The Daily News from Lebanon, Pennsylvania • 11

ni The Daily News, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 1992 NHL strike delayed, but still seems inevitable Trading cards now loom as major issue Flyers likely to keep ex-Bears on roster briefing for this afternoon. In a statement issued late Monday night, Goodenow called Zieglers statement clearly provocative and an attempt to publicly put in question the players sense of reasonableness and integrity. Goodenow also said the NHL earned $150 million in profits and another $150 million in expansion money over the past three years, and said that to characterize the issues the way he has, Mr. Ziegler has completely misrepresented the stand the players have taken in these negotiations. Less than an hour before the original strike deadline of noon EST on Monday, Goodenow announced the strike delay following a telephone conference call with the teams 22 player representatives.

The owners proposal was sent back to the players with the unions recommendation that they reject the deal. I think if the players look at it, there wont be much change, Goodenow said. Some teams did not want to extend the deadline, but the general feeling was to go back and allow every player to review all of the details of the status of the negotiations. The players insist that the postpontment didnt mean a weakness in the unions position. Dan Currie, the leagues leading goal-scorer now on recall with Edmonton.

If there is no strike, Conroy, Freer and Kushner will probably be returned following Philadelphias final regular season game next Sunday. If there is a strike, the three could be returned as soon as a settlement is reached. Meanwhile, despite the fact that they are out of the AHL playoff picture, the Baltimore Skipjacks wound up shoring up their line-up. The Skipjacks acquired forwards Pat Peake and Brian Skaic, plus defenseman Rob Leask Monday. All three are expected to be in uniform when the Skipjacks square off against the Bears in Baltimore Friday and then in Hershey Saturday.

All three players are coming to the Skipjacks from the Canadian junior leagues after their teams were eliminated. Peake was Washingtons No. 1 draft pick in 1991 and had 93 points with Detroit of the OHL this season. Sakic, younger brother of Quebec star Joe Sakic, set the WHL all-time point scoring record with 128 points in 72 games with Tri-Cities. He was Washingtons fifth round pick in 1990.

Leask, a 10th round choice in 1991, had 41 points in 56 games with Oshawa of the OHL this season. 3 p.m. on Wednesday. According to Goodenow, that was done to allow another vote on managements last proposal. It is the same proposal that the owners had presented to the players during marathon negotiations over the weekend in Toronto.

The money gained from the trading card market helps to fund the NHLPA. Players receive about $50,000 apiece from the cards. Its the backbone of our union, said Tom Kurvers, player representative of the New York Islanders. We cant let (the owners take away the trading card revenue) or our union is in trouble. NHL president John Ziegler, meanwhile, disputed that the owners wanted the hockey card revenue.

The owners have proposed that the position of the players and owners concerning the right to trading card royalties stay exactly as it is with immediate negotiations to start for a new player-owner licensing partnership, he said in a statement issued Monday afternoon. Statements earlier today by the NHLPA either intentional or otherwise that the owners proposal was to take away the players trading card money were absolutely incorrect. Ziegler has scheduled a news By DAN SERNOFFSKY Daily News Sportswriter HERSHEY The Philadelphia Flyers may not be in the National Hockey Leagues playoff hunt, but based on their performance over the last couple of months, they arent spending their time arranging for their tee times next week, either. The Flyers, despite having been eliminated from playoff contention for the third straight season, have been playing some of their best hockey coming down the home stretch, and, with four regular season games remaining barring a walkout Wednesday by the NHL Players Association they appear to every intention of finishing the 1991-92 campaign with a bang. Thats bad news for the Hershey Bears.

The Bears have been expecting the Flyers to return three players, A1 Conroy, Mark Freer and Dale Kushner, all of whom have been with the Flyers since mid-season or before. And even though the Flyers are out of the playoff picture, it appears that the coaching staff in Philadelphia would like to keep those three players on the roster until the season ends. If the NHL players decide to strike on Wednesday, however, that could mean that the Bears will not get those players back. The NHLPA announced Monday Reesor claims national Sambo title TORONTO (AP) Forget about free agency and playoff money. Hockey cards are the big issue in the NHL contract talks.

Hockey cards? (Hockey) trading cards has a big impact on us, said Bruce Driver, player representative of the New Jersey Devils. Such an impact, in fact, that the players are hesitant to give up their share in the revenues generated by card sales. And who can blame them? Players now receive 68 percent of hockey card revenues, estimated at approximately $16 million. It has become a major issue in the talks because the NHL Players Association says the owners want to take away that revenue from the players. They want most of it, said Detroits Shawn Burr.

