NHL Hockey

by Chris McCarron

Well the Philadelphia All Star Game is history. It was fabulous, really. For me, the high points occurs when Bobby Clarke received a thunderous standing ovation from the spectrumcrowd. Everyone in Philly still loves Clarke. The ovation was incredible, must have lasted nearly 5 minutes. The announcer had to beg the spectrum to stop cheering so he could an- nounce the other former NHL greats. Clarke and the former Flyer greats defeated Lafleur, Potvin, Sittler, Dionne and the rest 3-2. On Saturday for the 92 All star game, Clarke and Lanny MacDonald served as honourary captains for team Wales and Campbells respectively. Once again Clarke was given a thunder- ous cheer. Then team owner Ed Snider steeped onto the ice with to join Clarke & MacDonald. Loud Boos were given to Snider, why? Because he was responsi- ble for firing Bobby Clarke as Flyers General Man- ger. Clarke is a huge legend in Philly just as impor- tant as Orr is to Boston, Lafleur is to Montreal Howe is to Detroit. Anyway the Campbells led by Gretzky, Hull, and Ellet defeated the wales 11-8 orsomething. I’ve been asked to bash the Vancouver Canucks and so I will since I don’t care for them. If you read this Bruce, you have no idea what real hockey is like. Trevor Linden is often compared to hid idol, Bobby Clarke. This angers me. Linden never went thru the hardships of being a Diabetic, struggling to overcome the disbelievers. Linden had it easy, he’s no Clarke. The swift skating soviet player on the Canucks bores the hell out of me. The Canucks have got to be foolish. They don’t know a good thing whenit’s right underneath them. Coxe the guy who was tough enough to bash his fists against Bob Probert, is now playing with the Sharks. Look for the Kings to dis- pose of the Canucks as usual in the playoffs.

The Black Hawks and Leafs played a fighting game just before the all star break. *‘Maple Leafs the Black Hawks break knuckled before all star break’’ is an appropriate title. The mad, ugly Stu Grissom manhandled the referee. Grissom ignored his team mates and disobeyed Mike Keenan. Grissom stormed away from the ref and Keenan, jerseyless he looked ready to fight anybody. With hate in his eyes he skated towards the Maple Leafs at center ice. Give Doug Gilmour a beaucoup de courage for he tackled Grimson. Finally Grimson was taken off the ice. Grimson had wanted to get Wendel Clark but Wendel had already left the game. Clark cut one of the Hawks

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January 23, 1992

and was given a match penalty. They said Hextall — 7 lost his cool against Chelios in 1989 but the unpro- voked Grissom made Hextall look like a gentleman i

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I am staring to get fed up with people whining about the Flyers. They are not the only team not living up | standards--I doubt that the Edmonton fans are please! with the 17 points separating them from the Sharks <¢ that the Kings are supposed to be playing under--. Si hockey. People expect too much from Rick Tocchet; that and his capacity are the roots of his problems. Tocchet is simply not ready enough to offer the Flyer’s guidance and experience they need from him The team has not been a unit long enough to form th required chemistry. Give it time. The All-Star game was played in Philadelphia on January the 18th; to nobody’s surprise, the game was a showcase of the League’s top offensive talents. The Campbell Confe ence squad (under Bob Gainy) defeated the Wales Conference (under Scotty Bowman) 10-6 in the his- toric, penalty-free match. Brett Hull drove away in the new truck as the player-of-the-game; he had two! goals and an assist for the Campbell Conference. TE All-Star game is not supposed to be an exciting afte! noon of good hockey; itis fun hockey. ,

The Panthers played two games away this past week) end. On Saturday they defeated the U.C.C.B Capers) 7-5, but on Sunday they lost to the St. F.X. x-men @ 3. This Friday night they travel to Mount Allison to} take on the Mounties, and the Mounties will be at th Civic Center Sunday night at 7:00 to complete the | weekend home-and-home swing. One subject worth } discussion is the Canadiens. As of January 13th, thi Habs were on the course for only 172 goals against! but the few games after that indicate there might be} problem, The young defensive corps has grown up } | since last spring’s playoffs. The two reasons why ~ Montreal could not make it past the Adams divisio 1 finals were the young, immature defense and | goaltending of Boston’s Andy Moog. This year Pat t Burns has turned the Canadiens into a defense- first i team and it seemed to working for a while. But on” the 15th of January, the Habs allowed a year high i shots on goal in a loss to the Minnesota (North ) — | Stars. Maybe it was just a bad game, but it seems. ’ be an indication of trouble to come in Bruns’ defen sive pame

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