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

April 25, 1997

The Hockey News April 25, 1997

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021099/6484844-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Thornton has done all he can this season. Now it is up to an NHL team to decide if he&rsquo;ll be the first overall draft Dick June 21.</figcaption></div>Canadian university players gained a measure of respect with a win over their U.S. counterparts in the first ever World University Hockey Challenge.Guelph&rsquo;s J.P. Davis scored with less than a second remaining in regulation time and Acadia&rsquo;s Greg Clancy scored the winner in overtime as the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union beat the NCAA 5-4 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit April 4.The game was a battle between U.S.-born seniors from the NCAA against the top seniors from the CIAU and drew a crowd of 7,212.Clancy&rsquo;s decisive goal was his second of the game and came off a pass from Dalhousie defenseman Martin Lapointe 1:46 into the extra session. Alberta&rsquo;s Paul Strand and Acadia&rsquo;s Kevin Powell also scored for Canada.Harold Schock of Michigan. Russ Guzior of Providence, Brian La-Fleur of Minnesota and Dave Paradise of St. Cloud scored for the U.S.WINNIPEG HOST: Winnipeg and three nearby communities will host the 1999 World Junior Championship.Winnipeg was picked over four other finalists: Halifax and joint bids by Hamilton-Kitchener, Regina-Saskatoon and Ottawa-Hull.The 1998 WJC is scheduled for Helsinki, Fin. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Canada edges U.S.

<div class="byline">By Larry Starks</div>Garry Unger took his firing as coach of the Tulsa Oilers in much the same way he played 914 consecutive NHL games-without sitting down.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m upset and disappointed,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like the way it happened. They&rsquo;re trying to tell me we had a bad year. We were turning I things around and I thought we were I going in a positive direction.&rdquo;The Central League&rsquo;s longest serving coach was dismissed by commissioner Monte Miron April 3 after the I Oilers lost in the first playoff round I for the third straight season.Unger had guided the Oilers since the league&rsquo;s inception in 1992-93 when he led them to the league title. His career record is 163-135-22, including 30-32-4 this season.Miron said the playoff failures and lagging attendance led to Unger&rsquo;s downfall. After averaging more than 6,000 fans per game in 1993-94 and 1995, the Oilers averaged 5,463 in 1995-96 and dropped to 4,855 this season.&ldquo;Two losing seasons and not making it into the second round obviously has an affect on attendance,&rdquo; Miron said. &ldquo;He knew he had to do better. There was an improvement, but they still were below .500. That was reflected in the attendance, which obviously is a concern to the league.&rdquo;Unger is not buying any of the answers for his firing.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re trying to justify this thing and it doesn&rsquo;t make sense,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;My coaching record speaks for itself. I will put up what I have done for the league against what Monte has done for the league any day.&rdquo;Ric Seiling, who took over as coach of the San Antonio Iguanas in January and nearly led them to the playoffs, is the front-runner for the Tulsa post, Miron said. The league announced in late-March the Iguanas would be disbanding after losing their arena lease. &#9632;

LEAGUES

Unaer doesn’t buy reasons for dismissal from Oilers

<div class="byline">By mike brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01356/6486578-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="555" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>Father knows best.&ldquo;You can tell by his eyes,&rdquo; Don Gilmour says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all in the eyes. It&rsquo;s why Brian Sutter started calling him Killer. He was the same way as a kid.&rdquo;Nothing has changed with Doug Gilmour. The most important time of the season is also his best.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s playoff time,&rdquo; Don adds. &ldquo;You can always tell the playoffs are here by Dougie&rsquo;s eyes. When he was a kid he always played better in the playoffs and in tournaments.It was like the games that meant the most brought the best out in him.&rdquo;The NHL playoffs are here and Gilmour has the icy stare of a killer. Some guys grow beards; others wilt under the pressure. Not Gilmour. He takes his game to a higher level.That&rsquo;s why the New Jersey Devils traded to get him. Even without Gilmour, the Devils were among a handful of teams capable of knocking off the defending Stanley Cupchampion Colorado Avalanche. With the addition of Gilmour, the gap between the Devils and Avalanche has narrowed.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Pressure Pressure</blockquote>That&rsquo;s because Gilmour can make a difference. He did with th" Cornwall Royals as a junior&hellip;and with the St. Louis Blues&hellip;and the Calgary Flames&hellip;and the Toronto Maple Leafs. And at 33, he&rsquo;s not done yet.Through his 13 NHL seasons entering 1996-97, j Gilmour averaged 1.06 points per game during the regular season. That rises to 1.18 in the playoffs. Among today&rsquo;s stars, only New York Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Brian Leetch has displayed a greater knack for rising to j the occasion-increasing from 1.01 points per game to 1.18.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter what you do in the regular season, all people remember is what you do in the playoffs,", Gilmour says. &ldquo;I love it. I love the pressure. Lose and you&rsquo;re out. How could that not motivate you? The challenge motivates you.&rdquo;Gilmour knows all about challenges, including creating them where none exist.&ldquo;Doug came to me one day when he was a kid and told me he was tired of winning MVP fl awards playing against kids his (r) own age,&rdquo; Don says. &ldquo;He said he wanted to play against older kids. So I moved him up. He wasn&rsquo;t the best player anymore, but it didn&rsquo;t matter to him. His game improved. He would do anything to get better. One summmer he took judo so he would be able to wrestle opponents in front of the net better.&rdquo;In Gilmour&rsquo;s first year with the Royals (1980-81), he began the W year as the team&rsquo;s fourth line center. A shoulder injury limited him to fl half the season, during which he scored 12 goals and 35 points. When the playoffs arrived, it was a different story. The Royals, representing &ldquo;the Quebec League, advanced to the Memorial Cup tournament with Gilmour as the No. 2 center behind Dale Hawerchuk.In the national showdown against the Kitchener Rangers, Gilmour scor- ^fl ed the game winning goal and added two assists. He was the game&rsquo;s second star. fl&ldquo;He made up for his size by having a heart the size of a basketball,&rdquo; says T Bob Kilger, Gilmour&rsquo;s coach that first year in Cornwall and now a Canadian Member of Parliament.Gilmour entered the NHL in 1983-84 with the Blues and was quickly slapped with a defensive tag. That didn&rsquo;t stop him from scoring 25 goals and 53 points, seventh best among freshmen.His ascent to stardom took three years. Gilmour distinctly remembers the night he emerged as an offensive force-during a playoff game April 15, 1986.&ldquo;In my third year we played the Minnesota North Stars in a five-game series and (tm) for some reason Hockey Night In Canada covered it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The series was tied 2-2 and Don Cherry told me before the fifth game if I wanted to get interviewed on TV, I&rsquo;d have to be one of the stars of the game.&ldquo;I was really pumped and got five assists. We won (6-3) and that turned out to be a pivotal game in my career. It was the night I went from being a defensive player to more of an offensive player.&rdquo;That year Gilmour led all scorers in playoff points with 21 in 19 games-even though the V Blues didn&rsquo;t play in the final.The next season Gilmour rose to 105 points from 53. He had a single-season high 42 1 goals that year. With the exception of the lockout year, he has produced better than a point &rsquo; per game every year since. In 1992-93 Gilmour produced his highest-ever points total, 127, &rsquo; tied for seventh in the league.In 1989-90, when Gilmour helped the Flames win the Stanley Cup, he could have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP that went instead to teammate Al Maclnnis. Gilmour had 11 goals and 22 points in 22 playoff games.&ldquo;Three guys-MacInnis, Gilmour and Mike Vernon could have won it that year and nobody would have questioned it,&rdquo; said Tampa Bay: Lightning coach Terry Crisp, who coached the Flames that season. &ldquo;The thing about Doug is he produced for us, but he was such an agitator, he contributed in many other ways.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01363/6486571-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="2696" height="4892"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pump up for playoffsDoug Gilmour is one of those rare players who is more productive during the post-season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>But it wasn&rsquo;t until back-to-back years in Toronto, 1992-93 and 1993-94, when Gilmour led the Leafs to the Western jk, Conference finals, that he attained superstar status. Over that two-year period, he was arguably the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player. He was honored with the Frank J. k Selke Trophy in 1992-93 as the NHL&rsquo;s best defensive forward.The first year he was second only to Gretzky of I the Los Angeles Kings in playoff scoring with 10 | goals and 35 points. Gilmour had a league-high 25 assists. The next year he produced six goals and 28&rsquo; points.Pat Bums, then coach of the Leafs, came to rely on Gilmour more than any other player. He has a fond memory of Gilmour scoring the winning goal at 3:03 of the second overtime period against the St. Louis Blues May 5, 1993.&ldquo;He just kept looking at me on the bench and saying, T&rsquo;m OK, I&rsquo;m OK,&rsquo; &ldquo;Bums recalls. &ldquo;I looked at his ice time and he k was up to 38 minutes. You look at the size of him and you wonder if he can keep going. He goes out and scores the winning goal and then after the game, after he has had his shower, he&rsquo;s leaving the dressing room and looks at me and says, T&rsquo;m ready to go again.&rsquo; &ldquo;Fast forward to 1997. Gilmour is resting in a Florida hotel while his Devils&rsquo; teammates take their pre-game skate. Nobody ~ complains when Gilmour takes a break; they know he&rsquo;ll be there when it counts.Gilmour was first in Devils&rsquo; scoring with 22 goals and 81 points. He scored goals in his first fl four games after the trade and had seven goals and 21 points in 18 games as a Devil.And, typical of Gilmour&rsquo;s play this time of year, he has increased his intensity.Since being traded to the Devils, Gilmour, B his wife Amy and their eight-month-old son Jake have been living in a hotel. When the playoffs begin, Amy and Jake will head back to Toronto. That will put the focus squarely on hockey.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s such a great feeling going into the playoffs,&rdquo; Gilmour says. &ldquo;Fans get into it; the players get into it. I&rsquo;ll start eating my pasta a couple times a day and getting lots of rest. You have to take care of your body this time of year.&rdquo;Can he do it again?&ldquo;Of course he can,&rdquo; Crisp says. &ldquo;No question about it.&rdquo;&ldquo;In the playoffs he puts on a different F face,&rdquo; Bums says. &ldquo;If he has an injury, he won&rsquo;t even talk about it. In the Vancouver series (1994) his ankle was so swollen, it was unbelievable. He just kept saying, &lsquo;Freeze it, freeze it.&rsquo; He never complained.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not much of a talker in the dressing room. In fact he&rsquo;s quite quiet in the room. He&rsquo;s not a rah-rah-type of player. He just goes out and leads by example. You&rsquo;ll hear guys on the bench saying, &lsquo;Look at that.&rsquo; He makes them want to play harder.&rdquo;The New Jersey Devils are counting on it. &#9632;

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THE G-MAN

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02572/6486368-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg"></div><h2>NHL GAME SUMMARIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01754/6486361-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="3376" height="3960"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01844/6486354-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3410" height="4030"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011434/6484641-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nancy Drolet was the hero for the victorious Canadians at the Women's World Championship. Pg. 8.</figcaption></div><h2>Drolet shines for Canadian squad</h2>1. Drolet delivers Canada&rsquo;s Nancy Drolet scores hat trick, including game winner, in Women&rsquo;s World gold medal game.2. So close Americans push Team Canada to limit in entertaining final of Women&rsquo;s World Championship.3. Marcel Cousineau Toronto goalie agrees to play for St. John&rsquo;s in American League playoffs.4. Martin Brodeur New Jersey goalie sets team record shutout streak, going 213 minutes, 52 seconds without allowing goal.5. Thumbs up Here&rsquo;s hoping all goes well for Tampa Bay&rsquo;s John Cullen with his cancer treatments.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021176/6484634-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="416" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body">Miroslav Satan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03863/6484627-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="415" height="605"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Cullen</figcaption></div><h2>Refs not at root of Sharks&rsquo; woes</h2>1. Al Sims San Jose bulks up with goons in off-season, then coach complains about refs, discrepancy in power plays.2. Backstabbers Unnamed (and underachieving) Canucks complain to media about first-year coach Tom Renney.3. Wayne and Keith Primeau Brothers fighting? Ridiculous. You just wait till your father gets home, young men.4. Unsportsmanlike conduct Osh-awa Generals refuse to shake hands after eliminating old rival Peterborough Petes.5. Down in the stretch Islanders go from playoff contenders to Joe Thornton contenders with five straight losses. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

The life of Brian promises to heat up as does action during the Stanley Cup playoffs.This much we know: someone is going to do something stupid to someone and Brian Burke will be called in to pass judgement. This much we also know: he will make an unpopular decision. Most likely he will be accused of leniency. (Exhibit A: Claude Lemieux, two games for a viciously reckless hit.) Less likely, since the NHL prefers its players on the ice to off it, will be a charge of cruel and unusual punishment. (Exhibit B: Tie Domi, eight games for a sucker punch.)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04636/6484672-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="434" height="565"><figcaption class="caption-body">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief (Photo by Claus Andersen/BS)</figcaption></div>Important to remember is we&rsquo;re in the playoffs now and the standards appear to shift somewhat during the second season. A suspendable offense remains a suspendable offense in the second season, but history suggests more weight is attached to playoff games and, thus, sentences are shorter in duration. The NHL, evidently, believes the two are equal on the scales of justice. Two games in the Stanley Cup final (i.e. the Lemieux sentence) would be considered just as stiff as something longer during the regular season. There is some logic to that position, but it is not without flaws and it presents problems in terms of consistency and appearances. To say nothing, in the Lemieux case, of fodder for endless comparisons.Burke, vice-president, hockey operations, is adamant there&rsquo;s no change in philosophy behind supplementary discipline between the regular season and playoffs. He also knows there is no change in response to his decisions. He received 700 pieces of mail after the Lemieux incident last year; 400 letter-writers took him to task. Three years ago, he received two death threats on voice mail for a five-game suspension of Alexei Kovalev.&ldquo;I want to do what&rsquo;s right and what&rsquo;s fair, not what&rsquo;s easy,&rdquo; Burke says. &ldquo;My approach is to do what&rsquo;s fair to the player who&rsquo;s on trial, not what&rsquo;s popular and not what meets public acclaim. I could care less.&rdquo; Nobody doubts Burke&rsquo;s heart is in the right place. (Whether the league&rsquo;s head is always in the right place is an issue open to debate.)Burke is easy to criticize and easier to respect for the work he does. He&rsquo;s a heart-and-soul guy in a slings-and-arrows position. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone can question my commitment to taking the senseless stuff out of the game,&rdquo; Burke says, &ldquo;and as far as people dis-agreeing with individual decisions, well these are two free countries the last time I looked.&rdquo;Hockey fans in Canada and the United States can at least agree on that sentiment. &#9632;

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Burke’s law will be tested during playoffs

Mario, we hardly knew ya.When Mario Lemieux made official on April 5 what we&rsquo;ve all known for months-that he&rsquo;s retiring at the end of the Pittsburgh Penguin season-it was an occasion to ponder precisely how history will regard hockey&rsquo;s stealth superstar.Gordie Howe played the game longer than anyone. Bobby Orr revolutionized it. Wayne Gretzky dominated and promoted it like no one before him. Mano&rsquo;?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure Mario is going to get the accolades I he deserves, especially I from outside the game,&rdquo; i Wayne Gretzky says. &ldquo;But from within, the players, the people who follow it closely, realize exactly what he&rsquo;s brought to the table, exactly what he has done.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011581/6484710-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="451" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>No one, not even Lemieux&rsquo;s most ardent critics, will dispute that he played the game at as high a level as anyone, if not higher. But few, even amongst his most enthusiastic boosters, credit him for making a difference off the ice, too.&ldquo;People tend to forget this about Mario&hellip;hockey was dying in Pittsburgh before he got there,&rdquo; Gretzky says. &ldquo;I played there (before Lemieux arrived). It was almost dead. I&rsquo;m sorry, but the NHL would not have a franchise in Pittsburgh today had Mario not come along. Think about it, no hockey in Pittsburgh. They would have had to move the team. They were drawing 5,000 and 6,000 people to some games. He came along and basically saved the franchise. That&rsquo;s something he never gets credit for.&rdquo;Not that he&rsquo;s likely to lose any sleep over it. He came, he saw, he excelled and now he&rsquo;s going. Even if he never won over everybody, he won. Two Stanley Cups. Two Conn Smythes. Three Harts. Five Art Rosses. One Calder. One Canada Cup. And whatever else he might get at the end of this season.Soon, all we will be left with are memories of Mario. Here are 10 that help to define the player and the man who remains a mystery to many.1. He scored how many?In his final season of junior in Laval, Lemieux scored 133 goals and 282 points in 70 games. The records still stand today, not likely to ever be broken. &ldquo;I got a standing ovation and the fans threw paper all over the ice,&rdquo; he said shortly after his record-breaking game.2. No contract, no jersey The day he was drafted by the Penguins, June 9, 1984 in the Montreal Forum, Lemieux refused to go to their table and don the Penguins&rsquo; jersey because he wasn&rsquo;t happy with their contract offer. It was the first hint he would not be a conventional superstar. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to shake the hand of (GM) Eddie Johnston,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if he doesn&rsquo;t want to give me a good contract.&rdquo;3.First shot, first shift, first game Lemieux scored a goal 2:59 into his first NHL game on Oct. 11, 1984, a 4-3 loss in Boston. &ldquo;All things (considered), I&rsquo;m happy. But it would have been better if we had won the game,&rdquo; he said. Incidentally, it took him 18 seconds to record his first point on home ice, an assist.4.The international incident He scored the now-famous winning goal (assisted by Gretzky) over the Soviet Union in the 1987 Canada Cup finale and, for the first time in his career, truly took center stage. It would be his only international experience of consequence. He used it to launch an NHL season that yielded his first Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy, ending Gretzky&rsquo;s eight-year and seven-year streaks, respectively. &ldquo;This is my greatest thrill ever-scoring the last two game-winning goals,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve answered a few questions in this tournament.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021275/6484703-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="209" height="395"><figcaption class="caption-body">Superstar Mario Lemieux saved the Pittsburgh Penquins&rsquo; franchise.</figcaption></div>5. A Hart-breaking experience Gretzky won the 1989 Hart Trophy for his first-year impact on the Los Angeles Kings, even though Lemieux scored 31 more goals in his career 199-point season. It was the first tangible evidence of a penalty being assessed Lemieux for not being as congenial and outgoing as Gretzky. &ldquo;In the past,&rdquo; Lemieux said before the winner was announced, &ldquo;(the Hart) has always gone to the best player, the top scorer. I don&rsquo;t know why it should change.&rdquo; But it did and after Gretzky was named MVP, Lemieux said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to comment. The facts are there.&rdquo;6. The bad back It was Feb. 14, 1990 when he pulled himself out of a game against the New York Rangers because of searing back pain. It snapped a 46-game point-scoring streak, which brought him within five games of Gretzky&rsquo;s NHL record 51. More importantly, though, it was the beginning of chronic back woes that resulted in two major surgeries and much physical hardship. &ldquo;The streak doesn&rsquo;t matter at this point,&rdquo; he said after the Ranger game. &ldquo;I said I was going to play as long as I was able to help the team, and I wasn&rsquo;t able to do that.&rdquo;7. Star struck, coast to coast The end-to-end highlight film goal he scored against the Minnesota North Stars in Game 2 of the 1991 Cup final, which gave Pittsburgh and Mario their first Cup win. Finally, he was a winner. &ldquo;It means everything to be part of a championship team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a greater feeling than 1 ever thought it could be.&rdquo;8. That&rsquo;s not hockey On Jan. 26, 1992, Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Stevens were ejected by referee Ron Hoggarth for arguing-Jagr earned a 10-game suspension for bumping the official-when the Washington Capitals scored a goal after mugging a Penguin player on a scoring opportunity. After the game, Lemieux called the NHL &ldquo;a garage league,&rdquo; not a garbage league, as was reported. Nevertheless, it began his persistent public criticism of the NHL&rsquo;s tolerance for clutch-and-grab hockey. &ldquo;It was a good hockey game until the referee got into it,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a disgrace for this game and as long as we have people like that, the game is not going to go anywhere.&rdquo;9. Now you see it, now you don&rsquo;t The highlight film goal Lemieux scored against Boston in the 1992 Eastern Conference final-turning all-star Ray Bourque inside out by putting the puck between his legs-en route to the Pens&rsquo; second consecutive Cup victory. &ldquo;He was unbelievable,&rdquo; said teammate Kevin Stevens. &ldquo;He was under a ton of pressure, with people all over him and he just seemed to get better and better. He&rsquo;s the best player, probably, to ever play the game. He&rsquo;s the best player in the world by far.&rdquo;10. The cancer comeback On the day (March 2, 1993) of his final chemotherapy session for the Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease that had been detected six weeks earlier, Lemieux returned to score a goal in Philadelphia in one of pro hockey&rsquo;s most amazing comeback stories. Trailing Pat LaFontaine for the scoring title by 12 points, Lemieux went on a tear (27 goals and 51 points in one 16-game span) to win it by 12 points. &ldquo;Once you learn how to win,&rdquo; Lemieux said, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re able to cope with adversity.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

The magic of Lemieux

April 4: Boston gives defenseman Ray Bourque a raise-an additional $1 million per year for remainder of his contract through 1998-99.Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union allstars defeat team of U.S.-born NCAA players 5-4 in overtime in inaugural World University Hockey Challenge in Detroit.April 5: Mario Lemieux officially announces at Pittsburgh sports banquet he&rsquo;ll retire after this season.Colorado goalie Patrick Roy records his career-high 37th win of the season.April 6: Former Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Jack Kent Cooke dies of cardiac arrest at age 84.Nancy Drolet scores three goals as Canada beats USA 4-3 in overtime to win fourth straight Women&rsquo;s World Championship.April 7: Montreal draws 21,273 to home game to set NHL single-season attendance record of 839,799, surpassing old mark of 837,021 set by Chicago last season.April 8: Lemieux plays final regular season home game to multiple standing ovations. He draws an assist in 3-1 win over Boston.April 9: Anaheim beats Los Angeles 4-1 to guarantee Ducks&rsquo; first winning season ever. &#9632;

