HOCKEY NHL ALL-STAR GAME : Wales, Lemieux Get Head Start

PHILADELPHIA —  The Spectrum crowd of 17,380 had sat through more than three hours of All-Star Friday, prelude to today’s 43rd NHL All-Star Game. They had watched an old-timers game and the skills contest.

They had watched the Campbell and Wales conferences finish the evening’s events in a tie.

They had watched four rounds of a sudden-death, penalty-shot playoff to determine a winning conference.

Asked who they wished to see for the Campbell in Round Five, the crowd began chanting, “Gretzky! Gretzky!”

But the King center deferred to Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues, the league’s leading goal-scorer with 47.

Hull missed against goalie Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens.

But the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux did not miss on his turn against the Chicago Blackhawks’ Ed Belfour, giving the Wales the victory.

In other skill events, Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins beat the Kings’ Luc Robitaille in the accuracy shooting by going four-for-four in firing pucks at bulls-eye targets; Sergei Fedorov of the Detroit Red Wings was the fastest skater (around the rink in 14.363 seconds) and Al MacInnis of the Calgary Flames hit the hardest shot, clocked at 93 m.p.h.

In the old-timers game, a squad of former Philadelphia Flyers defeated an NHL All-Star team, 3-2, on a breakaway by defenseman Ed Hospodar with 18 seconds remaining in the two-period game.

The other Flyers goals were scored by wing Bob Kelly (on a penalty shot) and defenseman Kevin McCarthy. Scoring for the All-Stars were former New York Ranger Ron Greschner and former Canadien Jacques Lemaire.

The real hockey struggle Friday took place far from the Spectrum ice.

In a nearby hotel, Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHL Players’ Assn., briefed the various player representatives on the status of negotiations with the owners over a new collective bargaining agreement.

The hawks and the doves had their say behind closed doors, but when Goodenow emerged to face the media late Friday afternoon, he spoke as if he were bearing an olive branch.

Goodenow said talks with the owners will soon resume. Those talks have been suspended since Sept. 25, ten days after the collective bargaining agreement expired.

“The mood of the players,” Goodenow said, “has been one of a keen interest in an overriding agreement that makes sense for both sides.”

Far easier said than done.

Asked to list the issues still dividing the two sides, Goodenow rattled off: “Arbitration, free agency, insurance, playoff shares, endorsements and the waiver process.”

Hanging over the whole process is the threat of a player strike at the end of the regular season, or an owner lockout to blunt such a move by the players.

Goodenow wouldn’t concede that the whispered threats have lent a greater air of urgency to the talks.

“There’s always been a sense of urgency,” he said. “We hope to come to terms. Everything is in place. Both sides can look each other eye to eye and say, ‘This is what we feel strongly about.’ ”

The starting lineup for the Campbell Conference in today’s game (10 a.m., Channel 4) will consist of Gretzky at center, Robitaille at one wing with Hull at the other, Chris Chelios of Chicago and MacInnis on defense and Belfour in goal.

For the Wales Conference, Lemieux will be at center, and fellow Penguins Kevin Stevens and Jaromir Jagr on the wings, with Paul Coffey of the Penguins and Bourque on defense and Roy in goal.

Hull was the runaway leader in the balloting by the fans with 339,706 votes. Bourque was second with 287,222 votes. Gretzky pulled in 219,257 votes.

The two coaches will be Bob Gainey of the Minnesota North Stars for the Campbell and Scotty Bowman of Pittsburgh for the Wales.

Bowman replaces Bob Johnson, who led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup last spring before dying several months later of a brain tumor.

There have been various formats for this game, but since they started pitting the Campbell against the Wales, the Wales holds an 11-4 edge including an 11-5 victory in last year’s game, held at Chicago Stadium.

All-Star Notes

Cost of a seat for today’s game is $90. That breaks down to $60 for the game and $30 for Friday’s old-timers game and skills contest. . . . King wing Luc Robitaille has been named winner of the second annual Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities MAC Award. The honor is given to a player deemed most worthy of recognition for his work for children’s charities. Robitaille will receive his award at today’s game along with $20,000, to be given to the charity of his choice. He has designated that the money will go to the Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.