Quenneville Brings Soul to the Blues

Joel Quenneville didn’t know what to do first. Should he soothe players’ ruffled feelings or try to energize the offense? Change the line combinations or change the St. Louis Blues’ philosophy?

Quenneville has had only a week to heal the scars left by Mike Keenan’s reign of error. But there are signs Quenneville has already had a steadying influence on a team unnerved by friction with Keenan.

“He’s positive and he’s coaching,” Brett Hull said. “It’s great now. . . . Near the end [of Keenan’s tenure] I was nonfunctional. I couldn’t function away from the rink. I’m certainly glad it wasn’t me who went away.”

Quenneville, an assistant coach of the Colorado Avalanche before accepting his first NHL head-coaching job, considered it as important to build emotional bridges as to reconstruct the power play. And yes, the Blues now practice the power play, which they seldom did under Keenan.

“We’ve been trying to implement some changes, such as playing more of a control game as opposed to all-out pressure,” Quenneville said. “Initially, what I’m trying to do is work on team bonding and togetherness. The guys have been great, and we’ve made steady improvements in that area. We have some good assets here.”

One of his best assets is much-traveled associate coach Roger Neilson, who coached him years ago when Quenneville played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Neilson believes Quenneville is doing well under difficult circumstances.

“He’s said all the right things and the team has responded well,” Neilson said. “He’s getting guys in their proper roles, and everybody knows what he’s supposed to be doing. There’s been so much turmoil, this team needs stability, and I think we’ll have that.”

Said center Pierre Turgeon: “When Keenan was there, the focus was a little bit more on the situations between Mike Keenan and Brett Hull than on winning hockey games. Now, it’s different. He communicates on the ice during practice and that’s the biggest thing.”

Hull knows he must produce if the Blues are to win games and win back fans, and he’s ready to step up.

“When Mike was there . . . his idea on the team was organized chaos, and when you have that, all you have is 20 guys chasing the puck,” he said. “Joel says we’re going to have fun. The atmosphere is so much easier. People can come to the rink without fear.”

CLASS ACTS

NHL players have shown remarkable support for Boston Bruin winger Sheldon Kennedy, who last week revealed the sexual abuse he suffered for a decade at the hands of former junior coach Graham James.

In Kennedy’s first game after telling his horrifying story, Philadelphia Flyer captain Eric Lindros approached to offer help in establishing a refuge for abused kids. Goalie Ron Hextall also applauded Kennedy’s courage. Other players have sent faxes and letters.

“I’d say nobody in the NHL would ever say anything [insensitive] to him. Nobody would get that low,” said Bruin forward Rick Tocchet. “Fans, I don’t know.”

Unfortunately, he has reason to wonder. Tocchet was a Flyer when goalie Pelle Lindbergh crashed his sports car and died, and Tocchet remembers fans chanting and carrying signs saying, “Hey, Hextall, buy a Porsche,” at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“That was the crudest thing I’d ever heard,” Tocchet said. “Let’s hope no one stoops to that.”

Fallout from the James case continues. Canadian law enforcement officials believe as many as 25 youngsters were victimized by James but are too embarrassed to press charges. They are being encouraged to come forward with offers of anonymity and counseling.

Also, Canadian junior hockey leagues are instituting police checks on volunteers and coaches. It’s a bit late, but maybe other kids will be spared Kennedy’s agony.

GET YER FRANCHISE HERE

The 11 expansion applicants began presenting their cases to the NHL’s executive committee Monday in New York. The process will continue today.

The executive committee, which consists of nine members of the board of governors, will evaluate the presentations and report to the board before Saturday’s All-Star game at San Jose. The front-runners for admission, probably in the 1999-2000 season, are Atlanta and Houston, with Nashville to follow in a second wave. The expansion fee is expected to hit $75 million, up from the $50 million the Mighty Ducks and Florida Panthers paid in 1993.

Monday’s presentations came from the three groups from Houston; Columbus, Ohio; Hamilton, Canada, and St. Paul, Minn. Scheduled today are the groups from Atlanta; Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Va.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Oklahoma City and Nashville. Gavin and Joe Maloof, who head one of the Houston bids, are also exploring buying part of the Tampa Bay Lightning and will drop out if that route to ownership proves faster.