Super Mario makes it official, B’s give Bourque raise

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div>The Hartford Whalers could end up in Columbus, Ohio, or Raleigh-Durham, N.C., or St. Paul, Minn., or, if you&rsquo;re into longshots, even Las Vegas, Nev., but the one place they won&rsquo;t be going is the Target Center in Minneapolis.&ldquo;No chance,&rdquo; Whalers&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos told The Hockey News after a report suggested he was closing in on a deal with the Minneapolis home of the National Basketball Association Timberwolves. &ldquo;I got a call from the Target Center and I said, &lsquo;There&rsquo;s no chance. It&rsquo;s not economically viable and it&rsquo;s not going to happen.&rsquo;&rdquo;Karmanos has not closed the door on St. Paul, though it&rsquo;s believed the Twin Cities area is at the bottom of his desired list of relocation sites.There is a school of thought that the NHL is trying to steer Karmanos and the Whalers into St. Paul or Minneapolis because it&rsquo;s a big TV market (14th in the U.S.), but not blessed with a strong expansion bid compared to Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Columbus and Oklahoma City.While the NHL expansion committee, led by commissioner Gary Bettman, has toured the six application sites, Karmanos has been conducting his own whirlwind tour.He went to Raleigh-Durham and liked what he saw. A new arena has been promised, but a 16,000-seat facility in nearby Greensboro, N.C., would be a suitable interim home.He also went to Columbus and, pending the outcome of a May 6 referendum that will determine the fate of a new arena project, believes it would be a suitable home for the Whalers. They would to play out of the 10,000-seat Nutter Center in nearby Dayton for at least a couple of years. On April 11, Karmanos went to Las Vegas, an admittedly small market, but the fastest-growing city in the U.S., to meet with officials who could pave the way for a move to Nevada. But Karmanos said it&rsquo;s a longshot at best.If the May 6 referendum in Columbus is favorable, Karmanos would like to go there with his team. Raleigh-Durham would be a solid second choice with St. Paul a distant third.As for expansion, the NHL&rsquo;s expansion committee will meet at the end of April to evaluate its site tours and chart the league&rsquo;s course for growth. Atlanta remains No. 1 and is virtually certain to be granted a team for the fall of 1999 or 2000. Houston was said to have a relatively poor presentation, but with a new arena in the works, it is a contender to get a franchise for 1998. Ditto for Nashville, which had an impressive presentation and has a building and owner ready to play now.Oklahoma City put on a terrific presentation, but it&rsquo;s believed the market is too small for the NHL at this time. &#9632;

Karmanos rules out Minneapolis

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>Jack Kent Cooke was the first to admit his vast empire was built on one part hard work and one part good fortune. Throw in one part controversy and Cooke was one of the most colorful owners in sports.The self-made sports magnate who was the first owner of the Los Angeles Kings died of cardiac arrest April 6 at his Washington estate. He was 84.Born in Hamilton, Ont., Oct. 25, 1912 and raised in I Toronto, Cooke travelled I Canada as a young adult in the depression selling encyclopedias. He started his I fortune buying struggling radio stations and newspapers, upgrading them and | selling them for a profit. Cooke became a millionaire at 32.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011525/6484813-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="271" height="359"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Kent Cooke (Photo by Claus Andersen/BBS)</figcaption></div>While at a Toronto radio station, Cooke once tried to add glitz to hockey play-by-play by listening to a rival station&rsquo;s broadcast, adding staged background sounds and re-broadcasting the game seconds later using another voice. The project flopped.Cooke moved to California in 1960, bought the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Los Angeles Lakers in 1965 and secured the expansion NHL Kings a year later. He spent $16.25 million to build the Forum.The Hockey News named Cooke executive of the year in 1967-68 because of his impact on expansion.&ldquo;He is one of the greatest boosters of NHL expansion,&rdquo; wrote THN cofounder Ken McKenzie. &ldquo;The success the new (six) teams enjoyed and the stimulus they provided the league was partly inspired by him and developed by him. He backed up his words with hard work and hard cash.&rdquo;Yet the Kings struggled at the gate, averaging just 8,000 fans per game their first season.&ldquo;With half a million Canadians down here, you&rsquo;d think we&rsquo;d get more support,&rdquo; Cooke was famous for saying, &lsquo;&rsquo;but I guess they came down here to get away from hockey.&rdquo;Cooke was an active owner, putting his hand in the acquisition of superstars Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and later Magic Johnson for the Lakers and Marcel Dionne for the Kings.&ldquo;He is one of the most daring and dynamic men in sports history,&rdquo; THN columnist Bill Libby wrote in 1975.Cooke bought the National Football League&rsquo;s Washington Redskins in 1974. He sold the Lakers and Kings in 1979 for $67.5 million, more than seven times what he paid for them a decade earlier.In as much as Cooke was a reporter&rsquo;s dream with his candid comments, he was also easy to cross.Once a reporter approached Cooke with a prepared list of questions only to have him grab the notes, scan the questions and respond &ldquo;Yes, yes, no, yes, yes, yes, no, yes.&rdquo;Another reporter referred to him as the U.S. equivalent of Harold Ballard, the late cantankerous owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;When we first met,&rdquo; a Washington Times reporter said, &ldquo;I called him Jack, instead of Mr. Kent Cooke. He wouldn&rsquo;t talk to me for five years.&rdquo;While owner of the Kings, he attended every game, sitting in a low corner seat, cheering at his own players and yelling at the opposition.&ldquo;My favorite sport has always been hockey,&rdquo; Cooke said in 1969. &ldquo;The athlete who thrilled me the most was a hockey player, Howie Morenz. He was magnificent.&rdquo;Cooke&rsquo;s worth at death was more than $800 million. A service was held April 10 in Upperville, Va. &#9632;

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Hockey was tops for owner Cooke

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>The Joe Thornton Sweepstakes. The NHL draft lottery. Who says there isn&rsquo;t organized gambling in sports?The draft lottery is the only crapshoot remaining for the 10 teams not in the playoffs. At stake for five teams is a shot at Thornton, the high-scoring Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&rsquo; center who is sure to be the first overall draft pick June 21.Because the most a team can move up is four spots, five teams have a chance to land the first overall pick when the lottery is held May 18 in New York. The Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders (with the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; selection) were among the bottom five teams. The fifth team was yet to be determined, but it would likely be the Islanders with their own pick.The last-place team (Boston going into the final weekend of the season) has a 45 per cent chance of winning in the weighted system. The other four teams in the running for first pick have a winning percentage ranging from 21 to eight per cent.Bruins&rsquo; assistant GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell scouted Thornton and Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs&rsquo; goalie Roberto Luongo in early-April, but divulged little.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big jump to the NHL,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Connell, who has also recently scouted center Olli Jokinen of Finland and Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; center Patrick Marleau. &ldquo;It takes a special player to make that jump right away.&rdquo;Many scouts believe Thornton is that special player. The 6-foot-4 London native capped off a 122-point Ontario League season with 11 goals and 19 points in 11 playoff games.The last-place team can slide to no lower than second pick in the lottery.&ldquo;We know we&rsquo;ll have a chance at one of them,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Connell said. &ldquo;Who that is, we haven&rsquo;t decided yet.&rdquo; &#9632;

Bruins eye Thornton

Harry &lsquo;Houdini&rsquo; Sinden is the only executive in the NHL than can make talent disappear right before your eyes while pulling a minor-leaguer out of a hat.Gone are Andy Moog, Jon Casey, Mariusz Czerkawski, Bryan Smolinski, Joe Juneau, Bobby Carpenter, Dave Reid, Glen Wesley, Adam Oates, Rick Tocchet and Bill Ranford. In their places, the Bruins got Jim Carey, a goalie who can&rsquo;t win in the playoffs, and a bunch of unknowns.It&rsquo;s time the Bruins made a change at the top before Ray Bourque gets traded for an eighth-round pick in 2010.Troy Nipstad,&nbsp;Chandler, Ariz.<h2>Broten for Hall</h2>Neal Broten for the Hall of Fame. That&rsquo;s right, I said Neal Broten.Consider the facts. First, remember it is the Hockey Hall of Fame, not the NHL Hall of Fame, into which players are inducted. Broten was an outstanding collegian, winning the Hobey Baker Award and a national title. He also won a gold medal in the 1980 Olympics with the U.S. Miracle on Ice team.Broten&rsquo;s NHL resume includes: two All-Star Game appearances; almost 1,100 regular season games over 17 seasons; more than 900 points; the first 100-point season (1985-86) by an American-born player; a Stanley Cup; several Stars&rsquo; franchise records.He is the first player in history to win an NCAA title, an Olympic gold and Stanley Cup.If those aren&rsquo;t Hall of Fame credentials, I don&rsquo;t know what are.Tim A. Schirck,&nbsp;Lexington, Minn.<h2>Been there</h2>An open letter to Hartford Whalers&rsquo; fans:You are not alone. I was devastated when the Jets left Winnipeg and am still heartbroken. I feel for you.Donna Bacon,&nbsp;Winnipeg, Man.<h2>Bonus for Domi</h2>Mike Brophy hit the nail on the head (THN, April 4) when he said Tie Domi should receive his $50,000 bonus for points despite the fact not all criteria for the clause were met.Domi has catapulted in stature over the past year. He spills his guts every night, often playing well above expectations.It&rsquo;s not unprecedented for teams to pay out bonuses to players who come close to pre-set performance levels. Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Steve Stavro would be wise to make Domi happy. If it were me, I would give him the cash and give serious thought to giving him the alternate captain&rsquo;s &lsquo;A&rsquo;.Sanford J. Carabin,&nbsp;Willowdale, Ont.<h2>New awards</h2>The NHL should shed its skin of staunch conservatism and bring forth some much-needed change.For example, is it not time for the league to introduce a few more pertinent regular season awards? Would not a trophy for most goals in a season be appropriate? The new award could be named after Maurice &lsquo;Rocket&rsquo; Richard, the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games.A best offensive defenseman trophy should also be implemented. Give the player deemed best defensive defenseman the Norris and give the best offensive defenseman the Bobby Orr Trophy.Edwin Prakash,&nbsp;Surrey B.C.<h2>King-sized mess</h2>Simply put, I have had enough of the Los Angeles Kings and their lack of priorities.Hockey is no longer fun to watch. Not in Los Angeles, where there is no hope for us to be competitive; not anytime soon.I will be taking my entertainment dollar elsewhere because, in my opinion, ownership and management have knowingly continued to put an inferior product on the ice. They lie about our future as if we have something to look forward to. They continue to talk about hot new prospects-a group that was given a dismal C-rating by The Hockey News-as if they are going to make a difference.The only thing that will make a difference is when ownership stops worrying about building a new arena and starts worrying about building a new team.You simply do not tell fans who have had 30 years of nothing but Gretzky to be patient.Bill Ficek,&nbsp;Murrieta, Calif.<h2>No respect</h2>How do the Flyers expect to win the Stanley Cup with Rodney Dangerfield (a.k.a. Ron Hextali) in goal? Has anyone told them they missed the trading deadline?Susan Jarvis,&nbsp;Irving, Tex.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News,&nbsp;I&rsquo;ll&nbsp;Bay St, Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont., M5G 2C8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Boston’s problems start with Sinden

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011701/6484923-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Elston

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021160/6484954-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="507" height="512"><figcaption class="caption-body">Feb 6.1981 Vol 34 No. 18</figcaption></div>When Mike Bossy was a young boy growing up in Montreal. 50 goals in 50 games represented the height of individual hockey greatness. Bossy was bom in 1957, 12 years after Maurice (Rocket) Richard first turned the trick with the Montreal Canadiens. Bossy never saw Richard play, of course, but the record was as much a part of life in Quebec as walking. Winning the Stanley Cup was first in any young player&rsquo;s dreams, but 50 in 50 wasn&rsquo;t far behind.Bossy got his chance to live out the dream Jan 24, 1981 when the New York Islanders hosted the Quebec Nordiques. The Islanders&rsquo; star right winger had 48 goals entering the game, his 50th of the season, but didn&rsquo;t get a shot on goal in the first two periods.No worry-Bossy had a flair for the dramatic. He scored two in the final five minutes of the game, including the record-tying goal with just a minute and a half to play. When the phone rang in the Islanders&rsquo; dressing room after the game, it was from the Rocket himself, congratulating a hometown boy.A footnote to Bossy&rsquo;s feat: Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger Charlie Simmer entered his 50th game, also on Jan. 24, needing four goals. Simmer got a hat trick, scoring his 49th into an empty net with one second to play. &#9632;

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Bossy ties a Rocket

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011541/6484985-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clutch performerThere are few players who raise their game in the playoffs as much as Brian Leetch does. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>There was a time when Brian Leetch wasn&rsquo;t a playoff game breaker with an insatiable desire to be the difference.It was a long, long time ago.&ldquo;I used to play up a year in youth hockey,&rdquo; the New York Rangers&rsquo; defenseman said. &ldquo;I was a quiet kid. If I was a squirt playing peewee or a peewee playing bantam I would just sit back and kind of observe everything that was going on. I did my best, but I didn&rsquo;t really feel it was my place to step forward and take charge.&rdquo;Leetch, 29, is no longer a quiet kid. Now, he&rsquo;s a quiet man-except, of course, when there&rsquo;s a Stanley Cup playoff game on the line. Then, it is time for him to step forward. And no one makes second-season noise quite like the man who is a leading contender to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman.No one, at least no one The Hockey News was able to locate, is better at elevating his game from the regular season to the playoffs than Leetch. Entering this season, Leetch had averaged .23 goals per game and 1.01 points per game. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, though, the numbers jump to .39 and 1.18, respectively, in 67 games.The .16 and .17 margins of improvement are unrivaled. Only Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche, whose goals per game mark jumps from .48 to .74, is in the same universe as Leetch, but he had played half as many playoff games (34).&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; coach Colin Campbell, who doesn&rsquo;t need statistical evidence because he has such vivid memories. &ldquo;I remember the year we won the Cup (1994), we didn&rsquo;t play that well against the Washington Capitals in the second round. It was a series we just as easily could have lost, but Brian Leetch and Mike Richter took their games to the higher level. They were unbelievable.&ldquo;(Leetch) has that ability to really raise his level. You saw it in the World Cup last fall. You saw it the year we won the Cup and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy. It&rsquo;s funny, because you won&rsquo;t meet a more unassuming guy off the ice. He&rsquo;s so quiet, so laid back, but you put him in a crucial situation and he wants to be the man who settles it.&rdquo;Campbell hopes that bodes well for his Rangers this spring. The Blueshirts, based on their play in the regular season, are not one of the leading Cup contenders, certainly not on the same level as Colorado, the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils or Philadelphia Flyers.But what the Rangers lack in terms of offensive depth and size/strength, they may get back in terms of stars who save their best for last.Leetch is Mr. Clutch, but so, too, can be net-minder Richter and team captain Mark Messier. A guy named Wayne Gretzky has also been known for his sense of timing. If the Rangers&rsquo; four superstars take one turn each at being heroic, that&rsquo;s four wins, good enough for a series victory.Regardless, if the Rangers are going to do anything, Leetch has to be everything he was in the regular season-that is, their best player-and then some.&ldquo;He is, by far, the best defenseman in the game today,&rdquo; said New Jersey Devils&rsquo; rival Lyle Odelein. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a threat every time he&rsquo;s on the ice.&rdquo;Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, Leetch led all defensemen in scoring with 20 goals and 77 points in 81 games. Like all offensive players, Leetch&rsquo;s numbers aren&rsquo;t as scintillating this season as they&rsquo;ve been at times in the past. For that reason, he wonders if other defensemen might not merit more consideration for the Norris this year.&ldquo;Maybe there&rsquo;ll be a greater appreciation for guys who play strong defense and hit a lot,&rdquo; Leetch said. &ldquo;Guys like (Vladimir) Konstantinov and (Scott) Stevens really excel at the defensive part of the game. To tell you the truth, I don&rsquo;t really worry too much (about the Norris). It could go to any one of a handful of guys any year. I&rsquo;m just trying to be more consistent with my game. I don&rsquo;t want to be one of those guys who other players talk about and say, &lsquo;He takes 20 or 30 games off a year.&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t want to be that.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not likely he ever will. Campbell said Leetch&rsquo;s overall game has steadily improved. He&rsquo;s better defensively and while he&rsquo;ll never be confused with a banger, he has become adept at taking his man out of the play. He has become a better conditioned athlete. If there are times he&rsquo;s a defensive liability, it&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s trying too hard to make the big offensive play to win or tie the game. And that&rsquo;s not a quality the Rangers would ever want him to sacrifice.Offensively, he&rsquo;s the whole package. Speed. Agility. Puckhandling. Vision. Shot. Put it all together, add the overwhelming desire to make the big play, and it&rsquo;s a sight to behold.&ldquo;What sets him apart is how powerful his skating has become,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;One thrust and he can blow by guys.&rdquo;Odelein said Leetch is a clear and present danger even when he&rsquo;s not in on the play. &ldquo;You can be defending the rush and he&rsquo;s not there,&rdquo; Odelein said. &ldquo;And suddenly he appears out of nowhere as the fourth guy. When he has got the puck, he&rsquo;s hard to read because he can do so many things, beat you 1-on-l, take the shot or make the play.&rdquo;Comparisons are not fair to him, or Bobby Orr, but Leetch has that Orr-like quality of being the go-to guy when the game is on the line. It&rsquo;s almost as if you sense it coming off him in waves. We expect it. He expects it.&ldquo;Sometimes I think he puts too much pressure on himself that way,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;When we get down, it&rsquo;s like he believes he&rsquo;s the one who has to get us back and he has to do it all alone.&rdquo;Leetch acknowledges it&rsquo;s a team game, but adds: &ldquo;For a team to do its best, especially in the playoffs, the best players have to be at their best.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s the time of the year he loves.&ldquo;Everything is harder in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are fewer careless mistakes made. Teams don&rsquo;t get caught three men deep so the transition game is more difficult. Goals are harder to come by. I never realized my (playoff averages) are that much better than my (regular-season numbers), but I guess it&rsquo;s better that than the other way around.&rdquo;He has that right. And he has last spring&rsquo;s bitter playoff disappointment to remind him. Leetch had just one goal and seven points in 11 games as the Rangers were ignominiously ousted in the second round by the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games.&ldquo;I just never felt right physically,&rdquo; he said, recalling last year&rsquo;s post-season. &ldquo;I had no jump. I had to work awfully hard to get things done. It wasn&rsquo;t an enjoyable experience.&rdquo;Modesty prevents Leetch from mentioning he took a puck in the foot in the final regular season game against the Florida Panthers. He was given shots, not in his foot but his arm, to &ldquo;relax&rdquo; the afflicted area.&ldquo;If it was relaxing his foot,&rdquo; Campbell said, &ldquo;what else was it relaxing? You could tell, he just wasn&rsquo;t 100 per cent.&rdquo;This year, he and the Rangers hope it will be different, although they know they&rsquo;re in tough. &ldquo;I know there are four or five clubs favored ahead of us,&rdquo; Leetch said, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ve played well enough against the good teams to give us a reason to be excited.&rdquo; &#9632;

