The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

January 2, 1954

The Hockey News January 2, 1954

TORONTO, Ont.&mdash;&lsquo;Hap&rsquo; Day pulled no punches when he levelled a blast last week at the Montreal Canadiens in general and coach Dick Irvin in particular.The Toronto Maple Leaf Manager said that the Canadiens are trying to &lsquo;bully&rsquo; the rest of the laegue.Said Day, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think it&rsquo;s more than coincidence that it&rsquo;s always Canadiens who get into these brawls?&rdquo; He was referring to the incident in New York when a large scale riot almost occured when Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion hit Ron Murphy with his stick.Irvin came in for a little more detailed comment from the Leaf official. He said:&ldquo;Mr. Irvin resented it when most people picked Detroit to finish first, ahead of his Canadiens, before the schedule started. It looks like he&rsquo;s resenting the fact Detroit is making the going tough and he&rsquo;s making the rest of the clubs feel the same way.&rdquo; &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Leaf Manager Blasts Habs For Fighting

<div class="byline">By JACK KINSELLA</div>OTTAWA, Ont.&mdash;The last stop in the line came recently for one of the real veterans in the game of hockey.Frank (Butch) Stahan, one of the most colorful players hockey has known in the last couple of decades, has finally decided to call it a day after a career of 18 years.It didn&rsquo;t exactly happen the way Butch had hoped it would, though, and that&rsquo;s about his only regret as he looks back on his lengthy service in the game.Stahan resigned as playing coach of Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Northern Ontario Hockey League recently for reasons, he said, almost too Involved to discuss.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s just say I&rsquo;m finally calling it a day. I had hoped to do my last playing at Pembroke and also get a start in coaching, but it looks as if things, won&rsquo;t be working out that way.&rdquo;The big defenseman, now 37, went to Pembroke this season along with Emile Dagenais, another former Ottawa Senator, and were the central figures in another of those periodical spats between the CAHA and professional hockey.One thing is certain however, and that is the matter of Butch. He is all through at Pembroke, and likely with hockey.One story is that the colorful Stahan was practically forced out ot Pembroke by some local elements who were against hiring him in the first place and who were continually attempting to undermine his status.Certainly, few coaches have had it rougher, what with injuries, players jumping the club, and the Inability to pick U.P reinforcements of a calibre suitable for an NOHA team.Stahan has had a colorful and varied career since he first broke into hockey with a Kenora junior team. Big for his age, Butch soon graduated to senior ranks and played his first season or Allan Cup competition with Flin Flon in 1936-37.He wasn&rsquo;t on an Allan cup team that year, hut was destined to play on three winners during his career. One was the Kirkland Lake team of 1940, another the Quebec Aces of 1943, and the last the Ottawa Senators of 1949. In addition to these teams, Stahan also had stints with both Sudbury Frood Tigers and the Montreal Royals. And with all of them, there was never a dull moment whenever the big fellow was around.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02185/1578285-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="535" height="849"><figcaption class="caption-body">End Of LineBUTCH STAHAN</figcaption></div>What is Stahan planning for the future?That&rsquo;s a difficult question at the moment, for as Butch says: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m now in the ranks of the unemployed. I sold my taxi business before going to Pembroke and right now I have nothing in mind. But I better get something soon,&rdquo; he added with a laugh.Stahan was high in his praise of the treatment accorded him by club officials, &ldquo;President Leo Lafrance and his executive were very good to me,&rdquo; said Butch. &ldquo;They backed me all the way, but things just wouldn&rsquo;t work out.&rdquo;With a shortage of players and many injuries, Stahan tried to get back into shape to play himself, but said it was mighty rough at his age. He finally decided, the way things were going, that it would be better if he recigned and let someone else try.Hockey will miss you, Butch. &#9632;

f0018-02

Butch Stahan Unemployed, Retires After 18 Seasons

<div class="byline">By AL PARSLEY</div>MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;A long white beard and a pink suit would have looked slightly incongrous on the Old Lamplighter at that, but the Quebec Hockey League was able to approach the New Year in high spirits mainly because Toe Blake brought good cheer and Yuletide gifts in the shape of a couple of victories by his Valleyfield Braves over Ottawa Senators which served to tighten up the race once more.When Braves went into Ottawa and got a shutout for their new and youthful goalie, Andy Payette, and then tumbled Senators the next day the Bytown boys were checked in a romp that had threatened to make it a runaway race.Blake traces the resurgence of the Braves largely to the new heightening of his squads&rsquo; morale brought about by the switch in goalies. And this was brought about by another team&rsquo;s tdversiiy.When the Lachline Rapides withdrew in mid-December from the Quebec Provincial Hockey League senior, Payette was thrown out of employment. As a Braves&rsquo; chattel, it was natural he should look to the parent club for a job, and so Blake put him to work, benching Paul Leclerc who has recently shown signs of wear and tear.The Braves rocketed from sixth place to a tie with Royals for third practically overnight, and right at a time too, when the Quebec circuit needed a shot in the arm.<h2>Corriveau Gets Rolling</h2>Good goal-keeping appeared to be co-incidental to the return of Andre Corriveau, the slim-waisted winger, who has been a perennial high scorer, to his peak form again. As the Braves won three of four games with Payette in their net Corriveau figured in six goals and took command of the scoring race again. He held an eight point margin on Bucky Buchanan, veteran of the right rail at Chicoutimi and thus-Corriveau&rsquo;s supremacy looked secure for a while.Oddly the youth movement among goalers seems to be spreading. First coach to switch to a youngster was Pete Morin of Royals. He benched Bob Perreault and called upon Claude Evans, last year the custodian for Cincinnati Mohawks under Buddy O&rsquo;Connor more than two weeks ago.Those close to affairs with the Montreal QHL entry viewed this purely as an emergency measure, but Evans&rsquo; appearance in game after game makes it look as if it&rsquo;s for keeps.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01291/1578106-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="572" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Nick ?TOE BLAKE</figcaption></div><h2>Remember McNeil</h2>Likely the Quebec loop pilot&rsquo;s are recalling the past glories of Gerry McNeil, who was brought to Montreal while still a school boy, given the goaling assignment with Royals. He held on for five seasons despite the annual pumppriming for many new marvels, until he took over the net for Canadiens upon retirement of Bill Human. This thought may have inspired both the moves, at Montreal and at Valleyfield.It&rsquo;s significant too, that Sherbrooke Saints were sharing first place in a deadlock with Senators and the &lsquo;Brookes had Davey Gatherum, 21-year-old native of Fort William, Ont, guarding their cage. Gatherum, of course, is a second year man in the Quebec wheel. He was with Shawinigan Falls Cataracts last season, but now, his true worth is being brought to light since he has a good team ip front of him.<h2>Buzz at The Falls</h2>Speaking of Shawinigan, there was something of buzz up in the power City the other day when the executive council of the Junior Chamber of Commerce got its dander up about the withdrawl of the city from the Quebec League in such precipitous fashion a day or two before the schedule was to open last October. It was voted unanimously to set up an organization which would clear the way for the operation of the dormant franchise of the Cataracts again next Autumn.To this end a five man committee was named to study ways and means. There has been no little resentment felt that, for the first time in ten years, the Falls is not represented in senior hockey. The first move of the committee will be to recuit substantial financial backing from business men in the city, then attempt to get a renewal of the lease on the municipal arena. City Hall cancelled the old lease when the former group tossed up the sponge because it felt Cataracts&rsquo; were unable to ice a team which could be formidable in the Quebec Loop under all-out professional hockey conditions.<h2>Big Pow-Pow Held</h2>George M. Slater, league president called a meeting in Montreal last week at which the revised constitution was given a thorough going over. The old code had many clauses in it which were inconsistent with professional operation. Principally these referred to the relations between the Quebec Senior Hockey League and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, all of which are, of course, now obsolete.More important to their cash customers was a new ruling on the icing the puck practice in QHL games. Briefly wliat the QHL aims at is the abandonment of the custom of stopping play at all times when the puck is shot forward by a player on his own side of the red line.The new phrase inserted by Slater & Co. reads: &ldquo;When, in the opinion of the linesman, a legal pass to the red centre line is not taken by a player who is legally on-side and the puck crosses the opponents goal line before being touched by an opponent the play shall NOT BE CALLED FOR &lsquo;ICING&rsquo;.&rdquo;The consensus of opinion among Slater, his club delegates, referee-in-chief George Gravel and other keen students of the game that the Quebec loop&rsquo;s move will likely be adopted by other circuits. It provides for fewer whistles, hence more continuous play. &#9632;

f0016-01

‘Santa’ Blake Adds Closeness To Already Tight QHL Fight

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01154/1578559-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="252" height="285"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0294/1578552-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="261" height="302"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0377/1578545-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="2926" height="1764"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0463/1578538-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="2905" height="1734"><figcaption class="caption-body">SUGAR JIM HENRY of the Boston Bruins is shown in the top photo, batting away a rebound as Rangers&rsquo; Camille Henry (centre) and Leo Reise (left) attempt to poke the puck past him. Standing behind the Boston goalie from left to right-are : Ray Gariepy, Eddie Sandford and Fleming Mackell. However, Sugar Jim&rsquo;s fortress was penetrated in the lower photo as Pete Conacher (background) whips the puck into the cage as Jackie Price takes Henry out with a neat block. That&rsquo;s Warren Godfrey with stick upraised while Joe Klukay watches from the left.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

Sugar Swings In, Sugar Swings Out

<div class="byline">By BUD BOOTH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0001-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-0160/1578604-1-eng-US/f0001-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;Nobody Home To Greet Him!&rdquo;GERRY TOPPAZZINI, whoops if up in joyful fashion in front of the New York Rangers&rsquo; cage as he takes a pass from Leo LaBine (16) and scores into the empty New York net despite the frantic efforts of Aldo Guidolin (6 showing) and Camille Henry (21) of Rangers. It was in the last minute of play and Frankie Boucher derricked Bower. Hy Buller is shown in the background.</figcaption></div><h2>Wirtz Maintains Hawks Will Stick In NHL</h2>CHICAGO, III.&mdash;For the first time since he became club president just before the start of the 1952-53 campaign, Arthur Wirtz recently devoted personal attention to the sorry plight of his Chicago Black Hawks. He confered at length on the situation with National League President Clarence Campbell and Conn Smythe of Toronto.He afterward commented, &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t get anything concrete settled, but I am a little more optimistic than before the meeting.&rdquo; in virtually pleading for player aid, he bemoaned the fact that just about all of Canada&rsquo;s top stars are concentrated with Montreal, the Maple Leafs, Detroit and Boston.&ldquo;New York and Chicago ought to be able to buy minor league players from the other four clubs if these players are of major league calibre,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Chicago needs players. We played to 6,000 fans the other night. With the players we&rsquo;ve got, we are not able to attract large enough crowds to the Stadium.&rdquo;Wirtz&rsquo; conference with Campbell and Smythe undoubtedly came as at least a partial result of reports that the Hawks might be-disbanded or moveed to another city. Wirtz branded such talk as wholly untrue. The rumors, however, had begun through statements he was said to have made at an ice show in Milwaukee.The Chicago American quoted him as follows December 2: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to pull the Black Hawks out of Chicago. The team has lost S300.000 already and the future isn&rsquo;t bright. All because we can&rsquo;t get players regardless of how much money we&rsquo;re willing to spend.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-0252/1578597-1-eng-US/f0001-022.jpg" title="f0001-02" width="296" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clarence Campbell</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Hockey, unlike basebail and professional football, is without a draft and it is practically impossible to get young players to rebuild the Hawks. The same goes for the Rangers in New York.&ldquo;I wonder how the league would like to operate with just four teams just in case the Black Hawks and Rangers bolded ? That&rsquo;s the way things are headed unless they institute a draft to assure equitable division of players especially the younger ones deemed ready for major league hockey.&ldquo;I refuse to continue to spend good money in behalf of a losing venture. If they don&rsquo;t take some immediate action, I will &mdash; and they won&rsquo;t like what I&rsquo;m going to do.&rdquo;Wirtz yelled, &ldquo;Misquote,&rdquo; whe nthe American hit the newsstands. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never heard of anything like that.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have no thought of that. The Black Hawks can&rsquo;t be taken out of the league &mdash; it&rsquo;s absurd !&rdquo;In reviewing both stories. this writer would be inclined to go along with the latter. The National Hockey League has never had a stronger team at the box office than the Black Hawks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-0330/1578590-1-eng-US/f0001-032.jpg" title="f0001-03" width="294" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Conn Smythe</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0001-01

Boomer Won’t Star on Broadway

<h2>Campheil Suspends Murphy for Period of Five Games</h2>MONTREAL, Que&mdash;President Clarence Campbell of the National Hockey League, ended one of the longest and most tedious investigations in the history of the league last week and his resultant decision brought an end to the highly-publicized Bernie Geoffri-on-Ron Murphy stick-swinging duel which took place in New York, December 20.Campbell&rsquo;s decision, rendered after hours of study, discussing the case with numerous eye witnesses, including game offcials and a thorough study of the game itself via movies, saw the NHL president set down Geoffrion. the colorful, fiery Frencli-Canadian Montreal right winger for a period of eight games involving Canadlens and Rangers.Murphy, who is still recuperating from a fractured, jaw in St. Clare&rsquo;s Hospital, New York, was given a five game suspension, beginning from the date of the incident. The suspension of both players began with the December 27th game between Montreal and New York played in the Canadian Metropolis.In reaching his decision. Campbell strongly admonished both player and the business of wielding sticks as lethal weapons. The president said, &ldquo;The game was played against a background of Hl-considered publicity suggesting the renewal of an earlier &ldquo;feud&rdquo; between several players on both teams, and the players and fans followed that cue.&rdquo;Campbell continued.&ldquo;Murphy made the error of retaining his stick and striking his opponent who had no stick aft that time. This is a cardinal sin in hockey. Players do not always drop their sticks in their tussles with one another and high sticking by two players occurs frequently, but it is contrary to every tradition of the game to hit another player with a stick when he has none. In failing to drop his stick, even when warned to do so by the referee, he was to that extent the author of hi3 own misfortune,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;So far as Geoffrion is concerned,&rdquo; said tlie NHL Boss, &ldquo;it Is clear that he challenged Murphy to put down his stick and fight and he was only prevented from getting at Murphy by the intervention of the linesman. He was undoubtedly very incensed when he received the blow on the side of the head from Murphy&rsquo;s stick but the injury he sustained was not serious and no such provocation could possibly justify the vicious retaliation Geoffrion made which resulted in the severe injury to Murphy and which could easily have proren more serious for all concerned.<h2>Bernie Geoffrion and Ron Murphy Draws Suspensions for NY Fracas</h2>&ldquo;Furthermore,&rdquo; Campbell warned, &ldquo;it is not sufficient to consider only the comparative results for the principals. What is much more important is the possible effect of the entire episode on the game as a whole, including other players and the clubs and the public. Stick swinging is the greatest single risk to the careers of players and jeopardizes the entire conduct of the sport. If players cannot control themselves to refrain from doing it. or the club managements cannot train and discipline players not to do it, then the only alternative is to bar such players from participating temporarily or even permanently. They are not worth the risk they involve.&ldquo;Following the episode, there were some expressions of approbation of the conduct of these players in this incident. It is to be hoped that these were only expressions of loyalty from a club official because no right thinking person could condone, much less approve, what happened in this instance,&rdquo; Campbell concluded.The regular automatic fines of $100.00 each will stand against each player. There will be no additional fineB because the suspensions carry with them automatic loss of salary which will greatly exceed any appropriate fine that might be imposed.The action in suspending both players was done with the hope that it will serve as a lesson to other players in the league who are hasty with their sticks whenever their tempers are aroused.For Geoffrion, it will be a bitter blow. He has a great record against the Rangers so far this year, having scored seven of his 18 goals against the New York club. He will lose the salary that he would be paid by Canadiens for playing these eight games. He will lose close to one ninth of his regular yearly contract.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1832/1578642-1-eng-US/f0019-182.jpg" title="f0019-18" width="574" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">They Pay - Don&rsquo;t PlayRON MURPHY</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1928/1578635-1-eng-US/f0019-192.jpg" title="f0019-19" width="544" height="549"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERNIE GEOFFRION</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-18

NHL Prexy Ousts Geoffrion for 8 Games against NY

<div class="byline">By VINCE LUNNY</div>MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;Montreal Canadiens surged into the second half of the National Hockey League schedule with glowing hopes and laudable aspirations. The aim of the Habs, hockey&rsquo;s oldest and traditionally most colorful club, is to finish atop the six-team pack, shattering the monopoly enjoyed by the powerful Detroit Red Wings for five straight years.Although they won the Stanley Cup last season, Canadiens haven&rsquo;t led the league at the finish since 1947.Canadiens and the Red Wings have been waging a nip and tuck battle for the lead with neither team being able to open an appreciable gap. A year ago the Habs were four points behind the Detroiters at the halfway mark but, despite some rallies that brought hopes to their fans, they fell further and further behind in the second half, finally finishing 15 points in arrears.Here in. brief is Canadien&rsquo;s record after 35 games in both seasons:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01260/1576678-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="606" height="127"></div>Habs&rsquo; better position is due largely to an almost unbesmirsched home record. In the first half of the season in the familar confines of the Forum and before some of the most vocal and partisan supporters in hockey, the Canadiens lost only one game &mdash; a narrow 3-2 decision to the Chicago Black Hawks in mid-November. Since then they have won eight straight games on home ice.Canadiens, incidentally, hold the league record for the greatest undefeated streak on home ice. Twenty-eight consecutive games!The string began March 13, 1943, when the Habs played a C-6 draw with Chicago and ended on November 2, 1944, when they lost 4-1 to Toronto. During the streak they won 24 and tied four.Added scoring punch has been a factor in the Canadiens&rsquo; surge to a loftier position this season. Despite injuries to such key forwards as Elmer Lach, hockey&rsquo;s most injured player; Jean Beliveau, the rookie from whom so much was expected; and Dickie Moore, a scrappy puck carrier who knows the location of the opposing nets, the team has scored 15 more goals than a year ago.Two men are largely responsible &mdash; Kenny Mosdell and Calum MacKay. Sure Maurice Richard is scoring too. He&rsquo;s the league&rsquo;s top marksmen, but such consistent production is expected from the Rocket, a master craftsman and a keen competitor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02244/1576671-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="559" height="966"><figcaption class="caption-body">20-Coal Producers?KEN MOSDELL</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03223/1576664-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="480" height="809"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAL MACKAY</figcaption></div>Mosdell, promoted to the big line with the Rocket and freewheeling Bert Olmstead, when Montreal&rsquo;s centres were being knocked wer like ten pins, responded in brilliant fashion. He&rsquo;s almost a cinch to get 25 boals this year compared with five in each of his last two seasons.And that MacKay! There&rsquo;s a player who has proved his calibre beyond the cavil of a doubt.Brought up from Buffalo for last Spring&rsquo;s playoffs, MacKay stuck with the team and picked up 10 goals in the first half of the current season. Some of them were nifty counters too. He&rsquo;s a player who knows exactly what to do with the puck at close range even if he has to twist like a corkscrew to get his shot away at an unpprotected corner of the cage.Along with Richard, Boom Boom Geoffrion and Mosdell, MacKay looms as a potential 20-goal scorer.Canadiens defence, unchanged since the last campaign, is so, steady that there isn&rsquo;t even a goal difference in the &ldquo;against&rdquo; column and Gerry McNeil, the custodian of the cords, has racked up five shutouts. As he had 10 in all last season he, too, is moving at the same pace.Hopes are brighter in the Canadien camp because when Beliveau, Lach and Moore all return to action in early January, the club will have expendable strength on the forward walls and some of the non-producers likely will be sent to Buffalo in the American League or Royals in the Quebec League.In the meantime strength in depth among the forwards has saved the club from bowing dismally to the injury jinx. Coach Dick Irvin had no trouble finding replacements and the shrewd strategist has made every change in personnel pay off. &#9632;

