Arizona Daily Sun from Flagstaff, Arizona • 9

ARIZONA DAILY SUN, Flagstaff, Arizona, Sunday, December 27, 1998-9 1 INSIDE Coyotes look for road points, Page 10 I Missouri takes Tucson, Page 11 Scoreboard, Page 13 A I ZONA Wim i zm Cards must clear one last hurdle Fm BIRD'S EYE ViSYH Chris Long 0-3 vs. AFC West, Arizona must beat Chargers Daily Sun Sports Editor (Sellout comes just in Itime to lift blackout San Diego Chargers (5-10) at Arizona Cardinals (8-7) Putting locals first A slam dunk for the Cardinals, who havent been to the playoffs since 1982, a strike season, and 1975 before that? Not to fullback Larry Centers, who saw injuries, bad luck, obstinate management, sloppy play, bizarre coaching moves and apathy combine to make the postseason an impossible dream during his first eight years with the team. This is one game that, if youre not careful, can sneak up and bite you in the butt, he said. We need to prepare just a little bit harder this week, concentrate a little more and do all the little things right. Centers was never the problem, and hes part of the solution now, one of the array of weapons at the disposal of rapidly developing Jake Plummer.

In a 19-17 win over New Orleans See CARDS, Page 14 By MEL REISNER The Associated Press TEMPE The Arizona Cardinals got within sight of their first postseason in 16 years by beating NFC teams. Now bey have to win an interconference game to clinch a playoff berth. Recent history says it wont be easy. On their way to an 8-7 record and a chance for their first winning season since 1984, the Cardinals were 8-4 against the NFC the reason they hold the tiebreaker over Tampa Bay and the New York Giants for the conferences last wild-card spot. But they lost to' Seattle by 19 points, Oakland by three and Kansas City by 10 along the way.

Thats why their finale against the San Diego Chargers, another AFC West team, looks tricky. The Chargers (5-10) have had un- By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TEMPE Thanks to some help from a local newspaper, businessman I and convenience store chain, the Arizona Cardinals were assured of a sellout for Sundays home game against the San Diego Chargers, j' The Cardinals, who at 8-7 need to beat the Chargers (5-10) to clinch their first playoff berth in a non-strike NFL season sinoe 1975, were some 9,900 1 tickets shy of selling out Sun Devil Stadium by Thursdays 2 i p.m. deadline. I Under league rules, team must have a sellout 72 hours before kickoff if a backout on local television is to be lifted. i But Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill successfully convinced the NFL to give his team a deadline extension until 4 p.m.

Saturday because of the Christmas season. At the deadline, the team still had 2,500 tickets unsold but Tribune News-' papers, Circle K76 and local businessman Patrick Maderia of A.T.L guar-anteed the purchase of the tickets, The team said it would continue to offer the remaining tickets for sale i right up until kickoff. i The game will be televised five in Flagstaff and the Phoenix area on I KPHO and in Tucson on KOLD. Sun Devil Stadium 2:15 p.m. TV: KPHO (Flag Cable Ch.

5) Radio: 600 AM, 1180 AM certainty at quarterback, using both No. 2 overall draft pick Ryan Leaf, who has been a major disappointment, and Craig Whelihan. They have nothing to look forward to after this game but cleaning out lockers and saying goodbye to interim coach June Jones, who is leaving to coach at the University of Hawaii. FROM THE CHEAP SEATS Tim Schmitt When hockey ruled Daily Sun Sports Writer staff By TIM SCHMITT Sun Sports Writer I was driving up 1-17 with a belly full of turkey and all of the trimmings on Christmas night after having dinner with my family in the Valley, thinking about what to write about while rediscovering my love for early 1990s hard rock. First off, let me say this: this is not another column written by the sports editor about nothing.

Seinfeld pulls that off, we in the newspaper business dont. With the high schools enjoying vacation and NAU sports on a brief respite, local sports arent exactly kicking right now. So that brings many to ask, what do you do when the local sports go into a slumber? Local first I My goal when I took over this position was to make sure there was something local and pertaining to Flagstaff or northern Arizona on the front page of the sports section nearly every day. Mondays are a little tough with that Sundays are usually the only day we get off and everybodys minds are focused on the NFL when they turn to the Monday sports page. But every other day of the week, there is no excuse not to find something local.

The exception may have been in Saturdays paper. Just as we usually dont work on Sundays, we certainly didnt work much on Christmas day. So die local stuff didnt quite make it Saturday, as the members of the sports staff were all out of town for the holiday. But on most other occasions, the local sports will rule the sports and from talking to people at ocal sporting events, thats what they want to see. After all, there are plenty of stories to be found in the local sports scene, whether it be one of the citys football teams reaching the states final four, a local gymnast working her way towards prominence or a local runner trying to make his way from rim-to-rim-to-rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon, the stories are there.

And with the help of the new sports anchor at KNAZ-2 TV, Steve Bunin, these stories are getting their recognition in the local media. Channel 2s new focus on the local sports can only help athletics in Flagstaff. But these stories arent always easy to find and thats where Im asking for the readers help. With so much of our 120 hours per week concentrated on covering just the games and tournaments in Flagstaff, its always nice to have a little assistance in finding that story that isnt quite as apparent as all of the others. So if you know of someone in the community that is doing something great that deserves to be recognized, feel free to drop a message on our sports line (913-8660 in-town, 1-888-839-8399 toll-free out-of-town).

Local faces Now to answer the initial Question about finding something local when imply put, it was the finest Division I hockey program ever to grace the Grand Canyon State. If only by default. For five seasons, the NAU campus played host to big-time college hockey, welcoming the likes of Ohio State, Michigan State, Colorado College and the University of Denver to the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome. The stint, which ended in 1986, marked the states only exploration into the Division I hockey world.