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FEATURES

A dangerous Ranger

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>KITCHENER, Ont.-Hours before Canada&rsquo;s women skated their way to gold, they went out and found a heart of gold.Team Canada kept its reputation and string of World Women&rsquo;s Championships alive April 6 largely because of a three-goal effort from a gutsy and talented center Nancy Drolet, but assistant captain Cassie Campbell provided the Canadians with their inspiration earlier in the day.Coming off a dangerously close 2-1 win over Finland in the semifinal game the night before, the Canadians needed a lift. So Campbell arranged to have 20 small gold hearts purchased and delivered to the team along with 20 strands of blue ribbon. Then she spent the afternoon of the biggest game of her life making necklaces each player wore for the final.And even though the Americans outplayed the Canadians through long stretches of the overtime gold medal game, Canada came away with a 4-3 victory on a goal by Drolet at 12:59 of overtime. Minutes earlier, Drolet was plastered into the boards and had to be helped off the ice.&ldquo;It comes from the heart,&rdquo; said Canadian coach Shannon Miller. &ldquo;We have character players on this team who play with passion and with pride and that&rsquo;s why we won the gold.&rdquo;Canadian hockey teams certainly don&rsquo;t comer the world market on grit, passion and determination, but they seem to demonstrate those qualities in abundance at the best times. Whether it&rsquo;s real or imagined, Canadians play on that concept constantly and continue to spook their opponents.&ldquo;We looked al each other between periods and we said, &lsquo;Is there any doubt?&rsquo; &ldquo;said center Vicky Sunohara. &ldquo;We looked around and nobody said it, but it was no. There was absolutely no doubt.&rdquo;As soon as Drolet got to her feet after the thundering hit from U.S. defenseman Vicki Movsessian, there was no doubt in her mind she would return to the game. She already had two goals and knew there was still one thing left to accomplish.&ldquo;I said to the physio, &lsquo;Just put me on my feet,&rsquo; and when I got to my feet I knew I was coming back,&rdquo; Drolet said. &ldquo;I gave all I had to give. 1 I didn&rsquo;t want to say to myself after the game, &lsquo;Can I give more?&rsquo; &ldquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011607/6485023-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="374" height="271"></div>In scoring the overtime winner at 12:59, Drolet fulfilled a prophecy set down four years ago in Inside HOCKEY, a former THN publication. Inside HOCKEY profiled Drolet in January, 1993, and said, &ldquo;Her name is Nancy Drolet and if you&rsquo;re a hockey fan who hasn&rsquo;t heard of her, don&rsquo;t fret. You will.&rdquo;Also scorinp for Canada was center Angela James. Right wingers Alana Blahoski and Stephanie O&rsquo;Sullivan and left winger Katie King scored for the U.S. (See pg. 38 for summary.)While Canada does have valuable experience in its veterans, its hopes for gold in the 1998 Winter Games will rest largely on the shoulders of 24-year-old Drolet and 18-year-old power forward Hayley Wickenheiser. Drolet is the offensive wizard with excellent hands (what else would you expect from a massage therapist?) and Wickenheiser is the freight train. Poised and cool, Drolet is the sobering yin to Wickenheiser&rsquo;s overzealous yang. The two played on separate lines, but Miller paired them in overtime and Drolet&rsquo;s winner came after some terrific spade work by Wickenheiser.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021255/6485016-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="168" height="122"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canada tasted victory and Nancy Drolet fulfilled a four-year-old prophecy spelled out in a 1993 Inside HOCKEY story. (Photo by Claus Andersen/BS)</figcaption></div>Even though Canada won the tournament for the fourth straight time, the tournament showcased some sobering realities. The Americans have closed the gap and are now virtually neck-and-neck with Canada and Finland is in hot pursuit. While Canada seemed content to play dump-and-defend for much of the final game, the Americans carried the puck into the offensive zone with authority when they had it and forechecked relentlessly when hey didn&rsquo;t.The Canadians were also outskated badly in the final game and had all kinds of trouble dealing with the speed of the American team. The ice surface at Nagano, where women&rsquo;s hockey will Will debut next year, is 10 feet wider so any disparity in skating will be even more pronounced. As a result, Canada will likely be looking for more speed, especially on the wings.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question that if we&rsquo;ve done our homework and our player evaluations right, the core of this group will represent Canada at the Olympics,&rdquo; Miller said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s a year away and I would not be surprised if there were a couple of changes along the way.&rdquo;One of them likely won&rsquo;t be behind the bench. Canadian Hockey won&rsquo;t make the posting official until May 1, but it&rsquo;s expected Miller, a 33-year-old Calgary police officer, will get the job of guiding the team in Nagano. Miller expects the Americans to provide Canada with more stiff competition.If the entertainment value provided by the final was a barometer, bring on Naganoor at least the medal round. While the quality of play and competition were subjects of constant debate, the sport continues to evolve and women will develop better hockey sense, and learn to skate better and shoot harder as they gain experience.The big question is: will Canada, the United States, Finland and China be the only countries that make the commitment?And anyone who questions the toughness of women players didn&rsquo;t watch the final very closely. Swiss referee Sandra Dombrowski presided (poorly) over the messy affair, which featured many crushing hits. France St-Louis, 38, was playing with a broken wrist and had the same arm jammed into the boards in the first period.&ldquo;It was like a knife in my heart,&rdquo; said St-Louis, one of five Canadians who has been on all four championship teams. &ldquo;But I said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s the last game. I have time to rest later.&rsquo;&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Canada and USA took four of the six spots on the alltournament team. Kelly O&rsquo;Leary of USA and Cassie Campbell of Canada were named top defensemen. Riika Niemenen of Finland, Hayley Wickenheiser of Canada and Cammi Granato of USA were the top forwards. Patricia Sautter of Switzerland was the all-star goalie&hellip;The tournament was a rousing success. The final drew 6,247 to Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, the largest crowd to ever see a women&rsquo;s game. Total unofficial attendance was 59,342 for 20 games&hellip;Finland earned third place with a 3-0 win over China and Sweden qualified for the Olympics with a 3-1 win over Russia. The seeding for the Olympics will be, in order, Canada, USA, Finland, China, Sweden and Japan. Teams will play a round-robin tournament with the top two finishers meeting in the gold medal game and the third and fourth place teams playing for bronze. The tournament runs Feb. 8 through 17&hellip;Russia finished sixth, Switzerland seventh and Norway eighth. (See pg. 38 for team-by-team scoring statistics.) &#9632;

f0008-01

Straight from the heart

<div class="byline">By Sherry Skalko</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011528/6485054-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The American women&rsquo;s team will work on finishing off scoring chances as it prepares for the Olympics (Photo by Claus Andersen/BBS)</figcaption></div>KITCHENER. Ont.-National team coach Ben Smith graduated from Harvard in 1968 with a degree in history. So it&rsquo;s a little ironic that for him the storied past between his U.S. team and Canada in the Women&rsquo;s World Championship goes back just one game.It&rsquo;s the one Team USA lost to Team Canada, 4-3 in overtime April 6, for the gold medal that Smith will refer to in assembling and preparing the U.S. Olympic Team for the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano.But the World Championship wasn&rsquo;t a one-game tournament.Preliminary round matchups with Sweden, Norway and Finland and the semifinal game against China will also be used as guides. The Americans blanked Norway (7-0), Sweden (10-0) and China (6-0) and tied Finland (3-3).&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll look for more scoring punch and special teams need attention,&rdquo; Smith said.On paper, the power play didn&rsquo;t fare too badly, converting on 43.6 per cent of its chances to lead the tournament. However, it didn&rsquo;t come up with the big goal when needed, going 1-for-8 in the gold medal game.Against Canada, the Americans had a 5-on-3 power play early in the first period for a span of 1:04. They hardly threatened.On the other hand, the U.S. killed a crucial 5-on-3 in the overtime against Canada and had an 86.1 success rate for the tournament.The Americans&rsquo; leading scorer was Cammi Granato, whose five goals and eight points placed her third overall in tournament scoring.&ldquo;Part of our preparation will be making players comfortable on special teams,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Some players were force-fed power play situations that they weren&rsquo;t prepared for and they weren&rsquo;t given defensive responsibilities when we were a man down.&rdquo;Offensively gifted players such as forwards Laurie Baker and Katie King and defenseman Tara Mounsey joined camp late because their college teams were still in the playoffs. They practised a little more than a week for the tournament.Other than a special teams tune-up and continued focus on skating and passing, Olympic team selection will be based on finding the right combination of talent and character, much like what was displayed when the U.S. had to outscore Sweden by nine goals in the final game of the preliminary round to clinch first place in Group B. They accomplished a nine-goal cushion by the 6:05 mark of the third period.&ldquo;Their response to pressure situations was significant going into the Sweden game,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Having to beat a team by nine goals is as difficult a challenge&hellip;! can&rsquo;t think of a more difficult situation to put before a team.&rdquo;The march to Nagano is scheduled to begin in May when Smith notifies roughly 30 players-likely the same players who attended camp for the World Championship-that they will be among the 50 to 54 players invited to the Olympic Team training camp in August at Lake Placid, N.Y. The remaining invitations will be issued after mini-camps in June or July.Unlike the past nine months, there will not be any practice time scheduled or supervised by USA Hockey. The players are on their own until August.&ldquo;I want them to have the opportunity to prepare, but I don&rsquo;t want to take the responsibility of having on-ice training for some and not for others,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Preparation for camp will be up to them.&rdquo;Most of the players will stay in the Boston area and will conduct their office training under the watch of Mike Boyle, Boston University&rsquo;s strength and conditioning guru who put Boston Bruins&rsquo; winger Cam Neely back on the ice after several knee injuries.Meanwhile, Smith and his staff are conducting open tryouts across the country in hopes of uncovering &ldquo;a potential Angela Ruggiero,&rdquo; the coach said, referring to the 17-year-old national team defenseman who was found at a similar camp.Smith estimates 60 to 80 per cent of the World Championship team will compose the U.S. Olympic team, but he has yet to make any commitments.&ldquo;In the assessment of talent, regarding the roles people can play, out of the tournament they have taken a more pronounced shape,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Several personnel equations will be considered.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

Team USA needs finishing touches

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011586/6485085-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Granato returned from brain surgery as belligerent and effective as ever this year. (Photo by M.Digirolamo/BBS)</figcaption></div>Tony Granato wasn&rsquo;t sure what the future held.A return to school, perhaps? Maybe a coaching position? Move the family to Wisconsin and start his own business? So many options and, apparently, all the time in the world to decide.One thing of which he was certain though, there would be no more playing professional hockey-not after undergoing delicate brain surgery in February, 1996.&ldquo;I knew I wouldn&rsquo;t be playing hockey again, and you know what, I was O.K. with that,&rdquo; said the 32-year-old right winger for the San Jose Sharks, THN&rsquo;s comeback player of the year for 1996-97. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel sorry for myself at all. I had a great run and it was over. With the condition I was in, I was just hoping to be able to lead a productive life.&rdquo;Then, following his final visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in June, the seed for a possible return to the NHL was planted.At a meeting with Granato&rsquo;s doctors, his wife Linda asked a lot of questions-almost as if she was trying to get one of them to tell Tony not to play again.It didn&rsquo;t happen.&ldquo;Someone asked my wife when she knew I would be coming back and she said she knows exactly when that was,&rdquo; Granato said. &ldquo;We had a final Visit to the Mayo Clinic to follow up on the surgery and make certain everything was all right and as we were leaving, Dr. (Neil) Martin said to me, &lsquo;I put a couple of extra screws in you so when you come back to play, you&rsquo;ll be fine.&rsquo; Then he said, &lsquo;You do where a helmet, don&rsquo;t you?&rsquo; I told him I did. He said, &lsquo;Good, make sure you keep wearing one.&rsquo; &ldquo;Then it was just a matter of getting in shape and finding a team. He was an unrestricted free agent and the rebuilding Los Angeles Kings weren&rsquo;t taking any chances on him.So Granato chose the Sharks, who were willing to gamble on him. He signed a three-year contract and played with the same feistiness and vigor that has endeared him to hockey fans since he joined the New York Rangers in 1988-89 and led the team in goals with 36.&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t have picked a better player,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; captain Todd Gill. &ldquo;The most amazing thing to me is, after all he has been through with this serious operation, he came back and played more nasty than ever. Not only did he not hold back, the way you would expect someone who has been through what he has might, he was the same, nasty pain in the butt to play against that he was before.&rdquo;Granato knew he wouldn&rsquo;t even consider coming back if he had to change his style one iota. His 157 penalty minutes represents the third-highest total of his nine-year career.And with Tony&rsquo;s return, the Granato clan from the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Ill., remains America&rsquo;s No. 1 hockey family.Tony&rsquo;s sister Cammi, 24, captained the United States to a silver medal at the Women&rsquo;s World Championship in Kitchener, Ont. She was named USA Hockey&rsquo;s Women&rsquo;s Player of the Year in 1996 and is the all-time scoring leader at the tournament. Tony and Cammi are the national spokespersons for USA Hockey&rsquo;s 60th anniversary celebration.Brother Donny, 29, followed in Tony&rsquo;s footsteps at the University of Wisconsin and now coaches the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States League. He guided them to the U.S. national title last year and won the regular season championship this year.Rob, 27, also played at Wisconsin and was Badgers&rsquo; captain in 1993-94. He played for the Chicago Cheetahs of Roller Hockey International and Christina, 31, was a cheerleader for the Cheetahs. Christina now lives in Phoenix with Jeremy and Tracey Roenick and helps look after their daughter, Brandi.Joey, 16, has served on the editorial board for American Hockey magazine since he was 14.The Granatos are hockey nuts. Don Granato Sr., took an interest in the game in the early 1960s when Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks ruled the NHL. (Tony wears No. 21 in honor of Mikita; Cammi wears it because Tony does.) Don started playing in a men&rsquo;s league around then and his love for the game was passed on.While other kids played baseball and soccer in the summer months, the Granatos stuck with hockey, including family vacations to attend the Dave Keon-Billy Harris Hockey School in Toronto.&ldquo;Because we all love hockey, we will always have something we can relate to as a family,&rdquo; Tony said. &ldquo;I talk to my parents about three times a week and to my brothers and sisters about once a week. My parents keep us all updated on what the others are doing. They&rsquo;re like the central information center.&rdquo;Tony played four years at Wisconsin, scoring 100 goals and 220 points in 152 games. He then played with the USA Olympic team in Calgary in 1988 before joining the Rangers, who drafted him 120th overall in 1982. He was traded, along with Tomas Sandstrom, to the Kings in 1990 for current teammate Bernie Nicholls and in his first three full seasons in Los Angeles averaged 35 goals a year.His production fell off the past couple of seasons, which makes this year&rsquo;s 25 goals all the more remarkable. He represented the Sharks as a commissioner&rsquo;s selection at this season&rsquo;s AllStar Game in San Jose.Under normal circumstances, Granato would be a lock for the Masterton Trophy, presented annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Granato is the Sharks&rsquo; nominee for the award.But in light of Boston Bruins&rsquo; winger Sheldon Kennedy&rsquo;s courageous admission he was sexually abused as a teenager, which led to the eventual conviction of former junior coach Graham James, Kennedy is considered the Masterton favorite.&ldquo;I admire Sheldon a lot,&rdquo; Granato said. &ldquo;What he went through, from a long-term standpoint, was harder than what I went through. If I had a vote. I&rsquo;d probably vote for him.&rdquo;<h2>THN&rsquo;s All-Comeback Team</h2>Tony Granato is captain of our annual All-Comeback Team, but he&rsquo;s not the only captain on the team.He&rsquo;s joined by Hartford Whalers&rsquo; captain Kevin Dineen and New Jersey Devils&rsquo; captain Scott Stevens. Add former Calgary Flames&rsquo; captain Joe Nieuwendyk, now with the Dallas Stars, and there is no shortage of leadership on our squad.Goalie Ron Tugmitt, Ottawa Senators. Tugnutt, 29, took over as the Senators&rsquo; No. 1 goalie and playoff inspiration a year after spending the entire season with the Portland Pirates of the American League.Defenseman Dmitri Mironov, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Mironov, 31, bounced back from his lowest NHL goal total (three) to net 13 and be a key member of Anaheim&rsquo;s potent power play.Defenseman Scott Stevens, New Jersey. Stevens, 33, has been remarkable, playing night after night against the opponents&rsquo; top lines one year after, admittedly, nothing went right for him.Forward Tony Granato. San Jose Sharks. Granato, 32, bounced back from brain surgery to be a consistent scorer and inspirational leader.Forward Kevin Dineen, Hartford. Dineen, 33, proves you can go home again. After five seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, the right winger returned to Hartford and put up his best numbers in four years with 18 goals and 47 points.Forward Joe Nieuwendyk. Dallas. Nieuwendyk. 30, took some of the pressure off Mike Modano to score and (lie center hit the 30-goal plateau for the first time in three years. &#9632;

f0010-01

Captain Comeback

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011437/6485123-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="492" height="707"></div>Even as the Detroit Red Wings won an NHL-record 62 regular season games last season, the impression was they approached the 1996 playoffs more fearful of losing than confident that they were finally going to sip from the Stanley Cup.It&rsquo;s partly the way they won all those games-with a skilled collection of talent from around the world that put on an artful show from October to April, before the mugging and grinding that usually characterizes the playoffs caught up with them. In general, the Red Wings never demonstrated the championship swagger that characterized, say, Patrick Roy or Claude Lemieux, a mixture of bravado and talent that would be wholly unappealing if they couldn&rsquo;t back it up on the ice.The Red Wings possessed a dressing room full of quietly good players who were never quite convinced they were as wonderful as their win total suggested. Accordingly, in analyzing last season&rsquo;s defeat, the Red Wings determined they needed to be less self-effacing and more in-your-face-which is why they added Brendan Shanahan in early October in the first of the year&rsquo;s blockbuster trades.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021034/6485116-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="717" height="1342"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Shanahan</figcaption></div>It was a calculated move, one that necessitated them taking a step backward in a bid to move two steps forward in the playoffs. The gregarious Shanahan was meant to do more than score goals. He was intended to be a catalyst. He injects a quality in the Red Wings&rsquo; dressing room that they lacked a year ago, someone who talks and plays a good game. Shanahan is what the Red Wings always thought Keith Primeau would become, but never did.The St. Louis Blues pushed Detroit to overtime of the seventh game in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, in part because they dragged the Red Wings down to their level. That scare, followed by their semifinal elimination by the Colorado Avalanche, convinced the Red Wings to surrender Primeau, Paul Coffey and a No. 1 draft choice to the Hartford Whalers to get Shanahan.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a different type than we had before,&rdquo; acknowledges coach Scotty Bowman. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s confident. He brings a lot of good ingredients to the teams besides the goals that he scores.&rdquo;Beyond that, he is that rare NHL commodity-a power forward with a scoring touch. Or as Shanahan&rsquo;s former St. Louis teammate Brett Hull once described him, he is &ldquo;your classic goal-scorer, with size and presence. He&rsquo;s not a goal-scorer like me, where I don&rsquo;t do a bleeping thing and end up scoring. With Shanahan, you know he has been there.&rdquo;With two games left in the season, the Red Wings could finish with no more than 40 wins, compared to 62 last year. They were second in the Central Division and third in the Western Conference for so long that Bowman was forced to move Sergei Fedorov back to defense in an attempt to keep his team awake and off balance enough to get ready tor playotts. With Bowman, things can never go too smoothly. It is always necessary to manufacture a crisis if one doesn&rsquo;t naturally occur.Bowman has spent the season disagreeing with the NHL&rsquo;sill-advised decision to ignore &ldquo;marginal&rdquo; calls. But he&rsquo;s too smart to get caught short either. If this were a zero-tolerance year for the NHL-the pendulum always swings this way and that way, doesn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;the Red Wings&rsquo; ability to score on the power play would make them one of the odds-on favorites. As it is, Bowman massaged his line-up to get bigger and stronger on the boards, so that when playoffs begin, they will not get sand kicked in their faces again.Adjusting from regular season to playoff refereeing, suggests Bowman, &ldquo;won&rsquo;t be as big a change as it was in past years because I don&rsquo;t think they can call a lot less. The teams are more used to that kind of style. But the biggest change is that we have more role kind of players that can play a bit than we had before.&rdquo;They have more role players, plus Shanahan, who is something more than that. If the Wings win it all, Shanahan can safely be called the missing piece of a decade-long puzzle. &#9632;

f0011-01

COLUMNISTS

Shanahan could be final piece of puzzle

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011546/6485161-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="497" height="706"></div>Throughout NHL history, reputations have been made in the playoffs. No matter how many points a team compiles during the regular season, true glory only comes with long spring runs.Although there is a lot to gain in the playoffs, so too is there a lot to lose-and the loss of status or reputation can hurt to the same extent that winning can be glorious.For example, the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers went 35 games without a loss, but it was the New York Islanders who used the 1980 playoffs as a springboard toward four consecutive Stanley Cups. And last season&rsquo;s regular season record for wins by the Detroit Red Wings seemed like a cruel joke when the Colorado Avalanche pushed past them and eventually on to a championship.It is the same with individuals. You&rsquo;re not great until you&rsquo;ve done it in May and June.So, as we are about to step into the 1997 playoffs, here is a list of those with the most to lose.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021252/6485154-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="664" height="1176"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek</figcaption></div>&bull; Terry Murray, Ron Hextail and Eric Lindros The Flyers entered the season as the Eastern Conference favorite to reach the Stanley Cup final. If they don&rsquo;t get at least to the last round, both Murray and Hextali could be on the firing line. Although the Flyers are led by Lindros, who is under the gun to a lesser extent than his goalie and coach, it&rsquo;s generally believed Hextail is not a strong enough goalie to win a Cup for Philly and this spring will be a proving ground. Meanwhile, Philadelphia&rsquo;s impatient fans will be out for Murray&rsquo;s head if the Flyers don&rsquo;t make it to the championship round.&bull; Jeremy Roenick Phoenix&rsquo;s Roenick must start earning his big paycheck.&bull; Dominik Hasek His accomplishments will seem hollow if he slips in the playoffs.&bull; Mark Messier Messier once again will be a free agent when the season is over. It&rsquo;s not likely he&rsquo;s going anywhere, but if he again leads the Rangers through a couple of rounds he can name his price.&bull; Pat Verbeek The Dallas Stars and coach Ken Hitchcock have been very good about directing attention away from the fact Verbeek has not put up big offensive numbers during his first year with the Stars. Instead of whining about lack of offense, the Stars have pointed out Verbeek has added just the sort of grit the Stars needed to turn around their fortunes. But the fact remains, Verbeek signed with the Stars for $3 million this season and now is the time to earn those big bucks.&bull; Joe Sakic The risk here is just a matter of how high the ceiling will reach for Sakic&rsquo;s new contract with the Avalanche. He has a chance to become only the third player in NHL history to win back-to-back Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP-and wouldn&rsquo;t that be nice to set up a summer as a free agent? Do you think New York Islanders&rsquo; owner John Spanos would actually be on the ice with an open checkbook when Sakic went to accept the award? Sakic has not had a strong second half since suffering a calf injury.&bull; Ted Nolan and Ron Wilson They&rsquo;re free agents, but of a different sort. These are two coaches-Nolan with the Buffalo Sabres and Wilson with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim-who did not sign new deals during the regular season and then put themselves in power positions during the course of 82 games. That leverage would become overwhelming with playoff success, but lessen considerably with a playoff disaster.&bull; The Red Wings and Scotty Bowman Here we go again with the Red Wings. They&rsquo;ve tried just about every scenario to set up a Stanley Cup and maybe lying in the weeds through a large part of the season will set up the ambush they need to get past Colorado. If not. things won&rsquo;t be the same in Detroit next season.&bull; Florida Panthers This will be a proving ground that last season wasn&rsquo;t a dream and that they can awaken from their slumber.&bull; Hockey Night in Canada.Will there be a Canadian team left in May? &#9632;

