The NHL / Julie Cart : Fans See Hockey at Its Finest

For all that it was and wasn’t, the bloated week of Rendez-Vous did produce two delightful moments--Game 1 and Game 2 between the National Hockey League All-Stars and the Soviet national team.

After a week of business as usual in the NHL, the contrast lingers between the two games in Quebec City and the plodding, sometimes brutal games in the NHL’s 80-game season.

The games of Rendez-Vous showed off the beauty and grace of hockey. The Soviet team is a fast-skating, fast-passing team. Team NHL, assembled so quickly, still emerged as a disciplined and potent team. Unlike NHL All-Star teams of the past, this edition didn’t use head-knocking as a chief tactic.

The games were fast, averaging 2 hours 20 minutes, as opposed to regular-season NHL games that can drag on beyond three hours. The games were well-played, with few icing calls and few offsides. And no fights.

Those elements allowed hockey to be presented in the best possible light. The fans loved it, judging by the sold-out house in Le Colisee and ESPN’s record-setting ratings. The league may not have liked it, organized as it was by Marcel Aubut, the maverick owner of the Quebec Nordiques. But undoubtedly, the NHL will come to see the value of this kind of international showcase.

The players loved it. “I’ve enjoyed this as much as any single thing to do with hockey,” said Dave Poulin of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Added Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, the NHL team captain: “They’ve got my number if they want me to play again.”

Alas, there is not likely to be another summit like this. The league says it can’t spare the people or the money it takes to stage such an event.

Next year, the league will adjourn to St. Louis, for the traditional format of the Campbell Conference vs. the Wales Conference. If that prospect doesn’t quicken the hearts of hockey fans, it’s understandable. Hockey played as it was between the All Stars and the Soviets is a rare and beautiful sight.

Now that the big international event is over, here’s a plan for another. Alan Eagleson, head of the NHL Players Assn., is organizing the Canada Cup tournament. The tournament, scheduled for Aug. 27-Sept. 14 in Hamilton, Ontario, will include teams from Canada, the United States, the Soviet Union and the three best teams from this year’s world championships in Vienna.

In the past, this has been a much-anticipated tournament. The tournament was last held in 1984 and won by Canada. It is such a rare opportunity to have a chance to play the Soviets, that NHL players are thrilled to join either the Canadian or U.S. teams. This year, however, the thought of playing the Soviets in August, so soon after Rendez-Vous and the Stanley Cup finals in June, is too much.

Gretzky has made a suggestion that the players’ association and the owners delay the Canada Cup until 1989, after the Calgary Olympics.

It is a sensible suggestion. But the players’ association and the NHL owners are likely to consider that more money could be made by playing the games this summer. If that happens, it will be interesting to see how many NHL players are willing to give up a month of their off-season.

The Professional Hockey Writers’ Assn. is investigating the feasibility of suing the Toronto Maple Leafs and their owner, Harold Ballard, because of the team’s closed locker room policy.

The Maple Leafs are the only team in the 21-team NHL that bans all media from its dressing rooms. After more than a year of this policy, Toronto sportswriters decided to test Ballard’s conviction. After a game with the Kings in Toronto Feb. 4, about 30 reporters entered the Toronto locker room.

Ballard quickly chased them out, showering reporters with curses.

In a meeting with league President John Ziegler during Rendez-Vous in Quebec City this month, the writers’ association asked again for the league’s help in gaining access to the Toronto locker room. Ziegler said that Ballard’s policy was within the letter of the league’s rules requiring equal access.

The group informed the Maple Leafs and the league that it would pursue legal action.

NHL Notes The Madison Square Garden network’s slogan is: “We bring the Garden home.” During a recent telecast of a Ranger game, the cable network did just that--by putting a wireless microphone on goaltender Bob Froese and Ranger Coach Phil Esposito. Froese wore a small, four-inch-long box strapped to his lower back and a microphone attached to his turtleneck. Viewers got to listen in on the fiery goalie’s badgering of referee Bob Myers. Early in the game, Froese complained to Myers about some of the Penguin players interfering with him in the goal crease. Myers was heard to say, exasperated: “I can’t watch everything. I’m trying.” . . . Joe Mullen of the Calgary Flames is on pace to become the second U.S.-born player to score 50 goals in a season. The first was Bobby Carpenter, who had 53 goals for the Washington Capitals in the 1984-85 season. Carpenter is now with the Rangers. . . . The Hockey Hall of Fame, which packed up and moved to Quebec City for the Rendez-Vous week, received a request from the Soviet minister of sport to tour the Soviet Union. The trip is likely, if only because the Hall is without a home at the moment. Among the permanent sites being considered are Montreal, Toronto, its former home, and Peterborough, Ontario.