f0002-01

Habs 5 Points Better Now Than This Time Last Year

<div class="byline">By STAN HOUSTON (The Toronto Telegram)</div>TORONTO, Ont.&mdash;As the Toronto Maple Leafs surprised even their own management by cutting into third place by the NHL&rsquo;s halfway mark, nothing showed, sharper in goal production than the SAW line.With Tod Sloan, George Armstrong and Harry Watson as the teeth, the SAW line has manufactured half of Toronto&rsquo;s complete goal output, and has done it after one tooth was built up and another honed finer.George Armstrong was the built up item. Slow starting the campaign, the Big Chief had convinced himself that the best way to avoid a recurrence of the knee injury which sidelined him part of last season, was to carry less weight on that knee. So he pared 10 pounds and virtually starved himself to keep it off.The diet, however, was leaving the Chief weak and unwittingly so. When the front office, without even an assist from Joe Friday, detected the flaw and ordered the 10 pounds be restored, it was no sooner said and done, than Army became Toronto&rsquo;s third sniper to reach double figures, scoring nine of his 10 goals inside six weeks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05133/1576754-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="284" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Armstrong</figcaption></div>On the left wing of the same line, diet and exercise proved to be the correct key to revitalizing Hairbreadth Harry Watson. Firing 11 goals in the first two months of the schedule, the oldest limb on the Leaf trunk has fashioned a Hairbreadth Harry comeback more surprising even than those the comic strip hero of the samename used to do when he rescued honey-haired damsels from the wheels of charging ehoo-choos. And it is just about as timely a comeback, for it occurs when the rest of the Leaf squad is sadly lagging behind its fifth-place goal output of last leason.For Harry&rsquo;s svelte new figure, his pretty wife must take an assist because it was she who, after surmising she a was a little overweight, decided both should go on a diet. That and extra work at the YMCA during the summer months, prepared Watson to charge into the current campaign with a full head of steam already up.Hairbreadth Harry himself credits not only the paring of his diet, but also his pairing with Slinker Sloan and The Chief for his amazing comeback.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0692/1576747-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="284" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tod Sloan</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Playing with Army and Slinker I feel like Sid Abfl felt when they put him beween Howe and Lindsay,&rdquo; Watson confesses. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like stretching the old man&rsquo;s career out by giving him a couple of kids to do the skating for him.&rdquo;Watson is being unnecessarily modest. He has been flying as fast as his younger playmates and his increased goal production proves he needs no one to hold up his end of the SAW line.Centreman Sloan has meanwhile developed into an uncanny checker and playmaker. Once a prolific scorer himself, he has concentrated this year on assisting his partners. As a result he has in half a season produced more than twice as many assists as he did in a full season last year. He hrs 23 so far this term, finished with 10 a year ago.And Sloan is doubling as a penalty killer and making a mighty efficient effort of it.If the Leafs are to find &ldquo;25-goal scorer&rdquo; which I Managing Director Conn Smythe insists will be their key to a Stanley Cup, it will undoubtedly be one of the teeth in the SAW line.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0752/1576740-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="298" height="453"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Waison</figcaption></div>Both Army and Watson have already been noted as could-be&rsquo;s And as a unit the SAW line has already manufactured the glowing record of 24 goals for and eight against while it operates as a unit on the ice. That&rsquo;s a three-to-one ratio and not many lines have ever done to well..Incidentals &hellip; Replacing the injured Jim Thomson temporarily, Hugh Eolton played standout defense for Leafs while commuting between Carlton College in Ottawa, where he. was writing exams, and the Gardens &hellip; Thomson returned to Leafs, recovered from torn knee ligaments, to start the New Year &hellip; George Armstrong suffered a strained neck while Leafs were being humiliated 4-1 by a rejuvenated Black Hawk in Chicago, but fortunately it came while the Toronto club was enjoying a week-long schedule layoff through Christmas &hellip; Having failed to make the club as a right vyinger, Bob Bailey was recalled from Pittsburg, via Ottawa, to alternate at centre, the position he played everywhere until Leafs attempted to convert him at training camp this year. &#9632;

f0002-05

Toronto’s New “SAW LINE” Sloan, Armstrong and Watson, Cutting Terrific NHL Capers

<div class="byline">By DANA MOZLEY</div>NEW YORK, N.Y.&mdash;The brawliest hockey game New York has seen in many a season happened on the night of Dec. 20 when the Rangers beat the Canadiens, 3-1, but lost rookie Ron Murphy for the campaign after Bernie Geoffrion poleaxed him with his stick and broke his upper left jaw to climax a pushing, shoving and punching match along the boards.Since Murphy had cut Geoffrion on the scalp, presumably with his stick, earlier in the melee, Referee Red Storey banded out match penalties to both Murphy and Geoffrion. But the crowd of 13,000, already fed up with several previous calls by Storey, could not understand why both players should be penalized with equal severity.Murphy may have cut Geoffrion. And when Geoffrion, minus a stick challenged Murphy to a fist fight. Murphy kept his stick, even swung it at Geoffrion in a defiant gesture to indicate he wasn&rsquo;t going to let go. It was as if he was saying the old hockey tenet about all players with sticks in their hands being equally tough was still in vogue.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04173/1576709-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="582" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON MURPHY</figcaption></div>An official stepped between the two and Geoffrion took the occasion to pick up his own stick. Then ho went at Murphy, swinging once, then twice, in vicious arcs. The second time he connected. Murphy went down as if felled by an ax. He lay with his head in the ice and for a moment everybody stood still &mdash; even the aghast crowd &mdash; and finally restoratives were administered and he was helped off the rink.When play was resumed, the crowd could not understand how the Rangers were shorthanded, playing four against five What happened was that Geoffrion not only got a match penalty but a minor. Murphy got a match, and Bob Chrystal a minor. In this two-minute stretch, the Canadiens scored their only goal.But back to the brawl. And how does anybody go berserk as Geoffrion did when he was cut? Who had maddened him? Murphy? This is a 20-year-old rookie with a fine OHA reputation. Only trouble, the Rangers discovered, was that he wasn&rsquo;t as aggressive as they had hoped he might be. Never hurt anybody.It seemed almost impossible for Ranger spectators to tolerate any excuses for Geoffrion&rsquo;s madness. The way he swung his stick, there was no telling what the degree of Injury he might inflict. And even the sobered crowd suddenly realized this was a hockey game, not a war.Geoffrion had been fined $250 once before this season for venting his outraged feelings against an official. Apparently he cannot be curbed. To New Yorkers, who appreciate his skill and the power of his shot, this struck home with incredulous force.Some of them had been drawn to the game because of a buildup between a Richard-Irwin feud. In a sporting way, feuds are fine. And Ivan had bested the Rocket the last time they met.Still, there were memories of Richard&rsquo;s stick attack on Eddie Kullman a year ago; and memories earlier of Richard&rsquo;s attack on an official In a New York hotel.What Richard did, Geoffrion duplicated. It followed a pattern. Maybe this was only a coincidence, but in the minds of New York&rsquo;s hockey spectators, Geoffrion seemed eager, almost anxious, to follow in the footsteps of Richard in every possible way.Nobody had any sympathy for his action the other night. He was up against a kid who had nothing more on his mind than to defend himself. Even this is quite a trick for most Ranger forwards who are either too small Or, by nature, non-combatant; who must depend on their skills to overcome the size and brawn and agressiveness of the opposition. For Geoffrion to attack another as viciously as he did hardly made the penalties seem equitable, the punishment just.Unless, that is, you are swept away by the feeling that hockey is a matter of life or death. Which it certainly is not. &#9632;

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Ranger Fans At A Loss To Explain Why Boomer Blew Lid and Bopped Murphy Into Hospital Bed

TORONTO &mdash; While his boosters may be hailing Tim Horton as &ldquo;the next Red Kelly&rdquo; the sophomore sensation of the Toronto Maple Ijeafs is still 12 points off the scoring pace being set by the rushing redhead from Detroit.Kelly has amassed a total of 32 points in 35 games on 12 goals and 2 assists while Horton, who stands fourth among scoring defensemen in the NHL has 20 points in 33 games on four goals and 10 assists. &#9632;

Tim Horton Fourth Among Defensemen

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02216/1576840-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"></div>Bom, Cochrane, Ont., January 1, 1930. Defense, Shoots right. 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 164 lbs.Last amateur club : St. Michaels&rsquo; College (Jr.). &#9632;

f0003-02

HORTON, MYLES GILBERT (TIM)

<div class="byline">By STAN HOUSTON (The Toronto Telegram)</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01259/1576785-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Pony Boy of The Leafs</figcaption></div>TORONTO, Ont.&mdash;Hockey&rsquo;s crown prince of defensemen got that way by studying in the court of hockey&rsquo;s clown prince, King ClancyTim Horton, known to his mother as Myles Gilbert, is only a Bophomore in the National Hockey League, but already he has been hailed at home and abroad as the eventual and logical successor to Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; brilliant Red Kelly as the king of the defensemen. And the reason Is Clancy, coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.Like an embryo woman driver who measures her progress by the number of times she wiggles the steering wheel. Pony Boy Horton had perfected while playing junior hockey the undesirable habit of stickhandling anyplace and anytime, even if their wasn&rsquo;t an enemy on the ice. He had a more admirable practice, also developed in his junior days, of depositing pounds of muscle upon enemy attackers, but his unnecessary diddling with the puck, which often cost him possession, kept him on the bench for most of his second professional season, with Toronto&rsquo;s Pittsburgh Hornet farmhands.The following year. The King graced Pittsburgh with his coaching presence, raised his fellow Irish roughian from the bench and set him to work carrying pucks out of his own end by the crow&rsquo;s route.&ldquo;You shove the puck ahead like this,&rdquo; Clancy would demonstrate, &ldquo;then skate after it. Save your ttiiekhaudling until you need it.&rdquo;Myles Gilbert Horton practised what The King preached and the result was a polished piece of work by which the Pony Boy winds up behind his own net and bullets straight up to the enemy&rsquo;s goal step to set up goal after Leaf goal. It is the play which has sucked thousands of Toronto fans to their feet in excited anticipation in every Leaf home game. It&rsquo;s the most colorful play any Leaf has produced so far this season. It&rsquo;s the play which prompted Clancy the professor to profess:&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the league&rsquo;s successor to Red Kelly. A good sound defenseman. A smart checker and a beautiful rusher. In fact, you&rsquo;d never catch me trading Horton tor Kelly any day.&rdquo;And the less prejudiced Frank Bouclier, coach of New York Rangers, only last week voluntered:&ldquo;Horton&rsquo;s on his way to catching Kelly already and he might some day pass him. Horton never lets up. But Kelly&rsquo;s the reason Detroit has those slumps. He&rsquo;s so busy trying to score goals and win that $1,000 defenseman&rsquo;s prize, he lets up on his defense work.&rdquo;That goal production record is the chief distinction between the two players, and Clancy, like Boucher, allows that it wouldn&rsquo;t be so great a difference if Horton played in the Red Wings system.&ldquo;Tim would have as many goals as Kelly playing in Detroit&rsquo;s aystem,&rdquo; where he could wander tip around the net all the time,&rdquo; Clancy argues. &ldquo;But in Leaf system, his first job is defense. Anything he gets beyond that is a bonus.&rdquo;Taciturn Tim, however, smiles modestly at the comparison. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll think I&rsquo;m doing pretty good if I am ever one-hundredth as good as Kelly,&rdquo; he says sincerely. &ldquo;If I look good now, it&rsquo;s because Jim (his partner Jim Thomson) is always covering up for me and because King taught me everything I know when we were in Pittsburgh.&rsquo;Hardly considered in Rookie of the Year ballottlng last season, the five-foot, 10-inch Horton has blossomed into all-star material this year for four very good reasons.His reunion with Clancy is, of course, one of these. The second is his switch from the right side of the defense, where he played since he was a tad, to the left side. Fans and newspapermen alike criticised converting a good right defenseman to offset a shortage on the left side of the rearguard, but since Pony Boy came into his own on the port side, these criticisms have been willingly withdrawn.More regular work, since Leafs have adopted the policy of dressing only four defensemen per game is still another reason.And finally there is the fact that Pony Boy has become accustomed to wearing the contact lenses which Leaf Assistant General Manager recommended he secure two years ago.&ldquo;They took some getting used to,&rdquo; Tim exclaimed. &ldquo;When I first started using them, everything was out of perspective. I was misjudging all the time. But now I got the doggoned things mastered&rdquo;.One of the smaller defensemen in the league, Tim, like The King before him, can Use his 178 pounds to better advantage than most pounders.Agile and alert, he left junior hockey fans hating him with a passion for bis roughneck work as a member of two St. Michael&rsquo;s College teams in OHA Junior A competition, but now he has those same fans cheering him when he uses the same healthy hips on Leaf antagonists.He has further, since his junior days, learned to take care of himself. Not since he turned professional with Pittsburgh five seasons ago has he suffered a serious injury. Prior to that he had three, including a broken wrist, suffered in Cochrane public school hockey, a crushed jaw, sustained while playing juvenile hockey in Sudbury and a broken ankle picked up during the playoffs while he played for Copper Cliff Junior A Redmen.It was the year after that third mishap that Pony Boy golloped out of the far north to attend Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s College on a hockey scholarship. Although he signed a C-form shortly after he had no intention of ever playing professional hoekey. In fact his whole ambition was to get as much schooling as possible until the Maple Leaf organization attempted to transfer him to their other junior club, Toronto Marlboros.&ldquo;I figured school came first and that&rsquo;s the way St. Mike&rsquo;s looked at it,&rdquo; Horton reasoned. &ldquo;With Marlboros, school would have had to be secondary, so I decided if Im gonna choose hockey, I might as well go all the way and turn pro.&rdquo;He did, with Pittsburgh.From there, this son of a Sudbury gas-station operator travelled slowly and methodically toward stardom. But he was ready when called, settled and groomed in more ways than one because it was while watching a skating club practise in Pittsburgh Arena that he met his pretty wife, the former Delores Michalek.He still has an ambition to some day play on a team with his 20-year-old brother Jerry, wha started this season at Owen Sound and then transferred to Sarnia just before the Sailors withdrew from the OHA Senior A series. But Jerry will have to ba great to ever catch up with the galloping Tony Boy, who, just like Red Kelly, tlie man he may someday succeed as the &ldquo;greatest&rdquo;, developed from an average junior into an outstanding pro. &#9632;

f0003-01

Clancy Likes Detroit Redhead But Likes Tim Horton Much More

<div class="byline">By AUSTEN LAKE (Boston Sunday Advertiser)</div>PRO HOCKEY IS ENJOYING a pleasant revival of hooliganism this winter with assorted sluggings between the players and screeches among the managers. Of course fist-slingings and manly carnage have always been a charming feature of the glajcal dementia called &ldquo;hockey&rdquo; which attracts crowds in proportion as the players get angry.The 1953 peak of hooliganism was scaled at Toronto, which is the Moscow of hockey, when referee Frank Udvari dished out 45 penalties and cleared the rink of all but four players on each side. Scarcely a game is completed without the boys fetching each other a bust here and a lick there, as Hal Laycoe of the Bruins and Tony Leswick of the Wings did recently and others do ditto every night.<h2>Bad Boys Are Biggest Heroes</h2>THIS IS A CURIOUS THING. Because, when a couple of baseball or basketball athletes exchange cross words or, maybe, a few pattycake biffs, the sport pages speak about it for weeks as a scandalous breach of good sport-manners. Maybe you remember how, last August, LIFE Magazine published several pages of fist fights in various ball parks and tongue-clucked reprovingly like a mother hen. Disgraceful!But nobody arches an eyebrow when six or a dozen hockey players tie on a brannigan and chew hunks off each other till the constanbulary comes running. Why? Because hockey is a practical business which emphasizes its embattled sons. The bad boys are most popular and have the most customer-pull, like the Bruins&rsquo; Leo LaBine, Canadiens&rsquo; Rocket Richard, Wings&rsquo; Ted Lindsay and Hawks&rsquo; Gus Mortson. The tougher they come the better they&rsquo;re loved.So the same fans who pretend to abhor savagery in baseball, basketball and football, dote on hockey&rsquo;s ructions and contribute to the hysteria by hurling gumshoes, paper, pennies, flasks and garbage. Which is why, in recent years the Boston Garden erected a plastic, shock-proof fence &mdash; to keep the customers from taking free-hand pokes at the athletes as they scud near the sideboards. It also restrains the clients from spilling over the barriers to join the rink melees.Another oddity about hockey! No athlete in any sports suffers more, or gives so much of his energy, or complains less! If a baseball player contracts a stubbed toe or a malignant case of hangnails or dandruff ho hustles to the infirmary for X-rays or retires to the bench. No ballplayer receives so many gouges, sprains, lumps, wounds and bruises as every hockeyist carries as a matter of occupational hazard, while continuing to brawl and scoot around at 8 5MPH in intermershed weavings, jerks jolts and stops. With half the average hockeyist&rsquo;s damage the ballplayer would demand to be pensioned for full disability, plus work compensation and unemployment insurance.<h2>Three Stages of Anger</h2>AS ART ROSS TOLD ME, when I asked about the Bruins&rsquo; hospital list, &ldquo;0, you have caught us at a very healthy moment. We are practically sound.&rdquo; All the Bruins have is a coupe of broken legs (Bill Quackenbush and Real Chevrefils), a badly pulled back muscle (Hal Laycoe), one busted nose with purple peepers (Ray Gariepy) and chronic trickknee (Milt Schmidt).Indeed, Schmidt is a perfect example of hockey fortitude. He has been so hemstitched and patched from getting ripped in his trade that he has come to resemble a human bed-quilt. I once attempted to catalogue his scars and fractures with a view to having a staff-artist draw a map of his injuries. But there were so many duplicated scars in the same areas taht the idea proved to be too complicated for pictorialization.There are several reasons why hockey has the unique distinction of being a blend of pure sport and also an atrocious assault. One is that the hockeyists are not unionized like the baseball players, who are among the highest paid members of US sport and thus have learned to demand more for less effort while gentling down their labors to a saving pace. The higher the pay the less the production, or so It seems.Another is that hockey preserves the illusion of a team of civic idols contending, at the cost of blood and bone, with teams of foreign mercenaries. The citizens of the NHL should be told that the Bruint, Rangers, Wings and Leafs are not Bostonians, New Yorkers, Detroiters and Chicagoans respectively. They are a lot of people imported from Canada each September and deported again each March to the provinces from whence they came. But then the Canadiens do the same with gangs of US football players and give just as much illusionary loyalty as we do.Also hockey is sport&rsquo;s finest blood-pressure game in which big men whizz around at high velocity and collide or hook each other, intentionally or otherwise. And there&rsquo;s the rub! The players are never sure where the line divides honest accident from malicious Intent, and only have a split second in which to weight provocation against retaliation.<h2>It Is a Product of Civilization</h2>ART ROSS TELLS ME that a hockey athlete&rsquo;s anger arouses in several distinct steps. He says the first stage is when he gets slammed violently with a stick and wonders whether it was intentional. The second, says Art. is when this happen again and the recipient concludes, &ldquo;Hey! Maybe he MEANT it.&rdquo; But the third time wrath explodes and Art says, the man&rsquo;s instant impulse is to bust&rsquo;m wide open&mdash;wham.Of course, Art admits there are cases where the injured party, thus offended, may skip the, first two of these graduated conclusions and jump to the third without further rationalizing. In such cases, he says, the instant message between brain and fists, is &ldquo;beat his brains out.&rdquo;The strange thing about hockey, as compared with other violent sports like boxing and wrestling, which are both outgrowths of the primitive savagery of mankind where the object is to create physical damage, hockey is a development of a civilized age.Boxing and wrestling are refinements of the animal ferocities of Early Man during the dawn of the world. But hockey came along some 75 years ago, long after Homo sapiens had learned to walk erect, make articulate sounds and fasten metal runners on his feet, so he could slido over ice.Yet, for volume in physical damage and disregard for same, hockey surpasses any other sport in violence and bodily ruin. Still its current roughhouse renaissance has not equaled the lofty peaks of some years back when Eddie Shore, Lionel Hltchman, King Clancy, Red Horner and others exchanged noctural mayhem in wholesale lots. But even in its present denatured state, it is still our rowdiest game. If you know of a rougher one, name it. &#9632;

Hockey Now Rated As Roughest Sport

Boston &mdash; Versatile Jerry Toppazzini played his seventh position for the Boston Bruins, at a preChristmas party held right on the playing surface at Boston Garden.Toppazzini, a 22-year-old bachelor, portrayed the role of Santa Claus to distribute gifts front the Garden management to the children of Bruins&rsquo; players, for whom the party was presented.The pride of Copper Cliff Ontario, has played all positions, including goal, in his two seasons here, and directed operations around the tree with his customary aplomb.Honored guests at the party ranged in age from one-month old Rhonda Dian Laycoe to 37-year-old Woody Dumart, with whose birthday the party coincided.The 24 youngsters ate cake and ice cream, clambered over a real sleigh, skated with their folks and tugged at Santa&rsquo;s beard while Dumart, the Bruins&rsquo; perennial youngster, supervised the slicing of a huge birthday cake. &#9632;

Versatile Topper Santa Claus Too!

