said. &ldquo;I never want it to happen again.&rdquo;Maxwell&rsquo;s assistant coach, Reid Williams, was charged with uttering a threat to Reiber. Those charges were dropped. However, Williams was placed on a one-year peace bond. He is forbidden from having any contact with Reiber. That shouldn&rsquo;t be a problem since Reiber is now officiating in Japan.The WHL suspended Williams for 36 games. Maxwell and Williams appealed the WHL&rsquo;s punishment to the league&rsquo;s executive committee, to no avail.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03479/7017477-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="357" height="362"></div>HITMEN HIRE COACH: Dean Clark is the new coach of the Calgary Hitmen.Clark, 32, succeeded Jim Currie Oct. 28. Currie was named interim coach after Graham James resigned Sept. 5. James is the subject of a police investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.Currie returned to his duties as assistant coach-GM.Clark made his debut Oct. 29, when Calgary lost 3-0 to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. The loss dropped the Hitmen&rsquo;s record to 3-16-0 in their second season.&ldquo;It looks like I have a little work to do.&rdquo; Clark told The Calgary Sun. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s lots of young talent there and the way I approach the game, hopefully we can turn in a better direction.&rdquo;Before hiring Clark, the Hitmen talked to two former NHL coaches, Dave King and Brian Sutter, but they were not interested.Clark, a former left winger with the Kamloops Blazers, was in his second season as coach of the St. Albert Saints of the Alberta Junior League.COUGARS STRUGGLING: The Prince George Cougars lost eight straight games after enjoying a 9-2-0 start.&ldquo;The great thing about the season is that it&rsquo;s 72 games,&rdquo; said Prince George coach Stan Butler. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a sprint. It&rsquo;s a marathon. There are definitely a lot of miles in the race.&rdquo;Amid the losing streak, the Cougars traded 20-year-old center/left winger Geoff Lynch to the Moose Jaw Warriors.Lynch had 17 points in 16 games with Prince George. The Cougars received defenseman Kevin McKay, 19, and left winger Travis Tip- ler, 18, in return for Lynch.The Cougars have finished last in the West Division for seven straight seasons. &#9632;

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Maxwell fined for incident: It will never happen again’

<div class="byline">By Chris Miller</div>There&rsquo;s still a long way to go, but the North Dakota Fighting Sioux were making the preseason prognosticators look ridiculous in the early going.The Fighting Sioux, projected to finish sixth by The Hockey News, were the hottest team in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. They ripped through an unbeaten October and bolted to the top of the league.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re scoring a lot of goals, but more importantly, we&rsquo;re not giving up a lot,&rdquo; said North Dakota coach Dean Blais.Blais was concerned about his offense this season after the loss of all-America center Teeder Wynne to graduation.&ldquo;Teeder did everything but sell popcorn,&rdquo; Blais said. &ldquo;We knew we&rsquo;d miss him. But we had a lot of freshman forwards last year and you can&rsquo;t expect younger guys to carry the scoring load. This year, we&rsquo;ll expect players to step up.&rdquo;The Sioux offense was sparked by the dynamic line of center Jason Blake between brothers Kevin and Dave Hoogsteen. Dave Hoogsteen, a 5-foot-7 sophomore, was the league&rsquo;s leading scorer with five goals and nine points in four games.Blake is playing in his first season at North Dakota following a transfer from Ferris State, where he was on the Central Collegiate Hockey Association all-rookie team two years ago.&ldquo;Dave is quick and smart,&rdquo; Blais said. &ldquo;Jason was our hardest worker in practice last year, even though he was sitting out the season, so that tells you a lot about him.&rdquo;The Sioux have a veteran defense with seniors Dane Litke and Mark Pivetz, juniors Curtis Murphy and Mitch Vig, and sophomore Brad Williamson skating in front of senior goalie Toby Kvalevog.SURPRISING SLUMP: Colorado College was deadly on power plays last season, scoring on 33 per cent of its chances.The Tigers started this season without bite, however, failing to score on their first 22 power play chances.On the bright side, Colorado College opened the season with two splits on the road, extending an incredible streak. It hasn&rsquo;t been swept in 43 consecutive WCHA series and hasn&rsquo;t lost more than two games in a row since 1992-93.WHISTLE-BLOWING: College hockey has adopted the one-referee, two-assistant referee system this season. The assistant referees fulfill linesmen duties, but are allowed to call penalties behind the play. Last year, the WCHA used the two-referee system.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want assistant referees stopping play for every bump or every time someone looks cross-eyed at someone,&rdquo; said WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd. &ldquo;It has to be a good penalty and it can&rsquo;t be in the sight of the referee.&rdquo; &#9632;

Streaking North Dakota making experts look bad

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Notre Dame junior goalie Matt Eisler has discovered instead of looking at the big picture, it&rsquo;s better for him to take things one at a time.Such as shots, for instance.That&rsquo;s the approach he used to make 47 saves in a 3-0 victory over Ohio State Oct. 25.&ldquo;To tell you the truth, I tried not to think about the shutout until the last few minutes, which is always hard to do,&rdquo; said Eisler, a native of West Milford, N.J.Eisler&rsquo;s numbers were sparkling to start the season-a 2-1-1 record, 1.48 goals-against average and 95.4 save percentage. Irish coach Dave Poulin said Eisler&rsquo;s play early this season confirms a belief the coach had entering the campaign: that he has one of the best goalies in the country.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any question about it,&rdquo; Poulin said.Eisler said thinking about shutouts and wins was exactly what caused him trouble last season when he was 7-16-1 with a 4.36 GAA and 86.7 save percentage. As a freshman he posted a 913-0 record, 4.30 GAA and 87.0 save percentage.&ldquo;I fried to do too much (last season) and it was damaging to me and the entire team,&rdquo; Eisler said. &ldquo;I would give up a goal in the first period and I would keep thinking about it. I&rsquo;ve given up goals in the first period this year, but I went on and put them out of my mind.&rdquo;SHORT STORY: On the surface, it appeared Michigan was doing a great job killing penalties. After scoring twice while killing the same penalty two games in a row in victories over University of Alaska-Fairbanks Oct. 24-25, the Wolverines had six shorthanded goals overall and four in league play.The bad news was that the penalty killing was operating at just 81.6 per-cent efficiency overall and 64.3 per-cent in Central Collegiate Hockey Association play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a drastic stat when you&rsquo;re at the bottom of the pack,&rdquo; said Michigan coach Red Berenson. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a stat that we have to change.&rdquo;Two of the shorthanded goals belonged to senior left winger John Madden, who had 17 for his career. Madden led all Division I players with 10 shorthanded goals last season.&ldquo;He just reads the play and works so hard,&rdquo; Berenson said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s something you can&rsquo;t coach. It&rsquo;s not even that he&rsquo;s thinking about scoring. He just knows, or thinks he knows, what the other team is going to do.&rdquo;Senior right winger Warren Luhning also had two shorthanded goals for the defending National Collegiate Athletic Association champions, who were off to a perfect 5-0-0 start.NOTEBOOK: Ferris State senior Andy Roach, the team captain, was the CCHA&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman with three goals and 12 points in seven games. &#9632;

