The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 41

TennisHigh SchoolHockey 13 Toyota Series: what effect on the rankings? 2 TIRES BATTERIES AT LOWEST DISCOUNT PRICES! WE'LL QUOTE four Grand Slam events Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open. In Grand Slam events this season, Lloyd won Wimbledon, was the runner-up in Australia, and a semifinalist in both the U.S. and French opens. Navratilova won Australia, was a finalist at the U.S.

Open, a semifinalist at Wimbledon, and a quarterfinalist at Paris. Austin won the U.S. Open and reached the quarters at Wimbledon and Melbourne. A back injury prevented Austin from competing in the French Open. Austin and Navratilova contend that their victories in tour-ending events Austin's in the Toyota Series Championships and Navratilova's in the Avon Championships last March at Madison Square Garden are just as important as the recognized majors.

"I definitely consider them major events," Austin said. "You have the top eight players on the tour in the same event, and whoever wins should be given credit for winning a special tournament." All three players are products of tennis's By Jack O'Connell Staff Writer EAST RUTHERFORD Tracy Austin's winning performance during the $250,000 Toyota Series Championships at Byrne Arena left little doubt in Martina Navratilova's mind who should be the top-ranked woman tennis player for 1981. Whether Austin's 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Navratilova Sunday night propels her into the top spot on the Women's Tennis Association computer list won't be known until next week, when the final ratings are released. Navratilova, however, was ready to concede the No. 1 ranking to Austin after the championship match.

Chris Evert Lloyd is the current No. 1 on the WTA list by a narrow margin over No. 2 Navratilova and No. 3 Austin. Navratilova and Austin agreed before the season-ending tournament began that if one of the three should win, then the No.

1 ranking should be one of the rewards. Lloyd opposed that thinking, and nothing that happened last week changed her mind. Lloyd's main objection is the other players' insistence that the Toyota event be considered a major championship, in the same class with the Open era and have benefited from the worldwide growth of the sport through corporate sponsorship. But in judging the value of individual tournaments, Lloyd is a traditionalist. She cannot accept giving a double-elimination or round-robin tournament, with its limited field of eight players, equal consideration with the major international eveAts, where 96 to 128 players are tested by the more pressurized standard procedure of single elimination.

Only in such events as the Toyota can a player lose a match during the tournament and still have a chance to win the title. That situation occurred last week. Lloyd outlasted Austin in a three-set endurance test in the second round of double-elimination play but lost to her in straight sets when the two met again in the semifinals. The Toyota, like the Avon, which concludes the indoor season, is double elimination only up to the semis. After that, the format reverts to single elimination.

So after their semifinal match, Lloyd and Austin each had one loss in the tournament, but Lloyd's came at the wrong time. Lloyd did not make an issue of the format, conceding that it occasionally has been to her advantage. She continued to question, however, whether the rankings should be altered by the Toyota results. Navratilova, the year's top money winner, who also finished first in the point standings for the 31-event tour, believes that Lloyd should be toppled from her No. 1 perch.

"Except for reaching the final at Australia, she really hasn't done anything since Wimbledon," Navratilova asserted. "I think Tracy is tougher than Chris. My vote would go to Tracy. The way she played this week, she deserves it." Head-to-head competition among the three also favors Austin, who this year posted a 4-2 advantage over Navratilova and a 2-1 edge over Lloyd. "Now I can go home and enjoy Christmas," Austin said after winning the Toyota title.

A computer printout next week could decide how much she will enjoy New Year's Eve. 797-9210 AUTO PARTS WHEELS M0TQR OIL Jin A Rick Notrifiii STATE TIRE AUTOMOTIVE DISCOUNT CENTER 14-32 RIVER ROAD FAIR LAWN. N.J. till Tim. Mil r.M..$it.unir.M.

Athlete of the Week 33 a CO 33 to CO 9 Gift Ideas Murray's late-game launches, mostly from the baseline, pulled out both games. The 170-pound swingman quickly channels the conversation toward his teammates. "We have a lot of team unity, that's the key. We have seven people who can score. From the outside, it's either me or Mike Levine." That's no inside joke.