<div class="byline">By GORDIE WALKER (Toronto Globe And Mail)</div>BOSTON, &mdash; Within the next week or so, sports writers around the National Hockey League will have fired their first ballots in the annual controversy which is glamorized as the All-Star team. This season, under new rules, it will be a semi-annual controversy, and in the region bounded on the south by Centre Island, east by Scarboro, north by Hogg&rsquo;s Hollow and west by the Humber, it&rsquo;s deglamorized by the nom de scorn of who-have-we-got-to-beat-a-Leaf. this-year.Within these boundaries, there&rsquo;s a chap name of C. Smythe, who has been screaming (and, boy, can he scream), for years that the Toronto Maple Leafs have been out-propaganda-ed in NHL circles on all counts at all times. And while there are other chaps who feel C. S. may be slightly biased on this subject, he&rsquo;d have to win the debate hands down by using the NHL annual guide as authority.For instance, picture C. S. as the prosecuting attorney, and one of these &ldquo;other chaps&rdquo; on the witness stand. C. S" holding an NHL guide might ask: &ldquo;What team has won the Stanley Cup most often in the last seven years?&rdquo; and the &ldquo;other chap&rdquo; would have to say: &ldquo;Toronto has won four times, Detroit twice and Canadiens once.&rdquo;&ldquo;True,&rdquo; C. S. might say, before he might ask: &ldquo;And of the 42 names on the seven NHL All-Star teams during that period, which team has won 20 positions ?&rdquo; Obviously the answer would be : &ldquo;Toronto,&rdquo; but C. S. might smile pleasantly and say : &ldquo;No It&rsquo;s Detroit.&rdquo; Then he might ask what team had won 14 of the remaining 22 positions, and again &ldquo;Toronto&rdquo; would be the wrong answer. To be correct the witness would have to say &ldquo;Canadiens.&rdquo;Now there are eight positions left to be accounted for, and half of these went to one teaip, &ldquo;Toronto ?&rdquo; Nope. Boston Bruins. That cuts the total down to four. &ldquo;Toronto ?&rdquo; Well, the witness is half right this time. The team that won the Stanley Cup four times during that space shared the final four All-Star positions, two apiece, with Chicago Black Hawks, who not only didn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup at all, but finished last five times, fifth once and fourth once. Incidentally, Turk Broda in 1947-48 and Gus Mortson, 1949-50, were the two Toronto All-Stars.The foregoing is one basis for this column&rsquo;s suggestion that the majority of All-Star selectors are conscientious to a point. The point ends where a Maple Leaf name pops up as a logical candidate. Right there, a number of these selectors seem to stop asking themselves &ldquo;who&rsquo;s the best ?&rdquo; and begin the &ldquo;who-can-beat-a-Leaf-at-this-position ?&rdquo;If it&rsquo;s record book proof you want, look over the list of Vezina Trophy winners during the past seven years. Only once did a Vezina Trophy winner fail to become the All-Star goaltender. That was in 1950-51 when Al Rollins of the Maple Leafs allowed the fewest goals. Rollins not only lost out to Terry Sawchuk on the first AllStar team, but cduldu&rsquo;t beat Chuck Rayner out of the second spot.Don&rsquo;t think that can&rsquo;t happen again. Approaching the first ballot of this season, Toronto&rsquo;s Harry Lumley has an eight-goal edge in even games over Sawchuk, his closest rival. Does that mean Lumley will be top goaltending choice? Not on your life! Down in Montreal, Baz O&rsquo;Meara, a veteran and capable hockey observer, has already designated Al Rollins as his choice.Down here in Boston, another veteran hockey writer, Herb Ralby, has also made Rollins the choice. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been terrific,&rdquo; explains Ralby. So, you tell him, has Lumley.&ldquo;But look at the team Rollins has in front.of him,&rdquo; is the argument. After which, he names Black Hawk Bill Gadsby as an All-Star defense partner to go with Red Kelly.So how can you argue with that kind of logic? Rollins, with an All-Star defenseman in front of him, has allowed 101 goals la 32 games. Lumley, without an All-Star defenseman, has given up 43 goals in 29 games. Hi four games at Boston, Ralby has seen the Bruins score seven goals on Lumley. In just two games, he has seen the Bruins pump seven shots behind Rollins. It doesn&rsquo;t make sense, but it makes All-Star teams.Ted Kennedy is another prime example of the beat-a-Leaf trend, in balloting for NHL awards. When the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1944-45, Kennedy led all goal-scorers in the playoffs. When Leafs won the cup in 1947-48, Kennedy topped all goal-scorers and pointmakers. The following season he sparked another cup team, leading all playoff players in assists. Yet while playing on five Stanley Cup teams in nine years, the only All-Star recognition lie won was as centre on the second team once, and tied for that spot another year.The trophy award Kennedy should have won so many times in his 11 NHL seasons, the Bart Trophy, never has been his, and never may be. Twice in his 10 full seasons with the Leafs, Kennedy has been forced out of action with injuries for more than 20 games. These were the only two seasons in 23 years in which the Maple Leaf&rsquo;s didn&rsquo;t get into the playoffs.The Hart Trophy is for &ldquo;the player adjudged to be most valuable to his team.&rdquo; If the records haven&rsquo;t proved Kennedy&rsquo;s value to the Leafs by now, they never will. &#9632;

Gordie Walker Says…

<div class="byline">By ROGER BARRY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01280/1576950-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Where&rsquo;s The Mustard?JIM MORRISON of the Toronto Maple Leafs must know how the ham feels when jammed between two slices of bread. He&rsquo;s shown above getting the full treatment from Boston&rsquo;s Eddie Sandford and Johnny Peirson.</figcaption></div>BOSTON, Mass.&mdash;Woody Dumart, the big auxiliary forward of the Boston Bruins and Harry Lumley, burly goal-tender of the Toronto Maple Leafs, don&rsquo;t have much in common as hockey players, working as they do at different positions for different teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02253/1576943-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="397" height="675"><figcaption class="caption-body">WOODY DUMART</figcaption></div>But over the years a relationship has been established between them which entitles Dumart to greet Lumley with the sports slang expression &ldquo;Cousin&rdquo; anytime they happen to meet.The use of the expression by Dumart is appropriate because Lumley, for scoring purposes, is Dumart&rsquo;s favorite goal-tender.Through an odd series of events, the 37-year old Bruin has scored many of his most important goals of the last few years against Lumlfy, and it hasn&rsquo;t I made any difference what uniform Lumley has happened to be wearing.Uu to Christmas week this season the Bruins&rsquo; Elder Skates-man had scored two goals, both against Lumley. One was made in a game which ended in a 1 to 1 tie, the other in a game which the Bruins won by a score of 3 to 2.A year ago Dumart made five goals, two against Lumley, and two years ago when he scored eight goals, four of them made against hardy Harry.Dumart has scored four goals in a single game only once in his nearly two decades as a major leaguer. That memorable event occurred on March 4, 1951, and against whom was it performed? Against the Chicago Black Hawks, whose goalie was Lumley.On February 5, 1952, the big fellow scored his 200th major league goal and, appropriately enough, he scored it against Chicago and the same Lumley.As if to illustrate the contention that the uniform which Lumley is wearing doesn&rsquo;t make any difference, one of Dumart&rsquo;s greatest playoff feats was the scoring of two goals in a game with the Detroit Red Wings in the spring of 1946. The goalie for the Red Wings then? Why Lumley, of&rsquo; course !&ldquo;Good of Harry,&rdquo; chuckled the amiable Dumart after his latest goal against the Maple Leafs. &ldquo;I wish he could stay here awhile after a game some night. I&rsquo;d like to take hint out to dinner.&rdquo;Then turning serious, he added, &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t that a strange series of coincidences, though ? People have told me that I must have his number, but that isn&rsquo;t so. He&rsquo;s a great goal-tender and he always has been. He doesn&rsquo;t have a number.&ldquo;I guess I can call him &ldquo;Cousin&rdquo; in the sense that the word is used in sports, but as far as Harry is concerned, I&rsquo;ll tip my hat anytime I say it. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest.&rdquo;The dean of National leaguers, who observed his 37th birthday at a Christmas party for the children of Bruins&rsquo; players at the Garden, is still his team&rsquo;s best shooter In the opinion of Coach Lynn Patrick. &#9632;

f0005-01

Lum May Be Hard To Beat, But He’s “Cousin” To Woody

<div class="byline">By DANA MOZLEY</div>NEW YORK, NY.&mdash;This was a quiet afternoon in the hockey office of the New York Rangers When the phone rang. It was Port Arthur, Ont., calling. The man on the other end wanted Frank Boucher.&ldquo;Hello,&rdquo; said the Rangers&rsquo; manager-coach.&ldquo;Hello.&rdquo; said the other fellow. &ldquo;This is Edgar Laprade.. How are you?&rdquo;&ldquo;Good to hear from you, Edgar,&rdquo; said Frank. &ldquo;How are you doing?&rdquo;&ldquo;Not bad,&rdquo; said Edgar. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m up to my ears at the moment with an arena to run and a sporting goods store, but I think I can help you. How would you like me to join you.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like it fine,&rdquo; Frank said, remembering how Edgar even in his last moments with the Rangers scored a goal and killed off penalties. &ldquo;Could you join us soon?&rdquo;&ldquo;By December 28,&rdquo; said Laprade. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been skating regularly, I&rsquo;m in&rsquo;pretty good shape.&rdquo;And that&rsquo;s how the Rangers found another forward. Not only was Boucher delighted, but so were the other members of the team. For Edgar&rsquo;s talents on ice have seldom been duplicated in New York and he was always a favorite of the Ranger&rsquo;s fans.He had announced his intention to retire before the 1952-53 season and Boucher reluctantly granted that request. Then came a bombshell. The league rule stipulates that a player cannot retire until waivers are granted by other NHL clubs. Chicago and Toronto refused to waive. Technically, Laprade was the Hawks&rsquo; property.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03196/1576988-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="530" height="537"><figcaption class="caption-body">Who Calls?FRANK BOUCHER</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04151/1576981-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="588" height="603"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eager EdgarEDGAR LAPRADE</figcaption></div>Boucher protested. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to retire him,&rdquo; he said. Laprade initiated the move. Do I have to suspend him if he wants to retire?&rdquo;By league rules that was the procedure. After some bickering, both Chicago and Toronto withdrew their claims and Laprade was once again Ranger property. But he wouldn&rsquo;t play until mid November when he joined the club in the hope that when he quit, he would gain his amateur status. No such thing happened.He played in 11 games and was just beginning to get back into the swing of things when he hung up his skates&mdash;apparently for good. On that farewell appearance the Rangers beat Bos-1 ton, 5-0, and Edgar was the star of the night with a goal and an exceptional all-around performance. The public address system advised the fans that Edgar was in his final game. They gave him an ovation.Now he&rsquo;s back at the age of 34 and, being a bug on physical condition, the feeling in Gotham is that he can help the Rangers&mdash;even more so if Doug Bentley should join up too out of Saskttoon on February 1, as indicated.&ldquo;Nobody could control the puck better than he could,&rdquo; said Boucher. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an old pro.&rdquo;What about Edgar&rsquo;s amateur status? The odds are that by the end of the season, he&rsquo;ll be free to play senior amateur hockey. &#9632;

f0005-03

Laprade Calls Frank Boucher, “I Think I Can Help You Win,”

<div class="byline">By VINCE LUNNY</div>MONTREAL, Que.&mdash; Hockey fans who like to indulge in mellow reminiscences will have a field day in Montreal on January 6 when some of the greats, of not too ancient vintage, take skates and boots out of moth balls to renew pleasant rivalries.The occasion will be a game between members of the Ontario Oldtimers Hockey Association and a crew from a newly-formed similar organization in the Province of Quebec. The funds will be turned over to the Shriner Hospital for Crippled Children and the Province of Quebec Crippled Children&rsquo;s Society.Names of the contestants were household words in another era. Many of them have been perpetuated in printers&rsquo;s ink and, if skill, finesse and pride of craft doesn&rsquo;t deteriorate with advancing years, a likely battle is in prospect.Albert Leduc &mdash; the plowing ol&rsquo; Battleship of the Canadiens, when that team, the oldest and traditionnally most colorful club in hockey in another heyday &mdash; is president of the Quebec crew and he has lined up a crew that fairly sparkles with big names.In the nets he&rsquo;ll have Bill Durnan, only netminder ever to win the Vezina Trophy on four consecutive seasons, and Claude Burke, a competent performer who was known as Bourque when he played for the old Habs. They will share duties at one end Of the rink while Turk Broda, the fabulous fat man of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jackie Forbes and Roy Worters likely will divide the corded citadel for the Ontario contingent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05104/1577033-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="274" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Turk Broda</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-0668/1577026-1-eng-US/f0005-062.jpg" title="f0005-06" width="269" height="423"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buddy O&rsquo;Connor</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-0738/1577019-1-eng-US/f0005-072.jpg" title="f0005-07" width="278" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Primeau</figcaption></div>Leduc will play defence himself along with Archie Wilcox, the old Montreal Maroon rearguard, who is now a successful business man and civic representative in suburbain Verdun. Also available are Kenny Reardon, the galloping Gael who is still in tip top physical condition, a rugged performer and fine puck carrier; Sylvio Mantha &mdash; the Red Kelly of 20 years ago; Les Brennan and Jimmy Orlando.Brennan is a solid player while Orlando is the type who can kindle a fire in a rousing game.Candidates for other spots on the team include the former Razzle Dazzle line of Buddy O&rsquo;Connor, only player ever to win the Hart and Byng trophies in a single season, Gerry Heffernan, who has been keeping in shape in Montreal&rsquo;s Depression League, and Pete Morin, now coach of the Royals of the Quebec Hockey League.There is also Aurel Joliat &mdash; remember him? The mighty mite of the Habitants in the Morenz era arfd one of the best left wingers ever to stickhandle in the Forum. And, of course, big, methodical gum-chewing Nels Stewart, who held the all-time scoring record until Maurice Richard shattered it with his potent stick and blistering shot.Who else? Well two smooth centres, Paul Haynes and Bill Cowley, men who played like master craftsmen, will be trying out with Billy Boucher &mdash; there&rsquo;s a name that&rsquo;s famous in hockey &mdash; and Johnny Gagnon, the Black Cat from Chicoutimi.Montrealers will see at least two especially familiar faces on the Ontario team, Lionel Conacher, probably Canada&rsquo;s most versatile athlete, will team up behind the blueline with Cy Wentworth, scoring star of the 1933 Stanley Cup series. Both performed at the Forum in the lively days of the Maroons. &#9632;

f0005-05

Colorful Oldtimers To Play So That Youngsters May Walk

<div class="byline">BY Ken McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01351/1577085-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="382" height="421"></div>THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1, 1947By Kenneth W. McKenzie and Will. V. CotePublished Weekly, except monthly May through September by HOCKEY NEWS COMPANY 301 Empire Life Building 1434 Ste. Catherine Street West.Montreal 25, Que.Yearly Subscription Rotes: $3.00 in Canada and the British Empire; $4.00 in the U.S.A. and Foreign Countries.Entered as second-class matter, October 3, 1953 at the Post Office at Bouses Point, M.Y., under the Act of March 3rd, 1879.Authorized as second-class mail. Post Office Department, Ottawa.Member of the Audit Bureau of CirculationsPrinted in CanadaVOL. 7 MONTREAL, JANUARY 2, 1954 No. 14&bull; CONN SMYTHE and the Toronto hockey writers are always complaining about selectors in other NHL cities discriminating against Toronto players in the voting for the All-Star Team and the various trophy awards&hellip; That&rsquo;s sheer nonsense. &hellip; Last season Al Rollins played the greatest goal of his career. He was responsible for Chicago making the Stanley Cup playoffs more than any other player. He was one of the logical choices in the voting for the Hart Trophy. If figures were brought to light, Rollins may be surprised to learn that the many admirers he once had among Toronto sports writers, have forgotten he exists &hellip; Tommy Ivan of Detroit is the best dressed coach in the National Hockey League. Dapper Tommy always looks as if he just stepped out of a page from Esquire&hellip; Frank Boucher thinks Phil Watson was the fastest skater in the history of the Rangers. He also selected Ott Heller as a former Ranger who had plenty of speed. While Boucher believes Billy Moslenko of Chicago Is a fast skater, all right, he thinks that Mosie looks faster than he really is on account of his short legs. Moslenko&rsquo;s fast.. Didn&rsquo;t he score three goals in 21 seconds ?&hellip;. How much faster can you move and still score ? &hellip; Camille Henry, Rangers&rsquo; rookie ace, is always having people call him &ldquo;Henry Camille&rdquo; &hellip; All Don Raleigh wants for Christmas is some meat on his bones.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02238/1577078-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="257" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Raleigh</figcaption></div>&bull; THERE ARE 15 players in the National Hockey League who made the jump straight from junior into hockey&rsquo;s major loop &hellip; Four of these players who moved directly from junior ranks to the NHL did so this season. They are Bill Dineen of Detroit, Camille Henry of New York, Doug Mohns of Boston and Murray Costello of Chicago &hellip; Dineen and Costello played last season with Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s College. Henry was a Standout with Quebec Citadelles, and Mohns played a starring role with Barrie Flyers&rsquo; Memorial Cup champions &hellip; The oldest player in the National Hockey League who made a direct move from junior into the NHL is Harry Watson of Toronto. Watson went straight from the Saskatoon Quakers to the now-defunct Brooklyn Americans in 1941-41 at the age of 18. He helped Detroit win a Stanley Cup in 1943 before moving over to the Leafs at the start of the 1946-47 season &hellip; Red Kelly and Ted Lindsay of Detroit both graduated straight from Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s College to the Red Wings &hellip; Ed Sandford of Boston is another player who moved right from Toronto St. Mike&rsquo;s into the NHL &hellip; Metro Prystal joined Chicago after a sensational career as a Junior with Moose Jaw Canucks, where he was labelled the best pro prospect in Canada. He never played a game in minor pro or senior ranks&hellip; Eric Nesterenko and Ron Stewart both, joined the Leafs straight from junior play. Nesty came from Toronto Marlboros, while Stewart came from Guelph Biltmores &hellip; Harry Howell, Dean Prentice and the injured Ron Murphy were teammates of Stewart&rsquo;s on the 1952 Memorial Cup champion Guelph team, who moved right from the Bilts to the New York Rangers &hellip; Canadiens&rsquo; Boom Boom Geoffrion is another who made the big jump in one swoop. He came to Canadiens from the Montreal Natlonales &hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03153/1577071-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="267" height="411"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Geoffrion</figcaption></div>&bull; GORDIE HOWE HAS a better scoring record this year than he had for the previous three. On the menning of December 23, he had 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points. On the same date a year ago he had 17 and 18 for 35 points, two years ago he had 14 and 13 for 27, and three years ago he had 13 aifd 12 for 25. He won the NHL scoring championship in the previous three years so maybe this is an omen he&rsquo;s on his way to his fourth &hellip; Five of the 15 players who went straight from junior to the NHL were grads of hockey&rsquo;s top finishing school, Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s College &hellip; Four of the 15 moved straight from the Guelph Biltmores &hellip; Attendance at the Hobart Arena In Troy, Ohio, is improving all the time. Sunday afternoon games draw 3,500 &hellip; Hay Day of Toronto is conferring with a skating boot company about making a protective device on the front of the shoes &hellip; Fern Flaman and Jim Morrison, both ex-members of the Bruins, apparently hit their stride once they were teamed together on the Toronto Leafs&rsquo; defense &hellip; Now that New York Rangers have announced they plan to bring back such greybeards as Doug Bentley and Edgar Laprade, is there any truth in the rumor that Ching Johnson will be summoned next? &hellip; They say Bert Lee, who does the play-by-play of Ranger games, almost choked to death, he became so excited during the Murphy-Geoffrion embroilment the other evening &hellip; Do you think Jim Hendy will accept a National Hockey League offer soon?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04109/1577064-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="247" height="412"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gordie Howe</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05100/1577116-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg"></div><h2>Hockey Mags</h2>Dear Sirs,I would like to know if there are any hockey magazines published in Canada.In New Jersey all we get are baseball and football magazines. I would appreciate it if you would send me the address of any company that publishes hockey magazines if there are any.Joe Kelsey. Montclair, N.J.(To the best of our knowledge, THE HOCKEY NEWS is the only publication dedicated entirely to hockey.)<h2>They&rsquo;ve Retired</h2>Dear Sirs,I am a constant reader of your paper.This is my first letter to the Fan Forum and I have been wondering ever since the hockey season began this year where Roy Conacher and Reggie Sinclair have been playing.John Cosgrove. St. Anicet, Que.(Both Conacher and Sinclair have retired from the game.)<h2>Acquire Hergy?</h2>Dear Sirs,In a recent issue of your paper there was a blast from a Montreal fan at a New York Ranger fan. It I said that the Ranger should be in the American Hockey League.I will bet that if the New York Rangers were to drop out, sell everything, the Montreal Canadiens would be around trying to acquire some of their star players like Hergesheimer, Ronty, Bower or Raleigh and many others.I enjoy your paper very much. How about a story on Harry Howell or Leo Reise. Keep up the good work.Ken Pettigrew. Kitchener, Ont.<h2>No Farm</h2>Dear Sirs,This is my first letter to THE HOCKEY NEWS and I hope it will be printed. I think your paper is great and I hope you will keep up the good work.I have a question To ask. What team in the Western Hockey League is a farm club for the Toronto Maple Leafs?Ed Metcalfe. New Westminster, B.C.(Toronto does not have a farm club in the Western Hockey League.)<h2>Hockey Desert</h2>Dear Sirs,In an earlier letter to you, I referred to my living in an &lsquo;Ice Hockey Desert&rsquo; (since the United States Hockey League disbapded two or three years ago).Now it seems that the &lsquo;oasis&rsquo; will be fewer if the Chicago Black Hawks quit the National Hockey League as mentioned in your December 12 issue. I hope this doesn&rsquo;t happen as I expect to see several games there before the season ends.We hope to have professional hockey here in two or three years in a new arena just now under construction.Forrest E. Weissinger. Des Moines, Iowa.<h2>Now Professional</h2>Dear Sirs,For many years I wondered why the QSHL summaries and standings weren&rsquo;t included in THE HOCKEY NEWS. Now I believe it&rsquo;s because they are a professional league.Stanley McGuey. Aylmer East, Que.(That&rsquo;s right, Stan. We only run the summaries from tlie four pro loops.)<h2>Dope On Dineen</h2>Dear Sirs,This Is my first letter-to the Fan Forum and I hope that it will be printed. I also send my congratulations on your splendid paper, THE HOCKEY NEWS.I would appreciate it very much if you could answer the following information on Bill Dineen: His birth date and place of birth, his height and weight.David Moore. Carbonear, Nfld.(Bill Dineen was born in Arvida, Quebec on September 18, 1932. He is 5&rsquo;11&rdquo; tall and weighs 180 pounds.)<h2>More On Al</h2>Dear Sirs,All we New York fans ask of any hockey player is that he hustle and do his best. Except for very rare occasions, Allan Stanley has never done either.We Ranger fans are also only human.Vince Brady. Roselle, N.J.<h2>Stump Gump</h2>Dear Sirs,As for the Rangers, they could use Lorne Worsley. His WHL goals-against average is slightly terrific. Bower is very slow on long shots but great on close-in drives.How about a story on Paul Ronty, the most underrated player in the NHL?Sanford Zwickler. Brookiyn, N.Y.<h2>First Season</h2>Dear Sirs,Could you please tell me if this is Springfield&rsquo;s first year in the Quebec Hockey League.Keep up the good work and if it will make you feel any better, you can be sure there will be no beefs from yours truly about anything you print.George Carter. Guelph, Ont.(This is Springfield&rsquo;s first season in the QHL but they were formerly in the AHL.)<h2>Gentlemen</h2>Dear Sirs,Since 1951 I have been reading your weekly paper and it is the best.Could you kindly tell me who is the most gentlemanly player in the NHL.I bet you won&rsquo;t print this. Charles Norman. Rosemount, Que.(You will have to wait and see who wins the Lady Byng Trophy to find out who is the NHL&rsquo;s Most Gentlemanly player. P.S. you were right, we didn&rsquo;t print your letter.)<h2>Trade Bait</h2>Dear Sirs,I sure would like to hear from all you hockey fans. Anybody who has photos of Mazur, Beliveau or Davis that they&rsquo;d like to trade or sell, please write me at P.O. Box 119.Simon P. Doell. Hepburn, Sask.<h2>He Likes Ike</h2>Dear Sirs,I am a fan of Ike Hildebrand, one of Canada&rsquo;s top lacrosse and hockey players.Could Ike win the Calder Memorial Trophy? I have heard that he played in the NHL before.When and where was he born? What number does he wear? What position does he play? Who has he played with the last three years?Paul Tissington. Orillia, Ont.(Ike Hildebrand is eligible for the Calder Memorial Trophy, was bom May 27. 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, wears number 14 and plays left wing. He played the last three years for the leveland Barons of the American Hockey League.)<h2>Agrees With Ed</h2>Dear Sirs,I for one certainly agree with Eddie Shore about the way hockey is played today. I like to see hockey played when the players are free to attend to their skating and stick handling, instead of this grabbing, holding and interfering.I like to see body-checking if Its done at the defense and not all over the ice.Mel McBurney. Underhill, Man. &#9632;

f0006-05

THE FAN FORUM

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0686/1577147-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="596" height="270"></div>January 6 to January 126&mdash;Moore, Dick, Montreal forward, 1931.7&mdash;Woit, Benny, Detroit defense, 1928.8&mdash;Hergehheimer, Wally, New York forward, 1927.12&mdash;Bergeron, Bob, New Westminster defense, 1931.&mdash;McNabney, Sid, Syracuse forward, 1929. &#9632;

f0006-06

Happy Birthday to You

<div class="byline">By DANA MOZLEY</div>NEW YORK, NY.&mdash;Little Camille Henry, whose father played for the Quebec Aces and once had a tryout with the Canadiens, has suddenly sprung into the middle of the competition for the Calder Trophy award as rookie of the year. Used only in spots, he has scored 11 goals in 29 games and borne out Frank Boucher&rsquo;s prediction that he would be one of the outstanding first year men in the National Hockey League.The Ranger rookie came out of junior hockey with the Quebec Citadels with an exceptionally fine scoring record. In spite of a broken wrist he missed only two games and scored 46 goals in as many games. And he played all year with a cast on the wrist.On the strength of this record he was invited to the Rangers&rsquo; training camp in Saskatoon, and it was Manager Boucher&rsquo;s fond hope that the little guy would be clever enough to win a place on either the Saskatoon Quakers or the Vancouver Canucks.Henry exceeded his hopes. He went along on the barnstorming trip to the West Coast and led all Rangers in scoring, and by the time the team hit Guelph, Ont., Boucher put a big league contract under Camille&rsquo;s nose and said:&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to keep you at the start of the season and spot you. I don&rsquo;t know how long you&rsquo;ll be with us&mdash;maybe a few weeks, maybe all year. Just keep up the good work.&rdquo;To reporters who doubted 141-pound Camille was big or rugged enough for the NHL, Boucher predicted that the center was likely to become one of the star rookies.&ldquo;We already have three first-grade pivot men in Ronty, Raleigh and Bentley,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But mark my word, this kid could be the rookie of the year.&rdquo;Henry made Frank look good. He had had his own doubts in training camp. The broken wrist hadn&rsquo;t completely healed. He had to wear a protective brace. And in Saskatoon he was slow to impress anybody. More than that, he felt lonely.Camille&rsquo;s 11th goal gave him the Ranger lead in this department, but the following night Wally Hergesheimer scored twice to take it away from him.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01302/1577185-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="558" height="1155"><figcaption class="caption-body">11 Goal Kid!CAMILLE HENRY</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I should have had two myself,&rdquo; said Camille ruefully.<h2>Pleases Boucher</h2>It pleases Boucher in more ways than one that Henry is making good.&ldquo;Not many French lads care to come out of the province of Quebec,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I was always anxious to have some on the Rangers. Henry is the first to make good out of our farm system. He is satisfied and happy. Maybe his success will interest others in joining our organization. Camille himself will be the best ambassador the Rangers ever had in Quebec.&rdquo;<h2>Woro Brace</h2>&ldquo;The doctors who performed the surgery,&rdquo; said Camille, &ldquo;told me that I played too soon after the operation and that I would have to wear the leather brace for at least two months. I was a little discouraged. I had to wonder about my future in hockey.&ldquo;But I had that good barnstorming trip and Frank put me straight. When I scored my first big league goal in the second game of the season &mdash; it was in Chicago &mdash; I had the great thrill of my career. It was so much like the goals I got in junior hockey, taking a pass at the blue line and walking in on goal and deking the goalie out, I felt then I would make the grade.&rdquo;Of his 11 goals, Henry remembers that one the most. But his next greatest thrill came not on a goal but an assist. It happened on December 6. The Rangers had pulled out their goalie. They were a goal down against the Leafs. There was a faceoff in the Toronto end and Henry beat four Leafs for the disk and shot a perfect pass to Wally Hergesheimer in front of the cage. Hergy whipped it in for the equalizer.The records show that Henry, used infrequently except as a left wing on power plays, has scored five goals in, the last six Ranger games, and after one good night Boston&rsquo;s Capt. Milt Schmidt described the little Frenchman as &ldquo;another Hergesheimer.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an opportunist,&rdquo; Schmidt said. &ldquo;The fellow seems to be in the right place at the right time.&rdquo;Other Rangers call him Camille the Eel. Boucher says that if he isn&rsquo;t worn out physically, he should be an All-Star in five years.&ldquo;He has a deceptive little spurt,&rdquo; says Frank, &ldquo;like a broken field runner.&rdquo;Because he doesn&rsquo;t play too much, Henry eventually winds up on the end of the bench next to Boucher.&ldquo;We have little conversations,&rdquo; says Frank. &ldquo;The guy doesn&rsquo;t miss a trick. For a 20-year-old kid, he has a real hockey brain. Nothing escapes his attention.&rdquo;ICE CHIPS: A veteran, Leo Reise, and a second-year man, Harry Howell, have given the Ranger defense a new lease on life. They&rsquo;re hitting hard and playing their best hockey of the campaign&hellip; Bones Raleigh&rsquo;s eight goals are twice as many as he scored last year with a cast on his left wrist&hellip; Frank Boucher&rsquo;s idea of an All-Star team at the half-way mark sounded like a Detroit monopoly. He had Howe and Lindsay on the wings, Kelly on defense and Sawchuk in goal. Others? Doug Harvey on defense with Reibel or Sloan at center&hellip; Know how exciting Garden hockey is? In 13 of the first 16 games, one goalie or the other was pulled out of the nets before the end. Even if the Rangers don&rsquo;t win, they manage to put on a thrilling show for the home folks.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02269/1577178-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1099" height="1368"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hab CM HonoredFRANK SELKE, left, General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, is shown receiving The Hockey News Award from co-publisher Ken McKenzie for having been selected by the editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS as Executive of the Year for the 1952-53 season. Keith Dancy, Montreal correspondent for Dave Price&rsquo;s popular air show &lsquo;Canadian Sports Roundup&rsquo;, on which program the presentation took place, looks on.</figcaption></div>With all the casualties coming back briefly, the Rangers suddenly found themselves two players over top strength and benched Ike Hildebrand and Dean Prentice. Then they suffered the loss of Ron Murphy&hellip; Ron had only one goal on the year, but that one produced a winner against Boston. Three of Nick Mickoski&rsquo;s tour goals were scored against the Bruins, which may explain why Lynn Patrick thinks so highly of the wing&hellip; Yogi Berra urging the Rangers to give Eddio Olson of Cleveland a chance. Yogi is a real Hockey rooter. A Rangers don&rsquo;t draw well on Wednesdays, so they had a Father-and-Son night against the Red Wings on Dec. 23, with the kids off from school the following day. &#9632;

f0007-01

Camille Henry Right In Middle Of Race For Top Rookie Honors

<div class="byline">By AL PARSLEY</div>MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;It&rsquo;s long been Frank Selke&rsquo;s dream that Henri Richard, 18-year-old brother of Maurice, will be ready for the big league before The Rocket retires.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03205/1577223-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="523" height="870"><figcaption class="caption-body">His Ambition ?HENRI RICHARD</figcaption></div>Brother acts have been common enough in major league hockey. Last of the more famous were the Bentleys when Doug and Max were together at Chicago, more recently the Wilsons, John and Larry at Detroit.But what of two Richards? Where The Rocket at 32 is still blazing along the trail of a 400-goal package in the NHL, Henry or The Pocket Rocket, as he has been styled by the scribes covering the junior hockey beat, is setting the QJAHA afire.Recently when Sammy Pollock&rsquo;s Junior Habs made life miserable for Jacques Belanger&rsquo;s Royals, plastering them 9-1, Henri helped himself to five tallies and he has now scored 28 goals in 22 games.Many close to big league hockey affairs speculate that Maurice is good for at least three more years. Barring injuries he could be around for five more seasons. Now, since Henri is 18, he could be ready for the jump to the NHL by leap-frogging the seniors and the minors in another season or two. There have been many cases where juniors from Memorial Cup teams did it, notably Ted Lindsay, who leaped from the Oshawa Generals to Detroit Wings without playing a game of senior hockey.While making a roll call of such junior prodigies we should not stray too far afield. What about Bernard (Boom Boom) Geoffrion who made it a no-stop trip from the junior Nationales to the big time?Leonard Patrick &ldquo;Red&rdquo; Kelly of Detroit is one of the more famous members of this exalted family. He hopped right from St. Michael&rsquo;s College juniors to a starring role with the Red Wings. New York Rangers are all cluttered up with such fuzz-cheeked kids. They have Camille Henry, straight from Quebec Citadelles, and Dean Prentice, who made no stop-over en route from Guelph Biltmores.These are just a few who are picked off the rosters of NHL clubs. Almost got trapped into citing Harry Howell and Ronnie Murphy in the same honors list, but peering at the NHL Press and Radio Guide, it&rsquo;s discovered that for some strange reason each of them paused for a cup of coffee at Cincinnati and played one game for the Mohawks in the AHL.Such a pile-up of testimony indicates that it&rsquo;s nothing new for a junior to make the NHL in one stride. The Pocket Rocket can do it, and play beside his brother, the king-size rocket. Then Frank Selke&rsquo;s dream would be realized, but what a nightmare for the goalies of the other five clubs in Clarence Campbell&rsquo;s speedy circuit! Two buzz-bombs roaring at &lsquo;em!Say it isn&rsquo;t so, Joe, but there&rsquo;s a rumor going the rounds that the senior referees are ready to quit the Quebec circuit, henceforth confine their efforts to junior and senior hockey. The elder whistle-tooters are supposed to be miffed because younger men are being given more and more assignments. George Slater showed us figures the other day which indicated that 47 per cent of the dates had been given-to three men he classified as Group A, while the younger fellows, willing to make the tough trips, were handed games at the outposts,. like Chicoutimi, which takes them away from office and home for two days at a strecl.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04157/1577216-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="565" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">To Join Him!MAURICE RICHARD</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0007-03

