| "It's
getting pretty hard for the older hockey players," Serge Aubry once noted, before he
knew how hard it would be for him. In a conversation earlier this season he observed sadly
that a lot of people my age are being dropped. Teams are going with the young kids
now." He said this before he was dropped - in favor of two young kids - by the
Cincinnati Stingers. The date of his release was December 22nd, in time for Christmas. Aubry is still unemployed, but not resigned. The stubby, 33 year old
goaltender Wednesday petitioned the World Hockey Association to appoint an arbitrator to
rule on the legality of his release by the Stingers. he claims the Cincinnati Team
violated his contract. Speaking in behalf of Aubry, Quebec attorney Guy Bertrand told
league officials the Stingers exercised a clause in his client's contact which allows a
team to drop a player due to poor performance. Betrand says that clause does not apply to
Aubry's situation. He also says that clause is too broad and should be changed.
Stingers vice president Bill DeWitt is miffed. "It's a clear
cut provision in all contracts." he points out. "It's been exercised hundreds of
times and I've never heard of any player asking to arbitrate it before." DeWitt says
"I'm going to talk to the league and see what the best course is now." A
successful challenge to this clause could have farm reaching effects. DeWitt points out.
"It's the same 'cut' clause that they have in baseball and in all professional
sports."
Aubry will argue the Stingers could not judge his performance since
a hamstring muscle injury had benched him for well over a month proper to his release. At
the time of the injury, the Stingers had a winning record and were generally pleased with
his performance. After recuperating, Aubry played in part of one game, giving up three
goals and was then released. His goals-against average was 4.15. He had one shutout.
"I don't know how his perforce rates among other WHA goalies.
I've never studied it. "DeWitt says. "But the clause reads if in a club's
opinion a player's performance in not up to what the club thinks it should be, it has the
right to terminate the contract. It's entirely up to the club's judgement. Basically, we
had goal tenders we felt were better. We put him on waivers and nobody claimed him."
DeWitt adds. " We even made some calls to some minor league clubs and tried to get
him on there. Nobody wanted him. I don't know, maybe they just thought he was too old to
contribute."
"Its getting pretty hard for the older hockey players,"
Serge Aubry once noted.
* * *
The Stingers play tonight in Phoenix, last year's
incubator for emerging starts Dennis Sobchuk and John Hughes. A victory would keep them in
step with East Division leader New England. Tuesday night the Cincinnatians lost at
Houston, 7-3, with the Aeros Larry Lund scoring a hat trick. They return for a game
against the Minnesota Fighting Saints in Riverfront Coliseum Sunday. |