Great start to season has Irish Eisler smiling

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Just call him Dennis the Menace-as in a menace to opposing shooters.Providence College senior goaltender Dan Dennis, an all-Hockey East selection last season by league coaches, got off to a sizzling start in 1996-97 by posting a 3-0-0 record, 1.33 goals-against average and 95.7 save percentage. Included in his efforts was a 3-0 shutout of Merrimack Oct. 26. That win helped seal his selection as the first Hockey East player of the week this season (for the period ending Oct. 27).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of nice to get off on the right foot,&rdquo; said Dennis, a 24-year-old native of Prince Albert, Sask. &ldquo;Sometimes the puck looks as big as a balloon.&ldquo;I hope to have the same kind of year I had last year. I want to be as consistent as I possibly can and give my team a chance (to win) in every game.&rdquo;There are areas of his game Dennis would like to improve-most notably positioning and controlling of rebounds.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the biggest or fastest goalie around,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-10, 184-pounder, &ldquo;but if I&rsquo;m positioned well, it&rsquo;s a lot harder to score on me.&rdquo;Friar coach Paul Pooley said Dennis made himself a top-notch goalie through hard work two summers ago.&ldquo;He knew he was going to be the man (in goal) so he prepared for it,&rdquo; Pooley said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really focused.&rdquo;&ldquo;Coach challenged me,&rdquo; said Dennis, who hasn&rsquo;t been drafted by an NHL team. &ldquo;I followed his summer workout plan and I mentally committed myself to working real hard in practices and games. When you believe in something, anything can happen.&rdquo;JACK FLASH: Boston University coach Jack Parker continues his ascent on the victories list.A 5-3 win over Rensselaer Oct. 19 catapulted Parker into a fifth-place tie with former Army coach Jack Riley on the all-time college hockey coaching wins list.In his 23-plus seasons at BU (which is Parker&rsquo;s alma mater), he has compiled a 524-249-40 record.Parker missed an opportunity to move into sole possession of fifth place when his Terriers dropped a 4-2 decision to Vermont Oct. 26. The loss also snapped BU&rsquo;s six-game unbeaten streak at home.NOTEBOOK: Forwards Blake Bellefeuille of Boston College and Roger Holeczy of Northeastern shared the league&rsquo;s first rookie of the week award for the season. Bellefeuille had two goals, including the game-winner with 22 seconds left in the third period, to lead the Eagles past Michigan State 4-3 Oct. 25. Holeczy had three goals in two Huskies&rsquo; games-a 4-3 loss at RPI Oct. 25 and 6-5 win over Michigan State Oct. 27. &#9632;

Friar goaltender Dennis proving he’s networthy

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01419/7017618-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01438/7017611-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="3093" height="3526"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shark attack: San Jose&rsquo;s Owen Nolan was among the league leaders with eight goals. (Photo by John Glamundo/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01333/7017604-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="3105" height="3524"><figcaption class="caption-body">Washington&rsquo;s Phil Housley</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01268/7017649-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0045-01

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League, (shots on goal pIus-minus SA-shots against; GA-goats against, ENG-empty net goals; Dec-decision. charges to goaltenders at record when winning goals scored.<h2>FRIDAY, OCT. 25</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02147/7017883-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="495" height="2100"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-03106/7017876-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="495" height="863"></div><h2>SATURDAY, OCT. 26</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0482/7017869-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="498" height="1525"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0569/7017862-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="499" height="2482"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0662/7017855-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="494" height="2480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0756/7017848-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg" title="f0045-07" width="497" height="2482"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0842/7017841-1-eng-US/f0045-082.jpg" title="f0045-08" width="495" height="2482"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01261/7017834-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="498" height="1040"></div><h2>SUNDAY, OCT. 27</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02161/7017827-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="502" height="2385"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03110/7017820-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="512" height="2345"></div><h2>MONDAY, OCT. 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0490/7017813-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="506" height="1078"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0660/7017806-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="508" height="1034"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0752/7017799-1-eng-US/f0046-072.jpg" title="f0046-07" width="504" height="174"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0569/7017792-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="1533" height="2425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch of the Rangers leads all defensemen in scoring with 12 points in 14 games.</figcaption></div><h2>TUESDAY, OCT. 29</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0838/7017785-1-eng-US/f0046-082.jpg" title="f0046-08" width="506" height="776"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0936/7017778-1-eng-US/f0046-092.jpg" title="f0046-09" width="508" height="1038"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1029/7017771-1-eng-US/f0046-102.jpg" title="f0046-10" width="504" height="2835"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1128/7017764-1-eng-US/f0046-112.jpg" title="f0046-11" width="502" height="598"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01297/7017757-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="502" height="3500"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02200/7017750-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="502" height="3498"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03153/7017743-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="498" height="752"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0580/7017736-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="498" height="1048"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0665/7017729-1-eng-US/f0047-062.jpg" title="f0047-06" width="494" height="754"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0756/7017722-1-eng-US/f0047-072.jpg" title="f0047-07" width="494" height="1049"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0842/7017715-1-eng-US/f0047-082.jpg" title="f0047-08" width="496" height="1885"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-04107/7017708-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="1002" height="1599"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary Flames&rsquo; rookie defenseman Joel Bouchard steps into veteran Rangers&rsquo; left winger Adam Graves.(Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios, Photo by Bill Binzen)</figcaption></div><h2>THURSDAY, OCT. 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0932/7017701-1-eng-US/f0047-092.jpg" title="f0047-09" width="496" height="1528"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1023/7017694-1-eng-US/f0047-102.jpg" title="f0047-10" width="495" height="1843"></div><h2>THREE NATIONS CUP</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1122/7017687-1-eng-US/f0047-112.jpg" title="f0047-11" width="502" height="524"></div><h2>HOCKEY TIMELINE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1221/7017680-1-eng-US/f0047-122.jpg" title="f0047-12" width="494" height="966"></div> &#9632;