Murray doesn't see himself as a savior. In fact, he's very human and draws strength from his basketball family. "I'm always nervous before a game. I'll be nervous at home, but once I get to the locker room, it goes away." The jitters should be felt by the opposition when the fourth quarter approaches, because Murray, who was the only sophomore to dress for varsity games last year, spent most of his spare time in the fall perfecting his shot. "Of the 19 kids on the basketball team, 11 played football or soccer," he says.

"The rest of us would be in the gym, shooting around, playing five-on-five or lifting weights. Our main goal is to win the League, because no Indian Hills team, has ever done that." BERGEN COUNTY'S LARGEST DISCOUNT AVT0 CHAIN X. it rI 2-Ton Hydraulic Roller Jack -s By Ron Fox Staff Writer When last-minute heroics are called for, Indian Hills coach Joe Leicht doesn't have to look to the bench for a hot-handed specialist to do his bombing. pressure shooter is 6-foot-2 regular John Murray, who was the high scorer on Leicht's 20-4 junior varsity team last year. Even though Murray is the talk of the Northern Bergen Interscholastic League these days, the junior's favorite off-court pastime is discussing other players.

"Every team in our league has at least three good shooters," is a typical comment. "When we played Old Tappan, Bret Trenkmann and Gary Ley were hit-ting-footers. Kurt Cieszko hit every time he shot for Ramapo, and Ron Greve scored 30 points against us when we played Pascack Valley." Murray, The Record's Bergen County Athlete of the Week, brings to. the court a style of play that Leicht compares with that of former pro star John Havlicek. "He's out there every minute, running all the time," says Leicht, who is in his first year as varsity coach.

Murray is also there shooting when he is needed most. Last Tuesday, Indian Hills was playing at Pascack Valley, generally a date guaranteed to unnerve visitors. Valley had won 37 consecutive league games at home and was in the act of massaging the Braves until Murray shifted gears. "We were down by 19 in the third quarter, but John scored 15 points in the second half, 11 of them in the last quarter," Leicht relates. "And Friday, against Ramapo, he scored 25 points 21 in the second half, 13 of them in the last quarter." 0)99 S' EACH OUR REG.

LOW 59.99. Use for vehicles up to 5,000 lbs. gross wt. Longer Wheel Base for Stability. 1 1 In hopes of attaining that goal, the team has switched to the UCLA fast break, a brand of attack Murray says the Braves love.

He continues to talk in terms of team because he still is not ready to consider himself a star. "I started playing basketball RAY in third grade in my old town, Ma plewood. I was always on the first Indian hills team, but I was never the he says. But the times, John Murray should High Intensity Timing Light Heavy Duty Compressor realize, are changing. 88 19 99 EACH Quiet Pavelich a Ranger godsend EACH OUR REG.

39.99 inflation with quick hookup valve stem OUR REG. 32.99 Fine instrument that enables backyard mechanics to time an engine just like the pros. Diagnostic 4 Piece Tune Op Kit JLL EACH mates were wined and dined and feted and interviewed, Pavelich went home to Eveleth, and showed his gold medal to the local grade-schoolers. Then he donated the medal to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and turned his attention to more important matters, like the trout that flourish in the lakes near his home.

"It's just in Pav's nature," says Silk. "I think he simply wanted to go back and fish. Looking back on it, I think that's what I should have done. Maybe he had more foresight than the rest of us." Silk, an Olympic teammate of Pavelich's, chose the path that opened wide before many of the American players, like Ken Morrow of the Islanders and Mike Ramsey of the Buffalo Sabres the road to the pros. But that option didn't materialize for the undersized, underrated Pavelich.

If there were a National Fishing League, Pav would have been set for life. His second choice was to become a professional hockey player, but he didn't see much hope for employment there, either. "I knew my chances of getting into the NHL were nonexistent," says Pavelich, who is listed at 5-foot-8 in the media guides but is a good two inches shorter. "I knew that right after college University of Minnesota, Duluth. Nobody OUR REG.

