The Province from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 60

60 CO )TtlC Pit) illCe Wednesday, May 25, 1988 1 jQ uercep mim JOCKWATCH There are several bright sides to last night's blackout in Boston, not the least of which is that it provided living, breathing proof that there is a John Ziegler, and he does upon occasion attend Stanley Cup games. Boston Bruins, bidding for the title of Dumbest Team in Hockey for the manner in which they take retaliatory penalties, unnecessary penalties and any other type of penalty that can get them in even more trouble than being down 3-0 in the best-of-seven final, now have three fresh periods in which to remove themselves from contention or win the Lobotomy Cup going away. Edmonton Oilers now have a chance to win the Stanley Cup at home, to the delight of local street punks and assorted drunks who would otherwise have been deprived of the traditional street orgy and bus-tipping with which they have celebrated cup-clinchers in three of the last four years. Wayne Gretzky, now in a two-horse race with goalie Grant Fuhr for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP, gains views in Edmonton and Boston. It is as though the Oilers have unveiled a secret weapon.

what we do, Wayne, is we get you a short haircut," Glen Sather said. "You get all the media attention, Terry O'Reilly gets disgusted because no one is giving his team equal time, he tells his team to go out there and beat the crap out of us, we take the penalties, and we wipe them out in four instead of having to waste all that time letting it go to There has even been a suggestion that the new look is an indication that Gretzy has been cookie-cuttered into wimp-size pieces by his fiancee, Janet Jones, and that before long he'll be a Yuppie giving out firm handshakes and saying things like "Have your people contact my people and we'll do lunch." It was discussed at length at our house last night. Naturally, 1 was the resident expert since 1, too, had a haircut this month. It was, 1 recall, my third of 1988. "You gonna get your hair styled, too?" asked a former friend.

"You know let the sides grow and curl 'em over the old pate? Maybe let your eyebrows grow and comb them up and over for the old low-forehead look? After all, if your wimpy friend can change his hairstyle, why can't you except, of course, for the obvious lack of material." It bothered me not a whit. Not even a half whit, although there were plenty of those in the room. Because, you see, 1 had right, truth, justice and the playoff scoring leader on my side. Oilers have scored 15 on the Bruins to date," I said loftily. "And Mr.

Gretzky has scored or assisted on 11 of them. As it is, he has been involved in nine of their 12. When a man plays that well, he can cut his hair any way he chooses. Besides, the streamlined sideburns may make him more aerodynamically sound." There was one other point, hardly worth mentioning: I have seen Janet Jones. If she ever looked at me, batted those eyes and said: "I think you'd look cute in a new haircut," I'd let them trim 'til my dandruff bled.

two assists he earned last night, but also sheds the embarrassment for the record book at least of getting extra-cute when he was the last man back and having rookie Glen Wesley strip the puck and go the length of the ice for a shorthanded goal that tied the score at 2-2. But most of all, it gives radio, TV and newspaper types more much-needed time to discuss what has apparently become the key issue of the final: Gretzky's new haircut. No. 99's new shave-sided look has triggered a flood of questions during inter a bat ii-rl Svul Canadian Press As haircuts go, this one might be the most celebrated since Samson had his locks trimmed by Delilah. At least Wayne Gretzky hasn't encountered a similar fate to that of his pruned predecessor.

The Great One doesn't seem to have lost any of his strength and savvy in a Stanley Cup playoff series which is likely to provide Gretzky with a champagne mousse for his modified brush cut. the hair-raising topic while passing through the Garden in Boston. For intance, did his helmet fall off in the third game because his hair is now so short that the headgear is too loose? "No, it fits just as well as before. I don't even have to adjust it." What was the reaction of fiancee Janet Jones when he acted on a whim and told Amarico to leave some on the top but take a lot off the sides? But Samson didn't have to explain his appearance to adoring millions the way Gretzky has, since he emerged from Amarico's chair in Strands, an Edmonton barber shop, last week. Elvis.

The Beatles. And now Gretzky. It may be hair today, gone tomorrow, but the new-look Gretzky figures to be a topic for discussion, either until his hair again covers his ears or until his July Wedding day, whichever comes first. Few newspapers failed to provide a photograph of hockey's most famous head. Some even ran be-fore-and-after comparisons, as though Canada's most familiar natural resource had undergone a strange metamorphosis.

"If I had known that it was going to get this much publicity, I probably wouldn't have got it cut at all," said Gretzky earlier this week as he was confronted again and again by ifwm "She doesn't say a whole lot either way about those types of things. She hasn't left me yet the wedding is still on." And what was Amarico's reaction to the request of his most photographed client? "He was just a little nervous cutting it that short." What inspired you to revert to' a look that, as you say, is "the way my hair looked when I was 10, when my dad made me cut it? "I saw (Edmonton coach) Glen Sather's old hockey card from 1966." What if the hairstyle suddenly becomes a trend and every kid in Canada rushes into the barber's chair demanding the Wayne Gretzky coupe? "Mothers and barbers will be happy if they do." On and on the questions went, a strange intrusion on the Stanley Cup final and the role played by the game's most prolific star for nearly a decade. In recent weeks, the NHL has been ridiculed because it has a president that cuts such a low profile that, unlike Gretzky's haircut, he is barely visible in the day-today operations of the league. Many have questioned the credibility of the NHL. If this much ado is created simply because the man chooses to have his hair look like Corey Hart's, imagine what he must go through when some of the more significant things happen in his daily life.

9 HP 1 llilsK'illl AP photo Wayne Gretzky checks out teammate Geoff Courtnall's hairstyle with all the commotion over his latest cut..