Scoring error forces Ihl player to set record twice

CLEVELAND - The Jock Callander Countdown Banner has been packed away. So is the engraved gift watch Callander got from his Cleveland Lumberjacks teammates.

And "Jock Callander Night," scheduled for Friday, has been postponed.

Callander, who became the International Hockey League's career scoring leader on Jan. 14, is trying to break the league's 30-year-old scoring record.

Again.

"Yeah," Callander said. "I'm the first guy to ever break a record twice."

The 38-year-old Callander, the IHL's oldest player, was thought to have broken Len Thornson's record of 1,382 points on Jan. 14 with a goal in Houston.

But Tim Campbell, a reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press researching Callander's statistics for the Hockey News, found that Callander actually was 13 points shy of breaking the record.

The error had been in the NHL's Official Guide and Record Book since the 1989-90 edition.

The book lists Callander as having 13 goals, 21 assists and 34 points in the 1985 playoffs. Callander actually had eight goals, 13 assists and 21 points.

"It was a tabulation error," said Campbell, who was in Cleveland to cover Manitoba's game against the Lumberjacks. "A number was inadvertently dropped and some columns shifted to the left."

So the chase is on once more for Callander.

"At least I'm not 100 points away or something," he said. "Barring an injury, I should be able to do it."

Callander, who played on the Pittsburgh Penguins 1992 Stanley Cup winning team, has been a good sport about the mixup.

"Jock has taken in better than anyone else," Lumberjacks spokesman Scott Harrington said. "When we told him he didn't have the record he said, `Geez, how many points do I have?' When I told him he needed 13, he said, `Oh, I'll get that.' "

The Lumberjacks had planned a big celebration at Gund Arena to honor Callander. They invited Thornsen, Hockey Hall of Fame officials and members of the IHL's office to Friday night's game.

The party has been put on ice - for now.

"We'll still do something when Jock breaks the record again," Harrington said.

Since losing the record, Callander has moved within eight of breaking Thornsen's mark.

Callander has always been the consummate team player. While the Lumberjacks hyped his record chase, Callander, the captain, chose to deflect attention to Cleveland's solid season.

"It's been really nice," he said. "I never expected anything like this. It's been a little overwhelming."

Callander said he spoke with Thornsen the night before he "broke" the record.

"I don't think he knows he's still got it," Callander said.

After Callander supposedly made history, team owner Larry Gordon treated the entire team to dinner, running up a $3,200 tab. Callander's teammates presented him with an engraved watch.

It says: "Jock Callander, IHL All-Time Leading Scorer."

"They've been having fun with me," Callander said. "They're like, `You've got to give it back.' I'll wait a while before I wear it again."