INNER CIRCLE : FACE IT, NHL FACEOFFS MAY SEEM LIKE A BORING PART OF THE GAME BUT IF YOU KNOW THE SECRETS, YOU'LL GET THE PUCK NEARLY EVERY TIME.

Byline: Tim Trepany Daily News Staff Writer

It is hockey's version of an old-fashioned duel: Two players face-to-face, sticks at the ready, battling for possession of the puck after the official drops it.

But if faceoff specialists in the NHL were cast in an old Western, they would be the guys turning to fire after two steps instead of three, because for all the talk about such honorable qualities as anticipation, intelligence, quickness and strength, the real key to winning faceoffs lies in dishonor.

``It's all about cheating,'' said San Jose Sharks center Jamie Baker. ``The more you cheat, the better you do.''

Said Mighty Ducks center Shaun Van Allen, ``I think most of the best guys at faceoffs are some of the best cheaters. You don't have to cheat, but it doesn't hurt. If you can get away with so much, it's just going to help you win faceoffs.''

Faceoffs might appear to be the most mundane part of hockey, but they are an important facet in deciding the outcome of games because they occur so frequently - typically about 60 to 70 times a game - so there is a tremendous amount of strategy involved.

Every team has a faceoff specialist - Pittsburgh's Ron Francis, Philadelphia's Joel Otto, Mark Messier of the New York Rangers and St. Louis' Peter Zezel are considered the best in the NHL - and a section of scouting reports are dedicated to faceoffs.

``It only lasts for a few seconds, but it's a big part of the game because if you win most of the faceoffs, you start with a plus because you're controlling the puck,'' Kings center Yanic Perreault said. ``There's a lot of things to think about and not a lot of time to think about it.''

Before he even enters the circle, the faceoff specialist has to make sure his teammates are lined up properly and his goalie is ready, but the tactical games really begin when he steps inside.

Players on the visiting team must put their blades down on the ice first, giving their opponents the opportunity to read how they're set up - for example, are they going to use their forehand or backhand? - and decide how to counter.

There are four basic strategies, all legal as long as the sticks and bodies don't move until after the puck is dropped:

Rely on your quickness. The basic element of the faceoff is to get your stick on the puck before your opponent.

Emphasize body position. Step forward and use your body to shield your opponent from the puck, then either use your skate or stick to knock it to a teammate.

``Sometimes it's hard because you have to cheat up a little bit to do that,'' Perreault said.

Use your strength - or neutralize your opponent's. The player uses his stick to tie up an opponent's stick or knock him off-balance and kick the puck to a teammate. This is often used against physically stronger players.

Get help from teammates. Because the faceoffs often are not won outright, the centers have to rely on their wingers to pounce on pucks that squirt loose.

``Maybe half the time we win it outright and half the time it's a loose battle and someone else has to win the draw for you,'' Van Allen said.

Players will use every style at different times to keep opponents off-balance, but they usually save their strongest move for faceoffs in the defensive zone, where it's a cardinal sin to get beaten outright. Of course, many of those moves include illegal tactics.

If a player can time it so he begins moving his stick just before the puck leaves the linesman's hands, he'll have a better chance at winning the draw or have an easier time tying up his opponent.

If he wants to try to shield his opponent from the puck, he'll try to line-up closer than allowed - the NHL rulebook simply says ``players facing-off will stand . . . approximately one stick length apart'' - so he can get a jump on him.

In offensive or defensive zones, players might keep their sticks outside the designated white area where they place their blades just enough to avoid detection by the officials and give them a better angle at the puck.

The rule-bending is hardly limited to inside the circle. Because teams frequently rely on the wingers to jump on loose pucks or run set plays off face-offs, the center's teammates might begin moving before the puck is in play.

``(Cheating) is very important,'' said Ducks assistant coach Tim Army. ``You have to cheat to the boundaries they let you. You have to sometimes get thrown out (of a faceoff circle), then you know how far you can push it. You try not to go over that line again, but you try to get right to that line.''

The way they make it sound, you would think only the IRS encounters more rule-breakers. Bryan Lewis, the NHL director of officiating, said the officials aren't being hoodwinked, rather they give some latitude so games aren't delayed while player after player is tossed out of the faceoff circle.

``If we strictly interpreted the rules, nobody would be left to take faceoffs,'' he said.

So where do they draw the line? Lewis instructs game officials to follow what he calls the ``F and F'' principle.

``Fast and fair,'' Lewis said. ``We don't want games delayed. The best friend we have is a moving puck, so we want to get it going. So we tell them to use their judgment. As long as it's fair to both sides, it's OK.

``If a player's stick is one inch off the line, we probably won't say anything. If the wingers come in one inch before the puck is dropped, technically they should be thrown out. But we use common sense. Is it fast and fair?''

Officials are under pressure to keep delays to a minimum, so they derisively term players who cheat to gain an advantage, and thus slow the action when caught, ``spinners and kickers.'' They also are frustrated by centers who hold things up while they stay outside the circle and give instructions to teammates.

``We call that quarterbacking,'' Lewis said. ``We wonder some days if they've ever worked this out at practice.''

Because so much is left up to the linesman's discretion, a widely held belief throughout the league is that veterans are given more latitude, a notion Lewis strongly denied, saying ``nine out of 10 times you don't even know who they are. You're just telling them to get in here and let's get it down.''

But some of the players aren't so certain. Baker makes a point to remain friendly with the officials in hopes they'll be reluctant to kick him out.

He couldn't say for sure if it worked, but Pete Stemkowski, who played 15 seasons in the NHL and is now a commentator for Sharks television broadcasts, said, ``(Baker) doesn't like to put his stick right down sometimes and he likes to be real close, almost on top of the other guy. I wonder if he has a special arrangement with the linesmen because he's almost never sent out; it's the other guy.''

And Army said the Ducks coaches tell their players to ask the linesman how he was in violation and, most importantly, never to argue when being kicked out of a faceoff.

``Once you begin to argue . . . there's a good chance the linesman will throw you out right away the next time,'' Army said. ``It's like anything else. If you're in school and you're asking a teacher for help, they seem to want to give you more help than somebody who is fighting them.''

That's not to say cheating is the only key to winning a faceoff. Stemkowski said he worked out with weights to strengthen his arms for draws when he was a player and Army said the best faceoff specialists are the players with the biggest competitive streak in them.

But all things being equal, bending a rule often means the difference between success and failure.

``Most guys cheat,'' Stemkowski said. ``They want to win the face-off.''

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(2) Some teams tell faceoffspecialists never to argue with officials - or they'll get chased earlier next time.

Joe Binoya / Special to the Daily News