f0045-02

NHL SUMMARIES

Transactions include player moves from Oct. 25 to Nov. 1. Rosters and injuries are as of Nov. 1. Players in roster are listed in sequence of latest line combinations and defense pairings (i.e. first center plays on line with first left winger and first right winger).<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 29: Jeremy Stevenson, RW, recalled from Baltimore (AHL). Barry Nieckar, RW, assigned to Long Beach (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jari Kurri, Steve Rucchin, Ted Drury, J.F. Jomphe, Alex Hicks. LW-Paul Kariya. Joe Sacco, Kevin Todd, Ken Baumgartner, Garry Valk. RW-Teemu Selanne, Warren Rychel, Roman Oksiuta, Jeremy Stevenson. LD-Bobby Dollas, Fredrik Olausson, Nikolai Tsulygin, Darren Van Impe. RD-Ruslan Salei, David Karpa, Jason Marshall. G-Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtalenkov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Valeri Karpov, RW, concussion, day-to-day.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 26: Dean Chynoweth, D, Sandy Moger, RW, and Jon Rohloff, D, assigned to Providence (AHL). Oct. 28: Chynoweth and Moger recalled from Providence. Oct. 29: Jean-Yves Roy, LW, recalled from Providence. Tim Sweeney, LW, assigned to Providence. Oct. 30: Cam Stewart, LW, assigned to Providence.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Jozef Stumpel, Todd Elik, Trent McCleary, Clayton Beddoes. LW-Ted Donato, Jean-Yves Roy, Rob DiMaio. Troy Mallette. RW-Steve Heinze, Rick Tocchet, Sandy Moger, Jeff Odgers. LD-Don Sweeney, Barry Richter, Bob Beers. RD-Steve Staios, Mattias Timander, Dean Chynoweth. G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Scott Bailey.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ray Bourque, D, separated right shoulder, day-to-day. Dean Malkoc, D, arthroscopic surgery on left wrist, indefinite. Kyle McLaren, D, left thigh contusion, day-to-day. Jon Rohloff, D. sprained right ankle, indefinite.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 30: Barry Moore, LW, recalled from Rochester (AHL). Nov. 1: Alexei Zhitnik, D. suspended two games by NHL for high-sticking incident. Eligible to return Nov. 7. Douglas Moss, chief operating officer, resigned. Lawrence Quinn named chief operating officer.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pat LaFontaine, Derek Plante, Mike Peca, Brian Holzinger. LW-Curtis Brown. Michal Grosek, Randy Burridge, Rob Ray. Barrie Moore. RW-Jason Dawe, Matthew Barnaby, Dixon Ward, Anatoli Semenov. LD-Mike Wilson, Bob Boughner, Jay McKee. RD-Darryl Shannon, Garry Galley, Richard Smehlik. G-Dominik Hasek, Andrei Trefilov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette, RW. sore groin, day-to-day. Brad May, RW, separated right shoulder, indefinite.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Robert Reichel, Dave Gagner, Corey Millen, Todd Hlushko. LW-German Titov, Cory Stillman, Mike Sullivan, Jonas Hoglund. RW-Theo Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Paul Kruse. Ron Stem, Sasha Lakovic. LD-Joel Bouchard, Steve Chiasson, Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan RD-Todd Simpson, Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse. Jamie Huscroft. G-Trevor Kidd. Rick Tabaracci, Dwayne Roloson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sandy McCarthy, RW, broken ankle, indefinite. James Patrick, D, sprained knee, day-to-day. Zarley Zalapski, D, bruised knee, day-to-day.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 25: Jimmy Waite, G, recalled from Indianapolis (IHL). Oct 27: Marc Lamothe, G, recalled from Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Zhamnov, Denis Savard, Jeff Shantz, Adam Creighton. LW-Tony Amonte, Murray Craven, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Basil McRae. RW-James Black, Eric Daze, Kevin Miller, Jim Cummins, Sergei Krivokrasov. LD-Keith Carney, Gary Suter, Steve Smith, Cam Russell. RD-Chris Chelios, Eric Weinrich, Enrico Ciccone. G-Ed Belfour, Jimmy Waite, Marc Lamothe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tuomas Gronman, D, dislocated left elbow, day-to-day. Jeff Hackett, G, broken finger, day-to-day. Brent Sutter, C, strained groin, day-to-day.<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Stephane Yelle. LW-Eric Lacroix, Valeri Kamensky, Rene Corbet, Yves Sarault, Brent Severyn. RW-Scott Young, Adam Deadmarsh, Mike Keane, Landon Wilson, Jon Klemm. LD-Sylvain Lefebvre, Sandis Ozolinsh, Alexei Gusarov, Aaron Miller. RD-Curtis Leschyshyn, Uwe Krupp, Adam Foote. G-Patrick Roy, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Claude Lemieux, RW, tom abdominal muscle, late-January. Mike Ricci, C, separated shoulder, indefinite.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Modano. Brent Gilchrist, Todd Harvey, Guy Carbonneau. LW-Greg Adams, Benoit Hogue, Dave Reid, Marc Labelle. RW-Jere Lehtinen, Pat Verbeek, Jamie Langenbrunner, Mike Kennedy, Grant Marshall. LD-Richard Matvichuk, Craig Ludwig, Darryl Sydor, Mike Lalor. RD-Derian Hatcher, Sergei Zubov, Grant Ledyard. G-Andy Moog, Arturs Irbe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Bassen, C, herniated disc in back, January Bill Huard, LW, separated shoulder, earty-November. Joe Nieuwendyk, C, tom rib cartilage, day-to-day.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 31: Mark Major, LW, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Kris Draper, Doug Brown. LW-Vyacheslav Kozlov, Mathieu Dandenault, Bob Errey, MArk Major. RW-Greg Johnson, Martin Lapointe, Darren McCarty, Kirk Maltby. LD-Bob Rouse. Anders Eriksson, Slava Fetisov. RD-Jamie Pushor, Nicklas Lidstrom, Vladimir Konstantinov, Aaron Ward. G-Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon, Kevin Hodson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tomas Holmstrom, LW, sprained left knee, indefinite. Igor Larionov, C, sprained wrist, day-to-day. Brendan Shanahan, LW, strained groin, day-to-day. Tim Taylor, LW, bruised bone in left shoulder, indefinite.