The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 16

a ru C14 THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1998 SPORTS CaMllo: Fm prepared to take over role HAM Continued from Page CIS 1: Calvlllo. sinned as a ft-ee-agent last winter following his re lease by Hamilton, played more than expected because of Ham's injuries. He completed 82 or passes for 1.316 yards, including a 97-ynrder to Chris Armstrong. Cnlvillo threw for six touchdowns but also was intercepted 10 times. Calvillo had a 41 record as a starter and came off the bench I 'A 1 KZJ.

USA to rally Montreal to an overtime tie in another game. "I'm going to train and prepare to take the role over," Calvillo said. "I've been ready I've been in this situation be fore." Nonetheless, Calvillo appreciated being groomed by Ham. It marked the first time in his career he had a veteran to hi oversee his development. "I like how he handled himself in stressful situations, Calvillo said.

"This game is emotional, but he's humble. tikes things in stride and doesn't let it affect him. The Als also have quarterbacks Lance Funderburk and Stanley Jackson under contract. Kevin Mason, who has 4 played for Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, completed the sea son on the practice roster. 1t Ham had numerous highlights over a career that began in vV -k 1987 at Edmonton.

He went to the Grey Cup four times, win ning two, and was the league's most outstanding player in 1989. He might not have had the strongest passing arm. but his mobility and instinct made him a constant threat. "He will rank as one of the all-time great quarterbacks in this league," Smith said. "He was a highly successful pro athlete at an elite level." Ham said he felt blessed to have played 12 years relatively plus dc 300 phf injury-free and is appreciative of the game and opportunity he was provided played as hard as I could every time," he said.

"When you saw me, you knew the effort was GORDON BECK. GAZETTE Denis Brodeur autographs his latest book of hockey photographs. out on the field. 'Give that young man a pass' BRODEUR Continued from Page C13 But at the time, Brodeur might have been the only photographer in the city without game access to the Forum. That he was shooting for a crime magazine probably didn't help.

"Finally, one day, I asked to meet (Canadiens GM) Frank Selke, and I told him, 'I'm the only guy who belonged to your organization who doesn't have a recalled Brodeur, an alumnus of the Canadiens' junior Nationale feeder club. "Mr. Selke finally said to (team PR director) Camille Desroches, 'Give that young man a He shot his first Forum game in 1962. sitting track mind, I always had to shoot the goalies." But the thought of lighting his pictures from above was intriguing, and Brodeur knew a studio photographer who had a strobe system similar to Bier's. "You could drop a penny from the roof of the Forum and freeze it halfway down," he said admiringly.

He decided to buy it for $1,500 if the Canadiens would allow its installation. Then-president David Molson agreed, and Brodeur used the system from the 1969-70 season until the final game at the Forum on March 1 1 1996. Where Barkley's primitive strobes were blinding. Brodeur's went unnoticed by players and fans. "Once I asked Ken Dryden if he was bothered by my flash," Brodeur said, "and Ken said.

'What Now 68, he has shot more than 1.500 NHL games, producing more than a million negatives and 500 quality "blooper" shots from which he culled the collection forhis new book. Brodeur has published 13 volumes for Les Editions de l'Homme, on subjects from Guy Lafleur, gymnast Nadia Comaneci, golfer Jocelyne Bourassa and Expo '67. Over-all, his work has appeared in more than 100 books. Last week, he received a call out of the blue from someone in Paris who asked how much he wanted for his entire collection. He had no idea not that it is for sale.

Brodeur shoots most Canadiens games today when he's not on the road or in front of his TV following his son, Martin, the New Jersey Devils' star goalie. He'll set up with his Nikon as near the ice as he can, moved away from the boards when the Molson Centre fol lowed the lead of other modern buildings and evicted rinkside photographers for high-rent seats. "At the Forum, if a guy was wearing a white sweater and it was reflecting in the glass, you could move a few feet down the aisle," Brodeur said. "But the Molson Centre glass is perfect you lose no quality shooting through it." He doesn't advertise and has shunned the idea of promoting himself on the Internet, yet by word of mouth and long-established con- tacts he still receives a half-dozen calls a week from newspapers and magazines. His photos appear in every good hockey publication in the world.

'QUALITY IS SO GREAT' "Hardly anybody calls me for today's play- ers, though I do get a lot of requests for Mar-, tin in his younger days," he said. "Most people want photos from 1965-80: Beliveau, Dryden, -Ferguson and Mahovlich." He marvels at the skill of today's hockey photographers, at their ability to shoot a fast -game from close range with long lenses. "Their quality is so great," Brodeur "But I find it sad that their editors want them to focus on mid-ice to get all the rough stuff. So much of the best action happens around the net." Not that a former goalie would be biased, you understand. The Gazette will review a selection of this season's hockey titles in the Books and Visual Arts section on Nov.

28. Address E-mail to Dave Stubbs at, dstubbsiqthegazette.southam.ca against the low glass in the corner, balancing and focusing his boxy Roliflex with one hand, lifting his Cash above the glass with the other. iJV-w -u 1 1 i lo3 -a 1 a HAD TO SHOOT THE GOALIES In those days, Canadiens team photograph er David Bier and Weekend Magazine's Frank Prazak had their own strobes suspended above Forum ice, systems that succeeded Harold Barkley's first electronic strobes of the 1950s. Barkley bolted his strobes on the glass behind the net in the corners, wiring his camera to them to bathe small parts of the ice in brilliant light. Three books of Barkley's magnificent work have recently been published.

