Target of Quebec Abuse, Lindros Scores 2 in Loss

QUEBEC CITY —  French fashion took a new turn here Tuesday night. Real men, more or less adults, were wearing diapers on top of their heads.

Another brave soul was sporting a diaper in the usual place with nothing else on. Unless you count his pacifier or bonnet.

Eric Lindros, a 19-year-old center, has caused many people to do many strange things, long before the passionate Quebec Nordique fans decided to greet his first NHL game here by mocking him as a “Bebe,” for refusing to play for their team.

The Colisee sellout crowd of 15,399 greeted Lindros by booing his every move, tossing objects on the ice and chanting vulgarities--in English and French--throughout the Nordiques’ 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Lindros responded with characteristic stoicism, except when he scored two third-period goals and mixed it up with Quebec right winger Owen Nolan.

Lindros easily could have scored four times. One apparent goal at the end of the second period was waved off by referee Bill McCreary after reviewing the replay, ruling that Lindros knocked the puck in with his glove. Just before his second goal, which he converted on a marvelous breakaway at 7:49 of the third, Lindros was robbed by the left post after having beaten goaltender Ron Hextall.

Of course, there was yet another interruption after Lindros’ second goal. After both of his goals and every Quebec goal and throughout the game, the ice was often littered with debris. Lindros and his teammates expected the pacifiers to be thrown on the ice because a local radio station made an announcement that it was going to hand out 3,000 pacifiers. But there was more than that.

Fans tossed pacifiers, golf balls, coins, batteries and small bullets, according to Lindros. And Lindros wasn’t exaggerating. Flyer backup goaltender Stephane Beauregard overheard reporters discussing the bullets and attested to Lindros’ account of the debris.

But Lindros was able to get off a few one-liners after the initial crush of reporters left his stall in the dressing room.

“If I ever have a kid, I’ll have pacifiers to suck on for life,” Lindros said, smiling.

“I’d say there was about 450 bucks in change on the ice.”

McCreary made sure Lindros quickly got off the ice after the final buzzer.

“He said to me, ‘Get off the ice, I don’t want to clean up any more stuff,’ ” said Lindros, who explained that he wasn’t bothered by the abuse because he had experienced similar behavior when he played junior hockey in Quebec.

Gil Stein, the NHL president, was in attendance, sitting with Nordique President Marcel Aubut. Stein was displeased by the fan-initiated sideshow. The vulgar signs and chants didn’t annoy him, just the constant stream of debris. He said he will ask for a full report from the Flyers and Nordiques.

Stein said the constant interruptions detracted from the quality of hockey. “The hockey part of it was great,” Stein said. “It’s too bad it had to be marred by the crowd.

“I got hit by a pacifier. It landed right in front of me. It wasn’t my size, though. It was the right color. It was blue . . . the right color for a boy.”

Said Pierre Page, Quebec general manager and coach: “It was a year of frustration for our fans, and it all came out tonight. I don’t think anyone would get a star for good behavior tonight.”

Page said he was relieved that nobody was injured through reckless fan behavior.

“I don’t know anyone who wants to go to jail,” he said. “It’d be stupid to see anyone in jail because of Eric Lindros.”

Lindros had drawn the ire of the entire province by refusing to play for the Nordiques after the team drafted him in June, 1991. He sat out the entire season and forced Quebec to trade him to another team. The Flyers parted with $15 million, two draft choices and six players, including Mike Ricci, who scored two goals. Ricci got the game-winner at 16:03 of the third.

In fact, the situation had become so explosive, the Flyers held Lindros out of an exhibition game here. Last fall, Lindros was subjected to jeers from the Colisee crowd when he played here during the Canada Cup tournament. His parents were threatened by people who recognized them.

Ultimately, Lindros forced one man, Aubut, to trade him to two teams within two hours in June. An arbitrator eventually had to decide between the Flyers and the Rangers.

All this added to the Lindros mystique.

“Some people like that--we’ve never had a Darth Vader in hockey,” Page said.

Lindros, during a news conference here on Monday, said that his main problem was with Aubut, not the people of Quebec.

Aubut, doing his own spin control, invited four U.S. reporters to his office on Tuesday.

“He is the guy that used 14 different reasons not come here,” Aubut said. “I remember taxes were one of them. The small market was one of them. Separation was one of them. Quebecers were one of them. The language was one of them. University was one of them. Each time he would show up, he was using a different one. Yesterday, it was a big surprise it was me. I was honored by it.”

Aubut guessed it was the first time someone had crossed the Lindros family. More specifically, Eric’s mother, Bonnie.

Lindros was asked for his rebuttal.

“I don’t have anything to say to Marcel,” he said. “He’s in his own little world and I really don’t have anything else to say.

“I have nothing positive to say about him.”