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 25: Ralph Intranuovo, LW, assigned to Hamilton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Weight, Jason Arnott, Todd Marchant, Rem Murray, Jesse Belanger. LW-Ryan Smyth, Dean McAmmond, Louie DeBrusk, Mariusz Czerkawski, Miroslav Satan. RW-Andrei Kovalenko, David Oliver, Kelly Buchberger, Mike Grier. LD-Luke Richardson. Bryan Marchment, Kevin Lowe. RD-Boris Mironov, Michel Petit, Dan McGillis, Greg de Vries. G-Curtis Joseph, Bob Essensa<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Dufresne, D, tom knee cartilage, indefinite Jeff Norton, D, bruised right ankle, day-to-day.<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 Mellan-by, Radek Dvorak, Tom Fitzgerald, Jody Hull, Brad Smyth. LD-Terry Carkner, Ed Jovanovski, Per Gustafsson, Jason Woolley. RD-Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Paul Laus, Rhett Warrener. G-John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 26: Manny Legace, G, assigned to Springfield (AHL). Oct. 27: Legace recalled from Springfield. Oct. 29: Legace assigned to Springfield.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Andrew Cassels, Keith Primeau, Sami Kapanen, Mark Janssens, Jeff O&rsquo;Neill. LW-Geoff Sanderson, Andrei Nikolishin, Paul Ranheim, Stu Grimson. RW-Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron, Steven Rice, Kelly Chase. LD-Glen Featherstone, Glen Wesley, Nolan Pratt. RD-Paul Coffey, Adam Burt, Gerald Diduck, Marek Malik. G-Sean Burke, Jason Muzzatti.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jeff Brown, D, back surgery, indefinite. Nelson Emerson, RW, sore ankle, day-to-day. Alexander Godynyuk, D, back spasms, day-to-day.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Yanic Perreault, Ray Ferraro, Dimitri Khristich, Ed Olczyk. LW-Kevin Stevens, Craig Johnson. Matt Johnson, Vladimir Tsyplakov. RW-Vitali Yachmenev, Kai Nurminen, Dan Bylsma, Brent Grieve. LD-Mattias Norstrom. Doug Zmolek, Steven Finn, Sean O&rsquo;Donnell. RD-Rob Blake, John Slaney, Jaroslav Modry, Philippe Boucher. G-Stephane Fiset, Byron Dafoe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ian Laperriere, C, strained right shoulder, day-to-day Barry Potomski, LW, herniated disc, indefinite. Jan Vopat, D, herniated disc, indefinite.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 26: Francois Groleau, D. and Jose Theodore, G. recalled from Fredericton (AHL). Oct. 29: Pierre Turgeon, C, Rory Fitzpatrick, D, and Craig Conroy, C, traded to St. Louis for Shayne Corson, LW, Murray Baron, D, and fifth-round draft choice in 1997. Oct. 31: Craig Rivet, D, assigned to Fredericton.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton, Marc Bureau, Darcy Tucker LW-Brian Savage, Martin Rucinsky, Shayne Corson, Donald Brashear, Terry Ryan. RW-Mark Recchi, Stephane Richer, Benoit Brunet, Chris Murray. LD-Peter Popovic, Murray Baron, Vladimir Malakhov, Francois Groleau. RD-Patrice Brisebois, Stephane Quintal, David Wilkie. G&mdash;Pat Jablonski, Jose Theodore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Valeri Bure, RW, bruised kidney, indefinite. Turner Stevenson, RW, sprained knee, day-to-day. Jocelyn Thibault, G, fractured finger, indefinite.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 29: Mike Dunham, G, recalled from Albany (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bobby Holik, Bobby Carpenter, Sergei Brylin. LW-Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Valeri Zelepukin, Mike Peluso. RW-Steve Thomas, John MacLean, Bill Guerin, Randy McKay, Denis Pederson. LD-Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko. RD-Shawn Chambers, Jason Smith, Lyle Odelein. G-Martin Brodeur. Jeff Reese, Mike Dunham.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Dean, D, stiff neck, day-to-day. Reid Simpson, LW, pulled groin, indefinite. Petr Sykora, C, strained groin, day-to-day.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Travis Green, Marty McInnis, Claude Lapointe, Derek Armstrong. LW-Todd Bertuzzi, Derek King, Randy Wood, Brent Hughes, Nicklas Andersson. RW-Ziggy Palffy, Andreas Johansson, Dan Plante, Mick Vukota. LD-Darius Kasparaitis, Scott Lachance, Kenny Jonsson. RD-Bryan Berard, Bryan McCabe, Doug Houda. G-Eric Fichaud, Tommy Salo.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rich Pilon, D, strained groin, Nov. 15. Dennis Vaske, D, dislocated shoulder, Nov. 15.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mark Messier. Wayne Gretzky, Sergei Nemchinov, Christian Dube. LW-Adam Graves, Luc Robitaille, Daniel Goneau, Sergio Momesso, Darren Langdon. RW-Alexei Kovalev, Niklas Sundstrom. Patrick Flatley, Shane Churla, Bill Berg. LD-Brian Leetch, Bruce Driver, Eric Cairns. RD-Jeff Beukeboom, Jay More, Alexander Karpovtsev, Doug Lidster. G-Mike Richter, Glenn Healy.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ulf Samuelsson, D, sprained left knee ligament, mid-December.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Yashin, Radek Bonk, Dave Hannan, Bruce Gardiner. LW-Randy Cunneyworth, Shawn McEachern, Denny Lambert, Shaun Van Allen. RW-Daniel Alfredsson. Alexandre Daigle, Andreas Dackell, Denis Chasse. LD-Janne Laukkanen, Frank Musil, Wade Redden. RD-Jason York, Steve Duchesne, Phil von Stefenelli. G-Damian Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Chorske, LW, hip pointer, day-to-day. Sean Hill, D, tom left knee ligament, out for season. Stan Neckar, D, tom knee ligament, indefinite. Lance Pitlick, D, bruised right eye, day-to-day. Dennis Vial, LW, broken right hand, indefinite.