Looking out for No. 2

Gordie Howe talked about making a comeback at 69, but the way things are going, Mike Gartner may still be playing at that age. The speedy 37-year-old right winger for the Phoenix Coyotes is showing no signs of slowing down in an NHL career that is in its 18th season. He remains one of the fastest players in the league and his 32 goals in 78 games were second highest on the team. At an age when most players have either hung them up or been reduced to part-time status, Gartner remains a vital performer on a team hitting its stride as the playoffs approached. Ana mere are umes, ne aa-mits, when he fantasizes about continuing his career into his 4Os-perhaps even his mid-40s. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about…

AMERICAN LEAGUE

1997 NHL PLAYOFF PREVIEW II: DEPTH CHARTS

Red Wings served up some frontier justice

I attended the March 26 game between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche and it certainly lived up to its billing. Ten months after Claude Lemieux’s attack on Kris Draper, with no apology from Lemieux and only a paltry response from the NHL, frontier justice was served and will prove to be a far more effective deterrent to such play than any penalty. That’s as it should be. Darren McCarty’s beating of Lemieux was heard around the league. Injury-causing cheap shots by repeat offenders that go unaddressed by the league have no place in the game. If NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and vice-president Brian Burke won’t stop it, the players will. Bruce Ferguson, Harper Woods, Mich. Think about it Before you judge the actions of the Detroit Red Wings too harshly, answer one question. Wouldn’t…