Imports 8r?T m\ U! MARK ALLAN Sports editor Flames' success reflects role model _J£ALGARY (CP) — It’s no surprise the Hgptreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames are playing each other in this year’s Stanley Cup final because the two teams are almost reflections of each other. “Once you take away Montreal’s tradition of winning, their great history, the organizations are very similar in the way they approach the game,” Rick Wamsley, Calgary’s back-up goaltender who spent four years with the Canadiens, said Tuesday. “They are very astute at drafting play-ea; and they make good trades.” LCalgary won Sunday’s opening game in the best-of-seven series 3-2, but Montreal squared the series with a 4-2 win Wednesday. The Flames visit Montreal tonight for Game 3. The Flames won their second consecutive President’s Trophy this year, topping the NHL with 117 points, two more than Montreal. Al MacNeil, Calgary’s assistant general Cooper brothers njoying acrosse Montreal experience helps Calgary brass manager, said it’s no accident the Flames were built on Montreal’s model. MacNeil spent 12 years with the Canadiens, coaching them to the 1971 Stanley Cup championship in his rookie season. Cliff Fletcher, the Flames’ president and general manager, spent a decade in Montreal’s organization. Both men learned how to build a team by watching former Canadien general manager Sam Pollock. “He was a guy that you could learn from and know how to make it,” said MacNeil. “The similarity is that we went for depth. The Montreal Canadiens have no Wayne Gretzkys or Mark Messiers on their hockey club but they’ve got a lot of good, solid players. “We’ve got great hockey players, they’re not superstars, but they’re excellent players.” Wamsley, Mark Hunter, Ric Nattress and Flame assistant coach Doug Rise-brough were all Canadiens at one time. Risebrough earned four Stanley Cup rings in nine seasons with Montreal. Like Hunter, Nattress and Wamsley, he said facing the Canadiens in the final has no special significance. “The team has completely changed, the management has changed,” said Risebrough. “I learned an awful lot there, I appreciated all the years I was there, but to try and draw some type of challenge as this point is ludicrous. I’m just a coach trying to do a job.” Hunter spent four years with Montreal before being traded to the St. Louis Blues in 1985. He joined the Flames prior to this season. Class is a word he uses to describe both organizations. “It’s the same as Calgary’s organization,” he said. “You’re treated with class. There’s no cutting corners. “You’re here to win the Stanley Cup and that’s important.” Brian Hayward, Montreal’s backup goal- tender who was obtained from the Winnipeg Jets in 1986, said money is what separates the two organizations from other teams in the league. “They treat us first-class all the time,” he said. “During the playoffs we charter everywhere. We have team meals every night. They do everything they possibly can to give the guys every opportunity to win. In Winnipeg they couldn’t afford to do that.” Wamsley said the coaching attitude is similar on the two teams. “They both are coached to win,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup. It’s not just to get out of the division, to do well, it’s to win the Stanley Cup.” The Flames visit Montreal at 4:30 this afternoon on CKPG (channel 2, cable 3) and CBC French (channel 4, cable 5). by BILL SEYMOUR Sports reporter *2^5Jonathan Cooper is enjoying Big Apple — and he’s not Swone. The 21-year-old Prince ^. George Minor Lacrosse Asso-gvdption product is spending his *»£fourth year at Hofstra Umver-l35SBtty in Hempstead, New York PMBurtesv of an athletic scholar-gmSwp. SSnSSLleanwhile, his younger brother Christopher is finishing his first year of studies at Hofstra University- When not studying the two are part of a growing number of Canadians involved in a wave pushing their country’s national sport to the U.S. The Coopers play NCAA field lacrosse for the Hofstra University Flying Dutchmen. Jonothan developed his skills in ,. the*confines of the Carney Street m lacrosse box. Thisi>yearnJw^Hias V drafted by the Western ‘"Lacrosse Association-leading Richmond Outlaws. Christopher plays junior A lacrosse for the New Westminster - Salmonbellies. Although neither Cooper will be in Prince George for Saturday’s WLA league game between the Coquitlam Adanacs and the Vancouver Burrards, Jonathan has played £ with members of both teams. ^ Playing mid-fielder for a team JEJ that can attract over 1,000 fans per 1 ue is