SPORTS
Smart Sabre
Mike Hartman plays a strong game,
physically and mentally
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
ike Hartman had a
strong training camp
with the Buffalo Sabres.
The toughest part was
coming home.
The Bloomfield Hills resident in-
jured his knee in a pre-season game
at Joe Louis Arena last month,
knocking Hartman out of the Sabres'
first three regular-season games.
Hartman, who played parts of the last
two seasons with the National
Hockey League club, was back in the
lineup for game four and has not been
out since.
"Things've been going really
well," says Hartman, 21. "I've been
playing really well. I'm on a checking
line. The only thing, the puck's not
bouncing my way lately!' Hartman
did not score a goal in nine games,
playing on a line with veteran Jan
Ludvig and former Michigan Stater
Jeff Parker. "But I'm doing my job,"
Hartman adds. "I'm playing a real
physical game, I'm checking, I'm tak-
ing the man.
"In the NHL, it's a real smart
game. You've got to know where
everybody is, you've got to be able to
analyze plays, pick up certain guys.
Last Sunday I was covering Cam Nee-
ly a little bit against Boston!' Neely
is one of the top right wings in the
league.
"My job here is mainly to be a
defensive player who goes out and
hits a lot, stirs things up and fights!'
Players such as Hartman are
generally known by less than
glamorous terms such as "grinders"
or "muckers." r th the casual observer,
someone playing a physical game who
averages almost one fight per contest
and spends a lot of time in the penal-
ty box might not seem a candidate for
intellectual status. But those casual
observers usually miss the game-
within-the-game in which players
such as Hartman are involved.
First, players on designated
checking lines must neutralize many
of the top goal-scorers in the league.
Doing that means understanding a
defensive team strategy which
changes with each opponent.
The NHL game, Hartman says,
"is so fast and so quick. You've got to
52 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1988
know where everybody is on the ice.
Every night we have a certain way to
shut down the other team. Every
game involves a different strategy. We
have 100 different breakout systems,
forechecking systems!'
One wrong move, even from a for-
ward, can be costly. "You make one
mistake in the NHL," Hartman
warns, "usually that mistake can be
felt in a goal!'
Another facet of Hartman's game
is the role of intimidator. Every suc-
cessful NHL team, including the re-
cent Montreal, New York Islander
and Edmonton dynasties, have had
their tough guys to protect their goal-
scorers and to upset the fancier
players on the opposition.
"I try to play every game tough,"
says Hartman, "get guys off their
game. Just play a hard physical game
and do whatever I can do to help the
Buffalo Sabres win a game. I know my
job every night, what I have to do. It's
just a bonus every time I score a goal
or get a point. Sometimes when you
hit those good goal-scorers, alterca-
tions break out. That's why I'm
fighting every game. I run a guy like
Mats Naslund of Montreal, one of the
top goal-scorers in the league, I
guarantee you John Kordic or one of
their big guys'll be coming after me.
That's the way it is!'
Hartman usually knows when a
fight is imminent. "You don't look for-
ward to it, but you have to pay the
price to play in the National Hockey
League. To be a pro hockey player,
you've got to do what you do best.
Singers sing and dancers dance.
You've got to do something well!'
During a recent interview Hart-
man shows his team spirit by men,
tioning the name of almost everyone
else on the Sabres' roster. This team
spirit is another point in his favor,
something which can separate a
talented minor leaguer from an NHL
player.
"Every time I put that Buffalo
Sabre's jersey on I'm just ready to go.
As soon as that jersey comes on I
won't let my teammates down!"
When he dons his jersey before a
game, Hartman becomes a different
person. "Something gets inside of me.
I don't think it's all the people being
there. It's just the pride of being
a Buffalo Sabre. I think a lot of the
Buffalo's
Mike Hartman.
guys totally lost,
feel the but I didn't
same way. really know
I was talk- what NHL hoc-
ing to my key was all about.
teammate, It's a big jump
Kevin Mc- from junior hockey.
Guire, and he's Plus I was 180
the same way.
pounds, and right
"I'm willing now I'm 195. Now
to sacrifice my I think I'm a man
body for the team. in a man's game!'
So is a guy like
His apprenticeship
like McGuire, Mike may be over, but Hartman
Foligno — you can go says he is still learning.
all way down the list.
"I just come to the
Guys like Lindy Ruff rink every day and I
and Mike Ramsey, who learn I learn from guys like
blocks shots. That guy dives in front Mark Napier. He sits right next to me
of pucks, he's a great defensive and he's always giving me a hand.
Even though he doesn't play in every
player?'
Buffalo entered the week at 5-6-2, game, he's older; he's one of the guys
in second place in the five-team on the team that's always helping me
Adams Division, following a pair of out!'
Playing in the NHL involves an
weekend ties against division-leading
80-game
schedule with either a prac-
Boston.
tice, a flight, or both, on almost every
Although he has yet to score a open date in the schedule. But Hart-
goal, Hartman feels more confident man says he still takes the time to ap-
this year than in his two previous preciate his accomplishment, to enjoy
seasons. He started the 1986-87
life at the top of the hockey world and,
season in Buffalo but was returned to just as importantly, to keep it in
his Ontario Hockey League team
perspective.
about one-quarter of the way through
"I think my family's proud;' he
the season. He began last season with says. "I owe a lot to my family because
the Sabres' minor league affiliate in they put up with it over the years. It's
Rochester, New York, then was called nice that my mother and father can
up to Buffalo in the second half of the sit back and watch me on TV now. I
season.
think that makes it all worthwhile
"The first year I considered myself . . . It's an exciting life and I enjoy it.
a boy, at 19, playing with men;' he I'm planning on doing it for as many
says. "I was just a kid. I can't say I was years as I can!' ❑