Owners and players decide to lace ‘em up
NEW YORK (API - The Mil.
season was saved Wednesday
when players gave-in to a man
agement ultimatum and sacri
ficed some freedom to play
hockey again.
Leaders of the NHL Players
Association accepted the own
ers’ tnke-it-orelso proposal,
effectively ending the 10.1-day
lockout and pulling off the
biggest save in hockey history.
Had they rejected the 6-ytlI
contract, the NHL would have
gone major-league baseball one
worse by becoming the first
sports league to shut down an
entire season in a labor dispute
"Are we happy about the
s< ,irs that have been created for
the game of hockey?" asked
union president Mike Gartner
"Are we happy about losing mil
lions of dollars? Are we happy
the relations between owners
and players have been severely
hindered?
“No, we're not happy about
that. Hilt we re happy that lux k
FINALLY
WHAT: 1C»
day NHL
lockout cam® J
to an end on f
Wednesday. '
HOW: The
NHL Players
Association accepted the
owners proposal
AT STAKE: Had the ptayers
not accepted the final
proposal, the NHL would
have become the first
sports league to shut down
an entire season in a labor
dispute.
(Mt WAiD
ey is hopefully going to tie
played very soon."
The NHI.l’A executive com
mlttee stmt the contrac t to the
union's 700-plus members for
ratification by management's
noon Friday deadline Anti
though it is expected to r»*< eive
the necessary 51 percent
approval, "there will lie « lot of
guys with discontent." said
Mick Vukota of the New York
Islanders
"There have been hard liners
in our union who have stopped
aside for the good of the game,"
Vukota said. "Some relation
ships between players and own
ers were in bad shape even
before this started "
Although they managed to
sidestep the salary cap and pay
roll tax favored by the owners,
the players made most of the
concessions during three
month* of often Ii.istv negoti i
lions.
Nevertheless, most seemed
happy that they'll be practicing
Friday afternoon for the first
time since owners announced
Sept 30 that the lockout would
begin the next day.
"It's our livelihood." said Hrit
VVeinrich of the ( he ago Black
hawks "This is what most of the
guys have done their whole
lives All we know is hockey
We want to plav hockey txs ause
that's what hm key players do."
NHL commissioner Gary
Hettman, who on Tuesday night
delivered the owners take it-or
Itwvt* it offer to union head Hob
Goodenow, said tin* season
would start late next week, pot
sibly Friday
Tlte regular season, probably
48 games, will be followed by
four best-of-7 playoff rounds
The NHL normally plays art 84
game schedule, and most own
or* said as recently as this week
that any season shorter than 50
games wouldn't l*e "legitimate
In the end. the owners felt los
ing to games from this season's
s< hedule was a small price to
take hai k some of the control
they lost m settling the 10 day
strike before the 1992 playoffs
"I think players realized that
something had to change," said
Kdmonton general manager
Turn to AGREEMENT, Page 1?
Recent events a blessing for Oregon athletics
Chris Met/.
I never thought I’d he saying
this, hut it's a great day to be a
Duck fan.
Not that any other day is a par
ticularly bad time to be a fan of
Oregon athletics, hut oven the
snootiest of fans would probably
admit that the Ducks have done
nothing but impress in 1994-95.
In one week, the Oregon foot -
hall team played the No 2 team
in the nation to a stalemate
through three quarters of play in
the greatest postseason bowl ever
some would even call it "the
granddaddy of them all."
And before Oregon fans could
even unpack from their trip to
Turn to METZ, Page 12
GhAftV a*.)
1994 was an Incredible year for Oregon and Its fans, who were treated with a trip to Pasadena, and 1995
looks to be heading In the right direction as well.
USC Seven-footer out
for season with torn
ligaments in knee
l/)S ANGELES (AF). Backup center Kirk Muimmii k
will miss the rest of the Southern California Trojans'
basketball season because of torn ligaments in his left
knee.
The 7-foot Homtmick, who averaged l 3 rebounds and
one point a game in limited duty this season, w ill have
surgery on his knee on Friday, the school announced
Wednesday.
He hurt his knee during practice on Dec :tl
Homenick is the second Trojan player to Iw sidelined
by o knee injury this season. Tramayne Anchrum. a 6-5
forward, hurt bis knee in practice Oc! 26 and had to
have surgery, which ended his season.
USC has only nine basketball scholarship players
available now, and only one player — 6-11 David
Crouse, also a backup center — taller than 6-7. The Tro
jans have been using a three-guard lineup.
Hockey settlement not exactly
something to write home about
Jim Lttke
Counterfeit seasons are like stereos
bought out of the trunk of some oily
guy't car They look like a good Idea
until you actually try and play them.
Now that the hockey deal is finally
done, watch what happens when the
switch gets thrown.
Unrepentant owners, unprepared
and unhappy players, unexciting
games and an unbalanced schedule
— all the elements am in place for an
unmitigated disaster of a season. And
all because those unnecessary delays
in August, September and October
gave rise to a 103-day lockout that
prompted this unseemly rush to get
hack into the pockets of the paying
customers
Remember the split season that
baseball pawned off on its fans after
the striku of 1'tHl (and may y*»l be
forced to repeat in HW5)7 Remember
the lliH7 NFL fiasco that featured
three games played by impostors
before the real owners of the uni
forms. fresh from the picket lines,
showed up to fill them out?
Well, when this hockey season
ends in July, there won't be a /.am
bonl anywhere big enough to erase
the bad memories, either
burlier this week. Now York
Rangers general mnnngur Neil Smith
called plans to start the season next
Monday "unrealistic and improbu
ble.” And that was before all of Tues
Turn to HOCKEY. Page 10
January 12, l‘W5
Volume ee, luuc 75
NAMES IN THE
GAME
PHOfNIX <AP) Hours
after accepting tfnj head
coaching pb af Phoenix Col
lege, former Nf L running
back Stum# MMcheU
lurried down the position
Wednesday after being told
he couldn't continue to coach
at Casa Grande High
The school district board
voted T un- day nght to allow
Mitchell to coach Phoenix
College but Mitchell fund he
did not want to abandon the
prep program
I feel like l have an
Obligation to the kids af Casa
Grande kids (hut 11 are
about, he said "I can't just
run off and leave them
hanging
Den
nis Mitchell
Wang Junxia w
1C
WOOSH!
use
70.5%
UCLA
70.6%
Stanford ’
Pac-10
Men's
basketball
tree-throw
percentage
leaders
1
>738% K
| SOURCE Pile-10 Conforanca *
MATT (iAHTOHI *****