Pocket Rocket May Set Up Passes For Famous Rocket

<div class="byline">By ROGER BARRY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01335/1577254-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A Natural Anywhere!Milt Schmidt &hellip; From centre to Left Wing with ease</figcaption></div>BOSTON, Mass.&mdash;Is Milt Schmidt of the Boston Bruins embarking on a new hockey life at the advanced (for hockey) age of 35?He is if, after nearly two decades as a major league center, lie lie continues to play is present position.In the excitement of such contemporary events as the Montreal-Toronto brawl, an exchange of high scores by Boston and Detroit and the battering of Ray Gariepy&rsquo;s kisser, a noteworthy event was pretty well overshadowed.That was the shifting of Schmidt from center to left wing, possibly on a permanent basis.The shift was executed officially early in a game here with the Red Wings, when the rugged Bruins captain climbed over the boards and stationed himself at his new position, while young Dave Creighton centered iu his place.Since that night Schmidt has been a left wing, Creighton a center, an exchange of positions designed to help not Schmidt but Creighton.&ldquo;There was nothing complicated about, it,&rdquo; explained Lynn Patrick, the Bruins&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;Milt and I decided that Dave would be more of an asset as a center than a left wing, so they swapped positions.&ldquo;Creighton was only playing left wing anyway so I could keep him in the lineup. Early in the season Fleming Mackell missed a couple of games, and I had to move Cal Gardner from left wing to center to fill the vacancy.&ldquo;Then Gardner worked so well with Real Chevrefils and Leo La-Bine that after Mackell&rsquo;s return I decided to keep him at center. Creighton was the one who dropped out, to left wing.&ldquo;But he&rsquo;s a much better center than left wing, so we settled on the swap. He has been playing like a man with a new lease on life since.&rdquo;There has been no discussion, then or now, about Schmidt&rsquo;s ability to play left wing. That has been taken for granted, for during his extended career which dates back to 1936, Uncle Miltie has played all positions well.Most of his shifts over the years have been created by emergencies, and the present one can probably be listed in that category.Creighton, a big fellow, had a hard time regaining his skating speed this fall, the after-effects of the broken leg which he suffered last New Year&rsquo;s Night, but he has been stepping up his tempo consistently.His best burst of the season was unveiled in the game in which he made his return to center, the position at which he scored 20 goals two years ago.Oddly enough Creighton, the one who has had difficulty in operating at left wing, was originally a left wing while Schmidt, who has stepped into the spot as if he has always played it, hadn&rsquo;t worked there previously more than a dozen times in his entire career.As a center the greatest of the Bruins matched wiles with opponents like Syl Apps, Max Bentley, Marty Barry, Sid Abel, Mac Colville and Elmer Lach.As a left wing he is checking a newer crop of stars, right wings like Maurice Richard and Boom Boom Geoffrion, Wally Hergesheimer and Gordon Howe. &#9632;

f0008-01

Schmidt Switches to L. Wing So Creighton Now A Centre

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02275/1577309-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="257" height="428"></div>Bill Gadsby, the high-scoring ace of the Chicago Black Hawks defensive corps will be the subject of next week&rsquo;s feature article by HOCKEY NEWS correspondent, Bud Booth. &#9632;

f0008-02

coming next week

<div class="byline">By BUD BOOTH (Ninth In A Series)</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03209/1577347-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="264" height="413"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Bentley</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04157/1577340-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="280" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Lumley</figcaption></div>CHICAGO, Ill.&mdash;Let&rsquo;s take a few moments to again look back at happenings that made headlines in the world of hockey in the not too distant past.Six years ago this week &mdash; Detroit&rsquo;s Harry Lumley was tabbed a real firebrand goalie after being hit with eight minutes in penalties in ht first 30 games&hellip; Norm Dawe, well known Quebec and Canadian amateur hockey executive, died from a heart attack only hours after an NHL game at the Montreal Forum.The fabulous Rabbit McVeigh was a new addition to the the American League refereeing staff&hellip; New York Rangers&rsquo; i rank Boucher blasted the Toronto Maple Leafs as &ldquo;the worst team in the league for holding, tripping and interfering.&rdquo; This brought a yell of &ldquo;Cry baby&rdquo; from Leaf boss Conn Smythe.Four years ago this week &mdash; Stanley Cup talk filled Manhattan as the Rangers zoomed from last place to second in the NHL in a month&hellip; Charlie-Conacher stormily denied that there was any dissension on the Chicago Black Hawks. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to it,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you can ask any player on the team.&rdquo;A score of minor leaguers were listed as likely future NHL stars. Among them were Bert Hirschfeld, Marcel Pronovost, Fern Perrault, Fred Glover, Gordon Fashoway, Barton Bradley, Bert and Bruce Giesebrecht, Bob Frampton, Gerry Reid, Tom Johnson, Bud MacPherson, Jack Miller, Clare Raglan Tim Horton and Ross Lowe.Two years Ago this week &mdash; New York lost Capt Allan Stanley for the season after he suffered a severe shoulder separation in a collision with Detroit&rsquo;s Bob Goldham&hellip; New additions setting a good pace with the Montreal Canadiens were rearguard Dollard St. Laurent and winger Dickie Moore.Doug Bentley was rumored on his way to coach Saskatoon of the Western League as a replacement for Frank Eddolls said to be up for recall by the Rangers&hellip; Turk Broda was feted with a night at Toronto. Among the many gifts he received was &mdash; as a gag &mdash; a baby pig from Conn Smythe. &#9632;

f0008-03

Boucher Blasted the Leafs

<div class="byline">By ROGER BARRY</div>BOSTON, Mass.&mdash;A Christmas gift to be view-&rsquo; ed with a jaundiced eye at the home of Lynn Patrick this year was anything even faintly resembling a puzzle.By the time Christmas arrived the head of the Patrick household was struggling with a puzzle of his own far from amusing.The puzzle: What has happened to his Bruins?For the first weeks of the season the Bruins lumbered along at a consistent rate of speed, winning more points than they lost. Then suddenly they reversed their course.At the end of a nine-game pre-Cliristmas stretch in which they won only two games, the chief custodian of the Bruins confessed that their conduct had him stumped.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t figure what&rsquo;s wrong,&rdquo; sighed Patrick. &ldquo;We were going along well, but we seem to have lost the combination.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t put my finger on any one thing. All I know is that we haven&rsquo;t been winning the way we were.&rdquo;One of the reasons advanced most frequently here for the Bruins&rsquo; sudden loss of effective ferocity is injuries, those to forward Real Chevrefils and defensemen Bill Quackenbush and Ray Gariepy.That the absence of the speedy Chevrefils, the clever Quackenbush and the thumping Gariepy has hurt the Bruins Patrick does not doubt, but he refuses to accept their absence as the sole reason for the decline.&ldquo;Of course we miss them,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but their absence doesn&rsquo;t explain the loss of games which I think we should have won.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been playing badly, at least not as bad as our recent record indicates. And we&rsquo;ve lost games, or failed to win games, that we&rsquo;ve had all won. Why, in one week alone we failed to win three games (Chicago, New York, Detroit) that we had all wrapped up because we let down toward the end.&ldquo;Whatever we&rsquo;re doing wrong I can&rsquo;t spot it, but maybe it&rsquo;s just one of those streaks,&rdquo; he added hopefully.The department which took a beating during the Bruins&rsquo; preChristmas slump was the defense, riddled for 40 opposing goals in a nine-game period. The offense wasn&rsquo;t spectacular, but it was up to the Bruins&rsquo; average of recent seasons.As the New-York came up the only immediate help from the casualty list anticipated by Patrick was front Gariepy, the 185-pound rookie whose face was badly battered by a stray shot. The blocky defenseman underwent surgery for a broken nose and fractured cheekbone, convalesced at Somerville Hospital for four days, then started sthinking about playing again,Quackenbush had the cast removed from his broken ankle Christmas week, but he wasn&rsquo;t expected to be ready for combat until mid-January. Young Chevrefils, who has a broken leg, isn&rsquo;t expected to play until next season. &#9632;

Bruins’ Latest Slump Puzzles Patrick, Can’t Figure It Out

Ted Kennedy, the &ldquo;youngest-oldest&rdquo; player in the National Hockey League, is this week&rsquo;s selection as Player-of-the-week by the editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS.The choice this week was an exceedingly difficult one since no one player was outstanding. The Leafs&rsquo; Harry Lumley held the Detroit Red Wings to two goals in Toronto&rsquo;s only appearance and thus increased his margin over Detroit&rsquo;s Terry Sawchuk in the Vezina Trophy race to nine goals. Paul Ronty and Wally Hergesheimer played well for the Rangers in their three outings and Al Rollins came up with a whale of a game against tlie New York Rangers.However, in selecting Kennedy, THE HOCKEY NEWS took into consideration the fact that Teeder was having a little difficulty re-adjusting himself after a shaky start this year. When any player scored a pair of goals against the strong Detroiters, he deserves some kind of recognition and that&rsquo;s exactly what Kennedy did as the Leafs whipped the first-place Wings, 4-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-10101/1577493-1-eng-US/f0009-102.jpg" title="f0009-10" width="273" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ted Kennedy</figcaption></div>The curly-headed Leaf captain lias been one of the inspirational forces behind the Leafs despite his recent inability to regain the magic scoring touch that labelled him for years as one of the most dangerous of NHL snipers. When the Teeder&rsquo;s out there, his mates know that lie&rsquo;s always trying, whether lie&rsquo;s scoring or not. &#9632;

f0009-10

Player - of - the - Week

<h2>A New Threat</h2>Around the NHL these days, those in the know contend that Toronto&rsquo;s Harry Lumley is the best goalie in the loop right now. He hold a nine point bulge over Detroit&rsquo;s Terry. sawchuk in the Vezina Trophy race and has the lowest goals against average on home ice.<h2>This is Roughing ?</h2>The fans in Maple Leaf Garden got a laugli last week when Tim Horton tangled with Detroit&rsquo;s Glen Skov. After a short scuffle, Horton landed on top of Skov and was working him oter when the officials interfered. The PA announcer calmly announced that Horton was given a minor penalty, for ROUGHING!<h2>HOW THE RACE GOES</h2>(STANDING ON TUES. DEC. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01320/1577462-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="598" height="237"></div><h3>RESULTS OF GAMES</h3>Wed Dec. 23rd&mdash;Detroit 1 at Rangers 1Fri. Dec. 25th&mdash;Chicago 1 at Boston 4Sat. Dec. 26th&mdash;Rangers 0 at Cdns 2Sat. Dec. 26th&mdash;Detroit 2 at Toronto 4Sun. Dec. 27th&mdash;Chicago 4 at Rangers 1Sun. Des. 27th&mdash;Boston 1 at Detroit 1<h3>SCHEDULED GAMES</h3>Tues. Dec. 29th&mdash;Boston at RangersWed. Dec. 30th&mdash;Canadiens at TorontoThurs. Dec. 31st&mdash;Canadiens at DetroitFri Jan. 1st&mdash;Rangers at BostonFri. Jan. 1st&mdash;Detroit at ChicagoSat. Jan. 2nd&mdash;Boston at CanadiensSat. Jan. 2nd&mdash;Chicago at TorontoSun. Jan. 3rd &mdash;Canadiens at RangersSun. Jan. 3rd&mdash;Toronto at Detroit.<h3>WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 23</h3>Detroit 1 at New York 2NEW YORK &mdash; New York Rangers edged the first p-lace Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on a late third period goal by leftwinger Nick Mickoskl, his fifth of the season.The goal tame at 18:20 of the final frame and broke up a stalemate that came about when Glen Skov notted the count in the seeond period after Dean Prentice had shot the Blues in front with a goal in the initial frame.Detroit &mdash; Goal: Sawchuk: defense: Goldham, Kelly, Pronovost, Woit; forwards, Reibel, Lindsay, Howe, Leswick, Pavelicli, Skov, Delvecchio, Wilson, Dineen, Arbour, Stasiuk, Prystai.New York &mdash; Goal: Bower; defense: Irwin, Reise, Evans, Howell, Buller, Chrystal; forwards, Raleigh, Mickoskl, Kullman, Ronty, Guidolin, Hildebrand, Bathgate, Prentice, Hergesheimer, Henry.Referee: rank Udvari; linesmen, Dom Baolto, Mickey Slowick.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02298/1577455-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="610" height="378"></div><h3>FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25th ..</h3>Chicago 1 at Boston 4BOSTON &mdash; The Boston Bruins came up with a pair of goals in the final period to turn back the Chicago Black Hawks. 4-1 in a Christmas Night game at the Garden here.Joe Klukay. Milt Schmidt, Cal Gardner and Hal Laycoe tallied for the Bruins with defenseman Larry Zeldel scoring his first goal of the season for the Hawks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03251/1577448-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="608" height="567"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-04210/1577441-1-eng-US/f0009-042.jpg" title="f0009-04" width="592" height="663"><figcaption class="caption-body">Still On Top!Gordiettowe</figcaption></div><h3>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1953</h3>New York 0 at Canadiens 2MONTREAL &mdash; Diminutive Gerry McNeil racked up his fifth shutout of the present NHL season as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the New York Rangers 2-0.The Habs&rsquo; goal were scored by Calum MacKay and Ken Mosdell. Late in the third period, with two minutes remaining, the Blues removed goalkeeper Johnny Bower but the Canadiens failed to score.New York &mdash; Goal Bower; defense: Irwin, Reise, Howell, Buller, Evans; forwards: Raleigh, Kullman, Mickoski, Chrystal, Guidolin, Hildebrand, Prentice, Hergesheimer, Henry, Ronty, Bathgate.Canadiens &mdash; Goal: McNeil; defense: Bouchard, Johnson, Harvey, St. Laurent, MacPherson; forward: Mosdell, Richard, Olmstead, Curry, Gamble, MacKay, McCormack, Masnick, Mazur, Beliveau.Referee: Bill Chadwick; linesmen: Bill Morrison, Bill Roberts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01334/1577434-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="612" height="443"></div>Detroit 2 at Toronto 4TORONTO &mdash; Captain Teeder Kennedy scored a pair of goals to pace the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 win over the first place Detroit Red Wings.Jim Morrison and big Harry Watson added the other Maple Leaf markers. Detroit&rsquo;s Terry Sawehuk was peppered with shots all nights as the Leafs threw 32 at him in comparison to the 16 the Wings tossed at Harry Lumley.Detroit &mdash; Coal, Sawehuk; defense: Goldham, Pronovost, Kelly, Wolt: forwards: Lindsay, Leswick, Howe, Prystai, Pavelich, Skov, Reibel, Delvecchio, J. Wilson, Dineen, Arbour, Stasiuk.Toronto &mdash; Goal Lumley; defense: Horton, Bolton, Boivin, Morrison; forwards, Sloan, Armstrong, Watson, Kennedy, Smith, Stewart, Migay, Nesterenko, Solinger, Lewickl.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02275/1577427-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="606" height="483"></div><h3>SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27. 1953</h3>Chicago 4 at New York 1NEW YORK &mdash; The Chicago Black Hawke racked up their seventh win the season at the expense of the New York Rangers as they handed the Broadway Blues a 4-1 setback.Chicago scorers were Lou Jankowski. Larry Wilson, Pete Conacher and Bill Mosienko.Chicago: Goal: Rollins; defense; Mortson, Gadsby, Fogolfn, Dewsbury, Zeldel, Price, forwards, Gee, Bodnar, Couture, Teters, Mosienko, Conacher, Janhowski, Hucul, Wilson, Costello.New York: Goal: Bower: defense; Irwin, Heise, Howell, Buller, Evans, Chrystal: forwards: Ronty, Bathgate, Heigeshelmer, Raleigh, Bentley, Guidelln, Mickoskl, Murphy, Kullman, Henry.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03232/1577420-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="606" height="519"></div>Ronton 1 at DetroitDETROIT &mdash; Metro Prystai scored at 13:49 of the thira period to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins and top spot once again stop the NHL ladder.The other Red Wing goal went to Glen Skov while Johnny Peirson counted the lone Bruin counter.Boston: Goal: Henry; defense; Godfrey, Gariepy, Armstrong, Laycoe, Martin; forwards: Gardner, Labine, Mohns, Schmidt, Creighton, Klukay, Maskell, Sanford, Peirson, Topazzini, Dumart.Detroit: Goal: Sawehuk; defense: Goldham, Kelly, Arbour, Pronovost, Woit, Forwards: Skov, Leswick, Pavelich Reibel, Lindsay, Wilson, Del Vecchio, Dineen, Stasiuk, Howe, Prystai.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04178/1577413-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="600" height="435"></div><h2>THE POINT PARADE</h2>(INCLUDING GAMES OF SUN. DEC. 87)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-05161/1577406-1-eng-US/f0009-052.jpg" title="f0009-05" width="591" height="2290"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-06137/1577399-1-eng-US/f0009-062.jpg" title="f0009-06" width="590" height="1109"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-07127/1577392-1-eng-US/f0009-072.jpg" title="f0009-07" width="588" height="511"></div><h3>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-08118/1577385-1-eng-US/f0009-082.jpg" title="f0009-08" width="598" height="311"></div><h3>PENALTIES IN MINUTES BY CLUES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-09115/1577378-1-eng-US/f0009-092.jpg" title="f0009-09" width="487" height="157"></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CHICAGO, Ill.&mdash;Arnold M. Johnson, the 46year old Chicago sportsmanrealtor who last month become the owner of Yankee Stadium in a multi-million dollar deal with Dan Topping and Del Webb,, is a former vice president and treasurer of the Black Hawks and still serves on the board of directors of the club.Head of a group that recently purchased the Warwick hotels in New York and Philadelphia. he, General Manager Bill Tobin and several others formed the syndicate that bought the Hawks from the estate of the late Maj. Frederir McLaughlin, team founder, in 1946.An avid sports fan who calls hunting and fishing his favorite pastimes, Johnson was listed officially as Black vicepresident until Arthur Wirtz and Jim Norris joined forces to buy the squad iu September, 1952. He then reportedly moved back to the post of director. &#9632;

New Owner Of Ny Stadium Hawk Director

<div class="byline">By MARGARET SCOTT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-05144/1577548-1-eng-US/f0010-052.jpg" title="f0010-05" width="295" height="442"></div>MOST ENJOYABLE MOVIE:&ldquo;The Great Caruso&rdquo;.TWO BEST ACTORS:Alan Ladd and Glenn Ford.TWO BEST ACTRESSES:Susan Hayward and Barbara Stanwyck.PREFERS TO WEAR:T Shirt and Slacks.BEST GIRL VOCALIST:Kathryn Grayson.BEST MALE VOCALIST:Benjamino Gigli.FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC:Opera.BEST CLASSICAL COMPOSITION;La Traviata.BEST POPULAR COMPOSITION :Has no particular favorite.FAVORITE ORCHESTRA:Boston Pops.BEST COMPOSER:Verdi.LIKES TO READ:Books by Lloyd C. Douglas. Also sports stories and Mysteries.BEST RADIO PROGRAM:Jack Benny.WHEN RETIRED FROM PLAYING WOULD LIKE TO:Has no definite plans.FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT:Waskesiu Lake, Prince Albert National Park, Sask.SHOOTS GOLF:In the high 80&rsquo;s.IN THE SUMMER:Plays golf and tennis.GREATEST THRILL IN HOCKEY:Helping Detroit win the &lsquo;Stanley Cup in 1949-50.SUPERSTITIONS:Is mildly superstitious. Always puts left skate on first. &#9632;

f0010-05

Inside Stuff About…Jerry (Doc) Couture

MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;It might be just as well for the Montreal Canadiens that Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion was forced to sit out the game against the New York Rangers on Saturday December 26. In fact, it might be just as well for the Boomer too!On the Tuesday proceeding the game, the Boomer received a long distance call from New York. After Geoffrion had muttered a polite hello, the voice on the other end promptly informed him that if he played against the Rangers, the caller was going to kill him.&ldquo;He said he was coming to Montreal to shoot me, you know, bang-bang, just like that,&rdquo; Geoffrion declared.&ldquo;That guy sounded pretty mad.&rdquo; &#9632;

