Shadowy Tactics Work for Oilers : Stanley Cup playoffs: Buchberger’s job is to take Gretzky out of his game. Webster says the tactic should be penalized.

When Kelly Buchberger was growing up in Saskatchewan, Canada, he did what all young hockey fans did in the early 1980s. He watched Wayne Gretzky.

But he never dreamed he would be paid to do it.

These days, as a wing for the Edmonton Oilers, that’s all Buchberger does.

When Gretzky goes on the ice, Buchberger goes on the ice. When Gretzky comes off, Buchberger comes off.

His job, at which he has become adept, is to forget about everything else and stay in Gretzky’s face, try to deny him the puck and limit his mobility.

It’s working. If these two were any closer on the ice, they could skate in the next Olympics as a dance team.

There is no truth, however, to the rumor that, when the Oilers practice at Northlands Coliseum, Buchberger stays outdoors beside the statue of Gretzky.

So far, Buchberger has shut down Gretzky in two of the three games played between the Kings and the Oilers in their best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series.

Game 4 will be played tonight at Northlands Coliseum (6:30 PDT, Prime Ticket and XTRA-690).

Gretzky had four assists in Game 2, the only game the Kings won. In Games 1 and 3, he had no points and three shots.

Buchberger is continuing a tradition begun by teammate Esa Tikkanen, who proudly served as Gretzky’s shadow until a broken shoulder took him out of action for much of this season.

But King Coach Tom Webster says it’s time the officials took Buchberger out of his game plan.

“If you follow baseball,” a steamed Webster said Thursday, “imagine that you have any good cleanup hitter coming up and you walk him intentionally all the time. That doesn’t do anything for the game.

“As far as (Edmonton Coach) Ted Green is concerned, I compliment him on his tactics. But I’m appealing to the officials to let the best player in the game play. They have rules to protect the goalie, they have introduced high-sticking rules, rules (to stop) hitting from behind. When are they going to introduce something to protect the best players in the game--Brett Hull, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky?

“No wonder the guy (Gretzky) talks about retirement. I would be, too, if I had to put up with this kind of (stuff) all the time. I’ve kept quiet about this for two years, but it’s become sickening. It’s time to speak up.”

Webster’s tirade was matched by one from Green in an exchange that would seem better suited for the World Wrestling Federation.

“I’m willing right now to say,” Green told reporters, “that I will not have Kelly Buchberger or Esa Tikkanen or anybody on our team shadow Wayne Gretzky if I can get it certified and notarized from Tom Webster that they will stop illegal, moving picks, that they will stop punching and grabbing and they’ll stop interference behind the play to stop our speed. . . . It’s as simple as that.”

Gretzky doesn’t expect anything to come of Webster’s appeal.

“It’s been going on for over 50 years in this league,” Gretzky said. “It’s not going to stop now.”

Although Webster and Gretzky both said a penalty could be called on Buchberger every time down the ice, the Oiler wing disagreed.

“I’m not holding,” Buchberger said. “I’m not hanging onto his stick. I’m just staying in his way and skating with him.

“I don’t want to say I feel sorry for him, but nobody wants to be checked like that every night. It’s too bad it has to be done this way because people pay money to see him. But if you let him play, he’ll hurt us.”

Gretzky understood.

“It’s just a part of the game,” the King center said. “There’s not a great deal of skill involved in what he does. I’m not trying to be negative, but, if you can skate, it’s an easy job to do. He makes sure that I have no open ice and no easy pucks.

“There’s not a lot I can do about it. I don’t have the size of a Mark Messier where I can knock the guy over.”

Buchberger, 25 and in his sixth season with Edmonton, seems almost sheepish at times about his role.

“Just to get a chance to do it is a privilege,” Buchberger said. “He’s a professional, a first-class guy. He doesn’t give me any cheap shots, and I don’t want to give him any.”

This isn’t Buchberger’s only experience at being a hockey shadow. He has done a similar job on Hull and Lemieux.

“He (Gretzky) is a lot trickier,” Buchberger said. “People have been shadowing him for so long that he knows all the tricks. He uses the net well. You have to be on your toes all the time or he’ll use one of the two sides of the net to get away.”

Gretzky pulled one of his tricks earlier this year in a regular-season game against Buchberger. Gretzky skated toward the bench as if he was coming off the ice. Buchberger did the same. But once Buchberger got off, Gretzky darted back on.

But that works only once.

Tough as it is, Buchberger likes his assignment.

“You get a lot of ice time,” he said. “But you have to focus on him, not the puck. You have to put away your personal stats and your personal goals.”

Gretzky has heard it all before. He’s been trying to lose shadow after shadow for more than two decades.

“I’ve had it happen since I was 9 years old,” he said with a shrug. “It’s not new to me.”

King Notes

King wing Jari Kurri, suffering from a sprained left ankle, will not play tonight. Kurri was injured in Game 3 when he was checked into the boards by Edmonton’s Dave Manson. . . . King defenseman Larry Robinson, knocked out of Game 1 because of a bruised ankle, also will not play tonight. . . . The NHL has denied the Oilers’ request for disciplinary action against the Kings’ Tony Granato. In Game 2, Granato hit Edmonton wing David Maley in the mouth with his stick, knocking out two teeth. Glen Sather, the Oilers’ general manager, sent a tape of the incident to the league office. King Coach Tom Webster responded: “Are they going to send his teeth, too?”

* LEMIEUX LEADS PENGUINS

Mario Lemieux, who missed the first playoff game and most of the second because of injuries, is involved in all six Pittsburgh goals as the Penguins score their first victory in their series with the Washington Capitals. C6