Bettman Takes Over Talks With the IOC

The NHL’s Board of Governors voted Saturday to give Commissioner Gary Bettman authority to complete negotiations that would allow NHL players to participate in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Bettman said the league has agreed on terms with the NHL Players Assn. but has many issues to resolve with the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee. He wouldn’t specify the topics under discussion, but it’s known hotel and travel accommodations for players and their families, and ticket allocation have been contentious issues.

In addition, NHL officials want greater access to the Olympic Village than they had in 1998 at Nagano, Japan, where they were unable to prevent a public relations disaster after several unidentified members of the U.S. men’s team trashed a dorm room.

“It wasn’t unanimous and it is possible it might not happen, but the owners were supportive of going if we can get it done,” Bettman said of the Olympic vote. “I remain hopeful we can complete the process because I believe it will be very helpful for our game.”

Bettman said the governors also voted to continue the five-year-old Canadian Assistance Plan, which provides financial aid to small-market Canadian teams that meet certain criteria for season ticket and advertising sales. The board had approved a five-year extension several months ago contingent on the Canadian government giving tax breaks to the six Canadian clubs, but the government withdrew its aid package several weeks ago.

Bettman quashed speculation U.S. teams might move to slash or abandon the league plan in response to the Canadian government’s reversal. “The motion was made an seconded by U.S. clubs,” Bettman said. “Sentiment in the room was that while others might abandon the Canadian clubs, we are not about to.”

Bettman also said general managers got a memo last week regarding referees’ renewed focus on obstruction fouls, particularly goaltender interference. “This goes into the category of consciousness raising,” he said.

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The NHL Players Assn. may take action on behalf of Joe Murphy, who was suspended by the Boston Bruins last week for insubordination after cursing and screaming at Coach Pat Burns.

“I predict it’s going to be a big issue,” said Bob Goodenow, the NHLPA’s executive director. “There have been issues in the past between players and coaches but none have taken Boston’s actions. We’re trying to establish what happened.”

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The World All-Stars scored eight times in 18 shots in the breakaway relay to take a 13-11 victory over the North Americans in the SuperSkills competition held Saturday night.

In other events:

* St. Louis defenseman Al MacInnis won the hardest shot for the sixth year in a row, firing one in at 100.1 mph, 0.1 faster than Philadelphia’s John LeClair and 0.2 faster than the Kings’ Rob Blake.

* Boston’s Ray Bourque and Florida’s Viktor Kozlov each hit four targets in five shots in the accuracy contest.

* Carolina’s Sami Kapanen was the fastest skater, turning a 13.649-second lap.

* The Toronto Maple Leaf old-timers beat an assemblage called the Heroes of Hockey, 6-1. Toronto got two goals from Frank Mahovlich, who now serves in Canada’s senate. The Heroes’ goal was scored by former King Marcel Dionne.

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Flyer and North America center Eric Lindros missed the skills competition because of flu. Flyer Coach Roger Neilson, who is scheduled to assist Pat Quinn on the North American bench today, missed the morning news conference and the evening skills event, apparently because of fatigue. Neilson is undergoing chemotherapy for bone marrow cancer.

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St. Louis goalie Roman Turek will start today for the World all-stars. He is the first goalie to start in his first All-Star game since Toronto’s Felix Potvin in 1994.

Turek was named to the team Thursday, replacing Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek.