YEAR IN REVIEW 1997: SPORTS-AND-GAMES: FOOTBALL

Football: Canadian Football. The Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 43-37 to win the Grey Cup championship of the Canadian Football League (CFL) at Hamilton, Ont., on November 24. The game's Most Valuable Player was Toronto quarterback Doug Flutie, who also won his fifth CFL Most Outstanding Player award and led league passers with 5,720 yd, 29 touchdowns, and a .641 completion percentage. Toronto won the league's Eastern Division with a 15-3 record and an offense that led the CFL with 426 total yards and 320 passing yards per game. Robert Drummond's 17 touchdowns led the league, and centre Mike Kiselak was voted the league's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. Edmonton (11-7) led the league's defenses by allowing 19.7 points, 280 total yards, and 226 passing yards per game and defeated the Western Division champion Calgary Stampeders (13-5) to reach the championship game. Edmonton's defense featured linebacker Willie Pless, the league's Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and end Leroy Blugh, the Most Outstanding Canadian. After three years with teams in the United States, the CFL consolidated to nine Canadian teams after the NFL's move to Baltimore forced the defending CFL champion Baltimore Stallions to move to Montreal. Four other U.S. teams disbanded. (KEVIN M. LAMB) FOOTBALL: Rugby Football. No other single thing dominated Rugby Union in 1996 as much as money. A game fiercely amateur for two centuries tried--and failed in many instances--to embrace professionalism. The new professional era allowed Rugby Union to welcome back a host of players who had moved to professional Rugby League. Political infighting scarred the year as England was first expelled from and then welcomed back into Rugby Union's oldest championship, the Five Nations. With a new stadium to pay for and mounting salaries to fund, England was forced into negotiating its own five-year $120 million, television deal for the tournament. This naturally brought it more money than Scotland, Ireland, Wales, or France, and when it refused a five-way split, it was thrown out. Prolonged negotiations allowed it back in, but from 1998 all of England's matches at Twickenham, regarded as the home of world rugby, would be shown on satellite TV. On the field England won its second consecutive Five Nations trophy after losing to France but then beating Ireland in the decisive last match after France lost to Wales. The domestic season in Britain also started under a cloud, with the clubs withdrawing their players from England training sessions as part of their power struggle with the governing body. Another phenomenon reached the English game with big-money owners investing tens of millions of pounds in new stadiums, transfer fees, and salaries. Their money ensured that Franois Pienaar, South Africa's World Cup-winning captain, signed to play for the Saracens in England after being dropped from the South African national team. He was joined in the British Isles by Joel Stransky, who had secured South Africa's victory in the 1995 World Cup final. While the Northern Hemisphere countries struggled to cope with professionalism, those in the Southern Hemisphere stole a march, playing some of their best rugby ever. The new Super-12, which comprised 12 top teams from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, produced some dazzling rugby, with an average of over six tries in a match. It was won by Auckland (N.Z.), which beat Natal (S.Af.) 45-21 in the final on May 25. At the first Tri-Nations tournament between the same three nations, the New Zealand All Blacks produced superb form and clinched the cup with a 32-25 victory over Australia in the final in Brisbane. The sweetest victory came when the All Blacks gained revenge for their 1995 World Cup final defeat by beating South Africa 15-11. Rugby League in England became a summer game in 1996 with the emergence of the new Super League, which allowed some of the better league players to compete in both union and league and therefore play for almost 12 months of the year. (PAUL MORGAN) Football: U.S. Football. The University of Florida won its first national championship of college football by defeating Florida State University 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans, La., on Jan. 2, 1997. Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion Florida, with a won-lost record of 12-1 after losing a game on November 30 to Florida State, was elected champion in both major polls. Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State and Pacific Ten Conference champion Arizona State finished the regular season with the only undefeated records in Division I-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), but their bowl defeats dropped them to 11-1. They could not meet in a bowl game because the Pac Ten champion was committed to play in the Rose Bowl, where fourth-ranked Arizona State lost 20-17 to second-ranked Ohio State, the 11-1 Big Ten champion. The other Division I-A team with only one defeat was fifth-ranked Brigham Young (14-1), the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) champion. Florida State ranked third in the coaches' and writers' polls, which agreed on the top 10. Ranked 6th through 10th were Nebraska and Penn State, at 11-2, and three 10-2 teams: Colorado, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The other major bowl game outcomes were Penn State's 38-15 victory over Big Eight champion Texas (8-5) in the Fiesta, Nebraska's 41-21 victory over Big East champion Virginia Tech (10-2) in the Orange, and Brigham Young's 19-15 win over Kansas State in the Cotton. The trend toward large conferences in Division I continued after the Southwest Conference disbanded. The Big Eight became the Big Twelve, the WAC grew to 16 teams, and both conferences followed the lead of the SEC by pitting the winners of separate divisions in a conference championship game, which enabled Texas to upset Nebraska 37-27 for the Big Twelve championship. Nebraska's bid for a third consecutive undefeated season and national championship ended in a September loss to Arizona State, whose Bruce Snyder won the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award as Coach of the Year. Florida defeated Tennessee, and Brigham Young defeated Wyoming in the SEC and WAC championship games. Arizona State remained undefeated by winning a mid-season game in overtime, which Division I-A used for the first time to break ties in 25 games. In an overtime period, each team took possession at the opponent's 25-yd line. Teams played as many periods as were necessary to break the tie. Other conference winners in Division I-A were Houston (7-5) and Southern Mississippi (8-3) in Conference USA, Nevada (9-3) in the Big West, and Ball State (8-4) in the Mid-American. Northwestern (9-3) tied Ohio State in the Big Ten; Miami (Fla.) and Syracuse (both 9-3) tied Virginia Tech in the Big East. The surprising teams of the year were Army and Navy, which both went into their annual game with winning records for the first time since 1963. Army overcame an 18-point deficit to win 28-24 and take a series lead of 47-43-7. Army (10-2) led Division I with 346.5 yd rushing per game, and coach Bob Sutton won the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year Award. Florida senior quarterback Danny Wuerffel won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award, both honouring the best player in Division I-A, and also the Davey O'Brien and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards for the top quarterback. He had the second best passer rating and was the leader, with 39 touchdown passes and 10.1 yd per pass attempt, in the regular season. Steve Sarkisian of Brigham Young was the passing leader, with 173.6 rating points, and had the best completion percentage, .688. Florida led Division I-A with 46.6 points per game and ranked second to Nevada's 527.3 total yards per game. Nevada was runner-up to both Florida in scoring and Wyoming's 359.2 yd per game in passing. Wyoming's Marcus Harris won the Fred Biletnikoff Award for wide receivers with a leading 1,650 yd on 109 catches, which ranked second to Damond Wilkins's 114 for Nevada. Wyoming quarterback Josh Wallwork was the passing yardage leader with 4,090. Ohio State junior offensive tackle Orlando Pace's fourth-place finish in the Heisman voting was the best in 16 years for someone who did not play an offensive ball-handling position. He won the Outland Trophy and became the first two-time winner of the Vince Lombardi Award, both recognizing the outstanding lineman. Troy Davis of Iowa State became the first NCAA player to run for more than 2,000 yd in two consecutive seasons when he gained 2,185, and he also led Division I-A with 2,364 all-purpose yards, including receptions and returns. But the Doak Walker Award for running backs went to rushing runner-up Byron Hanspard, who gained 2,084 yd for Texas Tech. Washington halfback Corey Dillon was the touchdown leader with 23. Northwestern linebacker Pat Fitzgerald won his second consecutive Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player and finished second to Matt Russell of Colorado for the linebackers' Dick Butkus Award. Lawrence Wright of Florida won the defensive backs' Jim Thorpe Award, and Dre' Bly of North Carolina was the interception leader with 11. The Green Bay Packers won the 1996 championship of the National Football League by defeating the New England Patriots 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI at New Orleans, La., on Jan. 26, 1997. Kick receiver Desmond Howard of the Packers set a Super Bowl record with a 99-yd kickoff return for a touchdown and was voted the game's Most Valuable Player, the first time that a special teams member had won the award. An 81-yd touchdown on a pass from Packer quarterback Brett Favre to wide receiver Antonio Freeman also set a Super Bowl record. The Dallas Cowboys defended their 1995 National Football League (NFL) championship