Or, all of it if you listen to others, like Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHLPA. We have enjoyed well over 10 years (of revenues from trading cards), Goodenow said. Now they want us to give back those revenues. That would jeopardize the lifeblood of the Association. The trading card issue came to the forefront Monday, which turned out to be a day of more than one surprise in the NHL.

The day started out with the announcement that the NHLPA was pushing its strike deadline back to AT A GLANCE Gathers suit finally settled TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) -Loyola Marymount announced that it will pay $545,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of Hank Gathers. University attorney Wayne Boehle said he gave a $145,000 check to an attorney representing Lucille Gathers, with the balance due Thursday. Bruce Fagel, attorney for Lucille Gathers, said in a news release that the money probably will be divided between his client and Gathers son, Aaron Crump. Gathers, 23, collapsed March 4, 1990, during a West Coast Conference tournament game and died less than two hours later.

The cause of death was found to be cardiomyopathy, or an irregular heartbeat, for which Gathers previously had been prescribed the drug Inderal. Lebanon places 2nd Lebanons 12-year-old team finished second Sunday at the 1992 Youthoop Basketball National Championships, hosted by the Lebanon Recreation Department and Lebanon High Athletic Booster Club. Lebanon was defeated in the Division III championship game by New Hartford, N.Y., 54-53. The game was played at Lebanon High School. In Sundays Division I championship, West Chester edged Paoli, 42-40, in a battle of Pennsylvania clubs.

Bell traded CHICAGO (AP) The Chicago Cubs traded outfielder George Bell to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Sammy Sosa and left-hander Ken Patterson. SIDELINES Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had four goals and seven assists in three games last week, was named NHL player of the week. He leads the NHL in scoring with 43 goals and 83 assists for 126 points. Mark Jackson of the New York Knicks, who averaged 18.3 points and 10.3 assists in four games last week, was named NBA player of the week. ALMANAC 10 Years Ago March 31, 1982 Sly Williams, the New York Knicks troublesome forward, failed to show up for the clubs game against the Indiana Pacers and was suspended for the remainder of the season.

It was the third suspension of the season for the 6-foot-7 Williams. 20 Years Ago March 31, 1972 Northern Lebanon scored six runs in the final inning of a nonleague baseball game to pull out an 8-4 decision over visiting Palmyra. George Vardzik and Jim West knocked in two runs each for the winners. 30 Years Ago March 31. 1962 Two home runs by outfielder Joe Gaines and one each by Wally Post and Don Pavletich led the Cincinnati Reds to their fourth straight victory, 8-1 over the Detroit Tigers.

that it would extend the strike deadline, originally scheduled for noon Monday, until noon Wednesday to give each player the opportunity to review and vote on what the NHL owners said was their final offer. NHLPA negotiators have advised the players to reject that offer. What that means is that if Conroy, Freer and Kushner are still on the Philadelphia roster when a strike is called, they will remain on that roster and cannot be returned to Hershey. The three as well as any other AHL players on recall with their NHL parent clubs will remain in the NHL until a settlement is reached. The good news is that while Hershey coach Mike Eaves would no doubt very much like to have Conroy, Freer and Kushner back when the Bears open their playoff series with the Rochester Americans next week, the Bears have at least accustomed themselves to playing without them.

The playoff roster, sans the three in Philadelphia, may not be as deep as Eaves would like, but the team has proven it can win. There are several other AHL teams which have been recently hit by recalls that could prove damaging to post-season hopes. Utica recently lost talented forwards Jarrod Skalde and Bill Guerin to the parent New Jersey Devils. Cape Breton is without wrestler at the top rung, who faces just one bout to qualify. The wrestler at the top of the freestyle ladder in Reesors weight class is Olympic and world champion John Smith.

Reesor isnt particularly worried about making the Olympic team this year, however, ana is still undecided about whether or not to seriously make a bid at qualifying. For the present, knowing that he is not only a part of the national team in Sambo wrestling, but the best in the country in his weight class, is more than enough. who would testify to it. MacLeod said he was sorry to see the game decided on a technical foul at the end, although he lost a game in a similar fashion this season. And just a few days ago, a technical foul helped decide the Kentucky-Massachusetts game in the NCAA tournament.

I feel bad about that, he said. I hate to see that happen. MacLeod was not too pleased about the way Notre Dame blew a 27-13 lead with five minutes left in the first half. Utah eventually tied it at 35, but never led until the end. Bennett and Ellis led Notre Dame with 15 points each and Sweet had 13.

