European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday. February 22, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Ornesby speaking hockey is cleanest sport hockey is the cleanest sport in America. If that premise gets you so fired up you want to argue about it Harry Ornst is the Man you should see because he s so sure he s right hell debate it with you All Day Long. Hell let you in on something else too. Hell Tell you one of the reasons hockey is the cleanest sport in the United states is because or its Friendly next door neighbor Canada. Ornst who owns the St. Louis blues of the National hockey league is a lot like new York s mayor de Koch. He does t hold Back. If he has an opinion he expresses it. Whether or not you like it whether or not you agree with him he says what he thinks. He does t Wear out your Eraser telling you this or that is off the record even when he talks about such a Sensi Tive subject As drugs. There s no question in my mind that hockey is the cleanest sport and or business in America Ornes insists. Off the  once again off the ice he repeats. Off the playing surface hockey has policed itself better than any sport t know or any business for that matter. It All goes Back to the late Clarence Campbell he explains. He suspended two players for life just for gambling. From the very beginning the nil has done a better Job of keeping its sport clean than any other one you can name. On the ice though Ornest makes the distinction we be got a Long Way to go because forms of bullying and hooliganism continue to  a word of explanation Here. Ornest is a rarity in the n h l in that he s one of the few full time working owners. He also knows the chemistry of the players and officials _ better than other owners because of his background As a former minor league hockey referee and baseball player. An Active critic of what he Calls hoodlum ism on the ice the combination of bullying fighting and excessive intimidation by some players he called on some of his past ability As a Newspaperman to write an uncommonly informative piece on the subject in the new York times. Off the ice Ornest has no complaints whatsoever As to the conduct of players in the league. As a nil owner i m proud of the league s Diligence for All these years the inordinate degree of Success we be had in keeping our game clean he says. I m talking about drugs gambling  some time ago nil president John Ziegler made Plain where he stands on the matter of drugs. The result is the nil takes a much stronger stand than any of the other major sports. We let everyone know we Don t want a drug user in our league and if we find one he s gone Ziegler has said. The most notable drug Case the league Ever had entered around Don Murdoch the new York rang ers right Wing whose career fell apart when he was suspended for half the 1978-79 season. He was caught with a Pouch of cocaine in his sock by customs officials was convicted and suspended. Ornest realizes that the other sports Are trying to Cope with drugs. I compliment All the commissioners especially Peter Ueberroth for constantly keeping the focus on the drug problem and trying to do something about it he says. They All take different approaches but i have to say our league s record is much better than anyone else s. Players using heroin or cocaine can be suspended for life. To my knowledge we be never caught any player using heroin. We be Only had a couple who used co Caine and they were dealt with  could it be the nil s better record is the result of closing its eyes or looking the other Way nothing of the sort Ornst says. We have Secu Rity people with investigative backgrounds in every City and they come to every  Ornest believes n combination of factors Are responsible for the nil having less trouble with drug users than the other sports. First of All you re dealing mostly with Canadian kids from Small towns and the work ethic in those towns is entirely different from what it is in inner City ghettos says Ornst a native of Edmonton Alec flu. For example look at the rosters of the lop 20 College basketball teams in America or of the Aba teams and you re bound to find a majority of the kids arc from predominantly inner City areas in the East Midwest and Southern California. Secondly i think the nature of our game has some thing to do with our players staying away from drugs. No one is conditioned like hockey players. In other sports like baseball and basketball players often Don t play when they re Hurt. Bui if a hockey player Breaks his nose or has 10 stitches sewn in his face you la Sec him right Back out Iacre on the ice without inc use of any drugs either. Hockey players play with injury and pain More than any other athletes in the  inevitably Ornest gets Back to the goons and bullies in the league. We Don t