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Craig Darby, Joel Otto, Daniel Lacroix, Trent Klatt. LW-John LeClair, John Druce, Shjon Podein, Dan Kordic. RW-Mikael Renberg, Pat Falloon, Dainius Zubrus, Scott Daniels. LD-Chris Therien, Petr Svoboda, Kevin Haller. RD-Eric Desjardins. Kjell Samuelsson, Karl Dykhuis, Janne Niinimaa. G-Ron Hextall, Garth Snow.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dale Hawerchuk, C, strained left hip. indefinite. Eric Lindros, C, strained right groin, indefinite.<h2>PHOENIX</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 30: Jason Simon, RW, and Kevin Dahl, D, recalled from Las Vegas (IHL). Oct. 31: Simon assigned to Las Vegas.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Craig Janney, Jeremy Roenick, Chad Kilger, Mike Stapleton. Mike Eastwood. LW-Keith Tkachuk, Darrin Shannon, Jim McKenzie, Bob Corkum. RW-Dallas Drake. Mike Gartner, Kris King, Shane Doan. LD-Oleg Tverdovsky, Jeff Finley, Kevin Dahl. RD-Teppo Numminen, Dave Manson, Brad McCrimmon, Jim Johnson. G-Nikolai Khabibulin, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Norm Maciver, D, neck surgery, indefinite. Cliff Ronning, C, fractured right hand, Nov. 8.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 28: Ed Patterson, RW, assigned to Cleveland (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Dan Quinn, Tyler Wright. LW-Petr Klima, Petr Nedved, Dave Roche, Joe Dziedzic, Shawn Antoski, Alek Stojanov. RW-TomasSandstrom, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Dziedzic, Joe Mullen. LD-Chris Tamer, J.J. Daigneault, Craig Muni. RD-Kevin Hatcher. Dmitri Mironov, Francois Leroux. G-Ken Wregget, Tom Barrasso.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Neil Wilkinson, D, abdominal surgery, indefinite.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Oct. 26: Robert Petrovicky, C. and Christer Olsson, D, assigned to Worcester (AHL). Oct. 28: Petrovicky recalled from Worcester. Oct. 29: Shayne Corson, LW, Murray Baron, D, and a 1997 fifth round entry draft pick traded to Montreal for Pierre Turgeon, C, Rory Fitzpatrick, D, and Craig Conroy, C. Oct. 31: Fitzpatrick assigned to Worcester. Jamie McLennan, G, and Olsson recalled from Worcester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pierre Turgeon, Harry York, Craig Conroy, Craig MacTavish, Robert Petrovicky. LW-Stephane Matteau, Joe Murphy, Geoff Courtnail, Tony Twist, Yuri Khmylev. RW-Brett Hull, Jim Campbell, Brian Noonan, Gary Leeman, Stephen Leach. LD-lgor Kravchuk, Libor Zabransky, Trent Yawney. RD-AI Maclnnis, Chris Pronger, Marc Bergevin. G-Jon Casey, Jamie McLennan.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Grant Fuhr, G, neck strain, day-to-day. Peter Zezel, C, tom abdominal muscle, Nov. 16.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bemie Nicholls, Darren Turcotte, Viktor Kozlov, Ron Sutter. LW-Tony Granato, Jeff Friesen, Andrei Nazarov, Chris Tancill, Dody Wood. RW-Shean Donovan, Ulf Dahlen. Owen Nolan. Tim Hunter. LD-Doug Bodger, Mike Rathje, Marcus Ragnarsson, Greg Hawgood. RD-Michal Sykora, Todd Gill, Al lafrate, Vlastimil Kroupa. G-Kelly Hrudey, Darrin Madeley.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Todd Ewen, RW, knee surgery, Nov. 8. Wade Flaherty, G, broken collartbone, Nov. 8. Marty McSorley, D, arthroscopic hip surgery, Nov. 8. Ville Peltonen, LW, arthroscopic knee surgery, Nov. 8. Chris Terreri, G, cracked bone in wrist, Nov. 12.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 1: Derek Wilkinson, G, assigned to Cleveland (IHL). Brent Peterson, LW, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-John Cullen, Aaron Gavey. Daymond Langkow. LW-Chris Gratton, Rob Zamuner, Patrick Poulin, Brent Peterson. RW-Dino Ciccarelli, Alexander Selivanov, Jason Wiemer, Mikael Andersson, Brian Bellows. LD-Roman Hamrlik, Igor Ulanov, Cory Cross. RD&mdash;Bill Houlder. Drew Bannister, Dave Shaw, Jay Wells. G-Corey Schwab, Daren Puppa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brian Bradley, C. left knee sprain, Nov. 7. Shawn Burr, LW, back strain, day-to-day. Rudy Poeschek. D, sprained left knee, indefinite. Craig Wolanin, D, shoulder surgery, indefinite. Paul Ysebaert, RW, strained groin, indefinite.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Gilmour, Kirk Muller. Jamie Baker. Brandon Convery. LW-Sergei Berezin, Wendel Clark, Todd Warriner, Nick Kypreos. RW-Mats Sundin, Tie Domi. Mike Craig. LD-Dave Ellett, Jamie Macoun, Jeff Ware. RD-Mathieu Schneider, Dimitri Yushkevich. Larry Murphy, Jamie Heward. G-Felix Potvin, Don Beaupre.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Fredrik Modin, RW, concussion, day-to-day.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Trevor Linden, Mike Ridley, Dave Roberts, Alexander Semak. LW-Esa Tikkanen, Martin Gelinas, Markus Naslund, Gino Odjick. RW-Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Russ Courtnail, Troy Crowder. LD-Bret Hedican, Leif Rohlin, Mark Wotton, Jassen Cullimore. RD-Jyrki Lumme, Dave Babych, Chris Joseph, Adrian Aucoin. G-Kirk McLean, Corey Hirsch.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dana Murzyn, D, sprained right hand, indefinite. Scott Walker, C, abdominal strain, day-to-day.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Dale Hunter, Joe Juneau, Mike Eagles, Steve Konowalchuk. LW-Keith Jones, Kelly Miller, Andrew Brunette, Craig Berube. RW-Peter Bondra, Jason Allison, Todd Krygier, Ken Klee, Richard Zednik. LD-Mark Tinordi, Brendan Witt, Joe Reekie. RD-Calle Johansson, Sergei Gonchar, Phil Housley. G-Jim Carey, Olie Kolzig.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sylvain Cote, D, tom knee ligament, Dec. 10. Kevin Kaminski, C, tom nght calf muscle, Oct. 25. Pat Peake. RW, shattered right heel, indefinite. Michal Pivonka, C, tom cartilage in right knee, Dec. 1. &#9632;