f0012-01

MORGANTI

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011533/6485192-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="214" height="212"></div>In the end, there were three left to tell the tale: goalie Guy Hebert, defenseman Bobby Delias and right winger Joe Sacco.They are the only original Mighty Ducks who remained when Anaheim clinched its first playoff berth with a 32 victory over the Dallas Stars April 4. The Ducks, who entered the NHL in 1993-94, made it to the post-season in their fourth year of existence.&ldquo;For myself, Bobby and Joe, we feel like our careers wouldn&rsquo;t be complete until we made it to the playoffs in Anaheim,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;This is something we&rsquo;ve been waiting for since we set foot here.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great feeling,&rdquo; Sacco said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve waited a long time. All the players have, but especially Guy and (DoL las) and myself.&rdquo;Dollas was home with the chicken pox on the night of the clinching victory.&ldquo;It was pretty exciting,&rdquo; Dollas said. &ldquo;I was sitting there watching the clock (wind) down. We&rsquo;re going to the playoffs. I looked at my wife and said, &lsquo;By sitting here, I just earned a bonus for making the playoffs.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s a good amount, but it&rsquo;s something you&rsquo;d give up, just to get in.&rdquo;Coach Ron Wilson, too, has been there since Day 1 and is excited about his team&rsquo;s chances. The Ducks overcame a horrible 1-9-2 start to finish as one of the league&rsquo;s hottest teams.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to be one of those teams people just pray they don&rsquo;t have to face,&rdquo; Wilson said.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Teemu Selanne reached 50 goals for the first time since scoring 76 as a rookie in 1992-93, getting No. 50 on an empty-net goal in a 4-1 win over Los Angeles April 9&hellip;Left winger Paul Kariya was nursing a sore groin, but said rest should make him 100 per cent for the playoffs. The injury isn&rsquo;t related to the one that caused him to miss the first month of the season&hellip;The Ducks ended the season with a franchise-record 14-game unbeaten streak at home&hellip;The Ducks signed two prospects in their system, centers Marc Chouinard and Matt Cullen. Cullen, 20, had 45 points in 36 games for St. Cloud State in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this season. Chouinard, 19, had 73 points in 62 games for Halifax of the Quebec League. &#9632;

f0014-01

NHL TEAMS

Post-season berth sweet for trio of original Ducks

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04539/6485223-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="744" height="1186"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kyle McLaren</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021167/6485230-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="210" height="208"></div>They&rsquo;re certainly disappointed, but most of the Boston Bruins&rsquo; youngest players won&rsquo;t really know what they&rsquo;re missing when the NHL playoffs start without them.The youngest Bruin of all-19-year-old defenseman Kyle McLaren-is an exception. In his own way, last season&rsquo;s all-rookie team member feels worse than anybody about Boston&rsquo;s first failure to qualify since 1966-67.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to describe,&rdquo; said McLaren, whose rocky second season ended when he fractured a thumb March 27. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s this empty feeling inside and you know you won&rsquo;t have that good feeling again unless you get back (to the playoffs) next year. It&rsquo;s just an unbelievable feeling: Done in the middle of April.&rdquo;McLaren had been looking forward to the 1997 playoffs from the moment Boston was eliminated in a five-game first-round series with the Florida Panthers in 1996. Feeling his strong rookie year (five goals, 17 points, plus-16 in 74 games) had prepared him for the rigors of post-season play, McLaren quickly learned otherwise. He went without a point and was minus-3 in the series against Florida and vowed to learn from the experience.&ldquo;I think last year I underestimated the playoffs totally,&rdquo; McLaren said. &ldquo;I thought I was prepared from playing playoffs in junior (with the Tacoma Rockets of the Western League), because there was a step up in intensity there. Here, the playoffs are like a whole new league. That&rsquo;s why the best players in the world come here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins filed a civil lawsuit against three insurance companies in a dispute over benefits due Cam Neely, who retired because of a hip injury. The Brains, whom agent Jay Fee said honored the last two years of Neely&rsquo;s contract (worth roughly $4.3 million), believe a disability policy covered the injury that ended Neely&rsquo;s career. The insurers don&rsquo;t agree&hellip;A 5-1 loss to Buffalo April 10 was Boston&rsquo;s 47th of the season, tying the franchise record set in a 70-game season in 1961-62. The B&rsquo;s gave up a club-record 308 goals that season; the 1996-97 Brains had surrendered 295 with two games to play&hellip;The Bruins fell to O-for-3 on penalty shots April 10 when center Jason Allison was denied by Buffalo&rsquo;s Dominik Hasek. &#9632;

f0014-04

No chance for rebound

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03803/6485261-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="210" height="210"></div>It took longer than most people expected, but measured against a 16-year drought, the Buffalo Sabres were proud of the fact they won a division title this season.Buffalo&rsquo;s 5-1 triumph over the Boston Bruins in Boston April 10 nailed down that elusive last point and gave the Sabres the Northeast Division crown, their first title of any kind since the 1980-81 team finished first in the old Adams Division.&ldquo;If someone had asked me six months ago if we could win the division, I would have said it was impossible,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; goalie Dominik Hasek. &ldquo;But this is a young team that has grown together and gained confidence and now we are winners.&rdquo;Hasek, as he is on most nights, was the difference in the clinching game. The victory was his 37th of the season, one away from the team record.Still, this was a team championship, a fact not lost on the players in the dressing room in Boston&rsquo;s FleetCenter. They had a quiet ceremony that included just a sip of champagne-it is, after all, just a division crown and not the Stanley Cup-and then proceeded to share their accomplishment with those who were not with them on this night.Trainers placed a phone call to Matthew Barnaby and Pat LaFontaine, both of whom were injured and not traveling with the team.&ldquo;That was a nice gesture,&rdquo; said team president Larry Quinn. &ldquo;These guys have gone through a lot this year and they&rsquo;ve always played as a team. It&rsquo;s typical that they would try to include everyone.&rdquo;No one thought much of this Sabre team after trades and some serious budget cutting reduced payroll and cut into the talent poll.&ldquo;If you believe in yourself good things can happen,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; coach Ted Nolan. &ldquo;But you have to back that up with hard work and this team has worked extremely hard all season.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Captain Pat LaFontaine went to the Mayo Clinic for a third time. LaFontaine is recovering from brain trauma, the result of a series of concussions. and is not expected back for the playoffs&hellip;Right winger Rob Ray&rsquo;s name come up in a local court case involving a suspected cocaine trafficker, but officials said Ray was not a suspect and there was no connection between Ray and illegal drags. Ray&rsquo;s name came up in court when federal prosecutors played the tape of a wiretap on the cellular phone of one of the suspects in the case. That suspect said he was making the call from a residence where Ray and former Sabre Ken Sutton lived. The call actually dealt with a question of autographs for the suspect&rsquo;s children. &#9632;

f0014-03

Division title was worth wait

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011423/6485292-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="212" height="214"></div>It turns out center Aaron Gavey's neck problems didn&rsquo;t begin in the February game against Montreal Canadiens in which he was cross-checked from behind. They started years ago.The only difference is the numbness and the burning sensation didn&rsquo;t go away this time. Instead, it took five weeks for what started out as a day-to-day injury for Gavey to return to the Calgary Flames&rsquo; lineup. That happened in an April 6 game against the Chicago Blackhawks and two nights later he was back on the sidelines again with pain.&ldquo;The team&rsquo;s concern was for me to get rid of it right now,&rdquo; Gavey said, &ldquo;so for next year and for the next 10 years, we won&rsquo;t have to worry about it.&rdquo;Gavey joined the Flames from the Tampa Bay Lightning in an early-season trade for goalie Rick Tabaracci. Calgary projects Gavey, 23, as one of its cornerstone players for the future, someone who, along with Jarome Iginla, can get the organization back on the winning track.The opportunity to get increased ice time is why Gavey, who had seven goals and 18 points in 55 games this season, is happy in Calgary.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve really enjoyed my time here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll be staying here a long time. I enjoyed Florida, but I&rsquo;m in a much better situation in Calgary. I&rsquo;m getting to play. Once I settled in, things seem to go pretty well for me. Unfortunately, I got hurt, but that&rsquo;s part of the game.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Theo Fleury likely won&rsquo;t join Team Canada for the World Championship if the opportunity arises. Fleury, who has represented his country six times at international events, said his wife Veronica&rsquo;s due date (June 17) at the fact his season started in August with the World Cup may keep him from going to Finland. &ldquo;It has been a long year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just fried. If I knew (playing in the World Championship) was going to affect my chances of making the Olympic team, then probably I&rsquo;d go. But I don&rsquo;t think 1 have anything to prove that way."&hellip;Center Dave Gagner, whose contract is up at the end of the season, said he doubted if he would play, either. &ldquo;I think my agent would advise against me playing,&rdquo; Gagner said. &#9632;

f0015-01

Gavey looks toward future as neck injury flares again

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03714/6485323-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="745" height="1190"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02991/6485330-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="214" height="210"></div>He set a career record for victories in a season, met U.S. President Bill Clinton and had more fights than Mike Tyson.Regular seasons aren&rsquo;t supposed to be so eventful for Patrick Roy.But the Colorado Avalanche super-star goalie is ready for the real action to begin. It&rsquo;s playoff time and Roy hopes to set another record very soon.If Roy wins four games in the post-season, he&rsquo;ll tie Billy Smith for most playoff victories (90). Roy is ready for the challenge.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about, the play-offs. It has been a good season for us, but it won&rsquo;t matter as soon as Game 1 begins,&rdquo; Roy said.The Avalanche entered the final weekend in a dogfight with the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Western Conference and first overall. A late-season slump squandered the Avs&rsquo; once formidable Western lead.Despite the swoon, Roy knows things can change quickly when the post-season bell is sounded.&ldquo;Only two teams who won the President&rsquo;s Trophy (for first overall in the regular season) won the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Roy said (actually three). &ldquo;Confidence is a fragile word and it&rsquo;s very easy to lose it or gain it in the playoffs.&rdquo;Roy&rsquo;s left shoulder showed fragility when he ran into Brendan Shanahan of the Detroit Red Wings as part of a melee March 26. Roy missed three games, two of which were Colorado losses.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a very good team, but it&rsquo;s never easy in the playoffs,&rdquo; Roy said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ll give it our best shot.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Uwe Krupp (pinched nerve in lower back) was hopeful of returning to the lineup by the start of the playoffs. Krupp missed four straight games heading into the final weekend. Krupp had 21 points in 80 games&hellip;The Avalanche lost twice in five days to last place San Jose. The latter loss, 4-1 at home April 9, came with the Sharks missing six regulars, including their leading scorer, captain and No. 1 goalie&hellip;Left winger Eric Lacroix and right winger Scott Young entered the final weekend with goal droughts of 15 and 13 games, respectively. Both players were stalled at 18 goals&hellip;Veteran right winger Mike Keane and his wife, Tammy, had their first child, a boy named Jackson. &#9632;

f0015-03

Roy: Let the games begin

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04523/6485361-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="212" height="210"></div>Ethan Moreau won&rsquo;t win the Calder Trophy, but that doesn&rsquo;t lessen what the Chicago Blackhawks think of their rookie left winger.Moreau&rsquo;s 15 goals were fourth on the team and he was growing more every day into the role of power forward. Down the stretch as the Hawks were fighting to make the playoffs, the 21-year-old Moreau had five goals in an 11-game stretch.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting better and better as the season goes on,&rdquo; said coach Craig Hartsburg. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a steady player, strong along the boards and he goes to the net. He&rsquo;s there night after night and his confidence is growing.&rdquo;Hawks&rsquo; captain Chris Chelios calls Moreau a &ldquo;young Bob Gainey,&rdquo; the Hall of Famer with whom Chelios played on the Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;Ethan is exactly like Gainey,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;Those wrist shots all the time, he skates like him and has the same mannerisms. They&rsquo;re built exactly alike, tall and all legs. Ethan&rsquo;s an old-school player, too, just like Gainey.&ldquo;I sat with Bob during an exhibition game and told him to keep an eye on Ethan. He did and later he just turned and smiled at me.&rdquo;The Hawks would be thrilled if Moreau turned out to be anywhere near the kind of player Gainey was. One thing that stands out already is Moreau has certain qualities that could make him a Hawks&rsquo; leader in a way Gainey was with Montreal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a green young buck turn into a force to be reckoned with,&rdquo; said defenseman Steve Smith. &ldquo;I think Ethan is finally understanding how good he can be. It&rsquo;s just a matter of time before he&rsquo;s an all-star. With his attitude and ability to lead, he&rsquo;ll be captain of this team one day.&rdquo;Moreau, who had 15 goals and 29 points in 80 games this season, is pleased with his season.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t set any numerical goals,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just wanted to establish myself and make a difference on this team and I think I&rsquo;ve done that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Chris Chelios missed a key game against St. Louis April 9 because of a sore lower back, which he injured when he was cross-checked from behind by Calgary defenseman Glen Featherstone. It was the second time this season Chelios couldn&rsquo;t play because of a questionable hit, which angered coach Craig Hartsburg. Earlier, Chelios suffered a sprained knee when he was boarded by Colorado right winger Keith Jones. Hartsburg suggested the Hawks might start targeting the opposition&rsquo;s stars if Chelios and right winger Tony Amonte were going to be run&hellip;A 1-0 loss to St. Louis made it 29 times the Hawks lost when scoring two goals or fewer. &#9632;

f0015-04

Moreau gets rave reviews from Hawks

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011321/6485392-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="168" height="167"></div>Bob Bassen has always had a strong faith-in God, in his beliefs and in his playing ability.So it&rsquo;s no surprise the feisty center has come back from injuries in the past two seasons to become an important part of the Dallas Stars&rsquo; success this year. While it may not be surprising, don&rsquo;t think for a minute it was easy.Bassen had two significant injuries in his first two seasons with Dallas. During his first training camp, he wrenched a knee and had to have major surgery that kept him out for all but 12 games. By the time he returned, the Stars were, for all intents, eliminated from the playoffs.So he worked hard over the summer, came to training camp in shape and was one of the team&rsquo;s best pre-season performers-until he herniated a disc in his cervical vertebra and was forced into surgery to fuse two bones in his neck.&ldquo;There were times when you ask yourself, &lsquo;Why me?&rsquo; &ldquo;said Bassen, a devout Christian. &ldquo;There are times you wonder just what is going on.&rdquo;Bassen missed the first 36 games and after struggling to regain the form that was lost over a season and a half of inactivity, Bassen finally has returned to his old self.And that means stirring up the opposition, protecting his teammates, checking with force and chipping in the odd goal. &ldquo;He has been fantastic,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock.Bassen had five goals, 12 points and 39 penalty minutes in 44 games.NOTEBOOK: Coach Ken Hitchcock made left winger Benoit Hogue a healthy scratch for only the second time this season April 7. The coach appears to be leaning toward playing right winger Brent Gilchrist on center Joe Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s line instead of Hogue&hellip;Center Neal Broten now has played more regular season games than any U.S.-bom player. He passed Gordie Roberts with Game No. 1,098 April 7&hellip;Goalie Andy Moog is back in the lineup. He was in net for two ties in his first two games back following a 10-game rest for back and ankle pain&hellip;Through 80 games, the Stars had not lost when leading after two periods (36-0-3) and their total of 61 goals allowed in the third period was tied for lowest in the league. &#9632;

f0016-01

Feisty Bassen battles back after overcoming setbacks

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03765/6485423-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="736" height="1187"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Fedorov</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021029/6485430-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="168" height="165"></div>You could excuse Sergei Fedorov for feeling a little put out after being moved from center to defense in the final weeks of the season. He is, after all, a former Hart and Selke Trophy winner.Only Fedorov doesn&rsquo;t mind the switch. In fact, he was embracing it.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t doing great in the regular season,&rdquo; Fedorov said. &ldquo;This brought me back to life. It&rsquo;s kind of rebellious and I like that.&rdquo;Fedorov, who had 29 goals and 62 points in 72 games, was paired with veteran Larry Murphy and coach Scotty Bowman feels the two complement each other well.&ldquo;It works because we can have one guy who can go and the other guy can be the safe guy and stay back,&rdquo; Bowman said.It&rsquo;s somewhat ironic that Murphy, acquired in a trading deadline deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is considered the safe guy. The 36-year-old came to Detroit as the fourth-highest scoring defenseman in NHL history.Still, whether the experiments lasts into the playoffs, Murphy sees it as a no-lose situation.&ldquo;If he plays defense in the playoffs he&rsquo;s going to be an impact guy,&rdquo; Murphy said.Fedorov, meanwhile, will continue to learn his new position by trial and error. &ldquo;I try to play a smart game and succeed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whatever questions I have I try to find the answers while I&rsquo;m on the ice. When I don&rsquo;t know the answer, I just rush. I did that as a forward, too.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Scotty Bowman moved rookie Aaron Ward from defense to right wing for the April 9 game in Edmonton. &ldquo;It caught me by surprise, but I played a bit of the wing in the minors,&rdquo; Ward said&hellip;Left winger Brendan Shanahan needed one more power play goal to tie the club record of 21 for a season. Mickey Redmond (1973-74) and Dino Ciccarelli (1992-93) share the current mark&hellip;The checking line of center Kris Draper, right winger Kirk Maltby and left winger Joe Kocur had been highly effective. &ldquo;It works because we all have our special talent that we bring to the line,&rdquo; Draper said. &ldquo;Malts, he brings the big hits and he can skate. Joey, he&rsquo;s a grinder along the boards and he can intimidate. Me? I bring a smile.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-03

Fedorov likes switch to ‘D’

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04557/6485461-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="167" height="166"></div>Glen Sather made the promise and his team kept it for him.The Edmonton Oilers ended a four-year post-season drought and soaked in the glow of a playoff berth this spring.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad that happened. I would have had to eat a lot of crow this summer,&rdquo; said Sather, the confident GM and president who last spring guaranteed Oiler fans and anybody else who asked his team would be playing post-season games this year for the first time since 1992.A 2-2 tie with the Vancouver Canucks April 3 secured a berth in the Western Conference.&ldquo;I think the hockey club deserves to be in the playoffs,&rdquo; said coach Ron Low. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve worked hard all year and deserve to be there. It would have been a shame not to make it.&rdquo;And Sather has tried to impress on the Oilers that just because they have reached the playoffs, they should not be content.&ldquo;I see it as a challenge now to win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;I certainly haven&rsquo;t told the players that I&rsquo;m content to make the playoffs. The goal is to win the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;re going to be satisfied until they do more than just make the playoffs.&rdquo;The Oilers played playoff-style hockey down the stretch with mixed results. They have to prove to themselves they can beat a team with discipline and defense, the key ingredients in post-season play. They have to prove they can sacrifice themselves to win.&ldquo;Bonus money isn&rsquo;t much in the playoffs. There&rsquo;s a lot of pride involved,&rdquo; said center Doug Weight. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t play for money in the playoffs. You don&rsquo;t play for TV. You play to win and you play for the guy next to you.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to block shots for Curtis (Joseph), take a punch in the head for every guy on the bench. You can&rsquo;t retaliate.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Doug Weight received his World Cup championship ring from Team Canada coach-GM Glen Sather, who didn&rsquo;t do it with a straight face. Sather wrapped up a plastic ring in the box meant for the real thing and presented it to Weight in front of his Oiler teammates, then sprung the real one on him. &ldquo;He had me going,&rdquo; Weight said&hellip;The Oilers&rsquo; home average attendance climbed to 16,060 this season from 12,335 in 1995-96&hellip;Team award winners: goalie Curtis Joseph (MVP, most popular player); Bryan Marchment (best defenseman); right winger Mike Grier (best first-year Oiler); Weight (unsung hero); right winger Kelly Buchberger (best defensive forward). &#9632;

f0016-04

GM Sather’s playoff vow comes true

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07322/6485492-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="742" height="1188"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Vanbiesbrouck</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05416/6485499-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="166" height="167"></div>John Vanbiesbrouck figures all the Florida Panthers needed entering the playoffs was a little adversity-and a motivational speech from coach Doug MacLean.Vanbiesbrouck called a speech given by MacLean before the Panthers&rsquo; April 6 meeting against the Washington Capitals &ldquo;real strong.&rdquo; During the speech, MacLean told his club he didn&rsquo;t care whether it finished fourth, fifth or sixth in the Eastern Conference, as long as it began to play better during the final week of the season.The Panthers not only responded with a 3-3 tie against the Caps, but scored four third period goals April 9 to beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2. It was the first time in 26 tries this season the Panthers had come back from a third period deficit.After seeing his team sleepwalking through the final weeks of the season, Vanbiesbrouck believed the Panthers needed a challenge before the playoffs after clinching a playoff spot several weeks earlier.&ldquo;Engaging in the battle is a very big thing for this team,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said. &ldquo;Doug&rsquo;s speech before the game was real strong and from that point on I felt we finally got it into the right perspective.&rdquo;MacLean said it&rsquo;s time dwell on the positives, not the negatives. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to let one week ruin an entire year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re one of the top seven teams in the NHL and there&rsquo;s 20 other teams that would like to be like us.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Doug MacLean made his final lineup decisions the last week of the season, and &ldquo;unless something drastic,&rdquo; was to happen, those watching the playoffs from the press box would be centers Martin Straka and Chris Wells, right winger David Nemirovsky and defenseman Per Gustafsson&hellip;Left winger Dave Lowry, who led the Panthers with 10 goals in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, was rounding into playoff form. He scored three goals in three games from April 5 through 9&hellip;Right winger Scott Mellanby was feeling a bit of deja vu. &ldquo;Everyone seems to be (doubting) us again,&rdquo; Mellanby said. &ldquo;I remember all the media picked us to bow out in five games against Boston last year.&rdquo; The Cats beat the Bruins in five. &#9632;

f0016-07

Panthers rise to challenge

<div class="byline">By Jerry Higgins</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06349/6485530-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="169" height="166"></div>He doesn&rsquo;t have a &lsquo;C&rsquo; or &lsquo;A&rsquo; on his sweater, but down the stretch, center Keith Primeau was the unabashed leader of the Hartford Whalers.He scored big goals. He dished out big hits. And he was even willing to drop the gloves and fight a loved one if that&rsquo;s what it took to win.Late in the second period of a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres April 7, goalie Sean Burke was run by a Sabre. Primeau sped into the fray and grabbed the player and pulled him to the side.It was Primeau&rsquo;s younger brother, Wayne, who swept in and tried to jam in a rebound. The two men skated out by the faceoff circle, dropped the gloves and a fight ensued. Although there weren&rsquo;t a lot of major blows in the fracas, Keith Primeau knocked Wayne to the ice and got the clear decision.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a close-knit family, but we&rsquo;re both the type of guys who like to win,&rdquo; Wayne said. &ldquo;It was weird because I&rsquo;ve always idolized Keith since I was a little kid.&rdquo; Keith regretted the incident took place.&ldquo;At the time it happened, I wasn&rsquo;t disappointed, but I came in the dressing room and I was real upset with what happened. That&rsquo;s blood, man,&rdquo; Keith said. &ldquo;I was real disappointed that it had to happen. Right away I came in and called my parents and apologized.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Hartford sold out two of the three home games after the March 26 announcement by owner Peter Kamtanos that he&rsquo;d move the team&hellip;Hartford fell behind 2-0 in the first period against Buffalo and Ottawa in consecutive games, then scored three times in the third period to mount spirited comebacks. While the Whalers beat Buffalo 4-2 at the Civic Center, they lost 5-4 at Ottawa April 9, which kept the Senators alive for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot&hellip;Left winger Derek King scored just three goals in his first 10 games with the Whalers after his trade from the Islanders March 18. &ldquo;The team traded for Derek King to score goals and I&rsquo;m not doing the job,&rdquo; King said after he was held to no shots by Ottawa. &#9632;

f0016-06

Primeaus blood brothers after regrettable battle

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011176/6485561-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="171" height="171"></div>Nightmare on St-Antoine Street appeared ready for its second run in Montreal this season-just as the Montreal Canadiens were about to embark on the playoffs.The Canadiens led the league in man-games lost to injuries or illness with 356, but were nearing full strength when the team was felled by a new rash of casualties.Defenseman Peter Popovic and center Marc Bureau were hurt in the regular-season&rsquo;s final week. In a 72-hour period, Popovic suffered bruised ribs while Bureau fractured the index finger on his left hand. Both players were expected to miss at least the first round.With one game remaining, the Canadiens had not officially wrapped up a playoff spot. They also did not play a single game this season with a full roster.Popovic had missed only one game this season, in February, due to a bruised foot.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big loss. He was playing some great hockey,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; coach Mario Tremblay. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad to lose him at this time because he&rsquo;s so important. He has been one of our best defensemen in the second half.&rdquo;Bureau, meanwhile, had already missed 36 games, including 26 with tom knee ligaments. He&rsquo;s the Canadiens&rsquo; best defensive center and one of their best at faceoffs.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s life. There&rsquo;s nothing we can do,&rdquo; Tremblay said. &ldquo;It has been like that all year. We&rsquo;re getting used to it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Jacques Demers, who coached the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup victory in 1993, has been pulled away from his scouting duties to assist Mario Tremblay through the playoffs. &ldquo;Mario called and asked me if I could work with the team,&rdquo; said Demers, a pro scout who was preparing to go to Helsinki for the World Championship&hellip;Former Canadiens&rsquo; legend Maurice Richard said he cannot ever remember Montreal being excited about the prospect of the Canadiens simply making the playoffs. &lsquo;They play good hockey when they work hard,&rdquo; he said recently, while watching the Canadiens lose to Hartford at the Molson Centre. &ldquo;But a lot of games the other team works harder, so they don&rsquo;t look too good. It has been like that all year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-01

