Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 37

Nenrm) mum HOLIDAY? fillllilil II iiiitt Hill 423-1155 9309-106A Ave .1 www.lucki's.com Goalie Roman Cechmanek off to La-La Land to join the Los Angeles Kings D3 I AC Milan defeats Juventus to rnturo hamninnt fin MC complete selection of treadmills TIN 3 ellipticals KEEP Till bikes jjome equipment balls 0 9 Campbell says CFL can't owest price guaranteed afford to lose Argos D4 txLfd equipment EDITOR: JOHN MacKINNON, 429-5303; sportsthejournal.canwest.com EDMONTON JOURNAL THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2003 Outdoor hockey game in jeopardy, says Bettman -i IV, IP Oilers' chair CalMchols concerned anniversary game could be scuttled ill The NHLPA had filed a grievance over the tax claiming it discriminated against the players and violated the CBA but lost the case before an arbitrator in March. The tax amounts to 12.5 per cent of a player's game-day base salary and is levied against all players for each of their teams' games in Edmonton and Calgary. The tax was included in the 2002 provincial budget and instituted at the beginning of the 2002-03 NHL season. It was expected to raise $6 million Cdn annually, money that was to be forwarded to the Flames and Oilers. Losing the case in arbitration did not sit well with NI ILPA executive director Bob Goodenow, who issued a statement in March that suggested the fight wasn't over.

The NHLPA will pursue all possible avenues to prevent its players from being subjected to such discriminatory treatment, now and in the future." See BARNES D3 marking the team's 25th anniversary. They're just saying at this point that they're not agreeing or approving. My point is we should just manage our business, and if they were not to play, that's their choice. They get paid to play this game. It's a league game.

So what's the issue?" The aforementioned tax, apparently, though it could be argued this event shouldn't be viewed in isolation, rather as an early skirmish in the War of 2004, the coming labour strife sure to surround negotiations over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players. The old deal expires in September of 2004 and Armageddon has been widely predicted. Lingering bitterness over contentious issues like the tax certainly won't help the two sides reach an agreement. Nor would the forced cancellation of an outdoor hockey game. Dan Barnes Sports Comment the game was in jeopardy.

That's not quite how NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sized it up: "We're trying to resolve some issues with the players' association, whose support we're attempting to elicit, but we are running out of time. So that, if they're not prepared shortly to sign off on it, then I don't think it's going to happen." Cal Nichols, chair of the Oilers' ownership group, is also concerned. There's a good chance it gets scuttled," he said on Wednesday. "We can't wait much longer to announce it and get on with it. There is a litany of individuals and sponsors and television and alumni players who have to be nailed down.

Edmonton Six months before they are supposed to play hockey at Commonwealth Stadium, the Oilers have been thrust into a game of political football. Sources claim that negotiations between the NHL and NHL Players Association over the proposed Nov. 22 outdoor game due to feature the Oilers and Montreal Canadiens hit a snag when the NHLPA sought to determine the extent of the Oilers' role in the creation of the Alberta government tax on NHL players. NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weath-erdon would not comment on the substance of negotiations, only that they are ongoing and positive, and he didn't think We're in overtime already. This is a dilemma," added Nichols, who would not comment on the specifics of the delay.

He did, however, chastise the NHLPA leadership for dragging its heels and is in favour of carrying on with preparations for the game and surrounding festivities Phillips talks his way into hall of fame only game forMaas QB a spectator as Eskimos look other ph ots MCKI 11 All. Journal Football Writer i nu ion Jason Maas cuts a solitary fig ure as he stands around, helmet in hand, watching the team drills JIM MAI journal Hockey Writer EDMONTON Hard to believe, but The Voice was at a loss for words. "When they told me I was in the NHL Hall of Fame, I didn't know what to say. I was overwhelmed said Rod Phillips, who has been the radio play-by-play man for the Edmonton Oilers since 1973 when the team was part of the World Hockey Association and six years before they joined the National Hockey League. He's lasted longer than all the players, describing every highlight in almost 3,000 games.

For his outstanding work, Phillips, 62, has been named the 2003 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winner and will be honoured with a place in the media wing in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 3. If there's an Oilers game that night, hell just have to miss it and that hasn't happened very often in the last Ira Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy looks at pictures of his career after he announced his retirement in Denver on Wednesday. r3 yi Lira at the Edmonton Eskimos' training camp. Just one year ago, Maas arrived in camp as the undisputed starting quarterback.