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01173/7017945-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01171/7017938-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="3115" height="3543"></div> &#9632;

f0049-01

CANADIAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Larry Starks</div>With the San Antonio Iguanas in a battle for the hearts and loyalties of local hockey fans, the last thing they needed was a poor start on the ice.But in the first two weeks of the Central League season, that&rsquo;s exactly what happened.The Iguanas, under first-year coach Dale Henry, were winless after five games (0-4-1) and their trademark big-gun offense was firing blanks.The poor start normally wouldn&rsquo;t create a panic-Henry and the league insisted they were not worried about it-but with the International League&rsquo;s San Antonio Dragons breathing down their necks, the Iguanas need every advantage they can get. The Iguanas reluctantly share their home ice facility with the Dragons and compete for the local sports dollar.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not overly concerned,&rdquo; Henry said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of the guys focussing and staying out of the penalty box.&rdquo;Unfortunately, that&rsquo;s something with which the Iguanas were also having trouble. They led the CHL with 348 penalty minutes and two players-Sabastien Laplante and Patrick Larose-were suspended for on-ice incidents.CHL commissioner Monte Miron, meanwhile, made a special trip to see the Iguanas after their third straight loss.&ldquo;We hate to see any team lose,&rdquo; Miron said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s up to them to get some players in there who could turn it around.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After missing the first three games with a groin injury, Columbus Cottonmouths&rsquo; right winger Marcel Richard collected three goals and had 14 points in three games&hellip;The schedule has the Nashville Nighthawks playing three straight nights 12 times this season. They also have to play four games in five nights six times. &#9632;

Iguanas’ hole gets deeper with poor start to season

Turn 80 photographers loose on the NHL for 24 hours-March 23, 1996-take the 60,000 frames they snapped and make a book. That was the mandate for A Day in the Life of the National Hockey League and a slick package of 300 posed and candid images is the result.The project&rsquo;s cache is the cameras&rsquo; access to usually off-limits areas. There are dressing rooms, broadcasters, journalists, rink attendants, obsessed fans, lots of youngsters and NHL players living their everyday lives.But with only 0.5 per cent of the images used and many aspects of NHL life left unexplored, do we need multiple shots of players stretching, exercising, reading newspapers and taping sticks? Where are the video goal judges? The official scorers? Must we see more NHL execs than on-ice officials?Nothing is better than a full page hockey photo. They are compelling because they freeze the perpetual kaleidoscope of action and allow us to study details. Those in the book are first-rate. A two-page shot of the Boston Bruins scoring against the New York Rangers is sure to be a favorite. So is the spread featuring Steve Thomas&rsquo; overtime goal. A full-page shot of John Vanbiesbrouck is clever.At its New York press launch, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, justifiably proud of the book, remarked, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see the other 59,700 photos.&rdquo; Ditto.A Day In The Life Of The National Hockey League, created and produced by Opus Productions, Inc. Harper Collins, $35 (U.S.), $50 (Cdn.), 192 pages. &#9632;