Habs finally get healthy, then injuries strike again

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04471/6485592-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="616" height="998"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve McKenna</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02885/6485599-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="170" height="167"></div>This is no tall tale.Steve McKenna of the Los Angeles Kings insists he&rsquo;s a legitimate 6-foot-8, unlike some NHL players who would have to stand on a stack of phone books to reach the height that&rsquo;s listed next to their name on the roster.&ldquo;On skates and with a bucket (helmet) on my head I may be tipping seven feet,&rdquo; said McKenna, who weighs 245 pounds and was promoted from the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International League March 23 and is believed to be the tallest player in IHL and NHL history.McKenna, a Toronto native, signed with the Kings as a free agent last May after playing at Merrimack College. He&rsquo;s one of many youngsters who got ample playing time as the Kings, long eliminated from the playoffs, wound down their season.It&rsquo;s an on-the-job audition for next season for McKenna, who played defense for the Roadrunners before being shifted to left wing three weeks before he was called up. With the Kings, he played only the left side up front and did a decent job of providing the toughness the team lost when enforcer Matt Johnson suffered a back strain.McKenna had 27 penalty minutes in his first seven games, including a fighting major for battling Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defenseman David Karpa.&ldquo;He has done everything we asked him to do,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson. &ldquo;At least he sticks his nose in there, which I wish a few more guys would do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Larry Robinson was to meet with club executives to discuss his wish to have another escape clause added to his contract after next season. His four-year, $3.2-million contract contains an escape clause he can invoke after this season, but Robinson said he wants an additional option. He said it&rsquo;s not an expression of no confidence in management. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not so much their side as my side,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never done and never thought of making long-term plans. I could be at the same juncture next year and say, &lsquo;I want to go home and have a normal life.&rsquo; &ldquo;The players hope he stays&hellip;Defenseman Aki Berg, who had no goals in his first 89 NHL games, scored goals in each of the next two games. &#9632;

f0017-04

Life looks up for McKenna

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03642/6485630-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="169" height="168"></div>It was just a warm-up for the post-season, but the New Jersey Devils could not wait to test the hot goaltender theory in the playoffs.Martin Brodeur made a valiant stab at becoming the second goaltender in modem NHL history (post-1943) to record four consecutive shutouts, although he came up short in that bid and lost his chance at winning 40 games this season when the Tampa Bay Lightning buzzed his crease for a 2-2 tie April 8.&ldquo;For sure Marty is the kind of goaltender capable of dominating in the playoffs,&rdquo; said center Doug Gilmour. &ldquo;From what I&rsquo;ve seen of him, he has been consistent through the whole season and in order to have any success in the playoffs, you have to have a consistent goaltender.&rdquo;Brodeur was unbeatable during a three-game stretch in which he registered successive shutouts against the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay. The record of four straight was set by Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens in 1948-49. Montreal&rsquo;s George Hains worth (1928-29) and Roy Worters of the New York Americans (1930-31) recorded four straight shutouts in the pre-modem era.When Jason Wiemer deflected a Brian Bradley shot past Brodeur at 11:43 of the second period, it ended the goalie&rsquo;s shutout streak at a Devils&rsquo; team record 213 minutes, 52 seconds.&ldquo;We were going to stop the game and have two minutes of silence,&rdquo; said Scott Stevens. &lsquo;Two goals against is still very good, but at some point you feel you&rsquo;ll never get scored on.&rdquo;After Brodeur&rsquo;s three shutouts, backup Mike Dunham blanked the St. Louis Blues April 6, giving the Devils a team scoreless streak of 212 minutes, 13 seconds.&ldquo;When it went in I said: &lsquo;It&rsquo;s finally over. Too bad.&rsquo; I would have liked to get the fourth shutout, but it was going to happen one of these days,&rdquo; Brodeur said.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Bill Guerin set a team record when he was plus or even in 29 straight games between Feb. 5 and April 1. During the streak, Guerin went from minus-14 to plus-l&hellip;The April 6 victory in St. Louis was Jacques Lemaire&rsquo;s 150th as Devils&rsquo; coach and left him two shy of 200 overall&hellip;Rookie center Denis Pederson was voted by teammates as the club&rsquo;s unsung hero&hellip;Goalie Mike Dunham&rsquo;s agent, Bob Murray, said a grievance will likely be filed over the manner in which the Devils got the goalie into 25 games this season, thereby preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent. Several of Dunham&rsquo;s appearances were for a matter of seconds. &#9632;

f0017-03

Four straight not in cards for Brodeur

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011212/6485661-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="212" height="215"></div>For the first time since the rebirth of the franchise, the Ottawa Senators had a successful season.Not only did the team make strides in the standings, team president Roy Mlakar said the first playoff chase in club history paid dividends by boosting revenues to help Ottawa improve next season.The Senators sold out the 18,500-seat Corel Centre for the fourth straight game for the first time this year in the final game of the regular season, April 12 against the Buffalo Sabres.The race boosted average attendance more than 1,000 per-game in the last two months of the year.With two games left, the Senators were in a battle for a playoff spot, but were certain to avoid last place overall for the first time since they joined the league in 1992-93.&ldquo;It reminds me of the fust year I was in Los Angeles,&rdquo; said Mlakar, former president of the Los Angeles Kings. &ldquo;It was the year before we got Wayne Gretzky and we had a young team (in 1987-88) that came on at the end of the year to make the playoffs. People really got excited about it.&rdquo;The Senators are excited they were able to lease all 147 luxury suites for the final six games of the regular season. That&rsquo;s another first for the Ottawa franchise.Mlakar expects the club&rsquo;s television and radio revenues will be increased next season.NOTEBOOK: Ottawa captain Randy Cunneyworth signed a two-year deal with the club with the second year at the Senators&rsquo; option. Making $525,000 (Cdn.) this season, the club&rsquo;s longest serving leader will receive $550,000 next year and $600,(XX) in 1998-99. &ldquo;The reason I feel so excited is because I foresee a lot of good things happening here and I want to be here,&rdquo; Cunneyworth said&hellip;Coach Jacques Martin revealed the reason goalie Damian Rhodes didn&rsquo;t start any games down the stretch was because Martin didn&rsquo;t feel confident in Rhodes&rsquo; injured ankle. Rhodes recendy missed three weeks with a bruised calf muscle. &ldquo;Right now, Rhodes is not ready to play. That&rsquo;s the bottom line,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a decision to make.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Season rates as success in Ottawa for a change

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03616/6485692-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="744" height="1190"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tommy Salo</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02893/6485699-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="212" height="211"></div>Tommy Salo began the season with a 2-12-1 NHL record, but had a breakout year to help the New York Islanders stay in the hunt for a playoff spot until their 80th game.With two games remaining, Salo had started 25 straight games. He had a 2027-8 record with a 2.82 goals-against average and 90.4 save percentage. The Islanders were eliminated from playoff contention when they lost a home-and-home series to the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 and 3-1 April 7 and 9. Salo was their best player in each game.&ldquo;Tommy has been that way every game,&rdquo; said Islanders&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;He has given us great goaltending&hellip;helped keep us in the hunt this long.&rdquo;Salo&rsquo;s agent, Rich Winter, said in the previous two seasons the Swedish goalie had pressed when called up from the minors because he knew if he had a bad game, he would be benched or demoted. This past fall, GM Mike Milbury told Salo he would get a legitimate shot to win the top job. Winter said the news relaxed Salo.Milbury gave up the coaching reins to Rick Bowness Jan. 24.&ldquo;Both Rick and Mike gave me lots of games.&rdquo; Salo said. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;ve shown I can play here. The last two years they just gave me a couple of games here and there so it was tough to show I could play at this level.&rdquo;Salo, 26. backstopped Sweden to the Olympic title and won Turner Cups with the Denver and Utah Grizzlies of the International League in and 1996.NOTEBOOK: In three straight losses which doomed the Islanders&rsquo; playoff chances, their power play was 0-for-16&hellip;Left winger Dave McLIwain played his 500th NHL game April 5 in a 3-2 home loss to Tampa Bay before the club&rsquo;s 11th sellout crowd of the season&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Berard&rsquo;s assist in that game was his 39th, two more than Denis Potvin&rsquo;s 197374 rookie total&hellip;Goalie Eric Fichaud indicated he had no interest in joining Kansas City of the International League once the Islanders were eliminated from the playoffs. GM Mike Milbury. who put Fichaud on the Blades&rsquo; eligibility list to give him that option, said the two will discuss the matter. Fichaud was 8-13-4 in 32 games and had a 2.97 goals-against average. &#9632;

f0018-03

Tommy hit on Island

<div class="byline">By Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04384/6485730-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="212" height="212"></div>Last spring, Shane Churla was one of the New York Rangers&rsquo; best forwards in the playoffs, which was as much an indictment of the rest of the forwards as it was a compliment to Churla.But this season could not end quickly enough for the Rangers&rsquo; tough winger. It has been nightmare after nightmare.&ldquo;There haven&rsquo;t been too many highlights in my year,&rdquo; Churla said. &ldquo;It has been a year I wouldn&rsquo;t wish on my worst enemies. Well, maybe a few of them.&rdquo;In the pre-season, Churla broke his hand in a fight. In November he broke his orbital bone in another fight. In December he returned, with orders not to fight, and was injured in, you guessed it, a fight. Two games later, still under orders to not fight, he got into one with Scott Thornton of the Montreal Canadiens. and was publicly admonished by coach Colin Campbell for having his &ldquo;own agenda".Then came a groin injury followed by a pinkie injury caused when Churla got tangled up with linesman Kevin Collins while trying to fight. Then there was a bout with the flu.Finally, with three games left in the regular season, Churla found more misery. This one came with a bit of revenge, though.Pat Flatley was hit with a puck and Churla was placed on the right wing of a line assigned to check and harass Eric Lindros of the Philadelphia Flyers. Churla got under Lindros&rsquo; skin and the Flyers&rsquo; captain whacked Churla with his stick. Churla&rsquo;s bloody, broken nose wound up under his left eye.Lindros ended up in the penalty box for four minutes as the Rangers scored twice for a 3-2 victory. Two days later, Lindros was suspended for two games, including the rematch, a 6-3 Rangers&rsquo; win.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s used to people goading him, but he didn&rsquo;t make the right decision with using his stick,&rdquo; Churla said.NOTEBOOK: The Ulf Samuelsson-Alexander Karpovtsev defense tandem had helped the Rangers limit Philadelphia&rsquo;s Legion of Doom line (Eric Lindros. John LeClair. Mikael Renberg) to three goals in five games, none by LeClair&hellip; An MRI on center Mark Messier&rsquo;s left leg showed no serious damage and no calcification of muscle. He had been hobbled since March 21 when hit by a hip check from Detroit defenseman Slava Fetisov, but missed only two games&hellip;The Rangers handed out their regular-season hardware and the one surprise trophy went to left winger Darren Langdon, whose fearless protection of his teammates earned him the Players&rsquo; Player award, voted by the players. &#9632;

f0018-04

Season one big pain for enforcer

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011127/6485761-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="209" height="221"></div>Franchise players usually don&rsquo;t have to handle their own retaliation work, but then Eric Lindros isn&rsquo;t your usual franchise player.In his five-year career with the Philadelphia Flyers, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound center has been able to hold his own with the NHL&rsquo;s tough guys.Still, the question remains: should the 24-year-old captain spend his time slugging it out with instigators?The Flyers thought they had the solution this season when they put together an enforcer line of Daniel Lacroix, Dan Kordic and Scott Daniels. For the most part, that system seemed to work.But it broke down April 7 in a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Lindros lost his cool twice, breaking right winger Shane Churla&rsquo;s nose with a high stick in the second period and opening a 10-stitch cut on defenseman Ulf Samuels-son&rsquo;s lip in the final seconds.Two days later, NHL vice-president Brian Burke handed Lindros a two-game suspension, the first of his career.The morning of Burke&rsquo;s announcement, the Flyers held a meeting to discuss discipline-when to use force and when to turn the other way.Lindros expressed regret the two players were injured, but said he was tired of being a target.&ldquo;(Churla) was an isolated incident,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never swung my stick before, never attempted to hurt anybody and never been suspended for anything. I don&rsquo;t worry about it happening again.&ldquo;(But) if they&rsquo;re going to come out against Johnny (LeClair) and me, well, then, let&rsquo;s go after (Brian) Leetch and (Wayne) Gretzky.&rdquo;Coach Terry Murray doesn&rsquo;t want his best player left exposed, but said his team has to be smart about using physical tactics.&ldquo;There is some stuff you have to suck up and that&rsquo;s all there is to it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not going to show that composure now, it&rsquo;s too difficult to turn the switch on later when the playoffs start.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Mikael Renberg suffered a facial cut that required more than 200 stitches when he was slashed by the skate of Ottawa left winger Randy Cunneyworth April 6. The cut runs from Renberg&rsquo;s chin to just below his eye. Renberg was expected to return for the final weekend of the season using a full face shield. Some laser and plastic surgery may be performed after the season. Asked whom he wanted to look like after surgery, Renberg cracked, &ldquo;Brad Pitt.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Dale Hawerchuk was out day-to-day with a sore groin&hellip;Defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, out since Jan. 15 with neck surgery, said he was making vast improvement and hoped to be back in the lineup by the first round of the playoffs. &#9632;

f0019-01

Murray preaches composure

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02813/6485792-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="210" height="222"></div>He finished the regular season having started 42 consecutive games, but Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; goalie Nikolai Khabibulin acted as if he still hadn&rsquo;t broken a sweat.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ll hold up,&rdquo; said the 24-year-old. &ldquo;Grant Fuhr played 76 games in a row last season. I hope I play 60-something in a row because that means we will win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;The Coyotes will be counting heavily on Khabibulin to lead the way if they are to advance beyond the first round for only the third time in the franchise&rsquo;s 18-year history.The Bulin Wall, who took a 29-34-6 record and seven shutouts into the Coyotes&rsquo; regular season finale against the Edmonton Oilers, nearly did it last year when the Winnipeg Jets pushed the Detroit Red Wings to six games in the opening round. Now Khabibulin wants to take that near-success one step further.&ldquo;If a goalie gets hot in the playoffs,&rdquo; Khabibulin said, &ldquo;anything can happen. He can take a team to the next level. I&rsquo;d like to do that.&rdquo;Backup goalie Darcy Wakaluk, who returned to practice in the final week of the season after missing nearly three months with knee problems, said his partner is an inspiration.&ldquo;When a guy&rsquo;s back there making the saves like Niki has been making game after game, it gives the team so much confidence that they&rsquo;re going to be in the game and the longer you stay in the game, the more chances you have to win it.&rdquo;Khabibulin went through a stretch in March where he allowed only 10 goals in eight of 11 games. But in his second-to-last game of the season, against the Vancouver Canucks April 9, he was pulled for only the third time since beginning his streak after giving up three goals on the Canucks&rsquo; first five shots.&ldquo;Niki&rsquo;s going to be one of the next elite-level goalies,&rdquo; said coach Don Hay. &ldquo;Maybe you can&rsquo;t put him with the top three guys like (Patrick) Roy, (Dominik) Hasek or (Martin) Brodeur just yet, but if he has another good year in the playoffs this year and then has another solid year next year and does it again, he&rsquo;s there to stay.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: More than a few Coyotes were limping into the playoffs. Aside from injuries to defensemen Norm Maciver (broken thumb), Murray Baron (fractured foot) and Jeff Finley (sprained ankle), left winger Keith Tkachuk was slowed by a hip pointer and right winger Jim McKenzie was briefly sidelined with a pulled groin&hellip;Second-line right winger Jeremy Roenick got two of his front teeth knocked out in the Vancouver game when Canucks&rsquo; right winger Brian Noonan&rsquo;s stick blade hit him. Roenick underwent six hours of root canal surgery and other repairs the following day in Edmonton&hellip;Tkachuk had 13 goals in 13 games entering the season-finale and was leading the NHL with 51 goals, one ahead of former Winnipeg teammate Teemu Selanne. &#9632;

f0019-02

Khabibulin relishes top dog role

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02420/6485823-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="327" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01777/6485830-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="170" height="167"></div>It was almost as if the Civic Arena crowd didn&rsquo;t know quite how to say goodbye.On April 8, Mario Lemieux played his final regular season home game, just a couple of days after he made official what he had been hinting at all season long: Once the Pittsburgh Penguins are through with the Stanley Cup playoffs, his days as a player are over.&ldquo;My decision was made last September and it hasn&rsquo;t changed since then,&rdquo; he said on the day before his big night in front of the home folks. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I made the announcement when I did so we can go forward with what&rsquo;s important and that&rsquo;s the playoffs. I&rsquo;ll have a clear mind going into the playoffs and give it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing some good hockey, but my mind has been made up for quite a while and it&rsquo;s pretty hard to change right now. When I told Howard (Baldwin, Penguins&rsquo; chairman of the board) last year. I was coming back it was for one more year and that was it. So far 1 haven&rsquo;t changed my mind and that&rsquo;s why 1 made the announcement.&rdquo;The game was also the Penguins&rsquo; annual awards night, so the 17,355 had a few extra chances to cheer for No. 66. He was given a special crystal piece by the organization in recognition of what he has accomplished over the years.But once the game against the Boston Bruins started, the crowd didn&rsquo;t quite rock the Arena as expected. Part of that, no doubt, had to do with Lemieux failing to score a goal, even though he fired 11 shots on net, one short of his own team record.&ldquo;I think it showed in the beginning, I was pressing a little too much, rushing my shots. I was a little too nervous,&rdquo; Lemieux said.With 4:31 left in the game, after another in a series of Lemieux video tributes on the scoreboard, the crowd rose in a standing ovation that lasted basically the rest of the game.Lemieux took his time leaving the ice, savouring the 3-1 victory, the ovation ano waving to the crowd. He shook hands with several of the Bruins and talked to Ray Bourque about a sweater exchange.When he was named the co-No. 1 star of the game with goaltender Patrick Lalime, he took his time skating onto the ice again and waved several more times to the crowd.The fans had this bit of consolation as Lemieux left the Arena: They would have at least two more chances to see him play at home. No one knows for sure how long the Penguins will last in the post-season, but the minimum number of home games they would have is two.NOTEBOOK: The win over Boston assured the Penguins of their seventh consecutive winning season. Their playoff appearance will also be their seventh straight, a franchise record&hellip;The maximum number of road wins Pittsburgh could finish with was 15. Not including the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, that would be their lowest total since 1989-90&hellip;Left winger Mario Lemieux entered an April 11 game at Florida with a seven-game scoring streak (five goals, 14 points)&hellip;Goalie Ken Wregget was pulled after one period of a 5-2 win over Ottawa April 5 when he strained a hamstring. The injury wasn&rsquo;t believed to be serious, but Patrick Lalime started the next two games and Philippe DeRouviile was recalled from Kansas City of the International League&hellip;Chairman of the board Howard Baldwin said the deal between him and Roger Marino, a Massachusetts businessman, for Marino to become a partner in the Penguins&rsquo; wnership group, was virtually complete. League approval was also pending. &#9632;