Afeaki had 15 for the Utes and Craig Soto added 14. No one in the second game came close to putting on a show like Stith did in the opener. Stith, Virginias career scoring leader, had 10 points in the last nine minutes as the Cavaliers overcame a 49-45 deficit. The 6-foot-5 senior also tied a career high with his 15 rebounds. He is second on the schools rebounding list, trailing only Ralph Sampson.

Bryant was his usual self, By DAN SERNOFFSKY Daily News Sportswriter Long removed from his last major competition, Gary Reesor stepped back into the international wrestling spotlight with a bang. Reesor wrestled in the 18th annual National Sambo championships in Cincinnati Saturday, and despite losing his bout in the tournament finals, still walked away as the U.S. champion at 136.5 pounds and with a berth on the World Cup team, which will be competing in Spain in May. Not a bad performance, considering that Reesors last major competition had been in the 1991 World Championships in Montreal, where he finished fifth, and even more impressive in light of the fact that Reesor was just coming off foot surgery and really didnt even decide to compete in the national tournament until last Thursday. I really hadnt planned on it at all, Reesor admitted.

In fact, I didnt know I was going to go until I made weight on Thursday. The former Palmyra High School and Lebanon Valley College standout had minor foot surgery on March 5, surgery which left him with seven stitches in his foot. He spent the next two weeks on crutches before returning to the doctor on March 20 to have the stitches removed. After that, Reesor said, I hobbled around for a couple of days and on Saturday, I was fighting. Now an assistant wrestling coach at Princeton University, Reesor had been sidelined at least in terms of major competition by first a bout with mononucleosis, then with injuries following last years World Championships.

Sambo, a discipline introduced by the former Soviet Union, is a style of wrestling which is a sort of combination between wrestling and judo. It is the only style of wrestling in which jackets similar to those worn in the martial arts are worn, and, unlike freestyle and Greco-Roman Palmyra native Gary Reesor, shown here during his career as an All-America wrestler at Lebanon Valley College, claimed the U.S. championship in the national Sambo wrestling tournament last weekend. Warriors sink 76ers OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The Golden State Warriors drove through the Philadelphia 76ers.

The only road block they hit was Manute Bol, and he could only slow the Warriors momentarily. The Warriors defeated the 76ers 124-106 on Monday night with the kind of high-speed transition attack that would completely unravel most teams. It was a wide open game, Golden States Chris Mullin said. When you play a style like we do and Philadelphia came out running with us. It was a nice style for us.

Mullin scored 28 points, Tim Hardaway added 28 points and a season-high 17 assists, and Billy Owens and Sarunas Marciulionis each added 20 points as the Warriors won their fourth in a row. It was the second time this season the Warriors have had four players score 20 or more points in a game. The Warriors had five these four plus Mario Elie over the 20-point barrier in a 153-148 overtime victory over New Jersey last week. Against the 76ers, the Golden State ran off to a 3-35 lead midway through the second quarter. They get a lot of layups by cutting and slashing to the basket, Philadelphia coach Jim Lynam said.

Once Bol was in there, they got preoccupied with him. It tends to slow teams down when hes in there. He got us back in the game. Philadelphia recovered behind Bol, and outscored Golden State 13-4 to pull within 57-48. After Hardaway hit a 3-pointer, the 76ers ran off a 10-2 spurt, pulling within 62-58 on Johnny Dawkins driving layup with 6.6 seconds left in the half.

They got as close as 66-63 early in the third quarter. He (Bol) was an impact player and he did get their offense going, Mullin said. The caution we had in the second half was because of our respect for Manute, Warriors coach Don Nelson. The fact that I played my starters so many minutes showed you how uneasy I was. Virginia coach Jeff Jones said.

It really wasnt anything extraordinary. Ive seen it so many times. Virginia (19-13) is trying to win its second NIT title, having won in 1980 in Sampsons freshman season. Notre Dame has reached the NIT championship twice before, and never won. Stith scored 19 points in Virginias victory over the Irish two months ago.

Stiths versatility was a big factor, Florida coach Lon Kruger said. He can go outside and shoot it and he can go inside and hurt you. Stith, projected as a possible first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft, took over in the stretch following a few well-chosen words by Jones. During a timeout, coach Jones told them to isolate me in the paint, Stith said. My teammates did a superb job of getting me the ball down low.