one of the differences bell tween field and box lacrosse, he g said. But the Spruce City native >*" says the biggest difference for him is living 30 kilometres outside New '/ York city. ^ “It’s an unbelievable change,” “» said Cooper from his New York *« home. "I don’t know how to de-EE scribe it - it’s amazing. EE “It’s so much faster paced than £ at home.” The pace of lacrosse is different >* as well, he said. When the playing area is the size m of a football field, and 10 players “ take the field at a time instead of •« just six, the game changes, said Em Cooper. w “It’s not as violent,” added UJ Cooper. “It’s more of a finesse £ game. “At home guys are one-handed. S Here you have to learn to throw El with your right and left arm.” relaying in the East Coast confer-m ence, the Coopers play against an- 2 other pair of Canadian brothers »» who have made a mark in the £ sport. Paul and Gary Gaits both 2 enjoy athletic scholarships at n neighboring Syracuse University. t’* •E While lacrosse flourishes in other 2 parts of North America, Jonathan H Cooper says the sport has dimin- 3 ished in Prince George. He said g the declining interest of parents a failure to attract younger players hurt the sport in Prince George. “They didn’t attack the elementary schools,” Cooper said. “When •frjnas playing the parents made it work. Jonathan Cooper in his uniform, with brother Christopher (inset). WLA LEAGUE GAME SET Saturday’s Western Lacrosse Association game in the Coliseum between the Coquitlam Adanacs and Vancouver Burrards will be the first league game between the two teams this season. Also on the line will be the John Steeves Memorial Trophy and a bid by local lacrosse enthusiasts to revitalize the sport’s languishing fortunes in Prince George. The Adanacs, last year’s WLA champions, will be led by goalie Bill Thomas and 1988 rookie of the year Jim Veltman. Veltman was the league’s leading scorer in his rookie year with 33 goals and 43 assists. On the Vancouver side Peter Parke and Dwight Maetche will leading the assault against Coquitlam. Parke was top goal getter in the WLA last year with 60 points. Goalie Dwight Maetche has tallied 120 assists in 127 games. Selected as the league’s most valuable player last season, Maetche added 60 penalty minutes to his record in 1988. Glenn Scott, a representative of the Prince George Masters’ Lacrosse Association and an organizor of this weekend’s event, said the local lacrosse association is bringing the WLA game here because of the success of a similar match last year. But the Burrards-Adanacs game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m., won’t be the only lacrosse in Prince George this weekend. Eighteen out-of-town teams will be here Saturday for the Prince George Minor Lacrosse Invitational Friendship Tournament. Beginning Saturday moring at 8 in the Kin Centre the round robin tournament will involve players at the tyke, novice, peewee, bantam and midget level. Teams from Mackenzie, Kelowna and Prince George will be represented. A junior-intermediate game for older players is set for the Coliseum Saturday at 1 p.m.. A second game will be played at the same time Sunday at Kin I. Also scheduled for Saturday afternoon is a minor lacrosse skills clinic put on by players from Vancouver and Coqitlam at Kin I. The last game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Kin Centre. BEST-EVER HOCKEY CAMP City players chosen *2J‘I played when it was a big sport in Prince George.” The $4,000 U.S. he recieves each semester will have paid his estimated $32,000 tuition over the four years at Hofstra. His message to , .younger players is straighforward. “If they wanted to follow in my footsteps, they sure could,” he said, • Vfitick with it. Lacrosse seems to * "W getting bigger and bigger and ^•pe^jble are looking to Canadian "players more and more.” VICTORIA (CP) — Three Prince George players will join five players from the Cranbrook provincial Bantam ‘AAA’ champions at the B.C. younger-than-17 hockey camp as part of the Best Ever development program, it was announced Thursday. The B.C. Amateur Hockey Association picked 46 players for the July 30 to Aug. 6 instructional camp at Osoyoos. The selections were based on performances at the annual B.C. Cup tournament involving six district teams in a round-robin tournament last month. Six players from Burnaby Winter Club, second in the provincial Classy hotel impresses blue-collar Cup visitors championship, were picked for the camp and five from Richmond. Four others were from Coquitlam. The three Prince