f0021-02

Civic Arena fans relatively civil for Lemieux’s Pittsburqh finale

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04163/6485861-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="324" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03228/6485868-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="168" height="166"></div>Bobby Hull didn&rsquo;t get to see his son Brett join him in the NHL&rsquo;s exclusive 500-goal club with a hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings in December, but he reveled in hpino nrpsent for Rrett&rsquo;s 500th poal in a St. Louis Blues&rsquo; uniform.Never mind the Golden Jet didn&rsquo;t know that the Golden Brett was so I close to No. 500 with the Blues until left winger Geoff Courtnall fished the puck out of the net after the goal. The younger Hull accomplished the feat in a crucial 1-0 win over Dad&rsquo;s former team, the Chicago Blackhawks, April 9.&ldquo;I was wondering why he was doing it, but it didn&rsquo;t take me long to figure it out,&rdquo; Bobby Hull said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Son of gun. that&rsquo;s what it has got to be.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s great.&rdquo;Only 15 players have scored 500 goals with the same team. Bobby and Brett Hull are the only father-son combination to do it.Hull scored the landmark goal at the appropriate time of 9:16 of the first period. He wears No. 16 and has been with the Blues nine seasons. The goal gave Hull, who started his career with the Calgary Flames, 527 NHL goals.&ldquo;There (are) not many guys who have done it&hellip;to be able to score that number of goals with the Blues is really quite an honor,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;Everyone knows how I feel about being a St. Louis Blue. It really is special.&ldquo;My dad was here, too, and that made it more special. It&rsquo;s always fun to play in front of him.&rdquo;The importance of the goal, not the milestone, meant the most to Hull. It put the Blues into the playoffs for the 18th consecutive season. The goal came in Hull&rsquo;s return to the lineup after missing three games with a pulled groin. The Blues were 0-1-2 in those games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big goal and that&rsquo;s what I get paid for,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to come through. You want to get into the playoffs. Once you make the playoffs, that&rsquo;s when everything can happen.&rsquo;&rdquo;A few months ago, before the Blues fired Mike Keenan as coach-UM, Hull wasn t sure he&rsquo;d see this day-either making the playoffs with this team or scoring his 500th in the bluenote.&ldquo;There were so many rumors for so long,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;It has been a turmoil-filled few years. Things weren&rsquo;t going good. Hockey wasn&rsquo;t much fun, but thankfully, everything changed.&ldquo;We made the switch. Joel Quenneville came in (as coach), and all he has done is preach positive things. He has established a system we have to play. We&rsquo;re a hardworking team and we&rsquo;re having fun. It&rsquo;s a great group of guys and we&rsquo;re working hard together.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Grant Fuhr recorded his third shutout of the season and 20th of his career in the victory over Chicago&hellip;The win over the Blackhawks gave the Blues an 18-15-7 road record this season, assuring them of their third consecutive .500 or better season on the road and the fifth in the franchise&rsquo;s 30 years&hellip;The bad news was the Blues&rsquo; 17-20-4 record at Kiel Center was their second sub-.500 season in succession at home and fourth in franchise history&hellip;Center Harrs York broke a prolonged slump with two goals and an assist in a 5-1 win over Toronto April 10. Prior to that game, York had just four goals and 13 points in a 45-game stretch. He was recently scratched for four consecutive games&hellip;The Blues were 13-16-5 in games right winger Brett Hull has missed over the course of his career in St. Louis&hellip;After missing 10 games recovering from thumb surgery, right winger Jim Campbell returned for four games, but his thumb remained sore and he returned to the injury list on a day-to-day basis. &#9632;

f0021-04

Hull reaches another milestone with winninoooal in kev flame

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02617/6485899-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="213" height="216"></div>Al Sims held his tongue for nearlv the entire season. Finally, the first-year coach of the San Jose Sharks couldn&rsquo;t take it any longer.Sims seized the opportunity afforded by a 7-6 overtime victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche April 4 to question the state of officiating in the NHL.San Jose edged Colorado on rookie left winger Stephen Guolla&rsquo;s goal 35 seconds into overtime despite facing seven Avalanche power play opportunities while getting just three man-advantage chances of its own.&ldquo;We just want fair officiating,&rdquo; said Sims, whose club had long since been eliminated from playoff contention. &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;re out of it. We&rsquo;re a lastplace team, but we just want people to be fair. When (power plays) are 8-2 or 7-1 or 9-2 against us, that&rsquo;s just not fair.&rdquo;Through 80 games, the Sharks were the NHL&rsquo;s most penalized team, averaging 25 penalty minutes per game. San Jose had also been shorthanded a league-leading 402 times, 38 more than the second place Chicago Blackhawks, and had only played in 19 games in which it had more power plays than its opponent.The Sharks, though, made a concerted effort to shed their image as weaklings after last season. Tough guys Marty McSorley, Todd Ewen and Tim Hunter, as well as the feisty Tony Granato, Todd Gill, Kelly Hrudey and Bernie Nicholls were added.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Tony Granato recorded his seventh career hat trick and second this season in a 7-6 overtime win over visiting Colorado April 4. Granato&rsquo;s other three-goal performance this year also came in a 7-6 overtime victory, Oct. 6 at Los Angeles&hellip;Goaltender Wade Flaherty, who has spent most of the season with Kentucky of the American League, stopped 33 Avalanche shots to record his first win in four NHL decisions this year. Flaherty&rsquo;s second win came five nights later at Colorado when he registered 37 saves in a 4-1 triumph&hellip;Right winger Owen Nolan scored his 31st goal of the year April 4, breaking the previous Sharks&rsquo; single-season record, established by Sergei Makarov in 1993-94. &#9632;

f0022-02

Sims accuses referees of unfairness to Sharks

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03440/6485930-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="210" height="209"></div>Time and again, he has been doubted. Time and again, he has doggedly proved his detractors wrong.This time, Tampa Bay Lightning center John Cullen faces an obstacle greater than any other he has encountered-non-Hodgkin&rsquo;s lymphoma, detected March 27. And this time, like every other, Cullen senses he will prevail.&ldquo;I feel great,&rdquo; Cullen said April 10, speaking to the media for the first time since a cancerous mass was found in his chest. &ldquo;Some days are better than others. Sometimes it&rsquo;s hard to get a breath or speak. It really hurts. Other days, it&rsquo;s fine. Like today: I feel like I could play.&rdquo;Cullen, 32, has always felt as if he could play; it was just getting others to agree that was difficult. He was overlooked out of Boston University in the entry draft, then finally was taken in the supplemental draft in 1986. He has played for five teams in his NHL career and at various points has been considered expendable. This season, he was the Lightning&rsquo;s second-leading scorer with 55 points in 70 games.&ldquo;To play this game, I&rsquo;ve always had to work harder than anybody else,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a lot of natural talent like a lot of guys in the league and I think I&rsquo;ll have to work hard at this.&rdquo;The job started April 11, when the 32-year-old began six months of chemotherapy treatment. Tests performed in Tampa and at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., revealed the cancer had not spread, comforting news after the initial shock.&ldquo;You hear the big C-word, and you don&rsquo;t say it often. I guess it makes you nervous,&rdquo; Cullen said. &ldquo;The guys at Mayo said I&rsquo;ve probably had this for months. But everything&rsquo;s good. To me, it&rsquo;s kind of like a six-month injury.&rdquo;Cullen said the cure rate for nonHodgkin&rsquo;s lymphoma is 90 per cent. A second later, he was corrected. &ldquo;Ninety-two percent,&rdquo; said his wife, Valerie.The couple is optimistically looking forward to the day his hockey career resumes. &ldquo;Vai asked the doctor at Mayo, &lsquo;Do you think he will ever play again?&rsquo; &ldquo;Cullen said. &ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Oh, yeah. I see no reason why not.&rsquo; &ldquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Brian Bradley returned April 8 against New Jersey after missing 37 games with a tom ligament in his wrist&hellip;After a 2-2 tie with New Jersey, Tampa Bay finished the regular season with a record of 9-0-3 on Tuesdays&hellip;The Lightning drew an Ice Palace-record crowd of 20,667 to its home finale, a 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh April 10. It was the seventh sellout of the season, bumping the average home crowd this season to 17,419&hellip;Team president Steve Oto said multiple parties remain interested in purchasing the Lightning. Only one has been identified, the Maloof family of New Mexico. Oto said Massachusetts businessman Richard Marino looked at the Lightning&rsquo;s books last fall, but Marino instead pursued a minority share of the Pittsburgh Penguins. &#9632;

f0022-03

Cullen’s approach positive as cancer treatments begin

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04295/6485961-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="212" height="208"></div>Don Beaupre didn&rsquo;t want the work, but Marcel Cousineau does.With Beaupre, a 17-year veteran, declining to play for the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs in the playoffs despite playing most of the season in the American League, Cousineau jumped into the breach despite spending most of the season in the NHL as Felix Potvin&rsquo;s backup.And, it should be noted, he did so despite the fact he won&rsquo;t be paid for his trouble.&ldquo;The only thing we&rsquo;re doing is providing Marcel with accommodation,&rdquo; said assistant GM Bill Watters. &ldquo;Otherwise, he&rsquo;s doing it for his career and his team.&rdquo;Beaupre declined to compete in the playoffs, citing homesickness for his family in Minnesota and an absence of financial payoff for AHL post-season work. He would have earned about $11,000 for six weeks work, peanuts for a $965,000-a-year man who plans to retire this summer.Cousineau appeared sporadically for the Leafs this season, even when Potvin was slumping and even in the final weeks of the season.&ldquo;For sure, if I&rsquo;d been playing a lot it would be easier to go down (to St. John&rsquo;s),&rdquo; Cousineau said. &ldquo;But I think I&rsquo;m going to feel the intensity of the guys right away. Any player who can&rsquo;t get ready for playoff time, he has a problem.&rdquo;Cousineau said the lack of significant remuneration doesn&rsquo;t bother him.&ldquo;I played down there for three years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have a lot of friends there. I think they appreciate that I&rsquo;m going to go down there and give the team a hand.&rdquo;Potvin, meanwhile, turned down an invitation to play for Team Canada at the World Championship because his wife is expecting a child.&ldquo;It would have been a chance to boost his profile for the Olympic team in 1998, but of course we understand his reasoning,&rdquo; said Canadian coach Andy Murray.NOTEBOOK: GM Cliff Fletcher reported that after an early-April Maple Leaf Gardens executive committee meeting, he was told it was &ldquo;business as usual&rdquo; despite the club&rsquo;s awful season&hellip;Defenseman Matt Martin becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but the Leafs won&rsquo;t try to re-sign him&hellip;Right winger Jason Podollan is joining St. John&rsquo;s for the AHL playoffs&hellip;Center Mats Sundin, who scored his 40th goal of the season April 5 against Detroit, is expected to be named team captain this summer&hellip;Goalie Felix Potvin started 28 of 29 games&hellip;Defenseman Jason Smith and center Steve Sullivan were hopeful of being invited to play for Canada at the World Championship. &#9632;

f0022-04

Cousineau offers hand in St. John’s

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01901/6485992-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="731" height="1205"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Renney</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05234/6485999-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="213" height="214"></div>Despite coaching the Vancouver Canucks to their worst regular season in six years, Tom Renney said he has received nothing but encouragement from the hierarchy at Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, the Canucks&rsquo; parent company.Orca Bay is owned by Seattle tycoon John McCaw and is run by John Chapple, an American educated at Syracuse and Harvard.&ldquo;John Chapple, John McCaw and (Canucks&rsquo; GM) Pat Quinn all have suggested I persevere and we&rsquo;ll get out of this,&rdquo; Renney said during the season&rsquo;s final week as the Canucks made a late run at a playoff spot &ldquo;I trust the people I work with and I don&rsquo;t have to hear them say it all the time. We all know it has been a watershed year. We&rsquo;ll all review what happened and work to make it better. We&rsquo;ll get on to the next chapter and I find that exciting.&rdquo;The Canucks made their final weeks mildly interesting with a 5-1-3 run and were still mathematically in the play-off hunt with three days left in the season. The late surge occurred amid rumblings of player discontent with Renney&rsquo;s coaching methods and injuries to key players Trevor Linden, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Nemchinov.Linden, meanwhile, said he felt the team&rsquo;s improved play was not a by-product of the dressing room being cleansed of its dirty laundry.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that has anything to do with what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nothing has really changed.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Five weeks after a hit from Colorado defenseman Aaron Miller aggravated his whiplash condition, Canuck superstar right winger Pavel Bure said he was still not feeling better&hellip;The Canucks&rsquo; record against the Central Division this season was 11-10-3. The only team that had a winning mark against them was Toronto (3-1-0)&hellip;Tough guy Gino Odjick got a buzz cut and immediately became a target for his teammates&rsquo; barbs. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not a hair-do, it&rsquo;s a hair-don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; chuckled defenseman Bret Hedican&hellip;After winning his second straight decision over San Jose enforcer Marty McSorley, left winger Donald Brashear received a misconduct for taunting in a 3-2 win April 7. &ldquo;I just asked him how he liked it,&rdquo; Brashear explained. &#9632;

f0022-01

Renney set for 1997-98

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06189/6486030-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="209" height="213"></div>Right winger Rick Tocchet has looked good in a Washington Capitals&rsquo; uniform since being acquired in a trading deadline deal from the Boston Bruins. The question is, how much longer will Tocchet be wearing Washington&rsquo;s duds?Tocchet, 33, is entering an off-season in which he could become an unrestricted free agent if he chooses. His contract also gives him the option to play for another season at $2.1 million.For Tocchet, the decision will come down to two factors: he wants to play for a contending team and he wants his next stop to be his last.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made enough money in my career,&rdquo; Tocchet said. &ldquo;Obviously you want to be paid accordingly, you don&rsquo;t want to play for nothing. But I don&rsquo;t want to be living out of a duffel bag anymore. I think I can be a role player wherever I am, be a positive contributor for the next three years, which is the deal I want. I&rsquo;d like to stay in that city, maybe put down some roots.&rdquo;A small wrench was thrown into the works April 3 when Tocchet suffered a back injury in a game against the Ottawa Senators. The ailment isn&rsquo;t considered serious, however, and is not related to past back problems.At the time of his injury, Tocchet was probably the Caps&rsquo; best forward with five goals and 10 points in 13 games. He was scoring when the team needed it, on tips and rebounds right around the crease.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Pat Peake&rsquo;s amazing injury run continued in bizarre fashion. A passenger in left winger Steve Konowalchuk&rsquo;s car April 10, Peake suffered a concussion when Konowalchuk&rsquo;s car was hit. Peake missed the first 75 games of the season with a shattered heel&hellip;The Caps went 137 minutes, 11 seconds without a goal until defenseman Calle Johansson scored at 6:28 of the first period against Florida April 6. That was 21/2 minutes short of a team record&hellip;The Capitals were guaranteed to finish with their worst record in at least 15 seasons. The amazing thing is, the last time they finished under .500 (36-38-6, 1989-90) was the only time they got to the conference final. &#9632;

f0022-06

Tocchet shines for Caps, but will he next season?

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01882/6486061-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Comeback KidJoe Hulbig is back in the long-range plans of the Edmonton Oilers. (Photo by R. Skeoch/BBS)</figcaption></div>The heckling, and the doubts, started during Joe Hulbig&rsquo;s freshman season at Providence College, when he scored just three goals.Yeah, you&rsquo;re real good. Some first-round pick.A year later, Hulbig doubled his goal total, which wasn&rsquo;t hard to do. The critics were even more vocal.How in Glen Sather&rsquo;s creation could the Edmonton Oilers pick Hulbig out of St. Sebastian&rsquo;s High School in Needham, Mass., with the 13th overall pick in 1992?&ldquo;I had some bad games my first couple years,&rdquo; Hulbig says. &ldquo;Guys on the ice would be telling me I&rsquo;m a flop. I&rsquo;d read things in the papers.&rdquo;Of course, the Oilers had been down this path before, a path littered with wasted first-round picks.Ever remember seeing Kim Issel or Peter Soberlak wear an Edmonton sweater? How about Jason Soules and Selmar Odelein? And don&rsquo;t forget the great Scotts, Allison and Metcalfe.All first-round selections between 1984 and 1990. Between them, they played 41 NHL games. So why should Hulbig&rsquo;s struggles have been any surprise?Even the Oilers were wondering.&ldquo;With any No. 1 pick, there&rsquo;s always a lot of pressure, but we expected him to need some time as a freshman to adjust,&rdquo; says Kevin Prendergast, Edmonton&rsquo;s director of player personnel. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t think it would be as bad as it was, though, and his second year wasn&rsquo;t much better. So a little panic set in.&rdquo;But over the past 2-1/2 seasons, the panic has been replaced by anticipation. Having righted his career in his final two years at Providence, Hulbig has developed into an effective American League power forward.The 23-year-old left winger has modest production-18 goals and 46 points in 71 games-but has shown an ability to battle in the trenches. He is big (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), strong, skates well and has a good slapshot.&ldquo;He has become one of the premier power forwards,&rdquo; says Bulldogs&rsquo; coach Lome M&ouml;lleken. &ldquo;We expect he will be in that same capacity for a lot of years at the next level. He may not score like Cam Neely, but he&rsquo;ll control the boards for a lot of years.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s quite a turnaround in just more than two years. From a guy the Oilers weren&rsquo;t even sure they wanted to sign, to their top prospect in this year&rsquo;s THN Future Watch.But it took time. When the Oilers drafted Hulbig, they knew he was a three-or four-year project. Next season will be the sixth since Edmonton drafted him.&ldquo;My junior and senior years were good (14 goals each season, MVP honors in the 1996 Hockey East tournament), but Edmonton didn&rsquo;t forget the first two years,&rdquo; Hulbig says. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;d be worth signing.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why Hulbig went to training camp in September unsigned. The Oilers were being cautious. &ldquo;He came in and basically won everybody over,&rdquo; Prendergast says.Since Hulbig hasn&rsquo;t scored 20 goals in college or the AHL, it&rsquo;s hard to imagine he&rsquo;ll do it at the NHL level. But he should turn out to be an effective third-liner, the kind of foot soldier that every successful team needs. One thing holding back Hulbig is consistency.&ldquo;The biggest problem with Joe Hulbig,&rdquo; says one NHL scout, &ldquo;is that he often shows you he has what it takes, but he shows it in glimpses. Seldom does he put the whole package together.&rdquo;Hulbig was able to forget his trying freshman and sophomore seasons at Providence and start developing into the role of quality winger as a junior under new Friars&rsquo; coach Paul Pooley.&ldquo;He knew my strengths,&rdquo; Hulbig says. &ldquo;My first couple of years didn&rsquo;t go well and I thought about leaving. I don&rsquo;t think I knew what it took to compete at that level after high school.&rdquo;There is nothing complicated about Hulbig&rsquo;s game. He moves up and down the wing, works the comers and is difficult to push off the puck.&ldquo;He protects the puck well and makes good decisions,&rdquo; M&ouml;lleken says. &ldquo;He plays physical and loves to hit. And one of his biggest assets is he&rsquo;s a team player.&rdquo;Of course, his game isn&rsquo;t perfect, or he wouldn&rsquo;t still be in Hamilton. He needs to make better plays in the defensive zone. He needs to be a little quicker on his skates.But he has already been given a taste of the NHL. He played six games in early March (no points), making his debut against the Los Angeles Kings.He credits his growth at Providence for enabling him to overcome the tough times.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure I matured as well as a hockey player as they (the Oilers) wanted me to, but as a person it helped me tremendously,&rdquo; Hulbig says. &ldquo;I came out knowing hockey&rsquo;s something I want to do for a while. It put life in perspective.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

Hulbig makes big strides

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>When the next American League record book goes to press, Dennis Bonvie&rsquo;s name will appear: Most penalty minutes, one season.With two fights against Greg Walters of the Rochester Americans April 6, the Hamilton Bulldogs&rsquo; right winger brought his season total to 501, 10 more than Barry Nieckar of the Saint John Flames in 1994-95.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know whether to congratulate him or kick him in the butt,&rdquo; said Bulldogs&rsquo; coach Lorne M&ouml;lleken. &ldquo;He only knows how to play one way and that&rsquo;s playing all out.&rdquo;With 501 minutes going into his last two games, Bonvie has been an honest tough-guy. He had no instigating minors and hadn&rsquo;t been suspended. He led the AHL in majors (35) and minors (73) and had nine goals and 29 points in 72 games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping people will say, &lsquo;He has more than 30 points and 500 minutes. This kid&rsquo;s tough and he can play,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Bonvie, 23. &ldquo;We have a rough and tough team and the penalty minutes started to accumulate.&rdquo;The 5-foot-ll, 210-pound Bonvie was signed as a free agent by the Edmonton Oilers in 1994 after playing one year on an AHL contract for the Cape Breton Oilers. In just four AHL seasons, he ranks 15th all-time with 1,467 PIM. He has no points and 47 minutes in 10 NHL games.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02590/6486092-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="79" height="75"></div>&ldquo;His toughness got him this far and that&rsquo;s what will get him to the next level,&rdquo; M&ouml;lleken said. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s &rsquo; an intelligent guy. In a crucial situation, | he can skate away.&rdquo;Bonvie has no chance of setting the pro hockey record. Kevin Evans of the International League&rsquo;s Kalamazoo Wings recorded 648 minutes in 198687. Bonvie&rsquo;s total put him eighth on the all-time minor league list, but he could move up to sixth.WORKING OVERTIME: As if the season isn&rsquo;t demanding enough, what with three-game weekends and long bus travel. But the Portland Pirates aren&rsquo;t content with 60-minute games. With a 4-3 overtime victory over Saint John April 6, the Pirates recorded their 24th overtime game to break the AHL record for most in a season. Four teams shared the old mark of 23. Portland was 7-7-10 in OT.GREAT HELP: Goalie Derek &ldquo;Herlofsky has become the perfect fill-in for the Providence Bruins. When injuries and recalls by the parent Boston Bruins left Providence with only one goalie on two occasions, Herlofsky was brought in to help.On the second last weekend of the season, Herlofsky posted back-to-back shutouts. He made 39 saves in a 1-0 road win over the Worcester IceCats April 5, then blanked the Frederic ton Canadiens 3-0 with 27 saves the next day. A ninth-round draft pick of the Minnesota North Stars in 1991, Herlofsky was 4-1-0 with a 1.78 goals-against average.&ldquo;Derek just plays goal with so much energy, he gives the whole team a charge,&rdquo; said Providence coach Bob Francis.TOP ROOKIES: Portland right winger Jaroslav Svejkovsky, the top prospect in the Washington Capitals&rsquo; system, was named to the AHL all-rookie team. Other forwards are right winger Mike Leclerc of the Baltimore Bandits and center Eric Houde of Fredericton. The defensemen are Jason Holland of the Kentucky Thorough-blades and Craig Millar of Hamilton, with Dan Cloutier of the Binghamton Rangers in goal.AHL TIDBITS: Fredericton center Sebastien Bordeleau scored five goals in a 6-3 victory at Portland April 5&hellip;Worcester goalie Travis Scott made 64 saves, including 25 in the third period, to lead the IceCats to a 3-2 win at Providence April 4. &#9632;</div>

