Brett Lindros

Sergio Garcia takes criticism of his game personally, seeing it as a knock against his swing coach and father, Victor Garcia. Talk that his father had to go has been powerful motivation during a five-week span in which Garcia has won his first two PGA Tour events. The second victory came Monday in the rain-delayed Buick Classic at Harrison, N.Y., which he won by three shots over Scott Hoch. He also won at Colonial in May.

The Mighty Ducks traded their first captain, Troy Loney, during the second day of the NHL entry draft Wednesday, and in a separate deal parted with defenseman Sean Hill, the player who scored the team's first goal. But they came away with veteran New York Islander defenseman Tom Kurvers, who they hope will inject some offense into a power play that was often powerless last season.

Mighty Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira called goaltender Jamie Storr the surest bet to become a star of any player in Tuesday's NHL entry draft--then passed over him with the No. 2 pick, helping the delighted Kings snag Storr with the seventh. "It's the old cliche--we couldn't believe the player we wanted was available," said new Kings GM Sam McMaster, who rated Storr second in the draft behind Radek Bonk.

The news was not what he wanted to hear, so New York Islander right wing Brett Lindros went to another doctor, then to a third and a fourth, hoping to find some shred of hope. Each time, the diagnosis was grim. The cumulative effects of a series of concussions put him at risk for permanent brain damage if he played hockey again. Lindros couldn't believe it. He knew he had experienced memory lapses, making plays and forgetting them before he returned to the bench.

Mighty Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira called goaltender Jamie Storr the surest bet to become a star of any player in Tuesday's NHL entry draft--then passed over him with the No. 2 pick, allowing the delighted Kings to snag the goalie with the seventh. "It's the old cliche--we couldn't believe the player we wanted was available," said new King General Manager Sam McMaster, who rated Storr second in the draft behind Radek Bonk.

The reason for the NHL's scoring decline is evident to Coach Ron Wilson in every game he watches on television or coaches from behind the Mighty Ducks' bench. "I see a lot of shooters pounding the puck into the goalie's pads because they don't have the patience and timing they normally would," he said. John Paddock, Winnipeg's coach, sees the same post-lockout syndrome. "The skill part of the game will be the part that takes longest to come back," he said.

In the landscape of memory, Pat Stapleton and Bill White are jumping over the boards to replace Keith Magnuson and Doug Jarrett, whose gritty defensive work set the crowd roaring and made Chicago Stadium vibrate. Other times, the image is of Bobby Hull skating up the left wing and blasting a slap shot toward a hapless goalie as the fans gasp.

Sam McMaster took charge. The sociable new general manager of the Kings rose to make the introductions Tuesday, in a room occupied by Joe Cohen, Bruce McNall, Barry Melrose, Rogie Vachon, most of L.A.'s boys of winter. There were several young hockey prospects in their midst, the future of the team. Among them: Jamie Storr, 18, the goaltender of tomorrow, drafted higher than any goalie in the NHL's last 11 years. Becoming McMaster of ceremonies, the GM asked: "Anybody know who was taken higher?"

Coaches in youth sports should be more concerned with even mild concussions and learn to administer tests to immediately determine the possible extent of brain injury to their players, researchers reported Wednesday. "Coaches and players need to understand there is no such thing as a minor concussion," said Dr. Jay H.

The New York Rangers insist they like John Muckler and don't want their coach to be fired, no matter that they're in a 2-9-2 slump and stood a wobbly 12th in the 15-team Eastern Conference. If they had lost faith in him, they say, they would have accepted defeat after falling behind early against the Bruins and Maple Leafs last week. "If guys didn't respect him, we wouldn't have come back against Boston," goalie Mike Richter said of a 5-3 Ranger loss last Thursday.