NHL SUSPENDS CAPS' SIMON FOR THREE GAMES FOR RACIAL EPITHET

          The NHL suspended Capitals LW Chris Simon for three
     games without pay yesterday "in response to a racial
     epithet" Simon made to Oilers RW Mike Grier on Saturday,
     according to Alexander & Heath of the WASHINGTON POST. 
     Simon, who has served one game, will miss the Caps' next two
     games tonight and Thursday.  He will forfeit about $36,600
     in salary and has also volunteered to run some clinics at
     the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club in DC (WASHINGTON POST,
     11/12).  In Dallas, Terry Egan: "No other sport, perhaps no
     other industry, has the racial mix that the NHL does. ...
     Simon's remark ... cheapened the efforts of a lot of people
     who have worked hard to make the NHL the true melting pot of
     the athletic world" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/12).