HOCKEY / LISA DILLMAN : Blues Make Case for Staying Put

At one time, the NHL actually tried to stop teams from moving. If the league’s current attitude had been in place in 1983, the St. Louis Blues would be the Saskatoon Blues.

Because of league involvement, instead of selling to the group in Saskatoon, Ralston-Purina sold the Blues to Harry Ornest, who kept hockey in St. Louis. (Ornest then sold the team to St. Louis businessman Michael Shanahan in December 1986).

It’s a shortened version of the last decade of pro hockey in St. Louis. In a sense, the Blues are a good argument against a quick fix.

Years later, the Blues have a marquee player, Brett Hull. One playoff series has shown everyone that St. Louis also has a star goaltender, Curtis Joseph, who led the Blues to a four-game sweep of the Blackhawks in the opening round of the playoffs.

Now the Blues can use those two players--along with Brendan Shanahan--to get the necessary backing for a proposed new arena in St. Louis, the Kiel Center.

In the aftermath of the Blackhawk series, Blue General Manager Ron Caron spoke about the bidding war to acquire Joseph as a free agent in June 1989. The Blues outbid three other teams for Joseph, including the New York Islanders and Hartford Whalers.

“Even though it was expensive, we knew it was a good investment,” Caron said of Joseph’s three-year, $3-million contract. “Because we did not draft in ’83 (because of the Saskatoon dispute) we had to trade our top picks in ’84 and ’85 in order to survive.

“Maybe it was a cheap price to acquire his services.”

Joseph went 174 minutes 18 seconds without giving up a goal, blanking the Blackhawks in Games 2 and 3. He eventually gave up three goals in Game 4. Joseph was the second goaltender in Blue history to record consecutive playoff shutouts. Jacques Plante did it against Philadelphia in 1969.

The sellout crowds at St. Louis are bowing in unison when Joseph makes a big save. “He’s been spectacular and the heart of our team,” Caron said. “I don’t think he could have done any more. He was almost divine.”

The highest praise came from one of Joseph’s peers--Detroit goaltender Tim Cheveldae--who predicted a St. Louis victory before the series started.

Said Cheveldae: “Curtis Joseph is the best goalie in hockey today.”

No wonder hockey fans in Edmonton reacted with trepidation when Oiler owner Peter Pocklington called a news conference on Tuesday to discuss the franchise’s future. After all, the last time he summoned everyone for a major media event, it was to announce, “with a heavy heart,” that he was trading Wayne Gretzky to the Kings.

The city survived the loss of Gretzky--sort of. But can Edmonton survive the loss of its Oilers to Hamilton, Canada?

Since there is no hockey being played in Edmonton this spring, Pocklington put a new sport in play --hardball--when he issued a May 14 deadline for Edmonton Northlands to offer an acceptable new rental agreement. Currently, Pocklington receives no money from Northlands from food concessions, beer sales or parking. In Hamilton, at Copps Coliseum, he would receive 100% of the concession money from his games.

Pocklington, playing the part of Ross Perot, pulled out all sorts of graphs and charts at the news conference, attempting to bolster his case. His power play dominated the news in Edmonton and Calgary and all of Alberta on Tuesday.

Almost everyone thought he was serious about the threat to move.

“You’ve got to take Peter very seriously,” Gretzky said. “I don’t think he’s a man who is bluffing.”

Said Edmonton Journal columnist Cam Cole, on CBC Newsworld: “(It’s) a little bit of blackmail. A little bit of a gun to the head.”

Premier Ralph Klein said he was going to try to convince the NHL that the move is a bad idea.

Good luck.

If the Norm Green case is any example, the owners won’t provide much opposition, if any. Green was able to move to Dallas from Minnesota without paying a transfer fee. Since a precedent has been set, Pocklington probably won’t have to do so, either. About the only holdup would be a significant indemnity fee to Buffalo and Toronto for territorial invasion.

Perhaps the Detroit-Toronto series should be renamed the “Slash Series.”

Detroit center Steve Yzerman missed practice the day before Game 5 because of a sore arm, the result of a slash from Sunday’s Game 4. Toronto center Doug Gilmour is hurting from a slash, too.

Said Red Wing Coach Bryan Murray: “These are the most vicious hockey games I’ve been involved in.”

He suggested the league might want to take a long look at the first four games of the series, wondering if this is the way things are heading with the gradual elimination of fighting.

At least half of the players on each team are sporting cuts on their faces because of all the high sticking. Also hindering the Red Wings are injuries to Cheveldae (bruised left shoulder) and Paul Ysebaert (back spasms).

Are Washington goaltenders Rick Tabaracci and Don Beaupre having nightmares about Islander center Ray Ferraro?

Ferraro had eight goals and two assists in the first five games of the series, which the Islanders won with a 5-3 victory over the Capitals in Game 6 on Wednesday night. During the regular season, Ferraro had 14 goals in 46 games.

“Pee Wee has become a miniature Mario Lemieux,” Washington defenseman Sylvain Cote said. “I’m happy for him as a person, just as long as he doesn’t knock our team out of the playoffs.”