Had Bang-bang For Boom-Boom

<h2>A Great Helper !</h2>George (Red) Sullivan of the Hershey Bears has blossomed out us one of the classiest playmakers in the American Hockey league. In the 35 games he has played this year he han total of 39 assists 19 more than his closest rival, Jackie Gordon of the Cleveland Barons. Red Also has 13 goals to go with his 39 assists.<h2>Net Profit !</h2>Harry Pldhiny of the Syracuse Warriors is one hockey placer who doesn&rsquo;t have too much difficulty locating the nets. In the 34 games he has played this year. Pidhirny has scored 24 goals. He may be 14th in the individual scoring rare but no other player has scored more goals.<h2>HOW THE RAGE GOES</h2>(STANDINGS ON TI ES. A.M. DEC. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01333/1577697-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="607" height="184"></div><h3>WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23</h3>Syracuse 3 at Buffalo 3BUFFALO &mdash; The Buffalo Bisons Toned from behind a 3-1 deficit in the final period to earn a 3-3 stalemate with the Syracuse Warriors.Wale Atanas, &ldquo;Del Franche and Harry Pidhirny sent the Warriors into a 3-0 lead before Gaye Stewart finally found the rarge for the Bisons in the second period. Then, in the final frame, Kenny Hayden and Ed Pennell scored to force me deadlock. The overtime didn&rsquo;t produce any scoring.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02292/1577690-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="609" height="746"></div><h3>FRIDAY. DECEMBER 25</h3>Chicago 1 at Boston 4BOSTON &mdash; THE BOSTON BRUINS scored a pair of goals in the final period to whip the hapless Hawks from, Chicago, 4-1 in an NHL game played in Christmas night,Chicago: Goal: Rollins: defense: Mortson, Fogoln, Dewsbury, Gadsby, Zeldel, Price; forwards, Bounar, Gee, Moslenko, Conacher, Wilson, Peters, Jankowski, Couture, Costello, Hucul.Boston: Goal: Henry; defense: Armstrong, Godfrey, Laycoe, Martin; forwards: Schmidt, Creighton, Kiukay, Mackell, Sandford, Peirson, Mohns, Lablne, Dumart, Gardner, Toppazzini,<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03231/1577683-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="611" height="389"></div><h3>SATURDAY DECEMBER 26</h3>Cleveland 4 at Hershey 3HERSHEY &mdash; Cleveland Barons staged a two-goal rally in the final period to defeat the Hershey Bears 4-3 in on American Hockey League game.In the final period, with 35 seconds to piay, Gordie Henry was taken from the Bears net. At the moment the gong ended the game. Jack McIntyre rifled a shot into the baron net but it was a split second too late.The bears took a lead with a pair of goals in the first period and added another in the second. The barons scored in both periods. In the final period the barons scored twice to tie the score and then take the lead.Late in the final period, gus Karra ys of the Barons, was injured when he collided with McIntyre. Harrys was carried from the ice in a stretcher. He was not seriously hurt.Jick Stoddard, Ray Ross, Fred Shero and Eddie Olson were the Clleveland marksmen. Arnie Kullman, Dune Fisher and Skip Teal tallied for the losers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04183/1577676-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="615" height="572"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05150/1577669-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="1159" height="1755"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shows Scoring WayGEORGE (RED) SULLIVAN &hellip; Big Bear On Top</figcaption></div>Buffalo 3 at Pittsburg 1PITTSBURGH &mdash; Eddie Slowinski, Steve Wochy and Gord Pennell scored goals for the Buffalo Bisons as they nipped the Pittsburgh Wornets, 3-1 in a rough game.Ray Timgren got the only Pittsburgh goal late in the final period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06136/1577662-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="606" height="518"></div>Providence 2 at Syracuse 6SYRACUSE &mdash; Bronco Horvath scored thiee goals and assisted on the other three as Syracuse Warriors defeated the Providence Reds 6-2.Tn addition to his hat trick, Horvath helped set up a pair of goals for Ants Atanas and another goal for Billy Gooden, as this line completely dominated the Syracuse attack.Pat Egan and Pete Kapusta scored for the Reds, but the visitors were trailing by 5-0 before Egan, the reds&rsquo; Player-coach. spoiled Gordie Bell&rsquo;s shutout with 13 seconds left in the second period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-07120/1577655-1-eng-US/f0011-072.jpg" title="f0011-07" width="611" height="517"></div><h3>SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27</h3>Pittsburgh 0 at Cleveland 5CLEVELAND &mdash; Goalie Emile Francis-recorded his first shutout of the season as Cleveland Barons Blanked Pittsburgh Hornets 5-0 in an American Hockey League game. Francis made 31 stops.The game was marked by a bloody fight involving four players in the second period, for which Eddie Reigle and Glen Sonmor of the Barons and Dan Lewickl and Larry Cahan of the Hornets received major penalties.It was Cleveland&rsquo;s 12th victory in its last 14 games, and its 11th straight at home, putting the Barons close to Buffalo, the league leader.Cal Stearns scored twice, and Eddie Olson, Ous Karrys, and Hay Ceresino got the other goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-08115/1577648-1-eng-US/f0011-082.jpg" title="f0011-08" width="604" height="488"></div>Hershey 3 at Buffalo 4BUFFALO &mdash; Buffalo Bisons retained control of the American Hockey League lead after lanky Gord Pennell led the Bisons to a 4-3 victory over Hershey Bears.The Game-clincher came midway in the final period when Pennell fired the Winning goal from a difficult angle.The victory kept the Bisons two points ahead of the Cleveland Barons, second In the standing. The Barons moved into a short-lived tie with Buffalo by beating Pittsburgh 5-0.Other Buffalo Goals were by Don Marshall, Russ Kowalchuk and Steve Wochy.Norm Corcoran. Skip Teal and Arnie Kullman tallied for the losers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-09108/1577641-1-eng-US/f0011-092.jpg" title="f0011-09" width="607" height="569"></div>Syracuse 3 at Providence 3PROVIDENCE&rsquo;E &mdash; Syracuse Warriors came from behind three times to gain a 3-3 overtime tie with Providence Reds in an American Hockey League game.The line of Zelllo Toppazzini, Tod Campeau and Paul Gladu provided all Providence Tallies. Each scored once and received assists on the other tallies.Elliot Chorley made it 1-1 after the first period, but the Reds held a 2-1 advantage in the second period. Syracuse&rsquo;s Del ranche tied it early In the finale. After Toppazzini regained the lead for the Reds, Bill Gooden tied it again at 9:27 on a 20-foot backhander. The overtime session was scoreless.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-1173/1577634-1-eng-US/f0011-112.jpg" title="f0011-11" width="610" height="791"></div><h2>THE POINT PARADE</h2>(INCLUDING GAMES OF SUN. DEC. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-1092/1577627-1-eng-US/f0011-102.jpg" title="f0011-10" width="610" height="815"></div><h3>LEADERS</h3>Most Goal: Harry Pidhlrny, Syr 24. Most Assist: G. Sullivan, Hers. 39Most Penalized Player: Larry Cahan, Pitts. 90.Best Goalkeeper: Jacques Plante, Buff. 35, 90, 2, 2:57.Most Penalized Club: Pittsburgh, 365. &#9632;

f0011-01

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By DICK McCRONE</div>HERSHEY, Pa.&mdash;A pair of &ldquo;old pros&rdquo; and a couple of rookies are giving the Hershey Bears the best rearguard department the Chocolatetown skaters have had in several seasons.Coach Murray Henderson and Andy Branigan, captain, are both 32, but you can&rsquo;t prove it by the wav they have been flying around the ice. The Bear mentor has acquired the reputation of being the best poke checker in the business since coming down to the AHL, And, he is doing his job with little fuss or fanfare. However, when the chips are down, Henderson is Johnny-on-the-spot, breaking up rush after rush.Branigan is still one of the fastest skaters in the league and he uses his speed to catch the younger ice men when they get loose. Both Branigan and Henderson are having their best scoring season. Murray has lit the red lamp on three occasions, with two of his markers serving as tie breakers. In addition, he has racked up 12 assists. Andy has a pair of goals, both scored unassisted. He has also assisted in setting up 10 other scores.Both Henderson and Branigan are paired with rookies and, thanks to the steadying influence of the veterans, Ralph Willis and Arnott Whitney have developed into steady performers. Henderson is paired with Willis, who is up from the Barrie Flyers, while Branigan is teamed with Whitney, a graduate of the New Haven Club of the EAHL. Willis is 21, Whitney, 22.Henderson, incidentally, came to training camp this Fall visualizing a veteran defense corps, only to lose Joe Schertzl via retirement. and Ray Gariepy to the Boston Bruins. Seeking to replace the veterans with experienced help, he installed Jerry Toppazzini. the Boston handy man, on the blue line. Later, however, he was forced to move Topper up front when injuries wrecked his forward lines.<h2>Dependable Men</h2>Up until that time Henderson had been alternating Willis and Whitney on the fourth defense job. Given regular assignments, the kids blossomed forth into mighty dependable ice men, thanks to Henderson and Branigan with whom they are paired &lsquo;for action.Willis played with two Barrie clubs which notched the Memorial Cup. Prior to joining the Flyers in 1950-51, he played Minor Hockey in St. Catherine&rsquo;s. Ontario.Whitney performed with the Port Arthur Bruins in junior hockey before being assigned to New Haven last season. He played with the Port Arthur West End Bearcats in Minor Hockey ranks.<h2>Used Sparingly</h2>Ted O&rsquo;Connor, another member of the Bear defensive brigade, has been used sparingly to date. Big Ted was sidelined early in the campaign with a knee injury and has been handicapped in regaining his form. Ted was with the Tacoma Rockets for the past two seasons.The Bears temporarily lost the services of their stellar goalie, Gordie Henry, on Saturday, December 12, when Bob Sabourin, Pittsburgh winger, crashed into the Hershey netminder, and put him out of action. Norm Defelice came down from Sidney in the Maritime League to spell the injured cage guardian.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01329/1577728-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="475" height="1290"><figcaption class="caption-body">VeteranANDY BRANIGAN</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

‘Old Pros’ And Rookies Give Bears Top Defence

<div class="byline">By DAVE FAUNCE</div>Rookie Larry Cahan, a rugged defenseman who earned his American Hockey League spurs on his first attempt, 1 sometimes feels he&rsquo;s just about the lonesomest guy on the Pittsburgh Hornet roster in the American Hockey League.And well he might at that, the way he&rsquo;s been piling up the minutes spent in the penalty box.But, according to his own words, whatever inhibitions he may have had anent toeing the line legislation &mdash; wise must have been left at home in Ft. William in his haste to hie himself to Pittsburgh and don a Hornet uniform once he had been dubbed for the Gold and Black by Happy Day of the parent Toronto Maple Leafs and Baz Bastien, who cracks the whip over the Hornets.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why I&rsquo;m getting so many penalties in this league,&rdquo; the rangy 20-year-old said recently. You know, I&rsquo;ve been in organized hockey since I was 10 years old, and I never spent much time in the penalty box before this season.&ldquo;I guess I just forget myself a bit now and then.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s probably a bit wrong there. It just seems that when he deems it necessary to stop a foe heading toward the Hornet&rsquo;net which he is guarding, he just stops him, in apy manner which may be most effective. And he does stop the man, too, as wings and centers from any team in the league will attest.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m supposed to stop them, am I not? And if I accidentally trip one of them, or hook him, or hold him a bit in the process, I guess the referee is entitled to wave me off.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t bother looking to see Where the referee might be when I take out an opponent rushing our goal. Seems to me, though, that the guy Is right there looking over my shoulder if I do something wrong.&rdquo;Larry, known as Hank to his mates &mdash; a nickname he inherited I from an older brother who formerly played with Hollywood in the Pacific Coast League &mdash; is far from being a rough-neck on the ice, however.Fact is, he&rsquo;s a very mild-mannered young man when he&rsquo;s on the ice. Aside from the manner in which he throws body checks about with abandon, he doesn&rsquo;t bother anybody &mdash; except the recipients of said checks. A number of times this season he&rsquo;s found himself in situations where : player with a hair-trigger tempe. might have set off some fire works.But Cahan doesn&rsquo;t play thai way. He&rsquo;s all business, trying to learn the finer points of playing defense, trying constantly to improve himself. The improvement he has shown thus far tends to the belief he&rsquo;ll be one of the top picket-men in this league ere long&mdash;if the Leafs to call him up next Reason, or the season after. &#9632;

Rookie Hornet Rearguard Plays Game With Abandon

<div class="byline">By DAVE FAUNCE</div><h2>Hildebrand, Marshall Touched Off Fireworks</h2>PITTSBURGH, Pa.&mdash;That big rhubarb between Toronto and Montreal on December 9, 1953, recalls to American Hockey League fans an even bigger rhubarb that took place in historic Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh on April 11, 1953 when the Cleveland Barons and the Pittsburgh Hornets were battling for the Calder Trophy which was won by the Barons in the seventh and deciding game by a 1 to 0 score when Bobby Chystal fired his now famous blooper shot that took a crazy bounce into the net.Cleveland vs Pittsburgh games in the past few years have always resulted in the toughest and roughest games of the season and the boys in the Calder Trophy playoffs were building up to a terrific explosion. And like most explosions it took place in the final minute of play.The game had been a hard hitting affair with no quarter asked or given. Referee Frank Udvari, who incidentally did the officiating in the Montreal vs Toronto game, seemed to have the game under control and with just 37 seconds to go it happened.<h3>Tempers Flar</h3>Little Ike Hildebrand then of Cleveland was jammed into the boards by Willie Marshall of Pittsburgh. Tempers flared and one punch led to a thousand and before it was over all of the players of both clubs were in one corner of the rink while the far end of the ice surface was just a mass of empty gloves and sticks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02256/1577783-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="550" height="852"><figcaption class="caption-body">In BattleIKE ILDEBRAND</figcaption></div>Glen Sonmor and Chuck Lumsden had their own little free for all while just yards away Bill Juzda and Bob Bailey went at it with members of both clubs in their own private little melees all over the Ice.One picture that will never be forgotten by the fans that night is the one of little Gil Mayer, Pittsburgh goalie holding back King Clancy who had gone out onto the ice along with Cleveland&rsquo;s Bun Cook. It took the help of the Pittsburgh trainer to hold Clancy back.<h2>Even Rival Mentors Tried To Get In It</h2><h3>Clears Bench</h3>When the fighting was all over and Udvari was able to restore some semblance of order, he dished out major penalties with Hildebrand and Bailey of Cleveland and Willie Marshal land Chock Lumsden ot Pittsburgh. And then cleaned oft both benches issuing 22 misconduct penalties to the two clubs.Oddly enough he did not push Sonmor or Juzda into the nenalty box. He permitted veteran Otto Heller, Jack Gordon, and Sonmor to finish the game for Cleveland along with Johnny Bower in the nets, and Frank Sullivan, Ray Timgren and Juzda and little Gil Mayer of the Hornets finished the game for the Hornets which went to the Hornets.One can hardly blame Udvari for perhaps making a mistake in permitting Sonmore and Juzda to remain in th egame, since with so many fights breaking out on the ice like a handful of beans tossed by a fan, but he made certain that the entire benches of both cluba were taking an early shower. &#9632;

f0012-02

Leafs-Habs Brawl Has AHL Fans Recalling Hornets-Barons Feud

<h2>First Goal</h2>Bill Shvetx of Calgary and Herb Jeffrey of Seattle scored their first goal of the season the past week. Shvetz scored against Edmonton Dec. 16 in that city and Jeffrey against Vancouver Dec. 18 in that city.<h2>Standings a Year Ago</h2>One year ago this week end Saskatoon led the league with 40 points, Vancouver was in second place with 39, followed by Calgary with 35, Seattle 34, Tacoma 32, Victoria 29, New Westminster 29 and Edmonton with 26.<h2>HOW THE RACE GOES</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. A.M., DEC. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01334/1577898-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="609" height="209"></div><h3>RESULTS</h3>Tuesday, December 15thVictoria 1 at Vancouver 3Calgary 0 at Saskatoon 5Wednesday, December 16thCalgary 3 at Edmonton 3Thursday, December 17thSaskatoon 5 at Calgary 2Friday, December 18thNew Westminster 4 at Victoria 2Seattle 4 at Vancouver 1Saskatoon 4 at Edmonto 10Saturday, December 19thSeattle 1 at New Westminster 2Edmonton 2 at Saskatoon 2Sunday, December 20thVictoria 0 at Seattle 2<h3>TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15</h3>Victoria 1 at Vancouver 3VANCOUVER &mdash; The Vancouver Canucks climbed back into a share of first place in the Western Hockey League when they defeated the Victoria Cougars 3-1.Larry Popein scored a pair of goals for the winners and George Homenuke added the other. Eddie Dorohoy scored for the Cougars.Victoria: Goal: Almas: defense, Lavltt, Schneider, Clune; forwards: Henderson, Hebenton, Abbott, Achtymichuk, Kuzma, Sinnelt, Kilburn, Dorohoy, Maneon, Reay, Maxwell, Bettio.Vancouver: Goal:, Worsley; defense: Stanley, Houghton, Dick, Lancien; forwards, ropein, Dea, Homenuke, Brown, McCullough, Hickey, Rouse, Kaiser, Sweaney.Referee: Scotty Morrison, Linesman: Ross Morrow.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02292/1577891-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="612" height="379"></div>Calgary 0 at SaskatoonSASKATOON &mdash; The fast-climbing Saskatoon uakers climbed into third place in the WHL standings when they blanked the first place Calgary Siampeders 5-0.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03262/1577884-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="608" height="435"></div><h3>THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17</h3>Saskatoon 5 at Calgary 2CALGARY &mdash; The slipping Calgary Stampeders lost their third game in as many tries when they absorbed a 5-2 beating at the hands of the red-hot Saskatoon Quakers.A ex (Killer) Kaleta scored a &lsquo;hattrick&rsquo; for the third place Quakers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04234/1577877-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="606" height="565"></div><h3>FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18</h3>New Westminster 4 at Victoria 2VICTORIA &mdash; The New Westminster Royals scored three goals in the second period and another in the third as they defeated the lowly Victoria Cougars G-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05202/1577870-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="606" height="511"></div>Seattle 4 at Vancouver 1VANCOUVER &mdash; With goaler Marcel Pelletlei at his best, the Seattle Bombers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-1.The win gave the Bombers 23 points in the standings and placed them in fifth position.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06172/1577863-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="604" height="381"></div>Saskatoon 4 at Edmonton 10EDMONTON &mdash; The Edmonton Flyers racked up their fourth straight WHL victory at the expense of the Saskatoon as they clobbered the Bentley men 10-4.Both Jim Anderson and Frank O&rsquo;Grady counted two goals apiece.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07160/1577856-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="602" height="983"></div><h3>SATURDAY DECEMBER 19</h3>Seattle 1 at New Westminster 2NEW WESTMINSTER&mdash; The New Westminster Royals scored early in the third period to earn a close 2-1 victory over the Seattle Bombers.The win ipoved the Royals into a first place tie with the Saskatoon Quakers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08150/1577849-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="605" height="671"></div>Edmonton 2 at Saskatoon 2SASKATOON &mdash; Edmonton Flyers grabbed an early 2-0 lead but were unable to hang on and the Saskatoon Quakers came roaring back to earn a 2-2 draw and retain their hold on third place in the WHL standings.Edhonton &mdash; Goal: Hall; defense, Folk, Hrymnask, Coflin, Thibeault; forwards, Kubasek, O&rsquo;Grady, Hannigan, ZBonin. Haley, Boone, Unlac, Scllzzi, Anderson, D. Pol&rsquo;.e. B. Polle.Saskatoon &mdash; Goal: Rayner; defense, Ross, Milford, Fontlnato, Parker; forwards, Kaleta, McLeod, Manson, Kobusan, Adam, Senlck, Kukulowlcz, Howe, Holdaway, Bentley, Lynn.Referee: Scotty Morrison; linesman, Cliff Hulme.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09144/1577842-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="599" height="665"></div><h3>SUNDAY DECEMBER 20</h3>Victoria 0, at Seattle 2SEATTLE &mdash; Wayne Brown scored both goaLs and Guyle Fielder was helpmate on both as the Seattle Bombers blanked the Victoria Cougars 2-0.The Bombers&rsquo; Marcel Pelletier only boasts two shutouts this season and strangely enough, both have been against the Cougars.Seattle &mdash; Goal: Pelletier; defense. Zeniuk, Lotvendahl; forwards, Fillon, Bell, Wall; Spares: Nadeau, Davidson, Jeffrey, Fielder, Macauley, Conn, Brown, Marquess.Victoria &mdash; Goal: Almas; defense, Lavltt, Clume; forwards: Dorohoy, Bettio, Kuzma; Spares: Lowe, Anderson, Hebum, Hear, Manson, Maxwell.benton, Achtymichuk, Abbott, Kil-<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10138/1577835-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="606" height="593"></div>THE POINT PARADE(INCLUDING GAMES SUN. DEC. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11121/1577828-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="600" height="1295"></div><h3>GOALKEEPERS RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12108/1577821-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="604" height="233"></div><h3>LEADERS</h3>Most Goals: Wayne Brown. Sea. 24Most Assists: Bud Poile, Edm., 29Most game winning Goals: Mark Marquess, Sea., 5Most First Goal of Game, Bobby Love, N.W., 5Hat Tricks: Twelve players tied with one each.Most Shutouts: Bill Brennan, Cal.; Chuck Rayner, Sask., 4<h3>PENALTIES IN MINUTES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1387/1577814-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="592" height="155"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