Bulldog enforcer makes record book

<div class="byline">By Kevin Iole</div>The suspended San Francisco Spiders franchise has announced a conditional move to Victoria, B.C., in time for the 1999-2000 season.Owner David Pasant suspended operations after the Spiders lost in excess of $6 million in 1995-96, their only season of operation.Pasant&rsquo;s deal is with Pilot Pacific Development, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the city of Victoria to develop a new 10,000-seat arena complex.Pilot Pacific would get 50 per-cent equity in the franchise and Pasant would get 50 per-cent equity in the arena. There will be three full-sized rinks in the complex, a themed restaurant, large pro shop and sports bar.&ldquo;I think this will be a sensational market for the league,&rdquo; Pasant said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a smaller city than we&rsquo;ve been going into, but from i a logistics standpoint, there is not a lot else there and I think the people will support this.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03325/6486123-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="58" height="64"></div>The move is subject to four conditions, none believed to be insurmountable. First, the B.C. legislature would have to amend municipal acts enabling the city to lease the arena site to the developers under a 45-year tax-exempt lease.It is also contingent upon a master agreement between the city and Pilot Pacific, obtaining necessary financing and approval of the IHL board of governors. Pasant said ground breaking would probably occur in September.MONTREAL FRANCHISE: The IHL may also add another Canadian city. Tony Acurso, a Montreal businessman, has expressed interest in building a 10,000-seat arena in Laval, Que., and putting an IHL franchise in it for 1998-99.The league is aware of Acurso&rsquo;s interest, but said no formal application has been made.Cleveland Lumberjacks&rsquo; owner Larry Gordon, chairman of the board of governors, said he hopes the league can find a way to place a franchise in Montreal or one of its suburbs.&ldquo;One of our priorities has to be further devel oping the Canadian market,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had great success in Winnipeg and Quebec and I think we could do the same in Montreal and Toronto. There have been informal talks about (the Montreal franchise), but the league is very, very interested in that market.&rdquo;ANGRY GUY: Fort Wayne Komets&rsquo; GM David Franke erupted following a 7-2 loss to the Michigan K-Wings April 9.&ldquo;This is the worst effort out of a Komet team in a big game in the seven years we have owned the club,&rdquo; said Franke, whose family owns the team. &ldquo;This is totally baffling, totally inexcusable and totally not in the tradition of the Fort Wayne Komets.&rdquo;Fort Wayne was on the verge of missing the, playoffs for the first time in 21 years. It was four points out of playoff spot with three games remaining.DEFENSE WOES: The Las Vegas Thunder was plagued by major injuries on defense.Thunder coach Chris McSorley said his defense, which features four first round NHL draft picks, should be a team strength, but the club has seldom had all of its players together.A slew of injuries left Las Vegas with just two healthy defensemen for a road game April 10 against the Utah Grizzlies. Injured were Ruslan Salei (dislocated shoulder), Brent Bilodeau (sprained knee), Sergei Yerkovich and Kerry Huffman (knee ligament damage) and Kevin Dahl (hip pointer).The only healthy defensemen were Steve Bancroft and Jeff Serowik.I-OPENERS: Frederic Chabot of the Houston Aeros set an IHL record for games by a goalie when he appeared in his 70th of the season in a 54 shootout win over the Phoenix Roadrunners April 9&hellip;Cleveland&rsquo;s Jock Callander hit the 20-goal plateau for the 12th time in his career.. .Alexander Semak got off to a brilliant start for Las Vegas. In nine games after being acquired from the Syracuse Crunch of the American League, Semak had nine goals and 17 points and was plus-9. &#9632;</div>

Spiders aim to cast web in Victoria for 1999-2000

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>If you want to know anything about the two longest playoff games in East Coast League history, just ask Dave Gagnon.The veteran goaltender has played in both the triple-overtime thrillers and knows the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat.The most recent marathon was April 2 when Alain Savage of the Hampton Roads Admirals scored 1:31 into the third OT period to give the Admirals a 4-3 victory over Gagnon and the visiting Roanoke Express in Game 1 of their best-of-five first-round series.Six years ago, with Gagnon in net for Hampton Roads, the Admirals defeated the Greensboro Monarchs 2-1 with Dave Flanagan scoring at 5:47 of the third OT in Game 4 of the Riley Cup title series.&ldquo;The difference?&rdquo; Gagnon asked. &ldquo;In &lsquo;91,1 remember being exhausted and after we won we celebrated a little on the ice, then went back to the locker room, plopped down and just stared straight ahead, all of us.&ldquo;After (this one), the feeling was different. Still exhausted, but you don&rsquo;t have that inner adulation that keeps you going. It hurts, but that&rsquo;s because we played them so evenly. If they&rsquo;d completely outplayed us, you&rsquo;d feel nothing.&rdquo;The winning goaltender for the Admirals was Darryl Paquette, who robbed Sean Brown with a glove save in the first overtime. Paquette was coming off an ECHL-record three straight shutouts prior to Game 1.Paquette, who broke Paul Cohen&rsquo;s record of back-to-back shutouts in 1993-94, was named player of the week for the period ending March 30.CLASS OF THE FIELD: South Carolina Stingrays&rsquo; center Mike Ross added another honor to his collection of hardware for 1997 when he was chosen ECHL player of the year. Ross had already been named league MVP, most sportsmanlike player and a first-team all-star.Ross finished with 50 goals and 110 points in leading the Stingrays to the best record in the league.Wheeling Nailers&rsquo; left winger Steve Gibson, whose three consecutive hat tricks in March tied I a pro hockey record, was selected March player of the month.ATTENDANCE RECORD: With more teams and games than ever, the ECHL attracted more than 4.2 million fans this season, the first time the league had gone over the 4 million mark in its nine-year history. The Louisiana IceGators, tops in attendance, accounted for 400,185 of the total.The league&rsquo;s average attendance of 5,273 was second only to the 1994-96 record of 5,312.COAST LINES: Scott Gruhl, who led the Richmond Renegades to one Riley Cup title and one regular season championship before taking over as the club&rsquo;s coach this season, had his No. 24 retired in ceremonies March 23 that also honored former coach Roy Sommer, now an assistant with the NHL&rsquo;s San Jose Sharks&hellip;The Baton Rouge Kingfish split $15,100 between the Children&rsquo;s Miracle Network and the Muscular Dystrophy Association after auctioning off their inaugural season home and away sweaters.<h2>ECHL PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>FIRST ROUND (Best of Five)</h3>S. Carolina 3 Charlotte 0 Pensacola 3 Tallahassee 0Hampton Roads 3 Roanoke 1 Richmond 3 Dayton 1Columbus 3 Toledo 2 Louisiana 3 Mobile 0Peoria 3 Wheeling 0 Birmingham 3 Mississippi 0<h3>SECOND ROUND (Best of Five)</h3>Hampton Roads vs. S. Carolina Pensacola vs. RichmondColumbus vs. Peoria Louisiana vs. BirminghamHIGHLIGHTS (April 4-10): Columbus beat Toledo 5-2 in the decisive game in the only series to go five games. Three games went into overtime. Chili goalie Jeff Salajko outdueled Toledo&rsquo;s David Goverde. finishing with a 2.07 GAA&hellip;Pensacola knocked oft South Division champion Tallahassee. Goalie Sean Gauthier held the Tiger Sharks to five goals in the three games. &#9632;

Gagnon on losing side of marathon this time

Butch Goring says it with a straight face: a slow, beaten-up, aging radio broadcaster for the Boston Bruins could have a major impact on his team&rsquo;s chances for a third consecutive Turner Cup.Goring, coach-GM of the International League&rsquo;s Utah Grizzlies, added left winger Andy rickley to his playoff roster March 20 even though Brickley spent the season as a color analyst after reconstructive knee surgery in July.&ldquo;I guess when some people saw that,&rdquo; Brickley said, &ldquo;they might have wondered what Butch had gotten into.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01788/6486185-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="502" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">By Kevin lele</figcaption></div>Goring insists he didn&rsquo;t take leave of his senses. Brickley, 35, had a major impact on the Grizzlies&rsquo; back-to-back championships. Knee and back ailments made him a physical wreck in last season&rsquo;s playoffs, but night after night, Brickley was a force. Few players, Goring said, would have thought of playing with injuries as severe as Brickley&rsquo;s.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking one in a thousand,&rdquo; Goring said. &ldquo;Maybe.&rdquo;Surgery prevented Brickley from playing last fall, so when the radio gig materialized, the former Bruin and Boston-area native jumped at the offer.&ldquo;I had been thinking of playing, but I had just had my knee done and this job came up and it was something that had always interested me,&rdquo; Brickley said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Why not?&rsquo; There could have been worse jobs.&rdquo;Brickley remained in touch with Goring and Utah assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, but it wasn&rsquo;t until January the thought of trying to play again crossed his mind. It was looking more and more certain the Bruins would miss the playoffs and Brickley still had the urge to play.When he flew to Utah to do color for a Grizzlies&rsquo; TV game, the issue was discussed. Goring said a spot on the playoff roster was there for him if he wanted it.&ldquo;What did I have to lose?&rdquo; Goring asked. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re expanding the rosters at that point of the season anyway. If I put him on and he couldn&rsquo;t play, no big deal. But if he came back and could do anything like he did the last couple of years, well, obviously, that would be terrific for us.&rdquo;So Brickley got into shape and decided to go for it.&ldquo;It occurred to me that if I had any thoughts about playing, I should go ahead and do it now or just forget about it,&rdquo; he said.Brickley found out very quickly he hadn&rsquo;t lost much. He flew to Salt Lake City April 2 and took part in the Grizzlies&rsquo; home game that night against the Fort Wayne Komets.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02505/6486178-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="487" height="651"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Brickley</figcaption></div>The Grizzlies have been ravaged by injuries all season and that night was no exception. Goring planned to give Brickley the occasional shift, but circumstances dictated otherwise. And it was the Brickley of old who showed up. He scored a goal and was the game&rsquo;s No. 2 star in a 2-1 Utah victory.Goring could only shake his head.&ldquo;Anything you need to know about the guy, that game should tell you,&rdquo; Goring said. &ldquo;He played last year when very, very few players would have or could have played. And he didn&rsquo;t show up, he contributed. When the guys see that, how can they take themselves out of the lineup?&rdquo;Brickley is not certain how far this comeback will go. He said he enjoyed his broadcast work and would like to do it again. For now, though, the microphone is going to have to wait.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a lot of mixed feelings,&rdquo; Brickley said, &ldquo;but being one of the guys and fighting for the Cup, there&rsquo;s not much else like it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-01

Brickley plays through pain for joy

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Alyn McCauley will paint some apartments for his father&rsquo;s business again this summer, but he has already painted the Ontario League red.The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s center is the winner of the Red Tilson Trophy as the most outstanding player. It was the second straight year he topped media voting for the Tilson Trophy.McCauley is only the third two-time winner. The others to accomplish the feat were George Armstrong (1948, 1950) and Andre Lacroix (1965, 1966). McCauley scored 56 goals in 50 games this season and despite missing 16 games, McCauley was third in the OHL with 112 points.Joe Thornton of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds was second in Tilson voting. Scoring champion Marc Savard of the Oshawa Generals was third.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01859/6486216-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="765" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Laplante and the Warriors couldn&rsquo;t get past Lethbridge.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;This year I wanted to be more consistent offensively,&rdquo; McCauley said. &ldquo;Once I got rolling, I wanted to finish with a goal a game. I was getting known as a checker more than an offensive player. Last year a lot more weight fell on my shoulders defensively.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a better player than last year,&rdquo; said 67&rsquo;s coach Brian Kilrea. &ldquo;He ranks somewhere in the top five (players Kilrea has coached in 20 years with Ottawa). It proves how determined he is because the (OHL) talent pool is deeper this year.&rdquo;McCauley missed the final three games of the regular season and the first two playoff games with a concussion, the second of his four-year OHL career. Recently, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; prospect told The Toronto Star he&rsquo;d had six or seven concussions.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some bumps to my head, but they weren&rsquo;t concussions,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I made the mistake of saying they were.&rdquo;DOG DAYS: OHL commissioner Dave Branch said the league won&rsquo;t get involved in the power struggle involving the expansion Mississauga IceDogs. Branch said he has been assured by owner Don Cherry the IceDogs, &ldquo;are not in any trouble&rdquo; as he tries to force business partner Joe) Albin out of the deal.Albin heads Sportfund, a venture-capital fund, which paid the $150,000 advance on the $1.5-million expansion fee. The IceDogs begin play in 1998-99.FIVE ON SIDELINES: Oshawa defenseman Jeff Ware was suspended three games for cross-checking Andy Johnson of the Peterborough Petes on the side of the head in Game 1 of their playoff. That suspension came down after Ware got two games for head-butting Johnson in a fight in Game 2.GOING HOME: Chad Faulker, the 10-year-old in a coma for six days after being struck on the temple by a puck during a March 20 playoff game in Windsor, was moved April 3 by air ambulance to a Cincinnati hospital to be closer to his Batesville, Ind., home. He&rsquo;s expected to make a full recovery.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>EAST DIVISION CENTRAL DIVISION WEST DIVISION<h3>FIRST ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Ottawa 4 Belleville 2 Barrie 4 Owen Sound 0 Sarnia 4 Windsor 1P&rsquo;borough 4 Kingston 1 Guelph 4 Erie 1 S.S. Marie 4 Detroit 1Bye: Oshawa Bye: Kitchener No bye<h3>SECOND ROUND (Best of Seven crossover)</h3>Ottawa 4 Barrie 1 Kitchener 4 Sarnia 3Guelph 4 S.S. Marie 2 Oshawa 4 Peterborough 2<h3>THIRD ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Ottawa vs. Guelph Oshawa vs. KitchenerHIGHLIGHTS (April 4 to April 10): Ryan Pepperall scored two goals as Kitchener overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Sarnia 7-3 in the deciding game. Kitchener led the series 3-1 before Sarnia rallied for two wins&hellip;West Division champion Sault Ste. Marie was upset by Guelph. &#9632;

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McCauley sees Red as top gun for second time

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>The Prince George Cougars, until recently a Western League doormat, were relishing a remarkable run of playoff prosperity.The sixth-place Cougars advanced to the West Division final after upsetting the top-ranked Portland Winter Hawks and third-seeded Spokane Chiefs.&ldquo;It is amazing, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; Cougars&rsquo; owner Rick Brodsky marvelled. &ldquo;Just don&rsquo;t wake me up.&rdquo;Prince George finished in the West Division basement for seven straight seasons before earning the sixth and final playoff spot this season.Prince George (28-39-5) met Portland (46-215) in the first round and won the best-of-seven series in six games. Prince George finished 36 points behind Portland.The Cougars proceeded to the West semifinal against Spokane (35-33-4) and swept the best-of-five series, moving to the division final against second-place Seattle Thunderbirds (41-27-4).&ldquo;If you had asked me before the playoffs if we&rsquo;d play in the division final, I&rsquo;d have been a liar if I&rsquo;d said yes,&rdquo; Brodsky said. &ldquo;How could I have answered any other way? Now I&rsquo;m reading in the paper how we&rsquo;re the first sixth-place team ever to make the division final.&rdquo;It is a sweet experience for Brodsky, who bought the Cougars from Bob Vranckaert in 1992. Brodsky moved the franchise from Victoria to Prince George after the 1993-94 season.&ldquo;It took longer than I thought for it to go this well,&rdquo; said Brodsky, who previously owned the Saskatoon Blades. &ldquo;This may sound corny, but I have a vision of what I want junior hockey to be. I saw it with Saskatoon at the (1989) Memorial Cup.&rdquo;Prince George had three sellout crowds of 5,995 at the Multiplex during the playoffs.&ldquo;My ex-wife even called to congratulate,&rdquo; Brodsky said. &ldquo;Everyone is on the bandwagon.&rdquo;WARRIORS FINISHED: The playoffs&rsquo; other surprise team, the Moose Jaw Warriors, was eliminated April 8.The Lethbridge Hurricanes won an Eastern Conference semifinal in six games. Lethbridge was the top seed. Moose Jaw was seventh. In the first round, the Warriors upended the second-ranked Brandon Wheat Kings.&ldquo;In the eyes of some people, we exceeded expectations,&rdquo; said Warriors&rsquo; captain Darryl La-plante. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t exceed our expectations. We thought we could go a long way but Lethbridge was in the way and they took it to us.&rdquo;LONG TIME COMING: Prince George earned its first trip to the West Division final since the 1982-83 season&hellip;This year marked the second straight time the Red Deer Rebels have eliminated the Swift Current Broncos, despite the fact the Broncos have finished higher in the standings both seasons.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>WESTERN CONFERENCE EASTERN CONFERENCE<h3>FIRST ROUND (Best of Seven) FIRST ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Prince George 4 Portland 2 Lethbridge 4 Prince Albert 0Seattle 4 Kamloops 1 Moose Jaw 4 Brandon 2Spokane 4 Kelowna 2 Swift Current 4 Medicine Hat 0Red Deer 4 Regina 1<h3>SECOND ROUND (Best of Five) SECOND ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Prince George 3 Spokane 0 Red Deer 4 Swift Current 2Bye: Seattle Lethbridge 4 Moose Jaw 2<h3>THIRD ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Prince George 1 Seattle 0 Red Deer vs. LethbridgeHIGHLIGHTS (April 4 to April 10): Chris Mason made 42 saves and Peter Roed scored at 1:59 of double overtime to give Prince George a 32 win over Seattle in Game 1 of the Western Conference final April 10. &#9632;

Cougars enjoy sweet success of playoff payoff

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Roberto Luongo&rsquo;s stock continues to soar.Luongo, already the top-rated goalie for the NHL entry draft, added another accomplishment to his resume when he almost singlehandedly eliminated the defending Memorial Cup champion Granby Pr&eacute;dateurs from the playoffs.The Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs, who finished 12 points behind Granby in the regular season, won the best-of-seven series 4-1 despite being outshot in four games. Vai d&rsquo;Or wrapped up the series with a 3-2 win April 1 in a game it was outshot 33-23. Luongo had a 2.78 goals-against average and 92.4 save percentage against Granby.Things weren&rsquo;t going quite as well in the Lebel Division final against the Hull Olympiques. Hull won the first two games of the series 4-2 and 6-2. The Memorial Cup hosts had the most explosive offense during the season, averaging 4.9 goals per game. The Olympiques outscored the Drummondville Voltigeurs 35-15 to win their semifinal series 4-1.COSTLY LOSS: The Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; loss to the Halifax Mooseheads in their Dilio Division semifinal was costly.Halifax won the series 4-3 with a 5-3 victory in Game 7 April 4. Mooseheads&rsquo; goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the star of the game as Shawinigan outshot the visiting Mooseheads 55-25.The Cataractes had to play the final three games without No. 1 goalie Sebastien Charpentier, who tore a knee ligament in Game 4. Mathieu Chouinard, who played 17 games during the season, gave up five goals on only 25 shots in Game 7.What made the loss costly for the Cataractes is they spent about $30,000 in travel expenses during the series (they flew to and from Halifax twice) and were hoping to get some of that money back from ticket sales by advancing to the division final.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02563/6486271-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="773" height="897"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vai d&rsquo;Or&rsquo;s Roberto Luongo helped upset heavy favorite Granby.</figcaption></div>Three games in Halifax attracted sellouts of 9,615, while Shawinigan averaged only 2,570 for four home games.SEASON OVER: Victoriaville Tigres&rsquo; fans will spend the off-season wondering what might have been.The Tigres won the Dilio Division regular season title thanks in large part to league MVP Daniel Corso, who had 51 goals and 119 points. But the Tigres were without the injured Corso during the playoffs and paid the price, losing their division semifinal 4-2 to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, who finished 13 points behind Victoriaville. The Tigres scored only 15 goals in the six games and were beaten 7-0 in Game 6.The Tigres originally reported Feb. 25 Corso had mononucleosis. But coach Alain Rajotte admitted after the series Corso actually broke his shoulder in a Feb. 23 game. Rajotte said the team didn&rsquo;t want to report the injury in case Corso returned, fearing opposing players would then go after his bad shoulder.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>LEBEL DIVISION DILIO DIVISION<h3>FIRST ROUND (Best of Five)</h3>Drummondville 3 Laval 0 Halifax 3 Beauport 1Vai d&rsquo;Or 3 Sherbrooke 0 Chicoutimi 3 Rimouski 1Bye: Hull, Granby Bye: Victoriaville, Shawinigan<h3>SECOND ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Hull 4 Drummondville 1 Halifax 4 Shawinigan 3Vai d&rsquo;Or 4 Granby 1 Chicoutimi 4 Victoriaville 2<h3>THIRD ROUND (Best of Seven)</h3>Hull 2 Vai d&rsquo;Or 0 Chicoutimi 1 Halifax 1HIGHLIGHTS (April 4 to April 10): Regular season scoring champion Pavel Rosa scored two goals as Hull beat Vai d&rsquo;Or 6-2 to take a 2-0 series lead&hellip; Halifax&rsquo;s Jody Shelley scored the winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Chicoutimi to even their series 1-1. &#9632;

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Foreurs hoping to take Luongo route to final

