The NHL / Julie Cart : Nicholls, as the Star in a TV Sitcom Pilot, Is Just Being Himself

Why hadn’t anyone thought of it before? The Kings’ very own ham, Bernie Nicholls, starring in a sitcom. What a natural.

The formula, however, may seem familiar. “Body Checks,” is the story of a hockey player from a small town in Canada and his zany adventures in the big city.

If it sounds like “Crocodile Dundee,” it’s because the producers of the show would like to duplicate both the format and success of the film about a rough-edged Australian in New York.

“Body Checks,” if the pilot show is picked up by a network, will be the first television series starring a hockey player, although not the first show about the game. There are two successful series about hockey airing in Canada.

Nicholls, who has never taken an acting lesson, says he’s thrilled at the opportunity.

“They didn’t want an actor to do it,” Nicholls said. “They wanted a guy from a small town. You can’t get much smaller than mine.”

Nicholls is from a town outside of Haliburton, Ontario, and still speaks in a backwoods twang.

The producers hope to make the pilot available for the fall of ’88. The show will depict Nicholls, who in real life is married, as a sought-after bachelor struggling to adjust to life in Los Angeles.

“All it is is the story of my life,” Nicholls said. “I’ll be a rookie player, playing my game. They’re basically shooting my life.”

The pilot will be shot on location in Canada this summer and produced by Clyde Ware. Nicholls said he has “plenty of time” to mix show biz and sports biz. If the show is picked up, the 12-15 episodes would be filmed in the off-season so as not to interfere with the Kings’ season.

After a week of media blasting, Mario Lemieux has begged off the NHL All-Star team, saying his knee was ailing, and called on Wayne Gretzky to replace him.

Lemieux had been the overwhelming choice of fans in the All-Star balloting, out-polling Gretzky by more than 35,000 votes. Ballot-box stuffing was charged, with fans in the province of Quebec blamed for favoring the French-speaking Lemieux.

“It feels pretty good to be voted a starting berth, especially because of Gretzky,” Lemieux said. “But I think Gretzky should have been first. He’s way up there in the stats and he’s been around for so long, he deserves to be the No. 1. He is the best player I have seen.

“The game is in Quebec, and a lot of the French-Canadians wanted me to be there,” the Montreal native said.

Lemieux has told officials that his tender right knee, which he sprained Dec. 20, will prevent him from playing in the two-game series with the Soviet national team.

“I don’t think the players are too happy about (the series) because you risk injury,” Lemieux said. “Teams need their all-stars to make the playoffs.”

The two Islanders who were injured in an early morning car accident that left its 17-year-old driver in a coma, say they were on their way back from a team meeting at a Detroit bar when the accident occurred.

Tomas Jonsson and Brian Curran were injured along with two 17-year-old girls from whom the hockey players accepted a ride to the team hotel at 2:50 a.m. two weeks ago. The driver of the car ran a red light and the car was broadsided by a tractor-trailer.

The driver is in critical condition in a Detroit hospital, in a coma. Jonsson, 26, had surgery to his jaw. Curran and the other girl suffered minor injuries.

Curran, 23, said the players had been at Taboo, a Detroit nightclub, where about 15 members of the Islanders were holding an informal team meeting. The Islanders blew a 2-0 lead and lost to the Red Wings, 8-5, earlier that night.

Curran said that he and Jonsson had two or three beers each and he did not think the driver of the car was drunk. Detroit police said the girls used false IDs to get into the nightclub. The drinking age in Michigan is 21.

Islander Coach Terry Simpson did not discipline the players after the incident. “The guys . . . weren’t breaking curfew because there wasn’t any,” Simpson said. “(The nightclub) closed up, so they got rides back. They (the players) couldn’t get any cabs, so they got a ride back.”

NHL Notes

Marcel Dionne’s goal in Quebec City Sunday night was his 20th of the season, ensuring that he will once again score 20 or more goals in a season, a feat he has accomplished in each of his 16 seasons in the NHL. . . . There is talk that Wendel Clark of the Toronto Maple Leafs will switch from left wing to defense on a permanent basis. With nine players injured, the Maple Leafs need help on the back line.