And while its an arduous task to find folks who remember the program outside and sometimes even within the limits of the Flagstaff area, the Lumbctjacks clearly made an impact on the NCAAs most illustrious frozen stage. Interest in the defunct program has sprouted since former NAU star Greg Adams became a free agent signing of the Phoenix Coyotes, but while Adams was the teams marquee name, he was hardly the only highly-skilled player to pass through the Mountain Campus. It was by chance that everyone ended up here, said Blair Larson, who started with the team in its inaugural season of 1981-82 and placed 14th on the all-time scoring list with 52 points. We had a lot of talented hockey players in this little town, but I dont think anybody expected to originally play here. Courtesy Phoenix Coyotes Media Guide Greg Adams may have been the greatest player to ever don the Lumberjacks sweater.

He led the NCAA in scoring in 1983-84. He has enjoyed a 15-year NHL career, and currently plays for the Phoenix Coyotes. Timing hurt NAU program ife is all about timing, isnt it? Pulling into the middle lane just as the left arrow turns green. Carting by! the starters booth as your group is preparing tee off. Clicking back from precisely two minutes of Coyotes action so not to miss any Monday Night Football drama.

For the NAU hockey team, which roamed the Division I world of. hockey giants from 1981-86, timing was the missing and inevitably the most significant ingredient. Ask those associated with the extinct program what could have made the difference and youll get a myriad of responses. But for the most part, those replies all include timing. For example: The Gretzky Factor: Prior to Wayne Gretzkys 1988 trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles, few in the Southwest gave a hoot about hockey, at any level.

Post-Pocklington Debacle, however, the fastest game on earth became the trendicst, too. Nobody really seemed to care about hockey back then, former NAU assistant coach Doug Allan said. But after Gretzky went to L.A., I noticed kids walking around Flagstaff with Kings jerseys on. Before that, nobody knew anything about the game. The Edmonton and L.A.

Gretzky not the watered down version that since toured with St. Louis and the Rangers was the Michael Jordan of hockey before Michael Jordan, making Kings games the chic thing in Tinseltown. The team shed its comical purple and yellow duds for black and silver. Guys with keys attached to their belts werent the only hockey patrons of the Inglewood Forum. And the NHL got a major television contract from ESPN, shedding its regional image on SportsChannel America.

If we could have been around when the whole Gretzky thing blew, it would have made a big difference, Allan said. Changing of the Guard: The transition from a laidback coach in Jimmy Peters to a more regimented mentor in John Mason didnt go smoothly. The teams record suffered in the process. They were all gung-ho about hockey when it first started," a for- mcr NAU non-hockey coach told me. (The athletic department) kept saying they were going to put all of their emphasis on it.

See NAU, Page 14 the city sports are on a break. That thing I wrote about getting Sundays off thats a bit of an exaggeration. Obscure inception The teams birth was anything but spectacular. In fact, if not for the demise of the schools varsity baseball team, hockey probably would have remained an afterthought. To remain in good standing with the Big Sky Conference, however, NAU was required to field six Division I athletic teams.

With baseball eliminated, the schools athletic braintrust researched golf, downhill skiing and ice hockey as alternatives. Weather uncertainties made golf and skiing difficult options, but promoting the schools club hockey team which had drawn impressive crowds against the Phoenix Roadrunncrs alumni squad seemed a viable possibility. I think they saw the success we had and thought it could work, said Doug Allan, who was the club teams third coach after Dr. Jerry Caple and Jimmy Peters. At that time there were only 40-somcthing Division I hockey teams, so you could bring big names in here.

When they realized we could play schools like Yale, Harvard and Michigan State, it looked even more attractive. Soon after, with Caple lobbying vigorously, NAU approved hockey and the team prepared for its first season in the Skydome, which originally included an ice rink as part of its multipurpose layout. "I couldnt believe it, said Allan, who had also played for NAUs club team with his brother, Pete. Flagstaff was a nice little place, but i never expected them to be able to get Division I hockey here. I had heard it cost about $300,000 to put a team together and I never in a million years thought the university would go for it.

The school called on Peters, who had coached the club team from 1975 to 1980, to lead the Lumbcijacks with Allan accepting an offer to become an assistant. Peters, an ordained minister, was something of a hockey paradox. His reserved, clcan-cut style seemed in contrast with the games rough-and-tumble image. In fact, one of the highlights of his five-year National Hockey league career which included stays with the Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings was receiving the Charles Conachcr Award for humanitarian player of the year in 1972. He was a uniquely humble, ideal fit for the new See HOCKEY, Page 14 At least eight Sundays out of the year, one of our staffers makes his way to Tcmpc to give a local face to the Cardinals coverage.

I know from talking to people that seeing the same faceless Associated Press bylines can get a little annoying, so we have tried to put a greater emphasis on finding local angles to Hate stories, like todays Sunday centerpiece story on Coyotes forward Greg Adams and his affect on the NAU hockey program. i We plan to have one of our staffers at the Fiesta Bowl, all Cardinuls home games, part of the NHL playoffs and maybe the NBA (thats bp to David Stem and Billy Hunter, though). Thats a lot to handle for a three- ban staff in a town with tliree high Schools, a major university and seven butskirt schools, but we feel were up to the task. NAU trainer George Goodridge (holding puck) and former Jacks hockey left wingers Kenny Moffy" Moffatt (right) and Blair Larson (with stick) were Integral parts of NAUs hockey success. 1 ll Readers can reach Chris by e-'mail at sumportsstlnet.com or call at 556-2259..