By MARK MILLER -- Calgary Sun

Val Bure need look no further than the mirror to explain his problems.

It's not his centre. 

Nor is it the coach's system. 

It's Val Bure. 

GM Craig Button last night implored the team's leading goal scorer last season to take responsibility for his poor performance. 

And to finally do something about it. 

"We're all responsible for our own actions and a player is responsible for his play," said Button. 

"You can look for every excuse. Val has to take responsibility for his play -- there are no excuses. 

"Until he takes a good long hard look and says, 'What can I do better?' and `Where are the areas I have to be better in?', these are the results that will keep ensuing. 

"It's not a slump -- there was a stretch of games earlier this year where he was outstanding. Other players were saying they had to be better, I read where Mike Vernon said that, well, Val has to step up and say he has to be better. 

"We've got a lot of people pulling on the rope, and when Val gets in there and starts tugging on that rope, we are going to be a better team." 

That Bure has been in a scoring funk is well documented. 

But what he's enduring is certainly more than a slump. The lack of offence is symptomatic of a player who has lost his drive. 

Privately, the coaches, his teammates, indeed the GM, are at a loss to explain what has gone wrong with Bure. But the days of making excuses for him have ended. 

Last night, in a game against a team that gave up on him earlier in his career, Bure was not able to rise to the challenge. Forget about the lack of goals, he had no shots on net in regulation time. 

He took hits and got back up into the play. But the creativity, the seeming will to win, is clearly missing. 

And what does Bure have to say for himself? 

Nothing. 

He refused an interview last night. But what do you expect from a player who is unwilling to pay the price? He's taken his lack of accountability on the ice, and applied it off the ice as well. 

It was a month ago when he and I talked, on and off the record, and he intimated very strongly, into a tape recorder, he was unhappy here. It was the coach, the defensive system that held him back. 

I asked him if he wanted out. He said it wasn't his choice. 

Not once did he say he wanted to stay, at least until the Flames PR department and management got hold of him a couple of days later. His denials then were transparent. 

Hey, Val Bure is not a bad person. He's a personable guy and admirable family man. And a potentially dynamic hockey player. 

He's struggling, and certainly frustration led to his comments a month ago. 

But he also said that night that he wants to be the guy counted on by his team, the player that makes a difference. 

What happened to that player, Val? 

It's at the point, 45 games without an even-strength goal, that Bure must be held accountable. 

"It's a hard league to score goals in," said head coach Don Hay, choosing his words carefully. 

"You have to be prepared and willing to go in and pay the price. Once Val commits to doing that, he will be able to score some goals. 

"I think he has to be determined to go into those areas. When he does go into those areas, he has success. It's a game now where it's not very easy to score goals, and you have to be very determined with lots of second and third efforts. You need people who are prepared to go in there get rewarded." 

No one is quitting on Bure. But no longer are they prepared to make excuses for disinterested play. 

"This is a guy who has shown he is capable of performing at a very high level," said Button. "You want to believe that this is an aberration. 

"Val's looking for answers, but the answers may just come from looking at himself." 

It's not about having a centre who should be there to set him up. It's not about a system or coach that restricts his creativity. 

It's about Val Bure.