WESTERN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By LEO ORNEST</div>VICTORIA, B.C.&mdash; A few weeks ago George Trafton, football coach at Winnipeg, was fired. During the last few weeks practically every day has brought an announcement stating this coach has been fired, this one has retired and so on. What does it all add up to? The life of a coach is a precarious one at best and usually not of long duration. Such is not the case this season in the Western League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01333/1577929-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="530" height="821"><figcaption class="caption-body">Not WorriedFRANK CURRIE</figcaption></div>We may be speaking out of turn, but for the first time since the WHL became a professional circuit in the fall of 1948, six seasons ago, there exists a definite possibility tills will be the first campaign the coaches who started the season will also finish them. No heads will fall, no axes will need sharpening and the life expectancy of a WHL coach will go up considerably.There has been next to no talk about coaching changes in Prexy Al Leaders loop. You could say everything has been relatively quiet on the the &ldquo;fire-the-coach-front&rdquo; and it&rsquo;s in order to review the situation.Doug Bentley at Saskatoon, it was rumored before the season opened and a few times since, was going to return to the NHL as assistant to Frank Boucher of the NY Rangers and rejoin brother Max on the forward line. Even when Saskatoon was floundering and prospects didn&rsquo;t look bright it was touch and go whether Doug would or would not make the trip east. Boucher has stated he is going to turn over the coaching duties to the &ldquo;right&rdquo; guy shortly. Will it be Bentley ? We think not and we are not alone in our thinking.At Edmonton, Norm &ldquo;Bud&rdquo; Poile, among the loop&rsquo;s leading point collectors signed a two year contract last summer. Poile was strictly a bench coach for the first couple of weeks, but when his defending champs began losing with monotonous regularity, Bud brushed off his union suit and went to work. The results have been encouraging.Frank Currie at Calgary isn&rsquo;t going to have many worries as long as his Cowboys continue to ride herd over everybody.Kenny MacKenzie, bossman of the first division NW Royals, told us recently, when his club was here, that he was extremely satisfied with his coach &mdash; Alex Shibicky. Alex is reported to have a three year contract. If he can keep up the good work against Vancouver, Shibicky will be very popular in the Royal city.Vancouver has run into rough sledding recently with injuries, losing the close ones, and having players recalled by New York, but coach Art Chapman&rsquo;s record since coming to Vancouver last season has been the best of any Canuck mentor.Over in Victoria the Cougars&rsquo; coach is Billy Reay, the former Montreal star. Reay has a two year contract, he is held in high esteem by the parent club and there&rsquo;s no reason for looking for a change here.Seattle&rsquo;s coach is Muzz Patrick. General Manager Frank Dotten and the Bomber front office is pleased with Muzz&rsquo;s coaching ability. As far as they are concerned, the job is his as long as he wants it.We can&rsquo;t foresee one change in the WHL coaching ranks this season. &#9632;

f0014-01

Western Loop Mentors Seem Secure For 1954

SEATTLE, Wash.&mdash;What happens to a goalkeeper&rsquo;s average when a goal is scored against his team when he has been substituted for an extra attacker and his goal is left unattended. This question caused quite a rhubarb the other night at Civic Ice Arena when several fanatic Seattle followers waged a bitter dispute over the matter.Here&rsquo;s what the Western Hockey League official rule book states: Rule 40 (b) &hellip; &ldquo;Goals scored when the goalkeeper has been removed from the ice. will not be charged against the goalkeepers&rsquo; record.&rdquo;The American League has the same rule but the National and Quebec Leagues do not. In the NHL and the QHL the goalie is charges with every goal scored against his club regardless of whether he&rsquo;s in his goal or not.Would you say the WHL and AHL or the NHL and the QHL has the better rule? When the WHL voted to adopt Rule 40 (b) it was generally agreed it was unfair to charge a goalie with a goal scored against him whenever a goal was scored with the netminder sitting on the bench and his goal unattended. After all it isn&rsquo;t the fault of the goalie if a goal is scored on an empty net.When we went to press (Dec. 19) 16 goals had been scored on &ldquo;open&rdquo; goals. Every club in the league had been scored on at least once with its goalie watching from the sidelines.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02256/1577967-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="262" height="397"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chuck Rayner</figcaption></div>Marcel Pelletier of Seattle had seen four pucks cross the Seattle goal line while he was watching from the bench. Three cage custodians &mdash; Lorne Worsley, Vancouver; Bill Brennan, Calgary; and Lucien Dechene, New Westminster &mdash; each had witnessed three goals being scored against their club when they had been pulled for an extra forward.Chuck Rayner of Saskatoon, Ralph Almas, Victoria and Glen Hall of Edmonton had a record of one goal against their respective club while they were watching from the sidelines.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03190/1577960-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="270" height="419"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ralph Almas</figcaption></div>Sometimes pulling the goalie for an extra forward in an all out attempt to get the tying goal pays off. Other times &mdash; 16 so far &mdash; it has backfired. But it&rsquo;s an exciting part of any game and in the WHL the goalkeepers&rsquo; average does not suffer. ORNEST. &#9632;

f0014-02

WHL Goalers Benefit By ‘No Charge’ Rule

<h2>No Penalties</h2>Leo Gravelie, always a clean player when he performed for the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League, has yet to incur a penalty in 29 games in the Quebec Hockey League this year.<h2>Top Scorers</h2>Andre Corriveau, a perennial scoring champion threat iu the Quebec Hockey League may be leading the loop with 51 points this year but when it comes to goal production he has to bow to Ralph Buchanan of Chicoutimi and Leo Gravelie of Ottawa. They have 22 goals to Bisatllon&rsquo;s 19.<h2>HOW THE RAGE GOES</h2>(STANDINGS ON TLES A.M. DEC 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01306/1578075-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="603" height="209"></div><h3>TUESDAY DECEMBER 22</h3>Montreal 2 at Chicoutimi 4CHICOUTIMI &mdash; Ralph (Bucky) Buchanan scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season and helped set up another to pace the Chicoutimi Sagueneens to a 4-2 win over the Montreal Royals.The win moved the Chicks into third place in the league standings.Royals: Goal, Evans; defence, Liger, Harmon, Roche, Hollinkworth; forwards, Davis, Litzenbrger, Desaulniers, Tessier, Burchell, Meger, Denis, Wray, Framptor, Laplante.Chicoutimi: Goal, Hughes; defence, Glande, Roy, Taillefer, Lamirande; forwards, White, Buchanan, S. Smrke, L. Smrke, Groleau, Perreault, Locas, Dussault, Moore.Referee. Len Corriveau; linesmen, Tallleur, Bolleau.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02269/1578068-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="604" height="449"></div><h3>WEDNESDAY&rsquo; DECEMBER 23</h3>Sherbrooke 2 at Valleyfield 7VALLEYFIELD&mdash;Jean Paul Bisalllon Scored two goals to pace the Valleyfield Braves to a lopsided 7-2 victory over the Sherbrooke Saints.A win for the Saints would have allowed them to take over undisputed possession of first place In the loop Standings.Sherbrooke &mdash; Goal; Gatherum; defense: Roberge, Forbes, Hay, Bownass; forwards: McLean, Dube, Irving, Stankiewicz, Ehnan, Bruneteau, Johnson, Malo,&rsquo; Giesebrecht.Valleyfield &mdash; Goal: Payette; defense: Ernst, Deslauriers. Irvine; forwards: White, Joanette, Bisalllon, Corriveau, Bougie, Thomson, Kwong, Haworth, Kline, Leclerc.Referee: Pean Bennett; linesmen: Moreau, Reynolds.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03245/1578061-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="608" height="682"></div>Quebec 0 at Springfield 3SPRINGFIELD &mdash; Nippy O&rsquo;Hearn returned to the Springfield Indians&rsquo; nets with a vengeance as he shutout the Quebec Aces 3-0. The netminder had been out a month suffering from injuries and it was his second zero of the campaign.The Tribe&rsquo;s goals were scohed by John Bobenlc. who accounted for a pair, and Graham Hastings.Quebec &mdash; Goal. Gelineau; defense: Crozier, Talbot, Houle, Raglan: forwards: Regan, Denis, Tremblay, Brown, Cabana, Powell, Labadie, Kelly, Wharram, Bedard.Springfield &mdash; Goal, O&rsquo;Hearn; defense: Bloomer, Tottle, Telford, Tarala; forwards, Leier, Bobenlc, Gagnon, McNab, fichinkel, Hastings, McLeod, McMurdy, Power, Pogue.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04197/1578054-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="606" height="422"></div><h3>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26</h3>Sherbrooke 1 at Ottawa 4OTTAWA &mdash; The Ottawa Senators scored three times in the third period to defeat the Sherbrooke Saints 4-1 before 4,500 fans.Bert Giesebrecht robbed Ray rederiek of a shutout at the 7:25 mark of the third period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05160/1578047-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="606" height="650"></div>Valley field 3 at Springfield 2SPRINGFIELD &mdash; Georges Bougie scored at the 4:32 mark of the htird period to give the Valleyfield Braves a 3-2 decision over the Springfield Indians.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06140/1578040-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="603" height="523"></div><h3>SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27</h3>Sherbrooke 2 at Montreal 4MONTREAL &mdash; The Sherbrooke saints absorbed their second defeat in as many days as they bowed, 4-2 to the Montreal Royals.Sidppy Burchell of the Regals scored the winner at the 17:56 mark after the Saints had come from behind to knot the count at 2-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-07132/1578033-1-eng-US/f0015-072.jpg" title="f0015-07" width="606" height="140"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-08121/1578026-1-eng-US/f0015-082.jpg" title="f0015-08" width="603" height="659"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-09113/1578019-1-eng-US/f0015-092.jpg" title="f0015-09" width="1171" height="1422"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;Stanky&rdquo; Still SnipingEDDIE STANKIEWCZ &hellip; The Sherbrooke Speed Boy</figcaption></div>Springfield 2 at Valley field 4VALLEYFIELD &mdash; The Valleyfield Braves climbed into undisputed possession of first place in the Quebec Hockey League when they turned back the Springfield Indians 4-2 for their second win in as many days over the Tribe.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1099/1578012-1-eng-US/f0015-102.jpg" title="f0015-10" width="601" height="752"></div>Quebec 2 at Chicoutimi 3CHICOUTIMI &mdash; Defenseman Gerry Glaude poked home a double relay from Jimmy Moore and Normie Dussault to give the Chicoutimi Sagueneens a 3-2 decision over the Quebec Aces.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1260/1578005-1-eng-US/f0015-122.jpg" title="f0015-12" width="604" height="649"></div><h2>THE POINT PARADE</h2>(INCLUDING GAMES SUN. DEC. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1181/1577998-1-eng-US/f0015-112.jpg" title="f0015-11" width="604" height="845"></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

QUEBEC LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By JOE MINSTER</div>CINCINNATI,Ohio&mdash;Johnstown&rsquo;s Jets have solidified their position at the head of the International Hockey League, despite the fact that they had a seven-game unbeaten streak snapped by Marion.By taking two eut of three starts during the week, the Pennsylvanians have moved three points in front of runner-up Cincinnati in the bitterly-contested IHL race.Only 10 points separate the front-running Jets from the eighth-place Ft. Wayne Komets in the nine-team circuit, which has Milwaukee running a distant last, six and a half games behind Ft. Wayne.Actually, ttie biggest strides were made by Troy&rsquo;s Bruins, who grabbed three straight decisions, and the Rockets from Grand Rapids, who took two in a row.Troy moved up into a tie for third with Marion, while Grand Rapids is just behind in fifth place. Toledo stands sixth, Louisville seventh and Ft. Wayne eighth.Johnstown has accumulated 36 points, three more than Cincinnati, with 33. Marion and Troy each have 32, Grand Rapids 31, Toledo 29, Louisville 28, Ft. Wayne 26 and Milwaukee 13.The Jets, who had not lost since Dec. 3, came a cropper againts Marion almost three weeks later, 8-1, in the Ohio city, Marion, which tallied five times in the first period, was paced by Dutch Del Monte and Murry Wilkie, each with two goals. Johnstown had won six and tied one contest in. its seven most recent starts prior to this setback.Hapless Milwaukee continued to skid, as the Chiefs suffered their seventh straight setback, 7-5, at the hands of Louisville. Doug. Houston, veteran International Leaguer who previously was with Toledo, registered four times to pace Louisville&rsquo;s offense. The Stars had been unable to win in their five previous outings. Milwaukee, by the way, has not tasted victory since beating Ft. Wayne back on Nov. 28.Troy, victorious in its three last contests &mdash; over Milwaukee, Ft. Wayne and Cincinnati &mdash; appears finally to be on the move. Player-Coach Norm McAtee&rsquo;s third-period goal proved to be the difference in a 3-2 thriller over Ft. Wayne, while Gordon Buttrey and Rob Rawlyk fired home lastperiod markers to insure a 4-2 victorv over Cincinnati.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02235/1578137-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="586" height="591"><figcaption class="caption-body">Still AheadCHARLIE HODGE</figcaption></div><h2>Hall Leads Scorers</h2>Big Don Hall of Johnstown continued to hold down the No. 1 spot among the individual scorers, as he swelled his total to 51 points on 21 goals and 30 assists in 24 games.Toledo&rsquo;s sensational &ldquo;Lightning Line&rdquo; hogged the next three places, as Dick Pontarollo was second with 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points and John Kovich and Roy Hammond shared third with 39 points each. Hammond is the center for Pontarolle and Kovich.Other leading point-makers include George Edwards of Troy, John Horvath of Johnstown, Gordie Vejprava of Marion, Arnie Schmautz of Johnstown, Kea Schultz of Marion, George Hayes of Grand Rapids, Ken Biggs ot Cincinnati and McAtee of Troy. Vejprava, who already has three hat tricks to his credit, paces the goal-scorers with 23, while Hall&rsquo;s 30 assists are tops.Cincinnati Goalie Charlie Hodge, who registered the lone shutout of the vtek, 4-0, over Milwaukee, continues to lead the IHL with a 2.38 goal-tending average. Bill Tibbs of Toledo has three shutouts, one more than Hodge and Doug Coxon ot Grand Rapids. &#9632;

f0016-02

Johnstown Extends Lead Over Cincinnati In IHL

<div class="byline">By DAWSON WINCHESTER</div>FREDERICTON, N.B.&mdash;This time last year club-owners in the then three-team New Brunswick Senior Hockey League found themselves looking around the edge of, a gigantic &ldquo;eight-ball&rdquo; for an answer to the oft-asked query, &ldquo;How can we fill the seats in our rink with fans.&rdquo;The chief reason that the fans were making themselves conspicuous by their absence was the fact that competition in the loop was practically nil. Moncton Hawks were leading the circuit with a ten point bulge over the Fredericton Capitals who in turn led the hapless Saint John Beavers by fourteen points in the standings.However as things worked out the three teams did draw a goodly number of spectators to their respective rinks after the start of the new year and the aforementioned &ldquo;hapless&rdquo; Beavers, bolstered and inspired by the play of strigger - tempered playing coach Lou Kiley who came to them from the Charlottetown Is landers of the MMIIL, went on to win the loop title and the Maritime Senior crown. The Flattails were stopped in their Allan Cup quest by the powerful Smith Falls Rideaus.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01257/1578168-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="293" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Pilon</figcaption></div>Getting back to this season it&rsquo;s not difficult to see why the glasses with which club-owners view things are of a much rosier hue. The standings in the circuit are close&mdash;at this writing Fredericton leads with 16 points, Saint John has 14, Moncton 13 and Amherst, a new addition to the league this year and at preBent the cellar-dweller has 9 points&mdash;but that isn&rsquo;t all that&rsquo;s jamming the rinks around the circuit, no sir! A great deal of the Port City pucksters, Rheal Grenon, burly Fredericton rearguard and the Moncton Flyers defence duo of Fred Weaver and John Brophy.The &ldquo;boy&rsquo;s&rdquo; have really been on a rampage and what with every game a potential &ldquo;powderkeg&rdquo; and the closeness of the standings playing it&rsquo;s part every game night finds very few empty Beats in any of the quartet of rinks.Iced Tidbits: Currently the hottest trio in the loop is the Beavers front line of Charley Knox, Doug (Crow) Hewey and Nick Nicolle who have amassed a total of 71 scoring points (34 goals of the 51 their team has scored) in 13 games &hellip; not only does the Knox-Hewey-Nicolle line lead as a unit in points but they run one, two, three in that order in individual statistics&hellip; running second is Moncton&rsquo;s line of Ron Gaudet, Bert Dalling and Mike Demchuk with an aggregate total of 50 points &hellip; Gils Boisvert who tends the twines for Amherst Meteors turned in a very creditable performance with Terry Heardon&rsquo;s Sydney Millionaires when called up to fill in for Mills ailing Norm Defelice turning in two wins, one a shutout&hellip; Moncton&rsquo;s Bill MacPherson is a brother of Montreal Habs&rsquo; Bud MacPherson&hellip; Archie Burton, Cap&rsquo;s centreman, was so overjoyed when he notched the winning goal against Moncton&rsquo;s John (Plumber) Craig at 19:10 of the third period in a recent contest that he finished a letter to Ms mother in the dressing room after the game telling her of his feat and then&rdquo; asked the bus driver to Stop on the way back to Frederricton so he could mail the letter post haste &hellip; Sydney Mills again took advantage of their hook-up with Amherst when they&rsquo;called up Meteors Pete Laliberte and Roly Savard and again it paid off as Fete took a pass from Roly to notch the winner over Charlottetown &hellip; Beavers search for a suitable cage cop ended with the acquisition of home town boy Billy (The Kid) James who&rsquo;s only been scored on three times to date in three home contests racking up two blankings in six games he&rsquo;s played &hellip; Lou Pilon of Amherst cavorted last year for Sammy Pollock&rsquo;s Jr. Habs &hellip; Pat Powers who&rsquo;s a pillar on defence for the Caps this season attributes his improved play this year to the fact he&rsquo;s been relieved of coaching chores by this year&rsquo;s playing-mentor Joe McIntosh &hellip; Doug (Crow) Hewey, Beavers dimimutive left-winger who sat out two games when he couldn&rsquo;t come to terms with the club management on salary matters, has more than proved his worth to his bosses, Otty Stevenson and Murray Long, by firing 11 goals and garnering 4 assists in the six games since he&rsquo;s been back in the fold. &#9632;