by winning a league-high fifth consecutive division title, but their 1996 regular-season record was their worst in six years, and they failed to qualify for a first-round bye in the play-offs for the first time in five years. The Cowboys, led by quarterback Troy Aikman (see BIOGRAPHIES), had won the 1995 championship on Jan. 28, 1996, by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX at Tempe, Ariz., becoming the first team ever to win three Super Bowls in four years. The Packers and the Carolina Panthers earned 1996 play-off byes in the National Football Conference (NFC) by winning their divisions with the two best records. Carolina made the play-offs in only its second season of existence, as did the Jacksonville Jaguars by earning a wild-card berth with one of the three best runner-up records in the American Football Conference (AFC). Green Bay became the first team since the undefeated Miami Dolphins of 1972 to lead the NFL in most points scored and fewest points allowed. The Packers averaged 28.5 a game and gave up 13.1. Their 19 touchdowns allowed were the fewest in the NFL's 17 seasons of 16-game schedules, and their defense also led the NFL by allowing 259.8 total yards, 171.3 passing yards, and 15.5 first downs per game. The Packers' offense led the league in touchdowns with 56 total, 39 on passes and 8 on returns. Quarterback Favre threw for all 39 touchdowns, led the NFC with 3,899 yd passing, and won his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award. Carolina's strength was a defense that ranked second in points allowed and first with a 32.4% third-down efficiency and 60 sacks. Coach Dom Capers confused opponents with a defense that used zone coverage instead of man-to-man on blitzes. Kevin Greene's 14.5 sacks led the league, and Lamar Lathon's 13.5 tied for second with AFC leader Bruce Smith of Buffalo, who was Defensive Player of the Year. Kicker John Kasay led the NFL with 145 points and a league-record 37 field goals. Denver led the NFL's offenses with averages of 361.9 total yards per game and 147.6 rushing yards per game. The Broncos' John Elway had the AFC's best passer rating and Terrell Davis the most rushing yards, just 15 behind NFL leader Barry Sanders's 1,553 for Detroit. Davis, the Offensive Player of the Year, also led the league with 108 first downs. Sanders led the NFL with 2,028 total yards from scrimmage and, with Thurman Thomas of Buffalo, became the first players with 1,000 yd rushing in eight consecutive seasons. San Francisco quarterback Steve Young won his fifth NFL passing championship in six years, with a 97.2 rating, and also led the league with a .677 completion percentage and a mere 1.9 interception percentage, throwing only six. Teammate Jerry Rice led the league with 108 catches and established NFL milestones with 100 catches in three consecutive seasons and 1,000 catches for his career. Jacksonville had the NFL's most passing yards behind Mark Brunell, the league leader with 4,367 yd passing and AFC leader with a .634 completion percentage. Terry Allen led the NFL with 21 touchdown runs, while his Washington team had a league-high 27. The leaders in touchdown catches were Tony Martin of San Diego and Michael Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens. Marcus Allen of Kansas City set NFL career records with 112 rushing touchdowns and 576 games by a running back. Brian Mitchell of Washington led the league for the third straight time with 1,995 combined yards rushing and returning. Chris Boniol tied a record with seven field goals in a game for Dallas. (KEVIN M. LAMB) GOLF For much of 1996 the world of golf was seeking a new star and wondering if technological advances in club and ball manufacture were making the search more difficult. Jack Nicklaus looked back on the 35 years he had played professionally and concluded that the biggest single change he had seen was in equipment. "I think it is great for the average golfer because it can improve his game and he can get more enjoyment out of it," he said. "But for the pros I think it has had an adverse effect. You used to be able to separate yourself from most of the players by your shot-making ability, or if you were long or had a certain skill more developed than the other player. Not any more." South African Gary Player, another of the four players in history to have won all four major championships (the Masters, United States Open, the British Open, and the U.S. Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) championship), added, "It's not even nearly the same game. I think golf equipment has done immeasurable harm at the professional level." The fact that the first 42 tournaments on the U.S. PGA tour produced 33 different champions, 13 of them winning for the first time, added weight to the argument. By the end of the year, however, there was one young golfer who appeared to have the ability to stand out from the pack and the potential to lead the sport into the next millennium. Californian Eldrick ("Tiger") Woods, who in 1994 at age 18 had become the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur championship, became the first player to win it for three successive years, recovering in the final from five down to beat Steve Scott at the second extra hole at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Cornelius, Ore. In June Woods briefly led the U.S. Open on the opening day at Oakland Hills Country Club near Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and then equaled the lowest-ever total by an amateur in finishing tied for 22nd in the British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in Lancashire, Eng. It was no surprise when Woods after his third U.S. Amateur victory abandoned his Stanford University studies and turned professional. His performance in his first few weeks as a professional was remarkable. After finishing in a tie for 60th in the Greater Milwaukee Open, the 20-year-old finished 11th in the Bell Canadian Open, tied for fifth in the Quad City Classic, tied for third in the B.C. Open, and finished first in the Las Vegas Invitational after a play-off against Davis Love III. Two weeks later he triumphed again in the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., though in controversial fashion when Taylor Smith, having matched Woods's 21-under-par total of 267, was disqualified for using a long putter with a grip that did not conform to the rules. In November Woods finished fifth to Greg Norman in the Australian Open. In only eight weeks as a professional, Woods had risen into the top 40 of the Sony world rankings, and he was to finish in 24th place on the U.S. money list, with earnings of $790,594. Yet that was only the tip of a financial iceberg. The moment he left the amateur ranks, Woods became one of the hottest properties in sport. A clothing deal worth a reported $40 million over five years was signed with Nike, and another contract with Titleist to use its clubs totaled a reported $20 million over five years. In the competition for the four major championships, the most dramatic was unquestionably in the Masters, where Greg Norman of Australia, ranked first in the world throughout the season, tied the Augusta (Ga.) National course record of 63 on the first day and with a round to play was six strokes in the lead. After a string of near misses in the U.S. major tournaments, it seemed that Norman finally was to win this title. On the final afternoon, however, he collapsed to a 78 and in the end only just held on to second place, five strokes behind Nick Faldo of the U.K., whose closing 67 (for a 12-under-par aggregate of 276) gave him a third Masters victory and a sixth major in nine years. In the U.S. Open, Davis Love, Tom Lehman, and Steve Jones all stood on the final tee at two under par. Then Love three-putted and Lehman drove into a bunker, and so Jones's par four made him the surprising champion. It was his first U.S. tour victory in 7 years, 2 1/2 of them spent out of the game after a dirt-bike accident, and just to play in the Open he had to survive a play-off in the qualifying competition. While Love continued to wait for a victory in a major tournament, Lehman was celebrating his own first success five weeks later in the British Open. A third-round 64 put him six shots in the lead, and with closest challenger Faldo failing to apply the pressure he had in the Masters, Lehman could afford a 73 in the final round and still beat fellow American Mark McCumber and South Africa's Ernie Els by two strokes. The PGA championship, at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., produced a play-off between two more Americans, Mark Brooks and Kenny Perry. Both were seeking their first major victory, and it was Brooks who prevailed. Perry had been two strokes ahead standing on the final tee, but bogeyed the par five and then watched Brooks birdie it to force a tie. Unfortunately for Perry, the first hole of sudden death was the same 18th, and he could not recover from driving into trouble again. The U.S. PGA tour money list title also went to Lehman, whose six-shot victory in the season-ending tour championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., put him ahead of Phil Mickelson with a record total of $1,780,159. Mickelson had the most wins (four) and also teamed up with Mark O'Meara and Steve Stricker to give the United States victory in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews in Fife, Scot. The U.S. also scored a success in the second President's Cup match against the International Team (the rest of the world minus Europe). In an exciting finish at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Lake Manassas, Va., Fred Couples sank a 10-m (33-ft) birdie putt at the second-to-last hole of the decisive singles match against Vijay Singh of Fiji for a 16 1/2 -15 1/2 victory. On the PGA European tour, the player with the most victories--Ian Woosnam of Wales, with four--did not win the Order of Merit. That went for a record-equaling fourth successive time to Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, who, besides winning three tournaments, had eight other top-10 finishes and earned 875,146. He remained the dominant personality on a circuit deprived in 1996 of Jos Mara Olazabal of Spain, who did not play during the year because of rheumatoid arthritis in both his feet. Els won the Toyota World Match Play championship at Wentworth, Surrey, Eng., for an unprecedented third year in a row. He then teamed with Wayne Westner to take South Africa to a massive 18-stroke victory in the World Cup of Golf at Cape Town, S.Af. In the U.S. Women's Open, Sweden's Annika Sorenstam not only became just the sixth player to have made a successful defense of the title but did so by a commanding six-stroke margin at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in North Carolina. In 1995 Sorenstam had become the first player, male or female, to win the most money in both the U.S. and Europe. That feat was nearly achieved again in 1996 by Laura Davies of the U.K. In the U.S. she fought a thrilling yearlong battle with Australian rookie Karrie Webb, her four victories including the McDonald's LPGA championship and the du Maurier Classic, and she also enjoyed three victories in Europe and two in Japan, the last of them by a 15-stroke margin. Webb climaxed her year with a victory in the inaugural LPGA tour championship, her fourth tournament win of the year. She also became the first LPGA player and the first rookie in golf to win more than $1 million in a single season and was named Rookie of the Year. If the top U.S. women golfers were overshadowed at home, then they truly asserted themselves overseas. After leading by two points going into the 12 concluding singles of the Solheim Cup at the St. Pierre Country Club in Chepstow, Wales, Europe slumped to a 17-11 defeat. The U.S. retained the trophy despite omitting Emilee Klein, a seven-stroke winner of the Weetabix Women's British Open at the Woburn Golf and Country Club in Milton Keynes, Eng. The U.S. did suffer defeat in the Curtis Cup, Britain and Ireland's women amateurs winning 11 1/2 -6 1/2 at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club in Ireland to maintain a remarkable record of only one loss in the last six matches. The following week, however, Kelli Kuehne of the U.S. won the Ladies' British amateur championship at Hoylake near Liverpool, Eng.; she then retained her U.S. Women's amateur title at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb. Victory in the women's world amateur team championship in the Philippines went, for the first time, to South Korea. Australia won the men's title. Prize money on the U.S. Seniors tour reached a staggering $37 million, with Jim Colbert, who regained his number one position by finishing third in the final event, and Hale Irwin each winning in excess of $1.6 million. Nine players earned more than $1 million--the same number as on the main circuit. (MARK GARROD) GYMNASTICS The world championships of artistic gymnastics, held in Puerto Rico on April 15-21, 1996, garnered relatively little attention in its role as a lead-in to the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., in July-August. There was no team or individual all-around competition at the tournament, and so the full focus on those events was aimed at Atlanta, where the U.S. women won their first-ever team all-around Olympic gold medal. The U.S. went into the optional events closely trailing Russia. It remained a close competition until the final rotation, when 18-year-old Kerri Strug fell on her first vault and then nailed her second (and final) attempt despite a badly sprained ankle. Her effort clinched the gold for the U.S. team and created a popular ideal of the selfless Olympic athlete that clung to Strug long after the Games were over. Liliya Podkopayeva of Ukraine was the all-around Olympic champion and added the gold medal for the floor exercise. Among the men, Li Xiaoshuang of China added the Olympic all-around crown to his collection. Russia won the team all-around title by a narrow margin over China. In the last three Olympics, in the men's competitions, the Soviet Union and its successor countries had won 17 gold medals, followed by China with 3 and the U.S. with 1. Among the women, the Soviet Union and its successor nations had captured 9 gold medals, Romania 6, the U.S. 2, and China 1. At the 1992 Olympics the Unified Team of Soviet gymnasts, men and women, had accounted for nine gold, five silver, and four bronze medals. At Atlanta, however, gymnasts from former Soviet republics were not as successful. The women accounted for three gold and two silver medals, and the men gained three golds, one silver, and seven bronzes. Best of the Russians individually was Aleksey Nemov, who won gold in the vault and also a silver and three bronzes. Vitaly Sherbo, winner of six gold medals at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, won a gold medal in the floor exercise at the 1996 world championships, but he was held to four bronze medals in Atlanta. Spain