Notes on a Scorecard - Dec. 17, 1992

It is time for the Kings to eliminate stick-throwing from their repertoire. . . .

Last season, it cost Tom Webster, then their coach, a 12-game suspension. . . .

Tuesday night, it cost Robb Stauber his status as the only unbeaten goaltender in the NHL. . . .

Webster threw a stick, which didn’t belong to him, onto the ice in protest of a call. Stauber threw his stick at a puck that Mikael Andersson of the Tampa Bay Lightning was trying to control for a breakaway. Such an infraction results in the purest of breakaways--a penalty shot, which Andersson put beneath Stauber’s left leg pad for the game winner with 32 seconds left. . . .

A rinksider, Michael Eisner of Disney, must have been encouraged to see that an expansion team could upset the Smythe Division leader. . . .

But Stauber couldn’t have been discouraged about a performance that on most nights would have been good enough to give him a King goaltenders’ record of eight consecutive victories. . . .

Los Angeles was suffering from a case of dead legs, and if not for some exceptional work by Stauber, the Lightning might have struck three or four more times. . . .

The 25-year-old rookie, who is sharing the goaltending duties with Kelly Hrudey, is among the most pleasant surprises on a team that, without Wayne Gretzky, was picked to finish fifth in the division. With Gretzky, maybe third or fourth. . . .

In 1988 as a University of Minnesota sophomore, Stauber became the first goalie to win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, which is given to the nation’s outstanding collegiate hockey player. It was the equivalent of a linebacker winning the Heisman. . . .

However, knee and back injuries limited him to 69 games during three minor league seasons, and there were so many questions about his future that he was left unprotected in the expansion draft. . . .

“Stauber is good and he’s going to get better,” said Rogie Vachon, the King executive and former goaltender whose No. 30 hangs on the north wall of the Forum. “He’s very mobile, quick with the glove, and he handles the puck well. In the minors, he gave up a lot of bad goals. He doesn’t now because he is so much more aggressive and confident.” . . .

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Webster seems to have lost some of his aggressiveness. He hasn’t been suspended once and his Detroit Junior Red Wings, who finished seventh in the Emms Division of the Ontario Hockey League last season, are in first place with an 18-11-4 record. . . .

The exciting hockey that is played in the NCAA will be on display for the fourth year at the Forum on Saturday and Sunday when defending national champion Lake Superior State, Princeton, Maine and Western Michigan compete in the Great Western Bank Freeze-Out. . . .

Tom Lasorda recently visited Bill Russell in the Dominican Republic, where he is managing Licey in the winter league. . . .

“I saw four games,” Lasorda said. “Russell’s team scored one run. He said he knew what I must have gone through last season. I told him, ‘Yeah, but multiply it a few times.’ ” . . .

Lasorda is bullish on Todd Worrell, the new addition to the Dodger bullpen, and believes that the lack of a left-hander in the starting rotation is overrated as a negative. . . .

I keep wondering if the pitching-poor San Francisco Giants would be willing to trade Matt Williams to the third base-poor Dodgers for a starter. . . .

Dusty Baker, a great communicator and teacher, was a wise choice as manager by the Giants. . . .

New Yankee third baseman Wade Boggs has a lifetime batting average of .338, but has hit only .280 at Yankee Stadium. . . .

Asked by Roy Firestone if George Bush might become the next commissioner of baseball, George Will said, “Why would he want to go from leader of the free world to errand boy for 28 owners?” . . .

Two former rookies of the year, shortstop Walt Weiss and catcher Benito Santiago, give the Florida Marlins talent at two of the most important positions and should make them more formidable than the Colorado Rockies. . . .

Jose Canseco became the highest-paid player in baseball when he signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics that became effective in 1991. Now he is the 17th highest-paid player. . . .

Most of the tickets for the Freedom Bowl Dec. 29 at Anaheim Stadium are being sold by Fresno State, but 20,000 USC alumni reside in Orange County and 14 Trojans played high school football there. . . .

UCLA cornerback Carlton Gray and West Virginia center Mike Compton are the only two players who made the Associated Press All-American team and the GTE Academic All-American team. . . .

The blue-and-gold cover of the Christmas card from John and Linda Gunn and Allen and Kevin Jerkens reads: “UCLA 38, USC 37.”