f0017-01

League Bad Men Draw Fans Into New Brunswick Rinks

MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;Montreal Canadiens, the defending champions, retained the George Kennedy Memorial Trophy, symbolic of this city&rsquo;s professional hockey championship.It was the first defense of the coveted cup that the Habs have made in 15 years, the last being against the now-defunct Montreal Maroons of the NHL.This year&rsquo;s revival was against the Montreal Royals of the Quebec Hockey League and the Stanley Cup champs skated off with an 8-5 victory over their city rivals.Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion spearheaded the Hab at tack as he scored a &lsquo;hat trick&rsquo;. Maurice Richard, Doug Harvey and Johnny McCormack were the other Canadien regulars to notch goals while farmhands Dave McCready and Claude Vinet, given a whirl with the parent club in this encounter, also added singles.Paul Meger, Eddie Litzen-berger, Orval Tessier, Glen Harmon and Lome Davis scored for the Royals. &#9632;

Habs Retain Kennedy Cup

<div class="byline">By ACE FOLEY</div>HALIFAX, N.S.&mdash;Veteran hockey coach Don Penniston received the Christmas gift he wanted more than anything else &mdash; a victory over Hadifax Atlantics.In 11 meetings this season between the Maritime Major (Big Four) Hockey League leaders and the Glace Bay Miners the best the Miners could do for Penniston was one 3-3 deadlock. Atlantics won every other meeting.Then, on the night of December17 the Miners thrilled their supporters and delighted silent Don with a 4-2 victory. It was one of their best displays of the season and only a superb goaltending display by Roy McMeekin kept the score from going into double figures.Hardest working goalie in the league, and sporting the best defensive record despite the shots that pour at him night after night, McMeekin kicked out 5 6 drives of the 60 sent his way.Meanwhile the Miners&rsquo; fleet Tommy Files was in the spot-lightagain. Just back in action after a wrist injury and a three-game suspension for using his stick on Sydney&rsquo;s Duke McDonald.Files was given a major penalty in a Hall-fax game for using the shillelagh on the shoulder of Atlantics defenceman Joe Lepine. Lepine suffered a shoulder separation.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02220/1578223-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="375" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Lepine</figcaption></div>Terry Readon, whose Sydney Millionaires do very well against Glace Bay and Charlottetown but poorly against Atlantics, especially in Halifax, has brought in veteran Kenny Smith to help in the goal-getting department.Smith will play six games for Millionaires as a conditioner for play in the American League with Hershey Bears. He and Terry are old friends and former teammates.Readon&rsquo;s biggest headache with his Mills is in the scoring zone. The young, fast Sydney players consistently outskate the opposition but fumble when in scoring range.<h2>Recall Boisvert</h2>Sydney goalie Norm Defelice has been called back to Hershey Bears, and the Mills were forced to recall Giles Boisvert from the farm team in Amherst.Boisvert played for Mills before Defelice checked in, again when Defelice was injured and for the third time when Norm was called up by Hershey as a replacement for Red Henry. And he has the best defensive record in the league, although his few appearances keep him off the record sheet.Only five shutouts have been registered this season and Boisvert has compiled three of them He has been a bail of fire in the Big Four but only so-so with the Amherst Meteors. A good goalie with Amherst, perhaps, but a sensation with the Millionaires.Halifax and Sydney are still making it a two division race. The champion Atlantics keep ahead of the Mills while Carlotte-town and Glace Bay continue to exchange position. The miners are &ldquo;cousins&rdquo; for Halifax. The Islanders, on the other hand, have by far the best record against the Halifax team.<h2>Crowds Down</h2>While&rsquo; crowds have been down in Charlottetown and Halifax, and about the same in Glace Bay, Sydney has shown a vast improvement over the past two season. Three of the clubs have vastly changed lineups while Halifax has retained many of its old hands.After the Christmas holiday all four teams expect to pick up. Unusually mild weather has cut deeply into the usual Maritime enthusiasm for hockey.Halifax&rsquo;s Bill Ford continues to splurge in the scoring department. The fleet-footed left winger, a consistent performer in his fourth season in the Nova Scotia capital, is driving for a new league record.In 34 games Ford has compiled the amazing total of 70 points. Thirty-eight. have been goals. That&rsquo;s a full ten over Glace Bay&rsquo;s Brown, who is second in goals and tops with the Miners 52 points.<h2>Leads Playmakers</h2>Trailing Ford in the points race is veteran linemate Pete Wywrot. Pete has 57 points, 36 of them assists. He&rsquo;s the leader in the playmaking department.Brown is third with 52 points, followed by Paul Saindon, of Islanders with 51; three - time champion Buck Whitlock with 50 and Doug McPhee, Halifax with 49.Among the regular goalies. Halifax&rsquo;s McMeekin leads with a 3.5.2 record. Sydney&rsquo;s Defelice&rsquo;s record is 3.55 and Charlottetown&rsquo;s veteran Paul Bessette has a mark of 4.62. Glace Bay Miners have used four goalies. Dick Dion has the longest record, 17 &#8532; games with a mark of 4.9 0,Peanuts McLaughlin of Charlottetown is the leagu&rsquo;s bad man with 83 minutes in the sin bin. Team mate Gus Gustaveson and Glace Bay&rsquo;s Hugh Campbell share second place, each with 76 minutes. &#9632;

f0017-02

Penniston Gets Xmas Present Miners Finally Beat Atlantics

TORONTO, Ont.&mdash;A young hockey star is facing a difficult decision but figures that he will delay it until at least next summer.The player in question is 19-year old Gerry James, and his decision is a three-ply one. He must choose between hockey, football or an education.Although he is currently a big league star as far as football goes the youngster stands an excellent chance of also becoming a big league hockey star.As a football player he is already an established&rdquo; performer having starred with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Western Conference for the last two seasons. He was one of the stars for the Bombers in Canada&rsquo;s grid classic, the Grey Cup game, this year, and from all indications he has an excellent future ahead of him in the pigskin pastime.But, he is also a star defenseman for the Toronto Marlboro juniors of the OHA and the future here also looks bright.As for education, Gerry is in fifth form at Toronto&rsquo;s Runny-mede Collegiate, taking five subjects this year and planning four more in 19 54 with an engineering course in mind.<h2>Was Youngest Player</h2>When Gerry joined the Blue Bombers in 1952 he was the youngest player in the big leagues. In this year&rsquo;s Grey Cup final in Toronto, when the Bombers lost 12-6 to Hamilton Tiger-Cats, James was the busiest ball carrier on the field. The half-back made 23 plunges, passes and runbacks for 167 yards and also scored Winnipeg&rsquo;s touchdown.Born in Regina, Oct. 22, 1934, Gerry started playing football with a Winnipeg public school team in 1951, He moved to Toronto with his family the same year and joined the Runnymede team.Signed by the Bombers in 1952, he returned to Toronto for a whirl at junior B hockey and was signed by Marlboros, farm elub of Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, to play defence in the junior A playoffs against Guelph Biltmores. Following this year&rsquo;s football final he rejoined Marlboros and has one more season of junior hockey ahead of him.Gerry says that although he has had no pro hockey offers yet, several have been mentioned.James quotes Staff Smythe, Marlboro manager, as saying he had &ldquo;something in store for me next year.&rdquo;Clarifying that statement, Smythe said it all depends on how good a hockey player James turns out to be.James signed a form &lsquo;with the Leafs last year, automatically making him the property of the Leaf organization,&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going along with him,&rdquo; said Smythe. &ldquo;He has to choose between football, hockey or his education. It&rsquo;s up to hint but I think he&rsquo;ll choose hockey because there&rsquo;s more money in it than football.&rdquo;Gerry said he had no preference for either football or hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01265/1578254-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="573" height="859"><figcaption class="caption-body">Must ChooseGERRY JAMES</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Marlboros’ Gerry James Facing Tough Decision

MEDECINE HAT, Alta.&mdash;A new record for scoring the &lsquo;hat trick&rsquo; in amateur ranks has been racked up by Bill Naismith of the Great Falls, Montana team of the newly-f ormed Alberta-Montana Hockey League.Naismith, who formerly played for Medecine Hat, scored the record shattering three goals against Medecine Hat Cantalinis in 12 seconds.The previous record for a hat trick was held by Jack Shill, former member of Toronto Maple Leafs of the National League. Playing for Toronto Marlboros against Sudbury Wolves in Toronto in 1932, Shill scored three times in 26 seconds.Naismith&rsquo;s three goals all came in the third period as Great Falls whipped Medecine Hat 11-3. The first two were unassisted. He scored on a breakaway at 17:53, picked up his second at 18:03 and two seconds later sniped his third.As if that were not enough, Naismith turned on his former townspeople again the next night for another three goals as Great Falls edged Medecine Hat 9-8. &#9632;

Naismith Breaks Hat Trick Record

<div class="byline">By REX MacLEOD</div>TORONTO, Ont.&mdash;It took St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors a few weeks to kick the gremlins out of their passing attack but once they accomplished it they were on their way. Now they represent St. Catharines Teepees&rsquo; chief threat for the OHA, junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; pennant.Toronto Marlboros must also be rated contenders especially with Jerry James back in their lineup. James broke in as a defenceman a couple of weeks ago and promptly proved himself as rugged as ever.But St. Mike&rsquo;s, although they didn&rsquo;t get away to as fast a start as St. Catharines, look like the best team to represent the Toronto college since fellows like Kelly, Sandford Sloan, Mackell and others departed for higher company several years ago.The Irish have had strong teams throughout the past three seasons but for unaccountable reasons they collapsed when least expected. This season, though, it is the opinion of most observers that St. Mike&rsquo;s have the all-round strength needed to produce a winner. Y&rsquo;ou&rsquo;ll find agreement on that anywhere outside of St. Catharines.<h2>Consistent</h2>Rudy Pilous&rsquo; Teepees were still playing with monotonous consistency as January approached despite the melancholy predictions of one or two coaches that they would hit the skids. Teepees had their off-nights but they seldom played two poor games in a row.But at least one coach, who has a reputation for astuteness, insisted that he wasn&rsquo;t suffering from insomnia through worrying about the Teepees.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing,&rdquo; this coach, who requested anonymity, said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll bet you right now St. Catharines won&rsquo;t win it. Wait until after Christmas and they&rsquo;ll hit the skids. As far as I&rsquo;m concerned they&rsquo;re only a one-line team. Check that one line and you can beat them every time.&rdquo;<h2>Top Scorer</h2>The one line he was referring to was the Brian Gullen-Hugh Barlow-Barry Cullen trio, one of the best offensive units in the league. Brian Cul-has been the league&rsquo;s top scorer since the scheduled started. After 2 2 games he had scored 2 8 goals and Assisted on 37 others for 65 points. He could set a junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; scoring record by continuing that pace.Teepees scored 113 goals in their first 22 games. Brian Cullen and Barlow were responsible for 50 of them, a fair indication of their value to the team. But Teepees have a few other dependables to rely on like Hank Ciesla and Cec Hoekstra. They know how to score goals too.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03115/1578340-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="551" height="846"><figcaption class="caption-body">Won&rsquo;t Win ?RUDY PILOUS</figcaption></div>But the critics were impressed, more by St. Mike&rsquo;s because the Irish have three crack forward, lines, a strong defence and goalie Jerry McNamara looks like one of the best in the league.Opposing coaches sigh envoiusly when they see Charley Cerre&rsquo;s well-drilled St. Mike&rsquo;s forwards in action. Most of the time they can&rsquo;t tell which line they prefer, a pleasant distraction which doesn&rsquo;t throw Terre.<h2>Two-Way Line</h2>For speed and clever stick manipulating the Irish line of Jack Caffery, Paul Knox and Jim Logan is probably the best in the league. For sheer fight and determination the Duff brothers, les and Dick, unite with Brian Anderson for a great twoway line.St. Mike&rsquo;s third line, composed of three diminutive freshmen, Ken Linseman, Bill Colvin and Ken Gribbons is the perpetual motion type that keeps the opposition off balance most of the time. And this hustling trio can be depended on to score its share of goals.On defence St. Mike&rsquo;s are well fortified with Ted Toppazzini, Marc Rheaume, Noel Price and Pete Huggard. There isn&rsquo;t any doubt that if coach Cerre can keep them travelling at the same clip they showed in November and December that St. Mike&rsquo;s will be the club most feared when playoff time arrives. &#9632;

f0018-03

Experts See St. Mike’s As Main Threat To Teeps

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01243/1578371-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS</h2>1&mdash;Chicago player shown in centre.6&mdash;Initials of Asmundson, ex NHL player.7&mdash;Initials of a Boston rearguard.9&mdash;One of the Black Hawks.11&mdash;First two letters of Iliad.12&mdash;Number of games Ed Sandford missed last season.13&mdash;Pronoun.14&mdash;Ivan Irwin played several games with this NHL club (abbr).16&mdash;&ldquo;Dutch&rdquo; Reibel&rsquo;s is 23.15&mdash;Initials of a Boston forward.19&mdash;Complete initials of Leo Reise.20&mdash;Short for given name of Pike, ex Ranger player.22&mdash;Given name of Macintosh who played for Rangers last Reason.*23&mdash;Kenny Mosdell&rsquo;s nickname.26&mdash;First name of a Toronto defenseman.27&mdash;Given name of Arbour of Detroit.29&mdash;First name of AHL scoring champion of 1952-53.33&mdash;Walter Buswell once played with this NHL team.<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;This Ranger once played for Cleveland Barons.2&mdash;Wears N. 21 for the Leafs.3&mdash;Eddie Mazur could be described as this.4&mdash;Chicago player who recently retired.5&mdash;Otherwise.3&mdash;Edmonton&rsquo;s goalie is called this.10&mdash;Played with Detroit last season.15&mdash;Bob Bailey&rsquo;s second name.17&mdash;&ldquo;Doc&rdquo; Couture&rsquo;s initials.21&mdash;Initials of Nighbor, old time player.23&mdash;Beliveau&rsquo;s second name.24&mdash;Old Latin (abbr).25&mdash;Providence Reds&rsquo; coach.26&mdash;Short for given name of Sasakmoose, Hawk prospect.28&mdash;Pictured players&rsquo; brother is called this.30&mdash;Initials of an NHL coach.31&mdash;Of (Fr.).32&mdash;Last season New York failed to get&mdash;the play-offs.<h2>SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK&rsquo;S PUZZLE</h2><h3>Across</h3>1. Reibel5. A. S.7. Coach.9. Bower12. Dea13. Eric14. Sask.15. T. R.17. A. G.20. All21. Leo23. H. O.24. Five27. D. C.29. Gelineau31. H. R.33. Marcel36. Gardner<h3>Down</h3>1. Robert2. Irwin3. E. C. R.4. Leo5. Aces6. Shakey8. Adams10. Or11. E. C.16. Raleigh18. Glover19. Broda20. Alt21. Ah.25. On28. Cully30. Ivan32. J. G.33. M. D.34. Re35. C. R. &#9632;

f0019-01

Hockey Crossword Puzzle

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE(STANDING ON DEC. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02196/1578507-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="606" height="255"></div>SCORING LEADERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03153/1578500-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="608" height="339"></div>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE(Standings on Dec. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04132/1578493-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="605" height="209"></div>QUEBEC JUNIOR(Standings on Dec. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05114/1578486-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="605" height="130"></div>ONTARIO JUNIOR(Standings on Dec. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-0697/1578479-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="601" height="209"></div>QUE. PROVINCIAL LEAGUE(Standings on Dec. 23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-0791/1578472-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="602" height="106"></div>NEW BRUNSWICK SENIOR(Standings on Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-0885/1578465-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="602" height="133"></div>SCORING LEADERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-0975/1578458-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="607" height="334"></div>MARITIME MAJOR(Stundintrs on Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1065/1578451-1-eng-US/f0019-102.jpg" title="f0019-10" width="601" height="105"></div>N.B. NORTH SHORE LEAGUE(Standings on Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1158/1578444-1-eng-US/f0019-112.jpg" title="f0019-11" width="602" height="132"></div>WESTERN JUNIOR(Standings on Dec. 18)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1253/1578437-1-eng-US/f0019-122.jpg" title="f0019-12" width="600" height="184"></div>OHA SENIOR &rsquo;B&rdquo;(Standings on Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1345/1578430-1-eng-US/f0019-132.jpg" title="f0019-13" width="599" height="134"></div>OHA JUNIOR &ldquo;B&rdquo;(Standings on Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1445/1578423-1-eng-US/f0019-142.jpg" title="f0019-14" width="600" height="234"></div>OKANAGAN SENIOR(Standings on Dec. 18)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1541/1578416-1-eng-US/f0019-152.jpg" title="f0019-15" width="602" height="132"></div>SCORING LEADERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1639/1578409-1-eng-US/f0019-162.jpg" title="f0019-16" width="592" height="289"></div>GOALTENDERS AVERAGES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1735/1578402-1-eng-US/f0019-172.jpg" title="f0019-17" width="605" height="213"></div> &#9632;

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January 2, 1954

Leaf Manager Blasts Habs For Fighting

Butch Stahan Unemployed, Retires After 18 Seasons

‘Santa’ Blake Adds Closeness To Already Tight QHL Fight

Sugar Swings In, Sugar Swings Out