George players are goaltender Dean Scully, defenceman Brandon Smith and centre Dino Caputo of the Canadian Woodworks Bantam Kings. Instruction at the B.C. camp will be provided by top amateur, university and professional coaches in Western Canada. Players from the B.C. and Alberta provincial camps will be selected to represent the Pacific Region in the 1989 Esso Quebec Cup in December. The tournament features five regional teams and five from European nations. MONTREAL (CP) - Pianist Gil-les Jourdain, in a black suit, was entertaining in the lounge when the Calgary Flames arrived at the Four Seasons on Thursday. Plush sofas and potted ferns add to the ambiance of the elegant downtown hotel. “Pretty fancy, pretty fancy,” said assistant Flames coach Tom Watt as he waited in the lobby for his room key. The Flames’ digs somewhat contradict the style of hockey they propose to play against the Montreal Canadiens tonight. With the NHL’s best-of-seven Stanley Cup final tied 1-1, the Flames are well aware they need to play the solid, hard-checking, positional game that has brought them this far. Jourdain played Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, an appropriate choice since the Flames’ play on the road has limited their need to travel of late. This is only their fifth road trip in six weeks of playoffs. First-class hotels njyst put the : .• Flames in the' right mood: They haven’t lost apluyoffmoad'gameMn"”' 36 days — since April 13 in Vancouver. They won both their games in Inglewood, Calif., against the Los Angeles Kings and both in Chicago against the Blackhawks. And they are delighted to be in Montreal. The Flames haven’t lost in the Forum since Dec. 8, 1986. They won once and tied their only other game here in the 1987-88 season and won their only game here during the 1988-69 season. “I love it,” head coach Terry Crisp says of the Forum. “It has real hockey atmosphere. The Forum, Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto and the Chicago Stadium are great. The fans are into it. You know you’re involved in a hockey game and that’s what it’s all about.” Not only is Crisp unbeaten as Flames coach in the Forum, he hasn’t been on the losing end of a game in the building since 1976, when he was a forward with the Philadelphia Flyers. “We know we’ve got our work cut out for us,” he adds. “They went into our building and took a game and we fully intend to do the same thing to them here. “It’s a dogfight between the best two teams in the NHL. What more could you ask for?” Anything but a repeat of the 1986 final when Calgary won the first game, as it did this spring, before Montreal won four in a row to claim its 23rd Cup. “I can’t say there’s no similarity between the feeling on this team now and the feeling we had in 1986,” said Flames forward Hakan Loob. “But, at the same time, I think we realize we have more legs here than we did then. “We’re a much different team, and a much better one, too.” And the Calgarians are in much better physical condition than they were in ‘86. Forward Joel Otto says he and his teammates were “dead tired” going into the final series against Montreal because they’d just been through a strenuous seven-game series the St. Louis Blues. “This year I feel fresh,” Otto says. “We were fortuante this year to win the previous two series quickly.” Calgary could be up 2-0 in games if not for a brief lapse that led to a 4-2 loss Wednesday. “We fell asleep for two minutes and that made the difference,” says forward Theoren Fleury. “When you’re playing a team as good as Montreal, it can make the difference. “We have a good road record in the playoffs though, and I think we kind of enjoy playing in the other rink. Besides, no one thought we’d win it in four straight. Not me, anyhow.” Habs reject idea of home-ice edge MONTREAL (CP) - With a smart 4-2 victory in Calgary, the Montreal Canadiens got something they didn’t need — home ice advantage. “I don’t think it’s an advantage in the final,” coach Pat Burns said Thursday. “If anything, it just puts a little more pressure on the home team.” A traveller’s delight of a series with Philadelphia has left Burns wary of the notion that home ice is an advantage. He doesn’t want his players believing it against the Calgary Flames tonight in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final. In the six-game Wales Conference finals against the Flyers, Montreal won three times^iti -Phi* .ladephia and losLtwice at “It’s a new pattern in the NHL,” said Burns, whose team is coming off an important win in Calgary after dropping the opener 3-2. “Philly had a problem with that. Boston had the same problem in the earlier round. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something different. “Maybe they try to do too much to satisfy the fans. That’s when you make mistakes.” The Flames and Canadiens have bucked the trend of winning at home all year. The Canadiens won twice in Calgary but lost to the NHL officials hear Hextall NEW YORK (AP) - Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ron Hextall attended a hearing with NHL officials Thursday over his attack on Montreal Canadiens defenceman Chris Chelios in the last game of their Stanley Cup semifinal series. The hot-tempered Hextall and Brian O’Neil, NHL director of operations, met in Toronto, the league office in New York confirmed. Hextall faces a probable suspension for the start of the 1989-90 season — a situation he faced before when the league benched him for the first eight games of the 1987-88 season after a vicious slash on Edmonton’s Kent Nilsson during the 1987 finals. SUNDAY, MAY 21st 7:30 P.M. at the Prince George Playhouse “THE VACANT THRONE IN THE MIDDLE EAST” Speaker: Harry Tennant (London, England) Flames in Montreal during the regular season. But after two tough games at the Saddledome, the Canadiens are glad to be back in the Forum, despite home fans famous for their fickle nature who booed them in their last home game against Philadelphia, a 2-1 overtime loss. “We have great fans and it could be a benefit,” said centre Bobby Smith, whose team is 4-3 at home and 7-2 on the road in the playoffs. “They haven’t seen us since we lost to the Flyers.” The Canadiens will need the same enthusiastic, hard work with which they evened the series. Coming off a win will help, said Smith. -■■"•“'^IPs'a great relief for us to be at because if~not we’d be on the ‘ brink of 3-0, whicli is an almost inescapable pit,” he said. “It also took a away a little of Calgary’s confidence and boosted our own.” Defenceman Craig Ludwig agreed with Burns that the Canadiens can’t “try to make the fancy plays” and abandon their disciplined, defensive style. After controlling the first period Wednesday, the Canadiens started taking retaliatory penalties and let the Flames tie the game in the second before regaining command in the third period. WATER SKI LESSONS All Levels Courses Starting at. *149 Call Reg Foot 562-2441 days 562-6903 eves & weekends W.L.A. LACROSSE VANCOUVER BURRARDS VS COQUITLAM ADANACS Saturday, May 20th 7:30 p.m. COLISEUM Tickets at Bobsports and at the door • FISHING • HUNTING • CAMPING • SKIING SPECIALISTS Cr OUTDOOR RAMBLINGS May 19th, 1989 By: Bob Melrose Local fishing has been very good lately and will likely remain so until the lakes turn over and leave the water murky and the fishing slower. Many trout are being taken right now on flies (chyrno-mids, leeches. Doc Spratley's, dragon fly nymphs, half backs and Mayfly imitations) largely due to the hot weather and the start of the hatches. The big lakes should be hot over the next 2 to 3 weeks for rainbow and char on the surface. Once the char reach the surface, F.S.T.'s, Shad Raps, Charlie White's, Gibbs Stewarts, Ruby eyes and Mac squids with little or no weight are very effective. Bear hunters should enjoy great success from this week on. Spring is at least a couple ol weeks late in all areas, making the next two weeks a great time to start looking for your bear. Big game hunters should note that we have the majority of our fall hunting supplies already in stock. This includes ammunition, knives, saws, packs, guns, scopes, binoculars, mosquito repellant, compasses, and much, much more. This week we received a large shipment of camping goods and including new tents, sleeping bags, inflatible sleep pads, camp stoves and with more camp fuel goods arriving daily. If you plan on heading out hunting or camping this weekend, make sure you have bug repellent, this is the time of year when the bugs start coming out badly. If you are a fisherman prone to sunburn, you need Berkely Blackaid. This is a sunblock which is not a deter-rant to the fish when if gets on lures. It is available at Bobsports They're catching springs in the lower Kalum out west. The fish are in the 40 lb. class. The water is colored, but fish-able. They are still catching steelhead in the Kitimat. The water is very low and very clear. Roe is not allowed in the Kitimat after May 15th. Have a great weekend Mike & Barb bobSpcrte 680 Victoria Street, Prince George, B.C. 562-2222 FAX 562-9514 - 1-800-663-6985 (Out-Of-Town Orders Only)