About Stan

Bluelines: Boys of summer rooting for boys of winter

Imagine that; baseball players are worried about hockey. Nobody in sports is rooting harder for NHL stickhandlers than Don Fehr. The baseball union boss knows that if his buddy, Bob Goodenow, fails to defeat big-league hockey’s ownership, Major League Baseball’s leaders will give the ball players Salary Cap-type grief.

Mike Vernon won two Cups but he may be losing a housing battle. His Calgary neighbors object to the goalie building a 8,000-sq-ft home that could wreck river views and launch large-scale development.

What does a veteran American Leaguer think of NHL players invading The A? Brendan (Providence) Walsh tells the Boston Herald’s Stephen Harris that he’s not tickled. “It’s frustrating to see an NHL player, who’s never played in my league and isn’t in my union (PHPA), come here and take someone’s job.”

The hockey world was saddened by the loss of Christopher Reeve (AP)

Rangers’ fans in particular are mourning the death of Christopher Reeve. The “Superman” actor regularly viewed Blueshirts’ games from his special wheelchair situated behind the glass at Madison Square Garden’s Zamboni entrance. If ever there was a good guy – in every sense of the term – Reeve was it. His memory will linger on with all at the Garden.

A group of dedicated Rangers fans crowded the Garden’s Gerry Cosby Sporting Goods outlet last Friday for what would have been a New York-Pittsburgh NHL home opener on Seventh Avenue. Cosby manager, Jim Root, tells us that many of the fans knew there’s a Lockout but visited Cosby’s anyway “because they wanted the ‘feel’ of being at a game.”

Matt Stastny, son of ex-NHLer Anton Stastny, is starring for Bridgewater in the Eastern Junior Hockey League. “My dad and Uncle (Peter Stastny) helped me develop my vision of the game,” says Matt. His coach, Mike McLaughlin, adds, “Stastny is very good offensively and has impressive vision.”

Jean Perron, who coached Montreal to the 1986 Stanley Cup, is taking over Israel’s Under-18 hockey club. Meanwhile, Pierre McGuire will coach Israel at the 2005 IIHF Division II playoffs in Belgrade. “We want to win the World Division 3 championship and move up to Division 2,” says Perron, who visited the Holy Land last Summer. “I’m surprised at how much hockey they (Israelis) know and how excited they are.”

Red Wings’ prospect, Igor Grigorenko, nearly killed in a 2003 auto crash, will play in Russia this year. His North American debut is at least a year away.

The next Sutter to be coaching in the NHL will be Brent. The ex-Islanders captain has done so well at the Junior (Red Deer) level, he’ll be running Canada’s entry in the 2005 World Junior championship.

The feather in Uncle Sam’s cap is that the World Juniors – December 25-January 4 – will be held in Grand Forks, North Dakota and Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Hard To Believe Dep’t. Boston Red Sox are thinking about installation of an ice rink in the Fenway Park outfield for late-Fall-Winter use.

Arthur Levitt, whose report details NHL fiscal woes, tells us he’s been willing to answer any Players’ Association questions about his findings. “I invited Bob Goodenow to sit down with me,” says Levitt, “but he refused.” Why? That’s obvious; the union boss is simply afraid of learning the facts, which automatically would defeat his arguments.

Speaking of NHLPA failings, Goodenow likes to claim that the NFL Cap makes pro gridders unhappy. Too bad he didn’t talk to NFL Players’ Association prexy, Troy Vincent. “The Cap has worked for us,” says Vincent. “And we’re in talks now for an extension.”

Kudos to AHL p.r. ace Jason Chaimovitch for its major league 2004-5 Official Guide & Record Book. It’s A-1 for The A!

Jamie McLennan, an owner of the ECHL’s Texas Wildcatters, is training with his club during the work stoppage.

Canucks will be eyeing Alex Auld, Vancouver’s goalie-of-the-future. He could replace Dan Cloutier whenever NHL play resumes.

The so-called “union” members who comprise the NHLPA think nothing of displacing other union members such as AHLers who belong to the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. But good-guy NHL refs, such as Steve Walkom, are demonstrating to players what integrity is all about. “We made a decision as an association that (during the Lockout) we would not pursue on-ice work elsewhere except for charity,” says Walkom who heads the zebras’ society. “We didn’t want to take anything away from another official.”

Future Mighty Duck right wing Ryan Getzlaf (6-2, 195 pounds) is back with Calgary’s Hitmen, a Junior club with no less than four first-rounders – and ten drafted players – in its lineup. He looms as one of the better WHLers along with teammate Konstantin Pushkarev, who has powerful legs and soft hands.

Can an arena devoted to hockey – not sharing with an NBA team – succeed? Devils’ new owner Jeff Vanderbeek is optimistic about Newark’s proposed NBA-less arena as his club’s future home. “Arenas in other cities with just a hockey franchise are doing well,” says Vanderbeek. “Detroit has been sold out the last eight years.”

To those – us included – who say that owner-player Mario Lemieux should be more pro-active on Gary Bettman’s behalf in the labor war, a Lemieux associate cautions, “Mario on a soap box would be counter-productive. He would anger NHLPA members who’d say, ‘Lemieux made the big money and now he’s telling us to take less.’ It wouldn’t work!”

Ray Bourque's Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on November 8 (AP)

Didja Know Dep’t. In the sweet town of Parry Sound, Ontario, its most famous citizen is honored with a Bobby Orr Museum (also called Orr Hall of Fame).

The Great One’s kid brother, Brent Gretzky, is gracing the lineup of a United Hockey League expansion club, the Danbury Trashers. Last year, Brent totaled 43 goals and 38 assists for Port Huron.

There are few more active hockey fathers than Martin Brodeur. Mister Goalie has three sons – Anthony, William, Jeremy – playing hockey. On weekends, Marty has been known to watch four contests involving his boys.

Early reports on Jason Spezza’s AHL return is that the long lad still doesn’t realize that hockey is a contact sport! The Senators’ prodigy may wise up by the time NHL play resumes.

NHL analysts oppose the Luxury Tax as a CBA “solution” because, rather than Cost Certainty, a tax is – as one league official says – “the opposite of it.”

The simplest explanation as to why players will be willing to sit out a whole season is this: stickhandlers can afford it because they’re so much wealthier now than in 1995.

Worth reading: Mr. & Mrs. Hockey, A Tribute to the Sport’s Greatest Couple. It’s Kevin Allen’s collection of anecdotes about Gordie Howe. One of the best sections deals with Howe’s legendary fight with Rangers heavyweight Lou Fontinato at Madison Square Garden in 1959. Several versions – including referee Art Skov’s – make for intriguing nostalgia. The book also is meant as a tribute to Colleen Howe, who’s suffering from Pick’s Disease, a neurological disorder akin to dementia. There never was a more dedicated – and knowledgeable -- hockey wife than Colleen.