By now Brodeur was shooting regularly for ALLEN MclNNIS, GAZETTE Alouettes quarterbacks Anthony Calvillo (left) and Montreal-Matin, "as long as I aimed at the net," he said. "Jacques Beauchamp had a one- Tracy Ham share a laugh as they clean out the locker End zones not a hot ticket at Grey Cup room Monday. Soles proud to be 3art of Montreal's botball renaissance JIM MORRIS Canadian Press WINNIPEG Ken Bishop goofed. The man who set the Grey Cup ticket prices admits he was wrong to try and sell the worst seats in the house for $124.50. So, frightened by the prospect of television Michael Soles can retire knowing professional football in Montreal is on more stable ground than it was only two years ago, and that he was one of the pioneers in its renaissance.

"I was part of it and I'm proud of that," he said while cleaning out his dressing-room cubicle at Olympic Stadium for the final time. The Canadian fullback, a McGill University graduate, is retiring following 10 Canadian Football League seasons. Soles is only 32, is still healthy and could have continued playing, but feels the timing is right for his cameras panning across rows of empty seats, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager decided yesterday to offer a two-for-one deal on the remaining end-zone tickets. 'Tickets didn't take off on Monday like I'd hoped they would," Bishop said. "There's retirement.

He's married, and has a young daughter and a full-time career, as a financial adviser at Nesbitt Burns. "I'm proud I was able to come back to my home town and build football back to where it was considered a respectable sport," said Soles, who spent the first seven seasons of his Jli iv itftlrrt FRANK GUNN, CP Worker Jeff Johnson takes advantage of a painted cheerleader's shoulder to lean on as he waits for telephone line to be passed up for the press box at Winnipeg Stadium football field yesterday in preparation for Sunday's Grey Cup game. nothing worse than having those CBC cameras showing a bunch of empty seats." Winnipeg Stadium has been expanded to 42,000 seats for Sunday's game between the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the newly crowned Beasts of the East. More than 30,000 tickets have already been sold. Of the 28,000 seats in the grandstands -which cost $183 each only 1,000 remain.

But the end zones are still virtually unsold. PEOPLE WERENT BUYING IT "What it tells me is those who want to watch from the grandstands, we priced it right and they can afford it," Bishop said. "What happened in the end zones, we didn't price it right. It was too pricey and people weren't buying it. There were some skeptics who said, 'Do you think you can sell tickets at The answer i yes.

I didn't think the $124Av6uldn'tf sell. "They didn't'; so let's take half the price. On Monday, they're not worth anything." By yesterday afternoon, 250 end-zone seats had been sold, putting another 500 people in the stands. But the price still seemed too steep for Johanna Lalman. "This is Winnipeg," Lalman said as she shared a coffee with a friend at a downtown doughnut shop.

"It's not like it's Toronto or Vancouver or Calgary The classified section of the Winnipeg Free career playing for the Edmonton Eskimos, where he won one Grey Cup. He was traded to the Als for future considerations in June 1996, shortly after the franchise transferred to Montreal from Baltimore. The 6-fbot-l, 215-pounder saw his career evolve through different stages. He was a key component for the Eskimos in the early 1990s, rushing for a career-high 656 yards in 1992. 'I DID WHAT WAS ASKED' In his first season at Montreal, Soles gained 506 yards as a receiver and rushed for 340 more.

scoring eight.touchdowns. He was the Eastern nominee as the league's outstanding Canadian. But for the last two seasons, Soles proved to be used almost exclusively as a blocking back for Mike Pringle. On the few occasions when he was thrown a swing pass in the flat, Soles usually gained good yardage. "I did what was asked and adjusted my game," Soles said.

"I went from being the go-to guy to the guy who blocks for the go-to guy. Maybe I didn't have the numbers, but I'm proud of the transition. It was a career to be proud of. "We can all look back and say we could have done more, but I brought a lot to a team. I would have liked to win my final game, but that only happens in fairy tales.

This was one of the best teams I played on that didn't win a Grey Cup." NOTES Defensive-tackle Doug Petersen, who blew out his calf muscle on Sunday against Hamilton, will require six weeks to recover. In other words, had the Als advanced to this Sunday's Grey Cup game, Petersen would have been unable to play. Herb Zurkowsky be the early favourite. Environment Canada is predicting mild temperatures hovering around zero, with no precipitation on game day Penny McMillan, head of Winnipeg Tourism, said all the downtown hotels are full and they're trying to direct callers to any vacancies through the city. From a marketing point of view, the only other team Bishop would have wanted in the game is the home-town Blue Bombers.

Bishop has been told four charters will be bringing Hamilton fans, while Calgary supporters have scooped up between 1,500 and 2,000 additional tickets. "Calgary has been at the altar for the last four or five years, but haven't really been part of a Grey Cup in a long time," he said. "Their (fans) have a perception of really living it up and putting on a party. From the East. Hamilton is the ideal one.

They are a Cinderella team." the game or simply didn't want to go. The hoopla for the game, once dubbed Canada's national drunk, has already begun. Fans were already having their picture taken with the Grey Cup in a downtown hotel. The finishing touches have been painted on the Grey Cup logo on the field and both teams arrived yesterday. FROSTY MEMORIES The Stampeders, who will be making their fourth trip to the Grey Cup since 1991, have some frosty memories of Winterpeg.

They lost the 1991 title game on a bone-chilling day to Toronto. They won the championship in 1992, but lost again in 1995. It will be Hamilton's first Grey Cup appearance since 1989, the year they lost against Saskatchewan. The Ticats' last CFL championship was a 1986 victory over Edmonton. Las Vegas odds on the game won't be made public until today, but Calgary is expected to Press had several offers of $183 tickets for $150.

At least two of the people selling the tickets had won them and either couldn't attend rz.