Best in the IHL at Age 32, Knickle Keeps Plugging Away : Hockey: Gull goaltender leads league in victories and goals-against average.

The Gulls this week pointed out that goalie Rick Knickle has more victories this season than any other team in the International Hockey League. It was their way of spotlighting a player who has been overlooked throughout his career.

But despite Knickle’s eight victories and despite his league-leading 1.78 goals-against average, another statistic remains prominent--32, his age.

That’s the statistic dwelt on last summer by the Detroit Red Wings, the Kings and even by the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning, all of whom pondered bringing in the 12-year IHL veteran before passing in the end.

For Knickle, it has been that way for seven years. He has been too old since he was 25, so rejection no longer bothers him.

“I was crushed seven years ago when I was told I was too old,” he said, indicating he has moved on emotionally. “I’m happy I made it this far, most people never even get to this level.”

The ironic part this year is that Knickle is starting ahead of Clint Malarchuk, 31, who came to the Gulls one week into the season on loan from the Buffalo Sabres with hopes of playing well enough to earn his way back to the NHL.

Malarchuk isn’t getting the playing time he expected when he first rejoined Coach Rick Dudley--who guided the Sabres before joining the Gulls--and it’s all Knickle’s fault.

“But I’m here and I’m a San Diego Gull and I accept Rick being on a roll the same way I would in Buffalo if another goaltender was on a roll there,” Malarchuk said. “There’s no difference.”

It is the first time since both began in junior hockey that the careers of Knickle and Malarchuk have crossed. Both starred in the junior ranks and even played against each other. Knickle led all junior leagues with a 3.16 goals-against average in 1978-79 when he won 26 games for Brandon of the Western Hockey League.

“I thought I was ready for the NHL then,” Knickle said. “But all of a sudden I’m in the American (Hockey) League and not playing very well.”

Malarchuk entered the WHL the following season and won 21 games with Portland. It was only a prelude to the 28 he won in 1980-81. He was drafted by Quebec that summer.

Early in 1985-86, Malarchuk made his own break by shutting out Boston in back-to-back games.

“And from then on,” he said, “I got the recognition.”

Knickle, who was drafted by Buffalo in 1979, never got a break.

“It was partially nerves,” he said. “I might have put too much pressure on myself to do it in a two- (or) three-game segment instead of over the long haul.”

The closest Knickle came to a fresh start came before the 1985-86 season when Montreal signed him as a free agent.

But it wasn’t to be. A year earlier the Canadiens drafted a goalie in the fourth round. Patrick Roy played unspectacular his first year after signing a professional contract, but the next season--Knickle’s first in the organization--Roy won the Conn Smythe trophy and was named to the NHL All-Rookie team.

“Some people just never get in the right situation,” Dudley said. “What are your chances of playing ahead of Patrick Roy?”

Roy, now considered the NHL’s top goalie, slammed the door on Knickle and on an entire procession of young hopefuls since.

“You have to get that break in order to make it into the NHL,” Malarchuk said. “And when you do get that break, you have to make the best of it. But timing is a big part of getting it in the first place.”

Now it’s Malarchuk’s timing which seems to have become an enemy. Knickle’s “roll” appears to be entering its second season. Last year he led all IHL goalies with 28 victories.

“I’ve seen goaltenders who all of a sudden get into that groove and never leave it,” Dudley said. “And Rick is playing insane right now.”

Perhaps that’s because Knickle no longer worries about getting noticed.

“I don’t look for the publicity anymore,” Knickle said. “I used to need that when I was younger, but now I just let my work talk for me. I don’t put any pressure on myself. I don’t have to worry about a general manager being up in the stands and wondering during a game, “Am I going to get called up?’ ”

Last week Knickle, somewhat isolated on a team with 16 NHL veterans, led the Gulls to three victories on a four-game road swing that went through three cities in five nights. He stopped 14 shots in a 4-2 victory over Atlanta, then shut out Cleveland, 3-0, while facing 21 shots, and finally held Fort Wayne to a single tally while thwarting 27 shots in a 2-1 victory.

“When we’ve needed him,” Dudley stressed, “he’s been there. In Fort Wayne we were playing our third game in as many nights and the Komets hadn’t played for a week. I expected us to come out sluggish, and we had an especially bad first period. But Rick stood up--he was on fire. We came back later in the game and had a hell of a third period, and Rick gave us the chance to do that.”

Goalies tend to mature later in their careers than do skaters, and that seems to be the case with Knickle. But there is another force at work in his late surge.

“It’s kind of a driving factor to show some of these people who passed on me that they were wrong,” he said. “I know they’re never going to say, ‘Geez, we made a mistake.’ But it’s gratifying to me that I’m still playing at this level and not just playing and hanging on, but I’m playing and doing well.

“I take pride in that.”