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When you're in that kind of a dead-end situation you lose your desire. I didn't want to go into the minors. Going to Switzerland was another way out." Pavelich played for the Lugano club team in Switzerland, and midway through the season he met up with another American Olympian couldn't find a job in the NHL Brooks, who was coaching the Davos club team. Pavelich was unhappy with the lack of dedication of the Swiss club players, many of whom play hockey as a recreational afterthought, and told Brooks about it when the two met at an all-star tournament. Brooks did not forget Months later, in June 1981, Brooks became coach of the Rangers.

His first official act was to sign a free agent by the name of Mark Pavelich. "After I came back from Switzerland in February, I played for the U.S. National team in Sweden," says the 23-year-old Pavelich. "I started hearing rumors about Herb signing with the Rangers. I had worked hard, and a couple of teams were interested in me by then, but I waited." The Olympic connection (Ranger general manager Craig Patrick was assistant coach and GM of the U.S.

team) encouraged Pavelich, who also had offers from Minnesota and Montreal, and he arrived at training camp as eager as if the rink were stocked with walleyes. WelL. almost. Pavelich quickly garnered media attention in the preseason, scoring five goals in four exhibition games in the U.S., and he just as quickly startled the sports writers who gathered around for the post-game interviews. Pavelich speaks when he's forced to at a decibel count barely above a conspiratorial whisper.

"When he does talk, it's like an E.F. Hutton commercial," says Brooks. There is more drama to Pavelich when he's on the ice. Witness the last-minute goal he scored against Quebec Nov. 29 that gave the Rangers a tie with the Adams Division-leading Nordiques.

Since Pavelich has been teamed with Duguay and Silk a combination that the ever-experimenting Brooks has broken up only once since its formation it is the kind of play the Rangers have come to expect from Pavelich, and that he expects from himself. There are no Mark Gastin-eau histrionics from Pavelich. At least not in a hockey game. If he were reeling in a huge trout, maybe then Pavelich would let loose maybe. But for now the rest of the, Rangers can do the celebrating.

Hardly a game goes by that Brooks doesn't thank the day the Rangers hooked 40 PC.RATCHET 3s" 14" DRIVE By Sherry Ross Staff Writer They may be the oddest trio in hockey. On the right wing is Ron Duguay, the pin-up boy with the French-poodle haircut. On the left is the wisecracking Dave Silk, he city boy from Boston who calls his home ice the "Gah-den." In the middle, looking woefully out of place, is a scruffy guy who resembles a shrunken, derelict Jim Neilson. His Ranger jersey hanging almost to his knees, he looks like a kid from the blue seats who stole a uniform and sneaked onto the ice. Mark Pavelich has yet to hear from Gentleman's Quarterly.

"They're an odd couple, Pav and Duguay," says Ranger coach Herb Brooks. "Duguay comes out with the long hair, an armload of shampoos, the clothes and here's Pav Brooks stands up, slumps, pulls his belt to one side, and untucks his shirt. If he could sprout a day's growth of beard in an instant, his Pavelich imitation would be complete. While Pavelich's wardrobe, whidi tends toward flannel shirts and hip-waders, would send a best-dressed committee reeling, his play has had a similar effect on Ranger opponents. In the first third of an injury-ravaged Ranger season, the diminutive center emerged as the Rangers' most valuable player.

The former free agent is among the top rookies in scoring with 13 goals and 13 assists, just a handful of points behind the heralded Bobby Carpenter of Washington. "I'd hate to see where we'd be without him," says Brooks, whose team at times has been without the services of seven potential starters. "He's been a real shot in the arm for us." Pavelich is a digger, a penalty-killer, a speedster, a scorer, and a play-maker. He worries his coach because he sometimes plays a big man's game mucking in the corners and he pays the price. In one game this season Pavelich took a terrific belt from two Toronto Maple Leafs in the corner to set up a tying goal by Silk.

Pavelich bounced up in time to see the puck slide in. "He weighs 170 pounds," says Brooks, "and 150 of that is his heart." For Pavelich, his development into a Ranger stalwart is a Cinderella story for a member of the Cinderella team. The quiet Minnesotan wasn't one of the glamour boys of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team it takes a real Lake Placid buff to remember that it was Pavelich who set up Mike Eruzione's winning goal in the 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union and when the spotlight shone on those miracle boys, Pavelich stepped back into the shadows. While his team SOCKET SET 1 1 PC.

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