ENTERTAINMENT-
Devilish
On Ice
New Jersey Devils hockey
team can boast having the
only Jewish player in the league
HARLAN C. ABBEY
Special to The Jewish News
Steve Richmond suits up for a game.
left home at the age of 15
in hopes of getting a col-
lege scholarship — I never
dreamed of playing professionally,"
said former Detroit Red Wing Steve
Richmond of the New Jersey Devils,
the only Jewish player in the Na-
tional Hockey League.
"If I'd stayed at home," said the
former resident of Evanston, Ill., a
Chicago suburb, "I'd only have been
able to go to a local or community col-
lege?'
So the youth moved to Pickering,
Ontario, ("where I knew no one") to
play for the Pickering Panthers in the
Ontario Junior B Hockey League .. .
and played well enough to get a
scholarship to the University of
Michigan.
Until then — Richmond and two
teammates from Evanston were
recommended to the Pickering coach
by their former coach, who had
returned to his native Toronto —
Steve's father, Les Richmond, "always
thought I was a better baseball player
than hockey player.
"But that might have been
because of family tradition: he had
pitched in high school and in the
minor leagues, my grandfather Ray
also was a pitcher and my uncle Shel-
ly was an outstanding outfielder."
The draft of young prospects by
the NHL took place after his
freshman season. And the now
6-foot-2, 200-pound defenseman was
passed by.
"It worked out better than if I had
been drafted," he said before a recent
game with the Buffalo Sabers. "The
draft only went five or six rounds and
I'd had a poor season, as did our team.
"Both the team and I improved
every year after that, so more profes-
sional teams got interested in me. As
a result, I signed a bonus about
equivalent to a second-round draft
choice when I graduated?'
Richmond was signed by the
New York Rangers and spent the
1982-1983 season in Tulsa of the Cen-
tral Hockey League, where he had
five goals, 13 assists and 187 penalty
minutes — statistics that have been
fairly consistent each season since
then.
Called up by the Rangers midway
in the 1983-1984 season, Richmond
became a crowd pleaser with his ag-
gressive style. But the next year he
was sent down to New Haven, Conn.,
of the American Hockey League after
34 games and in 1985-1986 he started
with the Rangers, was traded to
Detroit after 17 games and had 29
games with the Red Wings between
demotions to New Haven and Adiron-
dack, both American Hockey League
teams.
So this year, even though the
Devils are last among six teams in
the Patrick Division of the Wales Con-
ference of the NHL, Richmond has
spent the entire season in the "big
leagues?'
But he has played in just 39 of the
team's 67 games through March 12.
The other times he does not dress for
games.
Can a professional athlete who
starts out as a "fringe" player ever
blossom into a regular, Coach Doug
Carpenter of the Devils was asked.
"We wouldn't have traded the best
young goalie in the American Hockey
league if we didn't think so," he
answered.
"Steve has had somewhat of an
up-and-down, journeyman career. But
because of his competitiveness, we felt
GOING PLACES
WEEK OF JULY 17 23
-
MUSIC
DETROIT SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
Meadow Brook, Mozart
concert; 8 p.m. Sunday,
Rachmaninov concert, 8
p.m. Thursday, admission,
377-2010.
PINE KNOB MUSIC
THEATRE
Dan Fogelberg, 7:30 p.m.
today, Lou Gramm, 7:30
p.m. Saturday,Night
Ranger, 7:30 p.m. Sunday,
Peter Gabriel, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, admission.
MUSIC IN THE PARK
Shepherd Park, Oak Park,
Amazement Park Revue,
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, free,
545-6400.
"IN THE PARK"
SUMMER CONCERT
SERIES
Shain Park, Birmingham,
Cranbrook Summer Jazz
Ensemble, Sax In The Park,
7:30 p.m. Thursday, free,
644-1807.
MEADOW BROOK
MUSIC FESTIVAL
Meadow Brook, Baldwin
Pavilion, Academy Of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, 8 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday,
admission, 377-2010.
THE 1987 STROH'S
JAZZ SERIES
Chene Park, Detroit, Diane
Reeves, 8 p.m. Saturday,
admission, 567-0990.
CONCERTS
IN-THE-PARK
Prudential 'Ibwn Center,
101/2 and Evergreen,
Southfield, Chet Bogan and
the Wolverine Jazz Band, 7
p.m. Sunday, 354-4717.
WAYNE STATE
CONGRESS OF
STRINGS
Center for Creative Studies,
200 E. Kirby, Faculty
Recital, 7:30 p.m. today,
Community Arts Aud. 450
Kirby Mall, Full String
Orchestra, 3 p.m. Sunday,
free, 5774795.
SHAW FESTIVAL
Niagara-On-The-Lake,
Ontario, Classical Cabaret
with Cristen Gregory and
Barry Stilwell, 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, admission,
(416)468-2172.
CHILDREN
SOUTHFIELD PUBLIC
LIBRARY
26000 Evergreen, special
children's program, 2:30
p.m. each Wednesday,
through Aug. 19, 354-5342
or 354-9100.
SOUTHFIELD PUBLIC
LIBRARY
26000 Evergreen, drop-in
story times for preschoolers,
ages 3-5, 7 p.m. Tuesdays,
now through July 28, 10:30
a.m. Thursdays, now
through July 30, 354-5342
or 354-9100.
BIRMINGHAM
BOOKSTORE
263 Pierce, Birmingham,
preschool story hour, 10
a.m. Tuesday.
COMEDY
DUFFY'S ON THE LAKE
3133 Union Lake Rd.,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
53