Day in Life good, but…

<div class="byline">By Stu Hackel</div>Has hockey lit gone legit?For years, the annual crop of hockey books revolved around quick biographies of star players and tales of legendary teams.Then along came handsome, lushly illustrated, commemorative gift books, big enough to hide stains on your coffee table. If you actually picked them up to read, you not only found the stains, but some pretty good historical perspectives. That, in turn, spawned two trends in hockey publications.On one hand, there emerged a full-blown Original Six nostalgia craze; on the other, a rash of exposes alleging corruption and mistreatment in the game with roots in that Original Six era and branches extending to the present.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-01157/7018059-1-eng-US/f0053-012.jpg" title="f0053-01" width="516" height="632"></div>This year, we find a harvest rich in well-penned volumes by accomplished authors. Through personal reflection and historical fiction, they explore hockey&rsquo;s emotional impact, why we maintain our passion for the game, even as it is radically transformed by the demands of commerce.These writers construct sentences containing multiple clauses and can turn a phrase as sharp as a Peter Forsberg pass-or Dale Hunter&rsquo;s stick. This is not just sportswriting, folks; this is (gasp!) art.Also among the new books are outstanding historical accounts of players, events and eras. And, once again, lavish gift books.&ldquo;There are some very interesting and very different hockey titles out this year,&rdquo; says Peter Waldock, whose North 49 Books distributes to retail outlets. &ldquo;When a hockey book like Roy MacGregor&rsquo;s (1995) The Home Team is nominated for the Governor General&rsquo;s Award, it shows hockey books have perhaps reached a new level of sophistication.&rdquo;Marty Laufer, owner of SportsWords Ltd., New York&rsquo;s all-sports book store, also sees a leap in the number and quality of hockey books for the youth market. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t keep enough of those in the store,&rdquo; Laufer says.Here are the noteworthy titles new this fall:<h2>Literature</h2>The Seven A.M. Practice, by Roy MacGregor. McClelland & Stewart, $14.95 (U.S.), $19.95 (Cdn.), 160 pages. This must-buy for parents contains a collection of wry and wise vignettes, not only about kids, adults and hockey (and how the game binds them together), but family life away from the rink.A sample of a father-son exchange: &ldquo;You know what it says on the scoresheet?&rdquo; &ldquo;What?&rdquo; &ldquo;You got two assists.&rdquo; &ldquo;I did?&rdquo; &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what it says.Do you like playing?&rdquo; &ldquo;I guess&hellip;Dad?&rdquo; &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo; &ldquo;What&rsquo;s an assist?&rdquo;Hockey Dreams, by David Adams Richards. Doubleday, $21.95 (U.S.) $27.95 (Cdn.), 238 pages. Adams, an acclaimed writer (whose coach called him a stav-at-home defenseman because he wished the boy would actually stay at home), reflects on his youth in the isolation of the Canadian Maritimes and, with some rage, the troubles both game and nation face today. A provocative meditation.Original Six, edited by Paul Quarrington. Reed Books, $15.99 (U.S.) $21.99 (Cdn.), 160 pages. In the rollicking vein of Quarrington&rsquo;s exceptional 1988 novel King Leary, this book contains a half-dozen short stories of historical fiction, one on each of the original NHL clubs. Dave Bidini&rsquo;s Charlie Gardiner piece is superb, as is Jeff Klein&rsquo;s portrayal of Madison Square Garden. Quarrington, Trent Frayne and Judith Fitzgerald all write with a verve that matches the great illustrations.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-0295/7018052-1-eng-US/f0053-022.jpg" title="f0053-02" width="512" height="632"></div>Hockey Sur Glace, by Peter LaSalle. Breakaway Books, $20 (U.S.), 191 pages. It&rsquo;s notable in that it is perhaps the first book by an American author to embrace hockey as a setting for fiction. (See pg. 55 for JackFalla&rsquo;s review of Hockey Sur Glace).<h2>Large Format Books</h2>Full Spectrum, by Jay Greenberg. Dan Diamond and Associates, $34.95 (U.S.), $39.95 (Cdn.), 378 pages. It&rsquo;s subtitled The Complete History of the Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Club and they ain&rsquo;t kiddin&rsquo;. Everything&rsquo;s here, from Juggy Gales taking Ed Snider to his first hockey game through the last goal ever scored at the Spectrum, by Johan Garpenlov for the Florida Panthers in last year&rsquo;s playoffs.Pride and Passion: 25 Years of the New York Islanders, by Stan Fischler and Chris Botta. New York Islanders $29.95 (U.S.), 271 pages. Pride and Passion is authoritatively written, with contributions by the players and attractively illustrated. It is everything a team history should be.Legends of Hockey. Penguin/Opus Productions. $50 (Cdn.), 192 pages. This is a major reworking of 1993&rsquo;s Hockey Hall of Fame Legends and is the companion book for the five-part TSN series. It contains outstanding historical photos and essays.Hockey Hall of Fame, edited by Dan Diamond. Doubleday, $19.95 (U.S.), $24.95 (Cdn.), 200 pages. This is the official registry of the game&rsquo;s honor role. First published in 1988, it&rsquo;s updated and reworked and includes all inductees&rsquo; lifetime stats.Goalies, photos by Denis Brodeur. Key Porter Books, $45 (U.S.), $60 (Cdn.), 303 pages. Goalies contains more than 500 photos by a guy who is to goalie photos what Jacques Plante was to goalie instructional books.The Coolest Guys on Ice, by Jeff Z. Klein and Karl-Eric Reif. Turner Publishing, 19.95 (U.S.), 27.95 (Cdn.), 200 pages. Displaying the game&rsquo;s international flavor, this intelligent, well-written book includes profiles of 32 stars and the hockey programs in their home countries.The New York Rangers, by John Kreiser and Lou Friedman. Sagamore Publishing, $39.95 (U.S.), 400 pages. With a big assist from former Ranger PR man John Halligan, this is more a scrapbook than the team&rsquo;s saga. No matter, Ranger fans have waited for any kind of history book longer than they did for the Cup.<h2>Hockey History</h2>Shutout, by Brian Kendall. Viking, $32 (Cdn.), 320 pages. (Black and white pictures only). This is an expert chronicle of the emotionally erratic life of legendary goaltender Terry Sawchuk. Kendall shows the late goalie as one of the toughest competitors to ever strap on the pads and does a commendable job uncovering details of his mysterious death in 1970.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01158/7018045-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg" title="f0054-01" width="348" height="498"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0281/7018038-1-eng-US/f0054-022.jpg" title="f0054-02" width="346" height="498"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0351/7018031-1-eng-US/f0054-032.jpg" title="f0054-03" width="349" height="500"></div>Booin Boom, by Bernard Geoffrion and Stan Fischler. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, $27.99 (Cdn.), 271 pages. (Black and white pictures only). Whether you first saw Geoffrion as a star winger at the Forum, as coach or announcer in Atlanta or as a star of beer commercials, you encountered one of hockey&rsquo;s great characters. Concentrating on his glory days with the Montreal Canadiens, this book has all the ups and downs of a Hall of Fame career.War Games, by Douglas Hunter. Viking. $29.99 (Cdn.), 427 pages. (Black and white pictures only). Hunter examines the surging Toronto Maple Leafs and struggling Canadiens during the World War II era, a time when polarized attitudes toward military service in Ontario and Quebec also played a key role in each club&rsquo;s future.Canadiens Captains, by Michael Ulmer. Macmillan, $27.95 (Cdn.), 216 pages. (Black and white pictures only). This book has all the glory you&rsquo;d expect and some surprises, too. The chapter on Doug Harvey should be required reading for anyone remotely interested in hockey history. Unfortunate omission: Bill Duman. Unfortunate inclusion: Pierre Turgeon.Cold War. by Roy MacSkimming. Greystone, $27.95 (Cdn.), 274 pages. Of the dozen or so books on the Summit Series, this may be the best. The presenttense style adds excitement and the portraits of key performers are well done. Short sketches on some of the behind-the-scenes people whose lives were deeply affected by the events of 1972, such as former Russian journalist Igor Kuperman (now a member of the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; PR department), are a nice touch.Forever Rivals, by James Duplacey and Charles Wilkens. Random House. $24.95 (Cdn.), 189 pages. This is the companion volume to the CBC documentary on the rivalry between the Canadiens and Leafs. Wilkens&rsquo; essay, as all his writing, flows seamlessly and brims with compassion. It contains fine photos and Duplacey&rsquo;s informed, lengthy captions spotlight the rivalry&rsquo;s top performers.The Rules of Hockey, by James Duplacey. North 49, $19.95 (Cdn.), 199 pages. In the U.S.: The Annotated Rules of Hockey, Lyons & Burford, $17.95 (U.S.), 199 pages. (Black and white pictures only). There are thousands of officials at every NHL game, but only the three on the ice have really studied the rule book. Hey, it&rsquo;s not Hemmingway, but this handy volume presents the tales that explain how the rules came to be. sometimes for purely business reasons (to boost attendance), and irons out the complexities. But beware: the next time you&rsquo;re at a game, you might agree with the referee.Stu Hackel, a freelance writer in Dobbs Ferry, N. Y&bdquo; was a contributing editor for Full Spectrum.<div class="sidebar">Toronto-Montreal rivalry gets close examination &#9632;</div>

