““Wendelmania Volume 22” eee

1 The Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars on March

| jist 6-2. This win leaves the Leafs only 5 points

| behind the North Stars in the race for the final Norris | playoff spot. The Leafs had to win on March Ist and they won big. Toronto has 14 games left to play with seven home games. Minnesota had 15 games to play

| with 8 to be played at home. I’ve looked at the oppo- | sition that both Minnesota and Toronto will lock

| horns with and have found that Toronto plays 6 games _against the best teams in the NHL while Minnesota

| plays 8 games against the top teams. Looking atthe games ahead it looks as though - statistically - that ‘the Leafs havea slight advantage over Minnesota in that they have fewer tough games.

On March 1 Ith the Leafs will be playing on North Star ice. In order for the Leafs to beat the North Stars in the game - and in order for the Leafs to win the final playoff sport - the Leafs must:

f. Have Grant Fuhr stop allowing shots to go in through his legs. 2.Wendel Clark must body check with a vengeance. 3.Dave Ellett must drill the puck at the goal. 4.Glen Anderson must play reckless hockey. >. Dave Hannan must be traded. Wecan’tdependona guy who wants to get out of Toronto.

.Mike Bullard must not play in every game - just i half the games.

7. Mike Krushelnyski must throw his weight around. 8. Peter Zezel must skate as hard as he did who Keenan was his coach.

9. Mike Foligno - though injured - must offer encour- ‘agement and must spy on the North Stars.

‘10.Daniel Marois must not be afraid; he must get his hands dirty.

-11.Rob Pearson must play as well as he did against he Black Hawks.

12. Bob Rouse must help Clark check the opponents. 13.Todd Gill must check, shoot, and stay back when Ellet moves up.

4.Guy Larosse must play as if he were playing Against the Habs,

5. Bob Halkidis must watch his man all the time.

rT 6. Joe Sacco must play whenever Bullard isn’t, about half the time,

7, Wendel Clark must show his powerful wrist shot

j EI X-P RESS

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March 5, 1992

18.Jamie Macoun and Rick Nattress must use their experience to lead the Leafs.

19.Doug Gilmour must keep up the good work. 20.Rick Wamsley must play at his best when needed. 21.Each Leaf must give 110%. They must have the faith that they can win every game they play. } 22.Wendelmania - Toronto fans must roar ‘*Clark, Clark.’’ The crowd chants will pump up Wendel and pump up the whole team.

Playoffs — Part of the OFFSiR ER.

[ hate playoffs. MY mind thinks that every playoff game that I watch is a seventh-game Stanley Cup Final in overtime or something equally intense. I follow playoffs as faithfully as I do the regular sea- son play, but Iam usually very nervous and have no fingernails. Playoffs often represent good hockey; they also bring outall of the hockey hypocrites who have been absent during the regular season.

Panther playoffs are killing me. They have won all four games they have played; they start the AUAA finals Wednesday night against Acadia. The two games which have been played at home so far have been delightful to watch. The first game at home was against St. Thomas; the Panthers established a two gaol lead, lost it, played defensively, scored one more goal and won 3-2. Since they had come from behind to win 5-3 three days earlier in Fredericton, the series was over.

The talk about the second playoff series was tougher —

than it had been for the first. We went to the Civic Centre Wednesday expecting a good game, but we

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