THE NHL : Goalies Are Still Getting Creased

The scene has been repeated hundreds of times at all levels of hockey: The onrushing skater, the flashing stick, the soaring puck and, finally, the thud as it bounces off the mask of a sometimes helpless goalie.

Someone in the crowd will invariably shudder to think of what might have happened had there been no mask.

A lot of toothless old-timers could show them. Back when the NHL was young and goalies were macho beyond reason, they didn’t wear masks. Instead, they proudly wore their scars as mute testimony to their courage.

Eventually, though, a generation of goalies decided against looking like Freddy Krueger.

So the mask was created, and plastic surgeons lost a lot of business.

But as the league headed into this, its 75th season, goalies were again becoming an endangered species, threatened this time not by incoming pucks, but incoming skaters.

Running the goalie had grown common. The crease had come to look like the San Diego Freeway at rush hour.

Nothing seemed to discourage the perpetrators, not whistles or trips to the penalty box.

So league officials came up with a new strategy: Rule 72. Instituted this season, it reinforces the old rule that prohibits a skater from making deliberate contact with the goalie, in or out of the crease, or for standing in the crease or even holding his stick in that area if the puck is not there.

In other words, if you don’t have the puck, stay out.

The only exception is a skater forced into the crease. But even he must make an effort to get out.

New language has been added to put the onus on the attacking skater. And officials have been told to crack down on offenders.

In addition, the old semicircle and rectangle around the crease have been replaced with only a semicircle, six feet in radius, painted blue to set it off and serve as a warning to would-be trespassers.

On opening night, the Kings’ Dave Taylor was shoved into the enemy crease. One of his teammates immediately scored, but the goal was disallowed because Taylor didn’t make a noticeable effort to get out of the crease.

It was a promising beginning for beleaguered goalies.

“I was really encouraged,” King goalie Kelly Hrudey said. “Actually, I thought it was maybe too strict. Even as a goalie, I’m saying that.”

He need not have worried. In only a couple of weeks, Hrudey says, it’s business as usual.

“It hasn’t changed,” he said. “There is no difference whatsoever. You still have the people who are maliciously crashing into the crease to score or injure someone. It has been prevalent ever since I’ve been playing.

“Some guys have been playing that way for four or five years. That’s the style some guys used to get here. How are you going to stop them? They’re not going to change.”

Hrudey isn’t blaming officials.

“How do you know if someone is sliding into the crease only because he has lost an edge? There’s a big gray zone there.”

Add rules: Another change for goalies this season involves the anchoring of the goal posts.

Originally, they were rammed deep into the ice. That proved dangerous, however, as players often were hurt when they were shoved into the immovable posts.

So a system using magnets was tried. But that turned out to be the other extreme. The posts came loose with any strong contact. Some players learned to give the posts a nudge as the opposing side was about to score.

Plan C is in effect this season. The magnets have been replaced by rubber and plastic pegs that don’t move as easily.

Hrudey, however, says they don’t move enough, that they are too much like the original system.

Fear and loathing: Defenseman Dave Manson, traded by the Chicago Blackhawks to the Edmonton Oilers for Steve Smith shortly before the start of the season, is thrilled to be out from under the thumb of Chicago Coach Mike Keenan.

“We had 106 points last year and Mike thought a few changes would help,” Manson sarcastically told the Edmonton Journal. “He’s the guy in charge there and he’s the guy that makes the decisions. You just go along with what happens.

“Some days, some guys fear going to the rink (at Chicago). There’s a lot of difference in attitude (in Edmonton). They want you to enjoy the game. When you lose a game, everybody’s upset about it, but they don’t want you to fear coming to the rink if you lose.”

Howe fitting: Monday, at a sports memorabilia auction staged by King owner Bruce McNall’s Superior Galleries, Wayne Gretzky paid $27,500 for a sweater worn by Gordie Howe as a member of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1947-48 season. It was Howe’s second season, but the first in which he wore his trademark No. 9. His first season, Howe wore No. 16.