AS wonderfully talented and wholly professional European-born players thrive as never before in the NHL, a resurgence of Canadian – if not North American – xenophobia is rising dangerously around the league.

We’ve all by now heard the theory that the Senators may well have lost in the first round because of too many Europeans on the roster. The folly of that hypothesis becomes obvious when it is pointed out that the Sabres, who swept Ottawa, are carried by a fellow named Dominik Hasek, with support from friends called Vaclav Varada, Miroslav Satan, Michal Grosek and Alexei Zhitnik, North Americans none.

But now comes along Flyers GM Bob Clarke, who has never flexed a finger he couldn’t point. In explaining away yet another first-round defeat, in analyzing why payroll expenditures of close to $95 million over the last two seasons have brought his organization all of three playoff victories, Clarke on Wednesday actually said this – unchallenged – to the Philadelphia media. The italics are added for emphasis.

“All of a sudden, the league changes all the rules … to try and create more scoring,” Clarke said, alluding to increased vigilance of obstruction fouls the last two seasons. “Even though the they haven’t created more scoring, they’ve created more ice for a smaller player and for a European player who doesn’t want to battle.”

Excuse me? Has any individual employed by an NHL team ever been so bold in stating his bigotry? Has any NHL organization so shamed itself with the public pronouncements of its chief hockey officer? Can you imagine the outcry if Clarke had substituted the terms “Jewish” or “African-American” for “European?”

The sentiment is frightening, prejudice and stereotyping aside. Is Clarke saying that Jaromir Jagr doesn’t battle, but that Luke Richardson does? Is he saying that Teemu Selanne doesn’t compete, but that Scott Fraser does? Is he saying that Peter Forsberg won’t play in traffic, but that Chris Gratton will?

Is he saying that there’s something wrong that Milan Hejduk and Marian Hossa, two of the three nominees for the Calder, are of European descent, or that there’s something wrong that Jagr, Hasek and Alexei Yashin, the three nominees for the Hart, are all European-born?

What is Clarke, who by the way two summers ago lobbied for the league to eliminate the trap by instituting a mandatory forecheck rule, saying, anyway? That he would like to turn the clock back a quarter of a century to when the Born-in-Canada Broad Street Bullies ruled the landscape?

In the environment created by Clarke, it’s no wonder that Janne Niinimaa, Dainius Zubrus and Vaclav Prospal, the three talented European youngsters on the 1997 Philadelphia finalists, failed to develop and were all shipped away within two years, with whispers of “attitude problems” trailing each man’s exit.

I do not believe in speech codes. I do not believe individuals should be fined for what they (or their agents) say in the newspapers. These are freedom-of-speech issues. These are freedom-of-thought issues.

Which means I believe that even an individual such as Clarke has the freedom to display his ignorance throughout the continent. Whether he or his organization should ever be respected again, however, is a matter of debate. *

WITH USA Hockey executive director David Ogrean leaving the organization to assume duties with the USOC, Slap Shots endorses Brian Petrovek as his successor. Petrovek, a former Harvard All-America goaltender, has the work ethic and commitment to excellence of Lou Lamoriello, for whom he worked as a Devils’ VP earlier in the decade. USA Hockey has taken some major hits since the 1996 World Cup championship. It has the opportunity now to get the program back on track by promoting Petrovek to the top job. *

WE HEAR from a well-placed source that the reason the much anticipated Doug Gilmour-to-Buffalo trade never came off is that the Killer told his agent, Larry Kelly, that he would never allow himself to be traded for Matthew Barnaby, who would have gone to Chicago to complete the deal. Kelly, by the way, is Barnaby’s representative, as well. *

MEANWHILE, the three-ring circus hockey has become in this area. The Devils’ loss to Pittsburgh leaves us without a second-round playoff team for the second consecutive year. It’s the first time that has occurred since 1970 and 1969, when the Rangers, the only team in town, went down in the first round in each of those years.

So, because the league cannot exist without New York, we have combined our three wonderful squads and are even now petitioning for entry into the tournament to face the Western champion commencing two days after the Cup Finals end in a sweep.

Presenting, then, the Slap Shots:

Goal: Mike Richter and Martin Brodeur; Defense: Brian Leetch on the right with Scott Stevens; Scott Niedermayer on the right with Kenny Jonsson; Ken Daneyko and Lyle Odelein as the third pair; Eric Brewer and Mathieu Schneider as spares.

Our forward lines: Petr Nedved between Brian Rolston and Zigmund Palffy; Jason Arnott between Adam Graves and Petr Sykora; Trevor Linden centering the checking line between Patrik Elias and John MacLean; Bobby Holik and Randy McKay joined on the Crash Line by Kevin Stevens; Niklas Sundstrom, Sergei Brylin and Todd Harvey as alternates.

The payroll: $54.3 million. And we might even have a chance to win a round.