In the 2002 season-opener against Calgary, he passed for a whopping 391 yards and three touchdowns. Now he is a spectator. He takes part in individual drills but is relegated to non-participant during scrimmages behind fellow quar-terbacks Ricky Ray, Keith Smith and Bart Hendricks. Eskimos president Hugh Camp- bell cautions against reading too I much into the situation. Maas, Edmonton's nominee for the I CFL's outstanding player in 2001, is still very much in the team's plans, Campbell said Tuesday.

I. Maas has said he feels better than he did at any time last year after suffering a back injury dur-l ing Week 4. But the fiery quar-J terback has not completely re- covered from off-season surgery to remove scar tissue from his back, according to Campbell. The team president believes it is only wise to bring Maas back slowly and allow the coaching staff a closer look at Smith and Hendricks. "We promised Jason that we wouldn't rush him, that he wouldn't have to compete for a job in the first couple of weeks, so he can make a full recovery," Campbell said after practice at Foote Field.

See M.US D4 30 years. "Rod belongs there," said former Oilers coach and general manager Alberta, he's as famous as Foster Hewitt. No Patrick Roys retirement leaves the Colorado Avalanche without a starting goalie. They have two youngsters waihnginthemngSybuttheywillhave a difficult timereplacinganNHLicon Phillips body can make a bad game sound as good on the radio as Rod." Phillips did his first play-by-play in September 1973, when the Oilers were just starting in the WHA. "Nobody heard us.

I was working for CFRN, and myself and Al McCann went to Calgary for an Oilers game, but it was only on in the studio," said Phillips. "The management wanted to know if Al and I could do play-byplay. I got the job," added Phillips, who has missed only a couple of Jim Matheson Around the NHL games since then. He's chronicled Oiler history more than with a $65-million US payroll and maybe the last shot to win another Stanley Cup with Peter Forsberg next season. Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke likely won't be satisfied with two young goalies, either.

"I think David Aebischer deserves a chance; he's matured a lot," chimed in Roy. "1 guess time will tell if he can do the job." If the netminding situation gets troublesome next season, Lacroix will act fast and acquire someone with a better resume, but he will never get a goalie like Roy. "What are they going to miss?" asked Bowman. "Patrick's pride and his competitiveness. He was fearless.

Where are they going to find somebody else? I don't think they'll be getting anybody else out of Montreal. I think (current GM) Andre Savard is too conservative for that. Ask Dave Lewis what it was like to replace Red Wings coaching legend Scotty Bowman last fall in Detroit. Or the goalies who came after Ken Dryden in Montreal when he quit the Canadiens in 1979 after losing just 57 games in his eight NHL years. Now, with goalie Patrick Roy saying he's had enough after 551 wins, four Stanley Cups and three Conn Smythe Trophies, where do the Colorado Avalanche turn? They turn into a good team after being a great one now that Roy is leaving.

Roy officially announced his retirement on his own terms in Denver on Wednesday. "You don't replace a legend. We're not out there trying to find another Patrick Roy," said Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix, who first saw Roy as a 17-year-old, getting him as The two biggest games I did were May 19, 1984, when the Oil REUTERS Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy found it difficult to say goodbye to his team and the NHL on Wednesday. "Maybe, Martin Biron in Buffalo. I know they really like that kid in Buffalo, Ryan Miller he looks like he's going to be exceptional." "Maybe they'll try for (Nikolai) Khabibulin," said one GM, who had his eyes opened in the playoffs when Tampa Bay opted to play backup John Grahame in the final game against New Jersey and not the Russian, who had an inconsistent season.

See ROYD? ers won their first Stanley Cup, and Dec 30, 1981, when Wayne Gretzky did the unthinkable, get ting the 50 goals in only 39 games a client 20 years ago. Lacroix says he will keep things in-house and look first at backup David Aebischer and farmhand Philippe Sauve, who just happens to be the son of Roy's current agent, Bob Sauve. Aebischer has played in only 69 NHL games and Sauve has played none. It's wishful thinking for the Avalanche to assume they're the answer, especially at the Coliseum, five goals that night, said Phillips. But three other games will al ways stick with me.

When Wayne broke Phil Esposito's 76 goals in a season in Buffalo in 1982." IASON SCOII. tHl JOURNAL Eskimos QB Jason Maas See PIIIU.1PSID1 mm City j. Telephone I -1 I Choose from one of 7 Jetsgo Destinations I CO Toronto QOtUwa Montreal Halifax St. John's Gander 1 Stf phenvillt I Mail a deliver this entry tram to: "Fly With Jetsgo Contest" Edmonton Journal. 100-1UlSt I Edmonton.

T5J0S1 or to Eastgate, 9301 -49 St. Edmonton. T6B2S5. EDMONTON JOUKM I entnes is Monday. June 2.

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