have any on our club he says. What about the other clubs i give inc new Jersey devils High Marks he says. Also the islanders and inc rangers. Bui de troit is the worst and Minnesota and Philadelphia Aren t too far behind. Edmonton also has a couple of goons but they re really a minor item because inc oilers have so Many other great  Penl into Nuttoli Kerr s 28th Power play goal ties Mark Philadelphia shuts Down la. 5-3 Over pm Polo Philadelphia s tin Kerr. Credit the other Guys by United press inem atonal Tim Kerr thanked his teammates for helping him tie the National hockey league s single season Power play goal re Cord but los Angeles goalie Roland Mel Anson said Kerr s gratitude should go to a broken net and bad officiating. Kerr registered his 28th Power play goal of the season with 41 seconds left in the first period thursday night to help Thi Philadelphia flyers to a 5-3 Victory Ove the Kings. Melanson said the net had been Dis lodged before the shot and play should have been halted. They gave them a goal at the end of the first period Melanson said. It the net was four or five inches off. There Are three Guys referees sup posed to Call it and they did t. It was a mistake and it was the wrong time to make a mistake because it Cost us the  tied the Power play goal record set by Phil Esposito in the 1971-72 season and matched by Mike Bossy of the new York islanders in 1983-1984. The a Guys no Roundup give credit to the other Guys on Power play Kerr said. They re the i who have gotten me the puck All year. After watching replays of inc goal Kerr admitted that the net was dislodged. It definitely was three or four inches off Kerr said. But there was a lot of Snow around the Post. And referees Don t see that Well  Pulle Eklund gave the flyers a 1-0 Lead. At 11 44 of the first period when he tipped in a Brad Mccrimmon slap shot. After Bryan Erickson tied the score and Kerr put the flyers ahead 2-1, Eklund raised the flyers advantage to 3-1 at 4 18 of the second period. Rich Suiter gave Philadelphia a 4-1 Lead before Joe Patterson Cut the deficit to 4-2 with 5 13 remaining. Sean Mckenna scored a Short handed goal to bring the Kings within one. Elsewhere in the nil devils 4, Nordques 3 East Rutherford . Rich Preston scored with four seconds remain ing in overtime to Cap a three goal new Jersey comeback. Doug Sallimae dug the puck from the Corner to Preston who rifled a 25-foot shot past goalie Mario Gosslin. With the Nordques leading 3-1, Salli Man and Mel Bridgman scored third period goals for new Jersey. Rangers 3, blues 2 new York lick re Larouche scored two goals and assisted on Bob Brooke s Short handed goal to lift the rangers within one Point of fourth place Pittsburgh in inc Patrick division. Larouche scored at 1 23 of the first period assisted on Brooke s goal at 11 03, and scored again with 22 seconds remain ing in the period. Maple Leafs 7, flames 6 Calgary Alberta. Tom Fergus tied the score with 64 seconds left in regu lation and notched the game winning goal for Toronto at 1 41 of overtime. Fergus scored off a scramble to lie inc score and beat goalie Rajcan Lem Lin on a breakaway in overtime. Rick Vaive scored twice for Toronto. Pitchers Are feast or famine for o Smets by United press International the Baltimore orioles and new York mets opened Spring training thursday with opposite pitching problems. Simply put the orioles have too Little the met too much. The orioles for decades one of the mos stable organizations in baseball opened their Miami Complex with their starting rotation completely up for grabs. This is a different kind of Spring Tram ing said manager Earl Weaver who met baseball Roundup with his coaching staff for 214 hours. There will be plenty of Competition. It s not like coming Back with four 20-game winners. Orioles pitching last year slumped to a team 4.38 Era worst in franchise Histo i have no idea who will be starting so there is no sense asking me that Weaver said. Everybody is fighting for a  at St. Petersburg fla., mets manager Davey Johnson faces the delightful dilemma of too Many qualified starters to fit in a five Man rotation. Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling Are assured of spots and Rick Aguilera Sid Fernandez Bruce by Renyi de Lynch and Bobby Ojeda acquired from Boston Over the Winter will be in a Battle for the other three. Berenyi coming off arthroscopic sur Gery on his right shoulder pitched Only 1356 innings last year but has been work ing out since Jan. 20 and continues to show improvement. We might have to make a Trade said Johnson. But i like having too Many starters. It s a luxury i be never had be  at Tampa fla., reds manager Pete Rose said he expects few changes from last year s training Camp regimen of Short workouts stressing fundamentals and few simulated games