was the surprising gold medalist in the group event in the expanded rhythmic gymnastics program, slipping past Bulgaria by less than 0.1 point. Ukraine placed first and third in the individual rhythmic event, won by Yekaterina Serebryanskaya. Yanina Batyrchina of Russia was the silver medalist. (CHARLES ROBERT PAUL, JR.) ICE HOCKEY When the team was the Quebec Nordiques, its prospects were good on the ice, but the financial problems that resulted from playing in one of the National Hockey League's (NHL's) smallest cities became overwhelming. Therefore, before the 1995-96 season the team was sold and moved to Denver, where it became known as the Colorado Avalanche. The payoff was immediate, a championship in the Stanley Cup play-offs. The NHL's 26 teams each played 82 games from October 1995 to April 1996. The dominant team, by far, was the Detroit Red Wings. Under Coach Scotty Bowman they won 62 games, the most ever by an NHL team, against 13 losses and 7 ties. They lost only 3 of 41 games at home and only 3 of 28 against division rivals. Though best known for offense, they allowed the fewest goals in the league, an average of 2.2 a game. The division winners were Detroit with 131 points, Colorado (104), the Philadelphia Flyers (103), and the Pittsburgh Penguins (102). They led 16 teams into the play-offs, including the Montreal Canadiens but not the defending champion New Jersey Devils. Montreal, after missing the play-offs the previous year for the first time since 1970, lost the first five games of the season. General manager Serge Savard and Coach Jacques Demers were fired and replaced by Rejean Houle as general manager and Mario Tremblay as coach. The Canadiens improved enough to make the play-offs but lost in the first round to the New York Rangers. New Jersey won only 37 games and became the first cup champion since the 1969-70 Canadiens to miss the next year's play-offs. In the Western Conference play-offs, Colorado eliminated the Vancouver Canucks, the Chicago Blackhawks, and Detroit, all by four games to two. In the East the Florida Panthers, a third-year expansion team, defeated the Boston Bruins (4-1), Philadelphia (4-2), and Pittsburgh (4-3). Colorado, coached by Marc Crawford, was favoured in the finals. It had big, strong defensemen, and it had a play-off-hardened goalie in Patrick Roy, who had forced a December trade from Montreal. Florida, in its first play-offs, was coached by Doug MacLean, in his first NHL head coach position. His team played a disciplined, tight-checking game and had a strong goalie in John Vanbiesbrouck. The four-of-seven-game finals lasted only from June 4 through 11 as Colorado won in a four-game sweep by scores of 3-1, 8-1, 3-2, and 1-0. The last game went to triple overtime before Uwe Krupp, a Colorado defenseman from Germany, scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line. Centre Joe Sakic, the Colorado captain, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the series' most valuable player. Mario Lemieux, the Pittsburgh centre, returned after a year off following back surgery and radiation treatment for Hodgkin's disease. Although he missed 12 games, he led the league in scoring (161 points), goals (69), assists (92), power-play goals (31), and shorthanded goals (8). For the third time, he won the Hart Trophy as the regular season's most valuable player. Chris Chelios of Chicago won his third Norris Trophy as the outstanding defenseman. Jim Carey of the Washington Capitals won the Vezina Trophy for goaltending, Sergey Fedorov of Detroit the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward, winger Paul Kariya of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play, winger Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators the Calder Trophy as best rookie, and Bowman the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. Defenseman Ray Bourque of Boston was voted to the first-string all-star team for the 12th time, tying Gordie Howe's record. The others on the team were Carey in goal, Chelios on defense, Lemieux at centre, and Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh and Kariya on wing. The Americanization of this Canadian sport continued when the Winnipeg Jets were sold and moved after the season to Phoenix, Ariz. They were renamed the Coyotes. The NHL estimated its revenue for the 1995-96 season at $920 million, up from $562 million in 1994-95. There were increases in the number of national sponsors and in the volume of national marketing. Nevertheless, although 1995-96 attendance reached a record high of 17,041,614, one-third of the teams experienced attendance problems. The NHL Players Association reported that the average salary climbed to $892,000, up from $733,000 the previous season and $562,000 the season before that. For some teams new arenas made profits possible. For example, after 72 years and 3,229 games at the 18,000-seat Montreal Forum, the Canadiens moved in March into the new Centre Molson, with 21,500 seats and 135 executive suites. (FRANK LITSKY)