Anthony Oliver scored 15 points for the Cavaliers. Stacey Poole led Florida (19-13) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. I just didnt do the things Ive been doing all year, Poole said. BmnHBBB Boger recognized Dave Boger, co-founder and president of the Lebanon Valley Olympic Wrestling Club, was recognized at the Sambo National Tournament in Cincinnati last weekend when his national officials license was upgraded to Category One. Category One is the highest national officials ranking and makes Boger eligible to be promoted to his international license.

Boger has been a Sambo official for two years. He also officiates freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. wrestling, the object in Sambo is not to pin an opponent, but rather to unbalance an opponent and force him to submit. In Reesors first three matches at last weekends national tournament, he forced his opponents to submit. In the finals, against a former Soviet national, Reesor lost a decision, but because his opponent was not a U.S.

citizen, the gold medal was shared and Reesor was awarded the U.S. title. The victory not only earned Reesor a berth on the World Cup team, but also made him the top-ranked American in his weight class for the World Championships, which will be held next fall in London. The World Cup tournament is primarily a team tournament. The World Championship tournament is an individual tournament.

Reesors success in last weekends national championships, meanwhile, also started him thinking about freestyle and Greco-Roman competition as well. I dont know what Im going to do for sure, Reesor said, but Im starting to think about going back in freestyle and Greco and maybe about the Olympic trials. Although Reesors biggest wrestling successes in recent years have been in Sambo, he remains an accomplished com- in Charlottesville, on Jan. 18. We watched Virginia earlier in the evening, and they look like theyve improved.

Bryant Stith is just a tremendous player and I think an excellent NBA prospect, said Notre Dame coach John MacLeod, formerly an NBA coach in New York, Phoenix and Dallas. Still, all anyone wanted to ask MacLeod and Majerus about after their game was the ending of their game. Utah (23-11) had taken its first lead of the night at 55-54 on Phil Dixons 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining. Notre Dame (18-14) missed a couple of shots, got the rebound both times and called a timeout with 12 seconds to go. On the inbounds play under the basket, LaPhonso Ellis bounced the ball off his foot and Utah recovered.

But Paul Afeaki was called for pushing Ellis, triggering Majerus tantrum. I thought it wasnt a foul and that he put it off his foot and we got it, Majerus said. I thought he got bumped, MacLeod said. The official had no one in front of him to block his view. There was no hesitation of 1 petitor in wrestlings other two disciplines.

While serving in the Army following his career at Lebanon Valley, he earned All-Army recognition in freestyle and Greco-Roman. To earn a berth in this summers Olympic Games, Reesor would have to qualify through the regional tournament and the open national trials, which will be held in late April in Las Vegas. The qualification process works on a ladder process, with wrestlers on the bottom rungs going through a series of eliminations to move up the ladder and eventually face the Free throws boost Irish into NIT title game NEW YORK (AP) On Oscar night, Rick Majerus gave a great performance. The burly Utah coach banged his fist on a scorers table three times, slammed down a clipboard, punched in the air, shouted, stomped, stared and pointed at a referee. Silence of a lamb, certainly not.

For that 10-second clip, Majerus did not win an Academy Award. Instead, he earned a technical foul with 9.7 seconds left Monday night that enabled Notre Dame to rally past Utah 58-55 and reach the championship game of the NIT. I was wrong and I cost my team the game. I lost control, Majerus said. But for a game to be decided on that kind of call, I dont know.

A foul called on Utah during a scramble in the middle prompted Majerus outburst, and the resulting luck the Irish sent them into Wednesday nights game against Virginia for the National Invitation Tournament title. Virginia, which beat Florida 62-56 in the first semifinal behind Bryant Stiths 27 points and 15 rebounds, routed Notre Dame 83-56 the whistle. Nor was their any wait when referee John Cahill teed up and teed off Majerus. It was deserved, Majerus said of his technical. Ive got nothing to say about the officials.

But Im not going to ask one of them on a camping trip this summer. Ellis sent Utah a little closer to its summer vacation when he made his first foul shot, tying it at 55. He missed his second try, but then Daimon Sweet got two shots for the technical foul and made them both. Notre Dame kept possession because of the technical and was fouled. Elmer Bennett made one of two shots, and Dixon missed a potential, tying 3-pointer with one second left.

Later, Majerus said he was more upset about a technical foul called on his bench in the first half than he was about the one slapped on him. That was unconscienable, Majerus said. Our player was applauding a teammate. He didnt say a thing to the referee. And Ive got five Mormon boys on the bench.