Flyers,Starssetto takecontrolofNHLplayoffs~

by Ron D'Orazio sports editor

Even with the baseball season approaching an end, the Eagles' season-for the most part-having approached an end and the fact that the basketball season may never start, the Philadelphia fans still have hope.

On Friday, Oct. 9, the National Hockey League will open its season for its fans in three countries, the United States, Canada and Japan. Out of the three regular season games on that night, two will be played in the U.S. and there will be an exhi~ition game in Japan featuring the San Jose Sharks versus the Calgary Flames

The new season will bring some changes to the way we know hockey. The major change is that the league, which previously had four divisions, has now moved to a six division format. There is, for the first time in five years, a new team that will begin play in the 1998-99 season. The NHL has expanded into the city of Nashville to bring their fans the Nashville Predators.

With the changes, new teams and different locations, the NHL and its teams should be able to produce an exciting season. Here is a quick look at the 18 teams that will contend for the season-ending prize, the Stanley Cup.

Eastern Conference

In the Atlantic Division, the Philadelphia Flyers, powered by the trifecta of captain Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Rod Brind' Amour as well as new goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck come into the season with few weaknesses. The team needs to get help from its supporting cast of forwards such as Chris Gratton and Alexander Daigle in order to make the Cup run successful.

The Pittsburgh Penguins move back into the Atlantic Division but have seen the departure of No.1 center Ron Francis. The question here is, can all-star winger Jaromir Jagr and Sm Barnes carry the offensive load?

The New Jersey Devils come into this season without a No. l center as well, thanks to free agency, which sent Doug Gilmour to Chicago. The team still has a solid defense to rely on and an all-star goalie in Martin Brodeur. The key to this team is the re-signing of hold-out defenseman Scott Niedermeyer, the team's power-play quarterback. Wayne Gretzky and the New York Rangers will have to deal with the age factor and amend their problem of lack of balanced scoring. The re-signing of Mike Richter will ensure stability in goal. Defenseman Brian Leetch needs to rebound with a big year. the playoffs.

The Northeast Division boasts having maybe the best goalie in the game, the Buffalo Sabres' Dominik Hasek. Hasek will have to be stellar again to spear-head any kind of playoff drive for the Sabres, who do not have a big-time point-producer.

Western Conference

The Central Division offers the two-time defending Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Detroit has the core of the team together from last year but need the guidance of Scotty Bowman, who may step down as coach due to health reasons.

The offense of the Chicago Blackhawks should receive a big lift from the signing of Gilmour away from New Jersey. Gilmour will complement the talents of wingers TonJL Amonte and Alexi Zhamnov and be a big piece of the Chicago playoff-run picrure.

Winger Brett Hull packed his bags and offensive tools and went to Dallas, leaving the St. Louis Blues with a gaping hole on the right wing. Goalie Grant Fuhr will keep the lesspowerful Blues in every contest and may push them into the playoffs.

The Colorado Avalanche will lead the Northwest Division thanks to star forwards Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic and all-star goalie Patrick Roy. The loss of Uwe Krupp to Detroit will hurt the defense.

In contrast to Buffalo, the Ottawa Senators have two bigtime point men in forwards Alexi Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson, who came up huge in the playoff upset of New Jersey. The goaltending tandem of Ron Tugnutt and Damien Rhodes need to play well for this team to win anything.

The Montreal Canadiens have their fill in scoring as well with stars like Mark Recchi, Saku Koivu, Vmcent Damphousse and Shayne Corson. The team needs their veteran defense to step up their play and a starting goalie to emerge.

The young and talented Boston Bruins have the rookieof-the-year in forward Sergei Sasmonov and a 70+ point scorer in Jason Allison to bolster the offense. They can count on veteran Ray Bourque to lead the young defense.

In the Southeast Division, the defending conference champion Washington Capitals will have consistent scoring from the likes of Peter Bondra and Adam Oates. The team, provided that goalie Olaf Kolzig plays like he did during the playoffs, will do just fine.

The Carolina Hurricanes have added Ron Francis from the Penguins to complement wingers Sarni Kapanen, Kevin Dineen and Keith Primeau and should find themselves in

Youth and speed will be the name of the game for the upstart Edmonton Oilers, who will get scoring from Doug Weight and Bill Guerin. The loss of goalie Joseph to Toronto may prove fatal in terms of the Oilers' playoff chances.

In the Pacific Division, the Dallas Stars, with the addition of Brett Hull, now have a well-rounded attack that will win them at least a division. Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov and Joe Nieuwnedyk form the rest of the potent offense.

The Los Angeles Kings made a surprising playoff run thanks to a career year from Josef Srumpel. They need a goalie, either veteran Stephane Fiset or rookie Jamie Storr, to become a starter.

50-goal scorer Keith Tkachuk captains the Phoenix Coyotes towards the playoffs but needs the help of former 50goal men Jeremy Roenick and Rick Tocchet. Another help would be consistent goaltending from Nikolai Khabibulin, who had a sub-par season last year.

Eastern Conference Final: Flyers over Devils in 6 Western Conference Final: Stars over Red Wings in 7 Stanley Cup Finals: Flyers defeat Stars in 7