Ontario Premier Mike Harris "shut out any possibility"
of an NHL lottery to help Canada's six NHL franchises one
day after the report that Federal Industry Minister John
Manley had expressed the federal government's willingness to
study to the option, according to Artuso & Dunn of the
TORONTO SUN. Harris: "There'll be no new NHL lotteries;
there'll be no new lotteries. The minister of finance
(Ernie Eves) indicated that to Manley, and was very clear on
that." Manley said that Harris "shouldn't have dismissed
the lottery proposal as quickly as he did": "I think that's
a bit hasty and it's too bad. ... A lottery is like a
voluntary tax. If people want to buy tickets that's their
choice." Artuso & Dunn also reported that the provincial
government "rejected a proposal" that the NHL "deserves"
C$34M annually as its share of provincial sports lotteries
that bet on hockey games (TORONTO SUN, 10/14). Manley, on a
new lottery: "I think that it's one of the few proposals
that we've seen that actually provided some solution for
funds for Canadian teams" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/14).
LEAGUE DISMISSES "FRONTLINE" SEGMENT: NHL Group
VP/Communications Bernadette Mansur, on the PBS "Frontline"
report, "Mafia Power Play," linking Panthers RW Pavel Bure,
Rangers LW Valeri Kamensky and Devils assistant coach Slava
Fetisov to the Russian mob: "This is 'Let's try to sell a
book and let's try to sell a TV show.' That's what this is
about. They definitely know the position of the league on
this and on their journalistic integrity and the disrespect
they showed our players" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/14).