TWO ON THE ISLE

How ugly were New York Islander defenseman Rich Pilon’s baseball-swing hacks at Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux on Friday? Even Penguin defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, renowned for his questionable hits, called them deplorable.

“Pilon swung the stick,” Kasparaitis said. “You’re not supposed to do that against players. I used to go after Lemieux, but not like that.”

On Monday, Pilon was suspended two games and fined $1,000.

Perhaps Pilon got his cue from Coach Mike Milbury, who was ejected after the first period for cursing referee Don Koharski and reportedly urging him to have another doughnut. Not only was Milbury unoriginal--the doughnut line was first hurled at Koharski during the 1988 playoffs by then-New Jersey coach Jim Schoenfeld--he set a bad example by giving in to his frustration.

HE’S NO LEMON

Pittsburgh goalie Patrick Lalime--it’s pronounced La-LEEM--who leads the NHL with a .933 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average, is the latest outstanding graduate of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, which used to be a scorer’s haven and a goalie’s nightmare.

Why the change? Simple, according to Francois Allaire, who consults with the Mighty Ducks’ goalies and tutored Lalime in his hockey school.

“Right now, a lot of kids in Quebec want to be goalies because of [the success of] Felix Potvin and Patrick Roy,” Allaire said. “The best athletes want to be goalies.”

SLAP SHOTS

Former King owner Bruce McNall got off easy with a sentence of five years and 10 months and an order to pay $5 million in restitution for his misdeeds. Sure, he’s remorseful now, but he should have considered the consequences before he was so generous with money defrauded from others. . . . Vancouver center Trevor Linden, out since Dec. 1 because of a knee injury, resumed skating but is two weeks away from playing.

Joe Thornton, a 6-foot-4 center with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, was the top-ranked skater in the mid-season rankings for June’s entry draft. Defenseman Paul Mara of Ridgewood, N.J., who helped the U.S. finish second at the world junior championships, is the top-rated American at No. 4.

Former King coach Tom Webster, now an assistant in Hartford, is back at work after a liver problem nearly put him on the transplant list. The problem cleared up without surgery. . . . Toronto Maple Leaf Coach Mike Murphy promised more changes after sending youngsters Brandon Convery and Kelly Fairchild to the minors. “There has to be a serious shakedown, a serious wake-up,” he said. More like a massive turnover.

San Jose Coach Al Sims is grateful for fans’ support--the Sharks have had more than 100 consecutive sellouts--but all that love may hurt his team. “If the power play stinks, we should be booed,” he said. . . . The NBA’s Toronto Raptors gave the Maple Leafs until Wednesday to decide if they want to share an arena. They were looking at separate sites.

Just when Olie “the Goalie” Kolzig had supplanted Jim Carey in Washington, having started four consecutive games and six of the last seven, he pulled a groin muscle and will sit out the next two games. “The team derives a lot of confidence from their goaltender, and right now our players seem to believe more in Olie than they believe in Jim,” Coach Jim Schoenfeld said. . . . Buffalo Coach Ted Nolan fears that the Sabres, who were 0-2-1 before winning Sunday at Phoenix, won’t maintain their hot first-half pace. “It seems like we hit a brick wall,” he said. “The second half gets real tough. Officially, we’re in a little bit of a slump and we’ve got to get out of it.”

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Downward Trend

Halfway through the season, the NHL’s leading scorers were much the same as they were a year ago--but their point totals were dramatically lower. That reflected a league-wide scoring decline from 6.3 goals a game during the first half of last season to 5.9 this season.

1995-96 LEADERS AT THE HALF

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Player, Team G A Pts Lemieux, Pitt. 36 57 93 Jagr, Pitt. 35 49 84 Francis, Pitt. 20 49 69 Gretzky, Kings 13 50 63 Messier, N.Y. 29 33 62

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1996-97 LEADERS AT THE HALF

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Player, Team G A Pts Lemieux, Pitt. 29 41 70 Jagr, Pitt. 36 29 65 Gretzky, N.Y. 16 44 60 Sundin, Tor. 27 29 56 Sakic, Colo. 15 40 55

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