f0053-01

Getting serious

<div class="byline">By Jack Falla</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0055-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-01150/7018121-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg"></div>When I first saw Hockey Sur Glace, I thought it was a dessert menu. After all, it was written by Prof. Peter LaSalle of that vaunted hockey power, University of Texas at Austin. So can you blame me for suspecting little more than a marketing ploy when LaSalle sent me a copy of his collection of short stories and a letter calling my attention to one of the book jacket blurbs?In the blurb, my friend, Sports Illustrated senior writer E.M. Swift, who knows his pucks and his literature, says: &ldquo;What Ken Dryden&rsquo;s breakthrough book, The Game, did for hockey non-fiction, Peter LaSalle&rsquo;s Hockey Sur Glace does for fiction. A poignant, vivid collection of stories that explores the hockey player, his life and his dreams.&rdquo;Well, plainly, Mr. Swift is unfamiliar with that seminal work, The Collected and Annotated Expense Accounts of J. Falla, on the jacket (a manila file folder) of which that noted literary critic, THN Controller Wendy Currie-Mills, once raved, &ldquo;This is the greatest work of fiction in the English language.&rdquo; Swift&rsquo;s parochialism notwithstanding, I read LaSalle&rsquo;s book and can tell you that what we are talking about here is one of the best and rarest things in the literary universe-a hockey book for grownups.LaSalle, 49, teaches in Texas, but comes by his hockey most honestly. He grew up playing pond hockey in Rhode Island and later intramural hockey at Harvard. In this 190-page collection of seven short stories and four poems (Breakaway Books, N.Y., $20 U.S.), LaSalle has tried and largely succeeded in giving us what he told me in his letter, &ldquo;could be the first literary fiction to deal with the sport.&rdquo;Most of the stories are not about hockey per se, but are about people who have played the game and who connect with each other-and often with themselves-through the medium of hockey. &ldquo;The poetry of hockey holds the book together as I write stories about everyday life,&rdquo; LaSalle told me.From beginning to end, LaSalle enlightens and entertains with a lean and lyrical prose, captivating the reader not only by what he says, but by his manner of saying it. He writes like someone who has been there.The book opens with Hockey Angels-a man&rsquo;s recollections of the ways his boyhood and adolescence were shaped and improved by the intervention of people he met through hockey. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a story about believing in the benevolence of the world,&rdquo; LaSalle says. It closes with Van Arsdale&rsquo;s Pond-an account of a group of boys&rsquo; search for good late-season ice and, metaphorically, for a direction in life.On injuries, from the story Hockey:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-0297/7018114-1-eng-US/f0055-022.jpg" title="f0055-02" width="384" height="526"></div>&ldquo;A puck to the head could kill a man. He remembered noses looking like dough thrown against a breadboard. Teeth hanging from shreds of ragged gum or being spit out like a mess of half-chewed Lifesavers. He hated to think of the eyes&hellip;a squashed lid immediately starting to swell like a veiny rotten plum.&rdquo;On getting involved in a pond hockey pick-up game, from the story Wellesley College for Women, 1969:&ldquo;As soon as you step onto the ice, anybody who knows anything about the game can peg you right away. It&rsquo;s not the same when a guy shows up on a dusty sandlot for touch football or at a grassy city park to see if anybody can use him in an in-progress softball game. It&rsquo;s all in the simple stride, smooth and from the hip, and how you look just so goddamn relaxed wearing the big battered leather gloves&hellip;and holding your stick without being conscious of it, the swooshing blades of your CCMs&hellip;as natural as anybody else&rsquo;s slapping sneaker soles on pavement.&rdquo;Many of the scenes depict high school or minor league hockey in gritty little New England mill towns-places &ldquo;where mothers kept so lovingly busy in warm wooden bungalows, and fathers, weary, wrestled through jobs that seemed to matter little, to lead nowhere.&rdquo; LaSalle says the places of which he writes, &ldquo;are pretty different from my own experience.&rdquo;LaSalle&rsquo;s father was a lawyer and a judge in the Warwick, R.I., area and his mother (both parents are deceased) had been a librarian before getting married. &ldquo;I get my love of books and literature from her,&rdquo; he says. He got his love for and understanding of hockey from playing on the ponds of southern New England and his prose is at its lyrical best when he writes of natural ice:On ruined ice, from the story Van Arsdale&rsquo;s Pond:&ldquo;&hellip;yes there had been snow that melted to slush, but somewhere in the process, kids, probably not even in grade school, had committed the transgression of transgressions, stomping indiscriminately and savagely on the pond with their rubber boots in a maddened patterning of indented dance steps, which had eventually frozen solid and ruined any chance of decent skating, any chance of pond hockey&hellip;&rdquo;I was tempted to skip the five-page chapter, Some Poems. (If Milton, Shakespeare or Hank Williams didn&rsquo;t write it, I didn&rsquo;t read it) But this time I made an exception. While I prefer the take-it-to-the-net quick-paced narrative drive of his prose, LaSalle&rsquo;s poetry is clear and evocative, such as this last stanza from his poem A Pond Hockey Pledge:&ldquo;When the others are gone I will skateFor a while on my own, blades ripping,Muscles nicely aching, as the heartbreakingGlow starts to show above the black fringeOf winter-bare trees.&rdquo;Some of LaSalle&rsquo;s previous work includes the novel Strange Sunlight and short stories in The Paris Review and in several anthologies including, Best American Short Stories. So why does a writer of demonstrated literary merit turn to writing what can be loosely described as a sports book?&ldquo;Everything has to be about something&hellip;and if you play a sport, as with anything significant in your life, it starts to haunt your dreams,&rdquo; he says. LaSalle has put his dreams on paper, twisting our sport through his lens so that we might see it better.LaSalle lists Hemingway among his favorite writers and he follows Papa&rsquo;s dictum: &ldquo;A story isn&rsquo;t everything that happened, it&rsquo;s every important thing that happened.&rdquo; The result is a spare muscular style in a book that you could probably finish in a few hours. I preferred to read-and savor-a story every few days, making the book last as long as I could.This isn&rsquo;t a book for grade schoolers. There are two tasteful and understated sex scenes (both in Wellesley College for Women, 1969), the lovemaking bracketing a pond hockey game. (Probably the first time in literary history that sex was foreplay and afterglow while hockey served as the main event.)But if you feel hockey and good writing deserve to go together, you&rsquo;ll want to have Hockey Sur Glace in your bookcase. Top shelf.Look for a comprehensive listing of new hockey books in the Nov. 15 issue of The Hockey News. &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

November 15, 1996

Owens executes rare double on gridiron, ice

Broadway Smash

NHL’s salary explosion claiming many victims

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