THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Minnesota Could End Up Making Deal With Devils

Minnesota legislators, hoping to bring hockey back to the Twin Cities, are publicly courting the Edmonton Oilers. But their real quarry may be the New Jersey Devils.

Officials in Minneapolis, unsure they can complete a deal with the Target Center in time to meet Oiler owner Peter Pocklington’s December deadline, have wooed the Devils as well and will continue those efforts if talks with Pocklington fall through.

Pocklington has met twice with Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson, but it’s unlikely the bureaucratic wheels can turn rapidly enough to wrap things up in a month. The commission took the first small step only last week, when it voted to study whether a takeover would make financial sense. The North Stars, who played at the suburban Met Center, left Minnesota for Dallas last summer.

Marv Wolfenson, co-owner of the Target Center and the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, has said he won’t permit a hockey team to move in unless the city or its Sports Facilities Commission takes over the building and gives the hockey and basketball teams sweetheart deals.

New Jersey sources don’t deny Minnesota’s overtures, but they doubt the Devils will move. Still, there’s reason to wonder:

Despite an 8-2 record, the Devils are averaging 13,184 at the 19,040-seat Meadowlands Arena, short of owner John McMullen’s stated goal of 16,000. In 12 seasons in New Jersey, they haven’t developed a strong enough identity to compete at the box office with the cross-river New York Rangers or the Philadelphia Flyers. A move would eliminate the competition and a favorable lease would improve revenues.

GLOVES ON, PLEASE

With the specter of AIDS and other diseases in mind, trainers with U.S.-based teams were ordered this season to protect themselves and players by wearing sterile gloves when treating bloody cuts and following rigid guidelines in handling used syringes and bandages.

Items that can be used again, such as blood-stained towels or uniforms, are bagged and washed in special solutions that kill blood-borne diseases. Gloves and gauze are labeled bio-hazards and disposed of by a waste management company. Trainers have also been vaccinated for hepatitis-B.

“It’s just common sense,” said King trainer Pete Demers, vice president of the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers’ Society. “A lot of people are watching us and you want to set a good example.”

It’s also required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that sets and enforces rules and regulations for workplace safety and health and implements the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The NHL’s procedures were adapted from a program devised last year for the NBA by Laker trainer Gary Vitti, who created it after catching heat when he treated Magic Johnson for a cut during an exhibition game without wearing gloves. Johnson had tested positive for HIV, which causes AIDS.

“There’s absolutely no question they should be wearing gloves,” said Mark Senak, deputy director of AIDS Project LA. “If they’re only just now implementing this, I wonder why they waited so long?”

In an article Vitti is writing for a sports medicine journal, he cites studies in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. that say athlete-to-athlete transmission of HIV during competition has never been convincingly documented. The issue gained attention when several NBA players objected to playing against Johnson.

Senak and Vitti say the odds of contracting hepatitis-B are 40 times greater than of getting AIDS, but still remote.

“Although it’s theoretically possible, (the chance of AIDS transmission) must be categorized as infinitesimal,” Vitti said.

Said Demers: “You live day after day with the players, and we’re one big, happy family. I thought (taking precautions) would be an insult, but everybody’s used to it now.”

HEY, NO PROBLEM

When Ranger Coach Mike Keenan said last week that his players lacked drive and professionalism, some New York newspapers interpreted that as a shot at General Manager Neil Smith and Smith’s personnel moves. But Smith says he spends no more time watching his back than the average New Yorker.

“Because you have a guy who has been a GM and people perceive there could be problems because of that, they’re going to find things,” Smith said. “Mike answers honestly and truthfully. He has been unhappy with some players and the way they’ve performed, but there aren’t any problems between us.”

LEMIEUX’S BACK

Mario Lemieux, whose return from back surgery was interrupted after one game, might be sidelined until this weekend because of stiffness in his back. He is with the Penguins on their six-game trip, which brings them to the Forum on Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday.

Lemieux trailed Wayne Gretzky by 26 points in the scoring race when he came back, but don’t count him out of it. He trailed Pat LaFontaine by 23 points last season after undergoing treatments for Hodgkin’s disease, and he won by 12.

SHE’S A WINNER

Erin Whitten of the East Coast Hockey League’s Toledo Storm became the first female goaltender to win a professional game last Saturday when Toledo beat Dayton, 6-5. She replaced Alain Harvey in a 1-1 tie and gave up four goals in 19 shots over the last two periods.

Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play pro hockey, had no victories in goal for the International Hockey League’s Atlanta Knights last season.

LOOSE PUCKS

On-ice officials rejected a second contract offer by the NHL. Talks are likely to go to the Nov. 15 strike deadline. . . . The Bruins, who won their arbitration case with defenseman Ray Bourque, signed him to a long-term deal, five years for $13 million. In arbitration, Bourque had been awarded a salary of $2.2 million after asking for $4 million.

The U.S. Olympic team is 15-8-3 with a game tonight against the Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium. . . . Toronto center Doug Gilmour was fined $500 but not suspended for his actions in a fight with Tampa Bay’s Roman Hamrlik last week.