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02560/6486323-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="424" height="96"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01846/6486316-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="6961" height="4051"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01839/6486309-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="6848" height="4031"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01834/6486302-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3402" height="1344"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01802/6486399-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01758/6486430-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01680/6486461-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01747/6486492-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>The Flint Generals and Quad City Mallards continued their Colonial I League dominance by sweeping through the first round of the playoffs.Flint, which broke its own league I records with 55 wins and 111 points, I bounced the Utica Blizzard in three straight games. The highlight was a 3I 0 shutout in Game 2 by Igor Galkin. Utica was limited to 10 shots. The defending champion Generals held Utica to six goals in the series.&ldquo;A lot has been said about our defensemen, but the forwards are really committed to playing in their own zone,&rdquo; said Flint blueliner Ken Spangler. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a tremendous help.&rdquo; Quad City goalie Sergei Zvyagin, who set a league record with 42 wins, backstopped all three triumphs in a sweep of the Muskegon Fury. The I league&rsquo;s goalie of the year had a 93.2 save percentage in the series.Quad City finished the regular season with 105 points, the third-highest total in league history behind Flint&rsquo;s I totals the last two seasons.NOTEBOOK: Four-time scoring champion Paul Polillo of the Brant-ford Smoke was named league MVP I for the third straight year. The center I had 61 goals and 173 points in 73 I games&hellip;Barry McKinlay of the I Thunder Bay Thunder Cats was named best defenseman for the third time I in four seasons and teammate Forbes I MacPherson was rookie of the I year&hellip;Saginaw Lumber Kings&rsquo; winger Mark Green broke his own league I record by finishing with 80 goals. The previous record was 71. &#9632;

Generals, Mallards sweep up

<div class="byline">By Murray Townsend</div>All playoff broadcasts and stories should come with a warning: beware of myth-information.Certain notions about the post-season that have been accepted as fact over the years aren&rsquo;t necessarily so clear cut. In our never-ending quest to uncover the truth, we&rsquo;ve done some extra homework on various schools of thought.Momentum Momentum might mean something to The Little Engine That Could, but its significance is overblown in the NHL.During a playoff series, when a team beats its opponent by a large margin, it&rsquo;s supposed to carry momentum into the next game. Last year, however, in 11 post-season games when a team won by four or more goals, it won just twice in its next outing against the same opponent.Winning the first game Last year, firstgame winners went 13-2 in 15 series, while Game 2 winners were 7-8. So Game 1 holds the key, right? Well, in 1995, first-game winners went 10-5, while Game 2 winners were 14-1.The only thing the numbers really tell you is winning any one game in a series is important.Home-ice advantage It&rsquo;s a big deal to have home-ice advantage. How do we know this? Because they play a whole season to determine who gets it.The reality is, home ice means more in the regular season than in the playoffs. Home teams were 44-42 in the playoffs last season for a .512 winning percentage. They were .561 during the regular season. In 1994-95, they were 42-39 (.519) during the playoff and .583 during the regular season. Just as telling is the fact home teams are 8-9 in seventh games since 1993.Scoring decreases in the playoffs You can pencil this in as true, but keep your eraser handy.Logically, playoff scoring should be lower than the level it was at in the regular season. With the patsies out of the way, fewer goals should be scored. And we know from a lifetime of watching hockey, checking is closer in the post-season.Scoring has diminished in the playoffs every year in the 1990s except for 1995. That doesn&rsquo;t bode well in a year when goal-scoring is already at a miniscule level.MYTH OR REALITY?Fewer penalties are called in the playoffs Got you on this one. Times have changed, brought on by incessant whining from fans, players and the media.Use a whiny voice to repeat the following and you&rsquo;ll get the idea:&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s a penalty during the regular season, why isn&rsquo;t it during the playoffs?&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s too much hooking, clutching and grabbing.&rdquo;&ldquo;The star players can&rsquo;t show their skills anymore.&rdquo;&ldquo;Are we almost there yet? I have to go to the bathroom.&rdquo;Man-advantage penalties during the playoffs have actually been higher than the regular season over the past two years.In 1996, it increased from 10.1 power plays per game in the regular season to 10.7; the year before it went from 8.7 to 9.4.Regular season series are important in determining the playoff series winner This one could go into the Useless Information Hall of Fame.Over the previous three seasons of first round action, the team that won the regular season series (there were some ties) had a 10-10 playoff. series record.Last year, the Calgary Flames were undefeated in il their regular season series with the Chicago Blackhawks and barely had a shot on goal as they were swept in the first round. The season before, the Quebec Nordiques were 3-0-0 against the New York Rangers and lost in the first round.Overtime games are usually decided in the first few minutes That may have been true at one time, but that was before teams learned how to play for ties during regular season overtime.Last year, the average time to decide an overtime game was 18:42. And over the past three years, more games have gone to double overtime than were decided in the first five minutes.Last year, there were seven playoff games that went to double overtime, the most in NHL history. Over the past four years, there have been 22 double overtime games. There were an equal number over the previous 23 years.The Boston Bruins always make the playoffs just another myth.Referees never call penalties in overtime Several years ago, The Hockey News reported it had been some 435 years since a referee last called a penalty in overtime. Now they do it all the time and seem to like it. At the end of the playoffs, referees who call an overtime penalty are awarded medals for bravery.It&rsquo;s called the Stanley Cup finals Actually, we should call it the Stanley Cup final, because there is not more than one final taking place at the same time. But then we should call it the Stanley Cup playoff, rather than playoffs.If the proper usage of the above is important to you, then you probably refer to &ldquo;sports&rdquo; as the grammatically correct &ldquo;sport.&rdquo; In other words, you&rsquo;ve got something stuck somewhere.It is hereby decreed regular folks can correctly use these words: finals, playoffs, sports.Incidentally, the NHL doesn&rsquo;t officially use final or finals. In its Playoffs Fact Guide, it refers to it as the NHL Championship Series.Oh well, that&rsquo;s sport for you. &#9632;

Facts can sooil old truths

The NHL playoffs come but once a year, just like birthdays. The difference is the playoffs last two months. Whether that&rsquo;s a good or bad thing depends on your staying power, but we know one thing for certain: You&rsquo;ll get a lot more out of it if you go in prepared.Did you know, for example, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; Stanley Cup win over the Detroit Red Wings, ending June 24, 1995, is the only final series to actually be played in the summer?Yes, THN&rsquo;s playoff alphabet soup is everything you need, except the pop and munchies, to hit the sofa in full stride. Here is the A to Z on the race for the 1997 Stanley Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01283/6486678-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="442" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark BrenderTHN Writer</figcaption></div>Avalanche admiration If playoff excitement is your fancy, this is the only place to begin. The defending champs from Colorado could become only the second team to repeat in the 1990s. And why not? The top-scoring team in the league easily has the best 1-2 punch at center in Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, one of the deepest, most mobile defense corps and the best money goalie in the game. Colorado also has a combined 23 Stanley Cups on its roster, second only to the New York Rangers&rsquo; 26.Busting butts And all for a 10-guinea mug. The oldest trophy in North American professional sports was first presented in 1893 to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association by Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston and sixth Governor General of Canada. He purchased it for 10 guineas ($50 at that time) for annual donation to the amateur hockey champions of Canada. The original bowl, inscribed as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, was retired to the safety of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1969 because it had become too brittle to travel. There are two replicas of the chalice we know today as the Stanley Cup: the one that players parade around the ice and another that rests in peace in one of the Hall&rsquo;s archive rooms. It is placed on display whenever its double leaves the building.Conn Man The Conn Smythe Trophy given to the &ldquo;most valuable player for his team in the playoffs&rdquo; was donated by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1964 to honor their former coach, GM, president and owner. Smythe died in 1980 at age 85. Dave Keon was the first Leaf to win the trophy, in 1967. No Toronto player has won it since.Detroit&rsquo;s despair When the Rangers won the Cup in 1994, they broke their own 54-year dry spell and bumped up the Detroit Red Wings as the team that time forgot. Detroit last won in 1955 so the drought is at 41 years and counting. Should the Wings prevail, next in line are the Chicago Blackhawks, who haven&rsquo;t won since 1961.Early finish The Montreal Victorias defeated the Ottawa Capitals 15-2 to retain the Stanley Cup on Dec. 27,1897. It&rsquo;s the earliest the Cup&rsquo;s owner has ever been decided.French Connection The city of Montreal has produced three of the greatest goal-scorers in playoff history: Mario Lemieux (.80 goals per playoff game), Mike Bossy (.66) and Rocket Richard (.62). The only non-Quebecois to break in the top four is St. Louis Blues&rsquo; sniper Brett Hull (.70). Wayne Gretzky of the Rangers, the playoff point leader with 362 points in 193 games, has averaged 0.58 goals per playoff game.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02171/6486671-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="1580" height="2493"><figcaption class="caption-body">Panthers&rsquo;PuckstopperJohn Vanbiesbrouck, right, was in an epic goaltending battle with Patrick Roy in last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup deciding game. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>Goaltending If it ain&rsquo;t there, it&rsquo;s golfing season. Goalies have won the Conn Smythe Trophy 10 times in 32 years compared with just four Hart Trophy wins in 72 seasons. It&rsquo;s tough to forget performances such as Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s three shutouts in five games in New Jersey&rsquo;s 4-1 opening round win over the Boston Bruins in 1995 or last year&rsquo;s remarkable triple overtime goaltending duel between Patrick Roy and John Vanbies-brouck in Game 4 of the final.Hail the Habs The caretakers of the Cup. Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; fans place lofty expectations on each edition of their beloved bleu, blanc et rouge. The Habs have won an astounding 23 Stanley Cups, which ranks first among pro sports teams in North America and 10 ahead of their nearest NHL rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; (13) franchise.Inexperience Potentially half the coaches who figured to be in this year&rsquo;s playoffs have never won an NHL playoff series. They are Ron Wilson (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim), Ted Nolan (Buffalo Sabres), Ken Hitchcock (Dallas Stars), Ron Low (Edmonton Oilers), Paul Maurice (Hartford Whalers), Joel Quenneville (St. Louis), Mario Tremblay (Montreal) and Don Hay (Phoenix Coyotes). Detroit&rsquo;s Scotty Bowman has coached in 51 playoff series-eight more than the other 15 most likely playoff coaches combined. What does it all mean? &lsquo;1 don&rsquo;t think the coaches have a lot to do when you get&rsquo;to the playoffs,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;d rather have goaltending than coaching, personally.&rdquo; Bowman&rsquo;s only playoff coaching rule to which he&rsquo;ll admit: Make changes quickly if something isn&rsquo;t working.Joey&rsquo;s jitters Washington Capital Joe Juneau took the only overtime penalty shot in playoff history last spring against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pens&rsquo; goalie Ken Wregget stoned him. Two games later the Caps were history.King Patrick Lord of the crease. What else can be put on Patrick Roy&rsquo;s resume? A 20-year-old Cup and Conn Smythe winner as a rookie in 1986. Recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1993 for a 20-4 record in the playoffs, including 10 wins in OT, en route to a second Cup with Montreal. In 1996, a 63-save overtime shutout to complete a 4-0 series sweep for Colorado over the Florida Panthers and give him his third Cup and record for most playoff games played by a goalie-136. In store for 1997: three more wins to break Billy Smith&rsquo;s record for career playoff victories (88).Le Gros Bil Montreal&rsquo;s elegant captain Jean Beliveau scored 30 goals and 62 points in Stanley Cup finals. Both are all-time records-records that until THN told him he never knew he had. &ldquo;After 26 years (since his retirement),&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s nice to hear.&rdquo; Beliveau won 10 Stanley Cups, one fewer than record-holder and former teammate Henri Richard&rsquo;s 11.Mario&rsquo;s magic Enjoy it before it moves on to the golf course. Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s last playoff ever provides him with the opportunity to do something no one has done-win a third Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP. Bobby Orr, Bernie Parent, Roy and Gretzky have also won two apiece.No glamour Forget former Bruins&rsquo; goalie Frankie Brimsek. Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Craig Muni is hockey&rsquo;s modern-day Mr. Zero. Brimsek stopped &lsquo;em, Muni can&rsquo;t score &lsquo;em. He has played in 105 playoff games without scoring a goal, an all-time record.Oh, oh, overtime! If you want to sweat like Bruce McNall&rsquo;s accountant, this is your time-or rather, 1993 was your time. There were a record 28 overtime games that year. In 1936, Detroit&rsquo;s Mud Bruneteau scored at 116:30 of overtime to give the Wings a 1-0 win in the longest overtime game ever. The game was 3-1/2 minutes short of nine full periods.Power play production Special teams are thought to be more important in the playoffs because there are generally fewer scoring chances and games are lower scoring, but that might not apply this season. Goals are scarce already and referees are turning a blind eye to anything but the most obvious fouls. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they can call a lot less.&rdquo; Bowman said.Quit it Stop watching the television so damn much. That&rsquo;s die better-half talking, the one who thinks hockey is some kind of bizarre obsession. If you&rsquo;re in it for the long haul anyway, send roses because your time won&rsquo;t be disposable. Opening night is April 16 and the playoffs might not end until June 17. Over one stretch there could be games on CBC for 28 of 30 days. (See pg. S-8for the full TV schedule.)Red&rsquo;s memories If anyone has seen more Stanley Cup finals than the Montreal Gazette&rsquo;s legendary columnist Red Fisher, your recollections are wanted at the Hockey Hall of Fame. It&rsquo;s almost a certainty Fisher&rsquo;s 41 trips to the final-missing just one since 1955-are more than anyone alive. Among the moments that stand out are Montreal&rsquo;s fifth Cup win in a row in 1960, a surprise Montreal first round victory over the heavily favored Boston Bruins in 1971 and another Cup and the Rangers&rsquo; epic championship drive in 1994. Fisher rates last year&rsquo;s Roy-Vanbiesbrouck Game 4 battle as one of the top singlegame performances ever, &ldquo;but over the run of a playoff I would have to think (the best) would be Ken Dryden in &lsquo;70-71,&rdquo; he said.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Ducks carry West Coast hopes</blockquote>Streak-snapping Darryl Shannon At this time last year, the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; defenseman was heading to Miami for a cruise. Other years he has hit different hot spots or watched brother Darrin play. But through 312 regular season games, he has never played in the playoffs&hellip;until now. It is the longest such streak in the NHL. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the most exciting time of the year,&rdquo; he said. That&rsquo;s what people tell him. New York Islanders&rsquo; assistant coach Guy Charron holds the all-time record: He played 734 regular season games without reaching the post-season.Tough guy Hunter Capitals&rsquo; center Dave Hunter has never won a Cup, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean he has no playoff distinction. Hunter, 36, is the all-time post-season penalty minutes leader with 661 in 146 games and is the rare player whose penalty minutes per game actually go up in the playoffs (2.7 to 4.5). &ldquo;I think the intensity picks up in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Back in the &lsquo;80s it was rougher hockey. Now it&rsquo;s sort of a cat-and-mouse game.&rdquo;Undeserving of ignominy Ray Bourque. After 17 straight seasons and 162 playoff games, he&rsquo;ll be missed.Victory for Aged So you think the Rangers are old? The 1967 Maple Leafs could have held the Stanley Cup victory parade in a retirement home. With goalies Johnny Bower (42) and Terry Sawchuk (37) leading the way, the Leafs had 10 players 30 or over and three over 40. The Rangers have 13 players over 30. &ldquo;I remember one time (in the final) walking in on Sawchuk,&rdquo; Beliveau said. &ldquo;I still today don&rsquo;t believe how he could have stopped it&rdquo;West Coast Woes Don&rsquo;t slip up in the surf, Anaheim dudes, because an entire way of life is riding on your wave. Barring a miraculous revival from the Vancouver Canucks, the Paul Kariya-Teemu Selanne-led Ducks would be the only one of four Pacific time zone teams to qualify for the playoffs. The combined regular season record of the Canucks, Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks stood at an inept 119-167-35, which proves once again that the travel-heavy Pacific Division is a nice place to visit, but not so great to call home (except if you&rsquo;re Colorado).<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01231/6486664-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="1579" height="1833"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings are out to end a 42-year drought.</figcaption></div>Xmas What it will feel like for those left to decide exactly how to divvy up the $1.75 million (U.S.) that goes to the winning team. It works out to approximately $70,000 per player. Losers in the Stanley Cup final settle for about $43,000 each, then the kitty drops down to chump change: roughly | $27,000 for conference finalists, $14,000 for those who make it into the second round and $7,000 to first round losers.Yul Brynner he&rsquo;s not Mark I Messier had a rich shock of brown hair I when he started into this playoff thing. Since 1980, he has played in 221 postI season games, more than anyone else I in that span. He needs seven more to I pass Larry Robinson as the all-time leader.ZZZZZ Time to get some shut-eye. Rest up while you can. &#9632;

f0044-01

Playoffs: A to Z

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01177/6486709-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg"></div><h2>FIRST ROUND</h2><h3>Conference Quarterfinals</h3>Schedule A Schedule B1. Wed., April 16 1. Thur., April 172. Fri., April 18 2. Sat., April 193. Sun., April 20 3, Mon. April 214. Tue., April 22 4. Wed., April 235. Fri., April 25* 5. Sat., April 266. Sun., April 27* 6. Mon. April 287. Tue., April 29* 7. Wed., April 30ESPN Up to 10 games. National coverage with local blackouts in effect.ESPN2 Up to 16 games. National coverage.Fox Sunday afternoon games only. Regional coverage of four first-round series.CBC All games in selected series. Canadian teams followed regionally.TSN Up to 14 games. National coverage of American-based teams only.<h2>SECOND ROUND</h2><h3>Conference Semifinals</h3>Schedule A Schedule B1. Fri., May 2 1. Sat., May 32. Sun., May 4 2. Mon., May 53. Tue., May 6 3. Wed. May 74. Thur., May 8 4. Fri., May 95. Sat., May 10* 5. Sun., May 116. Mon., May 12* 6. Tue., May 137. Wed., May 14* 7. Thur., May 15ESPN Up to 10 games. National coverage with local blackouts in effect.ESPN2 Up to 11 games. National coverage.Fox Sunday afternoon games only. Two series split nationally.CBC All games in selected series. If Canadian teams eliminated, best remaining match-up shown nationally.<h2>THIRD ROUND</h2><h3>Conference Finals</h3>Schedule A Schedule B1. Sun., May 18 1. Sat., May 172. Tue., May 20 2. Mon., May 193. Fri., May 23 3. Thur. May 224. Sun., May 25 4. Sat., May 245. Tue., May 27* 5. Mon., May 266. Thur., May 29* 6. Wed., May 287. Sat,, May 31* 7. Fri., May 30ESPN Up to 12 games.Fox Sunday afternoon games only. National coverage.CBC All games. If Canadian teams eliminated, best remaining match-up shown nationally.<h2>FOURTH ROUND</h2><h3>Stanley Cup Final</h3>Schedule1. Tues., June 3 CBC, ESPN or Fox2. Thur., June 5 CBC, ESPN or Fox3. Sat., June 7 CBC, ESPN or Fox4. Tue., June 10 CBC, ESPN or Fox5. Thur., June 12* CBC, ESPN or Fox6. Sat., June 14* CBC, ESPN or Fox7. Tue., June 17* CBC, ESPN or FoxESPN Up to 4 games.Fox Up to 3 games.CBC All games.Specific games covered by ESPN and Fox not yet available.<h2>TSN</h2>Maximum games: 14.Broadcast Team: Play-by-play, Paul Romanuk. Color, Gary Green. Guest analysts TBA.Special:&nbsp;That&rsquo;s Hockey half-hour show continues weeknights at 7:00 p.m. Special Final Saturday Night pre-game show airs April 19. NHL Playoff Game Night airs April 20 and May 3, 4, 10, 17, 24, from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m., hosted by THN Associate Editor Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller. McKenzie and Miller host studio shows.Ratings: Not available.<h2>ESPN2</h2>Maximum games: 27.Broadcast Teams: 1. Play-by-play, Steve Levy, Color, Brian Engblom. 2. Dave Ryan, TBA.Special: Bill Pidto hosts NHL2Night hockey news program five nights a week, April 17-June 1 at 10:30 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. (EST) following game coverage, with Barry Melrose, and Ray Ferraro in first round only.Ratings: 1995 first two rounds: 0.7 (478,800 households). 1996 first two rounds: 0.7 (478,800 households).<h2>ESPN</h2>Maximum games: 36.Broadcast Teams: 1. Play-by-play, Gary Thome, Color, Bill Clement 2. Dave Strader, Darren Pang.Special: John Saunders hosts 30-minute preview show Quest for the Cup, with analyst Barry Melrose, prior to each game of final series. Saunders and Melrose host studio shows.Ratings: 1995 final: 2.8 (1.9 million households). 1996 final: 3.6 (2.5 million households).<h2>FOX</h2>Maximum games: 17.Broadcast Teams: 1. Play-by-Play, Mike Emrick, Color, John Davidson. 2. Sam Rosen, Joe Micheletti. 3. Kenny Albert, Craig Simpson. 4. Jiggs McDonald, Peter McNab.Special: FoxTrax appears on all series called by Emrick and Davidson. James Brown and Dave Maloney host studio shows.Ratings: 1995 final: 3.4 (3.3 million households). 1996 final: 3.55 (3.4 million households).<h2>CBC</h2>Maximum games: 60, including up to seven doubleheaders.Broadcast Teams: 1. Play-by-play, Bob Cole, Color, Harry Neale. 2. Ken Daniels, Dick Irvin. 3. Chris Cuthbert, John Garrett. 4. Don Wittman, Greg Millen.Special: Coaches&rsquo; Comer with Don Cherry and Ron MacLean appears alternate nights on Hockey Night in Canada. San Jose Sharks&rsquo; goalie Kelly Hrudey serves as first period analyst on Cherry&rsquo;s nights off. MacLean hosts studio shows.Ratings: 1994 final: 3.0 million viewers. 1995 Cup final: 1.6 million viewers. 1996 Cup final: 1.8 million viewers.PLAYOFF SCHEDULING NOTE: Teams play in either Schedule A or B depending on matchups, building availability and television. All schedules are tentative and subject to change. &#9632;

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Network TV coverage of Stanley Cud

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01155/6486609-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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April 25, 1997

Canada edges U.S.

Unaer doesn’t buy reasons for dismissal from Oilers

THE G-MAN

NHL SUMMARIES